{"text": "\n\nPlease check out our side project, OhLife (from MeetingMix, YC S08) - sgupta\nhttp://ohlife.com/\n\n======\naw3c2\nQuick first glance feedback on the page, take it or leave it:\n\na) \"the easiest way to\" lowercase start and then \"Write your life story\"\nuppercase start. Seems weird to me. The other way around or both uppercase.\n\nb) Top bar seems empty, maybe an actual logo (that adds some other\ncolor/shade) would chance that.\n\nc) \"See an example\" needs no-Javascript fallback. I assumed a video behind it.\nPleasant surprise to see something that finally showed me what it is all\nabout. I strongly suggest not hiding that. It is below the break for me and\nadds a lot.\n\nd) Ned Flanders takes away the credibility and earnesty the page build up so\nfar. Bad!\n\ne) \"private, secure, & friendlier\", the comma after secure seems out of place\nto me. I am not an english native but from what I know it would be more normal\nwithout it. \"friendlier\" is not a word, is it? Also, how is it secure if you\ndo not tell me how you actually secure it (both for normalos and hackers\nplease)...?\n\nf) entry is a bad empty word. I guess you already tried to find a better one.\nCan't think of one myself. :-(\n\ng) \"a personal journal that you'll love to use\" = you love the journal\n\n\"why you'll love us\" = you love the company\n\nh) \"Oh snap, remember this?\" same as Ned, does not fit the otherwise very\nnoble theme at all.\n\ni) The open book has a weird shape. Does not feel right to me. Maybe if it was\ntaller?\n\nx) No privacy policy (as a techie \"only you can see your entries\" screams for\nencryption against YOU (and/or hackers, this is important)), no contact, no\nnothing to make it human.\n\ny) Privacy tainted by Google Analytics.\n\n~~~\nugh\nRe: e) (This is purely my personal opinion, but …) Anyone who uses the serial\ncomma [1] must be seriously insane. How can you? Doesn’t your brain explode?\n(Calm down, calm down … [2] … there, better.)\n\nFriendlier is indeed a word, the comparative of friendly.\n\nAmazing idea, by the way, beautifully executed and immediately captured my\nimagination.\n\n[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma>\n\n[2] <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_i1xk07o4g>\n\n------\nadammichaelc\nI notice that a huge part of my daily life is recorded in email conversations\nwith other people -- it would be cool if I could forward a conversation to\npost@ohlife.com and it would automatically make it a part of my journal and\nmake it aesthetically pleasing at the same time.\n\nGreat job on the execution of this app. I have talked to others who have had\nthis same idea, but their execution was ugly/unexcting/etc. This is clean and\nsimple.\n\n~~~\njbail\nTaking your thought a step further, let's also save the comments you make on\nothers' blogs and bring them into your journal/blog as well.\n\nAt the end of the day, I don't need another blog or a slight variation on\nblogging technology. I need something that basically blogs for me. If I can\nadd value to my site by adding comments like this one to other people's sites\n(then pressing this \"magic\" button (maybe a bookmarket?) to automatically save\nit as part of my blog), that'd be pure awesomeness.\n\nBeyond saving boatloads of time for everyone who used it, it would create a\nmore connected blogosphere by allowing people to link their commenter accounts\n(like HN, Reddit, etc) to their primary blog...effectively giving people more\nownership over the things they write on others blogs, increasing author\nrecognition, etc.\n\n~~~\nLewisham\n_I need something that basically blogs for me._\n\nTumblr is pretty close to doing this, but the problem is its just context-free\nnoise. It's echoes from a very, very noisy set of interactions that you\nperform. I had a Tumblr blog that harvested photos, blog posts, Twitter,\nlast.fm etc etc. and it all meant absolutely nothing.\n\nThis isn't really blogging, it's journaling. Writing a diary is supposed to be\ntherapeutic because you're writing down the things you dare not talk about\nwith others (maybe not even your SO). It's not about what you do, it's about\nhow you feel.\n\nThat's why I would like to see encryption mentioned somewhere, and pushed\nhard. I wrote one entry to see how it works, but I'm going to disable the\nnotifications until I know that my personal outpourings are not actually being\nread by others.\n\n------\nsgupta\nHey HN - we made this in our spare time, just because it was something we\nwanted to use. When we told some friends about the idea though they wanted to\nuse it too, so we decided to release it. Many thanks for checking it out.\n\n~~~\nevandavid\nI love the idea. Love it. Like, really excited. However, I'm not prepared to\nuse a service like this in a hosted environment. Too many risks: you go out of\nbusiness, security, privacy, etc. Plus the information just feels to personal\nto be sitting on someone else's server. I would love to see a quick daily\nprompt like this added to Macjournal or similar software.\n\n~~~\nevandavid\nThat said, I'm sure there is a target market out there who will be more than\nwilling to use the product in its current format. I'm looking forward to\nseeing where this idea goes.\n\n------\npesco\nAccept PGP-encrypted mail seamlessly and you won't need a privacy policy\nexcept for those who like throwing their lifelog at random strangers. Be sure\nto use PGP/MIME to include the old message in your mailing.\n\nOf course, setting up PGP, let alone remembering the passphrase (gasp) is a\nlot to ask of the typical user who needs to use his mail client as a text\neditor.\n\nOtherwise, it's a cute idea, really. Please excuse cynicism.\n\n------\nryanwaggoner\nThe design is beautiful, but why would I use this over WriteRoom? For years\nnow, I've been writing at least 500 words in WriteRoom every single weekday,\nand I'm closing in on a year of doing it (and a bunch of other habits) without\nmissing a single day. It's not that hard, I know I'll probably never lose my\nentries (time machine + dropbox backups), and my privacy is more assured. I'm\njust not sure I see the advantage here...\n\n~~~\nTerry_B\nWriteroom + timemachine + dropbox. I don't think you're the target market :)\n\n~~~\nryanwaggoner\nTouché. Can't believe I didn't stop to think about this :)\n\n------\niampims\nNo privacy policy is a no go for me.\n\n~~~\nKevinMS\nI have never read a privacy policy, EVER. Am I missing something good?\n\nIf they violate their own privacy policy do I have legal recourse?\n\nAnd is it even possible to write a privacy policy without loopholes?\n\n------\nmrduncan\nFirst of all, fantastic design!\n\nIs there any way to export posts - for example, if I wanted to share them with\na significant other or another family member?\n\nAlso, and this is mainly curiosity, how do you handle sending posts from the\npast for the first few days where there really isn't much history?\n\n~~~\nsgupta\nThank you!\n\nWe don't have export yet, but we've definitely wanted to share some of our\nentries with close friends and family too. We'll be brainstorming around this!\n\nRegarding past history: For your first week, we just send you your entry from\nthe previous day. After you've been using it for a week though, and some\nhistory has built up, we'll show you entries from a week ago (and then a month\nago, etc.).\n\nThanks for checking it out - really appreciate it!\n\n------\nthingie\nIt'd be nice to have some export feature. After few months, if I will use\nthis, you are going to have quite a lot of entries from me, and all of them\nare important to me, I don't want to lose them, so I'd like to be able to\neasily make backups to my own computer.\n\n------\njasongullickson\nPardon my French but; fucking beautiful.\n\n------\nvessenes\nI like it, and I signed up. I don't want to get emailed at 8pm -- that's after\nmy internet cutoff, so I faked a timezone. But, it would be nice to just\nchoose a time.\n\nAlso, who did your webdesign? I like it!\n\n~~~\nsgupta\nWe'll be adding the ability to change when the email is sent, and it should be\nout by next week. Clever workaround though!\n\nAnd thanks for the design compliment! We did it all in-house, so we really\nappreciate the kind words.\n\n------\npclark\nThis is really cool. I'm curious if _you_ can read the entries?\n\n~~~\nsgupta\nThanks for the kind words! We're currently working on encrypting the entries -\nthis is an MVP and we initially wanted to see if people like the idea.\n\n~~~\nmartey\nIt does say on the home page that \"Only you can see your entries.\" If they are\nnot currently encrypted, that would seem to be untrue.\n\n~~~\ncolonelxc\nEven if they do encrypt it, they will have to be able to decrypt them server\nside to send you your month old posts. That means the owners are technically\ncapable of also reading all of your posts.\n\n~~~\nmbenjaminsmith\nThat's not entirely true. If this were purely a web-accessible blog, there's\nno reason you couldn't encrypt/decrypt this in the client (sending and storing\nencrypted text). You'd have to throw out email posting in that case though.\n\n~~~\nandreyf\nI think you're on to something. I look forward to the day when we are shocked\nby unencrypted private data accessible on the server as we do un-hashed\npasswords.\n\n~~~\ndublinclontarf\nThere are a number of online password stores where all the information is only\ndecrypted on the client. Nothing new, just not widespread. Can't remember the\nname.\n\n------\nhooande\nOhLife is one of the few apps that I use every day. If you've ever tried to\nkeep a journal or any kind of organized daily log, I highly recommend it.\n\n------\nmdolon\nI'm going to try to call this one now: my gut instinct says this will be a\nhuge success. Hopefully I remember to check back a few months down the line to\nsee how my prediction faired.\n\nGreat work guys!\n\nEdit: I just noticed lists I email don't get formatted correctly. It's\nslightly annoying for such an otherwise beautifully designed layout.\n\n------\najcronk\nThere is a typo in the url at the end of the How did your day go? email.\nShould be ohlife.com/today, not ohlife.come/today\n\n~~~\nsgupta\nThanks for the heads up!\n\n------\na3_nm\nHow exactly is this service better than, say, a simple text file on my own\nmachine with a daily reminder set up through some other means?\n\nWhy would I want to use some third-party website for something so simple that\nI might as well do it myself? I can see some pretty annoying downsides (need\nto have a crypto layer because I don't want you to be able to read my journal,\nneed to export regularly the data to my own computer because I don't want you\nto be able to lose my journal), but no real advantages (it's not even more\nconvenient!).\n\nIn any case, I believe that the two following statements, at least, are plain\nwrong:\n\n\\- \"The easiest way to write your life story\": no, the easiest way is to fire\nup a text editor and start writing.\n\n\\- \"Only you can see your entries\": should read \"Only you and us can see your\nentries\".\n\n------\nd0m\nI'm not really sure I would use this. However, I really love the website\ndesign.. It's so clean. The colors are nice. The forms are simple. Maybe a\nlittle video would be nice on the frontpage.\n\n------\nblitzo\nYou wanna drop that ned flander out, not everyone know him\n\n------\nproexploit\nI like it. Many times I've wanted to start a journal, just to record memories,\nbut I detest writing. This makes it feel easy. We'll see how it goes.\n\n------\npesco\nIn reaction to the fact that I adore the idea despite the fundamental privacy\nproblem (see earlier comment), here is my spin on the theme in the form of two\nreally simple Unix shell scripts. :)\n\n<http://www.khjk.org/log/2010/jul/journal.html>\n\nThank you for the inspiration!\n\n------\ncvg\nReally like the simplicity of the idea and clean look of the site. Already\nreplied to the welcome message - waiting for it to post to the site.\n\nI like the daily emails as I don't visit too many sites daily, apart from HN\nand Gmail. This will be an easy way to log all that I'm up to. I'm not sure\nhow regularly I'll do this, but time will tell.\n\n------\nfizzfur\ngreat now I have des'ray in my head.\n\ninteresting idea... I'll give it a go for a while until someone realises I\nemail myself everyday. Does it get angry if I don't reply?\n\nmini feedback on home page: The 'see example' link needs to scroll the page\ndown for me, I didn't spot the page grow and was waiting for it to load.\n\n------\nyequalsx\nI think the vertical spacing between the various components is too much. If\nyou could move things up a bit it would work real well. The colors, fonts, and\ngraphics are very soothing and welcoming. I just didn't expect to scroll down\nso much.\n\n------\ntechietim\nI know your homepage says that all your posts are private, however, adding a\nprivacy policy page which outlines that in legal speak would probably be good\nidea.\n\nOtherwise, this looks great, and I'm looking forward to using it!\n\n~~~\nalttab\nYes, please! Tell me in no uncertain terms you will not give away, sell, or\ncrawl my data.\n\nI will then use it as a personal journal for work purposes. Perfect for\nfilling out during the morning with a cup of coffee.\n\n------\nGlide\nLove the design. I just signed up. Can't wait to see how well it'll help me\nkeep a journal.\n\nOne thing I noticed: on the login page can you make pressing tab in the login\nbox go directly to the password input box?\n\n------\ncheesey\nPleasing, private posterous?\n\n~~~\nsami_b\nThat is what I was also thinking. You could do that on Posterous with privacy\non, you can also attach files to the email.\n\n------\ndublinclontarf\n\"Once you have a few entries here, we recommend printing them out, sitting by\na fireplace, and reading them in Morgan Freeman’s voice: \"\n\nLike a twinkie, like a twinkie.\n\n------\nTichy\nOk, nice enough, but why would I mail my private thoughts to the cloud?\nWriting a small script that mails a random email by me to myself should be\neasy enough.\n\n------\nyeti\nWell done, great concept and already I see a practical use for it in my life\n(tracking a new fitness program)\n\nThanks guys\n\n------\nchamza\nLove the idea. Good work fellas\n\n------\nfaramarz\nVery cool. Does that mean YC has a vested interest in your side project?\n\n------\nsomeone_here\nMay I ask how this is different from, say, private wordpress.com blogs?\n\n~~~\npclark\nI think they clearly articulate this on the home page\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nKinect automation controller, sparked by HN, adds WebGL, available for purchase - nitrogen\nhttp://nitrogen.posterous.com/webgl-new-features-added-to-kinect-powered-ho\n======\ncarbon14\nWatched the video. Looks very solid. I'm interested in getting this setup for\nmy HTPC/server and lamps. It could certainly save some energy as well as look\ncool.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nNew data supports finding that 30% of servers are ‘comatose’ [pdf] - r721\nhttp://anthesisgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Case-Study_DataSupports30PercentComatoseEstimate-FINAL_06032015.pdf\n\n======\ndang\nUrl changed from [http://www.computerworld.com/article/2937408/data-\ncenter/1-i...](http://www.computerworld.com/article/2937408/data-\ncenter/1-in-3-data-center-servers-is-a-zombie.html), which points to this.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAmazon S3: New pricing model - unfoldedorigami\nhttp://blogs.smugmug.com/don/2007/05/01/amazon-s3-new-pricing-model/\n======\nvlad\nAdditional info (from the e-mail I received) in case anybody cares:\n\n\"P.S. Please note that the reduced bandwidth rates shown above will also take\neffect for Amazon EC2 and Amazon SQS. The bandwidth tier in which you will be\ncharged each month will be calculated based on your use of each of these\nservices separately, and could therefore vary across services.\"\n\n------\nyaacovtp\nCan anyone tell me what bandwidth costs a month once you need over a terabyte\na month? How would you host a 5-10 mb movie that may be viewed millions of\ntimes without using a 3rd party video host like youtube etc?\n\n~~~\nespeckman\nLots of dedicated hosts will include a 2-5 TB of transfer a month for\n$100-500. Media temple will sell 1TB chunks on shared hosting for $20/month.\n\nI've seen dedicated hosts that price bandwidth above their included allotment\nat $500 per TB. You can also buy based on peak bandwidth.\n\nYou'll see quite a range depending on business models, peak transfer caps,\netc. Mediatemple, for example, is clearly hoping that most people will never\nneed their full allotment, and when they do, they only need it occasionally.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Secret Lives of NYC Mega-Projects - aaronbrethorst\nhttp://gizmodo.com/the-photographer-who-documents-the-secret-life-of-nyc-m-1697968505\n======\npartisan\nI recently spoke to a few people who have worked on these large scale\nmunicipal projects. We think we have a hard time managing active software\nprojects. These projects have change orders alone worth well into the 10s of\nmillions. There are so many moving parts, literally, that it is a miracle they\nget completed at all.\n\nI don't find the choice of photos particularly inspiring, from an artistic\nsense, but it is nice to have a peak into that world.\n\n------\ndanjayh\nThese projects are amazing. Seeing the work that goes into just a single\nsubway line makes it absolutely mind blowing to me that China has managed to\nbuild entire metropolises, complete with subway systems, in well under a\ndecade. These photos are absolutely fantastic, and I'm happy to have had the\nopportunity to see some of what goes into this kind of work.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFirst photograph of light as both a particle and wave (2015) - ThomPete\nhttp://m.phys.org/news/2015-03-particle.html\n======\nmsimpson\nThis article is much more clear on what the image actually represents:\n[http://www.livescience.com/50019-image-light-wave-\nparticle.h...](http://www.livescience.com/50019-image-light-wave-\nparticle.html)\n\n\"A clever technique and an ultrafast electron microscope have caught an image\nof light behaving as both particle and wave at the same time. Here, the wave\nnature is demonstrated in the wavy upper portion, while the particle behavior\nis revealed below, in the outlines showing energy quantization.\"\n\nCredit: Fabrizio Carbone/EPFL\n\nAlso, this was all published on March 2, 2015.\n\n------\ndeckar01\nIt took me a few reads for this to sink in.\n\nQuantum interference causes standing waves. Electron-photon particle\ncollisions cause detectable energy release. The particle collisions occur in\nan interference pattern.\n\n~~~\nEarthIsHome\nYes, and the colors describe the speeds of the particles as a result of tbe\nelectron-photon collisions.\n\nIt's not necessarily the particles we're seeing, just the particle behaviors\nfrom their collisions.\n\n------\n_nalply\nSwiss here. The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), where this\nexperiment has been carried out, is one of the two federal institutes of\ntechnology, the other one is the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich\n(ETHZ).\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique_F%C3%...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique_F%C3%A9d%C3%A9rale_de_Lausanne)\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETH_Zurich](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETH_Zurich)\n\n------\nnsxwolf\nIt didn't explain the picture.\n\n~~~\nleksak\nYeah, I don't know how to interpret it. It's not immediately obvious to me\nthat I'm looking at a wave and particles at the same time.\n\n~~~\nURSpider94\nWhat the image represents is the energy loss/gain of a whole bunch of\nelectrons that interact one at a time with a light wave traveling along a tiny\nmetal wire (we call this kind of captive light wave a \"phonon\").\n\nFor each electron fired at the wire, it can either pass through unscathed, or\nit can interact with an electron and scatter off with a different energy, like\ntwo billiard balls hitting each other. The collision is fundamentally a\ncollision between two particles. However, the fact that the properties of the\ncollisions vary sinusoidally along the length of the wire imply that the\nphoton is also acting like a wave oscillating up and down the wire.\n\nI disagree that this is the \"first time\" that we've observed simultaneous\nwave-particle behavior, you can see the same thing by firing photons at two\nnarrowly-placed slits. This results in a diffraction pattern as if the photons\nwere interfering like waves, but we can confirm that we're detecting single\nphotons at the detector, and you can even confirm that each photon travels\nthrough one slit or the other ... See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-\nslit_experiment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-slit_experiment)\n\n~~~\nAnimalMuppet\nOne nit: A phonon is a vibration of a lattice, not light.\n\n~~~\nURSpider94\nYep, that should have said \"plasmon\". I messed up all of my comments on this\nthread. A plasmon isn't technically light either, it's an oscillation of the\nelectric field in a conductor -- but it has wave/particle duality like a\nphoton.\n\n------\nemerongi\nIt's hard to grasp what was really captured on that image, but this still\ndoesn't rule out the pilot wave theory. I think it's misleading to call it a\nphotograph of light \"as both a particle and wave\".\n\n------\namelius\nI have a question about QM, which perhaps somebody here can answer: Is\nquantization an inherent property of the photon, or is it a property of the\nmaterial (or of the interaction with it)?\n\n~~~\nURSpider94\nThe other answers posted here are not quite right. Light energy is indeed\ninherently quantized, and a photon is one quantum of light. In other words,\nyou can't have a half-photon of light, only even multiples.\n\nEinstein wrote the equation \"E = h*(nu)\", where h is the so-called \"Planck's\nconstant\", and nu is the frequency of light. Translated, this means that each\nphoton carries an amount of energy proportional to its frequency, higher-\nfrequency photons (IR -> red -> blue -> UV -> X-ray) carry more energy.\n\ntl;dr: Quantization is an inherent property of light.\n\n~~~\namelius\n> E = h*(nu)\n\nYes, but the question is whether that is due to the material not being able to\nproduce non-quantized photons. Stated differently, suppose we had a different\nway of generating photons, then could we theoretically create them in a non-\nquantized way?\n\n~~~\nlisivka\nYep. They called \"radiowaves\".\n\n~~~\namelius\nSounds logical, but then again, how fundamental is the \"Q\" in \"QM\"?\n\n~~~\nlisivka\nExtremely. Broken quanta will release its energy. Check solitons (example:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD32kkoFU3Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD32kkoFU3Y)\n). Soliton wave can cross ocean, but if you broke it pattern, you will have\nregular waves, not a half of solition.\n\n------\nshshhdhs\nThis is really cool! What's the reason for the blue & violet colors to be\nraised more than others in the wave?\n\nIs it just the timing of the snapshot? As in, another picture might show\nanother color at the top of the wave? Or is the standing wave \"stuck\" in that\nposition?\n\n~~~\nmdturnerphys\nThat's just the color scale they've used for the z axis.\n\n------\nmzs\n[https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-03/epfd-\ntfe0301...](https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-03/epfd-\ntfe030115.php)\n\n------\nKoshkin\n> _an exchange of energy \"packets\" (quanta) between electrons and photons_\n\nI thought that photons _are_ the energy quanta (that electrons can _absorb_ or\nlose).\n\n------\nposterboy\nDarn the ambiguous english language, do they mean the photograph is a\nparticle-wave? because that wouldn't be a first. /s\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: What are the best Bay Area programming meetups? - fuqted\nSpecifically for someone looking to learn. I&#x27;m in Oakland and pretty open as far as languages go.<p>What meetups do you guys go to?\n======\ndhruvkar\nThe east bay python meetup is pretty relaxed, and has grown quite a bit in the\nlast year.\n\nIt's at Lost and Found on Telegraph on the 1st Tuesday of every month.\n\n[http://meetu.ps/e/.chxnhlyvpbcb/9Plqj/a](http://meetu.ps/e/.chxnhlyvpbcb/9Plqj/a)\n\n~~~\nfuqted\nOk, I'll check that out thanks. I've gone to the weekly Js meeting at L & F.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSwitch generic icon to negative feedback for non-https sites - diafygi\nhttps://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1041087\n\n======\ncodezero\nThere have been a few times when I've got a legitimate red icon for bad\ncertificates and what not. Pushing this to the rest of the web will mean I'll\nmiss real errors through the noise because they happen so infrequently that\nI'll just stop checking if every website has a red icon.\n\n~~~\nbriansmith\nBrowsers completely stop the page from loading and show a full-page error for\na certificate error. There's a huge difference between that and a small icon\nin the location bar. Plus, if the red icon that is suggested in that bug\nreport is too loud, a less loud indicator could be used instead.\n\nThere's a lot more to designing a UI for this than just changing the icon. For\nexample, when you type \"foo.com\" into the address bar, browsers generally\ndefault to \"[http://foo.com\"](http://foo.com\") instead of\n\"[https://foo.com.\"](https://foo.com.\") And, consequently, browsers tend to\nshow \"[http://foo.com\"](http://foo.com\") as \"foo.com\" to suggest that you\ndon't need to type the \"[http://\"](http://\") part. All of that needs to change\nto become a lot smarter in order for this type of idea to succeed. However, it\ndoesn't seem completely unreasonable to consider making all those changes. In\nfact, I think these changes should be a high priority for browsers makers.\n\ntl;dr: I suggest people brainstorm ways to improve upon the idea to make it\nworkable, instead of trying to shoot it down.\n\n~~~\ncodezero\nHonestly, I'd prefer a heuristic that could determine whether https was\nsignificant on the current URL. Are there submitted values, cookies of\nimportance, get parameters? There are a lot of reasons https is important and\nthere are a lot of places where it's totally not important.\n\nIf you draw people's attention to something that isn't seriously important,\nthen those times when the whole screen sends a warning you go, \"oh well, I had\nthat red warning going all along and it didn't matter, so why do I care?\"\n\nI am saying that by pushing a warning where it's not necessary, you diminish\nthe value of any warning.\n\n~~~\nbriansmith\n> There are a lot of places where it's totally not important.\n\nSee my other replies on this page for some reasons why I think there are no\npages where HTTPS is not important.\n\nI agree with you regarding the UI issues and the potential to generate apathy\nby crying wolf. That's why I think that the specifics of the linked-to\nproposal won't work. But, I think the general idea is worth investigating. It\njust requires some user research.\n\nAlso, the fact that browsers support a non-HTTPS mode at all is really the\nbigger UI issue. Imagine if HTTPS was the only option. The biggest UI security\nproblems would instantly vanish! That's a big reason why a lot of people are\nactively working so hard on finding ways to make HTTPS work for everybody on\nevery site.\n\n------\nmplewis\nPutting a red icon on 90% of all websites means the meaning of the icon will\njust saturate and people won't pay attention to the red icon any more.\n\n~~~\nbriansmith\nFWIW, ~33% of all pages are loaded over HTTPS already in Firefox, according to\nthe metrics collected by the browser. And, over 50% of all HTTP requests\n(including subresources like images and scripts embedded on a page) are over\nHTTPS, again according to the usage data collected by the browser.\n\n~~~\nscrollaway\nI'd be willing to bet quite high all these HTTPS requests are all on the same\nspecific services (facebook, gmail, google would already take most of them).\n\n------\ndanso\nNo.\n\nNot all sites exchange data worth the SSL-layer...let's say, 30-50% of the\nsites...that means for roughly half a user's non-email/social-networking web-\nbrowsing, they're going to either be saturated with a warning message that, if\npsychology research is to believed, is going to be promptly ignored like your\napartment's super-sensitive smoke detector or the boy watching out for wolves.\n\nWhat's the actual reasoning in OP's mind here? That the average web user is\nsomeone who, when the computer gives some warning sign that is disconnected\nfrom any kind of discernable threat, that the user will automatically take it\nseriously? That they'll demand to know why they're in danger, and then will\nrise up and petition the Internet regulatory commission to make all sites do\nwhat it takes to make that red icon go away, and the web will be more secure?\n\nI don't want to be overtly negative towards well-intended idealism, but this\nis such a bizarrely naive viewpoint that it must be openly challenged. That,\nand it just blithely ignores all the research showing what happens when humans\nare overloaded with impotent warning signs. This is the kind of idealism-\nwithout-consequences that can end up causing more harm than good.\n\n~~~\nscrollaway\nThis is not a user-oriented proposal, this is clearly directed at the website\nowners which are not going to want _their_ users to see red stuff on the URL\nbar.\n\n~~~\ndanso\nNot a bad strategy. Until the website owners take the path of least resistance\nbetween:\n\nA. Reconfiguring their stack to use SSL.\n\nB. Putting a Javascript-powered banner helpfully informing all Firefox users\nthat their browser has a security flaw (\"that's why that red icon is there\")\nand they should follow the included hyperlinks to install the latest versions\nof Internet Explorer or Chrome and then delete Firefox from their systems.\n\n~~~\nscrollaway\nThat B strategy might have worked a few years back for grandmas that got\nFirefox installed by their geeky grandson, but Firefox is popular now. And\npeople (geek or no geek) don't like being told the stuff _they_ use is not\ngood.\n\nHere's an experiment you can do at home: Try telling an emacs user Vim is\nbetter.\n\n------\nomni\nWhy should my blog of static pages need to be served over HTTPS to avoid\nhaving Firefox slap a scary red icon next to it?\n\n~~~\nscrollaway\nWhy shouldn't it is the real question.\n\nThere's a parallel universe where ssh is plaintext, and only \"sensitive\ncommands\", such as \"sudo\", are encrypted. In that universe though, plaintext\nHTTP doesn't exist and they're making fun of us.\n\n~~~\nmynameisvlad\nBecause no sensitive content is being transferred. Why put the extra hassle of\ngetting and installing a non-self-signed certificate for a blog where the user\ndoesn't even submit data? There's no reason for that connection to be secure.\n\n~~~\nscrollaway\n> Because no sensitive content is being transferred.\n\nYou're answering \"why\" instead of answering \"why not\" again. \"Why should you\nlock your door if you don't have anything expensive?\"\n\nPlaintext HTTP should not exist, then we wouldn't be having this discussion. I\nwouldn't have to come up with elaborate scenarios where having HTTPS from the\nget go would have saved lives, and you wouldn't have to come up with crazy\n\"but that'll never happen\" retort to them.\n\nUnfortunately, plaintext HTTP exists, so here we are, with me telling you that\nthe pro-gay rights piece you wrote on your static blog contains keywords that\nmake it be viewed as extremism/terrorism by Russia's automated monitoring\nsystems and anyone reading it gets immediately added to a watchlist.\nUnfortunately, a few of your readers are from russia and six months later\nthose readers join a political protest against the killing of kittens or\nsomething. Their government notices that and makes sure to \"take action\". And\nto think HTTPS could have avoided that.\n\n~~~\nYver\n> \"Why should you lock your door if you don't have anything expensive?\"\n\nLocks come standard on every door, they don't expire after a given time and\nevery child knows how to use them. See how your comparison to acquiring,\nsetting up and maintainning an SSL certificate is nonsensical?\n\n> And to think HTTPS could have avoided that.\n\nIf the NSA tags people who look for info on TOR as extremists, an hypothetical\nstate might tag people who use HTTPS. And to think that HTTP could have\navoided that! I mean, if every argument is an hypothetical, anything is\npossible.\n\n~~~\nscrollaway\nIf HTTPS is used globally, people can't be flagged for using it (or the flags\nend up being useless). Right now, you are correct, people could hypothetically\nbe flagged for using HTTPS. This would not happen if every static blog and\nwhat not out there would use it.\n\nThank you for reinforcing my point, I appreciate the help.\n\n------\nrcthompson\nWhat about warning the user when they start to type in a login box on a non-\nhttps site? Browsers should already know what is a login box, since they know\nhow to prompt you to remember the password.\n\n~~~\ntimmclean\nSort of like what IE used to do the first time you submitted a form?\n\n[http://bmlinks-committee.jbmia.or.jp/eng/image/EnDlg03.gif](http://bmlinks-\ncommittee.jbmia.or.jp/eng/image/EnDlg03.gif)\n\n~~~\nscrollaway\nTalk about full circle.\n\n------\njohn2x\nThe proposed icon is hard to parse. Better an open lock? And maybe in orange\ninstead of jarring red.\n\nOr even better, make the secure icon something universally positive, like a\ngreen smiley face or a check mark. Then the insecure icon can be an orange sad\nface or X mark. (Lock icon can be ambiguous to non-techies. i.e. why is the\nurl locked? or is that a suitcase/purse?)\n\n------\nKarunamon\nGreeaaaat. Just what everyone needs. An extra expense and further entrenchment\nof our exploitative CA system.\n\nI like this idea, but not when it puts more money in the pocket of the CAs.\n\n~~~\nscrollaway\nIf a better/broader alternative to CAs comes along and is adopted (say, such\nas SPDY), I take it the icon would behave the same way. Your comment is really\nunwarranted...\n\nNot to mention this is just some random guy. It's not like mozilla is actually\nthinking about this (they really should).\n\n~~~\nKarunamon\n>Your comment is really unwarranted...\n\nNot really - changes like this don't exist in a vacuum. Anything that makes\nthe existing CA's more indispensable (say, by driving customers their way by\nmaking it appear bad to not do business with them) is a net negative.\n\n------\nkbaker\nThey should at least wait for DANE + DNSSEC, which is a tangible (and free)\nalternative to the CA system, even though it would still be quite a bit of\neffort.\n\nI'd be curious to know how this would affect local servers in the intranet.\nSurely we wouldn't want to have to start issuing certs for everything inside\nthe firewall as well?\n\nI think this is a bit too shortsighted of a bug report. Anyways, since this is\nnot an official proposal, I think it will just be closed as invalid by\nMozilla.\n\n------\npeterkelly\nI vote for the NSA logo\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMichael Arndt to Write Screenplay for Star Wars: Episode VII - jwallaceparker\nhttp://starwars.com/news/michael-arndt-to-write-screenplay-for-star-wars-episode-vii.html\n======\nlazugod\n...you posted this eleven times.\n\n~~~\ndfc\nTwelve times. I flagged 11 of them.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe New Mind Control: How the Internet Flips Elections and Alters Our Thoughts - Jerry2\nhttps://aeon.co/essays/how-the-internet-flips-elections-and-alters-our-thoughts\n======\ndc2\n\"Google and its top executives donated more than $800,000 to President Barack\nObama and just $37,000 to his opponent, Mitt Romney.\"\n\nDid you just Alter My Thoughts? How much of that $837,000 was Google versus\nits top executives (based on their personal preferences)?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhich is better on Android: divide by 2 or shift by 1? - zdw\nhttps://jakewharton.com/which-is-better-on-android-divide-by-two-or-shift-by-one/\n======\nanyfoo\nThorough work. Going back to the premise, I want to offer an alternative\nviewpoint by asking whether, in the case of binary trees implemented by\narrays, “integer division by 2” of the array index is necessarily the best\ninterpretation of what you are trying to do here?\n\nInstead, you can also see the array index as a bit string, where every bit\ntells you which path to go down, left or right. In that case, “shifting right\nby one bit” moves you up to the parent. “Shifting left” moves you down to the\nleft child. Flipping one bit flips you over to the other child. Bit wise\noperations indeed seem more natural with that interpretation.\n\nA lot of “power of 2” multiplication/division has similar interpretations. For\nexample, when walking page tables, you could see walking down the levels as\n“dividing by the size of the granule”, or simply as “shifting right to select\nthe index on that level”.\n\nNo contest on anything where the power of 2 is coincidence, i.e. for non\n“computery” things where there is no such underlying structure.\n\n~~~\nyiyus\nI had a slightly similar experience at work. We deal a lot with angles and\nbinary angles are often the most efficient representation. Many colleagues\nfind it annoying because they insist on converting every binary angle to\nradian or degrees, but if you actually interpret the bits as successive\ndivisions of a circumference, I actually find the binary representation way\nmore intuitive than a floating point number.\n\n~~~\nslavik81\nThat method is exactly equivalent to using revolutions as the unit with a\nfixed-point numeric representation. Maybe your skeptical colleagues would find\nthat perspective more palatable?\n\n~~~\nyiyus\nThat's some good advice. Unfortunately, most of the people I work with do not\nhave a computer science background (they are materials scientists and\nmechanical engineers), so they are not familiarized with fixed-point\narithmetic neither.\n\n------\ntwoodfin\nI appreciate the thorough exploration and resulting detail in this article.\nStill, I find it a little sad that either the state of our toolchains or the\nperception thereof prevent it from being self-evident that basic strength\nreduction will always happen, and developers need not worry about the cost of\nexpressing simple arithmetic operations in the clearest way.\n\n~~~\nbsder\nI would go further in that many programmers don't understand the difference\nbetween logical and arithmetic operations and why they exist.\n\nI have had to puzzle over far too much code doing\nadds/subtracts/multiplies/divides instead of and/or/xor/shift _FAR_ too often.\n\nI blame Java not having an unsigned type. There are apparently some weird\ntricks you can do with arithmetic in Java that operate on things like an\nunsigned type without having to go up to the next higher integer width.\n\n~~~\nvbezhenar\nWhat exactly do you miss in Java? It's possible to treat int as unsigned for\nall the necessary operations.\n\n~~~\nblibble\nplus Java's had various unsigned integer operations on Integer for years\n\n------\nlgessler\nQuestion from a perf noob: it seems like this in principle only shows that\nthere's no difference for a Pixel 3 because other Android machines could have\nprocessors that have/lack an optimization for shift or divide. Couldn't a\ndifferent Android phone have different performance characteristics?\n\n~~~\nlgg\nIt is not that the processor that contains an optimization per se. The thing\nto understand is that shift is fundamentally a simpler operation than\nmultiply... a shift can be implemented with a few transistors per bit and done\nin a single cycle trivially. A multiply unit takes tons of transistors, and\noften takes multiple cycles (this is a trade off you make when you design a\nmultiply unit, you can save space by making it work on smaller integers and\nreusing it multiple times over several cycles to do multiplies of larger\nintegers, just you like you iteratively multiply digits one you do it on paper\nby hand). Even on processors that have single cycle multipliers it takes a lot\nmore power to do a multiply than a shift because of all the extra hardware you\nneed to engage.\n\nSince shifts are fundamentally simpler than multiplies it always makes sense\nto do this transform. This is one of a number of transforms that are generally\ncalled \"strength reductions\"\n<[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strength_reduction>](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strength_reduction>),\nconverting for a more general expensive operation into a more constrained\ncheaper operation. In this case it is the equivalent to knowing that if you\nwant to multiply a number by 10 you can just add a 0 at the beginning instead\nof having to write all the work by hand.\n\nThe only reason not to do this transform would be if you had a CPU that\nliterally does not have a shift operation, but I cannot think of any such\npart. Even if you did have such a part, the odds are you could emulate a shift\nusing other other instructions and still outperform the multiply.\n\nThis has been a standard optimization for half a century. The original C\ncompiler for the PDP-11 did these transforms even when you turned off\noptimizations\n<[http://c-faq.com/misc/shifts.html>](http://c-faq.com/misc/shifts.html>).\n\n~~~\ncogman10\n> This has been a standard optimization for half a century. The original C\n> compiler for the PDP-11 did these transforms even when you turned off\n> optimizations\n\nConsider this, a common easily applied optimization that compilers have been\ndoing for half a century MAY have made it's way into modern CPUs.\n\nTransistors aren't nearly as power hungry as you paint them and CPUs aren't\nnearly as bad at optimization. There is no reason to switch a multiply or\ndivide for a shift. The ONLY reason to make that switch is if you are dealing\nwith the simplest of processors (Such as a microwave processors). If you are\nusing anything developed in the last 10 years that consumes more than 1W of\npower, chances are really high that the you aren't saving any power by using\nshifts instead of multiples. It is the sort of micro-optimization that\nfundamentally misunderstands how modern CPUs actually work and over estimates\nhow much power or space transistors actually need.\n\n~~~\nreitzensteinm\nSince it's what I'm typing this on, let's look at Skylake.\n\nMultiply: Latency 3, Throughput 1 Shift: Latency 1, Throughput 2\n\nIf the ALU contained an early out or fast path for simpler multiplies, the\nlatency would read 1-3. You can verify this by looking at div, which does\nearly out and has a latency of 35-88.\n\nAny compiler that doesn't swap a multiply to a shift when it can is negligent.\n\n[https://www.agner.org/optimize/instruction_tables.pdf](https://www.agner.org/optimize/instruction_tables.pdf)\n\n------\nnecovek\nI am really struggling to understand the benchmark output quoted.\n\nCan anyone elaborate what does benchmark=3/4 ns mean, and the count? Is the\nset-up part of the benchmark (test structure suggest not, but just to make\nsure)?\n\nThe only way I can read it is that 4000 divisions takes 4ns, and 4000 shift-\nrights takes 3ns, but that only has 1 digit of precision, which makes it\nunusable for comparison, but even then suggests a 25%/33% difference, which is\nnot insignificant.\n\nAlso, the VM seems to optimise multiply out, so it must be doing it for a\nreason.\n\n~~~\nthechao\nIt's definitely not 4000 divisions per 4ns — that'd imply a terahertz\ncomputer. I think it's saying that the amortized cost of 4000 divisions is 4ns\nper division. Small integer division is an \"easy win\" for a dedicated HW path,\nso it doesn't surprise me that it's only a little slower than a shift-right.\nVariable length right shifts aren't that fast.\n\n~~~\nbonzini\nIt's not small integer division that is being benchmarked, the JIT compiler\nhas reduced it to an addition, a conditional move and a right shift. This\nsequence is then benchmarked against the right shift.\n\n~~~\nsaagarjha\nART is an AOT complier, is it not?\n\n~~~\nmonocasa\nIt's both AOT and JIT.\n\n[https://source.android.com/devices/tech/dalvik/jit-\ncompiler](https://source.android.com/devices/tech/dalvik/jit-compiler)\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nWith a PGO cache updated across execution runs and devices (since Android 10\nPGO data is shared across the Play Store).\n\n~~~\nignoramous\nFor anyone like me wondering what a PGO is:\n[https://source.android.com/devices/tech/perf/pgo](https://source.android.com/devices/tech/perf/pgo)\n\n------\nMithrilTuxedo\nNow I'm wondering if there's a power usage difference between the two.\n\nIt stands to reason that if two operations take the same amount of time, but\none requires more transistors to compute, power usage should diverge.\n\n~~~\nwmf\nFor scalar instructions, most of the energy is consumed in scheduling not\nexecuting them. This means that cycles is a good proxy for total energy.\n\n------\nsaurik\nEveryone is talking about this microoptimization on the math of the access but\nall I can think about is how the data structure you are building using this is\nprobably memory bandwidth limited and powers-of-two storage is almost\ndefinitely going to cause some kind of cache line aliasing, so maybe you\nshould try something non-obvious like \"division by 3\" (after doing three key\ncomparisons instead of one) and see if it makes your algorithm much much\nfaster than messing around with a division by 2; there was even some good\nanalysis of this effect a while back I can reference.\n\n[https://pvk.ca/Blog/2012/07/30/binary-search-is-a-\npathologic...](https://pvk.ca/Blog/2012/07/30/binary-search-is-a-pathological-\ncase-for-caches/)\n\n------\nsambe\nAm I mis-reading this? The article keeps claiming there is no difference but\nthe way I read it the compiler(s) are transforming mul/div to shifts. i.e. it\nvery likely _is_ faster on the hardware but it won't matter for this\nparticular toolchain because of the conversion.\n\n~~~\nchrisseaton\n> Am I mis-reading this? The article keeps claiming there is no difference but\n> the way I read it the compiler(s) are transforming mul/div to shifts. i.e.\n> it very likely is faster on the hardware but it won't matter for this\n> particular toolchain because of the conversion.\n\nThere is no difference... because of the conversion.\n\n~~~\nsambe\nRight: for now, in certain situations, on the tested toolchain.\n\nEven ignoring those caveats, several commentators seem to have got the\nimpression that this applies to the CPU.\n\n~~~\nuluyol\nThese types of transformations are simple to detect, well known, and applied\nby ~every compiler.\n\nUnless you have evidence otherwise (ASM differences or benchmarks), there is\nno use in manually transforming your arithmetic into something more complex\nbut faster. The compiler will do it for you.\n\n~~~\nsambe\nI think that's a point which is bordering on religious - many people would\ndebate trusting the compiler, especially over time and more complex\nsituations.\n\nI'd certainly tend to agree with you in general but more for the reason that\nthe compiler can abstract over hardware changes across time. I'd take that\nbenefit over the risk of the optimisation not being applied for most code I\nwrite - non-optimisations would be considered bugs and probably/eventually\nfixed.\n\nI'd strongly disagree the code is more complex (in this case).\n\n~~~\nmerlincorey\nIt especially seems religious to me because it's saying that somehow \"/ 2\" is\nsimpler than \">> 1\" because it has one less character for the symbol, and\nbecause division is a more commonly known operator to most people than bitwise\nshifting.\n\nIt seems to me that they are equally simple if we assume that programmers\ndealing with low level or performance intensive code know what a bitwise shift\nis and ignore the extra character, then they are literally equivalently\ncomplicated expressions with 1 symbol and 1 value applied to the symbol.\n\n~~~\nkadoban\nCode does not happen in a vacuum. Which is more understandable/simple depends\non the domain of the code in question. Usually that's going to be the multiply\nor the divide.\n\n~~~\nmerlincorey\nRight, but my statement was that the domain would be low level or performance\nintensive code -- do you disagree that in that domain they are equally simple?\n\n------\nremcob\nAnother fast way to double a number is to add it to itself.\n\n~~~\nfyp\nIsn't that the wrong direction for the optimization? I would assume you would\nwant to compile adding two numbers into shifting by one, not the other way\naround.\n\n(I know nothing about hardware, it just intuitively seems like moving a bunch\nof bits over by 1 should be faster than dealing with xor and carries)\n\n~~~\njcranmer\nIn hardware terms, adders are simpler than shifters. You can usually do both\nin a single cycle, but it's going to be lower power to do the add instead of\nthe shift.\n\nTo put this in more concrete terms: an N-bit adder involves N 1-bit stages to\nadd each bit, and then a 1-bit carry network on top of that, which has N\nstages in it. So overall, it's O(N) in terms of hardware. An N-bit shift unit\nis going to use lg N N-bit muxes--or O(N lg N) in terms of hardware. Total\ngate delay in both cases is O(lg N), but adders have O(N) hardware (and thus\nenergy consumption) while shifters have O(N lg N).\n\nA secondary consequence of being larger area is that a superscalar\narchitecture may choose to have one execution unit that has an adder and a\nshifter and a second that only has the adder. So an addition may schedule\nbetter than a shift, since there are more things it can execute on.\n\n~~~\nTuna-Fish\n> To put this in more concrete terms: an N-bit adder involves N 1-bit stages\n> to add each bit, and then a 1-bit carry network on top of that, which has N\n> stages in it. So overall, it's O(N) in terms of hardware.\n\nO(N) adders cannot meet the latency demands of modern high-frequency CPUs. The\nactual complexity of adders in real CPUs is usually O(N²).\n\n------\nAnimats\nHe did this in Java? In one case, running on an emulator? That's removed too\nfar from the hardware for this kind of benchmarking. Try in a hard-compiled\nlanguage.\n\nUsing shifts for constant divide has been a compiler code generator\noptimization for decades. This is not something programmers have needed to\nworry about in source code for a long time, unless targeting some small\nmicrocontroller that lacks fast divide hardware.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nJava is a hard-compiled language on Android since version 5.0.\n\nART, which replaced Dalvik on 5.0 (available as experimental on 4.4), was AOT\nonly up to version 7.0.\n\nAs it was proven that Android users lack the patience of a C++ developer when\nupdating their apps, Google adopted another approach with version 7.0.\n\nA multi-tier compiler infrastructure, composed by a very fast interpreter hand\nwritten in Assembly for fast startup, a JIT compiler for the first\noptimization level, with gathering of PGO data, then the AOT compiler runs in\nthe background and when the device is idle gets that PGO data and just like a\nC++ compiler with PGO data, outputs a clean AOT compiled binary for the usual\nuser workflow.\n\nIn case of an update or changes in the workflow that trigger the execution of\ncode that wasn't AOT compiled, the process restarts.\n\nAs means to reduce this kind of de-optimizations, since Android 10 those PGO\nfiles are uploaded into the Play Store and when a user installs an application\nthat already has PGO data available, it is downloaded alongside the APK and\nthe AOT compiler can do its job right from the start.\n\nIn any case, he used _dex2aot_ which is the AOT compiler daemon on Android.\n\nMicrosoft has gone through similar process with .NET for UWP, with the main\ndifference that the AOT compiler lives on the Microsoft store and what gets\ndownloaded is already straight binary code.\n\nApparently mixing language capabilities with toolchains keeps being an issue.\n\n------\nrenewiltord\nHow come the division is almost the same as the shifting? Is the CPU\npipelining the operations between iterations of the loop or something? There\nis a direct data-dependency in those operations but not between iterations so\nperhaps that's it?\n\nAFAIK there's no fused add-shift op that could be used.\n\n------\nesnellman\nGiven the number of execution loops. The profiler applied an optimization.\nDon't expect this optimization during initial executions or seldom used code\nor cases where properties of the method do not allow it to be optimized; be it\non Android VMs or JVMs.\n\n------\npacman83\nApart from the fact that compilers are really good and generally will choose\nthe best option for you, it seems like it boils down to what processor is\nused. On Android aren't ARM processors the most common?\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nYes, followed by some Intel and MIPS survivors.\n\n------\njejones3141\nIf it's signed int, unless you know the value is positive you can't just shift\nright 1--if the result of the shift is negative, you have to add 1.\n\n~~~\nchrisseaton\nCan't you do an arithmetic shift-right? That takes the sign into account.\n\n~~~\njcranmer\nNo. An arithmetic shift right does a division that rounds down; an integer\ndivision operation instead truncates (rounds to zero). The easiest example is\n-1 / 2: -1 / 2 is 0, but -1 ashr 1 is -1.\n\nTo replace a signed division with ashr, you have to know that for all negative\ninputs, the value of the bits shifted out are all 0.\n\n------\nToo\nI thought this discussion was settled 30 years ago?\n\nWrite what you want to do, not how to do it. There is no difference.\n\n------\nnicetryguy\n...So the Dalvik VM sucks?\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nYes it sucks, that is why it was replaced by ART on Android 5.0.\n\n~~~\nnicetryguy\nAh, i haven't kept up. Anyway, a right bit shift should absolutely be quicker\nthan floating point or even integer division. If it isn't, that is an\nimplementation problem.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nART as of Android 10, combines an hand written interpreter in Assembly, a JIT\ncompiler that generates PGO data as well, and an AOT PGO based optimizing\ncompiler capable of doing bounds check elision, de-virtualization, auto-\nvectorization, escape analysis and a couple of other traditional\noptimizations.\n\nThe PGO metadata files also get shared across devices via the Play Store as\nmeans to steer the AOT compiler into the optimal level of optimization across\nall users of the application.\n\nI assume that at the current level of ongoing ART optimizations, the team\nwould consider that a compiler bug.\n\n~~~\nnicetryguy\nAwesome info! Thanks!\n\nWhat would you recommend for an IDE? I used Eclipse some years ago. Is that\nstill common?\n\nI may want to experiment with some Android flavored Java again.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nAndroid Studio is the official IDE, it is a merge of InteliJ with Clion and\nGoogle specific plugins.\n\n------\nmadhato\nIs there an advantage of using multiply by .5 versus divide by 2?\n\n~~~\nfox8091\nMultiply by 0.5 would be slower, as it's a floating point operation rather\nthan simple arithmetic.\n\n------\nnipxx\nif these kinds of optimizations make a difference for your applications write\nit in native code, dammitl\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nWhich pretty much means Assembly, given that Java and Koltin go through JVM\nand DEX bytecodes to machine code, and C and C++ on Android go through LLVM\nbitcode to machine code.\n\n------\ntemac\nTLDR: it is the same, like it should.\n\nWe are in 2020. Don't shift by 1 instead of /2 if you mean to /2.\n\n~~~\nOrgNet\nlol... if you care about optimizing, you should care about all possible\noptimizations... (even if most of today's platforms don't)\n\n~~~\ntemac\nYeah but you should also then understand what will yield real results, and >>1\ninstead of /2 has become useless to write manually a long time ago, whereas\ne.g. continuous memory is more important than ever. You will not optimize a\nlot by attempting micro techniques from 30 years ago.\n\nOther random example: in some edge cases, integer division replacement by a\nmultiplication _can_ still be relevant today (depends on if its a constant,\nthe compiler, and if nothing optimized also on the exact processor, though,\nbecause last models are already ultra-fast with the real integer divide\ninstructions), but I suspect in 15 years (maybe even 10) this will be\ncompletely irrelevant, at least for high perf targets.\n\n------\ndrivebycomment\nNews at 11 - someone learned strength reduction exists, which have been in use\nfor the past 4 decades.\n\n~~~\nanyfoo\nHad you read the article, you would have known that the question answered here\nwas whether, and where in the process, strength reduction was actually\napplied.\n\n------\nfefe23\nA few points.\n\n1\\. Looking at the Java bytecode is practically meaningless, you would have to\nlook at the machine code the JIT is creating.\n\n2\\. A division by 2 is identical to a shift right by 1 only if the integer is\nunsigned. Java integers are signed. Try this program in C to see for yourself:\n\nint foo(int a) { return a/2; } int bar(int a) { return a>>1; }\n\nRun gcc -S -O2 to get assembly output in text form.\n\nBasically, the problem is this:\n\n5/2 -> 2 (ok, rounds down)\n\n5>>1 -> 2 (ok, same)\n\n-5/2 -> -2 (ok, rounds down)\n\n-5>>1 -> -3 (oops!)\n\n3\\. The question is really about the JIT backend for the target platform,\nwhich means CPU platform, not OS platform. So \"on Android\" does not make much\nsense here, as Android exists for x86 and ARM and those JIT backends might\nbehave differently.\n\n~~~\nanyfoo\nAll things directly addressed by the article.\n\n------\ndevit\nHonestly, it's hard to read this article and not question the author's mental\nstate or intelligence.\n\nHe literally presents x86 and ARM assembly dumps where shift right generates\none instruction, and divide generates that same instruction plus several\nothers.\n\nThen, he feels the need to run an unnecessary benchmark (most likely screwing\nit up somehow) and concludes there is no difference!\n\nBut how can there possibly be no performance difference, in general, between\nthe CPU running an ALU instruction and running that same instruction plus\nseveral other ALU instructions?!?\n\nIt's almost unbelievable.\n\nAs to how he screwed up the benchmark, my guesses are that either he failed to\ninline the function (and the CPU is really bad), or failed to prevent the\noptimizer from optimizing the whole loop, or didn't run enough iterations, or\nperhaps he ran the benchmark on a different VM than what produced the assembly\n(or maybe somehow the CPU can extract instruction level parallelism in this\nmicrobenchmark, but obviously that doesn't generalize to arbitrary code).\n\n~~~\nbrianyu8\nWhile I think that there is merit to your argument, I feel like it could have\nbeen presented without questioning the author's intelligence or mental state.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWinAntiRansom – Prevents encryption of your files - spaceboy\nhttps://www.winpatrol.com/winantiransom/\n======\neyer2016\nLol\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLeaked north korean documentary exposes western propaganda. - daralthus\nhttp://superchief.tv/leaked-north-korean-documentary-exposes-western-propaganda-and-its-scary-how-true-it-is/\n======\ndraq\nHow do you imagine a world without \"propaganda\"? Mine would be one without\nthis documentary.\n\n------\nstefantalpalaru\nIt's propaganda about propaganda and it seems targeted at westerners. Too many\nsensitive subjects for Dear Leader's flock.\n\n------\nbediger4000\nThe definition of \"reality tee vee\" given: shows about \"talentless narcissists\nwho like to talk about themselves and go shopping\".\n\nThis is the kind of material that has endeared North Korea to propaganda\ncognoscenti everywhere.\n\n------\nericxb\nThe film was produced in New Zealand. Here is a link to a video report which\nincludes an interview with the producer:\n\n[http://ondemand.tv3.co.nz/Media-3-Season-1-Ep-16/tabid/59/ar...](http://ondemand.tv3.co.nz/Media-3-Season-1-Ep-16/tabid/59/articleID/8890/MCat/540/Default.aspx)\n\n------\ncalciphus\nLet's take a moment here and wonder a \"documentary team\" in a country with the\nkind of dictatorial control that North Korea has would have access to so much\nAmerican TV footage.\n\n\"Leaked\"? You mean \"released by the North Korean government\"?\n\n~~~\nChuckMcM\nIf you read the back story the translator believes exactly that, which is to\nsay that the DPRK created it for westerners. What is interesting is that the\nwebsite its on has completely bought into the message. They say things like\n\"And jesus, is it on the f&k*g money.\"\n\nThat suggests that it was targeted exactly to the sort of non-critical\nthinker/reader that the site \"superchief\" represents, and by all indications\nmanages to hit on all of the sensitive spots. That is the point of propaganda,\nand whether it is anti-Semitic white supremacist crap or DPRK crap it requires\nthat the person reading it check their assumptions at the door.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nDropbox: The hottest startup you've never heard of - slinky\nhttp://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/03/16/cloud-computing-for-the-rest-of-us\n\n======\n51Cards\nI think this article is perfectly valid. What everyone here is forgetting is\nthat we are a pretty focused demographic of technical people. If you ask the\naverage CNN user what Dropbox is you'll probably get a blank stare. The fact\nthat an article like this is BEING written is just another sign of Dropbox's\nsuccess... it may be crossing the tipping point to main-stream media and\nadoption outside of the tech community. I bet if you looked you would have\nfound something similar about Twitter at some point where social media savvy\npeople were going \"WTF? I've used it forever\"\n\n~~~\nJonnieCache\n_> cloud computing -- that catchall phrase corporations use to describe\nservices delivered via the Internet_\n\nWith this line they are streets ahead of most pure tech sites in terms of\naccuracy.\n\n~~~\nch0wn\nI love Dropbox for not using this horrible term.\n\n~~~\nnbashaw\nHorrible term? Just because it's the catch phrase du jour doesn't mean it's\ntotally meaningless. I get annoyed with the buzz and malapropism just as much\nas the next guy, but like it or not, cloud computing is a major global\nphenomenon.\n\n~~~\niamdave\nIt IS a meaningless phrase in the sense that it's being used.\n\nWhen I was studying network engineering, \"the cloud\" used to encompass the\nbroader network environment that INCLUDED the Internet as an extension of your\nenterprise infrastructure. Now? It's a hyperbolic, singular phrase that is\nlimited to using the internet as an extension of your operating system without\nfully explaining or at least detailing for the end user why it matters.\n\nEspecially in the case of those god.awful Microsoft commercials. In their\ncase, the way it's presented, the cloud is nothing less synonymous with social\nnetworking. Change your Facebook status from Windows? That's the cloud. Upload\na picture to Flickr? That's the cloud. It's no better than that phase of 'web\n2.0' that was nothing more than superficial design elements that included\nshiny buttons, dropping vowels and slapping the term 'beta' on everything. The\nweb is cyclical and this is the latest cycle.\n\nWhile that in and of itself isn't BAD per se, it's a phrase that's come\nsynonymous with \"rockstar\" and \"ninja\" when talking about hiring developers. A\ntotal and complete non sequitur.\n\n------\nSwellJoe\nI've been shocked at how often I see the Dropbox icon on friend's systems. I\nno longer live in silicon valley, and so I am completely out of the echo\nchamber (except what I read here at HN). These are not nerds, not techies, and\nnot people who follow TechCrunch. These are artists, musicians, old folks,\nnomads, and all sorts of folks that just don't do technology. But, they get\nDropbox. Admittedly, my parents aren't using Dropbox, but my parents don't\nread CNN.com, either, and I can't imagine what they would even use Dropbox\nfor. I can't even get them to use flickr for photos, despite buying them a\ndigital camera (my mom still uses a film camera when she travels because she's\nafraid she'll lose or break the digital one).\n\nIf I could invest in Dropbox, I would. But, that wasn't always true. I met\nDrew at a YC party before they had anything to show, and were still figuring\nout the diffing/versioning problems, and all the underlying hard problems.\nAnd, I came away thinking, \"Well, that's been done before. A lot. And it never\nwent anywhere.\" I had even built a little web-based file manager and sharing\napp as a RoR practice app, a couple weeks before. So, I thought I knew a\nbusiness that wouldn't go anywhere when I saw it. I thought highly of Drew,\nbut not much of the idea. I was obviously very wrong about the idea.\n\nAnyway, my point is, Dropbox hasn't been something \"you've never heard of\" for\nquite some time.\n\n~~~\ndaeken\nMy dad is using Dropbox to share his songs. He saves to Dropbox, and then\nshares links on Facebook. All his masters are backed up there as well.\n\n------\nkrschultz\nMajor news outlet learns about cheaper way to share files from their intern\nwho uses it at school like everyone else: News at 11\n\n------\nrayvega\n>> _\"...And there's little to stop...Amazon (AMZN), with its own Amazon Web\nServices, from making a greater push into Dropbox's territory....\"_\n\nDropbox actually runs on AWS by using Amazon's S3 for storage. This is what\nallowed them to get up and running quickly and cheaply without needing a lot\nof venture funding.\n\nI would not be surprised with Dropbox's continued growth, if they in the\nfuture were to set up and manage their own data centers to avoid being\ndependent on Amazon or anyone else's platform. This would be advantageous if\nAmazon were to decide to compete directly with a similar product.\n\n~~~\nbradleyland\nSomeone questioned whether Dropbox could compete with Amazon at scale, but\ndecided to delete it. This is a really valid question. I recalled a while back\nthat Backblaze asked a similar question and came up with a really cool\nsolution.\n\n[http://blog.backblaze.com/2009/09/01/petabytes-on-a-\nbudget-h...](http://blog.backblaze.com/2009/09/01/petabytes-on-a-budget-how-\nto-build-cheap-cloud-storage/)\n\nI see this as Dropbox's future. PaaS is good for getting started, but with\nnumbers like what's shown in that blog post, it's hard to argue that something\nlike S3 is really priced at commodity levels.\n\n------\n6ren\ncounterpoint: Dropbox is a great product, clever tech, insightful marketing\netc. Even the YC application was great. And I think there's a large market\n(even its present size is more than enough to sate my own avarice), but... it\ndoesn't seem that it could become a truly _huge_ company (like Xerox, Google),\nwithout launching a series of increasingly unrelated products. Though perhaps\nthat's true of many huge companies (e.g. Apple, Sony, HP - even Microsoft has\nOffice).\n\n~~~\nlemon_pie\npossibly. that said, 100m in revenue 4 years after launch with a fairly\nunbounded market (every consumer), looks like quite the promising start.\n\n~~~\n6ren\n> Benioff predicts sales could hit $100 million this year. (The company\n> declined to comment.)\n\nUnfortunately, a prediction; and also by someone not privy to actual\nfigures...\n\n> Dropbox reportedly experiences well over 10 times year-over-year growth...\n\nSounds pretty good!\n\n> ...and positive cash flow.\n\nThe mildest expression of profitability possible. Though I'm pretty sure\nthey're doing way better than >0.\n\nFrom scanning many acquisitions, my feeling is of the order of $200 million.\nThough I'm basing that mainly on business acquisition (e.g. by Oracle), so I\nmight be very off for consumer acquisitions (considering youtube, facebook,\ntwitter etc).\n\n~~~\nwlievens\nWith their kind of scalability, any positive cash flow is awesome news.\n\n------\nspatten\nWhen we were trying to figure out if Dropbox would be a good sync tool for\nLeanpub, Peter went in to a local coffee shop and asked a bunch of people if\nthey'd ever heard of Dropbox. All of the baristas and everyone else in their\n20s had, and had accounts. About half of the people 30 or older had heard of\nit, and most of them had accounts.\n\nWe were pretty impressed with the numbers, and we ended up going with Dropbox,\nand we've never regretted it.\n\n------\ntechnomancy\n> The hottest startup you've never heard of\n\nI wish this were true; unfortunately I hear lots and lots about them when they\nrun a \"spam your friends for more free space\" promotional.\n\n~~~\njrockway\nGet better friends.\n\n------\njustinxreese\nExpected an article from 4 years ago...\n\n------\ndjacobs\nExcellent, if my non-technical friends ever ask why I don't go to mainstream\nmedia for tech news, I'll point them to this article.\n\n------\ndanielha\nMy dad uses Dropbox and I didn't even tell him about it. Such a badass\ncompany.\n\n~~~\nrokhayakebe\nEven more badass is your dad.\n\n------\nflexd\nMy mom came to me earlier asking me to help her install Dropbox. She's about\nas informed about computer stuff as i am about fashion. That's a good sign for\nDropbox :-)\n\n~~~\nTomek_\nMy mom did the same, except she called using Skype :)\n\n------\nzaidf\nWhile I'm sure Dropbox has their work cut out, you know they are onto\nsomething when you run into their flyers outside college dorms cross country\nin Chapel Hill, NC.\n\n~~~\ntom_b\nHey, there are even old boring people walking around on campus who are users .\n. . heck, even in _Carrboro_\n\nIf it wasn't a HIPPA issue, we might be using Dropbox for more internal\nprojects here\n\nLove, love, love dropbox. You undergrad at Sitterson?\n\n~~~\nzaidf\nNah, just got my communications(!) degree and moved up to NYC :)\n\n------\nzandorg\nToday I was at a University small business lecture. Someone asked one of the\nentrepreneurs \"What was your biggest mistake?\". The guy said his laptop had\nbeen stolen, but luckily it was all auto-backed up onto Dropbox. A nice\nanecdote and good press!\n\n------\njprobert\nI love dropbox and we use it personally and for our company (we are paid\nsubscribers). But it seems to me that this space has fewer barriers to entry\nthan say Groupon. People argue that Groupon has little barriers to entry but\nthe fact is that it cost a lot to sell and get merchants on board. Dropbox is\na very unique and helpful product but what will stop the competition from\ncreating something similar and possibly better?\n\n------\njoeag\nNow is maybe the really scary time for Dropbox - here come the \"me too's\"\nincluding corporates who will say \"Hey looks like people are starting to want\nthis file storage and sharing thingy\" - we can do that too and offer it to our\nown customers.\n\nShould be interesting.\n\n~~~\nDufusM\nMicrosoft already tried their hand at it with Windows Live Mesh. Technically\nApple's MobileMe is the same thing. The 'corporates' are already on it :)\n\n------\ndidip\nDropbox is awesome, I use it, I love it.\n\nI had the same thought as SwellJoe around early 2008: That's been done, it\nain't gonna go anywhere big. Obviously failed prediction on my part.\n\nSo the question is, what made Dropbox successful? There are plenty of players\nin this area (some of them are older than dropbox): box.net, mozy.com, Windows\nLive mesh, backblaze.\n\nFurthermore, techies can easily do backup to their own S3 account, but they\nlove Dropbox.\n\nWhat's the success factors? YC? Being MIT graduates? The clever \"Tell your\nfriends and get more space for free\" email? The market is just HUGE?\n\nI know that 1 of them is using Python. =)\n\n------\norionlogic\nI like Dropbox but i use it less often. What i am waiting for is the same\nsolution from Apple. Their cloud facility has been just finished and they will\nprobably offer similar service not later than this year. It might not start as\npure storage facility but will start by account and device activation from\ncloud, iphoto & music backup and then after figuring out how this cloud thing\nwork will probably offer similar subscription fee based service. After all why\nthey still didn't buy Dropbox? Probably they are working on it.\n\n------\nsunqiang\nThere is a PyCon video about Dropbox: PyCon 2011: How Dropbox Did It and How\nPython Helped <http://pycon.blip.tv/file/4878722/>\n\n------\nbfe\nI'm glad the article pointed out the cartoon dinosaur riding a shark on the\njobs page, even though they mistook it as not taking things seriously, instead\nof convincingly signalling, by the fact of its nature and presence (as an\nawesome and surprising drawing on a recruitment page that's subversive of\nconventional expectations for a potential employer), the claim made in the\nheading on that page, that Dropbox is a pretty sweet place to work.\n\n------\nubercore\nWe've been using it for our band, and it's been working great. A really useful\ntool that the non-techy members have had no trouble adopting.\n\n------\nRRiccio\nDropbox it's certainly one of the most helpful startups for the average guy.\n\nI put into use at the last company I was working for (a non-tech company) and\neveryone got immediately hooked on Dropbox. It made their file-sharing much\neasier.\n\nSo I honestly understand this article, even though for us it's been around for\nso long.\n\n------\nakent\nAny media outlet tempted to use a \"you've never heard of\" headline should\nseriously reconsider. Guaranteed to irritate everyone who HAS heard of it\ninstantly.\n\n~~~\nwhatusername\nI heard a radio report in NZ over summer about the kids these days using words\nlike Cool and Wicked in ways that weren't their original meaning.\n\nSomeone deserves a medal for epic trolling. (I don't know what the station was\n-- I was in a hire car and channel surfing and decided to listen to the news\nbroadcast)\n\n------\nkylelibra\nThis is why traditional / mainstream media is fighting a battle to remain\nrelevant.\n\n~~~\nVivtek\nThis they call fighting?\n\n~~~\nTomek_\nCertainly better than their previous attempts:\n[http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-\nfebruary-28-2011/the-b...](http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-\nfebruary-28-2011/the-biggest-newser)\n\n------\njpr\nFinally something I can be hipster about.\n\n------\npetervandijck\nEh, \"you've never heard of\"?\n\n~~~\nFlorin_Andrei\nIt's CNN, it's for normal people.\n\n~~~\npetervandijck\nAh normal people. Got it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Living as a hacker in the bay area. - dvcat\n\nI will be moving to the bay area once I graduate in a few months. One of the big plus points for me to move to the bay area will be to try to interact and learn from a bunch of smart people by going to hacker dojos, user group meets and conferences (mainly in machine learning and other data related things). My day job will involve some travel (within the bay area) so I probably have to get a car. Keeping this in mind, can people comment on some good places where I should live, how much I can expect to pay each month in food, rent, utilities, insurance etc (I want to keep irrelevant expenses as low as possible just because I want to save some $$$ for a rainy day), things I should sign up for to get to know about hacker like events (apart from read HN)?<p>Thanks!\n======\nsteventruong\nRent has gone up significantly in the past year or two. Especially in the city\n(SF). If you're trying to keep expenses down, find as cheap as possible (while\nlivable) studio or room up with roommates. Otherwise rent can be quite\nexpensive if you never lived in this area. The best way you can see how much\nrent costs for the conditions of the places is to just browse through\ncraigslist for a feel (it'll be better than any numbers I throw out here).\n\nSan Francisco: <http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/apa/>\n\nPeninsula which includes Silicon Valley:\n<http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/apa/>\n\nBest places to live are San Francisco or Palo Alto. If you can't afford\neither, live in nearby cities. Mountain View is a great alternative to Palo\nAlto that is more affordable.\n\nHaving said that, if you're willing to commute via public transit or by car,\nit matters less. Just be aware rush hour can be brutal between SF and the\nValley.\n\nThere are a TON of events both in the valley and in SF. For language specific\nevents/meetups, most of the better ones are in the city i.e. python meetup,\nphp meetup, etc... For hacker mixers and various other speaking events, those\nare more in the valley. There are usually some sort of event happening at\nMicrosoft and Google as well that you can look out for including GTUG at\nGoogle.\n\nThe best way I find events outside of people sending me links or what not is\nto join meetup groups via meetup.com, join the StartupDigest email list, join\nPlancast and follow people/friends, and browse Eventbrite.\n\nOnce you're here, you'll be plugged into more private events and stuff as\nwell, that aren't found in the above.\n\nHope that helps.\n\n------\nmurrain\nFor housing, check out <http://www.padmapper.com>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nBringing improved PDF support to Google Chrome - jancona\nhttp://blog.chromium.org/2010/06/bringing-improved-pdf-support-to-google.html\n\n======\ns3graham\nOh sweetness. I was using this\n[https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/nnbmlagghjjcbdhg...](https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/nnbmlagghjjcbdhgmkedmbmedengocbn)\nbut the plugin seems better.\n\nOnly problem is that now .doc/.ppt via extension is gone because I had to\ndisable it to get plugin support. Need a rev of that extension to remove pdf\nsupport, and then we're saved!\n\nUpdate: hmm, miss regular context menu too.\n\n~~~\ne40\nI disabled the extension, but pdf's just download... I have 6.0.437.1, which\nshould be the dev channel version. Windows.\n\nIdeas?\n\n~~~\nrictic\nYou also need to go to chrome://plugins and enable the experimental PDF\nplugin.\n\n~~~\ne40\nThanks!\n\n------\nmattchew\nThis is fantastic news--mostly because of the sandboxing. Once burned, twice\nshy--I'm not allowing 3rd party plugins in my main browser any more. But I'm\nwilling to trust Google to sandbox these features correctly. (Don't let me\ndown, guys.)\n\n------\nsingular\nBrilliant. The idea that loading a PDF won't cause a horrible browser freeze-\nup then require controls unrelated to the rest of the browsing experience is\nquite a lovely one.\n\nI wonder what impact this will have on scribd, at least the 'avoid pdf pain'\nside of their business?\n\n~~~\nsliverstorm\n> I wonder what impact this will have on scribd, at least the 'avoid pdf pain'\n> side of their business?\n\nThere's a way to answer that. What is their userbase like, and do they run\nChrome? If the primary browser is still IE (and it kind of seems to me like\n'easing PDF pain' is incongruous with people who have total understanding and\ncontrol of their interaction with the internet) then scribd will be safe\nfor... how long did it IE6 last? Probably about that long.\n\n~~~\nsingular\nTrue, true. Perhaps Google can use this as a selling point to ordinary users?\nThough of course a large number of these are going to be using computers at\nwork which usually means IE[6-8].\n\n------\ntimdorr\nThe one thing that I've _hated_ about Chrome is now fixed. I never have a\nreason to go back to Firefox now. See ya, Mozilla!\n\n~~~\npavs\nThere are plugins both in Chrome and FF where any PDF links automatically\nopens it up using google docs. Much more faster smoother than native PDF\nloading. I just tried out this new integrated PDF on Chrome Dev channel\n(6.0437.1), and as mentioned it doesn't have all the PDF features, it loads\nPDFs on the left hand corner, instead of center. Much much faster though.\n\n~~~\nbtmorex\nMy experience has been that downloading + opening pdfs with a decent pdf\nviewer is much faster than google docs. I personally use evince, but probably\nanything other than acrobat would work.\n\n------\nriobard\nThe rendering quality is sub-standard compared to Safari on OS X at the\nmoment, but I'm really excited there is another browser vendor trying to solve\nthis problem!\n\n------\nInclinedPlane\nI like this so far. On a few experiments it rendered pdfs well, very fast, and\ndidn't feel nearly as clunky as reading a pdf in the browser usually does.\n\n------\ndevinus\nLooks like it's using at least libtiff and lcms from running `strings` on the\nplugin...\n\n------\nramidarigaz\nMmmm... Sounds really cool. Waiting on the Linux version.\n\n------\nsliverstorm\nI can't decide if Chrome is leading the way, or pulling ahead, but the gap is\nwidening considerably.\n\nI, for one, welcome our small round red-yellow-green-blue overlords.\n\n~~~\nwyclif\nChrome 5.0.375.70 on Ubuntu Lucid still leaks memory terribly, forcing me to\nkill processes (tabs). Anyone here with insight on this?\n\n~~~\nsliverstorm\nI have been running the dev build for a long time (6.0) and I leave it and\nsome particular tabs open for days at a time, never had a problem.\n\n~~~\nsliverstorm\nI forgot to clarify, running the dev build on Ubuntu. I am using 10.04 right\nnow.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThe Systemd Project Forks the Linux Kernel - dezgeg\nhttp://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20150330#community\n\n======\nhleszek\nChecking the calendar: not yet first april...\n\n~~~\ncomputer\nLooks like a weekly magazine, so this edition would cover April 1st.\n\n------\nsspiff\nThis is not the real systemD repository. This is just some random guy on the\ninternet who snagged the GitHub username \"systemdaemon\".\n\nHave a look here:\n[https://github.com/systemdaemon](https://github.com/systemdaemon)\n\nA profile created two weeks ago, with a single repository, 0 stars and 1\ncommit over its entire lifetime.\n\nThis is a transparant hoax, and I don't understand how Distrowatch (and the HN\ncommunity) has not seen through it yet...\n\n~~~\n616c\nThanks for shedding real data on the issue. I was skeptical myself. I checked\nout Poettering's Google+ profile and see no mention of this yet, and I was\nkind of surprised.\n\n------\n616c\nI am kind of disappointed that there is some baity qualities to this article,\nspecifically referencing how Linus chewed out a systemd developer. He did\nthat, but I recall it not being directly related to his work on systemd and it\nnegatively impacting the kernel. Kay Sievers is a well-known problem causer as\nLinus is concerned, so this is not news.\n\nKeep in mind if you find the mailing list thread referred to, Greg Hartmann\n(gregkh), the release maintainer of the Linux kernel, arguably part of the\ninner echelons, is responsible for the kdbus branch eventually getting merged\ninto the mainline kernel, that is the kernel driver that will internalize dbus\nas a main (if not only) IPC of the kernel and reducing the overheard of using\ndbus now (reducing 12 operations per dbus call to 3 inside the kdbus driver,\nIIRC from Lennart's video). Again, this is the work of Lennart Poettering\npulseaudio fame, and now much more heated systemd fame. So to pretend the\nLinux kernel is opposed systemd work is not truthful. Some core devs have\ntaken it on and are staking themselves on it. If this gregkh tidbit does not\nmake that obvious I do not know what does.\n\nCan someone who knows more comment on what the substantive changes are thus\nfar? Is the kdbus work a prime motivator of this? I love systemd hate as much\nas the next guy, but I was hoping we would get more facts from the HN crowd.\n\n(EDIT: I know I will get downvoted, but I do use systemd and I am not its\nbiggest fan; I just used Arch and got used to it; everyone has a right to\nchoose their tools, and init systems ain't different.)\n\n------\nthaumaturgy\nDebian forums concludes it's a joke too:\n\n[http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=121167](http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=121167)\n\n _sigh_ Guess my news blackout period is gonna have to start extending from\nMarch 30 to April 2 now.\n\nLame.\n\n------\njoosters\nThey're planning on getting rid of NetworkManager, so they can't be\n_completely_ evil :-)\n\n~~~\ndigi_owl\nBah, sounds like a cure worse than the disease.\n\n------\nraverbashing\nHere's a group that can take criticism nicely...\n\nLet's feign surprise.\n\nOf course the kernel is GPL and forking is allowed, but I have yet to see such\nan idiotic case of tail wagging the dog.\n\nMaybe the guy that wanted to \"prove\" he's better at managing the Redis than\nAntirez is a strong contest\n\n------\nfsniper\nApril fools or the real intension faces water at last?\n\n~~~\nnetworked\n>[...] According to Ivan Gotyaovich, one of the developers working on\nsystemd[...]\n\nI'd say it's a prank but I don't think it's April 1st anywhere in the world\nyet.\n\n~~~\ndigi_owl\nA quick search comes up blank on that name.\n\n~~~\npalmer_eldritch\nJust a quick note about that name \"Ivan Gotyaovich\": Got ya! -ovitch.\n\nIt sounds much more like a prank than a real name.\n\n~~~\nslikts\nYeah, there's no such surname as \"Готяович\"; it's made up.\n\n------\nsimgidacav\nThe fork won't last long I guess...\n\n------\nhias\nso they finally jumped the shark ;-)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSocial experiment - single thoughts on programming that made an impact - RiderOfGiraffes\n\nWith the indulgence of the regulars, I'd like to try an experiment.  Recently, as a result of an item here, I read an article from which a single line has stuck.  It wasn't the most profound, it wasn't the most amusing, it wasn't even necessarily the most valuable, but it's one that has immediately made me think differently, and will be with me a long time.<p>I'd like to create a collection of such things.  I'm pretty sure things that affect you guys will be of varying value, but if we make a list and then let them float up and down as they get modded, maybe we'll get something interesting.<p>Replies are discouraged.  These will not be universal truths, they will not be unarguable, but I suggest that this is not the place.  Perhaps if you <i>really</i> disagree you can blog about it and submit a link.  But perhaps not here - perhaps as a main item.<p>Worth a try?  Who will play along?  I'll start ...\n======\nRiderOfGiraffes\nYou can't make your program run faster, you can only make it do less.\n\n------\nanamax\nAlmost any problem can be solved by adding a level of indirection. Almost\nevery program can be sped up by removing a level of indirection.\n\n------\nreddiar\nThe hardest bugs are those where your mental model of the situation is just\nwrong, so you can't see the problem at all : B. Kernighan\n\n------\nbayareaguy\nThe cheapest, fastest and most reliable components of a computer system are\nthose that aren't there. -- Gordon Bell\n\n------\nanamax\nSomeone reading/modifying a program is never as smart as the person who wrote\nit, even if they're the same person.\n\n------\nanamax\nIf you don't know the tradeoffs that you're making, how do you know that\nyou're making the right ones?\n\n------\nasimjalis\nMake it beautiful even if you are just hacking together a quick spike.\n\n------\nhboon\nMake it run, make it right, make it fast. In that order.\n\n------\nanamax\nAll programming is an exercise in caching.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN - SuggestMeLearn, My first web application - hhimanshu\n\n\t- After starting and quitting so many times, I finally decided to start small project and created SuggetMeLearn - This is my first ever attempt to a complete web application - The idea is to - let people suggest the way they learnt a particular language or technology - let people seeking to learn decide based on the suggestion to pick resources and start learning rather than browsing through infinite search results. - people can vote if they think they also believe that a particular suggestion is a great resource(and suggestions are sorted by votes)\n- All suggestions are welcome. - URL : http://suggestmelearn.appspot.com/\n======\ntstegart\nClickable link: <http://suggestmelearn.appspot.com/>\n\nGood luck!\n\n------\nnurik\nI love it! We are doing a similar thing here in Germany. Would you be\ninterested in working together on the project?\n\n~~~\nhhimanshu\nHi Nurik! Sure, let me know how can I help!\n\n------\nKevindish\nSuper cool, but miss a lot of data, maybe you should start by filling\nsomething out yourself.. :)\n\n~~~\nhhimanshu\nI will definitely add some more content. thank you\n\n------\nrcavezza\nHey - one small bug I found, when I suggest a resource, i can upvote my own\nsuggestion.\n\nYou do allow only one upvote, though. Seems like the error is that the initial\nsuggestion doesn't count as an upvote.\n\nThis is a nice start. Are you testing any assumptions with this first version?\nAlso, may also want to add something that auto finds urls and auto changes\nthem to links.\n\n~~~\nhhimanshu\nHey rcavezza, I fixed the bug that you found, now you can no longer upvote\nyour own suggestion. Thank you for pointing that out I will look for auto url\nfinder thing now\n\nThanks again!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThe Facebook of China - GBond\nhttp://www.fastcompany.com/node/1715041/print\n\n======\nsmoody\nformatted version of the article with photos:\n\n[http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/152/the-socialist-\nnetwor...](http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/152/the-socialist-\nnetworks.html)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe ad tech renaissance - taylorbuley\nhttp://bokonads.com/the-ad-tech-renaissance/\n======\noxymoron\nI'll concede that the analysis isn't completely without merit, but having\nspent the last few years in ad tech, I sincerely hope that there won't be a\nrevival. It's a race to the bottom. Publishers are struggling and are\nincreasingly willing to accept ever more outrageous ad products. Advertisers\nare desperate for advertising that actually works, but will mostly only do\nwhat agencies tell them, and the agencies are only interested in maximizing\ntheir own margins. In the middle we've got any number of middle men scrambling\nfor some pieces of the cake, sometimes but usually not providing some value,\nleaving the publishers with a pathetic fraction of the advertiser spend.\n\nSo essentially we've got a whole bunch of companies with no growth desperately\nvying for the attention of 23-year old media buyers who in turn are mostly\ninterested in getting someone to take them clothes shopping and picking up the\nbill. These companies are doing it mostly by doing ever more intrusive things,\nsince advertisers can't accept that the reason their ads don't perform is that\nnobody wants their stuff and keeps looking for a silver bullet.\n\nI've come to believe that the only reasonable justification for most\nadvertising is that it's in some sense a way for other industries to subsidize\njournalism. Since that's going away, I'm looking forward to the inevitable ad\ntech carnage ahead, and if a potential next wave actually brings higher\nquality advertising and better end user experiences I'll happily eat my shoes.\n\n~~~\nvosper\nAll of this, plus the vast amounts of bot traffic that no one wants to look\ntoo closely at, because everyone except the advertiser is making money off of\nit...\n\n~~~\nec109685\nBot traffic is accounted for in the price advertisers pay for ads. Advertisers\ndon't run unprofitable ads.\n\n~~~\nsimo7\nAdvertisers do run unprofitable ads and marketing campaigns all the times.\n\nAnd they are fine with that too. That's the case of VC-backed startups: they\naccept a negative ROI to get the chance to start making money one day.\n\nThen you have the less consciuous ones, which might be big brands who want to\nexperiment a bit with new media/ad formats.\n\nIn any case, if you think about it, the real losers are...the honest\npublishers. Because the money on the table is not increased by fraud, it's\njust shared in a way that takes something away from good publishers to\nbad/fake ones.\n\n~~~\nec109685\nI agree honest publishers are at a definite disadvantage. Advertisers aren't\nbecause the roi calculation they come up with judges their campaigns based on\nits performance, which incorporates good and bad clicks over time.\n\n------\ndjur\nI don't see any mention of ad blockers. Are these seen as having a significant\neffect on the online advertising industry? Are there any serious proposals to\ndeal with them other than continuing the ad-blocker-blocker-blocker... arms\nrace?\n\nIt seems that there's an increasing understanding among publishers that low-\nquality and intrusive ads encourage their visitors to use ad blockers or\nanother site. Several relatively high-profile sites (like The New Yorker) have\nstopped using networks like Outbrain and Taboola. (Obnoxious ads from the\nlatter, along with autoplaying video ads on numerous sites, resulted in me\nfinally installing an ad blocker after resisting for years.)\n\nAdblock Plus offered a way forward with its \"Acceptable Ads\" program but it\nseems like that has been roundly rejected by both advertisers and blocker\nusers. Maybe publishers and advertisers could work together to develop a\nstricter set of advertising guidelines that show respect for users? I suppose\nsuch a program is essentially doomed without cooperation from Google and\nFacebook, and I don't know if they'd be willing to work with the little fish\n(or each other).\n\nIt seems like an intractable problem. I'm not convinced technology (machine\nlearning! the solution to all problems!) is capable of providing the solution.\n\n~~~\ntomjen3\nThe problem is that most ads suck. Facebook knows more about me than I do, but\nthey can't come up with ads for things I want. What possible chance does a\nrandom newspaper have?\n\n~~~\npascalxus\nI completely agree. 99.99% of the ads I see on facebook are for things I don't\nwant. They really need to get more AI and more information about the user for\nbetter targeting. They may have world class targeting, but it still sucks\ncompared to advertisement that can read my mind (doesn't exist yet).\n\n~~~\npdkl95\nA common misconception is that targeting is about _your_ interests. An AI\nwon't select ads for things you want. Instead, it will use all of that\ntracking data to select ads that are more effective at misleading you or\n_changing_ your interests.\n\n~~~\ntomjen3\nWhat is easiest? Sell me things that I already want but don't know about, or\nchanging my interests and then convince me to buy a particular product?\n\nIncidentally 5 years after moving into an apartment I still need a good\ncurtain for the kitchen. If I see an ad for a place I can upload measurements\nand get the results sent to me I would be very happy to pay.\n\n------\nniftich\n_> The end of impressions and banners in favor of views and \"publisher\nrendered\" (aka native) creative_\n\nNative advertising, which I'd re-phrase as 'sponsored content' or 'content\nplacement', I can actually enjoy, if the sponsorship is made clear and the\ntopic is genuinely relevant to the audience. After all, who better to tell\nwhat kinds of content readers want to see besides the publisher who puts it\nout there? But it _has_ to fit -- out-of-place content will be painfully\nobvious, and cause further user aversion for ads.\n\nBut the thing is: all of this can be accomplished without ad networks that\ntrack your travels through the web. The client can engage the publisher\ndirectly or through a broker. Where does that leave today's adtech?\n\n~~~\nandygates\nThat seems unduly optimistic. The content will be uploaded from the same old\nterrible content farms, and be the same old rubbish only with a heavier local\nserver load.\n\n------\nsoared\nVery interesting read, thanks OP! I've started using some platforms with\nintegrated ml, and it seems to be much better. Its difficult to get used to\nstarting a campaign, and instead of meticulously setting up targeting (males,\n$50k income, denver, into football and skiing, etc) the ml lets you just ..\nupload an ad and a web page. No targeting. Click GO and it will find your\ncustomers. If Google or facebook can get into this space they'll succeed\ngreatly because they have so much data and users already trust them.\n\n~~~\nmars4rp\ncan you please name those platforms ???\n\n~~~\nsoared\nI'm at an agency and have access to some closed betas, but I've been pretty\nimpressed with StackAdapt for their native. They just added video and display\nI believe but I haven't used them. You do a little bit of manual targeting but\ntheir ml really does well.\n\n~~~\nfumar\nWhen you say \"does well,\" what type of goal or kpi are referring to?\n\n~~~\nsoared\nWhite paper downloads for elderly people. For some reason their interface\nunderreports conversions though. But we've tied their traffic directly to\npurchases! One note though.. like some other channels you're buying a mixed\nbag. There is a lot of low quality traffic, but the diamonds in the rough do\nmake up for it.\n\n------\nkeldaris\nSince there's rarely any widely interpretable public data available, articles\nlike this and many others are my best gauge for noting that even the Internet\nadvertising industry itself recognizes that it's dying. This is very pleasant\nto observe.\n\nPersonally, I can't remember the last ad I've seen while browsing. The\ncombination of AdBlock Origin (with a very generous combination of various\nblocklists), Ghostery / Privacy Badger and NoScript effectively renders most\nadtech useless. The few remnants that refuse to be blocked I happily skip\noutright rather than enable. As far as I'm concerned, the only acceptable form\nof advertising consists of things like hardware companies supplying free\nsamples to review sites without any preconditions and even there a slippery\nslope exists, as evidenced by the sad state of the games \"journalism\"\nindustry, where corruption is endemic.\n\nAnd the best part is that, unlike many political and social issues, users\nreally do have all the power here, and it's trivially easy to exercise it.\nInstall a few trusted browser extensions and you've helped hasten the demise\nof a harmful parasite of an industry, and improved your own security at the\nsame time. And nowadays it's easy to persuade even non-technical users to do\nthis due to how disgusting and intrusive ads have become.\n\n~~~\nkirso\nCongratulations! You are in the 10% of people who have adblock :) Within the\n600B advertising industry. You get the point right? Normal people think\ndifferent. In addition, mobile is overtaking everything and adblocking there\nis more tricky, thats why Facebook is generating 80%+ of their revenues via\nmobile ads (fun fact, in 2010 it was 0%). You can ask your parents for\ninstance whether they know how to limit ad tracking.\n\n------\nlcw\nI _feel_ like another piece missing from why these companies are \"flat\" year\nover year is the fact that they are running into a wall of what people will\ntolerate. I don't think that there will be a renaissance like the author\nconcludes. As a guy who worked in ad tech these tricks have been exhaustively\ntried. I think right now the industry trend is to pay for premium content\nrather then be inundated with Ads especially when it comes to games, video and\nmusic. I imagine we will see this pattern continue especially with the mobile\ngaming industry figuring out the key to everyone's wallet: in app purchases.\n\n------\nmanigandham\nThis article is mostly bullshit.\n\nAppNexus is one of the major SSPs (sell-side platforms) but they still have\nmajor fraud and legacy tech issues. They are also one of the primary causes of\nmiserable user experiences across the web. They will not be part of any adtech\nrenaissance.\n\nGoogle won't flinch if margins really do go down to single-digit margins.\nThey're already built for worse conditions than today and are just pacing the\nmarket, as seen with the whole header bidding scenario. They also have Google\nCloud rapidly scaling and will likely be a bigger source of revenue than their\nentire ads division in a few years.\n\nMeanwhile AppNexus can barely survive on their current margins and will be out\nof business if it hits single-digits. The disintermediation mentioned in this\narticle will also apply just as harshly to AppNexus.\n\nThe lame insights about machine learning and formats aren't anything special.\nThis is why Google and Facebook get all the money already, because they have a\nmuch faster, cleaner, more relevant, and more effective ad experiences. The\nrenaissance is already here and it's getting increasingly harder to compete\nwith these data behemoths. It's not impossible though and there are several\nniche focused ad startups, but there's no big sea change about to happen. This\nis all just business as usual.\n\n------\nawongh\nThis is a space I wish I knew more about- but it seems like it has it's own\nsub-culture that to me, is hard to parse.\n\nCan someone tell me what some of the things are that he refers to in this\narticle?\n\n\\- dfp, dsp, ssp, gdn, dbm, adx, dcm, dfp\n\nIs there a good technical-minded rundown of all the players in the ecosystem\nand what they do? Internet ad industry information is impossible to google\nbecause it mostly turns up spam.....\n\n~~~\nwastedhours\nI've tried to find a long form piece on it (ideally a physical book as\nreference), but failed.\n\nDSP: Demand Side Platform, is the tool agencies and advertisers use to buy the\nad spots automatically based on tracking profiles.\n\nSSP: Supply Side Platform, is the tool publishers use to sell their ad spots\n(publishers push an impression to an SSP, a DSP will evaluate it and an agency\nwill buy an ad on it - Google is main SSP and DSP [I think?] so people are\nwary about them.)\n\nDFP: DoubleClick for Publishers perhaps, as in, ad tech for media sites to\nmanage the display process (guess it could be called Google's SSP).\n\nDBM: DoubleClick Bid Manager, is Google's DSP\n\nADX: guessing just an ad exchange, so a place advertisers and publishers do\nthe deal.\n\nGDN: Google Display Network, posh AdSense where you can place your ads across\n3rd party sites, not just the SERP.\n\nThen we get into the world of Header Bidding (which, as far as I understand\nit, is even more tech to bypass your usual SSP/DSP process to get the best\ndeal from different ad exchanges) and that whole murky world...\n\nI've only been on the advertiser end, speccing a programmatic campaign through\na specialist agency. It makes me nervy as our only marketing attribution is\nlast touch and that rarely works with broad reach display. Retargeting is a\nmuch more valuable one to explore.\n\nIf anyone would be interested in a guide, I can look to put one together with\ndefinitions and a few anecdotes from some players? Username @ gmail.\n\n~~~\nssharp\nI think it's worth adding how DSPs and ADXs fit together. There are only a\nhandful of ad exchanges out there -- Google ADX, OpenX, AppNexus, etc. Some\nbrands and agencies are large enough to buy inventory directly through these\nbut for most brands and agencies, it's too expensive and cumbersome to do so.\nThis is where DSPs fit in. DSPs buy large batches of inventory from the ad\nexchanges and resell them to brands and agencies and try to add value where\nthey can.\n\n------\nintrasight\nI've come to believe that this isn't a technology problem. It's a people\nproblem - specifically a \"publisher people are lazy\" problem. That lazyness\nmade them hand their value over to Google and Facebook, and now there's just\nno easy way to get it back.\n\n------\ncm2012\n85% of new ad dollars are going to fb and google. Everyone else is fighting\nfor scraps.\n\n~~~\nkirso\nNot actually true, these scraps are still worth billions => google AppLovin\n\n------\npetercooper\nI know it's not for everyone but I hope more publishers can work out a shift\nto a no-graphics-needed-to-render-this \"advertisers<->publishers\" approach.\n\nAre your readers the sort of people advertisers want to connect with? Great!\nSell space and support to them. Or is your audience so diverse and ephemeral\nthat advertisers don't care? Move into publishing stuff that's useful to an\naudience advertisers value, because when everyone else is slipping down the\nladder, it's a great time to try climbing it.\n\n------\nna85\n>The internet needs an ad tech renaissance, one based on creating real value\nfor publishers and marketers,\n\nCould not disagree more.\n\nAdvertising as a whole needs to die in ignominy. Obviously that'll never\nhappen, but we should be working towards ways to make advertising obsolete or\nunprofitable, and we should be ostracizing people like the author who try to\nor want to make things better for advertisers.\n\nThe promise of the internet was users as first-class citizens, not users as\nmindless consumers of hostile advertising.\n\n~~~\nSerLava\nHostile advertising and advertising in general aren't the same thing.\n\nI'd be the first to point out that advertising has motivated a wide array of\nterrible things, especially in the last few years. But advertising at its\nbarest sense can be and usually is a net positive force.\n\n~~~\nna85\n>Hostile advertising and advertising in general aren't the same thing.\n\nAre you sure?\n\n~~~\nSerLava\nGood point.\n\n------\nmonochromatic\nWe don't need an ad tech renaissance. We need to burn it to the fucking\nground.\n\n~~~\nHugoDaniel\n^ this.\n\n------\nmajewsky\n> The tracking tech renaissance\n\nFTFY\n\n------\nTheAdamist\nI don't know if it was due to manual ad reviewers being on holiday or what,\nbut i was getting a bunch of ad hijacking or malvertisements over the weekend\nfrom legit websites. If even legit sites can't keep up with this then no\nwonder everyone is running ad blockers just to keep safe from legit sites.\n\n------\ndedalus\nreally nice article detailing some nuances\n\n~~~\ndedalus\nreally surprised by the downvote without any reason. so much for tolerance of\nopposite views. The author is an authority in adtech (CEO of App Nexus). I\nexpressed an opinion of the piece (which you are free to disagree with and\nmaybe the disagreement is downvoting??)\n\n------\nfieryeagle\nVery good read that highlighted the current state of the industry - G and FB\nreign as kings. I'd expect the fraud cycle to restart in gaming industry\nseeing that display and mobile are essentially saturated.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Best encrypted cloud storage option? - kotrunga\nWhat is the best option for storing my files in the cloud, completely encrypted and secure?<p>Not like Dropbox, or other services where a government entity could force the company in giving up someone&#x27;s files. Completely secure.<p>If rolling my own from home is the best option, any software recommendations?<p>Thanks!\n======\nnokcha\nI use Tarsnap for storing backups of my files. Data is encrypted client-side,\nso the server can't decrypt it. Tarsnap is designed for backups, though, not\nfor general file storage.\n\nSome encrypted cloud storage offerings are mentioned here:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16451396](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16451396)\n\n------\nmtmail\nI'm using\n[http://duplicity.nongnu.org/features.html](http://duplicity.nongnu.org/features.html)\nincremental backup with GnuPG encryption.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: Yet another Hacker News Reader for Android. - jamhed\nhttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ncom.yahn\nHopefully doesn&#x27;t suck.\n======\nlumelet\nSwitching between article and comments and display of nested comments are\ngreat.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIs Artificial Intelligence Good? - Anon84\nhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2019/10/14/is-artificial-intelligence-good/#6073e28e6f70\n======\nmotivic\nAre nuclear bombs good? In the end it largely depends on how they are used.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow Google Deals With A Recession - nreece\nhttp://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/12/how-google-deals-with-a-recession-goog\n======\nnostrademons\nI just tried the same query he has in the screenshot - no ads in the suggest\nbox. Same with a bunch of other queries that I thought would likely come with\nads.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThings a text editor must do - davweb\nhttp://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/03/11/verity_stob_text_editor/\n\n======\nbcoates\nBefore you all get too angry about the scandalous lies about your favorite\neditor note that this is a Verity Stob column. If you're reading it for a\nsober, fair-minded review of the various tradeoffs involved in the very\nserious business of text editing, you're doing it wrong.\n\n~~~\nmichael_h\nI'm not sure how someone can read past\n\n    \n    \n       ...press Ctrl + Shift + L (if you are following along on your Mac, just press squiggle squoggle shift Home)\n    \n\nand not pick up that this is _satire_ , or perhaps just plain humo(u)r.\n\n~~~\nyen223\nIt's so obviously satire - I mean, which Mac has a Home button amirite?\n\n~~~\nSamuel_Michon\nMy Apple keyboard has a 'Home' key...\n\n[http://km.support.apple.com/library/APPLE/APPLECARE_ALLGEOS/...](http://km.support.apple.com/library/APPLE/APPLECARE_ALLGEOS/HT1216/Pasted%20Graphic.png)\n\n(And of course, all iOS devices have a 'Home' button.)\n\n------\nkaoD\nThe article could've been titled \"I hate emacs for no particular reason\". It's\nprobable more accurate.\n\n------\njussij\n> It turns out that my brain was only fitted with 72 bytes of \"finger memory\";\n> furthermore it turns out to be EPROM, not Flash. I need to wipe out all the\n> WordStar keystrokes from 1986 (Ctrl+Y to delete a line, anyone?) before I\n> can add any more, and I have lost the ultra-violet wiping-out gadget (ask\n> your dad) needed to achieve this.\n\nIf he'd taken a look at the Zeus editor he would have found all the features\nmention (except the multi-cursor thing) and by selecting the WordStar key\nmapping, he wouldn't even have to erase the EPROM in his fingers.\n\nJussi Jumppanen\n\nAuthor: Zeus\n\n~~~\nlotsofcows\nVerity Stob is a laaaadddddy.\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verity_Stob>\n\n~~~\njussij\nMy apologies to Verity for the gender error.\n\n------\njtheory\nI must say this isn't nearly as funny as much of the Verity Stob posts, but no\nproblem.\n\nMostly I was amazed to see that the _same_ horrible bug in Notepad++ that\nseriously bit me once (the text replacement buffer silently truncated...\naargh!) is the one mentioned here.\n\n~~~\nJonnieCache\nIt's hard to beat her history of computing, \"8086 and all that\"\n\n[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/22/verity_stob_8086_and...](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/22/verity_stob_8086_and_all_that_revisited/)\n\n------\nJgrubb\nI'm often taken a bit back by how bad text looks in screenshots of Windows\nwhatever. I really wouldn't want to look at that all day. Just my\npreference...\n\n~~~\nswah\nIt's ok - we feel the same about OSX font rendering.\n\n------\nNateDad\nI like Sublime, but I think it's criminal that it can't show line endings.\nThat's right up there with syntax highlighting in my list of must-have\nfeatures. How often do line endings screw you? Since I tend to work on a lot\nof cross platform stuff, for me, it's all the time. I pretty much keep\nNotepad++ around just so I can pop things into it to look at their line\nendings.\n\n~~~\nthezoid\nI'm pretty sure you can turn that on. Though I think it shows all whitespace\ncharacters unless he's changed some more recently.\n\n------\nSamuel_Michon\n_\"Another giveaway [of Sublime's Mac influences]: Sublime comes with a set of\ncolour schemes with names like Dawn, Expresso Libre, Monokai, Slush & Poppies\nand the Smell of Napalm in the Morning (I may have made one of those up).\n\nContrast this with an equivalent list from a Windows product (in fact Delphi\nVCL skins): Carbon, Charcoal Dark Slate, Emerald Light Slate, Golden Graphite,\nSlate Classico and Dark Beige Slate Classico Carbon (I may have made one of\nthose up).\"_\n\nTo me, the second list comes off as more Mac themed. _Carbon_ is a set of Mac\nAPIs, _Charcoal_ was the system font for Mac OS 8, and _Graphite_ was the\nnickname of the Power Mac G4.\n\nAs for the first list, OS X has a desktop picture of poppies and Expresso[sic]\ncould be Java inspired (like Cocoa, Gianduia, Espresso, Chocolat, Cappuccino,\netc.) I doubt Apple would call anything 'Libre' in their English branding or\ndocumentation.\n\n------\nEnsorceled\nWell. At least he was pretty clear this was all his opinion.\n\nBut that's a couple of minutes of my life I'd like to get back.\n\nI'm soOOooo glad I learned ed as my first editor which lead to a 30 year love\naffair with vi. Both of those editors sound painful to use.\n\n~~~\nswah\nOTOH Vimscript is painful to use compared to Python...\n\n~~~\nMatthewPhillips\nThat's a feature, instead of customizing your text editor you spend your time\ncoding the thing you originally wanted to code.\n\n~~~\nswah\nHeh, that's true. But most Vim users also want customization, as shown by\nbundles like <http://vim.spf13.com/>.\n\n------\nmalux85\n\"No support for Object Pascal ... minus 1 million points\"\n\n\"How can I possibly use this as an IDE for theregister.co.uk backend systems\nwhen it doesn't support _object pascal_ \"\n\nGet off my lawn! What smells like Mustard? The president is a demi-crat!\n\n------\nbinarymax\nI will say TexPad is an amazing editor (as long as you don't need to do any\nunicode). Like verity I've been using it for many many years, and I have yet\nto find a replacement that I enjoy as much.\n\nWhen I switched to Linux, I tried to learn all kinds of emacs and vi, and\nnever enjoyed them as much. LightTable seems like it will finally answer my\nprayers, however.\n\n------\nmattfieldy\nFor an article that prefaces it's dialogue with a desire to \"leave the right-\nthinking reader with an impression of calm, reasoned rationality\", it reads\nlike opinionated tosh. How the author arrived at these six criteria as a\nreasonable litmus test for the applicability and usefulness of a text editor\nabsolutely boggles the mind.\n\n~~~\nalanctgardner2\nVerity is usually satirical; at best he's overblown and ridiculous. I don't\nthink the Reg's editorial staff expects you to take this as gospel, it's\nmostly for entertainment value.\n\n------\njhawk28\nSublime Text 3 fixes most of the problems mentioned in the article. It starts\nup fast, handles large files better. Still no option to show newline\ncharacters.\n\n------\noneeyedpigeon\nSublime is generally great, but it desperately needs one fix before I'll ever\nreally love it: make page up/down commutative.\n\n------\nmartinced\nWhat an opinionated piece of crap TFA is. This kind of stuff is precisely why\nI stopped reading The Reg a long time ago.\n\nSeriously:\n\n _\"4. The editor should contain no implementation of Lisp.\"_\n\nWhy do they do that? Because of course Emacs totally rocks in their last\nexample, where you need to apply the same modification to various lines (in\nEmacs you'd probably use a macro repeating some search and replace using a\nquick Lisp substitution).\n\nHow do you even want to talk with people who argue for their own limitation?\n\nAppeal to authority: I urge people to read _\"Beating the average\"_ from pg.\n\n~~~\nlotsofcows\nIt's a joke!\n\nHow is it possible, given the URL, that it's the Reg, the author's name, the\nlayout and the content to miss that it's a joke?\n\nThis particular line is a reference to\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenspuns_tenth_rule>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nLetters and Symbols: How I designed the Keen IO logo - micahwolfe\nhttps://keen.io/blog/43496487388/letters-and-symbols-how-i-designed-the-keen-io-logo\n\n======\nalexdevkar\nThe more I hear from designers, the more I realize how much more thought I\nshould be putting into design choices.\n\n~~~\nmwetzler\nno kidding. The branding process was much longer than any of us expected\n(fellow Keen IO employee here). So much to think about, from Tshirts to\nfavicon.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow Militaries Should Plan for AI - jonbaer\nhttps://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/08/how-militaries-should-plan-for-ai\n======\nCitizenTekk\nWe cannot stop technology, for as we know, we'll heading to a star \"war\"-ish\nera if that happen. One thing we must do is, if military will use it to\nbetterment of humanrace and not extinction, then why not? The innovation of\ntechnology today also produce psychopats on our way.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLincoln Assassination Eyewitness on 1956 Episode of I’ve Got a Secret - barredo\nhttp://laughingsquid.com/lincoln-assassination-eyewitness-on-1956-episode-of-ive-got-a-secret/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+laughingsquid+%28Laughing+Squid%29&utm_content=Google+Reader\n======\nJangoSteve\nThis is amazing, I had never even connected the two points of data in such a\nway as to realize that someone alive when Lincoln was president would still be\nalive when TV is on the market.\n\nAside from the intense tobacco ads (the big banner and the participation\ngift), I find it interesting that they were playing for the amount of $80.\n\nAccounting for inflation, that's around $650 in today's dollars. Meanwhile\nthese days, game shows play for a top prize usually around $10k to $1mil per\nepisode. I guess in 1956, TV itself was enough to keep people entertained and\ntuned in. I wonder if 50 years from now, they'll be playing for people's lives\nor something equally crazy to keep jaded video audiences tuned in.\n\n~~~\nburgerbrain\nActually, there are still plenty of gameshows around where people play for\n(generally) sub-thousand dollar prizes. Cash Cab\n(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash_Cab>) comes to mind. $50 payouts on that\nshow are actually surprisingly common, although that is considered doing\npoorly.\n\nI suspect that the perception of the cash prize size is related to the\nperceived commitment the contestant has to put forward. So they are fairly\nlarge on shows the contestant has to go out of their way to be a part of, but\nlow on shows where the contestant just happens to \"stumble upon\" the contest.\n\n~~~\nJangoSteve\nThat's a very good point, and Cash Cab is sweet. Also, I was under the\nimpression that the people guessing in that gameshow were celebrities. Are\nthere any game-shows today that play for sub-thousand-dollar prizes with\ncelebrities?\n\n------\nkbutler\nIt's interesting to note links to historical events by very young observers.\n\nThe last of the civil war widows passed away only a few years ago (2008). As\nyoung women, they married octogenarian civil war veterans - and continued\nreceiving the widow's pension for decades...\n\n[http://www.radiodiaries.org/transcripts/OtherDocs/civilwar.h...](http://www.radiodiaries.org/transcripts/OtherDocs/civilwar.html)\n\n<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/16/national/16widow.html>\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maudie_Hopkins>\n\n------\nxefer\nI'm reminded of this:\n\n\"Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., who had served on the bench\ninto the nineteen-thirties, had in his long lifetime shaken hands with John\nQuincy Adams and also our new incumbent, John F. Kennedy.\"\n\n\"Old Country\" by Roger Angell. The New Yorker; September 11, 2006\n\n[http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/09/11/060911ta_talk_an...](http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/09/11/060911ta_talk_angell)\n\n~~~\nstrait\nHe lived long enough into the era where his speech or interview could have\nbeen filmed. I couldn't find anything on YouTube; perhaps he was too frail by\nthe 1930's to be doing such things.\n\nI like finding these old film clips featuring performances from ancient\nlegends.\n\nThomas Edison (born 1847)\n[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftii6D68Veo&feature=relat...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftii6D68Veo&feature=related)\n\nSir Ian Hamilton (born 1853) <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlRruY4WRjw>\n\n------\nsiglesias\nI know this is what is referred to in Midnight in Paris as \"Golden Age\nThinking,\" but I can't fight the feeling when I see television programs and\ninterviews in the 50s and 60s that the level of \"popular\" discourse was much\nhigher then than it is now. That is, interviewees of all ages are much more\nwell spoken, articulate, and informed. I can't imagine the panel of American\nIdol judges (much less the audience) being able to drill down so quickly to a\nhistorical event like that, or even care to take a serious crack at it. Am I\noff?\n\nEx, a 60s era CBS documentary on rock--fair from and to both sides:\n<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSq1ca__cRA>\n\n~~~\nneonscribe\nDid you notice the last word spoken by the host Garry Moore was \"withal\",\nmeaning \"nevertheless\". Can you imagine a game show host using the word today?\n\n~~~\njerf\nYes. Or rather, the temporally-updated equivalent. Withal sounds erudite\nbecause _now_ it's dead, and a sign of sophistication to know the word at all.\nMuch less so then, albeit perhaps not zero.\n\nThe problem with some modern game shows isn't vocabulary. It isn't even\nnecessarily spectacle _qua_ spectacle, because if they could have done it and\nafforded it in the 50s their shows would have been bigger, too. Humans haven't\nchanged in the past 60 years. The problem with modern game shows is something\nmore like they have more resources than they know what to do with, competing\nagainst ten other shows with the same \"problem\". I'm not convinced there's a\ngood argument for modern people being more relatively degenerate than people\nof old... the set of which, I would remind you, _really does_ include actual,\nfactual people who considered combat to the death fit entertainment.\n\n------\nhugh3\n\"But apart from that, Mr Seymour, how was the play?\"\n\n------\nhook\nI think Matt Damon has a time machine.\n\n~~~\nhugh3\nThe Matt Damon looking guy is fifties game show fixture Bill Cullen:\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Cullen>\n\nand he looks less Matt Damonish in higher resolution.\n\n~~~\npyre\nHe looks more like Drew Carey at that resolution.\n\n------\nstarpilot\nOn a related note, the last surviving Civil War veteran (though he never saw\ncombat) also died in 1956.\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Woolson>\n\n~~~\nsplat\nInterestingly, the last widow of a Civil War veteran died only three years\nago.\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maudie_Hopkins>\n\n------\nck2\nIt's easy to forget the United States is \"only\" 235 years old. Columbus sailed\nover TWICE as long ago.\n\nSome countries would laugh at that\n<http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=10+oldest+countries>\n\n(added: _actually, wait a sec, Wolfram is very wrong, Portugal Italy and Spain\nall existed when Columbus first sailed_ )\n\nMechanical steam power, automobiles, airflight, television, computers and\nlanding on the moon was all accomplished in that relatively tiny timeframe of\nUS existence.\n\n~~~\njustincormack\nItaly did not exist then as a country. It was unified by Garibaldi in 1861.\nPortugal is older, Spain, depends how you count it, but it was Castile and\nAragon until 1469, and Granada was reconquered in 1492...\n\n------\nscottyallen\nWow, that's truly fascinating. Seeing that 5 minute clip gives me a much\nbetter feeling for how long ago Lincoln's death really was. Deeply\nunderstanding timelines was always my weakness when it came to history, which\nis part of why high school history was thoroughly boring to me. Now I can saw,\nwhen my parents were 5, they saw a really old guy on TV who was 5 when he saw\nLincoln shot. A lot more digestible than 1865 or 146 years ago.\n\n~~~\nmatt1\nHey, just a quick plug:\n\nI run a web app called Preceden [1], which specializes in creating\nmultilayered timelines. You could easily use it to plot the significant events\nin your life and anyone else's to see how they overlap. Lots of teachers use\nit to solve the same problem you have had; visualizing time can be very\ndifficult without the right tools.\n\n[1] <http://www.preceden.com>\n\nEdit: Just for fun, here's a timeline of the Civil War, Mr Seymour's life, the\nI've Got a Secret Episode, and today's date using Preceden:\n\n[http://preceden.com/timelines/15108-i-ve-got-a-secret---\nlinc...](http://preceden.com/timelines/15108-i-ve-got-a-secret---lincoln-\nassassination)\n\n~~~\nalanfalcon\nVery cool tool. But it appears that the \"article appears on Hacker News\" is\ncut off.\n\n~~~\nmatt1\nThanks -- FYI you can scroll over by dragging the timeline around.\n\nEdit: Added a 25 year zoom level to the timelines, which makes this timeline\n(and I'm sure others) fit better.\n\n------\ncma\nIf you are older than 23, you have been around for more than 10% of the US's\nhistory since the constitution was ratified. Pretty crazy to think about.\n\nThe oldest living American has been around for more than 50% of it.\n\n------\ndabent\nThe fact that I could see an eyewitness to that event was overshadowed by the\nhuge cigarette ads. It reminds me of the current state of online ads, only\nit's huge banners for electronic cigarettes instead.\n\n~~~\nthere\ni'm currently reading _the master switch_ (<http://amzn.to/qvgGrx>) which\ntalks about how early radio and tv were forbidden to have commercials because\nthey were supposed to be public services, but that programs could be sponsored\nlike you see in the video. in early radio, companies weren't allowed to\ndirectly mention their products, so for example, gillette's first radio ad was\na lecture on the history of beards.\n\nafter seeing that video, i much prefer commercials to that style of sponsored\nprogramming. when a commercial comes on, you can get up and do something else,\nchange the channel, or mute it. with sponsored programs, everything is so\nintegrated that it makes it hard to ignore.\n\n~~~\nchollida1\nNon minified and non link code to the above amazon link:\n\n<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003F3PKTK/>\n\n------\nDanielBMarkham\nWow, this is amazing. I can't help but want to ask him questions -- what was\nDC like during and after the war? How did Marylanders view the assassination\n(after all, Booth hid out in MD for most of his run.) Did the huge numbers of\nUnion troops make a lasting impact on DC? Did his family know people on both\nsides of the war? Did he see any of the heroes from war later on in his life?\nAttend a speech they made or a book-signing? Did he see Grant on any of his\nfamous carriage rides through the city? Know anybody who had personally spoken\nwith any of the presidents? (Back then you could just show up at the WH and\nask for an audience.) What did he think of the many civil war reunions and\njoint parades that previous fighters from both sides participated in?\n\nYou know, there's a finite number of these questions, and they can be broken\ndown into an ontology and recorded. You could even make such and information\nsystem interactive, and 3D. It's a shame we don't have startups that could\nrecord and organize this same type of information from present-day folks who\nwitnessed history -- like those that saw the D-Day invasion, or the Civil\nRights movement in the U.S. We are losing precious pieces of our past, and we\nhave tech that could make a big difference here. We spend more time worrying\nabout polygon counts on shooters and less time about capturing these\nincredible stories that are disappearing all around us.\n\n~~~\nmatt1\nSimilar to this idea, Steven Spielberg established a foundation called the\nSurvivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation to interview holocaust and\nwarcrime survivors. According to their about page, they've done over 52,000\nvideo testimonials so far.\n\nYou can check it out on the University of Southern California's website here:\n<http://dornsife.usc.edu/vhi/>\n\n------\ntormentor\nIts amazing we actually got to see an eyewitness of something this historical\non tv. The fact that tech had evolved this fast in this man's 96 years of life\nis amazing in itself. Just imagine going from a time where you didn't have\nelectricity in your home to having a camera recording you. The cigarette ads\nare irrelevant.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLLVM’s garbage collection facilities and SBCL’s generational GC - lispm\nhttps://medium.com/@MartinCracauer/llvms-garbage-collection-facilities-and-sbcl-s-generational-gc-a13eedfb1b31\n======\npcwalton\n> I hope I explained why “one size fits all” does not really do it in garbage\n> collection.\n\nGreat to see people acknowledge this. Garbage collection is full of tradeoffs;\nbe skeptical of any claims to the contrary.\n\nI also like the way the author emphasizes the importance of inline bump\nallocation in the nursery. In the fast path, allocation of memory doesn't need\nto be any more than 5 or 6 instructions. This speed advantage is huge, and GC\nschemes that throw it away need to have a _very_ good reason for doing so.\n\n~~~\nmaximilianburke\n> In the fast path, allocation of memory doesn't need to be any more than 5 or\n> 6 instructions. This speed advantage is huge, and GC schemes that throw it\n> away need to have a very good reason for doing so.\n\nI have some experience writing garbage collectors and with the situations I\nwas targeting the handful of instructions quickly fades when multiple threads\ncome into the equation.\n\n1\\. Using atomics for bumping the pointer had some luck but contended atomics\non the platforms I was targeting meant that the low-instruction-count\nallocation was still slow.\n\n2\\. Using locks (futex-style) was slow, as expected.\n\n3\\. The best results I found for my use case (precise garbage collector for a\nruntime targeting video game consoles) resulted in per-thread nursery-type\nallocation arenas, selected by TLS, with no locks in the fast-path. This was\nslower than the ideal single-threaded fast path because of the TLS overhead.\n\n~~~\npcwalton\nYeah, the canonical solution for multithreaded GC is the third option (TLABs).\nThe TLS overhead is annoying, but on some architectures you can get away with\nburning a register to save the TLS load. It might well be worth it on AArch64,\nwith its 32 GPRs...\n\n(TLABs are the recommended solution for multithreaded malloc implementations\nlike jemalloc and tcmalloc as well.)\n\n~~~\ncwzwarich\nAArch64 has a dedicated register (TPIDR_EL0) for TLS.\n\n~~~\npcwalton\nDidn't know that, thanks!\n\n------\neschew\nAt least two of the article's statements about LLVM are false. In particular:\n\n1) LLVM doesn't place any restrictions on how a language runtime allocates\nmemory.\n\n2) LLVM doesn't \"expect\" a stack map -- it provides infrastructure to compute\nthem if the front end wants to, but the front end is completely free to ignore\nthat infrastructure.\n\n~~~\nfao_\nAre those corrections to the incorrect statements, or the incorrect statements\nthemselves? It's not very clear, I'm sorry.\n\n~~~\nsinistersnare\nSo I wouldnt say that LLVM places restrictions, but I will say a little of my\nexperience doing LLVM + BoehmGC\n\nBoehmGC uses the stack for its root set (where it starts to find live memory).\nWith LLVM, you dont ever need to explicitly use the stack, you can use\nregisters for everything and make LLVM figure out if it should go on the stack\nor not. If you want to use Boehm with LLVM, you are forced to explicitly\nallocate everything on the stack, and not just on a register, so that Boehm is\nguaranteed to find the memory.\n\nSo I wouldnt say restriction, but definitely you need to think about how LLVM\noperates with the GC and other runtime components of your language.\n\n------\ntwoodfin\nI love the idea of a “liberal” GC that occasionally throws away bits of memory\nstill in use in the name of raw performance for restartable tasks.\n\n~~~\njohncolanduoni\nHow do you know when to restart the task? Or that your output isn’t the\nproduct of an out of range memory access?\n\n~~~\neslaught\nYou unmap the memory when you free it so that it causes a segfault if you\naccess it, and then if a segfault occurs you know something went wrong.\n\n~~~\nlittlestymaar\n> so that it causes a segfault if you access it\n\nNo, this is UB. It can cause a segfault, but it can also allow _bad things_ ™\nto happen.\n\n~~~\nbarrkel\nLet's be clear on the difference between C and C++ undefined behaviour, and\nmachine behaviour that GCs and runtimes can use for implementation.\n\nIt is not unusual to rely on triggering a hardware exception in runtimes and\nGCs, up to and including segfaults. For example, a check for safepoint might\nbe implemented by attempting to read a particular address. When the GC needs\nto stop the world, it could change the protection bits on the page that\ncontains that address. This technique minimizes the amount of code in the\nsafepoint test and doesn't require any branching logic.\n\nSee e.g. [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/46394575/safepoints-\nin-j...](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/46394575/safepoints-in-jvm)\n\nAnother technique: a runtime can support dynamic growth of the stack by\nkeeping an unmapped or protected page at the limit, and extending it when hit.\nThis is how stacks work on Windows, and it relies on help from codegen:\ncompilers targeting Windows need to generate code that performs a loop\ntouching every page in its stack frame allocation one at a time in allocation\norder, if the stack frame is larger than the page size.\n\nSee e.g. [https://geidav.wordpress.com/tag/stack-\nprobing/](https://geidav.wordpress.com/tag/stack-probing/)\n\n------\nmasklinn\n> Another example where you want to keep for-GC bookkeeping overhead in\n> mainline code low is if you can “GC-by-fork”, which is basically throwing\n> away processes as they would need to GC\n\nThat's one of the common options in Erlang/Elixir: spawn a worker process for\neach task with a `min_heap_size` high enough that most workloads would not\ntrigger a collection (the default is fairly low), let it die after it's\nhandled the request. More complex/memory intensive tasks will fall through to\nnormal GC-ing behaviour once they breach the `min_heap_size` limit.\n\n------\nTarean\n> it is copying, however other passes that just punch holes into existing\n> cards (to wipe pointers that are not pointed to anymore without moving a lot\n> of memory) have and will be added\n\nI have a basic understanding about card tables and promotion but couldn't find\nanything about hole punching. Pretty sure I have heard the term before and was\njust as confused, could someone point me into the right direction for this?\n\nFrom context I'd guess that it means the gc doesn't copy unless x% of the\nblock is unused?\n\n~~~\ncracauer\nI use the \"punch holes\" phrase in the following situation: \\- GC is\ncopying/compacting \\- GC is at least slightly conservative \\- allocation is\nfast/inline/increment-only \\- that leaves you in a situation where you cannot\nmove/compact some part of the heap\n\nYou cannot move the possibly (conservatively) pointed to thing because you\ncannot adjust the pointer to it (because it might be a non-pointer thing such\nas an integer.\n\nNow you have some GC unit worth of space occupied by one unmovable object,\notherwise it's empty space backed by physical pages. What do you do with the\nrest of the space? In a C/malloc scheme you are aware of such holes and fill\nthem from new allocations. When you have a fast allocation scheme not\ninvolving complex code to find holes you will keep these \"hole\" as long as the\nconservative-pointer looking thing exists. You do wipe all the other\npointerish things in that GC area, though, so that they don't hold down\nadditional space. Still, now you \"waste\" a whole GC card worth of physical RAM\non a single object, the tradeoff being that you do not want to move to an\nallocation scheme that spends time thinking about fragmentation.\n\nYou could use the empty space in those GC cards as a target for the next\nmoving GC, however that has drawbacks as you know continue to have to special-\ntreat such regular objects co-located with possibly conservatively pointed to\nobjects.\n\nIf there is a better term than \"punching holes\" for this I would be\ninterested.\n\nETA: now that I think about it, you could give back all physical pages in that\nGC card that do not contain the held down object. This assumes that GC card\nsize is more than one VM page.\n\n------\ncracauer\n(author here) Just wanted to say that I have seen the comments and will\naddress them when I have a chance. My post turned out to be a lot more popular\nthan I anticipated and I was busy yesterday and today. I wrote most of this in\nsummer 2017, so given the popularity I will also provide a refresh with\ntoday's state of LLVM.\n\nPlease keep corrections to my post coming, the time to determine and influence\nGC design restrictions in LLVM is now. Before a popular GCed language comes\nalong and then tramples whatever its current GC happens to be into the status\nquo.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAndroid is Winning  - speg\nhttp://techcrunch.com/2012/08/14/android-is-winning/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29\n\n======\nfactorialboy\nOf course Android wins as a platform. Apple still makes good money for share-\nholders. Win-win?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCoco Color – A coloring stylus for kids - hughnjbell\nhttp://cococolor.com\n======\npsychogenic\nNot sure what I think of a tablet \"coloring book\" but the tech is\nintriguing...\n\nAccording to\n\n[https://cococolor.com/pages/instruction#best-\nresults](https://cococolor.com/pages/instruction#best-results)\n\nit seems the apps just listen in on the mic and the stylus emits some sort of\n(ultra?) sound/sequence of audio pulses for each of the 4 buttons.\n\nAnyone know if that's correct? If so, I wonder what the frequency is... are\nall Android devices responsive to these sub/ultra sonics?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nMusic streaming platforms' audience sizes compared - marcadam\nhttp://www.ventureharbour.com/which-music-discovery-platform-has-the-most-effective-marketing/\n\n======\nquahada\nAmong the bleeding edge tech community, Deezer and Spotify are considered the\nposter children. It's interesting how big Pandora's following is, and how this\nwill change over time as awareness for the newer services builds among the\ngeneral population.\n\nIt will also be interesting to see a trend comparison of pure internet radio\nplatforms, like Pandora and Songza.\n\n~~~\nmarcadam\nYep - the thing about these numbers are that they're obviously based on\n_registered_ users, not active users. For example, which Spotify may have 33\nmillion users, only 20 million of those are active. Pandora may have an\nimpressive 150 million registered users, but I imagine the drop off rate of\nactive users is relatively high given the increase in popularity of other\nservices.\n\n~~~\nquahada\nyeah, and with these streaming services there's also free vs paid users.\n\nAnd Pandora is not profitable. I believe Pandora loses money with each user-\nhour, which means more users == more losses.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDallas Siren Hack Done by Radio, Not Computer – Dallas Observer - lightlyused\nhttp://www.dallasobserver.com/news/dallas-siren-hack-done-by-radio-not-computer-9358087\n======\nlightlyused\n\"By hijacking the signal going into the transmitter, the hacker seemingly\nmanaged to trigger all of the sirens at once.\"\n\nThis sentence doesn't make sense, more than likely they figured out the system\nneeded to trigger the sirens and broadcast it to trigger them. Reminds me of\nthe old days when all it would take to hack a radio stations remote broadcast\nor a drive-thru order was an opened up vhf/uhf ham radio.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nPakistan blocks YouTube website - muriithi\nhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7261727.stm\n\n======\nElectro\nHmm, I'd have thought the recordings of webcam girls and clips of porno's and\npeople talking about sex would have been the reason. Go figure, religion\ndoesn't censor on the basis of morals or the logic descending from their\nmorals, but on an abstract basis of insult.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDocker: Not Even a Linker - nkurz\nhttp://adamierymenko.com/docker-not-even-a-linker\n======\nbtrask\nFantastic article. We need more deconstruction of \"fads\" (which I don't mean\nin a pejorative sense) so that we can quickly understand them without\nsacrificing tens of thousands of man-hours slowly coming to terms with each\none. It would be much better if we could reason about the exact differences\nand benefits instead of getting bogged down in new terminology, etc.\n\nMore examples I've been thinking about:\n\n\\- Goroutines (fibers are equivalent to threads, but coroutines are different)\n\n\\- Safety and the unsafe keyword in Rust (not sure but the effective\ndifference seems to be default-allow versus default-deny)\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nRegarding those two examples, more than having explanations about them, it\nwould help if people cared about IT history and it was more accessible.\n\nCoroutines are easily explained in Modula-2 literature.\n\nSafe keyword in Rust goes back at very least to Ada and Modula-2. Also in\nOberon and its derivatives, Modula-3 (which inspired C#). The literature for\nthose systems also has lots of examples.\n\nBeing an old IT dog, that started when those technologies were new it is\nsometimes hard to me to see how new generations fail to find such information,\neven though it is available on the web. I guess the main cause is thatbone\nneeds to know what to search for.\n\n~~~\npjc50\nTech is strangely ahistorical. Not just practitioners not reading the\nliterature, but it seemingly being forgotten entirely. Possibly this is a side\neffect of so many of us being self-taught.\n\nIn another thread I've just been arguing with someone who thought that the\nDOOM code should have been thread-safe.\n\n~~~\nwslh\nI would say cyclical. Every day we read about a similar framework working in a\npopular language when that solution already existed for long time.\n\nBut this happens in other areas outside computer science. For example, modern\nmedicine rediscovering old medicine \"recipes\".\n\nThe problem in our field is when people talk all day about Docker while\nsurpressing LXC from the discussion.\n\n~~~\ndigi_owl\nI think it happens for different reasons though.\n\nWith medicine it boils down to a dismissal of folk remedies as placebo.\n\nBut with computing its because the old ways were developed on mainframes and\nminicomputers in an environment that current generation may only have heard\nstories about.\n\nThis because the micro-computer era was pretty much a mental reboot for\ncomputing, as little if any software crossed over (until fairly recently).\n\n------\nvezzy-fnord\nIt's been said several times before that a large incentive for Docker's\nadoption was to get around the dynamic linking hell that is present in most\nmodern Unix-likes.\n\nIt's funny the author mentions a \"world without linkers\" with my posting of an\narticle about the TAOS operating system today. Go look there if you want some\nprimers on achieving that.\n\nThat said, the author greatly oversells Docker's novelty.\n\n~~~\nGalanwe\n> \"the dynamic linking hell that is present in most modern Unix-likes\"\n\nWTF are you talking about...\n\nThere has never been a \"hell\" of dynamic linking problems on Unixes, this used\nto be a Windows problem. Even the \"most modern unix-likes\" doesn't make sense,\nsince \"most modern unix-likes\" do not even use similar linking models.\n\n~~~\nfapjacks\nWe have dependency management built into the package managers which hides that\nfrom us these days. Unix and Linux before package managers was kind of a pain.\nNow, I will totally give you that it was nothing like the \"DLL hell\" of\nWindows.\n\n~~~\nreidrac\nThen how can be that an incentive for Docker's adoption? Honest question; if,\nas you say, this is a solved problem thanks to package managers.\n\nI can't even remember the last time I had a real dependency problem deploying\nan application (using Debian; and CentOS before that), other than myself not\ndoing things right (read: installing RPMs I found online and I shouldn't\ninstall).\n\n~~~\nfapjacks\nWell I wasn't originally speaking wrt Docker, but Docker doesn't magically\nlose all the hard work done by package managers. You have total access to them\nin your containers.\n\n------\namirouche\n> Had their developers known what they were actually writing, perhaps we'd\n> have a lean and mean solution that did the right thing.\n\nI am surprised nobody mentionned nix, nixos and guix.\n\n~~~\npron\nCan you explain what those are and what they do?\n\n~~~\ndavexunit\nNix and Guix are purely functional package managers, meaning that software\nbuilds are treated like a mathematical function: Input the same source code +\ndependencies and receive the same build as output. They have features such as\nreproducibile (often bit identical) builds, transactional package upgrades and\nrollbacks, and unprivileged package management. They solve the dynamic linking\nproblem by allowing each package to refer _precisely_ to the dependencies that\nit was built with. With this mechanism in place, it becomes very easy to use\napplications that require different versions of some C library, or a different\nRuby/Python interpreter, or whatever else. Furthermore, it can do this without\nrelying on a specific type of file system, and without requiring that\napplications be run inside containers or virtual machines. This makes it very\ncomposable and general-purpose.\n\n[https://nixos.org/](https://nixos.org/)\n\n[http://www.gnu.org/software/guix/](http://www.gnu.org/software/guix/)\n\n------\nriquito\n> Instead of building and filing away heaps of immutable (read: security\n> nightmare) containers [...]\n\nIs there a consensus on what is(are) the best method(s) to handle security\npatches automatically in Docker? For example, the official images at\n[https://registry.hub.docker.com/](https://registry.hub.docker.com/) are fixed\nin time and you should apply security patches before using them?\n\n~~~\namouat\nThe official images aren't fixed in time, assuming you're pulling using a tag\ne.g redis:3.0. That image may be updated at any point and should be updated\nwith minor patches and security updates. Rather than manually apply patches,\njust pull the image again to get the updates. If the image hasn't been\nupdated, complain loudly.\n\nIf you want your image to be \"fixed in time\", pull by digest instead.\n\n~~~\nriquito\nThank you very much\n\n------\ncraneca0\nVery interesting. I'm not convinced this captures the core value of containers\nthough. Or at least not the only core value. Calling containers an evolution\nof configuration management tools seems like an oversimplification just to\nmake a point. This may be one aspect of building a micro-service driven\narchitecture that containers make easier, but there are other very important\nones. Portability comes to mind. It's not just that you can build your stack\nonce and save it, but that you can then run that stack anywhere, and it\nbecomes much easier to share/borrow bits and pieces of other people's stacks.\n\n~~~\nfalcolas\n> you can then run that stack anywhere\n\nAnywhere that runs Linux, at least.\n\n> it becomes much easier to share/borrow bits and pieces of other people's\n> stacks.\n\nAt the cost of not knowing what's really in them.\n\n~~~\nandybak\nTo a certain degree I don't _want_ to know what's in them. If I want to add\nsearch to my stack - initially I'd rather not have to have an intimate\nknowledge of Elastic Search, a task queue and whatever other moving parts\nthere are. In many cases a black box that just works would be a fantastic\noption.\n\nThe reason hosted services are popular is for exactly this reason.\n\nA wide understanding of different technologies is a wonderful thing but\nsometimes you just need to ship.\n\n------\nbgilroy26\nFor any 'Early coders' like my self who want to learn more about linkers and\nloaders based on this write up, Programming from the Ground Up by Jonathan\nBartlett is a good book.\n\n~~~\nvezzy-fnord\nAs well as Ian Lance Taylor's 20-part blog series on linkers:\n[https://lwn.net/Articles/276782/](https://lwn.net/Articles/276782/)\n\n------\ntwblalock\nShared libraries were considered a bad idea in Plan 9, and I really wish that\npoint of view had made it into commercial Unix and Linux.\n\n~~~\ndavexunit\nShared libraries are a fantastic idea. Static linking wastes system resources\nand makes system-wide library updates problematic. Docker's approach to things\nis essentially a higher level form of static linking, which is to say that\nit's not a very good approach. It's papering over the package management\nproblem. We need general-purpose package management systems that allow for\ndifferent applications to use different versions of shared libraries without\ninterference. Luckily, the Nix and GNU Guix projects solve this problem very\nwell, if only they could get some more \"mindshare.\"\n\n~~~\ne40\nYeah, having to rebuild every app that uses OpenSSL when a new advisory is\nissued... wow, that would be expensive!\n\n~~~\nadricnet\nThousands of mobile app developers feel this pain now, from that particular\nlibrary.\n\nNot updating these applications is not acceptable to most organizations /\ndevice operators.\n\nJust in case anyone thought the parent was sarcasm or theory, some refs:\n\n[http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/heartbleed-bug-apps-\naffe...](http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/heartbleed-bug-apps-affected-\nlist/)\n\n[http://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-\nintelligence/b...](http://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-\nintelligence/bundled-openssl-library-also-makes-apps-and-\nandroid-411-vulnerable-to-heartbleed/)\n\n------\nberzemus\nWhat's with the light-grey-text-on-white-background styling ? It may look\ngood, but it's a pain to read.\n\n~~~\ncthor\nIt looking \"prettier\" is pretty arguable.\n\nThe body text is as close to black as it is white. #444 is borderline\nacceptable. #888 is absurd.\n\n------\nkstenerud\nSorry, no. I don't want a dynamic linker for my software stacks. I want a\ncomplete, ready-to-deploy chunk of code, FROZEN IN TIME, that has a known and\npredictable state that I can trust.\n\nIf I need to apply security fixes, I'll rebuild the chunk of code, also frozen\nin time, and deploy.\n\nIdeally, I want no dependencies between container and host, or container and\ncontainer. Or at least I want them kept to an absolute minimum.\n\nEven more ideally, I want isolation to be so complete that I'd be able to run\nmy built stack 100 years from now and have it operate exactly the same as it\ndoes today. That's a bit hyperbolic, of course.\n\nDocker is not a linker; it is a system from which you build deployable code.\nIn fact, there's no reason why in theory you couldn't add support to deploy\nWindows or BSD stacks (other than the fact that Windows and BSD kernels\nhaven't been added yet).\n\n------\nBurritoAlPastor\nThis is an interesting take, but it doesn't entirely make sense. Ierymenko's\n'save your work' metaphor is a little misleading, since (I certainly hope)\nnobody is creating docker images manually. But I like his idea that dockerfile\ncreation, by which you set up a stack in a way that's automatically\nreproducible, is equivalent to the role of a linker in a compiled program.\n\nWhere he loses me is when he suggests that Puppet et al are closer to a 'pure'\nlinker. Configuration management systems are doing the _same thing_ as a\nDockerfile: instead of setting up your XYZ stack by hand, you write a Puppet\nmanifest that calls the modules for XYZ and sets them up the way you need.\nYour final result isn't a server with the XYZ stack: it's an _abstracted\nprocess_ that will _reproduce_ your XYZ stack. The main difference is the\nimplementation; Docker reproduces your stack in an isolated environment, and\nconfiguration management tools reproduce your stack on an arbitrary platform.\n\nBut nobody thinks of Docker as a configuration management tool, and for the\nmost part I don't think people even think of Docker as a _competitor_ to\nconfiguration management. Hell, Docker is a core component of many Puppet CI\nworkflows.\n\nSo there's something else going on here. What's the secret sauce? Is Docker\njust two great things (config management + virtualization) glued together so\ncohesively that it becomes greater than the sum of its parts?\n\n------\nd2xdy2\nThat's a very clever metaphor for that aspect of Docker. I hadn't considered\nlooking at it that way before.\n\n------\nwilliamsharkey\nThe author writes:\n\n\"Sometimes (unless I am writing in Go) I don't want to bundle all my code\ntogether into one giant hulking binary.\"\n\nI am unfamiliar with Go - can someone please offer why this technique might\nespecially desirable/feasible with Go?\n\n~~~\nagrover\nGo only supports static linking. No dynamic linking means no linking issues\nwhen deploying the same binary across a billion machines in the Googleplex.\n\n------\nglifchits\nIs \"gerschnorvels\" really a word in any language?\n\n~~~\ndigi_owl\nMy first though was that it was some sort of compound word.\n\n------\nleephillips\nAccording to this article, Docker is a way to save your work after configuring\nyour server. Can't I do that with\n\n    \n    \n        rsync -a /etc /whatever backupserver:/backups/server1\n    \n    ?\n\n~~~\nfragmede\nFirst off,\n\n    \n    \n        rsync -a / backupserver:/backups/server1\n    \n\nwould be a better comparison; full server state never properly stays in /etc.\n\nDo you actually do that though? Multiple times a day? How easy is it to roll\nback to a previous state?\n\nGiven Dockerfiles, a better comparison would be rsnapshot, since intermediate\nsteps are important, and maybe that last \"yum upgrade/apt-get update/whatever\"\nbroke something (on dev, of course) and you want to roll back.\n\nHow do you compare two related file system images? Is there something more\nadvanced than \"diff -u\"? How does that handle binaries? Will that map\nbackwards and say what command resulted in changed binaries? Can I submit a\ncode review for the changes between the two states like I could for a\nDockerfile which is plain text?\n\nDocker isn't quite a configuration management system like Chef or Puppet, but\nthere's a lot of overlap.\n\n------\nForHackernews\n> perhaps some quantum superposition of those that has yielded a New Thing.\n\nUgh. That's not what quantum superposition means.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHoward Schulz, CEO of Starbucks, joins Groupon's Board of Directors - mjfern\nhttp://www.groupon.com/blog/cities/changes-to-the-groupon-board-of-directors/\n\n======\nlongarm\nIt's more impressive when companies add people to their board who add a\nperspective other than the entrenched (dare I say evil) mindset of their\ncompetition. An example: Chipotle adding Bill Niman, an advocate against\nfactory farming, fast food and cheap meat. A good move for Groupon would be to\nadd someone who speaks for small businesses--the main Groupon customers--\ninstead of a major corporation.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Designing a Database - bgnm2000\nI'm primarily a designer with a good amount of code experience (classes in school, messing around on my own etc.) I started to learn rails over the summer, and built one pretty messy app. That said, I'm gearing up to build my second app, this time around I've been thinking a lot about the database and how everything needs to connect etc. rather than doing it as I go.<p>So far I've drawn it on paper (looks like something out of MS Access) but I was wondering if there are any other recommended steps I should take before I start coding this all out (besides the usual flow charts etc.)?<p>Thanks!<p>-bgnm\n======\ntom_b\nDo you need your system to be transaction-oriented (think ATMs and banking) or\nanalytic (for doing slice and dice reporting of data)? You'll do well to check\nout normalization for the first and understand star schemas for the second.\n\nIt's awesome you are thinking about db design upfront, just think about what\nyour data will be, how it will be used, and how you will want to move it\naround for your app. Don't discount not using a db at all (and I'm a db guy\nfor work) - for one of my current projects, I'm simply dumping small data\nobjects into individual JSON files. Easy to fetch with Ruby/Sinatra and easy\nfor the GUI part of the app to play with (Javascript eats up JSON on that\nside). Not to discount Rails at all, but going with a minimal toolset like\nRuby/Sinatra/Sequel might be just the ticket for you roll simple web apps\nreally quickly.\n\nHeck, this forum uses flat files for storing submissions, comments, and user\ndata.\n\n~~~\nbgnm2000\nThanks for the reply!\n\nI'd say the data is definitely going to be analytical - but some parts will be\ntransaction oriented, if that makes sense (people will be able to pay for\ngreater functionality).\n\nI don't think I know enough about flat file systems to code one up myself at\nthis point either (not that I know enough about DB's - but enough to create\nsomething).\n\nAny good resources for understanding star schemas?\n\n~~~\ntom_b\nSure, grab one of the data warehouse books from Kimball. Inmon is the other\nbig data warehouse author out there, but I'm not as familiar with his texts.\nKimball's stuff is an easy read and not platform focused in any way.\n\nIf you are aiming to do business visualizations with the data, you might want\nto check out Stephen Few - he's written several books on business data\nvisualization (think Tufte distilled for charts and dashboards).\n\n------\nfragmede\nMake sure you've read Wikipedia's article on normalizing databases.\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_normalization>\n\n~~~\npbhjpbhj\nIf you understand such gems as:\n\n _[For 3NF ensuring that] Every non-prime attribute is non-transitively\ndependent on every key of the table_\n\nThen that's the perfect reminder article. I did an undergrad course in db\ndesign covering db normalisation (years ago) and still found that page to be a\nbit dense. I'd look elsewhere for a primer.\n\n<http://www.databaseprimer.com/normalization.html> is a bit too simplified but\nmakes it easy to understand what's happening. This\n[http://www.databasejournal.com/sqletc/article.php/1428511/Da...](http://www.databasejournal.com/sqletc/article.php/1428511/Database-\nNormalization.htm) appears to be a good overview using a realistic worked\nexample db.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIt's complicated: Facebook's terrible 2018 - sahin-boydas\nhttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2018/dec/24/facebook-2018-timeline-year-in-review-privacy-scandals\n======\nethiclub\nDoes anyone have any good devil's advocate information on Facebook?\n\n\\- The company does not seem to have an appropriate ethics board (for the size\nof company). There is some mention of an 'ethics AI board' but no real\ngovernance over Ethical conduct and compliance. If there are internal review\nboards\n([https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/17/facebook-...](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/17/facebook-\nethics-but-is-it-ethical)), then it appears that they are thoroughly\ncompromised, and not providing a level of accountability or serious thought\nthat anyone will take seriously.\n\n\\- There seems to be no intention or effort in achieving ISO standards (apart\nfrom a single ISO:27001 certification for FB Workplace, which was arguably to\nprovide a 'feature' for the application rather than any ethical move).\nGranted, the value of standards and frameworks will always be in dispute, but\nthese exist for a reason and are a neat 'package' that organizations use to\nensure they are not reinventing the wheel and acknowledging a list of\nconsiderations.\n\n\\- Facebook do not seem to maintain an ethics page.\n\n\\- They do not seem to have an ethical voice - Nor do they appear to have\nanyone even pretending to have an ethical voice. PR from facebook (usually)\nmanifests as 'We do what we do, and it's fine' rather than 'we will be\nintrospective about this'. It seems strange that there isn't even any\nposturing here.\n\n\\- The two types of FB employee that seem to voice insight on public forums\nare either a) discontent and being ignored by management or b) drinking the\nkoolaid and refusing to admit that their practice is unethical.\n\nIgnoring Occam's razor for a moment - Surely there is something to cling on to\nhere, to provide the principle of charity for Facebook. FB sure are making it\nhard for consumers to paint them in any reasonable light.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nFile System Hierarchy 3.0 RC1 Proposal - JustinGarrison\nhttp://www.linuxbase.org/betaspecs/fhs/fhs.html#usrshareArchitectureindependentData\n\n======\ngrigio\nI'm still waiting `/Users` `/Applications`. Only Gobolinux has it\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nName.com Responds to HTP Security Breach - Judson\nhttp://pastebin.com/We3xgT4J\n\n======\n3JPLW\nInteresting that they don't talk about any action they have taken in response\n(beyond asking their customers to perform some action and implementing vague\n\"security measures\"). I would hope that they've identified and fixed the core\nsecurity issue that HTP exploited.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow to get stuff done, automatically - acoleman616\nhttp://www.alexpcoleman.com/productivity/get-stuff-done/?hn\n======\ndigitalsushi\nI get a db error with the query string referrer\n\n[http://www.alexpcoleman.com/productivity/get-stuff-\ndone/](http://www.alexpcoleman.com/productivity/get-stuff-done/) works for me\n\n~~~\ntheg2\nLooks like it went under and the sites down for me.\n\n~~~\nacoleman616\nAlways something fun and new with the server when on HN. Working on getting it\nback up now...\n\n------\nstartupclarity\nI'm sure the irony of reading these sorts of blog posts isn't lost on you all.\nHowever, I do believe that some of these strategies and techniques can\nactually work. I even wrote about it on the post 'how to make time for your\nside-project'.\n\nThe key is not _just_ to break things down and to create tiny, regular\nactions. It's also to _start_. Most of us like to talk and talk and not\nactually do anything at all.\n\nThis procrastination and hyperbolic discounting means that we often go for the\nquick fix rather than the ongoing journey to success. Starting and overcoming\nour own psychology is often the hardest part.\n\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbolic_discounting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbolic_discounting)\n\n[http://www.startupclarity.com/blog/make-time-side-\nproject/](http://www.startupclarity.com/blog/make-time-side-project/)\n\n~~~\nbentcorner\nPersonally, I've found that the process of breaking down a task and writing it\ndown is incredibly useful. As I multitask throughout the day I forget where I\nam in a particular task item, and having a list of things I'm supposed to do\nall I need to do is go to the next list item and do that.\n\nI also try to have high-level items for the day so that I know what I'm\nfocusing on. Anything that I need to do but can't do today I put on a list for\nthe next day.\n\nIt seems to be working out alright for me.\n\nI currently just throw it all into OneNote, although it's not the greatest for\ndealing with lists the way I use it, but the freeform writing surface and\nsearch it provides makes up for it.\n\n~~~\nread\n_I forget where I am in a particular task item_\n\nForgetting is my number one problem right now. I also noticed there's some\nkind of unconscious filtering going on in your mind. Even if you write down\nthe tasks your mind prioritizes them on its own.\n\nWhat I wish list software had was a way to push those less important tasks in\nthe background.\n\n~~~\nbentcorner\nBe religious about writing down what you're doing, make a habit of referring\nto this list when you find that you're bouncing around from task to task.\n\nSometimes I'll hit HN if I'm waiting for something to finish, and if I was in\nthe middle of something complex I've needed to write down what I was doing,\neven if it was only for _literally_ a minute.\n\nAlso, when incrementally learning something it can help. Writing down in your\nown words how something works can help you if you only have small chunks of\ntime to learn something.\n\n~~~\nread\nThanks for this, I'll try it.\n\nI found writing down things I learned (or typing them in) makes them more\nlikely to stick in my mind. Particularly small phrases that pop out.\n\n------\nsocrates1998\nI have always struggled with automating my life habits.\n\nIt's not that I don't have goals, I have them in plenty. I have problems with\nthe dehumanizing, machine-like feeling it puts on life.\n\nDoing the same thing everyday at the same time sounds horrible. I don't want\nto program myself. I want to live my life according to how I feel at the\nmoment.\n\nBut, as you can imagine, this has created problems. You don't keep jobs by\nliving for the moment or doing what you feel like doing.\n\nI am not sure if I have a point, but I think there is more to life than\nbecoming a programmable robot.\n\nMaybe balance is the key. Have good habits, but try to build some flexibility\ninto them.\n\n~~~\nmonkmartinez\nSo you say that you want to live as you feel, but this also creates problems.\nEmotions are the problem. Better stated, lacking control of your emotions is\nthe problem.\n\nYou are in control of your thoughts and how you react to them. Knowing this\nand practicing control has been life changing for me. /r/stoicism, my friend.\n\n------\nowenversteeg\nSite's down with a 404 for all pages right now. Cache:\n[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:LwUoGcd...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:LwUoGcds-\nokJ:www.alexpcoleman.com/productivity/get-stuff-\ndone/+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us)\n\n------\njqm\nGood article.\n\nBen Franklin's schedule shot was interesting. 8-6 workday with a two hour\nlunch (so 8 hours of work). For some reason I always assumed people toiled\nvery long hours back in those day.\n\n~~~\nbhousel\nMost people _did_ toil very long hours back then, but Franklin was one of the\nfirst to make the jump from common class into pseudo-nobility. Class mobility\nwas a new thing back then.\n\nThe idea of \"work\" was considered very uncool at the time, especially to upper\nclass, or social climbers like Franklin who mixed with them. I heard somewhere\nthat this is why old school scientific publications have names like\n\"Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, &c.\"\nBecause we're not _working_ , we're just _observing_.\n\n~~~\njosephjrobison\nA few counterpoints:\n\n\"These images are backward projections of modern work patterns. And they are\nfalse. Before capitalism, most people did not work very long hours at all. The\ntempo of life was slow, even leisurely; the pace of work relaxed. Our\nancestors may not have been rich, but they had an abundance of leisure. When\ncapitalism raised their incomes, it also took away their time. Indeed, there\nis good reason to believe that working hours in the mid-nineteenth century\nconstitute the most prodigious work effort in the entire history of\nhumankind.\"[1]\n\nBut also:\n\n\"Based on the amount of work performed — for example, crops raised per worker\n— Carr (1992) concludes that in the seventeenth-century Chesapeake region,\n“for at least six months of the year, an eight to ten-hour day of hard labor\nwas necessary.” This does not account for other required tasks, which probably\ntook about three hours per day. This workday was considerably longer than for\nEnglish laborers, who at the time probably averaged closer to six hours of\nheavy labor each day.\"[2]\n\n[1]\n[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_w...](http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_workweek.html)\n[2][http://eh.net/encyclopedia/hours-of-work-in-u-s-\nhistory/](http://eh.net/encyclopedia/hours-of-work-in-u-s-history/)\n\n------\nelwell\n> If you only come away with one thing after reading this, let it be this:\n> focus on the process. Don’t focus on your output.\n\nThat kind of flies in the face of the hacker mentality and lean startup\nmethodology. The growing trend seems to be: _focus on creating value_ ; not\nhow many hours you spent working today. And I must agree with the trend in\nthis case.\n\n------\nphilip1209\nThe author added a \"?hn\" to the URL to track referrals from here - I believe\nthat this violates the HN ToS and should be removed by the mods.\n\n~~~\nrockdiesel\nwhy would a referral parameter even be needed in this case? can't a person\njust go into their analytics and look at all the referrals from\nnews.ycombinator.com without the need for a parameter in the URL?\n\n------\nagueroooo\nAny ideas about the habits of the brilliant programmers of past and present?\ne.g. Trovalds, Sysoev etc etc?\n\n~~~\nderekp7\nThere's been posts about daily habits of other accomplished persons (not\nnecessarily programmers), and the conclusion from that discussion was that\nalthough these techniques work for them, they would not really apply in\ngeneral. For example, some would have a glass of wine before starting work on\na project, whereas that would put me to sleep. Some athletes eat a big steak\ndinner before a game, while with others it would hamper their performance.\n\nMy take on it, is that people that are good at what they do are good because\nthey are good, not because of any rituals.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nLazy Loading in Java - twotriangles\nhttp://mlapadula.com/blog/2011/08/28/lazy-initialization-in-java.html\n\n======\nsidcool\nGetting 404\n\n~~~\nchromejs10\nsame\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\n12 things I learned from pitching VCs this past week - scrollinondubs\nhttp://www.scrollinondubs.com/2007/12/12/lessons-from-vc-pitches/\n\n======\ndhouston\ngood stuff. sam altman told us the most important thing for him was to\nremember #8 -- they need you as much as you need them. they _want_ to believe\nthat you're the next google; think of how much it would make their lives\neasier if you were, and think of how hard it would be to spend your life\nsaying no 90+% of the time and telling people their babies are ugly. they want\nto say yes.\n\ni'd also say spend a lot of time coming up with a story and framing your\nopportunity in the biggest possible way. this was something i really\nunderestimated -- initially we'd just show a list of features and expect\neveryone to arrive at the vision we had in our heads, but really it's the\nother way around -- the features drive a more important story and vision.\n\na story is also a lot easier for an investor to retell and get other people\nexcited about than a laundry list of \"um, it does this, and this, and this...\"\nremember, VCs have to then turn around and sell their own general partnership\non the idea, so give them the ammo they need to do this effectively.\n\nalso -- practice your pitch until it becomes mechanical. not so much by\nstanding in front of a mirror (though that helps too) but rather by debugging\nit with individual angels or mentors, so that by the time you pitch the\ninvestors you really want you've already seen most of the universe of possible\nobjections and surprises and can handle them effectively.\n\n~~~\nscrollinondubs\ndhouston- good call on having a big story. The VC's could literally care less\nabout the features of your product, they want to know how it's going to be\nthing that will be a common-place word in 4 yrs and you have to paint that\npicture vividly for them.\n\nI would disagree on the pitching in front of a mirror thing. And actually i\nshould add this as #14- I recommend that you _don't_ have a scripted pitch.\nHave a deck of slides that serves as a framework for the conversation but just\ntalk about it naturally. If you truly believe in it, this should become second\nnature and they'll smell the candidness whereas a scripted pitch comes off as\nbrittle and less engaging. You want it to be anything but mechanical IMHO.\n\nsean\n\n~~~\naswanson\nThe pimped out mouse gives you instant cred, scrollin.\n\n------\nbrlewis\nMuch of this article seems like good advice about pitching in general, not\nonly to investors. I like it.\n\n------\njsjenkins168\nValuable lessons, thanks for sharing them! You mention in #4 that a quality\nreferral is critical. Do you mind sharing your experiences meeting/using a\nreferral to get face time with VCs?\n\n~~~\nscrollinondubs\nsure, in generic terms. Our lawyer was instrumental in getting 3 - we splurged\na bit and hired a very reputable firm in Palo Alto that is well-connected. We\npaid more than we would have liked for the legal work a year ago but it's\npaying dividends now in terms of introductions. The other intros came from\njust random networking. We live in AZ but I drove my truck up to SF and couch\nsurfed the past month just going to events, shaking hands and meeting people.\nI had a list of people I know through various user group involvement and\npresence on listserv's so i contacted them and tried to have a different lunch\nlined up everyday. I used Meetup, Upcoming and googled \"Bay Area User Groups\"\nand tried to lineup a different event every night. I actively used Facebook\nand my blog to solicit intros and tell people what I was doing, switching my\nnetwork to Silicon Valley temporarily and finding events via that. I met great\ncontacts at the Startup Weekend that was held in SF. And the whole time I was\nwriting a series of posts on my trip essentially live-blogging it to meet more\ncontacts. You can read those here if you're interested->\n<http://www.scrollinondubs.com/tags/sfroadtrip>\n\nThere is no \"typical intro\" to describe - they happened in the most\nunpredictable/serendipitous ways, but having the conversation-starter of \"so I\ndrove here from Phoenix and have been sleeping on friends couches so i can be\nin the mix for our startup\" was a powerful lead-in to be able to talk with\npeople and get them to listen.\n\nI know PG is a big fan of the idea you should really be in the Bay Area to\ngive your startup the best chance of success. We have our company in AZ right\nnow and moving wasn't an option so this was the next best thing we figured we\ncould do. Definitely very happy with the choice.\n\nsean\n\n------\ndavidw\n> one meeting that ran 30min over- the VC was deferring calls from his wife\n> who was waiting for him in the parking lot\n\nNice guy:-/\n\n~~~\nmrtron\nThe wifey can complain when she is driving her new Bentley.\n\nSometimes business has to come before pleasure, I know my lady would wait in\nthe parking lot for 3 days if she knew it was important.\n\nBut if I was a VC, I would give everyone X amount of time, but have a plan B\nto talk all day if things went well.\n\n~~~\ndavidw\nIt would have cost him nothing (and he's the one with the money, in any case)\nto say \"hey, I'm running late, it's important, it'll be a while longer\" rather\nthan simply not answering, as the article seems to say.\n\n~~~\ndowner\nAh, but interrupting business for personal _looks bad_ ; and the thing about\n(possibly most) women is they _want_ you to have something that's more\nimportant than them. If you drop everything for them they won't respect you.\n\nSo he did the right thing from both perspectives. Which is probably why he's\nrich and has a (presumably) hot wife.\n\n(I know that sounds politically incorrect, but alas, reality often is. To be\nfair, it probably works both ways: a man won't respect a woman who drops\neverything for _him_ , either.)\n\n~~~\ndavidw\nI have a hot Italian wife, and would never leave her stewing like that.\n\nIt's not about dropping everything for the other person - I don't think anyone\ncan expect that. It's about picking up the phone and saying \"sorry, got to\nkeep you waiting, it's important\". Communicating and managing expectations.\n\nIt's a pretty minor quibble, I guess, but it just struck me as something rude.\n\n~~~\nscrollinondubs\nguys, lemme clarify this- when i said \"deferring calls from his wife,\" he was\npolitely saying \"honey, gimme 15 more min\" because he was so into it. It\nreally wasn't rude at all and perhaps I should have better explained it or\nleft that out altogether.\n\nsean\n\n------\nedw519\nOn a subject overflowing with \"advice\", this seems like a particularly helpful\npost. I especially like the running theme of \"putting yourself into their\nshoes\". Great stuff! Thank you.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Bon – programming language designed for simplicity, performance, safety - FBMachine\nhttps://github.com/FBMachine/bon\n======\nngcc_hk\nHave a quick look. Quite easy to read. Just not sure does it have an advantage\nover swift which seems quite easy to read, cross 2 platform at least (linux\nand macOS, the windows seems not on equal footing and five code not working),\ntarget llvm.\n\nThe basic features of a new language is hard as you can see the posting what\nexpected. Macro (may not be lisp level but template), memory Managrment,\npurpose (embedded, os, driver and application, ai library, CUDA, mobile app\netc.), library, platform, examples and q&a under stackoverflow etc.\n\n... wonder what is the point of learning a new one.\n\n------\nubertaco\nThis is really neat!\n\nI'm a big fan of Crystal-lang, and I dig the similarity in the sense of \"let's\nstart with Ruby-like syntax, and add more static structure\". I can see the\ndifference here as being that Bon appears to _behave_ more like Haskell or\nOCaml rather than like Ruby, which means that there's still a good niche here.\n\nI hope this neat language finds success!\n\n~~~\nFBMachine\nThanks, I really appreciate it!\n\n------\nchrislopez\nHow is memory managed? I'm assuming some form of garbage collection. So this\ncan be used in any instance C or C++ can? Can it use C and C++ libraries\nbecause it runs on clang?\n\nSorry if these are n00b questions. Bon seems like it could be a nice mix of\nthe wonderful syntax of a python or ruby, and the speed of a C or C++ (or at\nleast a compiled language)\n\n~~~\nFBMachine\nHi Chris, thanks for checking it out. The first code push for Bon was today,\nso many things are of course rough around the edges.\n\nMemory will be garbage collected, though I am aiming for zero-cost as much as\npossible. At the moment it just leaks memory like a sieve as I work out the\nsemantics.\n\nYou can indeed import standard c library calls by using a cdef. You can find\nexamples in the stdlib, e.g.:\n\ncdef sqrt(x:float) -> float\n\nThanks again for taking a look!\n\n~~~\nbendmorris\nWhat is \"zero-cost\" garbage collection?\n\n~~~\nswiftcoder\nI've seen both Rust's lifetimes/borrow-checker and Objective-C/Swift's\nautomatic reference counting described as \"zero cost\" (since the bulk of the\nwork is done at compile time).\n\n~~~\nm0th87\nRust's borrow checker is zero-cost because it's not doing runtime analysis.\nBut it's not a garbage collector, unless you're using Steve Klabnik's \"static\ngarbage collector\" terminology [1]. Reference counting is definitely not zero\ncost. It reduces GC runtime latency for most workloads, but not to zero, and\nit does so at the cost of reduced bandwidth.\n\n1: [https://words.steveklabnik.com/borrow-checking-escape-\nanalys...](https://words.steveklabnik.com/borrow-checking-escape-analysis-and-\nthe-generational-hypothesis)\n\n------\nCJefferson\nSimplicity, performance and safety? That's everything!\n\nWhat's it bad at?\n\n~~~\northoxerox\nHaving an stdlib, having a dependency manager and overall stability.\n\n~~~\ngiancarlostoro\nYeah Rust and Go (and D) all have: decent standard libraries (Go exceeds the\nother two, somewhat resembling Python), a package manager of sorts (Go needsa\nimprove in this aspect, but the strong standard library makes up for it for\nnow, and they are working on it atm), and they're all usually stable.\n\nI think the biggest game changers for any new language is a highly competitive\nstandard library out of the box: web server of sorts that can somewhat scale\nout of the box is usually a must, but at least a simple enough one is ok too,\nfile IO, crypto, etc are also useful, the less code I have to write the more\nproductive I feel.\n\nPackage management is a must too, even if primitive at first (Go's approach is\nclean and decentralized to some degree, I love that).\n\n------\ncharlesetc\nIt seems a bit premature to claim high performance without having a story for\nmemory. I'm sure ocaml, swift, and basically all languages that do any type of\nruntime garbage collection would be significantly faster without it.\n\n~~~\nbunderbunder\nIt's complicated. The best runtime GC nowadays tends to take on some of the\nperformance characteristics of a stack, including that finding a new memory\nslot is O(1). Heap allocation in many non-GC languages, by contrast, ends up\ninvolving some sort of relatively gross search for free memory. The same\nmechanisms also mean that, if you aren't doing anything in particular to\nmanage your memory layout, the GC language is likely to achieve better\nlocality of reference at run time.\n\nThis isn't to say that better performance isn't achievable in languages with\nmanual memory management, but doing so often requires a special effort that\njust isn't going to happen most the time, for reasons of practicality.\n\nThat said, there are certain classes of program where the story is different:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Computer_Language_Benchmar...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Computer_Language_Benchmarks_Game#Benchmark_programs)\n\n~~~\nzokier\nI think the point was that you can make memory allocation _very fast_ if you\ndo not care about ever freeing memory, but obviously that is not exactly\nsustainable strategy. So that is why making claims about performance before\nfiguring out memory management story is bit premature.\n\n------\nQ6T46nT668w6i3m\nIs this an extension of Kaleidoscope (the language implemented in the LLVM\ntutorial)?\n\n~~~\nFBMachine\nI wouldn't call it an extension, but I did use the tutorial to quickly\nprototype from. There are still some remnants left in the code, but I don't\nexpect much if any to be left in the near future.\n\n------\nzestyping\nI'm curious about scoping. How come `main` in the typeclass.bon example gets\nto call `norm()` unqualified? Do all the functions in all `impl` definitions\njust get tossed in one global namespace? If `Norm` is a class, then why are\nthere no `Norm` objects?\n\n~~~\nperfunctory\nThis seems to be straight from Haskell. `class` here doesn't mean what it\nmeans in oop languages.\n\n~~~\nFBMachine\nYeah, 'class' in Bon defines a typeclass. While I plan on adding x.norm() as\nsyntactic sugar for norm(x), typeclasses in general are a bit more flexible.\nFor example, while you can use it for polymorphic operator overloading [0],\nyou can also overload a function by changing the types of multiple parameters\n[1] (as in multiple dispatch).\n\n[0]\n[https://github.com/FBMachine/bon/blob/master/examples/equali...](https://github.com/FBMachine/bon/blob/master/examples/equality.bon)\n\n[1]\n[https://github.com/FBMachine/bon/blob/master/examples/multip...](https://github.com/FBMachine/bon/blob/master/examples/multiple_dispatch.bon)\n\n~~~\nbausshf\nYou should look into UFCS from dlang, maybe that can give you some\ninspiration.\n\n[https://dlang.org/spec/function.html#pseudo-\nmember](https://dlang.org/spec/function.html#pseudo-member)\n\n------\nFBMachine\nFor those who had questions about how memory is to be managed, the\ndocumentation for that work is being tracked here:\n\n[https://github.com/FBMachine/bon/blob/auto_mem/docs/ch02-01-...](https://github.com/FBMachine/bon/blob/auto_mem/docs/ch02-01-memory.md)\n\nThanks for all of the feedback!\n\n------\nRivieraKid\nI would love if there was a language combining the strengths of Julia and\nSwift.\n\nSwift has: much nicer handling of optional values, static typing, better for\nOOP, function calls via dot notation, zero-based indexing.\n\nJulia has: better ecosystem for scientific computing, the standard library\nmakes lot of things easier, better REPL, working with arrays is easier.\n\n(Just from the top of my head, there are other things.)\n\n------\ntropo\nThis is a terrible name conflict.\n\nBon, along with New B, was an immediate ancestor to C. The history gets more\nconfusing with another Bon showing up half a century later.\n\nBon was created for Multics by Ken Thompson. His wife Bonnie, like this other\nperson's mother, was the inspiration for the name.\n\nKen Thompson has naming priority.\n\n~~~\nchrislopez\nKen Thompson is a person, plain and simple. He is not a god. Naming priority\ndoesn't matter when most programmers haven't heard of old Bon. No one is going\nto think that new Bon is old Bon if no one knows about old Bon. Maybe there\nwill confusion looking at the history if new Bon takes off, but when is there\nnot in computer science? A simple footnote could suffice to avoid confusion.\n\n------\nrurban\nI esp. like the multiple dispatch and the unifying typesystem. I'll definitely\nsteal something from it\n\n------\nIshKebab\nLooks nicely designed, but are lists really implemented as linked lists?\nThat's surely going to be very slow.\n\n~~~\nFBMachine\nThanks for checking it out. They are currently implemented similarly to OCaml,\nso yes they are linked lists.\n\nThis was purely for simplicity (they can be implemented in a couple of lines\nof code with algebraic data types). Simplicity of implementation is certainly\nnot my priority, just a short term drive, so it will be revisited in the near\nfuture.\n\nThanks!\n\n------\nchrislopez\nLooks interesting! I'll give it a spin.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe State of JavaScript on Android Is Poor - megaman821\nhttps://meta.discourse.org/t/the-state-of-javascript-on-android-in-2015-is-poor/33889\n======\nvoltagex_\n> It just means over time you'll lose Android users as they get fed up with\n> the huge speed disparity (if they care, or notice) but you'll retain and\n> grow iOS users.\n\n> If Apple's overall market share keeps increasing, this wouldn't necessarily\n> be a bad strategy. Not my favorite, and not really in harmony with the\n> original vision for Discourse, but I'm limited in what we can do with the\n> resources that we have. We can't build two distinct applications (web, for\n> iOS, and native, for Android) without destroying the company in the process.\n\n>It could also be that over a long time scale (e.g. five years out) Android\nwill fix this. But it clearly will not be fixed in a year or two.\n\nSigh. I wonder if Android M has been benched.\n\n------\nvoltagex_\nSee also\n[https://code.google.com/p/v8/issues/detail?id=2935](https://code.google.com/p/v8/issues/detail?id=2935)\n\n------\nmacrael\nThe State of JavaScript on Android Is Poor ... we need to start considering\nalternatives for the Discourse project.\n\nReally buried the lede there.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAmericans Are Receiving Unordered Parcels from E-Criminals - monsieurpng\nhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/11/27/americans-are-receiving-unordered-parcels-from-chinese-e-criminals-and-cant-do-anything-about-it/#4399dca873da\n======\nfapjacks\nI had an interesting experience recently. I ordered a cheap $20 multimeter\nfrom Amazon (which was highly rated on EEVblog), which was shipped from China.\nInterestingly, the Chinese seller shipped me a single little worthless plastic\npacket of heat-shrink remote control covers (which somewhat humorously I can\nimagine totally being a thing in Asia, heat-shrink-wrapping all the remotes in\nplastic, sort of like a couch in plastic). This was what the tracking number\npackage was for, and so I _immediately_ hit my bookmark to chat with an Amazon\nrep to report fraud. I went through all the motions, they refunded me the\namount, I left a negative review. But then that night, I got an email from the\nseller saying \"That was your free gift, the multimeter should be there soon\"\nand indeed, the actual multimeter showed up _the next day_ , albeit with\nanother tracking number. The multimeter was definitely shipped from China the\nsame as the garbage package (via epacket, the subsidized, dirt cheap,\nglacially slow shipping method), so the seller had to have shipped the stupid\ngarbage package at around the same time as the actual product I ordered. Other\nreviews mentioned the exact same thing (\"They sent me garbage, but I got the\nthing in another package\").\n\nI've spent time thinking about what kind of fraud they're committing, because\nit doesn't make sense to me why they would send the garbage package with the\ntracking number from my order -- which _screams_ fraud -- but then _also_ send\nme the _actual_ thing I ordered. They're sending two packages to the same\naddress, but it doesn't make sense why, since they're obviously not committing\nthe most straightforward kind of fraud (\"We shipped the item, you can see the\ntracking number\", which incidentally, only works on eBay and not Amazon).\n\n~~~\nggm\nWell.. this story directly provides an answer (potentially) -they get an\nadditional marginal ranking benefit inside some market appraisal score because\nthey double their international successful completion count, for low marginal\ncost of posting negligible weight content to you successfully. The benefit to\nthem is fraud, but not against you: its against the ranking engine inside some\ndigital marketplace like alibaba. You are an unrelated third party who\nvalidates (by accepting) delivery. Since you don't know if the package is\nshrinkwrap \"free gift\" or the $20 meter, you accept. Are you willing to monty-\nhall reject the random package :-)\n\n~~~\npyoung\nSo if I understand this right, they are creating a fake account on some other\nsite (aliexpress, etc...) with his address attached. And then they ship the\n'gift' from the Amazon tracking number, so that he is more likely to accept\nthat package, and then ship the multimeter from the fake account tracking\nnumber, allowing them to leave themselves a positive review on that site.\n\nI always suspected something was going on with the aliexpress ratings. If you\nlook at the reviews it is a lot of one liners like 'i got the item as\ndescribed!' with a 5 star rating.\n\n~~~\nleggomylibro\nThis is the most convoluted thing I've had to think through in awhile.\n\nJeez. Honestly, I mostly ignore reviews on Chinese listing sites unless\nthey're low. It's all about two things:\n\n1\\. Is the price in line with other listings? From both directions?\n\n2\\. How many people have ordered it in the past 90 days?\n\nSometimes that does mean taking a risk with specialty items, or foregoing\nthem. But hey, if it's a critical application I'm not going to source it from\nsketchy international cheap-o listings.\n\n------\ndrawkbox\nI wonder why we have the USPS Chinese subsidy? [1] Seems this makes the\nshipping fraud too easy as it is low cost.\n\n _It was a small epacket -- a special subsidized shipping option that the USPS\noffers Chinese merchants, effectively enabling them to ship a parcel from\nChina to the U.S. for less than it costs to send that same parcel\ndomestically_\n\n _Due to the unbalanced pricing policies of the United Postal Union and\nsubsidies from the U.S. Postal Service, it costs people in China virtually\nnothing to ship small packages to the U.S._\n\n[1] [https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/11/05/how-\nthe-...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/11/05/how-the-usps-\nepacket-gives-postal-subsidies-to-chinese-e-commerce-merchants-to-ship-to-the-\nusa-cheap/)\n\n~~~\npravda\nI think a better solution would be to lower the outrageous prices charged by\nthe USPS to us.\n\nIf you want to send a 1oz 'package' to, for example, France, it will cost\n$13.50. It used to cost closer to $3.40, and then they doubled it overnight to\n$7, and now it is freakishly high.\n\nWhy is this? Because the USPS has a monopoly and is allowed to rob us!\n\n~~~\nScoundreller\nIt a nutshell, that's why I've stopped buying American* and just wait\npatiently for the 4-week free shipping from China.\n\n*I'm Canadian.\n\n~~~\npravda\nAs an American, I can't blame you. I have noticed that the Chinese shipping is\ngetting quicker.\n\nI ordered two of these [1] from China on the 7th. Showed up on the 28th. Only\n3 weeks! ($1.32 for two, shipped)\n\nIf I wanted to send one to Canada, it would cost $2.29 for postage (because is\nit a 'flat', so it is cheaper. If it was bulkier, it would cost $9.50).\n\n[1]\n[https://github.com/jdesbonnet/RCWL-0516](https://github.com/jdesbonnet/RCWL-0516)\n\n~~~\nxellisx\nI've had stuff actually show up in a week from China (Actually my 3D printer -\nFLSun Cube was one of those items). Of course, I've been having stuff show up\nin about 4-6 weeks as of late.\n\n------\nWalterBright\nIt's the free shipping subsidy that's the underlying cause. It's the same\nreason we all receive enormous amounts of email spam (for me it's a couple\nhundred per day) - the cost of sending email is zero.\n\nI bet the email spam problem could be solved at a stroke if senders were\ncharged $.01 per email.\n\n~~~\nAckSyn\nNo. It would be solved if people could run a whitelist that was directly tied\nto your address book, and any address you sent email TO would automatically be\nadded to this address book/whitelist.\n\nI wish mail could operate on a similar method\n\n~~~\nWalterBright\nThunderbird mail does that.\n\n------\ntgsovlerkhgsel\nTitle makes it sound like people are getting shipped drugs and at risk of\ngetting into trouble, not basically empty envelopes.\n\n~~~\nminxomat\nThe mention of empty boxes reminds me of _One Point O_ (2004)...\n\n------\ntheossuary\nI find it funny the article implies this only happens across international\nborders, and would otherwise be policed and stopped if it only happened within\nthe US. I receive unwanted junk mail daily and it isn't even addressed to me,\nbut to 'Current Resident'.\n\nThe real solution is to allow residents to whitelist or blacklist mail. Or\nbetter yet tie mail to people and organizations, not places, and allow people\nto route whatever mail wherever they want.\n\n~~~\nevincarofautumn\nI don’t know if this’d work at all, but I’ve idly considered the possibility\nof starting a grassroots “return to sender” campaign for junk mail.\n\nAs it is, the postal service is paid to deliver all of that spam—but maybe it\nwould no longer be cost-effective if everyone just said “nope, send it back”\nwhenever possible. As it is, I just recycle all of it, but it still probably\nrepresents a sizable environmental impact in terms of materials, printing,\ndelivery, recycling, and landfills, which we could entirely do away with.\n\n~~~\noasisbob\nWhen I was in college I would do this with all the credit card offers\nreceived, or anything else I found offensive, if it had a return envelope. All\nthe paper they sent would go back in the return envelope, along with a handful\nof pennies, and maybe a guitar string or two taped across the top flap.\n\nI'm sure most of them cost several dollars in postage to get back.\n\n------\ndchichkov\nInteresting. As per Washington Post in 2014 USPS was losing about $1 per every\npackage shipped as ePacket from China. These spam shipments effectively are\nharming USPS.\n\n[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/09/12/...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/09/12/the-\npostal-service-is-losing-millions-a-year-to-help-you-buy-cheap-stuff-from-\nchina/?utm_term=.b5be91c00d80)\n\n~~~\nrahimnathwani\nYou mean 'as per an internal report compiled by USPS, quoted in the Washington\npost'.\n\n~~~\nksk\nWell shouldn't a newspaper standby their reporting?\n\n~~~\nrahimnathwani\nWhen a newspaper prints '{statement}, according to {source}' there's a reason:\nthey don't independently verify those facts. They're printing it in the hope\nthat it's useful, and giving you their source as a cop out or, if you're being\ncharitable, so that you can decide whether you want to believe it or not.\n\nThe statement \"In 2012, USPS was paid only 94 cents on average for each piece\nof Chinese ePacket mail, according to a February report from the Postal\nService’s inspector general’s office.\" is probably 100% accurate, in the same\nsense that \"Rahim is the best dad ever, according to his son\" is true, could\nbe 100% accurate. You could stand by either statement. And both could be\naccurate. But it doesn't mean they're not misleading (in that the fact being\ndiscussed might not be true).\n\nIf you look for it, you'll see similar patterns scattered all over newspapers.\nOne of the most common examples: '{company} reported 4th quarter earnings of\n{amount}'. There's a reason they don't simply say ''{company} earned {amount}\nin Q4'.\n\n------\nared38\nDumb question: Why are the vendors bothering to send anything?\n\n~~~\nnerdponx\nSo Alibaba doesn't figure out that it's fraud, probably.\n\n~~~\ncaptaindiego\nExactly. Often the shipping weight will be measured as it is shipped (likely\nbecause most of these are coming by air). Alibaba and others pass this\nshipping information on to the customer and would likely notice overly low\nshipping weights.\n\nFraudulent sellers will also use a similar method in certain countries where\nthe delivery address is not tracked but weight and delivery status are. They\ncan send a nonsense package to the right country/state, have it appear in\nChina post tracking as delivered, but the fake package was actually went to a\nrandom address with a roughly expected weight. If customers try to file claims\non sites like aliexpress they'll likely rule in the favor of the seller unless\nyou can somehow get your local post office to provide proof it was never\ndelivered to your specific address.\n\n------\nsowbug\nThis must be why I got a flurry of empty envelopes from China a couple months\nago. A+++++ would throw out again.\n\n------\nShivetya\nThe epacket mailing is very common on low cost items you can find on ebay. I\nhave seen it on items costing pennies and actually have won such an auction\nfor less than a dollar and received what was listed. Now apparently the ebay\nbuying has been safe for me and those I know who also have bought epacket\ndelivered items, now they don't come fast but they all have arrived.\n\nso which retailers are they skimming for addresses?\n\n------\ncodewritinfool\nThis is happening to a coworker but the packages are from Amazon. The stuff\ninside is mostly junk.\n\n~~~\nseanmcdirmid\nIf its from amazon in the USA to a USA address, it is illegal and easily\nreported.\n\n~~~\nanonymous5133\nEasily reported but not easily verified.\n\nThere are many cases of people getting shipped drugs and then having the\npolice called on them once the package arrives. It could happen to anyone\nreally. It is also fairly common that people ship drugs to anti-drug\npoliticians.\n\n~~~\nJumpCrisscross\n> _It is also fairly common that people ship drugs to anti-drug politicians_\n\nSource?\n\n------\nJorgeGT\nIt is not only happening in the US, my SO in Spain received these a few months\nago - unsolicited envelopes from China containing a single hair tie each (and\nonce very cheap-looking sunglasses).\n\n------\ncurtisblaine\nWait, can't we do the same? I mean, make money exploiting legal loopholes at\nthe cost of Chinese people and government? After all, the borders work two\nways.\n\n~~~\nsverhagen\nWait, what? Are we upset with China then? So that we want to target innocent\nChinese people? As the article clearly states: it's illegal in China too. Is\ndisrespecting the personal mailing address of a random, innocent Chinese\nperson less valuable than the personal mailing address of a random, innocent\nAmerican? Unless you have personal mailing addresses lying around of the\nspecific people who are brushing the system from China now? But then... while\nthe article talks about stuff being sent _from_ China, I didn't get the idea\nthat it necessarily had to be (exclusively) Chinese people who did it?\n\n~~~\ncurtisblaine\nNo, I was just wondering if these border loopholes were one-way or could be\nplayed from West to East, too.\n\n------\nrandyrand\nI got one of these for the first time about ~1yr ago.\n\n------\nzeep\nat least, they don't use USPS to deliver bio weapons yet...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAre We Reaching the Limits of Silicon Valley’s Venture Model? - ot\nhttps://medium.com/@bryce/are-we-reaching-the-limits-of-silicon-valleys-venture-model-f7b7f3708a50#.tmp1sm3u2\n======\nFiatLuxDave\nIt seems to me that the big issue with the SV venture model is the geographic\nlimitation of its current implementation. The reason that there is too much\nmoney chasing too few deals is that the money is 'stuck' in certain places\n(SF, NY, Boston, Austin). The assumption is that if you want to play the VC\ngame, you go where the money is. But not all good opportunities are in those\nlocations or are capable of moving there. And that is why we have mad\ninflation in the money centers, while the rest of the country is living with\ndeflation.\n\nI'm waiting for the next wave of VCs to figure out how to overcome this\ngeographic limitation and grab those opportunities which are currently being\nignored.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAfter a year of using Node.js in production - 0xmohit\nhttp://geekforbrains.com/post/after-a-year-of-nodejs-in-production\n======\nplacebo\nI usually don't respond to anything which I feel is just another \"language\nwar\" provocation, but whenever I see these type of reviews I'm mystified. I've\ndeveloped in many languages and frameworks, both well known and lesser known -\ndecades of client and server side of C/C++, Javascript, Lua, Java, Python,\nPHP, Perl, Lisp. Pascal (just to name a few) in projects of all sizes, and not\nonce did I have the thought \"this language sucks\". I think there are a few\nreasons for this: 1) Even after all these years, I'm still passionate and\nexcited at the ability to sculpt logic, regardless of the \"material\" I need to\nuse. 2) A \"keep it simple\" approach - no way to overemphasise this. Know the\nadvantages and limitations of the language and stick to what works. Keeping\nthings simple should be like a fractal - existing at all levels of\nabstraction. 3) I'm very wary of hype. New, shiny and trendy does not\nnecessarily mean better, especially when the hype is in conflict with keeping\nthings simple. I find that when you understand the playing field, mark the\nareas to avoid and keep things as simple as possible, the elegance of the\ndesign and implementation usually makes the advantage of language X over Y\ninsignificant, and I feel that blaming failure on the language used is like\nblaming a bad novel on the word processor used to write it.\n\n~~~\nastrobe_\n> I feel that blaming failure on the language used is like blaming a bad novel\n> on the word processor used to write it.\n\nSure. If you're a good novelist you can write something great even on a\nkeyboard with a broken 'e' key (btw, your 'I' key is about to break; you\nshould replace it asap).\n\nBut novelists don't have deadlines and when the novel is done, they usually\ndon't take reader requests to change this or that part of the story.\n\n\"The advantages and limitations\", what works and what doesn't, \"areas to\navoid\" are precisely the point of that kind of review.\n\n~~~\nplacebo\n> (btw, your 'I' key is about to break; you should replace it asap).\n\nhaha - touché, point taken :-)\n\nDeadlines seem like a great excuse for compromising quality. Sure, life is\ncomplicated, the boss is demanding, the mortgage has to be paid, the children\nneed to be supported etc. etc. but compromising quality and enthusiasm (they\nusually are correlated) because of the \"terror\" of a deadline will just leave\nyou at the mercy of the next \"terror\", only this time you'll even have even\nless enthusiasm to fix the spaghetti. Doesn't sound like an enjoyable\nexistence.\n\nOf course, very few people have the privilege of never having to compromise,\nbut it's never black or white and there are many more degrees of freedom to\nchoose the path with more quality than are implied.\n\n>\"The advantages and limitations\", what works and what doesn't, \"areas to\navoid\" are precisely the point of that kind of review.\n\nThe \"area to avoid\" in the review is Node.js and considering that large and\nimpressive projects have been written in it, it seems that this is another\ncase of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.\n\n------\nbeders\nNow all of a sudden, having types and some standards to gather around doesn't\nsound like a bad idea anymore ;)\n\nI agree with one of the commenters: Lessons already learned by older engineers\n(who went through similar woes with other languages/tools) are being re-\nlearned again and again.\n\nThe software industry is in a sorry state.\n\nUnless you are a very disciplined team with a very strong sense of writing\nmodular code, don't use Node.js for any larger project. And even then, the\nsingle-most useful function in an IDE 'Show Call Hierarchy' will never be\navailable when using a dynamically typed language.\n\nThat is not an issue for smaller projects. However, long before you even get\nclose to the the million lines of code project size, your tools will fail you.\nYour debugging/refactoring times will explode and adding a new feature will\nseem unsurmountable.\n\nInstead, let's just re-write everything from scratch because the cool hipster\nthat wrote your backend a year ago has left for greener pastures...\n\nI won't even try to guess the amount of technical debt produced with Node.js\nand the likes each day in the bay area.\n\nAnd, yes, I just used Node.js to write a Slack-bot. It was fun, took me two\nhours and got me up and running quickly. That's the beauty of it. Just be\naware of the dangers.\n\n~~~\nencoderer\nI've worked in three million+ loc codebases, in PHP, Python and Java. I don't\nshare your opinion that you need static types in these circumstances. You need\ndiscipline, modularity, and most importantly you need to have been blessed\nwith gardeners and maintainers throughout the life of a project and not just\nafter a mess has already taken hold.\n\n~~~\nbeders\nDid you read what I wrote? I already said that you need a disciplined team.\nGood luck keeping that team together for years to come. Not sure if you are\ndisputing the fact that keeping code around is a challenge, or not.\n\n------\ntylerlh\nThe Netflix.com site and webapp runs on Node (and talks to a number of\nservices written in mostly JVM based languages). While we encounter challenges\njust as we would with any other language -- it works for us and I would argue\nthat it's a pretty big application.\n\nThere's always a multitude of ways to get something done, and it's up to you\nto decide what tool will do it best. Don't treat any one language as an end-\nall-be-all and you might find yourself much happier and more productive. Of\ncourse, YMMV.\n\n~~~\nChrisAntaki\n> There's always a multitude of ways to get something done, and it's up to you\n> to decide what tool will do it best\n\nWell said.\n\nBy the way, what is Netflix's take on Promises vs RxJS?\n\n~~~\nZoeZoeBee\nI'm pretty sure Netflix is in the Observables camp, as Ben Lesh over at\nNetflix is RxJs\n\n~~~\nAkkuma\nI watched one of the recent Netflix engineering videos where they moved to a\ncustomized version of React and I could have sworn in that talk they actually\nmoved away from Observables[1]. What was confusing is that the other talked\nreleased at the same time they talk about enhancing RxJS.\n\n[1]:\n[https://youtu.be/5sETJs2_jwo?t=5m32s](https://youtu.be/5sETJs2_jwo?t=5m32s)\n\n~~~\nmikeryan\nA friend of mine runs some UI engineering at Netflix from talking to him\nreactive JavaScript is still heavily used.\n\n~~~\nAkkuma\nI'm sure it is still heavily used, but it looks like there are two very\nopposing views with one going so far as completely removing it.\n\n------\njoshmanders\nThese types of articles make me laugh. Typically a dev with many many years\nexperience with one language, learned all it's quirks, standards, etc decides\nto try Node.js because it's the \"new hot fun toy\", and expect it to work like\ntheir old language, and realize that is not how it works, doesn't know where\nto find what and fails real hard to realize that JavaScript in general is in a\nhuge influx of updating at this moment, which by nature propagates to Node.js.\n\nThe end result is they get frustrated and go back to their old language.\n\n~~~\neva1984\nYeah, so some js devs might need to stop overselling javascript to everyone,\npretending it is the one language that people are waiting for years...Just\nsaying.\n\n~~~\njoshmanders\nYou should try to surround yourself with developers who don't have such\nattitudes. I am a fan of JavaScript, I love Node.js and I will often times\nsuggest it to newbies. But I don't pretend it's the be all/end all of\nlanguages. Just like any other language it has its strengths and weaknesses.\nIt's up to you to decide if it's the right choice for you.\n\n~~~\nuptownJimmy\nIt is one of my most cherished professional goals to avoid ever working with\npeople who think like this. The message this sends to junior devs is so\nbackwards and wrong-headed that it defies discourse.\n\n~~~\njackweirdy\nWhy? It seems like a reasonable statement - surround yourself with people who\nthink critically, not evangelically?\n\n~~~\nuptownJimmy\nBut I see your point as being precisely backwards: it's the JS crew who\nconstantly evangelize for their way of doing things, and that way of doing\nthings is completely inappropriate for anyone who isn't already expert.\n\n\"Choose your own tools\" is advice for experts, and literally nobody else. It\nsmacks of the cowboy attitude, and that attitude is wildly unhelpful to almost\nanybody doing professional work in software. Frameworks and coding standards\nexist for a reason: not to be unreasonable strictures, but to provide guidance\nand sanity in a staggeringly complex field of endeavor.\n\nMany new devs and junior devs are flocking to the JavaScript ecosystem, and it\nis one of the most troubled and chaotic ecosystems in all of software right\nnow. Anyone who is not a complete JS badass is simply not going to find Node\nto be even a decent choice for learning best practices pertaining to the\nlarger world of application development. And I feel I'm stating that politely.\n\nSo: yet another JavaScript Pro tossing out the \"choose your tools like a Pro\"\nadvice-morsel is part of the problem, as I see it. I don't want to work with\npeople who toss the kids into the deep end and hope a few can learn to swim\nreal quick. I think people deserve a helping hand and a reasonable set of\nexpectations.\n\nThe JavaScript ecosystem has become self-parodying. Anyone who is oblivious to\nthat fact is inherently NOT a trustworthy witness. That is not to say that the\nwhole thing is rotten and worthless, but it IS messy as heck, and refusing to\nacknowledge that is a sign that one is in denial about some pretty blatant\nfacts.\n\n------\nspion\n> Coming from other languages such as Python, Ruby or PHP you’d expect\n> throwing and catching errors, or even returning an error from a function\n> would be a straightforward way of handling errors. Not so with Node.\n> Instead, you get to pass your errors around in your callbacks (or promises)\n> - thats right, no throwing of exceptions.\n\nPromises let you throw errors normally. They will propagate up the call stack\nin a similar manner. With bluebird, you will also get full stack traces in\ndevelopment mode and the performance penalty for that isn't too bad.\n\n> The last thing that I found frustrating was the lack of standards. Everyone\n> seems to have their own idea of how the above points should be handled.\n> Callbacks? Promises? Error handling? Build scripts?\n\nPromises are in ES6 (i don't think it gets more standard than that) and have\nwell defined semantics, including error handling, shared between libraries:\n[https://promisesaplus.com/](https://promisesaplus.com/)\n\nI know that Bluebird's promisifyAll might seem like a bit of a hack, but just\ntry it out. It works surprisingly well, and its really painstaikingly tuned\nfor near-zero performance loss. It will probably be both less painful to do\nand more performant than any manual attempt to wrap a callback based API into\na promise one.\n\n~~~\npjungwir\nI gave a talk about handling errors in Node a few years ago:\n\n[https://github.com/pjungwir/node-errors-\ntalk](https://github.com/pjungwir/node-errors-talk)\n\nAt the time the solution was \"use domains\", but I think domains are deprecated\nnow. It was painful enough that I have stuck with Rails since then. I'm glad\nto hear that Promises are an improvement!\n\n~~~\nkoolba\nDomains have been deprecated since at least 0.10. As of yet there's no\nreplacement for them and all node apps should be using them. There's no other\nway to catch \" _But ... but ... that can 't happen!_\" type errors.\n\n~~~\nspion\nThere is no replacement because they're a fundamentally broken idea. They\nrequire the following to happen, in that order:\n\n* V8 needs to optimize try-finally\n\n* Node core needs to add try-finally at every single place where callbacks are invoked and make sure all state and resource cleanup is properly done to support domains\n\n* Popular libraries need to also add try-finally handlers for the above.\n\nAs to why this is a problem in node and not so much in other languages, its\nbecause with node callbacks, the call stack goes both ways. In other\nlanguages, libraries mostly call their dependencies' code. In node's CPS\nstyle, you call the library but the library also calls your closure code. The\nsemantics for the 2nd part aren't well defined in node - the loose law\nbasically says: I wont call you twice, I'll try not to call you synchronously,\nand you wont throw (and if you do the behavior is undefined).\n\nWith promises there is a contract and its enforced by the promise\nimplementation. Since Promises actually have error semantics, you can build\nresource management strategies on top of them. [http://promise-\nnuggets.github.io/articles/21-context-manager...](http://promise-\nnuggets.github.io/articles/21-context-managers-transactions.html) \\- and\nconsequently there is no reason to crash your server on errors.\n\n~~~\nlobster_johnson\nDomains are used for another reason: To emulate thread-local variables. I hope\nthat support is not going away, because it's really handy.\n\n~~~\nspion\nIts interesting that the same problem (TLS) can also be solved with something\nsimilar to promises :)\n\n------\nCorrado\nI agree with this article and find the Node.js community, and to a lesser\nextent Javascript itself, exhausting. It seems like every 2 minutes there is a\n\"more\" proper way to do something, which tells me that the architecture is not\nyet mature, even though it's pretty old by now.\n\nOn a related note, it seems like every time you find something that doesn't\nquite work correctly or conveniently in Node.js there is a \"fix\". Don't like\ncallbacks? Force Node.js to look more like other \"normal\" code and use\nPromises. Having trouble getting Node.js to concentrate on one thing at a\ntime? Force Node.js to look more like other \"normal\" languages and use the\n\"async\" library. And it just goes on and on and on. If I have to use all of\nthese other pieces and parts to be productive in Node.js I may as well just\nuse some other language.\n\nI really wanted to like and use Node.js, but Javascript and the community are\nholding it back.\n\n~~~\neagsalazar2\nYes, the Javascript world is quickly evolving both on the front end and\nbackend, and of course that can be exhausting but I have to disagree with both\nconclusions that (a) this means the tech is immature, and (b) the community's\nreadiness to make changes is \"holding it back\".\n\nThe js world is very unique in its ability to evolve quickly and things have\nimproved _massively_ over the last few years. Now, apart from the churn itself\nand precisely because of that rapid evolution, front end and backend\ndevelopment in javascript is amazing compared to most other options\n(especially on the front end). So while you do have to be realistic about the\ncost of the evolving ecosystem, it is just a tradeoff for rapid progress, not\na flaw.\n\nIf you crave stability, agreed, this rollercoaster probably isn't your ride.\nBut the evolution of node, the emergence of react/redux, es6, etc is amazing\nand beautiful IMO and I'm totally enjoying every bit of it compared to the\nstaid mediocrity of my Rails, C/C++, and Java history.\n\n~~~\nrimantas\nThe problem I see that in this case \"evolving\" looks suspiciously like running\nin circles without going anywhere.\n\n~~~\nroyjacobs\nA good example mentioned in the article is the \"npm scripts -> grunt -> gulp\n-> npm scripts\" evolution in best practices for building.\n\n------\nprogrammarchy\nNever had the problems with Node described in the article. Node forces\nthinking about modularity and composition though, which I'd wager is what the\nauthor is actually struggling with. Write functions that do one thing and\nthey're pretty easy to compose, even if they're asynchronous. It's really not\nhard to debug what went wrong in the stack trace when you name your functions.\n\nAnd I think exception handling is much worse than passing errors up through\ncallbacks. It forces you to think about edge cases. Not sure how python\nhandles this, but I can't tell you how many times I've seen Java or C# code\nswallow exceptions which is much harder to debug IMO.\n\nPeople really seem to have a problem with there not being \"the one true path\"\nin Javascript, but it's not something that gives me much anxiety. Javascript\nis incredibly moldable, which is part of what makes it so powerful.\n\n------\neknkc\nTLDR;\n\nAuthor actually wants to use Python. Used Node.JS regardless, for whatever\nreason.. It did not work the way Python works. Author is frustrated. Complains\nthat JavaScript is not Python.\n\n~~~\nfredrb\nThis. You can't apply some other language paradigms in every programming\nlanguage just because it's the only thing you know how to do.\n\n------\nWintamute\n> You use Grunt!? Everyone uses Gulp!? Wait no, use native NPM scripts!\n\nAlthough couched as a criticism this is actually the community fixing itself.\nThe evolution from Grunt > Gulp > npm scripts is movement away from needless\ncomplexity towards simplicity. Npm scripts are effectively just Bash commands\nthat build and manage your project, which sometimes employ small, unixy tools\nwritten in Node.\n\nThis self correction was pretty quick, it happened within a few years.\n\n> Unfortunately, there isn’t any one “standard” (like everything else in\n> Javascript) for implementing or using Promises.\n\nYes there is. It's called the Promises/A+ spec, and its built into ES6.\n\n~~~\nTouche\nNPM scripts are just a different problem. See:\n\n[https://twitter.com/sindresorhus/status/724259780676575232?l...](https://twitter.com/sindresorhus/status/724259780676575232?lang=en)\n\n[https://github.com/ReactiveX/rxjs/blob/a3ec89605a24a6f54e577...](https://github.com/ReactiveX/rxjs/blob/a3ec89605a24a6f54e577d21773dad11f22fdb14/package.json#L14-L96)\n\nAlready people are coming up with new \"solutions\" to this problem that looks\nmore like Grunt. It's a repetitive circle. Personally I just use Make.\n\n~~~\nWintamute\nSo somebody found a project somewhere on the internet with an exceptionally\ncomplicated build process, and you use it to say npm scripts are broken?\nSorry, that's absurd. Looking at that particular build process, I don't think\na Makefile could have been crafted to make it much simpler or smaller. In that\nexample, the problem lies with the complexity of what they're having to do,\nnot the tool.\n\nNpm scripts are really just shell scripting, which means all the real progress\nhappens in the unixy Node tools that do the heavy lifting, where it should be.\nIt's a future proof and scalable approach for the vast majority of projects\nimo.\n\n~~~\nTouche\nIt's an inflated example of what all npm script projects become, imo. First\nyou just have \"test\", then you add \"build\", then you separate your \"test\" into\none for the browser, one for Node, one for CI, then you need scripts that\ncombine those together; then you create different \"start\" versions depending\non environment... It blows up quickly.\n\n> Npm scripts are really just shell scripting, which means all the real\n> progress happens in the unixy Node tools that do the heavy lifting, where it\n> should be.\n\nThat's fine, but you're missing critical features that Make provides; make\nwon't even rebuild a target if no files have changed.\n\n~~~\nWintamute\nAdmittedly, my first 2 or 3 npm scripts based build processes did start to get\na bit ugly. But I'm much better at writing them now, so they stay pretty sane.\n\n> That's fine, but you're missing critical features that Make provides; make\n> won't even rebuild a target if no files have changed.\n\nWebPack does this for me too. Also my ava tests don't rerun for files that\nhaven't changed while watching.\n\nGenuinely curious, what scenarios precisely do you find this feature of Make\nuseful?\n\nAlso, Make isn't truly cross platform ... and since I sometimes work with\nWindows devs this would be a problem.\n\n------\nkcorbitt\nI've spent a lot of time writing Javascript on the front-end in the last year\nusing both React and React Native. I've found the React ecosystem to be a\nsane, productive and enjoyable development environment.\n\nInterested in sharing more model logic between our front- and backends, I also\ninvestigated writing some new backend features using Node (we're currently\ndeveloping with Rails). But after days of research and playing around with the\navailable options, I came to a conclusion similar to Gavin's -- any reasonably\ncomplex backend requires you to either roll your own everything, or try to\ncobble together literally hundreds of tiny dependencies that weren't built to\ngo together, and then somehow keep track of all of their regressions and\nbreaking changes.\n\nNode's fantastic performance and unique ability to share logic between client\nand server are enticing, but I just don't trust the community and \"best\npractices\" around it enough to bet the farm on it for now.\n\n~~~\nwrong_variable\nThe same problems you cite for node.js are the reasons why a lot of devs love\nnode.js.\n\nIts much easier to do your own research and find the best module to solve a\nparticular problem you are having then to shoehorn into some larger monolithic\nframework.\n\nAlso its a lot more fundamental then that - Node.js has prolly the fastest\niteration cycle for any platform out there since its so easy to create your\nown module - it leads to some sort of Cambrian explosion of innovation and\nexperimentation.\n\nEDIT:\n\nAlso OP seems to think callback hell and async programming is bad. The\nimportant thing is those things are problems for python/.... too !\n\nIts just that python doesn't have a good programming model to even begin to\naddress those concerns.\n\nJavaScript at-least tries to say - \"hey this is a problem we need to deal with\n- concurrency is a issues we all face \"\n\nSo when devs complain about callback hell - its just that they have never\ntried to use python to do async in a neat way.\n\n~~~\nempthought\n> python doesn't have a good programming model to even begin to address those\n> concerns\n\nThis isn't even close to true. Anything JavaScript has to express logic in the\nface of asynchrony, Python has too. There are a half-dozen asynchronous web\nservers written in Python.\n\nThere's not as much of a culture of writing APIs that way in Python because\nit's generally a terrible way to program, and threads/OS processes are good\nenough for basically everything except HTTP servers with absurd numbers of\nconcurrent connections.\n\n~~~\nwrong_variable\n> There's not as much of a culture of writing APIs that way in Python because\n> it's generally a terrible way to program\n\nI would love to see evidence for you making that statement. Almost every\nprogrammer would put out their fav programming language as the 'right' way to\nprogram.\n\n> everything except HTTP servers with absurd numbers of concurrent connection\n\nOnce you introduce async operations in your code - you need to follow the\nexecution path through. http request can be async - but then what if the http\nrequest results you doing a db lookup or some form of file handling ? you need\nto make the whole thing event driven.\n\n~~~\nempthought\nIt's not like we didn't have cooperative multitasking for 50 years. Having\nthreads/processes and a scheduler is easier and safer, full stop. Potentially\nlong-running portions of the program don't need to be arbitrarily chopped up\nto yield control back to the server, because they are pre-empted. Your system\nis no longer at the mercy of the worst code within it.\n\nBoth nginx and Apache's event MPM handle HTTP connections with events while\nthe app backends are still using preemptive threads for running the HTTP\nhandler code, so it's clearly not the case that \"you need to make the whole\nthing event driven.\" You just need programmers who don't think, \"well since\nthe browser doesn't expose threads to JavaScript programmers, clearly they are\nuseless.\"\n\n------\nnarrator\nI'm using NodeJS on a pretty big project.\n\nThings I like:\n\n* Async libraries make it easy to make things high performance.\n\n* I like Sequelize as an ORM, once I figured out how the async everything works.\n\n* The testing support is pretty good, both mocha and e2e testing using selenium\n\n* The angular-fullstack generator was really helpful for getting started and setting up the deploy to Heroku.\n\n* everything is open source. If I get confused with what a library is doing while I'm debugging I can just stick a print in the lib temporarily.\n\nThings I don't like:\n\n* \"undefined is not a function\". When something goes wrong. This is the error I get 80% of the time.\n\n* async stuff silently swallows exceptions unless I put try{} catch(err) { console.trace(err) } everywhere\n\n* There's a bit of a learning curve with promises.\n\n* Needs a lot more automated testing than a really strongly typed language like Scala.\n\n* Single Threaded. I know how to program using threads, so I view this as a disadvantage.\n\n* No types. I have a lot of type checking asserts at the beginning of dao functions.\n\nIf I did it all again and my teammates would oblige, I would have probably\nchosen Play/Scala. I actually reimplemnted things from a Play/Scala project I\ndid a while back (login/signup/forgot password/confirm account) and it took\nless time in Play/Scala, even without passportJS and friends. I have about a\nyears worth of experience learning Scala before I started that project, so it\nwould probably take longer for a new Scala developer.\n\n~~~\nrhinoceraptor\n> async stuff silently swallows exceptions unless I put try{} catch(err) {\n> console.trace(err) } everywhere\n\nHuh? That's not how async errors work in Node. Try/Catch is not async, the\ncatch block will not magically transfer to your callback function.\n\nYou check for the error as the first parameter in your callback, that's the\nstandard way of error handling. Throwing errors in Node is considered by most\nto be an anti-pattern.\n\n~~~\nnarrator\nThat's nice in theory, but third party libraries may throw exceptions if\nunexpected things happen at runtime. You'd still have to put the try catch\nblock there and call the callback in the catch block everywhere.\n\n~~~\nrhinoceraptor\nThat's only for non-async stuff, which is very rare. If you're using some\nwacky 3rd party code which throws an Error instead of the accepted convention\nof (err, response) callback arguments (or returning a promise), I suggest not\nusing it.\n\n------\nmrmondo\nWe couldn't even stand 6 months let alone a year. Broken pack depts make it\nhard to CI, poor performance, memory leaks, huge docker base images due to\ndeps, lots of single cpu only tasks that were too hard to scale out, an ugly\nlanguage compared to ruby or Python and on top of all that how poor the\npackage management with NPM has been. We've just ditched it and gone back to\nPython/Django/flask and ruby for the ops tooling.\n\n------\nsilviogutierrez\nSame experience as the author. Tons of reinventing the wheel, and hundreds of\ndependencies.\n\nThe majority of established companies that say they use Node in production are\ndoing so as a fancy proxy. All the \"serious\" stuff is done on backend services\nwritten in other languages.\n\nMoreover, asynchrony is a concept far more advanced than most people think.\n\nWe will likely continue to leverage Node as a fancy proxy. Adding Typescript\nwill only help. But it's likely that as Node grows into a mature platform,\nother platforms will continue to fill in the gaps that Node filled.\n\nSee for example Node constantly adding [foo]Sync versions of methods, while\nPython adds first class sync support.\n\n------\nfirasd\nI've been on a similar learning curve with Node over the last year, and it has\ncertainly been a rougher incline than other languages I've used.\n\nThe whole async situation needs to settle down, it's completely unacceptable\nto write code with callbacks, promises, etc. This is because they are not just\nchallenging to deal with, but intrinsically wrong in concept. I have to wait\nfor a database query to complete, then pass the next thing to do to the\ncallback of the query? That can't be right.\n\nInteresting article I found: \"Async/Await: The Hero JavaScript Deserved\"\n[https://www.twilio.com/blog/2015/10/asyncawait-the-hero-\njava...](https://www.twilio.com/blog/2015/10/asyncawait-the-hero-javascript-\ndeserved.html)\n\n~~~\nSilhouette\nI find that JS often seems to tie programmers in the most extraordinary knots\njust to implement even quite simple logic, because of the single-threaded\nnature of the language.\n\nIn the programming model used by most other mainstream languages today, if\nyou've got some work to do that interacts with some external system and might\ntake a while, you'd probably start another thread for that task. You'd write\nthe required logic in the usual linear fashion, and just let the thread block\nif and when it needs to. Modelling this using fork/join semantics and\ntechniques to co-ordinate access to shared resources from different threads\nare reasonably well understood ideas.\n\nBecause there is no general support for concurrency and parallelism in JS, you\nonly get one thread, and so in most cases you can't afford to ever block it.\nConsequently, you get this highly asynchronous style that feels like writing\neverything manually in continuation passing style, just so you can carry on\nwith something else instead of waiting. That in turn leads to callback hell,\nwhere you start to lose cohesion and locality in your code, even though\nusually you're still just trying to represent a simple, linear sequence of\noperations.\n\nAsync/await help to bring that cohesion and locality back by writing code in a\nstyle that is closer to the natural linear behaviour it is modelling. However,\neven those feel a bit like papering over the cracks in some cases. Async/await\nkinda sorta give us some simple fork/join semantics, but as the blog post\nlinked from the parent shows, we have a lot of promise-based details remaining\nunderneath.\n\nFundamentally, the problem seems to be that JS is increasingly being used to\ndeal with concurrent behaviours, but it lacks an execution model and language\ntools to describe that behaviour in a natural, systematic way as most other\nwidely used languages can. Being strictly single-threaded avoided all the\nsynchronisation problems in the early days, when the most you had to worry\nabout was a couple of different browser events firing close together and it\nwas helpful to know the handler for one would complete before anything else\nstarted happening. I'm not sure it's still a plus point now that we're trying\nto use JS for much more demanding concurrent systems, though.\n\n~~~\nTouche\n> Modelling this using fork/join semantics and techniques to co-ordinate\n> access to shared resources from different threads are reasonably well\n> understood ideas.\n\nWriting thread-safe code is anything but easy in languages that support\nthreads.\n\n~~~\nSilhouette\nI respectfully disagree.\n\nDealing with _shared state_ is not always easy when you're working with\nmultiple threads. If you can't reasonably avoid that sharing because of the\nnature of your problem, and if your choice of language and tools only provide\ntools on the level of manual locking, then I agree that writing correct,\nthread-safe code has its challenges.\n\nHowever, there are plenty of scenarios where you don't need much if any state\nto be shared between threads. That includes almost every example of JS\npromises or async/await that I've seen this evening while reading this\ndiscussion and the examples people are linking to.\n\nThere are also plenty of more sophisticated models for co-ordinating threads\nthat do need to interact, from message passing to software transactional\nmemory. These are hardly obscure ideas today, and I don't think anyone could\nreasonably argue that for example message passing makes things complicated but\nasync/await/promises make things simple.\n\n------\ndeedubaya\nFor all the comments on here about how unfair the author was, there sure is\nminimal feedback on the problems they highlighted.\n\n~~~\nsnappy173\nthe feedback is: stop expecting javascript to act like python\n\n~~~\ndeedubaya\nHow productive!\n\n~~~\nsnappy173\nsorry if that came off harsh, but that is actually the feedback, and it's\nvalid. whether or not javascript/node is better or worse than python, it's\npretty clear that bringing a python style approach to nodejs is going to cause\nproblems, especially with error handling and async stuff.\n\n------\nmrgalaxy\nI have used Node.js in production for about 5 years now and I must agree with\nthe sentiment that JavaScript is \"Easy to learn, impossible to master\". Yes,\nerror handling is a little confusing at first but it stems from JavaScript's\nasynchronous nature which is naturally complex for the linear mind.\n\nMy personal sentiment is to just use Promises, like everywhere. ES7\nasync/await will really help with this too.\n\n------\nclessg\nFor web applications, I've been very happy with the up-and-coming Phoenix[0],\na framework for the Elixir language.\n\nVery well-designed and thought-out, fast, productive. Leans functional and\nimmutable rather than object-oriented and mutable. It's kind of like Rails but\nwithout most of the problems.\n\n[0] [http://www.phoenixframework.org/](http://www.phoenixframework.org/)\n\n~~~\ndeedubaya\nI've found Elixir to be a delightful language with very palatable syntax\ncompared to ruby. It has been a really enjoyable transition, with some vague\nreminders of the parts I really like about JavaScript.\n\n------\nemilong\nI've been using Node in production for a few months now, having come from Ruby\n(Rails & Sinatra) immediately before, but having used JavaEE and PHP before\nthat. I find it... fine.\n\nFor error handling, bluebird's typed error catching\n([http://bluebirdjs.com/docs/api/catch.html](http://bluebirdjs.com/docs/api/catch.html))\nis working well for me and I'm finding it analogous to my experiences with\nJava and Ruby.\n\nI'm rather used to using ORMs as well and I use Bookshelf\n([http://bookshelfjs.org](http://bookshelfjs.org)) on top of Postgres for this\nas well. It definitely has room to grow, but it's also fine.\n\nI've also gained a dependency injection container (Bottle.js, see my write up\nhere: [https://blog.boldlisting.com/declarative-dependencies-for-\nun...](https://blog.boldlisting.com/declarative-dependencies-for-unit-testing-\nnode-js-services-45542ceb5703#.gaf9om7zj)), which I sorely missed in my Rails\ndays and which gives a lot of structure to the application.\n\nI think the biggest concerns on which I'd agree with the author are the pace\nof the community and lack of agreement on things which are well-decided in\nother, more well-established development environments.\n\nThat being said, there's huge potential with Node because of that. There are\nmore coders in the world than ever (I'm assuming) and Javascript is a great\nlow barrier to entry language that encourages people to explore various\nruntimes. In 20+ years of coding, I've not seen this level of excitement and\nengagement in a development environment. While it may be rocky for another few\nyears yet, I suspect we'll end up with a very productive platform, simply\nbecause of the amount of involvement. Of course, it's totally understandable\nto want to wait for that before jumping in. :)\n\nAs a relatively new Node developer, I'm much more concerned about the single-\nthreaded nature than the development environment, but so far even that hasn't\nbeen a problem.\n\n------\nTouche\nA lot of this is residual effects of the (slow) evolution of JavaScript. It\nwas thrust into the spotlight missing a lot of features and these features\nhave only recently been fixed by the language itself.\n\nBut Node has been around since 2009. 2009 JavaScript was missing _a lot_ of\nfeatures. It was basically a runtime only advanced users should use. The Node\nmaintainers had to make a lot of decisions that now conflict (to some degree)\nwith fixes that have come later to the language. They chose their callback\nstyle; now we have Promises. They chose to throw in methods rather than return\nan error in the callback (this makes it awkward to use fs with Promises\nwithout a wrapper library). They chose to implement their version of CommonJS,\nnow we have the .mjs issue arise.\n\n------\nnevi-me\nBeen on Node and Mongo for 4 years now. Both have worked well for me.\n\nJS has evolved a lot in the past few years, and with it came all the new shiny\ntools that left us confused.\n\nI think a year was too short for the author. Sounds like they were chasing\nafter every cool thing to make life easy.\n\nError handling is a pain yea, I've seen amateur folk try catch this and that,\nI think that lends itself to being terrible.\n\nOne of the things I appreciate the most about JS is JSON. Crafting tens of\nclasses in Java irritates me. I find Python sometimes tricky also when dealing\nwith structs VA lists.\n\nI've always stuck to the basics when I was learning how to JavaScript with\nNode. I used only callbacks for 2 years until I understood what my code was\ndoing. Granted, I'd have spaghetti at the end of complex async queries, but I\nunderstood what was going on. I moved to caolan::async and have been using\nasync whenever necessary. I barely use promises as I got confused by the early\nadoption craze.\n\nI learnt how to use Backbonejs, and a bit of Angular+React+Ember, but I found\nmyself comfortable using vanilla JavaScript. Only thing I use is Underscore\ntemplates. I know I could benefit from shadow DOMs etc, but I'm content where\nI am.\n\nI think a good way to learn is to take things at bite sized chunks. I've\nstarted using RxJS recently, and I'm loving it! I'll keep using JS as my\nprimary tool, but I'm slowly moving to Kotlin.\n\n------\nkartickv\nIf this article is true, it paints a concerning picture. I don't want to\nresearch libraries, understand the pros and cons of them, run into problems,\nthen switch to another library, and so on. I want there to be a default that\nworks out of the box for the majority of use cases. There can be alternatives,\nas long as there's a default that works out of the box for most people and\nmost use cases.\n\n------\neldude\nI train enterprise node.js for a living.\n\nMy recommendation is to just use songbird (which exposes the forthcoming\npromise API from core, built on bluebird), async/await and the async\n`trycatch` library so you don't have to worry about a 3rd party package's\nchoice of asynchrony. It also comes with optional long stack traces.\n\n~~~\nsnappy173\n>async/await\n\nin my experience, async/await is a great way to layer indirection and\nobfuscation over what is still callback hell. it may look better in the\neditor, but it's hell to debug.\n\n~~~\nraarts\nWhen I initially encountered event -based processing (libevent in C), those\ncallbacks were indeed difficult to wrap my mind around. But I learned to\nstructure the code in the editor, keeping everything together which made it\nmanageable. I 've worked with node for a couple of months now, and I find\npromises to be more confusing, because it obfuscates the callback in my mind,\nand makes it look like ordinary function calls.\n\n~~~\nspriggan3\nThe advantage of promises is that you can return them as a type, you can't do\nthat with a callback. If you fetch something from a database , your data\naccess object can return a promise and let the client code deal with the\nresult. Promises are composable by nature, callbacks are not.\n\n------\nSiVal\nReally, just learn to use callbacks properly. Well, wait, actually, you should\nskip that and start getting used to using promises instead--a big improvement.\nWell, I mean, until next version is ready, and we can start using\nasync/await...until wasm makes better thought-out languages available.\n\nDespite the sounds of this, I do like the idea of having an experimental\nplatform with which to gain experience using wildly different approaches to\nthe wildly changing world of web apps. I don't take it for granted that old\nlanguage concepts will turn out to be the most useful for the web platform.\n\nSo, I'm okay building a website for the PTA or ceramics club with this, and\nI'm very interested in the experiences of others using a wide variety of\ntechnologies and approaches, but I'm not sure Node.js would be a sensible\nfoundation to build a business on.\n\n------\ntonyjstark\nThis article definitely matches with my experience. I did two not all too\ncomplicated projects on the side with Node.js and the the first steps where so\neasy that it completely convinced me to go with it. After a while I tried to\ndig deeper and went to meetups to see whether I do things right as in a\ncommunity accepted way and if I use the right tools and so on. Since then I\nrefer to the Nodejs community as the most hipster programmer community I've\never seen. As soon as a framework was getting near a 1.0 version nobody wanted\nto use it anymore, experimental features were used in production code, it was\nhorrifying. For me that ended this endeavour, I just could not keep up with\nthe pace. I always wondered if it would be different if I would have worked\nfull-time on Nodejs projects.\n\n------\nldehaan\nFrom reading the comments there are Still a lot of misconceptions about Js.\n\njavascript is not new, it's been around since before most of the web devs out\nthere started working in computers.\n\nnodejs supports multiple CPUs.\n\nnodejs is stable.\n\nJavaScript is retarded fast, and it's not c or c++ or any Compiled language,\nand shouldn't be compared to them because that's unhelpful as a measure.\n\nit is the only language for the web which enables you to work in the same\nlanguage on both fronts.\n\nframeworks aren't JavaScript.\n\nnodejs isn't JavaScript.\n\nJavaScript is so flexible that it can be changed to suit the needs of those\nwriting it, so much so that you get whole new dsl's like typescript.\n\nthere are more conversations on the internet about JavaScript than any other\nlanguage being used today.\n\noh and nothing scales if you don't know how to write scalable software, that's\non you, not the language.\n\n------\nbschwindHN\nInteresting analysis. I just finished a year of using Node for implementing an\nHTTP API and a chat server, and found it to be actually pretty pleasant. I'm\nnot chasing the latest and greatest things, there's no ES6, no ORM, and I'm on\nan older version of Node. But it works and has actually been quite stable! The\nthings I've missed are static type checking at compile time, and execution\nspeed (which is less of an issue when you're talking with databases all the\ntime). I'd be happy to write in more detail if anyone has any questions, but I\nfound I had the opposite experience of this author. The situation makes all\nthe difference though.\n\n------\nChris911\nMost of the problems described in the articles can be solved by simply using\npromises. Error handling is centralized in your chain and any function can\nthrow and just like Python or Ruby you can catch anywhere you want. As for\nconsistency between callbacks, promises and generators, just pick one. We\nswitched from callbacks to promises and it was a great move. Error handling\ngreatly improved and the code looks a lot nicer. No more callbacks hell. Ever.\n\nWe switched our backend from Python to Node almost 2 years ago now and it was\na great decision for us. If you handle a code base that deals with a lot of\nasync requests Node is definitely a top contender.\n\n------\ncyberpanther\nI think by reading the comments here and the article, its apparent that\nNode.js just isn't as mature yet. If you know what you're doing, it can be\ngreat, but for the noobs the right way to do things is not easily apparent.\nCouple this with the huge choice in libraries and frameworks, makes Node.js\nharder for now. I think the base is good though and given more time it will\nbecome more easy to wield. This is typical of any new tool. And yes Node.js\nhas been around the block for a while, but it is still newish compared to\nPython, Ruby, PHP, etc. So you're going to pay a new adopter tax still.\n\n------\njrapdx3\nCan't fully agree with the article re: using nodejs in production. A couple of\nyears ago I decided to use nodejs for a rewrite of a web/database app that had\ngotten to be complex and hard to maintain.\n\nAs so often said, it was true for me that the abundance of modules and choices\nin node was at first very confusing.\n\nI eventually figured out that keeping things as simple as possible was my best\napproach. What I came up was a server relying on very few module dependencies\nand written using consistent if not so elegant components. Sure it's kind of\nverbose and far from totally DRY but fairly easy to understand, modify and\nextend.\n\nKey issue was node's \"callback hell\" style of async programming. Of course,\nit's not just node, other languages (Scheme, FP, etc.) can be mind-bending in\na similar way.\n\nThe callback \"inside-out\" locality inversion was initially hard to grasp, but\nonce I caught on it was possible to get the server working the way I needed it\nto. The more recent development of promises, etc., certainly provides\nreasonable ways to reduce the high barriers implicated in using the nodejs\nstyle of async programming.\n\n~~~\nzyxley\nCallbacks definitely become much, much less of a problem once you can turn\neverything into promises.\n\n------\nEdSharkey\nIn my opinion, JavaScript is a toy language. Looking at it, and the Node.js\necosystem by-extension, that way has really helped me be effective with it.\n\nTooling has never been more important to my productivity with a language as it\nhas been with JS. I constantly search for tools to paper over the warts and\npotholes.\n\n------\ngedrap\nThe only clear, objective advantage of using nodejs is that if your\napplication is I/O heavy (e.g. tons of sql queries which can be executed in\nparallel), nodejs event system is helpful and everything you need is pretty\nmuch out of the box. Other thing... it largely depends on personal taste and a\nmatter of convention.\n\nReading his \"Why I’m switching from Python to Node.js\", doesn't seem like he\nwas having an issue with that. And I don't really buy into the \"same language\neverywhere\" argument because come on, how hard is it to learn python, ruby,\netc enough so that you can be productive? Not hard at all, unless you have\nhundreds of cubicles filled with drones.\n\nAnyway, it's good to see that he made some reasonable conclusions after the\nexperiment. That's a good sign :)\n\n~~~\nMichaelGG\nSame language, in theory, is great. Reuse structure definitions. Reuse\nrendering logic or even validation logic (perform checks on both, but make it\neasy to get into client-side). In general, keeping things \"in sync\".\n\nAlso can make it easier to write in SPA style but offload rendering to the\nserver when you need it (particularly first-page or reloads).\n\nWhether or not tooling is good enough to allow this (either with JS or\ncompilers) is another issue.\n\n------\nClobbersmith\nWe use NodeJS pretty extensively at Yahoo for both front end and back end\nservices and it works well. While some of the complaints are valid, it's not\nworth flipping tables over.\n\nPromises are standard in ES6 and it is \"the way\" to handle errors. At least if\nyou want to stay sane.\n\n------\nbtomar\nThough I agree with what you all explained with the big issues with NodeJS,\nyou have to understand its not all of Javascript. Its only server side JS. The\ncreators have clarified, for heavy CPU intensive services, go away from\nNodeJS. As far as frontend is concerned, AngularJS and React are just sugar\ncandy for user interaction and structure. Node filled the gap with an async\nnetwork application in pure JS without the heaviness of Python or traditional\nlanguages. It is a hack as in every day people are finding new ways to use\nNodeJS but I agree, there has to be best practices and less boilerplate (plus\nless silly npm packages for trivial JS tasks).\n\n------\nnodesocket\nI prefer to just use async\n([https://github.com/caolan/async](https://github.com/caolan/async)) for all\ncontrol and error flow. Namely async.auto() can do almost any crazy flow.\n\n------\ndustinlakin\nI think the switch to an async back-end can be more initial work than many\nexpect. It may take some time to feel as productive, but promises become\npowerful and became a game changer for me over my previous work with\ncallbacks. Error handling also becomes manageable.\n\nWhat I really enjoy is jumping into new community and getting to work with\ntools that have built. Choosing the right ones can make or break an\nexperience. I personally enjoyed working with Express and Bookshelf.js/Knex.\n\nI appreciate the authors perspective, but I also don't think this should deter\nanyone from trying out Node. I personally have no overwhelming preference to\nusing a Python or Javascript stack.\n\n~~~\nxentronium\n> Bookshelf.js/Knex\n\nAfter ruby orms, Bookshelf felt very, very underdeveloped. Anything I tried to\ndo beyond \"hello world\" only brought me pain, especially dealing with\nassociations, but honestly just about everything. I guess I've been spoiled,\nbut getting anything done in express/bookshelf combo seemed like a chore.\n\n------\nbillmalarky\nJust FYI, the Koa framework makes node sane again.\n\nCallback hell and error handling are no longer issues in node if you just\nembrace generators or async/await.\n\nWe use Koa in production and serve billions of requests just fine.\n\nIf I had to go back to Express I'd say no.\n\n------\nvelox_io\nThere's a very fine line between between removing too much essential\ncomplexity, and leaving programmers with too many limitations. Or the other\nend where the language overhead overshadows the original task at hand.\n\nFor instance multithreading should be handled by languages and frameworks\n99.9% of the time. Take reading a file (something that should be handled by\nthe language/ framework). Read it asynchronously, structure any dependant code\nclearly (which JavaScript does pretty well), if any problems are detected they\ndisplay/ log the appropriate error. You shouldn't be kneck-deep in callbacks.\n\n------\nspriggan3\nThe biggest problem is dealing with callbacks (and yes even promises use\ncallbacks , and generators need to be wrapped in a cor-routine framework in\norder to work as cor-routines ).\n\nI want to write a quick script doing some busy work , I now have to think\nabout synchronicity even though the script does not need to be non blocking.\nOf course in these circumstances, I want to move back to Ruby or Python, which\nactually let me code the thing I want to code without forcing callbacks on me.\n\nSo when you have to do 20 i/o operations in sequence, using nodejs becomes\nreally tedious.\n\n------\njtchang\nNode is one of those platforms that makes me shudder every time I go looking\nfor solid best practices. It seems to change every 3 months. It's scary (and\ncool) how fast things are changing.\n\n------\npeterashford\nI think the basic problem is that JS is not the right solution for every task\nbut for the web, it's often the only tool available.\n\nI had similar experiences to the OP. I had lots of code written in JS that I\nwas happy with to some extent, but all of it would have been easier / cleaner\n/ more maintainable in a less crap language.\n\n------\narisAlexis\nUsing babel without async await is a mistake IMO should solve almost all your\nproblems and errors. Also the main argument for using js in the back end is\nthat you have the same team working in the front-end too and in any case in\nthe same langage.\n\n------\nthrowanem\ntl;dr: \"I really miss Python's bondage and discipline, so I'm going back to\nit, and I'm going to hate on Node on my way out because I genuinely can't wrap\nmy head around the idea of a paradigm other than the one with which I'm\nfamiliar and comfortable.\"\n\nIt's not even about Node. It's about anything that isn't Python, and doesn't\nhave the Python community's strong \"there is exactly one way to do it\"\ntradition. I'm glad OP has realized that's what works for him. It's a shame he\nlacks the perspective to understand that it's _about_ him.\n\n------\nigl\nAsync-functions are the answer to all his problems. I generally agree on his\nconclusion though: Do small things, don't build big systems.\n\nI hate that JS trys to be this OO-FP hybrid. Jack of all trades, master of\nnone.\n\n------\nswivelmaster\nThis articulates my fears around switching to node very clearly. I've played\nwith it in the past and felt like it would become too difficult to manage with\na large project and lots of contributors.\n\n------\npaulftw\nA year ago one of the reasons to leave Python was poor MongoDB & JSON support,\n12 months later the same author complains about the lack of a decent SQL ORM\nlibrary in js <scratching my head/>\n\nwhile JS is far from perfect, his problem was he was a little bit ahead of\ntime- babel, standard promises & sequelize solve most of the problems. I think\nPython is still superior for serverside, but JS isn't as bad as portrayed in\nthis post, if you slowdown for a couple of weeks to learn how to use it\nproperly (just like any other popular language or framework).\n\n------\nsb8244\nI mused on similar things after getting a _very_ small project shipped. It is\nbased on my experience with Node, Ruby, and Node as of 4 years ago (when I\nfirst learned it).\n\n[https://medium.com/@yoooodaaaa/reflections-on-\nnode-698abecce...](https://medium.com/@yoooodaaaa/reflections-on-\nnode-698abecce1b3)\n\n------\nz3t4\nI think the problem is they chased the latest and greatest.\n\ntips: Always throw errors! Use named functions!\n\n------\njv22222\nUber has done pretty well using node as their core dispatch architecture.\n\n------\ntempodox\nI find this a valid assessment of Node and JS.\n\n------\nco_dh\nwelcome back :)\n\n------\nvacri\nSmall company ops guy here - a bit over a year ago, I used to joke with my\ndevs, asking them \"So, what's this month's recommended way of installing\nnode?\". More recently we've been experiencing dependency hell, which is\nexacerbated by our small team not having enough time to upgrade to the latest\nLTS release. Node is definitely a language that you have to _manage_. It\ndoesn't sit in the background and let you get on with writing stuff.\n\nIs it the right tool for X or Y? I can't say, I'm not a dev. But it does\nrequire a lot of hand-holding and keeping current with the zeitgeist.\n\n------\nhasenj\nEveryone and their aunt wants to publish an npm module. That's why you get a\nton of badly written poorly thought-out packages.\n\n------\nwizard_class\ndoesnt node support modules? thats a way to avoid callback hell\n\n~~~\nfredrb\nHow so?\n\n------\nJabavuAdams\nThanks for this. The Node / Javascript ecosystem just seems like one I don't\nwant to be a part of.\n\nI feel so lucky to have avoided the whole disgusting web stack.\n\n~~~\nbdcravens\nLike the author said, Node isn't a great fit for certain apps. It sounds like\nyours is one of them.\n\n------\nbricss\nAuthor plz, uninstall Node.js, use your so lovely Python and don't make people\nconcerned.\n\n~~~\ntobltobs\nBecause being concerned is a bad thing?\n\n------\nsantoshalper\nNode.js, meteor, et al. is a great example of what happens when you let\ninexperienced developers design a platform and run an ecosystem. Almost every\nounce of focus in this community goes to increasing developer productivity.\nOperational concerns like scalability, security, monitoring, are given the\nbare minimum of focus. In many years of programming in many languages on many\nplatforms I have never seen a worse platform and ecosystem than Node.js in a\nvery popular language (obviously some obscure languages hardly have anything\nbuilt around them at all).\n\nI really think it is setting the programming world back a lot. Not to mention\nwhat a thoroughly shitty language JavaScript is. Being able to code your web\napp in one language is a neat trick, and the ability to talk back and forth\nbetween client and server so seamlessly does kind of feel like magic, but\notherwise, this is a meaningfully worse language/platform that Visual Basic.\n\n------\njondubois\n\\- The dependency instability can be avoided by specifying specific versions\nof your dependencies inside your package.json.\n\n\\- The fact that the ecosystem is evolving quickly is a good thing. Node.js is\nstill one of the fastest growing software development platforms according to\nGoogle trends so you should expect it to change faster than other ecosystems.\n\n\\- ORMs suck (in every language) - They always sucked; ORMs are a massive hack\nintended to fix the impedence mismatch between relational DBs and RESTful\nAPIs. If you used a NoSQL DB with Node.js (such as RethinkDB), your life would\nbe much easier. Nobody in the Node.js community except your grandma cares\nabout ORMs because they're considered legacy technology. If you don't like it,\nthen you can stick to your COBOL and Oracle database.\n\n\\- Node.js lets you choose how you want to handle errors. JavaScript offers an\nError class which exposes a name property (which you can overwrite for each\nerror type) and you can also attach custom properties to Error objects (to\ncarry back more detailed info specific to each Error type). JavaScript is\nreally easy to serialize/deserialize so you can even design your error\nhandling system to be isomorphic (same error handling on the client/browser\nand server). I really enjoy error handling in Node.js/JavaScript - You just\nhave to put some thought into it.\n\n\\- The way of writing async logic is changing. The fact that Node.js is\nkeeping up is a good thing. There is no single right way to handle async\nlogic. Most well-maintained libraries will keep slowly evolving to use the\nnewer features of the language but it's mostly backwards compatible (many\nlibraries support both callbacks and promises).\n\n\\- The standards are not bad; they're evolving and you can choose your own\nstyleguides for your projects. Most JS developers will adapt to new\nstyleguides as they move between companies/projects.\n\n~~~\nflamethroeaway\nIs package.json webscale?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBlogKeenja: Ready to post Blog images for your Startups - TahaKhan\nhttp://blogkinja.d5gravity.com\n======\nTahaKhan\nFree stock photos are great, however, they fall short on fulfilling the exact\nrequirements of most of the startups. Let's say a startup wants to blog about\nA/B testing they will not be able to find a relevant image from stock photos.\n\nConsidering many such similar scenarios, we decided to solve this problem by\nproviding images for specific individual topics of any Startup blog, covering\ntopics such as: Launch, funding, analytics, customer, technology, support,\nmobile, email, marketing, content, ecommerce etc\n\nP.S. I am not a designer, I have made all these images in Google Slides using\nbasic shapes such as square, circle, triangle etc. Hope you guys like it\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Most Powerful Sales Tool at Lowe's: Satellites - 1337biz\nhttp://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-26/lowes-most-powerful-sales-tool-satellites\n======\nmaxerickson\nThe actual information is less exciting:\n\n _Laura Champine - Canaccord\n\nGood morning. Thanks for taking my question. Your close rate performance was\nimpressive, how do you measure that?\n\nBob Hull - Chief Financial Officer\n\nLaura, so a couple of different ways, so of late, we have been using satellite\nimagery. So we take pictures of parking lots throughout the course of the\nyear. We max that up with actual transaction counts in stores. Of late we have\nbeen actually using some technology that involves traffic counters in the\nstores, which gives us close rate by day, by hour, which is going to further\nallow Rick and the team to optimize labor going forward. We have tested both\nmethodologies for the same stores and got similar results. We are pretty\ncomfortable with the methodology. It allows us to forecast and see actual\nimprovement in close rates_\n\nFrom the earnings call:\n\n[http://seekingalpha.com/article/2051323-lowes-companies-\nceo-...](http://seekingalpha.com/article/2051323-lowes-companies-ceo-\ndiscusses-q4-2013-results-earnings-call-transcript?page=7&p=qanda&l=last)\n\n------\ngadders\n>> \"A little creepy? Yeah. Smart? Definitely.\"\n\nIs it creepy? They're only looking at car park occupancy in aggregate. They're\nnot tracking car number plates.\n\n~~~\nprotomyth\nI don't get the creepy either. It seems like an ok plan to judge volume[1] of\ntraffic compared to sales. Might even do some analysis of what vehicle types\nare going to the store.\n\n1) I am with other posters and would have put up security cameras and done my\ncount that way\n\n------\ndmd\nI'm puzzled why they would go to the expense of using real time satellite\nimagery for this, versus mounting a camera on a light pole in the parking lot.\n\n~~~\nkfcm\nThis is the exact same thought I had when reading the story.\n\nNot only would it be cheaper, but you could follow each vehicle through the\nlot and figure out the traffic flow patterns better.\n\nPlus, to tie in with this other front-page story (\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7346629](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7346629)\n), you could track the plates of the cars, and tie that in with retail\ncellular tracking (\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5154089](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5154089)\n). Facial recognition still needs a couple of years. Over time, you could tie\nthe cellular phone, vehicle, and electronic payment (debit or credit card) to\nan individual.\n\nContinual tracking.\n\nAnd all brought to you by technology. In the words of Pogo: \"We have met the\nenemy...and he is us.\"\n\n~~~\nk2enemy\nThat, and you can see the parking lot on cloudy days too.\n\n------\njoebo\nWhy not track how many times the entrance/exit doors open or close? Or add a\nlaser(?) that cuts across the entrance that counts each time it's line is\nbroken. Directional but also simple to do.\n\n~~~\nNaga\nA lot of companies do this actually. Sure its not perfect, but it gives a good\nenough estimate.\n\n------\nrollthehard6\nIt doesn't sound like it would make sense to do this given that stores\ngenerally have counters on the readers that detect stolen tagged items on\nexit. Surely it would be easier to use this data to figure out when the busy\nperiods fall?\n\n------\nmrfusion\nHow about if a hardware chain used satellite imagery to detect new structures\nbeing built, like sheds, barns, etc, and mailed targeted coupons out to the\nproperty owners?\n\n~~~\nTheCraiggers\nIsn't that a bit late in many respects though? The holy grail for a hardware\ncompany would be knowing when a person was _thinking_ about building a new\nshed, barn, etc, not when they've already bought all the wood and nails to\nbegin construction.\n\nThat said, we already know they're trying their damnedest to track just that.\n\n~~~\nvailripper\nIsn't permitting info in the public domain? I wonder why they don't leverage\nthat?\n\n~~~\nTheCraiggers\nA good question. My assumption is that even though it's considered public\nknowledge, there is still a cost for it and it's not electronic.\n\nFor instance, in my state and/or township one can go to township office and\nrequest a copy of all the property taxes for any piece of land, no matter who\nowns it. It costs something like ten dollars and in return you get a hardcopy\nwith a bunch of numbers on it.\n\nAssuming the process for getting copies of new permits is similar, the biggest\ndownside is cost for the information and paying for some intern or whatever to\ntype it in. Even if it's five dollars plus intern is decent chunk of money (I\nhave no idea what the profit margin is on lumber, etc). And then you have to\nfactor in the cost of the promotion which will eat into yet more profits.\n\n~~~\ndrone\nIn Houston, it's electronic and searchable. See:\n[http://www.cohtora.houstontx.gov/ibi_apps/WFServlet?IBIF_ex=...](http://www.cohtora.houstontx.gov/ibi_apps/WFServlet?IBIF_ex=online_permit_start)\n\n------\nincision\nNeat.\n\nSatellite imagery isn't terribly expensive and Lowes has 1830 stores.\n\nI'd bet it's a lot more efficient in the end to just buy a consistent set of\nimages for X stores of interest, X times a year than worry about the\ninstallation, maintenance of location specific concerns of cameras/sensors at\nevery store.\n\n------\nmkmk\nKroger uses infrared near the checkout lines to similar effect:\n[http://www.timesdispatch.com/business/retail/infrared-\ntechno...](http://www.timesdispatch.com/business/retail/infrared-technology-\ncuts-kroger-checkout-time/)\n\n------\nsquigs25\nreally cool? yes. Impractical? probably?\n\nScanning earth using satellites is really cool. Maybe they're outsourcing this\nto a central company, and paying a hundred bucks per store per month. fine.\nBut to be honest, there are some more effective low tech ways to catch these\nnumbers, for example by looking at the number of transactions, or installing\nsensors on every entrance to count the number of people entering.\n\nSeems like they're shooting a pigeon with a cannon.\n\n~~~\nkej\n>But to be honest, there are some more effective low tech ways to catch these\nnumbers\n\nHeck, just have someone count cars and write down the time whenever they\nretrieve shopping carts from the parking lot.\n\n------\nsuprgeek\n\"Satellite imagery\" is the most powerful Sales Tool?\n\nI understand the need for \"link-baity\" headlines but this is flat-out wrong.\nThe very same article goes on to state some numbers - 1% improvement vs 2%\nreduced labor.\n\nIf they can attribute it ALL to Satellite Tracking as opposed to say other\npromotions/general economy & barring other accounting tricks, it is still too\nlittle to be even attributable.\n\n~~~\nlostlogin\nAt the hospital I work at we correlate 'sales'in a similar way. Just we found\na cheaper way. We noticed that at night less people come in. So we reduced\nstaffing at night.\n\n------\ngstar\nI don't understand why they don't correlate EPOS, door and aisle counters, put\nit in their data warehouse, and have precise close rate based on 1) visits 2)\nstore departments\n\nI'd have thought this was totally standard practice!\n\nStill though, really cool that they have confidence that satellite imagery is\na good proxy for this.\n\n------\nrickdale\nHm, what the article doesn't say is that Lowes are typically located near Home\nDepot. Definitely close enough to get a snapshot of competitors parking lot\ntoo.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nIOS app store has created unrealistic pricing expectations - kgutteridge\nhttp://appcubby.com/blog/5-is-the-new-10/\n\n======\njeremymcanally\nI think I prefer an open market with prices that have naturally fallen to this\npoint than something with artificially inflated prices. There are two things\nat play here.\n\nOne, the competition in the app store right now is so voluminous and so fierce\nthat it's driving prices down. It's a natural phenomenon that will happen in\nnearly any \"free\" market. To complain about it is to complain about the\nessence of free market pricing.\n\nSecond, these lower prices allow for higher volume of sales. The prices have\nsettled here because this is what users see as the value of these apps. No\noffense to these guys/gals, but I wouldn't pay $10 for something to track my\ngas mileage. I'd find a free web app (if they exist) or just keep it in a\nnote. I get the value-add of IRS compliant reporting and such, but that's a\nniche problem to solve. Charging $10 for that is fine, but don't expect mass\nmarket appeal or uptake.\n\nI think the biggest problem is that people who write niche apps like these\napps expect to see numbers like \"Fart-O-Matic 9000\" or \"Angry Birds.\" You\nwon't. Accept that and then figure out what's going to make you the most\nmoney. The trick is figuring out if pricing at $10 and making (x) sales is\nmore profitable than pricing at $1 and making (y) sales. For some developers,\npricing higher with lower volume is much, much better, and these developers\nare typically niche applications (take a look at some of the \"pro\" audio apps\non iPad especially) that can handle the price difference because the people\nseeking them REALLY need the value that they're offering.\n\nAn MPG tracking app that gives me nice Excel sheets might not be enough to\nwarrant $10 in the eyes of users, and I don't think that's necessarily Apple's\nfault or the market's fault. Maybe it's just that the niche you're targeting\nwon't sustain the price you want, and unfortunately, that's the way the cookie\ncrumbles when selling software like this.\n\n~~~\ncageface\nAs an author of one semi-pro audio app, I can tell you that even the \"pro\"\napps are selling for as little as 1/10th of the price of a similar app on a\nMac. I really doubt the sales volumes compensate for that.\n\nThe big problem with the app store is that the people on the very high end of\nthe power distribution dictate a pricing structure for everyone that only\nreally works for those moving huge volumes. People now have a preconceived\nidea of what an app should cost that often has nothing to do with how much it\nmust actually sell for in order to turn a profit.\n\n~~~\ntechnoslut\nI'm assuming that you mean prosumer apps. I haven't seen these on iOS. The\nonly app that I've seen that is better on iOS is the official Twitter app.\n\nThen again, I haven't seen traditionally big devs on the Mac release Acorn,\nFlare, and Pixelmator on iOS.\n\n~~~\ncageface\nFor example, an excellent synth app like this would probably sell for at\n_least_ $99 as a plugin for Mac/PC: <http://beepstreet.com/horizon>\n\nI don't know for sure but I'd be very surprised if it's moving 20x the units\nit would as a plugin. But if you price something like this above $10 you'll\nget all kinds of user outrage because that's not what an \"app\" should cost.\n\n~~~\ntechnoslut\nI'm listening to the link of the app and it is good but people have to be\naware of it. This is the third synth app I've seen. I've also seen Animoog\nthat was posted on The Verge.\n\nThe fault is that these apps need more advertisements. I'm willing to bet that\nmost don't know that they can create music with a low-priced app. Consumers\nneed to be made aware of this. There are YouTube videos destined to be made\nwith these kind of apps.\n\nFor example, I saw an Sprint iPhone ad yesterday (maybe you've seen it?) where\na guy is talking to his girlfriend while watching a game. All I gathered from\nthe commercial was that the iPhone was on Sprint. They didn't give me the app\nor whether the game was live. The commercial became immediately insignificant.\n\n~~~\ncageface\nI don't think marketing is the answer here. Every musician I know with an iOS\ndevice knows about this app. The problem is that the potential audience for\nsomething like this is never going to be big enough to make the Angry Birds\npricing model work.\n\n~~~\ntechnoslut\nI've seen some that hate movies or TV but I've never seen anyone who doesn't\nlike music or wants ti create it, even on a superficial level.\n\nAngry Birds is an outlier. Their success had as much to do with quiet\nadvertising than any blog could do.\n\nAt the end of the day, everyone wants to create – even it is something\ndifferent with an usual set of apps.\n\nSome believe that iOS is only meant to consume. I don't believe that. Apple\nhas essentially released iWork and GarageBand in subsequent iPad releases.\n\n------\nMBCook\nThe kick the tires problem is a big one for me. I've downloaded enough free\napps that are junk. Downloading a paid app that has all sorts of problems is\nvery annoying, so I usually wait quite a while before buying something for\nreview to come in.\n\nThis makes me a little hesitant to try $ and $2 apps, even though\nrealistically that's a trivial amount of money. But if an app is $5 or $10,\nthen I really want a chance to try it first. Many apps don't have 'lite'\nversions (since, IIRC, demos are forbidden).\n\nJust having some kind of 2 hour return/refund policy would really help.\n\n------\ncrazygringo\nI think a lot of people may have a \"mental budget\" for apps -- e.g. spending\n$5/mo. on apps seems reasonable to me, while spending $50/mo. is not.\n\nSo if apps were $10, I would buy 1 every couple months, instead of 2-3/mo like\nI do now.\n\nFor example, I'll buy a $0.99 remote desktop connection app to connect to my\nserver from anywhere, that I will use maybe 3 times ever. But I will not buy\nit for $10.\n\nSo I'm not convinced that higher app prices would necessarily translate into\nhigher revenue.\n\nAlso, remember that we can't compare piracy-free iPhone app pricing (ignoring\njailbreakers) with normal software pricing. Every purchased copy of Photoshop\n\"subsidizes\" n other people who use it for free. So on any piracy-free\nplatform, you might expect prices to be lower.\n\n------\njiaaro\nThis will fix itself -- _if_ he is correct that people _want_ iOS apps (read:\ngames) that reach parity with other handheld devices.\n\n1\\. Developers will start making simpler games to maintain profitability at\nthe $5 price point.\n\n2\\. Once the vast majority of iOS games are $5 and relatively shallow in\ncomparison with other devices, deeper more complex games will once again\ncontrast in value to the $5 games, allowing them to charge more money.\n\n3\\. Because of the \"monthly budget\" effect, I'm guessing the way this will\nwork is in-app purchases. X-Box has been very successful with this model. Sell\na full (but somewhat short) game for $5. Then allow the users to buy more\n\"content\" for $2 per unit.\n\na $5 game That allows you to buy multiplayer content, additional story, or\nother mods for a dollar or 2 at at time could easily get their average\nlifetime sales per game up to 7 or 8 dollars. (and the big name games could\nstart at $10 and total 12 to 15)\n\n __One more thing __\n\n\\--------------\n\nI think it's worth pointing out that price decreases in the longer term don't\nprove anything. This happens everywhere. Even on game consoles (Xbox, PS3,\nwii, etc) where the games start out costing upwards to $40.\n\nYou can always to to a game store and find older games on sale for $15.\n\n------\ngdilla\nThis article was written over 2 years ago, before Apple introduced in-app\npurchasing. Downward price pressure is a lot worse now than then. It's more\naccurate to say Freemium is the new $5. But bundling, and try and buy is now\navailable.\n\n------\ntechnoslut\nFrom the post:\n\n>Because of this, most developers I spoke with at WWDC (even the VERY\nsuccessful ones) were looking to spread risk among several small apps rather\nthan creating one amazing app.\n\nThis is their loss. This garbage of having 15 different apps to accomplish a\njob that can be done with one will eventually be finished whether it is on the\niPhone or iPad.\n\nMuch of the App Store is about word of mouth and less about price. If you give\na comprehensive app that is worth the price and has proper dev support, the\npayers will be there.\n\nToday, I need an incredible amount of apps just to do what would take 5\nminutes on Photoshop. An opening is left on iOS by Adobe to fill the solution.\nVirtually no one is doing this.\n\nJobs' intention was not to hurt devs, but to kill piracy, reduce software\npricing and make it safe for people to get apps without worrying about\nmalware. Some devs may no longer exist because they can't adapt but that is\nnot his fault.\n\nThe main mistake Apple has made so far is not allowing a trial period for apps\nor offering refunds within a certain window.\n\n~~~\nrogerchucker\nI thought those \"lite\" versions are essentially the \"trial period\" apps.\nRefund window is problematic as Google witnessed (and thus stopped it); but\nthen again, if your app cannot provide me long term value then may be you\ndeserve a refund.\n\n~~~\njiaaro\nWhat they really need is a way to link the demo and full version together in\nthe app store.\n\nApps with a \"demo\" version should have a seamless upgrade-to-paid-version\nexperience.\n\nSome apps have done this with via in-app purchases (check out living language\nfor example [http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/living-language-spanish-\nfor/i...](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/living-language-spanish-\nfor/id453341418?mt=8)) which does a great job of this and manages to get $15\nout of you by demonstrating the value the app provides very effectively before\nasking for money.\n\n------\njyap\nFirstly, as someone else pointed out, this was written over 2 years ago.\n\nPricing must also take into account the distribution power of the app store\nand the actual usage medium.\n\niPad app prices are higher is a good example but then again this was written\npre-iPad.\n\n------\nPhuFighter\nBah. There are so many apps that I purchased that are complete junk, that,\nIMO, paying a $0.99 for an app that I do use seems to even itself out. And\nwhat about completely fraudulent apps (e.g. search for \"blacklist\" in the App\nStore). How are they even getting in?\n\nGiven the huge amount of crap in the App store, the only real way of finding\nthings that are decent is to go to specialized aggregators. I go to\nBoardGameGeek in order to find reviews of games. The detailed reviews there\nmean more to me than the huge stinking pile of games in the App Store. There\nneeds to be a better way of sifting through the stuff in the App Store than\nusing the App Store Application itself.\n\n~~~\ndrbarnard\nDon't you see the problem there. The developers who build crap apps end up\nbeing rewarded the same as those who build great apps. Essentially, you're\nsaying that you do pay $5 for a great app because you buy 5 and keep 1, but\nthe developer who built the app you like gets just $1. That sucks.\n\n~~~\nerichocean\nThat's the situation with \"entertainment\" content generally., e.g. all movies\nat the theater cost the same.\n\nAnd just like with movies, review sites, massive advertising to move units and\ncreate awareness, and a general distrust of new things is where I'd expect the\nApp Store model to continue to go.\n\n------\ncrazygringo\nAlso, I'd love to have a way to pay for apps _after_ I've been using them for\na while. For example, I would never have bought Instapaper in the first place\nfor $10, but now that I use it every day, I would be very happy to contribute\neven $20.\n\nIt would be fascinating from a psychology standpoint to see what kinds of\nresults this might have.\n\n~~~\ngharbad\nAt a large scale, it approaches $0/user.\n\n~~~\ncrazygringo\nCitation?\n\nFor example, the business model of Evernote would seem to suggest otherwise.\n\n------\nprpatel\nThere's one thing that everyone has missed so far, and I've said it to anyone\nwho will listen: free apps are undermining both the app store(s) and the\ndeveloper. Before you brush me off as crazy, please think it through...\n\n~~~\ndrbarnard\nI started to reply to your comment and ended up writing a whole blog post in\nagreement: <http://appcubby.com/blog/free-and-low-cost-apps/>\n\n------\njemeshsu\nApp programmers are turning into like recording artists, where tunes are at\n99cents a pop. The only way to survive then is to have hit app, like in hit\nsongs. Maybe there will be a billboard type of chart for apps soon.\n\n~~~\nrogerchucker\nIf you wanna stick to that analogy, what would be the equivalent of a \"live\nconcert\" in the app world?\n\n------\nNameNickHN\nIt has nothing to do with pricing in itself and all with competition. Look at\nthe gps navigation software. They cost more than the average app. Obviously\nbecause there is no real or very little competition in that area.\n\n~~~\ngeon\nMap databases are very expensive. You can't just use Google Maps for\nnavigation, because of the licensing.\n\n------\ndrbarnard\nI just finished a followup post, since the one originally linked is over 2\nyears old.\n\n<http://appcubby.com/blog/free-and-low-cost-apps/>\n\n------\ngcanyon\nEveryone realizes this article is from 2009, right?\n\n------\nhuhtenberg\nThat's a very well designed blog if you don't mind me saying.\n\n~~~\ndrbarnard\nI don't mind. Thanks! Since the site is mostly an ad for my apps, I thought\nI'd have some fun with a graphics heavy approach.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Unskew My Search, a web extension for peaking into the Google black box - Unskew\nhttps://www.unskewmysearch.com/\n======\nUnskew\nUnskew My Search is an experimental browser extension that seeks to help you\ndiscover how your personal search results are being skewed by Google\nrecommendation algorithms.\n\nProblem: Google notoriously collects and leverages an immense amount of user\ndata to better improve ad targeting, click through rates, and ultimately their\nbottom line. These algorithms are largely a black box, meaning we as users\ndon’t have insight into how our personal data is being leveraged within them.\nUnskew is an attempt to identify how our search results are being impacted by\nunique data associated with our accounts.\n\nHow it works: When a Google search is run with the extension installed, Unskew\ntakes the search term and sends it to our servers. From there, we use a\nnetwork of proxies to run the same search from a user agent with no connection\nto you or your account. We scrape these unaffiliated results and return them\nto your browser where the extension compares them to the results you yourself\nreceived.\n\nHypothesis: By controlling for the variable of user identifying information\nand removing it from the equation, disparities in search results represent\nattempts by the recommendation algorithm to personally tailor results.\nIdentifying the extent to which this occurs is vitally important, given\nGoogle’s near monopoly on the search space. Potential negative impacts could\ninvolve users increasingly becoming encased in an echo chamber of their own\nmaking in order to maximize click through rates, or could indicate the\nwillingness to engage in even wider scale manipulation of search results\nacross user accounts which are more difficult to detect.\n\nFeedback: We hope to hear and engage with feedback regarding our methodology,\nUX, and how this tech could be better leveraged to benefit users and the UX,\nand answer any questions. Outside of our immediate peer network this is our\nfirst attempt at gaining wider feedback.\n\n------\nna-na\nI tried it on firefox and chromium without another extension, it doesn't seem\nto work and only shows the message meeasuring skewing...\n\n------\nevanmaynard1\nIf it's mostly focused at news, why doesn't it work on google's news tab?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhat will robocars actually be like? - cstross\nhttp://singularityhub.com/2015/10/07/robocars-are-at-peak-hype-heres-what-theyll-actually-be-like/\n======\nph0rque\nPersonally, I'm looking forward to owning (or even building) a self-driving\ntiny house sort of vehicle.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGoogle tweaked algorithm after rise in US shootings - marvindanig\nhttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jul/02/google-tweaked-algorithm-after-rise-in-us-shootings\n======\nentropea\nIs there any way to know this is being used only in positive-to-society ways?\nWhen Google has a near monopoly, is them having the ability to selectively\ncensor or hide content and basically 'form' society's thoughts not something\nto be concerned about?\n\n------\nrasz\nMy first guess would be “authoritative” ranking ignores $$profit$$ when\nassembling results, that means counteracting effects of certain videos(viral,\nclickbaity, \"hot\" controversial topics, designed to rail you on/shock) being\npushed in recommendations and forgets all the autoplayed \"up next\" clips, only\ncounting organic conscious traffic (clicks in subscription, search tab and\nfrom external sources). TLDR it overlooks usual YT manipulation techniques\ndesigned to make you keep clicking/watching ads. I wish I as a user could\nmanually trigger this hidden ranking on my search queries.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMaze62: a dense and speedy alphanumeric encoding for binary data - DenisM\nhttp://blog.altudov.com/2011/05/16/maze62-a-dense-and-speedy-alphanumeric-encoding-for-binary-data/\n======\nandfarm\nI'm having trouble thinking of any situations where you're free to use any\nalphanumerics, but you absolutely can't use anything else. The closest thing\nthat comes to mind is DNS, and that's a 36-character set, not 62.\n\nAscii85 (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base85>) uses a similar concept, but\nusing the majority of the printable ASCII characters. It gets a hard-to-beat\n20% expansion on binary data (4 bytes in 5 chars) without requiring bigint\nmath.\n\n~~~\ndeweller\nI'm pretty sure the canonical use case for this would be for including complex\nbinary data in a URL. A URL shortener might be a good example.\n\n~~~\nDenisM\nAnother thing people don't talk much about is copy-paste. Double click on an\nalphanumeric will select the entire thing, whereas other characters might\ncause selection to end prematurely, and differently so in different text\neditors.\n\n------\nwaterhouse\nI think this has the drawback that if you want to look up, say, bits n through\nm, you'd need to process the whole string up to that point. Lookup would be\nO(n) rather than O(1). Is that a problem? (I don't know, maybe people only use\nbase64-like encoding in places where they'd just read the data in once at the\nbeginning, convert it to a better internal representation, and never touch the\nbase64 version again.)\n\nOn the other hand, if it is a problem, how's this idea: Use strings of 129\nbase-62 digits to represent strings of 128 base-64 digits. I pick 128 because\nit might be convenient, and 129/128 is close to optimal:\n\n    \n    \n      arc> (* 129 (log 62 64))\n      128.01522067331783\n    \n\nOr if decoding 128 digits at a time when you just want a couple is excessive,\nyou could use 17 base-62 digits for 16 base-64 digits (which has a space\ninefficiency of 1/16th, or 6.25%), or 9 for 8 (inefficiency 12.5%), or\nwhatever.\n\n~~~\nDenisM\nRandom access was not a priority, yes. In fact it didn't even occur to me, not\neven for a moment :)\n\nAs to your proposed algorithm, yes, it could work. It's discussed in passing a\nbit earlier in this thread, here's direct link:\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2554726>\n\nNot sure about comparative space efficiency of this vs Maze64, but we're\nlikely splitting hairs at this point :), it should be very close. Yes it could\nwork. Converting 128 characters from base64 to base62 would cost N^2 time,\nwhere N is 128. Not sure if it's a big deal. Just another approach.\n\n~~~\nwaterhouse\nHmm, and one could extend this chunking approach to Maze62. Consume 12 bits\n(aka two base64 integers), but if the resulting number is in the range\n[62^2=3844 to 64^2-1=4095] or [0 to 64^2-62^2-1=251], then add that extra\nquotient bit to the next input (from which you'll consume only 11 bits). That\nwould make the worst case only take 12/11ths as long, or 109%, instead of\n6/5ths as long, or 120%, as the best case (which would be the same as before).\n\nOne could extend it upwards as far as desired (probably approaching log_64(62)\nworst-case and average-case space compared to base64[1]), though the integer\narithmetic would become a pain eventually. 12/11 or maybe 18/17 (105.8%) or\n24/23 (104.3%) is probably good enough for most purposes. The relatively\nhardcore might use 60/59 (101.7%), which x86_64 machines can still do with CPU\narithmetic (an integer multiply of two 64-bit integers stores the results in\ntwo 64-bit registers, and you can then do an integer divide on that, which\nstores the quotient and remainder in those registers).\n\n[1] Average case: I analyze it like this. If you encode n base64 integers at a\ntime, then you'll encode 6n bits at a time, but 6n-1 bits if you're unlucky\nand get a number in the ranges [62^n, 64^n - 1] or [0, 64^n - 62^n - 1]. These\ntwo ranges, taken together, make 2 * (64^n - 62^n) numbers out of 64^n\npossible n-digit base64 numbers. Thus, on average, you encode\n\n    \n    \n      6n - 1 * [2 * (64^n - 62^n)]/64^n\n      = 6n - 2 * (1 - (62/64)^n)\n    \n\nbits for every group of n characters, or\n\n    \n    \n      6 - 2/n * (1 - (62/64)^n)\n    \n\nbits per character. (Note that this analysis only applies while 62^n < 64^n <\n2 * 62^n, so taking n -> ∞ gives misleading results.) The original Maze62\nproposal has n = 1, and this yields 5.9375 bits per character on average,\nwhich is pretty good. (Check this: 5 * 4/64 + 6 * 60/64 = 5.9375.) The next\nfew values are:\n\n    \n    \n      1 5.9375\n      2 5.9384765625\n      3 5.939432779947917\n      4 5.940369129180908\n      ...\n      10 5.945595231334425\n    \n      Theoretical limit:\n      6 * log_64(62) = 5.954196310386876\n    \n\nSo I guess there's really not much to be gained for the average case by\nincreasing n. But someone pointed out that all-0 and all-1 sequences happen\nfrequently in real situations, so it may be worth it anyway.\n\n~~~\nDenisM\nThat's a great idea, and it will probably speed up possible native\nimplementations (though likely at the expense of scripting languages).\n\nTo deal with large runs of identical numbers (e.g. all zeroes) someone\nsuggested in my blog comments to XOR the input array with a result of a chosen\npseudo-random function. This will bring any dataset into the realm of average\n(5.9375) except for the dataset that is specifically targeting the chosen\npseudo-random function. :)\n\n------\njerf\nClaiming this is dense, OK. That's just math. But how can you claim this is\n\"speedy\" when you have an unpolished _Python_ implementation in hand? You need\nto bench against best-of-breed Base64 implementations, not some pure-Python\ncomparison you may write up in the future, and for that you're going to need\nto go at least C, and I wouldn't be surprised down to the assembler. Just\nstick with \"dense\" and claim \"speedy\" when you've got some numbers.\n\n(I suspect you won't beat or even tie Base64, but I'm prepared to accept that\nyou only got within X% of base64 but that X% is worth it in some scenario. And\nmaybe if you get clever enough you can prove me wrong.)\n\n~~~\nDenisM\nIt's speedy compared to base62.\n\nSee, the problem is that Base64 is linear is speed, but has large (non-\nalphanumeric) charset, while base62 has small (alphanumeric) charset but is\nquadratic in speed (at least in its straightforward implementation, the only\none I was able to find).\n\nMaze62 is the encoding that is both constrained in charset and liner in speed.\nHence, the title.\n\nDoes it make sense?\n\n~~~\njerf\nOK, that's fair. Thanks.\n\n------\nAcorn\nIf you don't mind using - and _ then the implementation is very simple. I\nposted an example in Python and CoffeeScript to SO recently for doing this\nexact thing.\n\n[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5940416/compress-a-\nseries...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5940416/compress-a-series-\nof-1s-and-0s-into-the-shortest-possible-ascii-string/5941361#5941361)\n\n    \n    \n      >>> bin_string = '000111000010101010101000101001110'\n      >>> encode(bin_string)\n      'hcQOPgd'\n    \n    \n      >>> decode(encode(bin_string))\n      '000111000010101010101000101001110'\n\n~~~\nDenisM\nFYI, it seems to be known as this:\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base64#URL_applications>\n\n~~~\nAcorn\nHmm, looking at python's base64.urlsafe_b64encode(s), padding is still used.\nSo it sounds like it doesn't fully implement the \"modified Base64 for URL\"\nspec.\n\nBase64 encoding also seems to result in quite long ascii strings compared to\nwhat I threw together.\n\nOr is there a way to use Base64 which would give results of a comparable\nlength?\n\n~~~\nDenisM\nIt's a lot longer because it doesn't know your have encoded your input data\nin, essentially base-1. If you to convert it to base-256 (that is, and array\nof bytes, instead or array of bits as you have now) it would produce the same\nlength. Yes, there is base64 implementation in pretty much any language,\nthough they usually use + and / for the two extra characters.\n\nAs wikipedia says, padding can be added or removed as a matter of taste: _From\na theoretical point of view the padding character is not needed, since the\nnumber of missing bytes can be calculated from the number of base64 digits._\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base64#Padding>\n\n------\nnkurz\nMy first impression is that this algorithm is going to be much slower than\nBase64 due to all the branching. This probably won't be visible in Python, but\nI don't think there's any way to make it really fly when optimized.\n\nThere are probably cases where this is acceptable, but I'm inclined to think\nthat Base32 is a better choice if larger size is acceptable, and that Base64\nwith domain appropriate characters is better where performance counts.\n\n~~~\ncolomon\nReally depends on what you want to do with it, doesn't it? He mentions\ncharacter limits in URLs as a motivation, and at reasonable lengths for that I\nimagine Maze62 in Python will be plenty fast....\n\n------\npeterbotond\nrecently, i needed to encode/decode similar data, and base64 with a variable\n64 chars seemed to work just as good. say, - or / are problem chars, then make\nanother set of 64 chars which would have a comma and a dot or alike and there\nyou go. keep the sets in a table or somehting and use the first 2 chars as\nindicator which set of 64 to use for that data.\n\n------\njtchang\nCool stuff. Can you post a few examples of the encoding?\n\n------\nandrewcooke\nwhy is base62 quadratic?\n\n~~~\ndfox\nNaive implementation certainly is, as it involves one multiplication (of\nnumber whose size depends linearly depends on number of previously processed\nbytes) for each input byte and one division for each output byte. But on the\nother hand I have this feeling, that more effective implementation is possible\n(and actually used by modern compression algorithms like RAR and LZMA).\n\n~~~\nandrewcooke\nbut couldn't you have a stream algorithm with modular arithmetic?\n\n[edit: i thought i had a good demonstration of this. actually, two. but both\nwere wrong. so it does seem to be non-trivial...]\n\n[edit 2: open stack overflow question:\n[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3545931/efficient-\nalgorit...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3545931/efficient-algorithm-\nfor-conversion-between-numeral-system) ]\n\n~~~\nDenisM\nIf we could, we wouldn't call it base62, as base62 normally means converting\nthe entire \"bigint\" (all bytes of input data as one big number) into base-62\nrepresentation. At least that's how baseXX has been used to far (I searched\nthe web before doing this), and I am in favor of sticking to that naming\nconvention. Agreed?\n\nNow, whether we could come up with such streaming algorithm I'm not sure. I\ntried solving this problem, and this is what I came up with. Maybe I haven't\ntried hard enough to go the other route... I guess you could simply slice the\nincoming stream into a set of chunks, each small enough to make bigin base62\nconversion fast (which is square of the size of the chunk), and yet large\nenough to obscure the occasional loss of space at the chunk boundaries... I\nguess that would be an option...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAutomated Invoicing for BaseCRM - peritusnyc\nhttps://paycove.io\n======\nperitusnyc\nPaycove allows your sales team to automatically generate and collect invoices\nfrom your deal-flow on BaseCRM. We've worked carefully with our clients to\nbuild a product that saves time and reduces your invoice collection timelines.\n\nOnce a deal is moved to a “pending close” stage in Base, an invoice is\nautomatically created. All relevant information is pulled directly from Base\ninto the contract, which is then sent to the primary contact via email, and\nnoted on your Base Deal for easy reference.\n\nPaycove uses Stripe as it's payment processor, allowing you to collect,\nrefund, and monitor payments from Paycove. You may also handle charges very\ngranularly from Stripe's Dashboard. Stripe's security measures are best in the\nindustry, making sure that your customers' information is safe.\n\nPaycove also stays in sync with your BaseCRM and Stripe accounts to give you\nan overview of useful statistics about your invoices. Monitor your conversion\nrate, and average time-to-payment from your Paycove Dashboard.\n\nWe offer a free 14 day trial to test it out.\n\nWe love hearing from you, so please reach out if you have any comments or\nquestions!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHow I got into Y Combinator and fathered a child, almost simultaneously - antongm\nhttp://adgrok.com/pseudorandomness-or-how-i-got-into-y-combinator-and-had-a-child-with-a-woman-i-barely-knew-almost-simultaneously\n\n======\nabstractbill\nI enjoy reading posts like these for the perspective they give me on how\ndifferently some people do things. My wife and I by contrast are ridiculously\nover-prepared. Dated for a year before moving in together, lived together for\ntwo more years before deciding to get married, waited another two years to\nhave a kid, and then invested enough time into learning about childbirth that\nevery medical professional we talked to though the whole pregnancy and labor\nassumed that we were both in the medical field (seriously, I know way more\nabout the anatomy of the female pelvic area than any other part of the human\nbody because of this).\n\nShe's a month old today (coincidentally also named Zoe).\n\n~~~\nsgoraya\nCongratulations - The journey only gets better!\n\nI've got a 8 month baby boy and wonderful wife that are the center of my\nuniverse right now.\n\nI got a chuckle about the time invested into the childbirth process; my wife\nteased me about knowing more about having a baby than she did ;)\n\nThat said, I am spending less time on my business - whereas in the past after\ncoming home from the office I would take a break for dinner, the gym, then get\nback to my desk at home and work into the night. That schedule has changed\ndrastically - I would rather spend the evening playing with my son and hanging\nout with my wife than working. After the little one goes to sleep though, I\ntry to put in a couple hours of highly focused work.\n\nOverall, I think I'm almost as productive (after the first 4 months) - when\nyou have a child, the need to maximize time and effort are amplified.\n\n------\nrunjake\nGetting a woman pregnant and fathering a child are two entirely different\nthings. I hope you have found the perfect balance between being a father and\nrunning a startup.\n\nHint: the proper balance is heavily leaning towards the child.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nI upvoted you, since I've had the (apparently not so) unique experience of\nhaving my first kid at the same time as my first \"real\" startup, and it was\nfraught with peril. I agree that the preachiness of your comment is grating,\nbut the tone of the blog post you're commenting on kind of warrants it.\n\nThat said, the real risk in this scenario isn't to the child; the risk is that\nyou'll demolish your relationship with the other parent. The kid will be fine\nfor the first year or so. They're basically very smelly houseplants until they\nget to crawling age. You're constantly terrified that they're going to\nrandomly die on you, but the rules for preventing that outcome are\nstraightforward and hard to forget.\n\n~~~\nm_eiman\n_You're constantly terrified that they're going to randomly die on you, but\nthe rules for preventing that outcome are straightforward and hard to forget._\n\nChanging the recommendation from sleeping face-down to sleeping on the back\nhas reduced the rate of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or something like\nthat) in Sweden by roughly 80% since 1992. There was a peak at 1.1 per 1000\nlive births in 1991, and it's now at 0.25 or less (in 2008 it was down to\n0.13)[1].\n\nSome babies sleep better face down, but I prefer somewhat uneasy sleep for six\nto nine months (until they can turn over by themselves) to a tenfold higher\nrisk of death.\n\n[1]: (Swedish) <http://www.internetmedicin.se/dyn_main.asp?page=1466>\n\n~~~\njaxn\nI have 4 kids. They all slept face down. They all lived.\n\nThe point being, even the stuff we fear in the western world is really pretty\nunlikely. Feed them, don't drop them and you are pretty much good. (for the\nfirst year)\n\n~~~\nekanes\nFor things that occur so rarely, you can't extrapolate based on your\nexperience. By your logic, we shouldn't get vaccinated because \"my 4 cousins\ndidn't, and they lived.\"\n\n~~~\nrunjake\nI think that was the OP's point. SIDS is rare and probably has nothing to do\nwith a baby's position.It's a medical guess, at this point.\n\nI almost feel irresponsible mentioning this, so let me say that one should\nalways listen to their doctors.\n\n~~~\nm_eiman\n_SIDS is rare and probably has nothing to do with a baby's position._\n\nThere's a bunch of research on the subject, and the resulting recommendation\nis that sleeping on the back is preferred. I haven't read the actual studies,\nbut a bunch are mentioned in the article I linked to:\n\nAlm B, Lagercrantz H, Wennergren G. Stop SIDS - sleeping solitary supine,\nsucking soother, stopping smoking substitutes. Acta Paediatr. 2006\nMar;95(3):260-2.\n\nSwedish Medical Research Council State of the Art Conference on the Sudden\nInfant Death Syndrome. Proceedings. Gothenburg, 3-5 June 1992. Acta Paediatr\nSuppl 1993;389(1):1-129.\n\nAlm B, Milerad J, Wennergren G, Skjaerven R, Øyen N, Norvenius G, et al. A\ncase-control study of smoking and sudden infant death syndrome in the\nScandinavian countries, 1992 to 1995. The Nordic Epidemiological SIDS Study.\nArch Dis Child 1998;78(4):329-34.\n\nAlm B, Norvenius SG, Wennergren G, Skjaerven R, Oyen N, Milerad J, et al.\nChanges in the epidemiology of sudden infant death syndrome in Sweden\n1973-1996. Arch Dis Child 2001;84(1):24-30.\n\nAlm B, Möllborg P, Erdes L, Pettersson R, Aberg N, Norvenius G, Wennergren G.\nSIDS risk factors and factors associated with prone sleeping in Sweden. Arch\nDis Child. 2006;91:915-9.\n\nWennergren G. Prevention of sudden infant death syndrome. Pediatr Pulmonol\n2004;37 Suppl 26:110-1.\n\nCarpenter RG, Irgens LM, Blair PS, England PD, Fleming P, Huber J, et al.\nSudden unexplained infant death in 20 regions in Europe: case control study.\nLancet 2004;363(9404):185-91.\n\nAmerican Academy of Pediatrics, Task Force on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.\nPolicy Statement. The changing concept of sudden infant death syndrome:\ndiagnostic coding shifts, controversies regarding the sleeping environment,\nand new variables to consider in reducing risk. Pediatrics 2005;116:1245-55.\n\n[edit: google the names of the studies and you'll find abstracts or more]\n\n~~~\nrunjake\nI've read some of the actual studies you've quoted (and others), and they seem\nto indicate that infants that sleep on their backs fair slightly better in\nstatistics. Some also blame heavier blankets and \"bumper pads\" (the pads that\nwrap around the bars at the base of the mattress).\n\nAs I mentioned elsewhere, my understanding is that it's merely a\nrecommendation based on statistics with no direct correlation.\n\nMy babies went on their backs, because even a %.001 difference is enough for\nme to play the game, seeing as I don't know what I'd do if one of them passed\naway.\n\n~~~\nnl\n_a recommendation based on statistics with no direct correlation_\n\n\"a recommendation based on statistics\" usually means there is a correlation. I\nthink you mean that it may not imply causation, which is true of course.\n\n------\nalexophile\nIf you didn't make the jump to the footnotes, I thought this was great:\n\n\"One of the Y Combinator questions asked you to name one non-computer system\nthat you’d hacked in some interesting way. My answer concerned a man-in-the-\nmiddle attack I once did on Craigslist personals. I placed an ad as a woman\nseeking a man, and as a man seeking a woman, and then simply crossed the email\nstreams by forwarding mail from one to the other, and vice versa. Most\nCraigslist personals didn’t even have photos back then, so the switch went\nundetected, even after the couples had met. I handed off the relationship by\ntelling one that the other’s email address had changed, from my fake one to\nthe real one, and likewise vice versa. For all I know, those couples are still\ntogether and having kids. They probably don’t know to this day what happened\nor what brought them together.\"\n\n------\nNate75Sanders\nSo...2nd encounter leads to a \"pornographic scene on her kitchen counter\"\nafter you already ran into her with her ex and you make no mention of a\npaternity test? How do you know it's yours?\n\n------\nmaxawaytoolong\nI have to comment...\n\nOne interesting aspect of dating in the bay area is that the woman's ex-\nboyfriend always happens to be on the set of the first date, every time. Every\nsingle time.\n\n~~~\nantongm\nHahahaha...\n\nReally? I haven't had that happen, other than this one time. And this time it\nwas weird, because both ex and I were sailors, and our boats happened to be\nnext to each other in the yard...total fluke. And then of course Girlfriend\nshowed up in the middle of it, making it even more comical.\n\nAnyhow, didn't know it was a local trend.\n\n------\nleif\nMinor edit: gmail's file limit is not 30GB, and there's no way a 1m 10s video\nfills up that much space. ;-)\n\n~~~\nantongm\nActually, it sure as hell did fill it up. I'm not big into digital media, so I\ncan't quote the real specs, but my machine is a late model MacBook Pro using\nthe stock camera, filmed with iMovie at what are probably default settings.\n\nAnd the file limit was certainly 30GB, or in the neighborhood. Trust me. I was\nshitting bricks when it happened....waiting to upload a file, watch it bounce\nbecause it's too big...rinse, repeat.....\n\n~~~\nbjonathan\n30Mo maybe?\n\n~~~\nleif\nYeah I think 30MB is correct. 30GB is about 7 DVDs.\n\n------\ndbrannan\nThe most important thing you can do for your child is love their mom.\n\n~~~\naraneae\nHow could he possibly do that if he got her pregnant on the first date?\n\n95% of the people I have gone on first dates with would have made disastrous\nlife partners. It's kind of a lot to ask of him.\n\n~~~\nmy_account\nHe doesn't love the woman, you can sense it in the writing. Probably doesn't\neven like her that much. I picture a scenario where he drifts toward his man-\ncave aka start-up, when domesticity comes calling. Michael Lewis wrote a book\nabout his domestic situation, but one never doubts he puts wife and kids\nfirst. That said, he and the wife were a little more conventinal given their\napproach.\n\n~~~\nantongm\nI won't comment on the love angle, other than to comment that our current\nnotion of love is a 19th century European invention that doesn't really exist\nin most traditional societies. There's ways of getting along that don't\ninvolve long courtship, touching poems, or passionate romance.\n\nAnd it's funny you mention Lewis. The mother gave me that book as a present\nlast March. Great book. I should note, he didn't particularly love his\nchildren at all at first...until the child was stricken ill and he had to care\nfor him.\n\n~~~\naraneae\nOur \"current notion\" of love may certainly change, but the neurophysiological\nfact of love does not (at least, not on the same timescale). I don't know what\nthe original commenter was referring to when he said love, but I rather think\nhe meant the emotional connection, not poetry (who think that has anything to\ndo with love nowadays anyway?)\n\n~~~\ndbrannan\nLove has many meanings, yes. If love is a stretch for you (or does not come\nnaturally) at least try your best to respect their mother, treat her kindly,\nspeak well of her, support her the best you can, and encourage her. These\nsimple steps will do more for a child than you might realize - I don't care\nwhat the media says, parenting is really a team effort.\n\n------\ntptacek\nEw. That was... vivid.\n\n~~~\natomical\nVivid? Seems more casual to me.\n\n~~~\ntheycallmemorty\n\"I watched with increasing alarm as red streaks traced bloody spiderwebs\nacross her thighs.\"\n\nVivid.\n\n~~~\nSukotto\nActually, compared to what I saw at each of my kid's births, that _was_\ncasual.\n\n------\nstevederico\nAmazing showing of drive and determination. I admire your focus and level-\nheadedness in a time of great stress. If I can achieve half what you did in\nthose 9 months, in the next year I will be happy. There is no better time than\nnow. Thank you for the inspiration.\n\n------\nJacobAldridge\nI just finished reading _The Time Traveler's Wife_ and this post gave me\nflashbacks.\n\nPseudorandomness or unalterable fate? Neither provides guaranteed success, so\nI wish you much luck with both ventures.\n\n------\nrgrieselhuber\nThat was awesome.\n\n------\ncreate_account\nMy first reaction was: \"oh no, not _another_ post from this guy.\"\n\nIt was better than his earlier stuff, and makes him seem less of a jerk.\n\nStill, his is the only YC company I'm not really rooting for to succeed; an\nIPO or acquisition would turn him into an insufferable lout.\n\n~~~\nazymnis\nYour comment is priceless...\n\nWhat I find really interesting is that you actually sat down and read the\nwhole post despite it being \"from that guy\".\n\nI don't understand trolls...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nK-Nearest Neighbors from Scratch - craigkerstiens\nhttps://lettier.github.io/posts/2016-06-10-k-nearest-neighbors-from-scratch.html\n======\nRadim\nWhile the topic may seem trivial and the execution/implementation a bit too\nnaive, it should be noted the author is a _graphic designer_! Check out\nDavid's homepage [0] -- original, if not very practical :-)\n\nI personally think it's great to see such cross-pollination between various\nfields. It helps other newcomers to read about this stuff \"in their own\nlanguage\", using a perspective of someone from their own field (as opposed to\nthe usual academic / old-hand angle).\n\n[0] [http://www.lettier.com/](http://www.lettier.com/)\n\n~~~\nhugh4\nMaybe, but if the new cross-pollination just confuses the issue rather than\nclarifying it, what's the point?\n\n\"Suppose you have a bunch of flowers in a field, and they're planted so that\nthe east-west direction corresponds to the diameter of the flower and the\nnorth-west direction corresponds to the length of the leaf.\"\n\n\"Huh?\"\n\n\"Suppose you have a bunch of data points in an n-dimensional space\"\n\n\"Oh, gotcha\"\n\n~~~\nspdustin\nWhat an exclusionary thing to say. Was that your intent?\n\n~~~\nhugh4\nThat's not even a word.\n\n~~~\nspdustin\n[http://www.dictionary.com/browse/exclusionary](http://www.dictionary.com/browse/exclusionary)\n\nOf course, I did hear that _gullible_ was removed from the dictionary during\nan annual meeting of linguists in Leeds last year.\n\n------\nhenryw\nPretty neat for implementation used as a tutorial. A more industry standard\nimplementation would probably use a tree of some type to reduce the space and\nsearch time. For example\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-d_tree](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-d_tree)\nin [http://scikit-\nlearn.org/stable/modules/generated/sklearn.nei...](http://scikit-\nlearn.org/stable/modules/generated/sklearn.neighbors.KNeighborsClassifier.html)\n\n------\nbra-ket\nvery nice write-up. if you're interested in this, the next logical step is to\nlook at 'locality-sensitive hashing' and some simple state-of-the-art methods:\n[https://github.com/spotify/annoy](https://github.com/spotify/annoy)\n\n------\nleecarraher\nthis description of linear scan kNN may be a bit tedious for the hacker news\ncrowd. here's the gist (in python):\n\n    \n    \n      def knn(y,X,k):\n         d = len(y)\n         least = [(float('inf'),[float('inf')]*d) for i in xrange(k)]\n         for x in X:\n            d = 0.0 \n            for i in xrange(len(x)):\n               d+=abs(x[i]-y[i])\n            if d < least[k-1][0]:\n               least[k-1] = (d,x)\n               least.sort()\n         return least\n    \n    \n\nSorting even for linear isn't the best idea but keeps the algorithm terse. A\ndata structure like a priority queue should probably be used instead of an\narray.\n\nand one should use a kd tree or ball tree for exact, and LSH-knn for inexact\nin practice.\n\n~~~\nthomasahle\nYou can use `heapq` from the standard library to at least go from `n k log k`\nto `n log k`.\n\n------\ntheoracle101\nWhy not just use a kd tree or voroni?\n\n~~~\njeena\nHow would you learn how to implement that algorythm if you'd just use an\nexisting implementation?\n\n~~~\nAReallyGoodName\nRead the wiki page on it, run through the psuedocode on pen and paper a few\ntimes and then implement it.\n\nSource: I did this when I wrote a library for reverse geocoding which uses a\nkd tree.\n\n[https://github.com/AReallyGoodName/OfflineReverseGeocode](https://github.com/AReallyGoodName/OfflineReverseGeocode)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAutomatic server hardening framework - dewey\nhttps://telekomlabs.github.io/\n======\nallendoerfer\nSeems like a nice and comfortable way to set sane defaults for nginx, Apache,\nMySQL, PostgreSQL and some Unix stuff - but they really should have been set\nby each software in the first place.\n\nI like, the private touch the screencast and the developer-designed website\ngives the project, even if part of a big company. This actually raises its\ncredibility.\n\n~~~\nams6110\n_they really should have been set by each software_\n\nYes, and it seems to me that distros (at least those intended for\n\"enterprise\") should be hardened by default also. If I install RHEL or OEL and\nthen have to run a Chef or Puppet config to \"harden\" it, something is wrong.\n\n~~~\njlawer\nWell, thats been tried and rejected by the user base. If you harden too much\nit becomes a real PITA to do anything productive (SELinux running in strict\nmode).\n\nRHEL aims to be secure, while also remaining fairly compatible with previous\nversions.\n\nRed Hat do have documentation on how to harden, but most users don't use it\nand instead turn SELinux completely off as one of the first configuration\nsteps.\n\n------\niand675\nVery cool, but seems like it would be nice to have the hardening steps\ndocumented outside of code too (for those of us with more exotic provisioning\ntastes).\n\n~~~\nmikegioia\nI completely agree. I was looking for the SSH settings but I don't use Puppet\nor Chef. This is why I prefer shell scripts so I can see what's going on and\nrun parts of it on my own.\n\n~~~\nmetatron31\nYou can check the references here in the lifecycle section:\n[http://telekomlabs.github.io/docs/](http://telekomlabs.github.io/docs/)\n\n------\nvirtuallynathan\nSeems bad that it disables IPv6 \"for security\".\n\n~~~\nownagefool\nDisable anything you don't use. I wish it weren't so but IPv6 is probably a\nsafe assumption there.\n\n------\ncrymer11\nAnsible support would be spiffy.\n\n~~~\nkieranajp\nI was looking for the same thing; however I can't find any acknowledgement of\nAnsible's existence anywhere on the site or in the docs :(\n\n------\nzobzu\ntldr its a set of open source puppet/chef/others modules to harden the default\nconfiguration of common daemons.\n\n------\ncodezero\nThe audio on the demo video is really choppy, is that just me?\n\n~~~\ndewey\nThe same is happening for me, didn't notice it when I watched it before I\nposted it though. Maybe Vimeo is having problems.\n\n~~~\nmarkcampbell\nIt's not vimeo. Downloading the video and playing it locally with VLC yields\nthe same problems.\n\n------\nAlupis\nIt this an arm of T-Mobile (the US carrier)? Their logos are strikingly\nsimilar, but their websites make no reference to each other.\n\nTelekom Labs logo:\n[http://www.laboratories.telekom.com/public/Deutsch/Pages/def...](http://www.laboratories.telekom.com/public/Deutsch/Pages/default.aspx)\n\nT-Mobile logo: [http://www.t-mobile.com/](http://www.t-mobile.com/)\n\n~~~\ndsl\nT-Mobile is the US subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom.\n\n~~~\npluma\nNitpicking: T-Mobile is the international mobile branch of Deutsche Telekom,\nnot just in the US (though there is a US subsidiary).\n\nOther branches include T-Online (private ISP, actually a former subsidiary),\nT-Systems (subsidiary proving services to the public sector and larger\ncorporations) and T-Home (which I have trouble telling apart from T-Online).\nThere may be other branches too, but in practice most people in Germany just\nlump them all together anyway.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSimCity should do a galactic sim to design species - vtempest\n\nAfter playing SimCity, I think: Why not go galactic? Imagine a version where you are the god-like consciousness of the universe. You input various characteristics of how you want the universe designed and the species that live on various planets. You watch them evolve (like Conway&#x27;s game of life) and eventually they will contact each other and compete for planets. SimStar Wars. It&#x27;s like Starcraft but you get to design the way planets and various species are structured, instead of playing for a side. Would a more Star Trek Borg-like species beat a logical Vulcan species? Ah what a video game that would be, the grandest of them all.\n======\niandanforth\nYou mean Spore?\n\n~~~\nyareally\nI not sure if the OP is being serious or not after reading his description and\nrealizing he does not mention spore once. EA is honestly not the company I\nwould want to make this kind of game though. I played Spore when it came out\nand although it had a lot of potential, you could feel it was rushed and\nlimited to what was envisioned. Combined with the way EA has changed their\nbusiness model in recent years, I fear for what a reincarnation would look\nlike.\n\nIf I had to choose a AAA studio/publisher over alternatives, would go with\nFiraxis, makers of Civilization. An Indie developer though would be the best\nbet to getting a game that isn't made for just casual gamers.\n\nKerbal Space Program[1] has a some of what the OP might want, but with a more\nnarrow, realistic scope. Also allows modding for extending the game.\n\nAlso Civilization 4 had some great mods (including several Star Trek ones)[2].\nThey were good enough, you actually felt you were playing a turn based space\nsim and not one on a planet. Not sure if any are out for Civ5 yet. I own it,\nbut I have not had time in a while to to play much.\n\n[1]\n[http://store.steampowered.com/app/220200/?snr=1_5_9__205](http://store.steampowered.com/app/220200/?snr=1_5_9__205)\n\n[2]\n[http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=233074](http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=233074)\n\n------\nSomeoneWeird\nI would love this.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNew male contraceptive may be submitted for Indian approval this year - rihegher\nhttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-03-29/a-new-kind-of-male-birth-control-is-coming\n======\nWA\nThis is big. This is the future of contraception, because it works, it's\nincredibly cheap, it has (almost?) no side effects. All current solutions are\na joke.\n\nHormone-based contraception feels like something from the middle ages. It has\nserious side effects, it has \"harmless\" side effects that aren't even related\nto the pill anymore after years of intake, but still an annoyance (migraine,\nheadaches, yeast infections, high blood pressure, ...)\n\nNon-hormonal contraception has its own negative aspects:\n\n\\- Copper IUDs can cause a lot of pain, inserting them isn't that easy, they\nare ethically troublesome (eggs can be fertilized after ovulation, but the\ncopper IUD prevents nidation)\n\n\\- Natural family planning methods are way safer than many people believe (the\nsympto-thermal method), but don't allow unprotected sex during fertile days\n\n\\- Condoms are way safer than many people believe as well (as long as you use\nthe correct size) and won't go away because of STDs, but are a bit annoying in\nrelationships\n\nAnd there really aren't any other alternatives right now. The state of\ncontraception in 2017 is incredibly sad and RISUG is the first attempt, which\ntruly can _disrupt_ (and I don't use this word lightly) the entire industry.\n\nIt will require some social shift. Men must be willing to take responsibility\nfor contraception, but it's already happening: Recently, the pill for men was\nstopped because of side effects, but the men were disappointed. They WANT to\nhave alternatives to condoms.\n\n~~~\njwdunne\nBang on.\n\nMe and my partner were planning on me getting a vasectomy in a year, when her\nimplant runs out.\n\nWe've had to bring that forward a year because one side effect is also a\nsymptom of cancer or polyps.\n\nAfter removal, she experienced a huge lift in energy levels and greater\nstability of mood.\n\nI have 2 children so a vasectomy isn't so bad an idea. Even still, it is an\ninvasive and permanent treatment and I'd prefer something less so. Nobody\nlikes the thought of a scalpel down there. Even a physician who wants to get\nit done.\n\n~~~\ndarklajid\nAs a father of two: Said procedure is incredibly harm- and painless.\n\nI understand the fear, but I've seen people (even here) spread a lot of FUD\nabout it. If you prefer something else: Sure! If you're merely uneasy about\nthe process: Don't be, it's so common, fast and easy.\n\n~~~\n5ilv3r\nIsn't that a normal response to a voluntary procedure? Fear? Uncertainty?\nDoubt?\n\nMine hurt for more than a month. It's worth it and I'd do it again in a\nheartbeat, but hate it when people go around telling everyone that it will all\nexactly be the same. It ain't. Muzzle velocity is lower and the ammunition is\nvisibly no longer standard issue. Further, the recoil action is quite a bit\nless intense. There's a lot of psychological stuff going on in this mind\nspace, and discounting people's feelings about what is ultimately a primal\nurge is just foolish.\n\n------\nph0rque\nThere's Parmesus Vasalgel that is going through trials in the US, based on\nthis tech. Also, a startup whose name I forget is developing the same kind of\ntech. They were part of YC Fellowship Batch 3.\n\n~~~\nckastner\nThe article mentions this, although it's not quite clear to me how they differ\n(and by how much).\n\nParsemus apparently got started by licensing the technology from Guha, then\ndeveloped its own solution inspired by that technology.\n\n~~~\n24gttghh\nThe tech in this article allow sperm through but damage the sperm. The\nParsemus tech seems to block the tubes entirely.\n\n~~~\ntgtweak\nUntrue, actually they both use the same system (and almost identical\nformulation). The difference being the focus on the FDA process and US market\nthat vaselgel is taking, you can see the cleverly worded non-answer on their\nown FAQ, quoted below. They do \"filter\" the vasdeferentia and not block it.\nThis is actually preferential as it can alleviate a small chance of pain or\nsperm granulomas after a vasectomy, also quoted below.\n\n _Although Vasalgel and RISUG® are based on the same concept of using a\npolymer gel injected into the vas deferens, the formulations are not the same.\nAnd RISUG has been developed and tested in India over multiple decades, while\nVasalgel is being developed in the United States to conform to the latest FDA\nand international codes of production and safety._\n\nAnd\n\n _only a small percentage of men who have had a vasectomy experience chronic\npain (1-2% according to the American Urological Association). Our current\nunderstanding of Vasalgel is that fluids can pass through the gel, but sperm\ncannot. This will likely reduce the incidence of back-pressure. Sperm\ngranulomas are formed when the vas deferens is severed in a vasectomy and\nsperm leak into surrounding tissue. Since injection of Vasalgel does not\ninvolve cutting the vas deferens, this should not be an issue._\n\nNotice the non-answer below:\n\n _Our understanding is that Vasalgel works by blocking or filtering out sperm.\nIn the past, RISUG (a different product) was described as working by shredding\nsperm by an electrical charge process as they went past the contraceptive that\nlined the walls of the vas deferens. Vasalgel makes no such claims._\n\n[https://www.parsemusfoundation.org/projects/vasalgel/vasalge...](https://www.parsemusfoundation.org/projects/vasalgel/vasalgel-\nfaqs/)\n\n------\nearlyriser\nI remember reading about this maybe 6 years ago. What was memorable was that\nthe gel was even cheaper than the syringe. It's sad how slow these things move\nand that we're not going to have that in North-America for a good time.\n\n~~~\nBroken_Hippo\nI wish it could go faster, but the truth is this is exactly the sort of thing\nthat should go slowly. It is much better for birth control to have a certain\neffectiveness, after all. Since this is an injection, probably best to have\ngood tests with longevity as well. It isn't bad to go back every couple years\nfor this, but this is the sort of information one needs to know upfront.\n\nUnfortunately, finding this initial stuff out takes time.\n\n~~~\nTheAdamAndChe\nA problem in the US is that the company that wants to sell this is the company\nthat needs to pay for the studies required to make it legal. However because\nit is so cheap, it's difficult for the company to make a profit. The same\nthing can be found with many supplements. For example, N-acetylcysteine has\nshown to be helpful in several forms of addiction and mood disorders, but\nbecause it is so cheap, no company will front the money needed to make it a\nmedication. We need to change the system so that the research is paid for by\nthe government somehow, in my opinion.\n\n~~~\naianus\n> However because it is so cheap, it's difficult for the company to make a\n> profit.\n\nWhy does it have to be cheap for the consumer? They can charge $5k for this\n(honestly a bargain) even if the gel and syringe cost $5 to make. Isn't that\nwhat patents are for?\n\n~~~\nTheAdamAndChe\nMany of these drugs are cheap because the patent has expired. Many times, it's\nnot until the patent has expired that they learn the new use for the drug, but\nby that point, they can't make money off of it.\n\nIt shames me to think that we have a for-profit healthcare system.\n\n------\nk-mcgrady\nI wonder how this would effect STD rates in areas with bad sex ed? I could see\na lot of people thinking 'don't need a condom because I can't make someone\npregnant now'.\n\nNot that this product is a bad thing, very useful for people in monogamous\nrelationships.\n\n~~~\ntorrent-of-ions\nI can't see how it would have a positive effect. HIV infection rates in the\ngay community have shot up in recent years unfortunately as people have become\ncomplacent with condoms. Without the risk of pregnancy one can only assume the\nsame thing will happen in the straight community.\n\n~~~\ndigitalsushi\nTo be fair, the straight and gay communities are really just opposite sides of\nthe same fish tank, not two fish tanks, as a metaphor for compartmentalizing\nthe sharing of diseases.\n\n~~~\nJshWright\nIt's still reasonable to differentiate the primary motivation for condom use\nin the two 'communities'.\n\n------\nMarkoff\nSounds like interesting option, but 98% efficiency seem pretty unreliable, so\nI will still be at risk 2 times out of 100 intercourses when not counting\nother factors.\n\nPersonally I consider immediately after having second child vasectomy, though\nif wife would agree I would do it already now (one child is more than enough\nfor me) plus store sperm in bank just in case if changing mind, since I heard\nreversing vasectomy ain't that successful. Seem safer with 0.15-1% failure\nrate than this method.\n\n~~~\ntaejo\n> Sounds like interesting option, but 98% efficiency seem pretty unreliable,\n> so I will still be at risk 2 times out of 100 intercourses when not counting\n> other factors.\n\nEfficacy for contraceptives is almost always measured _per year_. That is, of\nevery 100 couples using this method for a year, two will become pregnant. As\nthe article says, this is about the same level as (perfect use of) condoms.\n\n~~~\nMarkoff\nseem very inaccurate since every couple has very different frequency of sex\nper year, some couple can have 100 intercourses, other will have 20 and they\nhave same odds according some average couple?\n\n~~~\nscott_karana\nThe inaccuracy would depend on the sample size of the test groups. It might be\nuseful to get standard deviation, or maybe the methodology excludes outliers?\n\n------\nBatro\nThis seems quite perfect in theory. Not invasive, lasts for a long time, just\none shot and then you're done... I hope the clinical tests will bring good\nnews for that project, because this is something I would do if it comes on the\nmarket one day.\n\n~~~\nJshWright\nWhile it is far _less_ invasive than some options, it is still an invasive\nprocedure, and not without risks.\n\nObviously, for many patients, the benefits will massively outweigh the risks\n(assuming the clinical testing bears out the initial results).\n\n~~~\nBatro\nYeah, I spoke (or rather typed) too fast : it's still an injection, you're\nright, but at least it's not a complete surgery operation.\n\n------\nEricson2314\nThis would seem to be the best birth control for either sex. Fingers crossed\nit makes it to market.\n\n~~~\n_archon_\nI currently believe that birth control should be actively employed by all\nparties. I look forward to a viable male contraceptive making it to market.\n\n~~~\nEricson2314\nTechnically I beleive the only efficient systems are those where it is known a\npriori who employs birth control. That basically means it must be the\nresponsibility of one sex or both. I agree with you: both sexes may be\noverkill but is the only fair option.\n\n~~~\nmanmal\nI don't get it - what does that kind of fairness buy you or society? If it's\nenough when one side takes contraceptives, what logic argument is there that\nthe other side must do the same? Economically (time, resources, even\nenvironmentally; the pill and condoms eventually end up in our water or the\nsea) this does not make sense.\n\n~~~\nnommm-nommm\nTo minimize the risk of failure. Same reason why you'd have a backup parachute\nwhen you jump out of a plane even though you strictly only need one.\n\n~~~\nmanmal\nSure, I get that. Grandparent mentioned fairness as driving factor though.\n\n~~~\nEricson2314\nAh yes should not have forgotten redundancy being good. Fairness is obvious:\ncost of procedures, risk of side effects, time spent in operation, etc is born\nby both parties.\n\n------\nelastic_church\n> Stories like that encourage Guha to persist with the project, he said, even\n> though patents on his invention have long since expired and he won’t see any\n> personal financial gain even if it takes off worldwide.\n\nHm, in America you can get a patent term extension due to regulatory delays in\nbringing a product to market at other agencies, such as the FDA\n\nDoes that not exist in India?\n\n------\nams6110\nThe reason male contraceptives don't get a lot of traction is that men don't\nget pregnant.\n\n~~~\ncheez\nNope, that is not the reason.\n\nThe reason is that they don't know it exists. Condoms are OK, but for that\ndrunken one night stand, not necessarily good enough. Female birth control has\nthe problem that you have to trust your partner (spoiler: not everyone is\ntrustworthy.)\n\nWhen my son has his first girlfriend and if it is getting serious, I would get\nthis done for him if it was available.\n\n------\njlebrech\nI thought it was going to be a pill, we already have vasectomies.\n\n~~~\naianus\nThey will not give you a vasectomy in the US as a young childless man.\nSomething about 'changing your mind later'. It's very patronizing.\n\n~~~\ncr0sh\nDefinitely patronizing!\n\nNot only that, but even when a woman is in obvious pain and having issues\nwhich only a hysterectomy will solve (ovarian cysts) - if she is under 30 or\nso, they won't give it to her.\n\nMy wife and I made the decision not to have children a long time ago. In the\nmeantime, she's had times where she went into the hospital ER for pain caused\nby ovarian cysts. She attempted to inquire about a hysterectomy from her\ndoctor after these episode, only to be rebuffed about \"what about having\nchildren later\", etc.\n\nTo this day she still has problems, but it has waned greatly now that she's\napproaching menopause. She'd still like to do it just to stop having a period,\nbut it's no longer the crazy amount of pain that it was.\n\nI found it frustrating for her that as an adult, she was being restricted from\nmaking choices about her own body to improve her health and quality of life.\n\n~~~\nnommm-nommm\nStupid question but why would a hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) prevent\ncysts from forming on the ovaries? The ovaries are the hormone producing\norgans.\n\n------\nMichaelGG\nTestosterone will also do this. There are long release esters so you only need\nan injection every few months. Even with a bimonthly shot, it costs about\n$10/mo. (On mobile, but there was a study in China with T undecanoate showing\namazing effectiveness.)\n\nDownside is that in the US, testosterone is, hilariously, Schedule III. But 5\nminutes with Google should have you sorted. Can get OTC in other places.\n\n~~~\nmohaine\nNo thanks. No way I'm offsetting the cost/work of having a child vs the\nreliability of a Hackernews doctor and a Googled drug source.\n\n~~~\nMichaelGG\n... Obviously my comment was meant as a suggestion to look into things and\nnote the availability of a well known substance that already accomplished\nbirth control in men. It wasn't intended as a \"read this comment and start\ninjecting yourself\".\n\nYou're of course free to attempt to convince a doctor to prescribe. Or you can\nbuy the drugs and get a $100 blood test to verify it's real as well as do a\nfertility test. It's just an affront to liberty to pay a gatekeeper to allow\nyou to change your own hormones.\n\nHere's a study:\n[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15126550](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15126550)\n\n------\nimloquacious\nThis article fails to realize the true reason men would never use this\nproduct: You have to inject it into your testicles.\n\n~~~\nglibgil\n> You have to inject it into your testicles\n\nYou need an anatomy lesson or you need to read the article before commenting\n\n------\nneuralk\nCyberpunk headline of the day!\n\n------\nduopixel\nShould I have children, I see myself walking my teenage son to the clinic to\nget this done. A rite of passage of sorts.\n\nIt is difficult to understate the importance of bringing only wanted children\ninto this world, and that both parents agree on it. The cultural importance of\nthis invention will be revealed in time, I hope.\n\n~~~\nnvahalik\nIndeed, the cultural \"importance\" will be revealed in time. However, I fear\nnot in the way you intend.\n\nThere used to be a time when we as a society valued things like self-control,\ndiscipline, and tradition. No more.\n\nWhat you are alluding to here is a world where we are ruled by our emotions\nand our basest desires without the fear or potential for having to deal with\nour actions. To divorce sex from children is to misunderstand intimacy, the\nfamily, and the entire underpinning of our society.\n\nEDIT: Yeah, I know conservative positions on HN are ways to make your Karma go\ndown, but hey, that's what forums are for right, to have your opinions\nregarded as trolling instead of interacting with them, right?\n\n~~~\npjc50\nMarie Stopes would like a word with you from beyond the grave.\n\nSeriously, we've had modern birth control for a century. Not only has society\nnot collapsed but a whole number of hidden evils have been abolished (Tuam\npassim), and needless poverty avoided. It's our perfect anti-Malthusian\nweapon.\n\nThis is Hacker News in the 21st century. Tradition alone is a terrible reason\nto do things. I'm astonished that your comment seems to have been upvoted\nhere.\n\nEdit: I'm trying to keep it civil but I'm really disappointed not just that\nthis appears on HN but it's sitting at the top of its thread tree not greyed\nout at the bottom.\n\nOh, and it's \"alluding\" not \"eluding\".\n\n~~~\ngum_ina_package\nSure society hasn't collapsed, but we've lost a lot all in the name of\n\"progress\".\n\n~~~\nYCode\nWhat all have we lost due to birth control?\n\n~~~\ntlb\nBefore birth control, it was an accomplishment one could be proud of to have\nchildren at the right time. It required stable relationships and self-control.\nYour family and church would give you a lot of respect if you succeeded, and\ncontempt if you failed. It was a test that separated the virtuous from the\nlazy, weak, and sinful.\n\nWhen such hardships are made optional by technological or social progress,\nmost find new challenges to conquer but many regret their loss.\n\nBirth control is old news in the Western world. But the cycle will repeat with\nnew technologies. Suppose you're serious about fitness, you spend hours every\nweek spinning and cross-fitting, and your abs are rippling. And tomorrow, a\npill is developed that lets everyone be perfectly fit with zero effort. What\ndo you get for all your hours at the gym? Can you imagine being bummed that\neveryone else is getting for free what you worked so hard for? That might give\nsome idea what pre-birth-control nostalgia is like.\n\n~~~\nidreyn\nThe problem with this lovely wheat-from-chaff heuristic is that \"failure\"\nresults in the introduction of a new human life into a world that may not be\nprepared for it and will be strained ecologically for its existence. I would\nmuch rather have a world where the lazy, weak, and sinful pop pills towards an\necologically sustainable population than one where the virtuous are lauded for\nbringing five or six new people into existence, but, you know, at the \"right\ntime\".\n\n~~~\ntlb\nMe too. The failure mode of pre-contraceptive society (unwanted children) was\nterrible. But human nature is what it is, and many people are willing to\naccept terrible externalities in order to have a means to display their\ncomparative virtue. The recent attack on universal health care in the US is an\nexample. Many voters seem to desire a world where people who have their\nfinancial shit together will live, and others will die.\n\nFor a clear-eyed view of these less inspiring aspects of human nature, read\n_Sapiens_ and _Homo Deus_ by Harari.\n\n~~~\nYCode\nReminds me of a Steinbeck quote:\n\n\"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as\nan exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.\"\n\n------\npatrickg_zill\nThere is a lot of social commentary on this thread.\n\nUnanswered however is, \"How will this affect relationships between men and\nwomen\"?\n\nThe \"MGTOW\" crowd laud this development, arguing that once control of\nfertility is in the hands of men rather than women (a woman can always\n\"forget\" to take the pill)... something good, as they define it, will happen.\n(IANAMGTOW - I am not a MGTOW)\n\nIn terms of total fertility rate, what does this mean for a country/nation\nwhen one population group greatly restricts having kids in terms of moral\nsuasion, societal acceptability, etc. while offering money to those who do\nhave kids? e.g. upper middle class (children discouraged, at least beyond 2\nkids) vs. other classes in society (have a bunch of kids).\n\nLiving in the USA I have often heard complaints along the lines that we seem\nto be \"discouraging the smart and hard-working people from having kids, while\npaying stupid people to have them\".\n\n~~~\nSamBam\nHow is any of that different from the contraceptives that already exist?\n\nFurther, your notion of \"Idiocracy\" (believing that the \"smart hardworking\npeople\" have fewer kids) doesn't match at all with the fact that IQ keeps\nrising in every generation in the US, and fewer people are poor or jobless\nthan they were in the 50s or before.\n\n~~~\npatrickg_zill\nI would point out that you are relying on government statistics for your \"poor\nor jobless\" point - and many have pointed out sources of bias that call those\nstats into question; and also, you are assuming that the Flynn effect will be\nongoing rather than just reflecting a topping-up due to better nutrition and\nmore widespread education.\n\nOthers have calculated that USA/UK have lost as much as 14 IQ points since\nVictorian times. see\n[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2730791/Are-S...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2730791/Are-\nSTUPID-Britons-people-IQ-decline.html) .\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nDo you have a more authoritative cite for this than a tabloid article?\n\n~~~\npatrickg_zill\nIn less time than it took you to type this comment, I clicked on the embedded\nlink in the article:\n[https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329830-400-brain-\ndr...](https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329830-400-brain-drain-are-we-\nevolving-stupidity/)\n\nThe Richard Lynn they quote, has been published in Nature, amongst many other\nother publications: [http://www.rlynn.co.uk/](http://www.rlynn.co.uk/)\n\nThe Prof. Woodley they quote, is also a real person:\n[http://www.vub.ac.be/CLEA/cgi-\nbin/homepage.cgi?email=michael...](http://www.vub.ac.be/CLEA/cgi-\nbin/homepage.cgi?email=michael.woodley03%5Bat%5Dgmail.com)\n\nAs is Jan te Nijenhuis: [http://www.uva.nl/en/about-the-\nuva/organisation/staff-member...](http://www.uva.nl/en/about-the-\nuva/organisation/staff-members/content/n/i/j.tenijenhuis/j.tenijenhuis.html)\n\nSorry, but I don't think your comment added anything to the discussion.\n\n~~~\nSamBam\nYou quoted \"USA/UK have lost as much as 14 IQ points since Victorian times\"\nand cited a tabloid article.\n\nPresumably the reason that the parent commenter thought it appropriate to to\nmention that it was a tabloid article was because it used the standard tabloid\ntechnique of putting a sensational notion in a headline that is almost\nentirely unsubstantiated in the text.\n\nYou offer as support several links, mostly just proving that people exist. But\nyour first link, with actual information, completely refutes your statement.\n[1] It refers to the effect that IQ has risen by 3-10 points per decade for\nseveral decades, and in the past few years it \" _may_ \" have leveled off, or\ndropped by 1.5 points.\n\nThe actual author of the study has said that leveling off is to be expected,\nand any \"decline\" is quite likely noise due to chance.\n\nBut _regardless_ of whether the 1.5 point decline in the past couple years is\ntrue, the entire article the opposite of the claim that we have lost \"14 IQ\npoints since Victorian times,\" since you cannot reconcile that with the Flynn\neffect actually being discussed in the article.\n\nCombing down through the tabloid article, almost every other study refers to a\ndecline of \"about 1 point.\" Your headline claim is one single interesting\n(though bizarre) study that uses reaction time to try to estimate IQ, and\ntries to compare it to reaction times in studies from the Victorian era. [2]\nAs you can imagine, published responses to this article from other scientists\nhas been that of skepticism, to put it mildly. [3]\n\n1\\.\n[http://postbiota.org/pipermail/tt/2014-September/015965.html](http://postbiota.org/pipermail/tt/2014-September/015965.html)\n\n2\\.\n[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289613...](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289613000470)\n\n3\\.\n[http://www.iapsych.com/iqmr/fe/LinkedDocuments/nettlebeck201...](http://www.iapsych.com/iqmr/fe/LinkedDocuments/nettlebeck2014.pdf)\n\n~~~\npatrickg_zill\nI covered this in my original statement with the comment about \"topping up\"\nthe Flynn effect.\n\nThe rest of your comment doesn't apply to my point, seeing as I was pointing\nout that it was easy to find the actual people at the actual uni's quoted, via\nsimple Google searches, and that their published papers did in fact make the\nvarious claims.\n\nThus the original response of \"this is from a tabloid\" added no value.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nI think the only value it sought to add was to point out that the source cited\nwas, in fact, a tabloid. I don't mean that in the sense of \"it's a trashy,\ntabloid-like article\". It may be that, or it may not be. But what I can say\nfor sure is that it appeared under the masthead of The Daily Mail, which is,\nliterally and uncontroversially, a tabloid.\n\n------\nTheAdamAndChe\nIt's definitely too popular to blame everything on middle-aged white guys.\nIt's sad that even bloomberg is jumping on the bandwagon.\n\n~~~\nfoepys\nIt doesn't even make sense. Women have the possibility to abort a pregnancy\nwhile men have no say whatsoever (in regions where the big pharma companies\nare coming from). So the argument that women would do more for male birth\ncontrol is somewhat strange considering they have all the power in their hands\nright now.\n\n~~~\ncolanderman\nThat's adversarial thinking. If the man and woman are in a trusting\nrelationship, the question changes from one of \"power\" to responsibility.\n\nToday, most reversible contraceptive methods (pill, rhythm, IUD, abortion)\nrely on the _woman_ owning responsibility (one which they may be unwilling or\nunable to carry out). Male contraception relieves women of that burden.\n\n~~~\nchongli\n_Male contraception relieves women of that burden_\n\nYou would think so, but... there are women (maybe a lot of them) who think the\nloss of power over conception would be bad for women [0]. Read the column. I\ndon't know about you, but it gives me a very queasy feeling. Like there is\nsome subtext that this woman believes she should be able to force parenthood\non an unwilling partner.\n\n[0]\n[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2006/apr/28/malepi...](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2006/apr/28/malepillwomensloss)\n\n~~~\nnommm-nommm\nContraception isn't a zero sum game. Giving men more contraceptive power\ndoesn't take anything away from women.\n\n~~~\ncolanderman\nYou are right, but that's not what the article the GP linked is about. It's\nbased on two (IMO very flawed) arguments, one, that men having the option of\nbirth control forces women to trust them (which may be true, but is a problem\nfaced by men today), and two, the – quite creepy – belief that women should be\nable to unilaterally decide when a couple starts having offspring. (As if men\nwere not legally beholden to care for their offspring.)\n\n------\nnailer\nI can imagine the early adopters: male actors, athletes and other men of high\nsocial value as a way to enjoy sex without the chance of unwanted offspring.\n\n~~~\nfrandroid\nPromiscuous people should be using condoms at all times, first of all.\n\n~~~\nnailer\nIf your sperm is a meal ticket for life, then condoms might not be enough. And\ncondoms decrease the pleasure of sex for many people.\n\n~~~\nthraway2016\nIn the US, the meal ticket typically only lasts 18 years, not a lifetime.\n\n~~~\naianus\nThe court doesn't enforce that the woman spends all the child support money.\nSo if you get impregnated by a rich enough man it can certainly be a meal\nticket for life.\n\n------\njlebrech\nat first it doesn't seem as convenient as a pill but I don't think any man\nwould want to \"oops i forgot my pill\", or say they took it but didn't and if\nthey did that it's not fair on the woman isn't it.\n\n------\nchadlavi\nShut up and take my money/sperm!\n\n~~~\nchadlavi\nNot a lot of Futurama fans here I guess.\n\nThis seems like a very good thing, and I'm excited for it to be available in\nthe US.\n\n~~~\nJBReefer\nNo, it's that this isn't the place for memes\n\n------\nwayn3\n\\- I'm not paying money to have needle injecting chemicals with unexplored\npotential (longterm) side effects into my private parts when the potential\nsuccess rate is that of a condom. Condoms kind of work.\n\n\\- \"The pill\" is a bit more than just a contraceptive. A variety of issues,\nranging from skin problems to hormonal imabalances are regulated through the\npill, which quite efficiently normalizes outliers in female hormone levels\nalongside acting as a contraceptive.\n\nThe pill is rarely \"just\" a contraceptive. It reduces menstrual pain\nsignificantly and allows women to forego the pleasure of planning for a week\nof unnecessary discomfort every month.\n\nEvery woman I've been sufficiently intimate with to have such conversations\ndescribes the daily pill as a small price to pay for all the benefits it comes\nwith.\n\nA male vasectomy is 800 bucks and certainly reversible.\n\n~~~\ncreepydata\nStop your patronizing bullshit!\n\nI have taken the pill for years I feel like I am ruining my body. I have side\neffects. I switched brands, I switched to the shot (that was much worse),\nevery one is awful. I put up with it because I won't risk unwanted pregnancy.\nIt's the less of two very evil evils.\n\nYou're also ignoring the large population of women who the pill is\ncontraindicated for. It also requires regular doctor visits and requires you\nto to remember to take it.\n\nI'm not saying it's great for some women, it certainly is. People also take it\nfor non contraceptive reason. Not great for everyone and not for me.\n\n~~~\nDylan16807\nBeing wrong about side effects is not the same as being patronizing.\n\n~~~\northecreedence\nHis tone is very \"Male contraceptive is ridiculous because it already works\njust fine for women! Here's some shitty anecdotal evidence to support my\nclaim!\"\n\nI'd classify that as patronizing, and as a male, I had the same reaction to\nhis comment as the responder...I've known lots of women, partners included,\nwho avoided the pill because of its horrible side effects.\n\n~~~\nDylan16807\nI don't get that tone. He suggested a vasectomy was good too. The critique of\nthis method was only the effectiveness, not that it was unnecessary.\n\nThere's a lot wrong in the comment but I don't see what you see in it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Infinite Set: On '2001: A Space Odyssey' - prismatic\nhttp://reverseshot.org/symposiums/entry/2013/space_odyssey\n======\nGuiA\nWhat a great essay. Worth the read.\n\n _\" Upon reaching Jupiter, Bowman is guided into a wormhole, triggering\nTrumbull’s bravura psychedelic sequence. On either side of a perpendicular\nline dividing the screen, two vertical planes of brightly colored lights and\nshapes emerge, rushing past and out of frame, giving the illusion that Bowman\n(glimpsed in a juddering cutaway shot and then in paralytic stills) is racing\nthrough a corridor of infinite dimensions at speed-of-light intensity. Modeled\nin part after the avant-garde films of Jordan Belson (who later created\nspecial effects for The Right Stuff) and fraternal animators James and John\nWhitney (collaborators with Saul Bass on Vertigo’s title sequence), Trumbull\nrecreated screen space with his slit-scan technique, combining long exposures\nof circuit board diagrams, Op Art prints, film negatives, and electron\nmicroscope photographs for this sequence, which cleverly exploited the simple\nx and y axis geometry of an ideally proportioned widescreen frame.\"_\n\nThat scene is probably my favorite movie scene of all times. My dad was a big\nfan of _2001_ , and made me watch the movie when I was 13 or so- I missed a\nlot of the subtleties, but that last part of the movie added a new layer to\nexistence that I could have never conceived of before. For a nerdy teenager\nwho was really into science and sci-fi, it was mind blowing to be exposed to\nsuch an artistic depiction of the subjectivity of the human perception of time\nand space, and the ambiguity of reality.\n\nIt's interesting to read the techniques that went into making it - it's a very\ncreative use of the medium. I can't help but feel that CGI has put special\neffects designer into a box of vertices and polygons, resulting in special\neffects that all look the same. I certainly can't think of a single movie that\nhas something as unique and distinctive as the wormhole scene in _2001_. I had\nhigh hopes for _Interstellar_ , but it fell very flat (there are some groups\ndoing very cool work in more traditional animation however - I really like\nStudio Laika, for instance).\n\n~~~\nTheOtherHobbes\nThey were probably the best optical effects ever made.\n\nAlso interesting is the way they echo and expand on the imagery of the scenes\ninside HAL 9000.\n\n[http://metaspatial.net/conferences/io/hal9000.jpg](http://metaspatial.net/conferences/io/hal9000.jpg)\n\nKubrick was a genius photographer before he was a genius director. It's well\nworth hunting down the images he took in his pre-Hollywood career. E.g.\n\n[https://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/photograph...](https://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/photographs-\nby-stanley-kubrick-look-magazine-life-in-new-york-40s-6.jpg?w=800&h=823)\n\n~~~\nghaff\nA good case could also be made for the original Star Wars--albeit in a faster-\npaced and more action-oriented--as opposed to perfectly composed--way.\n\n------\nlostgame\nThere is basically a point in cinema history before this film and after this\nfilm.\n\nSo much of what Kubrick did here has never been replicated, few have even come\nclose to the impact he created on the industry and the level of\nprofessionalism he created.\n\nHowever, that's not to say the end result is particularly enjoyable for me to\nwatch. It's long runtime wears down on me and by the first hour I find myself\nwanting to watch many scenes at 1.5x speed just to feel like I'm watching a\nmovie and not staring at slightly-moving still photography.\n\n~~~\nAnimats\nFilms have been speeding up for a century, in two ways. Editorial geography\ndisappeared in the 1960s. Editorial geography example (not mine): Bogart gets\nphone call. Bogart gets up, walks out door. Bogart walks out door of building,\ngets into cab. Scene of Bogart in cab. Bogart gets out of cab, pays cabbie.\nBogart walks into apartment building lobby. Pushes elevator button. Shot of\nelevator indicator coming down. Doors open. Bogart gets in. Shot of elevator\nindicator going up. Elevator doors open. Bogart gets out, walks down hall,\nrings doorbell. Lauren Bacall opens door. Bogart goes in. That's editorial\ngeography. At one time, it was felt that audiences would get lost without such\na sequence. Today, writers and directors would skip directly from the phone\ncall to an interior shot of the apartment. Jean-Luc Godard's \"Breathless\"\n(1960) is said to have put an end to that.\n\nRelated to this is average shot length as a metric.[1][2] \"2001\" has an\naverage shot length of 13 seconds. At the other extreme are the Bourne movies,\nwhich are now down to around 1.1 seconds per shot. James Bond movies have sped\nup over the years, with \"Dr. No\" at 7 seconds and \"Die Another Day (2002)\" at\n2.4 seconds. This is an industry-wide trend.\n\nTrailers are insane. Trailers routinely break the 1 second barrier today.\n\nSo there's been a speedup in two dimensions - removal of unnecessary context,\nand shorter shots. To a modern viewer, 2001 looks quite slow-paced.\n\nWith enough short shots, films can conceal the lack of a plot. (This is a\nproblem with effects-heavy movies. After you leave the theater, you realize\nthe plot made no sense. But it was a great effects demo reel.)\n\n[1]\n[http://www.cinemetrics.lv/database.php](http://www.cinemetrics.lv/database.php)\n[2] [http://unspokencinema.blogspot.com/2007/01/average-shot-\nleng...](http://unspokencinema.blogspot.com/2007/01/average-shot-length.html)\n\n~~~\nreedlaw\nThat's why I can watch trailers of new movies and feel like I've seen enough.\nUsually you get the gist of the plot (or lack thereof) along with plenty of\nspectacular scenes making the rest of the movie unnecessary.\n\n~~~\ntaneq\nThe problem is that most trailers actually _don 't_ give you enough to really\nunderstand the movie, and they're generally pretty good about not giving\nspoilers... but they're produced to give you the _impression_ that you've\nbasically seen the whole movie. So it's really easy (I do it too) to dismiss\nan entire movie based on a 15-second trailer.\n\nUnless you're talking about the Tomb Raider movie. The trailer with the fight\nbetween Lara Croft and the robot is basically the first 5 minutes of the movie\nand you can stop watching after that. :P\n\n------\nerdevs\nAs regards the wormhole sequence, one must appreciate the innovation in\ntechnique, meticulous execution, groundbreaking visuals, and also the\nincredible cinematic boldness in showing such a long, strange sequence in\ntheaters at the time. Truly impressive and meaningful work, which left an\nindelible mark on cinema over the past 5 decades.\n\nThat said, a part of me has always wished this sequence gave more thought to\nthe physics and what it might be like to visualize the experience of traveling\nthrough a gate/wormhole like this. I don't think the coloration, visual\npatterns, or sequencing represents much understanding of the then-current\nphysics theory on what this sort of thing might possibly be like, and I'm not\nsure it even captures it well in the abstract.\n\nAmazing cinematic work which moved the industry forward in a positive\ndirection. I just always wished they'd somehow been able to go even further\nand applied the same brilliance of vision and execution in technique to an\neven more refined concept that incorporated some viable notions of the\npossible/theoretical physics involved in traversing through space-time like\nthis.\n\n~~~\nFlorin_Andrei\n> _That said, a part of me has always wished this sequence gave more thought\n> to the physics and what it might be like to visualize the experience of\n> traveling through a gate /wormhole like this. I don't think the coloration,\n> visual patterns, or sequencing represents much understanding of the then-\n> current physics theory on what this sort of thing might possibly be like,\n> and I'm not sure it even captures it well in the abstract._\n\n'Interstellar' did some of that, and they had to hire Kip Thorne as a\nconsultant, and run a render farm to raytrace the relativistic effects.\n\nI'm not sure the theory was quite at the same level in the '60s, and the\ncinema technique was definitely not the same. It would have been a lot harder\nto do any degree of realism.\n\n~~~\nerdevs\nYeah, Interstellar definitely scratched this itch for me, and I appreciated it\nfor doing so.\n\nCertainly the theory has developed greatly since then. But being even somewhat\ninformed about the contemporary physical theory would've made the sequence\neven more impactful and satisfying, for me personally.\n\nI don't think technique would've necessarily required greater complexity or\ndifficulty. For example, one might have used the same planing technique, but\nused different patterning and colorization, based on more mathematically\nderived outputs. Not suggesting any kind of simulation or super-advancement.\nJust using the same technique, but informing the visuals based on more\nphysical theory.\n\n~~~\nTheOtherHobbes\nI think that would have been literally impossible in 1969.\n\nFirstly there was no theory of wormholes back then. Black holes were\nincredibly obscure mathematical abstractions in physics journals that weren't\naccessible to most people.\n\nSecondly, this was 1968, when the world's faster supercomputer ran at 36MHz.\nEvans and Sutherland were just getting started when 2001 was being made. There\nwere no GPUs, no digital frame stores, and monochrome bitmapped displays were\nstill exotic.\n\nIt's easy to take computers for granted today. You can plot and animate almost\nanything, and you can do it at home - or on your phone.\n\nNot so in the late 1960s. Mathematically derived animations would have needed\na mountain of cash to pay for computer time just to get something very rough\nand approximate.\n\n~~~\nerdevs\nWhy do you assume computers would've needed to be involved? One can plot\nspace-time warping by hand. Indeed, Einstein had no benefit of computer\nassistance in developing his theories of relativity and gravity warping.\n\nWhy assume a complete theory of black holes or wormholes was necessary?\nClearly the _concept_ existed. Clearly we had General Relativity. One could\nimagine a more speculative but still physics-based visualization of what might\nhappen in traveling through such a nexus of space-time.\n\n------\nchiph\nThe Alamo Drafthouse in Austin has a 70mm print of 2001, and I was lucky\nenough to get a ticket to a viewing two summers ago. They even kept the\nintermission in place for a 151 minute film, a length today that would barely\nraise an eyebrow (LotR - The Two Towers is 179 minutes).\n\nIt really is a mind-blowing film. He changed the design language for space\nfrom jump-suits and ray-guns to something cleaner and more logical. As well as\nspaceship design, clothing and the space suits. And reinforced IBM's design\nlanguage as _the_ way a computer should look (even the non-homicidal ones).\n\n------\njs2\nI think this has probably been submitted separatly to HN, but also worth\nreading is the Typeset In The Future entry on 2001:\n\n[https://typesetinthefuture.com/2014/01/31/2001-a-space-\nodyss...](https://typesetinthefuture.com/2014/01/31/2001-a-space-odyssey/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThree-Factor Authentication Using EEG Earbuds - johnnybaptist\nhttps://biosense.berkeley.edu/portfolio/brainwave-authentication-and-brain-computer-interface-using-in-ear-eeg/\n======\njohnnybaptist\nSecurity overkill but a cool proof of concept for using brain waves as an\nauthentication method.\n\nMore technical details here:\n[http://maxtcurran.com/files/Curran_PhyCS2018.pdf](http://maxtcurran.com/files/Curran_PhyCS2018.pdf)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Big Book of Bitcoin - An introduction - alphydan\nhttp://alvarofeito.com/articles/the-big-book-of-bitcoin/#.UUxY7MrTvGw.hackernews\n======\nwillholloway\nThis is a great intro to bitcoin. It made me feel more optimistic about the\nprospects of the currency.\n\nIt highlights many of the risks and benefits but misses out on what I think is\nthe Achilles' heel of bitcoin, the ability for sovereigns to shut down the\nexchanges.\n\nWithout the ability to convert bitcoin to fiat easily, the currency loses its\nusefulness as a proxy for fiat currency. Does anyone have a convincing\nargument for how the exchanges are not vulnerable?\n\n~~~\nmeta-coder\nThe situation is like the chicken-and-egg dilemma.\n\nDefinition 1: 'Good producer' is a producer that accepts bitcoins.\n\nDefinition 2: If all the good producers together produce all that you need,\nthen the number of producers is 'enough'.\n\nDefinition 3: 'Ideal state' is when enough good producers exist.\n\nTheorem 1: A producer will accept bitcoins if either of the following is true:\ni. Ideal state has been attained. ii. There exists exchanges that trade you\nphysical currency against bitcoins.\n\nObservation: Once we are in the ideal state, we no longer need to have\nbitcoins converted to physical currency. So we don't need the exchanges to\nexist forever. We need exchanges only till enough producers have started\naccepting bitcoins.\n\n~~~\naneth4\nExcept the only ideal state is when you can buy anything in the world, not\njust \"enough.\"\n\nThe great thing about good currencies is they can be exchanged for almost any\ncurrency and therefor can be used to purchase almost any good or service that\nis for sale.\n\n------\njstalin\nDoes anyone know of an explanation of the bitcoin protocol in plain English?\nI'm a non-math guy who's trying to write a legal treatise on the use of\nbitcoin, and I'd like to give some background on how it works to my readers.\nCan anyone help?\n\n~~~\neof\nHave you tried just the original white paper? You can understand without\nunderstanding the underlying algos. bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf\n\n~~~\njstalin\nI have, but it doesn't seem to discuss how mining works, for instance.\n\n~~~\narpp\nbut it does, check it again: 4. Proof-of-Work\n\n~~~\neof\nYes. 4. Proof-of-work combined with 6. Incentive\n\n------\nmikemoka\n\"Bitcoin is obviously not the solution to these issues, nor will it be a key\nenabler to crime. It is just a currency with some interesting features on top:\npeer-to-peer, security, public transactions and potential anonymity.\"\n\nNot a key enabler, but I think criminals would definitely appreciate a hardly\ntraceable and potentially anonymous currency, don't you think?\n\nIt's not an opinion unfortunately, there is already evidence floating around\nthat they are using it or that they are very interested about it.\n\nBecause of this I don't think bitcoin should replace a national currency\nanytime soon, can you convince me otherwise?\n\n~~~\nalphydan\nI can't. I think criminals will find their way with Bitcoin or without it.\nIt's easy to fall for the easy argument: \"the standard banking/monetary system\nis even worse, so bitcoin is ok\". As a small example HSBC was considered too\nbig to jail (they laundered last year about twice the size of the Bitcoin\nEconomy, helping criminals, drug lords, etc), and only got a slap on the hand\n(a $1.8bn fine). The powerful can launder their money, do tax evasion, use tax\nhavens ... now it's available to all technicaly skilled ones (good or bad?).\nDrugs sold on silk road were evaluated (<http://arxiv.org/abs/1207.7139>) last\nyear to about $14m/year ... a good 20% - 30% of the bitcoin Economy, so yes\nit's looking pretty tainted so far. I would however highlight one innovative\npoint: If you slip (leave any trace, don't use TOR, use a physical address,\nleave your IP), the community can track you down! And I think it will happen.\nBecause ledgers are public, you can make algorithmic criminal enforcement\n:)(for those criminals or corrupt politicians who are not careful enough)\n\n~~~\ngregpilling\nWell said.\n\nI also think criminals will avoid it like the plague. Bitcoin could\nconceivably tell law enforcement everywhere you received money from and\neverywhere you spent it. I realize it is one long number transacting with\nanother long number, but law enforcement have computers too, and they have\ntime on their side. Using bitcoins could be like leaving DNA on the scene of\nthe crime - probably not a good idea if you want to get away with whatever you\nare doing.\n\n~~~\ngcv\nIf I understand the idea correctly, using a different key pair for every\ntransaction should help mask user histories. Not sure if this is easy in\npractice.\n\n------\ndisclosure\n\n      < The bitcon economy is growing fast.\n      > The bitcoin economy is growing fast.\n\n------\ntocomment\nI just got to wondering, how would charging for a monthly service work in\nbitcoin? A user can't just give you an account number and say bill me $X every\nmonth, right?\n\nAny thoughts on how to design such a system?\n\n~~~\nmelvinmt\nTechnical details aside, I don't want to be tied into paying for a service in\na currency that fluctuates 30-50% a month. I think that's by far the biggest\nproblem bitcoin currently has.\n\n~~~\nmhartl\nThe price will eventually stabilize (possibly at 0).\n\n------\nDavidSJ\nA few minor issues: a b is a bit, a B is a byte.\n\nA satoshi (not satochi) is 0.00000001 BTC, not 0.000000001 BTC.\n\nNot sure where the $6,000/BTC comes from for $80b in annual transactions per\n10m BTC, but consider velocity of money. A BTC can be spent multiple times in\none year. Also consider that monetary base (raw currency) is not the same as a\ncredit account, but you can spend either.\n\nSo in practice, you might only need 0.1 BTC per 1 BTC in annual transactions.\n\n~~~\nalphydan\nGood points about velocity and monetary base. \"satochi\" spelling and decimals\ncorrected. Thanks. The $6000 is just an order of magnitude >>>(80/12)*1000.\nToo many unknowns for anything beyond guesstimates: What percentage of the\ncurrency is hoarded by then (1/2? 1/3? 3/4?). How many bitcoins are lost\nforever? As you point out velocity, or even limits on transaction speed from\nblock-size ...\n\n~~~\nDavidSJ\nEven for a wild guess I think you're off by at least an order of magnitude if\nyou don't take into account velocity (typical dollar is spent four times per\nyear; edit: and bitcoin, as a digital currency, is likely to have higher\nvelocity) and the different types of money (monetary base is maybe one fifth\nof total money supply).\n\nNote also that your math involves 12m BTC but your page says 10m.\n\n~~~\nalphydan\nI may very well be off by a factor of 10. Agreed. But what is your estimate?\nand what exactly would M2,M3 and M4 be?\n\nLet's assume 12m has been mined, 1m has been lost forever, 8m are hoarded, and\na velocity of 10. You then have 30m bitcoins in transactions but 3m bitcoins\ncirculating. In this case my estimate is off by a factor of 2 - 2.5 (but it\ncould be 10, sure). But What if it doesn't take over half of paypal's\ntransactions, but rather 4 times all of paypal's transactions? That's why I\nthink any estimate is pretty hopeless. A good order of magnitude is ... if it\nreaches paypal scale it will be in the thousands.\n\nSince there is no fractional reserve banking (yet, anyway) in the bitcoin\neconomy, I don't see how the monetary base can be 1/5th of the money supply\n(but I might be missing something).\n\n------\nxhrpost\nIs the part about it costing $25,000 Million to \"trick the network\" true any\nmore, given the advent of ASICs into the mining arena? User 67117 on BTC Guild\nis currently processing 6,348.98 GH/s, or roughly 10% of the entire mining\nnetwork. While not cheap, it appears it could be relatively affordable to hit\nthe 50% mark.\n\n~~~\nalphydan\nAs of today, you can't buy the ASICs because they don't exist, so I guess it's\ntrue (plus minus a lot of millions as it is a rough estimate). But it will be\na lot cheaper very soon for a brief period of time before miners up the arms\nrace [-- see reply below for clarification --]\n\n~~~\nxhrpost\nSo how is this one user mining 10% of the network?\n[http://mineforeman.com/2013/02/15/67117-identity-reviled-\nits...](http://mineforeman.com/2013/02/15/67117-identity-reviled-its-\nasicminer-now-at-2-ths/)\n\n~~~\nwaterlesscloud\nMy understanding (and it could be wrong) is that ASICMiner has made their own\nasics for their own use. They are not selling them.\n\nTheir business model is that they have a sub-pool in a larger mining pool, and\nthey financed their operation by selling shares (denominated in Bitcoin). The\nshares pay out weekly dividends, based on the awards the mining pool provides\nto them.\n\nThere's a couple (very, very tiny) bitcoin denominated stock exchanges, and on\nsome of them you can buy ASICMiner \"passthroughs\". These represent shares in\nASICMiner that are controlled in large blocks by an individual. That\nindividual passes through the dividends to the passthrough shareholders, minus\na small management fee.\n\nIt's an elaborate system, but I guess money finds a way, even when it's\nbitcoin.\n\n~~~\nmrb\nThat is correct. ASICMINER went through an informal IPO, selling at the time\nthe equivalent of $200k or so of shares. With these funds plus the project's\ncreators own investments, they designed a custom 130nm ASIC.\n<http://bitcoinmagazine.com/asicminer-starts-hashing/>\n\n------\ntmflannery\nThe article talks about crowd processing eliminating falsified balances, but\nit doesn't go into some exchanges getting hacked. Hasn't that been a security\nconcern? Haven't people lost money that way? I know my credit card numbers can\nget stolen, is that the right comparison? Do exchanges just make you whole?\n\n------\nRustyRussell\n\"The bitcon economy is growing fast.\"\n\nPerhaps it is, but don't think it's what you meant :)\n\n~~~\nalphydan\nthanks for the typo notice. I really hope that's not what it becomes ... but\nwho knows? :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nBuild An Animated Chart In 19 Lines Of Code With d3.js - louischatriot\nhttp://needforair.com/blog/2012/05/09/d3-tutorial/\n\n======\nTwistedWeasel\nI've been learning d3.js myself lately, and i'm very impressed. As it's\npopularity increases it's worth reading this article from Mike Bostock, the\ncreator of d3 proposing some conventions to follow when building charts with\nd3...\n\n<http://bost.ocks.org/mike/chart/>\n\n------\najtulloch\nA few months ago I learned d3.js and made myself an interactive site logo for\nmyself with it. It's an awesome library.\n\nCheck out the logo (try clicking it and dragging the letters) and tutorial at\n<http://tullo.ch/2012/making-the-site-logo/>.\n\n~~~\noulipian\nYour logo doesn't work. I'm using the latest Firefox on a Mac. Error:\nstrengths is undefined.\n\n~~~\najtulloch\nHmm strange, just tested then and works on my end with Chrome 18 and Firefox\n12.0 on OS X.\n\n~~~\nfceccon\nI'm on Chrome 20 on OS X and I got this error:\n\n    \n    \n        Cannot read property '0' of undefined      d3.v2.js:5166\n\n~~~\nrralian\nI got this too. It's reproduceable for me if I click on any of the nodes\nbefore the page is ready for it, and once this happens I can't use it at all.\nBut if I wait a second or two before doing this it works fine. Using latest\nchrome.\n\n------\nvlandham\nAlso plenty of really good beginner d3 tutorials from Scott Murray:\n\n<http://alignedleft.com/tutorials/>\n\n------\nstephenlee\nBeautiful chart, I want to make some interactive charts and d3.js is just\nsuited for me. But I can't dive into JavaScript though it looks like easy. I'm\nfamiliar with Python. Anyone can suggest enough JavaScript tutorials to hack\nd3.js. Thanks!\n\n~~~\nmonkeyfacebag\nI would get yourself a copy of The Good Parts. As someone who also went from\nPython to JS, it didn't fully click until I sat down and read through the\nbook. Now there are aspects of JS I actually prefer over Python.\n\n~~~\nstephenlee\nThanks, the book is fantastic.\n\n------\ndm8\nD3 is awesome but I've always felt it is more suitable for complex\nvisualizations. For simple stuff like line graph etc. Existing graphing\nlibraries are pretty cool. Anyone using it for common visualizations like line\nchart or pie chart?\n\n~~~\nlouischatriot\nWhat I like in d3 is that it leaves completely free to do whatever you want,\nbe it simple bar charts or complicated stuff. I don't like integrative\nlibraries that don't allow you to make your graphs evolve.\n\nI used it to build animated line charts but those are a bit more complex (you\nhave to use SVG paths with Bezier curves which are a pain to calculate ...)\n\n------\ncdomigan\nPfft. I can Build An Animated Chart In 1 Line Of Code With\nDoesEverythingForYou.js\n\n~~~\nlouischatriot\nOf course, but the point here is that d3.js really is not\n\"doeseverythingforyou.js\" : it only takes care of the \"boring\" stuff\n(manipulating DOM, binding data) and lets you do whatever you imagine. So it's\nmore like \"build this chart writing only the 19 lines of javascript that\nmatter\".\n\n------\ndgabriel\nAlas, the site is down. I'd love to see this.\n\n~~~\nlouischatriot\nI just checked and it is up, you can retry!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFrench CEO Prisoned After His Policies Resulted in Suicides of 35 Employees - chirau\nhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2019/12/23/french-ceo-sent-to-prison-after-his-policies-resulted-in-the-suicides-of-35-employees/\n======\nakerl_\nIf 4 months in jail and a $16k fine is their idea of a severe punishment for\nan intentional strategy that led to 35 employee suicides, I doubt this is\nsending the hash message to other CEOs that the article suggests.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nGluePrint - Implement Designs Pixel Perfect - koenbok\nhttp://glueprintapp.com\n\n======\navelis\nSlick tool. There are scenarios where this does work and work well (e.g.\nstatic layout) but for responsive web layout design involving transitions this\nfalls a little flat.\n\n------\nkilling_time\nThis looks like a neat tool, with a nice simple solution to a common UI\ndevelopment problem.\n\nWhat image file formats can be used as mockups?\n\n~~~\nkoenbok\nPretty much any image format OSX supports.\n\n~~~\nkilling_time\nThanks for making this - seems to work with PSDs so that's great. This tool\nhas already saved me a bunch of time this week!\n\nOne feature request would be to make the app automatically refresh the overlay\nwhen the source file changes, or to have a keyboard shortcut to refresh from\nthe saved file. This would be useful when toggling layers on/off in Photoshop\nto look at different states of a screen. Cheers!\n\n------\nmannylee1\nAny Linux alternative to this? Nice work.\n\n------\nzapt02\nWindows version plix. :(\n\n------\nthebiglebrewski\nAmazing! Nice work!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nXkcd 1110 high res PDF (moved away from dropbox) - reinierladan\nhttp://s.rlink.co/JZPY\n\n======\nreinierladan\nDropbox says \"This account's public links are generating too much traffic and\nhave been temporarily disabled!\" so I put it on Cloud app as a backup.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nRust 0.8 released - steveklabnik\nhttps://mail.mozilla.org/pipermail/rust-dev/2013-September/005804.html\n======\nchrismorgan\nIf you were wanting to use Rust but also wanted to use HTTP (client _or_\nserver), I've got [https://github.com/chris-morgan/rust-\nhttp](https://github.com/chris-morgan/rust-http) which has rapidly become the\n_de facto_ HTTP library (although it started after Rust 0.7 was released).\nIt's far from complete—but that's an opportunity for you to join in, if you\nwant.\n\n~~~\nerkose\n\"far from complete\" and \"de facto HTTP library\" doesn't say much for rust.\n\n~~~\nchrismorgan\nIt's good enough that the Servo team decided to use its client (and now do),\nbut the approach I've taken (implementing the HTTP spec thoroughly, putting\nRust's type system to good use) will take quite a long time before it's\n_really_ polished (e.g. we must implement types for every type of header,\nrather than just using strings and leaving it to users to interpret them\n[often incorrectly]). It's still a little experimental, but it's the only\nreally serious HTTP library there is for Rust out there.\n\nJust wait until it's done. It will be a _really great_ HTTP library.\n\n~~~\nchamakits\nI haven't taken a look at your library, but as a developer that has always\nwondered \"Why use strings for these things that could be enums, contants, or\ntypes?\" in API's, I appreciate your effort and your thoroughness.\n\n~~~\nmbreese\nThe answer is because that's what's in the spec. For HTTP, it's probably a\nmistake to hardcode header types. They are defined as key/value pairs of\nstrings in the spec. There are a few keys that are specified, but how they\nactually work in practice (upper? lower? quoted?) is difficult to predict.\nThere are just too many variations. So you end up with proper types for the\nmost common ones, and then throw the extras into a separate \"others\" type.\nWhich is great, except that now you have two places to check for things.\n\nIn this case (HTTP), it's easier (and more correct) to just leave them as\nstings. The general principle with network protocols is to be strict in what\nyou send, and forgiving in what you receive.\n\n~~~\nchrismorgan\nThe headers are data, not text. Somewhere along the way you'll need to\ninterpret them; doing a good job of that at the system boundary is the only\n_sensible_ approach. (It's not the approach the majority of tools have taken,\nbut it _is_ the only sensible approach). If it gets into the system as text,\npeople will start pulling it apart in even worse and less consistent ways.\n\nI agree with you that the parse behaviour for HTTP headers is poorly defined.\nThat's something I'll be wrestling with all the time.\n\nSupported headers will be in one place and uncommon extension headers in\nanother. Such, alas, is life. But really, the only time when I would expect\nthis to cause any trouble at all is when new headers are added. Compare it\nwith things like the CGI standard and how it handles headers and you'll\nrealise it's not such a bad system.\n\nI should make it quite clear that the specs are (unfortunately) only a\nstarting point for rust-http. Where there are deviations, more leniency may be\nadded. But it'll be added thoroughly and properly.\n\n------\ndevx\nIf they make their next-gen browser using Rust, I hope they make it 64-bit-\n_only_ , and optimize it as much as possible for x64 and ARMv8. None of that\n\"support back to Windows XP!\" stuff. It wouldn't be necessary (will still have\nFirefox a few years longer for that), and it would just hold them back in\nterms development time, maintenance, performance and security.\n\nThen it would be not just great PR for their \"highly-optimized no legacy cruft\n64-bit browser\", but would also give people a reason to switch from _Firefox_\nto it. It would also give Mozilla an excuse to not make a 64-bit Firefox\nanymore.\n\nI assume it's going to take them at least 2-3 years to do it (if they ever\nplan to release it), and by then Microsoft will probably release a 64-bit only\nWindows 9, iOS will be 64-only, too (probably not relevant to Mozilla, but\ncould be in the future), and at least half of all Android smartphone users\nwill have ARMv8-based devices.\n\nMozilla should take full advantage of this, and really push for performance\n(and security), and they should only make it available from Android 5.0\n(probably the first 64-bit Android version) and Windows 7 x64. Support for\nLinux kernel should probably start with no lower than 3.10 LTS (contains all\nthe ARMv8 support).\n\n~~~\nmarshray\nNote that Windows XP 64 bit was a thing. :-)\n\nVery few of today's apps actually benefit from having more than 3GB of address\nspace. Nothing on my desktop PC is using more than 300MB at the moment. All\nelse being equal, 32 bits will be more efficient, particularly on portable\ndevices which tend to have far less memory bandwidth.\n\n~~~\njfb\nAll other things are not equal, however.\n\n~~~\nmarshray\nTrue, there can be address space fragmentation issues on large 32-bit\nprocesses.\n\nWhat else did you have in mind?\n\n~~~\nTuna-Fish\nThe extra registers and other advancements in instruction sets help a lot.\n\nx86 has some enchancements, but if you think that 64-bit is bad for mobile, I\nstrongly suggest looking at the A7 32 vs 64 benchmarks. (\n[http://anandtech.com/show/7335/the-\niphone-5s-review/4](http://anandtech.com/show/7335/the-iphone-5s-review/4) )\n\nOf course, the performance gains have really nothing to do with 64-bit\naddressing alone, but ARM took the opportunity to almost completely redesign\nthe ISA, and A64 is in general a better and faster ISA than A32. So all else\nis not equal.\n\n~~~\nsanxiyn\nI actually find this 64-bit-has-better-ISA-than-32-bit situation annoying. I\nwould like to have better ISA, without making pointers larger. There is\nx32([https://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/](https://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/)),\nwill there be something similar for ARM?\n\n------\nmcpherrinm\nRemember that Rust is still a rapidly changing language, and releases have\nvery little connotation of stability, support, or any other guarantees.\n\nThey're released on a schedule, not by features. They're useful to be able to\nrefer to periods of time in Rust's rapidly changing lifetime, but not much\nbeyond that.\n\n~~~\nternaryoperator\nThis! I so want to play with Rust. I want to explore it over programs that are\nseveral thousand lines long, so I can get a real flavor for it. But the rate\nof change especially to important elements of the language is still too great.\nI don't want to rewrite the code to stay abreast of revs.\n\nNot a critique by any means--I admire the language and the work being done.\nMore of a wish that the core language syntax would settle down soon.\n\n~~~\nsteveklabnik\nTo be clear, the syntax changes in this release were very minor. It's mostly\nthe standard library and runtime that are changing at this time.\n\nThat doesn't mean that your sentiment is wrong; if you don't want to be\nkeeping up with the langauge's changes, certainly don't write projects in\nRust. That said, there are more libraries than you'd expect, including a few\nthat are several thousands of lines.\n\n~~~\ndbaupp\n_> To be clear, the syntax changes in this release were very minor_\n\nYeah, _only_ the _entire_ for loop syntax changed. ;)\n\n~~~\nsteveklabnik\nAnd it was fixable with a regular expression. :)\n\n------\nww520\nRust is pretty good as a language but things are still changing a lot,\nespecially on the library side.\n\nI did a project in Rust as a learning exercise. The language is easy to pick\nand I was able to hit the ground running from the start. The major learning\nhurdle I think is the memory model, which is different from most languages out\nthere.\n\nHere's my first Rust project after two weeks of on and off hacking. It's a\nMemcached client library implementing the Memcached protocols in pure Rust.\n[https://github.com/williamw520/rustymem](https://github.com/williamw520/rustymem)\n\n------\ncalinet6\nI just want to note, if you ever release something (anything, be it a version\nor a whole startup), copy their first paragraph intro! I didn't know what Rust\nwas, but after just 8 seconds I did. Fantastic and all too rare.\n\n------\nmetajack\nRelease notes are here: [https://github.com/mozilla/rust/wiki/Doc-detailed-\nrelease-no...](https://github.com/mozilla/rust/wiki/Doc-detailed-release-\nnotes)\n\n------\nglesica\nI've messed around with Rust a little and I love what I see! The documentation\nis still poor (understandable given how quickly the target is moving) but that\nseems to be changing. This is a really exciting, multi-paradigm language and I\nwish Mozilla all the best in developing it further!\n\n~~~\nsteveklabnik\nIve been making it my mission to improve the docs, especially as the language\nsettles down.\n\nAny suggestions welcome, here or via email.\n\n~~~\nsaosebastiao\n1) I think I've had 4 different people try to explain lifetimes to me and I\nstill don't think I understand.\n\n2) The use of pointer dereferencing in closures is still quite confusing to\nme. For example, from the tutorial:\n\n    \n    \n      let square = |x: int| -> uint { (x * x) as uint };\n    \n\nno pointer dereferencing, yet:\n\n    \n    \n      [1, 2, 3].map(|x| if *x > max { max = *x });\n    \n\nuses pointer dereferencing. I can't figure out any rhyme or reason behind it.\n\n3) How do you create traits that can be automatically derived? How do you\nimplement a default method?\n\n4) How do you create and use macros, and in what situations are they the\nappropriate solution over other forms? (I'm used to using macros in lispy\nlanguages, but using them as pervasively in other languages seems to be a form\nof code smell).\n\n~~~\npitterpatter\nMaybe this will be useful to understanding lifetimes: [http://static.rust-\nlang.org/doc/0.8/tutorial-borrowed-ptr.ht...](http://static.rust-\nlang.org/doc/0.8/tutorial-borrowed-ptr.html)\n\nAs for the pointer dereferencing, perhaps putting the type there will make it\nclearer:\n\n    \n    \n        [1, 2, 3].map(|x: &int| if *x > max { max = *x });\n    \n\nNow you can see that x isn't actually an int but a reference to one.\n\nAs for automatically derived traits, those are actually slightly more powerful\nmacros implemented in the compiler itself. You can see it at\nrust/src/libsyntax/ext/*.\n\nFor default methods, you just put the code you want in the trait itself. Like\nso:\n\n    \n    \n        trait Animal {\n            fn sound(&self) -> ~str;\n            fn make_sound(&self) {\n                println(self.sound());\n            }\n        }\n    \n\nThe make_sound method is what's called a default method. If you implemented\nthat trait, at the very least you would have to define the sound method and if\nyou wanted to, you could override the default make_sound method.\n\nMacros are actually created with another macro called macro_rules. I'll defer\nto the tutorial for them: [http://static.rust-lang.org/doc/0.8/tutorial-\nmacros.html](http://static.rust-lang.org/doc/0.8/tutorial-macros.html)\n\n------\nbjz_\nThose interested in using Rust for game development can check out our list of\nresources: [https://github.com/mozilla/rust/wiki/Computer-Graphics-\nand-G...](https://github.com/mozilla/rust/wiki/Computer-Graphics-and-Game-\nDevelopment)\n\nIf you want to chat feel free to stop by `#rust-gamedev` on irc.mozilla.org.\nWe're very nice!\n\n~~~\ndbaupp\nThere's also #rust and #servo on the same server. _We_ 're very _very_ nice!\n\n------\ncontinuations\nIs there an actively developed web framework for Rust, kind of like Revel for\nGo?\n\nI have a toy web project I'm starting. Would love to play with Rust.\n\n~~~\nsteveklabnik\nNot yet. As chrismorgan points out above, the http library is still being\ndeveloped, once it's more stable, web frameworks can be built on top of that.\n\n~~~\nzokier\nWouldn't web frameworks be using something like fastcgi rather than raw http?\n\n~~~\nchrismorgan\nWhy? FastCGI is slow. Controlling the entire HTTP stack is fast, and makes\ndeployment much easier (only one piece of software to configure, not two or\nthree).\n\n------\nportmanteaufu\nCongrats on all the progress, guys! I'm really looking forward to getting to\nwork with Rust. I have a couple of questions:\n\nIs the new fixed-stack FFI arrangement the end goal, or is it a stepping stone\nto a different system? It seems as though always using a big, fixed stack\nwould cause performance/memory issues. Could the compiler detect which Rust\nfn's call extern \"C\" functions so I don't have to write annotations? Thanks!\n\n~~~\nkibwen\nFixed-stack is not the end goal. The intent is to migrate back towards small,\ngrowable stacks.\n\nThere were long discussions over how \"smart\" the extern stack-size strategy\nshould be. The current arrangement is, as ever, a compromise. In practice,\nmost people writing bindings to C from Rust will wrap the C call into a very\nthin wrapper function whose job is to handle type conversions and managing the\nnecessary `unsafe` bits. The hope is that putting the annotation on these\nwrapper functions won't be very onerous, with the result that any Rust code\nthat calls the wrapper functions won't ever have to bothered with remembering\nthe annotations.\n\n~~~\nportmanteaufu\nMakes sense, thanks! As an outsider it can be tricky to know which things in\nthe release notes are \"This feature is ready\" vs \"This is simply the present\nstate of things.\"\n\n~~~\nsteveklabnik\nRust is basically entirely 'this is simply the present state of things.' :)\n\n~~~\nchrismorgan\nPlus there's also rather a lot of non-codified knowledge about what's\nhappening and going to happen. But if you pay much attention to the mailing\nlist and stay in #rust you'll pick up an awful lot of it.\n\n~~~\ndbaupp\n(Also, TWiR: [http://cmr.github.io/blog/categories/this-week-in-\nrust/](http://cmr.github.io/blog/categories/this-week-in-rust/))\n\n------\nsaosebastiao\nAnybody know when there will be a regex library?\n\n~~~\nzokier\nrust has relatively nice FFI, so I suspect using PCRE shouldn't be too\ndifficult.\n\n~~~\nskorgu\nOr re2 [0]\n\n[0] [https://code.google.com/p/re2/](https://code.google.com/p/re2/)\n\n------\npjmlp\nCongratulations!\n\nWhen will we be able to compile Rust using a standard LLVM instalation,\ninstead of compiling LLVM with it?\n\nMy poor netbook takes almost 3 hours to compile it. :(\n\n------\ndodyg\nWhat do people use for editing Rust source code?\n\n~~~\nsteveklabnik\nWe have syntax files for vim, emacs, kate, gedit.\n[https://github.com/mozilla/rust/tree/929b75e220f6fced42dcfe2...](https://github.com/mozilla/rust/tree/929b75e220f6fced42dcfe2146700ceba1e2cebe/src/etc)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhy I've built an alternative to Github - fnando\nhttp://blog.codeplane.com/why-ive-built-an-alternative-to-github.html\n======\nmechanical_fish\nI don't understand this use case:\n\n _These projects are mainly side projects, or small freelance jobs I've done\nthrough the years, and I want to save them for posterity; who knows when I'll\nneed them, right?_\n\nMy solution to this problem is called _tar_. Just clone the Git repos to /tmp,\ntar up the results, and push the tarball to S3. Done. Archived for posterity\nfor a few cents per month.\n\nThis isn't SVN anymore: It doesn't take special voodoo to host a repo. If\nnobody needs to push or pull from a repo, tar it up and archive it. If _one_\nperson needs to push and pull from a repo, store it on that person's local\nhard drive (with backups, of course). If _two_ people need to push and pull\nfrom a repo... Well, this is no longer an archive for posterity, this is an\nactive project, and can the team really not afford to pay Github something\nlike $5 per month per repo?\n\n~~~\njpeterson\nI imagine part of the use case is \"quickly and easily getting back to a\nsnippet within one of those old files\", in which case the tarball and archive\nmethod won't really work.\n\n~~~\nbruceboughton\nHe's talking about tarring a local git repository. You can still use all the\ngit history stuff, you're just backing up using tar rather than via git\npush/pull.\n\n------\nmicheljansen\nWhile I do agree that Github leaves space for a model like this, I think the\nvalue of Github is that it offers a great community and awesome toolset\n(online and offline). Then I read this:\n\n\"I also wanted to do almost everything from my terminal, so I built a CLI,\nthat you can use to manage repositories, public keys and collaborators. For\ndaily usage, you probably won't have to go to our web interface ever again,\nand that's awesome!\"\n\nAnd I think \"that's what I have with Gitosis on my VPS\" (Gitosis uses git to\nmanage user accounts and keys, so it pretty much doesn't get simpler than\nthat). Companies pay for Github for the tools, developers who use CLI are\nprobably not that interested in forking $9 a month for something they already\nhave. Just my two cents, but I wish you the best of luck :)\n\n~~~\nfnando\nYeah! One can always set up the whole thing, but for small shops and\nfreelancers it makes no sense to manage something like this.\n\nMaybe for hackers like us... ;)\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nWho did your design? It's beautiful! Who does all these amazing designs?\n\n~~~\nfnando\nIn this case, I did my own design. I always liked design my own stuff. So, I\nspent only time on this one! ;)\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nIt's brilliant, well done!\n\n------\nmrcharles\nI just use bitbucket.org + Mercurial. More than enough for personal projects,\nor more, given that it's unlimited. The only limit is amount of users.\n\nSwitching to Hg was a bit of work, but I've actually learned to like it more\nthan Git. Really though, it's the same kind of thing and I just use both. So I\nended up at bitbucket for the same reasons OP built a new site.\n\nMy way was quicker though.\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nI use github for the network effects, but how does hg compare to git, speed-\nwise? I switched to git from bzr because bzr felt awesomely slow, although git\nis a real pain to use, even when you're familiar with it.\n\nI understand that bzr and hg are almost identical, command-wise, but hg is\nabout as fast as git, is that correct? What my workflow consists of is\ndiffs/statuses/commits/pushes/pulls in projects with working trees of a few MB\nat most.\n\n~~~\neropple\nHg is marginally slower, but not so you'd really notice. If you're crunching\n20,000-line files on a regular basis it might be a concern. On repos of that\nsize, I doubt you'd notice.\n\nGit is a great tool for what it was built for and the group of users it was\nintended for--that is, rapid, tons-of-merges-and-pulls development on a\ngigantic codebase, for users for whom it is acceptable for man pages to serve\nas reminders rather than instructions. However, I appreciate the additional\nattention paid to tooling and user-friendliness in Mercurial-land that make it\nmore pleasant for me to use.\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nThe fact that all the tools can push to github make it easy to switch, which I\njust might do again. bzr was great, except for the fact that it just doesn't\nhave that much traction...\n\n~~~\neropple\nI found bzr to be much as you described it - like hg, but slower. Nothing\nobjectionable about the workflow (though the tools on Windows were very poor,\nI wasn't using Windows much at the time), just the perf on a particularly\nlarge chunk of code.\n\n------\nmasnick\nYou can set something like this up on any VPS with gitolite\n(<https://github.com/sitaramc/gitolite>) pretty easily. gitolite lets you set\nup very fine-grained per-user/repo/branch permissions, manage your users' SSH\nkeys, and gives you nice clean git@git.you.com:repo-name access to your\nremotes.\n\nI've done this for myself with a $48/year VPS from prgmr.com specifically\nbecause I needed more private repos than Github could offer (my setup\ninstructions are here: <https://gist.github.com/1035834>).\n\nGranted, if codeplane.com existed six months ago I probably wouldn't have\nbothered with gitolite. It appears they do nice things for you like backups.\n\n~~~\ngvb\n...or gitosis [http://scie.nti.st/2007/11/14/hosting-git-repositories-\nthe-e...](http://scie.nti.st/2007/11/14/hosting-git-repositories-the-easy-and-\nsecure-way)\n\nGitosis does not have as fine grained control as gitolite nor is it as well\ndocumented (config file errors are hard to debug), but it works well within\nits limitations. Both are now available as Debian/Ubuntu packages (gitolite\nwas not when I started using gitosis). The other obvious difference is that\ngitolite is written in Perl and gitosis is written in Python. This should be a\nsuperficial difference, but sometimes the world isn't rational.\n\n~~~\nnuclear_eclipse\nGitolite is a fork of Gitosis that has been both improved and actively\nmaintained. It even has a script to automate converting your old gitosis.conf\nto the new format.\n\n------\nsenthilnayagam\nI run a services company. I am near my limit for 125 private projects with\nmega plan.\n\nI have 100+ private repositories,with about 100 collaborators(many are my\nclients) and consume just 2.3 gb and pay 100$/month, about 15-20 of the\nprojects are live/active, others are projects which have been delivered or on\nhold.\n\nOrganization as a concept was brought pretty recently on github, my account\ndates 2008, charging double for just that is not attractive.\n\nI love github, they are coming with awesome features, but in terms of certain\nfeatures many service firms need, a way to archive the project not counting\nthem for active projects. github is lacking. instead of doubling the service\nplan every 6-9 months I am willing to give the competing git hosting services\na try\n\n------\nfizx\nFrom another perspective, Heroku has unlimited free git hosting that happens\nto optionally serve webapps.\n\n~~~\nbad_user\nGitHub is also a free hosting service for static websites, that happens to\noptionally host git projects :)\n\n------\nnicpottier\nGithub's pricing model really is a painpoint for little consulting shops. We\ndrive next to no traffic and storage on there, but we do a few projects every\nquarter. Haven't quite outgrown our paid plan yet, but we will in a bit.\n\nJust wish Github would revise their pricing to support peeps like us, I hate\nto use different interfaces. May choose to just archive things to codeplane\nuntil then, keeping things we are actively developing on github.\n\n~~~\ntrustfundbaby\nTry unfuddle, their hosting includes both svn and git ... doesn't have most of\nthe thrills and spills of github but I find their pricing very reasonable.\n\n------\npdenya\nSame feature set as <http://repositoryhosting.com> with a higher price point\n(they're at $6/month now for 2GB). They don't have a CLI or anything as far as\nI know but they do offer more storage space at $1/GB/month which is pretty\nnice if you just need a little extra.\n\n~~~\nslig\n+1 for RH. They are awesome and I couldn't be happier. I've never had problems\nexcept when AWS went down.\n\nAlso, they offer git, mercurial and SVN.\n\n------\narturadib\nI think CodePlane is very cool, but it seems to solve a different problem than\nthe one advertised on the blog.\n\nTo save my repos \"for posterity\" on Github without incurring a $100/month\nbill, I simply create a master repo (say old-projects/) with all my unused\nrepos in it.\n\nOn the other hand CodePlane seems to be a great solution for collaborative\nwork on lots of private repos. This can save big bucks.\n\nI love to see projects like this. I hope it gains some traction and forces\nGithub to change their business model to a more manageable per-GB price.\n\n~~~\nsant0sk1\nThe one-repo-for-old-projects solution works in some cases, but not really for\nmine. As a contract developer I often have projects that are under active\ndevelopment for a few months and then go into \"maintenance mode\". In this case\nI want separate repos for when maintenance needs to happen. Otherwise that one\nrepo is a mess.\n\nI believe this is the kind of problem that CodePlane solves. And I agree with\nyou that its great to see projects like this present competition and make\nGitHub better in the long run.\n\n~~~\narturadib\nIt's a hack of course, but if the changes are really that occasional, the pain\nis negligible: all you need to do is to commit twice for every project change\n(once for a sub-directory containing the project repo, once for the root\nrepo).\n\nIf a project becomes active again, simply take it out of the master repo and\npush it as a new repo.\n\nIt's really not that bad. But then again, things change if you have\ncollaborators...\n\n------\nzck\nIt's Mercurial, not git, but bitbucket offers unlimited private repositories:\n<https://bitbucket.org/plans>\n\n------\njamesgeck0\nWhat does the UI actually look like? Is it just the list of repositories? I'd\nbe more likely to spend money if there was a tour, or an example project I\ncould look at, or an annotated example session with the CLI tool.\n\n~~~\nfnando\nYeah, I'm working on it! Just had to do some things first before really\nworking on \"selling the product\".\n\n------\ngrandalf\nThis is a very desirable use case. For those who don't get it, I'd say the\nfollowing:\n\n\\- it's nice to use git for all the small side projects one creates, but\nputting all of them on github is crazy expensive if you like keeping your\nmusings private (though not necessarily b/c you're committed to a closed\nsource ideology :)\n\n\\- the cost factor creates an incentive to misuse git (not using submodules\nwhere appropriate) just to save money.\n\n\\- There are a lot of awesome Git UI programs that run locally on my laptop,\ngitk is one.\n\n\\- FWIW his fills the niche between github and gist.\n\n~~~\nlucian1900\nYour first two reasons, and liking hg, is why I prefer bitbucket.\n\n------\nangrycoder\nMaybe I'm not fully understanding this.. If I don't need the web interface and\npublic code sharing, why would I use this verse getting a Linode instance and\ninstalling git there.\n\n~~~\nmasnick\n> If I don't need the web interface and public code sharing, why would I use\n> this verse getting a Linode instance and installing git there.\n\nPrivate code sharing. You have to install something like gitolite (see my\nother comment) to do private code sharing with git on a VPS, or you'd have to\ncreate a system-level user for every person you want to share code with.\n\n~~~\njoshfinnie\nWebfaction actually allows you to create a git repo with web interface that\ncan be shared privately.\n\nIt is one of their \"one-click\" installations and I have been pretty happy with\nit for my limited use.\n\n------\nxbryanx\nI am currently frustrated with Github's private repository hosting plans. When\nI switched from SVN to Git, what was initially one repository became six,\nbecause of Git's \"you can't checkout part of a repo\" philosophy. So now, I\nhave to buy a fairly expensive plan even though my usage is pretty small.\n\nCheers, to you for adding some competition to the marketplace. I hope it\nprovides some pricing pressure on Github one of these days.\n\n~~~\ncool-RR\nI find $12 a month to be really cheap.\n\n~~~\nxbryanx\nAnd it is, if you somehow have less than 10 private repos. I personally have\nover 25, and our group has over 50...putting us in the $100/month range\n\n------\nyakto\nAnyone else happy with Assembla? 2GB, unlimited repos and users, source\nbrowser, etc.: <http://offers.assembla.com/free-git-hosting/>\n\n~~~\nbarkingcat\nThe UI at Assembla is awkward to work with. I participated in a project that\nused Assembla, and I kept getting a flood of emails attached to tasks and\nrevisions that I didn't want to follow.\n\n~~~\nRevisor\nYou can change the email notifications, BUT:\n\nI couldn't find it for 5 minutes!\n\nA similar thing happened to me a few weeks ago when I was looking for a way to\nadd more repositories to a project. Luckily I got an answer quickly on their\nsupport forum (and yes, it was there).\n\nSo yes, the UI and information hierarchy is lacking, but ultimately it can do\na lot of things.\n\n(For future reference, you can change the settings under Stream - Email\nNotifications).\n\n------\nedw\nI hadn't gotten around to commenting, and I'm glad it took me a while, because\nwhile I first went to Codeplane and set up a trial account, pushed my Github\nprivate repos therem and downgraded my account from a paid to an unpaid\naccount — thereby netting myself a free cheap beer a month — I went on to read\nsome of the comments here, set up gitosis, and am now free of any sort of paid\ngit hosting fees beyond my existing Linode virtualized server — upgrading my\nfree monthly drink from a PBR to a Hendrick's martini.\n\nThank you, fellow Hacker News citizens.\n\n------\nprogramminggeek\nGood for you for building this and then charging for it. There certainly is a\nplace in the market for what you are doing and the price you are doing it.\n\nGood job.\n\n~~~\nfnando\nThanks! ;)\n\n~~~\nFlowerPower\nI too wish you luck!\n\nWhat about security? If i sign up, is my code safe if I want to keep a repo\nonly for me?\n\n~~~\nfnando\nI can say that's is pretty safe. Backup is not an issue: copies of all\nrepositories are stored on S3, CloudFiles and Linode's backup solution. People\ncan't access your repos, unless you allow them to.\n\n------\nflocial\nI've always wondered about this. The real expenses are disk space and\nbandwidth. I don't understand how they can't just provide a space-based plan\n(oh yeah, that would cut into high margins).\n\nIt's a wonderful service and they've done so much to keep many open source\nprojects from stagnating. They outshine SourceForge and Google Code by a large\nmargin. Still, if BitBucket was git, I might migrate my stuff.\n\nThe thing is \"social coding\" isn't that big of a plus for your own private\nstuff. I definitely see value in a service like this.\n\n------\nkgtm\nIs it really necessary to disguise a Linode referrer link using bit.ly in the\nhomepage? I would be more inclined to click it if it wasn't masked...\n\n~~~\nfnando\nI just wanted to see how many clicks that would have, but you're right. Just\nremoved the link since I just don't care. ;)\n\n~~~\nmcantor\nYou might be able to do a quick happy medium by generating a \"vanity url\" such\nas bit.ly/sneaky-affiliate-link or something.\n\n~~~\nJonnieCache\nOr perhaps a sneaky bit of javascript to track click events on that link via\najax.\n\n------\ntaphangum\nI REALLY don't think that github's plan is unreasonable. I pay for it quite\nhappily. But good on you for DOING something about how you felt\n\n~~~\nunshift\nfor updated-infrequently-if-ever repos, github's pricing doesn't make a lot of\nsense. i have plenty of small, one-off repos i'd love to back up on github but\nit doesn't make sense for me to upgrade plans for them.\n\ni just back up to multiple boxes, but i can understand why someone would want\nsomething centralized and specific.\n\n~~~\nwatty\nI agree. My small company has many 1-2 week dev efforts that we'd like to have\non GitHub but simply can't afford it. I've tried creating a \"small project\"\nrepository and using different branches to host the different projects but am\ndefinitely not satisified. GitHub NEEDS a size-limited hosting plan.\n\n~~~\nLuyt\nAs soon as GitHub introduces size-limited plans, will Codeplane be able to\nattract new customers?\n\n------\nsirn\nYour blogpost mentioned using Git with Dropbox was too much of a hassle, could\nyou elaborate why? I want to know since all my private repos are `git init\n--bare` within Dropbox directory, which works very well so far. What's the\nmain benefit if I were to switch to Codeplane?\n\n~~~\nfnando\nMy problem with Dropbox was when I had to share a repo with someone. How to do\nthat? I created a shared folder. And then it becomes really hard to manage all\nthis stuff. For 1-person usage, Dropbox works really great.\n\n------\ncomechao\nThe \"one price\" is an awesome feature for indie developers and small\ncompanies.\n\n------\nveeti\nLooks like a more polished version of <http://repositoryhosting.com>, which\nI'm using at the moment. Will definitely give this a try!\n\n------\nbrown9-2\nThe title of the page at www.codeplane.com is \"Unlimited private Git hosting\",\nyet it appears that you are limited to 2GB of repositories for your $9/month.\n\nHow is this unlimited? Are there other plans that you can sign up for? If so\nthey seem impossible to find on the site.\n\n~~~\njimktrains2\nI think he's referring to the absence of a limit on the actual number of\nrepos, which is only bound by the space given. If you can git 1000 repos in\nthere, good for you, he doesn't care.\n\nGranted, something like \"2GB private git hosting\" might be more accurate.\n\n------\nrsobers\nFog Creek has a product called Kiln, which is like Github, but is based on\nMercurial. It's very polished and has lots of great features that focus on\nprivate repository management (but has public repos, too).\n\nIt's free for up to 2 users. Unlimited repos and disk space.\n\n~~~\nwatty\nAnd then it's $25/user/month!!!\n\n~~~\nrsobers\nYes, but if you're solo freelancer or student, you can't beat it.\n\n------\ncool-RR\nI think that anyone who complains about GitHub's price has gotten way too\nspoiled, or perhaps underestimates the amount of effort required to maintain a\nservice of that quality and reliability. I find this to be another symptom of\nHN tunnel vision.\n\n~~~\nM1573RMU74710N\nI don't think anybody is \"complaining about GitHub's prices\" per se...at least\nnot the way you are implying. That is, I don't think anyone is saying GitHub\nis greedy, or not worth it ever or something like that....\n\nHowever, the fact of the matter is they have a particular pricing plan, and\nthat pricing plan is such that for certain people it becomes not worth it.\n\nWhen you go to a fast food place, they generally offer you varying sizes of\nsoda.\n\nFor most people that's fine....but for some people their needs may fall JUST\nin between two sizes...for example they want more soda than a medium, but they\ndon't really need a large.\n\nSo they start buying a large...because that's a reasonable compromise.\n\nSure, the large may be a _very good deal_ , but that's completely besides the\npoint. It's more soda than they really need, and they are wasting money by\nbuying it.\n\nWhen someone offers a size of soda that happens to fit their needs exactly,\nthere's no reason they shouldn't switch to that. If their needs change they\ncan always go back to their old size, or even a newer one.\n\nOr to pick another soda analogy, imagine that the fast food place only charges\nfor the soda cup. It's a dollar a cup for everyone. This is a _GREAT_ deal for\nmost people...they come in pay a dollar and get a cup of soda, with free\nrefills. The fast food place does alright because it all balances out in the\nend, the people who drink a little soda subsidize the ones who drink a lot.\nEven people who only drink one cup of soda get a reasonable deal.\n\nNow imagine you come in with 100 kids who only need a thimble-full of soda\neach (for the sake of argument). You're paying 100$ for the amount of soda\neveryone else is paying 1$ for! Overall, the pricing plan is reasonable...but\nfor certain people it falls apart.\n\nWhy should those people go with a deal that doesn't work for them? It's better\nall around for them to find a better fit.\n\nThe fact that github is awesome and a great deal is completely irrelevant re\nthe issue at hand. The point is some people don't need all the github\nawesomeness, they just want somewhere to stick their code.\n\nIf that's all you need, there's no reason at all not to go with a cheaper\noption.\n\nThat's not to say that the cheaper option is this guy's service....it could be\nany number of things. For some people this codeplane is a good fit, for\nothers...not.\n\n~~~\ncool-RR\n_\"Sure, the large may be a very good deal, but that's completely besides the\npoint. It's more soda than they really need, and they are wasting money by\nbuying it.\"_\n\nYou actually put your finger right on the fallacy. It _feels_ that you're\nwasting money by buying a GitHub account with 100 private repos when your\nrepos are largely inactive. But the way to make smart economic decisions is\nnot by measuring hypothetical waste (i.e. how much of the account you are\nusing) but by comparing the options side by side. You pay more for GitHub,\nyes, and you pay for stuff you might not use, but if it saves you a few hours\nper month then it's a better choice than going for a service like CodePlane.\n\n~~~\nM1573RMU74710N\n>, but if it saves you a few hours per month then it's a better choice than\ngoing for a service like CodePlane.\n\n...and that's the hole in your reasoning. That is not a forgone conclusion at\nall...in fact it's a non-sequiter.\n\nIn the analogy these people aren't getting ANYTHING for paying the 1$ per cup\n(vs paying 50 cents for the actual soda used)...there is a theoretical benefit\nof free refills, or it being a reasonable price for the cup of soda...and for\nthe people who use it, it's great.\n\n...but the __whole entire premise of this discussion __is that for some people\nthat's no benefit at all since they're not using it.\n\nWe've already eliminated all the people who are getting their money's worth\nout of Github, that's the premise of the conversation....we're talking about a\nservice that is designed to cater to people for whom Github's pricing plan\ndoesn't work for their needs.\n\nAdditionally, to argue that these people don't exist is a specious argument. I\nthink it's an incredibly dubious proposition that there is _ANY_ service which\nprecisely fits the needs of it's entire target market.\n\n>. But the way to make smart economic decisions is not by measuring\nhypothetical waste (i.e. how much of the account you are using) but by\ncomparing the options side by side\n\nYes, precisely.\n\nYou make smart decision by weighing your own personal needs against your\noptions. Everyone has different needs, and while Github works for many people,\nit does not work for everyone.\n\nAgain, I'm not prepared to say codeplane represents a solution for all these\npeople...many will simply go to bit-bucket, handle it themselves, etc... but I\nthink it works for at least some of them.\n\n------\nselectnull\nOne plan, one price seems like a good tagline, but what if a user needs more\nthan 2GB? I guess you'll want to charge them more money for more space, and\neventually will have more plans, or will charge per GB?\n\nBtw, I like both the idea and execution. Good luck... :)\n\n~~~\nfnando\nYeah, There will be a way for buying additional storage. You'll by a whole GB.\nDon't want to have different plans, though.\n\n------\nZolomon\n<http://blog.codeplane.com/>\n\n------\nbad_user\nI configured a Git server on my EC2 micro-instance and just use that.\n\nI was a paying GitHub customer until I decided that I spent too much money on\nonline subscriptions. But when I'll pay for a Git hosting service again, I'm\ngoing back to GitHub, as I'm still a happy user of their free account. GitHub\nrocks.\n\nSure, competition is good, but I don't get what codeplane.com is offering,\nconsidering that configuring your own in-the-cloud repository is so easy on a\nVPS (that you're likely to have anyway and be left unused to its full\npotential otherwise).\n\n------\njjm\nMust admit I do like the price.\n\n------\njs4all\nI like the idea. If there is a niche for a git hosting alternative, you guys\nhave found it at the right time. I wish you all the best.\n\n~~~\nfnando\nThanks! ;)\n\n------\nguivinicius\nI'm using codeplane for quite a month ... it's really good.\n\nI think the only thing i will miss from github, is the feature to view your\ncode online.\n\n------\nsktrdie\nhow do these startups get beautiful page designs? hiring those level of\ndesigners would require lots of $$ if you ask me.\n\n~~~\nfnando\nActually, I did it by myself. I have a BS, but I always liked design and I've\nbeing doing my own designs through the years! ;)\n\n~~~\nteyc\nIt is stunningly beautiful. Can you sell it as a theme, on Themeforest? say?\n\n~~~\nfnando\nI don't think I wanna do that! :)\n\n------\nhunvreus\nInteresting; I actually have an Github organization account for my company but\nI could definitely see myself using that service. I could easily Gitosis or\nGitolite on one of my instances but tend to prefer focusing our sysadmin man\npower on our products and clients.\n\n------\nhappypeter\nThanks for building a low cost alternative.\n\nHere is my advice. What github looks charming to me is the wonderful service\nfor free plan users. I think this is wise, build a huge audience, and then\n\"out-teach\" them to be their potential customer. Success comes after the fame.\n\n------\nudoprog\nI don't get it, why is setting up a private git repository on your own server\na hassle?\n\nAssuming you have ssh access (compacted for clarity):\n\n    \n    \n      ssh server \"git init --bare repo/project.git\"\n      git clone server:repo/project.git\n    \n\nAm I missing something?\n\nEDIT: mkdir superfluous\n\n~~~\nJonnieCache\nThat doesn't handle the multi-user authentication/authorisation.\n\n~~~\nudoprog\nYes it does, however it doesn't provide granularity for multiple users of the\nsame server, and unless you go for vanilla could be troublesome to customize\nthrough something like pam. I simply commented on the non-issue with creating\nprivate repositories.\n\nA service like this is nice if you don't have the ability or time to setup\nyour own environments, but in my opinion could be risking a very slim user\nscenario.\n\n------\njarin\nI just use Assembla for \"dead\" projects. Unlimited free Git repos, as long as\nyou don't need any of the fancy management stuff:\n<http://offers.assembla.com/free-git-repo/>\n\n------\npatrickod\nGreat looking product and very much like your way of thinking in assigning\nspace and not a set number of repos. I'm a github user and have been for a\nwhile but such competition would make me reconsider in the future. best of\nluck with it.\n\n------\njvandenbroeck\nThe Github price structure might not be the best for this use case. But Github\nis simply the best to manage your repo's, I don't think this is going to\nchange anytime soon.\n\nIt might be a better idea for Github to allow projects to be archived.\n\n------\noceanician\nI think this site is better value: <http://www.svnrepository.com>\n\nHowever you may well have something on the keeping it simpler approach.\n\nI'm very happy that more people are going to compete with github :)\n\n------\nadharmad\nI use rsync.net with git: [http://blog.kozubik.com/john_kozubik/2010/02/git-\nand-subvers...](http://blog.kozubik.com/john_kozubik/2010/02/git-and-\nsubversion-support-at-rsyncnet.html)\n\nWorks pretty well.\n\n------\ntrustfundbaby\nMore screenshots of the web interface (or a walkthrough video) would be nice.\n\n------\natrain34\n(honestly afraid to comment, but what the hell.)\n\ni know its not git, but bitbucket (mercurial, same type of dvcs as github) has\nfree private and unlimited repository hosting.\n\n------\nwhather\nI would make the dotted homepage background a little fainter. It makes the\ntext a little hard to read and I find myself squinting.\n\n------\nj15e\nI like repositoryhosting.com for 6$/month you get unlimited users/repositories\nand support for git, svn, hg\n\n------\nrs\nThere is <http://xp-dev.com> for unlimited repos as well\n\n------\nkevinburke\nBitbucket offers unlimited numbers of repos for free (they only care about\nnumber of committers).\n\n------\ndlikhten\nplease note: slsapp.com already has features you ask for. You have lots of\narchive repos. You are allowed (even on free account) unlimited view-only\nrepositories and they charge mainly by space/active repos.\n\nHowever I still see the value in this service, and I like it.\n\n------\nswah\nJust curious... are you brazilian?\n\n~~~\nfnando\nYes, I am! :D\n\n------\ntuna\nI liked that I dont need to do this setup myself and that I can integrate with\nS3.\n\n~~~\nfnando\nExactly my point! People can always set up their own stuff. The question is\n\"is it worth?\"\n\n------\nCreate\n<http://www.gitorious.org/>\n\n~~~\nthomasfl\nGitorious is both a free site and an open sourced project web app. Strange\nthis hasn't been mentioned before in this thread.\n\n------\nveyron\nIs there a way to link this with a project management tool like basecamp?\n\n~~~\nfnando\nNot yet! Basecamp and some others tools like Pivotal Tracker will be\nintegrated at the right time. ;)\n\n------\nshapeshed\nGit is simple enough to set up with some basic unix skills and with something\nlike gitosis you can manage access to repos. GitHub has added many more\nfeatures and make collaborating super simple. Totally worth it IMHO. Git is\nnot just Github though.\n\n------\ntommoor\nGreat idea, well executed - im sure you will do well!\n\n------\nLimes102\nReally beautiful and easy to use. Very impressed!\n\n------\nn9com\nfyi - it's already been done few years ago, <http://repositoryhosting.com/>\n\n------\ngcb\n30 day trial for a long term usage pattern?\n\ngive me free accounts with a few MBs and you have yourself a user base.\n\ngithub didnt get that size with 9/mo plans...\n\n------\nandrewnez\nIf your developers are spending more than 5 minutes a month managing,\nmonitoring and looking after their repositories then you are doing it wrong.\n\nGithub's monthly fees are so much cheaper than the cost of your developers\ntime and happiness.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLawyer who argued for Internet sales taxes admits he doesn't pay them - gnicholas\nhttps://medium.com/@nicklum/the-attorney-who-convinced-the-supreme-court-to-allow-internet-sales-taxes-just-admitted-that-hes-a7ef9ce8ae35\n======\nedbaskerville\nI see this as a great argument for his side, actually. State governments need\nto be able to enforce taxation at the time of the transaction, because it's\ngoing to be impossible to collect otherwise. Without an effective collection\nand enforcement mechanism, of course individuals won't go out of their way to\nmake extra payments! Even the tax lawyer arguing the case isn't going out of\nhis way to pay!\n\nThe question of whether states should be able to charge this tax in the first\nplace is another conversation. But if you accept that levying these taxes is\nthe right choice for society, there needs to be a viable collection mechanism.\n\n~~~\ngnicholas\nYeah good point, though probably one could make this point by showing\nstatistics about how much tax is due versus paid. I’m sure the numbers are\nstark.\n\n------\nchrisbennet\nWhile the implementation of the tax may be poor (expecting everyone selling\nsomething on the internet to know the tax for 1000’s of addresses) it\ncertainly seems fair that the tax should be paid.\n\nAs a compromise, if the only the state tax was due, that would be something.\n\n~~~\ngnicholas\nThat does seem like a much fairer compromise. In the law at issue, a business\ncould be required to charge and remit taxes if they had just 200 transactions\nwith residents in the state. If this means compliance with dozens or hundreds\nof county laws, that could be burdensome.\n\n------\ngnicholas\nNote: I'm the author. I used to be a tax lawyer, before getting into the\nstartup life. Hopefully this piece appeals to non-lawyers and general-purpose\nreaders. Would love to hear comments from fellow HNers!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nReaching and re-engaging users on the mobile web - cjdulberger\nhttp://blog.chromium.org/2015/04/reaching-and-re-engaging-users-on.html\n\n======\nuntog\nThis is pretty interesting. I remember some time ago Vox Media (who make The\nVerge and Polygon along with Vox itself) declared that they were going web-\nonly:\n\n[http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/2/6096609/welcome-to-\nverge-2-...](http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/2/6096609/welcome-to-verge-2-0)\n\nIt doesn't seem to have hurt them - but push notifications are probably the #1\nfeature that differentiates between webapps and native apps in a context like\nthis. I wonder if they'll take advantage.\n\n(as with all things mobile web, this comes with the huge caveat that Apple\nhave no intention of doing this (despite having similar functionality on\ndesktop), and want to force everyone to use native apps, so it's unlikely to\nbe a complete solution any time soon)\n\n~~~\nsosborn\nPersonally I can't think of anything I want less than push notifications from\nwebsites.\n\n~~~\nuntog\nWhy, though? Or, put another way, why are push notifications from apps fine\nwhen push notifications from web sites are not?\n\n~~~\nsosborn\nHonestly the only notifications I care about are email, text messages and\nphone calls. The rest can all go to hell. Again, this is just my personal\ntaste.\n\n~~~\nkinlan\nI think that is fine. You can disable notifications and push completely, and\nyou can not accept the prompt if you don't want to go that far. We are trying\nto be careful and make this opt-in only and clear to the user about the value\nthat they can get from it (if they choose it)\n\n------\nthemodelplumber\nThis is cool to see. The other day a client with about zero technical\nexpertise told me she had won a grant to develop an app, then went on to\nexplain \"it has to be a web app that can be used offline; it can't be a\nregular app.\" I was pretty blown away and immediately offered to code it for\nher, just because I'd much rather build and promote this kind of app. These\nnew Chromium features give me hope that it might be even easier to enhance web\napps across the board, in the future.\n\nThe downside (or frustrating side) with this project is that 1/4 of the grant\nmoney is set aside for coding the web app, and while it's not a teeny sum, I'm\nwondering just how much \"app planning expertise\" is being brought into the\ngame by whoever's getting the other 3/4.\n\n~~~\nkarmelapple\nYou are part of that 3/4.\n\nA proof of concept or mockup to verify that you've correctly captured\nrequirements? Sounds like planning to me.\n\nDetermining which technology stack is best, including building (to be clear, I\nmean coding) some basic systems to test out if your assumptions about\nperformance and writing the pieces are correct? That's planning.\n\nAnd so on.\n\nHours spent writing code are not mutually exclusive to hours spent planning\nfor the success of a software project.\n\n------\nchimeracoder\nIt's kind of interesting to see Android, Chrome, and FirefoxOS all rushing\ntowards the same point, though from different directions.\n\nChrome is trying to \"nativify\" the browser, and making the browser a more\nseamless part of navigating Android[0].\n\nWith FirefoxOS, the webapp is already native, and the goal is to browserify\nthe native OS (in other words, to make the operating system itself inside the\nbrowser).\n\n[0] I say Android specifically because this integration already goes much\ndeeper on Android than on iOS, simply because it can.\n\n------\ndublinben\nIt would be a significant step towards \"reaching and re-engaging users\" if\nGoogle would make it possible to actually build a functional Chromium browser\nfor Android. Since they've completely abandoned the default AOSP browser in\nfavor of Chrome, there is no longer an up to date browser in AOSP.\n\n~~~\nkinlan\nMy understanding is that there is a up to date Browser. The browser app has\nalways been built with a WebView and the latest WebView is pointing to almost\nthe tip of the development tree of Chromium.\n\n------\nkadder\ninteresting , wonder how quickly will sites like HN, reddit jump on the\nbandwagon. Will be interesting to compare the experience to native push\nnotifications\n\n~~~\nkinlan\nIf you know people at HN, then I am happy to work with them to get a test\nimplemented.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: How to prepare for an interview at a startup - mmackh\n\nI've been contacted a few startups, who noticed the Open Source work I had done this year. They had requested to speak to me via phone to do an interview. What is the best way to prepare for such an interview?\nIs there a resource that I could refer to?<p>The problem is that I have not had a formal CS education. I started coding ~1 year ago, and algorithms are not my strong suite. What kinds of questions do you like to ask and interviewee, what questions have you been asked?<p>Thanks!\n======\nnayefc\nHere's what I've learned from talking to many startups:\n\n1- First step would be a casual phone call to learn about each other. Make\nsure you also learn about them and ask them tough questions about their\nbusiness. Both of you are interviewing each other: it's not just that they're\ninterviewing you. You don't want to suck up to a startup which you don't\nbelieve in and end up signing an offer there.\n\n2- If all goes well, most will schedule a Skype coding interview. You just\nhave to be prepared for those and that comes from experience (which you should\nhave from your open source experience). Don't pull an all-nighter learning\nalgorithms as they will almost certainly ask you a question that you couldn't\ncover the night before. Hints: learn a dynamic interpreted and use it (Python,\nRuby etc...). I made the mistake of doing those in C in the beginning and got\nstuck on the details / writing more code that they wanted in an hour long\ninterview. Some were impressed by my C skills, but that's not exactly what\nthey're testing here. Instead, most are looking at the bigger picture at this\npoint. i.e: they're seeing if you can you write a quick draft solution, and\noptimize it later instead of seeing if you can properly allocate a struct in C\nand place different struct types in one list. (Writing such an array takes\nquite sometime --> they might be interested in how you'd design it instead of\nactually doing it at this point).\n\n3- Then comes the onsite interview. This is where you get to meet the team,\nsee the office, the location and experience a day at that startup. This is\nvery important. Your initial gut feeling is more important than you think. If\nyou don't feel comfortable, then do not sign an offer. You'll be at that\noffice at least 40 hours a week with the same people. You MUST be very\ncomfortable working with them.\n\nStartups will often interview you for at least a few hours on different areas.\nDesign, coding, algorithms etc... Just do your best and the single thing that\nthey care about here is that you can actually write code that works and make\ngood decisions. It does not have to be perfect, but it has to work. They're\nlooking for someone who can build something roughly in a few hours, and then\nexplain the shortcomings (so that it can later be optimized). Someone who can\nget things done, and perhaps become a leader later on. Since you've\ncontributed to open source, you should have absolutely no problem here.\n\nGood luck!\n\n------\nrelaunched\nI'll let you in on a dirty little secret. While you find amazing brains at\nstartups, most of those guys spend 80%+ of their time writing non-sexy code.\nAs such, most startups are looking for people that can crank out well\norganized, simple code, with outstanding test coverage and thorough\ndocumentation.\n\nThe number of man-hours that are dedicated to the fancy stuff you read about\non HN is a very small percentage of the work that's being done. And, unless\nyou are brought in for your very specific expertise (which doesn't sound like\nit's the case), you won't be getting to do the fancy stuff anyway; though,\nyou'll probably get an opportunity to learn from those who are.\n\nGet a lot of sleep, make sure you keep in mind that they are looking for\nsomeone who can work within a distributed code base and practice explaining\nyour thinking related to why you decided to do one thing over another. If you\ndo that, you'll be fine.\n\n------\nalphast0rm\nIf you have enough time I would highly recommend reading \"Cracking the Coding\nInterview\" by Gayle Laakmann McDowell [1]. She does a very good job covering\nall aspects of the interview process and the problems and solutions will most\ndefinitely help you improve your algorithm and data structure skills.\n\n[1] [http://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Coding-Interview-\nProgramming-...](http://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Coding-Interview-Programming-\nQuestions/dp/098478280X)\n\n------\nshail\nI think you already have something to offer to them. That's why they contacted\nyou, so my suggestion would be to focus on what you have achieved until now\n(open source projects). What you did, Why you did, what mistakes you made,\nwhat you learned from them etc.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nMicrobes that eat and breathe electricity - gnrlbzik\nhttp://www.popsci.com/node/223292/?cmpid=enews012215\n\n======\ngnrlbzik\nStill can't wrap my head around this.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Txr – Transfer files/directories to others with WebSocket streams - whatl3y\nhttps://github.com/whatl3y/txr\n======\ncannedslime\nInterresting but it really doesn't seem that simple. I usually just use rsync\nwhenever I need to move some stuff from one machine to the other.\n\nI can't really take your word for it that you won't store any files,\nfurthermore that might not even be legal, depedending on your country you must\nlog transactions as a service provider.\n\nWhat about SSL / encryption if you want to run the server your self, I took a\npeek at the source code and it be nice if certificate was configurable through\nthe config files or ENV vars.\n\nI think WebSockets should stay in the browser, but maybe that is just me being\npedantic.\n\n~~~\nwhatl3y\nThanks for the feedback and recommendations. I agree I could add support for\nan SSL cert to be used within the express server (today the Heroku dyno is\njust using Let's Encrypt, which is abstracted from the app itself). I imagine\nI could add this over a weekend that I have time in the near future.\n\n> _Interresting but it really doesn 't seem that simple..._\n\nThanks for the feedback, but can you elaborate on how you feel it's not? I'm\nnot sure it could get any simpler to send files than `txr listen username` and\n`txr send -u username -f filepath`, but I'm willing to listen. Maybe you mean\nsetting up the server isn't simple? Even that is as easy as `txr-server` from\nthe command line though with the package installed...\n\n> _I can 't really take your word for it that you won't store any files..._\n\nI appreciate this sentiment, but that's why the server component is included\nin the package. If you don't trust the default server on Heroku (which is\nprimarily just for someone to quickly gain an understanding of how to use it,\nnot to actually use permanently moving forward), set up a server on your\nmachine or local network and use it instead :)\n\n------\nsaganus\nInteresting.\n\nWould it make sense to pair this with WireGuard, to provide end-to-end\nencrypted file transfer?\n\nIf we setup a WireGuard connections between two nodes, then run the server and\nclient through this link, it should work seamlessly, right?\n\n------\nxori\nWell fucking done. I wanted to build this ~5 years ago, but nodejs wasn't\nmature enough. I tried in Java but doing your own UPnP implementation is no\nfun.\n\n~~~\nwhatl3y\nThanks! Yeah nodejs streams and async IO seemed like an ideal use case for\nthis type of tool, plus I wanted to have the easiest approach to passing files\nbetween 2 people as possible (we use it at work all the time). Obv a lot has\nhappened in 5 years with nodejs, so I realize it was likely an order of\nmagnitude easier for me to get up-and-running in the last couple months with\nthis tool than it would've been for you 5 years ago haha.\n\n------\nkazinator\nName taken almost nine years ago by the TXR Language.\n\n~~~\nwhatl3y\nThanks for the heads up on the name clash (obviously never heard of the TXR\nlanguage before this). I named it based on a couple of factors being 1.\nsomething that's easy to remember and makes sense (txr ~ transfer) and 2. the\nNPM module name wasn't taken yet :)\n\nI can change the name, but our projects are pretty much totally different and\nI'm not trying to make any money off this tool so would prefer to just leave\nit as is if it won't confuse too many people.\n\n~~~\nkazinator\n> _obviously never heard_\n\nIn 2009, I didn't rely on what I heard of or hadn't heard of; I googled very\nthoroughly before naming my project and its principal executable.\n\nA name clash is a problem for any FOSS distro that builds both packages.\nPeople don't directly choose and use everything that is installed in a distro.\nA lot of is is pulled in by dependencies, for instance.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCooking in Silico: Heat Transfer in the Modern Kitchen [video] - phreeza\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGKSdQJrIWY\n======\nSynaesthesia\nAll-round genius Nathan Myhrvold shows a classroom a preview on his new tome\non the science of cooking, obtained with state of the art techniques. Great\nvideo thanks!\n\n------\nSynaesthesia\nLove the ice-cream they make at the end!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLibrem 5 Hardware Update - kgwxd\nhttps://puri.sm/posts/librem-5-hardware-update-2/\n======\nzunzun\nHas any technical comparison been made of the Librem 5 and the Pine64 hardware\nor development kit performance? I know that Pine64 will also release a tablet-\nonly version of their phone, but have not seen whether this is planned for the\nLibrem 5.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nA year and a half with Alexa - raimundjoss\nhttps://medium.com/@sawaba/a-year-and-a-half-with-alexa-amazon-echo-9d04e0e2041b#.7m710asve\n======\nesthermun\nThe key to get _magic_ from Alexa long term will be get unsupervised learning\nworking on it, and then shared back across the entire Alexa user base. The\nBrazilian real to USD is a great example. If by the 3rd try it gets the right\nanswer, it should notate that and equate the first 2 questions as similar\nones. I am surprised it couldn't catch the first 2. The word2vec output should\nbe fairly similar.\n\n------\nVLM\n\"In fact, I’ve had to avoid turning into ‘that guy’. I encourage my family to\nuse Alexa, but then I started admonishing them for not recalling the precise\nsequence of words that unlocked the dusty tomb filled with knowledge of\nexchange rates and types of currency.\"\n\nIts interesting that in the last 30 years we've gone from unworkable text\nadventure interfaces to the same unworkable interface in verbal form instead\nof typed/read text. A lot of his story reads as a parody of an Infocom game\nbut spoken instead of typed.\n\n------\njmcdonald-ut\nI'll add my two cents on top of the author's. I have both the Amazon Echo and\nthe Amazon Tap. This article was spot on. I'm perhaps less forgiving than the\nauthor. If Alexa can't answer a question on the first try I'll just give up.\nWhen Alexa does answer a question or a request she usually does a phenomenal\njob and it's just really cool. It really feels futuristic.\n\nEcho is cool, it can be pretty useful, but it hasn't realized its full\npotential yet.\n\nI bought the Tap as a portable speaker to take with me on bike rides with\nfriends. Well I took it out the other day and the minute it lost WiFi\nconnection it just wouldn't work. I'm sure this was a problem on my end, but I\nhad already paired the devices and I wasn't going to spend time fiddling with\nit while I was out with friends.\n\nEDIT: Also it doesn't happen too often but Alexa has definitely accidentally\ntriggered. It even woke me up at 2 AM after the power went out temporarily to\ntell me that it had no WiFi.\n\n~~~\nwccrawford\nWe've only had our Echo a couple weeks, but we've already found that\ncharacters named Alexa in TV shows are a problem, and that at least once it\nhas responded to something that wasn't \"Alexa\" from the TV. So yeah, it\ndefinitely has false positives.\n\n------\nspdustin\nI don't know what the hell is going on at the author's house, but I have both\nan Xbox One (with active Kinect) and an Amazon Echo in the living room, along\nwith two kids, and I can count on one fist how many times either of them have\nactivated accidentally. That is to say, zero.\n\n~~~\nuslic001\nI occasionally have it activate accidentally. Maybe once a week on average.\nUsually when the TV is on or when my wife and I are talking. For how much the\nTV is on in the room where she is set up this in not too bad.\n\n------\ngiovannibajo1\nConsider that Google and Apple get those questions right at the first time; so\nit's not that we need to wait for science from the future to have a \"working\"\ndigital assistant in the home; we just need one from one of those two company.\nAnd if that still paired with my Amazon account for the shopping pat, it'd be\ngreat :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: How do detect a crappy boss / toxic environment when interviewing? - isuckatcoding\nI am currently working in a position that felt like a great startup to work at during my interview. However, a few months into the job I realized my boss was a complete and utter asshole. Given this is my first job out of college, I&#x27;ve stuck with it and I am looking for a new role. How can I detect during the interview &#x2F; research phase to avoid such situations?<p>Some things I&#x27;ve been doing is looking at Glassdoor but the problem with that is the reviews are highly dependent on the role, or the department or some manager who may or may not still be at the company.<p>I am a pretty average developer which is why I was kind of desperate for that first job out of college but after getting more experience, I know I can do better than this.\n======\nbpchaps\n-If respect isn't reciprocal, run.\n\n-If you only get canned questions, run.\n\n-If questions are machine gunned without any followups, run.\n\n-If the hiring/interview process is needlessly complicated, run.\n\n-If they give you an IQ test or similar, run.\n\n-If they're not paying attention [0], run.\n\n-If a pattern exists of mistakes (forgot to call, etc), run.\n\n-If, when discussing pay, HR says \"Yeah, sometimes we hire people knowing they won't last and only fit a political agenda.\"..... run. True story.\n\n-If the recruiter tells you, \"The path you're going down will lead to failure unless you do a startup. Frankly, I don't see you doing a startup\"... run. Also true story.\n\n..Ultimately, it comes down to gauging how \"human\" they are towards you. If\nthe interviewer[s] lacks empathy, it's a sign somewhere up the chain that\nsomething's not right. Mind you, that's not to say that the interviewer\ndoesn't necessarily have empathy.\n\n[0] Seriously, this happens at about 20% of my interviews. Put away your\nfucking laptop and just listen, interviewers!\n\n~~~\njotux\n>If you only get canned questions\n\n>If they give you an IQ test or similar, run.\n\nI ran across this study a few months ago that says IQ-like tests, structured\ninterviews (canned questions), and work-sample evaluations were some of the\nfew useful interview tools for selecting good employees [1].\n\n[1].\n[http://mavweb.mnsu.edu/howard/Schmidt%20and%20Hunter%201998%...](http://mavweb.mnsu.edu/howard/Schmidt%20and%20Hunter%201998%20Validity%20and%20Utility%20Psychological%20Bulletin.pdf)\n\n~~~\njraines\nCurious about OP's assertion on this as well. Only one I ever got was from a\ncompany widely regarded as one of the best to work for in Atlanta (I ended up\nnot taking their offer so I can't say).\n\nUnrelated to that -- one of my personal red flags is poor handling of the post\ninterview follow up. If a company drags their feet, gives conflicting signals\nabout next steps, etc., they probably are a mess.\n\n~~~\npfooti\nSpeaking as someone with a cognitive science background (and yes, probably too\nlazy to dig up specific references), I'll say that there exist a _lot_ of\npoorly designed or poorly implemented tests of \"intelligence\". Even the\nconcept of intelligence is poorly defined, and lots of different measures are\njust proxies. Even if the test is good and has some psychometric utility,\noften giving the test is a giant pain to do well.\n\nEven if the test is good, it's probably calibrated on WEIRD [0] subjects, so\nis really only good as another kind of gatekeeper - you can probably use old-\nschool IQ tests as an excuse to reduce diversity. People who aren't WEIRD may\nnot do as well on these tests (even though they're just as \"intelligent\"\n(parenthetically bracketing the ill-defined term for a moment)), so you have\nyour reason that you only hire white dudes. But that's a cynical extension of\nlogic there.\n\nMost people, when approaching a psychometric test like one of intelligence or\npersonality make the first incorrect assumption that modern cognitive science\ncan actually form a construct like \"personality type\" or \"intelligence\" that's\nstable across all cultures and norms, testable, and repeatable. That's just\nnot really true, and by and large what makes it to public consumption is\npseudo-science.\n\nDiverting just a little bit here, but MBTI [1] is another good example of bad\nuse of psychometrics in business. There's about as much science supporting\nMyers-Briggs tests as there is astrology, yet people still use MBTI for actual\ndecision making. Types aren't shown to be stable and they're not well-\nclustered (meaning you can be a mix of introvert and extrovert, or show signs\nof both depending on the day, context, mood). Zodiac Sign and MBTI Type should\nonly be used as pick-up lines in a bar. \"Hey, babe, I'm an INTJ, so I'm not\ngoing to say anything else.\"\n\nThere are good uses of psychometrics, but they're rare enough that I take any\nreliance on any kind of psychometric during hiring as kind of a bad sign.\n\n0: [http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/primate-diaries/the-\nweir...](http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/primate-diaries/the-weird-\nevolution-of-human-psychology/) 1: [https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/give-\nand-take/201309/go...](https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/give-and-\ntake/201309/goodbye-mbti-the-fad-won-t-die)\n\n~~~\ndisgruntledphd2\nTo be fair, I think that Raven's matrices probably get around this. If someone\nexplains the process to you, you don't actually need to be able to read to do\nwell on the test.\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven%27s_Progressive_Matrices](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven%27s_Progressive_Matrices)\n\nI do find it surprising that Raven's appears to be more susceptable to the\nFlynn effect (people keep getting better at IQ tests, for an unknown reason).\n\nCompletely agreed on the MBTI, but its surprisingly difficult to convince\npeople that's its useful.\n\nFWIW, I agree with most of what you said above, I was just pointing out a\ncounter-example. (Psychologist/psychometrician here).\n\n~~~\npfooti\nYes, I agree that Raven's matrices are pretty good at measuring something in a\nway that's not super-reliant on language. I'm not inherently opposed to the\nnotion of generalized intelligence as a construct either, I just think\nmeasuring it is pretty tricky. The Flynn effect is another great example -\nthese instruments are nuanced, and it's important to really understand them in\norder to interpret their results.\n\n~~~\ndisgruntledphd2\nTotally agree, I'm somewhat in sympathy with Shalizi's argument that g is just\nthe result of iterated factor analysis. That being said, done well, these\nkinds of tests can provide useful data, especially if you're willing to\nrandomly hire to calibrate performance (which no one ever is, sadly).\n\n------\nsalsakran\nOn some level, you never really know. People often behave differently when\ninterviewing (or trying to close you) than normally, let alone during\nstressful periods.\n\nThe low hanging fruit here is:\n\n* ALWAYS spend time with your future boss prior to accepting. Ideally try to spend as much time as you reasonably can. If this isn't possible push back pretty hard about why. Your direct manager is usually the biggest reason for your unhappiness at a job. \"People don't leave jobs, they leave bosses\" is a cliche for a reason.\n\n* If people seem unhappy when you interview, don't assume it's just how they feel that day.\n\n* Make sure you get a sense for the culture and whether you want to be part of it. If you're not into constant group activity, make sure you're not joining a hyper-intense \"everyone hangs out with each other all the time\" sort of place. Conversely if you're new in town, don't join a company where everyone is focused on working hyper efficiently and bouncing to go home to their families. Neither is right or wrong, but they can definitely be right or wrong for you.\n\n* If you're connected, track down people who left the company and ask about your future boss. Were they hard to work with? Do people like them? If you have friends at the company (ideally, not reporting to your potential boss) ask about how your boss (and the department) is perceived by the rest of the company.\n\n* Hit up linkedin and track down ex employees, ideally in the same job role. See where they ended up, and hit them up and ask why.\n\nGood luck!\n\n~~~\nmundo\n> ALWAYS spend time with your future boss prior to accepting.\n\nAgreed, this is really effective albeit sadly not very common. You could say\nsomething like, \"Hey, I thought the interview went really well, but I'd like\nto get together for an hour or so and just talk about software methodology and\nabout your company's products to see if we're on the same page,\" but what\nyou're really doing is interviewing your new boss. I don't think any good\nhiring manager will turn down a request like this.\n\n------\nHomunculiheaded\nHere's an interview question I always ask that has worked pretty well:\n\n\"If you could wave a wand and instantly change one thing about this\ncompany/job/team, what would it be?\"\n\nThis is similar to \"what is wrong\" but frames it in a positive light, so\npeople are more open and creative.\n\nIf the answer is anything about people \"I wish communication was better\", \"It\nwould help if more people were on board for this project\", \"A change in\nmanagement wouldn't hurt, haha j/k\" etc. That's a red flag.\n\nIf it's about non-people \"I wish we didn't have so much legacy code\", \"I would\nlove it if we could get our testing setup better\", \"There are no good places\nto get coffee around\" that's a good sign that aren't major people problems.\n\nIf they can't think of one, that's a real cause for concern!\n\nThis is one of my favorite questions in general because what people wish for\ntells a lot in many ways about the major problems, but without people begin\nguarded. They're fantasizing not venting.\n\n~~~\nf0rfun\nCan you explain why if it's anything about people, it's a red flag?\n\nIf anything, the social aspect of a job is equally or more important in my\nsearch for a job.\n\n~~~\nridgeguy\nDon't know wrt the OP, but I think people problems are much more difficult to\nremedy than problems rooted in technology.\n\n------\ngeoelectric\nOne basic way is to ask your interviewers what they like about their job.\nYou're going to get a positive response, but is it hand-wavy or specific? Is\nit too specific, like they're just cherry-picking the one thing that keeps\nthem employed there? Is there light in their eyes or are they reading a\nscript?\n\nAnother way is to ask how decisions get made. Again, the specific answer is\ngoing to probably be something pretty non-controversial, so look for the\nsubtleties.\n\nSometimes it's just obvious that it's too risky. I had one interview where the\nhiring manager's boss managed to freeze him out of his own loop. I ran from\nthat one.\n\nAlso, you should be very skeptical if you felt like your interviews with\nindividual contributors were lukewarm or poor but you still get the offer.\nThat's very possibly a boss overriding flags from his team, or a team that's\ndeadened enough to not throw flags in the first place. If _you_ don't feel the\ninterview went well, trust your gut--might not be just your fault.\n\n~~~\nphonebanshee\nYes - and be very direct about this. Ask them \"So why do you like this job?\nWhy is this a great place to work?\" I've had someone pause, look at me and\ntell me why it was a bad place and I should run away.\n\n~~~\ngeoelectric\nI had a hiring manager make me an attractive offer--and then in the next\nbreath tell me that he was planning on leaving the company, and I should run.\nThe gist was \"my boss is watching so I have to make the offer, but he'll pop\ninto your office at 4PM and tell you you're working until 9PM on a regular\nbasis and otherwise interferes constantly. I've been unable to protect my team\nfrom this. You can do better.\"\n\nI sent him an explicit \"thanks for the generous offer, but I've chosen to go\nelsewhere after consideration\" email so he had something to forward, thanked\nhim kindly privately, and ran like hell.\n\nIt's pretty amazing what you'll run into across a career. I've probably seen\nmore WTFs from the hiring side of the table than from the people I've\ninterviewed to hire.\n\n------\nthrowawaytrain\nI too have recently started a new job. I had a phone screen with the hiring\nmanager, then met with him for a two-hour 1-on-1 interview. Some time later I\nwas given the offer and accepted it.\n\nI never met any of my future team members. I asked the hiring manager during\nthe interview to introduce me to the team, but he said this wasn't going to be\nnecessary.\n\nNow, a few months into the job, I must say that I've never worked on any team\ncomposed of such antisocial people. Pretty much no one here communicates\neffectively. Cliques are demarcated along racial lines; there Chinese and\nIndian groups don't really talk to each other, and don't \"accept new members\"\nthat don't speak their language.\n\nThis is the loneliest place I'd ever worked. What's surprising is that I never\nthought I could be so lonely at work of all places.\n\nSo, lesson learned: if you aren't allowed to do a meet-and-greet with the team\nbefore accepting an offer, don't even think about taking it!\n\n~~~\nballs187\n> Chinese and Indian groups don't really talk to each other, and don't \"accept\n> new members\" that don't speak their language.\n\nThis is pretty common among both racial groups.\n\nAnd, if we're talking about the US, it was common across pretty much every\nethnic group that emigrated here.\n\n~~~\ndba7dba\nIn this context it's the fault of managers. Sure racial lines exist but such\nhostility should not be allowed to exist by management.\n\n------\ngrandalf\nBosses can fall short in a lot of ways. While your intuitions might clue you\nin to some failings, others are very difficult to spot. My advice would be:\n\n\\- Do the others on the team seem happy? Did you get to meet any during the\ninterview process? Do they seem to be happy to work there and comfortable in\nthe environment?\n\n\\- Does everyone seem to get quiet or smile officiously around the boss?\nThat's a big warning sign. It probably means the boss is a bit of a tyrant or\nmaintains an unhealthy power differential with the team. There is absolutely\nno room for this kind of posturing in a startup.\n\n\\- Do you witness anyone coming to the boss for help with something? If so,\nand if the boss responds in a positive way, it's a great sign. A good boss is\nsomeone who is there to help everyone succeed and lend expertise when asked.\n\n\\- Does the boss say anything disparaging about the other team members during\nthe interview? Look out for indignant, judgy sorts of comments that indicate\nthat the boss feels shortchanged by the team he/she has (unless you are\nexplicitly being hired to single-handedly turn the team around).\n\n\\- Is the hiring manager, founder, etc., transparent about runway, the cap\ntable, and turnover rates? Playing it close to the vest about any of the three\nis a very bad sign.\n\n\\- Do you see any VCs or investors stopping by uninvited and just hanging out?\nIf so that's a good sign and means there is transparency with investors (which\ndoesn't happen in all startups).\n\n\\- Are there \"big company sounding\" organizational titles like \"Senior\nDirector\", \"Senior VP of x\", \"Senior Engineer\", etc? If the company has fewer\nthan 200 employees, titles like these indicate a wide array of culture\nproblems, usually starting at the top.\n\n~~~\nHappyTypist\nThe last point can be unreliable, so use your own judgement. At my current\ncompany people make up their own titles, so we have a \"Vice President of\nEngineering\" and a \"Chief Alcoholic\".\n\n~~~\ngrandalf\nThose are fine, I'm referring to the minor gradations on each role, as in\nSenior Manager Level 5, etc. Those are necessary in large, bureaucratic\norganizations where working one's way up a predictable ladder is the goal. In\na startup, anyone who is more concerned with his/her title than with\nexperience and results is likely better suited for a large, bureaucratic\ncompany where those HR-concocted titles are respected.\n\n------\ndjloche\nThe best way is to interview your future boss in the interview process. Ask\nabout their management style. Ask about how many meetings they are in each\nday, and the average meeting length. Ask about how they stay organized, ask\nabout what tools or systems they use. Ask about what recent technologies\nthey're excited about. Ask about the team and the individual team members.\n\nWhen you are interviewing somewhere, treat it as if they are trying to\nconvince you and you need to ask a ton of questions to figure out if they are\na good fit or not.\n\nFrame these questions in positive, generous light so you seem like you\ngenuinely want to work for them and are just trying to get all the details.\n\n\"What is the thing that most pleasantly surprised you when you started working\nhere?\"\n\n~~~\nbostik\n> _When you are interviewing somewhere, treat it as if they are trying to\n> convince you and you need to ask a ton of questions to figure out if they\n> are a good fit or not._\n\nAs someone who interviews quite a lot of engineering candidates: we ARE trying\nto convince you. That is no secret.\n\nWe want to know what kind of an engineer you are. If you're good enough, or\nshow aptitude to make up the lack of any otherwise expected skills, we are\ninterested. Even if we decide to pass, you _still_ deserve the same attention\nas any other candidate. Treating a candidate poorly for any reason is bad PR,\nand perhaps more importantly signals internal consent that it's okay to be\nrude. That sets a bad example. (You do that once, don't get told off, and soon\nenough others have picked up on it because who would want to spend any more\ntime on candidates we won't hire?)\n\nWhen it comes to hiring, _everything is PR_.\n\n------\nnoah__\nI have about 12 years of exp. Have worked with all kinds of companies\nstartups\\bluechips\\valley\\wall st etc.\n\nOver time I have reduced paying attention to what they are dangling in front\nof me, be it compensation or interesting stuff I want to work on.\n\nI now mostly pay attention to the people. Specifically the quality AND loyalty\nof people to the firm\\manager\\founder etc. The AND is critical. If its just\none or the other I walk. So for example, if its a 3 year old team and there is\nno one \"smart\" who has lasted atleast 2 years its a good sign to walk. If its\na 6 year old firm and there is no one who has lasted atleast 2 years it's a\ngreat sign to walk. If there are people who have lasted and aren't \"quality\"\nits also not worth it. My definition of quality is they are smarter than me,\nor have done something I have respect for.\n\nIf its a new company I don't work with them unless I personally know the\npeople involved.\n\nWhy these rules?\n\nCause if the people are \"right\" the interesting work and adequate compensation\nfollows. Doesn't matter if the project fails your time with such folk is never\nwasted.\n\n------\ncrispyambulance\nNo, No, No, NO, No (to all the tips and shortcuts)\n\nYour first job out of college has a high probability of being a bad fit and\nthis is especially true if you're desperate to just get hired. So, it didn't\nwork out... happens a lot. The important thing to do is to figure out what YOU\nwant out of a job/workplace and to assess what that potential job can do for\nyour career.\n\nI think its a waste of time to try to figure out some minimal set of \"red\nflags\" to use for future interviews. Just look at the big picture, there's no\nsingle red-flag that will tell you definitively that a place is miserable (nor\nis there a single observation that signals an awesome place-- foozball and\nsnacks won't make up for asshole-driven management).\n\nPerhaps even more important than what you observe during an interview is to\nreally examine your own needs and expectations. SOoooo many people are unhappy\nWHEREVER they go and always blame it on management, co-workers, the industry\nor whatever. This kind of serial discontent is a sign that the there's\nsomething wrong with the individual rather than their workplace(s).\n\n~~~\njudahmeek\nDo you have statistical evidence to support your claim regarding serial\ndiscontentment?\n\n~~~\ncrispyambulance\nNo. I don't know why anyone would even attempt such an experiment. These are\nvery subjective topics and it would be hard to even pose a testable\nhypothesis. My claim is based strictly on life experience.\n\nAll I am saying is that people who take on one job after another and remain\nunhappy would benefit from some serious introspection.\n\nIn other words, as important as it is to evaluate potential employers, it is\njust as important to carefully examine one's expectations and career intent.\n\n~~~\nseeing\nYour words: _\" I think its a waste of time to try to figure out some minimal\nset of \"red flags\"_\n\nDo you truly believe there are no signs for anything?\n\n------\ntomtomAmazon\nLots of good advice here. I'd like to add a key phrase thrown around a lot,\n'A-players'. As in, \"we only hire A-Players for our team.\" Or \"Our team is\nmade of only A-Players. If we hire anything less then the world ends.\" Beware\nwhen managers/cofounders/leads/directors say this. Your bullshit detector\nshould be going off at this point in the process because what they're really\nsaying is that they only hire people like them, egotistical, shallow, puts\nothers down, don't ask for help since you're suppose to know everything,\nexpect them to talk about themselves ALL the time, expect a lot of bullshit (i\nnoticed that a lot of 'A-players' resemble the 'bro' attitude). It is\ndifficult on the first 'pass' to avoid such a situation especially without\nexperience. A company I worked for explicitly targeted young developers\nbecause of the long hours, cheap labor (coder monkey?), the koolaid is easier\nto drink without experience. good luck out there.\n\n------\nfapjacks\nI always ask my go-to \"red flag\" question to all my interviewers. Remember\nthat _you_ are the one that determines what red flags even mean. This works on\neveryone but the CEO:\n\n\"If you could change one thing without veto, what would it be?\"\n\nIf the person describes a technical problem, that's usually a good sign. Long\nsilence is usually good (but can also be a very bad sign if they just can't\npick one thing). Trivial nitpicks are a good sign. _Any_ complaints about\ncommunication are a very big red flag. Also any complaints about leadership.\nObviously, if the problem your interviewer describes is repeated by any other\ninterviewers, that is a big, red flag.\n\nPiece of advice when firing this atomic weapon at your interviewer: Do not\nfill the silence while they think with any talk. Let them think. Let the\nsilence hang. That makes people more likely to dig deep for something they\nreally don't like.\n\n~~~\nJoshTriplett\nIf you were the interviewer, how would you answer that question yourself?\n\n~~~\nfapjacks\nI think I know where you're going, but the point of this question is that it\nis unexpected, which demands honesty from people in most cases. You can't\ntrust a recruiter's answer, but if you're a programmer being interviewed by\nprogrammers, you can usually trust the answers.\n\n~~~\nJoshTriplett\n> I think I know where you're going\n\nNo, I was genuinely interested in the answer. I wanted to see examples of how\nsomeone might answer the question.\n\n> You can't trust a recruiter's answer, but if you're a programmer being\n> interviewed by programmers, you can usually trust the answers.\n\nI'd also be interested in the answer to that question from a first-line or\nsecond-line manager. Whether they answered it honestly or not, the answer\nwould likely be helpful as part of the interview.\n\n~~~\nfapjacks\nOh! If someone asked me that question, I would describe the one change I would\nlike to implement the most! You're exactly right, there are a few things you\ncan measure with this question.\n\n------\nfma\nI've read through most of the answers...and this is one of the few times I'll\nsay it but most of the responses are flat out wrong. Employees at a toxic\ncompany will bullsh-t the answer. I know because I've been the one to\nbullsh-t. The company sucked so bad, the turnover rate was high and the ones\nleft said anything to hire good employees to try to turn projects around. It\nwasn't that the coworkers were bad, or the managers were bad. But it was\nexecutives with unreasonable timelines.\n\nSo how do you prevent this from happening? I personally avoid a company where\nI don't know someone in it, or know someone that knows someone.\n\nAdditionally, there's a nice hidden feature of LinkedIn. You can search for\npeople who used to work there. At one company I interviewed at, I searched and\nfound that those who used to work there...the majority left within a year. It\ntells you something. I had a sense during the interview that the turnover was\nhigh, and again they would BS me about their wonderful culture. Then I spoke\nto someone who used to work there and he confirmed my thoughts. Oh yeah, the\nfact they were going to throw a lot of money at me raised a red flag too (the\ntoxic company I was at threw a lot of money at people too).\n\nGood luck.\n\n------\natom-morgan\nQuestions:\n\n\\- What do you hate about your job?\n\n\\- How unlimited is unlimited vacation?\n\n\\- What's the mean/median number of vacation days taken last year?\n\n\\- How have you shown that you value your employees?\n\n\\- How do you handle disagreements with potential hires?\n\n\\- If the team is split on a technical issue, how would this be resolved?\n\nCompany bullshit (bad signs):\n\n\\- \"We want people who _want_ to work here. If salary is important we aren't\nfor you.\"\n\nUncomfortable answers to any of the questions, run!\n\n~~~\ntechman9\nThe first one is especially important, I find. When I ask the question, \"What\ndo you dislike most about your job?\" or \"If there was one thing you could\nchange about the work environment?\", I expect an interviewer to have an\nimmediate answer prepared. If they don't, I assume that they either lack\ncritical thinking skills and are unable to independently drive change or are\nexpected to just follow orders. I don't have any desire to work at a company\nwhere management does not respect input from employees and employees are not\nencouraged to think about how things could be improved.\n\n~~~\nbiot\nOr management is very receptive and they have opportunities to point out what\ndoes and doesn't work, and the things that don't work get addressed. Once\nsomething is addressed, you tend to clear it from your mind unless the place\nis filled with employees who really like to hold grudges, in which case being\nable to instantly recall all the little wrong things might be a sign you could\nend up with terrible coworkers.\n\nOr having a canned answer means they've encountered this before and have an\nacceptable response ready to go in order to cover up greater faults. If you\nask them and they immediately blurt out \"Sometimes we work too hard\" how\nhonest are they being? It's no different from interviewing a prospective\nemployee and they say \"Sometimes I work too hard\". Thus, an immediately\nprepared answer is a very unreliable indicator. Just maybe they have that\nanswer prepared as experience has taught them to avoid being forthright about\nthe actual problems going on, because then they'd never hire anybody.\n\n(Just playing devil's advocate. I really do think it could go either way,\ndependent on their personality, how their mind works, how management operates,\netc.)\n\n------\ncodingdave\nAsk them directly -- don't phrase it \"Hey, are you an asshole?\", but ask them\nquestions that will help inform you of their approach to the organization:\n\n1) What is your leadership style?\n\n2) How do you resolve conflicts on the team?\n\n3) Tell me about the communication style of the team.\n\nIf you get a chance to talk to team members without the boss being present,\nask similar questions - conflict resolution, communication, collaboration\nstyles, etc. This should give you enough information to judge for yourself if\nit is a healthy team environment, or not.\n\n------\nBurningFrog\nWhen I'm interviewing people, I won't come out and say what's bad about the\nplace, but when asked I will be honest with a future peer.\n\nI think a lot of programmers are the same, so I'd ask the non managers\ninterviewing me what's the place is like to work at.\n\nBut... it's easy to \"fight the last war\" about things like this. So if for\nyour next job, you're 100% focused on finding a boss that's a decent human,\nyou'll probably succeed. But something other major will be wrong.\n\n~~~\nvisarga\nIt's always something unexpected. You can only prepare for things you can\nimagine.\n\nIn hindsight, you realize you care deeply about some particular aspect you\ncarelessly glossed over in the beginning.\n\n------\nedwcar13\nI previously left a company that I thought was great until I realized they\njust wanted cheap work and a moldable individual for both emotion and\ncreativity.\n\nI too just got out of college and tried to find my first job out of school and\ntook the first offer. These are the signs that I picked up on.\n\n\\- Arrived to interview to find that what I applied for was not what I was\ninterviewing for ... RUN! \\- When trying to get a straight answer about\nbenefits or how long individual training may be and getting a lot of \"I'll get\nback to you\" and no one does... RUN\n\n\\- When waiting for your interviewers and recruitment has to come in and ask\nyou if you have already spoken to your interviewers (i.e. their late or no\nshow) ... RUN either they are way to up their own ass or just terrible at time\nmanagement which if it's your future boss means they will have no time for you\n\n\\- Last one promise, when interviewing and you get asked questions that you\nknow the answer you gave to be 100% and they say it's wrong and tell you an\nanswer that isn't correct. Run!\n\nThat interviewer or interviewers indirectly just told you that they dont\nfollow or are going against what the documentation stateted.(in my case how\nelasticsearch is configured)\n\nI.e. you will work in an environment that will leave you with knowledge that\nis incorrect and useless to use in another interview.\n\n------\nHelloNurse\nApart from egregious assholes and dysfunctional relationships (like the\nmentioned husband and wife teams), there are milder and more \"diffuse\" kinds\nof toxic environment.\n\nFor example: within the company, IT is a second class citizen compared to\nproduction, so as a new developer you would start at the bottom of the bottom\nwith no valid career perspectives. Low budget, bad offices, low pay,\nappearance of overwork are clear signs.\n\nFor example: aberrant company culture. Excessive secrecy and/or security\nmeasures (who do they think they are?), extravagant recreational resources\n(are they actually working?), excessive luxury (not bad by itself, but you\nwant them to spend that money on your salary), excessive conviviality, etc.\n\nThere is a meta-warning sign about company culture: refusal to show working\nconditions and procedures to you because of conscious \"discretion\" and\nsubconscious shame. Also, you could like, accept as normal, or justify because\nthey make sense in context some of the bad attitudes you are aware of, failing\nto see they are a problem.\n\n------\nMalcolmDiggs\nWhen I walk into a company (for an interview), I try to get a good look at the\nfaces of the developers there, and gauge whether or not they seem happy. I\nfigure \"In 6 months, my disposition is likely to be the average of the ones in\nthis room right now\". So if the average person is happy, I'll probably be\nhappy too. If everyone is sleep-deprived, pissed off, and miserable, I'm\nprobably gonna be that way too.\n\nI always try to go out of my way to meet the team and shake their hands (even\nif the interviewer didn't plan for me to meet anyone). You can gauge a lot\nfrom just a brief interaction with people.\n\n------\nwoodcut\nYou're looking for personality flaws more than anything, it's hard it detect\nthem if they're charismatic enough to paper over their lies.\n\nFirst off, protect yourself, ask to see the contract, guarantee any agreements\nfor future pay/bonuses are in there, the contract must specify working hours,\ntime off and notice period etc. Ask to see the resume's of the team you would\nbe working with.\n\nOrange flags come to equipment, books, resources. A good company will give you\nwhatever you need.\n\nRed flags are arrogance, delusion, recklessness, bullying.\n\nAsk tough technical questions, see if they admit they don't know it or rubbish\nthe question.\n\nAsk about ventures, projects things that went wrong, do they blame everyone\nbut themselves? How many people have left in the last 12 months? Ask to speak\nto them.\n\nHow much runway do they have left? less than 3 months is a massive no. Has\nanyone ever been paid late?\n\nHonestly, if they're smart enough you can't tell until you're knee deep.\n\n~~~\nmrud\nI think all your requests are good and can help identifying issues except the\nteams resume. Meeting your team etc. is fine but asking to see the team's\nresume would be a orange flag for me.\n\n------\nunit91\nI've had pretty decent success just being straight with people about my goals\nand seeing what they say.\n\nIf I'm talking to other programmers and not management, I generally ask:\n\n\\- Are you happy here? Why?\n\n\\- Every job has little annoyances (important preface). What are some of the\nthings you wish you could change?\n\n\\- Do you believe your leadership is interested in your feedback?\n\nI also REALLY try to observe the body language of the employees interacting\nwith each other. Even if I can't hear what's being said outside the interview\nroom, it can tell you a lot about the company culture.\n\n------\ntrcollinson\nSo, what makes your boss such an \"asshole\" as you put it? I am not by any\nmeans trying to prove whether or not your boss is actually an asshole, but\ntrying to find out why you think your boss is.\n\nI have had bosses who I thought were horrible and many others around me liked\nthem. I have had bosses that I would go to the ends of the earth with and my\nco-workers thought I was crazy. A lot of times it is personality and\nconfidence (in yourself and in your manager) which dictate how well you will\nget along.\n\nHow to find the right match when you are interviewing? Well, how many dates\ndoes it take for you to decide who you'd like to marry? Do you marry everyone\nyou date? In this business, I think it's best to not get too emotionally tied\ndown. You're going to move, and that's ok.\n\n~~~\nisuckatcoding\nOk so I can guarantee you this isn't all in my mind or some relativist\nbullshit. This boss is the kind of person who walks into a meeting late, often\nclueless about the topic of discussion, then yelling ensues because he's\nconfused or some feature wasn't implemented as he supposedly requested and\nthen he berates my team members in front of others and you can sense the vibe\nof dog shittiness in the room by the utter silence that follows.\n\nHe is notorious at the company for being _the_ asshole boss. Just mention his\nname once to employees (especially those who've been with the company for 2-3\nyears for instance) in other departments and while some won't say it out loud,\nyou can tell from their face they know and they feel for you.\n\nI apologize for the swearing. In reality, I am actually the kind of person who\navoids swearing at all but this job is changing me in such terrible ways. Yes\nI am angry and I am desperately searching for a decent company to give me an\nopportunity where I can grow and contribute in a more positive environment. I\nam not asking for a stress-free environment (stress doesn't signal the job is\nbad necessarily) , I am asking for basic human courtesy and professionalism.\n\n~~~\nspinlock\nWow. Is there anyone ay the company you can talk to about changing teams?\nSomeone who's your boss's peer that you like and trust? Tell them it isn't\nworking out and ask if you can use them as a reference. You might be able to\nchange teams in the company but, if you can't, its always good to have a\nreference.\n\n~~~\nisuckatcoding\nThis is going to sound like paranoia (and some part of it probably is). I've\nthought about talking to perhaps HR or recruiting to see if I can move to\nanother department. However, I feel as long as this individual is at the\ncompany, it will be difficult. This person is unpredictable. One day he is\nhappy. Another day, he is totally on edge and ready to shout. He might decide\nthat my lack of \"loyalty\" to him as a personal offence. He is close with upper\nmanagement (CEO, etc.) and he can easily influence them and potentially make\nmy life miserable.\n\nYou know its so funny. I love the company itself and the product. They truly\nhave some innovative technology (as cliche as that sounds).Though, I think the\nlesson I've learned from all this is that I need to look at my manager(s) as\nMUCH as (or more than) I look at the product or my salary.\n\n~~~\nspinlock\nThat sucks. Oh well, looks like you'll need to go outside of the company. Just\nremember: don't badmouth your current company when you apply for jobs; just\nsay that your ready for a new challenge. No matter how unbearable your\nposition is, it never comes off well to gripe about it to the next person that\nyou're asking for a job.\n\n------\nAndrewUnmuted\nFor me, the _big one_ is whether or not the employer offers to give you a tour\nof the workplace. If this is not offered up as a default, request it. If there\nis any refusal whatsoever, run away and don't look back.\n\n------\nYeGoblynQueenne\n>> I am a pretty average developer\n\nI don't have much advice to offer with your main question, after all I'm only\na few years out of uni so I'm barely a step or two ahead of you on the same\nroad. But I have this to say: you're not \"pretty average\"; you're just\nstarting out. You'll get a lot better and then things will get a lot better\nfor you.\n\nI also valued myself pretty low when I started out so I ended up with jerks\nfor bosses a couple of times, but eventually I built up the skills to have a\nbit more choice on the teams I was working for. At that point I found a team\nwith a senior engineer who became a true mentor to me and taught me a metric\nton of shit I'll be using to the end of my working days.\n\nI think folks in this industry make the mistake of valuing innate talent above\nhard work. It's true there's people who have that sort of magical talent and\ngodspeed to them. The vast majority of us though have to slog it out, and\nlearn as much as we can on the job and as we go. What \"pretty average\nengineer\" really means is \"bursting at the seams with potential to be a great\nengineer with strong skills\" a few years down the line.\n\nAlso: good luck out there. It gets better :)\n\n~~~\nisuckatcoding\nThank you for this comment.\n\n------\nAnimalMuppet\nWhen I interviewed for my current job, the whole (4 person) team did the\ninterview at once. Several times they talked smack to each other in the\ninterview - not mean, just having fun. Well, I can enjoy that, so I talked a\nbit of smack to them during the interview. They hired my anyway.\n\nWhen it's not done in malice, that can be an interesting indicator. It means\nthat the people on the team trust each other - trust that they can say such\nthings and have it received in the right spirit, and trust that the one saying\nit isn't saying it in malice.\n\nI wouldn't make this the only indicator, but it's an interesting data point...\n\n------\nhendler\nMaybe interviewing elsewhere is only half of the solution.\n\nWe all end up in situations we don't expect. While bad leadership is hard to\novercome, it's a great learning opportunity. Now that you are there focus on\nimproving yourself.\n\n\\- improve your coding, on your own time or not\n\n\\- help your boss not be an asshole. or go above them. or manage them. That's\na skill too.\n\n\\- enjoy your paycheck, but save money\n\nHope that adds a slightly different perspective.\n\n------\njunko\nJust got hired myself. And I consider myself quite average too so here's my\nexperience.\n\nMy first job fresh out of uni was in a corporate environment and while I\nappreciated the professionalism that came with it (\"Keep an activity tracker\"\netc ... might horrify some people but I love making lists haha) but in the end\nI only stayed for 6 months. It got too corporate and suddenly I realised that\na lot of people were actually feigning cheeriness when underneath they were\nunder mighty pressure from politics. I decided quite firmly never to work for\ncorps (that activity tracker should have warned me after all) and for a few\nmonths I freelanced until I got broke. I thought I'd give big organisations\nanother chance and I'm glad I did. When I had the interview, it was typically\nbased on a set of questions but the interviewers were relaxed and made warm-\nbut-not-wacky jokes. I also remember the time when I had a sudden mind blank\nduring a presentation and they were really amiable with it and said that it's\nprobably better if I spend a day with the team and see if we're a match. That\nwas probably the moment when I knew that this workplace could be a nice place\nto work in, because they seemed to recognise and appreciate humanness and that\nthe interview is not just about testing _me_ but also vice versa. So if it's\npossible, asking to meet your future team and seeing what the reaction to that\nis like could be a nice indicator of the type of culture there. And of course\nthe actual team meeting.\n\nI don't think there's a proper list of how to detect toxicity, so I guess you\njust need to keep an open eye and ear on everything which is why it's\nimportant to spend some time in the workplace. Keep alert but at the same time\nkeep an open mind. Interestingly, a week after I joined my new workplace, the\norganisation did some ruthless restructuring, but which top management was\nvery organised and empathical about it, for example there was an emphasis that\nwe could talk about it, and comfort those who are leaving etc. It was\nunpleasant and initially I panicked thinking that I picked the wrong workplace\nagain, but in the end it was educational - a couple of weeks later, the\nemotional negativity dissipated. I'm still new but 1.5 months later and I'm\nstill chirpy ... well I'll take that as a good sign.\n\n------\nstudentrob\nFor me, over the years I spent a lot of time looking for the right atmosphere,\nchanging jobs once every one or two years. Then I noticed / worked towards a\nchange within myself and I think I am now better at recognizing a good match.\nUnexpectedly, I am now also more open to more relationships in which I\nwouldn't have engaged previously.\n\nI know the ways in which I work best and I'm not afraid to let people know.\nThat confidence makes a big difference not only in who I choose to work with,\nbut also in how I work with others.\n\nWhen gauging a new employer or coworker I decide mostly on feel. It's easy to\n_recognize_ a matching relationship once you know yourself. That doesn't mean\nit's easy to _find_ one.\n\nIt might not be true for everyone. In my experience, knowing myself helped a\nton, and I was the only one who could figure that out. I was always told this\ngrowing up and had no idea what it meant. People telling me to \"be yourself\"\nmade little sense to me until I learned more about myself.\n\n~~~\niamcreasy\nHow do I learn about myself? (Serious question)\n\n~~~\nstudentrob\nMaybe try changing some things up and see if you're more happy or less happy\nafterwards...\n\nIf I had a solid answer that worked for anyone I'd be rich! Many self-help\nbooks try. 7 Habits (Covey) and How to Win Friends & Influence People\n(Carnegie) are two I liked.\n\nUltimately the question is individual, so the answer is too. I'll just say,\nwhen you know, you know. If you don't know, keep looking. So long as you're on\nthis earth you have a chance to answer that question and many interesting\nothers. When you do, you'll look back and be glad you tried.\n\nI'd also say that it's a lifelong process and it seems equally possible to\nlose yourself. For me I was not always aware of when I started slipping.\n\nI started doing meditation recently and found it helps settle my thoughts and\nbecome aware of when my brain was thinking things I didn't want it to. The\nbook Mindfulness in Plain English [1] was recommended to me, and I'm about\nhalfway through it. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in becoming more\naware of themselves and others.\n\n[1]\n[http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html](http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html)\n\n~~~\niamcreasy\nWhat's the first thing you notice when you start slipping?\n\nNow that your know yourself better, are you more aware you slipping and take\npreventive measures early on?\n\n~~~\nstudentrob\nQ1: Covey would say there are some basic human needs. Physical health, money,\nopportunity to be creative, challenge, social interaction. For me, absence of\ncreativity/challenge and onset of boredom has been a common theme. In the\nfuture I'd guess I will be okay on that front and struggle with others.\n\nQ2: Definitely. Some awareness comes from taking time to meditate, and some\ncomes from experience. I'm not going to argue I can anticipate everything or\nthat I've met all of life's challenges. That would be silly. But I do feel\nmore comfortable dealing with things day-to-day and feel less of a need to\nplan/control the future.\n\n------\nCyanLite2\n1\\. When they're more interested in why you're leaving a company, run.\n\n2\\. When they negatively recruit (\"Oh that other company sucks, you don't want\nto work for them!\"), run.\n\n3\\. When you look around the work environment and see everybody on 15 inch\nmonitors, run.\n\n4\\. When they have an applicant tracking system and they don't respond to you\nafter an interview, run.\n\n5\\. If they ask \"What are you weaknesses?\", run.\n\n6\\. When they ask \"How much are you making now?\", run.\n\n7\\. When their Glassdoor reviews are below a 3.0, run.\n\n------\njbob2000\nTrust your gut.\n\nNo seriously, if you have a bad/weird/odd/sketchy feeling when interviewing,\nthat's all you need. Your subconscious picks up on WAY more than your\nconscious does and it notifies you through that \"gut feeling\".\n\nSo don't listen to what others in this thread are saying. Their advice comes\nfrom their experiences, which may not match yours. Only you truly know what\nyou want.\n\n~~~\nseeing\nIt's bad advice to say \"don't listen to what others in this thread are\nsaying\". Having more data is better than having less data.\n\nIt's good advice to trust your gut; but as Nobel prize winning psychologists\ndiscovered, trust your gut as an additional parameter to your existing rubric\nof tests.\n\nDon't trust your gut while excluding everything else.\n\n------\nhibikir\nThere are red flags to bad environments out in an interview, if the place is\nreally horrible. But looking very hard for problems in an employer during an\ninterview is a bit like looking very hard for problems in a candidate during\nan interview: The more you have been around the block, the easier it is to let\nthose signals that aren't necessarily very strong to just take over, and that\nleads to failure. The interviewer with the least red flags is probably the one\nthat is best at lying to you, or to himself.\n\nSo what I do, outside of tiny startups (where I'd not go regardless, as you\nare in for years, and chances are you'll just be underpaid for the duration)\nis to go look for former employees, and ask them why they left the place, what\nsucks, what doesn't, and how generalized the problems are. People that have\nleft might overestimate how bad the place is, but better an overestimation\nthat you can temper than talking to someone that is still in love with the\nplace, right?\n\nThis mechanism has been pretty good for me, and you can show you are a well\nprepared candidate by asking pointed questions about what the people that left\nconsidered the place's most glaring weaknesses.\n\nI have been fortunate enough to be able to do this a few times in my career:\nIn some cases, talking to my would be predecessor. It's helped me dodge big\nbullets, either by avoiding employers altogether, or by letting me ask for a\ndifferent department/team in advance, avoiding terrible managers.\n\n------\njankedout\nDuring an interview it's pretty hard to gauge whether the environment is a fit\nfor you. You're focused on performing well and you often brush aside things\nthat would irritate you otherwise. This is why I recommend \"courting\" the\ncompany.\n\nI've had ~10 jobs and 4 of them had intolerable environments. In the past few\nyears I started vetting the companies I wanted to work at by getting in touch\nwith current and past employees. This can give you some insight on how the\nplace functions. I also request to visit the headquarters/office. Most\ncompanies will accommodate this. If they don't, I end the recruitment process\nbecause it's a big red flag for me.\n\nbpchaps's bullet list is pretty good too. I've run into each of the line items\nin interviews. Particularly bad for me was Twilio, where the pre-screen phone\ninterview consisted of two developers asking me trivia questions about various\ntechnologies. After the first 10 minutes I wanted to hang up. I was glad to\nnot get an onsite. Right before Digg went under I interviewed there. There was\nno receptionist when I showed up, so the first interviewer (lead dev) didn't\neven know I was there. We started the interview 15 minutes late, and the\ninterviewer took phone calls during the interview. I was extremely irritated,\nbut I kept my cool.\n\nJust remember, if you are treated in a way you don't like during the\nrecruitment process, then you'll probably be treated in a similar manner if\nyou become an employee.\n\n------\nmattzito\nHere's my checklist:\n\n\\- If I'm asked a question, or asked to offer an opinion, do they seem really\ninterested in my response? Do they challenge politely/with an intent to gain\nmore info, or do they dismiss it?\n\n\\- Whats' the average tenure on the team? How long have people been there?\n\n\\- When asked the negatives or the challenges with the job, do they offer\nsubstantive responses, or platitudes?\n\n\\- Are they interested in me as a person? Or is it just my skills and\nbackground?\n\n\\- For the rest of the team, are they engaged? Do they seem to care about what\nthey're doing? Do their concerns/negatives about the job match what their boss\nsaid?\n\n\\- What's the ratio of leadership to worker bees? Are there lots of VPs for no\napparent reason? Red flag.\n\nIt's largely qualitative, but I like to see consistency in temperament,\nenthusiasm, understanding of the challenges.\n\nExample: I interviewed at a company a number of years ago for an executive\nleadership position. I met with four different execs, each of whom had a\ndifferent cagey answer as to why business wasn't doing as well as it could. I\nopted not to join, as it \"felt weird\". Later I ran into someone I knew who\nhappened to have taken a job there who confirmed my suspicion that it was a\ndisorganized organization with a toxic atmosphere.\n\nTrust your gut. If something feels wrong, it probably is, and don't let desire\nto get the job override your instincts if you can avoid it.\n\n------\nRKoutnik\nI wrote up an article about probing for culture in the interview [0]. Here's\nthe tl;dr:\n\nIt's really hard to pull out the truth sometimes. Those that aren't looking\nthrough rose-colored glasses are outright lying to you. No company sends\ndisgruntled employees to interview.\n\nIt's important to figure out if the company has a plan for you. If the plan\nseems like \"Change everything, but without any power to do it\", book it outta\nthere. It's totally OK to ask folks what they think about management. Again,\nrose glasses, but folks usually don't have a cached answer for this one so you\ncould catch them by surprise.\n\nI find one of the biggest indicators of \"Do I like this place\" is how\ndisagreements are resolved. Ask about those. Press for details, don't take\nsweeping statements for an answer. Actual examples are best.\n\nFinally, lots of folks make bad decisions right out of college. I certainly\ndid. Very few folks will hold it against you if your first job is a short one\n(~six months).\n\nIf you've got any further questions, contact info is in my profile. I can run\na mock interview if you're up for it. Hope I helped!\n\n[0] [https://rkoutnik.com/articles/Questions-to-ask-your-\nintervie...](https://rkoutnik.com/articles/Questions-to-ask-your-\ninterviewer.html)\n\n------\nben_pr\nI have hired two to three dozen developers over the last 15 years for a fairly\nboring developer job (finance) in a very big city (Atlanta). Here are a few\ntips I had for making candidates feel comfortable.\n\n1\\. Find out as much about them as possible before they show up. Look them up\non Github, LinkedIn, etc.\n\n2\\. Target questions that are appropriate and related to the job. If the\ncandidate offers any sort personal info about interests follow-up with\nquestions and find out what they are really interested in, you should already\nhave a clue from point 1. If their primary love is talking about airplanes or\nsomething else then writing code is not their first love.\n\n3\\. Make the candidate feel at ease as much as possible. Offer Water, coffee,\ncomfortable chair, etc.\n\n4\\. Have someone on their level take them to lunch. They can find out what\ntheir potential future co-workers think of you and you can get some valuable\nfeed back from your devs.\n\nIf the person interviewing you doesn't do most of these things then you\nprobably want to run the other way. Remember your managers job is partially to\nhelp you be successful and if he can't help you have a successful interview\nthen he most likely can't help you have a successful career. When you leave\nthe interview you should feel that this person has your back and will help you\nout if you ever need it.\n\n------\nPaulKeeble\nEveryone has different hangups in regards to how a company will treat them. My\npersonal tracer shots are always in regards to whether I can use the equipment\nand tools and processes I want. Obviously the interviewer can give away that\nthe place might be bad to work with their questioning but I ask the questions\nthat matter to me to make sure they care about my productivity and autonomy\nand if they don't I reject the job there and then.\n\n------\ntimwaagh\nI have never worked in an environment which might be called toxic or anything\nthat comes close. we don't do that this side of the ocean. however there are\nstill things to keep in mind.\n\n-if they do scrum use jira have an open plan office or talk about estimates then those are big contra-indicators. if you get freedom about work times that's good.\n\n-scrum is there to have better control over you aka big brother is watching you. same for an open plan office (especially if the entire team sits together). this makes for an environment where you feel watched all the time.\n\n\\- if they want you to come in at a specific time that's also because they\nwant to watch your entire work-day.\n\n\\- if they talk about estimates this often means a focus on efficiency and a\nlot of pressure.\n\n\\- if they use jira then you won't have a say about what you will do and are\nprobably just a code monkey.\n\n\\- on the other hand, if they give everyone their own office, let people work\nfrom home or give you more freedom about which time you come in then this\nmeans they trust their employees and are a good choice.\n\n\\- if they ask you your opinion about things that matter then this is good too\n(it means they are not just hiring you as a code monkey).\n\n~~~\nLoSboccacc\n> _tons of niceties_\n\ndo place like that still exists?\n\n------\nmathattack\nIt's very hard to use black and white heuristics, because life is frequently\nshades of gray. And there's a big difference between work as presented in\nrecruiting presentations, and what's it's really like. That's called Life, and\nit's why we get paid.\n\n2 things I've found that work:\n\n1 - If it's a backfill for an existing role, find out if the person is still\nis with the company.\n\n1a - If the person who had it is still in the company, it's generally a good\nsign, but ask to talk to them anyway. You may not get full information, but\nyou'll get some. (If they're just doing something else for the same boss, also\na good sign.)\n\n1b - If the person who previously had the job left the company, reach out to\nthem and ask about the role. They'll usually be more honest.\n\n2 - Find a friend, or a friend-of-a-friend who works there, and ask them. This\nwill get easier the more you work, as your network will expand. It's also a\ngood reason to keep in contact with everyone you meet. (LinkedIn helps a lot\non this, despite all the bad press that it receives)\n\n------\nBobTheCoder\nI would add to other comments to watch out for people that believe their own\nbullshit.\n\nMy current company I could tell that when the team lead talked about it being\nAgile and using latest tech that he really believed it.\n\nBecause he believed it I joined, but now I realise he was willfully deluded.\nSo don't forget to watch out for this and verify what their practices are with\nquestions.\n\n------\nares2012\nThis is common in your first job, so don't feel bad for missing the signs!\nUntil you have been in the professional world it's hard to know what\nenvironments are right for you.\n\nThe good news is that now you'll know what to look for when you interview at\nnew companies. Some things I look for: 1\\. A well organized and well run\nrecruiting process. If they can't communicate, schedule and work with you\nduring recruiting it's unlikely they can do so when you work there. 2\\. Great\nemployee retention. People don't stick around for a long while at companies\nthey hate. Look for places where people stay for the long haul (at least 3\nyears). 3\\. Personal connections. Talk to the people you know in the industry\nand learn about where they work. At this point I would have a hard time\njoining a company where I didn't know anyone since there is so much risk\ninvolved.\n\nGood luck with your next adventure! It only gets better.\n\n------\nisuckatcoding\nHello all. I want to thank you all for you amazing responses. Based on your\nfeedback, I have an excellent set of possible actions/questions I can take to\navoid my current situation. I know there is no fail-safe method but at least I\nhave some guidance now.\n\nAlso just realized my question has a typo. :facepalm: Looks like\nisuckatgrammar too.\n\n------\nevanwolf\nOn the employers' side, a few studies showed very low correlation between\ninterviewer scores of candidates and employee performance ratings after\n60-90-360 days. I suspect it's nearly as true in the other direction: that\ninterviews are little better than a coin toss in helping you know if this is a\ngreat fit.\n\nSo this suggests a strategy to screen out obvious mismatches, sign on, then\nabandon or confirm when you have enough information after a month or so. This\nis one of the advantages of freelancing or starting under contract: both\nparties have a chance to see how the other performs in the real world instead\nof the artificial job interview setting.\n\nSo extract what clues you can from the hiring process but don't attach too\nmuch confidence in their relevance to your ability to enjoy your work, to\nperform well, or to advance your career.\n\n------\nLargeWu\nOne thing you can do is ask to see the space where developers are working. Do\ndevelopers there look generally happy? This is highly subjective and prone to\nfalse-positives, but in general if everybody kind of looks like they'd rather\nbe somewhere else, take note of that.\n\nIs there another developer in the interview besides the hiring manager? Do\nthey seem engaged and are trying to sell the job to you (a good sign), or are\nthey kind of disinterested (a bad sign)?\n\nAre the interview questions adversarial? (\"Solve this problem. Ha ha, that's\nnot right\" \\- bad) Or are they asking about you and your experiences and\ntrying to relate them to what you'll be working on. (good)\n\nWhat specific aspects of your current workplace do you view as toxic?\n\n------\nkelukelugames\nOne question I've always asked after an offer is \"Is there any reason why I\nshouldn't take this job?\"\n\nOne manager felt insulted and got angry. I took the job for other reasons but\nhe turned out to be petty.\n\n------\npeterwwillis\nAsk about the other employees. Executives, middle-managers, future co-workers.\nWhat is their background? How long have they been working in their group? Do\nthey have significant prior experience working in a position such as this?\nWhat is their day to day like?\n\nAsk to talk to people in the group you're going to be working in. What do they\nthink of the company, their boss, team lead, other team members? Are they\noften asked to do more than should be expected of them? Do they love their\nposition?\n\nIf they don't offer or won't let you meet with the future team, this indicates\nthey really don't care whether the team likes each other personally, OR that\nthey're so busy they have no time to meet you - which is not good either. It\nshould also be face to face; nobody gets to know someone over the phone.\n\nFinally, you can use probing questions to see how your future boss reacts.\nMake a joke and watch their body language. Ask them both professional and\npersonal questions. Ask them how they would handle different work scenarios -\nwould they throw a direct report under the bus, or try to cover for them? Do\nthey micro-manage or are they hands-off? How responsive are they to\ncommunication, and in what forms? Do they work with many teams or just the\none? Are they customer-focused or task-focused? Is their primary motivation to\nget ahead in the company, or merely to be helpful?\n\nSometimes there's no way to know if a boss is going to be a jerk. But 9 times\nout of 10, either someone else working there has noticed it, or they'll act\nlike a jerk to you with the right prompting.\n\n------\nmunchkinlk\nAs a recruiter, I can tell you about the work environment but often times it's\nonly an overall view. If you have the opportunity to speak to employees that\nis usually the best way to get information about the environment.\n\nIf speaking to other employees is not an option you will really have to lean\non the questions you ask during the interview. I would encourage you to have\nstandard questions for the people interviewing you, that way you have a\nconsistent way to rank a company or team.\n\nHope that helps! Lisa\n\n------\nkkapelon\nThe best way to detect this is to see the working conditions for current\ndevelopers. Then notice the vibe around the room.\n\nSmiling people are a good sign. People that come to greet you and talk to you\n(even if you are not yet hired) are also a good sign.\n\nRefusal of that tour is a bad sign. People that seem grumpy, tired, or angry\nis a bad sign as well.\n\nYou could also find a developer in the company cafeteria (or something\nsimilar) after the interview finishes and ask him/her about the company\n\n------\np4wnc6\nSome of the main things I've noticed:\n\n\\- Lazily using \"full-stack development\" for every position as a means of\navoiding the hard work of actually managing people, providing meaningful job\ndescriptions, and respecting specialties. A company with a huge army of\nundifferentiated full-stack positions is a major red flag.\n\n\\- Unwillingness to negotiate regarding private offices or remote / work from\nhome options for people who are not compatible with the noise & productivity\nloss caused by open-plan offices.\n\n\\- Hyper focus on your salary expectations early in the process without\nreciprocal willingness to share the budgeted salary range. This extends to\nhyper focus on relocation costs or other compensation items too.\n\n\\- Jobs that don't provide relocation. Sometimes there are good reasons, but\nmany times it's because of cliquish culture and/or extreme cheapness.\n\n\\- Paternalism: does the management act like your vacation time, your pay,\nother forms of compensation, or other perks are \"generous gifts\" doled out by\nthe company? Do they act like the company \"is a family\" and have weird\nworkplace cultural norms about key management \"principles\"?\n\n\\- Are all of the recent Glassdoor reviews 5-stars with unrealistically\nglowing reviews that sound like they were written by a PR firm, and all of the\nbad reviews are buried at the end and sound like what an actual human would\nwrite?\n\n\\- Any unreasonable demands for access to private data about you, such as\nstatements about past income or addresses, test results for things like IQ or\npersonality tests. I agree with other comments that even asking for test\nresults is a bad sign, but even if the test results were legitimately useful\nfor hiring (they aren't), there's still the issue of distrusting some random\ncompany with private data about you, or being skeptical of their network\nsecurity.\n\n\\- If anyone tries to talk you out of your financial requirements with lame\nexcuses, it's a red flag. For example, when I've countered lowball offers\nbefore, I've had HR reps debate with me exactly which apartment buildings and\nlocations nearby I could live in at the wage they countered with. Anybody\nprying into your private life like that (\"hey I know where you should choose\nto afford to live\") is nuts, and you should run away.\n\n------\nnickconfer\nThe simple answer is realize your more nervous than the person or group\ninterviewing you. You may not be completely yourself as your nervous, but they\nare being themselves.\n\nIf they act aggitated, aggressive, nervous, rushed, etc... Thats most likely\neither their true personality or a real problem of their workplace.\n\nWhen you ask to meet your coworkers are they nervous or friendly. Does their\nboss say anything nice about them... Etc...\n\n------\nhacknat\nAsk straightforward questions. The way people answer them is more important\nthan what the content (mostly) of those answers are:\n\nExamples:\n\n1\\. Do you like working here? You should get an impression that the person\ngenuinely likes working there. If you have to drag enthusiasm out of them\nthat's not a good sign.\n\n2\\. What's your management philosophy? They should have one, or at least be\nable to sound like they've given it some thought.\n\n3\\. Tell me about a time you disagreed with your manager or somebody senior,\nwhat did you do, what did they do? What ended up happening? What your looking\nfor is a manager who is willing to admit some degree of political prowess. You\nDO NOT want to report to someone who cannot stand up to their seniors, it can\nbe just as bad or worse than the overly political managers (the overly\npolitical managers at least get somewhere sometimes, you and your team will\nget resources, project wins, etc).\n\nMore like this. Whatever question you'd like a direct answer on. Ask it, most\nlikely you'll never get the whole truth, but the way these questions get\nanswered matters.\n\n------\nCM30\nLook around on the internet beforehand, since it's filled with sites where\nemployees can post experiences they've had at other companies. You mention\nGlassdoor, but perhaps some of its alternatives might be useful as well:\n\nLike Rate my Employer\n([http://www.ratemyemployer.ca/Home](http://www.ratemyemployer.ca/Home)), Job\nAdvisor ([https://www.jobadvisor.com.au/](https://www.jobadvisor.com.au/)),\nKununu ([https://www.kununu.com/](https://www.kununu.com/)) and The Job Crowd\n([http://www.thejobcrowd.com/](http://www.thejobcrowd.com/)). Yes, all these\nsites can be gamed if the company is persistant enough and floods them with\nfake or coerced reviews, but they can also give some impressions on what\nworking there might be like.\n\nYou should also check social media sites (LinkedIn and Twitter might be good\nplaces to find people's opinions on this stuff), as well as general mentions\nof the company's name in general. After all, if a bunch of articles start\ntalking about how terrible the environment is on Medium, then that's probably\na giant red flag right there.\n\nIf you can find out, knowing the general level of staff turnover might be a\nuseful metric too. Does the company often get people who work there for a\ncouple of months and then quickly move on? That's a pretty good sign it's not\na great place to work. If you see a bit of talk online about how a large\namount of the team quit at once, or that staff turnover is high in general, it\noften means something has gone pretty wrong in recent weeks.\n\nAs for what to see in the interview... well, I guess pay attention to the\nworking environment, the behaviour of the staff, etc. If it looks chaotic or\nthe employees look utterly miserable, then those could be warning signs in of\nthemselves. Of course, you might not be able to tell this (if a company is\nvery careful about their interview process), but that's pretty rare for\nstartups and small businesses.\n\nHearing a lot about 'culture'or 'company fit' might be a warning too, given\nhow often it means 'acts like the boss/other staff and shares\nviews/background'. As might the usual complicated interview procedures,\nsuspiciously low pay, the office being in the middle of nowhere, etc. And\n\n------\nanalog31\nJust an additional note: If they start disparaging past employees,\ncompetitors, etc., run. They will have the same attitudes about you.\n\n------\ndba7dba\nFrom my experience, I was lucky to have good managers that seemed ok during\ninterview and even after I started working. What changed my situation for\nworse was new manager, either replacing my direct manager or being put above\nmy direct manager due to merger,change-in-structure,etc.\n\nThen my situation took a dive. New managers usually don't like non-super-star\nemployees already there when they are brought in from outside. They didn't\nhire you themselves. And they are under pressure to do better. So if you are\nan average worker, you have a big fat target on your back.\n\nAll points on this thread were great. But you never know about life, what will\nhappen tomorrow.\n\nSo don't feel too secure or cocky when things are going well. And don't feel\ntoo down when everything seems to be going against you.\n\n------\nagjacobson\nBy the way Glassdoor is subject to subversion by a company's HR. Go to\nTheranos' Glassdoor postings and ask yourself whether the glowing reports\nsound like they were written by employees, and further, whether it is\nreasonable that they coexist with some of the rotten ones.\n\n------\nlaxatives\nAsk for something a little outlandish and maybe unrealistic, like taking a\nsabbatical/working remotely for a few months while you travel (this probably\nonly works at a startup without a formal hiring process). If they are willing\nto at least entertain the idea, its a good sign.\n\n------\nMagicAndi\nBasically, you have to treat the interview as a two way process - they are\ninterviewing you, but you are also interviewing them. You need to look at how\nthe company has treated you from the moment you applied, and pick up on any\nindicators that the organisation you're applying to is toxic.\n\nI would look at the following:\n\n(1) How has the company communicated with you since you applied to the\nposition? Has it been a single person communicating to you, or several, or an\nautomated process?\n\n(2) How did you find it – personal or completely anonymous?\n\n(3) Was there a telephone screening interview with HR?\n\n(4) How were you tested technically? Were you sufficiently tested?\n\n(5) Did you have to write code as part of your interview process? If not, this\nis a major failing. If the company doesn’t know if you can code or not, what\nis the point hiring you?\n\n(6) How large was the interview panel? This is most visible way of assessing\nhow important a company views recruiting developers.\n\nThe interview itself:\n\n(7) Were the questions asked relevant to the work you believe you will be\ndoing?\n\n(8) Did the questions asked match the advertised job? If it doesn’t, it is\nlikely that the job advertised won’t be the job you will actually be doing.\n\n(9) The interviewer’s personality and behaviour. Were you treated with\nrespect?\n\n(10) Would you like to work with these people? Remember, in an interview,\npeople are on their best behaviour on both sides of the table. If you come out\nof an interview thinking that one of the interviewers was a pain, then they\nwill be most likely be a complete bastard to work with. You need to trust your\ngut instinct about people.\n\n(11) How was the outcome communicated to you?\n\nI've blogged about this previously at\n[http://www.andyparkhill.co.uk/2015/04/the-software-\ndeveloper...](http://www.andyparkhill.co.uk/2015/04/the-software-developers-\nguide-to.html)\n\n------\nalkonaut\nSimplest way I know is asking about the employee churn. \"How many have quit in\nlast N years\"? If it's uncomfortable to ask a manager or recruiter then find a\nteam member and ask.\n\nThis is culturally and geographically dependent though. In a tech hub kind if\narea, holding a job less than a couple of years isn't strange, in my home town\nwhere an average tech employee is 45 and not 25, I'd run if the average\nemployment was lower than 5 or 10 years. So it depends.\n\nIf a third of the team quits quit last year that's a pretty good sign that the\nenvironment is toxic. And it becomes only more toxic since usually the talent\nleaves first.\n\nOh: also if you have kids - the killer question is \"does everyone in\nmanagement have kids\"?\n\n------\nSpearchucker\nSome great answers and advice here. I'd add questions about behaviour when\nthings go wrong. For example, what happens when a deadline is missed? Who is\naccountable (correct answer being \"team\", or \"everyone\")? How do lessons\nlearnt affect subsequent projects?\n\nTook me a while to find a good formulation for these questions - during an\ninterview I now say something like \"Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and the like\nstill miss deadlines, so it's a given that smaller outfits will, too. How do\nyou deal with missed deadlines, and how are teams affected by that?\"\n\nI look for more occurrences of \"we\" and \"us\", and fewer of \"I\", \"he\", \"she\"\nand \"you\".\n\n------\nBogue\nFirst, Now that you have an understanding of the type of boss you don't want,\nI would suggest trying to understand the type of boss that fits you. A bad\nboss to one might be motivating to another. Ask questions like: How do you\nsupport your team to be successful? Tell me about a time when an employee\nimpressed you? I'm an average developer now but want to be great, can you help\nme get there? How? How do you protect your team from outside distractions?\n(most importantly) Why did you come to work here and what are you looking to\nachieve?\n\nNot that these questions will fully determine the quality of the boss, but you\ncan get a sense for the empathy previously mentioned by how they answer the\nquestions.\n\n------\nsadadar\nI'd probably recommend you use the same tricks a good interviewer does to\ndetermine if you are a good culture fit.\n\n1) know your requirements 2) use behavioral questions instead of hypothetical\n3) trust your intuition 4) hold a high bar\n\n------\nfazza99\nI interviewed at one place where the manager who was supposed to see me turned\nup an hour late, sweaty from a cycle ride and said I was too early. He\nconsistently got my name wrong during the remaining half hour, and poured\nscorn on his current reports.\n\n\\- If during the interview, they ask you if you have 'firing skills' and how\nyou motivate unmotivated staff, that's a strong indicator also. The company\nwas based 20 seconds from the edge of a airport runway. Repeatedly during the\ninterview, we had to stop talking as the noise from jet engines wouldn't allow\nnormal conversation.\n\n------\nmatttheatheist\nWhat do you mean by \"asshole\"?\n\nDuring my first engineering job out of college, I had a crazy angry boss whom\nyou could hear yelling at people all the way across the building. I used to\ndread having to meet with her (at least) once a week. I literally had to\nremind myself that \"no matter what, she cannot take my life\". Yes, this was\nACTUALLY a recurring thought.\n\nIt didn't take long after I had already left that job, that I realized how\ngood she made me. Among my peers, I'm the top engineer, and she's the reason\nfor that.\n\nCheck out my company: www.evolutionarynetworks.com\n\nGood luck!\n\n~~~\nbartvk\nI feel you had to endure abuse, but in hindsight are telling yourself that\nsomething good came out of it.\n\n------\nmatchagaucho\nDetermine if they are a Manager or a Leader. Only work for Leaders.\n\n\"Boss\" is just another word for Manager, so look in the mirror and make sure\nyou're using the right vocabulary to find what you seek.\n\n------\npinewurst\nI'd like to know the inverse. I accepted my current job because I really liked\nand respected my boss (and still do) - enough that it obscured how\ndysfunctional and mediocre the company was in general. I even turned down\nanother offer with more responsibility at another (name brand) place because\ntheir hiring manager was such a dud by comparison.\n\nI'm looking again to escape my current abyss but am just so paranoid that I'll\nend up in another mess due to simply liking my boss & coworkers during\ninterviewing.\n\n------\nshin_lao\nI use this rule for business, it never failed me:\n\nIf you have a doubt, there is no doubt.\n\n------\nsoham\nAlways treat interviewing like dating, of-course sans the romance; especially\nthe one with your future manager/tech-lead.\n\nHow do you tell if the person you're \"dating\" is crappy/toxic? That judgment\nis very subjective, by definition. e.g. I've had my fair share of people I've\nfound \"crappy/toxic\", that others have not. And vice-versa. You want to find\nthe person/manager that _you_ get along with.\n\nThe only way for you to truly tell, is to\n\n1\\. Spend more time with them _at the right time_ :\n\n\\- The best time to do so, is when the offer is made, but before you've\naccepted it. That is your best time; most companies will do pretty much\neverything they reasonably can, to keep you interested in that phase. Make use\nof that time, to ask for more conversations with the potential manager/team.\n\nI used to work in engineering at Box for several years. Box is very thoughtful\nabout their interview process. We used to invite candidates we liked, for\ndinner with the team and multiple conversations with the manager. They were\nalso very selective about promoting people to management positions.\n\n2\\. Do backchannel references:\n\n\\- Hit up past employees on linked-in. Especially the ones who stayed at the\ncompany for a long time. They'd likely know your potential manager and will be\nable to correlate them with the culture.\n\nDon't feel shy in doing so; it's routine. Of course, BNBR with their time.\n\nGenerally speaking, in interviews, you have to optimize for \"fit\" with \"you\".\nDo the best you can in the time that you have, and then leave the rest to\nchance. There are many good people and strong teams out there.\n\n[I make these observations based on my past life as an early engineer at a\ncouple of companies, as engineer and Director of Engineering at Box and as\nsomeone keenly interested in interviewing as a topic. These days, I pour\nmyself into running a bootcamp for technical interview preparation:\n[http://Interviewkickstart.com](http://Interviewkickstart.com). We believe\nthat all good engineers deserve a chance to work for best companies of their\ntime, and interview preparation should not stand in their way]\n\n------\nmunchkinlk\nAs a recruiter, I would say the best way to judge a company is by what the\ncurrent employees say. It's not always possible to speak to employees and then\nyou have to lean on the responses to questions you ask during the interview.\nHave a set of standard questions you ask so you have a consistent way of\nranking the responses.\n\nBefore you walk into an interview or even have a telephone interview decide\nfor yourself what kind of company, culture and environment you want to work in\nfor a lengthy period of time.\n\n------\nnasirdani\nAdding to what most of people said: 1) look how hard the technical part of the\ninterview is, if you don’t get any challenging questions (technical and to\nsome extend behavioral); you are most likely not going to learn and grow that\nmuch if you get the job.\n\n2) how the interviewers treat you when you are trying hard to answer tough\nquestions? If you see sympathy, it is a good sign; if they play bad cop and\ngood cop, run.\n\n3) if they don’t ask you any personal questions it means they will not care\nabout you.\n\n------\npurpleD\nI think this is the biggest factor when I take a job. Do I like the boss? I\nsay the beer test - would I enjoy hanging out with this boss socially. I'm not\nsaying I would, in fact I rarely have with my bosses, but someone who seems\nlike I could be friends with is someone I want to work for.\n\nThis has lead to me mostly working for bosses with good people skills which is\nrare to find in tech. I hate working for socially obvlivious robot programmers\nwho can't solve people problems.\n\n------\nlhnz\nThere's no foolproof way of detecting bad bosses and environments.\n\nWhat you need to learn is:\n\n(1) How to deal with difficult people. It's very likely that you'll have to\ndeal with personalities and egos like this at some point no matter how\ncarefully you attempt to situate yourself.\n\n(2) How to make yourself marketable enough that you can easily walk from\nuncomfortable workplace cultures. At some point you're going to work with a\ncolleague or in a company that you cannot stand, so be ready for this.\n\n------\ncubano\nWell then, do better and don't look back.\n\nThere is no shame in taking a first job out of college and realizing it wasn't\nmeant to be.\n\nWorking at your age should be akin to dating...you should have no guilt or\nissue with realizing you acted without having complete information and perhaps\njumped into something that wasn't, in the end, right for you.\n\nWhy not start actively shopping a resume and talking to colleagues your age to\nsee where you could possibly land next?\n\nGood luck, and keep moving towards a better tomorrow.\n\n------\nxivzgrev\nWhat did your gut tell you? You said it was a great startup but what was vibe\nfrom hiring manager? I'm willing to bet you didn't feel excellent about him or\nher.\n\nIts the best tool. I had a certain feeling about my curemt boss (like this,\ndon't like this) and its right on the money 4 months later. Just get a sense\nfrom what they focus on (and what they gloss over), how they talk, their body\nlanguage, and more.\n\nNext time ask how excited you are to join that person's team\n\n------\ntsax\nSince this is your first job out of school, this tip won't help you\nunfortunately. In any case, it's good to keep a buffer of 6-months spending\nhandy in savings (outside of retirement accounts, those should preferably\nNEVER be touched outside of TRUE emergencies). Having a buffer-fund, you will\nfind, will keep your mind at ease and give you options to walk away from very\ntoxic environments. Good luck buddy!\n\n------\ntdicola\nAssuming you're doing a typical full day interview loop pay attention to the\nfirst few interviewers, they're likely more of the junior employees. Ask them\nlots of questions about the work environment, boss, etc. Obviously don't come\nout and ask 'is your boss an asshole?', have more subtle questions like\n'what's the work/life balance like?'.\n\n------\ndr_jay\nI compiled a list of questions and answers from this thread, around the web,\nbooks, and personal experience and put them here:\n\n[https://gitlab.com/doctorj/interview-\nquestions](https://gitlab.com/doctorj/interview-questions)\n\nIt's in machine-readable format (YAML) with metadata so you can filter and\nsort. Would love comments and suggestions.\n\n------\nasimuvPR\nIf you want to practice interviewing, feel free to drop me an email. I like to\nhelp others prepare for interviews and get new jobs. :)\n\n------\npeteretep\n\"So what do you do if you're coming to the end of a sprint and it looks like\nyou might miss a deadline?\"\n\n------\npcunite\nWe can tell you experiences we've had, but going through this yourself is how\nyou will know. You need this moment.\n\n------\nbreathesalt\nDon't ask the interviewers what they hate about their jobs. That's easy,\neveryone hates their job. The best advice here is you should find someplace\nwilling to give you a small token project to work on. Find out for yourself if\nyou hate the place in that period of time.\n\n------\nedwingustafson\nYou can ask how long team members have been with the organization, to\ntactfully get a sense of turnover. At a young company you might ask how team\ncame together: was it through past working relationships and friendships? or\nthe internet equivalent of putting an ad in the paper?\n\n------\nlnanek2\nThat happened to me recently. Everyone seemed great during the interview\nprocess, but the company was a disaster.\n\nOnce I got in the door I found out all the code was originally produced from\noutsourcing in Russia. So it had no comments and it had layer after layer\nafter layer of unneeded abstraction. So figuring out the behavior on an error\nin the BLE back end communicating with a fitness tracker required tracing\nthrough half a dozen unneeded classes like screen config beans, screen states,\nthe fragment state generators, to to error codes, to error messages, to\nfragment subclasses, to flow subclasses, to activity subclasses. All with\nif/else's for special conditions jammed everywhere even in things that should\nbe mindless DTOs and many parts never actually used and deep inheritance\nhierarchies. It could all have been easily done with 40 classes instead of\n120, with much simpler, more reliable code.\n\nLesson: ask the company about outsourcing history and plans.\n\nSoftware engineering has known for a long time that abstraction over\ncomposition really hurts maintainability and reliability, but clearly this\ncompany never heard of that. Normally this sort of thing is fixable, but the\ncouple staff developers they had brought in tended to just write whatever they\nthought would work, shove it into the app, then call it a day, not even smoke\ntesting, let alone writing unit tests. Developers frequently pushed code that\ndidn't even work in real testing on a device then left for vacation for a week\nleaving others to deal with their mess. If you sent them an email with logs or\neven fix commits, they'd call a meeting with management to try to discredit\nyou and block the fixes rather than working to fix the problems. And their\nstuff simply didn't work on the devices, so there was no possible end goal to\ntheir politics that would leave the app functional. It made no sense.\n\nEven ignoring things that could be considered \"style\" they didn't have much\ntechnical ability either. They thought changes to variables would be visible\non all threads as long as they used an Android Handler class on a background\nLooper, but that's only true if both threads where it is read block on the\nunderlying event queue, which wasn't happening in their code. But they fought\nthe synchronization blocks that would make the value changes visible to their\nUI logic despite logs proving their code was blowing by changed values without\nseeing them.\n\nLesson: their developers will give you a technical interview, but be sure to\nask your own questions and determine their level as well.\n\nOK, outsourcing, we can clean it up. Clueless junior developers, we can train\nthem and pair code with them and clean up up their messes. But management was\ncompletely screwed up as well which kind of prevented any fixes. My manager\nleft at 4PM every day to go ride his bicycle and never came back. Meanwhile, I\ntook a 45 minute bicycle ride midday and worked until 8PM to finish a project\nfor the company during a month we were encouraged to exercise and be healthy -\nhe fought to get me in trouble for \"long lunches\".\n\nSimilarly, my wife drove two hours once to get me in without standing an hour\non the BART, so my back wouldn't hurt. She did everything properly, got a\nguest badge, stayed out of restricted areas where we were working on\nunreleased products, and got kicked out by the manager for talking quietly at\nmy desk with me and a coworker. He was panting heavily and claimed she was too\ndistracting for him to work. She left and never came back to the company ever\nagain, but he went right back to harassing me about her week after week,\ntalking about her and making up new rules despite the fact that she never came\nback. Meanwhile he had reserved an entire conference room for his friend's\nfamily to visit the entire day.\n\nLesson: not sure how to avoid this one.\n\nThe manager said all the right things during the interview, that management is\nsupposed to help employees get things done and get along with their team, but\nhe spent what little time he was on site harassing people. I guess because the\ncompany had just IPO'ed the management was basically rich from their options\nand didn't give a damn about actually working. I put in a transfer request\nwith HR who immediately fired me instead of looking into it. They claimed all\ntheir managers were the same, which was a lie, since I walked around and\nasked. So no clue of the right lesson for that one. Sometimes you just end up\nwith a bad company despite doing everything right.\n\n~~~\ntheworstshill\nWhat a shithole. Hope you got out there with some sanity left.\n\n------\nxupybd\nThere are some simple interview tips in the video below, I'd say if you get\nthese down you'll have nothing to worry about.\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38cUwnkoDxk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38cUwnkoDxk)\n\n------\ndbcurtis\nLook out for a paranoid culture. It should be easy to detect. When you ask\nquestions, are there places people just won't go with their answers? Do you\nget deflective answers? Are there people who don't seem to want to talk to\neach other?\n\n------\nthefastlane\ni once got through the entire interview process (salary negotation etc etc)\ninteracting with the person i thought would be my boss. i specifically wanted\nto the job because i liked this person. but when i received the offer letter,\ni discovered that someone else would be my supervisor -- it definitely caught\nme offguard. and turns out it ended up being the worst job i'd ever had. i\nwouldn't call the supervisor bait-n-switch a red flag, but now i'm now\nhyperattentive to even the tiniest of hiccups during hiring. surprises during\nthe interview process can equal surprises on the job as well.\n\n------\nAbdirahman\nWell I'm looking for a cofounder now so perhaps you'd be a nice boss to some\npeople if you start a promising startup with me. Drop me a line at rahman\n(dot) aspro (at) outlook (dot) com if interested.\n\n------\ntrhway\nassume by default that it is \"a crappy boss / toxic environment\" and try to\nfind solid evidence to the contrary.\n\n>However, a few months into the job I realized my boss was a complete and\nutter asshole.\n\nwell, that is view from your side. Are you sure that you aren't the one too?\nIt is just a frequent situation that people are defensive in response to your\n[as perceived by them] \"offenses\". It is one of the most important skills if\nyou're going to develop your career as corporate drone is to get used to work\nwith different people around you.\n\n------\nSideburnsOfDoom\nThe single best way is to have a quick off the record chat with someone who\nworks there or has worked there recently in a similar role.\n\nThis isn't always available, but it's worth a lot if you can get it.\n\n------\nkidlogic\nAsk about the company's culture and ask whether or not you can talk to other\nemployees; their immediate response will be a tell-tale sign of whether or not\nthey're toxic or not.\n\n------\nkidlogic\nAsk about company culture - also ask whether or not you can talk to other\nemployees; their immediate response will be a tell-tale sign whether or not\nthey're toxic.\n\n------\nverst\nTry to find out who has worked for this boss (or CEO / founder) in the past.\nReach out to them to hear about their experience and find out why they really\nleft.\n\n------\nmcs_\nIf you don't want to work with them, for them to improve their system... just\nrun. If you don't want to meet assholes.. Change industry.\n\n------\noutside1234\nDemand to interview at least your manager and your manager's manager. I ask\nfor the 3rd level as well.\n\n~~~\njoelberman\nAgree, but also some of your future co-workers. If you think you hit it off\nwith one of the interviewers ask if you can call or meet for coffee. Having an\nasshole boss sucks, but if boss also hired a bunch of assholes it is even\nworse.\n\n------\nandy\nAsk to speak with people who would be your peer. Ask them about the culture,\nday to day life, etc.\n\n------\nknown\nDon't burn the bridge; Polish your CV and start applying for a job;\n\n------\nJhsto\nAsk for a raise from whatever they offer and see how they react to it.\n\n------\nthe_cat_kittles\ni think im pretty good at detecting it now, but i dont think there is a simple\nway other than to work at alot of places. i will say that if things seem\ntoxic, they aren't going to get better (in my experience), and most likely\nwill get worse. so quit asap.\n\n------\noldemployee66\nbest of luck\n\n------\noldemployee66\n1.)go with wisdom, NOT with truism rules -If respect isn't reciprocal, run. be\nthankful you have a job. Some bosses are psychotic a--holes AND power alleged\nSADISTS. 2.)read the book\n[https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/03/22/hubspot-\nbook...](https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/03/22/hubspot-book-\nunflattering-portrait-old-school-corporate-politics-new-tech-\neconomy/FVh4ayJZ5LMLdjoGXd9oIN/story.html)\n\n3.)always ask about possibilities of TRANSFERS and other departments, even\ncontractors.\n\n4.)give email address with I LOVE TO GET ANONYMOUS MAIL.\n\n5.)sometimes you have to visit the bars and party places where the employees\nhang out for some 'human tips' \\-- know what i mean\n\n6.)over age 54 or was it 49? first career out of a few was electric - gas\ngrid. FIRST YEAR IN FIELD, about three persons GOT KILLED or ?? and what waz\nintereesting was they were not necessarily accident prone.\n\n7.)look up the govbuerment stats. electric - like after the hurricane out is\nup there next to coal mining.\n\n8.)the CRAPPY boss is part of the overall package. define your framework -\necosystem, QUANTITATIVE assessment of factors, etc. You are an A student in\nMath, for top university, right??? sure??\n\n9.)it's gonna sound real harsh. insert quote by Nitzzzkieche. the\nresponsibility AND THE ATTITUDE is yours alone. I've been amazed at how bad\nand even how out of date SME subject matter expertise - great coding skills in\nMicrosoft VB - the crpola-boss gets and they rotate and TAG TEAM YOU.\n\nsometimes, Its a 'sisten-in-law' who married the key customer VP so BOSS is\n'royalty' YOU CANNOT TELL.\n\nrule #10 - be really suspicous, if the 'secretary - admin assistant,\nreceptionist? doesn't give you the REAL RULES and culture of the company? It's\nUP TO YOU to ge the truth out of them as in the book Disrupted.\n\noh s __ __ _t, no rules that are too easy to say.\n\n_ buy the management books. Find out what the CRAPPPITO lord is reading. Only\nthen, plan your strategy.\n\n-If they give you an IQ test or similar, run. no dumpkofff, I used to practice IQ tests and I go to Mensa, but no real good lookers there - if you know what I mean. THE NEW AGE is the PSYCMETRIC babble test. if you are not a 'quality focus PERFECTIONIST' then maybe U SHULD gib up 'developer position'?\n\nConclusion - Sadists?, possible racists?, sexists? been there done that - both\nemployee, consultant, manager, no I am not 'racist'... I think a __ __hole,\nsince I am a minoarity and used to STICKING OUT LIKE A SORE THUMB rolling with\nda punches, mon! don 't let them know you have been hurt. Sometimes, it helps\nto suggest other possible VICTEMS for the Mr. CARPPY-hole to attack.\n\nthe best books seem to be FBI related as to open questions and sniffing for\ndirty dirties. The CODE is the company and the code smells? according to book\nreviews on internet, the KGB uses the medieval tortures; the CIA uses the\noutsource or rendition to other a-hole tortures like fine democracy Egypt; the\nDEA uses the highly reliable informants paid for in cash.\n\nthe local sheriff grew up in the same high school, so he knows the ART-holes\nas kids and has not changed his mind in 20 years, while he tries to get rich\non the fracking boomlet.\n\nplease refer to Fred Reed, lew ______rock __ __well __*com for useful travel\nand adventure writings as old time journalists? used to bounce around quite a\nbit.\n\nhey, I like writing - code only in hh aa ss kk ee ll or give advice to\n'nephews like you' or virtual sons making all the same mistakes I did when I\nwas young\n\nloooooong time ago. fellow Art-hole in training!\n\nremember, it 10% personal. U have been selected by fate. it is ALWAYS, THAT IS\nTHE RULE, 90% not personal. 55% divorce rate in USA. it still is 90% NOT\npersonal, its the system....\n\nPS. Research is ongoing. I LOVE DATING BAR-MAIDS because they tell such\ninteresting stories.\n\nPS. If you work in Wall Street, NYC, why are the go-go dancer bar close-by?\n\nPPS. sure, I'm just an old, kinda introverted consultant. did startups, and\ndid part-time startups - sure I failed but some friends did succeed. IT AINT\nPERSONAL, I just did the best I could. with the crabby bosses i got.\n\n~~~\n746F7475\nThese are like ramblings of a mad man\n\n~~~\nosgrimmy\nSometimes it's one small thing!\n\nI had a senior member interviewing me not a manager ashe recently quit. at the\ntime I noticed he seemed annoyed and unimpressed. At the time I didn't think\nmuch about it but after 3 months working there I realized I made a big\nmistake.\n\nThere had been 5 others before me that lasted less than a year, some less than\n6 months. This senior guy was a cranky, controlling, and micromanaged\neverything I did. he was just a d$@k!\n\nwe finally got a manager at 6 months who seemed nice at first so I stayed in\nhopes of change. after a month he started isolating individuals in the team.\nhe would start with one at a time and would start talking bad about them to\neveryone in the dept. he would ignore them and isolate them from the team. he\nthen would start pulling work away and only give them boring tasks that was\nwell beyond their pay grade. one-by-one each individual would quit!\n\nAfter 3 had left I was next in his hit-list. I took bullying and abuse for 6\nmonths, I refused to let him win, and it was brutal. Isolating me from the\nteam by moving me to a corner section of the office. he would argue with me on\nanything and would pull work away from me constantly. basically I was sitting\nthere with nothing to do, and if I did anything I would get in shit for not\nasking for approval and if I did he would say no. unfortunately for him I was\nwell liked in the company and that seemed to Pisa him off more.\n\nOn my last 2 months I had enough and I would do whatever I wanted regardless\nof what he said and he didn't know how to handle it! He would say \"I told you\nNO@ and I woild say \"I'm tired of sitting there doing nothing all day so if\nyou have a problem with me working fire me!\". it was so bad the HR manager\nasked me why he has treating me like that for 6 months I told him he's a bully\nand he's a terrible person. the HR guy agreed but said there was nothing he\ncould do but talk to a VP.. nothing happened.\n\nOne day, totally bored and miserable, I said to myself \"why are you still\nhere?\". I left, and I should of left at 3 months. they HR guy threw to a of\nmoney at me to stay but I said there isn't enough money in the world to keep\nme in this environment.\n\nI keep I touch with a few individuals and he started bullying others and one-\nby-one they left. actually one just asked me for a reference as he was\nmiserable and being isolated.\n\nthere are a lot of terrible people out there!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nStrategy: Front S3 with a Caching Proxy - pbnaidu\nhttp://highscalability.com/strategy-front-s3-caching-proxy\n======\njm4\nI'm not sure this improves the situation much. In fact, it probably will only\nmake things worse since you've got an additional point of failure.\n\nThe proxy will keep your site up if S3 goes down, but if the proxy goes down\nyou're done. This strategy hinges on the assumption that your caching proxy is\ngoing to be more fault tolerant than S3. The recent problems Amazon has been\nhaving aside, that's not a gamble I'd be willing to make.\n\nNevermind the fact that even under the best circumstances this is only useful\nfor reads.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: How to integrate and automate iOS deployments in TFS environment - trvd1707\nhttp://www.nonstandardsolutions.com/2014/07/my-quest-to-automate-mobile-deployments.html\n\n======\ntrvd1707\nI have a need to integrate my iOS development with TFS repository. The dev ops\nthat only use Windows boxes need to be able to build and deploy iOS code to\nTestFlight and App store mainly accessing remotely a Mac Mini server.<p>My\nsolution was to add some script steps to the scheme and a build script to each\nproject that can be executed from a TFS task accessing the Mac Mini via ssh. I\ndescribe my solution in more detail on the url above. I'm wondering to hear\nother solutions to similar problems and suggestions to improve my solution.\nThanks\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nIn 2005 Creative beat Apple, whose side you took then? - atirip\nhttp://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2006/08/7575/\n\n======\npan69\nWe took Apple's side since these sort of lawsuits are petty. It's the same\nreason we now take Samsung's side.\n\n~~~\nshimsham\noh look, the wind just changed direction...\n\n------\ny2kenny\nWhat was the patent? What are the prior art for Creative's patent?\n\n~~~\ncalciphus\nThe patent was on the nested menu style of media organization. So that\nfamiliar artist/album/genre drill-down UI that the original iPods had and made\nthem so famously usable.\n\nI don't know of any direct prior art, since apparently a slightly different\nform factor yields patent protection. If I recall, the Creative product was\nthe first to do this on a mobile device, however it was a familiar media\naccess technique for a number of players on computers, including Winamp.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nFloating offshore regulation free tech incubator interests over 100 startups - leejw00t354\nhttp://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-05/10/floating-city-attracts-more-than-100-startups\n\n======\nstephengillie\nOne of the \"secrets\" is that all the above-ground space is already within\nsomeone's jurisdiction ;)\n\n~~~\ndgit\nNo it isn't: <http://bit.ly/wXJM9>\n\n~~~\niwwr\nNot sure it's legal to set up land-based economic activities without the\nblessing of at least one Antarctic-Treaty member countries. Even then, it's\nnot legal to do mining or related activities.\n\n~~~\nmchusma\nI'm actually curious why you think this, have any more info? My presumption is\nthat outside of legal jurisdiction anything is game. I guess existing land\npowers claiming whatever they want, such as the moon, may be legal but\npractically impossible to enforce.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nProduction Rails Tuning with Passenger: PassengerMaxProcesses - itsderek23\nhttp://blog.scoutapp.com/articles/2009/12/08/production-rails-tuning-with-passenger-passengermaxprocesses\n\n======\njeremyw\n_Generally speaking, you want to fill up as much RAM as possible with\npassenger processes without utilizing swap in order to maximize you\nperformance and throughput._\n\nUh, what?\n\nOn a single-app box with real traffic (as the article implies), look first to\nCPU. If your average request spends 50% time in db/services and 50% time in\nprocessing/render, using more than 2-3 passenger procs per core (i.e. 100%\ncore utilization) is less efficient and a waste of memory. Multiply by cores.\n(Back off a bit for db on the same machine.)\n\nYou want plenty of spare memory for OS cache, to keep your code and static\nfiles in memory -- that is, your disk reads should be zero.\n\nAnd don't do swap, kids.\n\n~~~\njnewland\nExcellent point, Jeremy. This article didn't talk at all about the CPU/RAM\nbalance, which is a important to consider when scaling any application. In my\nexperience, a large number of Rails apps are more RAM bound than CPU bound due\nto large gems/libraries/codebases.\n\nHaving additional Passenger processes available even when CPU bound will allow\nfor greater throughput (if at a less-than-ideal speed) than having requests\nback up on the queue, however - especially if those requests spend a good\namount of time waiting on DB, memcached, or other external API calls.\n\n~~~\njeremyw\nIf you're CPU-bound, you can't have greater throughput, by definition. Once\nyou calculate your non-cpu latency (50% in my example) ceil(1/latency%) is\nyour limit per core, before you start wasting resources.\n\n~~~\njnewland\nYou can't gain any more cycles, of course, but you _can_ gain throughput by\nadding processes to an already cpu-bound app by giving faster incoming\nrequests a place to go instead of sitting on the global queue while waiting\nfor other requests to process.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: How we built our new Help site: API-powered, client-driven, responsive - progolferyo\nhttp://blog.chartboost.com/post/36221629171/web-3-0-help-site?hn\n\n======\nSeoxyS\nHey guys, it's the author here.\n\nWorking on this site, I really wanted to try all of the modern best practices\nand try to make something really awesome. I hope you all like it!\n\n------\nmariusandreiana\nHow did you solve SEO? With JS disabled, help.chartboost.com has no content.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAlan Perlis: Epigrams on Programming (1982) [pdf] - tosh\nhttps://www.gwern.net/docs/cs/1982-perlis.pdf\n======\nbraythwayt\nAlan Perlis's own page listing the epigrams, in HTML for ease of readability,\ncopying, and accessibility:\n\n[http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/perlis-\nalan/quotes.html](http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/perlis-alan/quotes.html)\n\nHerbert Klaeren's list, which includes some meta-epigrams:\n\n[http://pu.inf.uni-\ntuebingen.de/users/klaeren/epigrams.html](http://pu.inf.uni-\ntuebingen.de/users/klaeren/epigrams.html)\n\n~~~\ntosh\nInteresting that the Yale website omits the last 10\n\n~~~\ngwern\nIt also has some subtle transcription errors, which is why I got a copy of the\noriginal to host & link instead. For example, I forget which, unfortunately,\nbut one of the later ones makes zero sense in the HTML version, because it's\nbased on some wordplay and the transcriber got a word wrong. (I always thought\nI was simply not getting it, until I got the original and rereading, realized\nthat the problem wasn't me.)\n\n~~~\ntosh\n#116 on the Yale Website:\n\n> You think you know when you _can_ learn, are more sure when you can write,\n> even more when you can teach, but certain when you can program.\n\nin the scanned original:\n\n> You think you know when you learn, are more sure when you can write, even\n> more when you can teach, but certain when you can program.\n\n~~~\ngwern\nThat might be it, yes.\n\n------\ntosh\n> Adapting old programs to fit new machines usually means adapting new\n> machines to behave like old ones.\n\nMade me think about backwards compatibility. Backwards compatibility often is\nwhat allows a new platform to be successful (or to have a shot at success) and\nyet it can hold it back from what it would have become without it.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Path_dependence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Path_dependence)\n\nRelated a recent comment by munificent on all the effort that goes into\nJavaScript runtimes:\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20413090](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20413090)\n\n------\ndang\nA dozen threads but no real big ones:\n[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=epigrams%20programming%20comme...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=epigrams%20programming%20comments%3E0&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix&page=0)\n\n------\nvok\nA favorite Alan Perlis quote that's not included here: \"If Shakespeare were\nalive today, he’d be a programmer, and he’d be writing one-liners in APL.\"\n\n[https://www.jsoftware.com/papers/APLQA.htm](https://www.jsoftware.com/papers/APLQA.htm)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNZ Auction Site Bans iPad-Lookalike Tablets - Semteksam\nhttp://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/nz_auction_site_bans_ipad-lookalike_tablets/\n======\ndigiwizard\nlickspittle sycophant: awesomest description of the day.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nTakipi – Java debugging reinvented - nivstein\nhttp://www.takipi.com/\n\n======\nsteve_barham\nI want to test this product, and I'm in a position where I could spend real\nmoney on a purchase or subscription to this service in the event that it does\nwhat we need.\n\nUnfortunately, as soon as I see that data is sent off-site, I immediately\ndiscard this as a product which my organisation can use.\n\nReasons\n\n1\\. I am an engineer, working in a highly regulated environment. Regulated\nenvironments excel at buying things, or subscribing to things - we have whole\nteams of people that are delighted to spend money on our behalf. They also\ntend to have immense amounts of process overhead, whenever you interact with\nthird parties on subjects relating to intellectual property or the\nconfidentiality of client data.\n\nYour assurances on encryption, confidentiality, etc. are irrelevant to me; you\ncould have invented a perfect cryptosystem, but regulations would still\nprohibit me from exporting data outside of our organisation.\n\n2\\. I don't want to build reliance on something which is outside of my\ncontrol. This might be the greatest tool ever built, but if I'm building\nmonitoring systems for production systems, I need to have confidence that they\nare available, irrespective of your schedule for upgrading / supporting /\nmaintaining your product.\n\nWhy should a tool fail, just because the people that built the tool are no\nlonger around?\n\nShort takeaway - my suggestion is that you consider those of us who are not\nfortunate enough to work in unregulated industries, and produce a self-hosted\nversion of your application (as GitHub do) which can be run on our own\ninfrastructure. There's revenue there which is being ignored. You might feel\nthat centralising your service means that crackers can't steal your tool and\nuse it for free. I would argue that the people that actually care about\nrunning this locally are the sort of people that will be paying you,\nhandsomely, for it.\n\n~~~\nnivstein\nHi Steve. These are some valid points you're making. We are currently\nconsidering an on-premises solution for precisely this situation you are\ndescribing.\n\n------\nDaveLond\nThis looks interesting, but the lack of any pricing information makes me\nnervous - am I missing it?\n\n~~~\nnivstein\nTakipi is in open beta, so it is currently free.\n\n~~~\nDaveLond\nA not unattractive price point, I find. When are you planning to start\ncharging for it?\n\n~~~\nnivstein\nNothing is final, but we should remain in beta at least until the end of the\nyear.\n\n~~~\nhga\nI'm afraid I have to agree with brazzy; you're asking people to invest a fair\namount of time, and potentially come to depend on a tool that they have no\nidea if they will be able to afford once you start charging money.\n\n------\nfarmdawgnation\nThis seems pretty legit. I really like the personality you gave the site with\nits design.\n\nDo you have any plans to support GitHub repositories as a location to pull\nsource from in the event we don't really want to deploy a jar with our source\nin it?\n\n~~~\nnivstein\nThis is actually a feature which is currently under consideration.\n\n------\nnamdnay\nHow well would this handle Spring code (in full autowired, horrible stack\ntrace glory)?\n\n~~~\nnivstein\nWhen you install Takipi, you are asked to enter your top packages (e.g.\n\"com.mycompany;org.foobar.common\"). Code outside of the filter will not be\nshown to you when viewing stack traces. In addition, if, for an example, an\nexception is thrown by Spring AND caught by Spring, you will not receive an\nevent for that case.\n\n------\nrsanders\nIs anybody using this for Clojure? I'm very interested in how usable it is for\nthat.\n\nClojure runs on the JVM using JVM bytecodes, but that doesn't mean Takipi will\nbe able to show me anything but mangled gibberish.\n\n~~~\nnivstein\nTakipi lets you attach your own source code to the project, so you will see\nyour original source code when viewing exceptions and other events, instead of\ndecompiled Java. Support for prettier stack traces is in the planning.\n\n------\navisk\nIf I understand correctly does the takipi daemon, upload all the debug info.\ncollected from our server to the takipi server via Internet. Then I use\napp.takipi.com to access the same?\n\n~~~\nnivstein\nTakipi's agent records information which is relevant to the issues which are\ndetected (exceptions, latency problems, custom conditions set by the\ndeveloper). The data and source code are then encrypted with your secret\n256-bit AES key and stored by Takipi. This data is in turn decrypted in your\nbrowser and viewed by you at app.takipi.com.\n\n------\nsgt\nI know it works on the JVM level, but we use Glassfish a lot in production and\nI'm interested in finding out exactly how practical it is to use Takipi with\nGlassfish?\n\n~~~\nnivstein\nVery practical :) Takipi fully supports Glassfish, as well as all other major\nweb servers and containers.\n\n------\nerans\nIt looks like a really interesting approach for live debugging...\n\n------\nSanderMak\nAre you guys planning to offer this as a Heroku add-on?\n\n~~~\nnivstein\nWe are currently in the process of adding a Heroku add-on :)\n\n~~~\nSanderMak\nCooling, looking forward to try it on my Play 2 app running on Heroku!\n\n------\nyareally\nAny plans to support Android in the near future?\n\n~~~\nnivstein\nTakipi is mainly designed for production/staging debugging, and thus targets\nservers and development environments.\n\n~~~\nyareally\nSorry, to clarify, I meant support us developers making apps on the PC for\nAndroid (not using your tool directly on Android) :)\n\n~~~\nnivstein\nI'm sorry, Android development is currently not supported.\n\n------\nblibble\nI wonder what the overhead is like?\n\n~~~\nnivstein\nBoth the RAM and CPU overhead are configurable by you. The default values are\nmax 5% CPU, and max 5% RAM.\n\n------\nmokplan\nCool one! Good luck guys!\n\n------\nbuddym\nWhat people sometimes fail to realize is that proper testing disciplines can\nmitigate practically all bugs in production. I haven't seriously used a\ndebugger in 2 years, methinks. So giving developers \"X-ray vision\" to their\nservers in production, however innovative, is not a real solution.\n\n~~~\nUchikoma\nAs you are down voted I wonder: I have the same experience here. Very few\nserious problems (1/year) that come from developer bugs. Others seem to have\nmuch more, e.g. when people ask me if the devs here have pager duty (which\nthey haven't).\n\nI also wonder if we test too much (ca. 85% path coverage, 15k unit tests (3x\nrewritten), automatic selenium tests, explorative manual tests, automatic API\ntests, developer acceptance tests).\n\n~~~\nlmm\nIt certainly sounds like you're testing too much.\n\nThe most efficient use of resources is almost always proportionate allocation\nbetween code and other things. So if only a small proportion of your serious\nproblems are code errors then you're either testing too much or not doing\nenough at other levels of the stack.\n\nThe real questions of course are whether your defect rate and the rate at\nwhich you introduce new features are where you want them to be.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Do YC Startups Lack Spine? - villageidiot\n\nBy that I mean the kind of business instincts that are needed to really make a killing in the marketplace.<p>There seems to be an abundance of admirable nobility in the aims of YCers but not a lot of ruthlessness.<p>Maybe this is a function of the relative youth and inexperience of most of the groups that apply.<p>Would YC be more profitable if they were more open to older entrepreneurs that are ready to rumble?\n======\npg\nTextually this is a classic troll. But at least it's not an account newly\ncreated for the purpose, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and play\nalong.\n\nLet's start by clarifying your question. Did Larry & Sergey, when they\nstarted, have these business instincts about making a killing in the\nmarketplace that you're referring to? Because if they did they seem to have\nbeen well hidden. And if they didn't, these qualities don't seem to be worth\nmuch.\n\nAlso, can you tell me more about the youth and inexperience of the people who\napply to YC? No one, as far as we know, sees the applications except us.\n\nYour last question I can at least answer with certainty: no. It takes 4-5\nyears for a startup to achieve liquidity. No YC-funded startup is that old;\nthe median is only about 18 months old. Our profitability now is therefore\nnoise, which means no change in the applicants would have affected it\nsignificantly.\n\n~~~\nvillageidiot\nI appreciate you treating the question in the good faith in which it was\nintended. While the topic may be provocative, I felt it was relevant, based on\nmy observations of YC. However, because I can only provide anecdote as\nevidence of my case, I asked the question to discover whether my observations\nabout YC are shared or whether I am suffering from a delusion. Textually this\nmay seem like trollish behavior but some of the responses to the question seem\nto belie this suggestion.\n\nAs for your point about Google, some ideas are so powerful that they fall\noutside the conventional expectations of business practice. The fact that\nGoogle's founders have, until lately anyway, been unassertive in the manner of\nMicrosoft, does not indicate that Bill Gates' approach \"is not worth much\".\nAbsent some ground-shaking idea like Google's, I would argue the assertive\napproach of Microsoft is the norm for a successful company and a key\ningredient missing in the YC environment.\n\n~~~\nmattmaroon\nHow \"assertive\" was Microsoft at first? It seems like they spent their first\ndecade toiling along at standardizing programming across the many different\nOEMs and computer types of the day. It was probably another decade until they\ndid anything that anyone would consider \"ruthless\".\n\nThey started off trying to build something people want (Basic for the Altair)\njust like any YC company. I wouldn't say that most YC startups display any\nless ambition than building a Basic interpreter.\n\n~~~\nbrandonkm\nMircosoft was VERY assertive at first. Without laying out a detailed history,\nvery early on gates had a keen business sense and was quite ruthless. They may\nhave been 'building something people want', but the seeds of what microsoft\nwould later become were without a doubt being planted.\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Letter_to_Hobbyists>\n\n~~~\nmattmaroon\nI don't think asking people to pay for your product is ruthless.\n\n~~~\nbrandonkm\nNot ruthless but certainly assertive.\n\n------\ntptacek\nThis question doesn't make any sense. YC is open to older entrepreneurs. Who\nknows whether they're ruthless, or ruthless enough? And why accept your\npremise that what's needed to win is ruthlessness?\n\n------\nmattmaroon\nThis really doesn't make any sense at all.\n\n------\ncabalamat\nWhat is the optimum amount of ruthlessness for a startup to have?\n\nI think this depends entirely on what industry sector a startup is targeting.\nFor example, a startup in the drug dealing, extortion, pimping or organised\ncrime sectors should probably be very ruthless and very \"ready to rumble\".\n\nBut for a website -- the sort of business most HN readers are more likely to\nbe in -- ruthlessness is much less likely to be effective. The thing you're\nmost likely to achieve with it is getting people to think you're an arsehole.\n\n------\nskmurphy\nThe kind of killing that Hewlett and Packard made in the marketplace was\npredicated on fair dealing and a commitment to their employees and their\ncommunity. What entrepreneurs would you like to see HN readers emulate?\n\n------\nprospero\nI can't say for sure, but I'm pretty certain no one's been turned down because\nthey've been too \"ready to rumble\".\n\n------\ncchooper\nI doubt it pays to be ruthless when you have nothing to back it up. If you\ncan't dominate, you have to cooperate.\n\n~~~\nanewaccountname\n>I doubt it pays to be ruthless when you have nothing to back it up.\n\nDid the market cap of Microsoft suddenly drop while I wasn't looking or\nsomething?\n\n~~~\ncchooper\nDid Microsoft become an early-stage YC startup when I wasn't looking or\nsomething?\n\n~~~\nanewaccountname\nMicrosoft was ruthless when they were early stage; that is how they got to\nwhere they are.\n\n~~~\ncchooper\nNot when they were two guys writing Altair Basic. They survived off sales to\nhobbyists. Being ruthless wouldn't have go them very far.\n\n------\nSwellJoe\nCheck back in a few years. We're only three years into observing the YC\nexperiment. The average exit in the valley takes seven years. Over the next\nfive years, we'll have pretty solid data about whether the YC model, and its\ncompanies, can \"really make a killing in the marketplace\".\n\n------\nnoodle\ni believe the yc startups follow the \"if you build it they will come\" type of\nphilosophy, as opposed to the \"shove it down your throats\" or \"cut costs to\nmake a bigger margin\" vibe i'm getting from the OP.\n\n~~~\nmadoff\nOr the \"screw your best friend over by stealing an idea he's been working on,\nimplement it behind his back and launch it before he even has a chance to\nregister the domain name he told you about over lunch\". Google it.\n\n~~~\nolefoo\nYour googlebait is not effective, can you at least share the domain name with\nus?\n\n~~~\nkirse\nMight be thinkcomp whining about how Zuckerberg stole Facebook from him...\nOnly guy on here who seems to actively bring up his grudge.\n\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=328235>\n\n~~~\nthinkcomp\nSorry, but if you're implying that I was impersonating someone else (in this\ncase, the person whose username is madoff, who I don't know) just to revisit\nthis topic, you'd be incorrect. (You'd also be kind of rude.) I bring up what\nhappened with Facebook when it has some contextual relevance. There's a lot\npeople here who could learn from that series of events, and I think I'm\nentitled to discuss it just like anyone else. As you'll note, however, I\ndidn't even mention it until you did--and I only noticed that due to a traffic\nspike.\n\nAnd for the record, I agree. By and large, YC startups do lack spines.\n\n~~~\nkirse\n_you'd be incorrect. (You'd also be kind of rude.)_\n\nSounds like someone needs a spine ;)\n\nOn that note, though, I apologize for accusing you of something you did not\ndo.\n\n------\nrms\n<http://www.paulgraham.com/good.html>\n\n~~~\nbooke\nCan we think for ourselves for once? I don't know if you've noticed but a lot\nmore companies succeed from not listening to pg's advice than vice versa.\n\n~~~\nntoshev\n_a lot more companies succeed from not listening to pg's advice than vice\nversa_\n\nGot any hard data to support your claims?\n\n~~~\nbooke\nThe S&P 500\n\n------\nfallentimes\nWhat business instincts are you talking about? Is this from the Brazen\nCareerist or something? It just seems like you're making generalizations\ndriven by anecdotes.\n\nIf you're more specific and backup your claims with data (or even concrete\nexamples) I think you'll get better answers.\n\n------\nsokoloff\nIn what way(s) do you think YC isn't open to older entrepreneurs?\n\nIf anything, I suspect older entrepreneurs aren't as open to YC than the other\nway around. In my own case, if I wanted $20K in expenses for a startup, I'd\nlogin to e*trade and transfer it, or I'd write a check for it. Doesn't seem\nworth giving up 6% for the cash, though if I were intent on striking out on my\nown, I'd almost certainly talk to YC, to see if a \"3% for $1 and\nadvice/contacts\" deal could be worked out.\n\n------\nsiong1987\nWhere he draws the conclusion from?\n\n------\npaul9290\nI'd say most here want to build awesome products that people use! Most are not\nbusinessman first, but our journey lead us to be such....\n\nRuthless ... can anyone name a well known inventor who started off ruthless?\nTough for me to even write that word as I want to create good in the world and\nprofit from it. Being ruthless... blech!\n\n~~~\nbooke\nBill Gates.\n\n------\ntyler\nThis would be a much more interesting question if you were to give specific\nexamples of how specific YC startups are \"spineless\", and perhaps how they\ncould be less \"spineless\". Without that, I'd simple respond: \"They're not.\"\n\n------\nvaksel\nWhat exactly do you mean by ready to rumble?\n\n~~~\nvillageidiot\nI'm talking about assertively competitive business practices.\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let's_get_ready_to_rumble>!\n\n~~~\nfrench\nSounds like the Bill Gates school of IT. The YC startup community has a\ndifferent set of social mores which emphasize usefulness of the product, a\ncertain trendiness with respect to what else is happening in the current web\n2.0 world. We are not really the budding monopolist types. Yes, there is a\ncertain timidness in the YC community about the dark art of business. But\nthat's mainly because most of us have never worked :)\n\n~~~\nsorp\nWell, I've worked in the business world. But I have no interest in\n\"assertively competitive business practices\". Most of the managers I worked\nfor who were comfortable with that type of approach were exactly the reason I\nwanted to escape into the startup world and never look back at corporate life\nagain. So, if you want to call that 'timid', go ahead. I'd rather do my own\nthing, make a good product and try avoid \"doing evil\" as much as I can. This\nprobably sounds cliched or like I'm trying to win some brownie points but it's\nactually how I think. It's not worth it for me to live in that kind of\n\"assertively competitive\" way that I see my father and his colleagues living -\nor working, I should say. That feels like the old way of doing things.\n\n------\ngruseom\nEvidence?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nResponsible Disclosure Can Be Anything But - daeken\nhttp://daeken.com/responsible-disclosure-can-be-anything-but\n\n======\nsriramk\nI'm shocked he didn't even try to contact Onity. He's trying ascribe\nmotivations and possible behavior just based on his reading of the lock market\n- we have no idea whether Onity would have acted in this way. Perhaps they'd\nhave scrambled to contact hotels? Or maybe they'd have disregarded it.\n\nWe have no way of knowing because he never attempted to do the right thing.\n\n~~~\nluu\nDon't we have a good idea how they would have responded from how they've\nactually responded? It took four months and a huge public backlash before they\nacquiesced to demands for replacements.[1]\n\n[1] [http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/12/06/lock-\nfi...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/12/06/lock-firm-onity-\nstarts-to-shell-out-for-security-fixes-to-hotels-hackable-locks/)\n\n~~~\nfatbird\nHow they responded after public disclosure says little about how they would\nhave responded to notification with a deadline for public disclosure.\n\nI understand the various incentives for Onity, and I think a great incentive\nfor them is, given six months to address the issue, knowing it'll be made\npublic, to take at least some proactive steps such as notifying large\ncustomers or being ready upon public disclosure with a mitigation plan.\n\nHis whole blog entry is a lot of handwaving to cover up the fact that he never\neven gave them a chance to do something anything like the right thing.\n\n~~~\nFirehed\nHe makes an important point though: security researchers have been used by\nvendors as part of trying to go through the traditional process of responsible\ndisclosure. It could easily come off as blackmail[1]. Simply disclosing to the\npublic avoids that possibility, because the researcher was clearly not trying\nto personally get something from the vendor.\n\nThat being said, I think this kind of thing should be covered by whistleblower\nprotection laws (I don't know if it's ever been tested)... although it seems\nthose are only enforced when it's convenient.\n\nSo while I think he may have reached the right conclusion, I don't think it\nwas for the right reasons. If sufficient protections for disclosers are in\nplace, this should be a relative non-issue (though it makes sense to adjust\nthe disclosure window based on the ease and risk of the vulnerability in order\nto apply pressure for an expedited fix)\n\n[1] Given there's no payout for the researcher other than having the\nvulnerability fixed, it is conceivably not too hard to defend against. That\ndoesn't change the fact that they can be sued, which is expensive, time-\nconsuming, and stressful.\n\n~~~\nfatbird\nThe best protection for the discloser is simply to do so anonymously, which\nshouldn't be difficult for someone like this.\n\nAlternately, do so 'legal anonymously', perhaps by the EFF approaching the\ncompany and saying \"we have in our possession information on a security\nvulnerability in your product. We want to give you information on it. In six\nmonths this information will be made public. We ask for and want no\ncompensation or consideration at all.\"\n\nThat's it. There exist methods to do this safely; Daeken could have done it,\nand didn't.\n\n~~~\nlawnchair_larry\nNo, the EFF doesn't offer this service, and given the volume of\nvulnerabilities disclosed, it would be a huge waste of their resources.\n\nI'm not paying a lawyer because you have broken software that I had nothing to\ndo with making.\n\n------\npaupino_masano\nIf you haven't seen his original paper regarding this it can be found here:\n<http://demoseen.com/bhpaper.html>\n\nAlso, slides for his talk at Blackhat: <http://demoseen.com/bhtalk2.pdf>\n\n~~~\npurplelobster\nWow, it's so easy. I can't really sympathize with Onity in any way.\n\n------\ntzs\nHe missed an option: disclose privately to Onity's major customers, and give\nthem some time to assess the situation and deal with Onity.\n\n~~~\ndaeken\nYeah, didn't consider that angle. However, that (much like Onity's original\napproach to the problems) leaves the independent hotels in the cold.\nDefinitely a decent option, though.\n\n------\npaulgb\nWhere does US law stand on full disclosure? I'm aware of MBTA v. Anderson, but\nare there still some grey areas?\n\n------\ngojomo\nWhile fixing all the locks will be costly and time-consuming, perhaps a far\nsmaller number of specialized 'tripwire' fix boards can be sent to affected\nhotels, boards which track (and perhaps report instantly by radio) attempts to\nuse the hack. For example, one such device could be added per floor.\n\nEven if crooks only very occasionally trip the specialized replacements, they\nwould alert hotels to active exploitation, allowing either immediate\napprehension or timely review of security footage. Shifting the risk/reward\nfor criminals could buy time for a more complete but gradual fix.\n\n~~~\ndaeken\nOnce you've already spent the time and money to pull the locks off the doors\nand replace/add a circuit board, you may as well just drop in the fixed board.\nThat prevents the main vulnerability from functioning, though there's no fix\nat all for the encryption flaw (but no one has exploited that, nor will they\nin the near future, if I had to guess).\n\n~~~\nknowaveragejoe\nNot only that, but seeing as the locks don't communicate in any way besides\nthe maintenance port, there's no way to know if they've been tripped without\nreading them at some regular interval.\n\n~~~\ngojomo\nThe replacement board, in the hypothesized special 'tripwire' assembly, would\nhave added radio-reporting. You only need a few of these super-locks, randomly\nadded to the population of vulnerable locks, to catch any exploitation at\nscale. That'd both curtail the losses and deter future copycats. (\"While\nyou're rifling through the guest's belongings looking for valuables, security\nis already on its way.\")\n\n------\nkevingadd\nEven if the risk for independent discovery was high, announcing it to the\npublic without contacting the vendor and giving them the opportunity to at\nleast prepare a response plan (even if you think the plan is inadequate)\nensured a thoroughly dramatic media response that made certain that anyone\nwith the slightest desire to break into hotel rooms now knew how.\n\nEDIT: Yep, you're right. I don't know how I missed that given that I skimmed\nthe article twice. Sorry.\n\n~~~\ndaeken\n> The fact that 'contact Onity, then disclose publicly after a reasonable\n> period of time' is nowhere on his list just blows my mind.\n\nThat's the very first thing on the list. Quote: \"The standard 'Responsible\nDisclosure' approach would be to notify Onity and give them X months to deal\nwith the issue before taking it public.\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nPracticing Programming (2005) - luu\nhttps://sites.google.com/site/steveyegge2/practicing-programming\n======\nntoshev\nI think practicing programming should be about:\n\n1\\. trying many new things\n\n2\\. in a very tight feedback loop\n\nSo, code little ideas, but make sure you start from the essence of the problem\n- not the registration/login process, not the new API - start directly from\nthe part that's new and challenging and risky. In this way, when the idea\nfails, you wouldn't have wasted time building support infrastructure for it.\n\nAlso, pick light and flexible tools for exploratory programming - dynamic\nlanguages, REPL, etc.\n\n------\nvega\nSo, fair point. Keep up to date with technology, don’t become obsolete. Sure.\n\nBut I don't know about the metaphor. I mean, programmers do practice daily. If\nyou’re coding at work you’re practicing.\n\nMore to the point: if the author played in the NFL he’d want the cornerback to\ndo exceptionally well at game time, to practice daily, of course, AND to go\nhome at night and keep practicing to become a quarterback AND a coach because,\nyou know, got to keep up. My guess is that’s not what happens in the NFL.\n\n~~~\ncicatriz\nCoding at work is certainly not optimized for practice.\n\nNFL players do an exceptional amount of highly optimized training in addition\nto their \"work\" of playing the game: [http://www.si.com/nfl/2014/12/10/tom-\nbrady-new-england-patri...](http://www.si.com/nfl/2014/12/10/tom-brady-new-\nengland-patriots-age-fitness)\n\nNo, you shouldn't _have_ to work a 40+ hour week and then go home and practice\nto make a living as a software engineer. But if we want highly performant\nprogrammers, we should figure out the best ways to practice (and probably\nspend less--but more effective--time on production code to balance it all\nout).\n\n~~~\nJeremyMorgan\n>No, you shouldn't have to work a 40+ hour week and then go home and practice\nto make a living as a software engineer. But if we want highly performant\nprogrammers, we should figure out the best ways to practice (and probably\nspend less--but more effective--time on production code to balance it all\nout).\n\nYou're coming very close to identifying a major problem with our industry that\nisn't likely to go away. Yes you absolutely do have to \"go home and study\" to\nkeep up as a software engineer/programmer. This is due to two reasons:\n\n1\\. Advancements in technology outpace us\n\n2\\. We're generally overloaded by management that doesn't understand what we\ndo.\n\nAs for #1 there isn't much we can do to change that, and who would want to?\n\nBut for #2 it's a major problem. In many cases our 40+ hours have to be filled\nwith coding because of the unrealistic deadlines that are posed on us from\nmanagers who don't understand the work.\n\nMost of us are managed by people who have no idea what we do. They want \"more\nmore more\" in terms of features and gizmos but haven't the slightest\nunderstanding of what goes into it. Add in scope creep and wasted time with\nmeetings (that make them look busy) and that adds up to a long work week for a\ndeveloper. And when you ask for time to study or learn something new, the\nresponse is \"sure, when things aren't so busy\".\n\nThis just reinforces my belief that you need passion to do this. You have to\nlove development so much you're willing to put up this stuff, work your ass\noff and still want to go home and learn more.\n\n~~~\nkyllo\nYes and it's also because the projects you'll typically work on in a corporate\nenvironment are like maintaining and adding features to boring CRUD apps and\nyour skills will atrophy if you don't actively seek interesting, challenging\nwork on your own time.\n\n~~~\nJeremyMorgan\nI agree 100%.\n\n------\nnkangoh\nI would be interested to hear the opinions (or more accurately, experiences)\nof developers regarding \"practice.\" I'm beginning my career as a software\nengineer this summer and I would like to become an \"excellent\" engineer.\nEmployable, of course, but also the go-to for knowledge in a subset of\ncomputer science (let's say natural language processing, for example).\n\nGiven I have a very long life (hopefully) ahead of me, what would you say is\nthe best way to do this? Yes, coding is good, but is it the best way? I spend\na large amount of time doing side projects, but eventually I'll have a family\nand other obligations, so I would need higher impact, less time consuming\npracticing options.\n\nAn example of this I guess is how many expert violinists actually \"practice\"\nfor a surprisingly small amount of time because the practice is so deliberate.\nWhat's the equivalent for us?\n\n~~~\njoe_the_user\nI do martial arts and I program.\n\nNearly everything I do in martial arts is practice for the relatively few\ntimes I might spar with someone.\n\nI don't do any skills practice for programming. I've never met anyone who did\nsomething equivalent to honing basic movement, practicing balance and similar\nthings.\n\nReading about the latest programming methods is a good thing and can increase\nyour repertoire but I don't think it's comparable to skills-practice in\nmartial arts or music or something similar. In practices like this, there are\nfundamental skills that need to be in good shape to allow a person to anything\ncreative in the discipline (I have no idea why expert violinists wouldn't\nspend significant periods practicing but I know little about that. I know that\nmost music requires significant practice of basic skills to achieve mastery).\n\nMy suspicious is that programming is an activity that is strongly connected to\nthe brain's language centers and so mastery of it on the skills-level is\nsimple and the problems with it appear on the judgment and understanding level\n- which doesn't make it easy, rather gives it that extraordinarily hard\nquality that we programmers are familiar with.\n\nAlso, most skills-practice disciplines are performance arts rather than\nproduction processes. Machinist and auto-mechanics also have high skill levels\nbut like programmers they are obligated to show some significant\naccomplishment for their entire time at work. We can contrast this with a\nmusician or other artist, who if they give an amazingly beautiful performance\nonce a month and have it recorded is considered remarkably successful. In\ncontrast, a programmer gets few accolades if she can just \"be a great\nprogrammer\" for an hour a month - what is instead considered with programmers\nis their entire output, which puts an entirely different series of pressures\nand constraints on the programmer.\n\n~~~\nkyllo\nCool, what martial arts do you do?\n\nBrown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu here. I love coding for some of the same\nreasons I love training and sparring. It's endlessly complex, so you never run\nout of new challenges.\n\n------\nthrowaway1890\nThis is good advice, but it's a bit hard to act on. How does one know when to\nleverage their existing skills to build something vs spending time learning\nsomething new and using it to build something (which might not pan out due to\nlack of experience with that technology, and which will certainly take longer\nthan using what is familiar)? For me, the biggest investment is that of\ntime... and while he provides ideas for small things to do, in the end one\nreally needs to use a technology to grasp it (which he does say).\n\nI'm a beginning programmer working on a small team. We won't be hiring anytime\nsoon so many of the things he suggests aren't options. I'm lucky in that I've\nbeen able to learn a lot of things across the stack. However, our main\nlanguage is Perl, which isn't the most marketable language anymore.\n\nI have an idea for a useful little site -- something that will look good on a\nresume, but not something that I can imagine becoming a big money maker of any\nsort. Do I use my main strengths, my familiar technologies (such as Perl and\nSQL), to write the site? Or do I choose something that might be an up-and-\ncoming technology (like Node.js or Clojure) even if I can't really find any\njobs in my area for them?\n\nI do love learning. I spend downtime at work learning new things, but my time\noutside of work to actually build stuff is limited. I'm getting a bit burnt\nout on learning new languages and frameworks... I've wandered between Perl,\nElixir, Haskell, Clojure, Racket, Javascript/Node, and any number of\nframeworks for them. I just want to make something solid, but I'm worried that\nusing my Perl skillset will be more of a short term than a long term gain.\n\nI know there's probably no easy answer to this question. But it seems to me\nthat it's better to have made something and launched it (even if it doesn't\nuse the sexiest tech) than to have something half-finished stagnate because I\ndon't have the time to learn the ins and outs of the quirks behind some new\ntech. Does anyone have any insight into handling this? Thanks.\n\n~~~\nsleazebreeze\nI've had the same quandary as you. Mainly work with Java and Javascript at\nwork, so I wanted to add a purely functional language. I flirted with Haskell,\nScala, Node, Scheme and Clojure and eventually settled on focusing on gaining\na better understanding of functional programming with Clojure because it has a\nfamiliar platform (JVM), syntax I can understand (sorry Haskell and Scala) and\nit seems like it's going places.\n\nLast year, I maintained a focus on Java and JS because I'm still intermediate\nlevel with those and didn't want to distract myself with other languages and\nparadigms. That was a good choice.\n\nFor this year, I've made a commitment that any side projects I do, I do in\nClojure. I cheated and started in 2014, but I am liking this way of focusing\non a language for a year and doing everything in that.\n\nMaybe once I have more familiarity with more languages, I will feel more\ncomfortable using the appropriate language to solve a particular problem.\nHowever, isn't that part of learning? Using a hammer on nails, screws and\nbolts and figuring out what the hammer is good at and what it isn't?\n\n------\nJeremyMorgan\nGreat article. This is something I've said pertaining to interviews for years.\nThere has to be advancement in the skills. Doing something every day is not an\nindicator of improvement.\n\nIn fact, sometimes it can be worse. When someone says \"Call this person now!\nhe/she has been writing C# for 10 years!\". That's great and all but have they\nbeen improving their craft over that 10 years, or getting enough work to not\nget fired? There's an enormous difference. And many times I would run into\nfolks who sunk into a rut and did the same thing for 10 years basically\n\"coasting\". They make small incremental changes in what they do every day, but\nweren't out seeking ways to drastically improve.\n\nProgramming is different than many other fields simply because it requires\npassion to survive. If you look at learning new things like \"Ugh, I have to\nlearn ___\", eventually you'll start slipping and end up hacking PHP Wordpress\ninstalls somewhere for subpar wages if you're employed at all. If you seek out\nnew things to push yourself because it's enjoyable keeping up is intuitive and\neasy. Even stuff you may never use for your job can teach you new ways of\nthinking.\n\nNow if you'll excuse me I need to go back to playing with RUST.\n\n~~~\nguelo\nWith the speed of technology changes I think it's pretty hard for programmers\nto get stuck in the exact same rut for 10 years.\n\nUsing your example of C#, there has been huge changes in the last 10 years to\nthe point that it's barely the same language.\n\nEven if you imagine the most staid company that refuses to upgrade their tech\nstack, the last 10 years has seen so many changes in the web and mobile that\nit's hard to imagine that there hasn't been some pressure on even the most\nunmotivated programmer to learn new skills.\n\n~~~\nJeremyMorgan\nThat's why I mentioned iterative changes, such as the changes to C# over the\nlast 10 years. Just because they started using generics at some point doesn't\nmean they've been learning anything to drastically improve their code.\n\nIt's very easy to sit at a company building calendar apps for ten years and\nfall behind the rest of the world. I see it every day.\n\n------\npeterwwillis\nThis is a _very_ long way of saying: you should learn new skills, and practice\nthe skills that you think will be valuable by the time you need to get a new\njob.\n\nPractice isn't rocket science... heck, just practice different kinds of\nprogramming. You'll naturally improve at everything because it all relates to\neach other. To borrow from his football and music examples, even practicing\ndance will make you a better football player, and so will playing the drums\nfor a cellist.\n\n------\nyellowapple\nYet another reminder about how remarkably similar programming and musicianship\nare in mentality and artistry. It's no wonder that I enjoy both :)\n\n------\nantichaos\n(2005)\n\n~~~\nsctb\nUpdated, thanks.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Best C Package Manager? - archivist1\nWant to develop a cross-platform (win&#x2F;posix) project in C&#x2F;C++ for small binary size (and learning) and want to be as efficient and productive as I am in Node&#x2F;JS with npm.<p>I&#x27;m thinking a package manager can help me learn and avoid writing a lot of boilerplate.\n======\ncatacombs\nWhat packages could you possibly need? Much the C standard library is already\ninstalled on your machine and can be used to build just about anything.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nIpad security app - btechster3\n\nSo I just got an Ipad and thought to myself, I just spent $600 on this thing! What if someone steals it from me.  Anyone interested in creating a security app for the ipad which sends you an alert if your ipad has been stolen and tracks it down for you?\n======\ngmac\n<http://www.orbicule.com/undercover/iphone/>?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWill the increase in HB-1 visas mean lower wages for IT folks? - brohoolio\n\nWill the increase in HB-1 visas mean lower wages for IT folks?\n======\nbdfh42\nAs an external observer I have to say that this is what they would appear to\nbe for. There does not seem to be a shortage of skilled developers in the USA\n- least of all around such companies as IBM (who are large \"users\" of such\nvisas).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nRussians buy Yahoo! - darkduck\nhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-03/silver-lake-discussing-yahoo-with-alibaba-digital-sky.html\n\n======\npavel_lishin\nHeadline is patently false in at least two ways.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nEthereum Constantinople protocol upgrade postponed until further notice - davidiach\nhttps://twitter.com/5chdn/status/1085275971660509184\n======\nlostctown\nHere's the EIP (Ethereum improvement proposal) causing problems.\n[https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/blob/master/EIPS/eip-1283.m...](https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/blob/master/EIPS/eip-1283.md)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nEC2 High Memory Cluster Eight Extra Large Instance (244 GiB RAM) - jeffbarr\nhttp://aws.typepad.com/aws/2013/01/ec2-for-in-memory-computing-the-high-memory-cluster-eight-extra-large.html\n\n======\nmichaelt\nAlmost all the big EC2 outages have been due to EBS, and you have to pay extra\nfor it as well. Netflix steers clear of it [1].\n\nDoes anyone know why Cluster Compute and Cluster GPU Instances [2] (including\nthis new one) make using EBS mandatory?\n\n[1] [http://techblog.netflix.com/2011/04/lessons-netflix-\nlearned-...](http://techblog.netflix.com/2011/04/lessons-netflix-learned-from-\naws-outage.html) [2]\n[http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/faqs/#Does_use_of_Cluster_Compute_...](http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/faqs/#Does_use_of_Cluster_Compute_Instances_differ_from_other_Amazon_EC2_instance_types)\n\n~~~\ncrb\nTwo reasons come to mind:\n\n* the failure rate of an EBS volume (assuming a bug-free EBS software stack!) _should_ be less than any one spinning disk\n\n* these machines don't have disk space set aside for copying the root volumes to them from S3 to boot. (There's a 10GB limit, and to allow for this to be somewhere, you'd have to have another SSD, or partition the existing ones.)\n\nThere's a good blog post about it on Rightscale:\n[http://blog.rightscale.com/2012/11/02/new-ec2-instance-\ntypes...](http://blog.rightscale.com/2012/11/02/new-ec2-instance-types-and-\ncoordinated-failures-in-the-cloud/)\n\nesh's \"You Should Use EBS Boot Instances\" also lays out a number of good\nreasons to use EBS for boot: <http://alestic.com/2012/01/ec2-ebs-boot-\nrecommended>\n\nYou at least have two 120GB ephemeral SSDs to play with when you're running -\na luxury you don't have on the new M3 classes.\n\n~~~\nDylan16807\nIt's not really the rate that's the issue here, it's correlation between\nfailures. The chance of losing a third or more of your machines at once is\nenormously higher with EBS.\n\nPartitioning a disk should take seconds; I don't see why it would be an\nimpediment. As it is, someone can do it themselves but now it'll be a custom\njob and less reliable.\n\n------\nmariuz\nOne way to scale Firebird Database is to put it on memory virtual disk or\nramfs\n\nOn linux i can mount a partition in memory (Install ubuntu/debian)\n\nsudo mkdir /mnt/ram sudo mount -t ramfs -o size=200G ramfs /mnt/ram mount to\nshow you the partitions mounted\n\nand then move your database into the ram partition\n\ncp -rp /var/lib/firebird/2.5/data /mnt/ram\n\nThat large instance could help you with the Firebird cache settings also the\nextra SSD could do wonders\n\nInspired by the stack overflow big fat server architecture\n\n[http://highscalability.com/blog/2009/8/5/stack-overflow-\narch...](http://highscalability.com/blog/2009/8/5/stack-overflow-\narchitecture.html)\n\n~~~\njacques_chester\nWell, two things with that. Three really.\n\nFirst, does AWS allow ramdisks? It's been a few years since I tried to mount a\nram disk on Xen, but it was not possible at the time.\n\nSecond, most databases are smart enough to shuffle stuff into RAM for you,\nstarting with indexes and commonly-accessed tables.\n\nThird, the \"D\" in ACID stands for \"Durable\". If you want an in-memory store,\nuse an in-memory store. RDBMSes do sorta kinda rely on the assumption that\nstuff written to disk is _actually written to a disk_.\n\n~~~\nmariuz\nYes it AWS allows ramdisks , here is the output from a machine\n\nroot@ip-amazon-ip:/home/ubuntu# mkdir /mnt/ram mount -t ramfs -o size=2G ramfs\n/mnt/ram mount ramfs on /mnt/ram type ramfs (rw,size=2G)\n\nThere are the cache and memory settings Fore Firebird but is better to put the\nmain full database on the fastest storage and that is RAM for the moment\n\nIn Firebird we have a nifty feature called Shadow that creates a life\nsnapshots of the active database (Think of it as Replication in real time) so\nyou can activate it and keep a safe database on the SSD/HDD\n\n<http://ibexpert.net/ibe/index.php?n=Doc.DatabaseShadow>\n\n------\npolitician\nRecently, antirez pointed out that redis was essentially memtest86;\nconsequently, he has had to spend a lot of time chasing down phantom bugs due\nto memory modules with stuck/flipped bits. At that time, I think HN was left\nwondering whether Amazon uses ECC memory in its EC2 machines. Do we know\nwhether that's the case now?\n\n~~~\nwmf\nAll Xeons and Opterons (in other words, all EC2) use ECC.\n\n------\nprofquail\nColin Percival (cperciva) already has FreeBSD 9.1-RELEASE running on these!\n\n<http://pastebin.com/SCMUJNDt>\n\n------\npieter\nThis instance was announced at RE:invent 2 months ago, and is now available.\nYou can try one out for $0.34 / hour with spot instances.\n\n~~~\ntiernano\nIt does not seem to be possible to launch a spot instance of one of these...\nthe web interface wont allow it, anyway... Still, about $3 per hour to play\nwith a machine of that size should be interesting...\n\n~~~\nres0nat0r\nYou might have to use the ec2-api-tools cli package to launch spot requests\nfor this instance type right now. The AWS Console doesn't always seem to be\nupdated at exactly the same time as new instance releases.\n\n------\nzippie\nRAM isn't a cure all for big data applications and presents its own set of\nchallenges. The largest issue is with traversal and data access latencies\nsimply because of the virtual memory management overhead that is required.\n\nI've run into this problem with our btree search indexes on bare metal\n(~96GB), some more reading:\n\n<https://github.com/johnj/llds>\n\n------\nStefanKarpinski\nSome time ago (mid 2011), I was trying to use an AWS 64 GB machine for some\nlargish work and discovered that I couldn't actually allocate anywhere near\nall of the 64 GB of RAM I was supposed to have access to. As I recall, writing\na simple C program to do binary search to pinpoint exactly what the max amount\nof memory I could malloc was, it failed somewhere around 34 GB – so just over\nhalf of the memory I was supposed to have access to. Makes me wonder how much\nof this 244 GiB you can actually use when you spin up one of these machines.\n\n------\njahewson\nI'd like to see a machine with an SSD from Amazon that wasn't so big and\nexpensive.\n\n~~~\ndevopstom\nI don't think that's possible. Big|Fast|Cheap, Choose two. (or one, under some\ncircumstances).\n\n~~~\nDylan16807\nI think you misread the parent. jahewson asked for a machine that is Fast and\nCheap and Not Big.\n\nMore specifically they want to upgrade a weaker machine with an SSD instead of\ngetting a high end machine with an SSD.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWall Street's Bailout Hustle - chaostheory\nhttp://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/32255149/wall_streets_bailout_hustle/\n======\nbtilly\nThe sad thing about the banker's bonuses is that if they honestly tried to\nmark to market all of the bad debt that is still on their books they actually\n_lost_ money last year.\n\nThe only way they can justify the whole profit/bonus story is because they are\nlying to themselves about their real financial situation. And unfortunately\ntheir lies will impact the rest of us as that bad debt turns out to be the\ngarbage that it is.\n\n------\nrrhyne\nIf Matt Taibbi wrote an article on a stick of poo and mailed it to me, I'd\nstill read every word.\n\n~~~\ncynicalkane\nI find the idea of Matt Taibbi writing articles made of poo to be\nmetaphorically appropriate.\n\nIt depresses me that these screeds find a place on this website. It should be\nobvious, by the tone, polemical nature, and carefully arranged blindness of\nthe above article, that no valuable or contextually useful information could\nbe got out of it.\n\nIt further puzzles me that it has become trendy to attack the financial\nmarket's most successful and profitable large institution. This proto-Marxist\nsentiment has no place in a free society. The only people forced to trade with\nGoldman were taxpayers financing the bailouts, and you know what happened to\nthem? They got all their money back _plus twenty-three percent interest_.\n\n~~~\nSnark7\nActually Matt Taibbi is, apparently, one of the very few members of the press\nto have the intelligence, motivation, and opportunity to attack Goldman\nrepeatedly. Everyone else is on a 24-hour news cycle, and as far as I can\ntell, Blankfein taking the $9 million bonus effectively defused the situation,\nespecially after it was leaked that his bonus could be $100 million. Setting\nthis up and getting the press to report the relatively low bonus was a\nbrilliant PR coup, and it appears to have worked.\n\nThat being said, I don't have any issue with his efforts at muckraking - I\nbelieve in freedom of the press after all.\n\n~~~\ncynicalkane\nThat makes him a fanatic, but it doesn't say anything about his correctness.\n\nThe other thing is that, though I'm sure Goldman's decision was partially PR-\nmotivated, it's what they should be doing anyway.\n\n~~~\nrrhyne\nPulling back on Loyd's bonus was a substance-less ploy. They received over\ntens of billion in bailouts, plus loans at 0% on MY dime, plus 100% in payouts\non 5.9b on a bankrupt company. Because if this, they posted 13b in profits and\npaid out 16 billion in bonuses.\n\nDo the math and they should be out of business. Instead our corporate\nsocialist state (fascism) paid those bonuses with my taxes.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow I got featured on TechCrunch (and many more) - sahillavingia\nhttp://sahillavingia.com/blog/2010/10/18/how-i-got-featured-on-techcrunch-and-many-more/\n======\nlubos\nI think that email wasn't that good at all. tell me who cares your software\nwas rewritten from the ground up. also most of those bullet points\n(searching/filtering) are pretty lame and after reading the whole email I\nstill have no idea what your app is actually to be used for.\n\nI would attribute your success to something else, I find it hard to believe\nthat email was the main factor.\n\n~~~\nsahillavingia\nAs I say in the last paragraph, the product matters most. And this is all\nanecdotal, I really have no idea if the email helped. Though I'd like to think\nso. :)\n\n~~~\nlubos\nHow many tech blogs did you send this particular email to? Apparently the only\nblog who wrote about your app was \"TUAW\" (never heard of them).\n\nWhy Techcrunch didn't write about Dayta 2.0 as suggested in the title of your\nsubmission?\n\nDon't get me wrong, I think you are an awesome designer. I'm looking at your\nportfolio and I'm totally blown away by your design skills but I'm just not\nimpressed by your copywriting skills. that's all. :)\n\n~~~\nlachyg\nTUAW is a huge Apple blog.\n\n------\nzebseven\nI've emailed you a pitch I have so far. Please take a look at it!\n\n~~~\nsahillavingia\nOh God I sense an influx of these! Aha, awesome, I'll take a look and get back\nto you soon.\n\n------\nacconrad\nGranted, I praised someone yesterday for providing an example of the email\nthey sent on TechCrunch, but not only was this email poorly worded and\nverbose, but I feel like this blog post was prompted because of the one on\nHacker News yesterday. Perhaps you could provide an example of something more\noriginal, such as a sample press release or how you handle customer service.\nIt's no use repeating the same topic the next day.\n\n~~~\nsahillavingia\nActually, I wrote the blog post three days ago. Just a strange coincidence.\n\n------\njgrahamc\n<http://blog.jgc.org/2010/10/how-to-hack-media.html>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHistory of Windows Startup Sounds - showhndaily\nhttp://mashable.com/2012/10/24/windows-startup-sounds/\n\n======\nshowhndaily\nFollowed by Blue Screens of Death - <http://mashable.com/2012/10/25/microsoft-\nblue-screens/>\n\n------\nshowhndaily\nBrings back memorable moments of waiting on my old desktop PCs to boot up.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: How much time do you spend with your spouse or partner? - septerr\n\nHow much time approximately do you spend with your significant other on weekdays and weekends?\n======\nmtmail\nSome will answer little, others with answer a lot, yet others 'it depends'.\nAnd all can be happy or complete unhappy with that scenario. Sorry to be\nnegative here. Even if this was a poll (and polls on such a small demographic\ndon't work) all you'll get is anecdotes.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: And now for something furniture and movie related - aswerty\nhttps://www.seenonset.com/\n======\naswerty\nSubmitter here.\n\nOver the last number of months me and a friend have built a website\n(www.seenonset.com) for finding and buying furniture and decor that's found on\nthe set of movies and TV shows. I have a technical background and he has an\ninteriors background.\n\nThe website isn't particularly interesting from a technical view point - it's\na standard ASP.NET MVC web application hosted on Azure. But on the business\nside it's a bit more interesting; we're trying to provide a new approach to\nbuying household items that ties in with peoples connection with media. We\nthink it's an especially good time for something like this since online sales\nfor furniture is growing and there is a real lack of brand awareness when it\ncomes to furniture which we want to change.\n\nAnyways, I know the furniture and interiors market isn't a typical interest of\nHN but I was hoping for the usual critiquing in terms of the business model\n(we rely on affiliate sales for the moment) and website design, along with any\nother thoughts you'd care to share. At this point I might just note that the\nsite isn't mobile optimized yet.\n\nThanks for having a look.\n\n------\nFiatLuxDave\nI really like the idea. I hope you are a success. The prices are too high for\nmy cheap tastes, but that's probably as it should be for these items.\n\nOne feature which might be nice to have would be a place for users to request\nan item or show (without having to think of contacting you through email). I\nknow that the way things work, you probably are showing those items and shows\nyou already have contacts with. However, taking requests might show you where\nnew demand might be, so you know which shows to start making new contacts\nwith.\n\n~~~\naswerty\nThanks for the feedback, sorry for the slow response - I was off-line over the\nweekend.\n\nPrices can be above some peoples budgets since we focus on original\nmanufactures and don't try to provide the cheap knock-offs.\n\nTaking requests is definitely something we want to do on the site. At the\nmoment people generally just get in touch with us via our social media pages.\nWe're still in the process of figuring a lot of it out so we don't want to\nrush into adding features and then realizing it wasn't the right approach.\n\n------\nherbst\nKudos thats a pretty smart affiliate idea.\n\n~~~\naswerty\nThanks :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nTask management software - celljunk-e\n\nI'm looking for a recommendation for a good hosted task management system.  All I need to do is post tasks, notes with the tasks, file attachments and set priority.  I found basecamp to be really annoying.  Any suggestions?  Paid is fine...not looking to be cheap.\n======\nadamtaa\nI have one word for you. Trello. Supporting details include \"it just works\"\nand \"It is free\". Seriously check that out.\n\n~~~\nonlyup\nCan you give me an example of how you use Trello?\n\nCan you set rules for items moving to the next stage?\n\nDoes anyone use this in work to manage their projects? (As part of a team and\nnot as part of a team)\n\n~~~\nScottWhigham\nWell, it's not project management software so there are no rules or stages.\nYou add a task to a board. Then you can comment on that task, move it to\nanother board, share it with someone else, etc. I'm pretty sure their website\nhas all of this stuff answered way better than some random reply you'd get\nhere.\n\n~~~\nonlyup\nI just thought it might do more that what it appears to do\n\n------\ncelljunk-e\nProducteev is now in first place for me, but the android app needs to be\nupdated. I've spent this week testing just about every PM software on the\nplanet :P\n\n~~~\nScottWhigham\nWait - you said in the OP that you wanted \"task management\" but now you've\nupgraded to \"project management\"? Those are quite different in my eyes. Task\nmanagement can be done just fine with a plain .txt document but project\nmanagement needs a much more rigid implementation.\n\n------\nr23712\nYou should try Blimp (getblimp.com) have being using it for a few month and it\njust works. They have a free plan.\n\n------\nwebbruce\nAsana\n\n~~~\ncelljunk-e\nNot terribly impressed...but it has potential. I like trello better thus far.\nToodledo is nice, but doesn't have collaboration.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFormer CIA Director argued for more appropriate responses to leaks - Nokinside\nhttps://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/sep/11/cia-leakers/\n======\ntristanj\nThis document was written in 1984 and was publically released in 2008. Meaning\nit was written during the Cold War in an entirely different political climate.\nIt's not stated in the article anywhere, it really needs to be mentioned\nsomewhere...\n\n~~~\nNokinside\nYes. The reasoning is still sound.\n\nIt's the moral panic after 9/11 that made people and politicians to lose their\nmarbles.\n\n------\nNokinside\nComments based on title and not reading the article below this message. Thank\nyou.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCutting edge: Just what is it about adding blades that makes a razor better?  - boundlessdreamz\nhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/oct/04/beauty.mens.razors\n======\nomgsean\nI get a better shave out of my single-blade safety razor, shave stick, and\nbrush system than I ever got out of my five-blade shaving-cream-from-space\nsetup. The reason these multi-blade things are so popular is because Gillette\ncan sell replacement blades for damn near a fortune and people keep on buying\nthem.\n\nOn the flip side, razors for a classic blade can be had for about ten cents a\npiece.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nOnline Collaborative Modeling; Still Sketchy - DanielBMarkham\nhttp://tiny-giant-books.com/blog/online-collaborative-modeling-still-sketchy/\n\n======\nDanielBMarkham\nAuthor here. If anybody has any other tools they'd like to share, I'd love to\nhear about them. Happy to update the grid.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe tyranny of chairs: why we need better design - SirLJ\nhttps://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/aug/25/the-tyranny-of-chairs\n======\nmattlondon\nJust out of curiosity, am I the only one that seems to be happy to just sit on\na dining chair when at my desk?\n\nWhen the WFH wave hit, people seemed to be going mad buying webcams and office\nchairs. Loads of people I work with spent a _lot_ of energy researching and\ndiscussing chairs etc.\n\nI have a sit-stand desk and I stand for perhaps 2 to 3 hours any working day.\nBut the rest of the time I just sit on a normal old wooden dining chair. No\npain. No aches. No RSI. No CTS.\n\nI've been doing this for decades and nothing seems to have gone wrong yet. I\ndo run 2 to 4 times a week so I do wonder if that helps avoid problems?\n\nAre all the uber-expensive office chairs just snake oil? Or have I just been\nlucky?\n\n~~~\n2OEH8eoCRo0\n>I do run 2 to 4 times a week so I do wonder if that helps avoid problems?\n\nI think there are a lot of stressed and unconditioned office workers who want\nsome magical device to solve everything. Vertical mice, split vertical\nkeyboards, expensive chairs. None of it replaces exercise.\n\nMight be a controversial opinion.\n\n~~~\nnostromo\nThis is my experience.\n\nI had lower back pain while sitting at a desk when I was younger.\n\nOnce I started lifting weights, and specifically doing heavy deadlifts, I've\nnever had back pain again.\n\nInterestingly, a lot of people are afraid deadlifts will _cause_ back pain,\nbut in my case at least, it _cured_ back pain.\n\n~~~\nstouset\nGeneral fitness and strength training is just about the closest thing we have\nto a miracle cure for a wide array of common issues.\n\n~~~\n2OEH8eoCRo0\nYup. Too bad it doesn't come in pill form.\n\n------\nscrooched_moose\nIf anyone is looking for a better chair, we found this was a great time to\npick up Herman Miller Aerons off of craigslist.\n\nThere's a steady stream of small-to-medium offices in our area closing, and\nthey're all liquidating office furniture. We picked up 2 for $500.\n\nThey're a massive improvement over my $80 chair that was fine for a few hours\na week pre-WFH, and my back is feeling much better.\n\n~~~\nsupernova87a\nThis isn't exactly work related, but do people have opinions on the Herman\nMiller Eames chair? You know, this iconic look? [1]\n\nI ask because the lockdown has me fantasizing about distracting myself with\nreplacement stuff for the home.\n\nBut this chair is freakin $5000. Is it that good to be worth it? Or are any of\nthose $1000 knockoffs acceptable quality?\n\n[1] [https://www.hermanmiller.com/products/seating/lounge-\nseating...](https://www.hermanmiller.com/products/seating/lounge-\nseating/eames-lounge-chair-and-ottoman/)\n\n~~~\nscrooched_moose\nWe have a 60s hand-me-down Eames.\n\nIt is a very good chair. The build quality is fantastic and stylistically it\nstill holds up.\n\nIt is truly a \"lounge chair\" though - almost a semi-recliner. I rarely use it\nif it's a social situation because it sits back so far. It's amazing for\nrelaxing and watching TV or a movie though.\n\nI'm assuming the quality has held up. I've never tried a knock off.\n\n------\nadamnemecek\nThe worst chair in the world is the American high school/college desk+chair\ncombo like this one\n\n[https://www.schooloutlet.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/Screen...](https://www.schooloutlet.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/Screen%20Shot%202016-07-13%20at%2010.00.49%20AM.png)\n\nThe people making and buying these place are committing crimes against\nhumanity.\n\n~~~\ngrugagag\nIt's not comfortable but I don't think that's the worst chair especially if\nyou pay attention how you sit in it. The worst chair is the cheap office chair\nthat is often misaligned, wobbly and encouraging you to rest your back in a\nwrong way. And the free rotating swivel makes sure you are you really have a\nbad posture and not being able to sit properly. I relearned to sit down and\nnow prefer a rigid surface and most often don't rest my back on anything. If\nyour back is tired and you need to use the backrest it's time to get up and\nwalk around a bit.\n\n~~~\nadamnemecek\nYou shouldn't have to pay attention to how you sit in it. there is literally\nonly one position to sit in.\n\n~~~\nKozmoNau7\nYou can almost certainly improve how you sit down. A lot of people just sort\nof flop down and sit with their hips slid forward and a pronounced bend in\ntheir back. Anecdotally I have also noticed many of the same people\ncomplaining about a lack of legroom in trains, airplanes, cars and so on.\n\nIf they would simply sit down by pushing their butt and lower back into the\nchair instead of lazily flopping down, there would be plenty of space.\n\n(Not directed at those people with long legs, who do have genuine legroom\nissues even when sitting up straight)\n\n------\nTheodores\nChairs need a failsafe mode. This is what I call better design.\n\nRecently my father sat on a chair that collapsed underneath him. It was a\nseemingly okay teak garden chair that had been recently in service and offered\nup to important guests. So in that way it was good that it was him rather than\nhis brother in law or elderly neighbour that received a bruised elbow.\n\nThis got me thinking about the safety of chairs. This chair - a folding chair\n- really should have included a wire around the seat so that it had a failsafe\nmode in order to prevent complete failure once the wood of the seat eventually\ngave up.\n\nThere should be proper testing of seats to see if they are fit for purpose.\nCar seats for babies can't be passed on because there could be some crack in\nthe polystyrene, yet regular chairs have no standards for safety. It is not a\nbig deal until such time as you see a valued relative come a cropper.\n\nDesign is how it works and chairs are not designed to have a failsafe aspect\nto the design.\n\n~~~\nlightgreen\nRealistically, how many people get injured from collapsed chairs? I think less\nthan from fire or drowned or something.\n\nJust buy not the cheapest chair, and you will be safe.\n\n~~~\nTheodores\nThere is no such thing as an accident. If your chair breaks in a restaurant\nyou can sue them. I bet the restaurant owners never thought of this when\nsetting up. Injuries can also be quite serious, it depends on the circumstance\nand the individual.\n\nYour argument is the same for airbags, seatbelts and wearing hard hats. We\nlive in a Health and Safety world where liability exists. Except for chairs.\n\n------\njamespetercook\nI don’t think I’ve ever found a chair that I felt completely comfortable in. I\nlike to sit upright and feel alert and most chairs seem to be made for\nrelaxing. I’ve always wondered if it’s just me or not, and have often thought\nabout designing a chair but realistically I don’t have the skills :(\n\n~~~\nTACIXAT\nI have this same issue. I've never seen a chair that supports shoulders back\nand down good posture. They all seem to hunch or arch forward. None offer the\nmid back support needed to put your chest forward.\n\nSame situation for sitting cross legged. My solution for posture has been a\nstanding desk. I never really made any progress on my posture until I started\nstanding.\n\n------\nblunte\nAt age 35, otherwise healthy and having spent 10 years in Herman Miller Aeron\nchairs, I had hip problems and a small but growing waistline.\n\nThen I transitioned to working from home and built my own standing desk (sadly\nbefore the very affordable mechanical Ikea standing desk was first released...\nBut which I have now happily used for years).\n\nThe first few weeks were challenging, but within three months I could stand\nfor 12+ hours a day, and my hip problems went away. Also my overall energy\nseemed higher, and afternoon energy dips became less noticeable.\n\nFor 13 years now I stand for virtually all of my day, and I have no back or\nhip problems. I do have slight spider veins on my ankles and knees, and that\nmay be due in part to the standing. But it is cosmetic and barely visible, and\ntotally worth the trade.\n\n~~~\ngrugagag\nHow do you type standing for long periods of time? Do you rest your arms on\nthe table?\n\n~~~\nchiefalchemist\nIf you're using a mouse my PT told me to \"anchor\" your elbow on the desk so\nyou use your wrist to move the mouse, not your upper back. This is true\nwhether standing or sitting.\n\nThere was a good reason I was in PT and was told this ;)\n\n~~~\nblunte\nI've always used a mouse with my fingertips, and my outer hand bone is resting\non the mouse mat. Rarely am I pushing the mouse around with my entire hand or\narm...\n\n~~~\nchiefalchemist\nIt's not your \"entire arm\" per se. It's that - per the PT - the shoulder and\nupper back aren't designed for repetitive micro-movements. That is, unless\nyour elbow is anchored your shoulder is likely doing more work than it should.\n\n------\nraindropm\nFor anyone that have sore butt syndrome, here's my personal tip: improve blood\ncirculation of your...butt!\n\nI bought Steelcase Think six month ago to replace my $50 chair, and while it\nis good chair with good price and comfy-but-firm seat cushion, it cannot solve\nmy chronic \"sore butt\" problem. Half and hour in the chair and my butt\nsoreness begin to appear. Doesn't help that I'm the type that sit in front of\nmonitor all day. I know I need to move more frequently, or did some light\nexercise or stretching, but when you need to work, you need to sit anyway.\n\nThen I read that the soreness is the result of lack of blood circulation, so I\ndecide to give thing that improve it a try: a beads car seat. You know, the\nvintage-looking one taxi driver use.\n\nTHE SORENESS IS GONE. It's been several months since. Now I can sit all day\nlong without feeling a thing.\n\nNote that the version I use is the 'beads mat' with rubber texture on the\nbottom(This is important because it help prevent the beads seat from slipping)\n\n~~~\nmpol\nSore butts are a common theme in cycling :) On longer rides people might\nprefer harder saddles. A softer seating clamps down on your soft tissue and\nprevents proper blood circulation. Having a harder seating will make you sit\non your sit bones and have your blood flow free. The sit bones can start to\nfeel a bit irritated after some time, but that is the time to get up for a\nwalk. If your soft tissue (from lack of blood flow) starts hurting, it is\nbecause it is starting to get damaged. Even if you would walk for an hour and\nsit again, the pain would come back instantly.\n\n~~~\nraindropm\nThat's new to me! because I never ride a bike more than 10 minutes at a time\nhaha.\n\nEverything you describe is what I experience. I have good time sitting on my\nold wooden chair, and yes, the butt is free of pain (but my back hurt instead,\nbecause its backrest is in upright 90 degree angle) also there is not armrest\nwhatsoever so I can't work for long....\n\nwell, maybe that's the point, I need to move more.\n\n------\nrkagerer\nI hate how the first thing this site does is make me lie and say \"I'm Happy\"\nabout their cookies.\n\n------\nwar1025\nI read somewhere that if you want good posture, just sit on the edge of the\nseat. So that's what I do and it seems to work fine.\n\nChairs with backs are nice, but it seems like they will always just lead to\nterrible posture.\n\n~~~\nNicolasGorden\nI've used a posture corrector. It's really very effective and cheap. Love it\nsince it makes me conscious every time I start slouching.\n\n------\namanaplanacanal\nWe would do better for ourselves to get rid of chairs entirely and sit on the\nfloor. Getting down and up from the floor is a natural human movement that\nwould keep us all fitter into old age.\n\n~~~\njohnchristopher\nHave you tried sitting on the floor and work with a keyboard ? Do you have a\nsetup you could share ?\n\nI suppose Japanese should have something fitting but that might be a\nstereotype.\n\n~~~\ndmvinson\n[https://www.nutritiousmovement.com/furniture-free-\nahs13/](https://www.nutritiousmovement.com/furniture-free-ahs13/) is an\nexample of someone doing this in their home. Personally, my setup is a coffee\ntable along with a zafu (buckwheat hull filled floor cushion) and sheepskins\nor a zabuton to cushion the floor a little. It's very comfortable, although\nI'd like to also have a standing desk to go with it. Coffee tables tend to be\na pretty good height for this purpose if you want to avoid purchasing\nsomething custom. Besides that it's just a regular desk setup, albeit missing\ndrawers or storage on the table.\n\n~~~\njohnchristopher\n> [https://www.nutritiousmovement.com/furniture-free-\n> ahs13/](https://www.nutritiousmovement.com/furniture-free-ahs13/)\n\nInteresting reading, thanks.\n\nWould you be so kind as to share a picture of your setup ? To have a rough\nidea of heights, space arrangements, elbow positioning, etc. ?\n\n~~~\ndmvinson\nYeah, here is what I'm working with as of now. Moved recently (like everyone\nelse) and still getting an office setup, but this is the basics. As far as\nheight, I'd say it's a very ergonomically sound setup when in kneeling\nposition with the cushion in between your feet. Laptop just below eye level,\narms level, etc.\n\nI think the biggest benefits are it forces you to move and adjust a little bit\nmore than in a chair, and forces you to use your muscles to sit properly much\nmore. Would highly recommend to anyone.\n[https://ibb.co/XYN3HFx](https://ibb.co/XYN3HFx)\n\nThe coffee table is [https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/lisabo-coffee-table-ash-\nveneer-...](https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/lisabo-coffee-table-ash-\nveneer-70297658/) The sheepskin is from sheepskin town, but any cushioning\nthat softens the floor for your ankles/knees is good.\n\n~~~\njohnchristopher\nThanks a lot, much appreciated !\n\nI was browsing though the different pillow/cushion and was a bit worried at\nfirst by the $150 zafu/zabuton but it looks like there are ~$50 ones so I can\ngive it a try.\n\n------\ngagabity\nThe Ikea POANG recliner chair, you know the one, is the most comfortable chair\nI have ever used, you need to rearrange your desk setup because its so low and\nleaned back but once you have it destroys any other option out there, your\nback is just relaxed.\n\n~~~\ntonyedgecombe\nI can sit and read in mine but I can't imagine trying to work in it.\n\n------\npolote\nI have been trying to find info on laying down desks and chairs in the past\nfew weeks, but there is really not a lot of people who have experienced with\nit. If you had, please comment here\n\n~~~\nmegameter\nHere is my setup, which is a very inexpensive, low-footprint way of doing it:\n\n1\\. A large lap desk. This is a powerful tool for adding flexibility as you'll\nsee. It lets you keep all the peripherals near you. I currently use it with a\nUSB hub, a 65% mechanical keyboard, a keypad with macro functions, and a\ntrackball mouse.\n\n2\\. A floor chair with reclining functions. The one I have is one of the\ncheapest on Amazon, basically a folding backrest with a bit of cushion.\n\n3\\. A laptop/monitor arm and a shelf to hang it off of.\n\nWith a laptop angled at 90 degrees so that the screen is overhead, I have a\nfully supinated setup on the floor, with the floor chair folded most of the\nway back for support.\n\nBut it gets better. With a low folding table or breakfast tray I can switch\nthe laptop and chair over to floor seating. Here the lap desk serves as a way\nto let me move around more. This is a great way to add variety of posture and\nstretch as I work, and I find that I use different positions for different\nlevels of intensity during the day. Supination is better for passive viewing,\nwhile upright with no support is focused, intense. Seated with the chair\nreclined is the medium for \"Tired but still want to work\".\n\nAnd then I still have more traditional feet-dangling seats I can use too.\nAgain, just haul over the lap desk and plug in.\n\nThe best part is, none of these items need to cost more than $100. Most are\ncloser to $50. So you can solve everything with an investment of perhaps\n$200-300.\n\n~~~\nnfour\nSounds interesting - I have a lapboard setup as well but it could use\nimprovement.\n\nAny chance you could provide some pictures?\n\n------\nspaetzleesser\nIt kind of sucks that computers allow us to do most of our work while sitting\nin the same place. When I started working there were more reasons to get up,\ntake something somewhere, walk to the printer and so on. This feels much\nhealthier.\n\nI don’t think any design with better chairs, stand up desks or whatever will\nmake it healthy to stay in the same place the whole day. If I had to choose a\ncareer now I would definitely think about something that allows for more\nwalking or other activity.\n\n------\njseliger\nFor people working at computers in offices, get a motorized desk that can\nraised or lowered to a pre-determined height at the push of a button.\n[https://jakeseliger.com/2015/01/24/geekdesk-max-sit-stand-\nde...](https://jakeseliger.com/2015/01/24/geekdesk-max-sit-stand-desk-review-\ntwo-years-with-a-motorized-desk/)\n\n------\narmagon\nGee, I was just thinking I needed to make some new chairs for the kitchen\ntable (which seems to be a somewhat challenging woodworking project, as curves\nas usually called for and the way to craft them isn't obvious). I wish the\narticle offered more advice about what makes a good chair, or chair\nalternative.\n\n~~~\ncpwright\nIf you are going to invest the effort in a set of dining chairs, I would\nrecommend watching the Wood Whisperer guild dining chair videos. I have made a\nHank chair and high chairs, but have never made a dining char. I did buy the\nclass and found how Marc Spagnuolo broke it down interesting and informative.\n\n------\nthrowawaysea\nPerhaps we need to design for a furniture-less world, where we sit and stand\nas we did for most of our evolution.\n\n~~~\nlightgreen\nWe just need neuralink with text input and output to the visual cortex so we\ncould do our work literally anywhere: on the bus, lying on a bed, taking a\nshower.\n\n------\ntrashcan\nI replaced an Aeron with a a gaming chair that was much more affordable\n(although it was back-ordered for a few months). What a huge improvement! It\nfeels like I'm in a bucket seat in a car, which is basically what it is.\n\n~~~\nherman_toothrot\nWhich specific chair did you get?\n\n~~~\ntrashcan\n[https://secretlab.co/collections/omega-\nseries](https://secretlab.co/collections/omega-series). I opted for the fabric\ncover to discourage my cats from chewing on it. :)\n\n------\nunnouinceput\nI use my bed as my chair. My desk has wheels, so I can sit on my \"chair\" way\nmore comfortable then on any expensive chair.\n\n------\nsgt101\nI got a gaming chair at the beginning of lockdown, and I propped up my desk to\nget everything to the right height. The things I looked for : adjustable arm\nrests, adjustable height, adjustable tilt and headrest & lumbar support.\n\nAlso buy a 28\" 4k monitor, proper keyboard and mouse device of choice (I got\nan apple magic pad).\n\nAll for ~ £500. It's worth the investment.\n\n~~~\n_alex_\nDo you like the gaming chair? I ordered an aeron and didn’t like it, sent it\nback. Need a new chair. Decade old office chair is falling apart.\n\n~~~\nsgt101\nyes, it's good : [https://secretlab.co.uk/collections/titan-xl-\nseries](https://secretlab.co.uk/collections/titan-xl-series)\n\n~~~\nbladegash\nI have the Omega and love it. Comes with a lumbar pillow too, which works\ngreat.\n\n------\nlightgreen\nBtw for those who are in London I can recommend refurbished Herman Miller\nchairs from this guy\n[http://www.welovechairs.co.uk/](http://www.welovechairs.co.uk/) I’m not\naffiliated with him, just bought a chair from him and was very happy by the\nservice.\n\n------\nezoe\nExercise ball is the best chair for me. It has the best cushioning unmatched\nto any unreasonably expensive chairs. Backrest and armrests aren't necessary.\nYou should have developed enough core to support your weight.\n\nYou are free from developing injuries caused by long use of ordinary chair.\n\nIt's cheap and portable too.\n\n------\nBrandoElFollito\nI've been sitting on a ball at the office for now 3 years. I love it.\n\nI do not have any hard numbers, but the fact that I move around, make small\njumps , must keep balance etc. seems to be a good thing.\n\nI was sitting on an office chair at home during lock down and I think my back\nhurted more\n\n------\nLoSboccacc\n> The real science of ergonomics, Cranz argues, should point designers toward\n> chair design that supports and enables the body’s need for movement, not\n> stillness – with seats that angle downward in front, for example, and have a\n> base that’s flexible enough for the sitter to shift their body weight from\n> leg to leg\n\nweird then not finding mention of the Varier Balans chairs.\n\nI had one growing up, and bought another one after a month of lockdown as my\nhome office setup wasn't meant for extended usage.\n\nthat one and a standing desk seems working well so far.\n\n------\nmspe\nYou could also combine furniture instead of buying an expensive standing desk:\n\n[https://imgbox.com/9tFW5Pvs](https://imgbox.com/9tFW5Pvs)\n\n------\nblueridge\nMy sense is that we all just need to _move_ more: sit, stand, roll around on\nthe rug, squat, go for a walk, you get the idea. Basically don't spend the\nentire working day in a single position.\n\nI briefly went through a phase where I thought I'd enjoy the no-furniture\nlifestyle, but it wasn't for me. It also wasn't for my partner, nor my parents\nwhen they come to visit, nor anyone else whom I might want to invite into the\nhome.\n\nI don't want to Marie Kondo the shit out of my space—I want to surround myself\nwith beautiful, practical pieces of furniture that I enjoy using.\n\nI don't think most people go and try out furniture before they bring it home.\nI'm talking multiple trips to a furniture store, where you go and sit and\nexplore the same few pieces over and over and until you're sure you've found\nsomething you love.\n\nYou've got to stay seated for a bit to figure out where the pressure points\nare, whether or not the angle or depth of a seat makes your legs go numb, or\nhurts your back, etc. Do you like a firm seat? Do you like to sit \"on\" the\ncushions, or \"down in to\" the cushions? You want something with a high seat,\nor a low seat? There's a lot of furniture out there. It pays to take time to\ndo the research, learn about how it's built, learn about different fabric\ntypes and how they affect the way a cushion holds it shape, then spend a good\ndeal of money on a quality product.\n\nFurthermore, there's a huge difference in quality between buying a chair from\nWest Elm and buying a chair from Knoll. For instance, I think this is one of\nthe most comfortable and practical chairs on the planet:\n[https://www.knoll.com/product/saarinen-executive-arm-\nchair](https://www.knoll.com/product/saarinen-executive-arm-chair)\n\nWe use it as a dining chair, and as a reading chair with an ottoman, and as a\nstandard desk task chair. It's truly wonderful. Is it expensive? Yes it is.\nBut it looks great, it's built well, it has a firm and comfortable seat, and\nit'll last a lifetime.\n\nBut hey, comfort is subjective, you like what you like!\n\nEdit for those who are furniture shopping:\n\n\\- Saarinen chair linked above also comes with casters and hydraulic lift:\n[https://www.knoll.com/product/saarinen-executive-arm-\nchair-s...](https://www.knoll.com/product/saarinen-executive-arm-chair-swivel-\nbase)\n\n\\- Don't knock it, it's surprisingly comfortable for long stretches:\n[https://www.knoll.com/product/brno-chair-flat-\nbar](https://www.knoll.com/product/brno-chair-flat-bar)\n\n\\- Great reading chair (with ottoman) if you have the space:\n[https://www.knoll.com/product/womb-chair](https://www.knoll.com/product/womb-\nchair)\n\n\\- Of course, the Eames lounge chair is a classic, though if you're taller\nthan 5'8\" go with the Tall version as you'll get a deeper seat and head\nsupport. For those with lumbar spine issues, probably not the most\ncomfortable: [https://www.hermanmiller.com/products/seating/lounge-\nseating...](https://www.hermanmiller.com/products/seating/lounge-\nseating/eames-lounge-chair-and-ottoman/)\n\n\\- Wonderfully firm sofa, great for long meetings, reading with attention. If\nyou like to lounge, not great for movie nights. Durable fabric options, along\nwith custom leather: [https://www.roomandboard.com/catalog/living/sofas-and-\nlovese...](https://www.roomandboard.com/catalog/living/sofas-and-\nloveseats/andre-sofas)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThree people play a Tetris-like game using a brain-to-brain interface - prostoalex\nhttps://www.washington.edu/news/2019/07/01/play-a-video-game-using-only-your-mind/\n======\nnabla9\n[https://arxiv.org/abs/1809.08632](https://arxiv.org/abs/1809.08632)\n\nIf I understood the paper correctly, the results are totally unimpressive. The\nexperiment setting seems to me to be intentionally convoluted to sound\nimpressive. Like it's just creative bullshitting.\n\nThis is how it works:\n\n(Edited after scribu corrected me)\n\n1\\. Senders make a decision by concentrating on flashing lights. They use EEG-\ncap to capture difference in spectral power between light flashing 17Hz and 15\nHz using the Welch's method. The choice is difference averaged over several\nepochs in 10-second period (must be very low paced game). Lots of signal\nprocessing and averaging to get yes/no answer between bright 17Hz and 15Hz\nvisual signal from steady state visually evoked potentials.\n\n2\\. This one bit of information was then conveyed to the Receiver using TMS\nusing signal where 10 consecutive pulses is yes, absence of pulses is no.\nThresholds are well calibrated beforehand so that yes/no can transmitted.\nReceivers gets TMS signal that is completely different from what Senders did.\n\n~~~\nscribu\nThe senders do NOT control the cursor by hand. From the paper:\n\n> The Senders convey their decisions of \"rotate\" or \"do not rotate\" by\n> controlling a horizontally moving cursor (Figure 8) using steady-state\n> visually-evoked potentials (SSVEPs).\n\n~~~\nnabla9\nIt seems that you are correct. The cursor is moved by concentrating on the\nlights.\n\n------\npizza\n> “We essentially ‘trick’ the neurons in the back of the brain to spread\n> around the message that they have received signals from the eyes. Then\n> participants have the sensation that bright arcs or objects suddenly appear\n> in front of their eyes.”\n\nIncredible. Also, the article mentions using a coil to stimulate the\nreceiver's brain. Is this some form of trans-cranial magnetic stimulation?\n\nBy the way, in case anyone wants to listen to a decent critical theory lecture\non neuralink-esque technologies, here's one by slavoj zizek\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38alQSKtVbA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38alQSKtVbA)\n\n~~~\nnvrspyx\nYeah from the image at the start of the article, it looks like they’re using\nTMS. You can see the coil sticking out to the right behind the man facing the\ncamera. It’s attached to a blue arm.\n\nFurthermore if you look to the right of the coil, there are 3 little silver\nballs. These are coated in an IR-reflective layer (silver color) that are used\nby a camera to track the position of the coil in 3D space. This is more than\nlikely a Localite system if anyone wants to look it up.\n\nMy guess is that the people had MRI scans, which were used to find the right\nplace to stimulate. The Localite system uses a pointer with another 3 balls\nthat is pointed at key positions of the head and then slid around the surface\nof the head. The head also has its own 3-ball tracker. This allows the\nLocalite system to get an accurate reading of head size and positioning in 3D\nspace. This also allows the system to “place” the brain image from the MRI\ninside the head. Then, using a screen, you get an augmented reality view of\nthe TMS coil and the brain relative to the head to get accurate positioning\nand angle to place the coil.\n\nThe 3-ball tracker for the head was probably removed for the image, but you\ncan see it in the image further down in the article. You can also get a better\nview of the TMS coil. You can also see the Localite system in action on the\nmonitors and the camera in the top right.\n\nIt’s really cool stuff.\n\n~~~\negocodedinsol\nYour description of the localization approach is accurate, but this system is\nalmost certainly Brainsight, given the screen shown in the image at the\nbottom, the IR camera in that image, and the shape of the tracker arm.\n\nThe general approach is straightforward: MRIs are have real-world coordinates.\nAnything on the head (TMS, EEG, a surgical instrument) also has real-world\ncoordinates. To co-register the two, you need to associate 1) markers at MRI\ntime 2) markers at TMS time.\n\nOnce you have that correspondence, you can position any other objects relative\nto either one, like surgical instruments with reflective markers or TMS\nsystems or whatever.\n\n~~~\nnvrspyx\nLooking at it again, you’re right. That isn’t Localite. I should’ve said\nlocalization system instead. I’m not familiar with Brainsight and I haven’t\nbeen involved with the research using Localite in a couple of years, so I\nmissed that.\n\n------\nstupidcar\nThe Neuralink presentation a few days ago made the important point that the\nphysics of neurons makes it impossible to read and/or write their state with\nany kind of accuracy without getting very, very close to them.\n\nAs such, these kinds of completely non-invasive methods of interfacing with\nthe brain are a dead end. Barring breakthroughs in scanning technologies that\ncompletely upend basic laws of physics, you will always be limited to a low-\nbandwidth channel that only works by reading the crude, aggregate state of the\nwhole brain or a large area of it, and requires extensive training for\nparticipants to learn how to send basic signals.\n\nSince the limits here are hard physical ones, not ones that can be engineered\naround, there's no way for this to be gradually refined into a more useful\nsystem. It will ways be a hack. If we're going to produce high-bandwidth\nbrain-machine / brain-machine-brain interfaces that allow useful\ncollaboration, it's going to require getting inside the skull and getting up\nclose and personal with brain matter, whether we like it or not.\n\n------\nd--b\nThis is a little weird. Why would you use a Tetris like game for this? There\nis only one bit sent.\n\nIt’s also quite hackish. To select yes or no, they have to look at some\nflashing lights the scientists know are going to generate different patterns\nin the brain. So it’s not like the guys are thinking “yes” and that’s being\ntransmitted.\n\nSimilarly the receiver’s brain is being stimulated kind of randomly by\nelectrical impulse.\n\nIt’s basically electrical communication but where the transmitter and receiver\nare wired in unsual places in the brain...\n\n~~~\nnvrspyx\nOf course it’s hackish. The technology is still somewhat rudimentary. They’re\nstimulating the visual cortex and the only way to do that (or stimulate brain\nareas in general) in a non-invasive way is using TMS, which isn’t “pinpoint”\naccurate. It’s shooting a strong magnetic pulse to stimulate the surface of\nthe brain through the skull. Since TMS doesn’t have deep penetration for the\nreceiver and neither do the electrodes for the senders, they’re limited to\nsurface areas of the brain.\n\nThe places are not unusual.\n\nIn terms of the senders, it would probably have been easier to simply use an\neye tracking camera to gauge which one they were looking at, but it wouldn’t\nhave been “brain-to-brain”. We’re still a LONG ways off from telepathic-like\ncommunication. We’re also a long ways from even picking up “yes” or “no”\nsignals from people’s thoughts. It’s still an important achievement\nnonetheless to get such readings from the senders and to make such\nmanipulations to the receivers conscious visual perception, even if it’s not\nmeasuring conscious thought or creating a specific image.\n\n~~~\nstinos\n> _We’re also a long ways from even picking up “yes” or “no” signals from\n> people’s thoughts_\n\nYes and no. No because even though the tech exists, it's not exactly ready for\nthe masses and doesn't work 100% and usually needs calibration and isn't\nexactly comfortable to wear. Yes because technology allowing people to form\nwords on a computer by picking individual letters based on just EEG exists\nalready; so that's more then yes/no. Likewise there's the experiments to have\npeople move robot arms etc. (i.e like Neuralink from Musk, which isn't really\nnew). You can even already buy commercial games where you control a cursor on\nthe screen based on just 2 electrodes.\n\n~~~\nnoir_lord\nMy understanding is that what musk is doing isn't new in the sense of novel\nbut new in the sense that he's pushed the refinement of the technology to the\nouter envelope.\n\nWhich is a pattern with him (and a good one) in that he takes existing tech\nand pushes it to the outer envelope, batteries, motors and rockets all existed\nlong before musk was born but he's done valuable and interesting things with\nthem.\n\nSomeone had to make a technology for for market.\n\n~~~\nstinos\n_new in the sense that he 's pushed the refinement of the technology_\n\nThat's what I understood as well. For example there's a mutlitude of practical\nproblems with current in-brain electrodes, ranging from limits in the amount\nof them, their lifetime, lifetime of connectors, surgeries being quite\ndifficult, possible problems with infections etc. None of them are extremely\nhard to solve but it basically requires a ton of money being thrown at and\nthat seems to be Musk's plan, allowing to get like 3000 electrodes with the\npreamp/digitizer stage implanted subcutaneously.\n\n------\nwarent\n\"This is the first demonstration of ... a person being able to both receive\nand send information to others using only their brain.\"\n\nI'm completely blown away by the gravity of this achievement. This is a\nsomewhat unassuming article for one study among many, but yet here we have\nsomething that, in my opinion, is essentially the equivalent of the discovery\nof how to create fire, or the invention of iron. Of course it will likely take\nmany more decades at least before we can scale this and use it in a more\npractical way. Nevertheless, maybe I'm being melodramatic but I really feel\nlike we have very clearly just entered into a new age as a civilization and\nspecies.\n\n~~~\ninnomatics\nMelodramatic... perhaps. I don't see it as brain to brain. Eyes are clearly\nrequired to stare at the yes or no pulses for the sender's.\n\nSeems like an extremely low bandwidth way to digitise 'thoughts'.\n\nAlso a bit skeptical about the receipt of this single bit of information being\ndirectly into the brain. Essentialy zapping part of the brain to cause a\nperceived flash. It's and incredible gap still toward encoding something as\ncomplex as a real thought.\n\n------\ndboat\nI wouldn't want to be an early adopter for this type of technology. Even just\nplay old VR is still so new that we don't know what sort of effects prolonged\nuse will have on physiology and cognition, and direct stimulation of the\nbrain, a system whose precise functioning still seems so largely unknown to\nus, seems all the more dangerous.\n\nI feel that some day we will be able to comprehensively decode neural\ncommunication but I would liken our current state to something like surgery in\nthe Victorian era. I wonder if these student volunteers see the situation\ndifferently than I do, or if they are just that brave.\n\n~~~\nhnlmorg\nVR really isn't new. It's quite literally been around a few decades. Longer if\nyou count devices like Sensorama[1] but the Oculus-style VR headsets that\nwe're familiar with now has been around since the 90s (albeit at a\nsignificantly lower polygon count).\n\nPlus there has been lots of research already about extended periods of altered\nrealities. From people living inside mock space capsules through to simple\nexperiments with people wearing special glasses[2]. Though granted I don't\nknow of any research regarding extended use Oculus-style VR for weeks / months\nat a time, there have also been a lot of research regarding the use of such\ntechnology and how it can alter our mental perceptions beyond what we visual\nsee (eg I cannot find a reference for this one but I did read research about\npeople using avatars of the opposite sex and how quickly people came to\nregister that was their pseudo-psyical body)\n\nAs an aside, this research reminds me a bit of Sword Art Online[3]. A Japanese\nlight novel (which has been ported to different formats from anime through to\ncomputer games) and which is about \"full dive\" VR headsets.\n\n[1]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensorama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensorama)\n\n[2]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upside_down_goggles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upside_down_goggles)\n\n[3]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_Art_Online](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_Art_Online)\n\n------\nbin0\nLook at Neurable, they've been around for years:\n[http://neurable.com/](http://neurable.com/)\n\nTech is pretty good, and they're working on a VR headset which works with\ngames. If you talk to the founder, his story is really interesting. He has an\nuncle who was crippled in a trucking accident, and his end goal is to create a\nversion of this which can help cripples regain mobility. He's using games as\nhis beachhead market to get traction, proof, a chance to iterate, $$$, etc.\nPretty inspiring stuff, and \"social-conscience\" investing done right, in my\nopinion.\n\n------\nkuprel\nLooks like OpenBCI hardware:\n[https://shop.openbci.com/collections/frontpage/eeg](https://shop.openbci.com/collections/frontpage/eeg)\n\n------\nmfbx9da4\nThis is fine but doesn't present any jumps in technology. It's still just EEG.\nThe electrical stimulation sounds pretty dangerous as it's non invasive so\nmust have a pretty large stimulation zone.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCan Universal Basic Income Achieve Economic Security? - UpshotKnothole\nhttps://daily.jstor.org/can-universal-basic-income-achieve-economic-security/\n======\nFjolsvith\nWhy don't we just go a step further into fairness and say that everyone gets\nthe same income regardless of their wealth. Have the government take all the\nincome except the equal amount and spread it around to every deserved person.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Should it be illegal to discriminate against poor writers/speakers? - amichail\n\nShould it be illegal to discriminate against people who are poor writers/speakers but who are good enough to be clearly understood?<p>Why should society penalize people who have not mastered a messy natural language?\n======\nrmah\nI submit that not only should it be legal, but that it is good to do so!\n\nMore seriously... You write \"but who are good enough to be clearly\nunderstood\". Have you considered that perhaps they are only clearly understood\nin their own minds? By definition poor communicators (speakers/writers) have\ntrouble getting their point across. If they get their point across well, they\nare not poor communicators.\n\n------\nJoeCortopassi\nIf I'm reading this correctly, you aren't actually asking if it should be\nillegal to discriminate against people with poor communication skills, but\nrather people with foreign accents that make people difficult to understand.\n\nEither way it's a tricky subject, because people are super sensitive to these\nkind of things. But if a teammate on a project can't be understood, than they\nwon't be effective, tasks will get confused and messed up, and the project\nwill eventually suffer because of it. In this avenue, it's perfectly\nunderstandable to list communication skills alongside education and work\nexperience\n\nBut if you mean just rejecting people because they have a unique accent, but\ncan be understood, than I would agree that is wrong.\n\n~~~\namichail\nI'm referring more to the use of unsophisticated language and occasional\ngrammar errors.\n\n------\njambo\nhowud u complish tht?\n\n[That was a serious question with an illuminating response. How would you know\nwhether those who downvoted me were doing so because of my comprehensible but\npoor writing style, or out of disagreement?]\n\n~~~\nJoeCortopassi\nI'll upvote, just cause I think you were trying to make a point\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Declining NDAs - nxzero\nReally dislike NDAs for intro talks, always say no to them, but don&#x27;t have any reasoning beyond if I have to sign some secrecy agreement just to find out how you create value, how&#x27;re you going to explain it to customers, investors, etc. who also normally don&#x27;t sign NDAs.<p>What is the best way to decline NDAs? When does it make sense to sign NDAs? What is a good &amp; bad NDA?\n======\nmtmail\nI had luck sending [http://www.friendda.org/](http://www.friendda.org/) for\nintro talks. Not even signed, just the URL and \"can we both agree on this?\" in\nan email.\n\n~~~\nnxzero\nThanks, really appreciate the effort to provide your take on the problem.\n\nWhile I could easily see this working with friends, it not really what I'm\nlooking for.\n\nHere's so far here's the best expression of why I don't sign NDAs:\n\n[https://spin.atomicobject.com/2014/09/08/nda-stifle-\ncreativi...](https://spin.atomicobject.com/2014/09/08/nda-stifle-creativity/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nUber Surge Price? Research Says Walk a Few Blocks, Wait a Few Minutes - ckurose\nhttp://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2015/10/29/452585089/uber-surge-price-research-says-walk-a-few-blocks-wait-a-few-minutes\n======\nmw67\nOr use this app:\n[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/surgeprotector/id925613132?m...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/surgeprotector/id925613132?mt=8)\n\n~~~\nswypych\nCool concept, but it keeps crashing (iPhone 6, iOS8.4)\n\n------\nturnip1979\nLast time I encountered a 4x surge pricing, I downloaded Lyft ... the minute I\nordered it, surge pricing ended (really annoyed me and I went with Lyft\nanyways). If it wasn't for surge pricing, I'd be cheerleading for Uber. Surge\npricing adds a level of uncertainty ... and 4x on a 50 dollar ride is insane\nif it ends in a few minutes.\n\n~~~\nviscanti\nIsn't that the whole point of surge pricing? It's attempting to balance supply\nand demand. On the supply side it's trying to get more drivers where there's\nmore demand. On the demand side, it's trying to see if you really need a ride,\nor if you can walk a couple blocks or if you can wait a few minutes.\n\n~~~\ntoomuchtodo\nIf surge pricing is enabled in order to temper demand until supply can catch\nup, it promotes supply from places Uber may not like (Lyft).\n\nNo app yet to query Lyft and Uber, see who is cheaper at the moment, and\nlaunch the cheaper provider?\n\n~~~\njimkri\nHere is a website that does the comparison between the 2, but you have to\nmanually enter the surge percentage,\n[http://www.whatsthefare.com/](http://www.whatsthefare.com/)\n\nI think someone mentioned it at least a year ago in a discussion about Uber\nvs. Lyft.\n\n------\nmml\nIn my experience, surge pricing on a nice day doesn't last long. When the\nweather is nuts, you're gonna pay. Too bad I'm not a researcher.\n\n------\nryanx435\njust like I refuse to pay covers at bars, I refuse to pay surge pricing. Uber\nis my go to app, but if they are doing surge pricing than I switch to ihail\n(an Uber clone run by a taxi company). if they ate busy, than I use lyft as a\nlast resort. I hate using lyft because they don't offer a fare estimate.\n\nusing this process I have saved myself 100s of dollars in ride fares.\n\n~~~\neastbayjake\n> I hate using lyft because they don't offer a fare estimate.\n\nWhere are you using these apps? In the Bay Area, I like Lyft better than Uber\nbecause Lyft gives you a specific fare but Uber gives you a range. (FWIW,\nthere are many other reasons I like Lyft better than Uber.)\n\n------\n__Joker\nHow does customer need to counteract if he needs a time sensitive ride? Lets\nsay, I need to go to Airport at time x. Neither I can book earlier to\nguarantee a ride nor can I wait out the surge.\n\n~~~\nmonort\nUse a transfer service, which offers pre-orders. Uber is losing all my airport\nrides because they don't have it.\n\n~~~\nTeMPOraL\nThey probably don't want it anyway. It's more profitable for both Uber and the\ndrivers to not take such rides; in the time to and back from airport they\ncould take several within the city.\n\n~~~\nmonort\nIf it's profitable for a generic limousine transfer services, why it's not\nprofitable for Uber? Blacklane seems to be profitable too.\n\n~~~\nskimpycompiler\nLogistics of planning all those orders and rides is expensive.\n\n~~~\nRetric\nSounds like a job for software.\n\n~~~\nskimpycompiler\nIt'd be interesting to see how someone handles vehicle routing problem on a\nlarge scale, quickly and optimally.\n\n~~~\nTeMPOraL\nIsn't that a solved problem since like the early 70s? Even computing power is\nnot a limiting factor now, only those pesky humans bickering about \"central\nplanning\" and \"democratization\".\n\n~~~\nskimpycompiler\nHaha, solved?\n\nPut in the time windows, put the capacity limits, put the pickup and delivery\n(this isn't same as just delivery).\n\nIt's far from solved, and far from efficient. Field isn't even mature as\ntheoretical computer science, not even rigorous enough :D\n\nYou have papers talking about their newest hybrid genetic memetic evolutionary\ndeep simulated annealing bullcrap algorithm getting hundreds of citations.\n\nYou have services like Routific, Routyn, Viamente, WorkWave, and others\nstruggling with it. No one in this world has the technology powerful enough to\noptimize at scale. Example. WorkWave is talking about exploiting 45Billion\ndollar market of optimizing thousands of technicians and their routes, but\nthey can't even scale that on a daily basis for large number of delivery\npoints, given how slow their optimization engine is. Same goes for every\nservice mentioned above. Oh yeah, WorkWave bought Viamente for $4M, that's how\nmuch their tech was worth. Seems a little bit low for something that could\nattack the 45Billion market.\n\nI have not stumbled upon a single one in the last 10 years that has any\npotential. All are leeching or would like to leech the big companies that can\nafford a 1 day waiting time for optimization. UPS seems to be all happy about\nits routing engine, but they too are being weird about it, if it's good then\nshow it.\n\nSomeone who solves this for Uber will definitely get its first billion.\n\nThis would be a huge engineering effort since the problem is NP-hard :D\n\n------\njdlyga\nI always just try the request again a minute later and surge pricing is\nusually gone.\n\n------\nmsde\nOr use a new company like [https://fasten.com/](https://fasten.com/) who\ndoesnt do surge pricing.\n\n~~~\n3princip\n>No surge pricing ... however if you're late for work ... you can always Boost\nyour ride.\n\nThe website explains to boost ones ride is to apply a multiplier to the price.\nOne might call this a surge.\n\n~~~\nmsde\nThat's just good economics. Fasten clearly understands economics and\nincentives far better than Uber does.\n\nUber is the classic case of aggressive government style intervention in a\nmarket causing it to collapse - no riders or drivers in high demand areas\nduring surge pricing. This is a total failure of market policy because no\nprice discrimination is allowed.\n\nFasten is akin to setting minimum wage. They set a low base price but if you\nwant to get somewhere faster or get preference during a busy period then YOU\ncan raise your price by what it's worth to you.\n\nThis is a big stumbling block for Uber to which Fasten has a rather decent\nsolution.\n\n~~~\nforgetsusername\n> _That 's just good economics. Fasten clearly understands economics and\n> incentives far better than Uber does._\n\nIt sounds like an auction. It's a clever system, but I don't think it\nrepresents a more fundamental understanding of economics than Uber's system,\nwhich is to raise prices to induce supply to match demand.\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\n> It sounds like an auction. It's a clever system, but I don't think it\n> represents a more fundamental understanding of economics than Uber's system,\n> which is to raise prices to induce supply to match demand.\n\nUber's system is a central planner trying to simulate the results of a two-\nsided auction by centrally setting prices to try to achieve a desired result\ngiven supply and demand signals.\n\nFasten's system strips out the simulation and just _is_ an auction, which\nallows supply and demand to align without requiring central planning.\n\nI think its pretty fair to describe the latter as evidencing a better\nunderstanding of economics.\n\n~~~\ntoomuchtodo\nEspecially since its been proven that surge pricing doesn't incentivize more\nsupply.\n\n[http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/04/17/ho...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/04/17/how-\nuber-surge-pricing-really-works/)\n\n------\nmezeek\nThe simplest way is to move the pickup point ever so slightly until you reach\na spot without surge pricing, then simply walk there as it arrives.\n\n------\ndeathtrader666\nNope.\n\nThis doesn't work.\n\nI've walked more than a couple of miles, and waited more than an hour.. the\nsurge stays between 4X to 5X.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nOhio school districts sue Facebook for accepting ECOT ad purchases - Keverw\nhttps://www.dispatch.com/news/20190411/ohio-school-districts-sue-facebook-for-accepting-ecot-ad-purchases\n======\nadamiscool8\nOn a quick read of the relevant statute [0], seems like they'd have to show\nthe Facebook ad buys were made with actual intent \"to hinder, delay, or\ndefraud any creditor of the debtor\" \\-- which might be a tough lift when the\nads were to promote enrolment and therefore intended to improve the ability to\nrepay creditors? Also sounds like Facebook may have been a \"good faith\ntransferee\" in receiving the payments.\n\n[0] [http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/1336](http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/1336)\n\n------\nGunax\nI am not sure I understand how Facebook is even supposed to know about these\nthings. Does this law really say that you cannot run advertisements if the\nbusiness is facing insolvency? What constitutes insolvency, and how is\nFacebook supposed to know (especially if it's a private business)?\n\nAnd while this is a school, other business might be operating in advertising-\nheavy industries where running ads is their plan to get out of financial ruin.\n\n~~~\nreaperducer\nFTA:\n\n _The districts, which may never be made whole for state funding they lost\nwhen ECOT inflated attendance, are alleging that Facebook knew the online\ncharter school was financially failing when it sold ads to help ECOT boost\nenrollment. That, under Ohio law calls, would be an illegal and “fraudulent\ntransfer.”_\n\n------\nKeverw\nSeen this and thought it was a bit of a ridiculous lawsuit, maybe a unique\none.\n\nSomehow Facebook was supposed to know about the school's financial problem? I\ndoubt people in Facebook's office in California are watching the local news\nfor Ohio.\n\nFacebook just approves ads for content, but as for targeting and budgeting\nthat's all self-controlled and mostly automated other than ad content being\napproved. I believe Google's ad system works a similar way, ad text or image\nis approved but as for budget and keywords that's all on you to set up, pause,\nresume, etc.\n\nKinda feel like the school districts are stretching the law here. I wonder if\nthe school paid with a credit card? Did their bank and credit card network\ncommit fraud too for allowing the payment to go through?\n\n~~~\nhenryfjordan\n> Somehow Facebook was supposed to know about the school's financial problem?\n> I doubt people in Facebook's office in California are watching the local\n> news for Ohio.\n\nThey took the money, and according the law they shouldn't have done that.\nFacebook doesn't get some magical pass because their systems are automated. If\nthey want to do business, they need to follow the same rules as everyone else.\nIf their automation doesn't cover all the corner-cases of the law, that's on\nthem and they should be deprived of any profit derived from their rule-\nbreaking.\n\n~~~\nars\nHow far do you want to take that? If some tiny locality passed a law that in\norder to accept online advertising you must XYZ, with the penalty in the\nmillions - would you expect Facebook to follow that?\n\nWhat about another country?\n\nWould it not be more reasonable to require Facebook to have a physical\npresence in the locality in order to be bound by its laws?\n\n~~~\nrhizome\nHow would the tiny locality establish jurisdiction, or even standing? Locate a\nbranch office of Facebook there?\n\n~~~\nars\nWell, that's kind of my question, isn't it?\n\nDoes Facebook have a branch office in Ohio?\n\nIf they do then they have no excuse.\n\n~~~\nKeverw\nFound the case, it's against Facebook Payments. I'm actually surprised they\nhave this info online as some court websites are very outdated or under a\npaywall. I know one website to pay tickets online in another county for\nexample traffic tickets(red light cameras, etc) said it wasn't secure in\nChrome yet they asked for sensitive info.\n\n[https://clerkweb.summitoh.net/PublicSite/CaseDetail.aspx?Cas...](https://clerkweb.summitoh.net/PublicSite/CaseDetail.aspx?CaseNo=CV-2019-04-1369&Suffix=&Type=)\n\nThen Facebook has a license in Ohio too since Messenger lets you send money to\npeople over chat.\n\n[https://www.facebook.com/payments_terms/licenses](https://www.facebook.com/payments_terms/licenses)\n\nSo maybe that's one way they can claim power over Facebook.\n\nLooks like the last action on the case was 05/17/2019 where it was assigned to\nanother judge. So wonder what the next steps are for this case, will be\ninteresting to follow.\n\nI was just curious about ECOT yesterday since that's the school I did my final\nyears of high school and was wondering about where people would get their\ntranscripts if say for college... Looks like records were being transferred to\nthe last known district of residence, but there's also an email if you need\nhelp getting them it looks. I'm guessing probably where you lived when you\nwere last in school then, probably not where you are now if you moved since\nthen. The Educational Service Center of Lake Erie West in Toledo was the\nsponsor of ECOT.\n\n[http://www.esclakeeriewest.org/ECOTInformation.aspx](http://www.esclakeeriewest.org/ECOTInformation.aspx)\n\nAlso looks like the server is at Franklin County courthouse, the judge there\napproved $300,000 to upgrade the server to preserve it, as the FBI is also\nlooking into the school over the campaign contributions. Then the other big\nthing ECOT got in trouble over was the way of accounting attendance.\n\n[https://www.dispatch.com/news/20190801/judge-approves-\nmoving...](https://www.dispatch.com/news/20190801/judge-approves-moving-ecot-\nrecords-to-new-computer-server)\n\nI liked ECOT. If I needed to ask questions I could send a email(they had a\nfake email system, wouldn't go to external addresses) or even call up... I\nfelt they cared a lot more compared to the last public school I went to.\nActually got way better grades too. But someone else who went to ECOT after me\nfelt a bit different, so maybe things changed more since I went.\n\nI wish we had more school choice in America, instead of the city school being\nthe default. Wish more competition but I think schools in general feel\nthreatened and enjoy having a monopoly on education. Then apparently it's\neasier to fire teachers at charter and private schools, so public school\nteachers can be lousy and have great job security.\n\nAlso other schools could try and claim they lost money too because of this,\nbut aren't part of the lawsuit... Wonder how that works in the future if say\nFacebook lost and ordered to pay which is split between the schools. Can the\nother schools join in on the lawsuit or would they need to file separately?\nNot sure if it's technically considered a class action, since usually you get\na notice about the lawsuit to join it automatically if you do nothing with a\ndate to submit a claim or you opt-out to then file your lawsuit or get\nnothing. Be interesting if these schools won, and then other schools sue for\nthe same amount... Then would FB have to pay out twice the amount? Unless they\nare only considering what those schools believe they lost directly that was\nspent on ad money, and not the total lost statewide, as that would make more\nsense - but I think they want the total money spent at FB total not\nconsidering which schools the funds originally came from. As ECOT had students\nin all 88 counties across the state, so it sounds like other schools not part\nof this lawsuit might be leaving money on the table if FB is found in the\nwrong.\n\n------\njeffdavis\nIt seems silly to talk about Facebook \"knowing something\". Even an individual\nwho knows something does not necessarily incorporate the implications of that\nknowledge into every decision they make. A whole company certainly can't.\n\n~~~\ncatalogia\nCompanies shouldn't be held to lower standards the larger they are, which\nwould be the natural consequence of your line of reasoning (the larger the\norganization, the less likely it is to understand its own actions.)\n\n~~~\njeffdavis\nMy philosphy is decentralization, in large part because of the nature of\ninformation flow.\n\nBut in the context of the system we have now, it really is silly to say that\nan entity as large as FB \"knows\" something.\n\nAnd further, in the context of the lawsuit, trying to say that one company\nshould be responsible for the internal financial situation of another enforces\ncentralization -- and will ultimately _favor_ large companies.\n\n~~~\nKeverw\nDecentralization is interesting, but still some flaws and challenges in\ndesigning systems. Then making them mainstream is also another challenge as\nsome of these systems are used for bad. But be interesting to make the\ninternet ran by the people for the people instead of mega-corporations, even\nsome people aren't happy with what's happening with handing over control of\nthe .org TLD.\n\nI've always thought it's interesting though how an online company is supposed\nto follow the laws of the multiple states, and even worldwide since a website\nis accessible worldwide without borders. There are cases where US and European\nlaw conflicts. So a company has to decide which law is better to break. I feel\nthe US would be way more aggressive, so maybe European law would have to take\nthe backseat when the company lawyers do a risk analysis. Some stuff is as\nclear as mud and seems made up as they go.\n\nThen also at least 2 countries, maybe more require data for citizens to be\nheld there so that countries own governments can backdoor it. So a backup must\nbe replicated and stored in that country too.\n\nThe top big tech companies have the money to deal with this, but some stuff\nlike this is very hard for startups. Also wouldn't surprise me if some of\nthese companies try to push regulations to make it harder for startups, so\nthey can get comfortable and stay an established player in the market without\nneeding to compete or innovate. Then also localization of languages seems like\nduplicated efforts.\n\n------\njeffdavis\n\"it gets about $800 in state aid per student and loses more than $6,000 for\neach local kid who goes to a charter school, instead.\"\n\nThat's confusing. Can someone explain?\n\n~~~\nars\nInstead of getting $6,000 for each kid of who to the local school, that money\ngoes elsewhere, and they only get $800.\n\nAKA students are walking cash machines to the schools.\n\n~~~\nsodosopa\nOf course they are.\n\nTheir education determines how well they can support future community needs.\nPublic education is a continuous reinvestment in a community.\n\n------\nsojmq\n[https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:9mhM4-...](https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:9mhM4-ituxgJ:https://www.dispatch.com/news/20190411/ohio-\nschool-districts-sue-facebook-for-accepting-ecot-ad-\npurchases+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk)\n\n------\nanm89\nThis is clearly insane.\n\n------\nsodosopa\nKnowing what we know now, we know that Facebook saying they “did not know”\nsomething is a boldface lie.\n\n~~~\nanm89\nThe logical implication of saying \"Facebook saying they did not know something\nis always a lie\" is that facebook knows literally everything at all times.\n\nThat's like some bizarre self hating facebook worship at that point.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHillary PAC Spends $1M to ‘Correct’ Commenters on Reddit and Facebook - kushti\nhttp://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/21/hillary-pac-spends-1-million-to-correct-commenters-on-reddit-and-facebook.html\n======\n6stringmerc\n\"It's not propaganda when we do it!\" \\- Every Politician, Ever\n\nKidding aside, I'm not a fan of astro-turf avenues of engagement. There's no\npoint 'discussing' with a shill. Much like there's no reasoning with a hungry,\nrabid dog when you're holding a delcious cut of steak. Though the analogy may\nbe flawed, it is worth considering how intensely votes are courted, generally\nspeaking.\n\n~~~\noh_sigh\nPropaganda is, by definition, anything which promotes or publicizes a\npolitical cause or POV. Are you really against that? Or are you just afraid of\nthe word \"propaganda\"?\n\n~~~\n6stringmerc\nIt's a loaded term to insinuate that the cause or POV is using less-than-\ntransparent mechanisms to garner a desired reaction. I've got no problem with\npolitical discourse, or even espousing controversial ideological proposals.\nThat's all natural and healthy.\n\nWhat I dislike is using tactics to frame one side of a narrative as impervious\nto criticism, which in this case, seems to be the desired outcome from the\nentity providing $$$.\n\n~~~\noh_sigh\nHow would it be impervious to criticism? It seems like these people are going\naround looking for statements that are incorrect about her and correcting\nthem.\n\n~~~\n6stringmerc\nThey are being paid to \"correct\" them by the person who has a vested interest\nin how the \"corrections\" portray the facts, linguistically. Let's toss out a\nhypothetical example:\n\nFact: Hillary Clinton is being investigated regarding her use of a private\nemail server.\n\nFact via \"Correction\": Republicans have instigated an investigation into\nHillary Clinton's use of a private email server for political gain.\n\nSee what I'm alluding to? If not, then okay, but I don't think I can get much\nmore granular.\n\n~~~\ntamana\nCan you give a non-hypothetical example?\n\n~~~\n6stringmerc\nNot at this time; apparently the operation is just getting started according\nto this documentation.\n\nIf the group does their job well, then - partially kidding here - there should\nbe a representative coming by relatively soon to correct my perception of what\nthe group is motivated to do and how it looks in real life.\n\nAs in, the burden of transparency isn't on my suspicion, but rather in their\nactions. To correct my suspicion, they should have no trouble showing all the\ncases of non-propaganda-resembling \"corrections\" they've performed. Then\nthere'd be no reason for a person like me to suspect gamesmanship in the\nendeavor.\n\n------\nerpellan\nI must now assume that any comment on this page of the 'so what?' or 'everyone\ndoes it' variety or any downplaying whatsoever is in fact a paid shill. That\nincludes any disagreements with this statement :)\n\n~~~\nsuperobserver\nYou might not be far from the mark, actually. The funny thing about at least\none Hillary supporter that I know is how vocal they are about all other\npoliticians being just as bad as, if not worse than, HRC, and that ergo, HRC\nis no worse than anyone else, and ergo HRC is as equally viable as anyone\nelse. It's quite a distorted Weltanshauung.\n\n------\nsnowwrestler\nIn case anyone wants to read the actual press release, which is referenced but\nnot linked from the article:\n\n[http://correctrecord.org/barrier-breakers-2016-a-project-\nof-...](http://correctrecord.org/barrier-breakers-2016-a-project-of-correct-\nthe-record/)\n\n------\nr-w\nThis may give her a stronger online presence in a naïve sense, but it also\nundermines all of her genuine supporters. Now every Hillary supporter on the\nInternet looks like they’re being paid off.\n\nReally makes you wonder what kind of administration she’d run. Seems like\nmoney always turns up wherever she turns up; the direction of causality is up\nto your imagination.\n\n~~~\nraddad\nDon't politicians pretty much buy their votes? Only difference is where the\nmoney comes from and how they spend it. I haven't looked into it, but I wonder\nwhat the price for a vote is these days?\n\n~~~\nFooNull\nDepends on whose vote\n\n------\nDirlewanger\nFEC reform is the number one thing that the US federal government needs but no\nmember of Congress will ever touch. All presidential campaign funds must be\n100% publicly funded. I don't care how much more it taxes onto federal tax or\nhow un-American it is. This shit will never end otherwise.\n\n~~~\nmaxerickson\nI'm turning into a single issue troll with this, but I think we can make a\npositive change at the state level by changing ballot access. Just stop\nallowing parties to nominate candidates.\n\nThe machines can still endorse a candidate, but we could gut the national\nelection process one state at a time by requiring any individual that wants to\nbe listed on a ballot to submit petitions for that ballot, rather than\nreceiving the blessings of a privately run national organization.\n\n~~~\ntamana\nHow would that solve any problems?\n\nSubmitting a petition to be on a ballot is a basic effort for national party.\nThat's practically the the reason a national party exists in the first place.\n\n~~~\nmaxerickson\nIt would make the conventions irrelevant. The national party chooses the\ncandidate to place on ballots using whatever rules they set for the national\nconvention. If that wasn't the case, there wouldn't be all the procedural\nnonsense that we see put towards trying to win the national conventions,\npeople that thought they had a serious shot at getting a plurality of votes\nwould organize to get themselves on ballots. We'd have a ballot this fall with\n10 names on it, not 2.5.\n\nClick to show the partisan requirements here and note the huge disparities\nwith independents:\n\n[https://ballotpedia.org/Ballot_access_for_presidential_candi...](https://ballotpedia.org/Ballot_access_for_presidential_candidates#Party_nomination_processes)\n\nSo not only is there the huge well organized machine you mention could easily\ncollect signatures, there is also generally a much easier (and tightly\ncontrolled) path to the ballot.\n\nedit: It's quite likely that the president would be selected by the Electoral\nCollege, but personally I'd prefer that to the current process where the\npresident is selected by the superior voter targeting strategy.\n\n------\nprojectileboy\nIs this surprising to anyone? I assumed that all corporations, politicians and\ncelebrities pay armies of minions to cultivate public opinion. How could it be\nany other way? I hardly think Bernie Sanders' campaign doesn't do the same\nthing.\n\n~~~\npstuart\nI'm guessing the Sanders' campaign has enough volunteers doing that.\n\n/meta\n\n------\nr-w\nMaybe the real problem is that people in this country still think that the\nmore they hear something, the more it’s worth hearing. If they’d only keep\nthose little slivers of truth about Hillary in mind among the sea of lies—if\nthere were any mental permanence to their observations about her—then maybe\nshe’d stop being able to slip through the cracks like she has about the\nemails, the speeches, and (foreseeably) _this_ Big Brother-esque move.\n\n------\nkoolba\nPaying for shill comments would probably be cheaper:\n[https://xkcd.com/1019/](https://xkcd.com/1019/)\n\n------\npatrickg_zill\nWhat it means (in combination with the analysis that a huge %age of Twitter\nfollowers are not real) is, there are even less humans that like her, than we\nthink.\n\nShe is like a rich person that bribes people to hang around her.\n\n------\ntrhway\n1M - how come so cheap? With a 1B+ scale campaigns one would think that such\nan important tactical theater would receive more spending. Probably it is one\nof the indication of a reason - not enough resources spent/committed - why\nHillary doesn't do that well with the young.\n\n------\ntawpKek\nVintage thread on consensus cracking:\n[http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread429408/pg1](http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread429408/pg1)\n\n------\nquanticle\nCan anyone tell me why this is wrong, exactly? Or, for that matter, why this\nnews?\n\nEdit: to be more clear, I don't expect the same level of objectivity from\nReddit or Hacker News comments that I do from an actual news story, so I don't\nhave the same ethical issues with the Hillary campaign paying people to post\ncomments on her behalf.\n\n~~~\ngshulegaard\nHmmm...well I can only speak for myself, but I see a number of problems with\nthis. To spare time though, I will focus on the two things I perceive to be\nthe biggest problem:\n\n\"Due to FEC loopholes, the Sunlight Foundation’s Libby Watson found this year\nthat Correct the Record can openly coordinate with Clinton’s campaign, despite\nrules that typically disallow political campaigns from working directly with\nPACs.\"\n\nPACs which raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions,\nassociations and other private business groups have always been questionably\nlegal. However, they have been allowed to exist under strict regulation so\nlong as they remained completely separate from candidates' campaigns.\n\nIt would appear, however, that a PAC is now coordinating with the Hilary\ncampaign while not being under the same fundraising restrictions.\n\nTo me, PACs have always been subversions of the American governmental process\nand now one operating more or less as the \"long-arm\" of an individual\ncandidate's campaign just makes them even more troubling.\n\nThe second thing is this type of brigade behavior, especially with funding\nbehind it, is particularly dangerous since it has a disproportionate ability\nto influence general public perception. It may not influence you or I much\nindividually, but I am not sure Hacker News readers/commentators are a\nrepresentative sample of the \"average American\".\n\n------\nharigov\nI don't see this as a problem at all, as long as these commenters are\nrepresenting the opinions of Hillary. I actually believe that\npeople/organizations should be given an opportunity to respond to these\ncomments \"officially\" using the same channels that commenters make use of.\n\n~~~\nwille92\nWhat about pro-Hillary comments coming from unofficial social media accounts?\nThe article didn't say exactly where these comments would be coming from. I\nassumed they would be \"astro-turf\" type users that purport to be everyday\nreddit users but are actually affiliated with this Hillary PAC.\n\n~~~\noh_sigh\nSo what if they are? As long as they don't misrepresent themselves, why not?\n\n~~~\nalistairSH\n_As long as they don 't misrepresent themselves_\n\nAn astro-turf user is by definition misrepresenting themselves. They gain\ncredibility by presenting themselves as unaffiliated with the candidate.\n\n------\nlifeisstillgood\nSeems simple to police : have an account that has a \"registration\" number. You\nget some basic training and access to a FAQ generator and can post \"on\nmessage\" replies - all above board as you need it.\n\n~~~\ntamana\nWhat about users who don't claim to be working for the campaign?\n\nThe problem isn't overt campaigning. The problem is covert astroturf\ncampaigning.\n\n~~~\nlifeisstillgood\nWell, don't do that. It's like having links to PACs -\n\nthere was a political campaign sending tweets to a shell account about which\nwards it needs targeting (can't find the reference) - jail time was needed.\n\nSame here. If people with no connection to a campaign are responding online -\nfine. If there is a connection. Gosh, jail time\n\n------\ntathastu\nObligatory: [https://xkcd.com/386/](https://xkcd.com/386/)\n\n------\nUpvoter33\nmuch bigger problems exist, you know, like the quality of the news media.\ncommenters on message boards: not so much, paid or not.\n\n------\nlasermike026\nSock puppets....\n\n------\nuser10001\nI don't really have a problem with that since a person would only go to Reddit\nor Facebook to be brainwashed anyway.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nA Sound Card Before Its Time - userbinator\nhttp://www.os2museum.com/wp/a-sound-card-before-its-time/\n======\nrahimnathwani\nDid any of you, back in the 90s, build a parallel port DAC to use with Linux's\nPC Speaker driver?\n\nI never did, but was tempted. In the end I just splurged the 80 GBP for a\nSoundBlaster 16.\n\nIt's amazing what people can do with great software and just a little\nhardware. (See bottom of page: [http://linux-audio.com/Sound-\nHOWTO-3.html](http://linux-audio.com/Sound-HOWTO-3.html))\n\n~~~\nnikanj\nAccording to the list, AdLib is the only one that’s no longer manufactured.\n\n~~~\nduskwuff\n> no longer manufactured.\n\nOR IS IT?!\n\n[https://texelec.com/product/radlib-opl2-sound-card-8-bit-\nisa...](https://texelec.com/product/radlib-opl2-sound-card-8-bit-isa-adlib-\nclone/)\n\n------\njs2\n> _With appropriate software, the VCA could respond to voice commands,\n> function as a voice-controlled keyboard, record and play back digital audio,\n> synthesize speech from text, detect and produce dialing signals, and\n> function as a 1,200 baud modem. All that in 1985._\n\nThis is very similar to the Novation Apple-CAT II which was available by 1981\nor so:\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novation_CAT#The_Apple-\nCAT_II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novation_CAT#The_Apple-CAT_II)\n\n[https://web.archive.org/web/20160508112704/http://www.jammed...](https://web.archive.org/web/20160508112704/http://www.jammed.com:80/~jwa/Machines/cat/)\n\nIronically, Novation was wiped out when they retooled to produce a card for\nthe PCjr.\n\n~~~\n394549\nCould that do the voice recognition functions? The Apple-CAT II sounds like a\nconventional modem.\n\nI think the unique thing about this IBM sound cards is that it had a\nprogrammable DSP which made it much more flexible.\n\n~~~\njs2\nYes, my recollection is that it could recognize voice on the line. Besides\nthat:\n\n\\- It had a four-voice synthesizer, so it could play music / synthesize\nvoices, etc over the line.\n\n\\- It had a handset input, I think w/digitizer, so it could be used as a voice\ndistorter.\n\n\\- It supported Bell 202 1200 bps half-duplex to another Cat II.\n\n\\- It could control a tape recorder, so it could be used as an answering\nmachine.\n\n\\- It could control home appliances via BSR X-10.\n\n\\- It had RS-232 support, so it could be used as a serial printer controller.\n\nIt was not a conventional modem.\n\n------\nsimulate\nRadio Shack's TRS-80 had a voice synthesis box available for $399 way back in\n1979:\n\n[http://www.trs-80.org/trs-80-voice-\nsynthesizer/](http://www.trs-80.org/trs-80-voice-synthesizer/)\n\nHere's a YouTube demo:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeIJxXCh8P8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeIJxXCh8P8)\n\n($399 in 1979 is equal to about $1399 in 2018)\n\n~~~\nfanf2\nSuperior Software’s SPEECH! for the BBC Micro: software speech synthesis on a\nmachine with relatively anaemic sound hardware. It was so cool back in the\n1980s :-)\n\n[http://www.triumphoverchallenges.com/working-at-superior-\nsof...](http://www.triumphoverchallenges.com/working-at-superior-software-\nleeds/)\n\n[https://youtube.com/watch?v=1hC7Vjl_EWY](https://youtube.com/watch?v=1hC7Vjl_EWY)\n\n------\npasta\nMy first sound card was a Gravis Ultrasound Max I bought for around $400\nmaybe?\n\nCut out a part of the PC cage so it could fit. Added memory from an old video\ncard to it and it worked great.\n\nBut things were going so fast that maybe one/two years later the Soundblaster\n2 came on the market. Maybe it was $200 and producing much better sound.\n\nEdit: changed the prices as others point out they are wrong.\n\n~~~\neinr\nThe GUS Max came out in 1994, the SoundBlaster 2.0 came out in 1991 and was a\nsignificantly more limited card than the GUS (no wave table synthesis, no\n16-bit audio or stereo)\n\nIn 1994 the state-of-the-art SoundBlaster would have been the AWE32 and it was\n$399. You must be misremembering :)\n\nSound cards did not drop to anywhere near $20 until the very late 90's or\nearly 00's and those $20 cards were bottom barrel stuff that would have been\nless advanced in many ways than the GUS Max even then.\n\n~~~\nsundvor\n\"In 1994 the state-of-the-art SoundBlaster would have been the AWE32 and it\nwas $399.\"\n\nNow I remember why I was never able to save any money in my late teens...\n\n------\navian\nOff topic, but is anyone else consistently getting a plain “you don’t have\npermission to access” 403 error for this link?\n\n~~~\nrasz\nyou need a proxy, blog author manually cuts out ISPs after encountering\nspam/heavy traffic\n\n~~~\nnottorp\nWhat good is a blog if no one can read it?\n\n~~~\nTheodores\nWhat good is the reading of a blog if no one can track it?\n\n------\nJaruzel\nRelevant: I've recently build a DOS based retro gaming PC using an old Epia\n5000 mini-itx motherboard. The reason I picked this board (other than I\nalready had one) is that it has onboard support for Ad-Lib and Soundblaster\naudio, meaning most DOS era games playback audio without any modification.\n\nThese boards still pop-up from time to time on ebay, and are way cheaper than\na modern ad-lib clone card.\n\n~~~\nxhrpost\nSo you're directly installing DOS on the device and not using emulation?\n\n~~~\nJaruzel\nCorrect. Plus the required drivers in config.sys, and using a SD card as the\nC: drive, all in a slimeline, silent mini-itx case. I've added a text gui\n(think Curses) to easily select games and apps. It's not done yet, but I'll\nprobably knock up a webpage all about it at some point.\n\n------\nreassembled\nDid anyone here ever have the speech synthesizer card for the Texas\nInstruments TI-99/4A computer? I remember playing a game called Parsec on that\ncomputer and if you had the speech synth plugged into the expansion port of\nthe TI the game would speak at times.\n\n~~~\nrwmj\nThere were lots of speech synthesizer cards for 8 bit machines. What they had\nin common was the SP0256 chip\n([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Instrument_SP0256](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Instrument_SP0256))\nwhich could synthesize speech by chaining together a series of phonemes. Or\nyou could use the phonemes to create \"pew-pew\"-type special effects for games\nas I did ...\n\n------\ntokyodude\nI remember being blown away by a DAC on a Commodore Pet. Unfortunately I don't\nthink there are any videos. It wasn't common to own a video camera in 1980\n\n[http://www.zimmers.net/anonftp/pub/cbm/pet/audio/index.html](http://www.zimmers.net/anonftp/pub/cbm/pet/audio/index.html)\n\nI'm not actually sure that's the correct software. All I remember is it\nsounding like real instruments back when I was used to simple beeps from the\nbuilt in sound\n\n------\nuserbinator\n20MHz is not a lot, but a DSP is quite different from a regular CPU, so I\nwonder if it's powerful enough for decoding low-bitrate MP3...\n\n~~~\nrasz\nA big maybe. While 20MHz TMS32010 DSP in 1985 was around 386DX 33MHz\nhorsepower wise, if you ignore things like single cycle 16x16 multiply(10-20\nfaster than 386), it might still be too slow. For comparison ~3x faster\nDSP56001 in Atari Falcon needs 16MHz CPU assist to decode MP3.\n\n~~~\neinr\nComparing to a general purpose CPU, I remember from the olden days that a 486\nDX4/100 was just BARELY able to decode stereo MP3's if you used a well\noptimized MS-DOS playback program. In a multitasking environment like Windows\n-- forget about it!\n\n~~~\nmadengr\nWindows back then wan’t multitasking. OS/2 on the other hand; I could download\nat 9600 baud and play Wolfenstein at the same time.\n\n~~~\neinr\nI ran Windows 95 on my 486.\n\n------\ndrosan\n403 Forbidden\n\nYou don't have permission to access /wp/a-sound-card-before-its-time/ on this\nserver.\n\n:c\n\n------\nwalrus01\nthe ps/2 models 25 and 30 were sold in large numbers to educational\ninstitutions, so my guess is that it was paired with some sort of weird\neducation-related recording and playback software.\n\n~~~\nteddyh\nIt can’t have been made for that, since the IBM PS/2 series of computers was\nnot released until 1987.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nZ Kombinator - hassy\nhttp://zkombinator.com\n\n======\nTazeTSchnitzel\nThe sad thing is that the Samwer brothers are real people who actually do\nthis, and they're quite successful at it too:\n[http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-02-29/the-\ngermany-...](http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-02-29/the-germany-\nwebsite-copy-machine)\n\n~~~\nczzarr\nwhy is that sad? Silicon VAlley claims ideas are worthless and execution is\neverything, until someone actually copies their idea.\n\n~~~\nTazeTSchnitzel\nWell, I'm not Silicon Valley. I just don't like the concept of simply copying\nsomeone else's idea as a business model, because you're piggybacking on\nsomeone else's idea, and it's uncreative.\n\n~~~\nArekDymalski\nI wonder what is your opinion about barbers, shop-owners, car manufactures or\nbasically any business outside of the internet. I think that there's big\ndifference between copying the business model and the product/service itself.\n\n~~~\nTazeTSchnitzel\nIt's more copying a company, its business model, idea, everything down to the\nfine details that bothers me. Not so much copying a business model or an idea.\n\n------\nAaronontheweb\nObviously a parody, but it underscores a historical trend of overseas\ninvestors pouring money into clones of US companies without any substantial\ninnovation or changes.\n\nOne question I'm struggling with... Is a clone a legitimate (abstract)\nbusiness if the differentiator between clone and U.S. original is the\nexperience working with European / Asian customers and catering to their needs\nspecifically?\n\n~~~\nalexpenny\nHe's making fun of the Samwer brothers, which would mean he probably doesn't\nthink clones are legitimate business.\n\n~~~\nAaronontheweb\nThat much is obvious. Not asking him. Asking the HN crowd.\n\n------\nrailsjedi\nHaha, great little parody.\n\nTiming of it may have something to do with our little stunt yesterday:\n<http://ncombinator.com>\n\n~~~\nzinssmeister\ndo you regret calling it NCombinator? Seeing as you could have avoided\nslipping into this clone mindset or does it not really matter to you guys?\n\n~~~\nrailsjedi\nDoesn't really matter. Our goal was to get some early attention. Once we build\nthe community up we can change the name and turn it into something real.\n\nRight now it's just an idea and the only platform we had to generate the\nsufficient early interest was a ridiculous name and launch.\n\n------\nEduard\nIf YCombinator thought globally, Z Kombinator wouldn't have a chance in the\nfirst place ;-)\n\n------\nMz\nWith a German American background, I hear that like someone with a strong\naccent mispronouncing the word \"the\" as \"zee\". It adds another dimension of\nhumor for me.\n\n~~~\nheretohelp\nAs a German-American: you mean like \"sie\"?\n\n~~~\nMz\nUm, not really what I was thinking. To me that sounds less harsh/strong than\nwhat I had in mind.\n\nI guess it depends. I am imagining a very harsh accent. Some folks in my\nfamily pronounce ich like \"ish\", others closer to \"ick\" and then some do a\nmore gutteral sound like you find in loch (a la loch ness monster). So, uh,\nmaybe.\n\n------\ndanvoell\nWhere is Z Hacker News?\n\n------\nswapsmagic\nwhat the ....\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHeaded To College? Design Your Dorm Lets You Build Your Pad In 3D - edw519\nhttp://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/05/headed-to-college-design-your-dorm-lets-you-build-your-pad-in-3d/\n\n======\nmcastner\nThis is neat but I'd like to be able to try it out before having to register.\nThe register popup should be when you wanna save or print the mockup maybe.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDrone used to save two swimmers caught in rough surf - SQL2219\nhttp://www.smh.com.au/nsw/world-first-a-drone-has-been-used-to-rescue-two-swimmers-struggling-in-heavy-surf-20180118-h0kg9m.html\n======\nColinWright\nDiscussion:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16175512](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16175512)\n\nOther submissions of the same story from different sources, which might be\nuseful in evaluating some of the comments on that page:\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16180146](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16180146)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16177381](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16177381)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16176665](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16176665)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16176430](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16176430)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nuTorrent Becomes Ad-Supported to Rake in Millions - tomse\nhttp://torrentfreak.com/utorrent-becomes-ad-supported-to-rake-in-millions-120810/\n======\nhuhtenberg\nNo surprise here, really.\n\nuTorrent went downhill steadily after it got bought by BitTorrent. The\noriginal uT was beautiful in its well-thought minimalist design and lean code.\nThe first thing BitTorrent did was they messed with the UI. Then started\nbundling some BS features like streaming, ratings and so on. And an elegant,\nsimple, yet intricate piece of software started crumbling. I used to give uT\nas an example of really good software design and execution, but sadly it's no\nmore... time for a rewrite it seems :)\n\n~~~\nxentronium\nTransmission is my go-to client on linux and os x. Very smallish and simple\nUI. I wonder if their port to windows [1] is usable.\n\n[1] <http://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/>\n\n~~~\nTazeTSchnitzel\nTransmission's great. Came with Ubuntu, lets me download Torrents from magnet\nURIs, out of the way with no hassle.\n\nOr what mTorrent used to be (the greek m looks like a u, but isn't, and is\npronounced \"micro\" for the SI prefix)\n\n~~~\ngcr\nAre you talking about µTorrent? If so, µ is pronounced \"mu\" or \"mew\"; see\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%9C>\n\n~~~\nTazeTSchnitzel\nAh, my bad. Its Wikipedia page is MTorrent though (uppercase)\n\n------\nbaddox\nI've never understood why anyone who is tech savvy would use a closed-source\nBitTorrent client, _especially_ if they plan on using it to commit copyright\ninfringement. There are open source alternatives, like deluge (which is cross\nplatform and has a remote client feature that's splendid) or rtorrent (a great\nlittle ncurses client for *nix).\n\n~~~\nlelandbatey\nThe best client that I have used so far is by _far_ Transmission for *nix\nsystems. I learned about it when I got my first mac, and now it makes for a\nlovely headless seedbox.\n\n~~~\nantihero\nThe web UI is also really nice and simple.\n\nI think the reason I use Transmission over rtorrent is that it seems to allow\nyou to \"eat\" stuff that you put in a blackhole, which is rather nice.\n\n~~~\nsomeperson\nWait what?\n\n------\nbeloch\nThey've hit a sticky spot.\n\nI'd much rather pay a couple dollars for ad-free software than use something\nwith annoying ads in it. However, like most people I'd probably be illogically\nunwilling to suddenly pay for the same software I've been using for free.\n\nIn the short-term I'll probably just avoid updating, but in the long-term I'll\nmigrate to another torrent client! This is probably the beginning of the end\nfor uTorrent.\n\n~~~\njmillikin\n\n      > I'd much rather pay a couple dollars for ad-free\n      > software than use something with annoying ads in it.\n    \n\nIt's a torrent client. If you're willing to pay money for a nicer experience,\nthen you're not in the target audience.\n\n~~~\neps\nI'm willing to pay money for a nicer experience with movies, but I can't.\nPresently, that experience - no ads, no DRM and instant access - is only\navailable for free.\n\n~~~\nRastafarian\nCompletely agree + IMHO it's insane to give money to the entertainment\nindustry, provided it will use part of them to bribe politicians, destroy\nfreedom, establish totalitarian control over Internet and PC platform.\n\n------\nvasco\nIn a perfect world the ads would be a small link right after the torrent\ntitle/name. The link would read \"buy original\" and would send you to a webpage\nwith links to Amazon/Steam/other store where you would get to buy the original\nif you liked what you read/seen/heard/played. They could make some affiliate\nprofit out of it too.\n\n------\njdangu\nMassive alienation of users through invasive ads is the beginning of the end.\n\n~~~\noctopine\nStarting with uTorrent \"enhancing\" their users' experiences with bundled\nadware:\n\n[http://www.ghacks.net/2012/05/04/utorrent-update-comes-\nbundl...](http://www.ghacks.net/2012/05/04/utorrent-update-comes-bundled-with-\nadware/)\n\n------\nmicheljansen\nI've actually never used uTorrent myself, but I found myself quite appalled by\nthe title and then slowly warming up to the ideas as I read the article.\n\nAs I understand, the company behind uTorrent currently makes their money from\npeople who install a browser toolbar bundled with the uTorrent installer. This\nis one of the sleaziest sources of revenue. Putting some ads in the app itself\nis at least honest.\n\nEven better, rather than having your average \"Clean your computer now!\" ads,\nthey apparently plan to advertise using \"sponsored torrents\", from within a\nBitTorrent client. That's actually pretty clever! If they push this a bit\nmore, they can use uTorrent as a trojan horse for a legitimate BitTorrent\nplatform the way iTunes went from being an app to put music on your iPod to a\nfull-blown music store.\n\nI'll defer my judgement until I see how this turns out, but it can hardly be\nworse than a browser toolbar.\n\n------\nsp332\nThis seems like the perfect application for oldversion.com\n<http://www.oldversion.com/uTorrent.html>\n\n------\nianstormtaylor\nWow. TorrentFreak has 48! bugs found with Ghostery. I think that is the\nhighest I've ever seen. Speaking of a service that's supported by ads (and\nworse than ads).\n\n------\nuvTwitch\nThanks for notifying me to not upgrade uTorrent.\n\n~~~\ntuananh\ni haven't upgraded since 2.0.4\n\n~~~\nditoa\nYeah I am still on 2.2.1 as I did not like the changes they were making to the\nUI (thankfully just a few clicks changes it back to the old look). Never even\ninstalled 3.x\n\n------\nCrazedGeek\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_BitTorrent_client...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_BitTorrent_clients)\n\nIf you feel the urge to switch. (I like Transmission -- clean, efficient,\ngreat as a daemon + web interface).\n\n------\nDigitalSea\nLooks like it's time to give Deluge another try. uTorrent started out great\nthen they started bundling in malware and now they're adding in advertisements\n- as if they need the extra cash in the first place.\n\n------\nojiikun\nI can't claim that I was the first to have this thought, but I will post it to\nprovide a possible positive counterpoint:\n\nIf these adverts are for legitimate, legal torrents, their addition to the\nclient could greatly increase the fraction of torrent traffic that is, well,\nlegal. This would help put an end to the \"all torrent traffic is illegal\"\nargument for throttling and blocking used by ISPs and governments.\n\nSo perhaps this is a ploy to make some advertising money, but with a subplot\nof ensuring torrents keep working the way they do.\n\n------\nsmegel\nuT went crap after 3.1. I use an old 64 bit version of 3.0 - no ads and no\nplan to upgrade.\n\n~~~\nalan_cx\nEr, I thought it went crap after 1.6.1 !!!!!!!\n\nIIRC, and please forgive my terrible memory, something happened with ownership\nor the main programmer \"selling out\", which caused a lot of worry about\nprivacy, etc. I believe that 1.6.1 was the last \"safe\" version in relation to\nthat.\n\nAnd for years I stuck with 1.6.1\n\nWhether or not is was utterly wasting my time, I really dont know!!!\n\n------\nRexRollman\nWith that kind of money, I wonder how long it will take someone to sue them\nfor \"profiting from promoting piracy\", even though they don't.\n\n------\nthirsteh\nMillions? Doubt many of the users of the application care about ads, so unless\nthey charge for impressions...\n\n~~~\ndguido\nThey didn't say the currency they're using. It's millions because it's all in\nFacebook dollars (effectively ~$5 USD total).\n\n~~~\nautodidakto\nMust be FB dollars if they can't manage to keep the lights on with 15-20 mil\n\n------\nSeppoErviala\nWhy use proprietary adware when there are FOSS alternatives available?\n\n------\njamesjguthrie\nTime to choose a new BitTorrent client.\n\n------\nPaulHoule\nif they get rid of that conduit.com BS I'll be happy\n\n------\nminm\nHere is one alternative: <http://www.tonido.com/app_torrent_home.html>. Manage\nyour torrents from anywhere.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGNU RCS 5.9.2 - lelf\nhttp://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/info-gnu/2013-11/msg00014.html\n======\ncomex\nI still use RCS occasionally for versioning single files, although the speed\nand ease of initialization of Git make it not so useful these days.\nIncidentally, having maintained RCS history for a large file that made it up\nto 1.1677, I discovered that GNU RCS is very inefficient at applying the\nreverse line-based diffs in order to retrieve an old revision - rcs takes 27\nseconds to retrieve 1.1 while my small Python implementation takes 0.5\nseconds. I guess it probably keeps in-memory data in a contiguous buffer\nrather than an array of lines?\n\n~~~\ngwu78\nCan you post your ,v file somewhere? I'd like to try to replicate your\nexperiment, using my rcs(1) and cvs(1).\n\nWhile I'm impressed that your Python script is quick, I'm not sure that Python\nis ever \"small\" compared to any POSIX-like UNIX userland utility. An accurate\nperspective of the size of any \"Python implementation\" would account for (a)\nall the files you need to install on top of a POSIX-like UNIX userland in\norder to get Python to run and to run your script and (b) the fact that the OS\nTorvalds would have used if not for the AT&T lawsuit, namely BSD, does not\ninclude Python in the base install. If Python were truly \"small\", I'd consider\nit for use in embedded systems.\n\n------\nocto_t\nfor old legacy systems, keeping /etc/ in RC is (and has been) a massive\ngodsend.\n\nIts nice to see a rarely used bit of software from 31 years ago still being\nmaintained.\n\n~~~\njlas\nNowadays I sometimes create a git repo in my /etc directory\n\n~~~\nGnewt\nI use etckeeper, which is basically the same thing except with some nice hooks\nlike auto-commit on apt-get install.\n\n~~~\nemillon\nAnd fixes the permissions. With /etc in git it becomes world-readable.\n\n~~~\nlallysingh\nA script that gets the current permissions for every file/dir and emits a\nchmod command for each one is pretty handy.\n\n------\ndavvid\nIf you find yourself versioning single files, and still want to use Git, you\nmay want to check out \"Zit, the Git-based single file content tracker\".\n\n[https://github.com/Oblomov/zit](https://github.com/Oblomov/zit)\n\n------\nvincie\nI use it extensively for any files I touch that I do not share with anyone\nelse, especially configuration files. Comes included in NetBSD, so no need to\ninstall anything else.\n\n------\narmy\nWe had to use RCS for university projects and submit the versioned files. It\nhas many shortcomings but the simplicity of it is nice for some purposes.\n\n------\njng\nPeople still use RCS?\n\n~~~\noctagonal\nWhy take a car to the neighbourhood store when a fit-for-purpose bike would\nwork just as well, while being free of all the complexities that a car has?\n\n~~~\npekk\nbecause it actually isn't helping your health or the environment to use RCS,\nand actually isn't more complex to do with another tool.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow to get enough protein without meat - petethomas\nhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/how-to-get-enough-protein-without-meat/2017/11/13/b6d139b4-c3d7-11e7-afe9-4f60b5a6c4a0_story.html\n======\nspodek\nThe article lists protein density in grams of protein per cup or ounce, but a\nmore relevant measure is grams of protein per calorie.\n\nMost people's health issue is too many calories.\n\nIn grams of protein per calorie, many plants score high. You just have to eat\nmore, which, if you make delicious food, is a benefit.\n\n~~~\nDiThi\n> Most people's health issue is too many calories.\n\nIt's like saying the issue of a murdered man is too much metal inside the\nbody. Technically correct but misleading.\n\nIf you replace the carbs by exactly the same amount in fats, most people will\nlose weight. Many of them would be unable to eat so much because they would\nfeel stuffed and stop feeling hungry all the time. And for those that eat the\nsame amount of calories, they would not be in fat storage mode so excess is\nsecreted.\n\n~~~\nbagacrap\nThis is misleading. If they don't eat as much due to higher satiety, then you\nare not replacing with equivalent calories.\n\nCalories are meant to be and are calculated as the lingua franca of\nmacronutrients. 5 calories of one really will have the same effect on your\nwaistline as 5 of another, holding all else equal.\n\nRegardless, the grandfather is discussing macronutrient distribution and you\nseem to be in favor of optimizing it as well, so I don't think there's\ndisagreement here.\n\n~~~\nDiThi\n> If they don't eat as much due to higher satiety, then you are not replacing\n> with equivalent calories.\n\nThat's one factor of why eating fat instead of carbs defeat the calories-in-\ncalories-out idea. But it's not the only one. Both the lack of release of\ninsulin and ketosis helps the body work much better.\n\n> 5 calories of one really will have the same effect on your waistline as 5 of\n> another, holding all else equal.\n\nThat's the problem, nothing else is equal when you have a vastly different\nproportion of macronutrients.\n\n~~~\nnamelost\nOK let's ignore protein for a second. You're saying that if you eat the same\nnumber of calories, but as fat instead of carbs, your body will store less of\nit. i.e. that the human body is much more efficient at extracting energy from\ncarbohydrates than it is from dietary fat, i.e. more of the energy from\ndietary fat is wasted. Macronutrient choice cannot affect the amount of work\nthat your body does, only what percentage of the calories are wasted\n(inefficiency).\n\nOn the face of it this makes no sense because fat is such a good energy source\nthat _it 's what our bodies use to store energy_, so why would our bodies have\nproblems extracting energy from dietary fat?\n\n~~~\nDiThi\nI didn't say that our bodies extract less energy from fat. It stores less\nenergy as fat. Fat storage mode is stimulated by insulin, which is stimulated\nby glucose or by lack of sodium. Insulin brings other health problems in\naddition to weight gain.\n\n------\nhokkos\nAn article about getting enough protein without meat and doesn’t talk about\nessentials aminoacides is worthless. You should read about Protein\nDigestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score and the new Digestible Indispensable\nAmino Acid Score all plant proteins are not equals, and should be eaten\nsimultaneously to avoid deficiencies to have a complete profile to bring\nmuscle protein. Also anabolic response is lower with plant based protein\nversus animal based and it should talk about B12 as deficiencies in it is a\nsilent killer.\n\n[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_amino_acid](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_amino_acid)\n\n[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_Digestibility_Correc...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_Digestibility_Corrected_Amino_Acid_Score)\n\n[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digestible_Indispensable_Ami...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digestible_Indispensable_Amino_Acid_Score)\n\n[https://dabamirror.sci-\nhub.cc/bbb1a373d204d4fe2c1f9a8a38356d...](https://dabamirror.sci-\nhub.cc/bbb1a373d204d4fe2c1f9a8a38356daf/10.3945@jn.114.204305.pdf)\n\n[http://dacemirror.sci-hub.cc/journal-\narticle/a73bbb377b5c4cd...](http://dacemirror.sci-hub.cc/journal-\narticle/a73bbb377b5c4cd9f09d8376d3ef0ad7/volek2013.pdf)\n\n~~~\nKitDuncan\nThis annoys me so much. The essential amino acid myth has been thoroughly\ndebunked for years.\n\n[https://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-protein-combining-\nmyth/](https://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-protein-combining-myth/)\n\nB12 is the only real deficiency vegans experience and it's easily solved by\ntaking a supplement. B12 isn't some miracle vitamin, exclusive to animal\nproducts either. It's produced by bacteria in the soil and since we're usually\nsterilizing our food, it's not usually found on our produce anymore. That's\nwhy livestock are getting it supplemented, just the way vegans are\nsupplementing it. It's not even like eating meat and animal products saves you\nfrom B12 deficiency as a big chunk of the population is actually deficient.\n\n~~~\npasswordqq\nGenuine q- can you explain what you mean by- \"It's produced by bacteria in the\nsoil and since we're usually sterilizing our food, it's not usually found on\nour produce anymore. \"\n\nWhat if we didn't sterilize? Would the bacteria then produce it in our\nstomach? Once I \"get \" those bacteria in, do I have to replenish?\n\n~~~\nKitDuncan\nI am not suggesting you ingest the soil bacteria, for it to produce the B12\ninside your body. If you were to ingest small amounts of soil (on fruit or in\nwater) it should already contain B12. I don't know why anybody would do that,\nif they could just take dirt (hehe) cheap supplements instead though.\n\n~~~\npasswordqq\nOK, got you. Thanks. Follow up q- in that case what's wrong with\nsterilization? The dirt should still have b12 I think?\n\nWhat about the bacteria though? Not a good idea?\n\n------\nbrilee\nDid anyone else find it bizarre that they quoted \"grams of protein per\nounce/cup\" of food? America seems to have slowly adopted the metric system,\nbut it's not what I expected to look like...\n\n~~~\nraarts\nPer cup is weird, especially to the rest of the world, but what really is\nmaddening to me is the 'serving'. Every food app is riddled with nutrients\n'per serving' . Completely ridiculous. Servings differ greatly between brands,\npackages, countries.\n\n~~~\ngeowwy\n> Per cup is weird, especially to the rest of the world\n\nCups are not weird, just just a pain in the arse because US cups are 240ml and\nmetric cups are 250ml. If you're following a recipe that needs exact\nmeasurements it often trips you up.\n\n~~~\ntom_mellior\n> Cups are not weird\n\nYes they are. For example, the article talks about \"dark leafy greens (about 5\ngrams per cup)\". Is that cups of dark leafy greens before chopping them up or\nafter? If you specified the amout per weight, it would not make a difference.\nIf you specify them by volume, it does.\n\n------\nojosilva\nI've gone (ovo-lacto) vegetarian recently and I couldn't be happier. My body\nfeels lighter, my mind more productive and my mood improved somewhat.\n\nMy initial intention was to be somewhat \"flex\" and have meat and seafood once\nin a while, like once a month, but I've eaten meat only once in 4 months and\nit was not specially satisfying: it tasted overwhelmingly salty and I wasn't\nable to enjoy the flavor. I guess I lost interest. Biting into a dead animal\nnow feels wrong, it feels like eating food from a garbage can. Even eggs, milk\nand sometimes cheese seem like a stretch for me now. I did not anticipate\nthat. In fact, I thought I was going to really enjoy my \"meat day\" but now I\ndread it.\n\nFriends ask why I did it. I don't have one particular reason. Just did it. I'm\nnot sure if the planet's better because of me not eating meat. I don't want to\nsound moral, but it does feel civilized, in an almost naive way, not to crave\nother animals. But I know I'm vegetarian because my body, and not my\nconscience, asked for it.\n\nI've always been a proud meat eater. I laughed at my sister when she turned\nvegan. But I now feel relieved like a criminal that confessed his crime after\n40 years in hiding. Trust me, eating meat is not important when you eat from a\nwide range of sources. Eating meat, poultry, seafood should be a special,\nalmost mystical thing (in some religions it is), reserved for special\noccasions. It should be local, not global. The massive processing of animals\nis not only cruel and insanely wasteful, but is quite unhealthy from the\nepidemiological and physiological perspective.\n\n~~~\ncies\nAs a long term lacto-ovo vegetarian, who is went mostly plant-based for health\nreasons: dairy causes many ailments, a quite unnatural food for humans to\neat...\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3c_D0s391Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3c_D0s391Q)\n\n~~~\ntoasterlovin\nFor some people.\n\nOthers of us are well adapted to dairy and, for us, dairy is a miraculous food\ncategory. It is a great source of protein and fat. It adds a wonderful\ndimension to so many recipes. And, aside from meat, milk is one of the few\nsingle foods that you can largely sustain yourself on (I think of it as mother\nnature’s Soylent).\n\n~~~\ncies\n> Others of us are well adapted to dairy\n\nNo one is properly adapted, that why milk consumption is associated with\nshorter lifespan and some diseases.\n\n> And, aside from meat, milk is one of the few single foods that you can\n> largely sustain yourself on (I think of it as mother nature’s Soylent).\n\nWhat? Do yo mean to only drink milk (or eat meat)? In that case you lack\nfiber, big time. I've mentioned, and provided you with a video revealing how\ndamaging milk is to the human body.\n\nIt will sustain your medical bill, until you die. :)\n\n> It adds a wonderful dimension to so many recipes.\n\nThat's an opinion, and I must say I also really like the taste of some milk\nproducts.\n\n~~~\ntoasterlovin\n> No one is properly adapted, that why milk consumption is associated with\n> shorter lifespan and some diseases.\n\nAdaptation to a lifestyle dependent on milk and it's derivatives was a huge\ninflection point in the evolution of Europeans. It gave the bearers of this\nadaptation a tremendous advantage over people who lacked it and consequently\nspread rapidly.\n\nIf I were you, I would be very suspicious about diet advice derived from\nepidemiological studies, since those studies can only ever infer correlation,\nnot causation, and are likely mostly useless as a result of this shortcoming.\nThis article by Gary Taubes goes into great detail about why (and, seriously,\nthis is one of the most important things I've ever read):\n\n[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/magazine/16epidemiology-t....](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/magazine/16epidemiology-t.html)\n\n> Do yo mean to only drink milk (or eat meat)?\n\nYes. See the Maasai (huge milk consumption) and Inuit (who historically ate a\ndiet consisting entirely of meat from sea mammals).\n\nIf you're interested about diet and how it relates to health, Good Calories,\nBad Calories by Gary Taubes is an amazing book, which is, on the surface,\nabout how dietary fat and carbohydrates affect health, but is really a deep\ndive into how we ascertain knowledge and how the political process of\nscientific recommendations gets corrupted by human shortcomings.\n\n------\nhoosieree\nAnecdotal, but my vegetarian friend had \"excessive protein\" show up in a blood\ntest. Which was surprising, because he's not _trying_ to get extra protein.\nPersonally, when I'm vegetarian (95% of the time) I just make sure to get some\nbeans and grains and variety, and call it a day.\n\n~~~\ncopperx\nThat's highly unusual. Did he have protein clearance problems due to early\nkidney disease?\n\n------\nk__\nI never had the impression that protein was a huge deal for vegans.\nConsidering tofu and seitan.\n\nAren't low testosteron levels a bigger issue?\n\n~~~\ncies\n> Aren't low testosteron levels a bigger issue?\n\nNope. Vegans have higher T levels. Also higher than vegetarians. Here an\narticle with plenty links to studies:\n\n[https://nutritionfacts.org/2013/02/12/less-cancer-in-\nvegan-m...](https://nutritionfacts.org/2013/02/12/less-cancer-in-vegan-men-\ndespite-more-testosterone/)\n\n~~~\nfingerprinter\nLinking to nutritionfacts.org is like linking to Exxon with an article on why\ngreen energy is bad.\n\n~~~\ncies\nWhat does nutritionfacts.org sell? Broccolli?\n\nDoes nutritionfacts.org pay for studies? Nope. (Exxon does)\n\nSorry, bad comparison. But I understand what you mean: Greger eats a plant\nbased diet himself so he must be biased and the probably goes about cherry\npicking studies to match his beliefs. After a lot of research I've come to the\nconclusion he's honest and works in the interest of people's health.\n\n~~~\nsaosebastiao\n> What does nutritionfacts.org sell?\n\nA religion.\n\n------\nd13\nWhat about the amino acids? Aren't those more important to a vegetarian diet\nthan protein?\n\n~~~\ncies\nProtein breaks down in amino acids, so when zoomed out they are pretty much\nthe same thing in nutrition.\n\n------\ncoldtea\nA better question is, why?\n\n------\nardit33\nCan't read the article because of the paywall. But if you are looking for\nprotein without consuming meat, then usually dairy protein is great.\n\n1) Milk based products that are high on protein (either whey, or casein). Most\nshakes are usually whey. Otherwise yogurt is a great source (Icelandic skyr is\nmostly protein). Some cheeses have more protein than fat, etc...\n\n2) Egg protein. Either full eggs, or just whites, or powder egg protein.\n\n3) Peas, Beans, Peanut Butter are good protein sources as well... but you can\nreally eat so much in a day\n\n4) Avoid soy, (for many reasons, but mainly because it is thought to be\nandrenogenic).\n\nIf you can't eat either milk or egg based products and I think you are a bit\nout of luck. Yes, there are people that manage fine with (there even vegan\nbodybuilders), but it really becomes tough diet wise as it is very\nrestrictive....\n\n~~~\noptimusclimb\nIt seems pointless to me when people become \"vegetarian\" to opt out of the\nfactory farming/animal cruelty machine...only to eat massive amounts of eggs\nand dairy.\n\n~~~\nanarazel\nIt's a question of degree. One hundred gram of meat vs 200g of yoghurt implies\na significantly higher energy use and on average is more crucial pretty\ncalorie.\n\n~~~\ncies\nHe's talking about the \"factory farming/animal cruelty machine\", thus ethics.\n\nYou are responding about \"energy use\", this environmental impact.\n\nTwo separate reasons to go vegan. (besides the issues of pollution, scarcity\nand health-impact)\n\n~~~\nanarazel\nI also referenced the cruelty? The point being that to get the same amount of\nenergy out of milk/egg based products you'll need fewer animals than for meat\nbased production (where animals have to grow for multiple months to years just\nto be slaughtered). Which means fewer animals will suffer to feed one person.\nIt's obviously possible to reduce further.\n\n~~~\ncies\nHard to compare the cruelty involved in breeding-for-slaughter, breeding-for-\nmilking-then-slaughter or breeding-for-egg-laying-then-slaughter. Or to\ncompare suffering in a chicken with the suffering of a cow. How many chicks\nconvert to one cow?\n\nBottom line is vegan, period. And even that line is blurry if you zoom in\nenough :)\n\n~~~\noptimusclimb\nJust in case you check your replies now and then - yes, you get what I was\nsaying.\n\nOne can opt out of meat and meat products for reasons of health (which are\ncomplicated and debatable, but a personal choice), reducing environmental\nimpact, and not taking part in the way we currently handle animals for food.\n\nThe latter one is complicated, as it is technically possible to opt out of\nsupporting the chicken/cow \"matrix\" if you really truly only ever eat\nmeat/eggs/dairy from animals that are raised, used, and finally killed on\n(likely) local farms that generally treat their animals with \"dignity\" for\nwhatever that's worth until they kill them. I personally don't think that real\nfree range cattle and chickens that are eventually slaughtered have bad lives\nfor what they are - but being able to only eat such animals is definitely a\nchoice only available to the upper-middle class and up, given the current\nsystem.\n\nBut if you're a vegetarian and you routinely buy 48 egg cartons for $6 at your\nlocal safeway and eat tons of cheese? You just have a restrictive weird diet.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nYes, Python is Slow, and I Don’t Care - mithunmanohar1\nhttps://hackernoon.com/yes-python-is-slow-and-i-dont-care-13763980b5a1\n======\nscarface74\nI was all ready to savage his opinion after reading the headline but I agree\nlooking at my architecture that I designed for the company I work for, CPU\nisn't the bottleneck. Every time I try to increase performance by multi\nthreading as much as possible, the databases start screaming.\n\nOn the other hand, the idea that dynamic languages are more productive than\nstatic languages are laughable. Statically type languages prevent a lot of\nbugs and allow for a lot of automated provably correct refactorings that\nsimple cannot be done with a statically typed languages. You can't even\nreliably do a \"find usages\" of classes using a dynamically typed language.\n\n~~~\ncarlmr\n>On the other hand, the idea that dynamic languages are more productive than\nstatic languages are laughable. Statically type languages prevent a lot of\nbugs and allow for a lot of automated provably correct refactorings that\nsimple cannot be done with a statically typed languages. You can't even\nreliably do a \"find usages\" of classes using a dynamically typed languag\n\nExactly, I get quick and precise code completion, I catch plenty of errors\nbeforehand etc. I'd say I'm about 10x as productive in C# as in Python, with\nsimilar amount of experience. Python only shines when there is a library that\ndoes something really well that you need. For me any productivity advantage in\nPython is from lots and lots of libraries.\n\nAlso in terms of maintainability, I find my C# code easy to read and modify a\nyear later when I've forgotten completely about it. In Python I need to rescan\nall of the types into my head until I can understand what the program does.\n\nI mean with var and dynamic, C# offers everything you need for duck typing\nefficiency, while preserving the very important statically typed interfaces.\n\n~~~\nbluntfang\n>In Python I need to rescan all of the types into my head until I can\nunderstand what the program does.\n\nCouldn't that be solved with sane variable naming conventions and\ndocstrings/documentation?\n\n~~~\nscarface74\nMaybe. But it can be more easily solved on a strongly typed language where you\ncan right click on a method and do \"find usages\" and it can. E done\nalgorithmically.\n\n------\nfreetime2\nI pretty much agree with everything in the article - except for the bit where\nhe tries to quantify why python is better from a developer efficiency\nperspective than other languages.\n\nThe main example he cites is a study that compares the amount of time writing\nstring processing routines in different languages - which is quite a bit\ndifferent from the work I do every day. I develop web apps which means I\ngenerally work in very large code bases, and spend most of my time modifying\nexisting code rather than writing fresh code from scratch. I have found that\nstatically typed languages (java + typescript) and the fantastic IDE support\nthat comes along with them make it really easy to navigate around the code and\nrefactor things. Also - the compiler tends to catch and prevent a whole class\nof bugs that you might otherwise only catch at runtime in a dynamically typed\nlanguage.\n\nOf course there are other situations where I prefer to use Ruby as my\nscripting language of choice - it all comes down to using the right tool for\nthe job at hand. Unfortunately I don't think the author gives enough\nconsideration to the trade-offs between static vs. dynamically typed\nlanguages, and I think he would have been better just leaving that section out\nas it isn't really necessary to prove his point that CPU efficiency isn't\nimportant in a lot of applications.\n\nUltimately though I completely agree with his main point: \"Optimize for your\nmost expensive resource. That’s YOU, not the computer.\"\n\n------\nmangecoeur\nPython is also heavily used in science, where performance really does matter.\nIt's successful because of how highly ergonomic python apis can be built on\ntop of optimised C/C++/Fortran libraries.\n\nThat said, there is clearly a desire to write 'fast' code in python itself\nwithout swapping to C. Cython helps, but to get really fast Cython code you\nactually have to write with C-semantics (so you are basically writing C with\nPython syntax).\n\nProjects like numba JIT are interesting in that they can optimise domain-\nspecific code (i.e. numerical/array code) that's written in normal python\nstyle. It also means jumping through a few hoops (although with the latest\nversion in many cases all you need is a single decorator on your hot\nfunction). You can even do GIL-less multithreading in some cases.\n\nOverall things are looking promising, with the addition of the frame\nevaluation API and possible improvements to the python C-api that could make\nJIT and similar extentions easier.\n\n------\nboomlinde\nThe author argues from his professional experience as a Python developer that\nit's fast enough, that you'll spend most time waiting for I/O anyway, that you\ncan just throw more servers at the problem etc.\n\nThe problem is that his experience as a Python developer doesn't accurately\nreflect the prevalence of problems where runtime CPU performance actually is\nan issue. Of course not, because who in their right mind would make an\ninformed decision to solve such a problem in Python? Python has worked for him\nbecause it is only useless for a category of problems that he hasn't had the\nopportunity to solve because he's a Python developer. Outside this\nprofessional experience, not everything is a trivially parallel web service\nthat you can just throw more servers at if CPU time exceeds I/O waiting.\n\nIt all really boils down to what your requirements are, whether you have all\nthe time and memory of a whole server park at your hands, or a fraction of the\ntime available in a smaller embedded system, how timely the delivery of the\nsoftware has to be and how timely it needs to deliver runtime results once\nit's up and running. There are times where Python just isn't fast enough, or\nwhere getting it fast enough is possible, but more convoluted and tricky than\nimplementing the solution in a more performant language. Developer time may be\nmore expensive than the platform that my solution is for, but that doesn't get\naround the fact that it eventually will need to run with the available\nresources.\n\n------\nagentgt\nUnless we are talking like circa 1999 I don't think I have heard a complaint\nyet that Python is slow. I'm curious who or where the author heard that from\n(not specifically the people themselves but the domain they are in).\n\nWhat I have heard complaints about Python are (and I don't agree with all\nthese points):\n\n* Its not statically typed\n\n* The python 2/3 compatibility\n\n* It has some design flaws: GIL, variable assigning, mutable variables, lambdas, indentation (I don't agree with all these but this is complaints I have heard).\n\n* The plethora of packaging (ie its not unified)\n\nI guess one could argue its slow because it can't do concurrency well but that\nreally isn't raw speed.\n\nThen the author started comparing string processing of programmer time from a\nstudy which... doesn't help the authors point at all.\n\n* Python has and will always be fast at string processing and most people know this\n\n* The people that complain about python speed are almost certainly not doing string processing\n\n* I have serious questions about the study in general (many languages have changed quite a bit since then)\n\n~~~\npg314\n> I'm curious who or where the author heard that from (not specifically the\n> people themselves but the domain they are in).\n\nIn the telecom domain, I've dealt with data big enough that Python wasn't\nreally feasible. Think 100 of millions of records in CSV format that need to\nbe parsed and processed. Doing that in Python is going to be painful.\n\n~~~\nclassybull\nPython is insanely fast at data processing and analysis because it has very\nfast libraries.\n\nAs a matter of fact, don't know if you've heard, but data processing it kind\nof like.. Python's thing...\n\n~~~\nmattkrause\nYou're violently agreeing with each other.\n\nPython _itself_ can be pretty slow. Doing image processing on data stored as\nlist-of-lists-of-integers would be brutally slow.\n\nOn the other hand, numpy is an import away, and it can be quite fast,\nespecially if it's been built with an optimized BLAS/ATLAS, etc.\n\n~~~\nAstralStorm\nBy blazingly fast you mean 100x slower than C++ equivalent and only 20x slower\nis you're very careful to avoid accidental copies.\n\nFor reference, MATLAB is about 30x slower with no special care. Pure Java on\nHotspot was 5x slower except it dies on big data input due to very slow GC and\ngoes to 50x slow.\n\nSource: handled big audio data from hdf5 database, gigabytes sized. C++\nequivalent had no vectorization or magic BLAS or anything.\n\n~~~\njoshuamorton\nAs I'll often say to these comments, then you're doing things wrong. Numpy\ncode can be written to never leave the numpy sandbox, and at that point it\nshould be as fast or faster than naive c++ (because you'll be getting SSE and\nstuff for free).\n\nThere's a reason almost all deep learning is done in python.\n\n~~~\npg314\nNot all data is a good fit for Numpy: some data is non-numeric or not a\nhomogenous array.\n\n> There's a reason almost all deep learning is done in python.\n\nThe heavy-lifting in e.g. TensorFlow is done in C++. Bindings to Python make\nsense because it is one of the few sanctioned languages inside Google, and it\nis widely used outside of Google and easy to pick up.\n\n~~~\njoshuamorton\n>The heavy-lifting in e.g. TensorFlow is done in C++. Bindings to Python make\nsense because it is one of the few sanctioned languages inside Google, and it\nis widely used outside of Google and easy to pick up.\n\nThat's exactly the same as with numpy. I'm not sure what your point is. C++ is\nalso one of the few sanctioned languages inside google, as is Java.\n\n>Not all data is a good fit for Numpy: some data is non-numeric or not a\nhomogenous array.\n\nI'm curious what kind of data you're working with that can't be represented\nand effectively transformed in a tensor (numpy array).\n\n~~~\npg314\n> That's exactly the same as with numpy. I'm not sure what your point is.\n\nI was replying to \"there's a reason why...\". You didn't specify that reason,\nso from the rest of your comment I took it to mean that Python (with numpy)\nwas fast and good enough to write deep learning stuff. That doesn't seem to be\nthe case for TensorFlow.\n\n> I'm curious what kind of data you're working with that can't be represented\n> and effectively transformed in a tensor (numpy array).\n\nI'm not intimately familiar with the internals of numpy, but my understanding\nis that the basic data structure is a (multi-dimensional) array of values (not\npointers). That leads to a number of questions.\n\nIf you have an array of records (dtype objects), and one of the fields is a\nstring, am I correct that each element needs to allocate memory to hold the\nlongest possible value that can occur for that field? What if that is not\nknown beforehand?\n\nHow do you deal with optional fields (e.g. int or null)? Do you need to add a\nseparate boolean to indicate null?\n\nHow do you deal with union types, e.g. each record can be one of x types, do\nyou make a record that has a field for each of the fields of those x types? Do\nthose fields take up space?\n\n~~~\njoshuamorton\n>You didn't specify that reason, so from the rest of your comment I took it to\nmean that Python (with numpy) was fast and good enough to write deep learning\nstuff. That doesn't seem to be the case for TensorFlow.\n\nTensorflow tensors are numpy arrays, or are transparently viewable as such.\n\n>If you have an array of records (dtype objects), and one of the fields is a\nstring, am I correct that each element needs to allocate memory to hold the\nlongest possible value that can occur for that field? What if that is not\nknown beforehand?\n\nYes, although you can also store numpy arrays of pyobjects, which are arrays\nof pointers. You'll be able to vectorize the code, but you won't get the same\nperformance improvements as with a normal numpy array, because that same level\nof performance isn't possible with an array of pointers.\n\nNote that for most machine learning applications, you'd preprocess your string\ninto a vector of some kind.\n\n>How do you deal with optional fields (e.g. int or null)? Do you need to add a\nseparate boolean to indicate null?\n\nYes, but I'm not sure when you'd do that. That is, again in most machine\nlearning applications you'd be representing things as one-hot arrays or as\nsome kind of compressed high dimensional position vector, where 0 would\nrepresent a lack of presence of some thing.\n\n>How do you deal with union types\n\ndt = np.dtype((np.int32,{'real':(np.int16, 0),'imag':(np.int16, 2)})\n\nis a 32 bit int that can also be accessed as a 16 bit complex number via .real\nand .imag.\n\n------\nicebraining\n\"It doesn't matter than Python is slow, besides we can use compiled libraries\nto speed it up\"\n\n\"People saying it doesn't matter that Python is slow are deluding themselves\nand preventing Python from getting faster like JS did\"\n\n\"Python is inherently harder to optimize than JS since it has <very dynamic\nfeatures>\"\n\n\"Smalltalk/Lisp/etc are also very dynamic yet are much faster\"\n\n\"The slowness of Python is harming the planet by being inefficient and\ntherefore wasting more energy/producing more pollution\"\n\nDid I miss any arguments? I know certain topics are bound to attract some\nrepetitive discussion, but \"Python is slow\" has been one of the worst.\n\n~~~\ndom0\n> \"Python is inherently harder to optimize than JS since it has <very dynamic\n> features>\"\n\nPython is not a very dynamic language in the sense that you actually _can 't_\nchange a lot of stuff (and a number of the things you _can_ change just\nsegfault CPython). I think JS is more dynamic, for example. Or Ruby.\n\n~~~\nicebraining\nThese are not my arguments, mind you; I don't know enough to make them.\n\nYou've piqued my interest, though: can you give me an example of those things\nthat you can't change or that break CPython?\n\n~~~\ndom0\nThings like the Carlo Verre hack (also a thing you can't change —any more— in\nPython: builtins), editing objects during their construction (via e.g. gc)...\ngenerally, the gc module allows other ways as well to crash your interpreter.\n\n    \n    \n        >>> import gc\n        >>> 'foo'.lower()\n        >>> gc.get_referents(str.__dict__)[0]['lower'] = str.upper\n        >>> 'foo'.lower()\n        segmentation fault (core dumped)  python\n    \n\n(That's the method lookup cache)\n\nA talk in this direction is\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCGofLIzX6g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCGofLIzX6g)\n\n------\nWaterluvian\nPython is my Swiss army knife. I love it because it is a single tool that can\naid in almost every project I do. But if I'm doing one specific thing a lot, I\nwant that thing to be done well and done efficiently, so I'll reach for the\nspecific screwdriver I need.\n\nAlso most of my problems are IO bound so single threaded concurrency is fine.\n\nBut I represent a very small portion of the global problem space.\n\n------\ndom96\nThe fact that Python is slow isn't its only problem. What I care more about\nnowadays is wasting my time hunting bugs that could have been avoided by a\nstatic type system.\n\n~~~\nblumomo\nPlease tell me, do you write tests? I've learned that it's necessary. I do\n100% code coverage and I'm enjoying TDD a lot.\n\n~~~\nvirmundi\nThe whole point of static type systems is that they give you the \"type tests\".\n100% code coverage just to get what the compiler would give you is a waste of\ntime. If python is supposed make developers more productive, this is just\ndragging them down.\n\n------\ndahart\nPython's value to me has always been that it's easier to get things done, not\nit's speed. One time when I was interviewing a candidate for a coding job, the\ncandidate said she loved Python the most \"because you can just yell at it and\nit'll work.\"\n\nIt's both the breadth of the standard library and ecosystem, and the simple\nlanguage design, that make developing things in Python faster for me.\n\nDoing problems on Project Euler has been an education for me in how algorithm\nmatters more than speed. Lots and lots of people spend hours writing long C++\ncodes that are easily beaten by a few lines of Python. It certainly goes the\nother way too, and the wrong algorithm in Python is even that much slower and\nmore painful than the right algorithm in C++. But when the right algorithm is\nused and the problem is solved in a few milliseconds, it really doesn't matter\nwhich language uses more CPU cycles, all that matters is whether you saw the\ninsight that let you skip 99% of the search space, and how much time you spend\nwriting code.\n\n------\n_pmf_\nSomewhat ironically, Python is used a lot for things that would benefit from\nraw speed (data processing pipelines) and do not benefit at all from dynamic\ntyping (since the kind of property bags / data frame views over data are\neasily replicated in statically typed languages). But Python's C extension API\nis quite a bit easier than p.e. Matlab's MEX API (to me at least); can typical\nPython IDEs compile and relink extension modules without an external build\nstep?\n\n> Your bottleneck is most likely not CPU or Python itself.\n\nWith applications that are dominated by raw data processing, it's very, very\neasy to be CPU dominated. Hell, I had one quite trivial data converter for\nlogfiles where the \"parsing the printf string\" part of Java's printf dominated\nprocessing and writing a custom formatter halved processing time (while\nregexes can be compiled, the format string cannot be precompiled and will be\ninterpreted each time); it's one of those things where I would intuitively say\n\"why did this moron write his custom formatter\" if I stumbled upon it in a\ncode review. Intuitively, you'd expect this to be a simple case of an IO\ndominated task (which it is now once the bottleneck has been removed).\n\nIf it's fire-and-forget batch jobs, you can get away with it, but if the\nconverter is part of a user facing fat client application that runs on a old\noffice laptop, you don't have that luxury.\n\n------\nkodablah\nThe article could be titled: \"Yes, Python is Slow To Refactor and Maintain,\nand I Still Don't Care\".\n\nI never understand why dynamic language enthusiasts primarily focus on new\ncode only. You have to discuss all sides of increased or decreased\nproductivity to make a rational argument.\n\n~~~\nhasenj\nPython is optimized for getting interesting things done in a few lines of\ncode. Small scripts you write once and then forget.\n\nFor serious projects? IMO python is a disaster.\n\n------\nwyldfire\n> Your bottleneck is most likely not CPU or Python itself.\n\nI've found that this is often the case. Nearly always disk or network. But\nit's sometimes surprising how little work you need to do to become CPU-bound.\nThis is the price we pay for such a tremendously dynamic language.\n\nIndeed, the article's suggestions of C/Cython/PyPy are good ones to remedy the\nproblem when it occurs.\n\n------\njayflux\nI get the point this guy is making, but if you need something parallel for a\ncpu bound task, throwing more hardware at the problem isn't the most efficient\nsolution if you can just use more cores. For example adding another quad core\nwhen the first cpu is only using one core anyway is inefficient and expensive.\n\nRight tool for the right job I suppose.\n\n~~~\nnhumrich\nPython does multiprocess very well. You can easily use all cores on your\nmachine. Pythons main \"disadvantage\" is threading because of the GIL. But each\nprocess gets its own GIL. So when you multi process, your not limited to one\ncore.\n\n~~~\nclassybull\nThis. I had a problem where I needed to scrape roughly 20,000 html documents\ndaily, which is normally a pretty slow task. You have to open the file, load\nit into memory, parse the DOM, and then run all of your selection methods.\nSequentially, it took about 60 minutes daily. Multithreading slowed it down\nbecause it was CPU bound. Multiprocessing allowed me to run 12 processes\nacross 8 cores. That took the total processing time down to about 4 minutes or\nso. And I was able to write the code in a day. Writing something similar in\nJava or C++ would have taken me a week.\n\n------\nnadam\n\"It used to be the case that programs took a really long time to run. CPU’s\nwere expensive, memory was expensive. Running time of a program used to be an\nimportant metric.\"\n\nAs hardware gets faster we give it new tasks that could not be achieved\nbefore. Like rendering high resolution stereoscopic images using physically\nbased shading at 90 FPS on relatively cheap consumer hadware (VR). There are\nstill quite a lot of code that we call 'performance critical'. Most of that\ncode is written in C/C++ (and CUDA and glsl, and hlsl, etc...) today.\n\n~~~\nivm\nIt's still expensive on client machines because most of the persons in the\nworld are NOT software engineers with 6-digit salaries.\n\nThey run cheap computers with HDDs and Windows polluted by a ton of 3rd party\ncrap. They don't know how to fix it and silently suffer.\n\nI was cleaning a local vet clinic's devices recently – they were literally\nswitching between two computers to not wait 5 minutes of non-responsiveness\nbecause some bloated software was occasionally consuming 100% of CPU.\n\n~~~\nmark-r\nA lot of businesses these days prefer web apps. It's not hard to understand\nwhy - all the hassle of system maintenance falls to the people who host the\napp and can afford to know their stuff. If your Windows PC is suffering from\nrot just replace it with a Chromebook.\n\n~~~\nivm\n\"Just get money for a new device out of thin air and just replace all your\npaid or even cracked Windows software with subscription-based alternatives\nthat will not work without Internet. Ah, also just relearn all your\nworkflows.\"\n\nSorry, but that's how being in a bubble looks like.\n\n~~~\nmark-r\nI wasn't suggesting that businesses were anxious to replace things that\nalready work, I'm suggesting that as they acquire new software it's more\nlikely to be web-based.\n\nDevices are often replaced on a schedule anyway, especially if they're leased.\n\n~~~\nivm\nI wasn't talking only about businesses in my previous reply. But most\nbusinesses on the planet aren't bathing in money either.\n\nYou are speaking as a citizen of a rich country where devices are relatively\ncheap and stable Internet is available everywhere.\n\n------\nVHRanger\nThe problem is not so much that python is slow. It's that in some scenarios\npython can't be made fast.\n\nFast prototyping is great but being stuck with a prototype for deployment\nisn't.\n\n~~~\ntraverseda\n>It's that in some scenarios python can't be made fast.\n\nCan you give some examples of this? I mean, obviously with enough effort you\ncan \"make python fast\" since it has good C bindings, and can just be a thin\nwrapper around fast stuff. Similar to how command line tools can be\nridiculously fast[^1] despite, ostensibly, running in bash.\n\nSo I'm a bit confused about what you're claiming. Organizational issues, it's\ndifficult to get management on board with an optimization pass?\n\n[^1]: [https://aadrake.com/command-line-tools-can-be-235x-faster-\nth...](https://aadrake.com/command-line-tools-can-be-235x-faster-than-your-\nhadoop-cluster.html)\n\n~~~\nVHRanger\nMy point is do you have competent C programmers on your team?\n\nThat said, there is a point in some python prototypes where you \"hit the\nperformance wall\". For whatever reason, you'll need to look at one of the\noptions to make python faster and none of them are painless unless you're\nalready a serious C programmer.\n\n------\ntraverseda\nThere's are still some big gains python could make, if python implementations\nwere better.\n\nMicropython is equivalent to a real-time cooperative-multitasking OS. If it\nhad ~~better~~ support for things like cffi, you could implement posix on top\nof it. I can imagine a laptop that runs gnu+python in the next few years.\n\nThat's a whole new usecase, simply because that implementation uses a lot less\nram. What usecases would we discover for a faster python?\n\nShared objects and proper sandboxing would also be huge.\n\n~~~\njerf\n\"There's are still some big gains python could make, if python implementations\nwere better.\"\n\nAt this point, I would find it far easier to believe that you are\nunderestimating the difficulty involved in what it takes to speed up Python\nthan that there are enormous gains yet to be had in speeding up Python. I\nsuspect JS has had more optimization effort expended overall, but Python has\nstill had a ton of work by lots of smart people, and generally got an earlier\nhead start on optimization. (They didn't start trying to make JS \"fast\" right\naway; they spent rather a lot of time getting JS's hookup to the DOM in the\nface of things like .innerHTML working first, before anyone even cared to do\nwhat we today do routinely without thought in plain ol' Javascript, let alone\nwith our glorious frameworks.)\n\nThere are enormous gains to be had in speeding up \"a language that is like\nPython except certain things are banned\", but people have already done _that_\nanalysis too and discovered that broadly speaking, if you do that, too much\nexisting Python breaks. If you want to see something like that, check out the\nRPython aspect of the PyPy project, which successfully implements a fast\nsubset of Python. But it is a noticeably restricted subset of Python; AIUI\nit's not even close to something you can just drop in to your code and get\nfaster speeds.\n\nOne of the things that I've learned from Python and the other attempts to\nspeed up the scripting languages is that despite the mantra, yes, there _is_\nin practice such a thing as an intrinsically slow language. (The theoretical\nexistence of a Python interpreter that can run all existing Python code at C\nspeeds doesn't do us much good if we have no idea after decades of very smart\npeople banging on the problem how to manifest it. Personally I'd suspect that\nwhile such a beast theoretically exists it has an exponential complexity\nstartup cost or, if you prefer, exponential compilation costs. And probably a\npretty decent code and/or RAM bloat cost, too.) And Python is one of them.\nSome of the reasons why it is so much fun to use are part of that intrinsic\nslowness. Some of them really aren't.\n\nI personally think there's a lot of up-and-coming languages that are exploring\nthe space of how to get those nicer programming abstractions and programmer-\nconvenient code without paying anywhere near the runtime cost that the dynamic\nscripting languages of today do; it's one of the more exciting developments I\nsee coming up. People complain a lot about code bloat and poor performance of\nour code since right now we have to choose between \"fairly inconvenient but\nfast\" and \"convenient but slow and bloated\". Patience! Better choices are\ndeveloping, but they're still young.\n\n~~~\nmonkmartinez\nWill you please share the languages you thunk are up and coming?\n\n~~~\njerf\nGo is an early entrant into this space, but I think part of the reason it is\nearly is also that it is less ambitious. But to answer the ever-present\nquestion on HN about \"why would anyone ever use this language?\", something\nmodern, almost as easy to use as a scripting language [1], and almost as fast\nas a compiled language, doesn't actually have a lot of contenders. (Old\nfogeys... like me!... like to observe that if you drop modern you have some\nthings like Delphi that fit that slot, but they're all pretty much dead now,\nand Go has good support for concurrency in the modern processor environment.)\n\nIn the \"you probably can't convince your boss yet\" category I'd recommend\nCrystal ([https://crystal-lang.org/](https://crystal-lang.org/)) and Nim\n([https://nim-lang.org/](https://nim-lang.org/)).\n\nGiven the programming landscape and the general direction of things lately, I\nalso bet there's a couple of serious contenders developing out there that\nhaven't even hit HN yet.\n\n[1]: For at least a broad class of problems. Put Go head-to-head with a\nproblem someone would use NumPy for and Go will go down in flames in the ease-\nof-use and line count department. However I use Go for a lot of networks\nservers (not even necessarily Web servers, but network servers) and the line\ncount for these comes out maybe 20% larger than Python, and it doesn't take\nmuch developer cognitive energy for those extra lines. I've also used Go for\nsome command-line type apps where the line count is probably 50% over Python,\nbut I also got some significant wins from the type system and concurrency, so,\nall in all there's a lot of things I can prototype with about the same mental\neffort in Go as I could in Python. Being able to declare interfaces that\nexisting types conform to turns out to cover a surprising amount of those\n\"duck-type\" scripting-type cases.\n\n------\nbooshi\nThis keeps getting posted, and while it makes some valid points, it's a lot of\nhandwaving.\n\nArguably, other languages can get code out faster depending on the dev,\nlanguage, etc.\n\n~~~\n0xcde4c3db\nAgreed. Things that are handwaved include:\n\n1) Performance can be a genuine requirement of the product, i.e. if it's not\nfast enough, it doesn't ship. You can't ship faster and cheaper by sacrificing\nthe thing you need to ship (well, you _can_ , but then you're shipping a\ndifferent product, not meeting the same requirements sooner; it's no different\nthan cutting a feature).\n\n2) Many processes can't be horizontally scaled in an efficient way, period.\nNot because the programmer is ignorant of some cool algorithm, but because the\nproblem is fundamentally expensive to parallelize. Maybe you end up getting\nsomething like a 20% boost by having twice as many nodes, even after applying\nall the cool algorithms. And you don't necessarily get that scalability in\nyour code base for free, either.\n\n3) \"Speed\" in the mobile and embedded spaces is often as much about energy\nefficiency and thermal management as getting done sooner.\n\n4) The metrics for deciding that Python is faster to develop in only measure\nsmall problems. People tend to shy away from Python for bigger projects, and\nthe reasons for this are pretty hotly debated.\n\n------\nbluedino\nMany times when Python is blamed for being slow, it's the programmers fault.\nPython is great that you can 'regular' people writing code in it quickly. The\nproblem is, these regular people don't always understand algorithms or things\nlike caches, threads, databases...\n\nA lot of these users can just say \"My department needs a $40,000 24 CPU server\nwith maximum RAM from MicroWay/SuperMicro, we need to run our codes faster\",\nwhen they are just trying to brute force things.\n\nThey understand the problem domain but don't have the programming skills to\nuse a computer to efficiently solve it.\n\nBut, these guys are all a step ahead of the ones who are stuck in the mindset\nof \"C is the only language fast enough for my work\", while not even\nunderstanding pointers and basic syntax and getting stuck on silly things like\ntext processing, which could be done in minutes in Python.\n\n------\nnhumrich\nAuthor here. Surprised to see this toping HN. Appreciate all the feedback. Let\nme know if you have any questions.\n\n------\nprogman\nYes, time to market is important. However, you don't need to compromise\nconvenience of development for the sake of performance. If you twist your\nPython code to get performance it takes time. If you need performance, and\nlike the syntax of Python then you should take a look at Nim [1]. With Nim I\ndevelop as quickly as in Python while I get the performance of C.\n\n[1] [https://nim-lang.org](https://nim-lang.org)\n\nI believe application performance _is_ important on servers. It makes a\ndifference if your Shop software written in Python is able to handle 50\nrequests per second, or if the same software written in Nim can handle 500\nrps. And by the way, Nim provides static typing which helps a lot to catch\nerrors at compile time.\n\n~~~\ncup-of-tea\nNim seems really good, but does it have a decent REPL these days? I'm not sure\nif it would be as convenient with a statically typed language, but I like the\nincremental development approach so much that I only use C if I absolutely\nhave to.\n\n~~~\ndom96\nIt doesn't. But you can grab Aporia (or some other tool) to quickly compile\nand run some code, it replaces a REPL very well in my experience.\n\n------\ndeadsy\nPremise: It's more important to be productive than to have fast code.\nConclusion: Use Python. Is the premise true? For many cases- yes, but it\ndepends. If you are running an application on the cloud and your metric is\n$/user/year and you have many users then saving some compute resources for\neach user gets attractive and you don't want to just throw another VM at it.\n\nIs the conclusion true? Garbage collection gives big productivity gains. Other\nlanguages have GC. It's not nice to see your Python code die after a few days\nbecause you messed up the type passed to a function. Other languages fix that\nat compile time. Multicore is now. Other languages are built with better\nmulticore awareness.\n\n------\n__s\n> without getting stuck in the weeds of the small things such as whether you\n> should use a vector or an array\n\nYes, instead get into the weeds of tuple vs list\n\nNot included in the graph of time-to-solve-problem static languages:\nstatically typed languages with type inference\n\n~~~\nscbrg\nGiven that they have exactly the same interface, that choice is really easy.\nYou go with one until it turns out to be insufficient, and then you switch to\nthe other and _not a single line of code_ has to change, except at the point\nwhere you create the thing.\n\nIncidentally, the same is true in many situations in Python, and that is (IMO)\none of its strengths.\n\n------\nagnivade\n> However, this is no longer true, as silicon is now cheap. Like really cheap.\n> Run time is no longer your most expensive resource.\n\nOur client won't spend more money than a t2.medium instance on aws. Nothing we\ncan do about it. In that case, run time does become an expensive resource.\n\nBut I get the point that OP is trying to make. Just wanted to mention that not\nall of us have the comfort of having enough resources on which our app runs.\n\n------\nfiatjaf\n> It’s more important to get stuff done than to make it go fast.\n\nThis is not a real absolute. It is only valid when what you have to run will\nnot benefit a lot from performance or suffer a lot from lack of it.\n\nThe real guidance you can have in these matters is: how many times is my code\ngoing to run per second?\n\nSome programs are written to be run once a day, others 10000000 times in a\nsecond. The first ones should be written in the language you're most\nproductive in, the second ones in the fastest possible language.\n\n------\nkarmakaze\nPutting aside the discussion regarding productivity, there is a case where I\nhave found execution time to matter. Scaling an application which uses an\nunsharded database. The long transaction durations and number of connctions\nwere bottlenecking db throughput. The particular app was a Ruby/Rails\nmonolith.\n\n------\nnervous123\nThis sentiment is the reason for almost all software (especially on the web)\nbeeing a load of crap. It's slow, it's buggy and developers always give the\nsame excuse: CPUs and memory are cheap, therefore we can waste our customers\ntime.\n\nImagine what we could do with the amazing hardware we have, if people started\nto do the sane thing and actually use the hardware to do things efficiently.\n\n------\nThaxll\nGiving EvE Online as an example is bad because that game artificially slow the\ngame loop to keep up with the number of players, would this happen with C++ on\na recent architecture? Probably not.\n\n------\nsedlich\nIn \"What if CPU time is an issue?\" we could also mention the nim language (and\nnot only cython) because it compiles (not only) to C and feels like python.\n\n------\ndonatj\nI know it's not trendy, but I would argue PHP is as productive for developers\nas Python and has a MUCH faster runtime, particularly after 7.\n\n------\nsnarfy\nSlow doesn't matter when you scale horizontally.\n\n------\nhellofunk\nYeah? Well, Jimmy Crack Corn and _I_ don't care.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Ways to make money on the side as a full time developer? - kace91\nContext: I&#x27;m a European developer in my late twenties. I would like to make more money, as right now I&#x27;m barely able to save  (just 100&#x2F;month or so, after cutting expenses). I have zero contacts to get small projects like websites for mom and pop shops, and my family comes from a very non entrepreneurial background so I literally don&#x27;t know how any way to make money that doesn&#x27;t involve just getting a salaried job.<p>Ideally it would be something that uses my current skillset as a developer and that would let me set up my own schedule so it can be flexible.<p>Do you guys have any idea for a side gig?\n======\nlukaszkups\nI was in the same situation as you are - at one time I realized that instead\nof running after side gigs I should just find a full time job that will enable\nme to earn as many money as I need, instead working 12+ hours/day (8hrs + side\ngigs). In overall, that was the greatest solution I made - it reduces\npossibility of the burnout etc.\n\n------\nsethammons\nI support all the other suggestions so far. I would also suggest considering\nsomething outside your skill set. I have a buddy who does lawn care on the\nside as a weekend gig. Maybe other things considered more blue collar. My\ncousin is a pool boy in SoCal. He was making over $100k a year before he\nbacked off due to health reasons.\n\n------\nquickthrower2\nWithout knowing the numbers, location, family (ability to move city/country),\nexperience level etc. It is hard to say.\n\nBut most likely the best bet is to find out how you can earn more money from\nthose core 40h/week. Best for you to come up with a strategy based on your\ncircumstances and tolerances. There is a lot of good advice in HN if you\nsearch on [https://hn.algolia.com](https://hn.algolia.com). And look for\npatio11 posts, as he has posted alot about money and getting more of it. I\nthink the golden nugget is don't tell a future employer what you are earning\nnow. My advice - don't be embarrassed to be earning double what you are\nearning now for doing the same thing somewhere else.\n\nOptions to think about: Contracting, Skills that pay more (React?), Companies\nthat can pay more (trading companies? FAANG companies?), Cities that pay more,\nCountries that pay more, Roles that pay more (management, architect),\nNegotiation with current employer (will they pay more if you say you might\nleave).\n\nDon't trade your spare time for money. Trade time for making your time worth\nmore money.\n\nAlso maybe cut your expenses more? The only time I've been in your situation\nas a dev is with a non working partner to support. If you are single, consider\nliving in a shared house for example. Also I'm not a big earning like a lot of\nthe HN crowd.\n\n------\nphilipkiely\nIn addition to my full-time job, I write articles for a few different\npublications. I recommend this as a strategy for you for a few reasons:\n\n1\\. Getting your name out there can lead to more contracts or better jobs\n\n2\\. Its a great way to develop your skills in areas tangential to your\nexpertise\n\n3\\. There are lots of great publications in Europe, Smashing Magazine comes to\nmind.\n\n4\\. Based on your paragraph above, your written English is more than\nsufficient for technical writing.\n\nNote that the per-article pay is not great (using Smashing Magazine again as\nan example, they pay 200 USD per article), but I think writing is a great way\nto earn a little extra cash right now while building a portfolio that can get\nyou better opportunities.\n\n------\nzufallsheld\n> I have zero contacts to get small projects like websites for mom and pop\n> shops\n\nOpen Google maps, look for shops around you and check if they have a website.\nMany probably will have some old, shitty website. Talk to these shops.\n\n------\npatatino\nThe easiest way to save money is by cutting expenses. Take a really good look\nat what you spend on what. Cheaper mobile abo, cheaper internet abo at home,\ndo you need Netflix, Spotify premium. Cook more, less take out food. Things\nadd up pretty quickly.\n\nCold email companies with old websites, send them 1-2 themes you think would\nmatch their brand. I did that years ago, and on average on ten emails, I would\nget a customer.\n\n------\nnatalyarostova\nHonestly, some self-study to transition into a job that pays more would\nprobably have the highest ROI on your time.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow to hire a good software development team? - meleshka\nHi everyone!<p>I have an idea for a mobile app, but I haven&#x27;t got any coding skills. What is the best option for me: hiring a dedicated team of developers, trying to learn to code on my own, or looking for a freelancer?\n======\nraooll\nA software Engineer with 10+ years of experience here.\n\nI would say that all depends on the idea itself and the technical complexity\nof the app.\n\nIf it is a pretty straight forward app you should probably hire a single\ndeveloper/ team of 2 person to develop the app.\n\nIf the idea involves a lot of technical complexities it will be a good idea to\nget a technical partner first and then look for outside help. The technical\npartner will help you with some part of the code and managing the\nfreelancer/team etc.\n\nIf you are not a technical person, you should really write down what exactly\nyou need from the freelancer even before you start looking for one.\n\nDo not go for the cheapest freelancer that you can find.\n\n------\nLis-sa\nAgree with raooll. If your idea is complex enough and you need to cover\nvarious intricacies, you'll better hire a dedicated team that will take full\nresponsibility for the development process.\n\nHere is a software development company that built a high-quality mobile app\n([https://www.itechart.com/services/mobile-\ndevelopment/](https://www.itechart.com/services/mobile-development/))\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Considering a move to the Bay Area with a family. Where should I live? - api\n\nI have what might be a very good job offer in the Bay Area. Not going to reveal with whom, but it&#x27;s in the vicinity of Mountain View.<p>It would involve relocation to Silicon Valley, so evaluating the possibility of living there is a major part of evaluating the offer.<p>First, some background: I love tech and love to build things, but I also love other things too. I have a family and a five month old baby, and my wife wants to stay home while our kids are young and I support this as well. I am quite interested in developing my career, but I have no interest in becoming an unbalanced workaholic. I also want to have a life, pursue other things, and spend time with the people I love.<p>It&#x27;s not the job I&#x27;m concerned about here. It&#x27;s the real estate hyperinflation of the valley and the culture that this engenders.<p>So what I&#x27;m looking for is: if I want to lead a balanced life with a family, where should I live? Is there anywhere in the Bay Area (commutable to Mountain View in &lt;30-45 minutes) that isn&#x27;t unattainably expensive and where my wife and kids would feel comfortable living?<p>I&#x27;m looking for cultural insight, since financial insight is something I can do myself. I&#x27;ve already made a number of spreadsheets.<p>Edit: I&#x27;m more interested in the long view-- in neighborhoods we could eventually call home. I&#x27;m interested in areas where being a stay at home mom for a while isn&#x27;t terribly weird, where our kids would have other kids to play with, and where the cost isn&#x27;t so astronomical that it&#x27;s going to eat up any advantage from the job&#x27;s compensation.\n======\nmchannon\nI think of renting in the bay area much as I do of jobs and careers in the bay\narea- almost nobody's in it for the long (5+-year) term, so it makes sense to\ngo for what makes sense now (within a longer term plan) and then readjust as\nyour conditions change.\n\nThe cheapest rents within a reasonable commute of MV are going to be in East\nPalo Alto. These are still ridiculously high (compared to other metro areas),\nand the crime rate there is the highest on the peninsula (still very tame by\nmost big city standards; I've never been in another metro area where most\nresidents don't really in their gut understand what crime is).\n\nMany people put up with the commute from the east bay, and Union City/Fremont\ncan save you a few hundred dollars a month on rent. Run your hourly rate\nagainst the hours spent in traffic and the east bay probably comes out behind.\nIf your wife wants a social life while she stays home, there's probably a\nlittle bit more of that in the east bay (from personal experience, there's\njust not very much room for that in Silicon Valley- nearly everyone's there to\nwork to make the rent or mortgage).\n\nBest wishes- if you're coming from a smaller place you may find your perceived\nstandard of living is quite low for the amount of wealth and income that\neverybody seems to have.\n\nIn order to guide you better, may want to give us an impression of what metro\narea you're coming from.\n\n~~~\napi\nCurrently in Asheville, North Carolina. Lived for six years in Boston, which\nis not as expensive as the Bay Area but certainly isn't cheap.\n\nAsheville is hugely cheaper than the Bay, but isn't particularly cheap by its\nlocal standards.\n\n~~~\nyolesaber\nHow are you enjoying Asheville? I've always entertained dreams of moving there\nbecause I love the woods and being around nature, but I also don't want to be\ndisconnected from the music scene, happenings in the art world etc.\n\n~~~\napi\nAsheville\n\n\\- The good:\n\nIt's gorgeous. Really. One of the most beautiful places in the country.\n\nThe art and music scene here will _not_ compare to a New York or a San\nFrancisco, but compared to other half a million person small cities Asheville\npunches _waaaay_ over its weight class. Its art and music scene is better than\nmany medium sized (2-4 million) cities. There are lots of festivals too, like\nthis: [http://mountainoasisfestival.com](http://mountainoasisfestival.com)\n\nThe food here is incredible. It's easily as good or better than the food you\nwill find in Boston and New York. It is difficult to find a bad restaurant\ndowntown.\n\nThere is, of course, tons of beautiful outdoors stuff to do: hiking, biking,\nkayaking, backpacking, mountain climbing, just about anything except skiing\n(it's the South, no snow). There's lakes not far away too, including some that\npermit power boating. So there is _that_ kind of skiing.\n\nWeather is nice. It can get a little cold/snowy in the winter. Hard winters\nare not unknown but are rare. Last winter was very mild. Summers are warm but\nsince it's up in the mountains you do not get the soul crushing Southern heat\nyou get in, say, Atlanta or Orlando.\n\nIf you are a single heterosexual man... well... you will probably like it. I'm\nnot so it doesn't matter to me, but if I were I would not have been\ndisappointed.\n\nIf you're gay, I know there's a decent gay scene. I'm not so I can't talk\nabout that from first hand experience. It's also generally a pretty tolerant\nplace.\n\nFinally, downtown is alive. Unlike most interior cities, Asheville revolves\naround its center. There are lots of people walking around and lots of people\n(including me) live right in the middle of the city.\n\n\\- The bad:\n\nIt's a small town. It can feel small after a while.\n\nThe tech scene is so-so. There are a few decent startups and a few major\nemployers, but keep in mind this is a small city. If you're looking for a hot\ntech scene you'll be disappointed. Personally I kinda wanted a break from\nthat, so I didn't care. I found a good job and picked up some very interesting\nfreelance work. If I turn down the Silicon Valley offer I may go more in a\nfreelance direction, and try to bootstrap my own startup project too.\n\nAsheville is an island amid the pentecostal / fundamentalist Christian back\ncountry of Appalachia. Drive for 30 minutes in any direction and you are in\nthe _hiiieeeeells_.\n\nThe job market frankly sucks for most people. If you're in tech -- and\n_especially_ if you can freelance/telecommute -- you can escape it to some\nextent. But the joke is that Asheville has the \"best educated wait staff in\nthe country.\" It's not really a joke. Underemployment is a huge problem.\n\nAnd real estate here including rent is not cheap when you compare it to the\nmedian income. It looks cheap compared to Silicon Valley, but SV also has a\nlot of high salaries that you'd find it hard to earn here (unless you can\ntelework / freelance / startup). The RE market is distorted because Asheville\nis a major vacation and retirement destination.\n\nYou have to advance your own dreams or career goals. Unlike big, driven\ncities, the city's culture will not push you. It is easy to get comfortable\nand give up. (This is a problem outside any of the major cities, honestly.)\n\n------\ndeveloper74\nI'm glad to see your question, because I'm asking similar questions! The\nhousing market seems prohibitive for a family to move to the area, especially\nfor someone who wants to keep their family as their main priority.\n\nHave you looked south, to Morgan Hill or Gilroy? That's a longer commute, but\nit seems like you can get more for your money. And many companies offer\nshuttles so you can at least avoid some of the traffic pain.\n\nI've also read that the housing market is very competitive, and there are many\noffers on houses. So if you look for real estate and find things you might\nlike, that doesn't mean you'll get it. You may end up settling for what's left\nover after the cash buyers with offers 10% over asking price have cleaned up\nthe good stuff.\n\nIf I were single or even young and married with no kids, I'd make the move in\na heartbeat just for the sense of adventure and to see what happened. With\nkids and a family (especially kids in middle school), it's not so easy. It's\nimportant to settle somewhere good on the first try and not risk moving around\na lot. It seems very daunting to find a place to live, with good schools, a\nsafe and nice neighborhood, with a commute that is doable, and a house that\nisn't a million dollars.\n\nI guess you can't have it all.\n\n------\nhkarthik\nI was in almost the exact situation as you about a year ago.\n\nI had an offer in hand from a well known company in Palo Alto to join one of\ntheir innovation labs. From a career standpoint, it would have been a game\nchanger.\n\nHowever, like yourself, I have a young family with small children that I like\nto spend time with. Moving from Texas to the Bay Area would have quadrupled\nour cost of living, for only a modest increase in salary compared to other,\nwork-from-home opportunities I was getting. So I chose to take one of those\nother opportunities.\n\nThe conclusion I've reached is this: if you didn't start your career in\nSilicon Valley or SF, it is exceedingly difficult to adjust your life to fit\nin there when you are more experienced and have family responsibilities.\n\nIf you still want to do it, I would suggest renting for a year in Mountain\nView, Menlo Park, or Palo Alto. If you don't mind a little bit of a drive, you\ncan look at Redwood City or San Mateo. Don't worry about the \"long view\" as\nyou will need to gauge the situation after you get there and don't be at all\nsurprised if after a year, your family wants to move out.\n\nFeel free to email me if you have more questions. Email is in my profile.\n\n------\nad_bfl\nYou looking for an apartment or a house to rent? An apartment may be a bit\neasier to find, but rents right now are pretty high. My business partner just\nwent through this exercise for her sister and it was not fun to say the least.\n\nI live mid peninsula - meaning Belmont, and know the area around me pretty\nwell after living here some 25+ years.\n\nFoster city is pretty kid friendly and a bit cheaper, but be prepared for\nfinding a place to be a challenge in general.\n\nThe commute to MV by car can be a nightmare depending on time of day, you may\nconsider taking the train to MV and biking to the office.\n\nRedwood city and Menlo park are also options, but neighborhoods in these areas\narea a lot like New York City, a block or two can be a HUGE difference in\nneighbors and whether or not you will feel comfortable.\n\n~~~\napi\nAn apartment initially, probably a lower cost (in Bay Area terms) one at\nfirst, but my thoughts are more long term. I would eventually like to\ncontemplate renting something on a long term basis or buying. The latter seems\nalmost unattainable unless I want to go all the way down to South San Jose or\nsimilar, but I'm curious about what locals think and I know there's a lot of\nSF people on this site.\n\nBTW: the thing that has me floored is that the offer would be jaw-droppingly\ngood anywhere else, but has me wondering if it's worth it in the Bay Area.\nYour real estate costs are mind-numbingly insane. In the long term something\nhas to be done about this or employers are going to start fleeing the area in\nsearch of reasonable wage environments, because employees in the valley have\nto ask for at least 50% higher wages simply to break even with other places.\n\nWhat are your thoughts on east bay: Newark and Fremont and such?\n\n~~~\njrbeal\nI was born and raised in the area (born at Stanford. Went to high schools in\nMountain View and San Jose) and can tell you that the high prices and wages\nare nothing new. I remember saying the same thing as you back in the 80's.\n(re: \"employers are going to start fleeing...\") Needless to say, it never\nhappened! And I doubt it ever will.\n\nSpeaking of South San Jose, that's where I last lived (before leaving the\narea) and commuted all the way to Palo Alto every day. It wasn't so bad back\nin the 80's (around 30 minutes) but I have no idea what it's like now. Maybe\nit's better!\n\nI have a sister who still lives there and is a top-notch real-estate agent.\nI'm sure she'd be happy to help with any questions. Let me know if you need\nher number.\n\n~~~\napi\nJust curious: why did you leave? Cost? Job elsewhere? Just for a change?\n\n~~~\njrbeal\nMy company transferred me to Texas. I'd probably still be there otherwise.\n\n------\njason_slack\nI moved to San Jose from a small NY town back in 2007. What I quickly realized\nthat is that 30-45 mins away is very wide spread and there are times when\ndriving an hour might not get you very far :-)\n\nIf the job is in Mountain View, maybe consider Sunnyvale, Cupertino. Morgan\nHill would take you 45-1hr with good traffic. Longer at times. Santa Clara.\n\nThere is Fremont/Union City but that is outside 30-45 mins usually, I would\nsay. I dont know about the schools.\n\nReally good schools in Cupertino, but higher rent and house prices for sure.\n\nE-Mail in profile you wanna chat about this.\n\n------\ntptacek\nYou're probably looking for something like San Mateo. Midway between San\nFrancisco and Mountain View, so you're not committed to South Bay companies.\nRelatively(!) affordable and family friendly.\n\n------\nRNeff\nAsk your new employer for a realtor recommendation, talk to him/her. You have\nnot internalized how expensive the area is and how bad the traffic is. The\nbridges and the freeways are maxed out during commute. Each city has good\nareas and not so good areas often next to each other. Newark and Fremont are\nat least an hour each way to MV. Live close to MV or close to a CalTrain\nStation. For schools, your choices are Palo Alto, Menlo Park, or a private\nschool.\n\n~~~\napi\nI've encountered this kind of sentiment elsewhere too. It's incredible... not\neven New York could make a solid six-figure offer almost look like a Wal-Mart\nwage.\n\nThe school situation is puzzling to me. The tax base should be fine, and the\nmajority of the schools I see get high ratings on a nationwide basis. Is this\ngenuinely a problem, or is a Valley resident's idea of a bad school one where\nthe majority of the graduates do not get into top-ten universities? Cause my\nidea of a bad school is one where you have to go through a metal detector to\nget in and the majority of their graduates go nowhere. :)\n\nGreat tip about the traffic too. I went off Google directions, and I'm\nguessing those times are for light non-rush-hour traffic.\n\n~~~\nquadlock\nwhen you inch along in traffic, you can be 15 mins to your destination for a\nlong time.\n\n------\nishbits\nJust going through the same thing with my wife and 2 kids. We thought\nCalifornia might be good for a lifestyle change, but I'm not sure of the\nvalley is the place.\n\nMy employer has offices in Sunnyvale and Costs Mesa. But I'm finding the real\nestate a little crazy.\n\n------\nrdouble\nSan Mateo\n\n~~~\napi\nLooks promising. I see that the schools are not quite as highly ranked as Palo\nAlto and similar, but aren't bad. They seem to be ranked higher than where I\npresently live.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nArchy - stallmanite\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archy\n======\nstallmanite\nDefunct Textual User Interface which attempted to implement the ideas Jef\nRaskin had intended for use in the original Macintosh.\n[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jef_Raskin](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jef_Raskin)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSuper Mario Bros. is easy with lexicographic orderings and time travel - Swizec\nhttp://swizec.com/blog/week-2-level-1-of-super-mario-bros-is-easy-with-lexicographic-orderings-and/swizec/6392\n\n======\nChoronzon\nI dont know why this isn't upvoted more.Its actually a beautiful visual\nillustration of the problems and challenges of machine learning. And i dont\neven like platform games.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nStartup School Speakers Rock the House - rms\nhttp://www.foundersatwork.com/1/post/2008/04/startup-school-speakers-rock-the-house.html\n\n======\nsanj\n\"And last but not least Kate Courteau for all her help with “afterparty\nlogistics.” \"\n\nThere was an afterparty?\n\nAnd here I was feeling like one of the cool kids.\n\n------\nsnprbob86\nI'm coming out to interview for YC on Friday, so I should be hacking on our\ndemo. That, or doing some of the massive pile of homework I have, so that I\ncan graduate at the end of this term. However, I watched just one speaker on\njustin.tv and was hooked. Sunday completely disappeared. Thanks for all the\ngreat talks!\n\n------\nrockstar9\nthanks for organizing startup school! it was awesome.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n'Twisted light' carries 2.5 terabits of data per second - ytNumbers\nhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18551284\n======\nnevster\nHow could this boost wi-fi? (The article mentions wi-fi).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nApple releases iOS 7.1 - davidbarker\nhttp://www.macrumors.com/2014/03/10/apple-releases-ios-7-1/\n\n======\nbaddox\nIt looks like the evasi0n jailbreak has been patched as suspected. Based on\nthe changelog it looks like there are far fewer new features in 7.1 that I\nwant than features from my jailbreak that I would lose.\n\n------\nnnnnni\nGoing to have to wait for the jailbreak. cleverpin, adjustable flashlight, and\nthe thing that lets you add more toggles to the top row in control center are\nmust-haves for me!\n\n------\npocketstar\njailbreakable?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBlank Touch Bar on MacBook Pro - codazoda\nhttp://www.joeldare.com/wiki/mac:blank_touch_bar_on_macbook_pro_late_2016\n======\ncodazoda\nIs it just me or are some of the rest of you having this problem?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nNokia Agrees to Buy Alcatel-Lucent for $16.6B - alphadevx\nhttp://recode.net/2015/04/14/nokia-agrees-to-buy-alcatel-lucent-for-16-6-billion/\n\n======\npavlov\nEssentially this means that Nokia won't get back into consumer hardware for a\ngood while. The mapping division (Here) will probably be sold soon.\n\nThe mobile networks business is now the primary driver at the company. They'll\nhave their hands full trying to integrate the Alcatel-Lucent networks business\nwith their existing assets. (Remember that Nokia's networks business today is\nalready the result of a merger with Siemens and a purchase of Motorola's\nnetworks division, so they have some experience with that.)\n\nNokia is now a formidable competitor to Ericsson and Huawei, but it won't be\non Samsung's or Apple's radar again.\n\nI know that Nokia does license the Nokia brand to Foxconn for Android tablets\nsold in the Chinese market... But that's not a sign of life in Nokia's\nconsumer ambitions any more than it is for other brand licensors like Kodak or\nPolaroid.\n\n~~~\nn8m\nI just hope whoever buys HERE doesn't screw it up. At the moment I do like\nthem more than the google maps. They are also cheaper when it comes to\nlicenses.\n\n~~~\npavlov\nI think Samsung will pick up Here. Seems like a bargain for them.\n\nSamsung has been slowly building up their own \"shadow stack\" for mobile. They\nhave everything from the OS up, but map data is a huge missing piece.\n\nAlso, I think Samsung's homegrown Tizen OS has some ambitions on the\nautomobile side, and that's a market where Here has been doing well.\n\n~~~\nn8m\nI've heard rumours Samsung is already using HERE heavily internally. So it\nwould make sense- but what will happen to the other that are currently using\nit to (they've mentioned Microsoft, BMW etc. in the article).\n\n------\npeteratt\nHERE engineer here (yes, I also sometimes hate the noticeable amount of\nredundancy of our corporate brand). One important point that analysts haven't\nstressed enough while evaluating potential buyers, is the role our top\ncustomers play in all this dance.\n\nBy top customers I'm referring to car manufacturers in particular. They are\nthe ones who are paying/will pay top dollar for our connected car offerings. A\nsale to a single car manufacturer would make the rest go away. A sale to\nGoogle, for example, would completely destroy our trust – these guys _hate_\nGoogle. A sale to Uber... Same thing.\n\nFacebook, maybe? They've been known for respecting independence of acquired\ncompanies to a high degree. That could be one of our best shots IMO.\n\n~~~\nchipotle_coyote\nIs it perceived as a given that Nokia's going to dump HERE? I used to be with\nthe Point & Find group, which is what became City Lens -- my impression is\nthat they were working on a quasi-secret project all last year, some kind of\noutdoor adventure thing, but I noticed last month that just about everyone I'd\nworked with changed their LinkedIn status to things no longer associated with\nNokia/HERE.\n\n~~~\nsirkneeland\nYeah, that was canned.\n\n------\nvnglst\nI don't really understand how this works. Microsoft bought Nokia for about\n$7B[1] and now Nokia pays more than twice that amount for Alcatel? Where is\nthis money coming from and why is Alcatel worth so much more?\n\n[1] [http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-closes-nokia-\nacquis...](http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-closes-nokia-\nacquisition-2014-4?IR=T)\n\n~~~\nAoyagi\nDon't forget that Microsoft('s lackey) took care of lowering their value as\nmuch as possible before buying the Devices and Services unit for some spare\nchange.\n\n~~~\ndagw\nCome on. Nokia was doing a fine job of lowering the value of their handset\nbusiness on their own.\n\n~~~\npavlov\nYeah. It wasn't Elop who created one of the most dysfunctional software\ndevelopment units ever. He was brought in when the damage of previous bad\nmanagement was just becoming fully apparent.\n\nNokia in 2007-2010 was spending many times more than Apple on R&D. For that\nmoney, they got multiple infighting operating system teams each developing\ntheir own half-baked thing (Symbian, MeeGo, Qt, S40) and device teams that\nwere building uncompetitive devices on top of 3-year-old software.\n\n~~~\njosh2600\nTwo words: burning platform.\n\n[http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2012/06/the-\nfin...](http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2012/06/the-final-\nreckoning-of-burning-platforms-memo-damaged-nokia-by-wiping-out-13b-in-\nrevenues-and-destro.html)\n\nThere was just no reason to write a memo like that. It destroyed their\nbusiness, almost singlehandedly, and no, I'm not exaggerating. The\nconsequences of that memo were insane: Nokia's handset sales died all over the\nworld all at once.\n\n~~~\npavlov\nWe don't have more than quarter-level visibility. All we know is that Q1 2011\nsales crashed and Elop wrote his memo. Which is the cause and which the\nconsequence?\n\nIn Q4 2010, Nokia stuffed the channel with outdated products. In a market that\nwas growing accustomed to iPhone and Android, Nokia tried to sell consumers\nproducts based on the first touch edition of Symbian S60 -- the same software\nthat was considered outdated when it first shipped in Nokia 5800 years\nearlier. (Because of the way Nokia's product development pipeline worked, the\nmid-range phones they released in late 2010 contained software that was\nseveral years old.)\n\nIsn't it possible that Nokia's Q1 2011 sales crashed simply because the\nchannel was full of Symbian phones that just were not selling? As CEO, Elop\nwould have visibility into that when he wrote his infamous memo.\n\nA point against the \"evil memo destroyed sales\" theory is that purchasers at\nlarge operators don't turn on a dime. When they stopped buying Nokia's phones\nin Q1 2011, the decision was already made earlier.\n\n~~~\njosh2600\nThe fallout from that memo was instantaneous and widespread. I worked in\nwireless at the time and everyone I knew at all of the carriers began to pull\nNokia inventory. This was not true in many markets.\n\nEven if the burning platform concept was correct, releasing it in a\ncompanywide email instead of strategically shifting the company and then\nannouncing the change in a measured, considered fashion would've been much\nbetter for their cash flows.\n\nPurchasers at large operators don't turn on a dime, usually, but I would argue\nthat the CEO of a handset manufacturer declaring their entire existing lineup\nof products is going to be discontinued in viscerally graphic terms is one of\nthe things that might spur such quick change.\n\n------\nfnordfnordfnord\nNokia recently auctioned off literal tons of engineering equipment. Looks like\nthey closed a huge engineering facility in Oulu, Finland. A lot of it looked\nlike obsolete stuff (like for a big product line sustaining-engineering\ngroup). I don't know enough about cellular to say whether or how much of the\nstuff was really useful for new product development; but some of the equipment\nlooked very recent. The only thing that I inferred at the time was that T&M\nresellers are going to have a better year than Rhode & Schwarz.\n\n[http://www.equipnet.com/auctions/exceptional-offering-of-\ncom...](http://www.equipnet.com/auctions/exceptional-offering-of-\ncommunication-testers%2c-analyzers%2c-oscilloscopes%2c-ge/656/)\n\n~~~\nTorKlingberg\nThat looks like equipment from Nokia's handset division ramping down.\n\n------\ned_blackburn\nI was an under graduate engineer at Nortel Networks in the late nineties and\nearly nougties writing code and building rigs to automate the testing of OC192\ntx / rx components before they were assembled and usually dropped under the\nocean.\n\nI was amazed at the capabilities of this hardware and the next generation from\nboth Nortel and its competitors,like Lucent.\n\nIt amazes me what is achievable but not viable for mass production. Or\ndesirable by customers (good enough).\n\nAn industry that matters so much. With no backbone there is no network in so\nmany places. Perhaps a few mergers will unlock the doors?\n\n------\ni_have_to_speak\nValued less than WhatsApp!\n\n~~~\nmoondowner\nDon't forget that in 2013 Microsoft bought Nokia's handset division for half\nof the price Nokia is paying now for Alcatel-Lucent.\n\n~~~\nAloha\nI'd argue that the networks business is and always has had more long term\nvalue than handsets.\n\n------\nulfw\nSo it's Nokia-Siemens-Alcatel-Lucent? A powerhouse!\n\n~~~\nmasklinn\nSiemens is still Siemens, and Nokia bought Siemens's shares in NSN (renaming\nit Nokia Networks) in 2013.\n\n~~~\nraverbashing\nYes, they're still going down the drain\n\nIt's a company that has no speed to compete in the modern world\n\nSee what divisions they closed/sold off in the past years\n\nCan't say I'm sorry\n\n------\nksec\nSo basically now Nokia, Erisson, Huawei or ZTE ( Are there any others )\nactually build and run the Network Backend of Mobile Network, while Mobile /\nCell Operators does the sales, marketing and customer services?\n\n~~~\nSwannie\nThere are.\n\nCisco and others are getting into the small cell space.\n\nNot that many people realize that Samsung are in to building base stations.\n\nCisco have always been in the back haul, core mobile routing space, along with\nJuniper, and some others smaller players.\n\n------\njd3\nSo Nokia owns Bell Labs now? What a world we live in.\n\n------\neitally\nThis is interesting, and probably good. These are two companies that make\nsense to consolidate, especially as both eye developing markets in SE Asia &\nAfrica, and _especially_ those markets that are open to Chinese development\nmonies+influence (mostly in Africa).\n\nOn the integration side of things, yes, it will probably be a little\nchallenging from a business systems & personnel point of view if they really\nwant to become a single-faced corporation, but on the manufacturing &\nengineering side I think it'll be pretty easy. I don't know if my company is\nthe largest EMS partner for either one, but I do know that both Nokia\n(otherwise referred to as NSN, Nokia-Siemens Networks) and ALU are both top-10\ncustomers of ours, and collectively responsible for a couple billion in\nrevenue. I mention this not because of anything to do with my company, but\nbecause both are already setup for effective automated integration with their\nEMS partners, so whatever they do on their side (e.g. changes to EDI\nrules/structure, ECO processes, NPI processes, etc) will be pretty easy to\ntrickle down and deal with on our side.\n\nMy hope is that Nokia become the business leader part of this acquisition, not\nAlcatel-Lucent. They are very challenging to work with sometimes.\n\n------\nalphadevx\nI'm curious to know what this means for a potential Palm revival now, given\nthis: [http://www.webosnation.com/its-confirmed-tcl-bringing-\nback-p...](http://www.webosnation.com/its-confirmed-tcl-bringing-back-palm)\n\n~~~\nMaakuth\nVery likely nothing at all. Isn't TCL just an Alcatel brand licensee? So it's\nnot connected to Alcatel-Lucent in other ways than the name.\n\nedit: question mark\n\n~~~\nalphadevx\nActually I'm sure you're right, it seems TCL is a separate company based in\nChina.\n\n------\nyaiu\nPlan 9 changes hands\n\n~~~\nbwindels\nPlan 9 was licensed under the GPLv2 last year:\n[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/14/plan_9_moves_to_gnu_...](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/14/plan_9_moves_to_gnu_space/)\n\n~~~\nstonogo\nLucent still holds the copyright, regardless of which licenses they apply.\n\n------\nfunkyy\nSounds like Nokia is looking for a way to prepare itself to enter the market\nwith new products. Good news for Europeans for sure, since Nokia was the\ncompany that usually managed to translate products to European realities.\n\n~~~\ntormeh\nI don't think this has any positive implications for a potential new Nokia\nhandset business. It is, however, possibly bad news for Ericsson and Huawei.\n\n------\nchernevik\nIt's possible that the French government's approval of the deal is a dim\nglimmer of deregulation:\n\n[http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/38b9dbf6-e2bd-11e4-bf4b-00144...](http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/38b9dbf6-e2bd-11e4-bf4b-00144feab7de.html#axzz3XNGZS6SG)\n\nAs tangents go this is an important one. Structural issues are strangling\nEuropean growth and employment. Reform in France alone would make a big\ndifference, and help pave the way for truly screwed up economies like Italy\nand Spain.\n\n------\nlegulere\nFor me this can be seen as a symptom of the problem with technology companies\ntoday: If you're too small you won't be able to survive. So everyone gets\nbought so that they don't die.\n\nIn the end you have a few big companies splitting up the market under\nthemselves and the hurdles for a market entry are too high.\n\nAn even better example for this are semiconductor foundries.\n\n------\nunfocused\nI wonder what this means for Alcatel-Lucent here in Ottawa. I briefly worked\nthere in 2001 right after Alcatel bought out Newbridge. There is a strong\nnetworking division there designing some of those large backbone \"routers\".\n\n------\nf00fc0d3\nBeginning of the end of Nokia Networks. Looks like they dont have any clue\nwhat to do. ALU enodeb is crap, Nokia ancient Flexi is crap and their new\nstuff will be crap if they will manage to sell this to somebody :-)\n\n------\njackbravo\nAlcatel is one of the main companies that sells FirefoxOS phones here in\nMéxico. I wonder if it is the same in other countries. And I wonder if this\nwill affect FirefoxOS in the long run? Will they switch to Windows?\n\n~~~\ngrok2\nAlcatel is not in the phone handset business anymore -- it is just the name\nthat is being used by other manufacturers (perhaps TCL).\n\n------\nuberneo\nAlcatel bought Lucent .. Microsoft bought Nokia .. now Nokia bought Alcatel-\nLucent .. All mixed up\n\n------\nliotier\nOnly two major mobile telecom equipment manufacturers left. Great news for\nHuawei !\n\n------\ntiernano\nThat was quick... there there rumors just last week...\n\n~~~\nghshephard\nRumors typically only become public as the deal is closing, and more people\nare brought in to do the work on it. The fact that there were rumors was a\nstrong indication that the deal was about to take place.\n\n~~~\nrnl\nNot quite, Apple was rumored to be buying Tesla, which would have made sense\nconsidering thier cash reserves, however the deal never happened.\n\n~~~\ngilgoomesh\nApple rumors are not a typical example. There's a whole industry of idiots\n\"analysts\" who do nothing but release click-bait speculation about Apple.\n\n------\nshmerl\nMore patent trolling coming?\n\n------\nsteamy\nIt looks like a merger deal to me with Nokia having the upper hand than an\nacquisition.\n\n------\nck2\nPatents. That's what this has to be about.\n\nProduce little to nothing and just sue for royalties on other manufacturers.\n\n~~~\nchipotle_coyote\nI think you -- and others who haven't checked, which is understandable --\nimagine that after Nokia sold their handset business to Microsoft, nothing was\nleft but a tiny little husk. If that were true, your assumption would probably\nbe correct, but it isn't. Nokia ended 2014 with over 60,000 employees\nworldwide and nearly €13B in revenue. They're still a _really big_ company.\nSure, they make some money from patent licensing -- as do all companies of\nthat size -- but the vast majority of their revenue comes from network\nequipment and services.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nEU parliaments website in violation of GDPR - mgliwka\nhttps://medium.com/matthias-gliwka/eu-parliament-websites-violates-gdpr-200eb2c00e8f\n======\ndeanclatworthy\nHow is this news? Everyone is scrambling to be GDPR-compliant before the due\ndate. Probably the people behind this site also.\n\n~~~\ncandiodari\nWell, if the intent behind the legislation was to protect personal data,\npresumably they would have modified their own behavior before regulating.\n\nBut they haven't. Makes things clear.\n\nThey also control the enforcement mechanism. Let's see if they will modify it\nto save face or if they'll just ignore it. Or do you think they'll fine the\nparliament (not that they haven't exempted themselves, of course) ?\n\n~~~\nTharkun\nYou're making the incorrect assumption - deliberately, I presume - that the\npeople writing the legislation have anything to do with how the website\noperates. You're wrong, of course. The EU(P) is a very large and very complex\norganization, just like many multinationals.\n\nShould they eat their own dog food? Probably. But pretending there's some kind\nof hypocrisy going on is stretching it.\n\n~~~\ncandiodari\nWell my opinion is that the EU shouldn't exist. A non-democratic state\ncontrolling democratic states seems to me to be a spectacularly bad idea. But\nI'm a consultant and I've worked and work for these people, mostly indirectly.\n\nLet me assure you: there is absolutely no shortage of hypocrisy. You don't\nneed anything more than to walk around their offices and ask what all those\nweird marking on public and private spaces mean. You'll be disgusted, and\ncured of any notion that the EU intends to do anything for anyone but\nthemselves.\n\nBut outside of that, there are clear personal status cult being upheld\neverywhere around the European organisations, with the biggest distinction\nbetween the \"fonctionnaires\" and everybody else (although as an employee of\nthe commission you're still several rungs above \"les gens de la rue\" (which\ndoes not mean homeless, like in France, it just means normal people of\nBrussels). And may God help you if you're working for ISS or any of the\ncleaning companies. At that point your status is so low that people routinely\nthrow things at you just to cool their frustration. This is accepted and\nnormal behavior, despite how incredibly immoral it is.\n\n(The \"European quarter\" of Brussels has a ton of public and private spaces,\nfrom \"public\" parks to a small shopping center (with mostly cafes), and the\nhighly coveted parkings and parking spaces that are reserved, by law, for\nEuropean officials' use only. So does Woluwe, even if they're a lot better\nhidden there. To say that these people have no intention to use their power to\nimprove people's lives is absurd when you walk around their offices)\n\n~~~\ntscs37\n> A non-democratic state controlling democratic states seems to me to be a\n> spectacularly bad idea. But I'm a consultant and I've worked and work for\n> these people, mostly indirectly.\n\nThe EU isn't a state it's a union of states and there is EU elections\nhappening.\n\n~~~\ncandiodari\nEU elections aren't selecing the people who make laws. That's the commission\nand the EU council.\n\nBy that standard the Soviet Union, China and Saudi Arabia are/were democratic\ntoo. They all have/had elections. Elections that do not determine who has\nlegislative and executive power are not elections.\n\nThe reason why is of course simple. People in member states do not care about\nthe EU. They care about local politics 99% of the time. On top of that member\nstates electorates do not agree on the issues. Not on what the issues are in\nthe first place and certainly not on what is to be done about them. There is\nno way for politicians to campaign across the EU, it's all done locally.\nTherefore the assessment of most fonctionnaires in Brussels is probably\ncorrect: there is no way to have an effective democratic EU. They also asses\nthat they don't want to do that, as it would not be a unifying force.\n\n[1]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_the_Soviet_Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_the_Soviet_Union)\n\n[2]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_China](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_China)\n\n[3]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Saudi_Arabia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Saudi_Arabia)\n\n------\nbelorn\nReading the GDPR text shows there is a bunch of exceptions for which storing\nof example IP-addresses can be done without anonymizing or consent, with one\nof the more clear cut being security. If the processing is done exclusively\nfor security purpose then the site can argue in court that they are in\ncompliance.\n\nCompliance with the law is always about context. What is gathered, why and how\nis it used, and last is there additional factors to consider. Google Analytics\nin itself is interesting because it is not clear if Google themselves then\nprocess the data and for what use, especially for the enterprise version.\n\n~~~\nhartator\nGoogle Analytics is not a security tool. You can’t even see what an specific\nIP has been doing.\n\n~~~\nmichaelbuckbee\nThe issue isn't that _you_ can't see what a specific IP is doing, but Google\ncertainly can, and it's more than that.\n\nThe GDPR really spells out that you can't ask for consent / basis to do one\nthing and then flip around and do more with it.\n\nAka, if you consent to signing up for a newsletter they can't turn around and\nsell your email to another list, take that list to their next startup that's\nunrelated, etc.\n\nFor Google this gets tricky, you're consent to using them for analytics (most\neveryone on the free, non enterprise, version). Are they also using that to\nfeed their search engine? Tweak display ads? Check for fraud? Build profiles\nof people across sites/browser sessions, and devices?\n\nAnd while this is about analytics, the same can be said for Maps, Docs,\nDomains, Fonts, etc. all of which have a primary use and (for Google) a stack\nof juicy secondary uses they can make money off of. Most of it doesn't even\nstrike me as nefarious (it seems reasonable that they'd index pages that come\nup in Google analytics), but it's not disclosed so nobody is exactly sure\nwhat's being done.\n\nEven this anonymize IP business is tricky b/c:\n\n1\\. They still get the IP as surely as you browsing to www.google.com 2\\. They\nmay be tracking in other ways (fingerprinting, cookies, etc.) that unique\nidentify you, so does it matter?\n\n~~~\ncandiodari\n> The GDPR really spells out that you can't ask for consent / basis to do one\n> thing and then flip around and do more with it.\n\nThat's not how reality works. Laws, despite god knows how many attempts, don't\nchange that. If you have the information, you can use it.\n\n> Aka, if you consent to signing up for a newsletter they can't turn around\n> and sell your email to another list, take that list to their next startup\n> that's unrelated, etc.\n\nOk. When the spam problem stops, I'll believe this. Until then, I reserve\njudgement.\n\n> For Google this gets tricky, you're consent to\n\nSure, but with a chunk of their operating expenses ($9 billion a year) spent\non lawyers ... tricky is not a problem. For everyone else, it is.\n\nIt gives them a legal way to destroy any company they don't like, it's a land-\ngrab for both their own jurisdiction (as opposed to member nations'\njurisdictions), it's land-grab for global jurisdiction, it's a (partial)\ndenial of private contracting rights and it's explicitly designed for\nselective enforcement.\n\nWhat more could one want in a big new law ?\n\n~~~\nfrockington\nYour points made me think that this law is likely just going to solidify\nmarket monopolies and ensure competition can't exist legally, similar to large\nbanks in the US\n\n~~~\ncandiodari\nWell, yes. However, we should look at illegally: it's going to make it much\neasier for sites to exist in areas where there won't be any enforcement. So\nit's going to kill European sites, not anything else.\n\nEffectively European companies below a certain size can't allow for forums\nanymore.\n\nObviously this will impact things like newspaper forums, tech support, webfora\non specific topics, ...\n\n------\ntephra\nI don't have the text in front of me but I'm pretty sure there is an exception\nfor member states government agencies (if they choose to have the exception).\nI wouldn't be surprised if this covers EU agencies and institutions as well.\n\n~~~\nmgliwka\nThey're excluded from the fines, but not from the regulation itself.\n\n------\nPunchTornado\nI thought IPs are not considered personal identifiable information.\n\n~~~\nmuro\nYes it is - it's in the FAQ:\n\n[https://www.eugdpr.org/gdpr-faqs.html](https://www.eugdpr.org/gdpr-faqs.html)\n\nWhat constitutes personal data?\n\nAny information related to a natural person or ‘Data Subject’, that can be\nused to directly or indirectly identify the person. It can be anything from a\nname, a photo, an email address, bank details, posts on social networking\nwebsites, medical information, or a computer IP address.\n\n~~~\nwtfstatists\nI like this definiton better. IANAL Warning.\n\nPersonal Data:\n\n    \n    \n      - PII is Personal Data.\n    \n      - If a user has PII, then all of the userdata is Personal Data.\n    \n\nSo HN posts would not be Personal Data for the users that have email field\nempty. And even email (and any other user-entered data) can be made non-PII if\nToU explicitly required to be so.\n\nMy advice would be to legally and technically isolate PII and other_userdata.\nGDPR/etc compliance become quite easier this way.\n\n~~~\ndogma1138\nToU don’t change what PII is or isn’t under the GDPR.\n\nThe GDPR also states that consent alone isn’t a legal reason to collect or\nprocess PII and “advises” against relying and structuring terms of service to\ncollect PII.\n\nBasically you can’t build a service ask people for their data and then relying\non their consent for the legal reasoning of having that data. You need an\nactual legal basis e.g. a regulatory requirement or a business requirement to\ncollect that data, and in all cases the requirements unless stated in law must\nbe evaluated against the best interests of those you collect data from.\n\n~~~\nwtfstatists\n> ToU don’t change what PII is or isn’t under the GDPR.\n\nToU can by prohibiting user from entering any PII. In case of email, ToU would\nsay that only non-identifying email can be used.\n\nFor the rest of your comment, I dont see any relevance here. There is no need\nfor consent for non-PII userdata. All PII userdata is behind legal and\ntechnical wall and cannot be accessed by the processor/controller of non-PII\nuserdata.\n\n~~~\ndogma1138\nThere is no such thing as a “non-identifiable” email. You cannot use ToU to\nbypass GDPR.\n\n~~~\nwtfstatists\nOk here is my email: 1373f84998986cf8@tutanota.com. Identify me! Know that I\nwont used the email elsewhere.\n\n> You cannot use ToU to bypass GDPR.\n\nJust to clarify this is not buried in ToU but laid out clearly.\n\nSo the website says dont give PII. User still does. And GDPR would penalize\nthe website ? Citation please.\n\n~~~\ndogma1138\nAre you serious? the fact that your email isn't yourname@mailprovider.com\ndoesn't make it any less identifiable. My IP address is 192.168.1.1 identify\nme... It also doesn't matter if you think the information is identifiable or\nnot what matters is how the GDPR defines it.\n\nThe GDPR defines PII and there isn't anything you can do about it you can't\nask users to make a throwaway email account and hope that you can pass GDPR by\nclaiming that it's not PII this isn't how regulation works.\n\nWhat matters isn't that the email address reveals your name is that someone\ncan use it to identify additional information about you such as if you are\nsubscribed to a specific service or not.\n\n>So the website says dont give PII. User still does. And GDPR would penalize\nthe website ? Citation please.\n\nIf the website asks for an email address that is PII under the GDPR.\n\n~~~\nwtfstatists\nIP is not a user-entered data and cannot be freely selected, unlike email\naddresses.\n\n> the fact that your email isn't yourname@mailprovider.com doesn't make it any\n> less identifiable.\n\nThe only official guidelines about email I could find are in here [1]. It does\nnot say all email addresses are PII. It just says \"name.surname@company.com\"\ntype addresses are PII and \"info@company.com\" type addresses are NOT PII. So\neven \"yourname@mailprovider.com\" may be non-PII.\n\n> someone can use it to identify additional information about you such as if\n> you are subscribed to a specific service or not.\n\nThats not enough. The service need to have PII. That is, if none of the\nservices has PII, the email address is not PII.\n\n> you can't ask users to make a throwaway email account\n\nThrowaway is not needed. At best an individual need 2 email accounts. One\naddress for the services where he is identified (eg bank website) and one\naddress for where he is not (eg random forum).\n\nSo this is not an onerous condition at all. If thats the case you are making.\n\n> If the website asks for an email address that is PII under the GDPR.\n\nThis is not a (official) citation.\n\n[1] [https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-\nprotection/refo...](https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-\nprotection/reform/what-personal-data_en)\n\n------\nadamsurak\nThey'll use legitimate interest as a reason.\n\n------\nrepolfx\nThis is a reasonable observation but I doubt anyone will care. Moreover it\nmisses the point of GDPR.\n\nThe goal is not to improve people's privacy. It's too vague to achieve that.\nObviously the EU doesn't care as even its own websites aren't in compliance -\nassuming this guy's definition of compliance is the same as theirs. How likely\nis it the rest of the EU's operations are? Zero likelyhood of that.\n\nBut that's OK. GDPR doesn't even have a concrete notion of what privacy or\npersonal information actually are. The goal is not to improve privacy, that's\njust a fig leaf. The goal is to grant the EU large new powers over the private\nsector and in particular over American tech firms, who will repeatedly be\nfined and treated as, effectively, a new source of tax income. GDPR is so\nvague and open ended that there's no way they can ever be compliant, meaning\nthe EU has a new source of cash for years to come. Very useful at a time when\nthey are asking for budget _increases_ despite years of austerity, and facing\na budget hole due to Brexit, _and_ member states are getting upset at their\nfinancial demands.\n\nGDPR enforcement will be very similar to EU anti-trust policy - deeply\npolitical and immediately controversial. It is best understood not as a law\nbut as a political move, sort of like how China uses laws against pornography\nto justify blocking foreign search engines, or how it uses a law against\n'spreading rumours' to censor domestic social media.\n\n~~~\nyulaow\nThis is stupid, if they wanted to give the finger to American tech firms they\ncould have wrote the GDPR as affecting only foreign firms using EU citizen\ndata without requiring the same level of control over the EU-based tech firms,\nfar easier.\n\n~~~\nfrockington\nAre there any EU based tech firms? As an American I honestly can't think of\nany besides Nokia and that's more manufacturing\n\n~~~\ndiggan\nMakes sense, as Americans tend to live in a bubble :)\n\nSome of them from the top of my head, that you might or might not recognize:\nAsos, JustEat, Skyscanner, SoundCloud, LastFM, DailyMotion, Raspberry PI\n(foundation more than company though), Shazam, Mojang, Skype, King, Spotify,\nKlarna, Trivago, Xing and BlaBlaCar. I'm pretty sure some of these are quite\npopular in even the US.\n\n(maybe some of them are not having their HQ in EU anymore, but they certainly\nhad at one point)\n\n~~~\nrepolfx\nYou probably shouldn't insult Americans and then make statements you already\nknow to be erroneous.\n\nAs you are apparently well aware, Skype is owned by Microsoft. It's an\nAmerican product now (from the perspective of who pays any fines). Mojang sold\nto Microsoft. It and Minecraft are owned by the Americans now.\n\nAsos is an online fashion and beauty retailer. Having a website doesn't make\nyou a tech firm. Ditto for JustEat.\n\nRaspberry Pi - as you note - isn't even a firm at all, let alone a tech firm.\n\nShazam is in the process of being bought by Apple, although the EU appear to\nbe trying to block it.\n\nYou tried to name tech firms that are based inside the EU and mostly ended up\nlisting firms that either aren't tech firms by any conventional definition, or\nare now owned by US companies. I think that proves the original point.\n\n~~~\ndiggan\nThe companies started out being non-american, then they ended up being bought\nup by US companies. I don't think that says \"there is no EU based tech firms\"\nbut rather \"There are EU based tech firms! But some of them get bought up by\nUS companies and some stay, but at one point they were all EU based\". So\ndoesn't at all prove the original point.\n\n~~~\nrepolfx\nIn context it is equivalent. This thread is about why the EU wouldn't write a\nlaw that only affects US based tech firms, if that was the intention. Someone\nanswered that there's no need because there are no EU based tech firms worth\nanything (no significant employment or tax revenue).\n\nThat point was correct. The responses all ended up naming either firms that\nare tiny, or which aren't any longer based in the EU (so there's no need to\nprotect them from the effects of bad laws that primarily affect tech firms).\nWhere they _started_ is irrelevant to the discussion because what matters is\n_who pays fines today_.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMore than 600k UK workers lose their jobs amid lockdown - dustinmoris\nhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53060529\n======\ngregory194\nPandemic has changed our lifestyles,Many people became poor and many startups\nhas to shut their business. The prices in the market has increased, People\ndon't have money to pay for their expenses and there is also a huge salary cut\nfor the working employees, working hours and work load has also increased as\nthey had to complete the pending work of the lock down. Across the world there\nare very few companies who got benefited buy this lock down like Amazon and\nSwiggy. Many has got laid off from many companies like Ola\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nStratifiedJS: Javascript + structured concurrency - danh\nhttp://onilabs.com/stratifiedjs\n\n======\nolegp\nIf you prefer vanilla JS and are only working with Node, you should check out\n<https://github.com/laverdet/node-fibers>. I use it in my\n<https://github.com/olegp/common-node> package to address the same issues as\nthose tackled by StratifiedJS.\n\n------\nskrebbel\nI'm probably missing something, but isn't this race condition galore? As per\nthe front page example:\n\n    \n    \n        var news;\n        waitfor {\n          news = http.get(\"http://news.bbc.co.uk\");\n        }\n        or {\n          hold(1000);\n          news = http.get(\"http://news.cnn.com\");\n        }\n        or {\n          hold(1000*60);\n          throw \"sorry, no news. timeout\";\n        }\n        show(news);\n    \n\nThis starts the first 'or' clause the moment the http.get(BBC) suspends, which\nit does quickly because http.get is async. Now, if the BBC get returns _just_\nafter my hold(1000) has completed but before http.get(CNN) had the time to\nreally launch the http request and suspend, i'll have done the CNN get for\nnothing.\n\nOf course in this case this only means a wasted request. But what in case of\nside effects?\n\n~~~\njerf\nIgnoring WebWorkers, the underlying Javascript engine is single-threaded, so\nthe problem you describe can't exist. Once you start down a code path, it will\ncontinue until it finishes and yields execution.\n\nFurther, \"hold\" is almost certainly a magical statement that actually compiles\ninto a pattern of calls to .setTimeout and various handlers, and has no\nliteral existence, so there probably isn't any point at which the hold is\n\"executed\".\n\nYou can't actually turn a single-thread runtime into a threaded runtime at the\nuser level. You can apply a series of increasingly sophisticated hacks that\nmay make program like it's multithreaded, but you can't escape the fact you\nhave only one program counter. (This isn't a criticism of the library. It\nlooks quite useful. It just doesn't magically make browser Javascript truly\nmultithreaded.)\n\nThis approach is actually quite useful, and is part of what makes the event-\nbased programming style practical. For all the stuff that's going on, you do\nalways have the guarantee that any given event handler will fully execute, and\nno other hunk of code will be able to observe the half-executed state of any\ngiven handler. Without that property you'd basically just be doing\nconventional multithreading with a really inconvenient code structure.\n\n------\njashkenas\nAfter the IcedCoffeeScript post the other day, I found Oni Labs' version --\nwhich I don't remember seeing before -- Stratified CoffeeScript:\n\n<https://github.com/onilabs/coffee-script>\n\n------\nbeggi\nEliminating nested callbacks would be one hell of a feat.\n\n~~~\nlalc\nIt's not too _too_ hard to do the appropriate transformations--the literature\nis vast and there are practical implementations today. The hard part is\nproducing readable, debuggable output.\n\nI've whipped up a tiny project with the priorities inverted: readable output\nat the expense of completeness: <https://github.com/lalcmellkmal/nestless>\n\nIt only does the minimum desugaring to prevent nesting in the common case, no\nmore.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow Lisp Became God's Own Programming Language (2018) - Qaphqa\nhttps://twobithistory.org/2018/10/14/lisp.html\n======\nokine\nGerald Sussman, co-inventor of Scheme and author of SICP, was my undergraduate\nadvisor. The last several times I visited his office, he was usually with Jack\nWisdom either programming or deep in thought or discussion about differential\ngeometry and the differential geometry Scheme library they were writing. One\ntime when he wasn't so occupied, I brought up SICP, and asked if he was aware\nthat a lot of people think of reading the book as a sort of magical,\nenlightening experience. He said, \"Yes, I'm aware.\" I asked if he had any idea\nwhy. He said, \"The main reason is that it tells a good story. It also has a\ncomplete, coherent narrative.\"\n\n~~~\nRerarom\nAm I the only person that read the whole of sicp and didn't feel enlightened\nin the least? I felt way more enlightened when I read the whole of John Baez's\nthis week's finds. Maybe it's a book which you need to read when you're\nyounger.\n\n~~~\ngdubs\nCurious: did you complete all the exercises in the book? Not doubting you in\nany way, just wondering if that’s a possibility. I know I’ve gone through\nbooks without doing the work, while on others I have done the work — and it’s\nusually a pretty different experience.\n\nBut, not everyone is gonna connect with everything, regardless.\n\n------\nmark_l_watson\nI have never minded using a so-called niche language. Since 1982 I have been\nvery fortunate enough to be paid a good fraction of my time for using Common\nLisp - I consider this to be largely good luck and I am grateful for how\nthings turned out. I also like Scheme but literally no one has ever paid me\nfor Scheme development. In the USA, we have a saying that “you dance with the\nperson you go to the party with.” My dance partner has been Common Lisp.\n\nI still feel like I am still a student. I started to read Let Over Lambda (a\nreference to closures) a few months ago which has reinforced my realization\nthat there is so much about a programming language that I have used for 38\nyears that I still want to explore.\n\nAll that said, I have often totally enjoyed building systems with C/C++, Java,\nPython, Prolog, etc. Designing and writing code can be fun in any language.\n\n~~~\njjtheblunt\nDidn't you work at CCSO back when Prof Kaplan was just down the hall, unless\nyou were in another building...have you read the Guy Steele original papers on\nScheme? They're actually awesome.\n\n~~~\nmark_l_watson\nNo, that was not me. I do like Scheme (and a long time ago I wrote a Scheme\nbook for Springer-Verlag), but I was just saying that I haven't used the\nlanguage professionally.\n\n------\nherodotus\nReading \"Lisp 1.5 Programmer's Manual\" when I was a post-graduate student at\nWaterloo (around 1977) was a revelation to me. In particular, \"Appendix B: The\nLisp Interpreter\" gives a version of the Lisp interpreter in just 39 lines of\ncode! (The appendix includes notes, and is 3 pages long.) I remember using\nthis code to figure out how Lisp evaluated recursive functions. Until this\npoint in time I had programmed in Fortran, IBM 360 Assembler, Cobol and\nPascal. They all required much more documentation, and, in many cases,\nexperiments to figure out what would actually happen in certain cases.\n\nI wish the idea of a definitive high-level semantic guide had become a thing.\nSwiftUI, for example, seems to be wonderful, but learning it, as far as I can\ntell, requires watching hours of talks, or working through many tutorials.\nWhat a contrast with McCarthey at. al's 1985 book.\n\n------\njhbadger\nI'm surprised that this didn't bring up Paul Graham's \"Blub\" concept, in which\nnon-Lisp languages are thought to be objectively less powerful than the\nuniversal language of Lisp. That's been a lot to blame for the mystical\nreverence of Lisp in the 21st century. While I'm a Lisp fan myself, and agree\nthat it is more powerful than a lot of mainstream languages, the idea that it\nis the \"most powerful\" blinds a lot of hard-core Lisp devotees to things like\nHaskell that are worth exploring as well.\n\n~~~\ngoto11\nThe \"Blub\" parable is really clever because it says that when other people\ndoesn't use Lisp, it is simply because they are _incapable_ of understanding\nits power - not because of any practical or technical reason to chose another\nlanguage. So any argument the \"Blub\" programmers might use to justify \"Blub\"\nis automatically invalid.\n\nOf course it can be used for any non-mainstream language, and I have seen it\nused for Haskell, where Lisp is the \"Blub\" language.\n\n~~~\nexdsq\nI’ve had this recently. Was writing Python but missed the ease of concurrent\nfunctional programming. Used F# but missed type classes. Used Haskell but\nmissed dependant types. Use Idris but miss the build environment of Python.\n\n~~~\nbcrosby95\nYes, once you learn enough languages I feel like you just find yourself\nconstantly wishing you had aspects of another language, pretty much regardless\nof what language you're using. Sometimes its directly related to the language,\nsometimes its something like the ecosystem surrounding it.\n\nThis is why I'm wary of \"right tool for the job\" when it comes to languages.\nIn my experience usually there isn't a singular obvious right language. Maybe\none is 35% right, another is 38% right, and the golden ticket language is\nactually just 45% right. And sometimes you won't really know until you're\nhalfway through the project.\n\nIf you wanted a 100% singular obvious correct language, you would have to make\na custom language with traits from a dozen different ones. But in the real\nworld, the differences between languages you can actually choose from end up\nbeing not that large.\n\n~~~\nAnimalMuppet\nI think of languages as a multi-dimensional tree, with branches extending in\ndifferent directions. I think that the trick is to figure out what the yak-\nshaving aspects of the project are going to be (which you can think of as a\nvector), and picking the language that goes the furthest in the direction of\nthat vector (and thereby does the most to minimize the yak-shaving). This\nrequires that you be able to fairly accurately determine what the yak-shaving\nwill be up front (which can be problematic).\n\n------\nJetSetWilly\nI would have thought God would write binaries directly in machine code. The\nonly purpose of a language, is to allow creatures of limited intelligence to\ncreate abstractions that hide complexity and allow complex problems to be more\neasily reasoned about.\n\nPresumably God does not need to use abstractions, and can reason perfectly\nwith an infinite number of variables, so a programming language would just\nprevent an Omniscient being from being able to create as perfect a program as\nit could otherwise (as any given programming language doesn't let you create\nany binary).\n\n~~~\n0xebfc\nMachine code is an abstraction, too.\n\nIn a Judeo-Christian context, God seems to operate in very abstract terms.\n\"Let there be light\" is a highly abstract instruction.\n\nIn some other religions and mythologies, there isn't a single God giving the\ninstructions from outside, so it seems difficult to make the comparison there.\n\nAbstraction is like a lever, and by first-order logic there is no way to avoid\nusing an abstraction whenever we communicate, whether internally via vocalized\nthoughts, via hn or by some really old books. Maybe that's why humans want to\nbelieve that abstraction is so powerful. Thankfully, we're not totally wrong.\n\nBut thank you for making me imagine a world where the \"Let there be light\"\nstatement has been meticulously explained in as much detail as possible.\n\n\"Then, He realized that adding an extra electron to Hydrogen was not such a\ngood idea; the entire universe shattered, and, after a brief moment of\nembarrassment, he comforted himself with the fact that no-one will ever know\nof his folly.\n\nHe continued calculating the correct speed-constants for a particle he made\ncalled a photon, which wasn't exactly a particle, but it was small and didn't\ncarry a lot of weight, it was everywhere, and it was mostly directional -- so\nhe figured it might be useful for some sort of massively parallel input\napparatus, and his creations can use it to understand all sorts of things\nabout their environment and themselves. Eventually, humans will suspect that\nlight is a wave, too; but that wasn't quite right, either. God made is\ndifficult to figure out for copyright protection reasons, but here's a hint,\nand get your notebooks out: ...\"\n\n~~~\nnwsm\n> \"Let there be light\" is a highly abstract instruction.\n\nThe more I think about this, the more I realise it might be _the most_\nabstract instruction. It's actually kind of beautiful.\n\n~~~\nint_19h\nI once worked in a company that used a similar approach. So, for example, the\n\"chief architect\" would file a _bug_ in the tracker titled, \"Product X does\nnot exist\". It would then be up to the engineers to \"fix\" it by creating the\nproduct.\n\nNo wonder Satan rebelled. ~\n\n------\nat_a_remove\nI have heard for decades how Lisp is transformative, how just having learned\nit, even if you leave, you will never look at things the same way again. Like\nhaving served in the Armed Forces.\n\nEvery so often I get interested in Lisp, but I always run up against the same\nconflicts. I look for something that I can run in Windows that has a\nreasonable set of libraries and then immediately stumble upon the Crusades.\nYou know, the religious wars you saw with emacs vs vi, wars that used to be\nfought over various Linux distros and window managers, that you will now see\nabout different flavors of agile or whatever. I am quite sure that there are\nreligious wars being fought in the territories of Javascript frameworks that\nI've never heard of. These wars so often seem to leave the territories barren,\nthe original objectives cloudy, and the participants scarred. What _was_ this\ngood for, again?\n\nAnyway, every time I encounter these things I end up asking myself if I have\nthe knowledge to pick a side in whatever war and if joining up is going to\nactually provide a solution to the problems I wanted to solve using\nprogramming, decide I am neither fit nor armed, and back slowly out of the\nroom.\n\n~~~\nkerkeslager\nI'm saddened by your story. Our programming communities can be more welcoming.\n\nThat said, I think these debates are necessary. Fixing problems starts with\ndeciding what the problems actually are. The problem isn't that the debates\nare happening, it's that people like you are getting dragged into them.\n\nYou aren't obligated to participate in debates. Nor do you have to use the\nabsolute best version of Lisp to get most of the benefits.\n\nMy advice is to pick up a copy of MIT Scheme (works on Windows) and then work\nthrough Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP), and don't\nread anything else about Lisp until you're done, because you don't need to.\n\nMIT Scheme isn't the best Lisp. It's just the Lisp that's used in SICP. You\nwon't win any debates arguing that MIT Scheme is the best Lisp. You might even\nhear people say MIT Scheme isn't even a Lisp. I agree with some of that, but\nthose debates are irrelevant to your learning.\n\nFeel free to hit me up with any questions. I certainly have opinions on all\nthe holy wars, but I won't bring them up, I'll just help you with the task\nyou're working on. :) I'm not a Lisp expert by any means, but I've worked\nthrough most of SICP.\n\n~~~\nat_a_remove\nI have looked over the site once a long time ago, when I had a copy of SICP in\nhand. I just looked now.\n\nWhat I do not see is a robust set of libraries that can help me accomplish the\nsolving of real-world problems. As mercenary as it sounds, I program to solve\nproblems my employer has in exchange for money. I solve problems that people\nhave, rather than problems that books abstractly propose. While Lisp or\nwhatever dialect might be lovely, it may as well be Logo for practical tasks.\nI do not want to re-implement JSON. I do not want to try to write my own ODBC.\nI need something beyond a language that lets me solve the problems written in\na book that is divorced from real-world stuff, and that has, for the past\ncouple of decades, meant libraries.\n\n\"The Lisp Curse\" is a pretty good explanation of why I won't see those\nlibraries and the situation hasn't changed, that I can see, since I first read\nit.\n\nAt the end of the day, if I want to learn a language, I want to have done it\nfor more than the sake of having said that I have climbed that particular\nmountain. I need something up top that is valuable. Climbing it has to have\nreal-world applicability to me.\n\nCan I use Lisp to interact with these GIS formats and solve real-world\nproblems? Not without building my own libraries, and so on. This is why I have\nliked the war metaphor: all of these folks skirmishing when they could be\nbuilding factories.\n\nI am not asking for Lisp to be Python or Perl or whatever. But it should have\na great standard library. Where is this?\n\n~~~\njerf\n\"What I do not see is a robust set of libraries that can help me accomplish\nthe solving of real-world problems.\"\n\nI think the suggestion wasn't to give you the One True Answer to which Lisp to\nuse. The purpose of suggesting working through the SICP book is to give you in\nconcentrated, curated form the insights that Lisp is supposed to bring,\nwhereupon you should turn around and bring those insights back to whatever\nnormal programming world you inhabit. To the extent it is divorced from real\nworld stuff, yeah, that's on purpose, and the entire point of the\nrecommendation of SICP.\n\nFortunately, the world has changed since the SICP was written. At the time,\nthere was a much larger barrier between Lisp and the \"real computing world\".\nWhile by no mean do all languages look like Lisp now, there has been a _lot_\nof seepage, and now there's plenty of languages where you can bring the stuff\nin SICP into the language you use day-to-day.\n\nThe idea is this: You could learn a new language, a couple of frameworks,\nhalf-a-dozen libraries, fight through bugs in all of the above in some\nimmature cutting edge library, and also fight through a lot of accidental\ncomplexity because you accidentally selected some task that the weird new\nlanguage is not very good at, only to arrive after all of this with some new\ninsights about how computation works and what languages can do after a year or\ntwo. Or, this suggestion is, learn a very small new language and read a guide\nbook, get the concentrated insights in a few months at most, and then continue\nusing the frameworks, libraries, and experience you already have.\n\n(Personally, I recommend SICP as the perfect companion to any self-taught\nprogrammer. It is almost laser focused on the sorts of things that the self-\ntaught programmer will find hardest to pick up on their own. Finish it and you\nreally will be able to code circles around most college grads, beating them\nboth practically _and_ theoretically.)\n\n~~~\nat_a_remove\nI did this once with Prolog and did not come away with the benefits espoused.\nI was told that it would really change how I thought about things and so\nforth. That didn't happen. I didn't get anything out of it that I could bring\nelsewhere. I fear the same result after a similar investment in a similar\nsituation.\n\n~~~\nkerkeslager\n_shrug_ That's the risk you take whenever you learn _anything_ new--maybe it\nwon't be useful.\n\nThe alternative is, of course, never trying anything new or learning anything\never again. Your call!\n\n------\nlgas\nI thought HolyC was God's own programming language.\n\n------\nsomewhereoutth\nI would have thought that the Lambda Calculus has a better claim to be 'God's\nOwn Programming Language'.\n\nApparently McCarthy was aware of, but had not studied, the LC. One quote from\nthe article stuck out:\n\n\"McCarthy invented an alternative, the “true” conditional expression, which\nreturns sub-expression A if the supplied test succeeds and sub-expression B if\nthe supplied test fails and which also only evaluates the sub-expression that\nactually gets returned.\"\n\nthis is how 'true' and 'false' are encoded in the LC, (\\x \\y x) and (\\x \\y y)\nrespectively, and the final sentence indicates lazy evaluation.\n\nThe early (wrong) choice of dynamic vs static (lexicographical) binding, since\ncorrected, suggest the language was far from 'handed down on stone'.\n\nHomoiconicity is very nice, though I suspect that the macros it has enabled\nare often perhaps too powerful a tool.\n\n------\nblackrock\nIt was Einstein that said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible,\nbut not simpler.”\n\nI think the problem with Lisp, is that it violated this principle.\n\nIt has a lot of strange little constructs. It came from a time when\nprogrammers tried to type as little as possible. In doing so, the language\nadopted all these little quirks. I’m not saying it’s bad, but it’s just\ndifferent.\n\nWhereas the human mind is a simple graphical machine, and we like to see\nassociations. Like, the usage of an equal sign, to see that we’ve made a\nvariable assignment. Maybe this reaches back to our childhood algebra days,\nwhere we associate equivalence with an equal sign. Who knows.\n\nBut Lisp did away with all that. It created its own style. It gave us\nparentheses to enclose our statements, which is to be honest, actually a nice\nfeature. But it forced us into knowing the specific ordering, sequence, and\nsymbols in order to make a legal statement.\n\nAnyways, I like Lisp, and have always been wanting to use it for something.\nBut not quite sure what.\n\nIt’s great for writing short macros in Emacs though. You can write a multi\nline function, then compress it back into a single liner, because of the\nparentheses. This helps keep your config file short.\n\nIt doesn’t really work for video game programming, as it doesn’t seem to have\nthe libraries for it. It’s not as fast as C for speed critical applications.\n\nIt kinda lives in that medium realm, where internal business applications can\nuse it for internal business processing, that can run uninterrupted for\ndecades. But, this space is where Python excels at.\n\nAnyways, one day, I’ll finally create that programming language idea of mine,\nand it’ll be some fusion of Lisp and Smalltalk, but can run almost as fast as\nC.\n\n~~~\ngumby\nSome implementations (e.g. Common Lisp) have legacy oddities in them for back\ncompatibility but newer implementations like scheme tend not to. Instead of\nCAR and CDR they have first and last, for example.\n\nEmacs lisp is quite slow but adequate for purpose. You can write very high\nspeed numeric programs in Lisp — another book by Sussman was on HN the other\nday and it’s all about physics, all written in scheme. The fact that code is\ndata allows lots of complex optimizations that are harder or impossible to\nrepresent in c\n\n~~~\nOreb\nI think you got this backwards. Common Lisp does have `first` and `rest` as\nsynonyms for `car` and `cdr`. As far as I know, Scheme does not. I believe you\nhave to use `car` and `cdr` there (unless, of course, you define your own\nsynonyms).\n\nI could be wrong about Scheme: My Scheme knowledge is badly outdated, and was\nalways incomplete.\n\n~~~\nsigzero\nRacket has `first` and `rest`. I just tried it. But I tried an online scheme\ninterpreter and it did not have it.\n\n~~~\ncatalogia\nfirst and rest are in racket, but racket has many things not in scheme (and\ndoesn't have some things that are.) If you use the r5rs #lang (e.g. `racket -I\nr5rs`) you'll see that it doesn't have first and rest.\n\nAlso, first and rest in racket aren't synonyms for car and cdr. car and cdr\ntake pairs, while first and last only take lists. Try this: (car '(1 . 2)) and\n(first '(1 . 2))\n\n------\nQaphqa\nThe fractal flowers and recursive roots: The most lovely hack I’ve seen.\n\n~~~\nsteve_gh\n\"To iterate is human, to recurse is divine\"\n\n[not sure who I am quoting]\n\n~~~\ngumby\nI’m pretty sure that was guy Steele and he would have written “recur” (like\n“to occur”)\n\n------\nkelvin0\nLisp has many parallels with Ayahuasca: Both are tough to 'swallow' and not\neveryone comes out on the other side 'enlightened'.\n\nNo doubt about the potency of both though ...\n\n------\nsgt101\nI like the Prolog story \"PROably the Language Of God\"\n\n~~~\namelius\nLOGO is the Language Of God, and we are His turtles.\n\n    \n    \n        L: Language\n        O: Of\n        G: God\n        O: Only God knows what the last \"O\" stands for.\n\n~~~\nDonHopkins\nA tail recursive acronym!\n\n------\ntardygrade\nThe responses I see to lisp seem to vary on a huge range from idolatry to\ndismissiveness. It's interesting that Gerald Sussman's own point of view on\nlisp seems to be very much more moderate - that different programming styles\nand philosophies suit different domains, and ultimately, you should choose the\nright tool for the right job. Lisp is flexible in that it does not bind you to\nany philosophy, and is good as a general tool insofar there isn't a\nspecialized tool that would fit the problem better.\n\n------\ndang\nDiscussed at the time:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18225870](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18225870)\n\n------\neternalban\nIt is borderline blasphemous to think God can't handle a little syntax and\nwould use barebones parse trees cum s-expressions. Do you see DNA chains\ncranking around without a higher layer phenotype? You do not. QED.\n\n------\nforgotmypw17\nI thought that was Perl...\n\n~~~\nnathell\nObligatory XKCD: [https://xkcd.com/312/](https://xkcd.com/312/)\n\n~~~\ncolomon\nWait, isn't this the obligatory one in this context?\n[https://xkcd.com/224/](https://xkcd.com/224/)\n\n~~~\nnathell\nYes, in the context of the OP. But in the context of someone mentioning Perl,\nthe one that I quoted makes sense.\n\nHere's the Frost poem alluded to:\n[https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44263/fire-and-\nice](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44263/fire-and-ice)\n\n------\njankotek\nObligatory xkcd reference: [https://xkcd.com/224/](https://xkcd.com/224/)\n\n~~~\nmellavora\ni was wondering what took so long for this to be posted\n\n------\nKoshkin\nThis, then, is a proof of the multiplicity of gods (there must be at least as\nmany gods as there are Lisps).\n\n------\nertucetin\nTry Clojure, learn properly then we talk...\n\n------\nphoe-krk\nA lot of people, including some prominent faces in the programming world in\ngeneral, have been writing about Lisp as secret sauce, silver bullet, God's\nlanguage, source of programming enlightenment, yadda yadda; basically a set of\nmystic-sounding buzzwords that, other than causing some people to indeed try\nLisp, have left a lot of people confused and amused by the wording - or just\nplain angry and disappointed at the false marketing that I consider the above\nhyperboles to be.\n\nI can see the benefits of the comments that follow the \"any publicity is good\npublicity\" rule. In addition, the more-functional-in-approach Lisp dialects\ncertainly follow the \"breaking the long-built mental model\" scheme that you\nmention, and so does Common Lisp, since it mixes programming paradigms\n(including functional one) rather freely. Still, after seeing the effects of\nthe aforementioned hyperbolization of Lisp in the long run, I'm not convinced\nthat its execution went well at all.\n\nLisp is a very good language, but no, sorry, it's not the Magical Silver\nBullet of Enlightenment™®© that some people like pg or esr or (to some extent)\nthe author of this post claim it to be.\n\n~~~\nreikonomusha\nI think it _is_ a silver bullet of enlightenment of a certain understanding of\nwhat programming languages are. It is _not_ a silver bullet for all of your\nprogramming tasks or problems.\n\nMost people I know who cast off Lisp are people who read the Wikipedia page,\ndidn’t feel enlightened, then began to complain online about how they were\ndisappointed by their Lisp experience. Or perhaps they went a tad further, got\nupset by Emacs being unfriendly to setup, and proceeded accordingly.\n\nIn the Modern Age (TM), programming Lisp is unlikely to convince you to change\nyour usual dev stack to it. But if learned properly, it will enlighten you on\nthe structure of a language and how syntactic malleability is a powerful\nabstraction for solving many kinds of problems.\n\nEnlightenment usually comes from realizing that it’s not a feature bolted onto\nLisp, but an exposed interplay between many otherwise ordinary aspects of\nprogramming languages: syntax, semantics, interpretation, and the runtime. At\nthis point one typically “sees” how this interplay could (and perhaps even\nopaquely does) play out with other, non-Lisp languages.\n\nThese kinds of things could in principle be learned in a compiler course, but\ncompiler courses tend to be extraordinarily opaque as to how such a course\nwould help your day-to-day coding. Lisp provides a visceral, hands-on\nexperience of many (though certainly not all) of the same principles.\n\nIf you happen to be the kind of programmer who likes absolute control over\nyour environment, because that helps you work through gnarly problems more\nefficiently than duct taping a bunch of dependencies together, then you may\nactually end up switching to Lisp.\n\n~~~\ncat199\n> syntactic malleability\n\nthis is the key point - not quasi/proto FP\n\nmost comments I see that are skeptical of the 'lisp as magic' claim seem to\nfocus on the quasi-FP-ability of lisp, leave out the fact that the lisp family\nis pretty much unique when it comes to _symbolic programming_ , and then\noptionally go on to talk about how some typed functional non-symbolic language\nis a better functional language.\n\nthis is ignoring the 'too many parens', 'no market share', and 'doesnt work\nwell in my editor' people.\n\n~~~\nlisper\nSyntactic malleability is actually a red herring. The key insight of Lisp is:\nLisp code is not text. Lisp code can be _serialized_ as text, and it can be\n_parsed_ from text, but it is not text, it is S-expressions, and S-expressions\nare not text, they are data structures, specifically, they are trees of cons\ncells. And because they are trees of cons cells you can construct them without\never constructing any text, i.e. without any parsing.\n\nSyntactic malleability is a _consequence_ of this property of the language. It\nis not in and of itself the central idea.\n\n~~~\ncat199\ngood point..\n\nthough arguably if code is data we are somewhat saying the same thing :)\n\nin any event, this unique overall property/combination of properties is often\noverlooked in these discussions\n\n~~~\nlisper\nThe \"code is data\" slogan also misses the point. Text is data, so all code is\ndata, whether or not it's Lisp code. (The only code that isn't data is code\nthat has been compiled down to hardware. In the olden days computers were\nprogrammed by plugging wires into plugboards. That code wasn't data. But any\ncode that is rendered in the same medium as the data it processes is data, and\nnowadays that includes all code.)\n\nWhat matters is that text is structured fundamentally differently from trees\nof cons cells. Text is a vector of characters. It is a fundamentally flat data\nstructure. It is well suited for humans to read and write with pencil and\npaper, or chisels and stone tablets. It is not natively suited for describing\nhierarchies of abstractions, which, it turns out, is what you want when you're\nwriting code.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSome lessons from building a personal finance startup - justhailsatan\nhttps://twitter.com/anothercohen/status/1286027801963896832\n======\ndencodev\nTwitter is such an annoying format for this sort of content\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCode Golf at Google - antichaos\nhttp://blog.zmxv.com/2015/07/code-golf-at-google.html\n======\nnate_martin\nFun fact: there has been a problem with Googlers calculating hash functions\nthat pass all the test cases for certain questions.\n\n~~~\nRetra\nIf you think about it the right way, that's what everyone is doing:\ncalculating a hash from the problem statement into stream of symbols with\ncertain constraints.\n\nSo the problem here is not calculating hash functions per se, but over-fitting\nthe solution to those test cases.\n\n------\nspydum\ni think the sad pattern I see in a lot of these code golf implementations is\nthe solution score is based on Lines of Code, which we already agree is a POOR\nrepresentation of either complexity or simplicity.\n\nI think it would be far more interesting to measure number of instructions to\ncomplete the objective. Though I suspect the folks familiar with assembly\nwould run circles, perhaps you could segment by solution language?\n\n~~~\nmodeless\nYou may be interested in\n[http://www.zachtronics.com/tis-100/](http://www.zachtronics.com/tis-100/).\nIt's essentially a code golf game with many different metrics to optimize\nincluding number of instructions.\n\n~~~\nnsajko\nIt's DRM-ed, sadly.\n\n~~~\nacc00\nNot anymore: [http://www.gog.com/game/tis100](http://www.gog.com/game/tis100)\n\n------\nwebo\nHah, I remember spending hours on this during work hours when I was interning\nlast year. I used to come up with very clever and short solutions only then to\nfind out I wasn't even top 10 :(\n\n------\nkaravelov\nPerl is a way more fun for golfing but it's missing from the supported\nlanguages\n\n------\nacomjean\nI had to do a code test for a job (sigh). But it actually was kind of fun. The\nwebsite takes your code and checks correctness and efficiencies.\n\nThe company posts \"challenges\" every month. But they also have lessons which\ncontain some interesting code challenges. The only problems is 1) they're\ntimed 2) sometimes the descriptions are kinda mathy which may put people off.\n\n[https://codility.com/programmers/lessons/](https://codility.com/programmers/lessons/)\n\n------\nOmnipresent\nCan a googler put the questions in public for others to see?\n\n------\nBuge\nI'm trying to run the c++ version, but it won't compile because the loop\nvariables in the range for loops do not have declarations.\n\n~~~\ndetrino\nThere was a proposal[1][2] for C++17 to allow:\n\n    \n    \n        for (e : c)\n    \n\nwhich would be equivalent to:\n\n    \n    \n        for (auto &&e : c)\n    \n\nGcc implements this when compiling with -std=c++1z. My understanding is that\nit was rejected by the committee.\n\n[1] [http://www.open-\nstd.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2014/n385...](http://www.open-\nstd.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2014/n3853.htm)\n\n[2] [http://www.open-\nstd.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2014/n399...](http://www.open-\nstd.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2014/n3994.htm)\n\n------\nrory096\n>[http://go/codegolf](http://go/codegolf)\n\nHow does this work, some sort of TLD magic? (That shouldn't be possible,\nright?) Is it just routed within Google's internal network?\n\n~~~\njsmthrowaway\nSearch paths. The full address is go.corp.google.com (which is simply a URL\nshortener), IIRC; however, I think the resolvers are also configured to\nrespond to a bare name in a lot of cases as an optimization. They talk a\nlittle bit about corp in their BeyondCorp paper[0], which is well worth a\nread, and I'm speaking to ancient memory so I might be wrong these days.\n\n[0]:\n[http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/research.google.co...](http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/research.google.com/en//pubs/archive/43231.pdf)\n\n~~~\nrory096\nThanks for the link! Figured it was a bit more complex than just a host file,\nbeing Google and all.\n\n------\nplanetjones\nI watched the wolf of wall street recently. I see some of the solutions to\nthese code golf exercises as similar to the bankers who beat their chests and\ncelebrate their masculinity in selling penny stocks to gullible\ninvestors.These code golf exercises seem like the software developer\nequivalent: \"look at how brilliant and superior I am that I can obfusicate\ncode into something no-one understands in only 2 lines\".\n\nMy concern here is that this Code Golf mentality infects the normal day-to-day\ncoding at Google. Just because an implementation can spawn a few lines it\ndoesn't make it a good implementation. What about clean code, maintainability,\nautomated testing, self documenting code...\n\nI pity the codebase I would have to maintain from one of these code golfers.\n\n~~~\njsnell\nNice how many off-handed insults you've managed to pack into such small space,\nbased on no data at all except extrapolating from your own prejudices. It's\nalmost like some kind of HN comment golf.\n\nA playful programming competition is really not at all comparable to cheating\ninnocent people out of their money. Like, seriously. People are generally able\nto behave appropriately in situations with different expectations. There's no\nreason to think that it's not equally applicable to using the appropriate\nprogramming style for the project. It's like you're looking at somebody\nwalking on the street in jeans and a T-shirt, and complaining that they're not\nproperly dressed for the opera. And no code gets committed without a code\nreview at Google anyway.\n\nFinally, code golf is rarely about obfuscation; obfuscation just for its own\nsake isn't compatible with minimizing code length. Once you e.g. know the\nbasic Perl golf tricks, the code can be surprisingly readable since it really\njust contains the core of the algorithm.\n\n~~~\nVexs\nInsult golf sounds kinda fun. Try to come up with the most insulting thing\npossible in the least characters.\n\nOn a more serious note, I agree with you. There's some alarmist reactions to\nthings like this, but in reality I don't think it's an issue at all. Sure,\nthere might be bragging and such, but that's the point of something like this,\nisn't it? It's a game, not a serious discussion on optimization. Short code is\nmore \"fun\" than superoptimized to my mind.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Is a multiple monitor setup significant to you when writing code? - crudx\nIt seems like everywhere I read people keep mentioning how important it is for them to work on multiple monitors (usually it's two or three) or one very big monitor (such as a 27\" or 30\"), and often I hear them saying \"the bigger the better\". \nI'm working on a notebook (15.4\" display at 1440x900 screen resolution) and I'm pretty happy (or so I think). Alt+Tab doesn't bother me and I don't feel the need to have two or three or one gigantic monitor. Are there any of you who agree with me? How big of a productivity boost does your big setup give you (try being objective please) ?\n======\nrobflynn\nIt is preferred for me if I am performing certain tasks. If I am rapidly\nediting html/css then I like to be able to see my markup and a preview in a\nbrowser at the same time. Whether this be accomplished by two monitors or one\nmonitor with sufficient resolution does not matter.\n\nReading API documentation while I code is another good use case for multiple\ndisplays. It gives me a quick at-a-glance ability that I can't achieve with\nalt tabbing on a single monitor. (I can, it just feels a lot slower because I\nam constantly having to visually relocate where I was within the document)\n\nI refrain from saying that it is a \"MUST\" or is \"REQUIRED\", because I can by\njust fine on my little 15 laptop, but I prefer working on my dual screen\nsetup.\n\nIf I'm going to go with just one larger monitor, a nice tiling window manager\nis nice. Otherwise, I can just alt-tab to the other screen.\n\n------\nsmtlaissezfaire\nI guess it probably depends what you are planning on doing with the extra\nmonitor.\n\nI've been happy with one monitor and alt-tab (CMD-tab on OS X) for a long\ntime, but recently I've realized that the extra monitor comes in really handy\nfor certain things. For me, that's having chrome open in one window and the\nchrome inspector in the other (this allows me to concurrently see + play with\nthe DOM/css/js without it crowding the display).\n\nWhen I have two monitors and I'm doing this sort of work, I never say to\nmyself: \"Oh man, I'm being so productive\". But when I'm without the second\none, I certainly miss it and feel _less_ productive.\n\n------\nmetachris\nI personally find multiple monitors distracting if I don't need to follow lots\nof log output simultaneously. The 27\" Dell U2711 [1] with 2560x1440 works\nperfectly for me, and is pretty much the only monitor with this resolution in\nan acceptable price range (~$800). On this screen there is enough space for\nEclipse, two Android emulators, and part of a terminal showing the logs, for\ninstance.\n\nA 17\" display with about 1920x1200 also just works for me. I find lower\nresolutions very hard to work with.\n\n[1] <http://www.anandtech.com/show/2922>\n\n------\nasher_\nIt makes a huge difference in my experience. I use a 30\" most of the time with\nside-by side, but occasionally use one (sometimes two) of my side monitors\n(20\" in portrait) if the need arises. It is rare for me to use more than just\nthe 30\", but if you think about what you'd like to be visible it could be as\nmuch as; code, browser, specs/reqs sheet and api/library documentation.\n\nI am getting a laptop for coding soon and plan to get an external USB display\nto complement it for this reason.\n\nTo the OP; just try using two displays for a couple of hours. You'll never go\nback.\n\n------\nj45\nIt is absolutely critical. The 30-40% productivity gain per monitor is\nabsolutely true.\n\nMy setups have included:\n\nThree 19\" screens at 1280x1024. This was uber productive.\nReference/communication on the left screen, code in the middle screen, test on\nthe right screen.\n\nNow I'm running a 23\" Samsung and a 27\" Asus. I use the 27\" to code and the\n23\" to read/test on. The 27\" has a 1920x1080 resolution but larger type causes\nless strain on my eyes.\n\nWhere do I think I'm going to end up? Buying a 27\" iMac and using it as a\nTarget Display Mode for my next Macbook Air. I think I could do it all on one\n27\".\n\n~~~\nkatem\n30-40% productivity gain per monitor? Can you cite that?\n\n------\ncaw\nAt my previous job I had 2x 19\", and that worked great because I could run my\nVM in one screen and everything else on the other. When I developed, I just\nswitched to another virtual desktop and ran eclipse and a browser.\n\nAt my current job I have a 24\" and a 19\". I'm not sure about the extra 19\" and\nhow much that gains me, but I'm stuck in VNC all day so I can't alt-tab like\nnormal folks.\n\nMy 22\" 1680x1050 monitor at home is a bit lacking sometimes for pixel space,\nbut I manage to get stuff done with it.\n\n------\nbartonfink\nI don't particularly care about having multiple monitors or even a large\nmonitor. I use virtual desktops with keyboard shortcuts I've configured to\nfacilitate easy switching, and I find that suits my workflow best. If I had a\nlarger monitor, I might use fewer virtual desktops, but the virtual desktop is\nfree whereas the larger monitor isn't. I just don't see the return.\n\n------\nwarren_s\nThere was a study done on this a while ago:\n[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=8914028...](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89140287)\n\nI agree with the premise that there are diminishing returns after the 2nd\nscreen, but I personally always use my 13\" Macbook screen alongside the cinema\ndisplay when I'm at my desk.\n\n------\nfrou_dh\nAll I like is a good amount of pixels and easy keyboard shortcuts for moving\nand tiling windows. Those pixels can either be on multiple physical screens,\nor just one with a good (say 1920x1200) resolution.\n\nBeing able to have 2, 3 or 4 editor/browser/shell/whatever windows tiled and\nvisible isn't essential, but it's a way of working you miss once you've gotten\nused to it.\n\n------\nrshm\nI feel small screen quite suffocating.\n\ni currently have two 22\". (Samsung PX2370). Thinking of switching to one 27\"\napple cinema. If any one have done same or other way around, please share your\nexperience.\n\n------\nmlarratt\nMulti monitor? No.\n\n2 million pixels or more? Yes.\n\nMore importantly IMHO: Bind as much window management to your keyboard as\npossible.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAMA: Self-Employment, Remote Work – Gregory Brown (Programming Beyond Practices) - j_s\nhttps://mobile.twitter.com/practicingdev/status/771065320228421632\n======\npracticingdev\nOh hi!\n\nI wasn't expected this to be posted on HN, but I'm happy to discuss in the\ncomments rather than having folks head over to Twitter.\n\nI assume many people here already are self-employed or work remotely, but I\ncan throw in my two cents on any questions you might have if you aren't... or\nif you are but just want to hear from someone else's perspective.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: Facetflow – Hosted Elasticsearch for Windows Azure - nordbergm\nhttps://facetflow.com/\n\n======\njmparki\n\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: A curation of SaaS resources for developers - nicolasracchi\nhttps://github.com/nicolas-racchi/SaaS4Devs\n======\nnicolasracchi\nHey HN, I've been learning a lot about SaaS & bootstrapped businesses in the\npast year, and I've collected a long list of resources, stories, links, and\nadvice about this topic, coming from the greatest minds in the game and people\nwho've reached their goal of building a profitable business by themselves.\nMany of them are active HN users, so this community has a special place for\nme.\n\nToday I've decided to publish this curation as an open GitHub repo, and I hope\nsomeone here will find it useful. I'm sharing it because it would've been a\ngodsend for me one year ago.\n\nBy the way, no affiliate/tracking/referral links or any of that.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nVCs Look to Royalty-Based Financing to Fund Startups - gbookman\nhttp://blogs.sun.com/sun4startups/entry/vcs_look_to_royalty_based\n\n======\nramsh\nPayments start with revenue. No revenue, no payments. People say revenue\nstarts \"immediately\" assuming that the royalty-based VC funds a business that\nalready has some revenue. To your other point, it's not that there is less\npressure for revenue, but less pressure for \"growth\" (ex. hiring, expansion,\netc.) at the expense of profitability. VCs often push for premature growth at\nthe expense of profits (so they can inflate the company and sell it as fast as\npossible), whereas RBF is more in line with rapid profits at the expense of\ngrowth - i.e. more organic growth through profits. As for Vinny - in RBF if\nthe venture doesn't earn revenue, no payments go back to the VC. Also, if the\nventure fails and closes, the VC never gets his/her money back. In contrast if\nyou don't pay Vinny, he breaks your legs. :) Banks too.\n\n------\nJoeAltmaier\nDon't understand. No cash flow for months; how can payments start immediately?\nHow can the pressure be LESS to build/ship product for revenue? How is this\ndifferent from Vinny the loanshark?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMechanical Turkers Consider Alternative Platforms - tomcam\nhttps://www.wired.com/story/amazons-turker-crowd-has-had-enough/\n======\ntwobyfour\nThe premise is interesting, but the article reads like an ad for a specific\nalternative service.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTertill Weeding Robot - akeck\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwTWhMbnq9g\n======\njelliclesfarm\n[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h8oWl6FD-7c](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h8oWl6FD-7c)\n: there are many mechanical weeding robots for field cultivation. France’s\nNaio Technologies is my favourite. They are coming to North America soon.\n\nIt seems like Europe is far ahead of us with robotics and field automation. In\nAmerica, we have always had abundant cheap labour.\n\nAlso, American Agtech is a data play and geared towards commodity crops.\nThat’s not always suitable for food crops and speciality food crops and fruits\netc.\n\nEdited to add: I guess tertill is for gardens. It’s not bad but can be better.\n\n~~~\nKingFelix\nWhat is up with that video? A few seconds in it looks like warp is fixing the\nshaky/moved camera? Cool robot though!\n\n~~~\ntecher\nNot sure but my google photos stabilisation has this effect...\n\n------\npajtai\nThis won't work! The hardest place to weed is in the grass and around\nstrawberries.... both of these can be just as short as weeds, and from the\n\"how it works\" page, it looks like it is using height of plant to determine if\nit's a weed.\n\nGot me excited for a second.\n\n[https://www.tertill.com/how-it-works/](https://www.tertill.com/how-it-works/)\n\"Tertill has a very simple method. Weeds are short, plants are tall.\"\n\n~~~\nfenwick67\nYes, it only works for tall plants like tomatoes, raspberries etc., but that\ndoesn't mean it \"won't work\".\n\n~~~\npajtai\nI guess I meant, it \"won't work\" for me personally... and using height as an\nindicator of weediness seems risky.... at some point you'll have a tiny new\nseedling that you want to keep and you'll have to remember to work around your\nweeder... just doesn't seem as convenient as I would imagine it in my ideal\nworld.\n\n~~~\npavel_lishin\n> _at some point you 'll have a tiny new seedling that you want to keep and\n> you'll have to remember to work around your weeder._\n\nThere's a metal guard you put down around small plants that prevents Tertill\nfrom mowing them down. The video does a pretty good job explaining the basic\noperation.\n\n~~~\nlarrydag\nOr just put chicken wire around areas you don't want weeded\n\n------\nmikepurvis\nDiscussion from 2017:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14715110](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14715110)\n\nI maintain my position at the time: weeding is almost never just weeding.\nYou're there monitoring a lot of different aspects of your plants' health and\nprogress; you need to do that whether you're weeding or not, so you might as\nwell be weeding.\n\nThis is a solution in search of a problem, and none of these people seem like\ngardeners.\n\n------\nbjornlouser\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwTWhMbnq9g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwTWhMbnq9g)\n\n~~~\nThePadawan\nThe video calls \"the typical garden size in the US\" 100 sq ft (or 9 m^2). I\nfind it hard to wrap my head around that number. If I had 9m^2 of green, I\nwould never call that a garden.\n\nSurely this is the average, but not the mean? As lots of apartments won't have\ngardens at all.\n\n~~~\nTFortunato\nI think maybe they are using the word \"garden\" in the US sense of \"part of\nyour land sectioned off to grow vegetables, fruits, etc.\", not \"the green\nspace in your land surrounding the home\" which we'd refer to as the lawn.\n\n------\nAnimats\nOh, you have to put markers around non-weeds. It's not like the John\nDeere/Blue River weeding machine.[1] Or the Ecorobotics weeding robot. Those\nuse machine learning to recognize weeds visually.\n\n[1] [http://www.bluerivertechnology.com/](http://www.bluerivertechnology.com/)\n[2] [https://www.ecorobotix.com/](https://www.ecorobotix.com/)\n\n~~~\nNextgrid\nI'd choose a proven, 100% reliable criteria such as markers rather than fuzzy\nmethods like machine learning which evolve and can break/behave inexpectedly\nover time.\n\n------\njpm_sd\nIt's really cute, but it looks sort of fragile and underpowered.\n\n~~~\nmarkdown\nYup, reminds me of those cheap solar toys you can buy on Aliexpress.\n\n------\nmattferderer\nI'm curious if others who garden have really bad weed problems that can't be\nsolved with mulch & putting stuff down between rows?\n\nI find cardboard or brown packaging paper between rows, & layering the whole\ngarden with grass & straw reduces all but a few random weeds.\n\nI don't understand the value of weeding robots outside large agriculture.\n\n~~~\njedberg\nThat method only works for about one season, and then you have to redo it all.\nI guess if you like gardening redoing the cardboard isn't so bad, but I'd\nrather focus on the plants and not the cardboard.\n\n~~~\nmdellavo\nyou have to redo the garden every season anyway\n\n~~~\njefflombardjr\nI don't redo everything every season! I like to garden smart, not hard. Check\nout permaculture.\n\nLast year, I put down cardboard and mulched - planting strawberries directly\nin the mulch and piercing through the cardboard. Fast forward a year, now that\nthe cardboard is pretty composted, the strawberries were established last year\nhad root systems in place, broke through the cardboard, and beat most of the\nweeds. The weeds can't thrive because the strawberries are taking up all the\nsun.\n\n~~~\nmattferderer\nSounds like you have a similar effective way for handling weeds. My main point\nwas that I don't think most gardeners have an issue with weeds in their\ngarden.\n\nSide note, using large pieces of cardboard or packaging paper goes fairly\nquick. I wouldn't consider it hard or time consuming.\n\n------\nhalis\nWhy buy this when I have kids?\n\n~~~\nTheCraiggers\nThis thing is cheaper and doesn't talk.\n\n~~~\nEADGBE\n> Tertill uses bluetooth to talk to your smartphone.\n\nClose, but not quite. Just wait for the 20 \"I'm stuck\" notifications.\n\n------\n24gttghh\nOr not weed at all and change how we think gardens should be planted in the\nfirst place.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-\ntill_farming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-till_farming)\n\n[https://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/permaculture-\ngardeni...](https://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/permaculture-gardening-\ncreating-our-own-eco-systems)\n\nThe robot seems practical enough though. At least it has solar panels built\nin!\n\n~~~\nicebraining\nCutting the weeds doesn't seem anything like tilling; in fact, cutting them\nand leaving the rest there as mulch seems fairly close to no-till.\n\n~~~\n24gttghh\nThe little robot still drives around and compacts the soil a little. I'm not\nsaying it's not progress, but is it actually necessary?\n\n------\nWheelsAtLarge\nI'm surprised they haven't taken the time to create 2 equal gardens one with\nthe robot one without it. If it works then this type of demonstration would be\na great marketing win for the company.\n\nBy not having a sample garden, it makes me dought the effectiveness of it\nsince it such an easy thing to do.\n\n------\njcoffland\nThe website really needs a video demonstrating the product.\n\nEdit: there is a video but it only show up on the desktop version.\n\n~~~\nneogodless\n[https://www.tertill.com/how-it-works/](https://www.tertill.com/how-it-works/)\n\nThe \"hero\" image/banner is a simple video demonstrating the \"robot vacuum\"\nbehavior, in a garden.\n\n~~~\njcoffland\nIt doesn't show up on mobile.\n\n~~~\nKingFelix\nTry this [https://www.tertill.com/wp-\ncontent/uploads/2019/02/tertill-i...](https://www.tertill.com/wp-\ncontent/uploads/2019/02/tertill-intro.mov)\n\nI have used the Divi theme a bunch and I think if you watch the actual link\nwhere the video is you should be able to check it out.\n\n------\namadeusw\nAm I wrong thinking that after a few weeks of cutting the leaves, the root\nwill become gigantic and will keep producing leaves at a faster rate? The only\nway to get rid of dandelions is to pull the ever growing root from the ground.\n\n~~~\ntwic\n_How does it remove them? Won’t the weeds just grow back?_\n\n _Tertill whacks weeds using a spinning string trimmer, which cuts the weed\noff near the ground. Because Tertill lives in your garden and goes looking for\nweeds every day, weeds are always small when the robot finds them. A whacked\nweed may sprout again, but sprouting takes energy stored in the seed or root.\nBy coming back every day, Tertill never lets a weed develop the leaves it\nneeds to replenish this energy, so eventually the weed gives up and dies._\n\n[https://www.tertill.com/how-it-works/](https://www.tertill.com/how-it-works/)\n\n~~~\nTremendousJudge\nthey managed to invent something even more stubborn than garden weeds\n\n------\nrmason\nSo you will end up with a bunch of weeds inside your collar. Someone hasn't\nthought this through. I've walked a lot of fields over a twenty year period,\nweeds aren't always in the middle of the rows.\n\n~~~\nnoobiemcfoob\nSo...you pick the weeds out of the collar? You've reduced the land you have to\nmaintain to just that which this robot can't get to.\n\n------\ndajonker\nTLDR; you are supposed to get rid of all weeds in your garden first, then this\nlittle robot will take care of all new weeds growing out of the ground. It's\nsupposed to be pretty much maintenance free and runs on only sunlight.\n\n------\npugworthy\nI can imagine that when this rolls over a green hose, it promptly tries to\n\"kill\" the hose.\n\nAnd I don't want to think about what it does to slugs and snails...\n\n------\njelliclesfarm\nI might give this a shot to weed between my lavender field rows. I have 1.5\nacres. Why not? Just use them on a couple of them to see how it operates.\n\n------\ntantalor\nHow well does this do on slopes?\n\n~~~\nneogodless\nFrom the product web site:\n\nWill Tertill get stuck?\n\nTertill uses four-wheel-drive. This helps Tertill move through soft soil,\nsand, and mulch, and also helps Tertill climb slopes. Its distinctive diagonal\nwheels make Tertill more stable on slopes and help it get past certain terrain\nchallenges. Tertill relies on several sensors and clever programming to keep\nout of trouble. To detect objects like the garden fence and big plants,\nTertill uses sensors similar to those found in many smart phones—the lightest\ntouch is all it takes. To detect steep slopes, Tertill uses the same sort of\nsensor that tells your cell phone which way is up. Tertill can also sense if a\nmotor stops turning—perhaps jammed by a rock—so it can protect itself from\ndamage.\n\n~~~\nbluedino\nYou'd think it woudl use tank tracks\n\n~~~\ncr0sh\nTank tracks have problems at a small scale that aren't immediately apparent at\nfull scale.\n\nThe big one - especially for something \"in the dirt\" \\- is dirt/mud getting\nbetween the tracks and ground wheels/idlers. This can easily stop the drive\nsystem, requiring user maintenance. Then there's the issue with water rusting\nparts (shafts, screws, etc). Also, more moving parts equal more things to\nbreak. Finally, on a small scale, tracks have a tendency to be easily \"thrown\"\nfrom the wheels depending on how turning is accomplished and the terrain.\n\nOn a full sized tank or bulldozer, tracks still have these issues, but in the\ncase of dirt, it can just power through the obstacles; dirt and mud may build\nup, and cause some rust, but the important bits are kept constantly\nlubricated. Any parts that do grind up the dirt just wear down instead of\nstopping (and eventually need replacement - very $$$$ replacement). If anyone\ncares to, hosing off the tracks with a water truck can also be done, but isn't\nlikely to be done. Again, it all comes down to maintenance.\n\nAlso, full scale tracked vehicles rarely turn \"en point\", because their tracks\ncan be thrown just as easily as on the smaller scale, but cause more damage\nand more repair $$$ needed to fix/replace (plus doing it in the field isn't\neasy, either). The proper way to turn such a vehicle is to not perform such\nmaneuvers, or if you have to, make sure you're on relatively flat and soft\nground (that you don't mind utterly destroying - beware your wife's rose\ngarden), and do it fairly slowly. The side load on the tracks and idlers will\nstill be just as high, but throwing the track isn't as great. Usually, though,\nyou steer in a curve just like a car, except using differential speeds on each\ntrack. There will still be side loads and \"skidding\", but the loads are much,\nmuch less (also, this is why such machines, whether tracked or wheeled, are\nknown as \"skid steered\" or \"differential steering\").\n\n~~~\nturk73\nThe whole thing is a \"nice try\" but spending money on something like this\nisn't green--we're supposed to be consuming less overall and this hunk of\nplastic will break within six months and then sit on a shelf until it\ninevitably enters the waste stream as difficult to recycle e-trash.\n\nWhen are people going to wake up and figure out that all this speculative\nentrepreneurial-ism is pretty much just money making scams that exist as the\ncost of the environment?\n\nDon't want weeds? Be a gardener. Or don't be a gardener: This whole dilettante\nInstagram gardener bullshit is what needs to die.\n\n------\ntmaly\nI enjoy working out in the garden. It is time to reflect and get off the\nscreen.\n\nI don't think I would buy something like this.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nCloud Computing Makes Servers Obsolete - lmacvittie\nhttp://devcentral.f5.com/weblogs/macvittie/archive/2009/07/31/cloud-computing-makes-servers-obsolete.aspx\n\n======\nTrevorJ\nBecause the \"cloud\" is made up of something other than servers?\n\nAm I missing something here, or is this just semantics?\n\n~~~\njshen\nYes you are. You don't have to think about the servers, the cloud abstracts it\naway. Here's an analogy. High level languages make memory management obsolete.\nYou could then ask, \"because programs are made up of something other than\nmemory and instructions?\", and you'd definitely be missing something.\n\n~~~\ntdavis\nYour analogy makes sense, but it is as broken as the central idea in this\npiece, and they're both so for the same reason:\n\nDespite high-level languages, memory management is still very much a reality\nfor many programmers. People still write ASM and C _every day_.\n\nMemory management and physical boxes may be obsolete for Joe Schmoe, but he's\nnot the guy who makes it possible to ignore these things in the first place.\nThere are all sorts of folks out there who's choice to gain copious amounts of\nlow-level knowledge has allowed me to be lazy.\n\n~~~\njshen\nI disagree with your implications that someone is lazy if they have concerns\nother than low level bit twiddling. Some of us are trying to build businesses\nor simply progress the state of the art in other areas. For example, I work in\na research group on information retrieval. I could spend hours of my day\nmaking progress on IR with higher level languages or I could instead waste\nproductivity on manual memory management. Choosing the former is not being\nlazy.\n\nAlso, the idea that \"some\" people still do C therefore memory management isn't\nobsolete for most people is clearly flawed.\n\n~~~\ntdavis\nI meant the good kind of lazy, so yeah, I wasn't really trying to insult you.\n\n _Also, the idea that \"some\" people still do C therefore memory management\nisn't obsolete for most people is clearly flawed._\n\nAs flawed as the absolute claim, \"Cloud Computing Makes Servers Obsolete\". Not\nonly is it objectively false (servers are necessary for cloud computing, duh),\nbut it makes no attempt to quantify by saying for whom they've become\nobsolete.\n\nI admit to not reading the article (based on the ridiculous title), but if it\nclaims that cloud computing makes skills in setting up dedicated hardware from\nOS up and then engaging in smart capacity planning and proper deployment\nschemes so as to make horizontal (or vertical) scaling as painless as possible\nwithout the advantages provided by virtualization less necessary in today's\ncomputing landscape, then...\n\nI agree wholeheartedly!\n\n~~~\njshen\n\"loud computing makes skills in setting up dedicated hardware from OS up and\nthen engaging in smart capacity planning and proper deployment schemes so as\nto make horizontal (or vertical) scaling as painless as possible without the\nadvantages provided by virtualization less necessary in today's computing\nlandscape\"\n\nThat makes for a great title doesn't it? LOL\n\n~~~\ntdavis\nBetter than <insert sensationalist blanket statement to insight linkbait>.\n\nHow about, _Cloud Computing Making Dedicated Hardware Obsolete For Some_. Was\nthat so difficult? Took me 10 seconds.\n\n~~~\njshen\nthat isn't a good title. Given the intended audience, you can assume the\nreadership is smart enough to understand that nuances are not reflected in the\ntitle.\n\nHere are some examples of using your style in well known titles.\n\nGod is not Great Most of the time (worse title, but more accurate)\n\nA failure of Capitalism to self regulate banking and insurance and avoid\nsystemic risk (much worse than the original, but more accurate)\n\nA pale blue dot when viewed from a distant perspective in space (much worse\nthan the original, but more accurate)\n\n------\nMicahWedemeyer\nAll of the fawning over the cloud really irritates me. I use S3 and EC2 and\nlove them both. However, I also still use local storage and non-EC2 servers.\n\nEverything has its place, and the cloud has definitely not replaced the server\nfor me, nor do I see that happening any time in the near future. Especially if\nyou're just starting out, dealing with getting set up in a cloud environment\nis a headache you just don't need.\n\n------\ntybris\nSounds nice in theory, in reality less than 1% of applications really need to\nscale and only one \"resource\" a.k.a. \"server\" is going to have to do all the\nwork, simply for economic reasons. Current (shared) PaaS offerings still have\ntoo many limitations and lock-in to be a suitable replacement.\n\n------\njacquesm\nI think it should read 'cloud computing makes _some_ servers obsolete'.\n\nNot everybody will be able to host 'in the cloud', the kind of data they host\ncould easily be forbidden to pass to third parties, even for hosting. Think of\nmedical data, banking and so on.\n\nQuite a few servers could probably be hosted 'in the cloud', but for now the\ncost benefits are not really there unless your application falls in to a very\nspecific niche.\n\nBandwidth and storage premiums in the cloud make it very tough to position a\ncloud based solution vs hosting your own stuff. The only case when it makes\nsense is if you need large numbers of servers for a short period and if you\nare growing faster than you can order hardware.\n\nIt's also great as a fall-back plan and to create redundancy.\n\n~~~\ntimwiseman\nYou have a good point, but he at least partially addressed this in the article\nwhen he said \"First, I really like the use of the article “a” in reference to\ncloud as it speaks to all models of cloud: private, public, external,\ninternal, and hybrid.\"\n\nA company that cannot or will not put their data on the internet and \"The\nCloud\" could at least in principle build \"A Cloud\" within their own intranet\nand host there, still gaining the flexibility of focusing on applications\nrather than servers.\n\nStill, I think you have a good point with _cloud computing makes some servers\nobsolete_. Some data not only cannot leave the company intranet, but must be\nsegregated strictly from other data within in the same company. This will\nrequire focusing on the server.\n\nAlso, it can (in some cases) be harder and slower to write in such a flexible\nthan to let it be tied to a single server. Doing that makes no sense if\nprogrammer time is a precious asset in that organization and you will have a\nneed for massive scaling in the foreseeable future.\n\n~~~\njacquesm\nI think you meant to say 'will have no need for massive scaling' ?\n\n~~~\ntimwiseman\nYes, that is what I meant. Sorry for the rather major typ-o.\n\n------\nasciilifeform\nThere is no \"cloud.\" There are only other people's hard drives.\n\n------\ndan_the_welder\nNothing has ever made anything obsolete.\n\n~~~\njshen\nThis is true, but I don't choose to use cobol for new projects. In the same\nway I don't choose to buy dedicated servers any longer.\n\n------\nvicaya\nCloud computing provides service abstraction at different levels.\n\nYou don't need to think about servers at SaaS (Software as a Service. e.g,\nGoogle Docs/Apps) and PaaS (Platform as a Service. e.g. Google Apple Engine,\nWindows Azure; Amazon S3, Elastic MapReduce etc.) level, but you do have\n(virtualized) servers when you need IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service. e.g.\nAmazon EC2, VMware infrastructure) where you need to put existing/legacy\napplications that have clear dependencies on explicit servers in the cloud.\n\n------\nbrutimus\nI'm all for distributed services, but only when practical. All services go\ndown, heck, even Google services have gone down several times recently.\n\nSo when your boss is screaming at you \"why are we down?!\", can you get by with\njust saying \"because X (the _cloud_ ) is down\". Highly unlikely.\n\n------\nbillswift\nTwenty years ago I was reading about how networked workstations made\nmainframes obsolete, this is just more of the same. Network latency effects,\nif nothing else, is going to ensure the continued need for at least some\ncentralized computing resources.\n\n------\nwolfhumble\nDoes anyone any information on how to handle security in the cloud? Seems to\nbe easier to find hacker patterns monitoring a (virtual) server.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: sensors that export data? - petervandijck\n\nI'm trying to manage the humidity in my new house, and have a humidity meter. But it doesn't export data over time. I'd like it to have a usb port so that I can get data over time and put it on my computer. I can also imagine wanting to do this with other data (temperature, walking data, sleeping data, ...) that various sensors gather.<p>Are there any tools like this out there? Open source hardware projects that I can hack? Commercial tools?\n======\ngsivil\nWe have just used something like that in our lab. You can check\n\n[http://www.itwatchdogs.com/product-detail-\nminigoose_ii-8.htm...](http://www.itwatchdogs.com/product-detail-\nminigoose_ii-8.html)\n\nit is a device connected with air flow/humidity/ Dew point/ temperature\nsensors and connected to the internet. The basic models starts from 200\ndollars I think. If you want to contact me at my username at g mail I can link\nyou to our lab's website to check the interface\n\n------\nbrk\nYou can buy sensors for things like that, but they'll tend to be expensive for\nwhat you get, eg:\n\n<http://www.tequipment.net/AmprobeTR300.html>\n\nIf you like to hack around with micro-controllers then you can build something\nthat does all that more for about the same price, but have a lot more\nflexibility.\n\nGoogle for things like \"1-wire humidity sensor\". The Dallas Semi 1-wire bus is\nwidely supported with most micro controllers, and fairly easy to implement.\n\n------\npo\nCheck out Bug Labs: <http://www.buglabs.net/>\n\n------\nzeynel1\nIs this what you are looking for:\n\n<http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596807740>\n\nBuilding Wireless Sensor Networks with ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLemmy, an open-source federated Reddit alternative, gets funding for development - jasonbourne1901\nhttps://dev.lemmy.ml/post/35293\n======\nAfforess\nHow is lemmy going to avoid the fate of the last reddit alternative (voat)?\nVoat attracted the communities banned from reddit, e.g the worst of the worst:\njailbait, creepshots, beatingwomen, etc. The users most interested in an\nalternative to reddit are on average, the exact wrong type of user to help\nwith the growth of a healthy community. I don't see any information on how\nbeing \"federated\" solves the hard problem of toxic communities, especially\ngiven that is the userbase it will attract.\n\n~~~\nyogthos\nNothing can prevent terrible people from using an open source project.\nMeanwhile, Reddit doesn't do much of anything about this problem either. For,\nexample /r/metacanada exists, and white supremacists from there are also\nmoderating /r/canada subbreddit, Reddit hasn't taken any action on that. At\nleast the developers of Lemmy are very clear [1] about their stance regarding\nnazis, that's more than I can say for Reddit. It's also worth noting that\nMastodon has millions of users now, and it clearly isn't attracting the worst\npeople. In fact, I find it's a far healthier and friendlier community than\nTwitter.\n\n[1] [https://dev.lemmy.ml/post/34286](https://dev.lemmy.ml/post/34286)\n\n~~~\ntrackofalljades\nThe situation on /r/canada is heartbreaking. Over recent weeks, almost every\nattempt to post a news article involving civil rights or anything overtly\nrelated to Black, LGBTQ+ or Indigenous issues has been immediately zeroed\ndown, and in many cases then removed by a mod (their favourite method is to\njust hit the \"dupe\" button on all posts about a given news item or opinion\npiece, claiming they're all dupes, and not leaving one up).\n\nIf you make the mistake of discussing this on any other Canadian related sub\nwhere the /r/canada mods frequent, they'll ban you for life and say that _you_\nwere \"brigading.\"\n\n~~~\nadtac\nin case you didn't know, come to /r/onguardforthee, the sane and inclusive\nCanadian subreddit\n\n------\nTulliusCicero\nI have to say, at the very least, the UI is a breath of fresh air compared to\nnew Reddit. New Reddit is just...I can't quite put my finger on it, but it\njust feels awful to look at.\n\n~~~\nehsankia\nWhile I agree that new reddit is awful, I still much prefer old reddit to\nthis. Also what's up with this new trend of having the main content width-\nrestricted, but not the header [0]? The new GitHub UI that went live this week\nhas the exact same problem on wide screens. What kind of UX designer ever\napproved such a mess and why do so many sites do this?\n\nThe main UI itself, again very width restricted, but also has strange paddings\n[1] which limit severely the area for the title (which is the most important\nUI element). Doesn't really make sense to me. The vertical centering is a bit\nof a mess, and the size of icons is also either way too big or way too small\n[2].\n\n[0] [https://i.imgur.com/gZEWEdJ.png](https://i.imgur.com/gZEWEdJ.png)\n\n[1] [https://i.imgur.com/nayP548.png](https://i.imgur.com/nayP548.png)\n\n[2] [https://i.imgur.com/XZPToxy.png](https://i.imgur.com/XZPToxy.png)\n\nEDIT: Huh, I hadn't used new reddit in a long time, I actually took a look now\nand it seems like it has improved significantly. I actually don't hate it as\nmuch, it looks much closer to old reddit now, with full width content and much\nless padding [3]\n\n[3] [https://i.imgur.com/c1QBucR.png](https://i.imgur.com/c1QBucR.png)\n\n~~~\nhanniabu\n> Huh, I hadn't used new reddit in a long time, I actually took a look now and\n> it seems like it has improved significantly.\n\nThe UI itself isn't horrible, it's the UX. It's incredibly bulky and slow, and\nsome user links have been hidden while others completely removed.\n\n~~~\n9HZZRfNlpR\nNew reddit must be the slowest website out there, on mobile where I'm not\nlogged in it takes ages to load. Then ages to kill all sort of pop ups that\nforce me to use their app. I believe they don't care about UX and speed of the\nsite, it's all about the app. They measure app downloads, not the experience\non the site.\n\n~~~\nalpaca128\nI still am in awe regularly at how damn sluggish the site is. Even with an ad\nblocker it is at least an order of magnitude slower than every other website\nI've seen.\n\n------\nas1mov\nOne thing that stands out to me is lemmy has public modlogs[1], this is a\ngreat feature in my opinion. Something that should be more common.\n\nQuite a few people on reddit are frustrated by how opaque moderation is, but\nlooking at the meta community of power users that seems to mod the bigger\nsubs, I doubt the devs will ever copy this feature.\n\n[1]: [https://dev.lemmy.ml/modlog](https://dev.lemmy.ml/modlog)\n\n~~~\nTulliusCicero\nI moderate a couple of subreddits and agree moderation is a disaster. For\npopular subs, moderators are basically swamped in a never-ending avalanche of\nshit. Even if you want to be a good mod, doing so for the long haul is an\ninsane time commitment.\n\nThe fact that being banned from one sub doesn't usually get you banned from\nanother sub is totally understandable, but combined with how easy it is to\nmake a new account, in practice it's just never-ending whack-a-mole with\nshithead posters.\n\n~~~\njustAnotherNET\nThe mods only have themselves to blame. They create insanely broad rules\nallowing them to ban anything and then limit mod positions to concentrate\ntheir power.\n\nThe role of mods is to delete off topic submissions and remove illegal\ncontent. Nothing more.\n\n~~~\nchowells\nThe role of mods is to establish and maintain the community they wish to have\nin the space. That takes a lot more than deleting off-topic submissions and\nremoving illegal content.\n\n------\nrolleiflex\nWe have something similar to this, Aether.\n[https://getaether.net](https://getaether.net). (code at\ngithub.com/nehbit/aether)\n\nAlways glad to see more eyeballs on the space, so I wish then the best. Here\nare a few differences I can see at the first glance:\n\n\\- Aether is decentralised (as in torrent) this appears to be federated. That\nmeans Aether truly has no servers and every user is a peer, while federated\nmeans there are smaller ‘Reddits’ as servers that talk to each other.\n\n\\- By proxy that means we can’t really have a web app unfortunately (working\non it by the way of running a daemon on a raspberry pi) and they can - we need\na native app running on your machine and seeding context to the network.\n\n\\- By another proxy, this means Aether avoids the issue of having a ‘middle\nmanagement’ in the form of the ownership of your home server that federated\nnetworks have. You are the home server, so no one can control what you see. We\ncall this user sovereignty\n\n\\- In Aether we have elections which elect mods based on popular vote and you\ncontrol who is a mod, precisely because the ‘social compiler’ runs on your\nmachine and allows you to compile it however you want. Two people with two\ndifferent mod lists for the same community can see drastically different\ncommunities\n\n\\- We have a mod audit log and have had it for a while - everyone’s mod\nactions are visible to everyone (this I think they also have)\n\n\\- Lastly, we have made the decision to not monetise Aether itself and create\na team communication app called Aether Pro, and monetise that. This creates a\n‘Chinese wall’ between where we make our money and the P2P network, which\nmeans it’s a shield against drifting towards trying to make money from a\nsocial network. The code bases are separate but similar, so that also means\nwork done on the Pro helps Aether as well. We have gotten some funding for the\nPro, and we consider the P2P version a ‘marketing / goodwill expense’ in the\ncontext of that funding. That aligns us towards making sure Aether is long-\nterm viable, well maintained and monetisation-free.\n\nIn contrast I think they’ve gotten money to work directly on this, which has\nboth good and more hazardous sides. In summary, we opted for a long term\nstructure that has less moral hazard (in my opinion, of course), in favour of\na more stable app without a need for monetisation that has fewer, more stable\nreleases.\n\nFor context, here's how a recent thread looks on my Aether client:\n[https://i.imgur.com/45tXQEO.png](https://i.imgur.com/45tXQEO.png)\n\n~~~\nrglullis\n> By another proxy, this means Aether avoids the issue of having a ‘middle\n> management’ (...) so no one can control what you see.\n\nThis _right here_ is the main thing that will never let any fully-\ndecentralized system become mainstream. Two problems:\n\n\\- Most people _do_ want \"middle-management\". They don't want to deal with\nsecurity risks, technical issues, understanding how the protocol works just to\nbe able to share memes and score points with their social peers. All they want\nis to open their browser, see what their friends/peers are posting and be done\nwith it.\n\n\\- This trade-off between federated systems/giving up control _does not\nexist_. A federated system can degenerate into a fully-distributed graph.\nThose that want to keep full control over their system can easily do with a\nfederated system: _they just run their own instances_.\n\nDecentralized systems for social networks fail the Zawinski test and do not\nprovide one single use-case that can not be done with a federated alternative.\nI fail to see any benefit of pushing it except for buzzword investors.\n\n~~~\nTimJRobinson\nThe trade-off is that when you run your own instance you have to then attract\nusers to it for it to be useful, which burdens others.\n\nIn a fully decentralized network you can meet new people and moderate your own\nview of the world without putting any burden on others to adapt to what you\nwant. Moderation can be done with a system like this:\n[https://adecentralizedworld.com/2020/06/a-trust-and-\nmoderati...](https://adecentralizedworld.com/2020/06/a-trust-and-moderation-\nsystem-for-the-decentralized-web/)\n\n~~~\nrglullis\nSorry, either you don't understand the concept of federation, or you are\nbullshitting me.\n\nI can run a single-user Mastodon instance and follow people from any other\ninstance. They can follow me as well. I can send emails from my personal\nserver to anyone on gmail, and vice-versa.\n\nWhere do I need to \"attract other users\" to my instance? It's quite the\nopposite!\n\n~~~\nTimJRobinson\nI thought you meant similar to hosting a forum or Lemmy like site.\n\nWith Mastadon if say I'm on another instance and the host of that instance\nblocks yours (because they don't agree with your politics or whatever) then\nwon't I be unable to see your feed? I'd have to setup my own Mastadon instance\nto get around this? What if I'm not technically inclined enough to do this?\nThen I'm subject to the whims of the moderators of the instance.\n\nWhat if I live in China and they block access to the biggest instances so I'm\ncut off from all the big communities and can't participate?\n\nWhat if an instance of Mastadon crashes and the admins can't be bothered\nrestoring it. As a user on that instance haven't you lost everything?\n\nThese are the problems decentralized networks are solving, being subject to\nthe whims of other people.\n\n~~~\nrglullis\n> With Mastadon (sic) if say I'm on another instance and the host of that\n> instance blocks yours...\n\nFirst: Mastodon, with an \"O\".\n\nSecond: I already had this discussion before. This \"blocking\" of instances is\nsomething that is going on only on Mastodon, AFAIK, because most of the\ncurrent members are conflating the idea of _federation_ with _tribes_. They\n_want_ to be insular at this point. This will change as soon as there are more\npeople using ActivityPub like email or Matrix and stop associating the\ninstances with the identities/ideologies of its members.\n\nSo, no. You won't _have_ to \"setup your Mastodon\" instance to get around this.\nYou _can_ do it, but you also _can_ just find a more professional hosting\nprovider that is not managed by a fourteen year old or tweenagers that love to\nspout their love for diversity and yet can only tolerate any conversation that\nis exactly aligned with their existing preconceptions of their uniform peer\ngroup.\n\n> What if I live in China and they block access to the biggest instances so\n> I'm cut off from all the big communities and can't participate?\n\nWhat if you live in China and they block the decentralized service altogether?\nWhat if they use the decentralized nature of the service and set up honeypots\nto find dissidents? \"Decentralized\" != \"Private\" != \"Secure\"\n\n> What if an instance crashes (...) the admins can't be bothered restoring it.\n\nIf it is important to you, _then_ (a) you run your own service or (b) you pay\nsomeone that actually cares about this. With a decentralized service, the only\nalternative you have is (a). Then not only _you_ have to make this choice, but\nalso _everyone_ that you would like to join the network.\n\nMy point all along is that federated systems are already enough for those that\ndo not \"want to be subject to the whims of other people\", while decentralized\nsystems shut out those that don't care about it or would rather trust/delegate\nthese concerns to someone else.\n\n\"Decentralized systems\" bring no benefit that can't be had by federated\nsystems and remove all sorts of free options from the potential users. It is\nlimiting instead of liberating.\n\n------\nbadrabbit\nSorry, don't like the name. Also, when you say a reddit alternative, to me it\ngives the impression that the redditor culture will remain so why would I\nsacrifice the content rich reddit for a new platform? Federation doesn't mean\nmuch to me as a user that justs wants [social]entertainment and news (and\ncommentary on them).\n\nThere's only one thing that can change my mind a little: if you guarantee\nemail is not and will never be required to sign up or use a feature. Edit: if\nyou think this is irrelevant, consider how both reddit (until recently) and HN\ndidn't require email for signup, also the majority lurker population and\nimportance of lurker-> user conversion. If email is your hill to die on, it\nwill also be mine and I hope a majority of lurkers' hill to die on against\nyou.\n\nAs a techie I support federated and decentralized systems but as a user, how\nthe platorm is architected is irrelevant, my experience is all I care about.\nAlso,how will it monetize? Ads? If so I will stay with reddit. Non-crypto\npayment? Yeah, crappy reddit is better.\n\n~~~\nmahathu\n>There's only one thing that can change my mind a little: if you guarantee\nemail is not and will never be required to sign up or use a feature.\n\nI'm not trying to play the devils advocate here, just genuinely curious: Why\ndo you (or anyone else) have such a strong opinion on not using emails for\nsigning up? Usually, when a service requires me to enter an email, I have no\nissue with using a service like 10minutemail and never checking that email\naccount again.\n\n~~~\nbadrabbit\nI have spoken about this many times on HN. It comes down to this: email is\nbeing used in many nefarious ways and it is an ancient protocol with many\ninsecurities. Anonymous email works for a bit but then every service worth\nusing starts banning the providers. Both reddit and HN prospered as a result\nof not requiring email, that should tell you a lot about how horrible it is.\nIt's on the same level as social security numbers being used as a secure\nsecret that identifies a person. Email was not meant to be abusef this way,\nand I have seen first hand how it can be used against people so I have chosen\nit as my figurative \"hill to die on\".\n\nNow, if I can give a limited use address that cant be tied to me as an\nindividual,expires after a period of time and messages are E2EE encrypted with\nno metadata leakage I don't mind that.\n\nI have spent almost an entire day trying to sign up to one service withour\nhaving to give up my phone number,real IP,creditcard or real email address to\nanyone as a challenge. I have tried countless anonymous email providers and\nsms code receiving services. I failed. Email abd phone number collection is a\nmodern tech evil for me.\n\n~~~\njudge2020\nThe problem is always 'how do i allow this user to reset their password', or\nmore 'how do i verifiably contact the user'/'how do i verify someone emailing\nsupport is who they say they are' \\- without email, it's completely on the\nuser to know and remember their password, something a lot of people can't do\n(and most don't use a p/w manager). HN does fine here since it's a 'tech'\ncommunity where the majority likely does use a password manager, and Reddit\ngets away with it since their UI is so quiet about the email being optional -\nalmost everyone thinks it's a required field since other websites require it\nand it looks just like the u/p field.\n\n~~~\nbadrabbit\nIf you choose to opt out of email then you also choose to opt out of email\nsupport and being able to reset passwords via email. Two factor auth solutions\nlet you store a one time recovery code for example that you write down or\nstore somewhere safe, that's one option if you care to support it but I\nwouldn't mind losing the email only features you mentioned either.\n\n~~~\nTulliusCicero\n> If you choose to opt out of email then you also choose to opt out of email\n> support and being able to reset passwords via email.\n\nAnd the users will get mad and blame the service provider. That said users are\ndumb/wrong or whatever is irrelevant, what matters to the business is that\nthey're pissing off users and getting a bad reputation. Thus, requiring emails\nfrom the user is entirely rational and in fact is a good business practice.\n\n~~~\nbadrabbit\nNo, making it a default makes sense. Users will not get mad if they get a\nwarning telling them email support will no longer be possible. Alternatively\nyou can opt with giving them a recovery code by which they can contact support\nor with which email will be enabled for an account when the user forgets their\npassword. The only time you can't turn on email on your account is if you lose\nthe password. Email is not secure, a user that has their login compromised is\nvery likely to also have their email compromised. Moreover, if their email is\ncompromised this completely silly dependence on email will get their account\non your site compromised as well so you should be using a non-email means of\nauthenticating users for support or account recovery!!\n\nEmail must die. No buts or ifs. It must die. You are a poor or ignorant\nengineer and architect if you build new things that depend on email in 2020.\n\nIf you give the most mediocre hacker 100 emails of users of your service that\ndepends on email for account security, I am confident he/she will compromise\nat least a 3rd of accounts.\n\n~~~\nTulliusCicero\n> Users will not get mad if they get a warning telling them email support will\n> no longer be possible.\n\nYes, they will. Most will not have even noticed the warning you put up.\n\n------\nTulliusCicero\nNeat, but the big test for a discussion platform like this is what happens\nwhen they get big enough to matter, to get the attention of journalists\nlooking for a scoop.\n\nIt's easy to slide by with haphazard (or no) moderation when you're small.\nDiscussion extremists (trolls, bigots, and the like) are less attracted to\nsmaller platforms; they'd prefer bigger ones, if any would take them.\n\nI'm curious what will happen with the central listing of communities if a\nparticularly vile community gains popularity. If there's a community\nunapologetically dedicated to, say, neo-nazism, and they like to do things\nlike praise Hitler or discuss ways they can kill racial minorities, do they\nstill get listed? How will others feel about that?\n\n~~~\nkixiQu\nwhy are there so many comments assuming that the point of this project is to\nfacilitate lighter moderation than Reddit has? the code of conduct on the site\nis pretty clear, actually.\n\nnow, can you start a federated instance with that kind of content? sure. but\njust like how none of the normal mastodon servers federate with Gab, no one\nwould have to federate with the cesspool.\n\n~~~\nTulliusCicero\nI think that sort of technical distinction might be lost in many when there's\na news report on how [platform] 'allows' bigots to spread hatred.\n\n------\nfernly\nSo sad, nobody remembers Imzy, the \"nice reddit\" founded by Dan McComas. It\nreally was nice, had highly varied, friendly communities and a pleasant UI.\nCouldn't get traction, apparently.\n\n[https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/05/imzy-the-nice-\nreddit...](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/05/imzy-the-nice-reddit-\nalternative-is-shutting-down.html)\n\n~~~\nzem\nI was unaware of imzy, but reading between the lines of that article the cause\nof demise seems to be \"not enough traction to be successfully run as a\nbusiness\". sounds like there were communities there who were using it and\nenjoying it, so the real failure was the expectation that it would get as\nlarge as reddit and sustain a business model, not in the lack of usefulness to\nits users.\n\n------\nmfkp\nNot a good sign when the website doesn't load:\n[https://i.imgur.com/Us1mwrD.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/Us1mwrD.jpg)\n\n~~~\nbo1024\nI had several problems trying to get the page to load. After allowing it to\nuse lots of javascript-related resources, it eventually loaded but took a\nwhile to display the actual text, on a fast internet connection. Unfortunate.\n\n------\nnickdothutton\nI’m hopeful something good will come of this. I wrote this about LinkedIn but\nmost of it could easily apply to a Reddit alternative, I love HN but would\nlove to see a broader platform that didnt become cancerous.\n[https://blog.eutopian.io/building-a-better-\nlinkedin/](https://blog.eutopian.io/building-a-better-linkedin/)\n\n~~~\nativzzz\n> didnt become cancerous\n\nUltimately any platform big enough becomes cancerous unless it has sponsors\nwho are willing to fund the platform without turning a profit, like HN is\nfunded by ycombinator (though notice how over time there are more and more\nhiring advertisements for ycombinator companies).\n\nThe bigger a platform becomes, the more expensive it becomes to maintain; the\npeople who were volunteers at first have to either monetize to be able to\ncontinue supporting the platform, or they have to sell the company to someone\nwho can support it.\n\nOnce money is brought into the equation, a community starts to slowly\ndeteriorate, as money slowly starts taking over all aspects of the platform,\nwhich is nothing more than human nature.\n\n~~~\nCan_Not\nThe hiring ads here seem completely relevant and appropriate for this forum.\nVery few other websites can say the same for their ads. YC saves money on\nrecruiter fees and job listing fees, you reach your target audience, and you\ndon't need tons of analytics.\n\n------\nmrfusion\nI think simply having a Reddit clone run by a non profit (or owned by the\nmembers themselves) would go a long way in promoting freedom and fixing the\nissues.\n\nI guess use a people solution instead of a technical one.\n\n~~~\ntennineeight\nThere is one made by previous Reddit admin/dev who understands how reddit\nworks. It is nonprofit, developed in open and all policy discussions go\nthrough community.\n\n[https://tildes.net/](https://tildes.net/)\n\n------\nstormdennis\nI'd like a \"reddit\" that wasn't a confusing mess to navigate on a browser on\nmy phone and wasn't always trying to get me to use the app. It could do worse\nthan take lessons from the design of HN. A separate HN clone for each\nsubreddit.\n\n~~~\nholler\ncheck out the site in my profile, brand new and under active development, but\nit's a responsive web app with goal of simplicity/low-friction\n\n------\nsuperkuh\n> JavaScript is required for this page.\n\nYeah, I'm out. That was a problem with the federated reddit-alike notabug.io\ntoo. It was just one giant javascript application, not html. And doing \"pre-\nrendering\" of the javascript on the host machine made the VPS costs too much\nto be tenable for people to federate.\n\n~~~\nLockAndLol\nPrerendering of the JavaScript? What do mean by that? Don't you mean\nprerendering HTML?\n\n~~~\nsuperkuh\nI do. I just worded it badly. I meant \"pre-rendering of the javascript\" to\nmean executing JS on the server and then sending the resulting actual\nhtml/css.\n\n------\nMattGaiser\nHow is this going to avoid becoming like Voat?\n\nReddit already has competitors. It is just that they are cesspools as the only\npeople who have a strong reason to leave reddit are those reddit has banned.\n\n~~~\nholidaygoose\nCan we try to figure out sociologically, why by default unmoderated social\nforums become far-right oriented?\n\nIs it because:\n\n\\- People on the far-right are magnitudes more vocal and active online than\nthose on the left? That they spend a magnitude more time posting and voting on\nthe internet?\n\n\\- Or when people are anonymous, they reveal their \"true selves\" more which\nexhibits more far-right (selfish, tribal, conservative) values.\n\n\\- Or we are underestimating how many people are on the far right, because\nthey are constantly censored so in our minds we think they are the minority\nbut maybe they're about half of the online population?\n\nI'm just trying to figure out why it takes herculean effort to shift things\nenough to the left to be publicly palatable. And if so, then then it seems\nlike any social forum is going to require heavy censorship/moderation to even\nbe tolerable to the general public.\n\n~~~\nwinstonewert\nI think it is because far-right is far less palatable than far-left.\n\nConsider two possible statements:\n\n1\\. Hitler wasn't that bad.\n\n2\\. Stalin wasn't that bad.\n\nI think, for most people, the first provokes a much more extreme reaction.\nBoth were objectively terrible human beings, but defending Hitler is seen as\nfar more extreme than defending Stalin.\n\nThis has two effects:\n\nFirstly, far-right people are continually kicked out of communities. Far-left\npeople are not. So any new unmoderated community is going to attract these\n\"refugees\"\n\nSecondly, nobody notices or cares when a community goes far-left. But its far\nmore noticeable when a community goes far-right.\n\n~~~\nrsynnott\nI think both of those examples would provoke a pretty extreme response in most\npeople, but sincere Stalinists just aren't very common, at all. You see a\n_bit_ of \"Stalinism was actually good\" stuff on the internet (weirdly,\noccasionally from the right; some more confused Russian nationalists have a\nbit of a Stalin fetish), but you'll see a lot more holocaust denial.\n\n~~~\ndevcouvert\n>but sincere Stalinists just aren't very common\n\nMaybe the figure-head isn't en vogue anymore. The methods are always popular.\n\nLeftists(Socialists, Communists, Anarchists) often publically revel in the\nidea of when \"the revolution comes\" to put anyone dissenting up against the\nwall or sending them to a Gulag camp of some sort. I don't find that exactly\nreassuring. Seeing how \"protesters\" in the US and Europe act like chinese Red\nGuards during the cultural revolution, this day doesn't seem far off.\n\nI'm reading the \"Three-Body Problem\" right now and the first chapter eerily\nreminded me of the current situation where not being enough of an \"ally\" to\nthe racial BLM movement is a thought-crime punishable by having your life\ndestroyed.\n\n------\nScottFree\nI'm extremely disappointed your icon isn't a picture of Lemmy from Motorhead.\n\n------\nbitL\nIs it possible to make fonts smaller to resemble old.reddit.com? My perception\nfield is vastly larger than the amount of text displayed (i.e. my brain can\nsearch for keywords without actually consciously focusing on them).\n\n~~~\nt-writescode\ncommand / ctrl + scroll-wheel?\n\n~~~\nbitL\nDid you even try it? Give it a go and enjoy unexpected UX, then come back...\n\n------\nsolarized\nI hate when reddit insist us to install mobile version from play store. Why\nyou guys follow the mainstream ?. Browser version just enough.\n\n------\nreadnews1\n\"Reddit alternative\" \"open source federated\"\n\nWhat is the difference between this and usenet\n\n~~~\ntakeda\nI agree with you that Reddit basically overlaps this area, but I don't think\naccess to Usenet is easy these days (ignoring paid services that are optimized\nfor downloading files).\n\nAlthough if anyone knows good servers (ISPs no longer seem to offer them) or\neven better a way to connect own server to Usenet, I'm interested.\n\n~~~\nu801e\nThere are still a few servers that allow one to access usenet to access text\nbased groups without a monthly fee. Barring that, you can access usenet\nnewsgroups via Google Groups (groups.google.com), but only via HTTP.\n\n------\ncateye\nThere is huge need for such an application.\n\nHope that it becomes moderately successful. If it becomes too successful, it\nwill become victim of it's success like Reddit.\n\n~~~\nnotkaiho\nIt will absolutely need popular support to attain some sort of critical mass,\nand not just among the cast-offs from other platforms, such as Gab, Parler\netc.\n\n------\nretpirato\nThe fact that Reddit is an echo-chamber is one reason I never joined, & never\nwill, but there are some communities that would be useful like the android &\nkustom subreddits, the former of which already exists on Lemmy. I'm only\nholding off with Lemmy because they don't (yet at least) have a privacy\npolicy, which to me is essential especially considering the nature of the\nsite. The fact that they didn't at least put up some sort of template of a\nprivacy policy before the site was ever available to the public when that's a\ncommon part of any site that provides accounts, as a way of informing you how\nthey will handle the data you give them, is very troubling to me.\n\n------\nbenbristow\nLooks nice. Really fast webapp too.\n\nCongrats team! Looking forward to tracking this project's development.\n\n~~~\nvinay427\nYou're not kidding. This webapp is so fast (after the initial load) that I\ngenuinely wouldn't be surprised if the Reddit mobile website intentionally\nadds sleeps/delays as some have jokingly suspected in the past. On this site,\nI can actually scroll through posts or collapse comment threads without\nwondering if my touch input and/or browser are frozen.\n\n~~~\nbserge\nNew Reddit doesn't need sleep/delays, it's already slow as molasses heh.\n\nIf not for old.reddit.com, my time on Reddit would've gone way down :/\n\n~~~\ntakeda\nMy understanding was that s/he was referring to the new UI. Actually Reddit\nmakes it hard to be on the old interface, I have to use browser extension to\ncompletely avoid the new UI.\n\n~~~\nbserge\nThere's a setting in preferences - as long as you're logged in, www.reddit.com\nlinks will still load the old design.\n\nLogged out though, yeah, I manually replace \"www\" with \"old\" whenever I open a\nlink...\n\nReddit is unavoidable these days since everyone's moved there and there's a\nlot of good content :/\n\n------\nerulabs\nCongratulations! Just discovering Lemmy! Federated software is excellent -\nI’ll have to write a home-hosting tutorial for this!\n\n------\nu801e\nI'm surprised not a single comment discussing Reddit alternatives mentioned\nUsenet (especially in terms of federation).\n\n~~~\nzzo38computer\nWell, now yours does, and thinking of federation, that is what I thought of,\ntoo. And, I think also, to be based on NNTP. I think at at least what should\nbe done includes: Use NNTP, and avoid namespace collisions if you are defining\nyour own newsgroups. I don't know how to request adding newsgroups to Big 8,\nor to the alt hierarchy, or others, but I invented the \"Unusenet\" convention\nfor avoiding namespace collisions, which I use on my own NNTP server. Make the\nweb pages contain the message ID, newsgroup name, and information to connect\nto the NNTP server, even if JavaScripts are disabled. Users who want NNTP can\nuse it even if they do not have a compatible browser. If you want to use\nMarkdown, add a \"Content-type: text/markdown\" header to articles that use\nMarkdown (and do not try to render articles without such a header as\nMarkdown), and preferably using a subset of Markdown without HTML.\n\n------\nthereyougo\nI tried few Reddit alternatives, most of them had the same problem: They\nattract many people who got banned from Reddit.\n\nA good solution will be to not allow (at least at the first few years) to open\na sub around politics.\n\n------\nmarkdown\nSo many noob mistakes in the UI and I haven't even started using the site\nproper.\n\nI see a link \"Create Community\", this takes me to a form where I get to create\na community. I spend time naming and describing this community, and then click\nthe Submit button. At this point it decides to tell me that I need to use\nlowercase for the community name.\n\nSo I fix that and hit Submit again. At this point I'm told I have to create an\naccount first. WTF, why didn't you tell me earlier? If I leave this page to\ncreate an account, will you preserve what I've filled into this form for when\nI get back? Why didn't you just add the necessary username/password fields to\nthis form at the same time you showed me the error?\n\nAnyway, so I click on the link that says Login/Signup and get a popup that\nsays \"Are you sure you want to leave?\" Now I have to click again to remove\nthis popup. Another wasted click and +1 to the \"annoyed\" meter. See above for\nhow this could have been avoided by just adding the login/signup forms to the\nform I just filled out to reduce friction.\n\nAnyway, so I create an account. And it turns out the site forgot everything\nI'd done before that. Why ask me questions (make me fill out a \"Create\ncommunity\" form) if you're going to immediately forget all my answers?\n\nAbsolutely no respect for the users time. Why would you do that when your very\nexistence depends on attracting more users?\n\n~~~\narcturus17\nThe problems in UX/UI in what I've tried span from fundamental interaction\ndesign down to code.\n\nI guess it's a young project, so lots can be improved. I think the problems\nyou mention are bad but they sound fixable.\n\nI'd think about contributing or at least start by running my own instance and\ntweaking the interface to my liking. I'll also need to check if Inferno is\nworth learning.\n\n------\nFreeTrade\nmember.cash is an interesting Reddit alternative. Not federated, but all the\ncontent is on a blockchain, so comments/users can't be censored, but users can\nfilter them.\n\n~~~\nryeights\nWhat happens when illegal content is posted? Is it stuck on the blockchain\nforever?\n\n~~~\nhkt\nSure is!\n\n------\nKye\nThis has ActivityPub (AP) support on its roadmap. I wrote a well-received[0]\nargument that AP could be the future:\n[https://kyefox.com/2020/04/09/activitypub-could-be-the-\nfutur...](https://kyefox.com/2020/04/09/activitypub-could-be-the-future/)\n\nI softened on it a little over the years since, but I think that was just the\ndearth of new things coming out that ran on it. Now I'm starting to think that\nwas just a reflection of the fact that the obvious, low-hanging fruit was\nhandled (write.as/Pixelfed/PeerTube/Mastodon) and the next round will take a\nwhile as people who got on later get ideas and develop them into something\nlike, for example, Lemmy.\n\n[0]\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22864029](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22864029)\n\n------\nbennysonething\nThe Reddit redesign made Reddit ridiculously unusable. Also like the web in\ngeneral the more users it got the horrible it became. The stardard of content\nfell through the floor. The stanard of comments did the same. It went from be\na pretty free market liberal types to angry left wing reactionaries over the\ncourse of a few years. It felt like the users got younger and younger until\none day I saw a pic bunch of high school students egged on by their teachers\nholding a \"socialism now\" banner, this was front page.\n\n~~~\nantepodius\nI think the lesson might just to move on from sites whenever they get too big\nand cancerous.\n\n------\nkenrose\n“Open source federated Reddit”\n\nMaybe I’m old, but isn’t this what Usenet was / is?\n\n~~~\nrisho\nI'm not sure that usenet could scale to the degree that reddit has. Part of\nwhat reddit does that makes it good(though it's both a blessing and a curse)\nis that a lot of the curation and moderation is handled by the community via\nthe upvote downvote system. That means that you don't need as much dedicated\nmoderation handling things which at the scale that some of the subreddits\noperate at is huge.\n\n------\nOptionX\n\"This is an Antifa instance\" stickied on the front page by an admin no less.\nIf I wanted a politicized cesspool reddit-clone I would just use Voat. Fail to\nsee the point.\n\n------\ndependenttypes\nThere is also [https://notabug.io/](https://notabug.io/) for anyone looking\ninto decentralized reddit alternatives.\n\n------\njwilber\nNginx bad gateway when I visit. Reassuring I guess that I’ll face the same\ndown issues I do now with or without funding.\n\n------\nfrankzen\nI'm convinced that implementing so-called \"free speech\" sites in public\ndoesn't work. Real free speech happens in closed networks, invite only. The\nonly downside is those take more time to grow.\n\n------\nshse\nAnother poorly crafted SPA app. Click on a post then go back and it jumps to\nthe top on its own. Sometimes there is just a blank screen. Please make it a\nsimple MVC app without JavaScript BS.\n\n------\nAeolun\nTheir 500 Exception homepage does not exactly inspire confidence.\n\n~~~\nMattGaiser\nI don't think it is reasonable to judge whether a product in development\ncurrently scales well.\n\n------\nembit\nOnce upon a time, open source federated reddit was called Usenet.\n\n------\noskenso\nI currently use this to host [https://emulator.news/](https://emulator.news/)\nthe docker support is on point :D\n\n------\nhighmastdon\nPlease, allow non-ws connection or fall back when it fails and stick to that\nalternative. When behind proxy/in VPN, I'm not able to use your website.\n\n------\nappleflaxen\nFor anyone looking at this type of web application, I believe dev.to has\nsimilar functionality and licensing, but also has a mobile app on both iOS and\nandroid.\n\n------\ncuddlecake\nI wonder why the developers of Lemmy decided to perform all the content\nrequests via WebSocket instead of HTTP.\n\nIs there anyone out there who can answer this?\n\n~~~\nholler\nObfuscation? I've seen this in other sites (discord comes to mind). Maybe\nthere's a hypothetical efficiency from reusing the websocket connection for\nall requests? for the site sqowk.im Im working on I use http for content\nrequests and websocket for realtime stuff\n\n------\northecreedence\nI think Lemmy needs to address this before it will get any wide acceptance:\n[https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/pull/816](https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/pull/816)\n\n~~~\n0x6c6f6c\nA profanity filter? Seems at best make it an optional preference, but why\nwould you _want_ to see offensive slurs by default?\n\n~~~\northecreedence\n> why would you want to see offensive slurs by default?\n\nIf I don't want to see offensive slurs, I won't associate with people who use\nthem. Let me decide what is a slur or not, and let me decide who to associate\nwith.\n\n------\nshawndumas\nThe “forgot password” link does not work. (On mobile so I did not dig in and\nsee if there were any errors in the console.)\n\n------\nEricson2314\nNLNet, the source of funding, is a truly superb institution that should be\nbetter known in the US.\n\n------\nsaltedonion\nUm. CSS isn’t loading on safari mobile. I hope this isn’t the actual\nexperience ?\n\n------\nIgorPartola\nThe problem with Reddit isn’t the technology. I mean, yes open source is good,\nand I want more of that. Even Android is a good thing even if only one company\nactively contributes to it. At least when you hit a bug or don’t understand\nhow something works, you can go read the code. But the problem with Reddit is\ncommunity management, and re-writing it won’t solve that.\n\nReddit has been a mostly free for all in terms of moderation, and it is\nexplicitly set up to allow thought bubbles, which gives rise to communities\nthat dox activists, that incite violence, that promote conspiracy theories,\netc. I love Reddit’s good parts and really detest its bad parts. Problem is\nthat you can only solve that with strong application of content guidelines, or\nby not even pretending to be a good place a la 4chan. There is no model as far\nas I’ve seen, not even an academic one, that allows for mostly moderation free\nor self-moderated content while also not prominently featuring at least one\nneo-Nazi group using it to communicate and coordinate.\n\n------\naabbcc1241\nHow does Lemmy compare to Mastodon, Zero Talk, and ZeroMe?\n\n------\nproc0\nLove the name, love Motorhead. Here's a Lemmy quote: \"Apparently people don't\nlike the truth, but I do like it; I like it because it upsets a lot of people.\n\"\n\n------\nest\nI think it tries to solve a problem reddit doesn't have. Reddit has a content\nparity problem, by making content distributed just makes the community stops\ngrowing.\n\nA new reddit alternative should think what makes Reddit useful in the first\nplace. A community drive social bookmarking. Today's Internet have large\nvolume of info hidden behind paywalls and walled gardens, something like\nThread Reader App could replace Reddit from ground zero.\n\n------\nimrelaxed\nSeems to be crashing on my end.\n\n~~~\nsq_\nSame here. Must be getting the HN hug of death.\n\n~~~\ngpm\n> dessalines (mod, admin, creator) 23 minutes ago\n\n> We have > 2200 connections to the server right now, its a DDOS. Rust seems\n> to be handling it fine, but the nginx is having issues.\n\n[https://dev.lemmy.ml/post/35712](https://dev.lemmy.ml/post/35712)\n\nSounds about right - I'm amused that whoever saw this thought it was a ddos\nthough.\n\ndessalines - if you're reading this - I expect looking at referrers would be a\ngood way to (manually) diagnose real attacks vs people becoming interested in\nyour site.\n\n------\nomnimus\nThere is also [https://tildes.net/](https://tildes.net/) that is also open-\nsource.\n\n~~~\nLockAndLol\nIs it federated though?\n\n------\nms4720\nI still miss nntp\n\n------\npaulcole\nAh, Diaspora 2.0.\n\n------\nrospaya\nAll this trouble instead of just ressurecting usenet.\n\n------\ncompanyhen\nI'm a fan of [https://tildes.net/](https://tildes.net/) \\- created by an ex-\nreddit employee (creator of AutoModerator)\n\n------\nsecondcoming\nAs an non-American, Reddit is in general, awful.\n\nIt's all \"Trump, Trump, Trump\" and tolerates anti-white sentiment. Actual\nconversations are rare, it seems to mostly be impressionable young people\ntrying to out-do each other in taking offence to things and being angry.\n\nIt seems you can't block subreddits like r/politics without making an account.\n\n/r/cpp has some good stuff sometimes.\n\nWhat would a reddit alternative bring? More of the same? No thanks.\n\n------\nartembugara\nThe website is down only for me\n\n------\ntaurath\nA federated reddit system needs ways to lock down user accounts. That it’s\nbasically 4chan in terms of anonymity gives too much of an open door to\nextremists and trolls. I don’t see any difference between this and voat except\nthe assumption of goodwill rather than being centered around right wing\nextremism.\n\n~~~\nposguy\nThe fediverse has proven quite resilient to trolls, bots and numerous other\nchallenges as users and instance operators can block other users and\ninstances, (or mute/content warn media) among numerous other moderation tools\nto prevent bad actors from destroying the signal to noise ratio of each\ninstance.\n\n------\njari_mustonen\nI hope that this will democratise political discourse. At the moment, people\nhaving opposing view to the main stream opinion are having exceedingly\ndifficult time sharing their content.\n\nReddit's main fault is their willingness to participate in politically\nmotivated banning. I'm talking about the fate of The_Donald. (There are also\nother examples.) Reddit first persecuted and then effectively banned\nThe_Donald because, in my opinion, Reddit is run by people who hate president\nTrump.\n\nIt's important to understand that the hate is not something that will go away\nafter Trump but it will be replaced by hate for the next guy. It's driven by\npolitical tribalism, not Trump.\n\nAs basically all social media platforms are doing the exactly same thing as\nReddit, we are not in a good place. We really can't allow our political\ndiscourse and views to be dictated by a handful of group thinking denizens of\nSilicon Valley blinded by political tribalism.\n\n~~~\nsneak\n> _It 's important to understand that the hate is not something that will go\n> away after Trump but it will be replaced by hate for the next guy._\n\nThis seems to presuppose that all presidents are equal in terms of the acts\nthey perform that generate hate or upset in the supporters of their political\nopponents.\n\nI don’t think that is true. Not all presidents have been, or need to be,\nculture warriors.\n\nIndeed, it would appear that Americans are way more united on a number of\n_huge_ issues now more than ever: COVID response, racial equality, economic\nrecovery.\n\nJust based on circumstance, I think whoever next holds the office of POTUS,\nregardless of party, stands to polarize people less than they have been in the\npast due to the fact that many, many people are in agreement about federal\ngovernment priorities right now.\n\nThat seems, to me, relatively unprecedented in recent times.\n\n------\nmynameishere\nSo, on my first and last visit to \"Lemmy\" I observed the admin \"nutomic\"\nproviding the world with his political philosophy:\n\n _Any platform that emphasises “free speech” will be full of fascists sooner\nor later_\n\nNo, I don't want to have anything to do with a website controlled by an\nunusually foolish five year old.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMac OS X for .NET developer? - goorion\nhttp://foreverframe.pl/mac-os-x-for-net-developer/\n======\ntracker1\nGrr... looks like this doesn't work in any of the major caching engines I've\ntried, and can't get to tfa. :-/\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWhat are your favorite about:config tricks for Firefox? - known\n\nMine are\nlayout.spellcheckDefault = 2\nssl_domain_display = 2\nbrowser.search.openintab = true\n======\njmount\nnetwork.prefetch-next = false (stops sites from being able to tell your\nbrowser to pre-fetch links, which seems like a large possible vulnerability,\nalso may skew visit statistics as Google uses it. my article on this:\n[http://www.win-vector.com/blog/2009/07/should-your-mom-\nuse-g...](http://www.win-vector.com/blog/2009/07/should-your-mom-use-google-\nsearch/) )\n\n------\nbakkerBart\nnetwork.http.proxy.pipelining = true Seems to make browsing through a Squid\nproxy (3.1.*+) much faster. Tried it with Polipo too, but I've been\nexperiencing crashes (of polipo) with proxy pipelining.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWould eating heavy atoms lengthen our lives? - bd\nhttp://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026841.800-would-eating-heavy-atoms-lengthen-our-lives.html\n======\npg\nIt's kind of funny that the related articles include another one with a\ncompletely different thesis:\n\n    \n    \n       Has universal ageing mechanism been found?\n    \n       A protein that causes yeast to age seems to have \n       a similar effect in mice too – the finding might \n       lead to drugs to reverse age-related diseases\"\n\n~~~\nbd\nIt's actually complementary, aging has many factors.\n\nHeavy water is supposed to make harder for free radicals to do damage in the\nfirst place.\n\nSirtuins should help with switching on repair mechanisms after damage is done.\n\nAnd then there are telomeres, our natural kill-switch. There is another\narticle, linked from the sirtuins one, about a possible way to slow down\ntelomeres shortening:\n\n[http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16035-elixir-of-\nyouth-...](http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16035-elixir-of-youth-drug-\ncould-fight-hiv-and-ageing.html)\n\nBTW All three anti-aging approaches have companies working on the products to\ncommercialize the research (Sirtris was recently bought by GlaxoSmithKline for\n$720M).\n\n~~~\nkajecounterhack\nWasn't there also some article about how people don't get dumber as they get\nolder, rather, their focus is less and less?\n\nSort of strange, but if that and all of this really turn out to be true,\nextending the human lifespan might not be as difficult as we make it out to\nbe.\n\n------\ndcurtis\nShow me the study where a researcher feeds some animal deuterated water and\nthen show how its life is extended by a statistically significant amount.\n\nBefore you can actually produce such a study, this entire article is\nsensationalist and the editors at New Scientist should be embarrassed to\npublish it.\n\nThe article says that up to 35% of body water can be heavy, but after that\npoint it becomes \"lethal.\" What exactly happens to make it lethal, and why has\nthe author assumed that it is \"harmless\" to drink small amounts? Where's the\nstudy showing that small amounts are \"totally harmless?\"\n\n~~~\nars\nNormally isotopes don't cause chemical changes, but with hydrogen they do.\nDeuterium is twice as heavy as hydrogen, so it moves slower, and is less\nreactive - for some reactions this can make a big difference. With the other\nisotopes the change in mass isn't anywhere near that.\n\n~~~\ndcurtis\nThis makes sense. But has any human being-- or any animal in nature-- ever\ningested deuterium in any significant amount? How can you not know if this\nwill change ever-so-slightly the way DNA transcription takes place, or\nexample?\n\nI just think it's kind of irresponsible for a reporter at a science\npublication to make cavalier statements about things like this-- \"It's\ncompletely safe...\"-- without having any science to back them up.\n\n~~~\nwheels\nIt seems like you didn't read most of the article. They specifically talked\nabout its effects on lab animals, including rats which had been brought up on\nheavy water.\n\n~~~\ndcurtis\nThe author never describes the results of those studies.\n\n------\nzby\nArticles on health are the worst. The pattern is so repetetive - first comes\nsome study that under some circumstances some substance or excercise of\nsomething would cause something - then comes the refutations and even articles\nabout the reverse effects. It is alwasy so sensationalistic and so unfounded.\nWhat I would like to read is a study about that effect - it has some pretty\nobvious causes - after all healt is something that everyone is very intimately\nconcerned about - but still I would like to read a detailed analysis of that\nmechanism.\n\n------\n13ren\n_Deuterated bonds can be up to 80 times stronger than those containing\nhydrogen._\n\nThat seems likely to alter chemical behaviour (as researchers found). I'm not\na chemist, but it seems reasonable to consider compounds with such bonds as\ndifferent compounds. Why should we think of carbon-12 and carbon-13 as\nvariations of carbon, instead of distinct elements - if they have different\n_chemical_ behaviour?\n\nThe blackbox testing tells us that 35% heavy water is lethal, but doesn't tell\nwhy. It's possible - and even likely - that it is the very bonds we wish to\nprotect that become lethal if strengthened 80 times.\n\nThe final \"heavy babies\" grayed paragraph at the end is fascinating (in case\nyou skipped it: babies have more carbon-13, and their mothers are unusually\ndepleted with it around the time of birth.)\n\n~~~\nyummyfajitas\nThey are both variations of carbon because they have the same electronic\nstructure, i.e. the configuration of electrons about C-12 and C-13 is\nidentical (or similarly H-1 and H-2).\n\nI'll make a bad analogy now.\n\nThe electronic structure is like a set of hooks attached to the atom. Hydrogen\nhas 1 free hook, carbon 4, and these hooks form chemical bonds. Hydrogen and\ndeuterium have the same set of hooks, as do C-13 and C-14. But deuterium is\nheavier than hydrogen, and this makes it harder to unhook it when it attaches\nto another atom, even if the set of hooks is identical.\n\n~~~\n13ren\nSorry, that was a suggestion phrased as a question (i.e. I know what isotopes\nare). I was suggesting a name that signifies operational properties rather\nthan \"the\" definition of what it is. If heavy water became commonly available,\nthis would undoubtedly occur.\n\nIt's like features vs. benefits, which I've been working with over a few\nweeks, to understand the need for my product, and the gaps left by existing\noffers in the marketplace. Quite possibly, I'm thinking _too much_ in those\nterms :-)\n\n------\njhancock\nI prefer them because they have more crunch and don't get as soggy as the\nlighter atoms after 5 minutes sitting in milk.\n\n------\nearthboundkid\nThis is an idiotic idea and will lead to a) expensive piss, sweat, and breath\nor b) some horrible disease caused by overly slow chemical reactions. Maybe\nboth.\n\n~~~\nmindslight\nCould always recycle ...\n\n------\nryanb\nSounds like a neat idea worth experimenting - this is obviously very early on\nin the process though.\n\n------\nlst\nI prefer Eternal Paradise to some other decade on this violent Planet.\n\n~~~\nlst\nP.S. In case you are atheist: if you can scientifically prove that Eternal\nParadise does not exist, I'll be glad (or so) to hear from you!\n\n(Side note: the current situation on our Planet is still that much more than\n50% of currently living souls actually do believe in God/Good/Heaven/Paradise;\nand the already gone ones, actually already _know_ _exactly_!)\n\n~~~\nmindslight\nSorry, science doesn't work that way. It's your job to give evidence that some\nsort of afterlife exists.\n\n~~~\nlst\n(There was a message hidden in there!)\n\nTo _not_ believe in afterlife, you explicitly have to _not_ believe it, so\neven the denying of afterlife is based on a (negative) _faith_.\n\nAtheists don't seem aware of being their position a simple _negative_ faith\nresponse to a _positive_ faith.\n\n~~~\nmindslight\nIf you're talking about \"strong\" atheism (asserting that no god exists) then\nyes, this is an act of faith as well.\n\nBut \"weak\" atheism is merely a rejection of theism. It is not a proposed\nhypothesis, but a rebuke of unsupported hypotheses.\n\n~~~\nlst\nSorry, but this is already sophistication (in the archaic sense).\n\nAll things that happen _must_ have a cause.\n\nEven Big Bang had its Cause. And since the exact definition of God is: \"The\nonly one not caused by anything, but simply 'cause' of Itself\", there's no\nescape here...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMarkdown CSS styles - bretthardin\nhttps://github.com/mixu/markdown-styles\n======\njasonm23\nWould be nice if Mixu had provided some credits for those who he's\nappropriated from.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDon't make me choose my country: Add geolocation to forms with three lines of JS - ascorbic\nhttps://mk.gg/add-geolocation-to-form-elements/\n======\nascorbic\nI was inspired to write this by a comment on HN. It's super-easy to\nprogressively enhance your address forms.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow to Reinstall macOS on a Fusion Drive - kartickv\nhttps://medium.com/@karti/how-to-reinstall-macos-on-a-fusion-drive-73713b97183f\n======\njjjbokma\nRelated: [http://johnbokma.com/blog/2019/06/08/clean-install-mojave-\nfu...](http://johnbokma.com/blog/2019/06/08/clean-install-mojave-fusion-\ndrive.html)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBlog subdomain or subdirectory? Hint: one is 40% better - mymmaster\nhttps://buttercms.com/blog/blog-subdomain-or-subdirectory-hint-one-is-40-better\n======\nnumberwhun\nThe link is already down with a 502 error. I guess they are using the one that\nisn't 40% better. :)\n\n------\nmymmaster\nHa. Looks like it's back up.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Organizations keep trying to give me money for a thing I made - rianjs\ntl;dr- How do you engage with VARs in a way that will get their attention?<p>In the last two years, several organizations has asked to license a medical spell check dictionary that I made years ago. After exchanging emails, I lost two of those, because I priced my product too high, and the third I landed (Indiana University School of Medicine), but I charged too little. (I&#x27;m OK with this, because it helps with credibility.)<p>I&#x27;ve got my pricing hammered out now, and I have a designer working on a home page, which should make it easy for individuals to buy. It comes with a real installer and works with Chrome, Firefox, and Windows &amp; Office in a way that would be difficult to do by hand, and in a way that the competitors don&#x27;t (despite their WAY higher prices).<p>- Much more competitive pricing<p>- Updates at a regular cadence with discounted yearly contract pricing. (= recurring revenue for me)<p>- Existing penetration is very high (tens of thousands of downloads), and most inquiries occur because their employees or students are asking for it<p>- Tooling geared for enterprises (deployable MSI)<p>- More features: works with all the major browsers, not just Windows&#x2F;IE&#x2F;Edge&#x2F;Office<p>Well I got an email out of the blue the other day from a middleman in the UK who wants to license my product for use with computers that they distribute. (They&#x27;re a distributors to other distributors, I believe.) They do quite a lot of disabled student allowance stuff, and they liked my pricing much better than the alternatives. I have a meeting with them next week.<p>They&#x27;re VAR-ish, and it got me wondering how I could establish relationships with VARs here in the US as well. Do you have any advice on how to get the attention of a Staples or WB Mason or other VARs?\n======\n11thEarlOfMar\nAssuming that $5.99 is a license that you get for each user...\n\n\\- For outbound marketing and finding VARs, I'd do some research into the wide\nvariety of software that hospitals and health care facilities use and then\nlook into the channels they are purchased through. Follow the chain back to\nthe devs and it is likely that one of those intermediate businesses would be\ninteresting to talk to as a VAR candidate. Then it's a matter of phone,\ne-mail, tweet, or whatever works to get through and talk to them.\n\n\\- For inbound marketing, your web site and standard SEO practices should\nsuffice.\n\n\\- Look for trade shows to attend both to identify software in the domain that\ncould use your dictionary, and also identify VARs and distributors.\n\n\\- If you find a large enough variety of companies to target, focus on the\nones that are 2-5 times larger than your largest to date. I.e., try to catch\nlarger and larger fish until you're knocking on the doors of the biggest\ncatches. And in any case, don't be surprised if you catch the eye of someone\nin the largest ones who is willing to sponsor you at that business.\n\nOnce you've found them and they are interested in signing up...\n\n\\- Be sure your VAR agreements give you solid protection and a clear way to\nterminate.\n\n\\- Ask for an annual unit estimate.\n\n\\- Require a minimum payment that represents an amount that is worth your time\nto support that VAR. Get that minimum payment at the beginning of the year.\n(sounds like you're getting recurring revenue for updates already, so maybe\nthis is already handled)\n\n\\- Figure out what it would cost for them to make it themselves or have\nsomeone else to make it for them. If they do a lot of business with you, at\nsome point, a VP or GM is going to look at the amount they are paying you and\nsay 'why are we paying so much for this, we should build it ourselves and\nreduce cost'. For example, if your feature took you 1 man-year to develop and\na customer is buying 20,000 license/year, they are paying $100,000/year. They\nmay figure they can pay someone to build it for them for $100,000 and see an\nROI beginning in only one year.\n\n\\- If getting 'designed out' is a realistic outcome, offer fixed annual\npricing below that threshold (with payment at the beginning of the year), or,\noffer a buy-out where they pay a large amount one time and then a small annual\nfee for updates thereafter.\n\n\\- If the revenue amount is large, look into copyrights and other IP\nprotection.\n\n\\- If there is a low barrier to entry, be alert for competitors. Bank a\nportion of the revenue. Be receptive to exiting.\n\nHope that is helpful.\n\nGood luck!\n\n~~~\nrianjs\n> I'd do some research into the wide variety of software that hospitals and\n> health care facilities use and then look into the channels they are\n> purchased through\n\nI've done a little of this, and it's surprisingly difficult. :)\n\n> Follow the chain back to the devs and it is likely that one of those\n> intermediate businesses would be interesting to talk to as a VAR candidate.\n\nHmm, this is an interesting idea. I bet systems like EPIC have use third-party\nsubcomponents. It's quite likely that it would be less expensive for them to\nuse my product than maintain their own. (If indeed it's an in-house effort.)\n\n> For inbound marketing, your web site and standard SEO practices should\n> suffice.\n\nI'm already #1 on Google for most of the common search terms, using an\nanonymous browsing window. So I could do more of that, but I think\npartnerships is where the actual money is. I think selling to individuals will\nbasically be small potatoes by comparison.\n\n> focus on the ones that are 2-5 times larger than your largest to date.\n\nGood idea. I have quite a few friends from pharmacy school that work for large\npharmaceutical companies, and we're all old enough now that a lot of them have\npurchasing power. :)\n\n> Be sure your VAR agreements give you solid protection and a clear way to\n> terminate\n\nAnother thing to learn about.\n\n> Figure out what it would cost for them to make it themselves or have someone\n> else to make it for them. If they do a lot of business with you, at some\n> point, a VP or GM is going to look at the amount they are paying you and say\n> 'why are we paying so much for this, we should build it ourselves and reduce\n> cost'. For example, if your feature took you 1 man-year to develop and a\n> customer is buying 20,000 license/year, they are paying $100,000/year. They\n> may figure they can pay someone to build it for them for $100,000 and see an\n> ROI beginning in only one year.\n\nThis would be hard, because health care changes all the time and new words are\nquite literally invented daily. I have largely automated the ingestion and\nfiltration of new words, but it does take a few hours of effort every week to\nkeep on top of it. (At the end of the day, a human has to determine what's\nreal and what isn't. There's a surprising number of typos and misspellings in\npeer-reviewed journals.) So it's not necessarily a set-and-forget, but the\ndata gathering, normalization, and sorting basically is. It would make\nvirtually no sense for even a very large company to develop this internally.\nIn fact, most large companies don't pay for spell check software at all.\n(C.f.: lots of misspellings in peer-reviewed articles.) But there _is_ a\nmarket for it. An EMR company was the first to contact me; I suspect they\ndon't have existing solutions, because the alternatives are $60/seat and up.\n\nI WAS thinking about an unlimited site license. Say you're an EMR company, and\nyou have 300,000 licensed installations... you pay me I dunno $50K/yr max, and\nyou can integrate it into as many instances of your software as you want.\nExact figures would need to be thought about more.\n\n> If there is a low barrier to entry, be alert for competitors. Bank a portion\n> of the revenue. Be receptive to exiting.\n\nI've thought about the exit angle. I would consider offers. But this is\nactually just a hobby. I have no intentions of quitting my day job anytime\nsoon, because this project is so low effort. I wrote software to automate most\nof the annoying bits, and I wrote more software to make the annoying-but-cant-\nbe-automated bits less annoying.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLambda Tutorial (2016) - ziyao_w\nhttp://www.nyu.edu/projects/barker/Lambda/\n======\neindiran\nThe author of this tool is Chris Barker -- back in 2015, I took his course on\n\"Continuations and Natural Language\" at the LSA. He's working on a lot of\nreally cool stuff, so its fun to see him pop up here. The class was a summary\nof the research he had been doing at that time; the central idea was that some\nconstructions in natural language can interact with their own\ncontinuations[0], dynamically changing their scope and arguments in much the\nsame way that continuations in e.g. Lisp work. Here is a paper where he\nintroduces the idea quite clearly:\n[https://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~hxt/cw04/barker.pdf](https://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~hxt/cw04/barker.pdf)\n\n[0]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuation)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Remod, like chmod but for human beings - skainswoo\nhttps://github.com/samuela/remod\n======\nstephenr\nReally? What is hard about “u=rw;g=r;o=“ etc - literally no calculations\ninvolved.\n\nThis “reinvent things that already work fine but in javascript” is getting\nold.\n\n------\nhelb\nI've never felt the need for chmod UI, especially with ZSH's Tab completion\n([https://asciinema.org/a/249373](https://asciinema.org/a/249373)), but… well,\nwhy not.\n\nHow does it handle multiple files?\n\nedit: oh\n\n    \n    \n        $ remod tmp/*\n        Unexpected arguments!\n\n~~~\nskainswoo\nHi @helb, author here. ZSH's tab completion looks awesome! I'm not a ZSH user\nso I wasn't aware of that but I'm happy something similar exists in that\necosystem.\n\nRe multiple files: I've thought about this a little, but I'm not sure how the\nUI would best represent the (potentially conflicting) permissions of multiple\nfiles. Open to suggestions however! In those situations I personally use remod\nto remind myself of the proper chmod command, and then copy-paste-run the\nchmod command with whatever edits are necessary.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nA Panoramic Tour of Factor (2015) - kencausey\nhttp://andreaferretti.github.io/factor-tutorial/\n======\npolm23\nI was under the impression Factor had been abandoned, but it seems things are\npretty lively on git:\n\n[https://github.com/factor/factor/commits/master](https://github.com/factor/factor/commits/master)\n\n------\nagumonkey\nOh so slava pestov is not in Swift's team\n[https://github.com/slavapestov?tab=contributions&from=2016-0...](https://github.com/slavapestov?tab=contributions&from=2016-02-05)\n\n------\nAvshalom\nI haven't played with it in years... I forget how seductive Factor is to think\nabout.\n\n~~~\neggy\nI always go back to it to try something I've done in another language. I have\nnot attempted anything big with it, but that is due to my concatenative\nlanguage skills rather than any limitation by Factor.\n\n------\nkencausey\nAnother take on this (for Forth and concatenative languages in the abstract):\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11377604](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11377604)\n\n------\nChris2048\nIs Factor similar to Q or KDB, ie APL-like?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSummer of Design: \"Design for Hackers,\" week by week - ph0rque\nhttp://summerofdesign.com/\n\n======\nbbalfour\nI really like these week by week courses that are coming out. I have a lot of\nthings I want to learn, so the cadence and content size of the weekly chunks\nis perfect. I'm looking forward to this one. I'd love to hear what other\ncourses people have come across around different subjects.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMIT Expert Highlights 'Divergent Condition' Caused by 737 Max Engine Placement - chethiya\nhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2019/04/02/mit-expert-highlights-divergent-condition-caused-by-737-max-engine-placement/#697103940aab\n======\ncjbprime\nI agree that there should be three AoA sensors, as Airbus already has, if\nyou're going to connect the AoA sensors to a control surface.\n\nBut Hansman's comment seems (very surprisingly) inaccurate, because my\nunderstanding is that the MAX is not actually aerodynamically unstable: the\nlift from the nacelles results in a non-monotonic backpressure on the yoke as\nAoA increases, and that violates airworthiness regulations on yoke handling.\nBut the plane isn't going to fly itself into a stall. The pilot has to do that\nby pulling back on the yoke at high AoA (and with less backpressure than a 737\npilot would expect).\n\nThat's not an unstable plane, in the sense that the B-2 bomber is unstable.\nIt's just a plane that handles differently to pilots who originally trained on\ndifferent but related planes.\n\n------\nchethiya\nSo this aircraft is more prone to stall and crash compared to other aircrafts\nafter this update?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nUS debt default and what it would mean - eande\nhttp://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2011/01/what_a_debt_default_would_mean.html\n\n======\neande\nJust reading that article turns my stomach. Personally I can not believe this\nwill happen, but just the pure fact that the Congress is talking about it\ntells the story how serious the situation is.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAmazon Said to Plan Premium Alexa Speaker with Large Screen - kjhughes\nhttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-29/amazon-said-to-plan-premium-alexa-speaker-with-large-screen\n======\nzitterbewegung\nI wonder how they are going to adapt the API for screens ? Maybe expand the\ncard API ?\n\n~~~\npayne92\nThat's my guess. If you check out the Alexa that's built into the current gen\nFire TV stick, you can see how they are already offering visual responses to\ngo with the audio.\n\n------\ndwyerm\nI am super excited about this, but I'd be very cautious about expectations.\nI've already gotten torn up in social media for trying to explain how an\nambient information display is a Good Thing (think a clock or a calendar or a\nthermometer), without being something you necessarily interact with.\n\nThe second someone asks, \"Why don't I just get a tablet, then?\" you know\nthey've missed it. They need to build a Chumby, not an iPad... but if the\nmarket is expecting an iPad, they're going to be sorely disappointed.\n\n...and if the market is disappointed, then I'm going to miss out on a great\nreplacement for my long-in-the-tooth Chumby8.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nMicrosoft brings Google war to Kansas - maudlinmau5\nhttp://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-brings-google-war-kansas-010115788.html\n\n======\neliben\nTL;DR Microsoft, who's forgotten what innovation is in the past 10 years and\nis hanging by a thread in a declining market, engages in the one thing it\nstill knows and loves to do - FUD campaigns against their more successful and\ninnovative competitors.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWashington Post Site Hacked After Successful Phishing Campaign - jessaustin\nhttp://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/08/washington-post-site-hacked-after-successful-phishing-campaign/\n======\njessaustin\nHa-ha, way to throw the sportswriter under the bus: \"...I never entered any\ncreds, I’m stupid, but not THAT stupid.\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nRebasing Is an Anti-Pattern - smartmic\nhttps://fossil-scm.org/home/doc/trunk/www/rebaseharm.md\n======\nhinkley\nThe elephant in the room with SVN was that merging two branches repeatedly was\nfraught with errors that just seemed to grow quadratically. It was part of why\nwe were on the verge of assigning dedicated maintainers for each release\nbranch so that people only had to recall how the code works now and on their\nrelease.\n\nI think people see rebasing as a way to subtract from N. If you have another\nway that everyone can be trusted to handle 3+ way merges handily and\nunconfusingly, then it’s a matter of retraining people.\n\nIf not, well...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nGoogle Eyeing 10% Market Share For Chrome. - edw519\nhttp://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/16/google-eyeing-10-market-share-for-chrome-mac-version-due-by-the-end-of-the-year/\n\n======\nbuugs\n>While I think I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t like Chrome\n\nI have and they aren't always firefox extension users.\n\n~~~\nenomar\nWhat specifically didn't they like? I'm sure you can find someone to dislike\njust about anything.\n\n~~~\ndantheman\nChome slows to a crawl when you have a lot of tabs open >70 in my personal\nexperience\n\n~~~\nujjwalg\ni love the fact that how innocently you mention >70 tabs\n\n~~~\nredorb\nyeah please give me a real use case for 70+ tabs that doesn't involve a PHD\nresearch paper :)\n\n~~~\nderefr\nTVTropes. (Or Everything2, or Wikipedia, or...) Basically, using the tab bar\nas a \"to read next\" queue as you spider a heavily linked graph. The real\nsolution to this, though, isn't reducing memory usage, but rather avoiding\npreloading tabs opened in the background once you hit a certain threshold.\n\n------\nEliezer\n10% they say? And internal projections are even higher? This sounds like a use\nfor corporate prediction markets to me. I'd bet against that.\n\n------\nknown\nAt present Chrome has 2.84% market share.\n[http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser-market-\nshare.aspx?qp...](http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser-market-\nshare.aspx?qprid=0)\n\n------\ntocomment\nIt sounds like a minor thing, but I hate when I highlight text in chrome,\nright click and select to search, it opens the new tab in the forefront. I\nwant it in the background like Firefox does.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Secret Life of Time - sergeant3\nhttp://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/12/19/the-secret-life-of-time\n======\nempath75\nIt might be interesting to consider how and whether time is relevant to\ncomputation. For example-- does time have an arrow on a computer?\n\nIt does, for at least two reasons: 1) Computation physically produces heat and\nincreases entropy. 2) Many operations lose information -- for example XOR's\ncan't be run backwards to reproduce the original inputs.\n\nPeople have tried to tackle both issues with reversible computing.\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversible_computing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversible_computing)\n\nSomeone even wrote a programming language that was (logically) time-\nreversible:\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janus_(time-\nreversible_computi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janus_\\(time-\nreversible_computing_programming_language\\))\n\n~~~\nazeirah\nDoes having a time-reversible programming language mean that if you start with\nthe output of a given program, you can run the program backwards and get the\ninput?\n\nThis would be useful outside of research. Though, I expect the memory usage\nwill be ridiculous.\n\n~~~\nconistonwater\nIsn't that already a thing, if you really want it? [1,2,3]\n\n[1]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retroactive_data_structures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retroactive_data_structures)\n\n[2]\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0yzrZL1py0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0yzrZL1py0)\n\n[3]\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqCWghETNDc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqCWghETNDc)\n\n------\ngloriousduke\nStill working through the article, but it reminded me of the presumable fact\nthat everything that happened before the first conscious entity existed in the\nUniverse was essentially instantaneous. Same goes for time's forward\ndirection. Without consciousness, i.e. with a perfect form of stasis, one\ncould time travel to just before the heat death of the Universe in an instant.\n\nJohn Archibald Wheeler took this idea even further with the PAP, the\nParticipatory Anthropic Principle.\n\n~~~\neternalban\nYou are asserting that \"the Universe\" can exist without a \"conscious entity\".\n\n~~~\ndboreham\nA Whale, of course.\n\n~~~\neternalban\nOr a potted plant.\n\n------\nlisper\nThe passage of time is an emergent property of quantum entanglement. Yes, I\nknow that sounds like new-age hooey, but it's actually based on solid science:\n\n[http://blog.rongarret.info/2014/10/parallel-universes-and-\nar...](http://blog.rongarret.info/2014/10/parallel-universes-and-arrow-of-\ntime.html)\n\n[UPDATE] I would really appreciate if those of you who are downvoting this\ncomment would tell me why.\n\n------\nsjbase\n“Where is it, this present? It has melted in our grasp, fled ere we could\ntouch it, gone in the instant of becoming.”\n\nIt might be a stretch, but this seems like a small glimpse of the concept of a\ntime differential ('dt'), a thousand years before the math existed to describe\nit explicitly.\n\n~~~\nRetra\nMost ideas don't have explicit mathematical descriptions. Why would this one\nbe more notable than any other?\n\n------\nkrzrak\nFascinating article. Great, long read.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDNC Staffer got pop-up messages alerting of “state-sponsored actors” - Shank\nhttp://arstechnica.com/security/2016/08/dnc-staffer-got-pop-up-messages-alerting-of-state-sponsored-actors/\n======\ntonysdg\nPutting aside the politics of the situation, how exactly does the DNC continue\nto get hammered by apparently-malicious actors without making major changes to\ntheir information security practices? My understanding is that the hacks are\non-going and persistent - after several weeks of this being in the news, and\npossibly being aware of it for months, why haven't they been able to harden\ntheir systems enough to repel at least a few of these attacks?\n\nOr am I completely misinterpreting the news reports I keep hearing from the NY\nTimes, ArsTechnica, etc.?\n\n~~~\nyompers888\nIt's most likely that people with authority in the organization refuse to\nacknowledge the scope of the problem. People get upset about having to reset\npasswords, so imagine how they feel about being told to reformat or get\nentirely new machines. And frankly, those may not be viable options, because a\ncompetent and well-backed adversary will probably find their way in, even if\nyou set them back at the starting line.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Your stack of choice for web development? - glazskunrukitis\n\nI would like to know what <i>stacks</i> are you using for web development. Things are changing fast and new technologies are emerging every other day so it's interesting to watch what comes out of it.<p>Node.js + NoSQL?\nGo?\nLAMP?\n...\n======\nmindcrime\nMost of the Fogbeam Labs stuff - that's web based - is built using\nGroovy/Grails, with PostgreSQL as the persistent store, and HTML/CSS/JS on the\nfront-end with JQuery and Bootstrap. Lucene is heavily used for search.\n\nLooking to the future a bit, I'm sure we'll be gradually introducing more\nHTML5 stuff, and might start looking at angular.js or ember.js for some of the\njavascript centric front-end stuff. On the backend, there will probably be\nsome places where we introduce a graph database, perhaps Neo4J. We'll also be\ndoing more and more with Hadoop, Mahout, OpenNLP and UIMA in the not-too-\ndistant future.\n\n------\nEnderMB\nI am both a front-end and back-end coder for a digital agency.\n\nWe have some huge clients that require legacy browser support (IE6 and above)\nso it's a mix of typical front-end stuff, a ton of VM's for testing and if\nwe're working on a new build website with no history or few existing users\nusing legacy browsers some Backbone.js, Modernizr and LESS/SCSS. Like most\ndevelopers, we use a lot of jQuery and custom JS on our sites, but we also\nmake sure our sites function correctly when JS is disabled.\n\nThe back-end stack is ASP.NET using C#. As we have a mixture of inter-agency\nwork and our own stuff we use a bit of everything really. Sometimes we use\nEntity Framework, sometimes we're limited to .NET 2 and sometimes we're\nworking on large-scale websites using Sitecore. The main CMS of choice is\nUmbraco, and over the past couple of years I've really started to enjoy using\nit. The IDE of choice is, obviously, Visual Studio 2010, and with ReSharper\ninstalled I'm yet to use anything even remotely as good.\n\nFor personal projects I tend to use Python and Django. I've toyed with writing\nsome tools using Google App Engine as the primary store, but I usually work\nwith PostgreSQL. Version control wise, at home I'm a Git guy, whereas at work\nwe use Mercurial. Most of my code is written using Komodo Edit and PyCharm.\nI've got a few desktop projects I'm looking to start soon, and I'm hoping to\neither use F# or Haskell, depending on whether I can fix my Ubuntu box or\nwhether I'm limited to my Windows 7 box.\n\n------\naqsis\nDepends a lot on the needs of the client. Some have preferences on the\ndevelopment language, deployment setup, etc. I tend to mix and match the\nfollowing...\n\nGroovy/Grails, Java/Spring, Ruby/Rails, Python/Django|Tornado|Web2Py, Node.js,\nMeteor\n\n&\n\nMySQL|PostgreSQL|Sqlite, MongoDB\n\nHaven't had to do anything requiring significant amounts of message passing\nyet, so no ZeroMQ, RabbitMQ yet.\n\n------\netats\nProudly still using lamp. I don't see the benefits of switching to something\nnew outweighing the enormous learning curve. But lots of people who choose\nthese new technologies are brand new to development, so they don't have a\nlearning curve.\n\n------\njeromche\nAlso using LAMP. For small websites/campaigns I tend to use a CodeIgniter\nback-end with jQuery and Twitter Bootstrap front-end. For bigger things a\nseparation into an API and a client helps to keep it clean so a Kohana RESTful\nback-end that communicates through JSON with a Backbone front-end.\n\n------\ning33k\nIn my current project, we are using Symfony2 ( PHP ) + MySQL, Redis, Neo4j in\nthe backend and recently started to use Angular.js in the frontend. frondend\nmvc is taking a lot of our time.\n\n------\niends\nStartup I formerly worked for: Python/Django\n\nCurrent fortune 500: Java/Dojo\n\nPersonal Project #1: Python/Django/Backbone\n\nPersonal Project #2: Node\n\n------\nDevlin_Donnelly\nHTML/CSS/JS + JQuery on the Front-end with Perl and my own custom Web package\nusing XML files for data storage on the backend.\n\n------\nravikishore1993\nHTML , CSS , JS -> JQuery for front-end . PHP , Phpmyadmin + PDO for backend\n\n------\nwillfarrell\nAngularJS + RESTler (PHP) + memSQL\n\n------\neterps\nRESTful backend in Sinatra+ROAR\n\n------\nbr0ke\nfreebsd, apache, sbcl, ucw, postgresql/cl-store, bootstrap, jquery\n\n------\ntferris\nnode + express\n\n------\nmouseroot\npython + web.py\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nMobile Banks in the Developing World Prove Simpler is Better - philf\nhttp://radar.oreilly.com/2009/09/mobile-banks-in-the-developing-world-prove-simpler-is-better.html\n\n======\nknown\nWhy don't we see mobile gas stations?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGlass discs that can store 360TB and remain intact for billions of years (2016) - elorant\nhttps://www.disclose.tv/these-5d-glass-discs-store-360-tb-of-data-for-138-billion-years-370041\n======\nYayamiOmate\nI dunno, but it seems to me universities increasingly focus on press releases\nand marketing departments...\n\n5D and 13.8 billion years? Phony. I know no sane scientist or enigneer that\nwould say they use more than 3D physics. Sounds like catch phrases to sell.\nWith such logic plain old HDD is at least 4D, because it uses CHS coordinates\nand magnetic orientation, to store data.\n\nTo me such communication style undermines the real scine behind it. Do they\nhave nothing better to brag about than excuses to call invention 5D? Why\nintroduce such noise?\n\n~~~\nlvh\nYes, 13.8Gy is the approximate age of the universe and yes the researchers\nused that number. But it's not like they made this up (\"phony\", as you put\nit)!\n\nTurns out the biggest decay factor is nanograting and the biggest contributing\nphysical quantity is temperature. They plotted what decay would look like on\nan Arrhenius plot. They both computed estimates and measured to confirm: the\nmeasurements are quite accurate. The specific claim is that they computed that\nit would last 13.8Gy at a some reasonably high temperature (462K). They\ncould've picked any other point on the time/temp scale, like \"here's how long\nit would last at room temperature\" or \"here's how hot you could store it if\nyou only cared about it for a billion years\".\n\nThey did not, however, simply make up a number with no justification, let\nalone commit straight-up academic fraud, as you're implying.\n\nThe paper is here:\n[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297892219_Eternal_5...](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297892219_Eternal_5..).\n\n~~~\ngnode\nI don't think they meant it was fraud, just that it's sensationalist drivel.\nIt's choosing a way to interpret results for the sake of sounding impressive,\nrather than improving understanding.\n\nChoosing a temperature in order to say \"this will last as long as the\nuniverse's current age\", or finding ways to count extra dimensions is the\nbehaviour of marketeers, not academics.\n\n~~~\nlvh\nAnd yet, I pulled those claims out of the paper, which I linked. Are you\nsuggesting Peter G. Kazansky, a research professor with over two decades of\nexperience in optics, does not count as an academic? Or are you saying the\npaper doesn't make those claims? Or are you saying the paper also isn't a real\nacademic paper and just marketeer noise?\n\n(I'm not quoting the other authors, who are of course also distinguished\nscholars :-))\n\n~~~\nsombremesa\nThe complaint here appears specifically to be a lamentation that academics are\nbehaving this way, so in attempting to prove their priors you're only\nstrengthening the argument. Your tone seems to be adversarial, so I'm guessing\nthat's not your goal...\n\n~~~\nlvh\n\"The paper isn't a real academic paper and itself also marketeer noise\" is one\nof the options I've outlined as a debate position. But let's be clear: we\nstarted by calling research \"phony\" over something that would've been\ntrivially clarified by reading a short paper. In order to even get to that\npoint, I have to acknowledge that maybe you get to call research \"phony\"\nwithout seriously implying fraud. I have a hard time taking that as a serious,\nbona-fide argument.\n\n~~~\nairesearcher\nThere are actual papers. Press releases and popularizations are not the same\nthing. If you look you can find the actual papers.\n\n~~~\nlvh\nIt appears you’re agreeing with me? I’m suggesting the confusion would have\nbeen alleviated by reading the actual paper.\n\n------\nnotacoward\nThere's a long and mostly bad history of claims around 3D storage. About\ntwenty years ago I followed a company called Constellation 3D, later Terastor.\nThey made many strikingly similar claims, smaller absolute numbers but a\nsimilar multiplier vs. what was already in the market. At least they only\nclaimed three dimensions. I can sort of accept orientation as an effective\nfourth dimension, but size seems like a real stretch. In any case,\nC3D/Terastor struggled along for a few years, with more claims and more\nexcuses, before they turned into the predictable smoking crater. I've seen\nseveral more _just_ like them come and go since then, so I think I'll wait for\nmore concrete proof that this particular technology can work at scale in the\nreal world instead of just once in a lab.\n\nBTW, if you want to go even further back, who else remembers the promises\nabout bubble memory?\n\n~~~\nRobotbeat\nOr what if it's a niche technology that works just fine at scale in the real\nworld but nobody cares enough for super long lifetimes to pay the higher price\nfor the equipment?\n\nNo \"bad history of claims,\" just niche technology.\n\nNot everything has to be \"fake news\" or \"phony\" just because it doesn't take\nover the world.\n\nI can't help but think we're cheapening the idea of fraud when we accuse every\ncompany or technology of fraud just because they don't wildly succeed.\n\n~~~\nnotacoward\nI think you're overreacting, or perhaps going off on a bit of a tangent from\nwhat I actually said. I didn't accuse anyone of fraud. I even offered kudos.\nI'm just trying to adjust expectations because the history is indeed bad even\nif nobody did any wrong. Would it have been better if I'd said \"sad\" or\n\"unfortunate\" instead?\n\nA medium that really has these kinds of density and survivability traits is\nindeed a great thing, but \"niche\" is a bit of an understatement. Adding it to\nthe payload of a multi-million dollar rocket is _definitely_ a publicity\nstunt, so I think it's entirely fair to point out that it might be good for\nlittle else depending on how further development plays out.\n\n~~~\nkragen\nIf you don't launch it into space, it will be destroyed when the sun engulfs\nthe earth in only six billion years, if not earlier. There's a dismayingly\nlarge chance that the only thing surviving from our entire culture in only a\nfew million years will be a mass extinction in the fossil record, a halo of\ngeosynchronous metal debris, and whatever data is encoded in such stable forms\nas these glass discs.\n\nIn that context, describing it as \"a publicity stunt\" seems short-sighted to\nthe point of self-parody, like a small child who thinks that the main\ndistinguishing feature of money is that you can buy candy with it. In a very\nshort time, it is likely that the only things humanity has done that are even\ndetectable are the launching of satellites, a mass extinction, and the\nlaunching of such archival media.\n\n~~~\nnotacoward\nI know it's fun to call people short-sighted and compare them to children, but\ngrow up yourself. Sending something in _this particular medium_ was a\npublicity stunt, and it worked. You think we're talking about it here for any\nother reason than Elon Musk was (tangentially) involved? Sending some sort of\nbeacon or memorial into space is such a great idea we've done it many times\nbefore, with better-tested media. If we wanted to try something newer, a\nRosetta Project disk would have been a much more obvious choice.\n\nPracticality wasn't the point. Publicity was.\n\n~~~\nhilbert42\n\"Practicality wasn't the point. Publicity was.\"\n\nThe real issues involved here are the Laws of Thermodynamics, Entropy and\n'Glass' (Crystals) being the the most stable state of matter in the universe.\nAll of these indicate that such longevity is possible (see my main post).\n\nClearly, the reason that '13.8 Gy' is used here is that it's a well known time\ninterval and it puts the longevity of this technology into perspective in ways\nthat many will understand.\n\nIf actually achieved in practical terms then we ought to be hailing this work\nas a remarkable effort—not quibbling about trivia and silly incidentals.\n\n~~~\nkragen\nGlass is the opposite of crystals. Crystals would presumably be longer-lived,\nbut their anisotropy makes them somewhat trickier to work with. Otherwise I\nagree, and like you, I'm profoundly disappointed by the level of\n\"notacoward\"'s comments in this thread so far.\n\n~~~\nhilbert42\nYou're right of course. I've assumed the stuff would necessarily be\ncrystalline (and would have to be to have such longevity). The word 'glass'\nhere being used for easier digestion by the public. (See my longer post for\nmore details.)\n\n------\ntoyg\nSeems a bit of a waste to dedicate an entire 360TB disc to a single text\ndocument like a bible, which is probably just a few KBs... /s\n\nMore seriously, they don't talk about reading capabilities (retrieval speed\netc). And what if it gets scratched? What is the error tolerance? At that\ndensity, a single speck of dust could have dramatic implications...\n\nI hope this reaches industrial viability, because we desperately need a\ndigital format that can approximate the lifespan of simple paper. At the\nmoment we are chained to a maintenance nightmare of periodic hops between\nformats, with deadly consequences any time we miss a single jump.\n\n~~~\norbital-decay\nYeah, actual museum-grade archival is so much more than just having an aging-\nresistant media. You also need to be able to read and decode it many years\ninto the future, which is really tricky to guarantee - you can't assume the\nfuture generations will know how to make a reading device and remember your\nformats/encodings. So it's a bit like _unzip.zip_ problem.\n\n~~~\nmapcars\n>You also need to be able to read and decode it many years into the future,\nwhich is really tricky to guarantee\n\nNot really, those future people don't just come out of nowhere. It's a\ngradual, incremental change as there are still systems using tape storage the\ntechnology or formats are not lost but migrated.\n\n~~~\norbital-decay\nThat depends on the time scales we're talking about. 30 years? Probably (and\neven then there are problems with abandoned/little-documented formats like\nWord 3.x). 300 years, and a historian will have a hard time decoding a digital\nfile from the year 2019, even assuming the media is still intact. 3000 years\nand a nuclear war can make a weird shiny disc appear as a currency or a cult\nitem for an archaeologist, not as a knowledge storage.\n\n------\nRobotbeat\nA small prototype of this technology already flew in the glovebox of the Tesla\nRoadster launched to deep space on the Falcon Heavy’s inaugural launch (third\nlaunch just succeeded this morning):\n\n[https://medium.com/arch-mission-foundation/arch-mission-\nfoun...](https://medium.com/arch-mission-foundation/arch-mission-foundation-\nannounces-our-payload-on-spacex-falcon-heavy-c4c9908d5dd1)\n\n...it (appropriately) contained Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy.\n\n> _The Arch library that was included on the Falcon Heavy today was created\n> using a new technology, 5D optical storage in quartz, developed by our\n> advisor Dr. Peter Kazansky and his team, at the University of Southampton,\n> Optoelectronics Research Centre._\n\n------\ntheclaw\nLink to source (University of Southamton):\n[https://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2016/02/5d-data-\nstorage-u...](https://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2016/02/5d-data-storage-\nupdate.page)\n\n------\ntotaldude87\nThis keeps repeating every few years i guess.\n\n[https://www.theverge.com/2016/2/16/11018018/5d-data-\nstorage-...](https://www.theverge.com/2016/2/16/11018018/5d-data-storage-\nglass)\n\n[https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/160928-five-\ndimensional-...](https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/160928-five-dimensional-\nglass-memory-can-store-360tb-per-disc-rugged-enough-to-outlive-the-human-race)\n\n[https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/92892-five-\ndimensional-g...](https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/92892-five-dimensional-\nglass-storage-could-revolutionize-medical-imaging-computing)\n\nor did we capture its evolution :)\n\n------\nrolleiflex\nInteresting side effect, this also gives us some clue about what kind of ...\ninformation storage devices we should be looking for in other heavenly bodies.\n\nHad we found a bunch of silicate glass pebbles in Europa, we'd have considered\nthem a curiosity. After this, we have good reason to find a way to ship it\nback and have another look.\n\n~~~\ntokai\nSomebody should take another look at those moon glass beads.\n\n------\nSoylentOrange\nI have a question for anyone here who understands how this works: is the glass\nfrom the article resilient to physical shocks like falling/shaking/heat/other\nmechanical stress?\n\nDocuments that are meant to last a long time used to be written on vellum\nbecause it is a very physically durable material. I understand that this glass\nmethod beats existing digital storage methods for resilience, but does it best\ntraditional analog/legacy techniques?\n\n~~~\nkragen\nYes, fused quartz has roughly the mechanical durability of granite, and it\ndoesn't melt until a considerably higher temperature than ordinary glass\n(though lower than the 1650° temperature at which crystalline quartz melts).\n\nVellum and other leathers have a lifespan of under 10000 years under ideal\nconditions, like those under which Ötzi was preserved. Under such conditions,\nthe researchers extrapolate from accelerated-aging measurements that their\nmedium will last 3×10²⁰ years, which is 3×10¹⁴ times as long. That is, this\nglass disc will last 300,000,000,000,000 times as long as a vellum document\nwill, unless it's subjected to high heat.\n\nThey also extrapolate that at 462 K (189°, or, in obsolete units, 372°F) it\nwill last the current age of the universe, some 10–100 billion years. At 189°\nI think vellum's lifetime is a few minutes.\n\n~~~\nSoylentOrange\nThanks for the answer. Can the durability of the fused quartz be compared to\nthe durability of this storage format though?\n\n(from a more detailed article [1])\n\n> The information encoding is realised in five dimensions: the size and\n> orientation in addition to the three dimensional position of these\n> nanostructures.\n\nIs the idea that these nanostructures are themselves hyper-resilient? Or would\na significant impact alter them so as to render them unreadable?\n\n[1]: [https://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2016/02/5d-data-\nstorage-u...](https://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2016/02/5d-data-storage-\nupdate.page)\n\n~~~\nkragen\nWell, there are a couple of different questions here. One is about resilience\nto physical shocks such as falling and mechanical stress, which could destroy\nthe disc but won't do anything to the nanogratings. The other is about\ngradual, continuous decay processes — over a sufficiently long period of time,\nrandom thermal fluctuations will destroy any solid object, and analogous but\nlarger-scale relaxation processes will destroy galaxies as well. Such\nprocesses could cause the nanogratings to decay long before the fused quartz\nitself evaporates.\n\nThe nanogratings do have a certain amount of built-in redundancy; they're\nholographic phenomena.\n\n------\nkijin\nIt looks like somebody just said \"it will last as long as the universe\" and\nsomeone else translated it into an actual number using too many significant\ndigits.\n\nHow long can we realistically expect glass to last, judging from e.g. beads of\nvolcanic glass embedded in the geological record?\n\n~~~\nlstodd\nNot much, regular glass transitions to crystal quite fast compared to those\ngeological timescales. And who knows what the transition will do to the data\nstored at these densities.\n\nNothing in the article states what kind of glass is used (which blows the\nbullshit detector right there).\n\nIf they use crystalline quartz, it should last indefinitely. If it's regular\nglass, then 50 years if you're lucky, controlled conditions, etc, etc.\n\n------\nhmhrex\nI just mentioned this to a co-worker last week. This was news here 4 years ago\n-\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11140033](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11140033)\n\n------\nnitin_flanker\nI don't know but the article does not talk about the credibility of the claim.\nI mean even the way they have described the whole thing feels more like a\nmarketing attempt than an actual scientific breakthrough.\n\nIf you look at other articles of this website, they will seem more like a lame\nattempt at getting traffic than to provide something useful.\n\nThey have articles titled like - \"Ladies Get dose of Radiation From Government\nUFO\" and \"Hackers, UFO's and Secret Space Programs - Oh My!\"\n\nI mean, this does not feel like an information source I'll trust.\n\nEdit: As others are mentioning in this thread. From a researcher's\nperspective, they should have also talked about the read/write capabilities.\n\n------\nlwhi\nI remember chatting to someone working on the project at the University of\nSouthampton years ago .. I think it was back in 2004. Great to hear it's come\nto fruition.\n\nThe length of time this type of project takes amazes me.\n\n~~~\nyorwba\nThis is about research published in 2013:\n[https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/364916/](https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/364916/)\n\nIt was recycled for a university press release in 2016:\n[https://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2016/02/5d-data-\nstorage-u...](https://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2016/02/5d-data-storage-\nupdate.page)\n\nThen that press release was recycled for this HN submission.\n\n~~~\nlwhi\nIn that case, I'll be amazed about the lifecycle of a news release instead ;)\n\n------\nbastawhiz\nThese articles pop up every few years, and it always makes me shake my head.\nSuch storage solves no market need. Technology hardly lasts five years let\nalone fifty years let alone five billion years. Virtually nobody is worried\nabout being able to read their media 500 years out.\n\nAnd even if that was a reason to pursue a technology, the actual storage\ncapacity is meaningless on its own. 360TB of spinning disks isn't very\nexpensive to buy, rack, or run. And you can read and write to them at a decent\nclip. Managing failures is fairly predictable. What benefit does a magical\nglass (or, in previous incarnations, quartz or other crystal) disk have?\nOptical media isn't known for its amazing random access speeds. Write-once\nmedia has very limited use and is almost never fast to write to.\n\nSo who's buying this? Who has data that needs to last that long, or needs to\nstore lots of permanently immutable data that's read back sequentially? I\nhonestly can't think of a market for this. The article says \"museums\" but I\ndon't know of any museums that would prefer glass disks for their backups over\nan S3 bucket. This is \"on prem backup\" taken to a comical extreme.\n\nI can see the academic value of exploring the technology, but this space has\nbeen exhausted many times over. I remember seeing similar articles in\nTechnology Review and Scientific American about identical developments twenty\nyears ago. It's just not a good idea.\n\n~~~\ngnode\nBeing able to store data densely on a commodity material such as quartz is\ngreat for archival storage (e.g. Amazon Glacier). If the storage media is\ncheap, then it tends not to matter if it can be reused.\n\nFor random access, rapidly created and destroyed data, SSD and HDDs will\ncontinue to dominate. But for the growing use case of hoarding data forever,\nthis is a good fit.\n\n------\nfredsted\nWhat happens at 13.9B years?\n\n~~~\nsimonh\nI'm guessing that's the estimated time it would take for entropy in the\nmaterial to render the data unreadable. They specify at room temperature, so\nI'm pretty sure they're talking about entropic disruption of the structure due\nto thermal effects.\n\nNote that 'glass' is a hugely varied class of materials, so without knowing\nmuch more we can't make spot judgements about the validity of the claim.\n\n~~~\nkragen\nNo, 10–100 billion years is at 462 K, which is a lot hotter than room\ntemperature. At room temperature the estimated lifespan (or, really, the time\nconstant τ) is 3×10²⁰ years.\n\n~~~\nsimonh\nThat's really great, precise information. Where did you get it from? Also\nwhich exact material is that for? As I said, there are a lot of different\nthings called 'glass'.\n\n~~~\nkragen\nFrom the paper:\n[https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ausra_Cerkauskaite2/pub...](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ausra_Cerkauskaite2/publication/297892219_Eternal_5D_data_storage_via_ultrafast-\nlaser_writing_in_glass/links/59fb2de00f7e9b9968b962dd/Eternal-5D-data-storage-\nvia-ultrafast-laser-writing-in-glass.pdf?origin=publication_detail)\n\nThey're using fused quartz, as one does. I'm guessing it would be a bit easier\nto use soda-lime glass, and also reasonably stable, but considerably _less_\nstable.\n\n------\ngpmcadam\nHello people from the future looking back at this thread reminiscing about the\nold days when this claim was incredible to us.\n\n------\nDangeranger\nDoes anyone know a resource which explains the theoretical limit for\nretrievable, durable, information storage?\n\nI would assume the most dense medium possible would be a collection of\nneutrons, since neutron stars are the most dense object other than a black\nhole, but retrieving information from them doesn’t seem feasible.\n\n~~~\nbookofjoe\n\"'Dragon's Egg' is a 1980 hard science fiction novel by Robert L. Forward. In\nthe story, Dragon's Egg is a neutron star with a surface gravity 67 billion\ntimes that of Earth, and inhabited by cheela, intelligent creatures the size\nof a sesame seed who live, think, and develop a million times faster than\nhumans. Most of the novel, from May to June 2050, chronicles the cheela\ncivilization beginning with its discovery of agriculture to advanced\ntechnology and its first face-to-face contact with humans, who are observing\nthe hyper-rapid evolution of the cheela civilization from orbit around\nDragon's Egg.\n\n\"The novel is regarded as a landmark in hard science fiction. As is typical of\nthe genre, 'Dragon's Egg' attempts to communicate unfamiliar ideas and\nimaginative scenes while giving adequate attention to the known scientific\nprinciples involved.\"\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon%27s_Egg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon%27s_Egg)\n\nSuperb.\n\n~~~\ndotancohen\nI absolutely loved this book. However, isn't it curious that the humans arrive\njust as the cheela are reaching the level of technology needed to communicate?\nIn terms of human time, they could have come a year earlier, or a year later.\n\n~~~\nslm_HN\nAs I remember the book it was the humans probing the neutron star with\nsomething (x-rays?) in order to survey/study the star that triggered the\nevolutionary advances in the cheela. So no, it wasn't curious timing, the\nhumans precipitated the rise of the cheela.\n\nGreat book btw, hope I'm remembering it correctly.\n\n------\nleshokunin\nInteresting. If we ignore whether or not this specific implementation will\nwork, this would actually be a great way to store data for the Permaweb. I\nwould imagine such resilient data would be a great asset when combined with\ncontent hashing!\n\n------\nvmurthy\nGiven that the sun will die in about 5B Years, this is a bit of a gimmick :-D\n\n~~~\nJulianMorrison\nBy then we could probably tow Sol over to a comparable system using a Shkadov\nthruster and jump ship to a new sun.\n\n~~~\nTheSpiceIsLife\n_After one billion years, the speed would be 20 km /s and the displacement\n34,000 light-years, a little over a third of the estimated width of the Milky\nWay galaxy._\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_engine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_engine)\n\n------\n13of40\nSo if one of these discs was dug up by a civilization with the level of\ntechnology we had in, say, the 70's, would they be able to tell what it was,\nmuch less make something to read it?\n\n~~~\nsudhirj\nThey'd likely know it had information on it, even if they couldn't necessarily\nread it immediately. Anyone storing information is likely to mark it or\narrange it in some non-natural way, otherwise it'll just look like rocks.\n\n~~~\nchii\nso how do you know that the crystalline structure of some rocks aren't\nencoding some information?\n\nAlternatively, information encoded in rocks could've been encrypted. And\nencrypted information should be indistinguishable from random noise.\n\n~~~\njdironman\nOur bodies are coded with DNA and rocks and geo formations are encoded with\nthe earth's history.\n\n------\nsupermatt\nIm always sceptical about these claims of archive longevity. IIRC when CD-Rs\nwere first available, they were touted as suitable for century long archives.\nThe reality was far from that.\n\n~~~\nsimonh\nHigh quality discs are capable of that, the problem is the drives to read them\nall broke down. For an ultra-long term storage medium like this that's moot.\nIf someone wants to read one of these in a billion years, they'll just have to\ndevelop the tech, but that would be true of any such long term mass storage\nmedium. It's not necessarily a strike against this particular implementation.\n\n~~~\nWowfunhappy\n> High quality discs are capable of that, the problem is the drives to read\n> them all broke down.\n\nWhat are you referring to? I assume you're not just talking about \"high\nquality\" compact discs, since we have plenty of readers for those.\n\n~~~\nchii\nThe OP meant the drives would've broken down before the disks would degrade.\n\n~~~\nsimonh\nI think the original comment about optical disks was talking about very early\nformats, before CDs were standardised, such as the drives used for the\nDoomsday Project.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Domesday_Project](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Domesday_Project)\n\n------\nksec\nFacebook uses BluRay RW Disc for Cold Storage ( Not sure if that is still the\ncase ).\n\nThe question is nearly 4 years later are they anywhere close to production?\n\n------\niandanforth\nI guess I'll have to buy the White Album again.\n\n------\nJVIDEL\nIs this another tech that's \"just around the corner\" like holo-memory from the\nlate 90's?\n\n------\nmyfonj\nTIL glass is not supercooled liquid after all.\n\n~~~\nwongarsu\nThere's a good Veratasium video about that [1]. But the short version is that\nglas is pretty much a solid, and lead is much more liquid at room temperature\nthan glas.\n\n1:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6wuh0NRG1s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6wuh0NRG1s)\n\n------\nRenRav\nHow does glass being amorphous affect the data integrity? What 'glass'\nspecifically is being used?\n\n~~~\nkragen\nPresumably the amorphous nature of glass lowers the energy barrier to\ndisrupting the stored information. They're using fused quartz glass, as one\ndoes.\n\n------\njody2\narticle from 2016 [https://petapixel.com/2016/02/16/glass-disc-can-\nstore-360-tb...](https://petapixel.com/2016/02/16/glass-disc-can-store-360-tb-\nphotos-13-8-billion-years/)\n\n------\nnmstoker\nLooks like we need a bit more clarity on what they mean by \"glass\".\n\nIf you look at glass in medieval glass windows it's heavily distorted by\ngravity (fatter at the bottom than the top) and that's after ~900 years, so\npresumably they're actually meaning something more robust than that!\n\n~~~\nkeiru\nTurned out it was a mistaken belief. Basically, thickness invariance in\nmedieval glass had to do with the manufacturing process, and the viscosity of\nglass is not observable in a human timeline.\n\n[https://ceramics.org/ceramic-tech-today/glass-viscosity-\ncalc...](https://ceramics.org/ceramic-tech-today/glass-viscosity-calculations-\ndefinitively-debunk-the-myth-of-observable-flow-in-medieval-windows)\n\n~~~\nnmstoker\nThat's great - I hadn't heard about that, thanks for putting me right.\n\n------\ntudorw\nwould this offer a safe haven for instructional code on a space ship?\n\n------\ncamillomiller\nWhy is this here now? The piece of news is from three years ago\n\n------\nConfusedDog\nThe pitch sounds very cool. For all the information given, it could well\npossible take 13.8 billion years to write 360 TB of data and always in the lab\nenvironment that needed to be funded. They seem to be avoiding specifics.\n\n------\nmeerita\nI wonder how many years our file systems will remain usable.\n\n------\nsocial_quotient\nSo it’s like a Craftsman tools warranty.\n\n------\nschpaencoder\nI still remember the promise of the CD-Rom. Billions of years.\n\n~~~\nwongarsu\nYou could probably build CD-ROMs that last millions of years if you really\ntried. You can buy regular CD-Rs that are estimated to last hundreeds of\nyears. But of course most people buy whatever is cheapest, and the cheapest\nCD-Rs won't last you a decade.\n\n------\nmasters3d\nMinority Report?\n\n------\nChrisArchitect\nplease add (2016) to this title, old news\n\n~~~\nChrisArchitect\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11140033](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11140033)\n\n------\nmrmondo\ndd if=/dev/data | tee >(dd of=/dev/glass1) | dd of=/dev/glass2\n\n20:20 optical replication ;)\n\n------\nbenj111\nCan I rant about the 5D?\n\n\"It's been dubbed five-dimensional (5D) digital data because, in addition to\nthe position of the data, the size and orientation are extremely important\ntoo\"\n\nOrientation is inherently important anyway. Have you ever tried reading a book\nupside down, and what does size bring? Other than lowering density. And\nobviously position is important, it's the difference between data and\nrandomness.\n\n~~~\nsimonh\nBooks only have one orientation, so they're not actually making use of that\ndimension to encode data.\n\nThe rest of your points... oh my. None of the dimensions count at all, really?\nSo rant away, but it's nice if the sound and fury at least signifies\n_something_.\n\n~~~\nbenj111\nNo 2 dimensions are important at least :)\n\nRegarding orientation, are you saying they printed half the book over the\nfirst half, but at right angles over the top? Ie you _see_ different data from\ndifferent orientations?\n\nPs I've seen old (18th century?) letters where they wrote at 0, 90 and 45\ndegrees to get more on one page. Postage was charged by the page so it made\nsense. Newspaper also used to be taxed by the page (in the UK at least) so you\nhad origami like folding of one sheet of paper into a newspaper, not aware of\nthem 'double printing' in this way though. I assume that's why 'broadsheets'\nwere so massive up until relatively recently.\n\n~~~\nsimonh\nI think they encode the data as asymmetric marks in the material, with\ndifferent orientations of the marks corresponding to different values.\n\nImagine you could print a page containing just a grid of 100x100 numbers. If\nyou can orient those numbers so the top of each digit could be facing up,\ndown, left or right and use those 40 different glyphs to encode in base 40\ninstead of base 10, now you can fit 4x as much data into the same two\ndimensional area.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nFoxconn to employ 1 Million Robots - avjinder\nhttp://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/07/30/2355258/Foxconn-To-Employ-1-Million-Robots?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+%28Slashdot%29\n\n======\nColinWright\nThere are two stories on this currently posted to HN, this one, and the one at\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2827882>\n\nI have no idea which will get the discussion, if either, but it might be worth\ntrying to make sure any discussion doesn't get unnecessarily split.\n\nAs I type this, the other submission has a useful comment.\n\n------\nsatyajit\nOh well, at least Robots can't commit suicide.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nOur Best Entrepreneurs Should Be Solving Real Problems, Not Creating Apps - jsherry\nhttp://www.businessinsider.com/entrepreneurs-should-be-solving-real-problems-not-creating-apps-2012-3\n\n======\ntalmand\nI would say the best entrepreneurs should be out doing whatever it is they\nwish to do. If they want to work on creating the next fad app in the hopes of\nmaking money then that's their business. If the market wants a crap app that\ndoes something incredibly silly for no real benefit to society then there will\nbe someone to make it for them.\n\nThis isn't always a bad thing. James Cameron makes millions from movies that\nadds little to society and then uses it to build a submersible that takes him\nto the deepest spot in the oceans. Maybe the world's mysteries/problems can be\nsolved with money made from useless entertainment?\n\nAs for the hardware innovations coming out of China and the area; I would\nthink part of the reason is they don't have a government with increasingly\ntough regulations to deal with. Take for instance the recent policies of the\nUS government towards internet-based companies or its tough stances on\npollution-creating energy production which could provide power issues for\nmanufacturing. Granted the tough regulations could be considered good in some\ncases (look at the beating Apple is getting on labor treatment) but if it's\npossible to leave for easier/cheaper areas, companies will leave. Griping\nabout the lack of hardware innovation in one area when it's easier/cheaper to\ninnovate in another seems kind of missing the point territory.\n\n~~~\nyew\nEase of innovation does not _necessarily_ correlate with value (in a long-\nterm/social sense) of innovation.\n\nAs you point out that can be worked around by taking profits from easy\ninnovations and using them to fund hard-but-valuable ones, but people like\nElon Musk and James Cameron are notable because of their rarity. A lot of the\nmoney just dilutes and/or vanishes back into the pot.\n\nA certain amount of entertainment is necessary (even good!), of course, but we\nonly have to look at the drug industry to get a picture of how bad things can\nget if people stop solving hard problems. The 'everything done ahead of time'\nnature of high-technology civilization just exacerbates things.\n\n~~~\neli_gottlieb\n>The 'everything done ahead of time' nature of high-technology civilization\njust exacerbates things.\n\nCould you elaborate?\n\n~~~\nyew\nHigh-technology civilizations rely on a more-or-less constant stream of\ninnovations (or solutions to hard problems) in order to maintain a reasonable\nequilibrium in all sorts of areas (economy, environment, society). That\nreliance increases with the degree of high-tech, but also provides the\n_benefits_ of high-tech.\n\nA failure of that system can lead to much worse than just a lack of progress.\n\n------\ndelinquentme\nHacker news needs to see more of this.\n\n\"I believe this current crop of entrepreneurs might actually be hurting\nAmerica - and perverting the very idea of innovation in the same way Beyonce’s\nRun The World is like kicking Aretha Franklin in the ribs…repeatedly.\"\n\nRealize that this _IS_ the issue of the fortune 500 companies. Too busy\nworrying about small returns to dig in an innovate.\n\n------\neli_gottlieb\n> _The latest US generation has led a life of leisure. Arab protesters carry\n> swords and machetes, ours carry iPhone 4S’s in pink, personalized cases._\n\nLook dude, if it wasn't quite explicitly against Massachusetts weapons laws, I\nwould go protesting carrying a sword. Also, if someone would teach my\nswordsmanship. And if swords were actually viable weapons in modern times,\nrather than nice symbols of Arabs' chauvinistic, honor-based culture.\n\n> _From computers to desks to chairs used by cute digital startups like Oink\n> or Bizzle or FoSchnizzle, – it’s all made possible by better, more\n> substantive innovators. This superior breed of entrepreneurs and inventors\n> toils away in relative obscurity, often in Asia, solving real, complex\n> problems. They squeeze 32GB onto something the size of mint strip. Or, they\n> make un-killable batteries that let us Tweet deep into the night. They make\n> solar cells worthwhile or water out of thin air._\n\nDid you know? There's actually a whole economic sector to this stuff. It's\ncalled _research_ , it's practitioners are called _scientists_ and, often\nenough, _grad students_ , and the United States of America treats them/us like\n_crap_. Science is _chronically and endemically_ underfunded in the United\nStates relative to most other developed countries, _and_ several less\ndeveloped countries such as India, China, and Israel.\n\nCome on, people. I agree VCs are too quick to jump for the cheap, easy trivial\n\"innovation\" rather than the fundamental invention, but if you want\nfundamental invention, stop kvetching and figure out how to fund a university\nlab for the next 6 years to work on your truly important, fundamental\nscientific problem.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Be honest; Why do you want to achieve something? - spartan37\nAccording to George Orwell - Sheer egoism (be popular etc), Aesthetic enthusiasm (art), Desire to discover something and boast about it, Desire to change the world - are the only motives for achievements.<p>I will add a few more: Make lots of money and join elite club, To help the needy, To make your people happy, To get yourself out of misery, To have some pleasures for yourself. I hope I haven&#x27;t duplicated the motives.<p>So, which of these push you and how much?\n======\nlsiunsuex\nMoney. I hate to be so cliche but money is the absolute #1 driving force for\neverything I do / learn / work towards.\n\nPeople say money can't buy happiness, and that may be true, but money can help\nbuy life. Without money you can't see doctors, you can't receive cancer\ntreatment, its more difficult to get a good education without money, it's\ndifficult to do fun things without money.\n\nYes, we're programmers and you don't need to goto school to learn a language,\nbut my kids may not necessarily be programmers. Hopefully they want to become\ndoctors, or dentists, or lawyers or engineers. And those jobs require degrees\nand those degrees require money, sometimes, lots of it. Can they earn it on\nthey're own and get school loans like everyone else? Absolutely - but if I can\nhelp them accomplish their goals, all the better.\n\nHaving my name known in some obscure group only known to programmers - meh.\nWalking into a room and people recognizing my face and coming up to talk to\nme? meh. Putting snow tires on a $250,000 sports car and driving around in a\nNY winter? hell yes - because I can and because I earned it.\n\n~~~\nspartan37\nI think your priorities are closer to what they should be for a natural\nbiological being.\n\nAlso, I think people who work extra hard to just to move from their ordinary\nsocial circle to elite circle are missing the point. The goal is not to change\nfrom being an average person in one social circle to being an average person\nin a higher social circle, but to stay in the same social circle and become\nthe best in that circle - doesn't matter which circle it is.\n\n~~~\nlsiunsuex\nI don't know what \"I think your priorities are closer to what they should be\nfor a natural biological being.\" means.\n\nSocial circle is of no significance to me - having a nice house and car in the\ncity or suburbs (where I live, the suburbs are the place to be, not the city)\nwouldn't matter to me. The upper class here lives in the suburbs, but to have\nthe same house in the city would be ok with me, so long as it's a house that I\nlike. A nice car was specifically mentioned because I'm into cars. Some people\nlove sports; I love cars. To own a hand made Ferrari or Lamborghini or ... is\na great achievement IMO.\n\nSome people and some I know could care less - they strive to go on great\nrelaxing vacations. Some strive for security with money in the bank. Everyone\nhas their own goals. These are mine.\n\n------\ngroaner\nHonestly, it's the growing realization that despite all of my efforts, I\nhaven't done anything worth feeling proud of. To me that feels like I've lived\na waste of a life.\n\nAs you can tell, this is an ineffective strategy for motivation.\n\n------\nonedev\nBecause it's a fun game to play. I view life as mostly a game. I like seeing\nhow far I can go. I work hard because it's fun.\n\nI also like the feeling of helping people around me. It's a great feeling to\nteach people something they don't know or pulling people up with you, or\nsimply inspiring them through my actions.\n\nReally I don't have any specific motive like \"success\" or \"fame\" or \"money\". I\nbarely even look at my bank account tbh (though I should probably sit down one\nof these days and analyze my financials and do some stuff I've been putting\noff).\n\nI'm generally a pretty zen guy these days. I haven't always been like this,\nbut I really really like my current state of mind. I'm enjoying life a ton,\nbecause I removed all external expectations.\n\nHow did I do it? Exercise, Diet, and Sleep. That's really just it.\n\n------\nBjoernKW\nFor me it's a desire to change the world and to some extent aesthetic\nenthusiasm. Wanting to change the world always sounds a bit grandiose but the\nmost significant changes are brought about one step at a time through everyday\neffort. I try every day to make the world a better place in various, sometimes\nmundane and often tiny ways.\n\nThis doesn't mean I don't care about money. Quite to the contrary. Money up to\na certain degree is a more or less accurate gauge of the value you create. It\nbuys you freedom but it is no end to itself. So, making money for buying\nluxury items? I couldn't care less. Making money for the purpose of being able\nto do what I care about? Absolutely.\n\n------\nandersthue\nI read Simon Sinek's book \"Start with why\" last year and realized that my why\nis \"happiness\".\n\nThis made it much easier for me to choose what to work on, and currently I am\nusing my time and energy (and all of my surplus money I get from my consulting\nbusiness) to create and spread the word about TimeBlock - a new way of working\nthat has made me happier, my employed Makers happier and our customers\nhappier!\n\nMy goal is to help Makers, Managers and customers become just 1% happier if I\ncan do that I will feel very priviliged.\n\n------\nbbcbasic\nMy reasons to achieve a given goal X are to follow a vision that I have of my\nfuture. Those visions if I follow their reason, probably come into all 3 of\nthe orwell categories. Which I guess is a good sign - it is very motivating if\nyou can make your own life better, and others, and at the same time it feel\nlike you are creating (being artistic).\n\nThe downside is I find it very hard to achieve a goal Y that has been\npressured on to me by someone else. I just try to find ways to avoid that\ngoal, or just passably do it :-)\n\n------\nnicholas73\nI want success so I can have a more interesting life. If you are stuck in the\nrat race, you are a chess piece. If you have made it, you are the player.\n\n------\nkluck\nTo create something that survives me and a couple of decades after my death.\nSomething that brings computer science forward (just one step on the ladder\nthough).\n\nHow much does it push me? Not much, but enough to get my ass up every other\nday and program on some projects. Because I do realize in the end everything\nwill disappear.\n\n------\ntmaly\nI enjoy creating, it is sort of my way of proving I exist\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogito_ergo_sum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogito_ergo_sum)\n\n------\nMichaelCrawford\nSo I can make my Mama proud.\n\nShe and Dad were heavily into that I did some of the work on the Mac I gave\nthem for Christmas back in the day.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHouse of keys: 9 Months later... 40% Worse - robotdad\nhttp://blog.sec-consult.com/2016/09/house-of-keys-9-months-later-40-worse.html\n======\nrobotdad\nThe initial report from last year has interesting, if sadly unsurprising,\nbackground on how/why so many of these embedded devices have wound up this\nway.\n\n[http://blog.sec-consult.com/2015/11/house-of-keys-\nindustry-w...](http://blog.sec-consult.com/2015/11/house-of-keys-industry-\nwide-https.html)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMastodon 101: A Queer-Friendly Social Network You’re Gonna Like a Lot - smacktoward\nhttps://www.autostraddle.com/mastodon-101-a-queer-friendly-social-network-youre-gonna-like-a-lot-390948/\n======\nsmaragd\nMastodon is federated, not decentralized. There's nothing decentralized about\nit unless you're an instance admin, or both savvy and popular enough to run\none alone.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIs The World in a Technological Inflection Point? - azewail\nhttps://www.chaino.com/pulse/this-article-is-imo-extremely-important-at-this-time-the\n======\nazewail\nThe world is experiencing an inflection point. It will emerge 10 years from\nnow very different from the world we are in now. This article sheds a lot of\nlight on the world that will emerge on the other end. Thank you, Vivek\nWadhwa!‎\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWhy 'noncompete' means 'don't thrive' (2007) - hga\nhttp://www.boston.com/business/articles/2007/12/30/why_noncompete_means_dont_thrive_/\n\n======\nhga\nEchoing an observation from this interview by the chairman emeritus of\nGreylock Partners (the Boston area's premier? VC firm, first limited parter VC\nfirm, etc.): <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1547204>\n\nThe hook of that article is Greylock moving their headquarters to Silicon\nValley a bit more than a year ago....\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLunar Lander 3D in 5K - nreece\nhttp://www.sebleedelisle.com/?p=428\n======\nmadmotive\nSeb presented the story behind this at the 5K app competition final\n(<http://fivepoundapp.com/wiki/5kapp/>), held in our coworking space\n(<http://theSkiff.org>) in Brighton, UK last week. Absolutely brilliant!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTextSecure is becoming Signal - qznc\nhttps://www.whispersystems.org/blog/just-signal/\n======\netiam\nIn the short term, as someone running without Google Play Sevices, I'm curious\nto see whether this just gave me access to the functionality of TextSecure\nagain or broke RedPhone.\n\nRegardless of which, I'm optimistic about the long term support for my own\nuse, and I think the unification is going to be good to help the program\nspreading. Now for the people who don't really get the point of protecting our\nprivacy but are just going along anyway I'll be getting calls _and_ messaging\nfor one round of persuasion. Much rejoicing.\n\nThank you Open Whisper Systems!\n\n------\nJohnny_Brahms\nNow just so some UI polish (or maybe calling should be a part of the texting\nUI. Who am I to judge) and a better audio codec (say, CBR opus) and Signal has\neverything I could ever imagine wanting. I have had a rock solid experience,\nand the simplicity is amazing . My whole extended family is using it, and a\ncouple of them are computer illiterate.\n\n------\nsecfirstmd\nGreat work Moxie and all the folks at Whisper Systems!\n\nI was actually in the middle of re-writing a lesson on mobile phone security\nfor activists in the field that I am giving in about an hour when I saw the\nnew blog post. Never have I been so glad to be scrapping parts of a\npresentation and lesson plan at the last minute. There will be another 20\nvulnerable human rights defenders in the field using Signal by the end of the\nday :)\n\n------\nalpek\nIs this app widely considered safe? It seems to ask for an awful lot of\npermissions and is definitely communicating with a server while it operates\n\nI'm aware of who Moxie Marlinspike is and have seen the Open Whisper Systems\ntestimonials, I was just surprised with how much it asks for, has anyone dug\nthrough the code to get a feel for the risk profile of letting this app into\neverything on my phone?\n\n------\ntermolo\nPoor choice. They should've gone with \"TextSecure\". \"Signal\" is too generic,\nand I don't see any security aspect related to it. (But who am I to complain,\nI'm using Threema, anyway.)\n\n~~~\nNexxxeh\nFrankly it is a stupid choice.\n\n\"Have you got signal?\", \"Get signal so I can message you!\"\n\nIt is already a widely used word relating to cell phones. Even with context,\nit's not obvious which \"Signal\" one is necessarily referring to.\n\n~~~\ncelticninja\n'Have you got the signal app?' \\- solved.\n\n~~~\nNexxxeh\nThe signal app, the one that shows me how strong my mobile signal is? Yes.\n(Annoyingly only for one SIM though.)\n\n\"The app called Signal\" would be the only sensible way to do it that I can\nimmediately see, but it's still clumsy and daft.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nU.S. Coronavirus Cases Are Rising Sharply, but Deaths Are Still Down - sxp\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/03/health/coronavirus-mortality-testing.html\n======\nDeonPenny\nThis just means that testing was limiting factor before but thats not a\nsurprise based on the papers coming out. We even see this is data like\ncases/per test. We get far less case per the test we have now because we've\ntested all the obvious people.\n\nIn all actuality way more people were infected before, the deaths per\ninfections is much higher and virus is much less deadly than the 3.4% the WHO\nquoted or the .5% we thought it was in NYC.\n\n------\ncanada_dry\nReally, this shouldn't be a surprise.\n\nEpidemiologists note that successful viruses _don 't_ kill their host.\nCovid-19 has all the hallmarks of a virus that will evolve into a strain (or\nstrains) that will be part of the regular flu season - marked by severe\nsymptoms. Of course the elderly and immunocompromised people will always be at\ngreater risk of death due to any form of the flu.\n\nWhen hospitals and first responders began using PPE to handle all virus\npatients it isolated the most lethal strains of the virus and significantly\nreduced the spread in the general population.\n\nIn addition, critical care units now have the ventilators and protocols needed\nto more effectively deal with the virus.\n\n------\neganist\nJust means healthcare providers have used the time to ramp up.\n\nIf the acceleration of the infection rate continues at a pace that would\neventually surpass the scalability of healthcare provisioning, we're back in\nthe pits. A lot of local and state governments are trying to balance these two\nin order to keep some semblance of normality while enabling healthcare\nproviders to manage caseloads and keep deaths down.\n\n~~~\nmcnamaratw\nNo, no. The virus is over. The pandemic was multiple news cycles ago. Say the\ndeath rate doubles 2-3 times a week, but deaths right now are very low. In\nthat case we're fine. Forget about exponential growth, that's so March 2020.\n\nEDIT: Folks have already raised the following objections: (a) My sarcasm above\nis lame and pointless, because we all know some people take the position that\nthe virus is much less dangerous now. (b) My sarcastic comment above is an\nunfair straw man argument. (I.e. nobody really takes that position.) (c) The\nvirus really is less dangerous than it was believed to be in March (though\nnobody has so far questioned the fact that death rates were doubling every 2-3\ndays back then). (d) The virus has changed. It is actually different and less\ndangerous than it was in March.\n\n~~~\nmcnamaratw\nSomeone saw fit to downvote, which is part of the process.\n\nBut I'm curious. Does that mean you see that I intended heavy sarcasm, but you\ndisagree with my actual position (i.e. that we're still in danger)? Or that\nyou disapprove of sarcasm on HN or w/r/t COVID-19? Or the sarcasm didn't come\nthrough in what I wrote? Something else?\n\nThanks in advance for any insight you can provide.\n\n~~~\nboredpudding\nIt means that your sarcastic comment didn't add anything to the discussion. We\nknow people behave like that, however, jokingly imitating them doesn't add\nanything to the thread and is just a lame joke.\n\n~~~\nmcnamaratw\nThanks. Since HN is overrun right now with people who are more or less denying\nthat the virus is dangerous, I have to disagree with you. But it's nice to\nknow what you're thinking.\n\n~~~\nsalmon30salmon\nI am probably the archetype of the straw man you invented in your comment\nregarding people saying the virus is not dangerous. Let me make a few things\nclear to you and the others who see this as a binary proposition.\n\nThis virus is _very_ dangerous to specific groups of people. We know this not\nonly through observation but also through a more complete understanding on its\nspread, mechanism of action and cross-reactivity. We also know, with a good\ndeal of certainty, that there are also groups who are at a very, very low\nlevel of risk from this virus.\n\nWhat the people you so easily disparage are arguing is not that the virus is\nnot dangerous, but that we are not responding to the actual threat, but rather\nthe perceived threat based on data that is now 5 months old. And that by\nmaking this mistake, we are increasing danger to not only those at risk to the\nvirus but also those who are at low risk through our obtuse response.\n\nThere are facts which can't be denied. The IFR is NOT anywhere near as high as\nwe once feared. This is good news! We have two treatments that seem to help.\nThis is good news! We understand that a majority of those infected will\nexhibit minor or no symptoms. This is good news! But we are still _acting_ as\nif this has a 2% IFR and no treatment.\n\nWe have less certainty, but are still researching the following. There is\nevidence that cross-reactivity in T-Cells with other coronaviruses is helping\nreduce the impact on a large portion of the population. We see evidence that\n_something_ has changed in the virus in the past 6 months. Genome sequencing\nhasn't revealed if this is true or not, but the research is ongoing. We see\nthat outdoor spread is very unlikely. We believe nosocomial spread is a\nprimary means. We see that super-spreaders may account for more of the spread\nthan asymptomatic incidental contact. We have contradicting evidence of\nlockdown efficacy. And most importantly, we have not seen a TRUE 2nd wave.\nWhat is going on in the USA is not a 2nd wave at the community level, no\ncommunity that had a large first wave is currently seeing a second wave.\n\nFinally, there is debate around whether the herd immunity level is far lower\nthan once thought. Michael Levitt and others are postulating that around\n20-25% of the population needs to be infected to see a sharp decline in\ninfections. This has played out in a lot of continental Europe, NYC and the\nUK.\n\nSo it isn't as simple as your snide sarcasm would have us believe. This is why\nactual debate is needed, not dismissive arrogance as displayed by your\ncomments.\n\n~~~\nmcnamaratw\nThanks. That's a good example.\n\nThree months ago deaths were doubling every 2 to 3 days. That's some of the\nlittle data we really have. Same virus (although there are speculations that\nperhaps now there are multiple forms). We're being more careful about\ntransmission ... except when we're not. We seem to be better at treatment.\nVulnerable population is unchanged.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nStartups: Get Funded with Extreme University - AlexBlom\nhttp://alexblom.com/blog/2010/05/startups-get-funded-with-extreme-university/\n======\nfaramarz\nThanks for the reminder Alex.\n\nMaybe I'll catch you at the next Sproutup, good to see locals here.\n\n~~~\nAlexBlom\nNo problems. Shoot me an e-mail /w the details listed in my profile. Would\nlove to connect with more locals!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHive: Open-source Crowdsourcing Framework - danso\nhttp://blog.nytlabs.com/2014/12/09/hive-open-source-crowdsourcing-framework/\n\n======\npedrosorio\n\"Hive is free and open source\"\n\nIndeed: [https://hive.apache.org/](https://hive.apache.org/)\n\n~~~\nyarrel\nThe link is in the article -\n[https://github.com/nytlabs/hive](https://github.com/nytlabs/hive)\n\n~~~\nsanswork\nI think the OPs point was that there is already a popular open source project\nnamed Hive.\n\n~~~\nweego\nWhich is quickly becoming a tedious exercise in cheap point scoring. People go\nfor names that reflect the intent or otherwise associate with the system they\nare building. They also prefer existing words. Sometimes that will mean reuse\nof the same words. Lets accept that and move on with our lives.\n\n------\nissaria\nThe are so many names available, why choose this one?\n\n------\nvander_elst\n\"hive\" really? google the name first??\n\n~~~\ntosh\nSooner rather than later it will become impossible to avoid naming conflicts\nfor open source projects (or any projects) if you want a meaningful name.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhen Node.js is the wrong tool for the job - vmware505\nhttps://medium.com/@jongleberry/when-node-js-is-the-wrong-tool-for-the-job-6d3325fac85c#.gwnpqr3qs\n======\nklodolph\nIt seems like a lot of JavaScript developers are repeating things like \"more\npeople know JavaScript so you don't have to learn a new language, which saves\nyou time\". I don't get it. In my experience, if you find a good developer,\nthey can pick up C#, Swift, or Go pretty quickly, and if you can't find a good\ndeveloper, the fact that they already know JavaScript is not much of an\nadvantage. Even if the developer you hire already knows your language, they're\ngoing to be spending time learning your code base and how your organization\nworks (shared repo? PRs? Feature branches? Code review? Coding standards?)\n\nThat, and nose.js developers seem to repeat the claim that node.js makes\ndelivery faster… but is it really any faster than ASP.NET, Rails, Django, or\nGo stdlib? Those frameworks are so fast for prototyping and delivering bread-\nand-butter apps as it is (and some of them let you do multithreading to boot).\n\nI'm also really not interested in how things work for \"typical CRUD apps\"\nbecause those are so trivial to write in any decent environment.\n\nI'm worried that node.js articles are the same kind of echo chamber that Rails\narticles were 10 ago.\n\n~~~\nmgkimsal\n> I'm worried that node.js articles are the same kind of echo chamber that\n> Rails articles were 10 ago.\n\nI tend to agree.\n\n> That, and nose.js developers seem to repeat the claim that node.js makes\n> delivery faster…\n\nThe qualification was \"if your team already knows JavaScript\". OK... If the\nteam already knows Java... building something like this in Java would be\nfaster to deliver, and wouldn't hit some of those issues the author brought up\n(4 vs 1, single vs threaded, etc).\n\nAnd the whole \"oh, you know language X\" \\- means almost nothing when the\nproject is more than trivial hello world. Every project I've been brought in\non, the qualifier was \"must know tech X\". And _almost_ always (there were\nexceptions) I knew more about tech X and software dev in general than the\noriginal developers, and the crunch was not \"how do I do XYZ in this tech?\" it\nwas \"how do I get the other developers to actually use version control?\" or\n\"use version control sanely?\" or \"document anything?\" or \"write tests\" or\n\"have test data\" or \"have a repeatable build process\"?\n\nKnowing ASP or PHP or Ruby or whatever, but going in to a project without\nrepeatable build process, tests, documentation, requirements or version\ncontrol, is a recipe for disaster. Stressing the \"deliver quickly\" aspect of\nany language, if you're actually trying to deliver for a business or with a\nteam of people, is extremely destructive short term thinking. And yes,\nsometimes, in rare cases, it may be a necessary evil, but I think it's become\nthe norm with words like \"agile\" being thrown around as synonyms for \"don't\nhave to write anything down\".\n\n~~~\nastinit\nAs someone still studying and not in the workforce yet, are there really teams\nout there that don't use version control?\n\n~~~\nthe_af\nYes. Also, some huge multinational companies you're very likely to have heard\nof don't do automated testing of any kind, as least for non-critical software\n(source: my own experience). I'm not talking about TDD or any fancy agile\ntechnique; I mean any kind of automated testing whatsoever.\n\nIf you're just out of university or read tech blogs or hackernews, you'd think\neveryone these days is doing TDD, pair programming and agile. The reality is\nthat a lot of major businesses do _none of that_.\n\n~~~\nRoboprog\nRe: automated testing. This can be quite time consuming to set up in many\nenvironments. Step one: get an Oracle database instance/schema that you can\nsnapshot and roll back to a known starting state at will. Step two: get\nmultiple connected app instances into a state to support each test run. Step\nthree: just drop it, those things aren't gonna happen before you update your\nresume :-)\n\nI'm ignoring the approach that says: Let's just spend a LOT of time writing\nmocks that stub out 90% of everything that matters, and pretend that the tests\nactually show something that matters.\n\n~~~\nthe_af\nAgreed about integration tests sometimes being a pain in the... neck.\n\nHowever, note I'm talking about something way more basic: many business don't\ndo _any kind of testing at all_ that isn't done by people manually trying the\nsystem. In the case of internal tools, this \"testing\" is often done directly\nby internal users trying to use the tool. This is way more common than one\nwould suspect from reading tech blogs (unless one reads TheDailyWTF, of\ncourse).\n\n~~~\nmgkimsal\nI try to stress to clients that testing will always be done - we have a choice\nhow much we do up front, behind the scenes, vs out in public, with real\ncustomers, money and data on the line. Still people choose, for a number of\nreasons, to have some/most/all of testing just be 'throw it out and see what\nhappens'.\n\n------\nsmokeyj\n> As node.js is not multi-threaded, we spin up 4 instances of node.js per\n> server, 1 instance per CPU core. Thus, we cache in-memory 4 times per\n> server.\n\nAnd why not use a shared memory server?\n\n> Operations started adding rules with 100,000s of domains, which caused a\n> single set of rules to be about 10mb large ... If we weren’t using node.js,\n> we could cut this bandwidth by 4 as there would only be one connection to\n> the Redis cluster retrieving rule sets.\n\n _Maybe a 10mb json string isn 't the best design decision_.....\n\nOr you know, you could have one node process connect to the Redis server, and\nhave the local processes read from a shared memory server.. Or you could not\nstore your rules as a 10mb friggin JSON string..\n\n> When rule sets were 10mb JSON strings, each node.js process would need to\n> JSON.parse() the string every 30 seconds. We found that this actually\n> blocked the event loop quite drastically\n\nWell then do it in another thread and save it to shared memory. Maybe, just\nmaybe, JSON strings aren't the tool for the job here.\n\n~~~\nleopoldfreeman\nNodeJS is a multi-threaded process. You can verify it with top or ps command.\nAsync methods to decode JSON:\n[https://github.com/nodejs/node-v0.x-archive/issues/7543](https://github.com/nodejs/node-v0.x-archive/issues/7543)\n\n~~~\ntayo42\nThe thread thing in nodejs seems very misunderstood. Only the javascript runs\nin one thread. I think its libuv that uses 4 threads to do most of the work in\nnode.\n\n------\nrodp\nWhile I agree Node.js isn't the right tool for any job -- just like anything\nelse, really -- after reading his description of the problem, I can't shake\noff this feeling that the main issues he has with performance in this case\nhave very little to do with Node itself. Parsing a huge JSON string in any\nlanguage would block CPU for a while. This JSON then becomes a huge hash table\nin memory, so no wonder each process uses up a lot of RAM. I don't know how\nthese rules are then used but it seems to me he might be better off trying to\nrethink how to do shared memory in this case before he simply blames Node for\nblocking CPU and wasting memory.\n\nThat said, I can imagine other languages (like Java or Go) could still end up\nbeing more efficient than Node.\n\n~~~\njonas21\nThe issue isn't that it takes a long time to parse the JSON. It's that the\nserver can't do anything else while it's parsing. In Java, for example, you\ncould parse the JSON on a background thread without affecting your ability to\nserve requests.\n\nSimilarly, the memory issue isn't so much that a single copy of the table\ntakes a lot of space, but rather that they need to store 4 copies of the table\n-- because they're running 4 different processes in order to utilize multiple\ncores.\n\nBoth of these issues are specific to nodejs.\n\n------\ntyingq\n_\" Operations started adding rules with 100,000s of domains, which caused a\nsingle set of rules to be about 10mb large\"_\n\nThere's not enough detail to be sure, but this sounds more like _\" when a\nrelational database would be a better idea than redis.\"_\n\nEdit: That is, pushing the evaluation of the rules down...rather than pulling\na kv and walking 10MB (of JSON?) to get to the small number of rules that\napply for the transaction.\n\n------\nbinocarlos\nThis is an excellent article which really highlights the underlying trade-offs\nwhen you choose node for your service (i/o bound work vs cpu).\n\nUnless you know for sure what limits you will hit - it makes sense to iterate\nquickly and find out. Then, if the service is actually hitting limits (and\nprobably not the ones you thought) - re-write it in a multi-threaded\nconcurrent language like go, elixr etc - or a language designed to solve the\nactual problems the service is hitting (which might be disk i/o or other\ninfrastructure level things not language choice)\n\n------\ndlojudice\nThey could have fixed part of the architecture by having a \"cache service\"\nprocess (4 cpus: 3 for proxies, 1 for the cache service). With that they'd\nhave a single point consuming their limited resources (memory, cpu and socket\nfor redis connections), using IPC to communicate between process.\n\n~~~\ngaastonsr\nI thought the same or even the same 4 cpus for proxies and a shared 1 for the\ncache service.\n\n------\nneebz\nJSON.parse() is one issue we faced regularly. Any large amount of data\nfetching could block the event loop and the whole server slows down. It's very\nunforgiving.\n\nWe go great length to figure out which attributes to fetch and add limits to\nall our sql queries. These are best practices but with node they are must.\n\n~~~\nbeejiu\nNode.js isn't great for CPU bound tasks in general.\n\n~~~\ndanenania\nParsing json is sneaky because it can show up in apps that are otherwise IO\nbound (where Node shines) and don't seem like they should be CPU intensive on\nthe surface.\n\n------\nwehadfun\nJavaScript is my first non-mathematical programming language and I haven’t\nfound the need to expand my programming skills to more\n\n-Having a hard time taking anything this guy says seriously\n\n------\nyahyaheee\nI debated between learning Node and Go for my latest project. I took a couple\ndays doing beginner tutorials on each, and Go was actually a lot easier for me\nto learn. Could just be my background, but I know a couple other people who\npicked it up in about a week too, it's surprisingly simple.\n\n~~~\nSlackwise\n> it's surprisingly simple.\n\nActually, that's its fundamental design. They reduced everything down to a\nvery small core with very little features, so things would be obvious and you\ndon't have to learn or remember much. It's refreshingly simple!\n\nWith that said, I'd say they reduced it _too_ far down. There's no generics so\nyou end up using `interface{}` everywhere which often leads to issues due to\nits late binding. Or you end up just using codegen tools, IIRC.\n\nAlso since there are no exceptions, you end up with constant checks for error\ncode returns, which end up usually just being strings and not much else. Not\nsaying exceptions are the best way to approach error handling, but they do\nallow you to reverse through an entire function call stack and clean up any\nstate along the way, along with adding more granular error information you can\nwrite handlers to react to. Go reminds me of the pain that was C error\nhandling and juggling error codes.\n\n------\nsuzzer99\n> On each server, rules are retrieved from Redis and cached in-memory using an\n> LRU-cache. As node.js is not multi-threaded, we spin up 4 instances of\n> node.js per server, 1 instance per CPU core. Thus, we cache in-memory 4\n> times per server. This is a waste of memory!\n\nThis is completely standard and the only way to do node in-memory caching.\nThink of each worker as a completely independent node process, which is only\nbound to the cluster by a master process which has the ability spawn and kill\nchild cluster processes.\n\n~~~\nvkjv\n> This is completely standard and the only way to do node in-memory caching.\n\nThis isn't accurate you can use shared memory. There are a few modules that\nimplement this. In addition, you can offload the JSON.parse to the dedicated\n\"caching\" process that updates the shared memory.\n\n~~~\nsuzzer99\nDo you have a link that describes an example of this?\n\nOk nevermind, google is my friend:\n[https://github.com/PaquitoSoft/memored](https://github.com/PaquitoSoft/memored)\n\nI can see where this would come in handy. But at 240MB total resident memory\nper CPU across 4 node workers that OP describes, I wouldn't hassle with it.\n\n------\nstevebmark\nre: multiple processes duplicating memory, would a single menmcache instance\nor similar solve this problem? I don't have any perspective on how that would\nperform at scale vs individual programs reading from application state.\nAlthough thinking about it, each process would probably have to store all that\ndata in app memory anyway...\n\n------\ncbem\nIt was an very unfortunate decision for Node devs to deep six multithreaded\nweb workers. A pull request implementing it was ready to go with an optional\nflag to enable it but they did not want to support it. So node will be forever\nmore compute bound to a single thread blocking all I/O.\n\n~~~\ngaastonsr\n> So node will be forever more compute bound to a single thread blocking all\n> I/O.\n\nI don't think I understood your point. But is not Node.js supposed to not\nblock long lasting tasks?\n\n------\ntannhaeuser\nI'd also add that node.js might not be the right choice for complex backend\nbusiness logic with lots of service calls because of. Node.js' always-async\nexecution model tends which tends to make things more complicated than need\nbe.\n\n~~~\ntps5\nI think \"always async\" is the main advantage of node.\n\nMy general (perhaps wrong) impression is that other languages commonly used in\nbackends are moving toward async io, usually through maturing libraries.\n\n~~~\ntannhaeuser\nIt's not that I don't like async (I think it's a defensible choice for\nJavaScript), but that in my experience backend logic for e.g. e-commerce apps\ndoesn't benefit from using it. Projects which expose services to web frontends\nare often implemented in an architecture where only one-shot, aggregated\nservice calls (and often times REST-y services) are exposed to Node.js, with\nthe actual business processing and granular service calls being implemented in\neg. Java web services in a synchronous programming style. I actually like that\narchitecture because it gives front end devs leaway to define their browser-\nfacing head server backend, rather than enshrine a dogmatic frontend/backend\narchitecture upfront.\n\nIt's true that other languages add async models (or emphasize those that they\nalready have), but eg. in the case of Java you're sitting on 20 years of\nsynchronous library and custom code, and it's not clear moving to async is\nworth it at this pont.\n\n------\ndonatj\n\"Usually\" /snark\n\n------\nhitgeek\ngood detailed write up.\n\nThere were probably opportunities for the author to architect the system in\nways that were better suited to node (given that was the chosen platform), but\nthe architecture choices were not unreasonable by design. These are some good\nthings to consider when architecting a system, and considering node as the\nplatform.\n\nI'm not sure I agree that node is the \"perfect for simple CRUD apps\" though\n\n------\nleshow\nI think it's a lot closer to 10x as fast for Rust and 6-7x for Go.\n\n------\nBuuQu9hu\nWhen WebAssembly comes, what will that mean for the node.js ecosystem?\n\n~~~\nkowdermeister\nNothing, WebAssembly targets the browser. Devs who already understand JS could\njust easily pick up Node.\n\n------\nhmans\nAlways.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nStaffed by mimes - ColinWright\nhttp://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2014/11/staffed-by-mimes.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter\n======\nzimpenfish\nIf you use words, you have to have them translated into N languages. With\npictograms, you likely don't need any translation.\n\n~~~\nColinWright\nIf you only use pictograms, there are some that _nobody_ understands.\n\n~~~\nzimpenfish\nBut at that point, the customer has likely already paid for the item, you've\nsaved countless translation costs, and what do you (as a company) then care?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCalliope mini - Tomte\nhttp://calliope.cc/ueber-mini\n======\ngus_massa\nLook interesting, but this is an English speaking forum and post in other\nlanguages are usually ignored or flagged. Do you know an official translation\nto English?\n\nHow is this different from an Arduino?\n\nAutotranslation:\n[https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A...](https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fcalliope.cc%2Fueber-\nmini)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\n8 secrets of success in 3 minutes - mariusc\nhttp://www.ted.com/talks/richard_st_john_s_8_secrets_of_success.html\n\n======\nidlewan\nHas anyone read the book ([http://www.amazon.fr/Traits-Successful-People-\nCommon-ebook/d...](http://www.amazon.fr/Traits-Successful-People-Common-\nebook/dp/B003URRRT2)) ?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nYelp casually exploits coronavirus with charity scam - Zenst\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tIYrjBEczE\n======\nMeph504\nI like Rossmann, but I should have focused on staying on target here. He\nstarts with the info about the shitty fundraiser scheme. But then drifts into\na talking about them not removing fake negative reviews of his business.\nThough the second part is a valid complaint, just seems you shouldn't use this\ncoverage to talk about your personal issues with them.\n\nFor the record, Yelp has been a scummy dumpster fire for years, they try this\nshake down shit with so many small businesses here.\n\n~~~\nZenst\nWhilst you may view them as personal issues - they are experience and not\nunique to him.\n\nYes, does seem many are aware of Yelp being scummy (nice way of putting it),\nbut only those who are more technically aware to see thru their scummy bully\ntactics, tactics that hurt and can destroy a business. Many who are not\ntechnically minded and they equally suffer at their hands without knowing why\nas many users out there are not technically aware and with that will blindly\ntrust those reviews and Yelp and those users are the majority.\n\nNow they are abusing a pandemic to be even more scummy, they need to be held\nto account and shown to those common users what they are about and stopped.\n\nI just want to see fairness and with that, really want to see the word put out\nso those lessers users start to see the truth as we all know, they have been\nallowed thru whatever reason to carry on doing this and are not improving,\nindeed - getting worse.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nFcgi vs. gunicorn vs. uWSGI - jgalvez\nhttp://www.peterbe.com/plog/fcgi-vs-gunicorn-vs-uwsgi\n\n======\ntimf\nMake sure to look at this more comprehensive review:\n<http://nichol.as/benchmark-of-python-web-servers>\n\n~~~\nsibsibsib\nWhile gunicorn isn't necessarily the fastest according to Nicholas Piël's\ntests, I like it for its ease of use.\n\nIt is very simple to get up and running and has some features like the ability\nto ratchet up and down the number of worker processes on the fly, or\nautomatically reload them. When gunicorn's performance becomes a problem, I\nwill re-evaulate and consider something like gevent.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nElon Musk Q&A 'Hyperloop' on KQED - palidanx\nhttps://soundcloud.com/kqed/musk-mp3\n\n======\npalidanx\nStarts at 1:00min.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nNBC Olympic Tape Delays - cisforcody\nhttp://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/02/olympic-tape-delays-roil-fans-but-for-nbc-its-good-for-business/\n\n======\nmynameishere\nI wanted to see some event online, but they wanted a cable-provider password.\nUmm, I don't have cable. If I had cable I wouldn't be watching TV on my\ncomputer.\n\n------\nNwallins\nI would really like to see a free market in Olympics coverage, rather than the\nmonopoly we are stuck with. I don't understand why we don't have as many\nchannels with live coverage as there are simultaneous events. I would think\nthat the Olympics group could make more money auctioning off each event's\ncoverage rights freely, rather than negotiating for a huge payoff (per region)\nfrom a single huge network.\n\nIt would certainly increase viewership and the customer experience. Having to\nwatch a very limited set of events on tape delay, subject to some editorially\nmilquetoast attempt at appeal to the lowest common denominator, is a\ndisturbingly negligent delivery of quality goods.\n\nImproving the experience should pay off in spades in the long run, even if I'm\ntoo optimistic in my analysis so far. Produce something valuable for your\ncustomers. The current Olympics TV experience is a joke: Despite my love for\nwinter sports, I am not engaged. I watched _SNL's Best of Chris Farley_ last\nnight on Netflix.\n\n~~~\npedalpete\nI wouldn't be surprised if this was the last Olympics without web broadcasts,\nbut as far as auctioning off each event individually, I think that would be a\n'usability' nightmare for fans. Now, it is pretty simple. I want to see\nOlympics, go to NBC. In Canada we have about 5 channels that have the Olympics\nthis year (maybe it's just in BC), and it is actually a bit annoying to have\nto figure out what channel is covering which events. In the past it has always\nbeen CBC I believe that had the Olympics. Now we've got CBC, CTV, SportsNet,\nAPTN, a chinese version, OLN, I'm sure there are more.\n\nIs it bad form of me to mention that we have 5+ networks showing live Olympics\nwhile Americans are complaining about not being able to get one? :)\n\n~~~\nNwallins\n> _I think that would be a 'usability' nightmare for fans. Now, it is pretty\n> simple. I want to see Olympics, go to NBC._\n\nRespectfully, I must disagree. Sure, you can go to NBC to see \"the Olympics\".\nThat won't change in any case. However, instead of being stuck at Ice Dancing\nor Biathalon (or whatever), you could switch the channel to a live event that\nyou want to watch. I envy your five channels. Here in Brooklyn, we have two:\nNBC and CNBC (Time Warner Cable).\n\n------\npedalpete\nFor years Americans near the Canadian border have been tuning into Canadian\nCBC for live coverage. Canadian CTV is streaming from\n<http://www.ctvolympics.ca/tv-online-listings/index.html> (not sure if you can\nget it outside of Canada).\n\nHate to rub it in, but nothing like being here (I live in Whislter)!\n\n~~~\ninklesspen\nEeeagh, silverlight. Is there no other option?\n\n~~~\nstse\nYou could try watching SVT (Swedish) at <http://svtplay.se/t/126795/os-\nsandningar> ('okommenterad' means 'without commentary')\n\n~~~\nkierank\nEurovision Sports (from the European Broadcasting Union) is pretty good if you\ncan bypass the GeoIP. <http://www.eurovisionsports.tv/>\n\nCommentary free and 6 live streams (and one in HD)\n\n------\nsmokey_the_bear\nWhy don't they just broadcast it live and then again later? They repeat it\nagain at about midnight anyway.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nIPad Teardown - tomerico\nhttp://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPad-Teardown/2183/1\n\n======\ntomerico\nThe most interesting thing in my opinion was the fact that 80% of the space\nwas taken by two large batteries.\n\nNo wonder thae battery is irreplaceable.\n\n~~~\njrockway\nOpen the battery door of your phone and you'll see a similar phenomenon.\nExcept that you can replace the battery.\n\n~~~\naxod\nI'd really love to see some startups working on Battery technology. Batteries\ndon't seem to have improved at all in the last 30 years. They absolutely suck.\nSurely someone out there can do better :/\n\n~~~\njrockway\nUh, you don't remember the NiCd and NiMH batteries from a decade ago? I do.\nThose _really sucked_.\n\n~~~\naxod\nBut the advances in battery technology are lame compared to CPU / memory /\ndisk.\n\nIn the last 30 years, we've gone from having a room full of hard disks storing\n32GB, to a memory chip the size of your fingernail storing the same.\n\nIn that same time period, batteries have improved a little bit. I understand\nit's a \"harder\" problem, but it'd really be nice if people were working on it.\n\n~~~\nberntb\n>>but it'd really be nice if people were working on it.\n\nAre you joking?\n\nConsider that electric cars are using similar tech as laptops; there is a\n_lot_ of battery research.\n\n(Google e.g. lithium air, I believe that is the latest great hope for getting\nrid of the oil dependency...)\n\n~~~\naxod\nI'm sure a few people are working on it ;)\n\nIt's just depressing how much batteries suck.\n\nWhy can't we buy AA batteries that last a month constant usage now? Probably\nbecause then we'd buy less batteries, and people are unlikely to buy more\nexpensive batteries.\n\nAnyway, some new startups working to shake things up would be cool IMHO.\n\n~~~\nDaniel_Newby\n50 milliamps for a month is equal to the energy produced by 50 grams of TNT.\n\nOK, so not kilotons, but not something you want to carry around either.\n\n~~~\njrockway\nCurrent isn't energy, so no.\n\n~~~\nDaniel_Newby\nIn the context of a ~1.5 V AA battery (the grandparent comment's lament),\ncurrent over time is energy.\n\nRegarding internal resistance, the resistance of all materials drops when they\nget sufficiently hot, and even a volt or two is enough to get an arc going.\nOnce that happens it will spread until the entire battery is converted to\nplasma. Given the energy densities the other commenter hoped for, the\npropagation rate is likely to be at the speed of sound, in other words a high-\norder explosion. Which is not surprising given that such a battery would\namount to a stick of dynamite with electrode layers spaced every few\nmolecules.\n\n------\nnatch\nSweet! Thanks for posting this (an hour before the other submission that\nhijacked your link by pointing to page two, I might add).\n\nThe only bad thing is it was a bit deflating to see the thing disassembled\nwhile I'm still waiting for UPS's very slow (in subjective terms) delivery\ntoday.\n\n~~~\nalanthonyc\nI got a knock on the door a few minutes ago...it was the FedEx guy with my\niPad _dock._ Still no iPad.\n\n------\nnnutter\nGuess we can own it?\n\n------\nPopScreenTeam\nThat's cool. Very efficient assembly.\n\n------\nsahaj\n2GB of RAM was what impressed me the most. I was expecting 1GB at the most.\n\n~~~\npieter\nIt's 256MB, apparently. The article says 2Gb(256MB) per die, for a total of\n512MB, but <http://furbo.org/2010/04/03/benchmarking-in-your-lap/> tested it\nand it's 256MB. I'm not sure where iFixit gets the idea there would be two\ndies.\n\n------\nck2\nHow long do you think until someone accidentally shorts or punctures those\nmassive Li-Poly batteries.\n\nIsn't that battery type particularly prone to explosions (seriously!)\n\n~~~\nsnom370\nI guess that is one reason why the front display is made of quite thick glass\n(it seems) and the back is made of aluminum. You would need to give it quite a\nbeating in order to damage the batteries.\n\n------\npak\nIntriguing. Somebody secretly took apart the 3G model and found this:\n\n<http://i.imgur.com/It9To.png>\n\n~~~\nangstrom\n4 iPads to a workstation. It's iPhones all the way down.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMicrosoft Is on Its Way Bringing Internet to 3M People in Rural America by 2022 - rbanffy\nhttps://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2018/12/microsoft-its-way-bringing-internet-3-million-people-rural-america-2022/153264/\n======\nBucephalus355\nI watched a video of Nancy Pelosi speak to Google after the 2008 election.\n\nFor every problem America had at the time, it seemed like her solution was\n“rural broadband!”.\n\nNot saying that’s bad at all, but this has been promised for a while by many\npeople.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAndy Rutledge Redesigns NYTimes.com - ecaron\nhttp://andyrutledge.com/news-redux.php\n======\nfaramarz\nObviously he's not a NYT reader. I love the times. It's not broken. Their\nwebsite is fantastic in every way. You can spend hours upon hours on it and\ndigest more content, in whatever style you wish to navigate. It has a certain\nunity within the chaos. But it's not really chaos. The content is the layout.\nYou won't find any other News organization who understands design more than\nNYT. They let the content design the layout, not the other way around.\n\nAndy turned NYT into a Wordpress blog. :|\n\nI'll give him credit for the work though, but I personally think NYT is an\nexception. But go ahead, every other news website, you have Cart Blanche.\n\ncc: Khoi Vinh\n\n~~~\nscott_s\nI feel the same. I think the NYT's online page is fantastic - so much so that\nI pay $16 a month for it. I think they do an excellent job of laying out pages\nonline yet still feeling like a _newspaper_. I _like_ looking around the page\nfor different stories, just as I would in a newspaper page. It's engaging, and\nI can't help but scan the whole page, read the headline, check out the picture\ncaptions.\n\nWhen I look at his blog-style page, my eyes just glaze over the headlines.\n\nThe NYT App on the iPhone is basically his mobile mockup. And I've found that\neven on my iPhone, I'd rather look at the proper front page.\n\n~~~\nrationalbeats\nI thought it was $8 a week?\n\n~~~\njonknee\nThat's for the \"All Access\" package which nets you a tablet app and a\nsmartphone app. The cheapest package is $3.75 a week.\n\nI would have subscribed, but they gave me a free year after introducing the\npaywall.\n\n~~~\nrationalbeats\nActually I did not realize that. Thanks for that clarification.\n\n------\nadamhowell\nI know everybody hates ads, but it only reinforces the \"naive businessmen\"\nstereotype of designers when people say stuff like this:\n\n\"Since news is accessed only via subscription, most of the ads can be\neliminated from the pages.\"\n\nThat's like saying because you pay for magazines they also don't need to have\nads. That's in no way at all how the content business works.\n\n~~~\njoeybaker\nNewspapers made the mistake of devaluing their ad inventory by increasing\ntheir supply. There's a really good – business – argument to be made for\ncutting the number of ad slots on the page.\n\n~~~\nmrkurt\nYou shouldn't underestimate how much newspapers know about the economics of\ntheir inventory. In many ways, ad slots are price discrimination. Companies\nthat want 100% share of voice (ie: no one else gets ads on the page) will pay\na premium to get it. A small company may just buy a cheaper ad slot at the\nbottom of the page. They have thousands of permutations on how they can sell\nads, and they _will_ shut off as many slots as necessary to get a premium\ncampaign going.\n\n------\npatio11\nIt is easy to create a redesign for a website. It is less easy to pivot a\nbillion-dollar business which has the agility of an aircraft carrier while she\nis sinking. If your answer to that question is \"What do we really need the\nplanes for, anyway?\" and \"I think the conning tower would look much better in\nteal.\", you might find a wee bit of difficulty getting taken seriously.\n\n~~~\nrevorad\nExactly. One thing the author conveniently forgot to take into account is the\nperformance of the current site. If you don't have access to actual usage data\nsuch as heatmaps, click rates, page browsing times, you are quite likely\nshooting yourself in the foot just for the sake of beautifying the website.\n\nHe could argue that he was consciously only looking at the design aspect and\nthat would also be a mistake. You can't isolate performance and design for a\nsite. And when it comes to business, function takes precedence over beauty.\n\n------\ndotBen\nI was involved in a major redesign of the BBC News Website - when it went form\na sigle column approach to the current two-dimensional layout.\n\nWhat is interesting about Andy's designs is that he's basically taken the\ncurrent thinking in 'modern' news website design (two dimensions) back to the\nsingle column layout. I think this is a fundamental flaw in his design.\n\nPeople come to a news front page to see the editor's prioritization of the\ndays news agenda. With a single column approach it is very difficult to\neditorially prioritize stories of similar importance. It works for blogs\nbecause they don't have an editorial prioritization as they usually sort by\nchronological order.\n\nTwo-dimensional layouts, like NY Times and BBC, allow for editors to give\nseveral articles (perhaps a politics story, a business story and a sport\nstory) equal visual importance. If you have a mainstream appeal you need to be\nable to give different audiences something of relevance.\n\n------\narn\nThe final result looks nice, but I hate these exercises, because if you are\nnot fitting the same number of ads in the page, then you are not actually\nsolving the same problem. You are solving a much easier problem, as almost all\nsites look better without ads.\n\nAlso, there's a major divide between what people seem to think looks nice and\nwhat seems to succeed. The Huffington Post is the biggest example of recent\nsuccess in the news realm. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/>\n\nIs that despite of its design or because of it? I don't know. It's hard to\nseparate out the effect of the editorial content from presentation.\n\n------\ndredmorbius\nI don't like the final result, and Rutledge dismisses many of the realities of\nsite design.\n\nI think the existing NYTimes site is among the examplars of good Web news site\ndesign. My principle gripe is that there's too much whitespace around the\nprimary content. That's probably a consequence of both a 1920x1080 display\n(laptop), and highly aggressive ad blocking. (Yeah, yeah. I'll stop blocking\nads when advertisers stop being complete f _ckwits about making annoying ads,\nand/or when hell freezes over, whichever comes first.)\n\nThere are a few valid points Rutlege makes. Many of the navigation elements\nare little (or never) used by me, including the left and top sidebars.\n\n_I want my microcontent.* That means a brief story summary. I have an RSS\nreader and subscribe to the NY Time site on it. I rarely read it. Why?\n_Because there's no microcontent._ For most news stories, the first paragraph\nis all I need (actually, in all absolute truth, the headline itself is far too\nmuch). If I want to read more, that paragraph really helps make the decision\nto do so. Jacob Nielson's covered this topic very well.\n\nPresenting the content on the homepage, while making for dense page, does make\na good jump point. My eye can scan far more quickly than I can click back and\nforth through pages.\n\nThe classic wastes of time for me on the Times are:\n\n\\- Video content. Really, text tells the story far more quickly most of the\ntime. A video feature can be a benefit (and for some rare stories it's hugely\nuseful), but I _don't_ think it belongs on the homepage.\n\n\\- The \"Talking Heads\" features. There's something in how these are set up\nthat frequently makes for a compelling lede, but fails to deliver. The format\njust doesn't work for me.\n\n\\- The formulaic three-headlines-per-section on the front page. Some days some\nsections deserve far more news, and some sections (sorry, but \"Dining\",\n\"Fashion\", and \"Automobiles\" hold little or no interest) deserve none. To me.\n\nRutledge has succeeded in vastly simplifying the Times's front page. _By\nremoving most of the informational content and utility from it._ His design\nworks for mobile (and as he notes, the Times has a good mobile site). It's not\na good full-featured site design.\n\n~~~\nrjd\nVideo content brings in 20x the ad rate of display ads. The news agency I\nworked for had a \"push video for all content\" stance because of this, I assume\nall other news sites have the same stance.\n\nYou bring up the biggest argument of them all, I had it every day with the\nsite I was responsible for. I'm a minimalist myself, and the person I reported\nto was a everything and the kitchen sink guy. We had some heated arguments\nfollowed by days of ignoring each other LOL\n\nI hated his approach, but our numbers did suggest many people landed to the\nfront page each morning and read the whole thing. So having a lot of\ninformation and links on the page is very important. So assume your behavior\nvalidated as normal viewing behavior. Behavior changes through out the day\nthough which sucks LOL\n\nAnd the most amazing thing was user testing is near useless, the demographics,\nexperiences, behaviors are so vast. Even as noted the time of day has a huge\neffect on readers.\n\nSo no matter what you do you isolate a community, so you compromise and\ncompromise, and produce the most average pile of junk anyone has ever seen.\nBut people understand it, sure they moan, but they get it. Go for the lowest\ncommon denominator.\n\nThe times uses the motif of a news paper online, I guess because it's\ncontextually people understand. I don't know if by design or accident, but\nthere is a level if usability there because of the fact.\n\nIts messy but its reliable, and sometimes thats what design is about, not a\ngreat looking product, but something that does its job.\n\n~~~\ndredmorbius\nThe lifesaver for me has been the \"Remove This Permanently\" Firefox plugin\n(well, that an the Flashblock plugin).\n\nIf something's sufficiently annoying, I just find its xpath and remove it.\n\nDoes this put me in the top fractional 1% of browsers? I have no doubt. Does\nthis work for me? Yes. Does the 1% bit bother me? Not in the least.\n\nIf anything, it's the final trump card in an argument I've had with web-design\ngeeks that the end-user ultimately trumps style.\n\nVideo very likely does bring in the money. I can live with that. But so long\nas I can rip out the offending content, I'm cool with it.\n\nI've also seen some other good/bad paper designs. In the Bay Area, I'm\ncontinually amazed at how good the _design_ of the SF Chronicle is (the\ncontent's of course gone fully to crap), and how poor that of the San Jose\nMercury News (in the capital of Silicon Valley) is. I actually did an analysis\nof how much (and respectively little) content was presented above the fold in\neach design.\n\nSadly each, even in their online incarnation, is becoming increasingly\nirrelevant and local-focus blogs/news services are emerging.\n\nOn the topic -- if you haven't read John Sealy Brown's _Information Rules_,\nI'd highly recommend his section on the community-binding element of\nnewspapers (and sports teams). It's a strong indictment of micro-targeted /\nindividualized news streams.\n\n~~~\nrjd\nI've found ghostery and ad block plus do the trick for me :)\n\n~~~\ndredmorbius\nCool, I've added ghostery, will play w/ it.\n\n------\nsjwright\nAndy's redesign is a disaster for various reasons stated by others, but this\nis possibly the most important and underlying reason for its failure: The\nexisting design _visually demonstrates_ that _'there's a lot going on here'._\nHis does not.\n\nHe failed to communicate the _good_ type of busyness in his re-imagining --\nthe redesign makes the site look like a five-articles-a-day blog.\n\n~~~\nsnorkel\nExactly. nytimes.com gives the visual impression of being dense with fresh\ncontent and that's what keeps news junkies coming back for more.\n\nHis redesign not only lacks compelling visuals (huffingtonpost.com wins that\ncategory, sorry but tabloid style is here to stay) but also advertising: still\na necessary evil, got to make room for the ads.\n\n------\nrjd\nWell having been in the person in charge of a major news website myself I can\nsay we all have lovely designs like this pinned to the walls next our desks.\n\nAnd while I really like his designs and have turned to Andy many times for\ninspiration, there are some serious context problems... and while I'm bored\nand off work I might as well write a critique...\n\nI had an near identical sports section to the one he designed pinned to me\nwall. But I can say he's screwed a few things up, gallery needs to be higher,\nusers can't find a gallery that low (I know user testing surprises them hell\nout me to), no ads again. To use templating that image has to be shrunk, the\nquality you get through from external sources if often extremely poor, a\nreality he doesn't seem to have considered. Nothing screams amateur news like\nbig pixalated images some non technical journo uploaded, and credibility is\nyour only asset really.\n\nAnother reality is the business requires as many ad units as you can fit on a\npage, big media is expensive. Way more than a blog with 10 or so staff. Flying\npeople all over the country, investigating stories, hotel rooms. Its like\ncovering CES every day, which for most tech blogs would be there biggest\nyearly expense. Moan all you will but most people are out of touch with exact\nwhat it takes to make decent news.\n\nAnd you can't win an argument about ads, you get dragged in front of finance,\nand if you convince them sales will drag you in front of the board, if you win\nthat you get dragged in front of agencies to justify changes which may effect\nupcoming campaigns. Its a horrible process and really have to have solid\narguments and research, essentially you are risking entire revenue streams,\nfor what in a lot of cases isn't even break even business.\n\nHe's got what appears to be a lot of promoted content, thats expensive from a\nsupport point of view. I had a guy working under me whose job was literally to\nmake the decision about what story superseeded the next.\n\nThe back lash you get from people for having a story up too long or not long\nenough is amazing. I've been called every name under the sun. Your audience\nisn't a defined well behaved demographic at all. Its like 4chan discussing\npolitics, just a complete mess always on the attack.\n\n..but at least when thanks comes its usually really good, for example this\nyear I got a hand made Christmas card from the Indonesian Fishing Association\nfor getting a reporter in touch with them. Somehow it made up for a year of\ninsults. It was real touching.\n\nThe only real solution, and we worked damned hard with Google on this is\nindexing getting people to the page directly, forgetting all about overview\npages and landing pages.\n\nWe ended up constructing a 24 hour social media team. We pushed the news via\nautomation, blood, sweat, and tears to the people. And Google rewarded us, we\nentered the elite list of news suppliers whom google monitor for breaking\nstories. It works, it really does, but its hard work. I bet there aren't many\npeople hear who have brought Google employees to an argument with your boss ;)\n\nAnyway he's also under estimating the sheer volume of stories being generated.\nHe's designed a nice blog template, not something that produces several\nhundred of stories a day over dozens and dozens of subsection. He's hasn't\nconsidered the scale, and the unreliability of content. You can do editorial\npages like that for major events, but not the daily drab. The real solution to\nthe problem was as noted above social engineering, you need to get people\n(super nodes) who act as conduits to propagate good stories for you.\n\nThe next is the infographics. Again beautiful, I used to kill for decent info\ngraphics coming in. If I wasn't snowed under I'd try and create them myself.\n\nBut the reality is graphic designer can't do it, they have huge work loads\nalready, and remember you can't just hire more staff, its break even business.\nTHEN you need a subject matter expert to assembly it and give it to the\ngraphic designer.\n\nInfographics takes time, and its something that Google and Twitter have taken\naway from news journalists by the creation of an attention economy. You need\nto break a story immediately or you run the risk of not covering your\nproduction costs.\n\nYou don't have time to crunch numbers, you are literally scrambling for\neyeballs to stay in business. You can do it with editorials fine, and one\ntrick I learnt quick was guest bloggers are GOLD. They often bring a crowd\nwith them, they often have great researched stories, infographics you name it.\nSo it became my goal to build those relationships.\n\nBut alas 3 months without weekends, high pressure workload, high pressure\ntargets, unyielding worldwide competition take a toll. So I quit. Theres still\nan open position for me if I want to return, but I don't think I'm ready just\nyet ;)\n\nEDIT: I don't mean to be harsh towards Andy. I love his work, and his\nintellectual exercise into improvement is great. I even forwarded it onto my\nold team for review.\n\nBut what I guess my point is sometimes there a reason why things are crap, and\nfixing may be a hell of a lot harder the moment you try than you expected.\n\nSo don't judge people/teams to harshly, instead offer a hand like Andy has\ndone, sometimes they need it (especially in big media)\n\n~~~\nrjd\nAlso probably worth mentioning while on the subject all my research and\nexperience added up to designs that are very close to Al Jeezera.\n\nPerhaps I just favor it because it resembles my own thinking but I believe\nthey have one of the best designed news sites out there:\n<http://english.aljazeera.net>\n\nClean, crisp, clear, all gridded up nice and tidy. Handling information\noverload well.\n\nBeing a new kid on the block, no legacy systems or clients to contended with,\nlearning from every one else's mistakes I assume play a huge part in why Al\nJeezera looks so good.\n\nIf I can remember the worst news site I've seen I'll post it. Its a state\nlevel TV station from America somewhere, shocking abuses in design. It was\nlike trying to read at a pocket dictionary from 10 feet away, total text\nchaos.\n\n~~~\nalphakappa\nOne of the best online newspaper designs I've seen recently is the Indian\npaper The Hindu (<http://www.thehindu.com/>). While most Indian newspapers\nwill give you eye-cancer just by looking at them (ex: The Times of India,\nwhich is one of the oldest newspapers in the country also has one of the most\nhorrible online editions, plastered with spammy ads and horrible layout). The\nHindu has always been a bit of a boring (some might call it lack of\nsensationalism) but it's got an excellent new redesign. (The original design\nwas like a 1995 webpage)\n\nAlso up there in my list is NPR (<http://www.npr.org/>) and PBS\n(<http://www.pbs.org/>). Not technically newspapers, but their pages are\nmostly about news delivery.\n\n~~~\nnrbafna\nThe Hindu looked bad too, a couple of years ago. They started testing a new\ninterface at beta.thehindu.com for sometime before using the new interface for\neveryone.\n\n _The Hindu has always been a bit of a boring (some might call it lack of\nsensationalism) but it's got an excellent new redesign._ True.\n\n------\ndonohoe\nDear god, where to start. I worked on the Times web site for 7 years (dev, not\ndesign). Before I even saw his \"redesign\" I read his preamble. First, lets be\nclear, he is working from the wrong assumptions. He demonstrates clearly what\nis wrong with many news outlets but then he lumps the Times in with them too.\nSince his piece is about the Times I have to feel all assertions he makes are\nabout that too, and not just media in general.\n\n    \n    \n      Digital news is broken. Actually, news itself is broken. \n    \n\nNo its not. The business model is broken. Print is declining. Online revenue\nis being experimented with. Could be better, could be much worse.\n\n    \n    \n      Almost all news organizations have abandoned reporting in\n      favor of editorial; have cultivated reader opinion in\n      place of responsibility; and have traded ethical standards\n      for misdirection and whatever consensus defines \n      as forgivable. \n     \n\nPlease don't lump the Times in this category. They have a small amount of\nclearly stated _Editorial_ content. Separate from that is the _Opinion_ pages,\nand what is completely separate from that is _News_ (thats the bit where they\ntry their damnedest to keep Opinion out of it and cite sources, provide\nanalysis and present facts).\n\n    \n    \n      And this is before you even lay eyes on what passes for\n      news design on a monitor or device screen these days.\n    \n\nWe'll get to this part...\n\n    \n    \n      In digital media—websites in particular—news outlets \n      seldom if ever treat content with any sort of dignity\n      and most news sites are wedded to a broken profit model\n      that compels them to present a nearly unusable mishmash\n      of pink noise…which they call content.\n    \n\nActually that \"broken profit model\" isn't broken for some but thats another\nargument. If you have ever sat in a newsroom meeting, or a design review, or a\nmeeting where product people spar with editorial who spar with developers you\nwould realize that dignity is a big deal. A big _FUCKING_ deal. You might not\nlike the fruits of that but don't never say they don't give a shit. The Times\nprizes content to a fault.\n\n    \n    \n      In an effort to disguise and mitigate the fact that they\n      have little idea how to publish digital content \n      properly—often sneakily called \"differentiation\"—some\n      news outlets release apps for digital devices. These \n      apps typically (but not always) do a better job of \n      presenting content and facilitating navigation, but\n      they’re a band aid on a festering abdominal wound. \n      Digital media is simply digital media; if you do it \n      right you publish once and it works anywhere. If you’re\n      using an app to deliver content, you’re doing it wrong.\n    \n\nFirst, its not clear that this criticism is Times specific. However its still\nwrong. I've been in plenty of meetings with bright people from inside and\noutside the company where we started off with the goal that, as he put it, \"if\nyou do it right you publish once and it works anywhere\". It didn't work. These\nwere not just \"old media\" types either - these are talented people, some of\nwhom who don't even read the print edition. _gasp_\n\nIts something thats very easy to say - hell I wish it were true. It is not.\nDevices, apps, platforms, whatever. They have strengths and weaknesses. You\ncan not have one magic solution for all. This is a crappy comparison but its a\nbit like saying you have one single car for every type of terrain - same car\nfor soccer-mom and deer-hunter alike! Sweet!\n\n    \n    \n      Instead of working with a handful of redundant, \n      mitigating formats (websites, mobile sites, apps, etc...)\n      for content delivery to popular devices, news \n      organizations should simply deliver it correctly in\n      the first place, one time; using html, css, JavaScript,\n      ...oh, and design. The employment of content design\n      would be quite refreshing, actually.\n    \n\nSadly, this is very much an example of a person looking in. I'm not sure how\nto counter this. Its simply a matter of not knowing what happens on the 7th\nfloor of the Times Building. Nor could he. However I can only assure you that\na very dedicated group of Designers are actively working on NYTimes.com and\nthey know their shit.\n\nThere is definitely a crap load of work to do to fully redesign a web site\nthat was last done in 2005 - but it does happen. A couple of URLs come to mind\nwhich are not illustrated in his piece:\n\n _Opinion_ (redesigned last year)\n\n<http://www.nytimes.com/opinion/>\n\n[http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/07/25/how-\nbudget-c...](http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/07/25/how-budget-cuts-\nwill-change-the-black-middle-class?ref=opinion)\n\n<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/opinion/26brooks.html>\n\n _Times Skimmer_\n\n<http://www.nytimes.com/skimmer/#/Top+News>\n\n _Books / Best Sellers List_\n\n[http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/combined-print-\nand...](http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/combined-print-and-e-book-\nfiction/list.html)\n\n _T Magazine_ (CHECK THIS ONE OUT - you seem to have missed it Andy!)\n\n<http://www.nytimes.com/pages/t-magazine/index.html>\n\n<http://www.nytimes.com/gst/tmagazine/video/index.html>\n\n _Dealbook Blog_\n\n<http://dealbook.nytimes.com/>\n\n _Business Day Sectionfront_\n\n<http://www.nytimes.com/pages/business/index.html>\n\n _LENS Blog_\n\n<http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/>\n\n _Times Machine_\n\n<http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/browser>\n\n _Opinionator Blog_ (my favorite design)\n\n<http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/>\n\nSlide Show (Great Homes)\n\n[http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/07/20/greathomesandd...](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/07/20/greathomesanddestinations/20110721_eastberlin.html#6)\n\nSo whats next... well too much actually. I do not have the time nor the\npatience to dig at all of Andys points. Im sure not all of them are bad, but\nthere is enough there to make me wonder whats wrong with this guy. Again, he\nis a professional. I am sure he has had critics of his work, and he knows that\nthere was an inner process where a lot of those points were brought up and\nshown not to hold water. He is now doing the same thing.\n\nSo I'll leave it on one final point. Mobile Sites. Its an example of what\nhappens when you don't know that the Times is aware of his point and we\ndiscussed it and there was a damn good reason we made the decision that we\nmade.\n\nWhat am I talking about? He shows the iPhone with the full NYT homepage and\nhas the caption \"Um, are you frisking kidding me?\". In other words why not a\nmobile site.\n\nWell, very simple. The iPhone is capable of rendering and interacting with the\nfull page. It was the first browser to do so - it don't require a lite\nversion. You could tap, zoom, pinch, drag and get the full depth of the page.\nOther browsers - like those for Nokia, RIM etc couldn't handle that.\n\nThis was talked over to death. There were compelling arguments about going\ndown this road - or not. In the end, the decision was made to NOT redirect\nthose advanced browsers to the mobile site. You can still go to m.nyt.com if\nyou like, we just wont force you too.\n\n    \n    \n      but it should not require anything more than a media \n      query fetching different CSS and perhaps some additional\n      scripting so as to simply restyle the content experience\n    \n\nAndy does say that all you need is media quires for the CSS and such and\nbingo. Well, no. No its not that simple. If you want to redo the homepage for\na specific mobile experience then you probably want to serve different sized\nimages, maybe not have some Flash stuff on the iPhone, maybe drop the\nbandwidth intensive stuff that works well on desktop.\n\nCSS media queries does not solve the problem. It is never that easy and shame\non your for saying so. You are a professional. You should know better. Bad\nAndy. Bad. No biscuit for you.\n\nMan, this makes me bitter. _RANT OFF_.\n\n~~~\npalish\n_\"In the end, the decision was made to NOT redirect those advanced browsers to\nthe mobile site. You can still go to m.nyt.com if you like, we just wont force\nyou too.\"_\n\nThank you so much. Seriously. It's extremely rare for it to ever be enjoyable\nto use a \"mobile\" site on an iPhone. At least for me.\n\nI feel like sending you a cake.\n\nI wish there were some way to disguise the iPhone as a PC, so that no website\nautomatically redirects me to any mobile version ever.\n\nEDIT: For example, I just got an email saying I've been tagged in a photo on\nFacebook. So I go to facebook.com on my iPhone, and they've managed to\n_completely break scrolling_ in their mobile version. I literally cannot\nscroll down on any page. 100% certain, and 100% aggravating --- and as far as\nI can tell, no way for me to get to the full site.\n\n~~~\ndonohoe\nI agree completely. I'm not sure its best for everyone but that is also my\npreference too.\n\nSend a cake. I'm in Seattle now but you could send a cake to the designers on\nthe 7th floor.\n\n    \n    \n      NYTimes.com Design Group\n      c/o Angela Rutherford\n      The New York Times\n      620 8th Ave (7th floor)\n      New York, NY 10018\n    \n\nTell them to invite the Developers from the 8th floor too, and the Interactive\nNews Group on the 2nd.\n\nAdd a brief note on any design/ux tweaks you'd like :)\n\n _Cake = (!Lie) ? Motivation : Lie_\n\n~~~\ngraupel\nWouldn't it be even better if we could send the cake to one floor, and have\nthe designers, developers, and content team all work together? :)\n\n~~~\ndonohoe\nI couldn't agree more. If we had that I might have stayed - or gotten a hell\nof a lot more done.\n\n------\nlukeschlather\n>The Times politics page. I think the object of the game must be to fit as\nmuch “content” onto the page as possible in an effort to overwhelm the reader,\ntricking them into believing that the NY Times is just bursting with a\nmindbogglingly-bottomless array of important information. If only the reader\ncould learn to ignore 60% of what’s here, she might have a chance at a\npleasant experience. Please stop helping. What you’ve got here is not content,\nbut noise.\n\nYou can't get a good coverage of world events in the number of items that\nRutledge wants. The world is noisy, and what Rutledge is suggesting vastly\noversimplifies. I'm sure it would convert wonderfully, raise ad revenue, all\nthat. It wouldn't be good journalism. Even if the NYT is full of pointless\nnoise, it's still better than a handful of painstakingly crafted articles. A\nhandful of pretty, well-formed articles cannot accurately reflect a disordered\nworld. If the NYT isn't noisy it's not doing its job.\n\n------\njamesteow\nAs one of the designers of a major news organization redesign, it's very nice\nto do a pretty page but to honestly think you can get away with no ads is a\nnot only a losing battle but one that doesn't take the needs of the client\nseriously.\n\nI also like how the NYT's website looks like a newspaper with a variety of\ncontent. The redesign looks like a Wordpress template.\n\n------\nnatesm\nThe iPhone example is funny because Apple themselves used the New York Times\nas the example in their \"it's not the mobile Internet ... it's just the\nInternet\" advertisement.\n\n<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzV-W_6WOm0>\n\n------\ncatshirt\nso, remove the ads... and replace them with infographics?\n\nforgive me for being crass but this whole post seems naive. don't get me\nwrong, it's pretty; but we're talking about the new york times. i think this\nis more accurately \"andy rutledge redesigns nyt for andy rutledge\". which is\nfine, but not at all the same thing.\n\n\"broken news\" is a big claim. i'm not sure a sleek blog theme is going to fix\nit.\n\n------\nverisimilitude\nI really think this looks amazing. It would likely function amazingly well,\ntoo.\n\nHowever, for this to work, you have to eliminate the space for ads. To deal\nwith this, Rutledge suggests \"Quality news is subscription only. You pay for\nvaluable information. Fluff you get for free.\"\n\nI somehow don't think it's that simple.\n\nIf you slam the digital door shut (much more than it is now at the Times), and\nonly allow subscriber access, you'll do two things:\n\n(1) vastly reduce your readership; if you want to go back to showing ads, you\ncan't, because you no longer can brag about the vast numbers reading your\nwebsite daily (2) create a hyper-focused pirating scheme around disseminating\nNYTimes content for free\n\nI love news. I love good reporting. When I'm no longer a student, I'll pay to\nget the Times at home. BUT, we've got a serious problem here; this design,\nwhile well thought-out, fails to acknowledge that it can't exist (eliminating\nads) without changing the industry (changing readership drastically).\n\nI very much look forward to seeing this movie:\n[http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/page_one_inside_the_new_york...](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/page_one_inside_the_new_york_times/)\nwhich touches on these issues.\n\n------\nrayboyd\nMartin Belam (IA guy at the Guardian) wrote an excellent rebuttal to this\nyesterday. [http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2011/07/andy-news-\nredux.ph...](http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2011/07/andy-news-redux.php)\n\n------\njosscrowcroft\nAm I the only one who thinks his 'redesign' just looks like any other blog?\n\n~~~\nparallel\n\"Newer isn’t better. Better is better.\"\n\nSometimes it takes courage to put forward a design that doesn't have the\nglamour of the new. Things that work well can often be boring.\n\nEDIT: quote is from <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2803681>\n\n~~~\nint3rnaut\nAs a total noob in comparison to most readers of HN, I have to totally agree\nwith this sentiment--not that it's a noob idea but I feel like there are very\nskilled and brilliant people here that want to show the world their amazing\ntalents and sometimes lose sight of things. It reminds me of what I always see\non that show with Chef Gordon Ramsey where he's always telling these hot shot\nChefs to stop being so cocky with their creations and that simple is often\nbetter; no one wants a 58 flavour chocolate creme brulee steak muffin.\n\nBetter is Better, but again I think we have to remember, that it's all\nsubjective.\n\nP.S.\n\nDon't let the down votes discourage you. :)\n\n------\nprayag\nThe problem with such a post is that it violates the first principle of user\ncentered design. _Talk to your users._ Did anyone tell him that NYT is broken?\nDid he go and ask a single user who goes to NYT everyday to figure out what\nhis problems are? Or saw him use the site.\n\nIt's easy to re-design something from outside in. It's much harder to design\nit inside out when you have a more complete picture of what users are doing\nand have a rough idea of what they want.\n\n------\nsolipsist\n\n      Popularity has nothing to do with news\n    \n\nIf you've been on the internet before, you'll know this is not true.\n\n------\nflocial\nThe design has its moments but I actually like NYT. The only thing I would\nlike more is fixed dimensions for items on the front page, maybe 2 column\nlayout with both sides perfectly aligned per item. The draw of newspaper sites\nis both the quality content within articles but the curation of articles\nthemselves so having everything in uniform lists is too confusing. Additions I\nwouldn't mind are most tweeted or tweeted by your friends type social media\nintegration.\n\nIf design was the only thing killing the newspaper industry their problems\nwould be solved.\n\n------\ntjogin\nI think Andy's design is very stylish and presents the content in a tasteful\nway. I have no significant qualms about his design in any way.\n\nWhen he goes into business territory, however, he loses his shit. This is the\nmoney quote:\n\n\"Since news is accessed only via subscription, most of the ads can be\neliminated from the pages. Story pages could still have one or two tastefully-\npresented ads, but preservation of the content is what will keep readers\nhappy, engaged, and willing to continue paying their subscriptions…just like\nin olden times.\"\n\nPeople didn't pay for news in the olden times. They paid for printing and\ndistribution, and then the advertisement covered the rest, with some tiny\nvariations on that theme. Not significantly different from today.\n\nIf you were to make the content subscription only, and some publications have\ntried this recently, you'd lose 90% of your readers. That means also losing\n90% of your ad revenue. Now the remaining 10% of your readers need to make up\nfor that loss. That makes it a rather expensive subscription, losing a lot\nmore subscribers, and around it goes, the vicious circle.\n\nThat doesn't mean digital news isn't horribly broken, it is. Just that making\nit subscription only isn't the solution.\n\n~~~\njonknee\n... The NYT uses a subscription model these days (though you get a handful of\narticles for free every month). That's what he was talking about. He was still\nwrong from a business point of view though.\n\n------\nyarone\nAndy's designs look beautiful, but I'm reminded of the old saying: \"No battle\nplan survives contact with the enemy\".\n\nI'm afraid that if you take his designs as a starting point, and revise them\nbased on the needs of the NYTimes and the expectations of its millions of\nvisitors, they would require a large number of changes and would more closely\nresemble the current NYTimes.com\n\n------\nbrownie\nThe one thing I dislike (on the main page at least) is the separation of news\nand opinion/analysis. I can't think of many times where I've visited a news\nsite and wanted to read only opinion or only news, but I can think of times\nwhere I've visited a site to read about a particular story - and read related\narticles that happen to be opinions/analysis.\n\n------\npetercooper\nI suspect that while this is a reasonable and logical redesign, it misses out\non some non-rational behavior of the majority of people who read news. I know\nthat, non rationally, I quite like a bit of \"jumble\" from my newspapers and\nnews sites so I can just \"wander\" around from thing to thing for a while. The\nredesign showed here turns it more into a blog and I think I'd have trouble\nwandering around it.. I'd need to know what I was looking for.\n\nI dislike the Daily Mail but I know their site is almost entirely driven by\nnumbers and what catches on (and what doesn't): <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/>\n\\- it has a certain formula to it but it still has an element of randomness\nand chaos because, I suspect, that's what readers are going for, whether we\nlike it or not.\n\n------\nwebjunkie\nHe designed a blog... the whole of NYTimes ist not a blog.\n\n------\ndasil003\nAndy is a talented designer, but his style shows through a bit too strongly\nhere. He knows how to utilize whitespace to create an aesthetically pleasing\nvisual flow, but I don't think he pays enough respect the essence of a\nnewspaper—namely _density_ of information.\n\n------\nnewhouseb\nTo me it is incredibly important that an abstract is presented up front before\nI click through to the article. For other news sites (like CNN) that are more\nabout breaking news and less about well written and researched journalism -\njust the headline is fine (because chances are the article won't say much more\nthan the headline).\n\nNYT's strength is that it is a professional journalistic organization and thus\ntaking words _off_ the page would only serve to betray the value that the NYT\noffers.\n\n------\nrs\nNot to be a pain, the design is good, but there's no place to actually put an\nad, considering the advertisements are one of their sources of revenue\n\n~~~\ncode_duck\nIndeed, tastefully weaving ads into a design is on of the prime challenges of\nweb designers in the real world.\n\n------\nImperatorLunae\n_I think the object of the game must be to fit as much “content” onto the page\nas possible in an effort to overwhelm the reader, tricking them into believing\nthat the NY Times is just bursting with a mindbogglingly-bottomless array of\nimportant information._\n\nThat's just what paper newspapers look like. I don't think that's an accident,\neither.\n\n------\ndanso\n\"Since news is accessed only via subscription, most of the ads can be\neliminated from the pages. Story pages could still have one or two tastefully-\npresented ads, but preservation of the content is what will keep readers\nhappy, engaged, and willing to continue paying their subscriptions…just like\nin olden times.\"\n\nRutledge hasn't apparently visited the NYT often and maybe hasn't picked up a\nnewspaper in awhile.\n\n1\\. Not all of the NYT's traffic is through subscribers: it lets the average\nuser access at least 20 articles a month, and its \"paywall\" is very permeable.\n\n2\\. Even when you pay full price for an issue at the stand, that newspaper\nstill comes with ads. Subscriptions have not accounted for the entirety of\nnewspapers and magazines revenues in a while...\n\n------\nniels_olson\nA few years ago, I laid out head-to-head comparisons of the top newspapers in\nthe US with and without adblock and noscript. NYTimes, on a screen, is easily\nthe best newspaper. Unfortunately, the pressure of jamming more and more links\nand stories above the fold seems to have eroded the NYTimes usability.\n\n[http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-\nmsg?msg_id=0...](http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-\nmsg?msg_id=0002nk#above-fold)\n\nWe should do a poll too: I think a lot of netizens would support NYTimes to\nthe same degree they do NPR, but I don't think the average netizen donates\n$260 to NPR annually (the price NYTimes is asking for their tablet app).\n\n------\nMrAlmostWrong\nThere is no need to redesign when you can read the NYT in basically any format\nof your choosing with the NYT Skimmer:\n\n<http://www.nytimes.com/skimmer/?pagewanted=all#/Top+News>\n\n------\nprawn\nDesign is always so much easier when you don't have to incorporate ad spots.\nVery naive.\n\n------\ncode_duck\nThis is in the vein of just about every 'xx person redesigns yy site'. The\nelaborate comments from others have done a better job than I could of laying\nout the details. I don't know why people insist on publishing articles such as\nthese. Oddly, as in in this case, often they end up with a pleasant, but\nrather common looking, design which is blissfully unaware of all the different\nconstraints and special issues that guided creation of the original.\n\nThe conclusion of this article is a rather bland design, in my opinion, which\nlooks like 50 other sites out there and has no space for ads. Hardly worth the\nwall of text created to herald it.\n\n------\nRossDM\nThose look nice, but I still prefer Google News' two-column layout. I can't\nstand when news organizations try to force everything into a single Twitter-\nlike stream (Google News included).\n\n------\nspullara\nNot entirely different than Yahoo! News is designed on the desktop and on\nmobile. <http://news.yahoo.com>\n\n~~~\nacqq\nExactly, there is already a news site that functions very good on mobile, and\nit's named Yahoo News. I'd say it's very probable that the author was aware of\nit.\n\n------\nspacemanaki\n\"If you’re using an app to deliver content, you’re doing it wrong.\"\n\nHe's completely wrong about this. I love the NYT Android app. I can start it\nat home, while I have decent coverage, and am then able to read the paper any\nwhere I am throughout the day, including the subway, because it caches every\nstory on sections you open, even if you don't open those stories. It's one of\nmy favorite Android apps because of this.\n\n------\nsgdesign\nWhile we're on the subject, I recently did a news site design myself, even\nthough it's not my main area of expertise (I'm more of a UI designer). I can\nattest that news sites are probably among the hardest sites to design, since\nthere are so many parameters (and yes, ad units are very important!).\n\nAnyway, I'd love to get some feedback on the design:\n\n<http://thejournal.ie/>\n\n------\nprawn\nKhoi Vinh's just responded with, in part:\n\n\"I’m purposefully not identifying this person or the project or providing a\nlink back to the redesign itself, mostly because I think it’s counter-\nproductive to continue to reward this effort with more unwarranted attention.\nTo me, it felt less like constructive criticism than link-baiting, and so I\nhave tried to avoid making any public comment.\"\n\n------\nJason757435\nAnyone else see the irony in the fact that the very bottom of Rutledge's web\npage where this article is found is improperly formatted on the iPhone\n(background color not extended far enough to the right to cover all offered\nlinks). Petty? Yes, but if you're going to blast away at NYT, you better make\nsure your house is in order.\n\n------\nantidaily\n_Digital news is broken_\n\n/rolls eyes.\n\n------\nTamDenholm\nGot to say that is a really beautiful redesign. Someone go and make this\nfunctional or i will...\n\n------\nkarl_nerd\nOliver Reichenstein, a swiss/japanese news designer, has been writing about\nsome similar thoughts: <http://www.informationarchitects.jp/en/business-class-\nnews/>\n\n------\nbenjash\nSeems odd that he points out that the business model is broken.\n\nYet, doesn't make any room for advertising on his redesigns. The main source\nof income for most newspapers.\n\n------\nrobgough\nWhy haven't news sites like this tried the \"spotify\" model. Where you can pay\nto have the ads removed?\n\n------\nAverageAtasi\nLooks ok, but I'd rather them use shitty design than take advice from a right-\nwing asshole.\n\n------\nbryanallen22\nFor very brief, clean, non partisan news check out 24in60.com. It saves me\nlots of time and makes news fun for me to read.\n\n~~~\nbryanallen22\nHm. This must have looked like self promotion or something -- it wasn't. (It\ndoes sort of read that way.) Sorry.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nYour Product Needs a Soul - enra\nhttp://www.arcticstartup.com/2010/02/12/your-product-needs-a-soul/\n\n======\nskmurphy\n\"Even with its limited use in actual warfare, the katana was the most valuable\npossession of a samurai, the customer.\" reminded me of a quote by Fred Brooks\n(of author of Mythical Man Month):\n\n    \n    \n       \"A toolmaker succeeds as, and only as, the users of his tool succeed with his aid. \n       However shining the blade, however jeweled the hilt, however perfect the heft, \n       a sword is tested only by cutting. That sword-smith is successful whose clients \n       die of old age.\"\n\n------\ncwan\nA similar but a bit less abstract post from Seth Godin:\n[http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/02/the-brand-\nth...](http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/02/the-brand-the-package-\nthe-story-and-the-worldview.html)\n\n------\njdietrich\nI'm sure there's a great insight in that article somewhere, but I stopped\nreading as soon as I spotted the words \"soul\", \"katana\" and \"zen\". It's just\nmore cliché than I can bear.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAn idea (to fix public transport schedules). - sahillavingia\nhttp://sahillavingia.com/blog/an-idea-to-fix-public-transport-schedules/\n======\nandrewem\nBoston's MBTA seems to be leading the way with this kind of information, and\nwith making it open to developers. <http://mbta.com/rider_tools/apps/> lists\ndozens of web sites and mobile apps which use data about the MBTA's buses and\ntrains.\n\nThe MBTA's bus data (via <http://www.nextbus.com>, the giant in this industry)\ntends to be pretty good, though sometimes buses disappear from listings and\nreappear, and sometimes the predictions aren't very accurate, but they're\ndefinitely useful. Subway train data is only fed into the system once a train\nleaves the end of the line, so there tends not to be data for inbound trains\nfor the first several stops. Commuter rail data is still different, because\ntrains are so much less frequent and people tend to aim to be on a particular\ntrain which they know based on its scheduled time.\n\nOther transit agencies are much more closed about their data. For instance,\nDC's WMATA requires you to sign up for an API key and access all data using\ntheir web services, even though their bus data comes from NextBus so you'd\nthink they could let you hit NextBus's web services for their data.\n\nThere's also the brand-new GTFS-realtime spec from Google, which is a Protocol\nBuffer format for getting vehicle positions and so on very efficiently. The\nidea is that you'd be able to get the current locations of all the vehicles in\na large system, like the MBTA, in a single request.\n\n(Shameless plug: one of the MBTA apps listed in the app catalog is my web site\n<http://www.mbtainfo.com>)\n\n~~~\npavel_lishin\nThe DART in Dallas allows you to look up the real-time location of the next\nbus inbound to your station.\n\nCombine that with a public transportation system that actually goes somewhere\nuseful in a reasonable amount of time at useful times, and you might have\nsomething interesting.\n\n------\nyellowbkpk\nJust about every bus/train will already have a GPS device on it (to help\ndispatchers and for safety), it's just a matter of convincing the transit\nauthority to release that data into the public.\n\nMinneapolis's MetroTransit, for example, has the ability to do realtime\ntracking but chose to go with a \"n minutes until next bus\" system rather than\nshow moving dots on a map.\n\n------\njrockway\nThis is done in many cities with Chicago being one of the largest:\n\n<http://www.ctabustracker.com/bustime/home.jsp>\n\nIt really changes how you use public transportation because now you don't have\nto stand around waiting for the bus or train.\n\n------\nsingingwolfboy\nNextbus.com already does this with several public transportation systems,\nincluding Boston and San Francisco. I'm actually in the process of putting\ntogether a service to alert riders when the bus is about to arrive, based on\nthat data. It's still in beta, it only supports Boston, it's ugly as all hell\nand probably broken in places, but if anyone wants to look around, it's live\nhere:\n\n<http://www.buscalling.com>\n\nPS: if anyone wants to beta-test, let me know!\n\n------\nthingie\nWell, if our local transit company has a GPS module in every its vehicle on a\nroute and can watch all of them nearly real-time (\"nearly\" is something like\nupdates every 30 seconds), and we are in Eastern Europe, then any transit\nauthority can. There is no need to \"crowdsource\" it.\n\nOn the other hand, they aren't very good in communicating the information they\nhave. The best thing we have is this: <http://idsjmk.jrbrno.cz/> and Google\nMaps.\n\nThere are another problems that are not mentioned at all in the article.\nService irregularities, either planned or not. There are frequent tram track\nrepairs, street closures… So, what changes are there on my route, if any? Was\nthe stop that I'm planning to get on moved behind the corner? Where _exactly_\ncan I get on? And exactly means exactly, cellphone GPS can't tell you\ndecisively if you are at the right side of the road, for example. And that is\na crucial difference if you are planning to get on a bus.\n\nAnd what if I'm waiting for a tram, and there was an accident somewhere and\nall the trams are delayed. What now? Was a reserve bus dispatched to replace\nit? When will it arrive? And where, if it's a segregated tramway and the bus\ncan't use the stop?\n\n------\nalephNaught\nThis was done at univ. of michigan as a student project:\n<http://mbus.pts.umich.edu/>\n\n~~~\niqster\nThanks for the link to this. Very cool! While the OP describes a crowd-sourced\nsolution, this seems to be a setup where 1 GPS is attached per vehicle.\n\nOn seeing this, I have a reaction that I'd like to share. Someone at this\nUniversity had vision. They seem to have less than 20 buses in their fleet.\nHowever, we're still talking about a serious investment (It isn't just the\nphones, it is also data plans. They might be using their campus wifi network\nwhich would significantly lower their costs).\n\nI've tried doing this in _other_ places some time ago. However, it was\nimpossible to get anyone to invest in such a thing. What do you do when you\nare in this situation? I've done mock-ups, buying initial hardware with my own\n$$, but still. I guess in our society, pretty much everything comes down to\neconomic value. On one hand, it makes sense. On the other, it makes me sad.\n</rant>\n\n------\nantpicnic\nIn the Seattle area, we have OneBusAway. You can access it from the web, by\ntexting, phone, and via apps for Android,iPhone, and WP7.\n\nOneBusAway started as a graduate student project at the University of\nWashington.\n\n<http://onebusaway.org/>\n\n------\ngavreh\nThis already exists in Chicago\n<http://www.ctabustracker.com/bustime/eta/eta.jsp> /\n<http://www.transitchicago.com/traintracker/>\n\n------\nnomatteus\nToronto has this for streetcars and buses. It's run by NextBus, which seems to\nrun GPS for a bunch of cities\n(<http://www.nextbus.com/predictor/agencySelector.jsp>).\n\nThey offer open access to this information through an API (see\ntoronto.ca/open). I built something to watch the streetcars on a map using\nthat API: <http://totransit.ca/>\n\nMy coworker and I were talking about letting people \"check in\" to specific\nstreetcars, and tag variables such as \"how full is the streetcar?\", but I\ncan't see many (any?) people actually doing that.\n\n------\ndarklajid\nI thought about this mobile solution as well, as a way to get at data that in\nmy (not humble anymore. Geez, just open up) opinion should be given away by\nthe companies running the service. I like the UK datasets.\n\nI'm coming from Germany. Although everyone complains about public\ntransportation (and the Deutsche Bahn especially) it generally works. If\nyou're at a bus stop, you generally get a nice timetable with all stations and\narrival times for each of them.\n\nNow I'm in Tel Aviv: If I'm lucky I've got a plan that shows me the route and\n~maybe~ when the bus leaves the first stop. If I'm far away, this is useless..\n\n------\nwallflower\nLjuba Miljkovic wrote an interesting thesis for his iSchool and implemented an\napp which I think is one of the best designed out there.\n\n[http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/files/student_projects/Trans...](http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/files/student_projects/Transporter_Thesis_1.pdf)\n\n\"Transporter: Real-time Public Transit Designed for the Bay Area\"\n\n[http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/transporter-real-time-\npublic/...](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/transporter-real-time-\npublic/id373726282?mt=8)\n\n------\nbrianbreslin\nI can't honestly see passengers paying extra for this. I see the transit\ncompany/department as the customer. In reality they already gps track all\ntheir fleets in the US, its just a matter of exposing the data in a digestible\nformat.\n\nIf they opened up APIs, some enterprising individual could build apps on top\nof it, and sell the apps or run ads across.\n\nSidenote, what about the security issues related to sharing this data? Are\nthere any?\n\n~~~\npavel_lishin\n> I can't honestly see passengers paying extra for this.\n\nPeople whose jobs are relatively inflexible when it comes to arrival times\nwould pay. My girlfriend basically has to guess and hope that the train runs\non time in order to make it to work - it would be super nice to pull up a site\nwhen we wake up and see the current locations of the trains, and an estimated\narrival time based on actual data, rather than the MTA's dreams and wishes.\n\nIt would also be great to know whether a train has recently left the station\nat night - should I wait 2 minutes for the next train, or should I just start\nbiking and arrive at my destination before the train even shows?\n\n------\nmojotoad\nFor the Pittsburgh region (currently) there's the Tiramisu iPhone app:\n<http://www.tiramisutransit.com/>\n\n------\nBenjo\nThe Metro Transit system in Minneapolis/St. Paul realtime info:\n\n<http://www.metrotransit.org/nextrip.aspx>\n\nThe timing isn't perfect, but it gives you good sense of \"Is there a bus\ncoming soon.\" I've been thinking about coding up my own UI as theirs is pretty\nmediocre of what I want it to do.\n\n~~~\nyellowbkpk\nWhat would you want it to do? I may know some people that could change it...\n\n~~~\nBenjo\nI use it to check bus times on my way to and from work. There are two\ndifferent buslines I can wait for, and no easy way to check which one will be\ncoming first - I have to load each page and compare. Also, loading the site on\nmy android phone almost always results in an error the first time - forcing me\nto load the page again. I haven't taken the time to debug this yet, but it's\nalways annoying when I'm trying to check the bus times on the go.\n\n~~~\nyellowbkpk\nTry using <http://metrotransit.org/map/> to solve your first problem (click a\nstop and it will show NexTrip for all the bus routes that stop there). That\ndoesn't solve your second problem though: I have the same problems (and my\nwife does on her iPhone). I have an Android app started ... maybe I should\nfinish it. Is it worth $0.99 to you? :)\n\n~~~\nBenjo\nThe two routes don't come to the same stop. I'm looking for an easy answer to\n\"Should I wait on Hennepin or Nicollet?\" without waiting for multiple pages to\nload on my phone.\n\nI'd definitely pay $1 if I thought the app would address those two problems.\nSomeone has on open source site for just the NexTrip API, but I haven't had\nsuccess with it yet: <http://metrotransitapi.appspot.com/>\n\n------\nTriumvark\nAfter reading the problems, I expected we were looking for dynamically\ngenerated transit maps (excluding all lines/stops that aren't directly between\nyou and your destination), coupled with a statistical curve of actual arrival\ntimes at each stop.\n\nGPS is useful, but when planning a route in advance, I'd prefer to know the\nabove.\n\n------\nuntog\nThere's a pilot trial going on in NYC, too:\n\n<http://bustime.mta.info/>\n\nHas API access and everything. I look forward to it being deployed further,\nthough I suppose it won't make it to the subways owing to them being\nunderground.\n\n~~~\ndmbass\nThere are a lot of stations (numbered lines only, I think) that have \"time to\nnext subway\" signs which I've found to be pretty accurate. I'm not sure if\nthere is an API for subway info, but they run so regularly (~5 mins or less\nduring the day and 30 mins at late night) that it's generally not that\nimportant to get that info. I'm not going to take a taxi because the subway is\n15 mins away.\n\n------\ncpeterso\nIn the San Francisco Bay Area, BART has excellent (and accurate!) real-time\nschedules and APIs:\n\n<http://m.bart.gov/>\n\n<http://www.bart.gov/schedules/developers/>\n\n------\nwhalesalad\n<http://hea.thebus.org> \\-- honolulu does it! Try stop ID's like 2088 or 297\n(right by the university of hawaii)\n\n------\nkolinko\nThere are quite a few solutions like this already. Warsaw/Polend has that in\nsome trams and in Subway. I also something like this in Hamburg...\n\n------\ntantalor\nUCSD's shuttle service has a nice example of this: <http://www.ucsdbus.com/>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFront Toward Enemy – When a “Killer Feature” Becomes Friendly Fire - tygertec\nhttps://medium.com/@tygertec/front-toward-enemy-when-a-killer-feature-becomes-friendly-fire-972021d00ab3\n======\ntygertec\nFor those without a Medium sub: [https://www.tygertec.com/front-toward-enemy-\nkiller-feature-f...](https://www.tygertec.com/front-toward-enemy-killer-\nfeature-friendly-fire/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Register Delaware C corp electronically? - EleventhSun\nClerky say that they can register Delaware C corps electronically, however on the site corp.delaware.gov, I can only find some pdfs to mail in, and those pdfs don&#x27;t seem to render correctly.<p>From the Clerky site:\n&quot;In order to ensure reliability, we electronically file your certificate of incorporation with the Delaware Secretary of State. We typically return the filed certificate of incorporation to you within 2-3 business days.&quot;\n======\nswampthing\nI'm pretty sure that isn't available to the general public, unfortunately.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nNew Startups Aren't Keeping Big Mattress Up at Night - prostoalex\nhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-12/new-startups-aren-t-keeping-big-mattress-up-at-night\n\n======\nScoundreller\nThey're merely in the early adopter phase.\n\nThe internet didn't destroy printed newspapers overnight, but one by one,\nthey're finishing them off (in print and in organization).\n\nThe sad thing is when people don't work less when their costs go down but\ninstead spend the freed money on something else, like higher rents or mortgage\npayments.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nI Do Not Want Your Stupid App - sagivo\nhttp://techcrunch.com/2015/10/03/with-apologies-to-theodor-geisel/\n======\ngreenyoda\nIronically, TechCrunch, the publisher of this amusing rant, has an app:\n\n[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aol.mobile...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aol.mobile.techcrunch)\n\n[https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/techcrunch/id526058642?mt=8](https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/techcrunch/id526058642?mt=8)\n\n~~~\nminimaxir\nTechCrunch, in fairness, doesn't beg the user to download the app.\n\n~~~\nQuanttek\nAlso: Just because the publishing media has one of _those_ apps, it doesn't\nmean that one of their writers can't express his dislike for those apps. If\nanything it proves that he has a certain independence from the business facing\nside and that's always good.\n\n------\nstaunch\n> _Redecentralize the web!_\n\nRedecentralize all internet services!\n\nShameless plug ahead, I believe in this idea so much I co-founded a company to\nhelp spread the idea and see it through.\n\nEvery person should have their own domain name and have the ability to run\narbitrary services in the cloud. The price of computing power and bandwidth\nhas come down so much that it's completely practical to do this now.\n\nWould love feedback/thoughts:\n[https://portal.cloud?invite=hn](https://portal.cloud?invite=hn) (invite code\nis just there so free domain discount is applied).\n\nThe most important thing is that no company (including mine) should ever have\nthe ability to dominate the internet the way Google, Facebook, and Twitter do\ntoday.\n\nWe should be able to move from cloud provider to cloud provider with very\nlittle friction. If we truly control our own domain names, apps, and data this\nisn't even hard to do.\n\nGoogle, Facebook, and Twitter could be just apps we run (webmail, web search,\nphoto sharing, status updates). We shouldn't have to give up our privacy and\nbe locked into a service that feeds us a hundred ads a day just to be able to\ncheck our email, search the web, share photos, or post 140 characters to the\nweb.\n\n~~~\nacconrad\nI like the headline! I was initially intrigued because I just started a side\nproject, bought the domain, and set up Google Apps for email. Then I'll\nprobably set up a Medium blog for the project. I thought \"oh neat, it's all\ncontained in here, and a free domain that's cool!\" Then I saw the price point:\n$8/mo. Yeah sorry, you need to be more competitive for groups that only want a\nfew services. Google Apps is $5/mo and Medium is free...is it worth an extra\n$3/mo for me to decentralize project/business type emails and documents? Not\nreally, because I don't have any sensitive documents that I don't care for\nGoogle to have access to. Maybe if I were a journalist starting a secretive\nblog and needing to communicate between journalists over sensitive information\n- yeah, I could see that.\n\nI think those are the kinds of people you're going to want to market to.\nReasonably priced for sensitive documents and files, but more than\nconventional app solutions who don't really need the extra decentralized\nsecurity.\n\n~~~\njlgaddis\nI think I must be misunderstanding.\n\nYou talk about \"decentralizing\" but you mention Google Apps for e-mail and\nMedium for a blog. If you want to decentralize, you should be running these\nthings on your own server(s) that you control.\n\nWhat am I missing?\n\n~~~\nnarrowrail\nI think acconrad is just saying:\n\nDecentralized is for sensitive things with a need for \"extra decentralized\nsecurity,\" and that most conventional needs can be met more adequately, and\ncheaply, with the services 'everyone' already uses.\n\nBasically, it's a philosophical difference, but the ideas expressed may give\nproponents of decentralization some insight into why we are currently in\nanother centralizing phase of the internet.\n\n------\nradicalbyte\nBut how else can these sites get access to your contact list and call history?\n\n~~~\nadevine\nRequire Facebook login - close enough.\n\n------\nSCdF\nSee, I agree, but this is what this article looks like on my phone:\n[https://imgur.com/VqchKIp](https://imgur.com/VqchKIp)\n\nPerhaps one should become a good example of an enjoyable mobile experience\nbefore one starts throwing stones.\n\n~~~\nBahamut\nInstalling an app for everything is not what I call an enjoyable mobile\nexperience...\n\n~~~\nSCdF\nSorry, not sure if I was clear. What I meant was: Techcrunch shouldn't proudly\npoint out that everyone else is making reading on a mobile device unenjoyable\nby asking if you want to install an app, because they themselves crap so much\nnon-content on your screen and make their own mobile experience an unenjoyable\none.\n\n------\njgh\nMaybe get a windows phone or something if you want to surf the web and not\nhave to worry about installing any apps...\n\n~~~\ntoomuchtodo\nOr just use ad blockers to block app download notifications on the website\n\n~~~\nLeoNatan25\nBut then poor publishers might be forced to abandon their terrible ways! How\nundemocratic of you to suggest that! ;-)\n\n------\nomarish\nThis is why I'm super bullish on The Information\n([https://www.theinformation.com](https://www.theinformation.com)).\n\n------\njagermo\nI always thought: \"Well, those apps, I don't know. I don't use webapps on the\npc anymore, because the browser does everyting. And some day, the mobile\nbrowser will be just as good and no one will need those apps.\"\n\nThat was before peope discovered mobile ads, access to phonebook/email etc pp.\n\nMaybe it'll change.\n\n------\nsagivo\nApps are only popular because we don't do mobile web good enough. Most of the\nmobile web is either a banner asking download the app, or tons of adds with no\nroom for content.\n\n~~~\ncorndoge\nMobile web doesn't come anywhere close to replicating the fluidity and\nfunctionality of a native app and it never will. Running a dedicated\napplication designed for the system will always beat an application designed\nfor the system on top of the system (web browser). I prefer native\napplications every time.\n\n~~~\ncurrysausage\nYeah, but maybe I just want to, you know, read an article and not _replicate\nthe fluidity and functionality of a native app._ Reading articles worked just\nfine with NCSA Mosaic, I promise it works fine mith Mobile Safari too.\n\n~~~\ncorndoge\nOP's argument was that mobile apps are only popular because the mobile web is\nnot good enough. Obviously when the mobile web is used for it's original\nintent -- pages of information, mostly text, some images -- and not full web\napplications with heavy JavaScript dependencies and animation and share\nbuttons and shit, it's a pleasure to use.\n\n------\npaulpauper\nEmail subscription popups ...those are annoying\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Nano Membrane Toilet - ph0rque\nhttp://www.cranfield.ac.uk/research/research-activity/current-projects/research-projects/nanomembrane-toilet.html\n======\nmatt_wulfeck\nIs residential water usage really a large problem? I assume that\nmunicipalities have a decent ability to reclaim and reuse much of the water\nflushed down the drain and toilet.\n\nI know at least for California residential water use makes up just 15%[0]. I\nknow every little bit helps, but a toilet is an incredibly simple invention\nand it would be a shame to replace it with something so much more complicated.\n\n[0] [http://www.environment.ucla.edu/media/images/water-\nfig1-lrg....](http://www.environment.ucla.edu/media/images/water-fig1-lrg.jpg)\n\n~~~\nglibgil\nI wish you would read the article and watch the video. The target market and\nbusiness model is well explained. Can you imagine a region in the world that\ndoes not have running water and sewers and may actually enter in the \"first\nworld\" before those services do? Well then, that's what this toilet is for.\n\n~~~\nroywiggins\nComposting toilets don't need water either.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composting_toilet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composting_toilet)\n\nAlternatively, just try to divert urine so it never mixes in the first place:\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urine-\ndiverting_dry_toilets](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urine-\ndiverting_dry_toilets)\n\nBoth of these seem on first glance to be easier to maintain.\n\n~~~\nglibgil\nYeah, this toilet isn't for rural use. It is for places that should have\nsewers but don't and that probably never will get sewers. It is for dirty\ncities in the third world.\n\n~~~\nbrianwawok\nWill the cost of these toilets ever make sense for that?\n\nWhen I see things like \"Turn a 2L bottle into a light\" for a really poor area\n- I think awesome, something they already have laying around can make their\nlives way better.\n\nWhen I see things like \"Nano-polmer super toilet for those without running\nwater\" I just kind of shrug. Seems to cost more than adding running water,\nwhile still not providing a clean place to drink.\n\nWhat am I missing?\n\n~~~\ncpayne\n(I think!!!) it is a problem of scale.\n\nIn 3rd world locations, you can be walking 3km every 2nd day to fill a\njerrycan of water.\n\nIf that's the case then you aren't going to use that to flush.\n\nAnd even if you do (using grey water after cleaning etc.), then you won't have\nthe toilet inside the house.\n\n~~~\nbrianwawok\nSo how much does installing this super toilet cost, best case?\n\nHow much to run a line of fresh water to the house?\n\nIf <cost of toilet> is not less than <cost of fresh water line / 10>, it seems\nlike not a win - as fresh water can solve both drinking and help with\nsanitation (though not get you all the way there).\n\n------\njasonpeacock\nAnd yet this problem has already been solved with composting toilets for many\nyears.\n\nWhy do we need to build such a fancy and complicated device when all you need\nis to pee in a separate bucket from your poo, and let the poo aerate/dry\nnaturally? Mix in some dry mulch and you're done!\n\nUrine itself is sterile and can be easily treated/recycled.\n\n~~~\nserf\n>Urine itself is sterile\n\nThis is a misconception that particularly annoys me, probably because it was\nthe (incorrect) excuse a nurse once gave me when he accidentally spilled a\nurinal filled with liquid all over me while I was bed-ridden in an ICU. [0]\n[1]\n\n[0]: [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/turns-out-urine-\nisn...](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/turns-out-urine-isnt-\nactually-sterile-180954809/?no-ist)\n\n[1]: [http://www.stritch.luc.edu/newswire/news/study-debunks-\ncommo...](http://www.stritch.luc.edu/newswire/news/study-debunks-common-\nmisconception-urine-sterile-0)\n\n~~~\ntomcam\n\n        he accidentally spilled a urinal filled with liquid all over me while I was bed-ridden in an ICU. [0] [1]\n    \n\nWell that's a horrible experience. I too am quite surprised the sterile urine\nlegend lives on.\n\n------\nevanlivingston\nSo,\n\nMy late father recently developed a waterless toilet which is significantly\nsimpler and likely cheaper than this one.\n\n[http://www.dry-flush.com/videos/](http://www.dry-flush.com/videos/)\n\n~~~\nhmottestad\nNeat. Reminds me of the nappy bins.\n\nHowever, the one in the video seems more geared at sustainability and reuse.\nThey filter the water out of the pee. Dry out the poo for fertilisation.\n\n------\njoezydeco\nThat schematic view of human feces is....let's just say it's incredibly\noptimistic.\n\n~~~\nph0rque\nAgreed. The whole concept is too complicated for the real world, in my\nopinion. But, if the team is willing to iterate based on feedback, and\nincorporate some of the advances of other composting and incinerating toilets,\nthe end product might work really well.\n\n~~~\ncodingdave\nThat is exactly what i was thinking - making this produce compost instead of\nwaste intended for a collection facility would be not only more useful in\ndeveloping areas, but could even improve the urban gardening/homesteading\nmovement. and lets face it - in developed nations, it is us crazy hippie folk\nwho would buy this anyway.\n\n~~~\nerroneousfunk\nIn developing areas, people grow food as close to their drinking water as\npossible to make watering and/or irrigation easy. I don't know if anyone wants\nto recommend that they start adding human waste to the mix.\n\n~~~\ncodingdave\nI'd love to know where you are talking about, because everyone I talk to does\nexactly the opposite. We know we are going to use animal waste, and other\ncompost, to fertilize our garden beds. So we pull our drinking water from\nupstream of any food production. my family does not use humanure in our\nsystems, but it certainly is done by other people and in other areas.\n\nIf there really are developing areas who fail in this design principle, they\nneed education on how to design their food production. Holding back a useful\ntool just because some people might use it incorrectly doesn't make sense. But\nmost people who are even somewhat self-sufficient know that the flow of water\nis a crucial design point.\n\nIf not composted and used productively, then human waste is just a pollutant.\nBut if you can increase food production and have a productive recycling of\nmaterials at the same time, you are killing two birds with one stone.\n\n------\nXeoncross\nThe problem is that the toilet's estimated cost is $0.05 per user. So for a 4\nperson family potentially living on only a couple dollars per day this would\nmake up 10-20% of their living expenses. This isn't like our budgets where we\ncan afford 10-20% because we are WAY past trying to eat and live. This is\n10-20% of all the money you have for food, clothing, and medicine.\n\nAlso, I'm assuming the toilet will go up in price as more people try to make\nmore off the system.\n\nAll that said, I welcome the Nano Membrane toilet to the much needed market.\nI'm all for composting toilet technology as our current system of simply\ncreating raw sewage then trying to treat it with massive amounts of chemicals\n(which are very bad for the environment) isn't sustainable.\n\n1) Natureshead, 2) Airhead, and 3) Separett toilet\n\nThese three all much better suited to low cost, rural uses. For more hi-tech\nversions we have Sun-Mar. However, all these still cost at least $1,000 USD.\n\n~~~\nghshephard\nFor \"low cost, rural use\" \\- nothing beats a hole in the ground. :-)\n\n~~~\ndavid-given\nDigging a safe latrine pit is more complex than you might think!\n\n[http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/hygiene/emergenci...](http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/hygiene/emergencies/fs3_4.pdf)\n\nPlus they have a limited lifetime; they fill up, and you need to dig a new\none.\n\n------\nfab13n\nIt would also make sense in developed countries: shitting in water makes it\nmuch more complicated to treat afterwards, and greatly increases the\necological footprint of that processing. Moreover, it makes failures to\nproperly treat much more dangerous (human feces are where you most easily find\npathogens specialised in human invasion, besides human cadavers).\n\nFeces compost just fine in a dry environment, if you mix it with enough carbon\n(dried plants or sawdust). No treatment, except letting it decompose over a\ncouple of years, and very little smell if the nitrate/carbon/humidity balance\nis respected.\n\nOf course, water companies wouldn't be thrilled by such a simplification, and\npeople like the illusion that their poo-poo just magically disappears when\nthey press a button.\n\n------\nnikolay\nEven simpler mechanisms clog and I don't think this scraper can do such a good\njob, but this still could be better than a septic tank or others alternatives.\n\n------\nww520\nThis device has quite a bit of moving parts, needs periodic part replacement,\nand requires electricity to operate.\n\n------\nrayiner\nWhat does it do with the toilet paper...\n\n~~~\nfab13n\nthat's just more fiber. Besides, in many of the countries targeted by this,\npeople wash with water, rather than sweeping with paper.\n\n~~~\nbrianwawok\nIt is designed for no running water, so I would assume no bidet water also.\nCould go for the shared sponge ala Rome (was that really healthy?)\n\n------\nnoobie\nCan someone create a social enterprise that uses this idea to generate profit\nand make a wider impact?\n\n~~~\nglibgil\nyes\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow easy did people find RTML to use? - omouse\n\n======\nomouse\nI'm thinking about using context parsing as in \"I need to go to the store\ntomorrow\" will add the event \"I need to go to the store\" to the calendar for\ntomorrow.\n\nBut for some things I need a certain structure like this: \"Wait for Bob to\nfinish report, do whatever\". And \"wait for Bob\" would send an email off to Bob\nthat he needs to finish the report.\n\nI want to know how easy it would be to train a user to follow that structure\nfor certain things and would like to know if any users had trouble with\nsomething like RTML.\n\n~~~\nbyrneseyeview\nLivejournal uses something vaguely similar (a special HTML-y tag that creates\nan automatic link to a particular user's journal). If you use a known schema\nlike \"Getting Things Done\" (<http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/08/getting-\nstarted-with-getting-things-done/> ), users can represent a task in a\nhierarchy of Context/Goal/Project/Task (so Store/Prepare dinner/Buy\ningredients/Go to store).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLanguage Aptitude Not Math Predicts Programming Skill - ukj\nhttps://www.i-programmer.info/news/99-professional/13517-language-aptitude-not-math-predicts-programming-skill.html\n======\n0xff00ffee\nI guess it depends who you are talking about. Computer Scientists are\ngenerally great at math, but it doesn't mean they are good programmers. A good\nprogrammer has style: from how the code looks, to how it is arranged, test,\nregressed... to how defensive the code is to soft-failures. I've worked with\nspectacular computer scientists who wrote compiler kernels, but their code\nlooked like a big pile of... well, you get it.\n\n------\ntj-teej\nMakes sense, as naming is the one of the two hardest problems in programming!\n\n(the other is maintaining distributed cache consistency and catching off-by-\none-errors :D)\n\n~~~\ntobmlt\nAgreed! Questions though... about two... is this two where two comes from\n0,1,2 ?\n\nAlso, on a relational note, what kind of “and” are you using?\n\n‘Could be my isolation talking, but the further I look into this comment the\nmore dad/logic jokes I see. Caveat: am dad.\n\nEh hem... I will see myself out.\n\n------\nanta40\nIn general, you don't need to be exceptional at math for doing programming. A\nbasic understanding of arithmetic is sufficient. Okay, perhaps if you work\nwith numerical analysis on daily basis, or doing type theory/lambda\ncalculus/any theoritical computer science stuffs.\n\n------\nttizya20\nIt's 2020 and the g factor ism't mainstream\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBanks, Arbitrary Password Restrictions and Why They Don't Matter - weinzierl\nhttps://www.troyhunt.com/banks-arbitrary-password-restrictions-and-why-they-dont-matter/\n======\nmquander\n_He turned to me and said, \"Do you really think the only thing the bank does\nto log people on is to check the username and password?\" Banks are way more\nsophisticated than this and it goes well beyond merely string-matching\ncredentials; there's all sorts of other environment, behavioural and heuristic\npatterns used to establish legitimacy. You won't ever see a bank telling you\nhow they do it, but those \"hidden security features\" make a significant\ncontribution to the bank's security posture._\n\nTheir response to having visible security that sucks is to say that they also\nhave a lot of super complicated invisible security which is actually really\ngood? Why am I supposed to believe that? Their invisible security probably\nsucks even more.\n\n~~~\ntialaramex\nI agree, Troy is way too gullible here.\n\n> Do you really think the only thing the bank does to log people on is to\n> check the username and password?\n\nYes. I assure you that when bad guys with your username and password log in\nand steal all your money the bank _won't_ say:\n\n\"Doh, our sophisticated environment, behavioural and heuristic patterns used\nto establish legitimacy let you down this time. We'll pay for this\"\n\nNo, they'll say it is your fault because the bad guys had your username and\npassword.\n\nAnd that's all you need to know.\n\n~~~\nSwizec\nOn the other hand I log into my bank with my computer using the same browser\nas always and my username and password, but this time I'm in a different\ncountry. Even just a different Wi-Fi (like at a coffee shop)\n\nAnd the bank _freaks out_. Omg omg omg hacking hacking! Quick to the 2FA\nmobile! Should we call you? Can we text you? Do you prefer email?\n\nThat's before we even get into how trigger happy they are about credit cards\nbeing used in weird ways. You buy one thing out of the ordinary (like a $3000\ndownpayment for a motorcycle) and immediately get 5 texts, 10 emails, and 2\nphone calls. YO did you do that?\n\nOr the one time my girlfriend deposited a physical cheque and it was so out of\nthe ordinary the bank had a melt down and started shutting down all her\naccounts and blacklisting her from the bank.\n\nI don't know about \"sophisticated\", but they definitely do _something_.\n\n~~~\ndpark\nYou really want to work yourself into a frenzy about minor inconveniences,\nhuh? You’re so hyperbolic here that you sound like you’re basically making\nstuff up.\n\n> _You buy one thing out of the ordinary (like a $3000 downpayment for a\n> motorcycle) and immediately get 5 texts, 10 emails, and 2 phone calls. YO\n> did you do that?_\n\nFirst, dropping 3 grand at a motorcycle dealership is extremely out of the\nordinary for most people. Second, my money says you got exactly one text, one\nemail, and either one or zero calls. It makes perfect sense that they’d want\nto do the fraud check here. It also makes sense that they’d use multiple means\nof contact to reach you quickly.\n\nAs for the girlfriend blacklisting story, I don’t know if you’ve just horribly\nmangled this story or what. It doesn’t make sense. If you deposit a check,\nthere is no potential fraudulent withdrawal from your account. Also, a bank\ncannot randomly close your accounts and “blacklist” you. They are _holding\nyour money_. Stealing money from your depositors is generally frowned upon\nfrom a regulatory standpoint.\n\n~~~\nNewsAware\nI didn't understand the gist of the GP to criticize bank actions, but wanting\nto point out that banks do indeed have alarm systems in place beyond simple\nIP-change rules.\n\n~~~\njoshjje\nSome do. Many do not.\n\n------\nviraptor\n> Do you really think the only thing the bank does to log people on is to\n> check the username and password?\n\nYes, I do think that. I automated some banking functions for myself and the\nlast 4 retail banks worked just fine when accessed with curl, or headless\nchrome. I didn't even change the user agent for curl and used no delay between\nrequests. Not only do they trust credentials, there are no extra checks in\nmost cases. This is experience from UK and Oz. Lloyds, CommBank, ANZ, ING.\n\nING is actually the \"hardest\" one. Their 4-digit scrambled keypad varies\ncolours slightly so it requires closest-match comparison to known samples.\nThat was like 3 extra lines of code.\n\n~~~\nthrowaway201606\nAccess control is not on a binary 'yes-or-no ' decision on a per single-signal\nbasis.\n\nIt is usually a weighted result of multiple signals. For example, it may look\nat say 20 factors and have a failure threshold of 15 passed. Most of the\nsignals are evaluated server-side.\n\nBy design, some signals used are picked such that customer convenience, among\nother things, is not affected (e.g. the account holder data pull automation\nthat you describe in your example ).\n\nExamples of signals include timezone, time of login vs. past logins, hardware\nprofiling (OS, screen resolution, IP, ISP, VPN vs. no VPN - based on known VPN\nserver lists ) etc.\n\nI agree that not all banks are doing this but the more sophisticated ones are\n(quite a few of them). Point here is curl or headless browsers working is not\nevidence of only account and password being checked.\n\n~~~\nviraptor\nI did it scheduled past midnight, from \"abroad\", from known AWS us-east\nranges, with headless resolution set to 1000x1000, completely ignoring their\nbrowser detection JS, identifying as either curl or \"bank bot\", not following\nlinks and redirects, causing lots of unexpected failures which should be\nimpossible with a normal browser while developing my scripts. (including 503s\nfrom bad csrf token passing)\n\nBasically if there was any check, I would fail it. I did that on purpose -\nbetter to know immediately than get silent failures later on. I really don't\nknow what else I'd have to do to trigger \"this it not a real person\"\ndetection.\n\n~~~\nthrowaway201606\nThanks for taking the time to explain this: it does indeed seem clear that\nthey are just doing username and password detection for access.\n\nA followup question: I have lived in Europe and have accounts in banks in\nIreland. For those accounts, actually executing any financial transaction\nrequires entering a one time token generated by a device that uses your debit\ncard and PIN.\n\nLike so:\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEOEQzC8-Fc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEOEQzC8-Fc)\n\nDo the banks you tested have a similar setup?\n\nJust trying to find out if these specific banks have chosen to control view\ntransactions with just the username / password but require some other\nadditional authentication for actual financial transactions.\n\n~~~\nviraptor\nNone of them required extra authorisation to get data. (even transactions\ngoing back 5+ years) They did have the SMS validation when adding new transfer\ntargets, but not for executing transactions to existing contacts - which is\npotentially an issue if you can pay off a different credit card just by\nchanging the reference field.\n\n------\nhyperman1\nThe 5 number 3 tries bank does not seem very secure:\n\nIt is (at least in my country) very easy to guess valid acount numbers: They\nare incrementally numbered + have a checksum. So while 1 account of a 5 number\n3 tries bank is safe, attacking all of them in volume is not:\n\nWith N numbers, T tries, A accounts, the chance of guessing at least 1 account\nis pow(1-T/pow(10,N),A)\n\n5 numbers 3 tries means a chance of 0.9997 of being locked out of 1 account.\nFor A=100 000 accounts, the chance is 0.049, so more than 95% chance you\nguessed one account right. For A=1 000 000, you're almost certain.\n\nAnd that's the dumbest possible way. Try guessing with the most common\npassword like 12345, take only 1 try each month so people unknowingly reset\nthe account number when doing payments, and use a botnet to spread the load\nover tons of IP adresses and randomize the numbers.\n\n~~~\nSamBam\nExactly. The math is not in their favor at all if the attacker is able to work\nout or guess numerous account numbers.\n\n~~~\nbscphil\nI think this is exactly right. My bank has predictable account numbers too,\nand if they had one of these 4 or 5 digit password limitations, they would be\na very ripe target for someone using a botnet to just go through all the\naccounts. The risk isn't that someone will target you personally, the risk is\nthat someone will happen to hit you while attempting the profitable activity\nof hacking every account. (Plus, at least with a bank, if they manage to hack\nin and steal the database, one of the most profitable ways to use it would\njust be to log in and steal money. No effective hashing on a 5 char password.)\n\nI also _completely_ distrust the \"advanced security measures\" claim. I have no\ntrouble logging into my bank via curl, including from remote IP addresses.\n(They finally rolled out 2FA, but I can still type the text code into my\nscript.)\n\nA couple years ago I discovered a number of vulnerabilities in their account\nsite, too (including some many years old software with vulnerabilities with a\nCVSS of 10). After I reported this to them, the response from the guy who\nworked there was basically \"Yeah, that's from the crappy vendor who supplies\nus with this software. Please don't say anything about this because we're\nreplacing it with a new in-house backend in a couple months.\"\n\n------\nRHSeeger\n>> Hey [bank], does that 16 character limit mean you've got a varchar(16)\ncolumn somewhere and you're storing passwords as plain text?\n\n> As much as I don't believe that's the case in any modern bank of\n> significance, it's definitely not a good look. Inevitably the root cause in\n> situations like this is \"legacy\" \\- there's some great hulking back-end\n> banking solution the modern front-end needs to play nice with and the\n> decisions of yesteryear are bubbling up to the surface. It's a reason,\n> granted, but it's not a very good one for any organisation willing to make\n> an investment to evolve things.\n\nBut the only reason that \"legacy\" system would have a limit is because it's\nstoring your password. So\n\n> I don't believe that's the case in any modern bank of significance\n\nIt _is_ the case. It may not be the case in their most recent systems, but a\nchain is only as strong as it's weakest link. You can be hashing/salting the\nuser's password and locking it behind a vault door to make sure noone can\naccess it. But if you _also_ keep a copy of the password in plain text on a\npiece of paper taped to the outside door, the vault copy doesn't protect it.\n\n------\nkemiller2002\nWow this made me laugh. I spent long time working for banks, financial\ninstitutions, and credit agencies. \"So many things that lock the account down\"\nReally? Out of ALL of articles about breaking into systems leveraging\ntechniques like lateral attacks on systems, and this is supposed to be\nbelievable.\n\nPeople ask me what it was like working there as far as processes etc. I always\nsay the same thing. \"Banks are like the mafia. They have a lot of money, and\nthey don't like giving any of it away.\" Banks (especially) care about 2\nthings, money and risk. They spend just enough money to mitigate the risk and\nthen stop. What this means is that they may buy good systems to help with\nsecurity administration, but rarely did I see them take extra time to make\nsure they have multiple security redundancies like Troy describes. Employees\nwere \"trained\" to what the letter of the law required. Don't get me wrong,\nthere were some great people there, but let's not pretend they only hired from\na select group of highly trained and extremely smart people. It's just like\nalmost anyplace else. Employee's and contractors are there to get a paycheck\nand go home. They do what risk wants and when their done, bam they go home til\ntomorrow, because the fights just not worth it after a while.\n\nI briefly worked with a sales guy from a vendor we used, and he used to work\nin the banking industry. He had the best quote (that I shamelessly stole) to\ndescribe banks. He said, \"If people knew what I know about banks, mattress\nsales would skyrocket.\"\n\n------\nufmace\nI think basically everyone in this thread is looking at this all wrong. Banks\ndon't have a ton of fancy hidden security gating the login itself most of the\ntime. Trying to build a digital Ft. Knox in front of the login page and then\npaying no attention to what the users do after they login is the wrong way to\ngo about securing these types of accounts.\n\nI'm pretty sure they have much more security around detecting and blocking\nsuspicious behaviors after you've logged in, like adding new payees on bill\npay systems, requesting transfers of large amounts of money to random\naccounts, particularly overseas, etc.\n\nI also argue that banks have much, much better security than anything most of\nus have ever touched, because they handle billions of dollars moving around\nroutinely and manage not to lose it. Meanwhile, half of the internet can't\nmanage not to lose the email addresses of everyone who signed up for their cat\npicture website. If they're trying that hard to steal something of little\nvalue like that, how hard to you think people are trying to steal the billions\nof dollars that banks handle?\n\n~~~\nRadle\n\" I also argue that banks have much, much better security than anything most\nof us have ever touched, because they handle billions of dollars moving around\nroutinely and manage not to lose it. Meanwhile, half of the internet can't\nmanage not to lose the email addresses of everyone who signed up for their cat\npicture website. If they're trying that hard to steal something of little\nvalue like that, how hard to you think people are trying to steal the billions\nof dollars that banks handle?\"\n\nExactly this is the reason why I don't think Troy is being gullible here.\n\n~~~\nlawn\nThere's a logical fallacy here that I don't know the name of:\n\n\"Because it's so important, surely they must be competent.\"\n\nWhich does __not __follow.\n\n~~~\nufmace\nI do not argue that they're competent because they're important. I argue that\nthey are competent because there is a multi-billion dollar pile of cash that\nthey're guarding. If they aren't competent, how come nobody has stolen it all\nyet?\n\nLook at the efforts spent hacking Bitcoin exchanges and identified large\nholders. Lots and lots of money being taken there. Look at the efforts made to\nhack much less important things. How come no big banks have suffered a serious\ncompromise leading to the loss of 9-figure plus amounts of money yet?\n\n~~~\nsyrrim\nBanks normally don't actually transfer any money. There's a funny story from\nthe 1920s of the Bank of England pushing money across the vault floor to\nindicate a transfer to France, who held an account with them. The money\ndoesn't actually go anywhere, it just says so on the balance sheet. If someone\n\"steals\" 1 billion dollars by making the system think they took it, someone\nwill eventually notice, then they'll send somebody down to the vault to push\nit back to the other side.\n\nBitcoin is very different: when the bitcoin blockchain says someone else has\nyour money, they have it. Imagine someone had heard that Ethereum had suffered\nno major attacks on exchanges, but hadn't heard of the DAO attack. They must\nthink that Ethereum is extremely secure. Actually, Ethereum is very insecure,\nbut a large enough target will get special treatment. Bitcoin doesn't have the\nsame tendency as Ethereum (and real life) towards hard forks, so of course it\nwill have more attacks on it. But this doesn't imply that anyone will hard\nfork when you get hacked, nor will the banks necessarily reverse the\ntransaction when someone guesses your password.\n\n------\nshanecoin\nI would argue that this is not just banks but a number of different services.\nThis entire Github repository [1] and this Twitter account [2] are dedicated\nto sites with dumb password rules. Passwords are not meant for humans.\n\nHere is a link to a hackernews thread discussing the worst of the requirements\nin the repository is here [3].\n\n[1] [https://github.com/dumb-password-rules/dumb-password-\nrules](https://github.com/dumb-password-rules/dumb-password-rules)\n\n[2] [https://twitter.com/dumb_pw_rules](https://twitter.com/dumb_pw_rules)\n\n[3]\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20890381](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20890381)\n\n~~~\npingyong\nThe PayPal section doesn't mention that they have a 20 character limit too. I\nhonestly wonder what kind of buffoons are in charge of making this shit up at\nmulti-million dollar companies.\n\n------\nlondons_explore\nIf someone guesses the _2 numeric digits_ necessary to gain telephone access\nto my pension fund, and they then transfer out the $10M value to the cayman\nislands, will they really give me back the money? Would I have any chance in\ncourt? - proving it wasn't me is near impossible.\n\nYet this pension company has millions of customers, and presumably isn't\nseeing widespread fraud. How come?\n\n~~~\npatio11\nBecause you're evaluating the effectiveness of one control in isolation,\nwhereas the pension fund has a lot of controls, including e.g. an operational\nteam which knows that wiring money to the Caymans is intrinsically high risk,\na written procedure that they'll follow for high risk transfers specifically\nto papertrail up evidence in the event it is contested, a legal environment\nwhich will put the burden of proof on them rather than you if they did\nsomething that self-evidently stupid, the medallion guarantee program and\nassociated regulation, etc etc.\n\nFraud happens. Financial institutions spend a lot of money defanging it; they\nalso, when push comes to shove, have budgets for it.\n\n~~~\nwhitepoplar\nI'm curious--how big are those budgets?\n\n~~~\nthrowaway201606\nFor the really large banks: $XYYMM (i.e. hundreds of million dollars aka the\ncost of doing business) across all lines of business.\n\nAll this is mostly public info as it has to go into financials, you can find\nit under \"Operational Losses\" for any public bank (Note that \"Operational\nLosses\" are not the same as \"Operating Losses\").\n\nA sample multi-year summary can be found here from an industry body in Europe\nfor losses for debit. (losses are demonimated in Euro):look at page 7 under\nthe last column for the rows \"Retail Banking\". Important to note that credit\nops losses are an order (or maybe two) of maginitude higher.\n\n[https://managingrisktogether.orx.org/sites/default/files/dow...](https://managingrisktogether.orx.org/sites/default/files/downloads/2018/09/annualbankinglossreport2018-printversion.pdf)\n\n~~~\nwhitepoplar\nThanks!\n\n------\nPhasmaFelis\n> _That very first tweet touched on the first reason why it doesn 't matter:\n> banks aggressively lock out accounts being brute forced._\n\nUntil a hacker steals the salted password database and brute forces it as much\nas they like. A truly strong password is secure even when the attacker has the\nsalted version.\n\n(Anyone who tells you that it's completely impossible for a hacker to ever get\ntheir password file is lying either to you or to themselves.)\n\n------\nkardos\nThis 'hidden security features' explanation sounds a bit like security by\nobscurity. Mouse movement fingerprinting? Browser fingerprinting? Locking\npeople out when they get a new laptop doesn't sound like a good time\n\n~~~\nmobjack\nIt likely means they use reCAPTCHA.\n\nThey could be doing 2FA when someone logs in with a new device too.\n\n------\npridkett\nThe challenge is that if a system only offers a four or a five number\npasscode, you can still attack accounts by just guessing passcodes for account\nnames/numbers. This is addressed a little bit by pointing out that it’s\nsometimes not easy to enumerate accounts - but if you’re malicious and have\npurchased a list of compromised accounts, you could then pound the system from\na botnet even after the passwords have been changed. In this case you’re not\nconcerned about a _specific_ account, but rather you’re concerned about _any_\naccount. And with a 4 or 5 number passphrase, you’d get hit pretty quickly.\n\n~~~\nphilliphaydon\nIf you knew the bank and the account, you could assume that people login to\ntheir account atleast once a month. So every month you could try a\ncombination. Known passcodes could be tried first. If a dump also has the\nperson Birthday then their birth year is a good Guess for a 4 digit pass code.\n2 failed attempts reset when the user succeeds their login during the month.\n\nThere’s so many things people could do. Limiting passwords is a bad idea :/\n\n------\nThriptic\nWhat's odd to me about this post and all of the responses in this thread so\nfar is that everyone is only thinking about password length as a way to defend\nagainst online bruting attempts when in reality long passwords mostly serve to\nprotect against offline bruting attempts. The reason you don't want 6 or 8\ncharacter passwords is that when your password hashes get dumped it's a lot\neasier to crack them.\n\n~~~\nthrowaway201606\n\"What's odd to me about this post and all of the responses in this thread so\nfar is that everyone is only thinking about password length as a way to defend\nagainst online bruting attempts when in reality long passwords mostly serve to\nprotect against offline bruting attempts. The reason you don't want 6 or 8\ncharacter passwords is that when your password hashes get dumped it's a lot\neasier to crack them.\"\n\nThis is: i) not accurate and ii) bad info\n\nPassword hash dumps are worthless if the password hashing scheme used is\ni)crypto-hashing based and ii) uses salt.\n\n6-8 char passwords are not an issue under this scenario. Current password\nmanagement best practice is to use both standard crypto-hashing algorithms and\nsalt.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_(cryptography)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_\\(cryptography\\))\n\nAlmost all platforms use standardized crypto-hashing packages that come as\nstandard libraries in the language these days and those require salt. Further,\n_almost_ all banks will all use these packages.\n\nThis is the reason you do not see rainbow tables these days, they are\nworthless in face of almost any current acceptable crypto-hashing\nimplementation ... assuming one does break rule #1 of crypto and try to roll\ntheir own crypto ...\n\n[https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/18197/why-\nshoul...](https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/18197/why-shouldnt-we-\nroll-our-own)\n[https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2015/05/amateurs_prod...](https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2015/05/amateurs_produc.html)\n.. ad nauseam\n\nSalting also has the additional benefit of making brute-forcing magnitudes of\ndifficulty harder. This is because salting rules can be implement that always\nadd non-standard chars..\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_(cryptography)#Common_mis...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_\\(cryptography\\)#Common_mistakes)\n\nAs others have said, the 6-8 chars limits are are a function of legacy system\nsomewhere in the application chain (online banking is never a single platform,\nit is usually a front-end that talks to a standard backend that tellers,\noperations etc also access, usually some type of _greenscreen_ app - which is\nwhere the password hashes end up).\n\n~~~\nThriptic\nI'm not talking about rainbow tables or hash tables, I'm talking about\nstraight up bruting with GPUs and hashcat. You seem to be implying that using\na salt adds entropy, but the salt is known (plaintext) and it's added in a set\nway so it doesn't. Sure your choice of algorithm and complexity factor will\ndefinitely affect your guess rate and ease of bruting, and yes using a salt\nprevents the use of precomputed hash tables, but it's not like it's impossible\nto crack a salted 6-8 character password hashed with bcrypt if you throw\nenough GPUs at the problem. The only question is if it's cost effective.\n\n~~~\nthrowaway201606\nAm confused here, is there something I am missing ?\n\nBrute-forcing bcrypt-hashed passwords on GPUs has a ridiculously low success\nrate even on most commonly used password data sets.\n\nFailure rate on passwords outside the most commonly used list is more than 95%\n\n[https://arstechnica.com/information-\ntechnology/2015/08/crack...](https://arstechnica.com/information-\ntechnology/2015/08/cracking-all-hacked-ashley-madison-passwords-could-take-a-\nlifetime/)\n\n~~~\ndrblast\nSo let's assume a 6 character alpha-numeric password with upper and lowercase.\n36^6 possible passwords or about 2.1 billion.\n\nThe article linked is one guy and one machine who can do 156 bcrypt hashes per\nsecond, with salted hashes.\n\nThat's ~161 days to hash them ALL.\n\nIf you have a dump of thousands of passwords it's extremely probable to get a\nfew of them in under a day. Which is what the article shows - common short\npasswords were owned.\n\nWhat's funny about the additional restrictions (you must use 2 upper, 2 lower,\netc.) is that they _reduce_ the complexity of this problem so there are fewer\npossibilities the attacker needs to check for. So you're making it more\ndifficult for users while decreasing actual security against this kind of\nattack.\n\nMuch better policy is something like, \"at least 16 characters, whatever ones\nyou want.\" Easier for users because then passphrases are possible, easier to\nimplement because there's only a string length check on the client, and more\nsecure because it doesn't completely rely on users not choosing trivial\npasswords.\n\n~~~\nFabHK\n> common short passwords were owned.\n\n> What's funny about the additional restrictions (you must use 2 upper, 2\n> lower, etc.) is that they [...] decreasing actual security against this kind\n> of attack.\n\nNot necessarily - the additional restrictions might prevent even more common\nshort passwords from being used by the users, thus making it harder for both\nthe user and the attacker.\n\n(If the bank says you can't use \"Password\" as your password, then yes, the\nattacker only needs to check 62^8 - 1 passwords instead of 62^8, making it\ninsignificantly \"easier\" for the attacker, but at the same time a lot of\npeople must switch from \"Password\" to something else, making it much harder\nfor the attacker).\n\nEDIT to add: Having said that, what you propose (at least 16 chars, no other\nrestrictions) makes perfect sense (maybe introduce a maximum of 32k chars).\n\n------\nyellowapple\nYeah, this is thoroughly disappointing - and alarming - coming from Troy Hunt.\n\"Secret\" security mechanisms that may or may not actually exist (let alone\nactually prevent attackers from successfully attacking) do not in the\nslightest bit excuse banks from their abysmal password policies. That he would\nnot only accept that half-baked excuse at face value, but go so far as to\nregurgitate it and present it as if it's in any way reasonable, means that my\nperception of his trustworthiness now has a pretty substantial dent.\n\nI'm glad he at least acknowledged that banks should modernize their password\npolicies regardless of their other security measures, but he's quite wrong to\nclaim that we end-users shouldn't be incensed by banks' bass-ackwards security\npolicies just because \"well um uh they told me they're doing secret things so\nI'm gonna totally take their word for it and you should too\".\n\nAnd no, account lockouts do not address the concerns caused by arbitrary\npassword limits. Arbitrary password limits - be they for length or which\ncharacters can or cannot be used - are a rather bright red flag for storing\npasswords in plaintext, which means that when - _not if_ \\- that bank\ninevitably has some kind of database leak, congrats, now the attackers don't\neven have to go through the trouble of brute-forcing or rainbow-tabling or\nwhatever a bunch of hashes to get my plaintext password.\n\n------\nexabrial\nMy favorite is \"locking the account after x number of password attempts\".\n\nEver want to annoy the hell out of someone? Try their username or email a\nbunch of times and lock them out of their accounts. Bonus points if it's one\nof those super duper ultra secure banks that does password resets via snail\nmail.\n\n/s [I don't condone doxing anyone. My point is that an attacker should not be\nable to modify the state of a system he's unauthorized to access]\n\n~~~\nSamBam\nThat seems to be the least objectionable to me. You need to have _some_\nprotection against brute-forcing. Whether it's limiting the rate of guessing\nor whatever, the attacker is still \"modifying the state of a system.\"\n\nIndeed, that's a weird rule. When someone stole my credit card number and ran\nup charges, my bank called me to verify them. How was that not \"modifying the\nstate of a system?\"\n\n~~~\nzAy0LfpBZLC8mAC\n> You need to have some protection against brute-forcing.\n\nYes, that protection is called \"password\".\n\n> Whether it's limiting the rate of guessing or whatever, the attacker is\n> still \"modifying the state of a system.\"\n\nWhich is why you should not limit the rate of guessing (or at least offer that\noption--limiting the rate of guessing does help users who use terrible\npasswords, after all).\n\n> Indeed, that's a weird rule. When someone stole my credit card number and\n> ran up charges, my bank called me to verify them. How was that not\n> \"modifying the state of a system?\"\n\nWhich is exactly why that shouldn't be a thing. Being able to pay with a semi-\npublic number is just stupid. You should have to authenticate using a strong\npassword, and \"stealing credit card numbers\" simply wouldn't be a thing\nanymore.\n\n~~~\nSamBam\n> Yes, that protection is called \"password\". [...] Which is why you should not\n> limit the rate of guessing\n\n _Any_ password can be brute-forced if you neither limit the number of guesses\nnor limit the rate that you can guess them.\n\n~~~\nzAy0LfpBZLC8mAC\nNo, it can't. If you are willing to say that a cow can not jump over the moon,\nthen a strong password can not be brute-forced, even though it might\ntheoretically be possible for a cow to quantum-tunnel over the moon, and it\nmight theoretically be possible that an attacker guesses your password. The\nprobability is so vanishingly small that you would call it impossible in any\nother context.\n\n------\ncm2187\nAmazon really understands what security means. When it does 2FA, sends you a\nunique code by email, it disables the option to paste that code back into the\nlogin form, you have to type it. You know you are dealing with really\ncompetent people when you see that!\n\n~~~\njjoonathan\nAh, yes, messing with paste, the ultimate in security. /s\n\n~~~\ndarkhelmet\nHence wonderful addons like \"Don't f*ck with paste\" to fix such stupidity.\n\n~~~\njjoonathan\nI've got it installed, and it's good, but the world built a better idiot:\nsites that use flash, implement their own key event processing, etc.\n\n------\nmnm1\nGood points, however this one is wrong.\n\n> Banks typically use customer registration numbers as opposed to user-chosen\n> usernames or email addresses so there goes the value in credential stuffing\n> lists.\n\nI've had accounts at most of the major US banks and I don't think I can think\nof a single one that did this. Almost every single bank allows the user to\nselect a username or occasionally uses email for login. This is not a good\nargument for Chase, Citi, Amex, Discover, Capital One, Barclays, and a whole\nbunch more I can't think of off the top of my head.\n\n------\nlovehashbrowns\nThat whole blog post was sad, but this quote was particularly dumb:\n\n> Banks like ING will give you your money back\n\nNow, I don't have any experience with having my bank account hacked, but I\nhave had experience with my credit card getting used without my consent, and\nit's NOT a fun process. I can't even imagine how that'd go with a bank and a\nchecking account. I can only guess that you have to 1. get the right customer\nrep on the line and 2. wait a good while.\n\n------\nblackbrokkoli\nPeople tend to get lost in mathematical technicalities in these discussion.\nYes, even really dumb limitations leave 100k+ possibilities open, much more\nthan you can brute force with a three-strike-lockdown. But that's not making\nit ok. Even if some crafty hackers on the other side of the world find a way\nto crack my account I'm confident the bank will look at the possible PR and\nlegal costs and just refund my money fully, yes, yes, wonderful. That is not\nthe problem.\n\nThe problem is _user inertia_. Let me speak as an averaged one, mixed with my\nown deeds prior to being knowledgeable in cyber security.\n\nIf I'm forced to remember my password because my password manager gets shut\nout or because of weird requirements, like uppercase letter + two numbers +\nnon-alphanumeric, I'm nudged to use the same variation of my \"default\npassword\" I used before, 27 times.\n\n\"DognameBirthyear&\".\n\n\"+KeysThatAreCloseOnTheKeyboard1234+\".\n\nAnd of course, I use a slight variation of that for everything. Shady web-\nserver-under-the-desk web forum in 2007 three of my friends were on. Indie\ngame servers, another classic. Bank. Google. It also was my facebook password\nwhich I gave to my bff once to check if that cute boy really liked me. It also\ncan be guessed by obtaining my ID and watching me super slowly type the added\nnon-alphanumerical at the end.\n\n _This_ opens the very real possibility of revenge of ex partners, witty\npeople at the coffee shop gaining access and the like. Crimes are committed\noverwhelmingly by people knowing the victim. No fancy AI is gonna help you\nwith that, reasonable withdraws in the middle of the day in your time zone\nfrom your own MacBook's IP address. Good luck with customer support. You are\nenabling THAT with your dumb requirements.\n\nAnd why?? You are a _bank_ , hire someone who knows their job and does not\njust act on blog spam FUD or whereever you got the idea of exactly 5 digits\nnumbers only. No, I choose to be mad about this because there is no excuse for\nsuch horrifying UX _and_ security.\n\nJust enforce a minimum limit of like four characters to prevent breach by\nputting down coffee mug on keyboard, enforce a maximum limit so you don't fall\nvictim to an embarrassing flavor of DOS attack. If you feel fancy, throw a\nbunch of money at haveibeenpwned to check whether people are putting dumb\npasswords and let your local RegEx wizard check against all other silliness.\nThere you go. I even waive you the $150k fee for that extraordinary piece of\nconsulting.\n\n------\nwhitepoplar\nGiven the nature of HN, I'm sure many of you have had inner-contact with\nfinancial technology infrastructure. Are there any banks that stand out for\ntheir technical competence/incompetence? Which bank(s) would you\npatronize/avoid?\n\n------\npier25\nNot sure why but banks seem to be consistently bad at web dev, at least on the\nfront end.\n\nI have never used a good looking modern web app from a bank. Usually it's a\nslow bloated crap that looks and works like a project from 10-15 years ago.\n\n------\njoeblau\nI have USAA and they are pretty bad as well. Max password length is 20\ncharacters. They only do MFA through cell phone numbers and email which allows\nsomeone to Sim-Swap if they are able to get your username and password. To top\nit off, they have a mobile app knock-off 2FA screen, but you _can not_ see it\nwhen you're trying to log in to your account via the mobile app because the\nmodal doesn't let you leave the input screen.\n\nI was going to write them an email, but they have no clear email to report\nsecurity concerns so I figured they don't care.\n\n~~~\nyellowapple\nExtra stupidity: you literally can't use the USAA app on a rooted Android\ndevice; it'll detect that the phone's rooted and refuse to let you login. God\nforbid I assert control over my own goddamn device, right? It ain't USAA's job\nto lecture me about my own device security; its job is to shut up and show me\ninformation about my car insurance.\n\n------\npaulpauper\nthe money is in hacking bitcoin/crypto-related stuff anyway. Get the 12 words\nand there is nothing than can be done to recover the $ and nearly untraceable.\nhacking banks is overrated unless you can not onyl produce a facsimile of the\nvictim including ID and other docs but also get past all the restrictions and\nthen not be found and arrested in the process.\n\n------\nevanb\nI recently lived in Germany and was impressed by the security mandated there.\nIn order to do anything of note (meaning where you could lose money) you were\nchallenged to produce a TAN, one six-digit number from a one-time pad of ~100\nthat the bank mailed you. You produce that number, cross it out, and never use\nit again.\n\nAlso available were SMS TANs, where they texted you a code. I avoided these\nafter reading about SIM swapping.\n\nBut, further, was a photoTAN. The bank mailed me a private key that I entered\ninto a reader app. Then they would present me with a QR-code-like image that\nthe app could read and decrypt into a six-digit code via the secret key. Type\nthat in, good to go. The reader app and the banking app also had some message-\npassing thing where if you were banking on your phone (and couldn't take a\npicture of your own screen...) it could still work.\n\n------\nineedasername\nIf the thesis of this article were correct then there really shouldn't be much\nof any account hacking. I couldn't find anything that gives the prevalence of\nthis, but there's tons of \"what to do if hacked\" articles and lots of posts on\nreddit/message board about \"I was hacked! Will I get my money back?\"\n\nAlso, if the first line defense with passwords is poorly designed, why would\nthese security-by-obscurity hidden ones be any different? Sure, you sign in\nform a new computer (or one that had its cookies deleted) and the site says\n\"You haven't used this computer before, answer this security question: What is\nyou Father's middle name?\" That isn't a high barrier. If you know my name and\na little about me, plenty of white-pages style sites show relatives etc.\n\n------\ndaveFNbuck\nHaving 100k possible passwords and locking my account after 3 failed attempts\ndoes a pretty good job protecting a single account from being brute-forced,\nbut you can still brute force access to some accounts if you can guess enough\nusernames.\n\n------\nNotATroll\n> Do you really think the only thing the bank does to log people on is to\n> check the username and password?\n\nYes. Yes I do. If you're putting arbitrary limitations on a user's password\nlength, down to _6_ characters even. I see no reason why you wouldn't be\nequally as insane with the rest of your system.\n\nAnd, frankly speaking. The whole \"you're locked out after 3 attempts\" non-\nsense is complete crap. What is this now? We're supposed to believe databases\ndon't get hacked into, and hashed passwords aren't leaked on the net for\ncountless people to hack at and break?\n\nThis sentiment leads me to believe the passwords are stored in plaintext.\n\n------\nshin_lao\nWhen the accounts of our company started to be beyond the low 6 figures, we\ngot upgraded by our bank to a different online banking system with a smartcard\nand a keypad for strong 2FA.\n\nOur admin team is informed every time someone logs in the system, and wiring\nmoney is a 2 phase process. If a transaction is unusual, the bank usually\ncontacts us.\n\nSo yes, I do think banks have additional protection measures, it's just not\nworth it for smaller amounts where the insurance will just cover it.\n\n------\natoav\nI don’t see how a bank that in 2019 doesn’t manage to have a decent password\npolicy earns any trust on that front. If they allow for longer passwords with\nmore characters the perceived security rises and in the age of password\nmanagers the usability gets better.\n\nIf these advantages don’t outweigh the disadvantages of a bank, one could read\nthis as a red flag regarding the systems behind that interface.\n\n------\nnitwit005\n> banks aggressively lock out accounts being brute forced\n\nThis is good, because it means people can't brute force the 5 digit password\nthey forced you to use, but also bad, because if someone doesn't like you,\nthey can easily block access to your bank.\n\nIf the account numbers are sequential, or otherwise patterned, they may be\nable to block access to all users without using all that much bandwidth.\n\n------\nte\nSure, three-strikes-and-out reduces probability of brute forcing any\nparticular account with forced 5-digit password, but if an attacker has a list\nof just 25k usernames, odds are that at least one is going to get brute-\nforced.\n\n------\nJulianMorrison\nA bad short password is only protected against crude online guessing by\naggressive lock-outs. If those passwords leak in hashed form, having a small\nsearch space means they can be broken offline with ease.\n\n------\nmeuk\nMy bank allows arbitrary length, but enforces certain special characters while\ndisallowing others. Which means I can't use the (long and secure) password and\nhave to write it down.\n\nNot sure what they hope to accomplish.\n\n------\nzAy0LfpBZLC8mAC\nSorry, but that article is just dumb. For one, obviously, the possible\nexistence of other security mechanisms is exactly no reason for intentionally\nbreaking password security. Either you store passwords as plain text, in which\ncase you have just failed, or you are storing a hash, in which case there is\nno cost to doing the right thing and accepting arbitrarily long passwords.\nThere is no way to start with \"we have other security mechanisms in place\" and\nend with \"therefore, we should weaken password security\". And if an\norganisation is incapable of understanding that trivial piece of logic, I have\nvery little hope for their supposed magic security solution.\n\nBut even worse: The idea that locking users out after so many failed attempts\nis a security mechanism. When a small bandwidth of unauthenticated requests\ncan disable a critical service, that is known as a denial of service\nvulnerability and not a security mechanism. If you have proper passwords,\nlocking users out is completely useless for security, but it's still a DoS\nvulnerability. A brute force attack will not crack a 128 bit random password,\nno matter the rate at which it is tried. And while non-public user IDs can\nhelp mitigate that risk, it is not at all a given that banks don't use\nessentially public account numbers as user names, even ones that have 6-digit\npassword limits. Plus, the user ID at that point effectively becomes part of\nthe password, just that it's a password that you can't change, which isn't\nexactly brilliant either.\n\nAnd finally: It's quite a failure at assessing attack scenarios if you think\nthat user lockout actually solves a problem. Your typical bank has a failure\ncounter per account. A failure counter that is reset on every successful\nlogin. So, the real number of attempts an attacker could make is the number of\nattempts you have before lockout minus one, multiplied by the number of\nsuccessful logins by the customer. An attacker might not necessarily be able\nto know very well when the user has logged into their bank account, which sure\nwill limit the exploitability somewhat, but then, that very much depends on\nthe circumstances. If you know someone pulls their transactions every 15\nminutes, say (especially a business, which might even leak the time they pull\ntransactions by sending payment receipts in response, for example), then you\nmight very reliably be able to make 8 guesses per hour, or ~ 70000 per year,\nwithout causing lockout. If you instead want to target the general public, you\nmight also just use a bot net to attempt login into accounts only\noccasionally, risking some lockout, but statistically compromising a certain\nnumber of accounts over time.\n\nAnd all of that when proper passwords do solve all of those problems perfectly\nreliably.\n\nOh, yes, and the idea that some banks will give you your money back?\nSeriously? Now, if that isn't a failure at assessing risks, I don't know what\nis. Who seriously believes that banks will give you your money back on your\nword that you didn't authorize some transaction? Of course, they won't, they'd\nbe wide open to fraud if they did. If the attacker is good enough at making it\nseem like the customer authorized the fraudulent transaction, obviously, the\ncustomer won't get back a cent. Those claims by banks are marketing bordering\non fraud, and obviously not something anyone claiming to be an expert in\nsecurity should just trust to be something you can rely on.\n\n~~~\ngruez\n>When a small bandwidth of unauthenticated requests can disable a critical\nservice, that is known as a denial of service vulnerability and not a security\nmechanism.\n\nBut what's your threat model here? Some attacker who's targeting you that\nsomehow got your randomly assigned username but not your password? Or someone\nhitting every account number for \"the lulz\"? In the first case, it can be\nresolved with a 10 minute call to the bank to get your username changed\n(although you have bigger issues if your attacker was able to get sensitive\ninformation such as your banking username). In the second case, the attacker\nwill get ip banned/rate limited very quickly.\n\n>If you know someone pulls their transactions every 15 minutes, say\n(especially a business, which might even leak the time they pull transactions\nby sending payment receipts in response, for example), then you might very\nreliably be able to make 8 guesses per hour,\n\nSounds like a very non typical use case. Most businesses I know pull\ntransactions end/start of day. Considering most/all banking transactions (ie.\nnot done through a third party platform like venmo) are done daily, this isn't\nsurprising. Even then, this exploit only works if there isn't a persistent\nlogin fail counter. Getting a password wrong twice before getting it right is\nususal a couple times a day. Doing that 10+ times a day is definitely\nsuspicious.\n\n>Who seriously believes that banks will give you your money back on your word\nthat you didn't authorize some transaction? Of course, they won't, they'd be\nwide open to fraud if they did.\n\nAFAIK they're obligated by law.\n\n~~~\nzAy0LfpBZLC8mAC\n> But what's your threat model here?\n\nWhat do I know? DoS attacks are a thing, so that's the threat model?!\n\n> Some attacker who's targeting you that somehow got your randomly assigned\n> username but not your password?\n\nYou are assuming the username is randomly assigned.\n\n> In the first case, it can be resolved with a 10 minute call to the bank to\n> get your username changed\n\nWut? For one, how is being denied access to your capital for ten minutes in\nany way \"solving\" the DoS risk? Then, how does that even solve anything if the\nattacker simply disables your account again within a few seconds? If your\nsuggestion is that using the username as the password somehow is supposed to\nprotect you, I have bad news for you: You usually can't change your username,\nso you can not change that \"password\" to something the attacker doesn't know.\n\n> (although you have bigger issues if your attacker was able to get sensitive\n> information such as your banking username)\n\nYou have it all backwards? The sensitive part is what is called the password.\nIf your username is sensitive, you are already doing it all wrong. Especially\nbecause, see above, you can change your password, you can not (usually,\neasily) change your username-pretending-to-be-your-password.\n\n> In the second case, the attacker will get ip banned/rate limited very\n> quickly.\n\nYou have heard of this thing called a bot net, right?\n\nAlso, congrats, you have just introduced the next DoS risk: If you happen to\nuse an ISP where your IPv4 connectivity is only through NAT, and given that\nmost banks are IPv4-only, suddenly, some random customer of that ISP, or the\nmalware on their machine, can disable your access to your account.\n\nYou know what would actually solve that problem? Wait for it ... it's\npasswords! Like, proper, real, high-entropy passwords. Who would have thought?\n\n> Sounds like a very non typical use case.\n\nThe idea that banks should only be secure for \"typical use cases\" primarily\nsounds like a very bad design principle.\n\n> Most businesses I know pull transactions end/start of day. Considering\n> most/all banking transactions (ie. not done through a third party platform\n> like venmo) are done daily, this isn't surprising.\n\nExcept other countries have a slightly more modern banking infrastructure. All\nof the EU is currently introducing realtime money transfers with a guaranteed\npayment delay of maximum 10 seconds between any two banks in the EU. Pulling\ntransactions only every 15 minutes seems like quite a massive delay in\ncomparison.\n\n> Even then, this exploit only works if there isn't a persistent login fail\n> counter. Getting a password wrong twice before getting it right is ususal a\n> couple times a day. Doing that 10+ times a day is definitely suspicious.\n\nWell, yes, sure. But for one, that there is a persistent login fail counter is\na big if. If you are lucky, maybe there is. If there isn't, the bank will\nblame you. And also, regardless, the problem still remains: There definitely\nis no permanent login fail counter. Customers occasionally do mistype their\npasswords, and that does not lead to lockout. But whatever the real maximum\nrate of failed attempts is: The total number of possible attempts is more than\nthe advertised supposed maximum number of attempts.\n\n> AFAIK they're obligated by law.\n\nThey are obligated to do what? Give you back your money because you say so?\nCertainly not. Be able to determine with 100% accuracy whether a transaction\nwas fraudulent? Yeah, sure?!\n\n~~~\ngruez\n>What do I know? DoS attacks are a thing, so that's the threat model?!\n\nIt matters because you need to consider the attacker's motivations, goals, and\nresources.\n\n>You are assuming the username is randomly assigned.\n\nSo? If not randomly assigned, the best you can do is enumerate all users in an\nunpredictable manner. It's not like sequential usernames allows you to easily\nguess the username for a specific person.\n\n>Wut? For one, how is being denied access to your capital for ten minutes in\nany way \"solving\" the DoS risk? Then, how does that even solve anything if the\nattacker simply disables your account again within a few seconds?\n\nIt solves the DoS risk because it makes subsequent attacks sufficiently hard\nto perform afterwards. If your username can be leaked within seconds, the\nattacker probably has access to perform more devastating attacks than a simple\nDoS.\n\n>You usually can't change your username, so you can not change that \"password\"\nto something the attacker doesn't know.\n\nYou might not be able to change your username online, but support can probably\nchange it.\n\n>You have it all backwards? The sensitive part is what is called the password.\nIf your username is sensitive, you are already doing it all wrong. Especially\nbecause, see above, you can change your password, you can not (usually,\neasily) change your username-pretending-to-be-your-password.\n\nYes, usernames are supposed to be identifiers only, but keeping it a secret\nfrom your enemies isn't particularly hard. Please explain how the attackers\nare getting a hold of your username in the first place.\n\n>You have heard of this thing called a bot net, right?\n\nHere's why you need to consider the threat model. If it's some guy out for the\nlulz, using a botnet incurs a cost (both in terms of actual risk in terms of\ndetection, and opportunity cost in terms of other things he could be using it\nfor eg. credit card fraud, DDoS for fire, etc.). And the guy is willing to\nexpend unlimited resources, then all bets are off. He could use amplification\nattacks to take down the bank's website by raw bandwidth alone. Worst case the\nbank mails/emails everyone new high entropy usernames.\n\n>Also, congrats, you have just introduced the next DoS risk: If you happen to\nuse an ISP where your IPv4 connectivity is only through NAT, and given that\nmost banks are IPv4-only, suddenly, some random customer of that ISP, or the\nmalware on their machine, can disable your access to your account.\n\nStrange. I can log into my financial accounts while using VPN without a\nproblem. You'd think that a VPN service that anyone can sign up for\nanonymously would invite more abuse than an ISP that you need to provide real\ncredentials for.\n\n>You know what would actually solve that problem? Wait for it ... it's\npasswords! Like, proper, real, high-entropy passwords. Who would have thought?\n\nYou seem to be misunderstanding Troy's position. He's not saying it's ideal,\nor even good practice. He's merely saying it's not as bad as you think. ie.\nhaving a 6 digit numeric password doesn't mean you're going to get you hacked\nwithin minutes.\n\n>Except other countries have a slightly more modern banking infrastructure.\nAll of the EU is currently introducing realtime money transfers with a\nguaranteed payment delay of maximum 10 seconds between any two banks in the\nEU. Pulling transactions only every 15 minutes seems like quite a massive\ndelay in comparison.\n\nI have a feeling that businesses that need low latency transactions aren't\ndoing so by scraping their bank's web page. They're probably using some sort\nof payment provider, or the bank has an API.\n\n>Well, yes, sure. But for one, that there is a persistent login fail counter\nis a big if. If you are lucky, maybe there is. If there isn't, the bank will\nblame you.\n\nIf anything, having a weak password gives you more plausible deniability than\nhaving a 256 bit entropy password.\n\n>They are obligated to do what? Give you back your money because you say so?\nCertainly not. Be able to determine with 100% accuracy whether a transaction\nwas fraudulent? Yeah, sure?!\n\nThat's the point of obligating it by law. It's consumer protection to give\nthem the benefit of the doubt. If you have an airtight case against the bank\nyou wouldn't need it in the first place. I'd think you understand this\nconcept, given that you're from the EU. In any case, here's a citation for\nyou:\n[http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8915217/ns/technology_and_science-...](http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8915217/ns/technology_and_science-\nsecurity/t/know-your-rights-bank-account-fraud/)\n\n~~~\nzAy0LfpBZLC8mAC\n> So? If not randomly assigned, the best you can do is enumerate all users in\n> an unpredictable manner. It's not like sequential usernames allows you to\n> easily guess the username for a specific person.\n\n... or just use their account number that's on their website. Really, what's\nyour point? Yes, you can potentially use some usernames as passwords. Doesn't\nmean it's somehow more sensible than using passwords as passwords.\n\n> It solves the DoS risk because it makes subsequent attacks sufficiently hard\n> to perform afterwards. If your username can be leaked within seconds, the\n> attacker probably has access to perform more devastating attacks than a\n> simple DoS.\n\nWhat? Denying you service prevents denying you service because it makes\ndenying you service any longer sufficiently hard, except it doesn't, because\nthat's just another three requests?\n\n> You might not be able to change your username online, but support can\n> probably change it.\n\nSo, now you are just pulling stuff out of your ass? And in any case, how does\nany of this make any sense? Having bad passwords is a good idea, because we\ncan use the username as a sort-of password? Sure you can, but why the heck not\nuse the password as the password?\n\n> And the guy really does have resources for a botnet, then all bets are off.\n> He could use amplification attacks to take down the bank's website by raw\n> bandwidth alone.\n\nErm, yeah? And why should he do that if a low-bandwidth attack does the job\njust fine? And in any case, how is the fact that there is one kind of DoS\nattack vector that you can not prevent a reason to also add another DoS attack\nvector, and to then use that to justify that you put in effort in order to\nweaken password security? Like ... what's your point?\n\n> Strange. I can log into my financial accounts while using VPN without a\n> problem. You'd think that a VPN service that anyone can sign up for\n> anonymously would invite more abuse than an ISP that you need to provide\n> real credentials for.\n\nWhich is a reason for building weakened security how exactly?\n\n> You seem to be misunderstanding Troy's position. He's not saying it's ideal,\n> or even good practice. He's merely saying it's not as bad as you think. ie.\n> having a 6 digit numeric password doesn't mean you're going to get you\n> hacked within minutes.\n\nYeah, having a root ssh account on your server with password \"test\" doesn't\nget you hacked within minutes. So, how is that an argument? There is real\nsecurity, which doesn't get you hacked in decades, and then there is\neverything else that is pointlessly insecure, and in this case way less secure\nthan he suggests in any case.\n\n> I have a feeling that businesses that need low latency transactions aren't\n> doing so by scraping their bank's web page. They're probably using some sort\n> of payment provider, or the bank has an API.\n\n... and banks use the exact same idiocy on their APIs, correct. Why would they\nnot if they are convinced that that is how you are secure, as they seem to be?\n\n> If anything, having a weak password gives you more plausible deniability\n> than having a 256 bit entropy password.\n\nWell, sure. But then, not ever having any unauthorized transactions means you\ndon't have to worry about plausible deniability?\n\n> That's the point of obligating it by law. It's consumer protection to give\n> them the benefit of the doubt.\n\nErm ... you do realize that that can not possibly be the case, right? That a\nbank can not possibly be obligated to give money to a customer simply because\nthe customer demands it?\n\n> If you have an airtight case against the bank you wouldn't need it in the\n> first place. I'd think you understand this concept, given that you're from\n> the EU.\n\nYou are completely missing the point. There are cases where the bank is at\nfault (like, they simply handed your money to someone else for no reason) and\nyou can show it. That's the case where the bank's general liability would be\nall you need.\n\nThen, there are cases where the bank received an order to execute some payment\nthat was authenticated with your credentials. Now, as subcategories of that\nyou have the actual legitimate payment that you ordered, the somehow\nfraudulent order where you were defrauded and the bank can tell, somehow, and\nthe somehow fraudulent order where the bank doesn't see any signs of fraud and\nyou can't demonstrate it either. Banking regulation and/or voluntary\nguarantees usually (mostly) cover that second subcategory. But there is no way\nto possibly cover the third subcategory: That is the category or fraudulent\ntransactions that are indistinguishable from legitimate transactions by anyone\nbut you, and you obviously have a conflict of interest, so your word that some\ntransaction was fraudulent obviously is worthless in determining whether it\nwas. Anyone who wanted to defraud a bank could submit a legitimate transaction\nand then claim that is was fraud, so that alone can not possibly be sufficient\nto get your money back.\n\n~~~\nNLips\nIn the UK at least, the regulations cover the third category i.e. where you\ncan't demonstrate fraud, but neither does the bank have reasonable grounds to\nsuspect you acted fraudulently. From\n[https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/unauthorised-payments-\naccou...](https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/unauthorised-payments-account),\nexplaining when a bank is allowed not to refund you (although they are allowed\nto refund you and then ask questions and report you to the police).\n\n\"\"\" Why a refund can be refused\n\nYour bank can generally only refuse a refund for an unauthorised payment if:\n\n\\- it can prove you authorised the transaction – though your bank cannot\nsimply say that use of your password, card or PIN conclusively proves you\nauthorised a payment\n\n\\- it can prove you are at fault because you acted fraudulently or because you\ndeliberately, or with ‘gross negligence’, failed to protect the details of\nyour card, PIN or password in - a way that allowed the transaction\n\n\\- you told your bank about an unauthorised payment 13 months or more after\nthe date it left your account, so make sure you contact the bank as soon as\npossible. \"\"\"\n\n[edit - remove block formatting]\n\n~~~\nzAy0LfpBZLC8mAC\nGee, what is your point? Whatever the exact rules are: There are cases where\nthe bank will not be able to distinguish an actually fraudulent transaction\nfrom a legitimate one. In those case, you, the customer, will be stuck with\nthe loss, there just is no way around that, other than preventing the loss in\nthe first place.\n\n~~~\nNLips\n\"There are cases where the bank will not be able to distinguish an actually\nfraudulent transaction from a legitimate one. In those case, you, the\ncustomer, will be stuck with the loss\"\n\nNo, that's contrary to the FCA regulations. In cases where you can't tell if\nthere's been a third party committing fraud, the benefit of the doubt must be\ngiven to the consumer. If the bank cannot demonstrate that the consumer is\ncommitting fraud, they cannot refuse the consumer their money.\n\nIt's obviously complete nonsense to say \"_whatever the rules are_, in scenario\nX the bank will be able to do thing Y\"; in this case the rule is \"in scenario\nX, the bank is not permitted to do thing Y\".\n\n~~~\nzAy0LfpBZLC8mAC\n> In cases where you can't tell if there's been a third party committing\n> fraud, the benefit of the doubt must be given to the consumer.\n\nWhich is why I obviously was not talking about that.\n\n> If the bank cannot demonstrate that the consumer is committing fraud, they\n> cannot refuse the consumer their money.\n\nOK. Now, the bank demonstrates that you committed fraud (that you didn't). Now\nwhat?\n\n~~~\nNLips\nIf the bank satisfies a court with evidence to show the customer committing\nfraud, then the customer won’t get their money back. Just like if the CPS\nsatisfies a court that someone committed murder, prison will follow even if\nthe person didn’t kill anyone.\n\nThis thread is rapidly losing value to readers now, since you seem to be\ndishonestly representing what you’ve previously said, at best guess because\nyou don’t like to be wrong. Quoting you:\n\n“the somehow fraudulent order where the bank doesn't see any signs of fraud\nand you can't demonstrate it either.”\n\n“That is the category or fraudulent transactions that are indistinguishable\nfrom legitimate transactions by anyone but you”\n\n“There are cases where the bank will not be able to distinguish an actually\nfraudulent transaction from a legitimate one.”\n\nOnly now have you changed this to apparently mean the bank can falsely prove\nthe customer committed fraud.\n\nThere’s nothing wrong with not being up to speed on recent banking regulation\nchanges in the UK. There is something wrong with pretending you were saying\nsomething you weren’t, just for the sake of internet points.\n\n~~~\nNLips\nI’ll add an example to help get across how the regulations have changed:\n\nIf someone calls me pretending to be my bank and tricks me into giving them\nenough details (passnumbers etc) to move money out of my account, or persuaded\nme to authorise transactions they’re making (because I think they’re the bank\nsaving the money from being stolen by someone else), then the transactions\nwill look real to the bank. Previously, that was my problem. Now it is the\nbank’s - I may have divulged my details in good faith, but I didn’t give the\ncriminal any money. The bank, unwittingly, gave the criminal money. The bank\nis no longer allowed to claim it was my money. Rather, the bank still owes me\nmy deposit - nothing has happened to change that.\n\nThis has been a more commonly occurring crime in recent years, and the\nregulations are specifically there to:\n\nProtect the consumer\n\nPut the onus on the bank, to encourage them to do better protecting their\nmoney.\n\n------\nmark-r\nI haven't been able to log into my bank for something like 10 years, because\ntheir password restrictions made me pick a password I couldn't remember.\n\n------\nsystematical\nStill waiting on two-factor authentication from my bank. Even just basic SMS\nwith a 4 or 5 digit code like Vanguard does would be nice.\n\n------\nhtfu\nI cannot believe _ANY_ banks are using passwords at all in this day and age.\nReading discussions like this makes my brain hurt - even a decade and a half\nback we were on chip and pin card readers for login/signing verification, now\nsince a long time back there's a universal app-based 2fa equivalent (Mobile\nBankID). That's not the case for \"my bank(s)\" but all banks here.\n\nI wonder what makes the US/UK/AUS so special? It's all incredibly alien.\n\n~~~\njbarberu\nMoving from a country with Mobile BankID to the US, all I can speculate is\nthat it's not a big enough problem for the banks to make the investment.\nSimilar to the healthcare system keeping the status quo is \"cheaper\" until\nyou're one of the unlucky ones...\n\n------\nnsfyn55\nThey do matter but not for the reason you'd first think. It's about liability.\nImagine a bank testifying in a hearing about a recent data breach. They are\ngoing to want to give the perception that they have done everything within\nreason to protect their user's data. Password restrictions are a cheap feather\nin one's due diligence cap.\n\n~~~\nzAy0LfpBZLC8mAC\nSo ... how exactly is \"your honor, we didn't allow passwords longer than 5\nchars\" going to help them, you reckon?\n\n~~~\nnsfyn55\nEasy. Civil law operates on a concept called \"preponderance\". It's not\nabsolute in nature it's a measure of likliehood as measured by non subject\nmatter experts(a judge and some randos). Imagine a person has fallen on your\nproperty and injured themselves. If you are known in the neighborhood as a\nperson that takes care of your sidewalk(shovels, patches broken concrete,\netc.) and can produce evidence(character witnesses, testimonials, visuals) to\nthat effect your case is strengthened.\n\nNo one ever got directly hacked because their password was too strong, but\nlots of people have had passwords guessed by brute force.\n\nSo put the two together. Its beneficial to have strong passwords because they\ncan be presented as evidence of due diligence and there is no security risk to\nenforcing them. There may be some business risk(people fleeing because they\ndon't like your password policy) but someone needs to quantify that its a\nproblem for it to be considered in the calculus.\n\n~~~\nzAy0LfpBZLC8mAC\nThat is a lot of text for not addressing my point at all!?\n\n~~~\nnsfyn55\nYou asked how it would help and I explained exactly how it would help. I\ndirectly addressed your point.\n\nYour content free, one sentence response not withstanding. Is there something\nspecific you'd like clarification about?\n\n~~~\nzAy0LfpBZLC8mAC\nHow exactly you think preventing your customers from using secure passwords is\ngoing to demonstrate due diligence?\n\n~~~\nnsfyn55\nLook at that sally, a false equivocation right out of the gate. I'll just\nchange your text so that it represents what I actually said ....\n\n>How exactly does taking steps that have previously been used in civil suits\nto demonstrate due diligence such enforcing password requirements going to\ndemonstrate due diligence?\n\nWell I'm glad you asked billy! The answer is tautology. Thanks for playing.\n\nThis argument is stupid. You want to talk about yak shaving, theoretical\nnonsense. FWIW I agree with you and think that password requirements are dumb,\nbut you live in the real world. These are the legal realities of IT policy.\n\n------\nQuantenGhost\nWhat I hate is the impression. You can have mitigation controls galore. I\ntrust that they all do. However, it's difficult for average customers to\nunderstand that. When even NIST has longer password recommendations, people\nwho hear that \"long passwords are safer\" should have that option. Banks are\nrelatively arbitrarily depriving security conscious people of that nominal\nopportunity to try to practice good password hygiene. The line is that\npassword resets increase with password length. I'd be fine with that.\n\nI am an Information Security professional, customer of financial institutions,\nand started my earliest engineering career for a large bank.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: How to stop iOS9 daily prompts for iOS10 upgrade - walterbell\niOS9 automatically downloads iOS10 and then prompts daily for permission to upgrade.  The dialog only allows deferral of upgrade, no option to decline.  Since it usually takes a few point releases for Apple to stabilize a new major version, you may not want to spend the next few months postponing this dialog box every day.<p>To stop the iOS10 upgrade prompts:<p><pre><code>  Settings\n  General\n  Storage &amp; iCloud  \n  Manage Storage, scroll down through the list \n  iOS10 Update -&gt; Delete\n</code></pre>\nGo back to enjoying stable iOS9 workflow and battery life.  Avoid security threats for which fixes were disclosed in iOS10.\n======\nrubyfan\nThank you.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nOn the Moon, astronaut pee will be a hot commodity - rbanffy\nhttps://arstechnica.com/science/2020/05/on-the-moon-astronaut-pee-will-be-a-hot-commodity/\n======\nnurettin\nDoes this mean that all this pee on earth is going to waste along with all the\nwater that carries it simply because we haven't thought long and hard enough\non this issue?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWestinghouse Files for Bankruptcy, in Blow to Nuclear Power (2017) - mzs\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/business/westinghouse-toshiba-nuclear-bankruptcy.html\n======\ndang\nDiscussed at the time:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13987046](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13987046)\n\n------\nepistasis\nThis article is more than three years old, but the story hasn't changed much.\nVC Summer was abandoned, leaving utility customers with massive bills. Vogtle\nsoldiers on, but seems to be unlikely to finish.\n\nNucleae's problems are not the politics, the problem is that basic competency\nin design and construction logistics have been lost. Plans get delivered to\nconstruction that are \"unconstructable,\" but construction soldiers on and\nwings it. Then it al has to go through design review again. And maybe redone.\nDelays delays delays. Incompetence abounds.\n\nAll the partners are planning from the beginning for a massive lawsuit at the\nend, and work harder to limit their liability (or create liability for\nothers?) than to make the project work.\n\nExecutives lie about the progress, there are guilty pleas to fraud:\n\n[https://www.postandcourier.com/business/former-scana-\nexecuti...](https://www.postandcourier.com/business/former-scana-executive-\npleads-guilty-to-fraud-charges-tied-to-failed-sc-nuclear-\nproject/article_26e23ca8-c50b-11ea-8377-e7b39854212b.html)\n\n20 years ago, I though nuclear was essential to fighting climate change.\nToday, I don't see how nuclear can ever help. We can't build it before it's\ntoo late, and by the time we build anything other technology has completely\nleapfrogged it.\n\nWe started these two AP-1000 reactors in 2008! A dozen years later we have\nnothing to show for it except for bankruptcy, plea deals, billions of dollars\nthat would have been more effectively spent on solar and storage.\n\n~~~\nCydeWeys\nYup. For all the people boosting nuclear power, the reality on the ground\nseems to be that it just does not work anymore. It's way too expensive and\nnever gets done, and this problem is global, not just in the US; see e.g.\n[https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a33499619/fr...](https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a33499619/france-\nnuclear-reactor-epr-expensive-mess/)\n\nAt some point the results have to speak for themselves, and solar/wind plus\nbattery storage is actually working and being built. That seems a more\nrealistic path forward than nuclear power, which is demonstrably failing over\nand over.\n\n~~~\nkurthr\nYes, but what will we do if/when wind and solar just \"doesn't work anymore\".\nIn the US trains \"don't work anymore\"... but they do in other countries. This\ngradual erosion of technical capability is a generic problem the US needs to\nsolve. Nuclear is a case study of what is wrong and where the problems are\n(political, business, education).\n\n~~~\nmanicdee\nThe way the US chose to address accidents in rail was to armour plate their\nrail cars. In Europe they worked on better processes to ensure trains don’t\nrun into each other in the first place. The erosion of technical capability in\nrail is driven by the legislature. You have many states that will need to work\ntogether to completely abandon the US regulations on rail, adopt European\nregulations, and replace every piece of rolling stock to comply with the new\nregulations. That’s quite the undertaking, but achievable since the required\nexpertise still exists outside the USA.\n\nThe erosion of technical capability in nuclear power is likely unsolvable.\nThere is no brains trust outside the USA from which to borrow the knowledge of\nmetallurgy, concrete, site preparation, building design, or even design for\nmanufacture. This is rebooting the entire industry from scratch to produce an\nunprofitable product.\n\n~~~\nbobthepanda\nActually now the US has alternative compliance regulations that let operators\nuse European stock without waivers:\n[https://pedestrianobservations.com/2018/11/20/fra-reform-\nis-...](https://pedestrianobservations.com/2018/11/20/fra-reform-is-here/amp/)\n\nNow the problem is getting operators to actually buy such equipment, and then\noperators getting the slots and ability to run these at a usable frequency,\nspeed, and reliability.\n\n------\ndanans\nAnyone know of there is a connection beyond history and a logo between the\nnuclear power plant company and the household lighting company?\n\n[http://www.westinghouselighting.com/](http://www.westinghouselighting.com/)\n\n~~~\nkn0where\nThey used to be the same company:\n[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westinghouse_Electric_Corpor...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westinghouse_Electric_Corporation)\n\n------\nLanguageGamer\nSomewhat tangential, but wikipedia has good article on the cost of different\nenergy sources:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source)\n\nThe cost of nuclear energy has been flat for decades, but the cost of sources\nlike solar has been plummeting. Nuclear doesn't have much of change without\nsome technological break through.\n\n~~~\nnabla9\nNuclear and renewables are not 1:1 match or comparison.\n\nNuclear provides steady source of electricity 24/7.\n\nIf you want same from renewable, you must add the cost of energy storage and\nthe cost of overcapacity.\n\n~~~\nepistasis\nSame for nuclear though, a steady source of power is not a good fit for our\nenergy use. You have to start building thermal or battery storage, or do\nspecialized more-expensive designs that can operate at variable power, or get\ncustomers to shift their load.\n\n~~~\nxenspidey\nJust make hydrogen during off-peak hours and get the hydrogen powered vehicles\nup and running.\n\n~~~\nepistasis\nSame goes for renewables, but the electrons are cheaper and easier to get on\nthe grid!\n\n~~~\nxenspidey\nOff-peak hours for solar is also when there is no sun, so no. Wind isn't\nconstant either. We need a constant 24/7 source of uninterruptible energy.\n\n~~~\nepistasis\nImportant to define the \"peak\" part of \"off-peak\" here. Is it peak production,\npeak differential between supply demand, etc.\n\nMid-day is off-peak for solar in many markets, and they curtail their output\nso that they don't oversupply. As there is more solar built, more and more\nwill be curtailed.\n\nBoth nuclear and solar would need a hydrolysis system that was economical even\nif not run 24x7 in order to utilize their supply-demand mismatches. This is\nthe biggest road block to hydrogen production with the GWh of \"free\"\nelectricity that we could currently be generating in the spring in California,\nbut currently just don't use.\n\n------\nHPsquared\nTraditional light water reactors are pretty much dead at this point, they are\nnot economic with the layers upon layers of required safety equipment.\n\nWhat's needed is simplification - there are a wide range of inherently /\npassively-safe Generation 4 designs - of which my particular interest is in\nthe molten salt designs (e.g. Terrestrial Energy's Integral MSR) which could\nbe made MUCH smaller, simpler and cheaper than traditional reactors. These\nmight never clear the various financial, regulatory and technical hurdles, but\none can hope...\n\n------\nlook_lookatme\nWhy is this article from 3 years ago on the front page?\n\n~~~\narkanciscan\nSweet sweet karma points\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFacebook told by Belgian court to stop tracking non-users - denzil_correa\nhttp://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34765937\n======\ntdkl\nGood, I hope they'll pay as much money as it gets until this is removed. FB is\na sleazy company by its core.\n\nIn other news, their FB Messenger app will scan the phones Camera roll for new\nphotos, recognize faces and offer sharing to your friends it recognized. In\ncertain regions only for now and of course it's opt-OUT by default [1].\n\n[1] [http://9to5mac.com/2015/11/09/facebook-messenger-photo-\nmagic...](http://9to5mac.com/2015/11/09/facebook-messenger-photo-magic-scans-\nfriends/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nApache Mesos is not as reliable a we used to think - tailhook\nhttps://medium.com/@paulcolomiets/evaluating-mesos-4a08f85473fb\n\n======\npreillyme\nPretends to be a common standard for different solutions?\n\n~~~\ntailhook\nAh.. yeah, my English is not very good.\n\nI mean Mesos tries to be platform to build on top. Some common denominator for\nother solutions.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhy I like comments - brilliant\nhttp://scripting.com/stories/2010/08/24/whyILikeComments.html\n======\naphyr\n_But rebuttal, esp principled rebuttal, really doesn't add anything to a\ncomment thread._\n\nEver wonder why Winer's purportedly popular blog has so few comments? Now you\nknow!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAustralia says it's under nation-state cyberattack - CalmStorm\nhttps://thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/119\n======\ndang\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23569524](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23569524)\n\n------\ndicomdan\nShould the international laws be amended to consider state-led cyber attacks\nan act of war in additional to traditional aggression? Seems like UN Security\nCouncil should deal with these matters.\n\n~~~\ncaymanjim\nInternational law barely exists and is unenforceable. If a superpower--\nespecially a permanent Security Council member--wants to do something, there's\nabsolutely no recourse. Look at Russia and Crimea. That's the most egregious\nviolation of the notion of international law in recent history, and nothing of\nconsequence happened. The big powers can do whatever they want, and the worst\nresponse will be token economic sanctions. China is so economically\nintertwined with the world that nothing at all would happen unless they nuked\nsomeone.\n\n~~~\nspeeder\nThere are better examples than Russia and Crimea.\n\nI am not Russian, and have nothing to do with Russia or Ukraine or whatever (I\nam Brazillian, of Iberian descent).\n\nStill, Crimea was not a \"invasion\" or \"conquest\".\n\nLong story short:\n\nRussia invaded Crimea in 1700s, taking it from Tartars.\n\nWhen a Ukranian became leader of URSS, he \"gave\" Crimea to Ukraine, it was\nonly nominal, nothing changed in Crimea itself, the place still was basically\na navy base for Russia.\n\nWhen URSS broke up, because of previous decision, it was decided Crimea was\nUkranian, except most of population there is Russian (including a huge amount\nof Russian military), and their only warmwater seaport deep enough for the\ngood warships Russia had, was still there, to make this work, Russia \"rented\"\nthe place from Ukraine.\n\nWhen Ukraine most recent revolution happened, do you think all the Russian\nmilitary personel families that live there since 1700s would want to leave?\n\nNow... if you want to claim what is happening in Donbass is a invasion, then\nthat is more plausible.\n\n~~~\n8ytecoder\nIs URSS a Brazilian way of saying USSR?\n\nEdit: it’s an alternate spelling. I had not heard that before.\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URSS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URSS)\n\n------\ntrabant00\nWhat a low effort article. Zero details. And the page is in huge part\nadvertising and unrelated stuff.\n\n~~~\nTedDoesntTalk\nAgreed. I want my two minutes back.\n\n------\nve55\nJust as covid seemed to hit many with little warning and little preparation,\nserious cyberattacks will at some point too.\n\nNations need to have more preparation, funding, and simulations, for potential\nlarge future cyberattacks before one causes significant destruction.\n\n~~~\ncheez\nThey simulate all of them, still screw it up when it happens. 9/11 was\nsimulated, pandemic was simulated, etc.\n\n------\nwallacoloo\nSo the attacker is using “open-source code exploits” followed by phishing. To\nwhat effect? DoS of govt services? Ransoms? Something more ambitious?\n\n------\nyumraj\nChina is going rogue again. Cyberattacks against Australia, bullying in South\nChina Sea, border fights against India and so on.\n\nWe need a unified world approach.\n\n~~~\nnix23\nCan you please give me a proof that it's China and not someone else...or\nnothing at all?\n\nI always hear cyber-attack's from Russia, North Korea or China, but never from\nIsrael or the US, are they just so bad in covering up or is maybe something\nelse behind it?\n\n~~~\nbawolff\nWell tbf, stuxnet & flame are probably the two cyber-attacks that can actually\nbeyond all doubt be called cyber warfare.\n\nMost everything else seems more about finding a scapegoat to blame.\n\n~~~\nnix23\nYes your right, i am not saying cyber-warfare does no exist, i just don't see\noften good point's for the origin of the attack...often its like HAHA we found\nthe timezone of Peking in a file....as if a professional agency is that stupid\n(well sometimes they are)\n\n------\nadventured\nNot just cyber attack, Australia is also under economic attack [1] for the\nsame reason. And China just suddenly decided to sentence an Australian to\ndeath (same move they made against Canada), after five years of sitting on the\ncase [2]. It's all about intimidation and leverage. China will press until\nAustralia capitulates. Fortunately the Australians have backbone.\n\nAs a superpower capable of standing off with China, the US should be stepping\nin and offering very public political and economic support to Australia. It's\nthe only approach that will work when dealing with China's new era of extreme\nbelligerence. If the US were currently being led by a wiser politician, they\nwould be rallying allies old and new (such as India) at China's expense.\n\n[1] [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-\nnews/2020/may/21/austr...](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-\nnews/2020/may/21/australias-iron-ore-exports-hit-by-rule-change-as-china-\nescalates-war-of-words)\n\n[2] [https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/13/china/australian-drug-\nsmuggli...](https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/13/china/australian-drug-smuggling-\nsentence-china-intl-hnk/index.html)\n\n~~~\nfit2rule\nWhy is it the US' problem? If _AUSTRALIA_ were currently being led by a wiser\npolitician, or indeed had in the last .. 20 years .. been led by wise\npoliticians .. it wouldn't be in this mess right now in the first place.\n\nIts only because Australia kowtows with fluidity every time the US snaps its\nfingers that its in this mess right now. Australians need to stop being the\nlapdogs to the American empire, and start thinking about their own future.\nAustralias future isn't white American: it is multi-cultural and mostly Asian.\n\n~~~\njacquesm\nBecause Australians have been led to believe that the US and Australia are\nallies, resulting in Australia punching _way_ above its weight in giving the\nUSA cover whenever it went abroad, for instance in Iraq, Afghanistan and so\non.\n\nThe usual understanding is that such loyalty is a two-way street. Not that the\ncurrent US government cares about such pesky details but that's where it\nstands.\n\n------\nmicrocolonel\nEvery time PRC turns up the heat, we should get closer with Taiwan.\n\n------\nm0zg\nI'm old enough to remember everyone here shitting on Trump for suggesting\nHuawei 5G is a national security threat. This opinion is now so\nuncontroversial that even Eric Schmidt agrees:\n[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2020/06/18/huawei-\npos...](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2020/06/18/huawei-poses-\nnational-security-risk-warns-ex-google-boss-eric/)\n\n~~~\ndane-pgp\n> everyone here\n\nThat's an interesting claim to test, actually. Could you provide links to one\nor more discussions on this site where the overwhelming consensus was that\nHuawei 5G would not be a national security threat to the US?\n\n~~~\nslacka\nBelow are the top stories. No consensus, let alone overwhelming.\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21757097](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21757097)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19954673](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19954673)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23191055](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23191055)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19923655](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19923655)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20279227](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20279227)\n\n~~~\nm0zg\nNow do the following: search the threads you provided for \"Trump\". The\ndecision might have been \"right\", but easily 90% of posters say that Trump was\n\"wrong\" to make it somehow, because saying he was right at anything is\nsocially unacceptable here.\n\nNote that I did not say HN disagreed with the decision necessarily. I was just\nsaying it was shitting on Trump for making it.\n\n~~~\ndane-pgp\n> Now do the following: search the threads you provided for \"Trump\".\n\nOkay then. The first two links have 8 occurrences of the string \"Trump\":\n\n1\\. \"Meaning while Trump is trying to make other country buy more Boeing\nplanes?\" I don't think this person is complaining that Trump is trying to\nsupport American businesses, but in any case they aren't saying that he\nshouldn't have opposed Huawei.\n\n2\\. \"... Trump only says pleasant words [about trade] which is completely\nlegal in both countries?\" This seems to be a defence of Trump.\n\n3\\. \"Trump considered [purchasing Greenland].\" A criticism of a different\nTrump policy (in the context of an article about the Faroese prime minister).\n\n4\\. \"I think that Trump's move with banning Huawei is bad for the US in the\nmid and long run.\" An actual criticism of Trump's Huawei decision, based on\nfear of retaliation from China. Two child comments support Trump, while one\nsupports the criticism.\n\n5\\. \"Trump's trade war with China, as many contract manufacturer move out of\nChina, will prove none of that supply chain myth is true within a year or\ntwo.\" A comment supporting Trump's approach.\n\n6\\. \"These things, and I'm not passing judgment on them, are simply pushing\nthe Chinese to be self-sufficient on everything. Stroke of the Trump pen and X\nchip for your hardware is denied.\" A comment trying to look at the long term\nconsequences without being critical of Trump.\n\n7\\. \"I'm sure that the EU/australia/the west is breathing a sigh of relief\nthat Trump did this instead of forcing them to make up some more draconian\nlaw...\" A comment supportive of Trump.\n\n8\\. \"FYI: Trump says U.S. \"wants to be the leader' in 5G development\" A\ncomment potentially trying to explain Trump's actions, but not critical of\nthem.\n\nIf that is an accurate analysis of a random sample of comments, I would say\nthat most posters agree with Trump about Huawei. I don't know where you get\nyour \"easily 90%\" statistic from.\n\n------\nAngeloAnolin\nI am pretty sure that nations with the resources are pretty much doing some\nstealth cyber attack to nations they consider a threat - whether by economic\nor defence policies.\n\nLikely the scale of the attack happening is something that may have surprised\nthe victim nation that they are calling out the attacks in the hope that it\nwould at least calm down the intruder or even have the government intervene.\n\nOn a side note, reading the article in a mobile device was a big PITA. Lots of\nads and unnecessary information included. And they had the temerity to tell me\nthat I am using n/3 free articles. I think I would pass from subscribing if on\nthe limited free version and the reading experience was just worst.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nUsing Magnets to Reduce Beer Foaming - allisterk\nhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0260877414003380\n\n======\nallisterk\nA much fluffier article with video is at:\n[http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/12/how-\nto...](http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/12/how-to-keep-beer-\nfrom-foaming/383775/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: how to go about finding internships? - zxcvvcxz\n\nHow's it going HN.<p>It's summer time, and students much like myself are having a tough time finding interesting summer jobs. It's not that I don't enjoy waiting tables or anything, but at some point I think it's time to look for more meaningful employment.<p>Some background on myself - I've just completed my second year of engineering education, and have project experience coding C/C++ and assembly. As well, I have web development experience with PHP and MySQL on the backend, and Javascript/html/css/Ajax. In terms of non-programming technical knowledge, I've probably taken a course on \"$subject mechanics\" (fluid, statistical, quantum... you name it).<p>So I figure my best way out of waiting tables would be to apply for some internships. In particular, being an HN reader, I'd love to work at a smaller company closer to a start up.<p>But I'll be honest - I have very little work experience. Just a lot of drive/motivation to work on something interesting and challenging, and a few projects to show.<p>What advice would HN give?\n======\npotatolicious\nGo for all the big companies - they have established internship programs that\nthey recruit heavily for. Try Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and any\nother BigCos you can think of. That's generally the easiest way to go since\nthese companies make it a point to hire a _lot_ of interns every year.\n\nIt is probably way too late to make it anywhere for _this_ summer at these\ncompanies though, given their structured schedule in recruiting (the intern\nseason at Amazon has already started).\n\nTalk to small companies. I have a friend who literally drove down the highway\nwith a stack of resumes. He walked into every place that seemed like it would\nbe beneficial to work at, walked in, demanded to speak to a manager of\nsufficient seniority (didn't take no for an answer), explained to said manager\nhis skills and how he could contribute to their business, gave them his\nresume, and left.\n\nHe's also the guy I know who never seems to be lacking a job.\n\n~~~\nrednum\nIt _is_ too late for google, microsoft and facebook - their hiring processes\nfor summer start in winter (I even know some guys who had interviews in\nnovember) and most places are taken; you can however try autumn if you want -\nI know that fb hires for autumn now.\n\nTry some smaller ones - you are on site dedicated to startups so you should\nfind some that hire! My algorithm when searching for interns was going through\nlots of companies, look into their jobs/careers for interns ad and sending my\ncv, starting from the most intersting.\n\nEdit: I didn't have lots of projects to show either, but many companies don't\nreally ask for them during interview (however for some it's a must - eg my\nfriend wanted to work in android apps startup and they wanted him to already\nhave something done for android) - algorithm puzzles seem to be popular, also\nyou may be asked to read/write some code and some easy questions checking what\nyou wrote about technology you mentioned in cv. That's really all I think.\n\n------\nc_t_montgomery\nI hope everything works out for you! Next year, I'd start looking for summer\ngigs around December or so, just because that's when companies (in my\nexperience - I'm a sophomore CS major) tend to hire for the summer. Typically,\nthey like to get you on for a few months part-time before the summer starts,\ntoo, to work out any kinks.\n\nIf that doesn't happen to fall into place for you, the only thing stopping you\nfrom creating your own little side company while waiting tables or something\nis yourself. Analyze your day, see what irritates you or you wish could be\ndone better (programmatically), and write up something to fix it. Put it on\nGithub, get to know some other coders (maybe even from around your area - I\nhighly recommend hnDir - <http://www.hndir.com/> \\- just to see who all is\naround your area, and in college as well).\n\nAlso, to note, to add on to the dev experience you have, I'd highly recommend\nchecking out some iTunesU or MIT OCW courses on Algorithms and Data\nStructures. I would do this regardless of your situation this summer. Heck,\nI'd do both of these regardless of your situation this summer. There are great\nopportunities out there to be taken advantage of! If you ever want to work on\nanything, email me (in my bio)!\n\n------\nZackOfAllTrades\nThis might only work for some companies, but it worked out well for me: Take\none of a company's flagship products and remake it using open source\ntechnology.\n\nYou don't even have to do the entire thing: just enough to show that you\nunderstand the subject material and are a potential threat if left to your own\ndevices over the summer with nothing to do. Put it up on github or your own\nwebsite depending on the product, and include all the url's in the application\nor email that you send to the company. It will make you stand out and show\nthat you are interested in working on the types of things they work on.\n\nAll it takes is one open source project gaining momentum to completely change\na product space. It's less troublesome/expensive for the company to hire you\nthan it is to try and fight a grassroots opensource movement later on. If you\ncan make a company engineer think that they are getting a deal by hiring you\nearly on, then you are pretty much set.\n\nBonus points: get the sales department to email the engineers for you.\n\n------\nZev\n_But I'll be honest - I have very little work experience._\n\nNeither do most other summer interns. Don't worry about it.\n\nThe benefit of an internship is skewed in your favor and not the companies;\nyou get to learn (and gain work experience that you need). Depending on where\nyou are, you might be working on an important product, but, it isn't expected\nthat you'll be as productive as a full-time engineer is.\n\nThe real benefit that a company gets from having interns is that its basically\na two or three month hiring process. If it goes well, you'll be able to\nanother internship with them next summer and/or possibly get a job offer at\nthe end of college.\n\nPractically everyone out there is looking for smart people to hire. If you\nwant to intern at a startup, find one you like and make yourself known. Send\nthem an email with your resume attached and a quick note. At the very least,\nyou'll get a real response from someone (rather than a canned one, or none at\nall).\n\n------\nveyron\nDo you have a portfolio to show? Also, you should put your email in the HN\nprofile\n\n------\ndtwwtd\nWhere are you based out of? At least here in the Ann Arbor/Detroit area the\ndemand for good developers/interns is huge, and it seems most people that want\na software job around here have one.\n\nMy best advice would be try to get involved in local startup/entrepreneurship\nevents if you have such things. Connect with the community, in my experience\neveryone is happy to talk to others about what they're working on - they won't\nbite :). Talk to people about their needs and your skills. Good luck!\n\n------\nwyclif\nBest strategy I've found is to email the founders of companies you're\ninterested in and need the skills you have, and ask them flat out if they need\ninterns.\n\n~~~\nrrwhite\nThis\n\n------\nolalonde\nI'm in a similar position (completed 2nd year of software engineering, about\nsame skill set plus some work experience). What I did is email a niche mailing\nlist as well as contact some startups I like directly. Even found about an\ninternship opportunity on Freenode. Started working on this yesterday and\ncurrently have about 6 interviews scheduled :)\n\n------\nsebkomianos\nI am graduating next month (last exam in a few hours literally) so I started\nsending emails for job opportunities a few weeks ago. I found the \"Who's\nhiring\" threads (<http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=whoishiring>) of\ngreat help.\n\n------\nqq66\nEmail me at amal@editring.com . I am still hiring interns starting June 1st in\nSan Francisco. Paid internship of course.\n\n------\ndanzheng\nMy startup is looking for software engineering interns, send me your resume,\ndanz@eggcartel.com\n\n------\nonwardly\n<http://jobzle.com/>\n\n------\nbauchidgw\ndo what woody allen did: just show up! works, not always, but often enough.\n\n------\nyarone\nInternships.com\n\n------\nszcukg\ninternmatch.com\n\n------\nstupidhurts\nWhere are you?\n\n~~~\nzxcvvcxz\nToronto! =)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Personalize Every Article for Every Reader - sahadeva\nhttp://sahadeva.com/interactive-article-experiment.html\n======\nRyanHamilton\nThis is cool, I like it. Though I worry about a future where everyone reads\nonly what they agree with.\n\n~~~\njlg23\nIndeed, though it is just the logical extension of the status quo: People tend\nto follow news sources whose overall tone/agenda they agree with (let it be\nonline sources or good old newspapers).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhat happened to the inaugural class of travel startup Remote Year - aaronbrethorst\nhttp://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/remote-year-promised-to-combine-work-and-travel-was-it-too-good-to-be-true?Src=longreads\n======\nreustle\nIt's amazing how much money these people are spending on this trip, especially\nwith such inexperienced founders/staff. $3k down, $2k a month, and $2.5k to\nleave, while many don't have solid income streams in place?\n\nUnfortunately, after having been in this \"digital nomad\" scene for over a year\nand a half now, it is nothing new. I've lived across 14~ countries since 2014\nand have met my fair share of people who dropped everything to come to Chaing\nMai, Ubud, Saigon, etc to work on their next big company, only to end up\nstruggling to make a living off a travel blog or affiliate marketing tactics.\nIt feels like many don't make it past a few months, before it sets in that not\neveryone is cut out for it.\n\n~~~\nsoneca\nI always assumed the term \"digital nomad\" would refer to a kind of stabilished\ndigital freelancer that had relevant (if unstable) source of income. I indeed\ndon't see it working for founders developing a company.\n\n------\nphantom_oracle\nfor $2000, all they are getting is a workspace and shared-accommodation?\n\nThat amount of money is a lot in countries like Vietnam, Thailand, etc. You\ncould easily get yourself a 2-bedroom place and cooked-meals everyday for less\nthan that.\n\n~~~\nchrisfosterelli\nYeah, simply taking a bit more initiative to manage those things yourself\ncould easily save you 75% of what they are paying...\n\nAs someone who has done some travel while working, I'd say it sounds very cool\nin theory but the price you're paying to have them manage your accommodation\nand office space is _way_ too high.\n\n------\nsneak\nI heard through the grapevine that it was total amateur-hour, drunk American\nbro nonsense.\n\nThis article doesn't really dispel that.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNovel Laser-Based Method Effectively De-Ices Aircraft - rajnathani\nhttps://optics.org/news/11/1/97\n======\nblakesterz\nSadly it appears this is not a giant laser that shoots the plane when it's\ncovered with ice. It's a way to change the surface of the wings so that\nice/snow doesn't stick in the first place.\n\n~~~\nzwieback\nYeah, I was expecting to read about how to get a gigantic laser out onto the\nrunways. Still cool, though.\n\n~~~\nNovemberWhiskey\nRight - this is anti-icing; not deicing.\n\n------\nghastmaster\nWhat happens when they paint the parts to prevent corrosion? I imagine all the\nproperties of the laser etching are negated.\n\n~~~\noliveshell\nAs far as I understand it, corrosion isn’t that much of a worry with aluminum\nairframes— as long as the plane doesn’t spend too much time near salt water.\n\nThere are many past and present airline liveries where the fuselage is left\nlargely bare, for instance:\n\n[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Boeing_7...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Boeing_767-323-ER%2C_Oneworld_%28American_Airlines%29_AN2217029.jpg)\n\n~~~\nmetaphor\nJust because it looks bare doesn't mean it's unfinished.\n\nIf I specified sheet aluminum for Type II Class 3 chemical conversion per MIL-\nDTL-5541, any materials QC professional would be hard pressed to visually\ndetermine that anything was actually done to the material.\n\nTo be sure, no, MIL-DTL-5541 isn't an uncommon spec constrained to military\napplications.\n\n~~~\nhinkley\nI know I've noticed on airplanes before that while some of the wing is\naluminum colored, some areas in particular are painted a vaguely aluminum-\ncolored shade of grey.\n\nAnd I think the... it seems they're called Krueger flaps? Those are often\npainted aren't they? And those I'd think you'd definitely want to de-ice.\n\n~~~\nhandedness\nOn an aircraft that has a mixture of polished and painted surfaces, the\npainted surfaces often aren't bare aluminum. Often that's the wing root\nfairings, winglets, nacelles, radar cones, vertical stabilizer, and so on.\n\n~~~\nhinkley\nI don’t think I was meant to get a giggle out of this. Can you explain using\nother words? Of course a painted surface isn’t bare. It’s got paint on it.\n\nDid you mean it’s not aluminum? Or a different grade?\n\n~~~\nhandedness\nThanks, I laughed at it myself, in hindsight. I should have stipulated\n\"underneath\" and likely appended an \"if you follow...\".\n\nYes, well, they may either be materials that have other surface\ntextures/coatings/treatments/finishes that aren't conducive to polishing, or\nthey may be other metals, or non-metallic composites (can't put aluminum over\na radar, for example), and so on.\n\nTL;DR: The painted surfaces are generally instances in which polished aluminum\nwon't really work, for a variety of reasons.\n\n------\nAWildC182\nInteresting approach and hugely useful if practical, though it bears\nmentioning that the leading edges on aircraft experience a fair amount of\nabrasion from dust, debris, and insects. I wonder how long this treatment\nwould be effective for in a real world environment\n\n~~~\njcims\nSuper important question, first thing that came to mind. How would you even\ntest it for efficacy? Just look for ice building up and say 'welp, time for\nrefinish?'\n\n~~~\ncolechristensen\nThere are wind tunnels for testing icing behaviors, not too hard to do an\naccelerated aging test and come up with standard procedures.\n\n~~~\nAWildC182\nCould be easier said than done. There are lots of edge cases that could become\na problem in real use. Stuff like surface contamination from various fluids or\nenvironmental factors.\n\n~~~\ndmurray\nDo 90% of your testing in the wind tunnel, and sanity check your results by\nflying it for real.\n\n------\nforkexec\nIf it can be manufactured for reasonable cost, effectiveness and sensible\npower consumption, seems like a fit for small aircraft, fighter jets and any\naircraft that don't have deicing boots or anti-ice systems.\n\n------\nAWildC182\nAnyone with a better background, are micro surface features required for this\nkind of thing or could teflon/rain-x type chemical coatings create a more\ndurable/corrosion resistant/easily repairable effect?\n\n------\nfrandroid\nDid Fraunhofer just repurpose MP3 codecs to aluminium surface patterns?\n\n------\nDailyHN\nVery clever.\n\nAlso seems like something pulled from ancient aliens.\n\n~~~\nexcalibur\nI was thinking Tony Stark. \"How did you solve the icing problem?\"\n\n~~~\npjmorris\nNice. I'd drummed up Dr Evil, \"Mr. Powers, you'll notice that all the sharks\n(planes) have laser beams attached to their heads. I figure every creature\ndeserves a warm meal.\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWhat's the best way to find UI/graphic design company for a $10,000 budget? - andrewstuart\n\nIs there some site where you can say (for example) \"I have a $10K budget and I'd like to choose a designer to work with\"?  And then designers respond with some expression of interest.<p>Note: not looking at crowdsourcing solutions, just a way to find one designer/design company to work with.\n======\ncalebcjb\nWe might be interested.\n\nPlease email me caleb@oxzenmedia.com\n\nLet me do a needs audit with you to see if we are the right fit for you.\n\n~~~\nandrewstuart\nSorry I should clarify - I am not asking for submissions, I'm asking if such a\nsite exists where buyers can state their budget and designers respond.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe 4-hour workweek for startups - pius\nhttp://www.mystealthstartup.com/2008/04/14/the-4-hour-workweek-for-startups/\n======\nflux\nThe book is mainly about building a business that sits in the background\nmaking a dependable but not necessarily huge income. It's not really\nsurprising that it's popular with internet marketers because they generally\nare not concerned about the quality of products they are producing, more about\nif they sell and make money. Tim's example was selling supplements online, do\nyou think he was really passionate about this business? I doubt it but that's\nkind of the point of the book, focusing on enjoying a lifestyle rather than\nyour work.\n\nFor people wanting to create an internet site/service of value and are really\npassionate about technology and the internet and enjoy focusing a lot of time\non that then this probably isn't a good book to read.\n\n~~~\ntjakab\nOn the other hand, is it necessarily bad to follow the techniques in the book\nto create a steady revenue stream (even if it's just enough to cover some\nbasic debt) while putting your energy into a proper startup?\n\nThe general point of the book is to find a way to separate income from labor\nand thus free up your time to do things you really want to do. That probably\nincludes founding a startup just as much as it would traveling around the\nworld or cage fighting or whatever else.\n\n~~~\nflux\nI guess if it's necessary to get your startup off the ground it could be a\ngood idea. It's just that I see a lot of people looking at the internet just\nas a source of money, rather than thinking how can I improve this or add\nsomething of value. Having said this I do think some of his techniques could\nbe useful and the book was quite interesting.\n\n------\ntruebosko\nThe whole idea of spending 4 hours a week to run your startup business is just\nsilly. Yes, I've read the book and know what kind of techniques he mentions\nbut it doesn't fit for many businesses.\n\nAs an example. I could outsource my customer service to someone else, but then\nI lose that connection between the customer and I. I like having that\nconnection, it allows me to see what my customers are looking for, what irks\nthem, and allows me to further advance my business\n\nBasically, I can't stand this book. :)\n\n~~~\npchristensen\nThat aspect gets talked about a lot (both in and out of the book), but the\ntruth is he already had a business with paying customers, and he streamlined\nit so he could run it easily instead of trying to maximize revenue. A rarely\nmentioned part of the book is where he gives you steps to build a business\nlike his. First, you have to do a _lot_ of work, including doing _everything_\nfrom answering phones, writing marketing copy, packaging every item, etc _by\nyourself_. Only when you have a product, traction, customers, and experience\nmanaging them, can you write the scripts, evaluate vendors and outsourcers,\nand streamline the business so that a customer can buy, receive, return, or\ncomplain about your product without ever encountering you.\n\nDespite the popular misconception, Tim Ferriss says you still have to _build_\nyour own business. But if you pick the right business, you can put it on\nautopilot _once it's built_. But that aspect isn't controversial enough to get\na lot of press.\n\nDid you read the book or just hear about it?\n\n------\nnoodle\ni'll summarize the article for everyone:\n\n\"buy and read tim ferriss' book and make sure to click on my amazon affiliate\nlink to buy it.\"\n\n~~~\npchristensen\nIt's not affiliate link.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHarvard: The Class of 2013 Senior Survey - ekm2\nhttp://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/5/28/senior-survey-2013/?page=1\n\n======\nhkmurakami\nI was going to comment on how only 5% of the class sees a permanent future in\nthe finance industry while 20% of the class sees a long term career in\nhealth/medicine, and how it reflects the perceived attractiveness of the\nvarious industries as our population ages and finance is increasingly bound up\nby legislation.\n\nBut then I saw this:\n\n _39 percent of respondents said they sought some form of mental health care\nduring their time at Harvard._\n\nA culture and society that coerces its most potent individuals to develop\ndepression and other mental issues is one that we cannot by any means be proud\nof. While I technically didn't seek mental health care during my college\nyears, I should have by all means. During those four years, one friend visibly\nbroke down and took a leave of absence for a year. Another committed suicide\nusing cyanide from her lab. I can't imagine things are any better at my alma\nmater both compared to my years of attendance and compared to Harvard today.\n\nI really wish I could even have _hope_ that things are getting better.\n\n~~~\nw1ntermute\n> finance is increasingly bound up by legislation.\n\nThe health care industry is also bound up by legislation. The difference is\nthat the legislation is in the favor of those who pursue a career in the\nindustry.\n\n------\nacjohnson55\nI find it really interesting that 11.1% of men identify as gay coming out of\ncollege, yet only 1.7% of women do. Those numbers are respectively higher and\nlower than I would expect. It really speaks to the differences between male\nand female sexuality, even outside of \"normal\" heterosexual identity. Any\nthoughts as to why these numbers are so different? Is our conception of sexual\norientation fundamental or just a social construction? I'm endlessly\nfascinated by these questions. There's so much we don't understand,\ncomplicated by politics of heteronormativity and equality. Wikipedia has an\ninteresting article here:\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_sexual_orientat...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_sexual_orientation)\n\n------\nbeloch\nIvy league students, on average, come from wealthier families than those\nattending other universities. Even ivy league students from poor backgrounds\nare likely under higher pressure to succeed than similar students going to\nother universities. The result is a stronger than average motivation to cheat\nand a stronger ability to cheat (e.g. Ghost writers do cost money). Couple\nthis with a higher probability of litigation when students are\npunished/expelled, which causes Harvard to typically go easy on cheaters, and\nit's no surprise that cheating is more common at Harvard.\n\nThe question for HN employers is whether or not this should impact the value\nof an Ivy League degree.\n\n------\naashaykumar92\nThe cheating statistics really don't surprise me. In fact, I think they are\nunderestimated, understandable considering some students may fear that their\nanswers could be held against them despite being assured it won't.\n\n\"Why is this on HN?\" Well I think the cheating part has a some transferrable\ntakeaways, the main one being online education. Online education is much like\nHarvard's honor system in that every assignment, quiz, and test can be\ncompleted on your own time (at least that's what I hear Harvard's policies\nare) and just have to be turned in by a certain date. But what you do to\nfinish in that time is totally unknown to the administrators. Personally, I\nthink it is the biggest obstacle for online education and this so-called Honor\nsystem. When there are people who want to succeed, and in class succeeding is\ngenerally represented by high grades, they will do whatever it takes and if\nusing external resources is the way, why wouldn't they if no one is going to\nstop them? Not saying this is everyones mentality, but it obviously exists in\nmany intelligent brains.\n\nThe problem is outlined and has been for a while...the solution will have to\nbe amazing.\n\n------\nwavefunction\nThese are the people being groomed to make decisions that affect our world?\nTerrifying.\n\n------\nggamecrazy\nWhy is this on HN? I'm not seeing it.\n\n~~~\nruswick\nAdmittedly, it might not coincide with the ostensible subject matter of HN\n(other than it being tangentially related to statistical analysis and the\ntechnology sector), but evidently, a nontrivial number of people see value in\nreading it. The entire point of HN is that is to organically select superior\ncontent. Differentiation and evaluation shouldn't happen before posting, it\nshould happen afterwards and be conducted by the community.\n\nThe whole point of HN is that nothing has to be strictly topical. Everyone is\nfree to throw whatever the fuck they want into it, and the readership will\nidentify and promote the best content.\n\n~~~\nggamecrazy\n...or to put it another way: \"Lets see if this shit sticks\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nUsing the /proc filesystem to monitor progress of script - shanemhansen\nhttp://www.whitane.com/blog/uncategorized/proc-filesystem-to-see-progress-of-script/\nA tip for using the /proc filesystem to monitor file upload/processing progress.\n======\nobfuscate\n`lsof' is a nice front-end to this particular usage of /proc, and also works\non other Unixes (/proc is, I think, a Linux innovation, and absent at least on\nOS X).\n\n~~~\nshanemhansen\nOh, I never realized that's what the offset column is for. Leave it to me to\nreinvent (poorly) lsof by digging in some obscure corner of the kernel.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe script Uber is using to make anti-union phone calls - Trombone12\nhttp://qz.com/621977/this-is-the-script-uber-is-using-to-make-anti-union-phone-calls-to-drivers-in-seattle/\n======\nhackuser\nIt's hard to imagine why the drivers wouldn't unionize. Why wouldn't you want\nto increase your negotiating leverage? It's just part of business. I'm sure\nUber management increases theirs every chance they get, as does everyone else\nrunning a business.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nApple axes 1,600 full-time retail positions - yvesrn\nhttp://www.macnn.com/articles/09/04/24/apple.loses.1600.at.retail/\n\n======\nelectromagnetic\nThis is misleading, they lost 1,600 full-time (or equivalent) workers. This\ncould mean a lot of their part-time workers getting extra hours could no\nlonger get extra hours, it doesn't mean they 'axed' 1,600 full-time positions,\nthey likely cut the hours of 1,600 part-time employees.\n\nThen there's the whole, it was the Christmas season. I bet if you look back at\nrecords for the past decade there's either been a decline in employees in Q2\nas apposed to Q1 or that their growth rate stalls in the Q2 as they no longer\nneed new workers. Then I bet if you look at Q4, there's a big employment spike\nfor the Christmas season.\n\nThere's too many variables here to say Apple predicted the recession. Maybe\nthey did, however there's much more practical reasons why this decision would\nhave been made.\n\nThe best reason I can think of is that when the economy started to falter,\nthey reduced part-time workers hours. I don't know about Apples statistics,\nbut most retail companies tend to have double (or more) the number of part-\ntime workers as full-time (usually due to paying less in benefits). This\nlikely means Apple has 28,000 part-time employees, 1,600 of which could have\nbeen working extra at Christmas to, you know, pay _for_ Christmas.\n\n------\nTJensen\nOnce again, a title shouts \"Panic at the economy\" while the actual meat of the\narticle says something completely different.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nXEP-0280: Message Carbons (2013) - dgellow\nhttp://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0280.html\n\n======\nimaginator\nBackground: XEPs are the protocol building blocks of XMPP.\n\nThe XSF (XMPP Standards Foundation) are working hard to make XMPP more mobile\nfriendly. (disclaimer: I'm an XMPP board member).\n\nThere are three problems to solve:\n\n1\\. knowing when to retrieve messages (push notifications)\n\n2\\. retrieving messages (message archive management)\n\n3\\. synchronising messages between devices (what this solves)\n\nMore background: XMPP is designed around keeping a connection open to the\nclient and pushing through updates and new messages. These assumptions worked\nwell in a desktop environment on a solid TCP connection. But for power,\nintermittent network, and mobile OS design reason, holding open a socket isn't\nideal.\n\nPush notification work because the OS provider (Apple, Google, Mozilla etc.)\nkeep one socket open and then push through important notifications. This keeps\nthe phone's radio from powering up for silly things like \"contact came\nonline/went offline\" type messages.\n\nA push notification might be \"xyz posted ... \". Your phone needs to now come\nonline and synchronise messages that might have been posted on your tablet or\ndesktop client. Hence XEP-0280. It helps resync messages from other clients.\n\nThe XSF is also writing up a push notification XEP that makes it easy for\nmobile apps to use XMPP as a signalling channel and throw out push\nnotification where necessary.\n\n~~~\netherealG\nThanks for the hard work on this. It's a problem I find particularly bad in my\nday to day use of chat on various clients across a phone, tablet and laptop.\n\n------\nschneid\nThough as described here: [http://op-\nco.de/blog/posts/mobile_xmpp_in_2014/#index2h2](http://op-\nco.de/blog/posts/mobile_xmpp_in_2014/#index2h2) \\-- Message Carbons don't help\nif your phone is out of coverage for a few minutes, as your desktop client\nwill get the carbons, but when you come back online, you'll be oblivious to\nany messages sent during that time.\n\n~~~\nimaginator\nGe0rg wrote that post shortly before the last XMPP summit. Then we put\ntogether the plans for push notifications\n([https://github.com/legastero/customxeps/blob/gh-\npages/extens...](https://github.com/legastero/customxeps/blob/gh-\npages/extensions/push.md)) working in conjunction with Message archive\nmanagement\n([http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0313.html](http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0313.html))\nto catch up on messages that might have been missed (in your example: on your\ndesktop client).\n\n~~~\nschneid\nCool, thanks for the link. I knew about MAM, but hadn't seen the push stuff.\n\n~~~\nimaginator\nBe aware that push is very early. But there are two working implementations\nalready - oTalk and Buddycloud ([https://github.com/buddycloud/buddycloud-\npusher](https://github.com/buddycloud/buddycloud-pusher)). What's interesting\nis that we both came up with very similar solutions. So specing something\nofficial and then adapting our code to match the spec should be trivial (in\nthe grand scheme of things).\n\n------\ntete\nDoes anyone know how this will work when combined with OTR?\n\nI guess the alternative would be PGP, which has disadvantages, but no\nsessions.\n\n~~~\nZash\nNot well. OTR doesn't integrate with XMPP in any way, so adding carbons is\njust going to feed undecryptable garbage to your other clients. Solving that\nis pretty much the same problem as mpOTR aims to solve. There's also a new\nproposed end-to-end encryption spec for XMPP being developed:\n[http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-miller-\nxmpp-e2e](http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-miller-xmpp-e2e)\n\n~~~\nsimoncion\nDoesn't this resolve the issue that you describe?\n\n[http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0280.html#disabling](http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0280.html#disabling)\n\n------\ndavexunit\nUsing this and XEP-0313 allows for syncing conversations to all clients,\nwhether they were online or offline. I helped implement an XMPP chat feature\non a large web application last year and I think that implementing these two\nXEPs are critical to fixing the things users complain about most: Receiving a\nmessage in one browser window, opening a new tab or window and not being able\nto see those old messages, just new ones.\n\n------\nbrugidou\nthis XEP is supported by the most popular XMPP servers (prosody, ejabberd) but\nit is still quite difficult to get a good XMPP client on all platforms that\ncan support this.\n\nthis is especially important for mobile clients on iOS or Android or web\nclients. I don't see another way to have OSS multi-client chats with XMPP\nsimilar to hangouts/Facebook/WhatsApp.\n\n~~~\nandor\nyaxim supports message carbons\n\n------\ndfc\nOne of the nice things about the \"do not change the title\"-policy is that\nsubmitters do not need to be concerned with spelling. Unfortunately, pg can\nnot save you from yourself if you do choose to violate the policy and change\nthe title.\n\n~~~\ndgellow\nCan you tell me what was wrong with the old title ?\n\n~~~\ndfc\nYou spelled conversations incorrectly. I forget what word your computer\nautcorrected/substituted for it.\n\n------\ntomphoolery\nnoooooooooooooooooice! something i've wanted for a long time, and it seems\nonly iMessage has perfected.\n\n------\nFasebook\nTIL piping data together for big data purposes is called a protocol and not a\ndragnet.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nOur Software Dependency Problem - dmit\nhttps://research.swtch.com/deps\n======\ntc\nThe security of package managers is something we're going to have to fix.\n\nSome years ago, in offices, computers were routinely infected or made unusable\nbecause the staff were downloading and installing random screen savers from\nthe internet. The IT staff would have to go around and scold people not to do\nthis.\n\nIf you've looked at the transitive dependency graphs of modern packages, it's\nhard to not feel we're doing the same thing.\n\nIn the linked piece, Russ Cox notes that the cost of adding a bad dependency\nis the sum of the cost of each possible bad outcome times its probability. But\nthen he speculates that for personal projects that cost may be near zero.\nThat's unlikely. Unless developers entirely sandbox projects with untrusted\ndependencies from their personal data, company data, email, credentials,\nSSH/PGP keys, cryptocurrency wallets, etc., the cost of a bad outcome is still\nenormous. Even multiplied by a small probability, it has to be considered.\n\nAs dependency graphs get deeper, this probability, however small, only\nincreases.\n\nOne effect of lower-cost dependencies that Russ Cox did not mention is the\nincreasing tendency for a project's transitive dependencies to contain two or\nmore libraries that do the same thing. When dependencies were more expensive\nand consequently larger, there was more pressure for an ecosystem to settle on\none package for a task. Now there might be a dozen popular packages for fancy\nerror handling and your direct and transitive dependencies might have picked\nany set of them. This further multiplies the task of reviewing all of the code\nimportant to your program.\n\nLinux distributions had to deal with this problem of trust long ago. It's\ninstructive to see how much more careful they were about it. Becoming a Debian\nDeveloper involves a lengthy process of showing commitment to their values and\nrequires meeting another member in person to show identification to be added\nto their cryptographic web of trust. Of course, the distributions are at the\nend of the day distributing software written by others, and this explosion of\ndependencies makes it increasingly difficult for package maintainers to\nprovide effective review. And of course, the hassles of getting a library\naccepted into distributions is one reason for the popularity of tools such as\nCargo, NPM, CPAN, etc.\n\nIt seems that package managers, like web browsers before them, are going to\nhave to provide some form of sandboxing. The problem is the same. We're\ndownloading heaps of untrusted code from the internet.\n\n~~~\nfaissaloo\nThis right here is why Go's 'statically link everything' is going to become a\nbig problem in the long run when old servers are running that software and no\none has the source code anymore.\n\n~~~\nstcredzero\nGiven the ease with which the parser and AST are made available to developers,\nwe should be able to implement tools which can detect naughty packages. Also,\ngiven the speed at which projects can be compiled, the impetus to keep the\nsource code should remain strong.\n\n~~~\nviraptor\n[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tools_for_static_cod...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tools_for_static_code_analysis)\n\nThey're either going to miss things or have false positives. They sure improve\nthe situation, but you can't find all of the issues automatically.\n\n~~~\nstcredzero\nGranted. But it will at least raise the bar for building an exploit package\nfrom \"knows how to code\" to \"knows how to code, knows something about\nexploits, and knows how to avoid detection by an automated scanner.\"\n\n------\nsmacktoward\nIt's an interesting line of inquiry to think about how many of these\nevaluation heuristics, which are all described as things a person can do\nmanually, could instead be built into the package manager itself to do for you\nautomatically.\n\nThe package manager could run the package's test suite, for instance, and warn\nyou if the tests don't all pass, or make you jump through extra hoops to\ninstall a package that doesn't have any test coverage at all. The package\nmanager could read the source code and tell you how idiomatically it was\nwritten. The package manager could try compiling from source with warnings on\nand let you know if any are thrown, and compare the compiled artifacts with\nthe ones that ship with the package to ensure that they're identical. The\npackage manager could check the project's commit history and warn you if\nyou're installing a package that's no longer actively maintained. The package\nmanager could check whether the package has a history of entries in the\nNational Vulnerability Database. The package manager could learn what licenses\nyou will and won't accept, and automatically filter out packages that don't\nfit your policies. And so on.\n\nIn other words, the problem right now is that package managers are\nundiscriminating. To them a package is a package is a package; the universe of\npackages is a flat plane where all packages are treated equally. But in\nreality all packages _aren 't_ equal. Some packages are good and others are\nbad, and it would be a great help to the user if the package manager could\nencourage discovery and reuse of the former while discouraging discovery and\nreuse of the latter. By taking away a little friction in some places and\nadding some in others, the package manager could make it easy to install good\npackages and hard to install bad ones.\n\n~~~\nDoctorOetker\nthose are really good ideas!\n\na vague additional idea:\n\ncan we improve rough assessment of code quality?\n\n1) suppose we have pseudonym reputation (\"error notice probability\"): anyone\ncan create a pseudonym, and start auditing code, and you mark the parts of\ncode that you have inspected. those marks are publicly associated with your\npseudonym (after enough operation and eventual finding of bugs by others, the\n\"noticing probability\" can be computed+).\n\n2) consider the birthday paradox, i.e. drawing samples from the uniform\ndistribution will result in uncoordinated attention, while with coordinated\nattention we can spread attention more uniformly...\n\n\\+ of course theres different kinds of issues, i.e. new features, arguments\nabout wheiter something is an improvement or if it was an oversighted issue\netc... but the future patch types don't necessarily correlate to the\nindividuals who inspected it...\n\nALSO: I still believe formal verification is actually counterintuitively\ncheaper (money _and time_ ) and less effort per achieved certainty. But as\nlong as most people refuse to believe this, I encourage strategies like\nthese...\n\n~~~\nEvilTerran\nThere's some relevant work going on in the \"crev\" project, discussed here a\ncouple of weeks ago:\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18824923](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18824923)\n\nThe big idea is for people to publish cryptographically signed \"proofs\" that\nthey've reviewed a particular version of a given module, allowing a web-of-\ntrust structure for decentralised code review. I particularly like how, thanks\nto the signatures, a module's author can distribute reviews alongside the\nmodule without compromising their trustworthiness - so there's an incentive\nfor authors to actively seek out reviewers to scrutinise their code.\n\n------\npeteforde\nThis paper lends significant legitimacy to a casual observation that I've been\nconcerned about for a long time: as the standard for what deserves to be a\nmodule gets ever-lowered, the law of diminishing returns kicks in really hard.\n\nThe package managers for Ruby, C#, Perl, Python etc offer ~100k modules. This\noffers strong evidence that most developer ecosystems produce (and\noccasionally maintain) a predictable number of useful Things. If npm has 750k+\nmodules available, that suggests that the standard for what constitutes a\nvaluable quantity of functionality is 7.5X lower in the JS community. Given\nthat every dependency increases your potential for multi-dimensional technical\nrisk, this seems like it should be cause for reflection. It's not an abstract\nrisk, either... as anyone who used left-pad circa 2016 can attest.\n\nWhen I create a new Rails 5.2 app, the dependency tree is 70 gems and most of\nthem are stable to mature. When I create-react-app and see that there's 1014\nitems in node_modules, I have no idea what most of them actually do. And let's\nnot forget: that's just the View layer of your fancy JS app.\n\n~~~\njrochkind1\nWhen I create a new rails 5.2.2 app, I see 79 dependencies in entire tree.\nWhich is about what you said, and a lot less than 1014, sure.\n\nThere are various reasons other than \"low standards\" that the JS ecosystem has\ndeveloped to encourage even more massive dependency trees.\n\nOne is that JS projects like this are delivered to the browser. If I want one\nfunction from, say, underscore (remember that?), but depend on all of it... do\ni end up shipping all of it to the browser to use one function? That would be\nunfortunate. Newer tools mean not necessarily, but it can be tricky, and some\nof this culture developed before those tools.\n\nBut from this can develop a community culture of why _shouldn't_ I minimize\nthe weight of dependencies? If some people only want one function and others\nonly another, shouldn't they be separate dependencies so they can do that? And\nnot expose themselves to possible bugs or security problems in all that other\ncode they don't want? If dependencies can be dangeorus... isn't it better to\nhave _surgical_ dependencies including only exactly what you need so you can\ntake less of them? (Makes sense at first, but of course when you have 1000 of\nthose \"surgical\" dependencies, it kind of breaks down).\n\nAnother, like someone else said, is that JS in the browser has very little\nstdlib/built in functions.\n\nAnother is tooling. The dependency trees were getting unmanageable in ruby\nbefore bundler was created (which inspired advanced dependency management\nfeatures in most of the rest subsequent). We probably couldn't have as many\ndependencies as even Rails has without bundler. Your dependency complexity is\nlimited by tooling support; but then when tooling support comes, it gives you\na whole new level of dependency management problems that come with the crazy\nthings the tooling let you do.\n\nThese things all feed back on each other back and forth.\n\nI'm not saying it isn't giving rise to very real problems. But it's not just\nan issue of people having low standards or something.\n\n~~~\npeteforde\nYou are correct, sir: 79 dependencies. Need more coffee!\n\nThe influence of Bundler is just another example of Yehuda Katz doing\nsomething initially perceived as unpopular having a massive long-term impact\non developer ecosystems. He is the Erdős of the web dev world. I wish he would\nsell options on his future endeavours like David Bowie did.\n\nAnyhow, in trying to keep my initial comment relatively brief, I held back on\nseveral points; what I really and truly don't get about the 750k thing is how\nanyone can track the libraries available. You know... with their brains. In\nRails, gems are big ideas: authentication, an ORM, the ability to address all\nof AWS, send tweets. The idea that someone would even think to publish a\n\"left-pad\" (which I understand is just missing from the also-missing stdlib)\nas something people should import is what seems crazy. What makes you stop and\nthink... wait, I'm typing too many characters, I need to see if there's\nanything on Github that can insert spaces at the beginning of a string. How\nwould you even know what it's called? Is there a module for concatenating two\nstrings? When does it become silly?\n\nHow is it possible that finding a library to add padding which may or may not\nexist, doing even cursory code review and integrating it not take longer than\njust writing a few lines of code?\n\nUsing the example of the escape-string-regexp module mentioned in the\nwhitepaper... this would be a deeply flawed thing to add to your project. It\nhas a hard-coded error message that has zero affordances for localization\nstrategies. It is, at best, a few random lines from someone's hobby app.\n\nIf every one of those 1014 modules in an empty project have weird, unknown-\nunknown failure modes, that sounds like a recipe for trouble.\n\nFinally, 1014 packages getting frequently version bumped is way less reliable\nin terms of unfortunate conflicts. Your surface area of all things that can go\nwrong shoots up and to the right... all to save a few lines of code?\n\n~~~\nIggleSniggle\nI don’t really disagree with anything you’ve said, just want to add.\n\nIt’s not really 750k packages you’re keeping in your head. Instead, there are\nswirling communities of standard convention. This happens because the js\ncommunity is so large and the code syntax so “forgiving” that many different\n“dialects” of js exist. There’s a reason “Babel” is called “Babel.” Within\nyour dialect, one package may be better suited than another package, which\ndoes the same thing. A great example of this is where ‘_ => result’ may look\nperfectly coherent in one sub-ecosystem, another sub-ecosystem would more\nreadily understand ‘function AsyncCalculationProvider(callback:\nCompletionFunction) { return callback }’, both for perfectly legitimate\nreasons. That people wish to ‘standardize’ on one common way of doing a thing\nwithin their sub-ecosystem is the reason people accept dependencies for dumb\nlittle things. That people disagree on how those things should manifest in the\ncontext of their subculture is the reason there’s 10 different popular ways to\ndo the same exact little thing.\n\nThis isn’t even just ECMAScripts fault. The Web APIs provide a lot of great\nfill-in as a standard library (for example, for Date localization), but even\nhere we do not see consistency. For example, the “fetch” api for browsers is\nnice enough, but is not implemented in Nodejs. If you want to share a\nsignature for HTML requests between nodejs and browsers, you’re going to use\n“axios” or maybe “node-fetch” (which replicates the Web api but is more\nverbose), or you’re going to end up rewriting a wrapper for that\nfunctionality, and why would you do that when there’s a community that will\nimmediately see and understand what you mean when you import the “axios”\nmodule?\n\nBig optional standard library needed, but minimized deliverable also needed.\nRecent tooling (eg tree-shaking and Babel), make this more reasonable today\nthan it was in the past.\n\n~~~\npeteforde\nIf historical lessons continue to apply, what will likely happen is a few more\nsignificant iterations of shakeout as the community coalesces around something\ncloser to consensus. It's important to remember that the vast majority of\ndevelopers in any ecosystem are simply trying to use a tool to do a job; they\nare far less likely to commit a significant amount to the ecosystem and that's\nokay. Wikipedia is very similar in this regards.\n\nPerhaps the best comparison is the evolution of the Linux distribution\necosystem. Maybe React is Ubuntu? The story is still being written.\n\n------\nSir_Cmpwn\n>Is the code well-written? Read some of it. Does it look like the authors have\nbeen careful, conscientious, and consistent? Does it look like code you’d want\nto debug? You may need to.\n\nThis, 10,000x. I've repeated a similar mantra many, many times, and it's one\nof the most important reasons I refuse to use proprietary software. You should\nconsider no software a black box, and consider the software you chose to use\ncarefully, because it's your responsibility to keep it in good working order.\n\n~~~\nbunderbunder\nMaking it someone else's responsibility to keep it in good working order is\nthe value proposition behind (good) proprietary software: You give them money,\nthey give you a support contract.\n\nFor a company with more money than development resources, or even just a\ncompany whose development resources can be more profitably focused elsewhere,\nthis can be a quite reasonable trade to make.\n\n~~~\nvharuck\nIf a company behind proprietary software goes belly up, there's no support.\nBut there are always companies or even freelance devs who can be paid to\nsupport open source code.\n\n~~~\nIggleSniggle\nProprietary _and closed source_. We make use of open source (but not open\nlicense) proprietary software on my team.\n\n------\nraphlinus\nMy personal sense, from watching developments in this space, is that we are\ngoing to have to find some way for taking on an open source dependency to be\nan economic transaction, with money actually changing hands. With open source,\nthe code itself is free (in both the libre and gratis sense), but there are\nother places to identify value. One of them is chain of custody - is there an\nactual, somewhat responsible human being behind that package? Many of the most\ndramatic recent failures are of this nature.\n\nOther value is in the form of security analysis / fuzzing, etc. This is real\nwork and there should be ways to fund it.\n\nI think the nature of business today is at a fork. Much of it seems to be\nscams, organized around creating the illusion of value and capturing as much\nof it as possible. The spirit of open source is the opposite, creating huge\nvalue and being quite inefficient at capturing it. I can see both strands\nprevailing. If the former, it could choke off open source innovation, and line\nthe pockets of self-appointed gatekeepers. If the latter, we could end up with\na sustainable model. I truly don't know where we'll end up.\n\n~~~\nskybrian\nOn the other hand, it seems like making automatic payments to dependencies\nwould be easy to screw up. Adding money to a system in the wrong way tends to\nattract scammers and thieves, requiring more security vigilance, while also\ngiving people incentives to take shortcuts to make money. (Consider Internet\nads, SEO, and cryptocurrency.)\n\nMonetary incentives can be powerful and dangerous. They raise the stakes. You\nneed to be careful when designing a system that you don't screw them up, and\nthis can be difficult. Sometimes it can be easier to insulate people from bad\nincentives than to design unambiguously good incentives.\n\n~~~\nx0x0\nA counterpoint: the system has already attracted scammers. see eg the bitcoin\ninjection in npm. And now that someone smart has blazed the way and\ndemonstrated the opportunity, others are sure to follow.\n\n------\njasode\nFyi, the article's title and sibling top-level comment by austincheney may\ngive the wrong impression of what Russ Cox is talking about.\n\nHis essay is _not_ saying software dependencies itself is a problem. Instead,\nhe's saying software dependencies __evaluation__ methodology is the problem.\nHe could have titled it more explicitly as _\" Our Software Dependency\nEvaluation Problem\"_.\n\nSo, the premise of the essay is already past the point of the reader\ndetermining that he will use someone else's software to achieve a goal. At\nthat point, don't pick software packages at random or just include the first\nthing you see. Instead, the article lists various strategies to _carefully\nevaluate_ the soundness, longevity, bugginess, etc of the software dependency.\n\nI think it would be more productive to discuss _those evaluation strategies_.\n\nFor example, I'm considering a software dependency on a eventually consistent\ndb such as FoundationDB. I have no interest nor time nor competency to \"roll\nmy own\" distributed db. Even if I read the academic whitepapers on concurrent\ndbs to write my own db engine, I'd still miss several edge cases and other\ntricky aspects that others have solved. The question that remains is if\nFoundationDB is a \"good\" or \"bad\" software dependency.\n\nMy evaluation strategies:\n\n1) I've been keeping any eye on the project's \"issues\" page on Github[0]. I'm\ntrying to get a sense of the bugs and resolutions. Is it a quality and\nrigorous codebase like SQLite? Or is it a buggy codebase like MongoDB 1.0 back\nin 2010 that had nightmare stories of data corruption?\n\n2) I keep an eye out for another high-profile company that successfully used\nFoundationDB besides Apple.\n\n3) and so on....\n\nThere was recent blog post where somebody regretted their dependency on\nRethinkDB[1]. I don't want to repeat a similar mistake with FoundationDB.\n\nWhat are your software dependency evaluation strategies? Share them.\n\n[0]\n[https://github.com/apple/foundationdb/issues](https://github.com/apple/foundationdb/issues)\n\n[1] [https://mxstbr.com/thoughts/tech-choice-regrets-at-\nspectrum/](https://mxstbr.com/thoughts/tech-choice-regrets-at-spectrum/)\n\n~~~\nSmirkingRevenge\nA couple questions that I like to ask myself...\n\n\\- How easily and quickly can I tell if I made the wrong choice?\n\n\\- How easily and quickly can I switch to an alternative solution, if I made\nthe wrong choice?\n\nTo contextualize those a bit, its often when trying to pick between some fully\nmanaged or even severless cloud services vs something self-managed that ticks\nmore boxes on our requirements/features wish-list.\n\nAlso, its pretty important to consider the capabilities and resources of your\nteam...\n\n\\- Can my team and I become proficient with the service/library/whatever\nquickly?\n\n------\nathenot\n> Does the code have tests? Can you run them? Do they pass? Tests establish\n> that the code’s basic functionality is correct, and they signal that the\n> developer is serious about keeping it correct.\n\nThis is one thing I thoroughly miss from Perl's CPAN: modules there have\nextensive testing, thanks to the CPAN Testers Network. It's not just a\ngreen/red badge but reporting is for the version triplet { module version,\nperl version, OS version }. I really wish NPM did the same.\n\nHere's an example:\n[http://deps.cpantesters.org/?module=DBD::mysql](http://deps.cpantesters.org/?module=DBD::mysql)\n\n~~~\nSomeHacker44\nMy opinion...\n\nThat implies too much faith in tests. Tests are no better or worse than any\nother code. In fact, writing good tests is an art and most people cannot think\nabout every corner case and don’t write tests that cover every code path.\n\nSo, unless you audit the tests they add no practical additional layer of\ntrust, IMO, to just using the “package” with or without tests.\n\n~~~\nnobody271\nMany times I've had the most use for a test that didn't fit into the\nconventional unit test format but I didn't try to get it approved because I\ndidn't want to get into a dogmatic argument about what a test should or\nshouldn't be. A lot of what I worry about doesn't get tested well using unit\ntests.\n\n~~~\nwoolvalley\nWhy not call it an integration or e2e test and be done with it?\n\n------\njancsika\nModest proposal: do the opposite of everything suggested in this article.\nAfter all, if you spend all your time inspecting your dependencies, what was\nthe point of even having them in the first place?\n\nThis will ensure that maximum time possible is spent implementing new\nfeatures. _Everyone_ on your team can pitch in to accelerate this goal. Even\nnon-technical outsiders can give valuable feedback. At the same time, this\nensures minimum time spent fiddling about in a desperate attempt to secure the\nsystem and slowing everyone else down. Besides, unless you're already a\nfortune 500 company, _no one_ on your team knows how to do security at all.\n(And even then the number of experts on your team is probably still\ndangerously close to zero.)\n\nThe software you ship will obviously be less secure than if you had focused\nany time at all on security. However, the utility of your software will\n_skyrocket_ compared to what it would have been if you had sat around worrying\nabout security. So much that your userbase is essentially _forced_ to use your\nsoftware because nothing else exists that even has a fraction of its feature\nset.\n\nSooner or later the insecurity will catch up with you. But this is the best\npart-- your software has so many features it is now a _dependency_ of nearly\neverything else that exists. There is no chess move left except to sit down\nand somehow _actually_ secure it so that arbitrarily tall stacks of _even less\nsecure_ software can keep being build atop it without collapsing like a house\nof cards.\n\nAnd it's at this point that the four or five people in the world who actually\nunderstand security step in and sandbox your software. Hey, now it's more\nsecure than a system built by a cult of devs tirelessly inspecting every\nlittle dependency before they ship anything. Problem solved.\n\n------\net1337\nWorse than package dependency is platform dependency. My code runs on top of\n10 million lines of Kubernetes insanity that no one really understands,\nincluding the thousands of authors who wrote it. In theory, that means at the\ndrop of a hat I can switch to a different cloud, kubectl apply, and presto!\nPlatform independence. In reality, every cloud is slightly different, and we\nnow depend on and work around a lot of weird quirks of Kubernetes itself.\nWe're stuck with what we've got.\n\n------\naustincheney\nEasily explained in two points.\n\n1\\. Convenience at cost to everything else. Easier is generally preferred over\nsimplicity. If the short term gains destroy long term maintenance/credibility\nthey will solve for that bridge when they come to it at extra expense.\n\n2\\. Invented Here syndrome. Many JavaScript developers would prefer to never\nwrite original code (any original code) except for as a worst case scenario.\nThey would even be willing to bet their jobs on this.\n\n~~~\nRealDinosaur\nFor me (Javascript Developer), you have to stand on the shoulders of giants if\nyou want to compete. Any code you re-invent is code you have to maintain.\n\nI've found though, some engineers love to create everything from scratch, and\nthis greatly hinders their ability to hire/fire as everything is proprietary,\nand usually not documented.\n\nMost decisions are pretty grey, but for me, choosing to handle stuff yourself\nis never a good choice. In the same way as no-one should ever try and create\nUnity from scratch, no-one should try to create React from scratch. You simply\ncan't compete with the support and effort of a global development team.\n\nIf you wanna learn though, that's a different kettle of fish. Reinvent the\nwheel all day. Just don't use it in production.\n\n~~~\nloup-vaillant\n> _no-one should ever try and create Unity from scratch_\n\nSome game developers do write their game engines from scratch. I know of at\nleast one successful example: Jonathan Blow, with _Braid_ (2D engine) and _The\nWitness_ (3D engine). Note that in both games, a generic engine wouldn't have\nworked, or at least would have required such an amount of customisation that\nit's not clear it would have cost less, or looked and felt as good. Sure,\ndon't go rebuild a generic engine from scratch. But a custom one, tailored to\na very specific use case? That's not such an obvious no-no.\n\nAnother example would be Monocypher¹, my crypto library. Why would I write\nsuch a thing when we already have Libsodium? The reason is, I saw that I could\ndo better for my use case: an opinionated, easy to use, portable package. The\nresult is _massively_ simpler than Libsodium. I don't care that I cannot\ncompete with the support and effort of Libsodium team. I made sure I didn't\nneed to.\n\n[1]: [https://monocypher.org/](https://monocypher.org/)\n\n~~~\nRealDinosaur\nBraid and Witness _could_ have been written in Unity though.\n\nI'd argue that dealing with high level concepts such as game/level design and\nart direction and low level stuff like graphics and rendering simultaneously\nis insane. I don't know how Jon Blow did it, but personally being able to\nabstract away all that low level stuff makes the design process way easier for\nme.\n\nThere was a recent game, 'Return of the Obra Dinn', which went the opposite\nway. It was the dev's first game with Unity, and he attributed most of his\nsuccess to the Engine.\n\nIt doesn't look like a Unity game, it doesn't play like a Unity game, and it\nhas won several game of the year awards.\n\n~~~\nloup-vaillant\nCome to think of it, there's _Antichamber_ , a non Euclidean labyrinth based\non Unreal Engine (4, I believe).\n\nAs for how Jon Blow did it, I suspect having his own engine let him explore\ngameplay ideas more readily than using a generic one. The time travelling in\nBraid and all its variations would be pretty hard to bolt on a generic engine:\nit's not just rewind, it's _partial_ rewind, with some entities being immune\nto the rewind. There's even a level where time goes forward and backward\ndepending on the _position_ of the main character. Go right, forward. Go left,\nbackwards.\n\nFor The Witness, it's a bit more subtle, but about a third of the game\nrequired pretty crazy 2D projective analysis of the 3D world (the\n\"environmental puzzles\", don't look them up if you don't want spoilers). While\nit didn't en up being central to the game, it was basically the starting\npoint.\n\nThe engines of Jonathan Blow's games are more central to their gameplay than\nfor most games. Still bloody impressive, but probably less unnecessary than\none might originally think. Also, Jonathan Blow has pretty strong opinions\nabout game development, and I got the feeling that he disagrees with most\ngeneric engines out there. Working with them would probably caused suffering,\nwhose cost he didn't want to pay. (Speaking for myself, my productivity drops\npretty sharply when I spot stuff I too strongly disagree with, _and I can 't\nfix it_.)\n\n------\njsty\nIt might be that data protection regulations start to 'encourage' movement in\nthis area regards more careful consideration of the software dependency chain.\nIf you pull in a malicious dependency which results in personal information\nbeing exfiltrated, I doubt the \"we pulled in so many third party dependencies\nit was infeasible to scrutinise them\" defence is going to mitigate the fines\nby very much.\n\n~~~\nDoctorOetker\nthat is the ideal path, but sadly most things indicate the system prefers the\nopposite path, especially if we look at \"responsible disclosure\" where the\ncontributor is expected to give a _centralized_ temporary secrecy agency\nadvance warning, and we blindly have to trust them not to weaponize what\nessentially amounts to an endless stream of 0days (or trust them not to turn a\nselective blind eye to malicious exfiltration of these 0days)\n\n------\nrossdavidh\nI like (and basically agree with) the article, but I have to think it\nbasically does a good job of pointing out the problem, and a bad job of\nsuggesting a solution. The sheer number of dependencies of most commercial\nsoftware now, and the ratio of backlog-to-developers, basically insures that\nthe work required to check all your dependencies does not normally get done.\n\nHypothesis: it will require a massive failure, that causes the ordinary\ncitizen (and the ordinary really, really rich citizen) to notice that\nsomething is wrong, before it changes much.\n\nHypothesis 2: after that happens, the first language whose dependency manager\nhandles this problem well, will move up greatly in how widely it's used.\n\n~~~\nalkonaut\nFor a 100 man year project we have accumulated around a dozen external\ndependencies and only two of them are transitive (one for zipping and one for\nlogging).\n\nI think that’s fairly reasonable and about what I’d expect.\n\nSo as you might have guessed it’s not a node project, but that’s my point -\nperhaps the idea of dependencies is manageable so long as the platform allows\nyou to keep it reasonable. Meaning, at the very least, a good standard\nlibrary.\n\n------\nbluetech\nI think object-capabilities are one way to have much safer code reuse. Suppose\na dependency exports a class UsefulService. In current languages, such a class\ncan do anything - access the filesystem, access the network, etc. Suppose\nhowever that the language enforces that such actions can only be done given a\nreference to e.g. NetworkService, RandomService, TimeService,\nFilesystemService (with more or less granularity). Therefore if UsefulService\nis declared with `constructor(RandomService, TimeService)`, I can be sure it\ndoesn't access any files, or hijacks any data to the network - nor do any of\nits transitive dependencies.\n\nThe method of sandboxing using OS processes + namespaces and what not is too\nheavy and unusable at such granularity.\n\nThe method of per-dependency static permission manifests in some meta-language\nis also poor.\n\nThe method of a single IO monad is too coarse. Also using any sort of `unsafe`\nshould not be allowed (or be its own super-capability).\n\nObviously there are many tricky considerations. [For example, it is anti-\nmodular - if suddenly UsefulService does need filesystem access, it's a\nbreaking change, since it now must take a FilesystemService. But that sounds\ngood to me - it's the point after all.] But does any language try to do this?\n\n------\n3xblah\nThe problem I see is not in the fact the develpers choose to rely on third\nparty software reuse and thus create dependencies, but in how developers\n_choose_ which third party software to use. If their judgment fails, the\nconsequences for the user can be dire.\n\nFor example, Google chose to reuse the c-ares DNS library for their\nChromebooks over other available DNS libraries. It is maintained by the same\nperson who oversees the popular libcurl.\n\nThe company issued a challenge and a $100,000 bounty for anyone who could\ncreate a persistent exploit with the Chromebook running in guest mode.\n\nAs it happened, the winnning exploit relied on an off-by-one mistake in the\nc-ares library.\n\nUsers are not in the position to decide which (free, open-source) code is\nreused in a mass market corporate product. They must rely on the judgment of\nthe developers working for the corporation.\n\nOn my personal computers, where I run a non-corporate OS, I prefer to use code\nfrom djbdns rather than c-ares for DNS queries. If someone finds an off-by-one\nmistake in djbdns, and this has negative consequences for me, it will be my\nown judgment that is to blame.\n\n------\nFelz\nThe real dependency problem is that most languages give out way too much trust\nby default. Any code can have any side effects.\n\nI'd like ways to guarantee my dependencies have no side effects, like they\nwere Haskell with no IO/unsafePerformIo, or to aggressively audit and limit\nthose side effects. Malicious event stream package suddenly wants to use the\nnetwork? No.\n\n~~~\nbeardedwizard\nAnother way to state this is: accept the state of the world and approach the\nproblem using an existing methodology - treat code as untrusted and whitelist\nexecution paths. SElinux and others do this, intrinsic is another product that\nuses the same approach for app runtime, I think this is probably the future of\nthis problem space.\n\nThis is zero trust, and this pattern is showing up everywhere (again?).\n\n------\ntabtab\nThere used to be talk about how to increase \"reuse\" of software, and now that\nsystems use masses of libraries, the down-sides of heavy but casual reuse are\ncoming to light.\n\nI'm not sure of an easy answer. Perhaps the libraries can be reworked to make\nit easier to only use or extract the specific parts you need, but it's\ndifficult to anticipate future and varied needs well. Trial and error, and\nblood, sweat, and tears may be the trick; but, nobody wants to pay for such\nbecause the benefits are not immediate nor guaranteed.\n\nOOP use to be \"sold\" as a domain modelling tool. It pretty much _failed_ at\nthat for non-trivial domains (in my opinion at least), but made it easier to\nglue libraries together, and glue we did.\n\n~~~\njerf\nIt's not _that_ hard. You just need to think of dependencies as something that\nhas non-zero benefits _and_ non-zero costs. The problem is that, as usual,\nwhereever you've got a \"zero\" showing up in your cost/benefits analysis,\nyou're overlooking _something_. Sometimes it's minor and negligible stuff, but\nsometimes it's not. Act accordingly.\n\nOne thing that I believe we will come to a consensus on is that there is a\ncertain fixed cost of a dependency, analogous to the base cost of a physical\nstore to manage the stock of _anything_ that appears on the shelves no matter\nhow cheap the individual item may be, and that a dependencies will need to\novercome that base cost to be worthwhile. I suspect that the requisite\nfunctionality is generally going to require in the low hundreds of lines at a\nminimum to obtain, and that we're going to see a general movement away from\nthese one-line \"libraries\".\n\nI say generally more than a few hundred lines because there are some\nexceptional cases, such as encryption algorithms or some very particular data\nstructures like red-black trees, where they may not be a whole lot of lines\nper se, but they can be very dense, very details-oriented, very particular\nlines. Most of our code is not like that, though.\n\n~~~\ntabtab\nRe: _It 's not that hard_\n\nDo you mean creating libraries that are flexible and partitioned well for\n_future_ needs? I do find that hard and almost no library maker I know of gets\nit right the first time. Analysis of current needs is difficult; analysis of\nfuture needs is extra difficult. Experience helps, but is still not powerful\nenough. The future continues to surprise the heck of out me. Tell God to slow\nthings down ;-)\n\n~~~\njerf\nNo, I mean that it's not _that_ hard to do some due diligence when picking a\ndependency. You just need to get over the idea that it's something you don't\nneed to do.\n\nNo, you're not going to read every single line, but you ought to be running\nthrough the basics outlined by Russ in his post. If you're being paid to code\nand you're not doing those basics, you're being negligent in your professional\nduty.\n\nAnd knowing the internet and its inability to deal with nuance, let me say\nagain, no, it's not _trivial_. But it's not _that hard_ , either. If a\ndependency is worth bringing in, it's bringing you enough value that you ought\nto be able to spare the effort of doing the basic due diligence.\n\n------\ntrhway\n15 years ago adding an external module was an endeavor involving approval\nforms, lawyers, etc. so that it frequently were much easier just to develop\nrequired functionality yourself. These days i still shudder seeing how the\nbuild goes somewhere, downloads something (usually you notice it only when\nwhatever package manager being used for that part of the build didn't find the\nproxy or requires very peculiar way of specifying it - of course at the\ncompanies with transparent proxies people didn't notice even that ) ...\ncompletely opaque in the sense that even if i spend some time today looking\ninto what is downloaded and where from, tomorrow another guy would just add\nanother thing ...\n\n------\njayd16\nIs the package management story significantly worse for js/node than other\nlanguages or is it just a meme? If it actually does have more issues, why? Are\nthe npm maintainers less rigorous than, maven central (for example)?\n\nJava is lucky enough to have a lot of very solid Apache libraries built with\nenterprise money. Is the culture different for js and npm?\n\n~~~\naaaaaaaaaab\nJava/.NET/C++/etc. people don’t have the urge to publish every other line of\ncode they deem “useful”. They also don’t have the urge to import said one-\nliners when writing a helper method in 15 seconds is perfectly adequate.\n\n~~~\nsaagarjha\n> Java/.NET/C++/etc. people don’t have the urge to publish every other line of\n> code they deem “useful”.\n\nI do for my code sometimes, except I make GitHub Gists out of them instead of\nputting them on NPM.\n\n------\nbaq\n> Adapting Leslie Lamport’s observation about distributed systems, a\n> dependency manager can easily create a situation in which the failure of a\n> package you didn’t even know existed can render your own code unusable.\n\nGold right here. Makes me wonder what Lamport’s TLA+ could be used for in the\nproblem area.\n\n------\njrochkind1\n> We do this because it’s easy, because it seems to work, because everyone\n> else is doing it too, and, most importantly, because it seems like a natural\n> continuation of age-old established practice.\n\nAnd because we literally could not be creating software with the capabilities\nwe are at the costs it is being produced without shared open source\ndependencies.\n\nI guess this is the same thing as \"it's easy\", but it's actually quite a\ndifferent thing when you say it like this.\n\n------\nBinaryIdiot\nDependencies are such a huge pain but I kinda liked the way we handled it when\nI did contracting work for the NSA years ago. Essentially we told them\n_exactly_ what dependencies we needed, including subdependencies, and we\naudited them the best we could and then we included them. To avoid this\nheadache meant we were less incentivized to just pull in a module for every\nlittle thing and, instead, write our own where necessary or used modules that\nhad less subdependencies.\n\nI think we're ready for a new class of dependencies. Dependencies that have\nlittle to no subdependencies. Dependencies that you can more easily audit\nbecause of fewer subdependencies.\n\nAlso, we need less building of JavaScript code in npm packages. Instead, let\npeople access the raw code so they can not only do tree shaking but they can\nexamine the code that is running versus the code that may be in git. You can\nstill include it and minify it with your stuff. This would also mean you could\nhave larger libraries that do more stuff because you'd only include what you\nuse (think how many Java libraries work except you could pull out what you\nneed).\n\nI don't think there is a good software / npm solution. I think we need to\nchange the way we work with dependencies entirely.\n\n------\nmberning\nI am reminded of this gem: [https://www.mikeperham.com/2016/02/09/kill-your-\ndependencies...](https://www.mikeperham.com/2016/02/09/kill-your-\ndependencies/)\n\n------\njackfoxy\nI ran across a great quote that sums up the situation.\n\n _...functionality is an asset, but code is a liability._\n\n[http://widgetsandshit.com/teddziuba/2010/10/taco-bell-\nprogra...](http://widgetsandshit.com/teddziuba/2010/10/taco-bell-\nprogramming.html)\n\nDon't know if the OP came up with it himself, but he is now a candidate for\nthe California State Senate.\n\n------\nquantumwoke\nI much prefer Java's model of software dependency consisting of (for the most\npart) well-documented, large, feature-filled libraries distributed in an\neasily discoverable and maintainable manner (maven/gradle/...) to the\ndependency hell that is modern JS libraries. Hopefully newer languages like\nrust don't succumb to the same trap.\n\n~~~\nwilltim\nI once took a close look at a Java Web service application running internally\nat a large bank. It depended on over 3000 jar files, most of them likely\ntransitive. When I queried the rationale of this, the dev team just shrugged\nit off as common Java practice. I do not think Java is in a significantly\nbetter place than the JS world with regard to dependencies.\n\n~~~\nrhacker\nI am curious if it was actually 3000, or if that is embellished. I've been in\nabout 6 java shops from Nike to startups, and the number is USUALLY around\n100.\n\nThe reason is really simple - Jar files used to be required to download\nmanually to add as a dependency. So there was a history of about 15 years of\ndoing it the hard way. After maven was introduced, it took a while before OSS\nlibs started adding other libs. Most of the time OSS libs are just including\nother Jars from their own organization.\n\n~~~\nwilltim\nIt's possibly an embellished number, I cannot remember the actual number but\nit was significantly larger than 100. I seem to have remembered it as 3000.\nThe project had many frameworks: spring, glassfish, camel among others.\n\n~~~\nrhacker\nGotcha, I'm guessing 300 range. That is quite a bit for Java actually - so\nstill counts as pretty bad. Contextually here's a fairly complicated program\nin our current stack (which is all JS), the node_modules folder has 722\ndependencies in it right now. Edit: I was replying to your first edition of\nthe reply. If it's truly 3000 that's quite insane. That being said, the\nprojects with a few hundred would have Glassfish, CXF, Spring, etc...\n\n------\nm0zg\nYes, that's why I package as much stuff as I can into a hermetic Bazel build,\nincluding Python modules (and yes, I build Python programs in Google PAR\nformat using Subpar). They're all stored in my own cloud bucket, the entire\ntransitive closure can be tracked down, and they don't change underneath me\nwilly-nilly. For C++ cross-builds I also package toolchains in a similar\nfashion. You could also package a toolchain for the host if you'd like, I just\ndon't bother. And I package test data likewise. The build isn't 100% hermetic,\nbut I'd say about 90%. I feel pretty good about this set-up and recommend it\nto others. Grabbing random packages (and worse, their transitive closures)\nfrom the internet as a part of the build sounds insane to me.\n\n------\nromeisendcoming\nArticle kind of mangles the relationship between software reuse (which _has_\nbeen here for a long time) and specific language library, etc..management.\n\nmany years ago now systems administrators were tasked with providing a safe\nand sane environment for end user and developers by performing the exact due\ndiligence that is described in this article. In the 'move fast and break\nthings age' all this has been thrown to the wind and everyone decries the\nlanguage manager code sprawl and breakage. Of necessity enterprises revert to\n'immutability' as if it was a desirable and necessary deployment\ncharacteristic. This is an ugly time in IT.\n\n------\nmrdoops\nThe way I see it, our over-dependency (sorry for overloading the phrase) on\nJavascript as the de-facto web language has the pendulum far in one direction.\nHow much longer can we keep this up? What's the maximum capacity of a\ndeveloper ecosystem before dependency-hell and framework churn reaches\ncritical mass? This is still a complicated information system - how far can it\nscale? What's the breaking point?\n\nThere's so much amateur work and muddied merit-sense-making of what's good\nsoftware, who to listen to, and how to move forward - my feeling is that\npendulum is just about at peak.\n\n~~~\nk__\nFor me this sounds like FUD.\n\nSure, you can install a bunch of deps for every small problem, but you don't\nhave to.\n\nIf you just take a bit time to think, you can roll your own solution for 90%\nof the deps, which are tiny packages anyway.\n\n~~~\nmrdoops\nBut what of the newbie developer? Is he/she going to just roll their own\ndependencies and do so in a way that's tenable? Green developers make up most\nof the category.\n\nI guess I was trying to approach a few concerns beyond just dependencies:\nlearning curve, conventions/standards, framework volatility, and merit assess-\nability of ideas.\n\nThe more people involved (popularity), the greater the difficulty to parse the\nmerit of an idea without pre-existing competence. How easy is it for a new\ndeveloper to find a cogent way of doing things in Javascript land compared to\na smaller more specific ecosystem? In the smaller ecosystem the experts are\neasier to determine due to a smaller population, whereas in Javascript-land\nthere's so many people, opinions, articles, and conventional disparities; a\nmuch more challenging exercise.\n\n~~~\nk__\nIn PHP people would (often badly) reinvent the wheel on every project.\n\nIn JS people would install packages for every small problem they have.\n\nNeither is good.\n\nI always check if I can write it myself in reasonable time, if not, I install\na package for it.\n\nI'd install React, but I'd write the navigation myself.\n\nI'd install a video-player, but I'd write a SVG animation myself.\n\netc.\n\n------\nsimonjgreen\nAlong the same lines is Docker Hub. Blindly building your own images via\ndockerfiles that pull from others images should warrant serious consideration,\nespecially given those images can be updated at any time.\n\n------\njorangreef\n\"Dependency managers can often provide statistics about usage\"\n\nUsing module usage statistics as a proxy for trust is not always a good idea.\n\nFor example, I confirmed with the security team of npm that they do not audit\nmodule download statistics, i.e. no detection of gaming the system through\nmultiple downloads from a given IP.\n\nIt's quite possible for a module to have 10,000 weekly downloads, all\ngenerated by a cron curl script run by the module's author.\n\nI wouldn't be surprised if this was the case for not a few modules on npm,\nespecially to develop trust for later exploits.\n\n------\nadgasf\nGreat article.\n\nSome thoughts (mostly informed from design of Buckaroo\n[https://github.com/LoopPerfect/buckaroo/](https://github.com/LoopPerfect/buckaroo/)\n):\n\n\\- Cost of creating a package must be low (ideally the package just lives in\nsource control). This encourages code reuse and therefore testing.\n\n\\- Verification of changes must be easy. Git is a great tool for this - we can\nreview patches between versions, rather than whole versions at once.\n\n\\- It should be easy to extract dependency graph (including transitive deps)\nso that you analyze who you are trusting.\n\n\\- There must be a verifiable chain from package source to package bundle (NPM\nfails here, do you really know the source code reviewed on GitHub is what went\ninto the bundle on the NPM registry)? Better yet, have no bundles at all, just\nsource code + build instructions.\n\n\\- Reproducible installations (usually implemented via lock-files) are\ncritical. Many package managers have lock-files that do not actually give\nreproducible installs. Beware!\n\n\\- Package builds must be isolated from each-other (otherwise one package\nmight tamper with another; I believe this is possible in NPM packages)\n\n------\nrdiddly\nThis is excellent. Not only for the subject matter but the quality of writing.\nI often take an article like this, distill it into my own (usually fewer)\nwords and save it as a text file. This one I kept \"distilling\" only to\nrealize, nope, nope, the way he said it was more exact/precise/correct.\n\n------\niand\nThis is probably a prelude to a deeper discussion of the module notary service\nthat the Go project intends to run. First announced in this post from the end\nof last year:\n[https://blog.golang.org/modules2019](https://blog.golang.org/modules2019)\n\n------\nmonksy\nOn dependencies:\n\nThere aren't a lot of tools out there to keep you 100% up to date and to keep\nmoving.\n\nThere is maven-dependencies that can auto upgrade, however, that's just a\nsimple version upgrade and may have issues with non-standard versioning. Also\nit doesn't help with transitive dependency conflicts.\n\nWe need good tools to alert and stop transitive dependency conflicts in their\ntracks. Versions helps with this, but it doesn't tell you much.\n\nWhat we do need: Jenkins dependency triggers for the projects. We need\nsomething that will automatically work wtih SCM and CI to create commits based\non new found dependencies. If there is something that changed your tests\nshould confirm if it works or not.\n\n~~~\nriyakhanna1983\nWhat about existing tools, such as Synk, OSSIndex?\n\n~~~\nmonksy\nThat's good for reporting. There should be an automated approach to keep\nprojects up to date.\n\n------\nrichardwhiuk\nIf you can easily write a replacement for it, then the cost of depending on it\nis very small - because the worst case for the fix is replacing it....\n\n~~~\njeremycw\nWorst case is more along the lines of a bad actor makes malicious changes to\nthe dependency which you then unwittingly deploy to prod potentially\ncompromising your entire system.\n\n~~~\ncortesoft\nOr if the dependency disappears and breaks deploys\n\n[https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/23/npm_left_pad_chaos/](https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/23/npm_left_pad_chaos/)\n\n~~~\nNasrudith\nReally I couldn't help but facepalm when I heard about that. \"Haven't those\npeople heard of local caching?!\"\n\nReally and also freeze the version number to what you know will work while you\nare at it. Unless it is an actual security and/or standardization important\ncomponent (say SSH) it can wait until you know what it will do and that it\nwon't break anything. It is good for bloat avoidance, security, and\nreliability.\n\n------\nzzo38computer\nReducing the number of dependencies can avoid many of the problems, and makes\nit easier to examine the code, as well as less likely to cause problems (of\nseveral kinds). Many code has too much dependencies. Whether writing in\nJavaScript or C or something else, I will usually not use many external\nlibraries; most commonly none at all.\n\n------\nrurban\nI wouldn't qualify zlib as trusted high-quality code. He really needs to look\ndeeper.\n\n------\nprofalseidol\nThere's a talk from Rich Hickey about this.\n\n~~~\nLandR\nGot a link?\n\n~~~\nprofalseidol\nI think it's this one:\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyLBGkS5ICk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyLBGkS5ICk)\n\nHN Post:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13085952](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13085952)\n\n------\nyyyymmddhhmmss\nI am pretty new to development, and I keep trying to prove myself wrong over\nmy apprehension to willy-nilly accumulate dependencies just because “the time\nsavings add up”.\n\nBefore starting any new project, I research and try all the existing similar\nprojects I can find. I can predict their stability with overwhelming precision\njust by glancing at the dependencies, so the few projects I have built use\nonly the most vanilla version of mainstream dependencies.\n\nAnd another result of this observation has been that I have come to devalue\nthe word of devs with that happy-go-lucky approach to dependency accumulation.\nIt seems to correlate with the exaggerated optimism that persists around\neverything in the development community. I’d like to be more optimistic just\nlike everyone else, but ignoring debt like this doesn’t seem like the right\nway to do it.\n\n------\nilaksh\nI'll just go ahead and take the downvotes/burial/lectures/ridicule whatever\nbut I need to say it anyway. I've been programming for thirty years and in my\nopinion effective code reuse with npm is one of the greatest achievements in\nthe history of software engineering. It's not perfect but it should be\nappreciated more and the issues are being overblown.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWe overcomplicated the hell out of both our products - joelle\nhttps://medium.com/p/1816bd8a341a\n\n======\ngoldvine\nIt's interesting to hear from some people that the direction we've ended up\npursuing is the direction they originally perceived us to be pursuing.\n\n#CommunicationFail\n\nAnyone else experienced this?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: What technologies can we use to minimise data collected into PRISM - mark_ellul\n\nWe all now know the news about PRISM, so I was wondering on your thoughts on how we can stop the majority of our data going into PRISM.<p>So I thought this would be a good Forum to discuss the technical approaches to minimizing our Data making it into PRISM?<p>There are essential services and tasks that we all use and do and I was wondering what suggests we as a community can provide to minimize the Privacy Invasion.&lt;p&gt;Here are some examples:<p>Browsing: Tor<p>Email: Private Mail Server with PGP<p>Social Network &#x2F; Media Sharing : Diaspora?<p>Storage: Mega?<p>Etc....<p>Looking forward your comments.\n======\ngesman\nWasting less time on facebook will leave NSA emptyhanded! :)\n\n~~~\nmark_ellul\nYes, I guess removing Facebook account and completely stop using the service\nwould definitely be an option.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nLean Domain Search Adds 450 New Search Results; Now Checks 2,500 Domains/Search - matt1\nhttp://www.leandomainsearch.com/blog/8-lean-domain-search-adds-450-new-search-results--now-checks-2-500-domain-names-per-search\n\n======\npetercooper\nI've seen a lot of projects like this come and go or, most often, sit around\ngetting few updates. For some reason I started to follow Matt on Twitter when\nhe first launched LDS and I've been impressed at how he's kept chipping away\nat it making it better. (His technique for catching people who don't use his\nlinks to register the domains found is genius and, I've inferred, works well.)\n\nHe just put a graph of his traffic on Twitter as well and it clearly shows the\nvalue of continuing to hammer away at a project over time rather than\nreleasing and forgetting about it: <http://cl.ly/3C181Q3A1n2k142C0c0L>\n\nSo big thumbs up to Matt.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDo Difficult Job Interviews Lead to More Satisfied Workers? - gcz92\nhttps://www.glassdoor.com/research/studies/interview-difficulty/\n======\nat-fates-hands\nI would think this is pretty obvious. I don't think it's a direct correlation\nas much as it feels like a side effect of said process.\n\nAn example would be you find a great candidate who is a great fit, and then\nthey demonstrate this with a great technical interview. I would also think\nwhen you go through a tough interview and are successful, that candidate feels\nvindicated they have the chops to compete and succeed in a company with a lot\nof competition. A lot of these companies in my area are well known and the\nguys who work there like to say they work there - since it's like getting\naccepted into an Ivy League school, there's a sense of satisfaction with\ngetting chosen to work there.\n\nIn my experience, I've had it go both ways.\n\nOne shop I had three interviews, a code challenge and a final interview with\nthe IT director. Afterwards, I got the gig, and then they low balled my\nsalary. It was a very hipster startup and well known among developers as a\n\"cool, geeky\" place to work. I was surprised at how they promoted all the\nperks, \"All the Red Bull you can drink! Free video games! Beer:30 EVERY DAY!!\"\nbut failed to say how little their developers get paid. It was eye opening to\nsay the least.\n\nOn the flip side, I've had \"one-time\" interviews where you get one shot to\nimpress somebody and have been successful and loved the job and stayed there\nfor many years.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAdvice for Startup CEOs - randfish\nhttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/advice-for-startup-ceos\n\n======\nmixmax\nSome good advice in there.\n\nBut the best advice is this: be lucky\n\n:-)\n\n------\nigorthetroll\nI am glad you are self analyzing yourself. Wag of the Finger at you, You got\nme Wrong!\n\nIgor The Troll\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Stig – A CLI tool for searching GitHub from the terminal - octobanana\nhttps://octobanana.com/software/stig\n======\noctobanana\nHello there!\n\nFor a weekend project, I wanted to write a program that would use the C++ HTTP\nclient library I've been working on recently. I was curious to put it to the\ntest in a real scenario and see what works and find any pain points. I decided\non making a CLI program that utilized GitHub's HTTP API to perform search\nqueries.\n\nStig is a CLI tool for searching GitHub from your terminal. It has all the\nsame sorting and filter options that are present on GitHub, and outputs\ncoloured, formatted results to stdout.\n\nFeedback and thoughts are welcomed!\n\nView on my personal website -\n[https://octobanana.com/software/stig](https://octobanana.com/software/stig)\n\nView on GitHub -\n[https://github.com/octobanana/stig](https://github.com/octobanana/stig)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nRay Dalio – The Changing World Order: Where we are and where we are going - Lx1oG-AWb6h_ZG0\nhttps://www.linkedin.com/pulse/chapter-1-big-picture-tiny-nutshell-ray-dalio\n======\nchewz\nThis is the moron who said 'Cash is trash' just few weeks before market\nsellout... and his alpha strategy is to sit out the losses\n\n[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tZyWVxGXPHo](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tZyWVxGXPHo)\n\n[https://www.ft.com/content/6addc002-6666-11ea-800d-da70cff6e...](https://www.ft.com/content/6addc002-6666-11ea-800d-da70cff6e4d3)\n\n[https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-funds-\nbri...](https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-funds-bridgewater-\nidUSL1N2B803V)\n\n~~~\njmeister\nThat’s harsh, he has a multi-decade track record\n\n~~~\nchewz\nThey all do have track record until they don't. The LTCM guy, the PIMCO guy\netc.. There were so many of them.\n\nYou simply don't hear about guys who do not have track record until they do..\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Which stock market website/app are you using? - dodoflying\n\nIm curious to know: Which stock market website/app are HN users using? What's the reason?\n======\npjd7\nIn Australia comsec.com.au, large financial institution. Solid financials.\nEasy to transfer money in and out. Has a regular bank account with it that\nearns above 4% interest when my money isn't in stocks.\n\nIn the USA scottrade.com, colleague uses them. Read some reviews of them vs\netrade, tdameritrade etc. And scottrade has the least evil reviews based on my\nlimited sample of what I read.\n\n------\n1123581321\nIf you mean broker, I am in the United States and use Scottrade. I use them\nbecause their fees are low, their tools are good enough and their service is\nexcellent -- especially because they have an office in my city where I can\nfill out transfer paperwork in front of an employee to reduce the chance of\ntime-wasting mistakes.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDiabetes Gene Common In Latinos Has Ancient Roots - rosser\nhttp://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/12/25/256832685/diabetes-gene-common-in-latinos-has-ancient-roots\n======\ntokenadult\nI read through the submitted article here to find the link to the scientific\njournal article[1] that has just come out from this research group. The\nabstract tells the basic story:\n\n\"Performing genetic studies in multiple human populations can identify disease\nrisk alleles that are common in one population but rare in others1, with the\npotential to illuminate pathophysiology, health disparities, and the\npopulation genetic origins of disease alleles. Here we analysed 9.2 million\nsingle nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in each of 8,214 Mexicans and other\nLatin Americans: 3,848 with type 2 diabetes and 4,366 non-diabetic controls.\nIn addition to replicating previous findings2, 3, 4, we identified a novel\nlocus associated with type 2 diabetes at genome-wide significance spanning the\nsolute carriers SLC16A11 and SLC16A13 (P = 3.9 × 10−13; odds ratio (OR) =\n1.29). The association was stronger in younger, leaner people with type 2\ndiabetes, and replicated in independent samples (P = 1.1 × 10−4; OR = 1.20).\nThe risk haplotype carries four amino acid substitutions, all in SLC16A11; it\nis present at ~50% frequency in Native American samples and ~10% in east\nAsian, but is rare in European and African samples. Analysis of an archaic\ngenome sequence indicated that the risk haplotype introgressed into modern\nhumans via admixture with Neanderthals. The SLC16A11 messenger RNA is\nexpressed in liver, and V5-tagged SLC16A11 protein localizes to the\nendoplasmic reticulum. Expression of SLC16A11 in heterologous cells alters\nlipid metabolism, most notably causing an increase in intracellular\ntriacylglycerol levels. Despite type 2 diabetes having been well studied by\ngenome-wide association studies in other populations, analysis in Mexican and\nLatin American individuals identified SLC16A11 as a novel candidate gene for\ntype 2 diabetes with a possible role in triacylglycerol metabolism.\"\n\nThe most novel and startling part of the factual claims in the abstract, and\ndefinitely the part that I am most dubious about, is \"the risk haplotype\nintrogressed into modern humans via admixture with Neanderthals.\" Well, maybe,\nbut maybe not. There have been very few samples of ancient hominid DNA so far,\nso we are still not sure what range of variation was found among ancestors of\ntoday's _Homo sapiens_ species to which we all belong.\n\n[1]\n[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/natu...](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature12828.html)\n\n~~~\ncsense\nSince the \"Latino\" category encompasses people of European, African, and\nNative American ancestry [1] [2], I was thinking the headline/article would be\nmore informative if it stated which of these ancestral populations had the\ngene (assuming that question could be answered from the research methodology\nused).\n\nYour comment answers my question; the gene occurs at highest frequency in\nNative American samples.\n\n[1]\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latino#Terminology](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latino#Terminology)\n\n[2]\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_Americans#Demographics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_Americans#Demographics)\n\n------\nDonGateley\nDoes this imply that Neanderthals skedaddled to the Americas?\n\nThere was equal mention of Neanderthals and native Americans in the article\nbut they seem to have avoided making the connection explicit.\n\n~~~\ngonnakillme\nNo. It's disputed, but Neanderthals almost definitely died out before the\nhuman migration to North America.\n\n------\nkimonos\nVery interesting! Thanks for sharing!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Going in circle – no traction, no investors - gab007\nI am the single developer of a note-taking app. I&#x27;ve reached a point where the app needs a team and some funding to move forward. I would like to apply for seed-investment, but given the fact that investors like to see (among other things) traction, some customer base, etc - I know that chances are slim for me to get any investment. Did my homework and I am able to articulate the key differentiators properly.<p>Right now I cannot get any traction with the current state of the app (not consumer-ready). So I am stuck in this loop... I am reluctant to apply for seed investment as a single developer - as I know that this does not look good to investors. All I have is a website, screenshots, a blog, a demo and a deck.<p>I know that&#x27;s not enough, but I also know that this has some potential. How do you break this loop?\n======\nthecupisblue\nBecause, as you say it yourself - there is a million note-taking apps out\nthere. Your \"differentiator\" feature isn't that big of a deal. The UI is ugly-\nish. Honestly, if I was an interested investor and you pitched me this I'd be\nout of that meeting faster than you can say elevator pitch.\n\nIt's not a niche, you've got competition that raised a ton of money and is\ndominating the market and the competition is showing wounds that point at the\nmarket being not just saturated but not profitable as much as some investors\nthought. Don't waste your talents on this.\n\n~~~\ngab007\nThanks, thecupisblue. This is a \"cold shower\" \\- I appreciate you being\nstraight-forward.\n\nI agree that the UI is not the best, that's not what's worrying me :)\nInitially I've started working on this because I needed an app that does this,\nthis and that - and I could not find one.\n\nAs it is now, I am actually using it on regular basis. Right now I am trying\nto figure out if there are any others looking for the same features - and\nvalidate that. Thanks for the input.\n\n~~~\nquickthrower2\nIts a nice feature set, but its hard to sell me on a separate app. I persevere\nwith google keep and google calendar even though they are less than ideal\nbecause I already have a login for them. For notes at work its one note\nbecause everyone else uses it. So great features are less of a sell than\nconvenience for me.\n\n~~~\ngab007\nSame here - I only sign-up for services that are a \"need\" not a \"want\". If I\nimplement a \"Sign up with Google\" feature - would you try the app? Thanks for\nchecking!\n\n~~~\nquickthrower2\nI'm still not sure. I am not sure it solves any pressing need. Sure Google\napps have problems but I can get by with them. It's kind of an 'activation\nenergy' thing where if Google were to cancel keep/calendar I would hunt for\nanother solution. But it might be a .txt file on Dropbox because then again I\ndon't need another service.\n\nIt is a bit like JavaScript fatigue. I have SaaS fatigue! Especially as a\ndeveloper using Azure, Dropbox, Travis, GitHub, Keepass, Google, etc. then at\nhome using Netflix etc.\n\n~~~\ngab007\n> I have SaaS fatigue!\n\nI've smiled at this one. Taking a moment to think about it, it's true.\n\nIf you've looked at the presentation, one the things I'm looking at - is to\nmarket this as a personal device, for exactly that reason. Thanks for input.\n\n------\nmygo\nwhat exactly do you need seed money for? what’s its purpose? Is it to keep you\neating so that you can finish building the app?\n\nIMO you need proof that people actually want this thing.\n\nI wouldn’t write another line of app code.\n\nput up marketing material and get your market to sign up to be notified for\nwhen it comes out.\n\nTreat those sign ups as validation of demand. It won’t be as good validation\nas actual payment, which would validate the business prospect... but those\nRSVP numbers will indicate that this is something probably worth investing\nyour time in (and other people’s money in). and you can get your beta users\nfrom that list.\n\n~~~\ngab007\nThe funding would be for driving the development of the application further,\nand not to \"keep me eating\". Right now \"it screams\" single developer all over.\nI agree that the app needs validation.\n\nAbout a month ago I've put Mailchimp signup forms on my website - to see if\nthere is any interest in the app. This is not ideal however, without a demo of\nthe app (sign up for what?)\n\nProof that people actually want/need the service - yes, this is a good point,\nI am still trying to figure out how to validate this without having a finished\nproduct... Thanks!\n\n~~~\nmygo\nYou need validation.\n\nYou don't need to develop the app to have a demo of it.\n\nYou can put together mockups that look and function the way the finished app\nis supposed to look and function. You can have someone to put together an\nanimation based on the mockups.\n\nIf there's a problem it's addressing that people are trying to address,\nsomeone's going to want to be notified when the solution is brought into the\nworld.\n\n------\nfundamental\nLooking at the app/block/deck in question, it feels like it is still somewhat\nunfocused. You compare it to your competitor and it comes off as \"like them,\njust better\". Obtaining 1-2 alpha users could help refine how you would\npresent and target specific differentiating factors. Since I'm not very\nfamiliar with the space, feel free to take this with a large grain of salt.\n\n~~~\ngab007\nThank you!\n\nMay I ask where did you see the deck (you can use the email associated with my\naccount)?\n\n~~~\nfundamental\nThe deck appears to be the second google result when searching for \"NoterBox\".\n\n~~~\ngab007\nThanks - got it.\n\n------\nDrNuke\n> How do you break this loop?\n\nCrowded market, half-baked product, no sales? Honest answer is stop here,\nlearn from your own post-mortem, add this project to your portfolio and move\non. Next time you will do better.\n\n------\nnavd\nProbably not what you want to hear but, the next step is that you continue\niterating to test to see if you can get traction.\n\nIf you can’t convince people to use the product it might mean that it is not\nsomething people want. Try treating your product like a science experiment.\nYour idea and execution is a hypothesis for what you think people want.\n\nIf you’re an engineer then the above doesn’t cost any money and hence doesn’t\nrequire investors. If not you have to get good at convincing people to work\nwith you.\n\n~~~\ngab007\nI have not attempted to convince anyone to use the app so far :) Initially,\nI've built the app for personal use (and I am using it).\n\nAnd yes, it will cost a considerable amount of money to have the app live -\nfor testing purposes.\n\n\"If not you have to get good at convincing people to work with you\".\n\nThat is actually very good advice. Without money and proper market validation,\nthis is not a bad idea at all.\n\nThank you.\n\n------\nezekg\nIf you don't have traction yet, how have you reached a point where you need a\nteam?\n\n~~~\ngab007\nThat's actually a valid question - never thought of it this way. It's probably\nwhat an investor would ask.\n\nThank you ezekg.\n\n------\nzachguo\nHow about serving a tiny niche first and aiming at profitability?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Someone ripped off my app, is there any recourse with Apple?  - wacheena\n\nI built a simple Android app: \nhttps://market.android.com/details?id=com.tenromans.birthdaycake.free<p>And I discovered today that a developer has taken the graphics and rebuilt it for iPhone:\nhttp://itunes.apple.com/us/app/make-birthday-cake/id469010303?mt=8<p>Frankly, that's the nature of the business.  Things get copied all the time.  But it also kinda sticks because the graphics and whatnot are my IP.<p>Is there any recourse with Apple to have them remove the app from the iTunes store?\n======\ntstegart\nYou should be able to file a copyright complaint with Apple:\n<http://www.apple.com/legal/contact/>\n\n~~~\nsquidbot\nThis is definitely the appropriate response, and I've found Apple very\nreasonable in these situations if you are able to prove copyright.\n\n------\nkentnguyen\nI have witness a similar case where one Apple dev rip off another developer by\nrepacking and then resubmit the same app. He submit a request to Apple and\nthen a few days later that clone app got pulled.\n\n------\nchris_dcosta\nThe was a thread here on HN about another copycat app but I can't find it for\nnow.\n\nIt was a slightly different case in that both apps were in the Apple App\nstore, and I guess it would be easy to prove \"prior art\".\n\nYour case is different in that Apple hav no record of your app being in their\necho system, you would have to demonstrate prior art somehow, otherwise it\ncould be argued that you have copied them.\n\nIf you have any documentation proving the dates on which your app was accepted\ninto the Android market, that would help.\n\n------\nsmashing\nYou could send a DMCA notice to Apple for the app, but I find it strange that\nyou would ask people on this site on protecting your copyright when YC is so\nvehemently opposed to copyright monopolies like yours. I support copyrights\nthough, so good luck. Here is the link:\n<https://www.apple.com/legal/trademark/claimsofcopyright.html>\n\n------\nwacheena\nAndroid link correction. This is the paid ($0.99) version:\n[https://market.android.com/details?id=com.tenromans.birthday...](https://market.android.com/details?id=com.tenromans.birthdaycake)\n\n------\ncoryl\nQuick question, do people buy your app on android?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThis one guy is in every tech video - 0898\nhttps://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20141010151209-25388572-the-guy-in-every-tech-video?trk=object-title\n======\nminimaxir\nLinkbaity titles don't work if you're not BuzzFeed or Business Insider.\n\n------\n5414h\nfake title damn u\n\n~~~\nrazster\nHow is the title fake? I'm not awake enough to catch it. The Sandwich dude is\nin almost every start-up companies video ad. Title seems accurate.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThe 21st IOCCC Winners - dlowe\nhttp://www.ioccc.org/2012/whowon.html\n\n======\nhafabnew\nThe way the site is run really lets the contest down.\n\n~~~\nTazeTSchnitzel\nWhy? How? They have a single page with all the winners ever, and for each C\nfile they also have a hint.text/hint.markdown/hint.html file. They also have a\nTwitter feed.\n\nWhat's so bad about that?\n\n~~~\nhafabnew\nWeeeelll:\n\n1) As others have pointed out, the separate release of code/writeup. I wager\nthat most people really just want to see the code. Why bother doing both? If\nit's just to attract attention, that's a reasonably valid reason -- but it\nprobably has the opposite of the desired effect, people get annoyed that they\ncan't view the code now, and therefore start disliking the contest in general.\n\n2) Even when the code is released, the format they use makes it difficult to\nactually look at the code. Let's take the 2011 winners for example [1]. One\nwould assume that clicking each entry (e.g., the top entry[2]) would perhaps\nshow the code, perhaps annotated in a useful way... nope! Surely it must link\nto the code then... nope! Perhaps it links to a page that links to the code...\nnope!\n\nYou have to go to the 'Winning Entries' page from the main menu (from [1]),\nscroll down to the appropriate year, then play a fun game of matching up\nentrant's surnames to their entries (yes, I know the surname is in the URL of\n[2]).\n\n[ 3) While not a 'real' complaint: the I-just-learned-how-to-\nuse-a-3D-modelling-program logo really is awful. It makes the contest look\njuvenile, when in fact the quality of the winning entries is very high. The\nsite looks much better without the logo -- try it yourself, delete the img\nnode from the homepage using Inspector/Firebug/whatever. ]\n\nIn conclusion: show us the code, delete the logo :).\n\n[1] <http://www.ioccc.org/2011/whowon.html>\n\n[2] <http://www.ioccc.org/2011/blakely/hint.html>\n\n~~~\nlifthrasiir\n1) The primary reason to do separate releases is because the winning entries\ndo not appear in the website as is. As far as I know the judges have to write\nseparate remarks, the authors have to check any remaining problems and judges\nand authors have to agree on the finished write-ups. While it is a bit\ntedious, given the number of winning entries it seems reasonable.\n\n2) Yup, agreed. For example the current website does not allow inspecting the\ncode without downloading it first. (That's why I love www2.us.ioccc.org...)\n\n3) They are not ordinary logos. They are made from the ray tracers from\nprevious IOCCC winners (2004/garave and 2011/zucker, respectively). I do think\nthat those logos should really link to the relevant entries, however.\n\n~~~\nioccc\n(2) and (3) are now fixed.\n\n(2) The mime types for the .c and .h files are now set to text/plain on\n<http://www.ioccc.org>.\n\n(3) I (Simon) have added a link to the winning entry that generates the\ncurrent logo.\n\n~~~\nlifthrasiir\nOh, thank you a lot! Should have sent emails before, but I always forget...\n\n------\nVMG\nSo - where is the code?\n\n~~~\ndbaupp\nI wondered that too. But in the news section[1] of the front page:\n\n _The winning source will be released later this year after the winners have\nreviewed the writeup of their entries._\n\n[1]: <http://www.ioccc.org/index.html#news>\n\n~~~\ntisme\nThe whole fun of the ioccc is to go through the code and figure out how it is\ndone. Without the code this is a non-event.\n\n~~~\npmr_\nReading the write-up in combination with the code is usually really\nentertaining. Having the code before that would make it a lot less\nentertaining. But you are of course right, as long as there is no code, there\nisn't much to actually see here.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nBrilliantly coded 64k pc demo by Approximate released at Revision 2012 - carlhblomqvist\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Kx66_i3ue4\nBrilliantly coded 64k pc demo by Approximate released at Revision 2012 in southwest Germany (April 6th to 9th). All in a 64kb executable file.\n======\nsp332\nAs usual, YouTube doesn't do this demo justice. If you have the hardware for\nit, you really should watch this demo as it was intended: rendered in real-\ntime! It's available from pouet.net\n<http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=59107> Just click the \"download\" link.\nYou can see the binary is exactly 65,536 bytes :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGoogle readies its own chip for future Pixels and Chromebooks - rbanffy\nhttps://www.axios.com/scoop-google-readies-its-own-chip-for-future-pixels-chromebooks-e5f8479e-4a38-485c-a264-9ef9cf68908c.html\n======\nest31\nIn the north american phone market, Google has 2.3% market share. The other\ntwo vendors with their custom chips have 55% (Apple) and 26% (Samsung) and are\nmarket leaders globally as well. Globally, Google's market share is even\nworse. They certainly have the capital and manpower to design chips, but as\nselling phones and chromebooks isn't such a great priority for Google, they\nmight not pour as much money into it as Apple so the resulting performance\nmight be disappointing. Furthermore, no matter the amount of money spent, they\nlikely won't it get back unless they start licensing the SoC but for that to\nwork it has to be much better than the alternatives.\n\nOverall, with Moore's law dying, there _will be_ a trend towards more and more\nvendors building custom chips, but that's a rather long term trend and I think\nGoogle is a bit early for it. From a strategic point of view though it does\nmake sense because it gives Google a foot in the door, seats on committees,\netc., giving Google both information as well as influence. But I wouldn't be\nsurprised if the project gets cancelled in 3 years.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n[re]Designing the Nutrition Label - ajaimk\nhttp://www.ajaimk.com/2010/11/03/redesign-1-nutrition-labels/\n======\ncharliepark\nRed and Green are colors with an inherent value (at least, in the US),\nsuggesting good and bad. Unless there's a reason that they're the colors they\nare, you should use a color (I'd suggest a dark gray) that doesn't have a\nspecific value.\n\nI normally rail against pie charts, but in this case, you're comparing a part\n(calories in the serving size) to the whole (recommended calories per day), so\nI'm okay with it.\n\nBut the bigger thing I'd want to comment on: If you're redesigning the label,\nREALLY redesign it. Show the volume of the serving suggestion with a photo on\na standardized plate / bowl. Or bring in some other piece of data that helps\npeople make decisions. Do something wholly different with it. (Basically, what\nDanielStraight said.)\n\n------\nDanielStraight\nAside from the pie chart and Christmas colors (which I can't figure out the\nlogic of intuitively), I don't see what's much different, and since we know\nthat people are terrible at reading pie charts, I don't see how the pie charts\nwill help.\n\nI would like to see numbers per 100 g, or some other standard that can be\ncompared across foods. I would also like to see a nutrient density score of\nsome kind.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nProgrammer Is Bringing Bricked Flywheel Bikes Back to Life - elsewhen\nhttps://www.vice.com/en_us/article/v7gxga/this-programmer-is-bringing-bricked-flywheel-bikes-back-to-life\n======\n1f60c\nPrevious discussion:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24022751](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24022751)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBirth and Death of Microsoft Bing - domino\nhttp://myprasanna.posterous.com/birth-and-death-of-microsoft-bing\n======\nraganwald\nPerhaps a bit OT, but... The post seemed to be riddled with formatting and\ngrammar errors. This rubbed my old-school English sensibilities at first, but\nthen I began to enjoy its rough feel.\n\nAfter all, it's a post about how people who worked tirelessly to bring a\nproduct to market were shipping things while the rest of Microsoft slept. The\nstory very clearly describes a dichotomy in Microsoft's culture between\nprocess/rules/superficial quality on the one hand and relentlessly shortening\nthe ship/fix cycle on the other.\n\nThis post is not just about shortened ship/fix cycles, _it is itself an\nexample of a shortened write/fix cycle_.\n\nWhen that struck me, the style of post suddenly \"clicked:\" It was as if I was\nreading an email that was furiously blasted out to Posterous while the\nauthor's compiler worked, and thereafter there was no time for extensive\nediting and proofing by a circle of reviewers. What mattered was to get the\nidea out and to start the conversation, editing and polish would follow later.\n\nGreat stuff!\n\n~~~\nmyprasanna\nI'm the author of this post and by no means I expected this to be on the top\nof HN today. It was a surprise. I din't do any good editing on this, since it\nwas my personal blog and I had sent to Michael Arrington, who wanted to\nedit/publish it. For some reason, he backed out at the last moment and it\ndin't make it to TC. Welcome to the world of citizen journalism.\n\nSorry about the typos/errors. I'm looking into this now :)\n\n~~~\nAJ007\nWas this get modified? I didn't notice anything reading through.\n\n------\nlatch\nThe OP seems to attribute the \"failure\" of bing to common problems associated\nwith Microsoft (in specific) and large companies (in general). With a specific\npoint that it all started wonderfully, then got corporatized. I'm happy\nbelieving that this was the main problem.\n\nBut...as an end user i don't think Bing was/is ever as as close to Google as\nthe OP seems to think.\n\n~~~\nexit\nwhy was kami8844's comment instantly flagged?\n\nit's really disgusting to see people quietly being blacklisted.\n\n\\---\n\n1 point by kami8844 0 minutes ago | link [dead]\n\nI had to do some web scraping for an application that I recently wrote and\nonly when my app's performance started to rely on the results provided by the\nvarious search engines out there, I started to fully appreciate how good\nGoogle is. It's just no comparison; in edge cases and unconventional searches\n(where it really matters) Google completely creams the competition. While Bing\ncame closest to providing search results as accurate as Googles it still\nwasn't at any comparable level, so all in all I agree with your point.\n\n\\---\n\n~~~\ngjm11\nI wonder whether it's an automatic consequence of having substantial negative\nkarma.\n\n(I'm ambivalent about the stealth-blacklisting thing. It's probably the right\nthing to do with genuinely abusive users. It might be the right thing with\npeople genuinely incapable of contributing much. But I've seen too many cases\nwhere someone's comments are all being auto-deaded -- invisibly to them, AIUI\n-- with no obvious reason why they should deserve it.)\n\n~~~\njules\nRight, the system is far too trigger happy. Instead of showing a newcomer what\nkind of comments are valued here and possibly gaining a valuable new\ncontributor, the system severely punishes beginner mistakes. We can't\nreasonably expect that a new user knows what kind of comments are valued\nbecause on the rest of the internet such comments are perfectly acceptable.\nPerhaps something like Quora does would help: before you can use the site you\nhave to do a quiz on what kind of comments are good comments.\n\n~~~\nredthrowaway\n\"Perhaps something like Quora does would help: before you can use the site you\nhave to do a quiz on what kind of comments are good comments.\"\n\nReally? Sorry, but that sounds like a terrible idea. HN is already insular\nenough, we don't need to start demanding newcomers pass a test before we let\nthem comment.\n\n~~~\njules\nLet's see. There are two groups of people: people who would have passed the\ntest and people who would not have. The people who would not have would most\nlikely be hellbanned after their first 3 comments (and of course people are\nallowed to take the test as many times as they want). So you lose nothing. By\nusing a test fewer legitimate people get hellbanned. In other words, this is\nonly going to improve the situation. I'm not talking about a difficult test\nhere: just a couple of questions like:\n\nComment: LOL\n\nIs this an acceptable comment?\n\nRight now people are used to that being an acceptable comment on the rest of\nthe internet. These people currently get hellbanned on HN because other people\ndownvote these comments. It's not a test for testing whether the people are\nacceptable on HN, it's method of teaching customs and a test for whether\npeople have read the guidelines.\n\n~~~\nredthrowaway\nI'm not opposed to it because I think it wouldn't keep bad posters off, I'm\nopposed to it because it would keep _most_ posters off. It's arrogant and\nself-righteous. \"Sorry, you have to _prove_ you're good enough to post on our\nholy news aggregator.\"\n\nIt leaves a bitter taste in my mouth and it's the last thing this community\nneeds.\n\n~~~\njules\nSo you're saying that the current method of silencing those people without\neven notifying them is preferred? They keep posting and most times their posts\nadd value. Yet these posts are invisible to users without the showdead option\non.\n\n~~~\nredthrowaway\nThe karma metric is pretty transparent. You learn very quickly which comments\nare and are not appreciated. Dropping a friendly comment to someone you see\nwho hasn't caught on yet works, as well.\n\nWhat do you think the likes of a Matt Cutts would do if they were trying to\nsign up for HN and the site forced them to say whether \"LOL\" was an\nappropriate comment before allowing them to post? It's insulting and arrogant\nand will drive away the kind of people we want posting here. All that for a\n\"problem\" that is invisible the vast majority of the time.\n\n~~~\njules\nStopping famous people from signing up is a good point.\n\nOn the other hand the system is clearly broken now.\n\n> The karma metric is pretty transparent. You learn very quickly which\n> comments are and are not appreciated. Dropping a friendly comment to someone\n> you see who hasn't caught on yet works, as well.\n\nThis is not the case as it is currently implemented. If one of your first\ncomments gets downvoted you get hellbanned. There is no chance to learn from\nyour mistakes. Dropping a friendly comment doesn't work either because you\ncannot respond to hellbanned people. Do you have showdead on? Try it and\nyou'll probably see that about half of the hellbanned people still posting\ninvisible comments are legitimate. For example you will find 3 of those people\ncommenting on this post, two of them having no idea that nobody is reading\ntheir comments.\n\nFor example look at <http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=bshock>\n\nThis guy has been banned for 2 downvoted comments and has been posting\nlegitimate but invisible comments for over a year. You can clearly see the\nlearning effects: his first couple of comments are not HN quality.\nUnfortunately by the time he got accustomed to HN he had been silenced.\n\n~~~\nredthrowaway\nI think we can fix hellbanning without too much tinkering. Perhaps a simple\nnotice if someone's first posts are downvoted advising them to check the\nsubmissions and comments guidelines, perhaps with some common first time\nmistakes and their more preferable counterparts added. That should help the\nnoobs while still allowing trolls to be banned.\n\n------\nenjo\nThis is tangential, but somehow related:\n\nMy level of frustration Redmond has reached epic levels. My company spends\nthousands of dollars a week managing advertising campaigns on Adcenter. They\nhave an API which has been nothing but issues, but given the breadth of our\nadvertising base it's absolutely necessary that we use it.\n\nToday we have entered day number FIVE of an outage in which the API (at least\none critical portion of it) simply errors out no matter what call you make. So\nfor five days we've been unable to pause campaigns, change bid prices, or\notherwise do anything to effectively manage our campaigns.\n\nIt's nuts. This is the second major outage in the last couple of weeks. The\npart that KILLS me is that nobody in Redmond seems to give a damn. They\nannounced that they had a problem two days after I brought it to their\nattention. They are apparently working on some sort of fix that may or may not\nbe pushed sometime in the last three days.\n\nMeanwhile we are absolutely blowing through cash because of the things that we\ncan't adjust. We're tens of thousands of keywords spread out over more than a\nthousand campaigns. We don't employ anybody to manage these by hand...\n\n~~~\nforwardslash\nI assume you're using the REST API? While they try and roll out a fix, have\nyou tried to use the adCenter Desktop to at least somewhat manage the ads?\n\n~~~\nAJ007\nThat might work if adcenter desktop was actually stable!\n\n~~~\nrobryan\nThat would be of little comfort I'd imagine if you had a lot of custom stuff\nrunning through the API. At least they opened the thing up recently to add\ncustomers, that's a step in the right direction. (Although that could also be\nthe cause of instability, they did have years to prepare for it though.)\n\n------\nmattmanser\nThe whole article seems to be back to front.\n\nAs far as I knew Live search was essentially failing then they made it Bing\nand it's started to succeed.\n\nAm I missing something here or what?\n\nI'm no expert on the history but it seems to me that the opposite of what the\nauthor is saying actually happened!\n\n~~~\nnchlswu\nI think that's one of the objectives of this article; provide that alternate\nperspective.\n\nI thought that Bing was the true turning point as well, but I never gave Live\nSearch a fair chance then, and I don't think many others did either.\n\nTo me, it looks like the author saw Bing/Live Search as something truly\ntransformational within Microsoft. Public perception was that Live was a\nfailure. But if I understand currently, the team was easily beating internal\nestimates extremely fast . For one reason or another there was a team\nreorganization that coincided with the PowerSet acquisition and the Bing\nrebrand. While there was a jump in market share, the foundation of the Bing\nteam was taken out from under them and replaced with MS status quo.\n\nBing's death isn't a result of their success or failure as a search engine.\nBing's death refers to the loss of something that could have made a difference\nin Microsoft, internally. The death of a team that could have done something\ntruly great , (EDIT: as said by Cicero, when they were at their peak).\n\n~~~\ndwc\n_> Public perception was that Live was a failure._\n\nAt that time I was paying a lot of attention to search results, from two\nperspectives: 1) I had some slightly unusual / difficult searches I performed\nregularly, and 2) examining search terms that brought people to some sites I\nran.\n\nFor case 1, Google simply wiped the floor with Live. Note that Live had the\nmost relevant results in their index, but they'd be _way_ down on the 5th\npage, 10th page, wherever.\n\nFor case 2, the majority of people coming to my sites from Live were coming\nthere with search terms indicating that they did not want my site. For\nexample, I had content for Phoenix, AZ and some polls. My site stayed within\nthe top 5 on Live for search terms like \"phoenix polling locations.\" Of course\nevery site gets some of this from any search engine, but with Live is was\nproblematic.\n\nMy perception was that Live was a failure, and I think my reasons were valid.\n\n~~~\nnchlswu\nI was too young and never paid attention to search results. I definitely think\nyour reasons are valid.\n\nI didn't intend to say people's perspectives weren't, rather that from an\ninsider's perspective, Live was very much approaching success.\n\n------\nMatt_Cutts\n\"They [Bing] had weekly release cycles - faster than Google back then\"\n\nHmm. I'm gonna have to disagree with that part. :)\n\n~~~\nmyprasanna\nMatt, How long would you estimate, for a search changelist to hit the\nproduction at Google? I've got friends working there. Prepare to be surprised.\n\n~~~\nhexis\nI think you've got a bit of a surprise in store for you, too, when you find\nout what Matt does for a living.\n\n~~~\nmyprasanna\nGot it :)\n\nI still know for a fact that, it takes at-least a month on average, for a\nsearch change list to reach production. Would you disagree Matt?\n\n~~~\nshadowmatter\nI'm an ex-Googler, and I disagree. Before I left the GWS team\n(<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/29/google_web_server/>) became a model\nfor how frequent, stable releases should be done within the company. That's\nall I'll say.\n\n~~~\nmyprasanna\nI've just recently spoken with my friends, and I know for a fact that it\natleast takes a month from point of checkin to review/test/stage/production.\nIf you disagree, I think what you are talking about, is probably an exception\nand not the norm.\n\nBeing secretive about release cycles is pointless stealth.\n\n~~~\nSemiapies\nWhat else do you \"know for a fact\"?\n\n------\nathom\n\"The report of my death was an exaggeration.\" -- Mark Twain\n\nI was having a look at Terabyte drives in Best Buy yesterday, and while\nwondering how well a model might work with Linux, I realized, now the display\ncomputers actually have internet capability, I _should_ be able to look it up\nright there in the store! So, I wander over to a convenient laptop, kick it\nout of screensaver mode, start up the browser, and plug in the product name.\nOnly after I hit the search button did I notice WHAT service I was using.\nAdded bonus: Google was NOT an option.\n\nI'll believe that Bing is dead when it isn't the default search engine in the\ndefault browser on the default operating system at the default computer store.\n\n------\njdp23\nInteresting perspectives. I was there in 2006-2007 when they made the decision\nto throw resources at the problem and challenge Google head-on in algorithmic\nsearch. The strategy at the time was to become #2 in a duopoly by investing at\na level that Yahoo! couldn't compete with, and focus on the most valuable\nsearches (travel, shopping, etc.), and leverage Microsoft Research a lot more.\n\nFrom an abstract business perspective it's worked remarkably well. But if so\nmany motivated and talented people are leaving, then there's something\nfundamentally flawed. And there were a lot of other much-less-expensive\napproaches they could have taken instead (or in addition, if they wanted to\nshoot for the moon) that would have also created a lot more opportunities for\ngrowth and excitement for younger engineers in particular. Ah well.\n\n------\nhanifvirani\nStrange. To me, as an outsider, it looks like Bing has just started to get\ngood enough to be considered as a threat to Google. Of course, they have a\n_long long_ way to go. But it appears as a rapidly emerging product rather\nthan a dying product.\n\n~~~\nkenjackson\nI agree. It was only in the last year that I could use Bing as my primary\nsearch engine.\n\n------\nscorpion032\nThe biggest problem that comes in the way is the condescending attitude of the\n\"grown ups\". It is very important for the \"management\" to realize that they\nare actually only facilitating what is \"happening\" and they should let the\nsystem handle itself and get out of the way than get into and disturb the\nexisting norm.\n\n~~~\nraganwald\nOne of the most serious problems with modern \"management\" is that the\nincentives are all wrong. Imagine that I hire a programmer and pay him by the\nline of code. This idea has been so thoroughly debunked that it is nearly\nimpossible to write out the consequences without sounding cliché. Yet it\nhappens all the time: Companies promote \"Architects\" who are evaluated by the\nweight of their \"architecture.\" The result is stultifying and demoralizing.\nThe architect does not work to facilitate the programmer's work, he works to\nproduce evidence of his contribution in the form of frameworks, standards, and\nsoftware process.\n\nSo, how are most managers evaluated? By the amount of \"managing\" they do, as\nmeasured by the amount of process they impose on their team. Evaluating a\nmanager by the amount of managing they _do_ is exactly the same thing as\nevaluating a programmer by the amount of code they write. And it produces\nresults like you describe, where the manager works to produce evidence of\ntheir management in the form of processes and decisions from the top down,\nrather than facilitating the work actually being done.\n\nIn a simplistic world, the answer would be to change the incentives and the\nbehaviour would change itself. But as they say, \"correlation does not equal\ncausation.\" The incentives have to change, but so do the people. Results-\noriented managers don't work in those kind of environments to begin with, and\nafter a year or two in such a place they will already have left. You need to\nchange the incentives and the culture and the people all together.\n\n~~~\nJoeAltmaier\nMiddle managers are rewarded for making budget and meeting release dates.\nSeems good, right?\n\nSo they agitate for (wait for it) maximum budget and minimum feature set. So\nthat success is assured and their metric is optimized.\n\nUnfortunately those things are exactly contrary to company goals. Why does\nthis happen?\n\n{opinion} Middle managers are too remote from either customers (financial\ngoals) or top management (company goals). They're in the middle, right? With\nlayers between them and either end.\n\nAnd when you try to optimize any process with too many degrees of freedom, you\nhave too many variables and get to choose which ones to look at. So middle\nmanagers look at their own career and ignore the rest.\n\nMy suggestion: line up all middle managers in the parking lot (important),\nstand at the end of the line, and put one bullet through all of them\n(optimizes cost in bullets).\n\nIf my company Ever has middle managers, its time to call it quits.\n\n~~~\najays\nI think it's not the presence of middle managers; but how they are evaluated\nand incentivized. I don't envy their jobs; the upper managers have entire\nteams with clear tasks; the engineers on the other side have stuff to do; the\nmiddle managers are, well, caught in the middle. So they try to make\nthemselves relevant by injecting themselves into various processes; by\nblocking things to make sure that everyone knows that they are present; by\ntaking credit wherever possible.\n\nSo eventually it's the fault of the upper management, if they can't come up\nwith the right incentive scheme to keep things moving smoothly.\n\nI hate middle-managers too with a passion; but having seen them operate, I\ncan't blame them for doing what they do. They're just playing the game by the\nrules. Blame the one who made up the rules.\n\n------\nrufugee\n_Bing was extremely lavish in compensation, making offers to the best hackers\nfor $90K/year when the adjacent teams were making $75K/year offers._\n\nThis is what really stood out to me. I'm in tech management these days...I pay\nmy good developers close to $90K, and I'm no Google or Microsoft. What's wrong\nwith this picture? Bing was created what...four years ago? Is this really a\nrealistic salary for the best hackers?\n\n------\nfferen\nFor all the people saying X search engine is better, here's a tool to compare\nGoogle and Bing (and Yahoo) results without bias. It simply shows you three\ncolumns of results, you click on the one with the best results, and it reveals\nwhich ones came from which search engines.\n\n<http://blindsearch.fejus.com/>\n\nNote: I am not affiliated with this site in any way.\n\n~~~\nGFischer\nHmmm, it's giving me the wrong results... it shows the results I voted from\nare from \"Bing\", but when I went to Google it showed me those results, and\nBing's results where the ones marked \"Yahoo\".\n\nSee here\n\n[http://blindsearch.fejus.com/?q=21+de+setiembre+y+sarmiento&...](http://blindsearch.fejus.com/?q=21+de+setiembre+y+sarmiento&type=web)\n\nit would have me believe that Bing's were the better results (they weren't for\nthis particular search).\n\nAlso, when I'm logged in and using my country-specific search, Google is way,\nway, way better than the competition.\n\nEdit: I'll probably message the creator (parent is not affiliated with the\nsite)\n\n------\nInclinedPlane\nI don't know that Bing has \"failed\" yet, but I highly doubt it'll be anything\nother than one amongst many in the pack in 5 years.\n\nMicrosoft has always been good at the pivotal turnaround. Recognizing when a\nkey moment was on the wind, mustering together a tremendous effort, making a\ngood number of smart decisions and putting out a solid anchor product that\n(re)cements their position in the industry and reinvigorates the brand in\ndoing so. Windows 95 and Windows 7 are perfect examples. IE4 (yes really),\nBing, and Windows Phone 7 are also good examples. One of the big problems with\nMicrosoft is that its organization and its culture are extremely tied to the\ntraditional 3-ish year ship cycle. A hugely successful diving catch every\nother ship cycle or so is rapidly becoming less and less feasible as a means\nto hang on to or acquire a market. Microsoft does not seem to get the web at a\nfundamental level, it doesn't seem to have the capacity to release software at\na pace of yearly, monthly, or continuously.\n\nAnd that will ultimately be the undoing of Bing and the Windows Phone. The\nonly way MS knows how to crank out releases faster is the deathmarch, and that\nis a certain route to doom.\n\nWorse yet, since Gates left MS has no real technical or managerial leadership,\nit's bureaucracy all the way up and down. This has been affecting the culture\nat Microsoft little by little, also partly coupled to the stock price having\nplateaued. More and more talented devs are finding that MS lacks the\nexcitement and the reward of cutting edge development, so they are moving\nelsewhere. Also, without that talent around fewer good projects are pushed\nforward, fewer projects succeed, people become less satisfied with their jobs,\netc. (think about the movie \"It's a Wonderful Life\" only translate the bad\nstuff, on a corporate level, to hundreds and then thousands of George Bailey's\ngoing away). This makes the environment that much less rewarding for everyone\nelse who remains, so yet more people leave. And slowly but surely the creep of\na more rigid and bureaucratic corporate culture and organization fills in the\ngaps left by the people who had the most clout in the company, causing yet\nmore and more talent to evaporate away.\n\nIt's a self-reinforcing cycle that will lead to the rapid diminution of the\ncompany and its prospects over time and the examples the article provides of\nthe process as it happened at Bing have played out throughout the company.\nNobody young with high prospects seriously considers Microsoft as a\ndestination anymore, and increasingly the older devs are either retiring on\ntheir massive earnings from the glory days or they're just looking for\nsomewhere else to be that's a better use of their time and talent.\n\nMS continues to make a crap-ton of money from its core products, but it will\nbe institutionally ham-strung in responding to the threats that will steal\naway that revenue (such as mobile-heritage operating systems). Because those\nthreats will grow at a rate MS is incapable of competing with.\n\n~~~\nbrudgers\n> _\"I don't know that Bing has \"failed\" yet, but I highly doubt it'll be\n> anything other than one amongst many in the pack in 5 years.\"_\n\nFor Microsoft, having a full featured reliable non-core product with\nmeasurable market share is a success because it allows Microsoft to offer\nvertical integration without the specter of anti-trust allegations - imagine\nthe howling in DC and Europe if Bing controlled 70% of search (never mind the\nvalley).\n\nBing's robustness helps Microsoft sell software and services, while it's\nmodest market share keeps infrastructure costs lower and Microsoft's core\nrevenue stream coming from areas other than search reduces the pressure to\ngame search algorithms towards their advertisers in order to increase revenue\nin the way that Google does.\n\nWhat the article shows is not that Microsoft is inept, but rather that they\nare able to create an internal unit with many elements of a startup, scale\nthat unit massively, and then transition it into a solid corporate structure\ncapable of surviving over the long term - in other words, the article shows\nthat Microsoft was not only able to successfully foster internal\nentrepreneurship in order to quickly move into a new market and capture\nmeaningful market share in the face of a mammoth, entrenched, and powerful\nrival which dominated the market, but also to consolidate that position\nswiftly before their rival could respond in a significant way.\n\n~~~\nSplines\nI'm not following you. I imagine that the Bing team would gladly increase\ntheir market share in exchange for the costs involved.\n\n~~~\nmredbord\nOf course more market share is good. But Microsoft is not purely interested in\ngrowing share with Bing; non-differentiation with Google is a good thing in\nand of itself. The less differentiated Microsoft is from Google, the greater\nperception of their platform having feature parity with Google. That way\nconsumers are not forced to choose based on features, just ecosystem.\n\nThis is a the reason that Microsoft is a fast copier of market leaders, so\nthat everything consumers could want, on paper, is housed within their roof\n(and Google's). It seems counterintuitive that less differentiation would be\nuseful, but I think it's what Microsoft is going for.\n\n~~~\nCossolus\nMicrosoft used to be able to \"embrace and extend\" in order to extinguish the\ncompetitor. With Bing it seems they can only \"embrace\", by which I mean\ncopying and trying to decrease differentiation. But look at the trend. In the\nfuture, when/if Google search incorporates social feedback effects (ala +1),\nBing won't even have the user-base to be able to copy the competitor, let\nalone extend and extinguish.\n\nOne look at my website statistics tells me Bing is already as good as dead.\n\n~~~\nDaveMebs\nYeah, except Bing gets to mine Facebook and Google doesn't. Maybe that's why\nit has a higher success rate?\n\n[http://www.bing.com/community/site_blogs/b/search/archive/20...](http://www.bing.com/community/site_blogs/b/search/archive/2010/10/13/bing-\ngets-more-social-with-facebook.aspx)\n\n[http://www.stateofsearch.com/bing-gaining-share-in-the-us-\nsu...](http://www.stateofsearch.com/bing-gaining-share-in-the-us-success-rate-\nmuch-higher-than-google/)\n\n------\njeremydavid\nJust thought I'd let you know your text rendered _very_ small on my browser,\nand the light grey quotes were almost unreadable.\n\n~~~\nsteve-howard\nIndeed, I have no idea why bloggers are so insistent on using gray-on-white\nquotations.\n\n------\ntocomment\nBing is dead?\n\n~~~\nbartl\nWell, according to this post, everyone who was technically knowledgeable about\nBing has left.\n\nThat implies that there will no longer be any relevant technical progress, any\nmore.\n\n~~~\ncdesmar\nNot sure this is relevant progress but 18 march bing for \"HG download\" gave no\nmercurial results (hg was assumed to be a mistyping of HD), by 24 march it was\ngiving all mercurial results. I twittered about both.\n\nThat is at least anecdotal evidence that things are progressing in some way or\nanother.\n\n~~~\ncode_duck\nUnpredictability is progress?\n\n~~~\ncdesmar\nReturning meaningful results is progress.\n\nWhy would you want a predictably wrong answer, you must be a manager.\n\n~~~\ncode_duck\nActually, you've plotted two data points here. That doesn't tell you much.\n\nHow do you know it doesn't go back to showing irrelevant results on the 28th?\n\n------\nwightnoise\nThe only value I ever had for Bing was their cashback shopping engine, and\nthey've gotten rid of that.\n\nBirth and Death of Jellyfish.com\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jellyfish.com>\n\n------\nRyanMcGreal\n> They totally din't see Google as a threat, till it had a huge market cap.\n> (Don't be evil, was a joke?)\n\nDoes having a huge market cap automatically make a company evil?\n\n~~~\ndstein\nNot automatically. But I think it would be easy to prove there's a correlation\nbetween market cap and corruption.\n\n~~~\nantiterra\nIf it would be easy, then perhaps you should do it. Such a conclusion would\nhave a nice amount of academic value.\n\nI imagine there are a large number of small and/or untraded businesses with\ndishonest or illegal practices. Perhaps data would even show that larger\nmarket cap indicates corruption is less likely, depending on your measurement\nfor corruption?\n\n------\nTheCondor\nA buddy and I were drinking months back, and for whatever reason (most likely\nseveral beers was the reason) he misinterpreted the Bing and Facebook\narrangement that was made for \"Facebook is buying Bing.\"\n\nCompletely un-Microsoft, I can't see it happening but if it did.. Damn that\ncould make things interesting.\n\nBing is interesting, it's a great attempt. The problem is Microsoft, so long\nas they're running it and setting the \"standard\" for it, it's going to be a\nfailure. It's not going to knock Google off their perch. It's just not. And\nanything less than that will be a failure. Cut that team and product free,\nhand it over to like a facebook? IBM went through some similar stuff, MS\nshould be spinning stuff out, if their current phone effort fails again to\nlive up to their hype, they should just cut that group free too, let them go\nand be successful. that stuff creates new industries which in turn create new\nopportunities for everybody, including MS. Let Bing or Bing + FB cultivate an\narmy of guys that want to get rich and can control their own destiny, the\noutput will be far more interesting\n\n------\narihant\nBut what if Bing uses Microsoft's Facebook ties to bring social to search?\nIsn't that the root of \"Google is scared by social\" thing that's going on?\n\nA lot of times when things seem to be dead, they are on the edge of killing\neverything else.\n\n------\nrjhackin\nI am not sure about the death of Bing, Bing has momentum and they should take\nit forward and not lose ground. Competition is important to bring the best out\nof technology.\n\n------\nrebelidealist\nWould you consider likealittle.com a startup?\n\nThe definition of a startup is company with a limited operating history and a\ncompany is an organization aimed at making profits.\n\n------\ntedsbardella\nThe web site he is promoting is very creepy.\n\n------\nrorrr\n> _Bing was extremely lavish in compensation, making offers to the best\n> hackers for $90K/year_\n\nIs this a joke?\n\n~~~\naChrisSmith\nNo. Remember the article talked about poaching students right out of college.\n$90k a year isn't much for an experienced developer, however right out of\ncollege (and at the time) that was 10-20k more than they could expect joining\nanother company.\n\n~~~\nrorrr\n\"experienced hackers\" and \"students right out of college\" are quite different\nin my world view.\n\n------\nfranklindholm\nIs this written in English?\n\n------\ndvfer\nBing is not really providing anything more than google's service. It only\nshows \"big company's\" routine of trying to drive others out of business. Death\nfor Bing.\n\n~~~\nparfe\nI disagree. I remembered Bing's decision engine commercials when looking for a\nplane ticket. Turns out that Bing is way better for flights than Google is, by\nfar. Just try typing New York City to Los Angeles into both search engines.\nBing finds what you are after and Google does not.\n\n~~~\nkami8845\nI prefer how Google handles that search query. If you're looking for a flight\ndoes entering 'fly' after your two destinations really hurt that much? 'to' is\n-more often than not - a pretty meaningless keyword, and I'm pretty sure most\npeople don't want half of what's above the fold to be taken up by flight\ninformation if all they enter is a very general 'New York City to Los\nAngeles'.\n\n~~~\nparfe\nIt's not just the flight specific widget bing has, but the fact is\nconsolidates several sites worth of data into a single interface. On Google\nyou don't get a unified view of data. The ticket vendor is not important to\nme. It's only the flight cost and number of stopovers that matter, which\ngoogle does not help with.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nDo we still need photoshop to create great website? - damaru\n\nBut even further, do we still need proprietary software in our workflow to create the best web design, now that we have tools like css3, saas compass and a plethora of javascript tools ?\n======\nrobotys\nIt is the same with hand sketching, nothing beats fast mockup of what the end\nresult could be.\n\nUnless we can code faster than using photoshop. Untill that, photoshop will be\naround.\n\n~~~\ndamaru\nBut that's what I see with generator like yeoman, bootstrap template and\ncompass mixin, it's getting really fast to get a UI up and running. I mean\nmaking a quadratic color palette in sass is simple 3rd grade math, shading,\ngrading and other color transformation are few mixin away. I can't have a\nfunction in photoshop that tell give me the best contrast on the font I use\nwhen I change the color of my button for example. And I am wondering how it\nhas affected the workflow.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nKramera - samlassman\nhttps://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/kramera/id753155884?mt=8\n\n======\nsamlassman\nseinfeldify your life!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: Kickstarter project for snap-together, desktop trebuchets - carpdiem\nhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1803756771/trebuchette-the-snap-together-desktop-trebuchet\n\n======\nvnchr\nThis guys need 1600 pre-sales to make this happen? (their unit price of the\nsmallest product divided into the fundraising minimum goal)\n\nEven if they get an array of donations/sales for their smallest to biggest\nversions, that's a lofty goal to set as the minimum requirement to produce\nthese things for the public.\n\nI call that this is truly a niche product and the fundraiser won't hit $48k...\n\n~~~\ncarpdiem\nWell, it's a combination of two things:\n\n1) We wanted to keep the price / trebuchet low, so our margin after materials\nis slim.\n\nand\n\n2) The laser cutter that we need to produce these is expensive.\n\nBut such is life!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Borg Voice Generator - dsteinman\nhttps://jaxcore.github.io/jaxcore-say/borg-example/\n======\nagucova\nI've always wondered if there is something like this for the voice of Majel\nBarrett-Roddenberry (Computer). I know her voice was recorder phonetically\nbefore she died ([https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-voice-of-star-treks-computers-\nco...](https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-voice-of-star-treks-computers-could-be-\ncoming-to-bo-1786251988)), but I don't think there's public access to that.\n\nPerhaps transfer learning could be used to copy the style, using something\nlike SV2TTS.\n\n~~~\ndsteinman\nAs far as I know they have not released those phonetic recordings. But even\nwithout those recordings it might be possible to use those deepfake voice\nfingerprinting systems to build an STT engine from sound clips from the show.\n\n~~~\nmakerofspoons\nIIRC there are a lot of sound clips voiced by her on the Star Trek\nEncyclopedia CD:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star_Trek_Encyclopedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star_Trek_Encyclopedia)\n\n------\nUI_at_80x24\nVery cool effort, but I think it sounds more like Daleks from Dr. Who.\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQLbwOGT8eM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQLbwOGT8eM)\n\n~~~\nnerfhammer\nIncidentally the Dalek voice is an effect that can be accomplished really\ncheaply in hardware or software, called a ring modulator:\n\n[https://webaudio.prototyping.bbc.co.uk/ring-\nmodulator/](https://webaudio.prototyping.bbc.co.uk/ring-modulator/)\n\n~~~\ndavidw\nDr Who used cheap special effects?! Say it ain't so!\n\nI loved the Tom Baker version as a kid.\n\n------\nnulbyte\nFun project, I'm sure, but sounds nothing like the Borg I remember.\n\n~~~\nGys\nI agree, this is how I remember it:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyenRCJ_4Ww](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyenRCJ_4Ww)\n\n~~~\nUI_at_80x24\nSame here. It's obvious from the other clip provided that the voice evolved\nover time; but it's not something I noticed at the time. The voice you linked\nto is the one that is most memorable to me.\n\n~~~\nmathgeek\n> It's obvious from the other clip provided that the voice evolved over time\n\nI'd be surprised if this wasn't intentional, based on the premise.\n\n------\ndevbas\nIt doesn't work for me in Safari on Mac\n\n~~~\ngreggman2\nSafari has all kinds of issues with audio. Every report just leads to a rdar:\nurl and then silence, both from Apple and from Safari haha (cry)\n\nFor a while couldn't send streamed but redirected audio through the webaudio\napi on Safari only. Workaround was to manually catch the redirect but the\nlatest safari that doesn't help.\n\nLike WebGL I don't think Apple wants Web Audio to work. They've got several\noutstanding bugs in WebGL (3yrs+) and their non-existent WebGL2 support as not\nseen a single commit in > 3yrs. Web Audio appears to be the same. It's\nfrustrating.\n\n~~~\ntinus_hn\nThey do have their own Apple Music streaming platform, perhaps you can just do\nwhat they do\n\n------\ngreggman2\nThis is cool but I'm curious why it sounds so much worse than the built in\nspeech to text API\n\n[http://greggman.github.io/fanfictionreader/](http://greggman.github.io/fanfictionreader/)\n\nWhich voices are available are browser and OS dependent and there's no \"borg\"\nvoice anymore. There used to be several alien and or non human voices but\nApple removed them from the OS and most browsers just call the OS's text to\nspeech API\n\n\\--correction--\n\nYou need to go into the VoiceOver Utilities and add all the novalaty voices\nback in\n\n[https://recordit.co/ZGgw9MhepW](https://recordit.co/ZGgw9MhepW)\n\n~~~\ndsteinman\nThis wasn't made with the window.speechSynthesis API, it's using 2 older\nsystems (espeak and sam) that have been ported to JavaScript. They don't sound\nas good but they generate AudioContext data which can be processed, mixed, and\nvisualized in the browser. I don't think it wouldn't be possible to make this\nkind of Borg voice using the speechSynthesis API -- I did it by generating the\nspeech using 6 voices, 3 in each channel.\n\nI totally agree the built-in OS speech systems sound better over and I may end\nup adding window.speechSynthesis support to the API I made so it'll expose\nmore voice profiles, but those ones will lack the visualization ability.\n\n------\ndegenerate\nCan this be modified to include the original voices from the 1998 _Microsoft\nSam TTS Generator_ , or is that voice technology not open-source?\n\nex: [https://tetyys.com/SAPI4/](https://tetyys.com/SAPI4/)\n\n~~~\ndsteinman\nI like the way that one sounds. But it looks like it's using a server-side\nscript to generate the audio:\n\nview-\nsource:[https://tetyys.com/SAPI4/scripts/tts.js](https://tetyys.com/SAPI4/scripts/tts.js)\n\n------\ndurpleDrank\nIt would be fun if you could generate a link with a hash of a message so you\ncan send it to your friends and coworkers with a silly message that autoplays.\n\n~~~\ndsteinman\nIt already does this, when you click the \"say\" button it generates a base64\nurl. You can share that url. The problem is when someone loads the URL the\nbrowser will not autoplay the clip. You have to click a button (or some other\nuser interaction) to start the Web Audio API, it's a really annoying\nlimitation that I wish Firefox and Chrome would change to a one-time popup\nconfirmation. So what I did was hide the text box until after playing the\naudio.\n\n------\nm4r35n357\nscary!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nLearn Echolocation like a Dolphin - wglb\nhttp://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/06/echolocation/\n\n======\nwglb\nWhen I was in high school, I had a blind friend who used something similar to\ndo some rather amazing things. He would follow me on his bicycle (!), tracking\nby the sound the bike made. Solo, he could turn into the driveway next to his\nhouse. When prompted, he told me he could tell where he was by the trees.\nWhat? \"Yes, I can hear the sound the trees make\". The light rustling of the\nleaves, the reflection of the bike's sound off the tree itself.\n\nI suspect that we may use a bit of this already without being aware of it.\n\nI have always felt that there are opportunities to extend our senses, not only\nby practice as suggested by the article, but also by some sort of electronic\nassist.\n\n------\nRiderOfGiraffes\nA few months ago I had to spend four days with my eyes closed. I was surprised\nto discover that I could tell where my coffee was just by holding out my hands\nand tracking the heat source. I also tended to stop suddenly when walking\naround, feeling that something was wrong, and then finding that there was\nindeed an object out of place and in the way. Sometimes these were quite small\n- mug-sized (although not mugs).\n\nFeynman had more to say about training the senses. You can read about it in\nhis semi-autobiographical books.\n\n------\nBjoern\nComparing Human Echo location to a Dolphin is highly unfair, at least for the\nhuman. The Dolphins brain has specifically adapted to use this technique and\nit is quite impressive. Dolphins are actually able to see through things which\nblock their view of an object. Meaning that they can distinguish objects\nwithout actually seeing them directly.\n\nHere is more on this:\n\n[http://www.guba.com/watch/2000977386?duration_step=0&fie...](http://www.guba.com/watch/2000977386?duration_step=0&fields=8&filter_tiny=0&pp=5&query=404934828&sb=7&set=5&sf=0&size_step=0&o=3&sample=1231730837:f40ae2aaa7e3b1508fe84d3aa954dc6b786be741)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFile sharing is for everyone. With Dropshare Cloud - tisba\nhttps://dropshare.cloud/\n======\ntisba\nThat service is actually a batteries included hosting service for the very\nwell made desktop file sharing tool Dropshare\n([https://getdropsha.re/](https://getdropsha.re/)).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nNew theory explains the origin of Saturn's rings - japaget\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/12/12/science/AP-US-SCI-Saturn-Rings.html\n\n======\nDupDetector\nIf you like that, you'll like this:\n\n\"Elegant New Theory Explains Origin Of Asteroid Belt (technologyreview.com)\"\n\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1991448>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nPolygonal Map Generation, HTML5 Version - signa11\nhttps://simblob.blogspot.com.au/2017/09/mapgen2-html5.html\n======\nindescions_2017\n\"New algorithms\" for tilemap generation?\n\nMaxim Gumin’s WaveFunctionCollapse is fast and produces nice results. A recent\npaper has been published outlining its technique.\n\nWaveFunctionCollapse is Constraint Solving in the Wild\n\n[http://isaackarth.com/papers/wfc_is_constraint_solving_in_th...](http://isaackarth.com/papers/wfc_is_constraint_solving_in_the_wild/)\n\nCombine WFC with a touch of \"domain distortion\" to add some organic panache:\n\n[http://www.iquilezles.org/www/articles/warp/warp.htm](http://www.iquilezles.org/www/articles/warp/warp.htm)\n\nOr if you have space for several terabytes of high resolution NASA satellite\nimagery, you can always use that as a training set ;)\n\nA step towards procedural terrain generation with GANs\n\n[https://arxiv.org/abs/1707.03383](https://arxiv.org/abs/1707.03383)\n\n~~~\namitp\nAll cool techniques — also see this paper about procedural terrain generation\nwith GANs\n\n[https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01583706v2](https://hal.archives-\nouvertes.fr/hal-01583706v2)\n\n~~~\nindescions_2017\nNow there is a potential demo ;)\n\nAnd thanks to you Amit for your gamedev resources. I reference your site all\nthe time and know many have learned a lot from them!\n\n------\ntimvdalen\nI really like this generator and the original tutorial.\n\nIn fact, I implemented a version of this in C++/OpenGL a few years back for a\nschool project: [https://github.com/Heightened/2IV06-map-\ngenerator](https://github.com/Heightened/2IV06-map-generator)\n\nWe also built a 3D viewer that could then display the generated maps:\n[https://github.com/Heightened/2IV06-map-\nviewer](https://github.com/Heightened/2IV06-map-viewer)\n\nIt was a fun project, we got some really nice results:\n[https://imgur.com/a/VlkYk](https://imgur.com/a/VlkYk)\n\n------\nwiz21c\nI tried it, it looks very much made of hexagons... It feels like a wargame\nmap. I wonder how it looks if it's rendered in 3D.\n\n~~~\nfenwick67\nIt's using \"barycentric dual mesh\", which is a lot like Voronoi, so you get\nlots of 5,6, and 7-sided polygons.\n\n[https://www.redblobgames.com/x/1721-voronoi-\nalternative/](https://www.redblobgames.com/x/1721-voronoi-alternative/)\n\nIf you turn on \"lighting\" you will get a good idea for how it would look in\n3d, I agree it would be cool to set this to a heightmap and look around it in\n3d with Google Maps style controls.\n\nDangit, there goes my weekend.\n\n~~~\nwiz21c\nMaybe it's because it's based on some noise ? Maybe there are actual geology\nsimulator somewhere ? That'd be interesting, a simulation of a mountain\ngrowing over 1 billion years...\n\n------\nZelizz\nReading through these articles and the linked papers was both thrilling and\ndisheartening. Thrilling, because it's a huge amount of information that is\nimmediately interesting and useful to me. Disheartening, because I have been\nworking on similar things for two years now and always feel like I'm\nstruggling more than the authors.\n\n------\ndrabiega\nLink doesn't work for me, but I found the article on the site:\n[http://simblob.blogspot.com/2017/09/mapgen2-html5.html](http://simblob.blogspot.com/2017/09/mapgen2-html5.html)\n\n~~~\nfalsedan\nApparently flagging a submission doesn't get the mods attention, and we should\nemail them if we see these kinds of errors in links/typos in titles. What's\nthe email address to use?\n\n~~~\ngrzm\nYou can contact the mods via the Contact link in the footer.\n\n------\nCodeCube\nIf the author happens to read this, thanks for Realm of the Mad God. Fantastic\ngame :)\n\n~~~\namitp\nGlad you liked it! It's still going, with new owners :) I'm revisiting the map\ngeneration because the authors of RotMG are working on a new game, and have\nasked me to work on the maps.\n\n~~~\ncultureulterior\nWill you put this html5 version on your github?\n\n~~~\namitp\nThe javascript data structures and algorithms are on my new github page:\n\n\\- [https://github.com/redblobgames/dual-\nmesh/](https://github.com/redblobgames/dual-mesh/)\n\n\\-\n[https://github.com/redblobgames/mapgen2/](https://github.com/redblobgames/mapgen2/)\n\nHowever the html5 UI isn't (it's a big hack I'm abandoning, and working on a\ndifferent version). Feel free to View Source if you want to see the ugly UI\ncode :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nRockset does to Elasticsearch, what Snowflake did to Redshift - ssb006\nhttps://rockset.com/press/rockset-shatters-operational-barriers-for-real-time-analytics/\n======\ntarun_anand\nAmazing stuff. We have been investigating for a few years and wondering why\nsomeone has not done this.\n\nCongratulations.. Looks exciting.\n\nAny plans to run this on premises with serverless stack being available for on\npremise also.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nKeybase launches encrypted Git - aston\nhttps://keybase.io/blog/encrypted-git-for-everyone\n======\nmalgorithms\nKeybase team member here. Interesting fact: git doesn't check the validity of\nsha-1 hashes in your commit history. Meaning if someone compromises your\nhosted origin, they can quietly compromise your history. So even the fears\nabout data leaks aside, this is a big win for safety.\n\nFrom an entrepreneurial perspective, this is my favorite thing we've done at\nKeybase. It pushes all the buttons: (1) it's relatively simple, (2) it's\nfilling a void, (3) it's powered by all our existing tech, and (4) it doesn't\ncomplicate our product. What I mean by point 4 is that it adds very little\nextra UX and doesn't change any of the rest of the app. If you don't use git,\ncool. If you do, it's there for you.\n\nWhat void does this fill? Previously, I managed some solo repositories of\nprivate data in a closet in my apartment. Who does that? It required a mess:\nuptime of a computer, a good link, and dynamic dns. And even then, I never\ncould break over the hurdle of setting up team repositories with safe\ncredential management...like for any kind of collaboration. With this simple\nscreen, you can grab 5 friends, make a repo in a minute, and all start working\non it. With much better data safety than most people can achieve on their own.\n\n~~~\neropple\nSo I _love_ Keybase unconditionally and if you guys weren't rolling in\nphysical offices (and not one in Boston) I'd have been beating down your door\nto come work there--I think what Keybase is doing is important and it's\nsomething I'd love to work on. But I have a serious question that maybe you\ncan answer, and it's something everybody who I've showed this to has asked me:\n\nHow is Keybase gonna make money? How am I assured that this, and everything\nelse in my Keybase storage, is going to be there in six months? Like, I\n_still_ have a private server in a closet in my apartment that syncs all the\nstuff I trust Keybase with because I don't know what the business-side failure\ncase is.\n\nYou guys should be taking my money, is what I'm saying. Also probably hiring\nme. But definitely taking my money.\n\n~~~\nmalgorithms\nWe believe the right long-term answer for Keybase is finding a way to charge\nlarge corporations and offer pretty much everything else for free. Obviously\nthere would have to be some paid tier if you really wanted 10TB of storage or\nsomething, but very few people want that right now. We're still just getting\nstarted.\n\nOf course to achieve our goal, we'll also have to find a way to distinguish\ncommunities - which we'll want to use Keybase for free - and companies.\n\nMany of us on the team have come from ad-supported businesses and we really,\nreally never want to do that again. I personally guarantee I will never be a\n\"publisher\" again. Fortunately that just can't work with Keybase, so no fears\nthere.\n\nBut charging for anything on Keybase right now would be a big mistake. We only\nhave ~180,000 users, and we want to bring crypto to _everyone_. That basically\nmeans making products we believe are better.\n\nAnother way of looking at your concern: I think if we were charging right now,\nit wouldn't actually _decrease_ the odds we disappeared in a few years. It\nmight distract our attention from working on the best product and cause our\nbloody demise. So maybe we're not choosing the path that gives you the highest\nimpression of safety, but I think we actually are.\n\n~~~\nQuinnWilton\nEverything you just said makes perfect sense.\n\nThat being said, I think Keybase is one of the most important companies around\nright now. I would gladly pay $10/month, even if literally all it did was put\na \"Supporter\" badge on my profile. I'm sure hundreds of other people agree.\n\nCrypto is far too important for it to remain locked away behind GPG.\n\n~~~\nmalgorithms\nThe outpouring of positive energy (on HN!) is really inspiring. Everyone on\nthe Keybase team is feeling good about our work right now, so thanks!\n\n~~~\nQuinnWilton\nThe team seriously deserves it.\n\nFor what it's worth, I think my above comment is my highest upvoted comment of\nall time. There's a lot of people out there who want Keybase to succeed.\n\n~~~\neropple\nMy comment that started this subthread is in my top ten, and I have been here\nentirely too long, so, yeah. Keybase is good. It staying around is important.\nPeople around here, at least, seem to know it, and that's awesome.\n\n------\nzeroxfe\nI'm really happy about this. I have private repos for personal information\n(e.g., tax spreadsheets going back a decade) that I keep synchronized across\nmachines, and have to jump through hoops to get an encrypted authoritative\nremote source. Right now I do that with an encrypted partition on a private\nVM.\n\nAnd, it really sucks that GitHub does not encrypt data at rest:\n\n\\--- SNIP from [https://help.github.com/articles/github-\nsecurity](https://help.github.com/articles/github-security) \\---\n\nWe do not encrypt repositories on disk because it would not be any more\nsecure: the website and git back-end would need to decrypt the repositories on\ndemand, slowing down response times. Any user with shell access to the file\nsystem would have access to the decryption routine, thus negating any security\nit provides. Therefore, we focus on making our machines and network as secure\nas possible.\n\n\\--- SNIP ---\n\nEncrypted disks are now the norm across various cloud providers, as is HTTPS.\nThe crypto overheads are really low, and their benefits significantly outweigh\nthe risks of leaving clear-text data on disks.\n\nAlso, defense-in-depth is always worth pursuing. The claim \"it would not be\nany more secure\", is so far from true, it's almost insulting to their target\naudience.\n\nKeep killin' it, Keybase! Great job!\n\n~~~\nRemed\nOut of curiosity: why do you keep such documents in repositories instead of\nsimply in a filesystem (on an encrypted volume, backed up and possibly synced\nacross devices)? Tax spreadsheets usually don't change, so there's no need for\nversion history (if anything, new rows for new years are added, but without\nchanging past data).\n\nI ask this because I'm trying to figure out a solution for myself for keeping\nsensitive personal information and I never thought about storing such\ndocuments in a repository. Maybe I am missing something and your use case will\nopen my eyes. Thanks!\n\n~~~\nToo\nFor me one big benefit is that it's distributed. I like to keep my important\ndocuments backed up on all the computers i have, on a USB drive stored in a\nsafe location and also store the data with a cloud provider.\n\nNow, if i update one document on computer A, and another document using\ncomputer B, i have to sync it to all other devices which is a PITA without\ngit. You get into the situation where you don't know if the version on the USB\ndrive was newer or older than the one on computer B etc, whereas with git all\nthis is available in the version tree and there are nice merge tools\navailable.\n\nI've been planning to do this even for photos, for all the reasons above, but\nhaven't taken the full step yet.\n\n~~~\ndx034\nWouldn't encrypted files with a service like Dropbox help? Containers usually\nsync well (only syncs changed parts). Only downside is that you can't access\nfiles without decryption software.\n\n~~~\nToo\nDropbox, as all other \"just-works\" sync services, don't handle merge conflicts\nvery good. Suddenly you have thousands of Filename_EditedByX(3).txt in every\nfolder and dont know which one of them is the newest and don't have their most\ncommon ancestor version easily available for a 3-way merge.\n\n~~~\ndx034\nTo be fair, they cannot handle merge conflicts with encrypted containers. I\nfind that merge conflicts almost always cause more trouble than the work of\navoiding them from the start. As long as you don't share data (with containers\nunlikely), merge conflicts should be extremely rare (and anticipated).\n\n------\ntheptip\nHas anyone seen a security audit of the Keybase platform? I love the product\nfrom a usability perspective, but have no idea if it's actually a safe\nrepository for my team's key material.\n\n------\njack12\nThis is exciting, but I'm new to Keybase and don't entirely understand it yet.\nHow can I clone a Keybase-hosted repository on a remote server? Can gpg-agent\nproxy through ssh similarly to ssh-agent to allow access to GPG keys (and is\nthat what keybase uses?), without having to store my keys on the remote\nserver? Or would I need to create a new Keybase account just for the remote\nserver, with that account's private keys stored on the server but at least\nsegregated from my account's full access to communication, team-management,\netc? Or would the best approach be to clone the Keybase-hosted repository\nlocally and then push it to the remote server over SSH?\n\n~~~\nptspts\nYes, probably you need a new Keybase account just for that remote server if\nyou want the remote server be able to do git pull after the initial git clone.\n\nIf all you need is a single git clone, and you already have a Keybase account,\njust do a git clone locally, and use rsync to upload the result to the remote\nserver.\n\n------\nchishaku\nIn case you're wondering...\n\n> ~ Anticipated q's ~\n\n> What if we're living in a simulation?\n\n> Keybase offers no guarantees against sophisticated side-channel attacks by\n> higher-level entities.\n\n~~~\nseanlane\nIt appears that this may no longer be an open question:\n\n[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/physics/physicists-\nconfirm...](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/physics/physicists-confirm-that-\nwere-not-living-in-a-computer-simulation/)\n\nThere was a Hacker News post about this a few days ago, likely from a\ndifferent source, but I can't find it.\n\n~~~\nqudat\nThis only applies to classical computers not quantum, some combination of\nboth, or by some means of computation we haven't discovered yet.\n\n------\nfalsedan\nNice to see people work on git remote helpers, a shame that there's already a\nfine remote helper that is not tied to a specific hosting provider & uses\nGPG[0] already.\n\n0: [https://spwhitton.name/tech/code/git-remote-\ngcrypt/](https://spwhitton.name/tech/code/git-remote-gcrypt/)\n\n~~~\nzeveb\nI came here precisely to see how this compares to git-remote-gcrypt (which I\nuse to protect my password-safe filenames).\n\nAnyone from keybase prepared to comment?\n\n~~~\nptspts\nI'm not a Keybase developer, but I'm a user of Keybase Git, git-remote-gcrypt\nand git-gpg, and I've just written a comparison of the 3. Here you are:\n\n[http://ptspts.blogspot.com/2017/10/comparison-of-\nencrypted-g...](http://ptspts.blogspot.com/2017/10/comparison-of-encrypted-\ngit-remote.html)\n\nIf I missed some of the aspects, please let me know.\n\n------\nRKlophaus\nFor anyone interested in alternatives, we built a utility (creatively named\ngit-gpg) with the same goal: end-to-end encrypted git. It works over ssh, is\nself-hosted, and requires no additional software on the shared server.\n\n[https://github.com/glassroom/git-gpg](https://github.com/glassroom/git-gpg)\n\n------\nericfrederich\nThis removes the ability for collaborating, browsing online, basically any\nfeature of GitLab/GitHub/BitBucket.\n\n... I think I'm in favor of this. I think of the things that those services\nprovide on top of Git should actually be ported or mapped to Git itself.\nBranches, pull requests, comments, etc... should all be Git objects of some\nsort.\n\n~~~\nquadrangle\nBranches are Git objects. Incidentally, here's a distributed VCS that includes\nbug tracking: [https://fossil-scm.org](https://fossil-scm.org)\n\n~~~\nfalsedan\n> _Branches are Git objects_\n\nThat's not how I understand refs, they don't even live in the .git/objects\nhierarchy.\n\n~~~\nericfrederich\nYou're correct, they're just files. To create a new branch off of master you\ncan just...\n\n    \n    \n      cp .git/refs/heads/master .git/refs/heads/WTFFF\n    \n\n... no SHA-1 involved at all, no parent, history, etc.\n\n~~~\nswsieber\nHowever what they point to are git objects. And being pointed to prevent them\nfrom being garbage collected (pruned).\n\n------\nams6110\n_Remember, it is impossible to delete cloud data with any kind of confidence,\nand your host may already be compromised._\n\nShould be the epitaph of the current era of computing.\n\n------\nnotheguyouthink\nAs an aside, does key base offer tools to encrypt data from code, lets say\nfrom Python/Go/Rust/etc, that is moron proof?\n\nI say tools, because while a library would be cool, I'd understand if it was a\nbinary/application to provide the functionality/user-experience that key base\nis aiming for.\n\nI know this likely doesn't sound like something key base _should_ be aiming\nfor, but to me, programmers need encryption just as much as users. I'd like to\nwrite my libraries/programs with encryption, but I also want to be able to\ntrust it and not fear some inherent vulnerability I'm adding.\n\nTo me, Keybase is aiming to solve/reduce these complexities for users, and I'm\nhoping they also aim to solve it for developers to.\n\nThanks for all the hard work folks @ Keybase, it's definitely appreciated!\n\n~~~\nofek\nThis is a perfect use case for\n[https://github.com/ofek/privy](https://github.com/ofek/privy)\n\n------\nWalkman\nI have a private repo on GitHub which contains my dotfiles with SSH private\nkeys, tokens, secrets and all kinds of secret stuff. I was uncomfortable\nstoring it there, but my laziness/lack of time kept it there. Finally I will\nbe able to encrypt the entire repo, yay!!\n\n~~~\nphilsnow\nif you're uncomfortable storing them there, you're going to rotate all the\nsecrets after you move the repo to keybase, right?\n\n~~~\nWalkman\nYes, I will. That's a long overdue also :D\n\n------\nOrangeTux\nKeybase has quite a few interesting and unique features. But I'm cautious,\nbecause it's not clear to me how they are going to monetize it.\n\n------\nNikolaeVarius\nMy first initial gut thought is, could this be as a good ol cross platform\nmethod of password management? I've never been able to properly manage keepass\ndue to syncing between different platforms being a pain.\n\n~~~\ntehno\nMaybe combine Keybase git with gopass, that one stores data in a git repo:\n\n[https://www.justwatch.com/gopass/#features](https://www.justwatch.com/gopass/#features)\n\n~~~\nNikolaeVarius\nThat sounds promising. I can't be the only one with this problem. (aka secure\ncross platform synchronized password management without requiring\npersonal/managing cloud infrastructure.\n\n------\nex3ndr\nWas expected one question but haven't found one: how it is actually encrypted?\nAny whitepaper or information how diffs could be handled over encrypted data?\nOr it is a just encrypted .git folder?\n\n~~~\npfg\nLooks like it's built on top of kbfs[1].\n\n[1]:\n[https://keybase.io/docs/kbfs/understanding_kbfs](https://keybase.io/docs/kbfs/understanding_kbfs)\n\n~~~\nFullyFunctional\nThe \"actually encrypted\" part is NaCL (ED25519 + sha256) as supported by Go\n[2]. Interestingly, the common way to use NaCL applies Curve25519 to encrypt a\nsymmetric key which is the used for the payload. They don't do that. AFAICT,\neverything is using the ECC curve.\n\n[2] [https://keybase.io/docs/crypto/kbfs](https://keybase.io/docs/crypto/kbfs)\n\n------\nkazinator\nThese benefits can be obtained by sharing a remote encrypted _filesystem_ , in\nwhich sits an ordinary git repo.\n\nThen simply check out that git repo using a _file: //path/to/repo_ reference,\ncreating a clone on a local drive out of the encrypted volume.\n\nThe encrypted filesystem can then reside on an untrusted server in the cloud.\n\nUltimately, this is a cleaner solution than the whack-a-mole approach of\nhacking every application one by one to retrofit it with crypto storage\ncapabilities.\n\n~~~\ntimerol\nThis question has a FAQ entry near the bottom of TFA:\n\n> Why not just make a bare repo in KBFS?\n\nThe Keybase filesystem journals changes and syncs them after writes, kind of\nlike Dropbox. Which means you and another team member could be fighting each\nother and make a conflicted HEAD, where there'd be 2 copies side by side.\nSimilarly, you shouldn't put git repos in Dropbox.\n\nKeybase's git prevents this by locking.\n\nAlso: it's nicer to use the Keybase app to discover and manage your teams'\nrepositories.\n\n------\nphren0logy\nI really like keybase, and I wish they could issue certs for me to sign PDFs.\nI would pay for that.\n\n------\nelahd\nThis is excellent. I've been looking for practical uses for my Keybase account\n-- it's been sitting around, verified but idle for years. The chat app is\nnice, but none of my friends or co-workers use the service (or understand\ncrypto, for that matter).\n\n------\nFullyFunctional\nLet me be unoriginal and sing your praises also. I'd LOVE to replace my use of\nDropbox with Keybase, but I pretty much use every single feature of the iOS\nDropbox App [1] and Keybase really isn't an alternative right now.\n\nAlso, one unique design choice of Dropbox is to use the underlying file system\nwhich means that working out of a Dropbox folder is native speed, even for\nhigh intensity IO. Keybase is a lot better than, say, Wuala was, but it's\nstill noticeable.\n\n[1] In prioritized order: camera uploads, viewing and editing plaintext, show\nphotos, playing music and video, uploading to Dropbox from random other iOS\napps, and finally selective offline access.\n\n------\nptspts\nOn Linux, you can try this encrypted Git without installing Keybase or using\nthe Keybase GUI. You need the following Go binaries from keybase*.deb:\nkeybase, git-remote-keybase and kbfsfuse.\n\nStart kbfsfuse (specify a directory as a mount point); put get-remote-keybase\nto your $PATH; run keybase git create myrepo; you can stop kbfsfuse now; then\nthis works (after substituting $KEYBASEUSER):\n\n    \n    \n      git clone keybase://private/$KEYBASEUSER/myrepo\n\n------\nericfrederich\nAwesome... any plans to support LFS? I know with LFS you can write custom\nbackend handlers.\n\n~~~\nsridvijay\nWas just thinking that as well, the hard part about changing GitHub hosts like\nbitbucket/github is the feature parity between them. This is really enticing\nthough.\n\n------\npatrick_haply\nNice, this is perfect timing for me to see this actually. I've been slowly\nbuilding out a little cli tool that I use to track .env files (and other files\nthat you don't want to check into source) in a git repository that is parallel\nto your project's git repository.\n\nThe way it works is you identify a file that you don't want to check into\nsource. The cli moves it to a parallel repo, commits the file to the parallel\nrepo, and symlinks the file back to the original location.\n\nFrom then on, you get all of the normal source control features like local\nchanges, revision history, etc... that you get with every other file in your\nproject. I basically got fed up with \"crap what was that value I was using\nbefore? Let me dig through my credentials store\" or resorting to commenting\nout old lines just in case I needed to revert.\n\nSo far, I've just been keeping those parallel repositories local for lack of\nan encrypted remote to push to. Definitely checking this out.\n\n------\nrcthompson\nIt's amazing how many new features and even new complete products Keybase has\nbeen able to build on top of their core in such a short span of time. Even\nmore so considering that a large part of that core is \"just\" a much better UX\nfor a technology (GPG) that has existed for decades.\n\n------\nAdrianRossouw\nThe two most interesting companies in crypto for me right now are KeyBase, and\nWire. I kind of wish there was some way for them to interact with each other,\nbecause it feels like they each have a piece of some bigger puzzle.\n\n~~~\nchoosegoose\nAre you not concerned with the data Wire collects?\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14069674](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14069674)\n\nVersus the data Signal collects:\n\n[https://signal.org/bigbrother/eastern-virginia-grand-\njury/](https://signal.org/bigbrother/eastern-virginia-grand-jury/)\n\nAlthough I agree Wire looks like a much more (visually) polished chat service,\nit seems like they (Wire) collect more data than is necessary.\n\n~~~\nAdrianRossouw\nWire has open sourced it's server code (gplv3 even) and is working on\nfederation support :\n\n[https://medium.com/@wireapp/wire-server-code-now-100-open-\nso...](https://medium.com/@wireapp/wire-server-code-now-100-open-source-the-\njourney-continues-88e24164309c)\n\nSo you can run your own copy of it, and be in complete control of any\ninformation it collects.\n\n~~~\nchoosegoose\nThat seems really exciting. When that occurs I will most likely switch over.\nUnfortunately you can't quite host it your self yet:\n[https://github.com/wireapp/wire-\nserver/issues/2](https://github.com/wireapp/wire-server/issues/2)\n\n------\npayomdousti\nis there some way to verify what was actually uploaded, and that it was indeed\nencrypted properly?\n\n~~~\nptspts\nYou can ask the same question about copying the .git directory with rsync over\nSSH, and the answer for that one applies to your original qustion as well:\n\n* You can take a look at the packets (using e.g. tcpdump). * You can take a look at what the binaries (rsync, ssh vs. keybase and git-remote-keybase) read and write (using e.g. strace). * You can read the source code. * You can read the white papers and other analyses about the crypto used, and decide if you trust it.\n\nThe average user probably won't bother with these, because they need time,\neffort and experience.\n\nIf you can imagine a fundamentally better possible way for the average user to\nverify crypto, please let us know.\n\n------\nTomasHubelbauer\nThis is amazing. I've been aware of KeyBase for some time now, but never\nreally explored it. This is the push. Typing this comment as I am setting up\nmy proofs.\n\n------\njboynyc\nI made a test repository and proceeded to clone it using the keybase:// uri,\nexpecting it not to work, but by some dark magic, it just did. Impressive!\n\n~~~\npqs\nNot in my case.\n\n$:~/projectes$ git clone keybase:// [uri] Cloning into 'something'... fatal: I\ndon't handle protocol 'keybase'\n\nI'm on an ubuntu machine. What can I do to solve the problem? Keybase version\n1.0.34-20171006000413+5fe91ae13\n\n~~~\njboynyc\nHave you installed and are you running the keybase client software? I start it\non my system (Arch Linux) using the run_keybase command.\n\n------\nphilip1209\nSome hypothetical questions:\n\n\\- How could CI/CD be set up? (Is read-only access possible to the repo? Would\nKeybase work on a Jenkins box? Could a deploy server verify signatures before\ndeploying?)\n\n\\- Could one set up mirroring to GitHub? How would this work? (I could see the\nsigning without encryption as a value-add)\n\n\\- What happens in the event of a force push? Could certain users destroy\nhistory?\n\n\\- Could protected branches eventually be added, eg only certain users can\npush to master?\n\n~~~\nstrib\n> \\- How could CI/CD be set up? (Is read-only access possible to the repo?\n> Would Keybase work on a Jenkins box? Could a deploy server verify signatures\n> before deploying?\n\nYou could have a deploy/CI user as a \"reader\" in your team. But we don't yet\nsupport hooks or anything (as that implies running arbitrary code on endhosts\nwithout their knowledge), so it would have to pull the repo.\n\n> Could one set up mirroring to GitHub? How would this work? (I could see the\n> signing without encryption as a value-add)\n\nYou can of course continue to use Github as a regular remote, but you'd lose\nall the encryption and signing unfortunately.\n\n> \\- What happens in the event of a force push? Could certain users destroy\n> history?\n\nWe do currently allow force pushes. Being able to turn that off on a repo-by-\nrepo basis is something we'll consider in the future, definitely.\n\n> Could protected branches eventually be added, eg only certain users can push\n> to master?\n\nYes, but again, as with any \"server\"-side feature, this is complicated by the\nfact that it has to run on the client itself, and thus isn't really strictly\nenforceable against modified clients.\n\nAs we get more experience with people using this, we will definitely be\nthinking about how to make it better by adding power features like these.\nThanks for the feedback!\n\n------\niamthirsty\nThis actually got me to signup for Keybase today.\n\n------\nryanqian\nI have a long running vm on Google cloud with only tiny configuration. I\ncommunicate to it with strong crypt way to access my 'pass' s git repo. So far\nso good, but I'm good to see what keybase's good work on how to improve the\npersonal data safety, that's a good choice.\n\n------\nearlybike\nI could basically store all my sensitive data there? Passwords, SSNs, private\nkeys of ETH wallets, etc.?\n\n~~~\naeorgnoieang\nYes\n\n------\nj7ake\nHi security newbie here, I have private bitbucket repo for storing my pass\ndata. One problem is that pass often leaks some metadata like headers of\ndirectories. From security standpoint does this mean it is more private to\nhost the git repo on keybase versus bitbucket ?\n\n~~~\njredmond\nThat depends - is that data encrypted on your system? Since git is\ndecentralized, there's a chance that any plain-text copy (such as a clone on\nyour system) could be compromised. Keybase even addresses this in the FAQ, to\nan extent:\n\n> What if my computer is compromised?\n\n> Your work is only as safe as your endpoints, so we can't help you there.\n\nThis applies regardless of host or protocol, BTW, and it isn't even specific\nto computing. (It doesn't matter how many locks you have on your front door if\nyou leave the back door propped open.)\n\n~~~\nj7ake\nHi pass uses gpg encryption on the text files my only concern are the file\nnames which can leak meta info, for example just searching GitHub\n[https://github.com/zurchpet/pass](https://github.com/zurchpet/pass) shows\nthis person has passwords in a public repository but encrypted. Nevertheless I\ncan see that the file names are credit card info and other sensitive info.\nIt's like having a safe with a label \"important stuff inside\" ! Does keybase\nsolve this problem ?\n\n~~~\ntanderson92\nYes, the contents of the git repository holding your pass files are encrypted,\nmeaning that the file names are not visible to anyone without the private key\n(you).\n\nYou may also want to look at [https://github.com/roddhjav/pass-\ntomb](https://github.com/roddhjav/pass-tomb)\n\n~~~\nj7ake\nThanks for that I'll consider it.\n\n------\nValentineC\nFrom the article:\n\n>> _What are the limits?_\n\n> _You can have as many repositories as you want, but the total for your\n> personal repositories can 't exceed 100GB. Each team also gets 100GB._\n\nIs there anything stopping people from creating team after team just to hoard\ndata in Keybase?\n\n------\ntln\nThis is pretty cool. I've used git-crypt before to encrypt parts of a repo,\nbut this approach seems much easier to manage.\n\n[https://github.com/AGWA/git-crypt](https://github.com/AGWA/git-crypt)\n\n------\ngwenzek\nI don't really understand how it works. Are the git objects encrypted before\nbeing pushed? In that case how are they handled by the server? Does it accept\nthem even though they make no sense? What Github is going to show?\n\n~~~\nmrsteveman1\nKeybase is just another Git remote you can push to, one that transparently\nencrypts whatever is pushed to that remote.\n\nThe Git repo itself is completely normal in every other respect, so if you\npush to Github, everyone can still see the entire repo.\n\nThis is a good design as it lets people move repos easily and avoid too much\nlock-in, but it may (will...) come back to bite people soon, who push things\nto Github thinking they were \"encrypted by Keybase\", which is not what's going\non.\n\n------\nWindowsFon4life\nIf only their app did not have so many pages marked writable and executable...\n\n------\nris\nKeybase, please just support web of trust already. In _some_ way. Not everyone\nI want to be able to authenticate necessarily has public social media\naccounts.\n\n~~~\nJBiserkov\nDo they have a website/server?\n\n#1. Host a file on your site\n\nYou can host a text file, such as yoursite.com/keybase.txt. This is preferred,\nif you have a website.\n\n#2. Set a DNS TXT record\n\nInstead of hosting a web page, you can place a keybase proof in your DNS\nrecords.\n\n~~~\nris\n> Do they have a website/server?\n\nNot necessarily. I'm talking about people who want to remain anonymous (or\npseudonymous) and might want to keep as low a public online profile as\npossible.\n\n------\nryanpcmcquen\nThis is amazing and convinced me to install Keybase on all my comps. I would\nlike the ability to browse the repo in the Keybase app though.\n\n------\nsquashmode\nMy thanks to the keybase crew, I've waited for a practical PGP solution for\nnearly 20 years. Keybase delivers, thank you!\n\n------\njancsika\n> Keybase team member here. Interesting fact: git doesn't check the validity\n> of sha-1 hashes in your commit history.\n\nNot sure I understand.\n\ngit clone blah\n\ncd blah\n\ngit fsck\n\nWhat am I missing?\n\n------\nhollander\nDoes this work for a local repository?\n\n------\ndorfsmay\nI'm confused. Is the entire repo encrypted, or some files only?\n\nIf the former, what are case where this is needed?\n\n~~~\naeorgnoieang\nThe entire repo is encrypted.\n\nConsider a repo containing passwords. It's easy enough to encrypt the files\ncontaining the passwords but the names of the files or even the directories in\nwhich they're located are also info you might wish to hide, e.g. that you\n_have_ an account at some-site-you-do-not-want-anyone-to-know-you-visit.com.\n\n------\ngigatexal\nThis is really friggin' cool! Best of luck to you guys, hope the work\ncontinues.\n\n------\npayomdousti\nis there a way to view / verify that the payload has actually been encrypted?\n\n------\nvoanhduy1512\nThanks for nice product. From now on I will move all my git repo into keybase\n\n------\nzrg\nI give gitlab 2 months before they implement and launch encrypted git\n\n------\npaule89\njust to clarify: 1\\. Do you need a private git repository? 2\\. Is everything\nreally encrypted? 3\\. If everything is encrypted how can i access it through\nGit Desktop?\n\n~~~\nstrib\nYou can have team-based or private repos hosted by Keybase. Everything is\nencrypted and signed before it leaves your computer, and decrypted and\nverified when your computer downloads it. But your local checkout of that git\nrepo is unencrypted. It's just a normal repo. So Github Desktop has full\naccess to it, like it does for all files in your local filesystem.\n\n------\nZynjec\nThis is awesome, thanks for the heads up.\n\n~~~\nsimonRedwards\nYup!\n\nDefinitely not just posting this to verify myself.\n\n------\ndaveheq\nJust wait til the government bans this because people will store kiddie porn,\nterrorist communications, and copyrighted media into it.\n\n~~~\nsorokod\n\"Just wait til the government bans this because people will store kiddie porn,\nterrorist communications, and copyrighted media into it.\"\n\nMore precisely, the government will _claim_ that ...\n\n------\nLeicaLatte\nFantastic!\n\n------\nhasenj\nWait, what exactly _is_ keybase?\n\nThe home page says:\n\n> Keybase is a new and free security app for mobile phones and computers.\n\nok, so, what does it do?\n\n> For the geeks among us: it's open source and powered by public-key\n> cryptography.\n\nStill have no idea what it does ..\n\n> Keybase is for anyone. Imagine a Slack for the whole world, except end-to-\n> end encrypted across all your devices. Or a Team Dropbox where the server\n> can't leak your files or be hacked.\n\nok, so what is it? what does it do?\n\n> [picture that looks like a chat app]\n\nSo it's an encrypted chat server?\n\nWhat is it?\n\nHow can you have a homepage for a product that doesn't talk about what the\nproduct is and what it does?\n\nWhy so obscure? Are you trying to hide something? Is this really a home page\nfor a product aimed at people who care about security?\n\nCompare it to, for example, tarsnap's[0] homepage, which explains exactly what\nthe product does and doesn't leaving you wondering about anything.\n\n[0]: [https://www.tarsnap.com/](https://www.tarsnap.com/)\n\n~~~\nOJFord\nIt's a lot, isn't your third quote a pretty good description?\n\n> Keybase is for anyone. Imagine a Slack for the whole world, except end-to-\n> end encrypted across all your devices. Or a Team Dropbox where the server\n> can't leak your files or be hacked.\n\nIt's not much of a reach to assume familiarity with Slack and Dropbox; the\nmessage is clearly that Keybase is those (via Keybase Chat & FS) but\nencrypted.\n\nFor what it's worth, it's also a keyserver, and (now) git remote.\n\n~~~\nhasenj\n> isn't your third quote a pretty good description?\n\nIt's not. I think the person who wrote it think it's good marketing, but even\nthat, it is not.\n\nHere, try to see if this makes any sense as a product description:\n\n> FeedHamster is for anyone! Imagine a Yelp that's customized just for you! Or\n> a YouTube feed that only shows you interesting videos that _you_ would like!\n\n> Install FeedHamster now!\n\nNow, can you guess what FeedHamster does? Maybe it curates content? Honestly I\nhave no idea. I just made it up. It doesn't really say anything useful at all,\nbut I think it makes more sense that that description on Keybase's website.\n\n~~~\nkinoshitajona\nTarsnap was a good example of a service selling to technically apt customer\nbase. Guys who have years of IT training would love to read about\ndeduplication and picodollars.\n\nKeybase isn’t charging money to begin with, so “sales pitches” are not their\nprimary concern.\n\nAlso, they are marketing to “the masses” with the idea that more people should\nhave secure e2e encrypted communication and collaboration solutions where\nidentity is cryptographically proven.\n\nBut if their welcome page started showing diagrams of encryption pathways and\nkey derivation algorithm names with server client relationship diagrams, I\nguarantee no one besides people in tech will download it.\n\nI still think they need to do better selling the idea to the masses, I in no\nway think their current front page is sufficient, but I understand that right\nnow they aren’t concentrating on sales pitches.\n\n------\nadiosdfisndf\nTried to create an account and no matter what I tried to name my devices all I\ngot was \"keybase has reserved this name.\"\n\nWelp.\n\n~~~\ncjbprime\nAh, it's not the device names that are reserved, it's the username itself.\n\n------\nfeelin_googley\nDoes it use libgcrypt?\n\n[https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/04/gnupg_crypto_librar...](https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/04/gnupg_crypto_library_cracked_look_for_patches/)\n\nMaybe it only uses the Go crypto libraries?\n\n------\naauthespian\n[http://www.aauthespian.news/2017/10/why-are-some-nigerian-\nmo...](http://www.aauthespian.news/2017/10/why-are-some-nigerian-mothers.html)\n\n------\nhdhzy\nSounds intriguing but I'm missing the deep technical info on how it works.\n\n> All data you push is signed by your device's private key, which never leaves\n> your device.\n\nFor the reference git already supports signed pushes (git push --signed):\n[https://github.com/git/git/commit/a85b377d0419a9dfaca8af2320...](https://github.com/git/git/commit/a85b377d0419a9dfaca8af2320cc33b051cbed04)\n\n~~~\nwelder\nSigning a commit does not encrypt that commit's contents, just adds a\nsignature to prove you wrote that commit.\n\nFrom the Keybase FAQ:\n\n> So is this signing my commits?\n\n> No, this is happening at a lower level, (1) to allow encryption, and (2) to\n> ensure no unsigned or unencrypted data makes it in. Intuitively you can\n> think of it as you and your teammates using a cryptographic secure storage\n> layer for your git origin that doesn't really understand git.\n\n> Your commits themselves are untouched from git's perspective, so if you\n> mirror your repository elsewhere, it'll be a regular checkout.\n\n~~~\nhdhzy\nI did not mention signing commits but signing push requests and that was a\nreference to:\n\n> All data you push is signed by your device's private key, which never leaves\n> your device.\n\n------\ntherealmarv\nIf you go crypto don't use git. It's not designed for cryptography in mind and\nthe Keybase approach looks nice IF I can control every chain or can keep using\ngithub (or any other git server) with it. But for the storing part alone I\nwould not trust Keybase. I would even say if you do crypto and need cloud\nstorage then store it in multiple places and avoid git. Better flat file and\nsome daily backup strategy with e.g. encfs as the bottom layer. In worst case\nyou get your data back.\n\nSorry keybase.... you are not a trustable cloud storage for me.\n\nIt feels like betting on your company... I want to bet on your company without\nfeeling dependent on worst case restore scenarios (computer dying while your\ncompany dies).\n\n~~~\neridius\n> _But for the storing part alone I would not trust Keybase._\n\nWhy not? You're making a bunch of claims about this being bad but you're not\nproviding any reasoning for it.\n\n~~~\ntherealmarv\nIt's basically new closed source one bucket crypto on one company which is not\nknown for storage. A little bit too much of uncertainty for my taste.\n\n~~~\nkristianp\nA large portion of their code is open source:\n[https://github.com/keybase](https://github.com/keybase)\n\n~~~\nsigjuice\nHow easy is it to build and run my own copy of this code, especially the\nserver side stuff?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nOn the detection of quantum insert - ingve\nhttp://www.tedunangst.com/flak/post/on-the-detection-of-quantum-insert\n\n======\nnoinsight\nWell, who actually does packet-level analysis of every connection they make?\nMaybe some troubled/paranoid individuals are constantly running tcpdump and\nanalyzing all the traffic to/from their computer but that can't be a large\nsubset. This sort of discussion is also hard to come by - people/organizations\nrarely, if ever, actually advertise what kind of traffic analysis / security\nsystems they're running, yet it's extremely interesting (at least to me) and\nI've always wondered.\n\nTo detect (and actually analyze) some sort of unknown zero-day you probably\nneed to have entire network packets/connection streams stored so you can see\nwhat sort of traffic and data was incoming? Who does that and what sort of\nsystem can do that at large enough scale?\n\nThe topic of moving beyond protection (firewalls etc.) and into actual\ndetection (log analysis, traffic analysis etc.) seems to be rarely discussed.\n\n------\njoosters\nAll the author is showing is that no-one who he tried to scam spotted his fake\nduplicate packets. At best, none of the people were running any QI-detecting\ncode, and if they were, no-one reported the incident to a forum that he read.\nIt's not a very conclusive result, really.\n\n------\nmajke\nMaybe detecting QI is actually hard? You need a buffer of TCP data, that was\npossibly already passed to application.\n\n1) Is there a kernel patch yet?\n\n2) \"HoneyBadger is a passive TCP protocol analyzer whose only purpose in life\nis to detect and optionally record TCP injection attacks.\"\n[https://github.com/david415/HoneyBadger_docs/blob/hackpad1/s...](https://github.com/david415/HoneyBadger_docs/blob/hackpad1/source/how-\nto-badger-the-puppet-masters.rst#tcp-injection-attack-categories)\n\n------\nhkparker\nI wrote a script a while ago in Go to detect quantum insert attacks. It's not\nperfect but its well commented. I noticed quite a few detections when I ran it\nfor a few days but they seemed to be benign, probably retransmissions.\n\n[https://gist.github.com/hkparker/97548b2c0c79a9149f50](https://gist.github.com/hkparker/97548b2c0c79a9149f50)\n\n------\ntempodox\n_... I can only churn out so much linkbait, even for the sake of science._\n\nAs a consolation, I offer the idea that the sum of linkbait in the universe is\nconstant. And since the days of Max Planck & Erwin Schrödinger, no-one can\nknow the contents of a link until you klick it.\n\nIf we produce enough quantum haze, the NSA might just get confused.\n\n------\nagd\nIf you detected a Quantum Insert attack against you, would you even say\nanything? Why alert your adversary?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCache eviction: when are randomized algorithms better than LRU? (2014) - signa11\nhttp://danluu.com/2choices-eviction/\n======\nordinaryperson\nRelated: the author, Dan Luu has, IMHO, one of the best IT-related Twitter\nfeeds out there: [https://twitter.com/danluu](https://twitter.com/danluu)\n\nHighly recommended.\n\n------\nfalcolas\nOne thing I've seen is that a weighted LRU is usually slightly better for\nunpredictable workloads. i.e. it will never evict high use cache data when\nthere's a flurry of one-off traffic that would normally start evicting a\nnormal LRU cache, and even a 2 random LRU scheme.\n\nThis is particularly relevant for databases and keeping rows in memory.\n\nThe algorithm is something like \"add two weight when an item is used, and\ndecay one from every item every second, evict items under pressure from the\nlowest weight to the highest.\"\n\n~~~\nrozim\nWell, once you go down this path you gotta consider ARC:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_replacement_cache](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_replacement_cache)\nas I believe it is designed to be scan-resistant.\n\n~~~\nlogophobia\nWhich is, unfortunately, patented: [http://patft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-\nParser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=...](http://patft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-\nParser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6996676.PN.&OS=PN/6996676&RS=PN/6996676).\n\n~~~\ntakeda\nHmm given that patents span for 20 years, and that's essentially forever in\ncomputer world, once this patent expires it probably will be worthless.\n\nIn a world where advances are built on top of other advancements, patents just\nstifle innovation.\n\n~~~\nnoonewhocounts\nAnd yet innovation proceeds at a pace unmatched in history, and is so\ncommonplace it gets dismissed as not counting when it's not a revolutionary\nbreakthrough.\n\n~~~\ntakeda\nWhen you're referring to innovation, you're talking about everything. I'm\nreferring to software.\n\n~~~\nstilldontcount\nIt's relatively impolite to tell someone what they meant\n\n------\njandrese\nAre there any languages that allow you to give the compiler a hint that you're\nabout to grind over a gigantic dataset so don't bother to cache any of this\ndata because it won't be accessed again for a long time? It seems like it\ncould be helpful in keeping a big crunch from obliterating the cache\nconstantly. You might also be able to apply other optimizations, like\npreloading the next data blocks so they're ready when the CPU rolls around.\nMaybe compilers already do this behind the scenes?\n\n~~~\ndom0\nDon't. Yes, there are instructions for this. No, don't use them, unless you\nreally exactly know what you are doing and optimizing towards a specific,\nsingle µarch _only_ , otherwise they will invariably hurt performance, not\nimprove it.\n\nSimilarly explicit prefetching usually does not improve performance, but\nreduces it.\n\n(Non-temporal stores are quite a good example here, since a game engine used\nthem in a few spots until recently, causing not only worse performance on\nIntel chips, but also heavily deteriorated performance on AMD's Zen µarch.\nRemoving them improved performance for all chips across the bank. Ouch!)\n\n~~~\nvvggff\nLinks, examples, tutorials?\n\n------\nSomewhatLikely\nThis 2 random cache scheme reminds me a lot of the 2 random load balancing\nscheme laid out in \"The Power of Two Choices in Randomized Load Balancing\"\n[https://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~michaelm/postscripts/mythesis....](https://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~michaelm/postscripts/mythesis.pdf)\nWhich shows an exponential improvement in choosing the less loaded of two\nrandomly chosen servers over just random.\n\n~~~\ncolonelxc\nIt is indirectly referenced near the bottom of the page, with a pointer to\n[http://brooker.co.za/blog/2012/01/17/two-\nrandom.html](http://brooker.co.za/blog/2012/01/17/two-random.html), which\nreferences\n[http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~michaelm/postscripts/handbook20...](http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~michaelm/postscripts/handbook2001.pdf)\n\n------\nj2kun\nThe \"2 random choices\" idea also shows up as a good idea in other settings,\nsuch as load balancing for hashing. I wrote a writeup[1], but if you google\n\"power of two random choices\" you'll see a lot of literature on it.\n\n[1]: [https://jeremykun.com/2015/12/28/load-balancing-and-the-\npowe...](https://jeremykun.com/2015/12/28/load-balancing-and-the-power-of-\nhashing/)\n\n------\nkrallja\nRedis supports LRU and random eviction: [https://support.redislabs.com/hc/en-\nus/articles/203290657-Wh...](https://support.redislabs.com/hc/en-\nus/articles/203290657-What-eviction-policies-do-you-support-)\n\nI wonder if it would be worth adding a k-random eviction strategy, for a\nbalance between the two.\n\n~~~\nantirez\nHello, now Redis (4.0, still in release candidate) supports LFU (Least\nFrequently Used) which should work better in most cases since LRU also is also\njust a way to approximate LFU, since the most frequently used items are often\nthe last recently used ones.\n\n~~~\ndanbruc\n_[...] since LRU also is also just a way to approximate LFU, since the most\nfrequently used items are often the last recently used ones._\n\nThat is not really true. LRU and LFU favor different items, LRU ones used\nfrequently in the short term, LFU ones used frequently in the long term. Only\nunder special circumstances does one approximate the other, for example if\nyour cache is large enough that LRU does not evict the most frequently used\nitems when many less frequently used items are placed in the cache before the\nmost frequently used items are accessed again, then LRU approximates LFU.\n\n~~~\nantirez\nWhat I mean is that, the most frequently used objects, if accessed roughly\nwith an even period of time, tend to be also the least frequently used\nobjects, so if the accesses are very even LFU and LRU tend to be similar. For\nuneven access patterns, they are different, but usually LRU is used because\naccess patterns are even so that it approximates LFU, since what we want to\nhave in cache is, without other application-specific clues, the objects that\nwe use more often. Knowing _exactly_ the access pattern one can use an\napplication-assisted strategy which is optimal, but without clues LRU adapts\nwell to different scenarios while LRU may fail in a catastrophic fashion.\n\nAlso note that your idea of LFU (in this context), from what you write, is\nperhaps one that does not adapt over time. Redis LFU employs a decay strategy\nso that the recent frequency is computed, not the whole-lifetime frequency of\naccess, so even short lived items accessed very frequently for some time, will\ndo well and will not get easily evicted.\n\nFull story: [http://antirez.com/news/109](http://antirez.com/news/109)\n\n~~~\ndanbruc\nThat is what I meant, under specific assumptions about the access pattern they\ncan show similar behavior. Classical LFU tracking the absolute frequency of\nitems will keep items that are used frequently in absolute terms but\ninfrequently in terms of the instantaneous frequency in the cache while LRU\nwill evict such items in favor of items with high instantaneous frequency.\nThose two algorithms are in some sense two extremes, LRU cares about what is\nmost frequently used right now, LFU cares about what is most frequently used\nover the entire lifetime of the cache.\n\nThe LFU variant you describe in the linked article is somewhere in the middle,\nit tracks the absolute frequency of access just like classical LRU but then it\nalso decays this frequency and therefore turns it into something like a\nweighted and averaged relative frequency. But it is, at least for me, hard to\ntell what exactly the algorithm tracks, how the accesses are wighted over time\nand therefore were exactly this falls on the spectrum between LRU and\nclassical LFU.\n\nAlgorithms like ARC and CAR also try to strike a balance between LRU and LFU\nwith the difference that they adaptively control where on the spectrum to\noperate.\n\n~~~\nantirez\nYes, there is a tuning problem indeed. I made two parameters user-tunable (the\ndecay and the logarithm factor of the Morris counter), but tuning needs some\nexpertise. I've severe limitations on the number of bits I can use per object,\nbut depending on the user feedbacks I may try some auto-adaptive approach as\nwell in the future.\n\n~~~\nNovaX\nI used hill climbing to tune TinyLFU. A larger admission window improves\nrecency-biased workloads, while a smaller improves for frequency. By sampling\nthe hit rate and making an initial adjustment, it can determine when to change\ndirections and hone in on the best configuration. Other than a small warm-up\npenalty, it quickly optimizes itself.\n\n------\ndanbruc\n_[...] choosing the least recently used (LRU) is an obvious choice, since\nyou’re more likely to use something if you’ve used it recently._\n\nThere are many other cache replacement policies [1] and they can outperform\nLRU especially if the quoted assumption is not true. It is for example quite\ncommon to have two types of data, one is frequently reused over very long\nperiods, the other is reused over short periods after the first use. In those\ncases a more complex policy like ARC or CAR can provide noticeable\nimprovements.\n\n[1]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cache_replacement_policies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cache_replacement_policies)\n\n~~~\nbnegreve\n> There are many other cache replacement policies [1] and they can outperform\n> LRU especially\n\nThe article is about CPU caches so speed and memory usage are very critical.\n\nOne of the main benefit of LRU is that it only needs one extra bit per cache\nline.\n\n~~~\nflgr\n> One of the main benefit of LRU is that it only needs one extra bit per cache\n> line.\n\nThis might be well known, but why's that? I've recently seen a Go\nimplementation of LRU and it uses a lot of memory. Maybe this would allow us\nto save some of that in a better implementation.\n\n~~~\ndanbruc\nRequiring only a single bit is only true for a two-way set associative cache,\ni.e. the content stored at every memory address may only be cached in two\ndifferent cache slots. In this case you can simply flag the other\ncorresponding cache entry you did not access as least recently uses every time\nyou access a cache entry.\n\nThe implementation in software was probably fully associative, i.e. every item\ncan be cached in every slot. This requires a lot more memory and it is the\nsame for caches in processors, they require more additional bits and logic the\nmore freedom they have where to cache the content of every address.\n\nTo be more precise, you have to keep track of the order all cache entries were\naccessed which requires at least about n * log(n) bits unless you only\nimplicitly store the access order by using something like move to front.\n\n------\nkazinator\nLRU is predicated on locality of reference.\n\nIdeally we could peer into a crystal ball and know which items are going to be\naccessed in the near future and keep those in the cache at all costs. Since we\ndon't know that, we use a predictor based on past behavior. If past behavior\nis random, then prediction is for shit. So we assume that behavior has\nlocality: something referenced recently is more likely to be referenced again\nthan something not referenced recently. Based on that guess, we sort things\nfrom least recently used to most recently (or approximately sort, using aging\ntricks to avoid actually sorting), and boot out the least recently used\nentries.\n\nIf accesses are completely random, then the LRU selection is pure overhead. Or\nworse; some patterns, like repeated sequential accesses of something large\nthrough a small cache, are anti-locality. If we are accessing a big buffer in\na circle, then the next thing we are accessing at all times is _precisely_ the\nleast-recently used item that LRU wants to boot out.\n\nFor situations like that, caching mechanisms sometimes support some API for\nproviding a hint. \"These memory locations are going to be needed soon\". \"This\nmemory mapped file is being sequentially accessed\". And such.\n\n------\nSomewhatLikely\nAnother characteristic of the data which would make random particularly bad is\nif reloading/recomputing the most popular items took significantly longer than\nreloading unpopular items. This could be the case for instance if item data\nsize grew in proportion to popularity.\n\n------\nmapgrep\nDumb question, what is \"2-random\"?\n\n~~~\nsethammons\nFrom the article:\n\n...on real workloads, random tends to do worse than other algorithms. But what\nif we take two random choices and just use LRU between those two choices? __\n\n\" 2-random\" is his short hand for the above scenario.\n\n[edit: formatting, I have no idea how to signify a quote; I don't want\npreformatted because it makes a scroll box.]\n\n~~~\nAnimalMuppet\nOn HN, typically a quote is done like this:\n\n> This is a quote. It won't become a scroll box, no matter how long it gets.\n> It will just wrap to the next line. True, the next line won't begin with a\n> \">\" character, but the convention is that the whole paragraph is a quote if\n> the first line begins with a \">\".\n\n------\nPaulHoule\nOften you can get away with dumping the whole cache when it fills up and\nstarting fresh.\n\n~~~\nCoding_Cat\nthat's a horrible pattern. As soon as you go 1 bit over your cache size in a\nhot loop you'll have a 100% miss rate. (assuming each element is loaded once\nin the hot loop).\n\n~~~\nrspeer\nYou don't use this pattern while looping. You use it while memoizing results\nthat you don't want to compute again.\n\nHere's an example, in the Python package wordfreq [1]. When you look up word\nfrequencies, there's some normalization it has to do to your text. Some words\nare very common, and it would be silly to normalize them repeatedly. So\nfrequency lookups are cached.\n\nThe cache dictionary has a maximum size of 100,000, so that exceptional or\nmalicious cases don't use up all your memory. It is extremely rare for text to\ncontain 100,000 distinct words, but if that happens, the cache gets full and\nthe entire thing is dropped. It will quickly be re-populated with common\nwords, of course.\n\nYes, you can make this perform horribly by looking up frequencies of [\"zero\",\n\"one\", \"two\", \"three\", \"four\", ..., \"one hundred thousand\"] in a loop. That's\nnot realistic data.\n\nDo you actually have a suggestion for how to do this faster? We benchmarked\nthis against other cache strategies (with smaller cache sizes so it would drop\nsometimes) on realistic data. It's much faster than Python's LRU decorator,\nfor example.\n\n[1]\n[https://github.com/LuminosoInsight/wordfreq/blob/master/word...](https://github.com/LuminosoInsight/wordfreq/blob/master/wordfreq/__init__.py)\n\n------\nnsebban\nWhen the cost of retrieving an item from your slower storage is pretty much\nthe same for every item, may it be old or new, small or big, popular or not.\n\n------\npacificleo11\nAjax made predictive (random)prefetching mainstream .its only natural that\nrandom eviction algorithm are coming along . when you pick one end of stick\nyou pick another too\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCountly | Mobile Application Analytics - basil\nhttp://count.ly/\n======\nnickpresta\nAwesome demo! However, I seem to have trouble finding the \"docs\" section for\ndevelopers.\n\nI see:\n\n* <http://support.count.ly/kb/sdk-installation> (but there is nothing about how to call init(), etc).\n\n* [http://support.count.ly/kb/web-installation/installing-count...](http://support.count.ly/kb/web-installation/installing-countly-server-v12051-to-ubuntu) (but nothing about the requirements in the event I'm not on Ubuntu and have to install from source/other packages)\n\nHaving these two things are paramount to the usage of your software.\n\nThanks!\n\n~~~\nonur\nWe have shortage of documentation for now thats for sure. We will be providing\nmore documents about installation on different platforms in the coming days.\nIf you have any problems or questions we will be more than happy to help if\nyou open up a discussion from <http://support.count.ly>\n\n------\nParseco\nThis is really cool! Have you thought about the possibility of contacting the\ngamers via SMS or USSD (for polls and feedback). When you see that they\nhaven't used a game for a while?...etc...? Give our Rest api beta a try!\n\n~~~\ngorkemcetin\nYes, polls, surveys and feedbacks are in the roadmap. We are not a lot\ninterested in SMS/USSD since it's really under control of operators, but would\nlike to invest more in exchanging data using 3G/4G networks.\n\nIt's really a good idea to trigger rules when an app is not used after a\ncertain period of time. Will think on it :)\n\n~~~\nParseco\n(thumbsup!) :)\n\n~~~\nonur\nIt would be interesting to play with your API since Countly team is composed\nof all telco professionals :)\n\n------\nkenrikm\nIt's cool, I'm interested in trying it out.\n\nRethink the use of Lobster as your logo/text font a bunch of different\ncompanies Including Codecademy and HireAry use it. So it's Generic at best.\n\n~~~\nonur\nThanks for pointing that out. I'm pretty sure our co-founder/designer Osman\nknows about this but anyways being unique is always better :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAbusing Contributors is not OK - joeyh\nhttp://www.curiousefficiency.org/\n\n======\npolemic\nLet's add: flag killing [the original, multi-upvoted front page] links to\narticulate and well reasoned pieces about why abusing contributors is not OK,\nis not OK.\n\n~~~\ndang\nWe've unkilled that post and are burying this one as a duplicate.\n\n~~~\nmjg59\nYou've unkilled that post, but left it buried on the third page.\n\n~~~\ndang\nYes, what we usually do when there is a tug of war between upvotes and flags\nis prevent the flags from killing the post so active discussion can continue,\nbut not override the flags altogether. This happens on controversial posts\nwhere the community is divided, and it's not uncommon to see large\nfluctuations in rank under the tug of war.\n\n~~~\nmjg59\nYour voting system actively discourages discussion of topics that upset\nportions of the community, which results in many people not being exposed to\nthose topics at all. Does this seem like a desirable outcome?\n\n~~~\ndang\nThat isn't an accurate description. Those topics come up on HN all the time.\nThere's no one who reads the site regularly who isn't well aware of them.\n\n~~~\nmjg59\nHow, when they get pushed off the front page within minutes?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThe Bonfire of the Humanities - benbreen\nhttp://www.thenation.com/article/195553/bonfire-humanities\n\n======\naridiculous\nAs a lover of the humanities and social 'sciences', I am always cheered up\nwhen a postmodernist snaps out of it, so we can actually have intelligible\nconversations again.\n\nParaphrasing famous modernist designer Massimo Vignelli, postmodernism was/is\na critique, at best. It doesn't actually provide a worldview.\n\nTo me, it's intellectual madness. Fun, in moderation. Useful, to shake things\nup.\n\n------\njseliger\nI'm surprised Moyn doesn't mention Edge.org, whose founder John Brockman has\nexplicitly talked about starting Edge and becoming a literary agent to offer\nalternatives to what he calls \"book reviewers\" dominating \"intellectual\"\nconversations. Incidentally, the Edge.org annual question books are excellent.\n\nIn addition, WRT this:\n\n _It seems as if, in roundabout ways, all of our current historiographical\ntrend-followers finally agree with White, in the face of what they regard as a\ngreat crisis for historical writing today. But it is one thing to call for\nspeculation for the sake of relevance, and another to bring about a new\nmarriage of history and philosophy._\n\nwriters like Keith Windschuttle have been discussing these problems since _The\nKilling of History_ , if not earlier, and Camille Paglia has been discussing\nthem in essays since the 1990s.\n\nFinally, the lack of jobs in the humanities has been acting as both a negative\nIQ test and a conformity test for decades. I wrote a little more about that in\nthe context of English here: [http://jakeseliger.com/2012/05/22/what-you-\nshould-know-befor...](http://jakeseliger.com/2012/05/22/what-you-should-know-\nbefore-you-start-grad-school-in-english-literature-the-economic-financial-and-\nopportunity-costs) . This may relate to the willingness of academic historians\nand other academics to speak to the public or avoid conformity more generally.\n\n------\nwalterbell\nAre there any non-academic professions which employ a high percentage of\nhumanities PhDs, e.g. publishing, think tanks?\n\nPhrasing the question differently, if the economics of a humanities education\nmeans that only the already-wealthy need apply, where do such people put their\neducation to work?\n\nThe article could have benefited from a historical perspective on grad school\neconomics and tenure opportunities. When and why did these change and what\ndoes it mean for society?\n\n------\njoshdick\nI'm surprised that this doesn't mention Fukuyama's \"end of history\" idea [1].\n\nWhen it looks like the world is full of liberal democracies and nations\nbecoming liberal democracies, history feels less compelling.\n\n[1]\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_of_history](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_of_history)\n\n~~~\nnyolfen\nthe state of affairs since the neoconservatives attempted to implement this\nphilosophy through the iraq war, or the direction russia has tacked since 91\nto name just two prominent examples, has made this idea kind of a joke\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nOn Silos - panarky\nhttps://blog.ethereum.org/2014/12/31/silos/\n\n======\nmarak830\nA little offtopic, but that minutes left counter on scrolling is a little\ndisquieting. I cannot put my finger on exactly why, but rushing to read an\narticle didnt feel right (i prefer to take my time).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Parametric Activation Pools greatly increase performance in ConvNets - clmcleod\nhttp://blog.claymcleod.io/2016/02/06/Parametric-Activation-Pools-greatly-increase-performance-and-consistency-in-ConvNets/\n======\nOno-Sendai\nWhat does 'loss' mean on your graphs? Error fraction?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nJack Abraham (Milo.com) on being an entrepreneur and why to drop out of school - wesleyzhao\nhttp://wesleyzhao.com/2011/02/17/inspiring-words-from-jack-abraham-pdf/\n\n======\nyoshyosh\nwow great read, especially liked the last part, just goes to show how easily I\ngive up when acquiring new clients\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nRebol is back - neuro\nhttp://www.rebol.com/cgi-bin/blog.r\n======\nGarovix\nWhere was it?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow I Turned Down $300,000 from Microsoft to go Full-Time on GitHub - jseliger\nhttp://tom.preston-werner.com/2008/10/18/how-i-turned-down-300k\n======\njmtame\nLoved Tom's social hack for finding cofounders, from Startups Open Sourced. He\nalso has a really good outlook on the role of design in startups.\n\nQ: So, the best way to get to know somebody is to go drink with them?\n\nA: That is absolutely the best way to really get to know a person and what\nthey really like and are interested in because if they are interested in\ntechnology, then they will have no problem geeking out with you about Ruby or\nNode or something for three hours, over drinks; that’s when you know that you\nfound someone that could be a really successful cofounder. I think there\nreally is something to doing business in bars. In the early days when there\nwere four of us—we had hired Scott Chacon—we would go to this bar called\nO’Reilly’s, up in North beach. We went there almost every week and that’s\nwhere we would talk about what we had done. This is after we had started full\ntime and it was where all the decisions were made. A couple of drinks in, you\nstart to just say what you mean instead of thinking so much about whose\nfeelings you are going to hurt or whatever, you say things very bluntly, like,\n“I think we should do this, and I think you are wrong for saying we should do\nit a different way,” and now you can have an honest argument about what needs\nto get done and what the concerns are about the company or how it’s structured\nor how the stock is going to be split. All this stuff will come up over drinks\nand as long as you are not too drunk, it can be helpful.\n\n~~~\nsahillavingia\nWarning: this restricts you to finding cofounders that are 21 and over. :)\n\n~~~\ni386\nNot if you live in a country where you can vote and drink at the same age :)\n\n------\nlarrykubin\nI'll be honest. When I first read this post nearly three years ago, I barely\nknew what Git was, the stock market was crashing hard every day, hundreds of\nthousands were being laid off, and turning down that offer seemed pretty\nfoolish. Now I can't live without GitHub.\n\n~~~\njrockway\nHonestly, I don't think turning down an offer is ever a real problem. You can\nalways ask for the offer again; does a company as big as Microsoft ever have\nenough smart programmers? People come and go every day. There is probably room\nfor you somewhere.\n\n~~~\nhammock\nThis is very true, just want to add the caveat that the notion of low cost of\nforegone opportunity you are talking about could apply to mature-stage\ncompanies, not necessarily fast-growing ones.\n\nAlso there is tremendous selection bias in which of these \"I turned down X to\ndo Y\" stories get told, of course.\n\n~~~\nnotJim\nI would definitely read the \"How I turned down a $300,000 job at bigcorp to\nfound a startup that crashed and burned 18 months later\" story.\n\n~~~\ntlipcon\nI turned down a job at Google (not 300k but hey, it's Google!) to join a\nstartup. The startup started to sink about 2 years later.\n\nI learned a ton and didn't regret it for an instant. Moved on to a new startup\n2 years ago when it became clear the first was a dead end. Google recruiters\ncontinued to ping me religiously every 6 months regardless.\n\nMoral of the story: Google, MSFT, Facebook, etc will all still be there in 2\nyears. Especially if you're early in your career and don't need the cash\ntoday, go wherever you will learn the most.\n\n~~~\nakronim\nit was 300k over 3 years... so your offer probably wasn't that far off!\n\n------\nBrandonM\n_> When I’m old and dying, I plan to look back on my life and say \"wow, that\nwas an adventure,\" not \"wow, I sure felt safe.\"_\n\nA great conclusion to a great article. Definitely a motto to live by.\n\n~~~\ndavidw\nA cynical mind might say that a really adventurous life might also expose one\nto more risk of being _young_ and dying, rather than old. Or other less than\npleasant outcomes.\n\n~~~\nacangiano\nThat's why our brains afford us both desires: the need for adventure, and the\nneed for security. The two keep each other in check. Adventurous people, who\naren't reckless, simply choose to be more adventurous than fearful when there\naren't too many real safety risks, but mostly perceived ones.\n\n------\npjhyett\nIt's worth noting that none of the Ruby guys Tom worked with at Powerset are\nstill working for Microsoft 3 years later. The guys I've spoken with had a\nmiserable time working there and left to work for other startups like Greplin,\nBank Simple, and Square.\n\n------\nlawnchair_larry\nHow did github get early users?\n\n~~~\nmojombo\nWe invited everyone we knew in the Ruby community. We all attended local Ruby\nmeetups and talked to anyone that would listen. We used it for our own open\nsource projects and invited would-be contributors to join the fun. We used an\ninvite-only model during the private beta to create artificial scarcity and\nencourage people to invite their friends.\n\n~~~\nbrandnewlow\nAm sending this to every person I know building a community-driven site.\nYou've perhaps unwittingly boiled the general solution down to its base\ncomponents.\n\n------\ntwakefield\nGreat post, but dammit, now I'm going to have \"You’re The Best\" by Joe\nEsposito stuck in my head all day.\n\n------\njoelhaasnoot\nThis story is encouraging! I'm soon to graduate college and am figuring out\nwhat exactly I want to do next. One of the options is to work part time on my\nstartup, next to another part time job or freelancing. It's a lot easier when\nyou have savings to make such a leap, then again, I live lean and live cheap.\n\n------\nvipivip\nTurned out to be the best move.\n\n~~~\njmtame\nNo kidding. Coming from a guy who has never raised a single round of funding\nand has operated profitably every single month since launching (except for one\nmonth where he hired two people), they're doing really, really well.\n\n------\nwildmXranat\nVery nice read. That also leads me to mention that Github, as good as it is in\n'social' coding or whatever that means, does not fill a gap for a proper\nresource on how to use Git. Not that it should and it clearly doesn't carry\nthat mandate, but there is hefty amount of respect to be made for any group\nthat de-mystifies git in all it's glory.\n\nHell, there are plenty of comments here, on groups and proggit from users that\nlose their hair over advanced use of git.\n\nIn my opinion advanced consulting services and migration planning for\ncurrently SVN,CVS engaged companies would be nice.\n\n~~~\ndasil003\n> _proggit_\n\nOne too many Gs: progit.org\n\n~~~\ndrbaskin\nI'm having trouble determining whether you are serious, but I suspect the\noriginal poster was referring to reddit's programming community.\n\n~~~\ndasil003\nI'm suggesting that's a better place to learn about git not to mention being\ncreated by one of the Github guys.\n\n~~~\ndasil003\nOkay since I'm just getting driveby downvotes, let me explain the source of my\ncomment. The original comment said:\n\n> _That also leads me to mention that Github, as good as it is in 'social'\n> coding or whatever that means, does not fill a gap for a proper resource on\n> how to use Git._\n\nWell, Scott Chacon (#4 githubber I believe?) wrote the book to demystify Git.\nOf course, there is a certain irreducible complexity there, but I think Github\nhas made a significant contribution there, so I don't think it's fair to level\nthis criticism at them out of passing unfamiliarity.\n\n------\nchopsueyar\n\"You're the best around, Nothing's gonna ever keep ya down!\"\n\n------\ngreg_gti\nWhen I’m old and dying, I plan to look back on my life and say “wow, that was\nan adventure,” not “wow, I sure felt safe.”\n\nGreat quote and I try to live my life by the same philosophy\n\n------\nemehrkay\nI pay for github, great decision :)\n\n~~~\nzackattack\nGitHub makes using version control fun.\n\n------\nlouislouis\n\"The next night, Friday, October 19, 2007 at 10:24pm\" Was there a time-machine\ninvolved overnight or is it supposed to be 2008?\n\n~~~\nspacemanaki\nI think the post was published in 2008 but it was talking about events from a\nyear earlier:\n\n\"2008 is a leap year. That means that three hundred and sixty six days ago,\nalmost to the minute, I was sitting alone in a booth at Zeke’s Sports Bar...\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Inconvenient Truth About Dynamic vs. Static Typing - redshift1010\nhttps://blog.jooq.org/2014/12/11/the-inconvenient-truth-about-dynamic-vs-static-typing/\n======\noldandtired\nSince static typing systems use dynamic typing to determine the static types,\nhis comment about dynamic types languages being dead is simply wrong.\n\nMany years ago, it became obvious that static typing is useful in some class\nof programs, dynamic typing is useful in another class of programs and soft\ntyping is useful across them all.\n\nA range of typing systems exist now, they will continue to exist into the\nfuture as long as we have need of digitally based computing systems.\n\nWe live it and we continue to solve the problems put before us.\n\nAs a side not, it was interesting that he didn't specify a List(\"abc\", 0, 0.2)\nand answer what the static type of such would be. There are many examples of\ndata structures that has non-uniform base types which can only be determined\nat runtime.\n\nLet the silly season start.\n\n~~~\nlukaseder\nIn Java, the type of such a List(\"abc\", 0, 0.2) would be List<? extends\nSerializable & Comparable<?>> or something like that. There's always an\nappropriate type for any expression.\n\n------\ntedmiston\n> Dynamically typed languages are dead\n\nThe author seems to overlook existing efforts from the dynamically typed end\nof the spectrum to add type inferencing and optional static typing to dynamic\nlanguages. Either as type checkers e.g., mypy [1] or for runtime improvements.\n\n[1]:\n[http://mypy.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html](http://mypy.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nUsing Travis-CI with Python and Django - craigkerstiens\nhttp://justcramer.com/2012/05/03/using-travis-ci/\n======\npydanny\nTime to switch to Travis-CI!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "Ask HN: Should I pay programmers I hire per hour or per task? - MavropaliasG\n======\nToFab123\nIt depends on if it is possible to make precise time estimate of how long the\ntask is expected to take for an developer with same level as your dev. It also\ndepends on the quality of the specifications you have written. If you are\nunable to write clear and precise specs then hard for someone to commit to a\nset numbers of hours. If there are elements of research and development in the\ntask it is also hard to set a firm price. So the answer is that it depends on\nthe quality of your specifications and ability to describe and explain the\nwork that needs to be done\n\n------\ngregjor\n[http://typicalprogrammer.com/how-to-work-with-freelance-\ndeve...](http://typicalprogrammer.com/how-to-work-with-freelance-developers)\n\n------\ncatacombs\nPay them by hour and pay them fairly. Simple as that.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\n3D images of tissue may help spot and treat cancer - ximeng\nhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17817146\n\n======\nximeng\nPaper (abstract, paywall for full text):\n[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002944012...](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000294401200168X)\n\nPress release:\n[http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authored_newsitem.cws_home/...](http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authored_newsitem.cws_home/companynews05_02300)\n\nAlternative article: [http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-virtual-reveal-\ndisease...](http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-virtual-reveal-\ndisease-3d.html)\n\nApparently 1.45 TB data for 5000 slices of data.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nZenefits Scandal Highlights Perils of Hypergrowth at Startups - tpatke\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/18/technology/zenefits-scandal-highlights-perils-of-hypergrowth-at-start-ups.html\n======\nthrowaway-zcs\nIt's so convenient for everyone if this is all on Conrad. Mr Sacks did an\nexcellent job of throwing Conrad under the bus, but as COO for 16 months, a\nboard member and with a desk adjacent to Conrad and a seasoned guy, it strains\ncredulity that he didn't know. There's some schaudenfreude here (and an\nanonymous account) because these guys all acted like they were smarter than\neverybody else. I hope regulators do a real investigation and I suspect Mr\nSacks will come out more culpable than he would have you believe.\n\n~~~\nmathattack\nMy guess on this situation... You have a group of people sitting around the\ntable saying, \"If we do nothing, the value of the company goes to zero. We\nhave to do something visible and credible.\" Conrad had to agree to jumping on\nhis sword - as the largest shareholder, he has the most to lose if the company\ngoes under. So he jumps on the sword, and lets everyone kick him while he's\ndown, because it increases the likelihood that the company survives.\n\nI have no real information though, so for all I know he could have been\nstabbed in the back instead.\n\n------\ngkoberger\nIt's interesting how Uber, Airbnb and Draftkings blatantly broke laws and won.\nThey set the precedent that if you're growing fast enough, the laws will\nchange to fit you.\n\nDidn't work out that way for Zenefits. They seemingly lost.\n\n~~~\n___ab___\nI think the reason that {Uber, AirBNB, DraftKings} succeeded in flouting the\nlaw is that they operated in industries that are consumer-facing, and where\nthe cost of regulation is obvious to consumers.\n\nMany people understand that taxi regulations (for the most part) negatively\naffect them, and in many cases are extremely frustrated with them: see\nWashington, DC. Most people aren't familiar with and don't care about the\ncompany that manages their health insurance, and as a result there's little\npublic support.\n\n~~~\npron\nExactly, but I'd phrase it a bit differently: when it comes to taxis and\napartments, regulations are bad for _you_ , the consumer, and good for the\npeople in your community (taxi drivers, neighbors), while in insurance,\nregulations directly protect the consumer.\n\nBecause people (especially in the US) couldn't care less about other people,\nregulation that annoys consumers is \"bad\", and the consumers then defend the\ncompanies breaking those particular laws. Those companies exploit the fact\nthat in _every_ industry, consumers always outnumber providers (or conversely,\nevery person consumes from many more industries than those where they\nprovide), and so the disregard for this kind of regulation will always work.\nEvery new company will get consumers to gang up on the far fewer incumbent\nproviders until they break the regulation that protects them, and so on,\nindustry by industry.\n\nIt's a little like the robber barons, who used every new wave of immigrants to\nbeat up the previous generation of immigrants who tried to unionize, and then\nhired the new ones in their place... that is, until the next wave of\nimmigrants. Except the new way of doing this is far more effective, because\nit's always easy to obtain a majority that supports you _and_ feel like\nthey're doing the right thing at the same time.\n\n~~~\nlazerwalker\nFor the most part I think you're spot-on, although it's worth emphasizing the\nnuance that not ALL taxi/hotel regulations are bad for the consumer.\n\nMost of the AirBnB and Uber horror stories you hear are things that don't\nhappen, or happen far less relative to the overall volume, in a world of\nlicensed taxis and professional hotels/B&Bs.\n\nDoes the good of current regulations outweigh the bad? Likely not, in many\ncases. But there are reasons (at least some of) these regulations exist\noutside of capitalism being terrible and the successful trying (and\nsucceeding) at pushing out competition.\n\n~~~\nnommm-nommm\nI would argue that many (most?) housing regulations are good for the consumer.\nMy landlord has to provide me with a safe and structurally sound place to\nlive, which is good for me. If my heat breaks in the winter he's obligated to\nfix it, he can't evict me and leave me on the streets on a whim, or turn off\nmy water if I am late on the rent, etc. Laws around security deposits are\nusually good for the consumer as well. Nobody wants what is referred to as a\n\"slumlord.\"\n\nLandlords often are annoyed about regulations (and some tenants unfortunately\nabuse them) but many came about because of the abusive practices of the\nslumlords.\n\nOur society deems having a safe place to live pretty essential so landlords\nhave a massive amount of power over their tenants if unchecked.\n\n------\nrifung\nIt seems like a recurring theme in these \"scandals\" is that if you put too\nmuch pressure on your executives, they end up either quitting or doing\nsomething they shouldn't be doing in order to keep up with your demands.\n\nAnother example is with VW and their diesel emissions.\n\nI feel like people just have a difficult time saying they were wrong or\npushing back and saying they can't do something. I am guilty of this myself.\n\n~~~\nmcguire\n\"You\" who?\n\nThe system can be as rotten as you like, but in any particular case, at some\npoint, someone said, \"Let's start cutting corners.\"\n\n~~~\nbsder\n> The system can be as rotten as you like, but in any particular case, at some\n> point, someone said, \"Let's start cutting corners.\"\n\nYes, but... Normally things like this build up gradually from \"just one step\"\non something that is patently stupid.\n\nAnd, let's face it, if you can get a certification from an online course, it's\nstupid, prima facie.\n\nSo, you need to get one more person online to file benefits. Get them\ncertified. Okay, these certifications are stupid and any idiot can sit through\nthese. Okay, let's get the same idiot to sit through each one. Okay, we're\nstill not getting certified fast enough. Okay, hire more idiots to sit through\nthis. Okay, but they'll have to learn this. Okay, let's put some programmers\non this so we only need one idiot to do things on multiple sessions. Okay, now\nthat we have the macro, we don't need the idiot anymore. etc.\n\nIf the feds weren't clamping down on this, everybody would be singing their\npraises like Uber and AirBnB.\n\nIt's all about the bandwagon, baby.\n\n------\nstygiansonic\nFrom the article:\n\n\" _Growth broke stuff. To increase revenue, the company moved beyond small\nbusinesses to customers with hundreds of employees — and the software\nstruggled to keep up. Instead of pausing to fix bugs, Zenefits simply hired\nmore employees to fill in where the software failed, including repurposing\nproduct managers for manual data entry._ \"\n\nFrom a different article about the downfall of Target Canada[1], which also\nsuffered from trying to ramp up too fast:\n\n\" _Getting the details from suppliers largely fell on the young merchandising\nassistants... “There was never any talk about accuracy,” says a former\nemployee. “You had these people we hired, straight out of school, pressured to\ndo this insane amount of data entry, and nobody told them it had to be\nright.”_ \"\n\nDon't underestimate the proliferation of data entry jobs, especially when\nthere is chaotic growth/lack of a proper plan.\n\n1\\.\n[http://www.marketingmag.ca/?p=166300&preview=true](http://www.marketingmag.ca/?p=166300&preview=true)\n\n~~~\nLawtonfogle\n>“You had these people we hired, straight out of school, pressured to do this\ninsane amount of data entry, and nobody told them it had to be right.”\"\n\nMy first guess is that it was worse than this. The people doing data entry who\ntook the time to do it right were likely showing up as doing worse on what\never metrics were being ran and were replaced by people who were fast but\nerror prone. Bad metrics leading to bad optimizations.\n\n------\nyummyfajitas\nI wonder why \"The Macro\" doesn't also highlight the perils of clueless\nregulators imposing moronic laws on HR departments.\n\nThe specific law that Zenefits violated was a law insisting that before\nselling insurance, your employees need to sit at a computer and click \"next\"\nfor 52 hours. Once they've clicked \"next\" sufficiently many times, only then\nare they permitted to take the exam to determine whether they have enough\nknowledge to sell insurance.\n\nShouldn't this scandal also highlight the perils of a regulatory state?\n\n~~~\nmaxerickson\nModest amounts of wasted time? Oh no.\n\nI suppose one way to estimate how onerous this requirement is (I agree that to\nthe extent it is arbitrary that it is dumb) would be to compare how much\ncompensation the insurance license makes available to how much compensation\nspending the equivalent time learning a skill like welding makes available.\n\n(I think most people wouldn't be very good at welding after 50 hours of\ntraining and practice)\n\n~~~\nyummyfajitas\nAll you propose measuring is the _individual_ benefit to sitting through\ntraining. That's a terrible way to measure the social cost of a bad\nregulation.\n\nThe social cost is 52 hours of productive output from moderately skilled\nemployees. (Or moderately less - if learning the material takes 20 hours, then\nthe waste is 32 hours assuming people can simultaneously learn the material\nand click.)\n\nThe right thing to do is simply make people take the test, and if the test\nisn't accurately measuring people's insurance selling ability, fix the test.\n\n~~~\nst3v3r\nAnd what's the social cost of unlicensed, untrained people selling insurance?\nWhat's the societal cost of people who have not studied selling insurance that\nthey might not understand?\n\n~~~\nyummyfajitas\nI don't see a very high social cost from licensed insurance salespeople who\npassed the exam selling insurance. Do you? If so, what is it?\n\nAgain, note that we are discussing _spending 52 hours clicking through a\npowerpoint_ before you are allowed to take the test to get the license.\n\n~~~\nst3v3r\n\"I don't see a very high social cost from licensed insurance salespeople who\npassed the exam selling insurance. Do you? If so, what is it?\"\n\nHow do you know that they passed the exam? They told you?\n\n\"Again, note that we are discussing spending 52 hours clicking through a\npowerpoint before you are allowed to take the test to get the license.\"\n\nNo, we are not.\n\n~~~\nyummyfajitas\nAll anyone has accused Zenefits of doing is using a macro to prevent people\nfrom being auto-logged out of training. E.g.:\n[http://www.buzzfeed.com/williamalden/zenefits-program-let-\nin...](http://www.buzzfeed.com/williamalden/zenefits-program-let-insurance-\nbrokers-fake-training#.qmexedRMl)\n\n _The Macro functioned to keep a person logged into the course and prevented\nthe person from being logged out for inactivity. The Macro did not advance\nthrough the required material or quizzes in the education course — the Macro\nonly kept the person logged in. The Macro only pertained to the prelicensing\neducation course and did not affect the broker exam taken later._\n\nIf you have even accusations of some other activity (let alone evidence of\nit), go ahead and post it.\n\n~~~\nmanigandham\nHave you not read any of the articles? The cheating on the time is just one\nissue. They had unlicensed brokers selling insurance in two states, which is\nan actual crime.\n\n------\nGCA10\nRhetoric aside, isn't this really just another example of \"... Highlights\nPerils of Hard-Charging CEOs\"? It's that simple. We can wander far from fast-\ngrowing startups and find the same kind of conduct anywhere in business.\n\nThe guy running my corner grocery store decided to set up a sit-down cafe\nwithout getting a city license. The folks running a nearby office suite are in\nno hurry to put in city-mandated sprinklers. Business founders/owners like to\nget things done without asking permission. That's how they roll. Trying to\ninvoke unicorn valuations, VCs, etc. is silly. It's a classic case of finding\nan exciting anecdote and trying to attach causality theories after the fact.\n\n~~~\nunoti\n> The guy running my corner grocery store decided to set up a sit-down cafe\n> without getting a city license.\n\nThe guy at the corner grocery store isn't discussing my employee's private\nmedical records with me in between slamming down hits on the beer bong.\n\n~~~\nmdonahoe\nAre you referencing something in particular with this beer bong comment, or\njust being hyberbolic?\n\n~~~\nuntog\nReasonably sure it is exaggeration for comic effect. We are not in a court\nroom.\n\n~~~\nmcguire\nBam! mdonahoe is overruled!\n\n------\ncoldcode\nBeing good at starting a company and raising funds is no guarantee of being\nany good at running a company. Add to that growth from 15 to 1600 in two years\nis also likely to be a massive failure. Add to that insane pressure from\ninvestors to do the impossible (that you promised). I've seen a lot of people\ncrumble at a much smaller size.\n\n------\nchillingeffect\nCome on now, NYT, there is virtually no evidence of corruption at startups\nbeing any worse than any other business or human endeavor. NYT, you're just\nspreading FUD because people look to you for guidance and you need to respond\nto their fear.\n\nYes, these guys (Zenefits) were, in one area, dishonest and cheated. But it's\nnot like Cigna, PacTel, BoA, Citizens and zillion other companies are paragons\nof virtue. Nevermind Volkswagen.\n\n[1]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_scandals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_scandals)\n\n[2]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_corporate_collapses_an...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_corporate_collapses_and_scandals)\n\n------\njmckib\nAlternative title: \"Zenefits Scandal Highlights Perils of Excessive\nOccupational Licensure\". What exactly is the purpose of requiring a license\nfor selling insurance? If consumers desire some assurance of quality in their\ninsurance brokers, then certification, not licensure, would be sufficient. The\nonly justification for licensure over certification is a paternalistic one:\nconsumers are simply too ignorant to choose their own insurance brokers, even\nif some are certified and some are not. As Milton Friedman said in Chap 9 of\nCapitalism and Freedom, this argument \"amounts to saying that we in our\ncapacity as voters must protect ourselves in our capacity as consumers against\nour own ignorance.\"\n\nThis isn't to say that Zenefits hasn't made a huge misstep for seemingly\nlittle benefit (bypassing a 56 hour course?), but I wish there was some\ndiscussion of the absurdity of the law that was broken alongside the bashing\nof Zenefits for breaking it.\n\n~~~\nCPLX\nInsurance is _important_.\n\nUnlike many other consumer products you really don't have any idea what you're\nbuying until after you've bought it. Making an incorrect or misled choice in\nhealth insurance is sufficient -- literally -- to completely ruin your life\nfinancially in a matter of hours, or cause unnecessary death via untreated\nillness.\n\nIf you want to claim that you can read a health insurance policy binder and\nunderstand it be my guest. I am a frequent writer and editor of technical\nliterature and capable of writing code and I have a pilots license and I find\nhealth insurance policies almost incomprehensible.\n\nWe make sure that you don't get a bad _haircut_ by requiring licenses for\nbarbers. You can't fix my sink or chimney without licensing. We require\nlicensing and testing to act on someone's behalf in the legal system, and in\nnearly all sales of securities, and of financial products, of which insurance\nis one mind you.\n\nIf Zenefits wanted to make an in-public argument that these rules are not\nnecessary they were free to do so. I would have disagreed, and I'm sure others\nwould have shared my opinion. Maybe they could have won the argument.\n\nThey didn't do that. They aren't righteous crusaders passionate about consumer\nchoices and regulatory issues, they're opportunistic business people who broke\nthe law and committed fraud instead of following the rules or working to\nchange them.\n\n~~~\nyummyfajitas\nSince you would have disagreed, can you explain why you think 52 hours of\nclicking \"next\" is a necessary step in becoming a broker?\n\nZenefits employees did pass the exam, and they possess the knowledge you\nbelieve is necessary. It's just that the law requires 52 hours of clicking\nbefore you are even permitted to take the exam. Why do you think this is a\ngood law?\n\n~~~\nCPLX\nYou're being disingenuous.\n\nThe requirement isn't \"clicking next for 52 hours\" it's spending that amount\nof time studying an online course. You're required to actually pay attention\nfor 52 hours and then certify that you did.\n\nFor another example, the requirement inherent in a multiple choice exam isn't\na matter of \"filling out a semi random sequence of the letters A, B, C, and D\"\nit's _knowing the answers to the test._\n\nThe filling out the letters is a signal that you know. Signals aren't perfect,\nin that example if you don't know but copied answers from someone else that's\ncheating and the signal would be unreliable then, and you've subverted the\nactual intended requirement.\n\nThe requirement in this case is _spending about a week of your life actually\nstudying this material_ and the clicking of the next button as well is a\nsignal that you did it.\n\nDon't confuse the means with ends. You could have argued that the amount of\nhours spent studying the material is also a useless metric. But that's a more\nnuanced argument that you haven't made, and one that has defensible positions\non both sides.\n\nClearly clicking next isn't a meaningful requirement, but so what, it's not\nactually the requirement. Spending time studying is, and they cheated and lied\nabout it.\n\n~~~\nyummyfajitas\nWhat the law actually requires is clicking for 52 hours.\n\nBut lets take your claim as a premise; why is it important that a person spend\ntime learning? Suppose two people know the material equally well, but one of\nthem learned it faster than the other. Why is that a good regulation? How does\nit benefit consumers to make it illegal to learn things fast?\n\nI know a former algebraic geometer (lots of category theory) who learned\nHaskell very rapidly. Would it benefit consumers of his services to pass a law\nsaying he needs to learn Haskell at a slower rate comparable to a RoR hipster\nwithout a math PhD?\n\n~~~\nCPLX\nI'm going to go out on a limb and guess you have no idea what the law actually\nrequires in detail. It's ok neither did I. Here's an example of what it looks\nlike, there is a _lot_ more on the linked pages, which collectively comprise\nthe actual requirements:\n\n[https://govt.westlaw.com/calregs/Document/ID813F6A0622011E4A...](https://govt.westlaw.com/calregs/Document/ID813F6A0622011E4A9828577DD5F1BF2?viewType=FullText&originationContext=documenttoc&transitionType=CategoryPageItem&contextData=\\(sc.Default\\))\n\n> why is it important that a person spend time learning? Suppose two people\n> know the material equally well, but one of them learned it faster than the\n> other. Why is that a good regulation? How does it benefit consumers to make\n> it illegal to learn things fast?\n\nI don't know. But I do know that basically every educational institution\nrequires some level of engagement measured in time. You can't just pass tests\nto get an undergrad degree or a PhD either. The requirement to spend actual\ntime is hardly cruel and unusual.\n\nI also know that the requirements were clear enough to be known to Zenefits\nand they willfully evaded them.\n\nWhat is the difference between a Harvard graduate in Economics and someone who\nattended and completed all the requirements for an Econ degree but was short\none art elective class and never got a degree? Should he just fudge his job\napplications since the art class isn't important?\n\nWhat's the difference between someone assigned 100 hours of court ordered\ncommunity service who did it and someone who went back to court with forged\npaperwork saying they did it?\n\nIn all the examples, and Zenefits as well, the difference is that the person\nis committing fraud, is lying, and is not ethical.\n\nCheating on requirements isn't the same as arguing to change the rules,\nregardless of how confused you continue to pretend to be about it.\n\n~~~\ndsp1234\n_You can 't just pass tests to get an undergrad degree_\n\nYes you can. Almost every school has a procedure for taking a test or\nconvincing a professor that you have the knowledge the class provides. You\nstill pay the cost of the course, but do not actually attend it.\n\nGetting my degree many, many years after entering the field, I skipped a huge\nswath of undergrad classes this way. Stuff like non-computer related classes\nwas all that I needed to do 'in person'.\n\nIn other words, I skipped 'pressing buttons' for a large chunk of time due to\nfact that I knew the material and could prove it.\n\nThe main difference to the above being that the school recognized that it was\npossible for a student to understand the core material completely without\ntaking the class, and the above rules do not admit that possibility.\n\n~~~\nfrotak\n_Getting my degree many, many years after entering the field_\n\nSo would you say you had experiential learning in the subject matter of the\nclasses you were being allowed to skip after demonstrating both evidence of\nthis experiential learning and the attendant competency?\n\nTesting out of a course due to earned knowledge is different from passing a\nmultiple choice exam with Cliff Notes awareness of the material.\n\n~~~\ndsp1234\n_is different from passing a multiple choice exam_\n\nSome of the classes did just have multiple choice tests that would have been\neasy enough to 'Cliff'. Though it's not really relevant to larger discourse.\n\nThat still doesn't change the facts of the original situation. The test is the\ndetermining factor of whether or not they 'completed' the course. Indeed,\nsomeone who 'Cliff'ed the notes, and passed the test, and watched Netflix on a\nsecond screen while pushing all of the right buttons would still be accepted.\nWhich is the ultimate failure here. Either the time limit is necessary and\ncan't be skipped (due to the physical limitations of some inherent process),\nor the time limit is artificial and the actual possession of knowledge is\nsufficient.\n\nWho is served by putting an artificial time limit in place that does not\nactually prove knowledge of the material?\n\n------\nPxtl\nWait, all it did was prevent auto-logout? That's it? Seriously?\n\n~~~\nritchiea\nIt does seem to be low scale cheating but a culture of writing and\ndistributing internal software to cheat on tests required for certification\nsounds toxic.\n\n~~~\njmckib\nSomeone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they were cheating on the\nbroker license course, not the exam. It would be similar to skipping a class\nwith an attendance policy because you already know the material.\n\n~~~\nst3v3r\nIt still shows an incredible amount of unethical behavior, and more of this\npattern of \"I'm a startup! I'm special! The law shouldn't apply to me!\"\nSpecial snowflake syndrome, just exhibited by a company.\n\n------\namsilprotag\nIf we are to use this [0] definition, then \"Hypergrowth at\" can be omitted. It\nseems like a better title would include \"in highly regulated industries.\"\n\nIt's interesting to note that the essay only includes discussion of law as it\nrelates to defending startups from incumbents, not as a caveat to the advice:\n\"The good news is, if you get growth, everything else tends to fall into\nplace.\" Is it the case that Zenefits merely failed to grow fast enough to\npresent a more credible threat to state prosecutors?\n\n[0]\n[http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html)\n\n------\npbreit\nThis article is terrible. The takeaway is the hypergrowth ultimately\novercomes. Cleaning up the mess will be comparatively easy. Zenefits flouting\nregulations was silly and didn't appear to be necessary. With Sacks at the\nhelm, a huge and growing business and $500m in the bank, Zenefits is very\nwell-positioned.\n\n~~~\ntyre\nYou may be right, but it isn't that one-sided.\n\n1) Sacks was COO when all of this happened. These were specifically lapses in\npolicy and operations. Are you sure he is immune to the repercussions?\n\n2) \"[H]uge and growing\" as of last year. Every one of these articles\ndiscourages new companies from signing up and talented people from joining the\ncompany. Trust is a tremendous factor in health insurance, especially when\nthere are many other options on the market.\n\nIf I have other options, why go to a company under investigation with a\nhorrendous culture?\n\n3) Based on the state of their operations (poor), company culture (dismal),\nand customer feedback (even worse), I would push back on them being \"well-\npositioned.\"\n\n$500 million can buy you a lot, but if culture, brand, and operations were\nthat easy, Comcast could turn itself into a modern company in a few months.\n\n~~~\npbreit\n1\\. Sacks has a sterling reputation (and a JD from U of Chicago). He's immune.\n\n2\\. Zenefits now has a PayPal CEO, exec staffer and board member plus the\nbacking of A16Z. It is an attractive to place to work and obtain services\nfrom.\n\n3\\. I think those things will come around (if they are even as bad as you\nopine).\n\nComcast is a 50 year-old, former monopoly, $140b company. SO not only a bad\ncomparison but a terrific outcome.\n\n------\nfinancedfuture\nRegarding unicorns (> U$1 billion valuation), the U.S should implement certain\nregulations.\n\nThese startups have market caps that are larger than thousands of public\ncompanies that go through several laws and openly disclosure their financial\ninformation.\n\nNot only does this lack information hurt shareholders that are not \"part of\nthe club\", but also stakeholders that rely on the company in other matters.\n\n[http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Papers.cfm?abstract_id=2674420](http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Papers.cfm?abstract_id=2674420)\n\n\"Regulation of unicorns should recognize that outsized power.\"\n\n~~~\nalexc05\nI'm not actually sure I agree with this.\n\nConsider that the people & companies investing in pre-IPO U$1B companies are\n_extreme_ expert investors. They take the risk on.\n\nNow if we're talking about post IPO, then actual financial regulations kick in\nand market-traders are afforded the protections that they have now (which is\nstill sometimes significant)\n\nImposing additional regs on a 'privately held' company simply because they\naccepted enough money to give them a U$1B valuation punishes them for growth.\n\nAdditionally, valuations are sometimes voodoo calculations for example (and\nsomeone else can check my math) but is someone gave me $1 for 1/10,000,000 of\nmy company, wouldn't that be a billion dollar valuation?\n\nObviously not a _credible_ one - but - where's the line? $1M for 1/1000? It's\nstill not a billion real dollars.\n\nIf you look at linkedin's valuation it's based on current potential for future\nrevenue. But revenue that is like 10 or 20 years in the future. (reference: my\nfoggy recollection of Peter Thiel's lecture in Sam Altman's startup school)\n\nMaybe I'm confused as to how valuations actually work.\n\n~~~\nst3v3r\n\"Consider that the people & companies investing in pre-IPO U$1B companies are\nextreme expert investors\"\n\nAnd regular employees getting paid in options.\n\n\"Imposing additional regs on a 'privately held' company simply because they\naccepted enough money to give them a U$1B valuation punishes them for growth.\"\n\nNo, it doesn't. It shows an acceptance of reality.\n\n~~~\nalexc05\n> And regular employees getting paid in options.\n\nAhhh... That makes more sense to me.\n\n> No, it doesn't. It shows an acceptance of reality.\n\nFair point. Consider my mind swayed.\n\nI'm not sure valuation is the right meter stick, but as another point in the\nthread, total $$ raised _might_ be closer to the right answer.\n\nThere is probably something there.\n\n------\ndpweb\nHad some personal experience in bending the rules (a very ugly experience) -\nand its better to follow the laws, even if the laws don't make sense.\n\nIn a B2B business especially, follow very closely and to the letter.\n\n------\nwhoknowsnotme\nIt is unfortunate that the public doesn't know much about insurance or how\nit's regulated. While what Zenefits did was wrong in several cases, there are\nsome important things to understand: \\- This macro program didn't have\nanything to do with whether an agent would/could pass an insurance exam.\nThat's separate and in order for someone to practice, they need to pass the\ntest. \\- If this training program were so critical to understanding and\neffectively selling insurance, why wouldn't all state adopt it? \\- The\nunfortunate fact is that the details you must study and know to pass the test\nhave very little do with how you will sell insurance. The study packets,\ncourses etc. do not prepare you in any way to sell these products better.\nActually a lot of the test talks about annuities and things completely\nunrelated to medical insurance. \\- The licensing issues largely relate to non-\nresident licenses, not the actual resident license where the test is required\nto pass. It's a common practice in brokerages across the US to get licensed\nwhen business is closed or about to be closed in the different state. \\- If\nyou want a comparable, lawyers obviously have to pass the bar to practice. But\nthey can actually practice legal advice before ever passing the bar as long as\nthey are working under a licensed attorney. This is how many pro-bono cases\nare worked by students in law school etc.\n\n------\nmanishsharan\nSo what will Zenefits eventual business model look like if they survive this ?\n\nI don't think they can be an insurance broker; customers would have to be\nincredibly stupid to buy insurance from them.\n\nIf they are going to be an HR software company, then do they even deserve that\nkind of valuation, as their current valuation seems to be base on an\nexpectation of hypergrowth. HR s/w companies rarely have hypergrowth , what\nwith SAP and Oracle owning large chunks of the enterprise market.\n\n------\nFede_V\nWhat I found particularly illuminating was this:\n\n'Some investors said Mr. Dalgaard was as instrumental as Mr. Conrad in pushing\nfor steep revenue targets, and that both men’s ambition pointed in the same\ndirection — toward hypergrowth.'\n\n(in fairness, later on, the article says this:\n\nAnother person familiar with the board disputed this, saying Mr. Dalgaard, who\nformerly ran the cloud software company SuccessFactors, was among those asking\nMr. Conrad to restrain Zenefits’ growth plans and fix the culture. )\n\nThis is the same person that had a glowing profile written about them in the\nNYT:\n\n[http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/18/business/lars-dalgaard-\nbui...](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/18/business/lars-dalgaard-build-trust-\nby-daring-to-show-that-youre-human.html)\n\nWith this beautiful paragraph: 'I learned so many things from my dad, but in\nparticular he taught me about ethics and that there is no easy way to get to\nyour goal. You’ve got to be like Lambeau Field in Green Bay and build for bad\nweather. That’s basically the only way to achieve any type of success.\n\nBut you often see with some companies, particularly start-ups, that they’re\ntelling themselves and others a bit of a story, and not being honest about\nwhat the real issues are. Instead of taking all that energy and focusing on\nthe core outcomes, they’re just glazing over it and hoping it will be O.K.\nThere is no such thing as a quick fix.'\n\nThere's no way to know what the real truth actually is - but, wow, that's\nquite a contrast between the two articles.\n\n~~~\npoof131\nThe most telling quote for me was “The two men also differed over whether to\naddress employee morale by re-pricing stock options to the new lower\nvaluation, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Conrad favored\nthe move, but Mr. Dalgaard believed it would train employees to expect a re-\npricing any time the company’s fortunes changed.”\n\nSo the “we support founders” mantra may also mean we support founders and\nourselves at the expense of employees. Despite all Conrad’s miss-steps, such\nas the ill-mannered Quora response, I now have a new respect for him. At least\nhe was trying to fight for the employees. Sad to see a16z in this light. With\nfantasy valuations crashing to reality, repricing options should become the\nstandard. Or you can follow the current SV playbook and hope employees don’t\nreally understand what’s going on with equity.\n\n~~~\nJoeAltmaier\nOk, so I have a new interview question for any startup job: \"Will you reprice\noptions should valuations decrease?\" They say No, I walk.\n\n------\nkneel\nAt the center of this 'scandal' is a program that prevents auto log-out during\nlicense training.\n\nBeing licensed: Sitting at a computer for 52 hours and clicking on it before\npassing an exam.\n\nWhat a waste of time. Pretty much an entire week and a half of full time\nstaring at a screen to get a license to sell insurance. They were just skating\nbureaucracy, plenty of companies do this.\n\n~~~\nrun4yourlives2\nAt the centre of this scandal is a company selling insurance with unlicensed\nbrokers.\n\nThat means people advising others on what insurance to buy where their health\nis concerned who didn't know what the hell they were doing.\n\nThe software made to skirt the licencing requirements is only a subset of the\noverall issue.\n\nFrankly, I'm getting a little tired with the group of commentators on here\nthat think its a-ok for a company like zenefits to tell people \"Sure, you're\ncovered for that in this policy\" when they frankly have no idea if that is the\ncase.\n\nSelling insurance advice without a license is exactly like selling financial\nservices advice without a license. And both actions are illegal for very good\nreasons.\n\n~~~\nmattmanser\nI worked with mortgage brokers for a while. They had a big exam, all\ncomplicated and they were supposed to be able to advise.\n\nWhat they actually did was put 5 figures into a computer and pick the mortgage\nnearish the top with the biggest commission.\n\nI have no idea how complicated health insurance is in the US as I'm from the\nUK but I'm willing to bet £100 that's what 90% of health insurer brokers do\ntoo.\n\n~~~\nrun4yourlives2\n>I have no idea how complicated health insurance is in the US\n\nExactly.\n\n~~~\nmattmanser\nYour comment just drips with enlightening anecdotes and interesting exposition\nexplaining how picking health insurance is so much more complicated than all\nthe other financial advice that today is basically little more than:\n\nPut client's answers in brokerage program\n\nChoose highest commission in top 10\n\nRecommend product\n\n~~~\nrun4yourlives2\n1\\. Mortgage brokerages are not financial advice brokerages. A mortgage broker\nfinds the best deal for the consumer, usually for products that are more or\nless the same.\n\n2\\. A financial planner or investment advisory is about helping a client gauge\nwhat product works best for their particular situation, and being able to\ncommunicate the very real downsides of certain courses of action.\n\n3\\. An insurance broker acts in a very similar way to #2, in that there are\nsome very real concerns that may not be obvious to the layperson that the\nbroker should be providing advice on. For example: what a health insurance\nproduct covers, and why (for example) not providing coverage for children in\nyour female dominated company could result in very real losses to your\nemployees, and by extension, you as a company.\n\n>Put client's answers in brokerage program; Choose highest commission in top\n10; Recommend product\n\n..is PRECISELY the type of thing that licensing is designed to protect the\nconsumer from.\n\nGroup health insurance is extremely complex, particularly in the US where it\nis really the ONLY health insurance a person has. These are people's lives\nwe're talking about here...you can't wait until you HAVE cancer to find out\nthat your plan doesn't cover it.\n\nThe only thing this entire thread is showing is exactly why not having\nlicensed, knowledgeable professionals advising on insurance is a very real\nconcern.\n\n------\nwslh\nIt is very interesting to read about other approaches for growth. For example,\nGoogle waited patiently several years until a business model worked.\n\nImagine Google starting today with a protoversion of PageRank.\n\n------\nsnappy173\nit's a matter of risk.\n\nwhen you're trying to be a billion dollar company, you have to take big risks.\nin that context, the risk of getting caught for breaking the law becomes\npalatable.\n\nwhen you're trying to create a stable, profitable, but more modest sized\ncompany, that risk becomes a threat to your business.\n\nit's a big problem when these types of risks start to make sense from a\nbusiness perspective, because it's the public, not the people that create this\nenvironment, that end up suffering.\n\n------\npascalxus\nI don't understand what all the outrage is about. The online training keeps\nyou logged in for a period of inactivity that COUNTS towards your 52 hours,\nwhich is perfectly legitimate. All they did was create and use a tool which\nextends this period of inactivity. How in the world is it that this is\noutragous in any way? This is a very minor fault, certainly not worthy of all\nthe sensationalism that NY times has created, once again.\n\n------\njonesb6\n\"Zenefits scandal highlights the perils of breaking the law at startups\"\n\n------\nauggierose\n>Mr. Conrad had overseen a company that had become _derelict_ in its culture\nand ethics\n\nZoolander much?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHarmony OS and Compatibility - ingve\nhttp://commonsware.com/blog/2019/08/10/harmony-compatibility.html\n======\nroca\n> Simply making an operating system open source is insufficient on its own to\n> guarantee success. If it were, Ubuntu Phone and Firefox OS would be\n> significant players. Unfortunately, neither “crossed the chasm”, in part due\n> to lack of manufacturer and carrier support.\n\nActually FirefoxOS pretty much has \"crossed the chasm\". It's just that that\nhappened after Mozilla abandoned it and KaiOS took it over. They've shipped\n100M units. [https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/22/kaios-raises-50m-more-\nhits...](https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/22/kaios-raises-50m-more-\nhits-100m-handsets-powered-by-its-feature-phone-os/) Weird that a mobile-\nfocused developer site would miss this.\n\nIt's true that Huawei open-sourcing HarmonyOS is no guarantee of success, but\nthat's a bit obvious.\n\n~~~\nrahimnathwani\nEarlier in the same article, they quote \"Huawei will need to solve the biggest\nhole in the adoption of Harmony OS: the app ecosystem\".\n\nI think that's part of what they're talking about when they say these others\nnever crossed the chasm.\n\nAnd, yes, KaiOS has crossed the chasm, but I don't see:\n\n\\- that being open source helped with carrier deals and hence adoption, or\n\n\\- that they've solved the app ecosystem issue\n\n~~~\nfabrice_d\nHaving official apps for WhatsApp, FB, GMaps, Youtube, Google Voice Assistant,\nTwitter helps a lot with the ecosystem part.\n\n------\njhcl\nI am not a mobile developer nor am I a web developer but can't Huawei base\ntheir apps on web apps?\n\nThat would mean they could port any web app from IOS or android to Harmony OS\nas long as there are no native bindings as react native has. Eventually they\ncan incorporate webassembly when that really gets of the ground.\n\n~~~\ns_y_n_t_a_x\nWouldn't be very battery (or other resource) friendly.\n\n------\nTinfoilhat666\nAndroid and iPhone app stores are already saturated. The app store for\nHarmonyOS isn't. This could be a good opportunity for new mobile app\ndevelopers.\n\n~~~\nKipters\nThe same thing has been told referring to the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace\nthough\n\n~~~\naddicted\nThis OS, if it’s anh good, should at least have the Chinese market locked up\nthough. Which is a few hundred million users.\n\nIf it’s good, and Huawei follows up on making it truly open source, I suspect\nevery Chinese manufacturer would at least have a line of Harmony OS phones,\nbecause they could always be the next trade war target.\n\nAnd once the Chinese manufacturers are supporting it, you can also add a huge\nchunk of the South and South East Asian markets as your customer base as well,\nsince a lot of users in those areas basically just buy the latest Xiaomi or\nHuawei phones.\n\n------\nJohnStrangeII\nOf all the efforts at an alternative mobile OS so far, Harmony OS seems to\nhave the best chances of success, because it is backed up by the Chinese state\nand its pervasive surveillance apparatus. With government help and full\nintegration into the total surveillance of all Chinese citizens, they can get\ntheir share of the Chinese market and break the application barrier.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nAs if Google and Apple don't have to obey the wishes of FBI, CIA, NSA,...\nregarding \"making the world safer\".\n\n~~~\nJohnStrangeII\nThe US doesn't have a citizen score, political re-education camps, Tiananmen\nSquare massacre, widespread censorship (like disconnecting a phone when you\nsay a certain word), filtering of all foreign content and blocking of sites\nlike Wikipedia or New York Times, BBC News, massive displacements and forced\nre-settlements, a vast number of political prisoners, massive squelching of\nprotests and demonstrations (right now, there are videos of large troop\nmovements towards Hong Kong), and so on. Not to speak of Tibet...\n\nAnyway, my point was not primarily meant political, it was more that Huawei\nhas good chances of succeeding with this OS, because they are backed up and\nsupported by the Chinese government. That's true even if you are 100% pro\nChinese one-party government.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nYou mean like Guantanamo?\n\nOr the ones managed by CIA outside American borders to do it more cleanly?\n\n~~~\ncamgunz\nGuantanamo is bad, no question. But there's a chasm between holding 800\nforeign nationals (and, from time to time, traitorous Americans) and rounding\nup millions of ethnic minorities for re-education based on their race,\nreligion, or politics. If you looked up false equivalence in the dictionary,\nthis would be Exhibit A.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\n[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haska_Meyna_wedding_party_ai...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haska_Meyna_wedding_party_airstrike)\n\n~~~\ncamgunz\nMoving the goalposts isn't helpful; let's skip to the end. I'm no believer in\nAmerican Exceptionalism. I've read A People's History, I'm pretty familiar\nwith the crisis of mass incarceration and the general failure of our criminal\njustice system, I'm well-informed about widespread domestic surveillance and\nespionage programs, and I'm deeply cynical about US foreign policy as a whole.\n\nBut even someone like me has to admit that the US is closer to a free state\nthan China. Here's why I think that:\n\n\\- Our court system is constantly in the throes of \"freedom\" vs. \"tyranny\"\n(lots of judges disagree with _Citizens United_ , for example.\n\n\\- We have a free press that is _constantly_ critical of our president and\ngovernment.\n\n\\- I can be critical of our president and government with absolutely no\nrepercussions from my government.\n\n\\- We give billions in foreign aid.\n\n\\- We still accept tons of asylum and immigration applications \\- In fact many\nof our cities are \"sanctuary cities\" for immigrants\n\n\\- We celebrate the history of Americans who have fought for fundamental\nfreedoms and civil rights\n\n\\- We are the most diverse nation on the planet, and many of us are intensely\nproud of it.\n\n\\- We have free elections.\n\n    \n    \n      - Don't @ me about election problems; they're still nothing like the fraudulent elections in Russia/China/etc.\n    \n\n\\- We have healthy opposition parties.\n\n\\- We actually believe the US is a work in progress, not \"perfect as it is\"\n(see: \"a more perfect union\").\n\nSure there's a lot of work to do. And I'm sympathetic to the fact that China\nand Russia face different challenges than we do. But I absolutely refuse to\naccept the assertion that the US is anywhere near the same point on the\nauthoritarian spectrum as they are. Such comparisons are facile, ignorant, and\nreinforce a nihilistic vision of Western, classically liberal values that is\nat the root of the rise of nationalism and authoritarianism -- which is itself\nresponsible for the destruction of many millions of lives across the world.\nThese things are not the same, any more than Democrats and Republicans are the\nsame. One is clearly better than the other, and it is literally a matter of\nlife and death that we figure that out.\n\n------\njotm\nIf only Huawei devices will use it, it's doomed. I've said it before and got\ndownvoted, but here's the truth again: Android's app ecosystem is what makes\nit popular, followed by the huge number of manufacturers using it.\n\nMicrosoft failure with Windows Phone was partly because even after\nincentivizing developers, they still could not get a critical mass of apps on\ntheir platform. Plus any new apps were not getting WP versions along with\nAndroid/iOS.\n\nHuawei is huge, but not outside China, for consumers. Couple that with\neveryone being wary of their spyware and whatnot. Samsung tried this at some\npoint with Tizen, but quickly gave up, as well.\n\n~~~\niforgotpassword\n> Microsoft failure with Windows Phone was partly because even after\n> incentivizing developers, they still could not get a critical mass of apps\n> on their platform. Plus any new apps were not getting WP versions along with\n> Android/iOS.\n\nMy thoughts exactly. For the Chinese market everything might work out just\nfine, as the article says. But for the west, as soon as one or two killer apps\nwon't get ported, it's game over. I think Google never did for Windows phone,\nwhich probably did play an important role (among the many other mistakes made.\nMicrosoft didn't exactly make it easy to jump into app development, probably\ndue to arrogance.)\n\nIf harmony doesn't get YouTube, Facebook, Spotify or Snapchat, it doesn't\nmatter how great the OS is under the hood.\n\n~~~\naddicted\nOther than YouTube, all the other apps have a vested interest in seeing a new\ncompetitor to Google controlled Android.\n\nIf Harmony OS is a decent and open OS, I suspect they will all jump onto it.\n\nThe only concern may be Google apps, but then, it’s possible that Google may\nalso create Harmony OS supported apps so they can access the Chinese market.\n\n~~~\niforgotpassword\nThat's a good point, but it's also a hen and egg problem. If the platform\nisn't that widespread you might be hesitant to support it. (assuming it's not\nactually super easy to port over Android apps as suggested).\n\nWhile Windows phone definitely was a very different platform from both IOS and\nAndroid, it was still amazing how shoddy some major players' apps ran on it.\nStability, performance and features were often lacking. The tools,\ndocumentation and lack of sample code was definitely to blame, but even then\nyou still need to learn a new platform.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Minimal and clean ordinal date utility - pngmangi\nhttps://julian.today\n======\npngmangi\nI need the 'julian date' frequently at work, and got tired of searching a\ntable, or clicking through a site filled with lots of other 'stuff' looking\nfor it, so I created this instead.\n\nMy intent was to make it as single-focused, clean, and fast as possible.\nClicking on the day number allows you to type in another to get the date for\nthat ordinal date.\n\nFeedback/criticism welcome!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLispyScript - amelius\nhttp://lispyscript.com/\n======\nlighthawk\nNeat!\n\nNow look at:\n[https://github.com/clojure/clojurescript](https://github.com/clojure/clojurescript)\n\nAnd try it:\n[http://himera.herokuapp.com/index.html](http://himera.herokuapp.com/index.html)\n\n~~~\nzupatol\nClojurescript has to be compiled by the google closure compiler on the server\nside. The closure compiler doesn't work out of the box with other libraries,\nyou need some kind of bridge.\n\nLispyscript has the very nice advantage of being able to run directly in the\nbrowser. Since it's translated directly to javascript, I expect it won't have\nproblems using other javascript libraries.\n\n~~~\nswannodette\nSome inaccuracies here. ClojureScript does not have to be compiled by Google\nClosure. That pass is an optional one for production builds. There is no\n\"bridging\" when using the Closure Compiler with non-Closure compatible code.\nThe issue is that in production mode the Closure Compiler will make aggressive\nassumptions about what it can rename. So it's not about bridging it's about\npreventing renaming - again this is only relevant for advanced production\nbuilds.\n\nThat said for non-Web applications or applications where advanced compilation\nisn't that useful providing a bootstrapped ClojureScript is desirable. We've\nbeen working on that slowly for a long time now. In the coming months you'll\nsee changes such that the ClojureScript compiler can itself be compiled into\nJavaScript.\n\n~~~\ndidyoucheckthe\n> \"again this is only relevant for advanced production builds\"\n\nSo, all real-life builds that anyone would care about.\n\n~~~\nmoonchrome\nThink about where you would use CLJS - my use cases would not have an issue\nwith extra 100kb of code - you don't use CLJS to do jQuery animations on your\nweb page - you would use it to build complex single page apps or write server\nside code/scripts.\n\nYou don't use clojure for performance anyway, it's going to be slower by\ndefault (because of immutability/persistent data structures, and yeah I know\nabout react benefits with immutability that's not my point - you're still\ngoing trough a lot more memory and stressing GC) - you use it to help you deal\nwith your code because of it's semantics.\n\nBut in reality last time I tried CLJS I didn't really feel like it delivers on\nthe productivity part and it's mostly because of implementation issues. IMO\nthe decision to implement CLJS on top of Closure compiler and in Clojure\n(instead of going for a self hosting compiler) was a mistake - you can't\noverstate the value of REPL and fast iteration in a language like Clojure -\nand my last attempt to use CLJS the compiler/REPL environment far from what I\nwould consider fast iteration : compiler took forever to start because of JVM\nand while it could run as a service it needed to be restarted frequently\nenough that it mattered, REPL was very unstable it would just die randomly -\nsometimes you'd need to refresh the page, sometimes you'd need to restart the\nserver process. Oh and don't even get me started on the voodoo needed to get\nthe damn thing running - install piggieback, then install austin and then add\nthis weasel thingy then configure the server process all so you can get a\nhalfworking repl and pray it doesn't break because good luck figuring out\nwhat's actually going on. Compare this to JS where I just go in to the\ndevtools panel and test my code.\n\n~~~\nminikomi\nThings are progressing and I encourage you to have another look.\n\n    \n    \n        $ lein new figwheel myproject\n        $ cd myproject\n        $ rlwrap lein figwheel\n    \n        Browse to http://localhost:3449\n    \n\nIf you return to the terminal, you should have a connected REPL now running.\nAlong with live code reloading on save of your cljs files.\n\n~~~\nmoonchrome\nMaybe, but things progressed way further outside of CLJS space. If you told me\nthis 2 years ago when I was in to it I would be jumping right on it - back\nwhen people were saying coffescript fixed JS problems :D\n\nRight now JS has persistent datastructure libraries and TypeScript is a huge\nproductivity boost - tooling is top notch - it makes JS manageable, once it\ngets async/await (which it should in the next couple of months) I'll be pretty\nhappy with JS development story.\n\nI'll miss some niceties like collection operations, homoiconicity and macros\nbut on the other hand I have working optional type checking, excellent tooling\nand I don't have to code in AST serialization format with macros :D\n\n~~~\nminikomi\nInteresting. Do you have a link to a very basic \"get-started\" in this space?\nRight now, figwheel / om or figwheel / reframe are very quick to get started\nwith (although familiarity definitely plays a part..). Last time I looked at\njs there were 5 or 6 or so flux implementations competing for mindshare and I\nhad to stumble my way through setting up a project with webpack / babel..\n\n------\nevmar\nCoincidentally, I've been fiddling with a rather similar project, just as a\nhobbyist thing. It looks like this one is much farther along, kudos!\nUnfortunately from the contributions graph perhaps interest in it is dying off\n-- the last 10% (aka the last 90%) is always the hardest part to slog\nthrough...\n\nI've been meaning to write up the various approaches to sexpressions+macros in\nJS. Mine differs from the others (and perhaps is closer to LispyScript) mostly\nin that it's close to JS in its names and semantics (e.g. \"function\" defines a\nfunction and you're still required to use a \"return\" statement), but then it\nlets you write macros to e.g. define \"fn\" where the return is implicit.\n\nAnyway, here's some sample code from mine (which is itself defining macros\nused elsewhere in the compiler):\n[https://github.com/martine/pjs/blob/master/lib/macro.pjs](https://github.com/martine/pjs/blob/master/lib/macro.pjs)\n\n------\nlispm\nDoesn't look like Lisp, more like Clojure. Basically none of the functions,\nmacros or syntax is from Lisp.\n\nThe documentation says:\n\n[http://lispyscript.com/docs/](http://lispyscript.com/docs/)\n\n> LispyScript is not a dialect of Lisp. There is no list processing in\n> LispyScript . LispyScript is Javascript using a Lispy syntax (a tree\n> syntax).\n\nThat's about right. It actually uses some kind of s-expressions, but not Lisp\nsyntax.\n\n~~~\ngjm11\n> Basically none of the functions, macros or syntax is from Lisp.\n\nSounds like it's extremely well named, then. LispyScript is to Lisp as\nJavascript is to Java: an entirely different language with different syntax,\nsemantics, standard library and performance characteristics, but with just\nenough superficial similarity to provide plausible deniability for the name.\n\n~~~\nlispm\nWell said! ;-)\n\n------\naidenn0\nSee also:\n[https://github.com/vsedach/Parenscript](https://github.com/vsedach/Parenscript)\n\nTLDR: s-expression syntax for javascript, macros are written in common lisp.\n\n~~~\nTeMPOraL\nMacros can actually be written in Parenscript as well, AFAIR. But the language\nblends itself very naturally with CL code.\n\n~~~\naidenn0\nparenscript macros are in straight common-lisp. They expand to parenscript, of\ncourse.\n\n------\n1971genocide\nAlso check out LiveScript.\n\n[http://livescript.net/](http://livescript.net/)\n\nand its awesome FP library inspired by haskell's prelude.hs\n\n[http://www.preludels.com/](http://www.preludels.com/)\n\nI have done all forms of projects using LiveScript - robotics, simple\nwebsites, blog, cryptography, computer vision.\n\nIts actually becoming silently fairly mature.\n\nIt helps when it doesn't generate any hype like most languages.\n\nThe community around is also very helpful !\n\nAnd LiveScript is awesome with React.js or any other virtual DOM based MVC\nframework.\n\n~~~\namyjess\nWhy did they name it that?\n\nLiveScript was Netscape's original name for JavaScript, before Sun asked them\nto throw in some Java branding.\n\n~~~\nrane\n\n      > Name\n      >\n      > LiveScript was one of the original names for JavaScript, so\n      > it seemed fitting. It's an inside joke for those who know\n      > JavaScript well.\n\n------\njestar_jokin\nDoesn't it say something about JavaScript, dissatisfaction with it, and the\noverwhelmingly splintered ecosystem, when _every_ comment is suggesting\nalternatives to the solution in the article?\n\nI guess we chalk this one up to \"neat if you're a hobbyist or solo dev with no\nmaintenance handover, but generally commercially unviable.\"\n\n------\ngrayrest\n> An inherent problem with Javascript is that it has no macro support, unlike\n> other Lisp like languages.\n\n[http://sweetjs.org/](http://sweetjs.org/)\n\nThere are macro systems for Javascript, just not native ones.\n\n~~~\nJoelMcCracken\nNot that you're wrong -- you're correct -- but I want to bring up that this\nwas likely true at the time this was written. LispyScript has been around for\na while.\n\n~~~\ndrunkcatsdgaf\nFirst commit for lispy - march 5, 2012 First commit for sweet.js - August 1,\n2012\n\nim actually pretty shocked they are that close together.\n\n~~~\nJoelMcCracken\nI bet they both started around the time CoffeeScript started to get big -- it\nshowed there was a market for compile-to-js-but-almost-js langs.\n\n------\nbreuleux\nI wouldn't say Lisp-like syntax is necessary for a macro system. It helps a\nbit... but all things considered, I believe pattern matching is a bigger boon\nto macro writing than syntax per se.\n\nFor those it may interest, I have made a language with mostly conventional\nsyntax which supports macros: [http://breuleux.github.io/earl-\ngrey/](http://breuleux.github.io/earl-grey/)\n\nThe macro system is modular, so you can easily write and publish macro\nlibraries. I have written some for testing, gulp, and react. It's not _super_\nmature but it's getting there.\n\n------\nfrakturfreund\nAlso Spock (Chicken Scheme wiki): [http://wiki.call-\ncc.org/eggref/4/spock](http://wiki.call-cc.org/eggref/4/spock)\n\n------\nelwell\nWisp should also be added to this list:\n[https://github.com/Gozala/wisp](https://github.com/Gozala/wisp)\n\n------\nwoadwarrior01\nNice. This is reminiscent of HyLang[1], which is like this for Python.\n\n[1]: [http://hylang.org/](http://hylang.org/)\n\n------\nrndn\nThere is no shortage of JavaScript-Lisps, that’s for sure!\n\n------\nktg\nLispScript |\n[https://bitbucket.org/ktg/lispscript](https://bitbucket.org/ktg/lispscript)\n\nTry LispScript |\n[http://ktg.bitbucket.org/lispscript/lispscript.html](http://ktg.bitbucket.org/lispscript/lispscript.html)\n\n------\nsebastianconcpt\nNice! reminded me of\n[http://ympbyc.github.io/LittleSmallscript/](http://ympbyc.github.io/LittleSmallscript/)\n\n------\nTuring_Machine\nBiwaScheme is also pretty decent.\n[http://www.biwascheme.org/](http://www.biwascheme.org/)\n\n------\nTouche\nalso [http://sibilantjs.info/](http://sibilantjs.info/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSniff browser history for improved user experience - skorks\nhttp://www.niallkennedy.com/blog/2008/02/browser-history-sniff.html\n\n======\ntptacek\nRespectfully, this is a batshit crazy idea. History sniffing is a gaping\nsecurity flaw. The thing we need to do with it is eliminate it. What we don't\nneed to do is arm unscrupulous developers with arguments for why the behavior\nshould be protected.\n\n------\nwhyenot\n_In this post I will teach you how to mine the rich treasure trove of\npersonalization data sitting inside your visitor's browser history for deep\npersonalization experiences._\n\nThere is no discussion of the privacy issues, which seems like a huge\nomission. I wouldn't use this on a website unless you like playing with fire.\n\n~~~\nangelbob\nHe mentions it (very) briefly with the Audi example. But yeah, this is a bit\nterrifying. I hadn't thought about this trick before now, and I don't see how\nyou could easily turn it off...\n\n~~~\nFixnum\nSee <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=800693> and associated link.\n\nSummary: To mitigate, either (a) tell your browser not to save any history, or\n(b) in Firefox, go to about:config and turn off\nlayout.css.visited_links_enabled. (Chrome doesn't seem to have about:config\n...)\n\nThis should probably be the default ...\n\n~~~\nakamaka\nAgreed about making that the default.\n\nAnother workable approach are keeping a full history graph, and only showing\nvisited links on the site where you originally clicked on them.\n\nOr, the browser could highlight visited links in a way that can't be detected\nwith JavaScript code.\n\nThis isn't hard to fix, so obviously we just haven't been complaining loud\nenough.\n\n------\nDrewHintz\nPeople have been using this technique in this way since at least 2006:\n<http://int2e.com/blog/improved-digg-integration-script/>\n[http://jeremiahgrossman.blogspot.com/2006/08/i-know-where-\nyo...](http://jeremiahgrossman.blogspot.com/2006/08/i-know-where-youve-\nbeen.html)\n\nSince changing browsers to prevent this will not happen tomorrow, this can be\npartially worked around both server and client-side.\n\nServer-side: If you have any sensitive URIs you don't want leaked or brute-\nforced, add an extra parameter containing a random value. URIs you might want\nto protect are those with XSRF tokens or session IDs. URIs can be brute-forced\nlocally on the victim at a speed of approximately 40,000 URIs per second.\n\nClient-side: Use incognito mode for sensitive surfing. Plugins such as\nnoscript can partially defend against this, however it's possible to do\nhistory detection using pure CSS which I believe will work even if you're\nusing noscript. Update: Fixnum posted another client-side solution \"in\nFirefox, go to about:config and turn off layout.css.visited_links_enabled\"\n\n------\ngridspy\nIt was just a matter of time before the CSS history trick was put to use. I\ncan see the benefits, though I don't like the privacy implications.\n\nHistory trick here (JS, no cookies, can poll user's web history):\n[http://jeremiahgrossman.blogspot.com/2006/08/i-know-where-\nyo...](http://jeremiahgrossman.blogspot.com/2006/08/i-know-where-youve-\nbeen.html)\n\n------\ndotBen\nNiall wrote about this in 2008 (see post/url of post), and there have been\nseveral interesting write ups about this across the various outlets.\n\nI'm pretty sure it's beeing used in loads of places by now - there's probably\n(/should be) a jQuery plugin for it, even.\n\nI'm wondering why this is making it to HN now, 2 years later?\n\n~~~\norangecat\n_there's probably (/should be) a jQuery plugin for it, even_\n\nNo, there shouldn't. Taking advantage of this design flaw is no better than\ntrying to send a Javascript exploit to read my history file directly. I'm\nsurprised that supposedly legitimate sites think using it is an acceptable\npractice, but I guess I shouldn't be.\n\n------\nsambeau\nPlease, don't do that.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: ChargeBack.cc - Get your money back - myotherthings\nhttps://www.chargeback.cc/\n======\naristidb\nThat seems a bit sketchy to me - black-mailing merchants into signing up for\nyour \"service\" of not sending them chargebacks?! Maybe you should explain why\nit's not.\n\n~~~\nmario1900\nMerchants don't need to sign up to resolve chargebacks. If we receive one,\nwe'll send them links to resolve it before it gets sent to the banks. They can\nchoose not too respond and it becomes a normal chargeback. Even if they do\nrespond - all they have to do is acknowledge they're making a refund or change\nthe customer's mind.\n\nThe basic resolution service is free for merchants. They only have to pay or\neven sign up if they want to use any of the premium features to help them\nreduce future chargebacks. Hopefully this isn't too dodgy :)\n\nI definitely think we need to be more upfront about what we get out of it. A\nlot of people seem skeptical when they first see the site.\n\n~~~\nblantonl\nThe existing chargeback process is already enourmously skewed against a\nmerchant from an online transaction perspective.\n\n _all they have to do is acknowledge they're making a refund or change the\ncustomer's mind_\n\nWell, that means the merchant continues to be at a significant disadvantage\nduring an even more complex chargeback process.\n\n~~~\nmario1900\nAbsolutely. We've found that under the existing chargeback system only 21% of\nclaims are decided in the merchant's favour.\n\nWe started ChargeBack.cc with the aim to level the playing field a little\nmore. Under the existing chargeback system in most cases the merchant receives\nvery little information about what has gone wrong and who the customer is. Our\naim is to use data to help merchants resolve chargebacks with less cost to\nthemselves. By keeping the chargeback outside of the banking system we take\naway a lot of risk and cost from fee, fines etc... so that's one step. The\nnext step is to give merchants the tools to provide the best response to the\ncustomer. Yes, it's still not going to be equal, but hopefully it'll help\nmerchants spend less time, less money and generally get a better result than\nthey used to.\n\n------\nrobryan\nIt is better if charge backs are seen as somewhat of an inconvenience to do,\nso customers will think more about if they really want to chargeback. Lots of\nthings can and do go wrong in ecommerce, if anyone slightly annoyed reached\nfor a chargeback rather than trying to resolve an issue with the merchant it\nwould be a big hit for merchants.\n\n~~~\nblantonl\nit is actually worse than that. There is certain type of online customer that\nwill literally click through \"Interested->Purchase->Yes->Confirm>Pay>Done\"\nwithout every really looking at what they purchased or why they did so in the\nfirst place.\n\nAfter they realize what they actually purchased which is a legitimate product\nbut not appropriate for the customer, they just uses the chargeback process to\nget their money back.\n\n~~~\nnotatoad\nit is actually worse than that. There is a certain type of customer that will\nclick through the whole process like you describe, and be perfectly satisfied\nwith their purchase but not remember the name of the merchant. Then when it\ncomes time to pay the credit card bill, it's an 'unrecognized charge' and they\ndo a chargeback. They don't look through their email receipts and try to\nfigure out what they've bought, they just initiate a chargeback blindly.\nfortunately it's fairly easy to fight these as a merchant, but it still takes\nvaluable time.\n\n~~~\nsaurik\nSlightly _less_ worse than that (sorry to break pattern), but another\nirritating example: it wasn't them that made the purchase, it was their son,\nhusband, niece, whatever; I often get people sending me threatening e-mails\nabout how I stole money from them, when in fact they share their credit card,\nPayPal account, etc. with other people and didn't have the courtesy to ask\n\"anyone else know what this is?\" before going all ballistic and demanding\ntheir money back.\n\n------\nnotatoad\nchargeback only works because most users don't know it exists. If you start\ntelling people all they have to do to get their money back from a merchant is\nto click a button, it won't be long before credit card companies are forced to\nget rid of it. please don't abuse this.\n\n~~~\nmyotherthings\nThe goal with ChargeBack.cc is to divert unhappy customers away from the\ntraditional chargeback system and into direct contact with their merchant. It\nis backed by sending unresolved disputes through the banks, but if we get to\nthat stage I consider the chargeback failed on our behalf.\n\n~~~\nnotatoad\nThe banks will put you in direct contact with the merchant. From a merchant's\nperspective, your service is just another unnecessary middleman to deal with.\nThe damage you're doing is advertising the chargeback feature. You are\nencouraging users to initiate chargebacks (whether through your service or\nnot), which is not a good thing.\n\n------\nlionhearted\nFeedback / thoughts about potential pitfalls:\n\nYou're probably going to get a cease and desist letter at some point if you\nhaven't already talked with the various financial institutions and have\ncontacts there... you're almost certainly violating their terms of service\n(and maybe people filing through you are too).\n\nYou might want to be proactive about reaching out and making some contacts\nwith the financial institutions.\n\nOr maybe not, maybe it's OK. Just uninformed intuition there.\n\nAlso, you probably want to add some pretty serious language in bold saying\n\"You must be telling the truth, not telling the truth here can cause serious\nharm, etc.\"\n\nYou probably also want to do some basic confirmation of a person's identity so\nyou don't get whacky results. Ask for a phone number maybe, and occasionally\nspot check calls? I could see this being used for pranking, harassment, or\ninappropriate use (disgruntled employee, uninformed\nspouse/boyfriend/girlfriend, etc).\n\n~~~\nmario1900\nThanks for the feedback.\n\nI've spoken to a few financial instituions. The general consensus seems to be\nthat we're not doing anything they didn't wish customers did already - which\nis contact the merchant for a refund before creating a chargeback. We've been\ntold that in only around 18% of chargebacks have the customers even told the\nmerchant they have a problem before filing the chargeback.\n\nI do expect someone along the line will have a problem with it, in which case\nwe don't offer services for customers with that institution (after attempting\nto change their mind!).\n\nWe do have a layer of manual checks on each chargeback before they are\nprocessed. I like the idea of spot phone calls though - might add that in!\n\n------\nericcholis\nUgh...charge backs. I work in an industry that has high charge back rates and\namounts, most of the time because people are disgruntled.\n\nMost people don't realize how easy a charge back is.\n\n~~~\njarin\nI do too, and I wish people would realize that we practically trip over\nourselves to issue refunds whenever they are requested, because we want to\navoid chargebacks at all costs.\n\n------\nSire\nThis business will fail even though the idea to improve the chargeback process\nis a good one (for both merchants and customers).\n\nMost customers don't know what a chargeback is. Those who do will never find\nyour site. Only if you sell your service to the credit card companies will\nthis work.\n\n~~~\nsaurik\nThat seems to be how BillGuard (a site that seems to have a similar purpose)\nis attempting to play this: to provide a service to users, but really attempt\nto get the ear of banks as a value-add to their online offerings.\n\n------\nmikeash\nI've never had trouble with chargebacks, personally. I try the merchant, and\nif they don't play ball, I contact my card issuer. It's been pretty painless,\nso I don't see the point of this service. Is my experience just abnormal?\n\n~~~\nBryanB55\nI think it depends on your credit card company. American Express is well-known\nfor very good customer service and easy no hassle chargebacks. My Bank of\nAmerica card was a bit more of a hassle though trying to find the correct form\nto fill out online then they had to mail me papers and I had to sign them and\nsend them back and talk to 3 different people.\n\n------\njasonlotito\nSo, who are your customers? Businesses with chargeback problems or customers\nfiling chargebacks?\n\nThe followup is how are you intending to step between customers filing\nchargebacks and their banks which are a phone call away?\n\n------\nsaurik\nHow is this different from BillGuard.com? (edit:) Well, I mean, for the\nfeatures this site offers; BillGuard also seems to scan your bills proactively\ntrying to help you deal with charges, but at the end of the process seems to\nbe fairly similar: I (the merchant) receive an e-mail from them rather than a\nchargeback, combined with information that might be useful to look into the\nmatter and fix the problem. (I only started dealing with BillGuard yesterday,\nso I don't know much about them yet, and certainly not much about this new\nsite.)\n\n~~~\nmario1900\nThe concepts are similar, but the implementations are quite different. In\norder to use BillGuard you must sign up for constant monitoring of your credit\ncard. ChargeBack.cc is more of an a la carte service - you only use it when\nyou want to perform or resolve a chargeback.\n\n~~~\nstpsg\n\"In order to use BillGuard you must sign up for constant monitoring of your\ncredit card\" - simply not true. Anyone can file a dispute, without signing up.\n\n------\ntyrelb\nHow would consumers find out about you? If I buy something online, I would\ncall merchant first, then bank. How would I find out to use you first vs.\ngoing to merchant and/or bank? Thanks!\n\n~~~\nEvbn\nAdvertising like this thread.\n\n~~~\ntyrelb\nWould be hard though... PR/blog hits only lasts so long.\n\n------\nPetefine\nIn my experience as a merchant, disputes can be very time sensitive (i.e.\ntravel cancellations). On one hand, finding out about a misunderstanding from\nyou (rather than a chargeback fax two months later) may allow a much easier\ndispute resolution and be so be valuable to a merchant. But on the other hand,\ncustomers who cancel/complain by charging back instead of calling the merchant\nmay therefore lose a chargeback because they miss an agreed deadline. Adding\nyour service as a middleman could lead to further missed deadlines.\n\nThis is especially true since any good merchant privacy policy/PCI DSS would\nof course prevent them from discussing anything with you without direct\napproval from the customer first - and if they did that, they may as well\ndiscuss the issue direct anyway.\n\nLastly, the toughest chargebacks can take months to resolve. Help with that\n(as a merchant) would be very useful(and so I can imagine you providing a\ncompelling service), but are you really committing to take on a potentially\ncomplex issue for the customer? And wouldn't it be a conflict to represent\nboth parties? Still, a tool that eases the admin of chargebacks could be great\nfor both sides...\n\n------\niusdfhsdfiuh\nYour terms and conditions at the end of lodging says <http://james/something>\n\nI like the service (just used mailinator to test it) but in the end I'm left\nwith the feeling there is some hidden cost to me. I'd like if it was clear\nthat it was a free service for me.\n\nI notice you are Australian? Or have you localised your site really well?\n\n>You must not modify, adapt or hack the Service or modify another website so\nas to falsely imply that it is associated with the Service, ChargeBack.cc, or\nany other ChargeBack.cc service.\n\nYou must not do illegal stuff?\n\n>ChargeBack.cc reserves the right to update and change the Terms of Service\nfrom time to time without notice\n\nPlease change your policy on this, tos-dr.info will likely rate that section\nbadly.\n\nHave yet to get a notice as a \"merchant\" but I love the experience as a\nconsumer.\n\n~~~\nmyotherthings\nAh thanks for that TOS fix.\n\nThe feedback about the \"hidden cost\" is great. I've heard that a lot. I\ndefinitely need to communicate somehow that we attempt to up-sell merchants\nwith premium services and use the chargeback essentially as a lead to talk to\nthem.\n\nYup, Australian :) Although the site does localise to the US and UK as well.\n\nThere will be a short delay before the merchant notification emails come out.\nWe put them through a degree of manual approval and due to load from HN\ntraffic it may take some time for them to be fully processed.\n\n------\neCa\nI think a page called \"Who we are\" [1] should answer that question, and not\ndescribe \"what we do\" (again). Especially with something involving such\nsensitive information.\n\n[1] <https://www.chargeback.cc/who-we-are>\n\n------\ntwodayslate\nI'd rather just file a chargeback with my credit card company. It is just as\neasy imo.\n\n------\nbreck\nI think there is a big need for this type of service. The majority of my\ntransactions are fine, but there are times when I have a problem and getting\nit resolved is a huge hassle. Like last month when the NYTimes charged me $15\nbut a bug in their database prevented me from actually using my account. Took\n2 painful hours to get a refund.\n\nIn those cases I assume the merchant has better things to do as well, and it\nseems like a service like this could offload some work from their support\nstaff and, by adding things like exit surveys, turn those small number of bad\nexperiences into positive, constructive experiences for all parties.\n\n------\nmalbs\nWell I had a disputed charge I was planning on seeking to have overturned, so\nI've just tested the chargeback.cc system with this dispute as a trial\n\n~~~\nmyotherthings\nPlease do. If you have any feedback, please post it here or email it to\njames@chargeback.cc\n\n------\niusdfhsdfiuh\n[http://www.sedo.com/search/details.php4?language=us&doma...](http://www.sedo.com/search/details.php4?language=us&domain=chargeback.cc)\n<\\-- might want to fix that\n\n------\nkkt262\nOne thing that popped right out to me was how similar the top banner looks to\nthe Paypal top banner.\n\n------\nhnwh\nfree services.. hmm.. whats in it for you?\n\n~~~\nmario1900\nPremium services for merchants.\n\nEssentially the basic chargeback resolution is free, but we charge merchants\nto access additional tools like exit surveys, the ability to configure\nquestions on chargebacks for their business. Also we're working on a set of\ntools to help merchants reduce chargebacks in general - like domains to put on\ncredit card receipts, that type of thing.\n\nThe value is that each chargeback is a lead to a business with a chargeback\nproblem :)\n\n------\nwilfra\nThis is the online equivalent of \"protection\" money the mafia asks for when\nthey say they're going to burn down your store if you don't pay them.\n\nI applaud making it easier for people to file chargebacks but shame on your\nbusiness model.\n\nEdit: after reading the explanation given below perhaps the business model is\nnot as bad as it first seems - if that's the case, you need to make it more\nclear! It looks like you are encouraging people to file chargebacks and then\nshaking down the merchants for money with the threat of the chargeback getting\nfiled if they don't pay you.\n\n~~~\nmario1900\nMaybe using the word \"protection\" on the business page was a bad idea.\nMerchants don't need to pay us to resolve chargebacks. We just try to make\ntheir services better in the future through premium data services. Please see\nthis comment <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4799225>\n\n~~~\nwilfra\nyou're also not being honest with your users. you're not actually filing\nchargebacks on their behalf, at least not at first. you're asking for their\npermission to harass/spam/threaten the merchants they have a problem with -\nthen filing a chargeback if you don't get what you want.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nComcast Is Threatening to Cut Off Customers Who Use Tor - bndr\nhttp://finance.yahoo.com/news/comcast-threatening-cut-off-customers-092817979.html\n======\nufmace\nI know it's popular in tech circles these days to hate on Comcast, and I'm not\nsaying they don't deserve the hate or that they wouldn't do something like\nthis, but I'm not buying this one just yet. This is all supposedly statements\nby 2 telephone support people.\n\nThe actual source article seems to be confusing running a connection to Tor\nand the Tor browser with running a Tor relay node or exit node. Prohibiting\nthe Tor browser would be a bad move on the part of any ISP who isn't part of a\npolice state, but none of their document suggest that they're doing that. I\ncan understand them prohibiting running a Tor node on your residential\ninternet connection though. Almost all residential ISPs officially prohibit\nrunning servers, though it usually isn't enforced as long as you aren't\npushing too much traffic. A Tor node can easily fall on those lines. I think\neven the Tor project doesn't recommend running nodes on your home connection\nrather than actual servers with server-class connections.\n\n~~~\nsailfast\nThank you for this. This may be a stupid question, but how would your ISP know\nyou were actively running a Tor (non-node) connection?\n\nObviously I need to read up on all the back-end tech but I would assume that\nif it was easy to identify someone using Tor, it would no longer provide the\nanonymity / security because it would clearly identify outliers.\n\nIt makes sense to ban someone running a node off their Comcast connection (not\nbecause it's logical but because of their high traffic / server banning track\nrecord) but for Comcast to detect a browsing session? Seems odd.\n\n~~~\nnitrogen\nUsing DPI or even just flow analysis (sizes, port numbers, destination\naddresses, protocol (TCP/UDP) bits, and timings of packets), it should be\npossible to distinguish between encrypted TOR and other encrypted protocols\nwith ease.\n\n------\nw1ntermute\nSounds like a great way to cancel your Comcast service when they just won't\nlet you go:\n[http://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2014/jul/17/...](http://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2014/jul/17/comcast-\ncustomer-services-call-ryan-block)\n\n------\njrochkind1\nWhere I live, comcast is pretty much the ONLY broadband provider. There are\nlots of places like this.\n\nThese are the risks of a monopoly on broadband internet access.\n\n(Did you go send your comments to the FCC saying to treat ISP's like common\ncarriers yet?\n\n1) Go to [http://fcc.gov/comments](http://fcc.gov/comments) 2) Click on\nProceeding 14-28 3) Say \"I want internet service providers classified as\ncommon carriers.\" )\n\n------\norr94\n> Comcast Is Threatening To Cut Off Customers Who Use Tor, The Web Browser For\n> Criminals\n\nUh, it's not \"The Web Browser For Criminals\". It's for people who want\nanonymity. And being slightly pedantic, Tor is also not a web browser. Tor\nBrowser is.\n\n~~~\nObviousScience\nI find it hilarious that they pitch Tor as for criminals, despite the US\nmilitary being the largest backer (and source) of the Tor project.\n\n~~~\nfluidcruft\n[insert typical libertarian talking points about government being criminals]\n\n------\ncik\nThis is how it begins. First they come for TOR, then they come for VPNs.\nEventually, they come for your SSL certs.\n\n~~~\nsmnrchrds\nDone, done and done. Well, not necessarily in that order. Living in Iran\nsometimes feels like living in the future. Unfortunately it's a slightly\ndystopian future.\n\n~~~\ncik\nIt's also like the past. It blows my mind that the dystopian future we read\nabout is always the UK - and that so much dystopian fiction comes out of\nBritain as well.\n\n------\nZikes\nAT&T U-Verse admitted to actively disrupting my connection whenever I used\ntorrents.\n\n~~~\nmayneack\nWas it based on connecting with the wrong tracker or identifying torrent\ntraffic?\n\n~~~\nZikes\nAs far as I could tell it was by identifying the type of traffic.\n\nI was primarily torrenting various linux distros, and I tried a wide variety\nof them on various clients and systems. It was fairly consistent behavior,\neven if I torrented a 'buntu distro on my phone and throttled it to a few KBps\nmy TV's Netflix would stutter, degrade, and ultimately drop out entirely\nwithin a few minutes. If I stopped the torrent the connection would resume\nnormally a few minutes later.\n\nOne thing that really bothered me, though, was that every time I experienced\nthis problem I could go to speedtest.net and run their tool and get\nconsistently good results every time. Even when the rest of the internet was\nbollocks. It makes me wonder if they intentionally toss speed test traffic\ninto one of their \"fast lanes\" to trick people into thinking they're getting\nfaster speeds than what they're actually getting.\n\n~~~\ncmdrfred\nI've always thought this myself, what prevents them from doing so?\n\n~~~\nZikes\nApparently, nothing. After I had narrowed the issue down to torrents, I called\nAT&T and confronted them with the evidence. On the phone with me they directly\nsaid \"we do that to prevent illegal activity over our service lines.\"\n\nNo amount of \"torrenting is not illegal\" worked, and I didn't really expect it\nto. They don't care about the legality, they only use it as an excuse to keep\ncustomers from getting the full usage of the service they pay for.\n\n------\ndj-wonk\nThe source article is more detailed and worth reading:\n[http://www.deepdotweb.com/2014/09/13/comcast-declares-war-\nto...](http://www.deepdotweb.com/2014/09/13/comcast-declares-war-tor/)\n\n------\nkstenerud\nThe title of this posting is wholly inaccurate. Comcast is DENYING that any\nthreat to cut off Tor users occurred. They deny most points in the article on\nDeepDotWebm including all alleged evidence, and have flatly stated that\ncustomers can use Tor all they want.\n\n------\nat-fates-hands\nI got lucky. I went with Century Link when I found out the D-Mark is about 50\nyards from my house and haven't looked back.\n\nDropped my bill by about $40/month and the customer service is a bit more. .\n.reliable than Comcast.\n\n------\nstevekl\nI use TOR and I would really like to get a call from comcast so that I can\ninform Comcast I am using a Navy funded project.\n\n------\nillumen\nComcast denies this.\n\n~~~\nmark-r\nI don't know much about how TOR works, but could you use it over a VPN so that\nit's outside of Comcast's network before connecting to TOR? Surely they'd\nnever ban VPN.\n\n~~~\nherge\n> Surely they'd never ban VPN.\n\nWait until all file-sharing is done through VPNs. Or maybe they'll require\npeople to pay for a \"business\" plan to use such a \"business\" feature.\n\n------\nNanzikambe\nCould someone take these guys to court and force them to rebrand themselves as\na SISP (Some Internet Services Provider) ?\n\n------\ndoubt_me\n1\\. Be comcast\n\n2\\. How do I get the NSA off my back as much as possible?\n\n3\\. Oh lets threaten to cut off customers service because of Tor! that will\ntotally work (comcast logic)\n\n4\\. ....NSA still on our backs guys what do I do?\n\n5\\. Ban Tor\n\n6\\. Make NSA happy = TWC merger will happen\n\n7\\. NSA still not happy\n\n8\\. Spend millions on trying to kill net neutrality because the survival of\ncomcast/ twc/ NBC universal depends on it\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWhy does Facebook change my link to translate.google.com? - szeldon\n\nHi.<p>Maybe it's just me, but whenever I try to put any link to translate.google.com (for instance http://translate.google.com/#en|cs|asaasa) I see this link on my board: http://translate.google.com/#en|cs|Suck%20my%20balls<p>Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but this looks weird, to say the least.<p>Best regards,\nszeldon\n======\njasonhe\nThis happened to me and a friend earlier today, but it seems the problem has\nbeen fixed.\n\n------\nszeldon\nNow it works just fine... Argh, probably just a stupid bug.\n\n------\ndrivebyacct2\nNot sure what you're talking about to be honest.\n\n<http://imgur.com/B7HAZ.png>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBaggage Handling System – Schiphol Airport [video] - curtis\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv-Y0-ruzi8&feature=youtu.be\n======\nmasida\nThis reminds me of one of my first programming jobs as external consultant for\nthe Baggage Handling System at Schiphol in 2000/2001, I was 17 years old.\n\nMy employer at that time was using MS Excel to parse the log files of all\nsensors of the predecessor/older part of the system that is shown in this\nvideo. I told her that I could probably do it 10,000 times faster by creating\na simple program in Visual Basic.\n\nVisual Basic was way too slow on our \"high-end\" Pentium laptop to parse that\nmany 1MB log files, so I rewrote it in C++ (learned it on the job)[1]. The\nmanagers got insight in the performance of the various components of the\nsystem which they never dreamed of having (they were hardly aware that the\nsystem was creating this detailed log messages).\n\nBy the way, the system is developed (at least partly) by Vanderlande [2].\n\n[1] Took me a couple of days, probably even weeks back then. I would write the\ncode in 1 or 2 hours now.\n\n[2] [https://www.vanderlande.com/](https://www.vanderlande.com/)\n\n------\ndavid-given\nIs there a version without the edits? Because I found this practically\nunwatchable; it kept cutting away just as things started to get interesting.\n\n~~~\nmike_hearn\nThis video of the T5 system at Heathrow is better and shows equipment just as\ncool (though no robot at the end)\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn8qogHH9bM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn8qogHH9bM)\n\nOh and if you want a REALLY crazy version of the Schipol video, this one is\nactually a 360 degree live draggable version of it - no kidding!\n\n[http://www.schiphol.nl/Reizigers/OpSchiphol/Bagage/BagageVid...](http://www.schiphol.nl/Reizigers/OpSchiphol/Bagage/BagageVideo.htm)\n\n~~~\ndavid-given\nThe first one isn't an FPV... and the second one is _also_ full of edits!\n\n------\ncodejoust\nWas looking for some backgrojnd and found an overview presentation [pdf]:\n[http://netlipse.eu/media/77918/11nwm-bratislava-lex-\npepping-...](http://netlipse.eu/media/77918/11nwm-bratislava-lex-pepping-\nbaggage-handling-at-amsterdam-airport-schiphol-implementing-new-\ntechnologies.pdf)\n\n------\nelcapitan\nWow. It's actually a miracle that this works most of the time. That suitcase\nis pretty standard, I could imagine a million ways how some backpack or other\nunusually formed piece of baggage would jam that thing.\n\nAnd how on earth do they route individual packages through the system with\nthat speed? Is there some pattern recognition system that identifies them on\nthe fly and then routes left, right, left right, etc?\n\nThis reminds me of a funny part of a book I read about automation (and its\nimpact on human labour), which described how modern corn mills identify bad\ngrain: they shoot every single grain through a high speed tunnel and identify\nmalformed (bad, moldy) grain with pattern recognition and then filter them\nout.\n\n~~~\nmike_hearn\nThey have sets of barcode scanners dotted around routing points. With enough\nof them and the big barcodes on the baggage tags, they can scan most\nautomatically. Any that fail scanning are diverted to a side belt where a\nhuman scans them with a handheld unit.\n\n------\ndarkvertex\nThat was incredible. Remove the \"flip aside\" parts and it's much better than\nyour average rollercoaster! :D\n\n------\nbronz\nThis is unbelievable. How can they possibly justify the cost of this system?\n\n~~~\nmike_hearn\nSame as for any automated system: reliability and throughput.\n\nSome of these airports are enormous, Schipol especially so. They're handling\n150,000 bags per day at peak times. If you generously assume a 1% error rate\n([http://panko.shidler.hawaii.edu/HumanErr/Basic.htm](http://panko.shidler.hawaii.edu/HumanErr/Basic.htm))\nand that each bag is touched by only one human, then you'd be misrouting or\nlosing 1500 bags per day, which is huge. But of course bags aren't going to be\nhandled by just one human, there would be many making complex routing\ndecisions, over and over again. So the true loss rate would be much worse.\n\nBear in mind that if the airline doesn't get the bag to the right place then\nthe bag has to be sent onwards later, and then the airline has to pay for home\ndelivery of the baggage. So the cost of mistakes adds up fast. Then you have\nthe sheer amount of manpower needed to move all the bags around by hand. And\nnot just any manpower, it often has to be _literally_ manpower because you\nneed strong men to do this as the bags are so heavy, and they can't work long\nshifts because they get tired.\n\nIt's pretty easy to see how such things can be justified. You wouldn't be able\nto scale air travel to the current levels it sees without such systems.\n\n------\nrosege\nnot sure if this is a new system but I flew through Schiphol a lot around\n2010-2012 and the baggage was very slow. Typically half an hour wait. Whenever\npossible I flew with carry on as I found it frustrating to have an hour flight\nthen half an hour wait.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIntroducing Bloom: The Future of Credit - el_duderino\nhttps://blog.hellobloom.io/introducing-bloom-the-future-of-credit-3b0d6ee04f24\n======\nsschueller\nA little thin on details how this exactly works. Does anyone have a TLDR as I\ncan't open the white paper in my phone for some reason?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nEric Schmidt's book is wrong about how Google works - mandeepj\nhttp://venturebeat.com/2014/11/30/why-eric-schmidt-doesnt-know-how-google-works/\n======\ngilgoomesh\nIf we take this article at face-value (that Google is as big as it is because\nof its monopoly in search) a related question is immediately raised: why is\nGoogle's search engine a monopoly?\n\nIf the monopoly is due to superior technology, why are Google able to write a\nbetter search engine and maintain this search engine lead?\n\nIf the monopoly is due to other effects (buying favored search-engine status\nin Safari, Firefox and pushing Chrome/Android) why don't the browsers have all\nthe power?\n\nI guess I agree with the article that Google's power is search-engine derived\nbut there's more to the source of that monopoly than I think the article\ndiscusses.\n\n~~~\nmixmax\nGoogle's monopoly is based on their early superior technology. That's it, pure\nand simple.\n\nI'm old enough to remember the web before google, and it was terrible. Back\nthen we switched between hotbot, altavista, yahoo and a few others - and they\nall sucked. Some of them ranked searches _alphabetically_ \\- try searching\nthrough 100.000 results that are ordered alphabetically.\n\nI remember the first time I ever used google. From the very first day I never\nused anything else, and recommended it to all my friends. If you haven't\nexperienced the web before google I think it's hard to imagine what it was\nlike.\n\nPagerank made the difference.\n\n~~~\ntwelvechairs\nUnfortunately since this time results have gotten worse ( anecdotal I know,\nbut I know many who agree). I think this is down to a mixture of issues - the\nSEO industry has made search optimisation much harder, googles probably been a\nbit complacent with no competition too. Also introducing big changes like\nsearch personalisation and localisation which (IMO) has taken away more than\nit adds.\n\n~~~\njodrellblank\n_Unfortunately since this time results have gotten worse ( anecdotal I know,\nbut I know many who agree)_\n\nShowing results for _I know many who disagree_. To search for what you typed\nin and wanted to search for, jump through {this hoop}.\n\n~~~\nusername223\nIt's worse than trying to write a paper on the Teh tribe in the Amazon in\nMicrosoft Word with autocorrect. The relationship between query terms and\nresults is complex and opaque.\n\n------\nfivedogit\n> the authors are confusing causation and correlation... they are all\n> consequences of Google’s success. For example the authors write: “Their plan\n> for creating that great search engine... Hire as many talented software\n> engineers as possible, and give them freedom.” Well, this worked because the\n> search was already successful enough to fund that freedom.\n\nThis is the key point and the clickbait-y headline notwithstanding, it's a\nvery valid point. People look at Google and say \"wow they have super-smart\nengineers and let them work on whatever they want with 20% of their time\" and\ntons and tons of products sprung up all over the place.\n\nBut after a while, management seemed to back off of that philosophy quite a\nbit. In 2011, Google killed off many of its less successful projects,\nincluding Google Labs, and I read in some nook or cranny of the Internet that\nthe 20% time has been quietly deemphasized over a number of years.\n\nSo the idea that you can just hire smart people and magic will happen, though\noften copied and lionized, is not all it's cracked up to be. <Insert quip\nabout monkeys, typewriters and Shakespeare here.>\n\n~~~\ndeciplex\nFor an even more dramatic example, look at Valve. Great company to work for,\nno doubt, and open allocation which makes 20% time look like a death march.\nThey can fund this because of the money fountain that is Steam.\n\nBut improvements to the Steam client are underwhelming and come at a snail's\npace, if they come at all (e.g. Steam has been delaying my shutdowns in\nWindows now for _two years_ ). They are about a year behind now with SteamOS,\nand have pissed off most of their potential partners with SteamBox delays as\nwell. And, of course, Half Life 3, which should be renamed Half Life Pu-239\nbased on when we should expect it to be released. (How is episodic gaming\nworking out?)\n\n\"Freedom\" certainly makes a place nice to work for. It might even get you some\nreally good technology. And it probably can, eventually, indirectly, _maybe_\neventually manage to achieve some of a company's goals. But if it is the most\nefficient way to do this, I am struggling to come up with any good examples.\n\n~~~\ncpks\nConversely, neither Valve nor Google are digging their graves, like much of\nthe rest of the industry does over time. See the prior post about Dell. Look\nat Microsoft.\n\nFocus helps, but good people make a bigger difference. The overhead, be that\n20% time or whatever else, is peanuts in comparison.\n\n~~~\nnicklaf\nInteresting. One might go further and postulate an inverse relationship\nbetween the focus of a company and it's ability to attract 'good people'.\n\nIt's tempting to argue that the kind of long-term vision usually shared by the\nbest researchers is at odds with having pressure from management to compete.\nTo be sure, companies with focus also fund pure R&D, but non-monopolies won't\nusually be able structure an an entire corporate culture around the research\nmentality.\n\n------\nbronbron\nHmm. Preface: I do not work at Google.\n\n> I would love to see one single company that isn’t dominating a market with\n> no cash cow in-flow that can succeed without strict discipline, sharp focus,\n> hard work, and hands-on management\n\nI've worked for plenty. I'm not going to name them because it's tactless, but\nthey were both huge monolithic corporations and small-ish companies that were\npretty profitable. I'm sure others have too. Those companies that you think to\nyourself, \"how the fuck are we making money when we're so fucked up?\". I\nwouldn't say it's a rare scenario. The idea of companies as \"hyper-efficient\nmarket machines\" is pretty laughable.\n\nIn fact, I've met plenty of people who worked at IBM (the company he alludes\nto being one of these strict discipline companies) who said IBM was/is a\ncomplete mess.\n\n> why have the majority of initiatives at Google either failed or been\n> financially inefficient and unprofitable\n\nThe majority of initiatives full stop are failures, or unprofitable. This is\nkind of pointless without comparing Google to other companies.\n\n> When interacting with sales people at Google, I am shocked to see how\n> untrained and inefficient they are\n\nThis is admittedly one of Google's faults: they're awful at customer support\nand the like in general. Well known, but it seems to be working out fine for\nthem.\n\n> If there are known companies with great sales cultures such as Oracle,\n\nGoogle is doing considerably better than Oracle in most senses of the word.\nOne possible conclusion is the author's, that Google succeeds in spite of this\nbecause of their search monopoly. The alternative is that maybe a strong sales\nculture doesn't mean as much as the author thinks for the bottom line.\n\n> everything else in the Google world, you get $5 billion or 10 percent of\n> Google’s revenue. Peanuts!\n\nPeanuts? Facebook's revenue last year was $8 billion.\n\n> Google is in a situation of monopoly with its search business\n\nWhy do they continue to be a monopoly? There are certainly competitors. One\nexplanation is because they continually offer the best results, because they\nhire the best software engineers, because they have free food, and offer \"20%\ntime\", and etc...\n\n------\nabalone\n_> why have the majority of initiatives at Google either failed or been\nfinancially inefficient and unprofitable? If they were standalone startups,\nthey would have most likely already been dead._\n\nIt takes a lot of experimentation to produce hits. Even the best companies are\ngoing to have a lot of failed projects.\n\nOne reason Google \"appears\" to have so many failures is that they're more open\nthen other companies. No doubt Apple has tons of internal failures. Projects\nthat don't see the light of day, get canceled if they're not looking good. Tim\nCook even talks about it in interviews. I do think that Apple's producing more\nhits overall, but the point here is that they are not failure-free; they just\ndon't ship crap. Google likes to publicly experiment.\n\nIn the startup world this experimental function is fulfilled by the startup\npool as a whole. Most will fail. Most winners have \"focus, discipline, hands\non management\", but I'm sure that's true for most product teams at Google\ntoo.. where \"management\" = the local team's product & engineering management,\nwhich is more equivalent to a startup's executive team than the CEO of Google.\n\nIf bigger companies want to stay innovative I think there's still a lot of\nvalue to supporting experimentation and freedom within the company. It's going\nto look like a lot of failure. But then so does the startup universe.\n\n------\ncandybar\nThis article is aggressively awful. His entire premise:\n\n\"According to the company’s 2013 financial filings, 83 percent of Google’s\nrevenue came from ads, about 7 percent from Motorola (which is now gone), and\n10 percent from everything else. In other words, when you add up all the\nrevenue from Google Apps (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Maps, etc.) together with the\nAndroid and other mobile businesses, and then add Chromebooks, Chromecast,\nChromeboxes, and everything hardware and everything Chrome, Google Developers\nNetwork, Google+, Google cars, Google robots and drones, Google Glass and\nother wearables, Google Cloud, and everything else in the Google world, you\nget $5 billion or 10 percent of Google’s revenue.\"\n\nis completely wrong because Google's ad revenue cannot be separated from its\nproducts outside of Search. Google+, Gmail, Docs, Drive, Maps, Android and\nChrome are all designed to add to their ad revenue. Saying that Google's ad\nrevenue is the vast majority of their non-Motorola revenue, therefore Google's\nnon-Search products must not be adding much to the bottom line is to conflate\nGoogle's advertising businesss with their Search product, when Search is one\nof their many products that lead to their advertising revenue.\n\nOnce you destroy this premise, this whole notion that Search is the only thing\nGoogle does well (or makes a lot of money from) becomes obviously absurd.\nGmail, Google Maps, Android, Youtube and Chrome are all market leaders in\nabsolutely gigantic markets.\n\nEdit: The synergy between many of Google's products and advertising should be\nobvious. They all capture information about the user, which improves their\nability to display \"relevant\" ads or at least ads that advertisers will pay\nmore money for. They also prevent other dominant players in that space from\ngetting a foothold in advertising. Chrome and Android ensure that Google's\nvarious services are not a disadvantage on the web and in mobile computing\nrespectively and may gradually be used to advantage their services over\ncompetitors'.\n\nEdit2: jjoonathan, your point regarding Amazon and competitive threats they\nface is correct, but it has very little to do with the article, which is\ntaking Google's successful position for granted and asking how they got there.\nAnd the idea that Gmail, Maps, Android and Chrome haven't helped and won't\nhelp in the future is fairly absurd.\n\nEdit3: Multiple downvotes seem a little fishy, as does this article getting\nvoted to the top of Hacker News.\n\nEdit4: Another thing the article is ignoring is that Google's continued\ndominance in search and web advertising is a massive accomplishment that was\nnot at all guaranteed from its initial success. And its massive investment in\nengineering that the author sees as excess I'm sure has a lot to do with how\nit was able to sustain that dominance.\n\n~~~\njjoonathan\nGoogle has some very impressive moats, but the real question is how much\nprotection they actually provide. Business-idea-space is super high\ndimensional. You can't just walk the perimeter and say \"yep, the moat protects\nus from all viable routes of assault.\" Specifically, if all the valuable\nsearches start going through Amazon how quickly can Gmail, Google Maps,\nAndroid, and Chrome make up the missing revenue?\n\nOf the products you listed, Youtube is the only one that I think is really\northogonal in the sense that it could bring in significant revenue if google's\ncore product were disrupted. Perhaps maps and docs as well, to a much lesser\nextent. Gmail and chrome exist in competitive enough market spaces that I\ndon't see them being able to stand on their own at all.\n\nIt's the familiar old adage about backup systems: interdependencies lead to\nconcerted failures. A nuclear reactor with 500 backup systems that all depend\non having a stable electrical supply isn't safe at all.\n\n~~~\narfliw\nAndroid could. If they spun that off into it's own company it would be worth\ntens of billions, minimum. It's headed toward a mobile OS monopoly. It would\nbe difficult to overstate how valuable that is.\n\nAdSense could as well. They roll that into 'advertising' but it has nothing to\ndo with search or any of G's products - and it's a huge chunk of their\nadvertising revenue. Even if search lost all of its marketshare overnight they\nwould still bring in many billions every year via AdSense.\n\n(AdSense is their ad network where they display ads on 3rd party sites, acting\nas a middleman between publishers and advertisers).\n\n~~~\npron\n> Android could. If they spun that off into it's own company it would be worth\n> tens of billions, minimum.\n\nThat's tricky. Android's success depends heavily on phone vendors, and the\nvendors -- at least the large ones -- have only bet on Android because\nGoogle's control over it is relatively subtle. If Google tries to extract too\nmuch money off of Android, you'll see phone manufacturers forking it in a\nheartbeat.\n\n~~~\njpdus\nThis is just wrong. Android forks were never successful (see eg Amazon's fire\nphone) an will never be - the lock-in factor is incredible.\n\nIn the opposite direction, more and more customers want \"pure\" software and\ngood hardware is increasingly available from many different manufacturers.\nNokia arguably has made the best hardware and hardly sold any phones with WP\nbecause customers wanted Android. Google knows this and moves more and more\nparts from AOSP in its proprietary play framework because manufacturers are\nway more dependent on Android than Google is dependent on any single\nmanufacturer (including Samsung).\n\n~~~\ngbog\nThis depends. If Google is able to run ahead of the others fast enough and\nhave very compelling updates to force competitors to follow them, then yes,\ntheir grab on Android is still strong.\n\nBut my feeling from having looked at Android 5 (which is apparently\nsuperficial) is that Google still try to run fast, but there is not more any\nvery compelling innovation to propose. So quite soon a normal two years old\nversion of Android will be just good enough for manufacturers and users.\n\nThen Android will still be the main player, but it will exist as multiple\nforks and Google will have to adapt and propose apps compatible with the most\nsuccessful forks (just like they propose apps on Apple store).\n\n~~~\nbad_user\nGoogle's lock in is more about Google Play than about what is coming in\nAndroid. Basically as a manufacturer, if you don't play nice, then you don't\nget Google Play (or YouTube, or Gmail, or GMaps), which then means that your\nsmartphone is just an expensive brick with no apps on it. iOS is special\nbecause it is popular and was here first. But do you see Google giving a shit\nabout Amazon's stuff or about the Windows phone?\n\nYou know, i'm an Android user because of its openness, because of its ability\nto be forked, but Google practices a kind of lock-in that is very hard to\nescape. Basically everything they do is technically excellent, plus they end\nup dominating the underlying platforms.\n\n------\nAndrewKemendo\nBeing dominant is not the same as being a monopolist. I wish people would quit\nbringing that term up anytime a company is at the top of a market because it\nhas legal and social implications. I have even heard people say that they have\na natural monopoly which is just silly if you understand how natural\nmonopolies work.\n\nIn fact Google isn't a monopolist on any terms, but they do currently dominate\nsearch. My guess is they could be knocked off their perch fairly swiftly if\nsomeone came along with an amazing recommendation service (not like what we\nsee now) that was more advisory than search as it would necessarily absorb\nsearch.\n\n------\nmillstone\nI would disagree with characterizing GOOG's P/E (27.5) as \"low\" or \"not on par\nwith its financial performance.\" That's well above the average. The\ncomparisons are suspect: Facebook is an outlier, MSFT in the 90s was surely\novervalued along with most tech stocks, and Amazon is deliberately pursuing\ngrowth at the expense of profitability.\n\nWhy not compare instead to other mature tech companies today: Microsoft, IBM,\nHP, Cisco? Or Apple, who has had a P/E under 20 for the last five years, yet\nwhose stock has outperformed GOOG by 3x over the same period?\n\n------\njpatokal\n_Another special characteristic of Google is its sales force. When interacting\nwith sales people at Google, I am shocked to see how untrained and inefficient\nthey are._\n\nDid the author just make a wild generalization about a very large number of\npeople, backed up with no evidence whatsoever? Why yes they did. Come on, the\nleast they could do is offer up an anecdote to justify that bizarre claim.\n\n------\nwahsd\nInteresting article. It also adds more validation to my theory that Google is\n\"successful\" in spite of itself in many ways.\n\nI really think Google's search supremacy is vulnerable, although there is no\none really positioned to disrupt Google's domination in search quite yet.\n\n------\nleoc\n\"First off, the authors are confusing causation and correlation. Schmidt\npoints out a series of characteristics of Google as a company and presents\nthem as the reasons for Google’s success, but in my opinion, they are all\nconsequences of Google’s success.\n\nFor example the authors write: “Their plan for creating that great search\nengine, and all the other great services was equally simple: Hire as many\ntalented software engineers as possible, and give them freedom.” Well, this\nworked because the search was already successful enough to fund that freedom.\n\n[...]\n\nThe key is market dominance. If you have a de facto position of a monopoly in\nyour market, money pours in, and you can afford to give your employees even\nmore than 20 percent of their time free.\"\n\nThis is itself backwards, yes? ISTR that\n[http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2007-09-03-n78.html](http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2007-09-03-n78.html)\nAdWords — and thus the profitability of Google's search business, if\n(arguably) not the search monopoly itself — was the product of early Google's\n20% time and employee freedom, rather than the other way round. (Oh, and they\ngot GMail into the bargain.) Similarly for:\n\n\"I would love to see one single company that isn’t dominating a market with no\ncash cow in-flow that can succeed without strict discipline, sharp focus, hard\nwork, and hands-on management.\"\n\nI thought that Google's 20% time was modelled after practises at 3M and\nHewlett-Packard? I have no doubt that in their day these were companies that\nenjoyed comfortably high margins on many of their products, but from my\nlimited knowledge I don't have the impression that they were monopolists\nsitting on their laurels from one of two huge hits. (As Xerox apparently was.)\nI also don't know how reasonable it would be to claim that private-project\ntime didn't contribute anything to the bottom line of these companies either:\n3M itself tends to claim that the Post-It note was a product of its 15% time\n[http://solutions.3m.com/innovation/en_US/stories/time-to-\nthi...](http://solutions.3m.com/innovation/en_US/stories/time-to-think) .\n\nAccordingly I'm unsure why this article has been voted to the top of HN.\n\nNone of which is to say that _How Google Works_ is a model of candour and\ninsight, or to suggest that Google has no problems with how it handles\ninnovation, of course.\n\n------\nrajlalwani\nGoogle is one of the most innovative companies. It has successfully maintained\nagility (start up culture) even after becoming multi billion dollar giant.\nWhat Eric might be hinting and what author of the article sees may not be\ncontrary! ... It's perceptual difference deliberately created.\n\n------\nzobzu\n\" “Their plan for creating that great search engine, and all the other great\nservices was equally simple: Hire as many talented software engineers as\npossible, and give them freedom.\"\n\nMan I so dislike these. Its pure bullshit. (its a quote from the book, mind\nyou).\n\n------\nmathattack\nHe had me at \"Correlation doesn't equal causality\" but it rapidly went\ndownhill. I get that the concept of \"Cut loose smart creatives\" is not\nuniversally successful, but the article seems to go rapidly downhill from\nthere.\n\n------\njackmaney\nI know that the old saying of \"don't judge a book by its cover\" has been\naround a long time for a very good reason, but I honestly can't get past the\ntitle of this article. I find myself incapable of taking it seriously.\n\n------\ndang\nWe changed the title in a somewhat feeble attempt to make it less baity. If\nanyone suggests a better title, we'll edit it again.\n\n------\najhsieh\nIts certainly not in Schmidt's interest to proclaim in a book that Google has\na search monopoly even if he did realize it.\n\n------\nBrandonM\n_> I would love to see one single company that isn’t dominating a market with\nno cash cow in-flow that can succeed without strict discipline, sharp focus,\nhard work, and hands-on management._\n\nI would not work for this person. It's ironic that he thinks Schmidt is the\none that has it wrong.\n\n~~~\ngumby\nI disagree with you (even despite the fact that the author describes himself\nas a buzzwordy \"Enterprise SaaS Executive\" \\-- he writes better than someone\nwith a description like that should be able to).\n\nIt's no secret, within Google or without, that Google is not particularly well\nrun. This article cites the sales team (without backing up the talk) but talk\nto any of the tech folks and most will tell you the same thing. And as the\narticle says, the Street seems to think so too.\n\nWhat Google _does_ get right are two things. First, they _do_ get the core\nstuff right: search, search infrastructure, and adsense. That's sine qua non\nand they aren't bozos! Second, at the other end, the stuff that's flakyest is\nthe stuff that _should_ be flaky: Google X (and as the article says, it's a\ntiny amount of money).\n\nIn between, however, the company isn't great. Not a mess, but mediocre on\nexecution. The article says that the company's killing of products is a sign\nthey are trying to get their house in order. I don't see it, but it could\ncertainly be true.\n\nThe good news for Google is that they have a huge cash flow so can actually\nafford to take their time to fix things. The bad news is that they have a huge\ncash flow which removes any sense of urgency. Big cash flow covers a multitude\nof sins.\n\nBig cash flow kills a lot of companies. In such a circumstance hard to do\nanything new, especially since while it's new it doesn't move the needle on\nrevenue. That's why great, paranoid companies like Intel and Microsoft that\nhad dominant cash flow suddenly struggled when the tide went out. In the case\nof IBM they had an existential (near death) experience and it forced them to\nget their act together.\n\nThe point of books like these is to be talismanic. The company is successful\nso others look for the surface gimmicks that made it successful. It almost\ndoesn't matter what is inside them, since the readers generally aren't looking\nfor insight but rather validation (they are the business equivalent of self\nhelp books).\n\n~~~\nBrandonM\nI wasn't responding to the entire article. I agree that he got a few things\nright.\n\nThe specific part I quoted, though, stands out to me as a rather old-fashioned\nmanagement philosophy, one that is unlikely to attract and retain top talent\nin a competitive hiring market.\n\n------\nmickreggel\n\"As a fan of his, I’ve followed most articles, interviews, and slides about\nhis latest book\"\n\nThe author of this piece of shit is a fan of Eric Schmidt??? WTF? Someone\nneeds a life.\n\nThis article is the biggest load of bullshit I've ever read.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFPGAs for Dummies [pdf] - vonmoltke\nhttp://www.altera.com/literature/misc/FPGAs_For_Dummies_eBook.pdf\n======\nasynchronous13\nI've been using an embedded system based on a combination of FPGA and DSP for\nabout ten years now. If I could go back in time and start over, I would ditch\nthe FPGA. The reason I say that is because of the time costs associated with\nrealizing any benefit of an FPGA design.\n\n1) FPGA based design is \"future proof\", we can use the same hardware to\ninterface with new sensors in the future!\n\nReality: we could spin a new rev of the circuit board faster than we can\ndevelop and debug the new interface in the FPGA.\n\n2) everything can done in parallel!\n\nReality: it's faster (development time) to put a soft core CPU on the FPGA and\nwrite linear c code to get the job done. When that solution runs fast enough,\nwhy spend more time optimizing?\n\nBad FPGA developers are hard to find, good FPGA developers are nearly\nimpossible to find.\n\nFPGAs are super cool. For certain niche applications they can't be beat. But\nmost of the time, the development cost is just not worth it.\n\n~~~\nvonmoltke\nSounds like the program I used to work on, though we were doing FPGA cards\nfeeding into a small MPI cluster. The only real reason I can think of to use\nFPGAs in production is that you need ASIC-like functionality, but the total\nbuild out isn't worth the cost of taping out an ASIC.\n\nOn my first program the hardware had several FPGAs and CPLDs for that reason.\nThat design was finalized in 1994, though. Today those chips could be replaced\nby microcontrollers. As microcontrollers and soft-core processors get more\ncapable, the applications for FPGAs will decrease.\n\n~~~\nreportingsjr\nAny time you are dealing with massive amounts of data in a fairly restricted\nenvironment (something out in the field) FPGAs are about your only solution.\nImage processing is really one of the largest and best uses of FPGAs that I\nhave seen.\n\nI think they are very overblown for many things though. I'm sure eventually\nwhen semiconductor technology slows down (Moore's Law) that FPGAs will start\nbecoming worthwhile for most things simply due to their efficiency. We are\nstill a long way from that though!\n\n~~~\nasynchronous13\nDo you have any examples of FGPAs used with image processing? I've done a\nlittle, and I've seen some academic examples. But I haven't seen anything in\nproduction.\n\n~~~\nwcunning\nThe acquisition systems in almost all medical imaging, along with their noise\nreduction and such are built with FPGAs. An MRI machine costs several million\ndollars or more, and GE sells a handful each year, so spending $10,000 on the\nFPGA that it's built around makes more sense than millions on spinning an ASIC\nthat will be out-of-date the day the machine is put in the field. Not to\nmention the need to maintain these machines for decades, given the replacement\ncost. Nothing else will do, when an applications processor is too slow to do\ndata acquisition and an ASIC isn't cost effective.\n\n------\ntryp\nI am truly excited that there is a push to popularize FPGAs. They often allow\na fundamentally different approach to problems and afford a massive\nimprovement in efficiency and flexibility when applied to a given task. This\nbook is a very approachable high-level answer to the question \"wtf is an fpga\nand why do I care?\" but I'm a bit disappointed that is lacks much direction on\nwhere to look next for more depth.\n\nI'll take the liberty to suggest a couple possibilities here:\n\n[http://www.fpga4fun.com/](http://www.fpga4fun.com/)\n\nFpga4Fun is pretty accessible.\n\n[http://opencores.com/](http://opencores.com/)\n\nOpencores is kind of a SourceForge for FPGA stuff. There are lots of\ninteresting components there to mix into a project.\n\nnitpick: This is my first encounter with the ASSP (Application-Specific\nStandard Product) initialism. It seems like a needless distinction from ASIC\nto me.\n\n------\nmalanj\nInteresting, they claim a 5x power efficiency for FPGAs over GPUs in Monte\nCarlo Black-Scholes simulation.\n\n[http://postimg.org/image/6o52lcgir/](http://postimg.org/image/6o52lcgir/)\n\nI wonder if Amazon will start hosting FPGA boosted compute instances anytime\nsoon...\n\n~~~\naylons\nAt Amazon scale, most of the time they could use an FPGA, they would be better\nserved by an ASIC.\n\nThe only exception I can think of would be if they dynamically implemented\ndifferent algorithms in a FPGA in a just-in-time model. Or, at least, in a\nregular basis.\n\n~~~\nadamnemecek\nHe's talking about FPGAs for AWS. ASICs would not make sense for that.\n\n------\nchuckcode\nI'd love to see a higher level language binding for FPGAs like CUDA for GPUs.\nI've seen real experts make data fly through an FPGA but it seemed like\ndevelopment was slow (no surprise given 8hrs just to compile) and getting the\nclocking/pipelining right to run at really high speeds was non-trivial. In\ncontrast using CUDA for GPUs was pretty approachable even for regular\ndevelopers to get started although it did take expertise to squeeze all of the\nperformance out of them. Hard to beat FPGAs though when you need low latency\nthough...\n\n~~~\noflordal\nI have not tried it myself but both Altera and Xilinx can compile opencl for\ntheir FPGAs nowadays\n\n------\nsargun\nFPGAs have finally become used in some compute clouds. Specifically, Microsoft\npublished some work in this space called Catapult:\nftp://ftp.cs.utexas.edu/pub/dburger/papers/ISCA14-Catapult.pdf\n\nI predict that we'll see FPGAs become in use more often, but there are certain\nhurdles in both the operational, and programmability model that need to first\nbe solved.\n\nDisclaimer: I used to work for MSFT.\n\n~~~\nagumonkey\nI second that, the parallella board comes with a Zinq 6000 IIRC, it's amazing\nto me that you can get a nice FPGA at such low price.\n\n------\nlinker3000\nMinor point: The book refers to LEGOs (sic). That will upset the pedants.\n\n/Proof readers lose 1 point.\n\n------\nradikalus\nI've still never really seen any FPGA deployments beyond using them basically\nas DSPs in finance which is too bad as I would LOVE to play with something\nthat can rip through the generation of stochastic processes quickly.\n\n------\naniijbod\nFPGAs for dummies? _This_ is FPGAs for dummies (and it's in pure Australian)\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUsHwi4M4xE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUsHwi4M4xE)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMissing the point about microservices - zbb\nhttps://erikbern.com/2018/06/04/missing-the-point-about-microservices.html\n======\nankurdhama\nIMO the idea of micro services makes sense when you have a bunch of services\nand they don't call each other. If they do call each other then they are\ncoupled and that bring whole slew of problems and they are not independent\nanymore. Soon your system will looks like a messy graph.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\n6 MAC Apps. 6 Design Goodies. 1 Shokingly Low Price - sourabhmca14\nhttp://bundlehunt.com/?holidaybundle\n\n======\nUdo\nHow is this not spam?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSad to see Google Reader go? Come on, folks...it's 2013. - christopheraden\nhttp://www.zdnet.com/sad-to-see-google-reader-go-come-on-folks-its-2013-7000012596/\n\n======\nphasevar\nTwitter and social sharing doesn't fit my use case.\n\nI want to be able to scan all the articles on Hacker News even if I can't log\nonto Hacker News for days at a time. There's useful information here that I\nwant access to but I can't be at my computer clicking reload on the Hacker\nNews homepage every 30 minutes.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: A List of HN-esque TV Programs - DarrenMills\n\nI'd like to get a list all in one place. I'll edit this post with your suggestions as they come, then migrate to a google doc. I'll add my ideas shortly.\n======\nDarrenMills\nThe complete lack of response I got from fellow hackers today was surprising,\nif not disheartening. Does timing play a much larger role on HN than I\nrealized?\n\n~~~\nphilwelch\nHave you watched TV lately? There's no such thing as an HN-esque TV program.\n\n------\nmarilyn\nDragon's Den (Canada & UK) & SharkTank for the pitch/investment side of\nbusiness, though not exclusively tech focused.\n\n------\nDarrenMills\nThe Big Idea (Donny Deutsch - CNBC) How'd you get so Rich? (Joan Rivers - TV\nLand)\n\n------\nemarcotte\n<http://www.makezine.tv/>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: Converspace, kinda like what blogs should have evolved into - sandeepshetty\nhttps://github.com/sandeepshetty/converspace\n\n======\nmikkel\nThe one big issue I see is lack of a small concrete goal.\n\n> Like a blog that allows publishing of content of any size or type (long-\n> form, mirco-updates, videos & photos using oembed, links, quotes) via a\n> single textarea.\n\nTake any one of those things, and you can find entire sites devoted to just\nthat.\n\nA picture is worth a thousand words - so a mockup of the screen layout would\nbe helpful to envisioning this product.\n\n~~~\nsandeepshetty\nI'm only implementing textual content at the moment (long-form and micro-\nupdates). Think about the textarea like Facebook's status update box: You\nusually add text, but if you add a link it figures out if it's a video, etc.\nThink even Twitter's web interface does this now.\n\nNote to self: Finish mocks ASAP.\n\n------\nsandeepshetty\nI've updated the link with a basic mock:\n[https://github.com/sandeepshetty/converspace/blob/master/REA...](https://github.com/sandeepshetty/converspace/blob/master/README.md)\n\n------\nsandeepshetty\nI have some running code but it isn't ready for launch yet. Just putting this\nout there to get feedback on what you like and what you think needs\nimprovement.\n\n~~~\nwmf\nTo understand this I feel like I need to see some examples or mockups showing\nhow it would be used.\n\n~~~\nsandeepshetty\nI've primarily worked on the backend and have been some sketches on paper but\nnothing concrete to share yet. If you have any specific questions I'd be glad\nto answer them.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGPL version 2 is a bare license. Rescind.(Re linux Code of Conduct Bannings) - e67f70028a46fba\nhttps://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg2909797.html\n======\nthrowaway5250\nThe whole thing is very sad, but this is not a useful response.\n\n~~~\n__d\nHow is it sad?\n\n~~~\nthrowaway5250\nLinus has spent decades of his life creating and tending one of the most\nsocially useful pieces of software ever created. Now he's being vilified by a\nbunch of craven busybodies.\n\nAlthough he's treating it with undeserved grace in public, it seems entirely\npossible that this will end his serious involvement with the project. Which is\ntragic.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIt's time for Slack to get physical - ahmadss\nhttp://code.viget.com/slackalert/\n======\nstopshinal\nHey everyone! I worked on SlackAlert (along with several other talented folks\nat Viget), so I’m happy to answer any questions you might have. We were\nitching for a screenless UI when we decided to make SlackAlert. It’s fully\nfunctional with lights, sound, and four tactile buttons. You can easily make\nyour own for ~ $50 and customize to your heart's content. Check it out and let\nus know what you think!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nI'm a founder, I'm at Bootup Labs - domino\nhttp://dshan.me/blog/2010/04/im-a-founder-im-at-bootup.html\n\n======\nghshephard\nOne of the events that comes to mind, as I read through the roller-coaster\nthat is Bootup Labs, was an event that happened about five years ago in our\ncompany's early history. We had a tiny little engineering staff, and were\nworking out of a small office in San Mateo, CA, and had invested a _ton_ of\ntime and energy into fund raising, but finally had managed to get a term sheet\nfrom a good second-tier VC. Based on that, we managed to get a board member,\nhired a few employees, and in general thought that we had 6-9 months of\nrunway...and then the funding dropped through. The VC basically just walked\naway - to this day, I don't think we know why - certainly no developments on\nour side.\n\nWe had to scramble to make payroll (and pay the rent) and our executives\n_truly_ earned their salary/equity for those months while we tried (and\neventually succeeded) to raise funding from somewhere else. It was a defining\nmoment in our company's history.\n\nI guess this is just my way of saying that _every single_ entrepreneur should\nbe prepared for their funding to disappear until they have the check cashed\nand sitting in their bank account. You have to have a Plan-B that leads to\nsuccess, whether it be consulting, credit-cards, friends-and-family, or living\non zero dollars.\n\nThat's just the reality in this completely unfair world of ours. I\nparticularly like the fairly positive attitude of the statusly guys - they\naren't vindictive, or whining - they're just sharing their war story, and they\nfinish off with just excellent advice:\n\n\"If you’re a Startup, and you’ve been accepted into one of these incubators,\nbe sure to get some sort of paperwork done where money is provided, or proof\nof income is shown, or something. No matter how nice the people seem, and how\nbadly your heart wants your business to succeed, don’t get yourself into a\nsimilar grey-area/possibly unethical situation.\"\n\n~~~\nanamax\n> I guess this is just my way of saying that _every single_ entrepreneur\n> should be prepared for their funding to disappear until they have the check\n> cashed and sitting in their bank account. You have to have a Plan-B that\n> leads to success, whether it be consulting, credit-cards, friends-and-\n> family, or living on zero dollars.\n\nThe above suggests that you \"finish\" fundraising. You don't. You can't stop\nfundraising when the check hits the bank because you're already behind\nschedule for raising the next round.\n\n~~~\nwhatusername\nI think DHH (and others) would disagree with you.\n\nAt some point you need to stop raising money and start raising revenue.\n\n~~~\nanamax\n> At some point you need to stop raising money and start raising revenue.\n\nActually, you need to start raising revenue before you stop raising money\nbecause you need to keep raising money until you've got sufficient revenue.\n\nMy point was that you're continuously raising money until you hit that point\n\n------\nsolutionyogi\nOT: Summify is a fancy Snap (<http://www.snap.com/>) and is equally annoying.\nIs there anyone who likes these link preview plugins?\n\n~~~\ndnsworks\nMichael Arrington seems to be fond of them.\n\n~~~\nbvi\nI think he was, but he scrapped it. I don't see those preview links on\nTechCrunch anymore.\n\n------\njoegaudet\nI wonder if this guy would be seeing things this way, if his company was among\nthe 4 that got cut and not the 3 that didn't.\n\n~~~\nchc\nI wonder if he's seeing things this way BECAUSE he doesn't want to be the next\none to get cut. See, now Bootup Labs are \"receiving something in return\" from\nthis startup like they wanted. (I don't mean to imply that this guy is\ndishonest, but when your situation is as precarious as his was just shown to\nbe, you will want to curry favor.)\n\n------\ndshanahan\nHey guys, so that's my post. I'm the founder who was here with Jamie, who I\nconsider a friend and think is a really talented and genuine guy. I've watched\nthis story grow and I think even Jamie might agree that it's been hard (and\nlargely inappropriate) to communicate all the specific details which might\ninform such a wide audience on the events around here.\n\nI was specifically emailed by 'icey' to jump in and be a resource. He/she\nasked me specifically regarding the stated financing situation prior to my\nmoving to Vancouver from Chicago and joining Bootup.\n\nIt was contingent on closing the round. I'm not sure what to say other than\nthat was clear. I took that risk knowingly.\n\n~~~\nicey\nIt was made clear, or it was clear because you read through all the\nagreements?\n\nI'm asking because I think it's a different story if it was buried in some\nfine print versus stated clearly up front.\n\nJamie is the one who brought such a wide audience to the story, but he didn't\nmention anything about being aware of the chance that there may not be any\nfunding.\n\nI still think that what Bootup has done is pretty shady, but it may end up\nbeing less shady than the blog posts have made it sound.\n\n~~~\ndshanahan\nI re-read my answer to your question and wanted to clarify; the fact that\nfunding wasn't secure was clear before I moved to Van. It was included as a\ncontingency on the (simple and short) term sheets.\n\n------\nicey\nThey knew that all of the funding was contingent ahead of time?\n\nI wonder how that was communicated to them.\n\n~~~\nchc\nThe fact that everybody at Bootup Labs keeps using the vague, single-word\ndescription of \"contingent\" is makes me suspicious. If the terms were\npresented to the founders that vaguely, I wouldn't blame some of them for not\nrealizing just how \"contingent\" they were.\n\n~~~\njarek\nWhen it comes to getting money, assume \"not vague\" to mean \"cheque cashed, not\nbounced\".\n\n------\nkylebragger\nImagine your bank saying (discounting the existence of the FDIC) \"sure, you\ncan deposit your money here, we'll probably have some cash around if you ever\nwant to withdrawal it — maybe!\" Obviously, there are multiple sides to the\nstory, but this is the gist of what I'm interpreting from it thus far.\n\n------\nunconed\nI'm next door to Bootup Labs... all I know is, Hackernews needs to chill out.\nThe people at Bootup, both the startups and management, are great folks who\ncare about tech, care about the community and about innovation. The character\nassassinations of the people involved are unwarranted.\n\nSecuring funding is always hard, and the whole VC scene is crazy. Some\ncompanies get millions thrown at them even though they've been burning cash\nfor years, others have great ideas and just can't secure some pocket change to\nget going. As far as I can see, Bootup is doing a pretty good job.\n\n~~~\nkls\n\\--After everything that we did for you and Steven\n\nEnough said about their attitude towards these individuals. Like they did them\nsome type of favor, business is business and deals fall through all the time,\nbut to then turn it on those guys like they should be grateful for getting\nscrewed is just absurd and then to complain that they did not get anything in\nreturn for paying 2 months rent for the guys. Dan's post reeks of a self\nentitled prick, like he some sort of benevolent god or something and that is\nwhy they are getting their just crucifixion, not because a deal fell through.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: Site calculates how long it takes famous authors to write books - batub\nhttp://rabbitwriters.com/\n\n======\ndalke\nOut of curiosity I looked for Isaac Asimov, but he wasn't there. Instead, I\nlooked at Mark Twain. The site only lists his novels, and curiously one of his\nshort stories. Twain wrote a lot of short stories (also available in\ncollections) which aren't on the list.\n\nAlso, it uses a line graph to connect publication dates and word counts, but\nthe line between those points is meaningless. At best it should be a step\ngraph, where the height is based on the number of words for a publication\ndivided by the time between publications.\n\nOtherwise it looks like Twain wrote less and less from 1875 to 1880, until\nfinally publishing The Prince and the Pauper.\n\n~~~\nbatub\nI'll look into the missing short stories. The tool I created that aggregates\nall the metadata is pretty good at finding novels, but it still needs A LOT of\nwork with short stories. It'll probably be easier if I focus on collections,\nthough.\n\nYeah, after thinking about your comment, a line graph doesn't make a lot of\nsense. As you said, it kinda skews the viewer's mind about how the author was\nwriting his books. I'll look into step graphs and change all the graphs soon.\n\nThanks for the feedback! This is just a pet project, but it's nice to have\nsome helpful criticism.\n\n~~~\ndalke\nYou're welcome. The premise is nice - how long it takes famous authors to\nwrite books - it's just that the graphs don't answer that question.\n\nIt looks like you made the change to a step function. I think you have the\ndirection wrong. Consider C. S. Lewis. I don't think he wrote 150K words per\nyear for almost 5 years to produce the 36K words for The Lion, The Witch, and\nThe Wardrobe.\n\nLewis was also an essayist. Take a look at\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis_bibliography](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis_bibliography)\nfor the many essays not included in your list. In fact, the bio says \"His most\ndistinguished and popular accomplishments include Mere Christianity ...\" but\nMere Christianity isn't on the list of books.\n\nOr consider that 'The Great Divorce' was originally written as a serial for\nThe Guardian, and at the same time as writing 'That Hideous Strength', so it's\nnot that he worked full time on first one then the other.\n\nI hope your project it's a labor of love, as the complete answers (the sort\nthat won't irritate fans or detailed oriented people like me) will get you\nbogged down in details that require a lot of manual research. But you'll have\nthe admiration of the few who really do care.\n\n~~~\nbatub\nSo you think a right step graph would work better? I changed the graphs to\nhave a right step instead of a left step, but the graphs still don't make a\nlot of sense. The lines in the graphs are supposed to represent the time it\ntook between publications, but I think people are thinking that the author was\nwriting at a constant X amount of words for however long the line between\npublications is.\n\nYeah, there's probably a lot of books that were being written while others\nwere being finished up or started as well. When I first started developing\nthis, I thought about finding data about how long it takes an author to WRITE\nbook X, Y, or Z, but I couldn't find accurate information about that for most\nauthors. So that's why I decided to use publication dates. I understand how\npeople think that books are written in a linear fashion - one after another -\nbecause of this, but there's not much I can do about it, because most authors\ndon't share this information and a lot of ones are already dead.\n\nFor the missing works, I'll have to revise my tool to find anything that are\nnot novels or just enter the data for essays, short stories, collections, etc.\nmanually, though that'll probably not be feasible time wise.\n\n~~~\ndalke\nAssuming all the information were available, I would like to see how many\nwords (of the published version; not all the intermediate drafts) were written\nduring a given year. If it took 2 years to write 100,000 words for a release\non 2014-01-01 then 2012 and 2013 would be at 50,000 words each. That would\nindeed be a 'constant X amount of words for however long the line between\npublications is'.\n\n(This also assumes no publication delay. I have no idea how to tell how long\nit took to get edited and reviewed.)\n\nIt's possible to fake it. You could compute the average publication rate then\nbacktrack that amount for each publication date, assuming a constant rate.\nThen let overlapping publications sum, and use a smoothing function to\ninterpolate.\n\nIt's still a mess. Especially if there are any posthumous publications. Yes,\ngetting the actual rate requires a lot of research, including perhaps talking\nto people who study those authors. Eg, a Twain scholar probably knows a lot\nmore about when things were published. But this gets into serious labor of\nlove (or Master's thesis) territory.\n\n~~~\nbatub\nhahaha, I like working on this, but researching each individual publication\nsounds like something that I wouldn't be able to do. What I'll probably end up\ndoing is open sourcing the database + website and allowing others to\ncontribute. Again, thanks for your help.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIf we work day and night, we can match our competitor's features within 12 mos. - kevindication\nhttp://dilbert.com/fast/2009-12-09/\n======\nnroach\nI got a good laugh out of that comic, and it's frighteningly familiar for a\nlot of enterprise developers.\n\nBut taken too literally, it sends entirely the wrong message to a startup. In\nsome cases I guess you really do want to swing for the fences and bypass\neverything that's been done in your industry. However, I suspect that the\nfailure rate among those that take a completely divergent approach is pretty\nhigh.\n\nMaybe you don't have to match the competition feature-for-feature, but you do\nneed to match them need-for-need. If you don't address customer needs, good\nluck with your conversion rate. And in the end, a feature matrix is just one\ncompany's articulation of what it thinks those customer needs are. Maybe you\ndisagree or maybe you have a better way, but if the same 70% of features show\nup over and over again amongst your competition, you'd better find a way to\nsatisfy those needs.\n\nIn the interest of not posting a tome, I've elaborated on my blog (see profile\nfor link).\n\n~~~\npatio11\n_you do need to match them need-for-need_\n\nI disagree. In particular, you may not be addressing the same niche that the\n\"competition\" addresses.\n\nTo use an example I've been thinking a lot about today: it is stupid and\nsuicidal for any startup to go head to head with Google on a core Google\ncompetency, right? Well, Wingify just released an A/B testing product which is\nabout 5% as featureful as the Google Website Optimizer/Google Analytics tag\nteam o' doom. It lacks on enterprise features, it doesn't have the Google ops\nteam backing it, etc etc. It also won't be free due to a cross-subsidy from\nGoogle AdWords.\n\nInstead of trying to reach feature or need parity with Google, they said\n\"There is a portion of the market here which is untechnical and knows they\nwant to do A/B testing but whom are undeserved by EVERY vendor. We're going to\nmake A/B test easy enough for them to incorporate it into their businesses in\na few minutes.\" With respect to those users, they're going to eat Google's\nlunch. Granted that might only be a couple hundred thousand customers but,\nwell, how many customers do you really need, anyhow. ;)\n\n~~~\nnroach\nWell, my surreply would be that for those customers, there is only one one\nneed, and Google's feature matrix attempts to address more needs than actually\nexist in that segment of the marketplace.\n\nBut segmentation is a good point that I hadn't really addressed. I'd presumed\ncompetitors going after the same market. A more mature competitor may simply\nbe seeking a bigger market (and thus requires more features). If you're\nsatisfied with attacking just one segment, everything else is extraneous.\n\n------\nmrcharles\nI've had this conversation in the game industry more times than I can count.\n\n------\nSamAtt\nWe were just talking about this in my office the other day. How \"feature\nmatch\" is such a popular strategy because it's something a non-technical\nmanager can say without having to rely on his technical staff (which in many\nmanagers' eyes makes them seem weak)\n\n------\nAnon84\nOr... you can work just as hard to find a new approach to the same problem\nthat gives you an edge over them.\n\n------\nmnemonik\nAh! A modern example of Zeno's Paradox!\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno%27s_paradoxes>\n\nI bet Douglas Hofstadter would appreciate at this one.\n\n------\nseasoup\n37 points for posting a dilbert?\n\n~~~\nkevindication\nIt's my opinion that this dilbert is fairly relevant to HN. A lot of pg's\nearly articles were addressing this feature-matching sentiment and how they\napproached it at viaweb.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Lofi – A Minimalist Spotify Client with Better UX - dvt\nhttp://www.lofi.rocks/\n======\ndvt\nHi HN, a few weeks ago I made a \"replacement\" for the Spotify desktop app\nbecause I wanted a tiny player instead of a whole window I need to bring up to\nskip songs/etc. It's free & open source, works on Windows and MacOS and even\nhas visualizations (remember those?). Anyway, I thought I'd share it here. Any\nfeedback is welcome.\n\nDownload it by going here: [http://www.lofi.rocks/](http://www.lofi.rocks/)\n\nMIT-licensed source code here:\n[https://github.com/dvx/lofi](https://github.com/dvx/lofi)\n\n------\nnew_guy\nSpotify has revenue in the billions each year. And while this is a nice bit of\ncode and obviously scratches your itch, don't you feel maybe a bit silly doing\ntheir work for free?\n\n------\nnewsbinator\n> \"Lofi is light-weight and runs on less than 100MB of RAM.\"\n\nAh, when I first started programming this would have been tongue in cheek. But\ntimes change!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: 3 months in - where should I take this project? - bazookaBen\n\nA few months ago I made a prototype HTML5 game called Private Joe. Got tons of great feedback from HN.<p>I just released a radically improved facebook version of the game at http://bit.ly/rhoHkH . It has everything set up, social elements, invite system, leaderboard, store , etc.<p>My question is, how do I get to the next level?<p>Some major barriers that I'm facing:<p>1) As an indie student developer, I find it very hard to compete with other social game developers.<p>2) The pros work in teams, have a marketing budget, and iterate very fast. They seem to have all the right ingredients to scale.<p>3) I can't afford a marketing budget. I can only put more sweat equity in game design.<p>4) Because I don't have a solid user base, I can't even start working on the 'business intelligence' side of social games (metrics monitoring, A/B testing, k-factors, etc). I'm missing out on that big time.<p>5) Mobile-wise, I'm working on porting the game to iOS+Android. Using existing frameworks like appMobi and PhoneGap decreases development time.<p>6) I considered starting a company solely developing multi-platform games. No luck so far (don't have VC connections, no access to talent, not based in the Valley). I also submitted my application to mobile game funds (TinyCo, YouWeb).<p>How do I get my skin in the game? Should I join a game startup? Can my talent be used in other startups? Should I form one myself?<p>Honestly, I don't think I can go far by working alone. I need to get into the major league.<p>PS: Am a grad student in Indiana (international citizen). Non-CS major.\n======\nFeeble\nI think that the important part is that you keep being productive. Keep\nimproving your game our push out new content if you can. Opportunities usually\narise with time around talented people.\n\nLike you say, it is very hard to compete with developer studios, but realize\nthat to design, develop and actually _ship_ a game by yourself is no small\nfeat. I can assure you that this will not go unnoticed in your future\ncompany/work/career choices =)\n\n------\nsuperted\nPrivate Joe is really a solid game. Excellent work! Would you mind sharing\nsome basic usage stats? Have adding the elements you list been worth the\neffort? The reason I am asking is that I created a HTML5 a couple of months\nago (<http://www.thearca.de/gardenmadness/>), and I have been pondering\nwhether it is worth the effort to create a FB version or not.\n\n~~~\nbazookaBen\nat this early stage, the facebook version doesn't have many users\n\nPrivate Joe's core audience is male, 18-24. I really can't tell if adding a\nleaderboard/store/gifting system has helped the game. All I can do is to make\nsure i have those systems in place, so I can at least compete with the big\nguys.\n\nin a way, it's similar to an arms race - if the other guy has it, you got to\nhave it too.\n\n------\nbazookaBen\nlink to the game is <http://bit.ly/rhoHkH>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nA Heretic's Guide to Deplatforming - StuntPope\nhttps://easydns.com/blog/2018/11/02/a-heretics-guide-to-deplatforming/\n======\ndleslie\n> The tech giants today are by their own actions cultivating the motivation\n> and the will to necessitate the creation of their own challengers and\n> everybody is watching closely what works and what doesn’t.\n\nAnd this is why I find the trend towards deplatforming to be altogether\n_exciting_. I haven't been this _excited_ about potential changes in how we\ncommunicate since I first installed Skype; when it was still P2P.\n\nThere hasn't been this much social pressure on individuals with technical\nability for some time, and sufficiently many appear to be attempting to turn\nthat pressure into new ways to communicate. Safely, securely, and in a way\nthat is resilient to outside attempts to silence.\n\nOur current state of affairs is distressingly centralized; we have but a\nhandful of _enormous_ silos of personal information and communication, and\nprogressively less independent sources of content distribution. While it may\nseem a non-issue when it's ethnic supremacists and fascists being silenced;\nit's a situation precariously vulnerable to abuse by the powerful. These\nexperiments in decentralized communication and data storage couldn't come any\nsooner.\n\n~~~\nwuliwong\nI am right there with you! I am oddly excited by the recent waves of de-\nplatforming. I think they are hastening the next step of development.\n\n~~~\narto\nIndeed, sometimes things have to get worse before they can get better.\n\n------\nevrydayhustling\nReading this article is like watching someone beat the ocean with a stick.\nWhat would it look like for an \"anti-deplatforming\" initiative to succeed? All\nideas have equal access to all platforms? Just the big ones? The objective is\nso poorly formed, it's not even wrong.\n\nA platform's identity and ability to attract an audience are determined by the\nactivities they accept / cultivate, not vice versa. Infowars wanted to be on\nFacebook because it made it easier to sell your grandparents vitamin\nsupplements, but Facebook felt that leaving them on make it a place families\n(and their grandparents) won't visit. Gab would like to use Stripe or Paypal\nbecause they are trusted payment providers, but those networks felt they'd\nstop being trusted payment providers if they let Gab stay on.\n\nAnd there's plenty of reason to think they're right: super-permissive\nplatforms exist and work (4chan et al.), they just don't attract the same\nbroad audience. When people complain about being deplatformed, they're just\nsaying \"the platforms that accept me aren't popular enough\". I'm glad our\ninternet is enough of a distributed commons that many platforms are broadly\naccessible -- but nobody owes you an audience at the most popular ones.\n\n~~~\nim3w1l\nFirst people get kicked off their platforms \"build your own platforms\"\n\nThen platforms got kicked off the platform platforms \"build your own platform\nplatforms\"\n\nWhat reason is there to assume those platform platforms will not get kicked\noff the platform platform platforms?\n\nThese people are not arguing in good faith.\n\n~~~\namputect\nWhat's the alternative to \"build your own platforms\" though. Are you willing\nto compel Stripe by threat of force to keep processing credit cards for nazis?\nAre you willing to completely torpedo freedom of association, as long as the\npeople demanding your company continue associating with them are sufficiently\nmonstrous?\n\n~~~\nhakfoo\nWhat makes the 'deplatforming' threat viable is that so many critical aspects\nof an online business are a choice between private-enterprise players. Stripe\nor Authorize.net. AWS or DigitalOcean. GoDaddy or Namecheap.\n\nAs you suggest, they have no individual legal obligation to serve a business\nthat may cause bad press/high risk/whatever. But when you can enough of them\npointing in the same direction, it creates the chilling effect-- a business\nthat's technically legal but can't get the services they need. It basically\ncreates am unspoken private regulation well beyond the actual law of the\nstate.\n\nI tend to think the answer might be non-profit or state-run \"service providers\nof last resort\" \\-- charter-bound to provide service for any legal purpose, no\nmatter how distasteful. Not necessarily cheap or slick, but they won't pull\nyour plug because people complain about your content. Such a provider would\ndefang the deplatforming strategy pretty fast.\n\n~~~\nFaark\n> it creates the chilling effect-- a business that's technically legal but\n> can't get the services they need\n\nThey can get it, but have to pay for that. Just like the porn industry had to\nbuild their own payment providers.\n\nThe chilling effect is working as intended. You need something in society to\nmake people find common ground and live in a similar reality. The current US\nseems like a great example of people not being able to do so. They blame more\nand more blame other side for their problems. And i wonder if that trend can\nbe reversed before you guys start shooting each other.\n\nRecent developments like social media made and the US TV landscape make it\neasier than ever to live in your favorite filter bubble. Algorithms getting\nbetter and better at giving you what you want to hear. I don't see\ndevelopments emerging to counteract that.\n\nIf de-platforming is bullet we have to bite for society to keep functioning,\nthan so be it. It's still somewhat mild tool you can work around... i take\nthat over government intervention any time.\n\n~~~\nhakfoo\n>They can get it, but have to pay for that. Just like the porn industry had to\nbuild their own payment providers.\n\nThere are two problems with that argument.\n\nFirst, it's nowhere near as trivial as you make it sound. A one man shop could\npotentially build and maintain a custom forum service himself, but trying to\ncreate a real-world ready payment processing infrastructure from scratch is\ngoing to mean a team of tens of specialists.\n\nThe porn industry was able to solve it because it was a big, industry-wide\nproblem that left a lot of money on the table-- a need big enough to create a\nmarket for specialists.\n\nSecond, it may not be possible to bypass every firm that presents a\ndeplatforming risk. The porn industry may have avoided rejection by the\nmainstream gateway providers, but they're still dependent on retaining good\nrelationsips with Visa and Mastercard at the end of the day. I'd think those\nguys are the nuclear option for deplatforming-- no matter who you line up to\ntake your payments, if you can't accept 90% of the cards on the market, you're\nnot going to be able to monetize effectively.\n\n------\ntptacek\nIt's probably unrealistic to expect us to stop seeing threads about this\n(Gab's #1 objective at this point will be to make more noise and surely\nsomething \"newsworthy\" will happen with them sometime soonish). But it's worth\nnoting that we've had several recent discussions about Gab stemming from the\nevents that occurred after the mass shooting.\n\nHere, Jeftovic is arguing from faulty premises. Correcting those premises\nmight not change the conclusions he draws, but they're worth fixing anyways.\n\nWhile it's true that the worst speech on Gab.ai doesn't come from the\noperators of the site themselves, it's _not_ true that the site operators have\nclean hands. Gab's (verified) Twitter account has repeatedly been screenshot\nposting anti-Semitic comments, and retweeting white supremacist posts from\nothers (for instance: they pointedly RT'd a white supremacist mocking Ken\nWhite, of Popehat fame, for being the adoptive father of Asian children). Gab\nitself openly embraces white nationalism.\n\nGab is white supremacist Twitter (you might have called it \"white nationalist\nTwitter\" before whatever weird Brazilian politics thing conspired to begin its\ntransformation into Fascist Orkut, which is where it's heading now).\n\nThat doesn't mean you have to agree it should be taken off the Internet by\nGoDaddy; you can form coherent arguments in either direction. But the idea\nthat it's being taken offline solely because of the actions of its users is\nfalse. It has the users it has because those are the users its operators\nbegged to get.\n\n~~~\nStuntPope\nJeftovic here.\n\nI actually wasn't aware of many things you cite above, having cursorily\nexamined, then abandoned Gab I never followed their twitter feed, etc.\n\nWithout having seen any of that myself, I wrote the article extending a\ncertain benefit of the doubt, trying to look at it from a neutral (ostensibly)\nvendor vantagepoint.\n\n~~~\npvg\nYou've added an update to your article pointing out it was 'flagged' after\n'rapidly ascending'. Flagging is done done by users, so both the (brief) rapid\nascent and the flagging are results of user action.\n\n~~~\nStuntPope\nSo what's your point?\n\n~~~\npvg\nThere's nothing 'ironic' about it, flagging is like downvoting. You aren't\nbeing 'deplatformed' by some inscrutable power, users just don't think it's a\nfit for the site.\n\n~~~\nStuntPope\nNo, flagging is not like \"downvoting\", this isn't reddit.\n\nAs somebody else here already pointed out:\n\n> From\n> [https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)\n> > If a story is spam or off-topic, flag it.\n\nThis isn't spam and given the interest it's garnered it's obviously not off-\ntopic.\n\nSo if you're flagging it you're basically throwing your opinion over it and\npreventing others from seeing it and from upvoting it. That's imposing your\nopinion over everybody else's.\n\nIf you don't like the post, then don't upvote it or better still, post an\nerudite missive on why the author is a brain-dead moron, but don't mis-label\nit as spam or off-topic.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nCan I offer a different complaint? Mine is: you updated your post to reflect\nthat it had been flagged by HN users, but _not_ with material new information\nyou acquired from the thread before that flag had occurred. That feels a\nlittle dishonest.\n\n~~~\nStuntPope\nWhat material new information is that?\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nYou acknowledged it upthread!\n\n------\nasdfasgasdgasdg\n> Most successful deplatformings are Pyrrhic victories\n\nBig fat citation needed on this. You speculate as to how they _may_ become\npyrrhic victories, but it's far from concluded that this will be the case.\nPrevious deplatformings (Milo, Alex Jones) haven't produced any visible\nnegative consequences for the platforms. There's little reason to think this\nwill either. Surprisingly few people care if a den of hate speech has trouble\nfinding a DNS registrar. Especially, surprisingly few important DNS registrar\ncustomers care.\n\n~~~\nstcredzero\nLikewise, almost no one cares what a Jehovah's witness has to say.\n\nThe US government coming in and telling a private entity, no you must tolerate\nfree speech on your property is historical fact and precedent.\n\nThere is a lawsuit where a company owned this mining company town, including\nall of its roads and sidewalks. A Jehovah's witness won a lawsuit on the basis\nof the First Amendment, enabling her to walk about that town and distribute\nher pamphlets.\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBozijndSLc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBozijndSLc)\n\nOriginally, it was once widely recognized by US jurisprudence, though property\nrights and freedom of association are important, the First Amendment was even\nmore important and trumps property rights.\n\n _Surprisingly few people care if a den of hate speech has trouble finding a\nDNS registrar._\n\nSurprisingly few people cared when the US government carted off my bandmate's\nparents to concentration camps. That's a very poor metric to apply to a\nprinciple of rights and justice.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nIt sounds suspiciously as if you're drawing a direct comparison between the\ninternment of Japanese-Americans during World War 2 and Gab getting kicked off\nGoDaddy. That can't possibly be an argument you really want to make.\n\n~~~\nbadatshipping\nHis argument is that few people caring about something doesn’t mean that thing\ndoesn’t matter.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nIsn't that, like, an extremely banal observation? It doesn't mean it _does_\nmatter either. Meanwhile: what was the point of comparing this situation to\ninternment camps?\n\n~~~\nPavlovsCat\nBanally true, yes.\n\n> It doesn't mean it does matter either.\n\nSomeone said something doesn't matter because \"few people care\", just one\nexample of something that mattered and about which also \"few people cared\"\nrefutes that reasoning. They're not making an argument, they're refuting one.\n\nedit: Another example would be Linus' announcement of Linux at the time. Few\npeople cared, in contrast to the people who today find Linux extremely\nimportant, or depend on it without knowing. And there you go, I now made a\n\"direct\" (whatever that means) comparison between Linux and Japanese being put\ninto concentration camps in the US, as well as a \"direct\" comparison between\nLinux and neo-nazis being deplatformed. The point matters more than the\ncomparison used to make it.\n\n~~~\nTheSpiceIsLife\n> The point matters more than the comparison used to make it.\n\nOnly if we assume the soundbite _it 's just like when Japanese Americans were\nput in concentration camps_ didn't happen.\n\nThe point could have been made without the comparison, by writing something\nlike this:\n\n _\" Surprisingly few people cared\" is a very poor metric to apply to a\nprinciple of rights and justice._\n\nAnd then we can discuss how _social norms_ and _the legal system_ interact,\nrather than have _this_ conversation.\n\n~~~\nPavlovsCat\nThe complaint wasn't that it was worded poorly, but that a direct comparison\nwas made at all, using kinda spooky language such as \" _It sounds suspiciously\nas if you 're drawing a direct comparison_\" and \" _That can 't possibly be an\nargument you really want to make._\".\n\nEnglish isn't my first language, even I had no problem understanding the\nintention of the words, and arguing against the \"strongest plausible\ninterpretation\" is in the guidelines.\n\n> And then we can discuss how social norms and the legal system interact\n\nPersonally I'm content with it being settled that \"few people care\" is an\ninvalid argument.\n\n------\nmattsfrey\nIt seems like many people are caught up in the details here and missing the\nwider principles.. What kind of internet do you want? I grew up with an\ninternet that was entirely open and free, there have always been the hate dens\nand their garbage. I view domain services as essentially infrastructure, not\narbitrators of content. If sites/services are being shut down at the\ninfrastructure level, we've entered a new age of the internet and it is\nterribly frightening.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nStormfront is still up and running. They had a hard time getting access to the\nsame QOS and pricing as do sites that companies actively want to host, but at\nsome point we're complaining that white nationalists don't get FRAND terms,\nand it's a little hard to get worked up about that.\n\nGab ran Twitter for White Nationalists off Digital Ocean, Azure, and who knows\nwhere else. Gab's users have a disconcerting tendency to blow up synagogues.\nGab itself has a disconcerting tendency to recruit people who cheerlead anti-\nSemitism. Are we surprised they aren't getting the $15,000 startup promo\ncredit from AWS?\n\n~~~\nmattsfrey\nAgain, details.. What if every single domain company decides to blackball\nthem? What do they do then? Nothing, they are off the internet.\n\n~~~\nwpietri\nI guess they'll have to return to sharing their desire to kill black people\nthe old fashioned way, in person.\n\nSomething you aren't grappling with here is the way the Internet has enabled\npreviously-scattered terrible people to connect and self-radicalize. David\nNeiwart, who tracked various \"patriot\", white supremacist, and other fringe\ngroups since the 90s, wrote a very readable book about how things have changed\nsince then: [https://www.amazon.com/Alt-America-Rise-Radical-Right-\nTrump/...](https://www.amazon.com/Alt-America-Rise-Radical-Right-\nTrump/dp/1786634236)\n\nI definitely appreciate the early ethos of the Internet. It's a good founding\nmyth, and I would like to work to keep things open by default. But if the\nworse 0.1% of humankind ends up not being able to host anything because\notherwise they will work together to murder people, I am 100% ok with bending\nmy \"anything goes\" bias a bit.\n\n~~~\nmattsfrey\nActually inciting violence or conspiring to do so is covered under common law\nstatutes and can be easily prosecuted. This is far different, it is companies\ndeciding on their own volition to unilaterally ban entities from accessing the\nvery \"pipes\". Today it's at the domain level, so the convenience of being able\nto type in a name versus an IP is what's at stake. What next, ISP's blocking\ntraffic?.. Like I've said it's the principle. I believe in free speech and a\nfree and open internet, if there is criminal activity the FBI, et al. can\neasily get involved. This is about the fact that the very infrastructure of\nthe internet is largely dictated by private entities who are now imposing\ntheir own discretion based on content they object to, odious as it may be. I\nfor one am not keen on allowing the sociopolitical whims of the time to\ndictate who is allowed on this great thing called the internet. I see\nsomething once pure, beautiful, and glorious entering its first stages of\ndeath.\n\n~~~\nb1daly\nI’m responding to your comment more as a representative of a general\nsentiment.\n\nThe implicit psychological construct behind this little “mini-panic” around\nfringe groups be “de-platformed” is a common one: something bad is happening,\nand we are losing freedoms/rights/capabilities we (society) has in the past.\n\nIt’s a variation on the notion that “the world is going to hell a hand\nbasket.” The rhetorical fallacy is called “false idealization of the past.”\n\nIn fact, the access of everyday people to a variety of mediated forms of\ncommunication is at historically unprecedented levels.\n\nIn virtually the entire history of human society, access to powerful methods\nof communication was completely under the control of the elite power\nstructures of the society.\n\nThe problem that these new communication platforms are trying to deal with is\nunprecedented. It turns out there are unexpected consequences of allowing\naccess to mass communication, and means of spreading propaganda, to “fringe”\ngroups like “white supremecists” The problem is unique in a couple of ways.\n\nOne is that it is only very recently, very recently, in our society (the US in\nthis case) that the precepts of white supremacy have been “fringe!” In fact\nthese are the hateful ideologies that built much of our modern world, on the\nbacks of those unfortunate to have not been born “white.”\n\nThis has been hard fought-for progress, and banishment to the “fringe” of\nthese ideas is a major success. The attempts to drive these ideas even further\nto the fringe represents a triumph of humanistic values. Especially as\nreactionary groups inevitably fight back with whatever means they have at\nhand.\n\nIt just happens to have happened right around the time that technology put\nmethods of mass media into the hands of more and more everyday people.\n\nUsing “De-Platforming” as a method of social control is entirely civilized,\nand justified. We have bedrock principles of free speech in the US, but those\nare almost entirely based around the idea of preventing the government from\njailing speakers it diagrees with.\n\nTo raise an alarm about, “well, what if your currently considered\n‘progressive’ movement is deemed deserving of De-Platforming in the future” is\na false alarm, because there simply are no historical examples to draw from.\nThese technologies are too new. (Not just the technology, also the increasing\nubiquitousness of networked communication.)\n\nIt also pretends that in some philosophical sense, all ideas are equally\nvalid, and is divorcing the content of ideas from the form.\n\nI don’t agree that all points of view are equally valid, and viewing ideas\nthrough the lens of “form” over “content” is antithetical to the very core\nconcept of ideas and thought itself.\n\nIMO, people are too quick to trot out “slippery slope” fears about difficult\nproblems. However, we can’t get “off of the slope” in a metaphysical sense. We\nare alive, until we aren’t,and must navigate the treacherous slopes of reality\nto the best of our capabilities. As both individuals and as members of\nsociety.\n\n~~~\ncousin_it\n> _The problem that these new communication platforms are trying to deal with\n> is unprecedented._\n\nThe early internet had to deal with the same problems, yet it was much more\nfree than the internet of today. This isn't a false idealization of the past -\nI was around at the time.\n\nTo me the only reason the internet matters is to let individual people speak\nand be heard - without being silenced by advertisers, the government, or the\nmob. If we let these entities institute censorship for the common good, we\nmight as well have TV.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nLarge portions of the Internet were cordoned off from commerce altogether.\nThere was a weekend back in the 90s (probably more than one, but this is the\none I remember) where there was an Internet-wide netsplit that cut commercial\nISPs like Ripco off from the rest of the Internet.\n\nMost conversations on the Internet took place on Usenet, and even in the alt.\nhierarchy, there were rules and politics behind what stuff got propagated.\n\n~~~\nhollerith\nI spent a decent amount of time on news.admin.net-abuse.email in 1993 and in\nthe mid-1990s. (ISTR that is where spam on Usenet was mainly discussed.) I was\nvery curious about Usenet, but recall no restrictions on any unmoderated\nnewsgroup (and most newsgroups were unmoderated).\n\nI always believed that the reason it took years for Usenet to do something\nabout spam is because (1) before spam got so bad they had to do something\nabout it, there were no existing restrictions on the propagation of messages\nand (2) a widespread ethic among those running news servers that _any_\nrestrictions on propagation, even restrictions on spam, were to be avoided.\n\nWhat sort of content, in your opinion, was denied propagation back when most\nconversations on the Internet took place on Usenet?\n\nI got the impression that the ban on commerce over the US backbone was to\nprevent making any business big enough to be able to afford a PR person or a\nlobbyist in Washington afraid that the Internet was a threat to its revenue\nstream.\n\nBack when only a small fraction of the public knew anything about the\nInternet, the US Government was spending a relatively large amount of money\nkeeping it running, and was consequently vulnerable to sniping from\njournalists and politicians to the effect that the US government is spending\nmoney to giving, e.g., people who are sexually attracted to people dressed up\nas animals, a forum to communicate with each other.\n\nYou and I know that the _marginal_ cost of adding an alt.sex.furries news\ngroup to the Internet was so low as to be not worth thinking about, but it\nwould've been hard to get that point across to the voting public.\n\nPeople were worried for example about the National Science Foundation, one of\nthe major funders of the Internet, getting one of these:\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Fleece_Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Fleece_Award)\n\nOr maybe the ban on commerce over the US backbone was a concession the US\nbackbone's patrons in Washington needed to make to get Congress to continue to\nallocate funds for it.\n\nThe ban was mostly successful only because very few people _wanted_ to do\ncommerce on the internet while the ban on commerce over the US backbone was in\nplace. Possible exception: the last year or so of the ban when the internet\nwas growing very quickly. Exception: people seeking W2 workers or W2 jobs\nrather than 1099 workers / jobs would've liked to be able to use ba.jobs to\nadvertise, but IIRC it was a moderated newsgroup, and the moderator, like most\npeople running internet infrastructure back then, grudgingly recognized the\nneed for the ban (i.e., to protect the Internet's supporters in Washington\nfrom ridicule or from the animosity of powerful groups).\n\n------\nthrowawaysea\nThis is a good article that explores many of the angles involved.\n\nDeplatforming is a dangerous step for a free society, especially when so much\npower is accumulated in a few platforms*\n\nThe big risk is this: when only a few entities funnel so much societal\ndiscourse or control our communication infrastructure or process payments,\nthose entities making arbitrary decisions about who they serve has similar\nimpacts and risks to the government imposing similar restrictions through the\nlaw. These companies should not act as a moral police and should not impose\ntheir own personal governance above what is minimally required by the law. Nor\nshould they rely on the judgment of an angry mob to make decisions.\n\nCase and point, take a look at Medium blocking Gab, as referenced in this\narticle. Gab's _statement about the shooting_ is being blocked? That is\nridiculous, and unacceptable. And we should not patronize such businesses.\n\n* Spare me the tired arguments that these private companies have a right to not serve customers at will. That seems like self-serving cherry-picking, when in other situations the same folks would be against granting freedom of association.\n\n~~~\nroenxi\n> has similar impacts and risks to the government imposing similar\n> restrictions through the law\n\nWe can't really compare them to the government until they have a standing\narmy. That said, pure scale does matter. There will debate over whether\npowerful organisations are currently benign or hostile, but there is no doubt\nwhatsoever that they are a mighty force.\n\nIf Google or Facebook ever decides to seriously wake up politically, China's\ninternet strategies will start looking very sensible. I don't agree with them\neither though.\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\n> We can't really compare them to the government until they have a standing\n> army.\n\nWhile I disagree that the firms in question have government-like comprehensive\npower, even without their own army, a monopoly or coordinating oligopoly able\nto lock out new participants on essential communication services would have\nsuch power, and be a de facto part of the government, even if they lacked\nformal command relationship over the armed forces of the host state.\n\n------\nDoreenMichele\n_Gab illustrates a “catch-22” around setting out to be specifically a “free\nspeech platform”. You initially appeal to the most fringe elements of public\ndiscourse. Your first wave of users are going to be people for whom this has\nbeen a problem, and if you’re an absolutist and let them on then suddenly\nthat’s your base._\n\nFor me, this is one of the more profound take-aways from the article. This\npiece is very thought provoking.\n\n~~~\nteddyh\nYes, the first wave defines the project; if the first wave has problems, the\nproject is infused with these problems. This is true of free software projects\nalso. I have a couple of examples:\n\n• The KDE project (to create a nice graphical desktop environment based on the\nX windowing system) was initially formed around using the Qt library for\ngraphical user interface widgets. The Qt library had, at the time, a somewhat\nfriendly but distinctly non-free license. The first wave of developers on KDE,\ntherefore, were developers who considered proprietary software and/or sketchy\nlicensed to be A-OK.¹ This will probably forever define the development\npractices of the KDE project.\n\n• The Go language is, by many accounts, a very nice programming language. But\nit was started, and still run, by Google people, for Google purposes, and with\nGoogle backing. This means that the first wave of developers were and are\nthose developers who think it’s perfectly fine to _work at Google_ , or to\nwork with Google to further Google’s goals. People who don’t like Google will\nof course have stayed away from the Go project at the outset, and so the\ndeveloper elite of the Go project will probably always reflect Google values\nand priorities.\n\n1\\. Those developers who did not agree went on to start Gnome, which is in\nfact the very reason Gnome was started.\n\n~~~\nDoreenMichele\nYeah, that's obvious on the face of it and not what grabbed me.\n\nI'm fascinated by the power of positioning of the creators of the project and\nhow easily that can go wrong. That has long fascinated me and this is an\nincredibly powerful example summed up in a nutshell in the paragraph I quoted,\nwhich is a rare thing to see.\n\n------\nwoodruffw\n> Most successful deplatformings are Pyrrhic victories\n\nWe have reasonable (not perfect!) empirical evidence that this is _not the\ncase_ [1]. It appears that toxic and hateful movements can only resist\ndisapprobation when they develop a sufficiently large, sufficiently public (in\nthe visibility sense, not the publicly-owned sense) channel. Continually\ndisrupting those channels works.\n\n[1]: [http://comp.social.gatech.edu/papers/cscw18-chand-\nhate.pdf](http://comp.social.gatech.edu/papers/cscw18-chand-hate.pdf)\n\n~~~\nstcredzero\nFor awhile, the Soviets could \"deplatform\" people from their lives entirely by\nthreatening them or sending them to the Gulags. They held things together for\nmany decades through that continual disruption.\n\nYes, you can coerce people with your advantages, and it will work for awhile.\nYou can even create enclaves where you can keep undesirables out. But no, that\nnever wins in the end.\n\n~~~\nwoodruffw\n> For awhile, the Soviets could \"deplatform\" people from their lives entirely\n> by threatening them or sending them to the Gulags. They held things together\n> for many decades through that continual disruption.\n\nI take the scarequotes there to be you admitting that gulags aren't really\ndeplatforming -- it's a government terrorizing its citizens. Nobody in this\nconversation is interested in building gulags or putting the undesirables in\nthem.\n\n> Yes, you can coerce people with your advantages, and it will work for\n> awhile. You can even create enclaves where you can keep undesirables out.\n> But no, that never wins in the end.\n\nI don't understand this reasoning. I've presented some research indicating\nthat banning hateful online communities actually does have some kind of\npositive effect, and your response it that it \"never wins in the end\"? What is\nthe \"end\" here? Do we have _any_ sort of evidence or overarching political\ntheory that suggests that it _doesn 't_ win in the end?\n\nMost of us are on board, intuitively at least, with the notion that you can't\nhave both a dictator and be a democratic republic. Why are we so hesitant to\naccept that other entities fundamentally conflict with the notion of liberal\ndemocracy?\n\n~~~\nstcredzero\n_I 've presented some research indicating that banning hateful online\ncommunities actually does have some kind of positive effect_\n\nI'm sure that you can find a Soviet study indicating that certain of their\nprograms had an effect against Bourgeois oppressor thinking and activity for\nsome number of years.\n\n _Why are we so hesitant to accept that other entities fundamentally conflict\nwith the notion of liberal democracy?_\n\nConditioning a society to accept the practically suppression of free speech\nfundamentally conflicts with the notion of liberal democracy.\n\n~~~\nwoodruffw\n> I'm sure that you can find a Soviet study indicating that certain of their\n> programs had an effect against Bourgeois oppressor thinking and activity for\n> some number of years.\n\nAgain, no gulags here. Just Twitter, Reddit, and bad clones of the\naforementioned. It's also worth noting that the Soviet Union, at its best,\nsimply _was not a liberal democracy._ The position that I'm taking is\nnonsensical outside of a liberal democratic context, so comparing it with\nvarious inhumanities under a non-democracy is unconvincing at best.\n\n> Conditioning a society to accept the practically suppression of free speech\n> fundamentally conflicts with the notion of liberal democracy.\n\nWe're talking about the scope and structure of liberal democracy itself, a\ndiscussion that's been going on for as long as liberal democracies have\nexisted (others have brought up Popper, but Popper cribbed the idea from\nImmanuel Kant). There's no conditioning going on.\n\n------\njstanley\n> Does this mean that if Zerohedge, or Black Lives Matter, two of our clients\n> from opposite ends of the political spectrum, post something, or even if one\n> of their users posts something, that is beyond the pale, then we have to\n> worry about having our finances cut off?\n\n> I know as “the DNS guys” we have a near pathological aversion to single-\n> points-of-failure, but it’s not a stretch to come to the conclusion for any\n> business that it’s not an acceptable risk to have that possibility just\n> looming there and to do nothing about it.\n\n> That means we will now be looking for backup payment processors.\n\nFWIW, this is _exactly_ what Bitcoin does well: uncensorable payments with no\nsingle points of failure. And, by way of anecdata, I currently pay for domain\nnames in Bitcoin already (from gandi).\n\nPeople buying domain names are probably one of the best demographics to have\nif you want to take Bitcoin as they are likely to be technically savvy.\n\n------\ndjsumdog\nWhat's interested about Gab is that it wasn't content hosting on another\nplatform (Facebook/Twitter). It was their own platform, that people wrote and\nbuilt.\n\nWhat if you run a Plemore/Mastodon server that has users with controversial\ncontent? Is it okay for Vultr or DigitalOcean or Amazon to just yank your\naccount? Sure you can claim capitalism and find another provider, but we've\nseen here that finding another provider is hard and migration is expensive!\n\nI wrote about this almost a year ago when it happened to The Daily Stormer and\nI still think it's more relevant today:\n\n[https://fightthefuture.org/article/the-new-era-of-\ncorporate-...](https://fightthefuture.org/article/the-new-era-of-corporate-\ncensorship/)\n\nShutting down platforms just drives people to more extreme platforms. You\ncan't just yell \"decentralization\" because then you could have providers\npulling individual instances of federated ActivityPub/OStatus based software.\n\nAt some point we're going to need to address free speech online, because it's\nnot like the real world. You can't just go to another news stand or buy your\nown printer. There are a limited of people that can host general purpose VMs\nat a reasonable price with a decent provisioning API.\n\nThe domain issue is the most troubling. I don't see any reason a registrar\nshould be allowed to pull domain services from people. Right now it's just\ncontent some people don't like, but what if a business starts pulling domain\nregistrar service for business they just don't like, and claim it has to do\nwith hate?\n\n~~~\nwuliwong\nI agree that there is a difference between deplatforming gab and someone like\nAlex Jones.\n\nI don't think that any solution is going to be a permanent one, whether it is\na law or a technology. I tend to look towards technological advancement to\nfirst outpace laws and then the govts slowly catch up. I do think that\ndecentralized storage solutions behind decentralized applications are pretty\ninteresting. There is even something called IPFS which is being pitched as a\npossible challenger to HTTP. In some of the distributed solutions, the\ncomputers holding the data only ever see it encrypted, so the possibility of\ncensorship on that end is mitigated at least for a while. I'm not expert on\nthe topic but I've recently found it very exciting and has given me a glimmer\nof hope.\n\n------\nkmooney\n> We run the risk that the act of deplatforming can become as extreme as the\n> hate speech it seeks to banish.\n\nLet us cross that bridge when we get to it.\n\n~~~\ncolonelpopcorn\nPretty sure we're already here. Ignorant or evil folks won't become\nenlightened or good if they can't use the internet.\n\n~~~\nfhood\nNo, but they will be isolated, and an isolated person is powerless person.\n\n~~~\ncolonelpopcorn\nSeems like a recipe for creating a lot of people with very little or nothing\nto lose.\n\n~~~\nfhood\nNah, I think the real danger is when they find others who re-affirm their\nconvictions.\n\n~~~\njesssse\nYou are advocating isolating, deplatforming, etc.. These are tactics that\nhurt. Hurt people hurt people. If people are allowed to be heard and\nsocialize, they gain happiness and are less likely to hurt people.\n\n------\nwuliwong\nThe conclusion of the article where it speaks about the consequences of de-\nplatforming people leading to 'counter measures' is what I'm thinking will\nhappen. In my opinion, the difference between government censorship and\ngodaddy censorship is that I can just stop using godaddy. Then I can either\nclose my business, use a different service, or try to help build something new\nto circumvent godaddy.\n\nI've been back and forth on distributed storage and blockchain in my mind but\nmy current thinking is that the recent de-platforming is going to hasten the\ndevelopment of alternate solutions that are more robust with regards to\ncensorship. I'm not even considering about whether it is right or wrong, I\njust think that's going to happen.\n\n------\njustaaron\nDespite all the handwringing here, there's no concrete proposal for what to do\nwith rent-seeking attention-seeking deliberatvely difficult individuals whom\none has no obligation to entertain the ideas of.\n\nIf I were NYU, I would simply never book Milo Whatever-his-name-is. Having to\ndeplatform him indicates that someone wanted to platform him in the first\nplace. Kick his useless ass to the curb/kerb, as the case may be.\n\n------\nsuperkuh\nAs long as the ISP stays as a dumb pipe there will always be alternatives.\nSelf hosting is the best hosting and these days ISP connections are definitely\nfast enough to host anyones' small personal site up to a medium size forum.\n\nHopefully as this wave of authoritarian practices sweeps the globe and the\n'net people will simply adopt federated services like IRC or notabug for\ncommunication and host it among themselves.\n\n------\ntomohawk\nA private company has quite a bit of latitude, until it becomes a monopoly (or\npart of an oligopoly). Monopolists always hide behind the \"but, we're a\nprivate company\" defense. Who wouldn't? Settled law and legal tradition holds\nthat we tolerate a monopoly only when they are regulated and conduct\nthemselves in a manner that is fair to all.\n\nIt is unacceptable for monopolists to infringe on peoples constitutionally\nprotected rights. When a monopolist offers a service, they have to provide it\nto everyone. We can't have electric monopolists cutting power to people\nbecause they voted for the \"wrong\" party. We can't have banks and payment\nprocessors making it practically impossible for people to conduct commerce.\n\nGoing down that path leads us to where China already is. Calling someone on\nthe phone leads to a message about how the person is socially unacceptable and\nthat proceeding with the call may cause you to be similarly blacklisted. Or,\nyou just get phone access cut off.\n\n------\nadamrezich\nThe problem with free speech on the Internet is that our human minds have not\nsufficiently evolved to even remotely begin to understand just how\nfundamentally the Internet changes our perception of our fellow humans.\nDunbar's number shows that we're only able to keep track of a very small\nnumber of ongoing human relationships relative to the Internet-connected\npopulation of the planet, and at a societal level we're used to only hearing\nideas from people around us, and those in published works or in mass media\nsuch as radio and television. Yet now anyone, literally anyone, can go online\nand proclaim whatever they want in certain online public spaces.\n\nIf I walked into a local bookstore and saw a whole shelf dedicated to white\nsupremacy, I would rightfully be appalled that it was allowed to exist,\nbecause stocking such books would reflect on the bookstore. The Internet is\nlike a bookstore where anyone can write a book and guarantee it's stocked, and\nfree to read, and therefore completely unlike a bookstore at all. Yet we tend\nto think of online discussion platforms in these terms because the idea of a\ntrue online free speech platform where only content that is Actually Illegal\nis taken down and reported to the authorities accordingly is still incredibly\nforeign to us at a societal level. Someone who's never used the Internet and\nnever met any (for example) white supremacists in their lives may go online\nfor the first time and see an active discussion among white supremacists\ntaking place, and this causes cognitive dissonance: \"I've never met a single\nwhite supremacist in my life, yet here's _dozens_ of them, virtually\ncongregating and discussing their racist viewpoints! What the hell is\nhappening? Is the Internet full of racists?\" Humans are terrible at\ncomprehending numbers on the scale of \"the number of Internet-connected users\nin the world,\" so it's hard to understand \"the proportion of vocal white\nsupremacists online compared to the total number of people using the Internet\nin the world is just about as small as you previously thought it was\" when\nthey're given the same equal voice as everyone else.\n\nThere's no easy solution to this. Unless a massive societal shift in\nunderstanding how the Internet works and fits into modern human society\nhappens, \"safe\" yet censored platforms like Twitter will always be more\npopular with normal users compared to \"true free speech\" havens like Gab, and\ngenerally-offensive extremist viewpoints will congregate on services like the\nlatter after being kicked off of services like the former, making services\nlike the latter a hard sell to people who don't hold extremist viewpoints\nthemselves, in spite of the promise of unrestricted free speech.\n\nIt's been wild seeing the increase of people openly advocating _against_\nunfiltered free speech on the Internet as the Internet has gotten popular with\nthe rise of smartphones, to the point where some people seem to consider \"free\nspeech\" a \"talking point\" or \"dogwhistle\" of \"the other side.\"\n\nUntil the singularity happens and we become one global consciousness and\nascend to a higher plane of being, we're never going to have uniform beliefs\nas individual members of our species, and people with offensively extremist\nviews will always exist. Silencing their views on a given platform out of a\nsense of righteousness and justice may feel good but solves nothing. You\ncannot change peoples' minds or eliminate ideas by making them illegal or\nagainst platform policy to express. Once you acknowledge and internalize this,\nbrowsing the Internet and occasionally coming across extremist opinions\nbecomes a lot easier to grapple with.\n\n~~~\nstcredzero\n_The problem with free speech on the Internet is that our human minds have not\nsufficiently evolved to even remotely begin to understand just how\nfundamentally the Internet changes our perception of our fellow humans._\n\nDouglas Adams understood. (Babelfish)\n\n~~~\nYouAreGreat\n> our human minds have not sufficiently evolved\n\nThey're also not evolved to deal with TV news.\n\n~~~\nstcredzero\nHell, I don't think we're all that good with distorted print media either!\n\n------\nSideburnsOfDoom\n> We run the risk that the act of deplatforming can become as extreme as the\n> hate speech it seeks to banish.\n\nSo, they're saying \"I won't help your speech reach millions\" runs the risk of\nbeing as bad as encouraging the idea that \"all $ethnics must die\" \\- speech\nwhich as very real and deadly consequences.\n\nI don't know where to even with that. Someone has not though it through at\nall. Is the rest worth reading?\n\n------\ncauwelaert\nPeople should have a chance to speak their mind but in an ideal world decency\nwould prohibit some things from being said. It's dangerous when certain\nplatforms who coordinate with government agencies decide what is acceptable\nand what is not. I'm not ready for a ministry of truth like snoopes.\n\n------\nInclinedPlane\nRead this instead: [https://datasociety.net/output/oxygen-of-\namplification/](https://datasociety.net/output/oxygen-of-amplification/)\n\n------\nwstuartcl\nFreedom of speech is a right provided by the constitution. Me, You or\nprivately held platform(s) providing the venue for that speech is not. Just\nlike I will not be allowing GAB like speech from my properties, I will also\nlook poorly upon anyone else hosting that garbage.\n\n~~~\nneuralk\n>Freedom of speech is a right provided by the constitution\n\nNo, it is not. It explicitly is not. Freedom of speech is one right among many\nother unstated rights held in common by the people. The first amendment merely\nprohibits Congress from passing a law that restricts it. The wording is clear\nthat this freedom is something that exists inherently beyond the scope of the\nConstitution, and is certainly not \"provided\" by the document. We naturally\nhave rights such as freedom of speech. It is from institutions like the\ngovernment that restrictions are placed on them.\n\nAlso, the 9th amendment was included precisely to clarify and codify the fact\nthat the Constitution, in enumerating the rights, is not itself granting those\nrights or even stating that these are the only rights people have.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nThe 9th Amendment does not mean that Twitter must allow your speech. In fact,\nat the time the 9th Amendment was drafted, it didn't even require _the states_\nto grant you a right to free expression; that right wasn't incorporated onto\nthe states until Reconstruction.\n\nSo, no, not so much.\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\n> that right wasn't incorporated onto the states until Reconstruction.\n\nMuch later, actually; while the Supreme Court grounded incorporation in the\nDue Process clause of the 14th Amendment, which was part of Reconstruction,\nthe doctrine of incorporation was articulated and developed in the 20th\nCentury, starting, IIRC, with _Gitlow v. New York_ in 1925.\n\n------\nmlillie\nThis reeks of both-sides-ism and enablement.\n\n\"Where does it stop?\" is the same slippery slope garbage peddled by #HimToo\nand #BlueLivesMatter acolytes. But even engaging with the question at face\nvalue, the answer is very simple, and the author of this piece didn't try very\nhard if he couldn't find someone who is able to answer it. In fact, the best\nanswer was given by Karl Popper in 1945.\n\n> In order to maintain a tolerant society, the society must be intolerant of\n> intolerance.\n\nThat's it. Platforms like Gab are themselves intolerant, and we must continue\nto be intolerant of them.\n\n~~~\nstcredzero\n_This reeks of both-sides-ism and enablement._\n\nThe whole point of Free Speech is to enable all sides of any issue to have\ntheir say. That is a fundamental mechanism against totalitarianism.\n\n _In order to maintain a tolerant society, the society must be intolerant of\nintolerance._\n\nSorry, but Karl Popper's idea is just Orwellian nightmare fuel. \"War is peace.\nFreedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.\"\n\nTolerance is to live and let live. Oppressing those you disagree with is the\nvery opposite of tolerance. (Even if they are truly horrible people.) If\nSilicon Valley were tolerant, they'd let Gab live and possibly be a cesspit of\nhorribleness. A society that de-platforms and un-persons everyone and every\nidea it doesn't like isn't a free society. That's not a free market of ideas.\nThat's totalitarianism through economic hegemony.\n\n~~~\narchagon\nTotalitarianism is gaining power _right now_ through bad actors operating\nunder the cloak of free speech. The bigger their communities get, the more\nthey infect the communities around them with their hatred and lies. This\nshould be blindingly obvious if you’ve been online for more than a couple of\nyears.\n\nYour mechanism against totalitarianism will lead you straight into a\ndictatorship.\n\n~~~\nBurningFrog\nThis is the \"fascism is infectious\" theory, under which we are all potential\nfascists if we just get exposed to the \"infection\".\n\nBy this theory fascism is somehow so inherently attractive that is has to be\nregulated similar to an addictive drug.\n\n~~~\narchagon\nPeople are surprisingly easy to reprogram. You can read countless stories of\nonce-liberal parents turning into hateful conspiracy nuts in their old age out\nof prolonged exposure to right-wing media.\n\nIf you see people around you saying “white males are undergoing a genocide” or\n“brown people are criminals” every day, chances are you’ll eventually start to\ninternalize some of those talking points. Without tremendous effort, we’re\nnothing more than a rough aggregation of the opinions we surround ourselves\nwith.\n\n~~~\nphilwelch\n> People are surprisingly easy to reprogram.\n\nNot you, though. No way could YOU be under the influence of a totalitarian\nideology despite the fact that you are _openly advocating restricting basic\nhuman rights_.\n\n~~~\narchagon\nI am advocating the right for private organizations to ban fucked-up\nideologies from their services. That this is being framed as some sort of\ntotalitarian assault on free speech shows just how far the right-wing rot has\ngotten.\n\nThe balance fallacy will be the death of democracy in America.\n\n~~~\nThrowawayR2\n> _I am advocating the right for private organizations to ban fucked-up\n> ideologies from their service._\n\nCan we start with yours? /s\n\nThis has nothing to do with \"right-wing rot\". We already have ample historical\nexamples of what happens when those wielding power, whether religious, royal,\nor financial, can suppress views and speech and it wasn't a good thing! The\nEnlightenment and the birth of the liberal movement (now classical liberalism,\nI suppose) were in reaction to those abuses and they fought many hard battles\nto get us the rights we enjoy today. It would be insane to throw that away for\na little temporary advantage.\n\n~~~\narchagon\nYou're speaking as if these groups are working to amend the Constitution. It's\na ridiculous comparison.\n\nWorse yet, all this anger is a massive distraction. We should be talking day\nand night about the rampant voter suppression and e-voting security flaws that\n_do_ actually pose an existential threat to our democracy. But no, let's just\nfocus all our attention on Gab for weeks on end.\n\n~~~\nThrowawayR2\n> _We should be talking day and night about the rampant voter suppression and\n> e-voting security flaws that do actually pose an existential threat to our\n> democracy._\n\nIn that much, at least, I will agree with you.\n\n------\nthrowawaysea\nWhy is this article being flagged?\n\nFrom\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)\n> If a story is spam or off-topic, flag it.\n\nThis story is not spam, and it is not off-topic since it clearly relates to\ncurrent news in technology.\n\n~~~\nhcg\nPeople flag controversy because they want to avoid flame wars and this place\ndevolving into political discussion constantly.\n\n------\nhappilycentrist\nIn my other writings, I've touched on how these tech companies compromise\ntheir stability and reliability when they engage in witch-burning campaigns.\n\nFor example - once upon a time, I could trust the google search engine, g-mail\nand the chrome browser. I recommended them to other people, and utilized them\nmyself. But now, I can't in good faith steer folks to any google property,\nbecause they run the risk of losing access to their data. Today it's\nfashionable to cut off GAB, what will the moral panic of tomorrow be?\n\nAnother example - I used Pay-pal weekly to make purchases and send money to\npeople and causes I supported. But after PayPal began denying service based on\nwhat keeps the outrage mob mollified, I've closed my account and have been\nhelping website operating on the dissident right to transition away from a\nsystem that might deny them service on a fit of whimsy. Paypal, like so many\nother platforms, has become too unreliable to be a single point of failure.\n\nAll of these institutions were, until the last few years, treated like\nutilities - which bolstered their reputation for reliability. But now, so many\nof these giant Near-Monopolies have decided to become overtly political,\ndenying their services without any manner of due process or even a reasonable\namount of notice to the people being cast off. This damages the brand\nreliability, and where once customers could rely on their Registrar, Host, or\nPayment Processor, they now must consider it imperative to have redundant\nsystems - lest they risk having their service cut because they suddenly find\nthemselves on the bad side of \"the fashionable opinion\" of the hour. (Goal-\nposts that move by the hour, and today's cleric of the faith can easily find\nthemselves tomorrow heretic).\n\nA high-trust business environment is required to maintain the sorts of\nbusiness relationships a content creator enters into with a\nplatform/host/registrar. The fact is, as it stands now, no content creator,\nbusiness or group can trust these tech-corporations to maintain a stable\nrelationship - or even adhere to a basic contract - in good faith. Once a\ncompany - like PayPal for instance - has proven itself unreliable, it has\nalready done half the work of replacing itself.\n\n------\nStuntPope\nArticle flagged. Nice. Love the tolerance and receptiveness to discussion\nhere.\n\n------\nwisty\nWhile Americans seem obsessed with defining \"free speech\" as being exactly the\nsame thing as the 1st Amendment, it might help to ask exactly why the 1st\nAmendment is a good idea.\n\nJS Mill argued that censorship is wrong on a rights basis, that it leads to\nbad ideas being unchallenged, and it leads to people not being able to\nunderstand the reason why ideas are rejected. If censorship by a government is\nharmful, how is deplatforming by a near-monopoly different? I suspect some\nleft-wingers argue this in a hypocritical way, because they think it will\n\"trigger the conservatives\" to force them to attack the actions of private\ncompanies, but this is hardly a good argument.\n\n~~~\nYouAreGreat\n> \"trigger the conservatives\" to force them to attack the actions of private\n> companies\n\nConservatives will come to understand that big capital is not a conservative.\n\n~~~\nwisty\nI'm not personally a conservative, but I'm pretty sure conservatives are not\nall hardcore libertarians or objectivists. Some of the intellectual brain-\ntrust of conservative thought is libertarian or objectivist, but a lot of the\nbroader conservative movement is not.\n\n------\nCM30\nI've said it before, and I'll say it again; online platforms needed to be\ntreated like their offline equivalents. Why can an ISP not censor traffic but\na web host can? Why can the utility company or a credit card processor not\n'shut down' customers they disagree with while the likes of Cloudflare or\nPayPal or Stripe can?\n\nThere's no logic behind this. No, you can't just say 'offline stuff has a\nmonopoly', because it doesn't. It might in some parts of the US (where choice\nin ISPs is limited), but it certainly doesn't in much of Europe, other parts\nof the US or other countries around the world. You've got multiple choices for\nbanks and building societies, multiple choices for electric companies and\nmultiple choices for ISPs, yet we're sane and don't let them discriminate by\npolitical views at will.\n\nIt's time similar standards were set up for online services too. If you market\nyourself as a platform or network or service that should be morally neutral,\nthen you should be obligated to act that way, just like your offline\nequivalents generally do. There should always be a way to host a platform for\nyour views, no matter how many people hate them and you in the process.\n\nGoogle and Apple should also be looked into in regards to their app stores\ntoo. They're defacto monopolies on their platforms (unless you jailbreak\nthem), and their standards for what's 'acceptable' are clearly broken and\nbiased to all hell. Apparently something like Gab isn't allowed, but dozens of\ncopyright/trademark/whatever infringing ripoffs are? It's fine for apps to\nripoff consumers and target kids with exploitative in app purchases but not\nprovide a platform for 'questionable' views?\n\nYeah, that doesn't add up much, and it's clear they're falling short as both a\nplatform and a publisher.\n\nFinally, something should definitely be done about the whole 'contact their\nemployer and try and get them fired' crap. I'm not really sure what, but there\nshould be a legal way to stop people trying to screw over people's livelihoods\nbased on online disagreements. Maybe an actual ban on contacting someone's\nemployer/company/coworkers unless it's about illegal activity? I don't know,\nanything I can think of seems like it'd hurt freedom of speech more in the\nattempt to save it.\n\nBut something does need to change, before the laws basically become\nineffective and trial by media/mob becomes the judge, jury and executioner.\n\n~~~\nTheAceOfHearts\nUnfortunately, credit card processors can and do deny services to people with\nwhich they disagree. To give one example: you can't use any mainstream payment\nprocessors for anything related to pornography.\n\nAlso, on Android you can run alternative app stores without having to\n\"jailbreak\" the phone. One example of this is f-droid [0]. You just need to\nchange a single configuration option to allow installing APKs from third-party\nsources. Fortnite is an example of a popular Android game which you have to\ndownload and install outside of the Play Store, presumably because they don't\nwant to pay for the large cut that Google normally takes.\n\nI think domain name registrars should probably be treated like utilities,\nalthough I'd have to think it through very carefully to consider any\nconsequences.\n\nI'm generally in agreement that platforms should be neutral, otherwise they\nshould be treated as publishers and be forced to deal with the consequences.\nIt sets a poor precedent when rules are not enforced evenly.\n\n[0] [https://f-droid.org/](https://f-droid.org/)\n\n~~~\namanaplanacanal\nAre there any platforms that are still neutral? It seems like reality has\nshown those that tried to be, that really, they can't. Spam takes over your\nemail, hostile ads take over your advertising space, trolls take over your\nforums.\n\nMaybe there is some way around this, but I have no idea what it might be.\n\n------\nKrasnol\n> The next challenger to Twitter will not be another centralized platform like\n> Gab. It will be decentralized – perhaps a federation like Mastodon, where\n> each node runs its own CoC and community standards – similar to IRC days.\n\nYou might want to ask Wil Wheaton what he thinks about Mastodon...\n\n~~~\nmmirate\nWhy is some random actor's opinion unusually important, let alone on a\ntechnical topic such as this?\n\n~~~\nKrasnol\nBecause what happened to him is relevant to the topic.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWe have bought followers fo $5 and discovered 15M botnet on Twitter - investjtravolta\nhttp://sadbottrue.com/article/15/\n======\nMichaelGG\n15M is nearly 5% of Twitter's active users, or all the growth they've had in\n2015. Assuming these bots are \"active\".\n\n~~~\nmarak830\nIf it's true, I wonder what effect it will have on the value of Twitter(I do\nassume this isn't the only one).\n\nIf it turns out half the use base is made out of bots or non-active registered\nusers that is.\n\n------\nDougN7\nBesides these 'obvious' bots, there are more that have humans in control, but\nwhich the humans never read tweets, they just post them. I would bet, though\nhave no data, that there is a large percentage of these 'post-only' accounts.\nNot sure if they should be called bots or not...\n\n------\nimaginenore\n$1M from 15M fake accounts is rather low.\n\n6.67 cents per account.\n\nIsn't it easier and much more profitable to fake click ads at such scales?\n\nAlso getting 15M fake accounts means getting 15M fake emails, which isn't\ncheap:\n\n[https://buyaccs.com/en/](https://buyaccs.com/en/)\n\n~~~\nryanlol\n>Also getting 15M fake accounts means getting 15M fake emails, which isn't\ncheap\n\nUnless you create them yourself, which seems rather logical if you're in the\naccount creation business anyway.\n\n------\nikeboy\nSo you spent $40,000 to reveal those bots? All to write a short blog post?\n\nAm I missing something?\n\n~~~\nmarak830\nI think that's how much it would cost or the full amount. I do think they\nspent $400 though. Very weirdly written article.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow the Feds Took Down the Silk Road Drug Wonderland - hepha1979\nhttp://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/11/silk-road/\n======\nbelorn\nIf this has not been posted before, its good to see that all the worries about\nthe tor protocol can be laid to rest.\n\nThey did not identify the server by some advanced technical hacks against tor.\nThey used simple basic police methods and arrested an administrator with the\nuse of an undercover agent posing as a drug seller. The administrator\npurchased a kilo of cocaine, and by doing so, gave his home address to the\nundercover agent. After interrogation, they gained user credentials that even\nincluded DPR's private messages.\n\nThis could have easily been a episode script for the wire.\n\n~~~\nbediger4000\nIf simple, basic police methods sufficed here, then why the massive dragnet\nsurveillance the rest of us are caught up in?\n\nEither (a) the dragnet surveillance isn't doing what it's supposed to or (b)\nthere's another reason for the spying.\n\nAnd yes, I could be accused of whipping on the NSA no matter what, that in my\nview, they're damned if they do, and damned if they don't. So what? Even if I\ndon't have \"standing\", and the NSA is doing \"legal\" things, and the 3 Prong\nTest for Violations of Privacy hasn't been met, the NSA is still doing things\nthat until recently were considered grossly unamerican, a violation of the\nprinciples that made the USA different than commie Russia.\n\n~~~\nnitid_name\nYou're forgetting: (c) parallel construction lead to the \"simple police work\"\nsuccess.\n\nIt possible that this wasn't such a cut and dry case of police work, and\ninstead the police were handed leads that came from the NSA work.\n\n~~~\nbelorn\nThe differential factor of an conspiracy theory, and a plausible event is the\nmatter of indicating clues. In this case, there is not a single indicating\nfactor to point towards the conspiracy theory of parallel construction, so why\nshould it be considered?\n\nAn other equally plausible would be that the silk road was a false flag\noperation, run by a undercover unit. Nothing points in that direction either,\nbut hey, it \"could be\" right?\n\n~~~\naliakbarkhan\nI think you're too quick to dismiss the possibility. The point of parallel\nconstruction is that the police construct a plausible (and, more importantly,\nlegal) means of finding the evidence that they used in an investigation that\nmasks its true, illegal origin. More importantly, unlike false flags -- where\nthe only \"evidence\" for their use is the ravings of conspiracy theorists and\nsome internal suggestions by government officials in the 60's -- parallel\nconstruction is a technique that we know the government uses by their own\nadmission.\n\nFrom Reuters ([http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/05/us-dea-sod-\nidUSBRE...](http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/05/us-dea-sod-\nidUSBRE97409R20130805)):\n\n> The undated documents show that federal agents are trained to \"recreate\" the\n> investigative trail to effectively cover up where the information\n> originated, a practice that some experts say violates a defendant's\n> Constitutional right to a fair trial. [...]\n\n> After an arrest was made, agents then pretended that their investigation\n> began with the traffic stop, not with the SOD tip, the former agent said.\n> The training document reviewed by Reuters refers to this process as\n> \"parallel construction.\"\n\n> The two senior DEA officials, who spoke on behalf of the agency but only on\n> condition of anonymity, said the process is kept secret to protect sources\n> and investigative methods. \"Parallel construction is a law enforcement\n> technique we use every day,\" one official said. \"It's decades old, a bedrock\n> concept.\"\n\n> A dozen current or former federal agents interviewed by Reuters confirmed\n> they had used parallel construction during their careers. Most defended the\n> practice; some said they understood why those outside law enforcement might\n> be concerned.\n\n> \"It's just like laundering money - you work it backwards to make it clean,\"\n> said Finn Selander, a DEA agent from 1991 to 2008 and now a member of a\n> group called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, which advocates legalizing\n> and regulating narcotics.\n\nGiven how they talk about parallel construction, it certainly sounds like it's\nnot an uncommon technique, so do you think it's so implausible? I'm not going\nto say they did or didn't use it, because the simple fact is that I don't\nknow, but given that \"Parallel construction is a law enforcement technique we\nuse every day\" that is \"decades old, a bedrock concept,\" it doesn't seem too\nimplausible that they would use it in such a high profile and important case.\n\n~~~\nbelorn\nOne should not quickly to dismiss the possibility. Especially, one should keep\na eye out since the proof of parallel construction as a tool is indeed\nverifiable true.\n\nBut in the mean time, one should not jump to it directly when more simpler\nexplanations are available. Using undercover cops to entrap drug sellers is\neven older, and even more common method than parallel construction. It also\nextremely simple and effective.\n\nI would also suspect, that entrapping a first time offender, an 47 year old\nadministrator who sells drugs anonymously on-line from his home, to not be\nvery hard. Especially if the undercover cop could impersonate flawlessly\nestablished \"trusted\" drug sellers by taking over their accounts, as it seems\nto be in this case.\n\nAll points toward parallel construction as an something that might had been,\nbut in this case, is less likely to actually have happened.\n\n------\ntptacek\n_Investigators staged the torture and killing — which included mock\nwaterboarding according to officials — and sent Dread Pirate Roberts about\nhalf a dozen pictures, including photos depicting what they said was his\ncorpse._\n\nSo much for the absolutely inane \"it was all a face-saving ruse\" theory of the\nmurder-for-hire scheme.\n\n~~~\nMichaelGG\nI think that \"face-saving ruse\" was in relation to the second \"hit\", which\nsounded incredibly implausible. Someone says they need $500K and blackmails\nDPR, then the creditor shows up and is willing to kill the blackmailer for 20%\nof that? Yeah, OK.\n\nThe details on the first \"hit\" weren't known before, were they?\n\nAnd it still doesn't invalidate the logic behind it some people were\nproposing: _Given the prior that the USG will do harm to SR users and dealers_\n, is it less harm to kill one person that is going to give information to the\nUSG? (Again, that logic only works if you take the assumption that the USG is\nacting immorally and will impose a large amount of suffering onto many\nothers.)\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nIt freaks me out that anyone would believe that any amount of message board\npolitical bullshit could justify murder. But I bet you're right.\n\n~~~\nMichaelGG\nMurder is justified for all sorts of reasons. IIRC, the US was founded on a\nbase of murdering people over disputes on taxes and government. Treason was\n(or is?) punishable by death. I'm not sure why message board political\nbullshit is intrinsically less valid than \"official\" government or LE reasons.\n\nAdditionally, most people believe lethal force is justified in cases of\ndefense. It's not a huge jump of logic to view these hits as defense.\n\n~~~\ngeorgemcbay\n\"Additionally, most people believe lethal force is justified in cases of\ndefense. It's not a huge jump of logic to view these hits as defense.\"\n\nuh, wat?\n\nThe dude was a drug dealer protecting his criminal empire. If I'm robbing a\nbank and shoot a cop who is going to shoot me, is that also defense? So I\nshould be charged for the original crime but not for killing the cop? Because\nthat's pretty much what your argument sounds like to me.\n\n~~~\nMichaelGG\nI'm not saying he's right and not criminally liable for his actions. I'm just\nquestioning why people are so confused as to why this is justifiable, in some\npeoples' opinions.\n\nAs to the specific example: If someone is trying to shoot you, no one would\nwonder why you shoot back. The bank robber would be held responsible because\nit's his action of robbing the bank that started the whole mess.\n\nIf you were sitting peacefully in your home, and someone broke down the door\nand started firing, you'd be quite justified in returning fire. (Even legally,\ndepending on state, AFAIK.)\n\nFolks sympathetic to DPR are more likely to view him in the second category.\nHe was peacefully minding his own business running a marketplace when someone\nthreatened him, his buyers, and his vendors. These folks are likely to view\naccess to medicines as a moral action, and thus DPR and people involved with\nSR to be people doing the right thing, despite an oppressive government\n\n------\njdmitch\nThis seemed a bit worrying:\n\n _Federal agents say the use of Tor and Bitcoin were major obstacles for them\nand that investigating the site was “uncharted territory” that involved a\nreversal of their usual investigative methods. Instead of starting with\nprobable cause against a specific suspect who is already identified and then\nobtaining a search warrant to collect more evidence, the investigation of Silk\nRoad involved collecting evidence from the site first and then trying to\nidentify individuals._\n\nSure it is \"uncharted territory\" in terms of the technology for maintaining\nanonymous identities, but shouldn't most investigations start with evidence of\nthe crime and an empirical investigation into who could have committed it,\nrather than starting with suspects and trying to link them with the crime?\nMaybe I am naive, but sounds like dodgy criminal investigation methodology to\nme...\n\n~~~\nsaraid216\n> shouldn't most investigations start with evidence of the crime and an\n> empirical investigation into who could have committed it, rather than\n> starting with suspects and trying to link them with the crime?\n\nThis might surprise you, but there are very often situations where the police\nand the public are remarkably aware of the facts of the crimes being\ncommitted, but unable to do anything about it. Drugs fall into this category.\nEveryone knows that \"that's where the deals go down\" and \"that's where they\ncount the money\", but that's only because we're not completely stupid. Proving\ndirect culpability, on the other hand, is an entirely different story, as is\nproving the culpability of people who matter. (Street level dealers, for\ninstance, are pretty interchangeable: one gets shot, you get someone else to\ndo his job. Ain't no thing.)\n\nIf you find a druggie on a corner, it's not exactly a stretch of the\nimagination to recognize he's probably guilty of possession. It's also sort of\npointless to prosecute him, since the actual issue you're fighting is lots of\npeople _taking_ particular drugs, which means what you care about are the\npeople _managing_ the city-wide operation. You want evidence of that crime?\nThat's also the druggie on the corner. Half of whom can tell you exactly who\nit is who manages the city-wide operation. None of which are willing to take\nthe witness stand to accuse him in a court of law. Because he knows that he\ngoes right back to that corner the next day and not only does he no longer\nhave someone bringing him drugs, but he's also get a bullet in his head for\nthe trouble.\n\nIf you want a visceral primer, watch _The Wire_.\n\n~~~\nWildUtah\n_the actual issue you 're fighting is lots of people taking particular drugs,\nwhich means what you care about are the people managing the city-wide\noperation_\n\nThat is a complete non sequitur.\n\nActually, if you really want people to stop using drugs, arresting and\nimprisoning users is the single most effective technique yet known. It's\nespecially effective against the middle class white population that consumes\nmost drugs in the USA, but it works against poor minorities and addicts, also.\n\nAnd if you want to stop dealers, arresting and imprisoning retail dealers is\nthe most effective technique. It clears the ones that work in public or sell\nto strangers out quite quickly.\n\nArresting the kingpins or traffickers is totally ineffective at reducing drug\nuse or reducing drug availability. If reducing public harm were a priority,\nthe kingpins and traffickers could be ignored. Once the users and retailers\nare imprisoned, the bosses are out of business, anyway.\n\nAnd if you do catch the kingpins and traffickers, your efforts are completely\nineffectual. There are always more kingpins in line to get rich quickly and\neasily. Decades of police targeting kingpins has only seen increases in drug\navailability. In fact, the faster you turn them over, the more violent the\nwhole business becomes.\n\nThe reason police agencies target kingpins and traffickers is because the\npurpose of the war on drugs, from the point of view of police administration,\nis to seize cash to fund police operations. There is no law enforcement\njustification for such a policy, merely an agency budgeting justification.\n\n~~~\nsaraid216\n> That is a complete non sequitur.\n\nAgreed. I'm not remotely a fan of the war on drugs or its consequences for the\nprison-industrial complex or the militarization of the police.\n\nThe real root is really shitty legislation based on shitty moralizations based\non shitty philosophical grounds, the absurd nature of how the police are\nfunded, and the ridiculous political reality of law enforcement offices. It's\nsuch a multifaceted problem that I'm unwilling to try to tackle it myself.\n\nBut all of this was just a handy example for why wishing for an \"empirical\ninvestigation\" is not necessarily the right way to go about things.\n\n------\nXeroday\nI wonder how much of this was actually parallel reconstruction vs\n\"investigative research\"\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nHow exactly would parallel construction have helped here? To effect a search,\nwith or without \"parallel construction\", you have to have probable cause.\n\n~~~\nbandushrew\nthe entire _point_ of parallel construction is to construct a legal\nexplanation for the presence of data needed for the conviction.\n\nie, I would use illegal means to obtain proof that you have convicted a crime,\nthen I would use parallel construction to provide a legal explanation for how\nI obtained the proof.\n\niee, parallel construction is what they use when they did not have probable\ncause.\n\nI am having trouble believing that you do not understand that? what am I\nmissing?\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nYou're having trouble because you are incorrect about how parallel\nconstruction works. Parallel construction is not the Orwellian term for simply\n\"coming up with a bullshit story about where you got your evidence when it in\nfact came from NSA\". Instead, it is the Orwellian term for \"coming up with the\ncomplicated story of what precise piece of unrelated probable cause enabled\nyou to effect a search that was motivated by evidence that came from NSA\".\nNotice that the latter definition includes some notion of some kind of\nprobable cause. The NSA is not PC in a \"parallel construction\" scenario.\n\n~~~\nbandushrew\nok, I do understand the distinction you are making.\n\nI am not sure how you are so confident that the NSA was not at all involved in\nthis capture, and that parallel construction was therefore entirely\nunnecessary.\n\nWhen reading that article, and various other sources, one thing that stands\nout is that even after arresting an administrator - which did lead to various\nother arrests - they still had no direct link or identification for Ulbricht.\n\nUlbricht was careful enough that although the police were apparently\ncommunicating directly with him, and arresting a number of others that were\nmore directly involved, there was no way for them to locate or identify him.\n\nNote, that this remains true even after he believes that one of his contacts\nhas murdered someone on his behalf. He maintains the firewall between himself\nand that contact.\n\nFrankly, that is fairly impressive, he must have been a careful man.\n\nSuddenly they find a link buried in the forever webs between a nickname he\nuses and his actual name and bingo, they have him.\n\nNow, it entirely could have gone down like that. It is completely plausible.\nMost likely the link was there all along, just waiting for someone to stumble\non it.\n\nBUT, that is rather the point of parallel construction, isn't it? to bridge\nthe gap between the information they have and the information that they can\npresent in court, in a totally plausible way.\n\nI am not claiming the truth to be one way or the other, who knows (hell, who\ncares in this case), but I am claiming that to disregard the possibility and\nmaintain that it is absurd is to ignore the fact of parallel construction and\nthe fact of its frequent use.\n\n------\nChuckMcM\nSounds like a police thriller novel. That said, and BitCoin hitting an all\ntime high, is it even possible to convert BitCoin into dollars any more? I\nnote that the article says the agents seized over two million dollars from the\nMt GOX founder [1]. So given how many btc to dollar exchanges have been\ntargeted how does that work now? Western Union or something?\n\n[1] \"The seizures included $2.9 million from a Dwolla account that was\ncontrolled by a U.S. subsidiary of Mt. Gox and $2.1 million seized from two\nWells Fargo accounts, one controlled by the same subsidiary, the other by Mt.\nGox CEO Mark Karpeles.\"\n\n~~~\nSynaesthesia\nYes, it's easy to convert Bitcoin to USD. You can sell them at Coinbase,\nBitstamp, LocalBitcoins and all kinds of other exchanges.\n\n------\netler\nWow, this is the funniest thing I've read all week!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Story of the Apollo Guidance Computer, Part 1 - sohkamyung\nhttps://www.universetoday.com/142897/the-story-of-the-apollo-guidance-computer-part-1/\n======\nsohkamyung\nPart 2 at [1], Part 3 at [2]\n\n[1] [https://www.universetoday.com/143102/the-story-of-the-\napollo...](https://www.universetoday.com/143102/the-story-of-the-apollo-\nguidance-computer-part-2/)\n\n[2] [https://www.universetoday.com/143113/the-story-of-the-\napollo...](https://www.universetoday.com/143113/the-story-of-the-apollo-\nguidance-computer-part-3/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nState of Startups - ValG\nhttp://stateofstartups.firstround.com/2016/\n======\nGrumpyNl\n“One of the problems with raising money is it teaches you bad habits from the\nstart,” said Jason Fried, the co-founder of the software company Basecamp, who\nhas written frequently on the perversions of the venture capital industry. “If\nyou’re an entrepreneur and you have a bunch of money in the bank, you get good\nat spending money.”\n\nBut if companies are forced to generate revenue from the beginning, “what you\nget really good at is making money,” Mr. Fried said. “And that’s a much better\nhabit for a business to work on early on, to survive on their own rather than\nbe dependent on money people.”\n\n~~~\njustinzollars\nI've worked at startups that have taken no money (0) and those that have taken\nboat loads (Hundreds of Millions).\n\nI made much more money from the former situation.\n\n------\npascalxus\nThe 2 biggest reasons start ups fail are: 1\\. No/not enough market demand for\nwhat your building 2\\. User acquisition costs exceed LTV.\n\nThose 2 things should be the very top concern of any software\nentrepreneur/founders. I don't understand why the survey doesn't reflect that.\n\nThey say hiring good talent is a primary concern, but if that were really the\ncase, wouldn't start ups be moving to cities where the labor supply was\ngreater than the labor demand? And wouldn't there be a corresponding\nwillingness to hire remote workers (as this greatly increases the pool of\ncandidates)?\n\nMoving to an area where labor is 1/2 as cheap, could double your runway,\nassuming there aren't other timed restraints.\n\n>Nearly 1 in 5 founders say they're raising a unicorn This is not necessarily\noptimism. some companies require that kind of scale in order to get the\neconomies of scale required for profitability.\n\n------\nnedsma\nI love this one: How confident are you that you're building a billion dollar\ncompany? Answers: 1\\. I'm certain that we will - 18% 2\\. I'm confident we have\na decent shot at it - 42%\n\nThumbs up for the optimism!\n\n~~~\nporter\nWell, they are telling this to VCs afterall...\n\n~~~\nkornish\nRecently on a John Oliver segment, Oliver was speculating on how Trump\nUniversity received 98% excellent approval ratings from current students.\nTurns out that the students were asked to give feedback while still enrolled\nin the course, meaning that giving a bad review could negatively influence\ntheir grade or relationship with the teachers, and thus the students were\nmotivated to give more positive answers than they otherwise might have.\n\nI wonder if founders giving answers here had names attached to their answers\nor if they were anonymous at submission-time.\n\n~~~\ntedmiston\nThat's how every university course evaluation I've ever done has worked.\nThough they say data is shielded from the instructor until after final grades\nare submitted. Not sure if that applies to the Trump thing.\n\n------\nbenmarten\nAre we in a bubble answered yes is declining from 73% -> 57%. That means the\nreal probability of being in a bubble just increased ;P Remember the 2008\ncrisis was only seen by very few in advance...\n\n------\nEduardoBautista\n> 9\\. Are you optimizing for growth or profitability?\n\n> Profitability - 39%\n\n> Growth - 61%\n\nThis is what happens when your business goal is to get acquired and not to\nhave a business sustained by paying customers.\n\n~~~\npc86\nWell this is one of the few but key differences between a \"startup\" and a\n\"business.\"\n\nA business that isn't profitable is either a hobby or a bad idea. A startup\nthat isn't growing is dead. Personally I'd rather make $5/10/15/25k a month\nwith a _business_ than kill myself trying to get millions in funding, pay\nmyself a $10k/mo in salary and leave with nothing through either failure,\ndilution or some combination thereof.\n\n~~~\nrsp1984\nGiven that you can make $5/10/15/25k a month with a cushy 9-5 corporate job\nwhere everything's taken care of for you, in most cases the choice is not\nsmall-business vs. startup, it's corporate job vs. startup.\n\nThe \"lifestyle\" self-running company that spits out a comfortable amount of\ncash and is easier to handle than a corporate job is somewhere between a myth\nand a unicorn. It's _very_ rare. If you want to stay on the legal side of\nthings it takes a great amount of connections, experience, time and effort to\nbuild such a company. You might as well invest that time in a \"proper\" startup\nand get some funding. Chances of success will be similar in the end.\n\n~~~\nWhitneyLand\nI don't notice that many people making 15/25k a month that think their jobs\nare cushy. There are usually high expectations at that level.\n\n------\nvsloo\nThere's a disconnect between founders who want to build a startup and founders\nwho want to build a business. They think the two are the same but they're\nreally not and this study clearly shows that. There are situations where\nstartups turn into businesses but I'd rather build a profitable business for\nmyself from the start and our team than to build a startup purely focused on\n\"growth\".\n\n~~~\nmonkmartinez\nI am very disconnected from the \"startup\" world, and something in your comment\nhas me asking: What is the difference between a startup and a business? To me,\nthey ought to be one in the same...\n\n~~~\nGFischer\nPaul Graham (and Y Combinator I guess) believe that the difference is the\ngoals.\n\n _A startup is a company designed to grow fast._ PG, 2012\n\n[http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html)\n\n[http://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2013/12/16/what-...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2013/12/16/what-\nis-a-startup/#6b2321f14c63)\n\n _a startup is a company designed to scale very quickly_\n\nSteve Blank believes a startup is determined by the search of a business\nmodel. If you have a business model, then you have a small or new company, not\na startup.\n\n[https://steveblank.com/2014/03/04/why-companies-are-not-\nstar...](https://steveblank.com/2014/03/04/why-companies-are-not-startups/)\n\n~~~\nangersock\nQuite right.\n\nAnother distinction worth making, almost its own axis really, is the\ndifference between \"a tech business\" and \"a business that uses tech\".\n\nCompanies like Cisco, Facebook, Apple, Google, Canonical, and so forth are\ncompanies that are tech companies--without their technology, they wouldn't be\nin business at all. They provide a service or product that is IP in its own\nright.\n\nCompanies like Chipotle, Subway, Uber, Lyft, AirBNB, DoorDash, Dollar Shave\nClub, and so forth are companies that use tech to achieve economies of scale\nand growth that wouldn't be as easy otherwise but could still be done. You can\nimagine a way of making something that to the user is substantially like the\nUber today without a complicated backend, even just using call centers and\nmassive dispatch. The key part of their business is part-time contractor\ndrivers, which is a business and not tech innovation.\n\nIt's easy to assume that all startups are tech startups, but that's not quite\ntrue and it also can limit and slow developing a good business model.\n\n~~~\npzh\nBut then, can't you make the same analogy for early stage Google--basically, a\nbig marketing firm that manually places ads in the yellow pages? Similarly,\nFacebook can also be executed over a phone system (\"Press 1 to hear your\nfriends' updates, press 2 to post an update...\")\n\nI'm not sure there's such a strong distinction between a tech business and a\nbusiness that uses tech nowadays.\n\n~~~\nangersock\nGoogle's core beginning was PageRank (under license from Stanford), without\nwhich it would've been no better than similar offerings at the time.\nAdditionally, their approach to setting up their equipment and making use of\ncheap gear and managing said cheap gear probably gave them a leg\nup...something they still do today at scale. So, no, you can't really make\nthat analogy.\n\nFacebook was a tech company specifically, and not a company using tech,\nbecause the entire product was devoted to rapidly filling social profiles and\nspinning up the microsites that were user accounts, mining those accounts for\ninformation, and then integrating as a platform for advertisers and game\ndevelopers. None of that tech is really stuff they could've outsourced and\nstill had a business--they couldn't have just white-labeled MySpace for\nexample and gotten away with it.\n\n------\ncoldcode\nDid anyone else find the constant shifting colors irritating?\n\n~~~\nEtheryte\nYes! Closed the page as soon as I figured out what was going on.\n\n~~~\nKiro\nThat seems like an extreme reaction to be honest.\n\n------\naedron\nInteresting answers on lack of gender diversity in IT: Most of the men believe\nthe reason is that there just aren't that many women entering the field, while\nalmost all the women blame bias at various stages of education, hiring and\npromotion. Someone has a cognitive dissonance.\n\n~~~\nwhoops1122\nthere were less than 5 girls on my computer science class, so unless woman are\nclaim that they should have the job without education. I can totally see the\nreason why there is a gender diversity in IT?\n\n~~~\nbeat\nWhy is a computer science background necessary for an IT career? I know many,\nmany IT professionals who did not study CS in college.\n\n~~~\nci5er\n\"IT Professionals\" is a broad label. Maybe we can think of getting a 'degree\nin a field' as a proxy-variable for 'interest in the field'. What's\nastonishing to me is through the 60s, 70's and into the mid-80s, computer-tech\ninterest in female cohorts tracked with science, law and medical fields. Then\nit flattened and fell, while female participation in those other three fields\ncontinued to expand at the rates they had before. (So, what happened in 1985?)\n\n~~~\nrrdharan\nThis Planet Money episode attempted to tackle that question:\n[http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/10/21/357629765/when-...](http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/10/21/357629765/when-\nwomen-stopped-coding)\n\nTheir tl;dr answer is that video games happened, and they were marketed\nexclusively to boys; that's what created and drove the cultural rift.\n\n~~~\nci5er\nThanks for that link. My original sighting of the phenomena used the exact\nsame graph, but made no attempt at being explanatory. I have since then, been\nsearching, but failed to re-find a copy of that graph to stick into my files.\nNow, thanks you you, I have! Thanks!\n\n------\ncodingdave\nState of Venture-backed Startups. Just to be clear. It is a specific subset of\nthe larger startup picture.\n\n~~~\ntedmiston\nThis really depends on your definition of a \"startup\" vs small business,\nlifestyle business, etc.\n\n~~~\ncodingdave\nI guess that is technically true, but if anyone who is NOT a VC is buying into\nthe idea that VC backing is the only valid definition of a startup... you have\ndrunk too much of the kool-aid.\n\n~~~\ntedmiston\nI would say they more just look at it as an easy filter. While there will be\nsome false negatives, you have very few to none false positives i.e., venture-\nbacked companies that turn out to be non-startups but don't close or exit.\n\nThe example that comes to mind that breaks this is the failing startup turned\ndev shop in attempt to revive the startup pattern.\n\n------\ntraviswingo\nOh yeah, startup founders with venture backing aren't biased about this\ntopic...\n\n------\ngnicholas\n> And it only gets less balanced with time. Among respondents' companies, the\n> boards of later-stage startups are almost three times less likely to have a\n> woman on their board.\n\nIf later-stage companies are older (probably correlated, but not perfectly),\nthen this could be a function of the year in which the boards were created.\n\nThere's more of a push for diverse boards now than there was 3 years ago, so\nif a company got funding and formed a board back then, it's not surprising\ntheir board would look different.\n\n------\npersonjerry\n> Now’s the time to launch companies and set sail.\n\n> Though the majority of founders say we’re in a bubble, 9 out of 10 founders\n> believe that it’s a good time to be starting a company. All aboard!\n\nWow that's the worst example of sample bias I've ever seen. It betrays the\nfund's motives behind this post, I suppose.\n\n------\njdavis703\nI think this is a very interesting question to ask when interviewing at a\nstartup: \"If you're not successful, why do you think that will be?\" And also\n\"what leads the culture\" (engineering, sales, design etc).\n\n------\ncontingencies\nSector spread (Q51) is very biased; perhaps the method of sourcing respondents\nwas insufficiently broad or random.\n\n------\nmisiti3780\n1 out of 5 founders thinks they are raising a unicorn ?\n\n~~~\nalmostarockstar\n1 out of 5 founders want you to think that they think they are raising a\nunicorn.\n\n------\ndmark3\nSo 10% of startups give out more than 1% of equity to a mid-level engineer ?\n\nPerhaps this is a small sample, but it sounds odd.\n\n~~~\nbrianwawok\nWhat should first and second hire get? 1 or 2% doesn't seem crazy after a seed\nround.\n\n~~~\ntaneq\nAnyone who puts in sweat equity should get double digits IMO (unless the\ncompany has been around for years as a one man band, and maybe even then.)\n\n~~~\nptero\nDouble digit ownership usually means the person is a cofounder. This question\nwas about engineers.\n\n~~~\ntaneq\n...who by definition aren't cofounders? Maybe I'm on the wrong site. O.o\n\n~~~\nbrianwawok\nIf you join BEFORE seed money, and do a bunch of work for free, you can be a\ncofounder.\n\nIf you join AFTER seed money, and get something like a market salary, you are\nan engineer.\n\nThe gray area is the in-between places. If you join before seed money, but\nonly work 1 hour a week (say to help out a buddy), are you a cofounder? I\nwould likely vote no.\n\nOr if you join AFTER seed money, but work for 75% of market rate. Or 50%. At\nwhat pay do you appear to be a cofounder vs engineer?\n\n~~~\ntaneq\nSo you're saying it _is_ a definition issue. Regardless of what work you do at\na startup, you are considered a \"co-founder\" if you put in initial sweat\nequity (ie. did work for free) but an \"engineer\" if you only joined after the\ncompany was funded and paying wages at market rates?\n\nAs for the grey area, it seems as if common-sense should prevail but sadly\nthat doesn't always happen so you always need a contract laying out exactly\nwhat each side gets, even for volunteer work. I seem to recall a story earlier\nthis year (can't remember the company involved) where one of the founders'\nfriends had helped out occasionally before they got funded, then the company\ngot funded, ended up with a fairly large valuation, and the 'friend'\nreappeared and claimed that they were owed a significant share of the company.\n\n------\ndemonshalo\nsigh... Europe does not stand a fucking chance!\n\n~~~\ncbcoutinho\nWhat does this article have to do with Europe? I know First Round is based in\nSF, but they don't state where the startups are located - the only mention of\nthe US is when comparing demographics of the workforce with the US itself.\n\n~~~\ndemonshalo\nWhat I mean is, Europe generally does not even come close to that level of\npay/compensation. So I assumed that these are US based startups. I could be\nwrong though.\n\n~~~\njdavis703\nYes but you (generally) get other things like universal healthcare, free or\ncheap university, retirement plans, no need for a car due to proper urban\nplanning, etc. In the US you have to shell out for all these things, paying\ninto a private 401(k) for retirement, paying back student loan debt, paying\nfor your health insurance etc. And these are at well funded tech firms.\n\n~~~\ndiscordianfish\nWhile true, that doesn't even come close to filling the gap.\n\nIn Berlin \"the silicon valley of Europe\", as people here like to say, there\nare pretty much zero engineering jobs paying >$100k/year. There is some\nmagical ceiling of around $90k/year, no matter how senior you are. This isn't\nonly true for startups but pretty much any company.\n\nThat's one of the reasons I work remote for Silicon Valley.\n\n~~~\ndx034\nOn the other hand, costs in SV are way higher than Berlin. Berlin has very low\nliving costs, even compared to other European (and German) cities. With\n$90k/yr you probably have the same living standard as in SV with twice as\nmuch. Probably even a higher standard, with $90k/year in Germany you can\nafford a large appartment, eat out regularly, don't have to worry about\nretirement or health care.\n\nOf course living in a cheap area and being paid the salary of the high cost\narea is always better. But that's not specific to Berlin.\n\n~~~\ndiscordianfish\n\"$90k/year in Germany you can afford a large appartment, eat out regularly,\ndon't have to worry about retirement or health care\" \\- That's definitely\ntrue. But I'd argue with similar profile you can make at least 2x that in SV\nat which point I don't think you have to worry about those things either, even\nif you pay $5k/month for your apartment.\n\n------\ngreenspot\ntl;dr because the presentation is super long.\n\nI just picked data which I find interesting and not obvious, there's much more\ninformation which I don't cover. Data is in chronological order and often\naggregated to less numbers. 700 founders inside and outside of FirstRound were\nsurveyed.\n\n\\- 7 of 10 say bitcoin is overhyped\n\n\\- cofounder relationship: 5% fired their cofounder, 5% are strained, 40%\ncollegial, 28% best friends\n\n\\- 13% sold secondaries\n\n\\- 61% optimise on growth, rest on profitability\n\n\\- 52% want to fire up to 10 people, 32% up to 50, 10% more than 50 the next\n12 months\n\n\\- Hardest people to hire: tech, sales and marketing leader\n\n\\- 90% of mid-level engineers get <1% equity, 64% <0.4%\n\n\\- Most (55%) of mid-level engineers get between $100K and $150K\n\n\\- Primary drivers of company culture are tech, sales and design\n\n\\- Most (43%) people leave between 6-7pm, 10% work longer than 8pm\n\n\\- 75% could close a round in 4 months or less\n\n\\- 78% pitched less than 20 investors\n\n\\- 76% raise exactly or more compared to what they planned\n\n\\- 55% expect that raising gets harder the next 12 months\n\n\\- 22% of investors didn’t meet expectations\n\n\\- 20% <= 30yrs, 32% older than 40yrs, rest inbetween\n\n\\- Most popular sectors are enterprise, consumer, fin-tech\n\n\\- 43% web, 29% mobile, 1% VR\n\n~~~\nspyspy\nWhat defines a mid-level engineer?\n\n~~~\nmi100hael\nI'd say someone who's not in a senior position like team lead but more than 3\nyears removed from college.\n\n------\nDowwie\nThis is a duplicate post.\n\nFirst post:\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13080477](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13080477)\n\n~~~\nValG\nDidn't see that when I posted. Usually HN catches dupes, but I posted this on\nmobile on the go. My bad.\n\n~~~\nDowwie\nIt's not on you. :) HN ought to match on dupes like this.\n\n~~~\nsctb\nThe software allows resubmissions of stories that didn't get significant\nattention after enough time has past and there's no longer any hope for them.\nIt does this so that those stories have more than one chance, which is often\nneeded before they catch on. Sorry that it wasn't yours that did! Community\nmembers have analyzed the submission data to see if there's any way for\nsubmitters to do better than random here and it seems like there isn't.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nVuePress: a fully Vue-powered static site generator - tomcam\nhttps://vuepress.vuejs.org/\n======\ndang\nComments moved to\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16836394](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16836394).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSex, lies, and video games: Inside Roblox’s war on porn - car\nhttps://www.fastcompany.com/90539906/sex-lies-and-video-games-inside-roblox-war-on-porn\n======\nTraubenfuchs\nAs an adult, it feels weird to say this, but it's probably the former child in\nme speaking: This is absolutely beautiful. It sounds like the vibrant, lawless\ncommunities no longer found on 4chan and obscure forums that are now dead.\nChildren and teenagers finding their own way without adult supervision. If I\nwas 15 years younger I would probably download Roblox right now.\n\nKeeping the pedos and other bad actors out is probably impossible, instead\nsociety and parenting should focus on educating children on the dangers and\nmitigation.\n\nTeach them not to give out personal information, not to send pictures they\nwouldn't want the whole world to see and not to be too trusting and they\nshould be good. If they follow those rules, this kind of exploring and\ncreation of (youth) culture is actually safer than anything that happens irl.\n\nWhatever happened to Second Life, where all of this should be possible without\nfighting censorship?\n\n~~~\nbitwize\n> This is absolutely beautiful. It sounds like the vibrant, lawless\n> communities no longer found on 4chan and obscure forums that are now dead.\n\nLeaving aside the fact that a lack of strict moderation where kids congregate\nis a virtual smorgasbord for pedophiles, remember that the \"vibrant, lawless\ncommunity\" of 4chan and the like gave rise to a right-wing movement powerful\nenough to put Trump into office. It was Marcuse's repressive tolerance being\nplayed out before our eyes.\n\nAn increasingly censored and regulated internet is inevitable, _for the good\nof civilization_.\n\n~~~\njimmygrapes\nI am sure this goes against HN rules, but I found your comment particularly\ndisgusting. Just wanted you to know.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMega Man for TempleOS - robertelder\nhttps://github.com/tramplersheikhs/megaman\n======\nLVB\nWhenever I watch one of Terry's videos, I get highly motivated to program. Not\nread a blog post comparing frameworks, or a debate about some programming\nidiom, or even designing some larger project. But literally type stuff into a\ncomputer and make things appear on the screen. It is remarkable how watching\nhis TempleOS videos uncovers the fascination I had of computers from my youth,\n30 years ago.\n\n~~~\nruneks\nYou've got me curious.\n\nWho's Terry? And where can I see one of his videos?\n\n~~~\npkd\nOne should probably add a trigger warning. He is schizophrenic and not quite\nhimself at times, especially in the comments. Not to take away from his\ntechnical feats.\n\n~~~\ndajohnson89\nI think it's worth being specific here -- he uses the word \"nigger\" frequently\nand regularly makes other nasty comments about black people and other\nminorities.\n\n~~~\npanglott\nWhen I've seen his website in the past, the crazy religious stuff has always\nbeen there, which I can look past, but now it seems like the crazy racist\nstuff is way way more prominent, which I just cannot.\n\n~~~\ndajohnson89\nCompletely agreed. I understand that he's mentally ill, and I wish him all the\nbest in that regard. But I can't help but see him as just another racist hick.\nSuper cool project he has, but I want nothing to do with him or anything he\nworks on.\n\n~~~\nng12\nDo you understand what schizophrenia entails? If it makes you uncomfortable\nthat's one thing, belittling him as a \"racist hick\" is another.\n\n~~~\ndajohnson89\nSee my post below.\n\nHe is a racist hick, who happens to be ill. If that's \"another\" thing, then so\nbe it. Don't really care which came first. I will not let racists duck\nundercover of his illness. I stop short of being genuinely​ upset at him, but\nhate speech is hate speech. Since he has a large-ish audience, his ideas are\nbecoming part of culture. Agree with him or defend him or apologize for his\nracism all you wish -- you are kinda/sorta part of the problem.\n\n~~~\nng12\nWhat an absolutely absurd opinion. I really don't think you appreciate the\nmanifestation of schizophrenia. Would you feel the same about someone\nsuffering from Tourette's for swearing in front of a child?\n\nThe guy believes lots of crazy things: men in suits are after him, aliens put\nthings in his body, that he has conversations with god about music, etc. He\ntranslates random number generators into ASCII attempting to divine messages\nfrom god. He writes long-winded nonsensical rants jumping from detailed\ntechnical dissertations to rambling about old war movies. Schizophrenia\nliterally means \"split mind\" \\-- ideas, concepts, hallucinations attack his\nbrain and he has no basis for dispelling which are grounded in reality and\nwhich are not. It's the biological equivalent of radio interference or a loose\nwire.\n\nA large chunk of the things he writes are unintelligible. Yes, people focus on\nhis work, because it's pretty amazing that somebody suffering so profoundly\nfrom an illness can do such interesting (and esoteric) work. The fact that a\nsubset of his schizophrenic attacks include racist language is something I\nfeel sad, not angry about.\n\n~~~\ndajohnson89\nYeah, the sadness really shows. I wish I could share your clinical detachment.\nI guess I'm too PC (as someone else implied) or ignorant of mental illness (as\nyou implied). Let's agree to disagree about our opinion of Owens. He's a\nderanged and schizophrenic genius, I get it. We can agree that he's brilliant\nand is producing something really cool.\n\nI'm not bothered by his racism -- it's too common for me to be really upset by\nit. What bothers me is how you and others are so quick to point out how cool\nTempleOS is, and how smart he is, and how his hate speech is OK because he's\nill. You've defended him more than you've defended my disapproval of what he\nsays, which is telling. Enjoy his streams, hell -- make TempleOS your default\nOS and mail all of your friends/family a copy of it.\n\nJust consider that white males happen to make up the vast majority of his\naudience. Blacks and whoever else he hates will have a harder time than you do\nsympathizing with his hateful speech, schizophrenic or not. Again, Hitler was\na schizophrenic but that doesn't make his hateful rhetoric OK does it? Oh\nwait, Mein Kampf was recently a bestseller in Germany and we have a former\nBreitbart editor in the White House. Touché.\n\n~~~\nkstenerud\n\"You've defended him more than you've defended my disapproval of what he says,\nwhich is telling.\"\n\nIt's very telling. When someone does something out of mental illness, there is\nno reasoning them to change their course. When someone does it out of bigotry,\nthere is.\n\n------\ntsheikhs\nCool! This project started out as a way to learn Gr library routines in HolyC,\nand kind of Frankensteined its way into a game engine. In the coming weeks\nI'll be doing lots of refactoring to bring the code in line with proper TOS\nguidelines naming conventions.\n\n(Author here: I cross-posted this comment from a reddit thread, hope it isn't\nagainst the rules..)\n\n~~~\nabrookewood\nCan I ask why you decided to do this rather than learning on a more\nconventional platform?\n\n~~~\ncyberpunk\nI was kind of interested in writing something for the temple (well, okay, I\nspent a bored afternoon contemplating giving it a go and half heartedly\nbooting vms and reading code ....)\n\nWhile I can't answer for the OP, my motivation was _specifically_ that this is\nkind of an alien environment and the challenge involved in even getting to\nhello world would definately have seen me walk away at the end the better for\nthe exp, even if walking away from those hours without having gained some\nmarketable understanding of framework foo or language bar.\n\nIn the end I didn't do that because the code is insanely complicated (all\nsingle letter vars) and my downtime is too precious for such masochism\ncurrently; I don't think it's too much of a strech to understand why others\nmight be interested though.\n\nI'm glad to live in a world where such an outstanding personal achievement\nlike Terry's OS really is can exist, and that there are people out there\nprodding at it.\n\nIsn't it cool that we don't always do things for the money?\n\nI dearly hope that none of the recent templeos projects are attempts to\nantagonize Terry though. He is a profoundly accomplished software engineer and\ndeserves nothing but respect for his technical achievements from us all\nalongside understanding of the rest of the package.\n\n~~~\ntimv\n> half heartedly booting vms\n\nI initially read that as VMS rather than VMs. Very confusing.\n\nI don't think too many people half-heartedly boot VMS. Reactions tend to be\none extreme or the other.\n\n~~~\nbluejekyll\nWouldn't a half-hearted boot of VMS be Windows?\n\n------\nhuangc10\nPer wikipedia:\n\nTempleOS (formerly J Operating System,[1] SparrowOS and LoseThos)[2] is a\nbiblical themed lightweight operating system created over the span of a decade\nby the American programmer Terry A. Davis. The software is a x86-64 bit,\nmulti-tasking, multi-cored, public domain, open source, ring-0-only, single\naddress space, non-networked, PC operating system for recreational\nprogramming.[3] The operating system was designed to be the Third Temple\naccording to Davis and uses an interface similar to a mixture of DOS and Turbo\nC. Davis describes the operating system as a modern x86-64 Commodore 64 with C\nin place of BASIC.\n\n~~~\ncorndoge\nI'll bite.\n\nWhy did you paste a paragraph from the Wikipedia article?\n\n~~~\ntracker1\nBecause many people will have no idea what TempleOS is from the link, or the\ndemo video on the GH page.\n\n~~~\ncorndoge\nBut if they are reading HN, surely they know how to use Google and Wikipedia\nand could acquire this information in seconds?\n\n~~~\nlargeprime\nas an incredibly lazy person i found it to be helpful\n\n~~~\nudkl\nYou logged out, signed up for a temp account and then logged back in - just to\npost this comment. That IS incredibly lazy ;)\n\n~~~\nrangibaby\nHe probably doesn't want to be on record saying that he is lazy\n\n~~~\nudkl\nIs that you there, Mr Obvious ?\n\n------\nfiatjaf\nI find TemploOS a pretty normal name, but HolyC is an amazing name for a\nlanguage. I always laugh when I see it.\n\n~~~\nwolfgke\n> but HolyC is an amazing name for a language\n\nFor those who don't understand the pun:\n\n>\n> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_See](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_See)\n\n~~~\nfiatjaf\nI didn't think of this pun.\n\n~~~\nsambeau\nMe neither, I assumed the pun was to do with \"Holy Cow\"\n\n------\nmikejmoffitt\nIt's interesting and fun that Terry's odd but impressive project is getting a\nlittle cult traction. This is kind of neat, though the physics and animations\ncould use some work.\n\n------\njancsika\nCan someone explain the TempleOS author's sprite and graphics interface? From\none of his videos it appears that:\n\n1\\. Once a sprite set has been defined the user can manually\n(programmatically?) rasterize it 2\\. User can set affine transforms 3\\. It\n_seems_ like the boundary between 2d and 3d API is small, or easily\ntraversable, or non-existent. In one of his 2d examples it appears he changes\na parameter to get animation in the z-axis. 4\\. Sprites are somehow part of\nthe language (or at least seem to be integrated deeply into it).\n\nTo me it looks a bit like editing an SVG, automatically converting it to HTML5\ncanvas, then switching to WebGL, seamlessly.\n\n~~~\nevv\nSometimes it is nice to browse HN with 'showdead' enabled, because you can see\nTerry commenting on these threads. (his comment is sibling to mine)\n\nTerry, keep up the great work! Its super refreshing to see your commitment\nover the years on such an ambitious project.\n\n~~~\njancsika\n> Sometimes it is nice to browse HN with 'showdead' enabled, because you can\n> see Terry commenting on these threads. (his comment is sibling to mine)\n\nDid he give a relevant technical response to my technical questions? If so,\nare you or someone else willing/able to repost that here?\n\nI _really_ don't want to dig into HN caves and learn about its subculture. I\njust want to discuss a technical topic that I find interesting (and apparently\nothers do, too, if those little numbers next to the post mean anything).\n\n~~~\nkennethbgoodin\nHe said\n\n\"I wrote everything from scratch. I am the smartest programmer ever lived with\ndivien intellect.\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EDLCs4fBJc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EDLCs4fBJc)\n\"\n\n------\nmilkey_mouse\n4chan's /g/ is especially obsessed with TempleOS and Terry's livestreams;\nthere's typically a /tosg/ thread somewhere on the front page.\n\n------\nfrostirosti\n[https://youtu.be/5gfoDHycEi0?t=2m12s](https://youtu.be/5gfoDHycEi0?t=2m12s)\n\nThat sentiment! I know that feeling so well.\n\n------\nPhilWright\n\"God's favorite game is Donkey Kong.\"\n\nSurely the best quote of all time.\n\n------\ndylz\nWhat the hell is that top comment on the YouTube?\n([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DepFpVt-\nmIo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DepFpVt-mIo))\n\n~~~\nlobotryas\nIt's a meme. Google \"defend kebab\" for more info.\n\nAs for why it's there? ¯\\\\_(ツ)_/¯\n\n~~~\nmuterad_murilax\nThe in-game music is a chiptune version of the \"Defend Kebab\" song.\n\n------\nkristofferR\nSome background, for those who haven't heard about TempleOS before:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8658283](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8658283)\n\n------\nnikolasavic\nVice wrote a piece on him in 2014:\n[https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/gods-lonely-\nprogr...](https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/gods-lonely-programmer)\n\nHe drinks a lot of caffeine and lives mostly on a 48-hour schedule: \"I stay\nawake 16 * 2 and sleep 8 * 2.\"\n\n------\nregister\nDid I understand correctly that HolyC is a C like dynamic Language with AOT\ncompilation and dynamic binding? Does this mean that functions can be\nredefined in the REPL while the code is running? Looks like a pretty cool\nlanguage!\n\n------\nnickpsecurity\nSo, they put a game I used to love and hate on TempleOS. Guess I finally got a\nreason to visit the Temple. Although that comment about the HolyC going into\nthe shell, compiled, and running was pretty cool.\n\n------\nbitwize\nLooks better than Mega Man for DOS!\n\n------\npartycoder\nTempleOS is a very interesting OS with many original innovations, as mentioned\nin the \"constructive review of TempleOS\" (which you can look up).\n\nHowever it is a ring 0 only OS, with all the consequences that implies. You\ncan make irreversible mistakes in this way, especially outside a VM.\n\nOther OSes worth looking into are:\n\n\\- Redox OS (Rust)\n\n\\- MenuetOS / KolibriOS (x86-64 Assembly)\n\n\\- Haiku OS\n\n\\- GNU Hurd\n\n~~~\npekk\nDid you pay attention to what TempleOS is for? Do you know what it was like to\nprogram for the C64? It is ring 0 only on purpose! That's the whole point!\n\nThe idea that someone would go into a thread about TempleOS, trash TempleOS\nfor one of its central and distinguishing features, and then use the thread as\nan opportunity to promote some new OS written in Rust is boggling my mind.\n\n~~~\npartycoder\nWell that's one aspect of TempleOS that appeals to some and that is fine.\n\nBut you an also appreciate TempleOS from other perspectives such as how HolyC\nis compiled, dynamic documentation, etc.\n\n------\nknd775\nThis isn't Terry, is it?\n\n~~~\nthesmallestcat\nNo, but the Github user sure is interesting. Have to wonder how Terry feels\nabout\n[https://github.com/tramplersheikhs/hgbd](https://github.com/tramplersheikhs/hgbd)\nand\n[https://github.com/tramplersheikhs/uriel](https://github.com/tramplersheikhs/uriel)\n\\-- is the Temple being desecrated?? Either way, seriously cool stuff.\n\n~~~\nmintplant\nTerry has stated that, apart from serving God, the goal of TempleOS is to\nencourage C64-like hobbyist experimentation. He seems quite happy with\noutsiders writing software for his system, and has endorsed this MegaMan game\non the TempleOS software page:\n\n[http://www.templeos.org/Wb/Home/Web/AppStore/AppStore.html#l...](http://www.templeos.org/Wb/Home/Web/AppStore/AppStore.html#l1)\n\n~~~\nshultays\n\n      Supposedly, there is a guy on E-Bay selling TempleOS merchandise.  It's okay.\n    \n\nHeh, what a cool guy.\n\n------\nbredren\nIs it just me or is the official templeos site hacked / defaced right now.\n\n~~~\nproblems\nNope, it's standard, Terry Davis is the author and he's a very religious\nschizophrenic. He's a very smart guy, but he got banned many times on HN and\nReddit for going off about \"India niggers\" and spamming blocks of random\nwords.\n\n~~~\npekk\nActually all the times I've read him use the word \"niggers\" (and it is an\noffensive word, I won't dispute that) he actually means something different\nthan you would expect.\n\n------\nfaragon\nAmazing project! :-D\n\n------\namsheehan\nWeird. Makes me want to start a crusade.\n\n~~~\nsctb\nWe detached this subthread from\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13973144](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13973144)\nand marked it off-topic.\n\n------\nOrangeair\nA cult following for the God-given operating system. Huh. Sounds a bit\nsacrilegious.\n\n~~~\nkrylon\nIsn't that exactly what God would want?\n\nI just wonder how long it'll take for some heretical sect to start a fork and\nadd blasphemous features like networking or 32-bit colors... ;-)\n\n~~~\nbri3d\nFear not:\n[https://github.com/minexew/Shrine](https://github.com/minexew/Shrine)\n\n~~~\nkrylon\nSometimes truth is stranger than fiction, as Bad Religion used to sing. ;-)\n(NB what a great name for a band that is in this context!)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhy ‘Buy’ Buttons Will Pose Challenges for Google, Facebook, Pinterest - prostoalex\nhttp://www.recode.net/2015/06/14/why-buy-buttons-will-pose-big-challenges-for-google-facebook-pinterest-and-twitter/?\n======\nsageabilly\nI have given the side eye to all of the \"Shop right in the app!\"\nfunctionalities that have rolled out in the past year although I'm the first\nto admit that I'm not the type of person to randomly want to buy things that\nare slapped up on my newsfeed. I purchase probably 90-95% of my online stuff\nfrom Amazon and cannot see anything changing that, especially when I can go to\nAmazon, look at tons of reviews (and I read the reviews on everything before\nbuying, whether it's $15 or $1500), buy with 1 click, know it's going to be at\nmy house in less than 48 hours, and know that there's a rock-solid return\npolicy that goes along with it.\n\nI don't see the advantage of shopping from Twitter or FB or Pinterest,\nalthough again I'm not exactly their target demographic. Are they hoping to\nprey on teenagers and bored housewives with too much money to burn?\n\n~~~\nMichaelGG\nYeah that's the big question eh? The obviously \"best\" solution is integrating\nwith Amazon and calling it a day. But they can't do that, since Amazon's a\ncompetitor. It's almost as if they need a Shadow Amazon that isn't competing\nwith them. Then they could integrate all properly.\n\nShopping on 3rd party sites is so horrible. \"Oh, wow, free ground shipping...\ngreat.\" And I get to confirm my CC info once more for kicks. And worry they\naren't gonna go out of their way to make my one-off $9 purchase right if\nanything goes wrong. I often pay 2x more to buy something on Amazon than deal\nwith other vendors.\n\n------\nrootedbox\n\"Varshavskaya approached multiple big tech companies this year, in part to\ngauge interest in acquiring her company, multiple sources told Re/code. The\ncompany has also been talking to investors about raising new funding, these\npeople said.\n\nWhen asked for comment on the above, Varshavskaya did not directly address any\nof it.\n\n“We’re heads down at the moment with a ton going on, so we’re staying focused\non that for the time being,”\"\n\ntranslates to..\n\n\"Our model doesn't work.. we're heads down trying to see if anyone will buy us\nor if we can come up with a completely new idea. If someone will fund us\nduring this time; That'll be really cool.\"\n\n------\npsadri\n'Buy' buttons can make a big difference, specially on mobile. Most retailer's\nmobile web experience is horrible, specially their checkout flows.\n\nAn inline 'Buy' button can increase conversion rates anywhere from 2-5x which\nis huge and a win-win for everyone involved:\n\nUser: better experience Publisher: higher revenue (CPA) Retailer: more sales\n\n------\njohansch\nI don't have kids, but I could imagine families that do have kids to expect a\nwhole lot of unexepected shipments of stuff if this pattern gets widely\nimplemented.\n\n~~~\nnhebb\nCan confirm. It's happened to us with Amazon one click. My wife stepped away\nfrom the computer and within a few minutes my then 3 year-old had ordered a\ngame. The situation will be comical when kids can order directly via Google\nsearches.\n\n------\ndigisth\n\"Among the challenges these Goliaths face is integrating inventory and\npayments systems from retailers big and small that have little experience\nselling stuff outside of their own storefronts.\"\n\nSeems like there could be an opportunity for a service to act as a broker;\nthey could act as a go-between for inventory related tasks and services\nbetween the front-ends (Pinterest, FB) and the backends (retailer APIs.)\nProvide a standard API on both ends (so retailers can update prices, number in\nstock, tax and such, and front-ends can push buys and get updates.) If they\nwere front-end agnostic, they could save the retailers a bunch of time, and\nhandle API updates all in one place (preventing mass breakage when APIs\nchange, since a good part of their job will be to keep the interfaces up-to-\ndate.)\n\nRetail API broker or something. I wonder if anyone is thinking of doing this\nalready.\n\n~~~\nx0x0\nI briefly consulted for a ecommerce search company.\n\nIt stunned me how many online stores selling _millions_ of dollars of goods\nper month online are essentially incapable of giving you a csv with product\nid, quantity in stock, and price.\n\nSomewhere in the shit-mass of code that is their site there must be some way\nto determine precisely what items are in stock and what the retailer would\ncharge for them right now, but it's apparently incredibly difficult to export\nthat : rolleyes :\n\nOur solution was a combination of a semi-busted daily/hourly catalog export, a\nsite scraper, some machine learning, and some human intervention. It was an\nenormous pain.\n\nps -- there are definitely ecommerce sites out there where the price you pay\ndepends on your navigation path through the store. I remain unsure if this was\nintentional or accidental.\n\n~~~\nauston\nGiving you a CSV with quantity that is \"in-stock\" could mean you need a new\none in a few minutes at worst and few days more commonly. Consider a model\nlike Groupon.com or Fab.com - one is dumping large quantities quickly and the\nother is moving small quantities of well crafted / unique goods.\n\nThe best attack vector is obviously approaching people like prestashop,\n3dcart, tictail, etc and trying to get them all to agree on a format to put\npressure on shopify. This would enable pinterest to get tens of thousands of\nmerchants on their site with little friction or data rot.\n\n------\nNavarr\nThese aren't new problems. Companies have been solving and dealing with this\nsort of problem for _years_. It's how a lot of Amazon retailers, and ebay\nretailers, and NewEgg retailers, and Rakuten.com (Buy.com) retailers, and\nGoogle Shopping work.\n\nThere's a billion different extensions just for Magento for \"Product Feeds.\"\n\nIf you try to make it even more realtime, may god have mercy on your\nbandwidth.\n\n------\nmeesterdude\npinterest on buy buttons:\n\n> “They’re threaded into every aspect of the experience,”\n\nYuck. I never want to see a buy button. I understand the appeal on both sides,\nbut I myself will react unfavorably and likely close whatever account I have.\n\nThe web was not always a commercial venture, it used to be purely for\ninformation. But, I think the commercialization has lead to a lot of growth\nand good things, and that's certainly ok.\n\nBut the \"buy\" button is too much for me, it's too much commercialization. I\nwant to control when i'm \"shopping\" or not and this obviously seeks to blur\nthis. They want me spending more money online; I don't want to. It restricts\nthe shopping experience, removing any chance that you might shop around, or\nread reviews, which just makes it easier to peddle shit. I really just don't\nwant that shit in my face every day.\n\nBut I don't doubt it'll work to some measure. And in some contexts for some\nusers it will make a lot of sense for sure. But I suppose I am not in that\ntarget audience.\n\n~~~\naaronbrethorst\nWhat are your alternatives?\n\n1\\. Pinterest never makes money, goes out of business.\n\n2\\. Pinterest slaps ads up on their website.\n\n3\\. Pinterest puts \"Buy\" buttons on every identified product.\n\n4\\. Pinterest charges you $10/month.\n\n#3 sounds way more palatable to me than #2. And we both know #4 isn't a\nrealistic option.\n\n~~~\nmarblar\nRealistically, #1 and #4 are the same option.\n\n------\nVLM\n3rd party shopping sites are so awful, and amazon is so good, that there's\nprobably a space in the market for a middleman doing nothing but connecting\nproduct to amazon for people who can't politically be seen as connecting to\namazon. \"Buy from VLM store\" and all I do as a middleman is turn around and\norder it from amazon.\n\n------\noimaz\nWould it be fair to say that the biggest challenge with the buy button is the\nlack of last mile fulfillment (like shipping, returns etc) from\nGoogle/FB/Pinterest. Amazon on the other does a job at this\n\n~~~\njbandela1\nI agree completely. When I shop online, I like going with amazon since I know\nfrom experience their return process is so painless if something goes bad.\n\nI can't imagine shopping for physical goods from Google. From what I hear,\ntheir customer service is pretty bad. I think overall that this is a risky\nproposition for these companies, in that if they mess something up they will\nhave a lot of bad publicity.\n\n~~~\njon-wood\nIn Google's defense their support for people who are paying money for a\nservice tends to be better - both AdWords and Google Apps have had pretty\nsolid support teams when I've needed them.\n\n------\nelevensies\nI think [http://liketoknow.it](http://liketoknow.it) is pretty smart and is\nsitting at roughly the right level of coupling to the underlying platforms.\nWhen you like the photo on instagram, it emails you about the product, which\nwas set up by the user that posted the photo. Easy and non-invasive.\n\n------\nbitcuration\nThe problem is not shopping cart flow, the problem is small retailer needs an\nalternative than Amazon or eBay to low their selling cost. Google Facebook\nhave the brand name and can help with the name brand, only they also have\naffiliation program besides buy button. The buy button alone doesn't change a\ndamn thing.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIrrational Games (Bioshock Infinite) is shutting down - piratebroadcast\nhttp://irrationalgames.com/\n======\ntibbon\nMaybe its just me, but there is something _deeply_ flawed with the game\nindustry's hiring/firing practices.\n\nIf a game does well, its time to lay off half (or more) of the team. Same\nresult happens if a game does poorly of course. But it seems the only way to\n'win' is to be at the top, or simply not play.\n\nI've seen this now with everything from Harmonix to Irrational Games. There\nseems to be a huge amount of money made with these blockbuster games, but\nvanishingly few companies seem to be able to manage their game development\ncycles efficiently as to always need a staff. It always comes off as terrible\nmanagement/project management.\n\nFor example, Harmonix's Rock Band was huge. There was around $299 million of\nbonuses paid to people at the top. Yet, I had friends work there get laid off\nrepeatedly (once right before Christmas), sometimes shortly after the people\nat the top got the bonuses. Why in the world didn't they think to diversify a\nbit, run a few concurrent development cycles, etc...\n\nThe most sane way to do game development seems to be to start your own indie\nstudio and keep your expenses very low. Everything else seems... irrational.\n\n~~~\nender7\nThe game business is like the movie business in that projects are \"seasonal\"\nrather than a constant thing. Unless you are working on a tight little indie\ngame or a recurring blockbuster series (Call of Duty, Madden), the number of\npeople that are required at any one time in development is incredibly\nvariable. \"Pre-production\" headcounts need to be very small because the devs\nare still figuring out what the game _is_ and so don't have anything for an\narmy of artists or engineers to do.\n\nProgramming jobs in the games industry (and the entertainment industry in\ngeneral) are not like \"normal\" programming jobs, despite the fact that they\nrequire an almost identical skill set. Put another way, they require the\nskills of a programmer but function on the employment schedule of a Hollywood\nlightning technician.\n\n(It sounds like the company your friend worked at was also mismanaged on top\nof this cycle, which always makes things worse. Sometimes very much worse.)\n\n~~~\nmbell\nI think part of what tends to get missed is that while AAA game development\ncertainly has software development as part of it, it's a relatively small part\nof the overall project from a person power and cost perspective. It's not\nuncommon for a ~200 person game development team to have only ~15 software\nengineers on board, with the rest being on the game development side (game\ndesigners, animators, artists, level builders, game logic creators, testers,\ncommunity managers, marketing, etc).\n\nIt's also not uncommon for the internal tooling that gets created to allow the\ngame development folks to build out the game to dwarf the actual game code is\nsize/scope. There tends to be a large upfront effort from the software\nengineering side to get the engine ready and the supporting internal tooling\nready for the game designers to go to town, after that it can be years in the\ngame development process with only bugs, maintenance and smaller feature\nadditions to the engine/tooling for the software dev side of the process.\n\nWith such a lopsided time investment schedule between disciplines you need to\nbe either a massive company or only work on games with a small scope to\nachieve smooth employment for all involved.\n\n~~~\nBSousa\nUnless things changed in the last 5 years or so, your numbers are way off\nbase.\n\nLast game I worked it was around 100 dev people where 30% was software\ndevelopment, and from those 30% maybe 20% were tooling support.\n\n~~~\nPaul_S\nIt depends on the technology model. If the company is using a licensed engine\nthan there's very few coders - 10%-20% would be the number I'd pull out of\nthin air (probably 5% if you count all the outsourced artists working in\nsweatshops that never get credited). Some projects don't even need their own\ncoders if they're reskins of other games and just borrow the coders from the\noriginal project when needed. Of course there are still companies which invest\nin their own tools and engine where the ratio is closer to what you propose,\nbut that's rare. Now mostly big companies can afford to have their own core\nengine division but in those big devs the amount of artists is even more\nmindboggling because they are likely to in-house their cutscenes, voiceacting\netc.\n\nAll this works on the assumption that scripters are not coders which is\ndebatable.\n\n~~~\nBSousa\nWell, I did leave the industry in 2008, but last 2 projects I worked on we\nused Unreal Engine and the ratios for software developers vs everything else\n(except publisher's people) were about those 30% I mentioned. We didn't have\nmany 'scripters', mainly some level designers that used Kismet and maybe a few\nUnrealScript classes but apart from that, most was done in C++ by software\ndevelopers.\n\n------\nbeloch\nYou've had critial success. You've made so much money you could retire, buy an\nisland, and still have enough left over to turn it into a supervillain lair! I\nget it. You're only in it now for the love of creating, so why not leave the\nheadaches of A titles behind? This is perfectly sensible. Handing off\nirrational to a protégé, taking your buddies and spinning off a smaller studio\nwould be a great way to do this. Firing half the company that brought you\nsuccess, however, is a bit of a dick move.\n\n~~~\njimwalsh\nNot really. Their last game (Infinite) was a flop (AAA game that only sold 4m\nunits). Take Two control the money, and with those kinds of results (huge team\nof 300 something, that took six plus years to create Infinite) you can imagine\nthey weren't lining up to do another title. So Ken did what he could so that\nsome of the studio would stay alive.\n\n~~~\nscott_s\nI disagree with your characterization of Bioshock Infinite as a \"flop.\"\nUsually, calling something a \"flop\" means that it was _wildly_ unsuccessful.\nInfinite may not have re-couped its investment, but it was not wildly\nunsuccessful. That would be selling under, say, 100,000 units.\n\n(Keep in mind this is a semantic distinction, and not a value judgement of the\ngame itself.)\n\n~~~\nkosei\nThe last game that studio published was 6 years ago - Bioshock in 2007;\nBioshock 2 was shipped by another studio. If they had 100+ employees (not\nunreasonable for a AAA game studio), they could have incurred personnel costs\nof $60M+ for the game's development. Which could definitely be considered a\nfailure in the eyes of a game that only shipped 4MM games.\n\n~~~\nantimagic\nSure, but just look at the numbers - let's firstly boost the number to 300\nemployees, not 100, I think that's closer to real, with an everage salary of\naround $60k. That puts salaries at about $180m. But, they sold 4 million\ncopies at about $60 each, which makes $240m profit. Allowing for a decent ad\nspend, you're still looking at a back of the envelope break-even. OK, I get\nthat investors might be bummed about that, but it's enough money to mean that\nthey live to fight another day, have another crack at hitting it out of the\npark.\n\nAs others have noted, AAA games are hit-based propositions. You pretty much\nhave a few (3-5) titles that make all of the money each year, another 10 or so\nthat hold the line, and everyone else loses. It's the last group that are\nflops, the second group are the par result. I think we can safely say that\nBioshock Infinite was in the second group...\n\n~~~\nShivetya\nthey certainly do not get the full 60 per copy. I am not sure what current\npublishing deals are set at but I would be surprised if they even see 40\n\n~~~\nkosei\nYup. Usually I remember the rubric being about $30 back to the publisher on a\n$60-$70 title. MS/Sony each take a cut and so does the distributor (Steam,\nWal-Mart, Best Buy, etc). Plus, as pointed out in comments below, there's also\nthe fact that not all copies were sold at full price. So you're looking AT\nBEST at $120M in revenue, plus Irrational had TV ads and other large costs in\naddition to their staffing.\n\n------\nArgorak\nIrrational created some of my favorite games, because of the amount of thought\nand attention to detail they poured into them. I loved most of them.\n\n* SWAT 4: How cool is a multiplayer shooter where you actually have to breach a room from multiple sides to pressure the enemy into _not shooting_? And hold your guns until you saw any indication they would? We played that game for nights in one room for better communication.\n\n* System Shock 2: Deeply flawed in some regards, but also the first game that creeped me out in a _perfectly well lit and bright environment_. Shodan, as always, was a great enemy.\n\n* Freedom Force Series: A comic strategy game. It wasn't that hard (it wasn't easy, either), but had \"comic\" written all over the place. The description if you hovered the cursor over a mere building was \"A proud participant of the Patriot City skyline.\" Someone put an ironic joke on the patriotic theme of the game in the description of a boring apartment block... How fun is that?\n\nBioShock was a culmination of all that. Would you kindly pay them your\nrespect?\n\n~~~\nMithaldu\n> Would you kindly pay them your respect?\n\nNo, simply because Bioshock, while being wildly entertaining to many people,\nwas so at the cost of many of the good design choices made in the System Shock\ngames. Just see for example your note about the bright environments and\ncontrast with Bioshock.\n\n(It also irks me a little that your post is missing just enough detail to make\nit seem as if they made SS2, instead of being co-creators under the lead of\nLooking Glass.)\n\n~~~\nArgorak\nWell, the whole Irrational Games/Looking Glass thing is a messy one, so I\ndecided to skip that for the sake of an eulogy. I see Irrational as a\nsuccessor to Looking Glass, although I would prefer LG to be still existing.\n\nI am split whether Bioshock threw away too much or just enough from System\nShock 2. At my first playthrough, I was on the edge about this. The \"would you\nkindly\" scene cought me as off-guard as the Shodan reveal in SS2, so I forgive\nBioshock a lot in the story department. It was definitely the more polished\ngame in many regards.\n\nSS2 is hard to play nowadays and some things (like the ghosts) just really\ndidn't work in hindsight. Also, the crafting and inventory-tetris didn't\nreally add to the game. There is a lot in it that could be removed for good.\nOn the other hand, SS2 stood at a time where those things hadn't been properly\ntried yet and is a good example of a game that has to be commended for trying\nout new things. And damn, was it great to actually explore the story.\n\nI heard a (german) podcast about old games a while ago where one of the\npodcasters said that he thinks that gamers in the 90s had more tolerance for\ngames trying something and failing, because it was such a rapidly evolving\nmedium.\n\nPerhaps, Bioshock was the System Shock for the 2000s and us old-school gamers\nwanted it to be something that relentlessly tries out things just as in the\nold times.\n\nStill, Bioshock is light-years ahead in story-telling and world-building than\nmost games of that era. \"Would you kindly\" is a great example: It shows that\nthe game was built around a narrative and not around a series of set pieces.\n\n~~~\nthe_af\nWhat do you mean the ghosts in SS2 \"didn't work\"? I thought they were pure\ngenius -- and they scared the crap out of me the first times they appeared.\n\n------\nmjn\nKind of a strange letter, especially given that Irrational Games is a\nsubsidiary of Take Two. It makes it sound like Irrational is doing great, and\nKen Levine just wants to try something different. But if that were the case,\ndemolishing Irrational to try his new thing doesn't make a whole lot of sense.\nIt'd be more sensible for him to just leave Irrational, starting a new\nendeavor (either another subsidiary under Take-Two, or his own independent\nthing), and leaving Irrational intact.\n\nPossible explanations include: 1) there is _not_ as much success going on at\nIrrational as implied; 2) Ken Levine is just really attached to the name, and\nso wouldn't let it continue in present form while he leaves to do something\nelse under a new name; 3) ...?\n\n~~~\nmillerc\nI'd bet on 3) Levine isn't interested in just \"more of the same\", and his\nmission (Irrational's) is to create. I'm sure someone else can license the\nnames and characters if what they want is \"more of the same\".\n\nBest of luck to the new team, looking forward to awesome stuff...\n\n~~~\nmjn\nIf that's true, then it'd make Ken Levine just an asshole. If he wants to\nleave and do something different, fine, but why set the building on fire on\nyour way out? It doesn't require firing a successful team for _you_ to go do\nsomething different, plenty of people leave successful companies to start\nsomething new.\n\nMy _guess_ , though, is that he didn't actually make that choice and was told\nby Take-Two to downsize, and this is him pretending it was a voluntary\n\"creative\" decision, like politicians who want to spend more time with their\nfamily.\n\n~~~\ndanudey\nThe other possibility is that the 15 people he's taking with him are part of\nthe company's top-tier leadership/talent; creative directors, art directors,\netc. Maybe taking those 15 people is cutting off the head of the snake, and\nthere's no one left to steer the ship after they're gone.\n\n------\nhawkharris\nThis isn't the end...\n\nIrrational Games will enter the waters of baptism, and a new studio will be\nborn. An infinite number of Irrational Games studios are opening and closing\nat this moment, like lighthouses on an ever-expanding ocean. The only\ndifference between past and present is semantics.\n\nIf what I'm saying sounds crazy, you owe it to yourself to play Bioshock\nInfinite. It's without a doubt one of the most beautiful and surreal games\never created.\n\n~~~\nvacri\nAnd despite the infinite number of Irrational Games studies opening and\nclosing, for some reason they only ever make two games... a strange limitation\non 'infinity'.\n\n~~~\neinhverfr\n> And despite the infinite number of Irrational Games studies opening and\n> closing, for some reason they only ever make two games... a strange\n> limitation on 'infinity'.\n\nLet's call those two games, \"pi\" and \"e\" while we are at it.\n\n------\nChuckMcM\n\n       > we will focus exclusively on content delivered digitally. \n    \n\nAnother one bites the dust. Sad to see irrational closing up but agree that 17\nyears is a long time for anything. My hope is that he isn't out to build the\nnext candy crush thing.\n\n~~~\nZikes\nThat doesn't mean they're going mobile, just that they don't want to answer to\na publisher.\n\n------\nzacinbusiness\nI truly understand not wanting to do \"more of the same\" after 17 years (I do\nsomething different nearly every day). But I really hate it for their\ndevelopers and artists. Having only ever played the original Bioshock (which\nwas beyond amazing to me), I know that at least the senior devs and artists\nhave the chops to get hired somewhere new, or to start their own companies.\nBut the jr. guys might have a tough time.\n\n------\nvenomsnake\nIt was expected. Probably he got fed up with modern publishing and Bioshock\nInfinite didn't do that great either - the 2 Bioshocks were on the verge of\ngreatness, but it slipped from their hand mostly due to publisher interference\n(like not releasing modding tools and shipping with encrypted and signed\ncontent packs) when all of the community was begging for them. Bioshock has\nthe potential to be the pre skyrim skyrim ...\n\nAnd bioshock infinite was threading on too safe ground. I really hope that his\nnew studio will have bursts of creativity and success and the left out\nemployees find better jobs soon.\n\n~~~\nsmacktoward\n_> the 2 Bioshocks were on the verge of greatness, but it slipped from their\nhand mostly due to publisher interference (like not releasing modding tools\nand shipping with encrypted and signed content packs)_\n\nI dunno about that -- what always seemed to me to be holding the Bioshocks\nback from greatness was that they were designed around a gameplay mechanism\n(FPS running and gunning) that clashed pretty severely with the type of game\nthe designers seemed to want badly to make, namely an interactive story. The\nresult was a sort of schizophrenia: Irrational would build these incredible\nenvironments and characters, and then stick them in the exact type of game\nwhere players couldn't linger over and savor them. They were just a blur that\nwould flash past your gunsights as you killed people.\n\nThis problem was so evident in the Bioshock games that they led people smarter\nthan I am to eventually coin a term for it: \"ludonarrative dissonance\" (see\n[http://clicknothing.typepad.com/click_nothing/2007/10/ludona...](http://clicknothing.typepad.com/click_nothing/2007/10/ludonarrative-d.html)).\nWhich basically means a game whose story is trying to do one thing while its\nmechanics are trying to do something completely different, pulling the player\nin incompatible directions. That -- and Irrational's seeming lack of interest\nin reconciling the two elements in their work -- always seemed like a bigger\nfactor holding them back from greatness than their relative lack of\nmoddability, at least to me.\n\n~~~\nwilg\nI agree - the BioShock games are great in theory but have a hugely messy\nexecution.\n\nOne of my favorite articles about Infinite is this one where it's argued that\nit's the worst game of the year: [http://tevisthompson.com/on-videogame-\nreviews/](http://tevisthompson.com/on-videogame-reviews/)\n\n~~~\nscott_s\nAgreed with you and smacktoward. Tevis' analysis gave me a lot to think about\nafter playing the game, but during my play, I was nonplussed regarding the\ncharacter arcs between Booker and Elizabeth, and the constant, brutal\nviolence.\n\n------\nexgamebiz\nThere's a misconception that BioShock Infinite was a massive hit. It had the\nkind of budget that needed to sell 3+, maybe even 4+, million units to break\neven. It sold 4 million, but a lot of those were at discounted prices or via\nSteam sales. Remember, it took five years with a large team and had a premium\nmarketing budget. I'm going to guess about $80-100 million prior to marketing.\n\nAlso, the crunch time was horrendous for much of the project. The project\nchurned through people who left bitter and burned out.\n\nI'm not sayin' BI is a bad game, but this isn't the story of a well-managed\nstudio.\n\n------\ndave_sullivan\nMan, these guys made some great games.\n\n    \n    \n        > To make narrative-driven games for the core gamer that are highly replayable.\n    \n\nCandy crush with a story it is... Or less cynically, a totally awesome RPG\nwith procedurally generated storylines so no playthrough is ever the same?\n\n~~~\narrrg\nI’m really not sure why _anyone_ would be thinking _that_. That way of\nthinking makes no sense at all in this instance.\n\nDuring the last years there have been many indie games with a strong narrative\nfocus. His mission statement together with his actions (small team, digital\ndistribution) fits more with that than free to play mobile only games.\n\nIt seems to me as though Ken Levine saw that he was making very narrative\nfocused games (Bioshock Infinite in particular) with a side dish of shooting\nfor that AAA appeal. Maybe he also saw all the indie developers making games\nwith narrative focus who were not afraid of getting rid of such AAA trappings\naltogether because with digital distribution everyone can reach their niche\nand make sustainable amounts of money.\n\nKen Levine is obviously not going all the way, but he is going pretty far with\nthe downscaling (and it’s always worth to talk about whether he has gone the\nright way). AAA development gets you some nice things (God Only Knows sung by\na barbershop quartet, for example) but comes with its own set of restrictions\n(you have to go for mass appeal) and when you want to make something smaller\nand more focused that doesn’t appeal to everyone then there’s lots to be said\nfor getting smaller.\n\n(During the last few years we have seen the middle fall out from game\ndevelopment, with mid-sized developers and publishers going under. It seems\nthat this gap is now filled from the bottom and the top, with former AAA\ndevelopers scaling down and successful indie developers – Jonathan Blow with\nThe Witness, Mike Bithell with Volume, … – scaling up.)\n\nThere is whole diverse and crazy world below AAA titles. Some of those games\nare awful, but some are awesome. There is lots that can be done. And lots of\ncool things that are done.\n\nWhy would you think of Candy Crush first? Especially the mention of the\nnarrative focus makes me think of many excellent (and successful!) recent\nindie titles that also had a strong narrative focus: Stanley Parable, Gone\nHome, Kentucky Route Zero, …\n\nIt seems to me that Ken Levine has something like that in mind plus his own\ngame mechanics twist (the highly repayable part, whatever that means),\ncertainly not some free to play mobile only bullshit.\n\n------\nminimaxir\nThis is likely correlated with the absurd sales Bioshock Infinite received\nafter release. (Down from $60 to $20 less than 6 months after release). They\nprobably needed money.\n\n~~~\nbhouston\nRE: Quick price drop over 6 months.\n\nI think every game does that these days. There usually are fairly official\nnumbers for sales of video games as it is a highly mature market. What are the\nreal sales numbers?\n\nHere they are:\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioShock_Infinite#Sales](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioShock_Infinite#Sales)\n\nI suspect they budget was insanely high for the game though, so they needed\nnot just a blockbuster, but a massive one.\n\n~~~\nofficemonkey\n>I think every game does that these days.\n\nBioshock dropped pretty quick, IIRC. I remember picking it up on special\nduring the Steam Summer Sale for $19.99. It was less than six months after\nrelease.\n\n~~~\nminimaxir\nA 66% sale within 6 months for an AAA game is rare. (usually it's 33% max)\n\nHowever, I got Battlefield 4 for $20 in less than a month after release, so\nit's possible that's the new norm.\n\n~~~\nericdykstra\nThe Last of Us has been out since June, and is still over $40 (down from $60)\nno matter where you look. I don't think it's the new standard to discount\ngames that heavily.\n\n------\nlectrick\nI don't know if anyone from Irrational Games is watching this, but from an\noldish gamer, thank you so much for your creative and entertaining efforts\nover the years and I wish you all the best in your next adventures.\n\n------\ndavid_otoole\nI had the privilege of working at IG for a few years back during the SWAT4 /\nFFV3R / Bioshock 1 days, when the people who made System Shock 2 were largely\nstill there.\n\nIt's sad to see the name being retired, but it's better than seeing the name\nruined by a flop or diluted by endless sequels.\n\nThe announcement is pretty opaque---I expect the rumor mill to churn for\nawhile.\n\n------\nEric_WVGG\nThis is great news for fans of Ken Levine.\n\nI just finished Bioshock Infinite a couple weeks ago, and I was left feeling\nweirdly angry. It was a great story, shoehorned into a mediocre shooter. All\nof the problems with Bioshock were amplified. Which was necessary; in order to\njustify that kind of budget, they needed to make a game that would sell to the\nlowest-common-denominator.\n\nHating on Bioshock Infinite is a bit like criticizing a Hollywood blockbuster\nfor being dumbed-down. What did dummies like me expect?\n\n“To make narrative-driven games for the core gamer that are highly\nreplayable.” This is what fans of System Shock and Bioshock have been\nclamoring for. Set free of Take Two's blockbuster expectations, Levin will be\nfree to deliver it.\n\n------\nmariusmg\nThis is really fishy (the whole situation and the studio closure).\n\nFirst of all Irrational Games is (wholly) owned by Take Two. So only Take Two\ndecides what happens with the studio. From the statement i guess they decided\nthat is \"less bad\" if Levine steps up and says they \"wind down\" instead of\nTake 2 announcing they close the studio. Basically PR damage.\n\nRegarding the reason....looking at their output it seems they had it coming.\nAfter the original Bioshock (2007) they took 6 (!!) years to release Infinite\n(and even that was codeveloped with 2K Australia). The financial losses must\nhave been pretty big.\n\n------\nuchi\nFor those not in the knowhow, BioShock Infinite was in development for a very\nlong time. Work began on the game in 2008 and the first public announcement of\nthe project was made in 2010. One developer when interviewed at polygon was\nquoted as saying that they culled enough content to make five or six games. E3\nfootage of the game over the years (and hell, even tv commercials of the\ngame,) have nothing in common with the final released product with the sole\nexception of Columbia as a setting and different character versions of\nElizabeth and Booker.\n\nas soon as I get to a PC I will post sources\n\n------\ndeletes\n_my passion has turned to making a different kind of game than we’ve done\nbefore. To meet the challenge ahead, I need to refocus my energy on a smaller\nteam with a flatter structure and a more direct relationship with gamers. In\nmany ways, it will be a return to how we started: a small team making games\nfor the core gaming audience._\n\nI just read that as; we are gonna make an even more narative based System\nShock 2 equivalent.\n\n------\nb0rsuk\nThis is why I've backed 9 Kickstarter games already. It may not be perfect,\nbut I'm not a part of the problem anymore. Traditional publishers put the\ncarriage before the horse. They use money earned by Game 11 to fuel Game 12.\nWhen you're buying a game you like, you're NOT paying for its production\ncosts. You're paying for its _sequel_ production costs.\n\nKickstarter success is reputation/prototype based. You need either a great\nreputation or a great prototype. It's essentially a form of grant. Many of the\ngames which succeed will ultimately fail in the \"fun\" sense. Yet I'm convinced\nthat, as broken as AAA publishers are, throwing dice gives me a better chance.\n\nCheck out board games. There's big innovation and it's entirely game mechanic\nbased.\n\n------\nwinslow\nWell this is sad. I've been thoroughly impressed with Bioshock Infinite's\ngameplay, plot, story, AI, art, and attention to detail. Hopefully the\nartists/devs/writers will find another position elsewhere.\n\nI wonder what happened. It sounds like Bioshock Infinite didn't bring in the\ncash they thought it would? Reminds me of Ensemble Studios closing after\nAoE:III and Halo Wars.\n\n------\ntroymc\nCan someone here translate \"core gamer\" and \"core gaming audience\" for me?\nThose phrases mean nothing to me.\n\n~~~\nsesqu\nWikipedia has a brief section on this[1], but essentially it means \"buys on\nrelease\". It's the people who follow reviewers and industry news, spread word-\nof-mouth, play for dozens of hours, but don't demand features that would drive\nother customers away.\n\n[1]\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamer#Core_gamer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamer#Core_gamer)\n\n------\nshrnky\nOk, time to call most of you out. Why's this company different? When nameless\ncorporations lay everyone off I usually here how broken capitalism is and how\nhuge companies are evil, etc., but in this case I see more people trying to\nrationalize it.\n\n------\nleonatan\nSad to see them go. Their latest games weren't as good as their early ones\n(too much shooting), but still sad. Hope to see Levine involved in a project\nsoon.\n\n------\ngrogenaut\nSurprised at the lack of hate for Ken at this dick move.\n\n------\nwnevets\nI cant forgive them for tribes vengeance.\n\n~~~\nfloody-berry\nIn their defense, T:V was mostly Thrax' doing and Irrational were just an\nunfortunate contractor. Even still, they did butcher just about every mechanic\nin the game.\n\n------\nb0rsuk\nI realize I'm promoting board games to the wrong people - to people who've\nalready been trained to expect the same things from 'games' as from movies -\nbut you should take a closer look at board games.\n\nOutside of computer/console 'game' industry, games are rules. You distinguish\ntwo games by their rules. \"How do you play it ?\" is the question you need to\nask. In video 'game' world, \"game\" has become an umbrella term for: \\-\nstories, \\- simulations, \\- puzzles, \\- actual multiplayer games, \\-\nplaygrounds/toys (Minecraft, MMO...)\n\nBasically any interactive software that is used for entertainment is called a\ngame these days. I guess vlc also meets the criteria, after all you can use it\nto watch porn.\n\nThere's a parallel between Test Driven Development and board games. Today,\ncomputer games have become so complex and have so many moving parts that they\nhave more in common with simulations than board games they largely came from.\nThis is because you no longer understand all or even most of its RULES.\nComputer is kind enough to calculate everything for you. You don't know why a\nfireball deals 23 damage or why your city suffers an epidemic. It could be\nbecause it's scripted that way, because something gives it a +20% bonus (added\nbefore or after X ? Is it actually +20% or * 1.2 ? Wording is ofter\nambiguous). The player is only expected to move around in a world and bump\ninto things. Often the quickest way to learn a game is to try it. Learn the\nway children learn languages - not by memorizing grammar rules, but by\npracticing.\n\nWhy TDD ? It is often claimed that in Test Driven Development, you write tests\nbefore you write code. THEN you write minimal code to pass those tests. By\ndefinition, you have practically 100% test coverage, which can be nice.\n\nBy definition, you know all the rules of a board game. The rules tell you how\nand when move pieces, cards, tokens around.\n\nModding and house rules is rampant in board game world. It happens even\naccidentally - when you fail to learn rules correctly, and later decide it's\nmore fun that way. It's absolutel fine to play with \"wrong\" rules if all\nplayers agree to do it beforehand. Board game players often make their\nexpansions, variants, prettier game art.\n\n\\--------------\n\nFun fact: \"Sacrifice\" spell in Heroes of Might and Magic 3 is widely\nconsidered one of worst spells in the game. Sacrifice a unit to resurrect\nanother one ? Load game, I wasted so many resources on level5 guild!!\n\nUnless you know the formula, which is NOT specified in the game. Then you can\nproduce a table like this:\n[http://wstaw.org/m/2012/12/05/imps_1.png](http://wstaw.org/m/2012/12/05/imps_1.png)\n\nWith a modest investment (3 skill points and growth bonus building), you can\nsacrifice 1 week worth of imps(level1) to resurrect 2 weeks worth of\nArchdevils (level7). Assuming you get the guild, it all comes early enough to\nbe relevant in a cutthroat multiplayer game. And it gets better and better as\nthe game progresses, because unlike with most spells the effect doesn't\nincrease in a logarithmic fashion (experience levels), but with troop counts.\n\nThis is not good. This is devastating. The huge discrepancy between the\nperceived value of the spell and its actual value is due to bad documentation\nand hidden rules. It is extremely common for computer games to contain hidden,\nunexplained rules.\n\n~~~\nherokusaki\n> Today, computer games have become so complex and have so many moving parts\n> that they have more in common with simulations than board games they largely\n> came from.\n\n> By definition, you know all the rules of a board game. The rules tell you\n> how and when move pieces, cards, tokens around.\n\nYour comment doesn't mention table-top RPGs, and it seems to me that it's\nthem, rather than simulations, that modern computer games are closer to. In a\ntable-top RPG the players are often not expected to know or understand all the\nrules and \"moving parts\" of the game. The GM is also free to decide to bend\nthe rules if he or she thinks it would enhance the experience for the players.\n\n------\njohnny635\nGet out of the gaming industry while you still can. Otherwise, you'll be\nlooking at getting out of the software industry in no time.\n\n~~~\nwinslow\nCare to elaborate a little bit?\n\n~~~\nGoosey\nCan not speak for the grandparent post, but sharing my own experience here\ngoing from AAA game development to 'serious games' (DARPA contracted training\nsimulators) to web development I've got to agree with them (with a caveat).\n\nEach step away from games has lead to more sane company environments and\nhigher proportional incentives. The reality of games is that programmers are\nunderpaid in comparison to other industries. If a web programmer with X years\nof experience can command a salary of Y you can expect a game programmer with\nX years of experience to command approximately 2/3 * Y. Exact same\ngeographical region.\n\nIn return for being underpaid you will encounter far more 'crunch time'. I was\nfortunate in prioritizing this concern in the companies I chose to work for,\nbut many of my friends in the AAA games industry have become completely used\nto working 10 hour days, 6 days a week, for 3-6 months straight at a time.\nEvery. Single. Fucking. Year. Around July is when it begins; holiday launch\nschedules being the driving factor.\n\nOn top of this, as illustrated in TFA, even if your game is a huge success you\nhave extremely little job security. Saying the industry is entirely hit driven\nis actually missing the point; the issue is most AAA game studios are\nessentially huge, expensive, single-focus (and usually single-project)\nconsultancies. Even if you have a success the lions share of the returns is\ngoing to go to the publisher and you are immediately back to pitching to the\npublisher to keep the lights turned on.\n\nSo why is it this way? IMHO there are two main reasons.\n\nThe first is because AAA titles are ridiculously expensive now. Internally\nfinancing one is completely out of the capabilities of any studio at this\npoint. In the past it was possible to save from a good success and self-\nfinance the next: no way now. In the past it was possible for a rag-tag group\nof passionate developers to have a AAA breakaway success. Impossible now.\n\nThe second is because it's something lots of people dream of doing. The only\nsane reason to work in games is the exact reason most people who work in games\ncontinue to work in games: they love it. They love games. They love the tech\nin games (which, compared to the CRUD factories the vast majority of\nprogramming gigs outside of games, is really fucking awesome). They are\nfollowing the advice of 'do what you love' and paying for it. Because there\nare TONS of other people that also love it.\n\nIt's stunning the amount of turnover in the games industry. 5 years of\nexperience is senior. 10 years is old school veteran. Because people burn out\nand leave. Because there is an endless supply of less experienced cheaper\ndevelopers to fill in the gaps.\n\nThe answer 'go indie' is just naive. For every indie success there are ungodly\nnumbers of complete failures and you can no longer twist the knobs of a\npublisher's titan AAA marketing machine to stack the deck. Going indie is\ndoing a startup which is impossible to fund and which has no hope or\naspirations of Facebook level success. It is a giant success in the indie game\nworld is to be successful enough to just support yourselves! It is something\nto be done by those with the love and passion for doing so for the reason of\nhaving the love and passion of doing so. It's never a rational decision from a\npurely financial point of view. I have the utmost respect and admiration for\nthose who follow this path precisely for this reason.\n\nThe games industry is an entertainment industry. It's more apt to compare game\ndevelopers to musicians or actors or writers in the way the economics operate.\nIt's not a business; it never will be. And honestly, I do miss it.\n\n~~~\neliah-lakhin\nVery clear explanation. Thank you, Goosey!\n\nHow do you think is it possible that one day Web Development (generally\nspeaking, industry of Internet startups) may fall into the same gap? There are\na lot of guys around who enjoy Web programming very much. Fortunately, we have\na lot of job opportunities, and work conditions look good. But I fear how long\nwill it be.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: A website that calculates the % of your commutes that are in darkness - richev\nhttp://www.darkmornings.com\n\n======\nMichaelDickens\nThe website can't find my location. It would be nice if it would let me\nmanually enter my location.\n\n~~~\nrichev\nIf you're using a browser that supports geolocation (and you enable this) then\nit will find your location. Otherwise it uses an IP address-based lookup. The\none I'm using at the moment is free though, and patchy. :( Sorry it didn't\nwork for you. Manual location entry is a good idea though so I'll add it to\nthe potential \"to do\" list. Thanks for the feedback!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: What is there any Hackintosh of-the-self laptop? - sahin-boydas\nI am mac user since I am 6 years old and I really feel good if I use latest.<p>I am really done with Macbook for simple reasons.<p>1) Why do I need to wait 2-3 years and get 1-2 year old hardware for 2500 USD av.<p>2) I want everything to be usb-c fine. I really got it but world or us are not ready for it.<p>3) Why in the world one of best operation company cannot deliver an iphone with usb-c or can&#x27;t have iphone slot in macbook pro. This is a joke!<p>4) I want Mac subscription or upgradable mac.<p>5) I have macbook, apple watch, iphone 7, how in the world is it difficult to have 1 charger (smart enough to detect the device and charge) and simple usb-c for all of it instead of 4 doggles&#x2F;cables&#x2F;adaptors\n====<p>For all these reasons, I am asking. Is there any of-the-self laptop Hackintosh ?<p>(I will use for educational purposes so please don&#x27;t remind me about EULA)\n======\ninformatimago\nThe EULA applies to educational purposes too. Education is one of the main\nmarkets of Apple.\n\nI'd suggest to install Darwin and GNUstep, or better, Linux and GNUstep on a\nPC laptop.\n\n------\nsfrailsdev\nOff the shelf hackintoshes don't exist afaik. You might be able to get a\nbespoke one from someone though, if you check relevant forums and post there.\n\n------\nstuffaandthings\nPeople have had success with macOS on certain Lenovo laptops (t450s)\n\n~~~\nsahin-boydas\ncool, this was helpful.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nOpen Source Bridge, an awesome conference in Portland, seeks proposals - reidab\nhttp://opensourcebridge.org/call-for-proposals/\n\n======\nreidab\nI'm one of the co-chairs of the conference, so anything I can say is somewhat\nbiased, but I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.\n\nWe're in our fourth year now and our attendees have consistently praised the\nfeel of the conference, the content, and the setting.\n\nSubmit a proposal, get accepted, come to Portland and enjoy life for a few\ndays with fellow open source hackers. :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Simple, fast and fun communication over Websockets - macleos\nhttps://github.com/penalosa/epsilon\n======\nmacleos\nA little project I made to make communication over websockets as easy as\ncalling an async local function, using Proxies to \"proxy\" function calls to a\nnode server.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nPeerTube – Federated video streaming platform using P2P directly in the browser - rayalez\nhttps://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube/?src=hn\n======\nlittlestymaar\nThis is really cool ! Framasoft is doing a great job with their project to\n«ungoogle the internet»[1].\n\nI really wish Mozilla tried doing the same thing, with their much bigger\nmanpower and communication impact.\n\n[1]: [https://degooglisons-internet.org/liste?l=en](https://degooglisons-\ninternet.org/liste?l=en)\n\n~~~\nFeniks\nUn Google the internet? I hope so but almost every remotely commercial site\nout there uses Google services.\n\n~~~\nlittlestymaar\nPeople use Google's services (and other privately owned, and «you are the\nproduct», ones) because it's the most convenient way they know about.\nSometimes it's because it's the most convenient way (lack of credible\ncompetition, self-hosting isn't an option for many companies), and sometimes\nit's because the alternatives are less known (commercial products based on\nOpenStreetMap are way better than what google maps offer, but few people know\nabout them).\n\nAn organization like Mozilla could make open-source-based and privacy-aware\nservices for many Google products with ease if they wanted to. (I mean,\nFramasoft is doing it already and it's a really tiny French non-profit\norganization !)\n\n------\nthat_guy1\nI think for this to be successful you need to encourage users to server the\nvideos. There are a couple things that might help this:\n\n\\- Popularity could be based not only on views, but how many total minutes of\nthe video were shared by other people.\n\n\\- When someone watches a video, they have to keep hosting it until they share\nas much as they've watched it (so if they watched 10 minutes, they have to\nshare it until they've distributed 10 minutes worth of the video to other\npeople.\n\n~~~\ncwkoss\nMake them share for ~10% longer than they consumed for a more robust network.\n\n~~~\nKallDrexx\nMost people have terrible upload speeds compared to download speeds. In my\nneighborhood most people (by choice because they aren't tech savy and don't\ncare) have AT&T DSL with 40Mbps download but 2Mbps upload. This means that for\na good quality 10 minute video at 720p with a bitrate of 3mbps they would have\nto seed for significantly longer than viewing just to get a ratio of 1 without\ndegrading downstream performance.\n\n~~~\nthenewwazoo\nJust to add a datapoint to this, my home service is gigabit down... _10\nmegabit_ up.\n\nThat's 1000 / 10.\n\n~~~\nalexeldeib\nThis makes me want to go test me upload on my gigabit down connection...\n\n------\njstanley\nIt would have been cooler for this to use IPFS instead of its own P2P content\ndistribution.\n\nStill cool though.\n\n~~~\nprogval\nIPFS does not work in the browser yet.\n\n~~~\nmtgx\nD.tube works just fine:\n\n[https://d.tube/](https://d.tube/)\n\n~~~\nprogval\nD.tube makes the browser download from a gateway (ipfs.io) using HTTP.\n\n~~~\naaomidi\nYou can set it to connect to your own gateway.\n\n~~~\nrakoo\nDoesn't change the fact that your browser doesn't connect to the ipfs network\n\n------\ncoolspot\nPerhaps also needs onion routing to protect users from liabilities.\n\n~~~\nnilson\nit says it works in browser so you just run it from tor browser\n\n~~~\ndetaro\nAFAIK Tor browser deactivates WebRTC to avoid leaking real IPs, so at least\nthe P2P aspect wouldn't work. Not sure if seeding from the server works\nwithout it.\n\n------\ndeevolution\nawesome, except it doesn't look like there are any incentives to running a\nserver. unless i missed something?\n\n~~~\nSir_Cmpwn\nLike Mastodon et al, this doesn't need to be built on traditional incentives.\nThe incentives are that you want to share cool videos with people. Any one\nserver that gets overloaded with users encourages others to host another\nserver and build a community on it, and the load (and the cost) naturally\nbalances and is distributed across the whole network.\n\n~~~\ndeevolution\nDefinitely an interesting digital ecosystem experiment. Hopefully it can\nsustain itself. Will be interesting to see how it plays out and evolves.\n\n------\njacksmith21006\nProblem is being able to monetize.\n\n~~~\nloup-vaillant\nMonetise what? For whom? The thing is distributed, it's not like the host has\nto shoulder most of the bandwidth costs.\n\nIf one wants to live off their videos, that's another problem, but most videos\ndon't mean to be monetised at all —no ads, no Patreon, no nothing.\n\n~~~\nralusek\nThey can just use Patreon in exactly the same way they do for YouTube.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nChange to IT - rjohnk\n\nIn short: Is there a way to transition to IT without dropping everything and going back to school?<p>Long story: I initially went to college in pursuits of a Comp Sci degree. I had a difficult time and burnt out in one year, switching my major a full 180 to Psychology&#x2F;Social Services.<p>I&#x27;m now at a non-profit, but it&#x27;s not what I want to do.<p>I shouldn&#x27;t have done that 180. I should have done a &quot;30&quot;. But I was young.<p>I have children and a wife, and going back to school, even part-time, is not an option as I&#x27;m already paying off loans. How do I get my foot in the door? I&#x27;m not formally trained, but I always fall back into Tech&#x2F;Computers, and want to do that in my work.\n======\nxtraclass\nMaybe you could choose a topic which is interesting to you and where there is\na good market. Then learn about it (WEB), practice it at home as much as\npossible, write about it - ask for a job then. About learning and job:\n[http://calnewport.com/blog/](http://calnewport.com/blog/) (not every post on\nthat site is great, but some really are...) Wish you good luck!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTony Abbott hacked after posting boarding pass on Instagram - RyanShook\nhttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-54193764\n======\ndimtion\nExisting discussion:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24488224](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24488224)\n\n~~~\nRyanShook\nThanks. Just thought the original post was very long and interesting that BBC\npicked it up.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: What keeps you from burning out? - kineticac\n\nLet's face it, nobody can code every minute of their lives without burning out too fast.  What kind of stuff do you promote at the office / home office that keeps you motivated, loose, and happy?<p>We're setting up the office space now, and we're committed to making it as fun as possible from the start, to help offset all the stress that is sure to come.  Given a budget and space restraints of course ;)<p>Here's our table / setup so far: http://post.ly/AkcX\n======\nchrischen\nGames? Sometimes I take a break with some video game, but then again I'm kind\nof young so I don't know if this works for older people.\n\nAlso if the thing I'm working on is mentally stimulating and challenging, it\nmotivates me by itself and keeps me from burning out. So something like a\ncouch to sit on or a place with a great view is good to go to and just think.\n\nIf you can put in windows, put those in. A TV would work too, and a place for\nsnacks like a fridge.\n\n------\nmakecheck\nI think the best thing you can do is focus on results and not the clock. If\nsomeone wants to take 2 days off in the middle of nowhere, or work odd hours,\nthey should, as long as they eventually produce as much as they're supposed\nto.\n\nA \"fun\" workplace may not actually be, since it seeks to turn the office into\nthe new home. People should actually go home in order to feel the most at\nhome.\n\n~~~\nkineticac\nthat's definitely a good point. balance between real life and work is a must,\nrather than trying to keep people only at the office. I like the foosball\ntable because it lets everyone step away from work and do something together\nthat's fun and totally different than what they were just doing before.\n\n------\nseven\nMy favourite (home-)office 'things':\n\n* big punching bag. (this is a must have!)\n\n* place to be alone (toilet does not count!)\n\n* working hammock (as homer suggested) probably a big sofa is ok too\n\n* a kitchen\n\n* my brother works for a company where they have breakfast together every Friday.\n\nand since I visited your website, I would like to have a fish-tank. :)\n\n~~~\nkineticac\nPunching bag is cool, helps promote health too! Good suggestion.\n\nGlad you took a look at the blog, the fish tank is currently in my house, but\nif budget permits, I'd like to set one up in the office area too. Saltwater\nreefs are ridiculously soothing to watch and take care of.\n\nbreakfast together sounds like a fun idea =) do they go out somewhere? make it\nthere? cater it?\n\n~~~\nseven\nAfer I got my punching bag, I really had a lot more respect for boxers. :)\n\nFrom my understanding, they do not go out, but make breakfast in a conference\nroom. Basic stuff is somehow organized.. and everybody brings small stuff like\nspecial marmalade once in a while to spice things up. I guess that they are\nabout 20-30 people. They do talk about business all the time. But as it is not\nenforced anyhow, it does not feel like work.\n\nThey seem to have a very nice working culture. To quote from his (german only\nblog): 'Meetings are very important. Showing up late is strictly forbidden and\nwould result in drastic punishment. Meetings are so important, that we would\nnever ever let the times overlap with our foosball table tournaments.'\n\n------\nMichaelTroy\nTrying to be conscious of feeling like I am burning (out). If I can be\nconscious of that feeling, I am able to detach to a certain degree. This\nenables me to go a hell of a lot further. I guess simply being aware that I\nmay be burning out helps me find perspective.\n\n------\nCyberFonic\nReading Hacker News and not being made feel guilty :-)\n\n------\npasbesoin\nEnvironment. When I'm putting more effort into tuning out a noisy, distracting\nenvironment than I am into the work product, burnout is on the horizon.\n\nBeware of people who claim to like such environments: Some function well in\nthem, but in my anecdotal observation, many crank out substandard work. This\naccumulates over time into big problems.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGet Tgethr: A Simple Email Collaboration Tool - vaksel\nhttp://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/16/get-tgethr-a-simple-email-collaboration-tool/\n======\ngvb\nLooks like Mailman <http://www.list.org/> (except Mailman doesn't help with\nencryption, you have to figure it out yourself).\n\nFWIIW, my experience is that Microsoft Outlook and web-based email interfaces\nhave trained users to use incredibly bad habits with email (crappy quoting,\ntop posting (a subset of crappy quoting), 200K Word documents for a 5 line\nmemo, megabyte .BMP screen shots, etc.). This really hurts email list\nusefulness until and unless the users improve their habits.\n\nUnfortunately...\n\na) Outlook use is usually required by The Corporate Overlords. Even if it\nisn't required, users that don't know better insist on using it because it\nallows them to paste Mbyte .BMP screen shots into it. :-(\n\nb) While Outlook can be configured for usable quoting, nobody bothers to do\nso.\n\nc) Even if configured in the best way it supports, Outlook is still\nsuboptimal.\n\nd) Web based email interfaces are generally even less configurable than\nOutlook and they all aspire to mimic Outlook, including promoting all of the\ncrappy habits.\n\n\\---\n\nThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in a moment of reasoned lucidity which\nis almost unique among its current tally of five million, nine hundred and\nseventy-three thousand, five hundred and nine pages, says of the Sirius\nCybernetics Corporation products that \"it is very easy to be blinded to the\nessential uselessness of them by the sense of achievement you get from getting\nthem to work at all.\" In other words, - and this is the rock-solid principle\non which the whole of the Corporation's Galaxywide success is founded - their\nfundamental design flaws are completely hidden by their superficial design\nflaws.\n\n\\-- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy / Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001). 1st\nAmerican ed. New York : Harmony Books, 1980, c1979\n<http://www.douglasadams.com/>\n\n------\nideamonk\nI'm not sure if anyone's gonna buy this. I understand from my look at tgethr\nthat its about collaboration, security and email wrapped into new clothes. But\nthen, the popularity of a service hugely depends on the size of its userbase\nright? How would tgethr ever get a huge userbase by putting restrictions and\nmaking people buy to get a feel in the first place.\n\nI think the domain togethr.com would've been better, matches the\npronounciation ... tgethr sounds like T gethr or something... I keep\nforgetting the domain for I thought it was togethr when I tried to open it\nafter 20 minutes...\n\nI wish tgethr could have a nice favicon, can't see any in chrome.\n\nBstOfLck\n\n------\nquizbiz\nI'm not sure I understand the concept of Email Collaboration...\n\n~~~\nrobryan\nI'm not sure I understand the concept of all these startups with names warping\nthe English language.\n\n~~~\nburo9\nLack of domain names.\n\n------\nardit33\nLame guys. I think the email encryption is probably the biggest feature, and\nyou left it out from the try out. The only way to try it if it works for you\nis to pay for it.\n\n~~~\nyankeeracer73\nActually that's not true - you can try any plan for 30 days for free, then you\npay.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nUnderstanding the Elm type system - jaxondu\nhttp://www.adamwaselnuk.com/elm/2016/05/27/understanding-the-elm-type-system.html\n======\nspion\n> For example, when writing an Elm program I might at some point decide that\n> users should have an admin flag. I will then try to use that flag in a\n> function at which point the compiler will tell me that I have failed to add\n> it to the User model. I will add it to the model at which point the compiler\n> will tell me that I have failed to account for it in my main update\n> function.\n\nThis beautifully explains why types are so useful. I don't know if the number\nof bugs goes down, but it sure is useful to have an assistant check _all_ the\nimplications of a change I want to make, and does that in a second.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nThey go down and also allow for doing good AOT code generation to native code\nin the languages that have such toolchains, whereas dynamic languages really\nneed a JIT.\n\nAfter working on a startup that had a server architecture similar to AOL\nServer and also seeing some heavy Zope deployments (late 90's), I never got to\nunderstand the use of dynamic languages for large codebases.\n\n~~~\nklibertp\n> whereas dynamic languages really need a JIT\n\nDylan?\n\nHonestly asking - I used the language a bit but I didn't read anything on its\nimplementation(s).\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nLisp also has good AOT compilers, but you need to provide the necessary\n(optional) type annotations.\n\nSo in the end you end up with code that looks no different than from static\nlanguages.\n\nWith ML-like type inference and dynamic type support, there is hardly any\ndisadvantage with static type languages and you get the tooling support.\n\nDynamic languages can have very nice tooling, and we are yet to regain what\nwas possible in Xerox and Genera environments, but your environment needs a\nlive image of the code to produce good results, hence JIT.\n\n------\nz1mm32m4n\nIt's refreshing to see a piece written by someone who's new to functional\nprogramming, discovering the beauty of types and pure functions for the first\ntime.\n\nI very much agree with the author; learning functional programming idioms have\nhad a profound impact on my ability to model problems in code, regardless of\nthe language I'm using.\n\nI admire Elm so much for putting an emphasis on the user experience,\nrecognizing that it has been one of the biggest blockers to making functional\nprogramming mainstream.\n\n------\nghayes\nAt first glance, Elm's type system looks like it borrows heavily from Haskell\n[0]. Learning Haskell's type system is a great mental exercise, even if you\ndon't even up coding in the language.\n\n[0] Basics: [http://learnyouahaskell.com/types-and-\ntypeclasses](http://learnyouahaskell.com/types-and-typeclasses)\n\n~~~\ncatnaroek\nElm's type system is a lot simpler than Haskell's. No higher kinds, no type\nclasses, and certainly no crazy GHC extensions. OTOH, Elm has much nicer\nrecords, though Haskell sets the bar very low.\n\n~~~\nelcapitan\nIs Elm actually closer to Haskell or is it rather a typed Javascript in\nHaskell syntax?\n\nThe documentation looks very accessible, there's a bit of introduction to the\nlanguage, and then hands-on, that's nice.\n\nedit: by documentation I meant this gitbook:\n[https://www.gitbook.com/book/evancz/an-introduction-to-\nelm/d...](https://www.gitbook.com/book/evancz/an-introduction-to-elm/details),\nbut the official documentation looks similar.\n\n~~~\ncatnaroek\nElm has two things in common with JavaScript: strict evaluation and being\ndesigned for client-side Web development. In every other respect, Elm is\ncloser to Haskell and diametrically opposite to JavaScript:\n\n(0) statically and strongly typed, with type inference\n\n(1) algebraic data types with pattern matching and exhaustiveness checking\n\n(2) purely functional\n\n~~~\nbootload\n(3) immutability ~ [https://www.google.com/search?q=elm-\nlang.org+immutabilty](https://www.google.com/search?q=elm-\nlang.org+immutabilty)\n\n~~~\ncatnaroek\nI would've added it to (2), similarly to how (0) and (1) are each a group of\nrelated features.\n\n~~~\nbootload\n@catnaroek your right, it's really implied by being a FP language.\n\n------\nralfd\n> Elm was my introduction to using a static, strong type system.\n\nI think I am now officially feeling old. A language I never heard of is the\nintroduction to programmers to static typing??\n\n~~~\npka\nWell, he said \"strong\" :) Probably meaning a ML-derived type system, not C's\nor Java's.\n\n~~~\ncatnaroek\nWhy should anyone's first statically typed language be a weakly typed one in\n2016?\n\n~~~\nsteveklabnik\nAs if \"strong\" and \"weak\" weren't overridden enough when it comes to type\nsystems, many people will use \"stronger\" and \"weaker\" when talking about the\nrelative amount of guarantees a static type system can give you. \"C has a\nfairly weak static type system, and Haskell has a very strong static type\nsystem.\"\n\nSince the \"strong\" vs \"weak\" axis of type systems is already not extremely\nuseful, as very few languages are truly weakly typed, it's usually fine.\n\n~~~\ncatnaroek\nOkay, then let me define a new axis: useful vs. useless type systems. A type\nsystem is useful to the extent types rule out implementation errors and/or\nmiscommunication between the implementer and the user of an abstraction:\n\n(0) Algebraic data types, pattern matching and exhaustiveness checking rule\nout forgetting to handle all the qualitatively different possible outcomes of\nan operation.\n\n(1) Statically typed effects rule out sneaking effects into computations\nwithout making them knowable to the user.\n\n(2) Substructural type systems rule out resource leaks and uses after free.\n\n(3) Rust's borrow checker rules out concurrent modifications of the same\nobject in memory.\n\nHow usefully typed are C and Java?\n\n------\ncaptainmuon\n> A big gotcha for me was understanding the -> syntax. How can a function that\n> accepts two arguments possibly have a type annotation like this?\n    \n    \n        connectWords : String -> String -> String\n    \n\nThis is one of the most maddening things for me about Haskell-like languages.\nI can never remember if -> is left or right associative. I mean there is only\none way that makes sense:\n\n    \n    \n        # String -> (String -> String)\n    \n\nBut it could also be\n\n    \n    \n        # (String -> String) -> String\n    \n\nOf course you get used to it after a while, but a nagging feeling remains. I\nwould really prefer a bit of syntactic sugar.\n\n~~~\nbo1024\nI think when these type annotations are used, at least traditionally in e.g.\nHaskell, the functions are curried by default. In other words, all functions\nonly take one argument. If all functions only take one argument, then it has\nto be the first interpretation, not the second.\n\n~~~\nKiro\nDoesn't String -> String -> String mean it takes two arguments in this case\nthough?\n\n> The type annotation for connectWords is telling us that connectWords is a\n> function that accepts two strings and returns a string.\n\nOr maybe I misunderstand this whole thing. I know nothing about Haskell/Elm.\n\n~~~\nncd\nIt's a function that takes a String and returns a new function which takes a\nString and returns a String. All functions in Haskell/Elm are arity 1.\n\nSo in order to construct functions that accept more than one argument, you\nactually return successive functions that apply successive arguments, known as\ncurrying.\n\n~~~\nKiro\nThanks! Is this the case in Elm as well? This is the example they give:\n\n    \n    \n      connectWords : String -> String -> String\n      connectWords firstWord secondWord =\n        firstWord ++ secondWord\n\n~~~\nelbenshira\nIn this case, you think of `connectWords` as a function that takes two\narguments. But since it is curried, you can also do this:\n\n    \n    \n        let prefix = connectWords \"Hello \"\n            world  = prefix \"world\"\n            bob    = prefix \"bob\"\n        in ...\n    \n\n`world` is \"Hello world\", and `bob` is \"Hello bob\". That is the power of\ncurrying. A maybe more useful example is specifying the mapping function in\n`List.map` without supplying the list to map over. This allows you to use the\nsame map with multiple lists.\n\n------\nlucio\nHonest question: How useful is that all functions are curried by default? Does\nthis impose performance penalties?\n\n~~~\ndmix\nHaving curry by default allows you to create very readable code using function\ncomposition, which is the primary way of transforming data through multiple\nsteps in FP.\n\nFor example of a typical imperative approach to applying functions:\n\n    \n    \n         function price(product) {\n              product == 'book' && return 20\n              product == 'laptop' && return 10\n         }\n         function addShipping(product, price) {\n              product == 'book' && return price + 10\n              product == 'laptop' && return price + 5\n         }\n         function addTax(price) {\n             return price + (x * 0.13)\n         }\n         function total(product) {\n              cost = price(product)\n              subtotal = addShipping(product, cost)\n              total = addTax(subtotal)\n              return total\n         }\n    \n\nCompared to a haskell-style JS which combines currying and function\ncomposition (. combines functions in Haskell):\n\n    \n    \n         price :: Product -> (Int)\n         price p =\n              p == 'book' && () => 10\n              p == 'laptop' && () => 20\n    \n         shipping :: Product -> (Int -> Int)\n         shipping p =\n              p == 'book' && (x) => x + 10\n              p == 'laptop' && (x) => x + 25\n    \n         tax :: Int -> Int\n         tax x = x + (x * 0.13)\n    \n         total :: Product -> Int\n         total p = tax . shipping(p) . price(p)\n    \n\nAlternatively, you can easily create object specific total functions:\n\n    \n    \n         totalBook = tax . shipping('book') . price('book')\n         totalLaptop =  tax . shipping('laptop') . price('laptop')\n    \n\nNote how in the FP `total` version the data is not held in temporary variables\nbut passed directly to the next function, which could be a performance gain.\n\nAnother benefit is how it's easier to work with curried functions when using\nmap/reduce and list comprehensions - two other fundamental building blocks of\nFP programs. For example, you can pass a curried `shipping` function directly\nto map whereas `addShipping` would required an anonymous function (since it\nhas two arguments).\n\n    \n    \n          map(shipping('laptop'), [5, 10, 20, 30])\n       \n          vs\n    \n          map(function(price) { \n             addShipping('laptop', price)\n          }, [5, 10, 20, 30])\n    \n\nThe performance question is largely a question of the implementation and\ncompiler optimizations. But considering we're working in a browser environment\nthe \"bottle-neck\" is going to be DOM interaction not passing around curried\nfunctions everywhere.\n\nAdditionally, you are much more like to create functions in FP with single\narguments rather than multiple in order for composition to work cleanly.\n\n------\nmrkgnao\nDoes Elm not have typeclasses?\n\n(I looked at the pics and saw `List.map` everywhere.)\n\n~~~\nubertaco\nI've heard that Elm is a little more like an ML that looks like Haskell than\nit is like Haskell itself.\n\n------\nwarfangle\nAny suggestions on where to start with Elm?\n\nLearn You an Elm examples don't compile on the try-it-live console.\n\nOfficial examples do, but fail to compile on a local install (after setting up\nelm package install etc).\n\nAny suggestions on where to start troubleshooting?\n\nIt's failing to find modules that are in the core standard lib.\n\n~~~\nmml\nI found many of the examples in the guides are now out of date since the\nrecent release, which is very unfortunate.\n\n~~~\nocean3\n[http://guide.elm-lang.org/](http://guide.elm-lang.org/) \\- contains examples\nthat do work.\n\n~~~\nwarfangle\nThey work in the live editor on elm-lang.org. But not locally.\n\nMaybe my environment isn't set up correctly?\n\nI tried the first one (the counter). Copy/pasted directly into a dir as\n'counter.elm'. Initialized the dir with 'elm package install' to get the core\nlibrary.\n\n    \n    \n        $ elm make counter.elm\n        I cannot find module 'Html'.\n    \n        Module 'Main' is trying to import it.\n    \n        Potential problems could be:\n          * Misspelled the module name\n          * Need to add a source directory or new dependency to elm-package.json\n    \n    \n\nEdit/update: source-directories is [\".\"] in elm-package.json. Dependency \"elm-\nlang/core\": \"4.0.1 <= v < 5.0.0\" is in elm-package.json. elm-version is\n\"0.17.0 <= v < 0.18.0\". elm-make is elm-make 0.17 (Elm Platform 0.17.0).\n\ncore is installed in elm-stuff/packages:\n\n    \n    \n        macbook:core me$ pwd\n        /Users/me/elm-learning/elm-stuff/packages/elm-lang/core\n    \n\nadditionally,\n\n    \n    \n        macbook:elm-learning me$ which elm\n        /usr/local/bin/elm\n    \n\nEdit2: so, I then guessed that Html wasn't a part of the core lib, and tried\nto install evancz/html, but apparently that doesn't work with 0.17 (I get an\nerror about version constraints). I'm guessing the elm-lang.org editor doesn't\nuse 0.17?\n\n~~~\ndywedir\nIn Elm 0.17 use elm-lang/html\n\n~~~\nwarfangle\nThanks.\n\nKinda amateur hour with leaving that out of the guide. I wonder how many\nothers have gotten as frustrated and stopped trying to learn it!\n\nI'll submit a PR to update the docs in a lil bit.\n\n------\nlucio\nthe elm debugger seems also impressive\n\n[http://debug.elm-lang.org/](http://debug.elm-lang.org/)\n\n~~~\niamcreasy\nWow! That's impressive.\n\nIs this possible to do in imperative languages? i.e. in C++ or Java? If not,\nwhy?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nA.P. Moving to Halt Use of Newspaper Articles on Web Sites  - senthil_rajasek\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/business/media/07paper.html\n\n======\npg\nBizarre. It sounds as if they want to stop appearing in Google search results.\nBoy do these people not understand the web.\n\n~~~\ncalambrac\nThey want to stop appearing in Google search results _as long as Google isn't\npaying them for the right to present those results_ , which I think is an\nimportant distinction to make.\n\nPlaying devil's advocate a bit, from the AP's perspective, how is Google\nreally any different than any other distributor of AP content? It's just\nanother company using their content to hang ads off of and generate revenue\n(like all of their other customers), except that Google doesn't pay for it.\n\nAP makes money from volume, lots of papers subscribing to their feed. Google\nmeans that fewer papers are needed (it just needs to index one, doesn't it?),\nchopping the AP's customer base down and eventually making their current model\ncompletely obsolete. Seeing the writing on the wall and trying to prevent it\nfrom happening, that's not evidence they don't get it, that's evidence they\nget it all too well but just have no idea what to do about it.\n\nAny thoughts on what to do about it? As far as I can tell, nobody has really\nfigured it out yet, have they?\n\n~~~\njonknee\n> Playing devil's advocate a bit, from the AP's perspective, how is Google\n> really any different than any other distributor of AP content? It's just\n> another company using their content to hang ads off of and generate revenue\n> (like all of their other customers), except that Google doesn't pay for it.\n\nSeriously? Google links out to the original copy. You see a headline and at\nmost a couple sentences. If there's a fulltext copy it is licensed.\n\n~~~\ncalambrac\nYes, of course they do. But before you click through, there are a bunch of ads\ndisplayed off to the side. And Google just exposes the one newspaper that\nthey're sending the traffic to, so the one with the best SEO wins while\neveryone else goes out of business, directly threatening the AP's bottom line.\n\nSo what's the AP going to do? They can restructure their rates so they capture\nmore from the winners, and/or they can hit the whole ad stack (which Google is\nthe first layer of, now). I mean, really, what else do you expect them to do?\nJust wither and die?\n\nAnother way to say it: when the distribution of a pile of money across a group\nof companies shifts from normal to power law, and you were getting paid by\nthat group, you had better figure out how you're going to get more money out\nof the winners as the losers start dropping out.\n\n~~~\nja2ke\n\"the one with the best SEO wins while everyone else goes out of business,\ndirectly threatening the AP's bottom line.\"\n\nVersus what? The AP is somehow going to benevolently distribute all paid links\nequally amongst all of its various print client to help them all reach each\nmonth's traffic goals?\n\n~~~\ncalambrac\nUm, no. What did I say that suggested that? Did you read the article? They're\ngoing to try to change their model so that they get paid more by the companies\nthat are shifting to the spiky end of the emerging power law distribution, and\ncapturing revenue from the whole ad stack.\n\n------\npeterhi\nBut what would happen if Google just removed them all from the indexes for a\nmonth or so. I for one would be giggling hysterically for quite a while :)\n\nThen the papers (or what is left of them) will be demanding that Google index\nthem as an issue of national importance. 'Do no evil' does not preclude\nshowing them who's boss does it? Tough love and all that.\n\n~~~\nXichekolas\n> _But what would happen if Google just removed them all from the indexes for\n> a month or so. I for one would be giggling hysterically for quite a while\n> :)_\n\nI, for one, would be taken aback if Google started actively playing King-\nmaker. It's sad enough that one company has the _ability_ to do what you say,\nbut to _actively flaunt_ that ability would cause me to search for another\nsearch engine of choice, and hopefully I'm not alone.\n\nBesides, playing games with index-censoring would open up space for\ncompetitors (competing on the basis of not censoring, while hopefully having\ncomparable result quality), which is not exactly in Google's best interest.\n\n~~~\nja2ke\nIt's effectively what the AP is asking though, or at least what they're\ninsinuating that they're asking. Either to de-list, or to have Google list and\nindex based on their stated (or paid, or bought) priorities. I wouldn't ever\nexpect/want Google to actually just go for it, but if they did just flip the\nswitch on the first bit, the results would be fairly amazing for that month.\nGoogle News would become even shittier than it is for that month, too.\n\n~~~\npclark\nyou _can_ block Google via robots.txt though?\n\n------\ndschobel\n_We can no longer stand by and watch others walk off with our work under\nmisguided legal theories._\n\nIs attacking fair-use now the official go-to play when you can't figure out\nhow to deliver your content to your customers in a way they actually want?\n\nI swear I'm having a flash-back to the RIAA five years ago with this press\nrelease.\n\n------\nidm\nThere is a \"share\" widget next to the original article on the NY Times - you\ncan repost the article to Facebook, etc, with the click of a button.\n\nI am ... confused ... by what the newspaper industry wants us to do with their\ncontent.\n\n~~~\ncarbon8\n_I am ... confused ... by what the newspaper industry wants us to do with\ntheir content._\n\nThey are, too. No one seems to have a good idea about how to deal with the\ntransition. Especially with the NY Times, you can't really blame them. They've\nbeen very open about the situation they are in and have been experimenting\nheavily. The AP, on the other hand, has been pretty aggressive and seems to\nbelieve they can fight off progress.\n\n------\nbillswift\nI don't even use Google News much. I let somebody else decide if it's worth\nreading and follow links from other sites and blogs. Most \"news\" is useless,\nlargely wrong, or at best seriously incomplete. Following the \"news\" is almost\nas bad as watching television.\n\n------\njosefresco\nGoogle's Response:\n\n\"Hey douchebags at the AP, if you could, oh I dunno get out of your own damn\nway and actually get your content online and make it more accessible there\nwouldn't be a need for 'aggregators' like us.\"\n\nAnd since when is 'free advertising' like the AP is getting all over the net a\nbad thing? As long as people aren't claiming the content is 'theirs' I see no\nproblem with effective and productive aggregation services like Google News.\n\n------\nfallentimes\nNot surprisingly, the publisher of this article wanted me to register before\nviewing it.\n\nHere's a link to text only:\n\n<http://tinypaste.com/pre.php?id=5c678>\n\n~~~\nvaksel\nwatch...you'll get sued for copyright infringement or some other BS like that\n\n------\nspc476\nBefore the web, the AP provided a valuable service for newspapers. They\nprovided national/international articles to newspapers who might otherwise be\nunable to provide national/international news, due to the expense of having\nreporters in every major city in the US/world.\n\nPost web: what value do they provide in selling articles for publication (on\nthe web, specifically)? It's just as easy (if not easier) to just link to an\nAP article (say, on the AP site itself) and not pay (that is, if a web-based\nnewspaper run by a traditional print newspaper company could grasp that it's\nokay to lead people off their site) the AP subscription fee? The AP model now\nfalls apart.\n\n~~~\nbrandnewlow\nHave you run a content site of your own?\n\nWhat you say is the standard line of thought on the AP that lots of hackers\nand new media folks take, but it's not based on reality.\n\nIf you link to an AP article instead of publishing the whole thing, you lose\nout on Google hits from both organic search and Google News. Even if 100 other\npeople run the same article on their sites, Google's algorithm will reward you\nmore for publishing it for the 101st time than it will if you just link to it\non someone else's site.\n\nSending people away is great if it's the only thing you do. But if your\nstrategy includes racking up pageviews with ads on them, then you MUST keep\nthem on your site. So you rewrite other people's stories (Gawker), you\nquote/steal big chunks of other people's copy (Business Insider) and you make\nattribution links as small as posisble (Gothamist).\n\nAs long as you get more hits from running a full article over just linking to\nsomeone else's article, there's no incentive for publishers to do the sorts of\nthings that seem so intuitive to us geeks.\n\n------\nbrandnewlow\nWhere do you draw the line between \"unlawfully using\" an AP story and linking\nto it?\n\n------\ngarply\nI'm actually very near to launching an automated news aggregator and I'm\nwondering if this is going to affect me. My suspicion is that sites like\nTechmeme / HN or smaller will probably be left alone. What do you guys think?\n\n~~~\nbrandnewlow\nI think Techmeme is the sort of site they want to shut down. Hacker News and\nDigg would be much, much harder.\n\nThe difference is that while Techmeme and Google news are only displaying the\nheadlines and summaries, they are indexing the FULL article and making use of\nit to power their algorithms.\n\nIf they determine it that way, I don't see what the big deal is. If you want\nto use the Twitter API, you have to pay past a certain point. Maybe a year\nfrom now, if you want to index full news articles for your aggregator, you\nhave to pay past a certain point as well. That wouldn't be too bad at all and\nwould leave that act of linking safe and untouched.\n\n~~~\ngarply\nThat's a very interesting way to look at the problem - algorithms like mine\nand Techmeme's do indeed digest the full article whereas HN does not. I had\nthought the primary issue would be whether or not the site provided a summary\n/ thumbnail (as I see WindyCitizen does), not whether or not it scanned the\nsource's bits.\n\nHaving to pay for my algorithm to access this data would be a big deal to me -\nI'm operating on a shoestring budget and I don't want to do that.\n\n~~~\nbrandnewlow\nSure, it would make things hard for you, but again, if you were using any\nother sort of data, there'd be usage costs. The news folks are just figuring\nthat part out now, while every tech-first company has that build into their\nbusiness from the start.\n\n~~~\nsilentOpen\nExcept for the fact that transmission/distribution costs are almost zero and\n'news' is a broadly consumed information resource. It doesn't matter that\nthere would have been usage costs in the past -- they would be silly now.\n\n~~~\nbrandnewlow\nIf every other API charges for usage, why shouldn't news sites?\n\nIf you want to index their stories, you can do 500 queries per day for free.\nAfter that, you pay, just like any other API.\n\n~~~\nsilentOpen\nBut the API is HTTP and the news stories are syndicated across a hundred\ndifferent sites. How do you limit the crawlers under this scheme? It seems\nlike any serious attempt to limit crawling will require major software\nredeployment, cooperation of crawlers, widespread authentication, or some\ncombination of these. Is there actually a feasible way to do this without\nbreaking the web?\n\n~~~\nbrandnewlow\nThese are all good points. I don't have answers to any of them. Feasibility is\na whole other issue.\n\nMy point is that if you look at online newspapers as online services, then\nthey should be able to charge people for programmatic access to their service,\njust like any other tech service does through its API.\n\nIf I want to build an app on the back of Yahoo BOSS, I have to pay Yahoo.\n\nIf I want to build an app on the back of the New York Times, maybe I should\nhave to pay the New York Times.\n\n------\nsenthil_rajasek\nThis move may not be as naive as it may sound. Newspapers have built a user\nbase and loyalty over the years based on and presenting perspectives that suit\ntheir readership base.\n\nGoogle and other news aggregators break this ability of newspapers to \"present\na single perspective\" and often present headlines from WSJ and nytimes side by\nside.\n\nImagine the advantage newspaper sites would have if you HAVE to go to\nonline.wsj.com or nytimes.com to get your news instead of google.com/news or\nanother aggregator.\n\n~~~\ndschobel\nYou _do_ have to go to those sites to get your news. All you get from Google\nNews is a two sentence blurb and maybe a thumbnail image.\n\n~~~\nsenthil_rajasek\nNot without reading or having been exposed to an alternate view point in the\nthe cluster of headlines presented by aggregators...\n\n~~~\ndschobel\nAnd what exactly is so pernicious about an alternate view point?\n\n------\nnjharman\n\"usually headlines and a sentence or two is allowed under the legal doctrine\nof fair use. News organizations have been reluctant to test that idea in\ncourt\"\n\nYeah, cause it almost certainly is fair use.\n\n\"There’s a bigger economic issue at stake here that we’re trying to tackle.\"\n\nYeah, your business model didn't scale with the Internet and you're too\nold/tired/scared to try new ones.\n\n------\njleyank\nCan't they do a robots.txt or some other way of stopping Google from crawling\ntheir site? Or, do they want to let it happen so they can whine about it?\n\nAs others have pointed out, there's multiple sources of news (especially those\nin other countries).\n\n------\nkvh\nThe internet has made media non-excludable and the media aren't willing to\naccept this, for understandable reasons--a non-rival and non-excludable good\ndoesn't make you much money! Short sell!\n\n------\nTiktaalik\nThe approach of the AP here will be interesting to watch. I think there does\nneed to be some more balance between the content creators and those that do\nnothing but have popular RSS feeds.\n\n------\nbiohacker42\nLesson from the soon to be forgotten newspaper industry:\n\nIf you've dug yourself into a hole... dig faster and deeper, that's the way\nout!\n\n------\nAndrewWarner\nI think marc andreessen said they need to play more offense and less defense.\nTrue here.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nUsing LaTeX to control a Mars rover (see page 5) - eru\nhttp://www.haskell.org/sitewiki/images/8/85/TMR-Issue13.pdf)\n\n======\npasbesoin\nThe posted link has a trailing \")\" that needs to be removed.\n\n~~~\neru\nOops, you are right.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTrump's fast and loose trade policy endangers American jobs (Bunnie Huang) - swamp40\nhttps://edition.cnn.com/2018/07/17/opinions/american-china-tariff-war-fast-loose-bunnie/index.html\n======\nphendrenad2\nWhich does the US import more of (from China), in raw dollars spent: raw\nmaterials (chips, etc) or finished products (cellphones, toasters, etc.)? I’d\nbe interested to see that data.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMalaysia Airlines flight MH370 Infographics - uptown\nhttp://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/14/MH370/index.html\n======\ndanso\nThese are well-done graphics and Reuters Graphics has an excellent\nstylebook...but just to be a nag...this strikes me as a good example of how\ncustom Web navigation can be counterproductive for the reader.\n\nI'm sure most people can figure out that the top three images are meant to be\nbuttons, but I'll admit that I didn't notice, at first, that when you click\neach subhed-button, a \"Next\" option pops up in the top right, along with page-\nboxes to the top left. It's obvious once you've noticed them, _but the trick\nis noticing them in the first place_ , which you might not because your eyes\nimmediately jump down to the graphic. How many users, after seeing the initial\ngraphic, immediately click on one of the other subhead buttons, thus seeing\nonly a total of 3 graphics?\n\nAn equally problematic issue is that there's no way to deep-link any of the\nitems. I can't easily discuss a specific graphic (and they're hard to locate\nvia rightclicking, as they're embedded via svg tag) here, or even one of the\nsubnav-topics, without fully describing the actual graphic...which is a real\ninconvenience. The use of clickable gray boxes as pagination only adds to the\ninconvenience, because now I have to count which box I'm on.\n\nI think this would've been better served by having each sub-topic be a long,\nscrollable webpage...as it is now, you _already_ have to scroll to read most\nof these graphics. Once you get done with one graphic, you have to scroll back\nto the top, click \"Next\", and then read through...at least have a \"Next\" at\nthe bottom.\n\nThe main argument for having this compact nav is to invite quicker comparison\nbetween slides...I don't think that's a great argument even in the best of\ncases, but here, because of the vertically-long slides, it's not even\napplicable. It'd be far easier to flip back between sequential graphics by\nsimply scrolling.\n\nOK, that was a lot of nagging, but I hate to see great work obfuscated by\n\"gee-whiz\" navigational design that is user-unfriendly. I would discuss the\ngraphics but like I said, it's kind of a pain to specify and describe each\nparticular slide without deeplinks.\n\n------\nnkoren\ntl;dr: Designers, please think about ordinary-sized screens!\n\nThis presentation may have good design _within_ it, but it is not actually\n_presented_ well. It is intended to be a series of slides which appear on\nsingle screens. However between its thick header and insanely thick header,\nthere is not enough real estate on the screen to view a full slide on my 13\"\nMacBook Pro. So I have to scroll down to view the bottom of the slide, then\nscroll up again to click the navigation element, then scroll down again to\nview the full slide, etc. It's incredibly aggravating.\n\nSo I've just hacked the CSS to set the header and footer to display:none. Not\nan auspicious way to begin an interaction!\n\n~~~\nkbenson\nGenerally, I just right click on the component, select _inspect element_ , and\nthen press delete (after possibly making sure the root element of the\noffending feature was actually selected).\n\n~~~\nnkoren\nHow is it that I never figured out that was possible?!? Thank you!\n\n------\nzhte415\nExcellent presentation.\n\nOn the presentation, it does feel like a stew with all the right ingredients\nbut without seasoning to fully appreciate the taste. Seasoning not meaning\neditorial content, but a glue to hold the how and why together, and understand\nthe combination of the taste.\n\n------\nJazCE\nI'm not a designer, so i speak as a consumer.\n\nI disagree with complements on the look of this. I kind of feel it's misisng\nsomething, which i can't quite pin down. perhaps it's the look of the maps,\nthat they don't quite match the rest of the feel. The sources text in FF28\nW7x64 doesn't look particuarly good, not very ledgible.\n\nmaybe it's just an overall static and clinical look that i don't quite like\n(which is odd as i do like industrial design).\n\nI think it possibly needs a bit more art direction. but i'm a consumer so what\ndo i know.\n\n~~~\nsteven777400\nAgreed. The fonts render terribly on Chrome Windows 7 on my machine.\n\nAlso, I kept expecting to be able to scroll and it took a little while to\nfigure out how to navigate the pages. The nav bar at the top could serve dual-\npurpose: allow the user to click on a particular box while also allowing\nscrolling and showing the user's current position in the content.\n\n~~~\nsamcrawford\nIdentical experience here. The fonts looked so bad in Chrome that I opened FF\n(which I very rarely do) to see how they compared, and it was far more\nreadable in FF.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: How I built a trading signal by scraping Nasdaq for short interest - fawce\nhttps://www.quantopian.com/posts/ranking-and-trading-on-days-to-cover\n\n======\ntokenadult\nMy comment in the last thread opened with a post from this source:\n\n _Past performance does not guarantee future results\" is still the operative\nprinciple here. Data-mining discovers patterns, but it doesn't lead to deep\ninsight into causes, and markets are perturbed by many events that you don't\nput into your training algorithm. \"The market can remain irrational longer\nthan you can remain solvent\" is still important investment advice._\n\nYou can never build a trading signal just by scraping historical data, unless\nyou like losing your shirt.\n\nCan you tell I'm reading _Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder_ just\nnow? I'm very sensitive to errors in statistical thinking today.\n\n~~~\nfchollet\nYou can do it; you just need to only evaluate your algorithm on data it hasn't\nbeen trained on. The same as with any machine learning problem really. Though\nit is indeed dismaying how many programmers dabbling into ML tend to do so\nwithout any scientific rigor...\n\nWhether the stockmarket can or cannot be predicted on the short term based on\nits past is another question... but I've been gathering some convincing\nevidence that it cannot (as in, its variations have no intrinsic structure;\nthough it can still be predicted based on various external factors).\n\n~~~\nHomunculiheaded\nCross validation doesn't change the fact that you're trying to predict a non-\nstationary distribution. Machine learning techniques generally make an\nassumption that your samples are being drawn from at least a close enough\ndistribution to any future data that may enter the system. With problems like\ntext classification in NLP you can generally make a safe assumption that,\nthough language does change, it changes slowly enough that you don't have to\nworry. In other cases a model may simply need to be retrained after a certain\nperiod of time. Even in text classification real world systems will often\nincorporate an unsupervised novelty detector as well to indicate when the\nmodels may need to be retrained.\n\nAdditionally normal cross validation (random or stratified sampling) does not\nwork on time series data since you are in effect cheating by training on\nevents in the future, which your model will not be able to predict. In order\nto test your model on time series data you would need to hold out a\nsignificant chunk of data at the end of the time series.\n\nIf you're interested in the general case of predicting the stock market you\nmight enjoy reading up on the Efficient Market Hypothesis[0] which deals quite\nwell with just that question.\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient-market_hypothesis>\n\n~~~\nfchollet\nIndeed. One reason why ML is quite powerless when looking at the stockmarket\n(from the point of view of past stock values) is that, even if you assume\nthere _is_ a latent model to be learned, it would seem reasonable that this\nmodel evolves as fast as the economic landscape and that is to say, quite\nfast. To such an extent that the valid data points available (the past few\nyears of price variations) would not suffice to train even a very low-\ndimensional latent model.\n\n------\nikea_meatballs\nBack testing is a real bitch. I've been building my own app for back testing\nrecently, my specific interest being how published insider buys (SEC Form 4\ntransactions) affect the prices of stocks in the short near and long term. You\ncan get dividend data and stock splits easily enough from some public feeds.\nBut where do you get a database of ticker changes, bankruptcy events, and\nspin-offs, especially on the OTC markets? You can't unless you're willing to\nshell out a lot of money. Back testing properly is probably out of the cost\nrange of the individual investor.\n\nSome examples:\n\n* Lehhman's ticker changes on the way down\n\n* GM going bankrupt and then coming back from the dead!\n\n* Skye International used to trade under SKYY (at 0.35c/share), but now SKYY tracks a cloud SaaS ETF 20.60/share). Think you got a big win using that strategy that including buying SKYY? Think again!\n\n~~~\nkal00ma\nI've been working on a similar strategy after having read Nejat's book:\n[http://www.amazon.com/Investment-Intelligence-Insider-\nTradin...](http://www.amazon.com/Investment-Intelligence-Insider-Trading-\nSeyhun/dp/0262692341)\n\nThe plan is to derive trading signals from insider purchase data while taking\ninto account the insider's relative risk-aversion (estimated from age, salary,\nsex). At this point I'm just trying to recreate Nejat's results. Data-quality\nseems to be an issue (stock splits aren't recorded in the yahoo data).\n\nIf you would like to collaborate or trade ideas message kal00ma on reddit.\n\n------\ndkhenry\nI have for two years now been playing around with Algorithmic trading as a\nhobby and I am amazed by people who think wave riders or simple mathmatical\ntransforms will get them profits in the market. I have found that the best\nmethod is still a good mix of modeling and trader input. I don't think a model\nexists that you can just turn on and have it print you money. So attempts like\nthis to make one of those really are a waste of time. Your systems should be\ntuned to listen to you and then take what input you have and do what you\ncannot ( make decision in sub-second windows )\n\n~~~\nvecter\nI don't know where you're getting your data from, but I know of at least one\nhigh frequency algorithmic trading firm that make ~$1B a year using\nmathematical models. The models aren't simple, but they're entirely automated\nand they behave exactly the opposite of how you describe them: you turn them\non and they print unbelievable gobs of money.\n\n~~~\naortega\nAnybody else think this is like, inherently bad? I mean making money from\nnothing, producing nothing, doing no service to anybody. The only way you\ncould possible get that billion without doing nothing is to take it from other\npeople, essentially stealing it. Why is this legal?\n\n~~~\nNkVczPkybiXICG\nThey create a more efficient market. Ensuring, for example, that the future\nprice of a commodity matches the spot price when the future expires.\n\nThey provide an anonymous financial service.\n\n~~~\naortega\nTo a financial-impaired mind like mine those looks like great explanations,\nthanks you all that responded me, now it does seems a little more fair.\n\n------\nstevewilhelm\nWhen the broad market is rising by over 10% annually, it is very difficult to\ncome up with a trading strategy that looses money.\n\nFor example, buying SPY and holding it for the same period would have\noutperformed your algorithm.\n\n~~~\nsteven2012\nSorry, but saying that \"it is very difficult to come up with a trading\nstrategy that loses money\" means you really have no credible experience with\nrunning trading algorithms that use real money.\n\n~~~\nhyperbovine\nDo your care to address his point? If the S&P 500 genuinely outperforms \"your\"\n(his? someone's) algorithm, said algorithm is a priori unimpressive.\n\n------\nchatmasta\nCan somebody explain to me why, if this really works, you would publish it in\na blogpost? Shouldn't you be hunting down investments of $X to turn $1.093X?\n\n~~~\njhowell\nIMHO, when developing a trading strategy it helps to document and share your\nstrategy with others as you'll come to better understand it from the questions\nand observations others make. No one strategy can or will be successful\nforever.\n\nMany algorithms stop performing when market conditions (lasting hours, days,\nweeks, months) change. Having a deep understanding of your algorithm and what\nmakes it successful for any given period of time can better help you make\nadjustments when needed.\n\nLastly, this may be where the algo started but not necessarily what they will\nrun in production. It's much more likely to no longer be discussed at this\npoint. Perhaps similar to ideas are worthless, execution is everything for\nstartups.\n\nedit: typo\n\n~~~\ncodex\nIf an algorithm stops performing after hours or days, it's likely you haven't\ndiscovered anything, but are simply seeing the effects of random noise on your\nhundreds, thousands, or millions of signal possibilities.\n\n~~~\njhowell\nOne example that comes to my mind could be an algo closely related to the\nprice of another security or index of what have you. At times, this algo could\nbe highly correlative and at other times less so.\n\nI agree with you about random noise. Ultimately I'm just looking for something\nto make me feel like I'm taking an \"informed position.\" You never really know\nwhat's going to happen.\n\n------\npolskibus\nSerious question: does this meet \"Show HN\" criteria? I mean I value sharing\nthe algorithm, but I thought that Show HN is reserved for entire projects (ie.\nsites, saas platforms, etc.), not using ones platform to put up a description\nof algorithm and some numeric data. I'm not trying to troll, just wanted to\nknow how the community understands \"Show HNs\"? In this case it can be seen as\nmore of a Quantopian show off (which is interesting service, but had already\nbeen showcased) than the algorithm or project itself?\n\n~~~\npolskibus\nWhy the downvotes? I explicitly said I just want an answer about how the\ncommunity sees \"Show HNs\", not attacking anyone. Is that really that offensive\nand unconstructive? How are we suppose to improve on quality of this\nenvironment if one cannot ask about community guidelines?\n\n------\njstauth\nWhile I'd love to take all the credit (blame?), the reformed academic in my\nfeels compelled to admit that the idea to look for predictive value in stock\nloan data is not original to me. The finance literature has some fascinating\narticles on this dating back as far as the late 80s (look for Desai 2002, J of\nFinance, Asquith 2005 J Fin Econ, or most recently\n<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1570451>).\n\nThe intuition behind this signal as a market inefficiency, or 'anomaly' is\nthat the market sees short sellers as informed investors, the so called 'smart\nmoney', and there is a herding effect to follow their trades which generates\nabnormal returns. The same logic can be applied to disclosed insider trades or\ninstitutional holdings filings made public via the SEC's EDGAR database.\n\nFawce's slick implementation of a 'Days to Cover' signal is a great way to\nhighlight the power of aiming new tools like Quantopian at freely available\npublic data stores (which exist expressly to increase market transparency).\nAnd sure, it doesn't go the whole way for you on execution details like borrow\ncosts, liquidity etc. but those aspects tend to be unique to each trader.\n\n------\nvellum\nYou should put in some kind of protection for a max drawdown loss, like if you\nlose x%, you exit. Sometimes your algorithm messes up, or market conditions\nare bad. [http://www.businessinsider.com/hedge-funds-smashed-worst-\nqua...](http://www.businessinsider.com/hedge-funds-smashed-worst-quarter-\nsince-2008-collapse-2011-10) Long short equity funds did poorly in 2008\nfinancial crisis, and also in 2011, when there was high volatility.\n\n~~~\nfawce\nIt would be cool to do that with this signal, if the algo was buying/selling\non another signal. Maybe use the short interest signal as a gate on momentum\ninvesting for example.\n\n------\nad\nVery interesting stuff. \"The Benchmark\" is the SP500 I'm guessing? I couldn't\nfind the answer after clicking around for a bit, sorry if I'm dumb. You might\nlist the reference security in the chart, or do something like \"SPY\n(benchmark)\" in the key.\n\n------\nniggler\nDid anyone actually try this with real money? Does the model include\ntransaction costs and market impact effect?\n\n~~~\nfawce\nIf you click on the code and search for commissions, you'll see how those\ncosts are taken into account. The big missing thing is the market for\nborrowing the stock to do the short side of the trade.\n\nNo money has traded on my version no. But, I understand that asset management\nfirms have licensed the more sophisticated one Jess wrote at TR, so I would\nthink they use it with real money. From what I understand, firms look at\nnumerous signals like this, and then make investments based on a combination\nof the signals.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nEric Brewer on Why Banks are BASE, Not ACID – Availability Is Revenue - abhijitr\nhttp://highscalability.com/blog/2013/5/1/myth-eric-brewer-on-why-banks-are-base-not-acid-availability.html\n======\njeremyjh\n>If an ATM is disconnected from the network and when the partition eventually\nheals, the ATM sends sends a list of operations to the bank and the end\nbalance will still be correct.\n\nI don't think so. I support ATM client software for a large bank in the US and\nwe certainly don't do this. This may be true for \"remote\" ATMs that are\ninstalled in convenience stores on POTS. I can't say I've ever actually heard\nof it though - the main problem with this idea is that cards cannot be\nauthenticated without network access, and just spewing out money to every\npiece of plastic calling itself a card when your network connection has been\ndropped isn't really a recipe for success. Fraud is a real problem.\n\nThe ATM client software I support cannot do any transactions without a\nconnection with its authorization system. That authorization system though,\ncan stand-in for the various accounting systems and external networks up to\npre-defined limits. So for example if for some reason we can't reach the\nchecking account system we'll authorize up to $xxx total for the day on a\nstand-in basis. The transaction with the authorization system is definitely\nACID; the ATM will not get a response code authorizing a withdrawal unless the\ntransaction has been recorded in the authorization system. The account system\nmay well be caught up later. The funny thing is, ACID is a property of\nindividual database systems and it has absolutely nothing to with a question\nof whether two separate ledgers are guaranteed to be changed together or not\nat all. That would be the job of a distributed transaction coordinator - and\nthose really are not used very much in banking. Instead there is a protocol of\ncredits and debits and a settlement process to work out the exceptions. Maybe\nthis is what the article was trying to say up to a point but they sort of\nconfused the issue between the point of view of the ATM and the accounting\nsystems of record.\n\n~~~\nMaxious\n> just spewing out money to every piece of plastic calling itself a card when\n> your network connection has been dropped isn't really a recipe for success.\n\nWell they do this in Australia...\n[http://www.news.com.au/money/banking/computer-glitch-hits-\ncb...](http://www.news.com.au/money/banking/computer-glitch-hits-cba-\ncustomers/story-e6frfmcr-1226014261756)\n\n> \"People were running past me screaming 'Free money! Free money!',\" Punchbowl\n> Pharmacy manager Feriale Zakhia said of the people using a nearby ATM.\n\n> \"Everyone was so happy. They were running around with huge smiles.\"\n\n> [A technical problem] forced the bank to put all of their ATM machines into\n> offline mode. Customers had no access to their account balance but were\n> still able to withdraw money - more than their accounts held.\n\n> Those withdrawal limits are up to $2000 a day for holders of keycards and\n> debit Mastercards.\n\n> \"No one has received free cash,\" Mr Fitzgerald said. \"What they've done is\n> overdrawn their accounts. We will be following those people up and\n> recovering that money.\"\n\n~~~\ntimv\nLeaving aside the fact that I wouldn't trust a newspaper to for the technical\ndetails of something like this, nothing in the article contradicts what\n_jeremyjh_ said.\n\nIn that case, the ATM was disconnected from the accounting system and allowed\nwithdrawals up to a set limit ($2000), but it (probably, the article is\nunclear) was still connected to the authorization system.\n\nIt (probably) still checked your PIN, and checked whether your card had been\ncancelled, etc. It just didn't connect through to check your balance.\n\nAs Jeremy said _if for some reason we can't reach the checking account system\nwe'll authorize up to $xxx total for the day on a stand-in basis_\n\nIn this case _some reason_ == \"[A technical problem]\" and _xxx_ == $2000\n\n~~~\ndiroussel\nWhich in turn agrees with the point of the original article. ATMS use BASE not\nACID as it's more profitable to be available.\n\n~~~\nGFischer\nThose humungous overdraft fees will definitely be profitable :)\n\nBTW I've been scammed out of money by ATMs before - money was withdrawn from\nmy account but some system jammed and I didn't get the money - and the bank\nwas awfully uncooperative.\n\nSo far I've had more luck with the \"money under the mattress\" method than with\nbanks - and I wasn't trapped in the \"Corralito\" or other bank-aided money-\nstealing schemes\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corralito>\n\n~~~\ngbaygon\nI see that you are from Uruguay, where you in Argentina at Corralito's time?\nITT Uruguay is more trustworthy in banking terms.\n\n~~~\nGFischer\nUruguay had a smaller Corralito (and I was just starting out at the time, so I\nhad no money in the bank).\n\nEcuador and Brazil also had their own versions. In the Uruguayan version, they\ndidn't forcibly exchange the money, but they froze all bank assets for 3 years\n(losing out on interest, investment opportunities, exchange rates, etc...).\n\nUruguay is more trustworthy (especially with foreign investment) but it's not\nabove such things.\n\nCurrently there's a big scare due to the huge exchange rate disparity with\nArgentina - which has an \"official\" exchange rate and a \"real\" exchange rate\nwhich is almost double the official one, and makes Uruguay non-competitive.\n\nEdit: you're from Argentina, that's obviously not news for you :)\n\n------\nexabrial\nSorry, but Eric Brewer is wrong. He seems to be implying that there was some\nsort of intelligent design behind the software at banks that lead them to\nchoose BASE. This couldn't be further from the truth.\n\nBanks are one software kludge after another in attempt to not rewrite\nsomething new or offer the consumer anything of value... while paying out the\nbutthole to whatever vendor has his arm shoved so far up your ass you can't\never migrate from their platform without colon replacement surgery.\n\nSo while it's a nice thought \"Hey look Banks/ATMs are BASE\" this was by\ncomplete accident through years of incompetence and corporate bureaucracy, not\nby any sort of engineering choice.\n\n~~~\nfelipesoc\nThat's not true. I've worked for a company that makes banking software and we\ndid tons of migrations. The company itself changed its own software from RPG\nin as400 to windows forms and now it's all web with servers in Java and .Net\n(they use a middleware language which generates in every new platform). They\neven made a transitional install for one branch of one of the most important\nbanks. The branch used my former company's solution for a few years until they\ncould use their own software, which had to be adapted for the new market.\n\nBanks used to work on paper an did fine, software migration, although can take\nsome years, is no problem for them.\n\n~~~\nnatermer\nEach bank is different. Some banks have shitty IT and other ones have dynamic\nIT that can adjust to fit changing realities.\n\nThe reality is that you and Eric are right.\n\nBanks depend on techniques based on double book keeping accounting to\nreconcile accounts at end of day. Different data about transactions are stored\nin different places by different organizations and they compare books to make\nsure that balances are correct.\n\nYou cannot depend on every transaction to be recorded perfectly. You must have\nthe ability to compare books and reconcile accounts. This is simply how the\nworld works.\n\nTrying to make every perfect and depending on storing data in a central place\nwith the assumption that it's always going to be consistent is too much of a\nliability. It doesn't work because the systems required by modern financial\nsystems are incredibly complex and availability during markets is the highest\npriority. You ARE going to have faults and you ARE going to have problems. The\nability to take hits gracefully and give yourself time later on to fix stuff\nafter the fact must be built into your systems.\n\n------\naneth4\nThis is a little misleading. Transactions are used primarily to prevent\ninconsistent data, not global data consistency.\n\nThe ATM network is distributed and eventually consistent, and financial\ntransactions in general are not real time.\n\nWithin an ATM or within a bank you can be damn sure transactions are used\nwidely to prevent inconsistent data.\n\n------\njacques_chester\nThis is one of those cases where deciding on whether the system is ACID or not\ndepends entirely on where you draw the system boundaries.\n\nIf you draw it at the boundary of the central general ledger, it's going to be\nACID.\n\nIf you look at the way transactions pass through several intermediate systems\n(each of which is ACID) en route, I guess it could be called BASE.\n\n~~~\nSoftwareMaven\nI think the point is that people who say it is impossible to build a banking\nsystem without full transaction support for every action are ignoring the\nreality that transactions are not guaranteed to occur, but the actions\nthemselves are. If, at a level of abstraction, the system can be said to be a\nBASE, then it is probably true that the underlying data stores are not\nrequired to be ACIDic. Whereas everything I've read has always said \"you can't\ndo banking without ACID\".\n\nWhether that is true or not is a much deeper discussion that three or four\nparagraphs on a blog.\n\n~~~\njacques_chester\n> _If, at a level of abstraction, the system can be said to be a BASE, then it\n> is probably true that the underlying data stores are not required to be\n> ACIDic._\n\nI don't think this follows. While the system as a whole might be eventually\nconsistent (where consistency is defined as: what's in the General Ledger), it\ndoesn't follow that you relax constraints on the parts.\n\nThe individual components are generally ACID and the steps to move data are\nACID as well. The only thing that prevents the whole system from being ACID is\nthat transactions don't go immediately from POS/ATMs/card clearance/cheque\nclearance into the General Ledger, but instead must go through a series of\nintermediate transactions. But those intermediate transactions must,\nthemselves, be ACID.\n\nThat's why I talked about how the boundaries matter. The final central\naccounts are ACID, the subsystems are ACID and the data transfers are ACID.\n\nedit: though to contradict myself, I expect that there will be counterexamples\nin different banks where some stores or steps will not be strictly ACID, but\nwill have been \"good enough\" or with sufficiently-acceptable workarounds that\nthey haven't been upgraded. I don't think this fatally breaks my argument, but\nYMMV.\n\n~~~\ndllthomas\nI think \"if the system as a whole doesn't require ACID, maybe the pieces\ndon't\" is correct and useful, but it still requires looking at the pieces and\nseeing if that's the case. In this case, I think that the system is relying on\nthe ACIDity of some components to ensure Eventual consistency - it's\nconceivable that an alternate method might not, but one would have to be\nproposed and evaluated.\n\n~~~\njacques_chester\nI think this is reasonable; but then the problem becomes that while\nconsistency may be _eventual_ there are nevertheless fixed deadlines to meet.\nSoft realtime consistency isn't good enough when the annual report has to be\nprinted.\n\nPersonally, I feel that ACID is an abstraction achievable only within single,\nnon-distributed systems. Not a very compelling insight, I hear you say.\n\nWell no, but ACID is a tremendously advantageous state of affairs and I feel\nit should be surrendered only begrudgingly. I think it is better to repair it\nthan to abandon it wholesale at the first sign of mild inconvenience.\n\nEven though it is, in a physical sense, untrue, it is a _useful_ untruth.\nNewtonian physics is wrong. It's also what we use to build bridges.\n\n------\nryanobjc\nI'd tend to agree on a general sense - yeah when faced with failure in a WAN\nenvironment, it makes sense to attempt to continue when at all possible.\n\nHowever, banks are one of the biggest purchasers of ACID systems... They still\nbet heavily on oracle, and when they want their accounting systems to run, and\nbalance transactions, they dont rely on \"BASE\" systems. Banks are also heavily\ndependent on business cycle and batch processing. Daily batches are common in\ncredit card processing (end of business day settlement for example), and also\nin general bank systems.\n\nAlso eventual consistency means different thing. Some systems have a\n\"eventually inconsistent\" property to them (eg: Cassandra/Dynamo), and I'm\npretty sure banks would NOT be ok with that.\n\nI respect Brewer, he is a smart guy, but he is extrapolating too much from a\nsmall fact that is ATMs will sometimes dispense cash (of what amounts? $200?\n$1000? or maybe just $20?) when remote communications are interrupted or\nbroken.\n\n~~~\nseanmcdirmid\nI don't think Brewer is stating an opinion, rather a fact. Nor is it very\nsurprising. I'm sure banks have huge IT operations where parts rely on ACID or\nBASE depending on need. But any massive distributed system can't really expect\nACID to work very well.\n\nI'm pretty sure \"eventual consistency\" doesn't mean \"eventual inconsistency\"\nunder any reasonable interpretation.\n\n~~~\nryanobjc\nI dont think anyone would claim a massively distributed system should be fully\nconsistent or ACID.\n\nAs for the eventual inconsistency remark, this is from the original authors of\nCassandra at Facebook. They did not extend the use of Cassandra because node\nflaps and packet losses caused nodes to be inconsistent and have old data.\nBringing that data back up to date was very difficult, since the anti-entropy\nalgorithms were too expensive to run frequently. They also found that the\nR=W=2 was too costly in terms of performance, and well you know the rest :-)\n\n~~~\nstandel\nDo you have the reference?\n\n------\nAloisius\nCitation needed.\n\nI've never heard of financial systems being eventually consistent, certain not\nATMs which need to know your exact balance and how much money you've taken out\nalready today.\n\n~~~\nartsrc\n[http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-03-01/cash-spews-out-of-\ncomm...](http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-03-01/cash-spews-out-of-commonwealth-\natms/1962848)\n\nI studied ATM's at Uni, and they have been like that for over 26 years.\n\nAs someone else on the thread pointed out, they do authenticate you, and\nrecord the transaction in a aci(Durable!) database before they give you money.\nBut the system clearly has a degraded mode when the exact balance is\nunavailable.\n\nAlso why do you need a balance to process a deposit?\n\n------\nstephen\nA nit, but the remark of \"auditing == everything is written down twice ==\ndouble-entry accounting\" is cute, but doesn't seem applicable to availability.\n\nDouble-entry is more of an internal (financial) system implementation detail,\nand so an orthogonal concern to intra-system audits.\n\n(It's not like one side of the entry is in one bank's IT system, and the other\nside of the entry is in the other bank's IT system.)\n\n(...speculating further, I really doubt the OLTP systems of banks are double-\nentry anyway.)\n\n~~~\nPeterisP\nFunny, but \"It's not like one side of the entry is in one bank's IT system,\nand the other side of the entry is in the other bank's IT system.\" is actually\nfalse in interbank deals such as correspondent accounts, money market or forex\ndeals.\n\nIf a deal involves two banks, then the authoritative \"other side\" of the entry\nwill be in the other bank's IT system. Of course, you'll maintain some records\nof what the entry should be in your opinion, but they won't always match as\nyou don't have full info and you'll reconcile with data you get from the other\nbank's IT system by (for example) SWIFT network.\n\nAnd I've seen only double-entry OLTP's for the core system that includes\ngeneral ledger. Maybe no all of them are built that way, but I haven't seen\nsuch examples.\n\n------\nExpiredLink\nThe article is not entirely wrong but misleading. The two important aspects\nare authorization and limits.\n\nAuthorization: An ATM does not issue money without authorization which is done\nby some 'central authority', not the ATM.\n\nLimits: In some corner cases you may be able to exceed your (daily, weekly,\nmonthly) limits. But, as the article points out, this doesn't imply financial\ninconsistency.\n\n------\njasomill\nAs someone who's had to dispute NSF charges for reordered transactions, I\nquestion the author's claim that ATM operations commute. Specifically, assume\na $0 beginning balance. Then \"withdraw $20 then deposit $200\" might yield an\nerror, $0 cash, and a $200 balance where \"deposit $200 then withdraw $20\"\nwould net $20 cash and a $180 balance.\n\nOr, as in my disputed case, $20 cash and a $140 balance, because the deposited\ncheck hadn't actually cleared by close-of-business, so end-of-day processing\nassessed a $40 negative balance fee despite the fact that the deposit\n\"eventually\" cleared. The first manager I discussed this with had the audacity\nto claim it was _my fault_ for not somehow recognizing that the portion of the\ndeposited funds the ATM made available for immediate withdrawal _by design_\nwere not, in fact, available for immediate withdrawal.\n\n------\ntrotsky\nThis seems like a pretty bad strategy to sell nosql etc. What are we supposed\nto believe, that every ATM downloads account numbers, pin hashes and balances\nfor every account in their network?\n\nBanks have chosen consistency over availability regularly as they've been able\nto rebuild their systems over the decades. 40 years ago, if you had a credit\ncard the place just took it, copied it down and trusted you and the bank were\ngood for it. Try to get anyone to take your credit card if the network is down\nnow.\n\nIMO banking culture and standards probably were direct motivators of many of\nthe ways traditional systems were designed. They were some of the earliest\nadopters of IT. It may not be accurate to say banks or ACID. It may be more\naccurate to say ACID is banking.\n\n------\nrjempson\nThis is an example of why analogies should never be used (except perhaps if\ntrying to explain a concept, not something tangible).\n\nATM software has nothing to do with the backend storage of the data. My point\nis that I bet when the data is actually written to durable storage in the\nbackend, the set of data being written will be wrapped in an ACID transaction.\n\n------\nchiph\nI think it's funny that the photo in the article is of two guys _stealing_ an\nATM (note the pantyhose masks).\n\n------\nEGreg\nBanks can have availability over consistency because we have enough laws and\nprotections in place to reverse any fraudulent transactions.\n\nWith BitCoin, such an architecture could be abused rather badly.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nJava update kills most online games/emulators. Few still work, like Javatari - gkarness\nhttp://javatari.com\n\n======\nppeccin\nYes... New security requirements. Only software that is still maintained with\nnew releases to implement the restricted protocols will work.\n\n~~~\ncintiapersona\nAlso, only projects that can afford the certification process.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWooMe: TechCrunch40 Finalist, $20 Million In Funding – And One Huge Scam - bjonathan\nhttp://techcrunch.com/2011/02/02/woome-techcrunch40-finalist-20-million-in-funding-and-one-huge-scam/\n======\nelliottcarlson\nThere is a huge industry going on on these kinds of sites - not necessarily\ndone by the site owners...\n\nGenerally there are two monitizations for a third party; first of all being an\naffiliate and sending traffic can be big bucks (I paid for my wedding as a\nreferrer for SexSearch and AdultFriendFinder - I'm not ashamed because I\ndidn't use necessarily shady practices to accomplished this). With big bucks,\nI mean an easy $45 (at the time) per signup, more if it were a female\nregistering. Having a day making $2k wasn't unheard of.\n\nThe second, shadier method, is that there will be \"service providers\" posing\nor automating profiles on these sites. The \"service providers\" (escorts, phone\nsex, porn sites, rival \"dating\" sites or plain our scammers) attempt to get\nthe people to use their service by enticing the end-user and making them\nbelieve they are a real person. This is generally overlooked because for these\nnew unpaid accounts, their curiosity gets the best of them when they can't\nread these private messages they are getting, and they end up paying for an\naccount. (It was even beneficial to me, even though I wasn't luring anyone in\nto paying for an account, these service providers would convert them for me).\n\nThe thing that backfires is that so many of these service providers will hurt\nthe quality of a site by making users instantly see that something is wrong -\njust like in the parent article. It's in WooMe's interest (if they are indeed\nnot doing it themselves) to take control over this kind of misuse, and not let\nit get out of control - they will just lose real users, and in the end money.\n\n~~~\nminouye\nI'm not really understanding the second method. I don't see how a rival\n\"dating\" site would have any incentive to get a customer to pay for a rival\nservice. Are you saying that once affiliates drove a user sign-up, they would\nengage the user via messages to get them to sign up for a paid plan so they\nwould get a greater payout? If so, how did they find the specific users that\nsigned up via their affiliate links?\n\nJust trying to understand who other than WooMe would have an incentive to spam\non their site.\n\n~~~\nelliottcarlson\nIt wouldn't be rival dating sites; it would be affiliates to rival sites. I\nguess the best way to see it is; once you have identified a sucker, take them\nfor all they are worth.\n\nPossible scenario:\n\n1) User signs up for free on WooMe\n\n2) User is enticed by fake account to signup because the picture alone\nsuckered them in, and the unknown of their message just made it too much.\n\n3) Fake account tells user to check out their profile on fake account's\nwebsite\n\n4) Fake accounts website is a redirect with affiliate code to rival site\n\n5) User signs up for rival site, thus giving the commission to the fake\naccount's holder.\n\nIt sounds like a lot of work, but it's all automated and easy to pull off.\n\n _Edited for formatting_\n\n~~~\nminouye\nSo the user signs up for paid accounts on two different sites? Sounds\nlucrative and very shady.\n\n~~~\nelliottcarlson\nIf the user is gullible enough - or at least that is the hopes of some of\nthese fake accounts. It pays off even if you convert 10 people a day - and\nmost likely that is a very easy target number to hit.\n\nKeep in mind this is all playing on human emotions; sex or the desire to be\nwanted being a huge one; and for some lonely souls out there, it makes them\neasier prey. My history with doing affiliate programs with that industry has\nproven that if marketed correctly, it can be a very rewarding business, and\neven with some seriously scary a/b tests (let's just throw the term farm sex\nout there) you can still get good conversions. People's desires and curiosity\ngets to them - and in to their wallet.\n\n~~~\nminouye\nI'm not judging you, but an activity where you view your \"customers\" as prey\nseems really depressing. I certainly couldn't sleep at night knowing I was\ntaking advantage of people yearning for some happiness in their lives.\n\n~~~\nelliottcarlson\nOh, I never took part in these practices, sorry if I lead you to believe this.\nI did work as an affiliate for these type of sites, however it was via a blog\nthat would review the sites. I will admit, I was deceptive in the fact that I\nnever really used the sites - I was working an angle to make money, but I\nnever tricked users in to thinking I was someone else, or lured them in to a\nsituation where they were forced to register. My reviews simply talked about\nthe features of the site, then provided a link with my affiliate code.\n\nThe actual luring tactics do seem predatory and that's why I worded it like\nthat - simply because I have witnessed how others were going about things.\n\n------\nJacobAldridge\nTC / Crunchbase might want to change their WooMe's company profile on their\npages as well, in light of this article.\n\nKind of funny that the article calls it \"bait-and-switch, from the horrible\nkind\" while linking to an internal-ish overview that says \"best of all it’s\nfree\".\n\n<http://www.crunchbase.com/company/woome>\n\n~~~\nnikcub\n150k+ records in Crunchbase so it is difficult to keep it up-to-date. The good\nnews is that anybody can edit any record.\n\n~~~\nwhyleyc\nI just edited the company bio - how long do I have to wait to see the update ?\n\n~~~\nnikcub\nThe mods usually go through the moderation queue once a day. If you create an\naccount, after a few edits are approved you get permission to insta-edit.\n\n------\niloveyouocean\nI launched an online dating site FlowMingle.com in 2008 (since closed down).\nWhen we were building the site on '07 and looking for investment, over and\nover we heard 'Your site isn't viral/social enough. Look at WooMe, look at\nZoosk, etc. They will eat your lunch!' and with regards to OKCupid \"It's at\nbest a niche site for geeks and freaks, it's growing too slowly, it's not\nviral enough.\"\n\nAlthough this TC article is hardly news for anyone who has examined the WooMes\nof the world for even 15sec., I find the fact that WooMe is outed as a scam\nand that OKCupid is acquired by Match.com to be hugely vindicating.\n\nBy providing users an honest, transparent service that legitimately helps them\nachieve their aims, you CAN and eventually WILL profit and grow. The damage in\ninvestors betting on companies like WooMe is that 1) they scam bunches of\nonline daters and turn them off from the whole industry, they disappoint and\nlie to people 2) other entrepreneurs see big investment and media coverage for\na company like WooMe and think they should chase after that model and mold\ntheir businesses to what investors want rather than what users want. 3)\nultimately, investing in WooMe doesn't create any long term value and is a\nwaste of time/money and starves other legitimate businesses of opportunity.\n\nJust because a company is getting investment $$, press, meteoric growth, etc\ndoes NOT mean it is actually delivering anything of value and/or helping its\nusers achieve their goals. There is always opportunity to win against ANY\ncompetitor by doing those simple things.\n\n------\njonursenbach\nIt's this kind of stuff that always gets me fired up about one of my previous\nemployers and the cadre of clones that they run.\n\nWhat WooMe is doing is nothing different than any other adult \"dating\" website\nin that they send messages to users with the hopes of getting them to sign up\nwith a recurring charge (that the company hopes they forget about) and then\nimmediately cut off almost all of this instant contact that the paid user just\nreceived. Then about a week later they'll send out a mass mailer to a set of\ndemographics with more fake messages just to string that person and get them\nto continue forgetting about that recurring $24.99 charge.\n\nDon't even get me started on upselling.\n\n------\ngetsat\nIt's really unfortunate that this is the norm and not an exception. That said,\nusers of these kind of sites are probably most susceptible to this kind of\ntrick as love, lust and infatuation are probably the strongest emotions.\n\nI know of a few people who scrape profiles off of dating site A, create new\nprofiles using that data on dating site B then message users on site B asking\nthem out. A requirement for going out on a date with them (they're obviously\nposing as an attractive female and messaging males) is signing up to a service\nthat does a background check to verify that they're not dangerous. Affiliate\nnetwork payout per conversion on background check = $20+ USD\n\nDoing that at scale = you are making $2,000+ USD/day\n\n~~~\nDevX101\nYou want to call them out here? Maybe with an anonymous handle if they know\nyou?\n\n~~~\ngetsat\nThey're all way outside US jurisdiction (where all these sites operate), so\nthere's really no point. These aren't people I know personally, merely\nacquaintances from various black hat communities. Honour among thieves, and\nall that.\n\n------\nyaakov34\nHere's a suggestion for WooMe, if it wants to cling to some credibility or at\nleast plausible deniability: upgrade the journo's account for free, so that he\ncan contact the senders of those messages. If the messages are offering dates,\nand insisting on upgraded levels of membership - case closed. If the messages\nare promoting some unrelated service - the site has a raging spam problem.\n\nAnd if the messages are real, I'll be a monkey's uncle.\n\n~~~\nnotahacker\nReally, this is too easy to game to worry the cynics - the site owners could\nlog in and continue a few conversations for a bit to make the bad publicity go\naway.\n\nIf I was running this kind of operation I'd probably ensure some conversations\ncontinued for a couple of messages after users paid up, just to make sure they\ndidn't cancel or file chargebacks. If I assume men preferred their hot women\nto pass the Turing test I could probably outsource the flirting to someone in\nthe Philippines at $5 per hundred messages.\n\n------\nkirbman89\nWow. That is a horrible. Can't believe any VC would invest money in such a\nmisleading, annoying startup.\n\nAre these messages coming from WooMe internally or are they SPAM submitted\nfrom \"Russian bride scams\"? Either way, I'm staying away and warning others!\n\n~~~\nplusbryan\nWooMe probably didn't start out this way. Desperation can do bad things to\ngood intentions.\n\n------\nvaksel\nThat's like the oldest scam that pretty much every single dating site uses.\nI'm surprised how TC is shocked...shocked to find that on a dating site.\n\nReddit did the same thing starting out...the only difference is that they\ndidn't try to trick you into paying.\n\n~~~\nDevX101\nThe value reddit users get is from viewing new and interesting content and\ncomments.\n\nThe value a user of a dating site gets is the PROSPECT of going on a face to\nface meeting with another person.\n\nIf reddit engineers were good enough to make an AI to post great new great\ncontent everyday along with insightful comments and analysis, I'd still go.\nHell, that might make me want to go even more often.\n\nIf I found out a dating site users were doing the same with messaging, that\ncompletely precludes me from getting the value I really want from the site,\nthus its useless.\n\n------\nstaunch\nWhen WooMe launched they got a lot of attention. They thought they were going\nto take the world by storm. Unfortunately their product is a novelty.\n\nThey took $17.4 million dollars of VC with no real hope of showing a return to\ntheir investors. They got desperate and this is the result.\n\n------\nmeterplech\nThis is particularly poignant and frustrating given OKCupids recent\nacquisition. I'm happy for those guys- but I am sad that the one good dating\nsite will probably be discontinued. It's tough when you know the shady tactics\nof practically all the others.\n\n~~~\nregularfry\nMatch.com would have to be utter idiots to close down OkCupid. If they keep it\nrunning, it's a serious asset, for a bunch of reasons, and one hopes that\nthey'd be mature enough not to care if one brand they own is cannibalising\nanother.\n\nIf they close it down, yes, their main brand will be protected, but _so will\neveryone else's_. There's no competitive advantage whatsoever in doing it.\n\n------\nedw519\nThe only thing more frustrating than an ethically challenged business is the\ninvestment that came its way instead of going to legitimate start-ups that may\ndie on the vine for lack of capital.\n\n~~~\nzoomzoom\nWho is to say that ethically challenged businesses cannot be legitimate\ntargets for investors? I hate these sites, but my bet is that they pay off for\ninvestors as well as your average YC company...Investors are in the business\nof making money, not making judgements about ethics. Legal challenges are the\nones that matter to a business, not ethical ones.\n\n~~~\npavel_lishin\nMaybe we should change that.\n\n~~~\nzoomzoom\nThe question is: how?\n\nThe sentiment (in the US, at least) still seems to be towards less regulation\nat the moment. Enforcing ethics as well as laws would seem to require even\nmore regulation, unless you have a magic potion that will convince all\nbusiness directors to self-regulate all at once!\n\n~~~\nwatchandwait\nRegulations are only as ethical as the regulator -- just ask Bernie Madoff's\nvictims how well that worked. Indeed, more regulation leads to a false sense\nof security, and certainly stifles innovation.\n\nBetter to have the market, and market players like TechCrunch, sort out this\ntype of low-level malfeasance.\n\n~~~\npavel_lishin\nBut then you'd have to have a financial reward system in place that rewards\nethical firms.\n\nI don't know how you would do that.\n\n~~~\ndantheman\nIt's called refusing to do business with people who are ethically challenged.\n\n------\nig1\nI'm not sure what the law is in the US, but I'm pretty sure that would be\nillegal in the UK both under sales legislation and under anti-fraud laws.\n\n------\nanon2345\nHey don't knock the horse face. I did fine at Burning Man wearing a Horse Head\nmask. Maybe there are a lot of playa princesses on WooMe.\n\n~~~\nJabavuAdams\nWow. It's 2011 and I still haven't gone to Burning Man. Been meaning to go\nsince 1995.\n\n _looks at blizzard outside_\n\n------\nunreal37\nI realize I'll probably spend some karma here, but after reading TC and\nchecking out the site (and the blog post by the site), I see what's happening.\nAnd there is a LOT of misunderstanding in the TC article and in the comments\nof HN.\n\nOne of the services WooMe offers is to automatically introduce people they\nthink will get along. They do NOT make it clear its the system doing the\nintroduction, nor that its automated. But what is clear is these are all real\npeople on the site, no fake accounts.\n\nSo yes, no person sent a hello to a horse in the middle of the night. But that\ndoesn't make the whole thing fake. It mimics a scam, but is not.\n\nImagine if after signing up for Facebook for the first time, FB sent you 10\nfriend requests within minutes of people they thought you knew - one step\nfurther than what they already do with suggested friends. Is that a scam? Or\nis that a ham-fisted attempt at helping you get started using the site?\n\nIt's clearly not a scam. It's just really really borderline on the ethical\nside. I've never used a dating site of any kind, so I have no idea what is\nnormal in that industry.\n\n~~~\nmthoms\nExcept that the screenshots clearly say \"(so and so) has sent you a message\",\nwhich is plainly false. I'm not sure how you could see it any other way.\n\n------\n20110202\nHere is what the site does (or at least did two-three months ago, when I tried\nit).\n\nAfter you pay for your account, it immediately asks you \"do you want the site\nto introduce you to people who may be of interest\" or something like that. A\nlittle later, I looked at my Sent folder and saw that I had said \"hi\" or\n\"what's up\" to dozens of people, many who are not local or I otherwise would\nnot be interested in.\n\n------\nmoomba\nThis site may be dishonest, but its certainly nothing new. Most dating sites\nyou go to employ some of the same tactics. They will try to lure you in and\nthen put up a paywall. I guess the thing that is bad here is that they lie\nabout having automated messages when they obviously do. That is really kind of\nslimy, they might as well admit to the obvious at this point.\n\n------\ncloug\nI'm kinda disappointed, I just signed up (with what I thought was a engaging\npicture: [http://www.illusionking.com/wp-\ncontent/uploads/2008/09/horse...](http://www.illusionking.com/wp-\ncontent/uploads/2008/09/horse_head.jpg)) and I've only got three messages from\nVIP members. Thank you Anita, Yanisa and Shawna !\n\n------\ngalactus\nI don't understand, how does he know it is actually WooMe behind the bots?\nCouldn't it be some scammer who has nothing to do with WooMe?\n\n------\njasonmcalacanis\nNo one remembers how you got that--just that you got there.\n\n------\nfedd\nwhere is the analogous website for scamming women with pics of hot boys? \"pay\n50% OFF to chat with Ivan!\"\n\nwhat a chauvinism!..\n\n------\nnicferrier\nfor the record, robin wauters didn't approach us to verify anything in the\nstory and the accusations are untrue and misleading.\n\nwe focus very hard on getting people to talk to each other and interact and we\nhave a number of features on the site, driven by users, that make that happen.\n\nIronically, the user featured in the pic is one of the longest standing and\nmost active on WooMe.\n\n~~~\ndolinsky\nYou, sir, sound like a snake oil salesman of the worst kind. Either that or\nyou have no clue how your site operates.\n\n _edit_ but apparently 'Jen' does. Screencast here ->\n<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOtBmqqKVcc>\n\n(Thanks to my Appsumo purchase of Screenflow which saved me 50%!)\n\n~~~\nnicferrier\nright. I'm the CTO. I'm not sure what I can do to combat the perception that I\nsell snake oil. I don't sell snake oil. I help people meet each other.\n\nIf you really WANT snake oil I guess I could find some and get it to you.\n\n~~~\ndolinsky\nYou're right, that was totally unprofessional of me to lay such an ad hominem\nattack and run away...so let me expand upon my thought some more.\n\nYour site either uses fake accounts to trick legitimate users into paying to\nview messages from these supposed hot women looking for dates with horses and\nguys who have just signed up yet haven't provided any personal details...or\nyou have a very serious spam problem where bots are running rampant across\nyour site with hordes of fake accounts trolling for new profiles to scam (or a\ncombination therein).\n\nAs evidence, I just logged in to my woome account, which I haven't logged into\nin maybe 3 years, and immediately I got a request for a video chat from\n<http://www.woome.com/sallyl3462/> . Who wants to get laid tonight? Sally\ndoes!\n\n~~~\nnicferrier\nI can't say there aren't spammers using our site. that problem waxes and wanes\nand we try to deal with it as best we can. The user quoted is most definitely\na spammer and I'll look into why we haven't caught that.\n\nI don't think that's what robin is trying to say tho.\n\nWe are simply trying to make introductions happen as much as possible because\nthat's what people use woome for. To meet new people.\n\nIt seems to work, to my knowledge our users are generally happy we have good\ntime on site, repeat vistits and viping.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nThey appear to be spamming for the express purpose of converting free woome\nusers to paid ones. Come on.\n\n------\nTichy\nThe evidence does not seem overwhelming to me. It is well known that girls\n_love_ horses, so it doesn't seem that surprising that he is flooded with\nmessages if he uses a horse avatar.\n\n------\nsharescribe\nThe Complete Idiot's Guide To Frauds, Scams, and Cons\n[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0028644158/thepolitic...](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0028644158/thepoliticalg-20)\n\n------\ndiziet\nHow is this an article so thoroughly under-researched? Why not go a little bit\nfurther and investigate if actual people are posting?\n\nHi $name, thank you for messaging me. I'm new to this site, so can you please\ntell me the process on how you send me that message, where did you have to\nclick, etc? I am still trying to figure this out, so if you could tell me what\nbuttons you had to press to send the message to me, I'd appreciate it, it\nwould help me get started. Thank you ahead of time, $name. P.S. Have you read\nany good books lately?\n\nAnd then, to be even more sure, create a couple more accounts through proxies\nand see what kind of messages they get. Do deactivate them after.\n\nSee, while it does look like some sort of bait-and-switch, at least try to\nverify it. Maybe at the very least they've got a very persuasive feature where\nnew members do get popped up, and there's a user initiated \"Poke\" like feature\n(that appears as a message on your end), so that would put them somewhere in\ngrey-hat tactics out of the black-hat area.\n\n~~~\nyaakov34\nOh come on, COME ON, I'm all for research too, but 15 messages from women in\nthe middle of the night who want to date a horse is not something that\nrequires going deep undercover before you decide that it's fake. And he said\nthat it would cost him $60 just to contact anyone or do anything on that site.\n\n~~~\nnoodle\ni agree that its most likely fake, but it seems like TC would be able to comp\nhim for the $30 for a membership it would take to lend weight to the story.\n\nare the messages fake? again, yeah, probably. but its also concievable that\none or two are \"lol a horse\" type of messages. kind of depends on how the site\nitself works.\n\n~~~\nrobinwauters\nIt's not just the messages from users, it's the whole concept of showing\nnothing unless you hand over your credit details, pretending hot women are\ndying to contact you even though you're obviously not date material (unless\nthey're into horses), the unsolicited emails, the corny live chat box and pop-\nup message when you try to close it, and so on.\n\n~~~\nnoodle\n> it's the whole concept of showing nothing unless you hand over your credit\n> details\n\nthis is how a lot of dating sites work. no contact unless you pay, no\nreceiving messages unless you pay. its also how classmates.com works, not just\ndating sites. and one of the reasons they were sued recently is due to\nbusiness practices similar to this.\n\n> pretending hot women are dying to contact you even though you're obviously\n> not date material (unless they're into horses), the unsolicited emails\n\nagain, this is probably true, but there's no _proof_ of it unless the dude\nsigned up and found out for sure. more data required.\n\n> the corny live chat box and pop-up message when you try to close it\n\nshady indeed, but they're not the only place who makes use of this.\n\n~~~\nrobinwauters\nThere seems to be a notion that I shouldn't call out WooMe because other sites\nare doing it too. I don't know where that is coming from.\n\n~~~\ndiziet\nMy notion is that you should call out WooMe. Go for it. However, as an author\nit is your responsibility to try to research as much as possible. It does\nseem, from the surface level that you described, that those messages are\nspam/automatically generated. However one could come up with a semi-plausible\nbordering on the edge of legitimacy rationale why you had received those\nmessages. Maybe WooMe discovered a novel way of nudging users towards\ncommunication with each other, maybe they get Achievement Points for sending\nmessages to new users? Likely? Not really, However, chatting with a very\ncleverly disguised CTA does not constitute thorough research.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nComputación cuántica, circuitos cuánticos - neomatrix\nhttps://medium.com/@josueacevedo/computaci%C3%B3n-cu%C3%A1ntica-compuertas-o-circuitos-cu%C3%A1nticos-27910f5338c8\n======\ngus_massa\n[Hi from Argentina!]\n\nI think this is on topic, but this is an English speaking forum, and posts in\nother languages are usually ignored or flagged (unless there is no alternative\nin English and it is very very interesting).\n\n(In this case, there is a lot of material in English, some is better, some is\nworse, ..., but there is a lot.)\n\nI suggest to write two versions of the post, one in Spanish and other in\nEnglish, and post the English version here. I do something like this, and the\nEnglish version usually gets x10 more traffic than the Spanish version.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThree students build $100 device that blinds attacker and takes picture - fraqed\nhttp://thenextweb.com/shareables/2013/01/29/three-students-built-a-100-device-to-blind-you-and-take-your-picture-before-you-can-get-away/\n======\nkombinatorics\nthat's useless.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nScala.js, the Scala to JavaScript compiler, has been optimized - eranation\nhttps://plus.google.com/103744906976128830230/posts/9CyznVM9ULT\n\n======\neranation\nThe original Github comment by the way: [https://github.com/lampepfl/scala-\njs/issues/4#issuecomment-2...](https://github.com/lampepfl/scala-\njs/issues/4#issuecomment-20937230)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGitlab 13.2 Released with Planning Iterations and Load Performance Testing - doener\nhttps://about.gitlab.com/releases/2020/07/22/gitlab-13-2-released/\n======\nsamanthalee233\nJust want to take a second to point out the highlight post I added to the\nstory about the release yesterday, for anyone who missed it:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23917493](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23917493)\n\n------\ndoener\nVia [https://www.golem.de/news/versionsverwaltung-\ngitlab-13-2-mit...](https://www.golem.de/news/versionsverwaltung-\ngitlab-13-2-mit-optimierungen-fuer-scrum-und-jira-2007-149846.html)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAnnouncing SSH Access Through Cloudflare - webmonkeyuk\nhttps://blog.cloudflare.com/releasing-the-cloudflare-access-feature-that-let-us-smash-a-vpn-on-stage/\n======\ndevereaux\n> When you attempt to reach a web application behind Access, we instead\n> redirect you to your identity provider. Once you login, we generate a JSON\n> Web Token and store that token as a cookie in your browser. SSH connections\n> require a slightly different flow for your end users, but one that is just\n> as convenient.\n\n> First, you need to install cloudflared. cloudflared is a lightweight command\n> line tool published by Cloudflare that will proxy traffic from your device\n> to the server over SSH. You can remove the need for any unique commands by\n> adding two lines to your SSH config file that will always use cloudflared to\n> proxy traffic for a particular hostname.\n\n> Once set-up, you can attempt to reach the resource over SSH from your\n> command line or code editor\n\nIDK but it seems a bit more complicated than just using public keys on a\npublic port.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCyberChef – Cyber Swiss Army Knife - onion2k\nhttps://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/\n======\noctosphere\nIt's funny looking at some of the contributors to this. Some of the accounts\nseem to be vague, single-duty accounts made for the express purpose of\ncontributing code to CyberChef and nothing else. I admire their OPSEC\n\n(From:\n[https://github.com/gchq/CyberChef/graphs/contributors](https://github.com/gchq/CyberChef/graphs/contributors))\n\n[https://github.com/n1474335](https://github.com/n1474335)\n\n[https://github.com/j433866](https://github.com/j433866)\n\n[https://github.com/d98762625](https://github.com/d98762625)\n\n[https://github.com/s2224834](https://github.com/s2224834)\n\n[https://github.com/GCHQ77703](https://github.com/GCHQ77703)\n\n~~~\nFnoord\nMakes me wonder what GitHub can see (e-mail addresses, IP addresses). I also\nwonder if it is possible to use code analysis to figure out who these people\nare. Not that it is relevant for me, just curious...\n\n~~~\nTAForObvReasons\nGitHub can see what you send it. If you're concerned about leaking IP data,\nuse a VPN and a remote box for git operations.\n\n~~~\njustanotherhn\nPerhaps OP is referring to traking based on the coding? I.E. if you had all\nthe code repos from an individual and ran some sort of pattern reconition\nsoftware to cross refrence thigs like folder structure, layout of the code,\nfrequency and time of uploads, function & variable naming techniques, etc.\nThis reminds me of a technique called eBiomentrics[0]\n\n[0] [https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/keystroke-dynamics-\nwha...](https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/keystroke-dynamics-what-is-it-\nbe396a263bf2)\n\n~~~\nFnoord\nYes that is what I was referring to. I forgot the exact name for it. It is\nakin to (hand)writing analysis, but for code.\n\n~~~\njustanotherhn\nCertainly an interesting idea, I suppose most of the things I listed can in\nfact be mitigated quite easily. Compilers and obfuscators exist even now that\nwould totally destroy most distinguishable patterns. If anyone knows any case\nstudies on this, please drop a link here.\n\n~~~\naspenmayer\n[https://psal.cs.drexel.edu/index.php/JStylo-\nAnonymouth](https://psal.cs.drexel.edu/index.php/JStylo-Anonymouth)\n\nEdit: The main page of above site has a lot more publications referenced.\nWorth a look.\n\n[https://psal.cs.drexel.edu/index.php/Main_Page](https://psal.cs.drexel.edu/index.php/Main_Page)\n\n[https://evllabs.com/](https://evllabs.com/)\n\n------\nboarnoah\nIts a brilliant tool, has replaced visiting 3 or 4 different mini sites to do\nsome basic conversions etc..\n\nEDIT: Other thing to note, is you can define, a set of operations, ex:\n[https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/#recipe=ROT13(true,true,13)](https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/#recipe=ROT13\\(true,true,13\\))\n\nand get a shareable link\n\n------\nmotohagiography\nSo much fun!\n\nAt first glance, only feature requests I might have added when I did this sort\nof work would be in for audio spectrographs in the multimedia section. Useful\nfor finding stego, embedded thumbnails, hidden channels etc, and a generalized\nmalicious ZIP parser that deals with the myriad of nasties packers can use.\n\nThe demand to scale this capability within an agency like that makes it worth\nwhile to build tools like this, wonder whatother easter eggs are in there\nbeyond alert msgs.\n\nBrits, so cheeky.\n\n------\nnyxxie\nWow I actually thought of building a tool similar to this for CTFs,\nspecifically this feature:\n\n[https://github.com/gchq/CyberChef/wiki/Automatic-\ndetection-o...](https://github.com/gchq/CyberChef/wiki/Automatic-detection-of-\nencoded-data-using-CyberChef-Magic)\n\nThis is REALLY cool. Basically given an unknown string or file from something\nCTF-y you can run this tool on it to look for low-hanging fruit like it being\ne.g. base64 encoded.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nThis is a really old reversing trick, for what it's worth; for instance,\npulling gzips out of firmware images, or spotting zipped Java images. You can\nalso often identify cryptography primitives from their ASN.1 OID strings.\nThere are a bunch of tools that do stuff like this.\n\n~~~\nvirtualmic\nYes, I use this one regularly:\n[https://github.com/ReFirmLabs/binwalk](https://github.com/ReFirmLabs/binwalk)\n\n(Binwalk is a fast, easy to use tool for analyzing, reverse engineering, and\nextracting firmware images)\n\n------\ndowntown_\n[https://github.com/usdAG/cstc](https://github.com/usdAG/cstc) this implements\nThis as a burp plugin. A few Colleagues developed this and released it two\nweeks ago at defcon\n\n------\nintegricho\nIt reminds me of SnD Reverser Tool[1], although compared to this, SnD RT has a\nbit more constrained scope in what it does, but it's also a standalone exe of\njust ~150KB. such a shame it's no longer being developed...\n\n[1] [https://tuts4you.com/download/1923/](https://tuts4you.com/download/1923/)\n\n------\nweinzierl\nCryptool is similar and I think older. At least I remember that I have used\nthe desktop version in the 90s.\n\nWhile I appreciate that they made a web version I think they scattered their\nefforts to create different versions too much so that the project suffered\nregarding features and quality.\n\n[1] [https://www.cryptool.org/en](https://www.cryptool.org/en)\n\n------\nxwdv\nWhat’s the CLI version of this? It’s too cumbersome to click around in a GUI.\n\n~~~\nken\nIt's fascinating to me (as someone who has written a similar system) that\neverybody, almost without exception, makes this leap.\n\nIf the problem is that clicking is too cumbersome, then add better keyboard\nsupport. That's the solution to the problem as stated. You don't need to throw\nout the whole UI for that, and there's lots of things a GUI can do that a CLI\ncan't.\n\nI haven't been able to determine if this is the common reaction because people\nsimply assume a GUI can't have good keyboard support, or because they're\nmaking an excuse for some unstated other reason.\n\n~~~\nstjohnswarts\na lot of people want to make things scriptable.\n\n~~~\nken\nThat's an interesting point (and a possible hidden agenda), but again, the\nscriptability of something is orthogonal to whether it's graphical or not.\n\nWeb browsers are as GUI as they come, and arguably have far better scripting\nsupport than any CLI program.\n\n------\nken\nThis looks kind of neat (and not too dissimilar to my own software -- see\nbio), though I can't seem to make it work (or \"Bake\"?).\n\nIt also reminds me of OpenRefine, another very cool online data processing\ntool with a slightly different focus.\n\n~~~\nkim031\nYou need to drag specific operation(s) from Operations and drop them into\nRecipe. And then supply input(s) in Input tab. You can also check the Auto\nBake icon in the bottom.\n\n~~~\nken\nAh, that's it! I discovered that I could add operations by double-clicking\nthem, but I was so intent on trying to find a \"type some raw input\" operation\nthat I completely missed the \"Input tab\".\n\n------\njdrosenthal\nSome great operations in there. Especially [Other > XKCD Random Number]\n\n[https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/#recipe=XKCD_Random_Number(...](https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/#recipe=XKCD_Random_Number\\(\\)&input=SW5wdXQ)\n\"RFC 1149.5 specifies 4 as the standard IEEE-vetted random number.\"\n\n~~~\nflixic\nThere’s also Numberwang function.\n\n------\nanewguy9000\nnice!\n\nso is any of the input feeding back to GCHQ?\n\n~~~\nrtempaccount1\nshouldn't be it's purely client-side. And of course, if you don't trust them,\njust stick a proxy in-line and watch for traffic.\n\n~~~\nFnoord\nIf you don't trust it you can use it in a VM without network access, or\nsomething like Qubes (essentially the same). Personally, I use Opensnitch (a\npersonal firewall like Little Snitch) on Kali Linux, but it isn't foolproof.\n\n------\nrtempaccount1\nI use this a lot for basic things like base64 decoding. Of course, nothing you\ncan't do with A.N. programming language, but handy for quick checks.\n\n------\nNikolaeVarius\nThis tool is great. Very useful for CTFs\n\n------\nlukifer\nThis is just about the greatest thing ever, thanks for sharing.\n\n------\nsdinsn\nReally nice, thanks for sharing\n\n------\nixtli\nExtremely cool.\n\n------\nyeahdef\ngreat site, been using it for years\n\n------\nrglover\nThis is awesome! Not sure if OP put this together, but thank you.\n\n------\nmarctrem\nThis has been posted many times to HN [0]. Is there something making it\nnewsworthy this time?\n\n[0]\n[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=cyberchef&sort=byPopularity&pr...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=cyberchef&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story)\n\n~~~\nmyroon5\n[https://xkcd.com/1053/](https://xkcd.com/1053/)\n\n~~~\nmarctrem\nIt's definitely not about making fun of people – It's about expecting novelty\nand not finding any. After all, `news` is in the url!\n\nI am wondering why people don't do the due diligence of searching if a\ntool/article has not already been posted before submitting a duplicate item.\n\nI am sorry if you did interpret this as `trying to make fun of people` – This\nis not my intention.\n\nI still would like to know why duplicate entries are welcomed/accepted on a\nnews aggregator (honest question)!\n\n~~~\nPhasmaFelis\nIn this particular case, it's been posted only three times this year, and the\nfirst two had only 2 or 3 points, meaning that hardly anyone saw them--I know\nI didn't. I wouldn't have learned about this if not for the repost.\n\nI don't see anything wrong with reposting perennially useful stuff at\nreasonable intervals. Maybe twice in as many months is too much in general,\nbut it seems to have worked out all right.\n\n------\nfloki999\nWhy would anyone use a third-party web service to carry out cyber analysis?\nThese tasks are easy enough to do/code.\n\n~~~\ninvokestatic\nI may be just naive, but I trust and regularly use both Cyberchef and NSA’s\nGhidra. I think it’s very unlikely that these tools are backdoored (and\nCyberchef runs completely in-browser).\n\n~~~\nbuildzr\nIf you've ever looked at the way the NSA treats exploits, remote access\nsoftware and such, they're very careful about deploying them against people\nwho may be able to detect and analyze them themselves.\n\nPutting such things in public code like that which would both directly point\nthe finger at them and possibly turning secrets into widespread knowledge in\nthe security community would be... incredibly stupid.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFacebook's unethical experiment manipulated users' emotions - cmrivers\nhttp://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/06/facebook_unethical_experiment_it_made_news_feeds_happier_or_sadder_to_manipulate.html\n======\nmabbo\n155,000 users for each treatment of the experiment, says the paper. Let's\npresume random selection, and that the occurrence rate of mental disorders is\nthe same for Facebook users as the general public (probably not too far off).\nThen Facebook intentionally downgraded the emotional state of:\n\n10,000 sufferers of Major Depressive Disorder\n\n5,000 people with PTSD\n\n4,000 bipolar disorder sufferers\n\n1,700 schizophrenics\n\nand a plethora of others with various mental disorders.\n\n11/100,000 people commit suicide each year in America. How many were part of\nthat treatment of the experiment, without consent or knowledge?\n\nAs a scientist, I'm fascinated by the research. As a human being, I'm\nhorrified it was ever done.\n\n[http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-numbers-\ncoun...](http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-numbers-count-mental-\ndisorders-in-america/index.shtml)\n\n~~~\nwalterbell\n> How many were part of that treatment of the experiment, without consent or\n> knowledge?\n\nHow would this be determined in offline experiments where people volunteered?\n\n~~~\nBlahah\nAll subjects would have the potential consequences explained to them so they\ncould make an informed decision about whether to take part. Informed consent\nis a very important ethical principle in human-subject experiments.\n\n------\najays\nI'm puzzled about the outrage.\n\nFB _already_ filters out updates based on some blackbox algorithm. So they\ntweaked the parameters of that algorithm to filter out the \"happier\" updates,\nand observed what happens. How is this unethical? The updates were posted by\nthe users' friends! FB didn't manufacture the news items; they were always\nthere.\n\nI detest FB as much as the next guy, but this is ridiculous.\n\n~~~\nLoganCale\nThey altered people's feeds for a psychological experiment with the specific\nintent of manipulating their mood. That is _highly_ unethical.\n\n~~~\nTeMPOraL\nBut why if it's done for science it's unethical, but when done by news\nstations, politicians, advertising agencies, motivational speakers, salesmen,\netc. it's suddenly ok?\n\n~~~\nscintill76\nUsers of Facebook see it as a neutral platform for communicating with people\nthey know. Consumers of the things you listed know it's top-down messaging\ncoming from people they don't know or necessarily trust.\n\nSo, there is a difference. It's still a complex question, though -- is\nfiltering or prioritizing based on emotional sentiment really different from\nwhat they are already doing with inserting ads and such?\n\n~~~\nTeMPOraL\nI see it this way: they did a study, so it's fair.\n\nWere they to filter posts by emotional sentiment as a part of their normal\noperations, I'd find it unethical, or at least something I might not want. But\nI'm totally fine with them subjecting users (including myself) to random\nresearch studies, as those are temporary situations, and with Facebook's data\nsets, they can have great benefits for humanity.\n\nPerhaps Facebook should provide an opt-in option to for user to be a subject\nof various sociological experiments at unspecified times. I'd happily select\nit.\n\n------\nTeMPOraL\nI strongly hope that they won't care about any of this \"outrage\" and continue\nto do more and more experiments. Maybe even open it up as a platform for\nscientists to conduct studies.\n\nFacebook is in the unique position of possessing data that can be orders of\nmagnitude more useful for social studies than surveys of randomly picked\ncollege students that happened to pass through your hallway. There's lot of\ngood to be made from it.\n\nBut the bigger issue I see here is why it's unethical to \"manipulate user\nemotions\" for research, when every salesman, every ad agency, every news\nportal and every politician does this to the much bigger extent and it's\nconsidered fair? It doesn't make much sense for me (OTOH I have this attitude,\nconstantly backed by experience, that everything a salesmen says is a\nmalicious lie until proven otherwise).\n\n~~~\nDanAndersen\nIt's an interesting question. I have the same averse reaction to this story\nthat a lot of people here have, but I admit I also thought, \"If Facebook\nhadn't published this as research, but just had it as a business decision to\ndrive more usage or positive associations with the website, no one would\ncare.\"\n\nMy own way to reconcile this -- and I admit it's not a mainstream view -- is\nthat advertisement and salesmanship should be considered just as unethical. I\ndon't know how to quantify what \"over the line\" is, but it all feels like\nbrain-hacking. Things like \"The Century of the Self\" suggest that in the past\ncentury or so we've become extremely good at finding the little tricks and\nfailings of human cognition and taking advantage of vulnerabilities of our\nreasoning to inject the equivalent of malicious code. The problem is that when\nI say \"we\" I don't mean the average person, and there's an every-growing\nasymmetry. Like malware developers adapting faster than anti-malware\ndevelopers, most people have the same level of defense that they always have\nhad, while the \"attackers\" have gotten better and better at breaking through\ndefenses.\n\nSometimes I'll see discussions about \"what will people centuries from now\nthink was crazy about our era?\" and there's a part of me that keeps coming\nback to the idea that the act of asymmetrically exploiting the faults of human\nthinking is considered normal and \"just the way things are.\"\n\n~~~\nTeMPOraL\n> _My own way to reconcile this -- and I admit it 's not a mainstream view --\n> is that advertisement and salesmanship should be considered just as\n> unethical._\n\nI agree with that, or probably think even more strongly - that\nadvertisements/sales are more unethical than research. It's difficult to put\nlimits though, because even if many salesmen clearly act maliciously, pretty\nmuch everything you do or say influences people this way or another; it's how\nwe communicate.\n\nWhat I'd love to see is Facebook creating an opt-in option for an user to be a\npart of further sociological research. I'd gladly turn it on and be happy that\nI'm helping humanity, while Facebook could limit their studies to people who\nexplicitly consented (there's an issue with selection bias though). They have\ntoo good data to be not used for the betterment of mankind.\n\n~~~\nDanAndersen\nGood point. I guess my concern -- recognizing this makes me sound like a\nLuddite or someone going on about \"humans were never meant to know about this\"\n\\-- is that the results of research like this aren't going to be used for the\nbetterment of mankind. Rather, it'll be all about how to use a new mental\nvulnerability to get more eyeballs on someone's content or to increase the\ndopamine hits from browsing the site.\n\nWhat I would love -- and what I would eagerly opt-in to -- would be a system\nwhere Facebook could educate users on irrational behaviors. \"We noticed that\n60% of users like you spent an average of 30 seconds more looking at this kind\nof content... this is because your brain etc etc etc\". Creepy, perhaps, but if\nthere were a way to help people be more aware of and defend against\nadvertisement that would be neat.\n\n~~~\nTeMPOraL\n> _Rather, it 'll be all about how to use a new mental vulnerability to get\n> more eyeballs on someone's content or to increase the dopamine hits from\n> browsing the site._\n\nSadly, you've made a great point here. It's very likely that the end results\nof research will be used exactly for that - as it already happens with most of\npsychology.\n\nI hope though that some of that research will be used to create better\npolicies and help the society.\n\n> _What I would love -- and what I would eagerly opt-in to -- would be a\n> system where Facebook could educate users on irrational behaviors._\n\nI'd happily opt-in to that as well (and opt-in all my relatives too ;)). I\ndon't expect Facebook to ever do that, as it'd exactly opposite to their goal\nto be able to a/ influence their users, and b/ cater for advertisers, but\nthere already are websites doing exactly that (e.g. LessWrong). They're niche\nplaces though; I'd love to see something popular enough to reach general\naudience.\n\n------\nespeed\n_Facebook’s Unethical Experiment: It intentionally manipulated users’ emotions\nwithout their knowledge._\n\nI'm not defending Facebook or the experiment, but if you're going to call them\nout for \"manipulating users' emotions without their knowledge\", then you need\nto call out every advertising, marketing, and PR firm on the planet, along\nwith every political talkshow, campaign, sales letter, and half-time speech...\n\n~~~\npain\nWith that in mind, I'd find it important if our social media analytics\npublicly accounted for such emotional manipulations.\n\nIt could be wise to begin to share such emotional-information influences to\nequally let users and admins be so sensitive (and acknowledge its a real part\nof our systems).\n\n~~~\nespeed\nUsers aren't fed every post by every one of their friends -- users would be\noverwhelmed with posts flying by so fast they couldn't keep up -- so it's no\nsecret FB tweaks its feed algorithm to keep users engaged. And experimenting\nwith network effects is what social networks do.\n\nEvery time you see a picture of someone you like it's like a little shot of\ndopamine goes off in your head. Facebook wants to optimize those dopamine\nshots to continually bump engagement and create an experience where everyone\nis habitually checking their feed every 10 mins.\n\nThis type of behavior design/economics research is done by Dan Ariely at MIT\n(\"Predictably Irrational\"\n[http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_asks_are_we_in_control_o...](http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_asks_are_we_in_control_of_our_own_decisions.html))\nand the Stanford Persuasive Tech Lab\n([http://captology.stanford.edu/](http://captology.stanford.edu/)).\n\n~~~\npain\nExactly why I'm trying to articulate importance of giving public facing\nlanguage to such persuasive technologies, by actually having formal public\nmarkers for emotions being manipulated.\n\n(e.g. Apple ad with astericks linking to emotional signaling research and\nanalytics, to help users determine deeper interests [this ad attracts people\nwho feel X, Y, Z based on...]).\n\n------\nkyro\nTo say this response is unnecessary and unfounded is disingenuous. Marc\nAndreessen (whom I respect) tweeted _\" Run a web site, measure anything, make\nany changes based on measurements? Congratulations, you're running a\npsychology experiment!\"_ I could not disagree more.\n\nThis isn't simply a matter of looking at metrics and making changes to\nincrease conversion rates. The problem is that the whole of users have come to\nexpect Facebook to be a place where they can see any and all of their friends'\nupdates. When I look at an ad, I know I am being manipulated. I know I'm being\nsold something. There is no such expectation of manipulative intent of\nFacebook, or that they're curating your social feed beyond \"most recent\" and\n\"most popular\", which seemingly have little to do with post content and are\nfilters they let you toggle.\n\nWhat FB has done is misrepresent people and the lives they've chosen to\nportray, having a hand in shaping their online image. I want to see the good\n_and_ the bad that my friends post. I want to know that whatever my mom or\nbrother or friend posts, I'll be able to see. Someone's having a bad day? I\nwant to see it and support that person. That's what's so great about social\nmedia, that whatever I post can reach everyone in my circle, the way I posted\nit, unedited, unfiltered.\n\nTo me this is a disagreement between what people perceive FB to be and how FB\nviews itself. What if Twitter started filtering out tweets that were negative\nor critical of others?\n\n~~~\ndoctorpangloss\nThere are better ways to question the ethics of the experiment. Here's a\nsimple approach:\n\nWould anyone want their emotions manipulated to be unhappy or unhealthy?\n\nThe corollary in a medical experiment would be, would a healthy person want to\nundergo an experiment that could make them sick?\n\nSome people mentioned advertising as a counterpoint, that what Facebook does\nis not at all different from advertising's psychological manipulation. Well\nmaybe some forms of advertising ought to be regulated too. Would a child\nvoluntarily want their emotions manipulated by a Doritos ad to make the sicker\nor fatter?\n\nEven if it's not known what the outcome is, the two points are:\n\n(1) Facebook's various policies specify you will randomly participate in their\nstudies, but\n\n(2) It matters if an experimental outcome can harm you.\n\nSo even though you agreed to participate in experiments, you weren't told the\nexperiments could hurt you. That is a classic medical ethics violation, and it\nought to be a universal scientific ethics violation.\n\n~~~\nDanBC\n> The corollary in a medical experiment would be, would a healthy person want\n> to undergo an experiment that could make them sick?\n\nYes, many people would willingly volunteer to take experimental drugs that\n\ni) might not work\n\nii) might uave severe side effects\n\nbecause those people are dying and want some months more life.\n\n~~~\nnotduncansmith\nNote the parent comment said \"healthy\". Last I checked, healthy != dying.\n\n------\nmasnick\nI just wrote a blog post about the ethical/professional obligations of the\nresearchers associated with this study:\n[http://www.maxmasnick.com/2014/06/28/facebook/](http://www.maxmasnick.com/2014/06/28/facebook/)\n\nWhen you publish a paper, you are supposed to write in the body of the\nmanuscript if it's been approved by an IRB and what their ruling was. I'm\nsurprised it was published without this, even though it apparently was?\n\nIt's also appropriate to address ethical issues head-on in a paper about a\nstudy that may be controversial from an ethical perspective.\n\nIf it really was approved by an IRB, then the researchers are ethically in the\nclear but totally botched the PR.\n\nIf not, then I think the study was not ethical.\n\n~~~\nchmullig\nIt was approved by an IRB.\n\n------\nmryall\nThe difference between this experiment and advertising or A/B testing is\n_intent_. With A/B testing and advertising, the publisher is attempting to\nsway user behaviour toward purchasing or some other goal which is usually\nobvious to the user.\n\nWith this experiment, Facebook are modifying the news feeds of their users\nspecifically to affect their emotions, and then measure impact of that\nemotional change. The intention is to modify the feelings of users on the\nsystem, some negatively, some positively.\n\nIntentional messing with human moods like this purely for experimentation is\nthe reason why ethics committees exist at research organisations, and why\ninformed consent is required from participants in experiments.\n\nInformed consent in this case could have involved popping up a dialog to all\nusers who were to be involved in the experiment, informing them that the\npresentation of information in Facebook would be changed in a way that might\naffect their emotions or mood. That is what you would expect of doctors and\nresearchers when dealing with substances or activities that could adversely\naffects people's moods. We should expect no less from pervasive social\nnetworks like Facebook.\n\n------\nazakai\nOh, please.\n\nEvery single time Facebook changes anything on their site it \"manipulates\nusers' emotions\". Show more content from their friends? Show less? Show more\nfrom some friends? Show one type of content more, another less? Change the\nfont? Enlarge/shrink thumbnail images? All these things affect users on all\nlevels, including emotionally, and Facebook does such changes every day.\n\nTalking about \"informed consent\" in the context of a \"psychological\nexperiment\" here is bizarre. The \"subjects\" of the \"experiment\" here are users\nof Facebook. They decided to use Facebook, and Facebook tweaks the content it\nshows them every single day. They expect that. That is how Facebook and every\nother site on the web (that is sophisticated enough to do studies on user\nbehavior) works.\n\nIf this is \"immoral\", then an website outage - which frustrates users hugely -\nshould be outright evil. And shutting down a service would be an atrocity. Of\ncourse all of these are ludicrous.\n\nThe only reason we are talking about this is because it was published, so all\nof a sudden it's \"psychological research\", which is a context rife with\nethical limitations. But make no mistake - Facebook and all other\nsophisticated websites do such \"psychological research\" ALL THE TIME. It's how\nthey optimize their content to get people to spend more time on their sites,\nor spend more money, or whatever they want.\n\nIf anyone objects to this, they object to basically the entire modern web.\n\n~~~\nTeMPOraL\nExactly. I find this situation to be an example of ridiculous pattern\nmatching. Is it published? Then it's a psychological experiment, and needs to\nbe evaluated by an ethics board. Is it just A/B testing? Then it's not\n\"science\", so no need for ethics board.\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\nSo as long as you aren't publishing the results of your experimentation, none\nof the ethics that apply to experimenting on humans apply?\n\nThat's an...interesting...theory.\n\n~~~\nazakai\nAny A/B test is \"experimentation on humans\". Facebook and all other web giants\nconstantly do such behavioral studies. The only difference is that this one\nwas published.\n\nIn other words, if someone argues that this was unethical experimentation on\nhumans, then there are 1,000 other studies we never heard of that are far, far\nworse. But we know they exist.\n\nIt doesn't make sense to argue that. Websites have to experiment with\ndifferent ways of doing things, and seeing how that affects their users. This\nisn't just a web thing either, of course - businesses need to try different\nthings in order to optimize themselves. And to measure which is the best to\nget people to spend more.\n\n------\nameza\nI'm torn about this. In some ways, I can see how mental health issues can be\ndetected which can hopefully help us avoid these horrifying events (mass\nshootings off the top of my head). But then again, I can see how the Army or\nthe government in general can control any type of popular uprisings. FB,\nTwitter, etc have given us tools to connect and join in efforts to fix what is\nwrong (I'm thinking the Middle East though that can be said about the Tea\nParty or even Occupy movement). If the price is right, FB can hand over that\npower (i.e. NSA) or through these secret courts, the Army/government can have\ndirect control of FB. It's crazy to think that this only occurs in countries\nlike Russia and China but wake up America! This is happening here as well!\n\n------\nianstallings\nYou know why I think they are doing this? Because there have been studies\nshowing that people are miserable on facebook (see below) and I think people\nare starting to pick up on it. So FB feels some pressure to lighten the mood a\nbit. But as usual they do it with the subtlety of a drunken fool.\n\nAlso, the comparison to an A/B test is a false one. This is specifically to\nalter the moods of the user and test the results in a study, not to improve\nthe users experience or determine which app version works better.\n\nRegarding the study mentioned above:\n[http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/09/the-r...](http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/09/the-\nreal-reason-facebook-makes-us-unhappy.html)\n\n------\nresdirector\n> Facebook intentionally made thousands upon thousands of people sad.\n\nHang on. Wasn't the experiment to see _whether_ users would post gloomier or\nhappier messages respectively? This very different from _intentionally_ making\npeople sad.\n\n~~~\nstaunch\n\"I only silently removed happiness from your life because I was curious what\nyour reaction would be!\"\n\n~~~\ncsallen\nSilently removed happiness from _my web application_ that you visit on a\nvoluntary basis. If you think my web app is too gloomy, feel free to stop\ncoming.\n\n~~~\nstaunch\nWhat if Gmail started silently removing happy emails from your Inbox by auto-\narchiving them?\n\n~~~\nTeMPOraL\nYou expect GMail to show you every non-spam message sent to you in your inbox.\nOn Facebook, on the other hand, you expect a curated list of recent posts -\notherwise you wouldn't be able to keep up with what your 500+ friends and\n1500+ liked pages post every day. So comparing GMail to Facebook makes no\nsense at all.\n\n~~~\nstaunch\nGmail users have an expectation that Google won't start silently diverting\ntheir legitimate email as an experiment on them. That's the comparison if you\ndidn't quite grasp that.\n\nYou're claiming that users would \"expect\" Facebook to do something like filter\nout all the happy posts from their friends and family without telling them? I\ndon't think many would agree with you.\n\n~~~\ncsallen\nI think he's merely claiming that you expect Facebook to curate the news feed.\n_How_ they do so (and for what purpose) is ever-changing and has never been\nfully transparent, thus your expectations for those particular factors is\nirrelevant.\n\n~~~\nstaunch\nYes. He's saying that their lack of transparency justifies their abuse. I'm\ntrying to explain that I disagree.\n\n~~~\nTeMPOraL\nI don't see any abuse here, and I believe that their lack of transparency wrt.\nfiltering algorithms is justified.\n\nFirst off all, the shortest description of what they do wouldn't probably be\nfar from publishing the algorithm iteslf. An algorithm that's ever changing\nand probably different depending on where you live or to what group you were\nrandomly assigned. 99% of people wouldn't care anyway, and being transparent\nabout the algorithm would likely make them less happy - right now they accept\nFacebook as is and don't think twice about it; give them the description of\nhow things work and suddenly everyone will start saying that Facebook\nfiltering sucks because random-reason-511.\n\nMoreover, the only people that stand to benefit from knowing Facebook's\nalgorithm are advertisers, who will game the hell out of the system for their\nown short-term benefit, just like they do with Google. It's something neither\nFacebook users, nor Facebook itself want.\n\n~~~\nstaunch\nSorry, you failed to comprehend what I said and I even made it really short.\nMaybe try reading it a few more times.\n\n------\nmullingitover\nThis study really makes me feel vindicated for unfollowing all of my friends\nalong with every brand on facebook. I could've been part of the study but I'd\nnever know, since the only way I see my friends' posts is to visit their pages\ndirectly where I can see them all unfiltered. I've been doing this for the\npast six months and it has dramatically improved the way I interact with the\nsite. I can still get party invites and keep in touch with people, but I'm\nimmune to the groupthink.\n\n------\nmullingitover\nI have a feeling a lot of college courses on research methods are going to use\nthis as an example of a grave ethics breach for years to come. With an\nexperiment group as large as they used, statistically it's almost inevitable\nthat someone in that group will commit suicide in the near future. If that\nperson is in the group that was targeted for negative messages, even a rookie\nlawyer could make a sound case before a jury that Facebook's researchers have\nblood on their hands.\n\n~~~\nMarkPNeyer\nsurely people have committed sucide after using facebook even without this\nstudy. is facebook guilty of that, too?\n\nyou may argue that facebook was \"trying to make people depressed\" but that\nsimply isn't true. what if showing more of my friends negative status updates\nactually _helps_ them? depressed people are shunned in our society; facebook\ngave a voice to the voiceless. that's wonderful!\n\n~~~\nmullingitover\n> you may argue that facebook was \"trying to make people depressed\" but that\n> simply isn't true.\n\nLegal culpability issues aside: did facebook manipulate people's emotions\nintentionally? Did they inform them that they were going to do this, and of\nthe risks involved? Did they get their consent? If the answers to the last two\nquestions aren't unequivocally yes, then facebook is in deep trouble.\n\nEdit: this also misses the problem that the subjects were never screened for\ntheir basical ability to give informed consent. Merely clicking through the\nToS does not mean that you're not suffering from a mental illness that\nnullifies their agreement to the ToS.\n\nLastly, this experiment clearly involved deception, since the test subjects\nweren't informed up-front that they were being manipulated. This is\nproblematic[1] if the subjects weren't debriefed after the study:\n\n>It is stated in the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct\nset by the American Psychological Association, that psychologists may not\nconduct research that includes a deceptive compartment unless the act is\njustified by the value and the importance of the results of such study,\nprovided that this could not be obtained in an alternative way. Moreover, the\nresearch should bear no potential harm to the subject as an outcome of\ndeception, be it physical pain or emotional distress. _Finally, a debriefing\nsession is required in which the experimenter discloses to the subject the use\nof deception in the research he /she was part of and provides the subject with\nthe option of withdrawing his/her data._\n\n[1]\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informed_consent#Deception](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informed_consent#Deception)\n\n------\ndanso\nFWIW, the HN discussion on the study published on PNAS here:\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7956470](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7956470)\n\n~~~\ndang\nYes, and today's wave of media controversy about it hasn't added significant\nnew information, so I think this post counts as a dupe.\n\n~~~\nstaunch\nHeavens forbid the fluff piece on a Google executive gets pushed down the\npage. I'm dumbfounded that you would kill this story. Hacker News is changing.\n\n~~~\ndang\nWell, it was a borderline call, so I've restored the thread.\n\nPerhaps I should explain our thought process. There were at least half a dozen\nmajor web publications today putting out variants of this indignant post about\n\"Facebook's unethical experiment\". Did all these authors suddenly develop a\npassion for science ethics? Of course not. It is simply the internet\ncontroversy du jour. Those have never made for good HN stories, and the policy\nhas always been to penalize them, because otherwise they would dominate the\nsite.\n\nIn cases of pile-on controversy like this one, when the original story has\nalready been discussed on HN—which is pretty common, because HN users tend not\nto miss a day in posting these things—we usually mark the follow-up posts as\ndupes unless they add important new information, or at least something of\nsubstance. Does this article add anything of substance? It didn't strike me\nthat way, but arguably it does.\n\nAs for the PR fluff piece you think is on the front page, why haven't you\nflagged it? It's impossible for us to catch (or even see) all such things. We\nrely on users to point them out.\n\n~~~\nstaunch\nThe idea that this story is \"controversy du jour\" is wrong in my view. I think\nit's an incredibly important story and the underlying issue may be the biggest\nin technology. At the very least it is not spam, gossip, or other obvious\njunk.\n\nThe explicit HN policy used to be to allow controversies like this to wash\nover the site. We all remember seeing the home page covered in many\nsubmissions on the same topic. The fear that this would cause a topic to\n\"dominate the site\" has been proven false numerous times. I'm not sure why\nthat would be a consideration.\n\nI wasn't objecting to the puff piece on the home page. I don't think\nlightweight stuff like that can dominate the site either.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nComplaints about stories taking over the entire front page of the site are as\nold as the site itself. This comment might be the first one I've ever read\nsuggesting that the phenomenon was a good thing that we should preserve.\n\n~~~\nstaunch\nWho is going to decide how many stories on a topic we get to have? Should\nthere have been one Mt.Gox related submission? One Snowden related submission?\nUp to one submission per day per topic? I'm not suggesting it's \"good\" I'm\nsuggesting it's better than the alternative.\n\nKilling dupes when there is more than one active discussion is one thing. This\nsubmission was the only active discussion on this topic. Removing it is just\neditorial curation that is of no benefit to anyone at all.\n\n~~~\ndang\nThose are good questions and I'd be happy to discuss them, but you seem to be\nunder the impression that HN didn't use to be intensively moderated. That\nmodel is wrong. HN was always intensively moderated, curated, or whatever one\ncalls it. That's the only reason why you are able to write something like\nthis:\n\n _The fear that this would cause a topic to \"dominate the site\" has been\nproven false numerous times._\n\nThat didn't prove itself false, nor did the community make it false; it was PG\nwho made it false. He poured countless hours into managing the site and\ncountless more into writing code to help manage it.\n\nThat model hasn't changed. It's more transparent now, because users asked for\nit to be. Transparency has the side-effect of making it seem to some people\nlike we've fundamentally altered HN when it doesn't work like they assumed it\ndid.\n\n~~~\nstaunch\nFew people know better what PG, yourself, and others have done for this site\nor appreciate it more than me. I've seen lots of threads get penalized or\nkilled and reversed. I know it hasn't been perfect in the past either.\n\nI regret saying anything and I won't comment in the future. Thanks.\n\n~~~\ndang\nPlease don't regret saying anything and for heaven's sake please don't stop\ncommenting! This stuff is messy, unobvious, and unsatisfying. I'm painfully\naware that there's no way to make HN consistent, to satisfy everybody any of\nthe time, or anybody all of the time. The least bad job is all we can strive\nfor, and we can't do that without feedback.\n\nAlso, sorry for the snippiness in my tone above. I don't always succeed in\nresponding the way I want to.\n\n------\nispolin\nSo does this mean that people can increase their happiness by using plugins\nthat hide negative posts from their social media?\n\n~~~\nzAy0LfpBZLC8mAC\nPossibly, but only in the short run, as skewed perception of reality tends to\nhave long-term negative consequences. Which is precisely one of the reasons\nwhy this kind of stuff is evil.\n\n------\ndeepsun\nAuthor falsely assumes that people changes their sharing behavior due to\nchanges in their mood. More likely they just feel like \"everyone's posting\ncats on Facebook, so that's a place for sharing cats, let me do too\", or\notherwise.\n\n------\nnichodges\nBefore and/or after the fact, research participants are made aware that they\nwere part of a psychology experiment.\n\nI wonder if Facebook plans on alerting subjects of this experiment to their\nparticipation?\n\n------\njevgeni\nIsn't Slate in the business of exactly that: manipulating their readers\nemotions?\n\n~~~\nreality_czech\nYes, but they're better at it than Facebook. They've got a bunch of gullible\nillogical peasants about to ban A/B testing... or at least drive it\nunderground. For the children.\n\n------\nfalconfunction\nI just use Facebook to bookmark youporn at this point\n\n------\nonewaystreet\nBeen kind of surprised there hasn't been more of a reaction to this. I guess\nthe Internet has reached peak Facebook outrage.\n\n------\npvdm\nAnother nail in the FB coffin.\n\nEdit: for me at least.\n\n~~~\njqm\nAnd only 90,000 more nails to go before your average non-tech user who has\nFacebook as their homepage drops them.\n\nUntil a replacement comes about and a large number of contacts move, it has\nbecome such a large part of these peoples lives it isn't going anywhere.\nArguments and reasons don't sway them. Sadly.\n\nI've never even been on facebook. But my girlfriend and extended family use it\nreligiously. My dad and a couple of other members finally dropped it as the\nresult of my rants but the rest (the vast majority) just think I'm suspicious\nand nutty and go right on posting their entire lives.\n\nSo, facebook can pretty much do as they please. And apparently they do.\n\n------\nxyclos\npeople still use facebook?\n\n------\ndreamfactory2\n> \"If you are exposing people to something that causes changes in\n> psychological status, that’s experimentation\"\n\nOr art, or journalism, or advertising, or football etc.\n\n------\nhawkice\nEvery business that makes sense will try to make its customers happier.\n\nShowing people bad news to get more engagement has roughly the same moral\nstanding as the evening news.\n\nI guess I don't get it.\n\n[It must be wrong because they learned something from it, I guess?]\n\n~~~\nwalterbell\nWhat's your position on creating fake news to get more engagement? Some lines\nare defended because the slippery slope on the other side is infinite.\n\n~~~\ncwyers\nThe thing about the slippery slope is that it is far more often a logical\nfallacy than it is a real danger.\n\n~~~\nwalterbell\n[http://pando.com/2014/06/28/facebooks-science-experiment-\non-...](http://pando.com/2014/06/28/facebooks-science-experiment-on-users-\nshows-the-company-is-more-even-powerful-and-unethical-than-we-thought/)\n\n\"Facebook itself could target certain users, whether they be corporate rivals\nor current/former employees. Having such strong psychological control over\nyour workforce would certainly have its benefits. And if Facebook ever gets\ncaught? Why, the company could claim it’s all part of a social experiment, one\nthat users tacitly agreed to when they signed up.\n\nWith over one-tenth of the world’s population signing into Facebook every day,\nand now with evidence to back the emotional power of the company’s algorithmic\nmanipulation, the possibilities for widespread social engineering are\nstaggering and unlike anything the world has seen. Granted, Facebook’s motives\nprobably are simply to convince people to buy more stuff in order to please\nadvertisers, but the potential uses of that power to impact elections or\nglobal trade could be enticing to all sorts of powerful interest groups.\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWhy I Don't Use PowerPoint For Teaching - neilc\nhttp://okasaki.blogspot.com/2008/01/why-i-dont-use-powerpoint-for-teaching.html\n\n======\nxirium\nFrom the article \"One person (the presenter) is presenting information to\nother people (the audience). The flow of information is one way, from the\npresenter to the audience. Because the flow of information is one way, the\npresenter can and does script out the entire presentation ahead of time, much\nlike a movie or a novel. Like those forms, a PowerPoint presentation is highly\nlinear. It is meant to be experienced in a particular order. Deviating from\nthe expected order is possible, but awkward.\"\n\nIt takes way too much effort to create a linear presentation for a class,\nespecially while pre-requisites are missing.\n\nI've had this situation while teaching mathematics. Two people in the class\ndidn't understand negative numbers. When you're using a pen and a whiteboard,\nyou have the freedom to draw a number line, spend one minute explaining\nnegative numbers and then continue.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAnnouncing .NET Foundation Open Membership - MikusR\nhttps://dotnetfoundation.org/blog/2018/12/04/announcing-net-foundation-open-membership\n======\njongalloway2\nHi, .NET Foundation Executive Director here, happy to answer any questions.\nAlso, check out Miguel de Icaza's post here for details and background:\n[https://tirania.org/blog/archive/2018/Dec-04.html](https://tirania.org/blog/archive/2018/Dec-04.html)\n\n~~~\nredwards510\nCan you point me (regular joe c# programmer) to some resources that show how\nto contribute to .NET and start the path to membership? I'm guessing the\nsimple answer is \"go to github, check out the latest branch of aspnetcore,\nstart fixing bugs in the Issues list and pray to god someone accepts your PR\"\nbut somehow I imagine the barrier to entry is a bit higher than that. Thanks!\n\n~~~\nocdtrekkie\nI just want to point out that you will not need to pray to God to get a PR\naccepted in a Microsoft repo if their docs team is any indication. They are\nnearly aggressively professional at handling GitHub issues. Minor mentions of\nconfusions I've had on docs.microsoft.com were zealously assigned, pursued,\nand fixed, and the PRs I submitted to the code samples there were approved\nwithin a day or two.\n\n~~~\nGordonS\nI've had the same experience with docs, but the polar opposite with .NET Core\nFX and ASP.NET Core - seems any new features need to be discussed by\ncommittee, and can take several months or even years before they will then say\n\"OK, send a PR\", even for features that there is demand for.\n\nEven for bugfixes, I've been really dissapointed in their responses - they\ncall _any_ change in behaviour a 'regression', and won't accept fixes, even if\nthe behaviour they want to preserve only exists as a side effect of the bug,\nand nobody could possibly want in any case!\n\nI write this as a .NET fanboi, but my negative experience of trying to\ncontribute to Microsoft's OSS projects has been left me dissolutioned.\n\n------\noblio\nPretty cool! Considering the moves being made by Oracle, it would be awesome\nif we get a super high quality, high speed, true FOSS platform from Microsoft,\noriginally, of all places :))\n\n~~~\nint_19h\nThe problem with .NET Core compared to Java is that it's still less portable\nat the moment - it doesn't work on any of the BSDs, for example. Someone's\nworking on it, though.\n\n[https://github.com/dotnet/coreclr/issues/18067](https://github.com/dotnet/coreclr/issues/18067)\n\n~~~\nsetquk\nThe irony of this is the original CLR worked on FreeBSD at MSR before it\nworked on Windows from what I heard. The original build toolchain was perl.\n\n------\ndgudkov\nPaid members that can vote and elect the board is a very good model for online\ncommunities in general. If it was adopted by Facebook or Google+ we could've\nseen entirely different plot of story than what we have now.\n\n------\nsetquk\nI still can’t get over the mental anguish caused by using Telerik’s ASP.Net\ncontrol suite over ten years ago.\n\n------\njohnwilkinson\nHey Jon,\n\nWhy not move .net to Linux Foundation in a similar deal to Node.js? I think\n.NET is really interesting technology but let's be honest most innovation\nhappen over JVM. Moving to Linux Foundation would create a lot of trust for\npeople who are not fond of Microsoft.\n\n~~~\nZedronar\nActually most of the features that Java released over the last few years where\nfirst implemented in C# (e.g.: Lambdas).\n\n~~~\njohnwilkinson\nWell that's true. But, I am talking about interesting projects like Apache\nKafka, Spark or many other Big Data tools. Also many languages born in JVM\nlike Clojure, Kotlin or Scala. None of them came from oracle but in .NET all\nthe successful languages came from Microsoft. Mostly happens because many\npeople don't like Microsoft. That's why you don't see lots of startups using\n.NET\n\n~~~\nwvenable\nAll the successful .NET languages come from Microsoft because they have some\nof the best language designers and create some of the best languages. There is\nno need for something like Kotlin on .NET because C# is already far ahead of\nJava and F# is a great language.\n\n~~~\njsmith45\nI see two main reasons for all the JVM languages.\n\n1\\. People trying to make programming in the java ecosystem less painful.\n(Java-the-language was stagnant for so long that this was the main way\nimprovements could be made).\n\n2\\. People who wanted to design a language, but not need to create a complete\nruntime, need to make the runtime cross platform, and need to encourage a\nlarge library ecosystem. (They could just leverage the existing java\nlibraries.\n\nThe first reason was never super applicable to .Net. The second would have\nbeen applicable in the past except for \"cross-platform\". So .net never saw the\nhuge nnumber of languages. With .NET Core I suspect we will see more reason #2\nlanguages.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nsystemd-networkd DHCP performance - tbrock\nhttps://plus.google.com/114015603831160344127/posts/eztZWbwmxM8\n======\ndsr_\nThe most interesting bit, to me, is actually in the comments.\n\nYou don't have to recognize Ted Lemon's name, or know of his work, in order to\nread the tag that G+ put next to his query. But even if you completely ignore\nthat and treat him as a random person, the LMGTFY response was rather rude.\n\nIs this endemic to the systemd project? Because I keep seeing similar rudeness\nwhenever I look at their mailing lists.\n\n~~~\nscrollaway\nIt's endemic to a lot of open source projects. But yes, it's very present\naround systemd/gnome.\n\nI'm not a huge gnome fan but I love systemd and I hugely respect both projects\nin many respects. I've met several of the people in both projects as well and\nI like some of them (not all, but that's not to be expected). The attitude\nthough, oh god the attitude.\n\nIn those very comments, Ted Lemon put it extremely well into words: \"I've\nworked with people who respond to questions this way. It makes for a stressful\nwork environment—you're always wondering whether they're going to try to score\npoints off you when you ask a question.\"\n\nI don't know how to qualify this attitude as. I'd say \"holier than thou\" but\nthat kind of lost its meaning along the way. At their core, most of the people\nworking on these projects expect near-perfection from others and are not\nwilling to assist those they demand perfection from. Anyone who fails to\nachieve their demands simply gets dismissed. Very few of the people who are\ninterested in the project end up contributing because of the toxic attitude...\nit's all some sort of project-wide social filter bubble.\n\nThis seemingly has the effect of getting brilliant people interested in those\nprojects, but just as many fall through the cracks. I've not thought about all\nof this long enough to talk about the long term consequences but what I do see\nis that while GNOME may be a great feat of desktop engineering, it's\nmeaningless if everyone despises the developers (and consequentially, the\nname). Funny, too, UX people don't really fit into this monoculture.\n\nThis really breaks my heart. I see it as a form of bullying... You either\nhelp, or you don't help (don't reply). You don't go around making people feel\nlike they are lesser men because they don't have the knowledge you nurtured\nover years or even decades. I bet Mozart sucked with computers, too.\n\nPS: I apologise for going off-topic. This work on dhcp performance is really\ndamn awesome and those issues have nothing to do with the topic at hand.\n\n~~~\ncatern\nI think you're inverting the direction of causation here. GNOME and systemd\nget a lot of criticism and hate on largely non-technical grounds. I think any\nproject could develop a dismissive attitude if they were hearing constantly\nabout how their project was destroying everything beautiful and true. It's\nunfortunate, and bad for them in the long term, but totally understandable.\n\n------\nwmf\nRelated classic blog post: how do Macs get on the network so fast?\n[http://cafbit.com/entry/rapid_dhcp_or_how_do](http://cafbit.com/entry/rapid_dhcp_or_how_do)\n\n------\nzokier\nIt is bit odd that network management is one of those things that gets\niterated on fairly often. What makes this something that has difficulties\nconverging? It seems like almost every distro has it's own solution, or\nseveral of them.\n\n~~~\nasabjorn\nFortunately this network management solution is now part of systemd, and\nsystemd has been adopted as default by all major distributions except gentoo.\n\n~~~\nsimula67\nFor those who missed it, Ubuntu is also moving to systemd as default :\n[http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/1316](http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/1316)\n\n~~~\ndredmorbius\nI was really hoping Shuttleworth would hold out on this. I've got serious\nconcerns about systemd still. Ted Ts'o's recent G+ post, while generally\nsupportive, gets into many of the issues involved:\n\n _A realization that I recently came to while discussing the whole systemd\ncontroversy with some friends at the Collab Summit is that a lot of the fear\nand uncertainty over systemd may not be so much about systemd, but the fear\nand loathing over radical changes that have been coming down the pike over the\npast few years, many of which have been not well documented, and worse, had\nsome truly catastrophic design flaws that were extremely hard to fix._\n\nQuite.\n\n[https://plus.google.com/117091380454742934025/posts/4W6rrMMv...](https://plus.google.com/117091380454742934025/posts/4W6rrMMvhWU)\n\n------\nJoshTriplett\nIt's nice to see this specifically treated as an optimization goal. This is\none of those cases (much like git for version control) where sufficiently good\nperformance enables new uses that would not otherwise be possible. For\ninstance, consider getting a decent network connection over an intermittent\nlink.\n\n------\ndscrd\nPiece by piece, Linux is becoming an OS that we don't constantly have to\ndefend for its small deficiencies. Loving it.\n\n------\nFasebook\nthankfully we have systemd to manage these kinds of module dependency startup\nproblems in linux now.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAutodesk's Idea to Knit the Hyperloop Out of Carbon Fiber - bcn\nhttp://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-31/autodesks-idea-to-knit-the-hyperloop-out-of-carbon-fiber\n\n======\npudquick\nI think one thing they missed here is pointed out by this statement in the\narticle:\n\n _\" [...] in less than two years, and, says Brandt, require fewer support\npylons. “Elon’s estimate calls for about $2.6 billion for concrete, but we’d\nget that down to more like $1.5 billion,” he says.\"_\n\nThe pylons aren't purely for lifting the steel, they're also for distributing\nthe weight of the Hyperloop cars. If anything, an equal length of carbon fiber\ntube would be more flexible (not less) than the same length as steel and would\npotentially require the same number _or more_ of pylons.\n\nThe air that these cars float over does not negate gravity or the effect of\ntheir weight on the tunnel that they travel through.\n\nAll that being said, it looks like our current carbon fiber pre-preg\n([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-preg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-\npreg)) production is currently able to handle a construction project like\nthis. According to Wolfram Alpha, a cylinder 9 feet in diameter from Los\nAngeles to San Francisco would have a surface area of approximately 52 million\nsquare feet.\n\nAccording to the book \"Boeing 787 Dreamliner\" by Mark Wagner and Guy Norris,\nin 2007 Boeing actually expanded the capacity of carbon fiber plants they had\naccess to in France, Japan, and the US from 125 million square feet per year\nto 363 million square feet per year. I would hope that 6 years later we would\nbe able to produce 52 million square feet.\n\n~~~\nbradleyland\nI have a few questions stemming from ignorance. These aren't meant to me\nrhetorical in any way. I'm just curious how my understanding is incorrect.\n\nI was under the impression that carbon fiber was \"stronger\" than steel. I\nunderstand that stronger doesn't always mean more rigid, but I was also under\nthe impression that carbon fiber could be woven in different ways to offer\ngreater rigidity on a desired axis. Is it possible to construct carbon fiber\nin a way that is more rigid than steel?\n\nCouldn't they also increase the amount of material used, or does that not\nincrease rigidity? I'm thinking something like 8-ply vs 6-ply, or something\nlike that. I'm speaking entirely from a layman's view, so I'm curious why\nincreasing the number of plies wouldn't work.\n\n------\nMechSkep\nThis is interesting because they could potentially avoid the thermal expansion\nproblem that would otherwise sink the hyperloop. Carbon fiber has a negative\ncoefficient of thermal expansion in its axial direction, and you can pair it\nwith a metal to get a net zero expansion structure.\n\n------\nMaarten88\nThat is a really good idea. But I wonder if carbon fiber wouldn't be very\nexpensive for a static structure like that. Why not use much less expensive\nglass fiber? Compared to steel it would still be much stronger, lighter and be\nmanufactured in one piece, without welds.\n\n~~~\ntinco\nPerhaps glass fiber is not rigid enough? Also, I think the only reason carbon\nfiber is so expensive is the manufacturing cost, if you're paying for the\nmachines anyway, perhaps the cost isn't that much higher.\n\n------\nclebio\n>> There are machines that can churn out limited qualities of the braided\ncarbon fiber.\n\nI'm guessing that's a typo and they meant limited _quantities_, but I'm\nhonestly not sure (not snark).\n\n------\nbkev\nReminds me of the carbon fiber loom Toyota came up with for making the Lexus\nLFA.\n\n[http://youtu.be/AScfESzQzIQ](http://youtu.be/AScfESzQzIQ)\n\n------\nSwannie\n[http://www.buzzfeed.com/autodesk/a-new-look-at-the-high-\nspee...](http://www.buzzfeed.com/autodesk/a-new-look-at-the-high-speed-\nhyperloop-b3y4) From Aug 30th with some cool images and a like to the YouTube\nCGI:\n[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV7lbDcaCo4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV7lbDcaCo4)\n\n------\nericcumbee\nI'm not sure there is that much production capability for Carbon Fiber. Back\nin 2011 Audi attributed the delay in the Debut of the Audi R18 LMP as being\ndue to the global shortage of Carbon Fiber caused by the 787 Dreamliner\nprogram(Not to be confused with the Mazda 787B).\n\n------\nbrei\nThis makes the Hyperloop concept feel vastly more feasible. And manufacturing\ncarbon fiber at those scales will open up all kinds of new\ninfrastructure/architecture possibilities. The biggest question on my mind is:\nhow does one continuously infuse/cure epoxy?\n\n------\ncrazytony\nHmmm. I'd have to see this run through an earthquake model. It seems to me\nthat having them stacked/connected vertically would cause problems during an\nearthquake.\n\nThink about those coffee stirrer straws that look like a figure 8 (it's a\nsingle straw pinched in the middle): if you hold one between your fingers the\nrange of movement left/right is easy but an up/down movement is quite\ndifficult (and if you push hard enough the straw buckles).\n\nThere's usually significant vertical and horizontal displacement during an\nearthquake. My thinking is that Elon's original design would fare better.\n\n------\nbrianbreslin\nHow easy is it to repair?\n\n------\nye\nBuilding the structure is the least of the Hyperloop's problem.\n\nHow about supporting near-vacuum on such a large scale?\n\nHow about dealing with earthquakes, erosion, landshifts, where even a small\nshift in a section of a tunnel would mean instant death for the travelers.\n\nHow about obtaining the land rights to build it between SF and LA?\n\n~~~\nplam\nRegarding ground changes, we can look to current bullet-train rail systems.\nNobody has ever died on a bullet train in Japan due to earthquakes. I saw on a\ndocumentary that Japan feed seismic sensor data into train control centers\nwhere any dangerous seismic event would trigger automatic stopping of the\ntrains.\n\n~~~\nye\nI never said it's impossible, I think it's a much bigger problem than building\na machine to build the tunnel walls.\n\n~~~\nricardobeat\nHow is it a bigger problem if it has already been solved today?\n\nThe original paper attempts to deal with all of these problems, pressure,\nsafety, land rights, it's a very interesting read.\n\n~~~\nye\nFirst of all, it hasn't been solved in the US, and not for these speeds, which\nare at least double of the fastest bullet train in the world.\n\n------\nberntb\nHow are the safety aspects with steel or carbon fibers, considering that it\nwill be close to roads and lots of people will have close access?\n\nCould the (near) vacuum be compromised by any idiot with a hunting rifle and\nbullets optimized for piercing body armour? (At a minimum repairs and off time\nfor a day or more.)\n\nCan a kg of explosives put shrapnel through it and create a big crash? What is\nthe safety distance for one of those Iranian self-fusing penetrators used in\nIraq?\n\n~~~\nnawitus\nA bullet hole probably doesn't matter much. Air will be leaking inside\nanywhere and air has to be pumped out all the time in any case.\n\nI think you can create a big train crash with a kg of explosives, so that\nscenario is already possible.\n\n~~~\ntimmy-turner\nAlso, railways are not really meant to be safe against attackers with physical\naccess to it (so basically anyone). For example, the sensors/switches on a\nrailway that cause a train to perform an emergency halt if the train driver\nmisses a stop signal can be modified by anyone near it - no encryption, no\nlocks (source:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwaKYZfgY8k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwaKYZfgY8k)\n\\- only in German though).\n\nYou don't even need explosives, a simple wedge welded on a rail would be\nenough. In the end, I don't think it is economically feasible to secure a\nrailway against that (as well as any other kind of track). You have to make\nsure that nobody does stupid things like these.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhat Happens When Judges Pull the Plug on Rural America - mirandak4\nhttps://backchannel.com/when-judges-pull-the-plug-on-rural-america-304533928fd#.rq6xtbons\n======\njenkstom\n\"What U.S. president will make sure we make a national upgrade to competitive,\nlast-mile-fiber-plus-advanced-wireless connections?\"\n\nAl Gore. :-(\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Upstart.me – Promote your startup in other people's newsletters - pixelfeeder\nhttp://upstart.me/?tb\n======\nbob_theslob646\nWhat is the ROI on something like this?\n\nI could be wrong but it just seems like another form of advertising.\n\n------\ndanschumann\nThis is great, thank you! It this a new service?\n\n~~~\nwingerlang\nIt was posted to HN at least 1 year ago.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWake – A Modern Programming Language - rspivak\nhttp://www.wakelang.com/index.html\n======\nnikolay\nThe Hello.wk is missing an opening brace!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSilly Rabbits: Google is for Spam not for Search - atularora\nhttp://smoothspan.wordpress.com/2011/01/10/silly-rabbits-google-is-for-spam-not-for-search/\n\n======\ngamble\nSpot-on. Google used to talk a good game about combatting search spam, but\nonce Demand Media and the ilk called their bluff Google chose to fold and\nopened the doors to an industrial-scale search spam industry. They may have\nstumbled into it, but now they're in a bind because taking on the spammers\nwould have an immediate and noticeable hit on their revenue - but in the long\nterm, surrendering to spam is going to undermine their reputation.\n\n~~~\njacquesm\n> but in the long term, surrendering to spam is going to undermine their\n> reputation.\n\nThat's already happened. I am pretty sure that this is not intentional though.\n\nWhat would sway me is if say 'bing' would have zero spam and google would have\na whole pile of it.\n\nIs there any research confirming or denying that?\n\n~~~\ngamble\nNot sure about bing, but DuckDuckGo is basically Yahoo with the search spam\nfiltered out. On heavily spammed searches DDG has become noticeably better,\nIMO.\n\n~~~\nparfe\nYahoo is powered by Bing. What do you mean that DDG is basically yahoo?\n\n~~~\ngamble\nDDG is built on Yahoo BOSS, (Build Your Own Search Service) Yahoo's white-\nlabel search engine API. DDG adds spam filtering and some custom indexing on\ntop, but the bulk of their data comes from Yahoo's index.\n\nAFAIK BOSS is still Yahoo technology, not bing. There may be a plan to migrate\nBOSS to bing.\n\n------\nspiffworks\nDoes anybody really believe that Google engineers are stupid enough to think\nthat it is good for them to serve spam to their users? This cockamamie\nconspiracy theory is getting really old.\n\n~~~\nlarrik\nPerhaps it isn't up to the engineers. If Google's outward appearances seem to\nbe deteriorating so profoundly, then it may be a reflection of something\nhappening internally.\n\nHas anyone from inside Google said anything about this yet?\n\n~~~\nspiffworks\nOkay, then do you think that Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt are\nstupid enough?\n\n> Has anyone from inside Google said anything about this yet?\n\nMatt Cutts and moultano are here all the time, saying that they're working on\na solution. But for some reason, it is better to make up shit and then believe\nit than to actually listen to the people who talk.\n\n~~~\nrorrr\nThe problem has been out for a long time. Mahalo.com is a good example. Google\nwill lose a lot of money if they remove them from the search results. If their\nengineers have been working, as you say, it's the slowest fucking project\never.\n\nWhat you don't realize is that since Google went IPO, it's not all about\nbuilding an amazing search engine. It's a lot about revenues and net profits.\nThere are lots of businessmen in charge who want to make lots of money\nquickly, and couldn't care less about the quality of the search results.\n\n~~~\nspiffworks\n>What you don't realize is that since Google went IPO, it's not all about\nbuilding an amazing search engine. It's a lot about revenues and net profits.\nThere are lots of businessmen in charge who want to make lots of money\nquickly, and couldn't care less about the quality of the search results.\n\nFirst of all, Google went public in 2004. I would like you to point me to a\nstudy showing the steady decline in quality since that time. Who are these\n'lots of businessmen' you talk about? One of the complaints about Google has\nactually been that they prefer to have engineers in all sorts of roles\nincluding management.\n\nNow, since you've gone all conspiracy theorist, I have a theory of my own, I\nhope you will excuse it. My theory is that the pro-Apple blogging community\nhas gone ape-shit over a perceived threat to iOS from Google, and are now\nlooking at them as 'The enemy', and this whole rash of blog posts maligning\nGoogle is part of a larger 'Death by a thousand paper cuts' strategy to make\nGoogle seem uncool, and therefore, as we all concur, dead. I also believe that\nsaid bloggers are in fact undercover employees of Apple who get paid by the\nnumber of times they mention Apple products in reviews of their competitors'\nproducts, but that's just me being nuts.\n\n~~~\nrorrr\nYou seriously believe financial and strategical decisions are made by tech\npeople at Google? That's just silly. Look at glassdoor. They have finance\npeople, directors and executives of all kinds. They also have shareholders.\nThose are the people who make important decisions.\n\nAnd then you call me a conspiracy theorist, immediately followed by a pretty\ninsane conspiracy theory about Apple community. I'm not even an Apple fan.\n\n~~~\nspiffworks\nFirst, let me just say sorry for the previous comment. Clearly, my attempt at\nhumour fell flat. I never intended to imply that you were an apple fan or\nanything of the sort.\n\nWhat I meant to say was that I've seen many reports which show a large\npercentage of executives at Google to be engineers and programmers, although I\ncan't find a link right now. However, I seriously doubt that Google engineers\nwould have gone along without revolt down a slippery slope as the one implied\nin the original article.\n\n~~~\nrorrr\nIt doesn't matter whether our theories are right or not.\n\nThe facts are\n\n1) Google search results are full of spam.\n\n2) Many of the spam sites have been reported (I reported a few myself) and\nblogged/written about for years.\n\nWhat can one conclude from that? I think there are 2 possible explanations\n\n1) It's not in Google's financial interests\n\n2) Google is failing at filtering spam\n\nI doubt it's true, because simply banning the top 1000 spammy domains would\ncut more than 99% of the search spam. It's something that an intern can do.\n\nIf Google wants a pure algorithmic solution instead, well, good luck to them.\nI think until AI is smarter than humans, such solution doesn't exist. Spammers\ncan always find loopholes in algorithms.\n\n~~~\nTeHCrAzY\nI doubt they are failing at spam, at least not in the common sense. My gmail\naccount received 1000's of spam emails a week, and it's a rare for one to pass\nthe filter, and even rarer for a genuine email to not.\n\nIt most likely a much simpler explanation: web results with content explicitly\ngenerated for a specific target search string is simply getting closer and\ncloser to being actual genuine content, and thus harder and harder to\ndifferentiate and filter.\n\n------\nnavyrain\nThe adage \"cock-up over consipiracy\" comes to mind when reading this. What the\nauthor implies is that Google is knowingly keeping spam sites in their results\nso as to profit from them. Google is still the largest player in search by a\ngood margin, so I suspect it is more the case that spammers are targeting\ntheir SEO spammy skills to Google's algorithm, and google just fails to\nwithstand the onslaught.\n\n~~~\ncodeup\nGoogle may be experimenting to find the right balance between spam and search\nquality. \"Right\" meaning the most profitable.\n\n~~~\nbrudgers\nNot doing so would a breech of their fiduciary responsibility to their share\nholders.\n\n~~~\njarrett\nTheir duty to the stockholders is to do what's in the best interest of the\ncompany. It's not a breach of duty for a company to forego short-term profits\nif, in the management's judgement, those short-term profits can only be had by\ndamaging the company's long-term prospects.\n\nGoogle stands to make the most money in the long run by being the preferred\nsearch engine for the most people. Right now, they are. But that could change\nif another search engine can convince people they deliver results with less\nspam.\n\n~~~\nbrudgers\nYou are assuming that balancing \"ad spam\" with utility is something new. One\nonly needs to consider how long Google's search results have been tailored to\nthe local from which they originate to get a sense of how long Google may have\nbeen adjusting results.\n\n------\ncodeup\nGoogle profits more from spammy search results than from quality search\nresults? I don't think so. _Definitely not in the long run_.\n\n~~~\nsamatman\nI believe the point was more that Google profits both from spammy search\nresults AND from quality search results.\n\nThat's a conflict of interest, one well spelled-out in the original post: When\nremoving all spam (let's pretend it's possible) will negatively impact\nrevenue, even short-term, there's less motivation to do it.\n\n~~~\nAndrew_Quentin\nwhy would it impact revenue if spam was removed, even temporarily?\n\nWouldn't the people who went to spamy sites go to the \"good\" sites and still\nclick on these sites thus still make google money?\n\nUnless you are suggesting that the spamy sites are the only ones available and\nif they disappeared searchers would not be shown results, I do not quite see\nwhy removing spam would hit the bottom line.\n\n~~~\ngojomo\nThere are several mechanisms where marginal increases in spam could increase\nGoogle's profits, as long as the effect isn't so bad people leave for another\nalternative entirely.\n\n(1) If the natural search result landing pages are slightly lower quality –\nawful writing created via lowest-bidder/freelancer content mills – but the\nAdWords landing pages remain higher-quality, due to more investment and\nability-topay filtering, then AdWords results become more attractive to users.\nThat's more clickthroughs and more revenues.\n\n(2) If the first page of results reviewed by a user doesn't resolve their\nintent, so they reformulate a more specific query, Google gets to display a\nsecond, perhaps better-targeted set of ads on the second query – a second\nchance at satisfying the user goal via a paid placement rather than an unpaid\nresult.\n\n(3) If there are good natural results sites for a topic that lack ads, but\nothers can be created with roughly the same info that have AdSense, unless\nGoogle specifically punishes sites for containing AdSense, the relative number\nof AdSense sites with duplicate info will multiply over time. Even if they are\never-so-lightly better (or 'as good' to low-literacy readers), and thus appear\n'good' in some of Google's algorithms, they wind up wasting time in aggregate\nwith duplication, and dilute the traffic/community of original ad-free source\nsites. More likely, though, they are just-enough-better in the cynical 'SEO'\ndimensions to display other less profit-maximized sites, and thus may be worse\nin the (not directly measurable) value-to-readers dimensions. Still, in the\nshort- and medium-term, the multiplication of such sites, and replacement of\nAdSense-free sites with Adsence-drenched sites, makes Google money.\n\n~~~\nAndrew_Quentin\nlow-literacy readers?\n\n11159 karma points does not give you the card to play mr arrogant gojo.\n\nBut thank you for your explanation.\n\nI think the first point is quite clever and does make sense, but it has to be\nbalanced with the number of visitors that google may loose by allowing the\nindex to become spamy.\n\nThe second point seems to be what everyone is thinking of and perhaps the\nstrongest argument to suggest that google might not want to tackle spam. For\nthat argument to gain any credibility however it needs to be shown that other\nsearch engines, i.e. bing, which perhaps do not have a conflict of interest\nare doing better at showing quality results. Otherwise, I think it makes it\nmore likely that there are other reasons than conflict of interest.\n\nAs to the third point, the cases that it would apply to I would think are\nminiscule in the grand scheme of search, not least because a very tiny\nminority of websites does not use ads, excluding e-commerce.\n\nFinally, I think a strong argument for google to tackle spam, and against the\nproposition that google does not want to, is that google would make much more\nmoney by converting more clicking visitors into customers for the adword\nlanding page. If spamy sites have a much lower conversion of clickers for the\nadword customers, then cutting off these spammers would increase the\nconversion rate, leading to higher payments for clicks to google by adword\nusers.\n\n~~~\ngojomo\n<http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20050314.html>\n\nPretending these low-literacy users — 43% of the US adult population! — don't\nexist, or can't be discussed frankly, is less respectful than seeking to\nunderstand them.\n\nIt's quite likely that these people are late adopters of web search, and thus\ntheir proportion of Google users is still rising. Consider, also, that there\nis evidence that lower-income, lower-education users are more likely to click\non ads.\n\nI've been perplexed when discussing content mills with Googlers how they\nquickly assert (often in similar phrasing, suggesting a party line passed\nalong in internal or official communications) that reasonable arguments (or\nvery subtly, internal studies) imply many users appreciate the content mills'\nwriting.\n\nPerhaps it's the low-literacy users who are happy to land on a mill site.\nEither they can't tell the difference from a quality, authoritative treatment\n— or maybe even the plodding, keyword-stuffed, repetitive writeups are\nactually reassuring for slower readers.\n\nThere has to be a logical reason, other than Google venality, that such awful\nspamglish writing decked in AdSense ranks so highly.\n\n~~~\ngamble\nIt ranks highly because the content farms target long-tail searches where it's\neasy for marginal content to dominate the results. They are in a sense\narbitrageurs. They use software to located search terms where the revenue from\nads outweighs the cost of commissioning and ranking a low-quality page.\n\n------\nrit\nThis is Mutually Assured Destruction though. There's a delicate balance\nbetween Google profiting from spammers running google ads and the profits\ndropping as users trust google less and search elsewhere.\n\nIn the long run, it's a losing prospect for Google: short term profits at the\ncost of long term reputation and trust doesn't make sense for a company as\nlarge and as public as they are.\n\n------\ntoddmorey\nGoogle's service to me, the customer, is fast, useful search results. There is\nno way they've confused their real customers for spam sites... that's just too\nshort-sighted and there are zero barriers to people switching if a competitor\nwith better results came along. But here's what I don't get: Lots of companies\nimplement customer feedback to improve their services. I can't decide why\nGoogle hasn't done some sort of browser plugin (or other approach) that allows\nyou very simply thumbs down a site when it's a not useful result. Enough\nnegative feedback from real users and a site could be demoted in organic\nsearch. Is that just too hard to build in a way that couldn't be easily gamed?\n\nEdit: I know they experimented with voting arrows on the results page and I'm\ncurious why some variant of that hasn't been deployed more widely.\n\n~~~\nnzmsv\nThere's a Chrome extension for reporting spam:\n[https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/efinmbicabejjhja...](https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/efinmbicabejjhjafeidhfbojhnfiepj)\n\nNo idea how seriously these reports are taken, and whether or not something\nlike the fake Mastercam blog would be considered spam.\n\n------\nAndrew_Quentin\nWould have been interesting to learn if the \"decent\" websites converted better\ninto buying than the \"spam\" sites.\n\n------\nOmarIsmail\nThere's one thing that I really don't understand with this recent trend of\nGoogle-bashing. The lack of distinction between the scraper spammers and\ncontent farms like Demand Media. The author here lists some examples of\nsearches that have scraper results, but then goes and talks about Demand Media\nwithout any specific DM examples. Why is that?\n\nI'm not going to say that Demand Media content is world class, or even good,\nbut it's a far cry from scraper-spam and I don't think it's honest to group\nthe two.\n\n~~~\ngamble\nI'm not sure there's any moral distinction between paying a human being to\nrewrite Wikipedia or using a scraper to copy it. The key difference is that\nthe later is a copyright violation, which a company like Demand Media can't do\nso long as they have ambitions toward legitimacy. If they could generate the\ncontent algorithmically, they would.\n\n~~~\nOmarIsmail\nI think this kind of thinking is quite dangerous. Again, you're trying to lump\nin Demand Media/Content Farms with these scrapers and that can have dangerous\nconsequences, because where do you draw the line?\n\nEven in an automated scraper scenario, things aren't clear cut. How much\nprocessing needs to be done on source data before it goes from illegitimate\ncopying to value-add? Fundamentally Google is just a really really amazing\nscraper system.\n\nSame thing with content farms. At what point does original content go from\n\"paraphrasing Wikipedia\" to providing useful summary information? Should\nWikipedia now hold a defacto monopoly on summary-style encyclopedic\ninformation?\n\n------\njeffreyrusso\nI agree that it's important to distinguish between the different types of\ncontent everyone is registering grievances against...\n\nScraped content and empty directory pages (that washing machine reviews page\nthat has nothing more than an H1 and some crummy auto-generated sentences)\nvs... Mediocre human written content from sites like e-How and other Demand\nmedia properties.\n\nThe first kind of content is pretty clearly spam, and doesn't deserve a place\nin the index. Everyone can agree on that, and I'm perplexed as to why Google\nhasn't taken more action against these types of sites. I have a hard time\nbelieving they can't do it algorithmically.\n\nThe second type isn't as clear cut. Most of the readers here and on the cited\ntech/search blogs know what this content is and where it comes from, and are\nprobably a bit more critical of it than the average user for that very reason.\nI agree that these article directory pages are usually painfully mediocre, but\nI wonder if they aren't \"good enough\" from the point of view of someone who\ndoesn't know better. After all, I havent seen much of an outcry about search\nquality coming from the mainstream; it seems limited to HN and other tech\ncircles.\n\n------\nlysium\nWouldn't people that click on the ad links of the spam sites also click on the\nad links of the non-spam sites?\n\nSo what's Google's benefit to annoy everybody with non-quality search results?\nI'd guess, the SEO is currently just too good.\n\n~~~\nYzupnick\nI think (as in I am making this up, but it makes sense to me) that spam sites\nbring in more revenue to Google as they are specifically designed so that\npeople click on the adds. While non-spam sites are generally designed to\ndeliver content.\n\n~~~\nuxp\nI am no SEO expert, or even amateur. I understand the concept of pagerank, but\nI really don't care much for it, yet.\n\nI agree with your hunch; however, bounce rate is a relatively bad thing. If,\nusing analytics, you see that most users navigate away from your page within\n30 seconds, you probably don't have engaging content. How is that different\nthan the user clicking on an AdSense ad because the content on a spam site\nisn't connecting emotionally or intellectually with the users? If anything,\nGoogle should be giving a negative score to sites that have a huge percentage\nof their users that actually click on ads to continue the search for what they\nwere originally looking for... though that is basically the opposite of their\nbusiness model, to have users click on ads.\n\n------\nshawnee_\nSilly _robots_ , Google _Instant_ promotes spam, not relevant search results.\n. .\n\n~~~\nlukev\nInstant delivers the same results as with Instant turned off...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nApple Has Acquired Lala - novicecoder\nhttp://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/04/apple-acquires-lala/\n\n======\npsranga\nI'll be out $5 (and I was expecting to spend more this weekend) if they cease\nthe streaming service. Just today, Etherpad abandoned their product. If Lala\nfollows suit, I'll probably never pay money or commit seriously to a small\nstartup's \"cloud service\".\n\n~~~\nbumblebird\nI don't think they're the norm. Several startups are in it for the long haul\nrather than selling out+shutting down.\n\n~~~\ndagw\nBut how can you tell one from the other? I'm sure many an entrepreneur has\nsworn up and down that they are in this for long haul and will never sell out,\nright up until the point where someone shows up with a large bag of cash.\n\nGiving money to a small startup is always a gamble, and if all you've bought\nis access to a web app then you have to take into consideration that they can\ntake that away from you at any time.\n\n~~~\nbumblebird\nI'd say you can tell if the startup has been around for a year or 2. If so,\nthey're probably going to stay around for a while.\n\n~~~\nllimllib\nlala's been around for a long time. (About a year (?) in the current\nincarnation, much longer in a CD-swapping incarnation. I used both)\n\n------\ncmelbye\nI really hope that Apple realizes how good Lala is and doesn't shut it down.\nI'm listening to it right now, in fact, and it is incredibly nice to stream\nmusic from the cloud to my netbook. This might even be a good thing, perhaps\nnow their iPhone app will be accepted more quickly and they'll have the funds\nto further invest in a desktop client like Spotify's.\n\n~~~\nmanvsmachine\nI too was listening to Lala when I heard about this, and I was _instantly_\nconcerned. The current model that they have going is really good imo, and I\nfeel like it's inevitable that Apple will cannibalize it and merge the\nfunctionality into iTunes, so as to exclude its use by non-iTunes users. I'd\nlove for it to remain in a semi-independent kind of position, kind of like\nwhere Hulu is (was?). Not to be a hater (I actually like Apple products, even\nthough I don't use them), but has Apple acquired _any_ technology recently\nthat they haven't locked down into their little ecosystem?\n\n~~~\npmorici\nTo be fair Apple doesn't normally acquire products they usually build their\nown. The only other two acquisitions in recent memory were PA-semi and that\nmaps company neither of which had a directly consumer facing product that I\ncan recall.\n\n~~~\ncubicle67\nand also, somewhat ironically in this case, iTunes\n\n------\njsz0\nIt doesn't make sense for Apple to buy Lala just to offer their own streaming\nservice via iTunes. Apple could have done that in house. I think they wanted\nthe social networking pieces. Not only for discovery of new music but as a\nlegitimate social networking site for like minded individuals. A Twitter for\nmusic sharing, discussion, official band pages, tour information, merchandise\nadvertising, etc. The difference is Apple has a business model. Free streaming\nvia the web, paid subscription service to sync the music offline to your\niPod/iPhone, and classic iTunes purchasing for music & video. Might as well\nexpand it to the iTunes App Store too. Peer recommendation of apps, more\noptions for promoting your apps via social networking, maybe one-click\npurchases/installs via the web. Multi-player iPhone gaming with your iTunes\nFriend List (ala Xbox Live) Tons of possibilities for Apple. All this fits\nnicely into iTunes LP, Genius, maybe even MobileMe.\n\n------\npmorici\nIs everything that doesn't run on the local machine called a \"cloud\"\napplication these days? The use of the word seems to have gotten out of hand\nto the point where saying something runs \"in the cloud\" is just synonymous\nwith the term remote sever.\n\n~~~\nmanvsmachine\nBeing nitpicky for a second:\n\nThere is a different between something being \"in the cloud\" and \"on a server\",\nthe difference being that if your stuff is just on a remote server, you\n_could_ go to wherever it is, point to it, and say \"that's where my stuff is\".\nWith cloud apps, your data / service is always available by the same means,\nbut its physical location / method of distribution may have changed an\nindefinite number of times without you ever noticing. It's just like shared\nhosting, where your server state is continuously preserved, even though you're\nnot actually hitting the same box.\n\nThat, said the term \"cloud\" is beaten to death, not because it's inaccurate,\nbut because grid / distributed computing is now the norm rather than the\nexception when dealing with web apps.\n\n~~~\npmorici\nExactly which is why I find it dubious that the term is used so readily when\nin most cases we have no knowledge of a services underlying implementation.\nIt's like the F-word of computing over used and generally unnecessary.\n\n------\ntrevorturk\nMaybe Lala has a really good deal set up with Google for those new music\nsearch results and Apple wanted in on that...?\n\n[http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/making-search-more-\nmu...](http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/making-search-more-musical.html)\n\n[http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=...](http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=coldplay&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8)\n\n------\nmilestinsley\nThis is probably pie in the sky thinking, but I hope this prompts Apple to\nlaunch a browser based version of iTunes, using the technology/expertise\nacquired from Lala.\n\n~~~\nhtsh\nI don't know if its pie-in-the-sky as much as its an inevitable reality?\nEverything is moving to the web. And they are building a big server farm.\n\nNow that things have shaken down a bit following the mp3.com legal debacle, it\nseems clear that Apple can let people access their own iTunes library via a\nbrowser without upsetting too many people.\n\n~~~\nmilestinsley\nYes. I didn't want to jump the gun, but this is certainly the ways things are\ngoing.\n\nI really hope you are right! :P\n\n------\nSemiapies\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=977632> for more info.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNode-os - fauria\nhttps://node-os.com/\n======\ndang\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8299523](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8299523)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7061338](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7061338)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8275426](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8275426)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7877777](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7877777)\n\n~~~\nandrewstuart2\nAnd don't forget:\n\n[https://hn.algolia.com/?q=node%20os](https://hn.algolia.com/?q=node%20os)\n\n------\nrandall\nLots of people are going to hate on this, but clearly it's a tinkerer trying\nto do something fun.\n\nYes: JavaScript isn't necessarily the best tool for the job, but so what? Fun\nhack. I'm not sure it's the future, but maybe it could be? Why not.\n\nGood luck!\n\n------\nifrit\nI can't imagine an idea that is worse than this. Yes, let's take a community\napproach to OS, fine. But relying on a language that is neither efficient nor\ndesigned with the core needs of an operating system is self defeating at best.\n\n~~~\nRadioactiveMan\nWhile I'd agree that it's not a good idea for a lot of purposes, that doesn't\nmean it's simply not a good idea. People will either be interested in playing\nwith it or they wont, in which case it will simply cease to be developed, and\nthe code will float around the Internet as an example of a cool little\nexperiment. Either way, Node OS is not going to hurt anyone.\n\n------\nlarme\nI saw the best minds of my generation wasted by coding everything in\njavascript\n\n~~~\nandrewstuart2\nIt's unfortunate that you see javascript, or that any engineer would see any\nlanguage, that way. JavaScript is an incredibly expressive language and has a\nvery real and beneficial place alongside strongly-typed and compiled\nlanguages.\n\nWe ought to recognize the use cases, as much as humanly possible, for all\nlanguages or frameworks or platforms (etc.) and simply use the best tools for\nany given job.\n\n~~~\nlojack\n> We ought to recognize the use cases, as much as humanly possible, for all\n> languages or frameworks or platforms\n\nI wouldn't exactly consider Operating Systems to be one of those use cases for\nJavascript. The flip side of knowing the use cases is knowing the limitations\nand understanding that \"everything\" isn't exactly a valid use case, which I\nbelieve is what larme was trying to say.\n\n~~~\nandrewstuart2\nI do see your point, and agree there. I initially (perhaps mistakenly) read\nlarme's comment as \"everything coded in javascript is a waste.\"\n\nI will say, though, that exploring the possibilities for a language is _not_ a\nwaste of time or mind. From stretching both mind and tool to do new things,\nnew insight can be gained or patterns formed that might never have been\nconsidered.\n\nAdditionally, nobody ever said an OS has to be the best at everything either.\nIt could be that a javascript-based OS, while perhaps not as efficient at\ngenerating machine code, may end up being much more efficient for humans. This\nwould certainly be a win for many tasks such as management that should be\noptimized for human use.\n\n~~~\nlojack\nI agree. Didn't mean to say that this project wasn't interesting or a waste of\ntime or anything like that -- it definitely has its own merits.\n\n------\noscargrouch\nSo, sincere question (but a little bit rethoric, i confess):\n\nWhy someone would want this instead of a Linux box with node.js + npm? i mean,\nit would be understandable if this was a docker image with a javascript\ntoolbox builtin, to make the life of js devs easier, but a OS distribution?\n\nWith this you would be able to install, say, haskell or a rust dev\nenvironment, and if it does, whats the difference from a ubuntu linux with\nnode/npm with haskell and rust?\n\nI dont get the use-case here.. is there really a niche for this?\n\n\"Node-os is the first operating system powered by npm\"\n\nAnd? why is it good? why do i need it? sell me the idea! is npm something a\nneed badly? is enough reason for a OS dist?\n\n------\nsheldonk\nThis thing pops up on HN every other month\n\n------\ndrvortex\nIf node-js is based on Chrome's Javascript engine. Did you just make a\nalternative Chrome-OS?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFacebook Messenger builds in Uber integration - reagan83\nhttp://techcrunch.com/2015/12/16/facebook-messenger-transportation/\n======\nfluxquanta\n>alerts those in your chat thread that you have indeed grabbed a ride…instead\nof you lying that you have whilst still in your pajamas\n\nIs this actually an issue for anyone?\n\n~~~\ncarb\nYeah I think I will find it incredibly useful. Coordinating large groups of\nfriends to meet up is a hassle and I think those alerts will be very helpful.\n\"Oh man, Matt grabbed an Uber. I'll call mine now.\", etc.\n\nOf course, we'll see in practice how useful the alerts turn out to be.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: How many of C. E. Shannon's papers are still classified? - Kinnard\nHow many of C. E. Shannon&#x27;s papers are still classified?\n======\nbalazsdavid987\nThough I'm not familiar with the workings of classification, that question\nsounds paradoxical to me. Isn't that equivalent to something like, \"How many\nsecrets are there in the world?\"?\n\n~~~\nidoh\nMaybe the existence of a paper isn't classified, but the contents are, or\nheavily redacted.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSanos Operating System Kernel - HighTraffic\nhttp://www.jbox.dk/sanos/index.htm\nSanos is a minimalistic 32-bit x86 operating system kernel for network server appliances running on standard PC hardware. The kernel implements basic operating system services like booting, memory management, thread scheduling, local and remote file systems, TCP&#x2F;IP networking and DLL loading and linking. You can use Sanos as a small kernel for embedded server applications written in C or as a JeOS (Just enough Operating System). Sanos has a fairly standard POSIX based API and an ANSI Standard C library.<p>The kernel was developed as part of an experiment on investigating the feasibility of running java server applications without a traditional operating system only using a simple kernel. A win32 layer allowed the Windows version of a standard HotSpot JVM to run under Sanos, essentially providing a JavaOS platform for server applications.<p>While Sanos is self-contained in the sense that it can build itself, it can be cross-compiled under either Windows using Microsoft Visual C, or under Linux using GCC. Sanos applications can either be built under Windows using MSVC or under Sanos itself using the Sanos SDK.<p>WWW: http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.jbox.dk&#x2F;sanos&#x2F;index.htm\nSource: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;ringgaard&#x2F;sanos\n======\nmg794613\n[quote] Last, I need to address a controversial question: Was it a good idea\nimplementing my own operating system? Short answer: Probably not! While I\nmanaged to prove my initial hypothesis that complex operating systems are not\nneeded to run Java server applications, I could probably have done this\nwithout having to implement my own operating system. From a practical point of\nview, I could just have made a bare bone Linux installation, which is what I\nwould recommend to most people who want to try this, and this is what we are\ndoing where I work now. On the other hand, it was a lot of fun making Sanos,\nand I learned a lot doing it, also many things that are useful even if your\njob is not implementing operating systems. [/quote] And it hasn't had a update\nsince Mar 8, 2012? Or is it continuing on Github?\n\n------\nbarronli\nThanks for the awesome work! If the purpose is to run specific apps with\nminimal OS, can buildroot or some container-based approach achieve the same\ngoal?\n\n~~~\nHighTraffic\nI'm just the messenger, I like the project too. >>container-based Just create\na boot image. Qemu works out of the box.\n\nOn the Homepage exist Emails exchangedwith the creator. It was a brian fart to\nmove on to a exokernel 5 years ago.\n\nExokernel are on Ring 0. For any hardware virtualization, this is the perfect\noptimization in large cloud installations. Exokernel are easy to manage from\nring -1 VM software. And can boot in < 100 ms.\n\nSo a application node can be add to cloud setup or reboot after a crash. Btw\nthe author is working at a big search engine since over 10 year.\n\n~~~\nnickpsecurity\nAlternatively, unikernels like Erlang on Xen.\n\n------\nlaythea\nI find this a very good idea, but since the latest news update was 2012, how\nhas Sanos kept up with security vulnerabilities?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHumans Who Are Not Concentrating Are Not General Intelligences - andreyk\nhttps://www.skynettoday.com/editorials/humans-not-concentrating\n======\nlostmsu\nDupe\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19251755](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19251755)\n\nAlso a copy-paste of [https://srconstantin.wordpress.com/2019/02/25/humans-\nwho-are...](https://srconstantin.wordpress.com/2019/02/25/humans-who-are-not-\nconcentrating-are-not-general-intelligences/)\n\n~~~\nandreyk\nFor some context, as noted at top of article we re-posted it with permission\nsince the release of the larger GPT2 model led to a new slate of fearful\narticles on the topic and this has remained one of the best takes on it. Was\nnot aware it was already upvoted a bunch on HN before though, cool to see.\n\n~~~\nlostmsu\nThe guideline on HN is to use original link whenever possible.\n\nThe link should be changed.\n\n~~~\nandreyk\nah, whoops, was not aware. Seems I can't change the link, maybe mods can or\ncan just delete.\n\n------\nJackFr\nMakes me think of \"Hook\" by Blues Traveler:\n\n    \n    \n      It doesn't matter what I say\n      So long as I sing with inflection\n      That makes you feel I'll convey\n      Some inner truth or vast reflection\n      But I've said nothing so far\n      And I can keep it up for as long as it takes\n      And it don't matter who you are\n      If I'm doing my job then it's your resolve that breaks\n\n------\nxtiansimon\nNow if GPT-2 could write yet another beginner Python lists and tuples blog\npost, I prolly wouldn’t notice. If it could write a description which helped\nme to get my head around my client’s Swagger API I would be thrilled. No one\nreally has the time nor patience to explain it to me in a way that clicks.\n\n------\nEchoAce\n> “I’ve taught public school teachers, who were incredibly bad at formal\n> mathematical reasoning (I know, because I graded their tests), to the point\n> that I had not realized humans could be that bad at math”\n\nIs it just me or does this come off as incredibly rude? It’s one thing to say\npeople are bad at math but the phrasing of this seems insulting without\nreason, in my opinion.\n\n~~~\nChlorus\nIt just reeks of the same lazy garbage of that whole \"separating the\nprogramming goats from the sheep\" meme that went around a few years back.\n\"It's not that my pedagogy has faults, people are just inherently bad and\nthere's no point trying to teach them\"\n\n~~~\nSniffnoy\nShe doesn't claim that she couldn't teach them. She claimed that they were bad\nat formal reasoning.\n\n------\nGeee\nI've certainly noticed that most people speak on auto-pilot, basically just\nrepeating what they've heard or read. I wonder if just a few % of people are\nactually generally intelligent and everyone else is following along. Or is it\njust a random process, in which we are just repeating each other and making\nmistakes leads to new ideas.\n\n~~~\nGaryNumanVevo\nIt's an energy problem. Take the average mental energy level and divide it up\namong all the facets of daily life. Most of that is probably going to go into\nworking, eating, relaxing. Developing original opinions in every single field\nisn't realistic, so we'll find someone with authority and repeat what they\nsaid.\n\n------\nbitL\nI am thinking about using GPT-2 or better to write homeworks for my MBA...\nNobody would spot a difference (I am worried/relieved).\n\n~~~\njulienreszka\nDo it\n\n------\nFnoord\nCan someone explain the title? It doesn't make sense to me.\n\n~~~\nvisarga\nI think an even stronger version applies. Humans are not general\nintelligences. We are just good at keeping ourselves alive and making more of\nus on this planet (and in this ecosystem). All the rest - language, science,\nculture, economy - are just our current solution to solving the constraints of\nlife.\n\nIn order for an intelligence to be called general it would be necessary to be\neffective in all situations. Humans only perceive the world through our five\nlimited senses and then filters it through the coloured glass of our concepts.\nWe can't escape the limitations of our senses and mental models taken\ntogether.\n\nHumans can't even keep in the working memory more than 7 objects at once, some\npeople can handle a few more but not on the order of hundreds or thousands.\nWhat if the real ultimate theory of physics required a working memory of 1000\nobjects? We'd be forever blocked from grasping it like an ant vs. the stock-\nmarket. Programmers live at the edge of this grasping power and know the\nhorror of not being able to take it all in at once, and it's so easy to get\ninto such a situation.\n\nIt is possible that there is no general intelligence anywhere. It's always an\nintelligence of a specific environment, solving specific types of problems. A\ngeneral intelligence would need a much more varied and challenging environment\nin order to reach that level of intelligence.\n\nThe more complex the environment, the higher the intelligence of its agents.\nSo there is always going to be an upper limit to intelligence, and the\nenvironment has a lot to do with it. No intelligence is truly general.\n\n~~~\ncoldtea\n> _In order for an intelligence to be called general it would be necessary to\n> be effective in all situations._\n\nSo, basically, the author made a contrived definition of their own, and hand-\nwaved about how humans don't meet it...\n\n------\njerf\nIf you'd like to innoculate yourself, and have a bit of fun in the meantime,\nconsider reading\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/SubSimulatorGPT2/](https://www.reddit.com/r/SubSimulatorGPT2/)\n.\n\nIt's not just for fun, you can get a good sense of the algorithm. One of the\nthings it is somewhat prone to is some weird looping, like this:\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/SubSimulatorGPT2/comments/d1nwdg/if...](https://www.reddit.com/r/SubSimulatorGPT2/comments/d1nwdg/if_the_president_of_the_united_states_was_your/ezo3sce/)\nin which the algorithm generates the sentence \"Toss some leeches around and\nwait 'til we get there.\" (no, it does not make any more sense in context), and\nthen repeats that sentence nearly (but not quite!) exactly 23 more times. (I\nexpect this is a consequence of the way it is tracking some internal state; I\nassume these sentences are strange attractors in some sort of state that is\ngetting iteratively modified.)\n\nYou can also see that while it picks up some deep structure, a check of\nanything trained on /r/jokes\n([https://www.reddit.com/r/SubSimulatorGPT2/comments/d055mt/a_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/SubSimulatorGPT2/comments/d055mt/a_guy_is_having_a_hard_time_with_his_wifes/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x)\n) or /r/math\n([https://www.reddit.com/r/SubSimulatorGPT2/comments/d1yz1e/ho...](https://www.reddit.com/r/SubSimulatorGPT2/comments/d1yz1e/how_exactly_does_the_number_1_not_equal_2/)\n) the algorithm is definitely unable to deal with deeper structure right now.\nThe /r/jokes bot is humorous in its complete lack of humor, I mean, well\nbeyond any sarcastic snark about how unfunny /r/jokes may be. It has the\nstructure of jokes. There was one recent one that even asked \"What's a\npirate's favorite letter?\", and the bot had noticed the answer was being given\nin the form of letters, but I don't think a single instance of the bot\nproposed \"r\". But it does not understand humor in the _slightest_. Of the\nseveral dozen attempts at jokes I've at least skimmed, I believe it only\nachieved something that was at least recognizable as an attempt at humor once,\nand it still wasn't that funny. Likewise math. It's got a good idea there's\nthese \"prime number\" things and they're pretty important, but I've seen at\nleast half-a-dozen wrong definitions of what one is.\n\nIt's a very interesting algorithm. It's a great babbler. But on its own, it's\nnot a great solution to generating text. Although it may very well be able to\ngenerate text that can pass a casual skim text, as the article suggests.\nStill, it takes human curation to get that far. Any human that can read is\ngoing to guess something's inhuman about repeating \"Toss some leeches around\nand wait 'til we get there.\" 24 times in a row.\n\n~~~\noutworlder\n> If you'd like to innoculate yourself,\n\nDude, my malady got worse, not better. The comments there are up to a better\nstandard than most Youtube or Facebook comments.\n\n~~~\nwhatshisface\nReading that sub was a surreal experience. The most interesting part for me\nwas how it (completely subconsciously) changed the \"voice in my head\" reading\nvoice into something very dull and stilted, like a second grader reading a\nterrible essay out loud.\n\n------\nfallingfrog\nI’ve definitely had the experience of reading a human written paper, and just\nskimming it because it didn’t really seem to have a point. Then I sighed and\ndecided to really give it my attention and quickly realized that the reason it\nwas hard to read was because it was chock full of lazy thinking, bad\nanalogies, unexamined assumptions, and non sequiturs to begin with.\n\n------\nShorel\nNow, make an hybrid system merging this text generator with the classic\nsymbolic AI called CYC from Doug Lenat.\n\nIt could be able to generate all our news articles in whatever style we\nprefer.\n\nBye bye freelancer writers.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nIndexedDB: Indexing Problems - jorangreef\nhttp://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-webapps/2011JanMar/0762.html\n\n======\njorangreef\nIndexedDB provides inadequate indexing and querying features:\n\n1\\. It cannot index JSON objects with array values or support compound\nindexes.\n\n2\\. There is no way to intersect or union indexes when querying.\n\n3\\. There is no way for an application to pass in indexes to be modified when\nputting an object.\n\n4\\. Indexes must be created or deleted in a special setVersion transaction.\n\nIndexedDB takes on too much responsibility for trying to keep up with\napplication state (when this is not needed, see point 3) and not enough\nresponsibility for data storage, indexing, and querying (which is needed).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMatias Click Switches: Tactile mechanical keyswitches - arm\nhttp://matias.ca/switches/click/\n======\ntylerjwilk00\nThis article is lying or perhaps I am misunderstanding.\n\nThe article states: \"Cherry switches are linear — by definition, not tactile.\nThey lack a click leaf, which is required for tactile feedback.\"\n\nI have used and built several mechanical keyboards with Cherry MX Blue\nswitches. They _are_ non-linear and _do_ include a click leaf which gives the\nCherry MX Blue [1] its characteristic \"bump\" feel and click.\n\n[1] [https://ergodox-ez.com/pages/keyswitches](https://ergodox-\nez.com/pages/keyswitches)\n\n~~~\nkw71\nThey are also not very honest about \"Cherry copied our backlighting idea\" \\-\nall the MX I ever saw have a hole for a 3mm LED, and I'm sure I saw other\nvendors selling backlit keyboards with MX switches even if Cherry itself was\nlate to this game. I think it's all retarded, and it's not very innovative by\nitself to replace blue diodes or whatever with multicolor diodes. Whatever\nwill sell to kids eh?\n\n~~~\norev\nCherry has been around for decades, far longer than the idea of backlit\nkeyboards existed. Obviously at some point that became a thing so they would\nhave added the hole.\n\n~~~\nkw71\nBefore the backlit keyboards became a thing, the hole was meant for a lamp to\nshine through a window in the keycap, like caps lock.\n\nThe first Alps keyboard (Zenith SuperSport) I had actually had a lamp and\nwindow on the caps lock key!\n\n------\nsz4kerto\nI have a Matias Ergo Pro. It's a brilliant split keyboard. Great quiet but\ntactile switches, tenting, etc.\n\nBut the QC is terrible. The interconnect cable had connection issues, keys are\noften 'stuck' (not physically, just keeps repeating until I press it again),\netc.\n\nAnd the internet is full with complaints. It's a pity, but I would not\nrecommend them right now. (I've sent it back then got a new one with exactly\nthe same issues, then I didn't bother in the end even though I paid more than\n200 Euros for it.)\n\n~~~\ntuananh\nfor me, the problem is the key (pressing 1 time resulting in 2 chars, not sure\nwhat's the proper term for that)\n\n~~~\ntincholio\nkey chatter is the term you're looking for. You can usually fix it in your OS\nkeyboard settings (increasing a bit the repeat delay)\n\n~~~\ntuananh\nbut it just happens to a single key. i think it's defect rather than os\nsettings\n\n~~~\nswampangel\nIt is a physical problem with the key. You can fix it by disassembling the key\nand cleaning the contacts:\n\nOriginal guide - [https://imgur.com/a/elAFF#0](https://imgur.com/a/elAFF#0)\n\nThread with context -\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/2hjct6...](https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/2hjct6/help_opening_a_matias_switch/)\n\nHowever, this is really Matias's problem to resolve. Supposedly the switch or\nthe assembly process has been redesigned to prevent this problem in the newest\nbatch, but I don't know if it's a proven success.\n\n~~~\ntuananh\nthanks for the tip but i have moved on to other boards. this was a few years\nback.\n\n------\nrlonstein\nI've gone through a lot of keyboards. IBM, Unicomp, Sun Type 4 and 5, Apple\nALPS with ADB converter, a bunch with various Cherry switches including Filco,\nLeupold, etc.\n\nI had two Matias keyboards, the tactile pro (I think original) and the 2, and\nwhile the switches are okay neither held up to daily use with keys that\nwobbled, cracked plastic, and both suffered from keybounce and had poor NKRO\n(enough that I noticed it in Emacs). No thanks.\n\nI settled on a KUL tenkeyless board with Cherry Green key switches[1] which\nfeel similar to buckling spring and it takes up less deskspace. The caps have\nworn slick and the printing nearly gone but the feel is still good.\n\n[1]\n[https://deskthority.net/wiki/Cherry_MX_Green](https://deskthority.net/wiki/Cherry_MX_Green)\n\n~~~\nyla92\nDid you manage to try HHKB Topre ?\n\n~~~\nrlonstein\n> Did you manage to try HHKB Topre ?\n\nI used a colleague's for part of a day. I didn't like it-- key feel or\nlayout-- which saved me a few hundred dollars. As a bit of a collector, I'll\nprobably get a Realforce eventually.\n\n~~~\nyla92\nThe layout is a bit awkward at first, mainly due to no arrow keys. I switched\nto HHKB from Poker 3 (another keyboard with 40% layout). Even then I had a\nbrief amount of hard times adjusting to HHKB. Nowadays, I use both of them at\nhome and office and love them.\n\nI heard Realforce are pretty good too!\n\n------\njmull\nI loved my Matias keyboards, but they just did not last.\n\nAfter a while I’d start getting dead keys and double-characters. Pulling the\nkey caps, blowing some air, and putting them back on helps... for a while.\nUltimately, it was too frustrating and now I’m back to an un-clacky keyboard\n:( oh, well.\n\n~~~\nsleepybrett\nYeah the Matias Alps clone switches are notorious for accumulating crap inside\nthe switch causing them to need to be cleaned to maintain working order.\n\n------\ntuananh\nI love matias switches, however my experience with them is terrible. i got\nreplacement twice (3 boards), however, none of them work properly.\n\n~~~\nmseidl\nI have a keyboard with a mathias silent switches, but I'm replacing it with a\nPok3r with browns. I like the browns better.\n\n------\nbovermyer\nI have two mechanical keyboards. One is a Corsair K70 with Cherry reds that I\nuse for gaming at home. The other is a Velocifire T11 with brown (non-Cherry)\nswitches that I bought for $37 on Amazon, which I use at work.\n\nThe K70 I've had for at least 5 years now, and it still works flawlessly. The\nT11 I've had for about a year and a half, and it also works flawlessly.\n\n~~~\nssebastianj\nMy first (and current) mechanical keyboard was a Corsair K70 non-RGB with\nCherry MX Browns. I don't game so I use it mostly for work-related tasks:\nprogramming, writing docs, books. I'm quite happy with it so far.\n\n------\nPingk\nI have a Matias Quiet Pro Mini (2016) and it's by far the most comfortable\nmech I've tried (Cherry brown, red, blue and black. Would like to try clear\nand green).\n\nFrom what I've heard their QC has improved over the past couple of years, and\nI've not had any problems with mine. They're also working on PBT keycaps which\nshould arrive in a few months.\n\nThe dream would be a Planck or Preonic with Matias switches...\n\n~~~\nzaarn\nI do recommend trying Clears. I have a natural heavy typing, I do hammer keys\nwith extreme force if they have any more way than cheap rubberdome keyboards.\n\nThe clears are very nice to type on though I wish I would have had a chance to\ntry the superblacks. I'm looking into ways to increase the force on the\nswitches for a while now, springs have been suggested at some point.\n\n------\namelius\nHalfbaked idea: somebody should start a service where you upload a 3d design\nof a keyboard, including a mapping of keys to keycodes, and they will build\nthe keyboard for you.\n\n~~~\nnicwest\nso while it's not exactly the all in one service you describe, you can do\nsomething similar already:\n\n[http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/](http://www.keyboard-layout-\neditor.com/)\n\nto design your layout, then\n\n[http://builder.swillkb.com/](http://builder.swillkb.com/)\n\nto design a layer case, files go to a laser cutting service,\n\nthen you would need a controller of some sort (commonly something like a\n[https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/](https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/)), switches,\ndiodes, usb ports, etc.\n\nthen hand wire everything together.\n\ntmk/qmk is more or less a defacto standard in custom keyboard firmware:\n\n[https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware](https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware)\n\nhere are some examples of people generating firmware with webtools, I don't\nknow what they use on the backend.\n\n[https://www.massdrop.com/configurator/ergodox](https://www.massdrop.com/configurator/ergodox)\n\n[http://qmk.thevankeyboards.com/](http://qmk.thevankeyboards.com/)\n\n------\nsleepybrett\nMatias switches are knockoffs of the classic Alps switches you might find in\nan older apple, dell or SGI board. However their tacticle is nowhere near as\ngood as classic brown alps. They also have a reputation for collecting dirt,\ncausing them to need to be cleaned to stay in good working order.\n\nMy suggestion, just go with cherry or their knockoffs unless you really really\nwant to use a classic set of alps keycaps.\n\n------\njonloldrup\nHaving tendon issues in my wrists, I would love a linear keyboard with gentle\npush down force. Or at least just gentle push down force. Any suggestions?\n\n~~~\njdietrich\nThe Gateron Clear switch is the lightest linear switch currently available,\nwith an actuation force of about 30g - half that of a typical membrane key\nswitch and 50% less than the Cherry MX Red linear switch. It's not a\nparticularly popular switch, because it's so light that the weight of your\nfingers tends to cause accidental keypresses on the home row. Nonetheless, you\ncan buy a KBParadise V60 keyboard with Gateron clears. The Qisan Magicforce 68\nis occasionally available with Gateron clear switches. Alternatively, you\ncould buy the keyswitches and build a keyboard to your own specifications\nusing a bare keyboard PCB.\n\n[http://www.mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_...](http://www.mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_list&c=248)\n\n[https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gateron-Clear-switch-3-pin-for-\nmech...](https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gateron-Clear-switch-3-pin-for-mechanical-\nkeyboard-65-90-110-200-pcs-/253338042226)\n\n[https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_det...](https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=536)\n\n~~~\ncjbprime\nSeconded Gateron Clears (though I've heard the activation force is more like\n35g than 30g). I use them on a Noppoo Choc Mini.\n\nI'm a fast typist (around 130wpm) and use these switches just to try to\nimprove speed, rather than anything relating to health. They're also great for\ngaming for me, playing Starcraft 2.\n\nAnother option around 35g is non-mechanical electro capacitive switches in the\nstyle of Topre, e.g. [https://www.nizkeyboard.com/product/plum-84-ec-\nmechanical-ke...](https://www.nizkeyboard.com/product/plum-84-ec-mechanical-\nkeyboard-rgb-or-non-rgb/)\n\n------\ntuananh\nanyone participated in their 60% groupbuy? it's been 4 years but nothing is\nconcrete yet :(\n\n[https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=65528.0](https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=65528.0)\n[http://matias.ca/60/pc/](http://matias.ca/60/pc/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSolar Industry's Future Lies in Lightweight Technology - vaultcool\nhttps://www.scientificamerican.com/article/solar-industrys-future-lies-in-lightweight-technology/\n======\njpm_sd\nOdd choice to feature Project Loon in the banner image. I designed the solar\narray for Loon, it's built from plain old mono crystalline silicon cells.\nSure, they're high efficiency cells, in a lightweight plastic stack up (no\nglass), but there's no exotic thin film cell technology in there. The options\n(so far) are either too expensive, or too inefficient.\n\n~~~\nyazr\nAre these the space-grade multi-junction panels? Are the Loon panels size-\nconstrained or cost-constrained ?\n\nThe article itself is odd - most PV will go to utility and commercial scale.\nEven on rooftop, aesthetics are possibly down the list after durability,\nreliability, efficiency and cost.\n\n~~~\nwalrus01\nFrom the photos I've seen, no, they are not using triple junction GaAs cells.\nBoeing/spectrolab cells are incredibly expensive. They used high efficiency\n156mm monocrystalline silicon cells. Just not in a glass + aluminum frame like\nyou'd see on a roof.\n\nedit: at least in 2013 they were using thin film amorphous silicon, or what\nappears to be CdTe thin film flexible, not rigid cells encapsulated in clear\nlightweight membrane.\n\n[https://www.wired.com/images_blogs/business/2013/06/20130609...](https://www.wired.com/images_blogs/business/2013/06/20130609-3B6B2491-660x439.jpg)\n\n------\nspenrose\nThis appears to be the source paper:\n[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-018-0258-1](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-018-0258-1)\n\n... and NREL press release: [https://www.nrel.gov/news/press/2018/nrel-\nidentifies-where-n...](https://www.nrel.gov/news/press/2018/nrel-identifies-\nwhere-new-solar-technologies-can-be-flexible.html)\n\n~~~\nagumonkey\nnrel is full of super interesting reports, such as EV efficiency and\nprojections\n\n------\nwalrus01\nThis article seems to make the point that lightweight thin film photovoltaics\nare the future. I'll offer a counterpoint:\n\nMassive economies of scale and automation are the future for PV. Using\nstandard 60 and 72 cell polycrystalline and monocrystalline silicon cells.\nIt's already not uncommon to see 5 to 10 megawatt sized ground mount PV\nsystems.\n\nGetting the $ per STC watt lower for panels is key. Having quick to build, low\ncost and efficient ground mount systems is an important part of it.\n\nThings will be very different economically when a 360W, 72 cell panel I can\nbuy now at $0.58/W is more like $0.22/W.\n\nBattery storage is the other important part. The technological problem of\ngenerating enough watthours in one day is SOLVED. Storing and using it\nconsistently 24x7 is now the hard part.\n\n~~~\nllukas\n> Storing and using it consistently 24x7 is now the hard part.\n\nIs it really? [https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2018/03/01/12-hours-energy-\nstora...](https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2018/03/01/12-hours-energy-\nstorage-80-percent-wind-solar/)\n\nedit: added quote from parent\n\n~~~\nwalrus01\nIt's not so much that it's hard technologically, as the Tesla massive battery\nsystem in Australia has recently proven, but to do on a REALLY huge scale at\nan economical $ per kWh cost, and the lifecycle cost of the batteries. When\ncompared to current non-carbon-producing energy sources like big hydroelectric\ndams, big pumped-storage hydroelectric.\n\n[https://reneweconomy.com.au/tesla-big-battery-turns-one-\ncele...](https://reneweconomy.com.au/tesla-big-battery-turns-one-\ncelebrates-50-million-in-grid-savings-95920/)\n\nEvery few months I see some big press release and tech press media hype about\nliquid metal batteries and flow batteries, I've yet to see something useful\nthat has a market price beyond \"contact us for more details\".\n\nIt seems to mostly be all test and evaluation installs on a small scale so\nfar.\n\n[https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/pullman-project-\nte...](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/pullman-project-testing-huge-\nbatteries-to-store-energy-2/)\n\n------\nsys_64738\nIf you look at homes in America the solar panels are these big heavy\nlumbersome things. They're unsightly to look at and devalues the leafy suburb\nview. These panels are really v1 of the solar panels for homes. You need solar\nshingles as the true means to maximize solar in homes. Hopefully those will\ncome within the next decade.\n\nFor now I will avoid solar power.\n\n~~~\nloueed\nTesla is already manufacturing solar shingles, they use tempered glass and are\nmore than three times stronger than standard roofing tiles\n[https://www.tesla.com/solarroof](https://www.tesla.com/solarroof)\n\n~~~\nheimatau\nWiring up their solar shingles isn't cost effective due to labor. Their solar\nroofs is a negative income stream for Tesla. When is the last time you heard\nthe Solar Roof grow into 'record breaking growth'? It hasn't and it won't\nbecause Tesla is still trying to make the labor expense cheaper.\n\nLook into the labor it takes to install an entire Solar Roof vs installing a\nnew roof plus traditional solar installation. On a dollar for dollar basis, it\nmay look competitive but Tesla is selling their Solar Roof's at a loss.\n\nTesla is selling their Solar Roof at a loss. Not at a profit. It's labor\nintensive and they aren't growing at a fast rate because of that hidden\nexpense.\n\nDisclosure: I installed around 200kw of solar panels and did a decent amount\nof research into Tesla's Solar Roof since it seemed so novel and innovative.\nThe wiring of the Solar Roof is much more complicated than what is publicly\nunderstood. Tesla's good at PR because most of the public are superficial in\ntheir understanding. Tesla most likely saves a lot of money in the\nmanufacturing process of the solar shingles but they lose money due to their\ncomplicated wire installation process. How are those shingles connected on the\nunderside? How are those wires protected from the elements, without affecting\nthe plywood on the roof? Etc. These are simple questions that are often\noverlooked.\n\n~~~\nNeedMoreTea\nThere's plenty of companies other than Tesla offering solar roof tiles who\naren't selling at a loss. Wiring seems to be a simple case of plugging them\nin. How do Tesla manage to make this complex or labour intensive?\n\nFirst one that cropped up in search:\n[http://www.reuk.co.uk/wordpress/solar/solar-roof-\ntiles/](http://www.reuk.co.uk/wordpress/solar/solar-roof-tiles/)\n\nIn the UK, mounting solar on top of the tiles is far more common as roofs are\nrarely replaced.\n\n~~~\nheimatau\nWow. The UK link you provide is running at about ~$7.65 per watt. That's\nextreme/exorbitant plus their tiles look ugly and I doubt the resell value on\nthe home will be as high as a Tesla Solar Roof (since aesthetics are king on\nhomes).\n\nCurrently, even in Cali a solar system ranges at about $4-5 per watt. The cost\nto redo a roof depends on the size but almost certainly it would be cheaper\nthan the extra $2.65-3.65 watt left over on using a conventional system and\nless long-term liability to homeowner to replace a roof and do conventional\nsolar.\n\n~~~\nheimatau\nAlso, let me further point out this system was a 2kw system which isn't enough\nto fully be energy independent as a home owner. Sizes range in the 5kw to 8kw,\nat least in the USA. So, that would add additional money into the equation and\nonly further emphasize my statement on 'that's exorbitant'.\n\n~~~\nNeedMoreTea\nUK homes use far less electric than the US, and air conditioning is almost\nunheard of.\n\nCommonest UK size for solar is currently 3-4kWp, which is plenty for household\nindependence, and above 5 or 6 rare. Earlier systems were smaller as panels\nwere costly. I think somewhere around 5 is the point an installation is\nconsidered commercial rather than domestic making larger even less attractive.\n\nExorbitant or not it pays based on UK electric prices and feed in tariffs.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nStartups at Scale: Make the abstract actionable - ksowocki\nhttp://owocki.com/2011/10/09/startups-scale-make-the-abstract-actionable/\n\n======\nbrendn\nYou might want to check out Logstash (<http://logstash.net/>). It's an open\nsource log aggregator, parser, and search tool. I haven't implemented it\nmyself yet, but it was one of my favorite software introductions at OSCON this\npast summer.\n\n~~~\nksowocki\nThanks!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nOptimal Waist-to-Hip Ratios in Women Activate Neural Reward Centers in Men - cwan\nhttp://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0009042\n\n======\nwaterlesscloud\nTranslation of title - \"Babes with curves are hot!!!\"\n\n~~~\ngcb\ntl;dr there's no pics.\n\n------\nradu_floricica\nThis is just a confirmation/refinement of something known for a very long\ntime. I just finished reading [http://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Desire-\nRevised-4/dp/04650080...](http://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Desire-\nRevised-4/dp/046500802X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266311756&sr=8-1) , if\nyou're interested in such stuff it's a really good book. Most of human \"mating\nbehaviour\" is understood to a pretty amazing degree if you read the right\nthings. Doesn't make actual mating any easier :p but it puts a lot of\nperspective into it.\n\n------\njff\nDidn't Sir Mix-a-Lot already formulate this as \"My anaconda don't want none\nunless you've got buns, hon\"?\n\n------\nGroxx\nAt the risk of sounding snobbish, brains turn me on _way_ more than bodies.\nBrains last, bodies go pretty quickly.\n\nMaybe I'm just poorly reward-motivated, though. My wife and I effectively\nlived together for 3 years before getting married, and we both waited until\nmarriage for sex.\n\n~~~\ncsytan\n\n        Brains last, bodies go pretty quickly.\n    \n\nNeither last without constant care & maintenance.\n\n~~~\nGroxx\nGranted, but the stereotypical \"ideal\" body simply doesn't last through a\nlifetime, no matter how it's maintained, though a mind can last through even\nthe longest life.\n\n------\nmetamemetics\nnews: Scientists Discover That People Think That Things That They Think Are\nGood Are Good.\n\n------\nswernli\nInterestingly enough, Waist-to-Hip Ratio (WHR) has come up here before:\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=908868>\n\n------\nfibonacci\nI kinda' prefer the golden ratio, myself. NSFW:\n[http://www.reddit.com/r/nsfw/comments/9v6zt/curvy_in_all_the...](http://www.reddit.com/r/nsfw/comments/9v6zt/curvy_in_all_the_right_places_follows_the_golden/)\n\n------\ngcb\nWonder why there's tons of those articles and they talk about fertility cues\nbut never deliver any solid data on this.\n\nit's always 'women prefer this mans face because of fertility cues', 'man\nprefers this ass because of fertility cues'.\n\n~~~\nGroxx\nThis is relatively solid data, actually. They used a fMRI to watch the blood\nflow (indicative of activity) in the \"reward center(s)\" of the brain with a\nhigher incidence than without that 0.7 ratio.\n\n* shrug * more proof that the super-thin look is horrible for both women AND men.\n\n~~~\nTichy\nI'd like to see the data on the hip-waist ratio indicating higher fertility.\nSeems to me most women are capable of bearing children.\n\n~~~\npyre\nThe baby has to fit through the hole in the middle of the pelvis. If a women's\nhips are narrower I would suspect that there is a higher likelihood of her\nbirth canal being narrower meaning less chance of a successful natural birth.\n\nYou really have to discount c-sections and such when thinking about\n'fertility' since it would stand to reason that a lot of reactions are\ninstinctual.\n\n> _I'd like to see the data on the hip-waist ratio indicating higher\n> fertility_\n\nYou might have trouble with that if you follow my advice and ignore medical\n'intervention' like C-sections since in previous years doctors would do a\nC-section at the drop of a hat (IIRC, the rate used to be 80% whereas now it's\naround 60%).\n\n[edit] further investigation makes my claims to be a bit 'pie in the sky:'\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-section#Incidence>\n\nHere is another relevant tidbit I found while investigating:\n\n    \n    \n      A previously unexplored reason for the increasing section rate is the\n      evolution of birth weight and maternal pelvis size. Since the advent of\n      successful Caesarean birth over the last 150 years, mothers with a small\n      pelvis and babies with a large birth weight have survived and contributed to\n      these traits increasing in the population. Even without fears of malpractice,\n      without maternal obesity and diabetes, and without other widely quoted\n      factors, the C-section rate will continue to rise simply due to slow changes\n      in population genetics.\n\n~~~\nTichy\nGood point about the c-sections, but still, I am not entirely convinced. For\none thing, that wouldn't explain waist/hip, or would it? It would then all be\nhip, and women would get increasingly larger hips? Also, thinking about Asia,\nI think women are very tiny there, and they still get children. Their babies\nare probably smaller, too. But making bigger and bigger babies does not seem\nto be a \"goal\" of evolution, either. Otherwise a woman's height would be\nattractive, which I don't think is the case.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLogin.gov - mooreds\nhttps://login.gov/\n======\njlgaddis\nI'm a little confused. First, they say:\n\n> _login.gov implements the latest National Institute of Standards and\n> Technology (NIST) standards for secure authentication and verification._\n\nThen:\n\n> _Two factor authentication requires that you login with your password and a\n> code that we send to your phone._\n\nI assume they're referring to SMS (I see references to Twilio)... but didn't\nNIST just recently say that SMS wasn't acceptable for 2FA?\n\nQuite pleased to read this, though:\n\n> _We welcome external review of our privacy-protection measures. All of our\n> code is available for public inspection in an open-source repository._\n\n\\-- [https://login.gov/security/](https://login.gov/security/)\n\n~~~\nEridrus\nSMS isn't great for security, but it's better than nothing and it scales well.\n\n------\ntradersam\nWoah! Cool idea. Never thought we'd get something so 2010 from the U.S.\ngovernment so early.\n\n~~~\nyellowapple\nTo be fair, 2010 technology in use by the U.S. government in 2017 is actually\npretty impressive. The expectation is usually 2000 technology in use by 2017\n(and that's, like, bleeding-edge).\n\n~~~\ntradersam\n> To be fair, 2010 technology in use by the U.S. government in 2017 is\n> actually pretty impressive.\n\nThat was the joke. :)\n\n------\nmooreds\nHere's the blog post announcing the effort if you want to see behind the\nscenes: [https://18f.gsa.gov/2017/08/22/government-launches-login-\ngov...](https://18f.gsa.gov/2017/08/22/government-launches-login-gov/)\n\n------\npzone\nI like it. Very happy to see the US Government's digitization efforts\ncontinue. At least we can can see SOME aspects of our government improving.\n\n------\ntrengrj\nAustralia has MyGov and I have to say it works really well\n[https://my.gov.au](https://my.gov.au).\n\nLinking accounts is fairly painless and I assume it also functions as a pseudo\nMDM (Master Data Management) tool in that Government departments have a unique\nkey to link people across different services.\n\n------\nkennydude\nIt sounds like a much simpler idea than GOV.UK Verify although the integration\n(SAML) seems quite similar.\n\nShame a lot of the SAML integration libraries don't seem that great\n\n------\ncbanek\nI'd like to bid on the United Nations login system.\n\n~~~\nDKnoll\nI don't believe there is any one unified system for end users (obviously they\nhave no citizens, only employees/agents/representatives), just AD for each\ncouncil/mission/etc.\n\nBut I do believe you're joking and I'm a pedant.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Native-American Origins of Gumbo - DoreenMichele\nhttps://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/native-american-gumbo\n======\nrmason\nThere are few dishes that bring so much pleasure than gumbo. The best gumbo\n(and best Cajun music) is from Lafayette in the SW part of the state.\n\nOnly found one chef in Michigan who could make a really good gumbo and he's a\nLouisiana native. Sadly he's gone back down there. Just aren't enough people\nin Central Michigan area who like Cajun food enough to make a successful\nbusiness.\n\n~~~\n7thaccount\nAnywhere Lafayette (wife's family owns a famous Cajun restaurant there) or\nfurther South is fine as you'll essentially be in Cajun Country. If they sell\ncracklings or Boudin by the side of the road instead of snowcone stands,\nyou're in the right place.\n\nLafayette, Baton Rouge, New Orleans are all great. The middle of the state\n(Alexandria region called Cenla for Central Louisiana) is a mixture of south\nLouisiana influence and the more Northern influences, so the Cajun influences\nare there, but watered down. Northern Louisiana is nothing like the rest of\nthe state. With the exception of Shreveport and Monroe (maybe Ruston) it is\nmostly small towns and has a very Bible belt feel to it. Some call it \"South\nArkansas\" as it has more in common with that region.\n\nI've had gumbo and jambalaya made by Cajun family and the best places in the\nSouth and it's much better than anywhere else in the US when it is made\nproperly. I've had plenty of what's called gumbo/jambalaya in other southern\nstates and it is good, but doesn't quite taste right.\n\n~~~\nneverartful\nLafayette is indeed the heart of Cajun Country (Acadiana). Although it spills\nover in various degrees to other parts of the state, Acadiana itself is a\nwell-defined, specific area that includes Lafayette, Carencro, Breaux Bridge,\nSt. Martinville, New Iberia, Abbeville, and Crowley (this list is not\nexclusive, but just to give the idea).\n\nBaton Rouge and New Orleans are most definitely not Cajun. Sure, you'll find\npockets of authenticity, but generally speaking they're not. New Orleans is\nCreole, a mixture of various influences but primarily French, Spanish, and\nNative American. There are other parts of the state that have a fairly pure\nFrench heritage that are not Cajun nor Creole (towns in the central part of\nthe state like New Roads and Ville Platte).\n\n'Cajun' is the one that is most well known, but Creole and non-Acadian French\n(ancestors came directly from France, not exiled from Nova Scotia) also have\noutstanding cuisine. Some of this may feel like splitting hairs, but the\ndistinctions are important for some of the Louisiana natives.\n\n~~~\n7thaccount\nThere's a large Cajun influence in both places. You're of course correct that\nI didn't cover the creole part. I was mainly using the term \"Cajun\" in a\ngeneral sense which although not super correct is how people generally use it.\n\n------\n29athrowaway\nMany Native American tribes do not sell food. They prepare it and share it\nwith their community. This is why it is hard to find authentic Native American\nrestaurants.\n\n------\n082349872349872\nsome gumbo-adjacent tracks:\n\nWater Song:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SobKHw72aBo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SobKHw72aBo)\n\nMardi Gras Indians:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkBEpSNXGuw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkBEpSNXGuw)\n\nHank Sr.:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnKOVPXhlnE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnKOVPXhlnE)\n\n------\nfiblye\nSassafras leaves also make a great tea.\n\nPlenty of online mentions of sassafras tea involve using the root, but using\nleaves seems to be less known. It’s much easier to make (just pick a few\nleaves) and the taste is much better than the root, especially with a spoonful\nof sugar added.\n\n------\nbitwize\nFinally, a Hackernews article I can share with my girlfriend, who is from\nLouisiana and very in touch with their culinary (and other cultural)\ntraditions!\n\n------\nJulianMorrison\nI remember reading that a lot of \"soul food\" and Southern poor-people / great\ndepression food, like succotash, is native in origin.\n\n~~~\njasonwatkinspdx\nFoodways can be really complex an interesting. In the case of the culinary\ntraditions you're talking about, it was a collision between native, african,\nand european flavors and techniques.\n\n------\nzackkatz\nDo be aware: sassafras has mild carcinogenic properties.\n\n> Sassafras is classified as a carcinogenic substance. It caused liver cancer\n> in laboratory animals. The risk of developing cancer increases with the\n> amount consumed and duration of consumption.\n\n[https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/integrative-\nmedicine/herbs...](https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/integrative-\nmedicine/herbs/sassafras)\n\n~~~\nafranchuk\nWe can never be too certain of anything, but I believe that the carcinogenic\nclaims are based on a faulty study from the 60s that was later largely\ndisproven in the late 70s, but the FDA never changed their guidance. I don't\nhave the drive to find the studies in question right now (sorry :( ), but I\nthink it came down to the mice they tested having particular metabolizers that\nhumans do not. That, and they gave them very high concentrated doses, because\nfor some reason they were all about that method. I certainly don't ingest\nthings that way :)\n\n------\nxenihn\nAnyone have recs for a good place for gumbo that I can get through DoorDash in\nSF?\n\nThere was a place in Los Angeles that I went to once many years ago. It was\ngreat, but I don't remember the name.\n\n------\nmadengr\nHere is my recipe. I don’t use any oil in the roux. Stock is from the shrimp\nheads, with file’ at the end.\n\n[https://youtu.be/hzzZJwKz5W0](https://youtu.be/hzzZJwKz5W0)\n\n~~~\nPTOB\nFile at the end is the best. It just gets lost otherwise.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhat Every Programmer Needs To Know About Encodings And Character Sets - wqfeng\nhttp://kunststube.net/encoding/\n======\nmike\nSee also: Joel Spolsky's \"The Absolute Minimum Every Software Developer\nAbsolutely, Positively Must Know About Unicode and Character Sets (No\nExcuses!)\" <http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Unicode.html>\n\n------\nalexdf\nJust recently our company started developing WEB version of our product and\nour testers keep writing tests to verify that UI controls can correctly\ndisplay unicode characters. Does it make much sense to do that if all our\ncontrol if they are all HTML/JavaScript based?\n\n~~~\ndeceze\nYou should ideally channel all character/encoding handling through one channel\nwhich can be tested and validated once. If there's a chance that every single\npage and widget may behave differently with regards to encodings, you have a\nbigger problem. You want to nail encodings once, then concentrate on other\nproblems.\n\nHaving said that, more tests are hardly ever bad. Only if you start obsessing\nabout and testing the same thing over and over I'd start to worry about some\nroot causes.\n\n------\npav3l\nFor python people, I found this 30 min talk by Ned Batchelder extremely\nhelpful: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgHbC6udIqc>\n\n------\nCbasedlifeform\nExcellent and at times amusing review. Thanks for this.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAC/DC release recordings on iTunes - ghshephard\nhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20392390\n\n======\nchrislaco\nGreat. Now about Def Leppard...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: What makes Firefox OS better than webOS? - justinreeves\n\nI don&#x27;t understand why Mozilla chose to create Firefox OS, rather than pick up development of Palm&#x2F;HP&#x27;s webOS?<p>It seems like a lot of what Mozilla wants to do could be done easily with webOS, since webOS has been open-sourced, it would run <i>great</i> on the hardware Mozilla is targeting, apps are developed with HTML+CSS+Javascript… what am I missing?<p>If webOS couldn&#x27;t make it as a platform, why will Firefox OS?\n======\nfabrice_d\nFrom a very practical point of view, webOS is/was webkit based, while we\nobviously wanted to leverage our own rendering engine (gecko). webOS also is\nnot 100% web technologies (the \"window manager\" is native code iirc), and\noverall we had different ideas on how to improve the web platform to build an\nOS.\n\nI don't know much about Enyo, but one important thing is that we think that no\nframework should be needed to build apps for firefoxOS. But I'd like to know\nif enyo apps can run on fxos. The UI of the phone itself (called gaia,\n[https://github.com/mozilla-b2g/gaia/](https://github.com/mozilla-b2g/gaia/))\nis pretty much framework-less.\n\nwebOS didn't make it as a platform for various reasons: lack of devices, no\nstrong community for instance. Mozilla is in a way better position here.\n\n~~~\nhajile\nFrom a practical perspective, it doesn't matter if the window manager is\nnative to the web (and gecko's proprietary iframe solutions are not). Also\nimportant is that webOS allows native development (a problem that would go\naway if w3c would agree to standardize something like LLVM bytecode).\n\nApplications in webOS were not limited to Enyo. You only needed to access the\nproprietary API appropriately which is the same as with phone gap or the FF\nAPI (which isn't an approved standard).\n\nEnyo 2.4 works on IE8+, FF4+ (actually 3+, but not tested), Chrome 10+ (once\nagain, works on earlier, but not tested), opera, Android browser, Safari 5+,\netc\n\nYou can check out the Enyo project at enyojs.com (it's apache 2 licensed). It\ncurrently has both a mobile theme (onyx) and a LG TV theme (moonstone -- for\nLG smart TVs). The partially finished Mochi theme (see the specs at\n[https://github.com/enyojs/mochi/wiki/Mochi-\nDesigns](https://github.com/enyojs/mochi/wiki/Mochi-Designs) ) also has a lot\nof potential.\n\nMy personal issue with FF OS is that the UI sucks. With webOS being released\nunder the Apache 2 license (which grants patent use), there was no reason to\nuse a crappy design (except for \"not invented here\" syndrome). Even today, the\ncore UI and features of webOS are better than iOS, WP, and Android (despite\nMatias Duarte's best effort to transform Android into webOS).\n\nOnly webOS is easy to use on a phone, but still feels natural on a tablet with\nalmost no changes (and Enyo enables this app transition from the ground up\nwhich is why developers chose to use it instead of something else). In fact,\nwebOS could even scale up to full-sized desktops with some modifications (as\n10GUI shows).\n\nFinally, webOS has a very large community for an OS that was discontinued a\ncouple of years ago. The Preware community continues to release updates and\nnew apps still make the occasional appearance.\n\n~~~\nfabrice_d\nThe difference is that Mozilla is actively working on standardizing the pieces\nof fxOS that we consider mature enough and for which there is interest from\nother browser vendors. That's not a fast process, but calling all our apis\n\"proprietary\" is unfair.\n\nIf you find that our UI sucks, please contribute to improve it!\n\n------\nviraptor\nProbably the company behind it. HP dropped the tablets instead of investing in\ndeveloping some software for it (you could review the whole catalog in an hour\nor so). WebOS itself was great (still is as Enyo framework) in my opinion. I'd\nreally like it if Mozilla just picked up that project instead.\n\n~~~\ne15ctr0n\nLG bought parts of webOS from HP[0] in 2013 and showcased a smart TV running\non webOS[1] at CES this year[2]. HP continues to be involved in the\ndevelopment of Enyo[3].\n\n[0] [http://www.lg.com/us/press-release/webos-\nrelease](http://www.lg.com/us/press-release/webos-release)\n\n[1] [http://www.lg.com/us/tvs/lg-55LB7200-led-\ntv](http://www.lg.com/us/tvs/lg-55LB7200-led-tv)\n\n[2] [http://lgusblog.com/product-news/lg-\nwins-35-awards-2014-inte...](http://lgusblog.com/product-news/lg-\nwins-35-awards-2014-international-ces/)\n\n[3] [http://www.webosnation.com/lg-committed-open-source-webos-\nde...](http://www.webosnation.com/lg-committed-open-source-webos-development-\nhp-pivot-cloud-services-towards-enterprise)\n\n~~~\nviraptor\nI know they're trying to continue, but neither HP nor Palm when they owned the\nbrand did anything amazing with it. Palm pre was really cool and WebOS on\nTouchpad was great to use... it just really missed useful apps. I get a\nfeeling that if they invested in getting even a 100 of good apps either\nwritten for or ported to WebOS at the time of the first tablet, it could turn\nout completely differently...\n\n~~~\ne15ctr0n\nThe Verge has a great article on the decay of Palm once HP bought it.\n\n[http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/5/3062611/palm-webos-hp-\ninsid...](http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/5/3062611/palm-webos-hp-inside-story-\npre-postmortem)\n\nSo, coming back to the point of contrast with Firefox OS, one has to\nacknowledge that Mozilla is pushing Firefox OS very hard. There is a dedicated\napp store which has more than a thousand apps now. Mozilla also has a\npassionate community behind it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nFoam cap on beer is actually good - unlearned what I learned in college - jingsong\nhttp://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/lifestyle/columnists.nsf/adamjadhav/story/3F32B9542B478F90862575D600649043?OpenDocument\n\n======\nJimmyL\n>> we filled our red plastic cups to the brim with Bud or Miller Lite or\nIcehouse...\n\nI would say that if that's the caliber of beer you're drinking - which makes\nup a significant portion of most people's college beer - then screw the head,\nand just fill that red cup up all the way. No one drinks Icehouse or Bud for\nthe flavor; they drink it to get drunk. You could pour some Bud perfectly into\na freshly cleaned glass, and it would still taste bad.\n\nOnce you've moved on to better-quality beer, then yes - bring on the head.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nRadio 4 Interview with Adrian Bowyer, RepRap inventor (at ~20:00) - timthorn\nhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b015bqbr\n\n======\nJonnieCache\nOn the subject of radio four - any opportunity to post the In Our Time\narchives:\n\n<http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/in-our-time/podcasts/>\n\nLike a warm bath in university juice.\n\n(Hope the links work outisde the UK)\n\n------\nicefox\nSpeaking of RepRap does anyone have a list of things that are either\nimpossible or incredibly expensive/difficult to manufacture in traditional\nways, but with a 3d printer are easy?\n\n~~~\nnickpinkston\nAs a 3D printing dude - right now the main emphasis is either hobbyists can\nDIY print stuff at home (since they couldn't do that before) or you can use 3D\nprinters to make really crazy geometries that aren't possible - think of nuts\nlattice-work.\n\nHere's group that have amazing algorithmic 3DP art: <http://n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com>\n\nOther practical uses are like InvisAlign mouthpieces that are each 3D printed\nto your specific teeth. It would've been possible using CNC, but would have\nbeen very hard to do.\n\n~~~\nburgerbrain\n(you've got an extra <http://> on your URL.)\n\n~~~\nnickpinkston\nThanks - fixed it!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe power of doing nothing at all - thecosas\nhttps://medium.com/swlh/the-power-of-doing-nothing-at-all-73eeea488b8b\n======\nsharemywin\nNot discounting focus. And if doing nothing is working for you by all means go\nfor it.\n\nBut, there's another old say that goes continue to do what you've always done\nand you continue to get what you've always got.\n\nThe unsaid truths from that story is the young crocodile probably couldn't\npull down a wild beast.\n\nAlso, sitting at the best water spot around has it's perks as well. So, coping\ncan work but make sure you've figured out why their strategy is working.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nRubinius wants to help you make Ruby better - raju\nhttp://www.engineyard.com/blog/2010/rubinius-wants-to-help-you-make-ruby-better/\n======\nubernostrum\nOnce again reminding people to be careful about how they interpret the LSP:\n\n[http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7zy40/writing_u...](http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7zy40/writing_unit_tests_is_reinventing_functional/c07w5bx)\n\n------\nkingkilr\nIMO the authors understanding of the LSP is incorrect. The way he uses it ANY\nchange would be invalid, for example adding a new method would change the\nproperty of \"raises AttributeError when attempting to access XYZ\" (in Python\nparlance).\n\n~~~\nbtilly\nWhat you are criticizing isn't the author's understanding of the Liskov\nSubstitution Principle. It is Barbara Liskov's attempt to formalize the Liskov\nSubstitution Principle.\n\nI dare say that she knows her own intent better than you do. It is also\nunsurprising if her formulation is imperfect.\n\nIn a practical world what the LSP means is that you should be able to replace\nan object of a given type with another object of any subtype and it should\nstill work. If it doesn't, then that wasn't really a subtype. As you correctly\npointed out, the challenge in dynamic languages with exception handling is\nthat it is possible to write code that depends on a particular method not\nexisting. Similar code in C++ would give a compilation error. Therefore no\nsubtype can quite be perfect in some languages.\n\nStill even though perfection is impossible, it is good to be aware of the\nprinciple, and adhere to it as closely as is practical. Meaning make your\nchanges be one that will break the smallest amount of code that your code\nchange is likely to encounter at any point in the future.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSupreme Court: Natural Isolated DNA Not Patentable, Synthetic DNA Is [pdf] - jakewalker\nhttp://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/12-398_8njq.pdf\n======\nrvkennedy\nDoes this mean that someone born with synthetic DNA is guilty of infringement\nif they have children? Do they need to buy a licence to keep living? Perhaps\nas a compromise, the court can decide that they count as three fifths of a\nperson.\n\n~~~\neldude\nA historical correction to the misplaced tone of your 3/5ths reference, the\n3/5ths compromise was by the anti-slavery republican north to prevent the\nsouthern democratic slavers from dominating the House of Representatives and\nthe electoral college.[1]\n\n[1] [http://www.redstate.com/jeffdunetz/2010/07/18/were-our-\nfound...](http://www.redstate.com/jeffdunetz/2010/07/18/were-our-founding-\nfathers-racist-the-slaves-are-35ths-of-a-person-debate/)\n\n~~~\nmichael_miller\nI know you meant well with your comment, but in general, it's best to avoid\nwell-actually comments. This is one of Hacker School's core rules; they\nelaborate on why it's a good idea to avoid these types of comments at\n[https://www.hackerschool.com/manual](https://www.hackerschool.com/manual).\n\n~~~\njoshmlewis\nWhat you linked to wasn't the HN 'manual'?\n\nIn the actual guidelines found here:\n[http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)\nit doesn't say anything about well actually comments. It says be smart in your\ndiscussions and don't just get opinionated, it says to present facts and\nactually address the thing that you're arguing over. I believe having proper\narguments and discussions is one of the core things HN is about. It lets\npeople learn and see other points of view. If you don't like a comment just\ndownvote it.\n\n~~~\nrickhanlonii\nFurthermore, the character of 'well-actually' comments are that the orignal\ncomment was close to, or intended to be close to, a certain fact, and the\nwell-actualer is pedantically correcting the original without adding any\nsubstantial value to the conversation.\n\nThis is not what happened here. rvkennedy did not make a statement of fact, he\nmade an off-the-cuff remark. eldude challenged the substance and tone of that\nremark in order to prevent further misrepresentation of the point. He\ncorrected and clarified the remark in a clear and substal way, thus falling\nwell outside of the 'well-actually' category.\n\nOh dear. I've spent way too much time reading SCOTUS rulings/blogs today.\n\n------\nacqq\n[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-13/the-supreme-\ncourt-s...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-13/the-supreme-court-s-bad-\nscience-on-gene-patents.html)\n\n _it is not the scientists who removed the introns from the officially\nunpatentable original DNA sequence to make the new, patentable cDNA sequence.\nIt is nature itself, through the magic by which pre-RNA, which includes the\nintrons, becomes messenger RNA, which does not. The Supreme Court described\nthis process by saying, “the pre-RNA is then naturally ‘spliced’ by the\nphysical removal of the introns” -- that is, the introns are removed as part\nof the ordinary process by which messenger RNA is created. The role scientists\nthen subsequently play is to take the messenger RNA and use it to synthesize\nthe intron-free cDNA.\n\nTo put it much more simply, there is nothing that a 6-year-old would consider\n“invented” about the patentable cDNA. It is nothing more than the messenger\nRNA flipped into a DNA sequence that omits unnecessary elements that nature\nalready excluded. The sequence that codes the proteins is just as naturally\noccurring as the original DNA itself, which the court held couldn’t be\npatented because it was naturally occurring. The distinction is, to put it\nbluntly, a lawyer’s distinction, not a scientist’s._\n\n(by Noah Feldman, a professor of constitutional and international law at\nHarvard)\n\n~~~\ndaughart\nFrom what I understand, Myriad's test involved synthesis of cDNA (which we\nscientists refer to as \"complementary DNA\", not \"composite DNA\" as SCOTUS\ndoes). This is still covered by the patent. However, any test based on\nsequencing the genomic DNA, for example, would not violate Myriad's patent.\nGenomic sequencing of these genes was previously a violation of the patent.\nThis is definitely a step forward.\n\nIn the long run, Myriad is hosed because they no longer own the sequence,\nincluding analysis. Any diagnostic not using reverse transcription of the mRNA\ndoes not violate Myriad's patent. This includes synthesis of any non-cDNA\npolymer, such as XNA.\n\n~~~\nalsocasey\nThe issue is that a hypothetical diagnostic attempting to sequence this region\nwould likely be pre-processed with a PCR to facilitate sequencing of only the\nregion of interest... this necessarily involves a cDNA step.\n\nYou could sequence the whole genome at higher depth, but this would be more\nexpensive.\n\nEdit: My mistake, the patent covers the reverse transcription step\nexclusively, not the act of transcription in general - which means PCR from\ngenomic DNA is fine, but rtPCR or cDNA library construction is not... no\nscientific consistency there, but looks like cheaper BCRA tests in the near\nfuture.\n\n~~~\ndaughart\nPCR is not covered by the patent, only reverse transcription of the processed\nRNA molecule to cDNA. There are many flavors of genomic PCR that are fine\nunder this interpretation, including a rapid SNP-detecting digital qPCR.\n\n------\nmpyne\nUnanimous judgment, though Scalia concurred in part and filed a separate\nopinion.\n\nMyriad kind of still wins as their cDNA synthesis technique is affirmed\npatentable, which would presumably be used in conjunction with a patient's own\nBRCA genes to determine their cancer risk. So the precise test itself appears\npatented still, but now other companies can make use of the BRCA genes\nthemselves, perhaps to develop other treatments that don't use the cDNA\nsynthesis technique.\n\n~~~\nunmei\nBut they surely don't have a patent on _all_ cDNA synthesis techniques,\nespecially given that that is a highly generic technique (it should fall under\nthe \"obvious from previous art\" criteria). So other companies should be able\nto utilize a cDNA as well so long as they don't simply follow the Myriad\nprotocol?\n\n~~~\njweese\nI believe they just have a patent on these _particular_ cDNA types, namely\ncDNA created from BRCA1 or BRCA2, and not on the well-known lab techniques for\ncreating them.\n\n~~~\ndaughart\nI believe you are correct here.\n\n------\nChuckMcM\nWhile its not a complete win I think this is an ok compromise. Clearly Myriad\nis going to be impacted as other people come up with ways to test for the\nBRCA1 and BRCA2 genes without infringing on their process, and it will make\nscreening for these genes _much_ less expensive.\n\nBut it leaves open the question of \"infringement\" on cDNA when you aren't\nparty to the creation. Specifically the guys who have GMO Wheat growing in\ntheir field in Oregon, if they didn't put it there, they didn't know it had\nbecome GMO, and it was only discovered when Japan tested it, then what is\ntheir liability? And what is Monsanto's? (GMO Wheat isn't approved) I suspect\nthese \"escapes\" of cDNA will become more common and the \"factories\" producing\nthem, things like e.coli and algae, won't really respect the owner's rights\nhere. :-)\n\n~~~\ncarbocation\nI do not see how there is any cDNA involved in a plant that has modified\ngenes.\n\nAre you assuming that the plant is infected with a retrovirus?\n\nA genome with a modified gene is not cDNA, and I'm not sure how to parse your\ncomment so I'm basically trying to see if there was an error in your comment\nor an error in my reading of it.\n\n~~~\nChuckMcM\nIf you read the opinion that this thread links, you will see that Supreme\ncourt defines 'cDNA' as 'not naturally occurring'. In Monsanto's case, they\ninserted genes into crops to make them resistant to one of their own\nherbicides. That crosses the threshold of 'not naturally occurring' and then\nbecomes cDNA in the context of this ruling.\n\n------\nJosephBrown\nAn mRNA strand that is about to be translated into a protein has the introns\nremoved, so how is the cDNA different enough from the naturally occurring mRNA\nother than it is a mirror image?\n\nAlso, when did cDNA come to mean composite DNA instead of complementary DNA?\nThis seems made up to imply some kind of invention instead of it just being\nthe mirror image of the DNA molecule.\n\n~~~\nrcthompson\nIt doesn't matter that cDNA is similar to something found in nature. The fact\nis that DNA complementary to the mature spliced mRNA sequences of the BRCA1/2\ngenes does not exist in nature.\n\n~~~\nmokus\nThis really sounds like hair splitting to me. Along the lines of saying \"well,\nyour software patent is for a program that is stored on a GMR disk platter.\nMine's stored in NAND flash, and that's never been done before!\"\n\nIf the sequence is logically equivalent but stored on a different medium, how\nis that novel? The invention of the new medium or new techniques for\ntranscribing between media may be, but the sequence itself isn't.\n\n~~~\nrcthompson\nNot exactly. DNA and RNA are structurally only slightly different, but\nfunctionally, in the context of a biological system, they are very different.\nA technical analogy might be RAM vs disk.\n\n------\ndnautics\nI'm generally opposed to patents, but I think this decision is crazy. For\nstarters, the patentability of a gene now depends on whether or not there's an\nintron in that gene? The isolated sequence doesn't exist as a molecule in\nnature, and the patent was a patent on that molecule. Should have been a\nstraightforward \"gene patents (the way they were done by myriad) are allowed\".\nKeeping in mind, there are a ton of very facile ways of breaking such a gene\npatent.\n\nEDIT: Actually I'm completely opposed to patents.\n\nEDIT2: Here is a more detailed analysis - I didn't post it earlier since\ndreamhost was down.\n[http://www.indysci.org/mission/onpatenting.html](http://www.indysci.org/mission/onpatenting.html)\n\n~~~\ndaughart\nThis decision affirms a previous decision that synthetic modifications to DNA\nsequences are patented - regardless of whether they have introns. You see, the\nruling suggests that the act of creating a new synthetic, modified DNA\nmolecule (in this case without introns) is patent-able. (Not a comment on your\nopinion about patents, only the part about patentability relying on introns.)\n\n~~~\ndnautics\ncan you link to this previous decision?\n\n~~~\ndaughart\n\"In Chakrabarty, scientists added four plasmids to a bacte- rium, which\nenabled it to break down various components of crude oil. 447 U. S., at 305,\nand n. 1. The Court held that the modified bacterium was patentable.\" Diamond\nv. Chakrabarty, 447 U. S. 303, 309 (1980), If I am reading this correctly.\n\nEDIT: Sorry I re-read my original comment - I meant \"synthetic modifications\",\nnot necessarily only to DNA, but to natural products in general.\n\n~~~\ndnautics\nI think I was confused because you meant \"patentable\", not \"patented\".\n\nBut is not isolation by PCR a synthetic modification? If I made a useful\nmachine out of a single piece of wood using a six-axis subtractive tooling\ndevice, would you argue that the machine is unpatentable because \"it was\nalready there\" _?\n\n_ PCR actually goes even further - conceptually it's subtractive procedure but\nit actually does so by creating copies within the specific boundaries. These\nboundaries don't exist in nature, the act of specifying the boundaries is\ncreative, and without the prior research, non-obvious.\n\n~~~\ndaughart\nYes, sorry I meant patentable. This ruling specifically says that merely\nidentifying the location of a gene and isolating it is not a patentable\ntransformation. PCR is not transformative because the dsDNA molecule exists in\nnature. I think in this context isolation is similar in nature to discovery,\nwhich is not a patentable activity.\n\n~~~\ndnautics\nwell, no, the supreme court has decided that effectively breaking four\ncovalent bonds is not transformative (your words). I think it's a wrong\ndecision. Even so, if you actually understand it, the act of PCR is an act of\ncreation, not transformation. That dsDNA molecule doesn't exist in nature.\n\nFor example, there is a molecule thiostrepton which is an antibiotic compound,\nthat's really quite poor. They have recently discovered that only the core of\nthe molecule is necessary for antibiosis, and removal of the rest of the\nmolecule improves its pharmacological properties. It's a distinct molecule,\ncreated by the scission of 3 covalent bonds. Should it be unpatentable? Almost\ncertainly, somewhere in nature, there has a thiostrepton molecule that by\naccident happened to have been cleaved at exactly the right places to render\nthe molecule. does that change your opinion?\n\nI am not trying to defend the practice - I abhor patents - but a lot of people\nare letting their emotional reaction to \"patenting genes\" get in the way of a\ndispassionate and informed analysis of what actually is going on here.\n\n~~~\ndaughart\nYour perspective is confusing. You say that a modified form of thiostrepton\nshould not be patentable, even though the patent protects the molecule as well\nas the process of chemical synthesis or purification, which often requires\nsignificant innovation, and in this case the natural molecule is also\nsignificantly modified. On the other hand, when you PCR something you are\ngenerating a dsDNA molecule that is identical to the original molecule. I\nunderstand PCR quite well, and doing PCR is not innovative or transformative.\nYou are creating something, sure, but it's an exact copy of something that\nexists in nature. The Supreme Court clearly states here that merely finding\nout where a genetic sequence is and isolating it is not patentable. The\nprocess of PCR itself is an invention, and is patented (Cetus, Mullis).\n\nIt seems preposterous to say that you are strongly against patents, and then\nsay you think the patent should be much more restrictive. I have no emotional\nreaction to patenting genes. I think patenting a significant modification of a\nnaturally occurring substance is completely reasonable as it protects the\ninvestments involved in inventing and applying the modifications, while at the\nsame time allowing others to use and understand the development. Without\npatents biotech would become full of trade secrets, holding back progress in\nthe field.\n\n~~~\ndnautics\nYeah, i'm against patents, but i think if we have them they should be applied\nfairly and according to a clear set of rules instead. It's like saying, I'm\nopposed to government being involved in marriage, but if we are going to have\nit then homosexuals should be allowed to be married.\n\nThe only reason why the perspective seems confusing is because you're\nconflating process with molecules. In general any given claim of a patent can\nprotect the molecule or the process. Myriad did not choose to claim the\nprocess, because the process is obvious. But having a process that is obvious\ndoes not necessarily make the molecule obvious.\n\nDoing PCR is not innovative. But the process DOES transform one molecule into\nanother, unless your primers are exactly flush with the end of the dsDNA - in\nwhich case it is merely a straight copying operation. OK? The molecule that\ncomes out at the end has a different covalent structure than the molecule that\nyou start with. Is that not true? if you don't believe that, then you would\nmake the claim that octane 'is the same as' dodecane, because it's just a\ntruncated version.\n\nAlso, it is not an exact copy of something in nature, unless that 'thing' is a\ndata fragment. It is an original molecule, that copies the data, but the\nmolecule is distinct. That is an important point. Molecule patents don't care\nabout the abstract qualities of something (beyond proving that it's useful).\nMolecule patents only care about the structure of the molecule.\n\n~~~\ndnautics\naddendum:\n\nI am happy with the SCOTUS decision though from a pragmatic point of view,\nbecause there is a prokaryotic gene I'd like to \"steal\", that's under patent\napplication right now of course prokaryotic genes have no introns, so I just\ngot a field day on it.\n\n------\ncraigyk\nWhile the second part is a bit disappointing. Does that mean if you manage to\nsuccessfully isolate a natural version of a patented cDNA, then that patent\nbecomes effectively invalid?\n\nIn practice this might not be the hardest thing to do. Do you like someone's\nengineered version of a gene? Then transform some randomized libraries into\ncell cultures (or add mutagens) and keep fishing until you extract a \"natural\"\ncopy that is the same as the patented cDNA.\n\n------\nabitsios\nThere's a new TV series that touches upon this - Orphan Black.\n\n\\---- Spoilers, obviously ----\n\nSo they're clones, and they have a \"special repeating marker\" of some sorts.\nOne of the clones is a biochemist, and she manages to decode it. Turns out, it\nis a copyright message covering those organisms _and their biological\noffspring_ as property of X corporation. \\-------- Spooky, but wouldn't the\nmessage get diluted after reproduction?\n\n~~~\nsageikosa\nFrom what I understand, the likelihood of any cistron in the genetic code\ngetting diluted is dependent on the sequence length compared to the overall\nlength of the chromosome on which it can be found.\n\nHowever, since this is sci-fi, it may be possible that some of the genetic\nsequence is setup to actually alter the meiosis process and not perform any\n\"crossing over\" events in egg cell construction.\n\n------\nakiselev\nCan anyone with experience clarify this ruling? Is the SCOTUS saying that just\nbecause the specific cDNA strand doesn't exist in nature (as far as I know),\nthen it is patentable?\n\nCorrect me if I misunderstood the ruling, but it seems to be absolutely\nridiculous. You could just automate the process of isolating genes, sequencing\nthem and statistically identifying their mRNA strands, isolating them, and\ncreating cDNA strands. I know this isn't technically \"nonobvious\" but if you\ncan automate the process to the point where you have robots spitting out gene\npatents, then it's a pretty low bar.\n\n~~~\ndnautics\nThe process of making cDNA libraries (with and without robots) has long been\nsolved. Usually in order to get a patent you need to prove \"usefulness\" which\nis not really automatable.\n\nAnd if you want to read my writeup (which is slightly geared toward explaining\nthe biology from simple first principles,\n[http://www.indysci.org/mission/onpatenting.html](http://www.indysci.org/mission/onpatenting.html))\n\n------\nquux\nDarn, well there goes my plan to patent myself and require that my wife buy a\nlicense before she can bear my children.\n\n~~~\ncwp\nCopyright would be more appropriate there. Children could be considered\nderivative works, but I don't see how they could be patent infringement.\n\n~~~\nlsiebert\nYou are a transformative work based on your dna anyway.\n\n------\ntocomment\nDoes this mean we'll soon see 1000s more SNPs available from 23andme? What are\nthe biggest new SNP's they can test for?\n\n~~~\ndaughart\nIt absolutely should mean this. Maybe 23andme can be something more than a\ntoy.\n\n~~~\ntocomment\nWhat are some examples of exciting new SNPs they could test for? Besides BRCA.\n\n~~~\ndaughart\nA quick Google search for \"patented disease alleles\" suggests Crohn's disease,\nsome forms of kidney disease, diabetes, and many more!\n\n------\nbenjamincburns\nAt one point I heard that some farmers, who were unaware that their crops\ncontained patented genetic modifications as a result of uncontrolled natural\nreproduction with other GM crops, were being sued by patent holders. Does this\nruling weigh in on this scenario?\n\nIt seems that inventions which copy themselves and masquerade in\ndifficult/expensive to detect ways (see plant reproduction, airborne pollen)\nwasn't something foreseen by those who wrote our patent laws.\n\n~~~\njadyoyster\nThis seems to be a myth:\n[http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/10/18/163034053/top-\nfi...](http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/10/18/163034053/top-five-myths-\nof-genetically-modified-seeds-busted)\n\n------\nRabbitAngstrom\nA co-worker in my lab pointed out that Myriad's stock is actually _rising_ [1]\nafter the decision.The best guess is that Myriad's competitive advantage is\nshifting to the enormous amounts of BRCA sequences they have obtained -- this\nwould increase the cancer-vs-normal mutation prediction power considerably.\n\n[1] -\n[http://www.google.com/finance?cid=658315](http://www.google.com/finance?cid=658315)\n\n~~~\njfb\nAlso, they now have legal certainty whereas before the decision there was a\nchance the whole kit and kaboodle would have been tossed out.\n\n------\neldude\nMichael Crichton's novel \"Next\"[1] was a fantastic exploration of the\nimplications of such issues being brought up here like: liability when the\ninfringing patents are in you, in animals, in human-animal hybrids capable of\nhuman-level intelligence, and how the world deals with life when Man plays\ngod.\n\nAnother excellent book on the ethics of bio-engineering and patentability is\nthe true story, \"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.\"[2]\n\n[1]\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_(novel)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_\\(novel\\))\n[2] [http://www.amazon.com/The-Immortal-Life-Henrietta-\nLacks/dp/1...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Immortal-Life-Henrietta-\nLacks/dp/1400052181/)\n\n------\ndaughart\nThis sets the stage for a simple way to overturn any cDNA patent. Somewhere in\nthe body of any person infected with a retrovirus such as HIV exists a\ncompletely natural molecule of BRCA1 cDNA.\n\n~~~\ndnautics\nI'm pretty sure prior art doesn't work that way.\n\n~~~\ndaughart\nIsn't the standard here whether or not these molecules exist in nature? Honest\nquestion.\n\n~~~\ndnautics\nYou can't just assert that it exists. You'd have to show that it exists.\n\n~~~\ndaughart\nThat should be trivial, if you had a large sample and money for sequencing.\nThe consensus in the listservs I'm on is that cDNA patentability will fall\nnext because of these and other inconsistencies (cDNA existing in nature,\nbeing a non-natural transformation).\n\n~~~\ndnautics\nThat hinges on the definition of non-natural. Is a nuclear reactor non-\nnatural? Are you sure?\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor)\n\nJust because you're using components that exist in nature that may come\ntogether and occasionally produce the result you want - when a human hand\nenters the picture to do it deliberately and get a controlled result, to gain\na certain end, that's qualifies it as non-natural.\n\n------\nsnowwrestler\nThis is the right result. Great news.\n\n------\nniels_olson\nWhat if your life is saved from the debilitating effects of an enzyme\ndeficiency by a virally-delivered sequence which also infects your\nspermatocytes (1)? And that sequence is passed to your child?\n\n(1)\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testicular_immunology#The_effec...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testicular_immunology#The_effects_of_infections_and_immune_responses_on_the_testis)\n\n------\nniels_olson\n> The nucleotides that code for amino acids are “exons,” and those that do not\n> are “introns.”\n\nShould read \"the nucleotide _sequences_ \". If they can't get the definitions\nright, why is the rest of the opinion valid?\n\nIs it time for a \"Court of Science\" at the district or appellate level?\n\n------\nalok-g\nDo they allow patenting a DNA sequence specified by a regular expression or a\ngrammar? Also, what happens if the synthetic DNA is later found to exist\nnaturally?\n\n------\ncaycep\nKind of wondering, did Clarence Thomas actually write this, or did it fall to\nsome young law clerk that had to take a crash course on molecular genetics?\n\n------\nalbertzeyer\nIsn't all synthetic DNA based on natural DNA?\n\n~~~\nbdg\nNo. Natural DNA occurs in nature, much like a the alignment of magnetic fields\nmay occur in some metals. Synthetic DNA has been designed by someone who sat\ndown and said \"Okay, today we're going to write DNA, it's sequence will be\nACGTTTGACGTACGTTCAGTG.....\" and we're going to mix our newly designed gene\ninto a larger natural DNA strand and this synthetic gene inside of the DNA\nwill make this tree glow a very slight yellow-tinge, then we're going to sell\nthat on kickstarter. [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/antonyevans/glowing-\nplan...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/antonyevans/glowing-plants-\nnatural-lighting-with-no-electricit) (the only reason they're using a larger\nDNA strand is a full strand might cost in the range of $100b-$1t presently)\n\nThis is not the same as what's been done more frequently for the last long\nwhile which was dissecting existing genes from other DNA strands (lets say\ngene XYZ from a starfish) and introducing it into a bacteria.\n\nAlso, this doesn't mean I agree with the new law. I think this motion is even\n_more_ nonsensical than software patents we face today, and has already handed\noff all the wonderful innovations that the synthetic biology revolution has to\noffer to a nation who's pumping loads of cash into this sector: China.\n\n------\nshmerl\nIdiotic decision. DNA should not be patentable.\n\n~~~\ndaughart\nWhat if you engineer a completely novel protein, with novel regulatory\nsequences, for a novel function? Should you be unable to patent such an\ninvention?\n\n~~~\nKliment\nHonestly, no, it should not be patentable. This is entirely equivalent to a\nsoftware patent.\n\n~~~\ndaughart\nReally? Say goodbye to the promise of synthetic biology then!\n\n~~~\nshmerl\nYou can say goodbye to it if that will be patentable. Someone will patent all\ncombinations - and goodbye.\n\n~~~\ndaughart\nI suspect you are a troll, but I will respond anyway...\n\nSequence space is very large. There are only a total of 8 million US patents.\nThere are 16 million 12-base-pair nucleotide sequences. To patent the sequence\nspace of a functional product and regulatory region would require more patents\nthan there are molecules in the universe.\n\nAlso to patent something you have to show use.\n\n~~~\nshmerl\nI was showing sarcasm. Patenting a molecule is a ridiculous idea, but you\ninsist that it's about the process of making it. I'm pointing out that the\nresult is not about the process, but about the molecule.\n\n~~~\ndaughart\nI genuinely don't understand your point.\n\nIf a group of people synthesize and test many synthetic DNA sequences and then\npatent the useful ones, that seems fine to me. You might even call them\n\"synthetic biologists\". They have invented new things, which are not found in\nnature, by the process of their own skills, knowledge, and labor, and which\nare useful to other people. It seems perfectly reasonable that those\ninventions should be protected by the patent system.\n\n~~~\nshmerl\nI find the concept of patenting new biological entities rather scary and\ndangerous. They should not be patentable. Patent system is easily abused for\nmany things unrelated to encouraging innovation. Therefore there is nothing\nreasonable in allowing these patents just because it takes time and effort to\ncome up with synthesis method.\n\n~~~\ndaughart\nUnjustified fear is not a rational basis for policy.\n\nIt's not the synthesis method that is at stake here, it is the engineered\nbiological system itself (system referring to a gene, regulatory sequence,\ngenetic pathway, or organism). The kind of innovation involved in this kind of\nengineering is precisely what the patent system is designed to protect, so\nthat it can be monetized while also disseminated. Without patents these\ninnovations will remain trade secrets and hold back the progress of synthetic\nbiology. Without patents private companies may not be able to justify\ninvestment required for innovation. Without patents inability to monetize\ninventions reduces the overall economic impact (return on investment) for\npublic financing of life sciences, which in turn removes a powerful incentive\nfor government financing of research.\n\nFor instance, a company finds a compound that fights cancer. The company\ninvents a way to synthesize or purify this compound and sell it. The patent\nprotects the inventor and allows them to recoup the investment. This is widely\naccepted. Now consider that company engineers an organism that can produce the\ncompound in large bio-reactors. The modified organism - and in particular the\nengineered DNA sequences - are completely analogous to the chemical\nmanufacturing process, and should be similarly protected.\n\nMoreover, consider that the second process may remove a need to use the\norganic carbon precursors necessary for chemical synthesis (fossil fuels), or\neliminates a toxic by-product of chemical synthesis, or is much cheaper and\ntherefore reduces the cost of the compound, benefiting the public. These are\nreal world consequences of synthetic biology protected by the patent system.\nThey don't seem so scary to me.\n\n~~~\nshmerl\nIn general I find the patentability of medicines a very abused practice.\nPharma industry is one of the most corrupted, and especially when it comes to\npatents. So your example serves do disprove your point.\n\n~~~\ndaughart\nAt least I have provided clear arguments. You have continued to make\nassertions (such as pharma being corrupted with respect to patents) without\nany kind of proof or even a clear argument as to why this is the case. I\nsuggest you consider not taking any drug developed under or protected by US\npatent law in protest.\n\n~~~\nshmerl\nWell, many don't just consider - but simply can't take them. Because of the\nprice, controlled by those who acquired the patent. When life saving medicine\nbecomes a business for the sake of money - that's already bad.\n\n------\nfrozenport\nI can live with this: As a general rule of thumb nature isolated is not\npatentable, Synthetic is.\n\n------\nchris_wot\nYou can make synthetic DNA?!?\n\n~~~\narchgoon\nYes. This has been around for several decades. Furthermore, you can request\ncompanies on the internet to synthesize sequences for you and mail you the\nresults.\n\n(First result from google)\n\n[http://www.invitrogen.com/](http://www.invitrogen.com/)\n\nWikipedia Article\n\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_gene_synthesis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_gene_synthesis)\n\n------\ndnautics\ninteresting side effect - prokaryotic genes are basically unpatentable!!\n\n------\nFuxy\nYes! Finally some forward progress. Still needs work though.\n\n------\ngridmaths\nsweeeet... sanity prevails!\n\n------\nfurconit\nPatents are silly !\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Authian – Open Source 2-Factor Authentication Using Instant Messengers - authian\nhttps://www.authian.org/\n======\nAdmiralAsshat\nOne of the key features of something like Signal is not just security, but\nauthentication: if I'm talking to my girlfriend over Signal and it tells me\nthat her key suddenly changed, I stop talking to her, call her, and ask her\nwhat's up (and, to be fair, it's happened twice so far due to changing\nphones). It's supposed to stop a MITM attack, so that someone cannot pretend\nto be her and continue the conversation.\n\nWhat will your authian bot do, however, if the key changes? Will it happily\ncontinue communicating with the new, possibly malevolent recipient?\n\n~~~\nsubway\nDoes signal even allow bots? They have pretty draconian terms on allowing 3rd\nparty clients to connect to their service.\n\n------\ndschep\nWhere is said source? The Github & Gitlab orgs are empty. Seems like this post\nis a bit premature.\n\n~~~\nelijahwright\nI came to ask just this question. :)\n\n------\nalien2003\nWhat about ethical messengers like XMPP, Matrix, Signal, Wire?\n\n~~~\nauthian\nWhat vesak has said is partly correct. We are integrating IMs that have the\nmost reach firstly.\n\nWe also investigated IMs where users are not registered to a particular number\nand we deduced that most companies would not want clients to authenticate\nthemselves with accounts that are not attached to a number (when they already\nhave such numbers available).\n\nWe stand to be corrected and would gladly integrate with other IMs where\ndemand/interest exists.\n\n------\nstephenr\nSo this basically is OTP over encrypted IM instead of OTP over SMS.\n\nIm not sure why you'd use this over TOTP?\n\n~~~\nauthian\nGood question!\n\nMy answers (in point form) are:\n\n1) We plan on integrating TOTP into the Authian server so that TOTP can be\nused as an alternate option where no other IMs are supported by the end-user\n\n2) Using OTP over encrypted IM has less friction. Many other options require\npeople to install \"yet another app\". TOTP is also not that well understood by\nthe average person, whereas most people are already familiar with SMS-based\nauthentication (which also has low friction, but is comparatively expensive)\n\n3) TOTP can't do notifications of successful login attempts to the TOTP app.\nWhereas OTP over IM offers this, as well as baking in other security\nenhancements as required by vendors (eg. account recovery options)\n\nWith that said though, I would consider TOTP and OTP over IM to be\ncomplementary products.\n\n~~~\nequalunique\nNot sure if this is relevant, but TOTP via phone app doesn't work when a phone\nis experiencing NTP sync issues. At least, this is a problem which I\nexperienced.\n\n------\nXeoncross\n> It will be released when the code is a bit more stable (and provides better\n> performance)\n\nCan you provide more details? I am not ready to use this until there is\nsomething on github/gitlab to look at.\n\nI can understand needing another month or two, but I would like some assurance\nthis isn't going to be another minecraft.\n\n~~~\nauthian\nPart of our assurance that the product is good/reliable/secure is releasing\nthe source code for people to determine that themselves.\n\nWe have no plans to rescind on this, although we would like people to join our\nnewsletter so that we can reach them. By having a point of contact, we hope to\nbuild a product and form a community based on the needs of end-users (eg. how\nthe product is being used and how we can improve upon it)\n\nIf you joined the newsletter, we will be reaching you shortly.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nGoogle Analytics doesn’t show you 51% of website traffic - dazbradbury\nhttp://www.incapsula.com/the-incapsula-blog/blog-2012/114-what-google-doesnt-show-you-31-of-website-traffic-can-harm-your-business\n\n======\ntoddkaufmann\nShouldn't be surprising or news to anyone who has looked directly into an\naccess.log, all servers are constantly being probed by bots, crawled by\nspiders, etc. The incapsula \"article\" is some combination of marketing and\nFUD, even though the title is true.\n\nUsing a second form of analytics never hurts. If you have a webserver, run\nanalog on your own log files. Understand that GA only counts accesses when a\nclient accessing your server also executes the javascript code on your site\nand successfully accesses their site.\n\nNote that many hosting sites do not give you access to error logs, or only\nprovide a web interface to show some of the most recent error messages.\n\nA better title is probably \"Google Analytics doesn’t show you 51% of website\nnoise\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nChelsea Manning Asks President for Clemency and 'First Chance at Life' - endswapper\nhttp://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/14/502026384/chelsea-manning-asks-president-for-clemency-and-first-chance-at-life\n======\ndoe88\nUnlikely. I would be very surprised if president Obama granted this request.\nAnd that's just one of many reasons why democrats did not have a strong turn-\nout, they lost touch with their base. As corollary a very good article in WaPo\nby Glenn Greenwald\n[https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/11/11/...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/11/11/glenn-\ngreenwald-trump-will-have-vast-powers-he-can-thank-democrats-for-them/)\n\n~~~\nbogomipz\nI am not all following how you are connecting the Democrats losing touch with\ntheir base and the question of whether Obama is likely to pardon this\nindividual.\n\n~~~\ntoomuchtodo\nPart of the reason I did not go out to vote for Clinton was because she was a\ncontinuation of Obama's policies; civilian collateral damage from\nextrajudicial drone strikes, no pardon for Edward Snowden, the possibility of\na drawn out proxy war in Syria, as well as no stop to the NSA domestic\nsurveillence program. (Neoliberalism = \"Republican lite\")\n\nYou might retort \"But Trump! (and his threats of killing families of\nterrorists, etc)\". If Clinton was elected it would've been business as usual,\neveryone would've gone back to their bread and circuses. Not now though.\n\nI hope Obama has the fortitude to pardon Manning and Snowden if he's going to\njump on the political grenade of pardoning Clinton. [1]\n\nSidenote: Trump has already swung moderate, deciding to stick with NATO [2]\nand keeping most of the ACA after speaking with Obama [3]. Maybe he doesn't\nstick to those ideals, but its clear Trump the president may not be as bad as\nTrump the person. I have hope, but I had hope for Sanders as well. (Excitingly\nenough, the /r/SandersForPresident subreddit was reactived today, with ~210k\nactive subscribers).\n\n[1]\n[http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-11-10/giulia...](http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-11-10/giuliani-\nsays-president-obama-shouldn-t-pardon-hillary-clinton)\n\n[2]\n[http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-11-14/obama-...](http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-11-14/obama-\nsays-trump-told-him-he-supports-u-s-commitment-to-nato)\n\n[3] [http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-hedges-\nhealth-...](http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-hedges-health-care-\npoints-amending-aca)\n\n~~~\ncpleppert\n>>Part of the reason I did not go out to vote for Clinton was because she was\na continuation of Obama's policies; civilian collateral damage from\nextrajudicial drone strikes, no pardon for Edward Snowden, the possibility of\na drawn out proxy war in Syria, as well as no stop to the NSA domestic\nsurveillence program. (Neoliberalism = \"Republican lite\") You might retort\n\"But Trump! (and his threats of killing families of terrorists, etc)\". If\nClinton was elected it would've been business as usual, everyone would've gone\nback to their bread and circuses. Not now though.\n\nRegardless of what you think of Clinton Trump was a far worse alternative on\nevery measure. Trump will be able to dramatically change the supreme court and\nUS federal legislation as well. Complaining about Clinton/Obama doesn't change\nthe simple fact that he is far to the right on her on almost every issue.\n\n>>Sidenote: Trump has already swung moderate, deciding to stick with NATO [2]\nand keeping most of the ACA after speaking with Obama [3]. Maybe he doesn't\nstick to those ideals, but its clear Trump the president may not be as bad as\nTrump the person. I have hope, but I had hope for Sanders as well. (Excitingly\nenough, the /r/SandersForPresident subreddit was reactived today, with ~210k\nactive subscribers).\n\nTrump _CANT_ keep most of ACA even if he wanted to keep the _good parts._ The\nexpansion of coverage is paid and supported by the entirety of the law, it\ndoesn't work without all the provisions.\n\n------\nbdcravens\nChelsea was sentenced in 2013, well under the influence of the Obama\nadministration. (Ditto for the leaks, in 2010) Typically the presidential\npardons we see are the last minute stamp of ideology, not undoing of their\nlegacy.\n\n~~~\nmarcoperaza\nOr if you're Bill Clinton, some last minute corruption. See\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton_pardon_controvers...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton_pardon_controversy#Pardons_and_commutations_signed_on_President_Clinton.27s_final_day_in_office)\n. Though I guess that corruption _is_ the Clinton ideology...\n\n~~~\nserge2k\n> Though I guess that corruption is the Clinton ideology\n\nand yet, despite apparently knowing this for 30 years. Investigating it\nconstantly for 30 years. Neither of them have had anything actually stick to\nthem.\n\nAmazing. They must be the smartest criminals ever.\n\nor not crooks.\n\n~~~\nCptJamesCook\nThe Mark Rich pardon was purely wrong, and yet perhaps not illegal.\n\n------\nmzw_mzw\nMaybe should have thought of that before stealing all that classified\ninformation and leaking it to hostile nations, huh?\n\nIt really is bizarre how people demand, not just that they can commit crimes\nfor political reasons, but that crimes committed for political reasons not be\npunished.\n\n~~~\nkafkaesq\nMaybe this country, as a whole, should have thought about the fact that for as\nlong it insists on committing war crimes against foreign peoples, on massive\nscales -- inevitably, the boldest and bravest among its citizenry will feel\ncompelled to expose those crimes, and bring those responsible to justice.\n\n~~~\nmzw_mzw\nThe boldest and bravest, huh? I thought we were talking about Manning.\nIncidentally, what are the war crimes that were specifically revealed by this\nleak?\n\n~~~\nkafkaesq\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_12,_2007_Baghdad_airstrik...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_12,_2007_Baghdad_airstrike)\n\n~~~\nmzw_mzw\nSo, no war crimes at all then. Yeah, figured.\n\n~~~\nkafkaesq\nGiven that there's still never been anything like a proper investigation into\nthe matter, that seems to be an odd thing to say. In any case various\ninternational experts have stated that there is a viable case for war crimes\nto be made, based on the video evidence.\n\n~~~\nmzw_mzw\nThe article states that the US military investigated it, so it's not an odd\nthing to say at all.\n\n> In any case various international experts have stated that there is a viable\n> case for war crimes to be made, based on the video evidence.\n\n\"Various international experts\" can be counted on to pronounce any military\nactivity whatsover by the United States as a war crime (while ignoring or even\nexcusing the behavior of non-Western states), so that's of little use.\n\n------\nlightbyte\nNot a chance, she committed actual treason as it's defined in our constitution\nby grabbing as many classified documents as she could and releasing them to\nthe world with no regard for what they actually contained. She's lucky that\nshe only got 35 years.\n\n~~~\ngizmo686\n\"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against\nthem, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person\nshall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the\nsame overt act, or on confession in open court.\"\n\n~~~\nmzw_mzw\n> or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.\n\nYep, there we go. Thanks!\n\n------\nmrottenkolber\n:-(\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "Ask HN: Are there many Australians well known for their open source work? - andrewstuart\n======\nschoen\nYes, for example [https://ozlabs.org/](https://ozlabs.org/) (I've worked with\nseveral of these people, and one prominent example is Andrew Tridgell,\noriginal developer of Samba and rsync, among other things).\n\n------\nblakdawg\nSSLeay, which was forked and became OpenSSL, was developed by Tim Hudson (AU)\nand Eric Young (NZ).\n\nAlso, he's not precisely (primarily?) an open source developer, but Julian\nAssange is Australian.\n\n------\ntonteldoos\nIt's a niche area, but Simon Newton of ola (Open Lighting Architecture) -\n[https://github.com/nomis52](https://github.com/nomis52)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "Ask HN: What are alternatives to Google products? - NinjaX\n======\nhashr8064\nBesides using Apple or MSFT product suites which can get you out of pretty\nmuch everything from Google. There are the following\n\n1\\. Search: bing, Duck Duck Go.\n\n2\\. Android: Lineage OS\n\n3\\. Drive: Dropbox\n\n4\\. Cloud Services: AWS\n\n5\\. Email: yahoo,yandex,gmx, tutanota,protonmail, etc.\n\n6\\. Maps: HereMaps, NavMii, OpenStreetMap, Waze\n\n~~~\notras\nJust wanted to point out that Google bought Waze in 2013.\n\n------\nmagma17\nMicrosoft Office Microsoft Edge Hotmail Windows Phone Azure Bing\n\n------\nEmbarrassedFuel\nWhich ones? Google has a vast array of products from enterprise grade cloud\nservices all the way to small consumer applications.\n\n------\nmotyar\ncheck [https://nomoregoogle.com](https://nomoregoogle.com)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDikuMUD 3 Is Released - bovermyer\nhttps://github.com/Seifert69/DikuMUD3\n======\nfreediver\nI am thankful to Diku and it's derivatives for many important lessons in life.\nThe situation when a mob kills you, takes your exp and all your equipment and\nyou are faced with dire reality of starting all over again from nothing - is\nthe one that we are facing in life ever so often. MUDs have taught me to\npersevere, focus on what is important and keep going. I am thankful for every\nfriend I met via MUD and every friend I will make. As a matter of a fact I am\nin the middle of MUD renaissance right now - rebuilding the MUD I created in\n1995 and playing it with a handful of buddies - all of us now in our forties\nand we are having the time of our lives chasing down mobs and magic items (and\nof course playing only after the kids go to sleep). On top of that I get to\ncode in C again. Life is good. Wish the best of luck to DikuMUD 3.\n\n~~~\nYZF\nLuckily I've yet to face mob kills me and takes all I got in real life ;) But\nthen I used to play MUDs at some point in the 90's so maybe that's because of\nthe lessons I learned there!\n\n~~~\nastrobe_\nWhen a bug or a mistake wipes irremediably many days of work, you need that\nkind of perseverance.\n\n------\nduskwuff\nHoly crap. Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long, _long_ time.\n\nTo give some perspective, the last public release of DikuMUD was in 1991.\n\n~~~\nbeobab\nWeirdly, my initial thought there was \"that's only 9 years ago\", and then did\na quick double take when I realised that it wasn't.\n\n------\nphilipov\nDownloading and trying to figure out the code for DikuMUD-based distributions\nis what drove me to learn C as a kid.\n\n~~~\nbirdyrooster\nSame here! I remember making my own port of DikuMUD because I wanted to start\nmy own community but quickly learned how daunting the writing workload is and\nI sadly never finished my beginning city but it felt magical to have a friend\nfrom AlterAeon join me and enter this world I had built. It was all so\naccessible if you could just put in the time to world build.\n\n~~~\nuglygoblin\nDitto! Digging through Diku and the derivative Smaug codebase was my gateway\nto programming and I am forever thankful that such software existed and was\navailable for a young teenager to dive into.\n\n~~~\ntmn007\nMe too. Learnt a lot about Unix, c, networking and compilers getting it\nworking in 1992.\n\n------\nhlieberman\nInteresting. When I dealt with the problem of wanting to give people access to\nmy MU* through a web-browser, I worked around the problem by building an ANSI-\naware bridge between the existing MU* and the browser.\n\n[https://gitlab.com/hlieberman/webmu](https://gitlab.com/hlieberman/webmu)\n\n~~~\naurelius12\nCheck out Iron Realms' MUD client. Nobody else's web client comes even close,\nI think.\n\n[https://nexus.ironrealms.com/Main_Page](https://nexus.ironrealms.com/Main_Page)\n\n~~~\nberkeleynerd\n[https://writtenrealms.com/](https://writtenrealms.com/) client is pretty\nnice.\n\n~~~\nAtaraxy\nThis client is what I think of in my minds eye for a modern day MUD that still\nstays true to what a MUD is but has an accessible interface. Whoever designed\nthe UI did a nice job.\n\n------\njerrysievert\nit's nice to see so much of the original DikuMUD surviving this far into\nversion 3, but don't understand why raw html is being generated instead of\nsomething to be parsed on the client given that the client is a web browser\nusing web sockets.\n\nas an aside, I have a nicely working copy of sillymud hanging out in my\nGitHub, and local copies of phoenix (the successor to sillymud), and epic\n(another highly customized mud that ran off of goldman.ai.mit.edu).\n\n~~~\nduskwuff\n> ...don't understand why raw html is being generated instead of something to\n> be parsed on the client given that the client is a web browser using web\n> sockets.\n\nLooking at the repository, the impression I get is that this codebase had a\nweb interface grafted onto it relatively recently. Most of the code looks like\nit was written with the expectation that it'd be used over a line-mode\ninterface. (A lot of it also looks like it was converted from C to C++ very\nlate in the development process -- outside of the WebSockets library, there's\nhardly any code which uses even basic STL features like string or vector.)\n\n~~~\njerrysievert\n> _Looking at the repository, the impression I get is that this codebase had a\n> web interface grafted onto it relatively recently. Most of the code looks\n> like it was written with the expectation that it 'd be used over a line-mode\n> interface._\n\nyes, if you know the history of muds, and diku specifically, you would know\nthat, but where those changes were made it could more easily have been changed\nto respond either as text, and styled in the browser without adding all of the\nhtml elements, or as json. it was a very weird decision to be made given its\nhistory and the new goals of the project.\n\n------\nnvarsj\nDikuMUD is _the_ influential mud code base. So many derivatives came from it -\nincluding my favorite, CircleMUD. There were also rumors that Everquest was\ndirectly inspired (and perhaps even some code lifted!) from DikuMUD. Millions\nof hours of gameplay across MUDs and MMORPGs owes its life to this C codebase\nbuilt by a handful of university students in Denmark.\n\n------\nswiftausterity\nHey look we interviewed Seifert about this.. months ago :)\n\n[https://www.titansoftext.com/28](https://www.titansoftext.com/28)\n\n~~~\nfreediver\nYou do a fine job with that podcast.\n\n------\nhestefisk\nIs DikuMUD by any chance affiliated with the Department of Computer Science at\nUni of Copenhagen (Datalogisk Institut Københavns Universitet)? FWIW that’s\nwhere Peter Naur did most of his work on formal grammars.\n\n~~~\nmikkom\nYes.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DikuMUD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DikuMUD)\n\n~~~\nhestefisk\nGeeky. The owner also wrote Sitecore, a very expensive CMS.\n\n------\nbargle0\nThis brings me back. I wasted so much time on MUDs when I was young. I had\n_the best_ TinyFugue scripting when everyone else was dragging with zMUD.\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nMUSHclient represent! I spent so much time on Realms of Despair, it's\nbasically where I learned to program.\n\nBeing text-based, MUDs were basically made for scripting. I have very fond\nmemories of that entire world and its people.\n\n------\nkstenerud\nI got my start on a DikuMUD running from the pulmonary labs at UBC (AoD, if\nyou're still out there, thank you). I was still a high school student at the\ntime, but fortunately there was an unprotected dialup (604-822-2222) into the\nNIM system, from which you simply typed in the IP address of the machine you\nwanted to connect to.\n\nThis was my gateway into serious programming. I'd already learned some C, but\nthe idea of a networked multiplayer RPG really stoked my interest in network\nprogramming as I tried to write my own MUD from scratch, and it's because of\nthis that I chose BCIT to study in the datacomm program.\n\n------\nRubberMullet\nFond memories of playing my warrior and cleric at the same time using a\nprogram called tintin++. An early form of multiboxing only with unix shells\ninstead. The server was Apocalypse which appears to still be running.\n\n~~~\nmoron4hire\nTintin was amazing. I kept a copy on a zip disk so I could use it in the\ncomputer labs at college.\n\n------\njohnbellone\nThis is extremely cool. I cut my teeth on C by writing code for a DikuMUD\nderivative, SMAUG, and used it to learn a whole lot: socket programming,\nparsing files, basic interpreter scripting languages.\n\n------\nmyself248\nInquiring minds want to know: Are the fidos still beastly?\n\n~~~\nduskwuff\nThe beastliest.\n\n[https://github.com/Seifert69/DikuMUD3/blob/master/vme/zone/m...](https://github.com/Seifert69/DikuMUD3/blob/master/vme/zone/midgaard.zon#L7483)\n\n------\nholtalanm\nused to play MUDs back in junior high / high school. DartMUD, Seventh Circle\nMUD, along with a few others (I think there was a Dragonball Z MUD at some\npoint that I played, too).\n\nNever played DikuMUD, but I honestly miss those days playing DartMUD for hours\non end. I looked up DartMUD a while back, but it doesn't appear to be very\nactive, if it is even online anymore.\n\n~~~\nholtalanm\nJust tried getting on DartMUD. Their character registration process is so\nhostile with their requirements (no free email providers???)\n\nYup. DartMUD will remain squarely in my memory, and I won't bother trying to\nplay it now.\n\n------\n2snakes\nI still sometimes log in to a MUD, Diku as well! Fond memories of roleplaying\nand PK.\n\n~~~\njerrysievert\nI still relish my time as a darkside member.\n\n------\nr0rshrk\nThis can be hosted online right ?\n\n------\narmitron\nC++ is the worst possible choice for something like this.\n\nI tried compiling it and got flooded with screens full of incomprehensible\nerrors of the sort:\n\n    \n    \n        /usr/include/c++/v1/type_traits:1547:38: error: implicit instantiation of undefined\n          template 'std::__1::owner_less<boost::weak_ptr<void> >'\n        : public integral_constant<bool, __is_empty(_Tp)> {};\n\n~~~\nebg13\n> _incomprehensible errors_\n\nMaybe incomprehensible if you don't know C++ or don't bother to read them or\ncarve them entirely out of context (like you've done here). Every error tells\nyou both where the error occurred, how the compiler got to that file location,\nand what the problem was. Literally what more do you want?\n\nBut, yeah, everything is incomprehensible if you don't comprehend it.\n\n~~~\nsharken\nI hardly think that an error such as this one points to a solution\n\n../../build//vmc/vmc.o: In function `fix(char _) ':\n/home/user/DikuMUD3/vme/src/vmc/vmc.cpp:254: undefined reference to\n`init_lex(char_)'\n\n~~~\nmoron4hire\nI don't have a lot of experience with C++ and even I know that the most likely\ncause of that error is not having the linker configured correctly. It's\nprobably something simple like a common library not being linked in.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHigh Quality Ruby on Rails Example Applications - fogus\nhttp://jetpackweb.com/blog/2009/10/14/high-quality-ruby-on-rails-example-applications/\n======\nmhartl\nI'm the principal author of one of these example apps (Insoshi, a social\nnetworking platform developed as part of YC Winter '08). It's a bit out of\ndate (running on Rails 2.2), but still quite decent. I'm currently working on\na Rails tutorial book that will include a fully up-to-date and (I hope) high-\nquality sample Rails app; keep an eye on <http://www.railstutorial.org/> for\nmore details. You should follow the project on Twitter at\n<http://twitter.com/railstutorial> for all the latest news. _Note:_ some major\nannouncements are coming soon. :-)\n\n------\nbryanwoods\nThese are all pretty good examples.\n\nThat being said, I recently spent some time reading through the source of both\nGemcutter.org and RailsDevelopment.com and found both to be very educational\nto me personally:\n\n<http://github.com/engineyard/rails_dev_directory>\n<http://github.com/qrush/gemcutter/>\n\n~~~\nqrush\nAww, thanks :)\n\n------\ndtf\nThese look great. Anyone know any similar examples for Django?\n\n~~~\npercept\nMaybe EveryBlock (considering the source)?\n\n<http://code.google.com/p/ebcode/>\n\n~~~\nubernostrum\nDepending on the audience, maybe. I've not looked at the code, but I know it\nhas some very specific design assumptions and a number of weird corner cases\nbaked in which might not make it a good general-purpose example.\n\n------\nbhrgunatha\nIt's nice to see some more complex examples with a summary of the plugins and\nrelated technologies.\n\nBut mainly I'm commenting to be able to find this easily later. It's a shame\nHN doesn't have a save link option.\n\n~~~\nWALoeIII\nI believe simply up voting moves it into your Saved list.\n\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/saved?id=WALoeIII> \\- mine\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/saved?id=bhrgunatha> \\- yours\n\n~~~\nbhrgunatha\nOh - thanks. I never noticed.\n\n------\nleeskye\nHas anyone used spreecommerce?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nProtonMail is Open Source [webmail front-end] - e12e\nhttps://blog.protonmail.ch/protonmail-open-source/\n\n======\ne12e\nStil waiting for a full stack -- still I think this is great news. Having a\nlook at their github page, it's also nice to see Free software working across\n\"competing\" companies, their html-editor si Squire, originally by Fastmail.\n\nI'm a little concerned with this comment on the post, though, in response to\nopen sourcing the back-end:\n\n\"The security risks of open sourcing the back-end code is too high. It would\nlet an attacker know how our infrastructure is set up or let spammers get\ninsight into how to circumvent our anti-spam measures.\"\n\nRight. Which is why exim, postfix, spam assasin, AVG, ssh etc is insecure?\nSnark aside, more open, free code is always good!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNorway mass murderer Breivik was 'already damaged by the age of two' - teslacar\nhttp://www.tv2.no/a/8241631\n======\nWaterluvian\nI've seen this story a thousand times. Someone is abused in some manner,\nbecomes an abuser, and the cycle repeats.\n\nI struggle with reconciling these cases because there's two drastically\ndifferent perspectives you can look at it from:\n\n1\\. Brevik is a mass murderer and should be punished to the fullest extent of\nthe law.\n\n2\\. Brevik is a victim who was never given a fair shot at life to begin with.\nHe was moulded into the horrible person he became.\n\nWhat is the point of transition where we stop treating someone like a victim\nand begin treating them like a criminal? How many serious offenders have been\nraised in such a damaging way that you could argue they're not exactly\nresponsible for any of the awful things they ended up doing?\n\nIt brings doubt to how we handle serious criminals in modern times.\n\n~~~\ntinus_hn\nDoes it really matter that much? Even if you were to say he's not responsible,\nyou can't let him out on the streets.\n\nOne of the goals of the justice system is to protect society from criminals by\nremoving them from it, temporarily or permanently.\n\n~~~\ndeepsun\nAgree, but justice systems are different:\n\nSome countries (like ex-USSR) also practice _punishing_ for a crime in prison\n-- further humiliating and abusing convicted person. Don't know if there's a\nreason (if ever were), but some people argue that it helps to reduce future\ncrimes by other people (\"don't do that, or you'll get to prison, you know what\nthey do there\"). Can't tell if it's supported by statistics.\n\nIn other countries, like Norway, justice systems are the other way around --\nbesides removing criminals from society, they also bear a job to re-\nsocializing criminals -- treating them humane and helping them to find a job\nafter the prison.\n\nThese other responsibilities affect answer to your question.\n\n------\nseagullz\n\"As the trial for Breivik's bomb-and-shooting rampage that killed 77 people\nentered its second week, the far-right fanatic told a court that he was the\nvictim of a \"racist\" plot to discredit his ideology. He said no one would have\nquestioned his sanity if he were a \"bearded jihadist.\" \"\n\n[https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2012/04/23/breivi...](https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2012/04/23/breivik-\nclaims-racist-plot-to-cast-him-as-insane)\n\n[http://bridge.georgetown.edu/mental-illness-a-key-factor-\nin-...](http://bridge.georgetown.edu/mental-illness-a-key-factor-in-terror/)\n\n------\nwtbob\nWhat worries me about this is the detailed nature of this account. Surely\nevery one of us has had quite a few painful years: imagine if it had all been\nrecorded in dry, bureaucratic detail.\n\nI'm reminded of the story about æroplanes and the mythical average pilot: just\nas no pilot is actually average (and, in the original story, that's why\ncockpits designed for the average were bad for everyone), might it not be that\nnone of us is statistically normal, and thus _every_ one of us is thus\n_abnormal_ , and hence dangerous to the bureaucratic state?\n\nNone of this is meant to minimise Brevik's horrific crime, of course. But I'm\nworried about this level of detail being available for anyone on the planet. I\ndon't know what the solution is: obviously, it's now possible to record lots\nof details about anyone, and just as obviously, it's possible for those\ndetails to be made available. That implies that those details _will_ be made\navailable, and so we as a society must come to terms with that.\n\nStill, it's a bit chilling that a State can track a man down to that level of\ndetail.\n\n------\nBadassFractal\nYou eventually realize that it's next to impossible to hate someone when, if\nyou were born into their situation, with their genetics, their environment,\ntheir condition, you would very likely have done the same exact thing. There's\na tragic amount of predetermination in life.\n\n~~~\nadekok\nStudies show that there is a large correlation between genetics and life\noutcome.\n\ni.e. when treated badly, most people will end up bad, some won't. When treated\nwell, most people will end up good, some won't.\n\nThere are people who are pre-disposed to do bad things, no matter what. There\nare people who are pre-disposed to do good things, no matter what.\n\nSee the stories about Romanian orphans for how a bad system can turn most\npeople into functioning sociopaths:\n\n[http://www.livescience.com/21778-early-neglect-alters-\nkids-b...](http://www.livescience.com/21778-early-neglect-alters-kids-\nbrains.html)\n\nYet some still turn out OK.\n\n------\nmuramira\nAm I the only one to cry out bullshit! The guy is a terrorist, period. He\ndeserves to pay for what he did. I survived a genocide and you don't see me go\naround and kill people.\n\n~~~\ncooper12\nNo one is saying his childhood absolves him of any responsibility. The article\nis merely looking at his upbringing. It's apples and oranges where you compare\ngenocide to child abuse.\n\n------\njavajosh\nIt's remarkable there was any awareness of his predicament at all. All too\noften it seems that society is only sensitive to the more obvious forms of\nabuse (sexual and physical). Yet I suspect psychological abuse is far, far\nworse. I bet if you looked deeply into the lives of U.S. school shooters you'd\nfind a similar story.\n\nThe real lesson here is: _if you 're a borderline woman, do NOT have\nchildren_. If you do, give them up for adoption. We as a society should be\nready and willing to forcibly separate children from borderline parents.\n\n~~~\nbrianberns\n> We as a society should be ready and willing to forcibly separate children\n> from borderline parents.\n\nWho gets to decide if someone is \"borderline\"? How do we know that the people\nmaking this decision are not borderline themselves?\n\nUnfortunately, I don't think there is a way to impose morality on others that\nis not vulnerable to the same problems that it's trying to fix.\n\n~~~\nmikeash\nWe don't seem to have a problem imposing the morality of \"don't kill people\"\nand \"don't steal stuff.\" Is this fundamentally different?\n\n~~~\nvacri\nHave a look at how Australian Aborigines feel about their separation from\nparents because of contemporary morals.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Generations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Generations)\n\n~~~\nmikeash\nA tragedy, but not an answer to my question. Is there a fundamental difference\nbetween this and putting people away for murder, or is it just a matter of\nmaking sure we get it right?\n\n------\nmgarfias\nThis reads scarily like how my ex is with our boy. I hope that the proper care\nhe gets 1/2 time at my house keeps him from going nuts\n\n------\n4991throwaway\nWow reading the account of his childhood was very eye-opening.\n\nFor starters, I should say I've never hurt anyone willingly, not in any\nserious way at least, nor for any length of time. Secondly, my parents are\nhappily married as were their parents, my home life was mostly fine. My dad is\nan emotional black hole but I love him.\n\nWhat I found strikingly similar to Anders was his emotional reaction to\npeople, being distant, few friends, fake smiles that I usually have to try\nvery hard to make them be believable. He obviously got hurt by people in his\nlife and learned to depend on himself to keep his ego intact, and that's my\nexperience as well.\n\nI have a deep desire to be normal but I know i'm not. Up until about 9 or 10 I\nwas a pretty normal kid, but then my family moved across the country. I knew\nnobody in the new town. Before the move I had a best friend, several other\nfriends and I had a pretty happy childhood overall. I'm convinced I had ADD\nbecause I was extremely hyper-active and my primary outlet in my new school\nwas to draw, most of my worksheets until about middle school were filled with\nrandom doodles. I day-dreamed constantly, I was always behind on work because\nI could rarely focus on doing any one thing for more than a few minutes.\n\nSo in my new school, I had an extremely hard time making any friends. I have\none I would consider a close friend, though the older we get the more distant\nwe seem to become. So all the ADD-fueled mannerisms that I thrived on before\nmoving, that my old friends accepted me in spite of them, all worked against\nme at the new school. I didn't fit in anywhere at my new, much larger school.\nI never really got into fights or was overly picked on, but I always felt\nrejected just for being me.\n\nDUring high school at a job, one of my bosses told me once \"You're a really\nserious guy, you know that\", because I seldom showed any emotion. At the time\nI took it as a compliment. I'm much more emotive these days, but the damage to\nmy personality has been done. I live alone, haven't had a girlfriend in over a\nyear and I generally have very little contact with people outside of work, and\nonly at work. I really seldom desire any, though I do love to be in small\ncompany as long as i'm not the center of attention. My old childhood friends\nreally are strangers to me now, I tried to reconnect with most of them but the\nperson I was back then isn't the person I am today.\n\nI guess I just wanted some more insight into this. I certainly don't mean\nanyone harm, but everytime I see a psychological profile of a serial killer, I\nalways see a part of them in me, the desire for time alone and the lack of\nadherance to most social norms and the general distance with people both\nphysically and emotionally. My neighbors I'm pretty sure are afraid of me\nsimply because I seldom have any guests and I keep to myself for the most\npart, especially after my last girlfriend moved out over a year ago. I really\ndon't know any of my neighbors very well at all even though I've lived here\nover 5 years.\n\nI want to be a normal, people enjoying person, I have that drive in me, but\nsomething stops me. Not sure why I posted, but there are a lot of wise people\nwho post here so I'm curious what input they might have (good or bad).\n\n------\nBlytheSchuma\nThis all could have been prevented with a Government regulated IUD program.\n\n------\nggrochow\nSucks I can't really read the article because some-custom scrolling or scripts\nare breaking the vim-fx FF plugin and the normal-scrolling doesn't even move\nthe page.\n\n~~~\nnickysielicki\nFirefox or Chrome?\n\nIf Chrome, give vimium a try. I have no such issues with Chromium 57.0.2987.98\n+ vimium + ublock origin + umatrix. The only scripts running are served from\n'*.tv2.no', but even with blocking those the article loads fine, albiet\nwithout images.\n\nvimium:\n[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vimium/dbepggeogba...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vimium/dbepggeogbaibhgnhhndojpepiihcmeb)\n\numatrix:\n[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/umatrix/ogfcmafjal...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/umatrix/ogfcmafjalglgifnmanfmnieipoejdcf)\n\nublock: [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock-\norigin/cjpa...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock-\norigin/cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm)\n\n~~~\nfalsedan\n> _FF_\n\nFireFox\n\n~~~\njwilk\nIs Firefox (note that the latter f is lowercase) really such a long word that\nit needs to be abbreviated?\n\n~~~\nfalsedan\nn\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Intro.js Hints - afshinmeh\nhttp://introjs.com/example/hint/index.html\n======\nsourcd\nGood similar libs on github :\n\n[https://github.com/zurb/joyride](https://github.com/zurb/joyride)\n\n[https://github.com/heelhook/chardin.js](https://github.com/heelhook/chardin.js)\n\n[https://github.com/linkedin/hopscotch](https://github.com/linkedin/hopscotch)\n\n[https://github.com/sorich87/bootstrap-\ntour](https://github.com/sorich87/bootstrap-tour)\n\n[https://github.com/HubSpot/shepherd](https://github.com/HubSpot/shepherd)\n\n[https://github.com/usablica/intro.js](https://github.com/usablica/intro.js)\n\nOnce I had a requirement and ended up trying nearly all of them and\nunfortunately, had to write my own (took about a day and a half) that\naccomplished the tour exactly the way I wanted. Off the top of my head, I\ncan't recall what each of them missed but primary reason was that often they\ntake off with a great experience and then the lead developer can't devote\nenough time to meet the diverse requirements of a huge community. The library\nends up with a huge user base with lots of open issues, some critical to the\nuser experience on the myriad of mobile devices.\n\n------\nfoxylion\nAlso a great library for onboarding purposes is Hopscotch [1]. It is allows\nyou to create a interactive tour through the UI.\n\nWe are using it to introduce new users when launching the webapp the first\ntime (Because having a 100% intuitive UI is a hard thing). We also made a\nstudy which showed us that using a onboarding mechansim really helps the user\nto get started and does not scare them away (which was a concern of some\npeople).\n\n[1]\n[https://github.com/linkedin/hopscotch](https://github.com/linkedin/hopscotch)\n\n~~~\nvangale\nHopscotch is one of the few tour libraries that can jump to steps on a\ndifferent page and (mostly) perform actions on behalf of the user.\n\n~~~\nfoxylion\nIt's also great that they have a simple, but extensible API to use custom\nactions to trigger the next step by e.g. a drag of a specific element.\n\n------\nnathancahill\nCool to see a project using Skeleton. Was disappointed when that project\nfizzled out once the creator left. It hit the sweet spot in CSS frameworks for\nme: small, un-opinionated and hard for people to tell you're using a framework\n(unlike Bootstrap which you can spot a mile away). Haven't found anything to\nreplace it yet.\n\n~~~\ndimgl\nI've used Skeleton in some projects while I was contracting. I've moved on to\nMilligram.\n\n~~~\ndegenerate\nI like how Milligram operates... very 'clean'. Link for everyone else:\n[https://milligram.github.io/](https://milligram.github.io/)\n\n------\ndkopi\nThis is an awesome library, and seems to be very vibrant on Github.\n\nIf you're looking for something commercial (and paying for something\ncommercial) however, I'd probably recommend one of the step by step tutorial\ntools that allow you to build the walk through using a visual editor, and\nwithout having to add code for each individual walk through and tool tip.\n\nThis is one of those cases where I just want to add a short JS snippet to my\nsite, and allow product / marketing to customize and fine tune the tutorials\nand on-boarding without developer involvement.\n\n~~~\nleesalminen\nCan you recommend a commercial product that does this?\n\n~~~\nnapoleond\nI'm not the parent, but was curious and did some digging. So far I've found\nthis Quora post with a few options: [https://www.quora.com/What-tools-can-I-\nuse-to-create-a-guide...](https://www.quora.com/What-tools-can-I-use-to-\ncreate-a-guided-tour-walkthrough-of-my-website)\n\n------\npdxandi\nI used Skeleton in the past and loved it for the same reasons. I'm trying out\nImperavi Kube for a new project and it's clean, minimalist, and easy to use.\nI'm on mobile, otherwise I'd find you a link, but I'd recommend you check it\nout.\n\n------\nmarkherhold\nThis is exactly what I need to quickly explain elements of my dashboards to\nnew users! Alternatively, this could let me explain new elements as they are\nadded over time. Perfect!\n\n~~~\nRafert\nBe aware of the licensing though. It was MIT but as of March 9 the license\nfile mentions having to purchase a license if used commercial. Seems\ncontradictory with \"to deal in the Software without restriction\" part of the\nMIT license text.\n\n~~~\nrloc\nRight, I didn't notice at first.\n[http://introjs.com/#commercial](http://introjs.com/#commercial)\n\nLooks like if you use it as part of a commercial product, you have to pay the\nlicense.\n\n~~~\nnathancahill\nWhich is only fair IMO, open source developers have to eat too!\n\n~~~\nafshinmeh\nah thanks God! :-)\n\n------\nsdneirf\nNeat! I was just looking for something like this. Good call out on the MIT\nlicense.\n\n------\ngreenimpala\nWrite an unintuitive UI and then plaster it with 'hints' \\- great!\n\n~~~\ntaf2\nUI is hard... takes a lot of iteration to get right and even then... hints\nhelp IMO\n\n~~~\nafshinmeh\nindeed.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLuck and Startups - csentropy\nhttps://medium.com/@csentropy/luck-and-startups-f93bce58b272\n======\nmanojdv\nCan this be done legally?\n\n~~~\ncsentropy\nI did write it legally :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: AI Sign Language translators - zunzun\nCan AI be made to translate between different sign language variants? I would think computerized avatars could easily be trained, and grant money for such projects should be easy to come by. Computerized vision should be able to read sign language - especially in specific, limited visual settings and backgrounds.\n======\nkopo\nIt's not simple to do.\n\nFirst you need a whole lot of data to train the system which doesn't really\nexist (unlike the case of speech to text or one language to another(text to\ntext)). You would need to set up a big data collection project.\n\nSecondly there are a whole bunch of different things to track. Movement of\nmultiple fingers, +palm, +entire hand, +facial expressions. Current state of\nthe art would be tracking a single thing like a ball or a player for sports\nand that still requires a number of cameras and a couple people sitting behind\nthe scenes fixing issues.\n\nI think Microsoft's Kinect came close to achieving something akin to sign\nlanguage recognition at a very basic level. But from what I remember reading\nthey spent a whole lot of time and resources training their system just to get\nthere.\n\nMaybe 3-4 years away I'd say.\n\n------\nlaszlokorte\nI am currently studying sign language in Germany (ie DGS - Deutsche Gebärden\nSprache, german sign language).\n\nIn the long term I can not think of anything why it should not be possible but\nhere a few difficulties that come to mind:\n\n1\\. Sign languages are in general not yet as well understood as spoken\nlanguages (the grammar, the vocabulary). For example the University of Hamburg\nis running the \"DGS-Korpus\" project[1] in order to create the first real\ndictionary for DGS, currently there is none. i.e. even humans have not a full\nexplicit understanding of the language (DGS) and afaik it's similar for other\nsign languages\n\n2\\. As video recordings are not older than 100 years and the community of\nnative speakers per language is much smaller than for spoken languages the\namount of recorded speech is much smaller\n\n3\\. Large parts of sign languages are very productive. That means that the\nspeaker/signer is not limited to a fixed vocabulary and a fixed grammar but\nallowed to reenact a situation he is telling about (\"constructed dialogue\" and\n\"constructed action\"[2]). Eg when retelling a conversation the storyteller can\nshift her body to the left or the the right in order to embody multiple\npeople. Instead of saying \"I drove the car. I had to turn left and then I saw\nher on the right side\" the signer can just move as he was sitting in the car,\nholding the the steering wheel, moving it to the left and turning is head to\nthe right. I would compare that to making \"phewww... ohhhhh, whoaaa\" sounds in\norder to tell how the plane you sit in took of. Additionally the signer is\nallowed to allocate locations around her upper body to establish references to\npreviously mentions objects and refer back to them via pronouns.\n\n4\\. There is no agreed upon notation for writing down signed texts. Sure there\nare notations for various hand forms and movements directions but especially\nthe productive part of language mentioned above is hard to formalize. E.g.\nspacial locations that can be used for placing references are not predefined.\nSome person still learning the language may only be able to use two positions\n\"left to his body\" and \"right to his body\", but a very eloquent signer may be\nable to establish even 10 references points in front of him and still enable\nthe audience to keep track of them. Such arbitrary reference points can not be\nwritten down in a sensible notation.\n\n5\\. Various sign languages differ much more from each other than one might\ninitially think. Each sign language has its own grammar and vocabulary. For\ngerman sign languages it's not even entirely clear what marks a sentence.\n\n6\\. Sign languages are not sequential but simultaneous languages ie it's\npossible to express one thing with one hand and another thing with the other\nhand in parallel\n\nSo some first steps might be:\n\n* find a formal grammar for sign languages\n\n* find a formal notation to write down arbitrary sentences\n\n* collect a large corpus\n\n* Train some AI to translate video data into your notation\n\n* Train some AI to translate the notation from one sign language to another (and to spoken/written language as well)\n\n* Train some AI to translate spoken/written language to your notation for some sign language\n\n* Build an avatar that accepts that notation as input and translates it into movement\n\n[1] [http://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de](http://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de)\n[2]\n[https://www.signteach.eu/index.php/podcastsall/item/construc...](https://www.signteach.eu/index.php/podcastsall/item/constructedaction-\ndgs)\n\n~~~\nyorwba\n> find a formal grammar for sign languages\n\nMight not be necessary. Modern statistical machine translation techniques use\nformal grammars as an auxiliary signal at most.\n\n> find a formal notation to write down arbitrary sentences\n\nSome sign languages might not be representable in SignWriting, but most should\nbe covered.\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SignWriting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SignWriting)\n\n> collect a large corpus\n\nMany (all?) European (and other) countries have laws requiring news\nbroadcasts, parliamentary debates etc. to be made available in sign language.\nSimilar to the EUROPARL corpus, that could be used as a starting point for\nsigned <-> spoken translation. Also similar to EUROPARL, colloquial language\nwould be underrepresented.\n\nOf course there won't be any SignWriting transcriptions, so the corpus would\nbe essentially unlabeled.\n\n> Build an avatar that accepts that notation as input and translates it into\n> movement\n\nI'd do that before/while attempting to create a large number of\ntranscriptions, both to ensure accuracy and to enable unsupervised pattern\nmining in the later steps.\n\n> Train some AI to translate video data into your notation\n\nWhat I mean by unsupervised pattern mining is that the transcription AI would\nbe trained to output a transcription that makes the avatar ouput something\nlike the original video, as well as reconstructing the avatar's input from its\nmovements.\n\n> Train some AI to translate the notation from one sign language to another\n> (and to spoken/written language as well)\n\nIt'd probably be easiest to start with translating between the signed <->\nspoken pairs in the corpus and then leverage that into signed <-> signed\ntranslation.\n\n~~~\nlaszlokorte\nYes you can do all that and as I said I do not think it would be impossible.\nAnd some of what you describe is already done (eg [1]). I just wanted to point\nout some difficulties.\n\n[1]\n[http://www.michaelkipp.de/slides/Kippetal11slides.pdf](http://www.michaelkipp.de/slides/Kippetal11slides.pdf)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nA letter to my daughter, Augusta, in ruby - pacbard\nhttp://jpfuentes2.tumblr.com/post/39935683274/a-letter-to-my-daughter-augusta-in-ruby\n======\nsutro\nI once wrote a letter to my son in C++.\n\nWe don't talk anymore.\n\n~~~\nalexkus\nand you got divorce papers from your wife written in Objective-C ? (Or maybe\nGo?)\n\n~~~\ncodygman\nIck, comparing Objective-C to Go?\n\n~~~\nalexkus\nNo, it was a (poor) pun on the language names...\n\n------\nshmerl\nReminds me of this obfuscated C classic: <http://www.ioccc.org/1990/westley.c>\n\nIf you want to compile it, replace each \"1s\" with \"is\" in the code and compile\nfor example like this:\n\ngcc -Dis=1 westley.c -o westley\n\n(or just put is=1; in the beginning with the same substitutions).\n\nNormal compilers don't like 1s notation for short. Then run the result with\nsome integer parameter ;)\n\n------\ngesman\nHere's a bit shorter version of this amazing letter:\n\nputs 'Augusta, we <3 you!'\n\n~~~\nDanWaterworth\nHere's a shorter version of love.rb:\n\n    \n    \n        class Augusta; end\n    \n        def a_letter(*args, &blk)\n          puts 'Augusta, we <3 you!'\n        end\n\n~~~\nmatthuggins\nNot quite, you'll run into various class/modules/methods not found.\n\n~~~\nDanWaterworth\nTry it.\n\n------\nemillon\nThat's cute, but most of the \"magic\" is hidden behind the require line. That's\nsomewhat breaking the rules I think (compare that to Perl poetry such as the\nBlack Perl).\n\n------\nminikomi\nNice! Reminds me of judofyr's \"On Camping vs Sinatra\"\n\n<http://timelessrepo.com/on-camping-vs-sinatra>\n\n~~~\njudofyr\nI was about to say that it reminds me of the Haiku's I've been collecting:\n\n<http://timelessrepo.com/haiku>\n\nOr Tribute (that I wrote):\n\n<http://timelessrepo.com/tribute>\n\n------\nliberatus\nYeah but the maintenance overhead on such complexity... Just wait till the\nteenage years!\n\nNah, given the design decisions inspiring this codebase, I don't have any\nreason to believe your daughter will have any challenge extending and reusing\nits functionality once she's grown up. ;-)\n\n------\nkachhalimbu\nI'm tempted to fork this, change name to my daughter's name and frame it or\nmake a Tee. Not sure if the author would think of it as disrespectful.\n\n~~~\ndevopstom\nHey, it's Open Source, right? LICENSE seems to confirm this.\n\n------\nsmegel\nThat guy who said Javascript is the new Perl has been proven wrong.\n\n~~~\nnwmcsween\nThis has nothing to due with obfuscation but the malleability of ruby itself,\nread the required file he made a DSL.\n\n------\nmattyod\nA little more flippant but I wrote this version of Goldilocks in JavaScript a\nlittle while back: <https://gist.github.com/3755270>\n\n~~~\ndraegtun\nNice. It inspired me to spend some free time I had today doing same thing in\nperl 5 & 6 - <https://gist.github.com/4542918>\n\n------\ncupcake-unicorn\nBlah, this is not a good way to get back into Ruby. I get that most of it is\njust fluff, but can anyone break it down a little? Really stretching the\nsyntax.\n\n~~~\njpfuentes2\nAre there specific pieces you don't understand? Or would you want a\nwalkthrough?\n\n~~~\ncupcake-unicorn\nJust kind of a walk-through. I think part of it is that I can't fully force\nmyself to read it as code when it's written poetically like that, so even\nsyntax conventions I fully get are causing my eyes to glaze over.\n\n------\nShank\nI really love how the second to last line rhymes in such a way that, when read\nwith the semicolon out loud, produces a neat sound to it.\n\n\"Until infinity ends do; Forever end.\"\n\n------\nsethbannon\nCode as poetry. Are there any other examples of this?\n\n~~~\nreaclmbs\nBlack perl - originally by Larry Wall & updated for Perl 5 by Ovid\n(<http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=17000>)\n\n    \n    \n            BEFOREHAND: close door, each window & exit; wait until time.\n    \t     open spellbook, study, select it, confess, tell, deny;\n    \twrite it, print the hex while each watches,\n    \t     reverse \"its length\", write again;\n    \t     kill spiders, pop them, chop, split, kill them.\n    \t          unlink arms, shift, wait & listen (listening, wait),\n    \tsort the flock (then, warn \"the goats\". kill \"the sheep\");\n    \t     kill them, dump qualms, shift moralities,\n    \t     values aside, each one;\n    \t          die sheep, die, reverse system\n    \t          you accept (reject, respect);\n    \tnext step,\n    \t     kill next sacrifice, each sacrifice,\n    \t     wait, redo ritual until \"all the spirits are pleased\";\n    \t     do it (\"as they say\").\n    \tdo it(*everyone***must***participate***in***forbidden**s*e*x*).\n    \treturn last victim; package body;\n    \t     exit crypt (time, times & \"half a time\") & close it,\n    \t     select (quickly) & warn next victim;\n    \tAFTERWORDS: tell nobody.\n    \t     wait, wait until time;\n    \t     wait until next year, next decade;\n    \t          sleep, sleep, die yourself and\n    \t          rest at last\n\n~~~\ndraegtun\nSome extra references:\n\n\\- Black Perl updated for Perl 5 - <http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=237465>\n\n\\- Black Perl Revisited - <http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=578707>\n\n\\- <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Perl>\n\n------\nSkoofoo\nVery touching :)\n\n------\nnicholasspencer\nThis is great! Proof that code is art.\n\n~~~\njpfuentes2\nThat's what I going for. I tagged it as \"Code as Art.\" I initially dubbed it a\npoem but decided it read more like a letter, instead. Personally, I think it\nqualifies as code prose.\n\n------\nEGreg\nThe thing is, these things are supposed to be personal. But someone can fork\nit.\n\n------\nxyproto\n16 months before finding time for programming again. Sounds about right.\n\n~~~\njpfuentes2\nHahaha. Kids will do that to you.\n\n------\nyeison\nI had to upgrade to ruby 1.9 in order to run it. Very beautiful, btw.\n\n------\nkelvin0\nWow it never ceases to amaze me the things that headline in HN. As much as I\nunderstand the love for one's child(ren), I am a bit disappointed to go on a\nsite called 'Hacker News' to see this type of irrelevant posting.\n\n~~~\njpfuentes2\nYou may consider reading up on the Hacker way:\n\nA hacker is a person that loves to program, or someone who enjoys playful\ncleverness, or a combination of the two.[3] The act of engaging in activities\n(such as programming or other media[4]) in a spirit of playfulness and\nexploration is termed hacking. However the defining characteristic of a hacker\nis not the activities performed themselves (e.g. programming), but the manner\nin which it is done: Hacking entails some form of excellence, for example\nexploring the limits of what is possible[5], thereby doing something exciting\nand meaningful.\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_(programmer_subculture)>\n\n------\ntzaman\nThis is the most emotional script ever I have ever seen :)\n\n------\nphodo\nLoL (Lines of Love) is inversely proportional to LoC\n\n------\nso898\nSeems like the daughter will become a programmer.\n\n~~~\nshellehs\nat least know how to read ruby source code\n\n------\nhaven\nLove it! <3\n\n------\npowerfulninja\nBeautiful\n\n------\nknwang\namazing!\n\n------\nragsagar\nnice\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThe easiest way to add recommendations to your Rails app: acts_as_edgy - wheels\nhttp://blog.directededge.com/2011/03/15/the-easiest-way-to-add-recommendations-to-your-rails-app-announcing-acts_as_edgy/\n\n======\ntomkarlo\nThey really need to port this to Rails 3. At this point, any new app I'm\nbuilding is Rails 3, and any old app I have, I'm reluctant to add something\nthat will make upgrading harder.\n\n~~~\nwheels\nAssuming there's some uptake on this version we'll almost certainly produce a\nRails 3 port. New apps aren't actually a great target for recommendations\nsince they don't have much data around and since there are still far more\nRails 2 deployed than Rails 3 apps around it seemed like a better target for\nthe first version.\n\n~~~\ntomkarlo\nUnderstood, but arguably a lot of those Rails2 apps are not being actively\nupdated, or they would have been rolled over to Rails3 by now.\n\nAnyhow, add me to the list of those who would be very interested in a Rail3\nversion.\n\n~~~\nwheels\nIt's interesting that you say that -- and I don't mean this to be contentious\n-- I've genuinely had the opposite impression. Unfortunately HN's a bad place\nto get a sense for such things since it tends to be way ahead of the curve.\n(i.e. things like Node and Scala appear far more mainstream reading HN than\nthey are in practice.)\n\nMost of the folks I know working on Rails 2 sites have only started taking\nRails 3 seriously in the last month or two and don't seem to be in a hurry to\nupgrade.\n\nIt'd be interesting to see a curve of when major rails deployment cut over (if\nthey do). I wonder if there's a tell-tale Rails 3 signature that could be used\ncombined with e.g. an 80legs crawl?\n\n~~~\npatio11\nNot major, but just anecdotally, all of my Rails apps are 2.x and I have no\nplans to migrate within 6 months.\n\n------\n3pt14159\nI just finished implementing this (albeit way more crudely (runs on CRONs &\nRake tasks) and most likely less accurately) for a client. After I was done I\nwas like \"hey, this could totally be its own app.\" One day later...\n\n------\njpallen\nServices like this significantly reduce the barrier to entry for complicated\nweb apps. I've been mulling over an idea for a while now but it would tricky\nto implement. With the discovery of Directed Edge and a few other services\nit's now a minor technical hurdle. I can shift my thinking away from how to\nbuild the technology and onto how to execute the idea well, something that\nhasn't had nearly enough thought yet. I think services like this making\ninnovation much easier.\n\n------\nandrewjshults\nHas anyone used the underlying recommendation service (or another similar\nservice)? This definitely seems like it could be a huge time saver for a\nnumber of sites, but it's hard to tell from the site what people's impressions\nof the recommendation quality is.\n\n~~~\nwheels\nA few links that might be useful:\n\nShopify add-on, using the same engine (with a different face):\n\n<http://apps.shopify.com/directed-edge-expressrex>\n\nWrite-up by one of our customers:\n\n[http://www.jonathanbriggs.com/ecommerce/33-of-revenue-\nexpres...](http://www.jonathanbriggs.com/ecommerce/33-of-revenue-expressrex-\nrecommendation-engine-recommended,814,AR.html)\n\nQuora answer by an API user (at that time had already integrated, wasn't live\nyet):\n\n<http://www.quora.com/How-good-is-Directed-Edge>\n\n------\nkunley\nAlthought interesting product, it just makes me believe that many people are\nusing ORMs simply because they don't have SQL under their belt.\n\nThe query they describe as 'monstrosity' is actually easy, understandable &\ntypical stuff to do on the relational db. When I was taught CS stuff, you\nconsciously chose relational db just because you could do things like that. If\nyou didn't plan it, you wouldn't use such db in the first place.\n\nMy point is, why to popularize the approach that you should run away from SQL\nas much as possible and not tune it to your needs? Because that's what authors\npropose. SQL is not XX-century obsolescence and is not hard to learn. I always\nthought people, as me, are using ORMs to utilize some convenient coding\npattern, not to be hopefully in a safe distance from all that SQL thingy. Am I\nso naive?\n\n~~~\nadelevie\n>My point is, why to popularize the approach that you should run away from SQL\nas much as possible and not tune it to your needs?\n\nIt's a business decision. More developers will use their product if it's\neasier to integrate. ActiveRecord acts_as_blank plugins are fairly simple to\nwrite and even easier to use.\n\nAngry VC: Well why aren't more people using Directed Edge?\n\nDE CEO: We could have built this plugin but we want more people to be fluent\nin raw SQL. It's better for the craft of CS.\n\nI understand where you're coming from, but the benefit of using an ORM should\nbe quite obvious in this case.\n\nAlso, I found that the more I understood about SQL, the more pleasant it was\nto use ActiveRecord. Sometimes its \"magic\" can be a pain, but when it works,\nit really works well. I can't help but smile when I think of all the time it's\nsaved me.\n\n~~~\nkunley\nOK I can see a business plan in it and I can't blame people for choosing one\nway of earning money over another.\n\nStill this is quite sign of the times we live in. If someone's putting most of\nhis service from the pieces hosted elsewhere, what it will be? I can say that\nit'll be probably sloooow ;)\n\nAnyway I share your sentiment towards ORMs, with a little difference that I\nprefer data mapper (as a pattern) over active record (as a pattern). Active\nrecord locks you in the ghetto where the only primary source of the schema\ninformation are your artificially crafted ORM-dependent tables, where in data\nmapper the database itself can give this information to you via reflection of\nthe \"real\" tables. This is priceless when dealing not only with legacy\ndatabases but also with effects of ad-hoc operational fixes, which in turn can\nsave your production sometimes. Data mapper has got also object identities\nright.\n\n------\nmetanoize\nI really would love to have this work with my new RoR3 app!\n\n~~~\nanarchitect\nDitto!\n\n------\ndholowiski\nHoly crap, recommendation as a service. I had this idea 3 months ago, any\nchance of me getting a royalty? I was going to suggest having a free\n'developer' account, but then I saw it in small writing at the bottom of the\npage. I'm in - this is freaking awesome!\n\n~~~\ngetsat\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2318849>\n\n~~~\ndholowiski\nThanks, it was a joke.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nRichard Stallman: A Discussion on Freedom, Privacy and Cryptocurrencies - op03\nhttps://cointelegraph.com/news/richard-stallman-a-discussion-on-freedom-privacy-cryptocurrencies\n======\nsuizi\nIf a government is capable of abusing a capability, they can and will. The\nsimple existence of cameras to monitor people is a threat.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nDear Nature - jgrahamc\nhttp://www.jgc.org/blog/2008/09/dear-nature.html\n\n======\nmichael_dorfman\nIt was (predatory) pricing policies like this that led Knuth and the entire\neditorial board of the \"Journal of Algorithms\" to resign en masse, and start a\nnew journal with the ACM.\n\nFor those interested, the statement from the board can be found at\n<http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~hal/s.pdf>, and Knuth's (long, fascinating)\nletter to his colleagues can be found at <http://www-cs-\nfaculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/joalet.pdf>\n\n~~~\nwheels\nI consider the ACM just as bad. Their membership pricing is restrictive for\ncasual users and their conferences are worse.\n\nI also consider their restrictions on who is able to become a member insulting\n(though they don't apply to me). Wait, so a physicist who's taken up\nprogramming in the last year isn't supposed to be able to read papers on\ncomputation?\n\n~~~\narebop\nRE: restrictions on who is able to become a member:\n\n\"Membership Qualifications You must satisfy one of the qualifications below:\n1\\. Bachelor's Degree (in any subject area); or 2\\. Equivalent Level of\nEducation; or 3\\. Two years full-time employment in the IT field.\" ---\n[https://campus.acm.org/public/ProfQJ/qjprof_control.cfm?form...](https://campus.acm.org/public/ProfQJ/qjprof_control.cfm?form_type=Professional)\n\n~~~\njgrahamc\nSorry, Michael Faraday you don't have the relevant experience or degree so you\ncan't have access to that information.\n\nHuh? You mean you attended _free_ lectures by Sir Humphrey Davy and then went\non to become one of the greatest scientists of all time.\n\nWow. Those were the days.\n\n------\nrobg\nFurthermore, where else do content creators pay for the privilege of\npublishing their work (over $1000 usually per paper), then have those\noutrageous rates for visitors to access that work?\n\n~~~\nrglovejoy\nAnd even furthermore, most of the research being reported in these journals\nwas paid for with taxpayer money.\n\n~~~\ndcurtis\nMost? Really? Government grants don't fund more than _half_ of scientific\nresearch, do they?\n\n~~~\nrobg\nThe budgets in 2008:\n\nNIH = $28B\n\nNSF = $6B\n\nThat's $34B. While surely there's alot of private R&D (and more government),\nit's rare that I see a paper from industry, but then my field is biased\nagainst it. And there are private foundations. Does enough published research\ncome from those private sources to outweigh publically funded studies? I\nwouldn't bet on it. Remember, there's a perpetual cycle in most public funding\nwith publications. In order to get funded, you have to show a record of\npublishing. The priorities of private research would seem to be a very\ndifferent threshold.\n\nStill, it's a solid point. You've paid for our research. Why should you have\nto pay to access our reports?\n\nTo be fair though, I have yet to hear about complaints from journals regarding\nresearchers who post their reports on their public websites. But that makes it\nhard to find things. Journals would surely squawk if there were alternative\nrepositories.\n\n~~~\nhugh\nDon't forget the Department of Energy and the various military funding\nagencies -- they fund an awful lot of external research as well (in addition\nto any unpublished stuff they might be doing internally). I'm sure the\nDepartment of Agriculture etc are also handing out plenty of grants in the\nrelevant fields as well.\n\n~~~\nrobg\nSure - that's what I meant by \"more government\". Problem is, I don't think you\ncan simply look at their budgets - they do other things besides research - and\ntheir research efforts are likely much smaller. It would be interesting to see\nthe research grant lines in their budgets if anyone knows or finds them.\n\n------\njgrahamc\nI should have added that this sort of thing is why PLoS is so important.\n\n<http://plos.org/>\n\n~~~\nmechanical_fish\nI seriously believe that _this_ \\-- the fact that you need access to a\nuniversity library, a research grant, or several thousand dollars worth of\ndiscretionary income just to _read_ the primary source materials of the last\n70 years of science -- is the reason why so much of the planet is\nscientifically illiterate.\n\nWe ask why the hilarious notion that science is just a species of religion --\na collection of essentially arbitrary dogmas handed down by priests in white\ncoats -- has taken such hold among the populace. But, really, what does the\npublic see of modern science but dogma? The state of the art -- the debate,\nthe argument, the statistical calculations, the brilliant conclusions, the\nidiotic conclusions, even the raw data itself -- is all locked up behind\npaywalls and private conferences and university tuitions. 99.5% of the world\nnever sees actual science being done. At best, they do toy science in their\nclassrooms and read prepackaged science-flavored PR in their magazines.\n\nThe best the public can hope for is a bunch of documentaries and\npopularizations, some of which are great. But nearly all of them are second-\nhand, many of them contain major omissions, mistakes, or distortions, and they\nfeel constrained by their need to maintain their mass audience of\nbusinesspeople on planes -- they tend to not publish graphs or, god help us,\nequations.\n\nOf course, most of the public wouldn't understand _Nature_ even if it became\nfree and open tomorrow. Many of the papers are written in barely-\ncomprehensible jargon. But that's not a coincidence; it's a side effect of\nallowing journals to evolve into niche publications for a handful of graduate\nstudents. Perhaps, in the world where scientific publications are available to\nanyone to read, journals will slowly evolve toward a standard of writing that\nallows interested fans to follow along. Or a genre of annotated journal\narticles might arise.\n\n~~~\nDaniFong\nAlternatively, people will just start publishing online, on blogs or wikis or\nsomething else. It's already starting to happen; math is leading the way. Much\nof my website is somewhere in the space between 'blog entry' and 'paper'.\n\n~~~\njgrahamc\nYes. One way around this whole 'who pays' mess would be a Wikipedia like site\nfor papers. Anyone can publish, anyone can review. If you added voting to that\nand some level of authentication of users it could be very interesting.\n\n------\naswanson\nMr. Graham-Cummings,\n\nAmen. Kindly forward a similar letter to the IEEE and ACM.\n\nRegards,\n\naswanson\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: What APIs are out there? (node knockout) - joshontheweb\n\nI registered a team for the node knockout and just found out that the api we were hoping to use can't be obtained for free.  So now I'm looking for new ideas.  I was hoping if I could find out what APIs are available out there for free I could come up with a new idea.  What free APIs are out there?  Any suggestions?\n======\nsim0n\n<http://developers.interstateapp.com/>\n\n------\nig1\n<http://www.programmableweb.com/>\n\n~~~\njoshontheweb\ngood resource, thanks\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWhen founders get overloaded with tasks - jkaljundi\nhttp://kaljundi.com/2013/05/22/when-founders-get-overloaded-with-tasks/\n\n======\nonemorepassword\nTip for all founders with employees from someone who's worked for start-ups\nfor decades: fucking delegate!\n\nAnd I don't just mean the work, that's the easy part. Delegate parts of the\ndecision-making process you don't have the time for to get into properly. Yes,\neven if it involves spending money.\n\nIf I have to report to, talk you through things on multiple occasions, have to\nkeep reminding you of them, and all the while my team is waiting for a\ndecision, that process does not only cost you a lot of time you should be\nspending doing other things, it actually often costs the whole company more\nmoney than we're actually talking about spending!\n\nIf you don't trust the people you've hired, you're doing it wrong.\n\n~~~\nharaball\nA good advice I got when delegating, was to accept the result of the task\ngiven if it was >80% of how you would have done it yourself and acceptable,\nwithout picking at the differences. That way the delegatee would feel\nownership and responsibility to the result and gain confidence for future\ntasks.\n\n------\npatrickmay\nI recommend David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology. I use it with\nOmniFocus, but there are a number of other tools available.\n\nThe process is straightforward (collect, process, organize, do, and review)\nbut what I found most helpful was getting everything out of my head so I could\nstop worrying about forgetting anything.\n\n------\nmars\nI wonder how many of those 'prioritize your tasks' pieces have to get written\nuntil it finally stops.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSouth Korea Legislature passes medical cannabis law, first in East Asia - pizza\nhttps://mjbizdaily.com/breaking-south-korea-becomes-first-country-in-east-asia-to-legalize-medical-cannabis/\n======\npizza\nNote: this was over a week ago but I hadn't heard anything about it until\ntoday. It was surprising to me because I heard South Korea has a law that says\nno citizen may violate its laws while overseas, effectively banning South\nKoreans from using cannabis quite strictly.\n\n~~~\nLegendaryLegend\nDon't you feel that the scale slowly tipping?\n\nAnyway, no flowers or oils will be permitted. Only Epidiolex, Marinol,\nSativex, and Cesamet. And unless you have HIV or cancer you’re out of luck.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nJeff Atwood: If I was starting StackOverflow today it would have runnable code - amasad\nhttps://twitter.com/codinghorror/status/1129176888088309760\n======\namasad\nIncidentally we, at Repl.it, just released this: A Q&A board with runnable and\ninteractive code in both questions and answers:\n[https://repl.it/talk/ask](https://repl.it/talk/ask)\n\nIt organically happened, we built a community forum for people to share their\nprograms and we've found that users were asking questions and that people were\nsuper helpful to each other -- so naturally, we productized it. More here:\n[http://repl.it/blog/ask](http://repl.it/blog/ask)\n\n~~~\njstewartmobile\nRepl.it: Love it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTesla owner says Autopilot automatically regained control after slide-video - heshiebee\nhttps://electrek.co/2019/01/05/tesla-autopilot-control-sliding-ice-video/\n======\nnatch\nI drove a Model 3 AWD to a snowy and icy area this vacation and have to say\nthe traction control is phenomenal. I mean really astounding. I was able to\nclimb steep hills that the car had NO right to climb, with summer tires, that\nlocals (presumably with 4WD or AWD and snow tires, though I can't be sure, but\nthese are people who live in snow covered mountains) were giving up on and\nbacking out of. The trick was going very slow... in the steepest parts, as\nslow as a fraction of walking speed. Which admittedly won't always work if an\naggressive driver relying on momentum is charging up behind you, but I was\nwatching my back. Yeah, I may have just gotten lucky. But I think with snow\ntires the car would have been a beast on the same hill.\n\nLater on a wide, empty, mostly flat road covered with ice I attempted many\ntimes to break traction and induce a slide, and the vehicle maintained control\nat all times. Again, summer tires. I am an experienced snow/ice driver having\ngrown up in a snowy, mountainous area. The car is seriously impressive in\nwinter conditions. It's no coincidence that Tesla's largest sales numbers per\ncapita are in Norway.\n\nNone of this comment was about autopilot, but I believe autopilot can leverage\nthe same traction control and couple it with autopilot features so I wouldn't\nbe surprised if this video is not just a fluke... time will tell.\n\n~~~\nzozbot123\n> The trick was going very slow... in the steepest parts, as slow as a\n> fraction of walking speed.\n\nYup, that's how electric motors work: they deliver full power even at very low\nspeeds, so you can increase torque simply by going slower - no need to \"shift\nto a lower gear\" in order to keep the engine in its high-power range!\n\n~~~\nnatch\nYup indeed. Not sure why you are getting downvoted but it’s not by me.\n\n------\nCodeWriter23\nI’m thinking a real “Auto Pilot” would have sensed the road conditions and\nslowed the vehicle before it slid out of control. Still cool that it could\nrecover from such a situation however.\n\n------\ndzhiurgis\nI've always had impression that in most cars of past 10 years with ESP/ESC it\nwould be impossible to loose control like that.\n\nI've had slipped once on snowy road and ESP/ESC was immediate to regain\ncontrol. I've slipped maybe 50cm sideways.\n\nMate tried to showcase this on gravel road and it was impossible to loose\ncontrol of the car (circa year 2000 Opel).\n\nHow is it possible to swerve so much with Tesla? Has anyone lost control this\nmuch with ESP/ESC before?\n\n------\nTraster\nFirstly, if your car goes out of control whilst on cruise control don't do\nnothing. This driver was reckless. Secondly, do go around advertising that\n'Autopilot' will do things like this - it's completely unverified and spreads\na dangerous rumour. How long until some idiot tries to recreate this?\n\n~~~\nheshiebee\nI don't think it's impossible. There are proven techniques to recover from\nslides and regain car control. As human beings we tend to overreact and rarely\nget it right when correcting loss of control but a computer when using\npreprogrammed techniques and has access to many more variables can at least\nperform at the skill level of a pro driver.\n\n~~~\nTraster\nI'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just saying if you don't know that the\nsystem is designed for that it's dumb to take the risk, and it working once is\nnot a guarantee it's going to work twice.\n\n------\nganeshkrishnan\nThe first clue that it's dangerous up ahead is the rest of the cars braking\nand driving slower. That should have been his hint to slow down.\n\nAlso, even if it's a current generation fully automated self driving car,\ndon't leave it on auto pilot under such conditions.\n\n------\nrasz\nSceptic in me says this video was trivial to fake.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSinclair ZX81 1KB Chess vs. Stockfish Chess Engine (2018) [video] - cpeterso\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3By_rdwxSg\n======\nlawrenceyan\nFor a far more interesting matchup, with advanced long term oriented strategic\nplay, consider watching a match between AlphaZero and Stockfish:\n[https://youtube.com/watch?v=JacRX6cKIaY](https://youtube.com/watch?v=JacRX6cKIaY)\n\nThe video linked here focuses on the ability of AlphaZero in making long-term\noptimal piece sacrifices against Stockfish, which is largely incapable of\nunderstanding these types of moves due to its hard coded bias towards losing\npieces defined in its value function, causing AlphaZero to be able to\nconsistently outmaneuver and ultimately handily defeat StockFish in almost\nevery single game it plays against it.\n\n~~~\nTwirrim\nRelated to AlphaZero is the Leela Chess Zero project, an independent project\npeople from across the glob contribute CPU/GPU resources to:\n[https://lczero.org/#tab-elo-estimates](https://lczero.org/#tab-elo-\nestimates). One of the main developers on LCZero is also one of the Stockfish\ndevelopers.\n\nIt's been having an interesting time in various competitions, and much like\nthe match you point out, it makes some decidedly more \"human\" moves, little\nstabs to try and get out of a draw situation that Stockfish won't due to its\nhard-coded biases. Here's an interesting game from TCEC 14\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhI4DKGSjtk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhI4DKGSjtk)\nUltimately it came second to Stockfish, but that was the highest placing it\nhas had so far, and they keep refining and improving it all the time.\n\n~~~\nngcc_hk\nContribute to the go site of leela zero and play using it with gui. Not sure\nhow to start chess part.\n\nBut open one is better than closed one as we can have other experiment such\nFacebook go, darkgo and minigo etc. Not sure there is any similar chess open\nnet engine.\n\n~~~\nganeshkrishnan\nBoth stockfish and LC0 are open source.\n\n------\nendgame\nThere were multiple chess-related submissions in SIGBOVIK 2019:\n[http://www.sigbovik.org/2019/](http://www.sigbovik.org/2019/)\n\nIn particular, there was one that played a bunch of chess engines against each\nother, and came up with a better metric than Elo, for when players aren't\ngoing to change skill.\n\n------\nmynameishere\nAnother classic mismatched match-up:\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4N0Ap2rkdI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4N0Ap2rkdI)\n\n...but I was more impressed by the Atari 2600 chess game which had castling\nand _en passant_. Having 256 bytes seems like a good excuse to leave out such\nnonsense.\n\n~~~\nSomeone\n256 bytes of RAM, plus insane amounts of ROM (a whopping 4kB, acccording to\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Chess](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Chess))\n\n~~~\njchw\nDang, 4kB... In 32 bit depth, you could encode that with a measily 32x32\nimage. Think of how many more bytes a smartphone from even several years ago\nhas in it's framebuffer, that it is more than capable of filling 60 or even\nmore times per frame.\n\n------\nz-cam\nRelevant (and mentioned at the end of the video):\n[https://gist.github.com/ecelis/f2428c38fd7777b20ace](https://gist.github.com/ecelis/f2428c38fd7777b20ace)\n\n------\nneilwilson\nI had those three mags, and I typed it in. A wonderful introduction to what\nyou can do in Z80 machine code.\n\nHappy days\n\n------\nmegablast\nWould much rather an explanation of what the code does to achieve this\nmiracle.\n\n~~~\negypturnash\n[http://users.ox.ac.uk/~uzdm0006/scans/1kchess/](http://users.ox.ac.uk/~uzdm0006/scans/1kchess/)\n\\- use the source, luke?\n\nalso maybe some previous hn discussion may have some analysis\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9151552](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9151552)\n\n------\nzzo38computer\nI am not interested to watch the video; PGN would be more useful (with\ncomments added), I think. Then you can print out, too, if you want to do.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nInVision App launched, design high-fidelity functional prototypes - ericingram\nhttp://betacandy.com/invisionapp\n\n======\nuser9876\nI liked it with the exception it doesn't have assets built in, you will need\nanother tool to build the screens and then upload. Doesn't powerpoint,\nslideshare or similar tools already do this? On the other hand the comments\nfeature and Share capability is a plus which the others don't have. Balsamicq\nis actually lanching their web based mockup tool which haves the ability to\nshare, comments, import assets to use (edit these), similar pricing structure.\n\n~~~\nericingram\nIt looks ideal for high quality prototypes versus the sketch based prototypes\nthat come out of Balsamiq, I can see the use case for both\n\n------\nkeenahn\nI dig it, looks like a no brainer for rapid prototyping and iteration.\n\n------\nnickfrost\nAwesome! I can't wait to redeem the 50% any plan for LIFE! :)\n\n------\nericingram\nWith a killer offer for early adopters via BetaCandy\n\n------\nstartuplist\nSweet deal! Looks sooo awesome!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "Ask HN: What is good book about hiring developers and team management? - 8draco8\n======\nvladholubiev\nI highly recommend this one:\n\n[https://www.hello-startup.net](https://www.hello-startup.net)\n\n> This book will teach you how to build products, technologies, and teams in a\n> startup environment. It's based on the experiences of the author, Yevgeniy\n> (Jim) Brikman, as well as interviews with programmers from some of the most\n> successful startups of the last decade, including Google, Facebook,\n> LinkedIn, Twitter, GitHub, Stripe, Instagram, AdMob, Pinterest, and many\n> others.\n\n------\nzapperdapper\nJoel at Joel on Software has written about \"hiring developers\" on his blog.\nThat could be a good starting point.\n\n\"Team management\" is a very broad area. One skill I wasn't familiar with when\nI was a manager (I was winging it mostly) was coaching. There are a couple of\ngreat books on coaching in the workplace by Julie Starr - I've found her work\nvery useful.\n\nYou might also find it worth reading \"Happy hour is nine to five\" by Alexander\nKjerulf. It pays to know what makes for a happy workplace as a manager, as\nmany people switch companies due to bad managers, not the work itself!\n\n------\ncottsak\nMore \"team management\" than hiring in particular\n[https://leanpub.com/agileforleads/](https://leanpub.com/agileforleads/)\n\nBut the process and team environment that I'm encouraging in the above\nplaybook will attract and keep the best team players. At least, that's been my\nexperience.\n\nThe book is also Free.\n\n------\ntucaz\nAlthough this is a very good question it is at the same time one that is very\nbroad.\n\nWhat do you want to know specifically? Hiring processes? How to deal with\npeople? How to handle tough situations?\n\nFrom experience I can tell that most of the time by speaking the truth and\nrespecting people you will be fine and get amazing results, but just like your\nquestion this answer is too broad to be useful.\n\n------\nmindcrash\nIn regard to management:\n\n\\- The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr and George Spafford (IT\nRevolution Press, 2013)\n\n\\- Manage It! by Johanna Rothman (Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2007)\n\n\\- Team Geek by Brian W. Fitzpatrick and Ben Collins-Sussman (O' Reilly, 2012)\n\n\\- Managing Humans by Michael Lopp (Apress, 2012)\n\n------\ncottonseed\nFor management: Manager's Path by Camille Fournier:\n[https://www.amazon.com/Managers-Path-Leaders-Navigating-\nGrow...](https://www.amazon.com/Managers-Path-Leaders-Navigating-\nGrowth/dp/1491973897)\n\n------\nblack_cat\nI've got several recommendation about this book \"Herding Cats: A Primer for\nProgrammers Who Lead Programmers\", hope it might help\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n6 Reasons to Stop Charging by the Hour - davidw\nhttp://smallbiztrends.com/2010/07/6-reasons-stop-charging-by-hour.html\n======\ndavidw\nThe suggestion of what to do instead:\n\n> \"The alternative to billing by the hour is to pick a few things you’re\n> really good at”and that your customers ask for”and to come up with a\n> standard formula and a standard price for delivering them. Don’t think it\n> would work in your business? The practice of law is arguably the most\n> addicted to billing by the hour, yet a Toronto-based lawyer named Jane\n> Harvey has a standard set of services for which she charges a flat rate.\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nRails 5 Released - haven\nhttps://github.com/rails/rails/releases/tag/v5.0.0\n======\nokket\nNo blog post yet, but it's on Ruby Gems\n\n[https://rubygems.org/gems/rails/versions/5.0.0](https://rubygems.org/gems/rails/versions/5.0.0)\n\nUpdate: Blog post\n\n[http://weblog.rubyonrails.org/2016/6/30/Rails-5-0-final/](http://weblog.rubyonrails.org/2016/6/30/Rails-5-0-final/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nYouTube: The Big Copyright Lie - nickb\nhttp://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000972.html\n======\ncstejerean\nWell, it's interesting what YouTube is doing. Their policy is simply there to\ncover themselves legally and shift the blame to the users. However this opt-\nout policy allows them to host the videos and continue making money (or at\nleast getting traffic) from them until the copyright owner calls to complain.\n\nIn YouTube's defense, it's nearly impossible to verify the copyright of user\nsupplied content and since YouTube is simply offering to provide hosting of\nuser supplied content it shouldn't be liable for copyright infringements just\nas your ISP is not liable if you decide to post illegal material on their\nservers. They will remove the material (and possibly terminate your account)\nif someone reports the violation.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "What are successful startups that raised a seed round from family and friends? - TheAntiEgo\n======\nnux1093\nHYPR Corp just raised $3M in VC and apparently have some large enterprise\ncustomers. Their first round of $800k was entirely friends and family.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nGoogle unveils 'Solve for X' website, hints at TED-like think tank - paulsilver\nhttp://www.theverge.com/2012/2/6/2774727/google-solve-for-x-think-tank\n\n======\nbenologist\nWhy give The Verge the traffic for summarizing Android Police's story?\n\n[http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/02/06/the-secret-\ngoogle-x-...](http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/02/06/the-secret-google-x-lab-\nmay-be-revealed-today-feb-6-as-solve-for-x-website-and-youtube-channel-go-\nlive-video/)\n\n------\ntiminman\nIf it is Google, why doesn't it look like Google? Why is it 'wesolveforx', and\nnot solveforx.google.com. Why PHP? Why do Whois records say the site belongs\nto:\n\nRegistrant: TBA Global, LLC 535 N. Brand Blvd suite 800 Glendale, CA 91203 US\n\n    \n    \n       Domain Name: THINKBELIEVEACT.COM\n\n~~~\nturing\nThe Whois record for wesolveforx.com shows Google as the registrant\n(<http://www.whois.net/whois/wesolveforx.com>). TBA is a marketing agency that\nGoogle is (presumably) working with.\n\n------\nWestCoastJustin\nSite: <http://www.wesolveforx.com/>\n\nG+ Post:\n[https://plus.google.com/115560212683913825996/posts/57dD3pjz...](https://plus.google.com/115560212683913825996/posts/57dD3pjzebA)\n\n------\nDrCatbox\nAnd here I was thinking that google stepped up its advertising games by\noffering something like recaptcha but for ads. No paywall, just ad-wall, an ad\nurging you to type the words \"the product X is the best\"/\"X will grow\nyour...muscles\" before you can access the content.\n\n~~~\nrachelbythebay\nWas it HTTP code 402, \"payment required\"?\n\nIf so, look out. There may be more ahead.\n\n------\nturing\n<http://www.youtube.com/user/wesolveforx/videos>\n\nIt looks like the talks are beginning to be made public.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nNumber of neurons doesn't explain superiority of the human brain - FiReaNG3L\nhttp://esciencenews.com/articles/2008/06/08/origins.brain\n\n======\nniels_olson\nSee, this is a major problem with fee-for-article access to journals. 10\njournalists talk to the author (or does the author contact the journalists?),\nthe journalists feel confident enough to write an article, there's a headline,\nsome callouts, and then there's some metaheadline on another site with\ncommentary virtually unrelated to the original details. For the sweet love of\n. . . did anyone _not_ think that the synaptic structure of a human neuron\nmight be a _smidge_ more complex than that of a fruit fly?\n\nWhat's really sad is that most people here could understand the article\nperfectly well if they could only access it. If you want to be understood,\npublish in an open-access journal, like PLoS.\n\nHere's the [link to the\npaper]([http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nn.213...](http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nn.2135.html;jsessionid=9FB91A9B67EDC7E9E01952D3603B3BEA)),\nand the abstract, below\n\n>Evolutionary expansion and anatomical specialization of synapse proteome\ncomplexity\n\n>Richard D Emes1,6, Andrew J Pocklington2,6, Christopher N G Anderson3,6, Alex\nBayes3, Mark O Collins3, Catherine A Vickers4,5, Mike D R Croning3, Bilal R\nMalik2, Jyoti S Choudhary3, J Douglas Armstrong2 & Seth G N Grant3\n\n>Abstract\n\n>Understanding the origins and evolution of synapses may provide insight into\nspecies diversity and the organization of the brain. Using comparative\nproteomics and genomics, we examined the evolution of the postsynaptic density\n(PSD) and membrane-associated guanylate kinase (MAGUK)-associated signaling\ncomplexes (MASCs) that underlie learning and memory. PSD and MASC orthologs\nfound in yeast carry out basic cellular functions to regulate protein\nsynthesis and structural plasticity. We observed marked changes in signaling\ncomplexity at the yeast-metazoan and invertebrate-vertebrate boundaries, with\nan expansion of key synaptic components, notably receptors,\nadhesion/cytoskeletal proteins and scaffold proteins. A proteomic comparison\nof Drosophila and mouse MASCs revealed species-specific adaptation with\ngreater signaling complexity in mouse. Although synaptic components were\nconserved amongst diverse vertebrate species, mapping mRNA and protein\nexpression in the mouse brain showed that vertebrate-specific components\npreferentially contributed to differences between brain regions. We propose\nthat the evolution of synapse complexity around a core proto-synapse has\ncontributed to invertebrate-vertebrate differences and to brain\nspecialization.\n\n~~~\npsyklic\nActually, the complexity of synaptic structure between species is not obvious\n(and hence, this is one reason the article made it into Nature Neuroscience, a\nhighly regarded journal). Since the neuron is the fundamental unit of the\nnervous system in all species, it is a decent prediction that it is of the\nsame \"complexity\" across all species.\n\nI do agree that articles should be published in open-access journals. However,\nmost people here probably could not understand the article well (no offense to\nHN readers!).\n\nYou really do need a very good biology background to even understand the\nexperiments or to interpret the conclusions and their reliability. In\naddition, scientific articles are very dry, and if a journalist did not\nsimplify it for you, you likely (1) would have missed the big ideas (which are\noften phrased in scientific jargon), and most importantly, (2) would have\nnever read the article in the first place!\n\n~~~\nniels_olson\nI suspect this is in Nature Neuroscience at least as much for it the technical\nchallenge behind the research as anything to do with the big idea. I would\nalso hesitate to make any claim as to whether or not the average HN reader\ncan, today, understand the article. If I was going to identify any shortcoming\nin their ability, I would focus on our educational systems with their obscene\nfocus on hyper-specialization (\"I specialize in the left kidney . . . no, no,\nI don't do right kidneys.\")\n\nIt has become increasingly my experience, as someone with training in physics,\nmilitary, medicine, and computers, that one of our major problems as a society\nis how uninvolved we are with anything, _anything_ , outside our hyperfocused\ndomains, or the spoonfed news we get from the MSM. I like the idea PG\nexpressed about the nature of Boston: you feel like you really _should_ read\nthose <classics | groundbreaking studies | revolutionary opinions>.\n\n------\njackchristopher\nIt's the quantity _and_ quality of connections.\n\nWe're more intelligent because we have more neurons _and_ those neurons are\nbetter organized.\n\nProblem is, we don't know what \"better organized\" looks like.\n\n------\nberryg\nOne step closer to The Singularity? Maybe Ray Kurzweil is right with his\npredictions on the growth of technology and knowledge.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n“No handshakes, please”: The tech industry is terrified of the coronavirus [Feb] - exolymph\nhttps://www.vox.com/recode/2020/2/13/21128209/coronavirus-fears-contagion-how-infection-spreads\n======\ndekhn\nI knew a (very, very) prominent VC who hasn't been shaking hands for years (he\ndid fist bumps, kind of funny to fist bump a billionaire).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWhat are programming languages for? - lisper\nhttp://rondam.blogspot.com/2008/02/what-are-programming-languages-for.html\n\n======\nandreyf\nIs this not sniping from the sidelines? Paul has proposed program size as a\nmetric for the power of programming languages. Ron criticizes, but doesn't\nsuggest anything better (other than \"make creating programs easier\", or \"have\nwell-organized and easy-to-use libraries\") - he seems to argue that there is\nno perfect metric. Sure. Maybe. But you can't get far with such skepticism.\n\nPersonally, I think Paul is enticed by too simple a rule-of-thumb when he\ndefines such an easy metric. Instead of settling for something as catchy as\n\"programs should be short\", defining the power of languages may be better\napproached from a psychological perspective. Programming is about bridging the\ngap between our mental representations and the computer's representations of\ninstructions for (one) interacting with users and (two) manipulating data.\n\nA better (albeit more complex/open-ended) metric would be to \"maximize the\nutilization of our mental structures in a formal language\".\n\nFor example, abstraction is an obvious way our minds understand the world, and\nhence we have all kinds of programming tricks to express abstraction in code.\nWe should be asking questions like \"what other ways do our minds comprehend\nthe world?\", and writing languages which mold to those ways. How could we\nexpress metaphor in a formal language?\n\nNow that I think about it, maybe I'm proposing a slight generalization to\nPaul's metric - a language is powerful if it can express problems using the\nleast number of mental structures. But code trees are easier to count than\nmental structures, so I guess we should stick to those for now.\n\n~~~\ngibsonf1\nTIME\n\nSince time is the most limited human resource, maybe the best metric for the\nmost powerful language would be that programming language which, overall,\nsaves the most time in creating, maintaining, and improving a program. Using\n\"saving time' as the standard of value, PG's use of fewer nodes and less\nlengthy names both help in creating programs with less time, so ARC seems to\nbe right on.\n\nI intuitively like the lengthier names in CL for readability, but at the end\nof the day, you still have to not only know them all through memorization, you\nalso have to know the order of parameters and keys, which is not consistent\namong all functions/macros in CL. So having shorter names to memorize, and\nmore importantly fewer, would definitely save time in the learning stage.\n\nThe question I don't know the answer to is how fast can ARC be changed,\nmaintained, and improved, but I'm guessing this will also be faster.\n\n~~~\nandreyf\n_TIME_\n\nAgreed. These are all correct ways of defining the same thing (the \"power\" of\nlanguages), and we need to pick whichever is useful depending on what we're\ntrying to do. If we're trying to put a precise measure on the power of a\nlanguage, PG's treelength seems to do the job perfectly. But how do we design\na language which would create programs with the smallest tree length, or which\nwould take the least time to write it? To answer this, it's best to consider\nhow easily our basic mental structures can be expressed in the language.\n\nThe concept of sets, lists, map, and reduce exist in our lives whether we know\nprogram or not. If a language contains or lets us easily express other\nembodied mental structures such as relations, tags, partitions, etc. easily,\nit will be more powerful than languages which don't.\n\n~~~\nbayareaguy\nI think the problem with the Power=Work/Time approach for programming\nlanguages is you can never get people to agree on how to measure Time.\n\nWhose time? What does it include?\n\n------\nJesseAldridge\nGreat post indeed.\n\nAlso, APL is some crazy shit. I found this quote (from its wikipedia page)\ninteresting:\n\n\"Advocates of APL also claim that they are far more productive with APL than\nwith more conventional computer languages, and that working software can be\nimplemented in far less time and with far fewer programmers than using other\ntechnology. APL lets an individual solve harder problems faster. Also, being\ncompact and terse, APL lends itself well to larger scale software development\nas complexity arising from a large number of lines of code can be dramatically\nreduced. Many APL advocates and practitioners view programming in standard\nprogramming languages, such as COBOL and Java, as comparatively tedious.\"\n\n~~~\nbayareaguy\nKen Iverson's Turing Award lecture, \"Notation as a Tool of Thought\" should be\ninteresting to you and others here, particularly those who subscribe to the\n\"implementation as specification\" idea.\n\n<http://www.jdl.ac.cn/turing/pdf/p444-iverson.pdf>\n\nSome of the ancedotes here are good too:\n\n<http://keiapl.info/anec/>\n\n~~~\ncomatose_kid\nThanks for the links. I especially liked the following observation:\n\n\"During the APL75 conference in Pisa Ken visited the Leaning Tower. He\npronounced it the first software project -- late and overbudget, and from\nearly on everyone could see that it was going to be a disaster, but by then\nthe project was too far along and there was nothing to do but plow ahead.\"\n\n------\nstcredzero\nIf programming languages are for making programming easier, then it's clearly\na mistake to use just one language to write programs. Different languages are\noptimal for different areas of concern. Rob Pike spent 6 months writing a\nlanguage optimized for concurrency, then wrote an entire windowing system in\njust 300 lines. If a programming language is a tool, then people have been\nadvocating doing everything with a hammer. What if we had a way of combining\nmany different languages, so that each area of concern could be written in the\nlanguage which is optimal for it? I think one of the strengths of Lisp, is\nthat it's its own abstract syntax tree. In some ways it's more like a\nsubstrate for implementing other languages than a conventional computer\nlanguage. What if we had a substrate that let us use multiple languages\ntogether?\n\nGoogle Tech Talk on Newsqueak & High level abstractions for concurrency:\n\n[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=810232012617965344&#...</a>\n\n------\ndanteembermage\nI think I am willing to grant that \"making the creation of programs easier\" is\nprobably closer to what language design should achieve than \"make programs\nshorter\". However, the two are strongly correlated, so by selecting make\nprograms shorter as the axiom you do end up using a less appealing objective,\nthough not by much.\n\nHowever, Make Programs Shorter is vastly superior in another regard; it is\nexplicitly measurable. When faced with a design choice, whether or not it Made\nProgramming Easier might take lots of careful consideration on your part, and\nusers of the language might have very strong opinions about whether Make\nProgramming Easier was achieved.\n\nIf you're counting characters and tokens, design changes instantly and\nverifiably achieve the objective or they don't. No fuss, no second guessing.\n\nOr, more crudely, selling your map to buy more decimals of latitude and\nlongitude is not going to get you there.\n\n~~~\ndavid927\nI've worked a long time in a completely different vein, under the premise that\nlanguage design should focus on making programs manageable. Making them\nshorter certainly promotes that in many respects, but destroys it in other\nrespects. And the notion of \"making the creation of programs easier\" is to me,\nthe completely wrong premise. That ends up being a wonderful derivative of\nmaking them manageable, but should never the goal. Programs are easy to create\nin BASIC, for example. They're just not scalable, which is another way of\nsaying they lack manageability, which is something that only shows itself as\nthe system's complexity expands. To paraphrase Alan Kay, you can build a\ndoghouse with cardboard and plastic, but you couldn't build a house like that.\n\n------\nsutro\nGreat post, lisper.\n\n~~~\nlisper\nThanks!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: How to determine company valuation? - mailarchis\n\nWe are a technology start up in photography domain based out of Europe. Our target customer segment are professional and semi professional photographers.<p>The team comprises of the CEO (Senior Executive with more than 15 years experience in Sales/Marketing) and 3 Software Developers with 3-4 years experience.<p>We launched two months back and have got good response. (However, we are not profitable yet). The seed investment into the company is close to 100K USD and we are trying to raise more funds now.<p>I was hoping to get an idea on different ways in which the valuation of a company can be calculated especially the ones that are in the stage as ours.\n======\npg\nAt this stage there's no calculation. Market price is just a reflection of how\nmuch confidence investors have in you.\n\n~~~\nmailarchis\nThanks very much for the answer pg.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGo server starter - AquiGorka\nhttps://github.com/AquiGorka/go-server-starter\n======\nbrudgers\nIf it meets the guidelines, this might make a good 'Show HN'. Show HN\nguidelines:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html)\n\n~~~\nAquiGorka\nI will definitely share it that way as soon as I fix one issue.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHows my first site (Studentg homepage for digital design) - fally\nhttp://dl.dropbox.com/u/17301683/index.html\n\n======\nfally\nthanks this is a good reference. i guess my page is on the right track then\n\n------\nfally\ni made everything myself, no copy paste!\n\n~~~\naksx\ni made something similar\n\n<http://homepage.ep.io> (no copy paste!!)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nValleywag: Bow down and Worship Xobni's Party Throwing Skills - gaborcselle\nhttp://valleywag.com/tech/party-report/bow-down-and-worship-xobnis-party+throwing-skills-291473.php\nThere's no such thing as bad press.\n======\nstaunch\nCan't miss these two, they're damn funny:\n\nPart 1)\n[http://www.flickr.com/photos/86921622@N00/1162778055/in/set-...](http://www.flickr.com/photos/86921622@N00/1162778055/in/set-72157601527180876/)\n\nPart 2)\n[http://www.flickr.com/photos/86921622@N00/1163633584/in/set-...](http://www.flickr.com/photos/86921622@N00/1163633584/in/set-72157601527180876/)\n\nI've been a Xobni-skeptic since I saw the ads for product managers/QA people,\noffice, etc. They appear to be doing a lot of obviously wrong stuff. I know\nthey're smart and I do wish them luck, but it looks to me as if they're mostly\ninterested in enjoying the funded startup ride.\n\n~~~\nbrezina\nI found our office on craiglist. It is dirt cheap for SF. Oh, and we\nnegotiated the contract so that we haven't paid a dime for the first 3 months.\n\nWhen you are making another sticky notes web app QA might not matter, but when\nyou are making fundamental business tools, I think it is one of _the_ most\nimportant roles in a company.\n\n~~~\nmattmaroon\nSmash\n\n------\npg\nThat _was_ a good party. One of the things they discovered was that\nanywhere.fm is the perfect stereo for a party, if you put it up on a big\nmonitor.\n\n~~~\ngaborcselle\nThanks Paul! Sorry for making you endure Windows.\n\n------\naugy\nIf that was their \"we just got an office\" party, imagine what it will be like\nif they go ipo. Fingers crossed.\n\n~~~\nmattmaroon\nJessica promised to do keg stands if any of her flock IPOed. I'm hoping we'll\nbe the ones to do it, but if another Y C startup beats us there we're\ndefinitely still holding her to her word (and a keg).\n\n~~~\naugy\nI hope you do too. Can I RSVP right now?\n\n------\nblored\nXOBNI IS AMAZING AT GENERATING PRESS.\n\nThey have an article written about them in valleywag pre-launch. Way to go\nMatt, Adam and co. You guys are truly a cut above.\n\n------\ndawie\nGood to see that you invited some girls\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: How do you make your website mobile friendly? - iworkforthem\n\nI am working on the css for my new website, one of my consideration is that it has to be mobile friendly, much like posterous.com and avc.com ... Their website look awesome on my iPhone. Here's something I dun quite get.<p>At AVC, they include multiple css to make to make it mobile friendly.\n&#60;link rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"/a_vc/style.css\" type=\"text/css\" media=\"screen\" /&#62; \n&#60;link rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"/a_vc/touch.css\" type=\"text/css\" media=\"only screen and (max-device-width: 480px)\" /&#62; \n&#60;link rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"/a_vc/touch.css\" type=\"text/css\" media=\"only screen and (min-device-width: 481px) and (max-device-width: 1024px)\" /&#62; \n&#60;link rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"/a_vc/print.css\" type=\"text/css\" media=\"print\" /&#62;<p>Nothing of this sort with posterous.com... I could be wrong here. Not sure if anyone else has got experience making their website mobile friendly, if so, please share.\n======\ngeoffpado\nCheck out the Safari Web Content Guide (<http://cl.ly/2pug>). It's written to\nspecifically target the iPhone/iPod touch, but most of the information applies\nstraight across to the Android platform as well. It has information on\nconditional CSS, viewport sizes, etc., that will help you optimize your site\nfor mobile devices.\n\n~~~\niworkforthem\nNice!\n\nSeems like a lot of websites (Smashing Magazine and Abduzeedo to name a\ncouple) are using Mobify -- <http://www.mobify.me/> ... I have yet to try it\nout. Can't comment on it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGoogle OAuth API Is Down - iooi\nThis is the only Google status page I can find and it&#x27;s all green still: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;status.cloud.google.com\n======\nJaphy_Ryder\nGoogle only hires the best of the best. Looks like all of that algorithm\nmemorizing is working out really well.\n\n------\naaronharnly\nMy go-to sources for crowdsourced \"is it just me\" while waiting for official\nstatus page updates are:\n\n* [https://twitter.com/search?q=Google%20login](https://twitter.com/search?q=Google%20login)\n\n* [https://downdetector.com/status/google](https://downdetector.com/status/google)\n\n------\nmrobins\nFinally up on Google Cloud status:\n\n[https://status.cloud.google.com/incident/developers-\nconsole/...](https://status.cloud.google.com/incident/developers-\nconsole/19008)\n\n------\niooi\nFrom the status page: We are currently experiencing an issue with\nauthentication to Google App Engine sites, the Google Cloud Console, Identity\nAware Proxy, and Google OAuth 2.0 endpoints.\n\n------\nbe_erik\nYup, seeing 500s on some internal products that use Google as an auth wall.\nMostly for users that are logged out.\n\n------\ndegrews\nUsing an incognito session on Chrome worked for me.\n\n------\nmalayhm\nNo status on their official status pages yet\n\n------\nzackify\nSeeing the same here\n\n------\ncweagans\nSame here.\n\n------\nhrowawayyyyyyy\nSame here\n\n------\nfrostyj\nplus one\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWhy 37Signals misunderstands 'Fail Early, Fail Fast' - marcamillion\nhttp://marcgayle.com/2010/06/03/fail-early-fail-fast-explained/\n\n======\necaradec\nI definitly agree, people disagreing with fail fast are taking it too\nliteraly, ignoring the spirit of it. It's not about failing, it's about\nconfronting to reality.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nIt's Official: Valve Releasing Steam, Source Engine For Linux - yigit\nhttp://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=valve_steam_announcement&num=1\n\n======\nramy_d\nValve Corporation has today rolled out their Steam Mac OS X client to the\ngeneral public and confirmed something we have been reporting for two years:\nthe Steam content delivery platform and Source Engine are coming to Linux.\nThis news is coming days after we discovered proof in Steam's Mac OS X Client\nof Linux support and subsequently found more Linux references and even the\nunreleased Steam Linux client. The day has finally come and Linux gamers\naround the world have a reason to rejoice, as this is the biggest news for the\nLinux gaming community that sees very few tier-one titles.\n\nThose enthusiasts within the Phoronix community even managed to get the\nunreleased Steam Linux client running up to a partially drawn UI and other\nmodifications, but now that work can stop as Valve is preparing to officially\nrelease the Steam Linux client from where they will start to offer Linux\nnative games available for sale. For all those doubting our reports that\nSource/Steam would be coming to Linux, you can find confirmation in the UK's\nTelegraph and other news sites. An announcement from Valve itself is imminent.\n\nFound already within the Steam store are Linux-native games like Unreal\nTournament 2004, World of Goo, and titles from id Software such as Enemy\nTerritory: Quake Wars and Doom 3. Now that the Source Engine is officially\nsupported on Linux, some Source-based games will be coming over too. Will we\nfinally see Unreal Tournament 3 surface on Linux too? Only time will tell, but\nit is something we speculated back in 2008. Postal III is also being released\nthis year atop the Source Engine and it will be offering up a native client.\nWe have confirmed that Valve's latest and popular titles like Half-Life 2,\nCounter-Strike: Source, and Team Fortress 2 are among the first of the Steam\nLinux titles, similar to the Mac OS X support. The released Linux client\nshould be available by the end of summer.\n\nSimilar to Valve's strategy with Mac OS X, it's expected that they too will be\nproviding Linux game releases on the same day as Windows / Mac OS X for their\nnew titles and that there will be first-rate support across all platforms.\nPortal II should mark the first of these efforts.\n\nThis is terrific news considering the last major tier-one game release with a\nnative Linux client was Enemy Territory: Quake Wars back in 2007. There was\nalso supposed to be Unreal Tournament 3 for Linux with claims of it still\nbeing worked on, but two years later that has yet to see the light of day,\nexcept now it could with the release of the Steam middleware. In the past few\nyears there has just been less-known game releases like Shadowgrounds:\nSurvivor via Linux Game Publishing (LGP) and then the community-spawned open-\nsource games like Alien Arena 2009, Nexuiz, and Sauerbraten, but what Valve\nhas just done should prove to forever revolutionize the Linux gaming scene.\n\nOur friends at Unigine Corp though will now face greater competition in the\narea of developing the best game engine that is supported on Linux. The\nUnigine developer is quite visually advanced (and at the same time, very\ndemanding on the hardware) while their developers are quite friendly towards\nLinux, but to this point besides a couple of great OpenGL benchmarks (found in\nthe Phoronix Test Suite), they have yet to really touch any Linux gamers --\nbut that will change once Primal Carnage and other titles are released.\n\nWe are so grateful that Valve has finally publicly confirmed via the Telegraph\n(and another pending announcement is likely) that they are bringing Steam and\nthe Source Engine to Linux as this should provide a huge opportunity for the\nLinux distributions and other Linux stakeholders to prove their viability\nagainst Windows and can begin attracting gamers if successfully leveraged. We\nhave already shown that in terms of OpenGL performance, Ubuntu 10.04 is on par\nwith Windows 7 for ATI/AMD and NVIDIA graphics and that Linux is a faster\ngaming platform to Mac OS X.\n\nStay tuned for plenty more coverage. Of the six years that Phoronix has been\naround providing many exclusive news stories and Linux hardware/software\ncoverage, Valve's move with the Steam Linux client / Source engine will likely\nprove to be the most significant event and opportunity that the Linux desktop\nhas been provided at least since the time of the initial Linux netbook push,\nif not since the entire time we've been around. Only time will tell though if\nLinux vendors and stakeholders will fully capitalize upon the opportunity that\nhas the potential of greatly expanding the Linux desktop user-base.\n\n~~~\nramy_d\npage takes for ever to load, here's the article\n\n~~~\nytilibitapmoc\nThank-you from those of us behind brain-dead filtering proxies... :-)\n\n~~~\noomkiller\nWould you rather the proxy be sentient like GLaDOS? ;)\n\n~~~\njrockway\nAs long as the morality core doesn't fall off.\n\n------\nkrschultz\nSo now Linux users: BUY BUY BUY.\n\nI'll be sure to buy a few things from it once it is available even if I'm not\nlikely to play many games.\n\nPassively supporting this isn't very helpful, vote with your wallet. The more\nmoney they make the better it is for Linux in the future.\n\n~~~\njws\nInside the Steam program:\n\n    \n    \n      Failed to load web page (unknown error).-324\n      Failed to load web page (unknown error).\n    \n\nThen after much reloading a simply black screen. It seems they did not plan to\nservice the spike.\n\n~~~\nTeHCrAzY\nUnlikey, the load from this is being produced during the low in thier daily\nperformance graphs. You can confirm that by googling 'steam stats' or\nsomething similar (ill dig up the link when i'm off my mobile).\n\nSteam internally uses webkit, perhaps your os is missing something it needs.\n\n~~~\nTeHCrAzY\nAs promised: <http://store.steampowered.com/stats/>\n\n------\nwingo\nI feel like an out-of-touch old man. (Getting there, perhaps?)\n\nBoth the article and the comments assume a baseline level of understanding\n(\"Steam Mac OS X client\"; \"Linux support\"; suitably vague nouns). Searching\nhelps me resolve these words, to some degree; but I still don't know what this\nthing is (that is not a quotidian HN topic).\n\nI'm sure Lisp implementation articles are similarly opaque to non-initiates.\nBut, um, a little help, please? :)\n\n~~~\njohnswamps\nSteam is sort of like an app-store for games which only ran on Windows for a\nlong time. You buy games on Steam and can then download the games on any\ncomputer you install Steam on. There's a bunch of other stuff such as being\nable to talk to your friends, multiplayer, and keeping track of achievements.\nValve (the creators of Steam) are porting it to Mac and Linux. This is not,\nhowever, sufficient to play all games on Steam, since games from many\ncompanies are on Steam and not all of them are interested in making their\ngames cross-platform. So, in addition, Valve is porting their Source engine,\nwhich powers games such as Counter Strike, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead, and\nPortal to Mac and Linux so that those players will able to play them. They\nwill of course be able to play any other games on Steam that are class-\nplatform.\n\n------\nsirn\nPhoronix's source seems to be from the Telegraph.co.uk's article[1]. While I\ndon't doubt Valve will release Steam for Linux, I'd wait for the slightly more\nofficial statement before declaring it's official.\n\n    \n    \n      [1]: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/7715209/Steam-for-Mac-goes-live.html\n\n~~~\nyangman\nWhat's more, the second source cited is basically a copy-n-paste of the\nTelegraph article.\n\nPhoronix can pretend to be a reliable primary source all it wants, but it's\nquestionable stuff like this that makes its reporting a complete joke amongst\nthe X and DRI/Mesa development community.\n\n~~~\n_delirium\nI've had a similar impression. There's more than one time I've read a Phoronix\narticle and thought: \"Finally, an article on this subject! Only, this one\nisn't very good.\"\n\n------\njerf\nAny idea how this is going to interact with DRM? Because I might buy games\nfrom Steam, but the idea that I'd put DRM on my Linux system is little more\nthan snicker-worthy. (Sure, just let me compile that into my kernel for you,\nno sweat....)\n\n~~~\nwindsurfer\nThe DRM is, for the most part, userspace and is mainly an authenticaton scheme\nto determine if you are authorized to play the game.\n\n~~~\njerf\nWhere is your information from? I can't seem to Google anything up. \"For the\nmost part, userspace\" doesn't really mean much.\n\nIt is difficult to imagine the authentication scheme that wouldn't be fairly\ntrivial to crack, given that I have full control over the entire software\nstack from top to bottom, including not merely the kernel but my choice of\nhypervisor.\n\n~~~\nptomato\nSteam is relatively trivial to crack on Windows as well. Certainly nothing has\nprevented the various Steam games from being cracked wide open and distributed\nindependently.\n\n------\nericz\nThe only reason some of my friends still dual boot Windows is to play games.\nCheers for one of the biggest gaming developments in Linux. Now hopefully\nthere will be others that follow!\n\n------\njavanix\nI honestly wasn't sure if this day would ever come.\n\nAfter all, if OS X, with all of Apple's resources, couldn't wrap up much\ndeveloper support, what hope did Linux have?\n\nAbsolutely fantastic news!\n\n~~~\nmrcharles\nIt's not really news yet. Valve won't officially get behind it until such a\npoint as they can be sure that it will function solidly on the majority of\nmajor Linux platforms. Even beyond that, they'll want to make sure there's a\nmarket for it, and that's going to be the harder part. I expect any linux\nstuff done so far is exploratory rather than a guarantee.\n\nI mean, the support that's there could be just one or two guys noodling\naround. At one point in the life of Neverwinter Nights, there was a BeOS port\ndone by a BeOS fanatic in the Bioware office.\n\nSadly, until there's an official announcement, I wouldn't get too excited.\n\n~~~\napakatt\nCheck the image from the Mac Steam announcement:\n[http://media.steampowered.com/apps/mac/MacSteam_AlfredJasonG...](http://media.steampowered.com/apps/mac/MacSteam_AlfredJasonGabe.jpg)\nThe guy has TWO penguins on his desk! That must count as an official\nannouncement as well, right? ;)\n\n------\nk0eselitz\nHeh. It's \"official\" - if by \"official\" you mean \"not official at all.\"\n\n------\nrbreve\nI downloaded Valve for OSX , but there are not many games for mac right now,\nall the good games are only available for windows\n\n------\npapachito\nThere's nothing official yet from Valve.\n\n~~~\ntimdorr\nFTA: \"An announcement from Valve itself is imminent.\"\n\nSo, you found evidence of it, even got it running, but all over unofficial\nchannels. This is about as official as a table is an banana.\n\n~~~\nComputerGuru\n_a_ banana.\n\nSorry. >.<\n\n~~~\ntimdorr\nWhoops. Wrote another analogy (table is an elephant, I believe) and then\nchanged it without updating my grammar.\n\n------\nbitwize\nHuh? Games? On _my_ Linux?\n\n~~~\neru\nUnix was one of the first operation systems to come with games out of the box.\nLinux proudly follows that tradition.\n\nSome other interesting commercial games for Linux are available at\n<http://www.wolfire.com/humble>\n\n~~~\nugh\nThat may be true but Linux still sucks as a gaming platform. That’s just how\nit is and facing up to that reality might help.\n\n~~~\nJach\nBecause of lack of professional quality games, lack of external controller\ndrivers (not sure how common this is), lack of DirectX? Please be more\nspecific with its suckiness, since it seems like you think the problem is some\ninherent issue with Linux itself, and I'm not aware of anyone denying those\nfew problems I listed. I'm not sure I'll buy the lack of users willing to pay\nmoney, but that's not a problem with the platform anyway.\n\n~~~\nugh\nBecause of a lack of professional quality games. That’s not a inherent problem\nwith Linux and I never claimed there to be one (I honestly don’t know whether\nthere is one).\n\n~~~\ncode_duck\nThere might be issues with sound subsystems across distributions (or um..\nwithin distributions), but games on Linux perform quite well and are\nindistinguishable from other platforms (I spent a good bit of time playing UT\n2003 on Linux, and it works perfectly).\n\n------\nswah\nI don't understand, why is this program valuable to be open-source? What does\nit do?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Why did I get printed the wrong boarding pass? - passenger09\nI took a flight from Montreal to Frankfurt.\nToday i checked my printed boarding pass (apparently the first time) and noticed it is completely wrong.<p>things which seems to be in common:\nFlight number: AC 8742 (printed flight)\n               AC 874  (my flight)<p>levenshtein distance of printed name: 12, m = 15, n = 12<p>boarding pass: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;56ZRhOI<p>Seems like the only thing in common is that the boarding passes where probably printed at the same time.<p>Any suggestions what can possibly go wrong when a computer system prints a boarding pass, based on \nthe scanned passport?<p>In case you feel like that could be your lines of code, let us know :)\n======\njoezydeco\nYou took a flight from Montreal to Frankfurt, but your boarding pass says\nMontreal to Bathurst, New Brunswick.\n\nA handy way to look up flight numbers and destinations is an airline's\ntimetable. Here is the one published by Air Canada:\n\n[https://services.aircanada.com/portal/rest/timetable/pdf/ac-...](https://services.aircanada.com/portal/rest/timetable/pdf/ac-\ntimetable-en.pdf)\n\nSo, flight 8742 is from Montreal to Bathurst. That matches up. The boarding\npass confirms that. And flight 874 is indeed a flight from Montreal to\nFrankfurt, as your post explains.\n\nIf I had to guess, your flight was a short hop from Montreal to Bathurst to\npick up more passengers and possibly fuel/cargo on the way to Frankfurt. Your\nboarding pass says 8742 since that's the first leg of the trip that you\nboarded in Montreal.\n\nDoes any of this match up? Did you change planes in Bathurst?\n\n~~~\nquickthrower2\nNice spot. Could be it. It would be unusual not to be given both legs'\nboarding passes at check in. Unless you have to unboard and board again at the\nintermediate airport. That happened to me in Singapore airport once (scary as\nonly had < 1hr to do it), but that was 2005.\n\n~~~\njoezydeco\nYou won't get a second boarding pass if your itinerary means you sit on the\nplane during the stopover. YUL-ZBF would be a domestic flight so there's no\nneed to clear the plane with customs and then reboard it.\n\n------\ngesman\nMy first reaction thought would be to ask airline.\n\nMy last reaction would be to ask hacker news.\n\n~~~\npassenger09\ni already asked the airline but i don't expect technical details :)\n\n------\ngregjor\nThe universe does not work perfectly.\n\n~~~\npassenger09\nhow do you know that?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nOfficial Statement Regarding BitGrail Insolvency - dsr12\nhttps://medium.com/@nanocurrency/official-statement-regrading-bitgrail-insolvency-ed4422bf274b\n======\nrtdaly\nThis is exactly why hardware wallets are so very important when dealing with\ncryptocurrencies, don't keep funds on an exchange that you can't afford to\nlose. That being said, intentionally misleading customers for the period and\nextent that exchange owner Francesco Firano did is beyond unacceptable. I\nsincerely hope the community will promptly abandon BitGrail as there is no way\nto trust them ever again.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDeepMind moves to TensorFlow - hektik\nhttp://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2016/04/deepmind-moves-to-tensorflow.html\n======\naab0\nThis is great news! One of the most intimidating things about getting started\nwith deep learning if you want to understand and extend cutting-edge work is\nthe Tower of Babel situation: aside from mastering some quite difficult and\nopaque concepts, you need to learn multiple frameworks in multiple languages,\nsome of which are quite uncommon. (Want to use Torch? You have to learn Lua.\nWant to use Theano or Caffe? Need to learn Python too. Need to implement\noptimizations? Hope you've mastered C++.)\n\nAnd DeepMind's research output was a major reason to need to use Torch, and\nhence have to learn Lua.\n\nBut by switching over to TensorFlow, this means you now have one language to\nlearn which is supported well by all the major frameworks - Python - and you\ncan benefit from several frameworks (Theano, Keras, TensorFlow). So the\nlanguage barrier is reduced and you can focus on the framework and actual NN\nstuff. Further, this will also drive consolidation onto TensorFlow, reducing\nthe framework mental overhead. As long as TF is up to the job, and it\nreportedly is, this will benefit the deep learning community considerably.\n\nI'd been wondering myself what language and framework I should focus on when I\nstart studying NNs, and this settles it for me: Python and TensorFlow.\n\n~~~\nargonaut\nYou're overstating things a bit. There has never been a \"need to learn\nmultiple frameworks in multiple languages.\" As a beginner, you pick one and go\nwith that (as evidenced by the fact that... you've picked one!). This\nannouncement doesn't change that situation.\n\nNobody _needs_ to use multiple frameworks unless you're someone (not a\nbeginner) who wants to be able to take the code from research papers or\nsomething.\n\n~~~\ntedmiston\nResearchers need multiple frameworks because the feature sets aren't the same\nin each.\n\nI haven't done anything with deep learning, but I worked in a research lab\nwith others who did. On the image processing side, we prototyped code in\nOpenCV, both with Python and C++, and MATLAB (with toolboxes) regularly\nbecause of this.\n\nAt the end of the day they have a limited amount of time and just want to test\ntheir idea the fastest way they can.\n\n~~~\nargonaut\nI don't think this is the reason. You can do pretty much anything in\nTorch/Theano. But, researchers are lazy and writing code is only a means to an\nend. They will shamelessly copy/hack as much open source code as possible, so\nif a framework has some quick module for a desired algorithm, or if a\nresearcher wrote their paper in some framework, and you want to build off that\npaper, then you'll just copy that.\n\n~~~\ntedmiston\nThat's definitely correct.\n\nOne related unsolved problem in that type of research is getting people to\nshare their actual code. Especially when multiple universities are at the\nbleeding edge in a field, they often publish just enough [1] to prove their\npoint without giving everyone else the same foundation to build on _easily_.\nEven in science it gets political... who knew.\n\n1: i.e., just their algorithms, or their code without very useful\nimplementation-level optimizations\n\n~~~\nargonaut\nIn ML, you can generally email the authors and very often they will be willing\nto send you (their really crappy) code. Although it probably helped that I\nsent these emails from my academic email address.\n\n~~~\npacala\n> There has never been a \"need to learn multiple frameworks in multiple\n> languages.\"\n\n> you can generally email the authors and very often they will be willing to\n> send you (their really crappy) code.\n\nCode obtained from multiple authors, or even from the same author but\ndifferent time periods, is code written using multiple frameworks in multiple\nlanguages. Standardizing on Python / TensorFlow reduces the risk of cognitive\nload along one's journey and is likely to speed up the field. If speed is what\nthe field was missing :)\n\n------\nfchollet\nIf anyone wants to switch to TensorFlow but misses the Torch interface, you\nwill always have Keras:\n[https://github.com/fchollet/keras](https://github.com/fchollet/keras)\n\n~~~\nSmerity\nI also recommend reading @fchollet's guide on integrating Keras and\nTensorFlow, especially for those wanting to implement novel components at a\nlower level :) [http://blog.keras.io/keras-as-a-simplified-interface-to-\ntens...](http://blog.keras.io/keras-as-a-simplified-interface-to-tensorflow-\ntutorial.html)\n\n------\nargonaut\nI like these comments on the Reddit discussion: it's not like DeepMind ever\nreally open sourced anything (other than their Atari code from years ago).\n\nAnother a Google team switching over to a product maintained by another Google\nteam makes a lot of sense for the team. They get instant\ndevelopment/deployment/infra support and huge control over development\nroadmap.\n\nHopefully this motivates them to open source much more...\n\n------\nvonnik\nTo be clear, TensorFlow is about a lot more than deep learning. It's a\ndistributed math library, a bit like Theano. It's ultimate rivals in the\nPython ecosystem are Numpy and SciPy and even Sci-kit Learn. You'll see the TF\nteam implement a lot more algorithms on top of their numerical computing\neventually. (In the JVM world, I work on ND4J --\n[http://ND4J.org](http://ND4J.org) \\-- and we see a lot of similarities, which\nis why I bring this up.)\n\n~~~\nIshKebab\nSo is Torch though.\n\nBesides, deep learning is mostly just matrix operations anyway, so you're kind\nof saying \"TensorFlow is about a lot more than matrix operations - it's a\nmatrix library too\"...\n\n~~~\nvonnik\nKind of. Deep learning is about more than matrix operations, and matrix\noperations are useful for applications other than deep learning, so I believe\nthe distinction is worth making. Just like with programming languages, which\nmay all be used for the same application, it's all about what you make easy to\ndo, and what you make difficult. I'm saying the TF's intention is to make many\nthings beyond DL easy, although people think of it chiefly as a DL library\natm.\n\n------\nSixSigma\nStanford's CS224d: Deep Learning for Natural Language Processing uses\nTensorFlow. Although they have only just got up to the part where they are\nbeginning to use it.\n\nHere's the \"Introduction to TensorFlow\" lecture.\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8Y2_Cq2X5s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8Y2_Cq2X5s)\n\nYou don't need to watch the previous 6 lectures to make sense of it but it\nwould help if you knew a bit (but not super detail) about neural nets e.g. the\nterms forward propagation, backward propagation and gradient descent of neural\nnetworks mean something to you.\n\n[http://cs224d.stanford.edu/syllabus.html](http://cs224d.stanford.edu/syllabus.html)\n\n~~~\ngamapuna\nSlightly off topic but for anyone who is taking this course ...are the\nmaterials only related to NLP or are the techniques much more broadly\napplicable to other areas of deep learning (cursory look of the syllabus\nsuggests this but would be great if someone who is actually taking this course\ncan comment)\n\n~~~\nSixSigma\nI've watched all 8 available videos, which is as far as my knowledge goes but\nit has been background on gradients, calculating derivatives, introduction to\nword vectors and how they relate to each other, recurrent neural nets and how\nto push time series through, introduction to tensor flow and finally how to\nscan backwards and forwards through \"time\" in a recurrent RNN (each word in a\nsentence is a time step in NLP).\n\nWord vectors are \"just\" high dimensional entities - 100-300 dimensions, used\nas input. So the introduction to them was about how you go about building a\ndataset that is a collection of 50,000 column vectors each of which is 300\nrows. And then how to use that to go on and build a neural net to do useful\nwork.\n\nThe conclusion is that all the work done on syntax, grammar and word\nclassification can effectively be replaced by having a huge corpus (e.g. all\nof wikipedia is small), 300 dimensions for each word and then a loss function\nto classify each word.\n\nOne can imagine how that would be applied to sales data of multiple products\nor other data.\n\nIt foes on to suggested how sentiment analysis is performed and how entity\nrecognition would work (entities being places, names of people and companies).\n\nThe info has been general but described in terms of NLP, the techniques so far\nare not just for use in NLP.\n\nI'm not an NLP person and tbh I've never even made a neural net (although I\ncould if I had a reason) I'm just interested in the subject.\n\n~~~\n21\n> The conclusion is that all the work done on syntax, grammar and word\n> classification can effectively be replaced by having a huge corpus\n\nIs that a surprise? You don't teach a child how to speak by telling him about\nverbs and grammar. He will learn how to use them without having any formal\nidea about what they are.\n\n~~~\nSixSigma\nApparently it was a surprise to the AI NLP teams that spent years doing manual\nclassification, suddenly a Deep NN out performed them without any prior\nknowledge. Just make a 300 dimension vector of the occurrence frequencies of\nword combinations and out fall the rules of language!\n\n~~~\ndanieldk\n_Apparently it was a surprise to the AI NLP teams [...]_\n\nSimilar techniques were well known and used for years in NLP. E.g. Brown\nclustering has been used since the early nineties and have been shown to\nimprove certain NLP tasks by quite an amount. NMF also been used for quite\nsome time to obtain distributed representations of words. Also, many of the\ntechniques used in NLP now (word embeddings, deep nets) have been known for\nquite a while. However, the lack of training data and computational power has\nprevented these techniques from taking off earlier.\n\n _Just make a 300 dimension vector of the occurrence frequencies of word\ncombinations and out fall the rules of language!_\n\nThe 'rules of language' don't just fall out of word vectors. They fall out of\nembeddings combined with certain network topologies and _supervised_ training.\nIn my experience (working on dependency parsing), you also typically get\nbetter results by encoding language-specific knowledge. E.g. if your language\nis morphologically rich or does a lot of compounding, the coverage of word\nvectors is going to be pretty bad (compared to e.g. English). You will have to\nthink about morphology and compounds as well. One of our papers that was\nrecently accepted at ACL describes a substantial improvement in parsing German\nwhen incorporating/learning explicit information about clausal structure\n(topological fields).\n\nBeing able to train extremely good classifiers with a large amount of\nautomatic feature formation does not mean that all the insights that were\npreviously gained in linguistics or computational linguistics is suddenly\nworthless.\n\n(Nonetheless, it's an exciting time to be in NLP.)\n\n~~~\nSixSigma\nI was rather over simplifying a tad and being conversational (and I'm not an\nexpert, not even much beyond beginner).\n\nIt is indeed an exciting time.\n\n------\nSmerity\nThis is a pleasant surprise. The more people that work on TensorFlow the\nbetter, especially as the DeepMind team will be more aligned with extending\nTensorFlow's research potential.\n\nI am curious how well TensorFlow fits for many of DeepMind's tasks though.\nMuch of their recent work has been in reinforcement algorithms and hard\nstochastic decision tasks (think gradient approximation via Monte Carlo\nsimulations rather than exactly computed gradients) which TensorFlow hasn't\ntraditionally been used for.\n\nHas anyone seen TensorFlow efficiently used for such tasks? I'm hoping that\nDeepMind will release models showing me what I've been doing wrong! =]\n\n(note: I produce novel models in TensorFlow for research but they're mostly\nfully differentiable end-to-end backpropagation tasks - I might have just\nmissed how to apply it efficiently to these other domains)\n\n------\neoinmurray92\nTensorFlow is the machine learning codebase, but typically how do machine\nlearning research teams manage their training sets, dataset metadata and\ncollaboration on these large datasets?\n\n~~~\nbarneso\nMost teams I have seen have either template scripts or boilerplate that\ngenerates datasets, and share both the generated data and the scripts via\nnormal ways that people share data and code: disk, S3, github, emailing of\nnotebooks, etc.\n\nIt requires a fair amount of set-up, but works surprisingly well once there is\na core team and problems established.\n\nWe are building mldb.ai to help bring the data and the algorithms for ML\ntogether in a less ad-hoc manner and to help move things out of research and\ninto prod once they are ready. Many of the hosted ML solutions (Azure ML,\nAmazon ML, Google Data Lab, etc) and other toolkits (eg Graphlab) are working\non similar ML workflow and organizational structure problems.\n\n~~~\nsysreader2016\nWhich projects you know use \"disk, S3, github,...\" to share their datasets?\nI'm curious what you think because I haven't read about any ML projects\nactually using hosted ML solutions like Amazon ML+S3. I've only seen Amazon\nrecommend Amazon ML.\n\n~~~\nHappyTypist\nS3 is a good way to share files\n\n------\ndeepnet\nNVidia's NVCC has performance & compile time issues with Tensorflow.[1]\n\nNVCC vs GPUCC benchmarks 8% - 250% slower compilation & 3.7% - 51% slower\nruntimes.[2]\n\nGoogle use GPUCC internally so weren't optimising for NVCC.\n\nLLVM based GPUCC is the 1st fully open source toolchain for CUDA.\n\nGoogle announced that the guts of GPUCC will make their way into CLANG.\n\n[1]\n[https://plus.google.com/+VincentVanhoucke/posts/6RQmgqcmx2d](https://plus.google.com/+VincentVanhoucke/posts/6RQmgqcmx2d)\n[2]\n[http://research.google.com/pubs/pub45226.html](http://research.google.com/pubs/pub45226.html)\n\n------\ntdaltonc\nThis is a very money-where-thier-mouth-is move. Like they said, moving away\nfrom Torch is a big deal.\n\nI know that google has been criticized for not dog-fooding GCS, does anyone\nknow if that has changed? For example, does DeepMind use it?\n\n~~~\nvgt\nI'll speak for BigQuery, since that's the product I know best. BigQuery itself\nis used ubiquitously at Google internally. I've offered evidence to the writer\nwho made that argument, but unfortunately he was not willing to change his\nstance.\n\n------\ncft\nWhy is it called _Tensor_ flow? Do the multi-dimensional matrices that\nexchange data between the nodes transform like tensors? If so, when does the\nneed arise to transform them?\n\n~~~\nChronic51\n> Do the multi-dimensional matrices that exchange data between the nodes\n> transform like tensors?\n\nYes, if you design the moeel/graph that way.\n\n> If so, when does the need arise to transform them?\n\nThe need arises whenever tensors are needed. For deep learning, most people\ntreat them like multidimensional arrays. TensorFlow is an excellent name.\n\nMultidimensional arrays are a thing of the past. Now we call them tensors. Get\nwith the program or become an aging, forgotten physicist not involved in deep\nlearning.\n\n~~~\nreturn0\nHaha. Hope machine learning students wont be equally annoyed by physicists\nmisusing \"their\" tensors.\n\n------\nsandGorgon\nAnyone know whether they are primarily working on Python 2 or 3?\n\n~~~\nmistobaan\nthe library is compatible with both version of python, but I feel like\npython2.7 is still the mainstream one\n\n~~~\ndgacmu\n+this. We (the TensorFlow team) use python2.7 by default, but work hard to\nmake sure that we maintain compatibility. Our tests explicitly run on both\nplatforms - [http://ci.tensorflow.org/](http://ci.tensorflow.org/)\n\n------\nya3r\nI guess this (switching from Torch to other deep learning libraries) will\nbecome a trend as deep learning have become more mainstream in tech companies.\nI say Facebook, Twitter and others who use Torch (I don't know of any others\nactually), will move away from torch gradually. Unless the Torch community\nsteps its game up.\n\n------\nswah\nI'm a layman but I find it quite interesting that a big release such as\nTensorFlow doesn't affect more people outside Google - or at least thats my\nimpression. One would think, at least, that online store recommendations would\nbecome better or something like that.\n\n~~~\nstuartaxelowen\nTensorFlow doesn't make the algorithms more effective, it just makes them\neasier to describe, and recently, more quick to train / test. Also, with the\nkind of predictions Google is making, it's very unlikely that you'd notice\nimprovements, since they would be gradual.\n\n~~~\nVikingCoder\n...but if you want to make your algorithms more effective, you'd probably\nbenefit if they were easier to describe, quicker to train and test, and you'd\nwant to take advantage of gradual improvements. Right?\n\n~~~\njjawssd\nNot so, for the same reason that low level languages are more effective\ncomputationally but less easy to describe and more difficult for code\ndevelopment.\n\nLua is more low level and has an extremely isolated and fractured community\nrelative to the current Python ecosystem. It is also non-intuitive and has\nnegligible benefits compared to the current scientific Python ecosystem.\n\nI find the abstractions offered by Python and its standard library to be very\neasy to comprehend, write, and maintain relative to Lua.\n\n~~~\nVikingCoder\n...\"easier to describe\" makes it sound like it's a HIGHER level language, not\na lower level language.\n\n------\njonbarker\nSo when do we get to see the alphago code?\n\n------\nbawana\nI guess they dont want to be under facebook's thumb (didnt they invent torch?)\n\n------\nFerver777\nThis is huge news for the AI space. May move things forward a couple of years.\n\n------\nyarou\nI think the neat thing about Google is the high degree of crossfertilization\nbetween teams. In many organizations, teams rarely share information either\ndue to political reasons or a lack of sharing culture in the company as a\nwhole. That being said, this framework/API change doesn't really surprise me;\nDeepMind was more a proof-of-concept than an actual battle tested framework,\nunlike TensorFlow. So in that sense this news isn't surprising at all.\n\n------\nmtgx\nShould we be worried or _glad_ that a potential future Skynet is written in\nC++?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNokia and Microsoft: good for Finland, risky for Redmond - yungchin\nhttp://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2011/02/nokia-and-microsoft-good-for-finland-risky-for-redmond.ars\n======\nZeroGravitas\nThis guy's like a John Gruber for Microsoft. If you believed everything he\nwrites you'd think that Microsoft was selflessly sacrificing itself in all\nsorts of markets, saving rivals and helping consumers way above and beyond the\ncall of shareholder duty, on its way to corporate Martyrdom.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: What are the best resources to properly learn Scala? - godmodus\nHello, I&#x27;ve started to work with scala and I think it&#x27;s a beautiful language. that said, I&#x27;d like to be better at it. What are some good books to get thst teach about the nitty gritty details of the language and it&#x27;s use in production?\n======\nnoelwelsh\nI'm the author of a couple of books on Scala: Essential Scala and Advanced\nScala. You can find them here:\n[http://underscore.io/books/](http://underscore.io/books/)\n\nDepending on what your background and what you want to learn, different books\nwill be appropriate:\n\n\\- Our books are focused on what we consider the most important concepts for\nfunctional programming and how they are implemented in Scala. If you want to\nknow about algebraic data types, type classes, and so on, and how to implement\nthem in Scala or use the implementations in the Cats library our books are a\ngood choice. We emphatically do not teach all the language. If you want to\nknow about OO features like self types and trait mixins don't turn to our\nbooks.\n\n\\- Odersky's book has a lot of detail. It does a good job of presenting all of\nthe language but doesn't IMO do a good job of showing you how to use the\nlanguage.\n\n\\- FPiS is a very good book that does what the title suggests. My main\ncriticism is it can take a bit long to get to the point and it doesn't talk\nabout libraries you might use in practice like Cats or Scalaz.\n\n\\- The Coursera courses I have taken are fairly good, but don't do a great job\nof talking about the higher-level design concepts.\n\nI haven't read other books, so can't comment on them.\n\nFinally, if you don't have a background in formal CS our free book Creative\nScala might be useful. The current draft is at\n[https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8669329/creative-\nscala.p...](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8669329/creative-scala.pdf)\nand the source is at [https://github.com/underscoreio/creative-\nscala/](https://github.com/underscoreio/creative-scala/)\n\n~~~\npc86\nI'm interested in hearing about your team and diversity discounts, it doesn't\nlook like there is any information on them on the site (unless I missed it!)\n\n~~~\nnoelwelsh\nTeam discount is 20% off for purchases of ten or more copies.\n\nDiversity discount ... I don't think we have a policy for books, but for\ntraining we offer 50% off to people who are under-represented in tech and I'm\nhappy to offer the same for books.\n\nEmail me (noel at underscore.io) to arrange either.\n\n------\nvasshu\nThere is a course on Coursera thaught by the Scala creator:\n[https://www.coursera.org/learn/progfun1](https://www.coursera.org/learn/progfun1)\n\n~~~\ngingerbread-man\nIt's actually a series of 4 courses, 5 if you include the \"capstone project.\"\nI've watched a few of the videos-- it's pretty decent, but intended for those\nwho don't have much experience with functional programming. The first course I\nbelieve is modeled off the Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs.\n\nI think the answer to this question really depends on where you're coming\nfrom. An experienced Java developer will need to focus on different things\nthan someone who has spent the last decade hacking Common Lisp or OCaml.\n\n~~~\njoncrocks\nI would agree and disagree.\n\nThe first course is the one that's dedicated to Scala the language, whereas\nthe rest are more focused on reactive/parallel programming that happens to be\nin Scala.\n\nThe first course is good, and acts as a good introduction if you've\nencountered functional programming before.\n\n------\nSatvikBeri\nI found _Functional Programming in Scala_ to be the best source:\n[https://www.amazon.com/Functional-Programming-Scala-Paul-\nChi...](https://www.amazon.com/Functional-Programming-Scala-Paul-\nChiusano/dp/1617290653/)\n\n~~~\nnrinaudo\nI would say that rather depends on what OP means by \"properly\".\n\nIf OP already knows Scala and would like to get better at it _and_ one assumes\nthat \"Scala as Haskell in the JVM\" is more desirable than \"Scala as a better\nJava\", then yes, that's a great suggestion.\n\nIf OP wants to learn Scala from the ground up, I disagree pretty strongly with\nstarting there. It's a great book, well written, with a wealth of challenging\nand mind-opening exercises, but I wouldn't recommend that as anyone's first\nexposure to the language. The second or third, sure, but it purposefully\nrestricts itself to what its authors consider a sane subset of the language.\n\nI happen to agree with their definition, but, in my experience, knowing a\nprogramming language is about reading it as well as writing it, and by\nrestricting your learning to a subset of the language, you'll find yourself\nunable to understand perfectly valid, normal code - code that is part of the\nstandard library, for instance.\n\nI would rather suggest reading Odersky's book while allowing oneself to skip\nlarge chunks that go rather in too much details about fairly useless things\nlike the XML API. Or going through scala-exercises ([https://www.scala-\nexercises.org](https://www.scala-exercises.org)). Or the coursera class - its\nfirst incarnation was pretty good, I assume the new one is at least of the\nsame caliber. They might not make you an expert overnight, but they'll get you\nto know most of the Scala features you're likely to encounter in the wild, and\nto be able to read and learn from most Scala OSS projects.\n\n~~~\nSatvikBeri\nI actually learned Scala from this book, and the only languages I had used in\nproduction before were Python and Fortran. I don't think learning the\nfunctional subset first made it harder for me to learn the object-oriented and\nimperative parts later on. Plus, understanding the functional subset gives you\na better understanding of many of the internals, such as what `for`\ncomprehensions are actually doing.\n\nOf course, if you _just_ read one book and stop there, I'd agree. But most\npeople will continue learning from tutorials, videos, stackoverflow, etc.\n\nI've also seen several other people learn Scala this way, usually without\nknowing any functional programming before, and really haven't seen any signs\nof issues wrt not understanding code written in other styles.\n\n------\nscalatohaskell\nDepends on your level. Scala is extremely powerful, and so can be you. Just\npick progressively more and more advanced books, and you'll be there in no\ntime. Compiler's always got your back. Seriosly, I've been on search for good\nlanguage for last 8-10years, always been unhappy. 2 years ago I started\nworking with scala, and never looked back. I am happy with it and I can see\nmyself doing it for as long as it's around and there is competetive market.\n\n~~~\nedem\nUntil you try clojure or even kotlin\n\n~~~\nscalatohaskell\nI mastered kotlin to dev some mobile apps. Having years of C# behind me, it\ndoes not impress me much.\n\nClojure only for fun, I need types. But lisps sounds fun. Can't comment more.\nPrehaps you're right ;)\n\n~~~\nedem\nThere is `clojure/core.typed` if you want types or `clojure.spec` if you want\nspecs. What I love in Clojure (and in any lisp for that matter) is that you\ncan imlement language features if you need them and the language itself\nprovides you with many but only if you need it (optional dependencies). This\ngives you flexibility which you can only dream of if you use scala.\n\n~~~\nscalatohaskell\nI know of clojure typed. But im worried it needs to be first class. I.e i need\nall my dependencies to be typed, as that is my api and it usually covers large\nsurface.\n\nId also be careful with your 2nd statement. Scala has macros.\n\nIm happy clojure is on the block, dont get me wrong :) each to their own. Type\nsystem is incredibly important to me and my productivity.\n\n~~~\nedem\nScala macros are not like clojure macros. Clojure is homoiconic while scala is\nnot so you really can't compare the two.\n\n------\nsreque\nI would recommend the stairway book and the coursera course. I would also\nsteer away from the some of the other recommendations posted here, including\n\"Functional Programming in Scala\", which are basically teaching you how to\nwrite Haskell in Scala. I don't think this is a good way to learn Scala\nbecause I don't think Haskell-style code makes for effective Scala.\n\n~~~\ndominotw\n>I don't think this is a good way to learn Scala because I don't think\nHaskell-style code makes for effective Scala.\n\nWhy is writing functional code in scala not effective? How would one go about\nunderstanding 'for comprehensions' in scala without understanding what\nflatMap/map is used for in lieu if exception. Or why pattern matching is used.\n\n~~~\nsreque\nIn my opinion, functional programming, like most programming terms, including\nobject-oriented programming, means very different things to different people.\nFor example:\n\n1\\. The LISP family of languages encourages a style of functional programming\nthat eschews static type systems, relies heavily on macros and algorithms\ninvolving singly-linked lists, and doesn't mind exposing the ability to mutate\nstate.\n\n2\\. The ML family of languages, of which I am the least familiar, are\nstatically typed, but are also OK exposing mutable state and do not track any\neffects in their type systems.\n\n3\\. Haskell heavily pushes reliance on Monads, monad transformers, and\neffects/state tracking through the above.\n\n4\\. Proof assistants and similar languages like Coq go beyond tracking effects\nin the type system; they track values themselves, and essentially require you\nto prove mathematically that your program is correct.\n\nSo, given the above, what do you mean by functional programming? From the\ntalks I've seen given by the creator of Scala itself, I believe he sees Scala\nas fitting in with the ML family languages moreso than Haskell.\n\nAlso, the way Scala's type system and runtime currently work, I don't think\nit's a good fit for Haskell-style programming. I tend to find monad\ntransformer-based code in Scala exceedingly ugly and difficult to read\ncompared to Haskell. The underlying runtime itself also has little mechanism\nfor optimizing monad-based code, whereas the GHC compiler has probably man-\nyears of effort spent into optimizing code using monads.\n\n------\nraystar\nI used\n[https://twitter.github.io/scala_school/](https://twitter.github.io/scala_school/)\nto learn, I found it useful.\n\n~~~\npartycoder\nThat tutorial is good. But be mindful that in it there is no explicit\ndistinction being made when using Scala standard library types and Twitter\nlibrary types.\n\ne.g: Futures used in there are from Finagle rather than\nscala.concurrent.Future\n\n~~~\nrlau26\nJust to add on to this incase anyone is wondering, Twitter has a library that\nallows you to use the different futures together\n([https://github.com/twitter/bijection](https://github.com/twitter/bijection))\nif you need to.\n\n------\nrollulus\nI started with Scala a year ago for work. I used a mixture of the resources\nlisted here, but I found this [1] series the most valuable, after the other\nresources gave a basic foundation.\n\n[1]:\n[http://danielwestheide.com/scala/neophytes.html](http://danielwestheide.com/scala/neophytes.html)\n\n------\nwsargent\nThe Artima book by Odersky is the bible, and so you need that one.\n\nFor reference, I like\n[http://naildrivin5.com/scalatour](http://naildrivin5.com/scalatour) although\nit's 2.8 rather than the current 2.12.\n\nFor style guide, I'd go with Li Hiayo's blog, notably the Strategic Style\nseries:\n[http://www.lihaoyi.com/post/StrategicScalaStylePracticalType...](http://www.lihaoyi.com/post/StrategicScalaStylePracticalTypeSafety.html)\n\n------\nmosqutopi\nI read scala for the impatience, but once you know clojure, haskell, erlang\nand other languages the scala language seems to be one more language, a better\njava but nothing that really surprise you. I know that using scala you can\nmake your programs very difficult to read using obscure notations for\noperators. I like to use scala as a repl for exploring java classes, a little\nmore useful that clojure in this regard.\n\n------\ngh0zt\nAs you are asking for books \\- Scala for the impatient\n([http://www.horstmann.com/scala/](http://www.horstmann.com/scala/)) \\-\nProgramming in Scala\n([https://booksites.artima.com/programming_in_scala_3ed](https://booksites.artima.com/programming_in_scala_3ed))\n\nI found those books very good resources. The Scala website lists a few others\n([https://www.scala-lang.org/documentation/books.html](https://www.scala-\nlang.org/documentation/books.html))\n\nAprt from that I found Daniel Westheides blog a very good starting point\n([http://danielwestheide.com/scala/neophytes.html](http://danielwestheide.com/scala/neophytes.html))\n\n~~~\ntaway_1212\nI learnt Scala from Odersky's \"Programming in Scala\" and can fully recommend\nit. I didn't have any functional language experience beforehand.\n\n------\nrv11\nIf you want to learn \"functional\" aspect and not only library and syntax, I\nwould recommend SICP.\n\n[https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-\ntext/book/book.html](https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html)\n\n~~~\nScalaNovice\nHow much of this book is \"functional\" aspect and how much is everything else?\nGoing through the TOC, it looks like the book tries to start from 0.\n\nWould you recommend any particular sections for someone who's looking to only\nunderstand the functional parts?\n\n~~~\nPhilipp__\nYour comment tells me you should start from the beginning and read the whole\nthing. :)\n\nJust give it a try. I was hooked after first chapter!\n\n------\nohmygeek\nScala Cookbook:\n[http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920026914.do](http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920026914.do)\n(most of it is available online here:\n[http://scalacookbook.com/](http://scalacookbook.com/))\n\nOnce you are done with this, you can pretty much pick any of the projects here\nand start reading the source code:\n\n[https://github.com/lauris/awesome-scala](https://github.com/lauris/awesome-\nscala) [https://github.com/adamw/awesome-\nscala](https://github.com/adamw/awesome-scala)\n\nReading code is the probably the best way to learn any programming language\nIMO\n\n------\npartycoder\n\"Another tour of Scala\":\n[http://naildrivin5.com/scalatour](http://naildrivin5.com/scalatour) was\ninformative for me.\n\nIt's a bit dated, mostly targetting Scala 2.8. Current version is 2.12. But\nshould not be fundamentally different.\n\n------\nthelittlenag\nI know this question is mostly about resources in dead tree format, but don't\nforget there are sometimes local events and meetup groups that can help you\nlearn Scala (and other languages too!).\n\nFor example...\n\nIf you live in Dallas/Fort Worth and would like to learn Scala then you should\nknow that the local Scala Enthusiasts group is hosting a Scala Essentials\nworkshop on April 7th, 2017. This will be an all-day, hands-on event for Scala\nbeginners. We will start with a language intro and finish up coding a REST\nserver. More details can be found here: [https://www.scala-\nenthusiasts.com/scala-essentials-workshop-...](https://www.scala-\nenthusiasts.com/scala-essentials-workshop-2017-04/)\n\n------\neb0la\nI reccomend \"Just Enough Scala for Spark\" tutorial from Dean Wampler. It was\nscheduled in Strata NYC, Singapore, and San Jose. Good part: practical. No\n\"weird\" or \"religion-like\" stuff. Just get s __t done today.\n\nIt's archived in SafariBooksOnline: check\n[https://conferences.oreilly.com/strata/strata-\nny-2016/public...](https://conferences.oreilly.com/strata/strata-\nny-2016/public/schedule/detail/51593) before applying to Safari just in case.\n\n------\nrathboma\nIf you're looking for books I recently made a list of good books for Scala -\n[https://blog.matthewrathbone.com/2017/02/14/scala-\nbooks.html](https://blog.matthewrathbone.com/2017/02/14/scala-books.html).\n\nOtherwise Scala School is awesome:\n[https://twitter.github.io/scala_school/](https://twitter.github.io/scala_school/)\n\nWhen I worked at Foursquare we would send folks to the Scala School website as\nhomework. :-)\n\n------\nrlau26\n[http://rerun.me/](http://rerun.me/)\n\nThis blog has some good articles on how to work with Futures properly as well\nas some Akka stuff.\n\n------\nsalmonfamine\nI would recommend Introduction to the Art of Programming Using Scala:\n([https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Programming-Chapman-\nText...](https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Programming-Chapman-Textbooks-\nComputing/dp/1439896666))\n\nIt's very practical, however it approaches the language from a completely\nnovice perspective. If you have years of programming experience, it may be a\nlittle redundant for you.\n\n~~~\ntinathefatwhale\nSame\n\n------\nVeronicaHadley\nYou should check this\n[https://www.tutorialspoint.com/scala/](https://www.tutorialspoint.com/scala/)\n&\n[https://bigdatauniversity.com/learn/scala/](https://bigdatauniversity.com/learn/scala/)\n\n------\nbeastman82\nI learned by reading \"Programming in Scala\" by Martin Odersky who invented the\nlanguage.\n[https://www.artima.com/shop/programming_in_scala_3ed](https://www.artima.com/shop/programming_in_scala_3ed)\n\n------\nsuls\nI hope you don't mind me asking: Is there a specific reason behind you wanting\nto learn Scala \"properly\"?\n\n------\ndominotw\npiggybacking on this question. I am really struggling with sbt. Is there is a\ngood FP in scala equivalent for sbt that walks you through feature by feature\nvia exercises and examples .\n\n~~~\nscalatohaskell\nHi. Sorry I don't have a good answer for you, but check sbt docs, it's pretty\ncomprehenful, but it's not best.\n\nYour best bet is to visit opensource projects and look into their build.sbt's,\nhow they do things -they're usually not big enterprise projects and you can\nquickly 'get' how they setup what.\n\nAlways feel free to visir /r/scala and ask sbt-related question there, there\nis active community happy to answer both sbt/scala/fp related questions.\n\n------\nemodendroket\nI liked Scala for the Impatient but I'm pretty novice.\n\n------\nvram22\nWhat's the market demand for Scala like?\n\n~~~\nrunT1ME\nVery good on the coast, high paying, fun work. Pretty sparse otherwise. I'm\nsure there are exceptions, but it does seem like it is growing. And,\nironically, the main reason companies cite not choosing Scala (or only dip\ntheir toes into Scala) is lack of Scala engineers.\n\n~~~\nvram22\nInteresting, thanks. I suppose companies on the coast may tend to be more open\nto new stuff.\n\n------\nLarrikin\nIf you aren't leaning Scala for work or a specific project that requires it ,\nhave you considered Kotlin? I have found the language much more productive in\nmy day to day, after initially discovering Scala and digging deeper.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "Ask HN: What are your tips on becoming a better manager? - serbiruss\n======\nDVassallo\nThe most powerful feature of a team of creators is their idiosyncrasies. The\nbest way I found to build something as a team is to adapt the work to the\nstrengths of the individuals.\n\nJob titles squash the peculiar strengths and differences into a label and make\nmanagers treat people as fungible units of work. Too many managers define the\nwork first and then assign it to the individuals, rather than define the work\n_based_ on the individuals. It's very hard to make creators work on something\nthey dislike.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nIPv4 addresses in the USA now have les than a year before exhaustion - AndrewDucker\nhttp://www.potaroo.net/tools/ipv4/index.html\n\n======\njstanley\nThey had less than a year before exhaustion 3 years ago.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Selling my Slack App - rgbasin\nwww.pixibot.co<p>Don&#x27;t have the time to work on it currently. Maybe someone here will find it interesting.\n======\nO_H_E\nVery nice idea, about the money situation: maybe you could try make every user\npay something as little as $½/month\n\nIt would also be very kind move from you if you open sourced it instead of\njust pulling the plug, so if any one really wants to use it, he can on his own\nserver/expenses\n\n------\nmromanuk\nHi, could you please describe the app situation: How many users does it have?\nGot any traction?, etc\n\n~~~\nmtmail\nThere seem to be some details from 3 months ago\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15051920](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15051920)\n\n~~~\ntestb\n$60 heroku seems odd. I wonder why the app can't be transferred over to\ncheaper (or free if using trial credits) hosting on aws/gcp/do etc.\n\n------\nhackathonguy\nOP, could you share an email address where I can reach out?\n\n------\nrgbasin\nbasinr@gmail.com\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nOne Twin Exercises, the Other Doesn’t - igonvalue\nhttp://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/04/one-twin-exercises-the-other-doesnt/\n======\ngwern\nFulltext:\n[https://www.dropbox.com/s/gfch760k1ratwo3/2015-rottensteiner...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/gfch760k1ratwo3/2015-rottensteiner.pdf)\n/ [http://sci-\nhub.org/downloads/045f/10.0000@pdfs.journals.lww....](http://sci-\nhub.org/downloads/045f/10.0000@pdfs.journals.lww.com@generic-FD16BBD9129B.pdf)\n\nBuried some interesting points there:\n\n> The researchers were looking for young adult identical twins in their early-\n> to mid-20s whose exercise habits had substantially diverged after they had\n> left their childhood homes. These twins were not easy to find. Most of the\n> pairs had maintained remarkably similar exercise routines, despite living\n> apart.\n\nBesides the testament to how 'everything is heritable' inherent in that\nobservation, it also raises the question: if they are so unusual, doesn't that\nmake confounding more plausible?\n\n> Interestingly, the twins tended to have very similar diets, whatever their\n> workout routines, so food choices were unlikely to have contributed to\n> health differences.\n\nAlso very interesting, and counter to the usual narratives about health.\n(Everything is heritable...)\n\n> The twins’ brains also were unalike. The active twins had significantly more\n> grey matter than the sedentary twins, especially in areas of the brain\n> involved in motor control and coordination.\n\nWarning sign: 'significantly'. Does this mean, as any ordinary person would\ntake it to mean (in conjunction with that lazy stock photo), 'a lot' or does\nit mean 'p<0.05'?\n\nTrick question, of _course_ it means the latter, which is useless! Take a look\nat the fulltext, pg6, table 2, which spits out the _actual_ differences\nbetween the twin pairs. I hope you're ready to be wowed by how much difference\nan exercise regimen makes when you control for genetics (picking out a few I\nrecognize):\n\n1\\. BMI: -0.8\n\n2\\. VO2max: 6.3\n\n3\\. weight: -2kg\n\n4\\. waist circumference: -3.3cm\n\n5\\. fat percentage: -3.3 (!)\n\n6\\. lean mass: 1.4kg\n\nI'm not sure I've seen such a damning indictment of exercise in a long time.\n(Less than 1 on BMI? 2kg of weight? I fluctuate more than that on a weekly\nbasis...)\n\n~~~\nlurknomore\nThere are several sayings in fitness circles that are similar to this: \"You\ncan't outrun your fork.\" Diet is the primary reason people are obese, not lack\nof exercise.\n\n~~~\nWildUtah\n\"You can't outrun your fork.\"\n\nI can.\n\nPeople who can't outrun their forks aren't running hard enough.\n\nHunting down a lot of calories and eating them is part of being a mammal. I\nbicycled across North America one fall on a mostly mountain route. Four times\na day I ate full meals and added as many Dove bars as I could without being\nsick in between. I biked up and down hills with 30kg of gear all day. And I\nlost a lot of weight.\n\nSure it hurts to work that hard, but it's supposed to hurt a little. Being\ncomfortable all the time isn't part of being a mammal.\n\n~~~\nrtb\nI look forward to your enlightening anecdote based debunking of other sayings,\nsuch as that time you made a great broth despite too many cooks, or that time\na gathering didn't get merrier with more people.\n\n~~~\nWildUtah\nI'm a little too busy to entertain you with vignettes right now; I need to\nsupervise this pot closely until it boils.\n\n------\nAstroChimpHam\n>But eventually the researchers homed in on 10 pairs of male identical twins,\none of whom regularly exercised, while the other did not, usually because of\nwork or family pressures, the researchers determined.\n\nThat \"work and family pressure\" sounds like stress and a pretty important\nconfounding variable.\n\n~~~\nreedlaw\nIt's also a choice, or even an excuse. Nearly everyone has work and family\npressures. Some find relief in exercise.\n\n~~~\nmaratd\n> It's also a choice, or even an excuse.\n\nAlright, get off your high horse. Just because you \"excercise\" doesn't make\nyou better. There are plenty who don't need to because they work with their\nhands and plenty more because they have active hobbies. And while it's a\npopular notion that constant activity makes you healthier, it's just common\nsense that the body is a machine and the more you stress a machine, the\nlikelier it is to break. See athletes for common ailments.\n\n~~~\nrunamok\n> it's just common sense that the body is a machine and the more you stress a\n> machine, the likelier it is to break\n\nExcept a biological system gets stronger if you stress it in a progressive\nmanner. While athletes constantly pushing themselves certainly do get injured,\ndoing nothing seems to cause far more harm long term. Everything from heart\nhealth to bone density is usually better in an athlete.\n\nAlmost everyone in my family is obese with a host of maladies. I've been\nrunning 23 years and am incredibly healthy despite the occasional hamstring\npull or achilles tendonitis.\n\n------\nprobono1\nThe full data set seems to show that the strongest argument in the article is\nthat propensity to fitness is mostly a result of genetics and upbringing - it\nwas apparently very difficult to find twins where the level of fitness was\ndifferent, and very difficult to find twins with significantly different\ndietary preferences. This seems to indicate that in most cases, your level of\nfitness is basically pre-determined by age 18.\n\n~~~\ntghw\nPropensity and pre-determination are very different things. The whole point of\nthe article is that someone who makes fitness a priority and exercises\nregularly has better health and fitness indicators than someone who doesn't,\nall else being equal.\n\nBeing active is a choice (for most people). Certainly, some people are more\nlikely to do it naturally, but that doesn't preclude the rest of us from doing\nit.\n\n~~~\nDougWebb\nIt might also show that someone who has better health and fitness indicators\nis more likely to exercise regularly.\n\nMaybe environmental concerns (eg: stress) impact your health and fitness\nindicators, which causes a lack of motivation and energy for exercise that you\nwould normally have without the stress. I know, as an overweight and highly\nstressed person, that I often feel that way about exercise.\n\n------\nbootload\n_we can “move more,”_\n\nsurprisingly this is difficult, not impossible.\n\nBack in 2007 I did a simple experiment myself asking, _' at what point do you\nfail when repeating exercising?'_ The idea was pretty simple: pick a arbitrary\nimpossible distance to cover and move each day to reach it. The impossible\ndistance I chose 1000km in a year.\n\nSo I selected a difficult 10km source and set out each day moving 10km per day\nuntil I complete my target. I reached my target by late November and decided\nto push-on to 1000Ml (1600Km), the last 400 in 20 days.\n\nThe key failure point I found? Just before I started. If you could\npsychologically push through _any_ excuse made not to go, just before you\nstarted, It's pretty likely you will start and finish. I keep this up\naveraging about 2000km/yr using that insight into failure. Up to 300km so far\nthis year (with min/max 1kg weight and 8kg pack).\n\n------\nTimothee\nI'll admit I didn't read the study but the results summarized in this post\ndon't seem very interesting:\n\n _The sedentary twins had lower endurance capacities, higher body fat\npercentages, and signs of insulin resistance, signaling the onset of metabolic\nproblems._\n\n _The active twins had significantly more grey matter than the sedentary\ntwins, especially in areas of the brain involved in motor control and\ncoordination._\n\nIsn't this expected to anybody not exercising vs. someone who is?\n\nIt would have been interesting to see if there were results beyond the obvious\neffects of exercising.\n\n~~~\nhayksaakian\nwhat's interesting is that this comparison controls for genetics, given that\nthey're twins.\n\n~~~\nTimothee\nI get that, but I feel like we've known for quite a while that people who\nexercise can run longer and have lower body fat, regardless of genetics.\nGenetics can affect how long you can run compared to others, but you will run\nlonger if you exercise than if you don't.\n\nIf you take anybody in the world and have them exercise, they'll lower their\nbody fat, everything else being equal, no? And that's not only the same genes,\nit's actually the same person.\n\n~~~\njschwartzi\nI thought, too, that genetics only controls for something akin to a few\npercent of your potential, and that to bump up against that limit you would\nhave to already be in the 99th percentile for a particular capability. So your\nendurance is controlled by past training almost exclusively.\n\n------\nlaichzeit0\nI always find it interesting that whenever exercise/diet topics come up on HN\nthat people will go to the n-th degree to try and discredit or rubbish the\nstudies. Could it be a bias in the stereotypical geek which shuns both these\nhabits and so seeks an intellectual reason to justify his sedentary lifestyle?\n\n~~~\nphiljackson\nIt's a cynical view, but I'm afraid to say I feel it too. This whole 'body\nacceptance' movement (in the context of obesity) that's happening at the\nmoment is detrimental to society and should probably be shunned as overweight\npeople justifying their inactive lifestyles.\n\n------\ndarkhorn\nCan someone explain to me why an identical twin is allergic to mushrooms and\nthe other one is not? Also why a symmetric identical twin is more\nfriendly/outgoing and speaks fluently while the other one is opposite?\n\n~~~\njepper\nBecause your immune system, a highly complex interaction between countless\ncells, is not fully determined just by your genes or your environment. There\nis also a stochastic factor.\n\n------\nUdik\nI wonder if they took in account the fact that, as they say, the twin that\nstopped exercising did so reluctantly and in response to some social or family\npressure. In other words, they're comparing a person who keeps doing what he\nalways liked to do with another that had to give up. I'm not sure the result\ncan be transferred to people who never felt the urge and benefit of\nexercising. How would compare two twins, one of which has only in recent years\nbeing forced to exercise?\n\n~~~\nrevelation\nWhats your point here, motivation is necessary to realize benefits from\ntraining? And the absence causes body fat to accumulate?\n\n~~~\nbsder\nActually, yes. There have been several studies that seem to point towards\nsignificantly less benefit from exercise when people don't enjoy it.\n\nObviously, this is really hard to control for since those who enjoy exercise\nless are less likely to do it, push themselves, etc.\n\nThat's not to say that exercise doesn't help at all, but since many of us are\nconcerned about efficiency of exercise that's an important finding.\n\n~~~\nsliverstorm\nAnother key one would be, less likely to do it well... The more I learn about\nexercise & fitness, the more I discover it is a learned skill.\n\nFor a simple example, despite the fact that my push-ups looked ok, I was in\nfact doing them terribly wrong all my life which meant they did absolutely\nnothing to strengthen my pectorals. You might think something as simple as a\npush-up would be hard to do wrong...\n\n------\ngadders\nFrom the report:\n\n\"The scientists invited these twins into the lab and measured each young man’s\nendurance capacity, body composition and insulin sensitivity, to determine\ntheir fitness and metabolic health.\"\n\nShame they couldn't find twins that took part in strength training, but not\nsurprising given the difficulties in finding any participants.\n\n------\nmathattack\n\"But eventually the researchers homed in on 10 pairs of male identical twins,\none of whom regularly exercised, while the other did not, usually because of\nwork or family pressures, the researchers determined.\"\n\nOh boy... How can 10 possibly be enough?\n\n------\nKiro\n> The active twins had significantly more grey matter than the sedentary\n> twins, especially in areas of the brain involved in motor control and\n> coordination.\n\nIs that good or bad?\n\n~~~\npingou\nThat looks good to me.\n\nWhat I'm wondering if that it only means that people have better motor control\nor coordination, or that it can also help people be good at math, for example,\nor at least help them if they decide to learn math?\n\n------\nparag_c_mehta\nWould have been great if some pictures were shared. Mere numbers do not tell\nfull story that gets shown in actual pictures.\n\n------\nwaynecochran\nAmazing. The twin that exercized looked different and was more healthy.\n\n~~~\njostmey\nIs that an actual picture of the twins?\n\n~~~\nkafene\nMy guess is that that's a picture from the art department.\n\n~~~\nalecdbrooks\nIt's attributed to Getty Images, so it's actually a stock photo.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nPHP 5.3: `if (strcmp($passwd, $_POST[\"passwd\"]) == 0) { login(); }` is broken - danielweber\nhttp://danuxx.blogspot.com/2013/03/unauthorized-access-bypassing-php-strcmp.html\n\n======\ndanielweber\nIt's not the correct way to compare passwords anyway, since people can do\ntiming attacks on any kind of direct string compare.\n\nBut this was a really clever exploit this guy found. Not too major, since only\nC programmers would use strcmp().\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe end of the housing supply debate (maybe) - jseliger\nhttp://cityobservatory.org/the-end-of-the-housing-supply-debate-maybe/\n======\nquotemstr\nThat there was ever a debate at all is still astounding. Economics has fuzzy\nareas, but basic principles of supply and demand are very well-established.\nIt's clearly nonsensical to imagine that we can simultaneously lower prices,\nlimit supply, and allow for demand growth. The longevity of this bizarre idea\ndemonstrates how strongly political ideas of how the world _ought_ to work\nblind us to how the world _does_ work. We'd do well to take the wool from our\neyes in other contentious disputes.\n\n~~~\njjxw\nIt is perplexing to me why the burden of proof was ever placed on \"increasing\nsupply decreases prices\" when the mechanism by which rent control + limiting\nconstruction is supposed to benefit anyone besides those already occupying\nthose units is totally unclear.\n\nI don't even think it's \"ought\" vs \"does\" \\- it's more NIMBY interests being\nmore ingrained into local politics allowing them to somehow gaslight everyone\ninto thinking the laws of supply and demand don't apply to housing.\n\n~~~\nleggomylibro\nYeah, it's not about economics or politics at all.\n\nPeople who live in an area want policies that will benefit them at the expense\nof newcomers, full stop.\n\nAnd when you concentrate value and therefore power in those existing\nlandowners to an extreme degree, you get a political feedback loop strong\nenough to overpower something as trivial as reality. After all, the market can\nstay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.\n\n~~~\nJPKab\nHere in the Denver area, we have a lot of people moving here for good jobs,\nstrong economy, etc. The locals bitch and moan endlessly.\n\nA lady the other night at a dinner party was, in the same conversation,\ncomplaining about the \"high-density\" (townhouses, but she acted as if they\nwere high-rises) housing being built in the area, and moved on to whining\nabout how her daughter was priced out of a home in the area.\n\nI stopped myself.\n\n~~~\nbreischl\nI can absolutely believe that would happen. Also interesting to watch the\ndebate around conditional removal of the parking requirements for new builds.\nYou see people that complain about lack of affordable housing, but also demand\na parking lot/structure for every new building - these things are in conflict.\n\nI do understand the bitching & moaning. I remember, and miss, the days when\nthere wasn't a standing jam on I-25 every single Saturday, you could show up\nat a trailhead later than 8 AM and actually find parking, or rent a nice\napartment in Wash Park for $600. But then I'm an immigrant too, so I don't\nhave much moral authority to tell the more-recent immigrants to GTFO.\n\n------\nrayiner\n> . . it has become an article of faith that building market-rate housing\n> raises rents, rather than lowers them. The logic of Econ 101 — that an\n> increase in supply lowers price — is alien to many progressives, both in the\n> Bay Area and around the country.\n\nPretty much. I'm progressive on a lot of issues but many public-interest\nminded people are immune to economic realities. The example about subsidized\nversus market-rate housing is a great one. Subsidized housing reducing\ndisplacement twice as effectively as a market-rate house sounds great. But put\nanother way: permitting two market-rate houses that bring in tax additional\ntax revenue is as effective as building a subsidized unit, which costs the\ngovernment a bunch of money.\n\nThe \"trickle down\" effect is also real.\n\n> Building more market rate housing isn’t so much about “trickle down” as it\n> is building enough new housing to keep higher income households from moving\n> down-market and bidding up the price of older housing that would otherwise\n> be affordable to moderate and lower income households.\n\nIn Chicago, which has never had rent controls, there are tons of high-end\nhighrises going up. But the high-end units there were built in the 1970's and\n1980's have been retargeted now as more value offerings.\n\n~~~\nTulliusCicero\nExactly. Affordable, market-rate housing is just old housing that used to be\nluxury.\n\nIt's not that much different from cars. In the US, working class people can\nlargely afford cars, they just buy used.\n\n------\niandanforth\nI live in a very interesting area, across the street from me is a different\ncity with housing costs roughly 10x the costs of mine. I am daily confronted\nwith the absurdity of pricing of housing.\n\nIn addition as I've watched rents around me rise, and anticipated my own rent\nrising, I wonder at the expectation that we should continually get less for\nmore. My house isn't getting any newer after all.\n\nIf my employer decided to cut my pay by 10 or 20% every year there's no way I\nwould stay, and yet I must admit that I have tolerated this behavior from my\nlandlords.\n\nUnlike commodities or consumables, for which unrestrained markets influenced\nby collective expectations of supply and demand are not routinely shocking,\nthe expectation that my house, in which I already live, and for which I have\nbeen paying consistently for years, suddenly being much more expensive ...\nwell that feels like a hole in the social contract. A problem to be remedied\nby legislation if the governing societal expectations do not naturally lead to\na different equilibrium.\n\nWhat if the expectation was that if you let someone live in your home you are\ngranting them significant rights, significant stability, and are assuming\nsignificant risk of losing money? This set of expectations is well known\nelsewhere, but not so much where I live.\n\nSo while I am willing to be convinced that a humane and equitable improvement\nto a cities housing situation can be achieved by building more housing, I\nwould hate for legislative restrictions to be ignored as complimentary and\nbeneficial efforts.\n\n~~~\nbhauer\n> _my house ... for which I have been paying consistently for years_\n\nIf you are _paying_ for it, not past-tense, then it's not technically _your\nhouse_.\n\nThe apparently uneven market for real estate is shocking to buyers because of\nthe variability of supply constraints, caused by geography but also in great\nmeasure by zoning regulation. The hackneyed refrain of \"location, location,\nlocation\" as the chief determinant of the value of a property illustrates this\npoint.\n\n> _I must admit that I have tolerated this behavior from my landlords._\n\nYou have tolerated it precisely because you actually know that the value of\nproperty is not fixed. As demand increases while supply does not, the\nvalue/price goes up. Clearly you like the location, so you've not moved away.\nYou are part of the demand that is moving prices upward. Your _willingness_ to\npay more is precisely what sets the price, along with supply.\n\n> _A problem to be remedied by legislation if the governing societal\n> expectations do not naturally lead to a different equilibrium._\n\nAs the article points out, legislation focused on remedying the problem would\nrelax constraints on supply caused by zoning, regulatory hurdles, etc. But so\noften the people complaining about the cost of housing are the same people\nvoting to keep supply constrained.\n\n~~~\nhackits\nThere does come a tipping point that most land lords don't like to talk about.\nWhen interest rates go so low that the cost of owning your own home is cheaper\nthan renting. This is including all the cost of maintenance, water rates,\ngarbage collection, insurance, taxes, and also property tax's that come with\nit.\n\nDo be careful when you decide to enter the market as choosing the wrong time\ncan wipe out about 3-4 years savings within 2-3 months.\n\n------\nRangerScience\nSo, it sounds like:\n\n1) Building any kind of more housing is beneficial\n\n2) Building subsidized housing is more beneficial than market-rate housing\n\nThis leaves me with two questions:\n\n1) Does subsidized have double the effect because you can build twice as many?\n\n2) Zoning laws seem to prevent cheap housing from being cost-effective for\ndevelopers to build. If you made it possible to build cheap housing (in LA,\nmaybe by reducing parking requirements), would developers be building cheap\nhousing on their own, without prompting / subsidies?\n\n~~~\nOrwellianChild\nIn order:\n\n1) Yes.\n\n2) More beneficial in limiting _displacement_ only. No considerations of cost.\n\nAnswer 1) Subsidized housing provides more benefit because it provides\nimmediate housing stock at lower prices, replacing any stock lost to luxury\nconstruction. It is definitely _not_ cheaper or easier to build more - the\nsame areas that _need_ subsidized housing are the ones where housing in\ngeneral is more expensive to build.\n\nAnswer 2) Absolutely yes, zoning laws increase the cost of construction,\nleading to more expensive housing units. Explicit recommendations in favor of\nmore affordable housing include:\n\nA) Removing parking requirements\n\nB) Allowing more density (more floors, smaller required sq. ft per unit - yes,\nthis is a thing, and fewer yards, set-backs, etc.)\n\n------\ncwperkins\nThis is something I've been trying to understand for a long time. In New York\nCity because of the rent controls it seems like the market rate has diverged\nalarmingly from the subsidized rents. From my perspective it seems like this\npropagates the \"Tale of Two Cities\" and makes it a much wider leap to go from\nrent-control or subsidized housing to market-rate. In my naive opinion it\nseems like in a system without all of the controls in place there may be a\nmore even spectrum of price points and make jumping to the next level of\nhousing easier.\n\nThere are other forces at play here too such as foreign buyers speculating on\nthe Manhattan Condo market, look no further then the foreclosure at One57\npenthouse to show how it has gotten. I think building more housing at all\nlevels is the best way to solve the affordability crisis, but naturally the\nhigher-end of the market would be built out first due to developers wanting to\ncater to the highest bidder. The cities current approach of providing tax-\nincentives to developers to allot a certain portion of housing to affordable\nhousing is seemingly a good strategy to tackle the problem of affordable\nhousing as well as integration.\n\n~~~\ncwperkins\nDoes anyone know anyone from Starsky robotics? I think it would be interesting\nto deploy the remote technology used in it's trucks to construction vehicles.\nImagine being able to have continuous delivery at construction sites. For\nexample, excavation is a relatively quiet activity that seems like it just\nrequires a back hoe and a dumpster to haul away waste. If we can be able to\ncontrol these remotely, would we be able to increase the efficiency of\nconstruction sites?\n\n------\nsliverstorm\nThis doesn't seem to address high end housing vs (unsubsidized) low end\nhousing. Is a hundred new units with marble countertops as good, holistically,\nas a hundred with laminate?\n\nI think a lot of the opposition revolves around frustration with developers\nbuilding luxury when the intent of the given policy was low or mid market\nunits, combined with a belief that units targeted at the needy market segment\nwould be the best solution.\n\n~~~\njogjayr\nThere are reasons for developers to prefer to build high-end housing over low-\nend housing.\n\n1\\. City parking requirements drive up the cost of construction to the point\nthat only luxury units would be profitable.\n\n2\\. Land acquisition costs (referenced in the article) are high due to zoning\nlaws, so developers prefer to build high-end housing to recoup those costs.\n\n3\\. Labor costs the same no matter what you're building (beyond some extra for\na marble installer or whatever). Labor cost is a function of cost-of-living in\nthe area, which itself is proportional to housing costs. Since the cost of\nconstruction is high, a builder is going to build the highest-value product\npossible at that cost.\n\nSo really all the problems boil down to city regulations, zoning, and\nunaffordable housing creating more unaffordable housing.\n\n\"Trickle-down\" is a dirty word in many circles but I think it does apply to a\ncertain extent for housing. Today's luxury apartment is tomorrow's mid-market\napartment. If I could get a better apartment than what I have for slightly\nmore rent, I'd probably upgrade, but the difference is stupid high (nearly\ndouble). In turn, my current apartment would probably be rented by a middle-\nincome earner if it was located somewhere other than Silicon Valley.\n\n~~~\nsliverstorm\nIt's pretty obvious why luxury development is preferred; anybody, in any\nmarket, would prefer to make luxury units.\n\nYet no other market seems to operate by supplying only luxury units and\ndepending on trickle down. Why are there Corollas, instead of just more\nLexuses?\n\n~~~\nkelnos\nSF already has plenty of \"non luxury\" housing that has been gobbled up for\nluxury prices, often displacing people who could normally afford such housing.\nThe theory is that building more luxury housing will take pressure off the\nnon-luxury stock.\n\nI agree with that theory, but building more affordable and below-market\nhousing (instead, or simultaneously) will likely have a faster, more positive\neffect.\n\n~~~\njogjayr\nBut it's impossible to make affordable and below-market housing profitable\nunless the underlying issues, land acquisition costs and zoning, are\naddressed. That means the government will have to subsidize these units and\nthey still won't be enough to meet demand. So only the lucky few who win the\nhousing lottery will benefit. Everyone else (most lower-income people, middle-\nincome renters overpaying for low-end housing) still loses out.\n\nI'd prefer that we solved the problem for most people rather than just a lucky\nfew. If people couldn't afford food because not enough farmland was available\nfor reasons like \"preserving the character of the area\" (imagine that you\ncan't truck food in from lower-cost locations in this scenario) you bet we'd\nfind a way to start growing more food stat. No one would say \"Well we'll just\nsubsidize food for some people so fewer people will starve. But it's no use\nletting farmers farm because they'll just grow Kobe beef and avocados instead\nof wheat and corn\".\n\n~~~\nkelnos\n> But it's impossible to make affordable and below-market housing profitable\n> unless the underlying issues, land acquisition costs and zoning, are\n> addressed.\n\nTotally agree. Developers don't want to build affordable housing because they\nin some cases actually stand to lose money when doing so. SF's byzantine\nplanning process makes it that way, and that's not going to change without\nsome heavy reform there.\n\n------\nempath75\nIf you build new luxury housing presumably people now living in less desirable\nhousing will upgrade, making their housing available at lower prices, etc.\n\n~~~\n1_2__4\nThis claim keeps popping up. I’ve yet to see it include a citation. Maybe\ntoday will be different.\n\n~~~\nempath75\nIt’s in this very article.\n\nWhat other outcome could happen?\n\n~~~\nthrowawaymsft\nThat new luxury housing makes a city more attractive and induces demand from\noutside. Adding new roads can make driving more attractive and worsen\ncongestion.\n\nNot saying that’s what happens, but a simple supply/demand analysis (ceteris\nparibus) may not suffice.\n\n~~~\nOrwellianChild\nNo one has seen fit to build much luxury housing in Cleveland, OH lately, but\nwhat exists already (at rock-bottom prices) doesn't seem to be attracting much\npopulation from outside...\n\nInduced demand is definitely a thing for roads, but that demand is from fixed\nsupply of people. In the roads case, it is counter-intuitive specifically\n_because_ it causes the same number of people to drive more, on average.\n\nThat dynamic simply doesn't hold for luxury goods in general or luxury housing\nin particular. There are effectively no replicable instances of more luxury\ngood = more buyers unless price falls or supply was previously constrained.\n\n~~~\nthrowawaymsft\nI'd posit it's hard to know what the dynamic would be. Consider certain luxury\ngoods\n([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good))\nwhere increasing the price increases the demand. (Conveniently, economists\nhave a model and also a name for things that don't follow the model. The\nuniverse can be divided into bananas and non-bananas.)\n\nCleveland isn't a prestigious world-class city attractive to the wealthy, but\nif new luxury condos in a tier-1 city come online, it may induce demand from\nwealthy/speculators who would not otherwise have considered that city, or were\npicking between alternatives. (Investment, signaling/status-seeking, etc.)\n\nTreated as an investment vehicle, increasing supply (e.g., having an IPO where\nno shares existed before) can unlock latent demand (people divert income into\nthat investment and drive up the price). Perhaps housing needs to be modeled\nas a mix of investment, local demand for shelter, status symbol, tax haven,\npolitical baton (keeping existing homeowners above water), etc.\n\nAgain, not sure how housing actually behaves but it seems complex enough to\ndefy my econ 101 understanding.\n\n~~~\nOrwellianChild\nI'm assuming you're suggestion that housing is a Veblen good is in jest - I\ncan build a shining, gilded tower in the middle of Wyoming and I'm not going\nto attract America's wealthiest citizens to Cheyenne...\n\nIt seems like you're conflating cause and effect here - If Cleveland isn't\ngood enough, then it must be the tier-1 city that is the cause of the demand.\nNot the housing itself. Further, unless the new luxury units are sitting empty\n(a problem Vancouver, BC dealt with for awhile), then the market for rents\nfunctions regardless of whether speculation is occurring. I invite you to find\nan example of vacancies increasing in the same place that housing/rents climb\n- it won't exist in any of the real estate hot-beds in America.\n\nThe main thrust of this article and the research surrounding it by folks like\nCity Observatory, Sightline Institute, etc. is that we now _do_ know the\ndynamic of housing prices in booming economies. I don't feel like you've\nprovided any evidence that contradicts the conclusions presented in the\nresearch, so I'm having trouble pinpointing your skepticism. Let me know if\nI've missed your point!\n\n------\nalexasmyths\nFolks - please add immigration.\n\nWhy on earth people don't grasp that when population is increasing mostly due\nto newcomers it affects housing ... this bothers me - because it's\npoliticized, nobody can talk about it it seems.\n\nImmigration is just a reality, it's part of the equation - it has real effects\non housing costs and wages, one can't ignore it because sometimes the answers\nmight not jive with one's politics.\n\nSo, immigration (or rather, population change, which can include births etc.)\n- is an important driving factor.\n\nWhich includes migration between states/regions obviously.\n\n~~~\nouid\njust build more housing.\n\n~~~\nDanihan\nNot everyone wants to live in a super over-populated / densely populated\narea...\n\nIn general, more saturation of humans == more problems.\n\nPeople make fun of NIMBY, but at the end of the day who better to manage the\nneighborhood than the people who are already invested in it..?\n\n~~~\nOrwellianChild\nYou wish to extend control of property beyond the borders of what they own\noutright?\n\n~~~\nAnimalMuppet\nBut that happens all the time. Neighborhood zoning restrictions, restrictive\ncovenants, homeowner association rules, and so on. So Danihan's position is,\n_de facto_ , what the situation already is in many instances.\n\nSo: You wish to _not allow_ any control of property by anyone other than the\nproperty owner? Are you sure you really want that?\n\n~~~\nOrwellianChild\nYou just listed the principal agents in the NIMBY crusade, which I suppose\nit's clear I am in pretty strong opposition to in most cases. Tyranny of the\nmajority is a serious problem in race, class, social, and wealth spectra, and\nthese groups represent that form of tyranny in action. They're great right up\nuntil you do something that the majority disagrees with. Not recognizing the\nred flags this throws up makes me think that you've probably found yourself in\nthe majority most of your life. It's worth considering what these systems mean\nfor folks who fall outside of the majority on any of these issues.\n\n~~~\nAnimalMuppet\nOK, but I don't have to be part of the minority to understand why I don't want\nmy neighbor to be able to tear his house down and replace it with a 7-11, or\nan oil refinery, or a landfill. Do any of _those_ things throw up red flags\nfor you?\n\nI mean, sure, it changes the value of my property if my neighbor doesn't keep\nhis bushes neatly trimmed. But there's stuff that he can do that's a lot more\nserious than that. I don't regard opposing a 7-11 on my neighbor's property as\n\"tyranny of the majority\" \\- or at least I regard letting my neighbor freely\nchoose to do those things as \"tyranny of the minority\", which I regard as\nworse.\n\nNow, obviously you can take this to extremes, and you can get upper-middle-\nclass white-bread cisnormative-with-2.3-kids neighbors who insist that you\nhave to have exactly 2.3 kids or you can't live in the neighborhood. Also,\nyour garage has to be painted the right shade of blue. That's definitely\ntyranny of the majority, and I agree that it can be oppressive.\n\nAnd I guess opposing a 7-11 next door, or an oil refinery, or a landfill is\nexactly NIMBY-ism. But I moved into a neighborhood where part of the\nrestrictive covenants said that I _couldn 't_ open a convenience store on my\nlot - because it was going to conflict with the one that they were planning\nfor a block or two away, on the corner of the subdivision. That was known in\nadvance to everyone who bought into (or built in) the subdivision, and I don't\nhave a problem with that. I don't have a problem with an oil refinery next\ndoor, either, _if I know it 's coming when I buy the property_. (I would\nprobably not buy, but if I did, I would know what I was signing up for.)\n\nAnd I didn't have a problem with the neighbor two doors down starting a hair\nsalon in her house, even though I _didn 't_ know that was coming when I bought\ninto the neighborhood. There was a mechanism where anyone who had a problem\nwith it had a chance to be heard, though. (I don't know if they could have\nblocked it, or if someone else got to judge the seriousness of the objection.)\n\nTL;DR: I'm not opposed to people being able to do things. I'm opposed to\npeople being able to do things that significantly harm the value of their\nneighbor's property in ways that the neighbors didn't know was coming at the\ntime they bought the property.\n\n~~~\nOrwellianChild\nI realize I was being somewhat inflammatory with my talk of \"being in the\nmajority\" and \"missing flags\" \\- thanks for being willing to engage anyway.\n:-) I also like your characterization of \"upper-middle-class white-bread\ncisnormative-with-2.3-kids neighbors\" \\- this is who we're usually speaking of\nwhen we talk about the \"NIMBYs\".\n\nYou're right that there _is_ a difference between starting up an oil refinery\nand building an apartment complex. The problem with many of these\norganizations you mentioned is that they weaponize their power (intended for\nuse against oil refineries) _against_ people, lifestyles, and forms of housing\nthey don't like. In Seattle (as elsewhere) it is justified in order to, for\nexample, preserve the availability of free public street parking in front of\nand near their home. This perceived \"right\" to public, shared property has\nextended to mobilizing against dense housing like \"apodments\" for fear it\nwould \"take up street parking\" in my town. In my opinion, if you want parking,\nyou should build it on your own plot and not expect the city to limit\ndevelopment to provide it for you free of charge.\n\nYou seem to have a pretty reasonable expectation of entitlement - no 7-11, but\nfine with small in-home business - and I wish there were more like you out\nthere. In practice, these \"NIMBYs\" move to an area circa 1970 and expect it to\n_never change again_. This is untenable in downtown SF, Seattle, or any other\nmajor metropolitan area, as I think you realize. The natural evolution of\nthese HOAs, neighborhood associations, and like seems inevitably to be towards\noppression - anyone more Laissez-faire wouldn't bother joining one in the\nfirst place.\n\n------\nxenadu02\nThe idea that a government - at any level - is going to fund enough subsidized\nhousing to make even a tiny dent in the housing problem is completely\nlaughable. Anyone proposing such nonsense isn’t serious about the problem in\nthe least.\n\nThat’s what bugs me so much about so-called progressives who oppose more\nhousing. There is no half-plausible scenario where SF or CA comes up with the\nhundred billion it would take to solve the bay area’s housing shortage.\n\n------\npurplezooey\nA major part of the problem is that it costs too much to build. Too many\nconstruction entities living on cheap funny money and a supply shortage after\nthe real estate crash that has still not rebounded. Why does it cost $200,000\nto add a second story to a house, for example.\n\n------\nouid\nI said it before here, but the situation in oregon is fucked up more than\nnormal. The state constitution limits the rate at which property taxes can be\nraised to 4% a year, provided no new construction occurs. Increasing housing\nsupply is actually penalized here.\n\n~~~\njackcosgrove\nI think that's the point.\n\nDidn't the governor of Oregon tell people from other parts of the country not\nto move to Oregon in the 70s? Everyone wants their own private paradise\nwithout having to share.\n\n------\ngech\nAs long as we don't have developers that are willing to build only luxury,\nbought by speculators and remaining vacant. Please answer this.\n\n------\nhardlianotion\nInteresting article. However:\n\n\"Rent increases, which were measured in the double digits eighteen months ago,\nhave gone negative.\"\n\nI call those kind of increases: decreases.\n\n~~~\nelhudy\nThat kind of wording leads me to believe that he is referring to the rate.\nI.e. Rent increases are still occurring but at a decreasing rate. Maybe?\n\n~~~\nicahnvalyou\nPossible, but I think it's more likely poor wording than linguistic calculus.\n\n------\nverulito\nWe don't build housing, builders do. We simply decide what is permitted to\nhappen. We could eliminate restrictions on construction and that would help\nbut the rate of housing growth would still be limited by money available to\npay for new housing, which is a lower bound to affordability. It's actually a\nworse problem than it sounds for, if we're decreasing building restrictions\nthen we're slowing price growth and decreasing the attractiveness of housing\nto investors. To accelerate affordability, we probably also need to subsidize\nor at least incentivize then.\n\nThat gets to be fairly expensive so where's the money going to come from? My\nproposal is a national growth tax, whose money is redistributed from areas\nwhich don't grow to those which do. That money will be used to pay for\ninfrastructure improvements needed to house those people as well.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Which service to use to show web-site design mockup to a client? - rusinov\nHello. I&#x27;m doing WordPress development on the side, and usually clients provide their designs for web-pages themselves. However, new client wants me to come up with the web-page design. I&#x27;m curious, what is the go-to service these days where one can mock up a web-pages with dummy data, preferably link them together, with ability to toggle mobile version? Maybe, Figma? My goal is to show client a mockup-page where they can approve the design, and I then will focus on recreating this design in WordPress.\n======\ncodegeek\nDon't do it loosely otherwise you may end up spending a lot of time on it. If\nyou are not a designer, tell the client that you can get a designer who can\nwork with them first. Some clients are too anal about pixel perfect design and\nthis client is one of those, you will spend 10s of hours just dealing with\n\"can you tweak this button a bit to the right\" type of requests.\n\nSo tell the client that you are happy to code the WordPress site but how\nspecific of a design are they looking for ? If pixel perfect, you need a\ndedicated designer. Otherwise, you may be able to get the client to work with\nexisting templates in WordPress BUT those are also dangerous since it leaves\ntoo much room for interpretation.\n\nI would start by asking the client \"Are you looking for a specific design that\nis done exactly to your specs or are you ok with using existing templates\" ?\nTheir answer may give you a clue. Also, remember that design itself could be\nlot more work than coding the actual WP site.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nStartup: give up? - tty123\n\nThis Q probably must have been asked several times; but as each situation is different, 'dare to ask this ;)<p>My situation: worked on my startup, so far self and little friends/family funded. Almost 3yrs; did some parttime jobs here and there. I am in a highly overcrowded but lucrative mkt; 2 patents pending; 3 to 4 customer Letter of intents(LOIs); but no tangle progress as all of the customers have outsourced their platform (application) and both my and my prospect's hands are tied. 2 of the platform guys put us on hold; 1 other platform vendor is painfully slow; running out of money  in next 3mths; pitched to VCs, no funding, asked to come back when gained more mkt traction; due to lack of funding, 'am working w avg team (mostly on equity) but progress is very little; myself spinning all the threads; now, even to pivot, 'need $s;<p>I do belive in the idea and have pitched to several. If it weren't for LOIs from prospetive customers, 'would have given up; I am highly qualified (education &#38; corp exp), but feeling as if no talents due to above all; can someone give their perspective here? 'Also regret 'haven't moved to bay area.<p>Next 2 mnths, seeking angel round; but not optimistic; lack of motivation even to revamp my resume (as 'feel at crossroads w no talents)<p>Feeling like putting company in hibernation and do some job.\nAny advice , will take it. Thank you!\n======\ntren\nInstead of creating this extremely brief and hard to read summary, it might be\nworth making a blog post describing exactly what your situation is, the\nproblems you've encountered, so that people can provide you with better\nsuggestions.\n\n------\ntty123\nC'mmon folks; I really am looking for some directions; yes ultimately its me\nwho has to decide w/o emotions. One other option 'am looking at is :\nfocus/wait on patents being issued and then re attempt; or atleast 'can\nsell/license them.\n\nPS: read \"tangile\" as tangible; \"belive\" as believe in the main posting; typos\n\n------\nangryasian\nYou probably already know the answer. Only you know your business best.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nVerlet-js - Open source dynamic body physics engine - subprotocol\nhttp://subprotocol.com/verlet-js/\n\n======\nsubprotocol\nHi HN. I recently open sourced a verlet physics engine that I wrote for fun.\nFour example experiments are in there so far. I have a few other experiment\nideas in mind that I hope to get implemented soon. Anyways, it was a blast\ncreating this and thought others might like to look/play with it too.\n\nCheers\n\n~~~\niambot\nLooks great, thanks for sharing. One thing I would suggest is to not worry\nabout rendering the physics on the canvas, threejs is good at what it does and\nlacks a good physics engine. It's just my opinion, but I think the project\nwould benefit from either making it work with threejs or by not solving the\nrender problem, and just focus on doing great physics, so that people can use\nthe results in their threejs scenes.\n\nGreat work though\n\n~~~\nsubprotocol\nThis is a really great point. Abstracting it away shouldn't be bad, and it is\npossible to extend by vec2 implementation to 3d. After I finish my next batch\nof examples I will venture down this path.\n\nThank you for the feedback!\n\n~~~\nbm1362\nThere is a physics engine for threejs- it's somewhere on their demo page. I'm\nactually working on a physics engine as well- I'm willing to help you extend\nit in whatever direction.\n\nA question, Why did you chose Verlet integration? I know it's great for\nparticles but I always had issues trying to do angular mechanics.\n\n~~~\niambot\nAre you thinking of Physijs [0], which is made to work well with ThreeJS? Its\na wrapper around Ammojs for ThreeJS.\n\nIt does look good and integrates well, but to be honest ThreeJS is so mature\nand battle tested with multiple renderers (canvas, webgl etc) that when\nbuilding a physics engine, I really think it would be better to spend ones dev\ntime on the physics and not waste* time reimplementing a portion of ThreeJS.\n\n[0]: <http://chandlerprall.github.io/Physijs/>\n\n*Obviously not actually 'wasted' time, hacking is great even just for the sake of it - but I'm sure you know what I mean.\n\n------\nmichaelkscott\nNice project. The spider was a bit unexpected though. I had to jolt back a\nbit. I then pulled it out of the web and it died. Phew. (:\n\n~~~\npooriaazimi\nI thought you were joking (about dragging the spider out), but it actually\nworks! Extremely well-done.\n\n~~~\nZecc\nYou drag it slightly off the web and she will hold on for dear life. Verly\nfunny!\n\n~~~\nrurounijones\nAmazingly \"life-like\" behaviour on the spider considering such simple \"AI\"\n\n~~~\nsubprotocol\nThanks =)\n\n------\nblixt\nYou should make a benchmarking script to track speed over time. I've written\nprobably 10 different Verlet engines in JavaScript, and the overhead of\nJavaScript's dynamic nature can be very palpable in the simulations.\n\nFor my most recent attempt at something speedy, here's some source code making\nuse of typed arrays and doing away with objects completely. The speed\nimprovement is good, but maybe the maintainability suffers a little (press\nspace to create blob): <https://c9.io/blixt/blob/workspace/index.html>\n\nNote that the particle-line collision is currently inefficient, so it slows\ndown the simulation a lot more than it should.\n\n------\nalexvr\nAwesome. I love the spider demo, especially -- the way it sticks and\neverything just feels right, to the point where it's too realistic for\ncomfort. I felt like I was messing with a real spider.\n\n~~~\nikawe\nI pulled her off, and then felt awful about it. Luckily you can put her back\non.\n\nI'm not sure what about it is so effective.\n\n------\ndonpark\nThere is a similar project named Coffee-Physics [1] by Soulwire.\n\n[1] <https://github.com/soulwire/Coffee-Physics>\n\n~~~\nrorrr2\nAlso\n\nBox2D JS and Box2Dweb\n\n<http://box2d-js.sourceforge.net/>\n\n<https://code.google.com/p/box2dweb/>\n\nBullet JS\n\n<https://github.com/adambom/bullet.js/>\n\nCannon.js\n\n<https://github.com/schteppe/cannon.js>\n\nAmmo.js\n\n<https://github.com/kripken/ammo.js/>\n\nPhysijs\n\n<http://chandlerprall.github.io/Physijs/>\n\nJigLibJS\n\n<https://github.com/supereggbert/JigLibJS>\n\n~~~\nYgg2\nInteresting list but I wonder how do these libraries fare when used by JS\ndevelopers? What are their performances and experience with them?\n\n~~~\nseanmcdirmid\nAlso, a verlet-based physics engine is a very different beast compared to a\nrigid-body one (a few in the list above are also based on verlet, but not\nmost).\n\n~~~\njjoonathan\nErr, I thought verlet was just an integration technique? How does it translate\ninto a \"very different beast\"?\n\n~~~\nbm1362\nVerlet integration uses an object's change in position at time t to determine\nthe velocity for t+1- it is typically used for particles not full rigid\nbodies.\n\n~~~\nseanmcdirmid\nVerlet is incredibly stable and allows you to update the position of a mass\ndirectly (velocity, force, momentum are all implicit), making it very easy to\nwork with if not very accurate. You can't emulate rigid bodies very well\n(shape matching kinda works), collision response and stacking is a pain in the\nass.\n\n~~~\njjoonathan\nI guess I'm still having trouble understanding where the complexities arise. I\nhave no difficulty believing that they _do_ arise, but I would like to\nunderstand how it happens if you're willing to take the time to explain.\n\nI would think that rigid bodies -- either perfectly rigid or semi-rigid via\nsprings & struts -- would not handle all that differently in verlet since\nforce is explicit (typo on your part?) and a v/p estimate is available from\nthe last position, albeit with a bit more phase lag than usual. Does the phase\nlag induce nasty oscillations or something?\n\n~~~\nseanmcdirmid\nWe can make semi-rigid bodies in verlet using strings are shape matching\ntechniques, but the pressure needed to maintain shape necessarily interferes\nwith stacking or any other kind of stable contact. Actually, their was a\nsolution to this in a shape matching paper by Matthias [1] but I was never\nable to get it to work right.\n\nI've played around a lot with Verlet, it is very powerful in certain\ncases...especially since you can just update the position of a mass directly\n(very easy to program, very mouse/touch input friendly). However, a rigid body\nphysics engine is probably better for most game use cases.\n\n[1] <http://www.matthiasmueller.info/realtimephysics/>\n\n~~~\njjoonathan\nCool, thanks for the link!\n\n------\narocks\nThe spider has been extremely well done. Spent a lot of time playing with it.\n\n------\ndrorweiss\nAwesome! Thanks for sharing. It's amazing what you can do inside the browser\nthese days.\n\nAny thoughts of integrating it with SVG? SVG is super useful for drawing and\nmanipulating shapes in the browser.\n\n~~~\nsubprotocol\nThank you! I have actually not played around with SVG yet. Is it as easy as\ncanvas? I am very new to canvas and found it to be super easy to pick up and\nrun with.\n\n~~~\ndrorweiss\nI haven't played with canvas yet... it's quite powerful... checkout\n[http://www.netmagazine.com/features/20-svg-uses-will-make-\nyo...](http://www.netmagazine.com/features/20-svg-uses-will-make-your-jaw-\ndrop)\n\n------\ntalloaktrees\nI pulled on a circle and it became a bicycle.\n\nThat is the best bug ever.\n\n------\ngoyalpulkit\nThis looks really good.\n\nJust for fun, try pulling one of the spider's legs and bring it close to the\nweb! I really like how it clings on to the web.\n\n------\nopminion\nAwesome. This kind of well designed personal site mixing tech with demos is\nvery appealing, because if gives you something beautiful, potentially very\nuseful, and chewable.\n\nAnyone knows a good \"directory\" or collection of such sites?\n\nAnother example of that kind of site: <http://worrydream.com/>\n\n------\nf4stjack\nHey, I downloaded the zip sourcefile from the github repository but any change\non the tree example code (for example commenting out tree1) increases load\ntime tenfold. Has anyone experienced this?\n\nThanks for any reply.\n\nedit: after I deleted google analytics code, everything went hunky dory.\nThanks for this amazing piece of code :)\n\n------\nHawkee\nReminds me of another project done in Java Processing. It implements a similar\ncurtain effect except you can tear it to pieces,\n[http://bluethen.com/wordpress/index.php/processing-\napps/curt...](http://bluethen.com/wordpress/index.php/processing-\napps/curtain/)\n\n------\nC1D\nThis is great, it doesn't seem to have any lag and I can't wait to see this\nbeing implemented.\n\n~~~\nlanstonpeng\nI'm diving into it.LOL\n\n------\naccatyyc\nThis is awesome. Very well done, and very nice looking examples. Simplistic\nand stylish. Props for the spider!\n\n------\nBaconJuice\nHoly crap, I am blown away by how amazing this is! great work guys and thank\nyou for sharing.\n\n------\nsomid3\nI am intrigued, this is a lot of work it seems, what inspired you to create\nthis engine?\n\n~~~\nsubprotocol\nIt all started as play coding. The deeper I went the funner it became =)\n\n------\nburen\nReally great work! Thanks for open-sourcing the project, already love playing\nwith it\n\n------\nbluepill\nVery nice work, thanks for sharing\n\n------\nmouseroot\nthat spider example is pretty freaking neat\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Re: $150K conv. debt for YC - what if company raises no more money? - yakto\n\nJust curious regarding the terms of the $150K debt from Yuri and RC: what happens if the company never raises a follow-on round, and a) there is plenty of cash flow to pay back the debt, or b) there is insufficient cash flow to pay back the debt.<p>Anyone know when the debt comes due, what the interest rate is, and if payback terms are pegged to cashflow somehow?\n======\nbkrausz\nA blogger somewhere saw the terms of the note and commented on it (don't\nremember what site). Basically if the note converts for any reason other than\nan equity round it does so at a $5M cap.\n\nEven more interesting: that $5M cap also applies if the terms of the future\nequity round don't allow for re-upping. So basically, if StartFund can't re-\ninvest in the next round, they get better terms on the note. Really smart.\n\n------\nminalecs\nI really don't know the answer to this question but my best guesses\n\na) At some point you would do a real valuation on your company and debt would\nbe converted to shares or some type of equity. Investors would hope that you\nbecome profitable and investors could sell shares on secondary market or\ncompany would eventually buy back shares.\n\nb) If no cash you would eventually close shop, and I imagine if you dissolve\nyour corporation nothing happens. Like going bankrupt and if you have no money\ntheres nothing to collect on and nothing happens. I guess its possible to sell\nwhat assets are available.\n\nThats why investment is a risk.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n'Digitize Your Inventory' – Would You Buy This Product? - sanna_inventory\nhttps://www.sanna-tech.com/\n======\nrtag\nCool product! I would totally use this for organizing my wardrobe.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nApple approves Dogecoin iOS app - madeofpalk\nhttp://www.mydoge.co\n======\nTarang\nFrom the page:\n\n>MYĐOGE is read-only. It can be used to monitor your Dogecoin at a glance,\nwatch the markets or read about Dogecoin.\n\nSo it can't be used for transfers. It still doesn't look like Apple is\napproving apps that send *coins\n\n------\nmrtksn\nDogecoin is an example how your story about your product could make it or\nbreak it. Dogecoin is not yet another digital currency and this has nothing to\ndo with it's technology.\n\n~~~\ncommandar\nI'd also say it demonstrates the importance of identifying a niche. Nobody\ncares about generic AltCoin #842012.\n\nPositioning themselves as a tipping currency was a smart move. The internet\nhas badly needed a way to reward people with very small amounts of money for\nyears. That's one of the things I really like about doge, personally.\n\n~~~\nrglullis\nThe thing I don't understand, though... why not just use bitcoin to do it?\n\nIt was BTC that found a way \"to send really small amounts of money through the\ninternet\". No need to invent a niche.\n\nTo me it looks like the ones using dogecoin don't want to think of it as\nmoney, but just some other form of internet points like karma.\n\n~~~\nnahname\nI agree, let me give you 0.0000005 BTC. Or I could give you 100 DOGE.\n\n~~~\nSpittie\nSo it's because it looks better? You could always say \"here, have 500\nSatoshis\".\n\n[https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Satoshi](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Satoshi)\n\n~~~\nnwh\nHere's 5400 Satoshi, actually. There's a dust limit to prevent micro cent\nspamming.\n\n~~~\nlvs\nJust to be clear, Doge tipping is mostly not happening on the blockchain.\nThese transactions are only transacting on the chain when people cash in or\nout of a tipbot.\n\n------\nhigherpurpose\nI wonder if this is the typical left doesn't know what the right does in\nregards to Apple's \"personalized\" cryptocurrency policy, so someone approved\nit without realizing the top executives don't want it there, and they might\nrequest for a ban later - or Apple has an incredibly inconsistent policy\nregarding cryptocurrencies. Neither one makes much sense.\n\n~~~\nmadeofpalk\nWhat seems to be consistant is that they don't actually care about\ncryptocurrencies. They care about not copping the blame when third party\npayment platforms cause problems for their users.\n\nIf there was some sort of security hole in a bitcoin iOS app that caused the\nowner to loose money, Apple will recieve some of the blame and negative press.\nApple disallowing these apps is their way of mitigating that damage.\n\n------\nViper007Bond\nWhy is this news? There's been other Dodgecoin apps in the App Store for a\nwhile now.\n\nI've been using this one personally to track my wallet balance:\n[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/doge-tracker-dogecoin-\nprice/...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/doge-tracker-dogecoin-\nprice/id785007290?mt=8)\n\nInfact I think the one I've been using is probably better designed, although\nit isn't free.\n\n~~~\nk-mcgrady\nIt's news because yesterday there was a story about them removing a Bitcoin\napp.\n\n~~~\ntheboywho\nThey removed the Bitcoin app because you can send coins with it.\n\nThis dogecoin app is \"read-only\" for your dogecoin accounts.\n\n~~~\nk-mcgrady\nI know. Obviously a lot of people didn't get that (too busy grabbing their\npitchforks) which is why this story has probably made it to the front page\ntoday.\n\n------\nGeee\nIt doesn't seem to be a wallet app, just for checking balance.\n\n------\nsentientmachine\nThese handheld devices will someday become so close to us that it will be\ndifficult to tell where the device ends and where the human begins. Someday\nlarge segments of the population are going to gladly submit some control of\ntheir mind to 3rd parties who know which programs and products are good for\nyou, and which you are unauthorized to use.\n\nI'll decide what I want to run and what not to run on MY computer, thanks. I\nguess it comes down to whether you want to be a pet in a safe walled garden\nwith a pre-programmed experience, or a free agent out there with terrors to\nfreeze your soul and delights to satiate your every desire.\n\n~~~\nrimantas\n\n      > Someday large segments of the population are going to\n      > gladly submit some control of their mind to 3rd parties\n      > who know which programs and products are good for you, and \n      > which you are unauthorized to use.\n    \n\nThis is already in place and has nothing to do with technology. Just observe\ncarefully all the stuff people get offended about, or call racist, or call\nsexist—usually there is little to no thinking involved, just conditioned\nresponse, sometimes reaching absurdity (like insisting that black person from\nUK should be called african-american). My impression is that in these cases\npeople don't really have moral compass or deep understanding why something is\nright and something is wrong—this all was \"outsourced\" somewhere and all left\nare just learned reponses to stimuli, with extremely crude pattern\nrecognition. And yes, to some degree this applies to those inceasingly\nspeaking about walled-gardens.\n\n------\nplg\nso here in my hand I have a $100 bill. How do I turn it into Dogecoin??\n\n~~~\nzedpm\nWell, if you literally mean cash in hand, you're going to have to do a bit of\nwork. Much like with other crypto coins, you can sometimes find a local person\nwho will do an in-person exchange[1]. Otherwise, you can use something like\nthe dogemarket subreddit[2] to do an exchange using Paypal, Google Wallet,\netc. Another option is to link a bank account to a service like Vault of\nSatoshi[3] and make a USD/Doge trade there.\n\n[1] [http://www.dogesnearme.com/](http://www.dogesnearme.com/)\n\n[2] [http://www.reddit.com/r/dogemarket](http://www.reddit.com/r/dogemarket)\n\n[3] [https://www.vaultofsatoshi.com/](https://www.vaultofsatoshi.com/)\n\n~~~\nthrow938265\nCurious as to why you didn't jut say \"you can directly buy Dogecoin for $100\nUSD on a website called Vault of Satoshi.\" Instead, you opened up your\nlongwinded response with \"doing a bit of work\" and other mumbo jumbo, leaving\nthe direct answer as a marginal note at the end (just \"another option\" in your\nwords.)\n\nEdit: the most challenging part would be going to a bank to deposit the\nphysical Franklin, if the end user didn't have a fiat in an account already.\n\n~~~\nzedpm\nThe options are listed in order of increasing difficulty. Vault of Satoshi\nrequires verification of users, which means sending them personal information\nand waiting for it to be processed. Once you've jumped through all the hoops,\nit's easy. Finding someone to meet you at the coffee shop and exchange the\n$100 in person is potentially the quickest and easiest, assuming such persons\nexist in your area. The PayPal/Wallet option is somewhere in the middle.\n\nAll that having been said, _I'm_ a bit curious why you felt the need to bitch\nabout someone giving a detailed answer. I wonder at the intellect that labels\nfour sentences as long-winded.\n\n------\nmuratmutlu\nThat design looks familiar [http://liber.io/](http://liber.io/)\n\n~~~\nkaugesaar\n[http://www.blacktie.co/2013/12/flatty-app-landing-\npage/](http://www.blacktie.co/2013/12/flatty-app-landing-page/)\n\n~~~\njanantala\nAll site templates are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0\nLicense, he didn't include BlackTie.co credit\n\n------\nVexXtreme\nMisleading title.\n\n~~~\nCthulhu_\nNo it's not; it's a Dogecoin app, in the app store, so the title is accurate.\n\nSure, it may need a clarification that it's a read-only app, but still.\n\n~~~\nepmatsw\nJust because something is accurate doesn't mean it's not misleading. That it\nmay need clarification would seem to be an indicator that it is in fact\nmisleading.\n\n------\nchalgo\nI want to add my wallet without using the scanner.\n\n------\ndetay\nYet apple bans the bitcoin apps. Such travesty.\n\n------\nbrooklynjam\nWow. Much Cool! Sigh. Big Crash. But there in spirit.\n\n------\nfelipelalli\nI know it is not appropriate on HN but I can't resist:\nAUEHAUEHUAHEUAHEUHEUAHEUAHUEHAUEHUAHEUH WOW Apple! Such Apple... Many\nApples...\n\n------\nlurkinggrue\nSo wise.\n\n------\njashjacob\nso wow. nice\n\n------\ndpanah\nThe reason why this is worthy news is that you made it so. Hence, think twice\nunless you are Dogecoin lover, and if you are, mission accomplished. Many\ntimes things come from behind and win, watch the moon closely this time.\n\n------\nIE5point5\nIcons/UI details could use a lot of work in this. Actually the website is much\nbetter designed than the actual app.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAn Analysis of Linux Scalability to Many Cores [OSDI'10 PDF] - yarapavan\nhttp://pdos.csail.mit.edu/papers/linux:osdi10.pdf\n\n======\npatrickgzill\nSummary: they found bottlenecks in many applications and found that by\nimplementing various code changes to the kernel, about 3000 lines worth, they\ncould greatly improve performance on a 48-core Linux box.\n\nFor instance, per-core data structures to speed access to commonly used kernel\nitems.\n\nThey also introduce a concept they call \"sloppy counters\" which is a per-core,\nreduced lock contention method of handling certain systemwide counters.\n\n------\nxtacy\nAs noted in the paper, something of relevance: Receive Packet Steering is a\nrecent patch from Google for the Linux Kernel addresses the issue of packet\nprocessing by hashing packets to specific cores, while honouring data\nlocality.\n\n<http://lwn.net/Articles/328339/>\n\nFacebook also apparently made some changes to their Kernel to optimise the IO\npath for memcached. Mark Zuckerberg presents some of the modifications in this\n(slightly long) techtalk:\n<http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=631826881803>\n\n------\njgrahamc\nIt's worth pointing out that people rarely get the gmake speedups that the\nauthors are seeing from gmake -j because most makefiles contain problems that\nconstrain parallelism and cause broken builds. For example, many have missing\ndependency information, or reuse the same file over and again for intermediate\nresults.\n\nFixing that was part of the motivation behind Electric Cloud.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Nobel Prize in Literature 2015 - davidiach\nhttp://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2015/press.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=twitter_tweet\n======\nsmharris65\nI hope more people will become aware of her book \"Voices from Chernobyl: The\nOral History of a Nuclear Disaster\". A sad witness of a human tragedy.\n\n[http://www.amazon.com/Voices-Chernobyl-History-Nuclear-\nDisas...](http://www.amazon.com/Voices-Chernobyl-History-Nuclear-\nDisaster/dp/0312425848)\n\n------\nvarjag\nHer writing is vivid and terrifying. Her _War Does Not Have a Woman's Face_ is\nat the top of my list of books to unread. It's a collection of accounts from\nfemale survivors of WW2 trenches. It is not pushing a feminist narrative in\ntraditional sense (wasn't a thing in USSR) but is haunting in its honesty.\nThink _Saving Private Ryan_ without the humanistic takeaway.\n\nShe's a part of Belarusian late 20th century documentary realism tradition,\nwhere authors build around authentic, traumatic biographies of the war\ngeneration. In literature, Vasil Bykau, her contemporary, even better known\ndomestically. In cinematography, Klimov's _Come and See_ perhaps the most\nknown work.\n\n~~~\nvkb\nThank you for the background. I am super-familiar with the Soviet WWII\ndocumented experience (Vasiliy Grossman, Ehrenburg, etc. ) but I've\nembarrassed to say I've never heard of her.\n\n~~~\nvarjag\nThat's hardly surprising: I only read her since am originally from Belarus\nmyself. She's also an outspoken critic of both Lukashenko and Putin, something\nthat doesn't bode well for a Russian language writer at all. I'm happy she\ngets the wider recognition now.\n\n------\nfsiefken\nIs it odd that neither the local city library and the university library don't\nhave one of her works (pop. 320k)? She has gotten awards before, so one would\nthink she's more popular. How political is this choice?\n\nAs a child of two parents who lived through WWII I recognized her sample from\nthe book 'unchildlike stories'/'last witnesses'\n[http://www.alexievich.info/knigi/LastWit_En.pdf](http://www.alexievich.info/knigi/LastWit_En.pdf)\nbut on her page it seems it has only been translated into japanese and is not\navailable in a language I (or my parents) understand, it's a pity. Another\nbook I would like to read is 'The wonderful deer of the eternal hunt' but that\ndoesn't seem to be ready yet (or abandoned?). In an article about her work\nfrom 15 years ago it's mentioned that she has been working on this book for 3\nyears now and she wants the topic to be part of her work.\n[http://www.tol.org/client/article/8060-a-writer-from-a-\ncrack...](http://www.tol.org/client/article/8060-a-writer-from-a-cracked-\nworld.html)\n\nFortunately I can order 'Voices from Chernobyl' and 'War Does Not Have a\nWoman's Face' in paper format (only), just as well as in a way it makes the\nstories more memorable for me then the dead and cold e-surrogate.\n\n~~~\njohansch\nThe \"Swedish Academy\" who awards these prices are considered somewhat of a\njoke here in Sweden. Almost as much as we consider the Norwegian Nobel\nCommittee a joke - remember the embarassingly prematurely awarded Obama nobel\npeace prize - basically only awarded because the Norwegians wanted to frolick\nwith celebs.\n\nThey have a very elitist stance - if an author gets popular, no matter how\n\"good\" or \"bad\" he or she is, the prize seemingly cannot be awarded to them.\n\n[http://www.today.com/id/15210453/ns/today-\ntoday_books/t/nobe...](http://www.today.com/id/15210453/ns/today-\ntoday_books/t/nobel-prize-literature-goes-who/)\n\n\"A political bias may be hard to prove but there is no doubt the academy\nfavors lesser-known writers to international best sellers. Few outside\nliterary circles had heard of China’s Gao Xingjian, Poland’s Wislawa\nSzymborska or Kenzaburo Oe of Japan.\n\nGert Fylking, a Swedish radio journalist taunted the academy for a decade by\nshowing up at the award announcement and yelling 'finally' when Engdahl read\nthe winner’s name. After being barred from entering one year, he showed up the\nnext in disguise.\n\n'The point is that 99 percent of the time, the writer who wins the Nobel Prize\nis completely unknown to the big masses,' Fylking said.\"\n\n~~~\nhullo\nI don't see how \"literary circles\" should be criticized for choosing works\nthat they believe have merit in their own field. Nobody was up in arms earlier\nabout the chemistry award going to people who weren't \"household names\" \\-\nother than the Peace prize, the odds that anyone who wins a Nobel this year\nwill have a bigger public profile than Alexievich are slim to none.\n\n~~~\nhugh4\n> Nobody was up in arms earlier about the chemistry award going to people who\n> weren't \"household names\"\n\nThat's because chemistry papers can only be appreciated by a trained chemist,\nwhereas literature is a popular art form which ought to be appreciatable by\nanybody. Or any _educated_ person, if you want to dismiss the tastes of the\ngreat unwashed (it's interesting how literature is one of the few fields where\nit's still socially acceptable to be a snob).\n\nNow, maybe the Nobel Prize Committee is doing us a great service by uncovering\nthe works of these great authors whose work has never been appreciated before.\nBut in that case, you'd expect them to become popular _after_ their prizes,\nand everyone would be going \"boy, I sure am glad that the Nobel Prize\nCommittee brought Derek Walcott to my attention or else I'd never have read\n_Omeros_ \". But nope, most of the laureates continue to languish in relative\nobscurity even after they win the prizes.\n\n~~~\nhullo\nWell, it's also a lot easier to validate their choices - you and anyone else\nwho are fluent in English, Russian or a number of other languages can go pick\nup a copy of Voices from Chernobyl, say, and give it a try. (It's amazing.)\nYou will have a harder time validating the chemists' work.\n\n------\nGFischer\nI find it interesting that betting houses have gotten the winners right for a\nfew years already.\n\n[http://www.ibtimes.com/pulse/nobel-prize-2015-betting-\nodds-w...](http://www.ibtimes.com/pulse/nobel-prize-2015-betting-odds-who-are-\nliterature-peace-physics-favorites-2127359)\n\nSomething similar to the DraftKings affair maybe, where someone or several\nsomeones with insider information are using it for their advantage?\n\nShe wasn't a dark horse to win though, she's been favored for at least a year\nnow:\n\n[http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-\ncomment/nonfiction...](http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-\ncomment/nonfiction-deserves-nobel)\n\nSo it might be a case of a Prediction Game doing right\n\nI remember from some years ago the Hollywood Stock Exchange ( www.hsx.com/ ),\nan online game where people \"invested\" on movies, was used as a \"crowd wisdom\"\nsource for decisions on whether to fund movies, etc, and was fairly accurate\nIIRC.\n\nMaybe there's a similar opportunity for other fields? A Startup Stock Exchange\ngame? :)\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Stock_Exchange](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Stock_Exchange)\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prediction_market](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prediction_market)\n\n~~~\nhullo\nThis is actually only the second time in 12 years that the favorite per the\nLadbrokes odds has gotten the award, the last being Pamuk in 2006.\n\n[http://www.newrepublic.com/article/123058/who-will-win-\nnobel...](http://www.newrepublic.com/article/123058/who-will-win-nobel-prize-\nliterature)\n\n~~~\nGFischer\nI stand corrected, it seems the Literature nobel prize is very hard to guess\ncorrectly, they did find out last year's prize early but it was because of a\nleak.\n\n[http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/nobel-prize-in-literature-won-\nby...](http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/nobel-prize-in-literature-won-by-french-\nwriter-patrick-modiano-1.2793454)\n\n\"Betting on Modiano to win the Nobel surged in the last week, raising\nquestions about a possible leak. David Williams of bookmaker Ladbrokes said\nModiano's odds had shortened from 100-1 a few months ago to 10-1 before the\nannouncement.\"\n\nEdit: I still think a \"Startup Stock Exchange\" could be fun, maybe based on\nCrunchBase or something :)\n\n~~~\nEvanKelly\nI used to mess around on exchangel.co, but mainly I'm interested in placing\nlong bets which just require some patience rather than trading in the\nartificial market. I think there's another one out there too that does start\nup trading.\n\n~~~\nGFischer\nThanks! I'll look them up.\n\n------\nguard-of-terra\nI've never read her but I assume this is where you start:\n\n[http://lib.ru/NEWPROZA/ALEKSIEWICH/zhensk.txt](http://lib.ru/NEWPROZA/ALEKSIEWICH/zhensk.txt)\n\n~~~\nvarjag\nBe warned, none of her books are light reads. I put a summary in the other\nthread:\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10352263](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10352263)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMy First Year in the App Store - trevmckendrick\nhttp://www.trevormckendrick.com/my-first-year-in-the-app-store/\n======\ndhruvmittal\nI was actually really excited by the \"...you can get the next 9 posts\ndelivered to your email by signing up here:\" at the bottom. I like it. I like\nemail, because I can read it anywhere and filter it any way I want. I dislike\nunsubscribing from email updates about as much as I dislike getting updates\nI'll never read. By making it easy to get emailed only about a story I've\nalready demonstrated interest in (by reading all the way through), you've made\nsure I'll come back for your next 9 posts.\n\nI'd like to see more people use something like this.\n\nOr, if I've misunderstood how this works...well, the concept was exciting.\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nVery kind words. Glad you liked it. Indeed, fewer people sign up, but you know\nthey're the ones who value the content the most.\n\n~~~\ngrecy\nGiven that you're using wordpress, is that a plugin for the \"sign up by\nemail\"?\n\nThanks,\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nIt's just HTML that Mailchimp gave me that I stuck in the post.\n\n------\nandrewljohnson\nWhenever anyone complains to me that its hard to make money on software,\nand/or the App Store is rigged, I always tell them I think anyone can make a\nliving by making a bible app. You don't even have to be the best one, just\npretty good, and iterate - it's the canonical product that you know has a big\naudience, willing buyers, and poor competition on the low end of the market.\n\nCase proven by this guy! The next time you think to yourself that there is\nanything needed to make money on software besides persistence, thoughtfulness,\nand picking something you know people want, you're in a trap of your own\ncreation.\n\nPeople who don't make money on their apps typically fail because they try to\nbe too novel, try to make the app too good, or they don't stick in there long\nenough.\n\n~~~\ngwern\nPatio11 has argued forcefully that developers systematically neglect women and\nunderserve that large market; I wonder if we can add to that 'and developers\nalso ignore religious markets too'?\n\n~~~\nsoup10\nReally, developers ignore every demographic that they aren't a part of.\nThere's a reason \"suits\" are often at the head of large creative focused\ncorporations and compromise artistic integrity to make things more palatable\nto their target markets. Market research and knowledge is a very real thing\nthat product focused developers often completely ignore or rely on instincts\nof unknown quality.\n\n~~~\ngwern\n> Really, developers ignore every demographic that they aren't a part of.\n\nUnfortunately, that is not really a meaningful thing to say as a guide to\nbehavior: it's like suggesting that someone sell non-apples - meaningful, not\nwrong, and useless advice. You need to know what demographics developers\n_aren't_ before that can be useful; you need to know, say, that developers\ntend to be male, white/Asian, First Worlders, before you can say 'ah, females\nmay be underserved!'\n\nAnd you need to think of the categories in the first place, like this religion\nexample shows. If someone asks you if developers might tend to not be fans of\nreligion than the general population, it might seem obvious, but 'being\natheists' is not the most salient feature of developers.\n\n------\njkira\nI'd be interested to hear how you marketed the app. Just building an app seems\nto be only half (or less) of the battle these days, as far as App Store\nsuccess goes.\n\nI've got seven apps on the App Store, and combined they usually don't even\nbring in $200/mo. Discouraging.\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nI'll talk about that in one of the upcoming posts, but basically:\n\nI started with an app niche that I knew people were already searching for. And\nI knew _that_ because there were crappy Spanish Bible apps already making\nmoney in the App Store.\n\nSince then I have started collecting users' email addresses which helps with\npromotions and new app launches, but initially all my traction was through\nsearch.\n\n~~~\nSurfScore\nSounds like any successful business I've ever heard of. Find a niche with an\nunsatisfied need, then grow organically. Good for you.\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nThanks!\n\n------\ndanenania\nThanks for writing this. It's very insightful.\n\nOne question - do you have any interest in spanish and/or the bible, or is\nthis purely a business exercise?\n\n------\nalexvr\nIt's a good reminder to me, as a developer, that people simply buy (or use)\nwhat they want, not what _I_ think they want.\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nAmen! (no pun intended :) )\n\n------\ncallmeed\nI'm curious what translation you used (I signed up for the rest of the posts\nbut haven't got through them).\n\nMost modern English translations of the Bible are copyrighted and often you\ncan only quote/print a limited number of verses without paying licensing. (I\nthink the best public domain version is probably the ASV from 1901).\n\nDid you license a spanish version of the Bible? Pay someone to translate a\nmodern one? If so, were there legal hurdles to translating a copyrighted\nversion?\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nYou're right that most well known Bible translations are copyrighted. I found\none that is in the public domain so it was game on.\n\n------\ntimack\nI thought the App Store had a rule that you couldn't submit an app that was\nessentially a 'book or a film' how did you get around that?\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nGreat point. I've actually run into that problem. On some updates they would\nreject me and I'd have to add a few features to be approved.\n\nThat's part of the reason I'm redoing the entire app from scratch with tons of\nextra functionality, etc.\n\n------\naeontech\nFascinating example of finding and successfully filling an under-served niche.\nI would have never thought of creating this kind of app.\n\nIt makes me contemplate - how can you break out of your filter bubble to come\nup with and test product ideas for markets you can't even imagine exist\nbecause they are so far from your experience?\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nMy two cents: I scrolled through tons and tons of top ranking apps in each\ncategory. That was where the initial brainstorm began: profitable apps that\ndidn't look very good.\n\n------\naustenallred\nThe coolest part of this post, IMO, is that by finding that niche you freed\nyourself up to work on whatever you want to work on. Legitimate residual\nincome.\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nThanks, and yes and no. When I realized I'd found a decent sized niche I had\nto make a decision: do I let it sit and coast/build something else, or do I\ninvest more here?\n\nI've decided with the latter, which will play out for at least the next year.\nJury still out whether it was the right decision.\n\n~~~\nsillysaurus\nIf you completely abandoned the project as it currently exists, do you think\nyour income would drop off sharply?\n\nIn other words, how much of an ongoing effort is it to ensure your income\nstays high? Does search favor apps that are being updated constantly? Or is\nthere any reason not to eventually just stop working on the app?\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nIt wouldn't drop off. In fact there's many apps in the App Store that haven't\nbeen touched in years that continue to bring in money.\n\nMy thoughts are that I have so much to improve upon, and there's a lot of low\nhanging fruit left for me, so it's likely worth the additional investment.\n\nI compared investing more time/money in this niche, vs in other unvalidated\nideas I have and it made sense to stick with this for now.\n\n------\norangethirty\nReligious products are big sellers. Specially anything that has to do with the\nbible or prayers. I used to sell bibles as a teenager. Made more money than\ndrug dealers. It was funny. But then I went ad turned atheist. I could no\nlonger sell itwith a clean conscience.\n\n------\njordan_clark\nIs there a link to the app on the app store? Or did I miss it?\n\n------\ntrevmckendrick\nMy server is struggling, here's a cached version for the interested:\n\n[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.trevormckendrick.com/my-\nfirst-year-in-the-app-store/)\n\n------\nscottluptowski\nThis sounds very interesting and I'm looking forward to reading more.\n\nHow much time did you spend researching potential app categories?\n\nWas your category decision driven by any hard data, other than anecdotal\nknowledge that Spanish bibles were a category that was selling and had search\nvolume?\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nGreat question.\n\nNo hard data. I saw that Spanish Bibles were ranking in the Reference and Book\ncategories, like you said.\n\nAlso important (but not \"hard data\") is that when I searched \"la biblia\"\nrelatively few apps appeared in the search results compared to other search\nphrases.\n\n------\nfuddle\nGreat idea, did it cost much to record the Bible as an audiobook?\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nYes. The most expensive part of the app by far.\n\n~~~\njacalata\nSo the $73k is net revenue after Apple but before costs, correct?\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nThat is correct.\n\n------\nmansigandhi\ntrevmckendrick - good to see the app do well! If you remember I (Sleepyhead)\nhelped with the email forms. We pleasantly surprised to see the post here :)\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nHello! You guys did great work; those forms have done perfectly... over 30,000\nsignups so far.\n\nThanks for saying hi!\n\n------\nnicholassmith\nNice work for sure.\n\nOne thing that rang true, $73k isn't the sort of money that gets VCs going but\nthat's full time salary for a lot of people. Making money on the app store is\ndefinitely possible, but we're no longer seeing the half a million in sales in\none month figures we did at the start. Does that mean you can't make living\nfrom the App Store? No, it just means being realistic.\n\n------\nspeedyapoc\nVery surprised by that type of revenue. What kind of marketing did you put\ninto it?\n\nWithout marketing, my first app on the store went as follows:\n\n> The next morning (and literally every day since) I woke up and first thing\n> checked my email for that magical message from AppFigures. My total day one\n> net sales? $0.70. Admittedly not very much.\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nAs far as I know, all downloads are based on search.\n\n------\nronyeh\nCongrats on the success! Can you share a link to your app?\n\nAlso, do you think the only way to get discovered (for indie devs) is to pick\napp ideas that will match nicely to keywords that users search for? If you\ndon't have a marketing budget, is there any other way to get discovered?\n\n~~~\nmonkey_slap\nI'm going to be doing a similar writeup as my app launches in 2 weeks. I've\ngot a small budget. All the design+dev was me, but I'm spending about\n$300-$400 on marketing. We'll see how that goes.\n\nIf anything I believe you should be spending more on marketing nowadays.\nThere's no real way, at least to my knowledge, to search for a niche hole with\nkeywords. I do, however, like to think of an app idea and then spend an hour\nsearch various keywords and seeing the results/competition.\n<https://appstorerankings.net/> is a good website to find the keywords of an\napp. I combined common keywords in the app that I'm releasing with common\nkeywords that are missing among competitors that yield few results.\n\nAgain, I haven't launched this app (my 7th) yet, but I'll be doing some\nanalysis of its success using the marketing budget and keyword research.\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nI agree it's hard to do really detailed research similar to, say, the Google\nKeyword Tool. It's mostly a gut check. \"Does this have a lot of competition?\nDoes this keyword appear to get a lot of searches?\"\n\nWhat's your app name?\n\n~~~\nmonkey_slap\nPoetreat. Aiming for May 7. Week of polish then submission.\n<http://poetreatapp.com/>\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nNice landing page for sure. Maybe this is obvious, but they key is finding out\na solid upgrade that makes IAP's worth it to customers.\n\n~~~\nmonkey_slap\nAgreed. Doing a freemium model where you can save only save 1 poem. Unlocking\nadds theming, Facebook+Twitter connection, and unlimited poems. Worth $.99?\nThat's subjective, but this entire app is more of an experiment than a\nbusiness. Just going to iterate and improve on the next one.\n\n------\njacoblyles\nIs that a scroll bar down the right side? Seems poorly placed if you expect\npeople to touch on the right side to advance a page.\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nGreat point. The navigation between chapters is still being decided.\n\n------\nnathanbarry\nNicely done! I'd love to hear more about the marketing efforts that went into\npromoting the app.\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nThanks for the comment Nathan. Initially it was all via search.\n\nSince then I've started collecting email addresses the very 1st time the app\nlaunches. I'm up to over 30,000 emails now so every new product launch starts\nrelatively well.\n\n~~~\nnanijoe\nImpressive...How do you collect the email email addresses? Do you just ask\npeople for their addresses?\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nYep. When the app launches the very first time I ask for their 1st name and\nemail if they want to hear about deals/offers, new apps, etc.\n\nThey can cancel out easily and never see the form again. But when you have a\nfree app that quite a few people download, email addresses start accumulating\npretty quickly.\n\n~~~\nPaul_D_Santana\nI was under the impression that this was a paid app. How does it generate so\nmuch revenue while still being free?\n\nI signed up for future posts ( _extremely_ well-placed sign-up form by the\nway!), but I didn't see a description of in-app purchases or other revenue\nmodel as a topic for a future post, which is why I ask. I am also using\nAndroid.\n\nThank you for this post by the way. This is amazing and I'm excited to read\nyour future posts!\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nGreat questions. Revenue is where it's at!\n\nInitially it was just a paid download for the text of the Bible.\n\nWith more research in the App Store though I realized audio Bibles were\nselling much more than I was.\n\nSo I outsourced the audio (mentioned in the post I think) and now the model is\nthat users download the original app (with the text) for free, and then can\nbuy the audio as an IAP.\n\nThis works great on multiple fronts: I collect more email address, I rank\nbetter in search because I get more downloads, and the audio sells better as\nan IAP than as a stand alone app.\n\n~~~\nPaul_D_Santana\nWow, you are incredibly ingenious! Thank you for responding!\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\n:) You bet\n\n------\njebek\nI'm sure you'll make it clear in later posts, but are you a developer?\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nI'm not a dev or a designer. I'm tech savvy enough that I'm still the computer\nrepair guy for my entire extended family, but I'm def not fluent in Objective\nC.\n\n~~~\ntachion\nIf so, and only the later posts are about hiring, what, I assume, means you\nwere hiring only after you've found about initial success, how come the first\nversion ever came out?\n\nBeside that, great story, great spirit, congratulations, I admire everyone\nactually getting things done :)\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nI'm not sure I understand the question, but I think you're asking how I made\nthe app at all if I'm not a dev/designer?\n\nI outsourced 95% of it. I created the initial mockups by hand and did some of\nthe debugging, but the core app development was done by contractors. And yes,\nfor $500.\n\nThe point is it wasn't great, but it was good enough to test the market.\n\n------\nunreal37\nGreat first article in the series. Can't wait for the rest.\n\n------\nyoster\nNice! Even the most frugal of people will shell out some money when it comes\nto religion.\n\n~~~\ntrevmckendrick\nTrue about the copycats. Although there are a few things you have to do right\nin the app that most people don't know. Most versions of the Bible are\ncopyrights for example.\n\nAnd I also speak Spanish. I can't imagine doing this app in a different\nlanguage. The text has to be perfect and it's (obviously?) hard to tell what's\nwrong when you can't read it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBoeing unveils its brand new 777X airplane - wtf42\nhttps://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/boeing-777x-what-you-need-to-know/\n======\nperilunar\nThere's a tradeoff between passengers and fuel - the quoted range with a\nstandard passenger load is not the maximum range.\n\nE.g. the 777-8 has a range of 16,090 km (8690 nmi) with 365 passengers, but\nthe business jet variant (BBJ 777-8) has a range of 21,570 km (11,645 nmi).\n\nWe are so close to airliners that can fly non-stop between any two major\ncities on Earth. Not sure I'd want to do 20+ hour flights, but amazing that we\nwill be able to soon.\n\n------\ndzhiurgis\n> A second, no-less-impressive but smaller model will follow. The 777-8 <..>\n> Covering 8,700 nautical miles, <..>, the plane is Boeing's challenger to the\n> Airbus A350ULR's crown as the world's longest-range airplane.\n\nIIRC A350ULR can get you all the way from Auckland to Istanbul, Warsaw or even\nCopenhagen. 777-8's 8700nm gets you to Moscow at most - none of the European\nflight hubs (that I know of).\n\n------\nilaksh\nDoes it run on Ada?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIran Not Cutting Off Internet Access, Bullet not Dodged - 3lit3H4ck3r\nhttp://pandodaily.com/2012/04/10/iran-not-cutting-off-internet-access-bullet-not-dodged/\n======\n3lit3H4ck3r\nClarification:\n\n _Which is why this report from the International Business Times is\ndistressing. Much like Mike Daisey’s false reports from Foxconn, the reports\nhave told half-truths, and once discovered, mislead the public into believing\nthat there is no problem. This is only compounded when other outlets (like\nPandoDaily did) repeat the news. There is a problem, but it hasn’t fully\ndeveloped yet._\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nDesign Trend: Long Shadows (Flat) - Examples - SmeelBe\nhttp://designmodo.com/long-shadows-design/\nA new trend is making its way through cyberspace – long shadow design. The concept, which borrows themes from flat design, is popping up in a big way in recent weeks.\n======\nBradnerby\nWhile flat design done right is good design, especially on the web, I find\nclients immediately think the work looks \"cheap,\" \"unfinished,\" and \"missing\nlife.\" Seems like many clients still want wood grain and candy buttons. I like\nthis shadow effect, it adds a little more to the design so, perhaps, clients\nmay feel like they are getting more for their dollar if they get those drop\nshadows that \"pop.\" Wow I sound jaded right now. But I'm not :)\n\nI believe flat design is a solid trend (any design trend with roots in Swiss\ndesign are good, especially when organizing content), however these shadow\neffects are more of a fad that should be used sparingly.\n\n~~~\nSmeelBe\nCompletely agree with you there. I think in the right place it can give a\ndifferent perspective. One of the above graphics looks like you're looking\ndown onto a monument so to that degree it could be used but I know I wouldn't\neven get away with 'flat design' with most of my clients as they would say a\n5-year-old had done it and it wasn't worth the price tag.\n\nAs with most things design it's about getting the appropriateness of technique\nto task.\n\n------\nejfox\nThis is not so much as a design trend as a designer's in-joke that is getting\nmore attention than it deserves. While more dimensionality vs. texture and\ngradients for depth is definitely where things are going and this is part of\nit, it's like saying coughs are the new trend while there's a flu epidemic. If\nyou're stuck emulating little techniques like this to stay current you're\ndoing it wrong.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Are you looking for a founder? - hajrice\n\nIf you're looking for a founder please post the description the role! :D<p>I'm interested to join a startup.\n======\nbgnm2000\nWhat are your skills?\n\ndeveloper/designer/other\n\n~~~\nhajrice\nDeveloper and designer AND business guy, and very efficiently. Experiance in\nUI design(I make people say DAMN! when they see my design),\ncoding(PHP(CodeIgniter and Kohana framework), MySQL, jQuery, ...) along with\ngood marketing(just call me Seth Godins son, for now) and good team management\nskills.\n\nAfter all being an entrepreneur is all about using the tools you have and\nmaking a good opportunity out of them, right? :)\n\n------\np01nd3xt3r\ndo you code or play more of a business role?\n\n~~~\nhajrice\nBoth, and very efficiently. Experiance in UI design(I make people say DAMN!\nwhen they see my design), coding(PHP(CodeIgniter and Kohana framework), MySQL,\njQuery, ...) along with good marketing(just call me Seth Godins son, for now)\nand good team management skills.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLoudness Penalty: Find out if audio will be turned down by streaming services - zdw\nhttp://www.loudnesspenalty.com\n======\njanwh\nInteresting idea, but personally I like the Dynamic Range (DR) measurement\ndeveloped by the Pleasurize Music Foundation more. It also provides a one-\nvalue output that has a direct relation to the statistics of the input audio,\nand AFAIK it is a somewhat established measurand in audio engineering.\n\nSelf-plug: A while back I reverse-engineered the DR algorithm and implemented\nit as a Python script. It's [DRmeter on\nGitHub]([https://github.com/janw/drmeter](https://github.com/janw/drmeter)).\n\n~~~\nkstenerud\nIs that similar to what replaygain uses for adjusting loudness?\n\n~~~\njanwh\nTIL of ReplayGain, thanks!\n\nFrom what I quickly gathered from the specs^1, Replay Gain (RG) and Dymanic\nRange (DR) are indeed similar in the grand scheme of things. Both algorithms\nemploy percentile-based statistic of RMS values. While RG is determined by the\n95% percentile of RMS values on 50ms audio frames, DR uses the 80% percentile\non 3-second-long audio frame RMS values. So RG is definitely on the side of\nshort-term analysis, while DR is long-term.\n\nWhat differentiates RG more plainly though is its stronger psycho-acoustical\nfoundation in regards to frequency response: It applies a so-called \"Loudness\nfilter\" (modelled after the Equal-Loudness contour^2 found in human hearing)\nbefore doing the RMS statistics. The Equal-Loudness contour (also known as\n\"Isophone\" where I come from) is in turn modelled after non-linear response of\nthe ear to sound pressure levels in relation to the frequency. It basically\nadjusts for what in layman's terms I'd call \"Importance\" of the different\nranges.\n\nTherefore I'd say RG is very much focused on what human hearing will\n_perceive_ as loud (too loud, or just loud enough), while DR focuses on\n\"exposing offenders in all ranges of the spectrum\". My educated guess would\nbe: Loud bassy sounds would not harm an RG score, while having a significant\nimpact on the DR, as its not attenuating low frequencies.\n\nWould be interesting to see a comparison of the two!\n\n[1]:\n[http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=ReplayGain_specif...](http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=ReplayGain_specification)\n\n[2]: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-\nloudness_contour](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour)\n\n------\nhamburglar\nIronic that Spotify will apparently penalize the music for being \"too loud\"\nwhen their ads are regularly ear-splittingly loud. It's egregious. When\nlistening with earbuds, I have to have a quick reaction on the volume control\nbecause the commercials literally hurt my ears.\n\n~~~\nsaltypal\nHave you considered that this may be by design? Have you considered paying for\nthe service?\n\n~~~\nhamburglar\nOf course it's by design. And sure, I've considered paying for it, but I\ndon't. Does that mean my complaints about the free service are somehow\ninvalid? I'm still a customer, just a different kind of customer, and if they\nmake the experience bad enough for me that I avoid it in some circumstances,\nthat's relevant to their interests. If they didn't want free-tier customers,\nthey wouldn't be offering the free-tier service.\n\n~~~\nggg9990\nThe free tier is to get paid users. If you have no chance of being paid,\nSpotify hardly cares whether you stay or go.\n\n~~~\nQasimK\nI’m sure Spotify would rather everyone that isn’t going to pay use their free\nproduct than move to competitor X.\n\n~~~\nviraptor\nPros: they potentially play the Spotify ad to their friends, effectively\nadvertising the service.\n\nCons: each playback means bandwidth + royalties cost.\n\nSo the question is, does the probability times the return from their friends\nbring more money than the free playbacks? I'd really like to know the answer.\n\n------\np1mrx\nIt's hard to trust a service like this without some information on where they\npull the numbers from. How did they determine which normalization algorithm\neach service uses?\n\nThe \"give us your email address for more information\" part also seems slimy.\n\n~~~\nikerr\nTIDAL has openly said that they are using -14 LUFS for normalization while\nSpotify has said they are using ReplayGain. The other platforms required more\ninvestigation, and we're continuing to refine the estimates, but we feel that\nwe've gotten pretty close.\n\n------\nrcthompson\nI'm confused about why this website is using the word \"penalty\" to describe\nthe process of normalizing songs to have the same loudness.\n\n~~~\njtbayly\nFrom the email they sent when I put in a sample song and asked for the more\ndetailed analysis:\n\n\"Since streaming services are going to turn loud music down anyway, more and\nmore people are deciding they would prefer to take control of this process\nthemselves, and optimize their music for the best possible results.\"\n\nand\n\n\"We recommend avoiding very large negative LP values, especially on YouTube\nbecause songs like this often sound “smaller” than those with LP scores closer\nto zero.\n\nHear it for yourself For example, compare the loud sections of these two\nMetallica songs on YouTube - The Day That Never Comes (LP -5.8)[1] and\nHardwired (LP -2.4)[2]. Which has more impact?\n\nLoudness normalization means you have the opportunity to make your music sound\nbetter, too. In our experience, LP between 0 and -2 on YouTube will work well\nfor even the loudest genres. For example, Drake’s recent hit God’s Plan has a\nscore of LP -0.8 on YouTube, and it sounds huge.\"\n\n[1]: [https://youtu.be/dkNfNR1WYMY](https://youtu.be/dkNfNR1WYMY) [2]:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhBHL3v4d3I&feature=youtu.be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhBHL3v4d3I&feature=youtu.be)\n[3]:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpVfcZ0ZcFM&feature=youtu.be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpVfcZ0ZcFM&feature=youtu.be)\n\n~~~\noldcynic\nIronic you pick on Metallica as example as they basically \"won\" the loudness\nwars[0] with the release of Death Magnetic. So ridiculously overblown and\ncompressed that it was clipping constantly and heavily featured in mainstream\nmedia. Even one of the album's mastering engineers complained.\n\nLars thought it was great.\n\n[0] [http://recordinghacks.com/2008/12/20/metallica-wins-the-\nloud...](http://recordinghacks.com/2008/12/20/metallica-wins-the-loudness-\nwars/)\n\n~~~\njtbayly\nJust to be clear, it is the site authors who wrote that about the two\nMetallica songs, not me.\n\n------\nacd\nFor background there was a loudness war/race as has been an increasing\ntendency to increase loudness of music songs and by so removing dynamic range.\n\nBackground article on Loudness Race\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war)\n\n------\nstephengillie\nWasn't YouTube supposed to do this a few years ago?[0] Yet some videos at full\nvolume are still quieter than other videos at 10% volume. Does it not work?\n\n[0][http://productionadvice.co.uk/youtube-\nloudness/](http://productionadvice.co.uk/youtube-loudness/)\n\n~~~\nnkozyra\nThis is about automatic volume reduction, not normalization. In other words,\nYouTube isn't going to adjust your volume up, only down if it's too loud (or\nsaturated?)\n\n------\namelius\nWhy do audio formats use a linear scale, instead of exponential (like our ears\nseems to use)?\n\n~~~\njtbayly\nI'm not sure what you are referring to with audio \"formats,\" but audio\n_programs_ work in dB, which is logarithmic.\n\n~~~\nwl\nAudio is commonly represented in a format called pulse code modulation (PCM),\nwhere the amplitude of the sound is recorded using an integer or a floating\npoint number (a \"sample\") anywhere from 12,000 to 192,000 times a second. Each\nsample is usually linearly proportional to amplitude rather than\nlogarithmically.\n\nI am unaware of any audio program which internally represents audio in dB.\nWaveform displays default to linear scales, though logarithmic scaling is\nusually available. Just about the only place where logarithmic scales are the\ndefault is frequency domain graphical representations like spectrograms.\n\n~~~\nnamibj\nActually 32bit float is such a logarithmic format.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHow Well Can You Hear Audio Quality? - omnibrain\nhttp://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/06/02/411473508/how-well-can-you-hear-audio-quality\n\n======\ndanieltillett\nInteresting. I picked the 320 Kbps mp3 for each of the samples. There really\nis not much difference with wav at this bit level. I would have like to see\nsome examples at 160 or 192.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHardware Hacking: Tim O'Reily on Hardware Innovation - njyx\nhttp://www.slideshare.net/timoreilly/hardware-innovation-pdf-with-notes\n\n======\nnjyx\nI like the \"create more value than you capture\" - I wonder how many companies\ngenuinely think like that though. Wonder if Apple genuinely thinks about it\nlike that.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nTheo de Raadt: \"[heartbleed] does not affect SSH at all\" - chrissnell\nhttp://undeadly.org/cgi?action=article&sid=20140408063423\n\n======\nbostik\nWell, duh.\n\nOpenSSH links to OpenSSL libraries, but only for the cryptographic primitives.\nSSH is a different protocol. It doesn't need TLS for anything.\n\nIt's also a simpler protocol, with less baggage and interoperability\nrequirements.\n\n~~~\nwebmaven\nHuh. That suggests a strategy for a viable OpenSSL replacement: create a new\nprotocol implementation that also links to the OpenSSL libraries only for the\ncryptographic primitives.\n\n~~~\nbostik\nAs someone who has actually had no choice but to write code that uses OpenSSL\nlibraries: if you're going to reimplement a proper TLS stack, you might as\nwell actually spend time to design the API properly. (And use some less insane\ncrypto library instead.)\n\nOpenSSL is used because it has a lot of inertia, and because it still has had\n_a lot_ of testing. Any new library would need to have an imperial buttload of\nextremely aggressive tests with near-complete coverage from the start to be\neven considered an option. Even then the uphill battle to unseat OpenSSL will\nbe long and arduous. Being simply superior and easier to use is not enough.\nYou have to convince an industry, worth tens or hundreds of billions, to\nactually see big enough a benefit to even consider your implementation as a\nviable option.\n\nSo in addition to economical realities you would still have a massive hurdle\nahead: getting crypto right is hard. Really, _really_ hard.\n\nSure enough, there are alternatives to OpenSSL. But unfortunately it's like\nhaving to choose between varieties of cancer or STD's. You don't like the any\nof the choices, and in fact, you would prefer not to be in a position to have\nto make the choice in the first place.\n\n~~~\nwebmaven\nHow many Metric Buttloads in an Imperial Buttload?\n\n~~~\nbostik\nRoughly 1/e * pi.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: Live editing for native iOS and Android - peternash\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpILSWEzrvU\n\n======\nalexjarvis\nThis is awesome, especially like the part around 48 seconds after changing\nsomething -\"You'll notice this happens... IMMEDIATELY\"\n\n------\nstefanha\nLooks useful for development. Does live editing also work with Xcode?\n\n------\nnoin\nLive editing sounds brilliant. Would love to try this.\n\n------\nlelton\nthats cool! you can do styling on native app with CSS.. :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nTechnology Going Downhill - timf\nhttp://www.highway12ventures.com/2009/07/10/technology-going-downhill/\n\n======\nHoneyAndSilicon\n\"some interesting banter about how we (a VC firm) spent our weekends.\" ?¿?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nPython Fire: a library for automatically generating command line interfaces - nafizh\nhttps://opensource.googleblog.com/2017/03/python-fire-command-line.html?m=1\n======\nGroxx\nConvenient. I especially like that it has a completion-helper.\n\nThe docs seem to go to great lengths to _not_ state this clearly, but it works\nfine on bare functions too:\n\n    \n    \n      example.py:\n        import fire\n    \n        def test(a=\"yes\"):\n          print \"a: \" + a\n    \n        fire.Fire(test)\n    \n      cli:\n        $ python example.py\n        a: yes\n        $ python example.py no\n        a: no\n        $ python example.py --a maybe\n        a: maybe\n\n------\nwink\nI wonder whose problems this solves.\n\nI have a handful of scripts with miniscule CLI handling (usually len(sys.argv)\nis enough) - so it's 3 loc instead of 5?\n\nThen I have a moderate amount of scripts where using click or optparse makes\nsense. Just looked up one tool, there's exactly 12 lines (including import,\nignoring linebreaks) to handle 6 different CLI args. I could use fire. Less\ncode, more \"magic\", less self-documenting excplicit code\n\nThen there's this application with 15 @click.option() lines (don't ask, ran\nout of sensible single-char argument shorthands). Yes, it has an ugly main()\nwith 15 keyword arguments, but I'd also have that with fire I guess. but here\nat least it's explicit again.\n\nTLDR: Sounds absolutely nice on first skim, but I don't see why I would ever\nuse this. Have I been writing so many CLI apps in python already that I\nexhibit stockholm syndrome towards click AND optparse? :)\n\n~~~\nBerislavLopac\nI've lately come to know and respect argparse. Click is nice and great, but\ncan present an unnecessary burden if your script uses (intentionally or not)\nno other dependencies outside the standard library. And optparse is deprecated\nin Python 3.\n\n~~~\nwink\nOh yes, I'm strictly a Python 2 user (I know, I know).\n\n------\njsmeaton\nSome libraries just seem obvious in retrospect. This looks very cool. I've had\na lot of success using click for command line programs in the past. Fire looks\nlike it'd replace click for the majority of simple cli programs I write.\n\n------\nrajathagasthya\nLooks pretty good. But if you're going to open source it, you might as well\nmake it a proper Python project and conform to style guides (Google's own for\none). This one has all the tests in the same directory as other files instead\nof a 'tests' directory, it's missing requirements.txt and method names start\nwith upper case.\n\n------\nscrollaway\nLooks great! Very intuitive. This is something I could actually see myself\nusing instead of argparse; and being able to generate a CLI from a third party\nobject is amazing!\n\n------\nempath75\nLooks fantastic. Argparse isn't hard to use, but it's a lot of boilerplate.\nI'll be happy not to have to deal with it again.\n\n~~~\nBrandoElFollito\nYou may want to give a try to docopt\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Evolution of JavaScript Modularity - myshov\nhttps://github.com/myshov/history_of_javascript/tree/master/4_evolution_of_js_modularity\n======\nmyshov\nHi, everyone!\n\nI want to share with all of you my article about modularity in JavaScript. I\nknow that there are a lot of other articles about the same theme, so I took a\ndifferent approach. instead of simple repetition what has been already said in\nthe other articles about AMD, CommonJS, UMD, ES2015 Modules, you will learn a\nlot of other approaches for the modularity. Also you will find a lot\ninformation about the history of emerging these technologies and you will\nlearn about the people who stood behind of them.\n\nI wanted to write this article as comprehensive as possible. It may sound\nridiculous but I was working on this project in course of more than a half of\nyear in my spare time. So I hope you will probably learn something new, even\nif you are already seasoned JavaScript developer.\n\nEnjoy!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nCanadian judge: No warrant needed to see ISP logs - rewind\nhttp://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/02/canadian-judge-no-expectation-of-privacy-in-online-tasks.ars\n\n======\ncperciva\nJust to clarify: The judge rule that ISPs are not _required_ to demand a\nwarrant. Police can't walk into an ISP's head office and demand log files --\nbut they can ask politely and the ISP can choose to cooperate (or, of course,\nthey can choose not to cooperate).\n\nThis is, of course, different from the situation with wiretaps, where it is\nillegal for a phone company to allow police to install a wiretap if the police\ndon't have a warrant.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBand-e Kaisar – “Caesar's dam”‎‎ - benbreen\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Band-e_Kaisar\n======\nbenbreen\nPosted this because I found it fascinating that a Roman-built bridge and dam\nwas being used as far east as Iran and for as long as the late 19th century.\nBut on top of the that, the possibility that it was built by Roman soldiers\n_under the command of the captured emperor Valerian_ is what really amazed me.\nValerian has gone down in history as the only Roman emperor to be captured in\nbattle [1] but I didn't realize that his soldiers basically became a civil\nengineering corps for the Persian empire.\n\n[1] From Wikipedia: \"Eutropius, writing between 364–378 AD, stated that\nValerianus 'was overthrown by Shapur king of Persia, and being soon after made\nprisoner, grew old in ignominious slavery among the Parthians.' An early\nChristian source, Lactantius, thought to be virulently anti-Persian, thanks to\nthe occasional persecution of Christians by some Sassanian monarchs,\nmaintained that for some time prior to his death Valerian was subjected to the\ngreatest insults by his captors, such as being used as a human footstool by\nShapur when mounting his horse.\"\n\n~~~\nSixSigma\nThat's interesting. It seems too coincidental that Fallout: New Vegas has\nCaesar's Legion fighting over a dam and a character called Valerian.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTesla Model X autonomously crashes into building, owner claims - Foggydog\nhttp://www.computerworld.com/article/3079807/car-tech/tesla-model-x-autonomously-crashes-into-building-owner-claims.html\n======\nMatt3o12_\nI'm very skeptical about it. A lot of accidents happen when people confuse the\nbrakes and acceleration paddle. Furthermore, the person who had the accident\nclaimed the break was unresponsive. This could further mean she confused the\npaddles and instead of breaking, she accelerated even more.\n\nI'm happy to hear, though, that the person was not heavily injured (she had\nburns on her arms but I don't think they are of the second or third degree\nbecause she would have mentioned that). Those accidents can be quite dangerous\n(especially in fast cars like the tesla).\n\nI'm looking forward for the black box reporting\n\n~~~\nzerooneinfinity\nWhere did you get your information on the danger of a crash with a tesla vs a\nregular car? They surpassed every car in collisions tests and the concerns\nabout the battery going up in flames have been fixed since the car was\nestablished.\n\n~~~\nMatt3o12_\n> Where did you get your information on the danger of a crash with a tesla vs\n> a regular car? They surpassed every car in collisions tests and the concerns\n> about the battery going up in flames have been fixed since the car was\n> established.\n\nI'm not saying that tesla is not safe, in fact I'm saying quite the opposite.\nTesla is a fast car and if not properly handled, all fast cars are dangerous.\nSince the 75D's aren't delivered yet, I'd expect it to be a 90D or P90D. The\ngo from 0 to 60 in 4.8 seconds. I believe they are fast then any other SUV out\nthere (except prototypes, maybe), when in ludicrous mode.\n\nSo, I'd expect that this tesla did not crash with 10mph into the wall. I'd\nexpect a Porshe with similar acceleration to have much more serve damages to\nthe driver. This, once again, shows how safe a tesla is.\n\n~~~\nzerooneinfinity\nmy bad!\n\n------\nDigitalJack\nThat is some terrible reporting. Who knows what will come of this accident,\nbut the one referenced where the guy claims the car ran into a trailer on it's\nown was pretty well refuted by Tesla's black-box style monitoring.\n\nIt raises the question of how to prove the trustworthiness of the event\nrecording. I suppose an audit of their recording mechanisms could be enough,\nbut it would be nice if the permanent recorder was made by a third party.\n\n~~~\ngist\nCrazy idea but what about a camera placed in a way that Tesla would capture\nfootage of the brake and accelerator. Store up to X minutes/hours of that\nwould come in helpful when combined with the other data they collect.\n\n~~~\nSir_Substance\nSounds like an unnecessarily complex alternative to just logging the pedal\nstate the same as you would a keypress.\n\n~~~\ni_are_smart\nThe problem with just logging like that is in the reliability of the logs -\nwhat if there's a defect in the position sensor? The pedal (and thus the logs)\nmay report throttle at 100% and breaks at 0% even if it was the other way\naround.\n\n------\ndrawkbox\nNew car, 5 days old, seems from the onset that it is driver error as someone\nwas in the vehicle behind the wheel. New vehicles are a major change to\nroutine. Speculation... the data might reveal that the wife lied to cover\ncrashing a 5 day old car.\n\n~~~\narcticfox\nThis story will certainly be more interesting once Tesla publishes the data\nfrom their side.\n\n~~~\ndragontamer\nThe story is already interesting because Tesla does this, and no other car\ncompany seems to.\n\nTesla monitors your driving behavior so that they can save face and blame the\ndriver if things go bad. I don't know of any other car company that does this.\n\nThose monitors are installed to protect the company image, not you.\n\nIts like you're buying a $100,000 piece of spyware. The car isn't your\npossession. Its sensor data belongs to Tesla the company, and not you. Despite\nyour purchase of the vehicle. And that's assuming that Tesla's secret black-\nbox technology is actually legitimate, and that they're not making stuff up /\nhiding the truth from us.\n\n~~~\nhardwaresofton\nThis is true, and while I do despise the invasion of privacy, and everything\nthat comes with owning a $100,000 piece of spyware, I do appreciate that\nbarring conspiracy and a flagrant disregard for the law someone somewhere has\nsome sort of technical data unlikely to be vulnerable to human\nmemory/eyewitness accounts related to the crash.\n\nTesla has also convinced me that it is the type of company whose employees\nthat would not seek to hide something data it correctly clearly supported.\nThat's a completely unverifiable (and most likely incorrect) assertion on my\npart, and of course a result of brand-cultivation on theirs, but still some\ncompanies just can't claim that at all, and I think Tesla has a leg to stand\non still.\n\n~~~\ndragontamer\n> someone somewhere has some sort of technical data unlikely to be vulnerable\n> to human memory/eyewitness accounts related to the crash.\n\nI can agree with this. Having this information recorded should be a standard\nfeature for cars of this price-range.\n\nHowever, the information should be in the customer's control (which should\nalso be fairly passed onto Tesla through a subpoena if necessary).\n\nIts a basic tenant of \"ownership\". If you don't have primary control of the\ndata, you really don't own it.\n\n------\ntener\nThere are plenty of vidoes on YouTube of cars \"suddenly accelerating to\nmaximum speed, jumping a curb and slamming into things\". They all do it\naccidently. People will blame others for their errors. Bad journalists will\npick up the shit for page views.\n\n------\npalakchokshi\nTesla is famous for publishing the logs. The owner should be aware of this\nbefore making claims. It would have been prudent to keep this quiet till Tesla\nhad a chance to respond. Now if the logs prove it was driver error Tesla will\npublish the logs and all this outrage would be over nothing. On the other hand\nif this was an error in Tesla's system it is in Tesla's best interest to be\ntransparent and publish the logs and an explanation on how it intends to fix\nthis.\n\nEither way a public outrage was not required unless the owner wanted to ensure\nhe got a new car even if it was the driver's fault. By claiming \"\"I don't'\nknow if they're going to acknowledge if it was their fault,\" Puzant said.\",\nthe owner wanted to cast doubt on Tesla's integrity and also give himself an\n\"out\" if Tesla determined it was driver's fault.\n\n~~~\ngist\nI would suspect that if Tesla has a rock solid way to determine it was the\ndrivers fault they will fight that till the ends of the earth. (Of course the\nsame could happen even if not the case but that would be a conspiracy and\nprobably less likely for practical reasons).\n\n~~~\npalakchokshi\nConsidering that the owner's wife said that she tried the brakes but they\nweren't working I am pretty sure there will be brake usage logs coupled with\nassociated acceleration/deceleration data. That should tell us if the brakes\nwere applied and if they were working. The acceleration logs will also show if\nthe acceleration pedal was engaged at the time or not. I am assuming that an\nauto acceleration log is different from a hardware pedal usage log. If not we\ncan't determine if the acceleration was due to software or hardware.\n\n~~~\ngist\nSure but by the same token in theory if a brake was applied it should work and\nin this case the car owner is saying it didn't work (hence my video footage\ncomment elsewhere).\n\n~~~\ngreglindahl\nGiven that this type of accident happens all the time in all types of cars,\nwhy is it that the car owner's memory is preferred to a sensor? Because you're\nbasically saying that ALL cars have the same flaw. It's a lot more likely that\nhumans are fallible.\n\n------\ndeegles\nTesla is quick to publish data that shows driver error, I wonder if they will\nbe as quick to do so if it actually is a software issue. My guess however is\nthat any refusal to publish the black box data will be taken as an admission\nof guilt.\n\nI get the impression that the media is just itching for an actual software\nerror so they can start a FUD firestorm about SDCs.\n\n~~~\nambulancechaser\nI don't think they quickly publish data to show data error, but just to refute\nclaims that their product is deficient or dangerous. This might be what you\nmean but they aren't looking to disparage customers but just to maintain the\nintegrity of their brand to false claims.\n\n------\nprudenthints\n> It's not like she's a 90-year-old person who's going to press the gas pedal\n> instead of the brake\n\nWhile there is a correlation between age and difficulty driving, I don't know\nhow this is a valid defense. In moments of stress and danger we're all prone\nto making mistakes.\n\n> It's a mile and half away from our house\n\nMany accidents happen close to home due to your perceived feeling of knowledge\nand safety in the environment.\n\n------\nhardwaresofton\nLooks like an answer is already out:\n\n[http://electrek.co/2016/06/06/tesla-model-x-crash-not-at-\nfau...](http://electrek.co/2016/06/06/tesla-model-x-crash-not-at-fault/)\n\nNo idea about that source but supposedly tesla has made a statement. Similar\nstatement also at this site:\n\n[http://www.teslarati.com/tesla-model-x-crash-result-human-\ner...](http://www.teslarati.com/tesla-model-x-crash-result-human-error/)\n\n------\nMatt3o12_\nTurns out my skepticism was right after all, the driver did hit the wrong\npaddle: [http://electrek.co/2016/06/06/tesla-model-x-crash-not-at-\nfau...](http://electrek.co/2016/06/06/tesla-model-x-crash-not-at-fault/)\n\nDiscussion:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11851817](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11851817)\n\n------\nwhamlastxmas\nThe state of journalism today is pathetic. Some random person claims something\nthat is extremely unlikely and it gets run as a story. No verification of\nevents or even a comment from Tesla. They likely published intentionally\nbefore Tesla's comment because they knew it would be \"Our logs show the driver\ndid something incredibly stupid and it had nothing to do with auto-pilot\" and\nthis would become a non-story. Instead we have this clickbait bullshit that\nunjustly harms Tesla's reputation.\n\n------\nRadle\n\"He said his wife had not activated any self-driving features at the time of\nthe crash.\"\n\nHe said it himself, the electronics were off, his wive fucked up.\n\n~~~\nNadya\nThey are claiming that the features were off - but malfunctioned and 'worked'\nanyway. (eg: a mishap by Tesla)\n\nAs with most others here, I believe it was user error. These sort of accidents\nhappen - it's just \"unique\" this time since they are claiming it was Tesla's\nfault.\n\n------\nhashkb\nIf we don't develop due process for machines, they're going to be the\nscapegoat for everything.\n\n...and I'm going to get away with murder.\n\n------\nhartator\nThe model X seems to attract a lot of issues. Too bad it also tarnish the\nreputation of the model S.\n\n------\npj_mukh\nThis is a very bold effort on Tesla's part. Fast deployments of autonomy code\nhas never been tried before. There will inevitably be some casualties (even\nsome deaths) in this process, but no other process can guarantee otherwise.\nThe long term impact on public health is HUGE [1]. Some company just has to\nfigure out how to weather the storm of (possibly irrational) criticism from\nthe first such casualty. The company that can parse through this process and\nupdate their methods first will win.\n\n[1] [http://www.sciencealert.com/driverless-cars-could-reduce-\ntra...](http://www.sciencealert.com/driverless-cars-could-reduce-traffic-\nfatalities-by-up-to-90-says-report)\n\n------\ndragontamer\nUnlike the previous accident, which the Tesla S literally doesn't have the\nsensors to see the above-ground trailer... this Model X crashed into the side\nof a building. I'd like to assume that the below-chassis sensors would have\nbeen able to pick that up.\n\nI'm more concerned about edge-cases like the Tesla S autonomous crash rather\nthan cases like this one. My current assumption (pending evidence: we don't\nhave any yet so we can only assume) is that the driver is the blame in this\nspecific case.\n\nWe'll see when more data comes in.\n\n\\----------\n\nUnfortunately, I don't think it is moral for a car company to install sensors\nand use sensor data against the car's owner.\n\nIf I buy the car, then the whole car is allegedly mine: including these\nsensors that only Tesla can tap into. The fact that I don't have access to all\nthe sensor data means that Tesla's definition of \"ownership\" is rather\nconvoluted compared to a normal car.\n\n~~~\ndgacmu\nSure it's moral - in fact, it's great. The question of morality only arises if\nthere's asymmetric access to the data. In the event of a claim being made by\nthe driver against the company, _both_ sides should have complete access to\nthe logs data to make their case more firmly. What shouldn't happen is ONLY\none party being able to inspect the data.\n\nBut this is unlikely to happen in practice. A lawyer for the driver would\nundoubtedly subpoena Tesla for access to the data. And a reasonable judge\nwould probably concur. IANAL and IANAJ, so the latter is a guess. :)\n\n~~~\ndragontamer\n> But this is unlikely to happen in practice. A lawyer for the driver would\n> undoubtedly subpoena Tesla for access to the data. And a reasonable judge\n> would probably concur. IANAL and IANAJ, so the latter is a guess. :)\n\nSo what's the process here? You're going to start suing Tesla so that you hope\nyou can officially subpeona them of the data you don't have access to?\n\nIts asymmetric no matter what. The role of these logs should be reversed: the\ndriver ought to have first-dibs at the logs to determine if he has a\nlegitimate case to bring forth against Tesla.\n\nThen Tesla should subpeona the data once they start getting sued. In any case,\nTesla holding the data so that they have the information-advantage against\ntheir own customers is a bit fishy.\n\n~~~\ndgacmu\nYes, that's exactly what you do when you sue anyone and you believe they have\ndata relevant to the case. It's called discovery. First you have to have a\nreasonable basis for doing so, and a claim that their car auto-drove into the\nwall is such a basis.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nModern and Cross Platform Stack for WebRTC - todsac\nhttps://github.com/pion\n======\ngfodor\nWhenever these threads pop up I always ask: is there an erlang/elixir\nimplementation anyone knows about? I check every couple of months and come up\nempty (there is one closed source one.) Being able to speak WebRTC natively to\na Elixir/Phoenix cluster would be a pretty killer app, but the hurdle to get\nthere is quite high.\n\n~~~\ntoast0\nIn terms of communications between client and server, I'm not sure what you\nget with WebRTC that you don't get with websockets? What's your intended\napplication?\n\n~~~\nlux\nFor game-related use cases, we need to be able to specify which data is\nreliable and which isn't. Websockets use TCP which doesn't give you that\ncontrol.\n\n~~~\ngfodor\nYep, also I’d like to be able to transfer voice/video through the erlang\ncluster\n\n------\nvasilakisfil\nInteresting! Personally I am looking forward to a Rust implementation.\n\n~~~\nlittlestymaar\nI also would like to have a WebRTC lib usable from Rust, but it doesn't\nnecessarily need to be written in Rust itself. This one being in Go means it's\nprobably hard/inefficient to write binding for it, but maybe this one (in C)\ncould do the job :\n[https://github.com/rawrtc/rawrtc](https://github.com/rawrtc/rawrtc)\n\n------\nvalera_rozuvan\nSome signaling strategies for WebRTC:\n\n\\- WebSockets\n\n\\- XHR and other Comet options\n\n\\- SIP over WebSockets\n\n\\- XMPP/Jingle\n\n\\- WebRTC's Data Channel\n\nObviously, one would want the data channel (last option). There's some work\ndone in this area. However, it's still not full featured.\n\n~~~\nvalera_rozuvan\nFor anyone curious, there is a great article [1].\n\nWebRTC enables peer to peer communication.\n\nBUT...\n\nWebRTC still needs servers:\n\nFor clients to exchange metadata to coordinate communication: this is called\nsignaling. To cope with network address translators (NATs) and firewalls.\n\n\\-------------\n\n[1]\n[https://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/webrtc/infrastructur...](https://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/webrtc/infrastructure)\n\n~~~\nk__\nYou need a signaling channel to your peer. This doesn't have to be a server,\nbut it makes things simpler.\n\n~~~\nChristianBundy\nMy preference is IPoAC.\n\n~~~\nRcrdBrt\nI think that adds up some latency\n\n------\ndbrgn\nHow's the native Android / iOS integration story for Pion? Are there any Java\n/ Kotlin / Swift bindings around?\n\n~~~\ndep_b\nI have the same question. If it doesn't work on iOS it's not a cross platform\nstack. iOS is the third most popular operating system in the world after\nAndroid and Windows.\n\n------\nmikerg87\nLooks cool. Does it have the capability to do SFU or is there planned work to\ninclude that capability ?\n\n~~~\nzazerr\nThey have this SFU example but I didn't look at it closely yet:\n[https://github.com/pion/example-webrtc-\napplications/tree/mas...](https://github.com/pion/example-webrtc-\napplications/tree/master/sfu-ws)\n\n------\ndintech\nI'd like to stream high-quality, low-latency audio from a C++ app alongside\nwebcam/mic from chrome/firefox. The receiver should get video and a mixed\nblended audio. Maybe even screenshare and mouse/keyboard control. Is this\npossible?\n\n~~~\nexpialidocious\nYes. Maybe look at Gstreamer.\n\n------\nfouc\nHas anyone noticed \"Modern and Cross Platform\" usually means Golang?\n\n~~~\nrapsey\nThis industry is insanely fad driven. Every aspect of it. Terminology, tech\nstacks and methodologies are all one fad after another.\n\n~~~\npaulgb\nGo is over a decade old, not counting a couple of years of development in\nprivate. I'm not the biggest fan of the language but it's hard to think of it\nas a fad.\n\n~~~\njonex\nFad or not, in terms of programming languages, ten years isn't such a long\ntime. It typically takes a few years just to reach the eco system maturity and\ncommunity size needed to become a popular language. Rust is also ca. ten years\nold and I'd argue that it still haven't reached its full potential.\n\n------\nxg15\n> _Ship to Mobile, Desktop, Servers and WASM all with one code base._\n\nDumb question: what would a WASM implementation be useful for? Browsers don't\nexpose \"raw\" TCP or UDP connections, so even if you have a fully working\nWebRTC implementation in WASM, there would be no way to connect to anything\nwhen ran inside a browser.\n\nOr is this for WASM use outside the browser?\n\n~~~\nmicrocolonel\nPeople are building server-side WASM runtimes, which I suspect is your answer.\nTo me the other answer is they could provide the same API in the browser\nthrough a shim.\n\n~~~\nfulafel\nIt's the latter. See\n[https://github.com/pion/webrtc/pull/479](https://github.com/pion/webrtc/pull/479)\n\n------\nweavie\nWhat are the best resources to learning WebRTC at the minute?\n\nIt seems to be a pretty fast moving area, a lot of what I find out there is\noutdated.\n\n~~~\nexpialidocious\nMDN docs are very good.\n\n[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-\nUS/docs/Web/API/WebRTC_API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-\nUS/docs/Web/API/WebRTC_API)\n\nFor landscape, I also like the webrtchacks.com blog, and a very smart\nconsultant runs a blog at bloggeek.me.\n\n------\nexpialidocious\nI wonder how go garbage collection and real time data streams get along\ntogether.\n\n------\nmothsonasloth\nAre there any web rtc implementations with Java?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHotfixes: Fix iOS bugs live - nancyhua\nhttp://apptimize.com/blog/2014/04/hide-bugs-without-app-store/\n\n======\nalook\nDoes this only apply to UI changes? Or can i fix, say, a logic bug as well?\n\nAlso, what kind of performance concerns might I see?\n\n~~~\nmikestew\nYou don't \"fix\" anything, unless by \"fix\" you mean \"turn off broken feature\".\nIt's a nice idea, too bad they tout it with such deceptive marketing.\n\n~~~\nnancyhua\nHm, I hadn't thought it would be misleading and asked for feedback on the\nheading. I guess the people I asked for feedback already know how it works...\nThanks for telling me this because we consider ourselves super straight-\nshooting and want to be clear. We'll improve.\n\n------\nlolwutf\nThat's really a misleading - almost bullshit-level - description.\n\nMore accurately, you can 'remotely disable features so, if you shipped\nsomething broken, you can turn it off'.\n\nYou're being almost misleading using phrasing like you can 'fix iOS bugs\nlive'. You can disable parts of your implementation. That's quite a bit\ndifferent.\n\nStop trying to mislead the biz side of the house that doesn't know any better.\n\n~~~\nnancyhua\nOur users call it a hotfix so that's what we're calling it. Often the fix is\nsomething they do on the server side while they disable the frontend. Does\nthat make sense? It's not meant to be misleading but succinct headlines are\nhard to write.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nReview my app: For you NYC Hackers/Subway Riders - bdotdub\nhttp://www.exitstrategynyc.com/\n======\nbdotdub\nHi HN! My buddy and I just released an app in the App Store for all you NYC\nSubway hackers.\n\nIf you like saving a few seconds to a few minutes on your subway rides, take a\npeek at our app :)\n\nWe figured some of you here in NYC love little hacks to save time so we\nthought we'd share and here your thoughts. I always love the discussion here\non HN so I'd love to hear some feedback if you have any!\n\n~~~\nFrocer\nI used to live in NYC, and I have sent this to all of my NYC friends. Awesome\napp!\n\nFor those of you who thinks this is stupid... trust me, New Yorkers value\nevery second of their commute. And exiting from the wrong end of the exit\ncould mean 5+ more min just to get out of the subway... considering the\nhundreds of people exiting the subway at the same time.\n\nGreat job, great idea, great execution!\n\n~~~\nbdotdub\nWow thanks for the great words :)\n\nThe second paragraph really nails it. Thanks for summing it up so concisely!\n\n------\nMicahWedemeyer\nI live in Atlanta, where the subway system is much simpler (and shittier), but\nthis is exactly how I think when standing on the platform.\n\nIn short, the app is awesome.\n\nFeature addition: Running ticker for total time saved, both for the current\nuser and all users overall. Make it as accurate or \"imaginary\" as you want. ;)\n\n~~~\nbdotdub\nOoh, good idea ;) Thanks for the tip!\n\n------\nbryanwoods\nThis is fantastic! I sent this to some other friends here in NYC who have all\nhad the same response: \"I always thought that would make a great app.\"\n\nIt hits the iPhone sweet spot of being a perfect blend of mostly fun and\nsomewhat useful.\n\n _Edit_ I just purchased the app. Really nice and slick. Though living off the\nG (a cross-town line), it's hard to choose from only Uptown and Downtown\noptions. Otherwise, this is great.\n\n------\ngnargeot\nIn Tokyo (and maybe other cities), this data is displayed in all the train and\nmetro stations. Also, there is data on which car to ride if you want to use\nthe escalator or elevator when you get out.\n\n------\nlallysingh\nI bought it, and I have to admit, I'm a little underwhelmed.\n\nA basic subway map would have been useful.\n\nFor the extra points, a schedule would be wonderful.\n\n~~~\nteej\nI think the singular focus is great. It has one goal - saving you time by\noptimizing your car position.\n\nIf it saves me five minutes, it has already paid for itself.\n\n------\njrockway\nFWIW, the Tokyo subway posts this data throughout the stations. I always\nwondered why they don't do this in the US.\n\nEdit: here's the best picture I can find:\n<http://www.flickr.com/photos/eloketh/320918361/sizes/l/>\n\nIt's that blue sign in the background/center. I will try and find a better\npicture. But at least I know that I am not imagining this :)\n\n------\noliverkofoed\nI really like the video presentation. Short and sweet while being entertaining\nenough to watch.\n\n~~~\nallenbrunson\nyes, the video is good. but it's in flash, which means it can't be viewed on a\nreal iphone.\n\n------\npieter\nIt's nice how you released it for a lot of different platforms. Would you mind\nsharing the % of sales / platform once you have some sales?\n\n~~~\nbdotdub\nWill do! I always enjoy \"the numbers\" type posts so I'd love to share when we\ngather a bit more data\n\n------\nakaalias\nIt's exactly what I always do, especially for fastest transfers and being the\nfirst one on the stairs. Recently I have been taking the 6, L and G a lot,\nterra incognito where your app comes in fitting perfectly. Love it!\n\nEdit: Installed it, very smooth operation, took less than 6 seconds to find a\nperfect exit strategy for L -> 6 train transfer. Nice!\n\n~~~\nbdotdub\nGlad you like it! :) It's saved me a bunch of time already and I hope it does\nfor you too\n\n------\nDannoHung\nI only see one problem with this: During rush hour trains, choosing the\noptimal exit location is a good way to not get on the train, because people\nthat take the same line every day know where to stand.\n\nMaybe a \"Overcrowding\" mode that does the exact opposite and shows you where\nthe least crowded cars are likely to be?\n\n------\ndomodomo\nNice. This is application equivalent of a comedian \"saying what everyone is\nthinking\". When I lived in Tokyo, I always tried to do these kinds of mental\ncalculations on the train on unfamiliar lines (already 100% optimized by daily\ncommute).\n\n~~~\njimbokun\nYep, I've lived in both Manhattan and Tokyo, and one of my first thoughts is\nthat Tokyo is the other market that needs this. Is the code portable enough to\nsubcontract development of the Tokyo version to native Tokyo-ites? I'm sure\nthere are several other metro regions that would love this, too.\n\nBut I'm sure you will have your hands full just keeping up with the NYC\nversion, for now.\n\n------\ncing\nNice! You should add data for other subway systems too. Here are the exit\nlocations for the TTC: <http://www.ttcrider.ca/download.php>\n\n------\nbihi\nThat's just nice… I've had the same strategy, and obviously I know the station\nexits of my commute perfectly… :)\n\nBut it makes it all the more annoying to go to some station I don't know, so I\nthink it's just awesome!\n\nBut as it is right now, I won't buy it. Simply because I'm talking about the\nParisian metro… So tell me, do you plan on supporting more subway systems in\nthe future? How do you plan to gather the data? Tell me if I can be of any\nhelp.\n\n------\nTrevorJ\nExtending your idea to it's wildest reaches - could you make an app that used\nthe GPS data and date/time of day to build a statistical model of the best\nstreet-level routes and optimum time of day between any given point in the\ncity?\n\nIt would take a really long time to aggregate enough data to make it useful,\nbut it would be pretty handy eventually.\n\n------\nnotirk\nI haven't bought it yet, but I probably will for my work Blackberry. A\nsuggestion: mark where the elevators are for all the subways too. It would be\nuseful for disabled people and also anyone carrying heavy items or bags.\nHopefully you wrote down that information so you don't have to search all the\nstops again!\n\n------\ncrux\nThis is magnificent. I haven't tried it out yet, so I'm obviously jumping the\ngun—but that is exactly what I'm working through in my head every time I get\non and off the subway. N -> L is an easy one. I'll let you know what I think\nbut this is an app that's very much in line with my own obsessive concerns.\n\n------\njakewolf\nI love the idea. Had it myself, but please please don't tell anyone about it.\nIsn't it nice being the first one to the stairs? Let's keep the best exits to\nourselves.\n\nDownloaded the sample on my kindle. It would be nice to see an actual map, if\nonly just one instead of a huge listing of all the stops.\n\n~~~\nbdotdub\nGlad you like the idea! Hopefully we will get one in future versions. The MTA\nhas some weird licensing for all of their trademarks so we'll have to work it\nout with them ;)\n\n------\ndanw\nThere is a similar app available for the London Underground at\n<http://www.tubeexits.co.uk/>\n\nThe data is pretty good (only found a single sub-optimal station so far),\nwhilst the UI is fidgety at times but I'm sure it will improve.\n\n------\ngchucky\nHaha, that's great. Clever idea. Wish there was some kind of interface for\nthose of us without smartphones who just want to look stuff up online, but\nthat sort of defeats the point of having it as an app. Still, good idea.\n\n------\nbrown9-2\nInteresting idea - if I were you I'd figure out how to extend the\nsoftware/engine behind this to support other cities before others become to\ncopy the idea.\n\n(and if you're already working on this, then kudos!)\n\n------\nfortes\nI like the idea, although honestly not that useful for me given that the exits\nI care about I already know.\n\nYou've got a decent start on an offline subway map though -- I'd pay for a\ngood one of those.\n\n~~~\nasnyder\nMTA.info offers a downloadable PDF. Also, if I recall correctly from my\njailbroken iPhone days there was a very good offline NYC Subway Maps app.\n\n------\nunohoo\nawesome app - even though i dont live in nyc, i've visited nyc often & i can\ndefinitely see how useful it could be to a daily commuter.\n\nohh - and you get double brownie points for the name 'exitstrategy' - gels so\nwell with what your app does..i bet nyt will come calling for a writeup soon -\nso stay prepped :)\n\n------\nkingkawn\nisn't this the kind of thing that people who live in NY know just by virtue of\nriding the train everyday?\n\n~~~\nskinnymuch\nIdeally yes, but most new yorkers only go on a few lines regularly. I've only\nbeen in the city for a month now, but going to lines that you've never gone to\nbefore gets a bit confusing.\n\n~~~\nkingkawn\n1 month isn't much for a system with 468 stations.\n\n------\nDTrejo\nGreat demo video and music, fun to watch. A good example of how a demo should\nlook.\n\n------\nsfphotoarts\nlove the video you guys put together. Im in SF so have little use for the app,\nbut I really like the ingenuity and looks like you've done a really job of the\npr side of things.\n\n------\nkaranbhangui\nA very clever app. One of the best I've seen for iPhone :)\n\n------\nzackola\nThis is great! I only wish I had thought of it first :)\n\n------\nvaksel\nSomething like this would also work for airports.\n\n~~~\njrockway\nHow? You don't get to pick which gate you arrive at.\n\n------\ntommy_chheng\nwow, great idea. I was in NYC the other weekend and this would have been\nhandy.\n\n------\nraheemm\nAwesome!\n\n------\nvincent_vega\nwell. It certainly can \"sHave minutes\" from my trip... You may want to change\nthat typo on your homepage\n\n~~~\nphilwelch\nThat's a colloquialism, not a typo.\n\n------\nvincent_vega\n3 questions: 1) wont this lead to everyone standing at the same positions?\n\n2) isnt this useless at peak times ( exactly how often can you choose where to\nstand)\n\n3)isn't this simple enough to build it yourself rather than pay someone else\nto do?\n\nPS:i see that you and your sister are trying to build a business, rather than\nmaking an interesting project. If so, your site looks rather amateuristic\n\n~~~\nbdotdub\nHey Vincent, thanks for the questions.\n\n1\\. If that becomes the case, we'll be rich ;)\n\n2\\. Do you mean because you're running to catch a train? Usually I find myself\npacing back and forth not knowing where to stand.\n\n3\\. The data for this app is not publicly available so my partner and his\nsister had to run around the city to every station and mark down every exit\nand stairwell. The whole process of checking, rechecking, and confirming took\nthem ~2 months\n\nre: website. We hadn't planned on releasing this just yet but a major\nnewspaper had a blog post that ran early this morning so we had to hack this\ntogether :) It'll get better in time!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nPrynt – Smartphone case printing pictures instantly - humpt\nhttp://www.pryntcases.com/\n\n======\nsimonguigue\nawesome project. just wonder why any serious prototype has been release for\nthe public?\n\n~~~\nclemfeelsgood\nHello Simon. You can follow our Instagram account to see live pictures and\nmore of our product!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow to build your own neural network from scratch in Python - vikingo9\nhttps://towardsdatascience.com/how-to-build-your-own-neural-network-from-scratch-in-python-68998a08e4f6\n======\na_bonobo\nToo often you see articles like this and they start with\n\n$ import a_whole_bunch_of_stuff\n\nGood to see that this is not the case here :)\n\nThe fast.ai course has a similar exercise in the beginning, but you'll still\nimport the weights from somewhere else.\n\nTheir fast.ai v1 library has a very short implementation too (loading the\nMINIST example dataset and then using Resnet18):\n\n    \n    \n        from fastai import *  \n        from fastai.data import *  \n        untar_data(MNIST_PATH)  \n        data = image_data_from_folder(MNIST_PATH)  \n        learn = ConvLearner(data, tvm.resnet18, metrics=accuracy)  \n        learn.fit(1)\n    \n\nDone!\n\nSource: [http://docs.fast.ai/](http://docs.fast.ai/)\n\n~~~\nsprobertson\nHow is your example not \"$ import a_whole_bunch_of_stuff\"?\n\n~~~\nScoutOrgo\nThis notebook from fast.ai is more in line with what op mentioned. It starts\nfrom nothing but Python and slowly swaps out chunks of code with\nfunctions/classes from Torch/fastai:\n\n[https://github.com/fastai/fastai/tree/master/courses/dl1](https://github.com/fastai/fastai/tree/master/courses/dl1)\n\n------\nmaurits\nAlmost obligatory, but Stanford cs231n [1] lets you implement a complete\n(deep) neural network from scratch [2] before venturing into pytorch/tf. Its\nsuper fun.\n\n[1] [http://cs231n.stanford.edu/](http://cs231n.stanford.edu/)\n\n[2]\n[http://cs231n.github.io/assignments2017/assignment1/](http://cs231n.github.io/assignments2017/assignment1/)\n\n------\ndrej\nI can highly recommend Joel Grus’ live coding video. He creates a deep\nlearning library only using numpy in an hour and it’s really fun to watch it\nall come together. [https://youtu.be/o64FV-ez6Gw](https://youtu.be/o64FV-\nez6Gw)\n\n~~~\nlunchladydoris\nThat was really good! Thanks for the link.\n\n------\ntomglynch\nTowards Data Science is definitely one of the best Medium Publications. I hope\nthey don't begin to monetise with Medium's member-only content. It's such a\ndrawback to Medium.\n\n------\nvesche\nNah, let's make that 10 lines:\n[https://gist.github.com/vesche/72dafed33d614710f03f1b75cff1c...](https://gist.github.com/vesche/72dafed33d614710f03f1b75cff1c807)\n\nI got a beer for anyone who can golf it under 5 lines\n\n~~~\napplecrazy\nNaive solution (1 line):\n\n[https://gist.github.com/applecrazy/deda2fac6e83c07b93e001731...](https://gist.github.com/applecrazy/deda2fac6e83c07b93e0017314de6cce)\n\nEdit: I literally took newlines, converted to \\n in a string, and then\nexec()ed the whole thing. Here's a repl of it working:\n[https://repl.it/@applecrazy/Code-Golfing-a-Neural-\nNet](https://repl.it/@applecrazy/Code-Golfing-a-Neural-Net)\n\n~~~\nvesche\nOh dear, I got played.\n\nPM address if you want the beer, you sly dog. Obligatory, I'm a normal dude:\n[http://vesche.github.io/](http://vesche.github.io/)\n\nEdit: Wait, you can't PM on here... PM on reddit /u/vesche\n\n~~~\napplecrazy\nWell, I don't drink (see my bio), but thanks for the offer. :P\n\n------\nplg\nHonest question: what are the reasons to code this up using OOP, creating a\nneural network object plus methods, instead of data structures and functions\nthat operate on them?\n\nIf it’s just personal preference, I’m fine with that, I’m not trying to start\na flame war.\n\n~~~\nclaytonjy\nPython, both the language and community, are _very_ strong proponents of OOP.\nWhile you _can_ do a lot of more functional stuff, esp. w/ functools, the\ncommunity at large tends to discourage that. \"Never use map/filter\" is a\nweirdly common phrase among pythonistas. So this, like most python-driven\nexamples, is doing things in a _pythonic_ way.\n\nComing from the R side, I tend to prefer structures & functions as well, but\nif I tried to write Python that way I'd be wary about showing that code to\nanyone more entrenched in the Pythonic way of thinking.\n\n~~~\njononor\nThe never use map/filter is in favor of list comprehensions, which is not\nreally a OOP construct.\n\nBut sure, it's a conventional thing. And for a long time the built-in\nalternatives to a class for such a datastructure tuples and dicts, neither\nwhich are very nice for functions to operate on (dict values have to be\naddressed with d['key'] instead of d.key). With a class and method there is\nalso no doubt as to what the function operates on, which is convenient when\nthere type hints and IDE support is missing. This is changing since Python 3.5\nand type checking tools like MyPy.\n\nSince Python 3.7 there are also data classes, a primitive for classes which\njust hold values. [https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/introducing-\npython-37s-...](https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/introducing-\npython-37s-dataclasses) But it will take a while before programming\nconventions change.\n\n------\nderekmcloughlin\nI found this very useful:\n\n[https://makeyourownneuralnetwork.blogspot.com/](https://makeyourownneuralnetwork.blogspot.com/)\n[https://www.amazon.com/dp/1530826608/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_x...](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1530826608/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_xmXTBbB5R5A2R)\n\nFirst part goes into what a NN is and how backprop works, second part is an\nimplementation in Python.\n\n------\nbluemania\nThanks for submitting, this is going to come in handy for my education! I have\nan assignment next week which requires creating a neural network, then\nsubstituting various optimizers in place of backpropagation and comparing\nperformance over iterations. Have found that simple numpy based NN's are\neasier to examine and connect the changes with the theory, this guide looks to\nhelp further with this understanding!\n\n~~~\ndnautics\nThat sounds really fun! Do you get to pick optimizers? Obviously direct\ngradient is a thing (calculate the partial for every parameter) but also\nparticle swarm optimization might be cool to profile.\n\n------\npeter303\nI suggest a remarkably useful device: Four circular disks when attached to a\ncart make it easy to move the cart from location to another. Furthermore you\ncould put goods in that cart and move them too. A lot easier than carrying the\ngoods on you back or an animal. A brief search of the internet finds this is a\nnew idea.\n\n~~~\nqbrass\nWhat do the disks do? A cart already moves pretty easily on it's wheels, so\nhow much improvement have you made by attaching these disks to it?\n\n------\namasad\nVery cool! Here's the full version if you want fo run it/play with it\n\n[https://repl.it/@turbio/neural-network](https://repl.it/@turbio/neural-\nnetwork)\n\n------\nstarpilot\nAnother thing to try is calculating backpropagation by hand, on paper, with a\nsmall NN. This is what my mentor said his final exam on NN in college\ninvolved.\n\n~~~\nanonytrary\nI would have thought calculus 1 was a prerequisite for that course.\n\n------\nwheresvic1\nIf you're looking for a similar from scratch tutorial in Java, check this one\nout: [https://smalldata.tech/blog/2016/05/03/building-a-simple-\nneu...](https://smalldata.tech/blog/2016/05/03/building-a-simple-neural-net-\nin-java)\n\n------\nmaster_yoda_1\nThis is not as glorified as it sound. 100 of thousands of students around the\nworld build neural net from scratch as their homework. People please move on,\nspend your time somewhere else which is more productive. I coded neural\nnetwork using c++ in 2009 as homework. But I never though about showing this\nto people.\n\n~~~\ntobr\n> People please move on\n\nStrange reaction to a “beginner’s guide”, how can someone move on before they\nlearn the basics?\n\n------\ndeytempo\nProgramming != math\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHopper: Stop emailing yourself notes, files, and images - endtwist\nhttp://gethopper.com\n======\ngeorgemcbay\nOn the one hand, this is cool... on the other hand, I'll never use it (sorry).\n\nI email stuff to myself on gmail because I can have thousands of things in\nthere that I can instantly find via powerful search. And I'm fairly confident\nthat 5 years from now they'll still be in there and just as easily\ndiscoverable.\n\nWhile Hopper's UI is certainly better than email attachments in gmail\ncurrently are, I suspect Google will rectify that on their side much faster\nthan Hopper will rectify my previously mentioned primary two concerns about\nthe data I'm storing.\n\nAs others have already mentioned, seamless integration into email would go a\nlong way toward getting me to use this at all. Augment instead of trying to\nreplace is a much better strategy here.\n\n~~~\nendtwist\nNo problem, Hopper might not be for you. However, I've gotten a lot of\nrequests re: emailing updates, so I will consider it!\n\nLet me say, though, that I absolutely respect your privacy and have no\nintention of looking at your data. It's as private as you want it to be. I'm\nalso happy to put this in the TOS.\n\nExporting is another story as its easier said than done. Emailing you the\npastes periodically (optionally), however, may alleviate that problem.\n\n~~~\nllambda\n> Let me say, though, that I absolutely respect your privacy and have no\n> intention of looking at your data. It's as private as you want it to be. I'm\n> also happy to put this in the TOS.\n\nOP's issue wasn't so much privacy as it was permanency, as I read it. So using\nGmail, I can rest assured that in five year's time my documents will still be\naround, just as they are today. Whereas with a new service, who's to say what\nlies in store for it? What if you pivot? What if you're acquired?\nUnfortunately a service like Gmail wins in this context.\n\n~~~\ncode_duck\nI used to think that about email services, too. Then one after another they\nchanged their terms when I wasn't looking, and deleted data I thought was\nsafely stored.\n\nWhat ever happened to 'your own hard drive'? Is there some reason people can't\nuse that for storage? I have a VPS that I use as a file intermediary. I'm\nhighly confident that, and my backups, will be there in 5 years.\n\n~~~\nemmett\nFor most users, \"your own hard drive\" is a terrrible solution. They do not\nhave a VPS that they use as a file intermediary (they don't even know what a\nVPS is), and they don't know how to keep backups, and if they did the backups\nwould probably be corrupted or out of date.\n\nThis is the miracle of web hosted software for most users. It's also what\nmakes Dropbox so special.\n\n~~~\ncode_duck\nI know plenty of people who use portable hard drives, flash drives and\nwritable optic media as a backup... I don't see many downsides in that,\nbarring catastrophic loss (which can happen to second party storage as well,\nthough they do tend to be more professional about being careful).\n\nOf course, a burned DVD isn't going to let me access my file from the office\nand at home unless I take it with me, so there are drawbacks.\n\n------\nAceJohnny2\nI have DropBox, EverNote, and Springpad, on the multiple devices I use:\nwork/home PC/laptop and smartphone.\n\nThe above tools serve to keep notes and files. Nevertheless I continue to use\ne-mail as an archiving tool because: \\- it pops up unread in my inbox for\nlater processing. If I want to use it on a specific device, I can just leave\nit unread until I have access to the right device. \\- more importantly, email\nis ubiquitous, and I can have somebody else email me a file.\n\nI still need convincing on what problem Hopper solves for me that the other\ntools don't. That said, trivially easy drag-and-drop file storing is cool, and\nI for one welcome our so-simple-my-grandma-can-use-it usability overlords.\n\n~~~\nendtwist\nI found that I regularly emailed myself notes and files for later processing,\nand they'd then get lost in the inbox. I wanted to be able to search my notes\n(and only my notes), as well as easily share them with one or several people.\n\nEvery other one of those services got me partway there but felt like they were\nlacking (no web search, burdensome to use, etc). Paste and forget until later\n- no more than 20 seconds to save something.\n\nNotifications and device web apps are coming, too. Does that help?\n\n~~~\nicebraining\nI just add \"note:\" to my emails and then I have a gmail filter that tags the\nmessages based on that and the sender's address.\n\n~~~\ndmn001\nOn a similar note, I have a gmail filter that picks up when the source and\ndestination email addresses are the same, i.e. when I send an email to myself,\ntagged under 'self mail'.\n\n------\nstatictype\nPeople use email because that's still the only ubiquitous app.\n\nI use Dropbox and Pinboard and Instapaper. I still find myself emailing things\nto myself because whatever iPad app I'm using doesn't yet integrate to any of\nthose but does have email.\n\nEmail also exists on all sorts of devices that don't support apps.\n\nThat said, nice job - the simplicity and UX is great.\n\n~~~\nalphakappa\nThe reason I (and I suspect, many others) email stuff to themselves is that I\nexpect my email to be there with me years from now. Websites like these come\nand go, and I wouldn't want to build up a collection that might just disappear\na few months (or maybe a few years) down the line.\n\nI remember collecting links for years on del.icio.us before Yahoo decided to\nshut it down. Then I moved everything over (though it's nice that del.icio.us\nmade it convenient to move my data over, it's still a hassle) to trunk.ly, but\nnow they have been acquired by delicious.com and will be shutting down too. In\nthe end, I find that email is more reliable and easier to search (searching on\nGmail is pretty easy)\n\nOne way such a website could be useful is if it did the job of emailing me the\nstuff I collect (or some other similar solution) so that I'm still guaranteed\nto have my collection, but it's possible to browse it in a better interface on\nthis website.\n\nTL;DR - This is a well-done website, but I'll be hard-pressed to use it unless\nit also solves the reliability problem.\n\n~~~\neternalban\nIt should be trivial technically (but not sure about the biz model) to allow\nfor itemized and tagged export to a designated email address. If they do that,\nI will consider using them.\n\n------\nmkl\nThere are some odd things in the Terms and Conditions:\n\n _\"Pasting any of the following is forbidden and a violation of our terms of\nservice: ... copyrighted works or links to copyrighted works that you do not\nown\"_ Virtually everything on the internet is under copyright, so this forbids\nlinks, a primary purpose of the site.\n\n _\"Permission is granted to temporarily download one copy of the materials\n(information or software) on Hopper's web site for personal, non-commercial\ntransitory viewing only.\"_ I don't know if I'm reading that right, but it\nsounds like you can't get your stuff off the site :-/\n\n------\nSmudge\nAfter an unmanageable number of note-to-self emails — I mean, just _imagine_\nhaving to sort through an inbox of hundreds of things you sent yourself with\nthe expectation of following-up later — I finally transferred them all to\nEvernote and haven't looked back. (Really, I can't recommend using something\nlike Evernote or OneNote more for the purpose of brain dumps).\n\nThe problem I see with solutions like Hopper is that they aren't ubiquitous. I\nhave to load a website and deal with whatever interface they've decided is the\n37signals-esque simple-is-best approach to solving a problem that only matters\nbecause their execution pretty decent and for that reason I come back to it\nmore than once... At least with Evernote I can throw shit in, in whatever\nformat I prefer, categorize it, and then come back to it later when I feel\nlike looking at what I thought was so rad at the time. It's no wonder so many\npeople do this over email.\n\nBack when I had dial-up and wasn't online all the time, my solution to this\nproblem was Notepad. Yes, plain old .txt. THAT's how to get shit done. Don't\nmatter what fancy tools you use.\n\n(No offense, Hopper...)\n\n------\ndmn001\nThe last time I emailed a piece of text to myself was to send an api key from\nmy computer to my iPhone so it could be used in an app. It is a one time\noperation where I can access the data quickly and the text remains\nsufficiently private.\n\nWith Hopper, I don't know if the text will be shared publicly on the web, and\nif I can rely on it, what if the server goes down or the logs are read or\nstolen?\n\n------\nuiri\nI have been thinking about solving this since <https://www.xkcd.com/949/> and\none thing which I think most file services get wrong is that they practically\nrequire you to write down (or email to yourself) the link to the file. I don't\nwant <http://gethopper.com/$hexadecimalgibberish>. I want\n<http://gethopper.com/meaningfulfilename> If I am trying to send the file to\nmyself because I will be on a different computer, how does this do me any\ngood? Allowing me to make it <http://gethopper.com/reallyimportantfile> then I\nwill remember the URL and I can just put it into the URL bar instead of going\nto gethopper.com first.\n\n~~~\nbcjordan\nA nice solution to avoid namespace collisions while allowing users to create\ntheir own shortening URLs is to use their username as a subdomain (e.g.,\nbcjordan.gethopper.com/meaningfulname).\n\nAlso:\n\n* accept file and submissions by email: subject = optional shortener key, body/attachment = content\n\n* slap a sign up with Facebook button on it\n\nAnd one more thing... <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEgk2v6KntY>\n\n------\n0x0\nHaha. I pasted some random text, hit \"shorten link\", and changed one character\n(out of the two-character-long shortlink) ... ended up with\n[http://www.wtfeck.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/fat-\nblack-g...](http://www.wtfeck.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/fat-black-guy-\ntaking-a-big-mac-bath.jpg)\n\n------\nsachleen\nI created a simple notepad for personal use. It's a textbox that syncs to my\nserver. I have a bookmark to it on my Kindle as well as a notepad widget on\nthe new tab page of Chrome. It can also be accessed from my phone (any device\nwith a browser, really).\n\nWhen I'm on my computer, it's there every time I open my browser. Anywhere\nelse, It's just a few clicks away.\n\nThat seems to be enough for me as I rarely need to sync files, and when I do,\nI have dropbox.\n\nEdit: Also thought I should mention that before I created my own solution, I\nused Simplenote (<http://simplenoteapp.com/>) for the webapp and iOS app.\nSince then they've added an API and have a few other apps I think.\n\n~~~\ntealtan\nSay more about this, please? Is it a single text box?\n\n~~~\nsachleen\nSure, here's the source: <https://gist.github.com/1609919> Also requires\njQuery.\n\nI access it like this: <http://domain.com/notepad?key=yoursecret>\n\nThe JS checks to see if the contents of the textbox has changed, and if it\nhas, it makes a POST request via AJAX to the server that saves it to a text\nfile.\n\n~~~\nhardik988\nThanks so much for that! I also added in a Ctrl+S capture because I have an\nirritating habit of pressing it! Kudos!\n\n~~~\nsachleen\nMind sharing your code for that? I think I tried implementing that originally\nbut I could never get it to work.\n\n~~~\nhardik988\nI just used the shortcut.js library.. You can find it here :\n<http://www.openjs.com/scripts/events/keyboard_shortcuts/>\n\n------\nGeee\nHow about sending _also_ an email to my own inbox from every share which links\nto the content? Could be a good way to keep users getting back if I could just\nenter my email easily when trying it out.\n\n------\nBadassFractal\nYou've certainly identified the problem, but I don't know if your proposed\nsolution make people like me switch off of spamming one's inbox. I've already\ntried to switch off to RememberTheMilk, but email was just too easily\naccessible and too ubiquitous, something I look at all the time. I'd need a\nwhole separate screen just to keep track of what I want to do in RTM.\n\n------\nmattmanser\nIt seems like a cool idea, but as time has gone on with hosted apps I always\nfind myself now asking this before I sign up:\n\n _How will you make money to stay in business?_\n\nIf you can't answer that, and you don't, I'm extremely hesitant to sign up.\nPersonal opinion, of course.\n\n------\nakg\nGreat work and a great first start. One thing that I find that is still\nmissing from file-sharing is to share your stuff with people in your close\nvicinity. I often run into cases when I just need to quickly share images,\ncode fragments, links, etc. with another person sitting in the same room. I\ncan use chat (but I generally don't like going on chat while working -- too\ndistracting), I can email (which I often do) or use a service like Dropbox\n(but that means you have to upload and download files). An easy clipboard that\ncan be sharable and accessible quickly would be very useful, at least for me.\nJust a thought.\n\n~~~\njmonegro\nTry Ge.tt\n\n------\njamesrcole\nIs it 'Hopper' or is it 'Get Hopper'?\n\nOk, so by the title of this post, and the title on the site's front-page, I\ncan see it's meant to be \"Hopper\".\n\nBut the site's URL is 'gethopper' and if you view one of the links created by\nthe site there's the red 'Get Hopper' button on the top left.\n\nBoth of those things suggest the site is called 'Get Hopper'. To the user,\nwhat else is 'Get Hopper' meant to mean? You don't see \"Get Google\" or \"Get\nbit.ly\" (along with <http://getbit.ly>) etc. It's a little confusing.\n\nJust thought you might like to know.\n\n------\nwtvanhest\nIf you add a hot key that allows the user to automatically upload the\nfile/image etc. it would save steps and differentiate you from email.\n\nI'd probably use it, and may even pay for it depending on the price.\n\nEDIT: Just because I am price sensitive doesn't mean others are (don't price\nit low on my comment). You also may have some lockin with this since you will\nhave their files so keep that in mind when pricing.\n\n------\nfirefoxman1\nI made something like this for my friend when I wanted to try out the\ndrag/drop API. One thing I also did was give him a little bookmarklet with his\nhashed password that he could drag into a \"login\" box so he could quickly log\nin without typing his username and password every time. You may want to try\nsomething like that for quicker logins.\n\nIt looked something like...\n\nhisusername:19fij12dio7giw3\n\n------\ndevs1010\nI generally am active about keeping my inbox clean so anything in there is\nimportant, if its not then I delete it as I prune it everytime I check so not\nsure this would really be all that useful but for some people it may be, if\nthey're too lazy to categorize / archive emails though I doubt they are going\nto want to use an extra app just for this.\n\n------\naaronbrethorst\nit doesn't seem to work for me in Safari 5.1.2. Does it require Flash? I very\nintentionally do not have Flash installed.\n\n~~~\ncode_duck\nI don't see any Flash. It seems to be implemented in javascript.\n\n------\ndustingetz\nkiller feature for me:\n\nscreen capture to clipboard, paste to hopper, and its already uploaded and\nshareable. i need this like 4 times a week. i would push to buy it at work if\nit was priced right and based on our existing google apps, so safe for\nproprietary data.\n\n~~~\nvijaykiran\nIf you use a Mac <http://getcloudapp.com/> does something similar, Clipboard\ncapture of screenshots and adds the link to clipboard once the upload is done.\n\n~~~\nswitz\nYeah, CloudApp (Mac), TinyGrab (Universal), and Droplr (Universal) are all\ngreat products that provide this functionality. For example:\n<http://d.saew.it/ocSW>\n\n------\ncmer\nYou might want to know that www.hopper.com is very well funded and launching\nsoon. I think you should rename your project...\n<http://www.crunchbase.com/company/hopper>\n\n------\nqq66\nThis needs to email the entire thing to me once per week before I use it,\nbecause I won't start using it if I'm not sure that it will be there in 6\nmonths.\n\n------\nsdoowpilihp\nA big benefit for a user like me would be how to integrate it into my day to\nday workflow. A chrome/firefox extension would really go a long way.\n\n------\nUhhrrr\nDoes anything in your privacy policy prevent you from looking through user\npastes? It appears to me the answer is no, but IANAL.\n\n------\nphodo\nYou might want to try wishtunes on the appstore for iPhone as a way to capture\nsnippets of text.\n\n------\nZikes\nI really need this for my phone. Having it as a Share option would be great.\n\n~~~\nendtwist\nA mobile version is coming soon. I'm just as eager as you are to use it on my\nphone.\n\n------\nmrtron\nI like this.\n\nMake items unique per user though to save yourselves a lot of trouble.\n\n------\ntreenyc\nalso check out <http://ge.tt>\n\nI met these guys at SeedCamp final round. Looks like a very good file sharing\nproduct\n\n------\nvld\nAnd yet another chrome-only website.\n\n------\ntimanzo\nguilty as charged. I do it almost everyday. very simple concept. UX is great.\n\n------\nmcteapot\nwow this is perfect for me, would be great if there was an iOS app as well!\n\n------\nhalayli\nOr use dropbox\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nPEP 0501 – Translation ready string interpolation - Sami_Lehtinen\nhttps://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0501/\n======\nsvieira\nI like the general thrust of PEP 498 (`f\"\"` is explicit, unlike Ruby or Bash's\nmagic `\"` vs. `'`).\n\nThat said, I think it would be much improved if it went the way of Scala and\nJavaScript (2015+) and made `r`, `u`, `b`, and `f` all interpolation\nproviders. That way libraries could provide interpolators without having to\nextend the language to create a new one.\n\nFor example, in Scala or JavaScript, you can create a string context /\ntemplate tag for composing JSON strings, resulting in a nice syntax like this\n(scala-like):\n\n    \n    \n        json\"\"\"{\n          \"my\": $data,\n          \"anArray\": $someArray\n        }\"\"\"\n    \n\nThe `data` and `someArray` values serialized to JSON by the `json`\ninterpolation provider.\n\nAt that point, internationalization is just creating your own interpolation\nprovider and importing it as `i`, which is far less machinery than this PEP\nrequires.\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\n> (`f\"\"` is explicit, unlike Ruby or Bash's magic `\"` vs. `'`)\n\nBoth are equally explicit, though f\"\" is perhaps marginally more clear because\nit is somewhat mnemonic.\n\n------\nimakesnowflakes\nReddit discussion\n\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/3gfaji/pep_501_tran...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/3gfaji/pep_501_translation_ready_string_interpolation/)\n\nI think this and pep 498 are a pretty horrible proposals and does not fit well\nwith the rest of the language and it's spirit.\n\n1\\. Decrements readability. When variables are hidden inside strings, you need\nto check for presence of a variable in two contexts. In the code and inside\nthe strings. With format and % functions, you will be able to spot the\nvariable in the argument list, which is part of the code itself.\n\n2\\. Security concerns regarding automatic evaluation of expressions inside the\nstrings.\n\nAlso, why was format and % made in such a way as to require an explicit list\nof variables? What was the reasoning behind it? Is that reason no longer\nrelevant?\n\n~~~\nmasida\nI agree. For me the automatic \"pulling\" of local variables from the context\nfeels like \"magic\", and I think that's an undesirable property for a\nprogramming language. Of course, PEP498 has the same issue.\n\n~~~\nkerkeslager\n> For me the automatic \"pulling\" of local variables from the context feels\n> like \"magic\", and I think that's an undesirable property for a programming\n> language.\n\nSounds like \"Explicit is better than implicit\" from the Tao of Python.\n\n------\nkerkeslager\nI'm currently working on a heavily internationalized website written in Python\n3[1] and as such I've had opportunity to work with a few ways of\ninternationalizing content. My thoughts:\n\n1\\. Internationalization is, as far as I know, an unsolved problem. This\nsolution doesn't stand out as obviously better than the alternatives. Unsolved\nproblems don't belong at the language level. I'd rather wait until a real\nsolution to this problem is discovered.\n\n2\\. What happened to explicit is better than implicit? Isn't that a core value\nof Python? Overriding implementations of builtin functions is all too magical,\nallowing spooky action at a distance. I'm extremely skeptical of solutions\nthat don't allow me to grep my code for where a function is implemented.\n`gettext`, at least is clearly calling a function.\n\n[1] [http://globalcitizen.org](http://globalcitizen.org)\n\n------\nbyuu\nThe idea that a translation string can execute Python code via ${expression}\nis really quite scary. Imagine a user downloading a third-party localization\nfile that ends up being malicious.\n\nOverall, I see there being two major styles for building strings. Since I use\nC++, I can't do literal interpolation, but I can get close with variadic\ntemplates. I hope you guys won't me talking about a statically typed language\nhere, but it should be on topic to string interpolation at least.\n\n    \n    \n        //interpolation\n        print(\"My name is \", name, \" and next year, I will be \", age + 1, \" years old.\\n\");\n        \n        //arguments\n        print(\"My name is {0}, and next year, I will be {1} years old.\\n\", name, age + 1);\n        \n        //arguments with hinting (:label is ignored)\n        print(\"My name is {0:name}, and next year, I will be {1:age} years old.\"\\n\", fetch(), *values + 1);\n        \n        print(hex(size, 4), \" KiB\");  //interpolation formatting\n        print(\"{0,4x} KiB\", size);    //argument formatting (more covenient, but more cryptic and limited)\n        \n        //without the print component:\n        string s{\"My name is: \", name, \"\\n\"};  //interpolation\n        string s{\"My name is: {0}\\n\", name};   //arguments\n    \n\nThe latter is certainly vastly superior for localization. Because in another\nlanguage, it may be more grammatically correct to reverse the parameters, eg:\n\"来年の歳は{1}と名前は{0}\"; which is something C printf doesn't support, shy of\nunofficial extensions for argument reordering.\n\nBut I find that as the string gets longer and longer, the former is much more\nreadable. (You'll have to imagine the syntax highlighting, which helps a lot.)\nEg when you have 17 arguments, it can be annoying to count to find the 11th\nparameter, whereas with interpolation, it's right there where it's used.\n\nUltimately, I decided on the former being the default, and added a format\nclass for the latter, which is also really handy for building your argument\nlists somewhere else. Plus the default won't clobber your escape characters\n(in my case, braces.)\n\n    \n    \n        //inline format\n        print(\"I am {0}, and I'm {1} years old.\\n\", format{name, age});\n        \n        //external format\n        format f;\n        f.append(fetch());      //person's age\n        f.append(*values + 1);  //person's name\n        ...  //you could fetch the string from a translation table below, too\n        print(\"I am {0}, and I'm almost {1} years old.\\n\", f);\n    \n\nWhenever string::append(format) is invoked, it will use all of the values\ninside the format array to parse {#} entries in the string. Of course, it's\nalso safe and will simply skip over a reference to {2} in a format array with\nonly one value.\n\nCurious to hear others' opinions on the above, and any suggestions for\nimprovement.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCSS Sprites2 - It's JavaScript Time - ra\nhttp://alistapart.com/articles/sprites2\n======\njsmcgd\nIf you're interested in using a sprite technique without Javascript here's a\ntutorial video:\n\n<http://css-tricks.com/videos/css-tricks-video-7.php>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Why you do what you do? - lnalx\nHi Hackers,<p>We all have project and reasons&#x2F;motivations why we are on it. For some people it’s just money, but is it sustainable on the long term ? \nFor others it’s charity project, to see people going better.<p>On what project are you right now and what is fueling you ?\n======\nmikekchar\nA quote from George Mallory about climbing Mt. Everest:\n\nPeople ask me, 'What is the use of climbing Mount Everest?' and my answer must\nat once be, 'It is of no use.'There is not the slightest prospect of any gain\nwhatsoever. Oh, we may learn a little about the behaviour of the human body at\nhigh altitudes, and possibly medical men may turn our observation to some\naccount for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise nothing will come of it.\nWe shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, not a gem, nor any\ncoal or iron... If you cannot understand that there is something in man which\nresponds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the\nstruggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you\nwon't see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And\njoy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We\neat and make money to be able to live. That is what life means and what life\nis for.\n\n------\nmuzani\nI just try to do good.\n\nMy long game is the afterlife. Every philosophy and religion says that if you\ndo good in this life, the next life will be better. If there is no afterlife,\nI will have lived a good life at least.\n\nIt's also really practical; doing good and helping people costs little and\ngives you the best deals and connections. It highlights the parasites in your\nlife. It brings you closer to other generous people and pushes away the\nselfish ones.\n\nWealth is also a really odd thing - most people with wealth choose to invest\nit rather than enjoy it. Those who enjoy their wealth, whether it's buying a\nbetter car or a gold toilet seat, they mostly enjoy the purchase, but not the\nstate of having the thing they bought.\n\nSpending wealth to help others gives you more of a buyer's high, and you don't\nhave to deal with say, the payments of the more expensive car or the guilt of\nhaving a gold toilet seat.\n\nWealth isn't just cash, but also energy and time. Spending my time and energy\non vices feels bad. Whereas spending it to help others - teaching, mentoring,\nassisting, learning, blogging, these are all good life experiences, whether or\nnot there's a return on investment.\n\n------\nskrtskrt\nSoftware is a field where I can just create something out of nothing,\nvirtually in my own. Even at a non-senior level I can make the vast majority\nof design and implementation decisions for a project - it just might not be as\nambitious or complex of a project as someone senior.\n\nMost weeks I leave work, something exists that did not before. Bonus points if\nI’m proud of the design and execution.\n\nEventually I would love to work on open source software like OS’s or\nlanguages/compilers. The idea of making even a tiny contribution to something\nthat helps build and run the world and will be used for decades or longer is\namazing.\n\n------\nyulaow\nHonestly I like to learn and I love the feeling of \"yeah, now I get it\"\n\n~~~\nskrtskrt\nSeriously the feeling when something _clicks_ is a giddy rush that never gets\nold\n\n------\ngitgud\nI like programming, because programming is the fundamental essence of\nautomation.\n\nAutomation reduces the work humans have to do, which is generally good for\neveryone.\n\n------\npolishdude20\nSince I'm not getting paid for writing software, at first glance someone would\nsay I do it so that I get a job in software at some company. But now that I\nthink of it, I don't start software projects with getting hired in mind. I do\nthem because I enjoy the satisfaction of putting together a complex system and\nturning on the big red switch and seeing it all work together. Why do I enjoy\nthat? Now I can only guess at such a deep question but maybe it's to do with\nmy need for order. I get enough chaotic things happening in my life and\npersonality that I feel programming balances it out. Also, since I'm still\npretty new to this, software feels like a new frontier with loads of\npossibilities. I get this feeling of there being gold at the end of every\ntunnel of knowledge.\n\n------\nekr\nI don't think you can get useful answers or of this thread simply because most\nhumans don't have metacognitive introspective awareness; it's not something we\nevolved to have, in fact it is something that would bring negative\nreproductive fitness, given that the brain has mechanisms to actually hide the\nroot motivation for our urges.\n\nThe best way would be to study the neuroscience of human motivation. There's a\nspecific brain circuit involved. But from another perspective, we do what we\ndo to fulfill various needs, mostly security and belonging. That can result in\nthings as complex as status games.\n\nThings are a lot more complex than that, if you consider the evolutionary\nhistory of the brain stem, limbic system and the cortex, each newer system is\nable to override the older one, resulting in completely different behaviour.\n\n------\nburntoutfire\nMake money -> retire. Should achieve it in a about a year from now, a bit\nunder forties. The project is relatively undemanding if you know how to deal\nwith the stress of corporate misery (nothing works as it should, the\nrequirements are shit etc.). After that, who knows, make an indie game? The\nunderlying goal is to strive for mastery, autonomy and balance in life, none\nof which I think I can achieve while in a career.\n\n------\naustincheney\nI love building things and software pays more than carpentry, so there I love\nwriting software and do so full time.\n\nThe corporate software culture with all of its incompetence and false\nexpectations grates on the soul like sewage flooding your bedroom. As a result\nI maintain a lower paying employment in the US Army Reserves, because\nsometimes a year long vacation to a foreign nation doing real work under real\nleadership recharges the soul.\n\n~~~\ngitgud\nInteresting, I wonder how big the cross-over is between wood working and\nprogramming among HN readers, anecdotally I think it's a lot...\n\n------\ndilap\nI'm working on a game for phones. It's defnly a mix of $ and stuff I like; if\ncash were no object, I'd like to be spending my time doing some mix of trying\nto make a replacement for emacs, trying to make a better language learning\napp, and learning more about art. (Though I'm not sure I actually _would_;\nunfortunately, I can be lazy w/o an external motivation.)\n\nI'm not as passionate about games, but it's still pretty interesting to work\non, and I can get paid...which, I need. :-)\n\n------\ndiablo1\n> For some people it’s just money\n\nMoney is a terrible motivator, because when you reach certain monetary events,\nit doesn't matter how much it is, how you feel internally will decide how you\nfeel about the money.\n\nThat's why you should always find something that makes you feel really alive,\nand the money should follow naturally. If it doesn't follow naturally, then\nfind ways to make it follow naturally. Charge money for whatever it is that\nmakes you feel alive.\n\n------\nJeremy1026\nBecause there is someone willing to give me a sum of money to use a skill that\nI have worked on over the years, and I need that sum of money to afford\nhousing and nourishment for myself and my family. I have no \"change the world\"\nmentality. I'm just doing what I need to do to continue my way of life.\n\n------\ndorkinspace\nThe simple and blunt answer is that software dev is easy, the hours are lax,\nand it pays well.\n\nBy easy, I mean my most challenging days are those in which I have to solve a\nhard code/architecture/etc problem and solving hard problems inside a simple\ndefined space is fun.\n\n------\nnunez\nI love being able to automate things that I hate doing and being paid very\nwell for knowing how to do it\n\n------\napple2ta\nMoney.\n\nBut in your head hear that as \"Moooonneeeeeeyy\" from the Pink Floyd track.\n\n------\nbedhesd\nI am a technical writer and I am physically disabled. At my point in life I\nwork to survive. Technology is my single source of income potential.\n\n------\nrcharpentier\nI’m currently building a user feedback tool for SaaS companies. I do it\nbecause I need freedom. Freedom from working from someone else, from having an\nemployer decide my fate. I need to create, to achieve.\n\n------\nk00b\nI feel compelled express myself. I'm pretty bad at \"succeeding\" with\nindependent projects but I suspect - like with anything - I'll get better\nincrementally at least.\n\n------\nnon-entity\nFor my personal / side projects?\n\nSure I'd love to make money doing the type of stuff I do there, but I'm\ninitially driven by curiosity.\n\n------\nzubairq\nI am building stepping stones for a future in which AI and small robots can\nhelp to heal our bodies and other useful tasks ...\n\n------\nRajSinghLA\nWorking on a hotel concierge AI. Goal is to make a billion people's lives\neasier.\n\nHave helped 10,000,000+ hotel guests already.\n\n------\nrl3\n> _On what project are you right now and what is fueling you ?_\n\nI don't know anymore.\n\n------\nmortivore\nFun, money, and work/life balance.\n\n------\nquickthrower2\nSide project? To make money of course :-)\n\n------\nrolph\nan archive to facilitate a rebuilding after im dead and gone and people\nreemerge from the chaos\n\n------\ngcheong\nI got nowhere else to go.\n\n------\na3n\nThey were hiring.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSteinway’s New Piano Can Play a Perfect Concerto by Itself - scottcha\nhttp://www.wired.com/2015/04/steinways-new-piano-can-play-perfect-concerto/\n\n======\nsandworm101\nAnyone else get sense the desperation in this?\n\nOnce upon a time every middle-class home had to have a piano. Now they are\nrelics. Sales of home pianos have tanked. Steinway sells to the pros, a small\nmarket, and the very rich. But those very rich who were raised with pianos in\nevery home are getting older. Their kids don't want to spend $$$,$$$ on a\ngreat piano and the maintenance it requires. So Steinway is injecting\ntechnology in hopes of keeping the rich onside.\n\nPianos, the good ones, last for decades. But what will this ipod-dependant\nthing look like in 2030 or 2060? Will they join their brethren in concert\nhalls, or lie forgotten in grandma's storage locker? An old Steinway is a\nuseful device capable of doing the same job today as it did when built. An\nnetwork-enabled ipad accessory will not age so well.\n\n------\nthejew\nNot to be that guy, but. You can't play a concerto by yourself because a\nconcerto is when you play as a soloist with an orchestra. And you can't really\nsay \"a perfect concerto\" like \"a perfect arpeggio\". Would make more sense to\nsay \"Can play a sonata by itself perfectly.\"\n\n~~~\nbalabaster\n_You_ can't, and near as I can tell, _this_ piano can't. However, some\nClavinovas on the market [e.g. Yamaha], could theoretically be used to play a\nperfect [or extremely close to perfect] Concerto by themselves.\n\nI agree however that the headline was sloppy. Someone wishing to cast the\nimpression of being an audiophile should have taken more care.\n\nNot to take away from this piano though, I enjoyed listening to it. If I had\n$120,000 to throw away on an expensive piece of furniture that I could play\nmyself from time to time, I'd really enjoy looking at this every day.\n\n------\nkhdjsgkl\nThis is not new. Steinway has these systems for years; only news is the piano\ncan talk to an ipad now ...\n\nThe first systems that could reproduce dynamics are from 1904:\n[https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=h...](https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.weltemignon.ch%2Fweltemignon.ch%2Fweltemignon%2Fwelte_info.htm&sandbox=1)\n\nThere are actually lots of old piano roll recordings from great artists like\nRachmaninoff, Gershwin any many others around. Some people actually scanned\nthem and converted them to MIDI:\n[http://www.pianola.co.nz/public/](http://www.pianola.co.nz/public/)\n\nThese files can now be played on a Yamaha Disklavier, or the Steinway CEUS or\nnow this new one.\n\nOr they can be played with software-modeled pianos like PianoTeq or sampled-\nbased software pianos. Really nice.\n\n------\nnjloof\nPiano rolls have survived for over a century. I wonder whether these\nperformances will have the same longevity.\n\n~~~\nD_ANGER\nYamaha has been doing this for at least a decade, recording performers for\ntheir player grands. I don't know how intense the home market is but they've\nused them for master classes and competitions remotely; pretty interesting as\na teaching tool.\n\nAlso, Jenny Lin is a fantastic pianist, check her out.\n\n~~~\ncolomon\nYes, I find it really frustrating that the article doesn't contrast at all\nwith the previous state of the art. I seem to remember that the Yamaha pianos\nyou mention already had significantly better than MIDI reproduction\ncapabilities way back when. Getting all excited about the new system without\nmentioning how much of an improvement it is makes this sound like a press\nrelease rather than a well-researched article.\n\n~~~\nbalabaster\nHaving played quite a large number of the Yamaha Clavinovas over the years, I\ncan concur. Knowing this makes this read exactly as if it were a press\nrelease, or at least an article written by a Steinway Fanboy... of course, I\ncan't blame someone for being a Steinway Fanboy, there's just something about\na Steinway that stands on its own.\n\n------\nMrBra\nI can't see the player. I also tried with ublock disabled.\n\n------\nconcerto\nI approve\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSynack Raises $7.5M Putting Bounties on IT Security Threats - wickedcoolmatt\nhttp://techcrunch.com/2014/04/24/synack-raises-7-5-million-putting-bounties-on-it-security-threats/ \n\n======\ncyphunk\nJust wanted to point out...\n\n    \n    \n         Kaplan and his co-founder chief technology officer Mark Kuhr\n         previously worked at the National Security Agency as senior\n         analysts\n    \n\nYes, that little fact is going to follow them around for life. It also puts\nthis quote into an ironic light:\n\n    \n    \n         “We call them security researchers, but ultimately they’re \n         ‘white hat’ hackers,” says Kaplan. ”They’re hacking for good.”\n    \n\nThis company does not clearly state what their relationship is with western\nintelligence agencies. Not even as much as a hint of an ethics statement or\ninformation about how long they hold disclosure or how this is handled. One\nshould assume that 'white hat' for them and 'hacking for good' may mean the\nexact opposite. With that I'm a little surprised the irony of Google Ventures\nmoney being used for this is not highlighted more. Google complains along with\nothers about the destabilisation of the tech industry at the NSA hands and yet\nfunds a company that may very well help with that?\n\n------\nkoomar\ncongrats!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Review my coming soon page, SettleIt.org - BentleyDavis\n\n\n======\nlaurabw\nHey, I have some thoughts for you: \\- it's a bit cluttered. People don't have\ntime to read through all the stuff to understand what the page is about. I'd\nmake it simpler with a couple of graphics. \\- If your goal is to sign up\ncustomers, you should highlight the feature and put it in the center. Also,\nwhat's the incentive for people to sign up? Give them something to be excited\nabout. \\- How long will they have to wait and what do they get after that? \\-\nThe box on the right side is a left unexplained. Might need some context or\nget rid of it. \\- Yesterday I found a threat here for people to promote their\nbeta launches. You might want to check it out :) Best of luck\n\n~~~\nBentleyDavis\nThanks so much for the feedback. I have been cutting the length of the\ncontent. I'll see if I can cut some more. Maybe add some links to more\ninformation and keep them off the front page. The box to the right is a\nscreenshot so I can label it. The features are difficult to explain so I tried\nto have the benefits. I'll think through it and see what I can do to make it\nclearer.\n\nI couldn't find the thread about promoting beta sites. If you can give me the\nlink I would appreciate it.\n\nThanks Again.\n\n~~~\nlaurabw\nYou're welcome! This is the thread I meant:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6488822](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6488822)\n\n------\nericthegoodking\nI am sorry i still don't understand what your start-up does after reading \"I\nhope to help you be awesome at settling complex arguments\". Are you providing\nlegal services or something?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGoogle Widget factors current time (based on XKCD comic) - byrneseyeview\nhttp://www.google.com/ig/adde?moduleurl=xkcdtime.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/xkcdtime.xml\n======\nbyrneseyeview\nBased on <http://xkcd.com/247/>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nExecutable Models in Software Engineering - brlebtag\nDear colleague,<p>We are Brazilian academic researchers investigating how software engineering professionals understand and use executable models in their practice.<p>We invite researchers, professors, industry professionals, undergraduate and graduate students to answer our form &lt;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;forms.gle&#x2F;fH1gMqGPu9EYZvZL7&gt;. The estimated time to answer it is around 15 minutes.<p>We also ask you to forward this request to your colleagues.<p>Thank you in advance for your participation.<p>Bruno Lebtag (UFG)\nValdemar Neto (UFG)\nRodrigo Santos (UNIRIO).\n======\ngtirloni\nClicky link:\n[https://forms.gle/fH1gMqGPu9EYZvZL7](https://forms.gle/fH1gMqGPu9EYZvZL7)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: GIF Directions - jack_riminton\nhttps://gif.direct\n======\njack_riminton\nThe problem I was trying to solve is the difficulty/speed of finding places\nrelying on 2D tech of maps and GPS.\n\nFor some scenarios (unmapped areas, indoors, congested environments, no\naddress system) a gif makes finding a place much easier.\n\nFuture improvements: multiple gifs for each place (for different approach\ndirections), unique links for specific deliveries e.g.\ngif.direct/redhouse/123456\n\nIts my first coding project I've shipped so any feedback greatly appreciated\n\nStack: Rails, a bit of JS for maps (leaflet), python AWS Lambda for video\nprocessing (MoviePy, FFMpeg), S3\n\n~~~\nkohtatsu\nIt looks really good: the idea is cute, and your intro video is great.\n\nWould you be open in adding Sign in with Apple?\n\n[https://developer.apple.com/documentation/sign_in_with_apple](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/sign_in_with_apple)\n\nI don't have an active Google account, and with Apple's service in I can opt-\nout of giving my direct email away.\n\n~~~\nnjsubedi\nAh, the problem. I have started using my custom domain and a random username\nfor each service, derived from the service's domain. Pretty easy way to not\ngive away your email.\n\n~~~\nkohtatsu\nI do this as well, but it's a lot nicer (and actually private) to have a\nrandom @privaterelay.appleid.com.\n\n~~~\nthih9\n> (and actually private)\n\nIt's private, assuming we trust Apple. For now Apple is privacy friendly, but\nthis might change in a couple of years.\n\n------\ndheera\nHonest question here -- why would anyone want to use a GIF for this -- or\nanything really -- compared to H.264?\n\nI feel like even the cat GIFs would look so much better if they were using\nH.264.\n\nGIF is an 8-bit lossless format and it just seems to be that for any kind of\nphotorealistic video content you probably want 24-bit and lossy.\n\n~~~\neverfree\nThe term \"GIF\" is used in a very broad sense nowadays. I'm sure the actual\nimage encoding they're using is a proper video format, not the GIF format\nitself.\n\n~~~\njack_riminton\nYou're correct, I'm using mp4s instead of actual GIFs. Much more compressed.\n\nI think most people understand GIF to mean a short, possibly sped up video\n\n~~~\negfx\nWrong. A GIF is an image format. It literally means “graphical interchange\nformat”. A gif displays single image frames in sequence with timings between\neach frame. When the frames of the gif end, the frames restart from the\nbeginning and so they are often seen to loop. Technically a gif can play\nindefinitely. It’s just annoying to see people ascribe gif as basically video.\n\n~~~\nwetmore\nJust because short videos aren't all technically GIFs, doesn't mean that\npeople don't commonly understand \"gif\" to mean short video.\n\n~~~\ndheera\nI think this is similar to how the public has mistakenly understood \"HDR\" to\nmean a software local contrast enhancement effect and dialing in\nhighlights/shadows, whereas true HDR doesn't refer to software and requires\neither advanced sensor hardware or multiple exposures.\n\n------\nsamstave\nI have a use case that might be interesting:\n\nHikes.\n\nShowing people proper routes to get to a hiking spot, then the path to go\ndown. Some times hiking trail-heads are obscure to find.\n\nSo tagging a Gif-Dir with #hiking #hike-marin and such would be nice...\n\nThis would be interesting in places like the Sequoias as sometimes you get\nlost on Endor trying to find that particular grove of redwoods that are\ndesired.\n\nHiking, biking, walking, running, beach going, even experiences like wine\ntasting....\n\n~~~\njack_riminton\nI love it!\n\nhashtagging is a really interesting idea. One feature that I plan to do soon\nis to offer a search function, so as well as people being able to search by\narea perhaps I can add tags to these so that people could search by trail\nnames etc.\n\n~~~\nsamstave\nWhere are you based... i have something i have been working on which would\ndovetail nicely with your app\n\n~~~\njack_riminton\nLondon\n\n~~~\nsamstave\nContact info?\n\nPut an email in your profile?\n\n~~~\njack_riminton\njack@gif.direct\n\n------\nboffinism\nSo this is for situations where 'normally' I would take a video of me walking\nfrom A to B and then send it to someone so that they know the way from A to B.\n\nThe benefit this service offers in these situations is that it speeds up the\nvideo and allows me to put a map next to it.\n\nDo people actually use first person video to give directions?\n\n~~~\njack_riminton\nI envisage it would primarily be used by people who live or work in a place\nthat people have problems finding.\n\nThis is normally a big deal for businesses who deal with a lot of deliveries.\nAn especial problem for places that have specific entrances and possibly need\nforewarning that they're arriving\n\nYeah this is a new idea, I've seen people upload directions on youtube though\n\n------\nyellowapple\nThe sample is a 404\n\n~~~\njack_riminton\nFixed :)\n\n------\nTedDoesntTalk\n> signup with Google\n\nYou lost me there. I won't use 3rd party auth systems like Facebook, Google.\nThere's no reason they should know i use your service and how frequent i use\nit.\n\n~~~\njack_riminton\nThat's fair. Someone just pointed me to use metomic.io which protects a user's\nemail so I'm currently looking into spinning that up\n\n------\nSquareWheel\nIf the intention is to send it to phones, then gif downloads are going to\nexplode your user's data caps. It also seriously limits the quality of the\nresulting video.\n\nI'd suggest relying on the <video> tag in browsers. It will be a lot easier to\nencode for your servers too (though may require some retooling).\n\n~~~\njack_riminton\nGood suggestion, already on it ;) all 'gifs' are actually mp4s\n\n~~~\nSquareWheel\nI'm glad to hear it. Proper video formats will work significantly better.\n\n------\nLeonB\nThis is nice. A lot of Airbnb places could use this.\n\n~~~\njack_riminton\nThanks! yes they'd be great first B2C users\n\nLater I'll be creating an API and marketing it to delivery companies in a kind\nof B2B2C\n\n~~~\nantoniuschan99\nJapanese Airbnbs all have it like this. It’s very complicated and something\nlike your solution could simplify it further.\n\nThe hosts send these pdfs with pages of arrows to go left, right, straight\nwith landmarks to get to your Airbnb.\n\nOne issue is since the guest is in a new Country, they might not have Internet\nconnectivity at that moment.\n\n~~~\njack_riminton\nAh interesting, thanks\n\nYes, connectivity is always a risk. Although perhaps mitigated by checking the\ngif before you depart. The one thing I've found by creating these gif\ndirections is that they tend to leave quite an indelible impression and are\nfairly easy to remember\n\n------\nhriminton\nThis would be really helpful in Sweden to find the many summer houses that are\noff main roads.\n\n~~~\njack_riminton\nYes that would be perfect use of it\n\n~~~\nhriminton\nAlso in Sweden no flats have numbers (like the rest of the world) only the\nperson surname on the flat door. Thus finding the correct flat in buildings\nwith different parts and courtyards is difficult especially when people have\nthe same surname\n\n~~~\nhriminton\nOne more also, I bumped into a food delivery guy at our building yesterday and\nhe didn’t know where to leave the delivery… a simple system like this could\nhelp him to find the correct drop-off point especially in these times of\nsocial distancing\n\n------\nthemantra514\nWhy are people asking \"what is it?\" with next level passive-aggressive polite\nranting?\n\n1-Make a video from point A to point B.\n\n2-It gets converted to a gif.\n\nIt's about the clutter free experience for the user, the wonderful experience\nof \"it shows you the way, nothing else, and it just works.\"\n\nGood work jack_riminton\n\n~~~\njack_riminton\nThanks! I have tried to keep it as simple as possible, which means leaving\nstuff out.\n\nSome people don't get it, that's fine, they don't have to :)\n\n------\nvaibhavthevedi\nYour demo is giving me a 404. Can you provide another one? Looks interesting.\n\n~~~\njack_riminton\nFixed :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nIs the Party Over at Google+? - bhartzer\nhttp://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/07/28/google.plus.traffic.falls.mashable/index.html?hpt=hp_t2\n\n======\nblackboxxx\nGoogle+ is too late to win the social media throne. It's boring and only\nsuperficially different. The only way Google+ can survive and not shrivel up\nlike Wave is to stop trying to be Facebook 2. Be different Google. Don't be\nboring.\n\n------\ncarrington\nI think this is an amazing new social media feature. They're still testing it\nas well.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLaw firm bosses envision Artificial Intelligence to replace young lawyers - hvo\nhttp://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/10/law-firm-bosses-envision-watson-type-computers-replacing-young-lawyers/\n======\na3n\nWhere will old lawyers come from? Or are they next?\n\nAnd if we don't have old lawyers, where will judges come from?\n\n\"A just machine to make big decisions Programmed by fellows with compassion\nand vision\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nOnly have a 5 percent chance of avoiding ‘dangerous’ global warming - drallison\nhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/07/31/we-only-have-a-5-percent-chance-of-avoiding-dangerous-global-warming-a-study-finds/?utm_term=.4bae9019b9dd\n======\njamez1\nI don't know how anybody can take models like this seriously. It's about as\nvalid as any of these economists models. Hell, it is partly an economic model.\n\nReading the paper, they make a big deal about the out of sample testing - but\ngiven that there is a clear trend, is anybody surprised the model fits? Do you\neven need a fancy Bayesian hierarchical model or would a regression have\npredicted the same thing.\n\nTo top it off there's not mention of the CO2 cycle and the forces sucking CO2\nout of the air they just assume the CO2 is cumulatively stasis in the air for\nperpetuity.\n\nShit like this, wins you great points with the environmentalists, who want\nammo to throw at polluters. I get it - pollution is shit. But we shouldn't use\nfalsehoods to achieve an outcome even if it's a good outcome. This is the\nreason why there is growing discontent for climate science. We need it now\nmore than ever, but the academic community just publishes bullshit and yells\nat us if we doubt the veracity of their models.\n\nWe've had a period of cooling that none of their models have predicted, and\ninstead of saying, hey we aren't that good at modelling, they and everyone\nelse who went all-in politically on these models have started a hate campaign\nagainst skepticism.\n\nIt's a strange world where scientists use the word 'skeptic' as a derogatory\nterm.\n\n~~~\nawkwarddaturtle\n> I don't know how anybody can take models like this seriously. It's about as\n> valid as any of these economists models. Hell, it is partly an economic\n> model.\n\nBecause bill nye, leonardo di caprio and Al Gore told us it is 100% correct\nand they are the greatest scientists in human history.\n\nIt's crazy how this global warming political movement has hijack science to\npush their agenda.\n\n> We've had a period of cooling that none of their models have predicted, and\n> instead of saying, hey we aren't that good at modelling, they and everyone\n> else who went all-in politically on these models have started a hate\n> campaign against skepticism.\n\nIt's funny how model after model has proven rather suspect and yet you will\nget called anti-science or a denier if you don't accept their model 100%\nwithout question.\n\nIf only the global warming movement had more humility of scientists rather\nthan the total conviction of a cult members, I'd take them more seriously. And\nif they were more honest about the data and the science of climate rather than\nlying about it.\n\n~~~\njgys\nLet's suppose, for the sake of argument, two things: 1) that your assertion\nthat environmentalists and public figures in media, politics, and (what we'll\ncall, with marginal disrespect, \"pop\") science are lacking in humility and\nunwilling to admit any flaw in their predictions or assertions is a fair\nassertion, and 2) that they are generally correct in their concern about\npollution in general and the effect of carbon emissions on global temperatures\nand weather patterns in particular, and that this is a risk to the welfare of\nmany people around the world.\n\nDo you suppose that environmental activists are more likely to achieve their\nimportant objective of dramatically reducing carbon emissions by admitting\neven mild uncertainties in the rationale for their position in effort to\nappeal to educated, reasoned people like you, or by adhering to a steadfast\nnarrative, increasingly accepted by the masses, that anthropogenic climate\nchange is creating a severe risk to the welfare of people the world around?\n\n~~~\ncredit_guy\nthere's another thread of articles currently high up on Hacker News about\nBaltimore cops planting evidence. I don't like police doing that, and I don't\nlike climate scientists being cavalier with the science \"for the greater\ngood\".\n\n------\nmarssaxman\nYeah, well, this has been basically obvious for a while now: the world simply\ndidn't develop the political will to deal with climate change in time to make\na difference. It's probably still worth pretending that we have a chance, if\nthat fiction helps us make changes that will mitigate some of the effects, but\nwe're really just deciding whether we're going for \"bad\" or \"worse\". If we\nwere going to achieve a good outcome, we'd have to have gotten serious a\ndecade or two ago.\n\n------\nframestr\n\"So you're saying there's a chance\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nStop using strncpy already (2013) - ohjeez\nhttps://randomascii.wordpress.com/2013/04/03/stop-using-strncpy-already/\n======\nAdmiralAsshat\nIn principle, I feel like \"Ignore the language-provided standard libraries and\nuse this little macro I wrote in all your code\" is bad advice.\n\nIf the standard libs are _that bad_ , the community should really lobby for\nthe inclusion of a \"safe\" string copy into the C standard. Failing that, use a\nbattle-tested third-party library like bstrlib[0].\n\n[0][http://bstring.sourceforge.net/](http://bstring.sourceforge.net/)\n\n~~~\npcwalton\nThe C standards committee is incredibly conservative, only adding new features\nif absolutely necessary. Unless the composition and goals of the committee\ndrastically change, a new standard string API will never happen.\n\nIf you must write C, you should use a real string library, and not string.h.\n\n~~~\niforgotpassword\nNonsense, strncpy and friends are just fi2•∟1F↔Ñ\n\n~~~\nadiusmus\nLooks like a Perl script I read once.\n\n------\ngp7\nTwo years after this post, the Linux kernel added strscpy, the api of which is\nequivalent to the safe strncpy in this post. Internally, it stops copying once\nit reaches the null terminator.\n\n[https://lwn.net/Articles/659214/](https://lwn.net/Articles/659214/)\n\n~~~\nIChooseYou\nAlso Microsoft's strncpy_s has been around forever.\n\n~~~\nrurban\nBut Microsoft's strncpy_s is unsafe. My safeclib also had the unsafe versions\nbehind the non-default ./configure --enable-unsafe switch.\n\nBut this year I decided to make them safe instead. In this case the spec is\nbroken.\n\n------\nwmil\nI feel like all of these articles can be summed up with:\n\n\"C strings and string functions aren't designed to be safe. If you want safe\nstrings use a library.\"\n\n------\nbeefhash\n> _strlcpy is designed to solve the null-termination problems – it always\n> null-terminates. It’s certainly an improvement over strncpy, however it\n> isn’t natively available in VC++._\n\nLet's not forget that it's also not natively available in glibc. Though you'll\nfind it in every BSD you can think of.\n\n~~~\njandrese\nSadly, it still has this braindamage:\n\n    \n    \n      Like snprintf(3), the strlcpy() and strlcat() functions return the total\n      length of the string they tried to create.  For strlcpy() that means the\n      length of src.  For strlcat() that means the initial length of dst plus\n      the length of src.\n    \n\nSo if you've mmaped in something like the OpenStreetMaps xml dump file and try\nto strlcpy out the first 100 bytes (because you didn't want to have to null\nterminate it yourself after a memcpy), you'll notice that your program is\nrunning rather slowly.\n\n~~~\nneedlepont\nThat is trusting user input. You don't do that, right?\n\n~~~\nquietbritishjim\nIt's not about trusting user input. It's asking for a function to create a 100\nbyte substring of a very long string and expecting it to take time~100 not\ntime~len(src).\n\nIn fairness, that is probably just not the target \"market\" for strlcpy.\nPresumably, it is meant for \"please copy this whole string which I expect to\nfit in the target (but catch me in the rare case that it does not)\".\n\n~~~\nneedlepont\nAs you note: your example is specious.\n\n~~~\nquietbritishjim\nWhat example? Are you confusing me with GP commenter perhaps?\n\n------\numvi\nI feel like there are a lot of good alternatives to C. What we did on our team\nwas get our C compiling under g++, and then refactor as C++14. Now string\ncopies are trivial and safe. I'm sure it would have been even safer to switch\nto Rust or something, but no one in my company has any experience with that,\nwhile there were a few C++ gurus.\n\n~~~\njstimpfle\nWhat are the good alternatives? You can either copy memory manually, or have a\nsystem like C++'s that causes lots of tiny allocations, which is very\ninefficient. Both in space and time. You can also opt for immutable strings to\nbe able to share strings more conveniently and efficiently, at the cost of\nO(n^2) build time (where automatic optimizations fail) or decreased\nconvenience (explicit string-stream aka string builder).\n\nIf efficiency is not a concern for you and you rather like the convenience,\ngood for you.\n\nPersonally I feel plain const char pointers (plus length, depending on\nexpected size) are good enough to emulate the immutable string type. For\nmodifiable strings, I still prefer viewing them as chunks of memory, using\nchar pointer + length + capacity. Nice thing is, you can easily go from the\nformer to the latter in the lifetime of any one string. You can also pool many\nstrings in large chunks if you build only one string at any one time.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nYou care about that after a profiler proves that it is actually a problem to\nthe expected delivery SLAs for the application.\n\nMicro-optimizing each line of C code based on gut feeling is not an option if\nquality matters.\n\n~~~\ngnulinux\nThis is a horrible stance and this is repeated like broken record. Please stop\nsaying this? A good software engineer should know (1) a suitable data\nstructure to solve the problem in hand (2) algorithms that have certain\nasymptotic characteristic that makes most sense for the problem (what\nassumptions can you make). \"Premature optimization is the root of all evil\"\ncan be used for and only for \"optimization\". Choosing the right data structure\nis never an optimization, it's a design choice. You can't just start coding\neverything with a linked list and then optimize bottlenecks, that's just not\nhow it works.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nAs you say \"A good software engineer should know a suitable data structure to\nsolve the problem in hand\".\n\nSo I expect a good software engineer on my team to be able to design a data\nstructure where the fact that a linked list is being used doesn't hinder to\nchange it afterwards to an array, a B-Tree or what have you.\n\nWithout changing a single line of client code I might add.\n\nSuch good software engineer will certainly had attended an algorithms and data\nstructures class on their CS degree and be aware of architecture designs based\non Abstract Data Types.\n\nYes, even in C with its flaky translation units instead of proper module\nsystems, it is possible to implement Abstract Data Types application\narchitectures, which any good software engineer can easily tackle.\n\nAnd for those that aspire to reach that level, here are a few examples.\n\n\"Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs\" by Niklaus Wirth, 1st edition is\nModula-2, the 2nd in Oberon\n\n\"Introduction to Algorithms\" by Thomas Cormen, Clifford Stein, Ronald Rivest,\nCharles Leiserson\n\n\"Abstract data types and Modula-2: a worked example of design using data\nabstraction\" by Richard Mitchell\n\n\"Abstract Data Types in Modula-2\" by Rachel Harrison\n\n\"Abstract Data Types and Algorithms\" by Azmoodeh, Manoochchr\n\n~~~\ngnulinux\nYour comment still doesn't make sense, even though you decided to choose a\ncertain ADS and then latee decide on the implementation later based on\nempirical performance data, this is still not unusual. For (1) this is not how\npeople write C. There are ADS libraries in C with which you wouldn't need need\nto use any DS that you can't change but this is not a usual way to write C\ncode. This will also come with the overhead of pointer indirection and worse\ncache performance since all your objects will be void* stored in the DS\n(unless you m4 or macro generate your DS with all datatypes. This is what\nlinux does for example, and I sometimes use this technique too, but this\nhardly the usual way to write C code). And (2) usually complex problems\nrequire special enough datastructures that it doesn't make much sense talk\nabout ADSs. Everyone can code basic foobar with List interface then decide to\nuse ArrayList or LinkedList based on performance. It's more interesting when\nthe programmer decides to use a set, a hash map, a bloom filter etc to solve\nthe problem as any other type wouldn't make sense.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nWe will have to agree to disagree, then.\n\nSofware quality and meeting delivery SLAs should trump micro-optimizing cache\naccess per code line.\n\nSo if SLAs define 100ms per access, no need to go crazy making everything\nunder 5ms.\n\nThankfully, the Linux foundation has another view on the matter.\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfNt6MsLj0E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfNt6MsLj0E)\n\n------\nhedora\nI don’t understand why silently truncating strings is considered to be\nacceptable practice.\n\nIf you have the length of both, simply assert the length of the destination is\n<= the length of the source. Problem solved (bugs become obvious in testing).\n\n~~~\nrussdill\nBecause the API is stupid and not intuitive. It's for memory buffers where the\nstring is either NULL terminated or it is the length of the memory buffer.\nThis saves an extra byte. yay?\n\n~~~\nrussdill\nI'll add that it's really handy for that specific situation as it also avoids\nleaking uninitialized bytes.\n\n------\ndang\nDiscussed at the time:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5491121](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5491121)\n\n------\nkodis\nI'd say \"Stop using C and C++ already\" or \"Stop using null terminated strings\nalready\", but I recognize that those are not always practical solutions.\n\nI do have some maintainability concerns though about the promulgation of\nnumerous competing home-brew solutions to a near trivial problem throughout a\ncode base.\n\n------\nhzhou321\nIf we preset the end of buffer with '\\0' and then assume the buffer having\n1-less capacity, wouldn't it address the strncpy issue?\n\n~~~\nneedlepont\nOf course, but everyone wants to overdo the complexity of the time worn\nsolution. OMG you need to null terminate the string after all the _other_\ngymnastics..gee C sure does suck! Why don't we use _rust|go|c++_ ad-nauseam.\nbzero(buf,sz); / _memset nazis here_ / strncpy(buf,src,sz - 1);\n\n~~~\nbitwize\nIt doesn't make sense to have to null-terminate the string by hand (maybe)\nafter doing a \"safe\" STRING copy. Which means it's easy to forget to do and\nthat's a dangerous wart in the design.\n\nReally, stop using C. To quote Hayao Miyazaki, C was a mistake.\n\n------\nmcguire\nBeen a while since I used C++...\n\nHow does this work if the size of the destination isn't known at compile time?\nI.e., it's not \"buffer[5]”?\n\n~~~\nbrucedawson\nYou get a compile error.\n\nAnd this is progress. I have fixed code that looked something like this:\n\n    \n    \n        strncpy(dst, sizeof(dst), src);\n        data[sizeof(dst)-1] = 0;\n    \n\nSee the bug? Of course not, because it's not visible, but I've seen this\npattern used where dst is a pointer. This means that four or eight bytes\n(three or seven if you don't count the null terminator) gets copied,\nregardless of how many bytes dst points to. With strcpy_safe an attempt to\ncopy to dst would not work and the developer would have to fix their code.\n\nEvery mistake that can be made, will be made.\n\n------\nahoka\nstrncp is fine, however it was never meant for null-terminated strings! A safe\nalternative is using snprintf and checking the return value for truncation.\n\n~~~\nbrucedawson\nsnprintf is hardly safe. It does guarantee null termination, so that is\nprogress, but it requires the caller to pass the buffer size. As I mention in\nthe \"More typing means more errors\" section of the article software developers\nare endlessly creative about ways to pass the wrong buffer size. They\n_usually_ pass the right buffer size, but 99.9% correct still means a lot of\nbugs. These bugs can be avoided by using a template function to infer the\ndestination buffer size. A template wrapper around snprintf would work very\nnicely.\n\n~~~\nbigpicture\n> These bugs can be avoided by using a template function to infer the\n> destination buffer size\n\nI'm a big fan of using strategies to avoid bugs. Another strategy than can be\na big help is to spend a little time thinking about what kinds of strings you\nare going to be using and how big they might be. And then sanitizing your\nprogram input based on those sizes. Find the too-long strings before they get\ninto your program and before you start copying them around.\n\nThe system I'm responsible for came into being as a set of programs on a\nUnivac II and was a bunch of C and FORTRAN when I joined. Because of the need\nto pass data between C and FORTRAN programs/code, we had a set of 10-20\nstandard string sizes, based on what kind of text you had. We no longer write\nnew code in either C or FORTRAN, but maintain the concept of standard sizes\nfor our text. By specifying the kind of text (we also do this with numbers) in\nthe design steps, we save far more time and effort than we spend over the\nentire SDLC.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nCatastrophic cascade of failures in interdependent networks   - cwan\nhttp://arxiv.org/abs/0907.1182\n\n======\nAnon84\nThere's a nice commentary in Nature about this paper:\n[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v464/n7291/full/464984a...](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v464/n7291/full/464984a.html)\n(Sorry, paywall)\n\nAnd also in Wired: [http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/04/networked-\nnetworks...](http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/04/networked-networks/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nOffice Chair Is Hurting You - jaden\nhttps://elemental.medium.com/your-office-chair-is-hurting-you-882e07c20ff7\n======\nm463\nThis makes me think about Wolfram's blog post about his \"personal\ninfrastructure\"\n\nHe found that for some reason typing while walking outside gave a much lower\nheart rate than typing on a treadmill. So he worked out a system to walk\noutside while typing...\n\n[https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2019/02/seeking-the-\nprod...](https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2019/02/seeking-the-productive-\nlife-some-details-of-my-personal-infrastructure/)\n\n~~~\nbigmit37\nThis is something I have been looking into as well. Those foods vendors carry\ntheir supplies in that body addon but I wanted to walk around my apt and have\na couple of projectors setup so each wall has a copy of my monitor.\n\n------\npoelzi\nI had back problems from my crappy office chair that I used for more then a\ndecade.\n\nI searched for month for a good replacement, sat on every chair I found in\nnearly every furniture shop in town. After some month, I found the best chair\nI ever sat on, and it's by far, not the most expensive one ;)\n\n[http://www.officeline.se/products/hoganas-\neco/](http://www.officeline.se/products/hoganas-eco/)\n\nThis one is the hit, you can unlock the base so you can use it in different\nheights. The backrest pressure you can adjust with a button, different locks\nand full flexible arm rests. I let everybody test sit on it who cares and I\nonly heard excitement so far.\n\nCombined with electric table I started to change my working position quite\noften and my back pain was gone after a month.\n\n~~~\nGoToRO\nI bookmarked it, who knows. What I don't like about it is how wobbly it looks.\nAlso, why me, as a software developer do I need those wheels to move in any\ndirection. I just need to move back and forth and only when go or leave my\ndesk. On my chair I removed the wheels and put static legs and I put my table\non wheels that move only backward and forward. The wheels dig into the carpet,\nso the table stays put if you don't push too hard.\n\nFor me office chair is one thing, and software developer chair should be\nanother.\n\n~~~\npoelzi\nThey give 10 years warranty. I have quite some understanding in mechanical\nsystems and it is well build, thick steel plates.\n\nThe point is this, sitting long in one position is bad for your back and\ngeneral posterior. Of course you can change the rollers into static ones, but\nI wouldn't recommend it.\n\n------\nonemoresoop\nIt is true but one does not need a special chair as much as learning how to\nsit on any chair. If the chair is really comfortable it invites the sitter in\nreally bad unnatural positions and in no time that creates a bad habit. During\nmy 20s, when I basically entered the workforce, I started having serious\nissues with sitting. I tried a lot of different chairs and while they\nameliorated the pain and numbness something was still wrong. Now, almost at\ntwice that age I have very few chair/back related problems. When something\nhurts I closely pay attention to how I sit. Of course, exercising with proper\nposture has helped me overcome some of my issues as well. While most chairs\nare really bad for most of us, I think chasing a perfect chair is not the\nsolution but learning how to sit and have a proper posture is the essential\npart.\n\n~~~\nblanche_\nSitting for extended period of time no matter how 'right' you do it is and\nwill be bad.\n\n~~~\nonemoresoop\nI agree. Breaks are a necessary part of the sitting hygiene no matter what\nchair is used.\n\n------\nkjaftaedi\n_> Since yoga balls are made out of cheap plastic, it’s not a question of if\nthe ball will pop, but when._\n\nI don't get the feeling this author has much experience with yoga balls, or is\njust making a statement they want to believe is true and peddling it as fact.\n\n~~~\nsmileysteve\nAnecdotally, I've had a yoga ball going on 4 years, though I only sit on them\noccasionally. I've never heard of one popping, failure on the other hand, can\nbe a bouncing or tripping issue, also sliding off of the front. Though I\nwouldn't call these catastrophic.\n\n~~~\nSyneRyder\nLeo Laporte's yoga ball popped live on air while recording his podcast. It\nstarted with a slow leak:\n\n[https://youtube.com/watch?v=S9A7ACL_n5Y](https://youtube.com/watch?v=S9A7ACL_n5Y)\n\n------\nolyjohn\nWhat about motorized desks that allow you to go from sitting to standing? I'm\nnot standing all day, and I'm not sitting all day. Plus I take a walk at least\nonce a day. It's helped me tremendously to have one.\n\nI suppose it won't help that doctor sell his chairs, though.\n\n~~~\nbigmit37\nStanding seems to be the worst as it puts a lot of pressure on your veins.\n\nWith sitting if you sit cross-fold with legs not dangling at the edge it seems\nto prevent v veins?\n\n------\nTerretta\nHighly recommend the Swopper ‘Active Sitting’ Chair if you can source it at a\nreasonable price:\n\n[https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=swopper+chair](https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=swopper+chair)\n\nBought one on Amazon in 2008, still love it.\n\n------\nCrackerNews\nThe biggest takeaway from this article is the advice that you should not\nadhere to the 90-90-90 sitting posture and instead raise your seat so that\nyour knees are below your hips. I've personally just tried this and it feels\nmuch more comfortable.\n\nI theorize that the 90-90-90 posture encourages bad habits where your spine\nshifts backwards from the center so it is no longer supporting the upper parts\nof your body well. By changing my sitting posture to the author's\nrecommendation, it feels easier for my spine to stay in the center and support\nmy upper body better.\n\n------\ntboyd47\nThe chair looks awesome but unfortunately it's only 1/4 of the problem.\nSchools need to change desks, keyboards, and the equipment itself, too.\n\n------\nsymmitchry\nIf standing is so terrible because of immobility perhaps a walking desk is the\nideal solution.\n\nRemember this amazing post?\n[https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2019/02/seeking-the-\nprod...](https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2019/02/seeking-the-productive-\nlife-some-details-of-my-personal-infrastructure/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDiaspora - Moving Forward - sahillavingia\nhttp://blog.joindiaspora.com/2011/05/16/moving-forward.html\n======\nJoelSutherland\n\"For the past few months, we’ve been pretty quiet, because we’ve been hard at\nwork.\"\n\nThey are building a product whose success requires overcoming network effects.\n90% of what they need to work hard on is not being quiet.\n\n~~~\ncookiecaper\nDiaspora is an open-source, decentralized system. While there may be a\ncanonical installation on a big official \"social network\", there can be some\nmeaningful separation here between the engineering and the marketing, and I\nthink it's good that they're trying to get a decent foundation in place before\nthey go all over trying to market.\n\n~~~\nsamtp\nWith all due respect, they don't seem to be the most experienced engineers to\nsolve the problem. Opening up to a larger community who is ready and willing\nto help would only be beneficial.\n\n~~~\nhartror\nI see your point but one could ask is experience as important as vision and\ndrive? If they were to open it up they would then be inexperienced engineers\ntrying to learn to manage a community of engineers.\n\n------\nspoiledtechie\nIm pretty upset with their performance in general. When I develop, I release\nquickly and iterate like my life depended on it. I would have loved to see\nthem start standing up real servers to get people joining and over time they\novercame bugs, new features etc.... They haven't even done that. Its quite a\nshame they have taken the Microsoft approach to releasing code and NOT taken\nthe Facebook Approach to releasing code. If they ever wish to take over the\nsocial environment, they MUST release then build instead of build then\nrelease.\n\nIts driving me crazy that I can't even start using their service all the while\nFacebook over takes all social networks.\n\n~~~\np0ss\nYou CAN use their service, there are a large number of open diaspora servers,\nand you can even set up your own if you want.\n\nProblem is, once you're on there, none of your friends are, and even if you\nmanage to convince even a fraction of your facebook friends to come across, it\nstill totally lacks functionality. At the moment all you can do is post\npictures and status updates, thats it.\n\nI would love to see regular updates of exactly what they're working on without\nhaving to monitor their git repo. Just assuring us they're working on it every\ncouple of months while asking for more money and more time is very very dodgy.\n\n------\nstevenj\nAll that post really said was: \"We're still alive.\"\n\nEdit: I expected some insight into where it's going, given the headline.\n\n~~~\nwicknicks\n.. which is a good thing.\n\n~~~\nevan0202\nSure, but a post with some substance would have been better :)\n\n~~~\nrglover\nAgreed. I was really excited to see something about the company's new\nideas/direction only to be left empty handed. Let's just hope a lot of the\ntalk about \"speeding up\" will actually take place. Granted, it is a team of\nfour so they're only able to produce so much so quickly.\n\n------\nmichaelchisari\nA lot of people have related to Diaspora as if it's a startup, but it isn't.\nIt's a free software project, and the rules and expectations are very\ndifferent.\n\n~~~\nbradly\nI was at a conference a couple weeks ago and the Diaspora team was there\ntalking about how they are in the process of talking with vc's.\n\n~~~\nthomasgerbe\nThey also got around 250k in funding.\n\n~~~\nohwaitnvm\n$190k[1] before Kickstarter took its cut (5%, plus an estimated 3-5% from\ncredit card fees[2]), which conservatively puts it at more like $175k. Also,\nthat was a full year ago. If the guys decided to pay themselves a year's\nsalary out of that (and there were no taxes and other fees to pay), that's\n~$44k/person.\n\n1\\. [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/196017994/diaspora-\nthe-p...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/196017994/diaspora-the-\npersonally-controlled-do-it-all-distr) 2\\. <http://www.kickstarter.com/start>\n(bottom)\n\nEdit: I forgot to mention, there was a fraudulent $10k donation included in\nthe 200k, that's why I'm starting that much lower.\n\n------\ninitself\nEverytime I read anything from those guys, it's all just a bunch of words,\nhype and promises.\n\n~~~\nphilipn\nYou can go download their code now, run it, and contribute to the project.\n\nMaybe they should make more public-facing updates about individual features\nand changes in their software, but (as is hinted to in their post) it seems\nlike they are limited in their resources.\n\nThe Diaspora guys have the really-actually-unique challenge of developing an\nopen-source project entirely in the open coupled with attention and radically\ndiffering expectations from thousands of people. It's kind of nuts, really.\nWould you want to be in their position?\n\n~~~\nnakkiel\nThey dug their own hole.\n\n~~~\nrubidium\nWell, it's more like:\n\nThey started digging a hole for fun in their backyard. Then the Army Corps of\nEngineers showed up, gave them some cash, and told them to divert the\nMississippi.\n\n~~~\npestaa\nNo one forced them to take the cash.\n\n------\nphatbyte\nI really hate to piss on Diaspora parade but people are kind of fed up with\nnew social networks, they don't want to change again and again. I believe FB\nis the final draw as far as generic social networking goes, besides, FB is too\nembedded around the web.\n\nFB has more than 500M users, if privacy and data is what drives Diaspora, for\nmost web users that's almost useless since FB already \"owns it\". Maybe geeks\nuse it, but I don't see it gaining anything relevant compared to Facebook or\nTwitter.\n\n------\nStavrosK\nAs I said before, my only interaction with them is an email I sent them a\nwhile ago (more than a year ago), advising them to seize the opportunity to\ncreate a p2p framework for social applications to be built on top on, taking\ncare of permissions, friendlists, authentication, etc under the hood to allow\ndevelopers to build the fun stuff on top of that.\n\nThe response I got, six months later, was to the effect of a brief \"thank you\nfor your email, answers to some of your questions can be found in the FAQ\".\n\n~~~\nphilipn\nI think you are being way too harsh here. They obviously get a lot of emails,\nand they're being pulled in a lot of different directions (\"distributed social\nnetworking!\", \"privacy!\", \"a drop-in facebook replacement!\")\n\nMaybe they won't amount to much, but criticising them because they didn't\nrespond to your email is not fair.\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nI'm not criticising the project, just detailing my account. I just wish they\nactually read my email, at least...\n\n------\nperfunctory\nWhat an abstract collection of words. This post doesn't contain a single\ntangible sentence.\n\n\"We are working on an outline of what we have learnt so far, and where we see\nDiaspora going in the next year.\"\n\nRight.\n\n------\nnextparadigms\nThey should take a look at how BitTorrent is trying to build a P2P social\nnetwork. Maybe they could get a few ideas from there and implement them. I'd\nlike to see a social network where a true \"global\" community can be formed,\nand by that I don't mean only having people from everywhere, but also having\npeople and communities that don't answer to any one Government, at least\nrelated to what they post in that social network. I'd like to see a social\nnetwork that would make revolutions even easier, and even allow the Chinese to\nmake one if they want to, and for that it needs to be very safe and very\ndecentralized so it can't be stopped.\n\n------\nmgkimsal\nDiaspora will be the Hurd of social networking.\n\n~~~\nrufibarbatus\nBut the point is not Diaspora, the point is distributed social networking.\n\nDiaspora is raising awareness, it's bootstraping a movement around it, and\nit's contributing to the technology required to make distributed social\nnetworking possible (protocols, algorithms).\n\nPerhaps they'll be the Hurd of social networking. So long as there's a Linux,\nI say let them be the Hurd.\n\n~~~\nmgkimsal\nThat wasn't a criticism, just an observation. It was a bit of a Rorschach\nstatement - people have read in to it whatever they want.\n\nThat said, I haven't really seen much from them in the way of developing\nprotocols, etc. They had the money many other projects could've used to get\nfarther, and what would have been better stewardship of the donations would\nhave been to use that money to spearhead a movement between existing projects\nto interoperate and create formal standards. Instead, they spent several\nmonths and gave us insecure rails code.\n\nNow _that_ is my criticism.\n\n~~~\nrufibarbatus\nThen we probably share very similar views? :-)\n\n~~~\nrufibarbatus\nThen we probably share very similar views? :-)\n\n\\--- EDIT:\n\nYou make a very good point: for the money they got, they could be creating\nmore value (or creating value differently). I'd prefer if they released a\nstripped-down 1.0 that anyone could dig into; right now, they're centralizing\ntoo many design decisions.\n\nAs far as developing technology goes, a working proof of concept should be as\ngood a starting point as any and that's what they're doing. (Sure: not the\nbest practice out there, to develop first and document later, but in this\nparticular arena, I'm a pathological satisficer: just get the bloody thing\ndone.)\n\n------\nnhangen\nThey are going to have to move more quickly if they want to make a dent. I\nrespect that they're still going strong, but the fact that they haven't done\nanything yet speaks louder.\n\n------\nmotters\nDiaspora had a lot of momentum and was endorsed by famous names, but failed to\nengage with and target the target market - which is mainly software folks and\nfreedom beards running ARM servers. Only once you have a sufficient developer\ncommunity (a high enough beard count) can you hope to take on the unwashed\nuser masses and industry pteranodons. Probably one of their main mistakes was\nnot to use the accumulated funding to support someone in the role of a\ncommunity manager. To engage with developers and early adopters you need to\nhave regular and informative communication, and Diaspora's blog output has\nwoefully fulfilled neither of those criteria.\n\n------\nadnam\nThe tone is defeatist, I wouldn't expect the project to survive another year.\n\n------\nioa44\nThey should let me in on what they are doing with my 1k pledge.\n\n------\nchrismetcalf\nAm I the only one who'd basically forgotten about Diaspora until this popped\nup?\n\n------\nakanet\nI like how they make the ridiculous claim that they are the third search\nresult for \"github\" on google. What probably happened is they have\npersonalized search on and they upped themselves to #3 by clicking themselves\nso much.\n\nSee\n[http://www.google.com/search?q=github&pws=0](http://www.google.com/search?q=github&pws=0)\n\n------\npresidentender\nI wouldn't be surprised to see Diaspora bring on some more experienced, less\nrisk-tolerant engineers in the near future. They have a grand vision, for\nwhich the \"minimum\" viable product is almost identical to the final version,\nand bringing more manpower to bear on the problem might not be a bad idea.\n\n~~~\nmichaelchisari\nFunds are probably an issue. $200k may seem like a lot, but it isn't when you\nstart hiring professionals.\n\n------\nGriever\nI thank the Diaspora community so much for creating such a large-scale open\nsource Rails application. Coming from years of PHP experience, I had such a\nhard time learning and getting used to Rails, but digging through the Diaspora\nrepository has really helped me in terms of understanding what should be\nconsidered \"production level\" Rails code.\n\n~~~\ngfodor\nExcept, famously, it's not.\n\n~~~\nGriever\nCould you give me any examples of what you would consider to be production\nready?\n\n------\nSchmidt\nWhat I don't get... why not just use elgg...?\n\n~~~\nmichaelchisari\nIt seems as though Ruby (and maybe Rails) was at least one of the reasons why\nexisting open source social networking projects like Elgg, Appleseed, etc.\nweren't used as a basis for Diaspora.\n\n------\ncharlesju\nThat's pretty interesting. I never knew that Diaspora is using Ruby on Rails.\n\n------\nignifero\nThe alternative would be to be \"Moving backwards\". Why not discuss about their\ndesign choices instead? or their choice of programming language? Why do we\nneed an invite to try it? What if the social networking fad wanes before they\nrelease v 1.0?\n\n------\nrorrr\nDiaspora needs to just launch. They are repeating the same mistake Google Wave\nmade. If it's invitation only, your friends are not on it, so there's no\nreason to use it.\n\nI give it 0.01% chance of succeeding if keep things the way they are.\n\nSeriously, a year of fucking development? Facebook launched after a few hours.\n\n~~~\nmichaelchisari\n_Seriously, a year of fucking development? Facebook launched after a few\nhours._\n\nIt amazes me the kinds of expectations people have. I mean, Diaspora is partly\nto blame with making huge promises and feeding the hype machine, but that can\nonly be a small fraction of the problem, the ideas people have about what's\npossible in this problem domain is really off the charts. Even hackers and\ngeeks, who really should know better.\n\nA year is nothing compared to the scope of what they're trying to solve.\nAppleseed, Elgg, OneSocialWeb, etc. have all been in development for years.\n\n------\nstartuplulz\nCool, but my startup is doing something similar.\n<http://openpoke.org/2011/05/16/moving-forward.html>\n\n~~~\nsamtp\nAll you linked to is your picture...?\n\n~~~\njmathai\nIt's the profile pic of a parody twitter account. Not sure what the source of\nthe image is though.\n\n<http://twitter.com/hipsterhacker>\n\n~~~\nmichaelchisari\nIt's Rivers Cuomo from Weezer.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nA texture-mapped raycaster in 128 bytes - RodgerTheGreat\nhttp://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=63518\n======\n3rd3\n\n        ; Wolf128 by Baudsurfer/rsi 2014 aka olivier.poudade.free.fr\n        ; A 128 bytes interactive intro tested on XPSP3 and DOSBox\n        ; Presented at Outline demoparty in Eersel/The Netherlands\n        ; 256 bytes versions : \n        ; http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=24755\n        ; http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=3396\n        ; P.S : click left mouse button to start moving in maze\n        ; Greets to UkkO Ggn Fra Den and assembly language lovers \n          org 100h\n          mov al,13h\n          int 10h\n          les dx,[bx]\n        A:mov cl,0ffh\n        B:mov bl,cl\n          not bl\n          lea ax,[di-10h]\n          mov bp,140h\n          cdq\n          div bp\n          call G\n          call G\n          test byte [1dh],7\n          jz C\n          add dh,[1fh]\n          sub bl,[1eh]\n          jmp short E\n        C:mov dl,[fs:46ch]\n          sub bl,[si]\n          test dl,40h\n          jnz D\n          add dh,dl\n        D:add bl,dl\n        E:shld bp,bx,10\n          sub dh,[bp]\n          mov al,dh\n          and dh,bl\n          or dh,ah\n          and dh,20h\n          loopz B\n          xor al,bl\n          xor al,ah\n          db 0d4h,10h\n          add al,10h\n          stosb\n          or di,di\n          jnz A\n          mov ax,3\n          int 33h\n          test bl,al\n          mov [1dh],bl\n          jz F\n          mov [1eh],dl\n          mov [1fh],cl\n        F:in ax,60h\n          dec ax\n          jnz B\n        G:xchg ax,dx\n          sub ax,64h\n          imul ax,bx\n          add ax,[si]\n          ret\n\n~~~\natesti\nDoes someone know what \"mov dl,[fs:46ch]\" does? In win32, fs and gs point to\nsome process or thread info blocks, but in DOS? I was never aware of anything\nregarding the fs register and DOS unless a dos extender was run or pmode was\nentered!\n\n~~~\nbeagle3\nIf memory serves me right, fs=gs=0 in DOS mode, and 46C is a tick counter of\nsome sort.\n\nAnd on a C64, addresses 53280 and 53281 change text background and border.\nDon't know why I remember these things.\n\n------\nbshimmin\nSomething terrible and greatly upsetting seems to have happened in the\ncomments, but I can't for the life of me understand what.\n\n~~~\npatrickyeon\nAs CountHackulus says, basically \"drama\". If it amuses you for some reason,\nyou might want to check out \"Jason Scott - You're Stealing It Wrong! 30 Years\nof Inter-Pirate Battles\" from Defcon 18.\n[http://youtu.be/QCAL_YgYiP0](http://youtu.be/QCAL_YgYiP0) The meat of the\ntalk starts around 24min.\n\nedit: while re-watching, I should warn you lots of foul language and some NSFW\nimagery\n\n~~~\nanon4\nFor some reason the link to all the scene lingo is down now. Is there a\nbackup? Did it move? Do I need to be \"in\" something?\n\n------\nhexagonsun\nAh the Demoscene... This is the kind of stuff that got me interested in\nprogramming in the first place. :)\n\n------\nuserbinator\nThe 1st place entry is apparently very similar, but trades interactivity for\n_sound_ and rather more psychedelic colours:\n\n[http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=63517](http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=63517)\n\n~~~\negypturnash\nSame author.\n\n------\njakejake\nThese demos always amaze me. Can somebody enlighten me as far as the way the\nsize is measured - does it typically include all of the assets such as music\nand textures? I was watching a few of the demos and it blows my mind that the\naudio would even fit in that amount of space, let alone the visuals.\n\n~~~\njoshvm\nSize includes everything. Usually the textures are procedural, but can be\nseeded so they're the same every time. Music is usually pretty easy to encode\nif it's a chiptune, loads of redundant data.\n\n~~~\nmalnourish\nbemmu\n\nHopefully you see this, unfortunately your comment is dead.\n\nBecause I think your comment has value I will quote it here, please let me\nknow if you'd like it removed.\n\n\"You can also have procedural music.\n\nViznut (a legendary Finnish democoder) did some experiments to see how short\nyou could code something that still sounds at least interesting:\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtQdIYUtAHg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtQdIYUtAHg)\n\nI also wrote piece of JavaScript that can play these programs in case you want\nto try create your own:\n[http://www.bemmu.com/music/index.html](http://www.bemmu.com/music/index.html)\n\"\n\n~~~\nerikano\nThank you all, malnourish, bemmu and viznut -- now I understand how the 8bit\nsynth works in Caustic on my Android tablet. Furthermore, I want to make my\nown music software on my Raspberry Pi and Adapteva Parallellas and this is the\nfirst real step on the path to that.\n\n~~~\nbemmu\nMake sure to watch some of the later videos too as viznut added some\nvisualizations as well:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCRPUv8V22o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCRPUv8V22o)\n\n~~~\nerikano\nThanks for the link, very cool.\n\n------\nPhasmaFelis\nMan, wouldn't it be awesome if we'd had the public internet instead of just\nBBSes back when stuff like this was cutting-edge tech, instead of just a\nclever hack? Imagine if, say, C64 devs and hackers could do this kind of\nsharing instead of being limited to word-of-mouth.\n\n------\nleorocky\nThese kinds of ray casters are really cool, but at this point in time I don't\ncare about how small the code base is, just make a really cool ray caster in\nJavaScript and don't worry about how big the code is (within reasonable\nlimits)! I just want an awesome JavaScript ray caster library to be honest. :)\n\n~~~\nleorocky\nLooks like this comment of mine was irrevocably wrong and completely\nirredeemable. No apology is possible and I'm sorry for my very existence. Go\nsocial voting sites! Go internet culture! Yay.\n\n~~~\nbunderbunder\nA harsh response, yes. But frankly, what you said was harsh. An interactive\nraycaster in an executable an order of magnitude smaller than most networks'\nminimum transmission unit is an incredible accomplishment, and your response\nis to essentially drop trou and take a dump on it because teh w3b 4evaz.\n\n~~~\nleorocky\nWhat I said wasn't harsh, it just wasn't apparently enough genuflection and\nawe to appease the people that happened to be interested enough to check the\ncomments on this link. I care about as much as I did yesterday, which is not\nnothing. You and everyone else who demands more will just have to deal with\nit.\n\n~~~\nfl0wenol\nNo; if you don't appreciate something because you suspect you don't understand\nor lack context (as you expressed), you should just keep your mouth shut lest\nyou sound like an idiot.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nProcessed meats as bad as cigarettes: bad reporting on good science - GeorgeOrr\nhttps://medium.com/@zsupalla/processed-meats-as-bad-as-cigarettes-bad-reporting-on-good-science-ac43a97be603#.7t8gqi8xu\n======\nangdis\nWhen these stories discuss \"processed meat\" they always show bacon.\n\nBut is bacon really processed? It is just cured pork belly, right?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nDropbox (YC 07) announces mobile API (and apps for iPad, Android) - jrnkntl\nhttp://blog.dropbox.com/?p=492\n\n======\nminouye\nJust downloaded the Android app and I'm reminded of why I like Dropbox to\nbegin with. It's simple, straight-forward, and does what I want it to. This\napp is no exception.\n\n~~~\ne40\nHow do I put all the photos on my droid in my dropbox? That should be simple,\nbut I can't figure it out.\n\n------\nbrlewis\nI'm still looking forward to a non-mobile API, but I'm doing my best with the\nCLI. Here's an email I got last night from a user of <http://ourdoings.com/>\n\nThat was trivial to set up (I already had dropbox, which is partly why I chose\nto use it to upload the latest set of photos). Your directions were easy to\nfollow, and the email confirmation came within minutes.\n\nI dropped the photos into the shared folder, went to dinner, and when I came\nback, everything was transferred over.\n\nthanks,\n\nTJ\n\n------\nugh\nGreat product and at the moment all the rage with the lecturers at my\nuniversity (small university in Germany). I guess it’s the file format\nagnosticism, the flexibility and the ease of use. Also a good way for them to\nexploit students and get their 250MB :)\n\n(You would really think university IT could provide their own solutions but\nthey just can’t compete. We use Dropbox, Google Docs, Wave and Doodle all the\ntime. And Gmail, so as to not be limited to 200MB.)\n\n~~~\njackowayed\nDo you really expected university IT to provide comparable solutions? Even the\nbiggest university IT department is providing the stuff to maybe 50k people,\nand as long as it more-or-less gets the job done, they keep their jobs and\ndon't really care that it's not spectacular.\n\nDropbox is providing the service to 5M people, and the whole business is built\non it being spectacular. The economies of scale mean that they can afford to\nmake tiny improvements, and they have serious incentives to make it as great\nas possible; otherwise, they go out of business. (In fact, otherwise, they\nwould have gone out of business long before they made it to 5M users.)\n\nGood OSS can fix this to an extent--if someone started a really good host-\nyour-own Dropbox project, every university could use it, getting you similar\nscale when it comes to coding it, so people would contribute from all over to\nmake it great, and the IT at each individual university would just have to\ndeploy it and update it as it improves.\n\n~~~\nsoult\nI'm sorry that you go to such a crappy university then.\n\nWhere I study, IT staff try to be use- and helpful, and not just to keep their\njobs.\n\n~~~\njackowayed\nI'm just saying that to make something as seamless and all-around good as\nDropbox takes some serious work. Not only do IT people have little incentive\nto reach that level of perfection, they often aren't really coders and\nwouldn't be able to get a budget through that gave them enough man-hours to\nhave time to make something like Dropbox. It's not worth it to the university,\nin general, to pay the full development cost of an extremely well-done\nimplementation of a complex, nonessential system. The economies of scale\naren't there.\n\nAnd I'm still a few months away from college. It looks like Stanford has some\npretty good systems overall, but just as a datapoint, the design of Axess (the\nsystem that appears to handle pretty much everything--course signup, financial\naid, etc) is much uglier (and a little harder to use) than any commercial site\nI use. It gets the job done, it probably dates back to when all sites looked\nlike that, and the people in charge of it don't have enough incentive to give\nit a facelift.\n\n~~~\nugh\nMy university has kick ass WiFi (Damn you WiFi and the constant distraction\nyou provide!), you can use a VPN client to get access to, e.g., free papers\nanywhere in the world, the mail account is a bit low on space but works like a\ncharm and you never have to fool around with writing anything on dead tree at\nsome fixed location in space because you can do pretty much everything online.\nAnd the IT department tries really hard to make it possible for you to access\nall that stuff no matter which software or hardware you are using (that’s in\ncontrast to what might be the case in some corporate environments).\n\nI can’t complain but it’s probably also true that something like powerful\ntools for seamless online collaboration is outside the scope of university IT\ndepartments.\n\n(The university actually uses moodle which would offer some useful\nfunctionality but not even the lecturers like it. Asked whether we should use\nmoodle to upload our stuff: _disgusted-look_ “Uhm, it would be nice if we\ncould use Dropbox, that’s a pretty cool service. Do you know it?” :)\n\n~~~\nviraptor\nAh the joy of Moodle... I haven't met one person who likes it (although I've\nseen much worse systems - WebCT anyone?) It's amazing that people still want\nto install it for anything serious. Although maybe there no alternatives\nfeature-wise?\n\n------\nRK\nThe only problem I'm having so far with the Android app (on 2.1/Nexus One) is\nthat whenever you view a picture in the Dropbox app it gets added to your\nAndroid gallery. The other way around would be OK, but this way just clutters\nup the phone gallery.\n\n------\nderefr\nAnyone know what the API looks like? The documentation for it is behind the\ninvite-wall, I'm guessing.\n\n------\ntingley\nIt makes me happy to see how much success Dropbox is having. It's a great\nproduct.\n\n------\nevo_9\nYeah these guys are top notch. Excellent product, and now this smart move to\nfurther fill the storage void for mobile. Good work DropBox!\n\n------\nbmalicoat\nWon't be surprised when these guys get bought out. Fantastic product,\nimplemented way better than anything any of the major players have.\n\n------\nLegion\nOf _course_. Earlier today I go to Android Market, thinking \"gee, the Dropbox\napp ought to be out by now, right?\". It was not, so I downloaded some 3rd\nparty thing.\n\nDrive home, fire up HackerNews, and look what I see...\n\nAh well. As if I can really act like I'm mad for having another reason to\ntwiddle around on my phone.\n\n------\ngrosen\niPad App works great and integrated extraordinarily well with the service. No\nlimitations as far as I can see.\n\n~~~\ncstuder\nI especially am looking forward to use files stored on my DropBox in other\nApps (Like Air Sharing or Goodreader).\n\nIt's a nice way to get around the clumsy synchronization via iTunes.\n\n------\nmgz\nCreated an mp3 hosting/sharing website using this new Dropbox API:\n<http://boomp3.com>\n\n------\nacgourley\nExcellent, was waiting for dropbox to give my ipad a cloud filesystem! I'll\nprobably pay for it now.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: How do you start your morning? - alehul\nIt&#x27;d be interesting to know HNers&#x27; morning routines, both in terms of exercise and also reading, listening to a podcast, or whatever else.<p>How do you start your day, and why?\n======\nPaulHoule\nI wake up to the sun, get in line for shower, food, etc. after my son who\ncatches the school bus.\n\nIf I have to I can go straight to work and have an early meeting at a time\nwhich is good for Europe, India, and early risers towards the east.\n\nI usually have a tablet left by the bed which I can use to start surfing\nearly, check HN, etc.\n\nEvery other day I go to Planet Fitness and do a long cardio and circuit\ntraining workout. I bring my tablet there and read documentation, there is\nWiFi but I also load it with PDF files -- I have bought and/or downloaded a\nnumber of O'Reilly books, academic papers.\n\nOther days I probably hike for an hour.\n\nI put exercise in front because it helps with physical and mental health,\nresilience to stress, cognition, etc.\n\n------\ncaio1982\nBadly.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nA Fish Story (The Washington Monthly) - jayzee\nhttp://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/mayjune_2012/features/a_fish_story037074.php\n======\nduncanbojangles\nThis statement in the article really upset me, and I'd like HN to let me know\nif I'm over reacting:\n\n _\"at a time when constitutional arguments for states’ rights are gaining\ntraction, this disagreement over the lowly menhaden could be grounds for\nquestioning the constitutionality of the federal government’s power to\ninterfere with the state of Virginia and its ability to manage its own natural\nresources.\"_\n\nTo me, when a migratory fish's population can be directly linked to one\nlocation, and that population has an effect on out-of-state fish and bird\npopulations, then it is no longer that state's own natural resources.\n\n~~~\nggchappell\nI don't know if over- or under-reaction is really the issue here. I think you\nare confusing \"constitutional\" with \"good\".\n\nWhether something is in accord with the U.S. Constitution depends on what the\nConstitution says, and not on what would be the best thing to do. You've made\na reasonable argument, but it is one that is irrelevant to questions of\nconstitutionality.\n\n~~~\nduncanbojangles\nYou're completely right, I was assuming that what is good for nature is what\nshould be law. I'm having such a hard time wrapping my head around the short-\nsightedness shown by these mega-corporations and lawmakers. We're just humans,\ndoomed to die, but whole species are stake here. I don't feel that fishing a\nspecies to extinction could be that beneficial to so few people in the short\nrun.\n\n------\nduncanbojangles\nIf you enjoyed reading this, you may enjoy reading \"The Secret Life of\nLobsters: How Fishermen and Scientists Are Unraveling the Mysteries of Our\nFavorite Crustacean\" by Trevor Corson.\n\n------\njapaget\nSingle page link:\n[http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/mayjune_2012/featu...](http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/mayjune_2012/features/a_fish_story037074.php?page=all)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Has Apple announced a language whose name clashes with an existing one? - ColinWright\n\n\n======\n27182818284\nYes,\n\nbut so did Google years ago. The author even filed a bug report.\n\n[https://code.google.com/p/go/issues/detail?id=9](https://code.google.com/p/go/issues/detail?id=9)\n\n------\nloumf\nThere are many languages with the same name as another lesser known one. Go\nwas taken before google used it -- there was already a Pearl before Perl.\n\n------\nTheCoelacanth\nYes. Do they care? No.\n\n------\njulianpye\nActually the Swift website is down, too, overwhelmed by everyone searching for\nthe Apple flavour.\n\n------\niancarroll\nyes\n\n~~~\nnighthawk24\nunbelievable\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: How are HN's comments rendered at scale (server-side)? - gigatexal\nHN, as we all know, is a super popular website. I heard, randomly, that it&#x27;s hosted on rather low-end hardware but somehow it is capable of handling all the load we rabid HN checkers give it. So without something like disqus how are the comments powered?\n======\nnostrademons\nEverything is served out of RAM and then when RAM fills up, the oldest threads\nare written out as static files. (Note that when you visit a super-old thread\n[1], there's no \"reply\" link and voting redirects you to a voteclosed page.)\n\nComputers are stupidly fast at serving out of RAM - it's not unusual to be\nable to serve 100K requests/ _sec_ if a request never needs to touch disk (see\neg. the JSON serialization test on the TechEmpower benchmarks, on physical\nhardware [2] - top frameworks can get 500K request/sec on a hello-world\nserialization task). They're also stupidly fast at serving static files\n(which, if the server is implemented right, can be served straight out of the\nfilesystem cache in the kernel without any memory copies through user space).\n100K requests/sec is a budget of 20,000 cycles/request, which is eminently\ndoable if most of the page contents is in RAM (or better yet, cache...on a\nslow day, the entire front page of HN can fit in L3 cache).\n\nThe same approach has been used to good effect on other websites like Google,\nFacebook, PlentyOfFish, Mailinator, etc. Eschew databases, serve out of RAM\n(and now SSDs) entirely.\n\n[1]\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863)\n\n[2]\n[https://www.techempower.com/benchmarks/#section=data-r14&hw=...](https://www.techempower.com/benchmarks/#section=data-r14&hw=ph&test=json)\n\n~~~\ngigatexal\nThank you so much for the info. Makes sense and helped to scratch the itch I\nwas having for a while now.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Why is Quora popular all of a sudden? - senorgusto\nIt seems like Quora has been popping up in Google searches more and more lately, and it&#x27;s doubled in popularity in the last year [0]. Does anybody have any idea why? They recently pushed out a snazzy new design (at least for Quora.com), but this can&#x27;t be the only reason. What do people think?<p>[0] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.google.com&#x2F;trends&#x2F;explore#q=%2Fm%2F0bm8t1r\n======\nSwellJoe\nI dunno about its changing popularity, but like Expert Sexchange before it, I\nactively avoid Quora. It was the first site I added to my Google Personal\nBlocklist, and the reason I installed the plugin.\n\nTheir unsubscribe form is (or was last I saw it in 2015) a nastier piece of\nwork than I could imagine, even if told: Come up with the most annoying\nunsubscribe form you can. Make it really hard to unsubscribe from\neverything...make'em work for it.\n\nQuora, I hope, will continue to lose to much better, much more ethical, Q&A\nsites. The Stack Exchange sites seem like the market leaders, as they probably\nshould be. They do nearly everything right, and they do it without being\nsmarmy. Sites that believe they have a _right_ to my attention, and are\nwilling to cheat to get it, really ought to be shunned in polite company. I'm\nnot sure how they've managed to maintain a patina of legitimacy after all\nthese years of being no-good, shiftless, internet hucksters. We, as a\ncommunity, usually shun the hell out of spammers...and yet, when Quora (and\nLinkedIn, for another example of a spammer getting a pass) do it, most folks\njust shrug as though it's no big deal. Does a certain level of economic\nsuccess lend credibility even when behaving in ways that deserve no\ncredibility?\n\nNot that I'm grumpy about it, or anything.\n\n~~~\nmeowface\nOn mobile, they make you install their app to look at anything at all.\n\nAny company that needs dozens of \"dark patterns\" and tricks to stay afloat\nprobably shouldn't exist. LinkedIn is the same.\n\n~~~\nTomte\nThey suggest their app, but the web site is fully working on mobile (Android\nin my case).\n\n~~~\nmaaarghk\nI wouldn't say fully working. I'm using Chrome on a nexus 5X and whenever I go\nto their website I get a banner to install the app which is extremely\ndifficult to remove. Tiny, tiny touch area. It then gets in the way enough to\nmake the useable viewport ridiculously small.\n\n~~~\nmeowface\nSame experience here.\n\n------\nwiseleo\nThey did a very good job attracting core early contributors who wrote unique\ngreat content and then it snowballed. Reading answers posted by the top 10\ncontributors is just fun. All content is SEO-friendly. Much of it is\nauthoritative and Google loves authoritative content. There is a setting to\nmake my content appear as anonymous to search engines, but many of us\nassociate our names with our content.\n\nMost of Quora's content is evergreen. They improved question merging recently\nand that resulted in a high concentration of high quality answers to popular\nquestions. Quora's management calls them canonical questions. The ask2answer\nflow also improved. You can now find people who can answer your questions.\nThat feature was previously under-developed and didn't work very well.\n\nQuora's top contributors enjoy the virtuous cycle. We write answers and people\nupvote them, which introduces other readers to us. Our audiences are massive.\nI only have about 250,000 views per month and about 5500 followers, but some\nother writers have several million per month and more than 20,000 followers.\n\nQuora will collapse answers that are highly upvoted but incorrect. This helps\nwith site quality and likely pleases Google.\n\nI am one of about 800 Quora's Top Writers (\n[http://quora.com/Leonid-S.-Knyshov](http://quora.com/Leonid-S.-Knyshov) ) if\nyou have any specific questions.\n\n~~~\nhkmurakami\nA lot of what you've listed have been true for a long time though. It wouldn't\nexplain a sudden increase in Google search rankings.\n\n~~~\nHoushalter\nThe last time I checked quora put up a big \"create an account to read this\nwebsite\", which seems to be gone now.\n\n------\nDwolb\nIn addition to wiseleo's comment, the key thing I think they got right was the\nweekly digest. It's never too frequent, it's relative, interesting, and fresh.\n\nIt was important to get the digest right because it granted Quora permission\nto keep getting user's attention even when away from the site (push vs pull)\nand also gave users a 'takeaway' \\- either information or topics of discussion\nto debate with friends through real conversation or an email forward.\n\nThis feature lets them have high retention rates and increases word-of-mouth\nto gain new users.\n\n~~~\ninglor\nThis so much. I usually unsubscribe very fast from these sort of emails - I\naccidentally left a checkbox marked when I signed up to read an article and it\nactually got me hooked. Lots of good material.\n\nI would love to read an article about how to create such digest emails.\nTypically they are truly terrible but they managed to make it interesting.\n\n------\nsaid\nI've seen some great answers on Quora, but their growth is possibly due to\nspam. I hate to accuse them of that, but...\n\nQuora lets you sign up using a Google account. Normally, this means you won't\nneed to create a new password. However, Quora _immediately_ asks you to\nprovide one.\n\nWith that in mind, what's the point of linking your Google account? Well,\naccording to this recent thread, Quora tries to access your contacts:\n\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/3ax27p/tried_to_re...](https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/3ax27p/tried_to_register_with_quora_using_my_gmail/)\n\n~~~\nmoonshinefe\nThat seems possible. Everything I've seen from that site indicates it's\nterrible.\n\n------\ndoseofreality\nPlease login to see the answer to this question.\n\n~~~\nmoonshinefe\nDo they still make you sign up to view all the answers? I remember being\ngreatly annoyed that the site kept coming up at the top of Google results,\nonly to be blocked by needing to login.\n\nWhereas other rivals sites like the ___ exchanges didn't have this nag.\n\n~~~\nmullsork\nShouldn't Google catch on to this stuff and demote their site ranking?\n\n~~~\njaxbot\nGoogle's policy is that the first link from google's results must be freely\nviewable, but any other links on the site can be paywalled, login-walled, etc.\nThat's why you can often just google a WSJ article or the title of another\nQuora question and view the results freely. It's all based on the HTTP\nreferer.\n\n------\nvinod1073\nIndia is the reason! Look at the regional interest graph at the mentioned URL!\nQuora is more popular in India than in any other country!\n\nAlso change the country drop down filter below the search bar from Worldwide\nto India. You see an exponential rise in popularity, and the rise is not\nsudden.\n[https://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=%2Fm%2F0bm8t1r&geo=I...](https://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=%2Fm%2F0bm8t1r&geo=IN&cmpt=q&tz=Etc%2FGMT-5%3A30)\n\n------\ninsulanian\nBecause asking a question on Stack Overflow is becoming a formal skill, for\nGod's sake!\n\nIt gets more annoying and restrictive every day so that I have to think trice\nbefore deciding if I should go again trough that agony of asking a question\nand fight with SO admins to keep it from being closed.\n\n------\nchanux\nI think I was on the site yesterday. Went there through a link on twitter and\nclicked a link on that page. I was presented with the dreaded 'sign up to see'\noverlay dark pattern.\n\nPS: I deleted my account sometimes back because I thought they used too many\ndark patterns to my taste at the time.\n\n~~~\ndurub\nTip: when presented with the dreaded sign up to see overlay, you can add\n?share=1 to the end of the URL to bypass it.\n\n~~~\njustincormack\nOr you can just stop using the site. I deleted all my content from the site\nseveral years ago as I only wanted to write public content, and have never\nbothered to visit since.\n\n------\narihant\nThe question is -- Is it good for Quora?\n\nRecently the site has basically become a plagiarism echo chamber. People\ncopy/paste blogs verbatim in a bid for upvotes. Maybe Quora should stop\noptimizing for Facebook's key metrics like MAU.\n\nMaybe the whole point of Quora is higher quality content, a special place\nwhich only allows for certain standard of content. If everyone can have a\nguard of honor, then it is simply a guard. If anyone is allowed to answer on\nQuora, it's simply a content mill. And the wrong kind at that.\n\nTo be what Quora is trying to be, you need a heavy handed deletionist culture.\nFor that you need passionate people who spend time doing that, and you need an\nopen platform. Both of which Quora is not. It's like they had a decent idea in\n2010 but never really improvised.\n\n------\njdross\nMy understanding from speaking with former PM's is they moved their sign-up-\nto-view \"paywall\" from the first page you view to the second page, at least\nwhen you come from a social network or search engine. That obviously increases\nthe relevance and search score when the answer is high quality.\n\n------\nadarsh_thampy\nGoogle algorithms keep changing all the time. Personally, I haven't noticed\nQuora results come up in Google search more often.\n\nIt could be that Google is tracking your clicks with cookies and showing you\nmore of the sites you click frequently in the search results. Or the queries\nyou are using might be dominated by Quora.\n\nWhile I dislike Quora for forced sign up (with an even weirder explanation for\nwhy you need to have an account), some of the answers there are top notch. I\nhaven't seen such depth in any Q&A sites.\n\n------\nandrong\nWhy is Stack Overflow so popular? The website is full of very frequently asked\nquestions and insightful answers for all topics, not just the few topics that\nStack Overflow and its sister sites have. And often the highly upvoted answers\nin the \"Life\" category are stories, not just answers. It is a place to pick\nthe minds of people more experienced.\n\nMost importantly, the site is SEO friendly.\n\n------\nairesQ\nGoing for the other comments on this thread, I guess I have a better opinion\nof Quora than most here.\n\nI do appreciate the insider comments we get from a wide variety of areas.\n\nMy only gripe is a question of style, namely the style that comes when most\ncontent creators are in it for self-promotion (which is fine btw); in the end\nit feels like everyone is in a job interview.\n\n------\nogezi\nQuora is probably the best social network-ish website ever. It probably\ngathers all the smartest people on the internet. After I started using Quora I\nquit fb and twitter. It's not an apples to apples comparison but you get the\nidea. There are much less trolls because most people on Quora are smart enough\nto do other things.\n\n------\nBilalBudhani\nI believe this question will get insightful answers on Quora itself. You\nthought of posting it there as well?\n\n------\njpeg_hero\na lot of the content they surface seems to be targeted to people's\ninner-13-year-old-boy. Grandiose fantasies of world domination.\n\n1\\. how do i make a million dollars in a week?\n\n2\\. who in history made $1 billion in the easiest way?\n\n3\\. who is smarter Terrance Tso or Leibniz?\n\n4\\. what's faster Ferrari or Lamborghini?\n\nand finally:\n\n5\\. who would win: Boxer vs. Ninja?!?!?!\n\n~~~\neecks\n6\\. Who is smarter Bill Gates or Steve Jobs?\n\n7\\. Why do some people think Mark Zuckerberg is a good programmer?\n\n8\\. What skills do people who work at Google have that other people don't\nhave?\n\n9\\. What are the top things to do before applying for a position at Google?\n\n------\nbaby\nOn the contrary I've been there less and less. There was a time where I was\nlooking to contribute but the website is flooded with fake users generated\nquestions. I guess they have to do that to fake the growth and attract more\npeople but it just felt empty then...\n\n~~~\nTheLogothete\nOh, you've been using it less? It must be the case for everyone else then.\n\n------\nKuhlMensch\nI miss Aardvark :(\n\n------\nelorant\nBecause the network effect has started to apply. There are enough users now to\nmake the whole ecosystem interesting.\n\n------\nonion2k\n_but this can 't be the only reason_\n\nWhy not?\n\n------\nuber1geek\nBecause people have questions, all the time.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBret Victor – Inventing on Principle - peter_d_sherman\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGqwXt90ZqA\n======\npeter_d_sherman\nNote to future self: This video contains some super-important concepts, re-\nwatch...\n\n~~~\nOzzie_osman\nThanks for resurfacing. I watched this a couple years ago but it's always a\ngreat reminder.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Turn your browser into a Supermachine - ondrejzabojnik\nhttps://moonkit.io/turn-your-browser-into-a-supermachine/\n======\nondrejzabojnik\nHi!\n\nI'd be grateful for any feedback.\n\nI am building a tool that replaces cloud servers with your own browser\ncapabilities: Rapidly analyze websites and augment existing websites with\nsuperuser features.\n\nExtract emails from websites for free, perform real-time SEO analysis or\nbasically extract any information if there's an extraction model available.\n\n(Private Beta) Augment websites with additional features, such as scheduling\nyour tweets directly from twitter.com.\n\nI like the idea of performing computations closest to the user. Two major\nbenefits I see there: (1) Efficiency - use the available power, save costs.\n(2) Privacy - keep your data locally and download models to process the data.\n\nI see this as an alternative to SaaS.\n\nCurrently, I am focusing on tools that can help you grow your niche business.\n\nIn the long-run, I want to turn my browser into a local, personal \"metamind\"\nwhich can narrow the gap between me wanting to take an action, and performing\nthe action (such as finding information, deploying a landing page etc.).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow badly are we being ripped off on eyewear? Former industry execs tell all - ilamont\nhttps://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-glasses-lenscrafters-luxottica-monopoly-20190305-story.html\n======\njerf\nIt's articles like this that make me wonder how much of our middle class\nburden comes from hidden rent seeking parasites like this.\n\nI honestly don't know. I'm not trying to imply any particular thing. I\nhonestly wonder. These sorts of things can stack up through the layers of\ncompanies that make things.\n\nAnd where does this money go? What does it end up doing?\n\n~~~\nsampo\n> how much of our middle class burden comes from hidden rent seeking parasites\n> like this.\n\nIf you include the unwillingness to respond to demand by building enough new\nhomes in the popular urban areas, probably a lot.\n\nA 1000 sq.ft. home (house or condo) should not cost more than $200,000 to\nbuild. Anything above that, someone is making profit.\n\n~~~\neeeeeeeeeeeee\nIt doesn't even seem like anyone has interest in building $200,000 houses\nanymore, but they will sell you a poorly made condo for $400,000 and $600/mo\nHOA fees.\n\nI am a single person trying to find a house that is not four or five bedrooms\n(I only need one or two) and doesn't cost 1/2 mil minimum and it's difficult.\nThis used to be called \"the starter house\" but it doesn't seem to exist\nanymore with new construction.\n\n~~~\nMrLeap\nI decided to take a break from society last year. I'm fortunate enough where I\nam that it's eminently reasonable to do.\n\nI found some Mennonites that build small 14 * 28 foot cabins with two sleeping\nlofts. It costs about 8k, and that includes delivery to your land. They come\nwith the exterior/roof finished, but the interior is up to you.\n\nYour personal asceticism modulates the cost. My shower is actuated by a ball\nvalve. I set the temperature at the inline gas water heater to perfection, so\nI don't need hot and cold! I was surprised to learn how cheap the insulation,\ncarpet, sheetrock, mud and paint were.\n\nRural land here is about 2k per acre. Many plots already have wells dug, but\nif not It'll cost about 4-6k to get one drilled, and 500-1000$ for a well\npump.\n\nSeptic tanks are a few grand. A trenching shovel is cheaper, but that option\ndepends on the topology of your land and your heart.\n\nI get my electricity from solar. If you do that, you need some panels, an\ninverter, charge controller and batteries. My system is pretty modest. 10 deep\ncycle batteries. I've lost track of how many panels we've got. Most of them we\nsoldered the cells together so it kind of all blurs together. The whole of it\nprobably cost about 1700$. It's enough to run our super efficient 12 volt\nfridge, the pump and a few laptops.. except when we go a week without sun\nduring the winter.\n\nNext consulting gig I get, I'll probably get a wind generator as well.\n\nWhen it's oppressively cloudy, I use a small gasoline generator to power all\nthe stuff. It also will kick on a battery charger that'll top the batteries\noff.\n\nThis winter I used a propane heater. I've come to realize liquid propane is\nsomewhat money inefficient compared to a wood stove. I'll have the wood stove\ninstalled by next winter. I'll probably keep using the propane oven.\n\nLeading up to me dropping out of society, I came to resent paying rent.. I\nresented the thought of office power games having survival consequences for my\nlife. I didn't have to off-grid like I have.. There are power lines. It's just\nsuch a great feeling to cut out monthly subscription costs from my life. The\nserenity it brings is maximum. Mother gaia gives me my water and sol my\nelectrons.\n\nI still do consulting work as it comes to me. Blissfully, I no longer feel\ndesperation and anxiety between contracts.\n\n~~~\nhector_vasquez\nDon't get me wrong, it's great that you found a way to reduce the work stress\nin your life! But ... I genuinely cannot tell whether the guy posting on\nHacker News that he \"dropped out of society\" is being serious or tongue-in-\ncheek.\n\nIf paying society's currency for all the solar panels and the batteries and\nthe gas and the generator and the refrigerator and the laptops and the deeded\nproperty and all the other stuff that society created is dropping out of\nsociety, I wonder what it is like to be a member of society.\n\n~~~\nMrLeap\nIt's a bit tongue-in-cheek but not totally inaccurate. I'm visiting the big\ncity for now which is why I'm on HN. You all are my people, so I like to check\nin when I can ;)\n\nI consider 'dropping out of society' to partially be a state of mind thing.\nCurrently, when I'm 'in country', I am very disconnected from the world at\nlarge. I have to drive for 30 minutes in order to receive text messages or\nphone calls. In order to get internet, I have to drive an hour to the lake so\nI can get some LTE. I don't have a TV, and I don't listen to the radio.\nAmerica could go to war and I could go a month without knowing about it.\n\nI grew up in suburbia right outside of the densest city in the state. Until\nlast year I had never put a screw into wood, nor had I ever wired up a light\nor planted a potato. MrLeap's life this year is 180 degrees different than it\nwas every year prior. I think the contrast in my perspective makes the 'drop\nout' comment more appropriate, but it's a personal thing.\n\nI obliterated most of my savings doing this, and I'm on track this year to\nmake SIGNIFICANTLY less than the poverty line. I think that represents a\ncertain uncoupling from the standard structures of society. I intend to\nincrease that as time goes on, but if I fail, I should still keep on living.\nI've lived an arduous life, and my re-orienting is in reflection of that.\n\nIf I really put my soul into it, I could garden hard, raise animals and cut\nout the last human survival-y thing that takes me into town. I really like\ncans of mini-ravioli though so I might not take it that far.\n\nI could get satellite internet, or maybe a cell phone booster and a tower to\nobviate my connectivity problems. Maybe I will someday. Right now, I'm focused\non building a workshop and blacksmithing. The workshop is hexagonal, which I\nthink is cool. Anybody want a forged spatula? ;D\n\n~~~\nohazi\nAmerica is _currently_ at war, yet most of us still living in society don't\nseem to know about it.\n\n------\njasode\nI was able to slash my eyeglasses expenditures in both the exams and the\nframes:\n\neye exams: I used to pay the optometrist $153 ($117 refraction + $36\ndilation). I later found out that Costco often has an optometrist on site in a\ntiny office and will charge just $59 (and add +$20 for dilation). That's less\nthan half the cost of most other optometrists.\n\nframes: switched to Zenni online to avoid the LensCrafters/Pearle/Eyemasters\nand their heavy markups.\n\nYes, some people don't like ordering online frames because they can't \"try\nthem on\". If that's a deal breaker, consider going to Costco and see if you\nlike any of their frames. Costco's total price will be about half of the\ndedicated eyewear chains. If you can't find anything among Costco's selection\nof frames, I'm afraid you'll be stuck with the Luxoticca monopoly and pay high\nprices.\n\nI know some folks recommend Warby Parker but last time I checked, they cost\nmore than Costco.\n\n~~~\nmindslight\nZenni requires you to do a bit of your own research, like every other new-\neconomy self-service approach. But it's worth it.\n\nSwitching to Zenni has allowed me to move to cheap CR-39 lenses rather than\nexpensive high index material. CR-39 is soft, and if I'm paying a lot for\nframes then the lenses getting scratched is a Big Deal. Then pile on further\ncosts for coatings etc. But if the frames and lenses are both inexpensive,\nthen needing to get a new pair sooner is not really a big deal.\n\n(polycarb is right out due to its horrible chromatic aberration. If you don't\nknow what that is, and you're perfectly content with the clarify of things\nyou're seeing, don't look it up lest you sensitize yourself to it!)\n\nI still need to find a decent sunglass frame on Zenni. Their basic aviators\nare way too small.\n\n~~~\nfrosted-flakes\nChromatic aberration drives me nuts, especially when driving at night or using\na computer. LED headlights are particularly irritating; if I don't look\nthrough the centre of the lenses, the way they separate into distinct blue and\nwhite lights creates a visually chaotic scene.\n\nThe last time I got new glasses (from Costco), I specifically requested lenses\nthat would minimise chromatic aberration. But they didn't have anything better\nthan the high index lenses I already had. I have very bad eyes (rx of -8.25\nand -8.00), which makes my lenses quite thick.\n\nAre there other lens materials that do a better job of minimising chromatic\naberration? I've tried researching this, but wasn't able to find anything.\n\n~~~\ntheandrewbailey\nI know exactly what you're talking about. The Microsoft logo drives me nuts,\nin that I know the colored squares are equally separated from each other, but\nI don't see them that way. They actually move towards and away from each other\nas they move around my field of view.\n\n~~~\nfrosted-flakes\nYeah, this effect really screws with my head sometimes. Sitting at a traffic\nsignal and seeing the coloured light floating off to side is a bit weird too.\n\n------\nams6110\nI think a big part of this is, like health care, insurance hiding the true\ncost from consumers.\n\nI have a vision plan as a benefit from my job. Covers exams and eyeware, so I\nhave never paid more than a small co-pay for glasses and I had no idea what\nthe cost was behind the scenes.\n\nThe insurers don't care as they just pass the cost along to the employers who\npay for the policies. The employers don't know any better.\n\nThis is a case of market pressure on prices being totally eliminated by layers\nof bureaucracy and obfuscation.\n\n~~~\nSomeone1234\nIt is worth noting that the same company selling you glasses also owns most\nVision Insurance plans. The plans only cover their vendors.\n\n~~~\nzymhan\nAnd that company is EyeMed. Your Vision insurance is almost certainly through\nthem.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxottica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxottica)\n\n~~~\nzippergz\nI don't know the numbers, but for my entire working life across several\ncompanies, my insurance has been through VSP, not EyeMed. So \"almost\ncertainly\" seems like an overstatement.\n\n------\nabruzzi\nI've always followed the normal route--I have employer provided vision\ninsurance, I would get myself tested every two years by a optometrist that my\ninsurance covered, and I would buy glass using the prescription from the\noptometrist or a glasses store supported by my insurance. I don't have\nanything special in my glasses--single focal, no tinting or light sensitivity,\nand my glasses weren't remotely stylish, and I'd pay ~$50-70 after insurance.\n\nI recently lost my glasses in a pond filled with alligators, so I wasn't going\nto try to retrieve them. I figured I needed cheap glasses until my insurance\nwould cover me again. I had an old prescription but it was over a year old. I\nlooked at Warby Parker, but they seem to require an actual prescription. So I\ntried Zenni Optical because all they need are the correction figures for each\nlens, they don't require an actual doctor signed document. Something I've\nalways felt was weird--its not like prescription drugs, and I can decide if\nthe glasses don't work, and a 18 month old prescription is better than no\nglasses.\n\nSo $35 shipped for glasses and frames, and they had a lot that were cheaper.\nThe seem to be very good quality, they seem to work better than lost pair (the\nprescription didn't have a pupillary distance, so I had to measure it. My eyes\nare pretty wide, and a lot of lenses can't accommodate my PD, so I wonder if\nthe optometrist just figured close enough for lenses with a lower max PD.)\nBefore this I had no idea how much markup was in the cost of a pair of\nglasses. Now I'll still get my eyes checked locally, but $30 glasses is better\nthan what I can get locally even after my insurance.\n\n~~~\nAnimats\nHere's a useful program someone in the HN/YC universe could write - something\nthat uses your computer or phone camera to measure your interpupillary\ndistance. This is a bit tricky to do yourself with a ruler and a mirror.\n\nJust have the user take a selfie while holding some object of known dimensions\non their forehead. Like a dollar bill. Find the eyes and pupils (OpenCV can do\nthat), find the reference object, calculate.\n\nThen take a picture of the prescription, OCR to the numbers (which will need a\nreally good OCR program given the handwriting of many ophthalmologists),\nconfirm the data with the user, and take the order for new glasses. Composite\na selfie with pictures of glasses so you can see them on your face.\n\nOrder from China, deliver via E-Packet, profit. Who needs Luxotica?\n\n~~~\nwalterbell\nSome of these apps exist, but none are as accurate as a ruler and two post-it\nnotes with a pinhole.\n\nIf Apple opens up the depth sensor on the iPhone camera, such apps will be\nmore accurate.\n\n~~~\nAnimats\nThe trouble with do it yourself measurement of the distance between eyes is\nthat it's done with eyes that need glasses, without wearing them. You need a\nsecond person or hardware.\n\n~~~\nabruzzi\nIn my case, my distance vision is bad, but a meter away is sharp without\ncorrection. In fact, I’ve never had a prescription that doesn’t f-up my near\nvision, so I had to do the measurement without glasses on.\n\n------\nmLuby\nMoney quote: >“Federal officials fell asleep at the wheel,” Dahan said. “They\nshould never have allowed all these companies to roll into one. It destroyed\ncompetition.” Butler said it should be clear from EssilorLuxottica’s practices\nthat the company has too much market power. “If that’s not a monopoly,” he\nsaid, “I don’t know what is.”\n\nWhere's the public outrage? Maybe because they're foreign companies? Maybe\nbecause the price crept up slowly over time? Maybe because glasses are tied to\nthe medical industry where consumers have come to accept absurd prices? :(\n\nWorth noting there's always some markup for brick-and-mortar locations, and\nfor something people like to try on before buying that's (was) a big deal.\n\n------\nwhizzkid\nI think Luxottica CEO himself explained the whole situation in 1 second 7\nyears ago, and it is spot on (Not saying it is how it should be).\n\nListen for yourself.\n\n[https://youtu.be/VxPLGPO2q3E?t=749](https://youtu.be/VxPLGPO2q3E?t=749)\n\n~~~\nastura\nFor those that can't do audio right now:\n\n\"everything is worth what people are ready to pay\"\n\n------\ncaymanjim\nLens Crafters charges a huge markup if you want their lenses put into your own\nframes. It's almost cheaper to buy new frames from them (and in the case of\nparticularly-expensive lenses, it is in fact cheaper to buy new frames).\nThat's clearly a scam.\n\nWarby Parker sells glasses at more reasonable prices, but their frames are\ngod-awful hideous tortoiseshell plastic abominations. If you want nice metal\nframes, they have a small selection, and the prices aren't that great.\n\nI normally buy two pairs of glasses at once (one for distance, one computer-\nspecific). I'll probably soon start buying a third pair, progressive bifocals.\nI'm now wondering at what point it will literally be cheaper to fly overseas\nto get them made. I may in fact have already crossed that line.\n\nThe only reason I ever use Lens Crafters is when I need glasses same-day due\nto an emergency. Just last month, I broke my glasses a few days before an\nextended overseas trip. If I hadn't been going to the Cayman Islands (where\neverything is more expensive), I'd have waited until arrival to get them made.\n\nIt's unfortunate that most optometrists have a two-week turnaround on new\nglasses. For all I know, they're going through the same Luxottica monopoly\ntoo, but at least I avoid Lens Crafters. Their quality is absolute shit;\npoorly-ground lenses, shitty coatings that scratch easily and bubble up. It's\nprobably intentional, so that you're forced to return less than a year later\nfor new glasses.\n\nI've heard good things about Costco, but I don't have access to one.\n\n~~~\n1996\n> one for distance, one computer-specific\n\nHow do you find the correction for the computer specific glass?\n\nI have a pair for distance but it is a horror to use with computers.\n\n~~~\ncaymanjim\nLife-changing. I should have gotten them decades ago. I had no idea how much I\nwas straining my eyes trying to use distance glasses for the computer, until I\nfinally got them.\n\nI sat at my desk and measured the exact distance to the monitor, then asked my\noptometrist to give me glasses with a focal length of that +/\\- about eight\ninches. For me, it's roughly arms' length, about three feet.\n\nMany optometrists try to sell me on progressives or some other half-solution,\nbut using large 30\" monitors, or sometimes multiple 24\" monitors, I need a\nwide field of view. Having specific glasses is perfect. It's a minor\ninconvenience having to switch back and forth, but I'll just leave them on my\ndesk and swap when I sit down.\n\nI bet my distance vision would be a lot better now if I hadn't spent 25 years\nstraining to see a monitor with the wrong glasses.\n\n~~~\n1996\nExactly this!! I have an extra wide computer screen for work, it is a gamers\nscreen. So when they tried to sell me progressive, I refused. I want 2 good\nsolutions, not 1 half assed one.\n\nNext time I see an optometrist, I will have to ask them with my precise focal\nlength. They have the details of my correction, so they should be able to\nfigure it out.\n\nCan I bother you more? What is your take on undercorrection? I am wondering if\nI should go for that for my future computer glasses, or my regular glasses.\n\n~~~\nwalterbell\nIt works _if_ combined with \"active focus\". There are references aplenty in\nthe Endmyopia web forum, FB group and YT videos.\n\n------\numvi\nSeems like the majority of optometrists could be replaced by photo booth-esque\noptometry machines. Simply sit in a booth, look through some eye ports, and\nthe machine will automatically start cycling through lenses and making you\nchoose between 1, 2, or equal. At the end it spits out your prescription for a\nnominal fee. For an extra fee you could have additional eye imagery taken by\nthe machine sent off to a remote optometry lab for analysis.\n\nI've never been to optometry school, but 10/10 times I've gone to get a new\nprescription, the prescription process has been extremely algorithmic, to the\npoint where I wonder if cartel-esque forces are _preventing_ automated\noptometry machines.\n\n~~~\ncity41\nI consider my vision important enough to get a human opinion on it. Even if a\nmachine can do it correctly 99% of the time, having someone experienced there\nto confirm the choices is worth it.\n\n~~~\nsmileysteve\nEven if the human has been encouraged to lie, cheat, and steal from you?\n\n~~~\nwycy\nOptometry, particularly w/ re: prescriptions, seems like the one field of\nhealthcare where patients can be reasonably informed. You can generally tell\ninstantly if a prescription is right for you, and I wouldn't think there's any\nincentive for an optometrist to lie about your Rx.\n\n------\nnerdponx\n_In 1995, Luxottica purchased LensCrafters’ parent company, U.S. Shoe Corp.,\nfor $1.4 billion. The goal wasn’t to get into the shoe business. It was to\ntake control of LensCrafters’ hundreds of stores nationwide._\n\n _Dahan said things went downhill for him after that. Luxottica increasingly\nemphasized its own frames over those of outside suppliers, he said, and Custom\nOptical’s sales plunged. Dahan was forced to close his business in 2001._\n\nFunny that Microsoft was under the gun for antitrust violations while this was\nhappening apparently unabated.\n\n------\nJustSomeNobody\nI worked in the industry until a little over a decade ago, putting myself\nthrough an engineering degree. The company I started with was bought by\nLensCrafters, but before it was we pretty much knew the wholesale prices on\neverything. After LC, LC just distributed stock to us so we didn't follow\npricing.\n\nI was always amazed at the markup. A pair of Sola lens blanks for FT28\nbifocals was about $3.50. A typical name brand frame out of the Frames catalog\nwas less than $10.00 (ie: Perry Ellis). Dies for UV and tint were several\ndollars a bottle and would last a few days to a week depending on sales\nvolume. Basically one tint and uv job would pay for most of the dies and UV.\n\nNow, most of those places were in malls, so the rent there is astronomical,\nthat's one thing to consider.\n\nI wouldn't say people are getting \"ripped off\", but there's definitely quite a\nbit of markup. A single vision pair with an Rx such that I could use finished\nlenses, I could edge, uv, light tint and assemble in about 10 - 15 minutes.\nYou'd be paying a couple hundred for that (depending on brand), but I could do\nit while you wait. And if I did it, you'd be happy (no scratches, gaps, etc).\nI always take pride in what I do (even now with coding).\n\nSo, what's the convenience worth? Depends on you I guess.\n\n~~~\nmindslight\nDo you have any recollection what the blanks for higher index materials cost?\n\nZenni's fancier materials are completely lackluster (Abbe wise), and I'm\ncurious if that's because the proprietary high index materials are really so\nexpensive that it would be out of their market, or if Luxottica's\nanticompetitive behavior extends deep into the supply chain as well.\n\n~~~\nJustSomeNobody\nThey weren’t that much more. In the $5 - $10 range for most, but I don’t\nrecall specifics. We did so many FT28 CR39 lenses at that time that’s why I\nrecalled those easily.\n\nThere were some progressives that cost us over a hundred but that included lab\nwork as they wouldn’t let us process them.\n\nEdit: I wanna re emphasize that all this was prior to LC (US Shoe bought us\nthen Lux bought US Shoe actually) buying us. I don’t know what prices did\nafter that.\n\n------\nelliekelly\nI use every chance I get to tell people about ZenniOptical.com because they\nare so great.\n\nA full pair of glasses (yes, frames _and_ lenses) start at $6.95 total. Even\nwith some upgrades for scratch resistance & to prevent glare I don't think\nI've spent more than $50 on a pair of glasses since I found Zenni.\n\nThere's also the added bonus of the expensive glasses/sunglasses paradox: the\nmore money I spend on glasses & sunglasses the more prone I seem to breaking\nor misplacing them. Needless to say at $7/pair I've got quite the collection\nof Zenni frames going since I've yet to lose a set.\n\n~~~\nourmandave\nI recently bought a couple pairs from Zenni and couldn't be happier.\n\nJust the lens were $55, probably because of progressives, but that's still\n_way_ less than anything I've paid before.\n\n------\nthrowaway-1283\nI'm a big fan of Jins ([https://www.jins.com/us/](https://www.jins.com/us/))\nin SF. They make your glasses on-site in ~30m. Price (lens + frame) is\ncomparable to Warby Parker.\n\n~~~\nkalleboo\nI live in Japan where they originate from and they have stores all over the\ncountry. All my glasses have been from them, zero complaints, super cheap,\ngood service too (you can drop in to any of their stores whenever to get\nthings adjusted, lost nosepads replaced, etc for free which is hard to do with\nan online vendor)\n\n------\ndr_\nWhy would Versace, Chanel, Burberry etc which are considered luxury brands,\nall of the sudden sell discounted frames? They have extensive markups on all\nof their clothing, handbags etc. They are targeting a different, and I would\nimagine dwindling, market.\n\nThere are plenty of options online and offline for cheaper frames.\n\n------\npedasmith\nI dipped my toe into the \"online glasses\" market -- and let me say it's a\ngame-changer. The eyeglass store wanted about $300 per frame, meaning that I'd\ngrudgingly get one pair.\n\nThe online purchase was only $75 for high-end frames and coatings, plus $27\nfor three pairs of prescription \"computer monitor\" glasses (one for the\noffice, one for the home office, one for the other home office!). And by\nhaving more pairs, I can bring a pair on trips, just in case the main ones get\nbroken!\n\n(Personally, I've also never had any useful help in picking out frames. I'm\nnot very fashion conscious, and every time the help doesn't seem to want to\nactually help be find frames that would look good on my face)\n\n~~~\n1996\n> $27 for three pairs of prescription \"computer monitor\" glasses\n\nYou are the second person to mention \"computer monitor\" glasses so I wonder,\nare they the same correction as your normal glasses? I am new to wearing\nglasses. I have a pair I use outside, they make everything crystal clear. I\nlove them!! But for computers they are a pain after while, so I don't use\nthem.\n\nAs other people mention costs, I paid about $30 total for the eye exam + frame\n+ both lenses + next day delivery (not in the US).\n\nNow I am in the US for a while, so I can't ask for \"computer monitor\" glasses,\nbut with my correction information I could try to order some from zenni or\neyebuydirect.\n\n~~~\njunaru\nGuessing \"computer glasses\" means that they have a blue light filter. The\nfilter doesn't cost much extra and really helps.\n\n~~~\n1996\nJust got a reply- it's not. It has a different focal length, so you can relax\nyour eyes when working on a computer screen.\n\n------\nsergers\nI have a friend who runs a chain of prescription eye glass stores.\n\nFor the generics/non name brand, he only spends a few dollars a frame with the\nlens costing more.\n\nAnd then marks them up to $200-300\n\n------\ntasty_freeze\nI don't get it. I just tried a few online \"cheap glasses\" places. I want\nsingle vision, prescription (relatively low strength, nothing exotic),\npolarized sunglasses. Fashion doesn't really matter, it is just for driving.\n\nzenni: $25 frames, cheapest polarization option: $67.89\n\neyebuydirect.com: $42 frames (malibu), plus polarization: $92\n\n39dollarglasses.com: $39 frames (houston), cheapest polarization option +69,\ntotal $108 (more if I want anti-glare)\n\nWhile these prices are better than my optometrist, where are people finding\nthese \"I got three pairs of prescription sunglasses for $50\" stories?\n\n------\nwalterbell\nEyebuydirect is notable because:\n\n\\- US based\n\n\\- Small premium over Hong Kong (Zenni)\n\n\\- Essilor lenses (similar to LensCrafters)\n\n\\- Wide frame selection, some are clones of designer frames which cost 20x\n\n\\- 2 week refund/replace for any reason\n\n\\- No prescription needed\n\nTheir human customer service seems to be in Malaysia, so CS interactions via\nvoice or email can take a few iterations, but are usually resolved within a\nfew days.\n\n~~~\nScoundreller\nThey are a subsidiary of Essilor.\n\nWill be interesting to see what the effects of the merger with Luxxottica will\nbe.\n\nI feel like the frames were more of the cost than the lenses.\n\n------\nresters\nI just bought a pair of glasses from the local optometrist. Lenses and frames\ncame to $650. It turns out the eye exam was done so hastily that I ended up\nwith the wrong prescription.\n\nSo when I went to a different place to have the exam redone I decided to try\nsome discount glasses. I found a pair for $27 with free lenses. I sprung for\nthe $12 expedited shipping and have been very pleased. The online store I used\nwas GlassesUSA.com, which I believe ships directly from Thailand.\n\n------\nwebwanderings\nWe were in one of the South Asian country not too long ago (family of four).\nBought 2 pairs of glasses each, everything you name it, is included. Cost?\n<$50 for all. It would have cost us at least $1000 in US. And you cannot tell\nwe wear cheap glasses. They are perfectly fine. Of course they are not\noriginal Ray Ban but who cares as long as prescription is right. The eyewear\nindustry in US is totally out of control.\n\n------\neterm\n\"Fashion accessory prices don't reflect supply cost\" is hardly news or\nsomething to \"gratify one's intellectual curiosity\" as per the site\nguidelines.\n\nIf you buy a fashion brand of glasses frames then you're no more or less\ngetting \"ripped off\" than you are when buying a Gucci hoodie.\n\nSure, all the brands are owned by the same company, but that affects a lot of\nthings not just eyewear.\n\n~~~\nnoja\n> then you're no more or less getting \"ripped off\"\n\nYou are being ripped off. Look at how much of the industry they own. The only\nreason this hasn't been acted on yet is because people see their various\nbrands as being separate.\n\n~~~\nchrisseaton\nI don't even know what 'ripped off' means? Does it mean if you chose to buy\ntheir product you'll have to pay more than you'd happen to like to pay for it?\nThere no oracle that can give us one true price, and anything above that is a\n'rip off.'\n\n~~~\nnoja\nIt means not buying from a market with sufficient competition.\n\n~~~\nchrisseaton\nBut there is sufficient competition - you can buy no-name glasses for a few\ndollars.\n\nYou can’t buy these specific luxury fashion brands of glasses cheaply but that\njust means you don’t think the name is worth it. It’s not a ‘rip off’.\n\n~~~\ntk75x\nIt's a ripoff because the price to quality ratio of the luxury brands are much\nhigher than the budget brands which provide the same functionality and style\nas the luxury brands the only difference being there is no logo stamped on the\nside.\n\nEDIT: regarding the top comment of this thread, I see and agree with the\nargument that if you are aware and able to get a cheaper option, then you are\nnot being \"ripped off\" but just making a bad financial decision of your own\naccord.\n\n------\ndang\nOther threads on what has turned out to be a perennial topic:\n\n2019:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18980191](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18980191)\n\n2018:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17061380](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17061380)\n\n2017:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15736573](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15736573)\n\n2016:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13091936](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13091936)\n\n2015:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9183464](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9183464)\n\n2013:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6718224](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6718224)\n\n------\nmikevp\nPeople who buy hoity-toity \"designer fashion\" items are paying for those D&G\nor whatever letters on the item. I find it impossible to work up any sympathy.\n\nI get Flexon frames. Actually, I haven't bought frames in years. I just have\nthem put new lenses in the \"time before last\" frames. So, maybe Flexon has\ninflated in price, too, in the past few years.\n\nBut the fact that I'm still happily wearing Flexon frames from years ago, and\nthey still look just fine, and are still comfortable, means it doesn't affect\nme.\n\nThey do gouge for some of the stuff I get on the lenses; anti-glare, scratch\nresistant, progressive multifocal. I could cheap out on some of this, but\nthis, at least, is functional, not \"Oh, look how kuuuul I am, my glasses have\na \"D&G\" on them!\" crap.\n\n------\nericmcer\nCan anyone speak to why you need an up to date prescription to buy glasses or\ncontacts? It has never made an ounce of sense to me, yet I have been blocked\nfrom doing it in the past, gone through the rigamarole to find out my\nprescription is unchanged, and then bought them.\n\n~~~\numvi\nThe party line is: \"to check your eyes for disease\"\n\nIf you reply: \"People that don't need glasses don't get their eyes checked\nevery 2 years for disease\"\n\nThe party line will be: \"People that don't need glasses are at lower risk for\neye disease\"\n\nI just got a physical copy of my prescription and uploaded it to my google\ndrive. It's 5 years expired, but I still see 20/20 and use it to purchase new\nframes online.\n\n------\nwalrus01\nWithout even opening the article I can predict that it informs everyone of\nwhat a behemoth Luxoticca is.\n\nAs a person with a nearsightedness measurement greater than -5.5, it's\nsomething I had to educate myself on.\n\nCostco optical is a decent option for retail sales.\n\n~~~\nelektor\nDo you need a Costco membership to buy glasses from them?\n\n~~~\nberbec\nEven buying a Costco membership for the sole purpose of buying glasses will\nlikely save you money vs LensCrafters or independent eyewear stores.\n\nMy dad's last two pair of glasses (reading & normal) cost him $2100. That's\ncriminal\n\n------\ncoldtea\nAdam Ruins Everything - The Conspiracy Behind Your Glasses\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAeHuDcy_bY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAeHuDcy_bY)\n\n------\nchown\nRecently, I was telling a friend how ridiculously cheap it is to buy a pair of\nglasses overseas. I paid about $22 for the pair I'm wearing. I went to make an\nextra pair recently (a backup pair, just in case). They quoted me about $450,\nwhich they agreed, was of lesser quality than the one I was wearing. Blew my\nmind! I then decided to just get it shipped from the same place I got my first\npair. They couldn't ship it so my sister has to do it. Ended up costing me\nabout $40 with shipping.\n\n------\nkmm\nI understand how branding and marketing could drive the price of frames up,\nbut I've never understood why the lenses themselves are so expensive. The\ntolerances are not very high, and there must be a massive economy of scale.\nThe article itself states that they can be made for a buck and a half. Who\nmanufactures those, is there a similar situation as with Luxottica? Why is\nthat market not being disrupted?\n\n------\nwickedOne\ni've got a strong impression this article is about sunglasses rather than\neyewear in general.\n\n\"Armani, Brooks Brothers, [ ... ], Vogue and Versace\" neither of them, as far\nas i know, make decent \"regular\" glasses.\n\ni've been wearing glasses for the last 42 years and apart from when you're a\nkid (because you break more shit than your parents would like to admit) you\ndon't need (nor want) a different frame each year; it's not a fashion thing,\nit's something you actually need to function.\n\nwith that in mind: you don't go to a pearl store to get measurements for your\neyes, at least not if you want them to be accurate.\n\nso yeah, Luxottica might be behind a lot of \"fashion based\" eyeware, but hey\nwho's running the show for sneakers or training suits other than nike and\nadidas? i mean, this is nothing new and if you want to be trendy it's going to\ncost you.\n\nmeanwhile i think i spent ~€1000 on frames and lenses the last 15 year whilst\nwearing silhouette. so, at least for me, it's not as bad as the article makes\nit out to be\n\n------\nmonksy\nThis is one of those things that you can buy online and for a lot cheaper. It\nalways amazes me about how much we are charged for things in the west and that\nwhen you go to Asia it's soo much cheaper. (Clothing is another example.. when\nyou're looking at a starting price of 150baht for shorts.. [$3.2 before\nnegotiating] )\n\n------\nRosanaAnaDana\nHow reasonable would it be to the prescription process; for example, a kiosk\nin the mall where I sit in a booth and click (better/worse) while looking into\nsome-kind of a vision testing device.\n\nThe whole thing is so procedural and really, not very difficult to administer.\nIt seems like extremely low hanging fruit for automation.\n\n~~~\nmrob\nOptimizing for just \"better or worse\" will result in excessively strong\ncorrection. If you're only looking at a single letter in the very center of\nyour field of vision, then overcorrection feels sharper and easier to focus\non. You don't notice the additional optical artifacts everywhere else. The\nideal glasses have just barely enough correction.\n\nHowever, this isn't an argument against automation, because human optometrists\nfrequently get it wrong too. I agree that it should be automated.\n\n~~~\nRosanaAnaDana\nI've just always found myself frustrated by the sense that beyond looking into\nmy eyes for signs of disease, the actual act of making a prescription could be\ndone by anyone with an afternoon of training; yet I have to make an\nappointment and drop 100-200$ for something that is, on occasion, less effort\nthan getting an order correct at chipotle.\n\n~~~\nojilles\nIn other countries the exams are totally free (basically because of the\nreasons you mention).\n\n------\nhourislate\nFor the last couple of years I have transitioned to Parker Warby and Costco's\nKirkland Brand for reading glasses. As a tip for Americans, when traveling to\nEurope make sure you go shopping for Frames. You will get them for 1/4 - 1/3\nthe cost of US prices and have a selection 10 times as large.\n\n~~~\nSquirrelOnFire\nI'll have to keep an eye out, thanks!\n\n~~~\nfindjashua\nI see what you did there\n\n------\nbluedino\nI'm not sure if America's Best is part of Luxxotica (I heard they were owned\nby Walmart but I never checked) $59.99 glasses turn into $349. Special exams,\ncoatings, plastic lenses, 'Contact lens' fees, 'Contact lens club', scammers\njust waiting to prey on people that walk in.\n\n------\nkleiba\n_I noted that if you wear designer glasses, there’s a very good chance you’re\nwearing Luxottica frames._\n\nThis may be true for the big name brands, but there are also a number of\nsmaller independent companies that innovate with new designs and/or materials.\nFor instance, the German designers \"Meyer Eyewear\" (www.meyer-eyewear.com)\nstarted about 10 years ago with a collection made of buffalo and reindeer\nhorn. Now they moved on to ultra-light titanium frames. And that's just one\nexample.\n\nLike in many fields, there is a mass market and then there are niche areas\nwhere more exotic (and perhaps more exciting) developments are dwelling.\n\n------\nfishywang\nFor the recent years I stopped paying for vision insurance, and just pay out\nof pocket at Jins when I need new pairs. They have a brick and mortar near me\n(San Jose CA), and also do prescription sunglasses.\n\nWhen I had vision insurance I feel obliged to get new pairs every year\n(covered by insurance), and also often pay a fair amount out of pocket because\nat most shops that accept the insurance the strictly under the coverage pairs\nare usually ugly or in shitty quality, or both. Jins lenses and frames are\nactually in good quality and durable.\n\n------\nrhinoceraptor\nA tip for anyone measuring their own PD in the mirror, shine a bright light in\nyour eyes so your pupils constrict. That will make finding the center a bit\neasier.\n\n------\nkashyapc\nHmm. Five months ago I spent about 230€ prescription glasses -- as a 40-hour\n\"screen starer\", I went for a reasonably good quality French vendor (\"Studio\nFB\", and the glasses themselves from Ziess).\n\nI shelled out that much as I wear glasses every waking hour and didn't wanted\nsome crap quality glasses / frame. I really like them so far. They better last\n_really_ long.\n\n------\nglitchc\nI respectfully must disagree with all of the claims here regarding zenni and\ncostco, unpopular as it may be. They are only comparable at the low end but\nhave no matching product at the high end. I bought a pair of glasses at costco\nfor $200 as a backup to my daily rimless wearers. First, costco and zenni\ndon’t have any rimless options. Second, the lenses I did buy ( partial frame)\nwere their lightest but still significantly heavier than what I replaced.\nThird, the lenses just didn’t have the same clarity and sharpness as my\noakleys. They just don’t offer the same quality coatings and I paid for their\nbest. After a couple of months, I caved and went back to lenscrafters for a\nreplacement. My new Ray Bans, although expensive, are like night and day\ncompared to Costco. Light as a feather, outstanding clarity and sharpness,\nextremely scratch resistant, on the whole simply remarkable to wear. Side by\nside comparison, exact same prescription, there’s no contest. None.\n\nLuxottica may be overcharging, but truth is the discount brands do not carry a\ncomparable product. Certainly you can save money at those places, but the\nproduct isn’t the same. In some sense you are getting what you pay for. You\ncan get even better lenses from Zeiss and Nikon if you go beyond Lenscrafters,\nbut I haven’t walked that path yet as it’s a bit beyond my budget (read:\ninsurance), although I’ve heard excellent things.\n\nEdit: Grammar.\n\n~~~\nmrfredward\n>my budget (read: insurance)\n\nI wonder to what extent the presence of insurance in the mix has made things\nworse. Markets never work particularly well when the entity paying and the\nentity choosing the product aren't the same. Textbooks (vs normal books) come\nto mind as an obvious example of this.\n\n~~~\nkps\nLuxottica also owns the ‘insurance’ provider EyeMed.\n\n------\nourmandave\nSince this thread is about eyewear, I just wanted to mention you can donate\neyeglasses, reading, and sunglasses to the Lions Club Intl.\n\n[https://lionsclubs.org/en/resources-for-members/resource-\ncen...](https://lionsclubs.org/en/resources-for-members/resource-\ncenter/eyeglass-recycling-centers)\n\n~~~\ndredmorbius\nThat's of very limited use:\n\n[https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2012-05-03/recycl...](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2012-05-03/recycling-\neyeglasses-is-a-feel-good-waste-of-money)\n\n------\nbrandonmenc\nI've been purchasing back-up glasses for nearly 20 years at places like Lens\nCrafters and have never spent over $50 for such a pair - granted, they're\ndorky safety frames and no fancy lens coatings, but still.\n\nCheap glasses have always been available, if you don't want fashionable\nframes.\n\nAlso, please don't skip an actual yearly eye exam, for your health.\n\n------\njowdones\nAn optician mentors an apprentice on how to sell glasses.\n\n\"You look in client's eyes and say 'That'll be 100 bucks'.\"\n\n\"If he doesn't blink you continue '... for the eye frame. The glasses will\ncost another hundred bucks'\"\n\n\"If you see that he still doesn't panic, you conclude: '... a piece'\".\n\n~~~\nyread\nAnd that's why it's important to deliver the quote in person\n\n------\nGenerocUsername\nI just recently (2 weeks ago) made my first online purchase of prescription\nglasses.\n\nI entered my measurements and prescription from a 2 year-old check-up and got\n2 pairs of glasses for < $50 and they are PERFECT.\n\nHonestly NEVER buying glasses from any optometrist or even costco again.\n\nAlso, not an ad, just a recommendation, but checkout eyebuydirect.com\n\n------\nxfitm3\nSimilarly: screen your optician by what eyewear brands they carry. I saw a\n“independent” for years that carried small brands and I felt the doctors\nphilosophy was better aligned with patient care vs sales.\n\n------\nforthispurpose\nWhat are some good online companies that are fighting this status quo?\n\n~~~\nbeering\nZenni is the main online company in the US selling eyeglasses for actually\nreasonably prices. Downside is that you don't get to try them on before you\nbuy them, and I'm not a huge fan of their styles.\n\n~~~\nsuperkuh\nZenni is great for frames. But if your eyesight is seriously bad (ie, -10\ndiopter) you're much better off getting lenses put into Zenni frames at a\nlocal optometrist. Zenni doesn't do things like lens edge bevel which becomes\nnecessary once your eyeglasses are 1cm+ thick at the edges.\n\nAnd no, high index of refraction lenses like Zenni pushes just makes things\nworse. High index lenses all have very low abbe number and their chromatic\nabberation is so bad at high diopter that I can even read the license plates\nof cars in the lane next to me while wearing them. They're only good for\nvision straight ahead.\n\n------\nbonestamp2\nMy last pair of designer frames with lenses from LensCrafters: $350, similar\npair from my optometrist: $750, similar pair (but not designer frames) from an\nonline retailer: $50.\n\n~~~\nmonksy\nThey're still making a profit off of it.\n\n~~~\nSquirrelOnFire\nSure. You want businesses you deal with to make profit, otherwise they won't\nbe around to do business with in the future.\n\nIn industrial supply chain, if you have two suppliers who are each charging\nthe same price and you know that one is making higher profit margins, go with\nthe one with higher margins - they're more likely to be stable.\n\n~~~\ndingaling\nSome profit is useful for saving as a cushion. But in general remember that\nprofit is money that the business literally didn't find a way to spend, to the\nextent that they're willing to throw away 20% of it as tax.\n\nI'd rather deal with a company that ploughs surplus back into salaries or R&D\nor even charity than squandering it as profit.\n\n~~~\nSquirrelOnFire\nAgreed, but on a transaction level having higher profit MARGINS is what\nenables the company to have money to plow back into the business.\n\n------\nphkahler\nI've often wondered if there is any reason at all to allow companies to\nown/buy/merge other companies. I have not found one.\n\n------\nchewyland\nI bought two pairs of prescription glasses including frames and nice little\ncases + one them was photocromatic.\n\nThe total cost was 47$ for both.\n\nThis was in Sofia.\n\n------\naj7\n1\\. Have your opthalmologist do your refraction. He’ll charge you extra\nusually. 2\\. Walmart. Excellent quality and workflow.\n\n------\njoyeuse6701\nIf Luxottica is a as big a player as they say, shouldn't some anti-trust laws\ncome into play?\n\n------\nm3kw9\nJust need @AOC or @realdonaldtrump to do a little tweet and the DOJ will get\non it.\n\n------\nGuillaumeBrdet\nThe answer my girlfriend has taken, get a good insurance.\n\n$250 pair for $35. Done.\n\n------\nadvertising\nHave bought only retro super future for this very reason\n\n------\narthurofbabylon\n“Tell all”? That wasn’t very much.\n\n------\nnatroniks\neyebuydirect.com\n\n------\nanewguy9000\nwait we should be paying costs and not a markup? thats communism\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMore HTML5 APIs - davidwalshblog\nhttp://davidwalsh.name/more-html5-apis\n======\npygy_\nFrom an advertiser'a point of view, the visibility API is a boon. For users\nnot so much.\n\nI've recently noticed several sites that pause their video ads when the tab is\nhidden.\n\nI don't look at adds. I have several ad jingles/slogans from my youth wired in\nmy brain. They popon cue, and since I don't want to add new ones to my\ncollection, I now actively avoid ads.\n\nThis means that I now have to look elsewhere while the video is playing, or\nhide the screen, and it annoys me to no end.\n\n/rant.\n\nTo browser authors:\n\nThis feature has some use, but a huge potential for user abuse. It would be\nmost helpful if it were possible disable the API, or to enable it selectively\non a site by site basis.\n\n~~~\neli\nI think I'm missing something. Wouldn't the alternative be to keep playing the\nvideo ad even when you're not looking at it? Why is that better? I don't want\nmy browser wasting cycles to render a video it knows I can't see.\n\nAt the risk of stating the obvious, it sounds like you have a problem with\nads, not a problem with the visibility API.\n\n~~~\npygy_\nMeanwhile you can do useful/less annoying stuff in other tabs.\n\nAnd I have a problem with ads that are forced on me, true, my case may be\nextreme, but I'm sure that it annoys other people too.\n\n~~~\neli\nDepending on your browser, that seems pretty doable with a plugin. I assumed\nad block plugins would nuke video ads anyway -- is the issue that they are\npreroll and hard to filter?\n\nAt the risk of getting into an ethics debate, that's sort of the deal being\noffered by the publisher: you get the content in exchange for watching this\nad.\n\n------\nFuzzyDunlop\nI've been writing a library that abstracts the getUserMedia API, and I've\nfound it really interesting to be able to use JS and HTML to interact with\nhardware in a (mostly) simple way.\n\nEven though I prefer the native implementation of these things, the pure\ncreativity HTML and JS allows (because it's less difficult) is where these\nfeatures really shine. Calling WebRTC \"skype in a browser\" is just the tip of\nthe iceberg.\n\n------\nandrethegiant\nCould someone explain to me a use case for the battery API? I can't think of a\nsingle situation where it would be beneficial. The article states that you can\ndetect if a user's battery is low to avoid battery-intensive processes, but do\nyou think developers are going to spend their time inflating their scripts to\ndeliver a poorer web experience to their users just because they have a low\nbattery?\n\n~~~\nquarterto\nSave prompts when the battery is low?\n\n~~~\nZigurd\nQuick poll: Which is worse...\n\na) Battery-aware HTML5 apps\n\nb) Having a save command\n\n~~~\nquarterto\nOk, what about more frequent autosaves?\n\n~~~\nZigurd\nAndroid's APIs enable easy implementation of a sqlite-based data model, where\nchanges are always persisted.\n\nThat doesn't solve the problem for things like CAD that need an in-memory\nobject-oriented data model, but the Android support for observer patterns can\nbe wrapped around any data model, and the ability to quickly, which means, in\npractice, incrementally, persist changes is driven by both Android-specific\nissues like needing to respond to lifecycle events quickly, and by general\nmobile considerations like a battery that could fail unexpectedly.\n\nIn other words, you need to solve the \"don't explicitly save\" problem for\nreasons ranging from \"it's more robust\" to \"it fits Android UI conventions\"\nanyway.\n\n------\nArceliapfa\nNice! I like the link prefetchin\n\n~~~\ntonywok\nYeah, definitely going to try that out my next mobile app. Great article.\n\n~~~\ntrue_religion\nHowever, I think its only supported on Mozilla Firefox.\n\nI used to support it on my media sites when Mozilla was topdog, but since the\nshare is split between Chrome/IE I no longer do so.\n\n~~~\ndbaupp\nDoes it hurt to support it? As in, why did you stop supporting it if the\ninfrastructure was already there?\n\n~~~\ntrue_religion\nOh its not that. When I re-wrote the pages, or upgraded services, I just\nstopped including/thinking about prefetching for Firefox.\n\nSo it pretty rapidly disappeared from all the sites that I support/operate.\n\n------\ndiscordance\nFor the curious:\n\nFullscreen API works on Safari, Firefox and Chrome.\n\nPage Visibility works on Chrome and Firefox.\n\ngetUserMedia (camera access) works on Chrome Canary and Opera\n\nTested on latest public releases; Safari 6.02, Chrome 23.0.1271.64 and Firefox\n16.0.2\n\n~~~\nbzbarsky\ngetUserMedia (alas, prefixed) should also work in Firefox, generally\nspeaking... Though maybe it's preffed off by default? The patch for it landed\nfor Firefox 15: <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=752353>\n\n------\nachal\n:( No love for the Audio API? <http://www.w3.org/TR/webaudio/>\n\n(Admittedly, it's only supported in Webkit at the time)\n\n~~~\nkevingadd\nThat is pretty much why, I'd expect. Though Mozilla apparently have plans to\nintegrate it in Firefox, at which point you could probably start using it in\nHTML5 apps in the wild!\n\n------\nsergiotapia\nI really look forward to the media and prefetching API's. They seem really\nneeded, and now that I've read about them, I wish I could use them in\nproduction.\n\n~~~\neli\nWell, you can rel=\"prefetch\" it just won't do anything unless you're using\nFirefox (AFAIK).\n\n~~~\nemmelaich\nIs there a privacy vulnerability with prefetching? I can imagine timing it and\nmaking inferences about whether it's been cached and therefore previously\nvisited.\n\n~~~\neli\nPossibly true, but I'm pretty sure you can already do that with something like\n<img onload=\"someJavascript()\">\n\n------\nMatthewPhillips\nI hope they start to provide, when appropriate, non-JavaScript APIs for some\nof these things. Full screen is one that could be useful.\n\n~~~\nemddudley\nNon-JavaScript? Like what?\n\n~~~\nflebron\nSay, <a href=\"foo\" fullscreen=\"true\">, I'd guess.\n\n~~~\nMatthewPhillips\nProbably something new would have to be invented as there is no mechanism to\nsend messages to the browser in plain html. Something equivalent of a form\nelement but without the action attribute. It would be nice to have something\nlike (spitballing)\n\n    \n    \n      <some-new-form>\n        <input type=\"hidden\" value=\"fullscreen\" />\n        <input type=\"submit\" value=\"Go fullscreen\" />\n      </some-new-form>\n\n~~~\ndetst\n> Probably something new would have to be invented as there is no mechanism to\n> send messages to the browser in plain html.\n\nWeb components. At least their usage is plain HTML and could do what you want\ninternally with the JS API.\n\n------\nscottfr\nI opened up the developer console on Chrome and copied in his code to make the\nwhole page full-screened. It doesn't seem to do anything and doesn't show an\nerror message.\n\nIs there an issue with the code? I know Chrome supports the full-screen API.\n\n~~~\nbmuon\nIt needs user interaction to start. Have you tried using a button?\n\n~~~\nscottfr\nThanks, that must be it.\n\n------\nOlavHN\nPeerConnection is an API now enabled in vanilla Chrome.\n\n<http://www.webrtc.org/blog/seeyouontheweb>\n\n------\ntaitems\nInteresting fact learnt from the Phonegap creator at Web Directions: calls to\nthe battery API actually decrease battery life.\n\n------\nmonsterix\nGood that this came in just when I was playing with the Fullscreen API. It is\nthe Firefox's implementation of this that's bothering me.\n\nFigured out that we have to put up with a hack to avoid the default\n\"background:black\" that Firefox applies to the element being pulled to\nfull_screen mode. But what is worse is that Firefox kills y-scrolling\ncompletely for pages longer than screen-height.\n\nIn effect one can't have full_page rendering (like on iPad or in normal state\nof browsers) of the website in full_screen mode of Firefox. That's seriously\ncrippling.\n\nHow do we tackle this? Is there any enlightened soul who got this done\nalready? Or I am hitting the wall, right now?\n\n~~~\nkevin_p\nSounds pretty stupid, but it sounds like you should be able to get round it by\nsticking everything in a scrollable wrapper div (height:100%; overflow:scroll)\nwhen fullscreen mode gets activated. Or just do things the old fashioned way\nand tell the user to hit F11 (or apple-shift-F on mac) to put their browser\ninto manual full-screen mode, which supports scrolling.\n\n~~~\nmonsterix\nI did try this. I don't remember this exactly, but what was happening then is\nthat only the visible part of the page came in to the F11 wrapper div. There\nno-scroll in the full-screen browser window.\n\nIn effect you're left with an option to introduce scrolls within content divs,\nand that looked worse. Chrome on the other hand manages this quite nicely.\n\n------\npyrotechnick\n<http://html5please.com>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nScientists Make Mice Immune to Radiation - miles\nhttp://www.dotmed.com/news/story/10571/\n\n======\nUdo\nAs has become standard in science articles, this one too is highly\nsensationalistic and potentially misleading.\n\nNO is, in low doses, a signaling molecule used by the body to facilitate\nintercellular communication. Similarly to ischemic attacks (as in strokes),\nwhat follows acute radiation exposure is a massive disruption of normal cell\noperations. There are, to use a bit of programmer lingo here, \"checksums\" in\nplace to detect these kinds of disruptions and to shut down affected cells\nimmediately. This is essentially like a segmentation fault or any other kind\nof fatal exception, and it's called apoptosis.\n\nDuring normal conditions, apoptosis signaling pathways are essential to weed\nout cells that aren't functioning properly. During massive crisis, however,\nthis mechanism kills people, because it is suddenly triggered in a large\namount of cells. That's what kills stroke and heart attack victims (if they\nsurvive the incident itself). The body simply doesn't know that in this case\nit would be life-saving if it kept corrupted cells alive.\n\nA similar thing happens with acute radiation poisoning: cells die en masse,\nusually the mucosae are affected the worst, leading to massive shock and\ninternal bleeding. This particular research apparently focuses on halting\nthese apoptosis pathways, so the body doesn't self destruct.\n\nYes, that's essential. However, there is a price to pay that the article\nalmost completely ignores. While interfering with the cell death signal saves\nyou from immediate death, it does nothing to repair damaged porteins and DNA.\n\n~~~\nmiles\nAs has become standard in strongly-upvoted HN posts, this one too is highly\nsensationalistic and potentially misleading.\n\nI am genuinely sorry to be so snarky, but I am _really_ tired of scientific-\nsounding arguments (like the \"Why I am not worried about Japan’s nuclear\nreactors\" article) being automatically credited on this site.\n\n _\"While interfering with the cell death signal saves you from immediate\ndeath, it does nothing to repair damaged porteins and DNA.\"_\n\nDid you bother to read the second page?\n\n\"Also, a bigger mystery is figuring out how, by blocking this pathway, cells\nare able to fix the damaged DNA within. Dr. Isenberg says they know that\nfollowing radiation exposure, the DNA is scrambled, but somehow, with this\ntreatment, the cells are able to get themselves right.\"\n\n\"'It's not that we're blocking radiation from hitting the tissue,' he says.\n'Somehow...they repair themselves, and go about their business.'\"\n\n~~~\nUdo\nThe article flat-out lies about achieving radiation immunity. Claims like\nthese are extremely representative examples of misleading sensationalism.\nThere is simply no room for discussion about the central point: the article is\nmaking statements that are provably wrong. After that come the smaller claims\nthey make, several of which sound highly dubious to me, especially your\nfavorite one here:\n\n> _\"'It's not that we're blocking radiation from hitting the tissue,' he says.\n> 'Somehow...they repair themselves, and go about their business.'\"_\n\nI strongly suspect there is no data to support this statement. We have known\nabout small-scale repairs for a few years now, but this statement goes far\nbeyond that. With the radiation doses involved, this phenomenon would require\nthe reconstruction of information that is quite simply lost from the genome.\nOf course it is possible that many of these cells \"go about their business\",\nbut that's not the same as assuming they have somehow repaired themselves.\n\nAs far as being \" _automatically credited on this site_ \" I think you should\ngive the other users a little more credit, and perhaps tone down your blanket\njudgements a little at the same time. Just because I made a few \" _scientific-\nsounding arguments_ \" doesn't mean I'm automatically wrong. The article claims\nimmunity from radiation which is total gibberish. As far as the alleged\ncomplete self-repair goes, there are plenty of reasons to be extremely weary\nabout this as well.\n\nBy the way, I think I made it clear in the original post how important\nresearch like this is. At the same time I believe it's even more important not\nto misrepresent findings.\n\n------\nmiles\nFTA: _In mice, when Dr. Isenberg and his team introduced a drug that prevented\na protein, thrombospondin-1, from binding to a surface cell receptor called\nCD47, the animals could endure almost unheard-of doses of radiation with\nvirtually no ill effects._\n\nThis is from late 2009. Does anyone have an update on this research? Would\nobviously be a great boon if it was equally effective in humans.\n\n~~~\nbiot\nIt would be ironic if this therapy causes increased risk of cancer, for which\nchemotherapy then has little effect. Then again, if the resistance is\ntemporary I imagine some workers in Fukushima might benefit from this once\nit's been demonstrated safe enough.\n\n~~~\nkajecounterhack\nGo to the second page\n\n\"Perhaps equally exciting, Dr. Isenberg and his team found that while his\ntechnique protected healthy cells from damage, it actually increased the\neffectiveness of radiation treatments on cancer cells.\"\n\n~~~\nbedris\nThis could also be due to the fact that CD47 blockade allows preferential\nphagocytosis of cancer cells by macrophages [1,2] so it might not be solely\nradiation sensitivity that is leading to the clearance of the tumor cells.\n\n[1] <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19632179>\n\n[2] <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19632178>\n\n------\npossibilistic\nI don't really buy this. There's simply no way that messing with the NO\npathway can prevent DNA degradation resulting from radiation exposure. I'm not\nfamiliar with irradiation units and how they correlate to DNA damage, but all\namounts are harmful to the molecule. Ionizing radiation damage can be fixed\nvia repair pathways, but it's simply a function of probability as to when this\nmachinery fails in a critical location.\n\nThe paper might be interesting to read, though, especially if it got cited. As\nalways, news articles tend to inflate claims and miss the point entirely.\n\n~~~\nJoakal\nLook to nature surviving so well in Chernobyl?\n\n~~~\nsmackay\nNature is doing so well around Chernobyl because of the lack of humans. I\ndon't have a reference to hand but I beleive that the birds in the area have a\nhigh rate of genetic defects and low reproductive success. That fact that the\nenvironment seems to be doing well is a statement of how much impact humans\nhave on their surroundings.\n\n~~~\ncopper\nYes, I remember that one: [http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-02-chernobyl-\nbirds-smaller-...](http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-02-chernobyl-birds-\nsmaller-brains.html)\n\nRereading it, it seems that the effects seen on the birds are seen in humans\ntoo, but at higher contamination levels.\n\n------\nbedris\nHere is the original Sci Transl Med (2008) paper:\n[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2811586/?tool=pu...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2811586/?tool=pubmed)\n\nAnd here is a follow-up paper in Am J Pathol (2008):\n[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2543077/?tool=pu...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2543077/?tool=pubmed)\n\nBoth are freely available at the links provided.\n\n------\nTichy\nHow am I supposed to mutate into a superhero if radiation has no effect?\n\n~~~\nreitzensteinm\nI know you're joking, but from what Udo is saying, it seems like this is\nstopping the body from killing off corrupted cells. So if anything, this would\nactually be a step closer to super hero mutation.\n\n~~~\nflipbrad\nNot really. It's a step closer to randomly dispersed neoplasia/tumours popping\nup around your body!\n\nstep closer to have super hero mutant children, perhaps, if it's keeping your\ngonads alive but mutant.\n\n~~~\nreitzensteinm\nWell, to be fair, a step closer doesn't mean it's not still basically\nimpossible... but you're right, children are a far more likely vector.\n\n------\nmasklinn\nSo coppelions are real?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nUnderhanded C: The Leaky Redaction - signa11\nhttp://notanumber.net/archives/54/underhanded-c-the-leaky-redaction\n\n======\nsome1else\nThis reminds me of how some government redacted .doc files by using a virtual\n\"black marker\", which of course leaves the text in tact.\n\n~~~\nviraptor\nLike in BALCO case?\n[http://www.sfgate.com/c/acrobat/2006/06/22/BALCO_quash_subpo...](http://www.sfgate.com/c/acrobat/2006/06/22/BALCO_quash_subpoena_sfchronicle.pdf)\n(page 6, just highlight the text)\n\nOr AT&T? <http://news.cnet.com/2100-1028_3-6077353.html>\n\nThere was also one more subtle source of a leak. some versions of MS Word will\ntry to preserve/serialise the edit history after you save the document. Google\nfiletype:doc and a simple tool were enough:\n<http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/strikeout/>\n\n------\nnecubi\nIt's a neat idea, but wouldn't work for any image format that's actually used.\nThe code targets PPM, which is an ASCII-based image format. In a binary format\nlike JPG or PNG, different values of zero would be indistinguishable.\n\n------\nComputerGuru\nThis is the third or fourth time this has appeared on HN this year...\n\n~~~\npeterbraden\ndo you have links to the other ones - would be useful to see the other\ncomments.\n\n~~~\nsteveklabnik\nThe only thing I found was <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1208097>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhy cars went from boxy in the 80s to curvy in the 90s - Hooke\nhttp://www.vox.com/2015/6/11/8762373/car-design-curves\n======\nryandrake\nI hate how all cars on the road look like identical bars of soap. I realize a\nlot of this is due to aerodynamics and safety regulations, but it's a shame.\nYou don't see too many cars anymore that are significantly visually distinct\nfrom a Honda Accord.\n\n~~~\njessriedel\n> I realize a lot of this is due to aerodynamics and safety regulations,\n\nI think it's actually almost exclusively fuel economy regulations. Same reason\nyou can't buy a new washing machine that consistently gets your clothes clean.\n\n~~~\nandrewstuart2\nYou don't see a whole lot of distinct raindrop shapes for a very good reason:\npath of least resistance.\n\n~~~\njessriedel\nThe question isn't \"why is there only one shape that minimizes drag?\", the\nquestion is \"why are all the cars sacrificing so much style and functionality\nto reduce drag?\". You would expect some buyers to accept slightly less fuel\neconomy for increased style, especially in luxury case, since they clearly are\nwilling to pay significantly extra for style in ways that don't conflict with\nfuel economy (e.g., leather seats).\n\nThe reason is that the market is not being determined by having the consumer\ntrade off style/functionality for fuel economy. Rather, the fuel economy, and\nhence the shape, is being set by statute. That's why even luxury cars have\nabout the same shape. The only exception are the super luxury cars that make\nup such a small fraction of the market that they are negligible in calculating\na manufacturer's fleet-average fuel economy (which is what the regulation\nspecifies).\n\n~~~\nredblacktree\n> slightly less fuel economy\n\nI think the issue is that it isn't slight. Air resistance increases in a cubic\nratio to speed. Aerodynamics make a big difference at highway speeds.\n\n~~~\njessriedel\nThey knew aerodynamics in the 1950's too, and the fuel prices were very\nsimilar in inflation adjusted terms.\n\n[http://inflationdata.com/inflation/images/charts/Oil/Gasolin...](http://inflationdata.com/inflation/images/charts/Oil/Gasoline_inflation_chart.htm)\n\n(And we are _richer_ then we were before, so modern folks are more willing to\npay extra for fashion). The difference between then and now is definitely\nregulatory.\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\n> And we are richer then we were before\n\nWell, that depends who \"we\" is. \"Car owners\" as a whole may well be poorer\nthan in the 1950s in inflation adjusted terms: median income has gone up some,\nbut car ownership has moved down the economic scale, too. And there are\ndifferent looks at the top end of the market, the part that caters to people\nwho are willing to pay extra for fashion.\n\n------\nwebwielder2\nI don't buy it. Curvy cars were not some high end European flirtation in the\n60s. Pretty much all cars in the \"old days\" were rounded. Random examples:\n\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Deluxe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Deluxe)\n\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studebaker_Lark](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studebaker_Lark)\n\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packard_180](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packard_180)\n\nWhy publish an article whose premise is so obviously wrong?\n\n~~~\nmhandley\nI agree. The real question is why did even European cars go boxy in the second\nhalf of the 1970s? A good example is the Ford Cortina Mk 3:\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Cortina#TC_Mark_III_.28197...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Cortina#TC_Mark_III_.281970.E2.80.931976.29)\nvs Mk 4:\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Cortina#Mark_IV_.281976.E2...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Cortina#Mark_IV_.281976.E2.80.931979.29)\n\nI think late 70s/early 80s boxy cars were the anomaly - all other eras were\ncurvy.\n\n------\nrpcope1\nYou know, the extra curvy crazy body panels can be cool looking sometimes, but\nI still wish they'd ship the engineers that build and design these cars out to\nAlaska in the winter and make them disassemble and reassemble the cars a\ncouple of times before they ship them -- the increasingly custom body panels\nand designs has made it much more difficult to fix what's there or even get\nthe cars apart for service.\n\n~~~\nkazinator\nCurvy body panels look good as long as there are some sharp curves in the\nright places.\n\nIf there is nothing but low-curvature, then the vehicle just looks fat.\n\nWe look at cars like we look at human bodies. The classic sports car shape has\na waits and hips. :)\n\nFat can be cute though: if a sub-compact hatch-back is round in the right way.\nClassic VW beetle, the new Minis, 5th gen Civic ...\n\n(This still jives with the human body theory. We excuse the little cars for\nbeing chubby because they are babies.)\n\n------\nTloewald\nAs an aside, Bézier curves were invented at Renault.\n\n~~~\nwebnrrd2k\nI always assumed the change in styles was because design tools with Bézier\ncurves became commonly available, and computers became more common.\n\n------\nethana\nReason 1 and 3 are totally baloney. European cars were as much boxy as the\nAmericans and Japaneses in the same era and technology have nothing to do with\nenabling new curvy design either. If you look back to the 50s/60s, cars from\nLincoln, Cadillac, Ford, Bentley, Mercedes, etc were not only curvy but there\nwere all kinda of crazy complex shapes.\n\nI think people's preference just got tired of the overly designed styles up\nuntil the late 60s. I would point to Cadillac as the one that started the boxy\ncars trend. They are still boxy/edgy today, although much more stylized. I\nlove the newer Cadis design actually, they are so different than anything on\nthe roads.\n\n~~~\nkevin_thibedeau\nThe difference is that the parts on the older curvy cars didn't fit together\nall that well. Modern computer designed parts and tooling allow tight\nconstruction without the labor to make things line up. That permits more\nadventurous shaping of parts. This really showed in the \"ovalized\" Ford Taurus\nwhere the rear quarter panels had a long narrow strip extending forward over\nthe roof. Basically a pointless showoff by engineering.\n\n------\nbusterarm\nThe 3rd Gen RX-7 was the first to make curves look good.\n\nAt least it still had the popup headlights though. I sorely wish those would\nmake a comeback, but most folks don't like to have to think about whether\ntheir lights are on or not anymore.\n\n~~~\nrdl\nAlso your front end can't be too pointy due to pedestrian impact standards,\nand they're heavy. I believe pedestrian impact safety was what actually killed\nthe pop-ups.\n\n~~~\nkevin_thibedeau\nThat and their tendency to break. Another significant change was the allowance\nof custom headlight assembly's rather than the few standard sealed bulbs that\nhad to be stuffed into a popup if you wanted a wedge that looked different\nfrom everybody else.\n\n~~~\ntsotha\n>That and their tendency to break.\n\nI'm certainly not sorry to see them go. I was getting tired of being blinded\nby the car behind me because its owner was too lazy or cheap to fix a\nheadlight that had broken loose.\n\n~~~\nbusterarm\nNow you just get blinded by every asshole with a cheap HID kit.\n\n------\nzobzu\ni want to pay for a service that summarize articles in 5 lines tops and a few\nimages (which is honestly the only reason why we click)\n\nDemo for this one:\n\n1) aerodynamics/fuel efficiency\n\n2) cost/machinery able to make curves\n\nAlso, didnt have to read it to figure that out ;)\n\n~~~\nredblacktree\nThere is a bot on reddit[1] that attempts this. (sans pictures) It actually\nworks pretty well.\n\n[1]\n[https://www.reddit.com/user/autotldr](https://www.reddit.com/user/autotldr)\n\n~~~\nzobzu\nthis is pretty cool. i need this for HN.\n\n------\nSplendor\nWhile reading about how European car makers like Porsche were toying with\ncurved shapes in the 60s, all I could think about was Corvettes in the 50s.\n\n------\nbnolsen\ni'm surprised no one has mentioned this but it seems like the koreans are now\ndriving automotive style. The 2000's cars pretty much hit jellybean status,\ntoyota/lexus in particular.\n\nA few years ago I started noticing some of the hyundai models starting to have\na much more aggressive design with harder lines and more angular breaks. I\nnotice the japanese starting to (IMHO) poorly follow this design.\n\n~~~\nbusterarm\nNot sure I agree. It's nearly universally agreed among auto-journos that the\ncurrent Mazda 6 may just be the best looking full-sized sedan...well...ever.\n\n~~~\nrhengles\nIt is a mid-size, not a full-size. And the best looking cars are, imo: (1)\nFord Taurus/Fusion, (2) Audi A8/A6, and (3) Chrysler 300/200.\n\n------\nbrandonmenc\nNo mention of Chrysler's \"cab forward\" design, which imo really broke the dam\non this. Average cars didn't start looking curvy until the first Intrepid was\nreleased. At least that's how I remember it.\n\n~~~\nwoofyman\nThe first soap shaped american car was the 1983 Mercury cougar. The success of\nthat led to the Ford Taurus.\n\n------\nfemto\nI always thought it was because a curved panel was stronger than a flat panel,\nhence curved panels allow a car to be built with less metal.\n\n------\nsecfirstmd\nI've always felt the Ford KA (here in Europe) was a big influencer in the\nmovement towards curvy cars over here.\n\n------\nChrisGranger\nNo mention of the vehicle that epitomizes curves for me, the Volkswagen\nBeetle...\n\n------\nandrewstuart2\nNothing about the Dodge Neon? That thing was sooo slick to my 6-year-old self.\n\n------\nkstenerud\n80s cars were damn ugly, even during the 80s. I breathed a sigh of relief when\nthey finally started adding curves again.\n\n~~~\nbusterarm\nI disagree. The 70s/80s wedge is still my favorite car shape. Hatchback\nLouvers were grand and those 5-mph bumpers look great on some cars (VW,\nVolvo...)\n\nThose garish econonoboxes are for-sure terrible though. The Dodge Omni has the\nhonor of being one of the ugliest cars ever made. Which also makes the fact\nthat Shelby turned it into one of the most awesome machines ever on the road\n(Omni '86 GLHS) that much more satisfying. That said, rally was much more fun\nwhen it was with ugly boxy cars and Group B.\n\n~~~\namorphid\nI love 80s Hondas. Especially the late 80s Civic Hatchback.\n\n------\nqnaal\nthat video at the bottom ..\n\nMercedes Benz Cockroachmobile- has aero design gone too far?\n\n------\ntoolsadmin\nVox is non-technical, consumerist trash.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNice and simple mac cli - rgcr\nhttps://github.com/rgcr/m-cli\n======\nbrudgers\nIf it meets the guidelines, this might make a good \"Show HN\".\n\nShow HN guidelines:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nJavaScript fetch API - sconxu\nhttps://davidwalsh.name/fetch\n======\nnness\nWhy would you want to \"cancel\" a request, instead of just ignore the response\nfrom the server? I feel like I'm missing a use-case here.\n\n~~~\nsconxu\nYou might want to stop the processing of an expensive task on the server\n\n~~~\nnness\nBut if HTTP is stateless, can you actually cancel an operation?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nYahoo's Flickr Takes on Google's YouTube - danw\nhttp://blogs.business2.com/beta/2007/05/yahoos_flickr_t.html\n======\nbootload\nNot surprised, heard this a couple of weeks ago listening to Caterina Fakes\ntalk on ITConversation (The History of Flickr) where Fake didn't rule flickr\nout for hosting video ~ <http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail1755.html>\n\nWonder how this is going to be executed and it's effects on flickr?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow 3 Women Would Hack Tech’s Diversity Problem - DinahDavis\nhttps://medium.com/code-like-a-girl/how-3-women-would-hack-techs-diversity-problem-118b5cf8f05c#.7gjpcr3i3\n======\nunimpressive\n>Despite an impressively vast sample size, the survey received some flak for\nthe inherent bias it produced by surveying its own, less-than-comprehensive\nuser base.\n\nFrankly, Stack Overflow is probably the most comprehensive developer site on\nthe web. If you're a programmer of any stripe you can be expected by numbers\nto use it. It's not like there's a 'no girls' sign on the front, assuming\ntheir survey is representative is damn well justified.[0]\n\nBut yes, forgetting selection bias in your analysis[1] is a bit silly on their\npart, and not even raising the hypothesis suggests whoever wrote the analysis\nwasn't thinking about it as deeply as they should have. Moreover attaching the\nStack Overflow brand to conclusions that are based on not-super-rigorous\nanalysis and could have a large impact on already quite plausibly disparately\nimpacted groups is grossly irresponsible.\n\n[0]: Was this survey only open to members? If so that was a foolish decision,\nlearning why people lurk and what demographics lurk your site as opposed to\ncontribute would have avoided this exact accusation, as well as providing some\nvery interesting business data for StackOverflow themselves.\n\n[1]: Comparing to base rates helps.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n'Cash cow' sales model for a macOS app - walterbell\nhttps://medium.com/@drewmccormack/a-cash-cow-is-on-the-agenda-138a11995595\n======\nezekg\n> In principle, it’s all pretty straightforward. Of course, the devil’s in the\n> details. I was quite surprised how much work was involved in getting it all\n> working. Probably 3–4 months all up.\n\nAnd that's why I built [https://keygen.sh](https://keygen.sh), for those that\nwould rather not spend months building a licensing server in-house. I did this\none too many times. :)\n\n~~~\nuserbinator\n_And that 's why I built [https://keygen.sh](https://keygen.sh), for those\nthat would rather not spend months building a licensing server in-house._\n\nFor a second, I thought you were the owner of the .us site, reincarnated it\nunder a different domain, and trying to imply that crackers would create a\nkeygen for your software anyway.\n\nBut speaking as someone from the other side ;-) any centralised software\nprotection is going to be dead-easy to crack since the checks and ways it\nmakes them are going to be nearly the same between all apps that use it.\nFlexLM is an existing example of this.\n\n~~~\nezekg\nI agree that all software protection is able to be cracked, but I wouldn't say\nit's \"dead-easy\" just because it's centralized.\n\nAnd actually, Keygen is a little bit more unique in that case, because I don't\nsupply any client libraries, and you can also put Keygen behind your own\ndomain (similar to how you would put Stripe behind your own domain). So every\npiece of software is going to implement things differently.\n\nIn addition, you can implement public key signature verification to prevent\nMITM attacks (each account gets their own 2048-bit RSA pub/priv keys). In the\nend, the cracker will likely need to spend some time figuring out how your\nunique piece of software utilizes Keygen, and that will deter the majority.\n\nBut like I alluded to, in the end, all software is crackable. There are\ncertainly those who won't stop at the roadblocks. But there's not a lot I can\ndo in that case, especially just being an API. It's more down to\nimplementation. ;)\n\n------\nantaviana\nI think that pure subscription is the only sustainable model. If the incentive\nfor a new customer is the same as keeping an existing customer, you aim for\nthe right product. I find permanent license models are pyramidal and/or foster\nfeaturitis.\n\n~~~\noldcynic\nI try not to buy subscriptions because you usually lose all functionality at\nthe end. The subscription is usually significantly more expensive than the\nsimple cost of buying a licence for the current version. (eg 1Password).\nBetween those two points there's no benefit for me, the customer, regardless\nof what marketing tell me.\n\nTo add another my thought process is \"which sub would I drop to get this?\".\nThe answer is usually none. I'm not going to allow myself to end up with\ndozens of subscriptions for things that don't necessarily require an online\ncomponent (VPNs and such).\n\nI get it. Subs are great for the company. You'll have a significant number of\npaying users who never get around to cancelling, or forget what service is\ntied to the mysterious £4.99 monthly charge, you get to charge double in a\nyear what you used to think was a reasonable cost for outright.\n\nEdit: Clarity\n\n~~~\nchasote\nI agree that subscription fatigue is a problem and most will opt out but I\nfeel you are projecting too much malice onto the developers in your last\nsentence.\n\nWhy does asking for the subscription automatically entail they are hoping\npeople will stop using the product but stay subscribed or are charging far\nmore than they think the service is worth?\n\nI think it is too jaded an outlook to see it all as a zero sum fight. The\nservice might just be worth a subscription and the developers want to continue\nproviding it and not be able to with a different business model.\n\n~~~\noldcynic\nNot saying it's done with malice aforethought, but it's a known and common\npattern. I've done it myself with Amazon Prime and other things where I took a\nfew months longer than I should have to actually go cancel it. Some will let\nthings lie far longer.\n\nIf a service is worthless without the online component, Netflix for instance,\na sub is clearly the answer and I'll pay gladly. For an editor, utility or IDE\nhaving an online account is usually, _for me at least,_ a minor benefit at\nbest when I'll put my files in iCloud, dropbox or git. You made it a tougher\nsell as you want a rolling commitment. £50 as a one off? I'll spend that on a\nwhim, then probably upgrade in a couple of years.\n\nMost examples I've seen of companies switching to a subscription model end up\nwith a subscription that's more than the previous licence cost. Unless it's\nsomething your career or business depends on few would buy every major release\nwidening the real differential further.\n\nThat we're having this conversation on a post about a \"cash cow sales model\"\nsays it all don't you think? It simply starts to look like \"we'd like more\nmoney from you\".\n\n~~~\nchasote\nFair enough, you both make good points. I have been exploring how to make a\nsimple living off one's creations and trying to fight my own cynicism on all\nthe seeming trade offs. Right now that just means staying focused on the\ncreating part and hoping some of you smart folks figure out the best mix of\nfinancial feasibility and doing what is right by everyone. These discussions\nhelp.\n\nAnd yes, \"cash cow\" seems a little uncouth in light of that discussion, haha.\n\n~~~\noldcynic\nFor a small dev I think it's difficult now the big app stores have conditioned\nso many to believe free, £1.99 and £3.99 are appropriate price points for\nsoftware. That only works for the tiny few that get a viral lottery win.\n\nI see the attraction of a sub as implicit copy protection. So I wonder why\nthere aren't more ISVs putting the yearly sub markedly lower than the former\nlicence price.\n\nScrollaway makes great points about microsubscriptions. I think he's right\nthat a central place to _easily_ manage multiple subs would take away most of\nthe pain. Banks seem to specialise in awkward UX and statements that just show\n\"UnknownCo LLC Service\" because they're the parent company of coolthing.com's\nservice. Patreon might be better placed to have a try here.\n\nRight now I'm having this battle with myself as the side-project I'm slowly\nprogressing looks like having a sub might be right. I'm still reluctant. Oh\nthe irony. :)\n\nGood luck with your creations.\n\n------\njakobegger\nOh my god I get a headache just thinking about all the feature flags they'll\nhave to maintain, and all the copywriting to describe each feature, and all\nthe support emails from people asking which features they can use...\n\nWhat are they going to do when a new feature makes another one obsolete? Keep\nboth? What if they fix a bug in the new version, do they also fix it in the\nobsolete version?\n\nThis sounds like a major maintenance chaos a few years down the line. They'll\nneed to keep adding individual features to incentivise frequent re-purchases,\nso they'll end up with hundreds of variations of the app, all depending on\nwhen you bought it...\n\nThinking about this makes me so happy about the pay-once model of my apps, I'm\nso grateful that it works, and that I don't need to squeeze every penny from\nmy customers.\n\n~~~\nropeadopepope\n> Oh my god I get a headache just thinking about all the feature flags they'll\n> have to maintain\n\nWhy not use a plugin model? Feature flags can be hacked.\n\n~~~\ngrok2\nMaking every feature a plugin is hard -- it requires that the original\nimplementation expose everything possible in APIs to be take advantage of by a\nplug-in.\n\n------\ndep_b\nThat’s a ton of different combinations of flagged features that might or might\nnot exist for a user and almost all possible combinations need to be tested.\n\n~~~\njarfil\nIf I understand it correctly, when a user pays they get all of the features\navailable at that time. So there could be users with only feature 1, and users\nwith features 1, 2 and 3, but never a user who only had feature 3. That\nreduces the number of combinations from O(2^n) to at most O(n), and you could\nkeep track of which older features no one has, or offer periodic\nfree/discounted updates to reduce the amount of different versions out there.\n\n------\nheadcanon\nRenoise ([https://www.renoise.com/](https://www.renoise.com/)) is sold on the\nsame model. Each purchase guarantees free updates for one major version cycle\n(if you purchase v2.8, you get free updates until v3.8). Might not follow\nsemver rules, but it seems fair to me.\n\n------\norasis\nThese guys are fooling themselves. If their app provides ongoing value, then\nsubscriptions are the way to go today - it's just a matter of charging the\ncorrect price for the perceived value the consumer is receiving.\n\n------\nwalterbell\nOne question about this model: does the client app need to contact the\ndeveloper’s licensing server on every app start, or after every app upgrade,\nor only at the time of in-app purchase?\n\nIf there’s only a one-time “phone home” to the license server, this seems like\na good revenue model that balances the needs of users and iOS developers.\n\n~~~\nRjevski\nIn-app purchases are handled directly by Apple, so you can do away with a\nlicensing server and just enforce licensing on the client.\n\n~~~\nwalterbell\nBut they are allowing all clients to get new binaries (with bug fixes and new\nfeatures) while limiting them to features within a rolling 12 month window\nfrom time of purchase. Apple doesn’t have the ability to gate features that\nway.\n\n------\ndigi_owl\nSoftware, like books, only has a market as long as the distribution is a pain\nin the behind. Once the distribution is as easy as the press of a (virtual)\nbutton, the market basically evaporates.\n\n------\nkennydude\nSetApp is a great way to do subscriptions on macOS. It has lots of apps, and\nlets me try them whenever I want without really comprimising on much.\n\n------\ncprayingmantis\nI had to read this very carefully to determine if it was parody or not. This\nseems just like the old system of selling software. Get a free demo, sell the\nactual software, 12 months later add more features rinse and repeat. There\nwill always be hold outs content with their feature set but there will always\nbe people on the leading edge and it all balances out but this doesn't seem\nlike anything particularly new or novel.\n\n~~~\ndanpalmer\nIn this model the user continues to get bug fixes (and likely new OS support)\neven after their licence expires.\n\n~~~\nnodamage\nBug fixes make sense, but I wonder if it is reasonable to expect/provide\nperpetual OS support based on a single purchase?\n\n~~~\nJumpCrisscross\nHow does one differentiate fixes and feature? For example, suppose a new TLS\nstandard is adopted. This requires work to implement. Is the change a fix or\nan upgrade? Will the team be indefinitely required to issue updates to the old\nTLS?\n\nI like the agenda-pricing concept. But it feels like a poor-man’s compromise\nfor a subscription. Why not permit downloads of an executable any time a sub\nis valid?\n\n~~~\njarfil\nEasy: what's the feature you're selling? Is it \"TLS 1.0\" or \"secure\nconnections\"?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nNASA skips Titan Explorer to go back to Mars in 2016 - ck2\nhttp://www.space.com/17195-nasa-mars-landing-mission-2016-launch.html\n\n======\nck2\nI was really rooting for this project:\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_Mare_Explorer>\n\nRobotic boat over liquid sounds far more interesting with life potential?\n\nMaybe a few more years.\n\n~~~\nwaterlesscloud\nFrom what I've read, this was the last opportunity for the Titan mission until\n2040.\n\n~~~\nck2\nOh that's horrible then, sigh.\n\nWell hopefully the public and funding won't get bored with Mars.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nImmersive journalism uses VR to insert viewers directly into the story - maxufberg\nhttp://www.psmag.com/nature-and-technology/journalisms-new-reality\n======\naaron695\nAin't going to happen before AI.\n\nAs a 'just so' story think of the radio play 'War of the Worlds' and how hard\nthat is to do in video, then take that again to VR.\n\nVR/AR means rather than one story your telling multiple at once.\n\nThe human hours is just prohibitively expensive.\n\nIt currently pays off because of novelty, but that's it.\n\nWhat might work is raw footage of something in progress (Since the situation\n'pays' for the 3D) but this is rare to non existent in proper journalism.\n\nTake the shots being fired in the Paris raid filmed by a 'citizen journalist'.\nAll immersion would achieve is seeing into the photographers apartment.\n\nThis drone footage would work, but it's less a story about Syria and more\nabout war porn\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0ELAa02TUY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0ELAa02TUY)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nActive vs Passive investing - udkl\nhttp://avc.com/2016/07/active-vs-passive-investing\n======\nudkl\nTldr:\n\nInvestors must choose to be either active and concentrated or passive and\ndiversified; big gains require investments of time, energy and intellect, in\naddition to capital; truly active investing limits the number of investments a\nperson or firm can make; it's difficult to scale.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThink Google Fiber's fast? Nokia to show off tech that's 1,000 times faster - vezycash\nhttp://www.zdnet.com/article/think-google-fibers-fast-nokia-to-show-off-tech-thats-1000-times-faster/\n======\nmatt_wulfeck\nThis is great news on the bandwidth front. Unfortunately we're so pitfully far\nbehind on Fiber-to-the-home that it will be a long, long time until we see\nthis realized as a speed increase.\n\nLarge internet services providers will roll it out and still keep absurd\nbandwidth caps as a cash cow. Municipalities In largely populated areas will\ncontinue to overregulate the installation of fiber, making t prohibitively\nmore expensive. Where's our Roosevelt when we need him/her?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHumans were once an endangered species - soundsop\nhttp://www.physorg.com/print183278038.html\n======\nhga\nThe Earth is a rather hostile place when you use a megayear scale.\nPaleontologists and geologists have also found a variety of events (e.g,\nmegacaldera such as Yellowstone cutting loose, meteor impacts) that are\ncorrelated with mass extinctions. We shouldn't tarry in establishing self-\nsustaining habitats off the Earth.\n\n~~~\nkiba\nIs there an organization who is carrying out the necessary task of\nestablishing off-world colonies for humanity?\n\nIf so, what is the website and how can individuals help?\n\nIt is one thing to posit a need, but quite another to do it.\n\n~~~\najju\nA large number of private space companies (eg masten space) are working on\nbuilding cheaper spacecrafts. That is the first step. Once we have a way to\nreach potential off-world colonies more cheaply (and thus conduct more\nextensive research, create a commercial payoff for creating one etc),\nestablishing one will be a real possibility.\n\n------\nramchip\nNitpick: volcanoes cause 'volcanic winters', not 'nuclear winters'.\n\n------\njrockway\nDon't worry, I'm sure we'll eventually kill ourselves off.\n\n~~~\npaulshort\nAfter millions of years of being forced to use our wits to survive combined\nwith periods of inbreeding (resulting in a relatively narrow genome), humans\nare now a super-race of genetic mutants ahead of our time on the evolutionary\nscale. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if being too smart for our own good\ncontributed to our demise.\n\nEdit: By \"inbreeding\" I mean - if the human population were reduced to a few\nthousand breeding individuals, and those individuals were also spreading or\nmigrating into different areas of Africa, the middle East, Europe, etc. at the\nsame time, that would mean much smaller groups of people who breed within\ntheir \"community.\" It may have been thousands or tens of thousands of years\nbefore those different communities met up with each other and combined genetic\nmaterial again.\n\n~~~\nramchip\nWouldn't inbreeding cause the _opposite_ of a super-race? Inheriting different\ngenes from both parents can prevent a lot of problems; for example the fact\nthat women have two copies of the X chromosome makes them a lot less likely to\nbe color blind. Having a uniform gene pool means that people would end up with\nsimilar genes and be more likely to have diseases.\n\nI'm not sure if/why recombining after a long period of isolation and mutation\nwould be better than staying together and just sharing mutations gradually.\nIt's an interesting question though, there's problem some research paper\nsomewhere that could tell us...\n\n------\ntokenadult\nThe brotherhood of humankind is more than just a metaphor--it's a reality.\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_recent_common_ancestor>\n\n------\nnazgulnarsil\nwe've been through the eye of the needle several times already. we just had\n(still have?) the nuclear one. we have what is IMO the biggest one coming up:\nAI.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nRPC and Its Offspring: Convenient, yet Fundamentally Flawed (2009) [pdf] - emmanueloga_\nhttps://web.archive.org/web/20110629071740/http://qconlondon.com/dl/qcon-london-2009/slides/SteveVinoski_RPCAndItsOffspringConvenientYetFundamentallyFlawed.pdf\n\n======\nemmanueloga_\nThe ending notes are appropriate remarks given the time of the year :)\n\n> It’s almost 2010, folks — we can do WAY better\n\n> ✤ pull your head from the imperative language sand and learn functional\n> programming\n\n> ✤ the world is many-core and highly distributed, and the old ways aren’t\n> going to keep working much longer\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nNY Times halves free views of news stories  - taylorbuley\nhttp://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2012/03/20/ny-times-halves-free-views-of-news-stories/\n\n======\njfasi\nWait. We do all realize that you can read the article just by removing the\narguments from the address, right?\n\n------\nstock_toaster\nIn a related story, random internet user stock_toaster now reads fewer NY\nTimes articles.\n\n------\nstevear\nIf they halved their subscription fee I would sign up.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: iOS App Discovery Using Homescreen Screenshots and OCR - sfalbo\nhttps://itunes.apple.com/us/app/homescreen-genius-learn-about/id884502115?mt=8\n\n======\nsfalbo\nHi, I just released Homescreen Genius and I'd be thankful for any feedback.\n\nThe app is pretty simple. You take a screenshot of your device's homescreen\n(or any other screen for that matter), upload it in the app, Homescreen Genius\nuses Tesseract OCR to get the app names, and then provides you suggestions\nbased on apps that similar users have.\n\nI created this because I found the Tesseract OCR package and wanted to put it\nto use in some fashion so Homescreen Genius was created.\n\nThanks in advance for any feedback - I really appreciate it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: sensors that export data? - petervandijck\n\nI'm trying to manage the humidity in my new house, and have a humidity meter. But it doesn't export data over time. I'd like it to have a usb port so that I can get data over time and put it on my computer. I can also imagine wanting to do this with other data (temperature, walking data, sleeping data, ...) that various sensors gather.<p>Are there any tools like this out there? Open source hardware projects that I can hack? Commercial tools?\n======\ngsivil\nWe have just used something like that in our lab. You can check\n\n[http://www.itwatchdogs.com/product-detail-\nminigoose_ii-8.htm...](http://www.itwatchdogs.com/product-detail-\nminigoose_ii-8.html)\n\nit is a device connected with air flow/humidity/ Dew point/ temperature\nsensors and connected to the internet. The basic models starts from 200\ndollars I think. If you want to contact me at my username at g mail I can link\nyou to our lab's website to check the interface\n\n------\nbrk\nYou can buy sensors for things like that, but they'll tend to be expensive for\nwhat you get, eg:\n\n<http://www.tequipment.net/AmprobeTR300.html>\n\nIf you like to hack around with micro-controllers then you can build something\nthat does all that more for about the same price, but have a lot more\nflexibility.\n\nGoogle for things like \"1-wire humidity sensor\". The Dallas Semi 1-wire bus is\nwidely supported with most micro controllers, and fairly easy to implement.\n\n------\npo\nCheck out Bug Labs: <http://www.buglabs.net/>\n\n------\nzeynel1\nIs this what you are looking for:\n\n<http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596807740>\n\nBuilding Wireless Sensor Networks with ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSurvivorship bias – Wikipedia - rbanffy\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias\n======\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nDaylight Saving Wastes Energy - muriithi\nhttp://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120406767043794825-UOLcfJA8x9Gw9ozbCz77MiLmtaE_20080327.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top\n\n======\ngcv\nFascinating stuff. I wish a northern state, like Montana, would try a similar\nexperiment in half of its counties, and ditch daylight saving time for a year\nand see what happens. I suspect it would save money, too.\n\nOn a slightly more hackerish note: I worked on a power trading system, and it\nwould break like hell twice a year, on DST switch days. Because electricity\ntrades on an hourly basis (except in Texas, which uses 15-minute intervals),\neveryone who deals with aggregating power flow or power over the course of a\nday, ends up writing a loop like \"for (hour = 0; hour < 24; hour++) { ... }\",\nwhich is totally wrong. The spring forward day has 23 hours, and the fall back\nday has 25. That code therefore breaks twice a year and loses money because\n(a) it needs to be fixed, and (b) it did its accounting wrong. I hope studies\nexamining the economic efficiency of DST take this sort of thing into account.\nProbably not.\n\n~~~\nElectro\nProbably not, but I'm used to living way more north than Montana and actually\nmore northern than London where the time change is based on for the UK. I have\nto say it is needed no matter the economic effect, when for over 2 months you\nsee no sunlight what so ever during a working day it has an abysmal effect on\nworker efficiency.\n\nI have only observations to base this on, but workers start dropping off well\nbefore 'flu season'. I do a lot of work outside and I find the comments about\nDST harming farming to be irrelevant; the main one is that harvesting labour\nbecomes in efficient as crops have to be harvested after the dew. If I didn't\nneed workers at 6am I'd tell them to come in at 7 or 8am when the crops are\nready to be harvested. That's just common sense; if I'm working outside, I'm\nnot going until it's safe for me to do it and if its too dark I'll tell the\ncustomer I'm coming later, if they don't like it lump it.\n\nAlthough, on my more hackerish note: 2 million candela torch + power inverter\n= sun rise at 3am. I believe it's supposed to produce sunlight-like brightness\nover some 450m^2, although it isn't always useful and without it being hooked\nup to some form of power it's out of batteries within 15 minutes.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAd Boycott of Facebook Keeps Growing - megacorp\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/business/media/facebook-ad-boycott.html\n======\nsalimmadjd\nAm I the only person who has a problem with this headline, \"Ad Boycott of\nFacebook Keeps Growing\" am I overreacting here or others feel the same?\n\nFor me at the face of it's not incorrect, but it feels to me a certain\ndeliberate wordsmithing is used to create a sense of growing momentum.\n\nWhat we don't know if these advertisers represent 1%, more or less than x% of\nFacebook's ad revenue. I do understand FB will not provide that info, but some\nreal journalism and follow up from said companies could have gathered us the\namount this boycott means. After all this suppose to be NYT.\n\nThey do touch on this number, \"smaller businesses that make up the bulk of its\neight million advertisers have been considering their options\"\n\nHowever, again they are carefully crafting their words in a way that it's not\ninaccurate but showing a larger problem.\n\nInstead of saying \"one agency that manages 20 clients\", or \"we have heard from\nsome advertisers\" using \"one agency\", or \"some advertisers\" they are saying\n\"advertisers\" which to some readers will read as a lot of advertisers or a\nuniversal movement among advertisers.\n\n~~~\nskewart\nWhat’s more, the NY Times has a strong business interest in convincing\nadvertisers not to advertise on Facebook. I’m a bit skeptical of anything they\npublish these days about Facebook, Google, and other companies that could\npotentially threaten their access to clicks, just given their financial\nincentives to weaken these companies as much as possible.\n\n~~~\nrossdavidh\nMy thoughts exactly, they have a clear conflict of interest when covering this\nstory. Although, to be honest, all of mainstream journalism seems way more\nbiased and blatantly slanted than I recall from 20-30 years ago. Perhaps I am\njust better at noticing it now?\n\n~~~\nbtilly\nYou are not just better at noticing it. It really is more slanted.\n\nJournalism 20-30 years ago was mostly funded on a subscription model. In this\nmodel they work hard to maintain their reputation, so that people will trust\nthem as an accurate source of news.\n\nJournalism today is mostly funded per click. Which means that the most\nimportant thing is a headline that grabs people's attention and causes them to\nclick. The incentive is for the most outrageous and attention grabbing\nheadline possible. With no incentive for being accurate - by the time you\nrealize that the article is junk they've been paid and are looking for another\nsucker.\n\nIf you're interested in a book length exposition of how this change in\ndynamics has changed the news landscape, I recommend\n[https://www.amazon.com/Trust-Me-Lying-Confessions-\nManipulato...](https://www.amazon.com/Trust-Me-Lying-Confessions-\nManipulator/dp/1591846285). The trends that it discusses have played out for\nanother decade since it was written, but played out along the direction that\nit described.\n\n~~~\ngms\nThe NYT operates on an online subscription model, no?\n\n~~~\nbobthepanda\nHow much of a percentage of revenue is that subscription model vs ads, and how\ndoes that hold up to the historical split?\n\n~~~\nthorwasdfasdf\ni heard somewhere it was 60% subscription 40% ad, though I'm not sure.\n\n------\nwayne_skylar\nI find it so funny that Facebook hides behind \"freedom of speech\" when in fact\nwhat they do is the exact opposite.\n\nWhen everything you saw was cronological, you could make that argument. I\nwrite a message on my wall and everyone who follows me can see it if they\nscroll down far enough. Most importantly, the only criteria used was the time\nit was submitted which I think everyone can agree is fair.\n\nBy prioritizing certain posts based on what the algorithm thinks will make you\nstay on the site longer, they are prioritizing, thus interfering with free\nspeech. When I post something, my message will have a lower chance of reaching\nsome of my followers. How can facebook justify tipping the scales for one type\nof message over another and call it free?\n\n~~~\nsneak\nThe (legitimate) argument is that freedom of speech extends to facebook\ngetting to decide what, and in what order, information is displayed on\nfacebook.com.\n\nTo dictate a chronological order, or to demand that they publish every single\nthing that is submitted to them, is a restriction of their freedom of\neditorial expression _on their own website_.\n\n~~~\nsatokema_work\nThe (also legitimate) argument is that freedom of speech should extend to\nprivately-owned de facto commons, and is a concept beyond the enumeration in\nthe American Bill of Rights.\n\n~~~\nphatfish\nI agree there is a problem with private corporations that control publishing\nplatforms with such a large reach. Twitter and Facebook are really the only\nones at the moment with that power (in the \"anglosphere\" at least).\n\nHowever, for laws to be created that force them to publish posts that fall\nunder \"free speech\" their algorithms must be fully open and auditable.\nOtherwise they still hold the power to sensor, or their algorithms could be\ncovertly gamed by those in the know.\n\nOtherwise your speech might not be the same, or as free as mine, but who would\nknow?\n\n------\ntech-historian\nSerious questions: Are the people that work at Facebook proud to work there?\nWhat is morale like inside that place? When someone asks you what you do, and\nyou say \"I work for Facebook,\" what is their typical reaction?\n\nNot trying to be snarky. I'm genuinely curious how these perceptions/feelings\nmight have changed over the past few years.\n\n~~~\nerikw\nI too am curious about the internal motivations of people who work for\nFacebook. Something I've noticed about myself is that I would be okay with\nworking for a US defense contractor, ie a company which makes machines that\nliterally kill people, yet I could not picture myself working at Facebook. I\nstruggle to square this morally, because I also believe that defense\ncontractors have a greater net negative impact on society than Facebook does,\nbut there is something \"icky\" to me about Facebook.\n\nI used to commute with a group of folks from Facebook, Oracle, and Amazon, and\nnone of them seemed to have any moral qualms about their employers. My buddy\nfrom Oracle invited me to apply to work on his team, and in explaining why I\ncouldn't consider working at Oracle, I mentioned some recent terrible thing\nOracle had done in the open source community. His response was that Amazon\ncontributed even less open source (which I believe is true). So I think in the\nend, the internal justification is \"Yeah, maybe I'm contributing to something\nimmoral, but it's less immoral than X & Y\".\n\n~~~\nesperent\n> I would be okay with working for a US defense contractor, ie a company which\n> makes machines that literally kill people\n\nThe thought of working for a company like this makes me feel physically ill.\nSoldiers can at least feel like they are working to defend a country they\nbelieve in. Weapons companies will sell killing machines to anyone with money.\nFew things in the world make me feel the visceral disgust that these companies\nengender.\n\nBy contrast Facebook is icky ... In the sense that there's one naive greedy\nidiot pulling the strings and he refuses to accept the damage he's causing.\nWeapons companies and the people who work for them know that their killing\ntools are sold indiscriminately and will end up in the hands of tyrants and\nterrorists across the world.\n\n~~~\neanzenberg\nWhat damage is Zuck causing again?\n\n~~~\nadamsea\nDamage to society by denying the role - via inaction, if nothing else - the\ncompany he leads plays in coordinated campaigns of deceit and disinformation\naimed not just to undermine public discourse but also the functioning of\ndemocractic government itself (via targeted political advertising and\nmisinformation).\n\nWhich isn't to say that moderation at Facebook's scale is an easy problem -\nit's not. And balancing freedom of speech with some degree of accountability\nand acknowledging empirically verifiable truths is difficult.\n\nBut, buy the ticket, take the ride. He's a billionaire. FB makes oodles and\noodles of money. They just don't want to do it because it would cost them\nmoney.\n\nEventually laws will catch up, in one way or another, and the same way other\nmedia outlets are (imperfectly) regulated, new-media outlets such as FB,\nGoogle, etc, will be as well, IMHO.\n\n------\navernon\nMaybe I'm cynical, but I would think this has more to do with the cost of ads\ngoing up so much. If you were already thinking of reducing spend on FB, why\nnot get a little PR out of it?\n\nAlso, since the cost of FB ads has been going up over the last several years,\nthat means there is no shortage of demand for ads on FB.\n\n~~~\nadmn2\nYeah, pretty much all the big DTC brands (Allbirds, Away, Warby, OV, etc.) all\nhave retail store fronts and \"showrooms\" now across the US. I always just\nassumed if they were spending $1mm+/month on FB ads, it wasn't a very\ndifficult decision to move $20k/month to a store in a big city and see what\nkind of lead gen and brand awareness that yields.\n\n~~~\n8ytecoder\nPersonal anecdote - stores resulted in a much better conversion but not a huge\nuptick in acquisition.\n\n~~~\njonathanpeterwu\nCan you explain this a bit further, long tail which was better ROI\n\n------\ntomp\nNice. I like that companies are putting their money where their mouth is, and\nnot just doing cheap virtue signalling, like posting a black square on\nInstagram.\n\nI think, and hope, however, that Facebook will come out victorious; (1)\nfreedom of speech is important, (2) it's not up to Facebook to be the arbitrer\nof what's allowed or not (it's up to the law), (3) advertisers need Facebook\nmore than Facebook needs them, and (4) sooner or later companies will learn\nthat SJW-ing is at worst negative (each company could easily come under attack\nitself) and at best irrelevant (did Pepsi suffer any long-term consequences\nfor the backlash against it a year or 2 ago? Did Gillete gain a lot for\npublishing its anti-toxic masculinity ad? I doubt it.)\n\n~~~\ntzs\nHaving the law as the sole arbiter of what is allowed or not would be terrible\nfor free speech.\n\nThe problem is that we have an overwhelming amount of information being\nproduced, so that people have a hard time evaluating all they are exposed to.\nFurthermore, we have a lot of people who are just too trusting, or too naive,\nor too gullible, or perhaps just even stupid. Finally, on top of that we have\nmany information producers who are _trying_ to cause harm ranging from people\njust doing it for fun to countries trying to undermine each other's stability.\n\nA society _must_ find some way to prevent or at least limit those who are\nintentionally trying to harm people from taking advantage of the overly\ntrusting, naive, gullible, and stupid.\n\nThe law is a monopoly. Using it to try to address that problem will tend\ntoward overly broad restrictions on speech, with little or no recourse for\nthose whose speech should not have been included.\n\nIt's far better for it to be handled by Facebook, Twitter, and the rest. If\nFacebook won't let me talk about some particular topic I do have alternatives.\nThey might not reach as far so I might have to go to some serious effort to\ncontact like minded people and get them to agree to discuss my topic on some\nother platform--but I _can_.\n\n~~~\ntomp\nYou're conflating a few issues. Facebook is being boycotted ostensibly for\nfailing to combat _hate_ speech, whereas your comment is mostly written as a\nargument to censor _fake_ news. Classical mote-and-bailey fallacy.\n\nTwitter deleting bots claiming that Obama was born in Africa? Fine. Twitter\ntagging Trump's warning that any squatters in Washington DC will be treated\naccording to law as \"promoting violence against specific groups\" or \"abusive\"?\nThat's quite transparent political bias.\n\nSure, you probably wrote your comment because you oppose Trump on political\nviews and you support Twitter acting against promoting those views, but at\nleast be transparent about it; don't claim that tech giants are just trying to\nprotect the \"naive, gullible, stupid\" is gas-lighting.\n\nLast but not least, do you have any evidence for this? IMO it's mostly just\nused for journalists to discredit people they disagree with (e.g. Trump or\nBrexit voters).\n\n _> we have a lot of people who are just too trusting, or too naive, or too\ngullible, or perhaps just even stupid._\n\n~~~\ndanans\n> Trump's warning that any squatters in Washington DC will be treated\n> according to law\n\nWhat is this law against peaceful protest that you cite?\n\nAnd under what statute is the use of violence against those protesters\nsanctioned by the law?\n\n~~~\nbhupy\nSquatting + Vandalism != peaceful protest\n\nIf a group of people peacefully protest on my lawn, they are not\nConstitutionally protected to do so, no matter how \"peaceful\" their assembly.\nIf I call the cops to forcefully remove them from my property, I would be\nacting within the bounds of the law.\n\nIf a group of people spray-paints my business, and I call on the police to\nreprimand them, that is again within the confines of the law.\n\nThe President tweeting about doing the same is a simple extension of this. You\nmay disagree with the law in question (as is your right), but it's a bit silly\nto suggest that tweeting about enforcement of the law (no matter how unjust\nyou think it is), should be considered beyond the pale on a global platform.\n\n~~~\ndanans\n> Squatting + Vandalism != peaceful protest\n\nAgreed that vandalism is not peaceful protest.\n\n> If a group of people peacefully protest on my lawn, they are not\n> Constitutionally protected to do\n\nBut occupying a public space (not a private lawn) in protest - what you refer\nto as squatting - is absolutely peaceful protest. Lafayette Square is not\nPOTUS' private lawn.\n\n~~~\nbhupy\n> Lafayette Square is not POTUS' private lawn\n\nBut St Johns church is not a public space, and vandalizing it is not legal.\nEven in public commons, vandalizing/toppling public statues is currently not\nlegal.\n\nTrump's tweets/posts are strictly about reprimanding this behavior. Again,\nthere is a growing orthodoxy that holds that this behavior _should not_ be\nreprimanded, but tweeting about enforcing those existing laws is well within\nthe realm of reasonable discourse, especially for a political leader.\n\n~~~\ndanans\n> But St Johns church is not a public space\n\nLafayette Square is a public place, and that is where POTUS cleared peaceful\nprotectors with force, so that he could walk across it for his photo op at the\nchurch. If it were an issue of protecting St John's Church property, they\ncould have cleared just that property, and brought the president in with a\nhelicopter. But the whole point was to demonstrate the show of force against\nthe protesters.\n\nYou appear to be focusing on St John's Church's private property with the goal\nof distracting attention from the public place where the actual use of force\nagainst peaceful protesters took place: Lafayette Square.\n\nOne doesn't need to be a liberal to call out the shamefulness of that\nincident. In fact the hardly liberal James Mattis did exactly that, as did the\nother general who was caught in the photo op.\n\n~~~\nbhupy\nI think you have that backwards. The \"photo op\" incident occurred weeks ago,\nand James Mattis rightfully condemned it.\n\nThe current spate of boycotts appear to be in response to Facebook's refusal\nto remove a post by Trump _directly_ referring to the \"Black House Autonomous\nZone\". That's why the focus is on St. John's church and statues — it's what is\n_currently happening right now_. I will include the text of Trump's post:\n\n\"There will never be an “Autonomous Zone” in Washington, D.C., as long as I’m\nyour President. If they try they will be met with serious force!\"\n\nThis has nothing to do with the photo op incident, and the willingness to\nfocus on it distracts attention from the private place where actual vandalism\nand squatting is currently taking place. It's a valid (if crass) expression of\na willingness to enforce the law, no matter how much people may disagree with\nit.\n\n~~~\ndanans\nYes, it sounds like we were talking about different incidents.\n\nI personally support Facebook's ability to make the decision to either allow\nor disallow president's posts - within the parameters of the law - regardless\nof whether I would agree with their decision.\n\nThe question is whether the parameters of law allow for a public official to\nissue credible threats of violence again citizens over mass media channels,\nand under what conditions.\n\nThe actual use of force by this president in his shameful photo op incident in\nfront of the church has clearly demonstrated without a shadow of doubt that\nhis threat of _disproportional_ violence against protesters - even for trivial\npurposes - is credible.\n\nThe legality of all this is not a settled issue, and is something the courts\nmay have to decide.\n\n~~~\nbhupy\nThe courts have already decided. The Brandenburg v Ohio precedent establishes\nthe \"imminent lawless action\" test.\n\nIssuing threats of (legal) force against citizens that they perceive to be\nbreaking the law fails the \"imminent lawless action\" test, and is currently\nwithin the parameters of the law.\n\n~~~\ndanans\nFrom the Brandenburg v Ohio wiki page:\n\n> The U.S. Supreme Court reversed Brandenburg's conviction, holding that\n> government cannot constitutionally punish abstract advocacy of force or law\n> violation\n\nBrandenburg was an individual private citizen advocating \"abstractly\" for\nviolence against black and Jews as a representative of his private\norganization (the KKK). His speech rights were protected then by the case.\n\nHowever, we will almost certainly have court cases in the near future that\nwill test the protections of hate speech, which is what we would more readily\ncall Brandenburg's speech today.\n\nPOTUS is a public official and in this incident was speaking in his role as a\npublic official with the power to use force, and issuing a concrete threat\nagainst a specific target. He is speaking as the government itself because he\nis invoking the government's powers.\n\nIt's not at all clear that Brandenburg v Ohio protects this sort of speech.\nThere is plenty for the courts to still consider.\n\n~~~\nbhupy\n> POTUS is a public official and in this incident was speaking in his role as\n> a public official with the power to use force, and a concrete threat against\n> a concrete target.\n\nYes, but that use of force is not lawless. Police use of force against\nvandalism is currently legal. Calling for that is also legal, because it fails\nthe \"lawless\" portion of the \"imminent lawless action\" test.\n\nSimilarly, if POTUS calls for war against a specific nation (or group), it is\nwithin his rights to do that, no matter how violent or deadly war may be. War\nisn't a lawless action (for better or for worse). As such, the Commander in\nChief declaring the intent to call on the legislature to approve a war is also\nprotected, for the same reason.\n\n~~~\ndanans\n> Similarly, if POTUS calls for war against a specific nation (or group), it\n> is within his rights to do that, no matter how violent or deadly war may be.\n\nCalling for war against a foreign adversary, yes. But for violence against\ndomestic protesters - not clear that Brandenburg v Ohio protects that,\nregardless of whether the violence is lawful, and to what degree it is lawful.\nThe use of violence by public officials is not a blanket right, and courts\nwill likely consider the types of situation where particular levels of\nviolence are legal or not.\n\nAlso, there are specific legal prohibitions against using the military against\ndomestic targets, which is one of the things Mattis was so incensed about in\nthe photo op incident. The administration would like to claim they have the\noption of the Insurrection Act, which will again have to be tested in courts.\nCalling protests insurrection, even those that commit vandalism, is false on\nits face.\n\n~~~\nbhupy\n> The administration would like to claim they have the option of the\n> Insurrection Act, which will again have to be tested in courts. Calling\n> protests insurrection, even those that commit vandalism, is false on its\n> face.\n\nWe're not talking about classifying anything as \"insurrection\" here.\n\nGiven the context of the tweet in question, we are strictly talking about\nvandalism and trespassing, and we're talking about classifying it as\n\"obstruction of the law\", which is explicitly carved out in the text of the\nInsurrection Act. I'm not sure if you can make a strong case that vandalism\nand trespassing are NOT an obstruction of the law. If a mid-20th century\nArkansas school refusing to desegregate can be considered an obstruction of\nthe law, so too can vandalism/trespassing.\n\nThe POTUS declaring the intent to call on the legislature to approve the\nInsurrection Act against those that are objectively obstructing the law is\nprotected by the Constitution, and you'd have to really stretch yourself to\nsuggest that this fails the imminent lawless action test.\n\nAnd this is also all assuming that POTUS is talking about using the military.\nHe could also be talking about just calling on the police force to just\nenforce the existing laws. The statement is vague enough that it's legal on\nits face, but even in the non-charitable interpretation pretty clearly fails\nthe Brandenburg test.\n\n------\nthrowaway_jobs\nIt seems the pandemic and unemployment is finally causing voodoo economics\n(trickle down economics) to reverse course and perhaps cause trickle up\neconomics, where the multi-billion dollar corporations and rich alike will\nbegin to feel the pinch of poverty on a massive scale trickle up.\n\nUnfortunately while taxpayers got their $1,200 Checks they were robbed blind\nof over $4T to the FED which went directly to stabilize the publicly traded\ncompanies. If it weren’t for that, we would have already seen bankruptcies on\na massive scale from publicly traded companies...instead the markets are back\nwhere the were pre-covid. But at some point they will have to admit there\ncan’t be a recovery when there are no consumers left.\n\n~~~\ncamillomiller\nI'm frankly flabbergasted by what's going on with the markets. If anyone\nthought stocks were still somehow a projection of reality and an indicator of\nexpectations on the future of a company's performance, well, that's clearly\nnot the case anymore. I am really scared that a real devastating collapse is\nstill looming, but I frankly have no clue of when that could happen and what\ncould actually trigger it.\n\n~~~\njfengel\nIt is baffling, and I've been expecting a crash for a decade... which is the\nproblem. The market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.\n\nRight now it's kind of persistently slightly irrational. A quick-and-dirty\nmeasure of its sanity is the P/E ratio: how much money are the publicly listed\ncompanies actually making? Right now, the number is around 22[1], meaning a\ndollar invested in the market takes 22 years to pay itself back purely in\nterms of corporate profits.\n\nThat's a return of about 3%. Numbers over 20 are generally considered a sign\nthat the market is overheated. They peaked at around 45 and 65 right before\nthe 90s and 2000s crashes. So there is revenue there, and not entirely out of\nline with stock prices, but not entirely line with them either.\n\nNone of that takes coronavirus into account; that's current price with last\nquarter's earnings. But if you assume that coronavirus is only temporary (it\nmay not be, but let's be optimistic for a second) it means that long term the\nnumbers are calling for a crash... eventually. One of these days. Longer than\nyou can remain solvent while shorting it.\n\nProbably.\n\nIn other words, I've got no idea what's going on. The markets have been\nweirdly stable (in price-to-earnings terms) for the past decade, at a number\nthat's too optimistic, before coronavirus. Surely the inevitable at-least-\nshort-term loss of earnings should have corrected that, but it hasn't. So\neither people are thinking very long term, or they're just nuts.\n\n[1] [https://www.multpl.com/s-p-500-pe-\nratio](https://www.multpl.com/s-p-500-pe-ratio)\n\n~~~\ndehrmann\nI've started ignoring P/E because , among other reasons, it doesn't account\nfor cash reserves. If you have two similar companies, but one is sitting on\nmore cash, it should be worth more, but its P/E makes it look overpriced\nrelative to the other.\n\n------\nhprotagonist\nI wonder how much of the elephant in the room, which is \"ad-tech kind of\ndoesn't work so great\", people are going to be willing to say out loud.\n\n~~~\nmattlondon\nBased on some personal experience from perhaps 7 or 8 years ago, it can work\nfor driving sales.\n\nHowever it required quite a lot of effort.\n\nIt wasn't just throw some money into the ads and wait for the returns - you\nneeded to basically spend a full-time job pulling levers and prodding buttons\nto find out where the \"sweet spot\" was and then make sure you keep up with the\nmoving target over the following days weeks and months. If you were lucky and\nyour business was selling the \"right\" things (i.e. large margin items) you\ncould do quite well. E.g. it might cost you $15-20 in ads to make one sale -\nthat is net-positive if the margin on your items is large. So some fashion,\nfurniture, holidays etc a $20+ Cost-per-acquisition is a bargain as you just\npaid $20 to make a $150 profit. If you are competing for common ad\nspace/keywords and you have a low-margin business then you're probably not\ngoing to do so well since you might be paying $20 to sell something that costs\n$9.99 or whatever.\n\nOf course, there is then the question of would you have made that $150 profit\nwithout spending the $20? Or did you actually make more than one sale from\nthose $20 worth of ads (e.g. in-store sales etc in addition to purchases made\nonline). I am not involved in online advertising now, but at the time that was\nthe trillion dollar question that everyone was trying to answer... no idea if\nit is solved now.\n\n------\ncreaghpatr\nGiven what they are trying to do to Scott Alexander, it's hard to take NYT's\nreporting angle seriously.\n\n------\navsteele\nThis is a poor article. It mixes up several different issues and lumps them\ntogether as if they were one thing. Strongly ideological companies aren't\ngoing to behave like the bulk of their customers.\n\nI read this as yet another shot from the NYT against tech in general. It's\npropaganda.\n\n------\ndonw\nAfter the SSC debacle, NYT is likely to learn itself a thing or two about\nboycotts.\n\n~~~\nintsunny\nIf we punish respected organizations (of any kind) for every gaffe, we would\nnot have any left.\n\nIn an era where the journalists are more under attack than ever, we might want\nto remember it is easier to tear things down than build them up.\n\n~~~\nVeen\nWhat about gaffes like the 1619 Project, the shortcomings and errors of which\nthe NYT steadfastly refused to correct in the face of criticisms from\nhistorians. At a certain point, when the gaffes all line up in one direction,\none might reasonably suspect an underlying motive.\n\n~~~\nciarannolan\nWhat were some of the issues with the 1619 Project?\n\n~~~\nsolarwind\nThe main thesis of the 1619 project was that the colonists decided to declare\ntheir independence from Britain because they wanted to protect the institution\nof slavery. This is categorically false according to actual historians, and so\nthe NYT had to issue a correction (some 7 months later). None of the leading\nscholars of the whole period from the Revolution to the Civil War were\nconsulted on the project, yet now it is being taught in some public schools\n\n~~~\nVeen\n> yet now it is being taught in some public schools\n\nThat's the real problem. Newspapers get things wrong all the time. There's a\nconversation, people put forth their views pro and anti, and everyone makes up\ntheir own mind. But making a newspaper story that has come under fire from a\nhuge number of respectable scholars part of the school curriculum for children\nis nakedly ideological.\n\n~~~\ncatalogia\nI think/hope everybody recognizes that mistakes happen. In this particular\ncase I think it goes beyond a mere mistake. Some points to consider: The 1619\nProject refers not merely to \"a newspaper story\". Originally it was 100 page\nmagazine with ten essays, a variety of poems and stories, etc. It has since\nbecome an ongoing multimedia project. Secondly, as mentioned above, the NYTs\nhas not been particularly responsive to criticism from actual historians.\n\n~~~\ncmdshiftf4\n> In this particular case I think it goes beyond a mere mistake.\n\nI think that supports another point made above:\n\n>At a certain point, when the gaffes all line up in one direction, one might\nreasonably suspect an underlying motive.\n\nThe NYT seems to be beyond \"gaffes\" at this point, and be entirely focused on\npromoting their ideology.\n\n------\nmoksly\nI wonder how much of it is Facebook being unwilling to be editorial and how\nmuch of it is then being unable to moderate a couple of billion users.\n\nEither way, they might not get a choice. The EU is going to regulate them more\nand more. My own country is passing a law to force platforms to remove child\npornography within 24 hours of it being reported as an example of where it\nstarts. Won’t be long before we make enabling nazi groups planning hate crimes\nillegal either.\n\n~~~\nHeroOfAges\nNo one has a problem with anyone making nazi groups planning hate crimes\nillegal. My biggest concern is Facebook deciding who is a \"nazi\" and what\nconstitutes a hate crime. My belief (backed by scientific fact) that\nbiological sex is real and immutable is enough to have me branded as a \"nazi\".\nThe statement \"males are not females\" is enough to be considered hate speech.\nSaying, \"males are not females\" could be a hate crime.\n\n~~~\nsneak\nAs usual, context is everything in communication.\n\n\"Males are not females\" may be accurate when referring to biological sex, but\nin the context it is most commonly used (as harassment and as a\nneoconservative tribal signifier) it is referring to gender, and is roughly\nequivalent to saying \"the gender you have now should match the gender you were\nassigned at birth, or your gender identity is illegitimate\".\n\nIt's similar to saying \"all lives matter\". Of course they do, but the context\nin which its said indicates that it's an opposition to the explicit statement\nabout black lives mattering, a de-focusing and dismissal. \"All lives matter\"\nor \"males are not females\" are not incorrect statements, but in the vast\nmajority of the times they are used on the internet, they are used to express\nhatred of a group and the active dismissal of that group's efforts to achieve\nequal human rights. The context in which they are used makes them hateful.\nHiding behind the \"but it's scientific fact!\" is simply a deflection from the\nfact that it is an expression of hate in the context in which it is used.\n\nI shouldn't have to explain this, honestly. Please stop acting like a jerk to\npeople online.\n\n~~~\nHeroOfAges\nSince when does the truth need context? If I tweet \"males are not females\" on\nTwitter with no context, they will ban my account.\n\nAlso, if I want to say \"the gender you have now should match the gender you\nwere assigned at birth, or your gender identity is illegitimate\", that's\nprecisely what I'll say, but I tend to speak directly. Have you considered you\nmight be projecting if you can read the literal words \"males are not females\"\nand conclude a person intends to say, \"the gender you have now should match\nthe gender you were assigned at birth, or your gender identity is\nillegitimate\"? That seems like quite a leap.\n\n~~~\nperl4ever\nI'd say the truth value of any possible statement is _entirely_ derived from\ncontext. Any possible statement could appear on a sign from nowhere in an\ninfinite empty universe purely out of quantum fluctuations, but it would have\nno meaning without the context of a universe like ours. Every statement has a\ncontext in which it expresses the truth, and many others in which it is false.\nAnd people get into conflicts about the meta-issue of whose context is right.\n\nMach's principle is kind of an analogy I'm thinking of.\n\n------\n1235711\nOne thing to consider is that this is largely a self-correcting problem for\nFacebook due to the auction model for ads.\n\nAs money leaves the pool, price per conversion will tend to go down\nautomatically for everyone else.\n\nIf you think other advertisers will leave money on the table to make a point\nthen you haven't worked in business very long.\n\n------\nfranze\nI wrote about it here and I stand with it \"Paid Ads are a Trap\"\n[https://medium.com/@franz.enzenhofer/ads-are-a-\ntrap-80df01d2...](https://medium.com/@franz.enzenhofer/ads-are-a-\ntrap-80df01d2fbaf?source=friends_link&sk=ed2680c921a7bb5a0b147b44a9a14b1e)\n(Medium free to read link)\n\nThe ad system of Google and Facebook is obviously not created to benefit the\nbusinesses which book ads, but Fb and G. The business should be at best held\nat minimum but viable profit, highest cost for ads. At worst \"burn through all\nyour money with us\". I by now came to eh conclusion that \"paids (ads) growth\"\nis scheme with only Fb and G as the profiteers.\n\n------\nnewsclues\nI hope government gets on-board.\n\nI frequently see government of Ontario and Canada advertising on Facebook and\nits poorly targeted and it makes me mad\n\n------\nglobular-toast\nI have mixed feelings about Facebook. I was one of the first people in my\nfriend group to boycott Facebook back when it _really_ wasn't cool to do so:\nback in 2008 or so. I did so for reasons of privacy. As someone who works with\ndata for a living, I know full well the risks people are taking by using\nFacebook and I also see how little the general public understand about this.\nSo I boycotted them.\n\nBut nobody talks about privacy any more.\n\nThe current backlash against Facebook seems to be due to them not wanting to\ncensor the platform in quite the way that users want them to censor the\nplatform. It seems everyone is happy with the censorship---because like anyone\nwho has ever been happy with censorship they don't believe the readership is\nintelligent enough to read certain words---but they are unhappy that the\ncensorship isn't being conducted in a way that benefits them.\n\nBack in 2008 I thought it was simple: just don't use Facebook. Maybe it was\nthat simple back then. But not now. This internet thing really seems to be\nturning into the great problem of our time and I fully expect it to cause\nseveral major crises before we figure it out.\n\n------\ncode4tee\nFor better or worse money talks. Advertiser pullouts have been an effective\nchange mechanism in many other cases. TV personalities doing controversial\nthings were typically done in when the advertisers pulled their money. Until\nthen nothing happened.\n\nFacebook does a lot of cool things but it’s only sustainable as a business if\nthe advertising dollars keep flowing. Shut that off in any appreciable\nquantity and things will get ugly there real quick.\n\n------\nrootusrootus\nWhile it might affect Facebook’s bottom line for a short while, until users\nstart moving away from FB nothing really will change. Advertisers will come\nback.\n\n~~~\naphextron\n>\"While it might affect Facebook’s bottom line for a short while, until users\nstart moving away from FB nothing really will change. Advertisers will come\nback.\"\n\nCounterpoint: users already have moved away, and that's why advertisers are\nable to do this without hesitation now. FB is still growing in the third\nworld, but I don't know a single person in the US under 30 that still uses it.\n\n~~~\njjice\nAs a Uni student, I still see people use Facebook, but it's a select group of\npeople. It's the same < 5% of the people I interact with regularly. Most\npeople I know use Facebook just for events so you can invite someone to a\nfundraiser or party.\n\nOn the other side, I see Instagram doing fantastic among my friends, and it\ngets way less hate from them, despite being very openly owned by Facebook (it\nsays it on the splash screen).\n\n------\necmascript\nSo because Mark Zuckerberg won't censor people with different opinions he is\ncomplacent in spreading fake news and hate?\n\nWow, that kind of rhetoric is dangerous imo. For once I actually think\nFacebook have made the right call. Censoring people is wrong and Facebook\nshould refrain from doing it.\n\nLet me decide what is true and false, I don't need Facebook or other people to\ndecide that for me.\n\nGood job Facebook, thanks for standing up for free speech.\n\n~~~\nabtom\nFacebook as a bastion of free speech? That's not something you hear often. I\ndon't even even want to dig up the old examples of Zuckerberg bending over\nbackwards for China, here's a recent example from Vietnam -\n[https://in.reuters.com/article/vietnam-facebook/exclusive-\nfa...](https://in.reuters.com/article/vietnam-facebook/exclusive-facebook-\nagreed-to-censor-posts-after-vietnam-slowed-traffic-sources-idINKCN2232KP)\n\n~~~\nbzb3\nThey only censor when the government forces them to. In other words they do\nthe minimum to comply with the local law. Isn't that what we were looking for?\n\n~~~\nabtom\nIf they were only complying with court orders / subpoenas that's what would be\ncalled doing the minimum to comply with the law. They have done way more than\nthat in the past - giving out tools to governments to enable mass surveillance\nand takedown of posts/accounts. Whatever content any government agency has a\nproblem with is taken down immediately.\n\nDon't be mistaken. This is not Facebook standing up for your rights. It's them\nnot wanting to stop fake news from spreading on their platform because that\nwould hurt the bottomline.\n\n------\ndjohnston\nnyt will never waste an opportunity to paint their usurper as a failing\ncompany.. i am highly confident that this will all amount to nothing\n\n~~~\nmintym\nIt gives them political cover to ban content and act as if they are\n\"responding to pressure\" but still \"striving to be neutral\".\n\n------\n0xy\nThis is amazing, because it means less competition and my business will get\nbetter marketing ROI. I fully support other businesses reducing advertising.\n\n------\nnaringas\nI for one am thankful that thanks to facebook there's not only google.\n\n------\nacd\nI boycott Facebook as a platform for privacy reasons.\n\n------\nadmiralspoo\nThe NYT is no longer credible\n\n------\neanzenberg\nWishful thinking from the nyt\n\n------\nmesozoic\nWow they're in trouble. Both the left and right are not happy with them. The\nleft cause they won't censor enough and the right because they sensor too much\nand put in a likely bias review committee. The Project Veritas video was\npretty exposing and will likely fuel a senate investigation.\n\n------\nbuboard\nMaybe instead of trying to damage fb directly, nytimes could instead write\nabout the countless social communities that facebook destroyed abd sidelined\nover the years. It s not long ago that nytimes was writing praises about\nfacebook, we remember.\n\nUnfortunately these days it doesn’t seem that nytimes holds itself to a higher\nmoral standard than fb\n\n[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/business/smallbusiness/12...](https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/business/smallbusiness/12guide.html)\n\n[https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/technology/08class.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/technology/08class.html)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nTell HN: I'm giving 4 domains away to a good home - andr\nhttp://alek.posterous.com/4-domains-free-to-a-good-home\nYou could also post your pitch as a comment here.\n======\npetercooper\nI gave away a bunch of domains a few months back (I posted about them here).\nOf what I gave away, I don't think any has been put to good use, and one of\nthem has been used to spam my own damn site.. Sorta lost the will to give on\nthat one anymore.\n\n(Update: Of course, if someone came to me and begged me for a domain I was\njust sitting on.. I'd probably be OK with giving it up!)\n\n~~~\nstevejalim\nhi petercooper - sorry to hear that the great domain giveway I sparked\n(referenced elsewhere in these comments) didn't pan out for you.\n\nFailed for me too, as it happens - no one wanted anything I had to give away,\nand I had such specific target markets in mind that I just couldn't find one\nthat I could use -- basically the same issue that meant I couldn't find a good\nunregistered domain in the first place\n\n------\nsoult\nYour post got me interested: Do you think that HN could pull of another thread\nlike this: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=652952>\n\n------\nmortenjorck\nmassivedebate.com:\n\nOne big 72pt bold, binary question at the top (i.e. \"Should the US healthcare\nreform bill have been passed?)\n\nTwo columns.\n\nYou can scroll down the page and read the top-rated arguments on both sides,\nthen choose to type into either the \"for\" or \"against\" column field, and once\nyou've made your argument, you can go back up the column (and into the \"new\narguments\" view) and vote up and down _only the side that you chose._\n\nAfter a few days, the question rotates, and it starts all over again.\n\n~~~\nleftnode\nI developed a site similar to that for a friend of mine: <http://nooges.com>\n\nBasically he posts a daily comment through a backend forum, and then people\ncan agree or disagree or talk smack or whatever. You don't have to be\nregistered to post, but if you're registered under the forums and logged in\nand post, it'll show your username.\n\nI do like the name massivedebate.com, I'll suggest it to him to see if he's\ninterested in it.\n\n------\nandr\nIf you post your request/pitch as a comment here you'll get bonus points for\ncourage.\n\n~~~\nprawn\nI don't need any more domains or side projects, but I've always thought that\nlarge-scale online conversations (Slashdot, Huff Po, etc) are still yet to be\ndone that well. MassiveDebate.com could be a suitable domain for someone\ntackling the problem.\n\nAs a reader, one problem is in getting an overall feel for the 'lean' of the\nconversation. There must be a way to incorporate this in large discussions, or\nto categorise posts by theme ('Thinks murder sentence given was too short',\n'Thinks sentence given too long', 'Discussing increased police attention for\nbikie gangs', etc).\n\nOr identify key contributors by post volume or karma within a thread.\n\nOr provide ways for a reader to seek out arguments with people they disagree\nwith, or to mostly see like-minded commentors (confirmation bias).\n\nAnother problem for readers is knowing where to start. Oldest topics first or\nnewest? Randomised order? I've wondered (half-baked idea) about topics along a\nhorizontal axis with responses hanging down the vertical axis from each parent\ntopic. Might be something in that, or could just be a usability disaster. Or\nmaybe the viewport is fixed (no horiz scrollbar) but you hit arrows to each\nside to browse top-level topics? Each sub-topic could have a header that\nincluded info about the originator, key contributors within, general lean of\nthe contents ('Strongly favours those that think the sentence was too\nlight.').\n\nAnother issue is in finding the most worthwhile comments (Slashdot has\nmoderation and so on that can be helpful but I've only ever used it as a set-\nand-forget thing to browse at +2 with Funny discounted heavily). The biggest\nnews network in Australia doesn't even have this (or threading, or anything\nuseful) in its commenting system. It's flat, no notifications, no ownership of\nan alias, no prevention of people impersonating others, no up/down vote - and\nit's been like that for years!\n\nAs a contributor, a big problem is the perception and reality that a lot of\ncomments are drive-bys. Forcing, encouraging or using a default setting of\nemail notification could help there, but in a way that doesn't leave you\ndiving for the off-switch once the replies start getting heavy. I think the\nPHP BB (or maybe it's a competing forum I'm thinking of) system of sending one\nalert only until you return to view the thread has merit. Providing quality\ntools/experience for regular contributors could encourage people to hang\naround and build up their karma within the system, etc.\n\nHow do you tackle a 500+-post conversation? Is it even possible?\n\n~~~\njodrellblank\nI dislike the way that massive debates turn into selective replies, and think\nit would be good to try a debate of 2 sides, instead of a debate of 500 serial\nreplies.\n\nWhen you visit the site, you see the current state, and you can look down the\npoints and rebuttals on either side and contribute to those bits specifically\nand 'push' the center line one way or the other.\n\nTug-o-war style, not HN comment style.\n\nNot sure how well it would work in reality - I'm guessing a bit tediously.\n\n~~~\nErrantX\nThis was my thinking too... pick (or have users submit) some option A or\noption B news stories and then give then let people post debate\ncomments/points for either choice.\n\nUpvotes should hopefully drag good comments to the top - then perhaps a \"show\nof hands\" to decide the issue\n\nFighting trolls would be hard.\n\n------\nfizz972\nI'd like to have coolthingtodo.com and host a site where people could share\ncool things to do in different situations.\n\nFor example:\n\n* When you're drunk and think you got a cool new domain name on your mind -> Write it down on some note and only buy it the next morning\n\n------\nmikeyur\nI own _wantrepreneur.net_ and I can't think of anything to do with it. If\nanyone wants to use it, let me know and I can transfer it over to you (just\nneed an account at namecheap)\n\ncomment if you have any ideas for it, or shoot me an email m[]mikeyur[]com\n\n------\naxod\nNot being funny, but these are pretty terrible domains IMHO Why did you\nregister them?!\n\n------\nsome1else\nI'd like to make an experimental semantic relevance matcher for twitter on\nTWANQ. The plan is to analyze and relate tweets using OpenCYC (or even WordNET\nat first, but I want to try and drop OpenCYC in the mix). It would enable you\nto possibly start meaningful conversations with people in your extended social\ngraph (the degree of separation would probably be set by a computational\nlimitation on the server-side).\n\nEdit: If anyone has experience with OpenCYC or is interested in collaborating,\nplease get in touch via srdjan@filmit.si\n\n------\nmegamark16\nIf I pick up any more side projects my wife will kill me :-) With that being\nsaid, I bet someone could do something pretty cool and unique with some of\nthose.\n\n------\nchime\nMy domain onyourcell.com is expiring soon and I do not plan on renewing it.\nLet me know if anyone wants it before it expires.\n\n~~~\narethuza\nWhy not try selling it on sedo.com - I purchased a domain there last year and\nwas fairly happy with the way things worked out.\n\n~~~\nchime\nHonestly, not worth the time/effort. I highly doubt anyone will give me $100+\nfor it. Plus I hate domain-squatters. I don't want to do anything remotely\nsimilar to them.\n\nLots of folks here on HN make phone apps. I've had onyourcell.com for 7+ yrs\nnow and many of the things I originally wanted to do with it are being done by\nGoogle for free (restaurant listing, directions etc.) So if someone wants to\ndo anything interesting with it, you are more than welcome to take it off my\nhands at no charge.\n\n------\ncarbocation\nI'd like to make dateahipster a soft redirect to chatroulette.\n\n~~~\nandr\nDone! Should kick in after DNS updates.\n\n~~~\ncarbocation\n.Hah! Awesome. If only I could be on the other end when someone first\ndiscovers what it really means to 'dateahipster'.\n\n------\nparaschopra\nWell I can imagine the weirdest thing ever: just because you are giving away\nthe domains for free, some cool kid will get an idea for a startup.\n\n~~~\naxod\nAs has been said a billion times before, the idea is the easy bit.\n\n------\nchime\nI own slickforms.com. You're welcome to take it for free.\n\n------\nyan\nI'll throw mine in also: sansvowels.com\n\n------\nclistctrl\nI love the concept of dateahipster.com, however its been my experience that\nhipsters hate other hipsters.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Visualizing the ACLU Twitter matches as campaigns - ccorda\nhttp://match.patronage.org/campaign/11\n======\nccorda\nThis is just a proof of concept, but it's pretty close to being usable. We\nbuilt it with real time data via Twitter's streaming API and Firebase.\nConverting the attachments into data was done via Google's Cloud Vision API.\n\nWe wrote a bit more of an overview of the campaign as a whole on Medium as\nwell [https://m.patronage.org/sacca-and-the-700k-twitter-\nmatch-76b...](https://m.patronage.org/sacca-and-the-700k-twitter-\nmatch-76b8452eae9b#.dq7rdzjim)\n\n~~~\njeffgreco\nImpressed the Cloud Vision API worked so well.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIs formal education important? (not for 37signnals) - terpua\nhttp://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/700-ask-37signals-is-formal-education-important\n======\nrichcollins\nIt is only important for pedigree and networking\n\n------\nsriram_sun\n<http://norvig.com/21-days.html>. Search for \"degree\".\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFCC votes to overturn net neutrality rules - oori\nhttp://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39973787\n======\noori\nquote: \"Americans have until mid-August to share their views with the FCC\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Does anyone make a lot of animated gifs? - njoglekar\n\nHow do you make them? Would love to chat with you.\n======\nPeroni\nTook me about 10 minutes to learn how to create gifs using this guide:\n[http://creativetechs.com/tipsblog/build-animated-gifs-in-\npho...](http://creativetechs.com/tipsblog/build-animated-gifs-in-photoshop/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: How much equity for first engineer when there is no salary involved? - goostavos\nHow much equity should you ask for if you&#x27;re an engineer joining a company for <i>exclusively</i> equity? I would be the first engineer and present from day one (though not a founder).<p>This would be a part-time moonlighting thing for all involved. Still though, having no salary obviously puts me in a much more risky position. I&#x27;ll be trading life &#x2F; hobbies &#x2F; free-time for a large &quot;maybe.&quot; That risk should be reflected in the equity, right?<p>Going off Paul Graham&#x27;s Equity Equation, the small skunk works aspect of project, and the fact that it doesn&#x27;t get built without an engineer means that I&#x27;d expect to ask in the high range, like, 30-40%. However, it&#x27;s really tough from reading around online to tell if this is reasonable or not.<p>What are the reasonable equity ranges for this situation?\n======\ndavismwfl\nI get the idea, but in reality there is no fair equity position unless you are\nconsidered a co-founder. If you are considered a co-founder then this is\nworkable, but basically you need to have an equal say in all things, otherwise\nthe company needs to find a way to pay you.\n\nTo be clear, equity is a promise that is broken in all but a few percentage of\ncases, and even when it isn't broken entirely many times it is nowhere near\nwhat you were promised or believed would be the outcome.\n\nI say you must be considered and treated as a co-founder because you are\ntaking the same risk the founders are and you need to be treated equally and\nbe able to have unrestricted equity, full voting etc. This mostly prevents\nthem from creating a share class now or later to minimize your payout, or to\ndilute you first before their shares are diluted.\n\nWhatever you do, don't do a deal like this without a lawyer helping you get it\nall in writing correctly to protect you. If they object to that then you\nshould run away from this deal.\n\nTo be fair, I have done this type of deal once, where I took only equity for\nwork (and I had most of these protections but not all and not co-founder\n\"status\") but I will never do it again without being a founder/co-founder.\nThere are just so many ways to be screwed, even by well meaning founders who\njust are naive to how investors and business works. It is also easy for people\nto speak about being fair when a multi-million dollar payout is just a dream,\nbut people change when the money is really there and they see themselves\n\"losing\" millions to \"non-founders\". Not saying all people are like this, many\nare great and wouldn't be douches, but you have to protect yourself from those\nsituations no matter what. And good founders won't object to you having those\nprotections in place because they were never going to be the ones that tried\nto screw you in the first place. Lots of lawsuits and insane amounts of money\ngets paid to lawyers because people don't protect themselves up front and get\nthings clear and in writing.\n\n~~~\ngreenyoda\nIf this person is treated as an employee (with no decision-making authority)\nrather than as a co-owner, they might have the legal status of an employee and\nbe required to be paid at least minimum wage. There are definitely a lot of\nissues here for lawyers to work out.\n\n~~~\ndavismwfl\nYea, something I don't think a lot of people understand, in general, equity\ncan't be used in lieu of compensation for an _employee_ (at least in most US\nStates that I know of, pretty sure it is all but not 100% sure). This hasn't\nalways been true, but the laws changed when a fair number of people were\ngetting screwed with share class changes etc where they put in years of work\nto come out with not even minimum wage because founders/investors got greedy.\nSome founders who fought for their people didn't have enough stock to control\nthe outcome so the board would vote the changes through over their objections.\nHence why when you are doing these negotiations you have to recognize the\nperson talking to you now may not be the person making the final call in 5\nyears.\n\nThere are ways around equity only with specific contracts & wording, but that\nis where the whole issue around not being a co-founder with equal footing\ncomes in as you are in an unprotected situation. My 2 cents is just never do\nit, your are a co-founder or getting paid a fair wage.\n\n------\ngus_massa\nRemember to get the % of equity in written. An oral agreement isn't worth the\npaper it's written on. Get your lawyer to read the written agreement.\n\nHow many other founders? How long is the other people working in this? How\nmuch magic does their equity have? Do they get salary?\n\nDo they have some MVP? What happened with the previous developer?\n\n~~~\ngreenyoda\nMore questions to ask: What is their source of funding (VC, bootstrapped with\nfounders' money, etc.)? What is their business plan, and at what point do they\nanticipate being profitable? If they're not profitable from the beginning, how\nlong do they think they can run the company on the funds they have? Would they\nexpect you, as a co-owner, to help fund the company? Do the founders have any\nprior business experience? Have they researched the market they're entering?\n\nIf you don't know how the business works, there's no way for you to evaluate\nwhether their equity is worth anything at all.\n\n------\ndylanjha\nEveryone is part-time moonlighting, but how many others are involved?\n\nIf only 2 or 3 of you then I think the range you're asking for makes sense.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nU.S. Torpedo Troubles During World War II (1998) - mmhsieh\nhttps://www.historynet.com/us-torpedo-troubles-during-world-war-ii.htm\n======\njandrese\n> Because of this logistics fiasco, veteran submariner and historian Paul\n> Schratz said he ‘was only one of many frustrated submariners who thought it\n> a violation of New Mexico scenery to test the A-bomb at Alamagordo when the\n> naval torpedo station was available.’\n\nLOL.\n\nAnother interesting fact about the US torpedoes is that they were slow by WWII\nstandards, especially compared to the Japanese torpedoes. This is normally a\nfairly bad flaw because it gives the enemy ship more time to dodge the\ntorpedo, however in the Battle off Samar it turned out to be an advantage as\nthey allowed the torpedoes fired by a tiny destroyer managed to scare the\nmighty battleship Yamato away from the battle for quite a long time because\nthe torpedoes took so long to arrive that the Yamato was well out of position\nonce they finally missed.\n\n~~~\nm4rtink\nIt's important to note that the torpedoes Japanese generally used we powered\nby compressed pure oxygen, making them faster & giving them more range.\n\nBut it also turned them into even bigger explosion hazard than normal\ntorpedoes when the ship caring them is hit. As a result many Japanese ships\nare documented going down after what would normally be minor hits due to their\noxygen torpedoes exploding and causing massive damage.\n\n~~~\ndralley\nWhy pure oxygen?\n\n~~~\nm4rtink\nMore energy stored in the same volume air tank. With normal air used by\nconventional torpedoes, you get just 20% oxygen and 80% nitrogen, which is not\nuseful for combustion.\n\nI think I might need to clarify - we are talking about a torpedo that is\ndriven by combustion engine. It carries some sort of fuel and because it is\nunder water, it needs to provide it's own oxidizer, which is where the high\npressure pure oxygen comes in.\n\nAlso, unlike when using normal air, it should be possible for the combustion\nengine to be more powerful while being smaller, due to the more energetic\nreaction. Also the exhaust gasses don't contain nitrogen, which is apparently\nvisible as a noticeable bubble trail, which might result in your target\nnoticing the torpedo and dogging.\n\nFor more detail, see the Wikipedia article:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_93_torpedo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_93_torpedo)\n\n------\nsegfaultbuserr\nWhen I was a child, I played a DOS game called Silent Hunter I. Basically,\nit's a submarine warfare game which you play as a U.S. Navy submarine in World\nWar II, cursing the Pacific Ocean and attacks Japanese warships. When playing\nthe game, I was extremely frustrated about the Mark XIV torpedo onboard -\nAfter going through the painstaking process of calculating the projectile,\nhitting the fire button, I would watch the stopwatch and hoping for the best\nthat the target won't change its course... finally it was the time... nothing!\nFor every five fires or so, there would be one or two torpedoes that never\nexplode - when you need it the most. I was not playing the \"hard\" mode, it\nhappens even in a \"moderate\" difficulty setting.\n\nI thought the game developers were making it unreasonable. And a few years\nlater, I learned from a history book about the early unreliability of the\ntorpedoes, and realized the torpedoes in the game were an accurate and\nrealistic depiction of its historical performance. Kudos to the game\ndevelopers.\n\nAnother tool in the game I felt strange was the \"Torpedo Data Computer\", which\nis something that you can simply enter the bearing, speed, etc., of your\ntarget via its tuning dials, and the machine automatically calculates the\nfiring position for you. I thought it was just the hand-waving of the game\ndevelopers to make the game more playable while making it unrealistic - why\nwould a computer even exist in the 1940s? I believed it was all pencil-and-\npaper.\n\nLater I learned it was real as well - totally mind-blowing. When I was a kid,\nI had no idea about the sophisticated historical mechanical fire control\ncomputers in the 1930s-1940s. There is a Hacker News submission of the\ndocumentation of the computer. [0]\n\n[0]\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12785113](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12785113)\n\n~~~\nleoc\nHere are a few fun videos related to this.\n\nA 1943 USAF documentary about ground-based anti-aircraft fire:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8zPNMqVi2E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8zPNMqVi2E)\n\nA short YouTube documentary about the failure of the German super-battleship\nBismarck's anti-aircraft gunnery:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTO3JagV8gE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTO3JagV8gE)\n\nIn fact the Germans had been working quite seriously on guided surface-to-air\nmissiles during WWII:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx_lsh0BJGs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx_lsh0BJGs)\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7Q92V5hK-c](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7Q92V5hK-c)\n\n------\nstcredzero\n_WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 — The Department of Energy said tonight that approximately\nthree‐quarters of the A‐1 model Polaris nuclear warheads deployed on\nsubmarines in the mid‐1960 's were probably “duds” because of mechanical\ndefects._\n\n[https://www.nytimes.com/1978/12/02/archives/early-polaris-\nmi...](https://www.nytimes.com/1978/12/02/archives/early-polaris-missile-had-\ndefects-scientists-at-government-labs.html)\n\nTo be fair, the Japanese had really good torpedos at the start of WWII, but\nthere were other things which were just as unproven and wonky. For one, the\nproposed tactic of letting battleship shells fall short, to target enemy ships\nunderwater, was pretty much useless.\n\n(Come to think of it, the initial performance of Sidewinder missiles in\nVietnam was another example of this sort of military equipment failure.)\n\n~~~\nSmoosh\nAnother example is when the M16 rifle was first introduced in the Vietnam War,\nit was unreliable due to fouling.\n\n~~~\ntoomanybeersies\nOne of the major issues with early versions of the M16 was that they used a\ndifferent propellant for the ammunition than what it was designed with. This\npropellant caused increased fouling.\n\nThey were also initially issued without cleaning kits, because they were\napparently \"self cleaning\", which is patent bullshit.\n\n~~~\nnyolfen\niirc the barrel linings also were not chromed for the first few years, which\ncaused corrosion (half-remembered from chivers' _the gun_ )\n\n------\nryanmercer\nIt doesn't surprise me. I've seen WWII-era torpedoes and their innards at the\nScience of Museum and Industry in Chicago in the U-505 exhibit (seriously, if\nyou're ever in Chicago to to the museum and pay the extra fee to go aboard\nU-505. Totally worth it) and there is a _lot_ going on in one of those.\n\nHere's a low-ish quality photo of the innars of a torpedo in the exhibit (not\nmine)\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/ThingsCutInHalfPorn/comments/1jxk7k...](https://www.reddit.com/r/ThingsCutInHalfPorn/comments/1jxk7k/u505_torpedo_at_the_museum_of_science_and/)\n\nSpecifically in that thread these photos\n[https://imgur.com/a/zNry7](https://imgur.com/a/zNry7)\n\nSadly my photos from last year aren't any better, the cavern that U-505 is in\nhas terrible lighting for photography.\n\nI was quite surprised by the amount of gears, tubes, segments, weights, etc\ninside one. Even the amount of batteries initially caught me off guard because\nI'm used to thinking in modern lithium batteries and not lead acid.\n\nI _think_ that is a G7e torpedo above.\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G7e_torpedo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G7e_torpedo)\n\n~~~\nMrZander\nWow, that is incredible. I had no idea they were that complex, or even that\nbig.\n\n~~~\nryanmercer\nThe length was a bit hard to accept. Later I started looking into torpedoes\nand there are some real monsters that have existed, the Japanese Type 93 used\nin WWII is almost 30 feet long\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_93_torpedo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_93_torpedo)\n.\n\nThe more modern Russian Type 65 is roughly the same size as the Type 93\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_65_torpedo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_65_torpedo)\n\nRussia also has that 'Poseidon' unmanned mini sub that's basically the nuclear\npowered sub version of a UAV that's something like 65 feet long and is\nbelieved to be able to be launched from another sub like a torpedo\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status-6_Oceanic_Multipurpose_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status-6_Oceanic_Multipurpose_System)\n\n~~~\nrmattes\nIf you're into this stuff and ever in the Seattle area I recommend visiting\nthe Naval Undersea Museum in Keyport. They have a good collection of torpedoes\non display, including a Japanese Kaiten manned torpedo.\n\n[http://www.navalunderseamuseum.org](http://www.navalunderseamuseum.org)\n\n------\ncoachtrotz\nThe WWII in Color series on Netflix has a Midway episode in which they\nindicate a 90% failure rate of the torpedoes to explode. The article says 70\npercent rate but either way its pretty unreliable.\n\n------\nrocketpastsix\nThey talk about it in the movie \"Midway\" (2019). It's definitely one of those\nthings a lot of people thought was embellished to make the incoming battle of\nMidway look more drastic. However it was absolutely true. Without the dive\nbombers and code breaking they were able to do in the lead up Midway would\nhave been a disaster for the Americans.\n\n~~~\nDuskStar\nEhhh. There's a lot of people that seem to think that Midway would have been a\ndisaster for the US if they lost, but there's not much reason behind this. The\nonly thing the US was really risking that _had a significant strategic impact_\nwere the carriers - if the island of Midway fell it would have been\nessentially unsupportable by Japanese forces (being _far_ past Japan's supply\nlines, when Japan was already facing logistical issues, and within B-17 range\nof bases in Hawaii) and even the carriers weren't absolutely critical must-\nnot-lose assets for the US like they were for Japan. (The US commissioned 8\ncarriers in the year following Midway - four Essex class fleet carriers and\nfour Independence class light carriers) Incidentally, this is part of why\nMidway was such a huge strategic blunder for the Japanese forces - it risked\n2/3rds of their carriers for minimal gain.\n\nIf Midway fell, it would have extended the war another few months. But I'm not\nsure that that really qualifies as a disaster.\n\n~~~\nNeedMoreTea\nStrategically crucial in a Pacific that had seen most everything the Japan\nside of Midway fall. If Midway had fallen, New Guinea, Coral Sea and Fiji were\nnext in line, putting Australia and New Zealand at risk. What you call minimal\ngain would, had Yamamoto's plan come off, have put over 60% of the Pacific\nunder Imperial Japanese control.\n\nUS would have been fighting their way across the Pacific, island to island at\na range that no longer permitted bombing the mainland of Japan. Which, as seen\nat the end of the war, was subject to colossal losses.\n\n~~~\ncaycep\nGranted, Yamamoto himself had no illusions re: a protracted struggle between\nJapanese industry, vs. American industry of the '30's/'40's era.\n\nAssuming no loss of political will, I suspect even in a worse case scenario\nwhere the US lost all its 3 carriers, it would still have eventually produced\nenough to win the war. Just maybe it would have taken several years longer...\n\n~~~\njcranmer\nIn 1943, the US was commissioning an Essex-class carrier more or less every\nmonth, so the extra time would have been closer to \"several months longer\"\ninstead.\n\n~~~\nDuskStar\nYeah - the US commissioned 17 fleet carriers, 9 light carriers and a whopping\n_76_ escort carriers over the course of the war. Japan? 7, 1 and 4.\n\n------\nzepearl\n> _Maneuvering as close to a 90-degree track as possible, the submarine fired\n> three torpedoes against the rock cliffs. The first two exploded, but the\n> third threw up the familiar geyser of compressed air and water. Divers\n> carefully retrieved the activated yet unexploded torpedo. The valuable dud\n> was then hauled back to Pearl Harbor for examination._\n\nDamn, for me any person who deals with any kind of unexploded ordnance is (as\nwell) a hero.\n\n------\nbrazzy\nPrevious HN discussion about a different article (focusing on politics and\nvery superficial concerning the actual problems) about the same subject:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20665422](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20665422)\n\n------\ngadders\nIf you're fans of alternative history fiction, the Destroyermen [1] series\ntouches on the torpedo issues as well.\n\n[1]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destroyermen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destroyermen)\n\n------\nrshnotsecure\nIt’s very likely that the torpedoes did not work for the whole war really. It\nsometimes is scary to think about all the complaints sub commanders put in,\nonly to be dismissed by the Department of the Navy as excuses for bad\nleadership or tactics. I get that you have to take this line sometimes but\nstill...\n\nThat being said it should be noted US Naval strategy has never particularly\nrelied on subs or been that great at it.\n\nThis has always fallen to the Eurasian powers such as Germany, Russia, and\nChina/Japan.\n\nNothing has been downed by a torpedo in actual combat for the last 75 years,\nso realize that there are so many unknowns today in submarine warfare that you\ndon’t see in say land warfare. That being said it looks like Underwater\nUnmanned Autonamous Drones is where sub warfare is heading. Supposedly China\nis way ahead of the pack here much like they are in the drone space\n(supposedly again) as well. The 2016 capture of a US Navy UUAV really was not\ngood for the USA and marked a shift in the balance of power.\n\n~~~\nmatthewmorgan\nHMS Conqueror sank the Argentine cruiser Belgrano with torpedoes\n\n~~~\nDuskStar\nWith a torpedo introduced to service in _1927_ , though. She avoided using her\nhoming torpedoes (the Mark 24 Tigerfish) due to fears that they were\nunreliable.\n\n------\npresident\nThere have been similar concerns about the US nuclear arsenal which are\ndecades old and aging.\n\n~~~\nquotemstr\nWhich is why the nuclear test ban is, IMHO, a bad idea. A nuclear deterrent\nmust be credible to be effective. If an adversary comes to believe that, say,\n80% of our warheads are duds and most of theirs work, the logic of retaliation\nmay come to favor a first strike.\n\n~~~\nmmhsieh\nThe logic behind test bans (in conjunction with numerical caps on warheads) is\nto create uncertainty in the reliability of one's own arsenal to discourage\neither side from contemplating a first-strike.\n\n~~~\nquotemstr\nI'm not sure about that. What if you're convinced that _your_ brilliant\nscientists have created working warheads while you think the enemy's dolts\nhaven't been able to keep their arsenal working? What if your enemy thinks the\nsame thing in reverse? I think there's always a temptation to overestimate\none's own capability and underestimate the sophistication of others.\n\n------\n3fe9a03ccd14ca5\n> _Two completely different devices, each responsible for checking the other,\n> deviated identically for vastly different reasons._\n\nHappens frequently. “The tests are broken but I’m positive the software is\ncorrect so I’m going to fix the tests”\n\n~~~\nVBprogrammer\nThat's one reason I hate complexity in tests. Your tests have to be dumb\nenough that you are 99% sure the code under test is at fault.\n\n~~~\nWrtCdEvrydy\nBy definition, tests have to be more complex than the underlying code. The\ntest have to setup the conditions, execute the action and validate it. Don't\nconfuse complexity with shitty unreliable tests (timing-based tests)\n\n~~~\npenagwin\nDepends on the type of test. What you guys are talking about are unit tests,\nand are designed to test individual methods/functions. You write a separate\ntest for each one.\n\nThere's other types of testing, integration tests sound like what you are both\ncomplaining about. Integration tests test the interaction between components\nof a system, and are thus far more complex and likely to break as you're\ndeveloping (which is a huge pain).\n\nHowever integration tests have their place - just because the function works\ndoesn't mean it's being called from the web client correctly.\n\n~~~\ncryptonector\nBut you also have to test the whole system.\n\n~~~\npenagwin\nFor sure. There's dozens of types of tests (although many don't apply to\ncertain use cases). In a healthy system you should be using a lot of them. And\nthey don't stop at deployment, you need to be tracking exceptions (after all,\nproduction is the final, and best test environment).\n\nThis article has some nice diagrams of the different kinds of tests\n[https://medium.com/@copyconstruct/testing-in-production-\nthe-...](https://medium.com/@copyconstruct/testing-in-production-the-safe-\nway-18ca102d0ef1)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Django Front End Validators – form input validation using transpiled JS - franey\nhttps://github.com/johnfraney/django-front-end-validators\n======\nfraney\nHello! This is a little plugin I threw together after wondering how I might be\nable to use Transcrypt[1] alongside Django. It's in its early stages (no\ntests) and has a limited feature set (no class-based validator support; only\nfunctions), but I think it's a neat proof-of-concept for a useful application\nof Python-to-JS transpiling.\n\nLet me know what you think, and I'll try to keep an eye out today so I can\nrespond.\n\n[1] [http://www.transcrypt.org/](http://www.transcrypt.org/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: How to Setup Node.js App Automated Deployment and CI with PM2 for MVP's - niftylettuce\nhttp://niftylettuce.com/posts/automated-node-app-ci-graceful-zerodowntime-github-pm2/\n======\nnodesocket\npm2 is by far the best node process manager. It is excellent.\n\nThough I don't use pm2 for deployments. I create new servers (immutable\ninfrastructure) on AWS every deploy, and use NGINX Plus dynamic upstream to\nadd the new backends and remove the old ones. There is something pleasing\nabout creating new servers and destroying old servers every deploy.\n\nAlso check out Drone\n([https://github.com/drone/drone](https://github.com/drone/drone)) for all\nyour CI and deployment needs. It uses Docker and written in go.\n\n~~~\nsmaili\nLaunching new instances on a per deploy basis is one of the most absurd things\nI've ever heard.\n\n~~~\nadrianpike\nSerious question, why do you think that? I'm not that familiar with why this\nwould be super wasteful and would love to learn more.\n\n~~~\ncosmie\nI wouldn't say it's super wasteful, but there is waste involved since he's on\nAWS. AWS bills EC2 usage hourly, and doesn't do fractional billing. If you\ndeploy, then 5 minutes later deploy again (and provision a new instance and\ndestroy the first) you'll still pay for the full hour of that first instance.\n\nSo every deploy incurs that usage rounding. Depending on the frequency of\ndeploys and the number of servers being deployed to, that adds up.\n\n------\nlioeters\nThank you for taking the time to write such a helpful, detailed article. With\nlinks/references, screenshots, and fool-proof instructions, it's been\neducational to follow along.\n\nI'd used Jenkins before (that someone else had set up) and was familiar with\nmuch of the other parts (DigitalOcean, Node.js, PM2, etc.), but had never\nproperly learned how to set up CI for myself. This article was a great\nintroduction.\n\nNow studying your Rapid MVP Standards document\n([https://github.com/niftylettuce/rapid-mvp-\nstandards](https://github.com/niftylettuce/rapid-mvp-standards)). I appreciate\nyou sharing your experience and knowledge!\n\n~~~\nniftylettuce\nYou are welcome. Thank you for the kind words. My email is\nniftylettuce@gmail.com if you'd like to get in touch or ask questions, or if I\ncan help somehow.\n\n------\nazurelogic\nI just use Codeship's free plan for CI/CD. I embedded the deploy script in my\nrepo and use Codeship to run it via SSH. Works great and costs $0.\n\n------\nvonklaus\nlooks good, I've been trying to find a free CI(never used one) but they're\nusually non-trivial to set up or cost money. This looks like a decent write up\nand semaphore seems pretty user friendly, just wish they had gitlab support.\n\n------\nbenatkin\nPM2 is under the AGPL. Could this be an issue on a non-AGPL project?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nDarpa Builds A 1.8-Gigapixel Camera (Six-Inch Targets From 20,000 Feet) - acremades\nhttp://techcrunch.com/2013/01/28/darpa-builds-a-1-8-gigapixel-camera-that-can-spot-six-inch-targets-from-20000-feet/\n\n======\nPr0\nPrevious discussion: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5129332>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow not to implement a 25MB background movie: faradayfuture.com - Mojah\nhttp://www.faradayfuture.com/\n======\nMojah\nOpen your network inspector and notice how the 25MB .webm file downloads again\nafter each iteration of the movie.\n\n------\ncoreyp_1\nOUCH! If they make it to the front page of HN (or anything else big, really)\nthey're going to blow through bandwidth like crazy! A potentially expensive\nmistake!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: ReactiveSearch – React and React Native UI Components for Search - reactivesearch\nhttps://github.com/appbaseio/reactivesearch/blob/dev/README.md\n======\nreactivesearch\nHi HN! I am Sid, one of the authors of ReactiveSearch.\n\nWe have built ReactiveSearch with the goal of providing cross-platform UI\ncomponents for building a great search experience. And today, I am excited to\nshare both the React (for Web) and React Native (for iOS, Android) flavors of\nthe library.\n\nThe library is architected around the concept of reactivity. A UI component in\nReactiveSearch can subscribe to and compose its state from any other\ncomponent. This creates a reactive feedback loop of changes when a user\ninteracts with any one component. You can choose from the current 30+ pre-\nbuilt components or bring your own design components to work with\nReactiveSearch. Would love to hear your thoughts!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFirst FORTRAN program runs, September 20, 1954 - jamesbritt\nhttp://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/edn-moments/4396778/1st-FORTRAN-program-runs--September-20--1954\n======\n_kst_\nSo the first FORTRAN program was run 3 years before the first FORTRAN compiler\nwas delivered. Was the program manually translated to assembly/machine code?\n\n~~~\ndalke\nI'm having a tough time trying to find the answer to that question.\n\nMost sites just repeat this date as a factoid, with no context.\n\nI looked at the videos mentioned at\n[http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/FORTRAN/index.h...](http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/FORTRAN/index.html#Films/video)\nas well as some of the documents linked to elsewhere from that page.\n\nOne of the more interesting was the specification, dated November 10, 1954, at\n[http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Fortran/10...](http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Fortran/102679231.05.01.acc.pdf)\n. It's interesting because of the level of detail in the specification\n\nThe most relevant description I found was [http://www.combat-\ndiaries.co.uk/diary29/whirlwind.htm](http://www.combat-\ndiaries.co.uk/diary29/whirlwind.htm) .\n\n> It was a modest effort. At first, it consisted of Backus, an easy-going\n> young man with a master's in mathematics from Co­lumbia University, and\n> Irving Ziller, another programmer. By the summer of 1954, three more\n> programmers had joined the team, and they began running test programs on an\n> IBM 701 in the IBM complex at 590 Madison Avenue, in Manhattan. From the\n> begin­ning, the group concentrated on the compiler. \"We simply made up the\n> language [the commands that make up a user's program] as we went along,\"\n> Backus recalled.\n\n> We did not regard language design as a difficult problem, merely a simple\n> prelude to the real problem: designing a com­piler which could produce\n> efficient [binary] programs. Of course one of our goals was to design a\n> language which would make it possible for engineers and scientists to write\n> programs for the 704. We also wanted to eliminate a lot of the bookkeep­ing\n> and detailed, repetitive planning which hand coding [in as­sembly language]\n> involved.\n\n> Backus and his team began writing the compiler in early 1955, after a year\n> and a half of preliminary work.\n\nThis tell us that the first FORTRAN program (1954) was not run on the compiler\nthat didn't start until 1955, and which was eventually shipped.\n\nWhat I remember from Richard Waychoff's \"Stories about the B5000 and People\nWho Were There\", which concerned Burrough's ALGOL development in the early\n1960s, was that in that era people spent a lot of time in analysis, before\ngetting to the actual programming.\n\nWaychoff proposes that the best schedule is \"A. Design of the language\ncomplete. B. Design of the Scanner complete. C. Design of the Statement\nParsers complete. D. Start of programming. E. Project successfully completed.\"\n\nThat model fits what I read about the FORTRAN development. That is, I think\nthe IBM people spent a lot of time developing the language, developing\nalgorithms for things like parsing, fleshing those out, and only then getting\nto what we would consider to be the programming part proper.\n\nAll the research though, and I still can't tell you if the first FORTRAN\nprogram was hand assembled. However, since Backus had already developed\nSpeedcoding, which was more like an interpreted assembler, my guess is that\nthe first program was processed in the same way, through a limited FORTRAN\ninterpreted that handled the subset of FORTRAN that they tested.\n\n~~~\nkps\nI haven't found a reference to that date that's earlier than 4.4BSD's\n/usr/share/calendar, which includes\n\n    \n    \n        09/20 Harlan Herrick runs first FORTRAN program, 1954\n    \n\nIn _The History of FORTRAN I, II, III_ (from HOPL I and available at your CHM\nlink), Backus writes:\n\n    \n    \n        The FORTRAN compiler (or “translator” as we called it then) was begun\n        in early 1955, although a lot of work on various schemes which would\n        be used in it had been done in 1954; e.g. Herrick had done a lot of\n        trial programming to test out our language [....]\n    \n\nSo that's consistent.\n\n------\nballard\nI can't believe it has almost been 20 years since I last dealt with F95.\n\n~~~\nbbgm\nOr 10 since I was writing a ton of code in F77\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: Umedoc – Find, visit and keep the perfect doctor for you - ghufran_syed\nhttps://umedoc.com/\n\n======\nmaryammouse\nAhh...so as soon as we posted it seems like the site stopped loading and now\nit's acting strange. We're scaling it up now so the link should work in just a\nfew minutes! Oops. Well, thanks for showing us there's something we need to\nfix, everyone! ^_^'\n\n------\nmaryammouse\nHello, I'm one of the founders of Umedoc. Just wanted to say thanks for taking\na look - it's only our MVP - we literally launched just now so we'd appreciate\nall feedback on things that are broken and things we could do better!\n\n------\nHSpecials\nHi, I'm from Umedoc. After a very painful afternoon, we have everything up and\nrunning again. Apologies to everyone who tried to access the site while\n\"broke\". We'll try not to do it again ;) .\n\n------\nghufran_syed\nHmm, looks like it might not have been us after all: AWS Service Status: US\nWest (N. California): [RESOLVED] Increased Launch Error Rates\n\n------\nghufran_syed\nOk, it looks like there's enough server instances now, yay for aws elastic\nbeanstalk :-) Sorry about that...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nGoogle's Web video could use pointless squabble - eplanit\nhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/21/AR2010052101683.html?wprss=rss_technology\n\n======\nZeroGravitas\nThe title is correctly copied across, but the text of the article makes clear\nhe means \"end pointless squabble\" not \"use pointless squabble\".\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nMicrosoft's Bing Refuses Search Term \"Sex\" In India - gasull\nhttp://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/06/06/2338233/Microsofts-Bing-Refuses-Search-Term-Sex-In-India?from=rss\n\n======\nideamonk\nMicrosoft has finally understood how to generate buzz and get publicity...\neven without having to spend 100 million dollars.\n\n~~~\ndmnd\nI doubt it's intentional. Pornography is illegal in India (see\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_in_india#Online_por...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_in_india#Online_pornography)).\nMicrosoft is being conservative when complying with the Information Technology\nAct of 2000.\n\n\"According to the act, anyone publishing or transmitting or causing to be\npublished or transmitted content of a pornographic nature can be punished with\nimprisonment or a fine.\" -\n[http://in.reuters.com/article/paidmediaAtoms/idIN19619307872...](http://in.reuters.com/article/paidmediaAtoms/idIN196193078720090603)\n\n~~~\nideamonk\nWhat if someone needs information on sex (something which is so natural to\nhuman beings)\n\ninstead of \"To get results, change your search terms.\" I should at least be\ngiven a wikipedia link or pages with information on safe sex, etc..\n\n\"To get results, change your search terms.\" and no option to turn the filter\noff -- bad user experience\n\nsex isn't pornography right!\n\n------\njsz0\nIt seems like Microsoft has a bad habit of letting lawyers, executives, and\naccountants sink good products & services with arbitrary and silly\nrestrictions on how you can actually use it.\n\n------\nendtime\nThis is slightly tangential, I guess, but could someone explain this facet of\nIndian culture to me? I have heard that India can be very socially\nconservative, but, well, the Kama Sutra did come from there. Is there a sort\nof Victorian dichotomy of public conservatism and private debauchery? Is it a\nreligious thing? Is the Kama Sutra the product of an older culture that no\nlonger really exists? Are there strong generational divisions on this sort of\nissue?\n\n~~~\nkamawhosits\nThe Kama Sutra is so old there's a whole chapter on what to do with your tail.\n\n~~~\nsho\nDid you create that account for the sole purpose of making that joke!?\n\n~~~\nyesidid\nYes I did.\n\n------\ngommm\nOh and I thought that I was going to give microsoft a chance and try using\nbing instead of google... But yes I can confirm it, here (in malaysia)\nsearching for sex returns \"THE SEARCH SEX MAY RETURN SEXUALLY EXPLICIT\nCONTENT.\" (and all in caps as if they needed to shout it on top of that)\n\nNo way I'm going to use a search engine like this.\n\n~~~\nfroo\n... and so the trolling begins.\n\nSeriously though, this is news on HN why? MS not allowing a sexual term in\nIndia.. ooo, what about Google helping the Indian authorities on the arrest of\nan Orkut user over making comments about a Political leader in India, even\nthough freedom of speech is one of the six fundamental rights the Indian\nConstitution grants its citizens.\n\nWhich do you think is the worse of the two?\n\nIt's not that I'm pro-bing, I'm just anti-anti-bing. How about we give the\nsite a few months to fuckup before we start with the comments like above.\n\nI'd much rather see people judge the site based on its merits rather than get\nso instantly polarised before it's had a chance to find its footing.\n\n~~~\ngommm\nWell it's simple I'm currently living in Malaysia if a search engine doesn't\nallow me to search for things I'm not going to use it...\n\nI'm not much pro-google either for the reason above... It's just that I think\nsuch action from MS is short-sighted (and don't tell me it's because of the\nlocal regulations since Google and Yahoo here do search for those terms).\n\nNow it's true I guess it doesn't add much to the discussion, it's just that\nI'm quite irritated when I see a company that self-censors in order to get the\nlocal governments to appreciate them.\n\n~~~\nfroo\nWell, simple question... have you used Bing extensively before today? If so,\nhave you searched for content of a sexual nature and if not, do you honestly\ncare?\n\nFor all we know, it could have been an oversight on MS's part (the site is\nless than a week old) and it will be a simple case of switching on or off a\nsetting eventually, like what you can do with Google.\n\nEDIT - I signed into Bing using my Live account and noticed theres a setting\nto filter sexually explicit content like with Google, so perhaps this is the\nsame thing, maybe you just need to sign in to do it.\n\nEDIT #2 - I just switched to India & Malaysia's settings (was on Australia)\nand noticed that you couldn't set location or the sexual settings (seemed like\na recurring theme), but then switched to China and noticed you could set\nLocation, so perhaps its just a bug\n\n~~~\ngommm\nI switched to bing as my main search engine 3 days ago to test it out (I like\nthe idea of having more than one search engine with significant market shares\nso I had to give it a try). Now it's true I hadn't search any content that\ntriggered the filter in that time (I don't only think about that :-) ) but not\nlong ago I was looking at what was the legality of having pornographic photos\nuploaded by users in a user generated content site and if it was better to\nfilter them out systematically or wait for members to report such photos and\nthose search wouldn't have worked on bing.\n\nBut as said, it's mostly an emotional argument on my part because I don't like\ncompanies to self-censor themselves when they could help the countries to\nbecome more opened..\n\nI've also signed into Bing with a live account and didn't notice such a\nsetting... maybe it's also disabled in Malaysia? Anyhow, I'm one of those\nstrange people who block the google, bing and yahoo cookie because I don't\nreally want search engines to have a complete history of my searches\nassociated with my profile so this wouldn't be enough...\n\nEDIT: Small fact in passing: while it blocks the english term 'sex', it\ndoesn't block the malay word 'seks'... Strange now this term is also blocked??\n\n------\nboundlessdreamz\nIt is blocked in germany and in many other countries. Try searching for sex in\nbing.de\n\n------\ndkasper\nIn the US version of the site you can change this setting in the preferences\ntab, but it doesn't seem to be available for India or many other countries for\nthat matter. I think putting this setting in and making a link to the\npreferences on the block page would solve the problem for most people would it\nnot?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDo Open Source Software Developers Listen to Their Users? - ingve\nhttp://arxiv.org/abs/1507.06893\n======\nChikkaChiChi\nThey got responses to 5 questions from 72 OSS developers with projects on\nSourceForge. There is absolutely no way you can draw any sort of reasonable\nconclusion from that sample.\n\n~~~\nafarrell\nThat is a good point. Projects that are on sourceforge are going to select for\nless recently created projects and projects less likely to migrate to a\nplatform with better developer experience.\n\n------\nafarrell\nOne bit of nuance to this is how one defines \"users\". An existing open source\nproject (or even perhaps an exiting proprietary product) is likely to think of\nits users as \"those people who currently use the product\", while a startup\nbuilding a product to be sold to a future larger userbase is going to think of\nthem more broadly. The problem with this is that the former is subject to\nselection bias. All the people who are currently using the product are by\nselection, those who have the patience to deal with its' usability warts.\n\nTherefore, if an outsider to a project wants to make a change in favor of\nusability, they have a much harder time overcoming the objection that changing\nthe code might break things.\n\nThe same is true on a second level: All of the existing developers of a\nproject are those who are by selection already comfortable with both the\ndevelopment process and the resulting product. If someone wants to join, they\nhave to already be familiar with how the project is structured and how it does\nthings. They probably have to already be comfortable with this. Someone who\nhates working on projects without automated testing is very unlikely to join\nsuch a project and then convince the team to adopt automated testing.\n\nOf course, you can't just let random new people come into a project without\npushing back on them; Often their ideas are genuinely bad ideas which come\nfrom a lack of understanding & context.\n\n~~~\nploxiln\nYou also can't just join a commercial software project. But you can fork an\nopen source one.\n\nFor most open source software projects, the \"user base\" is developers who like\nopen source software. That's a good thing really; otherwise, there would be\nnothing that works well for people like me, as all commercial software\ncompanies go after the much bigger markets.\n\n------\ninfinity0\nAs a FOSS developer, my aim is to grow the FOSS community _in the long term_.\nNumber of users, and their real or perceived wants, is only sometimes helpful\nto this goal. Sometimes it is not, for example when \"shiny\" is prioritised\nover solid engineering or security, or when a short-term attention gain from\ntemporary \"hired guns\" is prioritised over attracting reliable and skilled\nworkers that will help to sustain the community.\n\n------\nMaultasche\nI think that this is a complicated question for two reasons.\n\n1\\. It probably greatly depends on the open source project. Some developers\nare probably in tune with their users while other barely realize that users\nexist.\n\n2\\. Some people have a different definition of \"listening to their users\" than\nothers.\n\nUsers who want something but don't get it may regard the developer as not\nlistening to them.\n\nThe developer, on the other hand, may be hearing everything users are asking\nfor, but aren't implementing everything that's requested because it isn't\npractical or just doesn't fit in with the scope and future plans for the\nproject.\n\nA developer can't just throw in everything that users want because the result\nmay be a horrible mess. So even if the developer listens to what users are\nsaying and directs the project in a way that makes sense from a long-term\nperspective, many users may feel like the developer isn't listening to them.\n\nThat's really a communications issue. If the developer simply ignores requests\nbecause they don't make sense (or makes hostile responses), they're more\nlikely to be regarded as not listening.\n\nIf their responses are respectful and they post information about their design\ndecisions and how they are implementing certain requested features and why,\nthen they're a lot more likely to be perceived as listening to their users.\n\n------\nLordKano\nThe only time I ever attempted to engage with the developers of an open source\nproject, the answer was a resounding \"NO\".\n\n~~~\ntalmand\n\"Contribute or shut up\" seems to be a common response.\n\nMy experience, not extensive mind you, is mixed on the matter. The people who\nmake the communication positive gets my attention, even if they so no.\nOtherwise, I'll still possibly use the project as needed but I don't feel the\nneed to contribute even if I could.\n\n~~~\nagibsonccc\nI think it depends on the project. I get a ton of feature requests that are\noff the beaten trail. I basically give people the feed back of: We have\nlimited bandwidth, but I'm happy to point you in the right direction.\n\n\"Contribute or shut up\" worded differently may not be an ideal answer but it's\nan understandable one. Imagine if you were a resource constrained engineer\nhaving hundreds of queries and emails a day about certain things users want\nand then not only have that feature not be something of interest to anyone but\nthat user but also have it be something that isn't even on your road map.\n\nTechnology that's general purpose enough (in our case machin e\nlearning/scientific computing) will give you this.\n\nThere's a huge delta between say: a resource constrained but heavily used\nproject and a javascript lib that only provides a slightly better basic\nwidget.\n\nIt's no excuse for OSS devs to be rude but I hope you can understand what it\nlooks like from our side a bit.\n\n------\njmnicolas\nRight now the only example of big changes asked by users I can come with is\nGnome 3 ... you can guess what would be my answer to the question in the title\n;-)\n\n~~~\nphkahler\n>> Gnome 3\n\nHey, we think hot corners are cool because they're easy to hit with a mouse -\nnever mind that we're moving to more of a touch friendly interface.\n\nAnd speaking of touch interfaces, isn't it cool using swipe-to-unlock with a\nmouse? Users like that!\n\nOh, we abandoned the old HIG. I mean who needs UI guidelines? Why would users\nwant an icon labeled \"email\" and not the name of the program?\n\n===== They have some things really right and some just so wrong. And from what\nI've read they don't listen as if they have a coherent plan, but it's not\nreally making sense to me what that plan is.\n\n------\nafarrell\n> According to the results, majority of OSS developers neither consider\n> usability as their top priority nor do they consult usability experts.\n\nA rigorous examination of thing's which most people consider to be obvious is\nstill valuable.\n\n------\nvonnik\nI'm part of two open-source frameworks --\n[http://deeplearning4j.org](http://deeplearning4j.org) and\n[http://nd4j.org](http://nd4j.org) \\-- and I can tell you that we spend about\nhalf our time listening to users, fixing bugs they report, adding features\nthey request and improving the docs. It really helps when other users kick in\nto help.\n\n------\nthawkins\nSmart, interesting new functionality that is made inaccessible due to poor\nusability is about as much use as a chocolate teapot.\n\n------\nharlowja\nI try to (and I work in 5+ opensource projects/libraries).\n\nIt's a two-way street here, the users need to also listen and engage with the\ndevelopers. So don't forget that to, opensource people (especially if they are\ndoing it in there spare/free-time) require working with, not being dictated to\n;)\n\n------\nbaseballmerpeak\nUnless it is directly related to functionality, no.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHackers and Founders South Bay - iamelgringo\nhttp://entrepreneur.meetup.com/1737/about/\n======\niamelgringo\nWe're getting together on May 20th in San Jose if anyone is interested.\n\n------\nmotoko\nOk, sure. I'll try to see you there.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nRefill cartridges cost more than a new (fully loaded) printer - bfrs\nhttps://plus.google.com/101416274833608453021/posts/T9iENrg8roa\n\n======\nvlad\nI looked up the model number, and two interesting facts are not pointed out\n(as Sebastian probably did not expect this to appear all over the internet).\n\nThe first fact is that HP offers the printer and cartridges at similar prices\non their web site. This means the discrepancy is not due to a crazy sale on\nAmazon. Even according to the HP web site, the price of four replacement\ncartridges is $822, while the price of the printer (which includes the\ncartridges) is $699. Though Amazon reports that at some point, the printer may\nhave been sold for up to $885 since it was launched in October, that's still\nalmost identical to the cost of the cartridges.)\n\nSecond, also by design, the printer comes with the full cartridges, not\nstarter ones...\n\n[http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF28a/18972-18972-33...](http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF28a/18972-18972-3328060-15077-236268-4184772-4184773-4184776.html?dnr=1)\n\n~~~\nvlad\nI can only imagine that:\n\n1) HP makes a profit when people buy this $699 printer (though not as large as\nwhen they sell four ink tanks without a printer for $822);\n\n2) Every printer re-purchase helps maintain their 40% marketshare in the\nprinter business, if it's measured by printers sold rather than cartridges\nsold;\n\n3) Every printer re-purchase keeps a sale away from Brother or another\ncompetitor;\n\n4) HP's printing division has now been merged into the declining PC division,\nso nobody would notice the declining printer margins amongst lower-margin PC's\nanyway.\n\n\"HP's new CEO Meg Whitman, who calls the printing division \"the lifeblood of\nHP,\" responded to the decline by folding it into the PC division, which saw a\n15% drop in revenue last quarter. _That will solve one problem: concealing the\nextent of the decline in HP's printer margins by blending it with lower-margin\nPCs._ More practically, it could give HP greater leverage in negotiating\nprices with component suppliers.\"\n\nFrom: <http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/03/29/hps-printer-problem/>\n\n------\nmcargian\nThe printer usually comes with less ink per cartridge than the refills. So\nbuying a new printer every time you run out of ink is not cheaper than buying\nthe refills.\n\nNor practical.\n\n~~~\ngenwin\nWhen my $50 laserjet runs out of ink (going on 3 years now; I don't print\nmuch), I may just leave it at the end of the driveway and get another $50\nprinter, even if the > $50 cartridge would last longer than the starter\ncartridge.\n\n~~~\ndangrossman\nYou should check check the prices first. I know I looked into Brother lasers,\nand the preinstalled cartridge is only rated for 600 pages. A high-yield black\ntoner cartridge is only $47 and prints 2600 pages. And $50 doesn't get you\nmuch of a laser printer.\n\n~~~\nbiturd\nAnd the rating of 600 pages is low, it is determined in software on the\nstarter toner. On my brother, there is a small hole on the cartridge that\nlight is passed through to detect the toner level.\n\nMy printer is at 3200 pages on the starter toner because I put a piece of tape\nover the sensor which makes it believe it is always full of toner.\n\nNew printers from Brother which I bought the same model for my in-laws, have\nsolved this hack. But you can buy a replacement gear online for a few bucks,\nit pops on, and then you have access to the same method I used to trick the\nprinter.\n\nOnce the stater runs out, I will get a toner replacement and also tape the\nsensor. Even if it prints a little light, all it takes it taking the cartridge\nout and shaking it a little. This will buy you another month.\n\nIf you are on Mac OS X or Linux and access the printer through CUPS, ( not\nsure about Windows and how to access these settings ) and you can set the DPI\nto a lower rate and put it in toner saver mode. I can't tell a difference\nunless I have a side by side to compare. Plus, this is just black and white so\ninvoices, driving directions, stuff like that. I don't care about the quality\nof a halftone image.\n\n~~~\ndangrossman\nShould note that doing this can damage the printer. The toner particles that\ndon't stick keep getting recycled back into the cartridge until eventually\nclumps of that crud are most of what's in it, and you're still trying to use\nmore and more voltage to pull it out onto the paper... possibly getting it\nstuck somewhere else in the printer, damaging the drum, clogging a fan, or any\nnumber of risks.\n\nIf you're 5 times past the rated capacity of the cartridge and it's printing\nlight, instead of shaking the crud around and putting it back in, just buy\nanother cartridge... unless you WANT to destroy your in-laws' printer and burn\ntheir house down.\n\n~~~\njustincormack\nCitation needed. I have never heard of a house being burned down by this\nmeans.\n\n------\npolemic\nUg:\n\n> _\"Sounds like a market begging for disruption.\"_ (in comments)\n\nThere have been 'disrupters' at work for many years now. I wish people\nwouldn't assume that (a) this sort of market distortion hasn't been noticed\nfor years, (b) leveraged for almost as many, and (c) that there are actually\nreasons why the market delivers these prices.\n\n~~~\nwmf\nIt is interesting to note that Brother and Kodak didn't even seem to put a\ndent in the market leaders with their \"rational\" business model.\n\n------\nrsiqueira\nThat's why I installed and use BULK INK refillable instead of the original\ncartridges in all my printers. Costas are 97% less than original ink. This is\nmy printer with the external bulk ink: <http://bit.do/bulkink>\n\n~~~\nchmike\nDid you do it yourself or can this be bought ?\n\n------\nantidoh\nOne solution is to not print, except when absolutely necessary for\nlegal/financial events. Go to UPS or Staples to do the few printings per year\nthat you absolutely must do.\n\nMy printer hasn't printed for at least a year. The scanner still works, and\nUPS/Staples is just down the street. Not for everyone, works for me. HP can\ndie in a fire.\n\n------\nAnechoic\nA lot of folks point toward much-less expensive third party toner cartridges\nand refill kits. I tried that route with my two Konica Minolta color laser\nprinters and had _horrible_ experience with cartridges/kits from several\nvendors: toner leaking in the printer, streaks, squeaking, colors that were\noff, etc.\n\nYMMV but for know I'm sticking with OEM toner. And yes, the toner 4-pack is\nmore expensive than a new printer. So much so that when I used up the toner on\nmy printer I bought a new one since I wasn't all that satisfied with the\nprinter I had.\n\n~~~\nmturmon\nSame here, with a recent HP color laser printer. It's not worth the hassle for\nme to use the third-party cartridges.\n\n~~~\nSageRaven\nI picked up a HP LaserJet 4000 for $10 at a thrift store a few years ago. $40\nfor some RAM, a NIC, new toner cart, and a duplexer and I've enjoyed one hell\nof a great printer.\n\nThe 3rd party black toner carts have never given me issues. Is there something\ndifferent about color toner? Has the fact that my printer is 15 years old\nallowed 3rd party toner/cart makers time to \"get it right\"? Or are new\nprinters just crap in comparison to older models?\n\n------\nGeee\nThat's how it's been for years (always). Also, that's the reason why they put\nauthentication chips in those cartridges to try to stop you from refilling\nthem or putting in cheap alternatives. However, this doesn't stop the\ncounterfeiters and you can get the cartridges for tenth of the price.\n[http://www.alibaba.com/product-\ngs/569376994/CE400_1_2_3A_Las...](http://www.alibaba.com/product-\ngs/569376994/CE400_1_2_3A_Laserjet_Color.html)\n\n------\nB-Scan\nThat's a \"bait and hook\" business model, just like Nespresso's:\n<http://www.businessmodelinspiration.com/?p=55> and Gillette's:\n[http://www.boardofinnovation.com/business-revenue-model-\nexam...](http://www.boardofinnovation.com/business-revenue-model-\nexamples/bait-and-hook)\n\n------\nscorpion032\nThis. And try downloading a driver to run a HP printer and you will be forced\nto download a 750 MB \"HP Digital Solution\" crapware.\n\nThats why I avoid HP printers.\n\n~~~\nsjwright\nMy favourite feature of Mac OS X is one ruthlessly stolen from Windows 98:\nmost contemporary printers will just \"work\" when you connect them up. No need\nto install any drivers. And you don't just get a basic driver, you get a full-\nfeatured driver that can operate all the printer's features, tell you the ink\nlevels, and not fill your computer up with garbage.\n\n------\ncitricsquid\nHasn't it been long established that printers are a loss leader? I have a HP\nprinter that cost me peanuts and at every opportunity the printer pushes me to\npurchase HP printer cartridges. Yes you can game the system but most people\ndon't understand that and it never crosses their mind because of how absurd it\nis.\n\n~~~\ndangrossman\nThis isn't the case for consumer printers anymore, though. Ink isn't as\nexpensive as it once was (HP/Lexmark/Epson/Canon all have $10-15 black inkjet\ncartridges), and printers don't ship with so much ink that it's cheaper to buy\nthe printer. It's the same with low-end laser printers too; a $99 Brother\ncomes with a 600 page cartridge, where a $50 replacement prints 2600 pages.\n\nI guess the situation is different for business-grade stuff where the toner\ncosts $800 a pop.\n\n------\nchanux\n<http://theoatmeal.com/comics/printers>\n\n------\nNatsu\nI remember getting a new printer _and_ extra ink for less than a refill:\n\n[http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/12/03/211250/what-do-you-\ndo...](http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/12/03/211250/what-do-you-do-when-\nprinters-cost-less-than-ink)\n\n------\ndroithomme\nThe original printer claims it comes with 6000 page yield color cartridges but\na 5500 page yield starter cartridge for the black.\n\nThere are also 2000 page low yield color and 11000 page high yield black\ncartridges available.\n\nThe replacement cartridges he is looking at are 6000 page yield for color and\n11000 for black. So the black is twice the capacity of the original.\n\nYou can also find aftermarket compatible toner, the high yield version 10,000\nblack and 6,000 for each color, for $330 for a complete set of cartridges for\nthis machine - <http://www.lenscomputers.com/hp-m551-vp.html>.\n\n------\nDanBC\nSome websites allow you to sort printers by price. They then list the\ncartridges that you can use with those printers.\n\nBut some people would want to sort the carts by price, and then see the\nprinters that accept those carts. These people can't (for whatever reason) use\ntoner refills or third-party carts. (There is a complication with number of\nsheets printer per cart, but that's easy enough to fix.)\n\nAnd if you're a toner refill company some people will buy printers based on\nhow much they'll have to spend to get new toner, so listing your cheapest\nprint-per-page refill kit would be useful.\n\n------\ncabirum\nEpson went even further: <http://pryf.livejournal.com/1829152.html>\n\nIt's in Russian, but look at the pics: it's the same cartridges made in 2010,\n2011 and 2012.\n\n~~~\nstalled\nEpson is never mentioned in the linked blog post, it says those are HP ink\ncartridges.\n\nAlso according to original story those are only from 2010 and 2012 + another\nmodel added for comparison: HP 350/2010 _(left)_ , HP 350/2012 _(center)_ , HP\n301/2012 _(right)_.\n\nOriginal non-blogspam article in English:\n[http://www.hpinkcartridges.co.uk/technology-\nblog/2012/05/hp-...](http://www.hpinkcartridges.co.uk/technology-\nblog/2012/05/hp-introduces-nano-sponge)\n\n------\nQz\nYou can get really cheap refill cartridges on Amazon. I paid maybe 8 bucks for\nC Y M and x3 B. They're not 'official' but they work just fine, in my case\nbetter even than the normal ones.\n\n------\nadventureful\nIs there a good reason why someone hasn't done a Dollar Shave Club business\nmodel for printers + inks? I would think it would decimate the ink racket.\n\nGranted, it may have been tried numerous times and failed due to the hardware\ndominance the major printer players enjoy (and throwing out an existing\nprinter isn't the same as throwing out a razor from Gillette, so you have to\ncapture transitional customers). And of course hair grows fairly consistently,\nwhereas ink usage is less consistent - but offices can always stock back a\ncouple cartridges if they're not using enough and downgrade their account with\nthe click of a button until they burn through them.\n\n~~~\nbrianbreslin\nEasier to stock 3 blade types and 3 handles than 500 diff ink types. That only\nobstacle I see. Also people don't buy ink so regularly I have no idea what\nintervals I buy ink at\n\n------\nwebwanderings\nI don't own a printer for home use and most likely never will.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMicrosoft to forcibly install Bing search in Chrome for Office 365 ProPlus users - notlukesky\nhttps://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-to-forcibly-install-bing-search-extension-in-chrome-for-office-365-proplus-users/\n======\nthat_lurker\nSoon there will be an article with a title of something like \"Google blocks\nMicrosofs addon\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: 55 years old and no experience, am I too old to get a job? - fiftyfivenoexp\n I can program in many languages (ruby, python, lisp, clojure, java (no expert), scala,R, javascript ES6, Haskell (level as in rwh, lysh, I must be the yegge exception),  prolog, erlang (no expert in otp), elixir (don&#x27;t know phoenix), mysql (basic sql queries,normalizacion),ruby sinatra (not rails), and a little django. Linux: (bash programming &gt;&gt; tee grep awk). I have a degree and a PhD in math, also a CS degree (90s, 3 year time,from a European University, my final work was about matroids, Edmond&#x27;s algorithm for the intersection of matroids  implemented in prolog,  applications to graph theory,  NP-complete problems, and heuristics like in Papadimitriu). I have published some  papers in complexity theory, physics and abstract math. I have a good grasp of theoretical and applied statistics. I have some knowledge of  machine learning (in decreasing order: books like esl; R, ipython and sklean. Some AI knowledge (like in norvig Modern IA). My hackerrank profile is not bad (solving problem there mostly in Lisp).<p>But I have no experience working with a team, and is very likely I won&#x27;t be able to cope with frequents tight deadlines.    English is my second language. I  enjoy programming and learning new skill by myself and I&#x27;m able to learn quickly.<p>I wonder if, at my age, I will be able to get a job as a  programmer or data scientists. Any tips?\n======\ndahdum\nYou certainly have the academic background and skill to work, but may I ask\nwhat you've been doing for the past 20 years?\n\nIf you've been working in any type of technical or academic role you'll still\nbe a good candidate. If you haven't worked it will be difficult to land the\nfirst one, and I think becoming an expert with common web platforms such as\nReact will help the most. Plenty of small companies are looking for people on\ncontract, and you'll build recent work experience.\n\n~~~\ndegenerate\nDon't ignore this question OP. Every single employer is going to wonder\nexactly the same thing. What _have_ you been doing for 20 years, exactly?\n\nIf you've been tilling the rice fields in bangladesh and becoming one with\nnature to start your own religion, own it! You have to be forward with that\ninformation otherwise employers will get cold feet.\n\n------\ncurrymj\nI think your academic career counts as experience.\n\nI would think your best bet is data science/machine learning. If you have read\nand mostly understood ESL i’d think you’re basically qualified. Play around\nwith Tensorflow/PyTorch and modern neural networks so you can say you know\nabout deep learning.\n\nKnowledge of “classical” statistics is a competitive advantage.\n\nPerhaps frame yourself as a consultant or contractor, if you find you face age\ndiscrimination. The advantage of having an older person with experience and\nwisdom might be more apparent, vs competing for entry level jobs.\n\n------\nSQL2219\nThe following ideas are my opinions, based upon my own experiences. I don't\nhave any data to back this up.\n\nI wouldn't apply to immature companies (startups and similar), as I think they\nare going to be the most prejudiced. I think the opportunities for you will\nexist in healthcare, banking, govt. or utilities that need skills like yours.\nI feel there are lots of good paying jobs in these types of companies that\nwould be more open hiring an older worker.\n\nI see you have R and Python along with some SQL, perhaps this along with your\nPhD in math could be leveraged into a data science job, or jr position in data\nscience.\n\nTake a look at kaggle.com, perhaps you can do something there to get your foot\nin the door.\n\n~~~\nfiftyfivenoexp\nThanks, I will try to learn more about feature engineering. Long ago I read\nMachine Learning for Hackers, and followed one of the author blogs about the\njulia language.\n\n------\nvfulco2\nI am only a few years younger than you, American, and run a professional\nservices company (resumes/linkedin profiles/interview coaching, academic work)\nin Shanghai after 24 years on/off Wall Street. Look up my email and shoot me\nyour resume. I will give it a thorough review for glaring issues. Please give\nme a week as my client schedule is full. Free for you (fiftyfivenoexp)\nalthough I typically charge for the service. You can look me up on LinkedIn\nfor background.\n\n------\nexegete\nA lot of STEM PhD's are transitioning into data science in industry. It seems\nyou have a lot of CS background as well, so \"data engineer\" might also be a\nrole you should look into.\n\nAlso, you say you have no experience working with a team. So no\ncollaborations? No co-authors (surely you must have some students working for\nyou)? I see from another comment that you had to go through the tenure\nprocess. I'm sure you had some deadlines to meet there and some important\nrequirements to meet.\n\nAs far as tips, I have found this article helpful:\n[https://blog.insightdatascience.com/preparing-for-the-\ntransi...](https://blog.insightdatascience.com/preparing-for-the-transition-\nto-data-science-e9194c90b42c?gi=40f8586a4ff0)\n\n------\nanoncoward111\nI'd say you are infinitely more qualified than me. Network hard, in person,\napply to a lot of places.\n\nI'd actually be curious to hear if you succeed because if you don't, then I'm\ncertain is horribly wrong and biased with current hiring practices\n\n~~~\nfiftyfivenoexp\nThanks for the tips. Anyway, I think that if all that is needed is to learn\nthe latest web framework and measure code by lines of code/hour that knowledge\nis of little use. Now going to gym, just to stay in good shape. I see you are\nbrave by your name.\n\n~~~\nsoneca\nDon't learn the latest web framework, you should leverage your current\nknowledge. Web development is not a good choice for you.\n\nAnd I say this without the implicit prejudice I noticed in your comment, as\nI'm a web developer myself, I had to learn _\" the latest web framework\"_ to\nget a job, and I like it.\n\nAlso, I never heard about such a thing as measuding lines of code per hour\n\n------\nLearn2win\nI am in a similar situation and i am happy about it. I don't belong to anyone;\nthat means i can work for anyone. This gives the flexibility to get involved\nin projects I am truly passionate about. There are things maturity does\nbetter; one of the those is the ability to think logically, clearly and\nabstractly. Based on your skills, you would be under selling yourself as a\nprogrammer because you have more than just programming skills. What you have\nare problem solving skills. If I were you, I would look for consultant &\nadvisor jobs. I know a couple a companies that look for people with your set\nof skills, shoot me an email if you're interested.\n\n------\nDoreenMichele\nI'm not a programmer, but I got my first full time job at age 41. I was a\nhomemaker for 2 decades before that. I put education and volunteer experience\non my resume.\n\nMy recollection is that the book _What color is your parachute?_ has some good\ntips for getting your first job and points out that everyone has a \"first job\"\nat some point.\n\n------\ncimmanom\nWith an academic background in math, there’s probably demand for your\nbackground in certain BigCos — Google; finance; anywhere investing heavily in\ndeveloping new machine learning techniques. A (non-spammy) recruiter may also\nbe able to help you find the companies that are looking for your expertise.\n\n------\nbytematic\nJesus I wish I could absorb your knowledge, reading that paragraph gives me\nanxiety. It would be so stupid and against everything I could understand of\nrational decision making if you couldn't get hired.\n\n------\nmodells\nIt depends. I had a sysadmin consulting co. in high school that serviced\nnuclear, mech and thermo engineering companies. ML/AI, scientific and other\nspecialized software eng are rarely picky in anything but pedigree and\nexperience. For general-purpose coding, I wouldn’t bother unless you’re\nhackathon-insanely productive... also such jobs are more standardized and\ntherefore more readily outsourced.\n\nHaskell (biceps emojis here)\n\n------\nabc_lisper\nYeah, you can, if you can avoid startups and cool dudes. Im pretty sure you if\nyou are proficient enough, you can get a job in Enterprise/IT.\n\n------\nsammy_cool\nDid you try already? Not sure what your CV looks like but the way you list\nyour experience is a bit concerning. That's quite a lot of stuff. And you say\nyou don't have much to show for it. Most people are going to assume you're\nmediocre or even a beginner in all of these. Say less and people will assume\nmore competence.\n\n------\nslipwalker\ni would build a profile on some(many) freelancing site(s), and take a couple\nprogramming gigs to build up a portfolio on Linkedin. From there, apply to as\nmany jobs as you seem fit while polishing your soft skills ( deadlines and\nteams are a harsh reality ).\n\n~~~\nfiftyfivenoexp\nThanks, I don't have a portfolio. I think is time to create one.\n\n------\nDEADBEEFC0FFEE\nPretty sure if you can do statistics you can get work. I would stop referring\nto yourself as No Experience, it's not true. If you're successful in academia,\nyou probaly have lots of experience.\n\n------\nrunjake\nA related Ask HN thread from last week that may help shed some light:\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17624888](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17624888)\n\n------\nJugurtha\nIf you're in Algiers, Algeria, can you get in touch? We'll work something up.\n\n------\nslow_donkey\nWilling to relocate? Friends company should be hiring. Pm me hn@raindeer.io\n\n------\nghostbust555\nIf you want to start small and take on a website or mobile app look at gigster\n\n------\nlifeencoder\nDon't Forget: Age is just a number!\n\n~~~\nfiftyfivenoexp\nBut unfortunatly is a bounded number. Going to see Mission Impossible: Ghost\nProtocol with my sons just to get some tips about how to overcome\ndifficulties. Thanks all for the positive feedback. I tried to upvote\neveryone, but can't do it because I replied and hn rules. Thanks folks.\n\n~~~\nLatteland\nLots of good comments. It sounds like you have lots of programming breadth,\nthe question is how much depth you have, can you be a regular programmer or\nare you a special area of knowledge type programmer. You don't sound like a UI\nprogrammer necessarily from that skillset.\n\n1\\. Data science is often deeper stats knowledge, less programming (ie can\nsketch something up together using python and libraries, then a programmer can\ntake over to make it production). But you have to understand stats and ideas.\nI'd expect you to do this or pick it up. Most CS people aren't very deep in\nstats, so you can do better than them in that area.\n\n2\\. Regular programming jobs - I think this would be a bit harder to start in.\nCompanies will not know how to evaluate all that various different experience.\nSo you'll have to find something that matches up with a companies needs. a.\nMaybe some scientific or statistical scientific programming, other than data\nscience? b. Maybe you can find some open source project to contribute to to\nshow you capabilities.\n\nYou could take a very short term gig to build up your resume and confidence of\nwhat programming is like today.\n\nInterviews - interviews at many companies are unfortunately more about passing\na potentially tricky design problem. Try to do one or two problems every day\nor two at one of the \"leet\" code type sites. When I interviewed recently at\nseveral big-software-cos I was surprised to get multiple leet code problems -\nand I'm a software engineer with 20 years experience, working on\ninfrastructure.\n\nYou should search for data science interview questions to get ready for that.\nThere's huge demand for different kinds of software expertise, but you will\nhave to work and network to get through until you can talk to engineers and\ninterview.\n\nI could boil all this down to:\n\n1\\. data science looks very promising for you 2\\. look on linked-in for\ncompanies hiring 3\\. search for data science interview questions on the web\n4\\. interview and get that job!\n\n~~~\nUser23\n> Maybe you can find some open source project to contribute to to show you\n> capabilities.\n\nI came here to say this. It's a big deal. It proves that you can write quality\ncode and work with a team. It's also trendy, which doesn't hurt.\n\n~~~\ndamm\n> I came here to say this. It's a big deal. It proves that you can write\n> quality code and work with a team. It's also trendy, which doesn't hurt.\n\nAbsolutely. If were a model with a portfolio with no pictures in it; you won't\nget hired.\n\nSo it has to be full; of valid content you can share. People want to see it.\n\nOtherwise you won't be taken as seriously\n\n------\nnoncomformist43\nIn my 40s, I just started working my first real job as a data scientist. I'm a\npolymath but I've lived most of my life as an entrepreneur and party boy. I've\nhelped out at other people's startups before but usually got bored fast and\nquit. This time feels like it's going to be different. The work is interesting\nand I feel a genuine sense of purpose. I guess it was finally time to grow up.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBad habits: Your house is holding you back - imartin2k\nhttps://www.thebehavioralscientist.com/blog/your-house-is-holding-you-back-seriously\n======\njaggederest\nThere's a corollary to this: Sometimes your house isn't the thing holding you\nback. Sometimes, getting the right environment won't work, because the problem\nis in your expectations, not in what you're doing.\n\nWhen you keep thinking \"If only I had X / lived in Y, I could Z\", you're\nreally failing to think about (as the author said) the things you can do in\nyour current situation.\n\nBut again, that intervention in your current situation isn't magic, so you\nhave to start with your expectations. Can I do 10% better here? Possibly,\nindeed. Can I change everything at once? Highly unlikely. Is moving to a\ndifferent place going to make you a different person? Nope. It might make some\nthings more possible, but it's just a possibility.\n\n------\nsdan\nSame thing for a student like myself. I get easily distracted by websites such\nas HN, Reddit, and YT that I can't focus or do any work.\n\nWhen I'm at the library, suddenly I feel no urge to waste time on those\nwebsites and am consistently productive (albeit slow).\n\nI feel like your point can also apply to the workplace as well.\n\n~~~\nzapzupnz\nI oddly felt the opposite as a student. At the library, I couldn't concentrate\nbecause I couldn't relax. At home, I did waste a lot of time — but I was\nrelaxed, so I could engage in different behaviours. 50 minutes of writing, 10\nminutes of game, 40 minutes of writing, 20 minutes of game, 30 minutes of\nwriting, 30 minutes of game, 20 minutes of writing, 40 minutes of game, 10\nminutes of writing… oh, it's done. Well, gaming all the rest of the night!\n\n------\nRickJWagner\nI think there is some good advice here, for young people. But also a caveat.\n\nI moved around a lot when I was younger, and now live several hundred miles\nfrom my hometown. In my new place, I have friends that have never moved-- they\nare my age, yet they still have high-school friends, family, and acquaintances\nthat stretch back decades. This brings a web of trust that's really strong.\nHaving a \"place\" in a community is immensely advantageous.\n\nThere are pros to moving around, but there are also pros to staying put.\n\n------\nvages\nI think this is a confusion of causation and correlation: When the time comes\nand you are so motivated to do something that you're willing to move, your\nmotivation levels are probably so high that you could have changed without\nmoving. Or perhaps moving is just like any other tool for behavior change:\nsometimes it works, sometimes it does not.\n\nI know this flies in the face of everything the author said, but I'm reluctant\nwhen it comes to accepting anecdotal evidence. At least when the suggested\nremedy is as expensive as moving.\n\n~~~\njohnchristopher\nYour reasoning is as much an anecdote but it doesn't even come from actual\npersonal experience.\n\nThere are evidences that moving to a different environment has an impact on\nbehaviour, see [https://www.npr.org/sections/health-\nshots/2012/01/02/1444317...](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-\nshots/2012/01/02/144431794/what-vietnam-taught-us-about-breaking-bad-habits)\n\nGranted that article is click-baity and devoid of helpful and actionable\nadvice. Ít's a blog post to promote a self-help coach dude.\n\nedit: funny, looks like he has an update\n[https://www.thebehavioralscientist.com/blog/cheaper-ways-\nto-...](https://www.thebehavioralscientist.com/blog/cheaper-ways-to-change-\nthan-moving)\n\n------\nnitins\nYeah, I think this has worked for me also. I have have been stuck with my\nplace/job for sometime now. I should probably look for a change.\n\n------\nenraged_camel\nIt seems this could easily apply to, say, your office or your job, as it can\nto your house.\n\n------\nz3t4\nIf you are not motivated to train, go to the gym anyway and sit in the bubble\npool or something. So that going to the gym becomes a habit. But the trick is\nto condition your training so that you always feel fresh and motivated.\n\n------\nrandomacct3847\nAn extended trip to a new city (at least 8-10 days) does the same thing IMO,\nespecially a place you’ve never visited before.\n\n------\neurticket\nOh duh, to change my life I just need to pack up and move! Why is this a top\npost--what have we become here?\n\nI'm all for behavioral tweaking, such as adding new behaviors onto things\nyou're already doing. E.g after you brush your teeth you do 2 push ups. Those\nwork a lot of the time and there has been a lot great posts on HN about that.\n\nBut, this as any advice is a luxury to even think makes any rational sense.\nContext is a benefit from being able to move at will. And while I'm not\ncondemning view points of any one type of person, but because you're\nprivileged to be able to move doesn't mean it's worth anything to be providing\nfor people actually looking to change their lives; and find real 'context' in\nthe environment they are unable to move out of.\n\n~~~\nnostrebored\nMoving to a new place is fantastically inexpensive. He didn't say you had to\nswitch countries, just neighborhoods.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nStartup Pitch Decks that raised over $400M - yarapavan\nhttps://attach.io/startup-pitch-decks/\n======\nlafay\nIt's a silly headline, implying that Powerpoint wizardry was the primary\nfactor behind the raise. I suspect that companies with growth metrics like\nthese could walk in with pitch decks that look like chicken scratch, or none\nat all, and get the same investment.\n\n~~~\nlighttower\nAbsolutely AGREE. In fact, I think the establishment (VCs, Angels, Media,\nwannabes?) should stop feeding the illusion that this stuff matters in\nanything but marginal cases.\n\nThe commenter below who asked for a network graph is suggesting something that\ncould put this debate on solid factual footing\n\n~~~\nTerribledactyl\nIt's like peacock plumage, the biggest, strongest bird is still going to \"win\"\nbut you gotta look good doing it. Or yell at an intern to whip up some slides.\n\n------\nandrewchoi\nFor those who wanted a look at which decks raised large amounts of money, the\ntwo you're concerned with are\n\nWeWork (355mm series D): [https://attach.io/startup-pitch-\ndecks/#wework](https://attach.io/startup-pitch-decks/#wework)\n\nand\n\nMixpanel (65mm Series B): [https://attach.io/startup-pitch-\ndecks/#mixpanel](https://attach.io/startup-pitch-decks/#mixpanel)\n\n------\nAndrewKemendo\nI'd rather see the network graph between the founders and investors/advisors\nthan a pitch deck. Decks are formalities only.\n\n~~~\nlighttower\nWhat resources are available to help construct a network graph of the company\nat the time of the raise? This could be the evidentiary footing necessary to\nfinally end the ridiculous harping on pitch decks.\n\nWhat does become important is the founding team's ability to attract those\nnames. And here we can derive a metric for what matters in a start-up CEO.\n\n~~~\nAndrewKemendo\nNot sure. I think Crunchbase and Mattermark are the only ones actively\ncollecting that kind of information in a consolidated way. Any public data on\nfounders would be highly biased toward founders with the drive to put a lot\nout about themselves publicly or are already well known.\n\n------\nmandarlimaye\nIf the slides don't work .. enable third-party cookies for slideshare\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: What Are Some Things I Can Do To Help My Startup Be Successful?  - zxlk21e\n\nI&#x27;m a first time startup founder. I&#x27;ve been doing the &quot;work for myself&quot; thing for the last decade... finally stopped doing &quot;me-too&quot; sites and rolled up the sleeves to build something that doesn&#x27;t exist.<p>I&#x27;m a horrible marketer and I don&#x27;t have deep pockets. For the record, my startup is a hobby marketplace. Overcoming the chicken and egg scenario with bounties and incentives placed on listing &quot;wanted&quot; items, leverage special relationships not available to the general public of collectors... essentially focusing on bringing liquidity to markets where it traditionally has not existed.<p>My space is one where the light from the Techcrunch&#x27;s of the world doesn&#x27;t shine. I really don&#x27;t have the opportunity that many of the tech startups do.\n======\nSujan\nGo where your hobbyists are right now. Forums, usenet, blogs, mailing lists,\nwhatever. Tell them about it, why it's better than what is there right now,\nand ask them for feedback.\n\nIf it is two-sided (as almost all market places are), go to where the sellers\nare, too. Contact them individually, they will be happy to find better\nmarketplaces.\n\n~~~\nzxlk21e\nExcellent feedback. This is exactly what I've done and it does work. Now I\njust need to get them to stick around and actually use the thing.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Hunger Affecting Billions - koolhead17\nhttps://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/follow-the-food/the-hidden-hunger-affecting-billions/\n======\npascalxus\nThe fallacy is thinking that you need GMOs to address malnutrition and it just\nisn't so.\n\nThere's so many whole grain foods and whole plant foods that have more than\nenough nutrients. And, I don't just mean a couple. There's dozens even\nhundreds of super high nutrient dense natural foods out there. heck, even the\nweeds that grow in your sidewalk are literally packed with extremely high\nnutrient density: for example: Purslane. Purslane contains well over 200% of\nyour DRI of Iron in just 200 calories. I could list hundreds more, and i've\nranked them according to each nutrient here:\n[https://kale.world/c](https://kale.world/c). Just set the bar to Iron and\nyou'll see what i mean. And it's not just Iron, it's pretty much every\nnutrient you could possibly need.\n\nEven your standard Potatoes are really high in Iron (as long as you don't\nstrip them of their skin which is the first thing everybody does). It's no\nwonder people end up with iron deficiency when you strip the skin off potatoes\nand fruits and eat processed rice (which once again strips off all the\nnutrients).\n\nAnd for grains, there's so many things to choose from: Teff, Whole wheat, wild\nrice, oat flour, oats, cornmeal, farro, brown rice. You could literally pick\nalmost any grain that hasn't been processed to death, and you'd find that it's\npretty nutrient dense. It's the processing (and unsustainable agriculture\npractices) which reduces the nutrient density so much. the processing and the\nadding of sugar and oil which contains no nutrients.\n\nNature provides us which foods that are naturally high in minerals and\nvitamins without the constant need for humans to muck with it. I think we\nshould focus less on trying to change things we don't understand and spend\nmore time and effort actually just growing the foods sustainably in the first\nplace.\n\n------\npixxel\n“Two billion people do not get enough micronutrients in their diets, which can\nlead to severe health conditions.“\n\n------\nmc32\nSeems like it’s malnutrition rather than hunger as understood by most people\n... and the proposed solution is basically GMOs... which unfortunately gets a\nbad rap.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTeenagers who read news online may be a criminals, according to the DoJ (2013) - ColinWright\nhttps://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/04/are-you-teenager-who-reads-news-online-according-justice-department-you-may-be\n======\nrayiner\nThe CFAA is a clusterfuck that has generated splits among the federal\nappellate courts on what it means.\n\nThe Second Circuit, adopting a narrow interpretation of what \"exceeds\nauthorized access\" means, put it well:\n[https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=117839932121315...](https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=11783993212131547013&q=807+F.3d+508&hl=en&as_sdt=20006)\n(\"Where, as here, ordinary tools of legislative construction fail to establish\nthat the Government's position is unambiguously correct, we are required by\nthe rule of lenity to adopt the interpretation that favors the defendant.\nSantos, 553 U.S. at 514, 128 S.Ct. 2020; United States v. Granderson, 511 U.S.\n39, 54, 114 S.Ct. 1259, 127 L.Ed.2d 611 (1994). We do not think it too much to\nask that Congress define criminal conduct with precision and clarity.\").\n\nCan't give the DOJ a pass here either. Prosecutors should not be pushing the\nboundaries of creative legal theories; that's for defense lawyers.\n\n------\nphkahler\nIf violating a web sites terms of service is a felony, then the government has\ndelegated authority in defining felonies to every web site operator. That is\nnot appropriate.\n\nThis goes back to the old problem of identity. If people were identifiable on\nthe internet then web sites could easily blacklist or whitelist users and no\nrely on ToS for things like this.\n\n~~~\nmtl_usr\nI was once called \"snobbish\" because I used the term \" transitive\" while\ndiscussing a similar issue with non-technical people in the legal field.\n\nIf only the legislator understood technology instead of simply using the\n\"everything is a contract\" and the \"website is like a house people can break\ninto\" (failed) analogies.\n\n------\nDarkKomunalec\n\"And it’s no excuse to say that the vast majority of these cases will never be\nprosecuted. As the Ninth Circuit explained, “Ubiquitous, seldom-prosecuted\ncrimes invite arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.” Instead of pursuing\nonly suspects of actual crimes, it opens the door for prosecutors to go after\npeople because the government doesn’t like them.\"\n\nThis should be branded onto anyone that ever defended an overbroad law with\n'It'll only be used to go after bad guys!'\n\n~~~\nChathamization\nThis is a huge problem with the U.S. legal system. A lot of common behavior\nhas been criminalized, to the point where most people could probably be\npursued for something. There's a general shrug about this, followed by a \"I\ndoubt they'd actually go after you for that.\" But that ends up meaning that\nauthorities can target an individual when they want to, and since this is\noften followed by throwing a lot of shade about the targeted individual people\nthink it's justified.\n\n~~~\neuyyn\nWhat's an example of such common behavior?\n\n~~~\nItendToDisagree\nOff the top of my head... Distracted driving is a crime in many states now\n(where distracted has been interpreted more or less broadly to include\nelectronic devices or even eating while driving). Having a phone playing\nSpotify/Pandora/$X into your car stereo can be a punishable offense in MA, OR,\nWA, NY, etc.\n\nJust because there have not been actual convictions for said offenses does not\nmean they are not prosecutable. Depending on the state, simply interacting\nwith an electronic device while driving (to change the station for example),\ncan be a punishable offense.\n\n~~~\ncr0sh\n> Depending on the state, simply interacting with an electronic device while\n> driving (to change the station for example), can be a punishable offense.\n\nI wonder if these laws have an \"out\" for police officers while they are\ndriving...?\n\n~~~\nsmileysteve\nIn Georgia, yep, police are specifically exempted. They can do whatever they\nwant on their laptops (or other devices)\n\n------\na_imho\nIsn't everyone violating the CFAA [1] already? It is not clear whether a child\nis being prosecuted for this kind of specific tos violation.\n\n[1][http://blog.erratasec.com/2012/11/you-are-committing-\ncrime-r...](http://blog.erratasec.com/2012/11/you-are-committing-crime-right-\nnow.html)\n\n~~~\nII2II\nThe point is that one law means that the age restriction is a standard clause\nin most website's TOS, while another law makes it a felony for minors to\naccess website because of that standard term of service.\n\nThe combination of the two laws is what makes it different from violating the\nTOS due to a clause being inserted at the site owner's own volition.\n\n------\nthrowanem\nThis comes out of the Lori Drew case. For those unaware, Lori Drew, a grown-\nass woman, recruited accomplices into a weaponized catfishing campaign that\ndrove a 13-year-old to suicide.\n\nThat's apparently not a crime, or so I gather a federal district court has\nruled. I'm not sure I would want one to rule differently - there are subtle\nand trepidatious ramifications here, and the social norms of online behavior\nare as yet very ill defined. But this isn't the hill I'd choose to die on.\n\n------\ninterfixus\n> _In the DOJ’s world, this means anyone under 18 who reads a Hearst newspaper\n> online could hypothetically face jail time_\n\nJail time? What is it with this American propensity for locking up more or\nless everybody? As seen from the other site of the pond, it does at times sort\nof beggar belief.\n\n~~~\ncr0sh\nMany prisons in the US are privately operated (Corrections Corporation of\nAmerica is one of the large companies that run private prisons).\n\nThese companies then sell certain services to the public - such as\ntelemarketing (seriously). In other words, that person you're talking to in a\ntelemarketing context may very well be a prisoner in a CCA owned facility!\n\nNow - prisoners aren't forced (?) to participate in these activities, but they\nare highly encouraged; it gives them a bit of money for the commissary (very\nsmall bit) and other things, plus gives them \"job skills\" for the outside, and\nprobably also a mark on their records for later parole review purposes (\"hey,\nshe participated in this, and became a model \"employee\" as a telemarketer -\nlet's factor that into her record for an early release\").\n\nSo - there is a strong incentive to participate in these programs. They aren't\nlimited to telemarketing either: If you can think of something which can be\ndone by low-skilled workers who are a \"captive audience\" so to speak, it is\nprobably sold as a service by these private prison companies to other\nbusinesses.\n\nFor instance, another big one is \"product assembly\" (putting furniture\ntogether, or electronics, or other similar work).\n\nSo - these companies - the private prisons - need more employees, right? You\nknow, to sell their services. These employees are very cheap (and easy to\ncoerce to work - after all, they are also prisoners!): Just pay lowest-bidder\nfor food and housing, then get 'em inside. Best way to do that is to lobby for\nmore restrictive laws, make more things felonies, etc...\n\nRight? Understand? Kinda sounds like a form of indentured servitude, or\ncorporate prison slavery, right? Maybe because it is...?\n\nBecause that's how it really is here in the \"Land of the Free! (tm)(c)(r)\".\n\n/USA! USA!, MAGA!, and all that crap...\n\n~~~\nscaryspooky\nPrivate prisons have 7% state and 18% federal of the total population. Blaming\nprivate prisons for the problems of US corrections as a whole is disingenuous.\n\n[https://www.aclu.org/issues/mass-\nincarceration/privatization...](https://www.aclu.org/issues/mass-\nincarceration/privatization-criminal-justice/private-prisons)\n\n------\nhellbanner\nRelated (also frontpage):\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14891301](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14891301)\n\n------\ncardamomo\nThis is basically a re-write of this EFF post from 2013:\n\n[https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/04/are-you-teenager-\nwho-r...](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/04/are-you-teenager-who-reads-\nnews-online-according-justice-department-you-may-be)\n\nPrevious HN discussion:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5486398](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5486398)\n\nEDIT: Someone has updated the original post. Yay!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nIs there a market for generalist (non-technical) web consultants? - ybalkind\n\nI often see medium sized Corporates getting completely fleeced when they outsource their corporate websites and digital marketing. Not only are they getting overcharged, but because they don&#x27;t really understand digital they end up getting less than ideal outcomes.<p>I&#x27;ve been toying with the idea of becoming an independent digital consultant to the type of corporates which don&#x27;t usually have a solid foundation in digital, helping them understand what they can and should do online, and managing the process of outsourcing this function..<p>When one hears of successful consultants, they usually have a more specialist technical understanding. What I propose offering is just a bit of digital marketing, an understanding of the web dev and design process,  user experience, content creation, and social media.<p>Does anyone know of any success stories of people going independent as digital&#x2F;web consultants such as I&#x27;m envisioning (links to blogs or case studies would be most appreciated)? Or are these skills too easily obtainable to make for a successful consulting career?\n======\nnotahacker\nMany if not most PR and media planning companies advise corporates on digital\nmarketing without actually doing design and build in-house, and it's not too\ndifficult to sell design and build as part of your services whilst passing the\nimplementation of the project on to a partner company or contractor. Digital\nagencies that specialise in more technical projects tend to liaise with\ncorporates through largely \"non-technical\" account directors rather than\ndevelopers or analysts anyway. Ability to sell your services is far more\nimportant than technical skill for most consulting roles.\n\n~~~\nCyberFonic\nYup, sales ability is crucial. You also have to consider whether you are\noperating as a pure consultant or being the principal contractor. In the later\ncase, you would have greater control, but also responsible for SNAFUs.\n\n------\nmak4athp\nIt's extremely hard to sell a novel \"job title\" as a consultant.\n\nMost clients will want to see examples or case studies of your success in the\nrole -- so that they can understand what you do -- and that can't happen until\nyou get some clients. You'll have a very hard time selling it as \"I've done\nthis, that and the other thing in a few different places so of course I can do\nthis for\".\n\nYou either need to find the established title that already applies to the role\nyou want (project manager?), capture the rest of the supply chain (digital\nagency?), or you need to stumble into a defining gig before you start\nmarketing yourself.\n\n------\nallendoerfer\nAs long as you know, what the costs(x) are, you can sell x for costs(x) + y\nand keep it. When somebody asks you how you do it, the typical answer is, that\nyou work with _a network of experts_ in their field.\n\nAs long as I still get the payment I myself ask for. I have no problem working\nfor somebody, who does this and manages to get an additional slice of the pie.\nBecause without him or her the pie could very well be nonexistent.\n\n------\nanon3_\nYou sound like a project manager, it seems to me like you bring everything\ntogether in one package.\n\nReading into how to run Agile / Scrum processes would be great.\n\nAs for the \"easily obtainable\" bit, wipe away the depressive framing! It turns\na world of abundance into a vicious cycle of scarcity; it creates a race to\nthe bottom, when as a consultant, you're showing others clearly how to get to\nthe top, you're with them to help them execute.\n\nLook into NLP. Read a Tony Robbins book.\n\nFocusing on the value you and potential you unlock for others is how we get\nahead. And hustle :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWill Digg.com be sold in 2007? - python_kiss\n\n======\npython_kiss\nConsidering Reddit's exit strategy last year, it makes sense to evaluate if\nDigg will be up for grabs this year. While LinkedIn and Facebook have\nsignalled towards a possible IPO, Digg hasn't. So in your opinion, will Kevin\nRose receive his big paycheck this year? Who is likely to acquire them, and\nfor how much?\n\n~~~\ndanielha\nDigg's generated revenue is still nothing to sneeze at (an article in\nBusinessWeek reports that they brought in $3 million in ad revenue for 2006).\nI wouldn't be surprised if they held out for quite a while longer.\n\nKevin Rose seems to be putting a lot of energy into Revision3 right now.\nSeeing as Digg is a integral part of some of their productions, I think they'd\nlike to retain control.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Rise and Fall of the Independent Developer - sant0sk1\nhttp://furbo.org/2011/07/13/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-independent-developer/\n======\nonan_barbarian\nOne of the issues here that wasn't mentioned, facing independent developers,\nis the almost pathological tendency of some people/groups in the F/OSS\ncommunity to clone any even mildly successful product for no particular\nreason. I'm a big fan of free and open source software (especially when it's\ngenuinely new or fills an actual gap, like the GNU tools and Linux), but there\nare times I wonder whether there are a lot of vested interests out there who\nwould like to drive the cost of software to zero and make us all work for a\nwage providing 'services'.\n\nThere are entire categories of software now where people are now conditioned\nonly to accept an open source product. Can you imagine anyone building a new\ncomputer language now, commercially? If it was even vaguely successful it\nwould be cloned and forked so quickly it'd make your head spin.\n\nBetween the ideologues like Stallman, who effectively think it's immoral to\nmake money off selling the software itself (I know his position is supposedly\nmore nuanced than that, but free software effectively amounts to this if you\nhave to hand out source to all and sundry) and the open-source-friendly\ncompanies like IBM and Google - who have every reason to drive the $$$\navailable off software to zero, it's easy to feel a bit beleaguered.\n\n~~~\nonan_barbarian\nTo clarify my point, my problem is not with open source in general, it's with\n'feature-by-feature clones of an innovative piece of software'.\n\nThe process of building, say, VisiCalc is a lot riskier and harder than\nturning Excel into Libre Office Calc. If Bricklin had known he was going to\nhave to compete with free in a matter of a few months after release, he might\nhave done something else entirely.\n\nThis may be hard to understand for people that haven't ever designed anything\ndifficult, but frankly, it's _so_ much easier to clone something than build it\nthe first time. Even just knowing that something is possible is a huge leg up.\n\nIf you think routinized F/OSS cloning of software is an actual service to\ninnovation, you need your head examined. If nothing else, it makes going into\na patent frenzy with every idea far more tempting.\n\nIt's hard for me to prove a counterfactual, of course, and show all the\nwonderful things that have been discouraged by the prospect of immediate\nshitty open source clones. I fully accept that open source allows us to build\ninnovative things on top of other software layers - it's not necessarily all\nbad. But it's not necessarily all good either.\n\n~~~\nwladimir\nSo you think Excel was an \"innovative piece of software\" in the first place?\nIt wasn't. Many spreadsheets existed before that.\n\nA much more practical angle: there is no MS Office or equivalent for operating\nsystems such as Linux and BSD, so the OS people had to write their own.\n\nTo be honest I think the developers of LibreOffice are heroes. Not many people\nin the open source scene want to be seen working on 'boring clone' projects\nlike an office productivity suite, and would rather innovate. But the fact is,\nit is a necessary evil for many users, and the availability of OO has helped\nLinux adoption a lot.\n\n~~~\nonan_barbarian\nYou appear not to have read the post you are responding to. I'm particularly\nbaffled as to why you are reassuring me that other spreadsheets existed pre-\nExcel given that my post mentions VisiCalc and Dan Bricklin. As we used to say\nin high school: \"No shit, Sherlock\".\n\nNor are you making a germane response to my post, which is not that\nLibreOffice is bad and Excel is good, but that if the creator of Visicalc had\nbeen in the situation where a few short months after he created his\nspreadsheet someone was going to clone it and give it away for free, he may\nnot have bothered.\n\n------\nnoonespecial\nThe sad reality is that if you make something of value, there are rotten\npeople who will come and try to steal from you. The author thinks he's\ndiscovered something new. I don't think he has. \"Patent trolling\" might be a\nbit of a new angle but business has always been risky.\n\nIn some parts of the world, if you farm a little too much, gangs come by in\nrusty toyotas with AK47's and help themselves (and might kidnap your children\nfor good measure). In our society, we've allowed these men to wear suits and\npretend they are contributing members and in exchange, they no longer use\nguns. This seems like a valid compromise until we as a society outgrow this\nsort of behavior. (Here's hoping)\n\nThere are tools for managing risk. Create an LLC and have professional\nliability insurance. Sure bad stuff can happen. I had an over-zealous zoning\nofficial try to revoke the business license for my house because I was\n\"manufacturing\" software (and manufacturing is zoned industrial, donchaknow).\n\nI wish there weren't patent trolls, but at some point you have to admit that\nyou can't spend your life worrying about all of the bad stuff that _could_\nhappen. Take a few reasonable precautions and then do your thing.\n\n~~~\nrbarooah\nNeither an LLC nor liability insurance will stop your business being destroyed\nand years of your life being wasted if a troll decides to target you.\n\nWould you suggest an LLC for each product so that they can only be attacked\nindividually?\n\n~~~\nnoonespecial\nActually, if they are suitably different, _yes_. It has the added benefit of\nmaking it easy to sell the product/business down the road or convert to a\ndifferent kind of Corp to get investors.\n\nIf a product is good enough to make money on it's own, it's good enough for\nits own LLC.\n\n------\nbugsy\nHe's got his history completely wrong. From the first days that home computers\nwere affordable at all, there were tons of very small software shops. I recall\npurchasing programs from computer stores that came in poly bags containing a\nphotocopied manual on card stock and a cassette tape with a photocopied label\nthat had been glued on by hand. If you called the company for support,\nsometimes you woke the guy up.\n\n------\nprogramminggeek\nAll businesses have risk.\n\nEven if you are an indie one man shop you are in fact a business and there are\nrisks. Same thing goes for being a lawyer or accountant or contractor. If you\nscrew up, it could cost you financially in a very big way, even if you didn't\nintend to do anything wrong.\n\nEven successful businesses can crumble, even billion dollar businesses can get\nbeat up by litigation to the point it isn't even worth continuing.\n\nTo say that the sky is falling for indie devs is a bit silly. There are plenty\nof places you can build, innovate, distribute, and succeed. Sure, the iTunes\nApp Store thing is big today, or maybe Facebook, or maybe Steam, or maybe\nWii's downloadable channel, it doesn't matter. Any one of those could be gone\nin a year or two.\n\nHere's an example, there are people out there who make millions of dollars\nselling e-books and mediocre/overpriced software on Clickbank right now. Some\nof those people get sued I'm sure for their products. More people show up. You\ncould take the same ebook and sell it on Kindle or Nook if you got shut down\nor you could sell your software on the Mac App Store or Chrome Web Store if CB\nwent under.\n\nThere are so many platforms to distribute and build software and businesses on\nnow, it really is hard to complain about the death of the indie developer\nbecause there are so many new companies getting started every day on all these\ndifferent platforms that didn't exist even 5 years ago.\n\nAs a business owner you can't control all risk, but you certainly can and\nshould plan around them.\n\nIf one channel gets shut down, move on to a different one or a different\nproduct.\n\nGreat devs and great companies aren't built on one hit one time wonders.\n\n~~~\nmaxxxxx\nThe problem is that a lawsuit easily can take out a small developer. Even if\nthe lawsuit is completely frivolous. I can't afford tens of thousands of\ndollars for a lawsuit. If I get sued my company is probably done. It doesn't\nmatter if the suit has merit or not.\n\n~~~\nmechanical_fish\nI haven't gone through this or anything, so maybe an actual lawyer would be\nhappy to speak up in this thread. But my simpleminded understanding is that\nyour typical frivolous lawsuit goes like this, only less transparently:\n\nTROLLCORP: \"We're suing your company for ONE MILLION DOLLARS.\"\n\nCEO (through a lawyer, of course): \"Well, oops, we've only got ten thousand in\nthe bank plus a couple of old Macbooks. After that we're just going to declare\nbankruptcy and you won't see a dime.\"\n\nTROLLCORP: \"Well, okay, frankly, we don't want to see you go bankrupt.\nBankruptcy court is no fun at all. We don't need to pay for a tedious legal\nbattle. We just want the money. How about you just give us the ten thousand\nplus 5% of all future revenue from your products?\"\n\nCEO: \"If I spend the ten thousand on a lawyer, I can file some motions to\ndelay your lawsuit. _Then_ I can go bankrupt. You'll get nothing then. So, how\nabout one thousand bucks and 0.5% of future revenue?\"\n\nTROLLCORP: \"Two thousand and 2%.\"\n\nCEO: \"Done.\"\n\nAs with any parasitic transaction, the parasite has no rational interest in\nkilling you. Dead companies don't pay. The danger, of course, is that they\nwon't be reasonable and will accidentally push too hard, in their attempt to\nconvince you to search under more sofa cushions for loose change that they can\ntake. Or that they are, in fact, happy to kill your company because they think\nit will be an instructive demonstration for the other companies they sue. Or\nthat they will gradually consume your time and suck your blood and your\ncompany will eventually die of exhaustion in 2% increments. But, you know,\nthis is why it's good to be a _small_ company. Having nothing means having\nnothing to lose.\n\n~~~\n5hoom\nThe \"can't squeeze blood from a stone\" defence is probably your best bet if\nyou're a really small operation, but as you say you'd just better hope the\npatent troll is behaving in a rational manner & not trying to make an example\nof you. I would assume that a rational troll would only harass you if you were\ngetting noticed & making a profit, but who knows what kind of reasoning goes\non within the lizard hind-brain of your standard patent troll types...\n\n------\nfelipemnoa\nIf it were easy, everybody would be doing it. It does suck that now\nindependent developers have to also worry about patent litigation. However, it\nwill not stop the most resolved developers from continuing forward.\n\nOn the bright side, patent trolls are patenting the most obvious patents right\nnow. In 20-30 years all of those patent will expire. I'll be amazed if 20\nyears from now we will still continue to patent obvious things like one click\nbutton transactions. If so, we all deserve to go down the ship of financial\nfailure since it is us, society, that allows such things.\n\nMeanwhile, if we could only find the best ways to make patent trolls' lives\nmore painful... At least it would dissuade the casual patent troll.\n\n~~~\nrbarooah\nThe implication is that products for which there is a demand won't come to\nmarket.\n\nIt might not be easy, but society is harmed if we make it artificially harder\nto respond to market demand.\n\n~~~\nfelipemnoa\nI understand, but unfortunately short term (like next year) is hard to change\nthat (or maybe we can we just haven't figured it out). It is still better to\ncontinue moving forward, we'll figure something out along the way.\n\n~~~\nrbarooah\nWhat do you mean by 'moving forward', and what do you expect to happen that's\ngoing to change things in the longer term?\n\n~~~\nfelipemnoa\nI mean don't just give up. I don't know what will change, but things have a\nway to work themselves up if one continues to hammer at the problem. There\nwill always be issues when trying to do something important. This is just\nanother one.\n\nAnd as I write this I realize that I sound a bit corny. The shame... (no\nsarcasm intended)\n\n~~~\nrbarooah\nIt's not particularly corny, and it's hard to disagree about not giving up in\nprinciple.\n\nThat said, human political systems can and do lead to sustained bad results.\nIn my mind, 'things working themselves up' really means, 'someone finds and\nimplements a solution'.\n\nMeanwhile actual indie developers are as we speak, prevented from working on\nadding value to the economy because they are forced to spend their time and\nmoney dealing with trolls.\n\n------\nendlessvoid94\nUnrelated, but interesting nonetheless: the current software industry has a\nstrikingly similar feel to the early texas oil prospecting days.\n\nIndependents are suddenly able to take a little bit of risk, take on some\nmoney (then: banks, now: angels and VCs), and work by themselves or in small\nteams to produce something that lots of people need (then: oil, now: good\nsoftware).\n\nSome of the biggest fortunes in history were made back then (1900 - 1930s),\njust as some of the biggest fortunes are now being made in this industry.\n\nThe digger I deep (no pun intended), the more similar these two stages of\nhistory look alike. I'm sure there are other eras that also share these common\nthreads.\n\n------\ndaimyoyo\nWhat I'd like to see is a collective legal fund to protect devs from patent\ntrolls. Like insurance, everyone pays into the system and if you need\nrepresentation, high quality lawyers would be there for you. That seems to me\nto be the best solution to this problem short of abolishing software patents\naltogether.\n\n~~~\nrbarooah\nI like they idea, but I don't see how it reduces the risk. If someone has a\nvalid patent, you're still in trouble.\n\n~~~\ndhess\nAn independent developers' patent pool, then.\n\n~~~\nrbarooah\nPatent pools are no defense against trolls.\n\n~~~\ndhess\nFair point.\n\n------\nmkn\n_In the days where software was distributed on magnetic media, such as reels\nof tape, cassettes, or floppy disks, it cost a lot of money to get the product\nto a customer._\n\nOne of us is misremembering. _I_ seem to recall an interview with Gates and/or\nBallmer where they talked about the realization that the cost of 5 or 6\nfloppies at wholesale was insignificant compared to the revenue from the\nsoftware, that it was a no-brainer cost-wise. CDs were the first time when\ncost became an issue, iirc (again) because you had to pay for one or more\nmasters to print the production copies. I'd feel better if his history was\nright.\n\n _This time the retail channel itself is very cheap, but the ancillary costs,\nboth financially and emotionally, are very high._\n\n _And, of course, only large companies and publishers can bear these costs. My\nfear is that It’s only a matter of time before developers find the risks and\nexpenses prohibitive and retreat to the safety of a larger organization. We’ll\nbe going back to square one._\n\nI can't even address the \"emotional costs\" he talks about, but there is a\nprecedent for dealing with risks of this kind. For consulting engineers, it's\ncalled \"errors and omissions insurance.\" It strikes me that if there isn't\nsomething like that for developers, one plausible reason is that this kind of\nliability hasn't actually been a problem. Is there errors and omissions\ninsurance for developers?\n\n _From our experience, it’s entirely possible that all the revenue for a\nproduct can be eaten up by legal fees._\n\nThe author uses the phrase \"from our experience,\" but I wonder what that\nexperience actually is. At this point, it's not even anecdotal, because he\ndoesn't supply the anecdote! We can't even begin to ask if his experience\ngeneralizes. For example, did he get good counsel? Was he actually infringing?\nShould he have settled? Did he avail himself of the FSF or ESF if applicable?\nShould his product have been more profitable?\n\nI think I'm either blessed or cursed with too much curiosity to take this guy\nat his word.\n\n~~~\nallwein\n>The author uses the phrase \"from our experience,\" but I wonder what that\nexperience actually is. At this point, it's not even anecdotal, because he\ndoesn't supply the anecdote!\n\nCraig is a very well-known developer and author in the Mac and iPhone\ndeveloper community and works at Iconfactory. They're one of the first\ncompanies that was addected when the Lodsys patent issue came to light. Even\nif you didn't know that, the very previous entry on his blog is an open letter\nto Apple about the problems his company is having with the patent issues. It's\na little disingenuous to call someone out about omissions in a blog entry\nwhile taking zero effort to familiarize yourself with any of their work.\n\n~~~\nboucher\nIt seems perhaps as disingenuous to think that because you know a (very)\nlittle bit about the Lodsys issue that the anecdote that all of a products\nprofits can be consumed is true even in this instance. After all, Apple has\nbeen standing up in defense of individual developers on this issue.\n\n~~~\nsmashing\nThis is not true. While this may be true in the future, Apple is not currently\ninvolved in the legal defense of companies involved in the Lodsys lawsuits and\nthere is no timetable for which they will enter into such an involvement.\n\n------\nsoitgoes\nDoes anyone have any statistics about the number of independent developers /\nstartups that suffer a significant negative financial impact because of a\npatent infringement lawsuit? My gut feeling is that it's a very small\npercentage. A few years ago, I think Paul Graham wrote an article suggesting\nstartups shouldn't worry about being sued because in practice it rarely\nhappens to them.\n\n------\nrbarooah\nDoes anyone think that a legislation preventing NPE's from suing for patent\ninfringement would be practical? They'd still be able to hold them - just not\nsue.\n\nIt seems like something that large corporations as well as independents could\nget behind.\n\n~~~\nwtracy\nHow do you prove that an organization is an NPE? All they have to do is hire a\ncouple of college kids dirt cheap and they can show that they are \"developing\"\na product.\n\nDenying patent protection to anyone who doesn't already have a finished\nproduct out on the market opens a whole new can of worms.\n\n~~~\nrbarooah\nThe law already deals with vague definitions. It really wouldn't be too hard\nto write something that erred on the side of making it somewhat hard to prove\nthat you were practicing.\n\n------\nzentechen\nShould move the corporate to China and clone the heck out of everything.\n\nFacebook -> RenRen\n\nTwitter -> Weibo\n\nYouTube -> Tudou\n\nGoogle -> Baidu\n\nFlickr -> YuPoo\n\nSee <http://www.randomwire.com/chinese-web-20-clones>\n\nYeah, Trolls, go ahead and sue them.\n\n------\ndanssig\nWell, the good thing about it is maybe this will force a \"Silicon Valley\" to\nfinally appear in Europe where the odds aren't stacked so badly against the\nlittle guy.\n\n------\nsreitshamer\nI wonder what 37 signals would do.\n\n------\nbenihana\nIt's really hard to want to continue reading when the third sentence says\nthis:\n\n _Little has changed with the process of software development since the\n1980’s_\n\nI understand the point: that things are the more the same than ever, that this\nguy is a salty old sonofabitch who's forgotten more than i've learned, but\nseriously. Little has changed with the process of software development since\nthe 1980s other than the tools? The entire way we think about why we're\nbuilding software and what we're trying to get out of has changed and is still\nchanging.\n\n------\nhxf148\nOur startup (<http://infostripe.com>) is built on independent spirit. So far\nwe have been doing well. It's a struggle sometimes but always worth the\neffort.\n\n~~~\nbretthopper\nEvery comment you've made has a link to your startup in it. There's a\ndifference between self promotion and spam.\n\n~~~\nhxf148\nIt's true, I do mention my startup a lot. It's just that we are a small (aka\nunfunded) startup with lots of dev and little marketing.. when I see an\narticle that is relevant and I have a thought on it I link to try and reach\nout. I don't have much time to really get into comments as I'd like. I read a\nlot though. I will try and find other ways to contribute.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNew hints of volcanism under the heart of northern Europe - headalgorithm\nhttps://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/research-highlights/new-hints-volcanism-under-heart-northern-europe\n======\nf_allwein\nInteresting, but the headline is a bit misleading. „The heart of Northern\nEurope“ sounds like it’s in the Nordic countries, whereas the study is about\nthe Eifel region, in the West of Germany and pretty close to the heart of\nEurope.\n\n~~~\nlambdasquirrel\nYeah that's kind of a big deal, since there's plenty of known volcanism in\nItaly. Eifel is still along ways from Pompeii though.\n\nTo put it another way, I wouldn't worry until they start having hot springs\nover there.\n\n~~~\nPeterStuer\nThe region is full of nuclear plants though.\n\n~~~\nmbeex\nDefine 'region'. Germany as a whole has six nuclear power plants left, with\nplanned shutdowns not after 2022.\n\n[https://www.bmu.de/themen/atomenergie-\nstrahlenschutz/nuklear...](https://www.bmu.de/themen/atomenergie-\nstrahlenschutz/nukleare-sicherheit/aufsicht-ueber-\nkernkraftwerke/kernkraftwerke-in-deutschland/)\n\n~~~\nPeterStuer\nThe German one's are indeed extinguising, but the reactors Thiange (Belgium)\nand Cattenom (France) are still operational.\n\n------\ntannhaeuser\nWhat's new about it? The Eifel region (a part of which is literally called\nVulkan-Eifel) has been known for centuries if not milleniae for its volcano\nseas. \"Maar\" is even part of many city names in that region.\n\n~~~\nEtheryte\nPerhaps a better title would be \"Hints of new volcanic activity under the\nEifel region\". The geographic background is well known, but the study finds\nthe activity was larger than expected:\n\n> The Eifel area is the only region in the study where the ground motion\n> appeared significantly greater than expected\n\n------\ndreen\nThose lakes seem to have no flow of water in or out, so I guess they just rely\non groundwater flow to refill it, but how come it didnt overgrow and fill up\nwith mud centuries ago?\n\n~~~\ns1artibartfast\nA lack of flowing rivers carrying sediment to the lakes probably helps the\nlakes, there is less mud to fill them up.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Magic CmdLine and how I got it back - ttsiodras\nhttp://users.softlab.ece.ntua.gr/~ttsiod/bashheimer.html\n======\nkazinator\nGDB can almost be a dynamic computing environment:\n\n    \n    \n      $ gdb ./txr\n      GNU gdb [ ... ]\n      [ ... ]\n      Reading symbols from /home/kaz/txr/txr...done.\n      (gdb) b eval\n      Breakpoint 1 at 0x808f6b0: file eval.c, line 969.\n      (gdb) r -p '(+ 2 2)'\n      Starting program: /home/kaz/txr/txr -p '(+ 2 2)'\n    \n      Breakpoint 1, eval (form=0xb7fb919c, env=0xb7fb92ac, ctx_form=0xb7fb919c)\n          at eval.c:969\n      969     {\n      (gdb) p d(form)\n      (+ 2 2)\n      $1 = void\n      (gdb) p d(cons(form, form))\n      ((+ 2 2) + 2 2)\n      $2 = void\n      (gdb) p d(cdr(form))\n      (2 2)\n      $3 = void\n      (gdb) p d(cons(0x1, 0x1))\n      (0 . 0)\n      $4 = void\n      (gdb) p cons(0x1, 0x0)\n      $5 = (obj_t *) 0xb7fb921c\n      (gdb) p cons(0x9, $5)\n      $6 = (obj_t *) 0xb7fb920c\n      (gdb) p cons(0x19, $6)\n      $7 = (obj_t *) 0xb7fb91fc\n      (gdb) p d($7)\n      (6 2 0)\n    \n\nYou can test functions that are not even called anywhere from the C code. The\nd function is such a function; it's only there for use out of GDB.\n\n    \n    \n      (gdb) p (0)\n      $10 = 0\n      (gdb) p d(0)\n      nil\n      $11 = void\n      (gdb) p t\n      $12 = (val) 0xb7fe5eac\n      (gdb) p d(t)\n      t\n      $13 = void\n      (gdb) p typeof(t)\n      $14 = (obj_t *) 0xb7fe5d3c\n      (gdb) p d(typeof(t))\n      sym\n      $15 = void\n      (gdb) p d(symbol_name(t))\n      \"t\"\n      $16 = void\n      (gdb) p d(symbol_name(0))\n      \"nil\"\n      $17 = void\n    \n\nTake out the trash, and show it:\n\n    \n    \n      (gdb) p gc()\n      $18 = void\n      (gdb) p d($7)\n      #<garbage: 0xb7fb91fc>\n\n~~~\nzilog80\nAnd in combination with conditional breakpoints executing commands, you can\nhave GDB \"dance\" any application to whatever tune you wish:\n\ncommands ... call d(cons(form)) call symbol_name(t) cont end\n\nIt really is a marvelous tool - unfortunately, people don't know anything\nexcept the basics (if that)\n\n~~~\nvoltagex_\nIs there anywhere I can learn specifically about the commands you mentioned?\n\n~~~\nttsiodras\nI've used them too - just \"info gdb\" then search (/) for \"Breakpoint Command\".\n\n------\nsp332\nJust curious about one of the last steps:\n\n    \n    \n      cat /proc/53165/exe > /tmp/oldBash\n    \n\nI would have reached for 'cp /proc/53165/exe /tmp/oldBash', instead of using\ncat. Is there an advantage to using cat here, or is it just the same?\n\n~~~\nttsiodras\nIndeed! No idea what went through my brain when I wrote that :-)\n\n~~~\nzokier\nCould you just use `gdb --pid 53165 /proc/53165/exe`?\n\n~~~\nhobofan\nIf that works, is there any reason why gdb shouldn't automatically use the\n/proc/PID/exe?\n\n~~~\nzb\nProbably because /proc is very Linux-specific, and gdb is not.\n\n------\nandmarios\nWhy not ctrl+c, then arrow up and enter? If the command can't be stopped even\nfor a few milliseconds then there is something wrong with it.\n\n~~~\nttsiodras\nI didn't want to send any signal - because I could not remember what I had\ndone, and was afraid for sideeffects (I did remember that the logic had to do\nwith database actions).\n\nI wanted to see the command without \"messing\" with the execution in any way -\nafter all, it was running fine for 6 months, why interrupt it (and face\npotential effort in fixing messed up state) if I could see the command \"from\nthe outside\"?\n\nAnd that I did :-)\n\n~~~\n__david__\nC-z is actually your friend here. I've never ever seen SIGSTOP affect anything\nnegatively. I even SIGSTOP Mac OS X apps sometimes. They just beachball until\nyou SIGCONT them, then they happily continue, oblivious.\n\nIf you're worried about timing out of the process being unresponsive, just C-z\nand then \"bg\" real quick. Then you can up arrow at your leisure and \"fg\" when\nyou've copied the command away...\n\n~~~\nttsiodras\nTry doing the Ctrl-z/fg sequence in this: \"while true ; do sleep 1 ; done\".\nUnder Linux at least, you'll see that after 'fg', the loop ends :-(\n\nApparently C-z followed by fg is not bulletproof...\n\n~~~\nchaosfox\nThats an interesting example.\n\nzsh does the right thing, when you bg it back it recovers the loop as it was.\nBash seems to forget about the loop and only recovers the \"sleep 1\", when it\nstarts executing again it sleeps 1 and exits.\n\nIf you want to make sure it will work you should wrap it around another bash:\n\n    \n    \n        bash -c 'while true ; do sleep 1 ; done'\n    \n\nshould work fine.\n\n~~~\n__david__\nParens work too:\n\n    \n    \n       (while true ; do sleep 1 ; done)\n\n------\nmetafex\nThe tip about getting the binary from /proc is also helpful if you upgrade\nscreen/tmux and the newer version doesn't allow you to reattach to it. With\nthat you can use the old one to reattach, work your magic, and restart the\nsession.\n\n~~~\nzilog80\nYou just explained why I could not attach to an already existing screen last\nmonth - it all fits now...\n\n------\nbarrkel\nWhen I read the problem description, I decided to try and solve it myself.\n\nI used gcore to dump the running bash process, then ran strings on the core\ndump, then grepped for likely command line stuff. 'while' is reasonable choice\nfor a loop. There aren't that many strings in the dump file in any case, most\nof the sizeable ones are function definitions and environment variables.\n\nRelying on gdb makes getting to the right data much more precise, but my\napproach took about 20 seconds.\n\n------\nvacri\nI saw things being saved to /tmp, and kept expecting a turn for the worse from\na sudden reboot...\n\nFantastic article though - I've learned a couple of things from it, thank you.\n\n~~~\nttsiodras\nMy pleasure :-)\n\n------\neponeponepon\nGreat story... but I read through it hoping to see the fabled command in its\nentirety at the end! Any chance..? :)\n\n~~~\nttsiodras\nGod, no :-)\n\nSome people here are already rather mean in their comments - imagine what\nwould happen if I revealed The Magic CmdLine (TM)...\n\nNo, that privilege is reserved for the Inner Circle :-)\n\nBut I'll give you a teaser... It involved a lot of ImageMagick and \"pdfimages\"\nand \"zxing\" and \"tesseract\" and \"pdfjoin\" invocations... and the uploaded\nfiles were PDFs with scanned barcoded pages.\n\n~~~\neponeponepon\nAw, there's nothing worse than a mystery! ;)\n\n(I can imagine the gory details tbh - it sounds like there is every chance I\nhave had a _very_ similar command for a pretty similar purpose running for a\ngood long while now... except mine's in a VBScript..!)\n\n~~~\nttsiodras\n:-)\n\nAcross the road (on Reddit/programming), a commenter already described me\npretty well:\n\n\"Everything about your (rather interesting) story... reaffirms everything I\nknow about Linux sysadmins - if you encounter a problem, your go-to solution\nis to write a script ... Honestly, you guys would script a sandwich if you\ncould :P\"\n\nThe only thing wrong in that sentence, is that I am not a sysadmin (hence the\nknowledge of the Dark Arts - of GDB :-)\n\n------\nkrick\nNow this is both interesting and well written post indeed.\n\n------\nclaar\nThis was a fun read and great hack. Thanks for sharing.\n\n~~~\nttsiodras\nMy pleasure! It was a lot of fun hunting all this down, I just had to share it\n:-)\n\n~~~\nslowmovintarget\nIt is indeed cool, but the single best lesson to come of it might be to start\nthe work in a script in the first place. Still, cool beans. :)\n\n------\neridal\nthe best I've read since a long time!!\n\n------\nMDCore\nNice hack! I hope you learn to start save your notes/commands/snippets to a\ntext file as you go.\n\n~~~\nttsiodras\nI do, indeed - and in Git repos, usually :-)\n\nHow that one got by me is a mystery - let's chalk it up to stress and pretend\nit never happened :-)\n\n~~~\nMDCore\nHehe. And to contradict myself, if you HAD written it all down you wouldn't\nhave the cool story :)\n\n------\njarin\nEr, why not just use the `history` command (or hit the up arrow)?\n\n~~~\nttsiodras\nGood question. Well, when you have forgotten everything about a 10 lines long\ncommand line you wrote 6 months ago, you don't know what side effects a signal\nmay cause... You don't have the heart to signal anything, except surrender.\nLuckily, I found a workaround :-)\n\n~~~\nalbertoleal\nWhile I'm unable to come with this on my own, the article was pretty easy to\ndigest and understand.\n\nIt seems that the take-away lesson from the article is that you should save it\nin a bash script.\n\n------\nErikRogneby\nscreen doesn't have history?\n\n~~~\nkeeperofdakeys\nIt has a finite buffer, so I imagine 6 months worth of logs would have easily\nblown away the history of you running the command.\n\n~~~\nzilog80\nYou can configure it though, to be much larger than its default settings.\nStill, 6 months... he'd probably have to hack it as he did, no matter what :-)\n\n------\nkelvin0\nCool tricks, but reads like a how-to of things not to do when writing any type\nof code and deploying it.\n\nA Jedi? Maybe at getting himself out of the quicksand he lays himself into ...\n\n~~~\nttsiodras\nOh come on :-)\n\nYou're telling me that you've never - under tremendous pressure - hacked\nthings that quickly \"handle\" something - and then forgotten about them till\nmuch later?\n\nJeez, tough crowd :-)\n\n~~~\nmst\nThose who do, blog. Those who don't, snark at those blog posts on HN.\n\n------\nhammerandtongs\nI appreciate the spirit and the knowledge that you wrote this blog post with\nBUT -\n\nThe extra few seconds to put this in a .sh file in the first place ...\npriceless. Even for the basic case of debugging it and getting it working.\n\nI don't think in the 20-25 years I've been \"doing\" unix that I've ever done\nthis (I doubt anyone that has worked with me considers me ocd fwiw but this is\nbeyond the pale).\n\nBehaviors like this lead to \"magic\" work environments and are just pants on\nhead places to work at/with.\n\nI would be really mad the first time I found you doing this and I'd look for a\ndifferent work situation for one of us the second time :)\n\nThanks for the cool post.\n\n------\nbogomipz\nyou're a jedi because you discovered the /proc file system? Right, OK.\n\n------\nricket\nMy mom has Alzheimer's disease. I either sympathize with your situation, or if\nyou were using it as an expression, I find the misuse a bit offensive.\nParticularly in this context for me, it brings up a painful memory of one of\nthe first signs of Alzheimer's in my mom, when she called me because she had\nentirely forgotten her computer password.\n\nAs a sidenote to anyone reading this, I really appreciate that the Hacker News\ncommunity occasionally posts and upvotes Alzheimer's articles. I read every\none that I see.\n\nAnyway, I beg that you might not use \"Alzheimer's\" as an expression for\nforgetfulness, just as you might avoid calling someone \"ADD\" when they\nmultitask to a fault.\n\n~~~\nmgraczyk\nIt's worth noting that the author appears to be in Greece. Assuming he's a\nnon-native speaker, it doesn't really make sense to be \"offended\" by his\nmisuse of the term.\n\nMaybe a better way to put it would be \"We don't typically use 'Alzheimer's' to\nrefer to forgetfulness because it brings up negative emotions for some\npeople.\"\n\n~~~\noxioxi\nGreek language is more about emotion than content. Hyperbole is used to\nemphasize meaning. I cannot forget he first time I went to Greece and my aunt\nkissed me, bit me, and said she was going to eat me. I was 6. I was petrified.\nIt is common in Greece to express disappointment affectionately by saying ' I\nam going to kill you'. It is our cultural ignorance in the US that makes\nAmericans easy targets for ridicule. If we project ourselves as a superpower\nto the world, then where indeed are our superpowers of understanding?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAnnouncing the Scala IDE for Eclipse 2.0 - soc88\nhttp://blog.typesafe.com/scala-ide-for-eclipse-20\n\n======\nsoc88\nA great release in my opinion, and a brand new web site, too.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nFor a new job is it standard now to ask 4 blog, github, stackoverflow, linkedin  - beyondjaded\n\nI understand the reason behind this as it shows very transparently your skill but is it expected all this is done in your free time just for the love of it? If these don't fit into your current job logging into stackoverflow every night or updating some killer github modules definitely, combined with reading the latest texts takes a lot of time away from family and loved ones and turns a 40 hour week into a 60 hour week.&#60;p&#62;Has anyone got any thoughts on this, it's a bit of a sensitive subject and while I love software there are other parts of life I enjoy just as much and look forward to in my freetime.&#60;p&#62;Am I just managing my time badly or is it that competitive now?\n======\nthejteam\nPerhaps its an internet company thing? Maybe a California/SV thing? I don't\nknow of anybody asking for this.(Located East Coast and rural). The company I\nwork for is on linkedin and has gotten resumes from it before, although none\ngood enough for an interview. They have never asked any candidates for any\noutside information like that. Describe the design and code for a project is a\nstandard interview question, but even then only for people just out of\ncollege.\n\nThe type of work we do though doesn't require cutting edge coding skills,\nthough. I guess we look for people who can really think through things and\ncome up with a good design. I think evaluating this is easier in interview\ndiscussions than looking at code, especially if the evaluator has never\nthought about the problem before.\n\n------\npetervandijck\nIt's not 20 hours a week, it's 20 hours once, only when looking for a job.\n\nIf you can't be bothered to put some brief, good code on github to review, why\nwould I be bothered to interview you?\n\n~~~\nbeyondjaded\nwell I've seen some local jobs asking for people who can contributed to the\ncore of Jquery or Prototype for example and their github accounts to go with\nthat. If this fits in with your previous job description like you say it\ndoesn't take long to tidy things up but being a really valid part of any open\nsource community whether takes a lot of time and is definitely comparable to\nanother part time job on top of a normal job\n\n------\njister\nonly shortsighted fools will require you to have all those although some may\nask but it's definitely not required\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCastro has his doubts on Communism - zmitri\nhttp://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/09/fidel-castros-doubts-about-cuban-communism-and-iranian-anti-semitism/?partner=rss&emc=rss\n======\nzmitri\nThis has really changed my view point on Castro. I'm not sure if he's been\nlooking at lives of Cubans and realizing that maybe the revolution wasn't\nworth it, or if he's just getting older and his youthful \" altruistic\nidealism\" is fading.\n\nNice to see people can change their mind, and recollect... even after decades.\n\n~~~\nstephenjudkins\nIt would have been great if he'd realized it earlier.\n\nHowever, I imagine that growing up during the great depression (especially\nunder a series of kleptocrat dictators) changes one's perspectives on the\nrelative merits of different economic systems. I'm currently reading a book on\nJ. Robert Oppenheimer, and I've been struck by the seeming ubiquity of very\nleft-wing views among brilliant young theoretical physicists in the 1930s.\nCombine the dire economic circumstances in the US at the time with the rise of\nthe Nazis and little accurate knowledge of life under Stalin, and some very\nsmart people came to conclusions that seem very misguided in retrospect.\n\n~~~\nmaxharris\nIt is very difficult to develop your own philosophy from scratch, which is\nwhat it took back then to come to correct conclusions. In fact, doing this\ntook nothing less than a genius in the field, and these are very rare.\n\n------\nataggart\n>\"The Cuban model doesn’t even work for us anymore.\"\n\nAnymore?! What, it was working sometime during the past half-century of\nmurders, starvation, political imprisonment, destruction of wealth and civil\nliberties, poverty, de facto slavery, and general screwing-over of generations\nof Cubans to the extent they'd be willing to risk their lives floating in a\ncardboard box to Florida?\n\n~~~\njbooth\nIt's actually been a lot nicer to live in Cuba during most of that time than\nmuch of the rest of Latin America. Pinochet comes to mind.\n\n~~~\nhugh3\nWhat was so bad about Pinochet by South American dictator standards? It's hard\nto think of any metric under which Pinochet's Chile could be considered worse\nthan Castro's Cuba.\n\n~~~\njbooth\nThat's because you've spent your American life hearing about how Castro is the\ndevil (because Cuba was allied with the USSR!) and hearing very little about\nPinochet or any of the rest of Reagan's buddies.\n\nI mean look at the comment I responded to, it sounded like they were running\ngas chambers in Cuba. I'm no defender of communism or non-democratic\ngovernments but just because someone wasn't allied with us doesn't necessarily\nmake them more of a monster.\n\n~~~\nhugh3\nActually I asked for information on how Pinochet was worse than Castro, not\njust a repetition of the assertion that he was combined with a false\nassumption about my nationality.\n\nI don't claim to be an expert on South American dictators, but as far as I\nknow the worst thing Pinochet did was to kill and imprison thousands of\npolitical dissidents, which is coincidentally also the worst thing that Castro\ndid.\n\n~~~\njbooth\nYou've almost got it.\n\nNow think: How come for certain people, whenever Castro comes up we hear about\nhow he was/is some exaggerated monster yet those people don't actually seem\nconcerned about Latin Americans or any other monsters in Latin American\nhistory?\n\n~~~\nhugh3\nGeez, you're _still_ not answering my question about how one was worse than\nthe other, you're just responding with unwarranted patronization and innuendo\nabout \"certain people\".\n\nI'm the one arguing they're both in the same ballpark. You're the one trying\nto argue Pinochet was worse.\n\n------\nabsconditus\nSource:\n\n[http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/09/fid...](http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/09/fidel-\ncuban-model-doesnt-even-work-for-us-anymore/62602/)\n\n------\nechaozh\nAt least he admits what's real. We know the system doesn't work here in China,\nbut they won't admit it. They even force people to think the opposite.\n\n------\ngloob\nThis is the very definition of politics.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Bolt electric skateboard 2017 update, more range and a new Smartphone app - LooerCell\nhttps://boltmotion.com/blogs/blog/introducing-bolt-2017-the-most-portable-electric-skateboard-just-got-better\n======\ntimthelion\nDoes the app respect user privacy? Is it just a bluetooth remote control or is\nthere a web service connected to it?\n\n~~~\nLooerCell\nThe remote controller is just radio, not Bluetooth. But inside the board there\nis also a Bluetooth module that connects just to a smartphone app. Data\nremains in the app. You can then decide to upload it to a web service in case\nyou want to see the data on an interactive map or you want to share it.\nAnyway, it's just riding data, it's not associated with any of your personal\ninformation.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThe Joystick Store - devmonk\nhttp://www.thejoystickstore.com/\n\n======\ndevmonk\nSale on Atari 800 Series and Commodore C64 Series joysticks Nov 18th, 2010 one\nday only at $16.99 USD. Only 250 were made of these and only 50 of each will\nbe available for the sale. Have a few of these at home and they work well with\nStella, etc.\n\n------\ndevmonk\nCheck this out, too. A little more expensive, but a clear, led lit a2600 USB\njoystick is awesome: <http://www.reflexaudio.com/products_joystick.htm>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHuawei has started selling laptops with a the Deepin Linux OS pre-installed - rbanffy\nhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2019/09/12/huawei-just-started-selling-laptops-with-deepin-linux-pre-installed/\n======\ntga\nI am not at the point where I care about a \"beautiful\" Linux on a laptop, I'd\nbe happy with twm and Motif widgets if only the hardware would be 100%\nsupported and everything would work.\n\nFor a reference point, a vanilla Ubuntu LTS install on random (non-certified)\nT-series ThinkPads still doesn't always suspend/wake up properly, doesn't\nhibernate properly, crashes X when used with a docking station, has issues\nwith Bluetooth headsets (no microphone), has issues selecting the output audio\ndevice, doesn't support the fingerprint reader (I think), has hiccups with\nexternal screens, and altogether less battery life than in Windows. (I'm sure\nsome of these work on other models and others have workarounds, this is just\nmy recent experience with trying to run Linux without spending time on\ntweaks).\n\nI would seriously consider switching my work machine to any laptop/distro\ncombination that would get closer to the experience one has on MacOS (not\nperfect, but close enough to be productive), no matter where it was made.\n\n~~~\ndiffeomorphism\nUbuntu certifies most Thinkpads:\n\n[https://certification.ubuntu.com/desktop/models?vendors=Leno...](https://certification.ubuntu.com/desktop/models?vendors=Lenovo&page=4)\n\nI currently have an X1 Yoga (3rd), where Lenovo messed up modern standby on\nboth windows and linux. Luckily they have since added standard S3 as an option\nin the UEFI settings. Everything else works out of the box except the\nfingerprint reader. Battery life is comparable.\n\n> I would seriously consider switching my work machine to any laptop/distro\n> combination that would get closer to the experience one has on MacOS\n\nIn my experience hackintoshes are pretty annoying and quite far from \"close\nenough to be productive\" out of the box. Or were you comparing with a laptop\nwhere your OS of choice is preinstalled? Then \"without spending time on\ntweaks\" is trivially true; someone else did that for you already.\n\n~~~\ntga\nTo clarify, I was talking about the experience you get using MacOS on a Mac,\ndefinitely not a Hackintosh. Of course this is due to Apple (in most part)\nfully supporting all (their) hardware.\n\n------\nchvid\nA well built Unix based alternative to Mac would be attractive to many in\nparticular developers.\n\nHuawei can address the security concerns by using established open source\nsoftware (which they seem to have).\n\nWould be great to have an alternative to the windows/mac duopoly.\n\n~~~\nptah\njust to be pedantic: macOS is Unix whereas linux is not\n[https://www.opengroup.org/openbrand/register/brand3653.htm](https://www.opengroup.org/openbrand/register/brand3653.htm)\n\n~~~\nchungus_khan\nActually, Huawei's own EulerOS (which is based on CentOS Linux) is UNIX\ncertified as well:\n[https://www.opengroup.org/openbrand/register/brand3622.htm](https://www.opengroup.org/openbrand/register/brand3622.htm)\n\nLinux is not inherently compliant (and Deepin isn't AFAIK), but it is entirely\npossible to package a distribution which is and submit it for certification.\n\n------\nmytailorisrich\nHuawei seems to have put together a top design team. Both their phones and\nlaptops look gorgeous and the quality is there, too.\n\n~~~\nrasz\nDont forget their stores, they sure know a thing or two about copying designs\n1:1.\n\n~~~\ndannyr\nInteresting that you only mention copying on Huawei's part but not how Apple\nhas copied features on their IPhones from Huawei and other Asian phone makers.\n\n~~~\nmytailorisrich\nIt does look like the latest iPhone is playing catch-up with its 3 cameras.\nPersonally I prefer the design of the Huawei P30 Pro, though, so I'd say that\nHuawei has out-cooled Apple.\n\n~~~\ntannhaeuser\nWell the latest iPhone has caught up to Philips shavers visually IMO. I'm not\nkidding, the distinctive \"retro\" look of it comes from associating that kind\nof design with the 1960s.\n\n~~~\naries1980\nDon't forget the Rowenta Surfline iMac.\n\n------\nSmithalicious\n>As for Deepin, its Chinese origins tend to ignite controversy (and anxiety\nwithin privacy purists) in the Linux world, however the distribution is open\nsource and the code is available on GitHub.\n\nIsn't this just plain racist? Is there any actual reason to believe that\nthere's any privacy issues with Deepin, other that that it was made by Chinese\npeople? Not to mention that I've never heard this particular FUD before, so\nI'm doubtful that it \"tends to ignite\" anything.\n\n~~~\nsgt\nI think it has to do with that China has a terrible human right's reputation\n(yet we all use Chinese products, so there's that), but mainly that Huawei is\npretty much obliged by law to build backdoors and share any kind of\ninformation with the Chinese government if they are asked to do so.\n\n~~~\naibrahem\nSo does the US, I've yet to hear a valid argument on why the US is a better\ncitizen on the global stage than China.\n\nDomistically a very weak argument could be made that the US doesn't violate\nthe rights of their own citizens as bad as China, but between FISA courts, the\nNSA and programs like PRISM (which is more than a decade old now), this\nargument barely makes sense.\n\n~~~\nklingonopera\nWell, for one, whoever's running the US gets changed after two terms,\nsometimes it's a pity, sometimes it couldn't happen fast enough.\n\nBut in my opinion, it's definitely better than having the same person running\nthings for who-knows how long, regardless of the integrity of that person.\n\n~~~\nKaoruAoiShiho\nA couple dozen people change at the top but literally everyone else stays on,\nincluding all the criminals in military and intelligence. It's an absolute\njoke.\n\n------\nTinfoilhat666\nLinux is the best thing that has happened for China and Russia. It helps them\nescape the Microsoft/Apple/Google control. Even North Korea has its own linux\ndistro to avoid US software. Desktop linux will be a reality.\n\n~~~\nAnIdiotOnTheNet\n> Desktop linux will be a reality.\n\nThis is the 'Fusion power is just around the corner' of the computing world.\nThere's only one way Desktop Linux succeeds, and that's that all the other\nDesktop OSs are abandoned or drive themselves into the dirt the way Win10\nseems intent on doing.\n\n~~~\ndiffeomorphism\nWindows has WSL (2 by now). ChromeOS supports desktop linux apps. Samsung has\nlinux on DeX.\n\nI wouldn't be surprised if in the not too far future also macOS or iOS ship\nwith some version of homebrew or macports included out of the box.\n\n~~~\nAnIdiotOnTheNet\nWhat's your point? Running Linux optionally in a VM isn't what people mean\nwhen they talk about Desktop Linux. Neither is homebrew (which is Linux how,\nexactly?). ChromeOS is on Chromebooks, which are explicitly not desktops\nbecause their whole design is as a web kiosk.\n\n~~~\ndiffeomorphism\nMy point is running desktop linux apps. My point is that it is NOT\n\"optionally\" but officially and encouraged.\n\nAlso your notion of chromebooks is about a decade out of date.\n\n~~~\nAnIdiotOnTheNet\nOh I see, we've shifted the goalposts from Linux on the Desktop to Linux Apps\non a proprietary OS on the Desktop.\n\n------\npapermachete\nIn other news, you can install the Deepin desktop environment on any distro\nand avoid unwanted packages/repos/configurations.\n\n------\nsimula67\nDoes it have replaceable parts? I am willing to pay good money for a computer\njust like Mac, but which can be upgraded piece by piece.\n\n~~~\nijiiijji1\nLenovo T480. Accept no substitutes.\n\n------\ntannhaeuser\n\"Deepin Linux\"? Is it known by anyone? Sounds scary enough.\n\n~~~\ncaptn3m0\n[https://distrowatch.com/table-\nmobile.php?distribution=deepin](https://distrowatch.com/table-\nmobile.php?distribution=deepin)\n\nThe main devs are Chinese and iirc, ZTE is funding their effort. Based on\nDebian with a beautiful new DE based on Qt.\n\n~~~\nbostik\nWell that's certainly interesting...\n\nI used to work for the guy who pushed the original Qt acquisition at Nokia. He\nlater on, after the Elopcalypse, moved to Huawei to head one of their R&D\nunits.\n\nWouldn't be at all surprised if he and his teams had his palm prints all over\nthis one. Custom media players certainly play to his history and strengths.\n(Shot in the dark: I will guess that the media player is built on GStreamer\nfor the codec support and exposed through QtMultimedia elements.)\n\n~~~\ncaptn3m0\nLooks like Qt + mpv: [https://github.com/linuxdeepin/deepin-movie-\nreborn](https://github.com/linuxdeepin/deepin-movie-reborn)\n\n~~~\nbostik\nOh. My guess was wrong on almost all accounts.\n\n------\nl1n\nTitle should probably be `Huawei has started selling laptops with the Deepin\nLinux OS pre-installed` (no stray `a`)\n\n------\nbjoli\n3:2 aspect ratio on the matebook x! I have said for quite some time that I\nwould wait with buying a laptop until someone else than MS had that aspect\nratio. I guess this means I will be getting a new laptop.\n\n------\nwarabe\nWhy don’t they pre install Ubuntu? It’s so simple, isn’t it?\n\n~~~\ndiffeomorphism\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Kylin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Kylin)\n\nIt is.\n\n------\ntype0\nThe beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I don't consider Deepin desktop\nenv more beautiful than Plasma, Budgie, Cinnamon or Gnome. This title is very\nclickbaity, so many distros are have this strage names Clear Linux, Scientific\nLinux, Beautiful Linux, Stupidly Easy Linux etc. You'd never know how \"deep\nin\" the article you will find relevant information.\n\n------\nklingonopera\nWhy not just use a stock Linux distro, and maybe just change the wallpaper to\nsomething Huawei-specific? Add a desktop shortcut to some special Huawei-\nspecific app store, if they want, but keeping the OS stock pretty much signals\nthat they really couldn't care less about putting in bloatware, backdoors,\nmalware or similar, which would be a very welcome change in the OEM equipment\nworld.\n\nI'd suggest Ubuntu, because of it's popularity and non-tech-user-friendliness,\nthen again I'm not sure if they're allowed to do that, since Canonical Ltd.\nand Trump, thus, depsite open-source, possibly also requires special licenses,\nIDK (e.g. I once wanted to install OpenSUSE and then there was something in\nthe licensing agreement about EAR directives from the US, so I cancelled\nthat).\n\nI've never heard of Deepin Linux, is it popular in mainland China?\n\nApart from that, there've always been a steady stream of Laptops available\nwith Linux, it's not a novelty item... many of those that are advertised as\n\"non-OS\" often have some form of Linux bundled in, just in case.\n\n~~~\npmlnr\n[https://www.distrowatch.com/](https://www.distrowatch.com/) -> Deepin is the\n10th most common distro.\n\n~~~\nklingonopera\nIt ranked 2013: 55th, 2014: 24th, 2015: 18th, 2016: 11th, 2017: 11th, 2018:\n21st and presently, in 2019, is at 10th spot.\n\nThat's quite a shot to stardom, and yet, judging from the replies, I don't\nseem to be the only one who's never heard of it.\n\nStill, I'd be interested to know, how Deepin is doing in China, is it\ncomparable to Ubuntu in the Western world?\n\n~~~\ndiffeomorphism\nStardom among the small number of people visiting a random website.\n\n> They simply show the number of times a distribution page on DistroWatch.com\n> was accessed each day, nothing more.\n\n[https://www.distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=popularity](https://www.distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=popularity)\n\n------\ndrcongo\nThis is an advert, not news.\n\n------\nRocketSyntax\nthey are $50!!!\n\n------\npfalafel\nI want to see how this Hong Kong story develops before I buy new China goods.\n\n~~~\nmikojan\nSo how is the invasion of Iraq affecting your buying decision process with\nregards to american goods?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHappy Birthday Docker - julien421\nhttp://blog.docker.io/2014/03/happy-birthday-docker/\n\n======\ndchuk\nI realize this is hard to ask for at this stage because Docker is still\nrapidly evolving, but all I want is a thorough book/tutorial/guide/screencast\nthat walks me through the process of barely understanding Docker to using it\nfor my web apps.\n\nI know that I will want to use this in the future, I just can't be bothered to\nlearn yet-another-thing given how fast everything changes nowadays.\n\nIs anyone writing a book on Docker? Tutsplus.com screencast series? Udemy\ncourse?\n\n~~~\nshykes\nYeah, a full end-to-end explanation of how Docker can help you is one of the\nthings we need to get better at. A full revamp of the documentation is\nunderway :)\n\nThere's a book being written at\n[http://dockerbook.com/](http://dockerbook.com/)\n\nThere's also a really nice online tutorial at\n[https://www.docker.io/gettingstarted/](https://www.docker.io/gettingstarted/)\n\n~~~\ndchuk\nThanks for the links!\n\n------\nshykes\nThat video of the project's activity over time is pretty awesome and almost\nbrought a tear to my eye :)\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCiS812oRU8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCiS812oRU8)\n(link didn't work for me on iOS)\n\n~~~\ngabemart\nIt's a really impressive visualization. Does anyone know how it was made?\n\n~~~\njulien421\nWe used Gource:\n[https://code.google.com/p/gource/](https://code.google.com/p/gource/)\n\n~~~\nnodesocket\nOn OS X you can install with:\n\n    \n    \n        brew install gource\n\n------\naus_\nI work for a large financial company. At our shop, we are currently building\nout an internal cloud infrastructure where we build on too of the OpenStack\nAPI to provide users with self service deployment much like AWS.\n\nIn order to deploy to production, we mandate a process requiring users to have\nan existing chef recipe before any production guest can be deployed. We also\nrestrict logins to existing production nodes unless there is an emergency.\n(This attempts to keep configuration management entropy to a minimum.) all of\nthis works ok, but I think it could be better with Docker.\n\nIn a few weeks, I have a chance to present a new idea to senior executives.\nI'd like to pitch Docker, at least as something to keep an eye on. Any\nthoughts on what points I should drive home?\n\n~~~\njschorr\nOffhand, the major benefits for your use case seem to be:\n\n\\- Speed and Flexibility: Extremely quick turn around time from development to\nproduction; Docker images usually start in under 10s and multiple images can\nbe run concurrently. If a user needs to update their running service(s), they\ncan even have multiple versions running at the same time behind something like\nHAProxy (which itself could be in another Docker container), allowing real-\ntime migration.\n\n\\- If your users build their images and test them on their own machines, they\ncan then deploy the same images to your production machines with the knowledge\nthat (barring unusual circumstances) they will have the same exact image and\ndependencies running there. This means no need to write a recipe, _less_\nworries about security, and more freedom for your users to use whatever libs\nthey deem necessary (assuming such freedom is allowed).\n\n\\- If running images directly is not doable for security reasons, your users\ncould use Dockerfiles [1] which still allow you the benefits of Docker but\nwith the ability to review all commands used to create the image. They can\neven be built in real-time off of GitHub pushes [2] (disclosure: I'm a co-\nfounder at Quay.io)\n\n[1]\n[http://docs.docker.io/en/latest/reference/builder/](http://docs.docker.io/en/latest/reference/builder/)\n[2] [http://blog.devtable.com/2014/03/link-your-quayio-\nrepositori...](http://blog.devtable.com/2014/03/link-your-quayio-repositories-\nto-github.html)\n\n------\nshykes\nIt's worth noting that as of yesterday the Docker index\n([https://index.docker.io](https://index.docker.io)) now offers github-style\npaid features. You can host private docker images, tie them to your source\nrepo so that they are automatically rebuilt from source, trigger web hooks on\nnew versions, etc.\n\n[http://blog.docker.io/2014/03/introducing-private-repos-\nwebh...](http://blog.docker.io/2014/03/introducing-private-repos-webhooks-and-\nmore/)\n\n------\nnickstinemates\nHaving been @ Docker for about 9 months, all I can say is I am blown away by\nthe incredible involvement from the community and the vibrant ecosystem that\nhas been created as a result.\n\nWhile it has been an amazing year, I am even more excited every day about\nfuture prospects and momentum we're collectively building in the industry.\nThis is only the beginning.\n\n------\nthu\nMemories !\n\nI thought I have started to look into Docker in April last year. To make sure\nI didn't make up things, I looked into my git logs. The first reference to\nDocker in the commit message is:\n\n    \n    \n        Author: Vo Minh Thu <noteed@gmail.com>\n        Date:   Sun May 5 23:21:51 2013 +0300\n    \n            Run ssp-build inside docker\n    \n\nssp is the name I used for Assertive, which was supposed to be a hosted\nContinuous Integration service for the OpenERP community. ssp-build is spawned\ninside Docker by a worker process. I put it on hold since around May although\nI put it online a few days ago (Here is an example of what it does:\n[http://assertive.io/build/1](http://assertive.io/build/1)).\n\nActually I have a first mention of Docker in my TODO.md file dating back to\nMarch 29 !\n\nAssertive will be generalized and will be coupled to\n[https://reesd.com](https://reesd.com) (that's the reason I went to put it\nonline a few days ago).\n\nDocker was my first practical exposure to Linux containers. Thanks a lot for\nmaking it a great open source project !\n\n------\ngabrtv\nThe project is moving so fast it warps time. Hard to believe it's only been a\nyear. Big congrats to the team.\n\n------\nalecsmart1\nI've been reading about Docker for a while. But am unable to wrap my head\naround it. I've gone through the samples and I only see it good for creating\nSaaS apps. Can someone please correct? What am I missing? What is the brouhaha\nall about?\n\n~~~\nj_s\nSimplistically: if you deploy to Linux, Docker provides 90%+ of the benefits\nof virtualization without the performance penalty.\n\n~~~\nbrokenparser\nAnd without the security benefits of proper virtualisation, too. At least lxc\nsince recently has the ability to run containers as a regular user, but I'll\nstick to KVM guests secured with MLS policies for now.\n\n~~~\nnickstinemates\nWhy not combine the two and get the value of both? And, a reminder, you can\nstill use LXC with Docker. It's fully supported.\n\n~~~\nbrokenparser\nBecause the guests have their own SELinux policies. Docker containers don't\ncome with policies, but if it would support running containers under a user\naccount I could at least restrict each to their own category so that\ntheoretically a chmod -R 777 / (inside a container) and access to the host\nwouldn't compromise other containers (unless the kernel is exploitable, in\nwhich case KVM would still win).\n\n~~~\nnickstinemates\nMaybe we're talking past each other here, but, Dan Walsh, author of SELinux,\nis working to bring SELinux natively to libcontainer / docker.\n\nI'd love to talk more about your needs and how we can help. My email is always\nopen - nick@docker.com\n\n------\nCSDude\nI have been using Docker to grade HW submission since October, in a more\ndisposable and safer way, and I am building an automated system around it,\nkudos to Docker and the team\n\n~~~\nnickstinemates\nThat is amazing. Can we talk more about it?\n\nWe also have a ton of people for you to talk to / benefit from if you're\ninterested in that.\n\nnick@docker.com\n\n~~~\nHortinstein\nplease make this public if it happens!\n\n~~~\nCSDude\nI will, contact me if interested mustafa91 at gmail\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nI cant promise time but why people look so mad at me? - itsmejax\nPeople always ask when you finish that thing. How can I answer when I do not know the time frame?<p>I cant promise anything.\n======\nicedchai\nTake your “honest” estimate, double it, and round up to the next highest value\n(day, week, month...)\n\n------\nLeoSolaris\n\"This is a difficult problem with multiple unknowns. I will have a progress\nreport for you tomorrow.\"\n\nMake sure that you are reaching out to the rest of your team.\n\n------\nsharemywin\nWill it probably take about year?\n\nWill it probably take about month?\n\nWill it probably take about week?\n\nWill it probably be done in a day?\n\nMost of the time their looking for a ballpark.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nCompo4All: Making Arcade Games Social Again - ekianjo\nhttp://www.pandoralive.info/?p=185\n\n======\nParadisoShlee\nThis simple little idea has been keeping my OpenPandora in my hands a lot\nrecently. Passive social gaming has always been one of the more interesting\nand non-explored parts of multiplayer.\n\nI remember playing a TRIALS HD on my 360 and my friends are shown as a passive\ndot. I kept wanting to chase that dot and beat the high score of somebody who\nwasn't even playing.\n\n~~~\nParadisoShlee\nP.S. To everybody who saw the words \"Open Pandora\" and laughed... the project\nwas taken over over a year ago and is actually running pretty smoothly.\n\nI really like my 1Ghz (2012) model Pandora :)\n\n------\nyamara\nI love this as an idea to bring older games into new light, and tying it into\nMAME is a fantastic idea to get a broad spread of both games and users. Plus,\na large amount of coins popped into arcades was to beat that elusive high\nscore, and this just makes that more relevant.\n\nFor extremely popular games, I could see adding rankings based on region or\nperhaps other breakdowns, if you kept a user profile.\n\n------\nekianjo\nAuthor here. This piece of software only runs on the Open Pandora Linux\nHandheld for now, but the developer says it's very portable and it is likely\nto spread to other platforms in the very near future.\n\n~~~\nskeezix\nIt is very trivial to port, as theres not all that much to it right now ..\njust some code to do HTTP PUT and GET to transfer RAM snapshot blobs back and\nforth with the server. Opening it up (if desired) to indie and homebrew games,\nother emus, other target platforms and host platforms, adding new features..\nlots we can do, and hopefully part of the game, but a lot to do before we get\nthere :)\n\nOr perhaps theres already an open source or standardized protocol for doing\nachivements and high scoring and so forth; an open source 'game centre' etc\nwould be nice..\n\n~~~\nyareally\nI'd incorporate it into a mobile game for phones or tablets if it's less\nannoying to users than alternative. The alternative solutions I've seen for\nandroid at least want too much info or annoy users by persisting to ask them\nif they want to use it (albeit that could also be due to the developer). An\nopen solution with a non invasive license would be great for us indie\ndevelopers\n\n------\nkingu\nCompo4All: Making Arcade Games antiSocial Again ;)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSan Francisco to finally get broadband competition - jasonwong\nhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/20/BA2T1KCHSC.DTL&feed=rss.news\n\n======\njasonwong\nIt looks like the BoS _finally_ approved AT&T to compete with Comcast on the\nlow end. SF has areas unreachable by cable (such as major swaths of downtown),\nand my old office only alternative was 3MBps DSL, due to distance from the CO.\nThe roll out will take years, but at least we'll start seeing the prices come\ndown a bit - with higher speeds! Evil competition is better than no\ncompetition.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nRate my mini-app: Tweetbow  - helium\nhttp://tweetbow.appspot.com/\n\n======\nhelium\nYes, I know this is Yet Another Twitter App but I was just having some fun\nusing the Twitter API with javascript and trying out Google App engine.\nHowever, I also do think it could be useful in discovering people you want to\nfollow on Twitter. Any comments and suggestions would be appreciated.\n\n------\ndxjones\nYou have a small bug in your HTML: \"<<title>\" (double <<, oops)\n\nIt an interesting exercise, to see it implemented using only Javascript.\n\nThe main thing about Twitter is the actual _tweets_ , not just the faces of\nthe people twittering. You should at least display some tweets.\n\n~~~\nhelium\nOops...it's fixed now. Thanks! Well you know, I envisioned some people using\nTwitter more as a dating site might find this useful. Also scanning text takes\nmuch longer than images.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGauge blocks (a.k.a. gage blocks; Johansson gauges; slip gauges; Jo blocks) - bookofjoe\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauge_block\n======\nbookofjoe\nWringing:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauge_block#Wringing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauge_block#Wringing)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHuge Backlog of Ships Waiting to Pass Through the Panama Canal - protomyth\nhttps://gcaptain.com/there-is-a-huge-backlog-of-ships-waiting-to-pass-through-the-panama-canal/\n======\njtchang\nThe panama canal is not only an engineering marvel but a financial one as\nwell. It can cost up to a quarter million for passage if you are a large\ncontainer ship (such as a panamax class ship).\n\nOne thing that I was surprised was that the lateral drift was not computer\ncontrolled. Scary that even a small miscalculation can rip a hole in the\nship's hull.\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4F867o_U1w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4F867o_U1w)\n\n~~~\nRyJones\nThanks for that. Funny they say the Kentucky Highway makes it to the Atlantic\n\"without a scratch\" after it was bounced off the wall of the locks; you can\nclearly see the huge smear/scratch on the paint in shots after the collision.\n\n------\npaulsutter\nThat's not a lot of ships. More ships are always waiting near Singapore (zoom\nin):\n\n[http://s3.amazonaws.com/mongabay/indonesia-\njava/600/java_000...](http://s3.amazonaws.com/mongabay/indonesia-\njava/600/java_0001.jpg)\n\nDoes anyone know why there are so many ships waiting at Singapore? Are they\nmerely idle? Waiting for port access? (if you're not familiar, look where\nSingapore sits on a map. Every ship between east asia and europe/middle east\npasses by).\n\n~~~\nsimonbyrne\nCould still be surplus capacity from the post-GFC slump. From 2009:\n\n[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/business/global/13ship.htm...](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/business/global/13ship.html)\n\n> Vessels have flocked to Singapore because it has few storms, excellent ship\n> repair teams, cheap fuel from its own refinery and, most important,\n> proximity to Asian ports that might eventually have cargo to ship.\n\n------\ngrecy\nIf you ever get the change, I highly recommend a visit to the canal. The scale\nis hard to comprehend. Watching container ships pass through is super\nsatisfying from an engineering perspective.\n\nMy visit: [http://theroadchoseme.com/the-panama-\ncanal](http://theroadchoseme.com/the-panama-canal)\n\n------\nkylelibra\nIf you are wondering why:\n\n\"A statement provided to us Friday from the Panama Canal Authority said that a\nhigh level of arrivals during the last in September coincided with schedule\ndry-chamber maintenance.\"\n\n~~~\nthrowaway_exer\nScheduled with who? Obviously not their clients, the shipping companies.\n\nKind of like ebay not considering their 2-hour Sunday \"planned maintenance\nevents\" to be outages ... for 2 decades.\n\n~~~\nhelper\nWhat are the shipping companies going to do, use the Nicaragua Canal?\n\n~~~\nim3w1l\nDock ships on both sides of land. Truck goods from one ship to the other. Or\nmaybe that would also be too expensive?\n\n~~~\nzrail\nThere's a railroad. It can carry about 1,500 containers a day[1]. There are\napproximately 175,000 containers waiting to transit the canal, based on the\n33,500 figure in the linked Wiki page and the 5 day wait.\n\n[1]:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_Railway#2001_reco...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_Railway#2001_reconstruction)\n\n~~~\nWildUtah\nTechnically Panama's is the first transcontinental railroad, beating the Union\nPacific by fourteen years. Panama's was running in 1855 while the line over\nthe Sierra Nevada opened in 1869.\n\n------\ntoomim\nIt's likely that this is due to corruption in Panama with pressure from\nNicaragua and Hong Kong. The official reasons given don't make sense:\n\n> Marine Traffic Control said the backlog is primarily due to weather\n> conditions, including several days of fog at the canal. But we spoke with a\n> canal insider, who said that in his decades of experience he has only seen\n> it like this when there is some other issue going on – not one that’s\n> weather related.\n\nThus, something is happening behind the scenes that they don't want to talk\nabout.\n\nMaybe there is political pressure from Nicaragua/Hong Kong proponents of the\nNicaraguan canal. The biggest reason cited by the WSJ not to build the canal\nis lack of demand:\n\n[http://www.wsj.com/articles/china-wants-to-dig-the-\nnicaragua...](http://www.wsj.com/articles/china-wants-to-dig-the-nicaragua-\ncanal-1439159390)\n\nIt's quite possible that Nicaragua/Hong Kong are putting pressure on Panama to\nincrease the wait times. Perhaps they scheduled the \"Dry chamber maintenance\"\nduring a high-shipping seasons on purpose:\n\n> A statement provided to us Friday from the Panama Canal Authority said that\n> a high level of arrivals during the last in September coincided with\n> schedule dry-chamber maintenance.\n\n~~~\nrory096\nWhy would Panama willingly do anything to encourage the Nicaragua Canal? It\nposes a huge competitive threat (if it were likely to be built).\n\n~~~\nEvolved\nUnless they were colluding to increase wait times to get the Nicaragua Canal\nbuilt and then share the profits (unlikely). More likely is Panama isn't doing\nthis to encourage building the Nicaragua Canal but instead is just doing this\nto increase premium slot prices.\n\nCould Magic Mountain and Knott's Berry Farm run more roller coaster trains and\ndecrease wait times? Sure, but then there wouldn't be as much incentive for\npeople to buy flash/front-of-the-line passes. I'd be willing to bet the waits\nare at least partially artificially created to support the flash passes as yet\nanother source of revenue.\n\n~~~\nghshephard\nSpeaking from experience, The waits at magic mountain in the 80s ran upwards\nof an hour+, and that was prior to flash/front-of-line passes, so I don't\nthink there is a correlation.\n\n~~~\nEvolved\nAn hour wait at Magic Mountain nowadays seems to be the norm moreso than the\nexception. Have you been there in the summer when X2 has had waits in the 2-3\nhour range WITHOUT a Flash Pass? This still occurs and the ride is over 12\nyears old now. I'd argue it is somewhat due to incomes rising enough to allow\nmore people to attend MM. MM has responded by offering Flash Passes but what\nI've yet to see is even on the busiest day, running multiple cars at a quick\nenough clip to minimize wait times. With this kind of demand, they really\ndon't have to minimize wait times since as much as people complain about the\ntimes, they still go.\n\nFurthermore, the Flash Pass isn't so much a front-of-the-line pass as it is a\nbypass-most-of-the-line pass. It still deposits you in the loading/unloading\narea so you could still hypothetically have a 15-20 minute wait depending on\nhow many riders are already in the loading/unloading area.\n\nEdit: Goliath (built in 2000) still routinely has 1-2 hour waits and might\neven rival Tatsu for most Flash Passed coaster given that X2 was, up until\nrecently, not even able to be added to the standard Flash Pass unless you\nupgraded to the Gold or Platinum Flash Passes.\n\nTell me that doesn't smell like an incentive to increase waits to drive sales\nof Flash Passes in lieu of outright raising prices to control demand.\n\n------\ntechdragon\nI still don't understand why anyone building a new canal through Central\nAmerica would not be trying to maximise the effectiveness of their work by\nbuilding a sea level canal wide either enough for continuous crossing in both\ndirections or dig two canals and make each one continuous flow in a single\ndirection.\n\nYes it's a bigger challenge, but these projects are some of the few remaining\nopportunities in modern economics to say \"we expect payback time of two\ndecades\" and not get laughed at. No locks no lock maintenance, continuous\nflow, more ship, more money.\n\nIt's also possible to use novel techniques from the last hundred years of\nprogress to \"dredge forward\" using water itself as an an active tool to wash\naway all but any hard rock terrain that needs clearing. The rain and loose\nsoils that hurt the first attempt at the Panama Canal could be turned into a\npositive factor with today's technology.\n\n~~~\nfraserharris\na) You can not escape the need for locks because there is a 8\" height\ndifference of the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean. Additionally you have tidal\nvariation.\n\nb) The Panama Canal locks are already in pairs to allow simultaneous bi-\ndirectional traffic. They are currently building a third set of larger locks\nthat will increase maximum dimensions of vessels transiting the Panama Canal.\n\n~~~\nAsbostos\nJust because there's a height difference with locks, doesn't mean some kind of\nsingularity would develop without them. Either the height difference would\ndisappear, or continuous currents through the canal would maintain it.\n\nIn the Panama canal, they benefit from keeping the inland lakes above sea\nlevel so that they're deep enough. If they were connected to the sea, they'd\nlower significantly and even more excavation would be needed to make a path\nfor ships.\n\nThere would also be fascinating effects of strong currents through it, sea\nlevel changes, fresh water lakes becoming salt water (sorry local people!),\nand fish migrating.\n\n~~~\nChristinaM\nThe average difference is 8\" but with tides it can be up to 12' and it changes\nconstantly. It'd be really tough for the ships to handle in the confined space\nespecially when eddies form along the edges and with currents changing over a\nperiod of hours. A lot of these ships only travel at 10-15 knots and they\naren't very maneuverable.\n\nI was recently on a sailboat going through Hell Gate on the East River in NYC.\nIt has about a 6' tidal range. We can motor at 6 knots. When the tide was at\npeak flood into Long Island Sound we were doing about 1/2 knot over the\nground. You can time an East River transit to work around the tides, the\nPanama Canal is too long for that to work.\n\n(I don't recommend transiting Hell Gate under those conditions, the UN closed\nthe river longer than they said they would and we only managed because there\nwasn't any wind. We should have anchored and waited a few hours, we would have\ngotten through almost as quickly.)\n\n------\nOscarCunningham\nIt never ceases to amuse me that the Panama canal runs from the Atlantic in\nthe west to the Pacific in the east.\n\n~~~\nowenversteeg\nFor the curious - Panama connects North and South America horizontally, thus\nthe Atlantic is to the north of the country and the Pacific is to the south.\nThe canal cuts southeast across the country.\n\n------\njrapdx3\nDoubtful that operators of the Panama Canal would be holding up traffic\nbecause of the proposed Nicaragua canal. After all construction on that\nproject hasn't even started yet. Furthermore, the new, bigger Panama 3rd set\nof locks are now being tested, due to open next year.\n\nDoesn't make sense for Panama to slow things down in view of the loss of\nincome, the fees collected are serious money, probably the major income source\nfor the country.\n\nNext year would be a very interesting time to visit the canal re: opening of\nthe new channel. A few years back I was on a cruise that traversed the canal,\na highly educational and memorable trip worth doing. The Panamanians we\nencountered were proud of the Canal expansion project, a significant national\nachievement, something important to celebrate.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAfter A Hot Start, Justin.tv Spins Off Socialcam, Its ‘Instagram for Video’ - Mazy\nhttp://techcrunch.com/2011/08/29/after-a-hot-start-justin-tv-spins-off-socialcam-its-instagram-for-video/\n\n======\nandrewcross\nHow would this work for the investors of Justin.tv? I know that Justin.tv has\na stake in Socialcam, but to go from owning 100% of the value to something\nless seems like a lousy deal for the investors.\n\nI suppose you could make the argument that this will enable Socialcam to grow\nmore quickly and thus drive higher value for everyone, but it seems like quite\na high risk.\n\n~~~\nbyrneseyeview\nJustin.tv owns some of it. What they're probably doing is having Socialcam\nissue some stock to investors, and to grant lots options to the founding team.\nImagine that SocialCam has 100 shares now. They might have the company sell 50\nshares to outside investors for funding (so Justin.tv owns ~67%, _but_ that is\n67% post-money, and the total value of the stake will be the same). Then the\ncompany could allocate 50 shares to an option pool for their founders. That\ndilutes Justin.tv's stake down to 50%. Nobody has to give anything up--the\ninvestors are putting in money, and the options are a form of employee\ncompensation.\n\n~~~\ncallmeed\nI don't quite follow.\n\nThe investors _in Justin.tv_ now own a smaller share (or none) of SocialCam,\nright? How is this allowed (without approval)? And who would approve it if\ngrowth is good?\n\n~~~\ndrusenko\nThat's certainly one way to paint the picture. Most of investing, though, is\ntrying to grow the pie, not necessarily focusing on your specific piece.\n\nI've been on the founder side (trying to convince investors to spin off a new\ncompany) and the pitch goes like this: Before, you had an ownership stake in 1\ncompany with two products. After, you have an ownership stake in 2 companies.\nBoth of these companies are out to grow, raise money and exit in their own\nright, and have teams solely devoted to hitting a home run. From that\nperspective, you could argue that you now own more than you did before,\nessentially by growing the pie.\n\n------\ntmcneal\nJustin.tv's strategy of using their video-hosting infrastructure to\naggressively pursue verticals within the video watching/sharing/hosting space\nis working out really well. They seem to have a knack for identifying how\npeople use video and streaming on the web, and are creating products that\nserve the specific needs of each group.\n\n------\njohnrob\nJustin.tv seems like it's doing really well (at least from the outside), which\nmakes it difficult to understand why they keep launching new products.\n\n~~~\nJonLim\nWhy not? They're continuing to create really great products that scratch their\nown itches and are allowing the company to grow.\n\nSeems like they have the resources for it and the drive and ambition.\n\n------\nterhechte\nInteresting. I suspect that Instagram are also contemplating adding video\nsooner or later, given that in their API images are to be found in the \"media\"\nbranch, and for each entry there the data-type is labelled as \"image\".\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAutomatic face-blurring in images made easy - nadavs\nhttp://cloudinary.com/blog/automatic_face_blurring_in_images_made_easy\n\n======\nnadavs\nThis blog post explains how to keep people privacy in photos by automatically\nblurring their faces.\n\nA pixelization effect is applied on images. Together with automatic face\ndetection, only faces in a picture are blurred as intensely as you need. Image\ntransformations are transformed on-the-fly in the cloud. Code samples in Ruby\non Rails, Django, PHP and Node.js are included.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDo Grades Matter? A Discussion About Thinking Bigger While at CMU (2016) [pdf] - senatorobama\nhttps://www.cs.cmu.edu/~kayvonf/misc/do_grades_matter.pdf\n======\nCryoLogic\nSome of the smartest, most successful and most driven people I know are\nhighschool dropouts. It's a shame we put such an emphasis on grades, which\nreally just reflect someone's ability to spit out things that have already\nbeen figured out - not any proof of ingenuity, curiosity, or the ability to\nlearn on the fly.\n\n(before the replies - yes I know a lot of dropouts without any ambition or\ndiscipline as well - but living in a highly educated community it's easy to\nnote many of the \"educated\" people really lack ambition and ingenuity\nwhatsoever.)\n\nOn an anecdotal note, I dropped out of high-school got a job in tech and went\nback to college - I went to a top 10 university (graduated) and didn't learn\nmuch I couldn't have taught myself. It did help me get more interviews though.\n\n~~~\ndahart\n> before the replies - yes I know a lot of dropouts without any ambition or\n> discipline as well - but living in a highly educated community it's easy to\n> note many of the \"educated\" people really lack ambition and ingenuity\n> whatsoever.\n\nI don't think the argument normally has anything to do with how much ambition\n& ingenuity college educated people have. Looking at college educated people\nwith low ambition isn't a great reason to drop out of school.\n\nThe issue is that, statistically, college degrees are strongly correlated with\nbetter outcomes. There's a variety of reasons, and of course it does not mean\nthat every dropout will do worse.\n\nMost people who drop out don't drop for a positive, because they're doing\nsomething better. They drop out for a negative, because they don't like school\nor authority or it's too hard or they're uninterested or drugs or poverty,\netc.. If you're giving advice to someone who doesn't know what to do, going to\ncollege and doing well there is hands down the better recommendation on\naverage for most people.\n\nIf they're driven and strong enough to drop out because they're learning\nfaster on their own, or have something more important to do, or see the\npotential to make more money now, then they're probably going to ignore advice\nanyway. The strong driven successful people who don't need a college degree\nalso don't need the advice or any emphasis on grades, because they know what\nthey want, and they've found their own metrics. Everyone else, most people,\nwill probably benefit by staying in school longer.\n\n[http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/02/11/the-rising-cost-\nof...](http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/02/11/the-rising-cost-of-not-going-\nto-college/)\n\n------\nsotojuan\nThis slideshow points at some key problems high achieving people face post-\nhigh school - how to stand out when everyone's as smart/hard working as you\nwhen all you know is getting good grades?\n\nI knew a lot of people who double majored (even attempted to triple major...)\nand filled up their schedule so much that (apologies if this sounds a bit\nrude) they had an \"empty\" life outside of classes. This actually hurt people\nin the CS job search (not a problem for CMU grads though). The ones found a\njob easily are doing the same things as me, a lifelong B+/A- student. Of\ncourse, this is anecdotal and all, and who knows where we'll be in ten years,\nbut I always wondered if all the stress and lack of free time during ages\n18-22 was worth it.\n\nI know a lot of careers demand a ton of your time in undergrad for grades,\nextracurriculars, preparing for grad school, etc. I'm glad programming\ninterviews focused more on practical skills and problem solving skills - my\nundergrad was a lot less stressful and more fun that way and I was able to\nexplore and mess around with technology and life in general.\n\n------\nz1mm32m4n\n> _You have to struggle /agonize over it. You have to immerse yourself in it.\n> You have to think about it all the time._\n\nWe see these ideas echoed over and over by intensely successful people. For\nexample, it's the same one Richard Hamming claims in his famous talk, \"You and\nYour Research\"[1]. Kayvon's talk focuses heavily on the side of academia, but\nthe claim holds equally well in two other areas:\n\n1\\. Community involvement.\n\nAs an undergrad, over-commitment to classes leaves little time to give back to\nthe \"community,\" for definitions of community like classmates, under-\nrepresented groups, the wider campus, etc.\n\nFor example, you can't be a great undergrad TA if you don't put close to or\nmore work into the class than your students do. This means TA'ing should\nfactor into your schedule like taking another class. If you're already\noverloaded on classes and TA'ing a class, how can you hope to contribute\nsomething valuable to your students?\n\n2\\. Self-driven deeper understanding.\n\nIn all these discussions, we're starting from the assumption that the student\nis driven; otherwise, they wouldn't be motivated to take tons of classes in\nthe first place.\n\nBy taking fewer classes, there's more available time for the _motivated_\nstudent to read an interesting paper related to the lecture that week--and\nread it _thoroughly_. There's more time to think critically about interesting,\nnew problems, and even to discover one's own passions or calling.\n\nAs one last note; if you're a student ever in the position to take a class\nfrom Kayvon, I'd very strongly recommend it.\n\n[1]:\n[http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html](http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html)\n\n~~~\noddity\nKayvon was my undergraduate thesis advisor as well as an instructor for a\nclass I took while there, and it's hard to exaggerate how fantastic he was. I\nsecond your recommendation.\n\n~~~\naerioux\nhehe hi :^) isn't this the slide show kayvon showed us at the research\nsymposium?\n\n------\nPowerofmene\nIMO high grades are simply an indication of the ability to meet the\nexpectations of either the Professor or the parents if they are paying tuition\nor even to yourself if that is how you measure success. Grades are not\ntypically an indication of mastery of the subject matter because that comes\nwith application of that which was learned rather than a recitation of that\nwhich was taught. Low grades, well they are a horse of a different color\naltogether.\n\n------\nUpvoter33\none problem w/ cmu education: it burns a lot of people out. I've known many a\nbright folk to go in flying high and come out just wanting to find something\nmore relaxing to do. simply put: it's not for everyone. of course, many other\ntop schools are the same way...\n\n~~~\nsotojuan\nI think the point of the slides (and college in general) is that you don't\nnecessarily have to stress out yourself to be an all As student with a double\nmajor to get a good job. Instead, relax a bit more and build software.\n\n~~~\nDavid\nReally? I didn't see that in the slides. I saw \"trade classes or grades for\nother stuff (but still work to or past your limit)\" specifically with the\nreferences to not sleeping. As a CMU alum that both hit home and depressed me.\nI can't, and don't want, to do that kind of shit anymore. Why are we\nencouraging our undergrads to work to the point of harm in order to excel?\nExcellence can happen without all nighters, and it's more sustainable that\nway.\n\nIn essence, I agree with you but I don't think the slides do.\n\n------\nsjg007\nThe reason to go to university is to work with and learn from the best and\nsmartest people in an area you enjoy. There is a ton of opportunity and you\njust have to take advantage. It is also a great time to figure out yourself,\nwhat you want and only have to answer to yourself.\n\nI do think colleges should offer a 101 course where you get to work on\nestablishing healthy habits and provide an understanding of mental health\netc...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGlitch employees vote to form union, joining CWA - lflux\nhttps://cwa-union.org/news/releases/tech-workers-app-developer-glitch-vote-form-union-and-join-cwa-organizing-initiative\n======\nApocryphon\nMy highlights:\n\n> 90% of the workers indicated their support for joining CWA and authorized\n> CWA to be their bargaining representative\n\n> about half of whom work in the New York City headquarters and half of whom\n> work remotely throughout the country\n\n> Employees at major American tech and game companies have grown increasingly\n> active and outspoken about workplace issues, including sexual assault and\n> harassment, ageism, unequal pay, “crunch time” (i.e. long-term overtime and\n> overworking), poor treatment of contract workers, inadequate racial and\n> gender diversity, and lack of transparency and inclusion in decision-making\n> around controversial contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense and\n> Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).\n\n> “We appreciate that unlike so many employers, the Glitch management team\n> decided to respect the rights of its workforce to choose union\n> representation without fear or coercion.\"\n\n> CWA was founded by telecom workers, and supports media workers through its\n> Newsguild-CWA and NABET-CWA sectors.\n\n~~~\nm0zg\nGame studios especially need this. I'm a conservative in most other labor-\nrelated things (liberal on social issues), but holy shit the devs are abused\nby the game studios.\n\n~~~\npkaler\nFormer game developer here. Game studios don't need unions, they need better\nmanagement. Basically, an 18-year-old QA tester gets promoted to lead QA then\nassociate producer then assistant producer and then producer. The producer\nmanages by industry lore. And industry lore is terrible.\n\nUnionization is not going to fix the management training problem.\n\n~~~\neinpoklum\n> Game studios don't need unions, they need better management.\n\nIf workers unionize [1], they can force bad management out, or curtail its\nbadness, or in extreme cases - replace management with collective ownership.\n\n[1] - in an independent, non-corrupt union.\n\n~~~\nmanfredo\nOr game developers can just hire non-union employees. The reality is that game\ndevelopment studios can get away with poor work life balance because there's\npeople who are passionate about making games and are willing to accept poor\nworking conditions to get a chance at their dream job. This Stage Actor's\nGuild exists, but aspiring actors still have to work second jobs to put a roof\nover their heads. When a job is a lot of people's dream job, conditions are\ngoing to be poor because the supply of potential labor is very large as\ncompared to the demand.\n\nAlso, I have no idea where you get the idea that unions can somehow force\ncollective ownership. The company belongs to the shareholders, unions don't\nmagically get to take other people's property.\n\n~~~\nApocryphon\nEmployees usually receive shares as comp, don't they?\n\nI will say that the horror stories and bad press coming out of the video\ngaming industry will possibly have a chilling effect for new grads who would\notherwise jump straight into it. Eventually management will run out of non-\nunion workers to hire. Or the non-union workers themselves will demand better\ntreatment.\n\n~~~\nmanfredo\n> Employees usually receive shares as comp, don't they?\n\nNon-voting shares, yes. Voting shares are usually only given to very senior\npeople, if ever, and not nearly enough to form anything close to a controlling\nownership of the company.\n\n> I will say that the horror stories and bad press coming out of the video\n> gaming industry will possibly have a chilling effect for new grads who would\n> otherwise jump straight into it. Eventually management will run out of non-\n> union workers to hire. Or the non-union workers themselves will demand\n> better treatment.\n\nDecades of game development suggests otherwise. Like acting, it's people's\ndream job. And when the supply of labor exceeds the demand workers do not have\nleverage.\n\n~~~\nApocryphon\nFor decades there was no interest nor action towards unionizing in game\ndevelopment. Greater scrutiny into the industry from modern game journalism,\nand perhaps worsening experiences as the industry heads towards Hollywood-like\nAAA titles produced by monolithic studios, is surely causing _something_ to\nchange.\n\n~~~\nmanfredo\nGame developers' experiencing the misery of crunch time and layoffs is\nsomething I've heard about firsthand since the early 2000s at the latest.\nReading accounts from earlier games' development cycles suggests that this has\nbeen common for even longer than that. Game development has always had\ncyclical labor demands and tight deadlines.\n\nI think you need to qualify the claim that these experiences are worsening. In\nfact, from most of the veteran developers I've talked to report the opposite:\nbefore the proliferation of the internet crunch time was way more serious\nsince patching was not a viable option. Nowadays it's pretty much the norm\nthat games have significant bugs for the first week or two and still need to\nmature after release. This creates greater room for error and less pressure to\nfix every bug before release.\n\n~~~\nApocryphon\nThat's fair, perhaps conditions haven't been substantially worse than in\nprevious console generations. But it sounds like there's something driving the\npush towards unionizing/organizing, whatever it is. And it sounds like the\ngeneral public is more aware it being a brutal industry.\n\n~~~\npandaman\nDespite the popular belief, game developers are pretty well paid. Not every\nindie or QA contractor, of course, but it's a rich industry with 6 figure\nsalaries and profit sharing/royalty bonuses in successful studios. So, of\ncourse, any union would love to represent game developers for a share of their\nincome. Likewise, you don't often hear of, say, restaurant workers needing\nunion representation because they do not make much money and rarely interest\nunions. This is what's driving calls for unionization IMHO.\n\nAnd I agree with manfredo, I started in the industry in 90s, and crunch was\nalready there. If anything, the situation improved in mid 00s, with CA\nstrengthening exempt employees classification and later 00s with ea_spouse\nlawsuit. E.g. mandatory crunches are gone, it used to be that people were\nforced to stay late and come in on weekends even if they had nothing to do but\ngood luck pulling this now. Nowadays people mostly crunch either because their\nbonus comes out of the game's sales (and/or metacritic score, like in EA) or\nbecause they are paid OT.\n\n~~~\neinpoklum\n> So, of course, any union would love to represent game developers for a share\n> of their income\n\nYou're talking about the large, collaborationist unions we know in the US -\ne.g. those in the AFL-CIO - where \"the union\" is an external entity to \"the\nunionizing workers\"; and often with the bureaucratic motivations you describe.\nI specifically mentioned that's not the kind of unionization I advise.\n\nAlso, payment is just one of many issues in a workplace. The basic need for a\nunion is that the company's owners have the mechanisms for thinking,\ndiscussing, deciding acting collectively and concertedly, but its employees do\nnot. That's what a union should be.\n\nOn that basis, employees may want to tackle issues like:\n\n* Treatment by managers/management * Workplace culture * Physical working conditions * Workforce size vs. \"squeezing\" of existing employees * Advancement opportunities within the company/organization * Professional standards\n\nand so on.\n\nFinally, remember that a gaming development house has a lot of employees other\nthan developers per se: QA, art, production, administrative etc.\n\n> Nowadays people mostly crunch ... or because they are paid OT.\n\nIf people make a good salary, they don't work overtime because they don't need\nto. There must be some kind of psychological pressure in that direction.\nOverwork should be avoided.\n\n\\- who have joint interests and may wish to discuss things, take decisions,\nand act collect\n\n~~~\npandaman\nI am not discussing whatever reasons you envisioned for unionization of our\nindustry from the outside. I am just noting where the unionization effort is\nactually coming from. Pardon my cynicism, but I don't believe the big union\ncare about anything other than payment, which drives their fees. Otherwise, as\nI said, they would had been pushing in retail with, at least, same effort as\nthey do in the games industry.\n\n>If people make a good salary, they don't work overtime because they don't\nneed to.\n\nSure, they don't need to but, nevertheless, they like their fat bonuses.\n\n------\nlbotos\nHere is a question:\n\nWhy don't we have more smaller unions in America, but instead these GIANT mega\nunions?\n\nI get collective bargaining is better with more numbers, but it feels like\nthere is no way to have a \"new\" union exist?\n\n~~~\nbaybal2\nBigger union == bigger bargaining power\n\nOther countries have much less liquid labour markets, or have bargaining\npowers of unions backed by governments, so they don't have to grow so much to\nmake a difference.\n\n~~~\ndantheman\nBigger Union == More Corruption\n\nHow does this bigger union give them any more bargaining power against glitch?\n\n------\ngadders\nInteresting development. Glitch used to be Fog Creek, where Joel Spolsky\ntalked of treating developers well (latest hardware, private offices etc) and\npaying them well. I wonder if the culture has changed and that's why the\ndevelopers felt the need to create a union.\n\n[[https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/09/07/a-field-guide-\nto-d...](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/09/07/a-field-guide-to-\ndevelopers-2/)]\n\n~~~\nhinkley\nJoel talking about the great care they took to build their offices (in a way\nthat I felt was a huge mistake) was sort of the beginning of me realizing that\nhe doesn't get everything right.\n\nThere's also an uncanny valley effect, where ignoring a problem entirely means\nthat your employees may have needs they aren't aware of, and as soon as you\nshine a light on it, their job satisfaction is actually lower until you get it\nright.\n\nI think a couple of my bosses understood this intuitively and would invite us\nto participate in developing solutions. We are much more patient with\nourselves than with others.\n\n~~~\nApocryphon\nWhat's wrong with how they built their offices, in your opinion?\n\n~~~\nhinkley\nThere's a lot of crappy office politics that circles around access to\ndaylight. You invariably have a mismatch between Valuable Employees and\nValuable deskspace, jockying for position becomes a distraction and having\nmultiple grades of desk just kind of beats the newer employees about the head\nand shoulders with how little they matter.\n\nIt is, in a word, fractious.\n\nThe best solution I've seen for this is to keep most of the windows in public\nspaces. If I go for water or to the bathroom, I should get daylight. Impromptu\nmeeting spaces and lunch spots: daylight.\n\nThe thing is, developers say they want daylight at their desk, and then they\nrealize that they can't actually work in natural light (this has gotten better\nin just the last few years, but I've been watching this happen for 20), and so\nthe people who 'own' the windows end up closing the blinds to work in peace.\n\nThe worse this ever got, we had the top floor of a building and so many blinds\nwere closed all day that we might as well have rented space in the basement\nfor half the price/ft²\n\nSo now if I am to get any daylight it is at the sole discretion of someone\nalready on an ego trip? No thank you.\n\nMove the desks so that people can _see_ daylight but aren't _in_ daylight. All\nthe windows stay open, your AC bills are a little lower, and the steepness of\nthe pecking order is not quite so brazen.\n\n~~~\nhinkley\nI'm still trying to locate the iteration that bugged me, but from what I can\nsee of their new-new-new offices, they seem to be more in keeping with the\nstyle I talk about above:\n\n[https://medium.com/make-better-software/beyond-open-\noffices-...](https://medium.com/make-better-software/beyond-open-offices-the-\nnew-fog-creek-headquarters-bc2f70d7c7dc)\n\n... except that there is so little workspace that I had to stare at the\npicture for about fifteen seconds to figure out if they did, in fact, have any\nemployees at all.\n\n------\nridv\nI hope the CWA treats them better than they treat the SUNY grad students they\nrepresent.\n\nAll State University of New York graduate students are also represented by\nCWA. [1] Out of the lowly salary I earned as a grad student, I had to pay dues\nto them throughout the entire five years I spent in grad school. I never felt\nlike they particularly cared about us or got to see a return on this\ninvestment.\n\nThey made a show of coming by the campus once in a while, especially when\nelections were happening, but other than that I can't recall a single time\nwhere I felt it was beneficial to be part of the CWA.\n\n[1] [https://cwa1104.com/apprenticeship-\nprogram](https://cwa1104.com/apprenticeship-program)\n\n~~~\nnwmcsween\nThis is the thing with unions they don't care about one persons issues at a\nworkplace but general issues like pay when compared to other companies in the\nsame field. If the company previously had toxic people in high places the\npeople will just adjust to follow union rules while still being toxic.\n\n------\nbaybal2\nI've been hearing for a long time that there were attempts at making a union\nat Microsoft back in nineties.\n\nAnybody privy to the info how it fared?\n\n------\nwhoisjuan\nIgnorant question. But how do union dues work? Is it a percentage of your\npaycheck or a fixes cost?\n\nAlso I assume there’s a formation/founding cost. How does that work?\n\n~~~\nkyoob\nIt's usually a percentage of workers' paychecks, between 1-2% is pretty\nstandard.\n\nFounding, organizing, and legal stuff for newly forming unions can be handled\nby the larger organization (e.g. CWA) using pooled dues from existing unions\nwithin that organization.\n\n~~~\nsevenf0ur\nLosing that much per paycheck with nothing guaranteed in return would chaff me\nafter awhile. I hope it works out for them.\n\n~~~\njohnpowell\nI was a union HVAC guy for a few years. And one very nice thing was that there\nwere union shops and they went through the union to find employees. So if work\ndried up at one place the union would take care of getting my unemployment\ngoing and then when work came up they would call and say that I was needed\nelsewhere.\n\nThis probably wouldn't translate well to software. But it works great if you\nare installing ducts. Same goes for plumbers and electricians. My sisters\nfirst husband was a union electrician. That is why I looked into getting a\nunion gig. I hate job hunting.\n\nIn the years I did it I worked for five different companies. I didn't have to\nrun around dropping off resumes and doing practice tests. I just got a call\nfrom the union and was told where to go to work. And I made significantly more\nthan my non-union counterparts. Easily more than the dues I had to pay.\n\n~~~\nfiter\nIs this one of the angles that unions use to sell themselves to companies?\nThey can help by providing a well of valuable resources to draw on in an as-\nneeded basis. When both hiring and firing would be an easier proposition, I\ncould see more activity occurring as a result. These people would have\nexperience at different companies and could provide their knowledge like many\nsay is the benefit of people rotating jobs a lot in the SF Bay Area.\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\n> Is this one of the angles that unions use to sell themselves to companies?\n\nUnions don't sell themselves to companies in the first place.\n\n~~~\nfiter\nWhy not? I would presume that would help with regard to union busting, scabs,\noutsourcing, etc.\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\n> Why not?\n\nThe same reason your criminal defense attorney doesn't sell themselves to the\npublic prosecutor's office.\n\n~~~\nfiter\nAre you implying that public prosecutors have the option to not interact with\ncriminal defense attorneys, because companies certainly have the option to\nhire employees that do not work for unions.\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\n> Are you implying that public prosecutors have the option to not interact\n> with criminal defense attorneys,\n\nNo, I'm implying that working for an actor’s counterparty compromises your\nability to represent that actor in adversarial interactions with the same\ncounterparty, which is a core function of unions with respect to employers as\nit is with defense attorneys with respect to prosecutors.\n\n> companies certainly have the option to hire employees that do not work for\n> unions.\n\nNot in the US; even where union shops are prohibited by state right-to-work\nlaws, adverse employment decisions on the basis of union membership or union-\nrelated activity by an employer are prohibited by the National Labor Relations\nAct. That is, in some cases, employers are allowed to hire employees who\naren't members of a union, but they aren't legally permitted to hire employees\n_because_ (even in part) they aren't members of unions.\n\n~~~\nfiter\nYou're even more compromised if you are removed.\n\nIn the US, do you think companies have not moved manufacturing from union\nplants to non-union plants? Do you think they have not moved manufacturing out\nof US plants? Do you think this does not have to do with union membership?\n\nI believe the adversarial view of unions and employers results in inefficiency\nand waste. I was suggesting an alternative view of unions and employers, but I\nbelieve I now understand you: you think this is impossible.\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\n> You're even more compromised if you are removed.\n\nUnions (or their leadership) perceived as serving management _are_ removed,\ninvariably and swiftly, by their constituents, whether through decertification\nor leadership elections.\n\n~~~\nfiter\nI cannot tell if you are intentionally misreading my statement. If you are\nnot, what I meant is that the union would be removed.\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\nThat's what I am saying, too. I'm just saying that being beholden to\nmanagement is a more certain way for them to be removed than being\nadversarial.\n\n------\nryanmarsh\nDo unions (specifically this union) promote and standardize levels of\ncraftsmanship or is that still an unsolved problem?\n\nI kinda wish proper guilds would become a thing in tech. I feel they could\nsolve both the craftsmanship and workers rights problems but oh well...\n\n------\nquest88\nI wonder why they need a union. Is something currently not working in their\nfavor?\n\n~~~\nthrowaway10018\nThrowaway account because duh. Note that I am not a current Glitch employee,\nbut am well-connected to Glitch née Fog Creek.\n\nManagement was basically incredibly incompetent, for a long time, and were so\nunfair to employees at the company that they felt this was the only option.\nThere is a Tweet stream a couple months ago from someone who left the company\nwho highlighted the amazing degree to which they were unfairly reviewed and\nunfairly criticized, alongside how much work product they were expected to\nproduce (which was unreasonable). I have enough corroboration to say that the\ntweet stream as written is fairly unbiased, and that their experience was\ncommon. My understanding is the employees felt backed into a corner.\n\nI think unions can be very, very valuable, but I think needing one at a small\ncompany that took a series A round quite recently speaks more to management\nfailure than anything else. I'm happy that they unionized, because it sounds\nlike they needed to, but I am so fucking disappointed that it was necessary.\n\n~~~\nquest88\nThanks for the report, exactly what I was looking for!\n\nThis is something I wish had been in the article. Even something vague, like\n\"Employees reported they were unhappy with management and the performance\nevaluation system. The union with CWA will work with management to blah blah\nblah\".\n\nAgree that it sounds like a management failure.\n\nThanks!\n\n~~~\nmamoswined\n[https://glitch.com/glimmer/post/the-year-in-\nglitches/](https://glitch.com/glimmer/post/the-year-in-glitches/) > But as we\nrapidly grew our team, we failed to commensurately grow the processes and\ninfrastructure necessary to support everyone properly. The result has been a\nlot of needless stress and tension and frustration. On its own, this is a\nsignificant problem, but when we’ve talked a lot about wanting to build a\ncompany that does these things better, a failure here is twice as painful for\nthe people on our team who are affected. As the person who most often talks\npublicly about the positive ambitions we have here at Glitch, I’m also the\nperson ultimately responsible for the times we haven’t delivered on those\npromises.\n\n------\npmoriarty\nThe recent flowering of union membership in the tech industry really warms my\nheart and makes me hope that this is the start of a pro-union resurgence\nnation-wide that reverses the conservative anti-union backlash that has\ndominated the US for decades.\n\nUnfortunately, conservatives have been mostly successful in gaining control of\nthe courts, so expect union-busting measures to be rubber-stamped by them.\n\nThere is likely to be much conflict between labor and owners.\n\n~~~\nchrisco255\nMy concern as a libertarian is that unionizing tech will lead to\ncalcification, decline of agility and innovation, and diversity of business\nstructure. There's no question that the U.S. has been more innovative in tech\nthan other countries over the past few decades. That's thanks to an\nentrepreneurial culture that encourages risk taking. Unions attempt to limit\nrisk to employees. In doing so, they limit the agility of organizations. That\nis a significant trade-off worth pondering and debating.\n\n~~~\nvangelis\nFunny, I feel the same way about MBA mills and slash and burn private equity\nfirms.\n\n~~~\nSpicyLemonZest\nThat's a pretty universal viewpoint. Even the most business-friendly people\nwould be skeptical of someone saying that private equity \"warms their heart\",\nor talking about how we need to stop MBA-busting and reverse the \"liberal\nanti-MBA backlash\".\n\n------\npje\nCongratulations!\n\n------\ngodzillabrennus\nSix months from now we will likely be wishing we had union jobs.\n\n------\nColonelSanders\nFor a union, it's concerning when some things are more tailored to the whims,\nedge cases, personal niches of the most vocal, rather than shielding the\ncommon denominator of the cooperative from management's business decisions.\n\nI'd like to explain what I like, and what I'm concerned about:\n\n> Employees at major American tech and game companies have grown increasingly\n> active and outspoken about workplace issues,\n\nVery union related, that's what unions are for.\n\n> including sexual assault and harassment,\n\nAlready unlawful. They are addressable to the NLRB and civil legal system.\n\n> ageism,\n\nThat's vague, but there are protections against this\n\n> unequal pay,\n\nNot sure what this means, pay between workers of the same level of seniority\nperforming the same responsibilities? Overtime? A lot of things factor into\nequal pay. A junior employee isn't going to make as much as a 20 year\nemployee.\n\n> “crunch time” (i.e. long-term overtime and overworking),\n\nLooks right. These are covered in union contracts\n\n> poor treatment of contract workers,\n\nIf they have union membership? Wouldn't it be about defining a standard of\nwhat a salaried employee is?\n\n> inadequate racial and gender diversity,\n\nWhat does that mean? Inadequate to whom? What makes those characteristics\nworthy but other characteristics not?\n\nI find it very hurtful and insensitive to people who struggle, suffer,\novercome odds, from difficult upbringings, but not member of some class or\nfacet. Why reduce the struggle, character, and worth of someone down to those\nthings? Where does this come from?\n\nWhat does this say to your colleagues who don't have these traits? Do they\nhave life easy? Have you walked a mile in their shoes?\n\n> and lack of transparency and inclusion in decision-making around\n> controversial contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense and Immigration\n> and Customs Enforcement (ICE).\n\nThat is not the kind of decision I think employees should be deciding. Though\nif a larger organization wanted to allow someone to move somewhere else in the\norg, that seems fair\n\n~~~\nApocryphon\n> Already unlawful. They are addressable to the NLRB and civil legal system.\n\n> That's vague, but there are protections against this\n\n> Wouldn't it be about defining a standard of what a salaried employee is?\n\nUnions can be an additional safety net/layer of protection/tool against these\ndiscriminations and abuses. In a time when HR departments are often derided as\nexisting to protect the company instead of workers, and it often takes either\nmedia exposure or self-publishing (as with Susan Fowler) for discrimination\nagainst protected classes to be acknowledged, a union could be a place for the\ndiscriminated to turn to where HR reps fail. At least then you don't have to\nhire your own lawyer.\n\n> unequal pay,\n\nThis might be a gender gap criticism meaning unequal pay between workers with\nthe same title but of different genders.\n\n> That is not the kind of decision I think employees should be deciding.\n\nWhy? The stigma of culture war and political battles aside, why shouldn't\nemployees take part in making business decisions in general?\n\n~~~\nColonelSanders\n> Why? The stigma of culture war and political battles aside, why shouldn't\n> employees take part in making business decisions in general?\n\nBasically, no.\n\nThat's what's management is for.\n\nThey can become manager's if they want to impact that, though.\n\nAre they qualified to understand what they're talking about? If they have a\ndisagreement, is there a reason why they wouldn't raise it via proper channels\nrather than effect other things that are vital to the organization?\n\nAre they big picture thinkers that have taken the time to digest the system,\nuninfluenced by social pressures? Some people don't care about their\norganization's goals, their coworkers, and decide to act out for their own\nvanity, at everyone else's expense.\n\nAnd that is one reason why management exists. To answer your question, while\nthey may be wrong, there's a purpose in shielding decision making away from\nthose who lose sight of the org's goals.\n\nThe point of the union is when management makes decisions, which can be unfair\nand uncaring to the worker, that their rights, safety, and livelihood also are\nrepresented with fairness. The alternative I offered to you was, in an\norganization large enough, they could request to move to a different project.\n\n~~~\nfogetti\nSaying that they can become managers is like saying they can become the\npresident of the U.S. The point is that you cannot become a manager at all if\nyou disagree with management in the first place (and that doesn't mean you\ndon't have the chops). Also the number of management seats are limited. The\nnumber of union seats has no upper limit.\n\n~~~\nColonelSanders\n> Saying that they can become managers is like saying they can become the\n> president of the U.S.\n\nI don't think that analogy is proportional, since that'd make a manager at a\nfurniture store on par with a head of state. But I get it, there isn't\nunlimited management roles. Because if there were, everyone would be on their\nown.\n\nIf you want to influence and shape business decisions - you want to be a\nmanager.\n\nHow do you become one? By showing competence as an employee and joining a\nlower management position. Successes are how they climb the ladder. Yes, they\ndefinitely can innovate, and they can also play it safe.\n\nPeople in upper management also hop between companies and have similar\npositions.\n\n~~~\nfogetti\nI think you don't understand what I said. You can't climb the ladder if you\ndisagree with management. And that's not because you have no talent and\nmanagement has the talent. There is no such correlation.\n\nIs this clear now or do you need more help to understand?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nRussian Court Bans Telegram App After 18-Minute Hearing - dbasedweeb\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/world/europe/russia-telegram-encryption.html\n======\nwalrus01\nI wonder how they intend to implement this. Russia for the most part doesn't\nhave anything like the great firewall. Probably by court order from their\nversion of the FCC forcing the largest ISPs with international connectivity to\nput in static null routes for certain V4 and v6 IP blocks that contain the\ntelegram registration servers.\n\n~~~\nslezyr\nThey've already blocked 118998 resources. They simply publish list of\nresources which needs to blocked by ISPs.\n\n[https://antizapret.info/stat.php](https://antizapret.info/stat.php)\n\n------\ncoolspot\nIt is interesting how other messaging services including also end-to-end\nencrypted WhatsApp manages to be still not banned in the Russia.\n\n~~~\nadamnemecek\nIt’s because WhatsApp doesn’t have anti Putin interests unlike Durov.\n\n~~~\nloceng\nThat reason doesn't satisfy, it's not taking into account the connection to\nencryption. We can't know if this is simply an attempt to shutdown Telegram\nfrom use in the country, or whether they would have found the next most\nbelievable excuse to block them if Telegram gave into the encryption issue.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nTop domains on HN by average score (warning: check comments first) - andreyf\nhttp://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=rC4oeGjG_04iG63oBJvy2xw&output=html\n\n======\nteej\nIf you would rather not have your Google account revealed to all of HN, log\nout of Google before following the link.\n\n~~~\nmjgoins\nCan someone explain why? I assume the link got changed a long time ago by now.\n\n~~~\ngojomo\nAt first, when you viewed the spreadsheet, you saw a richer interface that:\n\n(1) popped a little message when others started viewing, with their logged-in\nGoogle username\n\n(2) offered an expandable chat sidebar\n\n(3) showed each others' active selection-area via different selection colors\n(correlated with colors in the char sidebar)\n\nThe warning was fair but it was actually kind of interesting. I think the best\ncase mixing fairness-of-disclosure and options-to-viewers would be a link to\nthe static doc, but another link on the static doc allowing upgrade to the\ninteractive interface (perhaps with a hint of what you'll see and reveal if\ndoing so).\n\nDug up from my browser history, this was the original link, which reveals your\nlogged-in Google username to other simultaneous document viewers:\n\n!!!\n[http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rC4oeGjG_04iG63oBJvy2...](http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rC4oeGjG_04iG63oBJvy2xw)\n\n------\nsmokinn\nI don't know who I was following around but it was fun just clicking under\nyour cell selection =)\n\n------\ngojomo\nSites based on the real name of their primary writer are very strong: graham,\nsivers, yegge, shaw, buchheit, maroon, joel, aaron, pmarca, ejohn, godin. (A\nmessage about authenticity, voice, and personal brands?)\n\nOther sites known as the outlet of a single author also do well: catonmat,\ndaringfireball, raganwald, blogmaverick, avc.\n\n~~~\nskolor\nWhile I have no evidence to support this, I would guess this has to do with\nthe editing process. Comparing this list to <http://top.searchyc.com/domains>,\nyou see a lot of similar results. The difference is that some of them have\nquite a lot of results (Techcrunch, Wired), but not nearly as high of a\naverage score.\n\nIn fact, it looks like the sites hitting the top of the list for average score\nare ones that are written by a single author, who has several strong opinions\n(ZedShaw is a good example). Since Hacker News doesn't allow down voting, it\nseems that by draw up a commotion, and getting people interested in a semi-\ncontroversial idea is what wins votes here.\n\n------\ngibsonf1\nFor better reading: (remove-duplicates Top_news.YC_submissions :key #'first\n:test #'string=)\n\n------\nsocratees\nFrom the charts I see TechCrunch.com is the domain with highest number of\nposts and points as well.\n\n------\nnoodle\nmake it public?\n\nedit: cool, it got made public.\n\n------\nyangyang\nHas anyone done something like this, but grouping by (user, domain), and maybe\nordering on something like (number of user submissions / number of user\nsubmissions for this domain)?\n\n------\nAndrewWarner\nWhat do you guys make of this list? Love to hear your analysis.\n\n~~~\nfludlight\nI'd like to blacklist about half of these domains. Some people might find\nTechcrunch, *.blogspot.com, AppleInsider, et al worthwhile, but I just don't\ncare for them.\n\n~~~\nquizbiz\nblacklisting *.blogspot.com would really be pushing it.\n\n~~~\nptomato\nIndeed. Steve Yegge? Paul Buchheit? not to mention any of google's blogs.\n\n------\nwglb\nThere seems to be some duplication further down in the list--rows fully\nidentical are repeated.\n\n------\nmattmaroon\nHoly crap, 95 of my articles have been submitted here? I would not have\nguessed that.\n\n------\nAndrewWarner\nWhat's the time frame on this?\n\n~~~\nandreyf\nGot the data from here: <http://top.searchyc.com/domains_by_points>\n\nSo I think the entire history of the site is included.\n\n~~~\nepi0Bauqu\nWhat are the differences between this and the searchyc page?\n\n------\nvaksel\nseems to be a lot of duplicates on that list\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nUK's Draft Communications Data Bill to be redrafte - jofo25\nhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20676284\n\n======\nGilly_LDN\nThe plans in the draft bill include:\n\nInternet service providers having to store for a year all details of online\ncommunication in the UK - such as the time, duration, originator and recipient\nof a communication and the location of the device from which it was made.\n\nThey would also be having to store for the first time all Britons' web\nbrowsing history and details of messages sent on social media, webmail, voice\ncalls over the internet and gaming, in addition to emails and phone calls\n\nPolice not having to seek permission to access details of these\ncommunications, if investigating a crime\n\nPolice having to get a warrant from the home secretary to be able to see the\nactual content of any messages\n\nFour bodies having access to data: the police, the Serious and Organised Crime\nAgency, the intelligence agencies and HM Revenue and Customs\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe best books on Critical Thinking - Reedx\nhttps://fivebooks.com/best-books/critical-thinking-nigel-warburton/\n======\nmasonic\nAll book links are shrouded affiliate links (tag=fivebooks001-20).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSo Reddit's down. How is this community different? - 3minus1\n\n\n======\nMichaelStubbs\nHaving only been here for a short time myself, I think the general answer to\nyour question would be: Hacker News is a lot more focused and has a much\nricher (in terms of experience, knowledge) community with a much lower\ntolerance for noise/novelty accounts/meme spouting/trolls.\n\n~~~\nretroafroman\nI upvoted this because it's completely accurate, but at the same time reminds\nme of some of the things I don't like about HN. HN has a much higher tolerance\nfor people constantly submitting things from their blogs for self promotion.\nIf a person submits something self promotional on reddit and expects to escape\nsharp criticism from the community, they better acknowledge that they are\nbeing self promotional, and be awfully humble about it. Here, it seems to me\nthat everyone acknowledges that everyone else is out to make a buck and deals\nwith it.\n\ntl;dr - HN has more tolerance for shameless self promotion than reddit as well\nas fewer trolls.\n\n------\nkunjaan\nMore news about entrepreneurship, startup, selling companies, management..\n\n------\nwattjustin\nLess trolls.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAmazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online - prostoalex\nhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/shipping-delays-out-of-stock-items-amazon-isnt-the-only-shop-online-11586165400\n======\nebg13\nI tried ordering some things from Home Depot the other day, and they silently\ncancelled half of my order while still charging me the same amount for\ndelivery from the store and while saying that some things can only be\ndelivered from a warehouse and that some things can only be delivered from a\nspecific store _and_ that delivery from each store has a $45 minimum purchase\nbefore they'll even consider delivery despite the fact that they're charging\nthe same amount for delivery from the store no matter how much you order. That\nof course makes it difficult to then order the remaining items even if you\ncall them and demand a refund for the first delivery fee, because the\nremaining items now don't meet the minimum. Then the delivery from the\nwarehouse is some weird arbitrary calculation involving a nominal+ amount that\nthen gets divided up across the items you're ordering (3.77 here, 2.83 there,\nand so on) such that if you remove any item the delivery fees for the other\nitems all go up, and then there are some items that deliver for free if you\norder more than $45 worth _from the warehouse_ which of course doesn't help\nyou if some items can only be purchased from the individual stores. And then\nthere are still things like cans of spraypaint that you can't get delivered at\nall and you're only allowed to pick up in person.\n\nI know that right now is an exceptional time, but this kind of shopping\nexperience is part of why people choose Amazon first.\n\n~~~\njakearmitage\nHomeDepot's ecommerce is a joke. Not only the shopping experience is poor,\nthey treat logistics as if they were doing you a favor. And, on top of all\nthat, you get damaged items. I made 7 purchases and all 7, in different\nperiods of time, had to be returned or replaced.\n\nSame for Lowe's. There's a reason people shop on Amazon. Other than BestBuy,\nno other retailer \"gets\" ecommerce.\n\n~~~\nmauvehaus\nI beg to differ. Rock Auto is where it's at for auto parts. The website is\nugly as hammered shit, but it's fast, shows you the options grouped by rough\nquality level (economy/you cheapskate, daily driver, performance, etc), shows\nyou what part to select so it _ships from the same warehouse_ as the parts\nalready in your cart and saves you shipping, and returns are painless\n(disclaimer: I've only ever done returns for core exchanges). I have never had\na better online purchasing experience.\n\nAnd the prices are a fraction of what you pay at a brick and mortar place.\nEspecially for e.g. wiper blades.\n\nCompanies that \"get\" e-commerce are out there, but a lot of them are quietly\nand competently doing their thing in unsexy domains and aren't trying to eat\nthe whole pie.\n\nRock Auto, for instance, isn't trying to serve every idiot on the planet with\na car. If you can't keep your lefts/rights and fronts/backs straight when\nordering e.g. brake hoses, you're going to find it a frustrating experience.\nPutting up a (small) barrier to entry to keep out the least clueful people\nprobably helps keep their costs down.\n\nNot affiliated, just a very happy repeat customer.\n\n~~~\ndan_quixote\nMy nomination is McMaster-Carr (mcmaster.com) - They have a huge catalog of\nparts/tools yet somehow it's so intuitive to browse. I was a mechanical\nengineer in a previous life and McMaster's website was my bible. Step one for\nany new prototype design was to browse this site. Best case scenario, you\ncould cobble together your prototype from various COTS (commercial off the\nshelf) McMaster parts. And if that wasn't an option, scan the catalog for\nnecessary parts and raw materials. If they don't exist at McMaster, your\ndesign idea just got at least 10X expensive and lead time doubled.\n\n~~~\nsambroner\nI was always shocked by McMaster-Carr's delivery speed. I felt like the parts\nwould arrive as quickly as I could have conceivably picked them up.\n\nThis was 10 years ago now, so sort of like Amazon Prime before it became\nubiquitous, but for materials and tools. However McMaster was and remains much\nbetter organized and much better spec-ed.\n\n~~~\nfrandroid\nThat's because they already have to delivery that fast for car repair shops.\nFast delivery has never been an extra for them, it's always been the core\nproduct.\n\nWhat's interesting is that considering the existing logistics, none of these\nguys though of expanding into other ecommerce earlier. One of them could have\nbeen Amazon...\n\n~~~\ndan_quixote\nI'm glad they didn't to be honest. It would have diluted their existing\nproduct.\n\n------\nlarrik\nRight when this all was starting, I had finally chosen a bass guitar I wanted.\nI decided to try and support a non-Amazon business in GuitarCenter (the local\nmusic shops focus a lot more on school band instruments). So, I order online,\nand pick the \"pick up at store\" option, since it says they are in stock.\n\nI show up, and an hour later they figure out that they don't have it in stock,\nthey only have the floor model (which I can have for a whopping 5% off...).\nApparently, the system (a green screen app, no less) can't tell the difference\nbetween \"new in stock\" and \"floor model\". I got the rundown of their logistics\nchain (which is basically just UPS), and I lost confidence that even ordering\nship-to-home online again would even work. So, I bought it from Amazon for the\nsame price and got it later that week...\n\n~~~\nselykg\nCheck out Sweetwater next time. They are significantly better. Their site\nactually shows you each guitar/bass they have in stock and they have an entire\ngallery Of photos for each. If you order one they’ll send a zip or the whole\ncollection of photos.\n\nIf you call and talk to the sales rep for you (you’re assigned one) they can\nusually knock 5-15% off.\n\nThey also make sure each guitar/bass is setup to factory spec before sending\nit out.\n\n~~~\nlarrik\nNever really heard of them before. Looks like everything I bought is out of\nstock anyway, but it's good to know there are alternatives.\n\n~~~\nselykg\nI imagine a lot of gear is tough to get unless it’s high end stuff right now.\nThere has been a ton of people picking up instruments during the shelter in\nplace orders.\n\nSweetwater is significantly better than GuitarCenter though. Better customer\nsupport, better site, better warranty, better everything.\n\n~~~\ndionian\nordered a single speaker once and they contacted me to make sure i didnt want\ntwo, which i actually did... really next level customer service\n\n------\nWistar\nAlthough the focus is somewhat narrower than amazon, for my professional needs\nI have had nothing but an excellent online experience with bhphotovideo. I\nhave ordered hundreds of items worth tens of thousands of dollars from them\nstarting about 2007. Their site can be a little frustrating, mostly from not\nnarrow-enough categorization, but their app for iOS is very good. Their prices\nare usually as good and often better than amazon. The users' product reviews\nare useful and well-written and the site/app shows which reviewers are\nverified purchasers of the product they are reviewing and offers comprehensive\nreview filtering.\n\nThey also invest a lot of effort in producing their own product demo videos\nand articles done by obviously knowledgeable people which, given the breadth\nof their catalog, is particularly impressive and serves well more than just to\nshill their wares.\n\nThey have great packaging for shipping and I have not once had an order go\nmissing or show up broken or damaged despite many of my orders being fragile\nitems.\n\nWell-oiled machine.\n\n~~~\nalyx\nTried placing an order online Saturday afternoon, only to be informed that the\nwebsite was not taking orders due to Shabbos.\n\nI very nearly skipped over to Adorama.\n\nThe mind boggles trying to resolve why a server cannot accept an order while\nstaff is respecting Shabbos.\n\n~~~\nschwartzworld\nB&H is run and staffed by Hasidic Jews. They have strict definitions of work\nthat are forbidden on the Sabbath and they may not always be intuitive to\noutsiders, for example, for many religious Jews, pressing the elevator button\nis forbidden, but riding in an elevator that is programmed to just stop on\nevery floor is fine.\n\nYour mind is free to boggle, but Jews are entitled to close their businesses\non the Sabbath just the same as Christians. In the county I grew up in,\neverything but supermarkets is closed on Sunday, for example.\n\n------\nDiederich\nHelp requested.\n\nMy wife, who is in her 50s, is immunocompromised, and she also has a history\nof fast escalating and difficult to treat respiratory problems. We are and\nhave been (for the past 32 days) treating this bug very carefully. If she\ncatches it, she has a very good chance of not surviving it.\n\nOur son and I are at less risk, but we can easily bring this bug home.\n\nWe've been having more and more trouble getting food. We have a fair quantity\nof emergency supplies, but we'd rather not tap into those.\n\nAt first it was the various delivery options: instacart, various others, but\nthey became less usable. Early last week we started doing Amazon Prime Now,\nwhich allowed us to place and pay for orders at Whole Foods, then wait in the\nparking lot for them to put the orders in our trunk.\n\nOver the past few days, this has gotten less viable. We'd find ourselves\ndriving 50 miles to pickup a $30 order.\n\nSo, we're open to suggestions. We live in Mountain View, the SF Bay Area.\n\nWe have been able to buy quite a bit of chicken and beef, and we have a 50\npound bag of flour coming in, so we're certainly not in any danger of\nstarvation.\n\nIt's just kind of a low-grade anxiety that kind of sucks.\n\nThanks!\n\nPS: We have a pretty rigorous decontamination process that everything goes\nthrough before it comes into the house, so we feel pretty good about that.\n\n~~~\ngwittel\nI am in MV.\n\nUnfortunately most online things are overwhelmed. They don't have enough\nshoppers. You can keep checking for a slot opening up, but its a challenge and\nhard to plan for. Are you specifically looking for fresh items, or are there\nparticular things you need?\n\nStaples are usually available, and you can sometimes get them from smaller\nvendors online. At least those you can plan ahead for a future delivery. For\nsome staples I've had luck with Target and random online (usually\nspecialty/gourmet) sellers.\n\nFor fresh items, its harder -- either get lucky with online or go =/. You can\ntry the smaller chains as they are lower foot traffic or in some cases are\nbetter at rate limiting customers. I've had luck with Ava's downtown (they\nalso have early hours for senior and/or immunocompromised). Nijiya is rate\nlimiting, as is Trader Joes (expect 30+ min line though). Nob Hill has been\nOK, they also have special pre-packaged boxes for seniors and at risk\ncustomers. They are first come/first serve, and have mixes of staples/fresh\nfoods. They say they're available via e-cart as well, but I haven't tried.\nI've had to book Nob Hill ~1 week ahead (and didn't get everything). Dittmer's\nis also rate limiting (but sounds like you're good on meats).\n\nAs a last resort -- the MV farmer's market opens an early for seniors and\nimmunocompromised (so either 8 or 8:30, I can't remember and its not listed\nonline). I've been ~9 and its busier than I'd like. They're trying to enforce\nline spacing and do limit number of people in booths. Some booths only sell\npre-bagged items held behind the counter (e.g. apples from Rainbow).\n\nAs a last resort -- maybe a shared grocery need list with friends/neighbors?\nSomeone can pick up an extra item or two when they're out. We've been doing\nthat at times and following usual safety procedures afterward.\n\nTake care!\n\n~~~\ndehrmann\n> early hours for senior and/or immunocompromised\n\nI get why stores would do this, but unless there are significantly fewer\npeople in the store, could putting these people in one place actually be a bad\nidea? Is there any good data backing this up?\n\n~~~\nDiederich\nI agree with your concerns; I haven't seen any data about this.\n\n------\njedberg\nYeah I’ve ordered a few things now directly from the manufacturer.\n\nThe problem is in a lot of cases I’ll see stuff that’s slightly cheaper on\ntheir site but then shipping is ridiculous.\n\nI ordered a mono price stand up desk recently. The price on Amazon was $10\nmore, but Monoprice wanted $45 for domestic shipping! So I waited three extra\ndays and saved $35.\n\nIt’s kind of a toss up now between speed and price depending on the item. I\nmean, it always was, but when prime is functioning normally, the speed is\nalmost always worth the price (to me).\n\n~~~\nbluetidepro\nI agree 100% with this. It's appalling how many other sites (esp. the direct\nmanufacturer ones, like you mentioned) use dark patterns with their\nshipping/handling prices. It really does make you understand why everyone\nwants to use the big sites like Amazon, at least they are pretty straight fwd\nwhen it comes to the price, shipping, fees, etc. Nothing worse than getting\ndown an e-commerce funnel only to find you wasted 10+ mins filling out stages\nof forms to then find the shipping/handling cost is absolutely ridiculous, and\nhave to bail.\n\n~~~\ndangrossman\nIt's not a dark pattern that shipping actually costs everyone that isn't\nAmazon a lot. Go get a shipping quote from UPS or FedEx for sending a desk\nacross the country. It's not going to be any cheaper than these stores are\ncharging. They're not hiding extra profit in their shipping fees.\n\nPeople are so used to Amazon Prime that they have no idea what things cost to\nship any more. I run a small online store and every 1-pound package I mail out\ncosts $8-12 in postage by the cheapest shipping method available to me, at\ncommercial shipping rates. If the box is over a cubic foot in size and going\nto a state on the other side of the country, it can quickly double or triple\nin cost.\n\nAmazon has $120/year in Prime subscription fees to subsidize the displayed\nshipping costs, puts some of the shipping fee into the item price (they're\nrarely the cheapest for most products, especially very cheap or very heavy\nones), has a warehouse within 20 miles of every American so that nearly\neverything they ship is a same-zone local shipment, and has their own delivery\nnetwork so they don't have to pay carriers. No other business has those\nthings.\n\n~~~\nplorkyeran\nHonest sites let you enter a zip code at the very start of the shopping\nprocess and display an estimated shipping cost as you're looking at items.\nDishonest sites make no mention of shipping costs until you're at the very end\nof the checkout process.\n\n~~~\nodysseus\nI think in many cases it's not a matter of dishonesty, but of laziness, lack\nof care, or not wanting to pay for a better checkout experience.\n\n~~~\nt-writescode\nAlso, there’s probably A/B testing that shows orders of magnitude less\nengagement if you put any blockers in the way of seeing the product.\n\n~~~\nplorkyeran\nIt doesn't have to block you from seeing the product. Some e-commerce sites\nlet you enter a zip code on any page to get estimated shipping prices, but\ndon't require you to. Some let you enter a zip code as soon as you've added\nsomething to your cart. Some don't do estimated shipping prices at all and\ndon't give you any idea how much shipping will be until you're at that step of\nthe checkout flow.\n\n~~~\nt-writescode\nFair enough. I suppose I'm just used to what I'm used to. Shipping prices only\nseem to be something surprising nowadays with Amazon. Before that, it was\naccepted and commonplace. I wonder if that makes it a dark pattern now.\n\n------\ndouble0jimb0\nAmazon has massive network of 3rd Party Sellers who ship items directly from\ntheir own warehouses, not relying on Amazon’s currently-hobbled fulfillment\ncenters\n\nYou can find these by selecting “other sellers” on the Amazon product page.\n\nThis has been the way to get stuff quickly on Amazon for the last 3 weeks.\n\nThen on Friday, with no warning or explanation, Amazon extended all shipping\ntimes quoted out to April 20th, including the shipping times provided by 3rd\nparty sellers.\n\nThis extension has no basis in reality, as 3rd party sellers have not\nexperienced any shipping delays because they don’t use Amazon’s warehouses.\n\nThis was a hugely anti-competitive move by Amazon that has severely impacted\n3rd party sellers and directly misleads consumers.\n\nNumerous 3rd party sellers have reported this situation to the DOJ.\n\nIf any reporters want more info, please reach out. Email in profile.\n\n~~~\nCPLX\nFor what it's worth, the solution is just to order whatever you want anyways,\nand watch it ship to you 2-3 days later.\n\n~~~\ndouble0jimb0\nWell of course, but most people go by what they read on the screen in front of\nthem at the time of purchase.\n\n------\nLatteLazy\n>Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online\n\nThey sort of are at the moment, at least here in greater London...\n\nMy normal groceries company have cancelled online orders silently and will not\ndeliver anything. They can't even update their websites with new opening\ntimes.\n\nThe local DIY (B&Q) store are taking order for essential items only (loft\nladders and plants are essential, but not light bulbs or fuses wtf?)\n\nAmazon randomly added a month to all their delivery _estimates_ but everything\nis still coming in a few days and I can get whatever I want.\n\nTo be honest, it makes sense to manage infrastructure of supply centrally.\nThat's the genius of amazon, not retail but supply. While other companies can\nbarely ring up items, Amazon connects buyers to sellers before either know the\ntrade will happen.\n\n~~~\nthewebcount\nInstacart in Los Angeles did this to me. I ordered groceries and the local\nstore uses Instacart to deliver them. When they didn't show up, I had to call\nInstacart to find out they had canceled my order. They were just not going to\ntell me, apparently.\n\n~~~\nLatteLazy\nI can understand that places have problems with volume of orders or items not\nbeing in stock. But it should be really hard to cancel a client order and NOT\ntell them. How is it they don't have something that emails you when your order\nis killed already and automatically!?\n\n------\nnataz\nAmazon shipping hack - order what you want to order, wait 48 hours to see if\nit ships, and if it doesn't cancel and order elsewhere.\n\nThis assumes you value ordering through Amazon (I do b/c prime shipping, easy\nreturn policy, and I have a large gift card balance)\n\nOne thing I've noticed is that amazon may list a delivery date far out in the\nfuture, but it's possible you still get the product quickly, depending on what\nI can only assume are local warehouse logistic issues.\n\nOver the past two weeks I've ordered packing/shipping supplies, a high chair,\nsome electronics, and a board game which all had expected delivery dates of +1\nmonth, and they all arrived in 2 days.\n\nYMMV.\n\n~~~\nehsankia\nI really wish they could provide more clarity. I haven't tried ordering things\nthat list as May, but browsing items, I randomly see individual items that for\nsome reason have much closer dates. I even saw one with 1-day shipping. It\nmakes no sense to me. I wish they could give a slightly better window\nprediction than \"this may take a month\"...\n\n~~~\ngreenshackle2\nThey are shipping \"priority items\" quickly. Who knows how they determine what\nare \"priority items\".\n\nWhen I ordered hygiene items (shampoo, soap, etc.) they shipped the next day.\nBut my order of kitchen equipment has expected delivery in May (which I'm\ntotally fine with).\n\n~~~\nodysseus\nThis is going to be great, because the last time I ordered soap (in mid\nFebruary, before most of the lockdowns started), it took Amazon 10 days to get\nit to me, even with Prime. Looking forward to seeing this improved on my next\nsoap delivery ...\n\n------\nbluGill\nI always search for alternative sellers. They are more likely to have someone\nwho knows the product. A plumbing supplier will know something about pipes and\nI have some reason to trust them when they give advantages to their different\nprice levels. I don't need 200 different brands of 1/2 inch pipe connections,\nI need the 3 different levels of pressure they are rated for, and the choice\nof material they are made from. They also tend to provide reasonable sorting\nso that I can find what I need without scrolling for ages.\n\n------\nsneak\nA lot of the things I used to buy on Amazon I buy on eBay instead using “buy\nit now”. Even free shipping items are frequently less than Amazon.\n\nI’ve already phased out AWS, I hope to stop using amazon.com by the end of the\nyear. I don’t like doing business with military contractors.\n\n~~~\nbdcravens\nI assume you use Linux for your operating system then? Both Apple and\nMicrosoft do business with the military.\n\n~~~\nsneak\nMy personal morals find a difference between “we sell physical goods and\nanyone can buy them without restriction” and “we will build you a whole set of\ndedicated custom data centers with racist hiring policies”.\n\n[https://aws.amazon.com/govcloud-us/](https://aws.amazon.com/govcloud-us/)\n\nAlso, Apple doesn’t sell OSes. One could buy secondhand Macs.\n\nLinux is used by the military, too. The issue is not “not matching”, it is a\nquestion of providing financial support to those who deliberately assist in\nthe undertaking of violence.\n\nSelling (or giving away) your goods to all comers isn’t that. Custom services\nand consulting absolutely is.\n\nThere’s also that whole Apple tapping-iCloud-in-China-for-the-CCP thing. I\ndon’t think I’ll be on iOS much longer, especially now that Signal is fully\ncross-platform and runs on iPad. I’ve already deprecated iMessage amongst\neveryone I talk to in anticipation of the switch. Hell, I’ve even been on\nbroadcast radio talking about how iCloud will leak your private data.\n\nI think it’s a mistake to view the attitude of Apple toward military\ncontracting (not just sales) as the same as that of Microsoft or Amazon. If\nwhen Apple employs hundreds of people who are full-time embedded in the\nmilitary to help them use their products, maybe that situation will change.\n\nTo your point, I have moved off of GitHub, and have encouraged others to do\nthe same:\n\n[https://sneak.berlin/20200307/the-case-against-microsoft-\nand...](https://sneak.berlin/20200307/the-case-against-microsoft-and-github/)\n\nWe can all take small steps to improve our choices each day. Over time and\nacross people, these things add up.\n\nThe worst thing we could do is assume that every choice is the same and\ncarries the same negative consequences and act uncritically. In that vein, I\nappreciate your pushback: critical thinking about our choices should be the\none constant. There is always a place we can improve.\n\n~~~\nbdcravens\nApple has engaged in active development, not just passive sales\n\n[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-defense-\ntech/pentagon...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-defense-\ntech/pentagon-teams-up-with-apple-boeing-to-develop-wearable-tech-\nidUSKCN0QX12D20150828)\n\n~~~\nsneak\n> _MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter awarded\n> $75 million on Friday to help a consortium of high-tech firms and\n> researchers develop electronic systems packed with sensors flexible enough\n> to be worn by soldiers or molded onto the skin of a plane._\n\n> _Carter said funding for the Obama administration’s newest manufacturing\n> institute would go to the FlexTech Alliance, a consortium of 162 companies,\n> universities and other groups, from Boeing (BA.N), Apple (AAPL.O) and\n> Harvard, to Advantest Akron Polymer Systems and Kalamazoo Valley Community\n> College._\n\n> _The group will work to advance the development and manufacture of so-called\n> flexible hybrid electronics, which can be embedded with sensors and\n> stretched, twisted and bent to fit aircraft or other platform where they\n> will be used._\n\nA $75 million research grant into a consortium of 162 companies (of which\nApple is a member) to develop flexible wearable tech is not remotely what I am\ntalking about in this thread.\n\n------\nrsync\nMcmaster-carr is fantastic:\n\n[https://www.mcmaster.com/](https://www.mcmaster.com/)\n\nVery simple UI with access to technical diagrams. Good pricing. If I order\nbefore noon or 2pm or something, here in the bay area I receive the items next\nday.\n\nI wish all web stores could be like this.\n\n~~~\nncheek\nMcMaster has a powerfully simple website. You can get to any item with\nmcmaster.com/<part number>. They often provide 3D models of their parts. You\ncan even paste in a list of items to quickly bulk-add to your cart. It just\nworks.\n\nTheir customer service is also second to none. I've never had the phone ring\nmore than once before being answered by a real person. And they'll respond\n24/7 to phone calls or emails. Oh, and they've accepted returns a year after I\nbought something, no questions asked.\n\nIn the Atlanta area they usually deliver same-day via courier, or you can\ndrive over to their warehouse for will call.\n\nMcMaster can often be more expensive than other distributors, especially for\nthings like metal stock (I recommend price-comparing with onlinemetals.com or\nmidweststeelsupply.com but be careful about Midwest Steel's processing times).\nBut you're paying for the service and ease of use.\n\nProbably the biggest problem I have with McMaster is their lack of insight\ninto shipping cost. They don't give you even an estimate of the shipping\nbefore you check out, it just gets added once they ship. I will say their\nshipping prices have always been fair but it can be scary to buy something not\nknowing what it will cost.\n\n~~~\nspacemark\nI've probably put in 100 McMaster orders over the last year via work, side\ngig, and home projects. My take on this is that their prime customers\n(businesses) do not put shipping costs in their top 5 or maybe even top 10\npriorities. Businesses pushing out products or engaged in rapid prototyping or\nmeeting a deadline are much more concerned with speed, and McMaster __always\n__beats Amazon in shipping time to my workplace (usually less than 24 hours\nfrom order to delivery, no joke). Their customer also values accurate\ntechnical data so they 've put a lot of effort into CAD models and are very\nresponsive to customer service calls.\n\nIn short, they know their customer persona. I wouldn't hold my breath that\nthey'll add upfront shipping costs any time soon!\n\n~~~\ndaniel_reetz\nThis exactly matches my experience. I run a prototyping shop in the LA area. I\nget items the very same day from McMaster. That kind of feedback loop is\npriceless. They ship with DGC for most deliveries, and DGC is usually cost-\ncompetitive with any other service.\n\n------\nyeutterg\nAmazon third-party seller here. If a Prime product is showing a long delivery\ntime, try to look for non-Prime offers. You want to find offers that say\n\"Ships from and sold by X,\" where X is NOT Amazon. The reason being, these\nsellers have their own fulfillment and may be able to beat Amazon's speed by a\nwide margin.\n\nWe now offer this for our product, and I know a lot of other sellers are doing\nthe same. We used to only have a Prime (Fulfilled by Amazon) offer, but this\ncrisis caused us to adapt as customers were getting 1-month delivery\nestimates.\n\nWe enabled \"Fulfilled by Merchant\" offers on our account, and I sent some\ninventory to my apartment (and ordered lots of shipping boxes). Within a\ncouple days, the self-fulfilled option got the \"buy box\" on Amazon, so now\nmost people viewing our listing will see a delivery estimate of about one\nweek. It doesn't have the \"Prime\" badge, but we get a decent number of orders\nthrough this, enough to survive.\n\nWe send out all orders with First Class Mail, and I pack them up around 3PM\neach business day in order to get them to the post office by the 5PM cutoff.\nIt appears most customers are receiving orders between 2 and 5 days after\nordering (including the opposite coast). This is even faster than the time\nestimate customers see on Amazon, and way faster than Prime.\n\nDisclaimer: your mileage may vary.\n\n------\nCodeSheikh\nAmazon's (+Wholefood) supply-chain failure is an eye-opener for me during\nCOVID-19 crisis. I hate to acknowledge my dependability on Amazon Prime while\nliving in a big city. I am not sure how I will break my habit but I know for a\nfact that I won't be ordering everything from Amazon Prime in the future.\n\nFor a company that commands e-commerce space in year 2020, it is really\nfrustrating to find this workflow while ordering from WF while using Amazon's\napp, it is a joke and UI/UX 101 blunder. You add items to your cart. They run\nout of inventory. Items disappear from your cart. Either you place your order\nassuming all items were in your cart or you don't get a delivery slot and you\nhave to add those items again. Why can't they just borrow the same feature\nfrom Amazon.com where unavailable items move conveniently to \"Save later\"\nsection?\n\n------\nalias_neo\nThis is an important thing to remember. Just last night, I was ordering an\nitem on Amazon, and pointed out to my wife that it is gonna take a week to\ndelivery on prime.\n\nThat's fine, there's more important things going on in the world. But she\nsaid; \"Why does it have to be from Amazon? If you're not getting it Prime\nspeed, why not buy it elsewhere?\"\n\nSo I went to the manufacturers website and bought it directly, and it was 15%\ncheaper than Amazon, and will supposedly arrive a little faster.\n\nI think I may try do this more. I already do this, where possible to support\nsmall businesses.\n\n------\nAnimats\nAmazon is holding up much better than other online retailers. Ordering works\nfine. My Amazon orders are showing up, although slowly. Safeway and Smart and\nFinal can't even give me a delivery slot. Smart and Final's web site was\nfailing over the weekend - Cloudflare timeouts, login timeouts, false credit\ncard declines, HTTP error 461 (there is no standard 461 error.), and a \"Site\nundergoing maintenance\" message from their \"DevOps Team\". Back up now, though.\n\n------\nthebean11\nThe estimates on Amazon right now seem way longer than the reality. I'm\ngetting all my packages in 2-3 days despite Amazon estimating a week or more.\n\n~~~\nirrational\nNot me. Amazon is estimating 2-3 weeks on most things now, and so far are\nsticking by their estimates.\n\n~~~\neshyong\nI'm guessing a lot of this is location dependent, and based on warehouse-\nproximity.\n\n~~~\nbradlys\nIt's also based on the items you're ordering. Some stuff we've ordered arrives\nwithin a few days or less. Other items that I've ordered (tools) has taken\nabout 3 weeks to arrive. Some items keep getting pushed back. I would cancel\nand buy elsewhere but I'd pay a lot in shipping since these aren't all items I\ncan buy from one place online.\n\nI have shopped online for other items though. I bought some insoles for really\ncheap from a UK based bicycle store, the items got here in less than a week...\nall the way from the UK! It's not like all shipping is broken down - just\nAmazon.\n\n~~~\nxkjkls\nYeah, Amazon has stopped issuing purchase orders for a huge number of non-\nessentials, which probably contributes to really high delivery estimates. If\nanything is out of stock at their warehouse, they have no idea when they might\nhave room to restock.\n\n------\nbuzzert\nIf anyone is looking for computer parts, I gotta shoutout Newegg. Been using\nthem for more than 15 years, and they’ve been extremely great at delivering\nduring the pandemic.\n\n~~~\nShamelessC\nWith all the social distancing going on and my general laziness towards\nstaying active without being forced to, paired with the massive hype\nsurrounding Half-Life: Alyx, I decided to build a VR ready computer.\n\nNewegg was fine. I'd been using them since my first build 15 years ago. But\nthis time I also had access to the amazing website pcpartpicker.com. Not only\ndo they make it easy to find parts that are all compatible with each other,\nbut you'll also be given multiple shopping options with discounts.\n\nMost of it I got from Newegg but I was able to save about 75$ by getting the\nPSU and MoBo from bhphotovideo.com which was a surprisingly good experience.\n\nBTW, HL Alyx is as amazing as they say and you really don't have to spend a\nfortune to play it. My entire build was only 650$ and my VR headset of choice\n(Samsung Odyssey) only 270$. I was worried I'd made a mistake by going with a\ncheap headset but it works very well.\n\n------\nbenbristow\nI usually prefer to use Amazon just because the experience is so simple and in\nthe UK their logistics delivery service is pretty good with live tracking when\nthe parcel gets near to your home.\n\nAmazon can be annoying when using third party sellers though and might end up\ngetting dispatched with an alternative delivery service, god forbid Royal Mail\nwho don't have any live tracking feature.\n\nI'm always happy to help out smaller/alternative businesses though if they\noffer competitive prices and use decent delivery firms like DPD.\n\n------\ndaniel_reetz\nI really felt this. Seeing things go out-of-stock or become unavailable for\nmonths was a strong reminder of how things used to be online - when I\npurchased different types of items from different independent web retailers. I\nwent searching for many of them, most are gone.\n\nDoes anyone remember Pricewatch? Old school computer parts sellers like\nCompGeeks? Those were really interesting times.\n\n------\njdlyga\nWell then give us a list! Nearly everything else I've checked is either out of\nstock or doesn't deliver to my house.\n\n~~~\ngambler\nMost chain stores and even some local stores have online storefront and still\nship items. It's a good time to support them. You don't want to live in the\nworld where Amazon is the only game left in town.\n\nAlso, Ebay.\n\n------\nloser777\nI’ve observed this with big and small business alike:\n\n\\+ bought a baking steel direct from the seller (shipping time ~5 days vs. 1\nmonth+, so I canceled the amazon order)\n\n\\+ monitor out of stock for over a week on amazon (in stock at bnh, shipping\ntime ~4 days)\n\n\\+ monitor arm I didn’t even bother looking at on amazon (shipping time direct\nfrom seller ~2 days)\n\n~~~\nchrisweekly\nbnh?\n\n~~~\nArcsech\n[https://www.bhphotovideo.com/](https://www.bhphotovideo.com/) presumably.\nI've ordered some things from there, and generally had a good experience, with\na few notes:\n\n\\- For large purchases at least, they are very scrupulous about sending tax\ndocuments to your home state to make sure the sales tax gets paid. This is\nprobably a social good overall, but unusual for internet retailers and may\ntake some folks by surprise.\n\n\\- They follow a Jewish holiday schedule, including the Sabbath, and do not\ntake orders on the Sabbath (in New York's time zone, at least). Again, not a\nnegative, but unusual for modern businesses, especially online ones.\n\n~~~\nghaff\nLast time I ordered from them, I think they collected the sales tax. I'm not\nsure when this started; I am a long-time customer but they're not a store I\ntend to purchase from frequently.\n\nI like them overall and I tend to prefer using them to Amazon for AV type of\npurchases.\n\n~~~\nhsitz\nDoesn't just about everywhere collect sales tax online now?\n\nBHPhotoVideo is my go-to place for tech and music stuff. I got their\naffiliated payboo credit card that pays the sales tax for you, saves me that\n10% on every order.\n\n------\nvernie\nI've been using eBay lately. Sellers have been consistently delivering in 2\ndays and it feels just as likely that I'll get fake shit as from Amazon these\ndays.\n\n~~~\ndawnerd\nI sell on eBay and it's pretty easy to beat Amazon. Most first class and\npriority packages arrive in under 3 days depending on your location to an\nairport. I'm right next to PDX and almost all of my packages go through there\nand end up on the other side of the US overnight. Those packages typically\ntake two days. Also helps I ship same day so they're on a flight that night or\nthe next morning.\n\nAs for the fakes, they certainly exist on eBay but it's a lot easier to spot.\nIf an item doesn't have good pictures, that's a huge red flag. I personally\nstay away from sellers that just use stock images. I want to know exactly what\nI'm getting.\n\n~~~\nkube-system\nI avoid shady listings when I really need the item, but if I'm looking for a\ndeal, I've never had an issue leaning on eBay's buyer protection. I've gotten\nall of my best deals from poorly-listed items.\n\n------\nmanigandham\n[http://archive.is/k3zNE](http://archive.is/k3zNE)\n\n------\nWaterluvian\nMy wife orders from walmart.ca often. It's generally good but still feels\nlower quality than Amazon (which has its own issues, yes). Last week they\nshipped an entirely wrong item. So my kids aren't getting their Duplo set for\nEaster.\n\n------\nsalvagedcircuit\nIronically, I find that I am ordering more from Mcmastercarr and digikey more\nthan ever.\n\n------\nStillBored\nYah, the only thing that's been arriving from Amazon lately are the things\nsold and shipped by 3rd party sellers. Frankly, i've been paying the extra to\njust order from the smaller shops lately because amazon's critical\n\"prioritization\" algorithm doesn't seem to know what is actually critical.\n\nPart to fix my cloths washing machine? 3 weeks from Amazon, two days from\nGranger.\n\nProblem solved, plus unlike a similar part I ordered a couple months ago from\namazon, I'm pretty sure the granger parts aren't counterfeit. The box stamped\n\"Made in U.S.A\" is likely legitimate.\n\n~~~\ngniv\nDid you mean grainger.com ?\n\n~~~\nStillBored\nYes, I managed to type it incorrectly twice, and noticed it after the edit\nbutton expired.\n\n------\ngtm1260\nIts so unfair to expect consumers to go through hell on these random websites\nwith poor UI/UX, customer service, logistics, and inventory monitoring\nsystems. I don't think amazon should be able to crush small businesses etc,\nbut I don't think appealing to people's sense of personal responsibility is\nthe answer.\n\nThere needs to be a viable way for other businesses to compete with amazon's\nlevel of service if they want consumers to change their habits.\n\n~~~\nKalium\nThe logistics, inventory management, and customer service operations at the\nscale of Amazon are something that become possible with truly immense scale.\nThey're crushingly expensive at small scale - call center, warehouses, pre-\npositioning goods, etc.\n\nThere are definitely ways to outsource any or all of these things, but at a\ncost in quality. I know I've often had unpleasant experiences with outsourced\ncustomer support call centers. Tools like Square or Shopify help, but only to\na point.\n\nSo I think my conclusion might be different from yours - small, local\nbusinesses need a viable way to compete with Amazon in ways where Amazon\n_doesn 't_ have a vast advantage.\n\n~~~\ngtm1260\nAh totally! I agree with your conclusion. I guess with the measures in place\nright now to fight COVID, the areas where Amazon might not have a vast\nadvantage like niche selection, deep knowledge in a certain product area,\nbeing able to buy something in store immediatley etc. didn't occur to me.\n\n------\nwiredone\nAmazon’s value isn’t in the fact it’s a store with great shipping. It’s the\ntrust component. Returns are simple, shipping and stock management is a non\nevent and they have basically everything. Every other online shopping\nexperience I’ve had has been hit and miss. Get the simple things right And\nsure I’ll try it. But no one has just look at these comments.\n\n------\ncomplianceowl\nThe HN is a very intelligent community, so I'd like to hear your thoughts out\nloud here. Do you guys think supply chains will move closer to home because of\nthis pandemic? I'm hearing every narrative under the sun right now: \"This will\nestablish globalism even more\", \"No! This marks the abrupt END of globalism.\"\nWhat are your thoughts?\n\n~~~\ntwblalock\nSupply chains need to be more resilient, and that probably means making them\nmore global rather than less.\n\nA pandemic could originate in any country. Making things \"at home\" would turn\nout to be a bad idea if the pandemic originates at home. If that happened we\nwould like to be able to get help from other countries.\n\n~~~\njshevek\nDe-globalization, in this case, brings redundancy. This is less efficient, but\nmore fault tolerant.\n\nStriving for domestic manufacturing does not prevent imports from occurring if\ndeemed necessary. Tariffs are easy to wave, in an emergency.\n\n------\nawaythrower\nAlso beware of phony Magento sites that don't have actual products, but are\njust trying to get CCs, PayPal or crypto payments.\n\n~~~\nprox\nHow does that work? I’ve seen a lot of copy paste webshops of formerly retired\ndomains. They obviously look quickly hacked together (allthough looking\nprofessional enough to the untrained eye)\n\n~~~\nawaythrower\nI would bet scraping from Amazon, reducing prices randomly from 20-50%, and\nbeing sure search engines and aggregators see it, i.e., Google/Google\nShopping.\n\n------\nA4ET8a8uTh0\nLast week experience. I tried gettin display port to hdmi for my docking\nstation for work on Amazon. It was in Amazon basics category. Solid shopping\nexperience, but it was not sent for 3 days so I cancelled. Annoying, but\ncancellation experience was great. I decided to do pick up from BestBuy.\nGreat. Store near me has one in store. I purchase at 5PM. At 6PM ( when they\nclose ), they send me an email saying they don't have it in store anymore.\nGreat, but I can't cancel w/o creating account. Can't reach live person,\nbecause, ironically, Covid19. Screw it. I bought on CC. I can dispute it\nlater. I go to Newegg. No issues. stuff gets here in 3 days.\n\nAmazon isn't the only store and its convenience is waning during this\noutbreak. They are lucky they are doing so many things right compared to\ncompetition.\n\nPersonally, I am debating dropping Prime, which I had for one main reason:fast\nfree shipping.\n\n------\ntanyatik\nIs it even ethical to shop on Amazon for non-essentials these days? There are\nbig concerns amid worker safety.\n\n[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/05/technology/coronavirus-\nam...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/05/technology/coronavirus-amazon-\nworkers.html)\n\n~~~\nxkjkls\nI'm not sure these concerns are unique to any other business with a warehouse,\nhowever.\n\n------\nnkkollaw\nSure, Amazon might not be the only one, but every time I tried to buy\nsomewhere else, something happened.\n\nThey charged me twice, charged me to never sent me the product and forcing me\nto waste 2 weeks, sent to the wrong address, etc.\n\nAmazon seems to be the only one that can actually do their job properly\nwithout hassles.\n\n------\nSomeone1234\nOne reason previously for using Amazon was recommendations for example their\n\"Customers who viewed this item also viewed: [list of alternative items].\"\nUnfortunately the recommendations boxes like the \"Customers who viewed this\nitem also viewed\" have been completely removed, with no real replacement\nexcept \"sponsored.\"\n\nI don't consider sponsored ads a replacement for actual recommendations based\non real people's buying behavior. Obviously Amazon wants us to though so they\ncan double-dip. Personally I am buying less, not more, because I cannot find\nthings.\n\nBut maybe it is more profitable to Amazon for us to spend longer looking, more\nsponsor spot revenue. Talk about perverse incentives, make more money from a\nslower shopping experience.\n\n------\nehnto\nAs a developer with most of my experience in boutique and enterprise\neCommerce, I am surprised this is a conversation piece! There are plenty of\nlarge and small online retailers who are doing just fine. If you think Amazon\nhas everything you are definitely mistaken, but for many it's probably enough\nof everything.\n\nI encourage everyone to buy directly from manufacturers and local businesses\nwhere possible, especially if you are not from the US. We feel like we want an\nAmazon dominant market, but the effects it has on what products exist and what\nbusinesses thrive is somewhat insidious and unseen.\n\n------\nbombledmonk\nI just bought something from Best Buy online when Amazon said the same item\nwas in stock, but would not arrive until April 27th. BB said it be here\nThursday, though is usually a day early because of proximity to the warehouse.\n\n------\narbuge\nI'm having increasingly bad experiences on Amazon. The most obvious ones are\ncommon problems - the reviews can't be trusted, and they're no longer price\nleaders in many cases. But there are some new experiences I'm running into\nnow.\n\nToday, for the first time ever, I was double-charged for the same order.\nCustomer support claims I was only charged once and there's no way to upload\nthem a screenshot of my card statement so that they can see what I'm seeing.\nTo be clear, these are two real charges (not pending charges or temporary\nauthorizations) for the same order.\n\n------\nbeamatronic\nReading this entire thread, something became very clear to me: there is STILL\na lot of room for improvement to be made for online e-commerce. Someone should\ninvent a local-first inventory-first Amazon\n\n~~~\nsneak\nLike a local delivery-only costco, perhaps?\n\n------\ntmaly\nAmazon was sold out of bakers yeast as were the local grocery stores. I was\nable to order from a specialty place. The order was delivered 2 days later.\nThe price was very reasonable.\n\nFor certain things, I am seeing some serious prices. People are selling cotton\nmasks 4 for $25. That seems a little steep given that a box of N95 masks went\nfor $6 before this.\n\nI just ordered parts for building a new computer. I had to order from 4\ndifferent places as Amazon did not have half of the items in stock. There are\ndefinitely some supply chain issues.\n\n------\nrchaud\nBest Buy's ecommerce site is great; they don't have the absurd levels of info\noverload and upselling of a typical Amazon page.\n\nIn Canada, Amazon's electronics offerings are rife with awful Chinese brands\nsold by dropshippers. Amazon seemingly doesn't carry any of the inventory\nthemselves unless it's a Fire tablet or Echo.\n\nIt's actually a big relief to shop online via at a proper outlet (even\nWalmart.ca is more reliable) than through the Bezos flea market.\n\n------\nww520\nIs it possible to ask for price reduction or refund on the Prime membership\ndue to the long delivery time? The point of Prime is mostly moot without the\nspeedy delivery.\n\n~~~\ndawnerd\nI cancelled my prime for the time being and it automatically refunded the\n12.99\n\n------\nyCloser\nEU here, things seem pretty good here.\n\n* I ordered 20kg of oranges from sicily, no shipping costs, arrived in 2days\n\n* Coffee, same thing\n\n* a bass guitar, same\n\n* groceries are delivered in a day from local shops\n\n* for electronics i bought from many shops, usually takes ~1week. still OK for a washing machine or those big items\n\n...seems that \"the infrastructure\" that amazon required for ups/dhl/* are\nbeing used by any other (even tiny) buisiness.\n\nMy only complain is Ikea. Ikea doesn't cooperate.\n\n~~~\n_n_b_\nTotally OT but where did you order the oranges from? I am in need of a few kg\nfor juicing and it's expensive from the local grocery delivery folks around\nme...\n\n~~~\nyCloser\nfrom www.aranciadoc.com\n\n------\nbadrabbit\nTwo things about amazon:\n\n1) Their customer service is astonishing! Still have not seen better. Google\nmight just take over the world if they came even 20% close to Amazon with this\nregard.\n\n2) Their giftcards. I don't know what it is but theirs has the highest value.\nEven visa and mastercard will not be accepted at some places if you don't have\na cash gift card, but amazon's have incredible purchasing power.\n\n------\nnon-entity\nThe thing about Amazon though, was the luxury of being able to order stuff and\nhave it by my door _the next day_. This was especially great for products\nwhere the traditional brick and mortar retail died out a long time ago for\nthat industry (i.e. electronic components) or stuff that you want / need\nregularly but isnt carried in stores near you.\n\n------\ngiancarlostoro\nAmazon is the only shop selling the most convenience. At least Walmart and\nTarget have online order and parking spots to pick up your orders from, but I\ncan only imagine a lot of old brick and mortar type of stores are way behind\nthe times. Just some stories on here are horror story level examples of the\nnight and day kind of service you can get in regards to buyer convenience.\n\n------\nblensor\nI have started to fall back to a shopping site run by our postal service [1]\nwhich has been trying for several months through TV ads to get people to use\nthe more regional shopping site rather than Amazon. I guess they could not\nhave hoped for a better scenario than a countrywide lockdown paired with\nshipping delays at Amazon\n\n[1] shoepping.at\n\n------\nradium3d\nPrices on amazon have been way higher than alternatives lately. Be sure to\ncheck other online outlets.\n\n------\njupp0r\nTo any other non-amazon stores out there: have toilet paper in stock and I'll\ngive it a try!\n\n------\ntanilama\nIf Amazon has shipping delay in US, then it is unlikely other smaller shops\ncan fare it better.\n\n~~~\njshevek\nAt the beginning of the pandemic, Amazon was overwhelmed by people panic\nbuying or preparing for shelter in place. The problem was not primarily the\nshipping industry, it was within Amazon. They've since hired large numbers of\npeople and deprioritized [items deemed] non-essential so that people can get\ntheir essential needs in a timely manner.\n\n~~~\nStillBored\nHow does amazon know what is essential?\n\n~~~\njshevek\n_Edit: I thought you said \"determine\" rather than \"know\", answered accordingly\nbelow. Of course they don't \"know\", that's not a helpful question._\n\nThe same way everyone does when trying to solve this problem systemically (vs\nindividually), by making imperfect decisions and leaning on categories.\n\nMy UVC lamp was delayed. I think that's more important than someone else's\n\"third month\" bunker food, but what are you going to do.\n\n------\nderrekl\nI emailed a local comic shop that’s closed to the public, but I was able to\norder $100 worth of trade paperbacks. Got it 2 days later. No “online” shop,\nbut still worked. As best you can, try to spend money with the local stores\nyou used to go to.\n\n------\nFinnucane\nToo bad they didn't mention bookshop.org for getting books.\n\n~~~\nbinaryorganic\nI recently learned about bookshop, and was super excited until I actually\nstarted making a wishlist of stuff I wanted and found half of it to either be\nback ordered or not exist in their system at all. Turns out all orders are\nprocessed through a single book supplier and if they don’t have it bookshop\nwon’t either.\n\nAs someone who doesn’t use Amazon, I tend to use indiebound, which just pairs\nyou with the closest independent bookstore who has the thing you want.\n\n------\nolafure\nI used to use Amazon a lot. The two big factor were pricing and reviews.\n\nToday their review system is massively rigged and can't be trusted.\n\n------\nneonate\n[https://archive.md/k3zNE](https://archive.md/k3zNE)\n\n~~~\nmonkpit\nHttps cert error\n\n------\nchadash\npro tip: I find that when things sell out on Amazon, there is often a lag\nbefore it sells out on sites that cater to businesses. The first place to\ncheck is staples.com, but I've even started placing a few orders with\nrestaurant supply stores and such.\n\n------\nhomero\nHow are the shipping companies keeping up? That's the bottleneck.\n\n------\nLoSboccacc\nyeah but the less shops you use the smaller the surface attack for your\npersonal and payment information\n\n------\nrenewiltord\nI was going to say how Amazon might as well be the only guys online but this\narticle is really good and offers real alternatives. Very cool.\n\n------\njshevek\nEdit: Article can be read here:\n\n[http://archive.md/k3zNE](http://archive.md/k3zNE)\n\nIt seems like WSJ.com should not be the link used without a follow-up link\ngiving access to the whole community.\n\n> _Are paywalls ok?\n\nIt's ok to post stories from sites with paywalls that have workarounds._\n\n------\nKaibeezy\npaywall, whatever :(\n\nyep, amazon has been useless lately - ebay, on the other hand, all those\nindependent sellers, very responsive!\n\n~~~\nDiederich\n[http://archive.md/k3zNE](http://archive.md/k3zNE)\n\n~~~\nKaibeezy\nthank you\n\n------\nMisterTea\nCan someone please explain to me like I'm 5 why adults have to be told that\nother retail outlets exist besides Amazon?\n\nIf you are one of these people, please kindly explain to me how you forgot\nthere are other shops.\n\n~~~\nmaerF0x0\n> please kindly explain to me how you forgot there are other shops.\n\nI will provide one anecdata. Often times the first place I look for the\nexistence of an item is Amazon. That is if I want a certain cable, I do not\nopen and search 5-10 different places (overstock, target, bestbuy et al). I\njust go to amazon and choose from what they have. There may be better, there\nmay be cheaper, but unlikely with a sufficient margin to compensate for the\noverhead of searching more places, learning more nuances (return policy,\nshipping) etc.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nUBlock Origin for Safari - bijection\nhttps://github.com/el1t/uBlock-Safari\n======\nkobayashi\nYes! Been waiting for a uBlock Origin for Safari for a while.\n\nI looked into Ellis Tsung, the listed dev, but can't find much about him. The\nLinkedIn profile most likely (IMO) to be his only has 35 contacts and I've\nnever heard of his other projects listed on his personal webpage. Throwing\nthis out here in case somebody as something to add.\n\nThe most important aspect one should look for in an app (/extension) before\ninstallation is whether or not the dev is sufficiently trustworthy. Not yet\nsure about this individual.\n\nAlso, if we're making wish lists, somebody please look into uMatrix for\nSafari!\n\n~~~\nchris_wot\nI dunno. If the source is available and has enough eyeballs, then trust in the\nauthor is still important but less so than someone providing binaries based on\nclosed sources. As I feel Microsoft has taken a _long_ time to learn.\n\n~~~\nthrowanem\nNo, not really. Once I install the extension, unless I do something unusual,\nI've signed up to automatically download and run whatever code is signed with\nthe right key and put in the update channel. If the dev isn't trustworthy, I'm\nalmost certainly going to be hosed before I know I have a problem. Being able\nto see exactly how I got hosed, after the fact, is somewhat cold comfort.\n\n~~~\nchinathrow\nIndeed - and extensions get sold all the time for fast cash.\n\n------\nArchio\nThis is fantastic news, especially if this fork is well maintained and/or gets\nmerged upstream. Safari has the lightest battery usage and fastest speed by\nfar of any browser on my Macbook, but it sucks that the best extensions aren't\nalways available.\n\n~~~\nBipolarElsa\n>or gets merged upstream\n\nI don't understand what that means. Do you mean that it will be updated\nautomatically on your Safari once you download it initially?\n\n~~~\ndevy\nThis repo is a fork of gorhill/uBlock. Merging it upstream means merging the\nchanges in this fork back to gorhill/uBlock so that majority of the UO\ncommunity can enjoy the Safari compatibility of UO and this fork's user base\ncan enjoy bugfixes from the gorhill/uBlock. And as users of ad blockers, we\ndon't end up with 2 similar but slightly different softwares.\n\nIdeally, this fork should be merged back as a PR to the original repo instead\nof advertising it as-is.\n\n------\nalfanick\nI've been using uBlock on Safari for quite a while now (I've got 0.9.5.2\nversion installed atm). I cannot find any info what is the difference between\nuBlock and the uBlock Origin, can anyone elaborate on this? Is the difference\nlike between Adblock and Adblock Plus?\n\n~~~\nmadeofpalk\nLong story short - uBlock Origin is a fork by the original developer who\nworked on uBlock.\n\n~~~\nhrrsn\nIn addition, the uBlock Safari port has been dead for some time.\n\n~~~\nbangonkeyboard\nNot that that's stopped the ex-maintainer from soliciting donations for it.\n\n------\nkfdhskafjs\nBut is it better than using extensions like Wipr that used the built-in ad-\nblocking system?\n\n~~~\narm\nWell, this is what the developer of the JS Blocker extension for Safari has to\nsay about it¹:\n\n“ _Safari has a new feature called \"Content Blockers\" that allows for\nextremely efficient resource blocking on both the desktop and iOS version of\nSafari. As much as I'd like to incorporate this into JS Blocker, it is not\nfeasible to do so. Using a content blocker will prevent JS Blocker from\nshowing you exactly what's going on on a website (i.e. you won't see what's\nallowed or blocked.) It'll also break all of JS Blocker's \"other\" features,\nsuch as showing alerts within the webpage and canvas fingerprinting\nprotection. Besides the loss of features, content blockers are limited to\n50,000 rules. While this seems like a high number, it isn't enough for\nefficient protection and a lot of rules would need to be cut out to even run a\ncontent blocker. Until Apple eases the restrictions (or at least raises the\nnumber of rules that can be in a content blocker), JS Blocker will not be\nusing this API._”\n\n――――――\n\n¹ — [http://jsblocker.toggleable.com/](http://jsblocker.toggleable.com/)\n\n~~~\nLeoPanthera\nThe whole point of the content blocking API is to protect the users privacy.\nWithout it, the plugin gets to see every single web page you visit, and its\ncontents, and could do anything with that information.\n\nI've been using 1Blocker which, while not free, uses the API and seems to work\nvery well. (And can sync your block settings with the iOS.)\n\n~~~\nstephenr\nAgreed. Content blockers are also not executing js code for every resource the\npage tries to load: it's just the defined blocking rules that get processed.\n\nI'm also using 1blocker. Lacking an existing site (or time to build one\nmyself) for sharing 1blocker packages, I've started storing them here:\n[https://bitbucket.org/stephenreay/1blocker-\npackages](https://bitbucket.org/stephenreay/1blocker-packages)\n\n------\nblue_box\nIt doesn't block youtube ads.\n\n~~~\ndraw_down\nHmm, what does?\n\n~~~\nmitchty\nIronically enough, the original ublock does on safari.\n\n------\n4ad\nMy understanding is that this doesn't use the newish Safari content block API,\nam I right?\n\nWhat's the best ad blocker that uses the Safari content block API? I use\nAdguard, and it's ok, but I'd want something else.\n\nPaying money is no problem.\n\n~~~\nino\nI use wipr and it's excellent.\n\nI've been using it for a year and haven't seen any ads so far, not even video\nads from big or small websites.\n\nThe macOS version is free so you can test it. The iOS version is $1 and it's\nvery worth it.\n\n~~~\n4ad\nUnfortunately wipr doesn't have any settings (whitelists, extra filters, etc)\non macOS.\n\n------\nesturk\nVery nice. Just tried it on (www.bbcamerica.com) and it works as oppose to the\nregular ublock that removes google analytics and don't know how to handle\ngetting stuck. Will definitely test it out more and report any bugs.\n\n~~~\nwtallis\n> and it works as oppose to the regular ublock that removes google analytics\n> and don't know how to handle getting stuck.\n\nIs this a matter of something changed in the extension itself, or is it a\ndifference in what filters they subscribe to by default?\n\nFar too much discussion of adblockers ignores that the third-party filters are\nnot the same as the browser extension. Filter subscriptions are mostly\ninterchangeable between the various AdBlock derivatives and replacements, and\nit's also quite possible to use them with only filters you create yourself.\n\nAlso, it sounds like the Google Analytics problem you're referring to is what\nNoScript's surrogate scripts feature is for.\n\n~~~\ngorhill\n> Is this a matter of something changed in the extension itself\n\nProbably related to the `redirect` filter option, introduced in uBO 1.4.0[1].\n\n[1]\n[https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/releases/tag/1.4.0](https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/releases/tag/1.4.0)\n\n------\ndzhiurgis\nIs there content blocker for iOS that supports custom filters?\n\n~~~\nnavs\nQuite a few. 1Blocker is one of them:\n\n[https://1blocker.com](https://1blocker.com)\n\n~~~\ncanuckintime\nAnd you'll need custom lists for 1Blocker because it exempts some ad networks\nby default.\n\n~~~\npvg\nIt exempts them on purpose or just happens not to include them? Which\nnetworks?\n\n~~~\nSachse\nThe Deck isn't blocked by default, but the author provides a package you can\neasily download to block them as well.\n\n~~~\nnavs\nThey, being 1Blocker, have posted about this before. It's felt that The Deck\nis non-intrusive and therefore not something that needs blocking.\n\n------\ntheWatcher37\nGreat! Will this come to iOS soon?\n\n~~~\nJustSomeNobody\nI'm going to HN[0] you and say just use AdBlock on iOS. Works great!\n\n[0] When someone ask for one thing and someone tells you to use another\nwithout addressing the actual question.\n\n------\njariz\nIs this a unofficial fork? Why is it not included with the main uBlock\nproject?\n\n~~~\nkencausey\nShort version: Author of uBlock Origin is original author of uBlock and\ndecided to hand it off. Drama ensued and original author decided to fork what\nhad previously been his own project and continue.\n\nSee\n[https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/issues/38](https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/issues/38)\n\n------\nraybb\nIf that was a response to the comment someone recently posted asking for it to\nbe ported to Safari than bravo for the quick response!\n\n------\nisaac_is_goat\nMicrosoft Edge next please?\n\n~~~\nstaticelf\nI started looking for how to develop plugins for Edge to port it, but could\nnot find any resources from Microsoft which is pretty strange.\n\nThey simply state \"Microsoft Edge supports a new HTML, JavaScript and CSS\nbased extension model. This new model is Chrome-compatible which means that\nexisting Chrome extension developers will be able to migrate their extensions\nto Microsoft Edge with minimal changes.\" but not how to actually add the\nextension or anything to get going.\n\n~~~\nvxNsr\nYeah, it looks like four now they're only doing joint official extensions.\nBasically you gotta work with someone at Microsoft to have your extension\nadded to the store. Otherwise you can create a regular chrome extension and\nside load it, and it works like 75% of the time.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nProcore IPO and S-1 - publiccomps\nProcore is going public and just published its S-1. https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sec.gov&#x2F;Archives&#x2F;edgar&#x2F;data&#x2F;1611052&#x2F;000119312520057081&#x2F;d564161ds1.htm#toc564161_12. It&#x27;s a $339m ARR growing 55% annually. \nA reminder that  software is still eating the world and competition is still mostly spreadsheets not other SaaS companies\n======\ngus_massa\nCopy your opinion as a comment in your other submission\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22448864](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22448864)\nso all the discussion is in a single page.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nEncryption with Gnu Privacy Guard (GPG) - triberian\nhttp://digital-era.net/encryption-with-gnu-privacy-guard-gpg/\n\n======\njmnicolas\nOn all the encryption tutorials I found they always assume 2 and only 2 people\ntrying to talk privately.\n\nI wonder how would one encrypt a conversation between say 15 people.\n\n~~~\nmike-cardwell\nMultiple -r's:\n\ngpg -e -r recipient1@example.com -r recipient2@example.com\n\nThat products some ciphertext which can be decrypted by either recipient.\n\n~~~\nroberto\nI learned this the hard way when using gpg+mutt back in 2001. All my Sent mail\nwas being encrypted only with the recipient's key, so I couldn't read it\nmyself. There's an option to also encrypt outgoing email with your own GPG\nkey.\n\n~~~\nclogston\nIn case anyone is wondering how to make this the default behavior:\n\n\"encrypt-to YOUR_KEY_ID\"\n\nin your gpg.conf\n\n------\nschroedinger23\nThis article also suggests that you should use a 2048 Bit key, and you really\nshouldn't. Better to go with 4096 Bit. And I guess every CPU is fast enough.\n\n------\ncalibwam\nThis does not go into the Web of Trust and having your key signed, maybe the\nmost complicated part of PGP, and perhaps also its most important feature.\n\n~~~\neli\nWeb of Trust isn't too useful if you don't know how to sign a message or check\na signature.\n\n~~~\ncyphunk\nSpecifically \"check a signature\". Even everyone that knows how to sign fail to\nreally check anything. Honestly, if it aint boiled down to a green or red icon\nthen people are going to misuse, assume security when its not, or just click\n\"yes\".\n\nIf you get a new public key for someone, and it's signed by someone else you\ndon't know (most of the time this is the case) are you going to bother to\nutilise that signature to increase the trust? No. Are you going to assume\nincreased trust somehow regardless? Yes. FAIL.\n\nModify it further, if it is signed by someone you do know what are the chances\nyour UI is going to give you any sort of indication that this is more trusted\nthat other message workflows? And if it doesn't give you any indication (most\nleave it up to you to check) who's gonna bother to look just passed \"your\nfriend <yourfiendsname@company>\" ASCII and actually check the key? no one.\nFAIL.\n\nPGP WoT fails miserably.\n\n~~~\nmike-cardwell\nI use PGP extensively. However, I haven't bothered with the web of trust, for\nthe same reason I don't publish my address book for everyone to read, privacy.\n\n~~~\nTorgo\nI have already run into this at work. I have customers whose keys are publicly\navailable, and others who should not be, and so I cannot effectively use\nkeysigning internally to manage relationships. This is because I don't want to\nupload every key I know about to a public keyserver.\n\nMaybe I am mistaken or maybe there's a way to do that without having multiple\nkeyrings or something, but that's kind of the problem. It's really hard to\ntell what I would or would not be sharing because there's no \"interface\" to\nspeak of and I am hardly an expert.\n\n------\negeozcan\nThere seems to be also a windows implementation:\n[http://www.gpg4win.org/](http://www.gpg4win.org/) (Wondering why the site\ndoesn't use ssl, though)\n\nOn a related note, I have a hard time understanding why a web site talking\nabout digital security also doesn't have a certificate.\n\n~~~\nIgorPartola\nLots of GPG themed sites do not. Notice that key servers provide web access\nover plain HTTP as well. My best guess is that they do not want to buy into\nthe CA infrastructure and provide security using GPG itself. Also check out\nMonkeySphere.\n\n~~~\negeozcan\n> My best guess is that they do not want to buy into the CA infrastructure and\n> provide security using GPG itself.\n\nThis may be true (I really have no idea) but isn't it like travelling on a\nhighway at night with your normal lights turned off because you have a better\nsystem based on infrared? After reading about the story of that guy who hacked\ninto a computer by MITMing the notepad++ site, I became even more convinced\nthat all pages must have certificates. Nowadays it's also possible to get a\nbasic ssl cert for free, I can't figure out what the catch is really.\n\n~~~\nIgorPartola\nDon't get me wrong, I agree with you. Even my personal 100% static content\nsite is served over HTTPS only. I am just commenting on the pattern that any\nGPG-themed sites I've seen follow.\n\n------\nkzrdude\nDid anyone else see reop recently? It's a sort of simple reimagining of easy-\nto-use public key crypto.\n[http://www.tedunangst.com/flak/post/reop](http://www.tedunangst.com/flak/post/reop)\n\n------\nvitaluha\n\"To encrypt a File:\"\n\n    \n    \n        gpg -o encrypted_file.gpg –encrypt -r original.file  \n    \n\n# they didn't put recipient after -r ?\n\n~~~\nreedalex01\nIn this case it will just prompt you for for the recipient. This command is\ntoo verbose though. You can type:\n\ngpg -e file\n\nThe output will be file.gpg. It will ask you for a recipient unless you have\n\"default-recipient\" or \"default-recipient-selt\" set in gpg.conf.\n\n------\nausjke\nBest blog on using GPG that I have seen. Thanks!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nUS imposes visa restrictions on Huawei employees, other Chinese tech workers - aspenmayer\nhttps://www.zdnet.com/article/us-imposes-visa-restrictions-on-huawei-employees-other-chinese-tech-workers/\n======\ndisabled\nThis is only the start, and more like the tip of the iceberg as for what is to\ncome. You should be very concerned.\n\nThis could affect American tech workers traveling on business, even outside of\nChina or Asia. A lot of developed countries require Americans to obtain a visa\nwaiver to enter their country. Even Europe is implementing theirs, the ETIAS.\n\nWe might see a lot of things closing off, irrespective to Americans, or maybe\neven much softer versions of the great firewall of China occurring, over\nactions like this.\n\nEven if I am way off, it is still worrisome.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nMy evolving view of open source licenses - edw519\nhttp://www.stevestreeting.com/2009/09/15/my-evolving-view-of-open-source-licenses/\n\n======\nmmt\n_It’s an understandable point of view, if very hacker-oriented, but it’s not\none that I personally sign up to._\n\nTo me, hacker-orientation being proportional to GPL-style restrictiveness is\nthe major take-away.\n\n~~~\napotheon\nIt's not proportional -- it's just understandable within the general\ncharacteristics of a hacker mindset. So, too, are other licensing styles.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nRemedyBG: Replacing the Visual Studio Debugger - noch\nhttps://remedybg.handmade.network\n======\nint_19h\nIt would be nice to make it talk the VS debug adapter protocol. Then you could\nironically use it in VS and VS Code, and non-ironically, in any editor that\nchooses to support that. Given how quickly LSP took off, I would expect there\nto be a few eventually.\n\n[https://microsoft.github.io/debug-adapter-\nprotocol/](https://microsoft.github.io/debug-adapter-protocol/)\n\n~~~\njpfr\nGDB can be driven remotely since a long time.\n\nEmacs and Eclipse both integrate GDB via the MI interface. LLDB supports it as\nwell.\n[https://sourceware.org/gdb/current/onlinedocs/gdb/GDB_002fMI...](https://sourceware.org/gdb/current/onlinedocs/gdb/GDB_002fMI.html)\n\nWhat is the advantage of the debug adapter protocol against the existing\ndebugger--editor integration protocols?\n\n~~~\nint_19h\nMainly that DAP was designed as such from the get go, with multiple\nimplementations for many very different languages being one of the driving\nassumptions behind its design.\n\nMI, on the other hand, was originally just an API to use gdb programmatically,\nand was later repurposed by others simply because it was already implemented\nby other tooling, dealing with its gdb-specific idiosyncrasies being the path\nof least resistance.\n\n[https://kichwacoders.com/2017/08/02/gdbs-mi-is-not-a-\ndebug-p...](https://kichwacoders.com/2017/08/02/gdbs-mi-is-not-a-debug-\nprotocol/)\n\nAs a consequence, DAP is much easier to work with from the IDE side, and it's\neasier to implement an adapter, as well. Looking at this table - even ignoring\nall the Microsoft-made ones - how many of the languages listed have a MI\ndebugger implementation?\n\n[https://microsoft.github.io/debug-adapter-\nprotocol/implement...](https://microsoft.github.io/debug-adapter-\nprotocol/implementors/adapters/)\n\nOn the tooling side, Emacs and Eclipse are both covered:\n\n[https://microsoft.github.io/debug-adapter-\nprotocol/implement...](https://microsoft.github.io/debug-adapter-\nprotocol/implementors/tools/)\n\nStill, for native debugging specifically, it's a good point that on the IDE\nside, MI is currently better supported. So implementing that first would make\nmore sense in terms of lighting up more IDEs, at the price of a somewhat more\ncomplex implementation. DAP can be implemented on top of MI - this is exactly\nwhat the VSCode C++ debug adapter does.\n\n------\ngmueckl\nWhy would you want to avoid the Visual Studio debugger? Can anyone enlighten\nme? I personally haven't encountered a better debugger yet, so I'm puzzled.\n\n~~~\njoeld42\nJust because everything else is worse, doesn't mean visual studio couldn't be\nbetter.\n\nI've been watching the development of this, here's their main points:\n\nIt's slow. Stepping through code and updating watches can take a few seconds.\nWhich really does slow you down when you're doing a lot of work with it. It's\nginormous, you shouldn't need a huge program with tons of dependencies to\ndebug things. And finally, it's primitive. It usually works for what it does\nbut it would be nice for a debugger to be more flexible and allow things like:\nDisplaying blocks of memory as images, allowing custom display visualization,\nand navigation of your own data structures, or charting how a value changes\nover time. Debugger functionality has been pretty stagnant for at least a\ndecade. Also plugging in project specific debugging tools like serialization\nand custom tools would be neat.\n\n~~~\nWalterGR\n_It’s slow._\n\nDo you use ReSharper?\n\nIt’s been a while since I used either ReSharper or Visual Studio, but I\nremember ReSharper being like lashing a half-ton Snap On tool chest to your\ncar.\n\n~~~\nmattnewport\nYeah, I had to turn ReSharper off despite liking some of its features as it\nbrings my monster development PC to its knees and is basically unusable due to\nits abysmal performance. It makes vanilla Visual Studio seem svelte and\nresponsive by comparison.\n\n~~~\ngmueckl\nHow big is the project you are working on? Resharper qas a net productivity\ngain for me on moderately complex projects (the lag was more than compensated\nby the speed gained from the mode powerful editing and refactoring, let alone\nthe lower barrier to start otherwise tedious refactoring jobs)\n\n~~~\nmattnewport\nIt's not huge. It's a Unity project and it's a couple of years of development\nwith a team that has grown from just me to 4 programmers in that time so it's\na decent size but there are much bigger Unity projects out there I'm sure.\n\n------\nstrmpnk\nRemedyBG is still very young but I'm impressed by the consistent progress. I\ndon't think it will be replacing other debuggers for my needs quite yet but\nI'm happy to sponsor work like this. If you're on windows and work with native\nexecutables, consider giving it a shot.\n\n------\nmalkia\nSeems like it's using Dear IMGUI\n\n~~~\ntaspeotis\nThis is confirmed by the author:\n\n> Also, for the user interface, I am using Dear ImGui which has been a joy to\n> use.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nMind the Tools - bkudria\nhttp://www.slideshare.net/al3x/mind-the-tools\n\n======\nartpop\nYep, tools evolve and you should keep up, nothing new there. However the only\nthing that has ever really mattered has been to achieve good outcomes for our\nusers. Everything else is self-indulgent tripe really. But hey, we love that.\n\n------\nboundlessdreamz\nI could learn nothing useful from the slides :(\n\n~~~\nvdoma\nI mostly second that. The only thing I learnt was that there is a programming\nlanguage called Ur. Maybe if we had the audio, it would be different.\n\n------\netherael\nthe part about css frameworks was somewhat interesting.\n\nI think jQuery etc are a pretty nice answer to cross browser compatibility\nissues, they're not a slam dunk to the point where you never have to worry\nabout it again, but they do a pretty good job to make a landscape designed my\nmicrosoft to be as inconsistent as possible into something a lot more\ntolerable.\n\nThe missing piece of the puzzle for me has always been layout, how practical /\nrealistic is it to expect the same amount of smoothing there from CSS\nframeworks as you get from the javascript world with JS frameworks?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHTML5 webcam to canvas stream (Demo + annotated code) - cbrandolino_\nhttp://cbrandolino.github.com/camvas\n\n======\nprogram\nI got nice quality on Chrome 21. Substitute the window.requestAnimationFrame\ndirective with:\n\n    \n    \n      window.requestAnimationFrame = (function() {\n        return window.requestAnimationFrame || window.webkitRequestAnimationFrame ||\n        window.mozRequestAnimationFrame || window.oRequestAnimationFrame ||\n        window.msRequestAnimationFrame || function(callback) { window.setTimeout(callback, 1000 / 60); };\n      })();\n    \n\nand it will work in Opera 12 too.\n\n~~~\ncbrandolino_\nWow, I was sure they implemented requestAnimationFrame already!\n\nAnyway, I limited myself to trying out the various vendors' prefixes; this\nbeing mainly an experiment/preview I'd rather keep the code clean than support\nnon-cutting-edge browsers.\n\nI'll update the paragraph about the compatibility though; thanks for the heads\nup!\n\n------\njlsync\nLast weekend at #devfestlondon I attempted streaming and sharing these video\nstreams over socket.io with a node.js backend. Demo is\n<http://svideo.herokuapp.com/> and <http://svideo.jit.su/> \\- your image\nstream is shared on the internet.\n\n~~~\nukc\nLooking forward to seeing more projects like these - is the heroku app open\nsource?\n\n------\nbencevans\nI wrote a li'l app that does something along the same lines. However it\ncaptures a data uri from the webcam video and sends it via a websocket to a\nsecond user who's also doing the same. It gives you a video chat just without\nthe audio... <https://github.com/bencevans/MediaStream>\n\nJust thought it may be of interest ;)\n\n------\nfranze\nhi, this is as good a moment as any to promote a little bit a lib i coded some\ntime ago.\n\na simple (cross browser) wrapper to make getUserMedia really simple, you call\n\n    \n    \n      Sinne.getUserVideo(success, error[, options])\n      //https://github.com/franzenzenhofer/Sinne\n    \n\nand get back a nice HTML5 video element with the webcam as the input\n\nhere is a simple demo using the `Sinne` <http://www.backpacker.io/> \\- an\nHTML5 mirror\n\n~~~\nse85\nYou can't really call it cross browser when it doesn't support browsers that\ndon't have getUserMedia.\n\nYou had me excited for a second there because something like this with a flash\nfallback mechanism would be really, really useful.\n\n~~~\nfranze\naddy osmani has coded <https://github.com/addyosmani/getUserMedia.js> which\nhas a flash fallback, but the thing is that the flash fallback still needs you\nto implement a complete different logic then getUserMedia, so it's far from a\nperfect solution.\n\ni raised the issue here\n[https://github.com/addyosmani/getUserMedia.js/issues/2#issue...](https://github.com/addyosmani/getUserMedia.js/issues/2#issuecomment-7926029)\n(and suggested a possible solution), but for this we would need the help of a\nflash megamind-ninja.\n\n~~~\nse85\nThat's great, I might actually be able to use this to significantly improve a\ncertain project I am working on.\n\nIt would be really nice to have it using the same API, but yeah, it would be\nreally tricky to actually pull it off.\n\nThen again, I heard about gifsockets\n(<http://github.com/videlalvaro/gifsockets>) earlier today, so I guess\nanything is possible!\n\n------\nJelte12345\nStrange enough my performance is real crappy (3fps) when I launch it, but when\nI switch to another tab and back it's great. This happens on Chrome 21 with\nnone of the flags enabled.\n\n------\ndkroy\nReally cool, keep up the good work. It works in Google Chrome 21.0.1180.89, on\nWindows 7 just fine.\n\n------\nionwake\nthe FPS are really low - is there a way to improve that?\n\n~~~\ncbrandolino_\nI'm afraid it depends on the browser implementation. It works fine on Chrome\n12 odd on linux, with all hardware accelerations activated under\nchrome://flags/\n\n~~~\nionwake\ni had around 2fps - is the res too high?\n\n~~~\nionwake\nsuddenly my fps is totally awesome and fine!Looks good - Being paranoid I\nwonder if the stream was being uploaded to your site\n\n~~~\ncbrandolino_\nLol, look at the commit history for the pages branch - the JS didn't change\nsince submission ^^\n\n~~~\nionwake\nI know - I am just insane - looks great - thanks for sharing\n\n------\nionwake\nwhat is p2p performance like? what amount of code would have to be written?\n\n~~~\ncbrandolino_\nWell, for what concerns the part I focused on (the canvas part) there should\nnot be any performance issue with p2p.\n\nFor WebRTC p2p video streaming in general, it seems promising. At the moment,\nthough, there's little to no browser support and getting a full system\n(there's also a server involved, to initiate the connections) is not automated\nor abstracted yet.\n\nFor more info, check out this page: <http://www.webrtc.org/running-the-demos>\n\n------\njayniz\nSLOW CLAP\n\n~~~\ncbrandolino_\nOh you! Can you suggest a gif? ^^\n\n~~~\ncbrandolino_\nUh, from the downvotes I gather that was inappropriate. Sorry; I'm completely\nnew to HN.\n\nAnyway the backstory is that me and jayniz used to work together, and he\nusually adds a gif to each of his readme files.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow to charge for websites? - sdaityari\nhttp://www.sitepoint.com/charge-websites-fixed-price-projects/\n======\nat-fates-hands\nI've seen and used just about every approach to this, yet the author\ncompletely skips the most lucrative approach, the subscription based model.\n\nI've used this on larger clients and have had great success with it. It gives\nthem a sense of comfort since they're paying me monthly to keep their content\nfresh and SEO up-to-date and still have the opportunity for a redesign after a\nyear. Plus, it gives me a nice chunk or recurring monthly revenue and\nestablishes a long-term relationship.\n\n~~~\nelmoren\nHow does this model usually work with web design? Is it simply that the client\nsubscribes to n hours per month for updates, hosting isssues, etc? Then if the\nclient wants substantial work done, they can temporarily contract for more\nhours?\n\n~~~\nat-fates-hands\nUsually what happens as part of the subscription, they pay for each individual\npart of the work. So design is one part, development is another. Content is\nanother and SEO is another. Newsletter articles, responsiveness, and other\nfeatures are all individually priced.\n\nIn the end, they might have 6-10K worth of services they want, so you just put\nthem on \"subscription\" and let them pay monthly. At the one year mark, you can\nlet them redesign and update the content and seo, which usually involves more\ndevelopment, more content writing, etc. You basically bill them again with say\na 10-15% discount and then you're good for another year. You can also offer\nadditional services at a discounted monthly rate as well like writing blog\nposts or articles that are added to their site on a schedule so it helps with\nSERPS and content weight of their site.\n\n------\nCheckHook\nI'm not sure how seriously I should take this advice when the authors website\nlooks like this:\n\n[http://www.optimalworks.net/](http://www.optimalworks.net/)\n\n~~~\nnfoz\nI typically hate on websites pretty hard, but actually I don't have much\nproblem with that site. Maybe it's a bit orange, but it's clear and usable.\nWhat are your objections to it?\n\n~~~\nChristianBundy\n* No visual heirarchy since everything is incredibly saturated\n\n* Useless stock icons are _way_ bigger than the text describing them\n\n* Horrible use of white space\n\n* Weird margins and padding\n\n* Constantly moving animation at the top right\n\n* Tacky quotes like \"We will not rest until you have a site to be proud of.\"\n\n* Only 2 clients ever (and only one of them even has a screenshot)\n\n* Their RSS feed names their blog \"BLOGNAME\".\n\nI'm not attacking the site, just listing the things that jumped out at me.\n\n------\ndeckar01\nI like to charge a flat rate for the first X number of hours, then charge\n$Y/hour after that. This forces me to gather the requirement before making an\nestimate. It discourages the customer from adding new requirement unless it is\nworth $Y/hour to them.\n\n------\nfiatjaf\nHere's a question: why does the model website-as-a-service works for blogs,\nbut not for other kinds of websites?\n\nYou see, wordpress.com charges for blogs, ghost.io charges for blogs, other\npeople give blogs for free, but still benefit from it somehow, also there's\nthe example of portfolio WaaS like 4ormat.com, but this model only applies to\nthese cases, never to hospital sites, restaurant sites, hotel sites, book\nsites, or any other kind of website.\n\nThen people in need of these other kinds of website always fell into building\na blog, even paying for other people to build them a self-hosted pretty awful\nsolution Wordpress blog. has this been tried?\n\n~~~\ndeadghost\nOff the top of my head, they already exist for music/dance studios and real\nestate. You just don't come across them because you aren't looking.\n\n~~~\nfiatjaf\nCan you point me to them?\n\n~~~\ndeadghost\n[http://www.mainstreetsites.com/](http://www.mainstreetsites.com/)\n[http://yourvirtuoso.com/](http://yourvirtuoso.com/)\n\nI've also seen some for real estate and others.\n\n------\ncsomar\nMy small experience with charging is related specifically to the client size.\n\nIf you want to charge $350/hour, weekly and on a long basis, odds are you'll\nbe charging a corporation and not a household.\n\nMy experience also, you probably won't get $350/hour even if you charge the\nclient so. There will be middle man, taxes, vat, payment delays, accounting\nand many other expenses...\n\nThat's why you should be charging at least $200/hour. And that's for the very\nmundane, and noncompetitive tasks.\n\n~~~\nRaphmedia\nNote that this really depends where you are from. In my part of Canada, you\nwould be charging around $90 to $120 / hour.\n\n~~~\ncsomar\nI'm doing remote work. Currently in an underdeveloped country.\n\n~~~\nmaxk42\nI'm doing remote work in a major US city. I've been charging well above market\nrates for a while now, but haven't been able to break the $100 / hour barrier\nyet.\n\nI feel like my income is stagnating -- my skills and expertise are at the top\nof their game, but I just haven't been able to find projects where I'm able to\ncharge more.\n\nWhere should I be looking? Is there an effective way for me to change my\napproach?\n\n------\ndavidw\nThis is sensible, but can't he find someone to compare us computer folks to\nbesides used car dealers? That's not painting a happy picture in many people's\nminds.\n\n~~~\nkohanz\nAgreed. The analogy also breaks down quickly because there is no car dealer\nthat sells both a 10-year old Ford and F1 McLaren. Generally, dealerships\noffer very narrow bands of value within that large range.\n\n~~~\nrobmclarty\nDon't be a used-car web dev then. Be the luxury sedan - sport car web dev. I\nexplain to my clients (not necessarily through this analogy) that I'm\ndefinitely not the cheapest dev/designer they'll be able to find, but that\nthey'll gain more quality, etc. for more money with me (with case studies to\nback that claim up). I don't sell my clients used cars, and so they don't\nexpect to pay used-car rates with me ;)\n\n------\nekspreso\nWhy does this site eat 50% of my CPU?\n\n~~~\nrobmclarty\nClose down those porn tabs you have open? idk. lol\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nRefactoring Computer Engineer Barbie - larockt\nhttp://blog.infoadvisors.com/index.php/2014/01/30/refactoring-computer-engineer-barbie/\n\n======\njdanton1\nGood post\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\n“I want you to watch this movie and think only about staging” - tmflannery\nhttp://extension765.com/sdr/18-raiders\n\n======\nanigbrowl\n_for example, no matter how fast the cuts come, you always know exactly where\nyou are_\n\nThis is a massive problem, both with less experienced directors and even some\nfamous ones. It's important to establish the geography of a scene because if\nyou don't the audience will be constantly distracted during action sequences -\nMichael Bay's _Transformers_ films are particularly egregious offenders in\nthis regard, despite having massive budgets an thus access to the best skills\nthat money can buy. In the 3 I've seen so far, I end up getting completely\nlost during the obligatory climactic battle between the good and bad robots\nafter about 3-4 minutesand the only way to get through it is to sit back in\nnumb passivity (which I suspect may be intentional givent he semi-\npropagandistic nature of these films, but that's another story).\n\nIt doesn't help that the geography of many scenes is wholly imaginary, as many\nscenes are not shot in a contiguous physical location but may involve trick\npositioning within the same location, two wholly different locations, or\napparently contiguous events that are shot at completely different times.\nFurthermore, there's a rule of thumb called 'the 180 rule' which holds that\nthere's an imaginary line of interest between the primary character in a scene\nand the object of his/her scrutiny, and that editing continuity demands you\npick one side of that line and keep the cameras within that 180-degree side of\nan imaginary circle - otherwise the audience (and indeed the editors) get\nconfused about who is looking at what and which way they are positioning\nthemselves within the scene. One can break this rule like any other but it\nneeds to be done deliberately and in a way that signals a shift of focus to\nthe audience.\n\nKeeping track of all this during the often-chaotic environment of production\nis a lot harder than you might imagine. Almost all films, even vary large-\nbudget ones, have at least one shot where the image has to be flipped from\nleft to right to correct a camera positioning error - it's better that Brad\nPitt's wristwatch seem to momentarily be on the wrong arm than that the\npositional grammar be broken by a poorly-chosen angle.\n\n~~~\njulian37\nFor people (not just film students) interested in this sort of thing, I\nrecommend \"The Grammar of the Film Language\" by Daniel Arijon. A fantastic\nbook that's fundamentally changed the way I see movies.\n\n[http://www.amazon.com/Grammar-Film-Language-Daniel-\nArijon/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/Grammar-Film-Language-Daniel-\nArijon/dp/187950507X)\n\n~~~\nanigbrowl\nSeconded. It is the only book I've seen that takes a truly systematic\napproach. It seems to have fallen out of favor due to the 1970s-era line\ndrawings involving increasingly naked people which some people find sexist or\njust weird.\n\nTwo other books worth mentioning are _The Visual Story_ by Bruce Block and _If\nit 's Purple Someone's Gonna Die_ by Patti Bellatoni. The first one is about\nshapes and the second one is about color.\n\nYou can pick up all 3 for under $100 and you will get more out of it than most\npeople do from spending many thou$and$ on film school.\n\n------\nwaterlesscloud\nSoderbergh has a couple other re-cuts on his site, too. One intermixes the two\nPSYCHOs, the original and the shot-for-shot remake.\n\nThe other is a radical re-cut of HEAVEN'S GATE. I've watched a couple hundred\nmovies this year, but it's that HEAVEN'S GATE edit I keep coming back to in my\nhead. I'm not really sure why (which is probably why). He somehow found the\nmovie lurking inside the sprawling version that was released.\n\n[http://extension765.com/sdr/16-heavens-gate-the-butchers-\ncut](http://extension765.com/sdr/16-heavens-gate-the-butchers-cut)\n\n------\njere\nI watched a few minutes and was really impressed. I don't feel like I have the\ntime to watch all of it, but I totally would have if this was an assignment in\na film class (I remember watching a single film 5 times in a row or one scene\n30 times).\n\nI made a short film in college and it's terribly embarrassing as an artifact,\nbut I just rewatched it without sound and it's quite awesome that way. :)\n\n------\nrdtsc\nHehe, once you start noticing staging, lighting and framing, looking for\nshadows of the boom mic shadow from above, you won't be able to stop easily.\nYou'll be enjoying a movie and all of the sudden instead of just watching the\nmovie you are explicitly noticing editing cuts and camera positioning and\nthinking about it.\n\n------\njdnier\nSo how were any of you able to watch this? (\"Sorry Because of it's privacy\nsettings, this video cannot be played here.\")\n\n~~~\nlgas\nFor me it says \"The server refused the connection.\" where the video should be.\n\n------\nmacintux\nThis really needs a more descriptive title.\n\n[http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/raider-of-the-\nlost...](http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/raider-of-the-lost-ark-\nsteven-soderbergh/) is an interesting look at a few of the highlights.\n\n~~~\ndang\nA hard one for titles. We gave it a try by picking a sentence from the\narticle.\n\n~~~\nhammock\nWho is we?\n\n~~~\nth0br0\ndang is one of the HN mods\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Why would weapons research be a bad thing? - sillysaurus3\nIn the thread about YC&#x27;s investment of Helion, there was an interesting sub-topic: the fear that the founding team might pivot into weapons research.  People have expressed concern that it might be risky for an investment firm to be investing in weapons research because it might harm their halo effect.<p>I don&#x27;t understand why weapons research would even slightly diminish an investment firm&#x27;s halo effect.  More than that, I don&#x27;t understand how weapons research could ever be anything but a positive thing.  Societies with fierce weapons are empirically safer than those with outdated weapons.<p>I thought this would be an interesting topic for discussion, and since it&#x27;s offtopic for the original thread, I figured I&#x27;d make an Ask HN about it.  I&#x27;m quite open to being persuaded.\n======\nkrapp\n>Societies with fierce weapons are empirically safer than those with outdated\nweapons.\n\nI think weapons are only relevant to safety when they're used, or when the\nthreat of their use is plausible. More modern weapons with their greater\nkilling power make the society using them safer, but only when they're being\nused against other societies, with a certain distance. Used domestically, and\nwith the possibility of retaliation, not so much.\n\n------\nseesomesense\n\"Societies with fierce weapons are empirically safer than those with outdated\nweapons.\"\n\nHere is a gedanken experiment:\n\nAssume that YC decides to invest in SunniTech, a startup that does research\ninto sustainable, ecologically friendly, easy to make, pastel coloured, child\nfriendly and highly lethal briefcase H-bombs for use by Hamas.\n\nDescribe in 10 words or less, the impact of this hypothetical decision on :\n\n1\\. your view of YC\n\n2\\. the political fall out\n\n3\\. the regulatory and legal ramifications.\n\n------\ndarkstar999\nFor me, it's a matter of ethics. I would be spending time/money on figuring\nout better ways to destroy things or kill people. I'm not sure I could sleep\nwell knowing that.\n\n------\nvasilipupkin\n\"Societies with fierce weapons are empirically safer than those with outdated\nweapons\" \\- correlation does not imply causation.\n\n~~~\nGFK_of_xmaspast\nc.f. the old Heinlein canard about how 'an armed society is a polite society'.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCrystal 0.34 - fells\nhttps://crystal-lang.org/2020/04/06/crystal-0.34.0-released.html\n======\nstrzibny\nIf only all the attention and love for Golang goes for Crystal. I will keep\ndreaming... :)\n\n~~~\nflafla2\nIndeed. I don't know much about this language, but the x86-64 OS written from\nscratch in crystal was one of the most impressive things I've seen during my\ntime on HN [1]. In the thread about it [2], it was mentioned that the author\nwas in high school.\n\n[1] [https://github.com/ffwff/lilith](https://github.com/ffwff/lilith)\n\n[2]\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21860713](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21860713)\n\n------\nkeithyjohnson\nI hope someday Crystal will supplant Java.\n\n~~~\noweiler\nThat is unlikely to happen. Crystal has no corporate backing, it has no\ndistinguishing features (in comparison to other, more popular languages), and\nmost of all, it has no Rails.\n\n~~~\nfastball\nDoes Java have a Rails?\n\n~~~\nAlchemistCamp\nIt has Play.\n\n[https://www.playframework.com/](https://www.playframework.com/)\n\n~~~\nThe_rationalist\nWhy Play instead of spring?\n\n~~~\nAlchemistCamp\nIs that closer to a \"Rails for Java\" than Play is?\n\n------\ndang\nRecent and related:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22725829](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22725829)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22331005](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22331005)\n\nOther threads in the past year:\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21883882](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21883882)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21860713](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21860713)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21053366](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21053366)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20897029](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20897029)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20110253](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20110253)\n(small)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19694006](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19694006)\n\nOther large threads can be found among various crystals:\n\n[https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...](https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=%22crystal%22%20comments%3E20&sort=byDate&type=story&storyText=none)\n\n~~~\nrvz\nI'm sorry but this is a new post (posted yesterday) which appears to be\nspecifically about 0.34, which should be worth discussing about the changelog?\n\n~~~\ndang\nLinks don't imply that something shouldn't have been posted! They are just for\ncurious readers to explore further. It's a way of sharing the riches of HN's\narchives.\n\nSometimes I spell this out explicitly:\n[https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...](https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20links%20curious&sort=byDate&type=comment).\nBut it gets tedious to keep repeating. I'm still looking for a brief,\nunambiguous wording that doesn't lead to misunderstanding.\n\n(Separately, it's true that HN normally shouldn't have a new front page thread\nfor each incremental release of a project, because there are many more of\nthose than there are slots on the front page. Users tend to upvote them\nreflexively as a sort of referendum on projects they like, and the threads is\nalmost always a discussion of the project in general rather than of the\nspecifics of a release. Those do get repetitive. But I wasn't implying\nanything about that with links.)\n\n~~~\nelbear\nYou could use the first paragraph of this comment in every post with links.\nFor me that's explicit enough, even if a bit long to type. But you could save\nit somewhere and paste in the comment.\n\n~~~\ndang\nAlas, that would be too pasty. The hivemind breaks out in hives with that much\nrepetition.\n\n------\npartomniscient\nToday I found out Crystal was a language that I didn't know existed until now,\nhowever one thing I couldn't work out about Crystal was a simple outline of\nits intended reason for existence/purpose?\n\ni.e. You should consider Crystal instead of Ruby/lang-other for xxx because\nyyyy... or is this someone attempting to write a new language simply because\nthey want to have what they think is 'the right thing' (which is perfectly\nacceptable, but not clear if this is the only reason).\n\nI guessed it was inspired by Ruby from the syntax, but aside from not having\ntoo many variations of do..while, I couldn't easily discern what its intended\nreason for being is.\n\n(I kind of got the comment about the best thing about it is there is no Rails\nfor Crystal).\n\nI did poke around quite a bit and it's not in the FAQ, so it probably should\nbe.\n\n~~~\nadamnemecek\nTypes and speed. Also native.\n\n~~~\nThe_rationalist\nHow is this an innovation? Kotlin and C# are probably faster on average. Also\nKotlin can be native\n\n------\ncaptn3m0\nI worked on a simple cli-tool using crystal over the last few weeks, and it\nhas been pretty great. The standard-library is nifty, and there are shards for\ncommon problems (not everything though).\n\nWaiting eagerly for a way to cross-compile to Windows so I can build/release\nbinaries the way golang projects do.\n\n------\nksec\nApart from Lucky [1], what other Web Framework are there for Crystal?\n\n[1] [https://luckyframework.org](https://luckyframework.org)\n\n~~~\nviraptor\nThere's [https://amberframework.org/](https://amberframework.org/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nU.S. Companies Turn to German Vocational Training Model to Fill Jobs Gap - jseliger\nhttp://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-companies-turn-to-german-training-model-to-fill-jobs-gap-1474911069\n======\neonw\nI grew up in the US and worked in Austria for a number of years in my\ntwenties, I was always impressed with this part of their education and\nprofessional process, always wondered when American companies would get smart\nand follow suit.\n\nMany jobs don't need a degree, they just need you to know how to do one thing\nreally well. A short well focused training program would do that.\n\n~~~\nsegmondy\nYeah, but will the students stay? Or will they take their free training and go\nelsewhere?\n\n~~~\neonw\nLets take an example like a auto body shop(i knew a guy in Austria that owned\none and did training), although they could take the skills he had taught them\nelsewhere, he could also hire off of his competitors as well. Some could start\ntheir own thing, but not everyone is meant or wants to run a business.\n\n------\nFuturebot\nI posted an Ask HN related to this, would love to get some feedback on it:\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12561580](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12561580)\n\nShort version:\n\nDoes anyone do this in software for certain specialties (like application\nsecurity, DevOps, etc.) either for people with no experience (or more likely)\ngeneralist dev experience? What Dan Luu termed \"trainingball\" and what\nMatasano (sort of?) used to do with its proverbial .NET programmers:\n\n[https://danluu.com/programmer-moneyball/](https://danluu.com/programmer-\nmoneyball/)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7260087](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7260087)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nArc Iris Presents iTMRW: A Sci-Fi Ballet - odd_volume\nhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zachtenorio/arc-iris-presents-itmrw-a-sci-fi-ballet?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=arc%20iris\n======\nodd_volume\nOver the past four years, we have been living in a bizarre mashup of 1984 and\na Kanye West rant. Down is up, up is down, and left is the direction you swipe\na 5\"x 5\" human who doesn't immediately tickle your fancy. Fires are burning,\npoliticians are failing, and you can get cat treats delivered to your house\nwith the click of a button. Imagine what it'll be like in 2080. Welcome to the\nworld of iTMRW.\n\nWhat is the iTMRW experience?\n\nA live performance of Arc Iris' forthcoming futuristic concept album + six\ndancers + projections + a spectacular light show + video art + sound\ninstallation + audience interaction.\n\nThe Story:\n\nThe romance of Robert and his android partner, Jenny, unfolds against the\nbackdrop of a world where advanced technology is both a source of and a “cure”\nfor human alienation. Advertisements come in the form of pop-up thoughts,\nentire cities float on islands of trash, and female forms are purchased and\ndiscarded at will. The piece takes its title from iTMRW (pronounced \"eye\ntomorrow\"), the ultra mega-corporation that produces and sells every single\nthing known to man. Amazon, Google, and Facebook hooked up with the U.S\ngovernment, made ugly, ugly love, and spawned a demon baby.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSo You Want to Buy: Startup Office Snacks - dmor\nhttp://refer.ly/so_you_want_to_buy__startup_office_snacks/c/984171a826c511e2a4ec22000a1d0d51\nI am using Referly (my YC startup) test this idea, but hopefully it will help some of you as well.  One my most frustrating yet fun statup jobs has been trying to order food for everyone (this becomes quite challenging as a company gets to be 40 or 50 people).  I tried to compile office snack ideas into a single shopping list along with commentary and advice.  Is this useful?  How could we make it better?\n======\nmindslight\nAh, so straight-up referral spam becomes acceptable when done by somebody who\nshould know better? Cool!\n\nNext up: Top 5 sites for buying V1agra and C1a1is for ma5sive gr0wth hack1ng\nat l0w 1ow pr1ces.\n\n~~~\ndmor\nThis is really interesting to me, because it _could_ be helpful and useful (I\nmean, I just bought $900 worth of stuff for my startup so it's not just a\nrandom collection of crap) but it comes of as spam. Can you help me understand\nwhat it is that sets off the \"spam bit\"?\n\nAlso, what does \"should know better\" mean? If I wrote this as a blog post on\nSvbtle and it was a story with a bunch of referral links instead would it be\ndifferent? Is the credibility of it damaged by the fact I could make money if\nyou buy the things I suggested? Or something else...\n\nAnd lastly, is this unique to the HN community and its acceptable methods of\ncommunication, or a broader turnoff you would notice even if you hadn't found\nthis link here?\n\n~~~\nmindslight\nSo is this the part where you engage with criticism, as the worst that will\nhappen is fanning the flames of controversy which just drives more attention?\nBut I'm not saying that your comment isn't in earnest either - you're wishing\nto figure out how to categorically make spam look like not spam, as your\nstartup is based on making it easy for people to spam their friends and\nassociates, and so is highly vulnerable to the social repercussions of bad\nfirst impressions.\n\nA simple and easy first step to making your site seem less spammy would be to\nregister a whole bunch of different domains composed of relevant keywords.\nThese can be used to mitigate being banned from link aggregator sites and to\ndelay users noticing the pattern. Markov chain generated text surrounding the\nlinks would do wonders on the less savvy users, too. I'm sure there are plenty\nmore of such tips if you hang out in the right forums.\n\nWhat you fail to realize is that credibility has been destroyed by each and\nevery detail of the situation. The earnest blog that has the occasional spammy\nreferral post can be mostly forgiven (although the users that upvote it\nshouldn't be), as it's clear that the writer has a life purpose besides\nreferral links. I see no such redeeming qualities here.\n\n\"Should know better\" refers to the fact that you present yourself as part of\nthe tech community, while simultaneously disrespecting the general consensus\non spam. Although maybe it's just that the shark that was jumped has died of\nold age.\n\nOh, I just remembered it's Sunday - I've got to go do a bit of sanitation\nhacking.\n\n~~~\ndmor\nYes, creating lot's of domains is precisely what other affiliates do and what\nI have been trying to avoid - it feels very dishonest to me. I am extremely\naware of how this looks, how affiliates are viewed, and how credibility is\ndestroyed at every step. That's why it is so fascinating to me and why I'm\ntrying to understand if there is a problem to solve for affiliates.\n\nThere is also a good chance that this is just not the right kind of content\nfor this community.\n\nHow would you feel if Referly much more clearly said \"hey, if you decide to\nbuy through my links that is totally up to you - but if you do I am going to\nearn 6-8% commission. This doesn't change the price of your products, but I\nhope it will serve as a nice tip to me for organizing all this info in one\nplace for you. If not, no worries\"\n\n~~~\nmindslight\nI just don't see the angle. A respected blog posting affiliate links is about\nmy limit of 'earnestly recommending products and happen to be making\ncommission'. Referly seems primed to create low-authority (quality is\nirrelevant) lists which are then posted to various community sites, much like\nyou have just done.\n\nYou _might_ be able to save some credibility by also including non-affiliate\nlinks so users are given an easy-to-act-on choice, but I cringe for even\npossibly helping.\n\n~~~\ndmor\nDon't worry, you won't burn in the pit of spam hell... we don't want to be a\nspam site. The sad thing is that my credibility is poorly reflected in this\nReferly post, but if you were to read it in the context of\ndistributionhacks.com, daniellemorrill.com or the Twilio company blog it would\nhave a totally different meaning. And that is the secret we have uncovered I\nthink... the results of my experiment will be forthcoming\n\nThis is also why Klout is such a bunch of crap.\n\n~~~\nmindslight\nFWIW, my original comment was written in the context of what I've seen of\ndistributionhacks (which I am not interested in, to put it mildly). I don't\nknow if that changes your data point or what. I don't really think you've\nuncovered a secret - perceived motives matter _a lot_ (for example how your\naccount has remained unhellbanned, whereas as a 1-week old 'affiliateseo7132'\nwould have been gone quite quickly). I actually didn't doubt that you\nsincerely compiled a list of recommended snacks, but the context of 'how can\nwe put stuff in people's faces and cause them be interested' coupled with\naffiliate links for junk food puts you in spamming territory no matter how\nmuch meta thinking or startupspeak you have going on (these things just make\nfor the ridiculousness of it). Though I'm sure the strength of various\naudiences' mental immune systems will vary considerably.\n\n------\nmvkel\nI've made a similar list directly on Amazon. It's awesome, as I can just click\n\"re-order\" when we're running low for the items I don't have a subscription\nto.\n\nWhat sucks is Amazon carries nothing but garbage food (like the items you\nlisted); no healthy snacks that don't make a keyboard greasy, or orange.\n\nWhat I've consistently bought: peanut butter crackers, trail mix snacks,\nwater.\n\nI wish Amazon carried more _naturally_ sugar-free snack food!\n\n~~~\ndmor\nI agree, I was really struggling to find healthy stuff on their (at least the\nalmonds and beef jerky are a bit better but still, not by much). I have been\nconsidering setting up subscription, but not sure how long stuff is going to\nlast. What do you subscribe to?\n\n~~~\nmvkel\nStrictly non-perishables that we can never have too much of. In short, trail\nmix and water :)\n\nThere aren't many subscription options on Amazon, either.\n\nSomething that will mature over the next few years, I'm sure.\n\n~~~\njmharvey\nI've found that having plenty of fruit on hand is key to being able to work\nlong startup days without feeling like crap at the end of the week.\n\nNon-perishables are somewhat overrated: most food will be eaten (especially\nonce you know what people like and what they don't like), and having a few\ndollars' worth of fruit go bad each week is a tiny amount of your food budget.\n\n~~~\nmvkel\nYeah, we get fruit and other perishables, of course. I was just describing the\nitems I can (and do) order off Amazon.\n\n------\nrdl\nI'm puzzled why people buy popcorn in bags (with nasty fake butter, etc. --\nthere's actually a disease, Popcorn Workers Lung\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronchiolitis_obliterans>).\n\nYou can just use regular paper bags, put some popcorn in, and pop it. It works\nfine. There isn't a microwave susceptor or anything like that in the bag.\n(some tv dinners actually do include materials designed to heat up from\nmicrowaves to directly cook the food, particularly foods with low water\ncontent which would otherwise not get cooked well in the microwave.)\n\n------\nincomethax\nMaybe it's just a result of us being in the Midwest, but most of the snacks\ndisplayed here aren't all that cheap to me. I can get things cheaper if I go\nto Woodman's (local grocery store) or Costco.\n\n------\ndgabriel\nIn the Boston area, Boston Organics will deliver a tasty assortment of organic\nfruits weekly. We get this at my office, and it goes fast.\n<http://www.bostonorganics.com/>\n\nI'm sure there are equivalents in other cities.\n\n------\ngreattypo\nWould love to see a healthy version next.. :)\n\nAlso anyone who buys Diet Coke on Amazon is crazy.\n\n~~~\ndmor\nI will work on the healthy version, but have found it is surprisingly hard to\ncome up with at a reasonable price, it has always been a challenge in\ncompanies I've worked at. I usually buy Diet Coke at Costco, where do you get\nyours?\n\n------\nkdeer1\nGross, this list is a 1-way ticket to the Cancer Ward!\n\n------\nrdl\nAlso, Jack Link's brand beef jerky is disgusting. Really. almost any of the\ncommercial stuff is disgusting.\n\nIf you don't make your own, my favorite is <http://www.bigjohnsbeefjerky.com/>\n\nIt's actually made from tolerably good meat, not overly processed, and is cut\ninto nice thin slices which are easy to eat.\n\n------\nnatasham25\nThe food on there is pretty disgusting. Not sure why startup culture goes\ntogether with junk food. It's like buying poison for your team.\n\n------\nkdeer1\ni don't have a problem with the referral links, but all this so - called food\nis the worst stuff for your health. If you want to poison your employees then\ngo ahead feed this to them. You should learn a little bit about living\nhealthy.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: What kind of companies are willing to deal with \"eccentric\" workers? - similion\n\nHow many places are willing to deal with an \"eccentric\" employee who makes very odd (but inexpensive) demands that usually go against the cultural norms of the company but is otherwise a very productive worker?<p>Are there any big companies out there that are willing to accommodate the special exceptions of a harmless but eccentric employee?<p>Let's just say this employee will probably break every trivial HR (and Security and Building Management) rule for a traditional company and will definitely do things that makes any \"rock star\" company go nuts.\n======\nmiorel\nIs this a hypothetical question? What kind of demands/exceptions are we\ntalking about here?\n\n~~~\nsimilion\nSmart, Well Dressed, Presentable, Straight Arrow, Tin Foil Hat Movement.\n\nThink Richard Stallman but with more tinfoil, better dressed, and little\nproblem working with proprietary systems. Refuses to use any tracking devices\n(think RFID).\n\n~~~\nstray\nBy \"Tin Foil Hat Movement\" I assume you mean to be funny, while stopping any\npossibility of a meaningful conversation regarding some topics he's interested\nin.\n\nIf he's so smart, perhaps he's smart enough to understand things you don't.\nFor all I know, he's batshit insane -- but then again, people smarter than we\nare often seem weird.\n\nJust sayin'\n\n~~~\nsimilion\nTechnical people and people who need to get things done love working with the\nguy. Everyone else, not that big a fan.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow the Internet Is Loosening Our Grip on the Truth - imartin2k\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/03/technology/how-the-internet-is-loosening-our-grip-on-the-truth.html?_r=1\n======\njmnicolas\nMy opinion is that the mainstream press lost all its credibility by abusing\nthe trust we put in it so now they're lamenting that no one believes them.\n\nJust let me give one glaring example with Syria : western powers are funding\nand training terrorists which the press still call \"moderate rebels\".\n\nThere's not a single journalist that had the courage* to denounce this\nsituation.\n\n* I'm not talking about Apple \"courage\" admittedly, this is --loose your job-- courage\n\n------\njessrobertson\nNot sure I agree that the internet is loosening our grip on the truth. It's\nsimply highlighting the fact that most people never had a grasp on it in the\nfirst place...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nD3 6.0 - catacombs\nhttps://github.com/d3/d3/blob/master/CHANGES.md\n======\ncjv\nI've always been curious on what Mike would do if he could completely rewrite\nD3. I saw some experiments with a declarative API [0] which seems really\ninteresting.\n\nIt seems like the main learning curve for learning D3 is deeply understanding\nthe underlying web technologies (looking at you SVG), so could something\nD3-like have a more abstracted renderer?\n\nAnyway, once you use Observable - Jupyter notebooks are forever ruined, which\nis the highest praise I can give. Thanks for all your hard work Mike!\n\n[0] [https://observablehq.com/@unkleho/introducing-d3-render-\ntrul...](https://observablehq.com/@unkleho/introducing-d3-render-truly-\ndeclarative-and-reusable-d3)\n\n~~~\n_spoonman\nWhile learning D3 I was stuck on a simple bar chart problem. Just could not\nfigure it out. Asked on the D3 slack. None other than Mike himself took the\ntime to look at my code and point out the error. Then he gave me some general\ntips that he noticed. The guy is so generous with his time and expertise and I\nadmire him a great deal.\n\n~~~\nraxor53\nMike is everywhere D3 is, it's incredible. Most of the popular D3 questions on\nStackOverflow are answered by him.\n\n------\natonse\nThe first few days I used d3, I really struggled. And I got very frustrated. I\nsimply couldn’t understand why the library was so popular. But I powered\nthrough because people whose thought patterns I respected, swore by it.\n\nThen I read some blog post somewhere. I wish I could give that author the\ncredit they deserved. It explained the fundamental building blocks of d3, the\nselection APIs, etc with such clarity.\n\nOnce the light bulb went off, I was able to quickly iterate on some pretty\nawesome totally custom stuff quickly and have sung d3’s praises ever since\n(it’s been 5 years).\n\n~~~\nsummitsummit\ncan you share that post? im of the former camp as of right now\n\n~~~\ninfogulch\nPresumably, gp has forgotten.\n\n> I wish I could give that author the credit they deserved.\n\n~~~\nsiddboots\nThese two posts by the creator, Mike Bostock, sound similar to what the gp\ndescribed.\n\n[https://bost.ocks.org/mike/join/](https://bost.ocks.org/mike/join/)\n[https://observablehq.com/@d3/selection-\njoin](https://observablehq.com/@d3/selection-join)\n\n~~~\ntonto\nThe data join thing is interesting. I'd be curious about other future\nopportunities for d3 to sync up more with react. Posts like this [0] show that\nd3 can \"just generate the path\" and then at that point you can use different\nrenderers like React e.g. return <path d={line(data)}/>. It is more limited\ndoing it this way but more ties into the react model would be wonderful\n\n[https://observablehq.com/@d3/d3-line](https://observablehq.com/@d3/d3-line)\n\n~~~\njwilber\nI don’t have any public codebase examples at hand, but what we’ve done at work\nalso works quite well: basically we implement our D3 charts as a class with\nmethods corresponding to desired lifecycle events. We then create a Component\nwrapper around said class and call the methods during their corresponding\nlifecycle events. (Idk how confusing or not that was but I wish I had a repo\nto share to make it clearer).\n\nThere’s also a book I read while ago from Swizec Teller on d3 + react\nintegration[0]. It may be dated by now as it’s been some time since I last\nread it, but it’s worth looking into!\n\n[0] [https://leanpub.com/reactd3jses6](https://leanpub.com/reactd3jses6)\n\n------\nenjalot\nWe are hosting a d3 meetup online Thursday 8/27 (tomorrow) more info here:\n[http://meetu.ps/e/Jh8GY/1kwFr/d](http://meetu.ps/e/Jh8GY/1kwFr/d)\n\nMike Bostock will be doing an AMA at the end if you have burning d3v6\nquestions (though you can expect some more documentation on upgrading to come\nvery soon!)\n\nI'll also plug our other two speakers, Mike Freeman and Amelia Wattenberger\nwho are amazing d3 educators & authors.\n\nIt's exciting that this is the first big online d3 meetup since the pandemic\nput a stop to in-person events, and as a consequence of being online anyone\ncan participate!\n\n~~~\nazemetre\noh man, I'd love to attend but that is such an awkward time for me.\n\nWill the talk be recorded and hosted anywhere?\n\n~~~\nlbuchman\nYes, the recording will be posted to the Observable to YouTube channel after\nthe event.\n[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCD2tAKN32ya7V639gkbWhg](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCD2tAKN32ya7V639gkbWhg)\n\n------\njedbrown\nFor those looking for higher level interfaces for interactive visualization\nvia D3, check out Vega/Vega-Lite [1] and Altair [2] (a Python library based on\nVega-Lite).\n\n[1] [https://vega.github.io/](https://vega.github.io/) [2] [https://altair-\nviz.github.io/](https://altair-viz.github.io/) [3]\n[https://vega.github.io/vega/about/vega-\nand-d3/](https://vega.github.io/vega/about/vega-and-d3/)\n\n~~~\nkqr\nOne of the things I really like about D3 is how there's nothing it won't do,\nprecisely because it's a lower level interface.\n\nWith many higher level interfaces, things go great until I eventually run into\na situation where I would like to do a tiny tweak that would improve\nreadability a lot, and it turns out the higher level interface does not\nsupport that, so I'm out of luck.\n\nThat said, I haven't tried Vega. What are your experiences in terms of that\nproblem with Vega?\n\n~~~\ngampleman\nI think they serve different use cases. I love Vega-lite for exploratory\nanalysis and for quick prototyping. You can get fantastically complex\nvisualisations very quickly with it. But for building \"production\"\nvisualisations, I think the low level approach is better: you'll get much\nsmaller bundle sizes, you have much more control over the final look and that\ncontrol tends to be expressed \"naturally\" rather than in convoluted\nconfiguration.\n\n~~~\nawake\nI would not even touch vega, it’s the engine vega lite is built on. Vega lite\nis a declarative json format for representing charts. The spec is very well\nthought out and you can rapidly iterate on prototypes. Altair is a python\nwrapper for vega lite\n\n------\nvmception\nI just wish all the cool animated examples of D3 were updated to use the\nlatest version of the library.\n\nMike had such cool and colorful ideas for the web 8 years ago which still wow\nsupporters of any project. But I have had to spend significant time and money\nupdating things to work with Vue or React while simultaneously trying to\nfigure out what changed across versions of D3 while simultaneously trying to\nfigure out what the inherited version of D3 was even doing.\n\nMike seems to have opted for more practical designs in the latter half of the\ndecade in his exploration of data visualizations. While other contributors\nlack inspiration of using this as an art form.\n\n~~~\nmbostock\nWe’ve updated hundreds of examples to the latest version. Here’s the gallery:\n[https://observablehq.com/@d3/gallery](https://observablehq.com/@d3/gallery)\n\nWe’re still in the process of republishing some of them and were hoping to\nannounce tomorrow but it looks like someone noticed and here we are on HN.\n\n~~~\nvmception\nGood to see you here today, and glad to know that.\n\nWhy ES2015 specifically? Like where are the compatibility issues or is this a\nnecessary upgrade path for older versions and then you’ll phase into es6 or\nleapfrog that to something even newer?\n\nOr if ES2015 is “good enough”? Javascript can be a hot mess, there isn’t\nalways a need to keep up and the troubles arise when you try to.\n\n~~~\nmbostock\nCollections (Map and Set) and iterables; the latter practically requires for-\nof syntax and so can’t be supported in older browsers. d3.group and d3.rollup\nare much more enjoyable to use than d3.nest.\n\n~~~\nvmception\nIs this a consideration of many JS library maintainers? Or just you because D3\nhas broad appeal.\n\nThis and other compatibility charts shows only Internet Explorer continuing to\nbe the bane of your existence.\n\n[https://kangax.github.io/compat-table/es6/](https://kangax.github.io/compat-\ntable/es6/)\n\n~~~\nnicoburns\nIE11 is still widely supported across a lot of the industry. It's use is\ndeclining, but I suspect it'll be a a good while yet before it disappears\nbecause there are still so many IE-only internal apps.\n\n------\nWaterluvian\nDoes the full adoption of ES6 modules result in trivial tree shaking? I’ve\nfound that’s one of my favourite effects of libraries adopting the newer\nmodule styles\n\nEdit: it’s modular but the modules I peeked at have sideEffects set and look\npretty clean. I’m excited to see what I can do and keep tiny bundles! (I’m\nobsessed lately with making neat gadgets that load instantly)\n\n~~~\nmbostock\nD3 has been written in ES modules since the beginning of 2016 when we adopted\nRollup for bundling. The difference now is that we’re adopting ES2015 language\nfeatures that can’t be transpiled (namely for-of).\n\nWe didn’t get around to it for 6.0 (mostly for fear of breaking backwards-\ncompatibility in Node), but we plan on adopting type: \"module\" for Node in the\nnearish future. In the meantime you can consume D3 as an ES module using\nSkypack if desired. [https://cdn.skypack.dev/d3](https://cdn.skypack.dev/d3)\n\n------\ntylerscott\nAs a former Protovis user whose mouth hit the floor the day he discovered D3,\nI never cease to be amazed at the quality of work Mike does. Thanks, Mike!\n\n~~~\nmbostock\nThank you!\n\n------\nmotohagiography\nSankey diagrams are still blowing enterprise minds in 2020. I don't know what\naward it would be, but it should be important, and the author should get it.\n\n~~~\njeffbee\nDidn't the inventor of flow diagrams die in the 19th century?\n\n------\njakecopp\nIs anybody else annoyed by how tightly coupled D3.js is with\n[https://observablehq.com](https://observablehq.com)?\n\nIt's basically impossible to get started with D3 without using the Observable\nonline playground, I find it so frustrating.\n\n~~~\njiofih\nHmm no. It is not coupled to Observable at all, what problems exactly are you\nfacing to use it elsewhere?\n\n~~~\njakecopp\nBoth the introduction link [1] and examples link [2] on the D3 homepage [3]\nand Github [4] only shows sketches on Observable - is there any official D3\ngetting started documentation _not_ on Observable?\n\nSimilar frustations are aired in a forum post: \"I want to learn D3. I don`t\nwant to learn Observable. Is that ok?\" [5].\n\n[1]:\n[https://observablehq.com/@d3/learn-d3](https://observablehq.com/@d3/learn-d3)\n[2]:\n[https://observablehq.com/@d3/gallery](https://observablehq.com/@d3/gallery)\n[3]: [https://d3js.org/](https://d3js.org/) [4]:\n[https://github.com/d3/d3/wiki](https://github.com/d3/d3/wiki) [5]:\n[https://talk.observablehq.com/t/i-want-to-learn-d3-i-don-\nt-w...](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/i-want-to-learn-d3-i-don-t-want-to-\nlearn-observable-is-that-ok/1957)\n\n~~~\naddicted\nThe vast majority of library documentation of even major libraries is simply\ntext with no playground.\n\nThe fact that they’ve made the effort to add a playground by leveraging a\nfairly easy to use tech should not be held against the open source\nmaintainers!\n\nBesides, all those examples are trivially reproducible locally, the way you\nwould have to do it for the vast majority of languages which don’t give such\nfancy interactivity in their tutorials.\n\n------\nrenewiltord\nWhich wrapper library around d3 that's declarative would people recommend? I'm\nthinking something where I can swap the state in React between renders and it\nupdates intelligently with animations etc.\n\n~~~\niaml\nJust use d3 directly in react, rendering svg is ok for most cases. You would\nwant to ignore all the dom manipulation parts of d3, but otherwise they work\nwell together.\n\n~~~\nyoran\nIndeed. When you Google for \"React/Vue/Ember D3\", the tutorials always use the\nDOM manipulation layer of D3. But every front-end framework already comes with\na great reactive system to ensure the DOM is in sync with the data. And those\nare a lot easier to use than D3's in my opinion.\n\nThe only tutorial that doesn't do this and that \"gets\" it is one by Amelia\nWattenberger: [https://wattenberger.com/blog/react-\nand-d3](https://wattenberger.com/blog/react-and-d3). I recommend this tutorial\nto understand how to use D3 in React.\n\n------\nromanr\nIt seems like a very versatile framework, but nowhere I can find any recipe or\nguide of a very simple case - how to combine different types of charts in one?\nLike simple line chart overlaying the bar chart. It seems to be only possible\nby rendering them as completely separate charts and then overlaying one on top\nof each other in DOM? Which seems hacky.\n\n~~~\nfourthark\nD3 is pretty low level - geometry and binding data to create DOM elements.\nIt’s not really a charting library - look for libraries built on top of it for\nabstractions like “composite chart” or whatever.\n\nSo yeah at the D3 level you would just draw one chart and then draw another\nchart on top, probably each wrapped in a <g> if you’re using SVG. Maybe they’d\nshare X/Y scales.\n\n------\nd0m\nWhat's the best resource(s) to learn D3 for an experienced dev? I find most\nbooks/tutorials to be overly verbose.\n\n~~~\nmbostock\nI published a new tutorial for D3 earlier this year:\n[https://observablehq.com/@d3/learn-d3](https://observablehq.com/@d3/learn-d3)\n\n~~~\nAo7bei3s\nThanks.\n\nIs there anything in it that is now outdated?\n\nIt would be nice to mention the D3 version targeted in the very first\nparagraph.\n\n~~~\nmbostock\nThis tutorial, along with the hundreds of other examples we maintain on\nObservable, are kept up-to-date with all D3 releases.\n\n------\nldd\nOh, D3.js is awesome, and all the cool visualizations that I saw over the\nyears makes me glad it exists.\n\nLet's share our creations here!\n\nHere's mine: a tech tree using D3.js made many years ago:\n[https://github.com/ldd/tech-tree-js](https://github.com/ldd/tech-tree-js)\n\n------\njwilber\nAwesome, I’m always shocked by how much D3 has to offer and the quality amount\nof time + effort Mike Bostock continues to invest into the project.\n\nOn a different note, hoping the CORS issued I received when using a v6 version\nd3-fetch with local files got updated\n\n~~~\nmbostock\nThanks. Philippe Rivière has been helping substantially and making amazing\ncontributions!\n\nIf you think you’ve found a bug please file an issue on GitHub. (That said,\nd3-fetch is just a trivial wrapper on the native Fetch API, so any CORS error\nthere is probably expected.)\n\n------\nyoran\nI love D3. I tried plenty of other higher level libraries but very quickly you\nrun into customization issues. So for Backtest\n([https://backtest.curvo.eu/](https://backtest.curvo.eu/)), I moved all the\ncharts to D3. It's a bit lower level and was more work to set up initially,\nbut now I'm in full control and can easily extend any chart. D3 is a great\npiece of software!\n\n------\nricardonunez\nI use d3 in my map generator app. I’ll look into this update to add and\nrewrite some of the features. Labels have been an issue lingering around for\ntoo long.\n\n------\nin9\nFor me, a data scientist, learning D3 feels so far off since the background\nneeded to learn it seems vastly connected with some notion of frontend\nconcepts, which for me are very foreign. And honestly, I don't care much about\nUI programming.\n\nIs this impression correct? Is there a way around this? A learning source that\ncovers both?\n\n------\ncanada_dry\nI love D3, have been using it on and off for years.\n\nThe biggest pain point I have coming back to it - esp after a release or two -\nare the scope of the changes!!\n\nMany methods and properties have changed thus most of the examples, blog\nposts, and stackoverflow assistance are outdated so it generally takes much\nlonger than I had hoped - but the results are always worth it.\n\n------\ndaemonk\nAwesome. I am a huge fan of D3. I am still using v4. But I will definitely\nspend some time migrating on my next refactoring.\n\n~~~\nmbostock\nThe changes between v4 and v5 are tiny (adopting promises in d3-fetch instead\nof callbacks). The changes between v5 and v6 are also largely backwards-\ncompatible, so hopefully your upgrade will be painless. A migration guide is\nhere:\n[https://observablehq.com/d/f91cccf0cad5e9cb](https://observablehq.com/d/f91cccf0cad5e9cb)\n\n------\nzebraflask\nI have several charts on my development list that I have been planning to use\nD3 for - this new release is perfect timing.\n\n------\nncmncm\nJust won't render, at all, for me. Lotta \"Notebook not responding. There may\nbe an infinite loop that has crashed this notebook, or a notebook open in\nanother tab.\".\n\nSo why should something happening in another tab be allowed to mess anything\nup? (Not that there is anything.)\n\nNo, sir, I didn't like it.\n\n------\nRocketSyntax\nexciting to see event listeners drag, zoom. they make data come alive\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAdobe CIO resigns - insiderinsider\nInsider reports that Adobe CIO has resigned\n======\ninsiderinsider\ni think its interesting because most of the svp's are leaving adobe , David\nWadhwani left recently , Naresh Gupta couple of months back and coming to the\nCIO when the industry is trying to get some level of gender equality, Adobe's\nleadership is just male dominated with no representation of female\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFleck: A Lisp that runs wherever Bash is - rcarmo\nhttps://github.com/chr15m/flk/\n======\nseisvelas\nCool! Aside from satisfying the preference for a non-Schemey syntax, what is\nthe advantage of Fleck over the Scheme shell (who's manual page contains this\nclassic gem of a rant:\n[https://scsh.net/docu/html/man.html](https://scsh.net/docu/html/man.html)) or\nthe newer Racket Shell (unfortunately named Rash)?\n\n~~~\n75dvtwin\nSpeculating here... but in my reading:\n\nFleck does not require a compiled executable to be installed.\n\nAs long as you have bash Fleck will work. For scsh you have to have to install\nplatform specific executable. If it is available in a particular distro,\nperhaps it is not that bad.\n\nI write, these days, a lot of Ansible installation tools For Multiple versions\nof (and almost bare) linux, freebsd, openbsd (and hopefully at some point for\nDragonFlyBSD).\n\nToday, I have to write shell-specific scripts to do application-centric\nprocess management, application-centric backup preparation steps, health\nmonitors, smoke tests and so on.\n\nTo minimize my work, I instruct Ansible to preinstall bash everywhere... and\nthen I run the bash scripts.\n\nBut writing bash scripts is, well,... unsettling (hard to get used to\nprimitive return values, lack of normal enumerated parameter passing and so\non)\n\nWith Fleck (at least this is my reading), I will be able to install Fleck via\nAnsible and then write all the scripts in Scheme (which I much prefer compared\nto bash, zsh or anything else).\n\nI guess, if, in the future, Fleck will help me to avoid worrying about\nPowershell, kornshell and so on -- I would be delighted.\n\nSort of like shell-vm on top of base shells :-)\n\n~~~\naasasd\n> _I instruct Ansible to preinstall bash everywhere... and then I run the bash\n> scripts_\n\nWait a minute. I may be mistaken, but I thought Ansible needed Python on the\nmanaged machines, to run some of the modules. Afaik it uploads some Python\ncode via ssh before doing the work proper.\n\n~~~\ncapableweb\nI'm pretty sure Ansible doesn't _require_ python on the target machine as I've\nrun Ansible before with servers that didn't have python on them.\n\n~~~\naasasd\nAh, yes, the ‘raw’ and ‘script’ modules can work without Python, so I guess\nthis makes 75dvtwin's workflow possible.\n\n([https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/installation_guide/i...](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/installation_guide/intro_installation.html#managed-\nnode-requirements))\n\n------\naasasd\nAfaik Mal makes interpreters, not transpiled Lisps like Clojure.\n\nNotably, depending on the platform, transpiling on-the-fly may be feasible for\nscripting. Fennel, on Lua, does its thing pretty damn fast even on my horribly\nunderpowered machine.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\n_Compiled_ Lisps like Clojure.\n\n------\nhellofunk\nIt explicitly says that it does not support clojure code, yet all examples use\nthe clojure file name extension. Weird. But still very cool nonetheless.\n\n~~~\nchr15m\nIt supports a limited subset of Clojure code. I will update the README to\nreflect this more accurately, thanks for the feedback!\n\n------\nem-bee\ni was hoping for a lisp-like syntax for bash commands, but this seems to do\nsomething else.\n\nto run a bash command i need to do: (sh __* \"echo >&2 hello\")\n\nwhat i expected is: (echo >&2 hello)\n\nor possibly (sh __* echo >&2 hello)\n\nif i have to quote the whole bash command, then this becomes impractical\nbecause it adds an additional quoting layer, and doesn't make bash quoting any\neasier.\n\n~~~\nchr15m\nThis could be accomplished with a fairly simple macro. Patches welcome!\n\n------\nTerretta\n> _Now you can use a humble LISP to do Bash things. Bash as a scripting\n> language has many edges, but it is everywhere..._\n\nJust in time ...\n\n> _Starting with macOS Catalina, your Mac uses zsh as the default login shell\n> and interactive shell. You can make zsh the default in earlier versions of\n> macOS as well._\n\n[https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208050](https://support.apple.com/en-\nus/HT208050)\n\n~~~\nngcc_hk\nWhat is your intent? The program need to go zsh?\n\n~~~\nskissane\nWell, the big problem with bash on macOS is it is stuck on bash 3.x. FSF\nchanged license of bash, starting with 4.0, from GPLv2 to GPLv3, and Apple's\ncorporate policy says no GPLv3 allowed, so macOS stuck on bash 3.x. You write\na script on Linux using bash 4.x features, take it to run on macOS with bash\n3.x and it doesn't work. (You can still install bash 4.x on macOS, but if you\nhave to install bash 4.x that gets rid of the argument \"bash is everywhere and\nwe don't have to install it so that's why we use it instead of something\nelse\".)\n\nApple is trying to move macOS users to zsh because they like the license (it\nis MIT-like) and hence will be keeping up to date with new versions of it,\ninstead of being stuck in the past like they are with bash.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMassive high school texting scandal results in… sanity - omnibrain\nhttps://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2015/12/15/massive-high-school-texting-scandal-results-in-sanity/\n======\nDrScump\n\"The fact that sexting is consensual on all sides\"\n\nNo, it _isn 't_. The whole purpose for laws protecting kids from sexual abuse\nis that kids can be _too young to formulate consent_ because they don't\nunderstand the risks and implications.\n\n~~~\nNadya\nConsensual in casual sense. Not legal sense. Legally they can't consent (under\nage of 16) but there are a bunch of caveats and \"as long as both are under 18\"\nor \"age difference is no greater than 2 years\" etc. That muddy the water.\n\nThe case is centered around a boyfriend and girlfriend of similar age sending\neach other nudes. \"Sane\" people see no issue with children (teens, whichever\nyour preferred term for minors is) exploring their sexuality so long as\nneither is feeling pressured to do so (read: consent. In the _casual_ sense,\nnot the legal one.)\n\nThe very fact that it is legal for them to _fuck each other_ but not legal to\n_share nude photos_ is the \"sanity\" approach to the law. Why should A be legal\nbut B be illegal? This is where \"intent of the law\" is brought into play.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Guestboard 2.0 – Our Alternative to FB Events – Now with Video Chat - hamslamwich\nhttps://guestboard.co\n======\nhamslamwich\nHey everyone,\n\nPeter, Nick, and Joseph here with\n[https://guestboard.co](https://guestboard.co), and we're back with some\nsignificant improvements, a snazzy iOS app, as well as our own pivot/response\nto the growing need for virtual event solutions.\n\nThe problem that Guestboard continues to solve is that there are MANY event\ntypes that are too complex for a simple digital invite like Paperless Post,\nand too small for pricey event software.\n\nFacebook Events used to claim this title, but the average Joe/Jane needs a\nflexible and intuitive tool that can scale with their needs, and can manage\ngroups of 10 - 1000 people, whether it's personal or professional events.\n\nBut with COVID, we were presented with a new hurdle. In-person events being\nout the window for a while, we didn't want to lose sight of our original\nmission. But we also needed to meet the changing landscape.\n\nAmong other updates, we just released our Video Chat widget– one of 10\noptional (and free) event tools you can activate in your event board.\n\nThe Video Chat widget is nothing groundbreaking, to be honest. Just stable,\nencrypted videocalls powered by Jitsi Meet's open source platform. But with\nthis, we were able to build one important distinguishing feature..\n\nWith Video Chat, you can schedule multiple AND concurrent video calls, with\nslick invitations that are sent directly to your existing guest list within\nGuestboard.\n\nWhen paired with other widgets like Schedule, Checklist, Message Board and\nShared Resources, you're able to build an event board that is perfectly\ntailored to the needs of your group, foster a little community around your\nevent, and streamline your communication all in one place.\n\nAs always, we're here for some real feedback and critique, so if you're the\ntype of person who typically wrangles large groups of people, how can we solve\nyour pain points even further?\n\nHappy Friday!\n\n------\nyodon\nHomepage looks absolutely beautiful, but I suspect it would convert better if\nyou had more visual emphasis on getting people to click on your call to action\n(which presumably is hosting an event).\n\n~~~\nhamslamwich\nThanks! Always good to remember the CTAs :) We'll take a fresh look at the\npage with that in mind.\n\n------\nskinnymuch\nThe product looks great. Congrats with 2.0.\n\nHowever, I used Jitsi Meet on a daily basis for a year. I was a frequent\nperson to a Jitsi Meet room recently as well.\n\nIt was and is pretty bad relative to others. There’s almost always an issue\nonce you get to double digits. Even in smaller numbers, it is buggier far more\nthan Whereby or Zoom.\n\nIts cpu and Bandwidth usage is too high too compared to better video options.\n\nI avoid Jitsi as much as possible.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nIs California's Budget Endangering Silicon Valley? - loganfrederick\nhttp://loganfrederick.com/blog/is-californias-budget-endangering-silicon-valley/\n\n======\ndigikata\nAs an investment, educating, retaining, and attracting talented students in\nCalifornia would seem like a fundamentally positive way to raise the tax\nrevenue in the state. Those university students will often work and start\nbusinesses where they are educated. We've seen recent articles with charts on\nindividual ROI for college education cost vs additional future income - that\nshould translate to long term increased state revenue.\n\nI think the mistake of the article is to focus to much on budget costs, and\ntoo little on where value generation could be - not just as an abstract social\ngood, but as a way to prioritize and or structure funding which yields a very\nreal return on investment.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nRegulation, not technology is holding back driverless cars - ultrasaurus\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/business/economy/29view.html\n======\njxcole\nMy dad works in the airplane industry and had an interesting story to tell me\nthat relates to this. (I'm not sure exactly how accurate it is or what the\nsource is, sorry). Apparently, it is illegal for pilots to read while flying.\nEven if they are heading in a straight line with no one around for miles. This\nis because one time an pilot wasn't paying attention and due to a series of\nsoftware failures, the plane turned into a mountain. Interestingly, the plane\nwas tuning at a very exact amount so that the number of Gs remained constant.\n\nIn any case, this single crash caused regulation to state that computers can\nnever fly planes by themselves. This strikes me as rather unfair. If a single\nhuman crashed a plane, it does not make it illegal for humans to fly planes by\nthemselves.\n\nAnother example is that in London, subways must be driven by a human. Even\nthough driving a subway may be trivial (there is no way to steer), Londoners\napparently do not feel comfortable being driven by a non-living thing. They\nwant to be sure that if they die, the driver dies too, adding a level of\naccountability.\n\nIt seems that this sort of wide-spread mistrust of machines is driven more by\nsocially normal paranoia than any kind of logic. I for one am rooting for\nmachines to take over all forms of driving. There may be a few mishaps, but it\nwill probably become hundreds of times safer eventually.\n\n~~~\ngst\n\"Londoners apparently do not feel comfortable being driven by a non-living\nthing.\"\n\nDoes not surprise me. Most Europeans have not even adapted to automatic\ntransmission in cars, and still believe that a human can switch gears better\nwith manual transmission (which has not been true for decades now). Makes me\nwonder if they ever adapt to fully automated driving.\n\n(And yes, I'm saying this as a European).\n\n~~~\nweavejester\nClearly that's not universally true, otherwise racing drivers would use\nautomatic gearboxes. It may be true for everyday driving, but I'd need to see\nsome citations for this claim.\n\nFrankly, I'm a little dubious of automatic transmission. Perhaps I've just\nbeen driving the wrong cars, but I haven't found an automatic gearbox that can\nmatch a human being. For instance, if I'm descending a steep hill, I'll stick\nthe car in a lower gear, but an automatic always chooses the higher gear.\n\n~~~\nars\nAutomatic transmissions avoid engine braking. If you want it, you need to\nchoose it manually.\n\nAnd personally I never do for the simple reason that brakes are a lot cheaper\nthan transmissions. And I rarely descend a hill long enough and steep enough\nthat brake heating is a serious problem. (And when I do I usually just slow\ndown, and stay slow.)\n\n~~~\nstretchwithme\nI downshift on hills because that keeps more of my stopping power ready to\nuse. Brakes heat up when you use them continuously, reducing their\neffectiveness.\n\n------\ncletus\nNo surprises there.\n\nThe transition to driverless cars is (IMHO inevitable. At some point it will\nbe cheap enough that the additional cost will pale in comparison to the lives\nthat will be saved as well as the simple convenience of being able to do\nsomething else while commuting somewhere.\n\nLikewise I see this kind of thing replacing many forms of public\ntransportation. There will simply be a fleet of cars. You'll say where you\nwant to go and some system will route people and cars to destinations.\n\nBut, the transition won't be quick or easy. You need look no further than the\naviation industry to see why.\n\nBasically, automation in modern aircraft is a double-edged sword. It seems to\nerode the ability of pilots to actually fly [1], software errors causing\ndeaths [2] and (I can't find the link to this) I also read a study that in\nmore automated planes, pilots are more likely to believe erroneous instruments\nrather than their own senses and experience.\n\nThe issue won't be how the car normally behaves because as demonstrations have\nshown, current systems require very little human intervention.\n\nThe issue will be extraordinary circumstances plus the huge liability problem\nof any errors.\n\nExample: if someone runs a red light and causes a crash, killing someone, that\nperson is responsible. If an automated car does the same thing, the\nmanufacturer will be responsible.\n\nThat alone will impede adoption.\n\nInstead I think you'll have what we already have: slowly adding automation to\ncars. Cars already have radars and can stop themselves from colliding, they\ncan park themselves and so on.\n\nBut at some point the driver will need to go away and that will be a\ntremendously challenging leap forward for society.\n\n[1]: [http://www.tourismandaviation.com/news-4530--\nPilot_Reliance_...](http://www.tourismandaviation.com/news-4530--\nPilot_Reliance_on_Automation_Erodes_Skills_)\n\n[2]: <http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/8.77.html#subj6>\n\n~~~\nJoeCortopassi\nI couldn't get past the (unclosed parenthese in the second sentence. It's like\nmy inner programmer went into OCD overload...\n\n~~~\njacques_chester\nI couldn't get past the use of \"parenthese\"[ _] as a singular noun in the\nfirst sentence. It's like my inner pedant went into OCD overload.\n\n_ 1:Parenthesis :: >1:Parentheses\n\n~~~\njacques_chester\n... hoist on my own petard.\n\n------\n______\nSpeed limits are another realm in which regulation can hold back the\ndevelopment of driverless cars, besides merely allowing them on the streets in\nthe first place.\n\nWith computerized drivers, it will finally be possible to fully enforce speed\nlimits, by introducing some ceiling to the speed attainable by the car. I'm\nsure some \"well-meaning\" legislator will make it his or her priority to ensure\nthat speed limits are never exceeded. However, at least in Massachusetts, if\nyou go on the highway, everyone (including police) drive at ~75 MPH even\nthough the posted speed limit is 55 or 65 MPH. Few will buy a car with this\nkind of handicap, were it to exist -- and I worry that it will. Many speed\nlimits in the US were imposed decades ago, with less safe and responsive cars\n-- it would be a pity if potentially revolutionary technology advances were\nthwarted by this fact.\n\nLegislation has already crippled or made useless many useful automotive\ninnovations. In the US, technologies that allow for adaptive cruise control\n(maintaining a distance to the car in front of you) can only decelerate the\ncar, and not accelerate the car. This forces the driver to have to constantly\naccelerate, greatly reducing the effectiveness of this feature. Many computer-\nladen vehicles with navigation systems are similarly crippled -- they\nautomatically \"lock\" when the car is in motion, and some (like in Lexus\nvehicles) cannot even be overridden by people sitting in the passenger seat...\noften causing unintended risks like drivers pulling over on busy highways just\nto readjust their GPS target.\n\n~~~\nadrianN\nOr they introduce a robot-only lane where the cars can decide for themselves\nwhat a safe speed it, making speed limits obsolete. When cars can communicate\nwith each other about dangers, much higher speeds are possible with less\ndistance between cars.\n\n~~~\nburgerbrain\nAn absolutely fantastic idea. It's a shame it will never happen.\n\n------\nJd\nThe article doesn't make its case very well. The core problem people are\npresumably worried about is safety, and saying it they have a \"good safety\nrecord\" is hardly enough to reassure the senators, etc. who would presumably\nbe responsible for relaxing restrictions.\n\nFor example, what about edge cases? Suppose the Google car does just fine in\nnormal driving conditions, but in a blizzard w/ 26 mile per hour gusts of wind\n(as I drove in recently), or when a tractor trailer flips over on the road in\nfront of you? Humans have a certain intuition that allows them to do bizarre\ntwitches in extreme situations (even including supernormal strength) that\npresumably no machine intelligence will be able to approach for a long time\n(if ever).\n\nOr what about the possibility of someone hacking the car? Could a worm\nengineered by some hostile government take millions of cars off the road --\nor, worse, cause them all to steer into the median and cause mass damage and\nthousands of instant casualties?\n\nIt is, frankly, irresponsible not to consider edge cases like these when\ndrafting legislation, and while I'm all for gradual introduction and more\ntesting, the author of this article has convinced me that senators sitting on\ntheir hands not doing anything are probably acting on the interests of the\npeople much more so than those who wish to simply hand over driving and\nnavigation functions to machines as soon as possible.\n\n------\nerikpukinskis\nI wonder if driverless cars could start out as a tool for people with\ndisabilities. If such use were challenged, I can imagine the supreme court\ntaking seriously a case by a person who is quadriplegic or blind demanding the\nright to use a self-driving car. If they can prove them safer, it will be hard\nto find a compelling government interest that could offset denying the use of\nthis assistive technology.\n\n~~~\nkwis\nThey appear to be starting as 'driver aids' on new cars. Today's higher-end\ncars have adopted technology that alerts you when you drift out of your lane,\nwatches your blind spots, safely follows the car in front of you, performs\nemergency stops, parallel parks itself, and adjusts vehicle dynamics in a\nmultitude of ways.\n\nMy assumption is that this is a first step towards driverless cars, as it\nprovides the manufacturers a way to test critical technologies in a safe\nenvironment. If the dealerships aren't downloading data from these systems,\nand sharing it back to the engineering groups, thats an enormous wasted\nopportunity.\n\n~~~\njanesvilleseo\nI believe your assumption is correct as well. All of these 'new high tech\nsafety toys' are the tip of the iceberg. With all of these components being\nused and people becoming comfortable with them, we will soon see more adoption\ntowards driverless cars.\n\nI think another major milestone towards this will be the next generation of\nGPS, with the increased accuracy it will help guide the cars where they need\nto go.\n\n------\nmelling\nOne idea would be to make some long haul roads, or sections of them,\ncompletely driverless. Maine to Miami along a section of I95, or NYC to LA. We\ncould start the test with tractor trailers. Let them drive for a few years and\ntune the system. There would be a huge economic benefit to allowing trucks to\nrun 24x7 without drivers.\n\n~~~\npaganel\n> There would be a huge economic benefit to allowing trucks to run 24x7\n> without drivers.\n\nWhat would happen to the current drivers? Which new jobs should they pick?\n\n~~~\neru\nWho cares?\n\nThere was a time when 80% of the population used to work on farms. Now much\nless than 10% work on farms in the western world. Do we have 70% unemployment?\n\n------\nchrismealy\nWe don't need driveless cars, we need carless people:\n\n<http://www.carfree.com/>\n\n~~~\nalnayyir\nThis would make riding my motorcycle much safer, I like it.\n\n~~~\nseanx\nIf driverless cars start reducing the car road toll then motorbikes will start\nto look really dangerous:(.\n\nI suppose we could get self driving motorbikes but that would be missing the\npoint of riding.\n\n~~~\nnazgulnarsil\ngiven that a huge proportion, maybe even the majority, are caused by people in\ncars turning in front of or merging into motorcyclists I doubt it.\n\n------\njoel_ms\n>But it’s clear that in the early part of the 20th century, the original\nadvent of the motor car was not impeded by anything like the current mélange\nof regulations, laws and lawsuits.\n\nThey did try in the 19th century though, at least in the UK, with the\nLocomotive Acts[1]. The way those laws went out of their way to protect the\nstatus quo (i.e. horse-powered transport) is an interesting parallell to\ntoday's possible transition from human-controlled to computer-controlled\ntransport.\n\n[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locomotive_Acts>\n\n~~~\nmeric\n\"The Locomotive Act 1865 (Red Flag Act):[5] Set speed limits of 4 mph (6 km/h)\nin the country and 2 mph (3 km/h) in towns. Stipulated that self-propelled\nvehicles should be accompanied by a crew of three: the driver, a stoker and a\nman with a red flag walking 60 yards (55 m) ahead of each vehicle. The man\nwith a red flag or lantern enforced a walking pace, and warned horse riders\nand horse drawn traffic of the approach of a self propelled machine.\"\n\n------\npnathan\nSome things aren't brought into focus here.\n\n(1) Off-highway driving happens. That means that the algorithms have to manage\nan uncontrolled environment where 'anything' can happen.\n\n(2) It is very expensive to create bug-free software.\n\n(3) You can't iterate by failing fast on life-critical systems after it is\nreleased. Failure means killing someone.\n\n(4) Legal liabilities. It's not going to work to say something like, \"This\ncar's driver software is not warranted free from defects\".\n\n(5) Humans can manage situations utterly outside the norm; algorithms can not\nsee beyond the vision of the designer.\n\nI work in an industry which operates _below_ the levels of software assurance\nthat the medical/flight industries work at, and it is incredibly painstaking\nas it is. A fully automated car will be very expensive to build.\n\nI am not a paranoiac regarding software. I am a paranoiac regarding software\nbugs and the limits of the software designers.\n\n------\nblue1\nI suspect that this kind of \"risky\" technology will be deployed first in more\nadventurous countries, like China.\n\n------\nuuilly\nRegulation and fear are to be expected. The question is, what to do about\nthem? I predict the largest PR campaign in the history of technology. Public\nopinion generally drives regulation. So less public fear will lead to less\nregulation.\n\nWhile I have no way to prove it, I'd bet my right hand that Google's PR people\nmade this story happen. I'd bet they also made the first NYT piece blowing up\nthe Chauffeur project happen and they made it look serendipitous for\nauthenticity. I think \"The Suit is Back,\" and I think it's going to come back\nagain and again.\n\nPrediction: Driverless cars will be portrayed in a very positive way in a\nmajor motion picture within the next year.\n\n------\nRyanMcGreal\nThis is the crux of the matter:\n\n> imagine that the cars would save many lives over all, but lead to some bad\n> accidents when a car malfunctions. The evening news might show a\n> “Terminator” car spinning out of control and killing a child. There could be\n> demands to shut down the cars until just about every problem is solved. The\n> lives saved by the cars would not be as visible as the lives lost, and\n> therefore the law might thwart or delay what could be a very beneficial\n> innovation.\n\nIt's otiose to point out that the premise of personal motor vehicles is _not_\ncalled into question every time a human driver spins out of control and kills\nsomeone.\n\n~~~\ncyrus_\nHuman psychology operates in a realm only dimly linked to logic, my friend.\nConsider the response in the US to the \"risk\" of terrorism, which in\nquantitative terms is tiny.\n\n------\nwallflower\nI'm not sure I trust the underlying architectures that are being developed\nwith my life...\n\nDDOS and MITM attacks take a whole-new meaning if the networked entities are\n3-ton objects moving at 65 mph.\n\n------\nstretchwithme\nIts possible to prove that driverless cars can be safe. And that's by keeping\ncars from having accidents. If safety systems can keep human drivers from\nhaving accidents by stopping vehicles before they can have an accident, they\ncan do the same for robotic vehicles.\n\nSuch systems would place limits on how fast you could accelerate, turn the\nwheel or apply the brakes. And they would also brake for you when other\nvehicles, pedestrians and animals appear to be on a collision course.\n\nSuch systems will have to be proven in the real world. And we are starting to\nsee them. The newest Mercedes have such features. I predict that full blown\nsystems will dramatically lower accidents for older people, teenagers and\nthose who drive under the influence. Eventually all new cars will have these\nsystems.\n\nAnd by then it will be a lot easier to trust the machines.\n\n------\nultrasaurus\nSo much of technical progress happens through delivering most of the value of\nthe previous solution at a fraction of the cost (email vs postal mail).\nSociety seems to rule this kind of progress out for a few industries like\nhealth care, I assume something similar is happening here.\n\n~~~\nwilliam42\nThe problem with healthcare is not that progress is being ruled out but that\nhealthcare is highly labor-driven. So far there's no machinery that can\nreplace a doctor.\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baumol_effect>\n\n~~~\npash\n> The problem with healthcare is not that progress is being ruled out but that\n> healthcare is highly labor-driven. So far there's no machinery that can\n> replace a doctor.\n\nAs a matter of policy, the FDA will not approve any device that makes a\nmedical diagnosis without human intervention. [1]\n\nRecently there have been numerous studies and much punditry accusing the\nAmerican medical regulatory environment of stifling innovation and driving up\ncosts. [2][3][4] The arguments are strikingly similar to Cowen's argument re\nautonomous cars.\n\n[1]: <http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/37596/> [2]: For a quick\nsummary, see [http://reason.com/blog/2011/05/25/will-fda-regulation-\nkill-t...](http://reason.com/blog/2011/05/25/will-fda-regulation-kill-the-m)\n[3]: A much discussed recent report [PDF] is at\n[http://www.nvca.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc...](http://www.nvca.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=668&Itemid=93)\n[4]: An article in JAMA opined similarly [PAYWALL], <http://jama.ama-\nassn.org/content/305/15/1523.extract>\n\n------\njomohke\nArs Technica did a great series on the technology and economics of self\ndriving cars a few years ago:\n\n[http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2008/09/future-of-\ndriving...](http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2008/09/future-of-driving-\npart-1.ars)\n\n------\nzandor\nA somewhat similar note put very nicely by James May from Top Gear;\n\n<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS0IxnxwJSU>\n\n------\ntoddh\nPerhaps it's because software has an obvious history of being buggy. A web\nservice won't be down for a while if this fails, hundreds of lives being at\nrisk on a 24 hour a day basis. Maybe a little wait-and-see is a reasoned\napproach for a complex interactive dynamical system like this?\n\n~~~\nburgerbrain\nI don't think there is a computer in the world that has a worse uptime than\nmyself. Even old cheap Windows ME boxes did a fair enough job of being able to\nrun without impairment for more than 20 hours or so.\n\n~~~\ntoddh\nThe complexity of the applications will be far greater than Windows ME. Good\narticle on The Long, Dismal History of Software Project Failure -\n[http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2006/05/the-long-dismal-\nhis...](http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2006/05/the-long-dismal-history-of-\nsoftware-project-failure.html). Before we let everyone's self-driving mashup\non the road it might be good to figure out if they work first.\n\n------\nschwit\n\"There were nearly 6,420,000 auto accidents in the United States in 2005.\"\n\nCan we stop calling all motor vehicle crashes accidents. If the driver was\ndrunk or purposely distracted it is NO more an accident than if I was randomly\nfiring a gun hoping no one got hit.\n\n------\nkmfrk\nMaybe we just need to emphasize the negative impact of long commutes. Suddenly\nyou have that commute time to do something else. :)\n\n------\ngeorgieporgie\n_No state has anything close to a functioning system to inspect whether the\ncomputers in driverless cars are in good working order, much as we routinely\ntest emissions and brake lights._\n\nHaving lived in Oregon, Arizona, and California, I have never had anything\nother than emissions routinely inspected. Demonstrate a car smart enough to\nmonitor its own brake pad wear, alert on burnt out bulbs, and provide a clear\nreadout of all detected issues (i.e. not a coded blinking service light, or\nplug interface) before you start trying to make it drive itself.\n\n(I do love the idea of an automated train of cars, and driving my drunk self\nhome, though)\n\n~~~\ntrue_religion\n> Demonstrate a car smart enough to monitor its own brake pad wear, alert on\n> burnt out bulbs, and provide a clear readout of all detected issues (i.e.\n> not a coded blinking service light, or plug interface) before you start\n> trying to make it drive itself.\n\nI don't know about other cars, but all model Porsche's will do exactly this.\nGranted, it doesn't have as many sensors as I would like--leading to it only\ngiving an 'engine warning' light for innumerable problems, but when it comes\nto breaks, oils, lights, etc. it has a pretty fine grained detection pattern.\n\n~~~\nspitfire\nSame with the jaguar XJ since 1988. brake pads low is neat to see show up in\nthe display. The XJ has more sensors so it gives more than just check engine.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nFreeBSD 8.2 released - kia\nhttp://www.freebsd.org/releases/8.2R/announce.html\n\n======\nGetahobby\nThis is going to kill me to say this because I have been using freebsd since\n2.x but the lack of commercial support from the likes of Dell really hurts.\nRecently I couldn't find the cli utility to manage a raid card because the\nports system had an out of date location for the source. I was reduced to\nshutting down a production server just to flip some configuration bits.\nFreebsd is absolutely rock solid as an OS. The support from certain hardware\nvendors is a different story.\n\n~~~\ncalloc\nI wish there was a commercial vendor out there that would have FreeBSD\navailable. It would be very helpful in getting it into more businesses as that\nis a major show stopper.\n\n~~~\nLanzaa\nI believe there are commercial vendors supporting FreeBSD out there.\n\nHere is one that I have heard of: <http://www.ixsystems.com/bsdsupport>\n\nI'm sorry I don't have any experience with them, but you might be able to try\nthem out.\n\n------\ntrotsky\nDoes anyone have any insight into how well freebsd runs on laptops? Power\nmanagement, suspend, wireless and such? As an X desktop is it in the same\nleague as fedora/opensuse when running KDE?\n\n~~~\ncalloc\nWireless depends on the chipset that is in use. Atheros still has by far the\nbest support. Power management there are some, it is still hit and miss. My\nold laptop is fully supported, which is pretty awesome.\n\nAs an X desktop you can run gnome, kde, xfce, xfwm, or really anything. Some\ncomponents are Linux only (Xfce was recently bit by this) and thus may not\nwork as expected or poorly if there is no abstraction layer that allows for us\nthe use of devd(8) for example.\n\nFreeBSD is my favourite OS for servers, it has good hardware support there\nwhere it matters most, and best of all is extremely stable. If Linux has met\nyour needs so far, or even Windows, then stick with it. You won't find\nanything new and exciting and may even find it frustrating that certain things\ndon't work as expected due to differences in API's that are available.\n\nIf you want a distribution of FreeBSD that is pretty well geared towards\ndesktops, may I suggest taking a look at PC-BSD. They generally are not too\nfar behind the official release of FreeBSD with their FreeBSD version, and it\nis an KDE environment that is easy to install.\n\n~~~\njonathansizz\nActually, PC-BSD is not at all behind FreeBSD these days: PC-BSD 8.2 was also\nreleased today.\n\n~~~\ncalloc\nThe last time I played with PC-BSD there was a lag time of a couple of days. I\nhadn't checked before making my statement above. I hereby stand corrected.\n\n------\nmberning\nIt would be nice to see Amazon provide an official EC2 AMI for this release.\n\n~~~\njambo\nColin Percival is working on it.\n[http://www.daemonology.net/blog/2010-12-20-FreeBSD-on-\nEC2-FA...](http://www.daemonology.net/blog/2010-12-20-FreeBSD-on-EC2-FAQ.html)\n\n~~~\ncalloc\nAccording to this tweet they are up:\n\n<https://twitter.com/cperciva/status/39911086518050816>\n\n------\nuxp\nFreeBSD 7.4 was also released concurrently.\n\n<http://www.freebsd.org/releases/7.4R/announce.html>\n\n------\njavanix\nIf you are running ZFS this release marks a _major_ improvement.\n\nZFS v15 really helps with the overzealous memory allocation that earlier\nversions were plagued with on FreeBSD. Upgrading to 8.2 gave me a 20% - 30%\nR/W performance increase out of the box without any sort of tuning or\noptimization.\n\n------\nSargis\nQuestion: Will I get billed for a FreeBSD micro instance or does that fall\nunder the 1 year free hosting?\n\n~~~\nzcid\nI currently run a free amazon micro instance with FreeBSD and haven't received\nany surprise charges. As long as you respect the boundaries of the free\ninstance, you should have no problems.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nUTC, TAI, and Unix time (1997) - marcopolis\nhttp://cr.yp.to/proto/utctai.html\n\n======\nacqq\nThe article title should include (1997) as the year it was written.\n\nMuch better (updated much more recently with the latest developments) link is:\n\n[http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/time/leap/](http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/time/leap/)\n\nalso\n\n[http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/leapsecs/](http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/leapsecs/)\n\n\"In 1970 the CCIR (predecessor of the ITU-R) decided to disconnect clocks from\nthe rotation of the earth, but they kept the calendar connected to the\nrotation of the earth. That decision was implemented starting in 1972, and\nsince then the leap seconds have maintained the connection.\n\nIn 2015 the ITU-R will decide whether the calendar will also become\ndisconnected from the rotation of the earth. If the ITU-R decides to abandon\nleap seconds in UTC then the calendar day will become regulated purely by\ncesium atoms, not by sunrise, noon, sunset, nor midnight. The ITU-R will\nchoose between these two options.\"\n\nMore background:\n\n[http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/leapsecs/amsci.html](http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/leapsecs/amsci.html)\n\nThe possible solution:\n\nFor most uses knowing about leap seconds is unnecessary. Ignoring them is\nconvenient and enough for the common computers: you as the programmer can then\nassume that every day has 86400 seconds, and the variations due to leap\nseconds are probably less than those that happen due to your computer not\nhaving the atomic clock built in (the time provided by your hardware is,\nunsurprisingly, much less stable than the one of the atomic clocks and you\nprobably don't care).\n\nThe most recent popular article by Kuhn (2015) explains the problem most of\nthe programmers and computer users have is easily solvable without changing\nUTC:\n\n[http://theconversation.com/an-extra-second-on-the-clock-\nwhy-...](http://theconversation.com/an-extra-second-on-the-clock-why-moving-\nfrom-astronomic-to-atomic-time-is-a-tricky-business-35970)\n\n\"Unfortunately, the way NTP implemented leap seconds in Unix and Linux\noperating systems (which run most internet servers) made things worse: by\nleaping back in time to the beginning of the final second and repeating it.\nAny software reading off a clock twice within a second might find the deeply\nconfusing situation of the second time-stamp predating the first. A\ncombination of this and a particular bug in Linux caused computers to behave\nerratically and led to failures in some datacentres the last time a leap\nsecond was introduced in 2012, notably in one large airline booking system.\nInstead, alternative implementations now just slow down the computer’s clock\nbriefly in the run up to a leap second to account for the difference.\"\n\nAnd his proposal (since 2005, updated in 2011 based on the use of similar\nprinciple by Google, still valid):\n\n[https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/time/utc-\nsls/](https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/time/utc-sls/)\n\n\"UTC-SLS is a proposed standard for handling UTC leap seconds in computer\nprotocols, operating-system APIs, and standard libraries. It aims to free the\nvast majority of software developers from even having to know about leap\nseconds and to minimize the risk of leap-second triggered system malfunction.\"\n\n\"Overall, the Google experience suggests that there is a justifiable need for\na smoothed version of UTC for use in computer APIs, if only for due diligence\nreasons. (...) UTC-SLS has many additional advantages and remains a desirable\nand more robust candidate for a standardized, long-term solution for the same\nproblem.\n\nI like UTC-SLS as the best approach for most of common use cases.\n\nEdit: now UTC-SLS can be also discussed here:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9018504](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9018504)\n\n~~~\ndfc\nSteve Allen is one of the more vocal proponents of leap seconds and knows much\nmore than I do about the issue. However the general thesis that \"Discontinuing\nleap seconds would require many observatories and other organizations to\nprocure new hardware and rewrite software that deals with time and the earth's\nrotation\" has always left something to be desired. I have never understood why\nthe needs of a small minority (astronomers) should be the deciding factor for\nsociety as a whole. The argument for leap seconds would be a lot stronger if\nit did not seem like a tyranny of the minority.\n\n~~~\nacqq\nThe leap seconds in the UTC aren't making any problem if the operating systems\nwouldn't do \"unexpected\" things with them, as described by Kuhn. Specifically,\nthe software \"clocks\" for \"humans,\" those that are bound to the calendar time,\nshould just have 86400 seconds in a day. (2) When the atomic clocks signal\nthem the \"leap\" second they should just \"smooth\" it. We can have that with\nsome updates of our favourite operating systems. It's a pure software thing.\n\nThe solution (UTC-SLS) is simple and good enough for most of the uses,\nincluding Google's synchronisation needs of the millions of their computers.\n\nThe UTC is still just the to-the-second approximation of the UT1 (1) which is\nby definition bound to the Earth rotation (\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Time](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Time)\n). Steve Allen just tries to make people understand that the UTC is by\ndefinition \"the human calendar time\" (like: year, month, day, hour, minute,\nsecond) sent over the radio clocks.\n\nFor the time less dependent on Earth TAI also exists (\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Atomic_Time](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Atomic_Time)\n). So we already have the time reference that \"just counts the atomic\nseconds.\"\n\nHad there been less confusion among the programmers regarding the leap second\nhandling on the common systems we'd already all use the UTC-SLS solution and\nwe wouldn't have to care about the leap seconds unless we really need TAI.\n\n\\---\n\n1) Watch out for\n[http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-R/conferences/wrc/2015/Pages/defau...](http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-R/conferences/wrc/2015/Pages/default.aspx)\n(2 to 27 November 2015) if that changes.\n\n2) POSIX already specifies that every day has exactly 86400 seconds for\n\"Seconds Since the Epoch\" and the current code relies on that:\n[http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_...](http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap04.html#tag_04_15)\n\n~~~\ndfc\nWhy deal with the complexity of leap seconds; given TAI why should society as\na whole deal with the complexity of leap seconds just because it makes life a\nlittle easier for astronomers?\n\n~~~\nacqq\nIt's not about being easy for the astronomers but for the humans. The\nastronomers already have to use all of TAI, UT0, UT1 and UTC and much more\ncomplex calculations. We other humans use days. We have the daylight saving\ntime and nobody cares for an hour difference twice a year because those who do\ncare use the less moving time stamps, often called UTC, even if they are just\n\"synchronized with UTC\" and not exactly UTC, as they have in POSIX-inspired\nsystems exactly 86400 seconds in a day, always. Only some of the programmers\nthen \"discover\" the definition of the leap second and remain confused by the\nfact that their computers use \"UTC\" name and wrongly think that the exact leap\nseconds are important for them even if they only need the calendar time.\n\nIf you use the POSIX time routines (and you almost certainly do use them\nunless you tweaked something wrongly) you already don't have to deal with the\ncomplexities of the leap seconds (but you should care about DST!) Every day in\nwhat POSIX calls \"Seconds Since the Epoch\" (but is sometimes referred to as\nUTC) has in fact the same number of seconds (if you know C it's what you get\nin time_t for all the time stamps). Only the OS-es have to be fixed to smooth\nthe leap seconds instead of introducing them at once, and then even some\nobscure sync bugs will never happen any more. Google proved that it's a good\napproach.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAIRTAME introduces its wireless HDMI stick to the masses - robinwauters\nhttp://tech.eu/brief/airtame-launch/\n\n======\nhansnik\nAnyone tried it yet? How's the performance? Is it usable for fullHD movie\nstreaming?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nArtflock - what Artix would be like in 2007 - sharpshoot\nhttp://www.artflock.com/other/page/\n\n======\niamwil\nNot bad. Though from a superficial glance, there's nothing particularly\nforward thinking or advanced about it, the site is well implemented and\ndesigned.\n\nI especially like the color scheme, though a little bright, it gives a sense\nthat art is what's important here.\n\n~~~\nmpc\nAgreed. At first glance it looks like a domain-squatter site.\n\n------\nrms\nThere is also www.etsy.com which is for anything handmade.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nBuffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo - roundsquare\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo\n\n======\ngruseom\nWhen a friend of mine was in grad school, he helped a classmate prepare for\nher Test of English as a Foreign Language exam. They were going over some fine\npoint about past tenses when, attempting to explain a mistake she had made, he\nsaid: _If you had had \"had\" here, you would have had to have had \"have\"\nthere._ She screamed.\n\n~~~\ndcminter\nReminiscent of the classic 'John, where Peter had had \"had\" had had \"had had\".\n\"Had had\" had had the examiner's approval.'\n\n~~~\nteach\nInteresting that Wikipedia only dates this from 1947; my 1964 copy of the 1935\nbook \"Tricks and Amusements with coins, cards, string, paper and matches\" by\nR.M. Abraham includes this problem on page 3!\n\n~~~\njeff18\nPlease correct the article! :)\n\n------\nJadeNB\nOne can't buffalo buffalo without thinking of the two old standbys:\n\nThe horse raced past the barn fell.\n(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_path_sentence>)\n\nJohn while James had had had had had had had had had more fun. (That one was\nfrom an old puzzle book I had—had had?—as a kid. I find it much like the\nBuffalo sentence, in that you puzzle over it for a while, are told the\nresolution, and then say “Huh. OK, if you say so.”)\n\nEDIT: While my mind's on random funny sentences, this one was an old favourite\nof my mother's (who taught me all the grammar I know) from _Cheaper by the\nDozen_. It is the reaction of a child, whose bedroom is on the second floor,\non being presented with an unacceptable evening's reading: “What did you bring\nthat book you know I don't like to be read to out of up for?”\n\n~~~\npvg\nMore hads can be had there -\n\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_while_John_had_had_had_ha...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_while_John_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_a_better_effect_on_the_teacher)\n\n~~~\nJadeNB\nThat's beautiful! It must be 20 years that I've been subconsciously bothered\nby that puzzle, because I couldn't understand what “more fun” was supposed to\nmean in that context. With ‘where’ in place of ‘while’ and “a better effect on\nthe teacher” in place of “more fun”, it sudddenly makes sense.\n\nAlso, the linked article links to “List of linguistic example sentences”\n([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_linguistic_example_sent...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_linguistic_example_sentences)),\nwhich introduced me to a beautiful Mitch Hedberg quote:\n\n> I haven't slept for ten days, because that would be too long.\n\nand helped me remember a word that has been eluding me for some time:\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_linguistic_example_sent...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_linguistic_example_sentences#Syllepsis).\nThanks!\n\n------\nabecedarius\nI'm always reminded of this by code like\n\n    \n    \n        Buffalo buffalo = new Buffalo(BUFFALO);\n\n------\nnex3\nInterestingly, one can in fact create valid English sentences of arbitrary\nlength composed entirely of the word \"Buffalo.\" By induction:\n\nn = 1 is valid as the imperative of the verb. That is to say, \"Buffalo\" means\n\"You should harangue someone.\"\n\nn = 2 is valid again as the imperative, this time with a subject: buffalo.\nThat is, \"Buffalo buffalo\" means \"You should harangue some bison.\"\n\nFor n > 2, assume that the sentence for n - 1 is valid. This sentence will\ncontain at least one instance of the noun \"buffalo\" (meaning the animal),\neither with or without the adjective \"Buffalo\" (meaning the city) prefixing\nit. If there is no adjective, we can add one to get an n-length sentence. If\nthere is an adjective, we can replace \"Buffalo buffalo\" (meaning bison from\nNew York) with \"buffalo buffalo buffalo\" (meaning bison that are harangued by\nother bison), again yielding an n-length sentence. Thus, by induction, a\nbuffalo sentence can be constructed for any n.\n\n~~~\nsp332\nFor n=2, you have a verb and an object, but no subject.\n\n~~~\nsp332\nWhat's with the downvote? I understand the implied subject, but this part:\n\n _n = 2 is valid again as the imperative, this time with a subject: buffalo.\nThat is, \"Buffalo buffalo\" means \"You should harangue some bison.\"_\n\nis wrong. The two \"buffalo\" are the verb and the object. Neither of them is a\nsubject.\n\n~~~\nnex3\nYou're right. I got my terminology mixed up.\n\n------\nbdr\nThe AI dream: code code codes codes code.\n\n------\nghshephard\nFrom the Wikipedia article, the following was the only one that let me make\nsense of this:\n\n\"\"Alley cats [whom] Junkyard dogs intimidate [also happen to] intimidate Sewer\nrats.\"\"\n\n(Where the place \"Buffalo is replaced by \"Alley\", \"Junkyard\", \"Sewer\" - and\nthe act, to buffalo, is replaced with \"intimidate\", while the animals\n\"buffalo\" is replaced with cats, dogs, and rats.\n\nI'll admit it took me a few minutes to get the implicit \"whom\" and \"also\nhappen to\".\n\n~~~\nskorgu\nThe way I remember it myself is by building it up in my head first:\n\ncows intimidate cows\n\nScranton cows intimidate cows.\n\ncows Scranton cows intimidate intimidate cows\n\nScranton cows Scranton cows intimidate intimidate cows\n\nScranton cows Scranton cows intimidate intimidate Scranton cows.\n\nOnce I've got the structure in my head with pauses to break it up for myself:\nBuffalo buffalo _pause_ Buffalo buffalo buffalo _pause_ buffalo Buffalo\nbuffalo it's pretty easy to grok (and spit out on cue to the disbelief of\nothers).\n\n------\ngjm11\nSimilar but (1) better because it doesn't use coincidental multiple meanings,\n(2) better because it doesn't use anything so obscure as buffalo=harass, and\n(3) worse because it needs two different words:\n\noysters oysters oysters split split split\n\n\"oysters split\": oysters come apart into two pieces.\n\n\"oysters oysters split split\": oysters whom oysters split, split: those\noysters whom other oysters take apart into two pieces, come apart into two\npieces.\n\n\"oysters oysters oysters split split split\": oysters whom (oysters whom\noysters split, split) split: those oysters whom (those oysters whom other\noysters take apart into two pieces, in turn take apart into two pieces) come\napart into two pieces.\n\nMuch as with the buffalo sentence, this works for arbitrary values of 3.\n\n------\ndryicerx\nI bet Natural Language Processing Engines would crap them selves if they try\nto parse this correctly.\n\n _This is why we can't have nice things_\n\n~~~\nwheels\nThat's ok. Biological language processing engines crap themselves if they try\nto parse this correctly.\n\n~~~\njimbokun\nThe real problem is that an artificial language processing engine _will_ find\na parse for it.\n\nOne actual example I remember is a parse of \"New fans run.\" About the\noperation of recently acquired fans, right?\n\nWell, the lexicon in our system found an instance of \"New\" as a proper noun (a\nband or something), the use of \"fans\" as a transitive verb, and one of the\ndefinition of \"runs\" as a noun (think baseball, for just one example). So you\nhad this proper noun New fanning this abstract usage of runs as the parse that\nthe system selected.\n\nThis more than anything demonstrated to me the necessity of statistical\ntechniques in NLP (now taken as a given, but a fairly recent development\nrelative to the history of NLP research).\n\n------\nloumf\nI like \"The Los Angelos Angels\", which means \"The The Angels Angels\".\n\n~~~\nPerceval\nKind of like \"Montgomery of the El Alamein,\" which means Montgomery of the the\nthe Amein.\n\n------\neelco\nAh, fun with grammar ;) Dutch comedian Kees Torn came up with a (Dutch)\nsentence, repeating one word 16 times in a row: \"Als er bij het drop (waar\nbergen bergen bergen bergen bergen) Bergen bergen bergen bergen bergen bergen,\nbergen bergen bergen bergen bergen.\"\n(<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHnpjsR5q6g>)\n\n~~~\nloumf\nNo coke, pepsi\n\n------\nphilwelch\nWouldn't the sentence \"I want to put two hyphens between the words Fish and\nAnd, and And and Chips in my Fish-And-Chips sign\" have been clearer if\nquotation marks had been placed before Fish, and between Fish and and, and and\nand And, and And and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and Chips,\nand after Chips?\n\n------\nloup-vaillant\nWhich is why overloading and type inference aren't very good friends.\n\n------\ncompay\nOne in German:\n\nWenn fliegen hinter fliegen fliegen, fliegen fliegen fliegen hinter nach.\n\nIt means something like, \"when flies fly behind flies, then flies fly after\nflies.\"\n\n~~~\njimbokun\nShouldn't there be time and arrows in there somewhere?\n\n~~~\nLogicHoleFlaw\nTime flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.\n\n~~~\nBearOfNH\nTime flies like an arrow; space flies like a bow.\n\n------\ncode_devil\nI remember one from grade 5 which is kind of similar ... \"I saw a saw to saw a\nsaw \"\n\n(The Buffalo based is definitely not easy to comprehend in the first go)\n\n------\ncadr\nMake sure to click the 'Listen to this article' link at the bottom - many\nWikipedia articles are _much_ funnier if someone is reading them to you.\n\n------\ndonaq\nI am also reminded of Marklar from South Park.\n\n------\nbiggitybones\nEverytime I come across this I have to go to the wikipedia page to check the\ngrammar.\n\nI find these types of sentences incredibly creative (and confusing).\n\nA similar thing, inspired by buffalo and illustrated:\n<http://myapokalips.com/show/15#comic>\n\n------\nseanlinmt\nwe have something similar in the hokkien dialect.. which goes .. kong kong\nkong kong kong kong kong kong kong kong\n\nwhich consists of ... kong kong = grandpa kong = says kong = can kong = hit\nkong = dizy\n\nbut you have to get the intonation right .. lol\n\n~~~\ndkimball\nAlso\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_Eating_Poet_in_the_Stone_D...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_Eating_Poet_in_the_Stone_Den)\n.\n\nIt's a private theory of mine that the Spring and Autumn and Warring States\nperiods were so lively because \"this is an excellent shoulder of pork\" sounded\nexactly like \"I will attack your city at dawn\"... :)\n\n------\nkeefe\nmy sentence parser is officially buffalo'd\n\n------\nlukev\nThe buffalo sentence may be grammatically valid, but it's not \"valid\" by any\nreal test of human understanding.\n\nChomsky-esque generative grammar can't tell the whole story about human\nlanguage.\n\n~~~\nbillybob\nI think that's the point, actually. The fact that a sentence can be\ngrammatically correct but not logically correct, or be both, but still not\n\"make sense,\" is interesting in itself. It shows how difficult it is to\ndetermine whether a sentence is \"valid\" for speakers of that language.\n\n(Chomsky's classic example of \"grammatical but not logical\" was \"Colorless\ngreen ideas sleep furiously.\")\n\n~~~\nbillybob\nThink of it like this: Chomsky was testing the brain's language parser by\nhanding it weird things and seeing how it reacts. Like you might do with a new\nprogramming language: what happens if I try to add strings, or divide them? Is\nzero true? Is the string \"nil\" true? Is == different from ===? Can I pass a\nfunction into a function?\n\nThe brain's language center is undocumented, so we try throwing potential\nsentences at it and see what works or doesn't, then try to reverse engineer\nwhat it's doing. The buffalo sentence conforms to the rules we know about word\norder, and can be logically explained, but somehow it fails. Finding out why\nis part of the reverse engineering process.\n\n~~~\nlukev\nYes... the interesting question is whether it fails because of a \"rule\" we're\nnot aware of, or because it's simply too complex. The human mind is recursive,\nbut is it simply that it only have a \"stack depth\" of 3 or 4 and can't parse\nmore deeply than that?\n\n~~~\nfoldr\n>The human mind is recursive, but is it simply that it only have a \"stack\ndepth\" of 3 or 4 and can't parse more deeply than that?\n\nThat was Chomsky and Miller's theory (although they weren't dealing with that\nparticular example).\n\n------\npmiller2\nI saw a video a while back about Cyc where Lenat talks about how they make\nsure their AI is still acting somewhat sane by feeding it sentences like this\none, or, \"Can a can can-can?\"\n\n------\ntwelvethirteen\nthe article touches on the fact that a sentence of any length could be\nconstructed entirely out of buffalo, but it doesn't really explain how. here's\nhow to make it arbitrarily long:\n\nstart with \"Buffalo[place] buffalo[noun] buffalo[verb] buffalo[noun]\"\n\nafter any \"buffalo[noun]\", insert \"Buffalo[place] buffalo[noun] buffalo[verb]\"\nto change the meaning to 'bison that Buffalo bison intimidate'\n\nyouve just created a new grammatical sentence of length n+3. iterate and enjoy\n\n~~~\ncalcnerd256\npumping lemma?\n\n------\nbarnaby\nWell, it's good to know Buffalo NY has _something_ going for it.\n\n~~~\njrockway\nThat they have a bunch of overgrown cows that harass each other?\n\n------\nandrewvc\nMalkovich, malkovich malkovich malkovich. Malkovich?\n\n<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur3CQE8xB3c>\n\n------\nANH\nIn college, my wife was told this sentence by a metaphysics professor. He also\nused to have acid flashbacks during class.\n\n------\nquux\nI like:\n\nOysters oysters eat eat oysters.\n\n------\ngprisament\nMalkavich Malkavich, Malkavich Malkavich Malkavich\n\n------\ndmn\nMind = Blown.\n\n------\ntcarnell\nHey, it's available:\n\nbuffalobuffalobuffalobuffalobuffalobuffalobuffalobuff.com\n\n:-)\n\n...but I think I prefer BadgerBadgerBadger.com\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Does Facebook marketing work for any of you? - kiyanforoughi\n\nUse this article as a baseline of the discussion:\nhttp:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cnbc.com&#x2F;id&#x2F;101151565#_gus<p>Does Facebook marketing work for any of you? I&#x27;m in ecommerce and no one I know in the industry can make FB work on a profitable CPA-basis. I&#x27;m curious to see if anyone out there has made it work.\n======\nsherm8n\nFacebook marketing works. But I think you have to look at it from a different\napproach. Social media is about building human-to-human relationships. That's\nwhy ads don't work too well. But there are companies who do get good\nconversions with FB ads. Depending on the creative, the product and\ndemographic.\n\nThere are 3 things that I've done to make social media work for me.\n\nActively sharing content - I use a combination of Feedly/Buffer to post\ncontent. So it automatically posts 5 times a day. My followers like, re-share,\nand comment.\n\nBe engaging - If people message me or comment, I always respond. I believe\nhaving a high quality one-to-one relationship is important above all else. I\nNEVER ask them to try out my product on the first conversation. NEVER. Most of\nthe time I get turned off when businesses do that to me.\n\nAudience building - I think this is the hardest and most important part. If\nyou have no audience there's nobody there to read the content you're posting.\nAnd in turn there's nobody there buy the products you're selling. You need to\nactively find people to engage with.\n\n~~~\nAznHisoka\nI agree with audience building. It's like the huge elephant in the room.\nEveryone knows you need to share engaging content, blog, etc.. but how do you\ndo so when you have no audience to begin with?\n\n~~~\nsherm8n\nIt's quite easy to build your audience. All you have to do is search for\nconversations you're interested in and insert yourself. So let's say \"lean\nstartup\" example. Find people who are talking about that now and engage.\n\nThe hard part is doing this at scale while still preserving the human-to-human\nrelationship.\n\n------\nbdunn\nI've had great luck with retargeting on the FB news feed. Here's my writeup:\n[http://planscope.io/blog/putting-retargeting-to-work-for-\nyou...](http://planscope.io/blog/putting-retargeting-to-work-for-your-\nstartup/)\n\n------\ncallmeed\nI just started using FB ads for a sports trivia app I launched\n([http://www.playhattrick.com](http://www.playhattrick.com)). So far it's been\nsurprisingly good. We had a big surge in downloads and usage today. Both news\nfeed in in-app ads are getting about a 1% CTR which I consider good for FB.\n\nIt's too early to tell if I can make it profitable. Tying ad clicks to\ninstalls and in-app purchases (conversions) is also something I'm still\ngetting the hang of.\n\n------\ncodegeek\nThere was a discussion on that article here earlier\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6635021](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6635021)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWorkplace by Facebook - cerved\nhttps://www.facebook.com/workplace\n======\ntchaffee\nMy biggest concern about this is that, despite their assurances on the website\nfor this specific product, Facebook is well known for collecting information\nabout you in any way possible and then selling that information. Just for\nexample, Facebook on Android will collect all the names and contact info from\nyour contacts list and then create a shadow profile for your friends that _don\n't have an account on Facebook_. That's just one example, and there are\nothers. The only way I might consider using this product is if it were FOSS\nand I could host the product on my own equipment.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDefense subcontractor posted a job listing for XKEYSCORE 2 weeks ago - steveklabnik\nhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/08/01/is-xkeyscore-still-active-defense-contractor-posted-a-job-listing-for-it-2-weeks-ago/\n======\nmutagen\nAlso interesting in that the job description 'leaks' another name for a\nsystem, SKIDROWE. Some quick searches only turn up the same or similar\npositions for open for XKEYSCORE.\n\nCryptome is already on it: [http://cryptome.org/2013/08/nsa-xkeyscore-\nsaic.htm](http://cryptome.org/2013/08/nsa-xkeyscore-saic.htm)\n\n~~~\nsubsystem\nIt's pretty easy to collect large lists of these types of code names from\nplaces like linkedin. Search for code name, find new code names, repeat.\n\n[https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Alinkedin.com%2Fpub%2F...](https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Alinkedin.com%2Fpub%2F+XKEYSCORE)\n\n~~~\niblaine\nAh, I like the guy who lists his databases knowledge to include Excel &\nXKeyScore. Either XKeyScore is so slick that it is indistinguishable from\nExcel or this particular person doesn't know what a database is. Either way,\nthat cannot be good.\n\n~~~\nrhizome\nAt the end of the day, it's evidence of the NSA having low-skills computer\nusers rifling through your calls and internet. Make of that what you will.\n\n------\njonknee\nThe first thing I did yesterday after seeing Snowden's leaked Powerpoint was\nsearch for mentions of XKeyscore in the past and I came across these same job\npostings (and copied them down since I doubted they would last).\n\nI started compiling a database of the different programs, what's known about\nthem, what you can do to stay off their radar, etc. Sound interesting to\nanyone?\n\nPrograms/tools I came across include: AGILITY, ANCHORY/MAUI, AUTOSOURCE,\nCONTRAOCTAVE, WISE, INFOSHARE, TREASUREMAP, TUNINGFORK, SCORPIOFORE, TAPERLAY,\nMAINWAY, PINWALE, Tripwire Analytic Capability, Combating Terrorism Knowledge\nBase (CTKB), etc. Quite a few and some of those names are Hollywood quality.\n\nTools that HN readers would know about that were mentioned: ArcGIS, Wireshark,\nIDA Pro, OLLY Dbg, Snort, Analyst Notebook.\n\n~~~\nfsck--off\nThis article [1] also mentions finding lists of program names from LinkedIn\nprofiles, especially this one [2].\n\n[2] mentions:\n\n    \n    \n      ANCHORY, AMHS, NUCLEON, TRAFFICTHIEF, ARCMAP, SIGNAV,\n      COASTLINE, DISHFIRE, FASTSCOPE, OCTAVE/CONTRAOCTAVE,\n      PINWALE, UTT, WEBCANDID, MICHIGAN, PLUS, ASSOCIATION,\n      MAINWAY, FASCIA, OCTSKYWARD, INTELINK, METRICS, BANYAN,\n      MARINA\n    \n\nThe names of the programs aren't classified; if they were they would not show\nup on LinkedIn. What the programs actually do _is_ classified information.\n\n[1] [http://front.kinja.com/job-networking-site-linkedin-\nfilled-w...](http://front.kinja.com/job-networking-site-linkedin-filled-with-\nsecret-nsa-pro-514057863)\n\n[2] [http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jason-\nmiller/39/741/a49](http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jason-miller/39/741/a49)\n\n~~~\njonknee\nNames are the first step though. You can collect a decent amount from them,\nlike when things started, if they are currently in use, which companies deal\nwith which programs, etc.\n\n~~~\nsalgernon\nCodenames can also be useful when social engineering. \"Oh, it's ok, I know all\nabout FOXYROT, what part did you work on?\"\n\n------\nzby\nSo - do you guys apply to these jobs? We need more Snowdens!\n\nBy the way - have you guys noticed the text RMS adds to his emails recently:\n\n    \n    \n      [ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider\n      [ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,\n      [ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example.\n\n------\nnoname123\nI've been thinking about making a switch over to working for a defense\ncontractor over start-up.\n\nThe pay seems to be better in lower cost of living area's (Washington DC metro\nvs. SF); job security better in BigCo like Mitre, SAIC and Booze and less\ncompetition from H1B visa holders that cannot obtain security clearance\neasily.\n\nGet to work on cool technology with big scaling and parallel processing over\nweb CRUD frameworks. Anyone has experience making the switch?\n\n~~~\nfalk\nWhy would you want to work for a defense contractor after seeing all the awful\nthings they do on behalf of the U.S. government? Is a little extra cash in\nyour pocket and a little more job security worth your selling your soul to the\ndevil?\n\n~~~\nbennyg\nGod damn. Not all defense contractors work on the NSA spying technologies.\nPersonally, I think it'd be cool to work on anti-missile guidance systems or\nfighter jet avionics.\n\n~~~\nfalk\nHe specifically pointed out Booze Allen which is known for their NSA spying.\nIt's not like you can walk into the organization and say, \"Hey, I'd like a\njob. You guys don't spy on Americans, right?\".\n\n~~~\nbennyg\nNot the comment I replied to. He just lumped all defense contractors into\nsoulless assholes basically. And that's just intellectually dishonest.\n\n------\ngcb0\nAnd we learn the importance of commas\n\nDefense subcontractor posted a job listing for XKEYSCORE, 2 weeks ago\n\nDefense subcontractor posted a job listing for XKEYSCORE 2, weeks ago\n\n------\nbeatpanda\nIs it legal to deny people employment based on their having worked on projects\nlike this?\n\n~~~\nbennyg\nMeet Bob. Bob got a job working on a random system through an NSA\nsubcontractor. After several weeks on the job, and having gone through\nrigorous training, Bob was starting to feel uneasy with the work requirements\nand amount of details he knew. Bob had a TopSecret clearance however, and\ncouldn't tell anyone - not even his wife. After a few more weeks, he decided\nto try his luck at another employer. Bob was damn good too, one of the best in\nhis field - he was guaranteed a job anywhere for competitive pay.\n\nExcept word got out about Bob's employer - and specifically the subsystems Bob\nwas responsible for implementing. After the negative press, the NSA didn't\nrenew Bob's company's contract which forced said company to let Bob go. That's\nokay, Bob thought, he had enough experience in the field, right? Everywhere\nBob looked was disgusted at his previous job and the moral choices his\nsuperiors' superiors made. But they took it out on Bob. Bob was never offered\na job anywhere for close to the amount of money and psychological income he\nhad at his former job.\n\nMust suck to be Bob.\n\n~~~\niskander\n>After several weeks on the job...Bob had a TopSecret clearance.\n\nTop Secret clearance usually takes a few months. I'm comfortable with a world\nin which someone who worked for an NSA subcontractor for several months being\nstuck with menial employment for the rest of their days. Sometimes it pays to\nhave ethics.\n\n~~~\nBalgair\nMy brother got a TS. It took him about a year to get the thing. He had no clue\nwhat the TS part of the company was like before 'stepping through the rabbit-\nhole.' He worked at the job just fine for a few years. One day, he said he\nknew he had to look for other work. It took him a few months to find a way to\nleave. Eventually, he just quit without any job at all. He has a job now, not\nnearly as glamorous but he is employed.\n\nJust because they work for a contractor for the NSA, or they have a TS or S or\nQ clearance, doesn't mean they are not very smart and hard working. Hell, you\nknow they went through the ringer to prove they are trustworthy and loyal.\nBecause they wanted to help out all of us here in the US and then they felt\nthey could no longer, that does NOT mean they should be punished. What did\nthey themselves do wrong?\n\nBesides, this is ONE program the NSA runs. Mostly likely the majority of the\nTS cleared people out there have nothing to do with all this stuff. Those\npeople do make a lot of sacrifices for their job and for the US. A lot are\nmultiply divorced because of the stress, the secrecy, and the unpredictability\nof the job.\n\n\"Hey Sugar, gotta go. I can't tell you where, for how long, or if I will be\nsafe, or talk about a really traumatizing experience afterwards so I'll drink\nhard liquor quietly on the back porch a lot. Pick the kids up at basketball,\nwill yah?\"\n\n~~~\npeterkelly\n> \"Hey Sugar, gotta go. I can't tell you where, for how long, or if I will be\n> safe, or talk about a really traumatizing experience afterwards so I'll\n> drink hard liquor quietly on the back porch a lot. Pick the kids up at\n> basketball, will yah?\"\n\nIn addition to the potential ethical issues, this is the second reason why I\nmade the decision not to get involved with classified work (the majority of IT\njobs in my hometown are at defence contractors). I simply couldn't handle\n_not_ being able to talk to my family and friends about my work - _especially_\nif there were things that were causing me stress on the job.\n\n------\nantoinec\nAm I the only thinking that working on a project like this would be awesome ?\nFrom an engineering point of view, they offer an incredible technical\nchallenge.\n\n~~~\nwavefunction\nThere's a whole world of problems like that though, that don't involve\nquestionable ethical practices (depending on your own personal beliefs).\n\nMath is the language of reality, it's applicable to anything so I don't know\nwhy getting involved with these sorts of projects over just about anything\nelse is so alluring from a technical standpoint.\n\n------\nhendzen\nPrevious discussion:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6138205](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6138205)\n\n------\nD9u\nWhen I saw the ads in my state for Booz-Allen-Hamilton jobs requiring\nclearance a few months ago I knew that it was spook work, but thought nothing\nof it at the time... (I refuse to relocate, it's telecommute or I go\nfreelance) I wonder if Ed Snowden responded to those same advertisements?\n\n------\naswanson\nA script combing linkedin for skill solicitations that regex match ALLCAPS\ncould probably uncover all NSA job postings. For supposed mastery of\nencryption/deception these fucks sure seem hamfisted in looking for employees.\n\n------\nbazillion\nXKEYSCORE is just a Java front-end GUI, not servers/backend databases.\n\n------\nnorthwest\nThat's one hell of an opportunity!\n\nAnybody with a conscience in here? Please apply and report back!\n\nLet's penetrate the Borg.\n\n~~~\nmindcrime\nI'd apply just for an opportunity to be another leaker, but there's no f%!#ng\nway in Hades that the feds would ever hire me. I've been WAY too outspoken in\nmy radical anti-government / libertarian / anarcho-capitalist viewpoints and\nhave said way too many things that would - I'm pretty sure - automatically\ndisqualify me.\n\nThem: \"Have you ever advocated for the overthrow of the US government?\"\n\nMe: \"Well... ah, I mean, errm... aah... define 'overthrow', please?\"\n\nThem: \"GTFO out here.\"\n\n~~~\nBalgair\nMy brother has a TS. He said they mostly hire Mormons. They have a clean\nliving background and can speak the languages due to their missions. Also he\nsaid they asked a lot about being a member of the Communist Party.\n\n~~~\nconover\nReally? The Community Party? Seems somewhat quaint. I would assume now they\nask you stuff like, \"What do you think about the war in Afghanistan?\" \"Have\nyou ever traveled to the PRC?\" etc.\n\n------\nToothlessJake\nSAIC is also running domestic surveillance, currently having a facility in\nOakland built[1]. The facility is currently being funded by the DHS, being\nbuilt while no privacy controls or data retention policies are known.\n\nThis is an ongoing trend of the names most know as being involved in national\nlevel surveillance actively involved on the state and local level too. Another\ncase is Booz Allen Hamilton's processing of digital forensics for local law\nenforcement via federal funds[2].\n\nYea, no chance for conflict of interests when firms granted immunity, having\naccess to the world's data, are involved in 'petty' things like domestic\nsurveillance/forensics to assist in prosecutions of the wire-tapped non-\nimmunes.\n\nThis is an absolutely horrific trend that must be halted, as in halting\nliteral construction.\n\n[1]\n[http://oaklandwiki.org/Domain_Awareness_Center](http://oaklandwiki.org/Domain_Awareness_Center)\n[2]\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6014168](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6014168)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Log based forms for static sites - sudosushi\nhttps://github.com/knowblcluster/log-based-static-contact-form\n======\nsudosushi\nHey guys, looking for as much feedback as possible, to improve not only this\nrepo, but generally as well.\n\nThanks.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nItalian doctors successfully transplant a kidney in the place of the spleen - vanni\nhttp://www.thelocal.it/20161214/italian-doctors-transplant-kidney-for-spleen-in-world-first\n======\ncarbocation\nI just want to point our that the title, \"Italian doctors transplant kidney\nfor spleen,\" remains misleading, to my eyes. This isn't as interesting as it\nsounds.\n\nThe patient had renal failure and needed a transplant. Due to vascular\nanatomy, it sounds like the lower abdomen was not an appropriate place for a\nnew transplanted kidney.\n\nThe innovative technique was to sacrifice the spleen to create a space for the\nkidney, then to use the intact splenic vasculature to hook up to the\ntransplanted kidney.\n\nThe spleen is a lymphoid organ that people can live without. Many people with\nsickle cell disease are \"functionally\" asplenic. It can be removed after\ninjury. Etc. It's a highly vascular organ and has a robust supply via the\nsplenic artery.\n\nIn no way does the kidney perform the function of the spleen.\n\n~~~\nsctb\nThanks, we've updated the title again to help clarify.\n\n~~~\nmatco11\nThe current title is still misleading as it overcorrected in the other\ndirection: now it sounds like the doctors made a mistake.\n\nIf the word \"innovative\" sounds like inappropriate - which I am not sure why\nthat would be the case, given this was a \"first-ever\" technique, at least\n\"successfully\" should be added in the title to avoid it sounding like there\nwas a mishap.\n\n~~~\nsctb\nYes, thank you. We've added \"successfully\".\n\n~~~\nniels_olson\nI would change it to \"Italian doctors graft kidney to splenic vasculature,\nsacrificing immune function for intra-abdominal real estate\".\n\n------\nvanni\nOther sources:\n\n[http://www.thelocal.it/20161214/italian-doctors-\ntransplant-k...](http://www.thelocal.it/20161214/italian-doctors-transplant-\nkidney-for-spleen-in-world-first)\n\n[http://torino.repubblica.it/cronaca/2016/12/14/news/torino_t...](http://torino.repubblica.it/cronaca/2016/12/14/news/torino_trapiantato_un_rene_al_posto_della_milza_e_il_primo_intervento_al_mondo-154081884/)\n[ITALIAN]\n\n~~~\ngus_massa\nThe Italian link has more info. Thanks. Autotransaltion:\n[https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%...](https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftorino.repubblica.it%2Fcronaca%2F2016%2F12%2F14%2Fnews%2Ftorino_trapiantato_un_rene_al_posto_della_milza_e_il_primo_intervento_al_mondo-154081884%2F%3Frefresh_ce)\n\n------\nemilecantin\nAs a French-speaking person, I was a bit confused by the word \"Spleen\", as it\nmeans something akin to \"Melancholy\" in French (it was mostly used by\nRenaissance poets like Beaudelaire), but I always assumed it was an anglicism\nor something so I really wasn't expecting it to be a body part.\n\nWhat's kind of funny is that the French word for this organ, \"rate\", is used\nin the idiom \"Se dilater la rate\", which means laughing a lot.\n\nSo the same organ's name is related to both sadness and laughter, depending on\nthe language.\n\nI now realize that I still don't know what a spleen is or what it does in the\nbody; time to fire up Wikipedia!\n\n~~~\njessaustin\nI didn't know until I looked at a dictionary just now that \"spleen\" can mean\n\"melancholy\" in English too... The more common emotional meaning would be\nsomething more like \"spite\" or \"anger\"; hence the adjective \"splenetic\". One\ngets the impression that each different emotion associated with this word\ncorresponds to a different idiosyncratic medieval theory about the emotions\noriginating in the viscera.\n\n~~~\nThnboi666\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galen#Contributions_to_medicin...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galen#Contributions_to_medicine\")\n\nGalen and Hippocrates vital humors theory\n\n------\nnoobermin\nAnd I was expecting a malpractice mix-up. Can any biologist folk explain how\nthis is possible?\n\n~~~\ngus_massa\nWeird. IIUC, it looks like they removed (partially?) the spleen to get some\nroom to put an additional kidney, not to replace the functionality of the\nspleen. Do someone has a link with more info? Can any biologist/medic folk\nexplain more???\n\n~~~\nmikecsh\nI don't think this can be the whole story. Normally when a kidney is\ntransplanted into a patient, the defective kidneys are not removed (adds\nunnecessary risk). There is plenty of space to add a kidney without removing\nthe spleen so there must be more to this!\n\n~~~\njessriedel\nYep, and in particular it's not difficult to get sufficient access to\ncirculatory system.\n\n[http://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments_and_procedur...](http://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments_and_procedures/kidney-\ntransplant/hic-kidney-transplant-procedure)\n\nWe definitely need more info.\n\nEDIT: Actually, looks like it was in fact an issue of space and blood vessels.\nFrom the Google-translation of the Italian article linked elsewhere in the\ncomments:\n\n> The particular malformation of the baby made it impossible for the kidney\n> system donated by the classic conventional technique. The only option then\n> was to use another way of connecting to the bloodstream....In order to\n> create the necessary space for the new kidney, a revolutionary surgical\n> technique which involved the removal of the spleen and the installation of\n> the kidney on splenic vessels of the spleen itself along their course behind\n> the pancreas was applied. The ureter of the transplanted kidney was then\n> implanted directly on the bladder.\n\n[https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%...](https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftorino.repubblica.it%2Fcronaca%2F2016%2F12%2F14%2Fnews%2Ftorino_trapiantato_un_rene_al_posto_della_milza_e_il_primo_intervento_al_mondo-154081884%2F%3Frefresh_ce)\n\n~~~\nmikecsh\nOh how interesting! Thanks for the link!\n\n------\nrandogp\nIntentional.\n\nBoth kidney and spleen filter blood, although spleen is not essential and can\nbe removed (splenectomy). Sacrificing the spleen, the surgeon used the spleen\nvessels to connect the kidney to the blood circulation. Reading the Italian\nnews, the vessels of the other kidneys were in bad shape.\n\n~~~\nRaphmedia\nDoes that mean that we could implant a third kidney to people in the future?\n\n------\nkingkawn\nSince the transplant recipient requires immunosuppression anyway it's probably\na good trade off.\n\n------\nmentioned_edu\nThis is incredible.\n\n------\ngeorgespencer\nTo be clear: this was intentional.\n\n~~~\nerelde\nShould there be a renaming here?\n\nIt's not intentional clickbait, but my brain did catch that title very quickly\nand proceded as fast as it can to make assumptions.\n\nBoth titles here[1] are better in my opinion.\n\n[1]:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13176066](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13176066)\n\n------\nduiker101\nBeing in Italy, just by reading the title there was 50/50 chance that it\nwasn't.\n\n~~~\nalemhnan\nquite racist\n\n~~~\nbkmartin\nThat's not racist. Italy is not a race. It is an indictment of the medical\ncompetency in Italy based on his perception of their system. I wish people\nwould stop throwing that term around so loosely. If you don't like what he\nsaid, then actually form a coherent rebuttal. Not that his comment was much\nbetter than your own... just making a point here.\n\n~~~\ntigroferoce\nAs an Italian whose wife is working in the public health care system my views\nmight be a little biased.\n\nNot that Italian system does not have its problems, but we have quite high\nlife expectancy [1] and our system was ranked second in 2000 by the WHO [2]\nand apparently is still quite efficient [3].\n\nAnd, by the way, it cures just anybody the same, from super rich people to\nillegal aliens.\n\n[1]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expe...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy)\n\n[2]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Health_Organization_rank...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Health_Organization_ranking_of_health_systems_in_2000)\n\n[3] [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-29/u-s-\nhealt...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-29/u-s-health-care-\nsystem-ranks-as-one-of-the-least-efficient)\n\n~~~\nbkmartin\nI was not making any claims of the Italian medical system. I have no idea how\nthey stack up. I was taking objection to the parent post claiming that the\ngrandparent post was making a racist statement. If you guys are doing great in\nItaly, then awesome! :) Maybe you guys could share some notes with the United\nStates, particularly when it comes to cost... we need serious help.\n\n~~~\ntigroferoce\nI totally agree with you. I'm not the best person to ask for advices, but this\nguy [1] knows tons about how to run hospitals on budget. The only problem is\nthat he is perceived as very leftish in Europe, so I guess that in the U.S.\nhis opinions will never ever be acceptable.\n\n[1]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gino_Strada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gino_Strada)\n\n------\nintellix\nyour leg bone's connected to your........ hip bone\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHow Jos. A Bank Makes Money By Selling One Suit And Giving Seven Away For Free - ayers\nhttp://www.businessinsider.com/jos-a-bank-business-model-2012-11\n\n======\nxmodem\nThank you, captain obvious.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nUnix and Object-Oriented Languages - nkurz\nhttp://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/unix_and_oo.html\n\n======\ntedunangst\n\"For example, a+a+a+a can become a*4 and even a<<2 if a is an integer. But if\none creates a class with operators, there is nothing to indicate if they are\ncommutative, distributive, or associative. Since one isn't supposed to look\ninside the object, it's not possible to know which of two equivalent\nexpressions is more efficient.\"\n\nBut it is ok (expected even?) to look inside the implementation of every\nfunction in a non-OO language?\n\nExplain how I am to know which to choose from the equivalent C code of add(a,\nadd(a, add(a, a))) or multiply(a, 4)?\n\nThere are reasons to dislike aspects of C++, but the \"omg operators are hard\"\nmeme is the biggest dumbest straw man around.\n\n~~~\ndasil003\nThe whole article has a whiff of bullshit even if it seems truthy at times.\nYes, OOP is a great fit for GUI programming which helped it rise to\nprominence, however the rest of it is spoken like someone who has never really\ndone any serious OOP.\n\nI think it's fair to say that OOP is not significantly different from\nprocedural programming, and certainly can't be considered universally better.\nIt just provides some additional tools for structuring the code and data,\nhowever it doesn't offer any deep and powerful benefits like functional\nprogramming or s-expressions provide.\n\n------\ndkarl\nWhat's the clinical terminology for this? Projective collective delusional\nnarcissism? I'm a Unix programmer, and I disavow this rant. Reading this makes\nme ashamed of every time I've thought and spoken this way. (At least I can\nthank the author for providing that clarity.) Unix programmers rarely tackle\nthe kinds of problems that OO approaches are best and most necessary for. When\nthey do, they usually aren't acting as \"Unix programmers\" or \"systems\nprogrammers.\" I occasionally write performance-critical code that talks\ndirectly to hardware, and I have written embedded code that runs on that\nhardware as well. Of course I wrote lean code without layers of goopy\nabstraction. But I don't walk around with my chest puffed out just because\nI've written low-level non-OO code, because I've also written GUI applications\nusing Eclipse RCP, which is plugin-based Java abstraction-on-steroids that\nmakes architecture astronauts giddy. I would use Eclipse RCP again in a\nheartbeat if I needed to produce another heavyweight, complex GUI application.\nLooking down on somebody because the best way to do their job is not the best\nway to do your job is stupid.\n\n~~~\nhvs\nI would argue that he does point out that OO is good for certain types of\napplications, specifically GUI applications. I do agree with you that the\napplication paradigm is often overly touted as the epitome of good design, but\nthat doesn't change the fact that the original design ideas behind Unix were\ngood ones. On the other hand, I would also argue that modern Unix software (at\nleast in the Linux world) rarely follows that paradigm. Most desktop\napplications in Linux follow precisely the same methodology (and inherit its\nflaws) as Windows applications. They are often big, bloated, and slow.\n\n------\nhvs\nI hoping the resurgence of functional languages will drive this point home,\nbut I'm certainly not sure that it will. I've worked on large, well-designed\nOO systems, and I've worked on awful, convoluted morasses. OO languages are a\ntool, but they are no replacement for competent software engineers.\nConversely, I've worked on both types of systems written in imperative\nlanguages as well (that's where we get the concept of \"spaghetti code\"). OO\njust seems to make it easier to make a big mess.\n\n------\nTallGuyShort\n>> [OOP] can backfire badly if coders end up doing simple things in complex\nways just because they can.\n\nVery true. I'm taking several courses where the vast majority of students have\nonly been exposed to Java, where as I've come from a C background with\nexperience in several other languages. I'm shocked at how the other students\nhave no sense of efficiency or simplicity - everything has to be about making\nother classes do the work, and it ends up being a horrible project.\n\n~~~\njavanix\nI think the trouble with teaching mostly Java-only courses early on in CS\ncurricula is that it makes it difficult to catch the subtle middle ground\nwhere OO actually makes code more readable/maintainable instead of more\nbloated.\n\nGranted, a lot of that comes from experience in OO languages, but I think\nusing C or another language helps people see that middle ground a lot easier.\nIt helps make it more obvious where OO would help and where it would just be\nneedless obfuscation.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMoving AWS Glue jobs to ECS on AWS Fargate led to 60% net savings - cloudfalcon\nhttps://www.taloflow.ai/blog/aws-glue-to-ecs\n======\ncloudfalcon\nHey HN, we had this question pop up about how we moved our AWS glue jobs from\nFargate to ECS on our last post, so wanted to follow up to answer that\nquestion.\n\nThis might be helpful for anyone thinking about a similar migration. If you\nhave any questions / comments let us know.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhat Explainable AI fails to explain (and how we fix that) - alvinwan\nhttps://towardsdatascience.com/what-explainable-ai-fails-to-explain-and-how-we-fix-that-1e35e37bee07\n======\nalvinwan\ntl;dr We made models as accurate as neural networks and as interpretable as\ndecision trees. This work focuses on image classification for computer vision.\nYou can also find out more on our project page\n[http://nbdt.alvinwan.com](http://nbdt.alvinwan.com) or arxiv submission\n[https://arxiv.org/abs/2004.00221](https://arxiv.org/abs/2004.00221)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHedge Funder Who Bet $100 Million On Facebook IPO Is Furious - xtiy\nhttp://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-q-hedge-funder-bet-184159786.html\n======\nnl\nI love this story on so many levels.\n\nFirstly there is the irony of a \"blue collar hedge fund manager\"\n\nThere's the fact the lack of an IPO bump means Facebook equity holders are the\npeople who made money out of it, instead of the investment banks buying at the\nopening and hoping to sell at the bump price.\n\nThen there's the whole \"HN thinks Facebook is worthless and has the\nsatisfaction of seeing the stock drop on the opening day.\" thing. Now it turns\nout all the self-congratulation over people's \"insightful analysis\" was\nprobably misplaced - Facebook may or may not be overvalued, but the stock\nprice probably doesn't reflect the market consensus yet.\n\nFinally, in an ironic twist Shakespeare would have been proud of it turns out\nthat it was probably the NASDAQ's _computer system_ that meant Facebook missed\nan IPO bump. Silicon Valley loves talking about how Wall St over-hyped IPOs\nduring the dot-com bubble and blaming it for the lack of a significant IPO\nexit strategy since. Now it was a _computer system_ that failed Silicon\nValley's great hope of reigniting the IPO market.\n\n~~~\nto3m\nThis particular man presumably understands class as the English do - that in\nmany cases, it's as much (or more) to do with your upbringing and background\nas it is to do with your current social status.\n\nPerhaps \"blue collar\" isn't quite the term for this, though. I can't imagine\nthere are many blue collar workers in a hedge fund. Maybe the cleaners...\n\n~~~\nticks\nI guess he's trying to say that he feels like he shouldn't be there, a\npretender to the throne. Happens a lot when you are working class and join a\ndepartment/division that attracts people from more affluent families.\n\n------\ndangero\nI bought Facebook with a limit order when it went on sale to the general\npublic last Friday, and I can confirm it was a terrible experience. Here's\nbasically what happened:\n\nI put in a limit order through tdameritrade the night before with a max price\nof $44. I'm in front of the computer that morning to watch my order when the\nIPO starts. The price spikes up to 45, then treads around low 40s. I refresh\nmy account. My limit order has not gone through. I wait AN HOUR. Still, it has\nnot gone through so I cancel it. Now it says, \"Pending Cancellation.\" It\nremains \"Pending Cancellation\" for over an hour, so I try to call\ntdameritrade, but their lines are completely backed up with calls. Finally,\nthe system suddenly reports that my order was accepted and I bought Facebook\nat 42. It's only an hour from market close by the time I see this. What this\nmeant for me and most everyone else was that I was locked out of the market\nfor the first 2 hours after IPO and my assets were frozen. I could neither buy\nnor sell. I don't think we can really know what the impact of this was on the\nmarket, but it certainly didn't instill short term confidence in the Facebook\nIPO and I think it definitely decreased the volume on the stock.\n\nI'm not going to defend everything the guy said, but I do believe that NASDAQ\nbotched the IPO badly and it may be a few months before we know what the\nmarket really values Facebook at. There may even be permanent damage done to\nFacebook's reputation.\n\n~~~\ngrey-area\n_There may even be permanent damage done to Facebook's reputation._\n\nAny permanent damage done to Facebook's reputation will purely be because they\novervalued the IPO, overstated earnings, bought out other internet companies\nat inflated valuations pre-IPO, and burned those who bought at the inflated\ninitial valuation.\n\nAs to whether the trading system damaged confidence in Facebook - it's not\nalways possible to get the deal you want on a stock-market, and anyone placing\na limit order should know that they might get a vastly different price than\nthe one they expected - there are disclaimers in trading systems specifically\nfor this situation. Trading is stopped all the time by circuit breakers (see\nZynga that same day for example), depends on both willing buyers and sellers\nat a given price, and of course depends on the trading systems not going down\nfor whatever reason. If you're buying as a long term investment of a stock\nthat you believe in this won't affect you. If you're speculating, particularly\nshort-term, you should recognise that the casino is rigged against small\ninvestors - the stock market is not, and never will be, rational, fair, or\nefficient; it's just the least worst option we have. However I don't believe\nthat lack of access to the stock or prices on the first day of trading has\nanything to do with the current price ($31 last time I looked) - that's just\ndown to a bubble deflating and confidence evaporating as people start asking\nquestions about the true valuation.\n\nFrankly I think this sort of talk of the technical issues is really a way of\navoiding talking about why people bought Facebook at the initial irrational\nPE/price which (IMHO) has farther to fall before it becomes a reasonable\nvaluation based on their projected earnings. That's the real issue here, but\none which raises hard questions about the very high valuation of many social\nmedia companies like Instagram, Facebook etc.\n\n~~~\ntheorique\n_anyone placing a limit order should know that they might get a vastly\ndifferent price than the one they expected_\n\nIf you place a _limit_ order at (e.g.) $100, your order should be filled at or\nbelow $100 - no exceptions. The order will stay around until it is either\nfilled, manually cancelled, or expires (at end of day or at a prescribed\ntime).\n\nA _market_ order can be filled at an arbitrary price because you are\ncommunicating that you are willing to cross the bid-ask spread and meet the\nmarket price, even if it's moving rapidly.\n\n~~~\ngrey-area\nSorry this wasn't very clear. I meant that you might not get what you expected\n(though it will conform to the rule you set, if it completes). Stocks can be\nvery volatile and a limit order only controls movement one way, so it doesn't\nprotect you from (say) a huge drop in stock price just after your order.\n\n~~~\nuptown\nWhat does what happens after your order is filled have to do with your limit\norder execution price?\n\nIf you want protection from price decreases after a buy, also put in a stop\norder (which will turn into a market order) or a stop limit order (which\nensures execution at the specified limit price) but which may not execute if\nthe price movement is highly volatile.\n\n------\nzackzackzack\n\"Anonymous Hedge Fund Manager: No doubt. But this should have been a\nblockbuster. This should have traded to $60 or $70. This should have launched\na wave of tech IPOs.\"\n\nI think Facebook just deflated the tech IPO bubble for a year or so. No\naverage Joe is going to invest, because, \"Well fuck, if Facebook didn't\nexplode, why would any other new tech company? No thanks.\" The bubble is still\nthere, but it isn't looking like it will be rapidly expanding like people\nexpected it to after the fb IPO.\n\n~~~\nwaterlesscloud\nI think it's longer than a year. It'll take something really huge to overcome\n\"Well, if Facebook couldn't break out, who can?\"\n\nThat will ripple back through all investment phases since the ipo is the dream\npayoff day for many investment rounds.\n\n~~~\ntibbon\nI agree with you. For all the startups that wanted to be the \"Facebook of\nX\"... if Facebook couldn't do it, why could they?\n\n~~~\nmalandrew\nMos' def. They now have a reason to start looking at a revenue sources that\naren't based on ads.\n\nEvery time I hear about a startup trying to shoe in an ad-based business model\nwhere you could make money selling directly or via high value _intent-based_\nreferral fees to complementary businesses I cringe a bit. A lot of the time\nads as a revenue stream are a total cop out that demonstrate a total lack of\nbusiness sense an ability to spot value.\n\nGoogle is successful in ads because they are a generalist intent capture\nplatform. Unless your business also happens to capture generalist intent, you\nshould be thinking about referral revenue based on _focused intents._\n\n~~~\ntibbon\nI just thought we learned years ago that the ago model really wasn't a good\none.\n\n------\npowera\nThis guy is a moron. Anybody who believes the stock would be at $70 if \"the\nmarket\" worked better doesn't understand how markets work in theory or\npractice. If there are people who really believe the stock is worth $70, there\nwould have been buyers the past two days. Expecting \"hype\" around the IPO to\nsupport ONE HUNDRED BILLION dollars of extra valuation is beyond stupid.\n\n~~~\nmbreese\nThere very well may have been buyers on Friday who thought the stock was worth\n$70. If the market had been able to handle the volume, then we may very well\nbe seeing FB at $70 today. However, since we know that the market couldn't\nhandle the volume, it most certainly _did_ affect the share price on Friday.\nNow, you let people sit and think about this over the weekend and they may\nhave different feelings about that supposed $70 valuation.\n\nNext, if you assume his story about selling on Monday was true, you have\nadditional downward pressure put on FB as a result of NASDAQ itself. So much\nso that it closes at $34, eroding everyone's confidence in the $70 valuation\nthat they had in their minds on Friday.\n\nMarkets only work if they operate efficiently (can handle the volume). When\nthey don't work efficiently, they become harder to predict. And if an investor\ncan't even be sure of what their position is, they can't participate in the\nmarket at all. It isn't at all out of the question that glitches in NASDAQ\ncould have caused FB shares to plumet. It most certainly took away any\npossibility of an IPO bump.\n\nThe real question this beings up is what did NASDAQ know, and when did they\nknow it. If they knew their system wasn't going to be able to handle the\nvolume, as bad as that might have been for them, they should have aborted the\nIPO (if that's at all possible).\n\n~~~\njlarocco\nWell, honestly we'll never know for sure, but if a weekend of \"thinking it\nover\" cuts the price in half, did it _really_ deserve the $70 valuation? After\nthe hype, people are going to think it over at some point, right? Maybe it's\nbetter that it happened right off the bat.\n\n~~~\nsneak\n> Well, honestly we'll never know for sure, but if a weekend of \"thinking it\n> over\" cuts the price in half, did it really deserve the $70 valuation?\n\nYou are confusing \"should\" with \"is\". Don't do that.\n\n------\nDigitalSea\nMy favourite part was when the hedge fund manager called himself \"blue\ncollar\". I couldn't care about the rest, boo hoo there were technical issues,\nNASDAQ had a clause covering them in the event of technical issues and\nFacebook stock didn't balloon into the $60 or $70 per share price range. I\ndon't feel one ounce of sympathy for anyone who can freely gamble away $100M\nthen have the audacity to complain about it, if the situation were reversed\nthe hedge fund manager wouldn't care if I lost out because I invested $100M\ninto Facebook stock either.\n\nDon't get me started on the fact this disillusioned guy thinks the stock\nshould have been in the $70+ range. It doesn't sound like the guy should be\nhandling money full stop, he obviously has a lack of understanding when it\ncomes to the stock market.\n\n~~~\nantonioevans\nTo plenty of us in the tech field a successful Facebook IPO would have opened\nup a path for other tech business to IPO in the near term. On top of that a\nsuccessful IPO would have opened up some funding in our hacker space (Paypal\nMafia/Google Mafia..etc). We want them to be successful.\n\n~~~\nmalandrew\nKind of true, but I'm wondering if there is more to be gained in Silicon\nValley by deflating and delaying the pop of the bubble a year or longer or by\nprompting a string of tech IPOs that will line the pockets of engineers that\ncan fund many startups several years later after the pop. As someone working\non a startup now and looking to move from bootstrapped stage to seed stage,\nI'd rather see the bubble deflate now. Lining the pockets of a Facebook Mafia\nand several other \"mafias\" doesn't do me and others like me a whole lot of\ngood in the near to medium term.\n\n------\njoezydeco\nThere has to be some sweet, sweet irony in the idea being explored that high-\nfrequency traders may have caused the NASDAQ breakage.\n\nFrom an HN post earlier today (<http://www.nanex.net/aqck/3099.html>):\n\n _\"...In brief, the problem was that the system took two extra milliseconds to\ncalculate the opening price. Because of a decision before to allow continuous\norder placement during IPOs, cancellations kept “fitting in between the\nraindrops”, in the words of Bob Greifeld, Nasdaq’s chief executive, in the\nfive milliseconds it was taking to determine a price.\"_\n\n------\nstewartbutler\nI still don't understand why Facebook has such an overblown valuation to begin\nwith. The entire business is a house of cards based on the possibility that it\nmight make someone else some money someday. Sure, there are some vultures like\nZynga that make out like bandits preying on people with addictive\npersonalities who shell out cash, and I'm sure there are a few success stories\nregarding successful social media advertizing campaigns, but I count the\nformer as resulting from a lack of morals and the latter as unpredictable\nanomalies that happened to tweak something in the hivemind.\n\nI don't perceive any value in Facebook. It is an enormous time sink with\nrapidly diminishing returns on time investment, and I feel it is only a matter\nof time before the average user experience is more noise than signal. As soon\nas that point hits, I can easily see Facebook going the way of MySpace and its\nilk. Facebook has some amazing talent on their team, so maybe someone there\ncan see a way forward, but as far as I can tell the end game for all social\n<insert something here>s appears to be an exodus to a more specialized or\nsparsely populated network.\n\nAs an outsider my opinion is of limited utility, but I also think that\nFacebook is a poison on the tech industry as a whole. I don't see that they\nhave created anything innovative, useful, or even substantial aside from this\nenormous echo chamber. I'm very glad to see that Wall Street isn't gorging on\nthis IPO, even if it was an accidental fuckup that has spoiled the appetite.\nWith any luck, this flop will convince investors to put their money onto\nthings that create something useful.\n\nIf anyone has counterpoints, please post them. I write this in frustration,\nsince I just really don't see where this \"105 billion\" valuation is coming\nfrom. Where is the potential in Facebook? What is being produced? Why should I\ngive a damn?\n\n\\- They missed the boat if they are trying to compete with the Google\nadvertizing empire, so that can't be it.\n\n\\- They admit that they aren't having the success they hoped for in the mobile\narena.\n\n\\- The only thing going for it is that it is the single largest repository on\ninformation about individuals, but that information cannot be ethically or\nlegally used to its full utility, and most of it is white noise anyhow.\n\n\\- The company has repeatedly shown that it doesn't give a damn about its\nusers or small developers.\n\nWhat makes this a sound investment?\n\n~~~\nolefoo\nFacebook has the biggest and most metadata rich direct marketing list ever\ncreated?\n\nFacebook has not even begun to do the things they could with the knowledge\nthey collect every day. In theory you should be able to go to one of\nFacebook's ad sales pages and order an ad that will be shown exactly three\ntimes to every left-handed piano player in Ohio. That you can't do that in the\nnext ten minutes means that Facebook is leaving money on the table. They don't\nneed to compete with Google, they need to compete with Experian and\nTransunion, or they need to come up with a way to provide a compelling \"We\nmanage your online data for you.\" offering that a majority of their users\nwould pay for.\n\nFacebook is, right now in a fairly enviable position; there are many things\nthat they could potentially become, they are not hamstrung by the need to keep\na cash cow fed and they have enough resources to try multiple experiments at\nscale.\n\nI wouldn't count them out as a driving force on the web just yet.\n\n~~~\nshock-value\nI think you overstate the amount of useful data Facebook has on people. Just\nto take your example: Facebook may very well know which state I live in, but\nthey definitely don't know whether I'm left handed, for example.\n\nOn the other hand, Google might very well know this, if, say, I have searched\nfor left handed golf clubs. Amazon would also know this, if I have bought said\nclubs through them. Google and Amazon almost certainly also know which state I\nlive in (hell Google might know exactly where I am at any given moment if I\nhave an Android phone).\n\nSo really I don't think Facebook is in an enviable position at all compared to\ncompanies like Amazon and Google.\n\n\"[...] they need to come up with a way to provide a compelling \"We manage your\nonline data for you.\" offering that a majority of their users would pay for\"\n\nWhat data? Dropbox and now Google back up all your files and documents, for\nFREE, now! How could they compete with this with a free service, let alone a\npaid one?\n\nAnd from a privacy standpoint people trust Facebook far less than Google or\nDropbox. There is an implicit assumption that anything shared with Facebook\nwill some way or another be shared with one's Facebook friends. (People aren't\nignorant of the way Facebook has tried to trick them into accepting more\nliberal privacy settings over the years.) Facebook would have to work very\nvery hard to change this perception before a data storage service would ever\ntake off.\n\n~~~\nsfall\nok facebook may not know if your left handed, unless your in a left handed\nappreciation group, but think about all the information facebook does collect\non you.\n\nwhere you or others check in, likes, people you chat with, what you chat\nabout, who tags you in posts and photos and who your with, not to mention all\nthe tracking facebook does with other sites\n\n~~~\nshock-value\nWell, it remains to be seen whether that data can actually generate revenue. I\npersonally don't think it has much potential, at least not compared to the\nextremely specific data Google has on everyone, or the purchasing data that\nAmazon possesses.\n\nAlso, I just don't think people use Facebook the way you describe. Most people\nI know don't \"check in\" wherever they go, nor do they \"like\" different brands\n(except for ones that make them do so in order to be eligible for a contest or\nsomething sketchy like that--I've definitely seen that before). But people do\nsearch on Google for anything and everything, including purchasing decisions.\nAnd of course people do make real purchases on Amazon.\n\nThe widgets that Facebook litters over the web which it can use to track\nuser's browsing habits may be the wild card here, but I'm still skeptical that\nthis has that much value compared to Google's search data. Plus those widgets\nseem to be mostly limited to news sites anyway.\n\n------\nSODaniel\nWhat he really should have said:\n\n\"We were all betting on millions of small traders shoving $5,000 into this\nbubble to push the share price north of $70 so that all the large hedge funds\ncould cash out and get rich off the backs of the average Joe. A technical\nmalfunction prohibited us from exiting with 100% profit on intro day and now\nwe are stuck with a bunch of shares we know are worthless. Dammit, how am I\ngoing to pay for my next summer houses? Damn you NASDAQ!\"\n\n------\napaprocki\nFor context, direct link to NASDAQ rule 4626:\n\n[http://nasdaq.cchwallstreet.com/nasdaq/main/nasdaq-\nequityrul...](http://nasdaq.cchwallstreet.com/nasdaq/main/nasdaq-\nequityrules/chp_1_1/chp_1_1_4/chp_1_1_4_1/chp_1_1_4_1_8/default.asp#nasdaq-\nrule_4626)\n\nEDIT: Also, \"NASDAQ Equity Trader Alert #2012-21: NASDAQ Proposes Policy for\nUnfilled Orders in the Facebook Inc. (FB) IPO Cross\":\n\n<http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/TraderNews.aspx?id=ETA2012-21>\n\n(Their website fails to work in Chrome if you click around -- alert bubble\nstates only IE and Firefox are supported. Tsk tsk.)\n\n------\nbrown9-2\nThis is a crummy headline, the article/interview focuses on problems with\nNasdaq's systems, which is far more interesting than some trader whining about\na loss (which happens every day).\n\n------\n_delirium\nI suppose as a hedge-fund manager he isn't an investor valued towards\nfundamentals, but if he really thinks Facebook should be valued at $60-70,\nthen I'm not sure some NASDAQ crapping out on one day would change that. If\nFacebook turns out to be the next Google in terms of ever-growing profits, its\nstock will get to $70 (and higher) as a result anyway.\n\n------\nSODaniel\nDo we need anymore proof that the concept of 'stock ownership' is irreparably\nbroken?\n\nBasically his entire point is that because a trading system was delaying\norders for a few hours over $100 BILLION in value was potentially lost?\n\nYeah, that seems like a sound market with long term owners that trade because\nthey believe in a company.. Right?\n\n------\ndonaq\n\"Then it was holding at $42 for whatever reason. $42. $42. $42.\"\n\n42 is the answer. He's just not asking the right question. Sorry, couldn't\nresist.\n\n------\njroseattle\nGiven how tight and controlled the shares distribution was by Morgan Stanley,\nhow eff-ed up the orders to NASDAQ went, and the resulting decline in value\nover the last few days -- basically it seems that Wall Street bankers are the\nones who were screwed. All I can say is -- what goes around, comes around.\n\nThey finally did it to themselves. For all the complaints about future\nregulatory needs, the Street never once considered that it might actually\nprotect someone they're interested in -- themselves. Trust in the market has\nnever been lower, thanks to the very folks that benefit from it. Now, not only\nare government agencies pissed off and investigating, but the traders are\ngoing to start pointing fingers at each other.\n\nTsk, tsk Wall Street -- prepare to hunker down. Karma's a bitch, boys. Who\nknows, when it's all said and done, maybe Facebook will end up actually\nhelping Main Street.\n\n------\ntibbon\nIf he admits that it never had a shot, why did he invest in the first place?\n\nAdditionally, would we be feeling bad for Facebook if they had underpriced the\nIPO and the trader had made 25% profit on day one (and Facebook lost out on a\npotential 25% of fundraising)?\n\n~~~\nhelmut_hed\nI'm glad to hear someone say this. Facebook the company did amazingly well on\nthis transaction. A stock that pops is one that has left money on the table.\nFB did the opposite...\n\n------\ndamncabbage\n\"Gambler Who Lost $100 Million on Roulette Wheel: Boy Was He Furious\"\n\n------\nhnwh\nHere's my favorite part:\n\n\" The question is will NASDAQ do the right thing. They made $400 million last\nyear and could pay out some.\"\n\nwhat the everloving...ffuuu.. I hear whine whine whine from the 99%, and now I\nhear whine whine whine from a freakin hedge fund manager who BET $100m on FB.\nIS this the state of affairs now? Country full of WHINERS??\n\n~~~\njoezydeco\nThat's the free market! Oh wait, that only applies to when you're winning. You\nask/beg/sue for relief when it goes the opposite way.\n\n------\nkzahel\nInteresting supposition, that the IPO might have gone down much differently if\nsomehow NASDAQ had been more prepared or messed something up. But the last\nstatement - that it could have been trading at $60 and $70, that is hard to\nbelieve.\n\n------\nprawn\nBlue-collar? I think he means middle-class white-collar. You're not blue-\ncollar if you're sitting at a desk in an air-conditioned office tapping at\nkeys in a suit, even if you wish you were paid more and want to complain.\n\n------\njoshu\nI'm gonna call fake on this.\n\n------\ngalfarragem\nIf I would have the money I would buy it for $25 a share. Personally I don't\nbelieve it will go under this. Facebook is a good business, just not by the\nprice people were told. I don't believe FB will grow much more. A P/E=100\n($31) is still too high. $25 corresponds to P/E=80, high enough in my opinion.\nI believe that one Buffet wouldn't pay more than P/E=25, around 8 bucks..\nGoogle right now as a P/E=18, Microsoft less than 11..\n\n------\ntazzy531\n\"Anonymous Hedge Fund Manager\" -- could be a kid in a dorm room or PM at\nSAC... HF Manager is an inflated title...\n\n------\nJach\nYet another screw-up involving \"real\" money/assets and a \"real, tested\"\nfinancial system to add to my collection of \"See, it's not just Bitcoin's\nyouth or digital embodiment\" rebuttals... I'm looking forward to seeing how\nall this plays out. I still think the stock price will go up past $38 over the\nnext 6 months, but we'll see.\n\n------\nthisismyname\nWhy did't he buy class A shares before the IPO. Idiot.\n\n------\ncpatrick\nB\n\n------\ndos1\nI have a hard time drumming up sympathy for these guys. They're mad because\nthey couldn't make a quick buck. Isn't a hedge fund just gambling? It's high\ntime Wall St. learns that it's never a good idea to put more in the pot than\nyou can lose.\n\nThe part that is most striking to me is that share price and a company's\nintrinsic value are seemingly in different galaxies. This guy is talking about\ndecisions based on _hype_. I'm floored. Do these guys really trade based on\npublic opinion?\n\n~~~\nveyron\nHe is complaining because he was sandbagged. He didnt know what his position\nwas, and NASDAQ and MS both dropped the ball here.\n\nYou can vilify hedge funds till kingdom come, but it sounds here that this guy\nplayed by the rules and lost due to a circumstance that he didn't believe was\nfair.\n\nIf the opposite happened (price spiked) yet the same technology problems\nhappened, you'd have a bunch of people complaining that they were over or\nunder filled.\n\nThe complaints would not be justified if there was no confusion on his\nposition.\n\n~~~\nAznHisoka\nProblem is there's no rules. Noone got in any legal trouble over at NASDAQ.\nPeople do insider trading without getting caught. It's a rigged game.\n\n~~~\nmarshray\nI'd say former Nasdaq chairman Madoff got himself in a little legal trouble,\nthough perhaps that was after he left Nasdaq.\n\n------\nBiWinning\nI have a lot of sympathy for those guys, their ability to artificially pump\nstock prices brings a lot of value to the economy. Anyways my heart goes out\nto them.\n\n------\nohffs\n\"This should have been a blockbuster.\"\n\nKarma!\n\n------\nsmcguinness\nNot a pro investor, but can one infer that possibly FB is at an artificial\ndiscount?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Any war and economy based online games that allow automation via APIs? - nstart\nA long time ago, I used to play oGame. One of those browser based multiplayer games that has both elements of space warfare and economics. Loved it. Eventually left it behind. I tried Eve Online next, and fell in love with it. Left that behind too. Recently, I&#x27;ve been watching the hype of Warframe from afar and wishing I could play.<p>But I really don&#x27;t have the time for any of these. And none of the games allow for automation. Even basic macros are sometimes considered bannable offenses.<p>What I was wondering though was, is there any game similar to oGame or Eve Online that allows or even encourages players to automate their gameplay via scripting&#x2F;API usage? So I could have a Rasperry Pi playing the game for me 24&#x2F;7. And build apps for myself to make assisted decisions in the event of something non automatable coming up (eg - Respond to an alliance invitation). The two major mechanics I&#x27;m looking for in the game are territory based economics and warfare. Cooperation is an optional thread to look for.<p>I&#x27;ve searched the internet for this for a while and it hasn&#x27;t turned up anything just yet. Either this market doesn&#x27;t exist or it&#x27;s under-served or my search-fu needs to improve :D.<p>Do any HN&#x27;ers know of games like this?\n======\nduiker101\nIf you find one let me know! I love games like that. Currently, what I found\nmyself playing that scratches my itch the most is Path of Exile. The game\nrequires a minimum amount of actual playing but once you get going you can\njust play the economy if you want without actually playing the game.\n\nLet me give you some details. The game is playable in Leagues, there is a\nStandard League that goes on forever and then there are Challenge Leagues that\nreset the whole game every few months (4/5 I think). Most of the player base\nplays the Challenge Leagues so you get to start from zero every so often. I\nactually like that because this stops people from taking over too much and\nit's not frequent enough to be boring.\n\nThe game plays as a Diablo game, top down, you go around, kill stuff and\ncollect randomly generated items.\n\nYou can then sell your items to other players. Buying and selling is done with\nintentionally limited GUI/Automation. GGG (the devs) want to keep the\nexperience as \"pure\" as possible. Which means that to buy an item you have to\nactually send a message to the person you want to buy it from, then go to\ntheir hideout, send them a trade request and then trade whatever you want.\nThere is no real currency but there are some \"currency items\". The whole\neconomy is player-driven.\n\nTo find items there isn't even an official website. There are however a few\nofficially endorsed third party websites like\n[https://poe.trade](https://poe.trade).\n\nNow, why do I like this? Because it gives you a lot of freedom and interesting\nchallenges. Botting is not allowed but it's very common (and not excessively\nfrowned upon) with certain items that people tend to buy in bulk or currency\nitems trade. There are also many opportunities to create tools that make the\nwhole game experience better.\n\nThere are many different ways of generating currency and the game itself is\nvery fun. I would encourage you to give it a shot!\n\nUltimately, I do not know of any games that allow automation, the moment you\nmake it legal to automate, the game will be taken over by bots and no human\nplayer will enjoy playing.\n\n~~~\nnstart\nSo I managed to dig up just one game that looks promising. It's this game\ncalled screeps [1]. You program your own fleet of \"creeps\" using Javascript\n(or other languages compiled to WASM). There's a fair amount of depth to the\ngame and there is a marketplace and alliances exist.\n\nI'm not a fan of the whole CPU model or the pathfinding model either. Those\ntwo are a little too complex for my liking, but there's no doubt that this\ngame is mostly everything one could want in a programmable game.\n\nOverall, I still feel like this market is underserved. But I'm probably going\nto give screeps a try myself and see what I can learn from it :).\n\n[1] [https://screeps.com/](https://screeps.com/)\n\n~~~\nduiker101\nI'll check it out thanks!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAspect-Oriented Programming in Ruby using Combinator Birds (revised extensively) - raganwald\nhttp://github.com/raganwald/homoiconic/tree/master/2008-11-07/from_birds_that_compose_to_method_advice.markdown#resubmit_reason_major%20revision\n======\nraganwald\n...and reposted. Please let me know if it is indeed worth another look. If\nnot... moderators may want to kill it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nEntrepreneurship to get out of debt - pr0active\n\nHi HN,<p>I've been very silly and managed to rack up around £16,000 worth of debt.<p>I'm a reasonably well paid developer mainly working in Java web and enterprise stuff at an ecommerce consultancy.<p>I've always wanted to start a business online as a side to my job (the bingo card creator story amazes me!) in order to earn extra money so I can afford to give my girlfriend the big wedding she deserves.<p>Given the amount of debt I have found myself in (interest free though!) I've decided to go for it and try to create something online that generates income.<p>The question is, I'm seriously stuck for ideas but I'm very hard working and have what it takes to follow through and execute.<p>Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions for me?<p>Thanks\n======\nsc0rb\nWould it be possible to freelance with your ecommerce skills as an aside to\nyour day job?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Set OS X files and folders to self-destruct based on tag - turtleofdeath\nhttp://scottmw.com/463/os-x-set-file-self-destruct-based-tag/\n======\nderefr\nIf this was based on atime instead of mtime, and was coupled with Time Machine\nbackups, it'd actually make an interesting form of Hierarchical Storage\nManagement. Files would \"expire\" from your local disk, but still be\nrestorable.\n\nOn a tangent, that's really what I (and I think most people) want from HSM—not\n\"files canonically being on slow media but being cached on faster media\", but\nrather \"files canonically being on small/fast media, and then migrating to\nslower media when you stop caring about them, as if a garbage-collection pass\nhad occurred, leaving your disk with more space.\" Basically, HSM should do\nautomatically what people do manually when they e.g. burn files to optical\ndisks to clear up space.\n\n------\ndrhayes9\nFor easy-to-use OSX automation I'm a big fan of Hazel:\n[http://www.noodlesoft.com/hazel.php](http://www.noodlesoft.com/hazel.php)\n\nI bet you could set up something similar in it.\n\n------\nkolev\nThis is a pretty good idea. Add the ability to tag a file/files with TTL from\nthe CLI as well.\n\nSource code: [https://github.com/tdlm/os-x-self-\ndestruct](https://github.com/tdlm/os-x-self-destruct)\n\n~~~\nscott_karana\n> Add the ability to tag a file/files with TTL from the CLI as well.\n\nYou can use the OS's standard facilities to do what you want: see `xattr` and\n`mdfind`.[1] There's also `tag`[2]\n\n    \n    \n      1 http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/93979/are-the-osx-mavericks-tags-visible-from-the-command-line\n      2 https://github.com/jdberry/tag\n\n~~~\nkolev\nI'm using tag, too, but it's in C, so, I suggested xattr to the author. I\nsubmitted an issue already (first!): [https://github.com/tdlm/os-x-self-\ndestruct/issues/1](https://github.com/tdlm/os-x-self-destruct/issues/1)\n\n------\nalexisnorman\nThis is awesome. I've been waiting for Yosemite's JS Automation so I can do\nsome similar things with my downloads (Moving into folders based on tags,\netc.) so this is going to be fun to play around with.\n\n------\nbithush\nIt mentions it uses srm, is that any use with an SSD with wear levelling etc?\n\n~~~\nscott_karana\nProbably not. Hopefully you're also using FileVault, though it doesn't totally\nalleviate recovery risks (from undelete scripts, etc)\n\n------\njason_slack\nInteresting idea, can anyone give me ideas for specific use cases in everyday\nuse?\n\n~~~\njohndavi\nI use Hazel (mentioned by drhayes9 too) to monitor various folders and take\naction regularly. On the delete side, this includes:\n\n* clearing out any items in Downloads > 1week * clearing out any items from my \"Temp\" folder > 1 day, unless they have an explicit \"save\" tag (\"Temp\" is my go-to alternative to the Desktop and is where I stash anything, well, temporary-ish) * automatically moving screenshots into my Temp folder (where they will soon be deleted)\n\n~~~\nhk__2\nWhy not using /tmp?\n\n~~~\nscott_karana\n1 Workflow: you can put the files _anywhere_ this way, and still have them get\ndeleted.\n\n2 Time granularity (though you could, I suppose, set up subdirectories in\n/tmp/ with associated hourly/daily/weekly/monthly cronjobs)\n\n------\nLai0chee\nIs there no at(1) on OSX?\n\n~~~\nalayne\nYes, you could queue an at job for every deletion. If you moved the file that\napproach would break. Also, you'd have to remove that at queue entry if you\nchanged your mind.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nGoogle to Launch Chrome Web Store and Chrome OS - Uncle_Sam\nhttp://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2010/12/google-to-launch-chrome-web-store-and.html\n\n======\nmattew\nI have been looking forward to checking out Chrome OS, but haven't had time to\ndownload one of the installers out there right now. It will be nice to have an\nofficial, easy to install version, if they release one. Do they plan to make\nit easy for people to download and install the OS, or are they mostly going to\nmarket it to device manufacturers?\n\n~~~\ncryptoz\nChromium OS is the open source version and is available for download in source\nform right now. You'll have to compile it yourself, I think. I'm pretty sure\nthings will stay that way.\n\nChrome OS is the closed-source version that is sent to vendors to be installed\non computers. I'm pretty sure Google won't make Chrome OS available for\ndownload, since there will be no single \"Chrome OS\" image; it'll be customized\nfor each hardware option.\n\n(I think.)\n\n~~~\nmattew\nThat makes sense. I will just have to take the initiative and compile it or\ndownload one of the unofficial builds.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAt Least 37M People Have Been Displaced by America’s War on Terror - chishaku\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/magazine/displaced-war-on-terror.html\n======\nphobosanomaly\nThe degree to which ordinary Americans are isolated from the violence of these\nconflicts is mind-boggling. The notable absence of car-bombs alone is telling\nhow privileged we are to be able to lead our lives without fear of getting\nmurked on the way to Starbucks.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_car_bombings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_car_bombings)\n\n~~~\nardit33\nMass shootings (either, school shootings, shootings in church, shootings in\nclubs, that vegas shooter, the occasional incel shooter, etc.. etc..), are a\nform of terrorism, albeit not necessary with political motives.\n\nMost of the world do not experience them either.\n\n~~~\nsharkweek\nI can say we have been effectively terrorized by mass shootings when things\nlike this hang in kindergarten classrooms:\n\n[https://i.imgur.com/ztiYy9R.png](https://i.imgur.com/ztiYy9R.png)\n\n~~~\nphobosanomaly\nIt's terrible, right?\n\nBut, it's important to contextualize it with the level of violence occurring\nin these countries destabilized as a result of US foreign policy. Much of it\nmakes the violence in the US (as horrific as it is) look like Sesame Street:\n\n\"On 9 August 2018, Saudi Arabian expeditionary aircraft bombed a civilian\nschool bus passing through a crowded market in Dahyan, Saada Governorate,\nYemen, near the border with Saudi Arabia. At least 40 children were killed,\nall under 15 years old and most under age 10.\"\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahyan_air_strike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahyan_air_strike)\n\n\"MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan — Four attacks across Afghanistan on Saturday\nnight and Sunday killed at least 26 government security officers, while two\nschools were also set ablaze, according to Afghan officials.\"\n\n[https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/15/world/asia/afghanistan-\nat...](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/15/world/asia/afghanistan-attacks-\nschools.html)\n\n\"BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber detonated a truck filled with explosives on the\nplayground of an elementary school in northern Iraq on Sunday morning, killing\n13 children and the headmaster, the police said. Shortly afterward, another\nsuicide truck bomb struck a police station in the same village, killing three\nofficers.\"\n\n[https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/world/middleeast/deadly-b...](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/world/middleeast/deadly-\nbombing-at-elementary-school-playground-in-iraq.html)\n\n\"HELMAND, Afghanistan/KABUL (Reuters) - At least 40 civilians attending a\nwedding party were killed by explosions and gunfire during a raid by\nU.S.-backed Afghan government forces on a nearby Islamist militant hideout,\nofficials in Helmand province said on Monday.\"\n\n[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-attack/at-\nlea...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-attack/at-\nleast-35-people-at-wedding-party-killed-during-nearby-afghan-army-raid-\nidUSKBN1W80MI)\n\nThis stuff just goes on...and on...and on...\n\nBut, compare it with the death tolls from school shootings in the United\nStates within the last 20 years:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_th...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States_by_death_toll)\n\nConsider that our foreign policy can have the effect on others that school\nshooters have on our own children.\n\n------\nsudoaza\n\"War on Terror\" is newspeak, it's well known that Iraq had nothing to do with\n9-11 nor had they WMD as claimed to invade them.\n\n~~~\nthrwway34\nYou conveniently forgot about 5000 chemical warheads, shells or aviation bombs\nthat US troops found in Iraq.\n\n~~~\nmanicdee\nOh you mean the caches of weapons sold to Iraq by the US that had been buried\nfor decades?\n\nAs opposed to the rationale for the invasion which was Iraq building\nstockpiles of WMD from their own factories?\n\nOr are you talking about a different cache of chemical weapons?\n\n------\nonepointsixC\nThis seems to imply unfounded causality placing the blame at the feet of\nAmerica. If ISIS wasn't fought then there would have been millions of people\ndisplaced all the same. There has been a decades long ongoing civil war in\nSomalia. There's nothing which suggests that things would be peaches and roses\nin Somalia if only the US hadn't been fighting Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda there.\nIf anything there could have been greater displacement of people fleeing the\nmore successful and bolder Islamist forces.\n\n~~~\nsudosysgen\nThe creation of ISIS is a direct and predicted result of the catastrophic US\npolicy in the Middle East. The conditions for ISIS to exist were not there\nbefore US involvement, and wouldn't have arisen. Al Qaeda themselves likely\nwouldn't have been an issue if it was not for US meddling in the Middle East.\n\n~~~\nonepointsixC\nThat's just not true. It's precursor, Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, predates\nthe Iraq war. It is true that the downfall of Saddam gave them opportunity,\nyou can't definitively say similar opportunity wouldn't have come about in an\nArab spring uprising just as there was in Syria. Islamist and Jihadists groups\nare all throughout the region and sub Saharan Africa. To claim that these are\njust American reactionaries is a self centered western view.\n\n~~~\nsudosysgen\nIt's precursor would never have been able to pose any challenge to the Syrian\nmilitary if it wasn't for the weapons the US and it's allies pumped into them.\n\nThe Syrian Army would still have been able to destroy the Jihadists if it\nwasn't for the US waging war against the Syrian Army, by the way of airstrikes\nand missile strikes.\n\nI can definitively say that Iraq would not have collapsed into a failed state\nif Saddam had been deposed organically. Hell, if it wasn't for the occupation\nof Iraq by the US up to and including this very day its possible the Iraqi\nstate would have been able to rebuild itself, one way or another.\n\nThat being said, a large amount of terrorist groups in the Middle East find\nthe roots even earlier, in the US support of jihadis against the Soviets.\n\nAnd wouldn't you know it! The founder of Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, was\nfinanced and trained in order to go fight against the USSR in Afghanistan.\nFinanced by who exactly? By Bin Laden, of course. Which himself got his money\nand material for who? Wouldn't you believe it, it's the old red white and blue\nagain.\n\n~~~\nonepointsixC\nYour story is nonfactual. The first US airstrikes in Syria were in 2014[1],\nthe first US airstrikes against the Syria Government were in 2017[2]. Both\nlong after the Syrian Armed forces had lost control of the situation.\n\nThe mass defection of Syrian Army soldiers and officers to the Free Syrian\nArmy guaranteed that the conflict was going to a bloody mess with arms falling\ninto hands of all parties, long before the US started supplying arms. And no,\nyou can't for certain say that Iraq would have fared better, as Iran would\nhave fueled Shia sectarianism all the same in Iraq as it did post US invasion.\nIran in fact was Sadam's greatest concern before his WMD bluff backfired.\n\n[1]: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-\nled_intervention_in_t...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-\nled_intervention_in_the_Syrian_Civil_War) [2]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_attacks_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_attacks_on_Syria_during_the_Syrian_Civil_War)\n\n~~~\nsudosysgen\n>Your story is nonfactual. The first US airstrikes in Syria were in 2014[1],\nthe first US airstrikes against the Syria Government were in 2017[2]. Both\nlong after the Syrian Armed forces had lost control of the situation.\n\nYes, and that has contributed to make the ISIS mess even worse. In that way\nthe US is responisble for that.\n\n>The mass defection of Syrian Army soldiers and officers to the Free Syrian\nArmy guaranteed that the conflict was going to a bloody mess with arms falling\ninto hands of all parties, long before the US started supplying arms.\n\nThe Free Syrian Army, which was also incidentally funded and armed by the US.\n\n>And no, you can't for certain say that Iraq would have fared better, as Iran\nwould have fueled Shia sectarianism all the same in Iraq as it did post US\ninvasion. Iran in fact was Sadam's greatest concern before his WMD bluff\nbackfired.\n\nIn which case either he would have been overthrown or the country would have\nfragmented. In both cases, the state or states would have been able to crush\nISIS.\n\n------\nProven\nThat's why a foreign policy should be non-interventionist (aka isolationist).\nIn this case Trump's America first or Ron Paul's call to end foreign wars\nwould have helped.\n\nIs Trump the only president since the 90's who hasn't started new wars?\n\n------\nbeervirus\n> While the United States is not the sole cause for the migration from these\n> countries, the authors say it has played either a dominant or contributing\n> role in these conflicts.\n\nThis makes the scary-headline conclusion pretty worthless.\n\n~~~\nsudosysgen\nIt really isn't. US actions made it possible for the problem to become what it\nis. If it wasn't for US involvement Iraq would have been a strong state and\nwould have destroyed any force like ISIS, Al Qaeda wouldn't be much more than\na reading group, Syria would be peaceful, Libya would still exist, and so on.\nIt can be true that you have had a strong contributing role and that it\nwouldn't have happened if you weren't there - that's just how multicausal\nevents works.\n\n~~~\nbeervirus\nThat's all awfully speculative, especially the part about Al Qaeda being just\na reading group.\n\n~~~\nsudosysgen\nAnd yet, it turns out that every single major terrorist group has had the US\nimplicate in their origin and rise. Isn't it funny how that turns out?\n\n~~~\nbeervirus\n“Implicated” as in they hate the US and wouldn’t exist without us as their\nenemy.\n\n~~~\nsudosysgen\nNo, as in were founded due to direct action and were allied with the interests\nof the US.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLooking for co-founders - hunterx\nHi all,<p>I&#x27;m looking for a co-founder for my startup as my current co-founder is leaving the company to invest full-time in crypto. There has no been any bad feelings or anything, he is just not interested in the industry.<p>Matter is, we&#x27;re very close to some deadlines and there are 3 clients waiting to try it out (which is good, as long as we deliver). Also, there is some more good stuff.<p>So, I&#x27;m looking for someone who has built real, bullet-proof react + node.js apps. The better if you&#x27;ve build a chat used in production before. But hey, that&#x27;s not etched in stone.<p>Anyone who wants to give it a try will need to work with me for a couple weeks before accepting and transferring the shares and all that stuff.<p>(company is based in London)<p>If anyone is interested ----&gt; please, reply below:\n======\nraooll\nHello,\n\nI have past experience working on high volume chat systems. I have build a\nnumber of systems from scratch in the past and I work on nodejs as well.\n\nHere is link to my profile:-\n[https://angel.co/raooll](https://angel.co/raooll)\n\nWould be nice if we can have a quick chat.\n\n:)\n\n~~~\nhunterx\nHi Rahul, sounds good to me! What time zone are you in? I'm available today\nfrom 19 p.m. onwards, London time.\n\n~~~\nraooll\nHey Hunterx,\n\nCould you share you Skype so we can setup a time ? I'm in GMT +5:30 IST.\n\n~~~\nhunterx\nHey Rahul,\n\nSure! Skype is isaacalbets. Are you avail tomorrow around between 1-3 p.m\nLondon time?\n\n~~~\nraooll\nHey Issac,\n\nSend you a request on Skype Let's do the call at 1pm london time.\n\n------\namingilani\nIf I'd seen this post a few months ago, I'd have applied. I found my team,\nthough. Good luck with your hunt!\n\nI'm also watching this thread to see if asking for cofounders on HN works :)\n\n~~~\nhunterx\nWhat a pitty! Well, we'll find out soon :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nApplied Category Theory (2019) [video] - Kinrany\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwvl0tBJhoM\n======\njmount\nUnfortunately in mathematics \"application\" is often a synonym for \"prove a\nlemma or theorem.\"\n\nDavid Spivak told me Peter Freyd once said, “Perhaps the purpose of\ncategorical algebra is to show that which is trivial is trivially trivial.”\n\nThis will only work for those who already find category theory trivial (a hard\nthing, as it is so general) and the target domain novel (so they are not yet\nconfident what is trivial and non-trivial in that domain). If done wrong it\ncan look like the art of making the easy hard.\n\nOne good use of category theory is: admitting there are composition patterns\nother than function composition. For example: in scikit learn the\nfit_transform interface has composition. When you wire up compatible classes\nin a pipeline they lash together the fit, transform, and fit_tranform methods\nin a simultaneously useful and consistent manner. With category theory you can\nsay this is a nice form of composition, even though it is not mere composition\nof functions.\n\nAnother idea that can be made clearer is: separating a function's identity\nfrom its action. This lets us claim code optimizations are correct. That is f1\n:= x -> 2.0 x can be thought of as doubling every real number. Now for real\nnumbers (unfortunately not for mere floating point numbers!) we have an\ninverse f2 := x -> x/2.0. Under a very narrow view of composition we might\nforce f1(f2(x)) to be realized by code such as 2.0(x/2.0). If we think of\ncomposition as different than action, we might say f1(f2(x)) is just x (though\nagain, this is true over the real numbers- not over the floating point\nnumbers).\n\n------\nssivark\nThe concepts are intuitive enough, and make sense. But I don’t see what non-\ntrivial insights this gives us.\n\nI found the talk frustratingly vague. After all the hard work of setting up\ncategories/operads in an example, the talk moved on without using them to do\nanything interesting.\n\n~~~\nlidHanteyk\nHere is one non-trivial insight: Every formal logic corresponds to a category.\n\nWhen we do logical deduction, we have facts and rules. We can apply rules to\nfacts to get more facts. More specifically, formal logic is built from\nsituations where we have some fact P, some rule P => Q, and some conclusion Q.\n\nIn a category, we have objects and arrows. We can imagine arrows as mapping\none object to another, or sending one object to another. We might have objects\nP and Q, and an arrow f : P -> Q relating them.\n\nThe connection continues. We can take multiple rules in logic and apply them\nsequentially, building a proof tree; we can take multiple arrows in a category\nand compose them sequentially, building a _path_. In some logics, there is an\nidea of ex falso quodlibet, or from the false fact, anything can be proven;\nsimilarly, in some categories, there are _initial objects_ , which come with\narrows from the initial object to every other object.\n\nJust like how logical formalism eventually removed the possibility that logic\nis non-mathematical, category theory removes the possibility that logic is\nunstructured. Logic is actually incredibly highly structured, and those\nstructures happen to coincide with structures in other parts of maths and\nphysics.\n\n~~~\njiggawatts\nAgain though, how do I _use_ this to solve everyday problems?\n\nI've seen some vaguely cool stuff done with Category theory in Haskell, e.g.:\ncomposable tree parsing and traversal, but I've never seen anyone actually use\nany of this stuff to make a deliverable piece of software that is notably\nbetter than what developers can readily produce using traditional procedural\nlanguages.\n\nI mean sure, I suppose it would be nice if the C# team added some sort of\ncategory theoretically \"pure\" tree processing sub-language akin to some\nbastard child of LINQ and XSLT, but... meh. I don't think it would see a lot\nof use in practice.\n\n~~~\nlidHanteyk\nA few months ago, while employed at a shop, I wrote about a hundred lines of\nPython which performed a basic katamorphism on some XML, outputting a PNG.\nNobody else on my team could conceive of this, and were mystified by the fact\nthat I could just sit down and do this. It wasn't too hard, though, because I\ncould imagine the entire katamorphism in my mind.\n\nThe traditional approaches weren't just stymied by this problem, BTW; the\nother developers wanted to go shopping for off-the-shelf components which\ntransform XML to PNG, as if that would get us the specific katamorphism we\ndesired.\n\nThe nature of your everyday work will inform what you can do with category\ntheory. I personally use category theory to design programming languages; it's\nsomething for which category theory gives a turn-the-key recipe:\n\n* Pick some objects of interest\n\n* Define a relatively free Cartesian closed category whose objects include your objects of interest\n\n* Enrich the category with interesting arrows\n\n* Extract a combinator basis\n\nThe MarshallB programming language [0] is a good example of this recipe in\naction.\n\n[0]\n[https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3341703](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3341703)\n\n~~~\nauggierose\nBut the real interesting part here is the use of exact real arithmetic, not\nthe category theoretic part. Category theory is just used as scaffolding. I\nwould also say it is dangerous to see things only through the category-\ntheoretic lens, because no doubt, as with any generalisation, there will be\nplenty of situations where it does not provide the right generalisation.\n\n~~~\nlidHanteyk\nBetter scaffolding leads to bigger, better buildings. Don't knock the\nauxiliary and ancillary techniques; they're still necessary for this sort of\nwork to be understandable.\n\nAlso, from my perspective, the exact real arithmetic isn't super-interesting\nbecause it's not new; Turing was doing this sort of thing when he first got\naccess to computers. Legend has that one of Turing's first recreational\nprograms was computation of zeros of the Riemann zeta function, and ever\nsince, there's been a tradition of exploring exact real arithmetic with\ncomputers and programming languages. MarshallB is one more incremental step\nforward in a big research programme of overcoming the inconvenient fact that\nwe can't test real numbers for interesting properties with computers alone.\n\nAt no point have I advocated _only_ category theory. Categories are always\ncomposed of some collection of arrows (and objects, but I prefer object-free\npresentations!), and those arrows are always homogeneous, if not homoousios,\ncomposed of a single substance. We can study that substance on its own.\nPerhaps an analogy to materials science would be appropriate. We ought to\nstudy both each building material, be it sets, vector spaces, relations,\ngraphs, or type theories; but also the architectural principles used to make\nbuildings, like abstract algebra and category theory.\n\n~~~\nauggierose\nYes, nothing against better scaffolding, as long as you recognise it for what\nit is. Arguably exact real arithmetic is older than inexact real arithmetic\n;-) But that's not the point, I think the point is that it becomes interesting\nnow to actually do computations with it. It helped me program solid modelling\noperations for triangle meshes, when I was despairing doing it with normal\nfloats. Switching to exact real arithmetic allowed me to see things clearer,\nand once I had what I wanted running with exact real arithmetic, I could\nswitch back to floats to make it faster.\n\n------\ndang\nUrl changed from [http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/node/5581](http://lambda-the-\nultimate.org/node/5581), which points to this.\n\n~~~\nKinrany\nI initially decided against posting the video because the thread has a small\namount of discussion.\n\nMainly the link to related work: Seven Sketches in Compositionality,\n[https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.05316](https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.05316)\n\nEdit: previously on HN:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20376325](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20376325)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nOO Design Classic - Abstract Class vs Interface - RohitS5\nhttp://javarevisited.blogspot.in/2013/05/difference-between-abstract-class-vs-interface-java-when-prefer-over-design-oops.html\n\n======\ncynwoody\nts; dr\n\nNeed to unlearn the font-size attribute!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGoogle Maps pulls cupcake calorie counter after backlash - pwg\nhttp://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/17/controversy-over-a-cupcake-google-maps-pulls-cupcake-calorie-counter-after-backlash/\n======\nCharlesDodgson\nI feel sorry for whoever came up with feature, I bet they thought it would be\na simple easy way to make the app a little quirkier and fun ... oh how wrong\nthey were :(\n\n~~~\noudimara\nI thought the same thing. It looked like more of a cute way to tell people\nthat they did great by walking and that they can have a cupcake if they want\nwithout having to feel bad about eating unhealthy stuff. instead people got\nmad like always\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWhy is there no SaaS asset management service? - dankohn1\n\nI&#x27;m looking to manage application software on about 50 Windows PCs to ensure that we have bought all the licenses we need.<p>Almost every company in the space has a 100 or 500 seat minimum.  I&#x27;ve looked at Dell Kace, Express Metrics, Scalable, Snow Software, TrackIt, iQuate, and Front Range. All of these sites include Products, Services, and Partners in the top-level navigation but never Pricing.<p>All I want is a link to an installer I can get every person in the company to run, and then a web-based dashboard where I can see what they have installed. Remote install and uninstall would be great but is not essential. I want to be billed a small amount per user per month (a buck or two?).<p>I&#x27;d forgotten how much I hate enterprise software. Hasn&#x27;t anyone come along to disrupt this space?\n======\njohnmurch\nAh - I guess you want something more like\n[http://www.manageengine.com/products/service-desk/help-\ndesk-...](http://www.manageengine.com/products/service-desk/help-desk-\nfeatures.html) then\n\n------\njohnmurch\nHave you seen [http://www.sohoassets.com/](http://www.sohoassets.com/) or\n[https://assetbox.io/](https://assetbox.io/)\n\n~~~\ndankohn1\nAm I wrong in thinking that those are basically online spreadsheets? What's\nmissing is the software agent that would track software installs.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDhall – A Distributed, Safe Configuration Language - KirinDave\nhttps://github.com/dhall-lang/dhall-lang\n======\nff_\nDhall was such a godsend to make our infra configs more safe & modular (we\njointly configure Kubernetes & Terraform with it).\n\nIf you need some example of use cases to see if it might help you, check out\n\"Dhall in Production\" [0]\n\nSo far I'm a maintainer of dhall-kubernetes [1] and we'll soon open source\nsome of our integration with Terraform.\n\nAnd because it's absolutely safe to distribute Dhall code I'm toying with the\nidea of making some kind of Dhall-Kafka pubsub, in which you can safely\ndistribute Dhall code and data, with automatic version migrations (check this\nout for more info on why this is possible [2])\n\n[0]: [https://github.com/dhall-lang/dhall-lang/wiki/Dhall-in-\nprodu...](https://github.com/dhall-lang/dhall-lang/wiki/Dhall-in-production)\n\n[1]: [https://github.com/dhall-lang/dhall-\nkubernetes](https://github.com/dhall-lang/dhall-kubernetes)\n\n[2]: [http://www.haskellforall.com/2017/11/semantic-integrity-\nchec...](http://www.haskellforall.com/2017/11/semantic-integrity-checks-are-\nnext.html?showComment=1511801973283#c6412191866661551590)\n\n~~~\nopenasocket\nRE: Dhall-Kafka pubsub\n\nDhall seems to be safe in the sense that it will always terminate and will\nnever crash or throw some kind of exception, but I don't think it's safe in\nthe sense that it is safe to execute potentially malicious Dhall code, unless\nyou restrict the allowed imports to a whitelist.\n\nAt the very least that could be used to DDos some target by having the script\ntry to import something from a victim domain. And you _might_ be able to read\ndata on local files and transmit that information back, I'm not sure. It\ndepends on if imports are evaluated lazily, and the data of interest would\nhave to be stored in a file on disk that can be imported.\n\nEDIT: Actually, it looks like you can import raw text, so it doesn't matter\nwhat format the on-disk data is that you are trying to extract.\n\nEDIT2: Actually, it doesn't even matter if imports are evaluated lazily or\nnot, you can specify that a network import be made with given headers, so you\ncould just set a header in the HTTP request to contain the sensitive data.\n\n~~~\nGabriel439\nAuthor here: You might be interested in this post on safety guarantees:\n\n[https://github.com/dhall-lang/dhall-lang/wiki/Safety-\nguarant...](https://github.com/dhall-lang/dhall-lang/wiki/Safety-guarantees)\n\nThe main risks in executing potentially malicious Dhall code that is not\nprotected by a semantic integrity check are:\n\n* Using more computer resources than you expected (i.e. network/CPU/RAM)\n\n* Unintentional DDos (as you mentioned)\n\n* The malicious import returning a value which changes the behavior of your program\n\nIf you protect the import with a semantic integrity check then the malicious\nimport can no longer return an unexpected value, which eliminates the third\nissue (changing program behavior). Also, upcoming versions will cache imports\nbased on the semantic integrity check, which would mitigate the second issue\n(DDos) for all but the first time you interpret the program. There is also a\n`dhall freeze` subcommand which takes a program and automatically pins imports\nto their most recent value using semantic integrity check.\n\nRegarding exfiltration, the import system guarantees that only local imports\ncan access sensitive information such as file contents or environment\nvariables. See:\n\n[https://github.com/dhall-lang/dhall-lang/wiki/Safety-\nguarant...](https://github.com/dhall-lang/dhall-lang/wiki/Safety-\nguarantees#cross-site-scripting-xss)\n\nThe only way that a remote import can obtain that information is if a local\nimport supplied that information via Dhall's support for custom headers. In\nfact, this is actually an intended use of that feature (i.e. a local import\nfetching a Dhall expression from a private GitHub repository using an access\ntoken retrieved from an environment variable).\n\nSo in other words the threat model is that as long as you can trust local\nimports then you can transitively trust remote imports because they cannot\naccess your local filesystem or environment variables unless you explicitly\nopt into that via a local import. I think that's a reasonable threat model\nbecause if can't trust the contents of your local filesystem then you can't\neven trust the Dhall interpreter that you are using :)\n\nImports are not computed and the set of imports that you retrieve is static\n(i.e. does not change in response to program state or input), so the set of\nimports or their paths cannot be used as an exfiltration vector.\n\n~~~\nopenasocket\nI had missed that wiki section on safety guarantees, my bad. It seems all of\nmy proposed attacks wouldn't work. There's just one other that I thought of,\nand looking through your documentation I'm not sure if it would work or not.\nWhat if the host executing the script had access to some intranet site with\nsensitive data? Would I be able to do a network import of such a URL, load it\nas raw text, and provide that as a header to another import?\n\nSeriously great work on this, by the way. A total configuration language that\nallows some form of network access while still being secure against malicious\ninput is a really really impressive tool!\n\n~~~\nGabriel439\n> What if the host executing the script had access to some intranet site with\n> sensitive data? Would I be able to do a network import of such a URL, load\n> it as raw text, and provide that as a header to another import?\n\nYes, a local import would be able to access an intranet site and re-export\nthat information via custom headers supplied to another import. This is\nallowed because it falls under trusting local imports. Local imports have\naccess to environment variables and your local filesystem, too, which are\nequally sensitive, which is why they need to be trusted.\n\nThis rule is called the \"referential transparency\" check, which can be summed\nup as:\n\n* Only environment variables, absolute paths, and home-anchored paths classify as \"local\" imports\n\n* Only local imports can retrieve other local imports\n\n* URLs can import relative paths, but they are relative to the URL, not relative to your local filesystem\n\nThe reason it's called the \"referential transparency\" check is because this\nsecurity restriction also leads to the nice property that import system is\nreferentially transparent. That means that every import evaluates to the same\nresult no matter you import it from. For example, if you have a directory of\nDhall expressions that refer to each other and you rehost them on a file\nserver the language guarantees that they still behave the same whether you\nimport them locally or you import them via their hosted URLs.\n\nAlso, thanks! :)\n\n------\nKirinDave\nDhall's really cool because you can use it even if your tooling doesn't\nsupport dhall. There is direct JSON/YAML support with dhall-json:\n[https://github.com/dhall-lang/dhall-json](https://github.com/dhall-\nlang/dhall-json)\n\nIf you wanted to generate something like an NGINX config (or, for example,\nTOML or Terraform) you could use dhall-text: [https://github.com/dhall-\nlang/dhall-text](https://github.com/dhall-lang/dhall-text)\n\nOh, did I say terraform? Someone's already on supporting that directly:\n[https://github.com/blast-hardcheese/dhall-\nterraform](https://github.com/blast-hardcheese/dhall-terraform)\n\nDhall is very unique among configuration because it's \"distributed\", meaning\nthat Dhall can load any file as a dhall expression, and has builtin URI\nresolvers to make even remote endpoints part of local configuration. This is\nexcellent for, say, CI integration.\n\nDhall has \"semantic hashing\" so that if someone does change a dhall dependency\nin a surprising way, the dhall script will refuse to continue (and give a very\nclear error about what changed, where it was looking for the change, and why\nit's stopping).\n\nDhall is a secret superpower for project configuration. Especially as of the\n1.14+ releases, it's become an increasingly go-to tool for me. Even in just\none-off JSON generation scripts, I find it to be a lifesaver.\n\n~~~\nnv-vn\nDhall is really similar to Nix in that regard, though in practice I've never\nseen Nix used for real configs (sadly). Usually trying to do so in Nix ends up\nbeing really ugly because the Nix features don't translate directly to\nconcepts in the config language.\n\n~~~\nchriswarbo\nI dabbled in using Nix for this sort of thing, but it's rather painful to\ninvoke the \"Nix language\" itself. In Nix 1.x we can evaluate a Nix expression\n(e.g. a templated string) like this:\n\n    \n    \n        $ nix-instantiate --eval --read-write-mode -E 'Nix code goes here'\n    \n\nThat Nix code could be a file, or an import, or whatever. This is slightly\nimproved with Nix 2.x:\n\n    \n    \n        $ nix eval '(Nix code goes here)'\n    \n\nStill, it's not particularly well suited to string processing from the\ncommandline like this. We're closer to Nix's comfortable territory if we use\nit to build a config file, e.g.\n\n    \n    \n        $ nix-build -E 'Nix code goes here'\n    \n\nOr, more likely:\n\n    \n    \n        $ nix-build myConfigFileDescription.nix\n    \n\nIn my experience this is more useful than trying to use Nix as a string\nprocessor. Still, if we're using Nix in a project or system, we might be\nbetter off using it to build the whole project (e.g. with a 'default.nix'\nfile) or system (using a NixOS module or something).\n\nFrom what I've seen, Guix takes compatibility with non-Guix systems a little\ncloser to heart, e.g. for generating standalone packages that don't require\nGuix to install/use.\n\n------\nCieplak\nGabriel gave a great presentation on Dhall at Bayhac this year:\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih9Ngu7FlCc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih9Ngu7FlCc)\n\n------\njdc0589\nis there a single example Dhall config file anywhere that has more than a\ncouple feature examples? It's a lot easier to grok new stuff like this if\nthere's just one big example to look at to get an idea of what it does rather\nthan having to navigate tons of granular documentation (which is also great,\nthough)\n\n~~~\ndwohnitmok\nSince the author's already responded, this might be redundant, but perhaps\nexpanding the example at [https://github.com/dhall-lang/dhall-lang#case-\nstudy](https://github.com/dhall-lang/dhall-lang#case-study) might be a helpful\nlook at a running example of Dhall. I feel like I've seen multiple people\ncompletely skip over and not realize there was already an example in the\nREADME as opposed to just the detailed reference docs.\n\nPerhaps you're looking for something with even more features and applicability\n(e.g. an example of a Kubernetes config as Dhall's author points out), but\nhopefully that example gives at least a self-contained example of how to\ngradually start using Dhall.\n\n~~~\njdc0589\noh wow, I totally missed that since it was minimized and I was skimming.\nthanks!\n\n------\njarpineh\nThis discussion here and Dhall's Github Readme seemed promising, so I went\nthrough the tutorial. I've recently had to write a lot of YAML like language\nwith custom templating (think Ansible), so naturally I felt there was a way\nout with Dhall. I was hoping the author could perhaps point me towards\nexplanations to what I noticed bothering me by this (admittedly short)\nexperience that left me puzzled.\n\nI saw that lists can have only one type of elements without annotating their\ntypes. With type annotation list can have differently typed values, but only\nif each element is explicitly stated (note: this is my understanding that\nmight not be correct) meaning there's no dynamic content in a list. In same\nvein a map of maps needs to have all its keys stated by type annotation.\n\nTo me this seems too restrictive since the structure of data gets lost in the\nmore verbose annotations. Not to mention the work of writing this annotation\nor the functionality to produce the same. In TypeScript I'd write something\nlike this { [string] : [ Number | String ] } and I'd have my string keyed\nobject with values of lists containing numbers and strings. Having a language\nlike Dhall to help with creation of correct configuration code seems really\nuseful instead of this messy combination of declarative and template language.\nI would like to understand things that can get better by using such an type\nsystem.\n\n~~~\nGabriel439\nDhall's lists are homogeneous lists, meaning that every element always has the\nsame type of value. This is true whether or not you annotate list elements\nwith a type or you annotate the list with a type.\n\nYou only need to annotate the type of an empty list. Lists with at least one\nelement don't require a type annotation because the type can be inferred from\nthe type of that element.\n\nDhall does not have buit-in support for homogeneous maps. Dhall does have\nstatically typed heterogeneous records (i.e. something like `{ foo = Bool, bar\n= \"ABC\" }` which has type `{ foo : Bool, bar : Text }` for example).\n\nIf you want to store different type of values in the same list you wrap them\nin a union. For example, if you want to store both `Text` values and `Natural`\nnumbers in a list you would do:\n\n    \n    \n            let union = constructors < Left : Natural | Right : Text >\n    \n        in  [ union.Left 10, union.Right \"ABC\", union.Right \"DEF\", union.Left 4 ]\n    \n\nThe closest thing to a homogeneous map in Dhall is an association list of type\n`[ { mapKey : Text, mapValue : a } ]` but even that is still not an exact fit\nsince it doesn't guarantee uniqueness of keys. However, Dhall's JSON/YAML\nintegration does convert that automatically to a JSON/YAML homogeneous map\n(i.e. a JSON record where every field has the same type).\n\nIn general, Dhall's JSON/YAML integration has several tricks and conventions\nthat translate to weakly typed JSON idioms (such as homogeneous maps, omitting\nnull values, and using tags).\n\n~~~\njarpineh\nThank you for your response.\n\nThis Left and Right declaration style was a new one for me. Also, homogeneous\nmap wasn't exactly a familiar concept. I don't remember meeting these when\nlearning TypeScript and dabbling with Elm. I fear I don't quite grasp the type\nstructure here yet. I can go forward with my testing based on your example.\n\n~~~\nKirinDave\nBy the way, it's entirely fair game for you to create config/domain specific\nthings and not simply (Left|Right) dichotomies.\n\nAnd by the way, TypeScript DOES have a form of Sum typing like that as of\n2017! You can say something like this from the manual:\n\n    \n    \n        type Shape = Square | Rectangle | Circle | Triangle;\n        function area(s: Shape) {\n            switch (s.kind) {\n                case \"square\": return s.size * s.size;\n                case \"rectangle\": return s.height * s.width;\n                case \"circle\": return Math.PI * s.radius ** 2;\n            }\n            // should error here - we didn't handle case \"triangle\"\n        }\n    \n    \n\n(You can see more about it here:\n[https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/advanced-\ntypes....](https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/advanced-types.html),\nsearch for \"Discriminated Unions\".)\n\nYou can also make these ad-hoc ,and they're useful for harnessing underlying\nfunctions that might return null from stdlibs. E.g.,\n\n    \n    \n        function strToInt( x: string ): number | null\n    \n    \n\nAnd then you're required to check for nulls and the compiler will complain if\nyou don't check for them. Pretty useful!\n\n------\ntotalperspectiv\nIs there a tutorial that isn't predicated on me already knowing haskell? I\nfeel like Dhall is exactly the tool I've been hoping for. It feels like a non-\nhacky version of make + m4.\n\n~~~\ntotalperspectiv\nAnswering my own question, the README says that eventually the tutorial will\nbe language agnostic.\n\n------\nhiccuphippo\nI don't understand what the word \"distributed\" means here. Is it that it can\nload the configuration from multiple servers?\n\n~~~\nklibertp\nApparently any, or almost any(?), element of a language can be replaced with a\nfile path, which is then transparently read and used as if typed directly in\nthat place. It works even for type annotations and is type-safe. This allows\nfor easy factoring of the code into many files, and - by extension - to files\non remote hosts as long as they're accessible via a (built-in) HTTP support.\n\n------\nnojvek\nI tried to read Dhall manual and figure out if I could make sense of it. I\ncouldn’t. Looks a bit too complicated for me.\n\nJsonnet strikes a great balance of json but with some nice template syntax so\nyou can be DRY.\n\nAlso what’s wrong with being Turing complete. I love for loops.\n\n------\nshoo\nif there's anyone here who has used both dhall and jsonnet in anger, can you\ncomment on your experiences?\n\n------\nofrzeta\nWhat about those special characters like the lambda or the universal\nquantification? How to you type them?\n\n~~~\nGabriel439\nThere are ASCII equivalents. You can type `\\\\` instead of `λ` and `forall`\ninstead of `∀`. Also `dhall format` will automatically translate ASCII to\nUnicode for you.\n\nHowever, if you do want to type them then see:\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_input](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_input)\n\n... and the relevant code points are:\n\n* `λ`: `U+03BB`\n\n* `∀`: `U+2200`\n\n------\nslyrus\nRemind me again... what's wrong with common-lisp:read?\n\n~~~\njs8\nI interpret it as \"What advantage Dhall has compare to CL:read?\"\n\nSo for example, in your configuration, you can define a common expression into\na variable (or even parametrize it in a function). CL:read cannot do that\nwithout resorting to read macros (technically it doesn't have to be read\nmacros, you can reinterpret it later, but then we are getting outside the\nrealm of CL:read), which are Turing complete and can have bugs that can lead\nto security exploits.\n\nDhall guarantees that the functions you define in your configuration cannot be\nexploited.\n\nThis has interesting implications, for example, you can read configuration\nsafely from semi-trusted source. With CL:read, you can do that only if you\ngive up read macros, but then the semi-trusted source cannot define their own\nfunction.\n\nSo where with CL:read you have to choose between little and total power, Dhall\ngives you a little bit of both, a medium power of sorts.\n\n~~~\nslyrus\nThanks for the explanation!\n\n------\nlifeisstillgood\nLook, I'm sorry but this is beyond 99% of the world's IT services right now.\n\nThis is of course biased, unresearched anecdata but roughly speaking\n\n\\- 50 % of all IT installations cannot be rebuilt from scratch in an automated\nfashion if you have them the new hardware,plugged in.\n\nA further ten percent could be rebuilt with mostly automated scripts and a\nwiki page that's out of date by two months\n\nof the remaining 1/3 of the world's IT, 1/6 has dependencies it does not know\nabout - the DNS server that \"just works\",the production routers that should\nnot serve that subnet, the database that is \"owned\" by a different team whose\nconfiguration you have no control over.\n\nGood guy d.b. has its secret passwords on the wiki page, or stored on a\nseperate importable module, in source control, base64-encoded\n\nAnd the rest - the rest rely more on bash than ansible.\n\nJust get the world's enterprise services over the line and into \"run this\npython script with these parma's and you get a complete rebuild across\ndatabases and routers\" and then we can talk.\n\n~~~\nklibertp\nThat's completely beside the point. Are we supposed to shed a tear for each of\nthat 50 %? I can do that, but it won't help me, at all.\n\nOn the other hand, I can use Dhall to generate Kubernetes/Helm configs, which\nwill be more DRY, less duplicated, and not a pain to work with. I know that\n_this_ would help me quite a bit, not only because I hate my current \"DevOps\"\nteam members with burning passion and I'd enjoy watching them try to figure\nout what is happening (well, I'd at least add the source files to a repo,\nthat's already more than they do).\n\n~~~\nlifeisstillgood\nYou are travelling in a worldwide convoy - a convoy across the globe\ntravelling to the future. Those 50% are not just in pointless fortune x000\ncompanies, but governments and charities trying and failing to do useful\nthings with their infrastructure.\n\nThe convoy has wagons with broken spikes, no horses and people berating them\nbecause they are not travelling as fast as the well maintained ones in front\n\nShed a tear for those being carried by such wagons - they could reach the\nfuture so much faster if best practises were common practises\n\nAnd this from someone who believes in Schumpter\n\n~~~\nKirinDave\nI still don't understand why so many of your comments here are, \"People are\ntoo stupid to...\"\n\nThis is an excessively negative argument, and has been used many times to push\nback against technologies that have subsequently shown to actually have huge\ntraction. A great example of this that the Python community _still_ makes:\nlambdas are too complicated.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Do you feel you are mostly writing glue code? - xstartup\nLately, we are writing glue code to connect a bunch of services which finance department pays for. Writing any service which can be acquired from the market is forbidden. Anyone else feels like this?\n======\nindogooner\nYes I have done that most of the time. I have thought a bit about this and\nfeel that it should be true for most of us for software industry to scale. If\nyou are in a solid tech company this will always be the case. Anything which\ncan be used generally will be made into a framework and then most engineers\nwill be expected to use that. This helps the company immensely as it can now\nhire top 1-2% who are extremely good at making these frameworks or guard-rails\nand the rest can be lesser quality devs who will do the plumbing. An example:\nwriting multi-threaded programs and reasoning about them is hard so why not\nmake a framework which takes care that developers only write business logic\nand integrate with various APIs.\n\nThis is now true in most companies now as Open source projects are doing the\nsame thing. Look at Apache Spark for example which makes writing distributed\nprograms for Machine Learning, ETL and Analytics much easier for developers.\n\n------\ncimmanom\nThere's an argument to be made that that's a sign of an engineering\norganization that has its priorities straight and is serving the business\nwell.\n\n------\nCM30\nSometimes, though I suspect in a lot of cases that's probably for the best. I\nmean, if a product or service exists and does what you need it to, isn't it\nbetter to take advantage of that rather than reinvent the wheel every time?\nSure, you could create your own inhouse CMS for those client websites or what\nnot, but it's likely not worth it given the effort of making your updates,\nfixing security holes, etc. Same with anything really. You could in theory try\nand go all the way back to the start on your own, but where does it end?\nEventually you'll be doing ten times more work for little extra benefit.\n\nAre there examples where doing the extra work could be better? Of course, I\nknow that one from experience. All that time trying to integrate a CMS and a\nforum script and a bunch of other standalone things was a nightmare, and in\nthat case I definitely wish I'd just rolled the whole thing myself instead.\n\nBut in many cases, it's probably better to use pre-existing solutions rather\nthan spend all your time reinventing the wheel or falling victim to not\ninvented here syndrome. That way, you're relying on well tested solutions with\na decent amount of support available online and a guarantee it'll still work\nwhen most of your team has moved on to pastures new.\n\n------\njustaguyhere\nYes, many jobs are like this. Nothing wrong with it, it just depends on\nindividual devs if they are okay with it or not. We are just 5 devs in our\nteam and our manager spends a good amount of time optimizing dev hours so he\ncan get the most useful features out. If this means using external services\nthen that choice always wins (assuming we can afford it).\n\n------\ndallbee\nEvery team I've been on has had it's majority of engineers doing exactly that.\nHonestly, many are happy in that role.\n\nUsually theres a handful of people that tend wiggle their way into more\nbackend, architectural things (libraries, in-house tools, etc.). If you're\nbored, try to be that person.\n\n------\nClevelandCoder\nI understand the business interest in separating concerns. Focusing your\ntalent on solving only the most unique problems is kind of charming, IMO, but\nthe part where we write the glue code for third-party services can definitely\nfeel soul-sucking.\n\n------\nmcintyre1994\nI think that most code that is well defined and I understand well I can reason\nabout as basically transforms of dictionaries. It's often but of course not\nalways a red flag if I can't reason about it in that way.\n\n------\npsyc\nThat’s the nature of some jobs, and it can be a sound strategy. I’ve mostly\nmanaged to avoid these jobs, personally.\n\n~~~\nnickthemagicman\nCan't agree more. Why self roll your own code when you can use a tested,\nsomewhat proven, piece of existing code.\n\n~~~\nerr4nt\nI used to match patchwork quilts out of plugins, different HTML widgets, and\ntry to make use of pre-made frameworks for CSS in the past. I always felt like\nI was 80% of the way finished before I started.....but the hard part was\nbuilding the other 80%.\n\nA few years ago I flipped the way I built stuff, preferring small, self-built\npieces of code only I had authored, and not only was our code smaller and\neasier to maintain, it also significantly dropped the amount of bugs and\nconflicts we were having.\n\nThe problem that often happens with pre-built, well-tested solutions, is that\nthey often only partly solve what you need to do. Edge cases might be the only\ncases you have, it's often better to get the one tailor made for solving your\nexact problem.\n\n~~~\nnickthemagicman\nI've found the exact opposite at every job I've had. Typically pre-build\nsolutions do WAY more than you need from them, and you can make wrappers for\nany very rare edge cases they don't solve which Ive found to be few and far\nbetween. Dependency managers go a long way toward making the patchwork nature\nof diverse libraries..manageable.\n\nAlso, I've found solutions custom rolled under pressure have more bugs and\nissues and theres never enough time to correctly debug, test, and QA before\nyou're on to the next project.\n\nHowever, CSS and HTML widgets may not lend themselves to libraries as easily\nas imperative programming languages.\n\nYou also, may just be solving more complex problems that require much more\nspecialized libraries!\n\nJust glad you found a solution that works!\n\n~~~\nerr4nt\nAh see what I end up doing is solving the problem and thinking deeply about\nwhat I need our solution to do, and more importantly, figuring out exactly\nwhat we don't need our solution to do.\n\nOnce I've solved the same problem about 4 or 5 times, I end up 'standardizing'\nthe solution into a prototype plugin, which usually goes through 1 or 2 total\nrewrites, and by the time I've got the plugin resulting from that process,\nusually it's precisely what we need, and had all the kinks worked out.\n\nI realize the irony here, but I release these solutions into open source and\nre-use them. And I know they're available for others to use and benefit from,\nand I fully understand why somebody like me might not actually use them\ndirectly haha. I hope people at least read my solutions in a literary sense\nand consider them while rolling their own solution that directly meets their\nown needs.\n\n~~~\nnickthemagicman\nGlad you have the free time to do that! I work for an extremely fast moving\nbiz and don't! And thanks for your contributions to OSS!\n\n------\ndozzie\nIt's no big wonder if one extrapolates from how many trivial questions you ask\nhere.\n\n~~~\nxstartup\nI like to keep difficult one for myself.\n\n------\nfarnsworthy\nLonger than lately. It's \"assembly\" (not the other one).\n\n------\njitendrac\nyup, That is pretty common thing, In the days of api-for-everything gluing is\nwritten more than api itself!!!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nEvan Czaplicki's response to “Why I'm leaving Elm” - myth_drannon\nhttps://twitter.com/czaplic/status/1248696174401458177\n======\ntester89\nIgnores the important question of why certain packages like elm markdown\nshould be whitelisted. From what I can tell, this is the fundamental issue for\na lot of people. I don’t think removing native modules was in it of itself a\nbad thing, but I think having this whitelist was incredibly shitty when it\nincludes modules which are obviously not “kernel” modules.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: How much do you pay software engineers? - baconface\n\nWhat type of compensation is fair for a technical first hire?<p>What about subsequent technical hires?<p>Please give a range.\n======\nsteventruong\n1\\. It depends heavily on location.\n\n2\\. It depends on what stage the company is at. Have you raised capital or not\n(and do you intend to) or are you planning on scaling without capital. Equity,\nif any, is directly tied to this which can influence pay.\n\n3\\. Depends on the experience.\n\nWithout knowing the above factors, the range can be anywhere between $20k and\n$250k (albeit, the $250k side is usually not going to happen)\n\n------\ndasil003\nThis totally depends on the location. Within the US it seems somewhat tied to\ncost of living, but across the pond in Europe they pay significantly less even\nwhen rents are much higher (I'm looking at you London).\n\nAnywhere from $30,000 to $70,000 for someone fresh out of school might be\nnormal. For 10 years experience the range could be $50,000 to $250,000.\n\n~~~\nspooneybarger\nin nyc, 30,000 a year will get you an untrained monkey with no skills at\nall... or someone with no concept at all of what they can get paid.\n\n~~~\nkls\nRight I would say that is the same for most of the US. If I had to venture to\nguess, I would imagine the national average for entry level is around 50-60k\nand senior developers are north of 100k in most major metros.\n\n------\npbreit\nIn the Bay Area, pre-funded: $0-30k; seed-funded: $30-70k; series A: $60-140k.\nAll: plus equity.\n\n~~~\nbaconface\nWhat are the equity ranges for seed and series A? I've heard up to 4% for\nseed, but not sure if that was correlated with a high-end salary or not.\n\n------\ndonniefitz2\nThis kind of question tends to be a bit taboo.\n\n~~~\ndazzer\nThat's a taboo I don't understand.\n\nWhat's wrong with talking about what you earn? I can understand if it was\npride/ego preventing people from talking about it. But from the workers'\nperspective wouldn't it be better to know what the going rates are to make\nsure you aren't getting ripped off for your work.\n\n~~~\nrawsyntax\nIt's more about negotiation tactics than being taboo. Employers don't list\nsalaries on job ads.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nApple Ruined iTunes – What Now? - dewey\nhttps://blog.notmyhostna.me/apple-ruined-itunes-what-now/\n======\nmikece\nWhy isn't VLC considered as an alternative?\n\nAnd why re-encode files from FLAC to ALAC? What is gained when doing this\nother than iTunes support (or is that the entire point)?\n\n~~~\ndewey\nThe re-encoding was done when I was still using iTunes, now I don't need it\nany more (which is another benefit but I the conversion was so painless that\nit's not really a reason for the switch).\n\nI love VLC and use it a lot as a media player, but as a media library where I\nwant to browse, sort, tag things it's not really working that well (for me).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nApp store discovery problem. a different take? this looks interesting... - stephenjames\nhttp://www.useacorn.com?kid=1WBAS  \n\n======\npedalpete\nI'm not sure I understand who this is for. The copy reads \"Acorn allows you to\npiggy back off the market leader and give you much higher visibility. With\nAcorn, the results of a query are shortened to just those apps that do what\nyours does.\"\n\nSo I can use it find competing apps. That's fine, cut why would a consumer do\nthat? They don't want apps, they want to do something. Seeing a map of a bunch\nof other apps that are similar to something they already use I think is\nsomewhat useless.\n\nDo people want new apps to do the same thing their existing apps do? Or do\nthey want new apps that change their lives and do something new?? I suspect\nthe later.\n\n~~~\nstephenjames\nI am guessing that as a consumer you may want to find a better option to what\nyou are already using or thinking about using.\n\n------\nstephenjames\nanyone know what this is?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow Linux is being subverted. - nickb\nhttp://blogs.ittoolbox.com/linux/locutus/archives/how-linux-is-being-subverted-18960\n======\nmechanical_fish\nI can't even figure out what this article is about. I think it's about\nMicrosoft's attempt to use the threat of patent litigation to insert itself\ninto the corporate Linux market and thereby gain influence over open source\nsoftware projects, but the article never uses the word \"patent\"!\n\nIt reads like an outtake from the 47th minute of an hour-long private meeting.\nIt assumes that the audience already knows the issues, the players, and the\nbuzzwords by heart. It's a textbook example of how _not_ to write for the\npublic.\n\nThe irony is that there's a really good chance that I agree with this guy, but\nI just can't tell.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFacebook rolls out code to nullify Adblock Plus’ workaround - bko\nhttps://techcrunch.com/2016/08/11/friendblock/\n======\nr721\nCurrent discussion:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12274224](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12274224)\n\n------\nlaurent123456\nFacebook response is incredibly stupid:\n\n\"We’re disappointed that ad blocking companies are punishing people on\nFacebook as these new attempts don’t just block ads but also posts from\nfriends and Pages. This isn’t a good experience for people and we plan to\naddress the issue.\".\n\nAd-blocker can be easily uninstalled so how can they \"punish\" anyone. Facebook\nshould just silently block ad-blockers and not act as if they are working in\ntheir user's interest.\n\n------\nCM30\nSo, how long till the adblockers get past Facebook's new work around and it\nall repeats again?\n\nThis sort of cat and mouse game is going to accomplish nothing in the long\nrun.\n\n~~~\nTouche\nThe sidebar content should be blockable, but the inline content... they can\nmake that indistinguishable from user content, can't they?\n\n~~~\ndetaro\nWhich will get them in trouble with FTC and local equivalents for not making\nit clear what's an ad/\"sponsored content\".\n\n~~~\namyjess\nFTC, actually [0]. I have to wonder if Facebook's anti-adblocking games are\ngoing to, at some point, get the FTC to stomp them flat.\n\n[0] [https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-\ncenter/guidance/ftc...](https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-\ncenter/guidance/ftcs-endorsement-guides-what-people-are-asking)\n\n~~~\ndetaro\nfixed, thanks. to many TLAs...\n\n------\nseibelj\nFB shouldn't even bother, it's their company vs millions of extremely\nmotivated people who hate their ads. My bet is on the adblockers\n\n------\natom_enger\nAnd so the cat and mouse game begins. Users of Facebook are using the service\nfree of charge(unless you're advertising or paying for something). I think if\nfb can detect that a user is a paying customer they should disable ads but for\nthe majority of users this isn't the case.\n\nCouldn't one just add fb ad server dns entries to their host file as\n127.0.0.1? What could facebook do in that case besides bring up ad servers on\nnew domains?\n\nCould we set up an ad blocking DNS service? (Again..another game of cat and\nmouse.)\n\nIn either case, you are playing a losing game on a ball court owned by\nFacebook. If you don't like the ads, don't use the service?\n\n~~~\nEric_WVGG\nI was just wondering about that — does this only affect ads in Facebook, or\ndoes it affect those embeds strewn everywhere?\n\nI couldn't care less about what they do within their own garbage heap, but if\nthis enables to their junk across the rest of the web, it's a problem.\n\n------\nmtgx\nFacebook's plans to circumvent adblockers is illegal (in EU):\n\n[https://www.privacy-\nnews.net/news_article/57ab2d7184f6fd5f5a...](https://www.privacy-\nnews.net/news_article/57ab2d7184f6fd5f5ad2ddcd)\n\n[http://news.softpedia.com/news/blocking-ad-blockers-may-\nbe-i...](http://news.softpedia.com/news/blocking-ad-blockers-may-be-illegal-\nin-the-eu-thanks-to-the-cookie-law-503359.shtml)\n\n~~~\nmdasen\nIt depends on how it is implemented. Those articles are about invading the\nprivacy of the user by detecting what software is on the machine. However, you\ndon't need to detect that someone has an ad-blocker to circumvent it.\n\nFirst, you can simply disguise your ads. You can disguise them for everyone.\nThat doesn't require you to peek into what software is on the machine. You've\nsimply made it difficult for an ad-blocker to detect the ads.\n\nSecond, you don't have to peek into the software on a machine to determine\nthat content isn't loading. Let's say that someone is blocking my ad server\nvia /etc/hosts. I shouldn't be able to write code that tries to read a user's\n/etc/hosts, but I can load content via AJAX, see that the content isn't\nloading, and then take action based on that (maybe loading from a secondary\nsource, maybe not displaying the page if not all content can be loaded).\n\nI'm not saying that Facebook is circumventing ad-blocking in this way, but you\ncertainly can attempt ad-block circumvention without reading a user's local\nconfiguration. Facebook can install the ad-blockers like anyone else on their\nown machines and see how they can disguise the ads as content so that the ad-\nblockers don't detect them.\n\n~~~\ncorobo\nIf you disguise it so that a constantly updating piece of software can't\nrecognise it that means you've disguised it enough that the ad blocker\ncreators can no longer tell it's an ad - Which is illegal in at least the UK,\nEU and US.\n\n------\nSixSigma\nJust use F.B. Purity, it is far superior\n\n[http://www.fbpurity.com/](http://www.fbpurity.com/)\n\n~~~\ncorobo\nThat site looks like it will try to steal something. Dodgy as hell scam site\nfeel to it.\n\n------\nRRRA\nQuick Batman, to the rendering engine!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: YC Interview tomorrow. Help us improve our interview notes - vinrob92\nHey guys,<p>My company, Manypixels, is interviewing tomorrow at YC offices (link of my startup website in my bio)<p>We applied late and got the interview confirmation on Sunday and flew the very same day to San Francisco.<p>We prepared those interview notes in the last two days, what do you guys think? https:&#x2F;&#x2F;docs.google.com&#x2F;presentation&#x2F;d&#x2F;1iyv_sxpmdFg8EZV7vuRbvhcHltZj3cZ3iUukMTPPRhQ&#x2F;\n======\nvinrob92\nHere are the interview notes:\n\n[https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1iyv_sxpmdFg8EZV7vuRb...](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1iyv_sxpmdFg8EZV7vuRbvhcHltZj3cZ3iUukMTPPRhQ/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLab-Grown Diamonds Come into Their Own - happy-go-lucky\nhttp://www.npr.org/2016/12/01/502330818/lab-grown-diamonds-come-into-their-own\n======\nericfranklin\nI've been running a lab-grown diamond company since 2005. I'd be happy to\nanswer any questions in the morning.\n\n~~~\nSideburnsOfDoom\nHow cheap can good quality diamond get?\n\nIf you're buying raw carbon in the form of coal, it costs about $40 per ton.\n\nThe rest is manufacturing details. I know there's a _lot_ of manufacturing\ndetails, but the cost of the inputs suggests that diamonds in bulk could be\nmuch much cheaper.\n\n~~~\nericfranklin\nIf a large enough production facility (no R&D) had nearly every growth cycle\nyield large enough, colorless, flawless diamonds (or close to it), the retail\nprices could come down more than they currently are. However, that does not\nreflect the current reality and all producers today are basically in R&D mode\nwith mixed success rates and mixed finished quality.\n\nIf someone showed up tomorrow with a check for several million dollars, I\nbelieve we could \"disrupt\" the current diamond pricing within 3-5 years.\nHowever, as I mentioned in another post in this thread, raw cost of production\nwill still keep those \"disrupted\" non-R&D diamonds much more expensive than\nmoissanite, CZs, sapphires and other gemstones.\n\nDiamond is a form of carbon, and its growth is more-or-less determined by\nnature. The cost of production over time will be more similar to an industry\nlike steel, than assembled goods like TVs or computers. There are improvements\nto be made, but they are more linear over time, than exponential\nbreakthroughs.\n\nFor raw carbon, we use a highly refined and purified form of graphite. If you\nused the $40/ton coal, you would not be successful in growing jewelry-quality\ndiamonds, and even if you did, the other costs wouldn't really change your\nultimate price much.\n\nAnother analogy is gold. You can buy a 1 Troy-ounce bar of 24 karat gold for a\nbit over $1000. However, a solitaire engagement ring with much less actual\ngold content can cost more than $1000. People ask why the jewelry is more\nexpensive, but don't include the cost for refining and alloys, design, 3D\nprinting or molds, casting and investments, polishing, setting, shipping, ring\nboxes, and all the other overhead associated with turning that gold bar into a\nsold, ready-to-wear ring.\n\n------\nmistermumble\nIn addition to created diamonds, there are other stones that are different\nfrom and in some aspects better than diamonds.\n\nThe best one seems to be Moissanite, which also has the rather pedestrian name\nof silicon carbide. See\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moissanite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moissanite)\n\nHere's a strong opinion about why diamonds suck and you should go with\nalternatives: [http://diamondssuck.com/](http://diamondssuck.com/)\n\nLastly, a more dispassionate analysis: [http://www.doamore.com/diamonds-vs-\nmoissanite/](http://www.doamore.com/diamonds-vs-moissanite/)\n\nMoissanite can be 90% cheaper than equivalent diamond, not just 30%.\n\n~~~\nyougotborked\nYep, my now fiance loves her Moissanite stone. I actually got it from\nAliExpress and then had it appraised by a jeweler to check it's authenticity.\nSaved a bunch of money and got a great product.\n\n~~~\nkwhitefoot\nPictures?\n\n~~~\nlisivka\nDiamon vs Mossanite:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZE3Vkb85Z4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZE3Vkb85Z4)\n\n~~~\nkwhitefoot\nThank you!\n\nBoth pretty but I can't see myself spending much on either.\n\n------\nmojoe\nThe fact that there is so much concern over how to differentiate mined\ndiamonds from grown diamonds seems like insanity to me. I understand that the\ndiamond trade has a vested interest in differentiating, but why would end\nconsumer care? They're the exact same product to the unaided eye. This is a\npurely emotional response. I guess the thing that bothers me the most is that\nit's a misguided emotional response -- it seems clear that it would reduce\nhuman and environmental suffering to purchase the grown diamonds.\n\n~~~\ncurun1r\nBecause the purveyors of diamonds, and you could argue jewelry in general,\nhave positioned themselves as proxies for love and sex. Those are the things\nwe value and the reasons we spend money, but we're not allowed, either by\nsocietal convention or law, to spend money on them directly. But we're allowed\nto spend exorbitant amounts of money on a glittery status symbols that serves\nas a measure of devotion. It's not the rock itself that's important, it's the\nwillingness to sacrifice a substantial amount of money.\n\nSo if the point of buying a diamond is to show your love for someone by\nsacrificing a meaningful amount of money, it becomes important to distinguish\nbetween stones that someone actually sacrificed a substantial amount of money\nto purchase and stones where someone didn't sacrifice as much.\n\nWe'd do better to address the insane custom of needing an expensive proxy for\nlove. Think about it...if the custom were for a man to take two months salary,\nwithdraw it from the bank in $100 bills, drop to one knee and present it to\nhis girlfriend while asking her to marry him, we'd find that insulting. It\nwould be like he's paying for love/sex, which our society deems dirty or\nobjectifying to women. But substitute a glittery rock mounted on a hunk of\nmetal, both largely obtained by heaping further misery on various third-world\nlocations, and we somehow find that acceptable? Accepting the money would make\nher a whore, but accepting the ring just means her boyfriend loves her?\n\nIt's illogical and hopefully more women start making it known to their\nboyfriends that the ring isn't necessary and all that extra money, if it needs\nto be spent on something impractical, can be spent on making the wedding just\na bit more lavish.\n\n~~~\nnwellinghoff\nVery wise. It's going to be up to the women to tell their men they don't want\nthis crap. At the end of the day us men are just going to get you what you\nwant to make you happy.\n\n------\ncmsmith\nI shopped for created diamonds a year or two ago, and like others was\ndisappointed with the cost savings. It seems awfully odd that on the spectrum\nfrom $0.01/caret to $1,000,000/caret, that created diamonds ended up costing\nexactly the same as a mined diamond, less maybe 30%. It's clear that there are\nonly a couple players in the clear created diamonds market, and no one is too\neager for a price war and to stop printing money. In which case it doesn't\nsound all that different from the mined diamond market\n\n~~~\nTeever\nIt's different in that there are a lot less slaves and warfare involved in the\nproduction of these new products.\n\n------\nsalmon30salmon\nThis is wonderful! I can't comprehend the need to mine for diamonds any\nlonger. Such a dangerous, dirty, damaging practice. It is sad to see that the\nindustry is trying to paint these as inferior.\n\nI would love to see some sort of tariff or sanction placed on mined diamonds\nto make them restrictively expensive. There is simply no need for them any\nlonger.\n\n~~~\nsandworm101\nNot all diamond types/classes are being manufactured. Synthetic diamonds will\nalways be different from natural stones specifically because they lack natural\nimperfections. Not everyone wants perfection.\n\n~~~\nimaginenore\nImperfections can be added\n\n~~~\nThomPete\nImperfection are naturally formed, you cant naturally create imperfections\nthat just become by definition artficially created imperfections.\n\n~~~\nxorxornop\nWell, what if it's done randomly? (like, by software that controls the machine\nthat grows it)\n\nOr, modify the growing process so that it has a greater element of chance to\nit? (this is likely multi-dimensional)\n\n~~~\nThomPete\nWhatever randomization isn't natural (and it can't be completely random as it\nneeds to look natural). But it's not really the point.\n\nA diamonds primary value is the history of it's making. People are\nunfortunately always going to be paying more for a diamond which has been\ndigged out by hard labour than created in a lab.\n\nKeep in mind the value of diamonds is mostly a perceptive one. I am pretty\nsure if you only did synthetic diamonds it would soon fail to be valuable as\nthe \"womans best friend\"\n\n------\njpmattia\n> His lab can tell the difference — they use microscopes and other instruments\n> to look for subtle features that reveal a diamond's origin.\n\nWild guess as to why anyone can tell the difference: Lab-grown diamonds are\nmore perfect than mined ones. It's probably pretty trivial to introduce\nimpurities to degrade the color, or change the deposition temperature in order\nto create faults in the lattice. Hell, throw in a microparticle or two for\ninclusions.\n\nI'd love to know more though, anyone got a reference?\n\n~~~\nericfranklin\nDiamond growers try their best to keep out impurities and imperfections.\nElemental impurities do add color (nitrogen=yellow, boron=blue), same as mined\ndiamonds, and faults and inclusions do naturally happen in the process.\nHowever, at an atomic level, they are different than inclusions and\nimperfections in mined diamonds.\n\nAs a producer, I don't see any incentive to make them imperfect on purpose,\nyet still distinguishable from mined diamonds. All larger diamonds intended\nfor gemstones come with independent grading reports, which will still identify\nit as grown regardless of presence or lack of impurities and imperfections.\n\nWhile not technically correct, some of the advanced detection equipment can be\nthought of like looking at growth rings on a tree. You (probably) can't\nreplicate the growth rings of a 200 year old tree in a 5 year old tree, yet\nboth are perfectly valid sources of wood (sustainability, etc. aside).\n\n------\ndaeken\nIt's funny to see this pop up now. I've spent the past few days researching my\nbig experiment project for next year: an open design CVD reactor for\nartificial diamonds.\n\nI don't intend to commercialize it at all, but if I can 1) learn a lot, 2)\nmake an open design that others can build on, and 3) (the long shot) make\nsmall diamonds for my wedding ring at the end of the year, I'll be a happy\nman.\n\nIf anyone is interested in working on this (particularly if you have\nexperience designing systems dealing with pressurized gasses), my email is in\nmy profile.\n\n~~~\nfizixer\nI would love to get into hacking/tinkering based on processes like MBE/CVD\netc. Does anyone know where to get started in terms of reading, what are the\noptions for a hobbyist?\n\n~~~\ndaeken\nI can't speak to MBE, but for CVD I mostly just googled around and read any\npapers I could find. However, IIT Madras has an entire course on the subject,\nall of which are on youtube:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsDO7gUBYjg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsDO7gUBYjg)\n\nI've been learning a lot from that, though it's focused on laying down\nsemiconductor layers; most of the info on CVD diamonds seems to be locked away\nin proprietary processes for various manufacturers. I foresee a lot of failed\nexperiments in my future!\n\n------\nvezycash\nLet's give Moissanite a new catchy, less complex name. Else, it will remain\nunknown.\n\nI propose the name Moon Stone.\n\nStar fire would have been great but it'll be confused with Sapphire.\n\nSee ffg for effect of company name pronunciability on market share, stock\nprice, brand value...\n\n[http://m.pnas.org/content/103/24/9369.full](http://m.pnas.org/content/103/24/9369.full)\n\n[http://russelljame.com/Fluency_JFE_2013.pdf](http://russelljame.com/Fluency_JFE_2013.pdf)\n\n~~~\nmb_72\n\"Sanité\" \\- it's related to 'moissanite', the 'é' makes it sound classy, and\nof course it's pronounced 'sanity' as that is what it brings to the whole\nridiculous diamond situation.\n\n------\nipqk\nAt some point in the near future, maybe 1 year, maybe 10, anyone with a spare\ncouple million dollars will be able to buy a machine to grow diamonds\nindistinguishable from mined diamonds, defects and all. No one will be able to\ntell at all, and the market will be flooded. Prices for mined & manufactured\nalike will crater.\n\nThere is no future for mined diamonds.\n\n~~~\njghn\nat some point 15-20 years or so ago De Beers started laser etching logos on\nthe diamonds for exactly this reason.\n\n~~~\nRcouF1uZ4gsC\nWasn't the public reason for laser etching to prevent conflict diamonds from\nhaving a market?\n\n------\ngrondilu\nThe largest diamond in the world still is natural, isn't it? Will it ever be\nsynthetic and if so when?\n\n~~~\nundersuit\n>The largest diamond in the world still is natural, isn't it?\n\nIt's most definitely a natural diamond, and it's also most definitely\nundiscovered in some incredibly rich diamond deposit.\n\n------\ncowardlydragon\nOnly 30% cheaper?\n\nI once heard a dollar a caret from one of the startups a decade ago...\n\n~~~\ngiblfiz\nWithout actually knowing anything about the subject my guess is that the very\ncheep synthetic diamonds you heard about were / are intended for tools, (Where\nall that they care about is the hardness, so they can be small, yellow, and\nmessy)\n\nAlso, I do know that you can get synthetic ruby for ~$1/carat on ali-baba. (I\nactually bought a few)\n\n------\nepx\nAren't pearls cultured for decades now? They are still sought for, nothing is\nmore beautiful in a woman's neck than a pearl collar.\n\n~~~\n13of40\nNot that it really matters at the end of the day, but there's probably some\ncharm in knowing that your \"cultured\" pearl was still formed inside a bivalve\nliving in the ocean, versus being made in a machine like a porcelain\ngobstopper.\n\nThat said, check out this cool picture:\n[https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/shrinknp_800_800/AAEAAQAAAAA...](https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/shrinknp_800_800/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAZTAAAAJDVmNWFlMzJmLWU0ZWYtNDM5OS04YzAxLWIzYmRjZGQzNDY4ZQ.jpg)\nI didn't realize it was so industrial...\n\n------\njzig\n> And larger stones get laser-inscribed, so that the manufactured stones\n> literally have words like \"lab-grown\" written right on them.\n\nWhy?\n\n~~~\nISL\nManufacturers want their product to be accepted for what it is, rather than a\nvehicle for defrauding others.\n\nIf someone bought a manufactured stone expecting it to have been mined (and\npaid the premium currently accorded to mined stones), the buyer might direct a\nfraction of their disappointment at the manufacturer, instead of the deserving\nfraudulent seller.\n\nAdding a nigh-invisible mark makes it trivial for a jeweler to tell the\ndifference, and stops all but the least-informed fraudulent sellers before\nthey begin.\n\n------\njvandonsel\nIs it true that it's actually illegal to pick up a diamond off the ground in\nSouth Africa?\n\n------\nSynaesthesia\nAre these also going to be artificially inflated like mined diamonds?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhat the game 'Werewolf' teaches us about Trust and Security - gwern\nhttps://eaves.ca/2013/11/07/what-werewolf-teaches-us-about-trust-security/\n======\nmindcrash\nFor those of you who want to see how 'Werewolf' plays out, there's a great\nimplementation of the concepts of this game on Steam in a indie game called\n'Town of Salem' so you can try it yourselves:\n[http://store.steampowered.com/app/334230/](http://store.steampowered.com/app/334230/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Tau Manifesto - acjohnson55\nhttp://www.tauday.com/\n======\nfdej\nBoth tau and pi are inconvenient because you often need fractional multiples\nlike 1/6 or 3/4.\n\nWe should instead take the fundamental unit of angle measurement to be pi\n_divided_ by a highly composite number, say 2 * 2 * 3 * 3 * 5 = 180. Most\ncommon angles will be then be integer multiples of this unit. Let's give this\nunit a name, say \"degree\".\n\nOne full rotation = 360 \"degrees\"\n\nHalf a rotation = 180 \"degrees\"\n\n1/10 of a rotation = 36 \"degrees\"\n\netc.\n\nI can't believe I'm the first person to think of this. It's so simple that\neven the ancient Greeks could have figured it out. I should write a full\ninternet manifesto and try to convert the world.\n\n~~~\nsunfish\nIt's bugged me as well. It feels like whenever you have a unit where all your\nmeasurements contain a multiplication by a constant factor, you should just\npick a more convenient unit. This applies to radian measure regardless of\nwhether one uses Pi or Tau. It's odd that the unit of radian measure is a\nquantity which one almost never encounters, and that the quantities one most\noften encounters are all transcendental (except 0), even in the most basic of\nsituations.\n\nBut instead of picking an arbitrary number like 360 or 1337 or whatever, how\nabout we pick 1? Let's give this unit a name, say \"turn\".\n\nOne full rotation = 1 \"turn\"\n\nHalf a rotation = 1/2 \"turn\"\n\n1/10 of a rotation = 1/10 \"turn\"\n\netc.\n\nWhat do you think?\n\n~~~\nalecrn\nI always liked this as well, and in this case, tau is basically that unit. In\nfact, maybe we could think of tau as being short for \"turn\".\n\nOne full rotation = tau\n\nHalf a rotation = 1/2 tau\n\n1/10 a rotation = 1/10 tau\n\n~~~\nharperlee\nI especially like that this conversation went full circle and back into tau.\n\n------\ngiech\nI think this whole argument is silly. I really do not think one is\nfundamentally better than the other. Factor of 2 constants will exist no\nmatter which one you choose. Might as well go with pau\n[http://xkcd.com/1292/](http://xkcd.com/1292/)\n\n~~~\nmfisher87\nI don't like to think about it this way. I think it's silly to go all out and\ninsist one is always objectively \"better\" than the other (it's a tradeoff),\nbut to have this discussion is illuminating. Look through the comments at how\nmany people gained a better understanding of geometry as a whole by reading.\n\n------\nsunfish\nI distinctly remember when I was learning geometry that there were some things\nthat never really made sense. Why was pi defined in terms of the diameter when\nliterally _everything_ else we learned about circles used the radius? Why did\nradian angles feel off by a factor of 2? When I later stumbled upon the Tau\nManifesto, it felt like a lot of things fell into place. And by that time, I\nhad also studied calculus and had a familiarity with the kinds of things that\nhappen in formulas which relate lengths and areas, so the discussion of the\ncircle area formula resonated as well.\n\nDespite all the cheap dismissals one sees, this feeling of \"woah, that would\nhave actually made sense!\" is a big part of what makes the Tau Manifesto\npopular.\n\n------\nhugs\nI didn't really understand why tau was \"better\" than pi until I understood the\nrelationship to radians. Figure 8 [1] in the Tau Manifesto was the eye-opener\nfor me. With tau, instead of pi, I now have a more intuitive sense of how to\nthink in radians when doing trigonometry.\n\n[1]: [http://www.tauday.com/tau-manifesto#fig-\ntau_angles](http://www.tauday.com/tau-manifesto#fig-tau_angles)\n\n------\njackmaney\n[http://www.thepimanifesto.com/](http://www.thepimanifesto.com/)\n\n~~~\nthomasahle\nI like Terence's suggestion of using 2 _pi_ i as the fundamental constant.\nSqrt(pi) could also be useful given how often it appears.\n\n------\nlkbm\nNumberphile also has a really fun debate on Pi v. Tau:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPv1UV0rD8U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPv1UV0rD8U)\n\n~~~\nthomasahle\nBut changing our number system to base 12 would destroy pi day!\n\n~~~\nlkbm\nYeah, but as Vihart pointed out, Pi = a half rotation, so Pi day is in June.\n:-)\n\n------\nebbv\nDo we really need to do this every year? Come on.\n\n------\namalcon\nThis is probably the most pointless math argument. Apparently, some people\nconsider it too cumbersome or confusing to write two glyphs instead of one,\nand would prefer to replace the whole thing with a single glyph. The chosen\nglyph happens to be one of the worst possible options, because it conflicts\nwith torque (an angular force, which frequently appears in the same\ncalculations as pi). This despite there being dozens of completely unused\nglyphs in the non-English non-Greek alphabets (Hebrew, Russian, etc).\n\nIt seems almost like a parody.\n\n~~~\nDSMan195276\nI think most of your arguments are valid, especially about the choice of\nglyph, tau is already used a ton. However, I think there is something to be\nsaid for the fact that, by virtue of being the ratio of C/R, there are exactly\ntau radians in a circle. This really does simplify the math, and gives more\nmeaning to the constants on tau vs. pi.\n\nThere's more meaning from '3 * tau / 4' vs. '3 * pi / 2' because the constant\ntells you that you have exactly '3 / 4' of a circle. With pi, this is less\nobvious because there are '2 * pi' radians in a circle, but the 2 frequently\ndisappears (like in my example), which leaves you with '3 / 2 of a _half a\ncircle_ ', which isn't obvious how much that actually is. pi definitely _does_\nhave it's uses when you're talking about the diameter, but when you're talking\nabout something like _rad_ ians, it makes more sense to use the ratio of\ncircumference to _radius_ rather then circumference to diameter. If we were\nusing diameterians then it would make sense to use pi, since there would be\nexactly pi diameterians in a circle. Having them mismatched like we do creates\na mess.\n\n~~~\ntomp\n> which leaves you with '3 / 2 of a half a circle', which isn't obvious how\n> much that actually is\n\nI like pi. I think it's quite obvious too, but maybe you need to stop thinking\nabout circles and start thinking about planes or lines instead. Pi is simple,\nstraight line, or equivalently the whole half-plane above the x axis. Pi/2 is\nhalf the turning needed to get back to the straight line, i.e. right square.\nAnd so on...\n\n~~~\nDSMan195276\nI get what you're saying, but you can say the _exact_ same thing using tau and\nit's simpler:\n\nTau is a simple, straight line, and stretches the entire length of a circle,\nstarting from the x-axis in the positive x direction, and ending at the x-axis\nfrom the negative x direction. So Tau / 2 is the amount of turning needed to\ngo half-way around the circle. Tau / 4 is the amount of turning needed to go a\nforth of the way around the circle, IE. a right square.\n\nPi might seem easier or obvious to you because you've already been dealing\nwith it for years, but it still creates a situation that is more complex then\nit needs to be. Tau creates a simpler unit-circle, because Tau uses the\n_radius_ , and we're talking about _radians_. Using something that's\ncalculated using the diameter, when you're talking about a unit that's\nmeasured in radius's is asking for a mess.\n\n------\ncplease\ne^(τi/2) = -1\n\nDidn't think so.\n\n~~~\nStefanKarpinski\nYes, which means \"a half turn around the unit circle in the complex plane is\n-1\". Try explaining that in words without saying \"half\" or something\nequivalent to it.\n\n~~~\ntomp\nOpposite of 1 on the unit circle in the complex plane is -1. Pi just means\n\"enough of a turn to get back to the straight line\".\n\n~~~\nstouset\nYou mean a vector in the opposite direction. Clear as mud.\n\n------\nbau5\nDo not want.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMystery in Wuhan: recovered coronavirus patients test negative then positive - ceejayoz\nhttps://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/27/822407626/mystery-in-wuhan-recovered-coronavirus-patients-test-negative-then-positive\n======\neanzenberg\nLiterally false positive and false negatives. In other words, if you test\nmillions of people, there will be more people tested positive who DON'T have\nthe disease vs. those who test positive and HAVE the disease.\n\n~~~\ndevy\nExactly! For any medical tests, there are 2 measurements: sensitivity and\nspecificity, one to judge false positive and another judge the false\nnegatives.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensitivity_and_specificity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensitivity_and_specificity)\n\n~~~\nAzzieElbab\nSpain sent testkits back to China because they were unreliable\n\n~~~\ntehjoker\nIn the NYT article on Italy today, frontline medics were saying that clinical\nsymptoms were anecdotally more reliable than the tests because there are too\nmany false negatives. Not sure whose tests they're using but I've heard\nsimilar things about US PCR tests.\n\n[https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/27/world/europe/...](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/27/world/europe/coronavirus-\nitaly-bergamo.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage)\n\n~~~\ndevy\nYep! CT scans and clinician's experience is more reliable than any tests for\nCOVID-19 diagnostics (which should only serving as a definitive confirmation).\nThis also why I believe human doctors are still unbeatable by AI\n\n~~~\ndirtyid\nI remember an article early in the outbreak that Chinese doctors found the\nmost reliable diagnosis comes from CT scans. Test was merely the first filter.\nThey tuned the settings to increase scan speed at the cost of resolution and\nsetup a process to scan up to 200 patients a day per scanner. I wonder if this\nis still best practice that other countries aren't adopting. On the other hand\nI expect tests to have improved since the early days. There's also the\nconsideration China simply had more CT scanners that could be mobilized to\nWuhan which makes this less practical elsewhere.\n\n~~~\ntehjoker\nMy doctor friend who got the minutes of a call with a chinese doctor said they\nwere also swabbing multiple areas of the body for PCR and doing an antibody\nscreen as well (in addition to CT).\n\n------\ncs702\nMy key takeaway after reading this article is that I cannot blindly trust\nChina's official figures.\n\nNPR reports that \"under its newest COVID-19 prevention guidelines, _China does\nnot include in its overall daily count for total and for new cases those who\nretest positive after being released from medical care. China also does not\ninclude asymptomatic cases in case counts_ \" (emphasis mine).\n\nOne of the Wuhan doctors interviewed for this article told NPR that \"I have no\nidea why the authorities choose not to count asymptomatic cases in the\nofficial case count. I am baffled.\"\n\nAll doctors and individuals in China who were interviewed for the article\n\"requested anonymity when speaking with NPR because those who have challenged\nthe government's handling of the outbreak have been detained.\"\n\n\\--\n\nSee also: [https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/mar/27/china-re-\ncloses...](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/mar/27/china-re-closes-all-\ncinemas-over-coronavirus-fears)\n\n------\ncanada_dry\nWhen you factor in this news:\n[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/mar/27/china-re-\ncloses...](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/mar/27/china-re-closes-all-\ncinemas-over-coronavirus-fears) It would certainly appear that this virus is\nnot yet finished with China.\n\nMore importantly, it would seem that premature lifting of restrictions is done\nat our peril.\n\n------\njankotek\nCzechia got some quick tests from China. Their reliability was about 60%\ncompared to lab, false positives and false negatives.\n\nI think DNA and RNA research is severely lacking in most countries. In a few\nyears we will look at this year as 1960ies of computer engineering.\n\nEdit: source [https://www.irozhlas.cz/zpravy-domov/ostrava-rychlotesty-\nkor...](https://www.irozhlas.cz/zpravy-domov/ostrava-rychlotesty-\nkoronavirus_2003231414_sot)\n\n~~~\nnetvarun\nInitially skeptical on your first claim but did find a source:\n[https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-spain-says-\nrapid...](https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-spain-says-rapid-tests-\nsent-from-china-missing-cases-2020-3)\n([https://outline.com/uBBJvY](https://outline.com/uBBJvY))\n\n~~~\ndmix\nSounds like a test from a single Chinese company and the results were closer\nto 30% accurate:\n\n> The Chinese Embassy in Spain said that the Bioeasy tests were not part of\n> China's medical donations and that the firm didn't have a license to sell\n> its products.\n\n~~~\nlopis\n30% accurate? Does that mean it's better to believe the opposite of what the\ntest says most of the time?\n\n~~~\nsamsonradu\nThen it would be 70% accurate\n\n~~~\nDeonPenny\nAgreed the worst test would be 50% accurate\n\n------\ngojomo\nThe journalists here haven't mentioned what kinds of tests each the 4 unnamed\nsources – 2 doctors, 2 citizens – had at each stage of their 'positive then\nnegative then positive again' journey. They haven't mentioned if any of the\nindividual tests were followed-up with multiple confirmatory tests of\nalternate methods.\n\nTo the extent they mention test types at all, it is quotes from \"February\" or\n\"a professor... by email\" – nothing about _these_ persons' tests.\n\nYet, the tests in use have some level of false-positive and false-negative.\nSome variants have had quite high error rates – which may still be acceptable\nfor mass-screening, but not for understanding the course of a single person's\ninfection status.\n\nSo, among many millions of people tested in China, a handful have had\nalternating results not correlated with their symptoms? Not a surprise, even\nwith tiny test error rates, unless each contributing result to the \"+/-/+\"\npattern was reconfirmed by multiple-tests/multiple-methods.\n\n(Note this also suggests many accounts of 'asymptomatic cases' may just be\nfalse-positives who never had Covid-19.)\n\n------\nnico_h\nFavorite line from the article: \"In terms of those who retested positive, the\nofficial party line is that they have not been proven to be infectious. That\nis not the same as saying they are not infectious,\" one of the Wuhan doctors\nwho tested positive twice told NPR [...] \"If they really are not infectious,\"\nthe doctor said, \"then there would be no need to take them back to the\nhospitals again.\"\n\nSo why are the asymptomatic cases required to quarantine under medical\nobservation for 14 days but not counted?\n\n~~~\nceejayoz\n\"Not proven to be infectious\" and \"proven to not be infectious\" aren't the\nsame thing. Quarantine/observation is warranted for the first.\n\n~~~\nnico_h\nWell if you know they are infected, and are worried they might be infectious,\n_why not count them_ after all they _are_ occupying a bed.\n\n------\nhprotagonist\nCouple of thoughts:\n\n\\- I think we need to know a LOT more about the sensitivity, specificity, and\naccuracy of every test that's being deployed right now. I am 100% willing to\nbelieve that \"testing negative and then positive\" means \"you have a pretty low\nviral load and our tests suck more than we're willing to admit out loud right\nnow\".\n\n\\- I think we need to be very clear that there are two kinds of tests: \"you\nhave an active SARS-CoV-2 infection _right now_ , and also \"you have once had\na SARS-CoV-2 infection in the semi-recent past\". One tells you who needs care,\none tells you who is at least temporarily immune we hope.\n\n~~~\nbaxtr\n_In general_ PCR tests are highly sensitive. Even smallest viral loads can be\ndetected\n\n(Edit) added in general above due to valid points in the comments below\n\n~~~\nhprotagonist\nif:\n\n\\- you do them right\n\n\\- your reagents are good\n\n\\- the kit was assembled properly\n\n\\- there's no contamination in the machines\n\n\\- you got a good sample\n\n\\- ...\n\nThe capability for a highly sensitive and accurate test in no way guarantees\nthat a randomly sampled administration of that test is going to meet the high\nstandard that the test may be capable of.\n\n~~~\ntwic\nAnd if you swabbed an infected part of the body in the first place!\n\n _In 205 patients with proven COVID-19 [...] bronchoalveolar lavage fluid was\npositive in 14 /15 (93%), sputum 75/104 (72%), nasal swabs 5/8 (63%), brush\nbiopsy 6/13 (46%), pharyngeal swabs 126/398 (32%), feces 44/153 (29%), blood\n3/307 (1%), and urine 0/72 (0%)._\n\n[https://www.jwatch.org/na51116/2020/03/17/pharyngeal-and-\nnas...](https://www.jwatch.org/na51116/2020/03/17/pharyngeal-and-nasal-swabs-\nmay-not-have-adequate)\n\n~~~\nhinkley\nHol' up.\n\n> blood 3/307 (1%)\n\nWhy isn't their blood rotten with virus?\n\n~~~\ngojomo\nI suspect it's because this virus is optimized to enter cells that line the\nlungs/respiratory tract, then also sheds back that same way. Meanwhile, cells\nin, and along, the bloodstream aren't infected – and _are_ most-trafficked by\nthe body's immune response, including virus-destroying antibodies.\n\n(Why are rodents more prevalent in the walls/crawlspaces of a dwelling, rather\nthan the hallways?)\n\n~~~\nhinkley\nBut the lungs are full of blood, that's how we breath.\n\nSo it's spreading mucosally or through connective tissue?\n\n~~~\ngojomo\nSure, but if an initially-infected respiratory cell releases its \"baby\ncoronaviruses\" out to the respiratory linings, away from the blood, they'll\nfind lots more of the respiratory cell surfaces they're optimized to infect,\nand maybe get a ride out to other hosts on sputum.\n\nTo the extent an infected cell releases its \"baby coronaviruses\" into the\nblood stream, they find a hot, chemically active environment – which is\nalready inhospitable to their continued survival – plus a relative dearth of\nthe respiratory cell-walls they're optimized to enter, plus a growing number\nof hostile antibodies.\n\n(I don't know _if_ a coronavirus-hijacked cell _can_ direct its fresh viruses\none way or the other, but it'd probably prefer to do that if it could, and I\ncan understand why viruses wouldn't persist long in blood compared to\nrespiratory-membranes.)\n\nThe coronaviruses are definitely active in mucosal surfaces, and carried by\nmucus. I haven't seen anything about, nor do I think any activity is\nnecessarily implied, in other connective tissues.\n\n------\nrmu09\nEvery test in the real world shows false positives and false negatives. I\nwould expect that doing multiple tests on a massive number of people could\nshow such results.\n\n------\nwangii\nas far as I know, cases of 're-positive' have been reported in Chinese\nwebsphere for a while, and there had been doubts and official clarifications:\n\nre-positive report:\n[http://www.bjnews.com.cn/feature/2020/03/05/699575.html](http://www.bjnews.com.cn/feature/2020/03/05/699575.html)\n(2020/03/05)\n\nexpert stance:\n[http://www.bjnews.com.cn/news/2020/03/12/702870.html](http://www.bjnews.com.cn/news/2020/03/12/702870.html)\n(2020/03/12)\n\nit's about lives and I don't think anyone believe in govt. lightly. so do you.\n\n------\n4restm\nMed Cram had a segment on this, its believed to be false negatives. As some\nthe current PCR test are highly inaccurate\n\n------\nguscost\nRelated case report:\n[https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-17319/v1](https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-17319/v1)\n\n------\nrurban\nThis is entirely expected. Ex-positives develop antibodies, so that they are\nimmune against further infections. Since the virus is so infectious it can\neasily lead to further infections, but the antibodies can contain it. Same\nhappens with flu vaccination. The new PCR tests are so overly precise, that\nthey can measure the new losing virus cells.\n\nBig question is if the re-positives are infectious again. Doesn't seem to be\nplausible, but could be. It's a new virus with a different, stronger header.\n\n------\ngentleman11\n> They all requested anonymity when speaking with NPR because those who have\n> challenged the government's handling of the outbreak have been detained.\n\nWe need to be more hesitant to praise their pandemic response\n\n~~~\njsight\nI don't understand this. I haven't seen \"praise\"? I have seen realistic\nassessments of the ultimate effectiveness, but I see this as vastly different\nfrom \"praise\".\n\nI think the majority of people in the US that have observed how they handle it\nsee their approach as overly harsh.\n\n~~~\nsnapetom\nWhile social media has been more critical depending on the source, the\nmainstream media has definitely been carrying the water for China.\n\n[https://twitter.com/KenDilanianNBC/status/124324375891486310...](https://twitter.com/KenDilanianNBC/status/1243243758914863104)\n\nI think it's been interesting wave. When the cases first started, China got\nblasted. As it hit the US, Administration political opponents have criticized\nthe US response, but many have gone to the point of praising China's response\nand forgetting about China's actions in December/January.\n\n~~~\nwwweston\nIf China did in fact ship emergency medical supplies to Italy, that's a\ngesture worth recognizing and praising. \"Carrying water\" is a weird way of\ncharacterizing that recognition.\n\nChina also deserves criticism; its initial response was dysfunctional in some\nways (albeit somewhat different ways than the United States dysfunctional\nresponse). Fortunately, as you say, it's been blasted in some discussion.\n\nBut recognition of ways in which its response has been respectable is less the\nmark of someone \"carrying water\" and more part of the process of learning\nthings and having our political institutions learn things.\n\n~~~\nuncoder0\nI've never seen the mainstream media question the veracity of the statistics\nabout Covid that came out of China until the evidence is too obvious to\nignore. There is plenty of proof that they regularly manipulate their\nstatistics such as GDP.\n\n[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-08/china-\ns-g...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-08/china-s-gdp-growth-\npace-was-inflated-for-nine-years-study-finds)\n\n[https://time.com/5811222/wuhan-coronavirus-death-\ntoll/](https://time.com/5811222/wuhan-coronavirus-death-toll/)\n\netc\n\nWhy should any respectable journalist quote their statistics about COVID and\nconclude how effective their response was without mentioning that they've been\nknown to fabricate statistics? Let alone calling them a 'Global Leader' in\nresponse. I've not seen this qualification mentioned once with respect to\nChina's stats on this virus.\n\n~~~\ndirtyid\n>mentioned once\n\nI don't see it frequently in writing, but the majority of TV and podcast\nreporting from news sites has the disclaimer. And there's enough China bad\narticles out there that I feel like this is implicitly assumed.\n\nEither way, no one trusts Chinese stats, including the Chinese public\nthemselves, and the Chinese government most of all. The ability to collect\naccurate statistics when there's so many different development levels country-\nwide simply isn't there. For example, China doesn't use GDP internally, they\nuse LKI, LiKeQiang Index which aggregates a value from measurable indicators\nlike freight cargo volume, electric consumption, bank loans. There's also TSF,\nTotal Social Financing. They can still be gamed, but physically (running empty\ntrains), but much harder to fake via submitting fake excel sheets to central\ngovernment. Chinese GDP is basically a back of the napkin estimate to appease\nforeign investors, it's also used to set growth targets instead of reflecting\nit. Most of the mainstream western reporting on Chinese GDP does not\nunderstand this. It's well understood among China watchers. The most\ncomprehensive study on Chinese GDP so far, by CSIS, suggested China was under\nreporting their GDP.\n\nAs for stacked urns in Wuhan, the city is still under quarantine so urns would\nnot be picked up. Also necessary to account for other sources of death. The\narticle quotes 56K cremations in Q4 2019, so a few thousands urns especially\nas restock doesn't seem atypical. Like LKI, it's an useful oblique indicator,\nbut should be considered in other context. If there's mass death, enough to\nmeasurably affect hysterical people in quarantine, it would be on Chinese\nsocial media which would leak to China watchers. There's many expats and\nChinese people with VPNs, things that affect the public on a mass scale\ninevitably leaps over the firewall, it's not opaque like politburo politics.\nPeople need to stop looking at Chinese numbers and instead extrapolate from\noblique indicators. When expats in China talk about things returning to\nnormal, when Chinese diaspora aren't mourning about sick or dead family\nmembers en-mass, then you can assume that reflects ground reality.\n\n------\nm0zg\nHere's probably why:\n[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/27/coronavirus-\nte...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/27/coronavirus-test-kits-\nwithdrawn-spain-poor-accuracy-rate)\n\n------\ndang\nA similar thread from 10 days ago:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22608676](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22608676)\n\n------\nDeonPenny\nYou've locked healthy people inside with sick people during the quarantine.\nWouldn't that cause some reinfections? After your immune system got beat down\nthe first time.\n\n~~~\ncjbprime\nCatching a virus normally provides you immunity for some time frame from three\nmonths up to years or forever. We aren't expecting reinfection (yet) because\nwe're expecting immunity, but might be wrong.\n\n------\nanotheryou\nOf 6 people I know with corona 2 tested negative despite showing the same\nsymptoms as their positive partners...\n\nI think it's just false negatives.\n\n------\ngrugagag\nRelated:\n\n[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-27/stacks-\nof...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-27/stacks-of-urns-in-\nwuhan-prompt-new-questions-of-virus-s-toll)\n\nChina is likely hiding the real numbers for unknown reasons\n\n~~~\nrobocat\nThe “stacks of urns” can almost be answered by the quote from the article:\n“There were 56,007 cremations in Wuhan in the fourth quarter of 2019”. (Edit:\nI shortened quote).\n\nAfter a month of lockdown, the number of backlogged urns should be over 18000.\n\n~~~\noefrha\n(More than) two months of lockdown, not one. So ~38000 cremations “normally”.\nSpread out to eight funeral homes, you’d expect 4k-5k at each location. (Since\npeople were allegedly locked into apartments or at least apartment complexes,\napparently they weren’t picking up ashes until now.) So “thousands” at each\nlocation tells us precious nothing.\n\nArticle is intentionally misleading, burying the “normal” stats that way.\n\n------\nm3kw9\nBut they were not found to shed viruses.\n\n~~~\nwizzwizz4\nDoesn't mean they were found not to.\n\n------\nurda\nIt's not a mystery. China is for sure not telling the truth. Remember this is\na country with massive censorship issues and have even kicked out foreign\nreporters.\n\nI'd like to know what the downvotes are? Because everything here is factually\ntrue.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nElon Musk and Bezos used to be just like you, says Y Combinator’s Daniel Gross - rahulshiv\nhttps://www.recode.net/2017/12/6/16728982/daniel-gross-y-combinator-cue-apple-ai-machine-learning-kara-swisher-casey-newton-decode-podcast\n======\ndwaltrip\nThey both likely have IQs of at least 145, it seems, which is in the top 0.13%\nor higher. Just like the rest of us, indeed.\n\n[https://www.quora.com/Who-is-smarter-Elon-Musk-or-Jeff-\nBezos](https://www.quora.com/Who-is-smarter-Elon-Musk-or-Jeff-Bezos)\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_deviation#Rules_for_n...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_deviation#Rules_for_normally_distributed_data)\n\n------\nangersock\nI'm pretty sure both of them came from monied families?\n\nOr is that the point?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Do you use Wolfram Alpha? - raphar\n\nI'm curious about the usage of Wolfram Alpha. How frequently do you search with it?<p>I think I'll use Wolfram Alfa<p>a) once a month\nb) once a week\nc) dayly\nd) hourly!!<p>[have you found a killer application of the engine???]<p>(also have you found a use to it?)\n======\nraphar\nI think they have some interesting concepts implemented in their engine, but\nwithout users it will be difficult to maintain it running. Thats why I was\nasking. I also ask here because the marketing campaign hit us plenty in HN.\n\nby the way I use it at most once a week, generally when Im reading news.\n\n------\nmronge\nI tried it and was disappointed. For example search Wolfram Alpha for \"Abraham\nLincon's Height\" and it won't be able to figure it out. Search Google, and it\nwill be parsed out nicely at the top of the page, no wading through search\nresults necessary.\n\n~~~\nnailer\nSame here. Based on the demo video, I thought a natural language query about\nsome oft repeated numbers - 'Web browser market share by year' would be\ndoable. It wasn't.\n\n------\ndavi\nGood question.\n\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/newpoll>\n\n(Dunno if it still has a karma threshold)\n\n~~~\nbuugs\nIt's 20 karma to create a poll, you can see when your logged out and try to\ncreate one.\n\nAnd I never use wolfram alpha, maybe when I start classes again.\n\n------\noomkiller\nI probably use it daily or just about daily. Usually to do some basic physics\ncalculations, just for fun. I also use it to check my answers to homework.\n\n------\ndca\ne) never\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nTwo bills target video games following Sandy Hook tragedy - mbenjaminsmith\nhttp://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/184997/Two_bills_target_video_games_following_Sandy_Hook_tragedy.php\n\n======\nck2\nI don't personally care for the existence of video games and movies that are\nsuper violent just for the sake of being violent.\n\nBut here's the thing - plenty of other countries have full access to all these\nvideo games, movies and even their fair share of mentally ill.\n\nWhat they do not have is constant mass slaughters like this, and that's\nbecause they don't have the guns-are-toys mentality we do and open access to\nas many guns as you want, as powerful as you want, without tracking, liability\nor lack of social pressure to stop.\n\nSadly nothing will be done and in a decade we'll have a mass-killing\nanniversary for every day of the year and everyone will just be desensitized.\nInstead we'll have armed guards at every place where more than 10 people\ngather and like the TSA everyone will say \"oh well, what can you do\".\n\n~~~\nCamperBob2\nOr, you know, we could just stop spazzing out in reaction to vanishingly-rare\nevents. You can't shrink-wrap the world.\n\n~~~\nck2\nUh, over 1000 people have been killed by guns since Sandy Hook a month ago [1]\n\nThat's not a rare event - it's just distributed far apart enough in the news\nand localized to the point where you purposely do not notice.\n\nI think it would be a great service if every national news program would open\nwith a list of the names of everyone killed by guns and drunk drivers, every\nday. It would only take a minute but if you did it every day, people would\nstart to get a hint.\n\nPBS News closes with all the people (mostly teenagers and twenty-somethings)\nkilled in the military every night, it could be like that.\n\n1\\.\n[http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2012/1...](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2012/12/gun_death_tally_every_american_gun_death_since_newtown_sandy_hook_shooting.html)\n\n~~~\nhayksaakian\nHow many were obtained illegally? How many were suicides?\n\nHow many more people died from more preventable causes?\n\nSound bites are sound bites are sound bites.\n\n~~~\nck2\nIsn't the proper question \"how many deaths happened in other countries of the\nsame population density\" ?\n\nBecause I assure you, it's lower in the UK, Japan, etc.\n\nYou cannot just say \"oh well what can you do, it's the price we pay to have\nour toys\".\n\n~~~\nphilwelch\nYou're right. Let's ban cars. Though that's a bit too extreme, let's only ban\nassault vehicles. You know, those black SUV's that look a little too much like\nmilitary vehicles. That is a good solution to the number of people killed by\ndrunk drivers.\n\n~~~\nck2\nNah let's remove speed limits and drink all you want when you drive. Because\npeople should have all the freedom they want and people are rational and\nintelligent. Screw the rights of other people to be able to drive safely.\n\nHeck, why restrict fully automatic M16s and bazookas - why dare impose limits\nat all. People are rational and intelligent their freedom should not stop\nwhere others begin. In fact you should be able to drunk drive and carry around\nyour loaded M16 out the window down the highway.\n\nWe should be like the middle east with people firing fully automatics in the\nair anytime they want and gangs roaming around in pickups fully armed.\n\nThe gun bans they are trying now are the only place they can start. Because\nanything more sane would insanely be ignored. At least they are trying and\nit's a start.\n\nGuns are not toys and that's the whole problem, people want to play with them\nbecause they think it's a game.\n\n~~~\nunimpressive\n>The gun bans they are trying now are the only place they can start. Because\nanything more sane would insanely be ignored. At least they are trying and\nit's a start.\n\nThe thing about legislative efforts, is that on an issue where there are\nparties who want to take certain laws to one extreme or the other (Ex: Banning\nall guns.) and the sliding scale is freedom vs regulation, there will\ninevitably always be push from both of the extreme sides. So even if you enact\n\"reasonable\" gun laws, there will always be parties trying to push them\nforwards or backwards. This means that the sensible thing for guns rights\norganizations to do is turn even a minor gun regulation into a shitstorm so\nthat the opposing forces on the other side have to spend all their energy\nmaintaining reasonable gun laws.\n\nInternet activists may want to take notes.\n\n~~~\nck2\nAs long as people enjoy killing animals, guns will never be illegal in this\ncountry. There are plenty of lefties in the senate who really enjoy killing\nanimals so guns are always going to be legal.\n\nWhat they are trying to restrict is the use of guns as toys and I have zero\nproblem with that. I think hunting is ridiculous and horrible in this day and\nage but I guess that's part of the compromise I have to do. I am not accepting\nanything further than that though, guns are not toys.\n\n~~~\nfusiongyro\nThere are environmentally sound reasons to control the population of wild\nanimals. A population boom/bust cycle wreaks havoc on the environment. We've\nalready interfered with nature on this continent to such a degree it cannot\nself-regulate. I don't enjoy killing animals, but those that I know who hunt\nare in fact doing us all a public service we would otherwise have to pay the\ngovernment to do.\n\n------\nunimpressive\nAs somebody who played _tons_ of these newfangled murder simulators for years,\nI can say with 100% confidence that the worst ideas I ever had as a kid came\nfrom cartoons, not video games. [0]\n\nGames don't mess around with casuality very often. Usually when you do lethal\nthings, they kill stuff. In cartoons, very dangerous things are portrayed as\nbeing something you can walk away from with only soot on your face or a lump\non your head. To give you an idea of how bad we're talking here, there was a\ntime very early on in my life when I didn't know that strangulation could kill\npeople.\n\nI'm not even joking. [1]\n\n[0]: Keep in mind of course that one person is a single data point, not a set.\n(And not even a rigorous data point at that.)\n\n[1]: Thankfully nobody died.\n\n------\nbdcravens\nWhy is no one targeting music that advocates gun violence? Video games and\nmovies are pretty obviously works of fiction. Some rap music, for example,\nadvocates murdering real people in real situations\n\n~~~\nmalandrew\nThrowing another art from another medium under the bus isn't going to help\nthings. If anything, doing so just legitimizes these ridiculous laws. We\nshould be against these shenanigans regardless of the medium in question.\n\n~~~\njlgreco\nIt _might_ help things. If we threw in books for example suddenly the 1st\nAmendment implications would become very clear to everyone. Right now pretty\nmuch only video games are involved, and a very large portion of the population\nconsiders these to be alien, \"not art\" and frankly just a second class \"speech\nmedium\".\n\nMusic (well, rap music) probably sits somewhere between the two.\n\n------\ndiminoten\nAfter reading the bill, I'm not opposed to it on practical grounds. For a $60\ngame, it's $0.60. Who cares. Furthermore, the revenue would go exclusively\ntowards the treatment of mental health conditions, which is just fine with me,\nas I believe the real cause of these violent outbursts is a lack of support\nsystem for those who need it most.\n\nWhat I disagree with in this bill is the use of the privately run, industry\ncontrolled ESRB as the measuring stick for what is and isn't violent. Not only\nare they terrible at accurately rating games (in my opinion), they're not even\nbeing given the chance to distinguish between violent video games and other\nkinds of mature video games (complex plot, general adult themes, etc.) ALL T\nrated games or higher would be taxed, _regardless_ of the level of violence in\nthe game itself. That's simply inaccurate, and displays a very fundamental\nlack of knowledge on the topic. Don't try to regulate what you don't\nunderstand, please.\n\nNot to mention the fact that, if this wins, it's further legitimizing the\nabsolutely absurd notion that video games are the cause of these exceptionally\nrare and exceptionally violent outbursts. I can't agree with that.\n\n~~~\njlgreco\nMedia should not be taxed based on it's content. Permitting that puts the\ngovernment one step away from being able to create de facto bans based on\ncontent by merely cranking the tax rate.\n\n~~~\ndiminoten\nWhy shouldn't media be taxed based on its content?\n\n------\ngraeme\nWhat research has been done on this?\n\nWhen I played FPS games, I would have visualizations of walking around with a\ngun (in a game world). These continued for a few years after I stopped.\n\nNow I don't have them.\n\nI was never violent, nor had any urge to violence. But I had tons of violent\nimages. That's an interesting effect. Did anyone else have anything similar,\nand is there any research on this?\n\n~~~\nMartinCron\nReminds me of the well known \"Tetris effect\" where you see falling blocks long\nafter you stop playing the game. I have experienced both sensations, but have\nneither shot nor dropped bricks on anyone.\n\n~~~\nsukuriant\nSame thing happens with falling arrows and DDR\n\n~~~\nmistercow\nTrue story: I got DDR not long before the second time I took the SAT. The\nnight before the test, I played until around 4 AM. On test day, this is what I\nsaw every time I blinked: <http://i.imgur.com/hTk7Q.png>\n\n------\ncharonn0\nI find it hard to believe that video games (or movies, songs, novels, etc,)\neven extremely violent ones, could compel someone to murder unless they were\nalready seriously mentally ill. Such an ill person, deprived of violent media,\nwould not miraculously be cured nor would they pose any less a risk to those\naround them.\n\n------\njrockway\nWhat about violent books, conversations, thoughts, and lectures at school?\n(Have you ever read a history book? They're twice as violent as Grand Theft\nAuto.)\n\n~~~\nrhdoenges\nViolence in books is textual, so it's going to be far less vivid for the\nreader than a video game where you actually cause the violence. Additionally,\nviolent books/conversations/thoughts/lectures often focus on the _negative_\naspects of violence rather than glorifying it the way movies and video games\ndo.\n\n~~~\nr0s\nSome would disagree: <http://www.merrycoz.org/yc/BADLIT.HTM>\n\nIt's a familiar horse to beat, this NEW media is special, and different and\nscary.\n\nIt happened with jazz, rock&roll, comic books, movies, novels, heavy metal,\nmany scapegoat has met the whip of the righteously ignorant. It's always been\na meaningless argument, totally void of scientific fact.\n\nWere there wars before fiction? Was there crime before video games?\n\n------\nmalkia\nGames, cartoons, books reflect the society we live in, hence they would\nportray violence.\n\n~~~\nphilwelch\nI would argue the opposite. Violence is very dramatic and exciting, it's\nalways going to appear in fiction more often than in real life for that very\nreason.\n\n------\nmeh01\nSigh. Let's blame video games and mental illness instead of tackling the real\nproblem. This is going to work out great.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nBoyfriends are more popular than Girlfriends on Social Media - austin_e\nhttp://blog.gochime.com/boyfriends-are-more-popular-than-girlfriends\n\n======\njiggy2011\nNot that surprising, I think it's the same in real life.\n\nWhen my girlfriend sees her female friends they seem to just sit around and\ngossip about their boyfriends all night.\n\nWhen I see my guy friends we want to talk about pretty much anything _but_ our\ngirlfriends.\n\n~~~\nlaironald\nyeah definitely! it's like academia... the ideas being tested are often very\nobvious but when empirically tested and validated that's when you start\ndeveloping the capacity for deeper thought/theorems and business frameworks.\ncool stuff austin_e! keep mining that data.\n\n------\nsonyasonya\nI think what's surprising here (to me) is that boyfriends aren't discussed\nmore. Guess girls have more to talk about than their boyfriends....\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Future of Television - robteix\nhttps://www.cringely.com/2019/06/07/the-future-of-television/\n======\ntapanjk\n> 5G wireless networking, [...] has pretty much nothing to do with mobile\n> phones. It has to do with replacing every other kind of data network with 5G\n> wireless. No more land lines, no more cable systems, no more wires. Going\n> all-wireless almost completely eliminates customer-facing labor. No more guy\n> with a tool belt to keep you waiting for service. No more truck rolls.\n\nThis struck me as the most illuminating part of the article. I know this may\nnot sound like an insight to many here, but to me, it was, because I never\nthought of 5G as the cutter of the last mile wires of the networked world.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBlackBerry Bold Touch previewed in leaked tutorials: prepare to pinch-to-zoom - evo_9\nhttp://www.engadget.com/2011/04/04/blackberry-bold-touch-previewed-in-leaked-tutorials-prepare-to/\n======\njrsmith1279\nAnyone else feel like RIM is grasping at straws here? As an ex-blackberry user\nI feel like the more that RIM tries to fit in with the \"cool kids\" the worse\ntheir products get quality-wise. That, coupled with the fact that using\ncorporate email on one of their devices is so much more difficult than using\nan iPhone or Android with activesync, is going to be what kills RIM.\nUnfortunately it seems like they're either oblivious, or that they're too\narrogant to care.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSolving the Traveling Tesla Salesman Problem with Python and Concorde - _dps\nhttp://mortada.net/drafts/the-traveling-tesla-salesman.html\n======\njordigh\nI was excitedly reading through this article eager to learn how the solution\nworked. Instead, there was a bunch of (to me, as a mathematician)\nuninteresting detail about how to massage the data with Python. Once the data\nwas in the right shape, feed it to something we will treat as a black box.\n\nI get it that sometimes this is ok. It's perfectly fine to not care about how\neverything works. I am just disappointed that a blog post about the TSP\ndoesn't contain any actual details about how to solve the TSP. If I were to\nwrite such a blog post (and I have written things of this ilk), I would spend\na lot more time trying to elucidate the solver's algorithm. I _like_ explaning\nalgorithms.[1] That's how I feel that I've really understood a particular\nsubject.\n\nI suppose overall this makes me quite a different sort of person than the\nauthor. I could never tolerate running Mac OS X for any length of time,\nbecause being inconvenienced to use the debugger I want (Mac OS X's signing\nmakes it very annoying to run gdb) and being unable to put debugging calls\ninto my OS kernel are unacceptable compromises for me. But people who like\nblack boxes seem to _really_ like black boxes all the way down to the OS\nthey're using.\n\n[1]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medcouple#Fast_algorithm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medcouple#Fast_algorithm)\n\n~~~\nglaberficken\nCheckout the link below for a sublime iPython exploration of the TSP problem.\n\nBy Peter Norvig:\n[http://nbviewer.ipython.org/url/norvig.com/ipython/TSPv3.ipy...](http://nbviewer.ipython.org/url/norvig.com/ipython/TSPv3.ipynb)\n\nHN discussion:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9481423](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9481423)\n\n~~~\njordigh\nThank you. This is indeed more to my liking.\n\n------\npvdebbe\nThe map doesn't actually show the optimal path. It is proven that \"loops\" (the\nways crossing each other) can be straightened, and the new version will be\nshorter. There is one east of Alberquerque.\n\n~~~\n_dps\nThat's an interesting result; do you happen to have a citation? I couldn't\nfind one with a few minutes of Google Scholar.\n\nIf I understand Concorde's claims correctly, there is still the question of\nfinite numerical precision (it doesn't seem to use MPFR or any other arbitrary\nprecision library). Perhaps the suboptimality of the path is less than 1e-7 or\n1e-16 (depending on precision) times the distance between the \"looped\" cities?\n\nHaving said that, one of the authors of Concorde is R. Bixby, a co-author of\nCPLEX (which was for decades, and may still be, the industry standard LP\nsolver including for branch-and-bound problems). And Chvatal is another very\nwidely regarded LP researcher. So I would take Concorde's claims of optimality\nat face value (though of course there could be a data input error somewhere).\n\nEdit: Ah, I misunderstood the sense of \"loop\"; I thought there was a\nsubcircuit (which I believe can be optimal in some cases), but instead there\nare two segments crossing each other that, per wrk1's comment below, should\nreally be shorter if their destinations were \"swapped\". Rough Google-maps math\nsuggests that would reduce the distance by ~10 miles out of ~16k, which seems\nwell above numerical precision.\n\n~~~\npkhuong\nIn operations research, it's common to stop when a solution is provably within\n1e-4 of optimum. Off the top of my head, reasons include: we don't want to\noptimize FP error, limited precision in the input data, and negligible real\nworld impact.\n\nThat said, it's also well known that non-OR practitioners have less confidence\nin our results when there are trivial local suboptimalities, in some cases\neven when they don't affect the objective function (e.g., off the critical\npath in a scheduling problem); I've heard of several professionals who pass\nthe output of exact (modulo stopping criteria) methods through stupid local\nsearches just for that reason.\n\n~~~\nBill_Cook\nConcorde produces a provably optimal tour, but it follows the TSPLIB input\nformat and requires that all distances be integers. There will thus be\nrounding error in converting the geodesic distances to integers. To obtain\ngreater precision, the geodesic distances should be scaled to meters rather\nthan kilometers.\n\n------\nohitsdom\nTesla superchargers lend themselves well to this problem because of the way\nthe sites were selected. Tesla obviously wants these sites to form clear\nroutes, and they advertise when they hit certain milestones (\"NY to San\nFrancisco all on the supercharger network!\"). Which explains why the optimal\nroute looks so nice. Very interesting read, well done.\n\n------\nkarussell\nWe've a similar example using real world travel times here:\n[https://graphhopper.com/api/1/examples/#optimization](https://graphhopper.com/api/1/examples/#optimization)\n(use the temporary API key: 7e76e228-d7fa-4795-a8c5-ad1048de42f1)\n\nThis demonstrates that jsprit and GraphHopper combined (both open source) can\nbe used to achieve similar performance with a lot more precise output (due to\nread real world data) and if you need to calculate the optimal route with\nmultiple vehicles, time windows, capacity etc that is also not a problem. Also\nnot by bike ;)\n\nAnd if there is no charger for the Tesla I recently thought also about a\nsolution :) [https://karussell.wordpress.com/2015/05/05/solving-the-\nelect...](https://karussell.wordpress.com/2015/05/05/solving-the-electric-\nvehicle-charging-problematic-fast-with-graphhopper/)\n\n------\nScea91\nJust a side note:\n\nThe mentioned Christofides algorithm only works for metric TSP. In metric TSP\nthe edges satisfy triangle inequality.\n\nThere doesn't exist any polynomial approximation algorithm for general TSP. If\nit existed we would be able to solve existence of Hamiltonian circuit in\npolynomial time by a simple reduction and therefore would be able to prove\nthat P = NP.\n\n~~~\ngus_massa\nI agree. Another side note. From the article:\n\n> _Note that we are making the simplifying assumptions that the Earth is a\n> perfect sphere, and that the distance is a simple Euclidean distance,\n> instead of a driving distance. Although one can certainly plug in a\n> different distance metric and follow the same procedure outlined here._\n\nI think that the deformation of the Earths surface are not important, and just\nchange the values but not the metric properties.\n\nBut the driving distance (or driving time) are not long a metric, in\nparticular the driving distance between A and B is not equal to the driving\ndistance between B an A. Anyway, the superchargers are so far away that the\npolynomial algorithm will give the correct result (probably).\n\n~~~\nchiph\n_I think that the deformation of the Earths surface are not important_\n\nThis probably only matters if the distances are larger. Probably larger than\nthe distance a Tesla can go on a single charge. And so can be dropped from\nconsideration.\n\n~~~\ngreglindahl\nIt's important to take into account up/down distances and wind conditions to\naccurately estimate energy consumption (or range) of a Tesla over a given\nroute.\n\n------\nhaser_au\nGreat write up.\n\nQuestion: At the moment, you have Columbus -> Dayton -> Lima -> ... ->\nIndianapolis -> Cincinnati. What's the extra distance travelled if you were to\ngo Columbus -> Lime -> ... -> Indianapolis -> Dayton -> Cincinnati? The second\noption just looks like a shorter path, so I'm curious.\n\n~~~\nsirclueless\nNot to mention the situation in New Mexico, which is trivially suboptimal by\nthe triangle inequality.\n\nI think there was either some kind of rounding error getting data into the TSP\nsolver, Concorde is just giving an approximate solution, or the data preparing\ncode in python has a bug.\n\n------\ncarlob\nKinda the same thing in the Wolfram Language:\n\n    \n    \n        With[{\n        \tgeopositions = ParallelMap[\n        \t\tFirst[\n        \t\t\tStringCases[\n        \t\t\t\tURLFetch[\"http://www.teslamotors.com\" <> #],\n        \t\t\t\t(\"https://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=\" ~~ a: Except[\"\\\"\"]..) :> Interpreter[\"StructuredGeoCoordinates\"][a]\n        \t\t\t]\n        \t\t]&,\n        \t\tStringCases[\n        \t\t\tURLFetch[\"http://www.teslamotors.com/findus/list/superchargers/United+States\"],\n        \t\t\t\"/findus/location/supercharger/\" ~~ WordCharacter..\n        \t\t]\n        \t]},\n        \tGeoGraphics[GeoPath[geopositions[[Last[FindShortestTour[geopositions]]]]]]\n        ]\n    \n\nand the result\n\n[http://imgur.com/THIwnIY](http://imgur.com/THIwnIY)\n\n~~~\njoehuchette\nI believe they also use Concorde behind the scenes to actually solve the TSP\ninstance.\n\n------\njashkenas\nThe resulting \"optimal\" path sure doesn't look it. For example, Phoenix:\n\n[http://cl.ly/bewA](http://cl.ly/bewA)\n\nSurely it would be more optimal to cut straight across from Casa Grande to\nGila Bend, and then hit the next station on the way north. No?\n\nIt would be fun to throw these same markers into the Google Maps Directions\nTSP engine, and see how it does...\n[https://developers.google.com/optimization/routing/tsp#solvi...](https://developers.google.com/optimization/routing/tsp#solving-\ntsps-with-the-google-directions-api)\n\n------\nstickydink\nBillings MT to Lusk WY is ~380 miles. That puts it well out of range of any\nmodel?\n\nA solution that accounts for routes which are possible using only the\nSuperchargers, would be interesting!\n\n~~~\nvvanders\nYou could do it at 35MPH but that's pretty unrealistic.\n\n~~~\ntoomuchtodo\nOr include destination chargers that are open to the public:\n\n[http://www.teslamotors.com/findus#/bounds/49.38,-66.94,25.82...](http://www.teslamotors.com/findus#/bounds/49.38,-66.94,25.82,-124.38999999999999?search=supercharger,destination%20charger),\n\n------\nhackguru\nIs he gonna run out of charge between any two stations?\n\n------\nshashwat986\nThere's an appreciable suboptimality in the path near Chicago.\n\nIt would be shorter to go from Pleasant Prarie to Highland Park and then\nAurora and Markham, instead of the path shown.\n\n------\nwillvarfar\nA great read but I really was hoping it would involve at least one jet leg\nusing the real Concorde :)\n\n------\ncallesgg\nThe Concorde site is Gone. 404\n\n------\nck2\nTesla should have a contest, visit all 200 chargers and take a photo of\nyourself and get a model X\n\n------\nNoWhiteHorse\nNice code examples.\n\n------\n_dps\nDisclosure / for dang: I edited the title per my interpretation of the\nguidelines. In context it's not misleading, but on HN I figured \"The Traveling\nTesla Salesman\" in isolation would cause many mistaken clicks and could be\ntaken to be linkbait.\n\nDan, please edit back (and bury this comment) if I overstepped :)\n\n~~~\ndang\nIt looks fine to me.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSF restaurants are suffocating - tarr11\nhttps://medium.com/@azhar.hashem/why-sf-restaurants-are-suffocating-795392211c66\n======\nfreyir\n> _the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment at an insane $3,447,\n> according to a 2018 rent report by Adobo. The U.S. Census revealed in March,\n> the median rent in San Francisco in 2016 was roughly over $1,600 /month.\n> These numbers are worrisome in a few ways: 1. The egregious rent amount that\n> is required for somebody to live in the city today. 2. The jump in median\n> rent in a mere two years. 3. The $1,600 median rent from 2016 also included\n> rent-controlled apartments which indicates their rapid disappearance._\n\nShe's comparing apples and oranges, and doesn't even realize it.\n\n$3,447 is the asking price for apartments now on the market. $1,600 is the\nmedian rent price people are actually paying, including people with rent\ncontrol and affordable housing. People who have been living in rent-controlled\napartments for many years pay a fraction of the current market rate.\n\nAs a result, her second and third conclusions don't follow. If this is the\nkind of critical reasoning that comes with \"an MBA from a top school, the\nrigor of an engineering education and a decade and a half launching and\nmanaging some of the most successful businesses for Google and other tech\ncompanies,\" it's worrying.\n\nIn fact, it's easy to find actual market rate rent prices from 2016. According\nto the sites below, it was around $3,500, so rental prices have remained very\nflat over the last few years.\n\n[1] [https://www.zumper.com/blog/2016/05/zumper-national-rent-\nrep...](https://www.zumper.com/blog/2016/05/zumper-national-rent-report-\njune-2016/) [2] [https://www.rentjungle.com/average-rent-in-san-francisco-\nren...](https://www.rentjungle.com/average-rent-in-san-francisco-rent-trends/)\n\n~~~\ncloseparen\n>$3,447 is the asking price for apartments now on the market. $1,600 is the\nmedian rent price people are actually paying, including people with rent\ncontrol and affordable housing. People who have been living in rent-controlled\napartments for many years pay a fraction of the current market rate.\n\nWhich is why this problem is a slow burn. It's not like everyone was evicted\nand the worker pool cratered overnight. But as existing low/middle income\nworkers leave for whatever reason, they cannot be replaced. Their numbers are\non a one-way ratchet downward.\n\n------\nusaar333\nThis article was a bit scattered over the various sources of issues (high\nliving costs, low labor pool (leading to high salaries and high turnover),\nreduced high-skilled chefs, high taxation, complaints about customer base with\nsome nativism thrown in); figured I'd try simplifying it.\n\nOn the labor side, there's enough labor competition to drive salaries of line\ncooks to $50k/year. That's about $38k post-tax, which even after spending\nspending $19k/year in rent (split a two bedroom maybe 40 min from downtown)\nleaves $19k. Not great, but mind you the average line cook in the US is\npulling $30k/year pre-tax (24k post-tax) -- the COL difference is pretty much\ncompensated for.\n\nWhere things break down badly is with older, more experienced workers that\nhave/might have families (e.g. the cook with 4 kids in the intro paragraph).\nSpace comes at a premium in the Bay Area and if they prefer to not be crammed\nin to a small place, the salary an experienced worker can make isn't going to\ncut it to cover the desired marginal living space.\n\nThe final piece in the puzzle is that the desired salary multiple of these\nexperienced workers (over entry-level ones) is higher than their productivity\ngains. That is, if the experienced cook needs twice as much take-home ($110k\npre-tax) as the entry-level one (due to family needs), unfortunately, there is\ninsufficient customer demand to pay 2.2x as much for food for this higher\nquality. (but mind you much more base demand in SF than elsewhere!). Result is\nthat experienced folks move to areas where housing costs (per-sq feet) are\nlower as a percent of salary.\n\nNet effect might be that the dominant strategy for someone in the restaurant\nbusiness is to start out in SF but later move to a somewhat lower COL area.\nWith such a strong economic incentive, restaurant composition will likewise\nfollow; city policies, etc. are likely secondary.\n\n~~~\njurassic\nOne of the challenges, I think, is that landlords don't want to rent to you if\nyour salary isn't three times annual rent. I'm not a real estate professional,\nbut I've been told that multiple times when looking for my own apartments.\n\nIn your example, you have the worker coming out okay or possibly slightly\nahead (compared to lower COL areas) by spending half their net on rent. But by\nthis 3x rule the landlords renting a property that costs $19k/yr would want to\nsee an income of at least $57k and the worker wouldn't qualify.\n\n------\nboulos\nNot mentioned here is that Tawla had a slightly rough start [1] (that they\npurportedly righted):\n\n> My reactions were mixed on my first visit, but by the third, I was a major\n> supporter. Flavors blossomed, and I could sense the kitchen becoming more\n> confident.\n\nI went early on, found the food to be reasonable but not great, and ultimately\ndidn’t return. Roughly, she shot for Mourad-level prices, but without the\ntrack record or execution. I grew up with this food, and while (again) it was\nokay, it simply wasn’t great. For $16, that should be an amazing dish of\nmujadara.\n\nI assume many people felt that they’d rather get tastier middle eastern food,\nrather than feel hip with the pretty decor. I’d love to see an upscale middle\neastern restaurant succeed, but the food has to come first.\n\n[1]\n[https://www.sfchronicle.com/restaurants/diningout/article/Ta...](https://www.sfchronicle.com/restaurants/diningout/article/Tawla-\nis-the-Mediterranean-restaurant-that-S-F-9124825.php)\n\n~~~\neigenvector\nThis is a serial problem with Middle Eastern restaurants. For lovers of the\ncuisine, there's always cheap and delicious alternatives, so we feel a little\nbetrayed paying 2 or 3x for the same dish and finding it isn't as tasty the\nhole-in-the-wall joint with plastic tables. This isn't a knock on Tawla\nspecifically, but as you said, the food has to come first. I am willing to\npay, but when I leave I don't want to be thinking of a $15 meal I had that was\nbetter.\n\n------\ncrazygringo\nAccording to the laws of economics and supply and demand, restaurant prices\nshould be rising accordingly, if customers are still demanding restaurant\nfood. In other words, if the tech industry has produced so much wealth that\nhas driven up rent prices, it should be driving up everything else too, right?\nPeople need to go out to eat somewhere, right? (And my experience says this is\ntrue -- I live in NYC and I get sticker shock at SF restaurant prices.)\n\nPresumably other restaurants are thriving? Are we sure this particular one\njust didn't have the right business model, like most attempted restaurants\ndon't? The restaurant industry is notoriously competitive, and the customer is\nalways right -- you've got to give them the food they want (not the food you\nthink they should want) at the location they want at a price that's\ncompetitive.\n\nAs long as plenty of other restaurants are managing to pay their staff enough\nso that they'll commute... and it doesn't seem like restaurants are\ndisappearing from SF... then isn't this just the case of a bad business plan,\nor product-market-mistmatch, for this one particular restaurant?\n\n~~~\nstaticautomatic\nThere are somewhat hard limits on the availability of labor though. I know a\nguy who owns a very popular and expensive restaurant that had to start closing\none day a week because he couldn't find enough staff, and not because he pays\nthem peanuts.\n\n~~~\nMikeb85\n> not because he pays them peanuts\n\nNot paying peanuts still doesn't mean it's enough.\n\n~~~\nTheSpiceIsLife\nBut if customers pay in peanuts and you have to offer staff cashew or\nmacadamias to attract enough skilled employees, you might find you have a non-\nviable business.\n\n~~~\nThriptic\nThis is my general response whenever these types of articles appear. If your\nlabor costs are insanely high, you need to raise prices. If people won't pay\nmore for your products, you need to create better products worth more money,\ngive staff equity and reduce profit, or shut down.\n\n~~~\ncloseparen\nThese types of articles are based on the assumption that we would like to\ncontinue having restaurants & the fact that they are (slowly) becoming\neconomically nonviable is a social problem.\n\n~~~\nxyzzyz\nIf rising prices reduced the demand so much that they become economically\nnonviable, then it means that we actually don't like having restaurants all\nthat much, otherwise we'd pay.\n\n~~~\ncloseparen\nVoting with your wallet is only one way of expressing a preference. San\nFrancisco in particular also likes to vote with its votes. We may not care\nenough about restaurants to pay what they really cost, but by all accounts\nwe’ll care enough to vote for a ballot measure that makes “big developers” and\n“the techies” pay for them.\n\n~~~\nxyzzyz\nIndeed, residents of Bay Area definitely like trying to vote away the\nmicroeconomics of supply and demand.\n\n------\nprotomyth\nI can tell you why the whole _Service Charge Inclusive_ irritates customers.\nIts false advertising. You are increasing the cost of the meal but not\nreflecting it on the menu. People find it dishonest like every other time in\nour lives where we are told a price, but then we get hit with a fee. Ask bank\ncustomers about it.\n\nJust be honest, the meal needs to cost more because the cost of production is\nmore.\n\n~~~\nterandle\nI’m all in favor of abolishing tipping culture from the US but that’s not\nsomething you can expect a single restaurant to accomplish on their own. Given\nthe reality of US culture I think this is a good compromise for now. It’s much\nmore honest then pretending that the restaurant isn’t expecting a 20% tip on\nevery order.\n\n~~~\nprotomyth\nIf you expect a mandatory fee and its not on the item's price, then its\ndishonest. Sales tax in the US is bad enough, but at least we all know about\nit and its the government. If they want to break out the \"labor\" cost on the\nmenu like auto folks do, then fine, but this fee crap is just plain\nirritating.\n\n~~~\ngamma-male\nMost engineers in the bay area don't tip anymore.\n\n~~~\nlinksnapzz\nI'm sure this has done wonders for the degree of warm feelings the SF service-\nsector has had in the past for techies...I'd just tell everyone I worked as a\nlandscaper.\n\n~~~\ngamma-male\nWhy would you care? Waiters don't expect tipping as much as in the rest of the\ncountry.\n\n~~~\nlinksnapzz\nHopefully, that'd be because the majority of restaurants are including a\nservice charge with every meal, and not because the waiters have become inured\nto their techie clientele being chiselling niggardly prats. In circles I move\nin, being a bad tipper is right up there with shoplifting, dog-kicking or\nvandalism as a moral failing, and how one treats service employees a\ntouchstone of one's character.\n\n~~~\ngamma-male\nYou should change friends. People shouldn't decide what you do with your\nmoney.\n\n------\ndawhizkid\nThe tone of the article was really off-putting. I get that it is a hard\nbusiness, especially in SF, but it felt like she was blaming everyone\n(including her staff) for her restaurant's failure and taking zero\nresponsibility herself.\n\n~~~\n2arrs2ells\nI used to live on the same block as her restaurant (Tawla) and only went once\n(despite eating out pretty frequently). The concept - upscale Mediterranean -\njust didn't resonate. There's a similar restaurant across the street serving\nupscale Burmese that seems to be doing really well.\n\nThat said, a friend who runs one of my favorite places in SF posted this\narticle to Facebook and said it's really spot on. Diners expect food to be\ncheaper than the labor market permits.\n\n~~~\nboulos\nThis is part of the reason that “service included” places don’t pass it\nthrough to the menu prices. It’s a mistake to be the only ones doing it (the\nBauer review I linked to above just quotes the prices directly, “nobody”\nmentally compares by adding/removing the 20%).\n\nSince you lived nearby, I always felt that the location was unlikely to\nsucceed. Is there actually a lot of foot traffic there?\n\n~~~\n2arrs2ells\nOrenshi Ramen, Burma Love, and Shizen all opened in the past few years and\nseem to be doing really well. On the other hand there’s a spot between 14th &\n15th on Valencia that went through 3 restaurants in 3 years.\n\nThe places that are succeeding are all second or third efforts - maybe\nexperience really pays off?\n\n------\ntrimbo\nI don't disagree with the problems outlined. But, for this particular case,\nstart and end with the fact that the restaurant has 3.5 stars on Yelp and\npeople were consistently dissatisfied with the food and service?\n\nSF has incredible 4-5 star restaurants of all price levels. So who wants to\neat at a very expensive 3.5 star one when there's a Michelin Star place 5\nminutes away?\n\nIf SF's problems are so insurmountable, how do other good restaurants do it,\neven ones not owned by some major group?\n\n~~~\nflaque\nThis argument is silly. If restaurants are harder to run, the average quality\nof the place goes down. The existence of high quality restaurants does not\nrefute the possibility of the average going down.\n\n~~~\nmcv\nMaybe, but if staff is in short supply, it makes sense that they will prefer\nto work for restaurants that can afford their wages.\n\n------\nlebanon_tn\nI'm reminded of this part of David Chang's take on \"the next global food\nmecca\" being Houston, a city in many ways the complete opposite of SF:\n\n _I 've always wondered where the food in a Blade Runner-like future would\nappear first and what it would taste like—and I genuinely believe it's here.\n\nPartly that's due to a demographic reality: By some measures, Houston is the\nU.S.A.'s most ethnically diverse city (a bunch of New Yorkers just choked on\ntheir halal kebabs reading that, but it's true), and when you get a collision\nof immigrants, the food scene is guaranteed to be bonkers.\n\nHouston also has cheap commercial and residential rents—oh, and no state\nincome tax—which means broke-ass cooks and chefs can afford to live and open\nhere. Zoning laws are more permissive than an Amsterdam brothel. And customers\nhave cash to spend._\n\nSource: [https://www.gq.com/story/david-chang-houston-food-\ncity](https://www.gq.com/story/david-chang-houston-food-city)\n\nAdded disclaimer- I grew up in SF and left in 2005. I live in Houston now.\n\n~~~\njnwatson\nEvery Christmas, I go home to Houston for a week or so. Every time I budget 5\npounds weight gain. It is never enough.\n\nHouston is a crossroads of different food cultures. It is the South, the West,\nand the bayou rolled up into one. At first it was Cajun, Creole, Soul,\nMexican, and it has been like that for 50 years. But in the last 25 years,\nlots of more has mixed in like Vietnamese, Central and South American, and a\nsignificant New Orleans diaspora due to Katrina.\n\nPlus, you have a car culture where it isn't uncommon to travel 20 miles in 25\nminutes for a weekday dinner out. There's so much money sloshing around that\nlots of folks eat out every night. That plus a healthy supply of labor means\nit is a very good restaurant city.\n\n------\nalmost_usual\nThis is the first time I’ve heard the entire state of Illinois being labeled a\n“rich locale”. I’m assuming the author meant Chicago suburbs? That or they’ve\nnever traveled through rural Illinois (95% of the state).\n\nIllinois is also home to some of the most violent and poor metropolitan areas\nin the country. East St. Louis which ranks in around 18x the national homicide\nrate and South Side Chicago which is consistently one of the most violent\nplaces in the country.\n\n------\ns1mon\nI've lived in SF for 25 years, and eat out often. While I never visited this\nparticular restaurant, as others have noted, 3.5 stars on Yelp in SF's hyper-\ncompetitive market is telling. 3.5 is maybe enough to keep the cheap place you\ngo to across the street when you're lazy in business. Less than 4 stars isn't\ngoing to get enough people to make a reservation, travel across town and shell\nout $$$. We have over 4500 restaurants listed in Yelp, and roughly 7% turnover\nof openings/closings per year. It's physically impossible for anyone to eat at\nall, let alone a fraction, of the places here. Foodie places which are\nsuccessful may be a big hit when they first open, but if they don't keep up\nthe quality, they will die quickly as that crowd moves onto the next shiny\nthing. It takes a lot to stay in business here.\n\nThe way that some restaurants blame their success and failure on the high cost\nof labor makes about as much sense as when people review restaurants on Yelp\nand complain how surprised they were by the bill at the end of the night. It's\na math problem. Other people are managing to balance their costs and revenue\nand stay in business.\n\n~~~\nabalone\nNah, closures are up and openings are down all across the city due to higher\ncosts.[1] You may have lived here 25 years but that’s no substitute for hard\ndata.\n\n[1] [https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/2017-wasn-t-the-\ngre...](https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/2017-wasn-t-the-greatest-\nyear-for-San-Francisco-12480441.php)\n\n~~~\ns1mon\nThat’s where I got the data. That article mentions higher costs, but the\nHarvard study they referenced links review stars to closures. Clearly costs\nare one of the main pressures on restaurants, but there are plenty of things\nthat restaurants can do to improve diners’ experiences which don’t necessarily\ncost more.\n\nHypothetically, restaurant A and B are the same except A is better organized\nand your food gets to the customers table faster and at the right temperature.\nOr restaurant B’s staff doesn’t notice when your wine glass is almost empty\nand doesn’t sell that second or third glass. Little things can make a huge\ndifference in revenue and ratings, and yet you can see restaurants making\nstupid mistakes all the time.\n\n------\nrefurb\nOh the irony that the author is a former Google executive, who I assumed\nstarted the restaurant after cashing out big time.\n\nShe doesn't realize that she has a role in this as well? How much did she pay\nfor her house/rent? Did she outbid someone in cash?\n\nYes, I realize the supply side is a major issue to. SF should build more.\n\nIt's just the finger pointing (those evil landlords with their Ellis\nevictions!) made me chuckle a bit.\n\n------\nmcv\nWhy the service charge? Why not simply raise your prices to that same level,\nwhile still letting people tip if they want to?\n\nMore specifically, why does the cook only make $24 per hour while the waiting\nstaff gets $42-48?\n\nI understand that San Francisco is an expensive city, but doesn't that simply\nmean you should raise your prices? Of course that will mean poor people won't\nbe able to eat at your restaurant, but it sounds like poor people have trouble\naffording anything at all in San Francisco anyway. Clearly the only viable\nmarket to focus on is the rich people who can afford to live there.\n\nI don't mean to be callous about this: it's terrible when a city is so\nexpensive that only rich people can afford to live there, and kicking poor\ntenants our of rent-controlled housing should be illegal. But if your\nemployees are leaving because you don't pay them enough, the solution seems\nobvious: pay them more. Raise your prices correspondingly. If the market can't\nbear those prices in such an expensive city, then clearly there's not enough\ndemand for restaurants in San Francisco, which would be sad, but it may be the\nreality.\n\nMeanwhile, the city would do well to invest in some affordable housing if they\ndon't want to turn into a rich people's ghetto.\n\n~~~\naeternus\nRaising prices does seem to be the right answer.\n\nMany expensive restaurants in SF are packed and it is quite difficult to get a\nreservation. There is clearly market demand in that segment.. if the food is\ngood enough.\n\nThe low or mid-range segment demand is likely shrinking. Why go out to get\nmediocre food when it is increasingly easy to have food, groceries, or meal-\npacks delivered to your door?\n\n~~~\nmcv\nYeah, I read in other comments that it's not actually that good a restaurant.\nIf it's expensive and mediocre, I guess they may have to look for an easier\nmarket.\n\n------\nthreadify\n> In nearby San Francisco, only 0.1% of restaurant staff can find affordable\n> housing in the city, with the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom\n> apartment at an insane $3,447.\n\nLack of affordable housing is doing the suffocation. America was built by a\nstrong middle class, and SF is setting an example of what happens when people\nstop caring about the middle class and $70K/year becomes low income.\n\n~~~\nchangoplatanero\nJust because the median apartment is not affordable doesn't mean there isn't\naffordable housing. Half of all people have apartments that are cheaper than\nthe median.\n\n~~~\ncloseparen\nThe stat doesn't mean that on its own, sure. But if you've searched for\ndownmarket housing recently... it's pretty bleak.\n\n------\nrobk\nIt's amazing that front of house staff are making $80-90k. That's starting\nsalary for engineers in many parts of the country. Absolutely boggling.\n\n~~~\nido\nThat’s _senior_ engineer salary in most of Western Europe, and the vast\nmajority of the rest of the world has significantly lower salaries than\nWestern Europe.\n\n~~~\ngamma-male\nSenior people definitely make less than this in europe. Unless you're taking\nabout large corp in london.\n\n~~~\nrichardknop\nPretty sure in big tech hubs like London, Amsterdam, Dublin, senior engineers\nmake at least this much. Probably more. I can only offer my experience from\nLondon, not sure about other places but for sure there you can make over 100k\nas senior engineer.\n\n~~~\ngamma-male\nOh. But then we're not talking about equivalent levels of senior. Senior in\nthe US can be reached in 2 years.\n\n------\nmberning\n“We thought hard about all the ways we could help from tapping our networks to\nfind a more dignified temporary place for our cook to stay, to figuring out\nhow to pay him more without having him lose access to different low-income\nprograms for which he currently qualifies.”\n\nWow. Or you could actually pay them a living wage that doesn’t require public\nsubsidy. If this were Walmart making this statement they would be crucified.\n\n~~~\nnarrator\nMany people are unaware of the huge impact of the welfare cliff, especially\nwhen it comes to families with children:\n\n[https://www.learnliberty.org/wp-\ncontent/uploads/2016/08/welf...](https://www.learnliberty.org/wp-\ncontent/uploads/2016/08/welfare-e1471458574375.png)\n\nIf you are a single parent with two children you get the same net income at\n$30,000 as at $80,0000 due to benefits getting cut off above $30,000/year\nincome.\n\n~~~\nkaveh_h\nThat’s ridicilous. The system has clearly been setup to fraud the majority who\nneeds welfare and is a political virtue signaling. I bet the mean salary was\nright in the Middle of the ”cliff” (around 55k$) when this was decided to\nensure very few would get the benifit and cost on government would be minimal.\n\nThe logical policy would perhaps be to equalize income to a certain treshold\ndepending on available funds and budget on a particular year. This would also\nmake investments in transits and housing more stable for everyone involved,\nsimplyfing business decisions and quite possibly increase long term\nprofitability.\n\n~~~\nusaar333\n> The system has clearly been setup to fraud the majority who needs welfare\n> and is a political virtue signaling.\n\nIt has this effect, but I'd blame the need to simplify over malevolence.\n\nSF's below market rate housing is a great example of a huge welfare cliff.\nMake under $60k? You can get a 1 bedroom for $1600/month. Don't? Join everyone\nelse fighting at $3k/month or what not.\n\nSo yah, it's a bit ridiculous that we have a system where someone making $59k\ndoes better than $70k.\n\nBut it's really hard to administer everything as a phase-out system,\nespecially with non-cash benefits. (currently the apartments are required to\ncharge X rent.. so what should happen to the person making $70k/year?)\n\nHence, these blunt-edge qualifications.\n\n~~~\nkingaillas\n>Make under $60k? You can get a 1 bedroom for $1600/month. Don't? Join\neveryone else fighting at $3k/month or what not.\n\nSounds like SF should experiment with marginal rent, based on how marginal tax\nrates work. Something like: landlords charge a base $x rent, if you make above\n$50K a bit more is added one, make above $60K a bit more is added, etc. That\nwas the person making $1 over some arbitrary cutoff isn't much worse off.\n\n------\ndiiaann\nA bar closed in my neighborhood and and when I was chatting with them they too\nblamed the spending habits of the tech crowd. I think if anything, people\nspend more money on eating out and drinking than the average person. So I\ndon't think it's that people are _unwilling_ to spend it.\n\nI'm not sure it is technology folks or millennials, but I find there are\nincreasing amounts of people who want the \"best of\" everything...shoes,\nfalafel you name it. People aren't okay with just a \"good experience\", they\nwant the best experience. As a result, I think there are plenty of people who\naren't very forgiving. Especially if you eat out regularly and have a lot of\nthings to compare it to.\n\nOh yeah and the housing situation is broken.\n\n~~~\neigenvector\nI agree with you on the 'best' thing. Every time I'm in SF hanging out with SF\nfriends I feel like 'let's get a drink' becomes 'let's find ___the best_\n__cocktail bar in the Bay Area '. And nobody will step into an establishment\nthat has less than 4.7* on Google (or whatever their preferred rating platform\nis), let alone just walk into a random place that looks OK. Walk-in foot\ntraffic is non-existent.\n\n~~~\nnanoseltzer\nThat’s an excellent filter for who I wouldn’t want to hang out with.\n\n------\nTomMckenny\nThe state is paying the price for two decades of anti-tenant rule. So long as\nno one is working to repeal the Costa-Hawkins (and to a lesser degree, the\nEllis Act), the noose will continue to tighten around Bay Area quality of life\nand raise the price of doing business in all of California.\n\nA similar problem with sky rocketing housing cost occurred in the 70's True\nrent control was established in the communities that needed it and the threat\nof it in other communities stabilized prices. And California 1972-1995 is\nunambiguously a success story. In '95 Costa-Hawkins passed, and prices have\nbeen rising faster than the 1970-1995 period ever since. With an accompanying\nrise in homelessness.\n\nParticularly interesting about Costa-Hawkins, it was soundly defeated when\nwritten as proposition measure and only passed the legislature by one vote and\nwith strong backing from the real estate industry. But today it has somehow\nbecome politically impossible to repeal. Unless California has become a lot\nmore conservative since 95, it is clear money in politics and political\nadvertising are to blame.\n\n~~~\nelgenie\nNah, the core problem is Prop 13 (and its extensions). There's no solution to\nallocating dramatically less housing than people demand, regardless of how\npro- or anti-tenant the law is.\n\nRent control, which Costa-Hawkins limits, is a form of artificial price\ncontrols that remove a bunch of housing inventory and the incentives to create\nmore. But it's a mere footnote in the margin of Prop 13, a state wide regime\nthat has been in place twice as long and has the effect of removing a bunch of\nhousing inventory and the incentives to create more.\n\n~~~\nTomMckenny\nYes, the theory is that rent control causes reduction in inventory. But\nhousing is not an ordinary good and the evidence shows that this theory is\nincorrect.\n\nNew York has had rent control for most of the 20th century with 2 million\nunits still under rent control. Yet it has plenty of development.\n\nAnd as I point out, housing prices rose slower and housing supply was greater\nbefore Costa-Hawkins than they are now.\n\nFurthermore, renters favor rent control while landlords oppose it. So whatever\nthe mechanisms, clearly it benefits renters at the expense of landlords,\nclearly by reducing housing costs.\n\nAnd while it is definitely worth adding as much housing as possible, all new\nhousing will price at the top of the market. And at this moment there are\nthousands of high end units with vacancy in SF and essentially no low priced.\nSo clearly this does not relive pressure on middle or low end housing.\n\nRepealing prop 13 would raise revenue, much of it from large land holders (of\nwhich Howard Jarvis was one) so that's nice. It would lower mortgage payments\nby the amount which property taxes rise thereby converting some mortgage\ninterest into tax revenue. So that's nice. And it makes it easier for new\nbuyers by driving those who can't afford the higher property tax out of their\nhomes. The advantage of this is less clear.\n\nThe main problem is that it is difficult for people to believe that which is\nin their financial interest to disbelieve.\n\n~~~\nleetcrew\n> Furthermore, renters favor rent control while landlords oppose it. So\n> whatever the mechanisms, clearly it benefits renters at the expense of\n> landlords, clearly by reducing housing costs.\n\nthis is a questionable line of reasoning. it's not uncommon for people to\nunknowingly support policies that don't actually benefit them.\n\nthe only group of people who rent control clearly benefits are people who\nalready have leases. it's not at all obvious that it helps new renters or\npeople who want to move to a different place at all. it seems plausible at\nleast that people in the business of renting buildings (ie landlords) are the\ngroup with the most information about the market, and are therefore in the\nbest position to see the distortion.\n\n~~~\nTomMckenny\n>it's not uncommon for people to unknowingly support policies that don't\nactually benefit them.\n\nThe presumption of democracy is that this is a minority of cases. To suppose\nit is the case here is to assume that the less likely is happening here. And\nassume so on an apparently evidence free theory about the effects of a single\npricing policy.\n\n>it seems plausible at least that people in the business of renting buildings\n(ie landlords) are the group with the most information about the market, and\nare therefore in the best position to see the distortion.\n\nAnd so are not voting against their interest when they oppose rent control.\nBeing as rent is rentier income, it is zero-sum, and so is to the disadvantage\nof tenants.\n\n------\ntchaffee\nThe article seems to be transparent at first glance with giving lots of\nnumbers about salaries and so on. Why no numbers on profit and what the owners\ntake home?\n\nAlso, there is no mention of trying to raise the prices of their products in\norder to pay their employees a living wage. I guess that could mean you go out\nof business if your competition offers a similar product but doesn't raise\nprices. But I would personally be ok with that. Otherwise what's the service\nyou're really providing? Guilt free eating for your customers who you shield\nfrom what those prices are paying the welfare dependent cook? I'm ok with not\nbeing in that business.\n\n------\nreasonablemann\nIt does not make sense that this person is attempting to run a reasonably\npriced restaurant and has FOH staff.\n\nSF needs to adopt more Japanese style ordering machines. You choose and pay up\nfront. When you are done you just leave. It's beautiful.\n\n~~~\ntokyodude\nYou're basically talking about fast food places though not \"restaurants\". Yes,\nRamen is considered fast food in Japan even if some of it is amazing. Also\ncurry rice and most other things that are served in places that use those\nmachines.\n\nSure, a few places that have those machines have tables but it's still a\ndifferent vibe from a restaurant.\n\nThe bigger issue with those particular machines is they aren't compatible with\nwestern or in particular USA culture. Japanese generally don't ask for\nexceptions. Westerners often ask for tons of exceptions and substitutions\neither for medical reasons, religion reasons, personal convictions, or\npreference.\n\n~~~\ntaurath\nI think in the tech capital, sitting around waiting for someone to seat you,\ncome by and take your drink order, come by and take your food order, bring\nyour food, and check on it (if lucky) is sort of... antiquated. It feels\nVictorian or something - good food is good food, regardless of who serves it.\nYou’re paying to be pampered, but if the economics of being pampered don’t\nwork then maybe it’s something people can give up?\n\nGo sit down, order from kiosk at table (or from kiosk up front). Panera for\ninstance pretty much does this now.\n\n~~~\ngeneral8bitso\nSheetz and McDonald’s also have food ordering kiosks, although neither serve\nupscale mediterannean food.\n\n------\nlisper\nThis kind of complaint drive me nuts. It is manifestly untrue that\n\"restaurants are suffocating in San Francisco.\" San Francisco is chock-full of\nrestaurants, and the vast majority of them are not going out of business. The\nauthor's real complaint is not that _restaurants_ are suffocating, it is that\n_his_ restaurant suffocated. But the reason his restaurant suffocated is not\nbecause there's a systemic problem with the restaurant business in San\nFrancisco, it's because the market didn't conform to the author's\npreconceptions. If it were really true that there was some kind of systemic\ncrisis among San Francisco restaurants, they'd be closing left and right. The\nsurvivors would then be able to raise prices to the point where the crisis\nwent away. That's how the market works. But this isn't happening because there\nis no crisis, only a market operating just as it should by occasionally\nweeding out businesses that, for whatever reason, don't conform to the\nmarket's needs.\n\n~~~\nthebradbain\nSure, maybe the market is working \"just as it should,\" but if it is: why is\nthat an excuse for all of the collateral damage done to\nwaiters/cooks/hosts/cleaners throughout the whole city? It's an objective fact\nthat the vast majority of the service staff cannot afford to live alone in or\nnear the city they work in, much less support their families. Is that success?\nIs that fair? Should we really be content to let these people suffer the fear\nof not being able to put food on their table and a roof over their head simply\nbecause the equilibrium point of two lines on a graph says so?\n\nMaybe the state of the restaurant economy is fine – I don't doubt that – but\nwhat about the service staff who make it up and work there daily? Or is the\nsolution just to get a job in tech?\n\nIf we're advocating for market-based approaches, though: lower the cost of\nhousing by building more housing, and building it fast. Both affordable and\nmarket rate. That would solve a lot of the Bay Area's problems.\n\n~~~\nlotsofpulp\nYes, the solution is to get a job in tech. The purpose of prices is to inform\nparticipants in a market what to supply.\n\n~~~\nthebradbain\nThe 1:1 ratio of $ to societal value is something I will always fundamentally\ndisagree with, not least because we don’t live in an economic model: life is\nmessy, chaotic, complicated, and there’s a sizable group of the educated\npopulation that would argue it can’t be precisely and accurately quantified.\n\nEconomics is a tool we can use to improve our society in equitable ways, not\nsome omniscient diety we have to worship blindly.\n\nAnd that’s still my belief after studying economics, too.\n\n~~~\nlotsofpulp\nThen society (government) should try to fix the problem structurally, by\nshifting the demand curve and supply curves.\n\nIncreasing supply of housing, of kids who can perform high wage jobs, etc. The\nprices coming down will be a marker of successful efforts to make society more\nequitable.\n\nAnd if everyone wants to live on the California coastal region though, since\nyou can only shift the supply curve of ideal real estate so much without\naffecting its ideal-ness and then it becomes a problem of how to triage, which\nthus far has been letting people who can afford it, pay for it. Only other\noption I see is some type of random lottery.\n\n------\njellicle\n> figuring out how to pay him more without having him lose access to different\n> low-income programs for which he currently qualifies\n\nWow, the charitable impulses here are overwhelming. You'll pay him more, as\nlong as it doesn't lift him out of poverty. Wow. Wow.\n\nIf you want more staff, pay staff more. This easy equation has been understood\nfor thousands of years but business owners find it difficult to comprehend\nwhen it is their business.\n\n~~~\nJohnny555\n_Wow, the charitable impulses here are overwhelming. You 'll pay him more, as\nlong as it doesn't lift him out of poverty. Wow. Wow._\n\nIf a salary increase makes him ineligible for the services that he's using to\nstay in the city, the higher salary could be an effective cut in pay.\n\nWhile it's possible to pay him a large enough salary to make up for those\nservices, it's likely more than the business can afford.\n\n~~~\nsampo\nNot very capitalist to run a business that is dependent on the employees being\nable to live in assisted housing.\n\n~~~\nJohnny555\nSan Francisco is not a good model for capitalism. The housing market in\nparticular is highly skewed not just because of politics, but also geography.\n\n------\nchinathrow\n\"We, among others, tried to be innovative. We tried to go the ‘service charge\ninclusive’ route, automatically including 20% in every check.\"\n\nI wouldn't call that innovative. Innovative would be paying a fixed salaray\nwhich allows your staff to live in SF without relying on tips.\n\nOthers have done it in the US too. In lots of countries the world over,\ntipping is a plus, not a requirement.\n\n[https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/15/dining/danny-meyer-\nrestau...](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/15/dining/danny-meyer-restaurants-\nno-tips.html)\n\n------\nlsc\neh, I think the real problem is that we're building/converting space into\noffice space at a much faster rate than we're building/converting space into\nresidential.\n\nI personally think that to get zoning approval to build an office tower in\nthis area, you should need to get someone to agree to build an apartment tower\nnearby with a similar number of units. I mean, I'm not saying they need to be\nowned by the same people or that those apartments will be occupied only by\npeople who work in that office building, but you need housing nearby where\nthere are jobs.\n\n------\nBadassFractal\nThis is obviously extreme, but we're in an extreme situation here. Vote with\nyour feet and get out of the city, move away from the Bay. Only once the upper\nmiddle class feels some pain will anything be done about it. Until then, it's\nnot their problem, they can work around it thanks to the flexibility wealth\naffords you. I don't see how else this will be fixed, it has to get much worse\nbefore it gets any better.\n\n~~~\ndahdum\nSF ballooned their deficit by billions _during_ the last bull market. Over $10\nbillion of unfunded pension and healthcare costs.\n\nThe next recession is going to be brutal.\n\n~~~\nshostack\nHow does that work exactly with the massive surplus the state is running? [1]\ncouple those Donna be used to fill this gap?\n\n[1]\n[https://www.politifact.com/california/statements/2018/dec/18...](https://www.politifact.com/california/statements/2018/dec/18/jerry-\nbrown/does-california-have-budget-surplus-nearly-30-bill/)\n\n~~~\ndahdum\nCalifornia has $63b and growing in unfunded pension liabilities. The surplus\nis only a cash cushion.\n\nThe problem is vastly reduced if you can shift healthcare costs from the\nunfunded pensions to single payer or Medicare for all, I think that’s likely\nto happen in the next 20 years.\n\n------\nmatchbok\nWhat's the breaking point here? Are we there? SF needs to make the NIMBYs shut\nup and start building more housing yesterday.\n\n~~~\nrectang\nThere's no breaking point, just ever-increasing inequality as an inevitable\nconsequence of structural factors. Feudalism persisted for centuries, and it\ncan again.\n\n~~~\ncc439\nYou'd think there would be a breaking point somewhere around \"we could pay 25%\nless and still attract top talent to relocate to literally anywhere in the\nWestern world\". The cost of living in the SF bubble has long since passed the\npoint of being insulting and the salaries being commanded by those who are\ndriving the continued growth could go so far in other major metro areas that\nmost employees would think they're living like kings even with such a paycut.\n\n------\ndroithomme\n> our servers were making $38 per hour or the equivalent of $70,000 to $80,000\n> a year ... assuming 36% on rent after tax, that would mean you have about\n> $1,460 available for rent per month.\n\n> Cheryl Young, an economist for Trulia, found that in nearby San Francisco,\n> only 0.1% of restaurant staff can find affordable housing in the city, with\n> the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment at an insane $3,447.\n\n$80,000 is vastly too much pay for restaurant servers.\n\nIt's understandable that if one-bedroom rent in the bad part of town is $2447\nthat restaurants simply can't exist in this economy. That's just the way it\nis.\n\n------\nfredophile\nSan Francisco isn't unique as a city with very high rents. Somehow places like\nLondon, NYC, and Washington DC all still have a nice selection of restaurants.\nThis makes me think that it'll sort itself out even if it is painful for some\nof the people currently affected.\n\nIt probably doesn't help that San Francisco has been shooting themselves in\nthe foot over housing for years. This link from a couple weeks ago has a lot\nof details on that:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18778496](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18778496).\n\n------\n0898\nExcellent article. Key take-away: \"There is no amount of money an owner could\npay an employee within the economics of a small business to allow their\nemployee to live within the borders of the city or even within a reasonable\nradius that doesn’t have them traveling for two-plus hours a day to come to\nwork. This is the reality of where we live.\"\n\n~~~\noh_sigh\nI don't see how or why the employer should care how long their employees\ncommute is it is incumbent on the employee to make the decision if the commute\nis worth it. Maybe people would prefer a 2 hour commute to a place where they\ncan make $80k/year, over working 10 minutes from home and only being able to\nmake $35k/year.\n\n~~~\njurassic\nSmall business owners do care about the health and happiness of their\nemployees. But even if we pretend for a moment that they do not, it's a threat\nto the business viability if workers cannot afford to live within a reasonable\ncommute. If rents continue to outpace wages, those workers will eventually\nleave the area or the industry. The article talks about the business impacts\nof people leaving in detail (loss of talent, reduced quality of service,\ndirect hiring costs associated with turnover, etc).\n\n~~~\noh_sigh\n'Reasonable' is defined differently by everyone. Some people would balk at a\n30 minute commute. Other people like long haul truckers and sailors choose to\nbe away from home for weeks or months on end. Some people would be okay with\nand even prefer a 2 hour commute if it means they get paid 3x what they would\nget paid with a 15 minute commute.\n\n~~~\njurassic\nThat may be, but good luck running a business that relies on all of your staff\ndeeming 4 hours of daily commuting reasonable.\n\n------\nkenneth\nThis article is ridiculous. Yeah, SF is expensive, but $80k+ is a ridiculously\nlarge income for front-of-house service staff. When I first started working as\na software engineer in SF, I was making $70k/year and I survived just fine. I\ngot roommates and spent <$900 on rent. Obviously, I increased my earnings over\ntime and as soon as I could moved into a 1br. I now pay right about average,\nwhich is more than I'd like but which I make do with.\n\n------\neigenvector\nOne of the things the author points out is that restaurants in SF are moving\ntoward \"fast dining\" type setups that require less labour as well as simpler\ndishes.\n\nFor the sake of argument, let us imagine that skyrocketing labour and housing\ncosts make the traditional sit-down restaurant extinct in SF (or reduced to a\nhandful of ultra-high-end establishments). This in turn makes being a waiter\nor a line cook no longer a viable profession in SF.\n\nIf - and I recognize this is a gigantic if - enough of the massive amount of\nwealth being created by the SF tech industry can be taxed and shared with the\npeople impacted by the loss of those jobs, so that they can continue to\nmaintain a decent standard of living, is there actually a problem?\n\nWhen a waiter loses their job, I don't imagine it's the loss of waiting on\ntables that puts them in a tough spot. It's losing their income and their\nability to afford food and shelter. The problem now is that the externalities\nof the tech industry fall upon low-wage workers whose jobs become economically\nunworkable. The rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer. But on the\nwhole, total wealth is increasing.\n\nWhy can't we redistribute some of the tech wealth to these put-upon low-wage\nworkers and leave everyone better off?\n\n------\nrdiddly\nHear that everyone? People from New York and Chicago haven't heard of small\nbusiness, good food, or getting food from farms nearby.\n\nBut on to the main point. It seems obvious Bay Area restaurant prices need to\ncome up to keep pace with everything else costing more. But if you're going to\ncharge more, you make it part of the price. You don't tack on an \"extra\"\ncharge of any kind; that's madness, and sends the wrong message\npsychologically to the customer. The same people complaining about a service\ncharge will gladly pay a higher base price exactly equal to that charge. It\nmakes them feel \"upscale.\" Paying a service charge makes them feel penalized.\nOr something. Anyway it sounds like the type of thing that has reasoning or an\nexplanation attached to it. You want to be in a business where people pay\nmore, and either the reason/explanation is obvious, or even better, there is\nno explanation and they just pay more anyway. Like Apple. But either way, you\n_don 't_ want to be in the business of explaining/justifying a charge, ever.\n\nIt's tough to make money? Your workers can't survive? The food sucks?\n\nCharge more. Pay the workers more. Make better food. Nothing about \"the\neconomics of a small business\" prevent this.\n\nYou may still fail. The macroeconomics of the Bay Area are difficult. But\nyou'll fail for sure if you under-charge, under-pay, and under-produce in\ncomplete disregard of those economic conditions. In a tough market it's always\nthe mediocre who fail first. But if you survive, and enough other restaurants\nfail, eventually the few that survive will be able to... you guessed it,\ncharge even more, pay their workers even more, and make even better food.\n\n------\nsyntaxing\nI wonder how the numbers compare nationally. I thought restaurants has a\ntendency to close more often than any other business (30% close within 3\nyears). Also, why is this only a phenomena in SF? The real estate price in NYC\nshould be higher and the business seems pretty good for even the nonfamous\nrestaurants. Even small coffee shops thrive like crazy here.\n\n~~~\nboulos\nCoffee shops have become nearly all day affairs. Like a bar, the key product\nhas really high margins and you don’t need many employees. So once you sell\nenough {coffee, tea, beer, wine, cocktails} to cover your rent plus a handful\nof employees, you start making a (small) profit.\n\ntl;dr: Hot water is cheap!\n\n------\nvinniejames\n\"That also allowed us to give our employees _private_ healthcare instead of\nrelying on the broken Healthy SF system which has proven to be very hard to\nnavigate\"\n\n------\naceon48\nSo why don't some of these restaurants come to South Bay? Sunnyvale and San\nJose have like nothing... Way less competition, at least somewhat more\naffordable\n\n~~~\nusaar333\nBecause it's about where the customers are, not the workers. SF's demographics\nfavor these restaurants well (high income, low percentage of people with\nchildren).\n\nIf you want to count gaps, the entire East Bay has a single Michellin Star\nrestaurant; South Bay has 3 (4 if you are willing to count Palo Alto in the\nSouth bay)\n\n------\ngamma-male\nIn the bay area people:\n\n* Don't want to tip\n\n* don't want to see taxes added at the very end\n\n* Don't want the service (seating, waitering, etc)\n\nIf restaurants don't evolve they will die yes\n\n------\nz3t4\nI'm a big fan of Turkey and Greece home made food. Where I live, one such\nmeal, and if I bring the family, would cost up to 10% of my monthly salary as\nan engineer with 20 years of experience. The chef at the restaurant earn more\nthen I do.\n\n------\ndrawkbox\nInequality is a big problem.\n\nIn the meantime, retail and restaurants are going to have to come up with a\ntransportation system for their workers. Time to helicopter in the help...\nthen shuttle to where they need to go.\n\nUntil there are robots that can do the work either remotely run by\nchefs/cooks/retail or removed entirely, there needs to be better\ntransportation systems to allow people to live elsewhere and work in the\nmetro/city if the metro/city is unwilling to fix the rent/housing problems.\n\n------\nMikeb85\n> When I set out to open a restaurant in San Francisco’s vibrant restaurant\n> market, I thought I’d employ all I’ve learned from an MBA from a top school,\n> the rigor of an engineering education and a decade and a half launching and\n> managing some of the most successful businesses for Google and other tech\n> companies. Furthermore, I wasn’t naive to think that I knew better than all\n> those who’ve been tenured in the industry. I actively sought out the\n> mentorship of many titans who’ve been generous with their time and knowledge\n> of the industry. So I opened Tawla, a restaurant in San Francisco’s Mission\n> district.\n\nI'm curious what the author is actually adding to the restaurant's value? In\nthe current economic climate in the US, there's more capital than places to\nput it. Everyone wants to open a restaurant. Not everyone knows how to run\none. If she's not cooking, managing the front of house, etc..., what is she\ndoing?\n\n> culinary cultures of Turkey, Greece and the Levant area\n\nThere's shawarma shops everywhere in the western world. They all offer\nMediterranean/Levantine cuisine, what does this restaurant offer beyond that?\n\n> Over the past two years, it was quickly and often apparent that there’s\n> nothing that a small and young business in SF could do to make the city a\n> living option for its employees.\n\nYes there is, pay more. And to pay them more, raise prices. If people can\nafford to pay rent and they still want to go out to eat, they'll pay more.\nThat being said, you need to have a compelling product. Not sure someone with\nno restaurant background selling a commoditized product is going to be able to\nproduce a compelling product.\n\n> As alluded to earlier, the mass exodus of individuals from this workforce\n> leaves fewer people and less reason for those people to excel.\n\nYes, people leave because they're not paid enough. Pay more and maybe they'll\nstay.\n\n> The impact is seen when we tried the aspirational ‘Service Charge Inclusive’\n> model. Diners were so dismayed by it.\n\nOf course they were. No one likes add-ons that they weren't told about.\nInstead of adding a 'service charge', just raise the menu prices. You know,\nthe same as in Europe and other places where service is included.\n\nAll I see when I read this article is someone who knows nothing about\nrestaurants, adds no value to her own restaurant, claims she's innovative and\nknows better but then reverts to the restaurant status quo and claims it\ndoesn't work.\n\nThis is what I don't get about restaurants. Some of us work in them for 10-40\nyears. Do our apprenticeships in restaurants that win awards, have Michelin\nstars, are top 50 in the world, and work 80 hour weeks for decades on end. And\nthen someone who got a little money from Google thinks they can just open\nsomething, hire people and be successful. Just imagine if Sergei Brin and\nLarry page were restaurant managers who thought they could hire a few\nprogrammers, rent an office and create Google?\n\n~~~\nanonuser123456\n>what is she doing?\n\nInnovating.\n\n------\n_i____ii_______\nIf you work BOH in restaurants you develop a distaste for servers. Not only do\nthey make far more money but they do it in half the time. Time is money and\nmoney time. I've worked in the industry in SF and I can tell you there is no\nshortage of coke habits amongst them. They are also less skilled than the\ncooks and much more easily replaced, which gets to the point the author was\nmaking about the need for skill in cooks and the damaging mercenarial culture\narising out of desperation. In a cook you want someone you can retain who will\ndevelop a deep understanding of the workings of a particular restaurant and\nits menu. It's far more of an investment than a waiter who can cram homework\nfor a few days enough to sell a menu. But training to prep and cook that menu\nproperly will easily take weeks if not months at a high end place. You don't\nwant those people to bounce for a dollar more; that is a huge waste. You'd\nrather lose half your FOH staff than your lead line cook or heaven forbid sous\nchef. However the tip culture succubi aren't the perpetrators as regards the\npie cutting of restaurant earnings; it's tip culture and diner expectations.\nBut good luck changing that or getting the public to understand the changes. I\nsee a lot of hard-nosed posts here about basic economics, supply and demand,\nand what about's regarding the \"successful\" places (you mean places hanging on\nanother year). I understand a lot of you take pride in your ability to cut\nthrough the fat in that way. But you're glossing over perhaps the main point\nof the article which is that without skilled cooks restaurants slide more into\nthe spectrum of dummy-proofed food processing and thus weak, boring menus.\nThat goes for the yelp darlings as well who are likely hoping nobody notices\ndrops in quality and absence of ingenuity. The average self proclaimed foodie\nor just frequent diner I doubt knows enough about cuisine to realize the\nhollowing out of the scene they're in. Restaurants continuing this decline\nwill keep it hidden and the tech crowd won't notice the difference as their\nfavorite haunts continue to provide what they really have always wanted\nanyway: a place to see and be seen. A major priority for restaurants will be\nmaintaining image and hype in an increasingly superficial SF hellscape. Maybe\ndiners, in an honest moment, will say \"fuck it\" and head to the nearest Burger\nKing.\n\n~~~\nleetcrew\nif BOH employees are much more costly to lose than FOH, why does FOH get paid\nmore to begin with? is it just that minimum wage plus tips is already way more\nthan the cook gets paid?\n\nI don't disagree with your core claim that cooks are more valuable.\nanecdotally, when I worked at a takeout pizza place the main pizza guy got\npaid about twice what we made in the front, even including tips.\n\n------\nnewshorts\nIs no one considering the impact of foreign investment on housing and\nsunbsequently rent prices? Sure tech workers play a part, but they often pay a\nbetter part of their salary to the land owners who are more frequently likely\nto be foreign investors\n\n------\nJshWright\nA little off topic, but the idea of a \"celebrated\" pizza shop in SF strikes me\nas a little funny... I try a different pizza place every time I'm there, and\nI've yet to not be disappointed.\n\n~~~\ngamma-male\nYup. But I would say that pizza in the US is disapointing in general if you\nknow italian pizza.\n\n------\nmbrumlow\nYou can't have it both ways. Either change the city and build upwards or stop\ncomplaining about the price of living.\n\nThe notion that a city should not change and keep it's \"feel\" across sunch\nlong times is backwards thinking. Cities grow.\n\nI say this because the same people who want lower rents seem to also vote down\nbig new apartments because it will ruin the atmosphere. But I can't for the\nlife of me understand why anybody would want to preserve the current\natmosphere. The one you think you are defending is long gone.\n\n~~~\nhrdwdmrbl\nThey literally don't see how they constrain supply and how that leads to\nhigher prices.\n\n~~~\nastazangasta\nYou apparently literally don't see how high net worth individuals and\nspeculators can drive up prices much faster than new construction can possibly\nkeep up - remember, the demand side of price? Also, there are other forces at\nwork on the supply side, like a bonkers property tax system which incentivizes\nnever selling your home. But your tidy narrative is better for real estate\ndevelopers, so let's blithely parrot it as often as possible.\n\n~~~\npascalxus\nWell... yes, this problem has been developing for a long long time, over the\nlast 50 years CA has been restricting supply ever more, like those WWII frog\nexperiments where they boiled water very slowly to see if the frogs would jump\nout. Some of those frogs jumped out and some died out. Now, we're facing the\nsame dilema in SF. That doesn't mean we shouldn't try to lower the\ntemperature. Every last apartment or house can help. We desperately need as\nmuch housing of every type we can possibly get. I don't understand how anyone\nwith a conscience can continue to advocate for \"character\" with the current\nhousing crisis.\n\nAnd, why are people concerned if a developer makes a profit. If people are\nstarving, you dont say, geez we better not grow any more food lest those pesky\nfarmers make a profit. If developers are making too large profits, then more\nwill enter and we'll have even more housing which will lower the prices even\nmore.\n\n~~~\nastazangasta\nNo, this problem appeared acutely starting in 2008. When I moved to SF, rents\nwere not exorbitant; they were high, but ordinary people could pay them. Then\nthey climbed dramatically in a short period. This is easy to ascertain; just\nlook at any graph of rents. This graph has no relation to the graphs for new\nconstruction or population growth, both of which grow at a steady pace. This\nis an acute crisis caused by a spike in demand due to the sudden inflow of new\nwealth, not by a supply constraint. When one person can buy up every house in\nthe Mission, the supply side of the equation is not as relevant as the demand\nsize. This is blindingly obvious, and only some serious denial seems to be\npreventing people from acknowledging this.\n\nAs for concern over whether developers are making a profit; apparently you\nhave never read any history of redevelopment. Here is a good place for you to\nstart, learn something about your own city: [https://hoodline.com/2016/01/how-\nurban-renewal-destroyed-the...](https://hoodline.com/2016/01/how-urban-\nrenewal-destroyed-the-fillmore-in-order-to-save-it)\n\nWhat will happen, over and over, is poor people will be moved out, rich people\nwill move in, and developers will make a profit. Your econ 101 fantasy will\nnot take place.\n\n~~~\nubercow13\nWhy would that speculative new capital be interested in the property if not\nbecause they know there is a supply constraint?\n\n------\nfourstar\nQuite poetic that a Google exec talking about the issue she's contributed to\n(high rents/housing prices) is complaining about it and blaming the failure of\nher business on it.\n\nSurvival of the fittest. Plenty of great restaurants in Tokyo and it's almost\nas expensive as SF.\n\n------\nabalone\nHaving >10K karma on here and knowing people involved in this restaurant and\nthe SF scene in general.. I can make these observations:\n\n1\\. The vast majority of people on HN are in complete denial about the impact\nof a massive sudden influx of demand on SF housing.\n\n2\\. They will exclusively talk about supply constraints and also totally\nignore the concept of price inelasticity due to inexhaustible levels of\ndemand.\n\n3\\. pg himself had noted the importance of a vibrant restaurant scene for\nstartups.[1]\n\n4\\. This truly is a widespread problem for all SF restaurants. Nopa, one of\nthe most prestigious midrange restaurants, has been advertising for cooks in\ntheir menu for years now.\n\n5\\. In order for the market rate price of housing to become affordable to\ncooks and servers, it would first become dirt cheap for tech workers making\n2-4x their compensation. Therefore all of that worldwide demand for SF tech\nworker housing would need to be satiated before the market solves this\nproblem. (See point 2.)\n\n6\\. Most tech workers don’t give a shit. They are here to hopefully make their\nfortune or at least get their career started in the next 5-10 years. A vibrant\nrestaurant or working class community is not a priority. If they burn through\nit, it’s fine. Long term community development goals are a “nice to have”.\n\n7\\. Only reserved means-tested housing for the working class will solve this\nproblem. This is what divides the “market YIMBY” and “affordable housing\nPHIMBY” political groups in local SF politics. It’s not just about ethics.. If\nyou want a vibrant city rich with interesting restaurants and cafes then you\nneed to provide housing for the service industry. Otherwise you face a real\nmacroeconomic problem.\n\n[1] [http://www.paulgraham.com/pgh.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/pgh.html)\n\n~~~\nselestify\nWhy can't they pay their chefs more until the chefs too can afford to live\ncloser?\n\n~~~\nabalone\nIs this not obvious? Seriously, this question always comes up in these\ndiscussions. The answer is it’s a macroeconomic problem: SF restaurants have\nalready increased prices to $34 for a pork chop and $13 for a cocktail (Nopa..\nwhich I attest is a very good value by SF standards). Restaurant margins are\nlow. If they triple their cook salaries it will result in a net decline and\nthey’ll close.\n\nWhat we’re seeing is a shift towards “fine casual” formats like Souvla that\nhave lower labor costs. But there are just fewer midrange restaurants opening\ndue to labor and rent and the ceiling on what they can sustainably charge. The\nhigh end and low end / fine causal are doing ok.\n\n~~~\nselestify\nSo then why not let them close? Seems like the supply-and-demand problem will\neventually reach a new equilibrium.\n\n~~~\nabalone\nBecause then chefs would be even worse off because half would lose their jobs?\nA better solution is to provide them affordable housing.\n\n------\ntechnics256\nAn excellent article that highlights the biggest issues facing SF and the Bay\nArea overall, and the people who do not do a lot about it.\n\n------\nmensetmanusman\nReally points to how low cost robotics could potentially revolutionize food in\ncities with impossible living conditions for the poor.\n\n------\ntschwimmer\nI don't mean to come off as unnecesarily dismissive of the author, but I have\nserious doubts about the quality of their MBA education after I read this\nsentence: \"The situation in this industry has created a mercenary frenzy where\neveryone is running around trying to maximize what they’re able to make per\nhour.\" That describes the general trend in human behavior worldwide for the\npast six thousand or so years. This seems like such a foundational truth that\nI question if the author is writing it in good faith.\n\nThe author seems to have the numbers straight in terms of personnel costs\nrequired to run a sustainable business, but what's confusing to me is that\nthis analysis was not run before they decided to start this business. It seems\nlike the numbers were hopelessly unfavorable pretty much any way you cut them.\nTo me, that says that there simply wasn't a business worth creating.\n\nI acknowledge that the problems outlined in this piece are real. The\ncommentary about the SF healthcare plan only being available within the city\nlimits when many of its beneficiaries live far away calls attention to how\nbadly dysfunctional our healthcare system is. Nevertheless, I keep coming back\nto the conclusion that most of the hardship (on behalf of the author) here was\nself inflicted. Running a restaurant is generally a very poor means of making\na living as the author repeatedly points out. It's great that this person was\nfollowing their passion, but doing so is usually expensive.\n\nAs a mental exercise to the outraged reader of this article, try substituting\nthe word restaurant with the word yacht and all the positions with various\nnautical ones. I think you'll find yourself a lot less sympathetic. I'd argue\nthat they're semantically identical in this case.\n\n~~~\nkrschultz\nHow would a restaurant be in any way analogous to a yacht? I own a boat, it is\nnot a place of public accommodation. The neighborhood is not better off\nbecause I have a place to hang out with my family and friends. The point\nbeing, this article is not one person complaining that they can't \"follow\ntheir passion\". It's someone pointing out that the economics make running a\nrestaurant untenable in SF. Restaurants have always been run on razor thin\nmargins, but the piece makes a compelling case that it's tipped beyond that.\n\n~~~\nrepsilat\n> _How would a restaurant be in any way analogous to a yacht?_\n\nThe GP meant that it's a business people get into because it's their passion,\nand it is a lot of people's passion when compared against the market for it.\nI'd say a comparison against \"glamourous\" creative industries like acting and\njournalism is more apt -- good profit to the ones people remember the names\nof, and cutthroat for the 90% fighting over the rest of the market.\n\n> _Restaurants have always been run on razor thin margins, but the piece makes\n> a compelling case that it 's tipped beyond that._\n\nMaybe it's an echo-chamber thing, but a large fraction of my friends in SF\nrarely/never cook dinner. Almost none bring their lunch to work. We don't have\na shortage of places to buy prepared food.\n\nThe cost of eating out will probably scale closely with the cost of running a\nrestaurant. Demand is solid (though not entirely inelastic.) Profits will\nalways be thinner than in other industries.\n\nLower rents would help, but there would probably also be negative second-order\neffects of lower meal prices. And positive third-order effects of increased\ndemand because of price elasticity...\n\n------\nboltzmannbrain\n> the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment at an insane $3,447,\n> according to a 2018 rent report by Adobo. The U.S. Census revealed in March,\n> the median rent in San Francisco in 2016 was roughly over $1,600/month.\n> These numbers are worrisome in a few ways: 1. The egregious rent amount that\n> is required for somebody to live in the city today. 2. The jump in median\n> rent in a mere two years. 3. The $1,600 median rent from 2016 also included\n> rent-controlled apartments which indicates their rapid disappearance.\n\nmedian != average\n\nFun example: In 1987 the average starting salary of University of North\nCarolina geography graduates was over $100,000. In 1986 Michael Jordan\ngraduated.\n\n~~~\np1necone\nI was taught in school that average can refer to mean, median _or_ mode (is\nthat common everywhere?). Mean seems to be the default when not specified but\njournalists really should be specific (also as you point out, median is more\noften than not the best/least misleading one to use).\n\nEdit: wikipedia\n([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average))\nseems to suggest that they can all be considered \"averages\".\n\n~~~\nHupriene\nI think it would be very unusual to refer to the mode as the average,\nespecially if it wasn't close to the median or mean.\n\n~~~\ntorstenvl\nMode is the most common meaning for \"average\" in vernacular English. When\nsomeone says \"I'm just your average guy,\" they are not doing math. They're\ncomparing themselves to what the majority (or perceived majority, i.e.\nplurality) of other people are like.\n\n~~~\nneumann\nor perhaps implicit in the language of \"I'm just your average guy\" is that the\ncentral limit theorem applies.\n\n------\nchenpengcheng\nThe author is just one of these people who has benefited from a system and\npretends to care for the underprivileged. And through this article, she makes\nme feel that she is entitled to success in all her endeavors and if that is\nnot the case, then it’s others fault.\n\nThis makes me sick.\n\n~~~\ndang\nPlease don't post denunciatory rants to Hacker News, regardless of how\nentitled you feel someone else or their article is.\n\nEven if you're right, the cost of making this place more toxic exceeds the\nbenefit.\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)\n\n~~~\nchenpengcheng\nI don't agree with your comment on \"rage\" and \"inferior\".\n\n~~~\ndang\nYes, those were two provocative words in what I posted. I can see how that\ncould be unhelpful.\n\nI replaced \"rage\" with \"denunciatory\" and \"inferior\" with \"entitled\".\nHopefully those changes make the core point smoother.\n\n~~~\nchenpengcheng\nthank for setting a good example\n\n------\nzozbot123\nTl;dr: The rent is too darn high! It's not just individuals that are\nsuffocating because of it, but marginal, specialty/niche retail businesses\nlike this restaurant. They should pack their stuff and move out.\n\n------\njelliclesfarm\nAm I the only one who is appalled that a person with a wife and for\nchildren(one under 6 months) is working in a minimum wage job?\n\n1\\. They should have either not had four kids or 2. should train to pick a\nhigher paying job. 3. Or move to a cheaper part of the country.\n\nThe question is: how do we train people for better jobs or when jobs aren’t\navailable, how do we make sure they ..well..live?\n\nThese are the questions we should be asking and not talking about SF\nrestaurants and housing unavailability.\n\nWhere is the ‘Linkedin’ and retraining resources for people like this cook?\n\nThis author with a MBA just didn’t make compelling reading.\n\n~~~\nthrowawaysea\nI share the same sentiment. In my opinion, having children is a huge\nresponsibility, and should not be treated as a default right. If one cannot\nget themselves into a stable position financially, they shouldn't be raising\nchildren. And certainly not four. Having four children without substantial\nfinancial security is outrageously irresponsible - people I know that are very\nwell off would hesitate to have even three despite having the technical\nability to afford that life.\n\n~~~\njelliclesfarm\nThat detail was rather jarring to me.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTikTok’s Beijing roots fuel censorship suspicion as it builds an US audience - baylearn\nhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/09/15/tiktoks-beijing-roots-fuel-censorship-suspicion-it-builds-huge-us-audience/\n======\ncore-questions\nFacebook et. al. implement a ton of censorship. You can be banned in seconds\nfor posting content they deem offensive, even if it's not threatening /\nobscene. Why would we expect any other social network to not also have\ncensorship? Why is Chinese censorship going to be any worse for Americans than\ntheir own?\n\n~~~\nFjolsvith\nBecause the topics that China can censor can influence American election\noutcomes.\n\nWait, I guess Facebook et. al. can influence them with censorship, too. [1]\n\n1\\. [https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-google-search-\nbia...](https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-google-search-bias-\nelections-20190322-story.html)\n\n~~~\ncore-questions\nWhat if the American election outcome actually just does, in reality, reflect\nthe will of Americans? What if they really do want Trump, and it wasn't some\nkind of scam?\n\n------\nartsyca\nin communist china, television watches you -- hmmmm this is well outside of\nOrwell territory by now because it would've been unheard of for the\ngovernments of his super-states to spy on each others' citizens!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDemonstrations to protest NSA spying planned for July 4th - pvnick\nhttp://restorethefourth.net\n======\nmtgx\nIf Brazilians can create a 1 million strong protest over a 0.1$ bus fare\nincrease, I'd hope Americans from the \"land of the free, home of the _brave_ \"\nwould be able to do the same over the revealing of a massive spying apparatus\nthat's used against Americans and completely infringing on the 4th amendment.\n\nBut even more importantly it's infringing on their human rights that should\nguarantee that they don't have to live in fear in a surveillance state and\nthey have the right to anonymous speech or being able to have confidential\nconversations with people, without having to think that everything they say is\nbeing recorded by the government, and if if they even say the \"wrong words\"\nthey may end up on certain \"lists\" that are monitored more heavily.\n\n~~~\nmpyne\nIs the protest over the bus fare increase? I was always told it was merely the\nlatest in a long string of events drawing in protesters.\n\nLikewise, didn't the group that incited protests over the bus fare increase\nlater support ending the protests, since the protests are said to have been\nco-opted by militants and fascists?\n\nLikewise likewise, neither anonymous speech or confidential conversations have\ngone away (that is, where they were possible before). But you may have to\nchoose to enforce that by technical means (a capability we _didn 't_ used to\nhave, by the way, just ask people who lived in the age of letters and phone\ncalls).\n\nLikewise^3, the prioritization of who would be monitored by warrant is\ncertainly a legitimate function of the security apparatus, unless you're\ntrying to claim that picking random conversations to get a warrant for is\nsomehow more effective in breaking up terror cells or criminal conspiracies.\n\nI would argue that taking action against people _merely_ for what they believe\nin is screwed up, but I not only wouldn't blame people for keeping a closer\neye on those who advocate large changes to government, I'd be offended as a\ntaxpayer if they weren't doing exactly that.\n\n~~~\noutworlder\n> Is the protest over the bus fare increase? I was always told it was merely\n> the latest in a long string of events drawing in protesters.\n\nBrazilian here, and you are right. The big protests started in one capital and\nnot all capitals raised their fares, at least not recently. One week before\nthat, in my city, we had thousands of protesters, who wanted something to be\ndone about the violence (873 people were murdered by gunshot in the first\nquarter alone, out of a population of 2.5 million, giving over 60 per hundred\nthousand people).\n\nAfter the demonstrations in São Paulo, it spread like wildfire. Since not all\ncities have the same problems (at least, not in the same priority), the\nprotesters had different agendas. But they were (and stil are) all over the\ncountry.\n\n------\ndiminoten\nOkay, so let's not become the next Occupy movement with this, can we figure\nout what it is we're protesting _for_ in the first place? And \"FREEDOM\" or\n\"PRIVACY!\" aren't things you can protest for and expect to get. Maybe\nsomething like, \"We want to require the government to announce ALL FISA court\nrulings\" or \"We want to require the government to declassify details about the\nPRISM program\" or something along those lines.\n\nWe no longer live in an age where rhetoric tears down walls and opens doors.\nSomewhere along the line, people in power recognized they can just ignore\npretty words and they'll usually go away.\n\n~~~\nauston\nI think it's fairly clear:\n[http://www.restorethefourth.net/press/](http://www.restorethefourth.net/press/)\n\n1\\. Enact reform this Congress to Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act, the\nstate secrets privilege, and the FISA Amendments Act to make clear that\nblanket surveillance of the Internet activity and phone records of any person\nresiding in the U.S. is prohibited by law and that violations can be reviewed\nin adversarial proceedings before a public court;\n\n2\\. Create a special committee to investigate, report, and reveal to the\npublic the extent of this domestic spying. This committee should create\nspecific recommendations for legal and regulatory reform to end\nunconstitutional surveillance;\n\n3\\. Hold accountable those public officials who are found to be responsible\nfor this unconstitutional surveillance.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\n(1) Is never going to happen. Even _civil cases_ in the US can be conducted\nunder seal, and those very rarely pertain to national security. This is\nexactly what the parent commenter was referring to when he said that people\nshould figure out exactly what their demand is; the demand in item (1) here is\ntotally unrealistic.\n\n(2) and (3) seem very straightforward, realistic, and productive.\n\n~~~\nscythe\n(1) should be broken among its parts. The state secrets privilege is hard to\nget rid of, but it is realistic to call for the repeal of the \"library records\nprovision\":\n\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_records_provision#Secti...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_records_provision#Section_215:_Access_to_records_and_other_items_under_FISA)\n\nNotably, Google itself has launched a campaign against the gag order related\nto NSLs, which we should all (hopefully) support!\n\n------\npvnick\nGlad to see HNers are excited about this. Shameless plug - if you live in or\naround Gainesville, FL, I encourage you to attend the one I'm organizing for\nmy town:\n[http://gatorsrestorethefourth.com](http://gatorsrestorethefourth.com)\n\n------\noddball28\nThis is just an opinion because my personal experience with protesting is\nnull, but isn't the strategy of protesting in hundreds of communities\nineffective?\n\nIt's easy to ignore or contain 50-1000+ protesters [1][2] at some 600\nlocations (see Occupy Wall Street), whereas a centralized protest (maybe in\nDC?) of 70,000+[3] will hear their voices ringing across the world.\n\nIt's easy to feel like your working together and making a difference with\nsomeone across the globe, but really to be heard you need to work together,as\na team, in close proximity. Change isn't easy.\n\n[1] Wrong:\n[http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/ows_gallery_121...](http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/ows_gallery_1212/ows_gallery_05.jpg)\n\n[2] Meh, street performers pull bigger crowds:\n[http://media.syracuse.com/news/photo/10265946-large.jpg](http://media.syracuse.com/news/photo/10265946-large.jpg)\n\n[2] Here we go:\n[http://wakingamericaup.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/i-have-a-...](http://wakingamericaup.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/i-have-\na-dream-2.jpg)\n\n~~~\nlettergram\nYou're probably correct, however starting off, if you start with say 10 people\nprotesting on a local public street you may get 10 new people to notice you.\n\nAfter a time you can double, triple, quadruple, etc. your numbers. Then go to\nDC with 70-100,000 and get attention.\n\n~~~\noddball28\nAfter giving this more thought, I agree. Large demonstrations don't happen\nover night, and it's necessary to start somewhere and gain traction, with the\nultimate goal of snowballing into a large centralized demonstration.\n\nMaybe what's needed is an agenda that clearly works towards such a\ndemonstration, one that's broken up into attainable goals/milestones. If\ndemonstrators don't feel that they're continually making progress, they lose\ninterest -- or maybe its hope that they lose. And at some point, you need\nstrong leadership to reign in all the pieces.\n\n------\njdp23\nIf you're interested in getting involved, there's discussion Restore on the\n4th's subreddit at\n[http://www.reddit.com/r/restorethefourth/](http://www.reddit.com/r/restorethefourth/)\nand daily IRC meetings at 5 p.m.\n\n------\ntemp1234567\nJust a quick note, remember to turn off your cell phones at these events.\nProtestors are tracked by their cell phone records by the police and govt.\n\n------\nchrsstrm\nI know setting the date of most of these events to the 4th of July is very\nsymbolic, but is that really the best choice? That is the one day that\nAmericans already gather in large numbers to celebrate. In DC alone the entire\nnational mall area and surrounding are gridlocked with people who come to see\nthe fireworks. How would you be able to tell who is there protesting and who\nis there to celebrate? It seems like your protest message would easily be lost\nin the noise of the Fourth.\n\nWhy not set it for the day before? 100,000+ people on the steps of the Capitol\nor in front of the White House on the evening of the 3rd would get much more\ncoverage than doing anything on the 4th.\n\n------\nrelak\nIf you want to spark mass protest, here's how you do it: cut all government\nprograms. Once people realize how much government is artificially inflating\ntheir livelihood and how little corporations have really left for them, they\nwill get angry and start rioting. It no longer will fit the left/right\nparadigm. If a Walmart employee can no longer feed their family because they\nhave no access to government programs and Walmart pays their employees an\nawful wage, do you think they are just gonna take that? No. They'll demand\nactual change.\n\n------\nbobwaycott\nThe only way public demonstrations are going to have an effect is for them to\nbe _massive_ and _concentrated_. That does not mean widespread protests are a\nbad idea _per se_ , but that if none of the protests actually have mass, they\nare going to be ignored by both officials and your fellow citizens as a\ntemporary annoyance for which they will hold little sympathy.\n\nDevelopment of public support _against_ greater security at the cost of\nfreedom is the only way to make meaningful change. Yes, marches/demonstrations\ncan be part of this. But small demonstrations do not alone capture the\npublic's interest. One must capture the public mind--and that means informing\nthe public and winning their support of having _less_ \"security\" where weaking\nor violating the protections of their basic rights are concerned.\n\nRight now, as various polls have showed, far too many Americans desire the\nfeeling and theater of security. They are content to be invaded at airport\nsecurity because _eventually_ they can still fly. They are content to have\ntheir communications slurped up because they can still send that email and\nmake that phone call.\n\nIt's not until they're staring at a public fountain from which they are not\nable to drink because it has a stupid printed sign above it that says \"Whites\nOnly\" that the public will accept that things have gone horribly wrong.\n\nI think demonstrations would be excellent to see, but not if they're anything\nlike the Occupy movement, which the wider public opposed against their own\nself interest. It is very difficult to get the public's attention when they do\nnot _feel_ the effects. The public is rather shitty at evaluating and\nappreciating things in the abstract. Demonstrations that are massive and\nconcentrated would have a much more significant impact. Think of the Civil\nRights March on Washington. That level of mass and concentration. Doubling it\nwould be even better.\n\nAnd yet, even that basic right to protest has been severely weakened by the\nfact that one must get a _permit_ to protest in many of the locations that\nwould be tactically good choices. This is madness. The 4th is not the only\nAmendment that the People have allowed to be weakened over the last two\ncenturies.\n\nAmericans have become very lazy where protecting their rights are concerned,\nbecause the vast majority of Americans do not participate in protecting those\nrights when they are violated against minority factions.\n\n~~~\npaulkoer\n> The only way public demonstrations are going to have an effect is for them\n> to be massive and concentrated. That does not mean widespread protests are a\n> bad idea per se, but that if none of the protests actually have mass, they\n> are going to be ignored by both officials and your fellow citizens as a\n> temporary annoyance for which they will hold little sympathy.\n\nThis statement sounds a little defeatist and gives an excuse for not\nparticipating in demonstrations (since the required _massive_ scale is likely\nnot reached, one might be better of not going).\n\nActually demonstrations, even if they do not effect immediate change, will\nstill have a number of positive outcomes. First, they will likely be reported\non in the news (at least that would be the case in Germany), raising\nawareness. Second, demonstrators will meet like minded individuals with whom\nthey can network and form strategies. Third, demonstrators will realize that\nthey are not isolated and feel more empowered as a result. Last, it will at\nleast remind the public and politicians that some people do care about this.\n\nIs any of this enough to affect change? Likely not. But it is a first step and\nif we can't even go demonstrate against this then we might as well stop\ncaring. The possibility that demonstrations will not have the immediate effect\nwe desire should not stop us.\n\n~~~\nbobwaycott\nApologies. I did not intend to sound defeatist at all.\n\n------\naclevernickname\nPerhaps I'm in the minority, but I can't help but think this is the worst idea\never. You have a highly-strung government, watching everyone for signs of\ndomestic terrorism, and then protest, which the government has considered an\nact of aggression since at least the Dubya administration.\n\nThe only remedy we have in this country is lawsuits. Not class-actions,\neither; individual lawsuits for $500k each, for egregiously prejudicing your\nindividual rights guaranteed by the constitution. ten thousand or so of those,\nwith the president's name in all caps (head of the Unitary Executive) listed\nas the defendant.\n\nor, you know, you could try to make a well-regulated militia of 3D-printed pea\nshooters, so you can overthrow the largest and most heavily-armed military in\nthe history of the world. that'll definitely work.\n\nMyself, I appreciate the disclosure I'm being given that Scott McNealy was\nright all those years ago when he said we have zero privacy anyway. The\ngovernment has the right to do whatever they want with their property. if you\nuse/are their property (isn't that ARPAnet thing US military property?),\nexpect them to enforce their interest in that property.\n\nTL;DR for the downvoters (+6 to -2 in less than 20 minutes? hilarious):\nPROTEST BAD. LAWSUITS GOOD.\n\n~~~\npvnick\n>You have a highly-strung government, watching everyone for signs of domestic\nterrorism, and then protest, which the government has considered an act of\naggression since at least the Dubya administration.\n\nThat's a terrible justification for not protesting. Free societies require\ncourage.\n\n~~~\naclevernickname\nNot wanting to be in harmony with the 800lb gorilla is a terrible\njustification for not being in harmony with the 800lb gorilla.\n\nAs for being courageous in a free society: Let me know when you find one. we\ncan both move there and be courageous together. In the interim, I'm going to\nplay by the rules of the game, as I'm stuck in the system.\n\nPerhaps you guys don't understand this: they have _really_ big guns. waaaay\nbigger than anything we have. and they have the authority to use them when\nthey're threatened by acts of mass protest. the Executive's powers used at\nKent State ages ago have only gotten stronger. Don't be like those poor\nbastards. or the Seattle WTO protesters. or the DNC/RNC protesters.\n\nSeriously, they _want_ you to sue them. Just do it.\n\n~~~\nwavefunction\nI guess we'll give you a call from the protests then. Look for us being mocked\non the TV, if we're not intentionally ignored by corporate media.\n\n~~~\naclevernickname\nplease do. I'll be home all day on the 4th.\n\n------\nw0ts0n\nWhy is this US only?\n\n~~~\nbobwaycott\nThere is no reason it has to be.\n\nHowever, invoking the 4th of July as part of the American public consciousness\nis not guaranteed to resonate with the wider world population.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNeural network AI is simple. So… Stop pretending you are a genius - NicoJuicy\nhttps://www.kdnuggets.com/2018/02/neural-network-ai-simple-genius.html\n======\nsinghrac\nThis is a pretty stupid article. No one is pretending that they're a genius,\nbut this guy is just full of inaccuracies. Let me break it down to save other\npeople time and energy (I have a little to spare):\n\n1\\. \"but that complexity comes from repetition and a random number generator\"\n\\- Most of the complexity comes from trying to solve non-convex optimization\nproblems via SGD. \"Repetition\" doesn't make sense unless you're talking about\nvectorization (you're not), and an rng has little relevance.\n\n2\\. \"Congrats! You took the above code, and looped the loop again.\" \\- sure,\nif that were true then people would have trained deep neural networks in the\n90s. Instead we needed researchers (see? geniuses) to invent batch\nnormalization, highway networks, CNNs, dropout, etc. Also, that's not an\n\"recursive neural network\", that's a recurrent one.\n\n3\\. \"So you trained a neural network using Nvidia GPUs and moved it to the\nphone…\" \\- this entire section makes so little sense I don't know where to\nstart. Neural networks are, for the most part, robust to small rng differences\n- that's why they have surprising generalizability. I have no idea what this\nguy is trying to say about phones and GPUs though.\n\n4\\. \"What it does well is help you visualize what is happening in those 11\nlines\" \\- well, that's not the point, but I'm starting to understand that this\nguy doesn't get it.\n\n5\\. \"Building a neural network with 1 trait for every word in the English\nlanguage would require a network that used as much computing power as all of\nGoogle.\" \\- I'm just going to let that one sit there.\n\n...\n\n\"There is neural network code in my tool box.\"; sure, you sound like you've\nimported Tensorflow before (possibly?). But maybe before dismissing an entire\nfield you should figure out how any of it works.\n\n~~~\nwjnc\nAgree. Statistics is pretty basic at it's linear algebra core as well. Add\nsome optimization. You can study most of the theory in a year or two.\n\nIt's mastery and smart application that makes all the difference.\n\n------\njackconnor\nThis is a terrible article. He makes a total straw man out of neural networks\nby pulling code from an \"Intro to Neural Networks in Python\" tutorial and\nsaying \"What's so hard about this?\" He also doesn't explain it correctly, not\neven close. Maybe he should actually do the tutorial.\n\nWhat's the point of this? That he's as smart as people who build AI? This\nperson, Brandon Wirtz, needs to work on his self-confidence, not just\nintelligence.\n\n------\nmining\nAlmost all of that blog post was complete bullshit. Recursive neural net? I\ndon't understand why that post was written.\n\n~~~\nNervousTechno\nYou can find the difference between recurrent and recursive neural nets on\nwikipedia. No need to edit your post then flag someone when they point out how\nlazy you are in understanding a simple rant post, pointing out how lazy people\nare in understanding the \"AI\" fads.\n\n------\njulvo\nI assume this article is directed towards people new to neural nets who think\nthey mastered AI. However, in neural network research noone cares about of the\nthings the author is making fun of. These are examples from tutorials\nbeginners learn in the first week, not what experts are remotely concerned\nwith.\n\n~~~\nopless\nAgree. I think there's some (a lot?) of context about /why/ the article was\nwritten. It sounds like some[one|thing] has wound the author up.\n\nAlso it's a post from another blog... I'd wander over there and try to figure\nit out, but lunch beckons...\n\n------\nzamalek\nAnyone who is learning something new is a genius in my opinion - especially if\nthey are excited about it and want to share their results so that others can\nlearn.\n\nThis is just condescending vitriol.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: ZodiacGraph – A general-purpose, circular node graph GUI - cornibies\nhttp://www.clemens-sielaff.com/the-zodiacgraph/\n\n======\nf4q\nLooks visually Impressive. Is there a Demo of how to use it programmatically?\nLike for example for a visual scene graph like threenode.js?\n\n------\nfiatjaf\nWow, it seems amazing.\n\n~~~\ncornibies\nThanks! :-)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nEstonia publishes its e-voting source code - duggieawesome\nhttps://github.com/vvk-ehk/evalimine\n\n======\nduggieawesome\nRelevant article: [http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/07/estonia-\npublishes...](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/07/estonia-publishes-\nits-e-voting-source-code-on-github/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nVerizon to offer daily deals based on tracking your phone data - trendspotter\nhttp://news.verizonwireless.com/news/2012/12/verizon-selects.html\nsee GigaOm to learn more about this phone-tracking twist: http://gigaom.com/mobile/att-verizon-offer-daily-deals-with-a-phone-tracking-twist/\n======\ntrendspotter\nGigaOM has a story about this phone-tracking twist:\n[http://gigaom.com/mobile/att-verizon-offer-daily-deals-\nwith-...](http://gigaom.com/mobile/att-verizon-offer-daily-deals-with-a-phone-\ntracking-twist/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDetecting electoral fraud - martingoodson\nhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1205.0741\n======\nmartingoodson\nFigure 1b is very striking.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSolving Big Startup Problems With Email: The Square Case - elie_CH\nhttp://blog.mailjet.com/post/64682818912/solving-big-startup-problems-with-email-the-square\n\n======\nwbeckler\nI don't see how it solves a bigger problem: no use cases. Paypal started out\ntrying to make it easier for people to give each other money. That foundered,\nso they pivoted into a commercial payment tool. It's like Square is reenacting\nthe Paypal timeline backwards.\n\n------\ntonylemesmer\nI haven't used Squarecash so not sure how it solves the problem of phishing.\nReciving an email, clicking a link and typing in my credit card / bank\ndetails. Are we just expected to trust Square?\n\n~~~\ndominiclee\nIt's as easy as Paypal (or easier) using email to sending money. If they can\nfigure out the secure concern (time will tell) or say it's 100 percent secure,\nit would be quite awesome. I agree, not sure how it prevents spoofing or email\nbeing compromised problem.\n\n~~~\nelie_CH\nIt wasn't that easy for Paypal :)\n[http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1028](http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1028)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Anyone else going to the AWS S3 Conference in London next Thurs? - mcdowall\n\n\n======\nmcdowall\nMyself and a few colleagues are going along, would be cool to meet up with\nsome fellow HN members for a beer or two.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nStrcat Linux kernel bugdoor - DyslexicAtheist\nhttps://twitter.com/bleidl/status/943714277403357185\n======\ntinus_hn\nI think 'strcat' refers to the handle of a person the author is talking to,\nand not the system call.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSean Spicer: ‘Hitler didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons’ - Bud\nhttp://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/sean-spicer-hitler-didnt-even-sink-to-using-chemical-weapons/#.WO0iPn5f_Lw.facebook\n======\nantman\nHe didn't use them because he was hit by mustard gas in the WW1 trenches and\nwas blinded and lost his voice for some time, but the CyclonB he used in the\nconcentration camps should also count.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGiant magnetic fields in the universe - upen\nhttp://exactlyscience.com/archives/11632.html\n======\nDrScump\nBlogspam of\n\n[http://www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/pressreleases/2017/4](http://www.mpifr-\nbonn.mpg.de/pressreleases/2017/4)\n\nwith research team credits and contacts removed.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nZillow prices IPO at nearly $400mm valuation, to raise $55 million - slapshot\nhttp://venturebeat.com/2011/07/06/zillow-prices-ipo-now-has-nearly-400m-valuation/?source=facebook\n\n======\nslapshot\nNet income is negative, so it's another growth-plus-revenue deal, with the\nhope that the revenue line will cross above the expense line soon.\n\nPricing is about 12 times 2010 revenue, with growth at 71% year-over-year\ngrowth from 2009 to 2010.\n\n------\ntomkarlo\nGiven that they've raised $87M in VC over 6 years\n(<http://www.crunchbase.com/company/zillow>), kind of a small outcome to be\n$325M pre-money.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nRed Gate is sending a DBA to space - neilgd\nhttp://dbainspace.com\n\n======\ndasmoth\nIt's a suborbital flight. At first glance, I assumed Virgin Galactic, but\nactually looks like it will be an Armadillo spacecraft. Interesting...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nStorklancer.io FeedBack - sylarruby\nBuilt with Ruby on Rails and Reactjs, Storklancer aims to bring anyone who needs help with a project with developers, programmers and business partner together etc.<p>Functionality:<p>* ReactJs Live Search\n* Sendgrid email notification (disabled)\n* Twilio Integration – SMS notification (disabled)<p>Your kind feedback would be based on layout, features to add&#x2F;remove and color. I have many features to add but this is just a starting point.<p>Web link: http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.storklancer.io<p>Many thanks.\nDave\n======\naismail\nFeedback link in the upper band does not work.\n\nPutting in real project offers instead of lorem ipsum certainly would help.\nMost people are using websites like this to look for work. So why would they\nvisit if there's no work in there, regardless of the features they find?\n\nGood luck w/ your project!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThinking of Travelling to Europe This Summer? - prawn\nhttps://www.lawfareblog.com/thinking-travelling-europe-summer\n======\njunto\nWe have a common jovial saying in Europe, \"Thank God only 4% of Americans have\npassports\".\n\nIn all seriousness, we should actually be thankful that the vast majority of\nthat 4% are genuinely awesome travelers, spending lots of money in our\nEuropean economies. It is only a small minority, as with every nationality,\nthat have a tendency to taint the barrel.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSimpson's Paradox - mmaia\nhttp://vudlab.com/simpsons/\n======\ntlb\nThe Omitted Variable Problem is part of my mental framework that causes me to\nnot believe most epidemiological studies, especially ones that confirm a\npopular belief.\n\nThe almost universally omitted variable is health-consciousness. Some people\nare health-conscious and some aren't. People who are health-conscious do a\nwhole bunch of things, some of which help (like exercise, sleep well, eat\nmoderately). They also do things that are widely believed to be good for you,\nlike eating broccoli.\n\nSo if you do a study, you'll find that people who eat lots of broccoli are\nhealthier. You'll be able to confirm pretty much any widely believed health\nfolk wisdom, unless it's something quite harmful, as long as you omit health-\nconsciousness as a variable.\n\n~~~\nrthomas6\nSurely some studies account for this? If you look for people who do X and\npeople who don't and just analyze their lives, yes this problem is likely to\nexist. But if you take two randomized samples of a the population and say to\ngroup A, \"do X,\" and to group B \"don't do X,\" you have an effective control\ngroup. At least I think so. Don't some dietary studies even provide the\nparticipants with custom food regimens to try to eliminate extra dietary\ndifferences between study participants?\n\n~~~\ndefen\nYou're describing a randomized controlled trial and not an epidemiological\nstudy.\n\n~~~\ndbecker\nYou are mistakenly confounding that epidemiological and observational.\n\nEpidemiology studies can be randomized or observational.\n\n~~~\ndefen\nInteresting...what would be an example of a randomized epidemiological study?\n\n------\ntel\nSimpson's Paradox is scary if you've not seen it before, but you should not\nstop here and instead proceed _immediately_ on to omitted variable bias and\nthe conversation here\n([http://normaldeviate.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/simpsons-\nparad...](http://normaldeviate.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/simpsons-paradox-\nexplained/)).\n\nIn short, Simpson's paradox occurs because probability distributions and\ncausal claims _are distinct things_ which behave differently. It's nothing\nmore than a particular, insidious example of correlation not implying\ncausation. It's perfectly possible for a probability distribution to have a\n\"contradictory\" shape, but perfectly impossible for logical statements about\nthe world to be contradictory.\n\nThe resolution is that you shouldn't let your probability distributions turn\ninto logical statements without analyzing your causal assumptions. This will\nlead you to whether or not excluding a variable is omitted variable bias (and\nwhether including an improper one will lead to included variable bias, which\nis rarely recognized).\n\n------\nteamonkey\nThe point of an interactive illustration like this is that it should make it\nmore intuitive and easier to understand than the core concept, not more\nconfusing.\n\nWhat is the meaning of the green and purple lines on the graph, why do they\nhave different gradients and why can't I adjust them? Why does the Simpson's\nParadox apply sometimes and not others? Why are there so many bars and donut\ncharts? What does the gray circle around the donuts mean? Information\noverload.\n\n~~~\npublicfig\nI feel as thought both graphs with purple and green lines are accurately\nexplained. Were you trying to skim through the article or were you still left\nconfused after reading it? The top one is explained in the accompanying text\nand the bottom one is explained with a labeled x and y axis and relies on the\ninformation provided above.\n\n~~~\nteamonkey\nIf the article describes the subject adequately, what is the point of the\ngraphic? I found the interactive graphic more confusing than the description.\n\nCompare and contrast to the clarity of their central limit theorem\ndemonstation [1] vs its wikipedia page [2].\n\n[1] [http://blog.vctr.me/posts/central-limit-\ntheorem.html](http://blog.vctr.me/posts/central-limit-theorem.html)\n\n[2]\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_limit_theorem](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_limit_theorem)\n\n~~~\npublicfig\nBy that, I meant that the article described what the graph was representing,\nnot that the article described the information presented adequately. Also, I\nabsolutely disagree with the assumption you made that graphs shouldn't be\npresent if the information is presented in the article. It's good to provide\nvisual demonstrations when applicable in order to help clarify subjects.\n\n------\nsp332\nReminds me of Anscombe's Quartet: four datasets that have the same mean,\nvariance, correlation, and linear regression, but are really very different.\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anscombe%27s_quartet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anscombe%27s_quartet)\n\n~~~\nlewis500\nmaybe we'll do that one next!\n\n------\njasonwatkinspdx\nJudea Pearl has formalized a resolution to Simpson's Paradox:\n\n[http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.34....](http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.34.8955&rep=rep1&type=pdf)\n\nAn oversimplification of his idea would be to say that given assumptions about\nthe causal independence of variables, it becomes clear which way you should\ngroup the data. Although it's not always possible to make these independence\nassumptions, _much_ of the time they are obvious and uncontroversial.\n\nTaking the Berkeley gender bias case as an example: We know it's possible that\nbiological gender influences which department graduates apply to, but that\nit's impossible that the department a graduate applies to influences their\nbiological gender. This fact alone tells us that we need to look at the data\nby department rather than in aggregate, resolving the paradox.\n\n~~~\ngweinberg\nWell, it certainly makes more sense to look at the by department data rather\nthan the aggregate data. But I would say that the fact that we see such large\ndisparities in which departments are applied to is already enough to refute\nthe idea that male and female applicants are pretty much the same, and that\ntherefore it would be pretty reckless to conclude any sex discrimination based\non the difference in acceptance rates.\n\n~~~\ntel\nAnd Pearl's point is that the \"real world\" logic you just applied is both\nimportant and not statistical—you need to augment your analysis with these\ncausal assumptions in order to translate probability into meaningful causal\nstatements.\n\n------\nalexPetrov\nReading up on Simpson's Paradox again made me realize something: women\nretrieving custody more often than men appears to me to be a perfect example\nof Simpson's Paradox. Overall, women get custody more often than men, this is\ntrue, but if you consider only the cases where men actually asked for or\nattempted to retrieve custody, this is no longer true[0].\n\n[0]:\n[http://www.villainouscompany.com/vcblog/archives/2012/04/chi...](http://www.villainouscompany.com/vcblog/archives/2012/04/child_supportcu.html)\n\n~~~\nTichy\nHow to interpret that, though? Seems likely to me that who asks for custody\nwould be influenced by their chances of receiving it. How many of those cases\nare \"contested custody\"?\n\nThen that article places the claim \"Additional evidence, however, indicates\nthat women may be less able to afford the lawyers and experts needed in\ncontested custody cases (see “Family Law Overview”) and that, in contested\ncases, different and stricter standards are applied to mothers.\" without\nproviding any data. So it ends up being a propaganda piece, which makes it not\nvery trustworthy.\n\n------\nwunderlust\nFWIW, Simpson's paradox is a \"veridical\" paradox, not a \"vertical\" paradox as\nnoted in the article. Apparently veridical isn't yet accepted by spelling\ncheckers. (As I'm writing, Chrome offers the single suggestion \"vertical\" for\nmy \"veridical\".)\n\n------\ndsego\nFor me this was far better explained in the following text (also posted on HN\nnot so long ago): [http://www.michaelnielsen.org/ddi/if-correlation-doesnt-\nimpl...](http://www.michaelnielsen.org/ddi/if-correlation-doesnt-imply-\ncausation-then-what-does/)\n\n------\ntrains\nIt's nice visually but the text-based information could be more thorough -\nwhich would result in less links at the bottom.The more info contained on the\npage the better!\n\n------\ntensafefrogs\nAnyone interested in this stuff should definitely watch the lectures from the\nStats 110 class from Harvard that's up on iTunes U (and perhaps other places).\n\nLecture 6 talks about this paradox and if I recall correctly he might even\ntalk about this exact case:\n\n[https://itunes.apple.com/us/course/statistics-110-probabilit...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/course/statistics-110-probability/id502492375)\n\n------\nmaxk42\nThat is some sexy javascript.\n\n~~~\nZoF\nMy first thought as well\n\n------\nmartimoose\nI had a hard time understanding the last graphic, because I was reading on an\niPad, and the sliders don't work. I thought it was all static, and couldn't\nmatch the numbers in the graph with the previously mentioned numbers, as the\ndefaults of the sliders do not give a simpson's paradox.\n\n------\ncfontes\nReally interesting text, thanks.\n\nBut I think this last statement\n\n\"or Texas schools to waste money copying Wisconsin.\"\n\nwas meant to be the other way around\n\n~~~\nyen223\nI may have read it wrong, but I think the statement is correct. Texas\nminorities outperformed Wisconsin's, but the stats made it look like\nWisconsin's minorities did better.\n\n~~~\npenrod\nTo elaborate: Black students in Texas outperform black students in Wisconsin,\nhispanic students in Texas outperform hispanic students in Wisconsin, and\nwhite students in Texas outperform white students in Wisconsin.\n\nOverall test scores are higher in Wisconsin only because white students in\nboth states are the highest scoring group, and Wisconsin schools have a higher\nproportion of white students than Texas schools.\n\nTo the extend that any of this can be copied, it would probably be better for\nWisconsin to improve the test scores of its ethnic groups to Texan levels,\nrather than for Texas to emulate Wisconsin's lilly-whiteness.\n\n------\nxerophtye\nThose interactive charts and graphs!! (My first encounter with vudlab and am\nloving it!)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMeteor framework moves to NPM - nkoren\nhttp://www.infoworld.com/article/3048806/javascript/meteor-javascript-framework-moves-to-npm.html\n======\nlollipop25\nFinally. After struggling with their own package manager, they ultimately\nmoved to npm.\n\n------\ndiegorbaquero\nGreat decision. After NPM's policy update I can see this as a safe and wise\nmove.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\niOS Bug – crash iphones with a simple text message - hoare\nhttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/27/iphone-crash-bug-text-imessage-ios?CMP=fb_gu\n\n======\nljk\nearlier thread\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9609129](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9609129)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nQubes OS: A reasonably secure operating system - ploggingdev\nhttps://www.qubes-os.org/\n======\nmagnat\nJoanna's (Qubes OS Founder) blog [1] is a gold mine when it comes to hardware-\nsoftware boundary security. Especially \"State considered harmful\" [2] and \"x86\nconsidered harmful\" [3] papers are eye-openers.\n\n[1] [https://blog.invisiblethings.org/](https://blog.invisiblethings.org/)\n\n[2]\n[https://blog.invisiblethings.org/papers/2015/state_harmful.p...](https://blog.invisiblethings.org/papers/2015/state_harmful.pdf)\n\n[3]\n[https://blog.invisiblethings.org/papers/2015/x86_harmful.pdf](https://blog.invisiblethings.org/papers/2015/x86_harmful.pdf)\n\n~~~\njstewartmobile\nThat's why I don't get Qubes. She knows what a steaming pile PC hardware is,\nand decides to write a spinoff OS for it???\n\nSeems like she'd have more effect designing hardware.\n\n~~~\ndillon\nI believe I remember reading she aims at solving the issue of hardware and\nsoftware vulnerabilities. I can't find the source, but she mentions that\nthere's too much code out there that it would be impossible to secure\neverything.\n\nQubes' design means hardware and software are all separated so a vulnerability\nin one doesn't mean exposing another.\n\nI like that in their docs they mention an approach they take and when it isn't\nsecure[0]\n\nThat being said the main point of security contention is the admin (dom0).\n\n[0]: [https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/copy-paste/](https://www.qubes-\nos.org/doc/copy-paste/)\n\n~~~\njstewartmobile\nBut those two things are not independent. If your hardware is fundamentally\nbroken, hypervisors can only paper over so much.\n\nBetween the twilight of Moore's law, and the success of open-source software,\nI just don't see that much long-term value left in x86+PC.\n\n------\nAaronFriel\nI'm very excited that Microsoft is moving in the same direction. The feature\nWindows Defender Application Guard (WDAG) runs Windows applications, right now\nonly the Edge browser, in a virtualization isolated container[1]. Under the\nhood it's using what Microsoft calls \"Hyper-V Containers\", which are\nlightweight virtual machines that share some host resources such as a read-\nonly filesystem. The closest open source analogues to that are Intel(R) Clear\nContainers[2] and Qubes.\n\nThe closest you can get to Qubes on Windows would be to follow Microsoft's\nPrivileged Access Workstation (PAW) guide, but it requires a lot of additional\ninfrastructure[3]. That infrastructure allows you to do remote attestation of\nthe virtual machines, but makes it costly to deploy in a SMB or homelab\nenvironment.\n\nI don't expect it'll be very long before PAW and WDAG are usable at the same\ntime, with colored window borders indicating the origin virtual machine. I\nhope this is on Microsoft's roadmap.\n\nVideo on privileged access workstation use, starting at a demo:\n[https://youtu.be/3v8yQz2GWZw?t=41m48s](https://youtu.be/3v8yQz2GWZw?t=41m48s)\n\nVideo on privileged access workstation setup:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPhfRTLXk_k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPhfRTLXk_k)\n\n[1] [https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/threat-\nprotection/w...](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/threat-\nprotection/windows-defender-application-guard/wd-app-guard-overview)\n\n[2] [https://clearlinux.org/features/intel®-clear-\ncontainers](https://clearlinux.org/features/intel®-clear-containers)\n\n[3] [https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-\nserver/identity/sec...](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-\nserver/identity/securing-privileged-access/privileged-access-workstations)\n\n~~~\nmtgx\nI'm only half-excited about this because I worry Microsoft has no intention to\ndo either one of these:\n\n1) Support anything other than Edge/its own apps\n\n2) Allow the feature to be accessed by users of all Windows editions\n\nI understand for now it's still experimental and whatnot, but I'm not getting\nmy hopes up.\n\n------\nJeaye\nWhat I'd really love to see is a marriage between NixOS and Qubes, allowing\nfor full-system declarative configuration, including the various systems which\nwill be running under Qubes.\n\nNixOS has containers that show how this could work, but they're only via\nsystemd-nspawn, so not as jailed as Qube's domUs.\n\n~~~\nakavel\nMe, I'd like to see such a marriage between NixOS and GenodeOS (which provides\ncapabilities management and has the advantage of using a microkernel as base,\nso much smaller attack surface, aka TSB, than Xen + Linux)\n\n[http://www.genode.org/about/index](http://www.genode.org/about/index)\n\n~~~\nohpauleez\nGenode now has its own package management system with the 17.05 and 17.08\nreleases, informed/inspired by the work from Genode/Nix (linked in the other\ncomment).\n\nThis means you can run Genode on NOVA with VirtualBox 5 fully integrated as\nthe VMM, all with the improved Noux/POSIX interop components in place, and\nhave a decent package management solution (that handles API compatibilities,\nmultiple version installs, src vs binary deps, packages, and more). There's\nalso Xen support with the most recent release (for cloud appliance work with\nGenode)\n\nWhat's more, based on the roadmap and challenges, they should be bringing\nVirtualBox5 support to the seL4 kernel, and they even have a goal for being\nthe virtualization foundation of QubesOS.\n[https://genode.org/about/challenges](https://genode.org/about/challenges)\n\nWith the recent toolchain update and new package management system, its easier\nthan ever to cook up your own Genode-based systems.\n\n~~~\nakavel\nInteresting, thanks for the info! Though from the article about the system\n([https://genode.org/documentation/developer-\nresources/package...](https://genode.org/documentation/developer-\nresources/package_management)), it's not clear to me how to:\n\na) tweak compilation flags of libraries & apps\n\nb) describe full set of runtime config files of an app\n\nand thus build a single full configuration of a whole system, like in NixOS.\n\nHm; or can this maybe somehow be solved with the \"run scripts\" mentioned at\nthe end of the article? I'm even less than a noob with regards to Genode, so\nI'm not sure about that.\n\nOr does the package manager only provide Nix-like functionality, with no way\nfor NixOS-like features?\n\n------\nxtanx\nI've been running Qubes 3.2 for about 10 months on a intel skull canyon nuc. I\nlove it.\n\nI have separate vms for media and browsing, for music (spotify), development\n(python, rust), skype, personal email, work email and password manager.\n\nIt needs 16gb of ram to be able to run all of these at once and about 150gb of\ndisk if you actually create separate template vms.\n\nMy only real pain was coping and pasting between all of these vms (you need to\nctrl+c then ctrl+shift+c for copy and the ctrl+shift+v, ctrl+v for paste [1])\n\nI solved that with a custom solution that automatically distributes the\nclipboard contents (for text only) to multiple vms (depending on the source of\nthe clipboard change). I know it defeats the purpose of isolation for the\nclipboard but it's ok for my use case.\n\n[1] [https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/copy-paste/](https://www.qubes-\nos.org/doc/copy-paste/)\n\n------\nsnvzz\nTheir weakest point is the hypervisor, Xen, which while a better choice than\nLinux/KVM, is still extremely bloated and has a poor security history.\n\nThankfully, better designs such as seL4's VMM do exist, although it might need\na little more work [1] until usable for the purpose.\n\n[1] [https://sel4.systems/Info/Roadmap/](https://sel4.systems/Info/Roadmap/)\n\n~~~\nmmrezaie\nXen's hypervisor's size is very small. Qubes is about security and\ntrustability of the whole system. In operating systems for measuring the\ntrustability of the system, one very important measure is the lines of the\ncode. Xen has a smaller footprint in the hypervisor part. Additionally, Xen\nhas a robust model isolation for the drivers. That's why they went for Xen not\nKVM. But boy I wish to see more seL4. It was sad to see Gnu Hurd/seL4 didn't\nmake it.\n\n~~~\nxyzzyz\nThe problem with Xen is that no major industry player is backing it,\nespecially with Amazon going KVM now.\n\n(disclaimer: working at Google on virtualization security)\n\n~~~\nryacko\nAny chance Google will sponsor secure processor architecture standards?\n\nI mean, the US government no doubt had influence on the Trusted Computing\nGroup (too bad the EFF totally shunned it), and through the magic of product\nbinning and chip fab costs, we all have trusted platform modules.\n\nASLR currently seems wimpy.\n\nI'm certain you are in a position to accomplish a great deal, no matter where\nyou are in the hierarchy. Maybe the future is x86 hardware emulation for user\nmode processes.\n\n~~~\nstandupstandup\nIt's Intel pushing that stuff forward, with SGX.\n\n~~~\nryacko\nThen from recent Defcon and Black Hat talks, they are an absymal failure. (\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR0nh-\nTdpVg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR0nh-TdpVg) Memory Sinkhole -\nUnleashing An X86 Design Flaw Allowing Universal Privilege Escalation ) (I\ndon't understand it beyond what everyone says it can achieve)\n\nIntel should be considered to be totally unreliable and incompetent.\n\nI mean, no one buys office store safes and expects their things to be secure\nin them. But a processor is a little more expensive than a cheap safe and\nholds more valuable things.\n\nEdit: and besides, Fortezza is an SSL protocol option.\n\n~~~\nryacko\n>SGX is designed to shield software against SMM exploits.\n\nPerhaps if we add one more thing, x86 will finally be secure. You are right,\nIntel should be left to their own devices.\n\n~~~\nstandupstandup\nI'm not arguing that x86 will ever really be secure. However you handwaved a\nhypothetical \"secure processor architecture\". Realistically the way you do\nthat is by making a very simple CPU, however, that would then be too slow to\nbe usable for many applications. As a consequence nobody is doing so.\n\nSGX is at least a middle ground - it integrates the memory access checks very\ndeep into the memory access circuitry, sufficiently deep to block all other\nprivilege levels on the CPU. Whilst there may well be implementation flaws in\nSGX itself so far most attacks have been mounted via side channels, not\ndirectly exploiting CPU bugs.\n\nIn this sense my original statement was correct. Intel is pushing secure CPUs\nforward more than any other vendor.\n\n~~~\nryacko\nI think a secure processor is very complex, not very simple. The smartest\nperson's working memory cannot operate on more than a few hundred lines of\ncode. A high performance processor that induces a fault when a programming\nerror occurs is certainly very complex.\n\nIt is the wrong sense. Intel is playing catchup more than any other vendor and\nare selling a product that is nothing more than a bunch of cobbled together\nfeatures, my opinion in the view of the statement that AMD is glued together.\n\n~~~\nnickpsecurity\nThey're actually pretty simple if you're mostly trying to defeat\nsoftware/firmware attacks. You just add some part to run in parallel with the\nprocessor, which can be arbitrarily simple or complex, that checks certain\nthings about the data such as length or data type. The first one was\nimplemented in 1961 hardware with it being secure from code injection until\nthe invention of ROP. That's a long time. I'll add a modern take on that which\nled to a flexible mechanism that can do a dozen or maybe more policies.\n\n[http://www.smecc.org/The%20Architecture%20%20of%20the%20Burr...](http://www.smecc.org/The%20Architecture%20%20of%20the%20Burroughs%20B-5000.htm)\n\n[http://www.crash-safe.org/papers.html](http://www.crash-safe.org/papers.html)\n\nA more complex one is below that was also designed by one person for his\ndissertation. Knocks out all kinds of issues without modifying the processor.\nIt has stuff to improve for sure but it think it proves the point pretty well.\nThe stuff corporate teams were designing comes nowhere near this because they\ndon't know much about high-security design. A critical part of that isn't\nfeatures so much as a balancing act between what protection mechanisms do and\ndon't that tries to minimize complexity to low as is possible.\n\n[https://theses.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-10112006-2048...](https://theses.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-10112006-204811/unrestricted/edmison_joshua_dissertation.pdf)\n\nAnd one open-source one on MIPS for capability-based security that runs\nFreeBSD:\n\n[https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/security/ctsrd/cheri/](https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/security/ctsrd/cheri/)\n\nA company or group of hardware volunteers could develop this into something at\nleast as usable as a multi-core ARM CPU on RISC-V or OpenSPARC. It wouldn't\ntake tons of money esp if they worked their way up in complexity. The hard\nstuff is already done. People just need to apply it. They could even pay these\nacademics to do it for them with open-sourced results. They even get a huge\ndiscount on the EDA tools that can be six digits a seat.\n\nYou're right that Intel is screwing up and playing catchup cobbling together\nfeatures. There was stuff in the available literature better than most of what\nthey're doing. They even have a separation kernel from Wind River they're not\nemploying. Managers without security expertise must be pushing a lot of this\nstuff.\n\n~~~\ngggvvh\nAin’t no problem that couldn’t be solved by adding another layer of\nindirection, eh?\n\n~~~\nnickpsecurity\nMaybe in web or application software. In hardware, it all runs in parallel.\nThe mechanism of something like SAFE becomes another component receiving input\nin the CPU pipeline. A conditional of sorts is added so the final write back\nto whatever memory doesn't happen unless the safety/security checks passed.\nThe failure mode might also do an interrupt for OS so it could log the where\nand why of the failure. As in, application flaws could be patched quickly.\n\n------\ndrawnwren\nI ran Qubes on a laptop for a while. 1) It's a huge battery hog. 2) It's a\nreal pain to run a non rolling release distro (i.e. Arch). Some dependency is\ngoing to try and upgrade itself that can't and it will brick your whole\ndistro. Even being locked to a specific release proved a bit of a pain. It\njust adds a lot of complexity to your day to day operations (i.e. opening a\nprogram is a tiny bit more complicated) that turned out to be a huge drain for\nme.\n\n~~~\nkakarot\nRunning an HVM with a separate kernel should alleviate those problems. Qubes\nis phasing out PV support anyway.\n\nI encounter an equal amount of complexity in my KVM workstation as I did in my\nQubes workstation, and _more_ problems.\n\nFor example, lack of a secure copy/paste mechanism, meaning I must type\npasswords by hand to avoid every VM being exposed to the clipboard.\n\n------\nnotfed\nNote that while Qubes OS uses full-disk encryption, it runs on Xen, which does\nnot support hibernate.\n\nThis means that, if you use this OS on a laptop, you'll be vulnerable to cold-\nboot attacks, even after you close your lid, unless you configure it to\nshutdown on lid close. (I.e., if a highly skilled adversary steals your laptop\nthen, even if your laptop lid is closed, they will be able to read your RAM\nand therefore decrypt your entire hard drive.)\n\nDespite the major security implications, it doesn't sound like a fix will be\nimplemented any time soon. [1]\n\n[1] [https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-\nissues/issues/2414](https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/2414)\n\n~~~\nbearbearbear\nIf a highly skilled thief wants to break into my house they could jimmy the\nlatch on the window and let themselves in.\n\nI don't have any bars on my windows to prevent that.\n\nYou need to draw the line somewhere.\n\n~~~\ncarlmr\nYeah, I'd say it depend on if you're a normal user or Edward Snowden. Do you\nhave really sensitive data that could cost you your life? Then you have to\nworry about these edge cases. Are you a normal guy who wants to browse for\nporn safely, then this is already pretty good privacy.\n\n~~~\nnotfed\nDo you consider your credit card number sensitive? Your username and passwords\nto all of your, bank accounts, social media accounts, and email accounts? Your\npersonal photos? Your personal notes with personal information about your\nfamily? Your track record of your interests and hobbies?\n\nI do. And, if I have a choice, I'd rather not have to wonder if this data is\nin the hands of a stranger after my laptop is stolen.\n\n~~~\ncarlmr\nIt has to be stolen a) while it's on, and b) by someone who immediately knows\nwhat to do.\n\nI'm quite sure if you look at your average thief and multiply these to chances\ntogether that's less than one in a million chance to happen. Assuming you're\nnot some high profile person where the right person is out to get you and\nknows which OS you use, and knows how to steal from you.\n\n------\nspiraldancing\nWhatever happened to the Qubes-Purism marriage? They were on track to start\nQubes-certifying Librems, and selling Librems with Qubes pre-installed ...\nthen they cancelled the plans, and I never heard why?\n\n~~~\nxkarga00\nFWIW, it seems that when you buy a Purism laptop there is an option to include\na Qubes live usb in the deal. I just came across it while skimming through\ntheir website[1], not sure about anything else.\n\n[1] [https://puri.sm/shop/librem-13/](https://puri.sm/shop/librem-13/) \\- see\nthe Operating System choice\n\n~~~\nspiraldancing\nThanks. I know about that. They used to sell Librems that had Qubes pre-\ninstalled, and they were on-track to get Librems to be the first officially\ncertified hardware for Qubes. Then they canceled the whole thing, and now, as\nsome kind of consolation/compromise, they offer Qubes-on-a-stick purchase\noption.\n\n------\nsuperasn\nCan it also protect against key-loggers, i.e. if i'm running an app in a qube,\ncan an app in a different qube read my keystrokes?\n\n~~~\n0x17A\nYes, it will protect against keyloggers. Unless you install the keylogger on\nboth qubes.\n\nYou can have a separate \"qube\" that is not connected to the network where you\nwould store your passwords, etc.\n\n------\njnwatson\n10 years ago, I helped design a similar system. It was a capabilities based OS\non a formally modeled microkernel.\n\nI'm still not sure than there's a market for this stuff. It must be free, and\nit's hard to build a business model around that.\n\n~~~\nnickpsecurity\nWhen Joanna said nothing like Qubes existed, I told her INTEGRITY PC was doing\nit around 2005 using separatiom kernel approach with stronger security. You\nmust have worked on that one given 10 years remark. Im curious about your\nexperiences with that. Email me if you want details confidential. Rarely meet\nfolks doing the kinds of architectures I research and push for further\nadoption.\n\n------\ntonetheman\nI wish there was a way I could try it. The hardware requirements ...\n\n[https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/certified-hardware/](https://www.qubes-\nos.org/doc/certified-hardware/)\n\nIs anyone running this on a laptop? I get the feeling after reading that page\nthat this is really strictly desktop only. Maybe the page has not been updated\nin a bit?\n\n~~~\nhyperfekt\nI'm running Qubes 3.2 on my laptop right now (Dell Latitude E5470) and it also\nfulfills all the requirements to run 4.0.\n\nThe _certification_ requirements are higher, but that's basically if people\nwant to stick the Qubes-certified label on their devices, signaling to\ncustomers that it measures up to the highest standards of security.\n\nThey're not necessary to run Qubes, they're just ideal.\n\n------\ntxgvnn\nHow about Subgraph OS? It has grsecurity patch, tor network, container\nisolate, firewall. It's another good choice also\n\n[https://subgraph.com](https://subgraph.com)\n\n------\nbsdnoob\nopenbsd vs qubes os, which one will you prefer?\n\n~~~\nJoachimSchipper\nAs an OpenBSD fan: consider Qubes instead if you want a \"desktop\" experience.\nOpenBSD works fine, but the open-source desktop is quite vulnerable (consider\nhow many things need to go wrong for\n[https://scarybeastsecurity.blogspot.nl/2016/12/redux-\ncomprom...](https://scarybeastsecurity.blogspot.nl/2016/12/redux-compromising-\nlinux-using-snes.html)), and a lot of OpenBSD's hardening is in the (simpler)\nbase system, not in GNOME / KDE / Firefox / Chrome / ...\n\nAlternatively, consider not running a full-blown desktop or using Windows,\nwhich has grown a _lot_ more secure since the Windows XP pre-SP2 days.\n\n~~~\nrebuilder\nWow, your recommendation for desktop security is either not running a full-\nblown desktop or running Windows? As in, Windows beats the popular Linux\ndistros in desktop security?\n\n------\njlgaddis\nDamn, I was really hoping this was an (early) announcement for 4.0 (or at\nleast an -rc3).\n\n~~~\n0x17A\nSame here. I'm waiting for 4.0.\n\n------\nknown\nI use\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightweight_Portable_Security](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightweight_Portable_Security)\n\n------\npartycoder\nQubesOS won't protect you from Intel ME though.\n\n~~~\nbluepirate\nPurism laptops do.\n\n~~~\nmorganvachon\nI wouldn't trust that company at all, they lied and misrepresented themselves\nfor nearly three years before finally claiming to make good on what they sold\ntheir customers. Beyond that, they didn't fix it themselves as they say, they\nrelied on the work of other projects then claimed they did it alone.\n\nConsidering the researchers who actually disabled IME require physical access\nto the machine[1], Purism's claim that they can do it to previously sold\ndevices with only a software update[2] stinks of BS to me.\n\n[1]\n[https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Sakaki%27s_EFI_Install_Guide/Di...](https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Sakaki%27s_EFI_Install_Guide/Disabling_the_Intel_Management_Engine)\n\n[2] [https://puri.sm/posts/purism-librem-laptops-completely-\ndisab...](https://puri.sm/posts/purism-librem-laptops-completely-disable-\nintel-management-engine/)\n\n~~~\nfloatboth\nIIRC they didn't really lie, everything was always worded like \"will be free\nin the future\".\n\nAlso the post you linked to directly gives credit to me_cleaner and Positive\nTechnologies.\n\nThe reason the researchers required physical access:\n\n> Although some systems do allow the full contents of the BIOS flash chip to\n> be reprogrammed using software tools only (so called 'internal flashing'),\n> on most PCs this facility is either completely unavailable, or can only\n> write to the unprotected areas of the flash filesystem (excluding the ME\n> area), or will only write vendor-signed images. Accordingly, we will\n> describe the approach of using 'external' flashing in this guide, as that is\n> the most reliable.\n\nPurism being, uhhhh, the vendor, allowed full write access.\n\n~~~\nmorganvachon\n> _\" Purism being, uhhhh, the vendor, allowed full write access.\"_\n\nIf that was the case they could have shipped IME-free machines from the start.\nThey are selling whitebox machines for an exorbitant markup with their own\nspin on a Linux distro.\n\n~~~\ncyphar\nThat's incorrect. Allowing internal flashing just requires setting certain\nparameters in the flash to being read-write, and doesn't require any of the\nflash modification necessary to disable IME.\n\nDisabling IME can have other impacts, and Purism even has a blog post\nexplaining what the issues were and how they resolved them -- once they\nfigured out what IME modules were needed for their laptop to work properly\nthey _could_ disable IME with a software update.\n\nI don't know if that's how they did it, but you're misunderstanding the\ndifference between disabling IME and enabling internal flashing.\n\n------\nmtgx\nVersion 4.0 should be out soon (at RC2 now):\n\n[https://www.qubes-os.org/news/2017/10/23/qubes-40-rc2/](https://www.qubes-\nos.org/news/2017/10/23/qubes-40-rc2/)\n\nSome exciting changes are coming:\n\n[https://www.qubes-os.org/news/2017/10/03/core3/](https://www.qubes-\nos.org/news/2017/10/03/core3/)\n\n[https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/releases/4.0/release-notes/](https://www.qubes-\nos.org/doc/releases/4.0/release-notes/)\n\nEDIT: Downvotes for providing relevant sources, really?\n\n~~~\nZenoArrow\n> \"EDIT: Downvotes for providing relevant sources, really?\"\n\nSometimes the downvotes on HN make no sense. Looking through your comment\nhistory there are a number of recent comments that were unfairly downvoted.\nJust a guess, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same people doing it.\n\n~~~\nDrdrdrq\nIt would be interesting if HN detected such behaviour... Then it could ignore\nsome downvotes. I know it doesn't sound like much, but undeserved downvotes\nhurt...\n\n------\nqrbLPHiKpiux\nFun fact. The developer does not believe in using a password on her private\nkeys.\n\n~~~\ntrizinix\nIf you have your keys on an air gapped computer with an encrypted hard-disk, I\ndon't see the need to use an additional password on the private keys.\n\n~~~\nhateduser2\nIf they somehow break the encryption on your hard disk it’s just more\nsecurity.. isn’t that what security’s all about? Getting the most safety you\ncan get? What need is there to have an encrypted hard drive if your computer\nis air gapped? It’s just a better safer idea, no?\n\n~~~\navar\nSecurity is not about getting the most safety you can get. Otherwise why stop\nthere? You could store the password protected private key itself as an\nencrypted file on the encrypted disk, and add one more layer, or double-\nencrypt it and add yet another layer etc.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nStartup advice: When to hire professional branding/logo design - mellavora\nWe&#x27;re building an eHealth startup marketing to individuals. The team is three engineers&#x2F;scientists, so we have great tech-- and limited graphic design or marketing skill.<p>We&#x27;re getting ready to push out a beta version, and realize that our corporate image is terrible. We need a name, logo, color theme, etc.<p>Minimum price from decent brand agencies seems to be around 1,500.<p>99Designs&#x2F;Upwork can give us something for a few hundred, but it isn&#x27;t the full package, which means inconsistencies and lower quality.<p>How would you frame the question?\n======\nkennyasare\n*I will preface this with the statement that I came into tech from running a creative agency - so take this for whatever its worth.\n\nI think that image is just as important as tech, and those that can put the\ntwo together will have a much easier time finding users/customers, and\npartners.\n\nThe cost to have your brand built-out, by a creative agency actually worth\npaying is in the $15,000-$25,000 range. The math behind that is basically:\ngood agencies work for about $200 per hour (per person) and typically a job\nlike a brand buildout will require 3 people, for about a week. That is 120\nhours of work @ $200 per hour, or about $25k. I can tell from experience that\nyou can find deals - sometimes; but I would go into with my eyes wide open,\nand look into groups that work at that level/rate.\n\nEdit: I did not answer your actual question. The answer is, as soon as you can\nput together the money to do it.\n\n~~~\nmellavora\nI completely agree that image is as important as tech, if not more so.\nLikewise, that it would be 15000 well spent (noting that this figure is 10x\nthe budget in our original post)-- if we were close enough to product/market\nfit that we could afford it.\n\n------\nwarewolf\nIf you're just in need of a brand kit $1,500 sounds pretty reasonable if it's\na profressional agency. Specially if that covers a name, logo, icons, colors\nand fonts.\n\nI would stay away from 99Designs because if you're launching a beta you'll\nneed someone to also help iterate any changes based on feedback. So quick and\nclose communication is important.\n\nif you need any further input on what kind of things you should be looking for\nfrom a designer send me an email.\n\nI've helped over 12 startups with branding including 2 YC startups.\n\n~~~\nmellavora\nThanks.\n\n~~~\nwarewolf\nSorry emails in my bio.\n\n~~~\nmellavora\nno worries :)\n\n------\nmellavora\nThe question is 1500 vs 300/400, under the assumption that whatever we do will\nneed to be redone in 6 months.\n\n------\ndoozy\n$1500 pays perhaps one day of salary for your team of 3. What kind of business\nhas problems affording that?\n\n~~~\nmellavora\nA business funded out of the founders savings, where we aren't making 500\nbucks per day each.\n\n~~~\ndoozy\nSo your \"business\" has not enough capital to pay its founders a below market\nrate salary nor to pay a graphics designer.\n\nDon't take this the wrong way, but it sounds to me you don't have enough\ncapital to start even a pizza joint. Are you sure you should be doing this\nstartup of yours?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAlike: light kNN library for Node - mck-\nhttps://github.com/axiomzen/Alike\n\n======\nyid\nI can see two problems with this:\n\n\\-- A naive linear scan for a lookup will not scale as the size of your\ndatabase grows larger. You should be looking into space-partitioning trees, or\napproximate methods like locality-sensitive hashing.\n\n\\-- Euclidean distance is a terrible metric for kNN on non-metric spaces,\nwhich is what your movie example is. It will also be beaten to a pulp by the\nCurse of Dimensionality:\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_dimensionality#Distanc...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_dimensionality#Distance_functions)\n\n~~~\nmck-\nThanks for the feedback/ideas :)\n\nYou're right, it won't scale as well as could be for large datasets -- or work\non large dimensionalities. It's meant to be a light-weight solution for the\nmore common use-cases..\n\nFor larger cases, it would be good indeed to resort to better methods.. I\nwanted it to be stateless and functional, whereas with space-partitioning\ntrees, don't you need to maintain the tree (and not generate it on the fly for\nit to be scalable)?\n\nAs for your second point, could you elaborate on why the movie example is non-\nmetric?\n\n~~~\nyid\n> I wanted it to be stateless and functional, whereas with space-partitioning\n> trees, don't you need to maintain the tree (and not generate it on the fly\n> for it to be scalable)?\n\nYes, but it's essential to maintain some sort of summary or index data\nstructure to make the method scalable. A linear scan may be stateless, but\nthat's hardly an issue when the method won't scale beyond a few hundred\nexamples.\n\n> As for your second point, could you elaborate on why the movie example is\n> non-metric?\n\nNo triangle inequality.\n\n~~~\nmck-\nThe simple algorithm as is uses sorting, hence nlogn -- scales reasonably well\ninto thousands of examples.. a tree would be klogn -- minor improvement unless\nn >> k?\n\n------\nmck-\nAlike is a versatile light-weight kNN/similarity library that can be useful\nfor many Machine Learning projects. Whether you are building a recommendation\nsystem, or an optimization model, comparing objects is pervasive -- feedback\nwelcome!\n\n------\nflockonus\nI've been looking for this!\n\n~~~\nmck-\nI'm glad it's useful :) What is your use-case?\n\n~~~\nflockonus\nI am making a website to match people with similar values and ideas! It just\nhappens that we measure these properties on values from -100 to 100, I think\nit could fit perfectly. It even has ability to attribute weights to different\nproperties.. sounds like fun =)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n600 days of postmarketOS - ollieparanoid\nhttps://postmarketos.org/blog/2019/01/16/600-days-of-postmarketOS/\n======\npriansh\nCongratulations! This is one of the most amazing projects I've seen on here\nand I can't believe I haven't heard of this earlier, especially since you got\nthe phones to boot it as well!\n\nAmazing article as well. I learned 600 new things from this :)\n\nDo you have any more information on sh.rt and its use cases?\n\n~~~\nwezm\nYou can read more about sr.ht at [https://meta.sr.ht/](https://meta.sr.ht/) as\nwell as on Drew’s blog [https://drewdevault.com/2018/11/15/sr.ht-general-\navailabilit...](https://drewdevault.com/2018/11/15/sr.ht-general-\navailability.html)\n\n~~~\nollieparanoid\nTo anyone who would like to see sr.ht grow, please note that Drew DeVault is\nrunning it on donations. He chose to go work full time on free software with\nthese donations:\n\n> I need to clarify that despite choosing to work full-time on these projects,\n> my income is going to be negative for a while. I have enough savings and\n> income now that I feel comfortable making the leap, and I plan on working my\n> ass off before my runway ends to earn the additional subscriptions to sr.ht\n> and donations to fosspay et al that will make this decision sustainable in\n> the long term.\n\n[https://drewdevault.com/2019/01/15/Im-doing-FOSS-full-\ntime.h...](https://drewdevault.com/2019/01/15/Im-doing-FOSS-full-time.html)\n\n~~~\nSir_Cmpwn\nThanks ollie <3\n\n------\nhawski\nAs my old ARM Chromebook gets nearer to it's EOL I start to look for how to\ninstall Linux on it. I'm wondering if postmarketOS could be used to do this.\nHas anyone tried to do something like this or where should I look?\n\nI'm slowly dabbling on my own Linux distribution [0]. I'm using Void Linux\npackages and build system to prepare a rootfs image. Thanks to how it's done\nin Void I can build the whole image without root on newer kernels. I intend to\nhave the update model of ChromeOS (two partition scheme, reboot to update),\nbut Void being a rolling release only distribution may bring me same pains as\nAlpine edge brings to postmarketOS. So I wonder: how's Alpine build system in\ncomparison to Void's? Does pmbootstrap bring the isolation or is it already an\nAlpine feature?\n\n[0]\n[https://github.com/hadrianw/tomatoaster](https://github.com/hadrianw/tomatoaster)\n\n~~~\nm45t3r\n> I intend to have the update model of ChromeOS (two partition scheme, reboot\n> to update), but Void being a rolling release only distribution may bring me\n> same pains as Alpine edge brings to postmarketOS.\n\nYou're kind of reinventing NixOS, but worse (NixOS has atomic upgrades and\nallows you to return to any generation of your system, not only the last one).\n\n~~~\nhawski\nNo, I'm reinventing ChromeOS. I started on this project with my father in\nmind, to make it easier for me to maintain his computer. My father would not\nrun NixOS, but maybe I'm wrong. This will give a single image and very little\ntooling outside of end user parts. It probably will be much simpler.\n\nIf totally seamless and _automatic_ updates can be achieved with NixOS I'm all\nears.\n\n~~~\nroblabla\nPut whatever update command (nixos-rebuild switch --upgrade I believe? haven't\ntouched nixos in a while) in a crontab and you get automatic updates. If the\nupdate fucked it up, you can boot back into the previous configuration. In\nthis way, it's really, really hard to brick a NixOS install. That's the beauty\nof it.\n\nOf course, it's not going to be as transparent as ChromeOS: If the update\nfailed, you'll have to manually select the previous configuration in the GRUB\nmenu. That's definitely something solvable with a bit of code though.\n\nSo, yes, automatic and seamless updates can be achieved with NixOS, given a\nbit of configuration and maybe a bit of code. Whether it's the right approach\nfor your use-case remains an open question though. NixOS has many other rough\nedges (many applications don't \"just work\" on it) which might make it a deal-\nbreaker, depending on your use-case. But you might want to look into its\nupdate models, you might get some good ideas :).\n\n~~~\nm45t3r\n> Put whatever update command (nixos-rebuild switch --upgrade I believe?\n> haven't touched nixos in a while) in a crontab and you get automatic\n> updates.\n\nIt is even easier, really. Just add the following to your\n/etc/nixos/configuration.nix file:\n\n    \n    \n      system.autoUpgrade = {\n        enable = true;\n        dates = \"daily\";\n      };\n\n------\neltoozero\nWhat is the best way to help the project?\n\nI’ve got an old Sprint Samsung Epic 4G slider (WiMAX, the old 4G), that would\nlove to be a little mobile terminal...might be a little too dated though...\n\nAnyway, this is a fantastic project and I’m eager to contribute!\n\n~~~\nollieparanoid\n> I’ve got an old Sprint Samsung Epic 4G slider (WiMAX, the old 4G), that\n> would love to be a little mobile terminal...might be a little too dated\n> though...\n\nGive it a try then, here's the step-by-step porting guide:\n[https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Porting_to_a_new_device](https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Porting_to_a_new_device)\n\n> What is the best way to help the project?\n\nSee\n[https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Contributing](https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Contributing)\n\n> Anyway, this is a fantastic project and I’m eager to contribute!\n\nHappy to read that \\o/\n\n------\nvardump\nIt's nice to see obsoleted hardware made useful once again.\n\nI can see this becoming only more popular over time. Phones show already a\nslowing pace of improvements, so maybe in the future devices can be useful (at\nleast in some form) way beyond current 2-3 year period.\n\n------\n_bxg1\nMuch as I admire the goal and the scrappiness, doesn't it make way more sense\nto start with an AOSP foundation (without Google Services) and invest one's\nenergy improving (or even forking) that experience instead of reinventing such\nan enormous wheel?\n\n~~~\ngeowwy\nThey give pretty good reasons for what they're doing on their website:\n[https://postmarketos.org/blog/2017/05/26/intro/](https://postmarketos.org/blog/2017/05/26/intro/)\n\n~~~\ncwyers\nThe reasons don't really seem to address why Android has the issues it has --\ndevice manufacturers don't upstream their code changes to the mainline Linux\nkernel, Linux doesn't have the same level of abstraction around hardware as eg\nWindows does, and the state of ARM SoCs isn't like the x86 platform where\nthere's a lot of standards you can follow, everybody just ships bespoke code\nto boot their SoC and only their SoC. I don't see how shipping a \"real\"\nGNU/Linux userland addresses that.\n\n~~~\nTwisell\nThe reasons are very clear, while I trust Apple so far, it’s both important\nand awesome that a bunch of nice peoples start building a real FOSS\nalternative in case they are actually screwing us.\n\nAndroid can’t be trusted anymore unless major change of policy. By extension\nAOSP are better but still dubious since they can’t totally cut the cord from\nGoogle if needed (as far ad I understood).\n\n~~~\newoodrich\nWhat do you mean by \"cut the cord?\", AOSP doesn't use Google Services and it\ncould be forked at any time (but would admittedly be difficult to maintain\nwithout Google's resources).\n\n~~~\nzozbot123\nThe mainstream Linux stack is getting closer to parity with AOSP and\nChromiumOS anyway, gaining features like touch-screen-first input, small-\nscreen support, phone calls & SMS, GPS location, privacy-focused sandboxing\netc. It's all about having a _single_ system for the community to focus on,\nthus reducing fragmentation. AOSP app support can then be layered over the\nbasic system if needed.\n\n~~~\nmajewsky\n> The mainstream Linux stack\n\nWithout taking away anything from your argument, I'd like to point out that by\nmost objective measures, Android is _the_ mainstream Linux stack.\n\n~~~\nbubblethink\nI think they meant mainline.\n\n------\npetemc_\nReally good idea, fair play to everyone working on it. I generally try to keep\nmy phone as long as possible but the main driver to make me get new phone is\nthe diminishing battery capacity. This isn't helped by the fact it is very\nhard to get a replacement battery shipped to where I live.\n\n~~~\nzozbot123\nIf you control the OS and hardware drivers on your device, you can preserve\nits battery capacity substantially by keeping its state-of-charge around 50%\nas far as practicable (keeping it from reaching not just \"lows\" which you\nshould _always_ do, but \"highs\" as well). We aren't even close to reaching the\n_full_ amount of battery optimization that's possible on mobile.\n\n~~~\nyorwba\nI wonder how that advice applies if the battery capacity has already degraded\nsignificantly. For example, my current laptop's battery reports itself to be\n\"100% charged\" at 60% of its original capacity. Should I keep it around 30%? I\ndon't really know enough about battery chemistry to understand how high levels\nof charge cause damage.\n\n~~~\nzozbot123\nNo, keep it hovering around 50% as much as you can, provided that it _never\never_ reaches really low states of charge, 15% or less. State of charge is\nalways relative to the capacity at current time, not the original factory\ncapacity.\n\n------\namiga-workbench\nI've got piles of old devices, I wouldn't mind having a go at getting this to\nboot on my Xperia Z5c and Z3.\n\nI'm so glad this project exists, with smartphones being designed to be\ndisposable embedded devices with none of the conveniences the IBM PC\narchitecture provides this is going to be an uphill battle.\n\n------\nherogreen\nVery very nice project. Did you communicate with the lead developper of the\nZero phone ?\n([https://www.crowdsupply.com/arsenijs/zerophone](https://www.crowdsupply.com/arsenijs/zerophone))\nThese two projects could be a great match I think.\n\nI hope to start hacking on my Motorola E 4G (surnia) for which works has\nstarted on the wiki but it is my main phone and I need to keep it working :(\n\n------\nbodo-rab\nNice blog-post and nice project! Rock on!\n\n~~~\nollieparanoid\nThanks! :)\n\n------\nac130kz\nThis is something really interesting and great. Unfortunately, even to get the\nbasic functionality (calls, audio) working, one has to spend a lot of time and\neffort.\n\n------\nopless\nI am sure I’m missing the point, but surely getting the GSM/3/4G radio working\nfor a voice call would be the whole point here and there’s zero calls made yet\nby postmarketOS, in over 600 days that’s a pretty bad state to be in. No? Is\nthis supposed to be a Linux phone or not?\n\n __confused __\n\n~~~\nem3rgent0rdr\nGetting radio working is not the sole point. The original motivation as was\npresented to me in early announcements was to give smartphones a 10-year\nlifecycle [1]. So more about getting extra life out of all these old phones\npeople have laying around rather than specifically getting them to work as\npeople's primary mobile device.\n\n[1] [https://liliputing.com/2017/08/linux-based-postmarketos-\nproj...](https://liliputing.com/2017/08/linux-based-postmarketos-project-aims-\ngive-smartphones-10-year-lifecycle.html)\n\n~~~\nopless\nHmm. I can't say I can see the utility of doing that.\n\nBut if they're enjoying themselves doing it, that's utility, in a way, all on\nit's own - I guess.\n\n~~~\nem3rgent0rdr\nThe utility is that instead of throwing away your old phone every two years,\nyou can reconfigure it into become something else useful.\n\n~~~\nopless\nUsually by the time two years are up, my phone is usually not holding much of\na charge and the mechanical bits are starting to fail.\n\nI'm pretty sure iPhones are not alone in being designed to last around 18-30\nmonths\n\n------\nalrs\nI've found that it kinda-sorta works, on some hardware. I really wish they\nwere targeting Debian instead of something as prone-to-broken as Alpine, but\nbeggars can't be choosers.\n\n~~~\nollieparanoid\n> something as prone-to-broken as Alpine\n\nHow do you come to that conclusion? Sure, Alpine's edge repository has\nbreakage, but so does Debian sid.\n\n~~~\nmorganvachon\nAlpine doesn't make for a stable desktop OS, however it was never meant to be\nused on the desktop. I wonder if OP was referring to that.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nFresh idea for about page. Move mouse and enjoy - UE\nhttp://userlook.com/about/\n\n======\nUE\nDon't forget to place mouse over cheese.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nProject Bloks: Making code physical for kids - runesoerensen\nhttps://research.googleblog.com/2016/06/project-bloks-making-code-physical-for.html\n======\nedtechdev\nThere are some more kid-friendly programmable robots/hardware and coding tools\nlisted here:\n[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r1b2CM1uTdST47IbWa7zlZYm...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r1b2CM1uTdST47IbWa7zlZYmbfoqrgYSeym2inUvnFo/edit?usp=sharing)\n\nProject Bloks isn't out yet, but a similar one is littlebits. The ones I've\nused with elementary school aged kids though include Sphero, Edison, and Lego\nWedo, along with software/sites like code.org, Lightbot, and Hopscotch.\n\n~~~\nhamstersoup\nMy 4-year-old is really into The Foos app. In the beginning he was just\nmessing around but after a month or two he's really getting it. I was\nwondering what to use next, thanks for the list!\n\n------\nnatevw\nAt first glance, seems a lot like\n[http://littlebits.cc/](http://littlebits.cc/) only not shipping yet. Might\nhave a bit more emphasis on programming though when it's released?\n\nTheir own list of \"prior art\"\n[https://projectbloks.withgoogle.com/research](https://projectbloks.withgoogle.com/research)\nshows some even older \"block-based\" electronics kit projects.\n\n~~~\nMichie\nI agree. I thought it was another version of\n[http://littlebits.cc/](http://littlebits.cc/)\n\nBut upon exploring some works, it seems like writing code but with a tangible\nobject. The User Interface are like the usual toy blocks kids play and they\ncan write code with it.\n\nInteresting move by Google on this.\n\n------\nIIAOPSW\nWhen I was a kid we had \"logiblocs\".\n\nBut I guess I was an odd kid and no one else had that experience so Google\ngets to invent it again and pretend to innovate.\n\n[http://www.logiblocs.com/](http://www.logiblocs.com/)\n\n~~~\npacketslave\nThis seems unnecessarily harsh (\"pretend to innovate\"). The team called out a\nbunch of prior art and inspiration here:\n[https://projectbloks.withgoogle.com/research](https://projectbloks.withgoogle.com/research)\nand seem perfectly happy to acknowledge they're not the first to play in this\nspace.\n\n------\nImpossible\nThis is really cool. I want to build a system like this that works on VR\\AR\nplatforms, to get around limitations of programming in VR like text input\nbeing a pain, hard to read text, etc. It's also possible to get around some of\nthe limitations of actual physical hardware like costs, being able to code\nabstractions (a complex function can shrink to a single block, you could build\ncustom interfaces and types without making new custom hardware, etc). Does\nanyone know of any other good tangible\\physical programming resources out\nthere?\n\n------\nnikolay\nPlease, don't use misspelled words in kids' products!\n\n------\nspike021\nI like to think that a classic Rube Goldberg machine or even just a Hot Wheels\ntrack is similar to the idea of a program. You have the main loop, which is\nthe track or route of the car/ball, and then if certain factors come into\nplay, they may change what happens to the car/ball or what happens to\nsomething else.\n\n------\nDevodevo2002\nthis is great and all because it will introduce more kids to programming but\nnow that we've got a couple different things like this I think that we should\nstart to focus on more syntax oriented learning where the kids can learn why\nthat syntax makes that happen on the screen and what each individual part of\nthe code does. For example, if we were using Javascript to check a variable\nand see if it is the same as another variable and then log \"yes\", we would use\nthis:\n\nvar a = true;\n\nvar b = true;\n\nif (a === b) {\n\n    \n    \n                  console.log(\"yes\");\n    \n\n}\n\nnow, this may seem obvious but to children or someone who doesn't program they\nmight not under stand what console.log does or any other part, also we need to\nteach kids where they can find the resources they need to learn more if they\nare interested.\n\n~~~\nxyience\nKids need a motive. With a motive, they'll figure things out, you don't have\nto handhold them every step or create broken abstractions for them to play\naround in then get bored.\n\nWe already have \"visual/physical programming\" for kids, in the form of\nMinecraft. And for the kids who want to go the extra mile, well, they learn\nJava. Not enough Java they could work at BigCo, because they learn Java with\nthe motive to do stuff in Minecraft, not to actually understand the semantics\nof Java -- but if they got bored with Minecraft, their retained Java knowledge\nwould be enough that they could then teach themselves the more formal aspects,\nor even another language.\n\nKids don't want to know the difference between '=' and '==' and '==='.\n\n~~~\nzeta0134\nThe motivation is key here, and I could not possibly agree more.\n\nLots of people tried to get me interested in Programming when I was younger. I\nwas given a very dry book on PASCAL, and had Visual Basic installed on my very\nfirst computer. Never did a darn thing with either of them, because I was more\ninterested in games.\n\nIn the 7th grade though, I was given a TI-82 graphing calculator, with a\nbuilt-in programming language (BASIC) and the ability to type in programs from\nthe math book and let them run. On its own this was neat, but I barely\nunderstood what I was doing. Then I got curious one day, read the instruction\nmanual, and arrived at the getkey function.\n\nThe TI-82 instruction manual has little to say about the getkey function,\nexcept that it \"can be used to create Video Games.\" There is no more dangerous\nthing to tell a young student bored with Algebra homework. I had a working\nPONG clone later that same week.\n\n------\nhoodoof\nThis is _precisely_ what the new BBC computer education project should have\nbeen.\n\nNot the BBC microbit - a useless computer with blinking lights, but instead\nthe BBC should have designed a standard for other companies to build\ninteresting and interconnecting computer bits and pieces.\n\n~~~\nvanderZwan\nYou're comparing Duplo to Meccano here: the projects targets completely\ndifferent age categories.\n\nThe microbit has two built-in buttons, and accelerometer and magnetometer\nsensors, and Bluetooth. It's got everything required to connect it to your\nsmartphone or tablet and make it a hackable wearable.\n\n------\ndominotw\ni get a feeling all these programs are doing more harm than good. anything\ntaught in school becomes mundane, dry and boring at somepoint. did anyone ever\nbecome a history fan because history was taught in school.\n\n~~~\ninfectoid\nWhen I was in high school in the early 90s I had the option of doing music or\ncomputing studies. I chose the latter.\n\nWhile I agree that some of the material was boring and mundane, it really did\nplay a major role in me becoming a software developer and enjoying it.\n\nI had a teacher friend once tell me that she generally doesn't expect students\nto learn everything, she just expects them to recognise it when they see it\nagain.\n\nSo a child learning the ABC's doesn't really understand what they represent\nbut it's through recognition that they do the actual learning. At some point\nthere is a brainfart and concept become linked and you have your first\nmindblow.\n\nMore recently I finished up some post-grad studies and one of the courses I\ndid was HCI (Human Computer Interaction). This was very dry and boring for the\nmost part. But it was the one that left the most impact on me. It didn't\nconnect with me at the time but now I regularly think \"Oh shit, that's what\nshe meant! UX is so fucking important\".\n\nAgain, this has shaped my relationships to users and the constant blame game\nI'd play when someone couldn't use what I had built. I very rarely, if ever,\nblame the user now.\n\nTL;DR: So yeah, school can make things boring but don't underestimate how the\nsubtle accumulation of knowledge can change your life.\n\np.s. Be humble. Never stop learning. Let your brain fart.\n\n------\nblowski\nReminded me of:\n[https://www.primotoys.com/buy/](https://www.primotoys.com/buy/)\n\n------\nHIlthere\nIt reminds bug shaped toy learning code.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSteve Blank: The Sharp End of the Stick - lrm242\nhttp://steveblank.com/2009/05/04/the-sharp-end-of-the-stick/\n\n======\nswombat\nHow does this argument mutate when considering \"self-service\" applications\nlike, say, a lot of SaaS out there?\n\nMy feeling is that the product development team (with a focus on optimising\nfor more sales) is the equivalent of the sales team in that case...\n\nWould love to hear other people's thoughts on this though.\n\n~~~\ndmix\nFor most business applications the only thing thats self-service with SaaS is\nusually the purchasing process. They can begin using the software with little\ninvolvement from the company.\n\nBut that only comes at the end of the sales process - you would still need\nmarketing/sales to get to that point.\n\nAlthough, if your targeting a technical crowd then having a great product and\nsome PR would most likely make the product dev team most influential in a\nsale.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: A device simulator that cycles through many mobile device simulations - magicmouse\nhttps://github.com/magicmouse/beads-examples/tree/master/Example%20-%20cycler\n======\nmagicmouse\nThis is an example of an open source program called cycler that you can\ncustomize to run a program inside a simulator that shows what your program\nwould look like when running on desktop and mobile hardware such as Kindle\nFire tablets, Apple IOS devices, etc. You can set the time per device\n(currently 0.8 seconds), and after it runs through the portrait orientation,\nit switches to landscape. The only \"gotcha\" in this product is that you have\nto write in the Beads language.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nGetting your heart rate using R and Ruby. - benarent\nhttp://blog.airbrake.io/guest-post/exploring-everything/\n\n======\nsadga\nApps that do this using your phone:\n[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=si.modula.andr...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=si.modula.android.instantheartrate&hl=en)\n\nSimilar:\n\n<http://hackerne.ws/item?id=4062216> \" Eulerian Video Magnification for\nRevealing Subtle Changes in the World (mit.edu) 555 points by clockwork_189 57\ndays ago | comments \"\n\n------\nEzGraphs\nInteresting read. I think that the combination of Ruby (for data aggregation\nand preparation) and R (for calculation and visualization) is great. For\ninstance, in the related-but-not-exactly category:\n\n[http://www.r-chart.com/2010/10/max-heart-rate-\ncalculations-c...](http://www.r-chart.com/2010/10/max-heart-rate-calculations-\ncompared.html)\n\nIt seems like folks who use R tend to be from a scientific community where\nPython has greater respectability and acceptance. But I see some similar\n\"Lispiness\" in R and Ruby that make them somewhat natural to use in\nconjunction.\n\n~~~\nbuckwild\nI second this. I'm a scientist who also happens to program (as more of us are\nfinding we need to do). The two languages I use the most are R and Python.\nMost of the time, I don't even give Ruby a second thought because it seems to\nbe primarily geared towards web development. In general, I shy away from web\ndevelopment, but I know that Python is more than capable if I wanted to try it\nout. There really doesn't seem to be any incentive for us to learn Ruby.\n\n~~~\nJonnieCache\nThere is nothing in ruby that is geared towards web development, not any\nmoreso than python anyway. It just happens to be mostly used for that.\n\nRuby does however lack a lot of the ecosystem of scientific libraries python\nhas, there is no real equivalent to NumPy for example.\n\n~~~\na_bonobo\nRuby also has the reputation of being much slower than Python, and speed is\ncrucial in the scientific community when it comes to handling data-sets in the\nrange of terabytes.\n\nEdit: Also, when it comes to computer-technology the scientific community\noutside of CS generally lags far behind what CS is coming up with - for\nexample, blastn, the most commonly used algorithm in biology for nucleotide-\ncomparison, still doesn't have a proper 100% multithreaded solution.\n\nThere is also no adaption of NoSQL or any other of the \"modern\" data-storage\nsolutions.\n\n~~~\nirahul\n> Ruby also has the reputation of being much slower than Python, and speed is\n> crucial in the scientific community when it comes to handling data-sets in\n> the range of terabytes.\n\nIf we are talking computation speed, the difference between Ruby and Python is\na floating point error.\n\n> There is also no adaption of NoSQL or any other of the \"modern\" data-storage\n> solutions.\n\nNoSQL solutions are \"modern\", but that doesn't equate to being better. I am\nmore than familiar with almost all major NoSQL players(redis, mongo, couchdb,\ncassandra etc), and for 99% of the cases, RDBMS is better solution. There is\nno adoption in scientific community(or most communities) because there isn't a\nclear benefit. I neither try to use RDBMS as a key-value store, nor do I twist\nmy relational models to fit into a NoSQL offering(mongo makes the translation\neasier, but lacks things I need).\n\n------\nsausheong\nThanks everyone for the upvotes and the positive comments! I'm the author of\nthe blog post and the book.\n\n~~~\nspsaaibi\nI've been reading your book for a week now Sau Sheong Chang, I can't stop!\nIt's a fascinating read! I'll let you know when I'm done, thanks for writing\nthis!\n\n------\ngautamc\nThe idea of detecting change in the amount of light is also used by the\nPulseSensor -\n[http://pulsesensor.myshopify.com/blogs/news/6326816-anatomy-...](http://pulsesensor.myshopify.com/blogs/news/6326816-anatomy-\nof-the-diy-heart-rate-monitor)\n\n------\ndanso\nBefore anyone jumps in with \"Why do all that coding just to do what I can do\nwith my hand and chest?\"...this is a cool hack that shows practical code for\nbreaking down a video file and measuring changes. The same concept could be\nused to, for example, count number of unique faces that pass through a\nroom/hallway. Or, for a C-SPAN clip, gauge when who speaks when (depending on\nwhose face is center-frame during a debate). And other less pedantic ideas.\n\n~~~\nzheng\nPlus computers actually remember things. I think anyone here can see that a\ncomputerized method of gathering data isn't interesting for the method per se\nbut the ease of keeping and analyzing said data over a period of time.\n\n------\ndeepGem\nThis is very cool. A very useful demonstration of what you can do with R, for\nthose of us who are non-researchers.\n\n------\nbenarent\nThanks for the up-votes everyone. I have a coupon code for anyone interested\nin getting Saus book / e-book.\n\n~~~\ndiego\nI'm interested if you still have it. If it's gone I may still buy the book, it\nlooks very promising.\n\n~~~\nbenarent\nSend an e-mail to me ben@airbrake.io.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\n30 years for the TJ Maxx hacker (copied 40 million credit cards) - opticksversi\nhttp://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3772.html\n\n======\nopticksversi\nFrom the article:\n\n _one man found to be guilty of the crime, a 25 year old Ukrainian by the name\nof Maksym Yastremskiy, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.\n\nYastremskiy, who went by the name of Maksik, is thought to have sold hundreds\nof thousands of stolen credit card numbers following the theft which in turn\ncaused tens of millions of dollars worth of losses for retailers and banks.\nMaksik will serve his time in a Turkish prison, following his arrest along\nwith other gang members there last year._\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nRussell’s Paradox and Frege’s Mistake - anacleto\nhttp://cs.smith.edu/~jhenle/sr/Files/russ06.pdf?trk=object-title\n\n======\nmcguire\nRather overwrought, in my opinion (and I'm a very big fan of Frege). That\nsecond paragraph is especially sketchy. (Check out Augustus De Morgan, Georg\nCantor, Mr. Boole, and another of my favorites, Pseudo-Scotus.)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHow to say nothing in 500 words - irahul\nhttp://web.archive.org/web/20101124040620/http://www.apostate.com/how-say-nothing-500-words\n\n======\nCyranix\nIf I ever go back to language teaching, I think I've just come up with an\nengaging and rewarding lesson:\n\n    \n    \n      * assign students the task of writing an N-word or -page paper and explicitly instruct them to use as much fluff as possible (creatively, i.e. not using \"really\" x100)\n      * allow them to read each other's papers and vote on the most vapid essays\n      * assign a follow-up task to ruthlessly edit a partner's paper to distill the real content\n      * never attach a word or page count to any future assignment, preferring complete coverage of assigned topic, and hold students accountable for use of fluff\n    \n\nHands-on experience is a great learning aid. A frank acknowledgement and\nanalysis of filler content (instead of just discouraging it in the abstract)\ncoupled with an educator's willingness to forgo artificial targets or limits\ncould go a long way in improving this aspect of writing style.\n\n~~~\nRalith\nIt will be neither engaging nor rewarding for the person publicly voted \"most\nvapid.\"\n\n~~~\nscott_s\nI don't see a problem with it: being vapid is the stated purpose of the\nexercise. Cyranix did not propose blindsiding the students with this exercise\nby applying this criteria to essays the students wrote in earnest.\n\n~~~\nRalith\nOh, I see that I missed that. That's a pretty good idea, then!\n\n------\nsamdk\nThis advice, as with much other good advice, should be taken and understood in\ncontext. It is an essay about how to write a good essay, and there are times\nwhen you want to break some of these rules.\n\nAs one example, expressions like \"I think that\" and \"in my opinion\" can be\nuseful if used purposefully. When reading an argument, we have a tendency to\nfixate on the points that we take issue with personally. By saying \"I think X\nis true\" instead of just \"X is true\", you make it easier for someone to\ndisagree with your specific point rather than your entire argument. In some\ncontexts (like HN comments), this can help to reduce animosity and get much\nmore of your point across to people who don't fully agree with you.\n\n~~~\nscott_s\nI use \"I think\" it to distinguish widely agreed upon facts from my own\nconclusions.\n\n~~~\nmsellout\nYou're giving too much credit to things that people widely agree on.\n\nGoing by majority vote, intelligent design is a fact.\n\n~~~\nAsylumWarden\nI believe the concept of majority rules has worked well for America. Some\nwould disagree of course but then they are just the minority.\n\n------\nlatortuga\nThis article reminded me of \"Thank You For Smoking\" where the young kid asks\nhis dad what he should write about on the topic of \"Why is the American\ngovernment the best government in the world\". Aaron Eckhart's character ends\nup explaining that the question is ridiculous because it carries implicit\nassumptions (America is the best government in the world, 'best' can somehow\nbe measured) without explaining them. He follows that with an explanation that\nthis is basically an invitation to write whatever you want - write about\ntariffs, write about executing felons, write about our appeal system. It's not\nabout the question, it's about the writing.\n\n------\nirahul\nHey folks. There is currently a flame war going on about using grammar as\nlitmus test for hiring. I thought it's a good time to re-post this.\n\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1904584>\n\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1008246>\n\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=239147>\n\nSorry about the archive link. The original post is gone.\n\n~~~\ncorkeh\nOriginal post is here: <http://apostate.com/how-to-say-nothing-in-500-words>\n\nLooks like the URLs changed when they switched from Drupal to Wordpress.\n\n------\nwccrawford\nI guess I had really good English teachers, then, because I never worried\nabout using unique arguments. I simply wrote the most obvious thoughts on the\nsubject and called it a day. And I always got good grades.\n\nHowever, I did follow a lot of advice from the post without knowing it, other\nthan the 'don't be obvious' bit. For instance, I didn't use a lot of filler\nwords. I simply wrote out my ideas, explained them, and then opened and closed\nit with a summary paragraph, as we were taught repeatedly. 5-3-5 and all that.\nIt never failed to get a good grade.\n\nIf I was short of my 500 (or however many) words, I didn't start adding\nuseless words. I added more content. Obviously it wasn't a good argument if I\ndidn't say enough to meet that requirement yet. However, I think this only\nhappened a few times. I was more likely to go over the maximum number instead,\nif there was one.\n\nCollege's basic courses were simple if you knew the rules and followed them. I\nfound out later that they were harder for others because they didn't know the\nrules, like the 5-3-5 pattern. Everyone that I have introduced that to has\nloved it and it helped them tremendously. Why isn't that taught everywhere? It\nseems awful obvious in retrospect.\n\n~~~\nUnFleshedOne\nI went through hight school and university without using that pattern (not\nthat I wrote many essays, and when I did I made a point of writing against the\ntopic) and was only introduced to it in ESL class I took after immigrating to\ncanada. I'm not a very creative person -- I rather like rigid structures and\nperfect formatting of my code -- but I hated this immediately. It is probably\njust me, but somehow the idea of making an \"essay\" according to the rules of\nmaking essays as defined just highlights the utter pointlessness of the\nprocess and saps all energy and dispels any delusions about making meaningful\narguments I might have had...\n\n~~~\npsykotic\nMy wife is going through an intensive one-year college ESL course with an\nemphasis on writing. This was my first encounter with the rigid structure of\nAmerican college essays. Initially I found it silly and counterproductive, but\nI have since softened my stance. My wife, despite having a degree from a top\nuniversity in her country, had hardly any practice writing essays even in her\nnative language. Because of that, she has had her hands full just worrying\nabout her ideas and how to express them in correct and idiomatic English, so\nthe fixed structure has been invaluable for her--it helps organize her\nthoughts and removes one whole class of tricky decisions from the writing\nprocess.\n\nThink of it as training wheels. Once you don't need the formal structure\nanymore, you can and probably should stop using it.\n\n------\ngmac\nThis is fine as far as it goes, but -- ironically, given its subject -- I\nfound it a little vapid. Orwell's \"Politics and the English Language\" is my\npreferred commentary on English writing style:\n<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4272608>\n\n~~~\npizza\nI love his 'all writing is political' idea. On many occasions have I asked\nmyself \"Why am I writing this?\" and surprised myself with my answer.\n\n------\nbicknergseng\nI'd like all newspaper editors to read Mr. Roberts' article.\n\nI've been working on blogging for a while. Mostly thinking about it, some\nwriting, no publishing to the internet. I would draw a line from undertones in\nthis article to my hesitancy to hit the \"post\" button.\n\nAt the risk of sounding ignorant, arrogant, or both, I'm going to make\nsweeping generalities. The problem as I see it is that most low hanging blog\ntopic fruit falls under the category of \"Obvious Content.\" If you're writing\nabout hiring, as HN articles are wont, I promise you someone has written the\nsame point argued the same way before. I could head up the same topic from the\n\"Less Usual Side,\" but I have no personal interest in playing devil's advocate\nand choosing to argue for something I don't believe to be true. There's a\nplace for that, and I'm not arguing that original thought can come out of\ndebate or rebuttal. Unless you're publishing some kind of original research,\nwhat I have to say has probably been said already more eloquently than I could\nsay it myself. I'm afraid I would simply be adding to the noise.\n\nMy interesting HN social experiment of the day: I would like to challenge\nevery one to only post truly original thought. I suppose posting a unique\nargument to an existing topic is OK, but I'd shoot for completely untouched\ntopics to expand the reaches of our collective thinking.\n\n~~~\nprimatology\nI claim there is no original thought. We're too shaped by our experiences.\n\nI think you'll find most \"original thoughts\" are a) reversals of commonly\naccepted arguments for the sake of being contrary or b) bad ideas. Hence why\nmost of us tend to held unoriginal thoughts—because the common beliefs are\n[often] the least-bad. Only occasionally does someone strike gold.\n\nThen again, increasing the attempts at original thoughts should increase the\nquantity of good original thoughts, if not the proportion. I'm rather\nintrigued.\n\n~~~\nbicknergseng\nCue Inception music.\n\n------\nbrittohalloran\nThere are some really good gems in there:\n\n\"Decide what you want to say and say it as vigorously as possible, without\napology and in plain words.\"\n\n------\nsp332\n_If these are the points that leap to your mind, they will leap to everyone\nelse's too, and whether you get a \"C\" or a \"D\" may depend on whether the\ninstructor reads your paper early when he is fresh and tolerant or late_\n\nI don't think this is true. If a teacher asks 100 students for a paper on an\nassigned topic, they're not looking for originality. They just want to see if\nyou can write or not. I always had felt that I should write something original\nand was worried constantly that I was re-hashing an idea the teacher had\nalready seen dozens of times. But then I asked several teachers about it and\nthey said they weren't looking for originality. After all you can't expect\nthousands of students of the same age in the same class at the same school\nwith the same teacher to think very differently from one another.\n\n~~~\nnocipher\nOf course they aren't looking for originality. It can't be expected. When you\ngive students a really difficult test, you don't expect everyone to make an\n\"A\". You expect some to fail (\"D\") and many to be just average (\"C\"). Some\nselect few, however, will defy the norm and manage an \"A\".\n\nThe situation with assigned writing is the same. Some will elegantly write\nmany droll, boring statements and back them up with some personal anecdotes or\nstories they came across while doing research. Those will stand out against\nthe poorly written droll, boring statements. They'll get higher scores.\n\nThe few that break the mold and do something completely unexpected will\ndefinitely stand out. If they can back up their originality with half decent\nability, they'll stand out even more than the \"standard excellence\". Those\npeople will definitely get an A.\n\nThe conclusion is sound. If you beat the expectations people have of you, good\nthings will likely happen.\n\n------\npizza\nJust read Strunk and White's _Elements of Style_.\n\n~~~\nhkmurakami\nJust discovered that this is available free of charge on Kindle [1].\n\n[1] [http://www.amazon.com/The-Elements-of-Style-\nebook/dp/B005IT0...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Elements-of-Style-\nebook/dp/B005IT0V8O/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-\ntext&ie=UTF8&qid=1342806430&sr=1-1&keywords=elements+of+style)\n\n~~~\nSimucal\nThat isn't Strunk and White. That is just Strunk and is an earlier edition of\nthe work long before White came on.\n\n~~~\ndecklin\nAnd in case anyone is not familiar with just how long \"long before\" was:\n[http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001604.h...](http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001604.html)\n\n~~~\nhkmurakami\nThanks for the corrections!\n\n------\nctdonath\n\"All subjects, except sex, are dull until somebody makes them interesting.\"\n\nI respectfully submit Monty Python's _The Meaning of Life_.\n\n------\nmoron\nThis strikes me as good advice, but it also matches a lot of the advice I have\ngleaned over the years, so it may just be my bias talking. Getting rid of\nmush-mouthed \"in my opinion\" stuff and cliche phrases, moving from the general\nto the specific, all good advice.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAn Intro to the Plan 9 OS [video and slides] - jff\nhttp://sse.se.rit.edu/programs/tech-talks/plan-9\n\n======\njacquesm\nEvery now and then a _really_ new thing comes along, and Plan 9 is one of\nthose things. It's been quietly waiting in the wings for its moment to shine.\nThere are days I wished that Plan 9 had been released as GNU licensed open\nsource back in the days when Linux first got going, or something more along\nthe lines of QnX, lots of things are unnecessarily hard the way they are now.\n\n~~~\njff\nWe (the Plan 9 community) figure that not initially releasing it as open\nsource cost us Linux's current place. As it stands, we didn't open source\nuntil 2000.\n\nBut we wouldn't have put it under the GNU license in any circumstances, we\nhave grievances against GNU :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGovernment study finds racial, gender bias in facial recognition software - anigbrowl\nhttps://thehill.com/policy/technology/475350-government-study-finds-racial-gender-bias-in-facial-recognition-software\n======\nanigbrowl\nThis is the underlying study: [https://www.nist.gov/news-\nevents/news/2019/12/nist-study-eva...](https://www.nist.gov/news-\nevents/news/2019/12/nist-study-evaluates-effects-race-age-sex-face-\nrecognition-software)\n\nI linked the news article about it both as a simple summary and because I\nthink readers (especially anyone working in this space) should look at the\ncomments on the article to see how carefully curated data is received by a\nbiased audience, and reflect on the idea that reproducibility or technical\nmerit are not self-executing or self-perpetuating.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nEl Chapo and the History of the Heroin Crisis - coris47\nhttp://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a46918/heroin-mexico-el-chapo-cartels-don-winslow/\n======\nmjevans\nIt worked for marijuana, so do it for the other things too (but with more\nregulation for the harder drugs).\n\nInstead of reacting to the symptoms we need to look in the other direction.\n\n* Cartels are a symptom of opportunity for profit that isn't being serviced in a legal way.\n\n* Drug addiction is a symptom of a sick society.\n\n* People chemically (or psychologically) addicted to the affects of drug treatment are a symptom of incomplete medical treatment.\n\nMaybe if everyone had a place to be and a job they could do, a sense of\nsecurity in work and health, as well as the opportunity to have a life worth\nliving we could actually win the 'war on drugs'.\n\n------\nCrito\nOf the people I've known who died due to heroin, _all_ of them got started off\non narcotic pain killers prescribed by unscrupulous doctors.\n\nOne of my friends in university got hooked on pills his doctor prescribed for\nhis back pain. The guy was 300+lbs, _maybe_ that had something to do with the\npain? Who cares, pump him full of pills! A year later he was on heroin. Three\nyears later he was dead.\n\nNobody but a _complete_ degenerate wakes up one day and says _\" You know what,\nI think I'm going to mainline some heroin.\"_ Opioid addiction starts with\npills. If you take heroin out of the equation, they're going to start making\nkrokodil or some other shit. You can't solve the drug problem until you solve\nthe doctor problem.\n\n~~~\nMichaelGG\nWhy did he move to Heroin? Was it because it was cheaper/easier due to\nartificial restriction on regulated, proper, opiates?\n\nWhy didn't he move to OxyContin, morphine, methadone, oxymorphone, etc.?\n\n\"Krokodil\" is also an alright medication on its own. Just another morphine-\nrelated molecule. The big complaint with it is, once again, unregulated\nproducers making incredibly unsanity products. Which, if you shove it into\nyour arm, will cause all sorts of infections.\n\nIf we had to buy vaccines from some guy making them in a barn, we'd probably\nsee a huge incidence in infections from vaccinations.\n\nI'd also disagree that no one wants to inject heroin. I've been on IV morphine\nonce, due to an injury, and it was _fantastic_. Unbelievably great. I fail to\nsee why someone wouldn't want that, if they could afford it, have proper\nhealthcare and equipment, etc. It's just a weak form of wireheading.\n\nDoctors aren't _the_ problem. The legal penalties for seeking medication are.\nThe social views that addicts are inherently a problem -- that's a problem.\nThe high cost of medications due to gatekeeping is a problem.\n\nAllow people to buy the medications they want (if only on personal liberty\ngrounds!). Then engage in adverts, education, sell help, etc. if it's really a\nproblem. Opiates are so cheap that even a part time job can easily afford to\nbe high all the time -- if they were in a proper competitive market.\n\n~~~\nsaiya-jin\nwell, you have elections, and bunch of people that don't want to live/raise\nkids next to people like you describe. or at least the image of junkies they\nhave in their head. it's easier and beneficial for politicians to have hard\nline stance against drugs in many places.\n\ndon't expect much beyond +-weed legalization anytime soon, and even that might\nbe rolled back at one point.\n\n------\nmisiti3780\nIf anyone wants to read a really great book about this topic i suggest\n\"Chasing the Scream\"[1]. This book made me think about drug addiction in a\ncompletely different way and also change my mind about legalization -- of all\ndrugs, including heroin.\n\n[1] [https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Scream-First-Last-\nDrugs/dp/16...](https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Scream-First-Last-\nDrugs/dp/1620408902)\n\n~~~\ndmix\nI'm curious if there are any other analogies in history of societal problems\nthat was so widely misunderstood yet spent ungodly amounts of human time,\nmoney, and jail time was spent trying to stop in all the wrong ways.\n\nThe war on drugs really are the crowning achievement of anti-scientific public\npolicy. Decades of ignoring the results and continuing to try the same thing.\n\nThe west isn't the only one with this problem. The DEA has been exporting this\nfailed strategy to other countries for decades. The Philippines has taken the\nAmerican style war to the extreme: [http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-\nphilippines-war-on-drugs-deal...](http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-philippines-\nwar-on-drugs-dealers-choose-retirement-over-death-1468509951)\n\nThey've demonstrated that the only way to actually win it like a war is via\ndeath squads and the total destruction of human rights. Otherwise governments\nhave to face reality and accept it doesn't work.\n\n~~~\nhackaflocka\nMarijuana has been consumed in India forever. It was smoked just like tobacco\nis today. By a lot of people in society (including high and low status women).\n\nNever was a problem. Probably led to some of the spirituality and mathematics\nof ancient India.\n\nHowever, it was the natural variety. Not the genetically optimized powder keg\nstuff available today.\n\n~~~\nstuaxo\nTrue, though they made some pretty strong stuff like charas.\n\n------\nmattnewton\n> If you wonder why America is in the grips of a heroin epidemic that kills\n> two hundred people a week, take a hard look at the legalization of pot,\n> which destroyed the profits of the Mexican cartels. How did they respond to\n> a major loss in revenue? Like any company, they created an irresistible new\n> product and flooded the market.\n\nThat seems like an unfair potshot. Why not emphasize: \"An increasing number of\nAmericans were addicted to prescription opioids such as Oxycontin.\"\n\n~~~\nrcarrigan87\nAgreed, the cartels are just reacting to an increase in demand for heroin.\n\n~~~\nMichaelGG\nAnd it's the strict scheduling, the intimation tactics with doctors, that\ncauses people to resort to buying street opiates instead of certified,\nregulated, opiates like OxyContin (or cheaper alternatives).\n\n------\nleftnode\nIf you haven't, I highly suggest you read Don Winslow's two books about this:\nThe Power of the Dog and The Cartel. Both are fantastic.\n\n~~~\ncharlangas\nAgreed! It is also interesting to try to match the characters to the real life\ndrug lords that inspired them by the crimes and strategies detailed in the\nbook, though it can get confusing since Winslow often merges two real drug\nlords into a single character or branches out a single drug lord into two or\nmore characters.\n\nFor example, Adán Barrera—the main antagonist in The Cartel—is based on one of\nthe Arellano Felix brothers in The Power of the Dog, but then takes on Chapo\nGuzman's persona in The Cartel.\n\nBut when you realize that a lot of what Winslow describes actually happened in\nreal life it puts a lot of things into perspective—especially the US's\ninvolvement on both sides of the coin.\n\n------\nbluedino\nHeroin is cheap. Really, really cheap. It's really, really addicting. It's\neasy to overdose on. And people mix it with shit like fentanyl which makes it\neven easier to kill yourself with.\n\nIt's a really terrible drug.\n\n~~~\nMichaelGG\nHeroin can be a useful medication. Street opiates are bad because there's no\nregulation. It's not inherent in the medication. Take _anything_ and vary the\nstrength/purity by 50x and see how many people die. A 50x dose of Tylenol will\nkill you just as well (more painful, actually).\n\n~~~\nx1798DE\nYou don't really need regulation to get consistent strength/purity, branding\n(Buy Mack's Heroin - guaranteed 99.99% pure with no adulterants!) and tort law\n(you said this contained 20mg of heroin, it contained, dangerously, twice that\namount, you are liable for my consequent overdose) should be enough to handle\nthat, if producers were competing on quality and not \"ability to operate in a\nblack market\".\n\n------\nDigitalJack\nSo with people here talking about opioids from docs leading to heroin, a\nquestion came to mind:\n\nIf you have been given opioids for pain, did they work? I ask because for me\nthey don’t. I get buzzed, euphoric, but they don’t do squat for pain for me.\nSame with marijuana. No effect on my pain at all.\n\nIn fact, for me, marijuana makes me even more accutely aware of physical\ndiscomfort. Am I just an oddball?\n\n~~~\nk-mcgrady\n>> \"In fact, for me, marijuana makes me even more accutely aware of physical\ndiscomfort. Am I just an oddball?\"\n\nNope. It's the same for me. What I eventually worked out (I'm not 100% sure of\nthis but I'm pretty certain) is that the strain of marijuana is important.\nUnfortunately I don't get to choose in my country :) But if it's a strain that\ngives a body high I become more aware of the pain, if it's not I become less\naware.\n\nEdit: If someone with knowledge on this matter can confirm (or refute) my\nassumption I'd appreciate it.\n\n~~~\npm90\nHere is another reason for the decriminalization of Marijuana: I'm pretty sure\nthere would be a lot more research into genuine medical benefits of marijuana\nif it wasn't dissociated with breaking the law.\n\nI'm curios if Federal research grants can be allowed to study the medical\nbenefits of Marijuana? I know states have made medical marijuana legal but\nmost funding in research comes from Federal agencies.\n\n------\nbogomipz\nFirstly what has happened with the quality of journalism in Esquire, you can\nnot call this serious journalism when the author writes:\n\n\"You can't make this shit up ...\",\n\n\"The story's goes ...\"\n\n\"The Mexican authorities had a line on the little bastard.\"\n\nThis is like listening to a person in a bar recounting a story.\n\nSecond, the increasing legalization marijuana in the US and the current flow\nof heroin into the US are orthogonal. Legalization of marijuana is not the\ncause of an influx of heroin. Mexican marijuana has always been considered\ncheap and inferior quality. The fact is that US has developed a taste for\nhighly cultivated quality weed, the same as the US has with coffee and craft\nbeer. Its \"conspicuous consumption\", quality weed, is a status symbol - a sign\nof discerning taste. The people that were hurt by the legalization of\nmarijuana were the small time neighborhood dealers not the Mexican cartels.\nMexican cartels most significant revenues have always been Cocaine which needs\nto transit Mexico to get to the US. While Cocaine production is still centered\nin South American the trafficking and logistics were taken over from the\nColombian Cartels by the Mexican Cartels after the demise of the Medellín\nCartel in Colombia.\n\nThe real reason the US is seeing an uptick in Mexican heroin is because there\nhas been a market created for it by those who have become hooked on\nprescription opioids. When they run out or can no longer obtain their\nOxycodone or Hydrocodone they satisfy their withdrawal with street dope.\n\n~~~\nJohn23832\nI think that's what they were going for... They're following the \"Vice\" model\n(which I actually like). News the averge modern person can relate to. Walter\nCronkite is dead and gone man.\n\n~~~\nbogomipz\nThat would be the Vice of 15 years ago then. Vice the news channel(HBO) is\nrespectable journalism. Shane Smith had the good foresight to see that they\ncould grow with their audience. It doesn't have to Cronkite but it doesn't\nhave to be \"brah\" either.\n\n------\nnobleach\nThe opener really frustrates me. It's basically saying that if these folks\nhave no choice but to engage in illegal activity. If their product somehow\nbecomes legal, well.... we shouldn't have done that... because now they have\nto sell something worse.\n\nOR, OR, they could stop manufacturing poison and perhaps get a legitimate job\nand stop making money off of people with serious problems.\n\nWeed doesn't kill.... heroin does nothing but kill. I guess I can't lay the\nblame totally on the manufacturers, but my god.... quit acting like their\ncareers somehow deserve to exist one way or another and it's the USA's fault.\n\n~~~\ntmp-20150107\n> Weed doesn't kill.... heroin does nothing but kill\n\nNot at all. There are plenty of people using heroin that are not your typical\njunkie, just like there are many recreatioal weed users that aren't unemployed\nstoners. Take me - I've been working in IT for twenty years, and have been a\nheroin addict for just about the same length of time. My career is going\npretty well, I'm in charge of a team of engineers, I speak about my particular\nsubject at conferences around the world regularly, I have plenty of work up on\nGitHub that people use.\n\nWhat _does_ kill people is stigmatizing addicts, and preventing them from\ngetting the help they need to allow them to live a normal life and become\nusefully employed. Instead, attitudes like yours mean they are forced to\nbecome criminals and marginalized.\n\n------\nrwallace\nOkay, here's a warning if you haven't read this article yet. Up near the\nbeginning, there's a really, really unfortunate line about pot legalization\nbeing the cause of this and that. I'm sure it's tongue in cheek, but that\ndoesn't come across in text, and people are tripping over it. Just skip over\nthat line and keep reading. The rest of the article is excellent.\n\n~~~\nburnitdown\nIt's not tounge in cheek. Pot sales dropped by 40% so they pivoted to heroin.\n\n------\njoering2\nI stopped reading after the lead:\n\n> If you wonder why America is in the grips of a heroin epidemic that kills\n> two hundred people a week\n\nAbout 3,000 people died today and about 60,000 got seriously injured in car\naccidents TODAY, according to ASIRT. I think the word \"grips\" is a bit of\nstretch here, no?\n\n> take a hard look at the legalization of pot, which destroyed the profits of\n> the Mexican cartels.\n\nHow is that legalizing sales of Apples will somehow made Oranges' lovers to\nswitch? Hard to believe. Any proof of that??\n\n~~~\nthenewwazoo\n> I think the word \"grips\" is a bit of stretch here, no?\n\nNo, because there isn't a $50bn domestic and >$10bn international market in\ncar deaths. There isn't a massive machine that perpetuates car deaths; indeed,\nquite the opposite.\n\n> Hard to believe. Any proof of that??\n\nYes: a 40% drop in profits from marijuana, and a corresponding spike in the\nrate of production (and because supply/demand, a drop in the price) of heroin\nin (and from) Mexico.\n\nYou really should have kept reading.\n\n------\ngraycat\nDeleted.\n\n~~~\njjulius\nYou're using a browser version from January 2015 (it's currently at 48.0 as of\n8/2/16), and your OS has not had support from Microsoft since 4/8/14\\. Your\nsystem is in desperate need of an upgrade, which could help prevent viruses.\nThe longer you operate an outdated system, the likelier you are to encounter a\nvirus.\n\n~~~\ngraycat\nDeleted.\n\n~~~\ngruturo\nWhile I agree with you on Windows versions later than XP being markedly worse\nfrom a technical guy's usability perspective (actually Windows Server 2003 +\nnlite/ xplite was the best client OS setup I ever used ), you are denying\nyourself a very significant amount of security patches and I would define this\nbehaviour as a bit irresponsible of your PC only contains your own data, and\npossibly illegal if you have any customer personal data or payment\ninformation. I hate the newer Microsoft OSes as much as you but run Windows 10\n(plus a healthy amount of Non-Microsoft OSes). At least upgrade your browser\nbecause that's the main entry vector for malware nowadays, you will find that\nrecent versions of Firefox are quite enjoyable - latest one even started\nrunning some tasks in dedicated processes (just experimentally for now)\nresulting in a more responsive interface.\n\n~~~\ngraycat\nI have no solid information at all that indicates that any Microsoft operating\nsystem is more secure than Windows XP SP3 with the latest Microsoft patches.\nNone. No such information at all.\n\nFor all I know, all Microsoft patches for later Microsoft operating systems\nare only for bugs in those operating systems and not for bugs in the XP\nversion I am running.\n\nI have no even reasonable information that there are any security bugs in the\nXP installation I have.\n\nI have no reason to believe that Windows 7, 8, 8.1, or 10 is more secure than\nXP; as far as I know, XP is more secure than those operating systems.\n\nAnd similarly for Windows Server.\n\nHow the heck Flash could give malware to my XP system is beyond me, and I've\nseen no explanation.\n\nXP should be able to run any user mode software at all safely. I have heard no\nclaims that it can. It it cannot, then I very much want to know why not. For\ndecades several time sharing systems apparently could run any software at all,\nincluding operating systems, safely.\n\nThese systems are essentially all multiple virtual memory systems built on the\nIntel x86 architecture with hierarchical file systems with capabilities and\naccess control lists. If there are security holes, I sure as heck want to know\nwhy; but apparently there have been security holes, and I never got even\nreasonably good information on why.\n\nA few years ago, I saw that Microsoft had patched a security hole caused by a\nbuffer overflow bug. Outrageous that Microsoft should still have buffer\noverflow bugs.\n\nI intend to bring up an instance of a recent version of Windows Server, but I\nhave no solid information or even an idea, none, not even zip, zilch, or zero,\nwhat the situation is on bugs or security.\n\nI would have no idea at all on how to run a _secure_ Windows system attached\nto the Internet.\n\nLooking around at my XP system, I was just outraged to the point of screaming\nto discover that Microsoft had started some _message service_ that was later\nseen to be a security risk. I didn't ask for that message service. I wasn't\ninformed that it was running. I wasn't using that message service. I had no\nintention of using that message service. What the heck other obscure, hidden,\nsecret software is Microsoft starting, not telling me about, and that could\ninfect my system? I'm torqued. But there isn't much I can do about it.\n\nTo me, that moving to Windows 10, that apparently keeps _phoning home_ , would\nsolve security problems instead of causing them is a really bad joke. Windows\n10 apparently has a lot of new software that likely has bugs. That new\nMicrosoft software, I want nothing to do with it.\n\nAlso I have long been totally torqued off, even screaming, as I clicked and\nclicked and clicked and said over and over and over, for years, to NOT, under\nany circumstances at all, NEVER but NEVER, ever, read any removable media\nunless and until so instructed. Don't look at it. Don't check it. Don't permit\neven a single bit to be read at all. Of course, if you automatically read and\nexecute software from removable media, you should be dragged by two horses in\nopposite directions. But such screaming didn't work.\n\nYup, USB thumb drives are a special case.\n\nInstead, of course, I want IP port by port, program by program, each DLL one\nat a time, and anything and everything else, what the heck is running on my\nsystem, why, and what the heck the risks are. But I have no reasonable way to\nget such information.\n\nFor my startup and its Web server, for now it will store nothing or next to\nnothing on users -- no cookies, user IDs, user passwords, etc. My site makes\nno use of cookies. Users don't login or give passwords. Users don't give\ne-mail addresses. Yes, the Web site log file likely has the user's IP address,\nbut actually that does not much identify a user.\n\nMaybe at a high end site, are supposed to put outside of a computer running\nWindows some special boxes. All IP, maybe even all Ethernet, traffic flows\nthrough these boxes, and they check, track, and analyze the heck out of every\npacket, every bit, that flows through. That data plus some more such tracking\non Windows may be enough. But I have no idea what such boxes or associated\nWindows programs might be.\n\nOf course, the server should make no use of wireless. That a server could get\nmalware from a USB drive is outrageous.\n\n------\ndelbel\nWe need a stronger border to prevent heroin from entering our country.\n\n~~~\njustinhensley\nThere is no evidence to suggest that would be successful.\n\nA \"stronger border\" and \"higher walls\" are nothing but campaign slogans.\n\n~~~\ndevopsproject\nBullshit:\n[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5323928](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5323928)\n\n~~~\njjulius\nOP's comment was about the smuggling of drugs, specifically heroin, into the\ncountry. You said \"bullshit\" and then cited that NPR article as your source.\nThe article discusses a decrease in apprehensions, but it clearly states the\nfollowing:\n\n> This is still an active smuggling route, especially for drugs.\n\nI'm a little confused as to how this article supports the argument that\nbuilding a wall helps limit drug smuggling. Care to explain?\n\n~~~\nburnitdown\nNot the op, but it seems to me that stopping huge numbers of bodies crossing\nthe borders illegally would free up resources to focus on the smaller amount\ngetting through and the drugs in particular.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nControlling interfaces in the browser with JavaScript and the Kinect - wesbos\nhttp://blog.polarmobile.com/kinect-meets-mediaeverywhere/ \n\n======\ndmethvin\nWe got started down the wrong path when Apple defined touch events and\nheuristics for faking mouse events from them. As a transitional measure a\nlibrary like this is about all we can do for Kinect, but it is _not_ the right\nlong-term solution.\n\nIf we all have to add special code to our apps and web pages for dealing with\nevery input type (mouse, finger, Kinect, pen, eye-tracking, voice, etc.) it\nwill severely limit the user's ability to interact with a device full of apps\nwith varying levels of support. We need a unified set of actions and gestures\nthat apply to all the input types. I'd love to see the W3C adopt Microsoft's\nMSPointer model, assuming Microsoft will let go of any patent claims.\n\n------\nrand_r\n> and our solution involves many moving parts working in perfect unison\n\nWhat did the full stack look like?\n\n~~~\nndaversa\ndepth.js for the safari extension + a web plugin\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nI'm flying tonight - are there any decent NodeJS PDFs/ebooks? - bdickason\n\nI've been dipping my toes into learning Node over the past few weeks and have had alot of trouble finding great documentation. I generally learn best when coding, but will be on a four hour flight tonight with no wifi and would love to take a Node 'book' with me.<p>Any suggestions?\n======\nRDDavies\nI'm actually looking on a good \"starter\" on NodeJS. Most of what I've read\nseems to dive right in at a level above my head. (I'm reasonably familiar with\nJavascript, although 90% of what I write is utilizing jQuery nowadays, so I'm\nhazier about the core than I used to be.\n\n~~~\nbdickason\nI found the 'How to Node' blog to have the best examples that actually\ncontained working code (Express and other sites' example code doesn't seem to\nbe updated or work): <http://howtonode.org/>\n\nI also stumbled upon this node project on Github and was learning from how he\nput stuff together: <https://github.com/kelper/Poll>\n\n------\nauganov\nI don't know of any, let alone decent.\n\nI think the best you can do is find some tutorials but even in that department\nthere's nothing to be crazy about.\n\nSo far it looks like the prime way to learn about it is to experiment (well I\nguess that's the best way anyways).\n\nIt would be a good idea to look into some general JavaScript specific stuff if\nyou're not very familiar with it.\n\nOr just download some sample projects from github and look at that during your\nflight, haha.\n\n4 hours is not that much anyways, so you might just as well give up on it.\n\n------\nmcotton\nPeepcode has a great screencast. It is a little dated but you can follow along\nusing older versions of node. This is a good place to start. I am starting to\ndo my own 5-minute screencasts.\n\n<http://mcottondesign3.appspot.com/blog/screencasts>\n\n------\nklaut\nSometime ago I came across those two (but haven't started reading them yet):\n<http://nodebeginner.org/>, <http://nodetuts.com/handson-nodejs-book.html>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMobile is eating the world - kevinbluer\nhttp://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2016/12/8/mobile-is-eating-the-world\n======\nmooreds\nLoved the focus on retail and cars as future opportunities for software to\nremake the world.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: What is your startup idea? - shubhamjain\nHN has plenty of smart folks from variety of industries, backgrounds, and experience who can give valuable feedback and suggestions to a business idea. Even though the community&#x27;s judgement has proven to be fallible (cue: dropbox launch thread), I think it&#x27;s worth taking the feedback into account.<p>Do you have a business &#x2F; product idea in mind that you&#x27;d like to start? Tell us about it and how it can solve a problem.\n======\nshubhamjain\nBetter Cloud Logging — Most of the logging solutions I have seen rely on\nsending big dump of log files which, then, can be searched. I think it creates\nunneeded noise as most of the logging data generated with server applications,\nby default, might not be useful enough. A better approach might be to send\nlogging messages as events manually from various parts of your stack. It can\nbe a better solution to debug a problem as following the flow becomes easier.\n\nFor eg, instead of relying on stack trace generated by an exception, we can\nask developers to carefully log every step in the application flow (\"request\nfrom user\", \"starting database\", \"user authenticated\", \"authentication\nfailed\") as it'll give a clearer picture on how the error happened.\n\nIn some ways, it combines the features of Mixpanel and Rollbar. In fact,\nsometimes, I have found event logging to be more fruitful rather than using\nsomething like Loggly.\n\n------\njnunoferreira\nThe timing is probably not ideal, as the system is not yet fully functional,\nbut there will be very interesting opportunities using the Galileo satellite\nnavigation system...the paid version will have up to 1cm precision, which will\nrevolutionize many GIS/navigation areas (and likely open up a lot of new ones)\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_(satellite_navigation)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_\\(satellite_navigation\\))\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nMalcolm Gladwell, Meet This Genius Called The Indian Parent - npguy\nhttp://statspotting.com/2013/01/malcolm-gladwell-meet-this-genius-called-the-indian-parent/\n\n======\nrikacomet\nhmm, I would have loved to hear, more proof of the naming pattern, but from\nwhat I read, it refers that naming your child with A, gives them a significant\nadvantage, well that might be true uptil a point, for ex: my own name starts\nwith A,so for 12 years of school, I was the Roll no1, It did had its own\nadvantage, in the form that I used to sit in the front, thus being more\nattentive out of the fear of getting caught by the teacher, and was exposed to\nmore of their attention. But as I said, that advantage stays uptil a point, it\ndoesn't mean that those who were named by any other letter, were not able to\nbe successful in life, as its not just the name, but also, genes, emotional\nstructure,influences, exposure, self discovery, etc.\n\nOne fat guy racing another slim guy to the burger joint, might be at\ndisadvantage by more than few grams, but that doesn't mean he can't find a\nshortcut, or what if the burger joint is too far away, and the slim guy loses\nout on stamina :)\n\n~~~\nnpguy\nTrue. Some of these variables do not matter in the long run. But it gives some\nshort-term positives, that might get amplified. Life has big amplification\neffects - [http://statspotting.com/2012/12/life-has-huge-\namplification-...](http://statspotting.com/2012/12/life-has-huge-\namplification-effects/)\n\n~~~\nrikacomet\nbut it is also true, that whoever has lots of such visible advantages, becomes\nthe favorite, and this energy/advantage is counter balanced by one big point,\nwhich is that people prefer to have a soft side/support for the underdog.\n\nSo it might give you advantage, in certain way, but then again, people aren't\ngonna just start naming their kids with A only :D\n\nThe guy B in your sited article above, have a way to turn around, what if\nwhile Candidate A was getting accostomed to the job at XYZ company, during\nthat time, he founded his own company, and even if in one year it is still in\nnatal stage, it would count in many cases as a better experience. Since He\ntook the challenge head on.\n\nIts as simple as they say: Success comes to people who find ways, and Failure\nto those who find excuses.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nVideo-to-Video Synthesis [video] - nakami\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1OwOd-war8\n======\nJohn_KZ\nIt's nice but I wonder why there's still nobody that tried to create a\nspatially coherent 3D space from the input before re-synthesizing the output.\nIt's definitely possible and lots of work on this was done in late 2017. There\nshould be more papers on creating and rendering 3D representations by now.\n\n~~~\nrzzzt\nI vaguely remember a demo showing a 3D model of a winter trail, which was\nrecreated (and textured) from a sequence of photos. It was done with\nPhotosynth, I believe:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynth)\n\n~~~\npiceas\nI didn't find the winter trail video but stumbled upon some interesting links:\n\n2018 3D Scanning: A Comprehensive Survey\n[https://arxiv.org/abs/1801.08863](https://arxiv.org/abs/1801.08863)\n\n2012-2014ish BigSFM: Reconstructing the World from Internet Photos\n[http://www.cs.cornell.edu/projects/bigsfm/](http://www.cs.cornell.edu/projects/bigsfm/)\n\nDavid J. Crandall\n[https://www.cs.indiana.edu/~djcran/#research](https://www.cs.indiana.edu/~djcran/#research)\n\nAndrew Owens [http://andrewowens.com/](http://andrewowens.com/)\n\nAlso check out his on/offscreen audio source separation work. It's pretty\nneat. (2018) Audio-Visual Scene Analysis with Self-Supervised Multisensory\nFeatures\n[http://andrewowens.com/multisensory/](http://andrewowens.com/multisensory/)\n\nNoah Snavely\n[http://www.cs.cornell.edu/~snavely/](http://www.cs.cornell.edu/~snavely/)\n\n(2018) MegaDepth: Learning Single-View Depth Prediction from Internet Photos\n[http://www.cs.cornell.edu/projects/megadepth/](http://www.cs.cornell.edu/projects/megadepth/)\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGbMWAFMMBQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGbMWAFMMBQ)\n\nWith live demo page :)\n[http://megadepthdemo.pythonanywhere.com/](http://megadepthdemo.pythonanywhere.com/)\n\n------\npwaai\nDoes this mean that in the future we could literally be able to play FMV\ngames?\n\nBasically, an AI that has been trained on every digital film there is which in\nturn also generates unique permutations to further increase the training\ndata....\n\nWill be able to conjure up things like Breaking Bad Season 8: 'Lil Heisenberg\nand pretty much even helmet cam videos from war zones in Donetsk that you\ncould control in real time....\n\nSingularity indeed.\n\n~~~\nabraham_lincoln\nI want remakes of movies where characters can be swapped out from unrelated\nmovies.\n\nBasically, a simulation, with the plot as objectives.\n\n------\nperson_of_color\nInteresting but how do we know the examples are not cherry-picked?\n\n~~~\ngwern\nWell, first, Nvidia has a good track record. This is not their first video-to-\nvideo paper, and they've also released impressive things like ProGAN; they\nrelease not just the source code, but trained models as well. People have\ntrained their own models (slowly) and poked at the released models. The\naverage result might not be _quite_ as good, but they'll be close.\n\nSecond, in this case, they've also released source code and the trained\nmodels. The trained models aren't in the Github repo, but hosted on Google\nDrive and they provide scripts for downloading them:\n[https://github.com/NVIDIA/vid2vid/tree/master/scripts](https://github.com/NVIDIA/vid2vid/tree/master/scripts)\n\nIf you are doubtful, simply install Pytorch, download the models, and give the\nvideo generation a try. (You don't need a GPU, even, since for generating some\nsamples once, a CPU will be acceptably fast.)\n\n~~~\nscreye\nWait, this algorithm works at real-time on consumer grade hardware ? I am\nimpressed.\n\nI thought a forward pass for the model would be a lot more expensive than\nthat.\n\n~~~\ngwern\nI never said it was realtime. I said it was acceptably fast on CPU ie. it'd\ntake a few minutes/hours to generate some samples and convince yourself that\nthey did not cherrypick a tiny handful of good quality samples out of a\nuniverse of lousy ones. I would very roughly guesstimate their 2000px model\nprobably would take ~0.5s/frame on a GPU, so multiply by the usual >10x CPU\nslowdown, you can generate a 30fps 30s snippet in maybe an hour or so.\n\n------\ncjdell\nWonder if this can be used to do video upscaling on steroids. Would love to\nwatch classic TV shows in glorious 4K resolution.\n\n~~~\ndrcode\nWhat I want is classic movies in full 360 vr... I'm guessing this will exist\nin a few years, at the current pace of things.\n\n------\nKeyframe\nWhat is the state-of-the-art in segmentation mapping in video?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhy Shamans Stand Apart - wormold\nhttps://www.sapiens.org/culture/shaman-uncertainty-specialists/\n======\nuptownfunk\nThis is one of those realms that is hard to penetrate with traditional\nhypothesis-based scientific study. I doubt we will ever get to a point where\nwe can do some type of double-blind study as to the efficacy of shamans and\nshamanism. The data will largely be anecdotal and will thus easily lead to\nspeculation.\n\nThe result? I'm not entirely sure. Perhaps it's one of those things we will\nhave to explore on our own, individually. Each of our experiences will be\nunique, and more likely than not, in contradiction with one another.\n\nI applaud and respect those, particularly in academia, who can both\nacknowledge the boundaries of their knowledge, and yet be open to the idea\nthat there remains a lot beyond our understanding currently. And those that\npartake in these substances, via anthropological study or for personal\nreasons, can let the experience speak to them for what it is, beyond the need\nor reflex to break it down in an academically rigorous, scientific manner.\n\nThe author of the article tries to make some analogy between shamans and\nfinancial money managers. I don't think anything could be further off. It's\nspeculation like this that results in the ill-informed decisions that lead to\npotentially life-saving treatment modalities being branded as Schedule I\nrestricted substances. In any case, an academic trying to make sense of the\nancient healing mystic wisdom traditions is like Einstein trying to make sense\nof a Dali painting. Maybe you can get somewhere, but you're not going to\nreally _get_ it until you voyage there yourself.\n\nAnyhow, whether it's Golden Teachers, or Bufo Alvarius, may your experience be\nenlightening, magical, and transformative!\n\n------\nkingkawn\nI’d argue that the sleep deprived decade-long social isolation of modern\nphysicians make them science’s equivalent of a trance practitioner.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIPhone And Android Now Make Up 25 Percent of Smartphone Sales - Concours\nhttp://techcrunch.com/2010/05/19/iphone-android-25-percent/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29\n======\npotatolicious\nFrom the article:\n\n> _\"Can Android sales catch up to the iPhone?\"_\n\nYes, of course it will. We're talking about a free OS that all the major\nmanufacturers have jumped behind - no way Apple can beat that.\n\nThe better question is: will the dominance of Android actually change anything\nfor the consumer, or will things be the same as they are currently (i.e.,\nfractured UIs, no consistent experience, poor compatibility even within a\nsingle manufacturer, etc)\n\nGoogle IMHO has done a poor job so far keeping Android as a single unified\nplatform - it seems more and more like it's just a marketing word for\nMotorola, HTC, et al to latch onto.\n\n------\nmclin\nYes, take that J2ME! Now I'll never have to learn you and your ridiculous\nacronyms.\n\n~~~\nConcours\ncare to elaborate for the rest of us?\n\n~~~\npohl\nProbably in reference to the various API \"profiles\": IMP, MIDP, CLDC, and\nmyriad lesser-known acronyms:\n\n<http://www.ericgiguere.com/j2me/acronyms.html>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nScotland plans to make petrol and diesel cars obsolete by 2032 - prostoalex\nhttps://www.engadget.com/2017/09/05/scotland-petrol-diesel-phase-out-ev/\n======\ndjrogers\nObsolete is a pretty strong term, as is the date:\n\n\"Come 2032, not all cars will be ultra-low emission, but Scotland hopes that\nthe majority will either be powered purely by electricity or have a hybrid\noption.\"\n\nGood goal, bad headline.\n\n~~~\ncag_ii\nObsolete does not mean nonexistent.\n\nIf the goal as the article claims is to \"phase out all petrol and diesel car\nsales\", then obsolete seems about right.\n\n~~~\ndjrogers\nObsolete is defined as: \"no longer produced or used; out of date.\"\n\nNo longer sold in Scotland does not equate to no longer produced or used, and\neven at that they do not actually plan to forbid sales of ICE vehicles by\n2032.\n\n------\ntherealidiot\nDoes any manufacturer make 'simple' EVs? I mean that as in fewer computers. My\ncurrent car is about 18 years old and besides the ECU there's not that much\ngoing on. No touchscreen controls, no telemetry. I hope that one day I'd be\nable to switch to an EV but I'm disappointed by most of them (and yes I\nunderstand I'm a minority in disliking smart everything)\n\n~~~\nkagamine\nYou're not as alone as the media might lead you to think. There is a lot of\nhype and marketing going on with EVs to get people to adopt this change in\ntechnology that is consumer funded.\n\nI agree with you, there are too many nice-to-have features in cars that add to\nthe [unnecessary] complexity of these vehicles. Late 90 cars started with\nthis, adding air-bag suspension and corner-leveling systems and it has since\ngrown into automatic windscreen wipers when it rains, automatic lights when it\ngets dark (like you aren't sitting there looking out the big window), touch\nscreens and gadgets. Some things are useful, for example electric mirrors,\nothers not so much for example 5 different memory positions for the driver's\nseat where before you just pulled the lever under the seat to move it forward\nor back. IN case you think this is not a problem it can cause problems with\nother critical electronic components: I had a dealership's workshop turn off\nmy electric seats in the BCU (BCU = body control unit, the PC of the car) and\nthis meant that because the ABS is linked through the seat, something to do\nwith collisions and the seat moving, the ABS warning light came on leading to\na MOT/EU-control fail. I had to buy a code-reader machine to turn it back on\nmyself. On models of this car without electric seats this is not a problem. So\nmany other things I could mention like this example. Simplicity, as I a m sure\nHN coders and the like will agree, is best.\n\n~~~\njlebar\nI also don't want tons of screens and so on in my car. But automatic\nheadlights? Where I live, I see (or, well, don't) cars driving at night\nwithout their lights _all the time_. Automatically turning them on when it\ngets dark seems like a no-brainer. The worst thing that happens is the sensor\nbreaks and then they become manual headlights...\n\n~~~\nkagamine\nI see the opposite problem where I live. Driving lights as they are referred\nto in Norway must be on during the day as well as at night. These are on the\nfront of the car. On the back newer vehicles have the lights off by default\nand come on when they sense darkness. This means I have followed many cars in\nhard rain on dark/dusky days and you can't see them up ahead. The law is that\nrear lights have to be on in conditions where they are necessary, but ignorant\ndrivers see light coming from the front of the car and don't think that people\nbehind them travelling at 110km/h need t see them up ahead. Automation didn't\nsolve any problem, cars used to have lights on front and back at all times,\nday and night (lots of tunnels in Norway), automation _created_ a problem.\n\n------\nmelling\nThe real push for electric cars is coming from China, the world’s largest.\nThey are requiring 8% of cars next year need to be electric or plugin hybrid.\nThey want to get that to 20% by 2025.\n\n[https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/29/renault-nissan-to-set-up-\nnew...](https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/29/renault-nissan-to-set-up-new-china-jv-\nwith-dongfeng-motor-for-electric-cars.html)\n\n~~~\ndmoy\nOh man that will be glorious, I can't wait for future trips to Beijing without\ngetting respiratory sickness. So far I'm like 7 for 7 on getting sick in\nBeijing.\n\n~~~\nams6110\nSo why do you keep going back? Family?\n\n~~~\ndmoy\nFamily, have to fly to Beijing then take the train, but typically spend a few\ndays in Beijing visiting friends who live there.\n\n------\nyCloser\nAll the \"plans to do stuff by 2050\" are completely useless. The one who did\nthe plan will not be in charge till that date, someone else will take over and\nchange/destroy the plan (or worse, add +20 years), and in politics this is\nsimply the way to go.\n\nThis is procastination at his finest and means \"doing nothing now\".\n\n~~~\nsmcl\nI see the point, but this doesn't necessarily mean its an empty gesture as\nthere is a precedent. Back in 2005 the Scottish government aimed for 18% of\nelectricity consumed to be generated by renewable sources by 2020 (later\nadjusted to 50%). This was met and exceeded in 2015 (59%). Granted this is a\nsmaller timeline but there is real backing for renewables here, especially\nsince the collapse of oil prices hit the local oil industry\n\n~~~\nandygates\nIn the case of electric vehicles, the long timeline means they can ease\ncharging facilities in without having a massive spend - they just come in when\ninfrastructure gets renewed. Visible charging facilities are one of the things\nthat breaks the \"chicken and egg\" adoption problem.\n\n------\nZeroGravitas\nA pragmatic money saving decision.\n\nThe price of batteries is falling steadily. EV prices are falling as a result.\nBy 2022 a new EV will cost less to buy than an equivalent ICE car. It would be\nfoolish to get to that point and have people wanting to buy the cheaper option\nbut not feel able to do so due to lack of charging points etc.\n\nOf course, if you take into account the lowered fuel costs and maintenance,\nthen the EV car becomes cheaper even earlier (though it depends on exactly how\nfar you drive and the relative costs of electricity and gasoline) but figures\nlike 2020 are mentioned for the TCO to be lower on a new EV.\n\nOf course that figure doesn't take into account costs/benefits like reducing\npollution in cities, health impacts, higher imports of fuel, meeting carbon\nobligations, balancing grid electricity and other externalities, which is why\ngovernments are currently subsidizing EVs to make them cheaper than ICEs (and\nshould probably continue to do so, even after they are cheaper than equivalent\nICE cars pre-subsidy, though it probably makes more economic sense to further\nraise gasoline prices and introduce a carbon tax).\n\n------\npjc50\nI'm very much in favour of this, but the article alludes to one of the\nproblems: the \"long tail\" of remote life.\n\nThe majority of the Scottish population lives in commuter range of Glasgow or\nEdinburgh. Here in Edinburgh we already have some hybrid buses so I can see a\nchange to pure electric happening gradually as they become available. There's\nalso no shortage of renewable energy to power the things.\n\nBut there are also some people who live remarkably remote lives in the\nHighlands and Islands. In the Highlands \"range anxiety\" is very real if your\nnearest large shop is 100 miles away. Whereas the islands may have limited\ngeneration capacity. I can see there being a range of exemptions for these\ncircumstances, although once petrol cars start to become unusual the petrol\npump prices will go up.\n\n~~~\njacquesm\nOne immediate consequence of transportation revolutions of the past is that\nsome regions that were considered un-inhabitable before suddenly became viable\npossibilities. It stands to reason that if in the future the 'energy budget'\nper person gets reduced to the point where vehicles that can do 800 Km un-\ninterrupted are extremely expensive that such locations will only be\naffordable to the rich with poorer folks condemned to living in or around the\ncities.\n\n~~~\npjc50\n> 800 Km un-interrupted\n\nThat's half the length of the UK! More realistically the longest journey\nrequired for a remote place to be habitable might be a round-trip from Durness\nnear Cape Wrath to Inverness, which might require a 400km range. Or half that\nif you can rely on recharging. Much of that would be on the A9 which the\narticle mentions will have chargers added to it.\n\nAlready you have the dynamic that much of the really hard poverty is urban.\nPeople already move to cities if possible to be where the support facilities\nare or, if all else fails, to beg on the streets.\n\nWhat I expect we might see a bit more of is modern self-sufficiency and\ntechno-crofting, where people's cash flow looks low but they grow their own\nfood and don't have to pay rent. Already renewables are making this easier on\nislands. H&I also seems like a good place for medium-range air cargo drones;\nrather than send a van on a 100km trip round the mountains, send a drone 25km\nover them.\n\n~~~\nZeroGravitas\nI can think of some potential benefits of an EV if you lived somewhere remote\nlike that. Charging at home would be even more convenient if your nearest\npetrol station was some distance away, possibly wasn't open 24 hours, and had\nhigher than usual prices due to the low traffic throughput. You'd also\nprobably drive more miles than average, meaning the lower fuel costs and\nmaintenance of an EV would add up faster. (I seem to recall a story about a\nrural delivery driver in the US that realised his per-mile reimbursements for\nfuel meant he could afford to buy and pay off a Tesla Model S with his fuel\nsavings)\n\nAn EV with a range extender for those emergency unexpected long trips could be\nthe best of both worlds, though a higher capacity EV may relatively soon be\ncheap enough to make that a poor choice.\n\n------\ngozur88\nThat's a weird headline. Governments can ban technology, but they can't make\nit obsolete.\n\n~~~\niainmerrick\nSounds like you're assuming a ban on combustion engines is the only thing a\ngovernment can do, but they have plenty of other options. They could offer tax\nincentives for EVs, for example, or fund research into EV technology.\n\n------\nStephenMelon\nGreat to see the Scottish Government leading on renewable energy again. I was\nworried that adding over 30 million cars to the grid would cause problems but\nhaving looked into it it looks like it would add less than half a percentage\npoint onto UK energy consumption at current utilisation rates.\n\nI do wonder how it will affect the PCP market though as the future value of\npetrol and diesel cars will presumably become more difficult to predict?\n\n------\nedh649\nI've heard that these future 'bans' on ICEs are actually just bans on pure\nICEs and apparently vehicles with even just stop-start technology are classed\nas 'Micro-Hybrids' which would be allowed after these 2032, 2040 dates.\n\n------\nnmeofthestate\nPedantry - the UK government isn't the \"English\" government as it's referred\nto in the article. England isn't the same thing as the UK.\n\n------\nafsina\n...by subsidizing with oil exports. Like Norway.\n\n~~~\npjc50\nThe revenue from the oil fields goes to the UK government, not the Scottish\ngovernment, a subject of some controversy.\n\n~~~\nafsina\nThanks. No wonder they could not secede before.\n\n~~~\npjc50\nSecession or \"UDI\" as some people keep talking up _would_ give the Scottish\nGovernment the oil revenue, as well as several billion other headaches and be\na disaster.\n\nThe only viable route to independence is the legal one. Unless we get the\n\"full collapse\" Brexit.\n\n------\nmerrua\nIs that the same as the India deadline?\n\n------\njkingsbery\nThe article didn't say what the source of the energy powering those charging\nstations will be in 2032. Presumably much of it will still be carbon-based.\n\n~~~\nmikeyouse\nNah, less than 30% of their electricity is carbon based today. They won't have\nany problem decarbonizing entirely over the next 15 years. They actually just\nshuttered their last coal plant in 2016, so I'm curious what last year's\ngeneration numbers looked like.\n\n[http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Business/TrendE...](http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Business/TrendElectricity)\n\n[https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment...](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/24/longannet-\npower-station-closes-coal-power-scotland)\n\n~~~\njkingsbery\nCool, I didn't realize. Learned something new today.\n\n------\nstretchwithme\nI've decided to reduce the use of internal combustion engines by 90% worldwide\nin the next 50 years.\n\nThat's right. I'm setting this goal.\n\nBut then it's easy to set goals in the distant future when there are\ninevitable trends that will already make it happen.\n\n~~~\nprawn\nA headline/goal is unlikely to come without practical, supporting actions\nwhich nudge people towards that goal. The headline is something though that\nspreads and is repeated frequently, getting more and more people thinking\nabout their actions - collectively these things will get people to that goal.\n\nI don't think it's without value.\n\n~~~\nstretchwithme\nThe move away from ICEs is already well underway, in my opinion. Headlines\naren't going to slow it down or accelerate it. Companies like Tesla make it\nhappen.\n\n------\ntrapperkeeper74\nBanning all FFs sounds like a worthy objective overall but it seems like\nbikeshedding to ban small ICEs yet trains, tractor trailers, farm and mining\nequipment, jet aircraft and industrial sources receive little regulation.\nInstead, the average person is taxed, penalized, inconvenienced and regulated\nfor the tiny amount of pollution they produce in comparison to greater\npolluters.\n\n~~~\nDaiPlusPlus\n> ...the tiny amount of pollution they produce in comparison to greater\n> polluters\n\nA quick google search found this article with numbers pulled from a 2012 US\nEnergy Information Administration (eia.gov) report:\n[https://www.c2es.org/energy/source/oil](https://www.c2es.org/energy/source/oil)\n\nTransportation is the main consumer of petroleum, accounting for 70% of usage,\nof which 58% is light vehicles alone - so that's 40% of total - that's still\nfar higher than \"industrial\" use of 25%. Tack on medium/heavy trucks which I\nassume includes F-150 trucks and giant off-road dump-trucks alike and it's\nmore than half of total petroleum consumption.\n\nSo no - eliminating fossil-fuels from personal transport alone, while leaving\nindustry alone, will still have a huge beneficial impact on greenhouse gas\nproduction.\n\nBut you forget the halo and knock-on effects: as the market adapts to service\nnon-petrol consumers (e.g. fast EV chargers, battery-swap stations, etc) then\nindustries will adapt to take advantage of them too - it wouldn't surprise me\nthis meant the introduction of an EV John Deere tractor powered the same hot-\nswappable EV battery pack that might power a hypothetical Ford truck.\n\n~~~\ndjrogers\nI think the problem is that you're eliminating the cleanest and most regulated\nsegment of the market, so even if it's 40% of the FF used, it's a much smaller\nfraction of pollution produced.\n\n~~~\nmikeyouse\nWhich is mostly irrelevant if carbon is your concern since CO2 emissions are\nfixed per unit of fuel.\n\n~~~\nDaiPlusPlus\n> CO2 emissions are fixed per unit of fuel.\n\nIs this true though? Does it matter on the grade of fuel, or petrol vs diesel?\nI think I read that leaded fuel emits less CO2 than unleaded fuel, but I'd\ndefinitely choose more CO2 than lead in the air, tyvm.\n\n------\ndsfyu404ed\nIf they have the desire to make this a priority and are willing to sink the\nmoney to pull it off then power to them.\n\nIIRC CA had a similar target about electric cars for 2000ish and we all know\nhow that worked out.\n\nIt's easy to dream big. That dirty thing called reality likes to get in the\nway. Being an early adopter is expensive.\n\n~~~\nDaiPlusPlus\nI recommend watching \"Who Killed the Electric Car?\" \\- it explains most of the\nhistory of EV cars in California. I disagree with its conclusion that battery\ntechnology was not to blame - I feel that range-anxiety is a real concern and\nthe GM EV1's range of under 100 miles using bulk lead-acid or 140 miles using\nNiMH batteries was, and remains, inadequate. Compare to today's Telsa's S and\nX 250-300+ mile range.\n\nThat - and the program was open to easy sabotage.\n\n~~~\ncptskippy\n100-140 miles is inadequate for a lot of people however it is more than enough\nfor others. Even if a multi-car family adopts 1 EV it makes a difference.\n\n~~~\nTeknoman117\n100-140 miles is more than adequate for nearly all of the United States. While\nthere are people who drive farther, the vast majority of the citizens of this\ncountry travel less than 40 miles for work, and I don't know anyone who would\ndrive that far for groceries. People tend to want to buy a car for the largest\ntrip they can imagine they'd take, even if that event may only happen a few\ntimes in the vehicle's lifetime.\n\n~~~\nZanni\nYou're assuming that you always start from a full charge (an assumption I used\nto make before I got an EV). That's not always the case. I live in a\ntownhouse, so I'm in the process of getting a charging station installed (it's\nbeen six months so far and we're still in the paperwork stage ...) In the\nmeantime, I charge where I can. That means I almost _never_ start my day with\na full charge. Worse, there are only a few places I _can_ charge, and my best\noptions add 20 miles of range in an hour. Say I start my day with 70 miles of\nrange, which should be more than adequate for my ~45 miles of round trip\ncommute. But an emergency comes up and I have to run an errand. It's just a\nshort 10-mile trip, but now I'm coasting in to home with just 5 miles of range\nleft ... if my meter is accurate (it's not), if traffic's not bad (it might\nbe), etc. Charging stations are few and far between, which means the nearest\none might be outside of my remaining range. Or, if I can get to one, it might\nbe occupied. At a gas station I can just wait five minutes. At a charging\nstation, I might have to wait _hours_ for someone who's trying to get a full\ncharge.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nOne-Third of U.S. High School Students Now Own an iPhone - fhoxh\nhttp://www.macrumors.com/2012/04/03/one-third-of-u-s-high-school-students-now-own-an-iphone/\n\n======\nPagingCraig\n\"extensive survey of 5,600 U.S. high school students\"\n\nSo extensive...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSaving Science - Hooke\nhttp://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/saving-science\n======\nlutusp\nQuote: \"First, scientific knowledge advances most rapidly, and is of most\nvalue to society, not when its course is determined by the “free play of free\nintellects” but when it is steered to solve problems.\"\n\nBut the history of science boldly and flatly contradicts this claim. The most\nproductive and society-reshaping products of science arise in pure, not\napplied, research.\n\nQuote: \"Second, when science is not steered to solve such problems, it tends\nto go off half-cocked in ways that can be highly detrimental to science\nitself.\"\n\nAlso contradicted by history. As just one example, the success of Bell Labs\nover the decades resulted, not from a focus on solving particular problems,\nbut a focus on research for the sake of research -- pure science.\n\nThe author of the article raises an alarm about a supposed scientific crisis,\nand eventually reveals what he thinks is the source of the problem -- a waste\nof scientific talent spent on pure research. He needs to read the history of\nscience with an open mind.\n\nQuote: \"It was military purchases that kept the new transistor, semiconductor,\nand integrated-circuit industries afloat in the early and mid-1950s.\"\n\nThat's true, but it's misleading because the development of the transistor at\nBell Labs wasn't an applied science project, it resulted from pure research in\nmaterials science and physics.\n\nThe author isn't reporting on the state of science, he's complaining that it's\nnot what he thinks it should be, in a way that stands at odds with science's\nhistory.\n\n~~~\nyummyfajitas\nI think your claims require a bit more backing than mere assertion. Certainly,\nsome of the most important research (now described as \"pure\") was done with\napplications immediately in mind.\n\nFor example, Newtonian physics always had the goal of calculating artillery\ntrajectories. Nuclear physics had the goals of energy/weapons. Probability\ntheory, operations research, and most of our modern computational\ninfrastructure came directly from people trying to do applied work. Nonlinear\nwave equations, to discuss a niche example I know well, are primarily\nmotivated by applications in photonics.\n\nI'm very well aware of the many anecdotes of very pure research turning out to\nbe useful later. But there are also a huge number of anecdotes of pure\nresearch being directly motivated by providing theoretical justification\nfor/analysis of applied work.\n\nSo I don't see any compelling reason to believe your unsupported assertions.\n\n~~~\nssivark\nHere are a couple of examples:\n\n1\\. Quantum mechanics was never motivated with the thought of semiconductors\n(therefore computing technology). If you were motivated by building a\ncomputer, you would never have discovered quantum mechanics.\n\n2\\. Probability theory was \"invented\" to understand/solve gambling problems.\nNobody anticipated how widely it would be used.\n\nWhen paradigm shifts occur, it takes a long time for the effects to percolate,\nbefore we can even get a feel for the space of possible applications. However,\nif resources (including smart people's time) are not spent laying the\nfoundations, one could never have taken aim at the applications! If one is\nalways chasing applications, who spends time and money on the preliminary\nlegwork?\n\nAt any point, if resources are directed through some small set of people who\ndecide and enforce the directions to be pursued, then the outcomes will be\nmore representative of their biases than reality. Those few people effectively\nact as a bottleneck for human ingenuity.\n\n~~~\nyummyfajitas\nFirst of all, quantum mechanics _was_ motivated by the thought of\nsemiconductors. One of the primary use cases of it was explaining the\nphotoelectric effect [1]. Secondly, other primary motivations for QM were\nexplaining and predicting chemical reactions, radiation sources, and nuclear\nenergy.\n\nSecondly, probability and statistics - as you note - were invented to\nunderstand/solve gambling problems. Virtually every early advance was then\nmade by people attempting to _use_ it. These include Gauss predicting the\norbit of Ceres, Graunt and Halley (yes, he also spotted Halley's comet) doing\ninsurance, Galton and Pearson studying evolution and developing eugenics, and\nGosset using statistics to brew better beer.\n\nProbability and statistics are perhaps the worst possible example of pure\nresearch that - purely by chance - happens to be useful later.\n\n[1] Interestingly, the classical belief that the photoelectric effect proves\nthe quantization of light is wrong. The Schrodinger equation + continuous\nelectromagnetic fields actually exhibit the photoelectric effect.\n\n~~~\nssivark\nClaiming that quantum mechanics (QM) was motivated by semiconductors is\nbordering on discussing in bad faith.\n\nA glance at [1] will show that people were thinking about issues leading up to\nQM for several decades. Planck's equation relating energy to frequency of\nlight (in several ways the first \"quantum\" idea that conceived what we today\ncall Planck's constant) was motivated by understanding the \"ultraviolet\ncatastrophe\" [2] (which was a purely \"theoretical\" endeavour as some would\ncall it today). Planck's work preceeded Einstein's explanation of the\nphotoelectric effect by several years. Even when the photoelectric effect was\nobserved, it was first noticed in zinc (IIRC); it was only in the 1930s that\nQM was applied to understand the functioning of semiconductors.\n\n _You are confusing all the things we use QM for today with all the reasons\nfor which it was first conceived._ Moany of those reasons of course spurred\ndevelopment in QM _after it was conceived_ \\-- but none of those motivations\nwould have conceived QM.\n\nWith regards to your comment on the development of probability:\n\nThere was always a reason/purpose something was conceived. So claiming that it\nwas \"motivated by applications\" is tautological. _The relevant question to ask\nis whether the applications today are different from the original\nmotivations._ If they are, then frankly, it doesn't matter what the original\nmotivations were... the idea would have been difficult to conceive starting\nwith the eventual application in mind. Eg: Without an understanding of\nprobability, linear algebra and differential equations, there would have been\nno quantum mechanics. Somebody observing the photoelectric effect could not\nhave developed those tools for their \"application\".\n\nI notice your other comment on the thread (OP) talks in analogy with physical\ntraining. IMHO, such an analogy is misguided for endeavours which cannot be\nreasonably well specified so as to be manageable (in that it can be managed,\nwith the goal in mind). Basic research is often not amenable to that because\nit has tons of unknown unknowns [3].\n\n[1]:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_quantum_mechanics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_quantum_mechanics)\n\n[2]:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet_catastrophe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet_catastrophe)\n\n[3]:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_known_knowns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_known_knowns)\n\n~~~\nyummyfajitas\nThe photoelectric effect was first discovered in silver chloride solution. I\ndon't know that much about the energy bands of silver chloride, so I won't\ncomment about whether that was a semiconductor. (I also know very little about\nliquids, basically all the physics I did happened in semiconductors.)\n\nThe first solid state demonstration was in selenium, which is a semiconductor.\nThis is what I was thinking of when I said that the photoelectric effect was\nsemiconductor physics.\n\n[http://www.pveducation.org/pvcdrom/manufacturing/first-\nphoto...](http://www.pveducation.org/pvcdrom/manufacturing/first-photovoltaic-\ndevices)\n\n _The relevant question to ask is whether the applications today are different\nfrom the original motivations. If they are, then frankly, it doesn 't matter\nwhat the original motivations were... the idea would have been difficult to\nconceive starting with the eventual application in mind._\n\nYou are defining \"pure\" in a far more expansive way than the article does.\nYour definition is actually so broad that it doesn't contradict the article at\nall.\n\nThe article claims that science, with the goal of building cool military\napplications (or presumably life tables or brewing beer) will work better than\ncuriosity driven applications. Then it claims the fruits of those labors will\nbe useful elsewhere. Now you seem to be agreeing with this, or at least not\ndisagreeing.\n\nNote that the article isn't saying \"don't figure out fundamental physics\".\nIt's saying \"go build a giant wall of ice to keep the mexicans out and a\nbetter understanding of pure thermodynamics will be one output of that\nproject.\"\n\nAlso note that I'm not arguing _for_ the premise of the article, necessarily.\nI'm simply arguing that it can't be casually dismissed without even an\nargument. My analogy is meant to be suggestive, not to prove the point.\n\n~~~\nlutusp\n> The photoelectric effect was first discovered in silver chloride solution. I\n> don't know that much about the energy bands of silver chloride, so I won't\n> comment about whether that was a semiconductor.\n\nHad the first example of the photoelectric effect originated in a\nsemiconductor, that cannot be used to argue that the research was motivated by\nthe goal of practical application. By that reasoning, the fact that particle\nphysics is about atoms, and that atoms can be used to make weapons, could be\nused to construct an absurd argument that all research that involves atoms has\nthe ultimate goal of designing weapons.\n\n> The article claims that science, with the goal of building cool military\n> applications (or presumably life tables or brewing beer) will work better\n> than curiosity driven applications.\n\nThe phrase \"curiosity driven applications\" assumes what it should be proving.\nNot all curiosity into nature has application in mind, indeed that's not now\npure research is defined.\n\n> You are defining \"pure\" in a far more expansive way than the article does.\n\nPure research is research meant to discover properties of nature, without any\nconcern for practical application. That's hardly worth discussing as though\nthere's any controversy about the definition.\n\n------\nsimonh\nThe article calls this a lie:\n\n\"Scientific progress on a broad front results from the free play of free\nintellects, working on subjects of their own choice, in the manner dictated by\ntheir curiosity for exploration of the unknown.\"\n\n'On a broad front' I think that's probably correct. If you have specific goals\nyou want to achieve, sure you should probably direct research at that goal to\nhave the best chance of achieving it. But if you are more interested in\nexploring the wild frontiers of science, less directed efforts are the way to\ngo. Of course in reality we want to do both, but the article offers no such\ngrounded perspective.\n\nAnyway, who is being lied to and to what goal? Is anyone really fool enough to\nthink that all of US science spending has been purely provided to scientists\nfree of all strings? Has there really been an actual coordinated effort to\npersuade anyone that this is true?\n\nI read Bush's statement as an aspiration, not really a statement of\nincontrovertible fact. Can aspirations be lies? Is there some terrible\nconspiracy afoot? This pudding is being very heavily over-egged.\n\nThe latter part of the article is a cogent and reasonable criticism of some of\nthe problems in modern science. There's a lot of house cleaning that needs to\nbe done. But that cause is not well served by dour, grandiosely pronounced,\nclickbaity conspiracy mongering.\n\n~~~\nhelthanatos\nI would call this article quite full of speculation. Why did it have to be so\nlong without a proper introduction or abstract?\n\n------\nyummyfajitas\nThe best way to get a human into good physical shape is to prepare them for a\nfight. I've never been in better shape than when I was boxing - I was strong,\nI was fast, my cardio was great. In theory, nowadays I should be in better\nshape. Rather than focusing my time on bag work, drills, footwork, etc, I\ncould be focusing on fitness. Yet in reality I'm nowhere near my fighting\npeak. I can do a lot of pullups, but I doubt I could crank out more than 20\nburpees right now.\n\nThe reason for this is that I've lost my focus: if my cardio sucks, the result\nis no longer _getting punched in the face_.\n\nIt's an interesting hypothesis, and one that should not be dismissed out of\nhand, that societies behave in the same way. Think about our modern malaise -\nwe have no grand projects, particularly in the public sector. All we do is\nfunnel money in the general direction of something we like - nondeterministic\noptimism, in Peter Thiel's language.\n\nConsider California high speed rail, supported by both the president and\ngovernor of CA. 8 years later lots of money has been spent but no track has\nbeen laid [1]. Would 8 years of delay on a vital project be acceptable to a\nnation preparing for war? I suspect not.\n\n[1] There is no technological barrier here. The Qinhuangdao–Shenyang high\nspeed rail - 250 miles long - was built in 4 years.\n\n~~~\nlmm\n> Think about our modern malaise - we have no grand projects, particularly in\n> the public sector.\n\nInterestingly I've heard that in economic return-on-investment terms grand\nprojects are almost always failures.\n\n> [1] There is no technological barrier here. The Qinhuangdao–Shenyang high\n> speed rail - 250 miles long - was built in 4 years.\n\nThe barriers are other than technological, sure - I don't know about\nCalifornia, but the things delaying the next high-speed rail line in my own\ncountry are court cases, appeals, and political disputes over matters like:\nsome houses need to be demolished to build the stations; the line might\ndisturb the ecology of some wetlands, the line will make a naturally beautiful\narea less so. Along with some analysis-paralysis issues (is this the best use\nof public funds? The model for the original analysis was wrong! Will the line\nstill be in the right place by the time it's built?)\n\nI suspect China, or a hypothetical America-at-war (or even America-at-cold-\nwar), would not worry about the first category, and would take higher risks on\nthe second. We've become a lot more risk-averse as a society, sure. I'm not\nconvinced that this isn't simply a rational response to a safer world, where\nmost citizens, on the whole, enjoy a pretty good life. Risking a few deaths\nand some blighted regions for the sake of a bit more growth makes more sense\nthe poorer you are.\n\n------\nacscott\nDidn't even see a mention of what science really is. I bet you many\n\"scientists\" don't know (pun intended) and couldn't tell you what science is.\n\nKnowing an experiment or observation is not repeatable _is_ knowledge that\n_can be_ useful. What are the causes of non-repeatability? That's even more\nuseful to know.\n\nThe observation and experimentation processes of science may be reflexive and\nwould be worth investigating.\n\nThe money spent on \"science\" has created ecosystems where the novel,\naccidental discovery might be more likely.\n\nThe claim that \"science\" is self-correcting must be supported by evidence.\n\nFinally, the media reporting of science does injustice to scientists by making\nclaims not put forth in publications so frequently, that you are wise to\ndisregard any media reporting of the science, and must go to the paper itself.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGoDaddy launches Flare, a community app for sharing and rating business ideas - barlog\nhttp://venturebeat.com/2016/05/26/godaddy-flare/\n======\nalistproducer2\nI suppose as long as you already have your product built before sharing it's\nprobably a good idea. I can't imagine just sharing an idea, having it get\ntraction, and then not immediately having that idea stolen.\n\n~~~\nsharemywin\nI would assume you have access to the list of people following it. So you have\na huge head start on someone that develops it but has no following.\n\nBeside most people don't blantly steal ideas. They have to their own twists\nwhich could completely change the magic.\n\nAnd if it's that great don't disclose it and patent it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Any tips on finding short term consulting gigs? - phpnode\n\nHelp! I'm a struggling single-founder, I've been working on my startup(s) and doing freelance web development (PHP/JS/HTML/CSS etc) since my former employer folded around a year ago. I've been able to find a steady stream of clients through friends, family and personal recommendations but I've pretty much exhausted this supply of customers and I'm starting to worry slightly. My main focus is my startup which I should be able to launch within a week or two, but there are of course no guarantees that it will succeed, or provide enough revenue to cover my living expenses, at least in the short term. So really my question is, how should I proceed from here? I have about enough money to cover my bills for the next 30 days, but that’s it and my partner is pregnant &#38; due in October!<p>I’ve considered freelancing sites such as e-lance etc, but these sites take a while to establish reputation, so the route to success seems to be – spend a month or two doing lots of cheap jobs to establish reputation, then start going for the bigger fish. The problem is I’ve left it too late to pursue this route, I’ll run out of money too quickly. \nYesterday the problem really hit home, so I spent 6hrs cold calling local businesses, just asking about their current websites or lack thereof, and although I got a few leads and some moderate interest (which I’ll follow up later), I’m not entirely encouraged.<p>I’ve reduced my outgoings as much as possible, but after a series of property maintenance nightmares (roofs leaking, boilers breaking etc) I have to pay a substantial amount in bills each month.\nI’ve considered getting a job, but senior web dev positions are few and far between in my area and I’d still struggle to cover my bills<p>So HN, what do you think I should do?\n======\njacquesm\nRepeat sales to the same customers are your mainstay as a consultant, how come\nthere are no repeat jobs?\n\n~~~\nphpnode\nBecause most of the people I've targeted have been small businesses who need a\nwebsite, but after the website is built there's not much opportunity to sell\nmore services. I do have a few customers that will give me more work in\nfuture, but most have spent their budgets and are waiting for their next\nfinancial year. I have some meetings this week that should drum up a bit more\nwork which will help but probably not enough to keep myself afloat.\n\n~~~\njacquesm\nThat sucks. Ok, let me check my 'to do' list and see if there is anything on\nthere that could be farmed out without first digging in to a code base that is\na decade old.\n\nWhat is your hourly rate ? Or do you do fixed price jobs?\n\n~~~\nphpnode\nI've sent you an email, thanks.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: (lambda code) - martyalain\nhttp://lambdaway.free.fr/workshop/?view=lambdacode\n======\nsova\nReally cool! Reminds me of everything I love about Clojure. and Clojurescript.\n\n~~~\nmartyalain\nThanks :)\n\n------\nmartyalain\n(lambda code) is focused on code, {lambda talk} on text. Your opinion is\nwelcome.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nGmail Weird Login Page  - gouggoug\nhttp://www.gmail.com\nAm I the only one seeing \"nee\" at the top of the gmail login page? Did someone at google forget to remove a debug line?\n======\ngabrielprioli\nI saw it too, just before the last <style> block.\n\nEdit: the string that is showing is \"nee\".\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nYour Code is Not Self Documenting - darthdeus\nhttp://progfu.com/post/2668280164/your-code-is-not-self-documenting\n\n======\nwccrawford\nEvery comment there disagrees with the post. Were you hoping to come here and\nfind people who will agree?\n\nI also disagree with it. Good code is as self-documenting as possible. Any\ngotchas should be explained in comments, but correct naming is way more\nvaluable than comments explaining what a function does.\n\nAny code that fails to be self-documenting needs to be refactored immediately.\n\n~~~\nerikb\nTo follow the ongoing culture of disagreeing, I disagree with you that bad\ncode needs to be refactored immediately.\n\nThat has a technical reason: \"Don't touch a running system.\" You know, you can\nnever be sure what you change there, if the code is really that bad.\n\nAnd it also has a management reason: Everything these days is about\nefficiency. You only have a limited amount of resources. That might be coders\nin your company, when you are the CEO. That might be free time, when you code\nfor yourself. But all these resources should be spent wisely. So, if\nrefactoring the code takes a lot of resources and the functionality of the\nsoftware actually stays the same, I would suggest to do that later, when it\nreally needs to be done because you need to change the functionality. And if\nit is selfwritten code, it might be smart to go on with the next project and\nimprove your coding quality through more experience over time and maybe later\ncome back to refactor.\n\n~~~\nlelele\n> That has a technical reason: \"Don't touch a running system.\" You know, you\n> can never be sure what you change there, if the code is really that bad.\n\nMy experience has been that \"Don't touch a running system.\" takes you to \"How\nthe heck does this thing work?\". And every time even little fixes get hairy\nand time-consuming. It's kind of when you listen to people justifying their\nuntidiness: they say they do know where to look for things. Yes, they do know,\nI'm sure, but can they find those things _quickly_ , especially when \"the shit\nhits the fan\"? Does their approach work when their lives get more complex? How\nwould they score against people who keeps things sorted and plan ahead? I have\nbeen a pretty untidy teenager, using these very same lame excuses, but\nnowadays I can't afford it.\n\n~~~\nerikb\nYour conclusions are soooo right. Really. It is exactly the same thing as\ntidyness in your room.\n\nWhere does this tidyness come from? It doesn't come from often cleaning up the\nshit you made, hopefully before it hits any fans. For most people it comes\nfrom having an order of things in your shelves and teaching yourself to not\ndrop everything you hold in your hand just where you don't need it anymore,\nbut put it back in the place where it belongs.\n\nMy argument is that - and that is where I can be right or wrong - you write\ngood or bad code because you have the skill to do so. And also that you write\ngood or bad code because you have an order for things and a (somewhat\nengineeringly/scientifical) process of writing code, that the readability in\nyour code does not come from saying \"I make it clean now\" but from the sum of\nall the small steps that produce the least amount of shit as a sideeffect.\n\nThe thing is, if you have ugly code that is not easy to understand, the author\ndidn't really understand the problem and the solution either. It was more the\nmagician approach, where you put in many things together and suddenly it works\napproxamitally how the author has planned (probably there are also no good\ndesigned structure documents and unit tests in such a case). And then he just\nsaid \"okay, now it's finished.\" If you come and \"refactor\" it, it is actually\nthat YOU will be the one who solves the real problem the first(!) time,\nbecause the ugly code obviously doesn't solve any problem well enough\n(otherwise, where does the bug reports come from that are so hard to solve).\n\nOkay, that is that. But from your argument, lelele, I wonder, if my secon\npoint was also unclear. I meant that you should of course handle the mess, but\nWHEN IT IS ABSOLUTELY NESSESARY. If you don't need to, if you can live with\nthe mess in this moment right now and if the problems (bugs etc.) are not that\nbad (e.g. don't need to be fixed at the moment, because there are bigger\nthings to do), then don't solve the problem NOW. BUT ALSO when the time comes\nand you have a bug, that really needs to be fixed you should take the time and\nenergy and really clean up the code first. In my small experience (2 years are\nnot enough to be really sure yet) a good process is the following:\n\n1\\. you discover a problem (through bug reports, dying servers, a screaming\nboss running your way, you-name-it)\n\n2\\. you define and evaluate the problem (Is it a problem? Do I(!) need to\nsolve it? Is it worth the time I will spent on it? etc.)\n\n3\\. you write unit tests to keep the actual thing that the program does\nwithout changes and find the place in the code where the bug occurs.\n\n4\\. now that you can not destroy functionality you plan how to change the\nsystem that it is more clean. (cleaning up the smallest amount of code\npossible)\n\n5\\. after cleaning up your code your problem either is already solved (happens\noften in my experience) or gets some fixing now (done by you of course).\n\nWith this process you reach many goals at once and make sure to not put in\nresources that are not nessesarily needed. Also you can see that this process\nis able to handle ugly code, situations where unit tests where forgotton to\nwrite and basically many kinds of mistakes that coders do because they are\nhumans (error prone and lazy).\n\nBy the way, the same process also works for new feature requests.\n\n------\nj_baker\nI grant that all code can't be self documenting. But you don't commit suicide\njust because you're going to die at some point anyway. Instead, you try to\nmake your life as long and happy as possible.\n\nYour highest priority should be to make your code self-documenting as\npossible, even though that isn't always possible.\n\nThat said, the author does have a valid point in that public APIs do need\ndocumentation. But I wouldn't go so far as to say that _every_ method (private\nor not) needs documenting. Unnecessary comments and documentation should be\ntreated like any other kind of useless code. They should be removed.\n\n------\nJach\nPerhaps not, but I don't think inline documentation is often very useful\neither and breaking code density is a jarring thing. External documentation\nexists for a reason (even if it's just doxygen-izing your inline docs instead\nof pointing people at the direct source), and I much prefer reading (and\nwriting) short READMEs, examples, or tutorials than digging through\nimplementation code if I'm interested in using something. And if I'm\nintegrating anything non-trivial I don't think little comments saying \"/* *\nexecutes the passed query string, not using prepared statements, throws\nSQLException, returns nothing */ public static void executeSql(String query)\nthrows SQLException {\" are useful or worth my time. Write comments when\nsomething needs some explanation not clear from the context, save the academic\ncomment-everything documentation for enterprise busywork or academia.\n\n~~~\nbeoba\nI think you're mixing up inline documentation with api documentation.\n\nFor inline stuff where it's explaining a complex/dense lump of code, it's\nuseful to keep it as close to the original code as possible, so that if\nsomebody updates the code, they're more likely to see/update the comments as\nwell.\n\n------\nerikb\nI think people are too harsh with the author. He is clearly in the beginning\nof his hacker path. I think everybody who disagrees here can remember a time,\nwhen he thought the same way. The author here got a basic idea very correct:\nYou want your code to be readable. And he still has to learn, that good code\nitself can be (and often is) the most readable way to express a problem and\nits solution. Often there just is no better way to express, what the coder\nwants to say.\n\nFor everything we code we have to keep in mind that every line we write must\nhave a meaning. That is true for code as much as for documentation. If the\nproblem is complex and the code is hard to grasp, but it is well written, then\nprobably every line of documentation you write will degrade the readability\nand also end up beeing a waste of the time for its author and its reader.\n\n~~~\nenneff\nI don't think people are being too harsh. He put his opinions out there in a\nvery proscriptive way. He didn't invite discussion, he merely dictated his\nopinions. And he is quite wrong.\n\nAdditionally, his blog is called ProgFu. That gives the impression that he is\nhighly skilled and experienced; an authority to be heeded, like the sensei of\na dojo. But if you look at his writings in total you can see that he's pretty\ngreen. His factual pieces are really useful, the opinion pieces less so.\n\nWhile I'm thinking about it: I'm dismayed by this trend of bloggers dispensing\nprogramming advice like they are Miyamoto Musashi himself (although he would\nnever display such hubris). Exchange of information is what's important. If\nyou have a personal experience, share it, and perhaps discuss the lessons\nyou've learned. But, please, don't write articles merely stating your opinions\nwithout backing them up with some evidence or experience.\n\n------\nwhyme\n\n      \"Almost all programmers type fast, say 400+ characters  \n       per minute. So how long does it take to write one two \n       lines of simple text explaining your code? 15 seconds \n       maybe?\"\n    \n\nOMG - is this true? He can't be talking about code - can he? I'm lone\nprogrammer & self taught. If it's true I must really suck because it takes me\nso much longer it's not funny. LoL - I have to stop and think, for minutes,\nalmost all the time.\n\n~~~\nbobds\nProgrammers who type that fast might not have enough time to think. Typing\nspeed is never the bottleneck.\n\n~~~\n5teev\nTrue, one of the most accomplished programmers I know merely hunts and pecks\non the keyboard.\n\n------\nmech4bg\nI like Google's viewpoint on this... \"incorrect documentation is a bug, and\nshould be fixed.\" Complaining about the code diverging from the comments\ntherefore comments are worthless is silly imo.\n\nWhile documentation should not be over the top and code should be readable, I\nam sick of seeing completely uncommented functions that are non-obvious. There\nis a happy medium of having easy to read and well styled code and accompanying\ndocumentation that explains any gotchas and difficult sections. Sometimes just\na written out purpose for the function can be surprisingly useful.\n\nIf you've worked in a company with a large shared codebase, you learn to love\ngood comments.\n\n------\nrbxbx\n\"Code consisting of ShortMethods can reveal the algorithm more directly than\nprocedural code usually does, while hiding the implementation.\"\n\n<http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ReadingRavioli>\n\n------\nShardPhoenix\nI don't think every function needs a comment, necessarily, but I have seen\n\"self-documenting\" used as an excuse for not documenting anything at all. It's\neasy to declare code understandable and readable when you're the one who wrote\nit.\n\n~~~\nrnemo\nAgreed. While the author tends to take the viewpoint that attempting to write\nself documenting code is almost a bad thing, and that's very wrong, I\nunderstand his frustration, because too many programmers these days seem to\nthink that documentation in the comments are either superfluous or a sign of\nbad code, and that's also just flat wrong. It's a shame that the author takes\nthe opposite extreme.\n\nLike most things in life, code documentation requires balance, and one should\nstrive to create code that is easy to read and understand, but good code\ncannot be easy to read and understand in all circumstances, and comments\nshould be used in any situation that confusion could possibly arise.\n\nFor my own code, aside from commenting on obviously confusing sections, I tend\nto create functions that have an easily understood purpose when called, but I\ntend to use 1-2 lines of comments when I declare the function so that I can\nfeel reasonably sure that anyone reading my code wont have too many questions.\nI've found through feedback that this is a fairly functional method of\ndocumentation.\n\n------\nanamax\nHow can I make my code explain why it wasn't done some other way, or two other\nways?\n\n~~~\nerikb\nThat is a very good point. But it is not contradicting the main point of most\npeople here. Of course there is good documentation and important\ndocumentation. It is just that most of the times your code does not need a big\nbloat of text around it.\n\nAnd I would say that your point is a much better example than the one used in\nthe blog post.\n\n------\nsliverstorm\nI'm not going to argue that you should not document your code, but two things\ncome to mind:\n\n1) With the backup example- you have indeed moved complexity elsewhere, but\nthe idea of that kind of setup is you logically separate complexity into a\nhierarchy so that the proper segment can be rapidly located, and is easy to\ncomprehend because it is isolated, and small chunks of complexity are not all\nthat hard to understand.\n\n2) Every example of well written self-documenting code I've ever seen is\npretty much superior to the alternative in every way, with the possible\nexception of small performance hits. It's generally a good goal to shoot for,\nwhether you document your code or not.\n\n------\nGroxx\n\n      // test 1 + 1 == 2\n      function testOnePlusOneEqualsTwo(){\n        return (1 + 1) == 2;\n      }\n    \n\nI find unnecessary documentation to be unnecessary.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCatching Gamma Rays with a Raspberry Pi - monsieurv\nhttps://blog.ytotech.com/2016/03/04/radiation-watch-raspberry/\n======\ngravypod\nIf you like Geiger counters then you should check out the ultramicron[0][1].\nIt is a small build using a soviet Geiger-miller tube for detection.\n\nI really want one, but I have no soldering ability.\n\n[0] - ftp://www.xn--\n80aighkbzclf7a.net:12013/%D0%94%D0%BE%D0%B7%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%80%D1%8B_%D0%9C%D0%B8%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD/%D0%A3%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0-%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD/\n\n[1]\n-[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKjtOTeAevg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKjtOTeAevg)\n\n~~~\nmonsieurv\nOh very interesting project! The thing is indeed very small for a counter with\na Geiger-Müller tube.\n\nYeah seems like it requires surface soldering, plus the doc in russian: not\nthe easiest assembly.\n\nThx for sharing!\n\n~~~\ngravypod\nI wish I could buy one, but the author is an extremely anti-consumer person. I\nwould love to some of these for testing.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nRemote-control your Slack bots with JSON - gliechtenstein\nhttp://blog.jasonette.com/2016/01/17/build-a-slackbot-with-jasonette\n======\ngliechtenstein\nUpdate: This is not from 2016, but actually a Fresh New post I published this\nmorning (in 2017!) but messed up the timestamp with jekyll, sorry for the\nconfusion!\n\nHi guys, I wrote the post, but the creator is @smcavinney1 on this thread,\nplease ask him any questions :)\n\nI personally thought this was really cool because it's a Slack bot that\nactually does something useful, and am super glad Jasonette enables cool\nprojects like these.\n\np.s. Could someone with the permission update the title so it doesn't say\n2016?\n\n------\nsmcavinney1\nThanks for posting this Ethan. Jasonette made creating this app a breeze for a\n'non-dev' like myself.\n\n------\nhashkb\nUsing a mobile app to control a chat bot is less elegant than using chat to\ncontrol a chat bot. I don't get it... isn't it just a mobile app with a chat\nintegration at that point? Or does it not even matter?\n\n~~~\nsmcavinney1\nThanks for the question about this. For some context we drink a lot of coffee\nat my office. We have two pots (bold & light roasts). People never know when\ncoffee is ready or brewing without going to the kitchen. We have a #coffee\nchannel so people can post that they are brewing, but then we had issues with\npeople stealing cups before the pot was done (don't do this). So this app\ngives an interface for people to just click their face and the bot will handle\nit from there. It says that a pot is brewing, and 12 minutes later will post\nthat the pot is ready.\n\nTo your point, it is just a mobile app with a slack integration. I built it to\ntest out jasonette, which was a great experience, but I have no delusions of\ngrandeur here.\n\n~~~\nkodis\n> we had issues with people stealing cups before the pot was done (don't do\n> this).\n\nThat's some amazingly annoying and inconsiderate behavior. We had the same\nproblem at one place where I worked, so when the coffee pot was low I had to\nnot only make a fresh pot, but then stand watch over it while it was brewing.\n\n~~~\nsmcavinney1\nI think it was more about ignorance about how it affects the flavor of the\nbrew. People are generally good about making a new pot after they kill it.\n\n~~~\nbradknowles\nI'm confused. In this context, what is \"stealing a cup\", and how does that\n\"affect the flavor of the brew\"?\n\n~~~\nrovr138\nWith coffee, what is extracted first tastes different from what you extract at\nthe end.\n\nThere are different compounds extracted at different times.\n\nIn espresso, a ristretto shot is a espresso that's been pulled short. Meaning\nthat it has the same volume of coffee but less water. Around half the water.\n\nRistretto shots tend to be less bitter and bolder. It's more concentrated.\n\n------\ncocktailpeanuts\nFinally a bot that actually does something useful, instead of just another\nassistant bot that everyone's making\n\n------\nfunkasaurus\nThanks Ethan! Would you mind updating the post with more instructions on using\nheroku or a way to host the json? I was trying to dump the generated json into\nS3 and point jasonette to the URL, but that doesn't work because the submit\naction still points to localhost. Any thoughts?\n\n~~~\nsmcavinney1\nHi, app author here. When I wrote the readme I wasn't expecting anyone to\nthink about it outside of my company. You can host this on Heroku, that's what\nI'm doing. Just make sure to add the environment files in the settings. Then\nyou can either build the a jasnonette app or use the relevant Jason apps and\npoint the url to <your-heroku-url>/jsonette.json\n\n------\njunke\nWhy \"in 12 minutes\"?\n\n~~~\nsmcavinney1\nThat's roughly the amount of time it takes for our coffee pot to brew 12 cups\nof coffee. So it posts immediately that a pot is brewing to save people a walk\nto the kitchen, and again when the pot is done.\n\n------\nmanojlds\n> Update: As a mistake I timestamped this as 2016, but this post was just\n> freshly published on January 17th of 2017. Sorry for the confusion! :D\n\nAlso, does 2016 really need the 2016 qualification?\n\n~~~\ngliechtenstein\nIt appears that HN automatically added the (2016) tag by looking at the\npermalink, which I mistakenly set as 2016 (still need to get used to 2017!),\nand that was what I was trying to say, because it looked as though the post\nwas written a year ago.\n\nSorry for the confusion!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFake pictures of faces are getting much harder to detect - dd36\nhttps://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-tech/deep-fakes-which-face-is-real/\n======\ndd36\nI wonder if these aren’t faces the algorithm has seen before? Has anyone\nreverse image searched the training database for a “made up” face.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLondon bans cars for a day in the fight against air pollution - known\nhttps://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/london-bans-cars-for-a-day-in-the-fight-against-air-pollution-npr5jtts5\n======\nJonnax\nThe Great Smog of London in 1952 was a 4 day smog that potentially killed\n12,000 people. [1]\n\nToday things are much better but living in pretty much any city around the\nworld means that you will exposed to higher pollution.\n\nReading the stats like below [2], it's always shocking to me that all\npoliticians who live in cities aren't demanding change.\n\n\" Worldwide ambient air pollution accounts for:\n\n    \n    \n        29% of all deaths and disease from lung cancer\n        17% of all deaths and disease from acute lower respiratory infection\n        24% of all deaths from stroke\n        25% of all deaths and disease from ischaemic heart disease\n        43% of all deaths and disease from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease\"\n    \n    \n\nIt's good that developments like electric cars, trains etc, mean that power\ngeneration can be centralized. Since even a fuel burning plant is more\nefficient than a car's engine.\n\nAnd there's the ability to use things like wind, tidal, nuclear, geothermal\ngeneration.\n\n[1]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog_of_London](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog_of_London)\n[2] [https://www.who.int/airpollution/ambient/health-\nimpacts/en/](https://www.who.int/airpollution/ambient/health-impacts/en/)\n\n------\njarym\nI agree with trying to reduce the number of cars in a city is a great goal for\ncongestion, safety and pollution.\n\nBUT\n\nHas anyone seen what it costs to get around on the tube? Or the ASTRONOMICAL\ncosts of train tickets if you live just outside the capital?\n\nIt costs me £8 to park my electric car in London and perhaps 40-60 minutes to\ndrive there. A train takes 30 minutes but costs almost £30 for a return\nticket. How is that reasonable? That ticket for ‘public’ transport is a huge\nchunk of ones salary; and that’s not even adding the cost of the tube into the\nequation.\n\n~~~\nIAmEveryone\nAren’t there far cheaper options for regular commuters? Here in Berlin, a\nsingle one-way ticket is €2.60, but a monthly is around €80. That’s less than\na euro per ride for the average person that commutes by subway and uses it for\nsome other trip every second day.\n\nTrains are, unfortunately, rather expensive, at least compared to flying and\nto taking a car you already own. I believe fuel and vehicle taxes should\nincrease to the point where they pay for most if not all of road construction\ncosts. Contrary to popular opinion, large parts of those costs are currently\nfinanced from general taxation.\n\nBecause tracks and stations make up the bulk of the cost of train rides,\nincreases in ridership have low marginal costs. Any move to get people to use\ntrains would therefore tend to lower per-trip costs.\n\n~~~\nleifg\nHaving lived in Berlin and now living in London I asked the same.\n\nThe monthly ticket that is very common in Germany either doesn't exist here or\nis ridiculously expensive. Even if you go by tube on a daily basis you are\nbetter off paying for each trip.\n\n~~~\ngcoleman\nThat's not true - season tickets are definitely cheaper than pay as you go if\nyou travel every day.\n\ne.g. Annual Travelcards give you 12 months travel for the price of ten and a\nhalf.\n\n[https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/how-to-pay-and-where-to-buy-\ntickets...](https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/how-to-pay-and-where-to-buy-tickets-and-\noyster/travelcards-and-group-tickets)\n\n~~~\njsmith99\nAnnual tickets are barely worth it if you just take the tube, not buses, and\ndon't use it at weekends. Single fare prices were frozen by the mayor, but\ntravelcards were not.\n\n------\nzimpenfish\nAlready demonstrated to dramatically drop pollution on e.g. Ride100 days when\nlarge sections of London are car free.\n\n2017 Ride100, [https://cyclingindustry.news/air-quality-sees-drastic-\nimprov...](https://cyclingindustry.news/air-quality-sees-drastic-improvement-\nalongside-ridelondon-route/)\n\n2018 Marathon, [https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-marathon-\nfigur...](https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-marathon-figures-show-\nmassive-89-per-cent-drop-in-air-pollution-a3821566.html)\n\n------\ntristanperry\nThere's a self-build TV show in the UK called 'Grand Designs' that had a great\nepisode[0] whereby their children were suffering badly with allergies (even\nbeing hospitalised at times). They stayed within London (albeit moving to a\nslightly better area for pollution) but built their house with filtered air\nsystems and low VOC products in mind - and their children's symptoms improved\ndramatically.\n\nIt's concerning how big of a role air pollution seems to be playing,\nconsidering it doesn't seem to be a mainstream concern.\n\n[0] - [https://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/home-\ngarden/interiors/des...](https://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/home-\ngarden/interiors/design-news/grand-designs-healthy-house-built-for-kids-with-\nlifethreatening-allergies-is-a-wakeup-call-for-all-a124476.html)\n\n~~~\ntoothandtail\nWouldn't it be better for a) their children and b) the environment (extra\nmaterials being used in the house) if they just moved out of London?\n\n~~~\nIAmEveryone\nHigh-density urban living is far better for the environment than rural. People\nusually live in less space, and with far less outside surfaces, reducing\nenergy usage for heating and cooling. Distance to work, shopping, and other\ndestinations is shorter, and use of public transport is far higher. Far less\nland is wasted on manicured single-family lawns rarely used. Density also\nallows sharing of rarely used manufactured goods between a neighbors or via\nrenting (power tools, washing machines, even cars).\n\n~~~\nbutteroverflow\nRelated podcast:\n\n[https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2018/11/12/epis...](https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2018/11/12/episode-22-joe-\nwalston-on-conservation-urbanization-and-the-way-we-live-on-earth/)\n\n------\nlifeisstillgood\nI was thinking of running one of these in our garden - just to get an idea of\nhow bad it is\n\n[https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/pms5003-particulate-\nmatte...](https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/pms5003-particulate-matter-\nsensor-with-cable#description)\n\n~~~\ndia80\nI don't think it's that bad in your garden... I ran a foobot at home when we\nhad our son. Air quality in the house was good a mile or two from central\nlondon and a few hundred meters from a big road. Looking at the pollution maps\nthe pollution is extremely concentrated along big roads and even a short\ndistance (10s of meters) away it's not so bad.\n\n~~~\narethuza\nWhen we lived in the centre of Edinburgh (which probably isn't even that\npolluted compared to London) I was amazed at how dirty the white paintwork on\nwindows would get in relatively short time periods.\n\nNow we live out in a rural area and its very noticeable how cleaner windows\nand paintwork are - the same also applies to our lungs!\n\n------\nburo9\nIt will be worth taking a snapshot of a Sunday via\n[https://www.londonair.org.uk/LondonAir/nowcast.aspx](https://www.londonair.org.uk/LondonAir/nowcast.aspx)\nand comparing to the no car day.\n\nIt's a shame a week day was not selected, but it would be a bigger shame to\nhave this be a once a year promotional day rather than part of a learning\nexercise towards reduced pollution in London.\n\nAnother link of note would be\n[https://cleanair.london/](https://cleanair.london/) which brings together\nmany of the resources that document the current air quality and either\nproposes or tracks the policies that may address it.\n\n------\nreallydontask\nIt's always interesting/concerning when I blow my nose after a day in London:\nthere is a lot of black residue in the snot.\n\napologies for the disgusting picture\n\n~~~\nalex_duf\nThis especially true if you take the tube, and heavily varies depending on the\nline.\n\nVictoria line and Nothern lines are especially bad. If you stand at one hand\nof the platform, you can see some weird \"mist\" when looking at the opposite\nside. That's just a high concentration of PM2.5 and PM10, and that's what\ncauses the black snot.\n\nIt's been shown the pollution level in the tube is 30 times worst than the\nworst street in london. [1]\n\nI moved out of the centre of london and commute by train partly for that\nreason. Life's short, let's not make it shorter.\n\n[1]: [https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jan/09/london-\nunder...](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jan/09/london-underground-\nair-pollution-report-concerns-northern-line-particulates)\n\n~~~\nTheodores\nThe problem is cleaning. It doesn't happen. Compare how your former communist\ncountry tube stations look compared to what there is in London.\n\nThe whole lot has to be spotlessly clean for it to work, in London they clean\nthe seats on the trains and do the maintenance work there, but the actual\ntunnels get cleaned once in a blue moon. The whole thing needs to be polished\nand polish-able. London Underground isn't built like that.\n\nA fair amount of the dirt is from the streets above, so tyres that wear to\nalso wear the road surfaces, that sort of cruft gets drawn all the way down\ninto the Underground.\n\nAs for actual pollution levels then this depends on where you are on the\nnetwork. TfL don't measure enough to give a heatmap of pollution, updated\nhourly. Your statistic from the Guardian sounds about right, generally\nspeaking though the particulates are at 10x the EU max levels.\n\nIn a communist style country you could have an army of people polishing the\ntube stations and the tunnels as part of some National Service. But, in a\nWestern Democracy where everyone has to pay a four figure sum for rent +\ntravel no matter how they try and mix it, this isn't going to happen.\n\nThey have tried to create magic sweeper trains to hoover everything up but it\nhasn't been a success. Really that is what is needed as well as the trains\nbeing built to 'hoover as they go', using the air-con to filter out all the\ncruft.\n\n~~~\n_visgean\nNo, the problem is ventilation.\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_cooling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_cooling)\n\nIn eastern europe we have very effective ventilation - for number of reasons,\none of them is that it was built much later, the other is that some of the\nstation were built to serve as a nuclear shelter so they had to have very safe\nventilation systems...\n\n------\nthe_mitsuhiko\nAround the same time as Madrid stops its low emission zone:\n[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/18/madrid-new-\nrig...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/18/madrid-new-rightwing-\ncouncil-suspends-low-emissions-zone)\n\n~~~\nindalo\nwhat even is the motivation for stopping something like that? article\ndescribes it as very successful. so sad.\n\n~~~\nHamuko\nWas it actually popular?\n\n~~~\notikik\nYep.\n\n------\nraverbashing\nI'm going to be honest, London's pollution can be felt (and seen) in one's\nairways. And it's a bit \"different\" than other polluted cities.\n\nI don't know why is it so severe. Old cars? Trucks/Buses? Factories? High\nhumidity?\n\n------\ntempodox\nAlthough it demonstrably reduces pollution levels, I don't see it go much\nfurther. Too many of us are obviously willing to pay _any_ price for the\nability to sit in our own tin can while producing smog and traffic jams. Even\nwhen not in use, cars are a massive waste of space that clogs our cities.\nUntil we find something that's at the same time ridiculously much cheaper,\nless wasteful and less toxic, we _will_ stay stuck, clogged, jammed and\nsuffocating.\n\n------\npro_zac\n\"Car Free Day on Sunday, 22 September 2019\"\n\n[https://londoncarfreeday.com/](https://londoncarfreeday.com/)\n\nCouldn't find the date on the paywalled site.\n\n~~~\nRay_Atreyu\nThanks, I was looking for it for ages\n\n------\nvfclists\nThe amount of political posturing and grandstanding which goes in London is\nsimply over the top. There are too many politicians seeking attention for\ndubious causes.\n\nThe fact is that pollution in the 70s and 80s was much worse and we are still\nliving here. Traffic in London has greatly reduced over the years.\n\nSo where are these pollution concerns coming from? The amount eco posturing is\njust way over the top.\n\n~~~\nadrianN\nPollution concerns are coming from an improved understanding how air pollution\naffects people. We also used to put asbestos in everything and eventually\nstopped doing that even though people weren't dropping like flies.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow Many Friends is Too Many? - markbao\nhttp://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_many_friends_is_too_many.php\n======\nneilc\n_Human beings ought to live in groups of around 150 people, judging from the\nlogarithm of our brain size_\n\nThe \"logarithm of our brain size\" meaning what, exactly? I'm curious as to how\nDunbar arrived at this conclusion.\n\n~~~\nrms\n[http://www.liv.ac.uk/researchintelligence/issue17/braintease...](http://www.liv.ac.uk/researchintelligence/issue17/brainteaser.html)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Best Online Course for Distributed Computing or Systems? - nikentic\nI have worked through 6.824: Distributed Systems at MIT and it has been truly eye-opening! Learned much about existing systems, building new ones and limitations that exists.<p>Which others exist that are worth finishing in combination with 6.824?\n======\nkazishariar\nIs there even any that even exist? --Mind linking me to this one if possible.\n\n~~~\ngeeio\n[https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.824/schedule.html](https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.824/schedule.html)\n\nRead the paper/notes from the schedule and you’ll learn a ton (took this\ncourse as an undergrad)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCascade – A library for creating modern user interfaces - stevelacy\nhttps://github.com/sjohnsonaz/cascade\n======\nicc97\nI think the benefits you're trying to provide are not in the CSS. But the\nmajor importance of any modern framework is to look beautiful - Apple's been\nproving this for decades.\n\nI'm sorry to say the styling for\n[https://cascade.rocks/](https://cascade.rocks/) is really ugly. It's a bit\nlike some forgotten ugly child of Bootstrap and Material Design. It's even\nworse than jQuery UI.\n\nPlease either switch to a Bootstrap or MD styling until you can find something\nbetter.\n\nFailing that, go completely minimalist along the lines of\n[http://bettermotherfuckingwebsite.com/](http://bettermotherfuckingwebsite.com/)\n\nEdit: spelling\n\n~~~\nsjohnsonaz\nDude, the primary project isn't the CSS, it's the typescript framework. Plus\nmy project got posted before its website was finished. Calm down and wait.\n\n~~~\nicc97\nRead my first sentence - so yes I understood that it's not CSS. But you're not\njust claiming a 'typescript framework', you're claiming 'a library for\ncreating modern user interfaces'.\n\nI'm not telling you it's ugly just to annoy you, I'm telling you because I'm\nreally interesting in creating user interfaces and so the first thing I look\nat is what it looks like.\n\nI'd love to use it and being written in TypeScript is great.\n\n------\nblueprint\nWhat makes a user interface modern?\n\n~~~\nsjohnsonaz\nIt uses concepts behind other popular libraries such as React with Mobx, and\nKnockout, but refines their workflows where possible.\n\nI'm in the process of converting previous projects to Cascade, and so far it\nhas been easier to use.\n\n~~~\nmaxcan\nA cascade to react comparison might be helpful in understanding what you're\ndoing here.\n\n------\nmattbgates\nIt definitely could be used to make a type of \"shop\" software, for like\nautobody shops, who seem to prefer that \"old fashioned\" look, as it has a\ndatabase-type feel to it, but you are missing responsive design. Wouldn't be\ntoo hard to add a few media queries to deal with phones & tablets.\n\n------\nsjohnsonaz\nI'm pushing a few examples and documentation this weekend.\n\nTo see it in use, take a look at Cascade Components, a library of common\ncomponents.\n\n[https://github.com/sjohnsonaz/cascade-\ncomponents](https://github.com/sjohnsonaz/cascade-components)\n\n~~~\nfit2rule\nThanks for posting the -components followup, I had this question on my mind\nimmediately - i.e. wonder, if there are more components.\n\nAny chance I could convince you to add a slider (or knob) as a priority\ncomponent? Sliders and buttons and knobs are nice, modern, user interface\ncomponents that work well in various places ..\n\n------\nrichev\nMy initial assumption that this was something to do with the design language\nformerly known as Metro...but seemingly not.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCentOS 7 for ARM (Raspberry Pi, Etc.) - api\nhttp://mirror.centos.org/altarch/7/isos/armhfp/\n======\napi\nHad to Google a bit to find that the default login is \"root\" password\n\"centos\". Read the /root/README file for info on how to get it to resize the\ndisk image. Other than that it's stock CentOS and works great.\n\nNo EPEL unfortunately though... yet. There's some talk of it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "Ask HN: Those working remote, do you use your own laptop for work? - samblr\n======\nskilled\nFrom the job listings (remote) that I have seen in recent months, a lot more\ncompanies are getting comfortable with hooking up remote employees with\ncompany gear.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Chopped Cheese’s Sharp Rise to Fame - samclemens\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/08/nyregion/chopped-cheese-sandwich-harlem.html\n======\ndouche\nLooks delicious, like a low-rent cheesesteak.\n\nThe sandwich I wish would grow some legs is the ham hoagie. Apparently this is\na sandwich that only exists in north-western Maine (I've never been able to\nfind it anywhere else), but it is simple, cheap and delicious. Take a sub\nroll, and load it up with provolone cheese, sliced ham, and bacon, optionally\nsome mustard and mayo, and toast it until the cheese melts.\n\n~~~\nmarcusgarvey\nSounds similar to a grinder from Philly.\n\n~~~\nbrightsize\nOr a grinder in pretty much anywhere in New England.\n\n------\nOtterCoder\nHow is a sandwich review in any way 'imperialistic'?\n\nGuy has opinions about a sandwich, guy exercises his fourth amendment right to\nshare that opinion. Other people disagree, which is also fine. End of story.\nHow is this even news?\n\n~~~\nsithadmin\n>guy exercises his fourth amendment right to share that opinion.\n\nWrong amendment.\n\nBut I do find thinking about the implications of the Fourth Amendment for\nsandwich reviews to be infinitely more amusing than the article at hand, so\nthanks for that.\n\n~~~\nqq66\nOpening the bread to inspect the contents: illegal search.\n\nHolding it with one hand: illegal seizure.\n\nReviews based on the above: subject to the exclusionary rule. All mentions of\nthe contents must be stricken from the record.\n\n------\nslackstation\nIf a simple sandwich gets famous and then goes up in price, it isn't the fault\nof people outside the neighbourhood, it's the fault of they guy who runs the\nbodega on the corner. He realizes that he can do business where last week a\nchopped cheese went for $4, this week, he can sell it for $10.\n\nHe's making a profit from the demand. People get mad that things get popular\nbut, that's just a small downside for an otherwise hyper-efficient capitalist\nsystem works. Also an option is making them at home for next to nothing.\nBread, ground beef, provalone cheese, some spices and thinly sliced lettuce?\nIt's not like this would be that hard nor expensive to make.\n\n~~~\njustareader\nplease rtfa.\n\nwhat the article describes is nothing like what you are arguing about. There's\nnothing about the price going up at the original bodega.\n\n------\nfred_is_fred\nSerious question - how is this different from a cheesesteak?\n\n~~~\nDrScump\nThe meat is hamburger (ground beef), not steak.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Story of Metal Gear Solid’s English Translation - danso\nhttps://www.polygon.com/2019/7/18/20696081/metal-gear-solid-translation-japanese-english-jeremy-blaustein\n======\nsunaurus\nI love Japanese entertainment. I'm not a native speaker of either, but I often\nuse English subtitles with Japanese audio, because my English is better than\nmy Japanese. As a result of having both languages in front of me at the same\ntime, I often notice when translators take liberties and sometimes even\nrewrite entire personalities of characters, and it has always annoyed me a\nlot.\n\nThis article was great for helping me understand the motivations for\nlocalizing stories and characters (instead of simply translating them). I\ncertainly don't blame the author (and other translators) for trying to provide\nthe American audience with what they think is the best possible experience.\nBut for anybody who isn't American, the localization might be entirely wasted\n- there's a good chance that they're just as familiar with Japanese culture\nand history as they are with American culture and history.\n\nWhat's worse, in cases where the localization is wildly different from the\noriginal, the audience probably doesn't have any way of knowing it. It would\nbe fair to tell the audience when the localization is inspired by or based on\nthe original, instead of a direct translation of it. Otherwise, consumers can\nbe misled to thinking they like or dislike a certain writer, while in reality\ntheir opinion is based entirely on a translator.\n\nSlightly related: in Final Fantasy XIV, a character in the main story was\nCOMPLETELY changed for the English version of the game. Playing in Japanese, I\ngrew quite fond of the character, so when the character eventually died in the\nstory, it had an actual impact for me. A friend of mine plays the same game\nexclusively in English, and when I discussed the death with him, he told me\nthat this character was completely forgettable for him and he didn't even\nreally remember the circumstances of the death. I'm fairly certain that the\nlack of impact for him was entirely because of the localization.\n\n~~~\nkace91\nI wonder if there's any source of information where I can get specific\nexamples of this issue. It would be quite curious to see side by side\ncomparisons on how stories differ, and see if there's any general trend.\n\n~~~\nrawTruthHurts\nIt's not a \"source of information\" but a \"specific example\": the robotech RPG\nmanuals (or at least some of them 90's editions, not the main one but the\ncompanions) had an appendix where they delved into the differencies between\nthe US and Japanese translations. Looks like not just technical terms, but\nsome plot lines diverted fairly from the original\n\n~~~\nbenj111\nWouldn't that have to be the case as Robotech is a US combination of 2\nunrelated Japanese cartoons?\n\n------\nlaurieg\nI have had very similar experiences to the author when doing a magazine\ntranslation job from Japanese to English. Very regularly the editor would take\nissue with me writing an English translation that sounded natural but didn't\nuse a word with the exact same meaning and part of speech as the original.\n\nHaving worked in translation for a little while, bad and awkward translations\nreally do stand out a mile. \"How nostalgic!\" is such a common way to translate\n\"懐かしい” but I've never heard anyone say that in English.\n\nThe distance between the languages will always leave the translator with a\nsizable challenge. It's a real shame to hear the Kojima was not on board with\nthis style of translation.\n\n~~~\nmikekchar\nI did a fair amount of scanlation back in the day (very obscure manga). One of\nthe things I liked about scanlation was being able write hacked up English on\nthe assumption that the reader knew enough about Japanese culture/language to\nmake the leap from awkward English to Japanese concept. But, if I was writing\nfor a larger audience I think it would be incredibly difficult to write\nidiomatic English and still capture the Japanese sense of the sentence. I'm in\nawe when I see people who are successful. I'm convinced you have to be an\nincredibly good writer of English to be able to pull it off (which I am not\n;-) ).\n\nI admit do having a wave of nostalgia now :-) Few things brought me as much\npleasure as scanlation...\n\n~~~\nJohnBooty\n\n        One of the things I liked about scanlation was being \n        able write hacked up English on the assumption that \n        the reader knew enough about Japanese culture/language \n        to make the leap from awkward English to Japanese concept.\n    \n\nFirst of all, thank you to you and the other scanslators of the world. You\nmade a lot of things possible for your readers!\n\nTranslating manga must be so tough. At least in anime, if you're watching\nEnglish subtitles, you can _hear the characters speaking in Japanese_ which\nhelps to retain some of the original meaning. I don't speak Japanese, but I\ncan recognize at least certain things like honorifics that convey a lot of\nmeaning... that adds a lot of meaning to the subtitles I'm reading.\n\nBut with manga, there's no such luxury... you did a really challenging job.\n\n------\nspondyl\nHighly recommend checking out this hour long interview with Jeremy Blaustein,\nthe author of the linked article, who worked on the Silent Hill franchise\namong other things.\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DB5GFiTRig](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DB5GFiTRig)\n\nHe gives a lot of background on how the industry was at the time, not that\nmuch earlier than the MGS release. It boils down to basically being a wild\nwest of sorts from what I remember.\n\nSimilarly, I can also recommend the rest of TheGrateDebate's YouTube channel.\nIt's a group of Silent Hill fans talking about Silent Hill things with high\nproduction qualities. I don't even think you have to be much of a SH fan to\nenjoy their works.\n\nOn a side note, I was reading Jeremy's twitter feed a few weeks ago and I\nbelieve he was likely tapped to write this in response to an MGS story he\nshared:\n[https://twitter.com/JeremyBlaustein/status/11431327794014699...](https://twitter.com/JeremyBlaustein/status/1143132779401469952)\n\n------\ngatherhunterer\nThere are many parts of this game that are burned into my memory. It was such\na deeply voice-acted game with so much emotional content. The gameplay was fun\nto repeat because there were different ways to approach each challenge.\nReading up on the lexicon of the US military explains the use of the word\n“pineapples” to describe hand grenades when Snake is speaking over comm on the\nfirst level. This article gives context to many of the lines that have stuck\nwith me.\n\nThere is a chapter of Metal Gear Solid 4 that takes place in a modern remake\nof the first level and one of the later levels of the original. There is even\na playable version of the original that comes up in a dream sequence. The\ndedication that the crew has had for their work from the original and on is\nremarkable.\n\n------\nbenrbray\nGreat article. I don't agree with the choices made by the translator (I think\nany attempt to \"satisfy the marketplace\" will always corrupt a translation),\nbut I admire the enormous effort spent researching for his translation.\n\nHere is another article on translation posted a few days ago to HN that I\nthink contrasts this one nicely:\n\nStephen Snyder, \"The Murakami Effect\" @ LitHub ([https://lithub.com/the-\nmurakami-effect/](https://lithub.com/the-murakami-effect/))\n\nHN Discussion\n([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20389112](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20389112))\n\n~~~\nfenomas\n> any attempt to \"satisfy the marketplace\" will always corrupt a translation\n\nI don't know how you're getting this from the article - everything he says\nabout his efforts boils down to trying to change language that sounds flat and\nlifeless in translation into something that lives and breathes, and I think\nhe's absolutely right to have made that attempt. (even if he misses the mark\nsometimes, like with the castlevania \"what is a man?\" bit...)\n\nLiving in JP I wind up seeing a lot of movies and TV with one language in the\naudio and the other in subtitles, and personally, \"faithful\" translations\ndrive me bonkers with how flat and boring and explanatory they sound.\n\nMy pet theory is that it ultimately stems from the source languages being so\nlinguistically different. I once read a book where the translator said in his\nnotes (about Voltaire) \"But mostly I've just tried to stay out of his way, for\nI find that he speaks very good English already\", and I've often thought how\nhard it is to imagine a JP>EN translator feeling the same way.\n\n~~~\nmrob\nI think a less accurate translation can sometimes result in a better product,\nbut the translator needs to be very good to pull it off. The most notable\nexample I can think of is Vagrant Story, which was widely praised for its\nlocalization.\n\nExample from The GIA's review[0]:\n\n\"Lines as bland in the original Japanese as\n\n\"It is because you acknowledge things like freedom of belief. There can be\nonly one God. This sort of incident occurs because you let heretics like them\nout of your control. That, and our parliament is impotent...\"\n\nbecome:\n\n\"All because of this religious freedom! Too much freedom, too many gods. Let\nthose cultist cur-dogs run loose, and they will bite you. Gods! While our\nParliament cowers...\"\"\n\nBut if a bad writer tries this then you get Working Designs' localization\nstyle, where they \"improved\" the originals with unfunny 4th-wall-breaking\njokes and references.\n\n[0]\n[https://web.archive.org/web/20010608201912/http://www.thegia...](https://web.archive.org/web/20010608201912/http://www.thegia.com/psx/vgst/vgst.html)\n\n~~~\nbenrbray\nAnother controversial translation is the English localization of the \"Ghost\nStories\" anime [1], which the authors were desperate to sell to Western\naudiences despite flopping in Japan. The show is full of hard-to-translate\ncultural references, so the translators quite drastically changed the tone of\nthe show.\n\nI would say Ghost Stories is a successful example of \"satisfying the market\"\nvia something like an \"official parody\" of the original work, but it\ndefinitely doesn't remain faithful to the original. I'm glad it exists, and it\nhas creative value, but it definitely fails as a \"translation\".\n\n[1]:\n[https://dubbing.fandom.com/wiki/Ghost_Stories](https://dubbing.fandom.com/wiki/Ghost_Stories)\n(not sure\n\n~~~\ndarkpuma\nThe result is genuinely hilarious. I'm sure I wouldn't have enjoyed a\n_faithful_ translation nearly as much.\n\n------\nagent008t\nKojima seems to have two distinct sides. One is pure genius, the other is not\nso great. The former made Policenauts, Snatcher, Metal Gear 2, MGS, MGS3,\nPeace Walker. The latter fired Jeremy Blaustein, David Hayter, came up with\nvampires and flying whales for no good reason, wrote endless unnecessary cut-\nscenes for MGS4 that take themselves too seriously, came up with the script\nfor MGS5.\n\n~~~\ntombert\nI'm convinced that no one really knows what the hell happened at the end of\nMGS2. The story flew so far off the rails that I stopped playing the games in\nthe series after that.\n\n~~~\nagent008t\nI was the same. Only nearly a decade later did I give MGS3 a go, and was not\ndisappointed - it was more like MGS1 than MGS2 and is one of the best in the\nseries.\n\nMGS4 follows right in MGS2 footsteps and I would say better skipped. Peace\nWalker is surprisingly good, although parts of it towards the end get tedious.\nMGS5 goes back to weirdness, although a particular sniper's story line has\nsome merit to it.\n\n~~~\ntombert\nI actually think that Ghost Babel (the Japanese name) on the Game Boy Color is\na really underrated game. It's worth checking out if you have avoided it\nbecause of it being a portable game. It has a fairly elaborate story, a\ndelayed intro scene, and actually pretty decent graphics for the GBC.\n\n------\nraehik\nI love Jeremy, I've followed him for a while on Twitter. He comes across as\nself-confident and prideful of his work, which is great and perfect for a\n_good_ translator (which he certainly is). Shame Kojima didn't agree at the\ntime, I imagine he's a very proud person as well.\n\n~~~\navinium\nI left a comment the first time this was posted, but to reiterate, the MGS\ntranslations were excellent (and arguably better than later installments,\nthough MGS3 was pretty high quality too).\n\nJeremy played a huge part in launching an incredibly successful series. I hope\nhe doesn't feel too put out by Kojima's reaction.\n\n~~~\nraehik\nI watched through most of the interesting MGS3 codec scenes in Japanese (after\nplaying it in English years ago). It had an absurdly great script in both\nlanguages (perhaps better Japanese VAs). I'm a bit biased towards it though\nbecause it's one of the best games ever made IMO.\n\nMGS was certainly memorable, moreso than MGS2 or MGS4 (lmao) for me.\n\n------\nListeningPie\nEven though MGS was my favorite game I never really like MGS5. Any suspension\nof disbelief was ruined with awkward lines like, \"You're a legend in the eyes\nof those who live on the battlefield.\"\n\n~~~\nagent008t\nThe dialogue in MGS5 was absolutely horrible:\n\n1\\. Because of the change of voice actors, I literally could not tell who was\nspeaking at any given time. Everyone sounded the same.\n\n2\\. None of it was believable, funny, interesting or relevant. Peace Walker\nhad a very similar concept in terms of storytelling (through tapes) and\ngameplay (base management), but was infinitely better. I just really did not\ncare about any of the tapes in MGS5. In PW the tapes were funny and\ninteresting and you actually learned something.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhen to Buy Your Own ISBNs - janvdberg\nhttps://mwl.io/archives/3982\n======\ncwmma\nFun fact: the 13 digit ISBNs are actually UPCs (aka bar codes) but with the\ncountry code set to \"Bookland\"\n\n1:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookland)\n\n~~~\namelius\nDoes this scale? What are the country codes for Computerland, Phoneland,\nChairland, Deskland?\n\n~~~\nmattkrause\nThere is a Musicland (979) but Bookland seems to “invaded” parts of its\nnamespace!\n\nThese are hacks so that you only need one table rather than separate lists of\nISBNs and EANs. Chairs (etc) didn’t have a pre-existing registry so....no need\nChairland.\n\n------\nneurocline\nThis article expended a lot of text and avoided the actual useful information.\n\n\\- 1 ISBN costs $125 \\- 10 ISBNs cost $250 \\- 100 ISBNs cost $575 \\- 1000\nISBNs cost $1000\n\nSo if you are fairly sure to self-publish more than 8 books in your lifetime,\nof course you would buy a thousand of them.\n\n~~~\nbaroffoos\nIts an absolute scam that you have to pay $125 for a number. I can understand\nsome small fee for keeping a system to track them running but anything more\nthan a few dollars for a block is an outrage.\n\n~~~\nocdtrekkie\nTo be fair: We have more or less pretty much run out of them, so preventing\ntheir waste or misuse is worthwhile. (Much like with IPv4 addresses.) Yes,\nwe've now grabbed 979 of the ISBN-13 space, in addition to the more or less\nfull 978 space, but that merely doubles the ISBN space, since many of the\nother prefixes are used for other products in EAN.\n\nSure, we can always devise new solutions when these numbers run out as well,\nbut there's a lot of order system overhead to such things.\n\n~~~\nbaroffoos\nJust add more digits to the number. Make it a uuid and put a qr code on the\ninside of the back cover for easy data entry.\n\n~~~\nocdtrekkie\n\"Just adding more digits\" ignores the whole point of the problem: That ISBNs\nlive _within_ (a subset of) the number space of EAN codes, which are used\nglobally for all sorts of products:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Article_Number](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Article_Number)\n\nAnd that software systems all over the planet are built to handle specific\nnumbers in specific formats. \"Just add more digits\" requires a global shift to\na new format, which will take many, many years to accomplish. The shift from\nISBN-10 to ISBN-13 took _years_ , and there are articles about \"are you ready\nfor ISBN-13?\" out there. Like, this is a Y2K-type issue.\n\nSure, another expansion is inevitable, but if, like the author, your goal is\nto sell books in a lot of places right now, you need a number in a fairly\nlimited scope of available numbers that work with distribution systems people\nactively have.\n\nIt'd be like if you told someone they didn't need an IPv4 address because IPv6\naddresses were available. That's all fine and good unless you have customers\non IPv4.\n\n~~~\nmavhc\nIPv6 people realised that technology enables exponential growth and made their\nspace 79 billion billion billion times larger, unlike barcodes which only went\n1000 times larger.\n\nOn the other hand people actually use 13 digit barcodes.\n\n------\njshaqaw\nI misread this as when to buy your own ICBM and was subsequently disappointed\nby the content\n\n------\nlazyant\n(Just in case) they are free in Canada.\n\n~~~\ngirzel\nThey are free I think everywhere outside of the US. Except for China, where\nit's well over $1000 to buy one from a state-owned publisher.\n\n~~~\nblue1\nfree or almost free. In Italy, for example, it's 50€ for a block of ten codes.\n\n------\nwodenokoto\nThe article mentions that he can't resell them, which begs the questions: Why\nand how?\n\nWhat is stopping me and the author from publishing a book _we_ wrote on an\nISBN _he_ bought?\n\nI'm guessing nothing.\n\nAssuming that, where do we draw the line between co-author, editor, publisher\nand \"guy who resold an ISBN\"?\n\n------\nphab\nMaybe I'm naive, but the key takeaway from this for me was:\n\n> the owner of the ISBN controls where the book can be printed.\n\nI didn't realise this - that's the crucial \"why\" behind the \"when\".\n\n------\nsimplecomplex\nWould it be possible to create a system that’s backwards compatible but costs\nsomething reasonable?\n\n~~~\namelius\nProbably not. I suspect all the library information systems have been\nhardcoded for a fixed number of digits. It resembles the Y2K problem, or the\nIPv4 problem.\n\n------\namelius\nThen don't sell your book as a \"book\", but as an \"object\".\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Puzzle of Indian IQ: A Country of Gypsies and Jews - ghosh\nhttp://akarlin.com/2012/08/the-puzzle-of-indian-iq-a-country-of-gypsies-and-jews/\n======\nwebhat\nAt first glance this looks racist, at second glance it looks anti-semitic too.\nCan you explain the value of this article?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDart's Macro Language - tosh\nhttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1-We05W0xsd5hTWGsTDCY6pibf2EmmTAsm-4EhIFZoOA/\n======\nrandomfool\nI disagree that Dart's code transformers are comparable to Macros- their\nintent is runtime optimization- take valid code which runs fine in the VM and\noptimize it for dart2js compilation.\n\nThis feels more like an advanced compilation feature than macros which are\ntypically used to encapsulate a set of complex operations.\n\n~~~\nskybrian\nCode transformers are more general than macros and I focused on one way to use\nthem. I disagree that they're an optimization in this example, since the\noriginal code isn't being transformed but rather overridden with a separate\nimplementation. It's more like overriding a method in a subclass; the intent\nis probably for the implementations to have equivalent behaviors, but the\ndetails differ and there can be bugs.\n\nJust like when a method is overridden, the reader should be able to see that\nthere are multiple implementations and understand how they work. If you want\nto understand performance, you need to look at the production implementation.\n\n------\ntosh\nRelated:\n\nNotes from last week's DEP (Dart Enhancement Proposal) Meeting\n[https://github.com/dart-\nlang/dart_enhancement_proposals/blob...](https://github.com/dart-\nlang/dart_enhancement_proposals/blob/master/Meetings/2015-05-06%20DEP%20Committee%20Meeting.md)\n\n------\nmalkia\nThis reminds me of Turbo Pascal, where certain runtime functions can take\nvariable arguments, yet the language does not allow defining such. It felt\nlike magic.\n\nAbother example is lisp, and yes lisp has the ultimate macro language (scheme,\ncl, clojure), and yet in Common Lisp there is the notion of \"open coded\" \\-\ncertain builtin names are known to the compuler/interpreter and can do also\nmagical things. That to be said certain implementations of C/C++ also have\nthem.\n\n------\nmunki\nSort of lost interest in Dart since they dropped the idea of integrating the\nVM into Chrome.\n\n~~~\ntosh\nimho it makes sense to focus more on further improving dart2js to ensure it\nworks really well across all JavaScript virtual machines and to make interop\nwith JavaScript & TypeScript super smooth.\n\nThe Dart VM (as well as the Observatory) are fantastic. At Blossom\n([https://www.blossom.co](https://www.blossom.co)) we currently use the Dart\nVM for command line tools but we're looking into using it on the server side\nas well.\n\nI guess you were especially interested in the performance improvements that\nthe Dart VM could bring if it was added to Chrome? I expect that we'll also\nsee performance improvements for dart2js as JavaScript runtimes become better\ncompilation targets (e.g. SIMD.js, BigInt, SoundScript, …).\n\nThe interesting thing here is that the Dart team can focus on other areas like\n…\n\n* the standalone Dart VM\n\n* fletch (an experimental mobile optimized runtime)\n\n* Observatory\n\n* async/await\n\n* libraries (e.g. the new `test` package)\n\n* analyzer (used for semantic code completion & warnings and powers IntelliJ, Eclipse, Sublime, Atom (soon), DartPad see [https://dartpad.dartlang.org/](https://dartpad.dartlang.org/))\n\n* …\n\nand many other things in the meantime. Getting the Dart VM into Chrome and\nhave it play nicely with v8 is not trivial.\n\n~~~\nbrodo\nWhen there is no Dart VM in the browser I honestly don't see any advantage\nover TypeScript. Two VMs inside each other (with two garbage collectors) will\nalways be slower and use more memory than just one. Additionally, you always\nneed to ship the runtime with all your scripts. You also have to use FFI to\ninteract with Javascript. All the advantages over plain JS you mentioned above\nare also present in TypeSctipt (or not needed).\n\nThere is also a nice discussion about TypeScript and Dart here:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AqbCQuK0gM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AqbCQuK0gM)\n\n~~~\nwtetzner\n> Two VMs inside each other (with two garbage collectors) will always be\n> slower and use more memory than just one.\n\nIs that how it works? I just assumed it would compile to JS and just use the\nJS garbage collector.\n\n~~~\ntree_of_item\nIt does compile to JS and use the JS garbage collector. The posting you're\nreplying to is very misinformed.\n\n~~~\ntosh\nAs far as I understand you are also less likely to run into unpredictable\nperformance (runtime bailing out) scenarios using Dart + dart2js.\n\n------\nExpiredLink\nHe really means macros similar to the C pre-processor?\n\nDart is a modern dynamic language. Why should it need C-like macros?\n\n~~~\ntree_of_item\nNo, they're not C-like, as mentioned they're AST transforms instead of textual\nsubstitution.\n\n------\nkingmanaz\nGoogle, if you're listening, get behind gopherjs. Embrace golang's minimalism.\nPare down your WPL rather than tack on ever more features. Learn from your\nsuccessful projects.\n\n~~~\nappleflaxen\nwhat is WPL? playlist?\n\n~~~\nkingmanaz\nWeb Programming Language. \"Dart is an open-source Web programming language...\"\n\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dart_%28programming_language%29](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dart_%28programming_language%29)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nPlease quit posting pictures of your debit cards, people. - ceejayoz\nhttp://twitter.com/needadebitcard\n\n======\nzephjc\nSome people just have to learn the hard way I guess\n\n------\nraikia\nWow, this is hilarious! Never knew it was so easy to get free money! :-P\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHidden Travels of the Atomic Bomb - rglovejoy\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/science/09bomb.html\n\n======\nbootload\n_\"... In the six decades since Oppenheimer’s warning, the nuclear club has\ngrown to only nine members. What accounts for the slow spread? Can anything be\ndone to reduce it further? Is there a chance for an atomic future that is\nbrighter than the one Oppenheimer foresaw? ...\"_\n\nOne way is to remove, restrict study in certain areas of Physics ~\n<http://www.cddc.vt.edu/host/atomic/nuketech/index.html>\n\n------\nscott_s\nI found this interesting because it shows how hard it is to keep a secret when\nmany people need to know it, and those on the outside are willing to do\nanything to find out.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nQuestioning electric vehicles' green cred - yitchelle\nhttp://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20160316-questioning-electric-vehicles-green-cred\n======\ndalke\nIn short, the questioning finds that electric cars have a lower carbon\nfootprint then gasoline ones. Here are the most relevant quotes which address\nthat:\n\n\"If you get an electric car running on electricity made from coal, its impact\nwould probably be about the same as a gasoline car. If you run on anything\nelse it gets much better.\"\n\nWe don't use only coal for power generation. \"Based on the average current mix\nof renewable and non-renewable electric power sources in the US, the average\nof well-to-wheels greenhouse-gas emissions for current battery-electric\nvehicles is 214 g/mi ... In comparison, the average for current gasoline-\npowered vehicles ranges from 356 g/mi for direct fuel injection to 409 g/mi\nfor traditional fuel injection.\"\n\n~~~\nyitchelle\nThen the question becomes the location of the power station. If Singapore only\nhas coal power status, the studies from the US is not relevant as the car is\nprimarily driven in Singapore.\n\nIn a country like Paraguay where electricity is 100% hydroelectric, the gains\nwould be fantastic!\n\n[0] -\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_Paraguay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_Paraguay)\n\n~~~\ndalke\nSingapore's power grid uses primarily natural gas [1], at 0.5 g CO2/Wh [2].\n\nCoal is about 0.9 g CO2/Wh [3].\n\nOne of the links in the article is to\n[http://www.climatecentral.org/news/a-roadmap-to-climate-\nfrie...](http://www.climatecentral.org/news/a-roadmap-to-climate-friendly-\ncars-2013-16318) , which shows the places in the US where it's better to have\na hybrid than an electric vehicle, if your primary concern is CO2 emissions.\nThese include West Virginia, where 95.5% of the electricity comes from coal.\n[8]\n\nI've been looking for a country where there are only coal powered power\nplants. The developed countries countries which use the most coal as a\npercentage of electricity generation include Australia and Greece [4], at\nabout 75% [4,5]. China is also at 75% [6], while it's 61% in India [7].\n\nThere are, it therefore seems, very few places where an electric car is not\nsignificantly better than a (non-hybrid) gasoline vehicle with respect to CO2\nemissions.\n\n[1]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_Singapor...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_Singapore)\n; [2] [http://www.techspot.com/news/64063-singapore-first-tesla-\nmod...](http://www.techspot.com/news/64063-singapore-first-tesla-model-s-\nowner-hit-11000.html) ; [3]\n[http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=74&t=11](http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=74&t=11)\nlists 2.07 pounds CO2/kWh = 2.07/2.2 grams/Wh. ; [4] [http://www.world-\nnuclear.org/information-library/country-pro...](http://www.world-\nnuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-\na-f/appendices/australia-s-electricity.aspx) ; [5]\n[http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Greece_and_coal](http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Greece_and_coal)\n; [6]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_China](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_China)\n; [7]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_India](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_India)\n; [8] [http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=WV](http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=WV) ;\n[9] Enough footnotes? :)\n\n------\nmchahn\nI see electric cars as the first of a pair of technologies that will\ndramatically improve emissions. When combined with renewable energy like\nsolar, wind, etc. you get the ideal situation.\n\nSince both technologies have to be developed, what's wrong with one maturing\nfirst, even though not perfect.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSweden Wants to Fight Disposable Culture with Tax Breaks for Repairing Old Stuff - prawn\nhttps://www.fastcoexist.com/3063935/sweden-wants-to-fight-our-disposable-culture-with-tax-breaks-for-repairing-old-stuff\n======\njernfrost\nThis is beginning in the wrong end IMHO. One of the big problems today is that\nproducts are:\n\n1) Not made to be repaired. 2) Not made to last 3) Repair manuals are not\neasily and widely available 4) Manufacturer have monopoly on replacement parts\nmaking them extremely expensive.\n\nI would instead create tax incentives which encourage manufacturers to make\nrepairable and durable items, and pass laws which makes it easier for the\ncompetition to make compatible replacement parts so they are cheaper.\n\nHow many products don't we have where one stupid little plastic thing breaks\nand it becomes useless. Getting the part is difficult, expensive or hard to\ninstall.\n\n~~~\nsliverstorm\nThere's another angle too. For a long time the only tailor in town was\nbasically a bridal tailor. They charged steep prices for simple work on\neveryday clothing, and wait times were long.\n\nFast forward to today. I had ripped holes in a few pairs of pants, and was\nwondering if it made sense to have them repaired- I was pretty sure I was\ngoing to be charged as much as the pants were worth for a fairly simple\nrepair. Luckily there's a new shop in town, run by a group of older ladies who\nseem to have grown up tailoring, that charges sane prices.\n\nAnyway, the point is repairing can be uneconomical simply because of lack of\navailability of repair resources.\n\nAs an example on the other side, Autozone has enabled countless mechanics with\ntheir tool library programs and other basic shadetree services like easy oil\nrecycling.\n\n(P.S. Maybe I should learn to sew & get an inexpensive sewing machine, but\nthat isn't the point)\n\n~~~\njernfrost\nRepair services in any western country will be hideously expensive because it\ncan't be automated and has to be paid western wages, while the products\nthemselves are made in an automated fashion with third world wages.\n\nFor this repair stuff to work, we have to make it easier to do so that people\ncan do it themselves.\n\n~~~\nHeyLaughingBoy\nIt does depend on the product.\n\nI have a KitchenAid blender and a KitchenAid stand mixer that I've had to\nrepair. In both cases, the part was purchased for under $10 online and repair\nonly took a few minutes. The alternative was buying a new $300 or $100+\nproduct.\n\nSure, I did the repair myself, but a local KitchenAid service center (yes,\nthey exist!) would probably have done the job even faster.\n\nIt boils down to cost/benefit. Would I have done the same thing with a $30\nmixer? Not worth it; simpler to buy a replacement, but in this case, the\nproducts are built to last (both broken parts were \"sacrificial\" and designed\nto fail before something more expensive failed).\n\n~~~\nrplst8\nSacrificial parts are great design IMO, specifically when they protect a much\nmore expensive part. However, it does bother me that the parts are often very\ncustom and only available from the manufacturer.\n\nI enjoy listening to a conversation where some blowhard talks about was was\nobviously a shear pin breaking in some mechanical peice of equipment and then\nreplaces it with a grade 8 bolt.\n\n------\nJ-dawg\nThis idea seems so sensible it's a no-brainer. (I'm almost dreading the\ncomments explaining why I'm wrong!) The human race is producing unprecedented\nquantities of non-recyclable \"stuff\".\n\nIt's pumped out of the ground as oil, converted into plastics, and after a\nshort life, buried in the ground again. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad if much\nof it didn't also end up floating in the ocean, being eaten by animals and\ncontaminating the human food chain.\n\nThe only potential counter-argument I can see with this sort of policy is that\nthe goals of minimising CO2 and minimising waste sometimes seem to be in\ncompetition with each other. Anecdotally I've heard of examples where (e.g.)\nwashing china plates has a greater carbon cost than using disposable ones.\n\n~~~\nmseebach\nThe _idea_ is great. The problems will be with the implementation, how it will\nchange incentives, any loopholes introduced, cost of enforcement and\nunintended consequences.\n\nWhat exactly is a repair? Are parts covered, or only labour? Think ship of\nTheseus. Is an upgrade a repair, can I put a better compressor, rather than\nlike-for-like in my refrigerator when it's failed? Can I have my TV repaired\nby replacing all the parts, except the power cord? How broken must something\nbe before it can be repaired? Totally failed, failure imminent, or just worn?\n(Unintended consequence: people have their things fixed long before it's\nstrictly necessary, leading to greater waste than if they'd just let the thing\nfail and bought a new one. Another one: appliances are only upgraded to newer,\nmuch more energy efficient ones much later than otherwise).\n\nAnd for labour, where is the line drawn? Is the labour cost of diagnosing a\nproblem covered? What if the problem is bigger than expected, and it isn't\neconomical to carry out the repair? What if I have you upgrade the Foo (not a\nrepair), which is trivial, while you've taken the widget apart anyway to fix\nthe Bar (a repair)? What about repairing something, pocketing the tax break,\nthen selling it (perhaps outside of the country)?\n\nOnce you have considered all of these questions, you either have a lot of\nloopholes which will make the tax break much more expensive, or have a very\nlong body of legal texts, and some very exited lawyers and auditors which will\nimpose an indirect cost on society broadly.\n\nSure, it's pessimistic, but I'm essentially working backwards from an attempt\nto impose a tax on dietary fat (for health reasons) in Denmark. Sounds great,\nright? Hilarity ensued over mixed nuts (the accountants had a field day with\nthat one, and IIRC all kinds of meat being taxed at the same level, and the\ntax was repealed after only 15 months.\n\n~~~\nAJ007\nA alternative approach could be taxing garbage. Perhaps inevitable once\nsensors become pervasive and cheap enough. Too some extent this is already\ndone and enforced for disposing of blatantly dangerous things. In some cases\nyou could end up in prison in addition to fines, if caught. The more subtle\nthings that add up to a big problem have been given a lot of leeway.\n\nRight now it is profitable for many parties to extract non-renewable\nresources, assemble them in to something that has a short life cycle, and be\nsold to consumers who would rather keep buying the same thing over and over\nagain than a single time. There have been big incentives on the government\nside for hitting GDP numbers, which has led to both low interest rates and an\nurgency to extract and process non-renewable resources as quickly as possible.\nCapital utilization numbers certainly doesn't account for any of this and very\nwell exacerbate the problem.\n\nI don't want to confuse cause and effect here, but the consumption of low\nquality products directly relates to the volume which they are produced. The\nactual costs have just been transferred to the future. In the future there\nwill be both fewer resources to produce those goods and more\npollution/ecosystem effects to account for it.\n\nAt Berkshire Hathaway's shareholder meeting this year Charlie Munger\nspecifically said he thought all petrochemical reserves would be eventually\nexhausted to make things, not for fuel (there was a specific word he used\nwhich I never use and forgot.) Billionaires are thinking about resource\nexhaustion. Poor, uneducated people are not, unless they are still in hunter-\ngatherer societies and see problems first hand.\n\nWe often think of food and bio-products as renewables, but in many cases they\nare not. National Geographic (August 2016) ran a great article on the\nexhaustion of the Ogallala aquifer. California gets a lot of attention, but\nground water is being drained globally. Longer term, there may be limits with\nphosphorus as well. Food production is going to become a lot more expensive,\nglobal warming or not.\n\nI don't know about the returns, but Al Gore's Generation Investment Management\nphilosophically probably has the right approach.\n\nThe flipside to all of this is that technology can make using the same\nresources much more efficient. My leading theme for the past 5+ years or so\nhas been exponentially more efficient technology running head on in to global\ngovernment policies -- of all political leanings -- of creating GDP growth at\nall costs. The two don't mix, and the results could be very ugly.\n\n~~~\nathenot\nUnfortunately, there is something far easier and cheaper (from the end user's\nperspective) to duming in a controlled landfill: dumping in random places.\n\nIt's been a long battle in many places to get people to properly dispose of\ntheir trash in a proper way, it's still way too easy to revert to prior\nbehavior. In many places in the US, people have to pay a private company for\ndisposal or haul their trash to a landfill (usually in more rural areas). So\nit's a very visible cost, making savage dumping more compelling.\n\n~~~\nacaciapalm\nExactly this. We socialize the cost of garbage disposal in the first world to\ndisincentivize dumping. Worth it, IMO.\n\n------\ngambiting\nThe only problem with repairing devices is labour cost, nothing else.\n\nI've had a broken subwoofer that I took to a small electronics shop(in UK),\nand was quoted 60 pounds to even have it looked at. Not repaired - looked at.\nThe subwoofer cost me 80 pounds on ebay. So predictably, it went straight to\nthe bin.\n\nSame with washing machines, dryers, etc - I bought a Hotpoint washing machine\nfor 220 pounds, but a standard call out charge for an engineer to come and\nhave a look is at least 100 pounds. Plus any parts + cost of labour billed per\nhour = it's cheaper to just buy a new washing machine and at least have a\nwarranty on it.\n\nNow, I feel like this is exclusive to western countries, because people value\ntheir time a lot(as they should!) - but where I'm from(Poland) it would be\nstupidly cheap to get anything repaired. I had an old LCD TV repaired locally,\nthe guy spent half a day fixing it, and only charged 100 zlotys(20 pounds/30\nUSD) - that included parts.\n\nNot sure how we can change that, unless we get the labour cost down.\n\n~~~\ngmac\nOn your subwoofer, you can try listing that kind of thing on\nFreecycle/Freegle. Commonly someone technically competetent will pick it up to\nsee if they can fix it.\n\n~~~\nkaybe\nSome cities also have repair cafes, where skilled idealistic people hang out\nwith tools and help you try to fix it yourself.\n\n------\nAnimats\nThere are downsides to repairability. It means more fasteners to come loose,\nand more connectors to give trouble. It means more bulky devices; you can't\ncram everything in as tightly if it has to come out later.\n\nI restore old Teletype machines, which were designed to be 100% repairable.\nYou can take them apart down to the individual parts and put them back\ntogether. Everything is attached with screws and lockwashers. Restoring an\n80-year old machine is routine.\n\nThey are not low-maintenance. Each machine has over 600 lubrication points.\nThere are hundreds of things to be adjusted. You need a sizable tool kit and\ntwo suitcases of parts for normal maintenance. And you have to study up on how\nto do all this. Few people want to bother with that level of detail any more.\n\n~~~\ntgsovlerkhgsel\nAre those museum pieces, or are there some insane industries still using\nactual Teletypes?\n\n~~~\nAnimats\nMuseum pieces. It's a hobby.\n\n------\njokoon\nI fail to understand why Scandinavian politics always manage to make sense.\n\nIs that cultural, historical, economical, or does the tough climate force\npeople to think a little bit more about how they manage their society?\n\n~~~\nsheraz\nI see why you and many others living outside of the region would think that.\nSweden is very good at only extolling her perceived \"virtues\" and sweeping the\nrest under the rug. Waaaay under the rug.\n\nThere is a real moral and intellectual superiority among many Swedes that I\nfind deeply distasteful. From environment to politics to how to bag your\ngroceries, and yes--even close a door properly, the \"Swedish way\" is always\npromoted as the only \"right way.\"\n\n~~~\ndijit\nOut of curiosity where do you live? Perhaps this is a regional thing but down\nhere in Skane people are very humble about being Swedish, almost as if they\nare ashamed of some sort of history.\n\nThey certainly wouldn't describe something as \"the Swedish way\" unless it was\nsomething about how the police are ineffective due to bureaucracy or something\nsimilar.\n\n~~~\nkalleboo\nIt seems a lot more complicated than either your view or the grandparents. If\nyou watch Fredrik Lindströms \"Världens Modernaste Land\" it explores the\nquestion of the conflicting Swedish self-image pretty well (and the history of\nhow it became what it is today), but I wouldn't know how to summarize it in a\nHacker News comment.\n\n------\nersii\nThere seems to be plenty here that like the idea of lowering the Value Add Tax\non repairs. Let me ask: Why stop at 12.5% VAT for repairs? If you'd go all the\nway down to 0% - the repairs could potentially be up to 25% cheaper than they\nare now.\n\n~~~\nsliverstorm\nPerhaps if they make repair _too_ sweet, abuse will skyrocket asymptotically.\n\nOr, perhaps it transforms from \"incentive\" to \"subsidy\".\n\n------\nsemi-extrinsic\nWhat we really need is financial penalties on companies that make stuff\ndeliberately hard to repair. Set up a department of the Consumer Rights Bureau\n(or whatever it's called) where people can report devices the've been unable\nto fix due to deliberate obfuscation/etc., and that forces manufacturers to\nrefund the consumer the entire purchase sum of that device no matter how old\nit is.\n\nAnecdote: my washing machine recently broke the main bearing, and I was going\nto fix it. Even found a nice teardown/reassembly vid on Youtube of the exact\nsame model (a bit older than mine). After 2 hours of work, I discover Bosch\nhas gone from using screws on the outer drum to plastic welding it shut. So\nfixing it means replacing the entire assembly, costing 2/3 of a new machine\nand with a four week delivery time for the part. I learned this is only done\nto screw consumers over, and that all manufacturers do it now. The drum still\nhas all the mounting tabs for being screwed together, so they're literally\njust saving $0.30 on screws.\n\n~~~\nJ-dawg\nThat is utterly infuriating. Stuff like this really shakes my faith in\ncapitalism.\n\nTo think that someone in charge at Bosch has actively decided to 1. Screw over\nthe customer 2. Impose a massive external cost on society and the ecosystem. I\nhonestly wonder how they sleep at night.\n\nThe market clearly can't fix this issue, so regulation must be the only\noption.\n\n~~~\nicebraining\n_To think that someone in charge at Bosch has actively decided to 1. Screw\nover the customer 2. Impose a massive external cost on society and the\necosystem._\n\nAlternatively, they know that very few people did repair the old versions\n(barely anyone know how to do it themselves, and labour costs in the developed\nworld make it uneconomical to call someone) and they decided to reduce waste\n(and costs, win-win) by cutting down on the number of screws.\n\nI don't know what actually happened, but it's unproductive to assume malice.\nThe reality is that for the most part, markets optimize for what's valued for\nthe consumers, and \"easily repairable\" is not a feature people value that\nmuch.\n\n------\nShivetya\nAnyone can reuse old fully workable products in their every day life, it\nreally is super easy and in many cases can be cheaper. While I do go\noccasionally go into thrift or antique stores, I also hit up garage sales, but\nmy main source is ebay.\n\nBesides the good feeling from putting something back into service that would\nother wise be junked there can be some serious nostalgia involved. Examples, I\nhave a Toastmaster 1b16 fully automatic toaster like my grandparents had in\nthe 50s, works perfect regardless how many slices pass through it. Old glass\nplates (morgantown, crinkle, etc) that we use every day for eating. Milk glass\nspice dispensers, salt & pepper, and old glass water containers in the fridge\nfor ice tea. You can even buy old tupperware or ceramic and glass storage for\nthe refrigerator. My favorite has to be a the vintage fans, a six bladed brass\nEmerson (blades look like ship propeller) is flawless in use and over a\nhundred years old.\n\nAbout the only things I won't use are higher tech electronics, efficiency\naside the older items may not even be usable because of software or\nserviceability\n\n~~~\ns3krit\nI really like this idea. I collect old videogame consoles, so I'm pretty used\nto paying Ebay for nostalgia. However, I wonder if old electronics are much\nless efficient and end up using more electricity - thus actually causing more\nharm to the environment than a newer but more disposable plastic model.\n\n------\nhlandau\nThis is a very nice move to see.\n\nOther people have discussed washing machines below, but there's even more to\nsay on them. Washing machines used to have long warranty periods. Nowadays\nthey tend to be sold with a 2 year warranty, which I believe in the EU is the\nrequired minimum. And these manufacturers (Bosch, for example) even have the\ngall to claim that their products are high quality and that this warranty\nperiod somehow proves this, or is in any way a long period.\n\nAFAIK washing machines used to have 10 year warranties, but they cost more\nalong the lines of £800. Now we have £250 washing machines with 2 year\nwarranties. One way of reducing costs is to reduce the number of parts. Sealed\ntanks, as mentioned below, are one such example. This directly impairs the\nrepairability of the product.\n\nI suspect also that models are released at greater frequency, possibly due to\na need to take advantage of price fluctuations in wholesale parts markets (if\nyou can make a washing machine using Part A or Part B, and one month A is more\nexpensive than B, and then this inverts, this creates pressure to constantly\ndesign new models to minimise pricing). Though this is just a suspicion, it\nwould make sense: I do know that the (monolithic) spare parts are stocked for\na particular model for less time, which means that the prices of the spares\nwhich are available are very high.\n\nWater efficiency regulations also appear to have forced modern washing\nmachines to use inadequate water for rinsing. There are numerous stories of\nhypoallergenic people who find that their new washing machine leaves\nsignificant detergent in clothing. Some people have even tracked down old (and\nfor that matter better made) washing machines just to get one which will rinse\nproperly. At other times the actual temperature of the water on the '60\ndegree' setting has been tested and found to be rather on the low side.\n(Supposedly all of this efficiency regulation, rather pathetically, only tests\nthe 60 degree programme in the first place, putting a certain degree of\ncompetitive pressure on energy efficiency for this setting.) This is\nparticularly insane given that the environmental cost of these quasi-\ndisposable 2-year-warranty washing machines must be much higher than the\nenvironmental cost of their resource consumption.\n\nI think consumer goods legislation should recognise that different minimum\nwarranty periods are appropriate for different kinds of product. A legally\nrequired minimum warranty period of 6 or 8 years for washing machines, for\nexample, would instantly create pressure on manufacturers to increase the\nlongevity and repairability of their machines.\n\n~~~\nlogfromblammo\nI am only aware of one brand of washing machine that explicitly claims to be\ndesigned to be repairable by the end-user--Staber. I have never actually owned\nor used one before, so I'm not sure how fit for purpose it may be otherwise.\n\nI have successfully repaired other brands of washing machine, dryer, and\nrefrigerator, though. It isn't that difficult, but obtaining the replacement\nparts is absolutely ridiculous. The first-party site for ordering replacement\nparts often charges 50-80% of the MSRP of a complete new appliance for just\none replacement part.\n\nIf any country wanted to encourage repair over replacement, tax incentives are\nprobably not the best way to do it. Publish national standards for appliance\nform factors, such as case dimensions, screw hole placement, subassembly\ndimensions, connectors, drive belts, elastic ring sizes, etc. Then phase in\nrequirements that all new appliances must conform to the standard by 20xx.\n\nIf all washing machines conform to standard WM-S, WM-M, WM-L, WM-I, or WM-X,\nand those standards only have three different sizes of drive motor and one\nkind of power connector and one control connector, then manufacturing third-\nparty replacement motors becomes more economically possible than the current\nsituation, where a Brand X replacement motor might not even fit correctly in\ntwo different Brand X models.\n\nThe chassis, outer panels, and drum of a washing machine just don't really\nneed to be replaced, unless the paint chips and they rust out. Bearings,\nseals, motors, belts, control electronics, and knobs, on the other hand, those\nwear out.\n\nPerhaps I have just been spoiled by ATX standards for computer parts, and\nconnector standards for ISA, PCI, AGP, PCIe, ATA, SATA, SCSI, M.2, and USB.\nAll those standards mean that third-party manufacturers don't have to maintain\nseparate silos for Apple, Dell, HP, Compaq, Tandy, Amstrad, etc. The third-\nparty motherboard manufacturers can just conform to Intel + ATX to sell a\nproduct, and maybe also micro-ATX and mini-ITX to cater to small-system\nbuilders. It is not difficult at all to assemble a working computer where the\nCPU + chipset, motherboard, case, power supply, system memory, SSD, hard\ndrive, removable disk drive, graphics card, monitor(s), keyboard, mouse,\nspeakers, wi-fi, and Bluetooth are all made by different companies.\n\nBut if you try to replace a single-phase AC 120V 60Hz 5A 0.5hp motor in an\nappliance with another of a different brand with exactly the same power\nrating, it probably won't work. The taxes are not the problem--it's getting\nthe parts. As long as the only reliable source of usable replacement parts is\nthe original manufacturer, of course repairing won't be viable. They would\nmuch rather sell you an entirely new product!\n\n~~~\nhlandau\nI think this is a bad idea. Standards are nice, but companies shouldn't be\ncoerced into using them because there can be legitimate reasons to not use a\nstandard. It prevents innovation not envisioned by the standard.\n\nI really think the simplest way to make this sort of thing happen is to\nincrease the minimum warranty period. If 8 year warranties become mandatory,\ncompanies will need to be able to stock replacement parts for much longer if\nthey don't want to have to replace the machine outright with a newer model\nwhen it breaks. They may then find that standardising parts is in their\ninterests, etc.\n\n~~~\nlogfromblammo\nStandards can change when necessary, in a way that gives all participants in\nthe market ample warning, so that no one goes bankrupt when the big companies\nsuddenly change direction.\n\nWhen PCI was introduced, motherboard manufacturers gradually increased the\nnumber of available PCI slots and reduced the number of ISA slots until the\npoint where most of the market really didn't want that last ISA slot as much\nas they needed another PCI slot. ISA is still a standard. Nobody uses it\nbecause PCI was better. Likewise, AGP appeared, and then went away, because\nPCIe is better. Wi-fi standards have likewise evolved, from A, to B, to G, to\nN, to AC. Many devices are backward-compatible.\n\nBut an ATX motherboard manufactured last week will still fit in the ATX tower\ncase I bought in 1999, with a power supply I bought in 2009. The original\nmanufacturer of that case does not need to stock parts for it, or even still\nbe in business, because if I want another 120mm case fan, 10 different\ncompanies can sell me a new one that will fit (and 20 more would be willing to\nbuy a fan from one of the former 10, stencil a logo on it, and resell it to me\nat a markup).\n\nPerhaps it would be better to enforce a mandatory standard for 10 years, to\nestablish it in the market, then make it voluntary again, so that innovation\ncould occur. Once a standard exists, there has to be a really good reason for\ndeviating from it, otherwise the market quickly allows the non-standard thing\nto fail. If it succeeds, it becomes a new _de facto_ standard, and the\nofficial standard is likely to either adopt it outright or make the next\nversion compatible.\n\nI think you absolutely do have to coerce a standard if one does not already\nexist. But after it exists, it is largely self-enforcing.\n\nTo buck off the standard entirely, you literally have to be the size of Apple.\nAnd even then, I know for certain that there is at least one person alive that\nrefuses to buy Apple hardware in part because of their proprietary connector\nshenanigans in a world where USB is a standard.\n\n~~~\nGrishnakh\nThe ATX standard is the reason why no one bothers buying desktop computers any\nmore except extremists and gamers. These computers are _way_ too large and\ninefficient and ridiculously noisy too, because they aren't properly\nengineered for sound and ventilation (because they're held back by the 90s-era\nATX standard).\n\nEveryone's just given up on it altogether and now they use laptops, or worse,\ntablets.\n\nEven corporate desktops abandoned ATX ages ago and went to proprietary SFF\ncases.\n\n~~~\nlogfromblammo\nI am moving from a laptop as my at-home computer to a quiet-build mini-ITX\nsystem literally this week, after the last parts arrive from Newegg.\n\nI think the ongoing market fragmentation resulting from the incompatible\nproprietary laptop form factors is pushing the whole industry towards\nconsolidation and mergers, and will result in less consumer choice in the long\nrun. I have been privately railing against this crap ever since Dell started\nshipping not-ATX-but-looks-like-it-at-first-glance power supplies in late\n1990s. And Apple has always almost gratuitously used proprietary connectors\nand form factors, even when a perfectly usable standard already existed. They\ncan all go to a Hell where nothing can interoperate without at least two\nadapters, and you never have both.\n\nI was driven to the custom build when the headphone jack on my laptop broke. I\nopened up the case and desoldered the broken one, and the microphone jack, and\nresoldered the unbroken jack into the headphone jack's place. That worked for\na while. Then the laptop keyboard stopped responding to about 5 keys--all of\nthem rather indispensable for typing words. So I replaced the keyboard, and\nthe replacement is just a millimeter too small, so it constantly pops out of\nits recess whenever it shifts and the plastic clips disengage. Then the\nheadphone-jack-formerly-microphone-jack broke like its predecessor. I already\nknew the component itself was impossible to find to replace it, so I looked to\nreplace the motherboard. That would cost more than a newer, more capable\nlaptop, if the part had even been in stock.\n\nSo I'm building a system such that if anything breaks, I can just replace that\none part. I can't get decent repairability without building it myself, and I\ncan't build it myself if there aren't any rassafrassin' _standards_! I would\nhave built my own clamshell computer (not even necessarily a \"laptop\"), but no\none mass-produces an empty clamshell case for consumer sales, because there is\nno laptop-standard form factor. Replacement parts for laptops are always\nexpensive, and frequently out of stock.\n\n~~~\nGrishnakh\nI did something of the opposite: I used to have a big desktop. I got a laptop\nlater so I could do stuff at coffee shops and elsewhere. But I eventually got\ntired of the size and noise of the desktop (even though it was loaded with\nbig, slow 120mm fans), and of the syncing issues with the laptop. I had wanted\nto build a quiet miniITX system, but finally gave up on that idea because of\neverything I've seen with \"standard\" ATX and ITX cases: they just are not\nengineered for quietness. The best you can do is go to water cooling, and I\nfind it ridiculous that I'd have to go to those lengths for some quiet.\n\nSo instead I've just gone the laptop route. I can buy a Dell enterprise-level\nLatitude laptop on Ebay for $150 easily, that's only a few years old, and it's\nportable and quiet and reliable. It even comes with a magnesium chassis. And\nif it breaks, I can buy a new one for $150 and resell the old broken one on\nEbay to someone who wants the parts. These laptops are extremely ubiquitous\n(because they're used by so many businesses), so the parts are readily\navailable if I want to just repair it, plus they're built to be fairly easily\nserviced (the older E6400 and E6410 had only one screw on the back panel). If\nyou were buying consumer laptops, that was your problem: those things are crap\nand not made for easy servicing. You complain about \"if the part had even been\nin stock\": on my Dells, I can easily buy any part I want on Ebay: a new\nscreen, a new motherboard, a new keyboard, a bare back panel, a speaker grill,\nanything. Everything is in stock.\n\nYou don't need to build a laptop yourself to get decent repairability; you\njust need to get a decent laptop and not a consumer-grade POS.\n\nThen, so I can have a nice workstation, I got a docking station that supports\ndual DVI/DisplapyPort monitors, USB3, etc. These docking stations are\nstandardized for Dell business laptops, so I can plug a huge range of them\ninto it.\n\n------\nacd\nGlobalisation vs the environment\n\nGlobalisation means consuming cheap stuff made in a low cost country that does\nusually not last that long and transported over long distances.\n\nBuilt to consume in cellphones are integrated batteries and cheap components\nthat by design fail after three years so we buy a new phone. Integrated\nstorage of a limited size that you cannot expand. Making things that does not\nlast is more profitable than making things that last long why is that?\n\nHow 16 container ships pollute more than all the cars in the world.\n[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1229857/How-1...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1229857/How-16-ships-\ncreate-pollution-cars-world.html)\n\nOn one hand economists wants us to blindly consume as much stuff as possible\nsince that is good for the economy. The other hand says we pollute the earth\nand use to much energy which means we need to consume more durable goods which\nlasts longer.\n\nHow do we integrate the environment in the economy?\n\n~~~\ndevdas\nTaxes. Externalities can be factored into the price. Build the price of\nrecycling into the product, and make the vendor liable.\n\n------\nab5tract\nCorrect me if I am wrong, but under ISDS rules (a la TPP/TTIP), companies\ncould now sue Sweden for potential lost profits as a result of this\nlegislation, right? (Assuming Sweden is signed onto an ISDS treaty, which it\nprobably is not).\n\n~~~\nmadgar\nIn the US, I can sue you just for making this hacker news comment. Doesn't\nmean I'll make it past the first hearing.\n\n~~~\nab5tract\nThat lawsuit would be in a civil court, with civil lawyers and actual judges.\nNot a room full of round-robin corporate laywers.\n\nMy comment was not about whether it would be successful. My question was\nwhether it provided the means to initiate a lawsuit.\n\n~~~\njcranmer\nSo you'd rather the case be decided by a single lawyer^H^H^H^H^H^H judge than\na panel of lawyers. Even in common law jurisdictions, most of these sorts of\ncases tend to focus on disputes over issues of law (hence tried by a judge),\nnot issues of fact (which are the only issues which proceed to a jury trial).\nJudges are usually lawyers before becoming judges--that's not terribly\nsurprising, considering that judges are expected to know a lot of legal\ntheory, which is essentially the same training you undergo to become a lawyer.\n\nFearing the provisions of ISDS would undermine the principles of justice means\nthat you would rather trust the judgements of a single, likely overworked,\nlawyer who is expected to know the entire relevant body of law and case\nhistory for his or her jurisdiction over the judgements of a panel of lawyers\nwho are likely to have somewhat specialized in the area of dispute being\ncovered.\n\n~~~\nab5tract\nYou have thrown up a false equivalency and are pursuing it in an odd manner.\n\nWhat I would prefer is that there is absolutely zero mechanisms for a\ncorporation to sue a government over \"potential lost profits\".\n\nThis is just not at all the same as discussing a potential lawsuit over\ndefamation / libel / whatever \"you\" would be suing me over a comment for. And,\nyes, in that case I would still prefer to go through the normal court system\nwith laws written by my legislature rather than a room full of mega corps and\ntrade representatives.\n\n------\nflexie\nThe rationale behind is sound but the trick is to design the rules so that all\ngains aren't lost in the cost for administering the rules. Differentiated VAT\nand/or deductions are notoriously expensive and prone for cheating.\n\nIt is very difficult/expensive to check if a service provided was the repair\nof an existing item or a new item installed (or something else entirely).\n\n------\nhammock\nSo the opposite of Cash for Clunkers.[1] Would a Keynesian then expect these\ntax breaks to crash the economy?\n\n[1][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_Allowance_Rebate_System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_Allowance_Rebate_System)\n\n------\nberntb\nThis has probably more to do with Sweden having so high taxes on labour that\nrepairs becomes impossible without a tax break.\n\nAn average Swede gets ~ a third of the money the company pays for his wages.\n(30% tax, 30% in social charges etc.)\n\nIf he is going to rent an hour from someone with the same salary as\nhimself/herself, that will be three times the hourly salary. (I'll ignore the\nother costs here.)\n\nSo, in sum, because of the taxes etc, a Swede have to work [at least] a full\nday to buy an hour of work time.\n\n(Reservation for the exact numbers. It was a while since I lived in Sweden.\nPeople might keep 40% or so now, but I also ignored a lot of extra costs.)\n\n~~~\nvidarh\nAccording to the OECD Taxing Wages report [1] for 2016, the total tax wedge\nfor Sweden, including employer contributions, is 42.7%.\n\n(Note: for those who are confused about it: This is _not_ the percentage tax\npaid out of contracted wages - the average tax paid on the contracted wages\nare much lower)\n\n> If he is going to rent an hour from someone with the same salary as\n> himself/herself, that will be three times the hourly salary. (I'll ignore\n> the other costs here.)\n\nThat may be true, but not due mainly to taxes, but because you are also paying\nfor \"dead time\", marketings costs and others.\n\n[1] [http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-\nManagement/oecd/taxatio...](http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-\nManagement/oecd/taxation/taxing-wages-2016_tax_wages-2016-en#page20)\n\n~~~\ncharlesdm\nDon't forget to add their 25% VAT rate if you actually want to spend your\nmoney.. so you end up with 42.7% + 25%. That's nuts.\n\n~~~\ntitzer\nWouldn't that be 42.7% + (57.3% * .25) = 57%?\n\n~~~\nberntb\nThe difference is that the previous government lowered the taxes for the first\n20K SEK earned per month. (This was mostly after my time in Sweden.)\n\nMy point regarding the impossibility of service work at these levels stands.\nQuite a few tax exemptions had to be created to get the population to start\npaying taxes for those kinds of jobs.\n\nEdit: For the part of the salary above ca 19K/month, you're correct. In fact,\nthe taxes are progressive, so it is even worse.\n\n------\nap22213\nWhat is it about Nordic countries that allows them to avoid corruption and\npolitical decay? As an outsider, it seems that they're always experimenting\nwith new approaches and evolving the government and laws to keep up with the\nchanging needs of the citizenry.\n\nIn the US, I felt like we were starting to get somewhere back in the 90s, but\nit's been a downward fall since then. Now, corruption permeates even at the\nlocal levels. Many of the people that I talk to blame the lack of time. I\ndon't know - but there's major apathy and cynicism, and it seems to be getting\nworse.\n\n------\nPaulHoule\nOdd that appliances are on the list because we're likely to see another wave\nof changes for refrigerants.\n\nBack in the bad old days people used refrigerants such as HCFCs that were bad\nfor the ozone layer. Now they use straight HFCs (no chlorine) but those are\npotent global warming gases. At some point there is going to a push to replace\nthose with fluoroketones.\n\nSo repairing old air conditioners, refrigerators and such may not be such a\ngreat idea.\n\n------\ndvtv75\nAt this time, I am fighting with a Samsung Syncmaster 2333SW Plus. It started\nfading to white every time blue was displayed, then it would overflow back to\na normal image and fade to white.\n\nI'm told this is a fault in the t-con (timing controller) board - some people\nhave noted it's just a bad solder connection, so I'm going to have a look\nbefore I replace the board.\n\nI have a donor screen that I got apart (the 2333HD) in about four hours, but\nthe 2333SW Plus... I've been trying for at least 12 hours to get that thing\napart. (I've sanitized this post.) The sides of the casing are free, but the\ntop and bottom edges just won't let go, and I can't afford to break the\ninternal clips.\n\nI honestly can't decide between RageGuy and Samir's rage at the printer not\nprinting properly.\n\n------\nthght\nHeaps of old stuff is broken because of planned obsolescence. Is it not a\nwaste trying to repair that rubbish that was originally designed to break soon\nand hard and expensive to repair? Lowering tax for companies that produce\nsustainable products seems more efficient to me.\n\n------\njwatte\nOne side effect of building for repairability is that objects will be bigger\nand clunkier, which will use more materials and cost more (and burn more fuel)\nto transport.\n\nI'm all for repairability, and even better, building things that will last 25\nyears, not 25 months. But that will come at a different price than perhaps\nmany expect, and in some cases, it actually won't make sense.\n\nMoney is how we measure and gate access to scarce resources. If it costs more\nto build repairable items, and then repair them, then it is likely the case\nthat those repairs actually waste more resources! However, insofaras the\nresource being wasted is human work time, there is of course a trade-off to be\nmade.\n\n------\nPica_soO\nIf a company made a extremely enduring and time-resistant valuable product,\nwouldn't it make more sense for the company to lease the product out to the\ncustomers - and for the state to support this model by making it tax-free\nafter a time?\n\n------\nmaerF0x0\nIMO the only reason we do not have a culture of repairing is because we\nsubsidize the waste processing stream and thus we only see lower upfront\ncosts.\n\nIf I had to pay an extra $25 disposal fee upfront on a microwave, maybe I'd be\nincentivized to buy a quality item or maybe repair it in the first place.\n\nAs well, repairing/reusing is a function of average cost of a worker. If a\nrepair man has a fully loaded cost of $50 an hour, then you're not going to\nsee many repairs happen. If its $5 an hour then you might see more. Expensive\nlabor leads to all kinds of seemingly insane behavior.\n\n------\nbgammon\nImpermanence could be considered a value in certain cultures. \"Disposable\nCulture\" vs. \"Repairing Old Stuff\" isn't a useful dichotomy. Everything has an\nexpiration date, and often that date is carefully considered as part of a\nproduct's design. The goal shouldn't be fixing old stuff, but finding out how\nto increase efficiency either by making product's expiration dates further in\nthe future, or compromising having an imminent expiration date by making the\nproduct easy to recycle.\n\n~~~\nclock_tower\nWhat cultures value impermanence? The only one that comes to my mind is the US\n-- and we're unsustainable, burning through resources on an unprecedented\nscale. Take the time to do things properly, and they endure: Caxtons are the\ngold standard of book collecting in England today, and Albrecht Duerer's house\nstill stands in Nuremberg.\n\n(You also spend less money by building, or generally making, to last. Western\nand Central Europe have a lower GDP than the US but a comparable standard of\nliving...)\n\n------\ngrizzles\nTo truly fix the situation would probably require: 1) Tracking every single\nsaleable physical asset 2) Paying manufacturer's a small fixed income type\nsubsidy for every extra year their product lasts. 3) Charging manufacturer's a\nsmall penalty tax when their product becomes waste.\n\n#2 is essential because otherwise manufacturing obsolescence into the product\nwill be more profitable for the company. The economic reward of long lasting\nproduct & enduring customer relationship needs to be better than sell one\nevery few years.\n\n------\nkwhitefoot\nNever mind repairing old stuff; just make it easier to pass on stuff. I\nsuspect that Sweden is similar to Norway (where I live) and immense amounts of\ncurrent electronic gear is thrown away. A lot of it is in usable condition\n(for some value of usable anyway) but I am not allowed to take it away from a\nrecycling station.\n\n------\nbarisser\nShould the state really presume to sway cultural trends? It seems strikingly\narrogant and likely to be counterproductive.\n\n------\na-no-n\nMy MagSafe adapter has probably 5 packets of Sugru, both preventative (anti-\ndrop and strain-relief) and repairs, on it and some two-part epoxy to fix some\nminor nicks in the small cable. The one of the cable winding \"wings\" just\nbroke, but it still works. I might buy a second in 2018.\n\n------\nyig\nRepairs are uneconomical because they have to compete with the assembly line.\nAssembly lines are an incredibly productive way to make identical things.\nRepairs are typically different. Like Tolstoy said, \"Happy families are all\nalike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.\"\n\n~~~\ndmix\nYou can adjust assembly lines to make your products easier to repair though.\nFor ex: it's far easier to fix my old thinkpad laptop than my newer X1. Part\nof this is the demand for smaller/thinner products but I also feel it's a lack\nof effort by the manufacturers these days.\n\nThey are almost incentivized to make repair difficult and deprioritize\nlongevity in favour of the customer buying new devices each year. Which is\nabout as long as any of my cell phones typically last before I break or lose\nthem (1-1.5yrs), although I'm a bit clumsy and forgetful (a symptom of ADD\n:P).\n\n------\nGravityloss\nBasic income + no minimum wage would make it much more attractive to do local\nrepairs instead of manufacturing stuff far away where wages are lower or labor\nand environmental regulation much more lax.\n\nIn my country, youth unemployment is around 20%.\n\n------\nmhb\nReducing a 25% tax on repairs is seen as an insightful and brilliant way to\nincentivize repairs? Well knock me over with a feather. Where is the previous\narticle about how that level of tax is crazy to begin with?\n\n------\niamgopal\nI think ideal way is to charge people for dumping the waste, and use that\nmoney to properly recycle all the material therein. May not be ideal in terms\nof energy efficiency, but its highly workable solution.\n\n------\nrumcajz\nAlternative approach: Require people keep everything they buy for 10 years.\nThey'll be quickly fed up with their houses full of old broken gadgets,\ncardboard boxes and used wrapping foil.\n\n------\nmacandcheese\n\"Own few but good things\" \\- love everything about this as it relates to\nliving \"modestly minimal\" as I call it. Buy a small amount of high quality\npossessions, and take care of them.\n\n------\ntitzer\nWouldn't a high sales tax promote exactly that?\n\n~~~\neveningcoffee\nSales tax also applies to the services.\n\nMore over, as labor is highly taxed in Sweden, it makes local repairing\ndisproportionally more expensive compared to the manufacturing in a country\nwith smaller labor costs.\n\n~~~\ncharlesdm\n> More over, as labor is highly taxed in Sweden, it makes local repairing\n> disproportionally more expensive compared to the manufacturing in a country\n> with smaller labor costs.\n\nSounds like a very clear flaw in their economic and taxation model.\n\n~~~\neveningcoffee\nThis flaw is called free trade. This problem used to be fixed by higher\ncustoms. But we generally prefer free trade, so they have to try other\ninitiatives.\n\n------\nDowwie\nI guess they'd need to explicitly de-classify commonly repaired items from\nthis?\n\n------\nsjg007\nFunny... I tried to fix an IKEA lamp and finding parts was impossible.\n\n------\nPigo\nCould a company hypothetically create an extremely solid phone with\ninterchangeable parts when upgrades become available, and it's not done just\nbecause they profit more with the current model? Or is this just not feasible?\n\n~~~\nSharlin\nYes, but it would be huge and expensive and nobody would want to buy it. Plus\nmodularity and BW compatibility requirements would severely limit the design\nspace available for further evolution (both look and feel and internal\nhardware aspects). Highly integrated hardware and systems-on-a-chip do have\nseveral advantages but are pretty much the antithesis of modularity.\n\n------\nCPLX\nI was happy to see that the author did pause to note the irony of this policy\nbeing implemented by the same country that brought the world IKEA.\n\n~~~\nska\nBesides the category error of conflating corporate and state implementations -\ncomplaining about the existence of IKEA is a bit like complaining about the\nexistence of fast food. Clearly there is massive demand for both, so lobbing\ndarts at the most successful producers of same avoids all of the interesting\nquestions.\n\n~~~\nCPLX\nI don't detect any complaining in my post. Just noting the (considerable)\nirony in Sweden leading the charge against \"disposable culture\", as did the\narticle's writer.\n\n~~~\nska\nPerhaps I read more into it than you meant - fair enough. You are still\nconflating Sweden and IKEA, which is just silly.\n\nAlso IKEA's m.o. is more cheap and cheerful than disposable, so what irony\nthere is, is a bit weak.\n\n~~~\nGravityloss\nHave you tried moving Ikea stuff? A lot of it is unlikely to stay in one\npiece. And I don't mean it can be disassembled and reassembled. Even their\nchipboard is of lower strength than ordinary, quite an achievement.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCanvas-sketch – A framework for making generative artwork - hunvreus\nhttps://github.com/mattdesl/canvas-sketch\n======\nmattdesl\nHello! Cool to see my framework here on HN frontpage.\n\nI’ve been using this for some time now for all my production work — including\ngenerative art (prints, laser cuts, 3D printed models, plotter art, etc) and\nclient work (interactive Canvas and WebGL productions). I’ve run a couple\nworkshops with it and smoothed out most of the kinks, but it’s still fairly\nexperimental so please open an issue if you run into any problems. :)\n\n~~~\nmkl\nA suggestion: Include a gallery of images produced by canvas-sketch. From the\nreadme and documentation, it's pretty hard to tell what canvas-sketch is\ncapable of.\n\n------\nbilldybas\nMatt has a really great course on Frontend Masters [0] where he shows you how\nto use canvas-sketch and make generative art.\n\n[0]: [https://frontendmasters.com/courses/canvas-\nwebgl/](https://frontendmasters.com/courses/canvas-webgl/)\n\n------\nandybak\nA running example would be really nice. I'd be much more likely to try it out\nif it was one click rather than a bunch of node stuff.\n\n~~~\ntyingq\nThere is one demo linked to in this issue:\n[https://github.com/mattdesl/canvas-\nsketch/issues/36](https://github.com/mattdesl/canvas-sketch/issues/36)\n\nThe issue expands on your suggestion as well.\n\n------\nbeardicus\n`canvas-sketch` is pretty great... I've been having a lot of fun making\ngenerative doodles using just the canvas API, but of course you can also use\np5.js and other frameworks if you like. it's just nice to have the easy hot\nreloading and outputting to png and svg and gifs or movies all set up for you\nalready.\n\n------\nwsdfsayy\nAre there business use cases for canvas other than drawing? Just curious if\nthere are companies actually using canvas to do something...\n\n~~~\nralusek\nIt's used for rendering graphics of any kind that don't lend themselves well\nto the DOM. I worked on a project where we used the canvas element as a video\nplayer, rendering one frame at a time on it.\n\n~~~\nSimonDorfman\nI’d like to hear more about that project. Can you share a URL if it’s public?\nI’ve imagined making something like that for showing a version of a super-8\nfilm at 18 frames per second.\n\n------\ngrenoire\nDoes this do much else than exposing the canvas context to you with some extra\nelement options?\n\n~~~\nbeardicus\nit handles hot reloading, high resolution raster output, animation and gif\noutput, and has some handy features to help you keep track of code when you're\nquickly iterating while sketching.\n\n------\npictur\nwhy preact?\n\n~~~\nmattdesl\nJust to clarify: preact isn’t currently used in the current library/dist on\nnpm, just in some unused source code (which I need to clean up). At some point\nI will try to add GUI hence the need for preact.\n\n~~~\npictur\nunderstood thanks. I've used preact before, but I think the latest versions\nare very bad.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWordPress vs. Wix – The Story Behind the Headlines? - velmu\nhttps://hostadvice.com/blog/wordpress-vs-wix-story-behind-headlines/\n======\n123qwe123qwe\nWOW\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nRFC: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Minimal Images - pella\nhttp://blog.dustinkirkland.com/2018/02/rfc-ubuntu-1804-lts-minimal-images.html\n======\nfotcorn\nI did a short comparision between this and alpine by installing nginx inside\nthe image (I used nginx-light inside ubuntu):\n\n    \n    \n      CONTAINER ID    IMAGE           SIZE\n      493450e7bc12    alpine          1.37MB (virtual 5.52MB)\n      62b1db90500c    ubuntu:bionic   6MB (virtual 87MB)\n    \n\nI deleted the cache files from apt after installing (/var/lib/apt/lists*)\n\nLooks quite nice, but it seems Ubuntu packages are much bigger than Alpine\npackage, e.g. Postgres is 159 MB in Ubuntu Bionic and only 32 MB in Alpine\n(including dependencies). Do the Ubuntu packages have more feature than the\nequivalent Alpine packages?\n\n~~~\npetre\nAlpine is compiled against musl libc, so the binaries are much smaller. Id\naddition to tgat, it uses Busybox.\n\n~~~\nanarazel\nI can't imagine that to be one of the more significant factors in this case.\nIt's much more likely that the ubuntu version includes a lot more\nfunctionality. Just looking at the configure flags: Alpine: --with-ldap\n--with-libedit-preferred --with-libxml--with-openssl --with-perl --with-python\n--with-tcl --with-uuid=e2fs Debian: \\--with-icu --with-tcl --with-perl --with-\npython --with-pam --with-openssl --with-libxml --with-libxslt --enable-nls\n--enable-integer-datetimes --enable-thread-safety --enable-tap-tests --enable-\ndebug --disable-rpath --with-uuid=e2fs --with-gssapi --with-ldap --with-\nselinux\n\nSpecifically the differences in enabling ICU (portable collations) and nls\n(i.e. translations) alone are probably going to be the majority of difference\nin installed size.\n\n------\nsegmondy\nDid most of you read the article? I see folks suggesting what can be removed.\nThey can't do that.\n\n\"The Ubuntu Minimal Image is the smallest base upon which a user can apt\ninstall any package in the Ubuntu archive.\"\n\n~~~\nkstenerud\nFrom the article:\n\n\"Do you see any other opportunities for savings? Can you help us crop the\nBionic Beaver images any further? Is there something that we've culled, that\nyou see as problematic? We're interested in your feedback\"\n\n~~~\nbraindongle\n\"Crop the beaver\"? Seriously? It also says \"Shave the beaver\"! Is it me? Is\nthis thinly veiled high school innuendo?\n\n~~~\nkuschku\nUbuntu uses animal names as codename for releases.\n\nAfter Artful Aardvark now follows Bionic Beaver.\n\n~~~\nisostatic\nBreezy Badger being already used (before they moved to incrementinf letter\nbased system - having done hoary hedgehog and waryy warthog.\n\nIt wasn't until the first LTS version, dapper drake, that the letters started\nmatching the release number. The second LTS, or 8th release overall - Hardy\nHeron, in April 2008, was the second \"hh\" version.\n\nShockingly we still have 6 hardy heron boxes on our network in far flung\nlocations.\n\n------\nmatt_wulfeck\nThe problem with these 30 MB images:\n\n    \n    \n        apt update -y\n        apt install -y telnet\n    \n\nNow you have a 200 MB image.\n\n~~~\ngerdesj\nI think you miss the point but feel free to provide feedback to the devs: this\nis a RFC after all.\n\nI have used the minimals for years now and they really do give you a pretty\ndecent starter for 10, with a minimum of hassle and a minimum of bloat. Boot\nthe ISO (PXE, obviously) and off you go.\n\nEven doing the install by hand, you get a _fully_ patched basic server up and\nrunning within 10-20 minutes - the install is all off the current packages.\nAdd Samba and a few copy n pastes and you have AD joined. A few more copy n\npastes from your docs and you have an app server.\n\nI wrote this lot:\n[https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Intranet](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Intranet)\nwhich simply assumes Ubuntu mini at the moment. I do have screenshots and\ncould put together a pretty noddy guide for that bit but I'm not sure its\nnecessary. Actually now I come to think of it, it probably is. Couple that\nwith my Ref. build and you have a domain joined, Kerberized etc app server\nwithin about an hour if you do the job by hand and are unfamiliar with the\nprocess. I can do it rather quicker.\n\nYes, the installer is a 30MB image - good. An installer's size is no\nreflection on the installation size.\n\nEDIT: I am from the sysadmin side of things and not dev ops ...\n\n~~~\ndsr_\nSysadmin/devops is a nearly meaningless distinction. When a developer needs to\nwrite installation or configuration code, they cross over. When a sysadmin\nneeds to write code to monitor applications, they cross over. Senior sysadmins\nneed to write more code, senior developers need to know more about systems and\nnetworks.\n\nTwelve years ago, I hired senior sysadmins. About seven years ago, I hired\nsenior devops. Same people, same skill sets, same approach.\n\n~~~\ngerdesj\n\"Sysadmin/devops is a nearly meaningless distinction\"\n\nIt should be as you say but it isn't really. I too hire and fire. To be honest\n\"dev ops\" should not really exist but has become a thing. Many who describe\nthemselves as such do not bother with the nuts and bolts. To be fair to them,\nthough, quite a few sysadmins I've known are a bit slack on the networking\nside, for example. _sigh_\n\n------\nKingEllis\nI have feedback on the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Cloud Image that I am hoping reaches\nthe right ears.\n\nThere is something about the way the disk is partitioned that makes the use of\nvirt-resize no longer work (as it does for 16.04).\n\nSpecifically, I am referring to: [https://cloud-\nimages.ubuntu.com/bionic/20180124/bionic-serve...](https://cloud-\nimages.ubuntu.com/bionic/20180124/bionic-server-cloudimg-amd64.img)\n\nThe boot partion looks to be sda14 or sda15. But judging from the output of\nvirt-resize, it appears that although these are sda14/15, they appear in front\nof sda1. (When virt-resize is run on sda1, sda14 becomes sda1, sda15 becomes\nsda2, and sda1 is now the resized sda3, and grub is confused.\n\n    \n    \n      $ virt-filesystems --long --parts --blkdevs -h -a bionic-server-cloudimg-amd64.img \n      Name        Type       MBR  Size  Parent\n      /dev/sda1   partition  -    2.1G  /dev/sda\n      /dev/sda14  partition  -    4.0M  /dev/sda\n      /dev/sda15  partition  -    106M  /dev/sda\n      /dev/sda    device     -    2.2G  -\n    \n      $ virt-resize --expand /dev/sda1 bionic-server-cloudimg-amd64.img bionic0.qcow2\n    \n      $ virt-filesystems --long --parts --blkdevs -h -a bionic0.qcow2\n      Name       Type       MBR  Size  Parent\n      /dev/sda1  partition  -    4.0M  /dev/sda\n      /dev/sda2  partition  -    106M  /dev/sda\n      /dev/sda3  partition  -    25G   /dev/sda\n      /dev/sda   device     -    25G   -\n    \n\nI am hoping this can be addressed before April, as I would prefer not to\nmaintain my own LTS image (that doesn't have this issue).\n\n~~~\ndustinkirkland\nThanks! I'll make sure that gets to the right team!\n\n------\nAfforess\nMy 2 cents, and possibly quite wrong: Is the ncurses packages really necessary\nin the minimal ubuntu image? It seems likely that curses based programs should\nbe likely candidates for exclusion in a minimal image, as they are not usually\nmeant for automation.\n\nAlso, why are there still motd files in /etc/update-motd.d? No sshd but still\na motd? Odd.\n\n~~~\nAloha\nncurses is required, debian-installer (which is used for all the configuration\ndialog post install too) require it.\n\n~~~\nDaviey\nYou should be able to use readline rather than ncurses.. Or for dpkg, you\ncould also use the noninteractive frontend.\n\n------\ntheandrewbailey\nI've been using the MinimalCD images[0] to install Ubuntu for years. (They are\nthe minimum you need to boot, and they download everything else to install\nUbuntu.) I'm guessing that these aren't what's being talked about.\n\n[0]\n[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/MinimalCD](https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/MinimalCD)\n\n~~~\nKayEss\nI'd been doing the same thing for a long time (loved how fast it was compared\nto the normal installer, especially in a VM), but the last install I did was\nwith debootstrap straight onto the target disk from another running machine. A\nbit of a learning curve the first time, but I think I'll try it again next\ntime.\n\n------\naplorbust\nNot a Linux user but out of curiosity just looked at the \"Trusty Tahr\" 37MB\namd64 minimal image (mini.iso).\n\nMost recent amd64 minimal image is 58MB (\"Artful Aardvark\").\n\nTrusty Tahr bzImage compressed kernel is 5.5MB.\n\nThe initrd.cpio.gz is 20MB.\n\nThe uncompressed initrd is _52MB_.\n\nAssuming most of the initrd size is modules, can the Linux user reduce the\nsize of the initrd by compiling own kernel and creating own initrd with only\nthe modules she needs?\n\n~~~\nsubway\nOr just ditch the kernel and initrd entirely. If you're trying to save a few\nMB on an Ubuntu image, you're almost certainly working in a container\nenvironment where you don't need a kernel inside the fs.\n\nIf you really do need a kernel, and the few extra MB required by modules is a\nproblem, you should probably be using Buildroot or Yocto for your\nbootloader/kernel.\n\n~~~\ngerdesj\nI don't think everyone is working within a container when they boot a Ubuntu\nminimal, unless your containers happen to have a BIOS or similar.\n\nThese things are a full OS installer ie put it on a USB key, CDROM, PXE boot\nor whatever. These are a minimal installer and not a minimal installation,\nalthough that is a side effect - you don't get much out of the box but you can\nadd everything later.\n\nYou could, for example, do a minimal install and then do \"# apt install\nlibreoffice\" and with luck (not too sure) get the whole lot - X etc - to run\nit. You might have to add a Window Manager and a few other things.\n\n~~~\nsubway\nI agree -- there are plenty of reasons to use a minimal Ubuntu install. My\npoint was that if size constraints are so tight that you feel trimming kernel\nmodules out is a reasonable use of effort, then Ubuntu starts to be a more\nawkward fit. If you constantly have to trim away bits left by the package\nmanager (man pages, examples, extra kernel modules), your time is probably\nbetter spent with a distro that allows you to avoid ever laying those into the\nrootfs to begin with.\n\nAlso worth noting:these images _are_ full minimal root filesystems.\n\"installer\" images refer to the images containing software --the debian/ubuntu\ninstaller for bootstrapping a root filesystem onto a mounted volume. The\nminimal images from thearticle do not contain this installer, and are\nstanalone root filesystems.\n\n~~~\nsecabeen\nYeah. To be more clear, you can install a \"minimal\" system of Ubuntu on bare\nmetal by just installing the \"required\" packages only, although I think the\ndefault if you don't select any tasks in the installer is to install\n\"required\" \\+ \"standard\", which is a small amount more than just \"required\".\nEither way, it doesn't include much. I have to install openssh-server on my\n\"nothing-but-standard\" systems, before chef comes in and drags along another\n1000 packages.\n\nThe installs the OP is talking about are images that don't even have a kernel,\nand don't use the traditional installer.\n\n------\nLinuxBender\nSomewhat off topic: Is there an effort similar to this for CentOS 7? The\ncentos minimal image is still rather large and I have to do some really ugly\nthings to prune it down. Even then I can not get it down anywhere close to 80\nMB. That would be amazing.\n\n~~~\nanonacct37\nIt's been my experience that people are less open to hacking CentOS/RedHat.\nIt's pretty much you get what you get and changing anything makes it\nunsupported which defeats the purpose of using an enterprise distribution.\nThat's not my opinion, it's what seems to be the community's opinion when you\nbring up things like using non-stock kernels.\n\n~~~\nmastax\nSeems like it would make sense to have a CentOS version of RHEL Atomic\nHost/Fedora Atomic though? (I know nothing about CentOS)\n\n~~~\nemmelaich\n[https://wiki.centos.org/SpecialInterestGroup/Atomic/Download](https://wiki.centos.org/SpecialInterestGroup/Atomic/Download)\n\n------\nbutz\nWould be nice if desktop Ubuntu images became smaller as well. I have a few\n1GB USB drives just waiting for it.\n\n~~~\ndustinkirkland\nStay tuned :-) That's my next post...\n\n------\nverst\nThis could be smaller by removing compilers and build headers. If I'm not\nmistaken I see GCC is currently part of this.\n\nI would prefer to manually install build-essentials when needed (I can then\nget rid of them after compiling via multistage builds).\n\nAlpine Linux specifically makes you manually install compilers and necessary\nheaders via\n\n    \n    \n      apk add --update build-base\n    \n\nEDIT: Make is not being installed by default. But I would like to manually\ninstall GCC as needed (for a truly minimal image).\n\nEDIT2: I stand corrected. Looks like GCC isn't installed by default (which is\nexactly what we want for minimal images). Awesome.\n\n~~~\nroller\nThe gcc-7-base package (assuming that's what you're looking at) looks like\nit's just an empty directory to put various gcc things and some basic docs.\n\n[https://packages.debian.org/sid/gcc-7-base](https://packages.debian.org/sid/gcc-7-base)\n\n[https://packages.debian.org/sid/amd64/gcc-7-base/filelist](https://packages.debian.org/sid/amd64/gcc-7-base/filelist)\n\n~~~\nverst\nThanks! I was looking at [1] and wasn't sure if those were binaries.\n\nThat's perfect then. Install GCC, compilers, build headers etc via `sudo apt-\nget install build-essential` when necessary. So this should be the same\ngeneral approach as on Alpine.\n\n[1]:\n[https://pastebin.ubuntu.com/26506363/](https://pastebin.ubuntu.com/26506363/)\n\n~~~\ngeofft\nlibgcc_s.so.1 is a collection of utility routines used by all sorts of\nprograms. The entry named \"gcc\" is a directory (that contains only empty\ndirectories?). /usr/share/gcc-7/python/libstdcxx/ is from the libstdc++6\npackage (looks like gdb pretty-printers for C++ standard library types).\n\n------\npeterwwillis\nI used to build embedded Linux distros for a hobby. The best, least\naggravating way to have minimal platforms is to build them from scratch. Not\nonly are they 10-50x smaller, you have more visibility over what's installed,\nand it's easier to tailor to your use case.\n\n~~~\nrevelation\nSomething like OpenWRT or buildroot can fit into 8 MiB easy. These people have\nan actual reason to make small \"containers\" because flash is a big part of the\nBoM cost and adds up when you are shipping many thousands.\n\n------\nmwj\nIf this is for deployment, why not just use debian slim?\n\n~~~\nmake3\nI suspect, though I could be wrong, that the reason would be that some\npackages support Ubuntu specifically and not Debian, because of a larger\nconsumer user base. An important example of this is the Nvidia CUDA toolkit,\nwhich supports Ubuntu and not Debian.\n\n------\nhodl\nHow big is templeos LTS minimal IMG?\n\n~~~\nhodl\n16mb\n\n------\npikchurn\nPosting here rather than the blog because I don't have a google account:\n\nWhat about adding sshd to the minimal install? If the purpose of this is\nminimal installs of containers and cloud servers and such, that seems like\nquite an omission.\n\n~~~\nacomar\nThis is supposed to run inside of a container. Why would you want sshd inside\nof a container?\n\n~~~\npikchurn\nI use containers as lightweight VMs in many places. Generally I see this as a\nway to get a minimal install that other tools can then configure\nappropriately, with up to date packages fetched from upstream mirrors\ndirectly, instead of installed from CD and then upgraded.\n\nI currently use packer.io to script the creation of a bunch of server images,\nand for ubuntu I've missed the \"minimal install CD\" that other distros have.\nInstead packer has to download a 800MB CD image, in order to install only a\nfew hundred megabytes of uncompressed packages in a bare-bones install, which\nis then provisioned using some orchestration tool that at its heart uses ssh\nto login to the virtual machine.\n\nNot having SSH means you need to add in some sort of serial-attach step to\nmanually install sshd, or hook into the install scripts to download sshd as\npart of the install or whatever. Either way that's additional custom work that\nis probably common to a great many use cases.\n\n~~~\nverst\nSo why not build your own version with a SSH daemon if you really need it? I\ndon't think most people need the SSH daemon in their container image.\n\nYour Dockerfile could be something like this:\n\n    \n    \n      FROM ubuntu:bionic\n      RUN sudo apt-get install openssh-server -y && sudo service ssh restart\n    \n    \n\nThese are definitely not the complete steps for setting up SSHd but you get\nthe idea.\n\n------\ntomc1985\nWonderful, I've always hated how much crap a default Ubuntu install comes\nwith. 10% idle CPU usage just after OS install? Ewww.\n\n~~~\nLev1a\nHow many DECADES old is your hardware that an idling just-set-up Ubuntu uses\n10% CPU?\n\n------\nrevelation\nWhat is the obsession with smaller images? If you are running out of disk\nspace before CPU, RAM, IOPS, network, well there is a cheap fix for that.\n\n~~~\ngeofft\nContainerization - taking a deployment that previously was made of lots of\napps running on one OS on one physical machine (or a relatively generous\nfraction of one, as a VM), and turning it into lots of apps each running on\ntheir OS on top of the same amount of machine. Containerization significantly\nincreases disk usage for each container and probably increases RAM use a\nlittle bit, but to first order does not affect CPU or IOPS or network.\n\n~~~\nrevelation\nI understand it is about containers. But no disk space of the world is worth\nyour container app crashing because someone wanted to save a few megabytes by\nditching glibc or otherwise just pushing more work into each and every\nindividual container. It's Java Enterprise all over, who cares it's always\nallocating tens of GiB of RAM, you have to get to the point of buying a lot of\nit before it makes an hour of an engineers time worthwhile.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nInc.com | 30 Under 30: America's Coolest Young Entrepreneurs - horatio05\nhttp://www.inc.com/slideshow_INC/slideviewer.cgi?list=30under2007&dir=&config=&refresh=15&scale=0&design=default&total=22\n======\nzaidf\nA guy by the name of Ryan Allis ought to be on that list.\n\n------\njl\nCongrats Sam Altman!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Lens Battle – Make comparing lenses easier (with leaflet.js) - bwang29\nhttps://www.polarr.co/lens/50mm\n======\nbwang29\nOP here: some of the misalignments are caused by distortions and slight camera\nmovement. Those are the hardest to control and require repeated try. The Sigma\nlens is also overly heavy that pointed the camera down-ward a little. Will try\nto do better in the next round of lenses.\n\n~~~\nzhyan7109\nPretty good start i'd say. Nice to see leaflet.js getting used outside of\nmaps. A couple comments: 1. the choice of the subjects is questionable.\nCouldn't you have chosen a better scene? Perhaps a landscape/portrait where\nextra detail can be more easily compared between the photos. Let's be honest,\nwho's ever gonna take a photo with these lenses on a doll. For crying out\nloud, get some models and I guarantee this will take off! 2. would like to see\nmore lenses to be added, along with different zoom settings\n\n~~~\nSlowOnTheUptake\nI'm no lens expert but I'd imagine that the differences in lighting and motion\nin landscapes and portraiture between takes might obscure the subtle\ndifferences between the lenses themselves. The static subjects probably give a\nmore fair comparison.\n\n~~~\nkpaddie\nDifference lenses have very different MTF (resolution vs how far away to the\ncenter of the lens) in theory and because of the different lens internal\nstructure, they also have different fringing, distortion performances as well.\nThe bokeh look different depending on the shape and the number of aperture\nblades. Sometimes it is not clear whether spending 2x or more is worth it so\nthis is I believe very helpful to help buyers to see what's the actual\ndifferences of lenses are without all those fancy ads.\n\n------\nEcco\nThat's very, very nice! Thank you!\n\nI noticed that on the most expensive lens, in the \"car\" scene, the focus seems\nto be very different than with other lenses. Which makes the comparison\ndifficult. Your DLSR most likely records autofocus points: it might be a good\nidea to actually display them in the JPEGs, because at such high apertures you\nreally want to look at what's in focus.\n\n~~~\nbwang29\nOP here, we sort of screw up on that one.\n\nShould have done at least two groups of auto focusing and manual focusing.\n\nThe car scene was done in a a little rush because the sun is moving. Not sure\nwhat's going on with the sigma but we made sure the camera beeps when it\nreports in focus at the medal Jaguar logo.\n\nIf people like this idea, we will get more lenses in the next series and add\nCanon and other brands if possible.\n\nRight now the original JPEG is around 14MP and very slow to load, so we had to\nslide them into tiles thus using leaflet.js.\n\n------\ntonetheman\nWhen you switch photos I might pull all the way back out. It looks like you\nstay focused in.\n\nMeaning whatever I was focused into on the picture I was just on is not\nimportant to the new picture. So pull back out. Ha hopefully that made sense.\n\nSuper cool idea.\n\n------\nenhaog\nWant to see more comparison between lenses for Canon.\n\n~~~\nvvanders\nThe Digital Picture does a fantastic job with center, corner and mid-frame\ncrops: [http://www.the-digital-\npicture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-...](http://www.the-digital-\npicture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx)\n\nHighly recommended, their reviews are also fantastic.\n\n~~~\nbwang29\nGreat resources. These are almost always qualitatively correct but it's hard\nto see the lens performances in real settings (out of paper) and to get an\noverall holistic view of the differences in \"looks\" . Both approaches have\ntheir merits.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHey Microsoft, Stop Installing Apps on My PC Without Asking - Scramblejams\nhttps://www.howtogeek.com/342871/hey-microsoft-stop-installing-apps-on-my-pc-without-asking/\n======\nsofaofthedamned\nFor the last 15 years or so i've earned my money doing Linux stuff. Before\nthen I was doing VB/.NET/SQL Server etc.\n\nJanuary 2016 I worked at a secure facility that wanted an entire system doing\nmalware analysis. The bare servers were running Linux, but some of the\nsoftware used Windows so there were Windows VMs there. Usual KVM stuff.\n\nBear in mind this is a closed system and the Windows VMs were ephemeral, i.e.\nhad to be discarded and reset after each malware run where we did static code\nanalysis etc. So we used the Professional (hah) version, with AutoUnattend.xml\nor whatever it was to automatically reset them.\n\nThis worked fine until after a certain point with WSUS - we obviously applied\nsecurity updates - where the VMs wouldn't boot. Turns out that a point in\nWindows 10's life they decided you needed a better version of Windows to be\nable to do the equivalent of a preseed or kickstart. 4 months of work\ndisappeared, plus the additional licence cost; need to run a domain etc etc.\n\nLuckily I left soon after but trust me - at any future role I will look at\nevery possibility before Windows. I moved a subsequent client (large\ninternational appliance manufacturer that you've heard of) to Linux servers\nprecisely because of this sort of shit.\n\nWindows is done, it's just a case of when it disappears. This is exactly why\nMicrosoft are pushing Azure and Office - they know the outcome, they're just\nsqueezing the pips until it happens.\n\n~~~\nEpicEng\n>Windows is done\n\nYour use case is very niche compared to how MS makes most of its money on\nWindows licenses. Windows isn't going anywhere until it's no longer pre-loaded\non every machine, enterprise customers stop buying it completely, and Linux is\nmuch more user friendly on the desktop.\n\nI don't disagree with anything else you said, admin'ing windows boxes is a\nterrible experience.\n\n~~~\nsofaofthedamned\nHow the loving fuck can you expect to change the terms of engagement with your\nOS after it's released and not expect to lose business?\n\nI know for a fact the malware analysis software we used are now planning a\nLinux version. I've literally persuaded a multinational to not continue using\n.net and Windows servers because of my argument that it's not sustainable.\nThey alone are tens of thousands of Windows licenses that may go to Red Hat or\neven Centos or Ubuntu.\n\nWindows has already started to go - my son doesn't know how to use it, all\nhe's used is Google Docs or an iPhone / iPad. There is no love for Windows,\nonly halcyon remembrances from the likes of myself who remembered the golden\ndays of MSDN subscriptions. There is literally not a startup on the planet who\nwill decide 'fuck it, we'll use a windows domain and Office instead of o365 or\nGoogle Apps.\n\n~~~\nEpicEng\n>How the loving fuck can you expect to change the terms of engagement with\nyour OS after it's released and not expect to lose business?\n\nLock-in, that's how. The customers they care about don't always have practical\nsolutions, and most aren't able to make a call that will benefit everyone in\ne.g. 5+ years after spending a massive amount of money.\n\nAlso, what are you replacing the desktops/laptops with?\n\n------\nSir_Cmpwn\nWhen you choose Windows, the computer uses you. When you choose Linux, you use\nthe computer. Stop complaining and start switching. It should be apparent by\nnow that Microsoft isn't going to stop their bad behavior.\n\n~~~\nSohcahtoa82\nI'd switch to Linux in the blink of an eye if I didn't have to worry about my\ngames working. WINE is great and all, but it's still not 100% compatible.\n\n~~~\nSir_Cmpwn\nDo you also own a PS3, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Wii, and a Nintendo Switch? Do\nyou miss the exclusives on them? You'll survive without the handful of games\nyou have to leave behind.\n\n~~~\nbadsectoracula\nFWIW there _are_ some games on those systems i'd love to play (Last of Us\nbeing an example), but at least i know that they'll eventually be emulated so\neven if it takes 10, 15 or whatever years i'll play them at some point.\n\nBut the two major differences between what you are talking about and what\nothers are talking about are that a) we have the hardware, it is totally a\nsoftware issue and b) we are mainly talking for software we already have paid\nfor, not software we may or may not buy in the future.\n\nBut hopefully as Linux becomes more popular with gaming (and Microsoft is\ndistracted with UWP and the like), Wine will also see improvements that make\ngaming better. Already since Valve shown up and rattled things, Wine's gaming\ncompatibility seems to have improved a lot compared to previous years.\n\n~~~\nSir_Cmpwn\n>we are mainly talking for software we already have paid for, not software we\nmay or may not buy in the future.\n\nA solution for this is to set up dual boot or whatever and use it only for the\nWindows-only games, until you get bored of them. Then kill Windows and you're\nfree.\n\n~~~\ncraftyguy\nThis is the exact path I took ~15 years ago. Once I realized I didn't care\nmuch for the 'exclusively windows' games, I killed my windows partition and\nhaven't looked back since. The exciting twist to this story is that many of\nthose games are now playable on Linux because of Wine!\n\n------\nScramblejams\nIt’s hard to believe that the loss of goodwill is worth whatever revenue\nMicrosoft’s gaining from this, so I have to assume this is them dipping their\ntoe into a strategy that attempts to make them more relevant to users. Maybe a\nreaction to the Windows app store’s lack of success? Thoughts?\n\n~~~\nm_fayer\nUsing their products, you can so easily taste how Microsoft is trying to\nbecome an \"ecosystem\", a \"lifestyle brand\", a \"platform\", and so on, and to\nuse their OS as the relentless foot in the door for getting there.\n\nTo me it's another nail in the coffin of general purpose computing. We've\naccepted that mobile devices/OSs are not for general purpose computing and\nexpect that they come with a \"lifestyle\" to hawk, now one of the major\ngeneral-computing OSs is heading in the same direction.\n\n~~~\njbigelow76\n_Using their products, you can so easily taste how Microsoft is trying to\nbecome an \"ecosystem\", a \"lifestyle brand\", a \"platform\", and so on, and to\nuse their OS as the relentless foot in the door for getting there._\n\nI think the irony of that statement is from Windows 3.1 and on Windows (25-ish\nyears) was already THE defacto PC platform. I was a pretty big MS fanboy for a\nlong time (and make my living with .NET and their developer tools). But MS's\nquixotic fetishization of their app store to me looks like dousing the legacy\n(no pun intended) of their platform with gasoline and lighting it on fire.\n\nEdit: format tweak\n\n~~~\nthomastjeffery\nIndented text in HN is monospace and respects newlines (no word wrapping).\nThis makes it unreadable on mobile unless the lines are very short.\n\nThe generally preferred way to quote on HN is to begin the line with a > and\nwrap the quote with * if desired.\n\nIt's an issue that comes up too often that HN needs to fix, but here we are.\n\n~~~\nAnimalMuppet\nThe reason HN does indented text that way is for code. People on HN post code\nsnippets as a fairly regular thing, and having code snippets word wrap (or eat\nwhite space) is really confusing.\n\nThe problem isn't that HN does that with leading space. The problem is that\npeople use leading space for quotations, which isn't what it's for.\n\n~~~\nthomastjeffery\nThe problem is that there is no markup for quotes, so people try to fill the\nvoid with an indent, which gives the most obvious difference to text.\n\n------\nduncan_bayne\nMany (most?) people on Hacker News might be too young to remember the\nHalloween Documents. They were internal Microsoft documents describing their\nproposed strategy for dealing with competition from then-new Free Software\nalternatives:\n\n[http://www.catb.org/esr/halloween/](http://www.catb.org/esr/halloween/)\n\nIf you want to understand why Microsoft is acting the way they are, read those\ndocuments.\n\nIt's not that I think they are still executing the strategies and tactics\nspelled out therein. Quite the contrary; Microsoft realises they've lost the\nOS war to Linux (on one front) and OSX (on the other).\n\nThe point is how astonishingly user-hostile those memos are. They lay out a\nstrategy for competing with Free Software that has almost nothing to do with\ntheir users' needs and wants. Instead, the obvious assumption is that their\nusers will be sacrificed to their (Microsoft's) strategic goals.\n\nThat's not to say that individual Microsoft teams don't produce excellent,\nuser-centric software (two I can think of in my own experience are Excel and\nVisual Studio).\n\nBut the executive leadership, and company culture as a whole, seems to care\nlittle about the people who actually use their products. This was clearly true\nback in the 90s, and is clearly true now. In the 90s it was 'embrace and\nextend', in the 2010s it's 'track and advertise'.\n\n~~~\nBinaryIdiot\nThose memos are over 20 years old. You can't point to something 20 years old\nand say \"see, they did it before therefore that's what's happening today\".\n\nI'm not a fan of what they're doing with some of the Windows 10 defaults. But\nyou gotta be crazy to not see the user improvements they've done in so many\nother areas. They are a very, very different company than they were back then.\nI'm not saying that excuses anything but you're drawing false equivalences\nusing a 2 decades old set of memos to try and back it.\n\n~~~\nKarunamon\nIn the same way, you also can't say \"That's 20 years old and not relevant\nanymore\". Appeal to novelty fallacy and all that.\n\nAre they _really_ that different of a company? Microsoft is _huge_ ,\norganizational memory is long, and decisions made long ago, whether rational\nor mere cargo culting, will affect how they run today.\n\nI'd argue they're a bit more cunning, but not one whit less underhanded. The\nEU browser ballot thing was considerably more recent, for instance. The forced\nW10 upgrades with the trick X dialog. Dark patterns surrounding use of a\nMicrosoft account. Non-disableable telemetry. Hawking Edge in a way that would\neven make Chrome blush [1].\n\nI think they know that they can't be as overt anymore; a couple of antitrust\nsuits will do that to you.\n\n[1]: [https://i.imgur.com/W56CuN6.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/W56CuN6.jpg)\n\n------\nbeached_whale\nI use Windows when I have to now. I used to use Visual Studio as it is really\ngood. But since Windows 8 and more so Windows 10 they have started taking from\nme. I paid for Windows 10 Pro, but I am subjected to the task of repeatedly\nremoving software, or adverts for software, that I explicitly said remove.\nThis is repeated when major updates go through. Plus the extra data and\nprocessing to get a system that isn't using my resources for tasks that I did\nnot ask it too. It is my computer, not theirs.\n\nSo I dual boot and 99% of the time sit in Kubuntu land and my computer is\nfast, responsive, and generally only doing what I ask it too. As it should be.\n\nMicrosoft found a way to take an i7-7500 with 32GB of ram and make it feel\nslow on a fast OS. Windows 10 can be fast.\n\n~~~\nitwy\nYour last sentence doesn't make any sense.\n\n~~~\nbeached_whale\nWindows 10 would be fast if it wasn't busy doing tasks I didn't ask it to.\n\n------\nvbezhenar\nThose articles are funny because for me all previous Windows versions were\nunusable, but I've found Windows 10 just the best OS. I don't have Facebook\npreinstalled and even if it was, I couldn't care less about it. There are\nbazillions of DLLs and other stuff preinstalled, what's the deal with one HTML\npage that I don't even run. I value other things, real usability improvements\n(for example virtual desktops are much better than macOS ones) and technical\nadvancements (Linux subsystem, hyper-v, PowerShell).\n\n~~~\nSylos\nI'm not sure how you would create a worse implementation of virtual desktops\nthan Windows 10 has them:\n\n\\- No indication of other workspaces existing.\n\n\\- No indication of what applications are in those other workspaces.\n\n\\- The keyboard shortcut for walking through desktops requires two hands (and\nin typical Windows fashion cannot be rebound).\n\nI'm not familiar with macOS' implementation, so if you actually think that\nit's worse, then I would like to know how.\n\nAlso should be said, though, that you can replace the window manager on macOS,\nwhich should allow you to get most of the features of an actually good\nimplementation of virtual desktops. I'm not aware of a way to do that on\nWindows.\n\n~~~\nvbezhenar\nI guess I'm using it differently, because I don't find those issues so\nimportant for me. I'm using desktops as a different computers for different\nstates of mind. One desktop has some relaxing read (hacker news, for example,\nor reddit), some explorers, notepads with not so important stuff. 1-2 desktops\nfor work projects, usually it's exactly one desktop. One desktop for gaming\nand related websites, discord, etc. I'm switching between them may be one or\ntwo times a day. I can see that if you're using multiple desktops for a single\nproject, something like multiple displays and often switching between them,\nthey might be not that usable.\n\nmacOS implementation was bad, because I accidentally switched between desktops\nall the time. It shows all launched apps in the dock from all desktops. If I'm\nworking on my project, I don't want to see that I have Battle.net client\nlaunched and 10 unread notifications in Discord guild channel. If I'm clicking\non Safari icon, I want to launch new window on current desktop, I don't want\nto switch to another desktop with some random website.\n\nAnyway the main point of virtual desktops is that they are implemented at OS\nlevel. Actual interface is not very important, because if API exists, 3-rd\nparty programs can embrace it. For example Windows 7 had virtual desktops\nimplemented on system level (there wasn't UI to manage them), but API was very\nlimited, for example it wasn't possible to move windows between desktops. Also\napplications usually weren't aware about those desktops and sometimes were\noutright buggy (for example you couldn't launch second Firefox window on\nanother desktop).\n\n------\nTwoNineA\nI set up my brother in-law's new HP laptop he got from Costco and I had to\nspend over 2 hours removing crap from it. The amount of crapware installed\n(and a lot of them are MS apps) is unreal.\n\n~~~\nHenryBemis\n(Unfortunately) HP has been loading their machines with crapware for about a\ndecade now. :(\n\n~~~\nTwoNineA\nWhy is MS cramming down my throat some 3D Pain thing, Augmented Reality crap\nand other apps I don't care about?\n\nEdit: Oh and Camera app. On a desktop. Without even a webcam. What is the\njustification for that?\n\n~~~\nAmezarak\n> Why is MS cramming down my throat some 3D Pain thing, Augmented Reality crap\n> and other apps I don't care about?\n\nHow many OSs come without any graphics applications installed?\n\n> Edit: Oh and Camera app. On a desktop. Without even a webcam. What is the\n> justification for that?\n\nBecause a lot of hardware _does_ have a webcam and thus benefits from having\nthe app, while hardware without it sees nothing but a negligible HHD space\nimpact.\n\n~~~\nSylos\nComing without any graphical applications and coming with 3D or AR software is\na big difference. 90% of users will be able to make use of a simple image\neditor. 0.1% of users will be able to make use of 3D and AR.\n\n------\nderrikcurran\nThere are so many accounts of Windows 10 being installed, (re)installing apps,\nadding tiles that were previously removed, etc. without permission... but none\nof it has ever happened to me and I don't understand why. It's bewildering.\nMaybe it's because I have Windows 10 Pro instead of Home? The only thing I've\nseen is that it's pretty aggressive about badgering me to restart for an\nupdate (but doesn't restart until I say it can).\n\n~~~\nzeta0134\nI don't know how much truth there is to this, and I'll check with my personal\nmachines when I get home (I run Linux at work) but when I worked in a retail\nspace, the apps that were pre-loaded varied based on the OEM. Dell got a set,\nToshiba got a different set, Lenovo got a different set, etc. Sometimes it\nvaried based on the particular line, like HP would include a different set of\ngames on their laptops that had touchscreen devices, etc.\n\nI'm not 100% confident on this and I haven't worked in Retail for a couple of\nyears thankfully, but I suspect strongly that the apps that are installed are\npushed not by Microsoft, but by the OEM in their recovery image. I suspect\nthus that if you buy a standalone version of Windows 10, and clean install the\nmachine with nothing else on the hard drive, that you won't get those apps\npre-installed. But buy a computer with Windows 10 preloaded, and the sky's the\nlimit, the OEM pushes what they want, and Microsoft makes it difficult to opt\nout.\n\nI'd love someone else to weigh in on this, because I've been distanced from\nthe situation for a while. But no matter how you slice it, users are getting\nincreasingly frustrated, and I think it's a terrible business strategy for\nMicrosoft. They've ruined any potential trust I might have had for their app\nstore before it had a chance to even take off, and I'm not sure they'll be\nable to recover. If anything, I've got my eyes on Google, who stand positioned\nto completely shake up the personal computer space with Chrome OS and its\nbudding Android apps support. It'll be interesting to see how the space\nunfolds.\n\n------\nbondolo\nI have never used Windows 10 nor made significant use of any Windows version\nsince Windows XP. Nonetheless my parents asked me to look at some issues they\nwere having with their laptops. The trend of increasing clutter that has\nplagued Windows since XP seems to have accelerated. The user experience\nappears to have been designed by a hoarder. I spent a significant amount of\ntime asking \"Do you know what this is? Do you use it?\" to be able to remove\nsome of the many goo-gahs that had been helpfully installed by either Windows\nor one of their devices. It made me sad that my parents just accepted that\nthis was how computers are because they were unaware that the crap-strewn-\neverywhere experience was a deliberate choice for the Windows ecosystem.\n\n~~~\nthirdsun\nTo be fair, I'm not sure if Windows alone is to blame in this case.\n\nIf you're not familiar with Windows and try to clean a PC that isn't yours,\nit's probably hard to tell what was user installed, what was pre-installed by\nthe manufacturers (they love to include bloatware and unnecessary \"tools\") and\nwhat actually came with Windows.\n\nIt's very easy for unaware users to install all sorts of crap and they never\nknow where it came from or what it does - that's basically every PC of a non-\ntech-savvy user ever.\n\n------\naphextron\nTo anyone wondering, all of that crap can be removed with PowerShell:\n[https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/easily-remove-bloatware-\nwindow...](https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/easily-remove-bloatware-windows-10/)\n\n~~~\nedsouza\nI have done that before, but on the first anniversary update, they all come\nback. I will try it again, and wait for the next anniversary update to see if\nthey come back again.\n\n~~~\nslumberlust\nSpoiler: They will come back.\n\n------\nxeromal\nI'd recommend running Windows Server 2016 or Windows 10 LTSB to avoid the\nentire mess. I run WS 2016 for my dev machine and I haven't had any issues and\nI don't have to deal with the damned Windows Store.\n\n~~~\nGroxx\nAny problems with Server / LTSB for gaming?\n\n(honest question - that's the sole reason I have windows _anything_ and I'd be\n_thrilled_ to get rid of all the absolute nonsense they've been throwing at\nme)\n\n~~~\nxeromal\nI run server 2016 and I can run all my dev tools. VS Code, VS 20x, SSMS,\nMySQL, PostGres, Xamarin.\n\nOn top of that, I can run Rome 2 Total War which is not a simple game. It runs\ngreat.\n\n------\nkeithnz\nIt's a tricky problem. I think tech people are fringe. For me, I would want to\ndisable it all. But if people can turn it off then it doesn't let microsoft\nimprove and adapt. In concept, I kind of like the idea the OS could anticipate\nthe things I need. It's how we imagine futuristic computer systems. It's a bit\ndifferent from the traditional OS where you are the master over everything.\n\nI'm not sure many on HN are going to like this thing, but I would think MS\ngets to see the stats and has better view of how well they are doing.\nPercentage wise it might be working out pretty good, however, each percentage\npoint they piss off ends up being a lot of people and if the fringe of tech\npeople are in that 1% that can end up in a lot of angry blogs.\n\n~~~\ntmorton\n_boggle_\n\nWhat?\n\nNO. Just no.\n\nThis doesn't \"anticipate the things I need\". It doesn't \"anticipate\" anything.\nIt's not \"the things I need\", it's whatever MS decides to promote.\n\nThere's a vaguely similar feature, that would be vaguely defensible - but this\nisn't it. This is malware, plain and simple.\n\n~~~\ntitanix2\nTotally agree. My computers are my things and should be under my control only.\nThat’s why I’m wary of Win 10 which forces system replacement, install\nsoftwares without consent, display advertisements, can preload UWP apps in\nmemory, etc. All this things might be an acceptable comprise on mobile for\nsome people (which include myself) but is a big no go on anything desktop or\nserver class.\n\nMy harware is not here to be part of someone else botnet. If MS wants my\nmoney, let’s make good product without subscription and let me pay for it. I\nwould be glad to pay 20 to 50€ for Visual Studio if it encourages user\nfriendly business practices.\n\n~~~\nkeithnz\nyour computer is your thing, install whatever OS you like. If you want a non\nconsumer experience and want windows, go with a server product.\n\nPeople are never gonna be happy with change. Not so long ago they took paint\n(which they insisted on us having whether we wanted it or not) out of the base\ninstall of their \"botnet / malware\" and people lost their shit. Now windows\ndynamically asks you whether you want a program and people are again losing\ntheir shit. In both cases it's microsoft making a call on what apps are on\nyour machine. In both cases you can uninstall them.\n\n------\nmixmastamyk\nI wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole a product from a company that that\nthinks this is acceptable.\n\n------\nAnimats\nAnd that's why my one remaining Windows machine runs Windows 7.\n\n~~~\ndjaychela\nMe too. I have a perfectly functional music studio computer that's dual-\nbooting Win7 on both partitions - one for more general use and making YouTube\nvideos, and the other for making music. I've had quite a few 'why aren't you\nrunning Win10' comments... I have nothing to gain and a lot to lose - time if\nnothing else. I hate the Win10 UI, bloatware and changing things without your\nconsent, and Win7 works perfectly for me at the moment.\n\n~~~\ntim333\nYeah I 'upgraded' to 10 then 'downgraded' back to 7. I've yet to regret going\nback.\n\n------\nulkesh\nHey Microsoft, also stop rebooting without asking. In fact, just stop\nautomatically doing anything and let me choose to do it myself. Be more like\nLinux.\n\n~~~\nTijdreiziger\nThis doesn't work for a majority of Windows users, because when given the\nchoice, they will never reboot.\n\n~~~\nulkesh\nWhich is how it should be.\n\nMicrosoft should design their OS to not require reboots for updates. The only\ntime I ever have to reboot my Linux box is for a kernel update — that’s it.\n\n------\nhokkos\nWindows has a new feature called \"Controlled Folder Access\", it is a security\nmecanism that protect from ransomware. It is a great idea, but the\nimplementation is annoying. It block write access to selected directories, so\nlot of software fail to add a link to the desktop, or add files in the\nDocuments folder. It should have protect agains delete not new file creation.\nAlso the default Defender antivirus is so slow, it make the installation of\nsoftware package 2 or 3 slower.\n\n[https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/windows-10s-...](https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/windows-10s-controlled-\nfolder-access-anti-ransomware-feature-is-now-live/)\n\n~~~\nemodendroket\nTo protect from ransomware you need to at least prevent modification of\nexisting files.\n\n~~~\nSylos\nWhich he did not argue against. He said that creating new files should still\nbe possible.\n\n~~~\nemodendroket\nWell he only mentions delete. Do the Windows permissions actually make a\nmeaningful distinction between create and modify? I think that might have been\ndifficult to do without completely rewriting a lot of stuff.\n\n------\nremir\nI whish ReactOS was mature enough that you could run every win32 programs and\ngames in it perfectly.\n\n------\nTimothycquinn\nHad similar experience with not being able to disable the windows store for my\nkids accounts. It was simply not possible and I followed all the Microsoft\nrecommended procedures and external suggested ones to no avail. I just gave up\nand stopped using Windows for my family computer and spun back up an older mac\nMini. This kind of lock in is very bad for the ecosystem and is a security\nnightmare. I don't know if I will ever use consumer grade windows for my\npersonal computers any longer.\n\n------\nexpertentipp\nNow we won’t because your computer belongs to us. psssst have you heard about\nour new programming language TypeScript? Just adopt it, this time it will work\nout perfectly between us.\n\n------\nx3sphere\nI only run Windows inside a VM now. The main reason I didn't switch to Linux\nsooner was because of games, but GPU passthrough works well enough now that I\ncan dedicate my main GPU to a VM and get close to native performance (within\n3-5%). Currently I have a Vega 64 configured for passthrough on a Threadripper\n1950X system and it runs great. It's much more convenient than dual booting.\n\n~~~\nQerub\nI find this solution interesting. What virtualization software do you use? In\nwhat way to do you expose input devices to the VM?\n\n------\nnkrisc\nI've considered upgrading to Windows 10 from time to time but then I read\nsomething like this.\n\nIs there a way to completely/permanently neuter the Windows App store and\nfunctions like the one mentioned here?\n\n~~~\nChardok\nUnfortunately any workaround we find has been \"broken\" with the subsequent\nWindows update, meaning Microsoft is actively working against any fixes for\nit.\n\nI would love to be proven wrong, but the only way I know for sure is upgrading\nto the Enterprise or education editions.\n\n------\nThoAppelsin\nThis isn't really an issue that goes beyond your first 1 hour on your new\nWindows 10 computer. You delete them, and then they are gone forever. They _do\nnot_ re-install themselves, they only come with a new user account.\n\nThey were annoying to me, only when I had installed the Windows 10 for the\nvery first time, 2 years ago. I had several Windows 10 re-installations since\nthen, and it really isn't worth nagging about them for the 30-45 seconds they\nsteal from you as you remove them.\n\nBesides, my housemate actually liked and kept some of them on his account. It\nprobably really just does increase the overall customer experience.\n\n~~~\nmikhailt\nExcept on two separate machines, a Windows update reinstalled them for me. MS\ndid said it was a bug but it happened a few times after that for me.\n\n~~~\nThoAppelsin\nI think I also may have had some ads back with a major update (e.g. Creators,\nFall Creators), but I don't remember having them back ever with the normal\nupdates.\n\nIn any case, it really is just a breeze to remove UWP apps, and they leave no\ntrace either, so I cannot rationalize how it can be this so annoying to\nanyone.\n\n~~~\nsuby\nThe ad issue is separate to me. They keep adding ads to more and more places\nin Windows 10, and each location has a different toggle to turn on / off.\n\nI turned off all advertising options in Windows 10 when I first installed,\nonly to be greeted by another ad months later which they had added with a\nnewly downloaded update.\n\nThe toggles aren't even centralized, you have to hunt them down in different\nmenus. I have a hard time believing this wasn't done on purpose.\n\n------\nhello_asdf\nIs there a list of domains that Microsoft is using to download these apps\nfrom? I can't find one by Googling.\n\n------\nrbobby\nIt's going to be odd if Win10 gets labeled as PUP (potentially unwanted\nprogram) by antivirus software.\n\n~~~\ngruez\nwhich is going to happen... never. unless that said antivirus wants to commit\nmarket suicide by pissing off every user.\n\n~~~\nmtgx\nTrue. But it could make for a pretty funny April Fools' joke (-in disguise).\n\n------\ngarganzol\nNever happened to me. I use a free tool called \"Spybot Anti-Beacon for Windows\n10\" [https://www.safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/](https://www.safer-\nnetworking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/) on ALL machines I have. Cannot recommend\nit enough.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCitron Exposes the Dark Side of Shopify - base\nhttp://www.citronresearch.com/citron-exposes-the-dark-side-of-shopify/\n======\nnetrap\nIs Shopify really $11B valuation? We're screwed...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Search engine submission? - Sealy\n\nI&#x27;d like to know how the HN community submits their sites to search engines and gets them indexed? Besides DMOZ.org are there others which people would recommend?\n======\njohnmurch\nSearch engines have changed. Although my 2004 response might be something like\ngoto www.google.com/addurl and submit, in 2013 you need to up your game. Focus\non getting a link to your site from other high authority sites. Look at guest\nblogging with a link to your site. Better yet, create some awesome content\nthat gets picked up by HN or some other popular news sites. Sharing is caring\n:)\n\nGood Luck\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Are There Any Startups Trying to Bring Us Cheaper Cell Phone Service? - rxl\n\nMany of us pay $100 or more &#x2F; month for our cell phone bills (or close to it). Your cell phone bill could be just as high as your monthly car payment. Does that make sense? How much value are we really getting for that price? Are there any alternatives to this ridiculous system? Are there any startups trying to take on this oligopoly?<p>A proposed solution: (1) get a Clear Voyager (comes with unlimited internet access for $50&#x2F;month) (2) connect to it using a mobile device (3) surf the web and make calls w&#x2F; Google Voice<p>Do you have any other solutions in mind?\n======\ncjfarivar\nYeah, too expensive phones are a pet peeve of mine.\n\nSee: [http://ars.to/17BuE6s](http://ars.to/17BuE6s)\n\nQUOTE:\n\nBut what I’ve always wanted here in the US is what I had when we were living\nin Germany from 2010 to 2012: a cheap, prepaid, debit-style mobile offering,\nwhere the receiver doesn’t pay for incoming texts or calls. In nearly every\nother country in the world, this seems to be the norm.\n\nFor two years, we were happy customers of Blau.de (an E-Plus MVNO). The\ncompany offered a prepaid 1GB of data for just €10 ($12.60) and €0.09 ($0.11)\nper minute to any German phone number and €0.09 per text to any German mobile\nphone. In Germany, we spent something like €40 ($52) per month on average.\nThat's roughly half of what we currently spend and about one-third of what\nmost similar iPhone users pay stateside.\n\nLast month, I reported from Belgium on what may be my favorite mobile provider\nanywhere in the world: Mobile Vikings\n([http://ars.to/12Bmo1G](http://ars.to/12Bmo1G)). With any luck, they’ll\nlaunch soon in the United States. I'd take the company's basic offering in a\nheartbeat: €15 ($20) per month for 2GB of mobile data, $0.32/min for voice,\nand 1,000 text messages. Another favorite of mine is 3 in the United Kingdom.\nThis company offers a 30-day deal for just 15 British pounds ($23), which\nincludes 300 domestic minutes, 3,000 text messages, and unlimited data.\n(Remember, incoming is free in Europe.)\n\nMore than the Verizons and AT&Ts we're used to, Roam Mobility and Ready SIM\nare closer relatives to these appealing European offers.\n\n------\nTorkild\nIn all seriousness, I registered false datum with Assurance Wireless,\nsponsored by Virgin, and am now using a free cellphone (or \"Obama phone\" as\nsome voices in the media call it). Per month I receive 250 free minutes and\n250 free texts. The only precursor was to \"prove\" that I am currently enrolled\nin any of a number of welfare programs (such as the \"SNAP\" food stamp benefits\nprogram). I understand what I am doing is illegal, but earlier this year I\nrealized I did not feel comfortable anymore paying so much for something that\nseemed to be benefiting others far more than me.\n\n------\ncjfarivar\nFor the time being, my wife and I use Straight Talk ($45 mo = unlimited\ntalk/text + around 1-1.5GB of data [it's unclear]) It's an AT&T MVNO, and no\n4G, but it works for us, and is the cheapest option I could find. (We both\nhave unlocked iPhones.)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: What are the \"big five\" dedicated server hosts to look at first? - GigabyteCoin\n\nI am after a basic entry level dedicated server and don't want to go with a fly-by-night operation.<p>What are the first 5 dedicated server companies I should take a look at before anyone else?\n======\ndangrossman\nI made up a chart of who hosts 300 YC-funded startups:\n\n[http://www.dangrossman.info/2012/09/24/who-hosts-the-y-\ncombi...](http://www.dangrossman.info/2012/09/24/who-hosts-the-y-combinator-\nstartups/)\n\nRackspace and SoftLayer are the only dedicated providers with significant\nnumbers. I host Improvely and W3Counter at SoftLayer.\n\n~~~\nGigabyteCoin\nThat is even better than random HNer's advice/votes.\n\nThank you for making the list.\n\n------\nJoachimSchipper\nYou'll get better answers if you ask a more specific question. E.g. Hetzner is\nan established company that will give you lots of server for your buck (and\nyou may be interested in <http://www.serverbidding.com/>); but if you're\ntrying to run a game server for your buddies in the US, the fact that's in\nGermany means that you won't have the best ping possible.\n\nSimilarly, OVH's budget brand KimSufi is unlikely to go under any time soon,\nbut your questions won't exactly be a priority for support. RackSpace is the\nopposite - they try to offer excellent support, but they definitely aren't the\ncheapest.\n\nFinally, AWS and Linode have their own advantages; unless you're sure you want\nto stick with dedicated, at least consider those - if only because you can\nclaim \"cloud\" experience. ;-)\n\n~~~\nGigabyteCoin\n>Similarly, OVH's budget brand KimSufi is unlikely to go under any time soon,\nbut your questions won't exactly be a priority for support.\n\nWhat kinds of questions won't be a priority specifically? \"What is linux?\" or\n\"Can you please reboot my server?\" types of questions?\n\n~~~\nJoachimSchipper\nFrom sniffing around a bit a year or so back, while considering them, they're\npretty fast with \"please reboot\", but you'll have to get \"real\" OVH if you\nwant support that will help you with more complicated questions. Reading HN,\nit seems that this is still the case.\n\nOTOH, as you suggest, there are lots of questions a capable sysadmin can find\nthe answer to without help.\n\n------\nPyramids\nI'm surprised Internap hasn't been mentioned, they're quite large, have a\ngreat network and support.\n\nOther worthy mentions include Rackspace, SoftLayer, Leaseweb, Peer1 and\nSecuredServers (aka PhoenixNAP) all of which are large companies by hosting\nprovider standards.\n\nAlso, in Canada there are iWeb and Netelligent who have great networks.\n\nBased on personal experience with all of the above, Internap, Rackspace and\nNetelligent have given us the best value and overall experience.\n\n------\nohashi\nOur data here might help you:\n<http://reviewsignal.com/webhosting/compare/#tab3>\n\nWe show any company offering them, so they may not specialize in them. I don't\nwant to bias your own process for evaluating though by injecting my thoughts.\nI hope the data helps and if you have any questions, I would be happy to try\nto answer them.\n\n------\ntokenadult\nWhat is Wikipedia hosted on these days? The last time I looked at Wikimedia\nFoundation's tax exempt organization documents, a big part of the foundation's\nexpenses were paying for web hosting.\n\n------\nt0\nYou can build your own server for several hundred dollars and ship it to a\ncolocation datacenter. When you do the math, paying $100/month for a $300\nserver doesn't make sense after 3 months.\n\n~~~\nethomson\nYou're not paying $100/month for the machine. You're paying $100/month for\nmanagement, and paying $300 for a server is a waste of $300.\n\nI admit, it's been a while since I've done any systems administration myself,\nbut I wouldn't even trust my personal blog to a $300 machine. I'm not even\nsure I'd trust a $300 rackmount chassis.\n\nWhen I start to think about colocating my own server - and thus being the one\nresponsible for its maintenance - I immediately think of redundant\n_everything_. That means RAID. That means dual, redundant, hot swappable power\nsupplies. That might mean two machines.\n\nBecause even if I live in the metro area that I'm colocating in, me driving in\nto get physical access to the machine means downtime. And that assumes that I\nhave exactly what I need to restore that machine on-hand. (I probably don't.)\n\nAnd these are things that I'd rather pay somebody else to deal with.\n\n------\nScottWhigham\nI think that I'd start with Rackspace, Amazon, Softlayer, and \"other\".\n\n------\nbeat\nPick the one that feels gut-right, and look for reasons to shoot it down.\nGiving yourself a menu of choices leads to analysis paralysis.\n\nBetter yet, back it up a level... why do you need a dedicated server, rather\nthan cloud hosting? Dedicated servers go strongly against industry trends.\n\n~~~\naustengary\nWhy do you think that is? Hosts push cloud as it furthers their bottom line.\n\nCloud is popular because it is cheap. For consumers and providers. If you know\nexactly the resources you'll need and have infrastructure in place to scale\nthen sure, VPS/cloud hosting might be good if you're looking to cut costs.\n\nIn the end though, you'll always be sharing and limited. If you're approve\ndynamic allocation then you'll just be paying for it at a premium.\n\n~~~\nbeat\nNot saying that cloud over dedicated host is the answer. Saying that it is an\nimportant question (and the answer should be application-specific).\n\nWhen you find your business decisions going against the herd, you should\nreally ask yourself WHY you're going against the herd, because our herd is\npretty smart. That doesn't mean you should never go against, just that you\nshould make sure you're thinking it through.\n\n~~~\naustengary\nI did receive that from the upper portion of your response. I was just\neloboarting further for the OP as your first did insulate that de facto equals\nto correctness. Yes precisely but one with such a question has already\ndeomstated anayalsis to a level of a threshold where such alternatives would\nnot hwve been considered if not for the existence of prior sufficient evidence\nfor valid uncertainty of accepted standard.\n\n------\naustengary\nRackspace, Softlayer, Savvis, Hetzner, ServerBeach.\n\n------\nPaulHoule\nIf you look at five of them you are overthinking it. You only need to pick\none.\n\n~~~\nGigabyteCoin\nI am not looking at 5 but I wish that I were.\n\nWhat is your dedicated server host of choice? Or did you just come here to\ndetract from the conversation?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe seeds of the next housing crisis have been planted - lisper\nhttp://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-next-housing-crisis-is-pending-2016-05-04\n======\nchubs\nSome good thoughts on this topic I read recently: * Quantative Easing (eg\nprinting money) floods the economy with money, it has go somewhere. * Since\nthe real economy (manufacturing / information) isn't growing, the money flows\ninto assets (eg real estate or stock bubbles) * When there's zero interest, it\nexacerbates the problem, because if you've got capital, it's impossible to\nfind anywhere to invest it to get a return. Hence you're incentivised to put\nit into assets. * Basically you're not seeing assets (houses/stock) going _up_\nin value, you're seeing money go _down_ in value. It's basically out-of-\ncontrol inflation, it's just that the inflation isn't spread evenly yet.\n\nDisclaimer: These aren't my ideas, i'm merely parroting. But i thought they\nwere clever and worth sharing.\n\n~~~\nftwinnovations\nThese ideas are more than just clever, they are exactly what is happening due\nto money printing and zero to near-zero interest rates. You restated the facts\nwell.\n\nAs to those who claim QE ended, and other nonsensical ignorant claims, that is\nirrelevant. The money went to reliquify the broke banks' balance sheets, and\nso of course did not immediately leave their digital vaults. That takes time,\nand we are slowly (technically not at all slowely) watching the destruction of\nthe dollar's purchasing power via mass inflation, beginning with the assets\nclosest to the money printing spigot: real estate, stocks, fine art, and other\nelite assets.\n\n~~~\nrmrm\nand yet the dollar is not substantially weakened vs other currencies, it is\nquite strong. This isn't a dollar specific phenomenon at all.\n\nIt seems a more appropriate statement would be destruction of all currencies\npurchasing power. Which leads me to wonder - what is the impact of that\nexactly?\n\nShould the dollar be allowed to strengthen greatly (relatively to basket of\nall other currencies), is that what people are proposing? Can we guess at what\nthe dollar based economy might do in that instance?\n\n~~~\ntoephu2\n\"is quite strong\"...yes currently, but the decline has already begun against\nmajor currencies, e.g. JPY:\n[http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=USD&to=JPY&view=1Y](http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=USD&to=JPY&view=1Y)\nAlso checkout the dollar index:\n[http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/dxy](http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/dxy)\n\n~~~\nrmrm\nMy point is that other currencies are not static. All the world economies are\njockeying to have relatively weak currencies, in order to attempt to spur\ninflation and ease their debt loads. It's all relative. The US is not in some\nparticularly bad spot, certainly Japan and Europe finance ministers would\ntrade places with ours any day of the week. We have a remarkably strong\neconomy (and everything else, really) in comparison (which is all that\nmatters).\n\n------\nkin\nThe anecdotal example of Brooklyn is a bad example IMO. Everyone knows how\ngentrified Brooklyn has become. As a result, real estate prices for those\nareas are going way up. For those in SF, the same is happening to Oakland.\n\nAlso, having just got a mortgage, I can anecdotally counter that despite\nQuicken's claims with Rocket, getting a mortgage, at least a \"good\" mortgage\nloan is still incredibly difficult. Thanks to 2008, 2016 loans require a shit\nton of disclosures. So, if there's a bad loan lying around, you best bet it's\ngoing to be hard to disguise it.\n\nAs for the < 20% down? That's not a sign of a bad economy per se. I'd factor\nthat more to a generation of poor savers. NPR recently had a whole segment on\nhow little the current generation of millennials saves.\n\nHome prices increasing is due to the fact that it's a seller's market. But,\nrent prices are increasing as well. IMO you could look at it from a different\nperspective. Recent homeowners are buying because it's currently cheap to\nborrow and the long-term result is that they actually save money because rent\nis increasing at such a dramatic pace.\n\nAll said, I do agree w/ the headline, just not with the author's anecdotal\nproof.\n\n~~~\nplaceybordeaux\nI agree. Talking about there being a housing bubble like the one that popped\nin 2008 would need a whole hell of a lot more than mentioning how some of the\nmost expensive places in the world are expensive.\n\n------\njoshuaheard\n\"Since government agencies back about 80% to 85% of new loans...\" That's the\nproblem right there: government is underwriting the risk. Get rid of GSE's\nlike Fannie Mae setting standards and underwriting risk, and you will return\nto a more normal market fluctuation.\n\n------\ndraw_down\nI think this story shows why it's so important to remember how credit-rating\nagencies and investment banks added so much fuel to the fire of the last\ncrisis. Otherwise you will think the whole problem was silly people taking out\nmortgages they couldn't afford and say \"this is just like 2007\".\n\nAnyway, I could buy the idea that once again some portion of homebuyers can't\nreally afford what they're buying, but there won't be the crazy systemic\neffects that happened last time, unless once again bad mortgages are being\nsold as good ones, buried in financial derivatives.\n\nPersonally I think the situation is worse than a bubble- I think this is just\nhow things are now, if you want to live in a city. The demand really is there\nto sustain these crazy valuations, and young people and those of us who don't\nown are just screwed.\n\n~~~\nroofer\nI agree. I think it's not really a bubble. It might go down a little, but not\n-30% like it did in 2008-2009. Which means we are all going to pay lots of $$$\nto live in desirable areas.\n\nQE benefited people who bought in 2009-2012\n\n------\nnarrator\n1\\. Give a whole bunch of loans out. Profit!\n\n2\\. Loans pay for houses to be built. Profit!\n\n3\\. Credit crunch.\n\n4\\. Take back homes in foreclosure.\n\n5\\. Fed prints money to buy the defaulted mortgages. Profit!\n\n6\\. Lend new bailout money to private equity buddies to buy the foreclosed\nhouses. Profit!\n\n7\\. Rent houses to previous homeowners. Profit!\n\nAll this is necessary because banking is the foundation of our economy, the\nmost important sector of our economy and the source of all jobs and growth in\nour economy. There is no sacrifice too great that our country must endure to\nsave the banks in step 3 as the whole economy revolves around the glorious\n\"doing God's work\"[1] cycle detailed above.\n\n[1] [http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/goldman-chief-says-\nhe...](http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/goldman-chief-says-he-is-just-\ndoing-gods-work/)\n\n~~~\ncylinder\nA nation's banking system reflects its core values, its culture, its\nfundamental values\n\nNot the other way around\n\n------\ncubano\nAnd why wouldn't this happen again?\n\nAll the people and corporations whom profited dearly from the 2007 scam got\noff completely scot-free and were made then whole on the backs of the US\ntaxpayers (actually, their grand or great-grandkids, because the money used to\npay the bills was borrowed and added to the $20tril debt)\n\nThey fully expect to be bailed out again, so again I ask...with big money to\nbe had and almost zero risk to the players, why would anyone think its not\nhappening again?\n\n------\ngozur88\nThe very first point is key. Unless you work at a realty company, when guys at\nthe office are trying to get rich flipping houses we've reached the peak.\n\n~~~\nsosborn\nBe Fearful When Others Are Greedy and Greedy When Others Are Fearful\n\n~~~\ntoomuchtodo\nBuy When There's Blood In The Streets\n\n------\nflashman\n“Mortgage-default rates are currently very low, but that shouldn’t be any\nsource of comfort because they are always low when the economy is doing well\nand home prices are going up,” said Oliner. “That can turn around quickly if\nthere is a recession.”\n\nA chart of 2006-2016 mortgage default rates is instructive:\n[http://au.spindices.com/indices/specialty/sp-experian-\nfirst-...](http://au.spindices.com/indices/specialty/sp-experian-first-\nmortgage-default-index) (set the time period to ten years)\n\nThe first mortgage default rate doubled from August 2006 to September 2007. It\nthen doubled again by November 2008, peaking at 5.67% just three years after\nit was at 0.79%... which is roughly the level we're at today.\n\nThese things can turn around quite quickly.\n\n------\njerryhuang100\nthe article lacks the major fuel of the current housing bubble in US/CA: the\nChinese buyers. there is an estimated $500B capital outflow from China in\n2015. guess a large part of that is in SF/BC/NYC/London real estate.\n\n~~~\nalva\nIn London there are tens of thousands of new build properties which have been\nbuilt through Chinese investment. Currently unaffordable to most (£1m plus for\na 1 bed) and so rather unpopular with Londoners. Many developments are 50%+\nsold in China before they are advertised in the UK. however I am beginning to\nthink the Gov may having been playing a clever long game.\n\nMassive outflows from China the last couple of years. Encourage funds into the\nUK, mostly London, property market. Build huge number of new homes with\nChinese money. Once (hopefully) the market crashes, glut of thousands of\nrelatively affordable properties become available.\n\nI am not sure whether this was purposeful, however I have stopped complaining\nabout foreign funded real estate investment here as it will be extremely\nfruitful if the bubble pops. Unfortunately for those in the states mentioned,\nit seems the money isn't going into building new properties, but inflating a\nlow and severely restricted stock.\n\n------\nlouprado\nWhile not mentioned in this article, perhaps real estate agents are also\ninsisting that buyers bid over the asking price thereby inflating prices.\n\nLast week I was told by my first buyer agent he would not write my offer\ndespite being 3% ABOVE the asking price for property that listed that day. I\nthen called the listing agent for the same property who insisted she wouldn't\nwrite my offer unless I offered 25% above the listing price. We eventually\nnegotiated to 10% above as my first offer. There are only 10 offers on the\nproperty so it isn't as if they were flooded with buyers.\n\nIs anyone else finding your own buyer agent or even the listing agent refusing\nto write an offer if it isn't well over the asking price ?\n\nNote I am in the SF Bay Area.\n\n~~~\nbagels\nIf there are 10 offers on the first day of listing, you're wasting everyone's\ntime including your own, by not offering above asking, as the offer simply\nwould not be competitive against the other 9.\n\n------\nguelo\nThe American Enterprise Institute does too much lobbying for me to trust them\nas straight shooters. Looking at case-schiller [1] it looks a little worrying,\nbut looking at construction starts [2] the market doesn't seem that overheated\nyet.\n\n[1] [http://www.multpl.com/case-shiller-home-price-index-\ninflatio...](http://www.multpl.com/case-shiller-home-price-index-inflation-\nadjusted/)\n\n[2]\n[http://www.census.gov/briefrm/esbr/www/esbr020.html](http://www.census.gov/briefrm/esbr/www/esbr020.html)\n\n------\nhristov\nThe very top of the market is already plummeting. I am talking about the\nnosebleed part of the market of 10+ million dollar apartments in new york,\nlondon and miami. These are already falling in prices as most hedge funders\nhad a very bad 2015 and decided to liquidate some of their housing\ninvestments.\n\nThis effect should start working itself down the price ladder soonish. In new\nyork developers are already splitting up mind bogglingly expensive apartments\nto form higher numbers of merely crazy expensive apartments.\n\nSo I would not be investing in housing that I do not need right about now.\n\n~~~\nshostack\nAt the upper end you see a lot more real estate purchases for investment\npurposes. At the lower end you see people wanting to buy their first home.\nThat lower end demand is not going to disappear--do you have any data to\nsuggest that this will in fact work its way all the way down to that lower end\nfor people who are not \"investing\" in housing but instead buying a place to\nlive?\n\n------\neli_gottlieb\nPlanted? In most major cities they've been growing since basically the last\nhousing crisis. Land in First World cities has become the new gold, and it has\ncaused an unsustainable bubble for those of us who actually need somewhere to\nlive.\n\n~~~\nCyberDildonics\nYou have plenty of places to live, you just don't want to live there.\n\n~~~\nhueving\nIt's always interesting to me how many people think they have a right to live\nin a specific location. It's a strange mental model that I haven't fully\ngrasped.\n\n~~~\n1_2__3\nIt's more interesting to me how many people think money should, and inevitably\nwill, trump all other interests.\n\nMaybe if you're a 20-something programmer uprooting your entire life to live\nsomewhere else after decades in a location because financial pressures outside\nyour control make your home and everywhere near it impossible to afford that's\nnot such a big deal.\n\nBut for fuck's sake, think about this for a second. Most people _do_ have\nthings rooting them to a particular location. Maybe it's a social circle.\nMaybe it's support network. Maybe it's their career, or their children's\nschooling, or their health and the local climate.\n\nAt the end of the day we as a populace get to decide public policy. Taking\npeople being priced out of their homes as fait accompli because them's the\nmarket breaks is heartless enough, but then saying disdainful things about\njust how painful and difficult it is is worse.\n\n~~~\nhueving\nHere is the thing, there is only so much room for people. You are either\nsaying \"fuck you\" to the young people of the community that want to get a\nhouse in the place they have roots, or you say \"fuck you\" to the people that\ncan't afford to live there. I don't see how it's particularly fair for a\nperson to feel entitled to an area they did not purchase property in over\nanother that just didn't happen to be there as long.\n\n------\ntaurath\nThere's a lot of pressure to buy now, which makes me think its probably not a\ngood time to do so. Its really difficult to make any long term decisions when\nit might be at the top of the market.\n\n~~~\nforgetsusername\nBut rates are extremely low. There is never a \"right\" time; there are only\nparticular circumstances.\n\n~~~\nThrustVectoring\nRates being low is a bad thing for buying a house. If interest rates were\nhigher, it'd be harder to qualify for a loan at a particular value, so the\nhouse you're interested in would be cheaper. Plus, you make money refinancing\nat a lower rate, and there's no room for rates to fall when they're this low.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: $40k on physical hardware? or use the cloud? - flannell\n\nOur company is at a technical cross roads.  Upgrade current hardware to latest IBM Xseries running VMWare and a nice SAN disk array ($40k) <i>OR</i> start looking at Amazon EC2 ala cloud hosting?  This will be a production system so no down time!<p>Can cloud hosting be reliable? Thanks!\n======\naristus\nI'd like to help but you need to explain a bit more about what your system\ndoes. I've helped build and manage racks and cloud installs. Some general\nstuff:\n\nDowntime happens. It often happens when you move hardware around (say, you\nneed another SAN or replace you switches. Cloud servers are very ver flexible;\nyou can set up a parallel system and _test_ it for a week. You can't do that\nwith your own hardware without spending serious cash. The first time I\nrearranged my entire server set up, while sitting in a cafe, was pretty damned\ncool.\n\nIt also happens when hardware fails. With owned systems you have to drive to\nthe colo in the middle of the night.\n\nI suggest you build a minimal parallel system in a cloud and try it out. Try\nseveral providers.\n\n~~~\nflannell\nThe Software is a web based PHP5 App running both Mysql and Oracle on top of\nSLES9. It collects performance information (KPIs) and sends out formatted\nreports (PDF/XLS) to clients & customers. It's been running on IBM Xseries 336\nservers since 2005 (eek!) and really needs an upgrade. Our technical provider\ncame up with the spec but am interested to see if cloud hosting has moved on;\nI understand it was a bit shakey to start with.\n\n~~~\naristus\nZynga runs largely on EC2, something like 10,000 nodes. I don't know how to\ndefine \"shaky\", but that company bets hundreds of millions of dollars of\nrevenue on EC2.\n\n~~~\nflannell\nI didn't know that. I guess it scales extremely well.\n\n------\nbcater\nFWIW, I worked at an online advertising company that ran a whole division on\nEC2 machines - at the peak, nearly 100 instances. This was never a problem for\nus because we were judicious in our use of the machines (minify your content!)\nand we were disciplined in our deployments and management. If you go that\nroute, just be sure the learn and follow best practices - you'll save yourself\nquite a lot of time.\n\n------\necommando\nDo both. You would be nuts to depend on a single cloud provider, as the model\nfor clouds allows for adjusting \"the dial\" on performance to increase\nrevenues.\n\nSpend $30K on physical equipment and network, and $10K on cloud deployment.\n\nThen, over the course of a year or two, as you expand and learn how the cloud\n\"really works\", you can adjust as needed.\n\n------\njacquesm\nIt very much depends on the nature of the usage, storage and bandwidth are the\nbig killers for some cloud applications.\n\nFor me (live video) the cloud doesn't even get close to being competitive with\nleased hardware.\n\n1GBit flat rate with 20T of storage goes for about 1200 euros / months,\nincluding a quad (or even eight) core machine.\n\n------\nhga\nWell ... isn't the question more \"Will $40K of IBM and VMWare kit in our hands\nbe (significantly) more reliable than Amazon's services?\"\n\nFor your purposes, including scheduled downtime.\n\nAlso factor into the cost of the time it will take your people to learn how to\nmake your systems on EC2 reliable enough.\n\n~~~\nflannell\nI think that's an interesting point. However, I do have to consider running\nsensitive performance data running on equipment we don't control or host. So,\nis it wise to run customers data on kit we don't own or host?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nLisp hacker writes an outstandingly popular book - jk\nhttp://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm?book_number=2128\nIt's a novel!\n======\nomouse\nHe has programmed in Lisp, Java, Perl and a few other languages. I don't see\nthe connection though.\n\n------\nrglullis\nSpam.\n\n------\nHexstream\nI really don't get it...\n\n------\njk\nFirst novel by a former lisp hacker gets top reviews. May become a classic\nbook. You first heard it here.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWant to make money with Android? Have questions? - kreci\nhttp://www.kreci.net/android/make-money-android/\n\n======\nthrowaway222\nI need to warn the HN crowd. KreCi previously wrote an eBook on improving\nPageRank. There were a few good reviews and everything sounded great. He sold\nthe site and the eBook on Flippa and make a few hundred bucks.\n\nLink to his blog post: <http://www.kreci.net/blogging/pagerank-4-in-two-\nweeks/>\n\nLink to the ebook site (now owned by a Flippa purchaser): <http://improve-\npagerank.com/>\n\nI ended up purchasing his book a week or so ago. It was quite terrible. The\n\"secret\" was e-mailing bloggers for back links. The book was probably about 10\npages, 9 pages were about how to set up a blog, buying a domain (with\naffiliate links), and then there was one page about e-mailing bloggers for\nbacklinks, and a few example e-mails he sent.\n\nI can't say I expected much, but I'm afraid someone else might waste their\nmoney on this sort of thing.\n\nAll this being said, I think KreCi's site is pretty interesting and there was\nsome valuable/useful information there. I just feel a bit ripped off from the\nbook purchase. I take it as a lesson learned, but hopefully no one else needs\nto learn the lesson here too.\n\n~~~\nkreci\nI am sorry that you were not able to use the knowledge in the ebook. Before\nyou bought (at least in my original intro) there was a number of the pages\ngiven in the description (it was a report not ebook). As you said most reviews\nwere positive. I sold it on flippa as I do not know how to promote it (it was\nsold via one of forums mostly - not my blog). Now I regret I have sold it as I\nbelieve if I would be working on it more it would be much better now and still\nwould be selling.\n\nAnyway it is not secret and all history may be read on my blog.\n\nI will not make this mistake again and will not sell right to my ebook again.\n\n------\npbreynolds\nI'm a HN n00b so I don't understand why this is getting promoted up so\nquickly. Do people not actually visit the links? No offense kreci, but there's\nno actual info on that page yet. Seems like pure self promotion to me.\n\n~~~\nchopsueyar\nHe has been developing free Android apps for awhile now and has been posting\nhis financial results to HN for some time now.\n\nHe lives in Poland and is unable to sell paid apps, so he can only rely on\nadvertising for revenue.\n\n~~~\npbreynolds\nThanks chopsueyar, I knew there had to be a valid reason!\n\n------\naquarin\nA side note: You web site have more text in advertising then in posts.\n\n~~~\nkreci\nThanks for being honest. I will try to optimize it. You are right - especially\nlast post is short and it is not looking good at all.\n\n------\nkreci\nQuestions welcome =)\n\n~~~\nacconrad\nWhere do you think the biggest opportunities lie for passive income in Android\napps? I already feel like the market is saturated and I can't come up with any\nideas.\n\nHow do you come up with ideas and how long does it take for you to get them\ninto reality? Do you outsource any of your work?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: What application would you create around \"digital printing\"? - rokhayakebe\n\nIf you had access to the NYT printing facility what application would you create around it?\n======\nmechanical_fish\nSee how many editors it really takes to turn bloggers' open content into a\nviable weekly magazine, nonprofit or otherwise.\n\nIn other words, reinvent the NYT or Newsweek, but start with zero employees\nand move up rather than starting with hundreds and struggling to figure out\nwho to cut.\n\nThere are lots of smart bloggers writing things. There are, for at least the\nnext thirty years, lots of relatively rich, politically connected people who\ngrew up with print, prefer print, and instinctively trust print. I've always\nhad a feeling that one should be able to make _something_ out of that\nsituation, and the NYT printers have the numbers I would need to do the math\nand see if it seems feasible.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLucid Dreaming - jimsojim\nhttps://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Lucid_Dreaming\n======\nroddux\nThis is a pretty comprehensive write-up! A helpful community (with more\nguides, discussion and anecdotes) can be found on\n[http://dreamviews.com](http://dreamviews.com). I also recommend anybody\nlearning to lucid dream to read the books by Stephen LaBerge.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nGoogle introducing Gmail Blue - peterkchen\nhttp://gmail.com/blue/\n\n======\nandymoe\nIt's a nice dig at Apple but part of me wishes they really would put that much\neffort into their design. Gmail is pretty un-spectacular at this point.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Rise Of Functional Programming: F#/Scala/Haskell and the failing of Lisp - lackbeard\nhttp://blogs.msdn.com/brandonwerner/archive/2008/09/16/the-rise-of-functional-programming-f-scala-haskell-and-the-failing-of-lisp.aspx\n======\ngreyman\nCan someone please explain in basic terms, what exactly are the advantages of\nfunctional programming, over other mainstream approaches like OOP? AFAIK, some\nFP support was added to the newest version of C#, but I couldn't immediately\ntell how exactly can I make use of it.\n\n~~~\nHexstream\nJust look at some simple uses of closures and you'll see they open a world of\npossibilities. (and there's so much more to it than this!) They also let you\nmake compilers easily but I won't get into that here.\n\n    \n    \n      CL-USER> (sort (list 1 8 3 2 5) #'<) ; sort just needs a function of 2 arguments that tells if the first parameter is strictly less than the second\n     => (1 2 3 5 8)\n     CL-USER> (sort (list 1 8 3 2 5) #'>)\n     => (8 5 3 2 1)\n     CL-USER> (sort (list \"hello\" \"HELLO\" \"hey\" \"bye\") #'string<)\n     => (\"HELLO\" \"bye\" \"hello\" \"hey\")\n     CL-USER> (mapcar #'1+ '(1 7 3 9))\n     ;mapcar applies a function to each element of the lists passed as arguments and returns a new list with the results\n     => (2 8 4 10)\n     CL-USER> (cons 1 2)\n     => (1 . 2)\n     CL-USER> (mapcar #'cons '(A B C) '(1 2 3))\n     => ((A . 1) (B . 2) (C . 3))\n     CL-USER> (defun make-adder (how-much-to-add)\n     \t   (lambda (initial-value)\n     \t     (+ initial-value how-much-to-add)))\n     => MAKE-ADDER\n     CL-USER> (mapcar (make-adder 10) '(1 7 3 9))\n     => (11 17 13 19)\n     CL-USER> (defvar *my-favorite-adder* (make-adder 42))\n     => *MY-FAVORITE-ADDER*\n     CL-USER> (mapcar *my-favorite-adder* '(1 7 3 9))\n     => (43 49 45 51)\n     CL-USER> (defun make-modifier (operator operand) ; a bit more general than make-adder\n     \t   (lambda (initial-value)\n     \t     (funcall operator initial-value operand)))\n     => MAKE-MODIFIER\n     CL-USER> (mapcar (make-modifier #'expt 3) '(1 7 3 9))\n     => (1 343 27 729)\n     CL-USER> (find-if #'numberp '(a \"hi\" nil 8 \"test\" 100))\n     => 8\n     CL-USER> (find-if #'numberp '(a \"hi\" nil 8 \"test\" 100) :from-end t)\n     => 100\n     CL-USER> (apply #'+ (remove-if-not #'numberp '(a \"hi\" nil 8 \"test\" 100)))\n     => 108\n    \n\nThat's _not even_ (by a long shot) the tip of the iceberg.\n\n~~~\nyters\nIt's simple to compile because lisp is essentially a parse tree, which\neliminates the parsing stage in compilation.\n\n~~~\nHexstream\nI was referring to the ability to traverse a tree structure (made of conses or\nobjects) and generate a tree of closures from that.\n\nInstead of interpreting the tree structure, you make a first pass where you do\na lot of dispatching in advance (at runtime you'll just do what you must do\ninstead of first figuring out what to do and then do it), generating a tree of\nclosures. Then you call your \"top-level\" closure for a nice optimized run. You\ncan optimize your source tree before compiling this way, for some crazy speed.\n\nAll this without having to read advanced books about low-level compilers,\nparsing, machine architecture and optimization!\n\n~~~\nyters\nV. interesting, thanks:)\n\n------\njimbokun\nI'm intrigued by the idea of Lisps built on top of other run-times.\n\nClojure is the example here that all the cool kids are talking about. But I\njust notice Nu in the list of functional languages the article mentions, which\nis a Lisp built on top of Objective C. The creator of Nu points out he wanted\na Lisp to extend C, and that Objective C provided a dynamic run time to build\non while still allowing the incorporation of straight C code. I suspect there\nis a good .Net Lisp out there somewhere, I just don't know what it is.\n\nBuilding a Lisp on top of these languages gives you macros, code as data,\nculture of functional programming, etc. while still making all of the\nunderlying libraries available.\n\n~~~\nmichaelneale\nThat is probably the future of lisp - I mean we can see it already. Clojure is\none example (in use in some startups) and arc is another (being built on\nMzScheme - although thats probably more for practical reasons).\n\n------\nlallysingh\nA response by Dan Weinreb: [http://danweinreb.org/blog/the-failure-of-lisp-a-\nreply-to-br...](http://danweinreb.org/blog/the-failure-of-lisp-a-reply-to-\nbrandon-werner)\n\n------\nfelideon\n_It was the most thorny and un-inspiring community I've ever participated in,\ndespite my extreme interest in the language. It's jaw dropping that a language\nwith such promise has sat out the resurgence, and speaks to what an un-\nfriendly and un-inviting community can do a technology platform._\n\nAs a Lisp newb who frequents #lisp every now and then, I’ve noticed quite the\nopposite. People in the channel are very open to newcomers and as friendly as\nhackers can get.\n\nUninspiring? Why? Lack of smug as Cal Hendersen says?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nPythagorean Cup: Practical Joke Chalice Overflows with Ancient Greek Humor - misnamed\nhttp://99percentinvisible.org/article/pythagorean-cup-practical-joke-chalice-overflows-ancient-greek-humor/\n======\namenghra\nCliff Stoll has a page about this. He calls it a Cup of Tantalus and it's part\nof his Klein Bottle collection. Makes for a fun gift for geeks.\n\n[http://www.kleinbottle.com/Tantalus.html](http://www.kleinbottle.com/Tantalus.html)\n\n------\nfsloth\nIn respect of the greeks, this is one cheap souvenir that can actually provide\ntimeless merriment. I have a few made of burnt clay that are souvenirs from\ndecades ago and still there are new people who can delightfully be educated on\nthe principles of these wonderfull devices.\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nWouldn't it actually be very annoying to have to mop and/or clean things every\ntime?\n\n~~~\nfsloth\nSome houses are equipped with sinks, bathubs, etc :)\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nAh yes, the old \"Here's your completely ordinary cup of wine. Please drink it\nover the sink for no particular reason\" gag. Gets them every time! :)\n\n------\nhashkb\nWith respect to \"drinking normally\" when the cup is filled below the siphoning\npoint: if you drink by tipping the cup towards the drain pipe, wouldn't that\nengage the siphon?\n\n~~~\nDiThi\nThe drain pipe is as close to the center as possible. When you tilt a cylinder\nhalf full of water, the point at the center remains at the same height.\nConsidering the cups are slightly wider at the top than the bottom, it can\nhold more liquid when tilted, so the height at the center would be a bit\nlower.\n\n------\nbhaumik\nHere's a neat 4 min video demonstrating how the cup works & how to \"beat\" it\nwith mercury:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISfIT3B4y6E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISfIT3B4y6E)\n\n------\ndanaliv\nNeat. It's like a tiny toilet.\n\n~~~\nanalog31\nSelf flushing urinals used to work this way. The tank above the urinal was\nfilled at a constant rate, and would discharge when the level ran over the top\nof the siphon.\n\n------\nrebootthesystem\nI remember this cup. I also remember thinking Those both greedy and smart\ncould have simply plugged the hole with their finger and all is good.\n\nPythagoras should have given his students smaller normal cups because, if we\ngo Machiavellian for a moment, people are unscrupulous and will plug the hole,\ntherefore a smaller cup will be more effective. And limited servings.\n\n~~~\nrobryk\nYou can make this harder by providing multiple small holes all over the bottom\nof the cup.\n\n------\ncustos\nThis is how toilets work.\n\n------\nmrfusion\nAnywhere to buy one cheaply?\n\n~~~\nIgorPartola\n3D print one?\n\n~~~\nrobryk\n3D printing stuff that's foodsafe is nontrivial. You not only need a material\nthat is not directly harmful (in temperatures it will be used in), but also\nmost 3d printed surfaces will not be smooth. This makes them very hard to\nproperly clean (especially the parts of such a cup that wouldn't be\nreachable), which causes biological problems (bacteria and mold growing\nthere).\n\nWhatever material such a cup was made out of, I'd've wanted to be able to\ndismantle it for cleaning, which lessens the advantage of 3d printing over\nmore traditional fabrication techniques.\n\n------\nchrisbrandow\nAlso like Soxhlet extractors. That is the coolest chemistry glassware.\n\n------\nkahrkunne\nI'd encourage anyone to read up on Pythagoras. He was a really weird guy who\nheld some inane beliefs and superstitions. Also a cult leader.\n\n~~~\nempath75\nI don't think we can know what he really believed or if he existed at all.\nHe's a semi-mythical figure and there are no contemporary accounts of him.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Single Page Websites using Webbify - anilshanbhag\nhttp://webbify.in\n======\nwavewash\nAs a privacy concern I didn't want to give up my facebook information so I\nbacked out of trying it.\n\nThe point where I became hesitant and backed out was when it showed my picture\nand said you wanted my public profile, friend list and email address. Why\nwould this site need my friends list?\n\n~~~\nmgkimsal\nFacebook is horrible at this. You can't _not_ ask for it. In fact, you _don\n't_ ask for it. Access is automatically granted, whether you want it or not.\n\nI suspect that this might change when there's some massive security breach\nthat causes a big publicly visible compromise (millions of friend lists get\nabused/compromised by some rogue bot targeting loads of apps using Facebook as\njust a single sign-on provider), and it'll get changed.\n\nI've had a couple of MVP apps I've demoed to people, wanting to use FB as a\nSSO, and get quite a bit of \"DAMN YOU - YOU'RE NOT GETTING MY FRIEND LIST! YOU\nDON'T NEED IT!\" You're right, I don't. Tell Facebook. I don't want it.\n\n~~~\nanilshanbhag\nWell said, we just ask for basic info. It just gives it for free though we\ndon't want it.\n\n------\ngjulianm\nWell, I tried it even though it requires FB login. I didn't give the app write\npermissions, I don't know why would you want that.\n\nOnce in... well, it's nice. It's easy to use and templates are good but\nthere's no special thing. There're a lot of sites that allow you to create\nsimple webpages. Why should I use this instead of Strikingly? (to say just\none) What do you offer that is special?\n\nOh, and by the way, I think you should work on another favicon. I had Draft\n([https://draftin.com/](https://draftin.com/)) opened in another tab and it's\nthe same icon.\n\n~~~\nanilshanbhag\n@Strikingly: Well I didn't know of it. Will do a quick check.\n\nWhat we noticed was that the actual text content in site is small and there is\nno point in having multiple webpages (one for home, contact, etc. ). Instead\nin Webbify, you just have themes which offer you single page flow or tabbed\ndesigns which are actually just a single page. So anytime a person visits your\nsite and clicks on a different tab - there is no page load, the content is\nalready there.\n\nInteresting, well the pencil was the most relevant favicon. Will keep this in\nmind.\n\n~~~\nameen\nYou need to pivot. Websites such as these are basically a relic from the past.\n(unless you need to have one. eg: Web Developer, Designer, etc). It's not like\nthere are a dearth of tools to make them either (there are tons more than\nStrikingly).\n\n~~~\nanilshanbhag\nIf you don't mind can you elaborate on 'you need to pivot' ?\n\n~~~\nwavewash\nI'm not sure if I agree with the sentiment that you need to pivot. There is a\nhuge need to create a website by individuals and companies. Not everyone wants\na social media page.\n\n[http://www.weebly.com/](http://www.weebly.com/) and\n[http://www.wix.com/](http://www.wix.com/) Very successful sites and in the\nsame space as you.\n\n[http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/24/as-wix-heads-toward-ipo-\nwee...](http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/24/as-wix-heads-toward-ipo-weebly-looks-\nto-expand-with-big-new-sf-headquarters-plans-to-add-500-employees/)\n\nYour site design was very clean and I was initially interested. The only\ndeterrent for me was the FB login.\n\n------\ncolinbartlett\nDon't have a Facebook account, don't want a Facebook account.\n\n~~~\naquark\nIf you cancel out of the Facebook sign up there looks to be a totally unthemed\nnormal sign up page at\n[http://webbify.in/accounts/signup/](http://webbify.in/accounts/signup/) ...\nlooks interesting but possibly not ready for prime time!\n\n------\nwrongc0ntinent\nFacebook login is a nonstarter for many.\n\n~~~\nseferphier\nI think it is a non-starter for many ppl in HN since many of us are sensitive\nto privacy.\n\nI wonder if it holds true outside this community.\n\n------\nyanivs\nThe title is misleading - instead of showing examples of websites using\nWebbify you're requiring us to login with Facebook without understanding why\nand what exactly will we get out of it.\n\nYou should show some live examples and add a non facebook way to login (even\nbetter, require login only after the user has set his first website and just\nbefore he needs to save it)\n\n~~~\nanilshanbhag\nTrue that,\n[http://webbify.in/template_hidden/simplepage/](http://webbify.in/template_hidden/simplepage/)\n\\- a demo to see our editing interface\n\n------\njoshmn\nAre you sure you have the correct licensing for those themes? I notice a few,\nbut won't list them all here for the sake of spam.\n\n[http://themeforest.net/item/curriculum-responsive-resume-\none...](http://themeforest.net/item/curriculum-responsive-resume-onepage-\nportfolio/5555810)\n\n[http://i.imgur.com/OLYxdF7.png](http://i.imgur.com/OLYxdF7.png)\n\nMy source at Envato would argue otherwise.\n\nEdit: after signing up, here's another:\n\n[http://themeforest.net/item/humanum-responsive-vcard-\ntemplat...](http://themeforest.net/item/humanum-responsive-vcard-\ntemplate/5230208)\n\nToo lazy to dig for the others. I'm sure someone else can.\n\n------\nvlod\nFor those that don't want to use fb to login, go to:\n[http://webbify.in/accounts/login/](http://webbify.in/accounts/login/) and use\nemail:bugmenot@mailinator.com password:bugmenot\n\n~~~\nnzk1\nWoot thanks :) Check out our page -\n[http://bugmenot.webbify.in/](http://bugmenot.webbify.in/)\n\n------\nanilshanbhag\nWebbify was built with simplicity in mind. You just have a single page (tabs\nare not physical pages) and you edit-on-page. This is a alpha stage preview.\nDo let me know if you have any feedback on the app.\n\n~~~\njstalin\nHow about a demo of some kind that doesn't require a login, especially a\nfacebook login.\n\n~~~\nanilshanbhag\nOne of the themes :\n[http://webbify.in/template/simplepage/](http://webbify.in/template/simplepage/)\nThe editable version :\n[http://webbify.in/template_hidden/simplepage/](http://webbify.in/template_hidden/simplepage/)\n\n------\nmoonknight\nLove the simplicity and the widget play. Managing widget proportions and feel\nneed just a little more work. It already looks quite cool. I am sure many will\nbe waiting for the next release. Hope to see cooler stuff there! (please let\nme change my theme :D )\n\n------\nglenra\nSeems like the YouTube Video widget doesn't work - dragging it to the page\ndoesn't do anything. And I can add \"social media\" buttons but it's not clear\nhow one edits what they link to or which ones show up.\n\n~~~\nnzk1\nIt works fine for me. You need to drag it on the green lines. The problem is\nnow getting rid of that video :/ can't drag it to trash.\n\n~~~\nglenra\nAha. That's a really narrow hit target. Yeah, it seems like if you place a\nvideo and decide you don't want it there after all or want it somewhere else,\nall you can do is delete the whole tab containing the video and start over. A\nwork in progress, I suppose. :-)\n\n------\njqueryin\nYou need a demo or some samples you've built. I have no idea what to expect.\nThe graphic with a New Relic themed site is confusing to me. Is that an\nexample of your site? You need a page of features, tools, screenshots, etc.\n\n------\nblakeperdue\nI'm guessing New Relic's website was not built using your tool. Posting a\nscreenshot of their website on your marketing site implies that your tool was\nused to build it. A bit misleading in my opinion.\n\n~~~\nnzk1\nYep my thoughts exactly. I would suggest making a demo page on webbify, and\nputting screenshots of different devices of that page (and even a link to it).\n\n~~~\nashwing_2005\nTrue that. Will do.\n\n------\nprakster\nHey Anil,\n\nAn \"Undo\" function would be nice. While editing, I clicked on an \"x\" in the\nHome button by mistake, which removed the entire button, and now I have no\nidea how to restore that button.\n\n------\nlinux_devil\nWhy should I give my social login?\n\n~~~\nanilshanbhag\nSocial login is preferred by many (these many are people who don't read Hacker\nNews) mainly because it eliminates the need to remember another password and\ndo away with email verification.\n\n~~~\nminimaxir\nThat rationale is valid if it's an _option_ , not a requirement.\n\n------\nraymond4\nthis looks good\n\n------\nicecreampain\nNot logging in via facebook shows an unthemed \"Social Network Login Failure\"\npage.\n\nIf you want to make a facebook app, why not just make a facebook app instead\nof a facebook app disguised as a normal page?\n\n~~~\nashwing_2005\nIts not a facebook app. We're just using facebook authentication to start off\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nReview: BlackBerry 10 is better, much better, late than never - shawndumas\nhttp://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/02/review-blackberry-10-is-better-much-better-late-than-never/\n======\nmanishsharan\nI am not falling for BB again !\n\nIn my last iteration of smartphone purchase, I bought a latest-at-the-time\nIphone 3GS for my wife and the latest-at-the-time Blackberry Bold. Since then\nI have watched in envy as my wife could get so much done on her phone than I\ncould on my BB. My BB never did much beyond email and BBM ( I love BBM )\n\nIn this iteration, I recently placed an order for Nexus 4 and a Iphone 5.\nmaybe if they are still around in 3~4 years from now, sure I could consider\ngoing back to BB.\n\n~~~\nkunai\nDid you even read the review? This isn't related AT ALL to the old OS7 Bold or\nany other Blackberry line, which were awful. BB10 can do much more than an\niPhone and be just as productive while providing a rich media experience.\n\n~~~\nuntog\nIt's still relevant. Increasingly, mobile OSes are less about where they are\nnow than where they will be. Apple have been outstanding in that regard-\nproviding OS updates to really quite old phones. Vanilla Android has been just\nas great, but individual Android manufacturers less so. MS has been terrible.\nBB has a history of being terrible.\n\nSo, Blackberry's past is relevant. No, they might not repeat it, but absent of\nany other evidence, we can only judge them by past conduct.\n\n _just as productive while providing a rich media experience._\n\nI don't even know what that _means_\n\n~~~\nzmonkeyz\nThen I can only judge Apple by OS 7.\n\n~~~\neropple\nMac System 7 was released in 1997. The earliest BlackBerry Bold (assuming\nthat's the one under discussion, which I'm not clear of) was released in\nDecember 2009.\n\nOne of these things is not like the other.\n\n------\nOsiris\nI welcome any competition into the mobile OS market, especially if it brings a\nrefreshing new take on design and user experience.\n\nMy devices all run Android and while it's usable, I'm not a huge fan of many\naspects of the OS. While I don't plan on getting a BB10 device, I am\ninterested to see if or how its innovations cause other OS vendors to adjust\ntheir own user experience.\n\n~~~\ndmix\nI'm fine with the Android OS, still not a fan of the hardware. Although its\ngotten better, Android phones are still nowhere near the physical build\nquality of the iPhone 4 (including the S3 which I'm currently using).\n\n~~~\npavanky\nWhen I held the iphone 5 it felt like I could damage it if I held it with a\ntight grip[ (I am a big man). My One X doesn't feel that way.\n\nPerhaps what physical build quality means is subjective?\n\n------\neasternmonk\nBlackberry has done a good job. It may not be iPhone/Android killer but it is\ndefinitely at par with the best in the league. Had BB come up with this 2\nyears back it would have been great. But I am willing to give them a chance. I\nhope the voice and screen sharing works good.\n\n------\nkunai\nLovely. This is really the first true smartphone OS since webOS that I'm\nactually excited for. The gestures are a little worrisome, however, with a\n4-inch display. I have small hands, and it seems the gestures would require\nuse of two hands...\n\nAnother thing I noticed -- it seems like the UI's colors and typefaces were\nripped straight from Android's Holo interface. No big deal, just something I\nnoticed.\n\n------\nKeyBoardG\nI was put off just in the new BBM, where some options were hidden under the\nleft swipe menu, other the right swipe menu and yet more under the top swipe\nmenu. Not to mention options hidden under the button bar at the bottom. I\ndon't want to spend my time looking all over in apps for an action. They need\nto set strict guidelines on where things go.\n\n~~~\npurephase\nI sat down with a handset a few months ago with a QA guy at BlackBerry and had\nbasically the same feedback for them. Apparently, it is something they're\nworking on. I haven't seen the OS since launch so I don't know if this was\naddressed, at all.\n\nThey're hardly alone in this regard. iOS/Android suffers from the same\nproblem.\n\n------\nrcb\nDoes anyone know if BB has the ability to push OS updates direct to customer\nhandsets? Years ago such updates required carrier \"approval\"/intervention,\nwhich meant updates occurred infrequently (usually after significant delay),\nif ever.\n\nEdit: US carriers, specifically AT&T.\n\n~~~\nshawn-butler\nNope. [0] However, on unlocked phones you can load whatever image will work.\n\n[0] [http://us.blackberry.com/support/apps-and-\nsoftware/desktop-a...](http://us.blackberry.com/support/apps-and-\nsoftware/desktop-and-device-download-sites.html)\n\n~~~\nPwnguinz\nNot sure about BB10, but with previous BB's, you could always load whatever\nimage will work. The \"Network Carrier\" branded version was unnecessary even if\nyou had a branded BB.\n\nSomewhat like Android. You can also load tweaked custom OS's, or \"hybrid OS's\"\nas they're known in the BB community.\n\n~~~\nshawn-butler\nDon't really think that's true. I mean it was in some sense but for example if\nyou loaded a seperate spectrum compatible, carrier \"image\" it might be fine\nuntil the next reboot at which time the carrier service books would get\nreloaded.\n\nSo for example, you may have installed the bb maps and on the next reboot away\nthey would disappear to be replaced with a link to purchase \"AT&T Navigator\",\netc. The \"AT&T Mall\" would reappear, etc.\n\nService book configuration was something fairly unique to BB and allowed\ncarriers to configure the user experience to a pretty significant extent.\n\nDoesn't really apply to BB10 afaik so it's just reminiscing about the bad old\ndays, irregardless.\n\n------\ntlack\nAnyone got the inside info on why they are waiting so long to release these in\nAmerica? Should have been available unlocked at launch if they really wanted\nto regain the hearts and minds of the fickle American consumer.\n\n~~~\narbitrage\nIs an unlocked phone really that important to the majority of American\nconsumers? They've showed quite readily in the past that they really don't\ncare that much.\n\n~~~\nDirlewanger\nNo. Majority would give you a blank stare if you mentioned a mobile phone\nbeing locked/unlocked.\n\n~~~\nilluminate\nI think T-Mobile may help to change that.\n\n------\nsgt\nIt's also QNX based, so should be pretty rock solid, being a microkernel based\nRTOS with a small memory footprint. Also (interestingly), its network stack is\nbased on NetBSD code.\n\n------\nzmmmmm\nIt's great to see a fully gesture based phone. I've always thought this would\nbe the most natural way to interact with a touch based device, and it's always\nthe gesture based apps and interactions that I enjoy using most on my phone.\nMy only hesitation is whether gestures interfere with normal use of the phone.\nWill it confuse interactions in the game I am playing with the swipe to go\nback to the home screen, for example? If it does, it's going to be hugely\nproblematic. But if it's done well it will be the most enjoyable and natural\ninterface out there, I think.\n\n~~~\nicki\nI'd have to agree with you that gesture interactions tend to feel more natural\nthen typical button pressing (e.g. pinch-to-zoom), but can be a little awkward\nfor first time users. A customer who stops by a mobile phone kiosk while\nwalking through their local mall might not know how to handle a BB10 device\nwithout assistance from a sales associate. However, gestures often become\nsecond-nature, and users rarely find themselves asking \"how do I do this\nagain?\"\n\nSwipe-upwards to unlock/return to homescreen requires initial contact with the\nscreen's bezel, which should mitigate the number of times this gesture is\nunnecessarily actuated.\n\n~~~\nzmmmmm\n> Swipe-upwards to unlock/return to homescreen requires initial contact with\n> the screen's bezel\n\nHopefully that works well. However when playing games it's pretty easy to hit\nthe bezel when you're aiming for something on the edge of the screen. I always\nused to have this problem (and still do) on Android phones with their\ncapacitive / on screen buttons.\n\n~~~\nfi0660\nIt works surprisingly well in Nokia N9. I think games are also allowed to\ndisable the gestures while the game is in non-paused state.\n\n------\ntcdowney\nI just found out about their 10k Developer Commitment last Friday and a few\nclose friends and I are scrambling to get a Blackberry native app finished in\ntime for the upcoming submissions deadline. Never having done this before all\nI can say is that it's been fun! :)\n\nBlackBerry 10 is much nicer than I had anticipated and, although I won't be\nmoving away from Android, I am excited for BlackBerry to make a serious effort\nat returning to the market. :)\n\n------\nbambax\nI'm not sure about gestures (can they be done with one hand?) but the unified\ninbox (\"hub\") sounds like a fantastic idea.\n\nI don't understand why I can't see all messages from all my email accounts in\none window, together with voice messages and texts (Tweets may be a little\noverwhelming, but they can be filtered out).\n\nThis really sounds great -- although it's probably not hard to replicate on\nanother platform.\n\n~~~\ncompilercreator\nI got my Z10 yesterday and I can confirm that the phone (and all the gestures)\nare completely usable with just one hand. The phone size was selected pretty\nintelligently. I don't think the UI design would have worked with a bigger\nphone.\n\n~~~\npurephase\nIf you don't mind me asking, what platform were you on before? I'm considering\nditching my iPhone for the Z10 as I'm so tired of Apple. I really miss the\nunified inbox in BlackBerry world and the hub sounds promising. App selection\nis not that important to me.\n\n~~~\ncompilercreator\nI was using galaxy s2x. A variant of s2 with a 4.5 inch screen. That was hard\nto use single handed. This is my first blackberry so no idea how it compares\nwith previous blackberry handsets.\n\n------\nadjin\nI thought it has a lot of interesting ideas. Although much of them can be\nemulated by any other platform, if BB proves to continue innovation especially\nin the business/corporate sector it could gather quite a following.\n\n------\nrayiner\nI'm psyched about the Q10. Just release it and take my money!\n\n~~~\nMBCook\nI'm surprised they're not promoting it more, it seems like an obvious win for\nthey keyboard loving crowd.\n\nToo bad it may be delayed until mid year.\n\n[http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/02/blackberry-q10-may-\nbe...](http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/02/blackberry-q10-may-be-delayed/)\n\n------\nmuyuu\nMy old Blackberry Curve 3G, which I use alongside an Android phone, still\ngives me a battery life of 3 days solid under normal usage.\n\nWill they match that?\n\n------\nmalkia\nAny word on PlayBook getting the BB10?\n\n~~~\nscrabble\nThey've always said that all PlayBooks will receive BB10. Who knows when\nthough.\n\n------\njanlukacs\ni think people should give it a chance, too much negativity due to fanboyism.\n\n~~~\nfusiongyro\nIs it fanboyism, or could it instead be:\n\n\\- I need a phone that works\n\n\\- I only need one phone\n\n\\- I don't want a phone from a defunct manufacturer\n\n\\- App availability is more significant than platform quality\n\nThe first one means I don't want to debug your beta product. The second one\nprevents me from experimentally getting a bunch of different phones and seeing\nwhich one I like better. The third gives me pause when dealing with\nBlackberry, who have been having huge corporate troubles for years. The fourth\nis a reminder that if I were to switch there are lots of apps I'd be giving up\nwith no replacement (SmartGo Books comes to mind).\n\nThe idea that Apple has everyone brainwashed is really quite absurd.\nOverpriced? Maybe. Overhyped? Probably. Bad? No.\n\n------\nspeeder\nGo blackberry!!!!\n\nBecome another market for me to sell my stuff \\o/\n\n------\nhelloamar\nI trusted blackberry from the bold 9000, with that trust I got a playbook\nthinking they will add more apps but after waiting for more than a year I got\nthe iPad4,\n\nNow I have a bold 9900, time to change my phone in a couple of months ,now the\nbb10 arrives I'm waiting for the apps that keeps my business running if it\ndidn't show up I'm going to get the iPhone\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShelley: macOS menu bar app that runs shell scripts upon authorized HTTP request - miles\nhttps://tyler.io/shelley/\n======\ncsilverman\nI have an iOS Shortcut that SSHs into my Mac and runs scripts. It’s pretty\nsimple; I only use it to remotely launch/quit Slack, but I could probably do a\nlot more if I had a reason to.\n\nIt’s cool to see somebody else mention Hazel. I love that app—it’s one of the\nmost useful apps I have—but nobody else seems to use it.\n\n~~~\nskinnymuch\nLike the author said. I have no clue what to use Hazel for. Keyboard Maestro I\nget.\n\n------\nhellomyfriends\nyou can do that with pure nginx/apache or almost any webserver as well, it's\ncalled CGI\n\n~~~\nAdamJacobMuller\nThe first programming work I ever did was with CGI, about 25 years ago,\nwriting bash scripts to control playing MP3s using webmin's HTTP server (I\nthink Apache was too complex for me to figure out how to setup at the time).\n\nI'd be lying if I said I was't a bit sad that we've gone so far that CGI isn't\neven in the thought process for this problem.\n\n------\ncaptn3m0\ncool hack, but remember to turn this off at untrusted networks.\n\n~~~\nblack3r\nor just add a https proxy before it before it..., even better, use a https\ntunnel service like ngrok to allow automating stuff from anywhere not only\nfrom your local LAN.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: DueFocus – Comprehensive time tracker for freelancers - androsipen\nhttps://duefocus.com/\n======\nvovkvovk\ncool application\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nEven Faster WebAssembly: Cheerp 2.0 Surpasses Emscripten for Speed and Size - multimillion\nhttps://medium.com/leaningtech/cheerp-2-0-release-880f249a5677\n======\npumanoir\nGreat to see alternatives to emscripten. I’m definitely going to try this one\nout, I’m especially interested in the smaller size ( compared to emscripten)\npromised by this tool. And for the people want to do swift to webassembly\ncheck out air by remobjects.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: How popular is Python for web applications? - 3dfan\nPython has seen crazy growth over the last 5 years:<p>https:&#x2F;&#x2F;trends.google.com&#x2F;trends&#x2F;explore?date=all&amp;q=php,javascript,python,ruby<p>Is that because everyone and their dog are now writing AI software, or is it also widely used for other areas?<p>In particular, I would be interested how popular it is to write web applications in Python these days.\n======\njamil7\nDjango is used widely for CRUD apps or any area you'd typically use Rails.\nFlask is also a popular option among developers and theres been a few new\ngeneration python microframeworks focused around ASGI popup in the last few\nyears. I haven't used it for years but my girlfriend uses it heavily for\nscientific computing and data science which is I'd say where a big chunk of\nit's userbase is.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHere's How Microsoft Competes With \"Free\" Android - msredmond\nhttp://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-charges-more-for-licensing-6-patents-than-it-does-for-windows-phone-7-2011-4\n\n======\njcr\nDoes anyone know which six Microsoft patents are claimed to be infringed by\nandroid?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nIn-N-Out Secret Menu Survival Guide - jasonwilk\nhttp://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/03/the-in-n-out-survival-guide-we-ate-every-single-item-on-the-secret-menu.html\n\n======\nanateus\nDenny's has free wifi, open 24/7, free caffeine refills, stabbings are _quite_\nrare, basically a hacker's dream. So, Denny's Bacon Hack:\n\nYou can order a side of bacon (4 strips) for about $3 or... order a Grand Slam\nBreakfast and make all 4 components be the bacon (2 strips each), giving you 8\nfor about $5, a saving of $0.125 per strip! Those savings sure add up during\nan all night coding/bacon tear.\n\n------\nAmericanOP\nNext time you're at Chipotle ask for half-and-half meat (e.g. half chicken\nhalf carne asada)- you usually wind up with way more protein than you normally\nwould since nobody wants to give you less than half a scoop (x2).\n\nI think I found my answer to the 'successful hack of some (non-computer)\nsystem' question.\n\n~~~\ngeorgieporgie\nNow, _that_ could be considered a restaurant hack. Writing a blog post about\ndiscovering a well-documented 'secret' (i.e. \"we want the general population\nto order quickly\") menu is not hacking. At all.\n\nAlso, I'm sorry to say that In-n-Out is simply not that good. There are\ncountless local, independents that serve a much better burger, and have a\nvariety of fresh, seasonal shakes.\n\n~~~\nrms\nI've found it to be true that In-n-Out isn't that good on an absolute scale,\nbut it's great for how cheap it is. I can definitely get a better grass fed\nbeef hamburger for $10 (or an even better one made from the ground lamb at the\nBerkeley Bowl for $8.99/pound) but haven't had a better _fast food_ burger\nthan In-n-Out.\n\n~~~\ngeorgieporgie\n_haven't had a better fast food burger than In-n-Out._\n\nI have. Also, the only places serving burgers I've been to that aren't fast\nfood are the few gourmet burger restaurants. The problem may be that you're in\nthe Bay Area (the burrito capital of the world, IMO).\n\n------\nchopsueyar\nChik-Fil-A Hack(more like an easter egg):\n\nEmployees are required to say \"My pleasure\" whenever a customer says thank\nyou.\n\nI try to see how many times I can get them to say \"My pleasure.\"\n\n------\nwtn\nThe only hack you need is fries with no salt. This order ensures that you will\nget your fries piping hot, as they must create a fresh salt-free batch.\n\n~~~\nmambodog\nThen ask for some salt.\n\n~~~\nwtn\nYou could. I prefer ketchup, which has plenty of sodium itself.\n\nAlso, it cools piping hot fries,\n\n------\narepb\nList of hidden menu items [http://www.yelp.com/topic/san-francisco-in-n-out-\nsecret-menu...](http://www.yelp.com/topic/san-francisco-in-n-out-secret-menu\n---longer-than-the-actual-menu)\n\n------\nghshephard\nUnfortunately, as a (very) regular patron of the relatively new In-n-Out on\nVeterans Blvd in Redwood City, I can attest that many of these items aren't\nactually known to all In-N-Out outlets/cashiers. In particular, the Flying\nDutchman is not very well known, and cashiers either try to order (A) A\nprotein style Double-Double (with all of the sauce), or, (B) when they enter\nit as a Z-Plain Protein, I don't get the cheese.\n\nSo - at the end of the day, I've had the most success carefully describing\nexactly how I want my burger prepared - they are pretty much prepared to do\nanything. Use the Secret Menu as a guide, but be prepared for Cashiers _not_\nto know some of the names.\n\n~~~\nrexf\nHave you ever seen anyone order the Flying Dutchman? Someone must order it\nevery now and then, but it's more novelty than meal candidate.\n\n(I tend to go with the Double-Double w/ onions. If I'm feeling particularly\nunhealthy, I'll get animal style fries.)\n\nI wouldn't order the Flying Dutchman (just meat + cheese). If you do, then\nmore power to you.\n\n~~~\nghshephard\nIt's actually the only thing I order at In-N-Out - It's a pretty good low-carb\nsnack.\n\n------\nrobflynn\nI ended up falling in love with this page:\n[http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/07/the-burger-\nlab-h...](http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/07/the-burger-lab-how-to-\nmake-an-in-n-out-double-double-animal-style.html)\n\nHis reconstruction of the in-n-out double-double animal style. I miss it so\nmuch from my time in California.\n\nI anxiously await returning to the area, but until then, I may just have to\nrecreate the experience following his plan.\n\n------\njosh33\nDidn't realize that animal style including cooking the mustard into the patty\n\n~~~\narepb\nAnd curiously, Animal Style fries don't include mustard.\n\n------\nmayukh\nSpent $55 ordering the entire menu ? pretty cool\n\n------\nchopsueyar\nMcDonald's has \"All-American\" Hamburger and Cheeseburger meals. It is a small\nfries, small drink, and single-patty burger.\n\n------\nbrokentone\nNice writeup. Engaging writing and good idea, ordering it all at once on a\nstory that has otherwise been beat to death. As an aside, I'm surprised at how\nmany of my college friends don't know about the secret menu despite growing up\non In-n-Out.\n\n------\ndclaysmith\nI loved this article on the Mc10:35.\n\n[http://www.geekologie.com/2010/03/secret_mcdonalds_menu_item...](http://www.geekologie.com/2010/03/secret_mcdonalds_menu_items_th.php)\n\n------\ntastybites\nYou can get any of the sauces they put in the burgers on the side to dip your\nfries into also.\n\nOn a related note, I recently at at 5 guys and it was 2x as expensive and\nabout 1/2 as good as in-n-out. Anyone who says it's better is absolutely nuts.\nThey expanded too fast.\n\n------\njawartak\nWhen my co-founder and I went to interview for YC W11, the _only_ good\nrestaurant near our hotel was an In-n-Out. We were there for four days. We\ndidn't find out about the secret menu until dinner of the fourth day...\n\n------\ncachemoney\nJust because you put the word \"Hacking\" in the title, doesn't mean there's\nactual hacking involved. Flagged.\n\n~~~\njeromec\nOh come on! I enjoyed that _immensely_ and if it wasn't on HN I would have\nnever knew about it. As a native Californian I feel truly well-equipped now. I\nhad known about the Animal styles, and extra meats, but almost everything else\nis unbelievably new. BTW, another trick I learned which wasn't mentioned in\nthe article is _dipping your fries in your milkshake_. Try it, trust me.\n\n~~~\nSoftwareMaven\nFries in a Wendy's frosty is far superior. There is something about the\nconsistency that is just _right_. For those who haven't tried it, just think\nof it as the American fast-food version of Thai food: that magic combination\nof sweet and savory.\n\n~~~\nchopsueyar\nAsk anyone who works at Wendy's how often the frosty machine is cleaned.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nLinux from Scratch - findaway\nhttp://www.linuxfromscratch.org/\n\n======\ndrallison\nIMHO the best way to learn about Linux.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Which YC Company does A/B Testing for anything - ismail\n\nI remember reading an article or blog post, there was a YC company that did A&#x2F;B testing but could be used for offline. What is it called? Are they still around?\n======\nmwsilver\nSigOpt - [http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/12/sigopt-\nlaunch/](http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/12/sigopt-launch/)\n\n------\nhkailahi\nOptimizely ([https://www.optimizely.com](https://www.optimizely.com))?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nRestoring YC's Xerox Alto day 7: experiments with disk and Ethernet emulators - dwaxe\nhttp://www.righto.com/2016/09/restoring-ycs-xerox-alto-day-7.html\n======\nmakomk\nAhh, the quirks of FPGA development. If I recall correctly, you shouldn't use\ntristate signals internally because there's actually no such thing within any\nmodern or even semi-modern FPGA (and I believe the same may even be true of\nASIC development).\n\n~~~\ncnvogel\nThe hardware internally doesn't use tristate signals, but your VHDL compiler\n_should_ be smart enough to turn...\n\n    \n    \n        pin <= 'Z' WHEN tristate ELSE '0' WHEN zero ELSE '1';\n    \n\n...into an instantiation of a tristate IO-buffer on an external \"pin\" which\ncan high-Z. Sometimes the logic isn't that trivial, though, and you (as a\nprogrammer) might not realize that your code actually prohibits the pin from\ngoing 'Z'... (or you've confused the VHDL compiler).\n\nBetter stick to something explicitly simple as the code above, or directly\ninstantiate a bidirectional I/O pin from your chip vendor's VHDL library:\n\n    \n    \n        the_pin: IOBUF port map (\n            T => tristate,   -- '1' == high_z\n            I => data_out,   -- data leaving the FPGA, may be tristated\n            O => data_in,    -- data entering the FPGA\n            IO => pin);      -- physical I/O pin\n\n~~~\nDigitalJack\nI wouldn't recommend letting a tool decide what your IO is supposed to be.\n\n~~~\ncnvogel\nThere are cases where you absolutely must instantiate something from your\nvendor's libraries. But inference tristate I/O from a single concurrent\nstatement will be safe (and also the recommended way to handle tristate i/o on\nthe three platforms I've used).\n\n    \n    \n        -- output data, driven active when \\WR is LOW, high-Z otherwise\n        d <= d_out WHEN wr_en_n = '0' ELSE (others => 'Z');\n    \n        -- input data\n        d_in <= d;\n    \n\nJust don't bury the logic in some deeply nested if/else tree tree in a process\nor state machine, this is likely to not synthetize to what you had intended.\n:-).\n\n------\nbobsgame\nI love reading these write-ups. These guys have amazing skills!\n\n~~~\n0xdeadbeefbabe\nIt's time consuming enough without having to blog and take pictures. Sure is\nnice of them to take us along on the ride.\n\n------\ndudemcbacon\nThese posts are great! I'd love to see more posts from vintage computer\nenthusiasts. Anyone know where they hang out?\n\n~~~\njf\nThe Computer History Museum has some special interest groups:\n[http://www.computerhistory.org/groups/](http://www.computerhistory.org/groups/)\n\nIf you're in the SF Bay Area, I'd also suggest seeing the 1401 in person on\nWednesdays (3:00 to 3:30) or Saturdays (11 - 11:30) - see also:\n[http://ibm-1401.info/](http://ibm-1401.info/)\n\n------\ndigi_owl\nLove the clamped to the desk fat cable going from the board to the diablo\ndrive.\n\n~~~\nkens\nIt's a prototype - what do you expect? :-)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Algebra of Algebraic Data Types - dons\nhttp://chris-taylor.github.io/blog/2013/02/10/the-algebra-of-algebraic-data-types/\n======\ncrntaylor\nAuthor of the blog post here. It's amusing to see this submitted by Don\nStewart, since it was his explanation[0] of algebraic data types that first\nmade them \"click\" for me! I think I forgot to mention him in this post, but I\nremembered in the talk[1].\n\nIf anyone's interested in this and where else it might go, I recommend read\nDon's SO answer[0], this SO question and the related answers[2] and these\npapers [3,4] on derivatives and dissections by Conor McBride. There are also\nseveral good blog posts[5] and a paper[6] by Brent Yorgey on the topic of\ncombinatorial species, and of course Dan Piponi's blog[7] is a treasure trove\nof interesting insights at the intersection of math, physics and computer\nscience.\n\n[0] <http://stackoverflow.com/a/5917133/546084>\n\n[1] <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YScIPA8RbVE> (shitty audio for the first\nminute or 2 - it gets better).\n\n[2] [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9190352/abusing-the-\nalgeb...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9190352/abusing-the-algebra-of-\nalgebraic-data-types-why-does-this-work)\n\n[3] <http://strictlypositive.org/diff.pdf>\n\n[4] <https://personal.cis.strath.ac.uk/conor.mcbride/Dissect.pdf> [5]\n<http://byorgey.wordpress.com/>\n\n[6] <http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~byorgey/papers/species-pearl.pdf>\n\n[7] [http://blog.sigfpe.com/2010/08/divided-differences-and-\ntomog...](http://blog.sigfpe.com/2010/08/divided-differences-and-tomography-\nof.html)\n\nEdit: It should go without saying, but because a few people last time around\nseemed to think I was trying to pass this off as my own ideas, let me state\nthat there is _nothing_ original in this blog post. It's a repackaging of the\nideas and work of lots of other people, all of whom are way smarter than I am.\n\n~~~\njoe_the_user\nI don't mean to be negative, it's probably the material as much as you but as\nI read the article, I find a voice repeating \"what is the point, where is this\nleading, why, why?\". I mean, as I read the article, my impression is \"here's\nverbose syntax that does describe types but whose relation to the tasks of an\nordinary programming language, to getting things _done_ is left unexplained\nfor too long for attention span, if it is explained at all\".\n\nAnd I'm fairly mathematically sophisticated (MA a while back with some effort\nto keep current).\n\nIt seems like the constructions \"thrown on the floor\" everything that happens\nin the creation of a type. But I can't understand what that does except make\nsimple operations look like a giant mess.\n\nI would add that the stack overflow mentions that the construction is a way to\nconstruct an algebraic with \"polymorphic parameterization\". IE, Haskel uses\nthe laws of algebra and some supplied primitives (AddL AddR, which you mention\nbut don't define!)to calculate A + B. Perhaps if you make that explicit, the\narticle wouldn't have the \"floating in the clouds and never coming down\"\nquality that it has for me now.\n\n~~~\nkenko\nAside from the practical interest in defining zippers as noted in another\nresponse, isn't it enough that there be this interesting and (by many, anyway)\nunsuspected correspondence, that holds fairly deep down? I mean---taking the\nTaylor series of a type! After all, we are told that \"anything that gratifies\none's intellectual curiosity\" is suitable for an HN submission, no?\n\n~~~\njoe_the_user\nWell, the correspondence sounds interesting but if remains just on the level\nof the unexplained, it is hard to see it really being interesting.\n\nIf you define a function, call it a \"type\" and then take the Taylor series of\nthat function, how mind blowing is that really?\n\nMy point is that without a motivation to these constructions, they are just\nconstructions. It may be everyone in-the-know understands the motivation\nalready, knows why this thing labeled type really has a \"deep\" relation to an\nabstract type-thing. Fair enough but I'm just saying if one omits this\nmotivation, your whole exercise doesn't look interesting to those not in-the-\nknow, OK?\n\n------\ntmoertel\nIf you find this way of looking at of algebraic data types strange, or want to\nunderstand why it is sound, pick up a textbook on analytic combinatorics (a\ngreat one is free [1]) because the parallels are _very_ close. (In analytic\ncombinatorics, the goal is to count the objects in various combinatorial\nclasses.)\n\nPart 2 of the linked-to article, for example, shows that the list data type\n\n    \n    \n        data List a = Nil | Cons a (List a)\n    \n\ncan be mapped to the algebraic form\n\n    \n    \n        L(a) = 1 + a * L(a),\n    \n\nhaving the solution\n\n    \n    \n        L(a) = 1 / (1 - a).\n    \n\nIn analytic combinatorics, the sequence operator _F_ ( _a_ ), representing\nsequences of the underlying class _a_ , is given\n\n    \n    \n        F(a) = 1 / (1 - f(a))\n    \n\nwhere _f_ ( _a_ ) is the ordinary generating function (OGF) representing the\nclass _a_. It's basically the same as the list data type's representation,\nwhich is what we ought to expect since a list is just a sequence.\n\n[1] <http://algo.inria.fr/flajolet/Publications/book.pdf>\n\n~~~\narchgoon\nRobert Sedgewick also has created a Coursera course for analytic combinatorics\nwhere he develops some of the ideas in his book.\n\n<https://www.coursera.org/course/ac>\n\nThe topic is incredible. Basically all the math you learn in Undergraduate\nmathematics gets pulled in to solve counting problems and perform algorithm\nanalysis. It's inspiring. :)\n\n------\nbrudgers\nFor me, this was a great article. I deepened my admittedly limited\nunderstanding of algebra, and picked up a little of the flavor of Haskell in\nthe process.\n\n\"Every little bit helps,\" said the old lady as she pissed in the ocean. I now\nown a little less dumbass.\n\n------\nandrewflnr\nThe idea that types are the same because the cardinalities of their sets of\nvalues are the same is weird. So my type for the days of the week is \"equal\"\nto my enumeration of the Seven Dwarves, and the sum of Maybe Bool and\nBool->Bool? How is that a useful definition?\n\n~~~\nevincarofautumn\nThey aren’t the same, they’re isomorphic—there exists some isomorphism between\nthem, which is to say a bijective homomorphism, which is to say a one-to-one\nmapping between two algebraic structures, which is to say types. Category\ntheory is too damn abstract.\n\nIn any case, having isomorphic structures means that any transformation you\napply to one can be applied to the other by way of a particular isomorphism.\nThere is a “next” day of the week, in the same way that there is a “next”\nDwarf by order of introduction[1], in the same way that there is a “next”\nvalue in this partial ordering I just made up for (Either (Maybe Bool) (Bool\n-> Bool)) which you can’t program in Haskell:\n\nLeft Nothing < Left (Just False) < Left (Just True) < Right (const False) <\nRight id < Right not < Right (const True)\n\n[1]: Doc, Bashful, Sleepy, Sneezy, Happy, Dopey, and Grumpy.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHumanoid construction robot installs drywall - mavci\nhttps://www.engadget.com/2018/10/01/aist-humanoid-robot-installs-drywall/\n======\nTaylorAlexander\nIt’s a cool demo. We’re definitely getting better at making humanoids. I would\nguess this is a pretty “hard coded” demo designed to work for this exact room\nsetup only.\n\nIt’s going to be some time before we have the machine intelligence necessary\nto do enough for this robot to find a toolbox on its own, retrieve the\nnecessary tools, unload the drywall from a truck, carry it to the room in\nquestion, install it, and complain about OSHA all autonomously.\n\nStill, I’ve never seen this before. We are making progress. Just keep in mind\nthat an actual robot that would do this commercially is probably 20 years\naway. Someone else said 10-20, and I’m inclined to think 20+ is more\nrealistic. As in, you hire robots for your construction because it’s\ncheaper/better.\n\n~~~\nsandov\n>It’s going to be some time before we have the machine intelligence necessary\nto do enough for this robot to find a toolbox on its own, retrieve the\nnecessary tools, unload the drywall from a truck, carry it to the room in\nquestion, install it, and complain about OSHA all autonomously.\n\nI don't think it's necessary to develop machine intelligence to do some of\nthose tasks. The toolbox could could emit EM pulses so the robot can find it,\nthe tools could be put in a specific order and put back the same way by the\nrobot, the drywall could have easy-to-remove arrow stickers so the robot knows\nhow to find it's borders, etc.\n\n~~~\nphs318u\nTwo and a half years ago I wrote a paper on \"robotic automation\" for a big\nfinancial services company. One of the conclusions was that, while the world\nof things was heretofore designed with humans in mind, in \"the near future\"\n(i.e. about where we are now), \"stuff\" would be designed for \"machine-first\"\nuse, rather than \"human-first\" use.\n\nThis isn't surprising. We've seen this before in the transition from \"animal\nengines\" to \"steam engines\" (think - the whole infrastructure around the care\nand feeding of the animals etc transitioning to manufacture, fuelling and\nsupport for steam engines). We're starting to see it now in the (slow)\ntransition from \"carbon-fuel transport\" to \"electric transport\".\n\n~~~\ngeezerjay\n> One of the conclusions was that, while the world of things was heretofore\n> designed with humans in mind, in \"the near future\" (i.e. about where we are\n> now), \"stuff\" would be designed for \"machine-first\" use, rather than \"human-\n> first\" use.\n\nThis.\n\nJust to provide an example, humanity already has self-driving cars for\ndecades, and they are deployed and are extensively used in public\ntransoortation. The trick to solve this problem was to not force human-\ndesigned solutions to an automation problem.\n\nThus, instead of trying to automate vehicles to run on roads, we have vehicles\nrunning on railway tracks.\n\nProblem solved.\n\n------\nofrzeta\nDoesn't make much sense to me. Apart from the fact that a humanoid could walk\nto the workplace – which it probably can't. For the actual task it would be\nmuch easier to use a non-humanoid with a carriage and several axes.\n\nAlso it is a bit of a hoax because the whole humanoid reporting kind of\nsuggests the robot is autonomous while one the image you can see a camera\nmounted on top of the wall and there's probably some huge computer in the\nback.\n\nEDIT: Here's some actual information about the project:\n[https://www.aist.go.jp/aist_j/press_release/pr2018/pr2018092...](https://www.aist.go.jp/aist_j/press_release/pr2018/pr20180927/pr20180927.html)\n\n~~~\nfunction_seven\n> For the actual task it would be much easier to use a non-humanoid with a\n> carriage and several axes.\n\nTrue, but I think the idea is that you would be able to download the\nTileSetter update and use the same robot to finish the backsplash in the\nkitchen. Then, with the newly-released CoverWall module, you can put that\nrobot to work gluing and applying wallpaper with perfect, no-seam precision.\n\nA carriage and several axes probably wouldn't handle the manipulation of wall\ncoverings that diverse.\n\n------\nAnimats\nVery nice. I'd like to see the video with no breaks or cuts, though.\n\nIt's interesting to see this done as a job for which the robot does not have\nenough manipulators. This would be easier with two hands to handle the board\nand one hand to apply the fasteners. On a production line, you'd have some way\nto keep the workpiece firmly in place while inserting fasteners. But they did\nit the hard way, with a humanoid form and only loose control over the\nworkpiece. Which is what humans do. They often just push workpieces against a\nfixed object for guidance rather than go for full clamping.\n\n------\nfelipemnoa\nSlowly but surely we are getting there. This made me think of when digital\ncameras first came to market. Nobody took them seriously at first.\n\nI would not be surprised at all if within 10 or 20 years we have humanoid\nrobots like these, but improved several orders of magnitude, available on the\nmarket.\n\nIt will be another technological revolution. If it can do chores I will\ncertainly be the first on line to buy my first model.\n\n~~~\njava-man\nI hope to see robots like this - or not humanoid at all - at the recycling\ncenters sorting. There is no reason for humans to work there.\n\n~~~\nslapshot\nSingle stream recycling is largely solved. Unsurprisingly, humanoid form\nfactors aren't optimized for conveyor flows of materials.\n\nLots of gates, air puffers, filters, size categorizers, etc. Maybe you could\nadd an arm at the end, but there's no reason for the legs and torso of a\nhumanoid robot.\n\nExample:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODu2kbpVSXg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODu2kbpVSXg)\n\n~~~\njava-man\nThank you for posting this video! Very interesting.\n\nAs for robots, I was envisioning a sort of multi-tentacle thing that hangs\nover the conveyor, with multiple cameras and manipulators that can quickly\nextend, grab a piece, and drop it into an appropriate bin. No need to have a\nhumanoid form of course.\n\n------\nyardie\nInstalling drywall is unsurprisingly easy. Just that just needs a driver, a\njack and a bucket of screws. And the sheets are large enough where you can\ncover a room with just a dozen. What eats up time is the taping and mudding.\nIt's what sets an abject amateur from a pro.\n\n~~~\ncrescentfresh\nMy god when I saw the title I thought how awesome it will be to see mudding\nautomated. I was disappoint.\n\nI'm just starting on drywalling a repaired section of my basement. I'm only at\nthe \"get the drywall from the hardware store to the basement\" phase, already\nthat was hard enough and that was the easiest part. Ugh.\n\n~~~\ntoasterlovin\nMudding is a fucking pain in the ass. There's no other way to describe the\nutter frustration of what you are about to embark on.\n\n------\npurplezooey\nBut can it apply skip trowel... that is the question\n\n~~~\nforgotAgain\nHa, ha and sand it smooth.\n\n------\nstewfortier\nWhenever I see humanoid robots, I’m always reminded of this TechLoaf joke:\n[https://www.techloaf.io/2018/06/05/a-i-scores-sweet-\nsummer-j...](https://www.techloaf.io/2018/06/05/a-i-scores-sweet-summer-job-\nas-lifeguard/)\n\n------\nmadeuptempacct\nThese things will be in prod in 5-10 years. Same with autonomous cars. Goodbye\n5-10% of all jobs.\n\n[https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/employment-by-\nindustry-191...](https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/employment-by-\nindustry-1910-and-2015.htm)\n\n------\nchiph\nSo humans aren't the only ones that have problems with collated screw guns.\n\n(You need to apply firm pressure until the screw is driven. Which might not\nhappen if the bit is worn, or the screw in the plastic tape didn't get aligned\ncorrectly, or one of many other problems that can happen)\n\n------\nTallGuyShort\nAh - but can the robot exceed time and budget estimates, do a shoddy job and\nthen weasel it's way out of warranty obligations? Jobs are safe, everybody -\nthere will be a few more unions who will lobby for bans on robotic drywallers\nbecause of some made up safety reason.\n\n~~~\ngonzo41\nIf anything, it sounds like the solution would be every laborer gets a clip\nboard and gets to supervise a robot doing the job they used to do.\n\nObesity will be an ongoing issue for humanity.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: A game I made in 48 hours - joemanaco\nhttps://joemanaco.itch.io/timezone\n======\njoemanaco\nAuthor here: Last weekend I participated in the Ludum Dare Game Jam (#44,\nTheme was \"Life is your currency\") and did a game from scratch in 48 hours:\n\nTIME ZONE\n\nHow to play?\n\nArrow Keys Left/Right: Move left/right Arrow Keys: Up: Jump X: Shoot\n\nInstructions: Try to reach the exit before your life counter reaches zero. You\ncan earn valuable time by collecting Life Capsules. When you destroy an enemy\nthey will drop Life Capsules. But be careful: Each shoot costs you time.\n\nPlay at itch.io:\n[https://joemanaco.itch.io/timezone](https://joemanaco.itch.io/timezone)\n\nSource code: [https://github.com/JochenHeizmann/timezone-\nld44](https://github.com/JochenHeizmann/timezone-ld44) (will add Readme/Build\nInstructions later on when I got some more hours of Sleep)\n\nSoundtrack: [https://soundcloud.com/jochenheizmann/timezone-ludum-\ndare-44](https://soundcloud.com/jochenheizmann/timezone-ludum-dare-44)\n\nLudum Dare Game Page: [https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-\ndare/44/timezone](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/timezone)\n\nI did everything from scratch (Code, GFX, Audio, Level Design). I've used\nMonkey (which transpiles to Javascript) to code it, Photoshop for the pixels\n(Artwise I was inspired by Downwell, which I tried to mimic, but I suck at\nart) and Logic and Renoise for the Music and Sound FX.\n\n~~~\nairstrike\nwhy not support WASD? we've been using our left hand for directional controls\nsince at least 1981\n\n[http://www.sextonsmusicandgames.com/80s-classic-arcade-\ngames...](http://www.sextonsmusicandgames.com/80s-classic-arcade-\ngames/y8azyi81bholy5zxwr7dhmtty5lvou)\n\nprobably want to make jump / shoot right-hand actions as well, like in most\ngames\n\nI really like the concept and wanted to play the game, but as it stands the\ncontrols are too annoying for me\n\n~~~\ndoodpants\nWhy WASD and not ESDF? People have been touch-typing with their left hand in\nthat home position since the late 1800s. (Or do you actually operate WASD with\nyour pinky, ring, and middle fingers when gaming?)\n\n~~~\nairstrike\nDon't be dense. WASD is the most common layout, but sure, if you're that\nopinionated make it ESDF then. My point still stands. Left and right hand\ncontrols should follow a common sense approach\n\n~~~\ndoodpants\nMaybe I'm weird, but being right-handed (like most people), I prefer\ndirectional controls on the right hand and action buttons on the left. Your\ncharacterization of the former as \"left-handed\" and the latter as \"right-\nhanded\" controls seem backwards to me. So, to be honest, I don't even use WASD\n(or ESDF).\n\n~~~\nnkrisc\nWASD is an incredibly common movement control scheme for video games. I'd go\nso far as to say it is the predominant four-directional control scheme for\nvideo games made in the past 20 years that were made to be played with a\nQUERTY keyboard.\n\n> being right-handed (like most people), I prefer directional controls on the\n> right hand and action buttons on the left.\n\nIt is right-handedness that led to this because it was used in conjunction\nwith a mouse, so all those right handed players had a mouse in their right\nhand, meaning their left hand was on the keyboard.\n\nIf you, as a right-handed person, use a mouse in your right hand and the arrow\nkeys in your left hand, you are very much in the minority. Even for games that\ndon't use a mouse, this convention (and muscle memory) is so established that\nit makes sense to use WASD, even for right-handed players. However making it\nconfigurable is always desirable to accommodate the minority of players who\nmight not want to use WASD for any reason.\n\nIf you're not an avid gamer or primarily gamed before keyboard + mouse was\ncommon, this might indeed seem strange. But for anyone who's gamed\nconsistently in the past 20 years it is very normal.\n\nWhy not ESDF? I don't know why initially but today WASD is established\nconvention.\n\n~~~\nfiloeleven\n> Even for games that don't use a mouse, this convention (and muscle memory)\n> is so established that it makes sense to use WASD, even for right-handed\n> players.\n\nA further argument for movement from the left hand comes from consoles, which\nstarting with the NES if not earlier have consistently (always?) had the d-pad\non the left. I remember having some trouble reversing that learning for the PC\nplatforming games that used the arrow keys for movement.\n\n------\nsonofgod\nTook me a while to work out you could actually make time from killing enemies\n-- I saw they only created one time crystal, and that it took about three to\nkill them, then died due to being out of time, so didn't realise that the\nmonster's ones are significantly more valuable. :)\n\n~~~\njoemanaco\nThanks for your feedback.\n\nYes, I wanted to implement a separate crystal for the enemy loot to make it\nmore obvious, but I ran out of time.\n\n------\ncyborgx7\nGreat animation. And the movement feels really good too. I like the premise,\nbut the one hit death on the enemies is very frustrating.\n\n~~~\njoemanaco\nThanks for you Feedback.\n\nI think I have to tweak the hit boxes a little bit, so it's more forgiving.\nAnd probably also change from insta death so you only loose time/life when you\nhit an enemy.\n\n~~~\ncyborgx7\nA little more forgiving hitboxes would already help a lot. There is a lot of\n\"I barely touched him\" in there. But playing it some more, and getting it bit\nfarther in the game, I'm already really enjoying what there is.\n\nEdit: Finished level 3 with almost 2 minutes to spare. Would definitely play\nmore of this. Specially levels that focus on forward momentum, like level 1.\n\n~~~\njoemanaco\nYes, I think for a more complex post-compo version a lot of thought has to be\nput into the level design to consistently push the player and give him this\nfeeling of \"Shit, I'm almost out of time\" \\- but also with the possibility\nthat he saves himself in the last seconds.\n\n~~~\ncyborgx7\nMy mind instantly goes to a random, infinite level, turning it into a runner.\nBut I don't want to backseat design your game. I actually really appreciated\nwhen I reached the end of level 1 and learned I don't have to keep restarting\nfrom the beginning. That was a nice surprise.\n\n------\napexkid\nThis game is incredibly difficult in the first level itself.\n\n~~~\njoemanaco\nYes, I made a playthrough on YouTube if you prefer watching it ;-)\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSW4QmNz1JY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSW4QmNz1JY)\n\n------\nahallock\nImpressive game for only 48 hours of dev--need more levels! Was able to get a\npretty speedy deathless run after learning the patterns. Actually skipping\nmost enemies seemed to be a good strategy. Also enjoyed the mechanic of\nbouncing enemies into position to progress faster.\n\n~~~\njoemanaco\nThanks.\n\n------\nemilfihlman\nWay too hard, you should also continue jumping as long as up is pressed.\n\n~~~\njoemanaco\nYes, it's very hard :)\n\nYou should be able to adjust the jump height by pressing/holding the up key.\nDidn't that work for you? Which browser/os?\n\n------\nDanBC\nI love this! I am _terrible_ at it.\n\n~~~\njoemanaco\nThank you. Yes, it's intentional a quite hard game. :)\n\n~~~\nwqweto\nIt's even harder playing it under Remote Desktop over slow connection!\n\n~~~\njoemanaco\nLOL :)\n\n------\ntronko\nGreate game. As a backend developer, is amazing that you did that in 24 hours.\n\nPD: the music is the best part of the game, perfect for coding :)\n\n~~~\njoemanaco\nThank you. Hey, I'm also a backend developer by day ;-)\n\n------\ntomcam\nLots of fun and great sound, too\n\n~~~\njoemanaco\nThanks!\n\n------\nheed\nThe character sprite and animations look very similar to downwell:\n[https://youtu.be/kY83H8BdxhI](https://youtu.be/kY83H8BdxhI)\n\nNot a criticism, just an observation.\n\n~~~\njoemanaco\nYes, a lot of people mentioned that. Indeed I had the mobile version opened\nnext to me while I pixeld it and tried to recreate this minimalistic style.\nThe idea was that because I suck at pixelart I would probably be able to\ncreate a consistent and nice looking game in this simple style.\n\nAnd I think especially in the sprite I took a little bit too much\n\"inspiration\".\n\nI replaced the sprite now with something more unique. You can play the updated\nversion here:\n[https://joemanaco.itch.io/timezone](https://joemanaco.itch.io/timezone)\n\n------\nmpfundstein\nI think it would be great if you could remove the 3,2,1 countdown in the\nbeginning. Just let me restart ASAP!\n\n------\nlinuxftw\nGreat game. Hard, but not impossible.\n\n~~~\njoemanaco\nThanks\n\n------\nZecc\nTook me some time (heh), but I've finally \"compelted\" the game.\n\nI really did enjoy the music.\n\n~~~\njoemanaco\nGlad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the feedback.\n\n------\nterrycody\nawesome game, may I ask what the knowledge u need to build such a game? More\ndetails are appreciated!\n\n~~~\njoemanaco\nCoding wise the game is pretty simple. It has no real physics or anything\ninvolved and basically simple \"Rectangle-Collisions\". You can have a look at\nthe source code (although it's pretty dirty with lots copy/paste involved\nduring the hard time constraints).\n\nAs mentioned I did it in Monkey, but it should be also easy to recreate it in\nvanilla javascript, because all you need is a basic canvas you can render to,\nand there you go.\n\nThe real hard part was to get all the differents parts involved ready in time.\nFor example the art took me alone around 10-12 hours because I'm really bad at\ngraphics and I put a lot of effort and lots of trial and error in the\nanimations.\n\nThe music I did in Logic Pro and Renoise, and it took only around 2 hours\nbecause I'm quite experienced in doing music (doing it since my childhood).\nBut if you listen carefully you will find out that the arrangement is very\nsimple, and it's also not mastered. Turning this in a full-blown-not-so-\nrepeatedly track would take several days I think for me (I sticked to the\n80:20 rule here ;).\n\nThe level design I did in Tiled, and I had the Tiled loader ready before the\nCompo started.\n\n------\nLandR\nThis is great!\n\n~~~\njoemanaco\nThanks :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nStrategies work only to the extent of their execution - ankut04\nhttps://thoughtlytics.substack.com/p/10-strategies-work-only-to-the-extent\n======\nnotlukesky\nSaaS companies can and will try multiple growth methods till they find what\nsticks for their particular niche. It only is called execution when it\nsucceeds. Todays success playbook may result in tomorrows graveyard.\n\nExecution can also be accelerated with the right type of advisors and\ninvestors. Not every startup will have that luxury.\n\nThe composition and experience and network of the team can be a big plus\nespecially in Enterprise SaaS where there can be long sales cycles.\n\nExecution can include:\n\nStrategic investors\n\nStrategic advisors\n\nMindshare\n\nPR\n\nTechnology partnerships\n\nTechnology alliances\n\nChannel partnerships\n\nSales acumen\n\nMarketing acumen\n\nDeveloper evangelism\n\nFree trials\n\nFreemium model\n\nSEO\n\nSEM\n\nLeveraging social media\n\nLeveraging podcasts\n\nReferral program\n\nAffiliate program\n\nAnd so many more variables... including fund raising prowess that can be used\nto minimize the competition.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGuide to Web Automation - peterdemin\nhttps://medium.com/@peterdemin/guide-to-web-automation-889557804453\n======\npeterdemin\nDid you use any of mentioned products?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNeighbourly by Google - prostoalex\nhttps://neighbourly.google.com/\n======\njklinger410\nI have been thinking a lot about creating localized versions of services like\nreddit and facebook so that people could be more in touch with what is\nactually going on around them instead of this kind of national narrative.\n\nIt seems unfair that there is only room for so many famous people, so many\ninventors, so many journalists, because all of the attention (money)\naggregates towards the top.\n\nIf you could have, say, a local Martha Stewart that actually can subsist and\nbecome quite wealthy by sticking to a couple counties in a State, the whole\nsystem becomes much more valuable to each individual who participates.\n\nThe way it is now your value is almost nonexistent, there is such a high\nbarrier of entry to virality, it's like winning the lottery. What if it was\neasier to go viral in your own home town, build a career off of it, and never\nhave to make the front page of any national website?\n\nSorry, bit of a rant, but services like this hint that other people are\nthinking similarly. I'd like to see a much bigger push into fragmenting the\nweb, and moreso fragmenting the attention share. It moves much like the\neconomy, trickle up.\n\n~~~\ngowld\n[http://nextdoor.com](http://nextdoor.com) is the leader in this space.\n\n~~~\nhungerstrike\nI didn’t like having to give them my real address or phone number. I hope the\nGoogle version of this is a little more lenient, but I doubt it will be.\n\n~~~\nalanbernstein\nWould you prefer all users be allowed access to any neighborhood group they\nchoose?\n\n~~~\nhungerstrike\nNo, I would prefer that they just use my geo-location.\n\nI wouldn’t even mind if they asked me every couple of months or so to verify\nmy location.\n\n~~~\nRoyalaid\nSpoofing geolocation is possible too.\n\n~~~\nhungerstrike\nBig deal. How many people are actually going to go to the trouble to do that\nto talk to people in my neighborhood where they don’t even live?\n\nI could have easily tricked Nextdoor into doing whatever I wanted to. But\nshouldn’t have to waste my time.\n\n------\nbrightball\nSo Nextdoor will have a competitor soon. I was honestly wondering when this\nwould happen because the geographic based reviews and advertising approach\ntotally aligns with the type of service that Google would NOT kill after a\ncouple of years.\n\nMaps, business reviews and advertising...only makes sense.\n\n~~~\nluddaite\nWhy isn't Facebook competing more actively in this market? It seems that the\ndata they have access to is better suited for this scenario.\n\n~~~\nmvid\nThey used to have a neighborhood feature, but I am guessing it just fizzled.\nAlso I don’t really want my neighbors to have a view into my Facebook profile\n\n------\nscarface74\nHopefully this doesn't become the same toxic hell stew that NextDoor can\nbe....\n\n[https://www.buzzfeed.com/carolineodonovan/racial-\nprofiling-i...](https://www.buzzfeed.com/carolineodonovan/racial-profiling-is-\nstill-a-problem-on-nextdoor)\n\n~~~\najross\nRacist busybodies were nattering racists long before they had a social media\nplatform. If anything, platforms like Nextdoor are helping the issue by\nshining light on it, allowing the nutjobs just enough of a safe space to feel\nfree to talk while letting the rest of us see what they're doing.\n\nRegardless, Nextdoor in my area is hardly toxic. It's actually pretty stale --\nmostly a mix of home services referrals and junk for sale. They've cranked up\nthe ad content very significantly over the last year without really\nbringing/encouraging much in the way of better neighborhood content. I don't\nknow if Google is going to do it any better, but some competition in this\nspace certainly couldn't hurt.\n\n~~~\nacdha\nIt’s true that nuts existed before but social media can have an amplifying\neffect when it helps them find fellow travelers and convince themselves that\ntheir views are common and normal.\n\nAnyone building platforms needs to take that problem seriously since it leads\nto both serious real-world negatives (e.g. antivax) and driving more\nreasonable people away.\n\n------\nkinow\nNZ has, [https://www.neighbourly.co.nz/](https://www.neighbourly.co.nz/) which\nlooks like a local competitor with same name. Things might get a bit confusing\nhere if Google's stars to pick popularity\n\n~~~\nberkut\nInteresting that Google are using the non-US (British, Aus, NZ) spelling as\nwell...\n\n~~~\nabrowne\nAll the examples (people and neighborhood names, the question about the salwar\nsuit) sound South Asian to me, so maybe it's launching first in India?\n\n~~~\nalexgolive\nIn the mission, it mentions Indian cities specifically \"In big cities across\nIndia, it’s getting harder to get good answers\"\n[https://neighbourly.google.com/mission/](https://neighbourly.google.com/mission/)\n\n------\nprepend\nI can’t wait for them to suck at this and then quit eventually.\n\nI really wish they would just become a Platform company and let the next doors\nof the world build on them and let goog take 30% of revenue.\n\nThey are bad at network/human stuff. As evidenced by this site “coming soon.”\n\n~~~\nantirez\nWhat's worse is that by network effect certain bad Google products killed good\nnon-Google products. Then the Google product was retired or never evolved and\nso forth.\n\n------\navar\nPrediction: This app is just an A/B test between A = asking the users of the\nGoogle Maps app structured questions and B = This app doing so with machine\nlearning & user-powered Q&A.\n\nDepending on how that goes one or the other will be removed within a year.\n\n~~~\nstevenwoo\nThey already sort of do some checking of their location services with follow\nup queries in the Android Rewards app. I would swear a large percentage of\nstores/location it asks me if I have visited recently are stores that I have\nnever heard of but it either thinks I visited or is doing some sort of sanity\ncheck to make sure I am answering honestly.\n\n------\nscrollaway\nGoogle has been doubling down on the q&a approach of asking users common\nquestions and turning those into datasets and features. This follows suit.\n\n------\ndavidw\nWonder if it'll get content like\n[https://twitter.com/bestofnextdoor](https://twitter.com/bestofnextdoor)\n\nNextdoor is a hive of NIMBYism.\n\n------\njroseattle\nI'm seeing comparisons to NextDoor and/or other hyper-local apps. While this\nservice has the focus at a neighborhood level, the premise seems to be more\nquora-meets-yelp-meets-neighborhood.\n\nI question these content-generation-as-process apps, and whether users are\nexhausted of them. One of the reasons I believe NextDoor works so well is that\nit doesn't try to be the neighborhood reference guide. This is opposed to\nstarting with the premise of answer-a-question, as this service seems to\ndrive. I'm also speaking from the standpoint of my little neighborhood in\nSeattle, so as with everything -- your mileage may vary.\n\nJust an observation: reading through the mission posted on the site, this\nseems to be geared toward cities in India? The footer allows for language\nchange and lists \"UK English\", \"India English\", and other non-English\nlanguages. I wonder if this service intends to support other countries when\nthey release.\n\n------\nosrec\nAnyone else seeing India specific examples on the landing page? I'm British\nAsian, and was quite surprised when the first example was a question about a\nlocal salwar kameez tailor...\n\n~~~\nalexgolive\nIt mentions Indian cities specifically in the mission page \"In big cities\nacross India, it’s getting harder to get good answers\"\n[https://neighbourly.google.com/mission/](https://neighbourly.google.com/mission/).\nI'm a European living in the US, so it's unlikely to be doing some kind of\nspecial targeting.\n\n~~~\nosrec\nWow, that is very India focused indeed... They even mention the deluge of good\nmorning messages typical of Indian WhatsApp groups!\n\n------\nparliament32\nNot a huge issue but... why is the entire page of marketing and examples East\nIndian? What is a \"salwar suit\"?\n\nIs this a feature that's coming out globally or just in India?\n\n~~~\ng8oz\nIndia? Oh boy, as if there wasn't enough neighborhood gossip going on there,\nnow it's going online.\n\n~~~\nanonnel\nMaking neighborhood gossip easier is worrying on many levels.\n\nA hack that has been used in the past to scale totalitarian social control is\nto employ what is essentially a viral enforcement mechanism: basically,\ngetting people to inform on their neighbors. It only takes one or two visible\ninstances of this behavior with a violent outcome and it replicates quickly,\nfollowing an exponential growth rate until the population is saturated with\ninformants.\n\nReporting on neighbors and peers is much of the glue which has held together\nthe worst authoritarian regimes: DPRK, East Germany, Nazi Germany ... as well\nas being a primary strategy for causing the revolutions which put those\nregimes in place.\n\nA platform like this:\n\n\\- lowers the friction of informing\n\n\\- is vulnerable to anonymity / spoofing / automation / remote manipulation\n\n\\- allows for stories of informing to persist in the community memory as\nalways-online posts, increasing their effect across time\n\n\\- is connected to a de facto surveillance apparatus (the internet) to boot\n\n------\nduxup\nI assume this is a response to NextDoor?\n\nI look forward to the next 'bear in the neighborhood' scare hosted by Google\n;)\n\n~~~\ntlb\nWild animal activity is relevant to some people. We've had mountain lions kill\ndeer within 100 meters of our property. Better to keep the dogs in when\nthey're around.\n\nNextDoor and email lists are a terrible way of disseminating scares. I'd\nrather have a \"apex predator weather\" feature that tells me, day-by-day,\nwhether to keep the dogs in.\n\n~~~\nduxup\nIt is a valid thing to be aware of.\n\nUnfortunately / fortunately in my area ... there was no bear (at least no\nevidence) and it was HIGHLY unlikely to have occurred (bears haven't been\naround these parts for decades).\n\nBut there was a siting, and lots of photos of bear (deer) poo, and trampled\nflower beds as evidence!\n\n~~~\nj-c-hewitt\nA baby bear killed six of my chickens.\n\n------\nninkendo\nYet another google service that will be dropped in one of their \"spring\ncleanings\" in a few years.\n\n~~~\nwillart4food\nThe secret of Innovation is to keep on trying and failing. Not everything is\nalways a win. Midas touch is a fable, not reality.\n\n~~~\nMBCook\nThe problem is Google’s size.\n\n1\\. Try out new business\n\n2\\. Take over the market due to Google’s name/search power\n\n3\\. Decide business isn’t worth it and pull out\n\n4\\. No one is left, people have to start from scratch again\n\n~~~\nestel\nWhich of the businesses they've dropped is this true for? Few of the examples\nI can think of were market leaders when they were dropped, and none of those\nwere monopolising the market completely.\n\n~~~\nWorldMaker\nGoogle Reader? The diaspora that followed is often considered to be the\n\"death\" of RSS, and certainly the \"death\" of \"Social RSS\". RSS usage in\ngeneral did tank after Google Reader.\n\nThough, there's a correlation/causation question there. Google Reader shutdown\nto entrench Google's attempt at a walled garden social network, but Google was\nconsidered late to the \"walling in your garden\" party at the time, so market\nforces (Facebook, Twitter) what they were at the time, it's possible that even\nif Reader didn't shutdown, RSS probably was \"doomed\".\n\nSimilarly, Google Talk? For a brief period _everyone_ was using XMPP (whether\nthey knew it or not), to the point where even Facebook capitulated to using\nXMPP for real-time communications, partly to integrate with Google Talk, just\nin time for Google to drop most Talk support and XMPP support in the \"upgrade\"\nto Hangouts.\n\nAgain, things are washy in the correlation/causation question. If Google had\npushed Talk longer, would XMPP be more of a thing today? Or was the walled\ngarden communications network too tempting to the market that it would have\ngone that way anyway?\n\nPersonally, I think Google losing a lot of its \"roots\" in trying to use\nstandards to best fit (RSS, XMPP), versus rolling everything\ninternally/proprietarily was a key change in the web at the time, and I'm\nwilling to ascribe it more to the causation side of things, but there's\ncertainly a healthy debate to both sides.\n\n~~~\nexikyut\nHmm.\n\nThis comment gave me an idea: what does Trends say for RSS?\n\nIt has two results:\n\n\\- For the search term:\n[https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=rss](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=rss)\n\n\\- For the \"computer file format\":\n[https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F0...](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F0n5tx)\n\nBoth charts are nearly identical.\n\nThere's a noticeable blip in March 2013 when the closure was announced, but\nthat blip sits within a concretely downward trend.\n\nI had to dig a bit to locate the very tiny downward slope in July when Reader\nactually shut down; there's nothing noticeable there.\n\n------\nzmmmmm\nSo there's a whole card about how safe it is and how no contact info is\nshared, and right above it is a card where someone has posted with their\npicture visible, a location marker and a time since they were there. Maybe I'm\nreading a lot into one example on their marketing page, but I really hope\nGoogle _has_ thought through security.\n\n------\nnmstoker\nSo little to go on, but the big challenge will be how to get value from the\ninevitably idiotic questions people will ask. This is a massive problem on\nGoogle Maps, it's inundated with questions that are either:\n\n1.answered in the place description that questioners clicked right past\n\n2\\. not suited to crowd sourcing, such as things that require a rep from the\nbusiness to approve (\"Can I get a children's cot put into room 643?\")\n\nAnd there's the Amazon Q&A issue with answers too: so many responses with \"no,\nI don't know how to answer that\", because people don't think enough to realise\nthat not answering is a more appropriate response when you don't know on sites\nlike that!\n\n------\nmrleiter\nThat's kinda nifty for advertisers, if Google will allow advertising there\n(which I assume they will). Hyper-local advertising surely has its perks: low\ncost/high success I think are quite possible.\n\n~~~\nniftich\nHyperlocal advertising is the space that tries to gather up the long tail as\nthe efficacy of mainstream adtech is questioned.\n\nAd money is dominated by spray-and-pray big name brand awareness whose\ncorrespondence to conversions is opaque, but most of online adtech is about\ntracking metrics for particular targeted ads, and big buyers are frustrated\nabout their opaqueness and questioning their value [1]. Then there's the long\ntail of everyone else, from a small band to a local restaurant, who are just\ntrying to get their names out there, but lack the clout to lobby Facebook's ad\npolicies.\n\nThis hyperlocal advertising is what many Facebook ads have been tending\ntowards. It's only natural that Google would try to corner as much of it as it\ncan, with services that are more content-driven than Maps.\n\n[1]\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16362705#16363374](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16362705#16363374)\n\n------\neverdev\nTwitter tried this (jelly.co) and it didn't catch on.\n\nI think the challenge is that the question base is so broad and most local\nexperience revolves around things to see and do, which is largely a solved\nproblem between Yelp, StubHub, Google Maps and Google Search.\n\nAlso, I've found that if people don't want to use the massive number of local\nreviews already on those sites, they tend to ask their actual friends. Why ask\na single random person a question when dozens or hundreds have already posted\na review about a local experience?\n\n------\nfirasd\nInteresting. Although the mobile gold-rush is considered over, I think there's\nstill real potential in 'hyper-local' realtime information. There are some\nexamples of this--Waze for traffic, the 'Citizen' app for crime--but there's\nso much more that can be visible. Power outages, roads needing repair... of\ncourse it's (relatively) easy to make an app that tracks all this but the\ntough part is giving people a reason or incentive to post the information.\n\n~~~\n0x00000000\nI liked Yik Yak a lot before they destroyed it. It provided this type of\ninformation and allowed people to ask local questions like what this looks\nlike it aims to do.\n\n------\nalexgolive\nIt mentions Indian cities specifically in the mission page \"In big cities\nacross India, it’s getting harder to get good answers\"\n[https://neighbourly.google.com/mission/](https://neighbourly.google.com/mission/).\nI'm a European living in the US, so it's unlikely to be doing some kind of\nspecial targeting.\n\n~~~\ngowld\nLook at the photos and screenshots, and the language options the bottom-right\ncorner of the home page. It's an app for Indian women, at least for now at\nlaunch. (Indian Orkut?)\n\n------\nJedd\nI looked at nextdoor years ago, but they weren't willing to let users log in\nfrom Australia. They said that would be coming real soon now...\n\nNabo is an Australian system, but lacks the features of nextdoor - notably the\nability to have subgroups specifically for apartment blocks.\n\nThere's a few other systems out there, but they're usually non free, or\nrubbish, or both.\n\n------\nearenndil\nI'm calling it now: google will discontinue it and it will be looked back upon\njust like google reader/wave.\n\n------\ntomkinson\nS̶o̶f̶t̶w̶a̶r̶e̶ Google is eating the world.\n\nI'm actually surprised that they aren't pulling back a bit. Antitrust case is\nnot near in this climate, but it will happen eventually and it's becoming\nharder with their ever growing tentacles to avoid or reverse. They are going\nto be their own worst enemy in the end.\n\n~~~\njacksmith21006\nDoubt you will see them pull back. Glad they don't and keep pushing.\n\nThe big one was yesterday ordering 62k cars for the Waymo ride sharing\nservice.\n\n------\nmyth_buster\nGoogle maps already has the _Local Guide_ feature and _Ask the community_\nsection which is very similar to this.\n\n------\nz3t4\nGoogle probably see that many people are searching on Google for such\ninformation and they plan to steal the users from current sites. I wonder if\nthis is Google's new growth strategy - find out what is hot by looking at what\npeople are searching for, then try to enter that market.\n\n------\nhalamadrid\nIs that competitor for Nextdoor? It would be interesting to see Nextdoor's\nreaction to this launch.\n\n~~~\nalelefant\nIn the two years I've been a home owner and on Nextdoor, the only feature I've\nnoticed they introduced was ads.\n\n~~~\naskafriend\nI'm also a user and I've noticed significant changes.\n\nIn that time I’ve noticed Real Estate, Ads, Marketplaces, Interest groups,\ncompletely redesigned apps, etc. and probably a bunch of stuff that I haven’t\nnoticed as well.\n\n------\npmilla1606\nInteresting - and on the same day as another (hyper?)local app:\n[https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/31/area-120-subway-\npigeon/](https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/31/area-120-subway-pigeon/)\n\n------\noculusthrift\n\" Any affordable maths private tuition around here?\"\n\n1\\. Doesn't sound like proper english\n\n2\\. Is this targeted towards indians or something? Everything I am seeing\nseems to indicate that. Such as \" ayurvedic chemist \" and \"salwar\"\n\n~~~\naatharuv\nMaths is perfectly standard Indian or British English.\n\nThe neighborhood mentioned in the screen shots, \"Andheri East\" is in Mumbai.\nMumbai's lingua franca is Hindi, and Marathi is the state language of\nMaharashtra which Mumbai is the capital of, so it seems likely that they're\nstarting the rollout in Mumbai, given that these are two of the language\nchoices.\n\n------\nApocryphon\nThis isn't just a competitor with Nextdoor. It might also compete with Quora,\nor at least fill the local need that Q&A platform can't address. Might also be\na less scammy alternative to Craigslist.\n\n------\nmerinowool\nLooks like an ideal tool for local drug deals. Could this be a new Instagram?\n\n~~~\nreaperducer\nThat's what Facebook Marketplace is for.\n\n~~~\nmerinowool\nIt is funny how LE focused on darknet meanwhile the real market runs just fine\non regular internet through popular sites.\n\n------\nRestlessMind\nI hope someone from Google answers this - why should I use this? Is there any\nguarantee that this will be around 3 years from now once the original team\ngets promoted and moves on?\n\n------\nlecro\n[https://i.imgur.com/K4YLt6E.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/K4YLt6E.jpg)\n\nIt looks to me that Google applies some kind of personalization to my landing\npage.\n\n~~~\nexikyut\nAre you in Russia?\n\n(I am _very_ curious about your account, btw. This is your 2nd comment ever,\nafter the first in 2009.)\n\n------\nshishy\nI was wondering when something like this would come out. My community uses a\nFacebook group, and I've seen others do something similar (or even email\nlistservs)\n\n------\nsoftwarefounder\nIt's possible that this could be killed off in a few years, but more likely\nthat it will be absorbed into Google Maps and/or Reviews\n\n------\nbenevol\nI wonder when the day will come when we admit that we have to call the Web\n\"Googlenet\".\n\n------\ndgudkov\nIt seems like the concept of local guides on Google Maps is getting to a new\nlevel.\n\n------\nsriku\nMore reason to be glued to phones instead of actually talking to neighbours?\n\n------\nfloatingatoll\nDear Google HN readers, “stiching” is misspelled in the second screenshot.\n\n~~~\nadrianmonk\nAs long as we're reporting issues, the language chooser at the bottom right is\nwhite text on a white background when I actually click it. Whichever one I put\nmy mouse over becomes white on blue, and I can read it. This is while using\nChrome on Linux.\n\n~~~\nsaagarjha\nSeems to be a native dropdown on my computer, so are you sure it's not your\ntheme affecting it?\n\n------\njeremiahwv\nCommunication problems need to be solved with protocols, not apps.\n\n------\nHuangYuSan\n\"Coming soon to your neighbourhood\" Is it though?\n\n------\namelius\nWho will own the data? Google or the community?\n\n------\nmholt\nAnyone know how this integrates with Maps? I could imagine some really cool\ninnovations by applying machine learning or somehow connecting the data from\nthis app to Maps users.\n\n------\nl33tbro\nSlight tangent, but what's with the Yahoo purple?\n\n------\nbenatkin\nI'm annoyed as hell that a US company is using the UK spelling of\n\"neighborly\".\n\n~~~\nnisse72\nAre you also annoyed by Under Armour?\n\n~~~\nbenatkin\nYou bet, haha. I don't think it's a useful reaction, but it's my reaction.\n\n------\nhartator\nGreat name. /s\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nApple bans Watch apps “whose primary function is telling time” - iwwr\nhttp://9to5mac.com/2015/04/28/apple-watch-face-app-policy/\n\n======\ns_dev\n>This rule that Watch apps that only tell time will be rejected has actually\nbeen enforced since\n\nSmart watches actually have really nothing to do with time pieces -- the name\nwatch is just some marketing skeumorphism because its a smart phone on your\nwrist. If the Apple watch couldn't tell the time it would still be just as\nuseful and expensive.\n\nIf you don't agree with this policy because its authoritarian -- it is -- but\nthats Apple and thats another debate. Given that they are authoritarian they\nmight as well get rid of \"apps that exclusively tell time\" or \"fart apps\".\nThis makes sense to me.\n\n~~~\napplerules\nI agree. Also:\n\nSmart phones actually have really nothing to do with cell phones -- the name\nphone is just some marketing skeumorphism because its a smart computer in your\npocket. If the Apple phone couldn't call or text it would still be just as\nuseful and expensive.\n\nIf you don't agree with this policy because its authoritarian -- it is -- but\nthats Apple and thats another debate. Given that they are authoritarian they\nmight as well get rid of \"apps that exclusively call or text\" [e.g. whatsapp,\nhangouts, snapchat, facebook messenger, burner etc] or \"fart apps\". This makes\nsense to me.\n\n------\njoshstrange\nSo while the headline seems pretty damning I think this policy makes sense\nseeing how the third-party \"apps\", as of right now, do not execute ON the\nwatch (everything happens on the phone and talks to watch). Apple doesn't want\n\"custom watch faces\" which will require talking over the expensive (in terms\nof battery) link to the phone for every update. I think this is all about\nbattery not trying to stifle third-party watch faces.\n\n------\ndalke\nI wonder if the restriction only regards Earth time. People have made watches\nthat kept Mars time -\n[http://mars.nasa.gov/mer/spotlight/spirit/a3_20040108.html](http://mars.nasa.gov/mer/spotlight/spirit/a3_20040108.html)\n. I'm sure some JPL people and other Mars fans would want their Apple watch to\nbe the same.\n\n------\nsoup10\nYes please don't let your customers customize their watch face. One of the few\ncool things about a smart watch. Idiots.\n\n------\npstevesy\nThat makes sense. Though a clock fart combo app might be able to squeeze by. I\nguess it doesn't fit in with their vision of what they want it to become.\n\n------\njbdigriz\nAfter reading this article and some of the comments, its completely clear that\nApple has undeniably triggered almost the exact same effects on some people as\nthe most addictive drugs known to mankind. It's almost mind boggling to\nconsider but I would go a step further to say this is likely the same effect\nreflected in Apple's recently announced profits - much like a drug kingpin\nentering the market with his highly addictive product would experience (ie.\nCrack cocaine in the 80s). It's truly beyond anything I could imagine and\nhonestly scares the shit out of me.\n\nThe problem in such scenarios is that reason and logic become completely\nirrelevant - the addict falls under the trance of the drug and short of\nkeeping them physically separated from said chemical in order to let the body\nclear itself of its influence and effects, few have the will to come back from\nthe depths - and the end result is almost always painfully tragic. It's so\ntragic that society ends up going to the opposite extreme and attempts to ban\nnearly any mind altering chemical - that is how fearful the collective\nsentiment is and if the war on drugs is any precedent, it can last four\ndecades and ultimately ruin even more lives than the drug itself.\n\nI read this article and I really felt I had been directed towards a satirical\narticle from the likes of The Onion or Clickhole. I am NOT trying to be overly\nemphatic or derogatory - it just seems like the first time a brand and their\nline of material products seems to have such a deep rooted hold on its\ncustomers. Sure, there are always fads which have a momentary grasp over their\ncustomers: Tickle me Elmo, Furbies, various pop artists, etc. But those always\nseemed to follow the same trajectory and never indicated any lasting effect.\nBut this is clearly very different.\n\nThink about this piece for a moment and the clearly Apple supportive writer\nand website. On one hand, he had the sensibility to write the article and even\nput the almost satirical title on it. That's probably a good sign. Also good\nis the factual recounting of the brand's position and justification of such.\nReason seems to still have a far deeper rooted presence in this person's being\nthan the brand does. But in much the same way an addict or a victim of\ndomestic abuse reacts upon the possibility of losing said target of addiction,\nit quickly devolves into justifications and ultimately acceptance of such a\ncompletely untenable prospective future. Though there is certainly some\nsarcasm in the few commentators here, it's clear their sentiments and\nperceptions follow the same trajectory.\n\nAgain, I apologize and don't mean to insult or belittle, my argument is my\ntrue and honest opinion. So I must ask - is it me? So disconcerting is this\nnotion that I'm compelled to ask if perhaps I'M the crazy one. Because I read\nthis article and see that a company has produced a product precisely to\nresemble a watch in every way and even includes such in the name but then\nmakes a draconian move to deny third parties willing to do so the ability to\ndistribute software producing A WATCH FACE for said watch (likely thousands\nwith no desire to even make a profit). Is this real? Am I hallucinating??? I\nstruggle to come up with any reasonable scenario where this is a move to\nprevent competition, which would also be highly disturbing but not in the\nleast surprising, especially considering the brand in question. It's simply\nsome form of an arbitrary egomaniacal move which defies rational belief to\nthose not completely consumed and ultimately entranced with any position held\nby some perceived 'god' or 'god-like' object (need to confirm I'm not the only\none before fully backing this statement). But it's bizarre and the potential\nis as unsettling as the actual result in front of me - the same as if Apple\nproduced the Apple Cat and then immediately barred anyone from calling our\ntreating it as a cat while simultaneously making it appear as a dog and\nrequiring all customers assimilate and accept the same. And the response\nbeing, \"Yeah, I think it's their right to do this - I mean, it's not a REAL\ncat anyway, so why not call the Apple Cat a DOG..I mean it's Apple afterall,\nright ;)\". Yes - it's Apple, the company who indirectly employs factories with\nsuch inhuman work schedules that they need to install nets to catch the\nnumerous employees jumping from the roof to end their torture; Apple, who\nwhile hoarding tens of billions in stockpiled profits uses all its might to\nprevent potential extra costs by clearly colluding with and/or threatening\ncompetitors from \"poaching\" talent interested in reclaiming their souls and\nfree thought by leaving - even for ex-employees years departed from their\nempire of misery. Holy hell, where am I and how did I get here?!?\n\nThere are a number of anecdotes describing the Microsoft antitrust\ninvestigations years ago. I recall one description of the completely defiant\nand confrontational tone of Mr. Gates during these times and his unflinchingly\ncomplete denial of any possibility of such a concept. There is some room for\ndebate, but I can't imagine a rational person would see such accusations as\ncompletely baseless, especially when presented with evidence of clear internal\ncommunications showing not only obvious actions to suppress competition, but\npurposeful intent and rhetoric to this regard. I remember thinking then that\nthis was delusion personified - someone so desperately self identifying with\nhis creation that to accept such condemnation would be to accept condemnation\nof himself. It happens and perhaps at some point, to all of us. But the normal\nprogression ultimately leads to a snap back to reality (thankfully the case\nwith Mr. Gates - at least as far as one can tell from his undeniable and\nprofound generosity). And ultimately a nostalgic look back at how entranced\none had been as almost unbelievable - from the comfort of rational thought. So\nhere's hoping the spell is broken and those held captive by their obsessive\nenchantment come back to reality because we really need you here.\n\nOtherwise, if you're out there, Morpheus - I desperately need a red pill\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDeciding to rewrite getaddrinfo in rust - azth\nhttp://blog.dkhenry.com/2016/02/17/deciding-to-rewrite-getaddrinfo-in-rust/\n======\nagwa\nHow security sensitive is getaddrinfo? The recent vulnerability was actually\nin glibc's DNS client library, libresolv, not getaddrinfo itself (but it was\ntriggered when using getaddrinfo). Therefore, I think that rewriting libresolv\nin Rust (and possibly the DNS NSS module) would be more fruitful than trying\nto rewrite getaddrinfo. It would also be easier - libresolv is in its own .so\nso you could swap the entire thing out, rather than having to patch glibc or\nuse LD_PRELOAD hacks. (I actually started working on this a few days ago :-)\n\n~~~\nyyin\nIs ldns vulnerable? Did OpenBSD drop BIND and libresolv in favor of ldns and\nnsd, unbound, drill? Might be an interim solution.\n\n~~~\nSanddancer\nYes, OpenBSD dropped BIND, as did FreeBSD.\n\n------\ntinco\nglibc in total is about 460.000 lines of C. If we're planning on\nreimplementing it as a whole that's going to be quite an undertaking. Musl is\nan alternative libc that's only about 60.000 lines of C. I don't know exactly\nwhy libc is that much larger, as musl also aims to be a complete and POSIX\ncompatible libc.\n\nIts getaddrinfo is considerably smaller at 90 lines, and there's no goto's, it\nlooks comfortably readable at a glance. Maybe a nice blog post would be to\ncompare both implementations to find out if there's a concrete difference in\nfunctionality and code quality.\n\nedit: I should've looked at the 2nd Google result, it's a complete comparison\nof a bunch of libc's:\n\n[http://www.etalabs.net/compare_libcs.html](http://www.etalabs.net/compare_libcs.html)\n\n~~~\npm215\nSome of that will be glibc's coverage of a much wider range of architectures\nand host OSes than musl (a very back-of-the-envelope wc -l suggests that\nsomewhere between 20 and 25% of glibc code is in sysdeps/ or ports/sysdeps/),\nbut that's clearly not the only thing contributing to glibc being bigger.\n\n~~~\nbelorn\nThere is also GNU specific functions and macros in glibc. Is musl implementing\n_GNU_SOURCE? I know that my own project use TEMP_FAILURE_RETRY macro quite\nheavily, among with asprintf.\n\n------\nmikegerwitz\nI understand why people want to rewrite C libraries and such in Rust.\n\nSoftware like glibc is battle-tested---it is _widely_ used on hundreds of\nthousands of systems around the world, and has been used (though not at\ntoday's massive scale) for decades. I understand that glibc is under active\ndevelopment and there is a lot of new code, but let's keep this in\nperspective:\n\nWriting a new implementation of a system is a huge opportunity to introduce\nbugs. There is focus on these specific problems, but in the broader scheme of\nthings, glibc is remarkably stable, performant, and feature-rich. A new\nimplementation will have bugs, and those bugs might be less likely to be\ncaught simply because the system will not be as widely used for quite a long\ntime. Even formally proven systems don't address flaws in the actual program\nspecification. (See \"The Limits of Correctness\" by Brian Cantwell Smith for a\ngood discussion). Also relevant (which I'm reminded of in part because of his\nrecent death): Peter Naur's Programming as Theory Building.\n\nSo even _new_ code to glibc has the benefit of a huge community of both\ndevelopers are users to eyeball it and test it out in production on a huge\nnumber of systems.\n\nSo rewriting glibc may solve certain problems, but it's bound to create a\nwhole lot more, considering the narrow range of issues that are being focused\non. New Rust code will have undiscovered issues too, even if they're not\nmemory or stack related. I feel that this effort might be better spent fixing\nand finding problems with glibc---and continuing the development of tools to\nfind those problems, to benefit _all_ of our old C libraries and programs---\nthan rewriting for the sake of rewriting.\n\n~~~\nwvenable\n> Software like glibc is battle-tested\n\nThis seems a bit counter-intuitive given that serious problems are still being\nfound years or even decades later. Perhaps battle-tested is insufficient.\n\nAnd while new code is likely to have bugs, assuming it's already based on the\noriginal C code it would be less than if it was re-written from scratch based\non a spec. New code can take advantage of the battle-tested nature of the\noriginal code even if it's in a different language.\n\n~~~\nmikegerwitz\n> This seems a bit counter-intuitive given that serious problems are still\n> being found years or even decades later. Perhaps battle-tested is\n> insufficient.\n\nBugs will always exist. But that statement will apply equally to any software,\nregardless of language.\n\n> New code can take advantage of the battle-tested nature of the original code\n> even if it's in a different language.\n\nThat's why I referenced the Peter Naur paper on Programming as Theory Building\n---in practice, that may very well not be the case.\n\n~~~\ndikaiosune\n> Bugs will always exist. But that statement will apply equally to any\n> software, regardless of language.\n\nI'd be curious to see some research suggesting that the prevalence and\nseverity of those bugs is identical regardless of development\ntool/language/runtime, but I'd be surprised if that's demonstrable.\n\nThe question at hand is not \"will safer languages eliminate all bugs?\" It's\n\"will safer languages reduce the prevalence and severity of important classes\nof bugs?\" I'd wager it's probably yes, but even if you disagree, I don't think\nthat it's reasonable to suggest that because there will always be bugs we\nshould never improve.\n\n~~~\nmikegerwitz\n> I'd be curious to see some research suggesting that the prevalence and\n> severity of those bugs is identical regardless of development\n> tool/language/runtime, but I'd be surprised if that's demonstrable.\n\nI intended to convey that software written in any language will have bugs, not\nthat all languages will produce the same types of bugs.\n\n~~~\nManishearth\nYes, but all that gets you is that no language is a panacea; bugs always\nexist. It does not address the question of whether or not there will be a\npropensity for more bugs (or more severe bugs) when comparing two languages.\n\n~~~\nmikegerwitz\n> It does not address the question of whether or not there will be a\n> propensity for more bugs (or more severe bugs) when comparing two languages.\n\nMy argument is based on the act of rewriting it---regardless of language. Many\nlanguages provide excellent guarantees, but that does not protect against bugs\nin the implementation itself (logic).\n\n~~~\nManishearth\nYes; and the rewrite can take into account the logic used in the old code\n(especially in the security-critical areas) as well as all the vulnerabilities\nthat have happened before. You're not starting from a complete blank slate;\nyou can pick up the lessons learned.\n\nDespite being \"battle tested\", all of these C programs continue to have both\nmemory and logic errors. I think a rewrite would have the same rate of new\nlogic issues after the initial code review and testing. \"bugs will always\nexist\" \\-- sure, so if we have something that eliminates a class of bugs, why\nnot use it? The other classes of bugs will be there (and probably in the same\nforce) whether you rewrite or not.\n\nA lot of these bugs get _introduced_ due to cruft in old code as well. So\nthere are a bunch of tradeoffs here.\n\n------\nlmb\nThe comment about changing the const pointers is subtly wrong. There are\npointers to const memory and there are const pointers to memory. My favourite\nlittle known C fact. See also\n[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1143262/](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1143262/)\n\n~~~\ndelroth\nThat's not really \"little known\". Almost every single piece of code that does\nstring manipulation in C uses that fact:\n\n    \n    \n      const char* s = ...;\n      while (*s++) { ... }\n\n~~~\nlmb\nI think you have proven my point. I'm talking about this:\n\n    \n    \n      void something(const char* const s);\n    \n\nMaybe I'm extrapolating here, but it surprised me.\n\n~~~\ndcohenp\nThat is indeed what the post you're replying to meant. Note that the pointed-\nto value is a constant string, yet the pointer itself is being modified.\nThat's a fairly common idiom in C string-handling code, only possible because\nit's a const char _, not a const char_ const.\n\n------\nSomeone1234\nIs there a good reason why a binary compatible glibc couldn't be re-written in\na better language? People are always going to be using C/C++ and there is\nlittle that can be done about that exposure, but at least the libraries they\nrely upon could be better engineered to have certain assurances about safety.\n\n~~~\nlmm\nYou'd lose most of the safety. E.g. a lot of the value of Rust comes from\nownership tracking, but you can't track ownership across a C-ABI boundary\nbecause the information simply isn't there. And I'm not sure assurances in\nlibraries used by unsafe languages are really that valuable - it'd be like\nlocking your back door and leaving your front door open. Better to make a\nclean break.\n\n------\nminitech\nMinimalism comes in many forms. Here, we see an example of a content-free\narticle.\n\n> fun aside, name and service are both const char* so I find it funny that\n> they are set in the program, I do understand that from the callers\n> perspective they don't change, but still bad form\n\n… are you sure you know enough C to do this?\n\n------\nMichaelBurge\nI know that it's used for more than just C programs, but it still seems a\nlittle perverse to rewrite the C standard library in something other than C.\nImagine if someone had a preference for writing his Python libraries in Perl\nthat emitted Python bytecode. Or if C++'s Boost was the output of a Haskell\nprogram.\n\n~~~\nSantosh83\nI get what you mean, but I guess calling it the \"C Standard Library\" is really\na historical holdover from times when the entire system was written only in C\n(with the exception of a smattering of assembly). In the current context it\nshould probably be called the \"System Standard Library\" and when you consider\nit like that, a system standard library in another language isn't all that\nweird. They all compile down to machine code anyway, so the Python-Perl\nanalogy doesn't quite match.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nUNIX is the C runtime, kid of.\n\nThey just didn't want to force it into other OSes when ANSI C was defined and\neventually POSIX took up that role.\n\n------\nsaghul\nAnother potential source of inspiration is Musl: [http://git.musl-\nlibc.org/cgit/musl/tree/src/network/getaddri...](http://git.musl-\nlibc.org/cgit/musl/tree/src/network/getaddrinfo.c)\n\n------\nchillingeffect\nSo many tentative posts here :)\n\nI say, \"Go for it!\" Kozlowski's attitude is exactly what we need. That's not\nsaying it will ship in Ubuntu 18.04... It will be carefully vetted just like\nany piece of software, but it's got to start somewhere and I like that he's\nsharing his thought process with the community.\n\nAs people have pointed out, it may not actually be the Rust part of it that's\nvaluable, but the organization and code quality. Rah rah!\n\n~~~\noconnor663\nI'm not so sure about the attitude.\n\n> After reading about the newest glibc vulnerability, I have decided to see\n> how much effort there is in rewriting parts of glibc in a safe language.\n\nIf I were a C programmer, especially if I were a C programmer who worked on\nglibc, I might feel a little bit insulted that remark. Safety is a complicated\nconcept, and calling Rust \"safe\" and C \"unsafe\" oversimplifies things,\n_especially_ if your Rust code includes unsafe blocks. See also\n[http://www.tedunangst.com/flak/post/heartbleed-in-\nrust](http://www.tedunangst.com/flak/post/heartbleed-in-rust).\n\nI don't think we have anything to lose by being as diplomatic as possible with\nthese sorts of things. We can acknowledge that Rust's safety is a work in\nprogress, and that we're still learning about the drawbacks.\n\n~~~\nbetenoire\nit might oversimplify it, but there is truth in there too\n\n------\nagentgt\nHas anyone successful linked to a Rust library from another language (ie\nPython). I know Rust offers FFI and will apparently make its data\nrepresentations C like if annotated and I think has some ABI.\n\nThis is the second post I have seen in the last couple of days of \"glibc is\nbad lets rewrite it in Rust\". However the problem is not that glibc is just\nbad but rather everything links to it. If other languages can't talk to Rust\neasy this would be a nicer problem to focus on first (before rewriting glibc).\n\nI guess this is sort of how its done: [http://siciarz.net/24-days-of-rust-\ncalling-rust-from-other-l...](http://siciarz.net/24-days-of-rust-calling-rust-\nfrom-other-languages/)\n\nRust -> C <\\- Other language. You have to create the C header files (I'm\nsurprised Rust compiler or something similar doesn't automate this).\n\n~~~\nManishearth\nYou don't necessarily need C header files. Rust is able to export symbols\neasily with the C ABI; if your language has the ability to take a library and\ncall such symbols (Python/Ruby do; for example), you're fine. It's only C++\nwhere you need a header file because that's how C++ binds with any library.\nIt's not a Rust-to-any-language issue, header files are a Rust-to-C++ issue\nonly; really, an any-language-to-C++-or-C issue (I think such a tool exists,\ntoo).\n\n~~~\ndbaupp\nA C header is not needed at runtime, it is purely a way to easily describe the\nsymbols in a library that exist in a (somewhat) type-safe way. It's the lingua\nfranca for describing libraries, and tooling (such as Rust's bindgen, or\nPython's cffi) can consume them to do the setup/create the information\nnecessary to call functions from other languages. This is much nicer than\nmanually trying to transcribe the Rust (or whatever) signatures into your\napplication.\n\n _> header files are a Rust-to-C++ issue only_\n\nOr... C? (And of course other languages too, as just discussed.)\n\n~~~\nManishearth\n> It's the lingua franca for describing libraries, and tooling (such as Rust's\n> bindgen, or Python's cffi) can consume them to do the setup/create the\n> information necessary to call functions from other languages.\n\nHence the \"not necessarily\" in my comment. The parent seemed to be painting\nthis as extra unnecessary work; I was saying that a header file is _not_\nnecessary except for binding to C/C++.\n\nIf you want to write a C API that will be called from many languages; you\nshould have a header file so that bindgen tools can consume it. If you want an\nAPI that will only be called by Python .... not so necessary, you may want a\nheader file anyway but it depends on the situation.\n\n> Or... C?\n\nSure, goes without saying :)\n\n------\nJustSomeNobody\nHow many new vulnerabilities and bugs will be introduced by doing this ya\nthink?\n\nRust in and of itself won't make things all better.\n\n------\nXcelerate\n> fun aside, name and service are both const char* so I find it funny that\n> they are set in the program, I do understand that from the callers\n> perspective they don't change, but still bad form\n\nCorrect me if I'm wrong (I haven't programmed in C++ in forever), but aren't\n\"name\" and \"service\" pointers to constant arrays of characters rather than\nconstant pointers to (mutable) arrays of characters? In the first case, you're\nsaying you have a variable that points to a memory location; the variable\nitself can be changed, but the data in memory at that location cannot. In the\nsecond case, you're saying that you cannot change the variable that contains\nthe memory address; however, you _can_ change the data in memory at that\nlocation.\n\n(And if I remember correctly, I believe there are also such things as constant\npointers to constant memory...)\n\n~~~\nmbrock\n[http://cdecl.org/](http://cdecl.org/)\n\n    \n    \n        const char *foo\n    \n\ndeclares a pointer to a char that is constant.\n\n    \n    \n        const char * const foo\n    \n\ndeclares a constant pointer to a char that is constant.\n\n~~~\nteddyh\nYou know, you could just\n\n    \n    \n        apt-get install cdecl\n    \n\nAnd then do it on the command line. But hey, let's turn everything into a web\nservice, with NSA et al. monitoring as a bonus feature.\n\n------\narmitron\nNot only that, but most people in this thread are STILL missing the multiple\nelephants in the room.\n\nFirst, Rust allows unsafe code in the core language [not simply through FFI as\nin other safe languages]. So there's a gaping hole that we know _will_ be\nabused (performance! performance!) right there. Even if we grant that this is\nnot the case, here is the deal breaker:\n\nThe Rust approach to security depends on an ecosystem that follows the same\napproach. To think that this is more than an utopic dream is to enter cuckoo-\nland in my opinion. So we digress back to the castles-built-on-top-of-sand.\n\nThere's millions of lines of code written in unsafe languages plus all\nmainstream operating systems. The Rust approach will never work in this sort\nof environment.\n\nAn approach that _might_ work however is unikernels and using a language that\npromotes design with failures in mind [and makes it extremely easy to rapidly\nrearchitect/rebuild/redeploy]. Erlang is the best example in my view, but\nthere could be more.\n\nAlas, Rust is not really suitable for this either due to its static nature.\n\n~~~\ndang\nYour comments in this thread have been inflammatory, condescending, and vague.\nThat amounts to trolling, whether you intended to or not. You've done it quite\na bit in previous threads, too, which is not good. Please don't do this on HN.\n\nHere is how to stop: (1) take out everything inflammatory (\"It boggles the\nmind how utterly misguided\", etc.) and make neutral statements instead; (2)\ntake out the personal language (\"you just don't get it\", etc.); (3) replace\nvague grand claims with specific factual statements.\n\nIf you do this, you'll not only no longer be breaking the HN guidelines,\nyou'll also be sharing what you know more effectively, which benefits all of\nus.\n\nWe detached this subthread from\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11162577](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11162577)\nand marked it off-topic.\n\n------\narmitron\nIt boggles the mind how utterly misguided the \"let's rewrite everything in\nRust!\" people are when it comes to understanding security and its\nimplications.\n\nLet me begin by introducing my premise: Rust will do NOTHING for security, it\nis not an improvement in any way, and at least as far as security is\nconcerned, it will lead to at best colossal time waste, at worst actively\ndamage the cause _by misdirection, making ppl feel warm and fuzzy, providing\nillusion of security_.\n\nWhat??? B-b-but memory safety, I hear you say. How can this even be possible I\nhear you cry.\n\nMemory safety (assuming that Rust completely solves it, which it absolutely\nDOES NOT) is but one (small) piece of the entire puzzle. In the same way that\nthe skilled craftsman knows that he can't build a castle on top of sand, the\nskilled (and security conscious) software engineer _should_ realize that\nmemory corruption (and race conditions in the same unit/process) are not the\nfoundation of the security chain. I dare say that a lot of the bugs exploited\nout there today (but not necessarily made public), are pure LOGIC bugs (that\ninclude race conditions) that stem from the interactions between extremely\ncomplex autonomous subsystems. Rust is simply operating at a too high-level\nabstraction layer to deal with any of these issues. This is the logical\nprogression of Sergey Bratus's weird machines taken to the next level.\n\nSome examples:\n\nThe Linux kernel. Any UNIX operating system taken as a whole. Any Windows\ntaken as a whole. Any OSX system.\n\nAnything built on top any of the above. Anything built on _combinations_ of\nany of the above. Weird machines are not limited to isolated units, you know,\nthey very well exhibit EMERGENT behavior.\n\nAre you starting to get the picture now?\n\nAnd then of course we _still_ have the bugs that stem from unsafe languages,\nas long as there's a path that cuts through all the intermediate layers of\n\"safe\" code. Graphics drivers and webgl anyone? Truetype in the kernel?\n\nRust has plenty of things in its favor but to position it as a cure for issues\nthat it doesn't even know how to address is a colossal mistake. We have given\nrise to a beast that threatens to consume us all. It's one thing to despair\ndue to the immense complexity of the domain and quite another to step into an\nimaginary realm and solve illusionary problems that we create just to feel\n\"safe\".\n\n~~~\ntopspin\nThere were about 36 000 traffic fatalities in the US in 2015. This is inherent\nto the trillions of miles traveled in affordable machines operated by drivers\nof variable competence, and nobody has a solution to fix the problem today.\nMaybe one will emerge, but between now and that day we're going to keep\ndriving and keep killing each other.\n\nShould engineers, admittedly lacking an absolute solution to traffic\nfatalities, forego seeking designs and materials that reduce the frequency and\nconsequences of failure?\n\nRust delivers a higher degree of memory safety. It is a better tool in the\ntool box and arguing that engineers should ignore it because their efforts are\ninherently flawed won't work, any more than arguing that a new headlamp or\ntraffic light design is futile.\n\nAlso, you should understand now what you're up against. The legacy stack is\nriddled with flaws; every day we face a deluge of security notices, some large\nfraction of which are caused by memory safety problems. In other words, your\nopponents in this debate have an endless supply of ammunition.\n\nGood luck with that.\n\n~~~\nAlupis\n> here were about 36 000 traffic fatalities in the US in 2015\n\n> nobody has a solution to fix the problem today.\n\nYou're entire premise revolves around 0.01% of the population. That's not a\ngood basis.\n\nThere's about 34,000 automobile related deaths annually in the US[1]. There's\nabout 323,000,000 people in the US.[2]\n\nThe point I'm making, is let's not get carried away with exaggerating how\n\"bad\" a \"problem\" is. According to the CDC, more people die annually from\naccidental poisoning (about 39,000) than automobile related accidents - but I\ndon't hear all the calls to \"solve\" that problem.\n\nWill things be \"safer\" written in Rust? Maybe. Does Rust solve everything?\nAbsolutely not. Yes, a lot of bugs are \"unsafe\" memory access issues, but a\nlot of bugs are not. Re-writing everything in a pet language that happens to\nbe popular today in 2016 is not a good call. Rust is fairly new, and nobody\nhas any idea if it will stand the test of time. C has, clearly.\n\nInstead of getting out our pitchforks, we should rally to guarantee these\ncritical projects are fully funded and staffed with full time developers. That\nalone, will yield far greater results than some lofty goal of completely re-\nwriting 100's of thousands of lines of code which have been working, tested,\nand matured for almost 3 decades.\n\n[1] [http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/accidental-\ninjury.htm](http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/accidental-injury.htm)\n\n[2] [http://www.census.gov/popclock/](http://www.census.gov/popclock/)\n\n~~~\npcwalton\n> Yes, a lot of bugs are \"unsafe\" memory access issues, but a lot of bugs are\n> not.\n\nA huge number are. For example: [https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-\nlist/vendor_id-72/p...](https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-\nlist/vendor_id-72/product_id-767/GNU-Glibc.html)\n\n> That alone, will yield far greater results than some lofty goal of\n> completely re-writing 100's of thousands of lines of code which have been\n> working, tested, and matured for almost 3 decades.\n\nWindows, the popular Web browser engines, and antivirus software are all\nexamples of systems software that are very well funded. But they still\nregularly fall to memory safety problems. The converse is also interesting to\nlook at: djbdns and qmail are examples of poorly funded software, but they\nhave had very few memory safety problems.\n\nI agree with the general principle that funding helps security overall,\nthough.\n\n------\nakerro\nPlease call your implementation getaddrrinfo\n\n------\nw8rbt\n___Some people, when confronted with a problem, think “I know, I 'll rewrite\nthis in another programming language.” Now they have two problems._ __\n\n~~~\nmaxerickson\nThis is a great story to make glib comments on.\n\n~~~\nw8rbt\nThis glib comment has a long history in technology. So it seems appropriate.\n\n    \n    \n        http://regex.info/blog/2006-09-15/247\n\n~~~\nsteveklabnik\nI thought your parent was making a pun about 'glibc' and 'glib'.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nElite versus Non-Elite Access to Covid-19 Testing – Philip Greenspun’s Weblog - djsumdog\nhttps://philip.greenspun.com/blog/2020/03/24/elite-versus-non-elite-access-to-covid-19-testing/\n======\nchmaynard\nNice blog post from Greenspun, convincing and well-documented. He promises one\ninteresting idea every three months and this is one of them. Well done!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Who wants to be hired? (January 2020) - whoishiring\nShare your information if you are looking for work. Please use this format:<p><pre><code>  Location:\n  Remote:\n  Willing to relocate:\n  Technologies:\n  Résumé&#x2F;CV:\n  Email:\n</code></pre>\nReaders: please only email these addresses to discuss work opportunities.\n======\nFej\n\n        Location: NYC metro area/NJ/New Jersey/NY/New York (US)\n        Remote: if you like, but physical presence is preferred\n        Willing to relocate: no\n        Technologies: HTML5/CSS3/ES6 (JS), Python, Java, C\n        Email: j at the domain below\n    \n\nRésumé (code block does not allow links):\n[https://fej.io/resume](https://fej.io/resume)\n\nRecently graduated from the Stevens Institute of Technology in NJ, right next\nto NYC - CS bachelor's degree with a minor in philosophy. Worked with Node.js,\nVue.js, and Postgres for a senior capstone project. I'm currently working with\na professor on improving an existing web app and fixing legacy PHP code.\n\nAlways excited to try new languages, frameworks, methodologies - you name it.\n\nPlease don't hesitate to leave a comment with any questions. Thank you for\nlooking.\n\nI am a citizen of the US.\n\n------\naustincheney\nLocation: Fort Worth, TX, US\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies:\n\n* Fullstack - TypeScript/JavaScript/Node.js\n\n* Security - Security+, CASP, CISSP (expired)\n\n* Clearance - US federal TS/SCI\n\n* Accessibility\n\n\\---\n\nPersonal Preferences:\n\n* _Vanilla JS_. I detest large frameworks and unnecessary dependencies. I prefer writing solutions to business requirements as directly as possible in an imperative/functional style.\n\n* Not everything should be a dependency. A quality product will not contain 1000 NPM packages.\n\n* I prefer _git_ for version control.\n\n* I enjoy writing documentation and receiving technical criticism.\n\n\\---\n\nPrior Personal Projects:\n\n* _Share File Systems_ , a complete GUI in the browser that allows viewing and navigating the current machines complete file system and sharing aspects of that file system to specified devices/users. The application is server-less, peer-to-peer, and focused on privacy first. The first link is a video demo and the second is the code on Github: [http://mailmarkup.org/sharefile/demo1.mp4](http://mailmarkup.org/sharefile/demo1.mp4) , [https://github.com](https://github.com)\n\n* _Pretty Diff_ , a language parsing diff utility that also beautifies code. Supports 45 languages. [https://prettydiff.com](https://prettydiff.com)\n\n* _Sparser_ , the parser used by Pretty Diff. [https://sparser.io/](https://sparser.io/)\n\n\\---\n\nResume available via email.\n\nEmail: info@prettydiff.com\n\n------\nbradneuberg\nLocation: San Francisco\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Maybe\n\nTechnologies: Deep Learning (CNNs, RNNs, network architectures, TensorFlow,\nPyTorch, etc.); Software Engineering (architecture, test-driven development,\nengineering leadership, etc.); Systems Engineering (Python, databases, Unix,\nAWS/GCP, distributed systems, etc.); General ML (Jupyter, data science, etc.);\nWeb Engineering (JavaScript, HTML, CSS, API development, web servers, etc.);\nProduct Management & Innovation (user-driven development, futurist studies,\netc.)\n\nRésumé/CV: [http://codinginparadise.org](http://codinginparadise.org)\n\nEmail: bradneuberg at googles email service (gmail) dot com\n\n~~~\ntgtweak\nWhat kind of work are you looking for? Seems you should be founding more\nstartups :)\n\n------\nalexandander\n\n      Location: San Francisco, CA\n      Remote: Yes\n      Willing to relocate: No\n      Technologies: Java/Spring, Python/Django, bash/linux, JavaScript, Postgres/MySQL, AWS/Docker\n      Résumé/CV: available on request via email\n      Email: hello {{at}} alexanderbw {{.}} com\n    \n\nI'm an experienced software engineer specializing in elegant API/SDK design\nwhich is _insanely_ friendly to developers. I will take your complicated API\nand make it so clean and user-friendly that even your grandma could use it.\n\n~~~\nquickthrower2\nNice pitch!\n\n------\nmoonandsun\n\n      Location: Raleigh, NC\n      Remote: Yes\n      Willing to relocate: Yes (depending on position)\n      Technologies: C++, C#, ASP .NET MVC, Java (though fairly rusty), PHP, Ruby, Full Stack Development (HTML, CSS, Javascript),\n      Windows Server administration, SQL Server, mySQL, SQlite, Project Management, Networking Technologies,\n      Physical and Information Security, Digital Forensics, Linux (Redhat/Knoppix/Backtrack/Kali)\n      Résumé/CV: Please send an email and I'll be glad to send it.\n      Email: moonandsunconsulting@gmail.com\n    \n\nI am a computer professional and have done this for more than 20+ years\n(everything from hardware technician, call center, network technician,\ndatabase administrator, security, and systems engineer/integrator). I have a\nComputer Science degree from North Carolina State University and have worked\nfor large enterprise corporations.\n\nFor full disclosure, I have a criminal record from about a decade ago (and\nwill be glad to disclose details to anybody that might be interested, but not\na breach of trust or theft or anything like that) and that has hindered my job\nsearch. I have been consulting since then and am looking for a stable\nposition. I have experience doing work for large and small businesses and\nunderstand many processes both in application development and management. If\nanybody is willing to give me a chance or at least get in touch, I would\ngreatly appreciate it. If I need to relocate, I would definitely consider\nthat.\n\nThank you.\n\n------\nTeMPOraL\nPerhaps a little unusual, but: a team of 5 people (3 backend engineers + a\nproduct manager + a solutions architect), including myself, is looking for a\nproject.\n\nLocation: Poland, UK, US\n\nRemote: only\n\nWilling to relocate: no (but can occasionally travel for meetings)\n\nTechnologies: Clojure, ClojureScript, Common Lisp, JavaScript, Java, C/C++,\nErlang, Neo4J, PostgreSQL, Chef, GCP, reactive programming.\n\nRésumé/CV: on request\n\nEmail: hn_work@jacek.zlydach.pl\n\nContext: we're a group of independent contractors who have, for the past\nseveral years, worked together creating and developing a product in\ncybersecurity risk management space, targeted at enterprise-level customers.\nDespite breaking into the market and entering evaluation process with multiple\nlarge and well-known enterprises, the parent company owning the IP has started\nto disintegrate and we're being forced to look for another work. Since we're\nan experienced team that works well together and have been successfully\nsolving hard problems and delivering for years, we're trying to find an\nopportunity to work on something together.\n\nBetween us all, we have over 60 person-years of commercial development\nexperience. Two of us are capable handling front-end development, but we've\nall been mostly backend-focused. Individually, experience additionally\nincludes: game development, hardware and firmware engineering, CAD/CAM\n(Fusion360), network engineering, devops.\n\n------\nv1l\nI'm an experienced product and engineering leader. Over the past decade, I've\nbuilt productive, talented prod/eng teams and shipped delightful products at\nmultiple startups.\n\nI work with early stage (typically Seed/Series A) startups as a consulting\nHead of Product and CTO.\n\nWhat I do:\n\n\\- As an interim Head of Product/CTO, I will lead your product and eng\nfunctions \\- I will drive all aspects of product development, including\nproduct research, talking to your customers, product strategy, sprint\nplanning/execution, and ultimately, successful product delivery. \\- Help you\nhire great people into product and engineering roles \\- Provide interim\nengineering leadership and make sure your team is motivated and building the\nright thing without over-engineering it. \\- Ensure that good product and\nengineering practices are built into your organizational culture.\n\nI'd be ideally suited at a startup where the sales/business-focused founder(s)\nneed an experienced hand to manage and propel the ship on the product/tech\nside.\n\nAt my last startup, I took a SaaS product from a back of napkin sketch to\nsoftware with dozens of business customers and in the process we raised\nventure funding. Prior to that, I led a 10-person eng team at a well-known\nstartup in SF.\n\nLocation: SF bay area\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nFull-time: No, looking for part-time contract/freelance/consulting\nopportunities\n\nEmail: in my profile\n\n------\njonpurdy\nLocation: Currently Toronto, moving to SF in February\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies/Skills: Certified Scrum Master, Scrum & Kanban Methodologies,\nMulti-team Coordination, Jira, Python, Containerization, Cloud Infrastructure,\nBlockchain\n\nRésumé/CV: jonpurdy.com/resume.pdf Email: hn-202001@jonpurdy.com (will respond\nfrom my real one)\n\nI'm primarily a Technical Project Manager looking to help teams build software\nmore efficiently.\n\nIn previous infrastructure roles I've spearheaded numerous projects, brought\nservice endpoint uptime from ~95% to 100%, took over and grew a team, and\nimproved team performance by implementing Infrascrum methodology. Since 2018,\nI've implemented Scrum and Kanban, coached junior development teams, and\nsuccessfully completed and released multiple software projects, both internal\nand for clients. I also acted as a product manager for many of the internal\nproducts we created, developing product mission and vision statements,\nroadmaps, gathered user feedback, and built user-facing documentation and\nproduct websites.\n\nIdeally, I'm looking for a SF Bay Area-based startup that has built (or is\nclose to completing) an MVP and is looking to scale the development team's\nsize and efficiency, as well as technical infrastructure.\n\nI'm available either on a contract or full-time basis. I’m best able to fill\nthe following roles: scrum master, product owner, technical product manager,\nAgile coach, or project manager, or some sort of combination of them.\n\nThanks and please email me if you have any questions or just want to chat.\n\n------\nnetfunk81\nLocation: EU\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Go, Ruby, Rails, Elixir, Rust, C, PostgreSQL, web development,\ndistributed systems, Apache Kafka, streaming, audio development\n\nRésumé/CV: Available on request\n\nEmail: netfunk81@protonmail.com\n\n\\---\n\nHi HN,\n\nI'm a seasoned developer with previous as co-founder/CTO of a funded startup\n(8 years) in the web/audio space.\n\nCurrently I am technical lead of a product team in a mid-sized EU startup (2\nyears). I'm a productive, polyglot programmer with plenty of direct experience\nin backend web development, mobile development and real-time audio/streaming\ntech. I am also comfortable tackling many of the non-technical challenges\nfaced by startups (product mindset, process, project management, engineering\nmanagement, etc.)\n\nI'm interested in hearing about opportunities where my skills, experience and\nmindset may be a good fit.\n\nMust be remote-friendly, but I can travel within Europe for interviews and\nmeetings.\n\nSome example roles that I'd consider:\n\n\\- Backend or full-stack web development\n\n\\- Audio/video/streaming dev roles\n\n\\- Tech lead or the right EM role\n\n\\- Technical co-founder opportunities (salaried)\n\n\\- Short-term/contract developer roles\n\n\\---\n\nThrowaway account, full CV available on request.\n\nThanks!\n\n------\ngremlinsinc\nLocation: Southern Utah\n\nRemote: Yes|Only\n\nWilling to relocate: Nope.\n\nTechnologies:\n\n    \n    \n      - DBS: Postgres, MySQL, faunadb, mongodb\n      - languages (ranked by familiarity): PHP, Javascript, Ruby, Python, Elixir, Rust, Golang (Would love to work w/ go/rust more)\n      - Backend Frameworks (ranked ^): Laravel, Rails, Express/Node.js\n      - Frontend Frameworks (ranked ^): Vue, React, Svelte, Angular\n      - CSS: Tailwind, Bootstrap, Bulma\n      - Mobile: Quasar / Ionic Framework / React Native\n      - API's: AWS, Rekog, Polly, Fedex, UPS, Craigslist Bulk Posting, Amazon Product API, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Clockify, etc...\n      - AI/ML: Rekog, Polly, python/NLTK == created image classification to search emails by images in ads.\n      - Cloud: Aws/Azure/GCP. Learning Kubernetes/terraform. \n      - Serverless: Some small projects, looking to use more in the future.\n      - Business: Scrum, Agile, Kanban, Jira, Accelerator (Boom Startup)\n    \n\nResume: [https://patrickcurl.com/resume](https://patrickcurl.com/resume)\n\nemail: patrickwcurl (at) gmail.com\n\nCurrently working on an open source (soon to be released) SaaS boostrapper w/\nteams|plans|projects built using laravel+vue+inertiajs+tailwindcss.\n\nI also work 40-50 hours weekly on freelancing work including a modified clone\nof reddit for a community focused site.\n\nI've been working in php/laravel since 2013 and have a number of published\narticles on laravel, linux, vue, etc... at\n[https://medium.com/@patrickcurl](https://medium.com/@patrickcurl)\n\nI'm looking for exciting projects as a developer, product manager, project\nmanager. I'm also open to working as a CTO or consultant for architecture\nplanning or as a mid-level devops.\n\n------\nblaisehorvath\nLocation: Budapest (EU)\n\nRemote: Yes (Only) but kick off meetings, monthly meetings are okay in the EU\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Go, Node.js, Fullstack JS React/Redux/Vue/Vuex…, Python, C,\nDocker, Microservices, AWS certified\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://emergence-engineering.com/cv/balazs](https://emergence-\nengineering.com/cv/balazs)\n\nEmail: balazs.horvath@emergence-engineering.com\n\nI’m a proactive developer/team lead with years of experience in remotely\nintegrating to teams in the US and UK.\n\nI can help in architecting, building and shipping your web, mobile, PWA\ndistributed system. I am flexible with my work schedule so time zone\ndifference shouldn’t be an issue.\n\nI prefer working as an independent contractor/consultant but I’m also\navailable for part time or full time work.\n\n------\nmichalu\nContent + data science\n\nI specialize in data-science that can be turned into marketing/thought\nleadership content and actionable business insights.\n\nI can work with SQL, Python and related data-science libraries including\nPandas, NumPy, Matplotlib; source and process data using APIs, BeautifulSoup\nor Selenium; build simple machine learning models with Scikit-learn. I can\ndeliver insights, engaging content and beautiful data-visualizations.\n\nLocation: Europe, (currently France) Remote: Yes Willing to relocate: No\n\nCV + contact: [https://quantitup.com](https://quantitup.com)\n\n------\nodomojuli\nLocation: Los Angeles\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to Relocate: Yes\n\nTechonologies: React / Redux, Vue / Nuxt, Svelte / Sapper, Node / Express,\nDjango, Flask, GraphQL, PostgreSQL, Python, R, Julia, Quantitative Modeling,\nMathematics\n\nBio: Fullstack developer and machine learning researcher. I like building\nprototypes. Technical cofounder. Would love to be involved with an early\nstartup. Have managed data science teams. I have an extremely pleasant\ndisposition. Open to consulting as well.\n\nResume: Request at info@odomojuli.com\n\nEmail: info@odomojuli.com\n\nWebsite: [https://odomojuli.com/](https://odomojuli.com/)\n\n------\nformalsystem\nRole: Technical Product Manager, Applied Machine Learning scientist Location:\nSan Diego\n\nWilling to Relocate: Yes (US, UK) - US citizen\n\nTechnologies: Machine Learning, Python, Tensorflow, Pytorch, Julia, C#, Unity,\nAWS, Node, SQL\n\nSkills: math, optimization, physics, graphics, design\n\nResume:\n[https://www.overleaf.com/read/wkbttymdcmqt](https://www.overleaf.com/read/wkbttymdcmqt)\n\nPersonal site: robotoverlordmanual.com\n\nEmail: marksaroufim@gmail.com\n\nHi I’m Mark, I’m an Applied ML Scientist and Product Designer. I'm the founder\nof yuri.ai where my goal is to make it really easy for game developers to\nbalance their games using Reinforcement Learning. I’m looking for a job\nbecause the Lebanese banking system is collapsing and I’ll soon need income to\nsupport my parents.\n\nHow I can help you:\n\nI can write top notch documentation and can explain anything to anyone: My\nbook robotoverlordmanual.com is a visual and accessible robotics, ML and math\ntextbook with over 28000 monthly viewers. I’m very comfortable writing and\nspeaking.\n\nI can manage your most complex projects: I was the BI lead when Microsoft was\nselling its display ads business to AOL, I made sure Outlook AI efforts were\ncompliant. I’ve worked on projects with 100+ stakeholders and have\nbootstrapped projects where I was the first engineer to 10 engineers.\n\nI can turn your research into a product: I’ve done this with Yuri, I’ve done\nthis at Microsoft when I was working on a next gen email ranker and a part of\nspeech tagger and I’ve done this at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory when I\nwas setting up their computer security anomaly detection pipeline from scratch\n\nI can setup your entire BI infrastructure and measure what matters: I’ve done\nthis for more than 10 teams at Microsoft. I will help you find and measure the\nmetrics that are most indicative of your product success.\n\nI will also get along with your dev team: I have extensive science and\ndevelopment experience and can tell the difference between realistic work and\nsci-fi. I have extensive experience with tooling and research in BI, ML, RL\nand game dev.\n\nPlease ask me questions!\n\n------\najahso4\nLocation: Nigeria Remote: Yes Willing to relocate: Yes Technologies: Node.js,\nTypeScript, JavaScript, React, Vue, Python, Django, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, AWS,\nHeroku Resume: [https://ajahcs.herokuapp.com](https://ajahcs.herokuapp.com)\nEmail: talk2ajah@gmail.com\n\nI am a mechanical engineer by training which I believe gives me some leverage\nin viewing problems with a broad perspective. Also, I am willing to learn new\ntechnologies and work in a cross-cultural environment.\n\n------\nDim25\n\n      Location: San Francisco, CA, USA  \n      Remote: Yes  \n      Willing to relocate: Yes  \n      Technologies:  Full-stack with Machine Learning experience. PM for remote team. \n      Résumé/CV: https://bitly.com/dima_cv1  \n      Email: dima_cv1@protonmail.com  \n    \n    \n\nHi all, I'm Dima\n([https://www.linkedin.com/in/dim25/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dim25/)),\nworked on various tech (Webdev+Python+ML) and non-tech roles. Most recent\nprojects:\n\n* Analyzing millions of job postings. Orchestration (Airflow, Docker); Data gathering (Selenium; Scrapy; MitmProxy), enrichment, and analytics. [Role: Founder + core developer]\n\n* CCTV Stream analytics (TensorFlow computer vision w/ Kurento WebRTC gateway). [Role: ML engineer]\n\nPreviously:\n\n* Co-founder at MBaaS startup. 'Firefighter' from $0 to $120K MRR.\n\n* Hired and managed a team of 15 mobile developers to assist with the delivery of the #1 mobile banking app in Russia (iOS + Android).\n\n* AWM, rev-share with Kinks (guys from San Francisco Armory).\n\nEspecially good match: if you need a cost-efficient prototype; fix and deliver\nyour machine learning or automation strategy; looking for an early-stage full-\nstack dev with ML experience; or have a remote team you don’t have time to\nmanage.\n\nLet's connect:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/dim25](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dim25)\n\n------\nsjsamson\nLocation: San Francisco, CA, USA\n\nRemote: Preferred, but on-site is fine\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nResume/CV: [https://linkedin.com/in/suri-samson](https://linkedin.com/in/suri-\nsamson)\n\nEmail: sjsamson86 at gmail d0t com\n\nTechnologies: Computing Infrastructure (Servers, Networking, Storage),\nGNU/Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, VMware, OpenStack, CI/CD, Distributed Systems\n\nAbout me: I am a Bay Area native and lifelong technologist. Built my first\ncomputer when I was 8, got exposed UNIX/Linux systems and installed Red Hat\nLinux and Slackware in late 1900s, which sparked my interest in technology and\nset me on the path I am on. Experience and skills in the Systems,\nInfrastructure, DevOps, and SRE spaces; from the physical layer (data center\nand computer hardware) up to supporting apps in production and the developers\nthat build them. Recent years focused on the emerging cloud native computing\nstack, helping software developers and organizations be successful with it. I\nbring a systems theory approach to thinking about and solving problems. Have\nmany areas of interest, and am also interested in applying my skillset into\nvarious other (not traditionally considered tech) industries and verticals\nlike transportation, energy, water, agriculture, etc. that can have a large\npositive societal impact.\n\n------\nrmbibeault\nLocation: Boston, MA\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes (Highly interested in relocating to Silicon Valley,\nor San Fransisco, or other major tech hubs/cities, such as NYC, also\ninterested in staying in the Boston area)\n\nTechnologies: Common Lisp, Python, Linux, git (some knowledge of rust, and C)\n\nGithub: github.com/Duderichy\n\nLinkedIn:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/rbibeault](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rbibeault)\n\nResume: see LinkedIn, and message me there, or email me for a copy.\n\nEmail: RichardMBibeault@gmail.com I passed the triplebyte interview.\n\nPhysics major (Bachelors of Science) turned software developer. One year as a\nbackend developer at a common lisp shop. Looking for a linux based company.\n(macOS as workstation computer/laptops is great too!). Avid learner, I try to\nread and learn as much as possible, I've recently gone through Designing Data\nIntensive Applications, and Designing Distributed Systems. Would be glad to\nwork at a company that uses a functional language, such as Haskell, especially\nif they don't expect new employees to come in already knowing the language.\nAlso highly interested in companies using Rust, python, or go.\n\nAmbitious: only been at the company a year and spent a significant amount of\ntime this summer directing an intern, overhauled the build system the company\nuses internally (set up jenkins over previous system).\n\nEager to learn as much as I can.\n\n------\nnunoarruda\nFront-End Angular Developer\n\nLocation: Europe\n\nRemote: Yes, remote only\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: HTML, CSS, Sass, DOM, JavaScript, ES6/7/8, TypeScript, JSON,\nAJAX, HTTP, Web APIs, RESTful APIs, Bootstrap, Angular, RxJS, NgRx, Ionic,\nAngular Material, Wijmo, Karma, Jasmine, Protractor\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://nunoarruda.com/resume.pdf](https://nunoarruda.com/resume.pdf)\n\nEmail: nuno@nunoarruda.com\n\nLooking for: Permanent but part-time (4 hours a day) employment\n\nHi, I'm Nuno, a Result-Oriented Front End Angular Engineer with a strong\ntechnical skill-set, attention to detail, and 17 years of experience. I have a\npassion for translating beautiful designs into functional user interfaces and\nbuilding great web applications.\n\nI actively seek out new technologies and stay up-to-date on industry trends\nand advancements. Continued education has allowed me to stay ahead of the\ncurve and deliver exceptional work to each employer I’ve worked for.\n\nI've successfully delivered projects like a CSS UI library used by 17,000\nemployees, a mobile app that has 120,000+ users, and a web app serving over\n100 million images. I've done frontend work for Adobe, Webflow, Bayer, among\nother companies.\n\nI'm originally from Portugal but I've been working remotely for the last 6\nyears for companies worldwide. I can be flexible in order to have overlapping\nworking hours with a distributed team.\n\n------\nrasikjain\nLocation: Greater New York\n\nRemote: Yes (Remote Only)\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies:\n\n    \n    \n        • Web: ReactJs | ES6/7 | TypeScript | Redux | Node.js | Express.js | AngularJs | HTML5 | Bootstrap\n    \n        • Microsoft: .NET Core | C# | Asp.Net MVC | Web API | Linq | Entity Framework\n    \n        • Data: SQL Server | MySQL | MongoDB | Redis | CouchDB\n    \n        • Cloud: AWS | Azure | Docker | S3 | EC2 | SQS | SNS | RDS\n    \n        • Packages & Tools: Axios | GraphQL | Redux | WebPack | Babel | NPM | Git | Jenkins | Splunk | SumoLogic | Jira | Sitecore\n    \n\nEmail: jainrasik [at] gmail.com\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://www.rasikjain.com/resume/](https://www.rasikjain.com/resume/)\n\nStackoverflow: [https://stackoverflow.com/users/1993944/rasik-\njain](https://stackoverflow.com/users/1993944/rasik-jain)\n\nLinkedIn:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/rasikjain/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rasikjain/)\n\nGithub: [https://github.com/rasikjain](https://github.com/rasikjain)\n\nExperienced (15+ years) Software Engineer & Architect with experience in FULL-\nSTACK applications in React.js / TypeScript / C# / AWS / Cyber Security.\nWorked in different roles dealing with Product Development, Solution &\nEnterprise Architecture, Security & Cloud.\n\n------\nzephyrfalcon\nLocation: Ocala, FL\n\nRemote: yes\n\nWilling to relocate: no\n\nTechnologies: Python, relational databases (MS SQL Server, Postgres, MySQL),\nweb crawling, GUI development, scripting, automated testing, SQLAlchemy, web\ndevelopment (esp. Flask, Django, Pyramid), ETL, REST APIs, parsing. Web\ndevelopment: mostly React. Languages: Python of course, Scheme, Prolog, Lisp.\nI have some familiarity with many other languages, like C, C#, Ruby, OCaml,\nElixir, Clojure, Haskell, etc, and in most cases I can probably quickly become\nproductive in them, if you have an existing projects in one of these\nlanguages. (I am always eager to pick up new programming languages or\ntechnologies.)\n\nResume/CV:\n[http://aquila.blue/misc/resume.html](http://aquila.blue/misc/resume.html)\n\nLinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/hans-\nnowak-16a9b316a/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/hans-nowak-16a9b316a/)\n\nGithub: [http://github.com/zephyrfalcon](http://github.com/zephyrfalcon)\n\nalso: [http://bitbucket.org/zephyrfalcon](http://bitbucket.org/zephyrfalcon)\n\nand: [http://gitlab.com/zephyrfalcon](http://gitlab.com/zephyrfalcon)\n\nEmail: zephyrfalcon at gmail.com\n\nNote: At this time I am looking for part-time work, preferably 20 hours a week\nor less.\n\n------\ncereniyim\n\\- Location: Europe\n\n\\- Timezone: GMT+3\n\n\\- Remote: Yes\n\n\\- Willing to relocate: No\n\n\\- Technologies: Python 3.0+ with Pydata stack(numpy, pandas, scipy,\nstatsmodels, matplotlib, seaborn, plotly, scikit-learn) and SQL, BigQuery on\nGCP\n\n\\- Résumé/CV:\n[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MmLa0mhwg9FiuWRYBCcpIvpl...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MmLa0mhwg9FiuWRYBCcpIvpl8jQuTZxmkPa2QSx9rAc/edit?usp=sharing)\n\n\\- Email: iyimceren@gmail.com\n\n\\- Github: [https://github.com/cereniyim/Data-Science-\nProjects](https://github.com/cereniyim/Data-Science-Projects)\n\n\\- Medium: [https://medium.com/@cereniyim](https://medium.com/@cereniyim)\n\n\\- Linkedin: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ceren-\niyim](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ceren-iyim)\n\n\\- Kaggle:\n[https://www.kaggle.com/cereniyim](https://www.kaggle.com/cereniyim)\n\nBudding and self-taught data scientist with 6 months of experience in the\nfield. Changed careers from enterprise consulting with the passion for data\nand creating impact. My strengths are in the data wrangling & visualization. I\nam looking for contract/full-time data analyst or scientist roles.\n\n------\nsalvagedcircuit\nElectrical Engineer\n\nRecent projects:\n[https://www.salvagedcircuitry.com](https://www.salvagedcircuitry.com)\n\nLocation: NYC\n\nRemote: No\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: C++ Html CSS Cadence Virtuoso Quartus KiCad Eagle ModelSim OrCAD\nLTspice TINA-TI PCBdesign Solidworks KeyShot NX Android\n\nResume/CV:\n[https://www.salvagedcircuitry.com/docs/EE.pdf](https://www.salvagedcircuitry.com/docs/EE.pdf)\n\nlinkedin: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-\nkouttron/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-kouttron/)\n\nGitHub: [https://github.com/anthonykouttron/pcb-business-card-qr-\nnfc](https://github.com/anthonykouttron/pcb-business-card-qr-nfc)\n\nBusiness card: [https://hackaday.com/2019/11/19/theres-more-to-designing-\na-p...](https://hackaday.com/2019/11/19/theres-more-to-designing-a-pcb-\nbusiness-card-than-meets-the-eye/)\n\nEmail: anthony at salvagedcircuitry dot com\n\nI am an electrical engineer, hacker, maker and problem solver and I believe I\nwould make an excellent fit to your engineering team. With broad experience in\nrapid prototyping, project development, CAD, designing cell layouts,\nperforming DRC, debugging circuits and designing PCBs, I am confident that I\ncan be of considerable value to any agile engineering team.\n\n------\nag_user123\nLocation: Europe\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Not at the moment\n\nTechnologies: JavaScript, ES6+, Node.js, Koa(Express), React.js, Gatsby,\nGraphQL, Redux, D3.js, Wordpress, React Native, Webpack, PostgreSQL,\nBootstrap, Heroku, Firebase, TypeScript and more.\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ngTkTVeDaakyFxEmPyyqyMuKxD6...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ngTkTVeDaakyFxEmPyyqyMuKxD6MR_ja/view)\n\nEmail: mail@andrejgajdos.com\n\nI am a freelance full-stack web developer with over six years of experience\ndelivering software. I have worked for clients all around the world in many\ndifferent industries. I have delivered solutions for startups, digital\nagencies and big companies, such as Apple. I have background in computer\nscience and am able to create everything from small business websites to\ncustom web applications.\n\nPersonal Website: [https://andrejgajdos.com](https://andrejgajdos.com)\n\nLinkedIn:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrejgajdos](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrejgajdos)\n\nGithub: [https://github.com/AndrejGajdos](https://github.com/AndrejGajdos)\n\n------\nlibbkmz\nI'm a Senior Software Engineer experienced in a wide range of technologies,\nlike embedded systems, system modeling, web, databases, networking, etc. My\npassion is to create things that help people all over the world. Love to solve\ncomplex problems. The primary programming language is Python, but also have\nexperience with JavaScript, PHP, Perl, C/C++, Clojure. Studied a little bit\nGo, Rust, D, and other not very popular languages. Have experience with\nembedded systems like STM32 or ESP8266 for home IoT automation. Have extensive\nknowledge about how NAND (Flash) memory works. Have done many system models of\nSSD, especially in Python with the help of Cython, numpy, and C. Have\nexperience with Linux Kernel Hacking, especially in the block layer.\n\nAlso have some experience with Frontend: AngularJs, VueJs.\n\n    \n    \n      Location: Belarus (Europe)\n      Remote: Yes\n      Willing to relocate: Yes\n      Technologies: System modeling (Python, Cython, numpy, pandas, C), embedded software, Linux Kernel Hacking, NAND, Flash storage internals, \n        Python, Flask, Django, MongoDB, Linux, VueJs.\n      \n      Résumé/CV: Available by email.\n      Email: libbkmz.dev+hiring < ат > gmail.com\n\n------\nhalf-pixel-off\nLocation: Seattle Area\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: For the right position\n\nTechnologies: Game Programming & related (C#, Unity 3d, Python, JSON,\nCouchbase, Django, etc...), Embedded Programming (C++, C, VxWorks, etc...)\n\nRésumé/CV: Email me and I'll give PDF/DOCx/LinkedIn.\n\nEmail: half #hyphen# pixel - off /at sign/ brown +dot+ dev\n\n    \n    \n      ---------\n    \n\nAbout Me:\n\nI'm a Game Programmer who used to be an Embedded Systems Programmer. Currently\nmy day job is to maintain a video game and the ~50 servers it takes to run it.\nAnd also to plan the technical features for the upcoming milestones. And also\nto write code for the game a lot, unless I have to write code for the website\na lot. I probably have too many hats right now, because one of them feel like\na hat for managing which hats I'm wearing. I'm the 'jack of all trades'\n(technical ones, at least) and am feeling the 'master of none' sometimes - but\nmy boss likes my ability to jump on emergencies and get done whatever needs\ndoing.\n\nBefore video games, I made hardware easier to access for the rest of the\nsoftware engineers. I mainly did OS abstractions (VxWorks); the hardware\nabstraction layer; and IIC, SPI, etc. drivers on radiation-hardened hardware.\nI had a Top Secret (SCI) clearance from around 2008 to 2012.\n\nI'm interested in a better work/life balance and career future than the video\ngaming industry. No 15 hour days, 7 day work week environments, please - I've\nhad enough of those for this lifetime.\n\nI'm also interested in learning Rust.\n\n~~~\nskyichi\nwhat is the email?\n\n~~~\nhalf-pixel-off\nSorry - got a bit wild with it.\n\nMy username is the first half.\n\n------\ndvt\nSEEKING WORK | Los Angeles | Remote\n\nI'm an expert engineer and data professional interested in consulting and\narchitecting data pipelines. At Edmunds.com, I worked on a fairly successful\nad-tech product and my team bootstrapped a data pipeline using Spark,\nDatabricks, and microservices built with Java, Python, and Scala.\n\nThese days, I work for a \"new media\" company you probably heard of and, over\nthe past year, I re-built an ETL Kubernetes stack, including data loaders and\nextractors that handle >10,000 API payload extractions daily.\n\nMy area of expertise includes data interoperability with Facebook Marketing,\nFacebook Graph, Instagram Graph, Google DFP, Salesforce, etc. That I'm a top-\ntier developer goes without saying. I'm interested in flexing my consulting\nmuscle and can help with best practices, architecture, and hiring.\n\nWould love to connect even if it's just for networking!\n\nBlog: [https://dvt.name/](https://dvt.name/)\n\nGitHub: [https://github.com/dvx](https://github.com/dvx)\n\nResume/contact: [https://dvt.name/resume/](https://dvt.name/resume/)\n\n------\ndavidmott\n\n      Location: UK, Worldwide\n      Remote: Yes\n      Willing to relocate: Yes\n      Technologies: HTML/HTML5/CSS/CSS3/JavaScript/PHP/Python/Ruby/Laravel/MySQL/Node.js/AngularJS/AJAX/Go/Perl/Django/Java/C++/C#/C/ASP.NET/Swift/React\n      Résumé/CV: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-mott-854772199/ PDF copy available\n      Email: contact@davidmott.com\n    \n\nHi HN!\n\nI am currently open for projects.\n\nAbout me: I'm a Developer/Designer based in London (UK) who spends his time\nbuilding products for entrepreneurs and businesses worldwide. These products\ninclude iOS and Android Apps, Websites and Mobile/Web Games. I have produced\nplatforms for a variety of industries such as: Gambling, Social media, Fashion\nand more. I also, on occasion, teach and currently host a free coding class a\ncouple times throughout the year.\n\nPortfolio: [https://www.davidmott.com/](https://www.davidmott.com/)\n\nYoutube:\n[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgdwsX9k3gNNjl0dBx6synA](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgdwsX9k3gNNjl0dBx6synA)\n\nFor any enquiries you're welcome to reach out to me via Skype/Mobile/Email\nwhich can be found through my personal website, or by booking meetings in\nLondon. If you require an NDA before chatting kindly let me know. I also offer\nnumerous discounts including projects that require more than 1 platform (ie, a\nwebsite and mobile app build).\n\nIf you've made it down to here, thanks for reading!\n\n------\ntimothycrosley\nI'm a principal level software engineer with experience providing strong\ntechnical direction for development teams. I have extensive experience\ndesigning and developing complex web applications and large scale data\nprocessing pipelines. Working with teams to create and maintain both low and\nhigh-level documentation while working with customers to define requirements.\nA knack for simplifying and organizing the complex, enabling teams to scale.\nCore developer behind many successful Open Source projects. I'm always excited\nto learn more and to tackle new problems.\n\n    \n    \n      Location: Seattle, WA, USA\n      Remote: Yes\n      Willing to relocate: No\n      Technologies/Languages: Python, JavaScript, C/C++, Ruby, YAML, TOML, HTML, CSS, Sass, LESS.\n      Technologies/Frameworks: Spark, Hive, Django, Compass, Zope, QT, PySide, GTK, TK, MEAN, Angular, hug, flask.\n      Technologies/Databases and Caches: Hadoop, Oracle, PostgreSQL, MYSQL, MongoDB, Redis, Memcache, ElasticSearch, Solr, Google’s Cloud Datastore.\n      Resume/CV: github.com/timothycrosley, timothycrosley.com\n      Email: timothy.crosley@gmail.com\n\n------\nJane0617\nLocation: San Francisco Bay Area, CA\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nI am seeking an entry-level data analyst or data scientist position. I’m\npassionate about data and extracting value from data, and good at advanced\nanalytics skills and marketing campaign (funnel analysis and cohort analysis).\nAlso, I am very curious, detail-oriented, fast-learning, problem-solving and\nproactive.\n\nTechnologies: R, SAS, MySQL & PostgreSQL, Python, Tableau, Power BI, GitHub,\nExcel, PowerPoint, LaTeX, EViews, SPSS, MapInfo\n\nSkills: Theory of Point and Interval Estimation and Hypothesis Testing,\nBayesian Methods, Experiential Designs (ANOVA, ANCOVA, AB testing, Multiple\nComparisons and Latin Square Designs (LSD)), Linear Regression, Machine\nLearning (KNN, Logistic Regression, Naïve Bayes, K-means Cluster, SVM,\nDecision Tree, Random Forest), Data Visualization (ggplot2, Tableau, Seaborn),\nDeep Learning (Keras, TensorFlow, RNN, LSTM, CNN), Natural Language Processing\n(Sentiment Analysis, N-grams, TF-IDF, Topic Modeling), Advanced SAS (SQL and\nMacro), Advanced Statistical Theory (MLE, LRT, Monte Carlos), Data Synthesis,\nData Pipeline, Data Mining, Data Wrangling, Data Visualization, Statistical\nModeling, Machine Learning, Regression-based Models, Hypothesis Testing, Text\nMining, Cohort Analysis\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K6hbKv6Go8fv5QSpANJoRsoVDtA...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K6hbKv6Go8fv5QSpANJoRsoVDtAhdoBJ/view?usp=sharing)\n\nEmail: jane06172019@gmail.com\n\nGithub: [https://github.com/JaneLiu0617](https://github.com/JaneLiu0617)\n\n------\nKliment\nLocation: Cologne, Germany\n\nNote! Not looking for full time positions - I only take on project work.\n\nRemote: Yes, strongly preferred\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Embedded C++, Embedded C, Python, Electronics (design, layout,\nprototyping, testing), 3D printing, electromechanical and robotic design and\nprototyping\n\nRésumé/CV: Email if needed\n\nEmail: kliment at 0xfb.com (yes, with a zero)\n\nIRC: Kliment on the freenode network\n\nI do custom electronics, robotics, and embedded software development - I\nspecialize in quickly turning ideas into prototypes. I've built custom\nautomation equipment for chemistry labs, sensors that are in use in\nhousehold/utility applications, control circuitry for construction equipment,\n3d printing electronics, data acquisition equipment. No project too small. Few\nprojects too large. Deep discounts for open source hardware work.\n\nI would also be happy to come over (anywhere in Europe) and teach any of the\nabove skills to a small group of interested people. I've taught courses in\nelectronic assembly (SMD), 3d printing (building/using printers, iterative 3d\nmodel design using programming) and robot design and construction. I've taught\ncourses at several universities, hackspaces, company events and conferences.\n\n------\nmorenoh149\nSEEKING WORK | New York, NY nyc | Remote or onsite in NYC Software Engineer\nexperienced building Tech companies. Proven track record as a technical\ncontributor, agile project manager and managing outsourced teams.\n\nHave worked at Startups and large companies. Comfortable eliciting\nrequirements, writing specs and developing the solution on time⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱. Have\nworked fullstack, mobile, devops, conversion funnel optimization and machine\nlearning. Developed software used by thousands of paying customers Javascript\n(React Native, Node.js) Python (Django, tensorflow, ml-engine) Ruby on Rails,\nAndroid Java, iOS apps, Go, SQL (mysql, redshift, postgres), experienced\ntranslating high level requirements into data models (information systems)\nOLTP and OLAP variants, have developed ETLs using aws glue and ec2 running\npython, have web scraped with scrapy and proxies on scrapinghub, and cloud\n(AWS, GCP, Heroku, Docker). Industries: Foodservice, Clover POS, Healthtech\n(HIPAA), Fintech ¥¥¥¥, ECommerce\n\nmorenoh149@gmail.com\n\n[https://harrymoreno.com/hire-me](https://harrymoreno.com/hire-me)\n\n------\ngivan\n\n      Location: Eastern Europe\n      Remote: Yes\n      Willing to relocate: No\n      Technologies: PHP, MySQL, Javascript (ES5, ES6+), Wordpress, Laravel, Bootstrap 4, Ecommerce, Linux, jQuery, Git etc\n      Résumé/CV: https://github.com/givanz/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/givan-ziadin-64233816a/\n      Email: givanz [at] gmail (dot) com\n      \n    \n\nI’m a full stack developer focused on PHP 7 and Javascript with more than a\ndecade of experience.\n\nKnows the ins and outs of web development from high performance server side\ncode to clean and modern frontend development.\n\nI believe in open source and love to build and contribute to open source\nlibraries.\n\nMy most popular open source project\n[http://www.vvveb.com/vvvebjs/editor.html](http://www.vvveb.com/vvvebjs/editor.html)\na drag and drop website builder javascript library\n[https://github.com/givanz/VvvebJs](https://github.com/givanz/VvvebJs)\n\nLooking mostly for part-time contract/freelance/consulting opportunities.\n\n------\nteetertater\nNew Grad Data Scientist / Machine Learning Engineer (May 2020) with experience\nat 2 startups\n\n    \n    \n       Location: Vienna, Austria\n       Remote: Yes or On-Site\n       Willing to relocate: Vienna or nearby\n    \n       Tech: Python, Scala, R, PyTorch, fast.ai, SQL/NoSQL, Docker, Kubernetes, NumPy, Spark, HDP, GitHub/BitBucket, LaTeX\n    \n       Experienced with computer vision, deep learning, distributed ML, data analysis, shipping models to production, APIs,\n       building streaming ML pipelines, and more\n    \n       Languages: English/Russian Native Speaker, German B2 (Conversational)\n    \n    \n\nRésumé/CV: [https://www.yury.cc/resume.html](https://www.yury.cc/resume.html)\n\nWebsite: [https://www.yury.cc/](https://www.yury.cc/)\n\nLinkedIn:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/yzhuk](https://www.linkedin.com/in/yzhuk)\n\nGitHub: [https://github.com/Teetertater](https://github.com/Teetertater)\n\nEmail: yuryivz@hotmail.com\n\n------\noldboyFX\nWe are a two-person web development team (also hireable individually) with\nextensive experience in architecting, building, and managing large custom-made\napplications.\n\nRecent projects: [https://codetree.co/case-studies](https://codetree.co/case-\nstudies)\n\nThroughout the last decade we built Airbnb-like platforms, music streaming\napps, healthcare/finance/construction apps, real-time GPS vehicle tracking\nsuites, worked on core systems of big data platforms (millions of daily\ntransactions) and more.\n\nWe mostly collaborate with companies, but also have a lot of positive\nexperiences assuming CTO-for-hire roles to work with non-technical founders.\n\n\\---\n\nLocation: Central Europe\n\nRemote: Yes, since the beginning of our careers\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nEmail: ivor@codetree.co\n\n\\---\n\nI specialize in front-end, but also do back-end(node) and UX design\n(JS/TypeScript/Babel, React, Webpack, GraphQL, ESLint, CSS etc.).\n\nMy partner specializes in back-end, DevOps, system administration (Ruby on\nRails, Java, PostgreSQL, Elastic, Docker, AWS, etc.), and also does light\nfront-end work.\n\nRead more on [https://codetree.co/](https://codetree.co/)\n\n------\nngrishanov\nLocation: Yekaterinburg, Russia\n\nRemote: yes\n\nWilling to relocate: no\n\nTechnologies: Most used recently: Python 3.7, asyncio, PostgreSQL, Docker.\nAlso have experience with Javascript, node.js, MongoDB, Vue.js.\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ssNXbs6XuHfwj4anYCLcT4jiDTQ...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ssNXbs6XuHfwj4anYCLcT4jiDTQeBl2S)\n\nEmail: mail(at)ngrishanov.me\n\n\\-------------\n\n6 years of experience.\n\nI’m fairly good at launching working services in production quickly enough.\nI’m most interested in parsing, analyzing and visualizing large amounts of\ndata (my all time favorite project is web application for parsing and\nvisualizing pressure and temperature measurements from sensors inside oil\nwells). If that’s something you need for your startup or whatnot - let me know\n:)\n\nIf you want to see my work in action - check out Hacker News parser I did as a\ntest task for some company: [https://github.com/ngrishanov/appfollow-\ntest](https://github.com/ngrishanov/appfollow-test). It's something what I did\nin a few hours.\n\n------\nmchisto\n\n      I'm looking to continue working on scalable systems aimed at handing millions of users.\n      7+ years in the industry / CS undergrad.\n      Experience working at both startups and large enterprises.\n      AI / reinforcement learning as a hobby (completed specialization on Coursera).\n    \n      Location: Portland, OR (US Citizen)\n      Remote: willing to try (3+ years of experience working with remote teammates)\n      Willing to relocate: would consider Seattle if the opportunity is an excellent fit.\n      Technologies: \n      -> Languages: Scala, Haskell, Rust (but I've used about 10 different languages over the years)\n      -> Async architecture toolbox: Kafka, RabbitMQ, SQS/SNS\n      -> Big Data stack: Spark, Hive, HBase\n      -> ML/RL: PyTorch\n      Résumé: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1YHWh4Fi6bur1mQg3U6FBUXIlb_-8H7-8\n      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxchistokletov/\n      Email: I'll share it if you ping me on LinkedIn. Or you can find it in my résumé.\n\n------\njscotto\nJunior Software Developer\n\nLocation: NJ/NYC Remote: Sure! Willing to relocate: Yes! Technologies:\nJavaScript, jQuery, NodeJS, Express, MySQL, Sass, HTML5/CSS3, Bootstrap,\nFirebase, Version Control(Git/GitHub) Resume:\n[https://jasonscotto.com/resume.html](https://jasonscotto.com/resume.html)\nEmail: jayjscotto@gmail.com\n\n------\nakavuri\nLocation: Buffalo, NY, US\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies:\n\n• PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES: Python 3, Java, C, Shell Script\n\n• LIBRARIES: Pybullet, Scikit-Learn, NumPy, Pandas, TensorFlow, Keras,\nDjango(API development), Flask\n\n• DATA MANAGEMENT: MySQL, Hadoop, MongoDB, Apache Cassandra, AWS\n\n• WEB TECHNOLOGIES: HTML5, CSS3, XML, PHP, Bootstrap, JavaScript (Native |\nMeteor | Socket)\n\n• OTHERS: Git, Apache SOLR\n\nRésumé/CV: send an email (or) ask me on LinkedIn:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhinavkavuri/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhinavkavuri/)\n\nEmail: akavuri@buffalo.edu\n\nPortfolio:\n[https://abhinavkavuri.github.io/](https://abhinavkavuri.github.io/)\n\nEntry-level Developer with prior internship experience of 6-8 months.\nCurrently looking for a summer internship and eventually a perfect &\nchallenging full-time job. Strong background in Machine Learning and Web\ndevelopment. Open to relocation anywhere in the US. Think we should work\ntogether? I’d love to hear from you at akavuri@buffalo.edu\n\nThank you.\n\n------\nn_sanity\n\n      Location: Vancouver (looking to move to Montreal though)\n      Remote: Yes (depending on position)\n      Willing to relocate: Yes (depending on position)\n      Technologies: C, C++, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, React, Java.\n      Résumé/CV: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JemzuonjNJGrK3-QA17R8Q3pe60HOnsr/view?usp=sharing\n      Email: thiabaud.engelbrecht@gmail.com\n    \n\nI have one term of school left, looking for something for when I graduate.\n\nI've done two internships before, one working on Call of Duty (lower-level C++\nwork, mainly networking and serialization), one working on an internal tool\n(React/Redux and Django). I also have some personal projects on GitHub, my\nfavourite of which is a scripting language I wrote from scratch in C:\n[https://github.com/yasl-lang/yasl](https://github.com/yasl-lang/yasl).\n\nI'm interested in moving to Montreal but am open to hearing from people\nanywhere, depending on the role.\n\n------\nperryrjohnson7\nRole: Data Scientist\n\nLocation: Seattle, WA\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Python, Machine Learning Libraries (NumPy, Scikit-learn, Pandas,\nTuri Create, TensorFlow, Keras), Web Application Frameworks (Dash, Flask),\nHeroku, Google Cloud Platform, Bash, Git, JavaScript, MongoDB, MySQL,\nPostgreSQL, HTML, CSS, API’s, Geographic Information Systems\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/perryrjohnson/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/perryrjohnson/)\n\nPersonal site: [http://perryrjohnson.com](http://perryrjohnson.com)\n\nEmail: perryrjohnson7@gmail.com\n\nI'm a data scientist with experience in e-commerce, quantitative finance, farm\ntech, and working with early stage tech companies on leading data science\ninitiatives. I am really passionate about leveraging machine learning and data\nscience to solve meaningful problems.\n\nHere are a few of my recently published public projects:\n[https://medium.com/@perryrjohnson7](https://medium.com/@perryrjohnson7)\n\n~~~\nLacunaRecruiter\nSent an email and inmail! Would love to chat with you based on your work with\nMDS.\n\n------\nelliotbnvl\n\n      Location: Providence, RI (Boston area)\n      ️Remote: Yes, but happy to visit\n      Willing to relocate: No\n      Technologies: Full stack web development, front-end leaning: \n      TypeScript, React, Redux, Node, Docker, GH Actions, Terraform, CircleCI\n      Email: elliot.bonneville@gmail.com\n    \n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://elliotbonneville.com/resume](https://elliotbonneville.com/resume)\n\nBlog: [https://elliotbonneville.com](https://elliotbonneville.com)\n\nStackOverflow profile (40k+ reputation, ~600 questions answered):\n[https://stackoverflow.com/users/339852/elliot-\nbonneville](https://stackoverflow.com/users/339852/elliot-bonneville)\n\nI have nearly six years of experience developing complex web apps for startups\nand have contracted remotely all over the US and internationally throughout\nthat time.\n\nI am currently looking for full- and part-time contracts with immediate\navailability.\n\n------\nhoward941\nFirmware Engineer\n\nLocation: Sarasota\n\nRemote: Preferred\n\nWilling to relocate: Very unlikely\n\nTechnologies: Sensors; Communications; Drone/UAV/robotics: New product\ndevelopment; Sustainment; Embedded/firmware/bare metal, FreeRTOS, NuttX;\n*nix/RF/crypto; Kinetis KE Cortex M0+ & M4, Nordic Semi's M4 SOC, ST's M4\nARMs, Espressif's ESP8266, Microchip dsPIC; realtime; IAR, gcc via MCUXpresso\n& Kinetis Dev Studio & unix like systems; MPLAB-X IDE; Embedded FreeBSD;\nEmbedded Linux on for ex. Raspberry Pi / Broadcom BCM2837; PX4 drone NuttX on\nSTM32F4; gdb; clang; UML; debugging development prototype hardware; embedded\nHTTP server; grid support power generation systems; TCP and UDP over IP;\nEthernet; power line communications; RS-485; RV-C CANBUS; Bluetooth LE; LoRA;\nBattery powered devices; storage scopes; visual studio; Java w/Android Studio;\nGNSS; NEMA cybersecurity and IoT council member. Licensed attorney & pilot\n(ASEL/IA); amateur radio extra class\n\nResume: Please request by email\n\nEmail: hginfla@gmail.com\n\n------\nironmagma\nFull stack generalist. I am searching for interactive products to work on,\nespecially in the creative, realtime, or entertainment spaces. Experience\nworking at startups, both in the 'very large' and 'medium' sizes with SaaS web\nofferings and internal developer productivity tools.\n\nLocation: San Francisco, CA [US Citizen]\n\nRemote: Preferred, but open to on-site for the next 6 months Willing to\nrelocate: FL immediately, or would consider Texas, NY, MT, NE, and other East\nCoast locations on a 6 month horizon\n\nTechnologies: Front end = (React +love for hooks, React-vis, Redux, Apollo,\nTypeScript, Flow); Systems/Back End = (Rust, Python, C++, Go, C# / .NET,\nKubernetes, Postgres, GraphQL)\n\nResume: [http://philippeterson.com/resume](http://philippeterson.com/resume)\n\nLinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-\npeterson-12b61953/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-peterson-12b61953/)\n\nEmail: pc.peterso@gmail.com\n\n~~~\njonovate\nIf TX (Houston specifically) becomes more immediate then hit me up :)\n\n~~~\nironmagma\nAwesome, will do! Thanks!\n\n------\nhostedmetrics\nLocation: United States (Puerto Rico) GMT-4\n\nRemote: yes\n\nWilling to relocate: no\n\nTechnologies: data analytics and monitoring, see bottom for details\n\nEmail: heliodor [ a@t ) [ hostedmetrics ) d-o-t c-o-m\n\nI offer two services:\n\n1) Design and implemention of data processing systems.\n\n2) Data analytics and business intelligence to measure and improve the\nbusiness performance of growing products.\n\nI will instrument your software to produce the necessary metrics, measure\nconversion rates, set up insightful dashboards, and best of all: optimize and\ngrow! Both now and down the road.\n\nAbout me: My passion for metrics and data analytics goes more than nine years,\nwhen I joined as one of the first handful of engineers on the Data Analytics\nteam at Squarespace. More recently, I have performed traffic, conversion, and\nprofit analysis for an affiliate marketer.\n\nAvailable on a contract/consulting basis.\n\nA few keywords for people using search: business intelligence, data analytics,\ndata warehousing, ETL, data visualization, reporting, time series, Django,\nInfluxDB, Prometheus, Graphite, Grafana, Segment, TimescaleDB, RedShift,\ncontractor, consultant.\n\n------\nbuckatwork\nLocation: New York City\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Possibly\n\nTechnologies: React, TypeScript, Node.JS\n\nResume:\n\nAdaptable web technologist. Maker before planner. Trusted advisor.\n\nI can bring 15 years of software experience (10 in the Bay Area) to help get\nyour products in front of customers. Where I best support is in a role with\ntight communication loops with low management overhead. I've worked on\nproducts with millions of visitors, as well as helped get startups off the\nground by being a contributor as well as a listener and faciliator of good\npractices such as training, retrospectives, and recruiting. I'm pretty good at\nbreaking big things into small things and keeping the flow going. I'm seasoned\nas a full-time remote teammate who overcommunicates.\n\nMy technical expertise is steeped in web technologies, particularly React and\nits associated tools. For a client I created Universal Redux\n([https://github.com/bdefore/universal-\nredux](https://github.com/bdefore/universal-redux)), a precursor to Create\nReact App, helped make it the base of their projects and then managed its\njourney to an open source release. I'm up to date and versed in the ins and\nouts of hooks, TypeScript, Electron, and Gatsby. I can help kickstart (or\ncontribute to) solid integration tests and build tools. I can be very\nautonomous, and am a not-so-bad generalist when I need to be, capable of\nsupporting across the stack. As an example, I have recently\ndeveloped/designed/managed a popular site entirely independently: ProtonDB\n([https://www.protondb.com](https://www.protondb.com)). The site reached HN as\na #1 post, receives > 150k MAU and growing, and requires only minimal upkeep\nand expense.\n\nEmail: buckatwork [at] gmail.com\n\n------\nrobyates\nLocation: Boston / Cambridge, MA; New York, NY; Washington D.C. Remote: Yes.\nWilling to relocate: Yes.\n\nTechnologies: Java, C++, C#, Ruby on Rails, Python, R\n\nWebsite: [http://www.robertjyates.com](http://www.robertjyates.com) Résumé:\n[https://drive.google.com/open?id=1nhS6mg8Y5Icoo99QxMnNFoHfvy...](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1nhS6mg8Y5Icoo99QxMnNFoHfvyXomm8a)\n\nEmail: rjyTwoNineEightFive at gmail dot com Replace \"Two\" with \"2\", \"Five\"\nwith \"5\", and the other number text with their digit equivalents\n\nCompleted Masters in Computer Science from Stanford where I concentrated in\nartificial intelligence (AI). Coursework in statistical aspects of data\nmining, machine learning, multi-agent systems, social and information network\nanalysis, general game playing. More than 5 years of full-time work\nexperience, over 2 years of internship experience.\n\n------\nmicheda\nWith over five years of experience in the industry as team lead, founder, and\nCTO, combined with a solid foundation in modeling and querying spatial,\nsequential, and graph data obtained during my doctoral research, I can help\nyou define, lead, and execute data science and engineering projects in IoT,\nrobotics, mobility analytics, location intelligence, user profiling, and\ncustomer journey analytics.\n\n* Location: Munich, Germany\n\n* Remote: Yes\n\n* Willing to relocate: No\n\n* Technologies: Data Science and Machine Learning: machine learning and data mining algorithms, experience with Scikit-learn, TensorFlow, Seaborn, Pandas, NumPy, Joblib, Jupyter Lab. Data Engineering: static and streaming data processing, experience with Cassandra, PostgreSQL, Parquet, HDFS, Hadoop, Spark, Apache Airflow, Celery, Fabric, Docker, Flask. AWS services: EMR, S3, Lambda, CloudWatch. Programming languages: Python, Java/Scala, C/C++. Graph Mining: Neo4J, NetworkX.\n\n* CV: available by email\n\n* Email: michele.dallachiesa@sigforge.com\n\n------\neyyildiz\nSEEKING WORK | Remote Only\n\nLocation: Istanbul (Turkey)\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: .NET [Core] (C#); ASP.NET; Git; Gitlab; EntityFramework; Linq;\nDocker; databases: Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, skills:\nAutomations; API; Architecture; Tcp/IP communications protocol development\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[http://www.acetype.com/ERDEM%20YAVUZ%20YILDIZ%20CV.docx](http://www.acetype.com/ERDEM%20YAVUZ%20YILDIZ%20CV.docx)\n\nEmail: erdemyavuzyildiz[at]hotmail[dot]com\n\nI'm a highly experienced professional software engineer specialized in .Net\nstack with 25+ years of experience. Currently looking for opportunities to\nfully utilize my skills. I can consult on architectural problems, work as a\ndiscrete unit or a part of another team on implementing the solution. I can\nreplace a small software team's work force with my experience, and develop\nvery complex big enterprise projects alone. I can function as a Team Leader or\nLead Architect or Lead Developer\n\n------\nsinisamikulic\nFrontend engineer and web consultant with 8 years of experience in highly\nsuccessful and fast-growing startups across San Francisco and Berlin\n([https://sinisamikulic.com/case-studies](https://sinisamikulic.com/case-\nstudies)). My strengths are in UI/UX product development and frontend\ninfrastructure. Looking for full-time or part-time engagement to help build\nyour product.\n\n\\---\n\nLocation: Europe (Berlin, Germany and Zagreb, Croatia depending on the season)\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: JavaScript (React, Redux, TypeScript, Node.js, Webpack),\nGraphQL, Ruby/Rails\n\nWebsite: [https://sinisamikulic.com](https://sinisamikulic.com)\n\nLinkedIn:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/sinisamikulic](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sinisamikulic)\n\nEmail: contact@sinisamikulic.com\n\n\\---\n\nSample project I co-founded — [https://movieo.me/](https://movieo.me/)\n\nI can jump on a call right away!\n\n------\nBenoitP\nMachine learning engineer, specialized in Explainable AI / ML\n\nRecent Highlights:\n\n* Implementation in Spark/Scala of treeinterpreter, currently used in production\n\n* Participation to the FICO-Google Explainable Machine Learning Challenge\n\n* Intuitive, visual data/signal explorer (work in progress, partial view at [http://explicable.ml](http://explicable.ml) (the 3D background view))\n\nLocation: Paris, France\n\nRemote: yes\n\nWilling to relocate: for the right job, yes\n\nTechnologies: SHAP, RuleFit, Random Forest, Word2Vec, PCA, t-SNE, LSH, ROC,\nScikit-Learn, Spark, Weka, Databricks, BigQuery, Hive, Postgres, MySQL,\nOracle, AWS, Linux, Maven, Git, Java, Scala, Python, CAML, Elm, Javascript,\nSpring, Primefaces, d3.js\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/benoitparis/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/benoitparis/)\n\nGithub: [https://github.com/benoitparis/](https://github.com/benoitparis/)\n\nEmail: benoit@explicable.ml\n\n------\njaredmosley\nLocation: Dallas, TX\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Fullstack development, Javascript, Node.js, Angular, Java,\nMulesoft, Python, SQL, Linux\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C8OVbmk-\nQET4Y6DsNueoDtWK...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C8OVbmk-\nQET4Y6DsNueoDtWKK9FvLKqIb85W1va8xlI/edit?usp=sharing)\n\nEmail: JaredLMosley@gmail.com\n\nLinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jared-\nmosley-a23a49140/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jared-mosley-a23a49140/)\n\nGithub: [https://github.com/superturkey650](https://github.com/superturkey650)\n\nI am a Fullstack developer trying to find something to dig my teeth into. I\nenjoy refactoring just as much as creating from scratch, and I know the\nimportance of documentation and good communication. I give back to my\ncommunity using my skills and am eager to grow with good mentors.\n\n------\n52-6F-62\nLocation: _Toronto, Canada_\n\nRemote: _Yes or onsite_\n\nWilling to relocate: _Not likely within the next year—distance pending_\n\nTechnologies: _Mixed experience levels with JS /TypeScript (mainly back-end,\nsome React, Vue, Electron), NodeJS, Python, MySQL, MongoDB, Go, C_\n\nRésumé/CV: _[https://robertfairley.com/cv](https://robertfairley.com/cv) _\n\nEmail: _rrafairley @ gmail_\n\n\\---\n\nI've worn different hats at different times in my current role, but currently\nmainly focused on digital publishing engineering. Recently developed a system\nfor transforming simplified inDesign export data into well-formed Apple News+\nformatted magazine content. For that reason I'm proud to say you can now find\nme on the Macleans magazine (Canada) masthead (Apple News+ edition).\n\nI also started and support a couple of open-source Apple News libraries with\nsome growing community support because of the lack of information and help\navailable at my latest project's outset.\n\n~~~\nbussierem\nFYI, on chromium browser I get \"this site is not secure\" full page warning.\n\n~~~\n52-6F-62\nMany thanks, I'd let the cert expire.\n\n------\nEllipsis753\nLocation: London, UK\n\nRemote: No\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Full-Stack, C, C++, PHP, Python (2/3), Java, Hardware Design,\nJavaScript, Amazon Web Services, MYSQL, Linux, MicroPython, Java Spring Boot,\nJavaScript Backbone, JavaScript Marionette, REST APIs, HTML(5), CSS(3),\nresponsive design, jQuery, Underscore, LESS, SASS, WordPress, WooCommerce,\nSTOMP, WebSockets.\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaneevanstone/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaneevanstone/)\n\nEmail: shanee@ifnotequal.com\n\nHi. I've recently moved to London, so looking for a new role. I'm currently\nMakerClub's Chief Technology Officer and a Full-Stack Developer. I provide\nguidance and expertise as we bring making and programming to children across\nthe UK. I also built the online platform, website and hardware.\n\nI think I'd fit a medium-sized IoT startup pretty well, but definitely open to\nother things too.\n\n------\npmalex\nLocation: Russia\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Bare-Metal programming, drivers, C/C++, Python, Haskell, QNX\nNeutrino, FreeRTOS, Embedded Linux, Verilog, Embedded Systems, Embedded\nHardware verification, GNU Toolchain, Intel/MIPS Assembler, Multi-Threaded\nSoftware, SPI interface, NAND flash, AM335x, etc.\n\nResume: [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mRAdhNIXH5SLcM-\nXtbcEBv94...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mRAdhNIXH5SLcM-\nXtbcEBv94qDNj2HyiK5DDlxpcyuM/edit?usp=sharing)\n\nemail: genary@ya.ru\n\n=======================================\n\nI'm interested in the design and building of complex embedded software\nprojects (drivers, multi-threaded daemons), hardware design (in Quartus,\nModelSim), bare-metal hypervisors design. I have a scientific background in\nabstract algebra.\n\nMy LinkedIn:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/palexm](https://www.linkedin.com/in/palexm)\n\n------\nnalexn\nLocation: Russia\n\nRemote: Yes (Worked remotely for > 3 years)\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: iOS, Swift, Objective-C, Xcode, RxSwift, SwiftUI\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://drive.google.com/open?id=1rtHAyxPqeEcjSQKLz9F5Gqvm-1...](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1rtHAyxPqeEcjSQKLz9F5Gqvm-150-Rzu)\n\nEmail: alexey {at} naumov.tech\n\nBlog: [https://nalexn.github.io](https://nalexn.github.io)\n\n\\--------\n\nOver the past eight years working as a software engineer, I grew to an iOS\nteam lead of a public FinTech company working from their headquarters in\nHollywood, CA, followed by starting my startup. Now I’m on the market for my\nnext professional challenge as a software engineer, who blends experience in\nmobile app development and systems architecture with product-oriented\nleadership and team coaching.\n\nIf you need an exceptionally skilled and proactive team player - check out my\nLinkedIn / Resume to read more about my experience!\n\n------\nwcunning\nI'm a powertrain controls engineer for one of the big three, working on DAT\nsystems on the powertrain side of the interface, and I am now looking to move\nfurther into the autonomous vehicle space. I have experience with automotive\nstandards and practices, underlying vehicle architectures and the reams of\ndocumentation and safety analysis required of modern systems. I have a\nMaster's in EE: Systems with a focus in controls and signal processing and\nprior experience with machine learning, though that knowledge is a little\nrusty.\n\nLocation: Ann Arbor, MI\n\nRemote: Open to it\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: C/C++, SysML, Model Based Design, ISO26262, Embedded system\ndesign, controls and signal processing, some machine learning\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-\ncunningham-6b63a656/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-\ncunningham-6b63a656/)\n\nEmail: wdocunningham@gmail.com\n\n------\nsaelamin\n\\----------------------------------------------------------\n\n* Location: Atlanta, GA USA\n\n* Remote: Yes\n\n* Willing to relocate: No\n\n* Technologies: Full stack developer and designer. PHP, Laravel, Javascript, ES6, React, jQuery, HTML/CSS, SASS, LESS, MySQL, AWS, Linux, Web APIs, RESTful APIs, WordPress\n\n* Resume/CV: [http://23andwalnut.com](http://23andwalnut.com)\n\n\\----------------------------------------------------------\n\n15 years total programming experience, 10+ years building for the web, 5 years\ntechnology and strategy consulting. I provide full service software\ndevelopment and combine strategy, technology, and design to solve complex\nbusiness challenges. Extensive experience taking projects from concept all the\nway through launch and have worked with clients of all sizes, from individuals\nand startups to multinational enterprise companies.\n\n\\----------------------------------------------------------\n\n* Email: projects [at] 23andwalnut.com\n\n\\----------------------------------------------------------\n\n------\nwestoncb\nLocation: Tucson, AZ\n\nRemote: yes\n\nWilling to relocate: probably not\n\nTechnologies: JavaScript + various web technologies, Java, Objective-C, real-\ntime rendering / computer graphics: opengl / webgl, glsl. I've been doing lots\nof work with three.js in recent years.\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[http://symbolflux.com/resume.html](http://symbolflux.com/resume.html)\n\nEmail: westoncb@[google's email service]\n\nI've been programming for over a decade, have been a founding engineer at a YC\nstartup, and a lead engineer doing primarily graphics work for a 3D printer\nstartup. During the past couple years I've mostly worked on a contract basis,\nhelping clients develop web apps centered around interactive 3D graphics, or\nresearching and developing algorithms loosely in the domain of computational\ngeometry.\n\nMy projects: [http://symbolflux.com/projects](http://symbolflux.com/projects)\n\n------\nlykr0n\nRole: Site Reliability Engineer/System Administrator/System Engineer\n\nLocation: Seattle, WA (and surrounding areas)\n\nWilling to relocate: I'd rather not\n\nTechnologies: Linux (CentOS/RHEL), MySQL, Postgres, Clickhouse, Docker, Nomad,\nConsul, Vault, Puppet, Ansible, SaltStack, Python 2/3 (development +\nadministration), Rust (development + administration), Java + JVM\n(administration), KVM (oVirt/RHEV), VMware vSphere, Limited AWS/GCP, etcd,\nzookeeper, kafka, haproxy, nginx, Bash, GitHib/GitLab, Git, HTML, Datadog,\nGrafana, InfluxDB, and so on and so on. On Call? Love it.\n\nRésumé/CV: On Request\n\nEmail: lykron@mm.st\n\nLooking for more of a smaller company this time around. 5 to 250 people or so.\nCould be startup to established company. I love building infrastructure and\nbeing involved with architecture design. I've been heavily involved in\nimproving reliability of applications and systems to make sure they do not go\ndown.\n\n------\nvonseel\nLocation: Austin, TX Remote: No Willing to relocate: Not immediately, maybe in\nthe future. Technologies: Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, React-Native, DevOps\nincluding Kubernetes/Docker, Ansible, and Linux. Résumé/CV: Upon request.\nEmail: KevinIsACoder@gmail.com Interested in: Golang, Elixir, C#.\n\nBack-end developer with ~8 years experience working at various levels of the\nstack. I enjoy working on challenging problems that force me to learn and\nevolve my skill-set. My most recent work was primarily React-Native iOS\ndevelopment, but most of my prior experience is Python-based and I am looking\nfor back-end roles going forward. As noted above, I am also interested in\nback-end roles for Golang, Elixir, C#, or possibly even Java development.\n\nNot interested in moving right now, but I may consider moving in the future to\nDallas, or CA/NY, if the right opportunity presents itself.\n\n~~~\njonovate\nIf Houston becomes interesting hit me up.\n\n------\n8bitstudio\nSEEKING WORK\n\nLocation: Vilnius (Lithuania)\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: .NET [Core] (C#, F#); ASP.NET; JVM (Clojure, Java, Scala);\nPython; AngularJS; Vue.js; React; iOS (Swift); AWS (wide range of services);\ndatabases: Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Datomic, Couchbase,\nRedis, Event Store\n\nRésumé/CV: On request\n\nEmail: hello[at]8bitstudio[dot]dev\n\nWe are a three-person full-stack highly professional development team with\nextensive experience in online advertising and fintech. We can consult on\narchitectural problems, work as a discrete unit or a part of another team on\nimplementing the solution.\n\nDescribe us your task, project or idea and we will provide a timely response\nwith estimates and a plan. We offer very flexible rates and will help you with\nsuggestions on how to best optimize the development effort.\n\nFor contact details and other information please visit:\n[https://www.8bitstudio.dev/](https://www.8bitstudio.dev/)\n\n------\nadefemi171\nHi all, Am Adefemi by name a Self Motivated, Resourceful Software Developer\nskilled at technical leadership, communication and presentations. Driven to\nlearn quickly, advance computer proficiency and training. Solid background in\nAgile Development and Remote settings supporting team needs. Flexible and\nhardworking team player focused on boosting efficiency and performance with\nconscientious and detail-oriented approaches. I am available to work remote\nfor a Junior role as a DevOps Engineer and also up for ReactNative Engineer\nRole.\n\nLocation: Lagos, Nigeria\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, MySQL, Terraform, k8s, Docker, AWS, GCP,\nAZURE, Ansible, Gilab, Jenkins(more in Resume)\n\nResume:\n[https://drive.google.com/open?id=1K6Dv3sd5lGf7OeY3prjg9lOctM...](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1K6Dv3sd5lGf7OeY3prjg9lOctMXtQmgO)\n\nEmail: Adefemi171@gmail.com\n\n------\nharlanji\nLocation: San Francisco, CA\n\nRemote: willing.\n\nWilling to relocate: within CA.\n\nTechnologies: Clojure, Docker, Kubernetes, RasPi, JVM 8, NodeJS, AWS, GCP.\n\nResume: tailored to position. Samples on website.\n\nEmail: biz@harlanji.com\n\nHi HN. I’ve been stuck homeless for almost 2 years. I’m mentally sound and\nsober, but have no support network. They were mostly gone when I quit drinking\nand became vegetarian. I can’t get through a Google-style interview right now,\nbut I’ve done it 5+ times in my career. My experience goes back to 2003ish,\nand I got a CS degree in 2011. I am stuck in trauma from being homeless and\nhave legal problems with a past employer that I don’t want to talk about. I\nperform well at every service and labor job that I take, few guess that I’m\nhomeless or ask questions. I’m hoping to get off the street in a transitional\njob and ease into more specialized work, my plan allows for me to get off the\nstreet and save on $2,000/mo. Thanks.\n\n------\nasdfgeoff\nI am a full-stack data scientist who builds narratives around user behaviour\nat scale using quantitative data. I have spent the past five years using data\nto build better products for users—first as a product manager for an online\ncar marketplace, and most recently as a data scientist at a travel company. I\nthrive working with the python ecosystem (jupyter, pandas, numpy, scikit-\nlearn) to turn user data into actionable insights using statistical techniques\nsuch as A/B testing and machine learning.\n\nLocation: Berlin, Germany\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Python, pandas, numpy, scikit-learn, matplotlib, seaborn, SQL\n\nLinkedIn:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffruddock](https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffruddock)\n\nPersonal: [https://www.geoffruddock.com](https://www.geoffruddock.com)\n\nEmail: geoff [at] ruddock [dot] ca\n\n------\nsaturnzhang\nSeeking a full-time software engineer position starting from March 2020.\n\nDynamic, detail-oriented, bilingual Software Engineer with a proven track\nrecord for requirements gathering, designing and developing applications.\nStrong programming, analytical and designing skills. Experience with web\napplication development, mobile application. Excels at programming skills in\nJava.\n\nLocation: Seattle, WA, USA\n\nFull-time/Part-Time: Full-Time\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Java, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, MySQL, Elastic Search, data\nstructures and algorithms; object oriented programming; distributed systems\ndesign and development\n\nRésumé/CV:[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oA2Pq9CxivjvcQZZf7p7Y2jvKsA...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oA2Pq9CxivjvcQZZf7p7Y2jvKsA07zaq/view?usp=sharing)\n\nEmail:kit.mmx@gmail.com\n\nVisa Status:currently on H1b, will receive green card EAD in three months.\n\n------\nnahtan\nLocation: Southeastern US\n\nRemote: Yes, definitely\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Java, Node.js, SQL, JavaScript, Oracle PL/SQL, Bash, HTML/CSS,\nVue.js, Jenkins, Docker, SVN, Git, PostgreSQL, Ubuntu/Oracle/Redhat Linux\n\nRésumé/CV: On request\n\nEmail: nlrpublic638@gmail.com\n\nI have about 3 years work experience in backend development, and especially in\nbuilding Java web services supporting a high-traffic retail website and POS\nsystems. Currently working as a software developer at a medium-sized retail\ncompany in a position where I have to be jack-of-all trades. Because of that,\nI have experience managing and building deployment/DevOps systems using\nJenkins, acting as a business analyst and working on projects directly from\nend users, developing SQL tables, managing integration with 20-year-old custom\nGUI and SQR scripts, developing best practices, and developing most of the\ncompany's web services.\n\n------\nViktorV\nLocation: Hungary\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies:\nReact/Redux/Node/Typescript/Firebase/Postgres/C/C++/Python/Pytorch/Verilog/6lowpan\netc...\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://www.emergence-\nengineering.com/cv/viktor](https://www.emergence-engineering.com/cv/viktor)\n\nEmail: viktor.vaczi@emergence-engineering.com\n\nBeen an EE, doing web dev currently. I'm always interested in business\ndevelopment, humans etc.. So if you're looking for someone in your team who's\nnot only codes and does whatever your say, but helps developing your business\n/ gives you feedback then I'm your guy. Feel free to get in touch, I don't\nthink listing things is a good way to know a developer :) If you have a stack\nthat I'm not familiar with, but it's interesting then I'm okay with joining.\n\n------\nansek\nLocation: Prague, Czech Republic\n\nRemote: yes\n\nWilling to relocate: yes, preferable\n\nTechnologies: Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, Go; NodeJS, GraphQL, React/Vue,\nHTML/CSS; minor skills in Augmented/Virtual Reality, Unity and Machine\nLearning.\n\nResume/CV:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonsekatskii/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonsekatskii/)\n\nEmail: antonsekatskii@gmail.com\n\n\\---\n\nSystems Thinking nerd (and not shy about it) with good social and\ncommunication skills (my second passion is human interactions). Think 55\nminutes about a problem, then solve it in 5 remaining minutes. Strongly\nbelieve that it's all about thinking processes (and their quality) and turning\nthem into the code is just a learnable skill. Love to learn something\nextremely difficult extremely fast if it helps to crack the problem. Let's do\nsomething great together, shall we? :)\n\n------\nastangl\nLocation: St. Louis, MO\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No, but open to occasional travel\n\nTechnologies: Scala, Java, JavaScript, Akka, Spark, AWS, S3, SWF, EC2, Docker,\nKubernetes, React, Jenkins, Kafka, PostgreSQL, Clojure, C++, DevOps,\nmicroservices\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://alex-stangl-resume.netlify.com](https://alex-stangl-\nresume.netlify.com)\n\nEmail: alex.stangl@gmail.com\n\nLinkedIn:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexstangl](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexstangl)\n\nGitHub: [https://github.com/astangl](https://github.com/astangl)\n\nI'm a senior software engineer, experienced in a variety of languages and\ntechnology stacks. I'm looking for interesting and rewarding work, especially\nusing modern functional programming languages such as Scala. I have experience\nin developing web applications using various UI stacks, but prefer backend\ndevelopment. I have experience as team lead, technical lead, and mentor. I am\nespecially interested in automation, striving to make life easier for both\ndevelopers and end-users.\n\nCoworkers and friends look to me for programming advice and assistance in\nsolving complex problems. I relish challenging projects. I strive to write\nexceptionally clean code, along with suites of thorough unit and integration\ntests. I am pragmatic, and bear performance in mind, however. Multiple times\nI've profiled and analyzed code and design, and identified opportunities to\nspeed up and/or reduce footprint by a factor of 1000x or more.\n\nI enjoy working on interesting and challenging problems, especially science-\nrelated ones, and on systems that impact large numbers of people. Contributing\nto open source projects would be a huge plus. I have experience working\nremotely, and with my background and abilities, I will be an asset to your\nteam.\n\n------\nThePadawan\nLocation: Zurich, Switzerland\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: C# (ASP.NET, .NET, .NET Core, Entity Framework Core), Java,\nPython (Flask, Django, SQLAlchemy), T-SQL, GCP, Docker, TypeScript/Javascript,\nReact, Vue.js, Angular (2, 5), HTML5, Bash\n\nResume/CV:\n[https://leastsignificantbit.de/static/CV.pdf](https://leastsignificantbit.de/static/CV.pdf)\n\nEmail: wwtbh.prat.0919@gmail.com\n\nGerman full stack developer with MSc CS and 4 years of software engineering\nexperience. Experience with Agile (Scrum), both project- and product-based\ndevelopment and interpersonal communication. Interested in public speaking,\nteaching and architecting for the monolith/microservice dichotomy. Currently\nlooking to find a new opportunity to both grow in the area of project\nmanagement, and produce meaningful change in an international environment.\n\n------\nbgrc\nLocation: Montreal, Quebec, Canada\n\nRemote: Preferred\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nCurrent Technologies: Elixir/Phoenix, Javascript/Typescript\n\nOther Technologies: Ruby\n\nWebsite: [https://briangracie.net](https://briangracie.net)\n\nEmail: contact(at)briangracie.net\n\nGithub: [https://github.com/bgracie](https://github.com/bgracie)\n\nCV: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-\ngracie-23876197/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-gracie-23876197/)\n\nI'm a full stack web developer with experience creating line-of-business\napplications for a variety of clients, including an investment firm and\nassociation of medical doctors. I enjoy working directly with product owners\nand users and actively participating in the design process. I also have a keen\ninterest in functional programming techniques and languages.\n\n------\nfranksvalli\nLocation: Charleston, SC\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: JavaScript (ES6+), HTML5, CSS3, React.js, Webpack and Rollup,\nJest, React Testing Library, Material-UI, Storybook, Node.js, Postgres, Redis\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://www.themaingate.net/resume/](https://www.themaingate.net/resume/)\n\nEmail: david.b.calhoun@gmail.com\n\nExperienced frontend web developer with an understanding of frontend\nfundamentals (plain old JavaScript, HTML, and CSS) as well as frameworks that\nbuild on those fundamentals (React.js, etc). Experience working in\nenvironments with unclear requirements, and pushing to get a better\nunderstanding directly from users themselves when possible.\n\nReact + Node.js + EdTech or other good causes is my ideal combination! Willing\nto relocate for the right position.\n\nHave done work for Netflix, Google, Yahoo!, as well as a few other smaller\ncompanies.\n\n------\njph98\nLocation: Bristol, UK\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Javascript, React (+ Native), Python, Java\n\nLinkedIn:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanholloway/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanholloway/)\n\nBlog:\n[https://medium.com/@jonathan.holloway](https://medium.com/@jonathan.holloway)\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D7LpdfSMI8qTdp1YwBT6Sjqp...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D7LpdfSMI8qTdp1YwBT6SjqpEmRi6Qlra4fljjvQyJo/)\n\nEmail: jonathan.holloway@gmail.com\n\nSoftware engineer, data engineer, product manager, engineering manager/CTO\nlooking for contract work (remote or SW England based) primarily. Relocation\neventually for the right role.\n\n------\nArt9681\nIT Systems Automation and Administrator\n\nLocation: Huntsville, Alabama\n\nRemote: YES\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Windows/Linux/MacOS, Ansible, PowerShell, Python, JavaScript,\nJenkins. I can learn anything required for a job.\n\nResume: Will email upon request (I have 20 years of IT/Scripting experience)\n\nEmail: Art.Aquino@icloud.com\n\nI am an experienced Systems Administrator and Automation Engineer looking for\na remote opportunity. I have been working in the Gov/DoD sector for most of my\ncareer and looking to try something different. I am a veteran and currently\nhold a clearance. I am very motivated to learn new things and my career is my\nhobby. I do this out of passion and not just for a paycheck. I like anything\nto do with technology, video games, reading books and general geeky stuff. I\nlike working with people of all ages and cultural backgrounds. I am willing to\nmentor and learn in any capacity.\n\n------\nscatter\nI am a EE PHD with 8 years of work experience, looking to transition in to\ndata science / visualization / machine learning related roles.\n\nWorked at a semiconductor startup for 6 years before with full ownership for\nR&D of a product line.\n\nIf you are a startup looking for a part-time data scientist or ML engineer, I\nwould love to talk to you. You will get an experienced engineer working nearly\nfor free, and I will get real-world ML experience. It is a win-win.\n\nLocation: San Francisco\n\nFull-time/Part-Time: Part-Time\n\nRemote: OK, but SF Bay Area is preferred for more face to face interaction.\n\nTechnologies: Python, R, Data Visualization, Machine Learning, Deep Learning\n\nWork Samples: Please see resume.\n\nEmail: skirank@gmail.com\n\nResume:[https://drive.google.com/open?id=1EIsON6O8hktnLpiZDR6wDbgBgk...](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1EIsON6O8hktnLpiZDR6wDbgBgktduR8h)\n\nVisa Status: US Citizen\n\n------\nbitcollector\nLocation: San Jose, CA\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: CCNP, Data Center, DWDM, Wireless, VPN, Security, TLS, Python,\nJava, C, C++, Linux, macOS, ESXi, NAS, Nginx/Apache, IoT, TCP/IP, IPv6, ARP,\nDHCP, DNS, SMTP, BGP, OSPF, EIGRP, Load Balancing, VLAN, HSRP, 8021.x, X.509,\nPKI, pfSense, tcpdump, wireshark, OpenVAS, Git, Jinja, Ansible, yaml,\nParamiko, Cisco, Arista, Juniper, Whitebox, ffmpeg\n\nWebsite: [https://duanenoland.com](https://duanenoland.com)\n\nRésumé/CV: emailed upon request\n\nEmail: jobs[at]duanenoland[dot]com\n\n10 Years experience building world class networks at Cisco Systems & LinkedIn.\nLooking to branch out from a traditional network engineer role and into a SRE\ntype position working with end to end systems. I'm also extremely passionate\nabout network security and would love a role that focuses in that area.\n\n------\ngkamisli\nLocation: Dublin, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin, London\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Python (incl. Numpy, Pandas, Scikit-Learn, Tensorflow, Keras),\nJava, R, SQL\n\nResume/CV: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SlbumiXwJ9OgrpLsuz-\ndKMv2md_...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SlbumiXwJ9OgrpLsuz-\ndKMv2md_BwObO/view?usp=sharing)\n\nEmail: kamisligul@gmail.com\n\nI completed my MSc in Computer Science at Oxford and have been working as a\nResearch Scientist at Oxford since September. I am enthusiastic about data\nscience and machine learning with an interdisciplinary education in industrial\nengineering and computer science. Interested in a full-time position where I\ncan utilise my current skills and knowledge, and I can further develop these\nskills in a practical and fast-paced environment.\n\n------\nAndroidJedi\nLocation: California\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Android Development, Object Oriented Development, Android SDK,\nAndroid Studio, Eclipse IDE, ADB, Java, C/C++, SQLite, XML, HTML, CSS, Git and\nLinux.\n\nI develop Android apps for phones and tablets. I have published apps in the\nGoogle Play store. I have full life cycle software development experience,\nincluding: product concept development, product design, project planning,\nresearch and development, algorithm development, programming, testing,\ndebugging, publishing apps to the Google Play store and app maintenance.\n\nEmail and Resume/CV:\n[http://compxpressinc.com/docs/kpcv.html](http://compxpressinc.com/docs/kpcv.html)\n\nWebsite: [http://compxpressinc.com](http://compxpressinc.com)\n\n------\ndcAnswers\n\n      Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA (near Detroit)\n      Remote: Yes\n      Willing to relocate: For the right position.\n      Technologies: Python R, SQL, HTML CSS, Git, PostgreSQL, Tableau, Pandas, NLTK, Flask, Requests, \n      TensorFlow, Bootstrap, and many more. \n      Résumé/CV: Available upon request. \n      Email: dan at dataconcord dot com\n    \n      About me: My work is focused on data analysis, data science, and business intelligence. Most of \n      my deliverables have been in the form of interactive visualization of my analysis but I do \n      everything in the ETL to analysis to visualization pipeline. If you have needs related to those \n      types of roles, please email me. I'm open to project based (full or part time), contract, and full \n      time direct positions.\n\n------\nlleolin\nLocation: Northeast Ohio\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Ruby, Ruby on Rails, Redis, JavaScript, TypeScript, React, Redux\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://docs.google.com/document/d/14gZqNiu5EbKWt0jOfS2a88bz...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/14gZqNiu5EbKWt0jOfS2a88bzkyNUb2UOjs496TYuq0Y)\n\nEmail: lleolin@fastmail.com\n\nI have been developing web applications in Ruby on Rails since 2006 as both a\nhobbyist and a professional, in addition to other Ruby frameworks such as\nPadrino or Hanami. I am seeking challenging problems that engage my creativity\nand desire to build neatly architected, functional, and well-tested apps. Very\nopen to opportunities to do more front-end development (particularly in\nReact), or move into other languages and frameworks such as Elixir or Phoenix.\n\n~~~\nfaehnrich\nYou might be interested in this Cleveland-area list of tech companies and\nresources.\n\n[https://github.com/mrfright/cleveland-\ntech/](https://github.com/mrfright/cleveland-tech/)\n\n------\nmichallech\n\n      Location:            Poland\n      Remote:              Yes (EST/PST timezones OK)\n      Willing to relocate: Yes\n    \n      Technologies:\n        * Python, Django, DRF\n        * AngularJS, React+Redux, React Native, Vue.js\n        * AWS, Docker, Kubernetes\n    \n      Résumé/CV:           https://michallech.info/static/Michal-Lech-Resume.pdf\n      Email:               michal [AT] michallech.info\n      Website:             https://michallech.info\n    \n\n==============================\n\nI am Full Stack Developer with 8+ years of commercial experience in\nprototyping, MVP, backend and frontend development as well as maintenance and\nDevOps. Good communication skills, passionate about programming, self starter,\nOK with freelance/consulting as well as full time work.\n\n------\nsoulnothing\n\n      Location: Philadelphia\n      Remote: Yes (6 years fully remote.\n      Willing to relocate: New York Only\n      Technologies: Kotlin (Multi Platform), Python, F#, Java, Go, TypeScript, AWS, Data Center, React.\n      Résumé/CV: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seobrien4\n      Email: sean@animus.design\n    \n\nLooking for a part-time engagement with flexible hours. I've been focusing\nrecently on cloud migrations, and building out high performance micro service\narchitectures. I focus on product as much as the core engineering stack.\nWorking with customers to define a product road map and how best to implement\nthe product.\n\nMy most recent open source project is a new relational mapper for Kotlin.\nAllowing multi platform (native,js,jvm), in a non blocking manner.\n\n------\natrilumen\nHey, I'm Corey\n\nLocation: Colombia (US Expat)\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: JS, Node, Choo, Elm, Tachyons, Rasa (Vue is okay; React makes me\nfeel icky; Angular makes me angry.)\n\nEmail: gmail, corey.trampe\n\nTwitter: [https://twitter.com/coreytrampe](https://twitter.com/coreytrampe)\n\nI've been struggling as an independent developer / producer for like 15 years,\nconsulting / freelancing intermittently when desperate. I need some stability\nfor a change.\n\nMy focus for the past several years has been on conversational interfaces and\n\"Messaging 2.0\". But I've been struggling with no funding, and need to get a\nreal job and work on Slater as a side project.\n\nI am bright and passionate, and I'm looking for a family / gang to be loyal\nto, and for work that is meaningful and humane.\n\n------\niamthepieman\nLocation: Northeast U.S.\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Depends\n\nTechnologies:\n\n* .NET (Core, Web API, XAML, desktop and server applications)\n\n* JavaScript (Node, Vue, Leaflet, Dojo, mapping and geospatial SPAs)\n\n* Infrastructure (AWS, ArcGIS Online, virtual server administration)\n\n* Python\n\n* SQL\n\n* Misc (federated security, network analysis and exploitation, GIS, technical documentation and policy writing)\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ram-\ntech/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ram-tech/)\n\nEmail: ryanandrew at gmail\n\nI have 14 years of experience in software and system engineering. I'm\nPassionate about data analytics and mapping. Experience in full-stack web,\ndesktop and REST API development along with all the standard supporting\ntech/processes like git, Powershell, Scrum, SQL, data design, requirements\ngathering and basic project management.\n\n------\ndanioso\n\n       Location: Medellín, Colombia / Monterrey, Mexico\n       Remote: Yes\n       Willing to relocate: Yes (City in Colombia or Mexico)\n       Technologies: (frontend and backend development) Node.js, ES6, HTML/CSS/SVG, Bash, Linux, NGINX, AWS, MongoDB, SQL Server. And some experience with PHP and Elixir\n       Résumé/CV: See link below\n       Email: danosot@gmail.com\n    \n\n\\--\n\nI'm Daniel Osorio an experienced software developer, architect and product\ndesigner with more than 15 years of experience, I help people write high\nperformance, maintainable, scalable software, better and more effective.\n\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/danioso](https://www.linkedin.com/in/danioso)\n(Full PDF via email)\n\n------\nmuffa\nLocation: Los Angeles\n\nRemote: No\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Python, Docker, some machine learning\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugo-\nsjöberg-56a31743](https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugo-sjöberg-56a31743)\n\nEmail: hugo.sjoberg88@gmail.com\n\nShort about me, I will move to Los Angeles in 8 days, my wife just got a\ntransferred and I joined :D I will apply for a work permit as soon as I arrive\nso I will latest be available at the end of March.\n\nI am an energetic developer from Sweden who has mostly been working in\nautomotive with different things, started off with machine-learning then moved\non to build internal tooling and some infrastructure all in python.\n\nDrop me an email or add me as a contact on LinkedIn if my profile sounds\ninteresting or if you just want to chat.\n\nHave a great day!\n\n------\nazdv\nRemote: Yes !\n\nWilling to relocate: Maybe\n\nTechnologies:\n\n* Crypto/Blockchain - building Crypto infrastructure (multiple Blockchains), customized libraries and APIs, as well as front-end (MetaMask) solutions - Highly motivated to continue working with this.\n\n* NodeJS/Meteor/SailsJS\n\n* Serverless (going heavy on that one)\n\n* Cloud technologies (AWS/Azure/GCP) - a lot of Terraform work as of late\n\n* Wordpress/CodeIgniter/Yii/Drupal (Components, Hacks, Themes) - less motivated, unless truly cutting edge (or WP VIP projects)\n\n* CI & Unit testing - Jenkins, Mocha & Karma for JS, Toast for PHP, as well as Selenium\n\n* Django (general Python too) - to a lesser extent\n\nResume: Upon request\n\nEmail: dev (at) azdv.co\n\nLooking for Challenging projects. Most recently worked extensively with\nServerless & AWS APIs, building cloud-related prototypes, before that worked\nas an AngularJS specialist\n\n------\nvalzevul\nLocation: London, United Kingdom\n\nRemote: Yes, if this is a contract without strict time zones\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: All things iOS (Swift, Objective-C, Xcode, CI/CD, fastlane,\nwatchOS); leading, coaching and mentoring; building and designing scalable and\nperformant systems.\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://drobinin.com/cv](https://drobinin.com/cv)\n\nEmail: hn@drobinin.com\n\n\\---\n\nStarted as a web developer in 2008, switched to backend in 2011 and shipped my\nfirst iOS app in 2013. Won Apple WWDC Scholarship, led VK University's iOS\ntrack, a regular speaker at mobile conferences worldwide since 2015.\n\nCan help you with release pipelines, automation of CI/CD flows, solid app's\narchitecture and bring your mobile team to the next level (or help building it\nfrom scratch).\n\n------\ncx4life\nLocation: Seattle, WA Remote: Yes Willing to relocate: No Technologies:\nJavaScript, Python, Go, Docker, React, SQL, HTML/CSS, Azure, git, Jenkins,\nPHP, C#, Powershell, Bash Résumé/CV: www.timwoods.dev/resume Email\ntim.woods.tw@gmail.com\n\nFull Stack dev with 2 years experience. Just moving to Seattle from\nBellingham, WA and looking for a position in the city. Experience with\nmicroservices in Azure, writing REST APIs, extending/maintaining/rewriting\nlegacy code, some DevOps work with Jenkins/Azure pipelines.\n\nI hoping my next role allows me to gain expertise in distributed systems or\ncloud-based services. While I have limited experience in the area, I'd also be\ninterested in a data engineering role.\n\n------\nshaggyfrog\nLocation: Vancouver, BC, Canada\n\nRemote: Yes/OK\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Everything. Last 3-4 years: Python (Django), Kotlin, Java\n(Spring), JavaScript. Also last 11 years: iOS/OSX (C/C++/Objective-C), Bash,\nPerl. MSc in AI (heuristic search).\n\nLinkedIn:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomashauk](https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomashauk)\n\nStack Overflow: [https://stackoverflow.com/users/161161/shaggy-\nfrog](https://stackoverflow.com/users/161161/shaggy-frog)\n\nRésumé/CV: See LinkedIn and/or request via e-mail\n\nEmail: thauk@ualberta.net\n\nFirst computer: Atari 800 (Logo and BASIC)\n\nCake: YES\n\nI'm a proud generalist. I add value. I care about my work. I get stuff done. I\ndeliver.\n\nSend me an e-mail!\n\n------\nsyedsadman16\nLocation: NYC\n\nRemote: On-site preferred\n\nWilling to relocate: Within NY\n\nTechnologies: Java, Android App Development, Python, HTML, CSS\n\nResume/CV: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/syed-\nsadman-a85686113/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/syed-sadman-a85686113/) [Resume\nis attached on profile]\n\nEmail: syedsadman16@gmail.com\n\n\\---------------------------------------------------------\n\nLooking forward to exploring new opportunities this year! I'm a junior\nComputer Engineering major with a focus on Software Engineering. I'm\nproficient in Java and Android app development but I can also work with Python\nand web apps. Please feel free to email me or connect with me on LinkedIn for\nmore information about my skills.\n\n------\nWinonaRyder\nLocation: UK\n\nRemote: Yes (only)\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: React (5+ years), TypeScript (3+ years), Go/Golang (9+ years),\nPHP, JavaScript (ES5, ES6+, 10+ years), HTML5, CSS3, Webpack, Node.JS, Python,\nLinux, Docker, Podman etc.\n\nRésumé/CV: Available on request.\n\nEmail: hn@sonoya.uk\n\nWebsite: [https://sonoya.uk/](https://sonoya.uk/)\n\nI’m an independent contractor (own ltd company), full-stack/front-end\nengineer, designer and open source programmer who's been coding for ~15 years.\n\nI'm currently working on cloud proxy/website optimizer\n[https://oya.to/](https://oya.to/) and an ideal position would be a fully-\nremote contract, full or part-time, but willing to negotiate.\n\n------\nscha\nLocation: New York, NY\n\nRemote: Open\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Sketch, Figma, Adobe CC\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://soheecha.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Sohee-Cha-\nDe...](https://soheecha.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Sohee-Cha-Designer-\nResume.pdf)\n\nPortfolio: [https://soheecha.com](https://soheecha.com)\n\nEmail: soheexcha(at)gmail.com\n\n\\---\n\nI'm Sohee Cha, and I'm looking for an entry or mid-level position as a visual\ndesigner. I say this because my strengths lie in visual design from over 5\nyears working as a graphic designer, but I am ultimately interested in moving\nmy career towards product design.\n\nI currently have 1 year of freelance UX/UI experience.\n\n------\ncyanic\n\n      Location: Europe (mostly)\n      Remote: Yes (Preferred)\n      Willing to relocate: For the right opportunity\n      Technologies: Go, Python, C, JavaScript, Linux, Bash, SQL, HTML, CSS, React, Docker, and more\n      Résumé/CV: Upon request\n      Email: hired+hn at cyanic dot gr\n    \n\n\\-----\n\nI'm a principal software architect and engineer. Highly skilled and self-\nmotivated with 7+ years of professional experience across the whole stack.\n\nOne of the first hires and co-founders in multiple startups. Worked on highly\nprofitable projects from start to finish. Experienced in remote work and\nproject leadership.\n\nVery interested in working on challenging engineering problems where I can be\ninvolved in all aspects of the product.\n\n------\nmikeokner\nLocation: St. Louis\n\nRemote: Willing (some travel OK too)\n\nRelocate: No\n\nTechnologies: AWS (SA Pro), Go, Python, JS, Scala, Linux, Postgres, Dynamo,\nCassandra, Redis, Terraform, Ansible\n\nEmail: michael (at) okner (dot) com\n\nResume:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeokner/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeokner/)\n(full PDF available via email)\n\nI have substantial experience architecting and building modern, cloud-native\napplications and leading a remote team. I currently oversee the platforms used\nby thousands of developers & scientists at a Global 250 in a SRE/Architect\nrole. I am most interested in roles that involve leadership & development of\ntechnical/software products.\n\n------\narjinium\nLocation: Mumbai, India\n\nRemote: Yes, Strongly Preferred\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Python, Web Application Frameworks (Django, Flask, Tornado),\nREST APIs (DRF), Postgresql, MySQL, HTML, CSS, Heroku, Vanilla JS, Frontend\nFrameworks (VueJS), Linux, Docker.\n\nRésumé / CV / Portfolio: Full CV and details of Open Source contributions\navailable on request\n\nEmail: black11shadow@gmail.com\n\nI'm a Backend Python Developer with 5 years of experience building web app\nbackends and APIs. I've recently started dabbling in frontend frameworks, Vue\n& React to be precise. Have been working on Open source applications for 4 out\nof 5 years of work. I’m looking for a permanent or contract remote position as\na backend/fullstack developer.\n\n------\ndinopunk\nLocation: Central Pennsylvania Remote: Yes Willing to relocate: No\nTechnologies: PHP, Phalcon PHP, Laravel, Python, Flask. HTML, CSS, JS.\nComposer, REST APIs, git. MySQL, Beanstalkd, Gearman, Redis, SphinxSearch.\nDocker, Saltstack, Prometheus. Linux Ubuntu / CentOS, Transcoding, FFmpeg,\nHandBrakeCLI Résumé/CV:\n[http://robpacker.com/home/resume](http://robpacker.com/home/resume) LinkedIn:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/robpacker/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/robpacker/)\nEmail: repacker@gmail.com\n\n------\nfamoreira\nI'm a Full Stack developer and enjoying working both on the frontend and\nbackend. Also enjoy doing performance optimisation work on application and\ndatabase level, and have experience implementing improved CI pipelines.\n\nI offer a rate discount if I get to work with Elixir and/or Go.\n\n* Location: London, UK\n\n* Remote: Yes\n\n* Willing to relocate: No\n\n* Technologies: Ruby, Rails, JavaScript, React, Node.js, PostgreSQL, Heroku, AWS, DevOps, Jenkins, Docker\n\n* Résumé/CV: [https://filipeamoreira.com/resume.pdf](https://filipeamoreira.com/resume.pdf)\n\n* Email: filipe@coderelax.com\n\n* GitHub: [https://github.com/filipeamoreira](https://github.com/filipeamoreira)\n\n------\nbraunshizzle\nLocation: Niagara, Ontario, Canada\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No (but open to travel)\n\nTechnologies: PHP, Laravel, Laravel Spark, Laravel Forge, Javascript, jQuery,\nVue.js, Node.js, HTML, CSS, MySQL, AWS, WordPress, Linux, Vagrant, Docker,\nRedis, SASS, LESS, Web APIs, RESTful APIs. (Experience with many Integrations\n& API's)\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://linkedin.com/in/braunson](https://linkedin.com/in/braunson) \\-\n[https://braunson.ca](https://braunson.ca)\n\nEmail: braunson [at]] braunson [[dot] ca\n\nGitHub: [http://github.com/braunson](http://github.com/braunson)\n\n------\nvladdoster\nLocation: Boston or Nashville\n\nRemote: Yes/No\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Python (since 2013), Java 8+, Docker, Devops related tech.\n\nResume/CV: [https://vdoster.com](https://vdoster.com)\n\nEmail: mvdoster@gmail.com\n\nGitHub: [https://github.com/vladdoster/](https://github.com/vladdoster/)\n\nWIT '19 new grad looking for work in backend / devops development. Passionate\nabout anything infrastructure and run a multi-node automated homelab in spare\ntime. Would love a chance at devops role.\n\nAlways excited to try new languages, frameworks, methodologies - you name it.\n\nPlease don't hesitate to leave a comment with any questions. Thank you for\nlooking.\n\nI am a citizen of the US.\n\n------\nmyufazim\n|Intern|\n\nRemote: No\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes, Prefered\n\nTechnologies: {C++, pytorch, node, express} I'm a Junior in Computer Science\nat the University of Michigan. I have experience implementing IIoT testing\ninfrastructure for Emerson's fluid valve lab and doing research in IoT\nwearables at my University. Over the past year I've taken classes and done\nside projects in ML(pytorch, CNNs) and webdev(MERN stack).\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/myufa/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/myufa/)\n\nGithub: [https://github.com/myufa](https://github.com/myufa)\n\nEmail: myufa (at) umich (dot) edu\n\n------\njbmsf\nLocation: San Francisco, CA Remote: Yes Willing to relocate: No Technologies:\nSee CV. (Python, Node, AWS) Résumé/CV:\n[https://cv.jessemyers.com/](https://cv.jessemyers.com/) Email: jesse (dot)\nmyers (at) gmail (dot) com\n\nI've been developing professionally for 19+ years, primarily at small-to-\nmedium sized startups. I switched gears this year to find better life-work\nbalance, providing part-time consulting to several companies. I'm ready to\nswitch back to working on a single thing, preferably still part time. I\nprioritize good people and flexibility over most other things.\n\n------\nbussierem\nLocation: Midwest USA\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Not at this time, unfortunately\n\nTechnologies: Python, Elm, Nim, C#, Elixir, and JS; I can learn anything I\nneed to for a job.\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://me.3digit.dev](https://me.3digit.dev)\n\nEmail: In my resume ^^^\n\nI am an experienced dev, and have worked across the entire stack, including\nQA/testing. I have a love of quality code and good communication, having\nexperienced the bad end of both. I would be looking to make changes for the\nbetter wherever I go, preferably to Senior Engineer or higher. Looking to stay\nin code as much as possible, but I would be willing to consider leadership\ngiven the right situation.\n\n------\nsnowedin\nLocation: Seattle, WA\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Linux, Windows, Python, Cisco, Arista, Namespaces, Docker, Kali,\nMetasploit\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ross-\nsnider-b927b846/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ross-snider-b927b846/)\n\nEmail: ross.snider@gmail.com\n\n9 years industry experience in Security, much more if you count non-employed\nsecurity work.\n\nMost recently I played a critical role growing a security organization at\nOracle Cloud as well as two tech lead roles directing Security Architecture\nand Red Team at Oracle Cloud.\n\nLooking to grow a new security organization or mature an existing one by\nbringing up new capabilities inside it.\n\nKnown for creative solutions.\n\n------\nmrcool_ru\nLocation: Moscow, Russia\n\nRemote: No\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes (USA)\n\nTechnologies:\n\n    \n    \n      - PHP: Laravel, Symfony, Yii, Magento, Drupal\n    \n      - Javascript: Backbone, Angular JS, Vue.js, React, React-Native\n    \n      - SQL: MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server\n    \n      - NoSql: ElasticSearch, Sphinx, Redis\n    \n      - Docker, AWS\n    \n\nRésumé/CV: [http://tiny.cc/NickIvanov](http://tiny.cc/NickIvanov)\n\nEmail: mrcool.ru+y <at> gmail.com\n\n\\-------------\n\nSenior Fullstack developer with more than 8-year background in web\ndevelopment, with excellent problem-solving skills. Strong knowledge of OOP\nprinciples, and design patterns. Extremely good in PHP, SQL, and JavaScript.\n\n------\ntristanmk\n\n      Location: NYC metro\n      Remote: Yes\n      Willing to relocate: Yes\n      Technologies: Python (Django, Flask), Angular, React\n      Résumé/CV: www.tmk.name\n    \n\n\\-----------\n\nMy dream is to work for a non-profit, social organization, charity, library,\nuniversity, social research, government - I am not inspired by the FAANG\ngrind, I want to spend my working life helping others.\n\nI am a full-stack developer with internship experience. I am not married to\nweb development, I love learning and tackling challenges, so let me know what\nyou are working on and how I help.\n\nI am finishing my senior semester in university. I am looking for a full-time\nopportunity starting in June.\n\n------\nsophiechoi\nLocation: Seoul, South Korea\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Java, Spring Boot, Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, Vue.js, Jenkins,\nPostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, Linux, Git\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://choicode.com](https://choicode.com)\n\nEmail: Linked on my website\n\nLanguage: Fluent Korean, conversational English\n\nI am a software engineer in Seoul. I am looking for freelance software\nengineering opportunities. In my current role at an AdTech startup, I worked\nboth on frontend web development (VueJS) as well as on our server's Java\nbackend involving large volume data processing with Redis and PostgreSQL. If\nyou are interested in working with me, please feel free to contact me.\n\n------\nJJDeviloper\n\n         Location: Just North of San Francisco, CA\n         Remote: Open\n         Willing to relocate: Open\n         Technologies: Scala, Ruby on Rails, C++, Java, Python, JavaScript, JQuery, Node.js, Unity Engine, Unreal Engine, Android\n         Résumé/CV: http://bit.ly/JJ_Reibel_Portfolio\n         Email: jj_reibel@aol.com\n\nI'm a Software Engineer, Full Stack Web Engineer, and Game Designer with\ndecades of independent experience using many technologies, with only my most\nused being listed. I have experience working with teams and I'm looking for a\nrole at either a large company or a start-up.\n\n------\nparasight\nLocation: Berlin\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: C++, C, Make, CMake, Golang, Erlang, JavaScript (Node.js),\nJava/Kotlin (Android), Android NDK, Objective-C/Swift (iOS), Linux, macOS,\nAWS, network protocols\n\nRésumé/CV: On request\n\nEmail: hackphonic@gmail.com\n\nI'm looking for part-time contract/freelance/consulting opportunities.\n\nHow can I help?\n\n\\- Design and implement new features.\n\n\\- Find and fix difficult bugs.\n\n\\- Analyze and optimize performance issues.\n\n\\- Reduce the technical debt in your code.\n\nGitHub: [https://github.com/polaris](https://github.com/polaris)\n\nStackoverflow:\n[https://stackoverflow.com/users/218471](https://stackoverflow.com/users/218471)\n\nEmail: hackphonic@gmail.com\n\n------\nr6203\nLocation: Germany - UTC+1\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Fullstack - TypeScript | JavaScript | React | Node.js | Python |\nGo\n\nLook... I know how frustrating it is to find a developer who cares about your\nbusiness and your clients. Yes, that's right, caring about your clients\nbecause... to be honest, your main goal is to make your clients happy so that\nthey eagerly throw money at you, isn't it?\n\nI create state-of-the-art web apps that make the lives of my clients customers\neasier. And I can do the same for you.\n\nShoot me a message and at least let's chat about it...\n\nEmail: hello@robinaltay.dev\n\nWebsite: [https://robinaltay.dev](https://robinaltay.dev)\n\n------\nc3534l\nLocation: Portland, Oregon\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to Relocate: maybe to Seattle, but I really do love Portland\n\nTechnologies: Python, Haskell, C#, Go, Terraform, Docker, AWS,SQL, Ansible...\n\nResume:\n[https://web.tresorit.com/l#FI93Attlqb3t7wPHp9JuKg](https://web.tresorit.com/l#FI93Attlqb3t7wPHp9JuKg)\n\nEmail: gn342ram@gmail.com\n\n\\---\n\nI linked my GitHub in my resume, but I'm working now on getting some more\nrecent and complete code samples up, so ask me about code samples again if\nyou're reading this later in the month. I have DevOps experience, but I feel\nhappy and fulfilled when I get to write code and develop applications and\ntools that other people use.\n\n------\ndynatos\nLocation: Seattle, WA\n\nRemote: Not a requirement, nice to have\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Javascript, Typescript, Node, React, Redux, Express, SQL, Docker\n\nRésumé/CV: Email me\n\nEmail: jason (at) jasonwortley (dot) com\n\n\\----\n\nI'm a full-stack Software Engineer focused on Web. Currently seeking\nopportunities and actively interviewing.\n\nIdeally looking for a role where I can have impact on a team and develop\nsoftware in a front-end/full-stack role. I would describe myself as a strong\nself-starter, fast learner, and looking to have meaningful impact quickly.\nSecurity has been an interest of mine historically and I'm excited to continue\nlearning about that problem space (either myself or as part of my job).\n\n------\nthemalikyusuf\nLocation: Lagos, Nigeria\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Ansible, AWS (C2, ECS, ECR, ELB, VPC, RDS, Aurora,\nCloudformation, CloudWatch, Route53, S3, SNS), Continous Integration(Travis,\nConcourse, Gitlab CI), Docker, Vagrant, Python, Kubernetes, Node.js, Linux,\nNagios, Zabbix, New Relic, Graylog, MongoDB, PostgreSQL\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Iej4--\nOBQ0aoYH6tICKOxwSXrhB...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Iej4--\nOBQ0aoYH6tICKOxwSXrhBn54BE/view)\n\nEmail: themalikyusuf@gmail.com\n\nI am also an AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate. Validation number:\nQX109NVKE2B41S9V\n\n------\ntemp3992221\n\n      Location: Hobart, Australia\n      Remote: Yes\n      Willing to relocate: Yes\n      Technologies: Java (and other languages), Devops, RDBMS, Automated Testing, Linux/FreeBSD\n      Résumé/CV: On request\n      Email: jshevland@calm-horizons.net\n    \n\nI'm based in Hobart, Tasmania currently and the job market is basically dead\nat the moment, so I'm looking for either remote work or perhaps relocation\n(have AU/NZ and US citizenship). 20+ years in software dev mostly, with devops\nand a fair few other skills in the mix. Please contact me via email and I can\nsend a resume through.\n\n------\nJCrandell\nLocation: San Francisco, CA Remote: Yes (preferred)\n\nWilling to relocate: BOS/NYC/CHI/LA/SEA/AUS/DEN\n\nTechnologies: Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, Elixir, React Native\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-\ncrandell-922530a4/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-crandell-922530a4/)\n\nEmail: Justin.Crandell.Developer@gmail.com\n\n\\---\n\nSeasoned software engineer on the lookout for my next opportunity. I love\ncreating tools that improve the lives of everyday people. Industry agnostic. I\ncan find a meaningful challenge in just about anything.\n\nPlease forward all inquiries/opportunities to email.\n\n------\ntorianne02\n\n      Name: Victoria (Tori) Fluharty   \n      Location: San Jose, Ca.\n      Remote: Yes\n      Willing to relocate: No\n      Technologies: Ruby, Rails, Sinatra, JavaScript (ES6+), React.js, Redux, PostgreSQL, SQL, Heroku, HTML, CSS\n      Resume: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12ZpcakUzNG47NgZ1E7bwL4ooLtTy72Bx/view?usp=sharing\n      Email: victoria.fluharty@gmail.com\n      Portfolio: http://www.toricodes.com/\n      Blog: https://dev.to/torianne02\n      LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/victoria-fluharty-741129b4/\n\n------\nSaraU\nLocation: Madrid, Spain Remote: Yes Willing to relocate: No Tecnologies:\nScala, Spark, Apache NiFi, Apache Hive, Apache Zeppelin, Akka, Cassandra,\nMySQL, SQL Server. Résumé/CV: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-\nrodr%C3%ADguez-5b026b147/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-\nrodr%C3%ADguez-5b026b147/) Email: sarauris@gmail.com About me: Degree in\nComputer Science. Native spanish speaker, and professional proficiency in\nenglish. Actually working as Scala backend software engineer.\n\n------\njkprow\nJames Prow\n\nLocation: Seattle, WA\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Temporarily\n\nTechnologies: JS/HTML/CSS, React (Native) and ecosystem, nodejs, Docker,\nLinux, Python, SQL (particularly Postgres), REST, GraphQL.\n\nResume: linkedin.com/in/jkprow\n\nEmail: jkprow [at] gmail [dot] com\n\n5 years of full-stack web and mobile application development. Educated in\ndesign and user experience. Assisted in successful exits for two SaaS\ncompanies and have been contracting since July.\n\nContract experience has been broad: Product MVPs, early-stage consulting,\nmobile development, robotics, SaaS integrations.\n\nComfortable designing and building web and mobile products from scratch as\nwell as helping with development of existing ones.\n\n------\ninfosecrole\nLocation: Toronto\n\nRemote: Yes or local to Toronto\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies/Skills: Security & Privacy Research, Security Architecture, BSD,\nLinux\n\nWebsite: [https://www.info-sec.ca](https://www.info-sec.ca)\n\nEmail: hn2020 AT info-sec.ca\n\n------\ndeepsunn\n\n      Location: Chattanooga, TN\n      Remote: Yes (currently work remotely)\n      Willing to relocate: New York, NY\n      Technologies: JavaScript (React & React Native, Node/Express, Redux)\n      Résumé/CV: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EzCDry6k8c0ou5EF-SGkWCCLrc0MaBfo/view?usp=sharing\n      Email: joehdodd@gmail.com\n    \n\nFront-End/Full Stack developer with product suite experience. Looking for\nanother product-focused role with a team that values iteration and doesn't get\nbogged down in process for process' sake.\n\n------\nneom\nLocation: Seoul, SK / Toronto, Canada (British/Canadian/SK Eligible)\n\nRemote: Preferably.\n\nWilling to relocate: Would prefer to stay in Seoul/Toronto\n\nTechnologies: Good full stack- however, certainly bizdev: One of the first\ndirectors of community at DeviantART, Product and Marketing Dir- myplanet.com,\nfirst Chief Technology Evangelist and VP of Strategy at DigitalOcean\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/dnsroot/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dnsroot/)\n\nEmail: je@h4x.club\n\n-Looking to help a dev focused company grow, preferably Asia Pacific, open to Canada or EU.\n\n------\nJustAPerson\nLocation: Boston\n\nRemote: No\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes (Bay Area, Seattle, New York)\n\nTechnologies: Rust (since 2014), C++, LLVM\n\nResume/CV:\n[https://jpriest.me/pdfs/jpriest_resume_spring_2020.pdf](https://jpriest.me/pdfs/jpriest_resume_spring_2020.pdf)\n\nEmail: jason@jpriest.me\n\nGitHub: [https://github.com/JustAPerson/](https://github.com/JustAPerson/)\n\nMIT '19 new grad* looking for work in backend / systems software development.\nPassionate about anything performant. I tinker with compiler and operating\nsystem development in my free time.\n\n------\nlinasr\nLocation: Munich, Germany\n\nRemote: yes, but it doesn't always work with hardware\n\nWilling to relocate: not sure yet, maybe Switzerland\n\nTechnologies: I am FPGA designer with almost decade experience. I started with\nAltera Quartus, but now work with Xilinx Vivado. I use VHDL and Verilog for\ndesign, SystemVerilog for testbenches. Python, embedded C and C++ are used on\ndaily basis. I also write firmware for normal microprocessors and design\nprinted circuit board using KiCad. Notable projects: complete GigE Vision\ncamera and code for cryptomining ASIC.\n\nRésumé/CV: www.linkedin.com/in/linasr\n\nEmail: rudalevi [at) gmail (dot} com\n\n------\nschmookeeg\n* Location: Los Angeles, CA\n\n* Remote: Yes, Preferred\n\n* Willing to Relocate: No\n\n* Technologies: Myriad Security, Networking, and Hardware; ISC2 CISSP, CEH, CCNA, ITILv3; Defense Experience NIST 800-171, 800-53, ISO 27001, 27002, and PCI of course :)\n\n* CV: Yes! Please email for current CV\n\n* Email: vwav8tr+HN@gmail.com\n\nHello! Very seasoned security professional with Aerospace, Defense, and\nSoftware/Endpoint/Data hardening expertise looking for a new challenge.\n\nTravel-friendly, Remote-friendly, and can work equally well as management or\nhands-on. Let me help secure your apps, your network, and your data against\nincreasingly sophisticated threats!\n\n------\nwangsterj\n\n      Location: San Francisco, CA\n      Remote: Open\n      Willing to relocate: No\n      Technologies: JavaScript, Node.js, React, PostgreSQL, AWS, Docker\n      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justnwang/\n      Website: http://www.wangjustin.com\n      Resume: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V4g2WoP3dGw7o3pwbLbcLZ2XzamZjNsK/view?usp=sharing\n      Email: wang.justiny@gmail.com\n\nFull-stack engineer looking for the next full-time opportunity in web\ndevelopment! Would love work with a mission-driven company.\n\n------\nhluska\nLocation: Regina, Canada\n\nRemote: Yes (preferred)\n\nWilling to relocate: Within Canada\n\nTech stack - Python, Django, Flask, PHP, WordPress, Go, Javascript, AngularJS\nand MySQL.\n\nWebsite - [https://hluska.ca](https://hluska.ca)\n\nEmail - gthluska@gmail.com\n\nMy name is Greg and I prefer the pronouns he, his and him. I am a gifted\nproblem solver who has spent much of his career either founding or working for\nearly stage tech startups. This has turned me into a very strong generalist\nwith strong skills in software development, writing, digital marketing, and\npublic relations (long story, but I started a magazine once).\n\n------\njkwaters\nLocation: Currently Ottawa, Canada Remote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes. Looking to relocate to Switzerland (Basel, Zürich,\netc) to be with fiancée.\n\nTechnologies: Java, Clojure, Python, .NET, C#, C, C++, JS (Node, Angular),\nDocker\n\nRésumé/CV: [http://jkwaters.codes/](http://jkwaters.codes/)\n\nEmail: jkwaters [at] gmail\n\nI am a graduate from Carleton University with a Bachelor Computer Science. I\nam currently working as a full stack developer using .NET and Oracle SQL.\nDuring an internship I worked in a DevOps environment and it sparked passion\nabout DevOps culture.\n\n------\ngrahamburger\nLocation: Utah\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Python, Go, Javascript, Wireless and Fiber Network Deployments\n\nRésumé:\n[https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSkImtmsvwb_FQVF...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSkImtmsvwb_FQVFi2CmuMq_7sejb5rA0XnBBCLnI1zJEMOtpPcB82HjWOxhaWmO1iavcr76i3cNZk7/pub)\n\nEmail: graham@castleton.es\n\nGithub:\n[https://github.com/grcastleton/portfolio](https://github.com/grcastleton/portfolio)\n\nLet's chat! Prefer remote but open to relocation or local work.\n\n------\nthekhatribharat\nLocation: Bangalore, India\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Go, Python, Java, JavaScript, Kubernetes, Docker, OpenShift,\nReactJS, SQL, MongoDB, Cassandra, Kafka, Elasticsearch, RabbitMQ, Redis,\nInfluxDB, Git, SaltStack, AWS, Google Cloud\n\nRésumé/CV: Available on request (LinkedIn:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/bkhatri/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bkhatri/))\n\nEmail: khatribox+HN@gmail.com\n\nBlog: [https://medium.com/open-factory](https://medium.com/open-factory)\n\n------\nexcitednumber\n\n      Location: NYC. Will travel to Jersey City, CT\n      Remote:\n      Willing to relocate: No\n      Technologies: python (good), c# (ok), java (ok), js (ok), php (ok), sql (postgres, mysql), mongodb, bigquery, gce, various google cloud products and API, geospatial data, real estate investing, financial services. Executed work in crypto space, systematic investing, social media engineering (instagram). Managed a small team of quant engineers.\n      Résumé/CV: Please request. I am currently employed.\n      Email: jm5491@stern.nyu.edu\n\n------\nbeardedetim\nLocation: TN, USA\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to Relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: JS/TS/Node, HTML/CSS, Python, Clojure, Go, Nginx, AWS, CI/CD,\nGraphQL/REST/gRPC\n\nResume:\n[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G2bL4Q6j4z8kbFXJYzquhvLg...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G2bL4Q6j4z8kbFXJYzquhvLgzcMYWj8vxKO7oAIoTy8/edit?usp=drivesdk)\n\nEmail: timroberts@fastmail.org\n\nBeen a Frontend dev for ~15yrs, have moved to full stack for ~5yrs. Looking\nfor fullstack or backend positions. Would love to be a player/coach or EM for\nthe right org.\n\n------\nnkellmeyer\nLocation: St. Louis, MO USA (Central US TZ)\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nAvailability: part-time\n\nTechnologies: Perl, PHP, Oracle, SQL, HTML, CSS, jQuery\n\nLinkedin: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-\nkellmeyer-b552b44/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-kellmeyer-b552b44/)\n\nEmail: nickkellmeyer[at]gmail(dot)com\n\nI am a full stack web developer, most of my experience in Perl and PHP, though\nI dabble in Python, C#, javascript, etc. 20 years of experience -- suffice to\nsay I can pick up new techs. Looking for part-time engagement, up to 20/hours\na week.\n\n------\nwendywu09\nLocation: SF Bay Area\n\nRemote: No\n\nWilling to Relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: • Front-End: Javascript ES6, React, Redux, HTML5, CSS, Styled\nComponents, Webpack, Babel • Back-End: Node.js, Express, Sequelize, MySQL,\nMongoDB, Mongoose, PostgreSQL, Cassandra, Nginx, Redis • Other: Git, AWS,\nDocker, Mocha/Chai, Jest/Enzyme\n\nResume/CV:\n[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XclihWhJWoSl-6DYiZYgKqWJ3MT...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XclihWhJWoSl-6DYiZYgKqWJ3MTY6YT_/view?usp=sharing)\n\nEmail: wendy.wm.wu@gmail.com\n\n------\nvmlinuz\nLooking for senior backend position, or similar\n\nLocation: Hong Kong Remote: Sure Willing to relocate: No Technologies:\nUnix/Linux, C, shell, Java (on Android), some Javascript, bit of SQL, PHP, bit\nof AWS monitoring - all sorts of stuff! Preferred platform would be\nPython/Django... CV on request Email: vmlinuz@gmail.com\n\nMy career has stretched long enough that my _second_ job was working on\nSolaris at Sun. I've been living in Hong Kong for almost 15 years, and I'm not\nlooking to leave right now, but I am looking for work!\n\n------\njstrieb\nLocation: Pittsburgh, PA / NYC\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Python, C, SML, Bash, SQL, Java, HTML/CSS, JavaScript, LaTeX,\nDocker\n\nEmail: <HN username>@andrew.cmu.edu\n\nRésumé/CV: [http://jstrieb.github.io](http://jstrieb.github.io)\n\nGitHub: [http://github.com/jstrieb](http://github.com/jstrieb)\n\nCurrent Carnegie Mellon undergrad seeking a paid summer 2020 internship\nposition. Extensive side-project portfolio using a wide variety of\ntechnologies, including a project with 1.1k stars on GitHub.\n\n------\nthdn\nLocation: La Paz, Bolivia\n\nRemote: Yes.\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes (Germany)\n\nTechnologies: C#, Go, C/C++, Java, Python, Rust, Linux, shell/bash, AWS,\nOracle, PostgreSQL, SQL, PL/SQL, Docker/Podman/LXC, Kubernetes.\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TS_zRBSF5a0BuEJE2CFwGzSCeH5...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TS_zRBSF5a0BuEJE2CFwGzSCeH5zDXTx/view)\n\nEmail: ZGFuaWVscmJAbGl2ZS5jb20=\n\nSystems Engineer with 12+ years experience at all levels of the stack, seeking\nopportunities to relocate to Germany.\n\n------\nkylklatt17\nLocation: Phoenix AZ\n\n    \n    \n      Remote: Yes\n    \n      Willing to relocate: yes\n    \n      Technologies: C/C++/Go/GLSL/OpenGL/Win32/Steam/Discord/ con't\n    \n      Résumé/CV:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a2-l7V1cfantpUkDuKv0bREkVoGHS8JxUbyYY6DBwKY/edit?usp=sharing\n    \n      Email: (in resume)\n    \n      I don't have \"professional\" experience, but i'm looking to change that. I'm self taught having built just a load of projects.\n\n------\ngnaman\nLocation: Bengaluru, India\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Typescript, JS, Angular, Solidity, Ethereum Dapps and Contracts\nprogramming, dApp development, React, Node, along with Golang, Python and some\nJava\n\nLinkedin:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/gnaman](https://www.linkedin.com/in/gnaman)\nEmail: hn@namang.me\n\nAbout: Fulltime software engineer looking for part-time project or contract\nbased work only. I'm not looking for full-time roles. Especially looking to\nwork with non-profits and NGOs.\n\n------\nkumarmd\nLocation: San Francisco Bay Area Remote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Python, PHP/Laravel, JavaScript, Swift / iOS, AWS. Wordpress /\nWoocommerce, Mysql/ DynamoDB / Firebase, PyTorch\n\nI got a PhD in engineering (informatics related) in the bay area, but then\nmoved on to web and app development, and ran a startup using ml/data\nscience/web tech at scale. I have 5 years of experience building web apps,\nscaling backends on AWS, data science, and machine learning. Resume available\non request\n\nEmail: kumarmd@protonmail.com\n\n------\nandreachimney\nLocation: Italy\n\nRemote: Yes (exclusively)\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Rust, C++, Python, Pandas, Javascript, WebGL, Vue.js\n\nRésumé/CV: Please ask via e-mail\n\nEmail: andreaofthechimney@protonmail.com\n\nI'm a software developer and quantitative portfolio manager with 10 years of\nexperience. I like working with statically typed, functionally-oriented\nlanguages (Rust!) on full-stack applications (among these, financial software\nwith which I design, test and deploy trading strategies). I'm also experienced\nin interactive 2D/3D graphics programming.\n\n------\n100-xyz\nIndian Institute of Technology Alumnus, 25+ year of IT and management\nexperience in US and China. Currently at Facebook. Looking for leadership\nroles (Eng. Mgr, Dir of Engg ...). NOT looking for IC roles.\n\nLocation: San Francisco Bay Area\n\nRemote: No\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Fullstack, PHP, Ruby, javascript, nodejs, mysql, Project\nManagement\n\nCV: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sridhar-\nramasami-76a226117/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sridhar-ramasami-76a226117/)\n\nEmail: leisenming AT protonmail DOT com\n\n------\nneuromancer2701\n\n      Location: Central Virginia\n      Remote: YES\n      Willing to relocate: NO\n      Technologies: C++, C, yocto linux, python, embedded \n      Résumé/CV: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nerdking/\n      Email:king.seth@gmail.com\n      Website: openrover.com\n    \n\nEmbedded linux engineer with a passion for C++ and robotics. Remote is what I\nam really targeting but I would be open to a 2-3 week integration period\nonsite and 1 week a quarter back at HQ. Georgia Tech OMSCS 2018\n\n------\nakmittal\nLocation: Bangalore, IN\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: JavaScript, Typescript, NodeJS, graphql, React, Angular, Go\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hmnRTyHsf_muoArhrRxJTvbO...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hmnRTyHsf_muoArhrRxJTvbOHxu3IlPlV9HqBa63on4/edit?usp=drivesdk)\n\nEmail: mittalmailbox@gmail.com\n\nGitHub: [https://github.com/akmittal](https://github.com/akmittal)\n\n6 years of experience building scalable web applications.\n\n------\nmongrelion\nLocation: Amsterdam, The Netherlands\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Expert in automation and programmable infrastructure. Strategic\nconsultant.\n\nRésumé/CV: on a case to case basis\n\nEmail: mail [a t] carlosleon [ d0t ] info\n\nI understand business and I understand tech. I'm the bridge between management\nand your engineering teams. I make sure that your team is aligned with true\nbusiness requirements. Big fan of SRE and DevOps. If you're struggling to get\nthe ball rolling, give me a call. I travel within the EMEA region. Available\nfrom March on.\n\n------\nfountstudio\nSEEKING WORK -- Dev studio with immediate availability for a new project. A\nfew of our full stack engineers are available for a new project or to\nindividually augment a team (remote/contract preference). \\--\n\nLocation: US\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Significant experience with modern Javascript frameworks,\nNodeJS, React, React Native, Angular, Python, AWS and more.\n\nResume/CV:\n[https://www.fountstudio.com/work](https://www.fountstudio.com/work)\n\nEmail: JD {at} fountstudio.com\n\n------\nsmileprem001\n\n      Software and Cloud Architect with 15+ years of experience in both enterprises and startups\n      Location: Sunnyvale, CA, USA\n      Remote: No\n      Willing to relocate: No. Anywhere in the Bay Area is fine.\n      Technologies: GCP, AWS, Java, Python, Cloud Architecture, Software Architecture, API Development\n      Résumé/CV: https://blog.smileprem.com/public/downloads/Premkumar_Masilamani_2020.pdf\n      Email: premkumar.masilamani.2020@gmail.com\n\n------\nkk2\n\n      Location: São Paulo, Brazil\n      Remote: YES\n      Willing to relocate: Yes\n      Technologies: NodeJS, TypeScript, VueJS, JavaScript, React, Vuex, Vue-Router, SCSS, Python, Firebase, MongoDB, MySQL, Git, Bash, Unix, Vuetify, Bootstrap, TailwindCSS\n      Résumé/CV: request via e-mail\n      Email: ferrarivitor@outlook.com.br\n      Github: https://github.com/lkk2\n      Discord: Kk2#2137\n    \n\nCommitment and Responsability, i really need to work! dont hesitate to email\nme!\n\n------\ncascada\nLocation: SE Asia\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: maybe\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://gildedhonour.co](https://gildedhonour.co)\n\nTechnologies: various, will depend on a task\n\nEmail: alex @ serendipia.email\n\n======\n\nI'm Alex. I'll solve your problem in building custom software for you. The\nareas I mostly work with are:\n\n    \n    \n      * e-commerce\n      * security\n    \n      * machine learning\n      * marketing\n    \n      * web\n    \n\n======\n\nMy projects:\n[https://gildedhonour.co/projects](https://gildedhonour.co/projects)\n\n------\nmvlpn\nLocation: Eastern Europe\n\nRemote: Yes (with possible travel a few times a year)\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Java, Kotlin, Spring stack, Spring Boot, SQL, Hibernate,\nArchitecture design, Microservices, Batch processing, AWS, CI/CD, Angular,\nBootstrap\n\nRésumé/CV: [http://bit.ly/2ZHmSIZ](http://bit.ly/2ZHmSIZ)\n\nEmail: mvlupan {{at}} gmail {{dot}} com\n\nThe area where I could provide the most value upfront is FinTech. Looking to\nwork fully remote with occasional visits to the company office (if required).\n\n------\nbelzebalex\nAlex Toussaint\n\nRemote: No\n\nTechnologies: Go, React, C, C++, Python, Docker/Docker Swarm, HTML/CSS/JS,\nRest, Postgresql ..\n\nWilling to relocate: Looking for an internship in July in an English-speaking\ncountry\n\nResume/CV\n[https://alextoussaint.com/about.html](https://alextoussaint.com/about.html)\n\nEmail: me@alextoussaint.com\n\nI'm 18 years old and Co-founded [https://kaktana.com](https://kaktana.com)\n(SaaS) and did freelance work on crypto trading bots.\n\n------\nyibambe\nLocation: Auckland, New Zealand Remote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Java, Javascript, jQuery, HTML, CSS, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Apache,\nAWS, Linux, Web APIs, RESTful APIs.\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-john-\ncucio-150167141...](https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-john-\ncucio-150167141/)\n\nEmail: cuciocj [at] gmail [dot] com\n\nGitHub: [https://github.com/cuciocj](https://github.com/cuciocj)\n\n------\nkarabesque\n\n      Location: oakland, ca\n      Remote: ok!\n      Willing to relocate: let's talk?\n      Technologies: full-stack web dev, technical writing, documentation (sphinx/rst, markdown, latex)\n      Résumé/CV: http://karabonne.com/resume2020.pdf\n      Email: kara at karabonne dot com\n    \n\ni'm mostly looking for support engineer and technical writing positions - need\nhelp putting together a support database, FAQ section, or API documentation?\nhit me up!\n\n------\nankit219\n\n      Location: Mumbai, India\n      Remote: Open to both remote and on site - can work in EU timezone\n      Willing to relocate: Yes, to anywhere in Europe or US. \n      Technologies: Python, Jupyter, skillset more on Growth and Product Side\n      Résumé/CV: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankitmaloo/  [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lVOa9apD-bSCp-omNW_zY2EN1xzlbCeQ/]\n      Email: ankitmaloo.21@gmail.com\n\n------\nskyriser\n\n      SEEKING WORK | Montreal, Canada | Remote\n      Technologies: iOS/macOS/watchOS, Objective-C/Swift\n      Web: http://chriscomeau.com\n      Resume/CV: http://chriscomeau.com/resume\n      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiancomeau\n      GitHub: https://github.com/chriscomeau\n      Portfolio: https://github.com/chriscomeau/Portfolio\n      Email: chris.comeau@skyriser.com\n\n------\nswilliamsio\nLocation: Melbourne, Australia (British Citizen)\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Java, JavaScript, Python, Unity\n\nLinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-alexander-\nwilliams-b708b91...](https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-alexander-\nwilliams-b708b9116/)\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[http://www.swilliams.io/resources/ScottWilliamsCV.pdf](http://www.swilliams.io/resources/ScottWilliamsCV.pdf)\n\nEmail: woohoowilliams@gmail.com\n\n------\nBonteq\n\n      Location: Forestville, CA.\n      Remote: Yes\n      Willing to relocate: No\n      Technologies: \n       -- Python: Vanilla, Flask, Django, Selenium, Scrapy\n       -- Javascript: Vanilla, VueJS, NuxtJS, Vuex, Vuetify, CypressIO\n       -- Hosting: Heroku, Google Cloud Platform, Google Cloud Run, Pythonanywhere, Netlify\n       -- Docker\n       -- git\n       -- PostgreSQL\n      Résumé/CV: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cody-bontecou/\n      Email: bontecouc@gmail.com\n\n------\nmebassett\nLocation: London\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: People, Processes, Product, Data. Also skilled with Haskell,\nnode, postgresql, python, tensorflow, aws, gcp.\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://mebassett.info/cv.pdf](https://mebassett.info/cv.pdf)\n\nemail: see profile.\n\nStartup cofounder/CTO. I can help with:\n\n\\- building an mvp\n\n\\- finding product/market fit\n\n\\- building a team\n\n\\- minimizing bugs and improving shipping times by improving engineering and\nproduct management processes\n\n\\- transitions/transformations\n\n\\- due diligence and pre-sales support.\n\nOpen to fractional/interim/contract roles.\n\n------\npapzi\nLocation: Brisbane, Australia\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Ruby, Rails, Javascript, React\n\nLinkedIn:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulangell2/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulangell2/)\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ApTxYPYgBBu0O26hUDHxODBxidI...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ApTxYPYgBBu0O26hUDHxODBxidIY__w2/view)\n\nEmail: paulangell@fastmail.com\n\n------\nmzitelli\nLocation: São Paulo, Brazil\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: JavaScript, TypeScript, React/React Native, Redux, Redux-saga,\nNode.js, Express, Elixir, Phoenix, Postgres, Java, Kotlin, Android, OpenGL,\nRxJava, Python, Tensorflow.\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mnofYV3pFbGNVPyZWLZCw1w-...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mnofYV3pFbGNVPyZWLZCw1w-B-v4Z_xRwgsNfKaA9Fw/edit?usp=sharing)\n\nEmail: zitellimateus@gmail.com\n\n------\nok_coo\nLocation: Chicago\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Not at this time, would be willing in the future\n\nTechnologies: PHP (Laravel), Python (Flask), HTML/CSS/JS, typical web dev\nstuff\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://peteherbst.com/resume](https://peteherbst.com/resume)\n\nEmail: pete [at] peteherbst [dot] com\n\nHistory: Mostly full-stack web dev, focused on PHP (Laravel) and a little bit\nof Python with Flask. Looking to expand myself and work on something more\nchallenging than what I have been doing.\n\n------\ngenagain\nLocation: Boston, MA\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Python, Ruby, Javascript, React.js, SQL, PostgreSQL,\nElasticsearch, Redis, Hive, Spark, Airflow, Hadoop\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WnZBpYh6GPGDdp4SvsCjwV1-OmJ...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WnZBpYh6GPGDdp4SvsCjwV1-OmJZocXf/view?usp=sharing)\n\nEmail: myself@genohta.com\n\nPersonal Website: genohta.com\n\nI'm Gen and have 3 years of full-stack web development experience.\n\n------\nscottappleton\n\n      Location: Vancouver, BC Canada\n      Remote: Yes\n      Willing to relocate: Yes (Anywhere in Canada/US)\n      Technologies: Javascript, React, NodeJS, ExpressJS, Jest, HTML5, CSS3, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Jest\n      Résumé/CV: https://resume.creddle.io/resume/731ed6e0sa\n      Email: scottappleton09@gmail.com\n    \n\nRecent graduate looking for entry level opportunities in Web Development.\nExperienced in both front and back-end.\n\n------\nesamsonov\nHi there, I‘m Evgeny!\n\nI‘m an experienced JavaScript developer focusing on fast-growing startups.\n\nLocation: Amsterdam, The Netherlands\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: JavaScript/TypeScript, NodeJS, React, NextJS, Redux, AWS (I'm a\nCertified Cloud Practitioner), etc.\n\nLinkedIn:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/ycagwyw](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ycagwyw)\n\nPersonal: [https://esamsonov.com](https://esamsonov.com)\n\nEmail: iam@esamsonov.com\n\n------\nnataz\nLocation: Washington DC metro area Remote: No Willing to relocate: No\nTechnologies: Link analysis tools, basic database skills, basic data\nvisualization and GIS skills\n\nRésumé/CV: Looking for new challenges and opportunities - note, I don’t have a\ntraditional HN dev background, but I suspect more than a few companies on this\nboard intersect with my world...\n\nKnowledge/Skills:\n\n\\- Strong background in navigating and managing the US government contracting\nprocess from both sides of the table as both a federal manager and a\ngovernment contractor\n\n\\- Experience and insight into working with the US National Lab complex\n\n\\- Demonstrated success in managing globally distributed teams that bring\nmultimillion-dollar projects in on time and on budget with a high degree of\nquality\n\n\\- Successfully negotiated security agreements and contracts with dozens of\nforeign government agencies\n\n\\- Proven history of building diverse, deeply integrated teams, with diverse\nskill sets (security, intelligence, science, logistics, engineering, IT, and\ncommunications) to design solutions to complex problems in very challenging\nenvironments\n\n\\- Subject matter expert on multiple NSC working groups, consultant to\nINTERPOL, office interlocutor with IC, DOJ, and DOD elements\n\n\\- Familiar with both executive branch/department level/OMB and congressional\nauthorization and appropriation process\n\nWhat I do now:\n\n\\- Program Director working in a National Security field holding an active\nQ/TS/SCI w/ poly\n\n\\- Manage a ~$100M+ annual budget w/ oversight of 150+ FTEs organized into\ndistributed teams working on complex projects in 30+ foreign countries across\nthe globe\n\n\\- GS15 equivalent with both a policy and program implementation background at\nsenior USG leadership level\n\nPrevious work includes: physical and political risk assessments for clients\noperating in potentially dangerous environments, sub-contractor as a national\nsecurity subject matter expert for multiple US National Laboratories, sub-\ncontractor for Palantir sub (back when they used to use other companies for\nforward deployed), research analyst at a policy institute on defense and\nintelligence topics, other interesting stuff…\n\nEmail: JayCeeJobOffers@gmail.com\n\n------\nrichardgill88\nLocation: London, UK\n\nRemote: London or Remote\n\nWilling to relocate: No, but open to occasional travel\n\nTechnologies: React, React Native, Node, RESTFful APIs, Firebase, Elixir, SQL\nDatabases, Cloud.\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardgill3/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardgill3/)\n\nPortfolio: [http://tiny.cc/rg-portfolio](http://tiny.cc/rg-portfolio)\n\nEmail: richard [at] z-dev [dot] com\n\n------\nem-bee\nLocation: european, living in china\n\nRemote: yes, can travel (20%)\n\nWilling to relocate: only with whole family\n\nTechnologies: Linux, frontend and backend webdevelopment, prototyping.\n\nRésumé/CV: on request (20 years experience with web development, team lead,\nCTO)\n\nEmail: see profile.\n\nI am open to remote contract opportunities as a senior developer, teamlead,\npart-time or full-time CTO, trainer, mentor\n\nI am also able to build up a development team for you here in china, to help\nyou enter the chinese market or take advantage of chinese resources.\n\n------\njulienmarie\nJulien M. ( French )\n\nLocation: Manila, Philippines\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Maybe\n\nTechnologies: Elixir, Erlang, React, JS, PHP, SQL (Postgres/MySQL), Docker,\nDevops\n\nResume:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/julienmarie/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/julienmarie/)\n\nEmail: jm [at] producture [dot] com\n\n\\---\n\nBeen CTO, Head of Product and Head of Marketing in multiple companies ( Social\nNetworks – Friendster! – Ecommerce, Dating, Saas ).\n\nBuilder. Problem Solver. Highly technological. 15 yrs of experience.\n\n------\nchriscyber\nLocation: China (Shanghai), Germany (Frankfurt)\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, Prometheus, Grafana, Redis,\nDjango, CI/CD, Ansible, Elastic, Ethereum, Bitcoin, Python, C++, Javascript,\nGo, SQL, Azure, AWS, AlibabaCloud\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://nextoa.com/resume/wangwenpei-\nen/](https://nextoa.com/resume/wangwenpei-en/)\n\nEmail: chris@sagescaling.com\n\n10+ years DevOps experience - sagescaling.com\n\n------\nadvw-hireme\nLocation: Seattle, WA\n\nRemote: Maybe\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: GCP (esp GCE, GAE, GCS, Spanner, Cloud SQL, BigQuery), Python C,\nC++, Java, some TypeScript, Django (incl rest framework), Drupal, some\nAngular, Linux, MySQL\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://docs.google.com/document/d/10YuxcfZj5Q4oyZ2WtHXI0XY3...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/10YuxcfZj5Q4oyZ2WtHXI0XY3OjW9RF52EehgdmT8IkY/preview)\n\nEmail: david at newg dot as\n\n------\nhelloitjase\nLocation: San Francisco, Bay Area\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Javascript, ES6, React, NodeJS, Express, PostgreSQL, Apache\nCassandra, MongoDB, Webpack\n\nLinkedin:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/helloitjase/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/helloitjase/)\n\nEmail: jason(dot)sl(dot)chen[at]gmail(dot)com\n\nI am a full stack web developer focused on Javascript. Looking to work at a\nstartup preferably, open to companies in the entire Bay Area.\n\n------\nshreve\nLocation: Ypsilanti, MI\n\nRemote: Yes, only\n\nTechnologies: Golang, C++, Ruby, Linux\n\nRésumé: [https://shreve.io/resume.pdf](https://shreve.io/resume.pdf)\n\nEmail: jacob@shreve.io\n\nI'm a soon-to-be CS BSE looking for a junior software engineering role\nstarting in May. I spent 6 years as a Rails developer, but went to school to\nhelp me pivot to systems programming. I want a job that will help me grow my\nsecurity and distributed systems knowledge.\n\n------\nadblu\nLocation: Poland, Silesia, Gliwice/Katowice Remote: Yes Willing to relocate:\nonly surrounding cities. Technologies: Python, Tableau, Matlab, C++, Power BI,\nGitHub, Excel, PowerPoint, LaTeX, MapInfo Résumé/CV:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/aoramus/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/aoramus/)\nEmail: adrian.oramus@gmail.com\n\n------\nshashanoid\nLocation: Philadelphia, PA\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes (Including International Locations)\n\nTechnologies: TypeScript, Python, React, Ruby on Rails, C#, AWS, Docker\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://shashwatsingh.me/data/shashwat-\nresume.pdf](https://shashwatsingh.me/data/shashwat-resume.pdf)\n\nEmail: shashanoid@gmail.com\n\nGithub: [https://github.com/shashanoid](https://github.com/shashanoid)\n\n------\nsaltmaster\nI enjoy working as a full stack developer but have been more focused on front\nend in the past year. I’m a fast learner and have been developing in a few\nlanguages for the last 10 years. Currently working in Rotterdam but I'm open\nto new opportunities.\n\nLocation: Rotterdam, NL / The Netherlands\n\nRemote: No\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: PHP, JS, MySQL, Node, Vue\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://umja.nl/](https://umja.nl/)\n\nEmail: tim@umja.nl\n\n------\ndeepakvig180\nLocation: Vancouver, Canada Remote: Yes Willing to relocate: No Technologies:\nRuby on Rails, JavaScript, Go; NodeJS, GraphQL, React/Vue, HTML/CSS, Docker\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZnLE4Qo3U5lpgASM-B7ueaSgTj...](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZnLE4Qo3U5lpgASM-B7ueaSgTj0F5Iko)\nEmail: deepakvig@gmail.com\n\n------\naswathrao\nLocation: TamilNadu,India Remote: Yes Willing to relocate: Yes Technologies:\nHTML, CSS , Javascript , React, Python Résumé/CV:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/aswathknm/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/aswathknm/)\nEmail: aswathm78@gmail.com\n\nHey I haven't updated my linkedin because of being a freelancer. But willing\nto wo\n\n------\ncomoMagna\nLocation: Vancouver, BC, Canada\n\nRemote: Not required\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Java, C, C++, AWS, Node.js, React, JavaScript/HTML/CSS,\nTypeScript, Python, SQL, Git, Python and more\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://www.osmanhajiyev.com/websiteDocuments/Osman-\nHajiyev-...](https://www.osmanhajiyev.com/websiteDocuments/Osman-Hajiyev-\nResume.pdf)\n\nEmail: osman.hajiyev@gmail.com\n\n------\nhireme-thrwaway\nRuby on Rails dev with over 10+ years large scale, production Rails experience\nlooking for salaried position with health benefits for 3 days / week for 50%\nof market salary. Currently doing Rails remote for a FAANG company. It is a\ngreat job, but more than I need at this point.\n\n\\--\n\nLocation: West coast\n\nRemote: Yes, with multiple years of remote experience at large companies.\n\nWilling to relocate: No.\n\nTechnologies: Ruby on Rails, AWS, and stuff like that.\n\nEmail: rubyonrails@tutanota.com\n\n------\nfeep\n\n      Location: San Luis Obispo, CA\n      Remote: Preferred\n      Willing to relocate: Yes\n      Technologies: Mostly Python, 20 years\n      Résumé/CV: On request\n      Email: feepish at gmail\n    \n\nLooking for automated testing/QA position. Language/framework/toolkit not\nimportant. If the testing tools are fun, I'll give it a shot.\n\nContact me, I'll send a cover letter and resume.\n\nthanks, rusty\n\n------\ndimm\nLocation: Budapest\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Javascript ES6, React, HTML5, CSS3 Résumé/CV:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/dimitrimarion/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dimitrimarion/)\nand [https://www.dimitrimarion.com/](https://www.dimitrimarion.com/)\n\nEmail: contact@dimitrimarion.com\n\n------\nrement\nLocation: Virginia Beach, VA\n\nRemote: Yes (preferred)\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Python, Ruby, JavaScript, PHP, Docker, Web, GIS\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://tuckerchapman.com/resume](https://tuckerchapman.com/resume)\n\nEmail: tucker.r.chapman@gmail.com\n\nFullstack Open Source enthusiast that is passionate about building web\napplications that are enjoyable to use, easy to maintain, and provide value to\nend users.\n\n------\nvaltism\nFullstack developer from Australia looking to work abroad (preferably US or\nCanada). Experience with React, JS, Node, C#, .Net, SQL, AWS, others.\n\n    \n    \n      Location: Paris, France\n      Remote: No\n      Willing to relocate: Yes\n      Technologies: React\n      Résumé/CV: https://pdfhost.io/v/FzJdhWYt_Dan_CV_International.pdf\n      Email: daniel4wood@icloud.com\n\n------\nranjanprj\nLocation: Bangalore, India Remote: Yes Willing to relocate: Yes Technologies:\nPython, Django, Celery, PostgreSQL, K8s Résumé/CV:\n[https://drive.google.com/open?id=1O2Q_4OuKJuM0ljm98TrYN2iTLo...](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1O2Q_4OuKJuM0ljm98TrYN2iTLoxDRaX_)\nEmail: ranjanprj@gmail.com\n\n------\ncodq\nSEEKING WORK | Brand & Content Marketing, Writing\n\nLocation: New York City\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Possibly\n\nTechnologies: Python, MySQL; primarily an SEO-focused content manager and\nmarketer, seeking to grow startups via brand development and content marketing\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[http://www.linkedin.com/in/brooksrocco](http://www.linkedin.com/in/brooksrocco)\n\nEmail: brooks@brookside.media\n\n------\nhueyjj\nLocation: Bay Area (current), Los Angeles, New York City, New Jersey, Seattle\n\nRemote: No\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Java Spring, Javascript ES6\n\nResume/CV: Email me for a copy\n\nEmail: jasper (no space) jeng (at) gmail (dot) com\n\nGithub: github.com/{username}\n\nNew grad of Dec. 2019. I've done two internships in the Bay Area. I play with\nGo and React/Typescript on my own time. Looking for a place to grind,\npreferably a startup or high-paced environment.\n\n------\n_-___________-_\nLocation: Hong Kong & London\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Rust, Python, C/C++, Kubernetes, RabbitMQ, PostgreSQL, Linux\nsysadmin & DevOps, deep networking & protocols knowledge\n\nEmail: hnunderscores@protonmail.com\n\nRésumé: email me for a copy\n\n15 years in tech, have recently hired & lead teams and architected solutions\nto complex problems. Very interested in early- or very-early-stage startups\nsolving interesting problems.\n\n------\nplumenator\n\n      Location: Singapore, want to move to Canada (Vancouver preferably, but I'm open to other locations)\n      Remote: Might be an option in 3-4 months\n      Willing to relocate: Yes\n      Technologies: Rust, Haskell, C++\n      Résumé/CV: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karthikravikanti/\n      Email: karthik.ravikanti@gmail.com\n\n------\ndmautz\nLocation: Washington, DC\n\nRemote: yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Denver/New Orleans\n\nTechnologies: Ruby on Rails, Python, PySpark, Javascript\n\nResume/CV: [https://bit.ly/2SNxjcQ](https://bit.ly/2SNxjcQ)\n\nEmail: dmautz@gmail.com\n\n10 years working at the US Treasury as a software and ETL developer. Looking\nto move to Denver or New Orleans. Self taught, easily learns new technologies.\nFull stack developer.\n\n------\nquicko106464\nLocation: Cleveland, OH\n\nRemote: If possible\n\nFull Time Only\n\nWilling to relocate: Columbus, Pittsburgh\n\nTechnologies: Data Engineering, Python, Scala, SQL, Linux, Spark, Airflow\n\nResume: On Request\n\nEmail: owen.w.quick {at} gmail.com\n\nLooking for a data engineering position\n\n3 years data engineering in the healthcare industry, mainly using the Cloudera\nHadoop stack and Airflow. I'm always interested in learning new technologies\nand working in new industries. Willing to relocate if necessary.\n\n~~~\nfaehnrich\nHello fellow Clevelander.\n\nYou might be interested in this Cleveland-area list of tech companies and\nresources.\n\n[https://github.com/mrfright/cleveland-\ntech/](https://github.com/mrfright/cleveland-tech/)\n\n------\nrusye\nLocation: Portland, OR\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies:\n\n\\--MongoDb, Express, React, Node (MERN), JavaScript, NoSQL, SQL, HTML, CSS\n\n\\--Going to Learn GraphQL next\n\nRésumé:\n[https://www.russcodes.com/russ_codes_resume.pdf](https://www.russcodes.com/russ_codes_resume.pdf)\n\nEmail: russ [at] russcodes.com\n\nAbout Me: I'm a boot camp grad looking for an entry level position as a\nsoftware developer or a full-stack developer\n\n------\nabbe98\nLocation: Sweden\n\nRemote: no\n\nWilling to relocate: yes\n\nTechnologies: Python, JavaScript, Vue, Java, PHP, HTML, CSS\n\nRésumé/CV: on a case to case basis\n\nEmail: albin(dot]post{at)gmail.com\n\nCurrently tech lead/business developer at an government agency focusing on R&D\n(for the last 2 1/5 years). Extra passionate about maps, web-accessibility,\nand linked data. Looking for a job preferably outside of Scandinavia related\nclimate or journalism.\n\n------\nlongshorej\nLocation: Chicago\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Scala, Akka, Rust, Java, React, TypeScript, JavaScript, Python,\nBash, Kafka, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Chronicle Queue, CQRS, Event Sourcing,\nRDBMS, TDD\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://www.jasonlongshore.com/longshore-jason-\nresume.pdf](https://www.jasonlongshore.com/longshore-jason-resume.pdf)\n\nEmail: hello@jasonlongshore.com\n\n------\nmrdmnd\nLocation: San Francisco Bay Area\n\nRemote: Yes, flexible.\n\nWilling to relocate: no\n\nTechnologies: C, C++, Python, Scala, Mathematica, Matlab\n\nResume: Contact me directly\n\nEmail: mttrdmnd@gmail.com\n\n\\--\n\nInterested in research grade problems. MIT-trained computational geometer.\nCurrent interests include earth science prediction problems, robotics, and\ngeometric optimization.\n\nMost recently worked at Google X as balloon systems simulation engineer.\nContact me for some wild stories about airspace ;)\n\n------\nthemanmaran\nLocation: SF Bay area.\n\nRemote: On-site preferred, remote is fine.\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: JavaScript/Typescript, Node.js, WebGL, AWS, MongoDB, PostgreSQL,\nReact/Redux. Can operate across the entire stack but prefer frontend and UX\nrelated work.\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://www.tylermaran.com/](https://www.tylermaran.com/)\n\nEmail: tyler.maran@gmail.com\n\n------\nhnhiring0120\nData Engineer.\n\nI have experience with large scale data storage and modeling, building\nstreaming and batch processing pipelines using PySpark, Kafka and Flink,\noptimizing ETL jobs, and workflow scheudling using Airflow.\n\nLocation: Paris, France\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Python (proficient), Java (familiar), Spark/PySpark, Flink,\nKafka, Airflow, Hbase, ElasticSearch, Docker, SQL, Linux.\n\nRésumé/CV: On request\n\nEmail: hn.hr.yamz@gmail.com\n\n------\nclaudio-viola\nLocation: Anywhere\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to Relocate: Maybe\n\nTechnologies: Node.js , Javascript, Graphql, API, Backend Development,\nMicroservices, k8s, Docker\n\nResume: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudio-\nviola/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudio-viola/)\n\nEmail: [http://scr.im/3zi3](http://scr.im/3zi3)\n\n------\nRafaell4\n\n      Location: Colombia\n      Remote: No\n      Willing to relocate: Yes\n      Technologies: React Native, iOS, GraphQL, JavaScript\n      Résumé/CV: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10qtJLfB4ULxyXhT667sMEK4vDOEPFVvD/view?usp=sharing\n      Email: rvillarreal416@gmail.com\n      GitHub: https://github.com/Rafaell416\n\n------\nrossboss\nLocation: Atlanta Remote: Yes (preferred) Willing to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Javascript, TypeScript, Angular, Vue, Node.js, C#, Python, SQL.\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/ross-p/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ross-p/)\n(email for additional info)\n\nEmail: ross.palmer.dev@gmail.com\n\nlooking for fun and exciting projects!\n\n------\nCameronLloyd\nLocation: Columbus, Oh\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Would prefer it\n\nTechnologies: Java, Python, Javascript, Angular, AWS, Docker, Learning React\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/11x0S8NUJARU96t0hn-\nldhzzeGgV...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/11x0S8NUJARU96t0hn-\nldhzzeGgVyjGEO/view?usp=sharing)\n\nEmail: lloyd.cameront@gmail.com\n\n------\ndijit\nLocation: Malmo, Sweden / Copenhagen, Denmark\n\nRemote: Yes, preffered\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Saltstack, terraform, Elasticsearch, Golang, Rust, Python,\nGitlab-CI\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://dijit.sh/resume.pdf](https://dijit.sh/resume.pdf)\n\nEmail: dijit@sh.drk.sc\n\n\\--\n\nI'm passionate about SRE based roles, I'm relatively flexible and incredibly\neager to encounter larger challenges.\n\n------\nFailMore\nJunior Developer\n\nLocation: London, UK\n\nRemote: No\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: (Le Wagon Full-Stack Bootcamp) Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, HTML,\nSCSS, mySQL\n\nRésumé/CV:\n\n2 years of user/revenue/margin 'growth' (and working with development teams to\ndo the 'hacking' part)\n\n2 years as an investment analyst at a top tier European VC\n\n2 years running my own company (TechCruch Disrupt nominated)\n\nEmail for full details of the above\n\nEmail: eichler (dot) summers (at) gmail.com\n\nThanks!\n\n------\nremoteware\nLocation: USA\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Ruby, Ruby on Rails / Elixir, Phoenix / Java / JavaScript, React\n/ Python / Go / PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redshift, DynamoDB, Redis / AWS\n\nResume: upon request\n\nEmail: remote.ware.sd@gmail.com\n\nExperienced full-stack developer looking to work remotely. Currently a SDE at\nAWS for the past 6+ years and I am ready for new challenges/opportunities.\n\n------\necu\nLocation: Greater Philadelphia Area\n\nRemote: Preferred\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Solr\\Lucene, Python, R, C#\\\\.net core, MySql, MSSQL, Ansible\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RDDZ-\nrcmgWsQ9jU_401ldTPqY6Q...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RDDZ-\nrcmgWsQ9jU_401ldTPqY6Q6G_O_/view?usp=sharing)\n\nEmail: chris@ulicny.io\n\n------\nakashbrdj\n\n      Location: Bangalore, India\n      Remote: Yes\n      Willing to relocate: Yes\n      Technologies: Javascript, React, Redux, Typescript, Golang\n      Résumé/CV: https://in.linkedin.com/in/akashbdj91\n      Email: akashbdj@gmail.com\n    \n\nLooking for a frontend role, but happy to work in a full stack type of a role\nas well.\n\n------\nvallode\nProblem solver and self-started web developer based in London with over 4\nyears of experience.\n\nI am heavily focused on UX/UI. Looking for full-time or part-time and anything\nin between.\n\n\\--\n\nLocation: London, UK\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: no\n\nTechnologies: Typescript, Angular, PHP, Python\n\nRésumé/CV: Email for a copy, also see\n[https://vallode.com/](https://vallode.com/)\n\nEmail: vallode@protonmail.com\n\n------\nmnoorani\nLocation: Sydney, Australia\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: C#, Java, AWS, SQL, API, Databases\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://moiznoorani.com/resume/](https://moiznoorani.com/resume/)\n\nEmail: moiz.noorani1@gmail.com\n\nI'm looking for opportunities only in Australia to join my family there. I'm\ncurrently working full-time in Frankfurt, Germany.\n\n------\nvarunpsr\nLocation: Pune, India\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No, but open to travel\n\nTechnologies: Python, Django, Celery, Scrapy, ReactJS, React Native, RabbitMQ,\nDocker, RESTFful APIs, AWS, Postgres, GraphQL, C#, .NET\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://stackoverflow.com/cv/varunpsr](https://stackoverflow.com/cv/varunpsr)\n\nEmail: varun.rathore@outlook.com\n\n------\nJd\n\n      Location: Moscow\n    \n      Remote: Yes \n    \n      Willing to relocate: Yes\n    \n      Technologies: Javascript, Solidity, Ruby, Enterprise Stack, Haskell, Java\n    \n      Résumé/CV: https://github.com/fractastical/distributed-governance/blob/master/my_experiments.md\n    \n      Email: joel@swarm.com\n\n------\ngerosan\nLocation: Ohio (but don't want to stay here)\n\nRemote: Not required\n\nWilling to relocate: Prefer to (Western Region of US)\n\nTechnologies: Swift, Java, Kotlin, ARKit, ARCore\n\nRésumé/CV: Ask me on LinkedIn\n\nEmail: Connect with me on LinkedIn\n\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/sorianog/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sorianog/)\n\n------\nfishbone\nLocation: South East US\n\nRemote: yes\n\nWilling to relocate: no\n\nTechnologies: 15 years of full stack web development - Go, Node, C#, Vue,\nReact, SQL, Azure, GCP and many others\n\nResume: upon request\n\nGitHub: [https://github.com/freeman-g](https://github.com/freeman-g)\n\nEmail: googerb at gmail\n\nCertified Scrum Product Owner\n\nCertified Open Group IT Specialist\n\nVue Docs Contributor\n\nWilling to build you a sample project\n\nInterested in 30 hour, highly productive week\n\nThank you!\n\n------\nakzfowl\nLocation: The Bay area.\n\nRemote: Not preferred at present.\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes.\n\nTechnologies: Python, C#, Java, Node.js, WebGL, OpenGL, Javascript/Typescript.\nCan operate across the entire stack but tend to prefer backend and\ninfrastructure related work. Can work with functional languages. Recently been\nexploring Golang.\n\nCV: Available by email.\n\nEmail: akshay10791@gmail.com\n\n------\ntcvt\nLocation: Oregon, US\n\nRemote: No\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Scala, Typescript, SQS, DynamoDB, EC2, Android, Docker\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://toddcooke.github.io/Todd_Cooke_Resume.pdf](https://toddcooke.github.io/Todd_Cooke_Resume.pdf)\n\nEmail: toddcookevt@gmail.com\n\n1.5 years professional experience mostly using Scala and various AWS services.\n\n------\nno-dr-onboard\nLocation: Austin, Texas, USA\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to Relocate: No thank you.\n\nExperience: Pentesting/VA/RedTeaming (physical, network, application,\nwireless), Application SAST/DAST (C#,Go,C/C++), Security Research, Sysadmin,\nRed Team Infrastructure, Custom Cloud Security Solutions\n\nResume/CV: linkedin.com/in/gmalfie/\n\nEmail: alfa.ro.greg at gmail.com\n\n------\njczhang\n\n      Location: Los Angeles\n      Willing to relocate: Yes\n      Résumé/CV: Available on request\n      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayseezhang\n      Email: jczhang@ucla.edu\n    \n\nFormer software engineer and analytics consultant looking to transition to PM\nroles.\n\n------\ntapland\nLocation: Sweden\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes, also Internationally\n\nPrimary technologies: COBOL & RPG IV (Mainly OpenVMS, some AS/400, want to\nlearn Z). SQL/RDB\n\nSecondary tech: JS, DB2, Micro Focus Cobol.net\n\nRésumé/CV: skoog.dev for my LinkedIn, JS rework in progress\n\nEmail: hn@skoog.dev\n\nAlso interested in knowing what stacks involving COBOL are out there for my\nown personal development.\n\n------\nrahk\nLocation: Sweden\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: PHP, Back-end Development, REST, Continuous Integration,\nSymfony, GNU/Linux, MariaDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Docker\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://hallabro.nu/files/resume.pdf](https://hallabro.nu/files/resume.pdf)\n\nEmail: Attached in my resume.\n\n------\nramanujank\nLocation: India/Estonia\n\nRemote: Sure!\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Developer Advocacy, Technology Evangelism\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7vV8rGtj7TaXdJVnpSaHI4Mm...](https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_7vV8rGtj7TaXdJVnpSaHI4Mm9SWWxmTE9GbndOaEhnMkxV)\n\nEmail: ramanujank@gmail.com\n\n------\ns2000\nExperienced software engineer with 10+ years of professional experience\nincluding stint as CTO and Lead Engineer.\n\nLocation: Texas Remote: Yes Willing to relocate: No Tech: Ruby on Rails,\nJavascript, HTML, CSS, Vue.js, React, Node.js, Python, ElasticSearch, and\nmore. Email: technologyexpert @ protonmail.com\n\n~~~\njonovate\nTexas is big, which city?\n\n------\nsenderista\nLocation: Seattle area\n\nRemote: Yes, or onsite in Seattle area, or both\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Rust, Java, Python, SQL, Linux, Git, AWS, PostgreSQL, Redis\n\nGitHub: [https://github.com/senderista](https://github.com/senderista)\n\nLinkedIn:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobinbaker/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobinbaker/)\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://www.dropbox.com/s/ypsf998y2kysv3g/TobinBaker_Resume....](https://www.dropbox.com/s/ypsf998y2kysv3g/TobinBaker_Resume.pdf?dl=0)\n\nEmail: tobin.d.baker@gmail.com\n\nI'm an experienced backend engineer who's worked on distributed systems at\nlarge scale in both industry and academia, including at AWS and the University\nof Washington Database Group. I'm mostly language-agnostic but have recently\ndeveloped an affinity for Rust and would enjoy an opportunity to use it at\nwork. I enjoy mining the academic literature for algorithms and data\nstructures that could be useful in industry: a couple examples are my projects\n[https://github.com/senderista/sorted-\nvec](https://github.com/senderista/sorted-vec) and\n[https://github.com/senderista/hashtable-\nbenchmarks](https://github.com/senderista/hashtable-benchmarks), which\nimplement and benchmark little-known but promising papers from 1979 (Munro's\n2-level rotated array) and 1973 (Knuth's bidirectional linear probing)\nrespectively. Particular academic areas of interest include streaming and\nsketching algorithms, hash tables, and succinct data structures. I also have\nconsiderable experience in DevOps/cloud deployment, including both on AWS and\ninside AWS itself. Here are docs for an Ansible-based cloud deployment tool I\nwrote for the University of Washington's Myria distributed OLAP database:\n[http://myria.cs.washington.edu/docs/myria-\nec2](http://myria.cs.washington.edu/docs/myria-ec2).\n\nI am particularly interested in technically challenging projects which\ntangibly improve the lives of their users, and in working environments which\nfoster learning, collaboration, empathy, and inclusion. I would appreciate the\nopportunity to work remotely at least 1-2 days/week.\n\n------\nnikivi\nLocation: London, UK\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: React/TypeScript/Go/Python\n\nCV: [https://nikitavoloboev.xyz/cv.pdf](https://nikitavoloboev.xyz/cv.pdf)\n\nGitHub: [https://github.com/nikitavoloboev](https://github.com/nikitavoloboev)\n\nEmail: In CV\n\n------\nphomer\nLocation: Toronto\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Go, Java, C\n\nRésumé/CV:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulhomer/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulhomer/)\n\nEmail: paulwhomer@gmail.com\n\n30 years of experience. Looking for something new and interesting. Prefer\nbackend/systems programming.\n\n------\nprithsr\nLocation: Greensboro, NC\n\nRemote: no\n\nWilling to relocate: yes\n\nTechnologies: HTML, CSS, C++ (basic knowledge), R, Python (learning at the\nmoment)\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/prithvi-\nrakhyani-367075b2/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/prithvi-rakhyani-367075b2/)\n\nEmail: priths@me.com\n\n------\nsumitjami\n\n      Location: Nürnberg, Germany\n      Remote: Yes\n      Willing to relocate: No\n      Technologies: Python, Ruby, Golang, Kafka, Prometheus, data pipelines, OpenStack, Kubernetes, Django. etc\n      Résumé/CV: http://bit.ly/2YtMmZX (google drive)\n      Email: in resume\n\n------\nluord\nLocation: Colombia\n\nRemote: Yes (preferred)\n\nWilling to relocate: Depends on the project and country.\n\nTechnologies:\n\n\\- Python (Django, Flask, SQLAlchemy, Celery).\n\n\\- JavaScript (Vue, React, Node, Typescript).\n\n\\- Operations: Docker, Ansible, GCP.\n\n\\- Other: PostgreSQL, Bash.\n\nResume/CV: [https://luord.com/pages/resume](https://luord.com/pages/resume)\n\nEmail: lo@luord.com\n\n------\nmhmd130330\nLocation: Dallas, TX\n\nRemote: No\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Typescript, AWS, Javascript, HTML, CSS, Python, Java, C#, SQL\n\nResume/CV: Available on Demand\n\nEmail: mhmd130330@gmail.com\n\nWorking at a major car manufacturing firm. Maintain a website built on\nbackbone.js as well as a Node.js web application as well.\n\nCurrently developing a serverless backend API with AWS and typescript.\n\n------\nksawerykot\nLocation: Poland / Leeds UK\n\nRemote: yes, preferably\n\nWilling to relocate: in the short term only\n\nTechnologies: Clouds (AWS, Asure, GCE), Terraform, Kubernetes, Docker, CI/CD,\nPython/Golang\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://bit.ly/36kJamp](https://bit.ly/36kJamp)\n\nEmail: ksawery.kotewicz@gmail.com\n\n------\nmflare\nLocation: Germany\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No (but occasional travel/onsite is ok)\n\nTechnologies: Java (Android, SWT, Swing, JSF/PrimeFaces), C, C++, SQL\n(MySQL/MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQLite), Linux\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://t1p.de/c8rx12](https://t1p.de/c8rx12)\n\nEmail: in resume\n\n------\ncamilogiraldo\nLocation: Medellín, Col Remote: YES - Experienced\n\nWilling to relocate: YES\n\nTechnologies: React/redux, Angular, NGRX, node.js, bootstrap/tailwindcss,\nHTML/CCSS, es6/typescript,GIT\n\nRésumé/CV: camilogiraldo.co -linkedin.com/in/camilogiraldo91/\n\nEmail: camilogiraldo91@gmail.com\n\n------\nvouhardy\nLocation: London\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Audio technologies such as JUCE, AudioKit. Swift, JS, Python,\nC/C++, RabbitMQ, AWS\n\nEmail: can@ince.io\n\nRésumé: email me for a copy or see ince.io\n\n7 years in tech, have done big media projects and built big scale stacks,\ninterested in early-stage startups solving interesting problems\n\n------\nthoughtpalette\nSenior Front-End Engineer, Architect Nine years of client side development\nexperience\n\nLocation: Chicago IL\n\nRemote: Preferred\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: JS, TS, CSS, HTML, SPAs, Angular, etc\n\nResume: By Request\n\nEmail: ${hnUserName}chris@gmail.com\n\nSite: [https://thoughtpalette.com](https://thoughtpalette.com)\n\n------\njoshmanders\nLocation: Dubuque, Iowa, USA\n\nRemote: Required, but willing to travel periodically.\n\nWilling to relocate: Can't due to responsibilities.\n\nTechnologies: Node.js, React, React-Native, GraphQL, Vue, TypeScript,\nPostgreSQL, Docker, Microservices, Kubernetes.\n\nRésumé/CV: Available upon request.\n\nEmail: josh@joshmanders.com\n\n------\njsta2020\nLocation: San Francisco\n\nRemote: Yes, flexible\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: C/C++, Python, ML (Tensorflow), Java, SQL, Go\n\nResume: On request\n\nEmail: bbjobsearch20@gmail.com\n\nI've spent the last 7 years at BigTechCo working on serving ML models at\nscale. If you're a midsize company with growing pains, I'm here to help :)\n\n------\nbrian-b\nHello! I'm looking for work as a remote iOS engineer with 10 years experience\non many broad and complex apps.\n\nLocation: Kansas - Central Time Zone\n\nRemote: YES\n\nWilling to relocate: Not right now\n\nTechnologies: iOS, iPhone, iPad, Objective-C, Swift, Architecture, C++, C#\n\nRésumé/CV: on request\n\nEmail: brian.barn.hart+hn@gmail.com\n\n------\nsolathecoder\nLocation: Lagos, Nigeria\n\nRemote: Preferred\n\nWilling to relocate: Not yet, still studying in Lagos\n\nTechnologies: Javascript, Node.js, React, MongoDb, PostgreSQL,\nPython(intermediate), C++(I use it for solving programming challenges)\n\nResume: available on request\n\nEmail: olusola.samuel.oluwatobi@gmail.com\n\nGithub username: olusamimaths\n\n------\nsfmike\nLocation: San Francisco, Taipei Remote: Yes Willing to relocate: No\nTechnologies: Media Buyer, Growth Hacker, Product Marketing, CMO, VP of\nAcquisition Résumé/CV: Email: mr.obrien.michael@gmail.com\n\n------\nzwizzyy\nLocation: Warsaw, Poland\n\nRemote: Yes, preferred\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies:\n\n* Web Development - Spring, Java, Angular, Typescript and learning React\n\n* Software Engineering - Domain Driven Design and other architectures\n\n* Deep learning - Python, Pytorch, FastAI\n\n* Other - C++, SQL, Docker, Flutter\n\nResume: On request\n\nEmail: luk (dot) kawka (at) gmail (dot) com\n\n------\njeremija\nLocation: Europe\n\nRemote: Preferred\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Go, Java, Docker, MySQL and\nPostgreSQL\n\nResume/CV: [https://rondomoon.com](https://rondomoon.com)\n\nEmail: hello at rondomoon dot com\n\n------\nDataAF\nLocation: Oakland, Ca\n\nRemote: Yes, Please!\n\nWilling to Relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: General ML & Data Science; Python, SciKit Learn, Keras, SQL,\nMongoDB, Flask; NLP tools like BERT, WordPiece, etc. ; AWS; Enough DevOps to\nrun an ML pipeline\n\nResume: On Request\n\nEmail: bn.rn.99@gmail.com\n\n------\nsave_ferris\nLocation: Austin, TX\n\nRemote: Open to remote opportunities\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies:\n\n* Ruby on Rails\n\n* Go\n\n* Python\n\n* Docker\n\n* Kubernetes\n\n* Postgres/MySQL\n\n* Redis\n\nRésumé/CV: Upon Request\n\nEmail: sh.hackernews@gmail.com\n\nBack end engineer with 6 years of total experience at all levels of the stack.\nDabbling more in devops and platform engineering these days, I'm always\nlooking to learn something new.\n\n------\nmaa5444\nLocation:EU Remote: yes Willing to relocate:no Technologies:scala spark hive\nRésumé/CV:data eng for the last 4 years before used to be BI and etl developer\nEmail:obar1@pm.me\n\n------\naverylamp\nLocation: Cambridge, MA, USA\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: Swift, Objective-C, Python, C\n\nResume/CV: [https://averylamp.me/Resume.pdf](https://averylamp.me/Resume.pdf)\n\nEmail avery at maelabs.com\n\n------\nsupr_strudl\nLocation: Europe\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No.\n\nTechnologies: Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, SQL, Django, Vue.js, Angular,\nDocker, Scrapy\n\nRésumé/CV: [https://your-remote.dev](https://your-remote.dev)\n\nEmail: see CV\n\n------\nDreamScatter\nLocation: North Carolina\n\nRemote: yes\n\nRelocate? possibly\n\nTech: lots of mathematics, Julia, Fortran Matlab, Linux, etc\n\nResume: github.com/chakravala\n\n[https://grassmann.crucialflow.com](https://grassmann.crucialflow.com)\n\n------\n_1tan\nLocation: Southern Germany\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Ops guy, well versed in Excel. Quick learner, especially\ninterested in regulatory topics. Lead teams of up to 10 people. Handled big\naccounts.\n\nCV: On request.\n\nEmail: phil@philippnagel.com\n\n------\narkanciscan\nLocation: Portland OR\n\nRemote: Why not\n\nWilling to Relocate: Nope\n\nTechnologies: Most Web Platform Adjacent (see resume)\n\nResume: [https://jessehattabaugh.com](https://jessehattabaugh.com)\n\nEmail: arkanciscan@gmail.com\n\n------\nbradleykingz\nLocation: Nairobi, Kenya\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: React, VueJS, NodeJS, Java, MongoDB, Postgres, Redis,\n\nResume: available via email\n\nEmail: bradstarart@gmail.com\n\nI'm a full-stack developer but prefer working with frontend technologies.\n\n------\ncedivad\nLocation: Dublin, IE\n\nRemote: No\n\nWilling to relocate: Yes\n\nTechnologies: Software > Hardware > ?\n\nRésumé/CV: [http://cedivad.com/cv.pdf](http://cedivad.com/cv.pdf)\n\n------\ncooperk1\nLocation: Colorado\n\nRemote: willing\n\nWilling to relocate: yes\n\nTechnologies: python3, webflow, pandas, jupyter, APIs, aws, SQL\n\nRésumé/CV: email for resume\n\nEmail: cooperkernan@gmail.com\n\n------\ntaprice\nLocation: Toronto\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nWilling to relocate: No\n\nTechnologies: PHP/Laravel, Vue, GCP Certified Professional\n\nRésumé/CV: Available on request\n\nEmail: pablo@cbrz.com\n\n------\nreroute1\nLocation: Chicago\n\nRemote: Yes\n\nRelocate: Maybe\n\nTech: Javascript + D3, Perl, Linux (RHEL 6.10), Css, front-end and server side\nmostly, but doing more backend work all the time. A lot of AJAX and Jquery\nwork on a small data viz app for the United Airlines IT security team.\n\njrjeffreyrice [at] gmail.com\n\nResume: [http://www.jeffreyrice.net/](http://www.jeffreyrice.net/) and\ncompleted CS certificate at Loyola Chicago\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nLet's Buy CNN - solray\nhttp://www.letsbuycnn.com/\n\n======\nsolray\nSome background — [http://time.com/3023062/jon-stewart-kickstarter-\ncnn/](http://time.com/3023062/jon-stewart-kickstarter-cnn/)\n\n------\nmpnordland\nha, I'd add a tier where you get to change the name\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: A short game to know if you're good running 1:1s - soneca\nhttps://www.oneonemeeting.com/choose-your-own-adventure.html\n======\nporphyrogene\nAsking them an esoteric question will make them uncomfortable but a personal\nquestion that addresses specific members of their family by name is going to\nput them at ease?\n\nThis reminded me of the episode of The Office where Dwight steals Micheal's\nRolodex to get information on his clients and it leads to him asking, \"How's\nyour gay son? ... Tony? The homosexual sophomore?\" If you don't know someone\nintimately don't try to fake an intimate connection. The very next part of\nthis quiz encouraged me to be upfront and honest instead of hiding behind\nexcuses and managerial tricks. What if he were upfront and honest in response\nto the personal question and told you that his wife calls him a poor father\nand insults his manhood, are you ready to pivot to that subject? Can you\nreasonably expect him to answer that question dishonestly and if he needs to\ndo so in order to avoid an awkward conversation then hasn't the question\nfailed its purpose of opening an honest dialogue? What if this is a\nperformance review and the result is somewhat negative? Is he to understand\nthat his poor relationship with his wife had some bearing on his negative\nperformance review? If not then why would you bring it up in that context? A\nrelationship can thrive on one of two things: complete honesty or respectful\nboundaries.\n\nMaybe I am too sensitive about personal questions but that question doesn't\nseem appropriate. Also, esoteric conversation starters are great. I would much\nrather talk about why I would want to be a sunchoke than give a generic\nresponse without actually thinking about my answer.\n\n~~~\nsoneca\nI understand, but in this fictional situation, I added an explanation why that\nquestion was ok (because Sancho mentioned his family often, implying that is\nregular subject in their conversation). Maybe I should also make it clear that\nit is not always ok, depend on the relationship\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMaersk and IBM aim to get 10M shipping containers onto blockchain - prostoalex\nhttp://www.ibtimes.co.uk/maersk-ibm-aim-get-10-million-shipping-containers-onto-global-supply-blockchain-by-year-end-1609778\n======\nHermel\nCrazy, the paperwork around the shipping often is more costly than the\nshipping itself:\n\n> Maersk had found that a single container could require stamps and approvals\n> from as many as 30 people, including customs, tax officials and health\n> authorities.\n\n> While the containers themselves can be loaded on a ship in a matter of\n> minutes, a container can be held up in port for days because a piece of\n> paper goes missing, while the goods inside spoil. The cost of moving and\n> keeping track of all this paperwork often equals the cost of physically\n> moving the container around the world.\n\n~~~\nblowski\nI'm no expert, but I have friends who work in docks in the UK. I'm aware that\nwhen paperwork goes missing, it's often not an accident.\n\n~~~\nzrth\nWould you mind sharing some of the various reasons why the paper work goes\nmissing?\n\n~~~\nblowski\nTwo typical scenarios - unions are holding things up until they get a bribe,\nor there is contraband on board and the holdup enables people to get it off.\n\n~~~\nimglorp\nSo that sounds like at least two parties who would be opposed to an\nunrevokable ledger. Govt officials awaiting their bribes to let a container\npass would be a third party opposed.\n\nFriction as usual.\n\n------\nianpurton\nThey are using a private Blockchain.\n\nThis means a blockchain where to participate you need to be approved by a\nsingle party or a consortium.\n\nIn my opinion if your blockchain is private then you might be better off using\nan existing database technology centrally controlled and allowing people to\nparticipate via an API. Expecting people to install Blockchain nodes locally\nto participate in this scheme might be expecting too much.\n\nThe problem is that when software updates are required, which they will be,\nyou have the job of coordinating updates across a node infrastructure\ninstalled in many companies and locations. If it goes wrong you have a chain\nsplit.\n\nAnother problem is that the people who recommend or buy into the Blockchain\nhype might not have the skills to properly asses it's appropriateness to\ncertain business cases.\n\n~~~\nINTPenis\nAre you saying that the very use of a block chain is too complex to be\ndeployed by one IT-operational department at a large scale without issues?\nJust trying to clarify what you mean.\n\n~~~\ntdb7893\nI'm under the impression that he was saying that it's harder to manage and has\nlittle benefit. I'm sure they could but it seems kinda silly\n\n------\nPhilWright\nWhat is the advantage of using a block chain for storing the information\nrather than just having a database? Is there some intrinsic benefit or is it\njust marketing hype?\n\n~~~\nphil21\nI'm not in shipping - but wild speculation could be once you sign the\nblockchain it's now your legal responsibility - no dickering over timestamps,\nis that really our guy's signature, forged paperwork, whatever. You signed it\nnow it's yours until someone else does.\n\nImplementing that may be somewhat more difficult though, and I have no idea if\nthis is really that large of a problem or not.\n\n~~~\nzhte415\nIt is incredibly tough. The manual steps in trade, down to scribbling a note\non the back of a single original piece of A4 paper, are tedious and tediously\ndocumented, UCP for example\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Customs_and_Practice_f...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Customs_and_Practice_for_Documentary_Credits).\n\nMaersk will be implementing a new standard of implementation here, replacing a\nstandard that's been bootstrapped over centries. Expect an ISO or similar to\nbe created to define it, with a lot of reach into the workflow of insurance\ncompanies and banking (LCs, etc).\n\nThis would be an interesting area to 'disrupt' if you could catch early wind\nof the emerging standards and ride on the back of a new standard coming into\nimplementation.\n\n------\ndzdt\nAs usual, I like Matt Levine's take on this :\n[https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-03-06/cargo-\nblo...](https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-03-06/cargo-blockchains-\nand-deutsche-bank).\n\n _The problem to be solved here is not chiefly technological: It 's getting\nall of those agencies to agree to a single messaging protocol. That's hard!\nThey have long experience of using their own protocols (e.g., paper), and\nlittle incentive to switch to Maersk's. Calling the new protocol a\n\"blockchain\" makes it sound sexier, and so more likely to be adopted._\n\n~~~\nfragmede\nI'm inclined to agree with the premise, that \"blockchain\" is just what the\ncool kids are using, and adoption is piggybacking on that. Unfortunately the\narticle fails to go into any detail as to why that is or is not the case, it\nmerely quotes from the press release and then Matt points out that central\nbanking exists.\n\nShipping, especially on Maersk's level, has all sorts of challenges that I'm\nsure I've never even contemplated, but Matt Levin's piece doesn't mention any\ndetails that leads me to think he's working off any more details than I.\n\nLarge shipping container docks are horrible environments for electronics and\nwireless technology. Long distances, lots of big metal things, lots of water\npresent - large bodies of water block and bounces radio waves and salt water\nis corrosive to electronics, concrete everywhere, so laying cables is\nexpensive, and there may not even be power in a lot of places. Add multiple\nlayers of IT contracting on top of that and I'd be surprised if there's\nanything Internet except at the main office, miles away from everything else.\n\nWhile blockchain doesn't address problems with networking technology, I can\neasily imagine the blockchain, as a solution for the Byzantine Generals\nProblem, addresses practical issues when you need to give write access to the\ndatabase, to multiple parties, some of which cannot be trusted.\n\n------\naskmike\nI think it's very interesting/strange/scary to see what started out as a\nCypherpunk dream come true is now being experimented with / used by the\nindustry it was meant to replace.\n\nWhile I think Bitcoin (et al.) is extremely interesting and definitely has\nit's use on the internet, it is becoming clear that it is a lot harder to\nreplace money than it is to replace media supply chains (torrents): Everywhere\nfrom the political situation (blocksize discussion) to current usage cases (a\nlot has to do with circumventing either capital controls or AML/KYC for a\nnumber of reasons).\n\ndisclaimer: I do a lot of work in Bitcoin but am currently employed by a bank\nfor a project very similar to this one.\n\n------\nmark_l_watson\nI have become a bit of an IBM skeptic, what with excessive IBM Watson hype,\nbut this seems like a really good idea. A distributed and secure blackboard\ntype system seems like the way to go, rather than using a database that one of\nmany parties is trusted to maintain.\n\nI just looked at the Java SimpleExample code in the repo and it did not look\ntoo difficult to use.\n\n------\nqznc\nIs there some more technical description somewhere? They probably do not use\nthe Bitcoin Proof of Work technique?\n\n~~~\nbbrks\nThe first paragraph mentions it's using Hyperledger's Fabric[1] blockchain\nimplementation. I assume they're building their own smart contracts on top of\nthat.\n\n[1]\n[https://github.com/hyperledger/fabric](https://github.com/hyperledger/fabric)\n\n~~~\nmerrickread\nThe hyperledger equivalent of ethereum's smart contracts is called chaincode.\nI'm playing around with it now - so far enjoying it much more than smart\ncontracts.\n\n[https://github.com/IBM-Blockchain/learn-chaincode](https://github.com/IBM-\nBlockchain/learn-chaincode)\n\n------\nkirykl\nbad news for customs brokers\n\n------\nfiftyacorn\nStories like this make me think of Season 2 of the Wire\n\n~~~\njrockway\nBecause it was set in a location with shipping containers?\n\n~~~\nfiftyacorn\nthey use the software as part of the wire to determine which containers went\nmissing - a block chain would ruin that\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Education is broken, how do you fix it? - GroupRefer\nFor the past few years, there has been a worrying trend in education. Bill Gates has even blogged about it just last week. While everyone agrees we need a departure from the rote memory method of learning to one which involves critical thinking and decision making, how would you go about implementing this in a real life class format? Do away with text books and work with Case Studies like Harvard? What other methods could work?\n======\nalid\nHey man! Nice question. Our current system of education was designed for 19th\ncentury industrialism, yet today we’re preparing our kids for jobs that don’t\nyet exist, using technology that hasn’t been invented, to solve problems we\ncan’t yet imagine.\n\nWe need to gear learning towards the 21st Century Set of Literacies: how well\nwe can find information, validate it, synthesize it, leverage it, communicate\nit, collaborate with it and problem solve with it. And we need to be\ndeveloping self-driven learners who are confident thinkers, socially mature,\nengaged in their communities, resilient in the face of life's challenges and\nadaptable to change.\n\nHow does this play out in the classroom? With a greater focus on critical\nreflection, teachers need to be Socratic and philosophic in their outlook.\nTeachers need to act as vital facilitators and motivators, reflecting the move\ntowards a focus on self-directed learning. And they need to be highly trained\nin emotional intelligence, reflecting a greater focus on behavioural and non-\ncognitive skills.\n\nI've written an essay about this on my personal blog if you're keen\n(thecreativefiles.com)\n\n------\nstevesearer\nThe high school I taught at for several years was working to lessen the usage\nof textbooks and primarily work with literature and primary source materials.\nIn the history department, we delivered facts using lectures or a textbook\nreading. Basically, the idea was to give the students enough facts that they\ncould then interpret and critically think about literature and the primary\nsource materials.\n\nMy testing was mainly essay based as it gave me the best view of whether or\nnot the students actually understood the material. It also gave them the\nopportunity to learn how to better communicate what they knew, as opposed to\nonly what a teacher was asking. For instance, students might completely know\nthe circumstances and events surrounding the War of 1812, but forget things\nlike the names of forts or specific battles or dates. That student could\nperform poorly on a multiple choice exam, but do tremendously well on an essay\ntest.\n\nScantron test = easy as hell to grade. Essay test = you actually have to know\nwhat you're teaching.\n\nI also believe that teacher credentialing has backfired. Credentialing\nprograms are basically made up of $10,000 of busywork and make it so anyone\nthat can put up with doing busywork can get through (exceptions exist). If I\nwere in charge, I would have some sort of apprenticeship system where new\nteachers learned from the best teachers.\n\nEnd note: it is also kind of silly that you need a college degree and a\ncredential to teach elementary school. Shouldn't everyone be proficient enough\nat elementary school concepts when they graduate high school that they could\nthen teach the basics to others?\n\n~~~\njaphyr\n_it is also kind of silly that you need a college degree and a credential to\nteach elementary school. Shouldn't everyone be proficient enough at elementary\nschool concepts when they graduate high school that they could then teach the\nbasics to others?_\n\nThis is a really important issue to understand. Good teaching is difficult,\neven at the elementary level. Good teaching includes: \\- responding to each\nstudent's learning style; \\- answering questions in a way that sets students\nup for deeper learning in later years; \\- meeting each student where they are\nat, and allowing them to progress at their own pace each year; \\- dealing\neffectively with students who come to school hungry, abused, neglected and so\nforth; \\- a host of other situations that are difficult to deal with\neffectively, but for which solutions have been developed.\n\nThis ties in well with one of your other observations: _I also believe that\nteacher credentialing has backfired. Credentialing programs are basically made\nup of $10,000 of busywork and make it so anyone that can put up with doing\nbusywork can get through (exceptions exist)._\n\nIn my experience as a teacher, I have seen this consistently. There is one\nlocal teacher ed program where I live, and the administrators pride themselves\non running a \"challenging\" program. It is challenging in the volume of work\nrequired, not in the intellectual effort required. There are so many bad\neffects of this approach, and so many potentially good effects if an\nintellectually rigorous and challenging program took its place.\n\nI have also had an incredibly frustrating experience dealing with\ncertification. I started teaching in one state, and taught there for 7 years.\nWhen I moved, I was granted temporary certification based on having held full\ncertification in another state. I have hosted student teachers, and generally\nbeen recognized as an effective teacher. But after a few years in my new\nstate, I was told I had to go back and do a student teaching program because\nthe paperwork from my old state didn't fill in the right boxes on the\npaperwork in my new state. Utter BS, and this is exactly the kind of stuff\nthat drives good teachers out of education.\n\nI chose to stay in education and not let myself get pushed out by stupid\nbureaucratic issues. I resolved to do my part in addressing these issues,\nthough, and I am grateful to be working with a staff that is tackling hard\neducation issues effectively.\n\n~~~\nstevesearer\nI agree that there is more to teaching than simply knowing and understanding\nthe concepts. My overall message is more that credentialing is not the best\nway to train new teachers.\n\nI'd also argue that credentialing is also used to limit the number of teachers\nentering the field to keep wages higher, but I suppose that is another matter\nentirely :)\n\n------\nEMRo\nSee Harvard Graduate School of Education report \"Pathways to Prosperity:\n[http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news_events/features/2011/Pathway...](http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news_events/features/2011/Pathways_to_Prosperity_Feb2011.pdf)\n\nSome interesting strides have been made by the Partnership for 21st Century\nSkills in changing how we learn and also how we measure learning success:\n\n<http://www.p21.org/>\n\nEven Apple threw its hat in the ring with Challenge Based Learning:\n\n<http://www.apple.com/education/challenge-based-learning/>\n\nWithout doubt the current models being used in the US don't work. We aren't\nteaching the right skills, we aren't measuring skills the right way (uniform\nclass-wide tests EOY) and the funding structure for schools encourages\nbureaucracy and corruption at times.\n\nHowever, the problems are all tightly intertwined in one ball. I would caution\nagainst thinking that 'modern tech' is a cure all. Going from paper to iPads\nwon't solve all of the issues in a day. That said, some really cool companies\nare killing it. Take a look at Edmodo.\n\nWish I had more time to get into this, alas, back to my code cave.\n\n------\nsaurabhpalan\nEveryone keeps saying Education system is broken, and to some extent it is.\nHere's some reasons why...\n\n1\\. with advancements in technology, education too needs to evolve, but we are\nstill stuck in the era of printed books and expensive text books. I remember\nseeing a computer for the 1st time in grade 7. It took me few years to\nunderstand the complete potential and how I can use it. Now, kids in pre-\nschool are hooked to iPad games and have figured out ways to watch cartoon on\ndemand. Thus going to school to learn about animals from textbook pics is not\nvery inspiring and interesting.\n\n2\\. For higher education, the school text books are still stuck in the 90's\ntechnology. School needs to engage students with more hands-on work, rather\nthan lectures. Hands-on project building and training is a very useful tool\nfor learning and has proven to be more engaging among students of all ages.\n[Shameless advertisement : checkout my workshops on robotics at\nworkshop.iroboticist.com]\n\n------\nmoonsoonmenu\nI think some of the others may agree with me...just teahch through technology.\nMake more places like khanacademy etc. Technology will disrupt the current\nsystem and through it people will be able to meet and stabilize a new system\nsince it'll show people that learning is in new ways is possible. Bill and\nMelinda Gates foundation are funding Khanacademy and are excited about many\nsites like them, with technology we can answer more questions faster and help\nteachers focus on answering important questions while not repeating menial\nones.\n\n------\njfaucett\nspeaking for myself as a learner, the only things I've learned to a very high\nlevel (foreign languages, computer science, maths, etc ) have all been things\nthat I've had an immense amount of self interest in and have dedicated tons of\ntime to. In the us educational system I think one of main problems is that you\ntake a lot of subjects you don't need and another is that most subjects are\nnot presented in a problem solving approach manner.\n\nIt might just be my opinion, but I don't think sociology, anthropology, or\neven anatomy have any reason for being on a high school curriculum. It seems\nmuch more important to me to give students in this age group a really solid\nunderstanding of core areas: math, physics, literature / writing (i.e. the\nanalytical thought and expressive process), and foreign languages (for today's\nworld I'd also add computer science). If you know and comprehensively\nunderstand the above areas there's nothing stopping a high school student from\nmajoring in any field imaginable.\n\nAs far as the second area is concerned I think this just has to do with less\nbusy work and more active thought and problem solving engagement. For\ninstance, force students to come up with their own formulas for finding the\narea of a square BEFORE you show them the formula and steps for sovling the\nequations. I think this helps engrain knowledge and internalize it, also this\nis how everything in the real world works anyway, and prepares students for\ntheir future career choices.\n\nThose are just some of my thoughts...\n\n~~~\nstevesearer\nYour comments makes me wonder if educators are too focused on having students\nmemorize specific information they deem necessary as opposed to being obsessed\nabout equipping students with the necessary skills to learn anything.\n\nSchool can also be incredibly boring for students with interests outside the\nnarrow scope of the specified curriculum. I found that many students that\n'didn't like history', just hadn't found a topic they could really sink their\nteeth into. Once they did -let's say food in a particular time period- we\ncould then build off that interest to learn about that time period as a whole\n(politics, society, wars, economics etc...)\n\n------\ncambo01\nThere is so much hype and talk about this it's making me sick. Too much tunnel\nvision. We need a drastic innovation. As in a streamlined system built for our\nage. It needs to be agile.\n\nWe do education like we build products but we all know that after a four year\ndegree more often than not we don't have 'product/ market fit'. We should\ntrain, test and iterate in small time frames.\n\n------\nmathteacher1729\n> how would you go about implementing this in a real life class format?\n\nAllow experienced professional educators to shape education policy.\n\n~~~\nbarry-cotter\nIndeed, letting teachers decide what to do on the basis of what's rasiest and\nmost convenient for them is bound to have a 1:1 correspondence with the best\nway for people to learn.\n\n~~~\nmathteacher1729\n> Indeed, letting teachers decide what to do on the basis of what's rasiest\n> and most convenient for them is bound to have a 1:1 correspondence with the\n> best way for people to learn.\n\nI consider myself a professional educator, so I will treat this statement as\nif you were aiming it directly at me.\n\nI'm not yet 10 years into my career, but I daresay I have a solid\nunderstanding of what facilitates effective learning among my students. I can\nquickly, accurately, and individually asses and guide my students on a path\nwhich best suits their needs.\n\nThere is nothing a standardized test in my subject area can tell me about my\nclass that I don't already know, and there is much that a standardized test\nwill not reveal about the individuals within my class that I and my colleagues\nalready know.\n\nI would like to see my students freed from wasting their valuable time\npreparing for absurd tests which do not serve them in any useful or meaningful\nfashion. My admins know how my students are doing because they receive reports\ndirectly from me. They know my word is good because I am a professional.\n\nThe implementation of my wish to eliminate meaningless standardized testing\nand have more control over my curriculum would not earn me one more cent than\nI currently make. (I make less than 45k / year and I'm 6 years into it with a\nmasters degree.)\n\nI love my work and seeing my students succeed is why I do it.\n\n------\nGroupRefer\nhow about involving actual companies to come in and let them interact with the\nstudents? For example, the marketing department of an FMCG company could ask\nstudents to prepare a marketing campaign when students take up a marketing\ncourse.\n\n~~~\napoorvsaxena\nthis should be accompanied with the government providing tax benefits to the\norganization that indulge in this initiative, which would not only help in\nadvertising and marketing, but will also catch the eye of organisations for\ntheir own benefit.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nPicking the right customer support tool - ringolo\nhttps://medium.com/@scffld/picking-the-right-customer-support-tool-25674898bbf0\n\n======\nhw\n\"Because better customer service creates better businesses.\"\n\nIt's amazing how that doesn't resonate very often with businesses. Robo-\nreplies and being assigned ticket numbers tells me quickly that the support\norganization in a company already failed.\n\nWhat pisses me off the most is when I get a robo-reply with a ticket # and I\ndon't hear back till 2 days later, via an obvious generic templated response\n(with some variables like my name added in) - and more than likely the\nresponse is way too generic and doesn't solve my problem.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "Ask HN: Written a book for devs, now what? - franze\n======\nhnyk\nPut it on the web under a CC license!\n\n------\nPaulHoule\nDescribe the book.\n\nWhat are your goals?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nRapidly Prototyping Rockets - palish\nhttp://media.armadilloaerospace.com/misc/sas07_high.mpg\n\n======\ntlrobinson\nThat's pretty awesome.\n\nI guess this is what John Carmack is doing with his fortune from Doom and\nQuake.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTracking friends and strangers using WhatsApp - robheaton\nhttps://robertheaton.com/2017/10/09/tracking-friends-and-strangers-using-whatsapp/\n======\nantirez\nA few weeks ago there was a similar discussion, and I commented the following:\n\nIf you think there is no problem, you are wrong. The blog post does not show\nall the information leaks that this implies. Example: I can modify the script\nto monitor all the numbers I've in my phone, so that based on the\nonline/offline status in a few weeks I can be able to guess who is having\nconversations together, discovering cheatings, work affairs, ... EDIT:\nPractical example. After collecting enough data about user X I create a table\nabout the probability of this user being online in a given few-minutes time\nranges. Then I check the online frequency of that user compared to the online\nstatuses of another user Y. If the difference compared to the expected\nprobability is significant, than I can suspect the two are chatting. Another\nthing I can use is that attivation delay of the online status, since often X\nsends a message to Y and this results in, a few seconds after, Y to be online,\nand then the contrary.\n\n[then an HN user said she/he was not sure this was serious because maybe the\nusers casually had similar patterns, so I replied:]\n\nIf you check the model I described in my comment, it should filter the \"bus\nproblem\", since it will detect a chat only if, compared to the standard \"bus\ntime\" probability of the user A chatting, it is chatting more if in the same\nrange also B is chatting. If you add to this that people on Whatsapp usually\ndo not talk to the exact minutes, it is definitely possible to create a robust\nsystem for guessing with good probability of two have often conversations.\nAlso note that the phone numbers in input are not random, are the ones of a\nconnected circle of persons. Add to this the fact that we can split the ranges\neven, potentially, by few minutes, and you can even detect interesting stuff\nfor people having continuos chats with multiple persons like teenagers.\nAnother thing that is possible probably is also \"groups detection\", since at\nnew messages a set of users will activate at the same time.\n\n[And the attack can be refined a lot with more powerful mathematical\napproaches]\n\n~~~\nanilakar\nOnce I hacked together a similar program to log the terminal activity of\nfellow students on the university UNIX and Linux servers:\n[https://github.com/andyn/actspy/blob/master/actspy.c](https://github.com/andyn/actspy/blob/master/actspy.c)\n\nThe main objective, however, was not to stalk innocent users but to catch an\nanonymous IRC troll who was using an identless shell server in order to hide\ntheir real account name. Every time the troll wrote to IRC, the activity\nlogger program showed typing activity from a certain user. After a few message\nexchanges during quiet night hours I was able to reliably pinpoint them.\n\n~~~\nwhamlastxmas\nSo what happened after finding out who it was?\n\n~~~\nanilakar\nThat'll be the boring part of the story. I just /msged her primary nick and\nasked nicely if it was possible to stop. Apparently the threat of losing\nanonymity is enough to turn trolls back to normal people.\n\n~~~\ninetknght\nThis is, in a nutshell, the secret of the internet.\n\n------\njimmies\nIf you trust those \"\"\"services\"\"\" to be secure and trust that they care about\nyour privacy, then you will be betrayed sooner or later, in ways you can't\nthink of -- just like in the article.\n\nFun fact, years ago I accidentally found out that my girlfriend at the time\ncheated on me on Snapchat, without me actually exploiting anything. She told\nme to join it with her, telling me that is going to be fun. Snapchat kept\ntrack of useds' activity and gamified it to incentivize you by scoring your\nactivity then. Each person has a public activity score when you tap on their\nprofile. One day, I noticed that her Snapchat had more than twice the score\nthat I had. So I clicked on her profile and there it is some strange dude\nhaving a score higher than me, it turned out that was her \"\"\"\"ex\"\"\"\" (I\nactually never asked her even for his name before, I found out only after\nthat). I never consciously looked for anything, I trusted her 100%, the score\nwas just there on my screen.\n\nThanks Snapchat for their stupid gamification efforts, otherwise I would have\nwasted more time on her. But since that accident, I never trust proprietary\nshit that has money to make, ads to sell, governments to please, and\nincentives to grow, even it says its selling point is to protect your privacy,\nlike Snapchat. It's not about the \"end to end encryption\" or \"finer privacy\ncontrol\" or \"only allow when app is in foreground\" or \"restricted sharing\" or\n\"MIT open sauce license\" or \"export your data\" or \"only listening to hotwords\"\nor \"open APIs,\" it's about the intent. If the intent was to expand and make\nmoney, then all those techs won't be the magic pill that suddenly cures the\nill intent. Anyway, privacy my ass, man.\n\n~~~\nrconti\nWait, when you view her profile (as a friend), it shows who has the highest\n'score' in terms of contact with her? Wow, that IS a lot of data if they break\nit down by contact pairs.\n\n~~~\njimmies\nYep. It was called Snapchat score or something. It had a list of top 3 people\nor so and how much score they had with each other. It was unreal.\n\nThis was back in spring-summer 2015.\n\n~~~\nReverseCold\nNow it shows you the live current location of all your friends, no one I know\nhas it turned off.\n\nWth people?\n\n~~~\nkomali2\nThis setting doesn't seem to be enabled by default, at least on Android. I\njust scrolled into settings > Who can... See My Location >\n\nFound it to be on \"ghost mode (only me).\" I never touched this setting before.\n\n~~~\njimmies\nOnly log me, but don't let my friends know: You know your privacy is respected\njack shit when the _least_ intrusive setting is letting the service know and\nlog you, but not letting your friends know.\n\nThe real question isn't that what it sets by default, the question is why that\nchat app needs to know and log your location in the first place? Why does it\nnot only get it and send it when you choose to share? What kind of enhancement\ndoes it give to your fucking \"\"\"experience\"\"\" when it logs your location like\nthat?\n\n~~~\njimmies\n@cassowary, geotagging your photos can be done without logging your location\non the server. It can be done locally. Plus, I thought that Snapchat does not\nkeep the pictures you've taken? (I have been out of that since then, so I\ndon't know.)\n\n------\nsquigg\nI loved this article. It is beautifully written, given both the hacking\ncuriosity on display as well as the real-world privacy impact it demonstrates.\nMost of my family use whats-app and would be mortified if they actually\nunderstood most of this. Not saying they would stop using it, as the trade-off\nis a great social app, but it would make them think more broadly about how the\nworld is changing.\n\n~~~\ntcmb\nNobody has to stop using WhatsApp, the scenario described in the article can\nbe prevented simply by changing the app's privacy settings.\n\n~~~\npolote\nWrong, if you deactivate the feature 'last seen at' it doesn't change anything\nbecause you can still get the same information with the feature 'is online\nnow' and this feature can't be deactivated\n\n~~~\nNasKe\nWhat count as \"online\"? Using the app? Does the web app also track that? I\ndon't think this is disclosed by facebook, it would be nice to experiment to\ncheck it.\n\n~~~\nTijdreiziger\nAFAIK, having either the mobile app or web interface in the foreground.\n\n------\njanwh\nNevermind the clever writing but the issue has been known for years—and\nbeautifully exploited with the selfhostable ready-made solution WhatsSpy\nPublic since Feb 2015: [https://gitlab.maikel.pro/maikeldus/WhatsSpy-\nPublic/](https://gitlab.maikel.pro/maikeldus/WhatsSpy-Public/) It's not\nactively maintained anymore but Maikel deserves some credit for it.\n\n~~~\nkevingrahl\nDo you happen to know if it’s still working without heavy modifications?\n\n~~~\ngsich\nProbably not, it used Chat-API [0], but the developer is kind of an asshole.\nBut I admit, people just post stupid issues all the time. However I don't\nshare the developers opinion that this was abused. My friends and I haven't\nreceived spam messages on Whatsapp. I admit that may be a small sample size,\nbut still.\n\n[0] [https://github.com/mgp25/Chat-API](https://github.com/mgp25/Chat-API)\n\n~~~\ndedmen\nI did the same about mid 2015 using yowsup (Python API to Whatsapp). But it's\nwas a private project because of legality concerns of hoarding so much data.\n\n------\noption_greek\nOf course, the elephant in the room is that all this info and much more is\nwith WhatsApp, Facebook, Google and what ever garbage app is installed on your\nphone. I agree that the article is more about targeted surveillance towards\ncertain users but that is where NSA and secret letters come in :).\n\n------\nsqren\nVery well written article - and I love your drawings! I did a similar story a\nwhile back on how you can track your friends sleep patterns using Facebook\nMessenger [1]. I'm sure there are lots of other services that have this\nproblem, and most users are blissfully unaware.\n\n[1] [https://medium.com/@sqrendk/how-you-can-use-facebook-to-\ntrac...](https://medium.com/@sqrendk/how-you-can-use-facebook-to-track-your-\nfriends-sleeping-habits-505ace7fffb6)\n\n------\ncolanderman\n> Facebook sends data to your browser using straightforward HTTP requests that\n> you can easily write a program to mimic.\n\nShameless plug, I wrote a plugin for Chrome [1] and Firefox [2] to do just\nthat.\n\n(Facebook is the opposite of WhatsApp – you can disable your online/offline\nstatus, but not your idle time.)\n\n[1] [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/social-network-\ncha...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/social-network-chat-\nidle/ngjiolhcdneedkjhdpeokdahhgohnogo)\n\n[2] [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/social-\nnetwor...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/social-network-chat-\nidle/)\n\n------\njesperlang\nWhen stuff like this happen I wonder if we can try to trick the system,\noverloading it with information, faking things. Couldn't we just somehow make\nsure we are online all the time (some script pinging the app), then the data\nwould become meaningless..\n\n------\ncl289\nJust to clarify as a non-user: there's an online status, and a 'last seen'\ndata point, and both can be queried by any user for any user given their\ntelephone number, as often as the querying party likes? And the online status\nis when the app is open on the phone?\n\n~~~\nitsyogesh\nAFAIK If you have them in your contacts and they haven't blocked you, you can\naccess both those data points. If they have disabled last seen, you can still\nget the the 'online' and 'typing' status.\n\n------\nHavoc\nI suspect a fairly small percentage of users is active enough that you get\nusable hourly data.\n\n~~~\npolote\nI agree with you, whatsapp is not like Tinder or Facebook you don't open it\nevery 2 minutes to check if there is something new.\n\n~~~\nraarts\nThat depends on the country. In the US, people still tend to text a lot, but\nin most of Europe, Whatsapp totally replaced texting.\n\n~~~\nrconti\nIs this because of their still-utterly-broken roaming model? (supposedly to be\nremedied soon)\n\n~~~\nmorsch\nSoon was June 2017. But I doubt it has anything to do with roaming. Maybe more\npeople paid per SMS for a longer time than in the US? I know I still do; I\ncould add unlimited messages to my monthly contract for 1 EUR or so, but\nwhat's the point.\n\n~~~\nrconti\nInteresting. My assumption was that Europe was much more okay with pay-per-use\nthan the US was. It was always strange to someone in the US that a European\nwould pay different amounts for a call depending on what kind of phone you\nwere calling, where in the US both parties simply paid for their airtime if\nthey wanted to use mobile phones.\n\nSMS took off faster in Europe than in the US, but we've had bundled packages\nfor so long that the individual cost per text wasn't such an issue, and now on\nmany plans they're unlimited.\n\nI guess the differing cost structure depending on who you're texting and from\nwhere may have spurred the adoption of WhatsApp, whereas in the US, even if\nyou WERE paying per text, it was the same across a territory of many thousands\nof miles and hundreds of millions of people. And, the same way that many folks\nin the US do not even have a passport, they tend also not to have a reason to\ntext internationally. The size and homogeneity of the country benefits the\nadoptions of some technologies, but hinders the adoption of others.\n\n------\ndiegorbaquero\nI made an MVP 2 years ago: [https://www.producthunt.com/posts/whatsapp-\ntracker](https://www.producthunt.com/posts/whatsapp-tracker)\n\n------\nkzisme\nMaybe I'm in the minority, but I haven't ever used WhatsApp. Is there a huge\nbenefit to using it over SMS, or something similar?\n\n~~~\nzaat\n* SMS delivery isn't guaranteed.\n\n* SMS don't have read receipt.\n\n* SMS depends on cellular connectivity.\n\n* SMS and MMS have very limited media transfer support.\n\n* SMS don't have feature similar to groups.\n\n~~~\nhnaccy\n>* SMS don't have read receipt.\n\nI feel like this is a pro.\n\n~~~\nzaat\nWhile I can see your point, it really depends on usage purpose and taste. For\nmany this is the most valuable feature of the app.\n\n------\nthrow2016\nPeople avoid thinking too much about things that are working as advertised.\nHow many people wonder about how exactly their cars work or the global\nfinancial system works yet they are impacted by both of these. They may\nreserve curiosity for other things depending on their interests.\n\nAnd here the problem begins, a lot of software engineers seem to conflate this\ndisinterest to stupidity and think this gives them a right to do whatever they\nwant with other people's data.\n\nThere is a fundamental lack of understanding and respect of other people\nrights and privacy and an easy dehumanization that is disconnected from human\nsociety and the evolution of fundamental rights like like the right to\nprivacy. Regulation will catch up and eventually address this as more people\nbecome aware but is a troubling reflection of a large part of the software\necosystem.\n\n------\nsalqadri\nHuh; why on Earth does WhatsApp make the default visibility of your \"last\nseen\" to \"everyone\"?! Also, speaking of 'tracking', I'd love to be able to\ntrack the sources of fake news forwards, but I assume such a technique would\nnot work for anything like that.\n\n------\nabcdabcd987\nI think I did almost the same thing three years ago. See:\n[https://www.v2ex.com/t/121272](https://www.v2ex.com/t/121272) (in Chinese\nonly, sorry. I should translate it to English when I'm free)\n\n------\nyoueeeeeediot\nAlways wondered what would happen if someone was to happen to have every valid\nUS/CAN number in their contact list (all 3-4 billion), since WhatsApp doesn't\nvalidate you actually _know_ the contact just that you have their phone\nnumber.\n\n~~~\ncarroccio\nThey ban your IP. Anyway with some effort you can deanonimize a lot of numbers\n(eg: status/name/profile photo).\n\n~~~\nCommentCard\nIs there a known upper limit on the number of #s one account can have?\n\nI suppose you could use that limit to set up enough WhatsApp accounts on\nproxies to effectively have access to all registered #s?\n\n~~~\ntcmb\nThere's another startup idea.\n\n~~~\nballenf\nThe idea being you incentive WhatsApp users to install your app that then\nharvests all their contacts and collates the \"last seen\" info on all of them.\nIf they delete your app, you setup a proxy to imitate their device and\ncontinue the monitoring. Have a privacy policy that is super strong but has a\ncouple \"loopholes\" that one can drive a truck through.\n\nIs that the idea? Seems doable if you're not too risk averse, have no family\nand live in a country with weak extradition laws. Kidding, there's nothing\nillegal about any of this stuff or FB, Google and lots of other companies\nwould not be in business.\n\nFB would have a civil claim against you -- they paid several billion dollars\nfor the legal right to all that user data!\n\n~~~\nCommentCard\nYou wouldn't need an app or other WhatsApp users beyond your distributed proxy\naccounts. You'd be running the monitoring through these proxies.\n\nCreating an app with the sole purpose of backdooring WhatsApp on a user's\nphone seems like it'd open you up to a lot of lawsuits. Ethically its a mite\nmore questionable, but the original article is still unethical in that you're\nmonitoring people without consent.\n\nLike I said above, I'd do this just so that they'd crack down on it. It's\nstill a \"means justify the ends\" argument, however, so you have to be quite\ncomfortable with moral relativism.\n\n------\ndedmen\nI don't see why people suddenly panic about it.. That's not a new thing. I\nwrote my own Tracking app over 2 years ago. I still have the code and database\nlaying around. I was using\n[https://github.com/tgalal/yowsup](https://github.com/tgalal/yowsup) back\nthen. Back then you could even see when people requested your online-status.\nMeaning you could see when they opened your chat. Back then I used that to see\nif my message have been read because the message-read notification didn't\nexist back then.\n\n------\nthanatropism\nI'm increasingly inclined to keep my phone on airplane mode for most of the\nday.\n\nNow, I just need to train people into calling me only between x:00 and x:05.\nBut I don't get many calls anymore, everybody texts...\n\n------\nsamfriedman\nSimilar \"online status tracking\" has been used for Facebook messenger in the\npast. I know Facebook removed send-location by default, but I'm not sure if\nthe API still allows pulling online status.\n\n[https://defaultnamehere.tumblr.com/post/139351766005/graphin...](https://defaultnamehere.tumblr.com/post/139351766005/graphing-\nwhen-your-facebook-friends-are-awake)\n\n------\nj_s\nStalking Your Friends with Facebook Messenger |\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9609286](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9609286)\n(May 2015, 185 comments)\n\n _when you send a message from the Messenger app there is an option to send\nyour location with it_\n\n _the mobile app for Facebook Messenger defaults to sending a location with\nall messages_\n\n~~~\nchis\nFacebook doesn't do this anymore.\n\n[http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/04/technology/facebook-\nmessenge...](http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/04/technology/facebook-messenger-\nlocation-tracking-fix/index.html)\n\n------\nanfogoat\nThe only issue here is that WhatsApp lets you see the status of people who\ndon't have you as a contact. The rest is utterly underwhelming.\n\nOne thing I loved about ICQ-esque IM services was that you could clearly see\nwhether a contact was online or not. I still feel weird starting a\nconversation on WhatsApp because of the lack of clear visual cues of the\ncontact's status.\n\n------\nJamieF1\nReminds me of an article I wrote up about tracking who's talking to who on\nWhatsApp: [https://medium.com/p/finding-out-if-2-people-are-chatting-\nto...](https://medium.com/p/finding-out-if-2-people-are-chatting-to-each-\nother-on-whatsapp-7f13448be665)\n\n------\nmnafees\nA few days ago I tried to track people on WhatsApp even if their \"Last Seen\"\nwas hidden. [https://hackernoon.com/uhoh-did-i-break-whatsapps-last-\nseen-...](https://hackernoon.com/uhoh-did-i-break-whatsapps-last-seen-feature-\ndbde54ecf79b)\n\n------\nantoaravinth\nI might be wrong here, but what if I change my settings to \"not show the last\nseen status\"? I guess in that case this doesn't work. Yes, I believe checking\n\"Online\" status frequently does give some information about my activity.\nCorrect me if I'm wrong here.\n\n~~~\nhelloindia\nI was thinking the same. I haven't seen any of my friend with last seen status\nenabled.\n\n~~~\nslig\nIf you disable on your account, you can't see the last seen status of your\nfriends, even if they have it enabled.\n\n------\njagjotsingh\nLoved the article. The increasing pace with the article gives you a rush which\nwas amazing!\n\nVery well written.\n\n------\ncollyw\nJust turned that \"feature\" off in mine. I am glad people point out stuff like\nthis.\n\nIs Facebook still spitting out similar crap? I checked the console and there\nis a reassuring looking message there, but I am not up to date.\n\n------\nKamogTechs\nNice and very well written article,most of my friends use whatsapp and would\nbe mortified if they actually understood most of this.\n\n~~~\nRobertoG\nEven without, unfortunately (I'm sure they are wonderful), knowing your\nfriends, I bet you a cookie that they don't care.\n\n------\nkyranjamie\nEnjoyed the article, but my favourite part is the reference to Garth\nMarenghi's Darkplace in the description.\n\n------\nbikamonki\nWhatsapp's opening an API for businesses soon. More abuse on your data. Wait\nfor it.\n\n------\nkinnth\nBrilliantly written Rob Heaton! Bravo!\n\n------\nnebulos\nWell written.\n\n------\nrajesh004\nisn't this privacy breach?\n\n------\nmarindez\nWhat I don't like about WhatsApp is that even if you hide your last connection\ntime, everybody gets to see whether you're online.\n\n~~~\narunc\nI was exactly thinking about this last night. It's bad that WhatsApp doesn't\nhide the online status.\n\n------\naecorredor\nJust turn off last seen. Duh.\n\n~~~\nmnafees\n[https://hackernoon.com/uhoh-did-i-break-whatsapps-last-\nseen-...](https://hackernoon.com/uhoh-did-i-break-whatsapps-last-seen-feature-\ndbde54ecf79b) ;)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nOhio State University Gets Armored Military Vehicle, Dodges Questions About It - trysomething\nhttp://reason.com/blog/2013/09/19/ohio-state-university-gets-armored-milit\n\n======\ngreenyoda\nQ: Why do colleges cost so much these days?\n\nA: All that military hardware is sooooo expensive!\n\n------\nwesticle\nI'd be interested to know more about the actual uses and capabilities of the\nvehicle. For example, the article states that the military has had problems\nwith using the vehicles off-road and that the vehicle is prone to flip.\n\nElsewhere it is described as resistant to mines and ambush (how exactly?). I'm\nwondering what situation a university campus is likely to encounter where this\nvehicle would be superior to, say, a four-wheel drive.\n\n~~~\nMoto7451\nMy understanding from some of my Iraq war veteran friends is that Humvees lack\nadequate undercarriage armor and they aren't designed for/can't be properly\nmodified to carry the proper armor. There are newer ones with beefed up\nengines and suspensions but it's kinda like deciding you want to jump\nramps/obstacles in a vehicle and trying to supe up your pickup truck rather\nthan building a race truck[1].\n\nMRAP is not a single vehicle but a class of vehicle[2]. The name kind of says\nit all: Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected.\n\nMy friends were stationed in bases inside Iraq and never really had to do any\n\"off road-ing\". They had to convoy between different installations within the\ncountry. Typically on poor roads but roads none the less. They worked with the\nIraqi Defense Force to transport prisoners, supplies, etc.\n\nThis[2] is the kind of stuff that they were scared to death over and why they\nwanted MRAPs. Apparently Humvees don't take kindly to those sort of explosions\nor rockets, mines, IEDs, etc.\n\n[1]My buddy and his friends do this with their Tacomas and regularly blow out\nsuspension and drivetrain parts. CVs especially. This is no fault of the\nTacoma, they are NOT designed to jump large gaps at speed like a Trophy truck.\n\n[2][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRAP](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRAP)\n\n(GRAPHIC)[3]\n[http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=02b_1189545597](http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=02b_1189545597)\n(GRAPHIC)\n\nEdit:\n\nThat said, I have NO idea why they'd want these in a city other than the\nbling/super Ninja Robocop ego factor. Using the same SWAT vehicles as the\nlocal PD seems like a better choice since the support network would already\nexist.\n\n~~~\nwesticle\nInteresting, thanks for the info.\n\nIt still leaves me wondering:\n\n1\\. Why a university would be expecting vehicle mines or even IEDs on campus;\nand\n\n2\\. What value an armoured vehicle responding to that situation would have\nanyway.\n\nMy understanding is that a vehicle mine is pretty useless once you know it is\nthere. This seems like a vehicle designed for regular trips over highly\ncontested or hostile (but reasonably well-maintained) roads.\n\n~~~\nMoto7451\nAnother commenter mentioned the police's vehicles get flipped by rowdy sports\ncrowds. The vehicle is probably surplus from the Iraq wind down. Some of\nLAPD's helicopter fleet is, apparently, military surplus.\n\nI would think that even if their MRAP is free the logistics would make it more\nexpensive that whatever vehicle SWAT is using. I would think that an Armored\ncar (like a bank would se) would also be a good choice if they're just looking\nfor a heavy and protected vehicle.\n\nRealistically, it seems like if the crowd is that ugly, the local PD should be\ncalled in. I don't think riot dispersal is really a great responsibility for\ncampus police.\n\nRe the mines: I'm guessing you don't get much of a chance to check for mines,\nespecially on convoy routes. Car bombs at checkpoints (like the video I\nlinked) are probably impossible to detect before someone is in the blast zone.\n\n------\nanologwintermut\nColleges of OSU's size have had problems with riots after games and at the end\nof frat parties ( in fact, I believe OSU has had both, I know they have had\nfootball riots [0]). Vehicles, including police cars, get flipped and set on\nfire.\n\nSince this is likely surplus military equipment from the US draw down in Iraq\nbought for cheap, perhaps it was a cheap way to get a vehicle for riot\ncontrol?\n\nCertainly, they aren't expected to drive across IEDs on campus.\n\nKeep in mind, the police forces at large state schools are actual sworn law\nenforcement officers who carry guns, arrest people, and are responsible for\ncrowd control. OSU is more than 56k people, well past the point where a town\nwould have it's own police force.\n\nOf course, this says nothing about whether any police forces should have this\ntype of equipment.\n\n[0][http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIHxDZwxloY](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIHxDZwxloY)\n\n~~~\ngcb1\nwhen 5+ people are going to pacifically hold signs in some park they have to\ninform the authorities so they can provide public \"protection\".\n\nwhy a game of that proportions is different? i take it that more than 5 people\nare guaranteed to show up.\n\n------\nrunarb\nTo their defense: there has been a worrying trend recently where the\nperpetrators of thus shootings have been much better equipped. Until recently\nthus shootings was mostly done with 9-mm semi-automatic weapons. But for\nexample both the batman theater shooter and Anders Behring Breivik her in\nNorway did use at least some bullet resisting equipment and assault rifles.\n\nIt is totally possible that the next shooter will have full tactical armor and\na fully automatic assault rifle with drum magazines. When this happened first\nresponders has to be prepared. They shouldn't have to wait on SWAT while\nsomeone is going around shooting others. (This was what happened during the\nUtøya attack in Norway. The police that first reposted did not have the\ncapability to stop the perpetrator, so they was set to direct traffic instead,\nwhile they waited on the national counter-terrorism unit to come to aid them.\nIn the meanwhile Breivik could go around executing children.)\n\n------\nreycharles\nI remember a discussion on HN where this came up. IIRC someone suggested that\nit was more about the price - for some reason there was / is a surplus of this\nkind of vehicle. Unfortunately I can't find the thread again.\n\nI wouldn't call this a tank, though.\n\n~~~\ntrusche\nMight have been this one:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6186569](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6186569)\n\nRadley Balko discusses this at some length in \"Rise of the Warrior Cop\", cited\nin the article. Fascinating, scary read.\n\n------\ngcb1\nat reddit when this showed up weeks ago, ppl in the military were commenting\nhow driving those are the worst thing they did on service. that its\ndangerously jumpy to the point they would question driving over speed bumps or\ncrosing over sidewalks.\n\nseems that some company developed something for military no-price-limits\nmarket that turned out so bad that they started a bargain sale to civilians.\n\nohio was just the first sucker that had to spend last minute budget to not\nlose it next year. and knowing how prevalent is this, expect a lot more to pop\nup.\n\n~~~\ncynwoody\n> _ohio was just the first sucker that had to spend last minute budget to not\n> lose it next year._\n\nSpend it† or lose it was my first thought, too.\n\n†And then decide what, if anything, to use it for.\n\n------\nbenologist\nFor definitions of 'tank' that include 'armored truck' and exclude a cannon,\ntreads and other features you kind of expect on a tank.\n\n------\nandymcsherry\nRiots after Ohio State/Michigan game get pretty intense, there's usually a\nfleet of helicopters out already.\n\n~~~\ndagw\nWhy does campus security have to deal with that? If it's really as bad as you\nclaim, shouldn't it be up to the state or city police departments to deal\nwith.\n\n~~~\nmontitro\nThe campus security IS the police department. A lot of large state schools\nhave fully-fledged police departments, not private security.\n\n~~~\nBrandonM\nNot true. There are two separate groups in Columbus: OSU Police and the\nColumbus Police Department.\n\n------\ndllthomas\nI assume the intended use is an invasion of Michigan.\n\n~~~\nyareally\nHappened once before (sorta) in a dispute over state boundaries.\n\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_War)\n\nOhio ended up getting the area around the Ohio/Michigan state line and\nMichigan got the upper peninsula.\n\n~~~\ndllthomas\nYup. Was intended as a nod at both that, and the ongoing UM/OSU rivalry.\n\n------\ndavecyen\nAlways keeping it classy in Columbus. Go blue\n\n------\nzero_intp\nAh, shades of Kent.\n\nFour dead in Ohio.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nI'm completely demotivated to work; what can I do? - iyra72\nI&#x27;m two years before heading off to university, but I have no motivation to learn the things that are being taught at college. I chose to study the subjects that I thought I would enjoy, but sadly this isn&#x27;t true. I&#x27;m assuming that if I had made other choices for subjects, I&#x27;d be in a similar problem.\nMaths is one of the subjects I&#x27;m studying, and although I enjoy maths itself, I&#x27;m not enjoying what I learn in school. I can&#x27;t be motivated to put the work in, so that I can get good results at the end of the year.\nI spend my free time programming or researching instead, but I can&#x27;t continue doing this if I want to get the A-levels I need to enter a half-decent university.<p>Are there any ways by which I could motivate myself to study more?\n======\nbane\nI'm going to say something that's a little tough but it's meant as advice\ncoming from years of mistakes before I finally got my head on the right way:\nPart of growing up is learning to prioritize what you need to do, even if it\nisn't fun, over what you like to do. This is how the real world works, and\nit's what you'll spend the rest of your life doing. Learning to do it when\nyou're young, when mistakes are smaller, will make the rest of your life so\nmuch better.\n\nWhen you get your needs out of the way, the fun stuff you _can_ do is all the\nbetter, and you'll know more about the fun stuff that you're doing enabling\nyou to open more worlds of enjoyment later that you'll never be able to\nconceive of without putting in the hard work to start. Doors will be open to\nyou that you'll never even imagine if you put in the work to build the\nfoundation of your life right now. Digging the metaphorical ditches and laying\nthe metaphorical concrete for your foundation sucks, but that's how life is.\nLots of sucky boring shitty work, for a few profound moments of bliss.\n\nI know this sounds just like words right now, but I wish this was a concept\nthat I had truly grokked much earlier in my life before I had to spend years\nfixing all the bits and pieces I needed to do that I had deferred.\n\nNobody gets to do the fun stuff for long, without working out all the\ndreadfully boring bits a head of time.\n\nWant to be an explorer? Spend months raising money and building schedules and\nlooking at maps and buying equipment.\n\nWant to be a rock star? Spend years learning to play an instrument, playing in\ndive bars and making demo tapes. Get a break then play the same 4 hit songs\nfor 20 years.\n\nWant to write awesome code and run an awesome business? Spend years learning\ncomputational theory, business management and leadership, raising funds, and\nlast but not least, writing thousands of lines of boring boiler plate, edge\ncase handling and plumbing code.\n\nWant to be an author? Spend a few years writing a couple hundred pages on your\ntopic then get rejected by 99 out of 100 publishers. Then do an endless book\ntour where you read the same passage from your book 300 times.\n\nLearning to do the boring, dreadfully dull, uninteresting stuff...learning to\njust muscle through it...is _the_ most important life skill any human being\ncan learn. It's the marshmallow test magnified by a million.\n\n~~~\ngreggman\nI feel incredibly blessed that I never had to do any of this. I enjoyed\ncomputer programming. I learned to do all the stuff because it was fun.\nLearned to read and write files, learned to sort, learned to write languages,\netc etc.\n\nAll of it was almost always in pursuit of some goal. I want to create ABC I\nneeded to learn about DEF. etc.. Very little of it was just learning for the\nsake of learning.\n\nI can't remember ever doing a boring thing related to programming off the top\nof my head. I can remember automating repetitive things but even that was fun.\n\nI remember working lots of overtime but I don't remember disliking the work.\n\nI don't know what to take from that. I've kind of assumed it's been the same\nfor all the programmers I respect. I see them code as a hobby just like me. I\nassume they keep doing because they love it.\n\nMaybe if you don't love it you're doing the wrong thing? Maybe if you don't\nlove anything then your advice is true?\n\n~~~\nlgieron\nDo you code for a living? If so, I think your experience (\"no boring task\never\") is pretty unique.\n\n~~~\nrudasn\nI'm in a similar situation. I got into writing code because the things I\nthought were cool required writing code to have; websites, irc bots, web apps,\netc.\n\nI have been learning new things about code (and in the process software\nengineering) for about 10 years and I find it more exciting than ever. I do\nhave a a lot of boring tasks to complete but I often play around with them a\nbit, finding new ways to do an age old task and then it's cool again.\n\nOn a related note, I see qualified people my age working jobs they don't\nreally enjoy for peanuts and it really sucks. I consider my self very lucky\nfor having a full-time hobby that is rewarding and can pay the bills.\n\n------\nkirillzubovsky\nDude, whatever you choose to do, please do yourself a favor and ignore the\nbullshit advice that starts with - \"this is how the real world works...\" That\nnonsense only comes from people who had settled for the average.\n\nLife works in any way that you want it to work.\n\nLook, if you don't want to do the shit work, don't do it, but don't bitch and\nmoan and complain about it. Instead, find a way to still get shit done, while\nnot doing the work you don't want to do.\n\nYou don't like doing homework? Nobody does. It's a waste of time and you will\nnot use 90% of what you've learned.\n\nSpend the bare minimum time you need to pass high-school on work that you have\nto get done, devote the rest of your time to the work you want to get done. If\nthat means learning computer programming, do it. I had friends in high-school\nwho managed hosting companies, while at high-school. Guess what, while the\nrest of us were solving stupid problems and learning history, those guys made\nmoney. It's not a bad skill to learn.\n\nAnyways, this discussion could go back and forth... Get off your ars, close HN\nand just f'ing do something!\n\n~~~\npsc\nGreat post. This is the kind of perspective you want to have. This reminds me\nof PG's high school essay:\n\n\"The important thing is to get out there and do stuff. Instead of waiting to\nbe taught, go out and learn.\" \\- PG\n\nBefore I quote the whole thing, the OP (and anyone in the same position)\nshould read the whole essay:\n[http://paulgraham.com/hs.html](http://paulgraham.com/hs.html)\n\nIf you want the real world to be (quoting from the other post) \"lots of sucky\nboring shitty work, for a few profound moments of bliss,\" that's fine. But if\nyou don't want to accept that, you don't have to. What Kirill said above is\ntotally right; life works how you want it to.\n\nIt's normal for someone in high school to feel like the OP, especially someone\nwho's a hacker at heart. School limits you in a lot of ways, but you don't\nhave to let it stop you. You just have to realize that the boundaries are self\nimposed. You can do real things. So treat school like a day job, get it out of\nthe way, and do what's interesting to you.\n\n------\nbillyjobob\nSo you don't like school work. You could get higher grades if only you were\nmore motivated...\n\ni.e. you are exactly like every other 16 year old I ever knew.\n\nMost of them because more motivated once they started university and were able\nto focus on what they enjoyed studying. I'd be more worried if you _were_\nmotivated at 16, because then you'd probably burn out, or grow up to be an\nobnoxious brain box.\n\nAlso, since you sound like you are in the UK, you should realise that grades\ndon't matter here. No-one will ever ask what you scored in your maths A-level.\nYour success in life will mostly be determined by the connections your parents\nhave. The only thing you can do to improve your chances is network and make\nsome more connections of your own at university. Plenty of top jobs go to\nthose who graduated with the \"gentleman's third\" because they spent their time\nnetworking rather than studying.\n\n~~~\ncjfont\n> Your success in life will mostly be determined by the connections your\n> parents have\n\nSorry but this statement doesn't ring true to me, because I know of several\ncases where two brothers have had divergent success outcomes based on their\npersonalities and the choices they've made.\n\nThere's also MANY ways to forge your own connections in life.\n\n~~~\ncoherentpony\nYou're completely right. It's not true. Your success in life will mostly be\ndetermined by the connections _you_ make.\n\n~~~\njwdunne\nIt's also likely you inherit the connections your parents make - provided you\nmaintain a good relationship with them. Everyone once in a while, I'll heard\nabout a guy by mum knows who needs some work done on his website. Since my mum\nis an assistant in Tesco, these are not stupendous opportunities (though not\nto discredit, I can use the money).\n\nIf my mum or dad was an investment banker and I was still a web developer, I\nimagine they would still send leads my way. There just may be more in quantity\nor monetary value or both.\n\n------\nDanBC\nYou have a temporary hurdle to jump over. Get good grades. The aim of getting\ngood grades is _only_ to get good grades. There's a bunch of stuff that you\ncan do with good grades, and if that motivates you it's great. But at the\nmoment you just need to get the good grades.\n\nSo, perhaps when you're studying you put in 30 minutes for school work, and 15\nminutes for what you enjoy, then have a break. Then repeat that.\n\nThis allows you to get the good grades, and keeps you interested in the\nsubject.\n\nYou'll have a bit more freedom in Uni, and you'll so you can see your current\ntask (get good grades) as also being \"learn some discipline\".\n\nThere will be some people who want to get better grades than you. Thus, you\nshould get best grades you can just to stick one in the eye of those people.\n\n~~~\nmarvin\nThis is very good advice. If you get nothing else out of high school, make\nsure you learn the discipline it takes to study something that's not\nimmediately rewarding. Not only is it important right now in order to have\nchoices for the immediate future, it's a skill that will serve you well\nthroughout life.\n\n------\nallworknoplay\nFuck school, it has no intrinsic value. It's not an end in itself, and it's\nnot built for everyone. If it's not built for you, find something you DO like\nand dive into it hard. You're on hacker news for some reason -- what is it\nyou're into? Learn how to do it yourself, get technical, build skills around\nthat. Also, make friends who are likewise into it. I promise you'll be a lot\nmore engaged.\n\nDo the school work but do it with something else in mind.\n\nAlso: the guys suggesting drugs know nothing about you and are probably not\ndoctors. I love drugs, but I'd never suggest them without knowing more about\nyou. It's absurdly easy to build a serious amphetamine dependency that will\nleave you feeling a lot worse than you do now.\n\n------\nnulagrithom\nDo you have a job? Go push a mop for a couple years. It will motivate you to\ndo well in school and has the added benefit of giving you some money for\nuniversity.\n\n~~~\njmtame\nI actually second this. I worked a bunch of odd jobs starting at 15 years old\n(you were supposed to be 16, so I had to get consent from the principal to\nflip burgers). As I was taking the garbage out while working at a grocery\nstore, it just hit me: I can't do this for the rest of my life. I believe I\nwas around 18 years old, so maybe a little older than the OP. I joined the\nlocal chamber of commerce and started consulting that summer and made more\nmoney than the previous 3 summers, and I enjoyed the work I was doing.\n\nIt's good to work awful jobs. It builds healthy character and eventually it'll\nprobably hit you that you really want to be doing more intellectual things,\nwhich conveniently pays more money than most physical labor.\n\n------\nef4\n> Are there any ways by which I could motivate myself to study more?\n\nProbably not, if you're asking the question. But I don't think you should\nstudy more. I think you should program more, since it's already something you\nenjoy enough to do for fun. It's a question of playing to your strengths.\n\nPut in the 10,000 hours of sustained effort that it takes to truly become\ngreat at it. Prove your abilities through open source.\n\nYou will have no problem finding an interesting and well-paying career, _if_\nyou push yourself hard to always keep learning both about programming and\nabout the business of software.\n\nIf that sounds like a lot of hard work, well yeah, it is. There's no shortcut.\nEither suck it up and do your homework and color inside the lines, or summon\nthe guts to blaze your own path. Or do neither and let the path of least\nresistance take you where it wants.\n\nWhich path are you more likely to regret 40 years from now?\n\n~~~\nmsutherl\nI'm not sure it's advisable to encourage somebody not to do well on their\nA-levels. It's not like the US where you can get low marks in secondary school\nand be fine. He won't be able to attend a decent university, ever. Correct me\nif I'm wrong.\n\n~~~\nef4\nThe same logic applies in the US. You won't be going to a good college if you\nhave bad high school grades.\n\nBut my advice was to consider eschewing academia entirely. I've worked with\ntoo many well-paid, respected developers without degrees to take the value of\ncredentialing very seriously.\n\nIt's not a panacea, of course. It takes a lot of sustained work and learning\nwhether you do it in school or not. Some people just find it easier to learn\noutside of formal schooling.\n\n~~~\nmsutherl\nI think it's better to make that decision when you're 18, not 16. Always best\nto keep your options open because you don't know how you or the world will\nchange, even in the near future.\n\n------\nyuxt\nOpen a map, close your eyes and point randomly. Pack you backpack, buy tickets\nand go there without any reservation. Spend at least 1 month away from home,\ncomfort and routine.\n\nWhen you are back you will know exactly what to do.\n\n~~~\ndiscostrings\n> Open a map, close your eyes and point randomly. Pack you backpack, buy\n> tickets and go there without any reservation. Spend at least 1 month away\n> from home, comfort and routine.\n\nThis sounds like an interesting and exciting life-changing plan and\neverything, but I don't think it's particularly actionable advice for most\nsixteen-year-olds in today's world, and I don't think it's likely to help with\nthe question at hand. The submitter isn't asking /what to do/; the submitter\nis asking /how can I be more motivated in what I'm doing/!\n\nI think better advice is to focus on how the things you're learning relate to\nthe things you like to do. So try to focus on how math can improve your\nprogramming, research, and other interests. Also, keep in mind that you're\nbuilding a foundation--things are more interesting once you get to the stage\nwhere you're building on top of it. Even if you decide not to use it in a few\nyears, it's a really nice thing to have that will give you a lot of\nflexibility.\n\n~~~\nscarecrowbob\nI think we can abstract the advice you're commenting on to \"if you don't feel\nmotivated to do what you're doing, do something else\", which seems okay. It's\nquite possible that continuing to do things you are not enthusiastic about\ndoing may be a bad idea.\n\nI see your point that it's not a very actionable bit of real advice.\nPragmatically, if you told my 16 year old to pack a bag and leave, I'd want to\nsmack you :D\n\n~~~\njotm\nSixteen is old enough - especially when he can always return. Being away from\n_everything_ for a few months really puts things into perspective - why are\nyou doing what you're doing, why you were so afraid of some things, whether\nyou're on the right path, and more.\n\n~~~\ndiscostrings\nThe weakness of the advice isn't that it might not be helpful and mind-\nexpanding. It falls short in that most sixteen-year-olds probably don't really\nhave the option to do it:\n\n1) The plan takes more than a trivial amount of money. Most sixteen-year-olds\ncannot afford this sort of plan.\n\n2) Many parents, if not most parents, are unlikely to support this idea.\nThere's of course a spectrum of what parents might do to stop it if they're\nnot supportive, but it's easier to just save up money and wait until you're\ndone with school.\n\n3) It can only be done in the summer without causing a lot of problems, and\nperhaps not even then.\n\nIt's a potentially helpful suggestion for someone who's over eighteen, but for\nmany sixteen-year-olds it's probably a pipe dream or something that may bring\nmore problems than benefits. The suggestion assumes a certain type of parents\nand a certain level of privilege that I would estimate are the exception and\nnot the norm. I would have been extremely frustrated if someone gave me advice\nthat presented this as a serious option when I was sixteen.\n\nAdvice that makes these sort of assumptions may end up decreasing motivation.\nI think more universal advice that addresses the actual question is a lot more\nhelpful.\n\n------\nmistercow\nIf you spend your free time programming or researching, and aren't motivated\nby academics, then you might want to reconsider academic direction you're\ngoing in.\n\nFor someone who has the motivation to learn programming on their own, I\nseriously question the value of a formal education in anything like CS or\nmath. You already know you can learn that stuff more easily outside of a\nclassroom, so I would argue that taking that academic path is a waste of both\nyour time and money.\n\nInstead, I would consider studying something totally different. Programming is\na wild card - you can play it to improve any hand you have. Keep honing those\nskills, but go to university for something you _can 't_ so easily learn on\nyour own.\n\nThis is the advice I wish someone had given me before I went and wasted time\nin college.\n\n~~~\ndanpat\n> Programming is a wild card - you can play it to improve any hand you have.\n\nThis is the truth. Every success I've had has been where I've applied my\ncomputing skills to an environment where no-one with those skills had yet\nappeared. The efficiency gains you can make to mundane, non-computing tasks by\napplying a bit of programming knowledge will often knock the socks off people\nwho've been doing things the same old way for years.\n\n------\ndhughes\nThey way I think about it is you can work a dead end job for 80 hours per week\nmaking $8 an hour to make enough to survive and not have any free time to\nsocialize, go to the gym or be with family. Or study for and try to get a\ndecent job you like that pays half decent so you don't have to become a human\neraser and wear yourself down doing the work of others. Having many skills to\nfall back on is great but trying to learn everything losing focus and never\nfinishing anything isn't much help.\n\nOr realize you need to focus and find a career that you like and is wanted by\nemployers. I recall years ago they mentioned \"The fear\" and it is a great\nexample of suddenly realizing shit I better start getting good at this life\nthing, now!\n\nTime is shorter than you think your health can suddenly rapidly fail, saving\nfor retirement is a constant worry. Time is so short it's as if nothing you do\ncan be done soon enough. Realizing that early in life is fantastic. A big part\nof life I think is having mentors who are examples to follow it's good to have\na person who you can think \"What would Bob do?\" as an internal guide.\n\nIt's easy to say all that but hard to do, I haven't mastered that yet.\n\n~~~\nmsutherl\nI've found this fear to be my greatest motivator, but it has also lead me down\nfalse paths. Truth is, your dichotomy is a fiction. There are plenty of people\nwho live fulfilling lives without ever having consciously focused on learning\nskills and meeting qualifications wanted by employers. However, nobody gets\nanywhere by being lazy – one then needs to find another motivator. One I have\nin mind is: repulsion toward injustices in the world. Rather than fearing\ndrudgery, you can hold yourself personally accountable for evils and optimize\nfor effecting change. Of course this is also a fiction. An individual is most\nlikely incapable of effecting significant change in the world.\n\nAll motivations are irrational, but you still must have one. If you haven't\nfound one, keep looking. Watch documentaries, travel, read books. You will\nfind things to care about.\n\n~~~\ndhughes\nI shouldn't say or at least didn't mean a lot of money is the only way to be\nhappy, yes finding something you love to do and your family is able to live a\ngood life is the goal.\n\nEducation is a great character builder I often see educated people in\nstressful situations far more calm than someone who worked all their lives wit\nno education other than high school. It's not a science it doesn't apply every\ntime but education gives you options, if you lose your job at a sawmill where\nyou worked since age 16 you're going to be stressed. Sooner or later we all\nfigure this out but it's better to discover that at age 18 than 49.\n\n------\nloceng\nExercise. Relatively new discovery that lactic acid, that comes from muscle\nuse, is a \"pre-cursor\" for motivation.\n\n~~~\ntimmm\nCounter-example: Me, I don't work out. I work 9-5 at a tech job and then spend\nthe weekend working on my own products. I don't struggle with motivation as I\nliterally enjoy what I do.\n\nAlways question advice that people like to rattle off - humans are very good\nat perpetuating bad memes without a second thought. Like that running a\nmarathon (26 miles) in one go is somehow healthy, without ever questioning why\na healthy activity would make them shit their pants and nipples bleed.\n\nIn fact exercising would probably decrease the probability that I would be\nproductive as it would consume more of my time and energy.\n\nMy 0.02\n\n------\nJamilD\nI know it seems like what you learn in school is boring, and perhaps even\ntrivial, but it provides an important foundation to what you'll learn in\nUniversity.\n\nWhen I was in high school, I'd attempt to apply the stuff I was learning in\nmath to more interesting problems that I was actually interested in – for\nexample, using the simple calculus I was being taught to start to understand\nsome aspects of machine learning.\n\nThe truth is, a lot of high school math is rather fascinating – you just need\nto find a place to apply what you're learning. I still use that technique now;\nI find a lot of the electronics courses at university extremely dull, so I'll\nwrite a program to solve, say, a diode circuit using the exponential model.\nAnd I end up learning so much more than I would just studying.\n\nSo studying high school math and learning interesting things doesn't have to\nbe mutually exclusive :)\n\n------\nalexkus\nSounds just like me at 16. Wasn't very motivated despite studying the A-Levels\nI wanted to (Maths, Physics, Computing). Spent all my spare time stealing\nInternet access at the local University (this was back in 1992/1993). I got\ndecent grades (AAB) and got into my first choice University, but the\nmotivation to do well still wasn't there. Ended up getting a 2:2 where\neveryone expected me to get a 1st. After that I was lucky and ended up in a\ngood job where degree result didn't matter.\n\nLooking back I wish I'd talked to someone (not my parents) about it at the\ntime. So I'd recommend finding someone to talk to at your college; your form\ntutor (depends, I didn't get on with mine), careers advisor, pastoral care\nreps, etc. Just remember that they should be there to help you do your best,\nnot bollock you for not putting your full effort in.\n\n------\nGoladus\nOne way to overcome a lack of motivation is to ruthlessly eliminate\ndistractions. Tailor your environment and to be (and practice habits that are)\nmaximally conducive to studying. If you have a hard time \"taking a step back\"\nto take an objective look at your habits and lifestyle, you might find yoga\nand meditation helpful.\n\nExercise can also help keep your energy up, but in my experience exercise\ndoesn't magically solve motivation problems and sometimes gets in the way.\nWorking a hard labor can give you good experience but I think the motivation\nthat comes from that sort of work tends to be vastly overstated and wears off\nvery quickly.\n\nDo you spend time programming because you're motivated to program? Have you\nproduced anything of value? What sort of research do you do? What motivates\nyou besides programming and research? Who is paying the bills right now?\n\n------\nAqueous\nIt's nice to chip away at programming but if you don't have an academic basis\nto guide your studies it is going to keep you out of a lot of jobs when you\nget out. Take it from someone who knows - I've programmed useful things in\njust about every language, but because I didn't major in Computer Science\n(Physics/Philosophy instead) I'm unable to compete for the top tier of jobs.\nHopefully this isn't permanent, as I'm teaching myself computer science now,\nbut I could've saved myself a lot of work if I had just chosen a concentration\nmore suitable for the jobs I was interested in.\n\nYou may be a confident auto-didact but even auto-didacts tend to have large\nblind spots. You don't know what you don't know, and school is there to tell\nyou.\n\n~~~\nmatttheatheist\nAs a Computer ENGINEER, I can easily tell you that Computer SCIENCE is\nessentially a liberal arts degree. Seriously, they don't know s __t about\ntechnology, unless it comes safely wrapped in an API.\n\nAnd by the way, studying Physics is orders of magnitude more difficult that\nlearning CS. And for that alone, I would hire a Physicist over a CS guy any\nday of the week.\n\nAsk any recruiter, and they'll tell you the same thing. Physics is a higher\npecking order than CS.\n\n------\ncognitiveben\nDrop out and find something that motivates you. It's harder than the standard\npath, but if you're bright and industrious it can be a much more interesting\nride. Also, university is always there later. I did the above, got bored in my\nsecond successful career and am now finishing up a Ph.D. that I started, as an\nundergrad, at the age of 27. I think I got more out of the program than my\nyounger counterparts, and thanks to a decade of making money and connections,\nI did it in significantly better style. No regrets.\n\n------\nRivieraKid\nI tried couple of anti-procrastination techniques and the only one I had\nmoderate success with is the \"no internet mode\". When I have some project to\nfinish, I make a decision that until it's finished, I won't use the internet\nat all from the morning to 8pm (except for work-related things and email).\nWhat's really important here is that you have to decide _firmly_. This usually\nlasts couple of days but I'm thinking about doing this every day.\n\n------\nalecco\nSome things that help me:\n\n    \n    \n        Visualize goal: close your eyes, imagine your acceptance letters\n        When stuck, go for a little walk or physical exercise\n        Do goal-oriented studying (e.g. Pomodoro technique)\n    \n\nUnderstand the education system wants you to comply, this is wrong, but the\nfaster you get over it the faster you'll forget about it. It's better to keep\nyour mouth shut, don't complain or antagonize, they are not going to change\nfor you or anybody (they haven't in centuries). Give them the little self\nimportance they crave for and _get from them what you want_ (grades, diploma).\nOf course, keep your mind critical but keep it to yourself until they give you\nwhat you want.\n\nAlso don't overwork yourself, perhaps this is not the best time to spend many\nhours doing unrelated programming or research. It can be a distraction to your\neducation goal. We have limited willpower, try to avoid depletion. Only when\nyou achieve your studying goals for the day you get to do your own thing.\nStudy in the mornings, play in the afternoons.\n\nModifying your routine takes a while, do it in baby steps. Remove all\ntemptations that might get in the way to your goals until you achieve them.\nBut keep a good chunk of the day to clean up your head.\n\nOf course, YMMV.\n\n~~~\nalecco\nIt might help to go study to a special quiet and motivational place, a library\nor your aunt's house.\n\n------\nsillysaurus2\nStep back and ask yourself: What are my assumptions? Why do I believe these\nassumptions to be true? What if they aren't true?\n\nYou have at least 50 years ahead of you. That's a long time. But the next 5\nyears will profoundly shape your next 50.\n\nIf that feels like too much pressure, then simply don't worry about it. It's\nmore important to relax than to optimize your life if you're the type of\nperson who doesn't react well to a lot of pressure.\n\n------\ngqvijay\nWow, you sound like me 20 years ago. And I am quiet surprised at \"that's life,\nshape up\" responses.\n\nKnowing what I know now, I wish someone would've told me: \\- Try to get into\ntop schools like Stanford, Harvard, etc. \\- If you don't have the financial\nmeans or the grades or whatever, don't get discouraged one bit! \\- Since you\nenjoy \"programming or researching\", stop stressing over colleges. In my humble\nopinion, most colleges are overrated. They are designed for drones and will\nsuck the passion out of what you are majoring in. (note: may not be true for\nall) \\- In my opinion, typical educational institutions in our country is\nbroken. \\- Instead, start interning. Do small projects that you can showcase\non your passion. Join programming groups, meet ups that are related, etc. \\-\nIn short, make a living in doing what you love (programming). When you find a\njob and love what you do, you are no longer \"working\".\n\nFinally, watch this:\n[http://new.ted.com/talks/larry_smith_why_you_will_fail_to_ha...](http://new.ted.com/talks/larry_smith_why_you_will_fail_to_have_a_great_career)\n\n------\nzacinbusiness\nGet a shit job. Get shot at by a thug. Clean up other peoples shit and piss\nall day for minimum wage. That's what worked for me.\n\n------\nusablebytes\nFirst thing - don't search for motivation or don't try to get yourself\nmotivated. You'll end up looking for things that will make you feel good which\nwill in-turn promote procrastination and thereby take you away from actions.\nThe truth is motivation doesn't last. It's a push mechanism. You'll have to\nfocus on things that pull you towards it.\n\nIf you keep going like the way you are currently, how would your life be?\nDefinitely you understand the problem with it and this post is the proof. But\nask yourself - \"why do you want to get A-levels at school?\". If programming\nand researching keeps you going, by all means, you should focus on it. Make\nsure you put the best possible efforts in it; the rest will follow\nautomatically.\n\n------\nlinux_devil\nTake it easy, there are lot of options available online if you are not\nenjoying what is being taught in college but you have interest in particular\nsubject. For e.g.: When I was in college I felt my profs. are boring , so I\nalways used to take online courses , like algorithms , operating system\nthrough ocw.mit.edu or stanford.edu or coursera , It helped me a lot to\nmaintain interest in subject , and at same time participate in discussions\nonline , there is always a big community somewhere which will be happy to help\nyou .\n\n------\njahewson\nI went through this phase of the British school system some 14 years ago, just\nas the AS/A2 exams were being introduced. I'm a very technically minded\nperson, but I found school's treatment of these subjects to be intensely\nboring. I found it hard to pay attention and not be distracted by some more\ninteresting or immediately rewarding passtime such as programming.\n\nWhile much of the A-level material is presented in a tedious manner, there are\nother books and sources available beyond your curriculum and I encourage you\nto seek these out. Applied topics such as computer science and engineering\nsimply assume that you have a good grasp on the fundamentals. Books such as\nThe New Turing Omnibus give you a taste of lots of topics, find some you like\nand dig deeper. Try and find some exciting, applied use of the boring school\nmath, or chemistry, or phyisics. Find books and resources which guide you\nthrough learning rather than just reading Wikipedia.\n\nIn summary, try to find the cool things that can be accomplished with the\nfundamentals you learn at school and you'll be more motivated to work through\nthe tedium. Don't be afraid of \"degree level\" texts. Try to stay away from any\nprogramming that involves drudgery and focus on enlightened, mathematically-\ninclined tasks: learn Haskell, implement fundamental algorithms, find hard\nproblems like SAT, fourier transforms, optimisation. Find something which\nrequires the skills you learn at school but which is exciting enough to hold\nyour attention. Do lots of little things.\n\n------\nlallysingh\nIt's not the material, it's not you. It's the rest of your life. You have to\nfind a way to recharge.\n\nI didn't do that for too long, and my grades dropped. My GPA dropped by 50%. I\nfinally took a semester off. I traveled. I got out of the grind and away from\nfamily and work and actually tried to explore life a bit.\n\n<i-am-obviously-projecting> When you're young and out of high school, you're\nmostly trying to figure out who you are independent of your parents and\nupbringing. Sometimes being out of your folks' house for a while and not\nfiguring that out leaves you empty. </i-am-obviously-projecting>.\n\nAfter that, I made recharging a normal part of my week. I gave myself a small\nmusic budget (a new album a month, that can't be top-40), looked into other\nactivities (martial arts, motorcycling), and made a point to study different\nsub-topics of computer science at different times.\n\nThe same classes that were boring me out, I read their textbooks on the train\nto work.\n\n------\nforgottenpaswrd\n\"Are there any ways by which I could motivate myself to study more?\"\n\nYou told us, the answer is no.\n\nYou already dedicate your time to programming, because you need it. I also\nneeded it when I was your age.\n\nIn my case I started programming while also studying engineering in Europe. I\nmade a company with the code I accumulated over this time, with the knowledge\nof programming being really useful to manage other people(and identifying who\nis really good or not at it and so on).\n\nPeople consider me rich now(there is always someone else with more money, but\nI have more than what my family needs), but I went through very hard times\nbefore it(my family wanted me to get a good job instead of risking so much).\n\nIf you force yourself to study more, you will regret it.\n\nMy advice:\n\nFocus on learning to study more efficiently, the idea is to use the time you\nalready use to study faster and get better grades while also giving time to\nprogramming.\n\nLearn from the masters, read the Audiobook \"The Now habit\", learn aabout\nmindmaps and mnemonics, and always go for the best.\n\nUse software for remembering stuff.\n\n------\nbrador\nResearching? Tell me you don't mean reading random wikipedia articles and\nbrowsing the web here.\n\nYou're at the stage of life where you need to develop deep skills in subjects.\nAt the early stages of that process it can be hard to motivate yourself.\nYou're gonna have to power through and realise you're doing this for future\nyou not current you.\n\n------\nirremediable\nHey there! From the sound of it, you're about sixteen years old and live in\nBritain. A few years ago, I was your age and in a similar position. What\ngrades are you getting at the minute? A-levels might be easier for you than\nyou realise.\n\nAs to how to motivate yourself to study for them... study the cool things you\ncan do with maths. Try to solve problems. Calculus, linear algebra and\nstatistics are the fundament of the maths curriculum, and they're all hugely\nuseful. Figure out how to prove things. Figure out how to solve mechanics\nproblems with calculus. Program some statistical analysis stuff.\n\nFrankly, if you're a smart kid and enjoy maths/programming, I expect you'll do\nfine at A-level. And if not, it doesn't mean much. Some of the best\nprogrammers I know didn't bother going to university.\n\n------\nchegra\nOk let me play some mental games with you. Ask yourself would you rather pay\n$10/$100/$1000 or study for 5 hours?\n\nFind the amount where you rather do the studying then pledge to donate that\namount to charity. Do this everyday. I find this works for.\n\nI estimate you are doing 4 a-levels. That's about 2000 pages of work. A 500 pg\nbook for each subject. If you study 20 pages a day and do all the exercises, I\nguarantee you will get an A for whatever course(oh yea and do the past\npapers).\n\nIn a hundred days or so you could be finished studying for A-levels.\n\nEnjoy the days of where you have if/then reward structures. If you study hard\nyou get good grades then you go to a good university then you get a good job.\nAfter this, there is hardly any guaranteed recipe for success. So, take the\nsuccess while you can.\n\n------\nunobliged\nIt sometimes helps to study the history of whatever subject you are working\ntowards in school. For example, the history of mathematics can provide a lot\nof inspiration for what can be done with the knowledge. Focus on the outcomes\nyou want and see the schooling as a means to an end.\n\n------\ngmantastic\nBeing 16-18 and studying for your A-levels can be a horrible time - it was for\nme. Relationships with your friends start to change as you grow up at\ndifferent rates (I don't know whether this applies to you), interests change,\nand you have so little energy it feels like an effort to get out of bed before\nnoon. Some things that worked for me were hanging out with some different,\nmore studious people, and learning the course material from books in the order\nI chose rather than following the course (I missed a lot of classes, but I\nwould't recommend that). Make a game out of getting the grades that will be\nyour ticket out of there! On a serious note, if you think you might be\ndepressed, talk to someone (a doctor or counsellor) about it.\n\n------\nreledi\n> but I can't continue doing this if I want to get the A-levels I need to\n> enter a half-decent university.\n\nNot sure where you're from, but in Canada you don't need all A's to get into a\nhalf-decent university. However, if you want to get into a top university,\nyou'll need good grades and more (e.g. extracurricular activities).\n\nI'm sure any university you will get into will be just fine. During your time\nat uni, you get out what you put in. Don't stress about getting into your\ndream university. You'll do fine wherever as long you like what you do and you\nget involved with stuff happening around you. Grades are just a means to an\nend, don't focus on them too much.\n\n------\nbetadreamer\nUniversity and school is very different. I was a B~C (even D & F) student in\nhigh school because I hated what I was taught in school. I enjoy Math but\nsomehow was not motivated as well.\n\nI went to the _okay_ university afterwards but things started to change.\nEverything what I learn there somehow made sense and was not boring anymore.\nIt might be just the fact that university have better teacher but it was more\nmotivating. Somehow I turned my self from B~C student to a A dean list\nstudent. I went to CMU for grad school after graduation.\n\nThe point i want to make is that university is different from school and you\ncan always climb up the ladder as long as you try hard at some point.\n\n------\nfit2rule\nGet a job. Plain and simple, this the best way to motivate yourself to study\nmore.\n\nFact is though, you don't need to study more. You should work a lot more.\nWorking is the only really effective, motivating, way to take what you've\nlearned through your studies and apply it to the real world. Without actually\ndoing something for someone, a lot of what people learn in school is useless.\n\nIt isn't until you actually have a user that you become a developer.\n\n------\nbrianbarker\nI had a rough time getting through my Computer Science degree, despite loving\nsoftware. I still find things I hate. Currently, I've done web apps for a few\nyears and now I'm fucking sick of them. Time to move on to a new area of CS\nthat challenges me. That's pretty much how it goes. You'll do stuff you hate,\nbut you have to use that as a foundation to do the things you love.\n\n------\nWWKong\nYes. By changing your attitude that 100% of what you do should be \"enjoyable\".\nTry and strike a balance. In real world you will find that most everyone puts\nup with stuff for safety net around basic needs like house, car, raising\nfamily etc. Right now I would enjoy 2 weeks off in Maldives. But I'm here\nworking on this presentation to make my boss look good.\n\n------\nmamuninfo\nThis is very common situation for most of the people and it is also general\nfor all fields. Many colleague around me who are also not interested about\ntheir daily work. Mind set is important factor to do something. Just sharing a\nvideo with you....\n\nIn youtube\n[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN34FNbOKXc](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN34FNbOKXc)\n\n~~~\nromanovcode\nCan't stop but think that title of this video sounds like some super-cheesy\nself-improvement BS.\n\n\"The Power of Belief\"\n\n------\nsosborn\n> spend my free time programming\n\nSounds like you enjoy programming. Assuming this is a correct assumption, go\nall in on it and start contributing to open source projects. If you have the\ntalent then you might be able to get a good job out of high school. At the\nvery least, you might want to look into Computer Science programs in\nUniversity.\n\n------\nbayesianhorse\nSounds a lot like an onsetting depression. Seeking medication now might save\nyou a lot of time and suffering.\n\nIt's very important to recognize that your judgement about what interests you\nis probably distorted, currently. So think twice about making any rash\ndecisions that relate to emotions or relationships....\n\n------\ntobinharris\nKeep programming and researching. Then use your skills to make cool things.\nThen show them to potential employers. You'll do great.\n\nTry and get to uni anyway. But take the pressure of yourself. If you're making\ncool things and learning loads you're ahead of the pack.\n\n------\nromanovcode\nIf you want to be professional programmer you don't really need university. In\nthis profession recruitment doesn't lie when tell things like \"BS in CS or\nsimilar experience.\".\n\nJust go and work, then pick up and study something else, like Mathematics or\nPhysics.\n\n------\nISeemToBeAVerb\nPick up a copy of Cal Newport's book \"So Good They Can't Ignore You.\" Read\nthat book and then think about your situation some more. Cal brings up some\nvery interesting observations, and you're at the perfect point in your life to\nread it.\n\n------\npoobrains\nIt could be depression. Google \"depression test\" to give you an idea about\nit's symptoms. If you think you've got depression, get medical help ASAP.\nThere are some treatments that can make a big difference in your quality of\nlife.\n\n------\nundoware\nYour soul is probably waking up. That's the black lung of coding.\n\nYou have three, maybe four choices. Visual arts, music, and writing, with\nperforming with an asterisk (it's not for everyone.) Get used to being a lot\npoorer, but happier.\n\n~~~\nFLUX-YOU\nTake it from someone who fucked up and went for arts:\n\nYou get demotivated there too. At least with math and programming jobs, you\nhave some money to fix things.\n\n~~~\nscarecrowbob\nBut, as someone who also went towards the arts (I'm a regularly gigging\nmusician) and letters (I have a BA in Philosophy and dumpped my PhD during my\ndissertation), I can say that it wasn't super hard to get back into a\ntechnical position coming from a high-school and early college education where\nI learned a lot of logic, math, and programming skills... since leaving my PhD\nprogram I've been consulting doing PHP-based development for the last 4 years,\nand I'm on track career wise as I would have been if I was teaching at a\nuniversity somewhere.\n\nThis is wholly a un-based feeling, but I feel that it has been a lot easier to\npick up new and professionally useful technical skills in my 30s than it would\nhave been if I had done well in my 20s with a technical career and had to pick\nup the useful philosophical and musical skills I enjoy using in my 30s.\n\n------\nwildpeaks\nIf you're a gamer, think of it as Skyrim: you have to craft a lot of iron\ndaggers before you can make dragon armors, but it's worth it :)\n\n(that or install a mod, but I haven't found the editor for RealLife yet)\n\n------\nehutch79\nWait, your two years from going to college? That makes you what, 16?\n\n------\njbcurtin2\nYou're depressed, mate. I bike 10 miles a day( 4 - 6 times a week ) to keep\nmyself in the saddle. After that, I have no issue with this kind of stuff.\nEating right is huge, too.\n\n------\nbriantakita\nAdopt continous improvement for everything you do. This makes a game where you\ncan improve your thinking, skills, and processes.\n\nIt won't be boring because you can always do it better.\n\n------\ngte910h\nLots of people hit depression in college. See a doctor. You may not be\nsleeping enough, drinking too much, sleeping irregularly, etc, all which can\ncause depression\n\n------\nSixSigma\nGo and visit your local big council estate. Poor futureless unfortunates\nshould give you some mojo. Or even just watch Benefits Street\n\n------\nGeee\nYou don't need motivation or inspiration, and most of the time you don't have\nthese. Just do what you have to do.\n\n------\nnegamax\nWhat do you seek? Minimizing pain, maximizing pleasure. That's what we all are\nprogrammed to seek. You find that and associate it with the studies.\n\nE.g.s\n\nMaximizing pleasure:\n\n\\+ Do you want to work in another country/place. Your studies can get you\nthere.\n\n\\+ Want to have interesting conversation with people. Study.\n\n\\+ Want to understand and have a say about a topic. Study.\n\nMinimizing Pain:\n\n\\- Don't set yourself for failure few years down the line or make it tough\n\n\\- Avoid getting into a meaningless job\n\n\\- (Works for Asians) Think of peers getting ahead of you.\n\n~~~\ntimmm\n> Minimizing pain, maximizing pleasure.\n\nToo reductivist, so do I eat the ice cream sundae and get pleasure right now?\nTo the detriment of my long term health or do I eat the kale forfeiting short\nterm pleasure and gaining long term pleasure?\n\nYour model has no predictive power.\n\n------\norasis\nTravel the world. Ignore these asshats that try to guilt trip you into working\nthrough your slump.\n\n------\nclipityclapity\nHere's my story.\n\nTwo years ago, I dropped out of a mathematically oriented master's. Let's say\nI quit because I wanted to found a company. That's what I tell everybody. And\nthat's what I did.\n\nI can get into the details of why it didn't work, but I'll tell you something\nhere, something which, until now, I have only written down in places nobody\nwould read it: I might have been running from reality. Using the company as a\nhide-out. \"Maybe this will give me a purpose?\"\n\nWe pulled the plug when we were forced to realize that it was a dead end.\n\nPause six months. Rethink life. Winter, not a good time.\n\nMoved to another country and tried again. It went better, but still not good\nenough.\n\nAgain, six months of nothing. Winter.\n\nTravel. Maybe languages are my thing? Different cultures? Get lost. Come back.\n\nWinter.\n\nThis time, I'm not letting it steal six months. I'm trying for another project\n(Show HN soon), I'm going on another travel, and I'll keep on looking, because\nI know one thing: an office will be the death of me. Unfortunately,\nprogramming is generally done in offices.\n\nBut there's always that doubt. Got some freelance jobs to make ends meet.\nFlipping burgers, for programmers. Can't continue this way. Stability, future,\nkids, wives, divorces.\n\nSo listen, I can't give you a straight advice. I still don't even know where I\nwent wrong exactly, or if I went wrong at all. I don't know if I would've been\nhappier in another place. I sometimes lovingly think back about academia, then\nI see what happens there and I want to run even farther away than I already\nam.\n\nMotivation is still a problem for me, at times, but it's getting less. I have\nno regrets (yet), just doubt. A shred of what I would've had, had I not tried\nfor that first company.\n\nOn the upside: I feel free. Every day. Alive. I can decide to drop everything\nhere and emigrate within a week. And I'm doing it. Because I can. Because it\nfeels like the right choice.\n\nIf you tell me where you live I can drop by if I'm ever around :)\n\nGood luck with whatever path you choose. No matter what you do, do it with\npride, son. I believe in you, as long as you do.\n\nSorry I couldn't give you real advice.\n\nOh wait that's not true I totally do have some! Got so caught up in the\nstory.. listen if you really want to tackle this: TALK TO PEOPLE. In terms\nthey can understand. Don't say, \"I have doubts.\" Say: \"Can I study with you\nnext Friday? If you FORCE me to be there and do it, I will cook dinner for\nyou.\" Tell a girl, if she asks why explain here you have trouble concentrating\nalone, joke that maybe she will make it worse but you're willing to try, and\ntell her that it's definitely absolutely not a cunning ploy to get a date with\nher (it's not). If she rejects you ask someone else until you have a girl.\nThen choose a guy for a different subject (not a close friend, high risk of\nfucking around), and somebody you really don't know for another one, and a\nbuddhist for the next, and an atheist, and and and make sure you surround your\nstudy-self with as many different styles of living as possible. You will be\nable to draw inspiration from them. Solitude is what's killing you. Your life\nwill mix with theirs and your energy will combine. I'm not even half joking\nhere; the energy you draw from linking your progress to someone else\n(\"teamplay\") can amaze you.\n\nI'll be your first contact if you want, no problem. Drop me a line on Skype\nand we can work / study for an hour every Thursday afternoon. (send me your\nskype though, not leaving it here :P)\n\nPeace out, stranger!\n\n~~~\nclipityclapity\nEdit in a reply: And whoever else wants to join: feel free! We can make like a\nStudy / Work group session where nobody talks for an hour and we just work all\ntogether in a video conference. Why, that would be just the ding-dang-diddly!\n\n(how do I edit the original post? click \"edit\", append that paragraph, click\n\"update\" button.. nothing happens; edit page reloads and I lose changes..\nwut?)\n\n------\nTheodores\nThe problem with education is that it always has a different take on a subject\nto what personally fascinates you about the subject. Subjects that might have\nfloated your boat personally for many years will be taught differently to what\nyou expect, killing your interest in a subject.\n\nThere is an adage about teaching - if you cannot do then teach, if you cannot\nteach then teach Geography. If we take Geography as an example, you might\nthink of geography as being about places on a map, be able to name all U.S.\nstate capitals and know where Dhaka is and Dakar isn't. Then, in a geography\nclass, you might find that knowing where anywhere is does not matter in the\nleast. 'How flood plains are formed', 'how a volcano works' will be what is\ntaught, without any mention at all of physical places.\n\nThe geography example is an example of how expectations of a subject can be\nwrong at the basic school level, you can live with a mis-match of expectations\nin geography syllabus, however, go to university and it is another kettle of\nfish. You might think politics would be a useful thing to study, be passionate\nabout the subject and be knowledgeable about current affairs. Again, none of\nthat would matter.\n\nComputer science is another area of concern. You might be good at programming\nand be up to date with whatever is on HN. Yet, at university you might get\ntaught languages and methodologies that are a world away. There might actually\nbe reasons why the university teach what they teach that are not readily\napparent. The military might have some link up that means that stuff that\nmatters to designing jet fighters gets taught. Clearly none of it - 'ADA' \\-\nfor instance - might have no relevance in the real world.\n\nReturning to your subject of maths, in the real world you are doing pretty\nwell if you have problems that require secondary school stuff - trigonometry,\ncalculating prices with tax, differential equations. Actually you could\nprobably go a long way on getting a man on the moon with secondary school\nmaths, yet there is a whole world of maths beyond that. Triple integrations,\nanyone? Even if you do find a real world use - electronics with Gauss's\ntheorem - there aren't many uses for that real world use. It is all too\nconvenient for maths to be taught in such a way that it is abstract and not\npractical, e.g. teaching a program to do it for you, or working on a large\ndataset in a computationally efficient way. Even reading the data in is not\nsomething that would be taught. It is a bit like how you can do a degree in\nelectronics and never touch a soldering iron or know how to fix a fuse.\n\nSo my suggestion is to not head off to university so hastily. Work somewhere\nfor a little while then go to university because you know why you are going.\nYou can actually learn useful stuff at university rather than go there to just\nget a bit of paper.\n\n------\nCodhisattva\nExercise. Lots of it.\n\n------\nwinstonx\n> I'm two years before heading off to university, but I have no motivation to\n> learn the things that are being taught at college.\n\nPersonally, that was a really tough time for me in my life.\n\n> I chose to study the subjects that I thought I would enjoy, but sadly this\n> isn't true.\n\nThat happened to me too.\n\n> I'm assuming that if I had made other choices for subjects, I'd be in a\n> similar problem.\n\nMaybe; it's hard to know where other paths would have led.\n\n> Maths is one of the subjects I'm studying, and although I enjoy maths\n> itself, I'm not enjoying what I learn in school.\n\nI had that same experience. That's why I studied maths on my own, outside of\nschool (I consider programming a subset of maths.)\n\n> I can't be motivated to put the work in, so that I can get good results at\n> the end of the year.\n\nSame thing happened to me.\n\n> I spend my free time programming or researching instead,\n\nThat's also what I did. Studying philosophy also helped alot :-)\n\n> but I can't continue doing this if I want to get the A-levels I need to\n> enter a half-decent university.\n\nI found my high school to be very oppressive, so instead I went on academic\nstrike and programmed for fun. I almost flunked out of high school, and only\ngot into one university that has a tradition of accepting everyone.\n\nIt was all for the best. I'm not saying __you __should do that. But, it was\nthe path I needed to take. You can live a wonderful life regardless of what\nacademic success you achieve or fail to achieve.\n\nOlder people have a bad habit of advising younger people they need to do very\nspecific actions in order to achieve very specific goals.\n\nIn this ancient tradition, I will now offer you very specific advice ;-)\n\n(1) Ask yourself: do you desire the goals you are told to desire. What are\n__your __goals? What do __you __actually want from life?\n\n(2) Once you have your goals in mind, your advisors will usually be\n__conservative __. That is, their advice usually describes __one path __to\nyour goal --- not the only path. For example, if you want to go to a half-\ndecent university and an advisor tells you, \"you should try to get straight\nA's\" \\--- then your advisor is being conservative. Yes, if you get straight\nA's it will be easier to get into a half-decent university. But it's not the\nonly way. Furthermore, younger people are often more creative in finding ways\nto sidestep tradition.\n\n(3) Ask for lots of advice, but only listen to advice skeptically.\n\n(4) Don't be afraid to \"Go ahead and fail.\"\n[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-20/go-ahead-let-\nyour-k...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-20/go-ahead-let-your-kids-\nfail.html)\n\n> Are there any ways by which I could motivate myself to study more?\n\nI would caution against trying to coerce yourself into being more motivated.\nFollow your own path. When people give you advice it's up to you to take it or\nleave it. Even this advice.\n\n------\nrando289\nEndeavor to make these things a habit. Every day or 5 days a week etc.\n\nWrite down some realistic things you want to do today that you might avoid. Do\nthis as early in the day as possible.\n\nBefore you make a decision which will avoid doing one of those things you\nwrote down, stop, think about it for 60+ seconds. Usually these decisions are\ndone just like instincts without thinking: \"hit next episode on netflix\",\n\"read this HN link\", etc.\n\nIn that 60+ seconds, suggestions:\n\n1\\. Decide to start on the thing you'd rather avoid for just 5 minutes, then\nyou can quit if you want.\n\n2\\. Imagine your future self looking back on your decisions.\n\n3\\. Remember how this thing ties into long term goals.\n\n4\\. Plan a reward for yourself if you do the thing.\n\n5\\. When negative thoughts or feelings happen, accept them, don't believe them\nor give them any more power, see them from the outside.\n\n~~~\ntimmm\nSorry but little tricks and magic bullets like this do nothing in the long\nterm to alleviate the issue. Primarily because you won't stick to the habit.\n\nOP you will have to decide whether doing work and being productive is\nsomething you want for yourself, you will not be able to fein an answer for\nany substantial amount of time. Your answer is also subject to change.\n\nMy guess is if you completely gave in to your de-motivated mentality you would\nquickly realize how bankrupt it is and be driven back to working.\n\n------\naaron695\nPeople seem to be misreading your question.\n\nYou seem fully aware that the subjects you're studying are very important and\nyou need to do well at them.\n\nAs someone once told me most motivational speakers just lend you motivation.\nOnce you've left the room pumped you quickly go back to square one.\n\nSo it's hard to know what works, there's a lot of crap out there.\n\nI've had moderate success with the Pomodoro Technique\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique)\n\nBut if it doesn't work for you, or as often happens it only works for a while,\nmake sure you go on to something else.\n\n------\nalmosnow\nThere are none, if you don't feel it then it's not there.\n\nOr you could follow the advice other people had leave here... and eventually\nyou will come back to this same situation but when you are 50 and tired...\n\nSeriously dude, my advice, if you don't feel it leave it; and if you don't\nfeel nothing anywhere then do nothing, many cool things happen when you are\n\"doing nothing\".\n\n------\nnemathode\nAniracetam (or Oxiracetam, if Aniracetam doesn't work for you) + DMAE. Don't\nforget to balance your blood pressure, use venous or arterial drugs to enhance\nwhole body blood flow (don't use drugs that work only locally). If you don't\nwant to use blood-related drugs, then just exercise regularly (try to focus\nonly on resistance-oriented exercises). Try to sleep on a hard bed without any\npillows. Also, increase your metabolism and energy by drinking a cup or three\nof coffee in first half of day and eating a big (300+ grams) portion of boiled\ngrains + a good piece of meat, but with small amounts of fat. And don't forget\nto eat a lot of fruits - primarily oranges, apples, bananas and pears.\n\n~~~\nWizzleKake\nIf we are suggesting drugs, may as well throw in a suggestion for\namphetamines.\n\nBut personally, I would recommend intense and sustained cardiovascular\nexercise.\n\n~~~\nfrodopwns\nAdderall would make anything fun.\n\n~~~\n910138391\nmodafinil. your solution, for dire needs ofcourse\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\n@Israel People Want a Fair Fight - jboydyhacker\nhttp://www.blindreason.org/2010/06/people-want-fair-fight.html\n\n======\nquizbiz\nThis isn't the place.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nInkWell: A Creative Writer’s Creative Assistant [pdf] - bootload\nhttps://www.dreamsongs.com/Files/InkWell.pdf\n======\njawon\nThis is just an advanced madlibs generator. As a copywriter who dabbles in\ncreative writing I see nothing here that would help me. It's just too \"dumb\".\n\n~~~\nwwwdonohue\nWhich is the whole point, really: it doesn't facilitate the actual \"writing\"\nso much as the \"thinking,\" at which stage you're still developing ideas and\nseeing how they fit together.\n\nSeveral generations of writers (and other artists) have found great results\ncutting their work up and rearranging it to find deeper insights into the work\nthey might still produce: Burroughs, Bowie, and others!\n\nAnxious for the day I can give this thing a spin.\n\n~~~\njawon\nAleatoric processes are more interesting than the results, in my opinion. Too\neasy and too disconnected from the human to resonate (beyond the isolated\nsnippets that get trotted out, like photos of parking meters that look like\nfaces). And that disconnection is why software like this doesn't interest me.\nIf you know what you want to write you don't need this. If you don't know,\nthere are better, richer, more fulfilling ways to come up with ideas than\nrandomly permuting text.\n\n~~~\nwwwdonohue\nThat's fair. Part of anyone's acceptance of the method would have to do with\ntheir acceptance of this tenet:\n\n _Producing a work of written art requires constant discovery and\nguessing—because all works of art are works of exploration and discovery._\n\nThus InkWell merely seems (to me) like it would be useful as a kind of servant\n--a tool to show you other plausible variants of your text, and thus spur the\ncreative process.\n\nBut if you already know what you're going to write and how, then godspeed--\nyou're in a much better situation than most writers :)\n\n------\n_pmf_\nDon't let Dan Brown see this\n([http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/10049454/Dont-make-fun-\nof...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/10049454/Dont-make-fun-of-renowned-\nDan-Brown.html)).\n\n------\nvikingcaffiene\nI feel like I am missing something here. Is this a program that actually\nexists or something that they are currently working on and will be available\nat some later date? I don't see any way to try it out. Its a compelling idea\nthough.\n\n------\nloteck\nIt takes your original text and makes it easy to execute different drafts of\nthat text based on stylistic templates calculated from famous authors. Kind of\nlike Hemingwayapp.com.\n\n _Creativity in writing takes a couple of ingredients: being prepared to\nnotice, wide ranging and non-judgmental production of drafts, and a selection\nand revision process guided by aesthetics. In a sense it’s like serendipity.\nWith InkWell we’ve tried to explore writerly creativity in a creative way—by\nletting the program emerge from a haze of half-known ideas_\n\n------\namelius\nThe most irritating aspect of creative writing is that one constantly needs to\nfind synonyms for things that one already has a perfect word for, but which\ncannot be used out of fear for sounding repetitive. If this tool can solve\nthat, it is already a huge win.\n\n> Some of this work was supported by DARPA\n\nI wonder how the DoD would put such a tool to use :)\n\n~~~\ndelish\nIn this talk (software as creative partner, European Lisp Symposium 2014), rpg\nmentions the DoD's interest. I enjoyed the talk:\n\n[http://medias.ircam.fr/x03b42f](http://medias.ircam.fr/x03b42f)\n\nI'll spoil it: the DoD wants natural language generation that would influence\npeople on social media, like Twitter.\n\nSay the DoD doesn't want resistance fighters (like you) to meet somewhere.\nThey'll generate a barrage of tweets about how that's a bad idea. Those tweets\ndon't influence you directly, but they influence people you follow on twitter,\nwho do influence you (because by nature of twitter you follow those who\ninfluence you). You don't meet, because your friends--who have your best\ninterests at heart (because their your friends)--told you not to.\n\nWhen this works as intended, the DoD is able to influence people without being\neasily traced.\n\nIt's a little horrifying, which makes it _fascinating_.\n\nOne more comment about the talk: rpg shows his humor, strong opinions, and\nsoftware wisdom in this talk. Again, I recommend it.\n\n~~~\nseanmcdirmid\nA cheaper wumao for the US! It is horrifyingly fascinating, like watching a\nbuilding burn.\n\n------\ncrb3\n> With InkWell we’ve tried to explore writerly creativity in a creative way—by\n> letting the program emerge from a haze of half-known ideas\n\nThe half-known ideas (templates) presented were not the author's own, instead\nthey were borrowed from other writers. This isn't writing, it's sampling.\n\n~~~\nseanmcdirmid\nRPG is an accomplished poet himself, one of the few computer scientists with\nan MFA. He presented some of these poems at a poetry workshop, and they were\nretrieved well enough.\n\n------\napi\nThis is not writing. Not in the conventional sense. It's a new art form.\n\n~~~\nloteck\nWhen you take an original piece created by another source, and suggest\nmodifications for strength, clarity or other qualitative values, I believe we\nsimply call that editing.\n\n~~~\nTeMPOraL\nSo that would make it a... text editor? :).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSemantic UI - jhund\nhttps://semantic-ui.com/\n======\njameslk\nI've always found it ironic that this library calls itself \"Semantic UI\" but\ndoesn't follow the practice of semantic HTML/classes[0]. W3C suggests[1] that\nclasses should be used for semantic roles (e.g. \"warning\", \"news\", \"footer\"),\nrather than for display (\"left\", \"angle\", \"small\" \\-- examples taken from\nSemantic UI's docs). So instead of giving a button the class of \"button\" it\nwould be better to give it a class such as \"download-book.\" The benefit of\nthis is when it comes time to redesign parts of a site, you only have to touch\nyour stylesheets instead of manipulating both the stylesheets and HTML. That\nis, so we don't fall into the old habits of what amounts to using <b> <font>\n<blink> tags.\n\n0\\. [https://css-tricks.com/semantic-class-names/](https://css-\ntricks.com/semantic-class-names/)\n\n1\\.\n[https://www.w3.org/QA/Tips/goodclassnames](https://www.w3.org/QA/Tips/goodclassnames)\n\n~~~\njasim\nThe concept of 'semantic classnames', even if propagated by w3.org has caused\nas much grief as the concept of 'separation of concerns' between HTML & CSS\nfad. The reason we need semantics in HTML is to make the markup accessible for\nscreen-readers, and no screenreader considers the class name of an element\nwhen reading it out. What we instead need are semantic tags like article,\nsection etc. and aria tags like role.\n\nCSS classnames are purely for the developer's benefit. Not the user's. And as\ndevelopers, forcing ourselves to find semantic meaning for every element we\nwrite leads us to component-oriented CSS like BEM. Which is a fine thing, but\nwe can also use purely visual classes - like `bg-red bold border-solid` if it\nhelps (and it does. check out tachyons.io)\n\nThe class names of elements in Google's homepage for example reads like\n'tsf-p', `oq`, `gsb` etc. I suspect these are machine generated. Same with\nFacebook. One of the best libraries to do this currently is styled-components\n([https://github.com/styled-components/styled-\ncomponents](https://github.com/styled-components/styled-components)).\n\nConsider reading [http://nicolasgallagher.com/about-html-semantics-front-\nend-a...](http://nicolasgallagher.com/about-html-semantics-front-end-\narchitecture/), [http://mrmrs.io/writing/2016/03/24/scalable-\ncss/](http://mrmrs.io/writing/2016/03/24/scalable-css/), and\n[http://johnpolacek.com/2016/06/17/atomic-css-\nmovement/](http://johnpolacek.com/2016/06/17/atomic-css-movement/) for\nreasoned perspectives.\n\n~~~\njameslk\nI think this is missing the point. For me, semantic class names have lead to\nvery maintainable websites/apps that I've been able to completely redesign\nwithout touching much of the HTML, which is usually much harder to change in\nlarger dyanmic applications. It's also made it much easier on teams I've\nworked with because the designers could quickly dig into the styles to make\ntweaks in a central location (single source of truth) without rummaging\nthrough our entire codebase to modify appearances of things (separation of\nconcerns).\n\nWhen I first discovered csszengarden.com, I realized the point of CSS and its\npower. HTML was made for hypertext and semantic content structure and CSS was\nmade for appearances. Either one could be completely replaced partially or\nwholly, separate of each other. Classes are like interfaces[0] which allows\nfor HTML to remain dumb and decoupled from presentation. When the HTML and CSS\nare hardcoded to specific design concepts themselves, then the usefulness of\nCSS as in \"cascading style sheets\" is nearly eliminated. These concepts aren't\na fad, this is good software architecture brought to you by an international\nconsortium who's been thinking about it for decades.\n\n0\\.\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependency_inversion_principle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependency_inversion_principle)\n\n~~~\nandrewingram\nThere's flaw in reasoning here, but I'm glad we're at least focusing on the\nmaintainability arguments.\n\nUltimately it comes down to how your CSS is authored, and how your teams\nworks. If you develop in a heavily document-oriented way, and make big use of\nthe cascade, you're most likely to benefit from semantic (rather than\npresentational) class names. This is because when you make full use of the\ncascade, markup changes tend to be more expensive (you can't just move a block\nof HTML from one place to another and not expect its appearance to change).\n\nThese days though, we're increasingly building things in a UI-oriented way.\nWhat you see on the page is a composition of a number of components. If I move\na component from one place to another, I expect it to look the same (with a\ncaveat for responsive layouts) assuming it's still rendered with the same\ninput properties. So now i'm authoring CSS that is bound to the structure of\nthis component, naming becomes a lesser issues. The other thing worth pointing\nout is that it's not too difficult to built a document-UI (like say a\nmagazine) using app-UI patterns, but it's rather challenging to do it the\nother way around.\n\nIf the goal is maintainability, then there should be zero industry-wide dogma.\nBest practices are going to be coupled to the methodology of the maintaining\nteam. Personally, I did document-oriented CSS for 15 years, now i'm doing\ncomponent-oriented CSS, and the results are _much_ better. Obviously this is\njust an anecdote, but i'm not alone in this.\n\nThis idea that design is a \"layer\" on top of structure is somewhat offensive\nto the designer in me. Visual design is (and should forever be) coupled to\nstructure and behaviour. Design is not a higher abstraction, it's something\nthat pervades everything.\n\n~~~\nnailer\n> If I move a component from one place to another, I expect it to look the\n> same (with a caveat for responsive layouts) assuming it's still rendered\n> with the same input properties.\n\nWhat's preventing you from doing this with your presentation login in your\nstylesheet, and what about this requires you to split your presentation logic\nbetween a stylesheet and HTML?\n\nWe use components everywhere. We style in stylesheets. Handily we even keep\nthe stylesheets in the same component as the module, thanks to npm-sass /\nsass-npm.\n\n~~~\nandrewingram\nSorry, i'm struggling to follow what you're asking here.\n\nWhether you style in stylesheets or by some other means (CSS-in-JS?) is an\nimplementation choice rather than something that affects the fundamental\npattern. If your components are truly portable, you're already doing things\nthe way I suggest. If they inherit things like fonts and colors from their\nparent _via the cascade_ rather than via explicit properties, then you don't\nhave truly portable components - their appearance will change when you move\nthem around.\n\n~~~\nnailer\n> Whether you style in stylesheets or by some other means (CSS-in-JS?)\n\nWe're specifically talking here about putting styling logic - \"left\" \"shiny\"\n\"big\" etc - in HTML.\n\n> is an implementation choice rather than something that affects the\n> fundamental pattern.\n\nSure, you can still use a component pattern with styling split into HTML and\nstylesheets - it certainly doesn't effect the pattern.\n\nThe issue is: when you want to change the appearance of your component, do you\nwant to modify styling logic in two places or one?\n\n~~~\nandrewingram\nOne, that's why I style inline :)\n\n~~~\nnailer\nDo you mean inline in CSS / style tags, avoiding visual HTML classes (in which\ncase we're in agreement - there's one way to edit how something looks, though\nstyle tags have other issues) or combining either of those with visual HTML\nclasses like this library uses?\n\n~~~\nandrewingram\nOkay, I think we're in agreement and are just crossing wires a but. The main\nreason i'm loosely okay with Semantic UI is that I just see it as using HTML\nfragments as building blocks rather than using JavaScript components. I\nwouldn't advocate it for anything elaborate, but I think it can work well\nwithin a certain problem space.\n\n------\njwr\nI use Semantic UI in production on\n[https://partsbox.io/](https://partsbox.io/) and can list some upsides and\ndownsides.\n\nOn the positive side:\n\n* very complete, with good form styling, and lots of widgets you will use often, which is especially important for larger apps,\n\n* the default theme is mature and has good usability, without the crazy \"oh, how flat and invisible our UI is!\" look.\n\n* the class naming plays well with React (I use ClojureScript and Rum) and looks good in your code,\n\nOn the negative side:\n\n* the CSS is huge and there is little you can do to trim it down,\n\n* the JavaScript code is not Google Closure-ready, so it's a drag compared to my ClojureScript codebase: large and unwieldy,\n\n* there is a jQuery dependency, so I have to pull that in, too,\n\n* the build system is… well, strange, let's put it that way. I'm used to typing \"make\" and getting things built, while this thing here insists on a) painting pretty pictures in the console window, b) crapping node_modules in a directory _up_ from the one I'm building in, c) requires interactive feedback. I still haven't found a way to automatically build Semantic UI from a zip/tarball, and others seem to struggle with it, too.\n\nOverall, I'm happy with the choice and it has been serving me well.\n\n~~~\ntzury\nFYI: The React version - is jQuery free\n\n[http://react.semantic-ui.com/introduction](http://react.semantic-\nui.com/introduction)\n\n~~~\nespresso_enigma\nI'm trying that out, and it seems that jquery is installed when you include\nthe Semantic UI CSS. According to the docs: [http://react.semantic-\nui.com/usage](http://react.semantic-ui.com/usage), you need to install the CSS\nseparately with\n\n    \n    \n      $ npm install semantic-ui-css --save\n    \n\nand with that I get\n\n    \n    \n      ├─┬ semantic-ui-css@2.2.10\n      │   └── jquery@3.2.1\n    \n\nPlus a whitescreen because jQuery is not defined...bummer\n\n~~~\nespresso_enigma\nSorted it, thanks to this: [https://github.com/Semantic-Org/Semantic-UI-\nReact/issues/114...](https://github.com/Semantic-Org/Semantic-UI-\nReact/issues/1143#issuecomment-284625478)\n\n    \n    \n      import 'semantic-ui-css';\n    \n\nshould have been\n\n    \n    \n      import 'semantic-ui-css/semantic.min.css';\n    \n\nDocumentation of how to actually import and use the CSS would be nice...might\nbe obvious to the creators, but not to hardheads like myself.\n\n------\njlukic\nFor people who are curious about theming here is classic GitHub done entirely\nin Semantic UI. [http://semantic-org.github.io/example-\ngithub/](http://semantic-org.github.io/example-github/)\n\n(Click the small paint icon in the top menu to swap themes to see in native\nSUI)\n\nI did a meteor dev night where I talked about some of the ideas behind\nSemantic UI, which might clear up some of the linguistic origins for the\nlibrary and it's ideas about language:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86PbLfUyFtA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86PbLfUyFtA)\n\nAnd if anyone wants to dig really deep, there are a few podcasts as well\n[https://changelog.com/podcast/106](https://changelog.com/podcast/106)\n[https://changelog.com/podcast/164](https://changelog.com/podcast/164)\n\n~~~\nflashmob\nFor a minute I though I was looking at the real github and they finally got\nrid of that black bar. Well done! ;-)\n\n~~~\nxiaohanyu\nhaha, yep, this example shows the power of Semantic-UI, I was attracted by\nthis---I was really amazed by the power of Semantic-UI.\n\nBesides, I don't like github's black navbar.\n\n------\nTomFrost\nSemantic recently adopted my team's React adaptation as their official React\nport. It's lighter weight, eliminates jQuery, and all components are standard\nReact components that can be extended or dropped in as-is.\n\n[https://react.semantic-ui.com/](https://react.semantic-ui.com/)\n\n~~~\nbpicolo\nI might have to try this out, too bad I didn't see this yesterday.\n\nSettled out with trying [http://ant.design/](http://ant.design/) which has\nactually been pretty nice as well.\n\nSeems most React components libs are material design and I can't stand the\nlook.\n\n~~~\nSimorgh\nAnt looks really good as well!\n\nIt has a nicely designed DatePicker [1]. Semantic UI doesn't currently have an\nofficial implementation of a Date Picker (although there are unofficial\nversions on GitHub).\n\n[1] [https://ant.design/components/date-\npicker/](https://ant.design/components/date-picker/)\n\n------\nxiaohanyu\nHi, guys,\n\nWe have spent hundreds of hours build a new website with Semantic-UI for\nSemantic-UI: [http://semantic-ui-forest.com/](http://semantic-ui-forest.com/).\n\nSemantic-UI is my favourite front-end CSS website, I have built several\nwebsites with Semantic-UI, and I love it, feel delightful when developing with\nSemantic-UI.\n\nBut compared with Bootstrap, the ecosystem of Semantic-UI is small, so we have\nsemantic-ui-forest for you: [http://semantic-ui-\nforest.com/posts/2017-04-05-introducing-s...](http://semantic-ui-\nforest.com/posts/2017-04-05-introducing-semantic-ui-forest/) .\n\nIn this website, we have ported 16 themes from bootswatch(bootstrap) to\nSemantic-UI ([http://semantic-ui-forest.com/themes](http://semantic-ui-\nforest.com/themes)), and also, we have ported 18 official bootstrap examples\n([https://getbootstrap.com/getting-\nstarted/#examples](https://getbootstrap.com/getting-started/#examples)) and\nreimplemented in Semantic-UI ([http://semantic-ui-\nforest.com/templates/](http://semantic-ui-forest.com/templates/)).\n\nNot advertising, however, we think this maybe helpful for people who are\ninterested in Semantic-UI and want to give it a try.\n\n~~~\nNicoJuicy\nI hate to say this, but when I opened this with my smartphone, the layout was\nnot responsive. So I closed it again\n\n~~~\ndu_bing\nCo-worker here, yeah, truly some pages of the site are not yet quite\nresponsive, sorry for that, we plan to improve it in the future. On the site\nthere are some particular templates designed to show the responsiveness or\nnon-responsiveness, you could open them on smart phone or desktop computer to\nsee the differences:\n\n[http://semantic-ui-forest.com/templates/bootstrap/grid/](http://semantic-ui-\nforest.com/templates/bootstrap/grid/)\n\n[http://semantic-ui-forest.com/templates/bootstrap/navbar-\nfix...](http://semantic-ui-forest.com/templates/bootstrap/navbar-fixed-top/)\n\n[http://semantic-ui-forest.com/templates/bootstrap/non-\nrespon...](http://semantic-ui-forest.com/templates/bootstrap/non-responsive/)\n\nSemantic-UI gives more freedom for features like responsiveness, theme\ncustomization with 3000+ variables, although the default configurations are\nalso very good.\n\n~~~\nNicoJuicy\nI think it's not detecting my mobile as mobile. Motorola Play X here in\nAndroid, chrome\n\n~~~\ndu_bing\nOh，yeah, it's set to be like so in the HTML's header, so you could see the\nwhole webpage's layout like on a computer, we are going to improve the\nresponsiveness soon. For developers who want to apply some themes and\ntemplates to build their websites, it may be useful. Thanks for visiting!\n\n------\nsheeshkebab\nThis doesn't work well on mobile - on iOS at least... scrolling is funny,\nflickering screens, jerky inputs. Loading feels slow too - and I'm on wifi.\n\n~~~\ndawnerd\nIt feels like they added their own smooth scrolling in. I barely scrolled and\nit shot to the bottom of the page in iOS.\n\n~~~\ndjs070\nGosh that irritates me - does that mean that the \"tap just above the clock to\nreturn to top\" doesn't work?\n\nEdit: just checked, and yes it does. Also breaks the pattern where iOS shrinks\nthe address bar and navigation bar when you scroll down. Completely\nunacceptable for a UI library to break these OS-level patterns\n\n~~~\ncdubzzz\n> tap just above the clock to return to to\n\nDidn't know about that. Thanks!\n\n~~~\njlukic\nAuthor here.\n\nFixed the scroll issue in the docs. Should be glorious normal iOS scroll.\n\n------\nfranciscop\nWhen I started Picnic CSS[1] there were few CSS libraries out there and the\nones that were available were severely lacking. They didn't have either :hover\nor :active states, no transitions, etc.\n\nNow with new libraries or modern versions of those, including Semantic UI, I\nwonder whether it's time to stop supporting it and switch to one of those.\nThey are still different but with somewhat similar principles (at least\ncompared to others) such as the grid: <div class=\"flex\ntwo\"><div></div><div></div></div>.\n\nWhat I want to say, kudos. As I see jlukic answering some questions, how do\nyou find the time/sponsorship to keep working on it? Is it a personal project,\ncompany project, funded through some external medium, etc? I see there's a\ndonate button, does people contribute there a lot?\n\n[1] [https://picnicss.com/](https://picnicss.com/)\n\n~~~\ndvnguyen\nSad I am considering to use picnicss in my next project. What you would\nrecommend besides Semantic UI?\n\n~~~\nfranciscop\nI haven't really seen Picnic CSS in the wild (only here\n[https://gyshido.com/](https://gyshido.com/) and in my own projects) so I\nactually have no idea on adoption, which is one of the main decision points. I\nwill probably keep using Picnic for most of my projects.\n\nMy two main alternatives are Materialize CSS for mobile because of the styles\n( [http://materializecss.com/](http://materializecss.com/) ) and Semantic UI\nfor quick mock-ups/prototypes because of how complete it is (while looking way\nbetter than Bootstrap). Another \" _alternative_ \" (not for CSS but for the\ntype of projects I do) is [https://html5up.net/](https://html5up.net/) since\nthey are really well designed when personalization is not so important.\n\n------\ntbabb\n> Design Beautiful Websites Quicker\n\n* \"...More Quickly\".\n\nQuicker is an adjective, used to describe nouns. You could say \"design quicker\nwebsites\", \"quicker\" in that case describing an aspect of the website. If you\nwanted to describe the manner in which you will do the designing, you have to\nuse the adverb \"quickly\"\\-- \"design websites quickly\". Adding the adverb\n\"more\" to modify the adverb \"quickly\" is the proper way to make it\ncomparative.\n\n------\nmalloryerik\nMight also check out Ant Design. [https://ant.design/](https://ant.design/)\n\nIt's integrated with React and there's a separate mobile UI for it. Ant is\nChinese, with docs translated into English. Like China, it's huge^^ I've just\nbeen fooling around with it today for the first time in create-react-app and\nseems good so far. Haven't tried on mobile.\n\n~~~\ncrucialfelix\nI like that you can import just the css you need for a component. Semantic ui\nshould do this too.\n\nSome mobile glitches with Ant, but I'm considering trying it. I only need a\nfew components\n\n~~~\nenobrev\nSemantic-UI does allow this. If you look in the build folder, it has CSS files\nfor every component, and you can include whichever you need.\n\n------\nJusticeJuice\nI've done a few projects with Sematic UI. I think it's great for desktop based\nbusiness applications. It looks slick, and has great animations. Plays nice\nwith heaps of frameworks, I was using meteor.js\n\nHowever, don't use it on mobile - it will destroy performance.\n\n~~~\nlawik\nCurious about this. Any clue why? Too much animation, heavy JS-use? Not\nfamiliar with how the framework does its stuff.\n\n~~~\ntmikaeld\nOnly the size is an issue, the performance otherwise is great.\n\nThere is even performance debugging built in, so you can monitor how your app\nperforms.\n\nIf you ignore the debugger and just build insane things, of course it's going\nto be slow...\n\n------\ntomelders\nPlease stop with these things. They're never fit for purpose, and now there's\nanother thing that looks - to non technical people - like a panacea for all\ndevelopment woes. Designers will never follow your constraints. Managers will\nnever understand why this hasn't magically reduced our estimates by 90%. And\nyet again, it's just \"developers being difficult\" because there's a bunch of\nguys in India who say they CAN work with this for half the price.\n\nThis sort of stuff is worse than useless.\n\n~~~\npedalpete\nNobody is forcing you to use it. I don't use these libraries anymore, but that\ndoesn't mean they don't have a purpose. And no, people shouldn't 'stop with\nthese things'. You shouldn't be the one telling people what they should and\nshould not be doing. You don't have to like it, but there are many developers\nwho are really bad at styling. They don't have a good eye for design and\nthey're trying to build a usable product, or they have an internal need, or\nwant to learn. Libraries such as these have many purposes, even if you don't\nlike them.\n\n~~~\ntomelders\nBut people will be forced to use it. That's my complaint.\n\n------\naphextron\n32,000+ stars is insane, how have I not heard of this? Does anyone have\nproduction experience with it?\n\n------\nnkkollaw\nIt looks great.\n\nHowever, I've used it in the past and the CSS size is _HUGE_, with no way to\nreduce it. We're talking about > 500KB of CSS (in my case, at least). The\nJavaScript is extremely bloated as well.\n\nHonestly, being that heavy I wonder how anyone can use it. If your site is to\nbe viewed by mobile users, adding 500KB just to style a few elements is\nunacceptable.\n\nI'd much rather go with Bootstrap. It has the added benefit of having the\nmajority of front-end devs know it, and you can buy or use a theme for free\nand make it look great.\n\n~~~\ndreyfiz\nA custom build with only the components you're using cuts the CSS size\ndramatically. You also get to specify your supported browsers, which can cut\ndown the size as well. Finally, you don't have to use their javascript, and\nnot every component requires it.\n\n~~~\nnkkollaw\nSomehow we were unable to reduce the file size to a sane level and we switch\nto another framework. I guess we needed some components and we had to load\njQuery as well.\n\nIn any case, wouldn't it make sense for the default configuration to be\nsuitable for the average project? 500KB is really something...\n\n------\ndandare\nSidenote: the [https://en.bem.info/](https://en.bem.info/) website (mentioned\nin the first paragraph of text about Semantic UI) totally irritates me. Would\nyou be so kind and explain with a single sentence what is the purpose of your\nwebsite/platform/framework?\n\n------\nconstantlm\nI recently dropped Bootstrap early in a project and switched to Semantic. I've\nbeen using it for a few months - so far it seems fantastic and much more\n\"natural\" to work with than Bootstrap. The gigantic set of components, and\nintegration with both EmberJS and React make it even more amazing.\n\n------\nflukus\nWouldn't a semantic UI have things like a <menu> tag that was up to the\nbrowser to render?\n\n------\ninputcoffee\nWhat is the best way to think of this. Is this like Twitter Bootstrap and Zurb\nFoundation, or is this like something else entirely?\n\n~~~\nukyrgf\nThis is the step between making prototypes with Bootstrap/Foundation and\nturning those classes/mixins into a final working application. You don't want\nyour final build to have a bunch of 'col-md-6' class names.\n\n~~~\nenraged_camel\n>>You don't want your final build to have a bunch of 'col-md-6' class names.\n\nWhy not? Who cares what your class names are?\n\n~~~\nkarmajunkie\nNobody, except the individual that has to change them all when you need to\nswap out frameworks or upgrade to a version that breaks compatibility or the\nproduct team decides on a new layout across the app...\n\n~~~\nenraged_camel\nOkay, no one has actually explained how Semantic UI overcomes this.\n\nWhat if in the future you decide to switch from Semantic UI to something else?\n\n~~~\nkarmajunkie\nFair point, but I'm with you on it—I'm not proposing Semantic UI is any\nbetter, just that \".col-md-12\" has its own set of problems. I suppose in\ntheory what would be the best is using application selectors (i.e. class names\nyour application owns) with the sass version of bootstrap/semantic/etc to\nextend the selectors with appropriate styles. However, I've done this, and\nwhile I'm no CSS expert so I probably was doing something wrong, my\nstylesheets became ginormous.\n\nNow, I just kind of live with the \".col-md-12\" business...\n\n------\ntaeric\nI alternate between thinking this sort of thing is merely misguided, or merely\na waste of time.\n\nI want to like it, a lot. But I can't help feeling that this ship sailed years\nago.\n\nSimple UIs that are easy to interpret are a thing of the nineties. We left\nthem because we evidently didn't realize what we had. Also, people like flashy\nthings. A lot.\n\n------\nssijak\nWhy is bootstrap 4 taking so long to get to a final version? All that waiting\nis pushing me towards other libraries. But me, being primarily backend\nengineer, want a library that has a large community because I am not so\nskilled with frontend UI and want the possibility to find the help easily.\n\n~~~\njpkeisala\nI wonder same as well. I am building something right now with v4alpha and I\nhave not found any problems. Therefore it is a bit weird why don't they just\ncall it 4.0 and be done with it.\n\n~~~\nOmnius\nIt's alpha meaning the API will change most likely just be aware to check\nrelease notes as breaking changes are expected to happen.\n\n------\ncknight\nI chose Semantic UI for my project:\n[https://suitocracy.com](https://suitocracy.com) if anyone wants to see\nanother live example, it also uses the default theme.\n\nLike others, I was somewhat concerned about the bloat - over half of my front\npage's total file size. But at about 250KB all up, I realised this was only\naround a tenth of what the average website throws at people these days.\n[https://www.wired.com/2016/04/average-webpage-now-size-\norigi...](https://www.wired.com/2016/04/average-webpage-now-size-original-\ndoom/)\n\n~~~\nsplintercell\nPretty neat looking and interesting site.\n\n------\ncyberferret\nI've been a Bootstrap user for years on all my web apps, but thinking that\nperhaps instead of re-learning things for v4, I look at expending a similar\namount of time and effort to learn something new.\n\nI came across Semantic-UI last year and remember being impressed by it, but\nfor some reason it just slipped my mind until I saw this post today. I seems\nit could work for another small project that I am thinking of starting.\n\nJust to clarify - No reliance on jQuery with this framework, right? Has anyone\nelse worked with Semantic-UI using Umbrella.js and/or Intercooler.js ??\n\n~~~\nZitrax\nSemantic-ui does require jQuery. See [https://github.com/Semantic-\nOrg/Semantic-UI/issues/1175](https://github.com/Semantic-Org/Semantic-\nUI/issues/1175)\n\n~~~\ncyberferret\nAh, thanks for the clarification... A bit surprised that libraries written\nwithin the era of mobile devices etc. still have that dependency. Not a put\ndown of jQuery per se - it was a great toolkit in its day.\n\n~~~\njpkeisala\nIs jQuery still a problem with mobile devices? I would image devices are\nfaster now and isn't jQuery already in version 3. Haven't they optimize it?\n\n------\nkeehun\nAm I the only one that passionately dislikes the menus that require clicking\non the hamburger icon? I'm okay with it in phone apps when used tastefully,\nbut it seems like too many websites are adopting it now for no good reason.\nThis trend is especially evident among the online Wordpress/HTML template\ncommunities and creators...\n\n~~~\nalphapapa\nThe worst is when, if you maximize the browser window, the hamburger menu\nexpands into actual menu elements, but then if you resize the browser window\nto, say, half the width of your screen, it turns into a hamburger button with\nenough whitespace around it to display the hidden menu elements. Really,\nreally hate that. The web was more usable 15 years ago.\n\n~~~\ndguo\nI'm not a big fan of the hamburger menu either, but web developers also didn't\nhave to worry about mobile 15 years ago.\n\n~~~\nalphapapa\nThat's beside the point. That mobile exists doesn't excuse extremely poor non-\nmobile UI.\n\n------\ndebacle\nSeems like a next evolution of Bootstrap components. The trick with this type\nof stuff is _always_ in how it plays with other frameworks. Can I drop into\njQuery if I need to, and still interact easily with controls? Is there some\nobscene DOM skeletons in the closet that's going to bite me in the ass later?\n\n~~~\njfarlow\nWe use an Ember library of Semantic UI [1] and it's pretty much a drop-in\ninstall to get a visually coherent front-end up and running with a minimal\namount of redesigning a wheel. It's themeable and pretty extensible on the CSS\nside (and is all prefixed with a 'ui' class), and on the javascript side Ember\nlets you get right to it's hooks with Ember.$.component(). It may be a little\non the heavy side, but it's been designed to be severable when needed, by\ncomponent, by css, and by javascript-requiring components. I've not felt\nhemmed in or constricted by it's design mechanics.\n\nI've had a few javascript 'settings' fail to make it all the way to my Ember\ncomponents, but in general these were bugs that were promptly fixed in newer\nversions. Docs are pretty good too.\n\nI kind of like it. It's been pretty nice to just have a dropdown, a button, a\nlabel, a whatever out of the box without me having to figure out all the CSS\ntricks for mobile or various browsers. And the more I've used it I've been\nable to craft my own visual components upon its foundation that conform to a\nconsistent style.\n\n[1] [http://semantic-org.github.io/Semantic-UI-Ember/](http://semantic-\norg.github.io/Semantic-UI-Ember/)\n\n------\nludbek\nI have been using Semantic UI for a while now. Overall I love this framework.\nIt has lots of essential components. I highly recommend it to lean startups\nwho dont have enough expertise for designing and developing their own UI\ncomponents.\n\nBut I do hate it for having weak and restrictive responsive queries.\n\n------\nMizza\nSemantic has replaced Bootstrap as my go-to web framework. I find it more\nnatural, and the default components are nicer. I think it needs a larger theme\necosystem and more consistent documentation, but I appreciate all the work\nthat has gone into it.\n\n------\ntabeth\nIs it possible these days to have a fully interactive mobile application with\njust HTML and CSS? Have CSS animations gotten good enough? I'm talking things\nlike pure CSS accordians, modals/pop-ups, tooltips, etc.\n\nSemantic UI is something I personally use for a few projects, but I really\nwish some of this stuff didn't require so much javascript and was more\nencapsulated like Tachyons [1]. The main problem I've encountered when using\nSemantic UI is that it becomes difficult to change the prebuild components\nsignificantly.\n\n[1] [http://tachyons.io/](http://tachyons.io/)\n\n~~~\npitaj\nIt may be possible, but it would be very difficult to make it accessible for\nscreen readers, etc.\n\n~~~\ntabeth\nCan you elaborate? I was under the impression that HTML and CSS were by\ndefault already accessible and Javascript is likely to break things (an\ninstance I've encountered is not properly setting tabindex, for example).\n\n------\nmybrid\n\"Semantic is a development framework that helps create beautiful, responsive\nlayouts using human-friendly HTML.\"\n\nClaims made without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.\n\nI'm not singling out Semantic UI here except to say that usability studies\nvalidate beautiful, responsive layouts using human-friendly HTML.\n\nHas anybody done a usability study to confirm any such claims?\n\nAgain, not singling out Semantic UI except to point out an opportunity.\nSemantic UI could be the first to quantify this by providing usability study\nsupport rather than just putting it our there.\n\n[https://www.nngroup.com/](https://www.nngroup.com/)\n\n------\nalexjv89\nWe use semantic-ui at Highlyreco\n([https://www.highlyreco.com](https://www.highlyreco.com)). Semantic is a CSS\nframework that we absolutely love. Cant recommend it enough. Semantic made it\npossible for 2 developers(non of us are front end focus engineers) to build\nout a fairly complex ui at Highlyreco. Semantic gives us the ability to\niterate really fast on UI.\n\nWe probably would not exist without semantic. For earlier projects I used to\nuse bootstrap. My opinion is that Bootstrap is good for designing landing\npages and semantic is good for building user interface pages.\n\n------\ntmikaeld\nMy company has been using SUI in production the past 3 years and it's been\nabsolutely great, sure it is big, but that translates into flexibility and\nspeed of development as well as having a production-ready framework that we\nknow can handle anything thrown at it.\n\nI've seen some mentions of jQuery, I don't think that's a bad thing at all -\nthe framework uses the plugin system so fully that without jQuery, I'm sure\nthe framework would be even bigger and less flexible. The added advantage is\nthat other jQuery plugins work without adding anything.\n\n------\nvinayakkulkarni\nJust FYI,\n\n[https://www.zomato.com/](https://www.zomato.com/) one of the biggest in it's\nindustry uses Semantic-UI :)\n\nLove the Framework and Jack + all contributors effort in it :)\n\n~~~\nBilalBudhani\nWhoa! This is interesting. Just curious to know\n\n\\- how did you decide to go with Semantic UI? \\- what all frameworks did you\ncompare? \\- which preprocessor are you using?\n\n~~~\nvinayakkulkarni\nI ain't working in Zomato :P\n\nGot the info from this thread: [https://github.com/Semantic-Org/Semantic-\nUI/issues/2449#issu...](https://github.com/Semantic-Org/Semantic-\nUI/issues/2449#issuecomment-280293760)\n\n------\nwishinghand\nI love the style and components of Semantic UI, but it's really heavy in terms\nof CSS file size, even once minified. I'd recommend running UnCSS or something\nsimilar on it before deployment.\n\n------\nFinbarr\nWe used Semantic UI for Startup School\n([https://startupschool.org](https://startupschool.org)) and it has been\nawesome. Really happy with the choice.\n\n~~~\ncyberferret\nNice! I am actually IN this round of Startup School, and I never noticed that\nit was built with this framework. Good work.\n\n------\ndmoreno\nI love semantic UI. I'm using it now with my new project (serverboards.io) and\nit really was a huge time saver.\n\nI would prefer it using sass, but the is a 'port'\n([https://github.com/doabit/semantic-ui-\nsass/tree/master/app/a...](https://github.com/doabit/semantic-ui-\nsass/tree/master/app/assets/stylesheets))\n\n------\nnwmcsween\nI guess it's as good of time as any to plug my project s.css[1], it tries to\nbe the exact opposite of semantic ui. Class names are simply abbreviated\nproperties such as .di-bl { display: block; }. It isn't meant to be used as a\nframework, but something that other frameworks can build upon (I will soon be\nreleasing something that build on it).\n\n[1] github.com/nwmcsween/s.css\n\n------\nToo\n> Intuitive javascript: $('select.dropdown') .dropdown('set selected',\n> ['meteor', 'ember']);\n\nPlease no...just use React, Vue, Angular or some other sane data binding\nframework already. Don't mix logic and presentation. Your javascript code\nshould never know about CSS classes, and ids and preferably not DOM-states\neither.\n\n~~~\nalways_good\nNot every project needs to use React.\n\nSometimes you just want some quick JS for your one dropdown component that\ncomes with the framework you're already using.\n\n------\nchenshuiluke\nSemantic UI is really great! I suck at frontend design and it really helps me\nto make decent looking websites :)\n\n------\nkarimdag\nPersonally I have chose Semantic UI as my go-to css framework over bootstrap.\nWhile bootstrap performs better on mobile, SUI is way nicer/cleaner it\ntherefore eliminates the need to customize anything which I think is one of\nthe reasons that someone would use a css framework in the first place.\n\n------\nkbr\nChecked it out, and it looks quite nice! Congrats on making such a nice tool.\nI'm a fellow CSS library author here, of Wing[1].\n\nEverything seems fine, but as others have said, the scrolling is jumpy. Might\nwant to fix that :)\n\n1\\. [http://usewing.ml](http://usewing.ml)\n\n------\ndaurnimator\nAnyone able to help explain to me how to use this with e.g. a simple static\nsite?\n\ni.e. hand written HTML (perhaps compiled from markdown) with no JS?\n\nThe manuals for semantic UI seem to jump strait into integrations with other\nfrontend frameworks and build tools; but I don't want to use them.\n\n------\nbaby\nI use it for small projects/pages just because it looks so good :)\n[http://cryptologie.net/links](http://cryptologie.net/links)\n\nbut I found it harder to get into compared to bootstrap/foundation.\n\n------\nnwmcsween\nThere seems to be some sort of impedance mismatch CSS is _for_ developers give\nme .di-bl { display: block; }, make it easy to understand by just looking at\nthe markup instead of having to having to dig into other files.\n\n------\nvoidhawk\nAnyone else find the pages jitter when scrolling? At least on Safari (iPhone)\n\n------\nndarilek\nAs a blind web developer, I want to like Semantic. My usual mode of developing\nHTML, once it's at the \"I need to make this look good\" stage, is \"show it to\nmy girlfriend and ask her various questions.\" She says things like \"I wish X\nwere a bit larger,\" or \"Y should be blue,\" and pulling that off in Bootstrap\nis challenging. I can drop down to lower-level CSS, but have no clue how my\nchanges interact with Bootstrap's defaults, or indeed if they take effect at\nall. I mean, I can tweak font sizes and hex codes, but at the end of the day\nthey're all numbers, when what I _want_ to do is say \"No really, make this\nthing larger relative to these other things,\" not \"make it 125%, with this hex\ncode I scraped out of some color list and hope looks nice.\"\n\nBut, gods, buttons as divs. Maybe they're easier to style, but if I had a\ndollar for every time I couldn't use someone's site because they used a div as\na button, then didn't do the several other things that <button/> gives you for\nfree that make all the accessibility difference, well, I'd not worry about\nmoney ever again.\n\nI'm glad to see that the homepage example at least uses <button/>, but then\nthe rendering of the example isn't keyboard-focusable or actionable. Then,\nwhen I look at the actual code they're rendering, it's back to divs. So\nthey're not even rendering their example code.\n\nCan I use Semantic with the actual HTML elements that the divs are meant to\nstyle, so I can use the CSS class names some folks hate and derive their\nbenefits to me, but still get the accessibility benefits of the tags? I'd read\ntheir docs and check, but I don't know if they're linked from the main page. I\nsee links to 1.X/0.X docs, but I can't find a link to 2.X docs. There's a\n\"Menu\" link which may pop up more links, but I can't seem to trigger this with\nEnter. I seriously spent 10-15 minutes on this page looking for docs using\nonly my keyboard, before deciding that I really had better ways to spend my\nday.\n\nI hate to advise people to avoid projects because I'm not so arrogant as to\nthink my language/stack/framework/whatever is anything other than _my_\nfavorite, and I do _want_ to like this one, but every time I look at it the\naccessibility story is disappointing, and given that it's a framework, that\nmeans _other_ sites will likely inherit disappointing accessibility stories\ntoo.\n\nAnd now it's back to drinking, which seems to be the only fix for this[1].\n\n1\\. Not really, but damn am I tired of a) fighting the same battles again and\nagain and b) answering the same questions about said battles again and again.\nAll of this stuff is exhaustively documented by folks who are smarter than I\nam, so it isn't obscure, nor is it something I need to (or am even highly\n_qualified_ to) answer.\n\n~~~\ndu_bing\nIncredible, thanks for sharing your unique experience, I don't know the\ndifference of <div class=\"ui button\"> and <button class=\"ui button\"> when I\nuse Semantic-UI, because they show the same thing. According to your\ndeclaration, I think from now on I will better use the latter one.\n\n~~~\nndarilek\n1\\. The div is not keyboard-focusable by default, so you need to add\n`tabindex=\"0\"`. 2\\. By default, the div does not trigger click on Enter/Space,\nso you need to add a keyup handler to make it do so. 3\\. Screen readers won't\nreport the div as a button because they can't identify widgets based on how\nthey look, so add `role=\"button\"` as per the ARIA spec (only on first cup of\ncoffee now, so I'm not providing a link.)\n\nYes, it isn't super complicated, but a) most don't do it because they _look_\nidentical and b) multiply that by any other widget where the HTML version is\nreplaced with a div and suddenly things get complicated. If you're not a\nkeyboard user, you may not understand how the web works without a mouse. All\nthat is lost when switching to divs.\n\nThis says nothing about how OS/screen reader combinations differ in key\nhandling, nor about how complex widgets such as multiselects include similarly\ncomplex key handling. Also, the above ARIA is super simplistic. It doesn't\nhandle situations where, for instance, you have multiple roles and have to\ntoggle some of them based on what item is selected, what item is focused, etc.\n\nSo, TLDR: It's _so_ much better to use the HTML elements specifically designed\nfor a certain task because you get a lot for free that is taken for granted.\nThat said, I like how Semantic specifies how my UI might look, an wish I could\nhave the best of both worlds.\n\n~~~\nmwcampbell\nAnd a custom button is certainly not the worst offender, though it's probably\nthe most commonly cited example. A blind friend just needed sighted help to\ncomplete a purchase, because the process included a custom checkbox with no\nARIA support. At least with a button that's not identified as such, the user\ncan figure out that it's a button from the name and context, and use their\nscreen reader's ability to simulate a mouse click. Unless the buttons are\nimplemented using spans rather than divs, and there's more than one of them in\nthe same block element.\n\n~~~\ndu_bing\nGreat sharing, it seems that HTML tags are safer and more robust.\n\n------\nmark_l_watson\nI have been using bootstrap exclusively for years. I will give this a try on a\nsmall throwaway project. I am concerned by the apparently large size of CSS\nand JS, based on other comments here.\n\n------\nsymboltoproc\nI work for quite some time now with Javascript and I must say:\n\n$('select.dropdown').dropdown('set selected', ['meteor', 'ember']);\n\nIs the most unintuitive Javascript I've ever seen.\n\n------\naecorredor\nDoes anyone else feel that the documentation does not clearly explain how to\ncreate responsive layouts? I see the visual examples, but no clear code like\nin bootstrap's docs.\n\n------\nxyproto\nSounds great in theory, but the dropdown box on the front page is a list where\nonly half the height of the letters are shown, instead of a proper dropdown\nbox.\n\n------\njff\nAll this and it still looks like Yet Another Bootstrap website. Guess that's\nthe modern meaning of 'beautiful website'.\n\n------\njv22222\nThere's a pretty bad bug on that website. When you open it in Safari on iPhone\n6 it jitters badly as you scroll the page down.\n\n------\nmacca321\nI'd like to find a framework like this that comes with platform-neutral\n(handlebars or similar) templates for each component\n\n------\nkuon\nI am starting a new project, and I am considering semantic UI and grommet.\nAnybody has experience with grommet?\n\n------\nzeeshanu\nThe interface looks good but it is like a nightmare to remeber every single\nclass.\n\n~~~\ndmoreno\nI actually think the opposite. The names are very logical and once you know\nsome the rest is quite logical. Bootstrap on the other hand never made sense\nto me.\n\nAnyway many times I need SUIs documentation open for reference.\n\n------\n5_minutes\nI'm fine with Bootstrap though... another day, another framework\n\n------\nrfw1z\nWhat makes the Internet so exciting is the direct opposite of this.\n\n------\nnotliketherest\nI love semantic UI React for my teams internal tools. So easy to drop in an\nuse without having to think about css\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Linux family vs. Mac OS X family for Development? - haidrali\nI am full stack developer spend about 10 hours programming daily. I have been using Ubuntu for last 3 years and have never used MAC neither for development nor for daily use. I want to have developers opinion about development on Linux based OS vs MAC OS X ( though both are UNIX based ).\nmy development stack is Rails,Angular and somewhat Android<p>THanks\n======\nduncan_bayne\nMy history:\n\n1995: started using Linux as a hobby dev OS\n\n2000: switched from Windows NT 4.0 to Linux at work (C)\n\n2002: moved to .NET, used Windows at work and Linux at play\n\n2006: mix of Linux and Windows at work\n\n2011: abandoned .NET entirely; mix of Linux and OSX at work, Linux for play\n\n2013: entirely Linux\n\n2014: mix of FreeBSD and Linux for work and play\n\nSo it's fair to say I've solid experience in both, plus a fair amount of dev\nenvironment automation under my belt.\n\nLinux vs OSX: Linux wins hands-down unless you're happy hitting a wall when it\ncomes to customisation and automation. Mint is in my experience the equal of\nOSX out of the box, and just gets better as you start automating things.\nProductivity with a decent keyboard-driven WM and editor (StumpWM + Emacs in\nmy case) is great.\n\nRecently I've become a bit concerned that some of the design directions taken\nby the Linux community aren't aligned with my priorities, so I've been trying\nout FreeBSD. It's awesome, and my current OS of choice, but hardware support\nis more limited and the desktop / laptop experience isn't as polished as Mint.\n\n~~~\nduncan_bayne\nCheck out my dev environment setup scripts here:\n\n[https://github.com/duncan-bayne/mint-setup](https://github.com/duncan-\nbayne/mint-setup)\n\nNothing fancy (no Chef or similar, just a few shell scripts) but may give you\nsome ideas. I most recently used them a few days ago to provision an old\nMacBook Pro as a spare dev machine at work.\n\nI've a similar thing (more of a work in progress than the above Mint stuff)\nfor FreeBSD:\n\n[https://github.com/duncan-bayne/freebsd-setup/](https://github.com/duncan-\nbayne/freebsd-setup/)\n\n------\nsmt88\nLinux, hands down.\n\n1) You probably write code that targets Linux. That means using Linux as your\ndev machine is going to reduce complexity.\n\n2) The latest OS X is an absolute mess. It's incredibly slow as well.\n\n3) Docker support on Linux is far better than on OS X.\n\n------\nvladimir-y\nI am also curious what are objective reasons to use OS X (apple laptops) over\nLinux for code developers?\n\nFor code developers Linux is better, it's free and open, all sorts of trendy\nthings more convenient to test and use on Linux, there is everything could be\nconfigured (and you will have to configure everything :)) Even for not code\ndevelopers but picture/3d it's better to use laptops with pro graphic cards\n(FirePro/Quadro) than apple laptops. Also OS X is proprietary, so if you are\nconspiracy theorists it's probably not the best choice.\n\nCurrently I'm using Dell E7440 (FHD IPS screen (no touch) and SSD is\nessential) and Arch linux + Gnome shell (there is also win 8 as second system,\njust for case), and I'm happy so far.\n\n~~~\nptype\nBecause time 'configuring' is time not coding...\n\n~~~\nvladimir-y\nActually some significant configuring is required only for non standard\nfeatures, standard features usually are available of the box at least for\npopular Linux distributive (ubuntu, etc). Today, Linux is available variety,\nand for housewives as well.\n\n------\njackgolding\nIt is interesting that this is the most Linux sided Linux vs OSX discussion\nI've seen on HN.\n\nI personally just got a iMac which has boosted my productivity compared to\nworking on a Macbook. Could have been the effect of cleaning my desk though.\n\n~~~\nsmt88\nI despise OS X for many reasons, and I have for years. However, I used to be\npretty silent on discussions like these. My issues were (mostly) subjective\nand personal.\n\nWith the release of Yosemite, I'm now vocal about my dislike of OS X. It is\nobjectively an inferior OS.\n\nI believe many HN readers are in the same boat now. There have been quite a\nfew threads about the decline in quality control for OS X/iOS in the last few\nyears.\n\n------\nfactorialboy\nFor development, Linux for sure. OS X just annoys the hell out of me. The MBP\nhardware is good, but for the last few years there are some very good high-end\nLinux laptops as well.\n\nI personally use the Dell XPS 15:\n[http://amzn.to/1EOPJtB](http://amzn.to/1EOPJtB)\n\n~~~\nsreenadh\nWhen I checked the link, it showed that the laptop comes with Windows. How is\nthe driver support for Linux(esp. fan)? Which flavour are you using?\n\n~~~\nfactorialboy\nIt's very good. I'm making this comment from a Dell XPS 15 purchased last\nweek.\n\nI go rid of Windows 8 and installed Debian + XFCE.\n\nEverything just works, no hardware driver hacks.\n\n------\nperfectspr\nBoth Linux and Mac OS is good for web development. I think it depends on\nhardware and tool chains you are using. Usually, Linux and Mac OS have the\nsame tool chains, like Eclipse+Rail+Gulp+Bower+NodeJS. So OS is not a problem,\nhardware is what you should be concerned about. It will save lots of time if\nyou have a high performance computer. and I think the hardware of Mac Book is\nbetter that most of other PC/laptops.\n\nI have a Thinkpad E420 laptop which has Windows 7 preinstalled. I upgraded its\nmemory to 4GB. But it is still not enough in windows 7. so I installed Linux\nMint Xfce. It is really fast and takes up little memory. But the CPU and disk\nis not good enough, I still have to wait a time when opening Eclipse or\nFirefox. So now, I'm planning to buy a Mac Book.\n\n~~~\nhaidrali\nThank you for much valuable response i also have problem with opening Eclipse,\nChrome on Ubuntu, 4GB RAM, Dell Inspiron N5010 ( though a good machine) now\nplanning to have Mac Book heard of its awesome battery timings\n\n------\nakbar501\nThis is obviously a personal preference question. I use a Linux laptop and a\nMacBook Pro daily. Most days I spend more time on Ubuntu. In case it matters,\nthe MBP is brand new top end. I run Ubuntu on an older Dell Precision, yet its\nstill what I prefer.\n\nSince you're already on Ubuntu, I'd stay with it.\n\nLinux is just great for development. 1.) I find the shortcuts on Linux more\nnatural (for me). 2.) I use a lot of open source software and everything I use\ntargets Linux. 3.) I find it easy to develop on the same OS that I deploy. 4.)\nI'm super used to Linux.\n\nAs for the Mac, the hardware casing is amazing...it's so thin and nice. As for\nRAM, CPU, its definitely very good, but not the highest end configuration on\nthe market.\n\n------\nloumf\nI am an iPhone dev primarily so I have to use OSX, which I am fine with.\n\nI also do webdev in Django and that's fine too, but sometimes OS X likes to\nplay with my python and mysql versions (especially on OS upgrades) -- since I\ndon't have to do this every day (or even every month), I often spend the first\nfew hours of a new task with it trying to figure out how to fix them.\n\nI haven't switched to using vagrant for all server dev, but if I had to do it\na lot, I would put my dev environment inside vagrant and isolate it from OS X.\nI deploy to Linux anyway, so there's no point in making it work on OS X.\n\n------\ninformatimago\nStay with Linux.\n\nIt's really a personnal question, and depends on your preferences on user\ninterface.\n\nFor example, I prefer the emacs user interface and I use emacs with ratpoison\nas window manager on X11 on Linux. I also use emacs on MacOSX (and\n[http://www.emacsformacosx.com](http://www.emacsformacosx.com) is a very good\nGNU emacs distribution), but I miss the rest of keyboard interaction allowed\nby ratpoison (which if you stay inside emacs, is not a big deal). I also use\nX11 on MacOSX. In my situation, Linux is quite preferable. On the other hand,\nsince I'm currently working on a MacOSX application, while I could (and\nactually did during a period) edit and compile it from the Linux box, I'm\ncurrently using the MacOSX box to work on it (and therefore accessing my Linux\nworkstation thru X11 on MacOSX, since it's more convenient than moving around\nto the Linux box).\n\nThis later note, to mention that you can have a setup where \"the network's the\ncomputer\", that is, you actually use the workstation at hand just as a window\non the whole network. With a window system like X11, you really get a smooth\nexperience having processes on the various computer on your network displayed\non your screen. Then it doesn't matter what OS your current computer runs, you\nare just using X11 apps, running all over the place.\n\nAnd if this is your approach, if you're using more a network of computer than\na single isolated computer, then consider that (while NeXTstep\nDisplayPostscript system provided such network independance and indirection),\nthe only window system nowadays providing it is X11 (which you can use on unix\nas well as on MacOSX or MS-Windows). Also, and for somebody who uses the\nkeyboard 12 hours a day, I notice that I can more easily configure the layout\nof the keyboard with X11 than with MacOSX (or worse, MS-Windows), and\nfurthermore, I find that the keyboard is more responsive when processed by X11\nthan by the MacOSX system, notably in the handling of modifier keys (and that,\nwith a DasKeyboard-3 keyboard, which has 6-key rollover (thru usb)!). So when\ntyping some kinds of text, I really prefer to use Linux than MacOSX.\n\nOn the other end of the computer system, there's the persistent storage, and\non this side, there's some justified criticizim of the MacOSX file system\n(HFS+) compared to the much better Linux (or other unix) file systems. This\nmay be a reason to want to use a Linux workstation, but you may also just\nstore your file on a NAS (or just a NFS or Samba server on your Linux box), so\nagain, the network's the computer, and the choice of OS on your workstation is\nnot so relevant.\n\nThere's the question of the hardware, with multiple considerations. Ignoring\nthe question of price, there's the question of ease of use. MacOSX seems to\nprovide a \"it just works\" experience, which is good, but on the other hand, if\nit fails, you may have a harder time than with Linux, where you can usually\nrepair it. For example, sleeping a laptop, or switching to new wifi networks,\nare no-brainers with a MacOSX laptop, but I've spend hours configuring linux\nlaptops to do that. Perhaps there's some hope and light at the end of the\ntunnel, in the form of the Libre15 laptop?\n[https://www.crowdsupply.com/purism/librem-\nlaptop](https://www.crowdsupply.com/purism/librem-laptop)\n\nNow, perhaps you will have to test your web development on a Safari browser.\nThen you will need a MacOSX box to use it, and happily, MacOSX can also run\nFirefox (and Chrome, etc).\n\n------\nharis4063\nStay with linux. Its better and free :p\n\n------\nSwellJoe\n\"10 hours programming daily\"\n\nGods, man, get up and take a walk now and then!\n\n~~~\nperfectspr\nThat's right. Maybe you like this [http://www.amazon.com/The-Healthy-\nProgrammer-Pragmatic-Progr...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Healthy-Programmer-\nPragmatic-Programmers/dp/1937785319)\n\n------\nhasenj\nI use OS X because of the better hardware and nicer GUI/UX.\n\nAfter installing homebrew, MacVim, iTerm, and Chrome, I can't think of\nanything major I miss from Linux/Ubuntu.\n\nI'm mostly doing front-end development. No \"Docker\" stuff or anything fancy\nlike that.\n\n~~~\nsmt88\nNicer GUI/UX is subjective. I find that the OS X GUI kills my productivity,\nbut others may feel the opposite. Linux is highly configurable, at least, so\nyou could get near-perfect OS X UI on a Linux machine.\n\nAs for the hardware: I'm running Ubuntu on my MacBook Pro laptop, and it runs\ngreat. It boots much faster than my clean Yosemite install. In fact,\nYosemite's performance was abysmal compared to Ubuntu.\n\n~~~\nSomeone1234\nThis is a little off topic, but how is the battery life on your Macbook Pro\nwhen running Ubuntu? Last I looked Ubuntu ran fine, it just cut your battery\nlife in half (actually both Windows and Ubuntu cut your battery life in half,\nwhen ran natively/bootcamp, and not via VM).\n\nSo has that improved at all. It certainly hasn't on Windows on a Mac (the\nApple bootcamp drivers are really unoptimised).\n\n~~~\nsmt88\nBattery life is about the same, but it was never great (13\" 2013 MBP with\nHDD).\n\nWhen I'm using my laptop (at a client, in a meeting, at the airport) I always\nhave a power outlet, so my productivity is much more influenced by the OS than\nthe battery life. Your lifestyle might be different.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDavid Lynch’s TV commercials (2017) - prismatic\nhttps://lwlies.com/articles/david-lynch-tv-commercials/\n======\npmoriarty\nDavid Lynch also made a little known TV series called _On the Air_.[1]\n\nAt its best it was full of black humor and characteristic Lynchian weirdness.\n\nHere are a couple of my favorite episodes: [2], [3]\n\n[1] -\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Air_%28TV_series%29](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Air_%28TV_series%29)\n\n[2] -\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtCMq1IKYTs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtCMq1IKYTs)\n\n[3] -\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueL4ebNq6mU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueL4ebNq6mU)\n\n~~~\nviburnum\nI haven’t seen that for 25 years. Thanks for posting. I loved it so much back\nthen.\n\n------\npgreenwood\nDavid Lynch Cooks Quinoa is one of my favorites:\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSP-\newdJYJc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSP-ewdJYJc)\n\n~~~\nrdtsc\nThe description of the train at night, stopping in Yugoslavia, was amazing. So\nmany details, you can almost see him imagining a movie scene right there.\n\n\"Moths were flipping and flying like frogs. Frog moths, were pulling\nthemselves out of the earth...\"\n\nThose who watched Twin Peaks: The Return might recognize the connection\nbetween the 8th episode and the frog moths.\n\n------\npartiallypro\nThe \"Parisienne cigarettes\" ad is near identical to parts of Twin Peaks Season\n3, \"got a light?\"\n\n~~~\nbarbecue_sauce\nYeah, I was about to comment about this one. The set is very similar to the\n\"convenience store\" as it appears in The Return (if not exactly the same).\n\n------\ngordon_freeman\nI still remember the vivid and strange experience when I watched Lynch's\nmasterpiece TV show 'Twin Peaks'. Just an amazing experience! I have also\nenjoyed his films such as 'Blue Velvet' and 'Mulholland Drive'. When watching\nLynch's shows and movies I feel his creations are similar to that of Stanley\nKubrick.\n\n~~~\ncrispyambulance\nMulholland Drive, hell yes. The diner scene was unforgettable!\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UozhOo0Dt4o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UozhOo0Dt4o)\n\nSo ridiculous but so good.\n\n~~~\naasasd\n“I think that horror following technology in its development is a dead end. We\nhad horror films about TV, now there are films about the web, but in fifty\nyears only scholars of culture will look at them. Meanwhile, people who want\nto be scared will still watch the scene from Mulholland Drive with the bum\npeeking around the corner. But that scene could equally be filmed in 1930 or\n2030.” (Alexey Karaulov)\n\n------\njahlove\nI was going to say that \"Opium\" wouldn't fly as a perfume name in 2019, but\napparently Yves Saint Laurent still sells it:\n\n[https://www.yslbeautyus.com/fragrance/womens-\nfragrances/opiu...](https://www.yslbeautyus.com/fragrance/womens-\nfragrances/opium)\n\n~~~\ngrandsui\nI own one of their Opium cologne for men. It smells _really_ nice.\n\n------\nxenospn\nFun fact: George Lucas approached David Lynch to direct The Return of the\nJedi, and was turned down.\n\n[1] -\n[https://lynch.fandom.com/wiki/Return_of_the_Jedi](https://lynch.fandom.com/wiki/Return_of_the_Jedi)\n\n~~~\naazaa\n> Shortly after, Lynch directed his own version of a space opera / sci-fi\n> film: Dune (1984)\n\n~~~\ncodesushi42\nSo it was for the best.\n\n------\naasasd\nLynch's ads actually made me understand his style much better. For all his\notherworldly weirdety and teasing of Hollywood, his 90s work looks rooted in\n90s tv. It's like I watch tv dramas or ads, but with Lynch's twist—just like\nPedro Almodóvar's films are 80s/90s tv with Pedro Almodóvar's twist.\n\n------\nTrackerFF\nA key component to the \"feel\" of Lynch is the music by Angelo Badalamenti. He\nreally ties up the work.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFacebook earnings gain as ad sales surge 82%; CFO is stepping down - Kopion\nhttp://www.marketwatch.com/story/facebook-earnings-gain-as-ad-sales-surge-82-2014-04-23\n======\nENGNR\nThey've actually pulled a bait and switch on small business.\n\nFirst the pages were free and great, then they started to reduce the number of\npeople who'd see your posts (fair enough, not everyone can see every little\nthing)\n\nThen they reduced the % of people seeing posts to 3% and less, and really\nfocussed on getting those page owners to buy ads to maintain their previous\nview numbers.\n\nMaybe page owners are paying for now, potentially reliant on traffic, but I\ndon't think they're going to be happy paying forever when free alternatives\nwill crop up again. The traffic quality is reported as being low (many mis-\nclicks on mobile). If the profit isn't there then business won't be able to\nafford to pay in the long run.\n\nMaybe I don't want to see posts for 'Jim's oil change' every three seconds,\nbut good content is getting cut away also making FB far more boring.\n\n~~~\nSilhouette\nI don't know if I'd call it a bait and switch, because you never really knew\nexactly what you were getting with Facebook anyway. The kind of auction system\nthey use is practically designed to avoid transparency (and they're obviously\nnot alone in that among on-line ad platforms).\n\nIt always comes down to the numbers, though. If we're advertising a small\nbusiness on Facebook, and it generates more in revenues from sales than it\ncosts in customer acquisition, it's still a net win. Is it the best place we\ncould have invested those advertising funds? Maybe, maybe not, but it\ncertainly becomes less attractive as their cost-per-whatever figures go up,\nand no matter how much they fudge the presentation, we still know how much we\npaid overall and how much revenue we got in return.\n\nIn any case, every time this comes up there are plenty of posters who have\nsmall businesses and make the above argument, but generate revenues in the\n100-200% bracket, i.e., they're at least breaking even and maybe doubling\ntheir investment, but no-one's buying the private jet and yacht any time soon.\nIt doesn't take anything shady-sounding like a bait and switch for Facebook to\nlose all of that business, it just takes increasing cost-per-whatever a bit\nmore until the return on investment is no longer a safe bet. At that point,\nthey lose to other options with either generally better returns (so you don't\ncare about the odd few percent, because you know you're still comfortably\nwinning overall) or a more predictable model (so you can still run it on\ntighter margins).\n\n~~~\nmrtron\nI think the details matter here. The bait and switch being referred to is in\nregards to engaging with followers, not the ad platform directly.\n\nBusinesses grew their followers on Facebook over the years with the intention\nof growing a user-base they could engage with. Now a substantially lower\nnumber of your followers see content you post due to algorithm changes. The\nway to increase your reach to your followers is by paying for ads to basically\nrecapture the engagement you were once getting free.\n\nIt would be like if Twitter started charging businesses to display tweets to\ntheir own followers.\n\n~~~\nTheodores\nOr if Google started to only show you in organic search results 3% of the\ntime.\n\n~~~\ndchuk\nWell Google has basically done that by filling up the search results with\nadditional pieces like ads, images, news, maps, local results, etc. Organic\nresults practically don't exist anymore above the fold.\n\n~~~\nGenerocUsername\nYeah, I can never find what im looking for on google /s\n\n------\njohnvschmitt\nFacebook Ads are a real shakedown scam, & getting worse.\n\nAfter reading up on other's experience, I ran an experiment last week:\n\nI started a stupid comic blog ([http://omgcmon.com](http://omgcmon.com)). I\nmade a facebook \"page\" for it too.\n\nI posted an link from my stupid comic blog to the facebook \"page\". I posted\nthe same link to my personal status.\n\nThe posting didn't even show up in my OWN news feed, unless I changed it from\n\"top stories\" to \"most recent\". (All other posts from me, show up in my \"top\nstories\" at least.) My friends & family didn't see it either.\n\nBut, when I took the same image in the blog post, & put it in facebook as a\n\"Photo\", then people saw it, commented, liked, etc.\n\nSo, it sure does look like Facebook knows that the link was on a \"page\", &\nthen used it's secret algorithm to suppress it, as it knows that will, over a\nlarge population, cause more ad dollars to be spent to boost \"pages\".\n\nSo, the money/profit will flow well, but not forever.\n\nRun your own experiments if you doubt it. It's not hard to get this data\nyourself.\n\n~~~\nnyrulez\nI don't see this is completely weird. If I was designing the news feed, I\nwould give way more importance to personal posts (especially photos) than non\npersonal posts, as I would like to preserve the personal nature of Facebook\nand not pollute it with non-personal info.\n\nHowever, if a business (a non personal entity) wants to gain entry (and\npotentially pollute the experience to some extent), there is a price they have\nto pay. And that constitutes facebook's business model.\n\nThe fact that they introduced \"Free\" business pages which allowed free entry\nto people's news feeds before ads has skewed the perception of their\nintentions. But if I were to design it from scratch today, my design would\nprobably be somewhat similar.\n\n~~~\njohnvschmitt\nGood point. Yes, let's prioritize personal things on a personal platform.\n\nHowever, ~30% of the \"top stories\" in my newsfeed (anecdotal of course) are\npublic URL's that my friends share. And, those don't look like ads or promoted\nposts, but they sure could be!\n\nThat said, in the past, we'd promote a business by trying to get email\nsignups, then trickle monthly updates to our users to engage them more. (That\nstill works!) Now, email is seen as \"unsexy\" & we're told to go social to get\nviral, & make everything have a Facebook share (+pinterest/etc). That's just\nnot as effective as email, sorry. I just wanted to share my experience about\nwhat works best for startups.\n\n------\nbertil\nI have reasons to believe that Facebook earnings correspond to unstable\npractice: namely, both brands and games have bad metrics (i.e. uninformative)\nof their activity, and both are re-considering how their price fan- and user-\nacquisition. There is a stunning lack of understanding of social network\ndynamics among Facebook client companies. I have been through a lot of\ninterviews lately, and no one to whom I talked seemed to know basic things\nlike the Friend paradox, avalanche thresholds, or that the first fans are\nnaturally more engaged -- Facebook ad purchase interface doesn’t really help\neither.\n\nNothing about game session duration, rhythm? Nothing about the thousands of\nodd Pakistani accounts liking the page of random family restaurants in the\nNorth of Ireland?\n\nSome people at Facebook know those very well, but as far as I can tell, no one\nhas connected that issue with a Wil-E-Coyote moment: strong sales out of\nmomentum, filling an inflated inventory but widespread skepticism. There is\nindeed far more ads in the Facebook mobile thread, but almost exclusively for\nmiss-targeted offers (I recently moved to a different country, twice, and I\nkeep seeing things for local apps in a city 2,400 miles away) and for mobile\ngames with Zynga-like gameplay: pay or… well, you can pay too.\n\nI’m not sure Facebook is aware of that; I am sure however that Zynga wasn’t,\nor at least that the people in charge of the financial stability of the\ncompany dealt with that issue in an unethical manner. Seeing both a trend and\nsomeone to chosen to reinforce it scares me.\n\n~~~\nprostoalex\n59% of their advertising revenue is off mobile, where their main products are\napp installs and click-through ads.\n\nThey don't break it down, but an ad product boosting likes to a business page\nthat you're describing as highly susceptible to fraud is probably not a best-\nseller, and isn't even offered on mobile.\n\n~~~\nbertil\nThose are two distinct manifestation of potentially different issues.\n\nMobile is over-invested because there is a presumption of high user value that\nisn’t adjusted with history.\n\nOrganised click-farms use non-commercial links to avoid detection. There is a\nlot to be said about Facebook detection technology there.\n\n~~~\nprostoalex\nWhat I'm saying is that desktop like ads are non-essential for Facebook's\nrevenue figures, because hardly anybody buys those ads.\n\nYouTube had a similar issue when they started paying out content producers\nbased on views, and all of a sudden \"view farms\" appeared out of nowhere,\ngenerating required thousands of views. It's a big deal if you buy ads on\nYouTube and get charged per views, but in the grand scheme of things it's a\ndrop in the bucket for Google Inc.\n\n------\nchollida1\nCertainly not related to the numbers. They killed it this quarter!\n\nThey had a NON-GAAP EPS of 34C while estimates were at 24C.\n\nThat's pretty incredible considering that mobile advertising contributing\nabout 59% of their advertising revenue. That's been the one area that analysts\nwere worried about.\n\n~~~\npbreit\nAnd while revenue was up 72%, income nearly tripled! This is why you invest\nevery penny you have into growing a software company and push profits out as\nfar as possible.\n\n~~~\nZenPro\nFacebook is not a software company.\n\n[http://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2012/06/29/rip-\nsof...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2012/06/29/rip-software-\ncompanies-hello-data-companies/)\n\n~~~\ndredmorbius\nIn terms of what actually directly provides value, it's less data and more\nsocial lock-in.\n\nArguably software is a large driver of the company's value.\n\nThis is all pretty much an angles dancing on heads of pins argument, though.\n\n------\nZenPro\nI fully imagine the descent will even more rapid than the rise.\n\nWhen people congregate; advertisers follow seeking the _staggering_ ROI of the\nearly marketers on the platform.\n\nThe platform, under shareholder pressure, will accept as many ads as it can\nuntil the platform is so saturated the customers leave and the ad ROI\nplummets. Advertisers are normally last to arrive at the party and also late\nto leave...\n\nI recently saw a photo that demonstrated Facebook has an 8/1 content ratio.\nFor every 1 meaningful piece of content a user is subjected to 8 ads including\nsidebar + newsfeed. If you include the horizontal scrolling for mobile adverts\nit rises to 13/1.\n\nI think this party just hit it's peak. I deleted my FB a month ago, have not\nreally missed it and a few of my friends have followed. Anecdotal evidence\nadmittedly but no one did it in the usual \"I am out!\". The deletions were more\nof a _shrug_. Personally I find that the most emphatic indictment; when people\nhave just grown bored of your platform.\n\n~~~\nSDGT\nEvery single week that I sit down and stare at my newrelic monitor, I think\nthe exact same thing: \"This is all going to collapse soon.\"\n\nAfter almost two years of staring at six figure weekly revenue values on the\nanalytics and tracking applications I've built (I obviously am not making this\nmuch), I begin to question my inherent concerns on FB's long game.\n\n~~~\nZenPro\nFrom a quantitative perspective I cannot fault them _right now_ but from a\nqualitative perspective...something is rotten in Denmark.\n\nFacebook is not the platform we need, it's the one we deserve right now ;-)\n\n------\ngcb0\ni sent a link over their newly acquired IM service... and now all my ads are\nfor the company owning that link.\n\nfor one side I'm impressed at their speed in incorporating that new window\ninto my privacy. ...or maybe the selling price was so high because that was\nalready a feature? anyway, on the other hand, I'm unimpressed by either their\ninventory of ads or ability to classify the content they know i know.\n\nif they showed me things relevant to that link it would be interesting. they\njust flooded me with ads for something i might even own already. its like the\ncheap ad networks on desktop. see one item at amazon, now all sites in the\nworld will show you that item. they just spent billions to race the mobile ads\nto the bottom from the get go.\n\n~~~\nEncosia\nIsn't it more likely that the page you visited to get the link had a Facebook\n\"like\" button on it that tracked your potential interest at that point?\n\n~~~\ngcb0\nnope. typed it on my phone. it was a service i use 2 months ago and a friend\nasked me about it during the chat\n\n------\npyrrhotech\nI am short, but congrats on a great quarter! Enjoy it while it lasts. I still\ndoubt the company will exist by 2025, but I've been wrong before so who knows.\n\n~~~\njpeg_hero\nThat's a long time to be short.\n\nFrom my trading days, I've learned the importance off only short term trades\nwhen betting against a stock.\n\n~~~\npyrrhotech\nI don't plan on shorting to $0. I went short the day after the Whatsapp\nannouncement at $67. Originally planned to cover around $50, but may cover at\nany point now. They are definitely rolling and investors are enthused in the\nshort term at least\n\n~~~\nGustomaximus\nWhat method did you use to short them?\n\n~~~\npyrrhotech\nregular short sale, no options or anything. In Interactive Brokers, just\nselected 'sell' instead of 'buy' before placing order\n\n------\nwaps\nWhat I don't understand. How do these figures justify a $70 share price ?\nCompanies tend to be valued at 15 * revenue, on large aggregate.\n\nWith these earnings their PE ratio will go from 72 to 57, assuming the stock\nprice doesn't increase. If this stock deleverages at the same speed as google\nstock did, over 2 years, the share price will be $35-$30 by the end of the\nyear ...\n\nIf the pe ratio gets in line with S&P 500 \"normal\" pe ratio of 15 (actually\nmore like 10-15, but recently it's been nearer 15 than 10), facebook is only\nworth $17 per share.\n\nNow the default argument is \"but growth\", so I fit a third degree curve to\ntheir earnings. So I fit a second-degree curve to their eps (this assumes it's\non an exponential growth trajectory, quite generous I would say), and at what\npoint would their valuation become justified at standard S&P 500 ratios ? Q1\n2017. This is assuming FB's exponential growth holds up. That's not as bad as\nI feared it would be, but still it's pretty bad.\n\nEPS curve for facebook: 0.005 x^2 - 0.0015 x + 0.12 (x is measured in number\nof quarters since Q2 2012. Data from streetinsider.com)\n\n~~~\nstormbrew\nIf share prices were determined by a simple mathematical formula based on\nearnings reports, there'd be very little profit in buying and selling stocks.\nPeople (and organizations) who buy fb believe it is undervalued in the long\nrun. They may be wrong or they may be right, but you can't math that\nperception out of existence.\n\n~~~\nlutusp\nThe tl;dr: anyone who thinks equity valuations are based on rational decision-\nmaking are going to be taken to the cleaners.\n\n~~~\nstormbrew\nWell, for a certain definition of rational. I think the operative definition\nin this subject amounts to roughly \"not random,\" though. People (or nowadays\ntrading bots) have _reasons_ , they just aren't necessarily _good reasons_.\n\n~~~\nlutusp\n> Well, for a certain definition of rational.\n\nI wasn't going too far afield -- by \"rational\" I meant on the basis of P/E\nratios and other conventional sources of information, rather than mass\npsychology or hunches.\n\nAs to trading bots, depending on how much capital they move, they can twist a\nsmall market until it cries uncle, and in a matter of minutes in the worst\ncases. That's rational by some definitions. :)\n\n------\n001sky\n_The world’s largest social network has been on an acquisition tear this year,\neffectively moving to transform itself into a tech portfolio company._\n\n>Interesting take on things ...\n\n------\nghx\nThe headline should read, \"Facebook earnings gain as they insert 82% more\nads\".\n\nThere's got to be a point where it just gets too saturated for users, just\nlike Myspace did. Maybe not this time?\n\n~~~\nencoderer\nNope. Try again. They're making higher CPCs and CPMs.\n\n~~~\nZenPro\nTo be fair, those figures have been disputed and also called outright\nfraudulent by a number of parties.\n\nAn advertiser recently had an $800,000 invoice struck off because he\nthreatened to sue Facebook. They decided just to let it slide instead of have\nthe public debate.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nNginx dev version proxying WebSocket - calico\nhttp://nginx.org/en/docs/http/websocket.html\n\n======\ncalico\nI'll test that very soon !\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nProgramming Language Implementation – Part 0 – Tools and Setup - marcofiset\nhttp://marcofiset.com/programming-language-implementation-part-0-setup\n\n======\nmarcofiset\nHi guys, this is the follow up post of a new series I introduced 2 days ago: A\nBeginner's Guide to Programming Language Implementation. Today we'll be\nsetting up our development environment, and get started with the actual\nprogramming next week.\n\n~~~\nmamcx\nDamm, in php ;)\n\nBut still great. I'm in the same boat (to build a language) and this is a bit\ncloser to it (I will add -hopefully- pattern matching, union types, a\nrelational algebra).\n\nSuggestions (I have read now dozens of things like this):\n\n\\- Something that is not made clear with interpreters is: I need a garbage\ncollector? What happened with memory?\n\n\\- I haven't see how manage imports/modules. Look like all the toy\ninterpreters are for run everything at once.\n\n\\- Any hint in how improve error messages at parsing, if possible.. That\ndepend in what use to parse it..\n\n\\- Know how do math is nice, but I have wonder, what are the minimun necessary\nof functions to lift from the host language to make possible to build the\nstandard library from INSIDE the interpreter? So, print is built-in, but maybe\nmap and list?\n\n\\- I see the introductory post, and think could be nice to support at least\nList/Arrays (ie a container of things).\n\n\\- The interpreter code I have seen, in the AST processing have the tendency\nof be hard to read (with single letters vars and things like that), so\nconsider that too.\n\nLooking forward to your series!\n\n~~~\nmarcofiset\nI had a feeling that people would pick at the choice of PHP as an\nimplementation language, but hey, that's part of the game ;)\n\nThe code structure will be exactly the same as if I had implemented it in C#\nor Ruby, so not following the tutorial simply because it's PHP is not a very\ngood reason IMHO.\n\nI will be completely honest with you, some things your asked for are beyond my\ncurrent knowledge. I began to think about how the standard library could be\nimplemented, but not experimented with this yet. Fortunately, it will be a\nlong time before we get to that point in the series, and I will have figured\nout how to do it ;) Same thing for modules and imports.\n\nDon't worry about the code, I will try my best to make everything as clear as\npossible.\n\nYour input is greatly appriated, don't hesitate to give me feedback like this\nall along the way :)\n\n------\nkrapp\nLooks interesting.\n\nDo you already have a working implementation and if so can we see it?\n\n~~~\nmarcofiset\nI wouldn't want to spoil it for you ;)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhy Windows 10 Sucks or Everything Wrong with Microsoft Windows - dadt\nhttps://itvision.altervista.org/why-windows-10-sucks.html\n======\nbrianpgordon\nI'm no Windows fanboy but there's a lot of misinformation here. In the spirit\nof bullying the reader with a big list of points, here are some examples of\nincorrect claims in TFA:\n\n1\\. It's not hard to disable Cortana and internet-assisted start menu search\ncompletion. I assume that's what they mean by \"keyboard scanning and voice\nrecording\" because I don't think there's anything else like that in the OS. It\nis possible to disable telemetry. In general Windows 10 does come with a ton\nof cruft but it can be disabled with e.g.\n[https://github.com/Disassembler0/Win10-Initial-Setup-\nScript](https://github.com/Disassembler0/Win10-Initial-Setup-Script)\n\n2\\. Disk fragmentation hasn't been an issue for awhile. Defrag runs as a\nscheduled task in all versions of Windows 10.\n\n3\\. I like UAC. The article claims that giving users a dialog box to permit\nadmin access is good for malware, but the alternative is taking admin away\nfrom users altogether on their own computers. I don't think this is an\nacceptable tradeoff.\n\n4\\. Windows has arguably the _best_ plug-and-play driver support of any\noperating system. It's not hard to find drivers as the article claims.\n\n5\\. The article claims that it's difficult to figure out why your startup is\nso slow, but task manager has a \"Startup\" tab now which tells you which\nstartup items are consuming a lot of CPU at login.\n\n6\\. The article claims that you can't disable Windows Store apps, Windows\ntips, and ads in the start menu. That's untrue. I don't even have Windows\nStore installed as a Windows component, I have no idea what \"Windows tips\"\neven is, and my start menu is devoid of ads\n[https://i.imgur.com/xy69BWe.png](https://i.imgur.com/xy69BWe.png)\n\nI think Windows is pretty bad and most users would probably be better off\nrunning Lubuntu or something, but there's no need to resort to exaggeration to\nmake that case.\n\n~~~\nitvision\nI'm not a fanboy of any OS in existence but\n\n1\\. Most tech-illiterate people are afraid of using regedit and/or GPO to\ndisable Cortana so the point is valid.\n\n2\\. Disk fragmentation has become an even bigger issue since Windows 10\ndoesn't defragment SSD disks.\n\n3\\. It's not an argument.\n\n4\\. The article talks about laptops specifically and the issue is still there\nand it's huge even for Windows 10 which often installs Microsoft drivers which\ndo _not_ work.\n\n5\\. You must be joking about the startup tab of the task manager. Looks like\nyou've never had this issue or you've only used SSDs in your life. Also\ndiscover Autoruns by Mark Russinovich.\n\n6\\. The Windows Store app canNOT be disabled. Read carefully. Also after each\nmajor Windows update all apps are reinstalled.\n\nThere's no exaggeration - the author is an IT specialist with a lot of\nexperience.\n\n~~~\nebg13\n> _Disk fragmentation has become an even bigger issue since Windows 10 doesn\n> 't defragment SSD disks_\n\nDefrag on SSDs in Windows 10 runs Trim. And it does do that automatically on a\nschedule if you don't change anything. Actual defragmentation on an SSD is way\nless useful because SSDs don't have killer seek latencies like spinning rust\nplates did, and it would be small-scale harmful because of write wear. And\nyour SSD's onboard controller would likely thwart your efforts _anyway_ ,\nbecause of wear leveling.\n\n~~~\nRetric\nThat’s 1/2 right SSD’s do have fragmentation issues, but it’s about IOPS not\nlatency. [http://www.dbta.com/Editorial/Trends-and-\nApplications/Does-F...](http://www.dbta.com/Editorial/Trends-and-\nApplications/Does-Fragmentation-Hurt-SSD-Performance-105652.aspx)\n\nTRIM is also important, but it’s a different issue.\n\n~~~\nKlinky\nThat article makes claims of 25% reduction in perf with no data to back it up,\nthen mentions fragmention leads to system instability, requiring reboots...\nWhat? Again no data given to back up these claims. It's also SAN/Enterprise-\ncentric. Even if you lost 25% perf, you're going from 200,000 IOPs/sec to\n150,000 IOPs/sec. This is still plenty fast.\n\n------\npartiallypro\nI actually really like Windows 10, a huge portion of this list could easily\napply to any modern operating system that isn't Linux, and even there some of\nit applies. So OSX, Android, iOS, etc.\n\nThe section \"Now the second kind of issues is intrinsic to Windows 10 only\" is\nfull of things that are literally applicable to all the OSes I listed above. I\nhad some laugh out loud moments reading it. Are people just blinded by rage\nagainst Microsoft? I don't see how anyone could type that section in\nparticular out with a straight face while knowing about all the other major\nmodern OSes.\n\n~~~\nitvision\nMacOS doesn't have 95% of the listed issues.\n\nAnd we don't have any other desktop OSes which are ready for prime time.\n\n~~~\nSilhouette\n_And we don 't have any other desktop OSes which are ready for prime time._\n\nPeople keep saying that, but how often is it really true these days?\n\nAs a professional software developer, the tools available on UNIXy platforms\nare already much _better_ in many cases than the Windows ports.\n\nFor a typical home user who is mostly interested in things like email and\nsocial networking, and maybe needs to write up some notes or do a quick\nhousehold budget spreadsheet or basic photo editing, there is capable software\navailable on any serious desktop platform today.\n\nIt's true that gaming lags behind, though there has been useful progress there\nin recent times, but lots of people game on dedicated consoles or on their\nmobile devices anyway now.\n\nAre you sure you're not just repeating dogma that is well out of date by now?\n\n~~~\ndrankula3\nI'm a systems administrator for a small MSP. I've used Linux as my primary OS\nfor 9 years, despise using Windows, and I can tell you with 100% confidence\nthat nothing but Windows is ready for prime time, and for one major reason:\n_ease of administration_.\n\nThink of the growth cycle of the vast majority of businesses. Almost all\nbusinesses are started and run by non-IT people. They buy Windows machines\nbecause they're simple(don't have to worry about OS installation, chosing a\ndistro, etc), have Microsoft Office, and work with any and all enterprise\nsoftware they use. This gives them a key advantage for small businesses. Like\nit or not, Linux is just relatively hard.\n\nWhere Windows _really_ shines, though, is when a small business transitions to\nbeing a big-small or medium-sized business. If you have a couple dozen\ncomputers and a couple dozen users to manage, do you think it would be worth\nit to have a linux admin spin up an LDAP server with kerberos and all the\nbells and whistles needed, then be hired to manage that infrastructure? No,\nthey're going to contract someone to spin up a windows server to manage user\nlogins, create a network share, and call it a day. The infrastructure is\nsuper-stable, and when the cost of labor is considered, it is considerably\ncheaper than letting the system be the plaything of a local Linux zealot.\n\nIt's only when you consider big and massive businesses that Linux can really\nbe viable, and even then it ain't cheap. Most big businesses grew in a Windows\nenvironment, and switching the core of your IT infrastructure sure as hell\nbetter be worth it to warrant the massive labor costs, IT fire fighting, and\ndrop in employee productivity that will result.\n\nNo, Linux infrastructure and desktops really only make sense for companies\nthat are either highly technical, need absolute control of their hardware, are\n_extremely_ price sensitive, are (or hope to become) massive, or a combination\nof these.\n\n~~~\nninkendo\nWhy do your employee's systems need to be \"Administrated\" in the first place?\n\nWhy do you need Active Directory or LDAP? Why do you need group policy or\nanything else? Why are your endpoints not as close to vanilla simple\ndesktop/laptops as possible? Is it that employees can't handle using a\ncomputer?\n\nI've worked in one of the largest businesses in the world for many years now,\nand I don't think we even _have_ an IT department that manages desktop\ninstallations. I've certainly never interacted with them. You either figure\nout how to use the computer they give you, or you don't, in which case why\nshould they employ you? Computers are a basic skill.\n\n~~~\ndrankula3\n> Why do you need Active Directory or LDAP?\n\nPrimarily authentication, authorization, and accounting[0]. Setting up a new\nuser account on every single computer that an employee may at some point sit\nat gets very expensive. Many businesses (if not immediately then eventually)\nhave security concerns that require Administrators have the ability to\nimmediately lock users out of the system or be able to audit recent activity.\nAD/LDAP facilitates this. It can also automate standard settings like network\ndrives, screen lockout settings, homepages, and all sorts of other settings.\n\n> You either figure out how to use the computer they give you, or you don't\n\nStandardization of processes and training can reduce training time\nconsiderably. For industries with high turnover, this can make a difference.\nYou've gotta remember, not everyone is a knowledge worker. Tons of people are\nmore like cogs in the machine of the company, which isn't necessarily a bad\nthing.\n\n[0]\n[https://www.techopedia.com/definition/24130/authentication-a...](https://www.techopedia.com/definition/24130/authentication-\nauthorization-and-accounting-aaa)\n\n~~~\nninkendo\n> Primarily authentication, authorization, and accounting[0]. Setting up a new\n> user account on every single computer that an employee may at some point sit\n> at gets very expensive\n\nWhy are people using more than one machine?\n\n> Many businesses (if not immediately then eventually) have security concerns\n> that require Administrators have the ability to immediately lock users out\n> of the system or be able to audit recent activity.\n\nWhy are the network services tied to login sessions on my machine? I mean,\nlogin token invalidation is an interesting problem in general, but every place\nI’ve worked in the past 10 years, my desktop is not the place where secure\nthings are stored, the services I access are. (And those services are\nincreasingly SaaS and use something like SAML with the directory server for\nthe company.) None of which needs a login token associated in any way with my\ndesktop login.\n\nPerhaps a better phrasing of the question is, why is the demarcation line\nbetween the untrusted world and the things you’re protecting on the _desktop_?\nAnd not at the services themselves?\n\n> It can also automate standard settings like network drives, screen lockout\n> settings, homepages, and all sorts of other settings.\n\nSounds like a bunch of solutions to problems you’re creating for yourselves.\nWhy even do any of these things?\n\nPerhaps an analogy would be helpful:\n\nSay you required all your employees to have smart phones so they could (for\ninstance) get email, log into the timecard/accounting service, etc. You’d need\na pretty huge justification to require all of the phones to be managed\ncentrally by your company. Why are desktops different?\n\n(Or perhaps you’d defend even the central management of my iPhone too, in\nwhich case I think our perspectives are so far off, I don’t think there’s much\nconvincing either of us can do at this point.)\n\nI used to be an AD administrator for a university and had to manage hundreds\nof lab machines (maintaining a central hardware-independent image, group\npolicy, tons of settings), so I’m aware of what tools are available for\nAdministration, I’m just saying 9 times out of 10, the best way to administer\nlots of systems is to not administer them at all.\n\n~~~\nkyriakos\n> Why are people using more than one machine?\n\nEver been in a meeting room? Most companies have shared PCs for meeting rooms.\nLogging in gives you access to your documents so you can hold your meeting and\ntake your notes back to your workstation.\n\nI'm really surprised you worked in a large business and haven't experienced\nany of this or the need for standardisation. We use a bunch of systems that\nall work with AD, it's really a solved problem in a Windows based environment.\n\n~~~\nSilhouette\n_Most companies have shared PCs for meeting rooms._\n\nAre you sure that's not overgeneralising from your own experience? After all,\nmost companies don't even have dedicated meeting rooms, because they aren't\nbig enough. Of the ones that do, I have rarely seen a dedicated PC in there,\nand that spans the full range of businesses from five guys in a single office\nthrough 200+ person medium enterprises right up to some of the largest\ncompanies in the world. Most people just take their own laptops, IME. So while\nI don't doubt that you may have come across this often, it's not necessarily\nthe way everyone else does it.\n\nIn any case, basic AAA for organisational user IDs is hardly rocket science,\nwhether you're running on Windows or Linux.\n\n~~~\nkyriakos\nThe OP mentioned working in one of the largest companies in the world I find\nit hard to believe they have no conference and meeting rooms. I think you are\nover-generalizing using startups as a prototype; the enterprise world is a\ndifferent beast.\n\n~~~\nSilhouette\nAs I wrote before, I've also worked in some of the largest companies in the\nworld. Obviously those do have meeting rooms in their offices, but IME people\ntypically just bring their own laptops/devices to a meeting. I can't remember\nthe last time I saw a dedicated PC that stayed in a meeting room, other than\nmaybe ones used to run projectors and such in a conference centre that was\nhired out.\n\n------\nblackrock\nPlus, the confusing control panel.\n\nEverything is flat, with no color distinction, that I must scan every single\nstupid grey icon, and memorize or guess, what the icons mean. Before, some of\nthe icons would have colors, like the defrag program, where I can quickly\nidentify the program, because the icon has a touch of red in it. This slows me\ndown, and it increases my cognitive overhead to look for things in Windows.\nAnd often times, the icons no longer have names on it, so it's a total\nguessing game what this flat abstract icon even means!\n\nThe on and off buttons look alike! Often times, I can't figure out which it\nis. Light switches in the real world, is up and down, so this is easy to\nremember. But side switches, left or right, are confusing. Was it left to turn\non, or the other way. I can't figure it out.\n\nAlso, this problem plagues the stupid new iPhone designs too. I miss the\nskeuomorphisms.\n\n~~~\njotm\nFork that \"control\" panel. Use the old one.\n\n~~~\nzamadatix\nMost things in Settings aren't in the Control Panel and a lot of what is in\nthe Control Panel opens the Settings app (e.g. Control Panel -> Default\nPrograms -> Set your default programs)\n\n------\nsuby\nIt's worth a mention just how buggy win10 has been for me. I don't spend much\ntime working in windows, but every time I do I encounter one issue or another.\n\nFile explorer freezes / crashes.\n\nThere is that one empty folder on my desktop that I cannot delete because it\nis in use, but there is nothing in the folder and no program is conceivably\nusing it.\n\nThere are occasional glitches with git. It wouldn't let me clone a git repo\nsomewhere because it said the folder already existed. No such folder existed.\nChanging the destination name did nothing. Restarting fixed it.\n\nThere was a bug which kept rearranging the order of desktop icons, which was\nactually pretty annoying.\n\nThere is a bug that they seem to fix and then break with every other update.\nBasically, if I go fullscreen with some programs and two monitors set to\nmirror, the resolution zooms in and it's unusable. This is currently broken in\nthe latest stable release.\n\nInstalls from the windows store almost always fail for no obvious reason.\n\nI updated to 1909, or w/e the latest is, hoping that some of the isues I've\nencountered would be fixed. I've reinstalled the driver and tried fixing it\nbut the USB wifi adapter that I have now no longer works (still works fine in\nLinux).\n\nI could go on. That is with me going out of my way to not install much at all\non the pc, because I know that installing things like tweaks to stop telemetry\nlike the author suggests will lead to even more issues.\n\nContrast this to the experience I've had with Linux the past few years. It\nnever crashes. Core programs like nemo (file explorer) do not freeze / crash.\nIt updates without issue. I cannot think of a single issue i've had. The\ncomputer does exactly what I expect it to do. Stability is vital if you want\nto be productive.\n\nI'm sure other folks have had the opposite experience. For me though, I am\ndone with Windows.\n\n~~~\nmehrdadn\n> File explorer freezes / crashes.\n\nIt's been happening to me too, but it's unclear to me if it's one of my shell\nextensions or Windows itself. Do you run any shell extensions?\n\n> There are occasional glitches with git. It wouldn't let me clone a git repo\n> somewhere because it said the folder already existed. No such folder\n> existed. Changing the destination name did nothing. Restarting fixed it.\n\nThat's mind-boggling. Were you using WSL at all, or just vanilla Windows git?\nWSL can have these types of issues if you try to mess with its file system (I\nthink due to POSIX deletion semantics), but they shouldn't occur on your\ndesktop...\n\n~~~\njcelerier\n> It's been happening to me too, but it's unclear to me if it's one of my\n> shell extensions or Windows itself. Do you run any shell extensions?\n\nonly shellex here is 7zfm integration and I get occasional explorer.exe\ncrashes. Also I had an install where edge just wouldn't start. At all.\n\n~~~\nmehrdadn\nGood to know, thanks for the info! I do have 7-zip too, so I'll try to see if\nit might be related if it happens again.\n\n------\nintrepidhero\nI've started a list since getting my Win 10 machine at work:\n\n1\\. Sometimes when I select the titlebar of a maximized window to move it to\nmy second monitor it somehow selects the window under the one with focus.\n\n2\\. For some applications (including MS Office ones) text is blurry when I\nmove from laptop screen to external monitor.\n\n4\\. Windows 10 ships with a python.exe in the path that opens the MS Store.\nFiguring out which part of the path to fix to disable it was non-obvious.\n\n5\\. VirtualBox is broken because of some Hyper-V settings. I still haven't\nfigured out how to fix this one.\n\nMS somehow shipped an OS with problems I've never seen before in _any_ OS...\n\nThe first time I did an upgrade from 7 to 10 and I saw the horrible anti-\npatterns in the \"opt-in\" screens, I shut it down and switched to Debian\nBuster. No looking back.\n\n~~~\nzamadatix\nHow on earth are you avoiding things like #2 on Debian? The only OS I've found\nthat properly handles arbitrary DPI since day 1 has been Android.\n\nAlso you skipped #3 in your list\n\n~~~\nintrepidhero\n:-) #3 is me complaining about the Ribbon and I figured that discussion has\nbeen done to death so I left it out and forgot to renumber.\n\n------\n_bxg1\nI've come to accept that there is no good OS (maybe iOS, but not really).\nYou're just picking your poison.\n\nWant to be spied on and have your system slowly accumulate cruft and grind to\na halt over the course of a few years? Use Windows.\n\nWant to be constantly fiddling with your system just to keep it running on a\nday to day basis? Use Linux.\n\nWant to be _constantly_ spied on and probably also hacked? Use Android.\n\nWant to pay a bunch of extra money and still deal with a decent number of\nbugs¹ and _atrocious_ default settings/annoying user-protection features you\nhave to turn off? Use macOS.\n\n¹All of them are riddled with bugs\n\n~~~\nkardos\n> Want to be constantly fiddling with your system just to keep it running? Use\n> Linux.\n\nThis may have been true 10+ years ago; the amount of fiddling required is\npretty low these days.\n\n~~~\nAardwolf\nI actually remember myself having to fiddle more with Windows than with Linux,\nin the Windows XP days. Windows would always invent some reason to require\nsome reboot, or get random corrupted system files, or vcredist\nincompatibilities, or failed attempts at auto updates, or reinstall drivers\nfor the mouse you just unplugged and plugged in a different USB port, or I\ndon't remember what else it was with it all the time.\n\nLinux (at least Archlinux) doesn't require much once you install it, are happy\nwith the set-up and regularly update it.\n\nUnless you're the kind of person who likes tweaking their Linux and trying out\nmany distros, but if you do that means you like fidding with your system :) I\npersonally just like an Archlinux installation that stays stable for 5+ years\nand actually use it.\n\n~~~\n_bxg1\n> Linux (at least Archlinux) doesn't require much once you install it, are\n> happy with the set-up and regularly update it.\n\nUsing Archlinux presumes you already know your system intimately and have\ntaken the time to hand-craft it. That would make solving problems down the\nroad much easier.\n\nOn the other hand, if you're like me and you want to just drop standard-issue\nLinux (i.e. Ubuntu) on a computer and then just _use_ it, you quickly\nencounter gaps in the defaults/automatic setup and have to dig in and try to\nfigure out where things went wrong. Your graphics driver gets confused when\nyou plug in a second monitor. Your WiFi card isn't detected. There's no sound.\nLittle things that kill your workflow in a death by a thousand cuts.\n\nWindows has just as much intrinsic fragility, if not more, but through sheer\neconomy of scale nearly everyone's real-world problems have been addressed by\nlayer upon layer of defaults and automatic checks. That's how Windows manages\nto \"just work\" most of the time.\n\n------\nalphachloride\nWindows 10 is can be infuriating. But I can't find any other OS that is a good\nalternative. It's the worst OS, except for all the other OSes out there.\n\n1\\. Best in gaming.\n\n2\\. Engineering applications (CAD/Matlab/LabView) are usually windows-first\n\n3\\. Good software development ecosystem. Now with Windows Subsystem for Linux,\nthe need for having another OS is diminishing.\n\n4\\. User interface is great. A lot of customization options (official and\nthird party). It is not bare-bones like Linux but also not user-proofed like\nmacOS.\n\n~~~\nlallysingh\n#1 true. #2 yes but slowly moving to the web.\n\n#3 Linux is way ahead. #4 There are quite a few distributions, I think you\nshould look around. I use KDE happily. I frankly find Windows rather bare\nbones in what you get. It seems everything needs another app, and they're all\na pain in the ass.\n\n~~~\nelteto\nI don't know about moving to the web on #2. From what I have seen the web\nalternatives of those products, if they even exist, are tailored to the\nhobbyist, semi-professional market.\n\nThings like Siemens NX _can't_ move to the web, since we are talking about\nentire development platforms, not just applications.\n\n~~~\nlallysingh\nI was thinking about OnShape cad, Mathematica, and Matlab. Pretty major ones.\n\n------\nogre_codes\nApple hasn't done a great job of supporting MacOS over the past few years.\nCatalina in particular has been a bit rocky, but every time I look seriously\nat Windows as an alternative it falls short.\n\nIt's quite sad to me that my choice of OS has essentially boiled down to\n\"Sucks less, costs more\".\n\nIt's been a few years for me, but maybe time to start seriously looking at\nLinux on the desktop again.\n\n~~~\nravenstine\nI don't see how Apple hasn't done the best job in terms of operating systems.\nmacOS hasn't changed significantly in the last decade; it's essentially the\nsame interface, but less skeumorphism. The only bug I've experienced that's\nclose to being serious is the touchbar freezing(seriously wtf).\n\nWindows, on the other hand, has changed significantly. Sure, it runs 32-bit\nprograms, but the interface difference between 7 and 10 is ginormous.\n\nLinux, as much as I love it, is probably the worst offender. At one point we\nhad GNOME and KDE as dominant desktop environments, and then we had Unity,\nGNOME 3, Cinnamon, MATE, etc. Now after years of forcing Unity on everyone,\nUbuntu has switched to GNOME except now GNOME is in a worse state than it was\nback in GNOME 2. Most distros are still using X11, graphics card support is\nlousy, and horizontal display tearing is still a problem that every commercial\nOS has 100% solved.\n\nmacOS has at least remained fairly consistent compared to all the other\ncompetition.\n\n~~~\nWowfunhappy\n> macOS hasn't changed significantly in the last decade\n\nSee, my problem with macOS is that it has changed _far_ too much in the past\ndecade. Mac OS X circa-2010 was stable, intuitive, robust, and beautiful.\nThere was no need to re-architect anything.\n\nI wish Apple had gone into maintenance mode. Patch security holes, add new\ndrivers, and update your hardware. That's all I want. New features are okay\n_if_ they address a real need, _and_ if they can be fit into your (at the\ntime) very strong interface metaphors and guidelines.\n\nAs a tradeoff, your users won't have their apps suddenly break, and your\ndevelopers won't have to spend stupid amounts of time keeping up with\nunnecessary system changes.\n\nThis is what's most grating about the deprecation of 32 bit support—as a user,\nI don't feel like I'm getting _anything_ out of it. Catalina is all downsides.\nIn exchange for broken apps, I get an OS which is more buggy than ever and a\nbunch of ported cell phone apps. Just what I always wanted!\n\nI am by no means against change, but I am 100% against _unnecessarily_ change.\nFrom where I'm standing, the tech industry right now is _full_ of unnecessary\nchange. Why does Windows have two control panels? I'll admit the new one looks\nnicer, but I'd much prefer having just one, even if it looks slightly dated.\nMaybe that's Microsoft's goal, but why should we all have to deal with a UX\ndowngrade in the interim?\n\n~~~\nmixmastamyk\n> Why does Windows have two control panels?\n\nTwo? Try three. If you did deep enough the original System control panel from\nold will come up.\n\nI prefer those actually, easy to understand and a lot less wordy. I don't come\nto the control panel to read a novel.\n\n------\nzionic\n>Truth to be told it's not a problem with HiDPI monitors but few people own\nthem.\n\nIt's almost 2020. Apple began shipping HiDPI in 2012. It's absolutely shameful\nthat vendors are still shipping 1080p.\n\n~~~\nScramblejams\nLots of Windows apps don't support HiDPI correctly, and on many of them no\nmatter what combination of workarounds you use you'll end up with some text\nbeing huge or some text being tiny.\n\nHeck, even Perforce, a constantly updated app in use on millions of machines,\njust recently fixed this.\n\nWhere I have to use Windows, I always specify low dpi displays so I don't have\nto deal with all of that garbage.\n\n~~~\nNathanKP\nIt's honestly not that bad in my opinion. Most apps work fine, and those that\ndon't are usually old games or something like that.\n\nI've found an easy fix for them: Right click the executable and click\n\"Properties\" then go to the \"Compatibility\" tab you click the checkbox next to\n\"Override high DPI scaling behavior\". Then select the \"System\" option.\n\nThis way Windows 10 does the scaling itself. The app will just look a little\nless sharp because it will use a larger virtual pixel instead of the real\ndisplay pixel size but the app will work normally and all text and interface\nelements will be a reasonable size.\n\n~~~\nScramblejams\nTried that, found the result gross to look at.\n\n~~~\noceanswave\nIt’s sad when a 5k monitor works flawlessly under macOS and then you fire up a\nwindows VM with the latest version of SQL Server Management Studio and then\nneeding to squint at the text\n\n------\nWowfunhappy\nIf at all possible, use Windows 10 LTSC/LTSB.\n\nLTSC was exactly what I wanted from a Windows OS. No Windows Store, no Candy\nCrush, and—most importantly by far—only security updates.\n\nIt's the Debian model. Your OS stays secure, but the software will _never_\nchange in a user visible way, unless/until you specifically choose to install\na new LTSC release, which comes out around once every two years.\n\nIt's perfect.\n\n~~~\ntoast0\nLTSC sounds nice, but licensing it is not simple or inexpensive if you're just\na normal person with a few computers at home.\n\n~~~\nWowfunhappy\nCompletely agreed, that's where the \"if at all possible\" part comes in. :(\n\nAnd it's ridiculous! The next time Microsoft PR says basically anything about\nbeing dedicated to consumers, stop and consider: a significant* subset of\nconsumers have been clambering for a product which Microsoft already makes\nanyway, but refuses to sell.\n\n* (We'll never know _how_ significant minus millions of dollars in market research. But it's clearly enough people to warrant adding some buttons to your checkout page. Again, this is a product that Microsoft already makes.)\n\n------\nnvarsj\nOne positive point as the article points out is compatibility. This is the\nsingle reason Windows remains the staple of industry software, across almost\nall industries. It's particularly relevant in light of recent Mac OS X\ndropping 32-bit support. There are a lot of professionals whose livelihood\ndepends on these older apps that either will never be updated or will take a\nvery long time to do so.\n\n~~~\nzozbot234\nI bet Wine is actually more compatible than Windows itself. Especially if you\njust look at software up to the Windows 7 era. Can you run Windows 3.1\nprograms on a modern 64-bit OS? With Wine it can be done.\n\n~~~\noaiey\nI think a bet you would loose :). Wine is an awesome project but 100 devs vs\n10.000 devs is not fair on an API surface as big as Win32.\n\n~~~\nmajewsky\nThe Wine devs don't have to spend time on stuff like telemetry and ads. And\nthey only need to replicate a tiny sliver of Windows' UIs.\n\n------\nfolkhack\nWindows 10 is/was the slap in the face it took to finally migrate all of my\ndevelopment workflow to Linux, and my Adobe workflow to OSX.\n\n------\nsoftwaredoug\nSomething small I like about Windows: when I plug in Ethernet, it actually\nshows an Ethernet connection in the system tray. OSX seems to have a special\nicon for tethering to iPhone, but not Ethernet of all things. It just show the\nwifi icon, even when Ethernet is connected. Grr.\n\n~~~\nkwhat4\nIt is physically plugged into the computer so you obviously don't need an icon\ncluttering your UI. This is the Apple design philosophy you paid extra for.\n\n~~~\nMereInterest\nI'm glad that I can always see the other end of the ethernet cable, and\ntherefore do not need a way to determine if there is an active connection.\n\n------\npxeboot\nVery valid issues here.\n\nAlthough it has improved, Windows Update is still shockingly bad compared to\nany decent package manager used on Linux in the past 10+ years.\n\n~~~\ncpach\nIs there anyone who can explain why Windows Update is so much slower than\nrunning »apt upgrade« and similar?\n\n~~~\nArnavion\nPart of the reason is what I described in\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20812142](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20812142)\nand its child comment.\n\n~~~\ncpach\nInteresting! Thank you for writing this up.\n\n------\nNeil44\nWindows 10 is a service, i.e. where will Microsoft get its recurring income\nfrom. a) Marketing data, b) start charging monthly fees for OS features.\n\n------\nneurobashing\nSurprised no one linked to his similar Linux list:\n[https://itvision.altervista.org/why.linux.is.not.ready.for.t...](https://itvision.altervista.org/why.linux.is.not.ready.for.the.desktop.current.html)\n\n------\n3fe9a03ccd14ca5\n> _The most egregious, of course, is a total abandonment of any form of\n> privacy and control._\n\nThis is an issue for me, and it’s an issue you, but it is emphatically _not an\nissue_ for the vast majority of windows users.\n\nDo bloggers simply choose to ignore this fact when writing swan song posts\nabout the “end” of this or that?\n\n~~~\nSilhouette\n_it is emphatically not an issue for the vast majority of windows users._\n\nThere is no way to know that unless they have been presented with a viable\nalternative that they understand.\n\nI had a fascinating conversation a little while ago with some slightly younger\nfriends who are very much of the digital native, smartphone-since-birth\ngeneration. They couldn't live without their social media and always-online\neverything. They still thought it was creepy that when they went travelling\nthey started getting all sorts of ads about places they were going and so on\nbecause they realised it meant something on their phones was spying on them.\nThey didn't _like_ it, they would just _tolerate_ it because they had no other\nway to stay connected to what is, for that generation, a normal life.\n\n------\nviraptor\n> but the truth is that the built-in antimalware protection in Windows is\n> simply horrible (according to various AV comparisons, Microsoft Essentials\n> misses over 20% of in-the-wild malware)\n\nAV comparisons have to be normally taken with a pile of salt. There's rarely\nan independent one. And even once you start looking at 3rd parties, it turns\nout they enable attack surface on their own. Then there's a number of 3rd\nparties which rely on cloud scanning aka \"submit it to virustotal\".\n\nHere's some more context for why the comparisons are tricky: [https://www.mrg-\neffitas.com/research/stop-using-virustotal-t...](https://www.mrg-\neffitas.com/research/stop-using-virustotal-to-measure-how-av-sucks/)\n\n------\npoisonborz\nAt this point I'm not sure that a desktop OS with this wide hardware\ncompatibility and backwards compatibility can be written any better than\nWindows 10.\n\nThe thing is, if you are an experienced user with willingness to search for\nsolutions, you can fix most of the problems. Disable updates completely,\ndisable cortana, stop 99% of the telemetry, use alternative utilities instead\nof the built-in ones, fix security issues with network rules etc.\n\nIt takes time and patience, but in the end you get a good work environment\nthat is relatively stable, compatible with literally every hardware and also\nhas the absolutely widest selection of software available. That is all I want\nfrom an OS.\n\n~~~\ndevwastaken\nThe fixes you've listed get overturned by Microsoft. Just because you _can_\nhack around windows to make it temporarily do the things you want, doesn't\nmean it's a resolved problem.\n\nMicrosoft only does this because they've been able to reduce consumer\nexpectations. Being a part of that means the next version will be worse.\n\n~~~\npoisonborz\nBut this doesn't really matter as you can disable updates (group policies\nthrough WinPro). By the time someone is pressed to update for compatibility,\nthere is already a solution to fix what the update broke. For the sake of\nenterprises, Windows will always have a switch to disable updates. And since\nit is hugely complex, and it needs to keep large portions compatible, there\nwill probably be always ways to hack around.\n\nOf course this state of things is far from ideal, and it's not easily\navailable for everyday users. But I think an open source desktop OS could have\nnever achieved the things that Windows is respected for.\n\n------\ndotnetcore\nit's funny to read a rant from a ex-Microsoft and sad that he doesn't know why\nMicrosoft still have a vast market share.\n\nI've been in the IT game for 10+ years. small/mid companies doesn't have the\nbudget or man powers to leave the MS's lala land and they can care less. IT is\na money losing dept and they need to make money by focus on what they do best.\n\nWindows is a platform where most of their software work and their employees\nknow.\n\ndo you think small/mid or heck the giant corporation have the money, staff and\ntime to move their employees and operation out of Windows.\n\n~~~\nthisisnico\nIT costs money yes, but it's not like there is ZERO ROI. Just because the\nvalue isn't immediately obvious doesn't mean it's not helping the business and\nit's bottom line. I agree that certain aspects of IT you should try to\nminimize cost because the value add is minimal, or because throwing more money\nat that aspect of IT does not help the business. But other aspects of IT that\nimprove efficiency of the organization or even multiply the capabilities of\nthe business will give you a significant ROI. Just to put it into perspective,\nis Marketing your business exclusively lose you money? Obviously not. There is\nan ROI, but it's not always immediately measurable.\n\nI'm sorry whatever education or experience had failed you in seeing this. The\nsuccessful business will recognize the value of every department and attempt\nto maximize the return where it makes sense.\n\nI agree with your other points. The entire business industry is on Windows.\nAlmost all applications work on Windows or integrate with Windows. Most\nemployees are experienced with Windows. the cost of retraining, the loss of\npotential talent, the cost of not being able to integrate fully with other\nbusinesses that are on Windows are some of the reasons why they are\nentrenched.\n\nI have a finance degree, business degree, comp sci degree, and run my own\nbusiness plus have worked IN IT at successful multi-million dollar orgs and\nthe most successful focus on IT as well as other departments to push value add\ninvestment in those departments.\n\n------\nJohnFen\nWow, that's a very comprehensive list! I think it covers pretty much every\nitem that makes Windows 10 unacceptable for my personal use (unfortunately,\nI'm required to use Win 10 in my workplace.)\n\n~~~\nLinuxBender\nMy workplace is the same. Windows or Mac. I was on mac, but enterprise support\nfor mac is awful and was limited to 16GB ram. I moved to Windows and installed\nHyper-V so that I could have Linux VM's and have 64GB ram. That is where I do\nall my work. Hyper-V still needs a lot of refinement, but it works.\n\n~~~\ngotoeleven\nHow do you keep windows from rebooting when it feels like it to install\n'critical' updates? Id like to use windows as a linux VM host but every couple\nweeks my linux server is taken down because automatic reboots can't be\ndisabled. Microsoft seems to actively prevent every workaround people find to\ndisable this rebooting, no matter how difficult and arcane.\n\n~~~\nLinuxBender\nAt work we are on Windows 10 Enterprise. Updates are installed by the\nbusiness. I've only ever been prompted for a reboot once and it was for a\n0-day mitigation that was deployed as an emergency change.\n\n------\nmakecheck\nI see a few comments trying to forgive Windows 10 “now” because certain things\naren’t true “anymore” or lousy features can technically be turned off, etc.\nbut those excuses do not hold up:\n\n\\- The initial Windows 10 launch and forced-update scheme was _completely\nbotched_. It _directly_ caused major problems and cost users incredible\namounts of money that Microsoft didn’t have to cover at all! (Examples:\nBusiness interruptions. Personal data losses and/or broken apps. Data-plan\ncosts for downloading and re-downloading bloated updates over slow and/or\nexpensive connections. Buying replacement hardware if things are broken and\npeople don’t know what else to do.)\n\n\\- Terrible defaults are inexcusable. Most people will not know that they\nshould change things, or know how. Windows Updates can reverse settings anyway\nso even if you get your friends and family to fix an obnoxious setting once,\nit may not persist.\n\n\\- This was produced by a massive company that had the resources to spend to\ndo this properly. They should have spent those resources.\n\n------\n_wldu\nWhen Win10 came out, we had several meetings about privacy concerns. I did not\nunderstand the concern. Smart phones spy on their users all the time, and no\none really cares. Why, all of a sudden, is it an issue when desktops/laptops\ndo the same thing that phones have done for almost a decade now? No one gave\nme a good answer to that question.\n\n~~~\nTazeTSchnitzel\nI believe iOS phones give users a lot more control over their data than\nWindows PCs do now.\n\n------\nmixmastamyk\nWindows had the best GUI and kernel in the 2000/XP/Classic timeframe. God it\nsucked hard in many little areas though.\n\nBUT, they've been knocking things out in the last few years. Windows is\ngetting tolerable again:\n\n\\- Better security\n\n\\- Windows Terminal\n\n\\- ExFat specs\n\n\\- Dark theme\n\nToo bad I'll never use it with telemetry and cortana etc. :-/\n\n~~~\nFjolsvith\n> \\- Dark theme\n\nWorst thing to happen was their elimination of color customization of the user\ninterface in Windows 10.\n\nI don't know why Microsoft had to eliminate the viewing ease of their ENTIRE\nuser base.\n\n~~~\nmixmastamyk\nTotally agree, yet they weren’t the only one. Think it happened as early as\nWin 7.\n\n------\ndrewg123\nI have a windows 10 laptop that i keep around for the few things that need\nwindows (updating an old remote control, that kind of thing), and the\nodd/annoying behavior is that the fonts will go insane after updates. There\nwill be no fonts at all for the desktop icons, or traditional windows apps.\nEven cmd.exe doesn't show any fonts. However, web browsers (chrome) will work\n(with some fonts being weird), as will the new-ish windows 10 style control\npanel things.\n\nI've finally figured out that logging in as a different user, logging my\naccount out, and then logging back in as me will \"fix\" the font issue ...\nuntil the next update.\n\n------\npier25\nI'm mostly a macOS guy but I built a new music production and gaming machine a\ncouple of month ago with Windows 10. Other than the ugly UI and confusing UX\nit has been running flawlessly for me.\n\n------\nthrower123\nMost of these issues are solved if you can manage to get your hands on a copy\nof the LTSB (or whatever they are calling it these days, I believe the name\nhas changed slightly) version of Windows 10. I would actually pay good money\nfor this distribution, but it's only available through MSDN subscriptions or\nenterprise licensing.\n\nIt's a rock-solid, stable, garbage-free version of Windows. You don't get any\nhalf-borked feature updates, only security fixes. No Cortana, no Store, no\nCandy Crush.\n\n~~~\nitvision\nSadly not legally available for SOHO users in any shape or form.\n\n~~~\ninterrealmedium\nYou can get a volume license by buying a bunch of licenses for stuff that's\n$5-$10 per user. You'll still end up with a total of ~$300 (Including one LTSC\nlicense), but it is entirely legal and supported by Microsoft.\n\n------\nthelazydogsback\n> You may probably want to know why Windows 10 feels so buggy\n\nI'm not sure why all the hate -- I have had zero stability issues, it boots\namazingly fast, and if you get rid of all the default crap on the start menu\nit looks ok and search finally works like a charm.\n\n> In certain cases it's extremely difficult to find or update drivers for your\n> hardware devices (\n\nExcept that it's more difficult everywhere else - if you can even find a\ndriver...\n\n~~~\nertecturing\nI like to have themes installed & windows update (which 99% of people will not\nbe able to figure out how to fully stop) always breaks my computer requiring\nme to roll back to the previous update until I get another update notification\nwhich force-ably breaks my computer again. I now use Sledgehammer 2.6.0 to\nabsolutely crush windows' update attempts every time I boot up. Microsoft\ndeserves hate for not giving users simple permissions over their own systems.\n\n------\ntasogare\nIt took almost 5 years for Apple to recognize and fix the butterfly keyboard,\nwhich was an obviously bad design. Microsoft is 5 years in with Windows 10 but\nthey are no sign of awareness at all about how crappy it is. Which is sad\nbecause Windows has some good points and advantages (I love Visual Studio,\nnotably), but it's not useable as a daily driver anymore since Win8.\n\n------\nfuu_dev\n\"Most malware writers target Windows as the most popular desktop OS, so it has\nthe biggest number of viruses among all other OSes (over five thousand new\nviruses daily).\"\n\nI thought the article had the aim to showcase solvable issues.\n\nYet it seems to more often just point out the same issue (e.g. privacy),\n\nminor issues(inconsistency in legacy apps)\n\nand even suggest harmful practices (disable security software, never\nupgrade...).\n\n------\nnojvek\nI just bought a new MacBook Pro. I don’t like it but I couldn’t think of a\nbetter alternative. I like OSX, been very used to it. I worked at MS and still\nhate windows (the default track everything philosophy is a big deal breaker).\nLinux for the desktop may come next year.\n\nI really wish Microsoft listened to its customers and stops the track\neverything crap.\n\n------\nksbakan\nBeen using win7 since forever. Win10 is such a huge step back that I just\ninstall win7 even on new PCs. Even hidipi works almost as well on win7.\nProbably the only thing I miss that I care about is hdr and ble.\n\nThe fact that ms wants you to use win10 so badly is a big hint that it's full\nof antifeatures.\n\n~~~\ngustavorg\nCan you please, because I'm terrified, 2-3 reasons why win7 and no windows 10?\nI need to make a decision soon (1 week or sooner)\n\n~~~\nzamadatix\nWindows 7 goes end of life in 2 weeks. Unless you're using an old computer\nyour hardware (e.g. CPU) is probably not supported, even if it does run it\nwon't run properly. With EoL approaching Nvidia/AMD will stop publishing\ndriver updates and new GPUs won't be hardware accelerated. The security model\nin Windows 10 is as big a jump as XP -> 7 was. It often takes manually loading\nadditional drivers to even get the installer to recognize your disks/hardware.\n\n~~~\nfoe5424\n> Windows 7 goes end of life in 2 weeks.\n\nNo it doesn't, for two reasons.\n\nChromium Edge will support windows 7, ironically the release date it's just\none day after Win7 supposedly goes eol. and of course Windows 7 ESU support\nwill end in 2023.\n\n~~~\nzamadatix\nAnd they released a patch for CVE-2019-0708 on Windows 2000, that doesn't mean\nWindows 2000 isn't EoL as of 2019 it means a one off decision was made.\n\nESU is for businesses not end users and requires professional or higher.\n\n------\njstewartmobile\nWine however, is awesome. For UI apps on Linux, I think Wine is a better\nplatform than Qt/GTK/etc.\n\n~~~\ntechntoke\nWine is okay, but for me it generates lots of errors and overall is much\nslower compared to a native app. I'd much prefer a native Qt app than a Wine\napp.\n\n~~~\njstewartmobile\nPS2 emulator works at full frame rate under it--ordinary GUIs should fly.\n\nThere's something else going on there...\n\n------\njava-man\nMissing from the list:\n\nWin 10 periodically resets the \"default applications\", completely ignoring\nprevious user preferences. Starts opening PDF files with Edge (argh!) or TXT\nwith Notepad (double argh!).\n\nDoes anyone know how to prevent this?\n\n~~~\njustaman\nI'm not sure I've ever heard of anyone having this problem aside from that\nlarge server update a year or two ago and their \"desktop experience\". Can\nanyone tell me more?\n\n~~~\njava-man\nLiterally today it opened a PDF file with Edge for me. And, of course, file\nassociation page does not have a searh box to help find .txt among hundreds of\nuseless and unassigned extensions.\n\n~~~\njodrellblank\nSee:\n[https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20170517-00/?p=96...](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20170517-00/?p=96175)\nfor an explanation.\n\n\" _A customer reported that each time they restart their Windows 10 PC, the\nfile association for PDF documents keeps getting reset to the default, which\nis Microsoft Edge._ [..]\"\n\n~~~\njava-man\nThis is not a case of Program X messing with registry. This is the __user\n__explicitly setting Program X to be the default application.\n\nI guess there is no way (given the current registry design) to differentiate\nbetween the user modifying the registry and a program modifying the registry.\n\nAgain, coming back to the original message - the case scenario is not that\nsome program is changing the preferences. It the user changing the setting,\nand Win10 silently discarding the user input (after a reboot or some automated\nupdate).\n\n------\nlowmagnet\n10 is the most usable version of Windows, hands down, and it's where you go if\nyou have even remotely modern hardware. Why are people still arguing that it's\nbad?\n\n~~~\nmixmastamyk\nIt still has a _long_ way to go for a company with the resources of MS. They\nare now developing/not-finished-with a color terminal app to catch up with the\n80s. There are three layers of control panels.\n\nSee the article for a longer list of complaints.\n\n------\nTwoNineFive\nIt's not your computer.\n\n    \n    \n        An OS by Microsoft for the benefit of Microsoft\n    \n        Forced Updates\n    \n        Forcible information disclosure\n    \n        Changes without consent\n    \n        Dark patterns\n    \n        Your privacy, their profit\n    \n        Advertisments\n    \n\nMicrosoft may be collecting more data than initially thought\n[http://www.ghacks.net/2016/01/05/microsoft-may-be-\ncollecting...](http://www.ghacks.net/2016/01/05/microsoft-may-be-collecting-\nmore-data-than-initially-thought/)\n\nWindows 10: data collecting all for the greater good\n[http://www.ghacks.net/2015/09/29/windows-10-data-\ncollecting-...](http://www.ghacks.net/2015/09/29/windows-10-data-collecting-\nall-for-the-greater-good/) \"data collection cannot be turned off fully on all\nbut Enterprise editions of Windows 10\"\n\nWhat Windows 10 is actually monitoring (regardless of privacy settings)\n(self.Windows10)\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/3gm1e3/what_wind...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/3gm1e3/what_windows_10_is_actually_monitoring_regardless/)\n\n[GUIDE] How to disable data logging in W10. (self.Windows10)\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/3f38ed/guide_how...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/3f38ed/guide_how_to_disable_data_logging_in_w10/)\n\nCan I completely disable Cortana on Windows 10?\n[https://superuser.com/questions/949569/can-i-completely-\ndisa...](https://superuser.com/questions/949569/can-i-completely-disable-\ncortana-on-windows-10)\n\n\"passive-aggressive authoritarianism\"\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16383577](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16383577)\n\nSo, my home server was hijacked... (self.Windows10)\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/3zu8au/so_my_hom...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/3zu8au/so_my_home_server_was_hijacked/)\n\nWindows 10 Personality is kind of like a manager that pretends to be your\nfriend, but always comes across snarky, and still uses their position to force\nyou to do things you otherwise wouldn't do. (self.Windows10)\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/41pr62/windows_1...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/41pr62/windows_10_personality_is_kind_of_like_a_manager/)\n\nTablet view is showing saved porn images (self.Windows10)\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/3f5won/tablet_vi...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/3f5won/tablet_view_is_showing_saved_porn_images/)\n\nWindows: \"We have some new features we are excited about\" \\- proceeds to not\ntell me what these features are.. How do you keep up with updates?\n(self.Windows10)\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/3yyx78/windows_w...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/3yyx78/windows_we_have_some_new_features_we_are_excited/)\n\nMy frustration with Windows 10 is reaching a boiling point (self.Windows10)\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/3ynyvf/my_frustr...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/3ynyvf/my_frustration_with_windows_10_is_reaching_a/)\n\nGotta love how Edge switched to my PDF viewer without any action on my behalf\n(t.gyazo.com)\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/42l2k5/gotta_lov...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/42l2k5/gotta_love_how_edge_switched_to_my_pdf_viewer/)\n\nCalculator now freezes and nags for reviews? (i.imgur.com)\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/4195rl/calculato...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/4195rl/calculator_now_freezes_and_nags_for_reviews/)\n\nWarning: Windows 7 computers are being reported as automatically starting the\nWindows 10 upgrade without permission. (self.technology)\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/4a0asv/warning_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/4a0asv/warning_windows_7_computers_are_being_reported_as)\n\nMicrosoft hits a new low -- sneaks Windows 10 advertising into an Internet\nExplorer security patch\n[http://betanews.com/2016/03/09/windows-10-advertising-in-\nie-...](http://betanews.com/2016/03/09/windows-10-advertising-in-ie-security-\npatch/)\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11262037](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11262037)\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11276322](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11276322)\n\nMicrosoft is using an Internet Explorer security patch to shove more 'Upgrade\nto Windows 10' nagware at Windows users\n[http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-embeds-nagware-\ninto...](http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-embeds-nagware-into-ie-\npatch-2016-3?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter)\n\nMicrosoft is using 'malware tactics' to trick people into upgrading to Windows\n10 [http://www.businessinsider.com/windows-10-pop-ups-\ntricking-u...](http://www.businessinsider.com/windows-10-pop-ups-tricking-\nusers-into-upgrading-x-2016-5)\n\nOne wrong click could get you Windows 10 — whether you want it or not\n[http://www.businessinsider.com/windows-10-upgrade-\npopup-2016...](http://www.businessinsider.com/windows-10-upgrade-popup-2016-5)\n\nMicrosoft re-releases KB 3035583 Get Windows 10 installer -- again\n[http://www.infoworld.com/article/3048152/microsoft-\nwindows/m...](http://www.infoworld.com/article/3048152/microsoft-\nwindows/microsoft-re-releases-kb-3035583-get-windows-10-installer-again.html)\n\nPSA: Windows 7 computers are being reported as automatically starting the\nWindows 10 upgrade without permission.\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/4a5edx/psa_window...](https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/4a5edx/psa_windows_7_computers_are_being_reported_as/)\n\nWindows 10: Microsoft launches intrusive full-screen upgrade reminder\n[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/04/microsoft...](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/04/microsoft-\nwindows-10-full-screen-upgrade-notification-pop-up-reminder)\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12030257](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12030257)\n[https://techreport.com/news/30351/microsoft-final-\nwindows-10...](https://techreport.com/news/30351/microsoft-final-\nwindows-10-upgrade-prompt-goes-full-screen)\n\nSick of this shit (Windows 10) (self.sysadmin)\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/7d68rg/sick_of_th...](https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/7d68rg/sick_of_this_shit_windows_10/)\n\nHey Microsoft, Stop Installing Apps On My PC Without Asking\n[https://www.howtogeek.com/342871/hey-microsoft-stop-\ninstalli...](https://www.howtogeek.com/342871/hey-microsoft-stop-installing-\napps-on-my-pc-without-asking/)\n[https://tech.slashdot.org/story/18/02/15/1720243/hey-\nmicroso...](https://tech.slashdot.org/story/18/02/15/1720243/hey-microsoft-\nstop-installing-apps-on-my-pc-without-asking)\n\nMicrosoft again forced upgrades on Win10 machines specifically set to block\nupdates [https://www.computerworld.com/article/3261969/microsoft-\nwind...](https://www.computerworld.com/article/3261969/microsoft-\nwindows/microsoft-again-forced-upgrades-on-win10-machines-specifically-set-to-\nblock-updates.html)\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16582231](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16582231)\n\nWindows Update shutdown is threatening to eliminate a many hours-long project\nby shutting down\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/8am914/windows_u...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/8am914/windows_update_shutdown_is_threatening_to/?st=jfxrvd54&sh=7f0e763a)\n\nWindows 10 automatically re-creates pre-installed bloatware game shortcuts on\nstart menu.\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/8g6v0j/god_damn_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/8g6v0j/god_damn_itstop_it_pls/)\n\nWhy does the Windows 10 Update screen only show uninformative messages,\nthey're a little creepy IMHO\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/8mbzi4/why_does_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/8mbzi4/why_does_the_windows_10_update_screen_only_show/)\n\nMore forced updates, even when the system is configured to NOT update\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/8num0w/good_grie...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/8num0w/good_grief_microsoft_windowsupdatealwaysfindsaway/)\n\nSearch is crap\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/8psaq9/we_have_r...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/8psaq9/we_have_reached_peak_ux/)\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/8qucfq/what_is_t...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/8qucfq/what_is_the_purpose_of_store_search_if_you_have/)\n\nHey, Microsoft, stop installing third-party apps on clean Windows 10 installs!\n(windowscentral.com)\n[https://old.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/9ibj5i/hey_micr...](https://old.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/9ibj5i/hey_microsoft_stop_installing_thirdparty_apps_on/)\n\nNeed to disable as much windows 10 spying as possible without breaking windows\nupdate. Where do i start?\n[https://old.reddit.com/r/privacytoolsIO/comments/8bg75f/need...](https://old.reddit.com/r/privacytoolsIO/comments/8bg75f/need_to_disable_as_much_windows_10_spying_as/)\n\nMicrosoft Broke Windows 10’s File Associations With a Botched Update\n[https://www.howtogeek.com/fyi/microsoft-broke-\nwindows-10s-fi...](https://www.howtogeek.com/fyi/microsoft-broke-\nwindows-10s-file-associations-with-a-botched-update/)\n\nIs Windows 10 still telling Microsoft what you're doing even if you don't want\nit to? [https://www.zdnet.com/article/is-windows-10-still-telling-\nmi...](https://www.zdnet.com/article/is-windows-10-still-telling-microsoft-\nwhat-youre-doing-even-if-you-dont-want-it-to/)\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18673482](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18673482)\n\nDoes anyone have an exhaustive list of IP ranges for MS Telemetry?\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/3j8909/does_anyo...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/3j8909/does_anyone_have_an_exhaustive_list_of_ip_ranges/)\n\n534 Ways that Windows 10 Tracks You – From German Cyber Intelligence\n[https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2018/11/534-ways-...](https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2018/11/534-ways-\nthat-windows-10-tracks-you-from-german-cyberintelligence/)\n\nMicrosoft store installing apps without my permission and can't be\ndisabledDark Pattern (i.redd.it)\n[https://old.reddit.com/r/assholedesign/comments/cjnpgq/micro...](https://old.reddit.com/r/assholedesign/comments/cjnpgq/microsoft_store_installing_apps_without_my/)\n\nWhat the hell is this shit getting installed without my permission?\n[https://old.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/d6aspy/what_the_...](https://old.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/d6aspy/what_the_hell_is_this_shit_getting_installed/)\n\nMS has removed the \"use offline account\" option when installing\n[https://old.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/daim1y/ms_has_re...](https://old.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/daim1y/ms_has_removed_the_use_offline_account_option/)\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21103683](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21103683)\n\nMicrosoft Starts Showing Non-Removable Ads In Windows 10 Mail, Calendar Apps\n[https://mspoweruser.com/ads-in-windows-10-mail-and-\ncalendar-...](https://mspoweruser.com/ads-in-windows-10-mail-and-calendar-\napp/)\n[https://tech.slashdot.org/story/19/12/17/2249238/microsoft-s...](https://tech.slashdot.org/story/19/12/17/2249238/microsoft-\nstarts-showing-non-removable-ads-in-windows-10-mail-calendar-apps)\n\n------\nAvery3R\nSome of the author's points are right, however in my opinion a lot of them are\nwrong, and seem to be coming from the perspective of \"it's not linux so it\nsucks\"\n\n>The user as a system administrator (thus viruses/ malware - most users don't\nand won't understand UAC warnings).\n\nHow is this different from sudo?\n\n>No good packaging mechanism (MSI is way too fragile).\n\nIn all of my years using windows I've had msi fail only a handful of times.\n\n>No system-wide update mechanism (which includes third party software - to be\nfair there are third party applications which offer this functionality, but\nthen such applications don't support core Windows updates).\n\nMicrosoft update will update some third party software, like flash. There is\nso much software on windows that a centralized update system isn't really\ntractable.\n\n>In certain cases it's extremely difficult to find or update drivers for your\nhardware devices (anyone who's tried to install a fresh Windows onto their\nlaptop will testify).\n\nProblem with the oem, not with windows. It's up to the hw manufacturer to\npublish drivers in easy to find places.\n\n>Windows is extremely difficult to debug (e.g. try finding out why your system\nis slow to boot).\n\nWhile not as easy as debugging with source Microsoft provides debug symbols\nfor all major kernel components. This makes getting a kernel stack trace and\nexamining structures very easy.\n\n>Windows boot problems are too often fatal and unsolvable unless you reinstall\nfrom scratch.\n\nOnly if you don't know the correct utilities to use. Most boot issues can be\nfixed with a combination of bcdboot, bcdedit, and repairing the dism image. On\nthe rare occasion that those don't work you can go even deeper with a kernel\ndebugger.\n\n>The Windows OS installer doesn't give a damn about other OSes installed on\nyour PC and it always overwrites the MBR. In case of already existing Windows\ninstallations, it sets the newly installed Windows as the default OS - no\nquestions asked. In case of UEFI, booting of other non-Windows OSes is\nunsupported and Windows actively prevents this.\n\nThis was true back when MBR was used. It is now extremely difficult to use MBR\nwith windows, and almost all other OSs support UEFI by this point. Saying\nbooting of other non-Windows OSs is just wrong. This person's source is a\ntechnet post, which you can consider the microsoft equivelant to stack\noverflow. The accepted answer is from a community moderator. In my experience\nif it's not a Microsoft employee replying, then there's a 90% chance that the\nanswer is wrong. Windows does not wipe out any other UEFI boot application\nbinaries or the boot nvar entires. It just adds its own binaries, adds a nvar\nboot entry, then set's that entry as the default. Hitting your boot menu key\nwhen you boot will allow you to select any of the other entries, and your\nfirmware setup utility will allow you to change the order in which they boot.\n\n>Windows anti-virus products oftentimes make your PC less safe - so if you\nwant perfect security and privacy, stop using Windows and migrate to Linux\nright away. OEM updaters make your PC wide open for attacks.\n\nFor most power users, it's true. AV products do increase your attack surface\nfor only a small benefit. However, in a corporate enviornment with less tech\nsavy users, they are extemely needed. People will just click whatever links\nand download and run anything.\n\n>Microsoft has recently decided that you will no longer be able to download\ncertain Windows updates manually. You'll only be able to get them via Windows\nUpdate.\n\nThat is 100% not what they're saying. They're just saying they used to publish\nthe update files to two places, and now they're going to reduce redundancy and\nonly publish them to one, the update catalog. You can visit the update catalog\nin a browser and still download all of the updates.\n\n>\"sfc /scannow\" is offered as a solution to most Windows Update Service and\nMicrosoft Installer Service errors, yet in absolute most cases it's totally\nineffective.\n\nThis is commonly offered as a solution on community forums, but I rarely see\nit offered as a solution on official Microsoft documentation.\n\n>Windows does not automatically clean temporary files ever, however it must do\nthat for every reboot/power cycle - partially solved in Windows 10 1809.\n\nThis seems like personal preference to me. I'd rather keep %TEMP% around and\nonly clean it out with cleanmgr when needed. Several browsers store their\ncache in %TEMP% and I'd rather not have that wiped out across reboots.\n\n>Windows keeps a large number of databases of the applications which the user\nruns: Windows Activity History, bam.sys, Prefetcher, Program Compatibility\nAssistant and others.\n\nThe only one you should be upset about is Windows Activity History. BAM is\nused to help determine when the machine is idle and background maintenance\ntasks can be performed without impacting the user. The prefetcher is used to\nspeed up the initial start of applications. The compatibility assistant is\nused to help increase backwards compatibility with older software.\n\n>Safe Mode has become impossible to access unless you've booted into ... the\nrunning OS, which totally defeats its purpose. Also Safe Mode is hidden behind\nalmost a dozen of steps vs. a single F8 key press on boot in every Windows\nversion from 95 to 7.\n\nTrue that they've made it much harder to access by default which I think is\nthe wrong move. If you reset the computer while windows is in the middle of\nbooting several times you'll be brought to a recovery menu which will let you\nboot into safe mode.\n\n------\nHackbraten\n> updates mean nothing for security because over 90% of infections happen due\n> to the user's actions\n\nThat’s mixing up cause and effect. It’s a bit like saying vaccines are useless\nbecause 90% of people die from cancer and heart conditions.\n\n------\ncollsni\nThis is outdated. There is misinformation in the article, but it does hit some\nhighlights.\n\n------\nDirlewanger\nAnyone have experience with the LTSC?\n\n~~~\nitvision\nI love it.\n\nIt's a stripped down to the bare bones Windows 10 which doesn't include UWP\napps (except the core ones, like the start menu and PC settings) and which\nallows to disable pretty much all the telemetry.\n\nAlso, it's rock solid, doesn't get reinstalled every 12 months and is\nsupported for 10+ years.\n\nIn short, it's what Windows 10 should have been.\n\n------\nLoSboccacc\n> Disable all apps from the Windows Store.\n\ndamn I hate this. did the mistake to try Skype from the app, in a period where\nSkype for desktop had issues with for transfers, only to discover it's worse\nin every way, and now I'm stuck, unable to remove it out prevent it from start\n\n~~~\nragequitta\nStrange I was able to right click -> uninstall the skype store app from the\nstart menu no problem.\n\n~~~\nLoSboccacc\ndid that and also tried from the power shell and as soon as I reboot is back\n\n------\nnpo9\nI remember a time in 2012. I was installing Windows on my computer to play a\nvideo game. It was the first time I used windows in about 2-3 years. I started\ninstalling some utilities. A web browser, steam, a music player, etc. One of\nthem asked me to install the Ask Jeeves toolbar. I became very angry. Of\ncourse I didn’t want to install the Ask Jeeves toolbar. No one wants the Ask\nJeeves toolbar. What a dark pattern to try to get me to misclick and install\nsome crap. What a clear lack of user focus. This angered me.\n\nTbh, I couldn’t tell you if it’s common for install wizards to try to shovel\nin crapware these days, because I avoid most situations where I have to use\nWindows. So much of the common user experiences in Windows are dark patterns.\n\n~~~\nragequitta\nWouldn't you be able to say the same about literally any OS that doesn't have\na completely walled garden? I'm positive I can find software on linux that\nbundles the askjeeves software as well. And probably MacOS. You blame the\nsoftware developer for that and never use their product, you don't blame the\nOS.\n\n~~~\nAardwolf\nNever saw that in a package for Ubuntu or Archlinux, not even AUR packages.\n\nMaybe it's just not the target audience of such toolbars, but if there were\nI'd also expect package maintainers and user comments would deal with the\nissue.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nRogue Dairy Queen has been ignoring corporate HQ since 1949 - curtis\nhttp://nypost.com/2015/07/23/rogue-dairy-queen-has-been-ignoring-corporate-hq-since-1949/?\n======\ntorgoguys\nThe tldr is that that are not rogue nor ignoring corporate HQ. They are just\noperating under a very old agreement (dating to the 1940s) which offers the\nlocal owners more flexibility. That allows them to offer their own menu items,\nclose during winter, and make standard DQ items in nonstandard ways (which my\nlocal DQ is happy to do as well, FWIW).\n\n------\nSomeone1234\nHonestly it sounds like corporate has their head up their own butt. I\nunderstand why uniformity sells, DQ becomes a \"known quantity\" and if you're\ndriving in an unknown area you can hop in and know exactly what you're\ngetting.\n\nBut you can accomplish that AND allow individual stores to excel by allowing\nthem a few bespoke/store specific items. Just call them \"store specials\" or\nsomething.\n\nI think DQ HQ sounds too arrogant, instead of trying to bring this store in\nline, they should be looking at what they're doing that makes them so popular\nand try to replicate core elements of that across other stores.\n\nDQ as a brand, to me, is one that is slowly dying or at the very least has hit\na growth stall. They may not be struggling, but the storm clouds are off over\nthe horizon, and around here places like Menchie's are much more popular for\ndesert.\n\n~~~\njinushaun\nI wish the franchise model allowed this. You can have a minimum level of\nservice, but allow some locations to customize their experience or provide\nother services as long as it goes above and beyond the minimum. For example, a\nStarbucks in the big city can standardize around fancy latte art, but a\nlocation in th country could compete more directly with Dunkin Donuts. You can\nhave a local McDonalds with furniture and decor that more resembles Shake\nShack or Chipotle than McDonalds from the 90s.\n\n------\nat-fates-hands\nThis DQ is pretty famous in the area and is located at a busy intersection in\nMoorhead.\n\nYou can get a decent lunch for around $6 and be totally full, which is hard to\ndo these days. A foot long chili cheese dog, an order of fries and a 20oz\ndrink for $6? Unheard of these days.\n\nWith all the fast food places (including DQ Grill and Chill restaurants)\nstarting to reduce their portions while increasing prices, this place hasn't\ndone that yet - a simple reason people keep coming back. In the summer, the\nlines are long because all the landscapers, lawn crews, and construction guys\nflock to this place for lunch because you get a ton of food almost nothing.\n\n------\nebbv\nThere's nothing rogue about this DQ at all, this is just a corporate press\nrelease that has unfortunately gotten picked up a bit. If you look at their\n\"local items\" that are supposedly rebellious, it's just hot dogs like every\nother DQ that serves hot food serves.\n\nMy local DQs close for the winter too, there's nothing special about that\neither. It's typical of DQs with no indoor seating in northern states.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nCourt documents claim Kim Dotcom ratted out competitors - padseeker\nhttp://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-12/23/kim-dotcom-destroys-rivals\n\n======\npadseeker\nI know in the past there seems to be a lot of sympathy for Kim from most\nReddit/HN. A lot of this comes from the rightful animosity toward the\nFilm/TV/Music Industry as well as the governments who advocate for SOPA like\nlegislation. But this guy is such a weasel, I don't think he deserves to be\nthe poster boy for electronic freedom.\n\nThis guy is such a parasite whose sole purpose was to make money at all costs.\nAt least the Pirate's Bay seems to have some degree of principle. Kim is just\na whore.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nNight-before-opsmas.txt - hartleybrody\nhttps://gist.github.com/anonymous/8109885\n\n======\nemiunet\nHappy holidays to you! I am still on ops duty right now :)\n\n------\nnarsil\nThat would be me right now, minus everything breaking (otherwise I wouldn't be\non HN of course). Merry Christmas! :)\n\n~~~\nsounds\nHere's to hoping you get some time off in the next day or so!\n\nCheers!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSequence: A High Performance Sequential Semantic Log Parser at 175,000 MPS - zhenjl\nhttp://zhen.org/blog/sequence-high-performance-sequential-semantic-log--parser/\n\n======\nlsh\nAnother alternative to regular expression based message parsing that has\nnative support within syslog-ng: patterndb ([http://www.balabit.com/network-\nsecurity/syslog-ng/opensource...](http://www.balabit.com/network-\nsecurity/syslog-ng/opensource-logging-system/features/pattern-db))\n\nVery fast and a bit complex to setup, but well documented and well tooled.\nMature. It could do with some more community love, tbh.\n\n~~~\nzhenjl\nThanks for the link. Do you have any info on the performance of this parser?\n\n~~~\nlsh\nI'm sorry to say I do not. I've only very recently got a stable monitoring\nconfiguration in place with this as a key piece, parsing up messages and\nsending them to downstream programs.\n\nI welcome the move away from regular expressions though - they are just not\nnecessary in this particular domain. We'll see if PatternDB's coarse grained\napproach comes back to bite me.\n\nI'm happy to help as I can if you decide to use PatternDB - you can find me at\nl.skibinski at elifesciences dot org. I have some notes for getting started\nquickly I really should publish ...\n\n------\nbiot\nAs this appears to have been submitted by the author: the site is very\ndifficult to read on an iPad. The font size toggles between small and large\nevery few seconds. Easily reproduced in both Chrome and Safari.\n\n~~~\nzhenjl\nThanks for letting me know. I hadn't realized that. Will have to figure out\nwhy.\n\n------\nbrazzledazzle\nWhat's the key differentiator between this and logstash? Obviously logstash\nhas this beat on the number of patterns simply because it's been around for\nlonger. If this is truly different (superior and/or faster) than logstash's\ngrok parser, I wonder if this could be implemented as a sort of meta-parser in\nlogstash, possibly useful in cases where someone would have instead resorted\nto building a grok definition.\n\n~~~\nzhenjl\nI don't have any first hand experience, but it seems like grok [might not be\nthat performant]([http://ghost.frodux.in/logstash-grok-\nspeeds/](http://ghost.frodux.in/logstash-grok-speeds/))?\n\n~~~\nbrazzledazzle\nSequence seems very fast. What format do you output to? Have you fed the\nresulting data into anything like a database?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nDeveloping an Android Version of an iOS App? - Morgan17\n\nHey<p>I&#x27;m in the process of building an app on iOS similar to a dating app (it&#x27;s not a dating app) we&#x27;d like to start the android version. So far the iOS build is 6 months. Will an Android version take the same amount of time or less as we have the initial research&#x2F; features and user journeys complete? Does anyone have any experience with building one app and taking it across to another OS?\n======\nalc90\nAs an Android developer who worked on a fair share of apps for both Android\nand iOS I can tell you that it depends on a number of factors and it should\ntake aprox. the same time as for iOS if:\n\n1\\. The feature set is already defined and the flow of the app understood 2\\.\nThe design you're using is clear and does not have iOS elements that you want\nto be replicated on Android (I've worked with a couple of different clients\nthat have a design created with the iOS guidelines in mind and it's a bit of a\nhassle if you want to reproduce it on Android). So clear designs and Android\ncompatible. 3\\. The OS version - if it's below 4.0 it will increase the dev\ntime\n\n~~~\nMorgan17\nThanks! I don't think we have specific iOS features in the app. There is a\nsearch algorithm, geo-tagging and contacts sync.\n\n~~~\nalc90\nA search algorithm I don't think it should take more on iOS than on Android,\ngeo-tagging can be done relatively easy on Android also and contacts sync it's\npretty straightforward also.\n\nSo I guess it shouldn't take longer on Android.\n\nP.S. If you need help on the Android part - I would be glad to help out.\n\n~~~\nMorgan17\nThanks for the info. Whereabouts are you based?\n\n~~~\nalc90\nI'm from Iasi, Romania ;)\n\n~~~\nMorgan17\nCool, how long have you been working on Android development?\n\n~~~\nalc90\nFor almost 3 & 1/2 years now (1 & 1/2 as a freelancer and 2 at a company).\n\n------\ndottrap\nMy experience has been Android is about 4 times as hard as iOS.\n\nYou might be able to reduce this by reducing the number of older OS versions\nyou plan to support, and if you don't have performance sensitive content or\ncontent with high memory requirements, you completely avoid the NDK (but\nusually needed for the aforementioned high performance/memory situations), and\nwrite off certain hardware configurations.\n\n~~~\nMorgan17\nThanks that's what I thought, we are actually outsourcing all development but\nhad hoped that it wouldn't be as long as the iOS build.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nPython from scratch- RegEx - hodbby\nhttp://go.hodspot.com/2012/03/python-from-scratch-regex.html\n======\nreuser\nI applaud your effort. Regex is a valuable skill (really, language) which you\nwill use across languages and programs as it gives you access to an efficient\nand pretty general method for scanning and extracting things from text. And if\nyou study fundamentals of computer science (like the Chomsky hierarchy) you\nwill also find that regular expressions are important there too.\n\n~~~\ntikhonj\nBut, to make life more exciting, the regular expressions you'll see in actual\nCS/math are strictly less powerful than the Perl-style regexes you see in\nPython. E.g. the language accepted by /(a+b+)\\1/ is clearly not regular.\n\n------\nlutusp\n> I would expect Repetition to act like Wildcards but ' + ' is not a wildcard.\n\nThe meaning of the term \"wildcard\" may be ambiguous. The plus sign, called a\n\"repetition operator\", is used to modify what precedes it, like this:\n\n\\w+ will match one or more word characters. Word characters are usually in the\nset A-Z, a-z, 0-9 and the underscore.\n\nIn much the same way, \\w* will match zero or more word characters.\n\nAnd \\w? will match zero or one word characters.\n\nIf you want to use one of these repetition operators in your search, preceded\nit with a reverse slash:\n\n\"true\\?\" will match \"true\" followed by a question mark, while \"true?\" will\nmatch \"tru\" optionally followed by \"e\".\n\n~~~\nhodbby\nThanks for your answer. I wrote it to show example of my confusion.\n\nAnyhow. I read your words and will code it later tonight. Thanks man.\n\n------\naristus\nFor a good nerdy time, check out the first implementations of glob and regexp.\n20 years on they still work in modern Pythons. Soon after Guido decided to\nmake globs a special case of regexp, and his elegant recursive code was no\nmore.\n\n[http://svn.python.org/view/python/trunk/Lib/glob.py?revision...](http://svn.python.org/view/python/trunk/Lib/glob.py?revision=2268&view=markup)\n\n[http://svn.python.org/view/python/trunk/Lib/sre_compile.py?r...](http://svn.python.org/view/python/trunk/Lib/sre_compile.py?revision=14919&view=markup)\n\n------\njs2\nIn case you're curious, here's what I consider a modern pythonic solution -\n<https://gist.github.com/1995010>\n\n~~~\nhodbby\nLooks shorter, i need to learn what you wrote and tell you if it is OK or with\nbug. Anyway thanks for dropping your comment\n\n------\nrhizome31\nPEP8 recommends 4 spaces for indentation. At least you should try to make it\nconsistent.\n\n~~~\nhodbby\nSomehow it looks easier and clearer to use TAB over Spaces. Now that you\nlinked me PEP8 (First time i see it) i will start using 4 spaces. Thanks for\nyour comment\n\n~~~\nrhizome31\nYou're welcome. There's a pep8 package on PyPI that implements validation\nagainst that recommandation and plugins for most popular editors that make it\neasy to check your code. Editors can also be configured so that pressing the\ntab key actually inserts 4 spaces.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWhy the NYC Startup Scene is Hot (Hint: Not Fred Wilson)  - MediaSquirrel\nhttp://www.metamorphblog.com/2010/03/why-the-nyc-startup-scene-is-hot-hint-not-fred-wilson.html\n\n======\nmtalantikite\nDo we really need to see these 'This is why NYC is awesome for startups' posts\nevery week?\n\nI mean I'm getting sick of these and I live here. I can only imagine how non-\nNew Yorkers feel about them.\n\n~~~\ndnsworks\nLiving in Seattle was the same thing. Tons of people who had a chip on their\nshoulders about the Bay Areas's startup scene. It was a constant onslaught of\nlocals trying to prove that Seattle's was just as vibrant.\n\n~~~\ncmallen\nNYC here, and I am _really_ sick of hearing about this.\n\nI just don't care anymore.\n\n------\njfi\nI think a big factor of \"why now in NYC?\" was the recession: with firms\ncollapsing, job security at an all time low, and dismal salary and bonu$\nprospects, all the talented individuals that had flocked to Wall Street and\nhedge funds were now leaving or forced out. This yielded two things: smart,\nnetworked, tech savvy individuals that had monetary padding (via a few years\nof pulling down salaries and bonuses back in the gilded era) to bootstrap an\nidea and the network to tap into AND investment oriented folks looking for\nopportunities that offered a better ROI than the dismal public capital\nmarkets'.\n\n~~~\npw0ncakes\nThere's some truth to this, but it's probably overstated. Almost all of the\nsmart people on Wall Street are quants and, except in large-scale layoffs,\nthey aren't likely to be let go.\n\nAlso, the deciding factor regarding whether New York can become an\ninnovation/startup hub will be if the rents come down fast enough. So far,\nsignals are mixed but more negative.\n\n~~~\nbtilly\nThere are a _ton_ of smart people on Wall St who aren't quants. And I\npersonally know startups being started because of exactly what the parent\nsaid.\n\nIncidentally based on my experience of NY, a seldom noticed major drag on\nstartups is that by default if you create a startup while working for someone\nelse, your employer can declare it a work for hire and just take all of the\nassociated intellectual property. (Said default is reinforced by the standard\nemployment contracts.) In California your right to own what you do in your own\ntime with your own property is protected by state law. This is huge.\n\nHow many startups never happen because people have been burned by this, or\nknow people who have been burned by this?\n\n~~~\npw0ncakes\n_There are a ton of smart people on Wall St who aren't quants._\n\nI'm including the smart traders who aren't considered quants now but would\nhave been classified as quants 5 years ago.\n\n _How many startups never happen because people have been burned by this, or\nknow people who have been burned by this?_\n\nI haven't heard of it, but it may happen.\n\n------\nMediaSquirrel\nJust to be clear, I'm not hating on investors. I just think that often they\nget a disproportionate amount of credit and glory as compared to the founders\nwho slave away in anonymity for long periods in an effort to create something\nof value. VC's have their place, but it is not at the center.\n\n~~~\napu\nSure, but when you're talking about what makes a place better than another for\nstartups, what matters is not who's more important, but what the limiting\nfactor is.\n\nAnd to me it seems clear that in NYC it's investors, not entrepreneurs. Sure\nthere might be tons of smart & innovative hackers here. But if most of them\naren't going to get funded, then they're gonna move to the Valley.\n\n(I realize more investors could move here/get started here, and it does seem\nto be happening, but they have much more inertia and are rich, so they don't\n_have_ to move, unlike most cash-strapped entrepreneurs looking for the next\nbit of funding that will allow them to really expand.)\n\n------\nmatthewer\nName ten startups that are awesome from NYC off the top of your head. Ten with\nproducts you use at least once a week? I live in NYC, and am happy to see\nthings growing, but NYC is not 'on fire.'\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Pivotal Tracker SSL Error? - hellbanner\n\nPivotal tracker isn&#x27;t loading for me in browser. &quot;Chrome: this webpage is not available&quot;. I got an SSL error a moment ago. Pings fine, fast response in terminal.\n======\nsfsdfsdf\ndfgdfgdfg\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIran blocks encrypted messaging apps amid nationwide protests - snake117\nhttps://www.theverge.com/2018/1/2/16841292/iran-telegram-block-encryption-protest-google-signal\n======\njozzas\nMesh networking apps get around this, and there are a few of those available\nnow. Signal even has an offline mode that does this.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCracking a System in Which Cheating Ran Rampant in Atlanta Schools  - px\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/education/18oneducation.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all\n======\nwisty\nCheating seems to be like fraud, if state funds (or state-backed loans) are\ngoing to be awarded for it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: How remote is your job? What is missing for 100%? - pengwing\nA software developer can easily perform 100% of his tasks remote. A retail employee can perform 0% remotely.<p>I am interested in the 70-99% remote spectrum. What do you need to achieve 100%?\n======\nrkx1\n1\\. I find that a good office environment combined with an easy commute is way\nbetter for my productivity and mental health than working from home.\n\n2\\. Having _some degree_ of in person communication with your team makes\neveryone's work better. This isn't an argument for meetings or small talk, my\npoint is that _some_ meetings and conversations can only be done well in\nperson.\n\n3\\. I live in a big city, rent a single room and can't afford a home office -\nworking, relaxing, eating and sleeping in the same space isn't my ideal\nlifestyle.\n\nSo to be willing to work remotely all the time, I need to have an employer who\nis willing to pay for me to set up a productive home office environment -\nseparate room, good desk, screens etc. Only to make me 80-90% as productive as\nI would be if I had a good office environment and got to meet my colleagues.\n\nIn a previous role, the office environment was great and my commute was a\n20-minute walk - I never took the option to work from home even though I could\nhave.\n\n------\niSloth\nWhiteboards - I still find that no software can beat a room of people and a\nshared whiteboard for talking through certain things. It’s such a simple yet\neffective tool for so many things.\n\n~~~\nefrafa\nUnpopular opinion: I think whiteboards are overrated. I have been software\nengineer my whole life and never needed a whiteboard to do my job.\n\n~~~\nrecursive\nThat doesn't help. What do you use instead? For multiple people designing a\nsystem with many related components at the same time, I've never encountered\nsomething that works as well. There are probably other ways _possible_ , but I\nhaven't seen one as effective. I also use the to explain such systems to other\npeople interactively.\n\n------\ndagw\nI can easily do 100% if I want to (and I am at the moment), but doing so means\nworking at 70-80% efficiency. The difference is not a technical thing, but\npurely a mindset thing. At work I have my work space with my work things and\ncan work distraction free. At home I'm surrounded by Not Work people and Not\nWork things which are always competing for my attention.\n\n------\ndbartholomae\nI have never had a video call that had less friction then sitting together\nwith someone. In my experience this mostly comes down to UX: almost everyone\nworking is trained on how to behave in an on-site meeting, but not everyone\nknows how to behave in a remote meeting (e. g. muting and unmuting etiquette).\nIn my experience there is also a bunch of jobs in the technical field that in\nprincipal could be done remotely, but suffer due to lack of technical\nknowledge of the person you are interacting with. An example I think everyone\ncan relate to is tech support for your parents. In my experience that is a lot\neasier when standing next to them. And a lot of tech jobs are about explaining\ntechnology to people who don't have experience with that specific tech yet.\n\n------\nSpooky23\nProbably better end user tools. Better software, microphones, cameras,\nsituational awareness.\n\nI can do everything remote, but 30% is slower because the tools get in the\nway. In my team, things are arguably better. Crossing team boundaries sucks.\n\n~~~\npengwing\nIs this a culturual issue or a tool issue? Mic and cam can be bought in decent\nquality. Shared slack (no affiliation) channels can cross team boundaries.\n\n~~~\nSpooky23\nA little bit of both.\n\nMy team of 40-50 is going from a 20% occasional telecommute model to 100%. So\nwe’re learning and adapting.\n\n------\nrubidium\nI’m design equipment and automation for biology labs. Much of my work is done\nat a computer and now I’m 90% WFH. Takeaways so far: \\- Remote meetings are\nbetter than 10 years ago. But still room to gain. \\- remote design reviews of\nphysical products are lacking engagement from the team. Being in the same room\nhelps a ton. \\- running actual chemistry needs a lab of course \\- managing a\nteam of software engineers, hardware engineers and scientists is ok in JIRA,\nbut nothing beats in person discussion for a diverse team.\n\n------\ncaseyf7\nMaking sure everyone has broadband and a strong WiFi signal In the room they\nare using for videoconferencing. One person dropping audio and glitching can\ndramatically reduce the quality of a meeting.\n\n------\n_spoonman\nI can never be 100% remote in my current role. I’m a DoD contractor and\nperform some of my duties on networks I can only access from secure\nfacilities. I can do the rest remotely.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nVS Code without Microsoft branding/telemetry/licensing - max_\nhttps://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium\n======\ncercatrova\nNote that this doesn't work with VSCode's Remote extensions, such as for SSH,\nDocker containers, and WSL. Those extensions are closed source and explicitly\ncheck that they're running on only VSCode. I thought of using this but since I\nmainly use WSL, this doesn't work for me. Still, a laudable effort.\n\n~~~\nhardwaresofton\nForgive the kneejerk reaction but it sounds like we've come full circle back\nto closed source IDEs. For what reason are any of those extensions closed\nsource? Why are people using and championing tools with closed source\nextensions that check what they're running on (in order to force you to\nuse/buy the original thing) in 2020?\n\nYou can pry emacs/vim from my cold dead hands -- Microsoft is trying (and\nsucceeding) in google-chrome-ing it's way into the productive developer space.\nIf that's true, I wonder what the Firefox in this analogy is? Atom? Emacs/Vim?\n\n~~~\nohthehugemanate\nSee [https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/faq#_why-arent-\nthe...](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/faq#_why-arent-the-remote-\ndevelopment-extensions-or-their-components-open-source)\n\nI love that post, because it encapsulates exactly the kind of internal logic\nthat traps not-fully-open organizations.\n\nMS can't open source the remote Dev extensions, because the service that runs\nit (and much of the client code) comes from other, proprietary offerings and\ncodebases. More concretely, they come from other teams that aren't used to\nopen source, are discouraged from getting used to it, and/or don't have\napproval from legal to release code in the open.\n\nThis is not an EEE trap, this is normal bureaucracy for an organization the\nsize of MS. Consider that for almost all of VSCode's lifetime, the OSS version\nhas been perfectly full featured, only missing telemetry and copyrighted brand\nmarks. Remote Dev extensions are less than a year old.\n\nThey have the same problem with the C# debugger: owned by a proprietary team,\ncan't get permission to open source it.\n\nIt is extremely hard to open source \"some\" or \"most\" of your code, especially\nin a company whose USP is tight integration between pieces. The legal\nquagmires are horrendous. A tool that crosses so many lines, like an\nintegrated IDE, are backed into positions like this.\n\nDisclosure: I work for Microsoft in a totally unrelated department.\n\nAlso, fwiw i'm a lifetime vim devotee... used it as my primary IDE for a long\ntime and still use it daily. But vscode won me over exactly with the remote\ncode extensions. Now it's the only proprietary software on my toolchain (apart\nfrom my BIOS).\n\n~~~\njohannes1234321\nI assume that it depends on old code. With old code opensourcing can be really\ntough.\n\nOne reason of course is \"embarrassment\" as it's \"ugly\" code and you want to\nrun a full review and audit and eventually cover private APIs from other\nmodules. That's however solvable.\n\nMore complicated is another reason: Legacy software often contains code\ncontributed by contractors and acquired from external vendors, where there is\nno license for making it open source. Sometimes such third party code is even\ndeeply webbed in and legal review is a pain as you have to figure out the\norigin of essentially each line of code. This can be a lot of work.\n\nI observed how Sun did this with Solaris and over multiple years managed to\nbring it down to a handful libs with third party code (some\ninternationalisation thing comes to mind, meanwhile replaced in the illumnos\nsphere)\n\n~~~\ngiancarlostoro\n> One reason of course is \"embarrassment\" as it's \"ugly\" code and you want to\n> run a full review and audit and eventually cover private APIs from other\n> modules. That's however solvable.\n\nMake sure there's no offensive variable names and comments left over from\n_that one guy_ who used to work here.\n\n~~~\nsyshum\nEverything is offensive today so that is probably a fools errand\n\n~~~\nkeeganpoppen\nall the more reason for me to be terrified about some of my comments and\ncommit messages... lol\n\n~~~\nsyshum\nAll the more reason me not to care. safetyism is destroying society IMO\n\n\"It's now very common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that.' As if\nthat gives them certain rights. It's actually nothing more... than a whine. 'I\nfind that offensive.' It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason\nto be respected as a phrase. 'I am offended by that.' Well, so f'in what.\"\n\\--Steven Fry\n\n------\nkgwxd\nIt'd be really cool if all open source was just designed with this in mind by\nthe original coders. branding/telemetry/licensing should be explicit compile-\ntime parameters that, left unspecified, exclude it completely.\n\n~~~\nnojito\nOpt out means devs get crappy data.\n\nOnly way for software to improve is to get usage data.\n\nWould you rather be stuck with crappy software dictated by the needs and wants\nby the minority?\n\n~~~\nthelittleone\nApps in the 90s didn't have user data. I was approximately as productive on\napps from the 90s as I am in modern apps today. I am more frequently\nfrustrated by modern apps.\n\n~~~\nvxNsr\nI think this is something we need to study somehow even if it feels very true.\nI often find myself wondering why they’ve made something worse than it was a\nfew years ago. Many parts of iOS and windows 10 have degraded from what they\nwere.\n\n~~~\nthelittleone\nI agree totally. It could also be that user data is being used to make more\nprofitable products not necessarily better products for the users.\n\n~~~\nvxNsr\nThis rings true. We have experts in funneling people to open their wallets but\na dearth of ppl who are good at delighting, unless they see it as a way to\nmake you open your wallet.\n\n------\ncachestash\nCan anyone explain to me why I should be concerned about vs code telemetry? I\nhave zero personal information in the IDE and all the code I work on is\nalready in the public domain with an open source license, so why should I\ncare?\n\n~~~\nnightowl_games\nI value silence in my network traffic.\n\n~~~\nDoingIsLearning\nIt's interesting, if we look at the size of webpages in everyday browsing,\nwhich can go from tens of megabytes to a few kilobytes when blocking\ntracking/analytics scripts.\n\nI wonder what would be the back of the napkin calculations for network traffic\nand energy savings (local and server side) of regulating tracking and\ntelemetry?\n\nIs there an environmental case to be made against modern web practices on\ntracking and telemetry?\n\n~~~\nluckylion\nI've really come to dislike Google over the past decade or so, but I do like\nthat their Speedtests, Lighthouse etc don't hide this fact from you.\n\nPretty much all sites I've been asked to look at were getting low scores\nbecause of Google Tag Manager, Adsense and the like. It has a very measurable\nimpact, and yeah, removing it speeds up the page.\n\nThe environmental case will probably not fly for regulation, but it just might\nin public shaming of large companies. \"Hey, $company, your usage of\n$trackingTech uses as much power per year as an average family of four. Is\nthat really in line with your green approach?\"\n\n------\nkekebo\nHow does this differ from disabling telemetry in VSCode's settings? The\ndocumentation doesn't seem to include a comparison\n\n------\narsenalist\nIsn't there already an OSS version of the Code -\n[https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.visualstudio.code.oss](https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.visualstudio.code.oss)\n\nOr is this Linux only?\n\n~~~\ncommoner\nThat's a Flatpak version of Visual Studio Code, which only works on Linux.\nUnfortunately, it's unmaintained and stuck on version 1.41.1 (December 2019).\n\nArch Linux users do have access to a fully open source version of Visual\nStudio Code in the community repository, which includes access to the Visual\nStudio Marketplace:\n\n[https://www.archlinux.org/packages/community/x86_64/code/](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/community/x86_64/code/)\n\n------\nchenzhekl\nNot sure if it's still possible to access the vast extension marketplace from\nMicrosoft, which is the true value. If I remember correctly, that can only be\naccessed from the VS Code released by Microsoft.\n\n[https://cdn.vsassets.io/v/M146_20190123.39/_content/Microsof...](https://cdn.vsassets.io/v/M146_20190123.39/_content/Microsoft-\nVisual-Studio-Marketplace-Terms-of-Use.pdf)\n\n~~~\nkova12\nExtension marketplace access it might, but I wonder if the .NET debugger will\nwork with it. I remember it was specifically prohibited to run on the non-\nmicrosoft built vscode. Without this extension, the .NET coding experience is\nvery meh\n\n~~~\nvxNsr\nWhy would you code .Net in vscode vs VS Community Edition (or one of the\npremium editions)? I find vs ce much better than vscode for .net stuff.\n\n~~~\nKipters\nFull-blown VS is not available on Linux\n\n~~~\nvxNsr\nFair. I was gonna ask why do .Net on Linux but then I remembered they OSS’ed\nit\n\n~~~\nKipters\nYep, it also works fairly well. I'm maintaining a couple services at my day\njob that are designed to only work on Linux. VS Code is also involved because\nwe're heavily using the Remote Development feature (which only works in MSFT's\nVS Code, not in VSCodium, because of licensing) to run the IDE core inside the\ncontainer, so the dev environment is well standardized and portable across\ndevs/host OS\n\n------\nfloatingatoll\nThis is the right way to lay out a fork. It can be clearly traced and reviewed\nin a short amount of time. I’ll still use mainline VSCode but it’s nice to see\nsomeone handling the “just one purpose” approach without throwing in a lot of\nother unnecessary things.\n\n------\nfgonzag\nWhy would you remove the MS branding? Does it somehow hurt your privacy to\nacknowledge who the developer and sponsor is?\n\n~~~\ntech_dreamer\nI didn't post the original link. MS collects analytics - which I am not\ncomfortable with. Capability matters and intentions can change later. :)\n\n~~~\npacketslave\nYou could always just set `telemetry.enableTelemetry` to false and continue to\nuse the official builds.\n\n~~~\nSilhouette\nBut only if you trust Microsoft to honour that setting indefinitely, and not\nfor example to just change it back later or hide something shady behind\nanother option instead. At this point, a lot of people understandably don't.\n\n~~~\nxeromal\nIt's open source. You could see for yourself. lol\n\n~~~\nSilhouette\nSure, and then you could check again every time there is an update. But why\nbother, when there is already an uncontaminated version readily available to\nsolve this problem for you?\n\n~~~\neknkc\nHow do you know it is uncontaminated without looking at the source code?\n\n~~~\nSilhouette\nTechnically you don't, just like any other software, but the risk is surely\nsignificantly lower since everyone _including Microsoft_ is saying that what\nMicrosoft is doing is taking that same code and then adding its contaminants\non top.\n\n------\nchickenpotpie\nSomebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure Amazon recommends using\nthis to their employees to prevent Microsoft tracking.\n\n~~~\nitsbits\nYou don't need to remove branding to disable tracking for corporates like\nAmazon. For example, They might have some firewall in the network which blocks\ntracking API.\n\n~~~\nwhatshisface\nYou need to remove branding to be allowed by Microsoft to distribute an\nunofficial build. You need to distribute an unofficial build to make sure that\nthe application isn't trying to find holes that might have been accidentally\nleft in your firewall. (Quick, without googling, which ports and dest IPs do\nyou need to block? Which ports/dest IPs will you need to block in the next\nversion that hasn't been released yet? Yeah, a losing battle.)\n\n------\ndastx\nNote that this only includes Microsoft's telemetry, and it seems that\nMicrosoft uses the built in telemetry tooling within their extensions.\nHowever, community extensions can still use their own telemetry, which this\nwouldn't prevent.\n\n------\nblackoil\nIs there a listing maintained of all the telemetry info. sent? I personally am\nnot in principle against telemetry, if they do not leak any private info. and\nare not to chatty.\n\n------\nmister_hn\nthis is at least the 10th HN post about VSCodium.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTypists who clear 70 wpm can’t even say where the keys are - shawndumas\nhttp://arstechnica.com/science/2013/12/typists-who-clear-70wpm-cant-even-say-where-the-keys-are/\n======\ndredmorbius\nIf I need to sort out key locations on a keyboard, I usually type out the\nalphabet and note where the keys fall (I know the sequence, I couldn't tell\nyou many key locations straight off without reconstructing them).\n\nRecently doing some keyboard maintenance (cleaning out cruft), I'd managed to\nreassemble things _almost_ perfectly, though I swapped the 'I' and '0' keys.\nDidn't realize this until I was trying to hit some specific application\noptions and realized that what I was typing (by looking at the keyboard)\nwasn't what was appearing. When typing whole words I was working from my\ntyping training and hadn't bumped into the problem.\n\nIt's an example of muscle memory and ingrained knowledge. Having to think\n_explicitly_ of the actions you're going to perform is a great way to freeze\nsomeone up (I've heard this said of baseball players and other athletes). You\n_do_ want to work through things consciously early in practice, but once\nyou've developed a talent, the trick is to find the right cues (often\ncounterintuitive) to improve movements or skills.\n\n------\ncyberjunkie\nHaha! I did just that 2 weeks back, dredmorbius. At first with a completely\nblank keyboard, I struggled a bit. I decided to fit in the Ctrl Winkey Alt the\nleft row of keys first and it all happened naturally after that.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Case Against Microsoft and GitHub - UkiahSmith\nhttps://sneak.berlin/20200307/the-case-against-microsoft-and-github/\n======\npolitelemon\nThis is incredibly narrow black and white view, it's full of mental\ngymnastics, leaping to conclusions and putting words in their mouths. I know\nthat HN is collectively biased against MS, but this particular piece is poorer\nthan usual.\n\nThe original premise for getting away from their services is the PRISM slide.\nMicrosoft is one organization in that list. The others are Google, Yahoo,\nFacebook, PalTalk, YouTube, Skype, AOL, Apple. To focus on one and pretty much\nleap into blaming them for ICE's abuses is unobjective and incredibly biased.\nICE does not exist in a technological vacuum devoid of FB, iPhones, and Skype.\n\nIf author truly cares they should either drop all companies mentioned or do\nthe civil thing and be objective in their assessment. I predict that the\nlikely conclusion will be: all large companies are complicit and that it's\nentirely a gray area. It's entirely possible to be good and evil at the same\ntime.\n\nLarge companies often work as a loose collection of departments most of whom\ndon't know what anyone else is doing (the nature of growth), so they end up\nwith situations where leadership has certain focus topics and some management\nhas other focus topics. What changes over time is marketing and the narrative\nthat companies want to push out.\n\n~~~\nzzo38computer\nI have no problem with Microsoft selling PowerPoint to the military (although\nit does not mean I endorse Microsoft, or PowerPoint, or the military; I merely\nmean that if someone is selling a product and some customer wishes to buy it,\nthen they can do that). It is not the provider's fault what the customer is\ndoing with the products, I should think.\n\nBut, their collaboration with NSA for illegal mass spying, is certainly a bad\nthing to do. They have \"been letting the feds read whatever they like out of\nit without a warrant for the last dozen years\", which is no good, and\nespecially if their terms of service does not mention this. (But even if they\nmentioned in their terms of service, this still doesn't make it good.)\n\n\"It's entirely possible to be good and evil at the same time.\" Yes, I believe\nthat, and unfortunately, too often people ignore this.\n\n------\nsmitty1e\n> providing Windows NT to aircraft carriers like the USS Yorktown.\n\nNavy vet here:\n\nUSS Yorktown (CV-10), an Essex-class aircraft carrier commissioned in 1943\n(museum ship since 1975)\n\nYou mean:\n\nUSS Yorktown (CG-48), a Ticonderoga-class cruiser commissioned in 1984\n(awaiting scrapping)\n\nVia\n[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Yorktown](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Yorktown)\n\n~~~\nbrownbat\n> Navy vet here\n\nArticle blithely suggests that support to the Navy is tantamount to mass\nmurder. Vet calmly ignores that nonsense and simply provides an update for\naccuracy of ship and hull designation references.\n\nBy the way, thank you for, among other things, keeping shipping lanes safe,\nwhich in turn makes global trade a possibility, which in turn has lifted\nmillions out of poverty worldwide.\n\n~~~\nsmitty1e\nWhen the basic facts aren't checked, the rest of the argument collapses.\n\nAnd you and everyone who gave far more than I are welcome for all of the joy\nreceived.\n\n------\nsaagarjha\nI'm actually fairly undecided on the GitHub/ICE thing, largely because it\ndoesn't make logical sense to me as something we should be doing in general\n(this is an open invitation for someone to provide an explanation, if they're\nso inclined…) The crux of my issue with it is that even if we assume \"ICE is\nbad\" GitHub makes software that is generally useful to everyone. Why are we\nasking for _this particular contract_ to be cancelled? Will doing this help\nimprove the situation in any way? Why are we mad at GitHub specifically, and\nnot e.g. McDonalds which ICE might order food from, or Staples which ICE buys\noffice supplies from? I fail to see why we should just arbitrarily ask certain\ncompanies that provide generally useful services to stop interacting with\nentities we disagree with…\n\n~~~\nsneak\n> _Why are we asking for this particular contract to be cancelled?_\n\nWe are asking for there to be negative consequences in general for companies\nwho decide to operate with no moral or ethical compass. It's not about this\ncontract: it's about sending a message to companies that collaboration with\nthose who torture and murder is not okay, and will cost them business and\nretention.\n\nTaking on customers entirely uncritically should not be without market risk.\n\"I dunno man, I just sell hosting\" is not an acceptable position.\n\nCensorship isn't okay, but freedom of association is, and companies need\nincentives to exercise it to fire particular customers doing evil, and\ndisincentives to turning a blind eye to how their products and services are\nbeing used.\n\nTo say this is just about \"entities we disagree with\" is to miss the point, I\nthink. This isn't about \"problematic speech\", or the standard left/right\nclaims of bias or censorship, or any other kind of the routine partisan tribal\ncomplaints you read about regularly. This is about _concentration camps_.\nRight here, in the United States.\n\n------\nonyva\nMain points since the article renders strangely for me on the iPhone:\n\nCollaboration with US military for conducting mass murder\n\nCollaboration with NSA for illegal mass spying on innocent people\n\nCollaboration with ICE who runs concentration camps\n\nDrop Microsoft. Drop GitHub. Drop LinkedIn. Drop Azure. Drop Windows.\n\n~~~\nsjroot\nBummer. I was hoping for a more feature/engineering-oriented article.\n\nI recently started the switch from GitHub to GitLab, both for myself and my\ncompany. Generally boiled down to a wider feature set for a better price.\n\n------\nstareatgoats\nIf the facts check out then this article might be what is needed to reboot the\nanti-MS movement. Well written and adequately furious.\n\nProblem: is there are list of companies that are not providers to the US\nmilitary and/or ICE, i.e. companies that do not take such jobs because of\nmoral stances? If there are none then what are we left with?\n\n------\npergadad\nI agree on most/all points. There are many more suspicious issues about MS and\nhow they treat you data.\n\nA small inconsistency worth pointing out: the author has a linkedin link in\nhis bio...\n\n~~~\nsneak\nClick it: the link target points to the post you just read. I decided to\nupdate it to the rationale given here instead of just silently removing it, so\nthat people who use LinkedIn can read why they won't find me there.\n\nThe profile at the link's text is getting removed this week, once I migrate my\ncontacts.\n\n------\ntzs\nFrom the footer:> Unfadeable, so please don't try to fade this.\n\nWhat does that mean?\n\n~~~\nzzo38computer\nI am curious too. I don't know what \"Unfadeable, so please don't try to fade\nthis.\" means either. (The best I can find is that it appears to be song\nlyrics, although I don't know what is the significance of that, nor why it is\nwritten there or what it means there.)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIBM has more employees in India than in the US - twunde\nhttps://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/09/28/technology/ibm-india.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage\n======\nArnt\nEffective immediately, the I in IBM is short for International.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCars took over because the legal system helped squeezed out alternatives - pseudolus\nhttps://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/car-crashes-arent-always-unavoidable/592447/\n======\ndalbasal\nAnother way of stating this could be \"transport is a policy question.\" How\ncities are built and what transport infrastructure they're built around.\n\nIm fairly sympathetic to the overall aims of this article. I think a transport\nsystem more similar to those in the Netherlands makes for better urban\nlandscapes.\n\nBut... this habitual style of treating everything as a conspiracy, built\naround a personified enemy (\"They gave legal force to a mind-set—let’s call it\nautomobile supremacy—that kills 40,000 Americans a year)... this way of\nthinking isn't doing us any favours.\n\nIn day-to-day political conversations and articles, it's mostly just formulaic\nand lazy. Name the conspiracy, point to vested interests that have been\ninfluencing policy, find a link to established personifications of evil.. big\noil and segregation, in this case.\n\nI'm not saying we should never think in abstractions... but there is a\nformulaic pattern here that's old, paranoid and harmful.\n\n~~~\ntomohawk\nNo conspiracy required when a lot of people are acting according to a common\nview. People see the real advantages of owning a car and the freedom it\nbrings, and that activity builds industries and has an impact on policies.\n\nOf course, GM really did conspire to put the trolleys out of business.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_consp...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy)\n\nHowever, this is the kind of thing organizations (companies, government\nagencies, non profits) do when they get to a certain size or have accomplished\ninitial goals and are looking to conquer that next frontier. Just look at the\noverreach of the SV titans, for example.\n\nFor better or worse, we have a car based society now, and pining for the good\nold days is backwards looking. The next thing should preserve the immense\nfreedom and flexibility that cars brought. Prescribing a top down solution\nthat gives even more power to the state at the expense of the people is a non\nstarter.\n\n~~~\nsalixrosa\nCan you give me an example of the immense freedom and flexibility that cars\nbrought?\n\nCan you give me an example that doesn't involve driving to the middle of\nnowhere, that isn't solved by a good public transportation system, and doesn't\ninvolve bringing home large amounts of groceries, or furniture, etc?\n\n~~~\nnec4b\nDaily routine for people who do not live, work and socialize exclusively in\nthe city center. Things like going to work, piking up kids, shopping, visiting\nother people, having hobbies, outdoor activities, returning borrowed stuff,...\n\n~~~\nsalixrosa\nA city center isn't required for public transportation to be convenient. I've\ntaken public transit through suburbs and tiny towns and out to the\ncountryside.\n\nIt just so happens that most of the public transit in the states royally sucks\n-- even in the city centers.\n\n~~~\nnec4b\nIt is not a matter of quality. By definition public transport cannot connect\nall the dots on the map. It is simply impractical or rather impossible. The\ncar gives us freedom of movement that nothing else can currently match. You\npersonal anecdote of taking public transport doesn't invalidate other people\nuse cases and needs, because what works for your situation doesn't necessary\nwork for everyone. If I may use a CS analogy: public transport is like a\ncollection of linked lists and a car is like one giant dictionary. Totally\ndifferent use cases.\n\n------\ndredmorbius\nCorollary: the biggest impacts to energy consumption lie in land use and\nbuilding code changes, secondarily in consumption habits.\n\nSee LLNL's 2018 energy flow chart:\n\n[https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/content/assets/images/energy/us/...](https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/content/assets/images/energy/us/Energy_US_2018.png)\n(PDF:\n[https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/content/assets/docs/2018_United-...](https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/content/assets/docs/2018_United-\nStates_Energy.pdf))\n\nOf 101 quads, 28 go to transport. Industrial use. is dominated by relatively\nclean natural gas (methane), with a large chunk likely being ammonia and other\nchemical production (I'd like to see breakouts).\n\nDense and local-first construction enables public. transit, walking and\ncycling, localised services, shared facilities, and numerous other mechanisms\nof increased efficience\n\nDenser residential spaces and more cimate-appropriate construction hugely\nreduces\n\n~~~\nPamar\n_hugely reduces_... ? can you please complete your message?\n\nAlso, do you mean that places like Japan, or the central, older parts of\nEuropean cities are more efficient?\n\n~~~\nradres\nHe's taken by CIA\n\n------\ntmux314\nThere is no doubt that we are over-reliant on cars. We (Americans) spent the\nlast century towards developing automobile infrastructure. Now with global\nwarming, it will take many more years to undo the damage. We can agree over\nthat.\n\nBut focusing the blame on car companies and the wealthy one-percenters is\nhistorical revisionism. It undercuts the fact that these policies were eagerly\nsupported by lower-middle class and middle class people like my family, as\nwell as by many working class people from the countryside. It expanded our\nagency. It allowed us to vacation to beaches and parks. It allowed us to visit\nfaraway families and pursue work in faraway places. In short, it provided us\nphysical and economic mobility.\n\nWe didn't know the damage we were doing. And even if we did know, we probably\nwould have done the same thing. But passing the blame doesn't solve anything.\n\n~~~\noefrha\nHaving grown up without a car in a country with good public transport, I never\nhad trouble vacationing to beaches and parks, visiting faraway families, or\npursuing work in faraway places (well that last point didn’t apply to me, but\ncertainly did apply to e.g. my parents).\n\nNow, having lived in the U.S. for many years, I still hate driving, but I’m\nbasically crippled if I don’t drive.\n\n~~~\nagumonkey\n\"Modern\" times attracted people into wanting faster for less. You can do a lot\nwithout cars, but you have to unplug your soul from not walking.\n\nAlso society shifted, cars meant larger but further shopping centers, and job\nareas.\n\n------\nem-bee\nliving in a big city in europe i was able to live without a car easily, but\nwhen i got a job in the US i fully expected that i'd have to learn to drive\nand get a car to get around.\n\nBUT, i managed to get an apartment 10 minutes walking from the office. this\nwas in san diego, of all places, a city which is very spread out. a few months\nlater i moved in with friends and we found a place far north. most of my\nroommates had a car, but i took care that i had a bus going directly to work.\nit ran only once in 30 minutes, so missing it occasionally was a pain, but it\nwas fine otherwise. it also provided for some memorable displays of humanity.\nanother few months later the company moved to los angeles, and again i found a\nplace with a direct bus to work.\n\ni figured that if i can manage to live in sandiego and LA without a car, then\ni can do that anywhere. sure enough, a few years later i achieved the same in\nauckland. another city that is quite spread out and has a lackluster public\ntransport system that rivals the US in lack of options.\n\nnot everyone is going to be able to achieve this. as a young programmer i\ncould afford the higher rent in the areas close to the office. (i was a stone\nthrow from hollywood boulevard, and crossed it every day on my way to the\noffice :-)\n\n~~~\ndannyw\nNow try going carless in Montana :)\n\n~~~\nvonmoltke\nThere are plenty of similar places in Europe. I don't see how this says\nanything useful.\n\n~~~\nem-bee\nwell, i did claim that if i can live without a car in san diego i can do it\nanywhere. dannyw does have a point about places like montana likely being a\nlot worse.\n\ni can't think of any places like that in europe. european cities are simply\nnot that spread out. so unless you live on a farm far from everywhere, you\nshould be fine.\n\n~~~\nDocTomoe\nIn Europe, urban centers are prohibitively expensive to live in if you want to\navoid living in a slum.\n\nImagine if every city was San Francisco, especially in realtion to income.\n\nIn the end, I can live somewhat comfortably if I commute, essentially trading\nmy time for lower crime rates and nicer surroundings.\n\n~~~\nem-bee\nwhich countries/cities are you talking about? i didn't make that experience in\ngermany for example.\n\n~~~\nDocTomoe\nGermany is kind of a mixed bag here - situations are getting weird quickly if\nyou search for Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg or Stuttgart, they get somewhat\nacceptable when you consider Berlin (but listen to them complaining about\nrent!), and in some areas, living is almost free (most of the Ruhrgebiet).\n\nAlso consider that if you are reading HN, you are likely to work in IT, which\ngives you a skewed idea on average income levels.\n\n~~~\nem-bee\nfair point. i did go by gut feeling, and haven't actually done any thorough\ncomparison. and yeah, i can totally see that working in IT won't let me feel\nthe pain of above average rent.\n\nberlin is indeed interesting, one would think that with it being the capital\ncity, the demand would rise, but i guess that east berlin is less popular, and\nthat berlin also suffers from the overall reputation of east germany.\n\n------\nzimbatm\nJaywalking is also a notion that was created by the car industry, with\nregulation and a PR campaign to shift the blame from cars to pedestrians.\n\n[https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26073797](https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26073797)\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaywalking#Origin_of_the_term](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaywalking#Origin_of_the_term)\n\n~~~\nu801e\nPerhaps this wouldn't be an issue if more intersections had a pedestrian\nscramble [1] phase.\n\n[1]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedestrian_scramble](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedestrian_scramble)\n\n~~~\ncaconym_\nWhere I live there is not a signal at every intersection. In some places there\nare not even any marked crosswalks anywhere nearby. However, every\nintersection that's not signaled/marked has implicit \"unmarked crosswalks\" and\naccording to the law drivers must stop for pedestrians in these crosswalks.\n\nThe vast majority of drivers seem to be ignorant of this law, or they just\ndon't care. Enforcement is nonexistent. When I step out into the road, I'm\nsure most of the drivers think I'm \"jaywalking\". More often than not they do\nnot stop. I am not \"jumping\" into the road, nor am I generally walking about\nin low-visibility conditions.\n\nMaybe fancy urban planning can help, but it's a band-aid on a deeper problem,\nat least where I live: drivers are ignorant and have bad attitudes not suited\nfor the responsibility of operating motor vehicles. I guess it makes sense\nthat enforcement is nonexistent, because \"ignorant and have bad attitudes\" is\nalso an apt descriptor of police in America in general. Of course, I _have_\nbeen stopped for jaywalking... because obviously that is _so much worse!_\n\n~~~\ndsfyu404ed\n>Maybe fancy urban planning can help, but it's a band-aid on a deeper problem,\nat least where I live: drivers are ignorant and have bad attitudes not suited\nfor the responsibility of operating motor vehicles.\n\nWhich is more likely?\n\na) everyone is irresponsible\n\nb) your definition of \"responsible\" is not in line with everyone else's\n\n~~~\ncaconym_\nGiven my observations of how frequently and flagrantly (and _objectively_ )\ndrivers (and other road users) break laws put in place to keep _all_ the users\nof our public infrastructure (including themselves) safe, I'll have to go with\na). If your definition of being responsible explicitly allows for breaking\nsuch laws, you may want to re-evaluate it.\n\nI'm not interested in hearing the word \"anecdotal\", either. Check out DUI\nstatistics if you want bite-size proof that vast swaths of the population are\nfundamentally unfit to be driving, or show me data to back up your own point\nthat the roads are _not_ full of irresponsible drivers.\n\nOh, here's another good one: \"In 2017 alone, 3,166 people were killed in motor\nvehicle crashes involving distracted drivers.\" (from NHTSA:\n[https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/distracted-\ndriving](https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/distracted-driving))\n\n~~~\ndsfyu404ed\nOh quit your puritanical hand wringing.\n\nAverage people can drive in an average manner and go years or often decade,\nsometimes entire lifetimes without screwing up badly enough to attract law\nenforcement attention or get in a crash. We as a society have determined that\nis mostly good enough. Most people are satisfied with the current level of\nrisk/reward of driving and unless improvements come with minimal trade-offs\npeople are for the most part not interested. Society at large does not demand\nthe same religious adherence to traffic rules as you do.\n\nMore people were killed by fires (a hazard that most people would not consider\nto be a Big Problem(TM)) in 2016 than in crashes related to distracted\ndrivers.\n\n[https://www.usfa.fema.gov/data/statistics/fire_death_rates.h...](https://www.usfa.fema.gov/data/statistics/fire_death_rates.html)\n\n~~~\ncaconym_\n> puritanical\n\n> religious\n\nNice.\n\nYour point has regressed from \"most drivers aren't irresponsible\" to \"most\ndrivers are irresponsible but it's fine\". If you can support the former with\nhard data, great, let's see it. The latter is an opinion; it's one I do not\nshare, and it's not something I'm interested in discussing because there is\nzero chance of that discussion bearing any sort of fruit.\n\n~~~\ndsfyu404ed\nThere's no regression whatsoever.\n\nI am telling you, your definition of \"responsible\" (and by implication\nirresponsible) is not shared by society at large. I have told you this in\nseveral ways. Since apparently my last way of phrasing it wasn't easy to\ndeflect now you're trying to straw-man me.\n\nWhat sort of citation do you want? You said ~3k people are killed by\ndistracted drivers and implied that it's a regular occurrence and a\nProblem(TM). I pointed out (with citation) that that's about the same number\nkilled in fires, something infrequent enough that it's generally considered\nNot A Problem(TM).\n\nMake no mistake, preventable deaths are tragic but preventable deaths as a\nresult of motor vehicles are not the epidemic you portray them to be.\n\nOf course further discussion will bear no fruit. Your mind is made up and will\nnot be changed.\n\n~~~\ncaconym_\nPro tip: projection and strawmanning aren't good substitutes for reading\ncomprehension skills, critical thinking skills, and the ability to form cogent\nresponses in a discussion.\n\nIt is my sincere recommendation that you work on the latter three, or possibly\non your ability to simulate them when you aren't arguing in good faith.\n\n------\nDaveInTucson\nAccording to Wikipedia [0], the number of MV-related deaths has been right\nabout 10 or 11 per 100,000 per year for the last ten years. Which makes the\nopening claim \"Americans are condemned to lose friends and relatives to\ntraffic violence\" seem particularly overwrought.\n\nAnd while the legal system may have been of some help, I rather suspect the\nmain reason cars took over is because they give the user a tremendous amount\nof freedom and agency.\n\n[0]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year)\n\n~~~\nstellar678\nIf you live in a small town of 100,000 people, that means 11 of your neighbors\nwill be killed by drivers crashing their cars every year.\n\nAnd that doesn’t account for the deaths and health costs caused by road\npollution, by inactive lifestyles forced on communities due to car-centered\ninfrastructure, etc...\n\nGiven the car-oriented status quo, perhaps it’s true that cars give owners\ntremendous freedom and agency (at the costs outlined above, plus tremendous\nfinancial cost). But it’s also true that many of the most desirable and\nproductive parts of our cities are that way _despite_ cars and not because of\nthem.\n\n~~~\nmaxsilver\n> If you live in a small town of 100,000 people, that means 11 of your\n> neighbors will be killed by drivers crashing their cars every year.\n\nTrue. But for comparison, if we live in this small town of 100k people, then\n192 people will die from Heart Disease, 178 people will die of Cancer, 47\npeople will die of Respiratory diseases, 43 people will die of Stroke, and 16\nwill die from the flu (influenza or pneumonia) every single year, according to\nthe CDC. \"Motor vehicle accidents\" are not even in the top 10 causes of death\n(they're 13th, using 2016's data).\n\n> the most desirable and productive parts of our cities are that way despite\n> cars and not because of them.\n\nWhich is a strong argument _for_ cars. Cars make things drastically more\naffordable for people. If you remove them, you increase the costs for\neverything (food, transportation, housing, healthcare, education, etc), to\nheights no regular person could ever afford. That _also_ carries tremendous\ncosts and even carries it's own death toll.\n\nParadoxically, making things \"more desirable and productive\" makes them worst\nfor real people (because that value will be captured in a pricetag, and real\npeople will never be able to afford it). Paradoxically, too much safety can\nactually be less safe overall (that safety will be captured in a pricetag, and\nreal people will never be able to afford it, and will be forced into less safe\nalternatives) - [https://local.theonion.com/neighborhood-starting-to-get-\ntoo-...](https://local.theonion.com/neighborhood-starting-to-get-too-safe-for-\nfamily-to-aff-1819578182)\n\nMore people died from _suicide_ (45k in 2016) in the US, than died from all\nautomobile accidents nationwide (37k in 2016). The tradeoff here is not as\nsimple as people often imagine it to be.\n\n~~~\nsmileysteve\n> \"Motor vehicle accidents\" are not even in the top 10 causes of death\n> (they're 13th, using 2016's data)\n\nTo your point of bringing up suicide, there is \"accidental\" death; where it's\n1. Opioid overdoses 2. Suicide 3. Car Accidents\n\n------\nmegablast\nImagine if someone invented cars today? Hey everyone, we want to make you use\nthis killing machine, that kills a million people every year around the world\ndirectly, many more indirectly. We just need to clear out the parks currently\naround your houses to turn into horrible bleak roads, so they can bring the\npollution directly to your door.\n\n~~~\nscarejunba\nBut in exchange you get to go anywhere in America. You aunt in San Jose you\nhaven't seen in months because it's a day's horse-ride. Well you can pop over\nfor lunch, and be home for dinner. You can go see Yosemite and Tahoe in the\nsame day. Your groceries will be 10 mins away.\n\nNo. If someone invented cars today, he'd be considered a hero. We'd talk about\nhim in history books.\n\n~~~\nkranner\n> Your groceries will be 10 mins away.\n\nI doubt your groceries would be more than 10 minutes away even if no cars had\nbeen invented. Zoning practices would change to allow more shops distributed\nacross residential areas. That would make more sense than requiring people to\nride an hour on horseback.\n\nBut yes, the supermarket would be much less 'super' with a much smaller\nselection of goods.\n\n~~~\nmcguire\nAnd more expensive. Like buying everything at a convenience store.\n\n------\nPaulHoule\nThe \"car-tel\" didn't just make a legal victory, it made a political victory.\n\nIt's nearly forgotten how much anger and resentment that Americans had against\nthe railroad companies back in the day. Back then, railroads could decide if\nthey would build a stop at your town, or even decide to build a new town on\nland that they owned somewhere along the line. Railroads were perceived as a\nvast private taking from the commons.\n\nThe car on the other hand involves public ownership of the roads and\ndistributed ownership of the vehicles. That leaves a strong majority of the\npopulation feeling that the status quo benefits them and encourages them to\nkeep it that way.\n\n------\ncrunchyfrog\nAnother result of this culture that I wish the author would have addressed is\nhow cars have changed how we raise our children. We are forced to keep our\nchildren inside because all our houses are surrounded by rivers of death. Why\nare we surprised that young kids spend all their time sedating themselves with\nscreens? What choice have we given them?\n\nWe have designed our living spaces to be ideal for cars, not humans. It is\nhard to acknowledge because it has been that way all our lives but it is a\ntrade-off we are making.\n\n~~~\nburlesona\nI was aware of this in the abstract before I had kids. Now that I have them,\nit can be really terrifying. We go for walks even in places with big wide\nsidewalks and they are oblivious, they would jump out in the street at just\nabout any moment if we weren’t holding hands and teaching them constantly to\nbe afraid of cars.\n\nIt’s really sad. Kids nature is to want to run around and burn off energy, and\nright outside our door it’s safe for _adults_ to do that, but it’s still not\nsafe for young children because you still have to stay in the limited\npedestrian zone and carefully cross streets.\n\nI’ve wondered a lot about trying to build a car-free neighborhood with a\ncommuter bus to downtown. I wish that existed, I’d move there.\n\n~~~\ncrunchyfrog\nIf you build it or find it, let me know. I want to move there too.\n\n------\nanonu\n> Those who walk or bike to work receive no commuter tax benefit\n\nIts all about incentives. And the government is in the driver's seat. I would\nlove to get paid to bike around - that is a brilliant idea. Not to mention the\nhealth benefits of having a population exercise to get to work.\n\nI live in NYC where the city was designed for cars. I find it a travesty that\nprime waterfront property on both sides of Manhattan - really all around the\nisland - is a highway. If Robert Moses had prioritized non-car means of\ntransport, we would have a very different city.\n\n------\nbsder\n\"Yet the most prominent way of setting and adjusting speed limits, known as\nthe operating-speed method, actually encourages faster driving. It calls for\nsetting speed limits that 85 percent of drivers will obey. This method makes\nlittle provision for whether there’s a park or senior center on a street, or\nfor people walking or biking.\"\n\nThis statement causes me to question the veracity of the rest of the article.\n\nPractically every municipality bends over backward to slow traffic near places\nwhere children, the elderly, the blind, or even just where too many accidents\noccur.\n\n\"Operating-speed method\" is only really used for high-speed, high-throughput,\nlimited access roadways.\n\n~~~\nbluGill\nMunicipalities do not do much to slow traffic. The might put up a slower speed\nlimit sign, and post traffic copes - but the cynic who says this is about\nrevenue not slowing traffic has a good point. There are plenty of real ways to\nslow traffic known in traffic engineering circles, but they are rarely\nimplemented.\n\n~~~\nbsder\nYou are not in Southern California then. Traffic circles and road humps are\nquite endemic.\n\nThis is sufficiently common that I could use road humps as a proxy for \"Am I\ngoing the correct direction?\" back before nav systems. Maybe you weren't going\nthe completely right direction, but a road hump (or traffic circle) meant you\nwere on a road sufficiently useful that it needed a traffic calming measure.\n\nCities with winter have extra considerations, though.\n\n------\nachow\nThis was a revelation.\n\n _...Even so, 85 to 90 percent of toxic vehicle emissions in traffic come from\ntire wear and other non-tailpipe sources,..._\n\nSo electric cars will mitigate only 10-15% of the environmental problems of\nthe ICE cars?\n\n~~~\nmytailorisrich\nThis is misleading.\n\nIf you follow the link to the actual research paper you find that it's 90% of\nPM10 and 85% of PM2.5\n\nThat is, not \"emissions\" in general but particle matter specifically.\n\nThis makes sense because modern cars have efficient engines and particle\nfilters so that few particles are emitted from the combustion engine itself.\nThe remaining sources are the tyres and the brakes.\n\n~~~\nachow\nYes.\n\nBut doesn't the point still stays that contrary to the popular belief electric\ncars would not bring about much change?\n\nResearch paper: _..it could be concluded that the increased popularity of\nelectric vehicles will likely not have a great effect on PM levels._\n\n~~~\nmytailorisrich\nElectric vehicles will bring about significant changes.\n\nAs said, and as your quote highlights, this focusses on particles. But the\nmain emission of internal combustion engines is CO2, and other nasty stuff\nlike CO, NOx, hydrocarbons, etc. These are eliminated by electric vehicles.\n\n~~~\nsokoloff\nThey are _moved_ by electric vehicles to some remote place (where they might\nalso be more efficiently handled), but even as an electric car driver, I don’t\nthink of them as eliminated.\n\n~~~\nmytailorisrich\nThey are eliminated and electricity production does not have to produce any of\nthem: The short term goal is total elimination across the whole chain.\n\n~~~\ngavia1\nI think the parent was referring to the mining and manufacturing of lithion\nion and other components that go into a car.\n\n~~~\nsokoloff\nThat's a secondary effect. Primary effect I had in mind when commenting was\nthe movement of the emissions from the local tailpipe to the electric plant\n(which is very far from 100% emission-free today).\n\n~~~\nmytailorisrich\nAs said this is so only on 'backwards' countries ;) and certainly it should\nnot last.\n\nClaiming that electric vehicles only move emissions to the electric plant is\nunfair at best.\n\n~~~\nsokoloff\nI think it's more accurate than claiming they are eliminated.\n\n~~~\nmytailorisrich\nIt's not but it helps some narratives...\n\n~~~\nsokoloff\nOK, I'll play along. Suppose I drive my electric car an additional 450 miles.\nThat will consume an extra ~100kWh of energy from the battery, which will\nrequire me to buy an extra 115kWh of energy from my electric utility, which\nwill require them to generate (or procure) an additional 125kWh or so.\n\nAre there any emissions associated with that additional 125kWh of consumed\nelectricity? If so, where? If not, why not?\n\n------\nmikorym\n> Even so, 85 to 90 percent of toxic vehicle emissions in traffic come from\n> tire wear and other non-tailpipe sources, which electric and hybrid cars\n> still produce.\n\nFirst of all, this person meant to say \"particulates\" [1] and so we are not\ntalking about CO2 _at all_. Secondly, the source that he links to has this\ntable in it for PM10 (the table for PM2.5 would be analogous) [2]. Almost all\nof this argument is based on \"resuspension\". Basically, the car's slip stream.\n_Seriously?_\n\nBy the way, these values are (virtually) calculated all on acount of EVs being\nheavier. Well done I guess for assuming that braking in EVs won't have PM\nemissions _< nod to regenerative breaking>_.\n\nIt's a pity that an argument based on traffic accidents and cars has to\nreference such a random and irrelevant article. I agree that Americans like\ncars too much.\n\n[1]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particulates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particulates)\n\n[2] Table 5\n\nComparison between expected PM 10 emissions of EVs, gasoline and diesel ICEVs\n(mg/vkm)\n\n(Vehicle technology) (Exhaust) (Tyre wear) (Brake wear) (Road wear)\n(Resuspension) (Total)\n\nEV 0 7.2 0 8.9 49.6 65.7\n\nGasoline ICEV 3.1 6.1 9.3 7.5 40 66.0\n\nDiesel ICEV 2.4 6.1 9.3 7.5 40 65.3\n\n~~~\nsokoloff\nI drive an electric; wife drives a gas ICE; I maintain both. No way is\nelectric brake wear 1% or less of a conventional car (what it would take for\nit to round down to zero in that table). I'd put it at around 5-10% of an ICE,\nmaking the total particulate emissions higher.\n\n~~~\ndsfyu404ed\nUnless you happen to have two of the same car in ICE and electric you're going\nto need to do some math to account for different brake pad volume and vehicle\nweight. There's a pretty substantial number of variables that would go into\nit. I assume you're using the same product line for all your pads.\n\n~~~\nsokoloff\nFiguring out whether it's 25% or 50% may require that.\n\nFiguring out whether it's sub 1% or >= 2% probably doesn't.\n\n------\ncannabis_sam\nThe whole fucking world is subsidizing this garbage by not charging people for\nthe externalities their lifestyle incurs upon the world.\n\n------\ndiminish\n> Since her passing (1995), approximately 1 million more Americans have been\n> killed in car crashes.\n\nThat's a huge cost.\n\n------\ndrtillberg\nLaws follow practicality, so the first thing to do is make sure drivers pay\ntheir full costs on a per-mile basis. Things like gas taxes being earmarked\nfor road construction-- when I buy other miscellaneous stuff I pay a general\nsales tax that can be spent discretionarily by the government. Not applying\nthat to gas is an inappropriate subsidy to cars. Where autos own the road\n(most everywhere) road funds should pay for sidewalks; where highways divide\ncommunities, there should be liberal allowances for pedestrian bridges.\nFinally, public transit needs to be professionalized in order to provide a\nfuller alternative, in the sense that transit organizations can't be run with\na 'politics as usual' approach-- the point of the system _cannot_ be simply to\nkick the can down the road on historic pension obligations. If government\nwants to require public transit to be _better_ in certain respects-- handicap\naccess and perfect safety come to mind-- these desires should be evaluated\nagainst the counterhypothetical of, \"if you make the system less useful by\nonly opening one set of doors at the stop (for safety) x number of people will\ndie as a result of being forced back into cars.\"\n\n------\nThomPete\nI am unconvinced about this claim.\n\nThe legal and political and taxation system in Denmark is anti car and pro\npublic transportation and have been for decades.\n\nWe are talking 200% taxes on the cars and constant reduction of roads in the\nbig cities, constant expanision of public transportation.\n\nYet cars for most people in Denmark is very important.\n\nCars are the perfect balance between flexibility, scaleability, speed, utility\netc.\n\nThis is why cars win, not because of some conspiracy.\n\n------\nbaybal2\nThe increasing legal requirements for crashworthiness are self defeating:\nmaking vehicles to withstand more energetic collisions requires making cars\nmore heavy — more heavy cars then cause even more energetic collisions.\n\n------\ngumby\nThere's a pretty good book on the origins _and_ consequences of the car\nculture called, not surprisingly, \"The Car Culture by James J. Flink.\n\nIt was written in 1975 so doesn't speculate on the future of self driving\nvehicles but part of what made that book interesting is it took an oil shock\nto really get some attention on the problems.\n\n(let's not forget that one enormous benefit of automobiles was that they\n_cleaned up the cities_ which used to be full of horse manure. Of course we\nknow now that they pollute in other, destructive, ways).\n\n------\njoshuaheard\nPeople drive cars because they are the most efficient mode of transportation.\nLaws and policy followed. Anything else is a moronic conspiracy theory.\n\nLet's just take the two examples in the article. First single family zoning. I\nwould argue that before cars (and cities) people lived on farms and ranches.\nCars were not to blame. The trend has been towards smaller living areas, not\nlarger. Second, parking requirements. I think parking requirements came after\ncars, not the other way around.\n\n~~~\nWhompingWindows\nThey aren't the most efficient mode of transportation, depending on your\ndefinition. In terms of carbon, energy utilized, or even time, in many places\nwalking/biking will beat cars. It's not a moronic conspiracy theory to suggest\nthat bringing a 2 ton wheel-chair everywhere we go is inefficient.\n\n~~~\njoshuaheard\nIn very few places in America is walking/biking more efficient than cars. The\nauthor is not saying autos are inefficient, which is a valid argument, he is\nsaying there is a conspiracy (\"automobile supremacy\") to supplant other forms\nof transportation with the automobile. This is simply foolish.\n\n------\nyt3\nIt's also our values system that allowed the legal system to do it's thing.\nCars are also a product of values that focus on \"me and my personal needs\".\n\n------\ncoredog64\n> Those who walk or bike to work receive no commuter tax benefit\n\nFalse. It’s possible to pay for mass transit with pretax dollars.\n\n~~~\nbluGill\nIs that in a theoretical sense, or is it something I could do now? If the\nlatter can you be more specific - how do I use pre-tax dollars to pay for my\nbus fare?\n\n~~~\nsokoloff\nNot for an individual fare, but an employer can offer monthly/annual passes on\na pre-tax basis (up to $265/mo for 2019)\n\n[https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15b.pdf](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-\npdf/p15b.pdf)\n\n------\nDarkWiiPlayer\n> traffic violence\n\n> automobile supremacy\n\nThe language of this article just makes me cringe.\n\nOther than that, it's really quite reasonable though.\n\n~~~\nLio\nIt sounds shocking if you only travel in car as it doesn't affect you as much\nbut if you ride a bike it's a fact of life in many areas.\n\nFor example if you wear lycra, you will probably find that a percentage of\npeople will regularly try to \"punish\" you because they think you \"look funny\".\n\nThe mildest form of punishment will be them driving as close to you as they\ndare. That could be 50mph 12\"s away. That's like standing on the other side of\nthe do not cross line in the subway as a train comes past.\n\nThat's my anecdotal experience but a quick search Youtube will turn up many\nexamples of this. Action camera manufacturers specifically design products to\ndocument this.\n\nWorse though, you'll probably eventually have someone be more directly\naggressive to you. Maybe throwing something at you or trying to drive you off\nthe road.\n\nIn that context I think that the phrase traffic violence is fitting. If\nsomeone is using a vehicle as a weapon what else would you call it?\n\n~~~\nnmeofthestate\nI've cycled for decades and never had such an incident of aggression from\ndrivers. Maybe it depends on some other factors in addition to the drivers.\n\n~~~\nbad-joke\nTo counter your anecdote, cyclist deaths have risen lately in NYC to the point\nof public protest:\n\n> Aster Ryan, 25, of Wingate, said “this summer has felt especially\n> dangerous.” In addition to the three cycling deaths that took place within a\n> week, Ryan said she was hit while riding her bike a little more than a week\n> ago on Dean Street, and also watched another rider get hit by an opening car\n> door recently.\n\n[https://www.amny.com/transit/cyclist-die-in-washington-\nsquar...](https://www.amny.com/transit/cyclist-die-in-washington-square-\npark-1.33653749)\n\n~~~\nu801e\nThese problems are caused by riding in areas where one is not visible to\ndrivers of other vehicles (e.g. filtering to the right of other vehicles that\nare preparing to make a right turn) and also riding too close to parked cars.\nA secondary cause are laws that require cyclists to use bike lanes or keep as\nfar right as practicable within the lane.\n\n------\nmfer\nI'm reminded of the General Motors streetcar conspiracy -\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_consp...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy)\n\n------\nhi41\nI was in Switzerland recently and was very impressed with how good the public\ntransportation system was - trains, trams and buses. To top it, the water in\nthe lakes and tap were all 100% drinkable.\n\n------\nKozmoNau7\nI'm vacationing Ireland at the moment, and it really hits me how car-centric\nit is, and I found the Scottish Highlands be very similar. Quite narrow roads,\nwith hedges or stone fences and very little space for a pedestrian or cyclist.\n\nSouthern Germany too, although at least they usually don't put hedges/fences\nright up to the edge of the road.\n\nI would hate to walk or bike on those roads, despite the beautiful landscapes\non display.\n\nInitially I thought there was a pressing need to widen the roads, but then I\nrealized that the real problem is the size of modern cars and how fast most\npeople drive.\n\nWhile car ownership and driving is currently vital to a lot of rural\ncommunities, we need to reclaim the roads for shared usage, and break the\nimagined car/driver ownership and privilege over them.\n\n~~~\nTrilkhai\nI've always figured that the narrow roads over there were (much like the ones\nin the older European cities) created long before cars, when people relied on\nhorses or horse-drawn vehicles for transport. Roads designed after cars became\ncommon tend to be much wider.\n\n~~~\nKozmoNau7\nThat's sort of my point. cars are way too big and go way too fast for a lot of\nroads, and there is often no room to widen them. So we let the cars squeeze in\nanyway, to the severe detriment of pedestrians and cyclists.\n\n------\nmikeash\nDid this happen in other countries too? There are varying degrees, but cars\nare king the world over. I’m suspicious of the idea that it was due to laws or\ngovernment.\n\n------\njamesmadison66\nThis is generally how I think self-driving will squeeze out human-driving,\nthrough regulatory capture. Don't love it for many reasons, but there is\nprecedent.\n\n------\npeterwwillis\nI'm extremely interested in seeing micro-mobility options expand. The more\nforms of transportation we have that aren't cars and buses, the more seriously\nthe public will consider things like taking one lane of traffic and dedicating\nit to bikes, scooters, trikes, quadricycles, golf carts, and the like. If we\ncan make it easier for people to get around this way, we can slowly push cars\nto the fringes of cities, and maybe with the money we save, even eventually\nreplace them for inter-city transportation.\n\n------\nseddin\ni will probably get downvoted but this all thanks to the oil industry, they\neven knew about climate change since the 60s\n\n------\ndevoply\nNot just the legal system but also the city planners who designed all sorts of\nthings like suburbs, malls, etc. that favour cars and are pretty much copy-\npasta all over each city on the whole continent. All these people want bike\nlanes, I want my horse lane.\n\n~~~\ninflatableDodo\nI want the majority of the road network roofed with turf into a long hill with\noccaisional exits, or lowered and moved completely underground.\n\n~~~\nbluGill\nI've concluded the opposite: leave the cars where they are. What I want is a\nseparate pedestrian level to the city - a skyway system (though I'm fine with\nit being underground). Let the humans walk in air conditioned comfort while\nnot cars to worry about. This is much cheaper than the underground roads.\n\n~~~\ninflatableDodo\nHow about air conditioned skyways for pedestrians in cities and underground\nroads everywhere else?\n\n~~~\nbluGill\nUnderground roads are orders of magnitude more expensive, so it isn't worth\ncreating them (with some exceptions). With unlimited resources we could create\nas many as we want, but I have better things to do with my time/money than\nbuild roads.\n\nSkyways are significantly cheaper than bridges. It would still be cheaper to\nmake the ground level of your city a building, but not having to support the\nmass of cars and trucks means skyways can be significantly cheaper.\n\nIn the modern world trucks and buses are far too useful to ban completely from\ncities where people live. People need their stuff delivered, and need to get\nlonger distances once in a while. Thus I'm saying reserve the ground for those\nuses and get humans away from them. It is a compromise, but I think it is a\ngood one.\n\n~~~\ninflatableDodo\nNot worrying about the humans in particular. Uncovered ground level roads are\njust death traps and fencing them off is even worse in many ways.\n\n------\nmethodover\n“Given New York’s lax enforcement record, the Freakonomics podcast described\nrunning over pedestrians there as “the perfect crime.””\n\nI was driving in Oakland when the car in front of me didn’t slow down for a\npedestrian in the crosswalk. The pedestrian disappeared in front of the car. I\nstopped my car, got out, found the struck young woman trembling and bleeding\nin the street.\n\nThe speed limit was 30 miles per hour. I don’t think the driver was going\nquite that fast — maybe 20, 25 at most.\n\nThe woman driving the car was elderly. It’s tough to gauge her age — pushing\nlate 70s, maybe 80? She said she didn’t notice the girl in the crosswalk.\n\nI was upset. I stayed the entire time, talked with the cops at length, gave a\nstatement. I wanted to see the lady’s license taken away. Or a ticket at\nleast. Or heck, even a talking to about if maybe she’s no longer fit to drive.\n\nThe cops let the old lady drive away. No ticket. No talk. I was stunned.\nSurely if you hit someone with your car at that speed, in fucking crosswalk,\nyou at the very least need to prove to the DMV that you’re safe to drive.\nEspecially if you’re an elderly person. But nope. They said they had no\ngrounds with which to take any action at all.\n\nStill bothers me. I hope that lady hasn’t killed anyone.\n\n~~~\nChuckNorris89\nWait, what!?\n\nIn Europe if you strike a pedestrian on the crosswalk you'll definitely loose\nyour license and be looking at manslaughter charges too while your insurance\ncompany will murder you after paying the victim's medical/disability/court\nbills.\n\n~~~\nsystemtest\nI have hit a pedestrian. Instead of using the nearby crosswalk she walked in\nbetween the cars and when she walked in front of me it was too late for me to\nbrake. She flew a couple of meters and landed on the crosswalk. In the police\nreport is was stated that I hit the person on the crosswalk as I couldn't\nprove otherwise. The woman was taken away in an ambulance due to a broken leg.\n\nI was 16 at the time. Really shaken up about what had happened. But after\ncollecting myself and fixing the dangling headlight I was able to drive home.\nI got a ticket for not giving way to the pedestrian (€45 I believe) and\ninsurance covered everything regarding the woman. Didn't even get a letter\nother than one that they would take of everything.\n\nSo yes it happens here too (The Netherlands)\n\n~~~\npindab0ter\nHow were you driving when you were sixteen?\n\n~~~\npixl97\nBecause that's when you can get a license in many states.\n\n~~~\npatriot1911\nBut not in The Netherlands, which he explicitly stated he was from. The real\nanswer is that he probably wasn't driving a car.\n\n~~~\nBroken_Hippo\nHas it always been that age? We do not know how old the poster is, nor whether\nor not he had a regular lisence or a permit.\n\n~~~\npatriot1911\nIt hasn't been less than 18 since 1934, if not further back. Since last year\nit's possible to get a provisional license at the age of 17 (no earlier).\n\n~~~\nBroken_Hippo\nAh, ok. I truly didn't know.\n\n------\nlazyjones\nYet another fantasy article that tries to suggest roads were built for \"the\ncar loving 1%ers of the 20s\" and not for public transport and all kinds of\nother infrastructure needs, including the army's.\n\n~~~\nicebraining\nWhat public transport used roads (not streets) in the early twentieth century\nof the US, when much if them were built? According to [1], by 1929 the private\ncar was doing 175 billion passenger miles, while the bus was doing just 7. As\nthey write, \"Although intercity bus travel climbed from nothing to over seven\nbillion passenger miles in 1929, it was always the choice of a relatively\nsmall number of people.\"\n\nAnd of course, trains don't use roads. What other public transport is there?\n\n[1] [https://eh.net/encyclopedia/the-bus-industry-in-the-\nunited-s...](https://eh.net/encyclopedia/the-bus-industry-in-the-united-\nstates/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: What's a Good Business for a College Student to Run? - movingtohawaii\n\nI'm going into my second year of college, and I'm looking for any suggestions on what would be a good business to run at school.  I'm not necessarily talking about startups with revolutionary technology (I already have something to that effect that I've been slowly working on), but something that can hopefully help pay for school.  Something where if I work 5x as hard, although perhaps not 5x as long, I can increase my profits by a similar factor.  Any advice or ideas are appreciated!\n======\ntiffani\nIf you can hustle up a few beefy guys, start a moving service. A friend of\nmine started school in EE, but left school with the moving company supporting\nhim full-time. He started it around his second year as well.\n\nEdit: We went to school in DC, so having several universities around\ndefinitely did help him.\n\n------\nGoodbizidea\nAre there things that you donkt like to do? Like laundry or cleaning. Make a\nsimple business doing the things that other students don't like doing. That is\nthe whole premise of business, solving problems or doing things that other\npeople don't want to do or can't do on their own. People will pay for services\nthey don't want to do. So what are some of the things you don't like doing at\ncollege?\n\n------\niliketosleep\nsomething cool which can be developed FAST. brainstorm with some buddies for\nspecific ideas. you wanna be able to take something to market ASAP so you can\nget feedback and learn. but be aware that for better or for worse, the payoff\nwill be disproportionate to the amount of work. a lot of people work really\nhard and make nothing. whereas others can work work equally has hard and make\nmillions.... for steady predictable income... job.\n\n~~~\nmovingtohawaii\nI'm not really looking for a new technology or idea, more of a tried-and-true\nbusiness model that fits well on a college campus/in a college town. My school\nhas around 14,000 students and I'm sure there must be some service I can\nprovide them that they would pay for, but I can't think of what exactly.\n\n------\nchrisclark1729\nHelping people move.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIntroducing Accelerated Mobile Links: Making the Mobile Web App-Quick - michaelmior\nhttps://blog.cloudflare.com/accelerated-mobile/\n======\ncdata\nAMP is fast and that makes it really nice when reading news on my phone. I\njust wish it was less centralized / dependent on Google's cache. It seems like\nit should be possible to build something similar to AMP - possibly even with a\nsmaller runtime - and self-host the content. Then, throw in a transparent,\ngeo-distributed caching layer like CloudFlare to get the same insta-load\nqualities.\n\nThe main downside I can imagine is that the centralized gatekeeper (Google)\nwon't treat the optimized content the way it treats AMP content today. But, we\nare locking ourselves into Google's solution if we let that stop us from\nexploring better alternatives.\n\n~~~\nwmf\n[https://wicg.github.io/ContentPerformancePolicy/](https://wicg.github.io/ContentPerformancePolicy/)\n\n~~~\ncdata\nScript execution time is a major source of jank / lag on mobile devices. What\nif I don't want any script to be executed beyond what is needed by a\nlightweight runtime?\n\nAMP actually has a lot of really neat technical approaches to enabling rich\ncontent, based on open web standards. CPP seems like a nice tool for the\ntoolbox, but it doesn't seem like a satisfying 1:1 alternative to AMP.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAnnoyance-free web surfing - giis\nhttps://adblockplus.org/en/\n\n======\nnakedrobot2\nI actually don't mind Google Ads because I rather often see ads for obscure\nproducts that I find interesting and wouldn't have otherwise come across -\nthat's almost the textbook definition of what advertising is _supposed_ to do.\n\nBut then there are the obnoxious, foul, impolite ads full of auto-playing\nvideos, sound, mail order brides, scammy fake \"download\" buttons next to the\n\"real\" download button.... and because of these things that pollute my\nconsciousness, I'll forsake the google ads as well.\n\n~~~\npedrogrande\nIf you right-click the AdBlock Plus icon in your browser and choose options,\nthe first option on the General tab reads \"I like the text ads on Google\nsearch results; show me those.\" That's what I do.\n\n------\nantihero\nWhat does this offer over Adblock?\n\n~~~\ngiis\nI haven't used chrome's adblock, so I got no idea too but there is this FAQ\n[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/adblock/gighmmpiob...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/adblock/gighmmpiobklfepjocnamgkkbiglidom/details?hl=en)\n\nFAQs:\n\n1\\. This is AdBlock: the original Chrome extension written from the ground up\nto be optimized for Chrome. I was inspired by the excellent Firefox \"Adblock\nPlus\" project (which is a fork of an old Firefox \"Adblock\" project --\nconfusing, I know), but I'm not related to those, nor to \"Adblock Plus For\nGoogle Chrome\", to which the old \"AdThwart\" extension was recently renamed.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nQuantifying and Time Tracking My Reading - cflynnus\nhttps://cflynn.us/posts/2020-03-27-quantifying-and-time-tracking-reading\n======\nlukevp\nMaybe I’ll sound like an old fogey for saying this, but... I enjoy reading and\nI feel like this level of analysis would take all the joy out of it. With\nexercise you are competing against your past self to gain strength and\nendurance. With reading, what is the goal to optimize against? I think it\nwould be more valuable to summarize and annotate thoughts as you read the book\nrather than measuring your progress through it by page count.\n\n~~~\nakashtndn\nI do find some value in quantification but I resonate with your thoughts. I am\ncurious about ways in which people summarize and take notes when reading\nbooks. Do you have any specific quirks or methods for doing so?\n\n~~~\ncflynnus\nI've somewhat shifted my focus from plain note taking to making spaced\nrepetition flashcards (using Anki). I find it to be a lot more effective in\naiding memory retention of details.\n\n------\nOneiros512\nI've always had a fascination with tracking things myself. I remember\ndaydreaming when I was younger about wishing I had some kind of way to see how\nmany of some particular food item I'd eaten over the course of my life, or how\nmany words I'd ever spoken. I never got too heavily into making my own\nspreadsheets, but I got into tracking running and walking with apps like\nrunkeeper, using a site to track every movie I watched, tracking each video\ngame I owned and whether I had beaten it yet, and when I couldn't find a good\nsite for tracking the TV shows I'd watched I did make a very simple\nspreadsheet for that.\n\nOver time I've pulled away from the practice somewhat as I've started to think\nthe obsession with tracking my activities was detracting from the experience\nsomewhat. I'd end up thinking more about adding to my total miles walked on my\ntracker than enjoying the walk itself. On a level as granular as tracking\n10-page chunks of books you must be getting distracted on some level from the\nactual content, I would think.\n\nI still use that tracking site for movies and I do use Goodreads for books,\nand I find them great resources for figuring out what to read/watch next, but\nthose are now more secondary to the actual enjoyment of the experience itself.\n\n------\nmichalu\nGood stuff. One thing you are missing though. I like to measure my reading by\nquality too.\n\nI simply keep a manual tally counter by my side while reading and every time I\ncatch myself reading mindlessly or my mind drifting away, I count one\ndistraction. Similar to some forms of meditation.\n\nUltimately, you want to bring up the quality by minimizing the number of\ndistractions per unit of time.\n\nThe good thing about it is that you actually build up your focus and\nconcentration \"muscle\" (in prefrontal cortex) as opposed to amping up the\nvolume alone.\n\nI too got inspired by gym :)\n\n~~~\ncflynnus\nThat sounds like a good idea, currently when \"zoning out\" or getting\ndistracted I don't record it I just try to jump back. For quality, the best\nthing I've come up with is making spaced-repetition flashcards w/ Anki. My\nconfidence is higher that I've actually retained the information.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: How to write a Top Grad School Personal Statement - Tzeentch99\n\nI'm in the process of applying to grad school. Are there any specific sites or resources you'd recommend for how to write a top grad school essay?<p>Also any tips from the community would be appreciated.\n======\ncperciva\nAssuming you're going into a research program (MSc, PhD) rather than a\nprofessional program (MBA, MD, LLB): Focus on research. Admissions decisions\nat the graduate level are almost always made by individual departments, and\nthe top-of-mind question for the person reading your submission will be \"could\nthis be a future co-author?\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nJourney to Python Part 2: Input, Output, and Documentation - noor420\nhttp://www.tuxtips.org/?p=14\n\n======\ndazzawazza\npython with 'end of scope' comments looks totally alien to me. I hope they are\nthere for educational reasons rather than for a coding 'style'.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe time displayed on most Android phones is wrong - Garbage\nhttp://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/the-time-displayed-on-most-android-phones-is-wrong/19387\n======\nkalleboo\nDo \"most Android phones\" really get their time automatically GPS? On all the\nones I've used (HTC Hero, Xperia X10, Xperia Arc), I had to set the time\nmanually (and ended up using ClockSync)\n\nedit: the bug tracker issue linked in the article seems to suggest it's a\nproblem with Motorola phones only\n<http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=5485>\n\n~~~\nnerdtalker\nI have a bunch of Android phones here (developer/reviewer) and none except for\nMotorola phones (Droid 4, Droid Bionic) seem to set the time 15 seconds ahead\nchecking using <http://time.is>\n\nFor example, the Droid 4 was 14.6 seconds off, and Droid Bionic was 14.8\nseconds off...\n\nThis seems to be a vendor specific issue, as none of the non-motorola phones\n(Galaxy Nexus GSM/UMTS, Galaxy Nexus CDMA/LTE on VZW, Nexus S, Galaxy Note,\nTab 10.1LE, a Qualcomm development MDP) are anywhere near 15 seconds, all are\n+/- fractions of a second, like you'd expect.\n\n~~~\nbad_user\nI have a Galaxy S (the first one) and it's only 0.9 seconds off.\n\n~~~\nviraptor\nMy GS2 is also 0.9 of accurate time according to time.is, I wonder if it's\njust a coincidence or something common... (UK network time being off\nslightly?)\n\n------\nbrunnsbe\nInteresting. But doesn't most phones get their time from the operator via the\ncellular network and not via GPS?\n\n~~~\nlini\nYes, they do. Unfortunately, the time my (GSM) operator sends is off by 2\nminutes when I compare it to GPS data or the NTP synced clock on any desktop.\nSo this feature is not very useful and I will be very happy if I see NTP sync\nin a future Android version.\n\n~~~\njoelhaasnoot\nThis is a known (Android?) bug apparently, have had Vodafone here in NL\nconfirm it. They don't know what it is either... I've had drifts of up to 4\nminutes.\n\n------\nrogerbinns\nTo be accurate the time is not set from GPS. Turning on the GPS uses a lot of\npower. All that is happening is that some phones when converting times into\nthe local timezone are not accounting for leap seconds. (The number of seconds\nsince Jan 1, 1970 or the 1982 epoch of GPS is unchanged - it is just our human\nfoibles with timezones and arbitrary rule calculations that are messed up.)\nAnd only for some phones.\n\nMy iPod Touch and Android Phone (HTC) have exactly the same (local) time and\nboth are set to automatic.\n\n------\nknurdle\nGood to know when I'm trying to disable the bomb the super villain has planted\nand I think I have a minute left until it blows up but I really only have 45\nseconds left. Oh wait, maybe the bomb timing mechanism is built on the android\nplatform and I really do have a minute left.\n\n------\nspindritf\nI was always convinced that \"network-provided\" time means provided by the GSM\noperator over GSM. FWIW time on my phone is off by 1.4s according to time.is\nso it seems to be unaffected by the bug.\n\n~~~\nwccrawford\nI just checked my stock Galaxy S2, and it was almost 2 minutes out. After\nenabling the automatic time setting, I checked again and it was like 1.9\nseconds out.\n\nDoesn't seem to be a problem here, either.\n\n------\nragmondo\nIt also messes up 2 factor authentication as well. I've raised this on the\ngoogle developers, android developers plus groups but I guess if you aint a\ngoogler, then it's like p*ssing into the wind....\n\n------\nrosser\nThis doesn't appear to be the case on ICS. My Galaxy Nexus tracks with the\nclock on my MBA, which is synced to Apple's NTP server.\n\n~~~\nnooneelse\nAnother Galaxy Nexus reporting in here, according to time.is, 0.7 seconds\nbehind.\n\n------\nchmars\nInteresting. I had always assumed smartphones would use NTP servers.\n\n------\nwebjunkie\nCheck <http://time.is/> in your phone's browser. My Android is 1 minute fast\n:(\n\n~~~\nrolandboon\nCan it be that the bug is fixed in Cyanogen? My Nexus One with Cyanogen is 0.2\nseconds off according to time.is.\n\n~~~\nwebjunkie\nI'm running Cyanogen... so at least for me it's not fixed.\n\n~~~\ntoomuchtodo\nMy Nexus One running CM7 is also 0.2 seconds off.\n\n------\ndlokshin\nOn a somewhat related note, the GPS on lots of Android phones is more\nseriously broken than this. For AlpineReplay (app that tracks skiers and\nsnowboarders) we routinely get visits that happen in the future. GPS timing is\noften off by 24 hours, 12 hours. Most common on Samsung phones but we've found\nit on HTC and LG as well.\n\n------\nsp332\nIt's not _just_ GPS. Any time source that has added the \"leap seconds\" will be\nmisinterpreted by Android, because Android doesn't compensate for leap\nseconds. So if your cellular network or other time server has leap seconds,\nyour Android phone will be wrong even it never sets the clock via GPS.\n\n------\nchulett\nThe site says \"Tyson talks about the issue at the 15m 20s mark\" but it's\nactually at 56m 20s.\n\n------\nInclinedPlane\nThis is really odd, I'd expect on a cdma network for the clock to of necessity\nbe slaved to the network clock, seeing as that is required to be in the\nnetwork. Is there another internal clock or some other mode of operation going\non?\n\n~~~\nJoshTriplett\nCDMA radios do that internally.\n\n------\nkelnos\n_It seems like an easy bug to fix..._\n\nPeople who haven't looked at the code aren't allowed to suggest that. Period.\n\n _... so I’m surprised it’s been ignored for so long._\n\nBecause 15 seconds doesn't really matter in any practical sense? Pretty much a\nnon-story.\n\n~~~\njamesaguilar\nDisagree. If something like this is hard to fix, there is something wrong with\nthe way the code is designed.\n\n~~~\nSomeone\nI do not know the code; nevertheless, I disagree. The moment you allow for\nleap seconds, you need to visit your apps. Can they display x hours, y\nminutes, 60 seconds? (IIRC, 61 seconded can occur, too). You also need to\nconsider how and how often you update your 'current number of leap seconds'\nstore, you have to add 'across leap seconds' checks to all duration\ncalculations, in addition to 'across DST change' checks, etc. You also will\nhave to decide, on a per call basis, what the programmer intended with a call\n('one day later' or 'same time on the next day' or 'about 24 hours later, also\non the whole hour'?) oftentimes, the programmer will not even have realized\nthat these are different options. And heaven forbid if somebody does a\ncalculation now for a future date, and some time later a leap second is\nannounced for some moment before that future date.\n\nI do not think a really nice design is possible here. There just are too many\nidiosyncrasies in time handling.\n\n~~~\njamesaguilar\nYou are talking about display issues of leap seconds. That's a different\nproblem from the one we're talking about, which is that the clock itself is\nwrong.\n\n~~~\nSomeone\nIt is a different problem, but it largely disappears if the system does not do\nleap seconds.\n\n~~~\njamesaguilar\nYep, you can get rid of UI problems by not having a screen too.\n\n------\ndpres\nThe best part of the video in my opinion\n[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=e...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ekc3uRPlILU#t=16m50s)\n\n------\nkapupetri\nI'd just compared my Android galaxy S2 to NTP synchronized clock and they\nchange minuter indicator about the same time. So this is not a bug in all\ndevices...\n\n------\nNameNickHN\nMy phone gets its time via the carrier network. It's, nevertheless, not\naccurate though.\n\n------\nyoblin\nLooks like it's fixed in cyanogenmod, at least on my phone. The app clocksync\ncan show you how off you are.\n\n------\nktizo\nGetting an android phone was what finally convinced me that Google is a\nbrilliant marketing company.\n\nBefore getting one I was convinced that Google were able to write software.\n\n[edit] I want text messaging to work properly. Without doing a system upgrade.\nText messaging should not be a hard problem. :(\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: What is your favorite Javascript code snippet?  - donohoe\n\nAny useful gems or ways to overcome common hurdles? Would love to see and compare insights. Preferably framework/library agnostic if possible.\n======\ndonohoe\nSome of these assume you have Firebug or similar for console output.\n\nQuick and easy browser sniff:\n\n    \n    \n      var browser = (function x(){})[-5]=='x' \n                   ? 'ff3' : (function x(){})[-6]=='x' \n                   ? 'ff2' : /a/[-1]=='a' \n                   ? 'ff'  : '\\v'=='v' \n                   ? 'ie'  : /a/.__proto__=='//' \n                   ? 'safari' : /s/.test(/a/.toString) \n                   ? 'chrome' : /^function \\(/.test([].sort) \n                   ? 'opera'  : 'Unknown';\n    \n\nRound to Nearest Multiple\n\n    \n    \n      var roundThis = 54;\n      var closest = Math.round(parseInt(roundThis)/20)*20;\n      // output = 60\n    \n\nURL Paramaters\n\n    \n    \n      var parts  = window.location.search.substr(1).split(\"&\");\n      var params = {};\n      for (var i = 0; i < parts.length; i++) {\n          var temp = parts[i].split(\"=\");\n          params[decodeURIComponent(temp[0])] = decodeURIComponent(temp[1]);\n      }\n      console.log(params);\n    \n\nURL Hash Paramaters\n\n    \n    \n      console.log(window.location.hash.substr(1).split(\"&\"));\n\n------\njashkenas\nI'm partial to keeping a \"bind\" function handy. (Function#bind will be in\nECMAScript 5, but it's not quite here yet). It's crucial for keeping your\nsanity when trying to use \"this\" with callbacks, Ajax, or async.\n\n    \n    \n        var bind = function(func, context) {\n          var slice = Array.prototype.slice;\n          var args  = slice.call(args, 2);\n          return function() {\n            return func.apply(context || {}, args.concat(slice.call(arguments)));\n          };\n        };\n\n------\nkeville\nfor (var i=0, node; node=parentElem.childNodes.item(i); i++) { // iterates\nover an element's child nodes; 2nd statement in for loop returns undefined\nwhen out of items }\n\n------\nseasoup\nfor (var a=0, len = arr.length; a < len; a++) { // looping for speed, cache\nthe length and save an access }\n\n------\nsmarterch1ld\njQuery\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Nature or Nurture - ricberw\nSimple question, but a complicated answer. I’d love to get your thoughts on the matter.\n======\nMAXPOOL\nAlmost always both.\n\nEnvironment triggers changes in gene expression and reverse is also true.\nThere are multiple ways of how nature and nurture interact.\n\nTake for example stress during childhood. It seems that stressful environment\nleads epigenetic changes an behavioral changes like lower impulse control,\naggressive or more promiscuous behavior.\n\nIs the change in behavior damage caused by the environment, or is it\nevolutionary adaptation to uncertain and dangerous environment? It's possible\nthat dangerous environment triggers different epigenetic survival strategies?\nBreed faster, be more aggressive and do quick decisions.\n\nDifferentially Methylated Genes in Saliva are linked to Childhood Stress\n[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-29107-0](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-29107-0)\n\n~~~\n_Schizotypy\nI'm not even sure if we can say \"almost\" as I have yet to see an example where\nit was NOT both\n\n~~~\nMAXPOOL\nWhen you get brain damage that changes your behavior, it's for all intents and\npurposes 100% environment.\n\n~~~\n_Schizotypy\nThe brain responds to brain damage, an organism is not static. There will be\nepigenetic and neuroplastic responses.\n\n~~~\nMAXPOOL\n\"for all intents and purposes\"\n\n~~~\n_Schizotypy\nquoting yourself doesn't change anything. You could easily say \"for all\nintents and purposes\" that being abused as a child is purely nurture, but that\ndoesn't make the statement any less wrong.\n\n------\n_Schizotypy\nit's not one or the other but a complex interaction of both it is this in ALL\ncases, they are never isolated from each other\n\n------\nhunter2_\nHumans: nurture. Cats: nature.\n\n~~~\n_Schizotypy\nwrong, its both for both\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow Andreessen Horowitz Fumbled An Instagram Investment - joao\nhttp://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/20/how-andreessen-horowitz-fumbled-an-instagram-investment/\n======\ndalton\nAnyone reading this article needs to remember to never be afraid of putting\nyourself out there because you are afraid of failure.\n\nI saw the market first, I created picplz, and I went for it. I was a huge\nbelieve in the mobile photo sharing opportunity, and I went for it with all of\nmy heart. Clearly, picplz didn't win, but I have ZERO shame or regret for\ndoing my best.\n\nWhen I read articles like these, which are about myself, my company and people\nthat I know well, I can't help but feel vitriol aimed at me for DARING to\ncreate, launch and raise funding for picplz. I am not clear on what exactly\npeople want, an apology for trying?\n\nThe fact is, I saw the writing on the wall that we wouldn't win _early_ and\npivoted out of photo sharing which I had ~90% of my series A cash still in the\nbank. It certainly seems like that was the right move, but all of this press\nmakes it look like pivoting was the wrong call(?) The press I read is written\nin such a way that it assumed that the A16Z investment is dead and my entire\ncompany should just be written off to zero today. That is bullshit. If I\nstarted to take press like this too seriously I might as well just dissolve my\ncompany and stop coming into work.\n\nI say this to the hn comminity: never be afraid of failure. No one knows what\nwill happen. All of this arm-chair quarterbacking is a waste of time. Stop\nreading this kind of crap and instead put your energy into doing your best\nwork. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose, but if you give yourself the\nopportunity to win enough times, you WILL be successful.\n\n~~~\nmichael_nielsen\nI think you're reading something into the article that isn't there. I saw no\nvitriol aimed at picplz.\n\n~~~\nsachingulaya\nI read the article as being unnecessarily harsh towards picplz to bolster the\n'fumble' that was Andreesen Horowitz's 4,000% return on instagram. This\narticle is definitely a non-article and could easily be changed around to say\n\"Andreesen Horowitz has done it again!\".\n\n------\nlarrys\n\"At that market capitalization, Andreessen Horowitz’s stake would be worth\n$100 million — not bad for a $250,000 investment, but $200 million short of\nthe return it could have earned had it stayed the course.\"\n\nAmazing that you can turn $250k into (possibly) $100,000,000 and in the eyes\nof a NYT writer you have fallen short.\n\nThe writer will make a great parent.\n\n~~~\nredthrowaway\nI'm really not sure I get her beef.\n\nIf I bought $1MM worth of AAPL in 2003 at $10/share, I'd have $57MM. But if I\nbought it in December 97, at $3.30/share, I could have _$150MM!_ What an idiot\nam I!\n\nAH made out like bandits here; I'm sure they feel just fine about it.\n\n~~~\nlarrys\n\"not sure I get her beef\"\n\nThere is a saying in news business \"if it bleeds it leads\".\n\nThe negative angle draws in viewers and readers on certain topics and in\ncertain situations. My guess is that that she decided this angle would get\nmore views and interest.\n\n~~~\nredthrowaway\nGiven how the page fared on HN, she's probably right.\n\n------\nianterrell\nExtra, extra, read all about it! Firm makes wrong bet in high risk industry\nand still comes out with 40000% return! Epic fail!\n\n~~~\nfruchtose\nWhat a tragedy! Andreeson Horowitz only earned $100 million on a $250 thousand\ninvestment. What amateurs! They might as well go work at McDonalds.\n\n~~~\ndroithomme\nI know, right?\n\nFor his next hit piece, that NYT \"journalist\" should write how Andreeson\nHorowitz are losers because they failed to buy enough Apple stock at $8 a\nshare.\n\n~~~\nfruchtose\nIf Andreeson Horowitz invested in a company that produced a time machine, the\nNew York Times would criticize them for not using the time machine to go back\nin time and invest in an earlier funding round.\n\n------\ntptacek\nIt's helpful to know as an entrepreneur that, whatever \"A16Z\" (heh) thinks\nabout this particular instance, venture capitalists are, allegedly, as a\nspecies, _way more motivated_ by fear of stories like this than they are of\nthe fear that their investment in you will come to nothing. When they need to\nraise money for their next fund, nobody is going to hear about the investments\nthat came to nothing, but the obvious missed opportunities are going to sting.\n\nThis helps explain why they'll plow money into shoot-the-moon me-too startups\nthat have no discernable chance of success, but might turn you down even if\nyou have steadily growing revenue.\n\n~~~\nlarrys\n\"fear of stories like this\".\n\nAs a matter of fact, Fred Wilson on his blog the day after the deal was\nannounced was asked this by a commenter:\n\n\"I was looking for a lively discussion of the FB/Instagram deal today\"\n\nTo which Fred replied:\n\n\"i'm not interested in that discussion really. somehow that takes energy from\nme. i am not inspired.\"\n\nAs you said \"obvious missed opportunities are going to sting\"\n\n[http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2012/04/life-liberty-and-blazing-\nbro...](http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2012/04/life-liberty-and-blazing-\nbroadband.html)\n\n------\ndkrich\nIs it just me, or does this seem like a pretty savvy investment by A/H? They\ngot their money into both companies, and ended up getting back (if the article\nis to be believed), a 400x return on their investment. There was a time and\nplace where that was considered not too shabby, some might even say quite\ngood.\n\nNobody can maximize every investment. How often does it happen that anybody\nmaximizes their investment potential on any given deal? I wish I would have\nbought Apple stock in 1998 instead of 2005, but I wouldn't say I \"fumbled an\ninvestment opportunity.\" When I first saw this headline, not knowing the\nbackstory, I thought this meant that they did something to piss off the\nInstagram founders and lost out on the chance to put anything into the company\nat all.\n\n------\nrexf\nWas the NYT headline updated? It currently reads 'How Andreessen Horowitz\nBunted on an Instagram Investment'.\n\nThe piece describes how Andreessen Horowitz invested in both Burbn & Picplz.\nAfter Burbn pivoted to Instagram, Andreessen Horowitz had to choose between\nthe two - since they competed directly. Andreessen Horowitz chose to go with\nthe company that they put money for photo sharing.\n\n~~~\ndkrich\nHa, it must have been, because the URL still says \"fumbled.\"\n\n------\nsriramk\nAlso tells you how difficult it is to figure out who is going to make it big.\npicplz had Dalton Caldwell, both an Android and an iPhone version and a\nseveral month head start. You can't blame a16z for picking them.\n\nBesides, it looks like they did the most ethical/default thing they could -\nback the company they had already funded for photo sharing and avoid a\nconflict.\n\n------\nbravura\n_It was a calculated bet against Instagram and it left Mr. Systrom livid,\nthese people said. Instagram’s founders never discussed strategy with the firm\nagain._\n\nCurious: To what extent can you avoid disclosing information to your\ninvestors, once it becomes clear that they are competing against you.\n\n _But Mr. Systrom’s experience with Andreessen Horowitz taught him to choose\nhis investors warily._\n\nWhy? It seems like A16Z did the most ethical thing, which was support the\ncompany that the original founded for this idea. When Instagram pivoted into a\ncompeting position, why would they expect A16Z to back them and bury picplz?\n\n _By the time Facebook acquired Instagram for $1 billion in a cash-stock deal\na week ago, Andreessen Horowitz’s stake in the company had fallen to less than\n10 percent._\n\nIf A16Z had half the seed round, then that means that the seed investors owned\n20%, diluted. If Benchmark own 30% at the sale, that means that the seed\nangels must have took >30% of the company at the $500K seeding. Is this\ncorrect?\n\n------\npcwalton\nI'm personally sad to see what happened to picplz; they were the main option\naround for Android at the time and I always preferred their low-key feel to\nthe more showy feel of Instagram. Competition is a good thing.\n\n------\nlpolovets\nI'd hardly call a 400x return 'fumbling'.\n\n------\ndroithomme\nThe article failed to convince me of the truth of the thesis proposed in its\nheadline. Seems more a hit piece than anything solid or impartial.\n\n------\nkposehn\nI actually find this article rather unfair to all involved. It is quite clear\nthat the author seems to have it out for AH - after all, a $100m return is\nfreaking AMAZING for $250,000, and Benchmark made a far lower multiple for the\namount they invested.\n\nIn the end, I'd say the win goes to AH - they made a mistake, but also didn't\nexactly lose either.\n\n------\ntzz\nWhy didn't he just invest in both?\n\n~~~\neternalban\nBecause it would dilute the trust relationship between the investor and the\ncompanies involved. ... \"never discussed strategy again\" ... That is not a\ngood vantage point to be in if you are investing in a company. How do you make\neffective decisions if you are not privy to the entire picture?\n\n\"moral reasons\" ... Give me a break.\n\n------\nzackattack\nMarc ensured the market expanded with his wise bet. I doubt he has any\nregrets. Who knows whether Instagram would have expanded unless they were\nmotivated to get to a point of turning their backs on A16Z. $ talks.\n\n~~~\nzackattack\noh yeah i'm sure that marc andreesen is in cahoots with paul graham and has\nthe extension to see your downvote..... way to curry favor there champ\n\n~~~\nzackattack\ndid not mean to imply that paul graham, of all people, would not respect\nprivacy. i was just trying to be satirical, and i guess my attempt failed.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSilicon Valley Has Not Saved Us from a Productivity Slowdown - leothekim\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/upshot/silicon-valley-has-not-saved-us-from-a-productivity-slowdown.html\n======\nthedevil\n\"they valued free Internet services at ... less than 1 percent of G.D.P.\"\n\nSo Pandora, Facebook, Hacker News, YouTube, Google, Wikipedia, gmail, google\nmaps, Reddit... all of these together are worth less than $50/month? Would any\nof you give up all the free parts of the internet for $50/month?\n\nAnd look back 30 years: everything has gotten so much better. Rotary dial\nlandlines have been replaced with smartphones. Houses are better and bigger.\nCars are better, more comfortable, safer. Children's toys, strollers,\nplaygrounds are so much safer and more convenient. Music has changed from a\nfew CDs to thousands of songs carried around in almost every pocket. The\nnumbers don't seem to make any sense to me.\n\nMarc Andreessen is onto something. The economic numbers don't make any sense\nwhen you compare them to reality.\n\n~~~\nthedevil\nAnd here's an idea to explain the mismatch. Not sure if it's right, but it\nmight explain why the numbers make no sense:\n\nnewspaper -> hacker news, google news: GDP drops, but life is better.\n\nstereo + CDs -> mp3 player: GDP drops, but life is better\n\nGPS -> Google maps, GDP drops, but life is better.\n\nsnail mail -> gmail, text, GDP drops, but life is better.\n\n~~~\nsuperuser2\n>newspaper -> hacker news, google news\n\nUm, what? Google News doesn't do reporting, it aggregates newspaper content.\nIf the traditional media outlets die, there will be no content left for Google\nNews to aggregate. Unless you are referring the part of the newspaper industry\nwhich actually puts ink on dead trees, which is pretty small compared to the\nnewsrooms.\n\nPeople write posts that go on HN to promote themselves and their business\ninterests. Nothing wrong with a little of that, but it isn't a substitute for\njournalism.\n\n~~~\nundersuit\nNewspapers aggregate news as well. The point is you buy the newspaper for all\nor most of the content or you visit Google News or Hacker News. They are\nportals.\n\n>it isn't a substitute for journalism.\n\n _No true journalist_ would ever impinge their profession by writing for such\ntrash as a blog.\n\n~~~\nsuperuser2\nI am using \"newspaper\" in the sense of \"organization which pays reporters and\neditors to produce a textual representation of the news of the day.\" So\nperhaps this is semantics. But Google News does not do that.\n\nGoogle News is sort of similar to the business unit of a newspaper which takes\nfinished copy in digital form from the newsroom and actually delivers dead\ntrees to people's doors. Of course the internet should (and will) kill that\nentirely.\n\nJournalism is a professional craft. Writing about current events for free\nbecause you are passionate about some issue, or for a salary because your\nbenefactor has a vested interest in some issue, etc. is not journalism. Your\nincome has to flow from the fact that _people want the news_ , and you/your\nbosses/your editors have to be properly incentivized to actually report the\nnews.\n\n------\nnatrius\nThe Uber example is a great one. From 2009 to 2015, Uber didn't do much to\nincrease the amount of value a driver could create per dollar spent. It did\nsomewhat: Uber drivers can charge less than taxi drivers due to higher\nutilization and regulatory avoidance. But at the end of the day, drivers were\nstill putting in the same amount of work to move a passenger.\n\nUberPool and UberHop are actually productivity increases. A single driver can\nprovide 2-4 trips worth of value with about 1 trip's worth of work. However,\nthat's just going to drive the cost of trips down. If Uber and its drivers end\nup not increasing their revenue per driver trip, the productivity statistics\nwould look the same even though drivers are moving four times as many people!\n\nMy layman's interpretation could be wrong, but it really just looks like we're\nusing productivity wrong. It's useful to compare companies and countries at a\nparticular point in time, but if you use it to compare the 2000 world to the\n2016 world, it's probably not going to tell you useful things.\n\n~~~\nYokoZar\n>UberPool and UberHop are actually productivity increases. A single driver can\nprovide 2-4 trips worth of value with about 1 trip's worth of work. However,\nthat's just going to drive the cost of trips down. If Uber and its drivers end\nup not increasing their revenue per driver trip, the productivity statistics\nwould look the same even though drivers are moving four times as many people!\n\nIn this scenario, you need only 1/4 the drivers, and some fraction of those 3\nnewly unemployed people will eventually do other work. _That_ is the\nproductivity growth.\n\n~~~\nqq66\nYou wouldn't necessarily need only 1/4 the drivers. The reduction in prices\nwould increase demand for transportation by some amount. If that amount is\nless than 4x, you would see an industry employment decrease, but if it was\nmore than 4x, you would see it increase, just like how auto industry\nemployment increased as cars were able to be made for cheaper and cheaper\nprices.\n\n------\ndigikata\nSilicon Valley can provide tools, or perhaps supplant some industries, but the\nbulk of productivity improvement is internal to companies. I think the\nproductivity slowdown is a result of many companies not investing in internal\nimprovement/development and instead using their capital in non-productivity\nenhancing financial moves such as stock buybacks.\n\n~~~\ncalinet6\nDing ding ding.\n\nIn fact, if anything, the increasing inequity between management, C-level\nexecutives, and employees makes companies even less able to handle the complex\nsystems of the present world, which is only growing in complexity.\n\nThe real issues are human, and human problems require improvements in\nmanagement, leadership, internal systems, and knowledge and understanding.\nWhen rifts form between management and employees, what happens instead is an\nindividual competitive focus that brings productivity and innovation down\nsignificantly.\n\nWhat we're seeing, effectively, is that the world is changing and becoming\nmore complex, and management and internal systems are not keeping up, and\ninstead in many cases going downhill.\n\nThere are small pockets of hope in the Lean movement, Kaizen/continuous\nimprovement, and in those who know and understand Deming management\nphilosophy. For a great modern take, read General Stanley McChrystal's \"Team\nof Teams.\"\n\n------\nAnimats\nNon-paywall copy of paper, from author: [1]\n\n[1]\n[http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/chad.syverson/research/produ...](http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/chad.syverson/research/productivityslowdown.pdf)\n\n------\nJustSomeNobody\nHow much more productive does the middle need to be!? Good grief, nobody is\nallowed to \"turn off\" any more. We're ALWAYS working.\n\nEdit: And please don't kill me with semantics of \"working\" vs \"productivity\".\n\n~~~\nktRolster\n\n      > And please don't kill me with semantics of \"working\" vs \"productivity\".\n    \n\nMaybe if you understood the difference between working and productivity you\nwouldn't be ALWAYS working.\n\n~~~\nwavefunction\nThe OP specifically called out the semantic difference between working and\nproductivity.\n\n~~~\nbaddox\nI'm not sure how that absolves OP of the actual semantic difference between\nthe two. You can't just say \"all doors are squares, and don't kill me with the\nsemantic difference between 'square' and 'rectangle.'\"\n\n------\np4wnc6\nStart-ups rally around fashion signalling through open-plan offices, and\ncreate elaborate HR codewords to rationalize unhealthy cramming of people into\nintrinsically unproductive physical situations.\n\nThe cost effectiveness of providing private offices for knowledge workers,\neven in the most dense urban areas, has been well known for a long time, yet\nfew organizations do it, and some organizations even _spend_ money to tear\ndown productivity-enhancing privacy features in favor of wasteful open-plan\nfashion.\n\nWhy would anyone look to the start-up world when expecting productivity?\n\n------\nAnimats\nMost big productivity increases have been in the manufacturing and agriculture\nareas. Those have been so successful that they now employ only 9.5% of the US\nworkforce. The areas with strong productivity increases shrink, while the ones\nwith low or no productivity increase come to dominate employment.\n\n~~~\ndredmorbius\nThere's a formal statement of that, essentially an analogue of Amdahl's Law.\nAs you optimise labour in certain parts of the economy, you're left with the\nbits that cannot have their productivity increased.\n\nUnfortunately I cannot for the life of me remember what it's called or where I\nread it. Good odds it's in Robert Gordon's new book ( _The Rise and Fall of\nAmerican Growth_ ) or related discussion. Or somewhere in William Ophuls'\n_Ecology and the Politics of Scarcity_ discussing technology, or Carlotta\nPerez's _Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital_.\n\nLight reading.…\n\n~~~\nsbierwagen\nBaumol's cost disease.\n\n    \n    \n      Baumol and Bowen pointed out that the same number of \n      musicians is needed to play a Beethoven string quartet today \n      as was needed in the 19th century; that is, the productivity \n      of classical music performance has not increased. On the \n      other hand, real wages of musicians (as well as in all other \n      professions) have increased greatly since the 19th century.\n    \n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baumol%27s_cost_disease](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baumol%27s_cost_disease)\n\n~~~\ndredmorbius\nThank you. I'd run across that elsewhere and was wondering where the hell I'd\njust recently mentioned it....\n\n------\napi_or_ipa\nI might be late the party for anyone to read what I have to say.\n\nFor the past 45 years, Canada has had limited growth in labour productivity\nand currently stands at $42/hour, contrasting against the US at $52/hour,\nmeasured in GDP/hour worked.\n\nIt turns out that it's very very difficult to understand productivity. It is\nagainst common understanding why Canada's more numerous bachelors degree\nholders seemingly doesn't contribute to a more productive labour force. If\ninvestments in education do not increase labour productivity (as predicted by\nnearly every model of labour economics), then what measures do affect\nproductivity? It is increasingly unconvincing that countries become more\nproductive by mere accident.\n\n~~~\ndilemma\n>It is against common understanding why Canada's more numerous bachelors\ndegree holders seemingly doesn't contribute to a more productive labour force.\nIf investments in education do not increase labour productivity (as predicted\nby nearly every model of labour economics), then what measures do affect\nproductivity?\n\nThe \"education system\" is not an education system. It is a selection system\nused to choose who gets one of the at any one tine limited number of jobs.\nIncreasing the number of people in that selection system makes it less\neffective, hence the lowered value of a degree, the need for internships, and\nincreased stress on personal networks for finding jobs.\n\n~~~\napi_or_ipa\nYour argument is absurd. You're implying the job market for university\neducated workers is perfectly inelastic and each successive degree holder\nproduces _no_ extra value on the margin. Moreover, you make the baseless\nassumption that competition amongst more candidates for skilled work produces\nno further value-- in other words, every worker is just as skilled.\n\nThere are many more plausible reasons that don't have to invoke such strong\nassumptions on the education and skilled workforce markets.\n\nCultural, social and political differences, a lower population density et al.\n\n------\nsbov\nMaybe I'm off base, but why would we necessarily expect great productivity\ngains? The late 90's to early 2000's was a time when computers become\nubiquitous. Yes, there are smart phones and tablets now, but the difference\nbetween \"by hand\" and \"by computer\" is far larger than \"by PC\" and \"by\ntablet\".\n\n------\nsnowwrestler\nWell duh; most of what Silicon Valley builds are not productivity tools. If\nanything they build anti-productivity tools like social media and\nentertainment.\n\n------\narjie\nHang on. Correct me if I'm being terribly obtuse here, but it looks like\nmaking an end goal process with a saturated market more efficient would count\nas a productivity loss?\n\nSo say everyone needs to pay taxes. Let's say that everyone complies and pays\na company $100 for software to do this. Now I make equivalent software which\nI'm able to sell for $50 (because I'm better at running my company, say). Now\npeople are spending exactly half as much money, but the same job is being\ndone. This looks like an economic productivity loss? If so, surely there are\nalternative models that capture the intuitive gain from things like this? Or\nmaybe such gains are rare and negligible?\n\n~~~\nYokoZar\nWhat happens in this situation is the people who used to make the obsolete\nthings are now out of a job, and eventually get employment somewhere else.\nWhat they do _then_ counts for productivity. If they earn what they did\nbefore, you'd measure no change in productivity -- though we'd all be better\noff.\n\nThe studies in the article assert that the size of the productivity shortfall\nis so large that even if we place pretty generous values on all this free\nstuff we have now it doesn't fully cover the gap.\n\n------\ncalinet6\nComplex systems never got any simpler, only more complex.\n\nCertain circles are beginning to realize that the main issues are human and\nnot technological (Lean, Deming, Kaizen, Design thinking, etc).\n\nSo there's your answer. Increasing complexity of work, with unchanged or at\nbest slowly increased ability to cope with it.\n\nFor a great overview and insight into this shift (and how to tackle it), check\nout Gen Stanley McChrystal's book, \"Team of Teams.\"\n\n~~~\ndilemma\nStandard Work is an incredibly interesting concept that I've just started\nlooking into for organizational design.\n\n~~~\ncalinet6\nOne of many concepts needed together to create a high-functioning\norganization.\n\n------\nbaconizer\n[off-topic] aren't mobile phones and tablets just sucking productivity out of\nmankind, if not slowing it down? was watching old movies from 90s with my lady\nand we both noticed how interactive ppl were in the background, on streets or\nin cafe, nowadays every one just dives into their mobile phones ...\n\n~~~\nbaddox\nAre you talking about economic productivity, or social interaction? Those are\ntwo questions with potentially very different answers. Also, I think the\nsocial interaction argument is pretty weak. The global connectedness that\ncomes from the Internet and smartphones is, in my opinion, a huge improvement\nto social interaction in the world. I'm not that fussed if I'm at a restaurant\nwith friends and some are using their phones.\n\n~~~\nbaconizer\nyes i immediately realised what you meant after my reply, so I should mark my\nwords as off topic. it did inspired me similar thinking today, before I saw\nthis :)\n\n------\nhenrikschroder\nThe article states that labor productivity has been growing less in the last\ndecade, but how is that measured? Is the productivity number compensated for\nthe number of hours worked? And is it measuring only labor performed by\nhumans?\n\n~~~\n_delirium\nYes, productivity is measured per hour of human labor.\n\n------\ncowardlydragon\nThe middle class never got any money for being more productive in the 90s and\naughts. Maybe they're wising up.\n\nAlso, virtually every market is dominated by cartel, duopoly, or monopoly\nconditions, and companies are often satisfied with that position, so\ninvestment is down.\n\n~~~\ntryitnow\nWhile I agree with your statement, it's not terribly germane to Cowen's\nargument.\n\nWhat he's saying is that all the fuss over Silicon Valley technology is not\nwarranted when it comes to actual productivity gains.\n\nThis is a really important point because it suggests two different way of\nconceiving of technology: 1) how economists define technology, viz something\nthat allows us to do more with less 2) what laymen consider technology: the\nlatest gee whiz gizmo marketed by Silicon Valley\n\nThe economic definition is a lot stricter in some ways - and broader in other\nways.\n\nThe takeaway is that in economic terms we really haven't experienced much\ntechnological evolution. I find that to be pretty believable.\n\n~~~\nTheOtherHobbes\nNo, the takeaway is that economic terms themselves haven't experienced much\nevolution.\n\nWhat does productivity mean when your economy is increasingly powered by data,\nnot money?\n\nAs a wild generalisation, there are two kinds of economic model - the\npolitical model, where the point is to use rhetoric to enhance power\ndifferentials between social castes, and the evolutionary model, which\nconsiders economic activity a proxy measure for collective intelligence and\nopportunity.\n\nWe're in a transition period where the former model is peaking and about to[1]\ncrash, and the latter model is becoming more sharply defined.\n\nIn the former model an abundance of data is a bad thing, because the market\nvalue of any specific type of data crashes towards zero.\n\nIn the latter model an abundance of data is a good thing, because it increases\nthe possibility of invention and innovation. And an abundance of data\nrefinement tools is even better.\n\nWhich is a more accurate measure of productivity?\n\n[1] For very poorly defined bounds of \"about to\". I'm guessing more than\ndecade, less than a century.\n\n~~~\nwilliamcotton\nCan I pay my rent in data? For humans like me who pay their rent in dollars,\nGDP is a perfectly reasonable way to measure productivity.\n\nWhat kind of \"evolution\" are you talking about? I think all you're pointing\nout is that Silicon Valley is extraordinarily bad at attributing value to\ndata.\n\nIt's not the roll of economics to fix that problem. Economics deals with real\nthings like people buying food and having to pay rent and pay actual taxes.\n\nIf Silicon Valley can't figure out a way to get translate \"data\" in to \"thing\nI trade to my landlord so he doesn't call the cops\", well, then Silicon Valley\nis wasting everyone's time.\n\n------\noldmanjay\nIt seems that trying to distill the activity of 7+ billion people into a line\ngraph that you can extend naively to make predictions is a bankrupt exercise.\nCalling lower-than-predicted growth a slowdown is more than a bit\ndisingenuous.\n\n~~~\nEricson2314\nI didn't read it as less-than-predicted growth, but rather simply less than\nprevious growth. Regardless, the wording of the article and headline is wrong,\nand makes me sad that evidently more people didn't learn / don't remember any\ncalculus.\n\nDerivative of productivity != productivity, NYT.\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\n> Derivative of productivity != productivity, NYT.\n\nSee, this is what happens with decades of people tolerating media confusion\nbetween the GDP and the annualized rate of growth of the GDP.\n\nNow its spreading to everything else.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHacker School banning “feigned surprise” is absolutely brilliant - SoftwarePatent\nhttp://brooklynoptimist.com/2014/04/10/hacker-school-banning-feigned-surprise-is-absolutely-brilliant/\n======\nawjr\nOne of the reasons I'm leaving my current role at the end of the month is due\nto this egocentric development approach from the team lead.\n\n\"Bzzzzzt\" and \"Schoolboy error\" are not good peer review comments to hand out\nto the team.\n\nTechnically the guy is very good, but it's toxic and unpleasant.\n\nWork for me is about doing cool stuff, learning new things, and most\nimportantly, helping the people I work with to do their job better and grow as\nindividuals (I feed them donuts on a daily basis ;) ).\n\n~~~\nawjr\nAs an aside, if you go for an interview and notice that each person has a Fail\nBuzzer (I never had one) as a 'joke', you should probably not accept a role if\nyou don't have a thick skin.\n\n~~~\nsergiotapia\nThey sound like fratboy douchebags. Did they hi-five you and chug some beers\nafter hiring you?\n\n~~~\nawjr\nI should probably write it up somewhere but the concept of the team going out\nand having a drink/socialising was quite alien to them.\n\n~~~\nasuffield\nAlcohol-centric social interaction is another form of exclusion. There are few\nthings I find quite so unpleasant as sitting in a noisy bar with people who\nare getting progressively inebriated.\n\n~~~\nchollida1\n> Alcohol-centric social interaction is another form of exclusion.\n\nI get that, it also happens to be a very popular form of socializing with many\npeople.\n\nTo be fair to your point, you can replace alcohol-centric, with bowling,\nconcerts, sporting events, lunch and every single other form of socializing\nand you can say its a form of exclusion as I can guarantee that no matter what\nform of socializing you pick I can find someone who it makes uncomfortable.\n\nHonestly sometimes I think the pendulum has swung too far back the other way\nto inclusion that we are actually exuding people by trying to be all thing to\nall people and not offending people.\n\n~~~\nchadwickthebold\nI think the point is to recognize that some people, like the person you are\nreplying to, my have an issue with drinking as a social activity. Not that you\nshouldn't have that as an option, but you should be aware if someone in the\ngroup is made uncomfortable by that.\n\nSpeaking to your point though, I have a friend who - no joke - hates bowling.\nLike, he gets violently angry when we suggested going bowling and said he'd\nrather sit in the car by himself if we went. Some people...\n\n~~~\nAndyKelley\n> Speaking to your point though, I have a friend who - no joke - hates\n> bowling. Like, he gets violently angry when we\n\n> suggested going bowling and said he'd rather sit in the car by himself if we\n> went. Some people...\n\nI'm one of those people.\n\n------\nyanowitz\nThere's a set of human interaction anti-patterns like this.\n\n(The article mentions another one -- excessive confidence and its inverse,\nability to acknowledge ignorance and learn from others. I'd also add a variant\nto that--having and expressing varying degrees of confidence in your opinions.\nThe more experience/evidence-based your opinion is, the more strongly you are\nlikely to be attached. But every opinion in software should have error bars\naround it, especially given the rapidity of change.)\n\nThe inverse of feigned surprise was neatly displayed to me by a coworker\nrecently, \"oh cool, today is the day you get to learn about X.\"\n\nI assume someone has written something brilliant about these sets of\ninteractions.\n\n~~~\narchagon\nOne anti-pattern I particularly hate is sarcasm. For some reason, people in\nmany online communities seem to think that they can't do without it — even\nthat it somehow defines their personalities. But whenever somebody posts\nsomething even remotely against the grain, and the top-voted reply is in the\nvein of \"Yeah, because _that 's_ a real problem\", there's just nothing more I\ncan do in that thread. It's a conversational dead-end.\n\n~~~\nnormloman\nI will defend sarcasm. Because sometimes, the only way to see the stupidity in\nyour argument is to hear it said back to you. And yeah, it stings a bit. All\nthe better.\n\n~~~\ndanielweber\nThe problem with sarcasm is that, when I use it, I'm not putting my own\nopinion out there to be critiqued, I'm only attacking the other guy's. I can\nchange my argument at will and claim \"I was only being ironic\" with prior\nclaims.\n\n~~~\nCrito\n> _\" I can change my argument at will and claim \"I was only being ironic\" with\n> prior claims.\"_\n\nThis is solved by explicitly stating when you are being sarcastic, _or_\nfollowing up the sarcastic paragraph with a paragraph that non-sarcastically\nexplains your position.\n\n> _\" The problem with sarcasm is that, when I use it, I'm not putting my own\n> opinion out there to be critiqued, I'm only attacking the other guy's.\"_\n\nI don't think that is actually problematic. There are certain issues that I do\nnot have strong feelings on one way or the other, so I consider my opinion on\nthose issues to be of relatively little consequence. Nevertheless, I am still\ncapable of analyzing and critiquing the merit of arguments made by others.\n\nFor instance, if the topic is tidal power stations being placed offshore of\nexpensive private beach property _(a topic that I do not care about one way or\nthe other)_ and somebody objects that the view from those beaches will be\ndestroyed, I might sarcastically quip that all transmission lines near golf\ncourses and country clubs should be razed, because rich people should never be\nforced to gaze upon infrastructure. I would give this sarcastic quip because,\nalthough I don't really give a shit about tidal power, I can still recognize a\nridiculous argument when I see one.\n\n------\ntikhonj\nAh, confidence. I tend to do the opposite: I hedge too much. If I don't watch\nmyself, I'd probably say, \"I think 3 is a prime number...\". Then again, I\n_have_ been guilty of projecting confidence a bit too much, probably in a way\nunpleasant to others.\n\nIn some ways, just banning a particular behavior feels a bit too much like\ntreating the symptom rather than the root cause. On the other hand, I can't\nimagine how to approach this problem more holistically.\n\nMore importantly, this rule is _simple_. Having a simple, strict rule like\nthis will help people help themselves. If they actually _want_ to be\nnicer—and, I've found, most people do—a few rules like this will help them\ncatch their own bad habits. And over time, it will help them be more\nintrospective. So perhaps it actually _is_ a way to treat the underlying\nproblem.\n\nI've been trying something similar myself, pattern matching on some of my bad\nhabits to try to reduce them. I don't know if it's been working holistically,\nbut at least I _feel_ like a nicer person. So that's something.\n\n~~~\neshvk\n> Ah, confidence. I tend to do the opposite: I hedge too much.\n\nI never had a formal computer science education and I also tend to do that.I\ntook enough Math, CS and Electrical Engineering courses to be utterly\nfrightened by what I don't know. This means that I also over-estimate what\nother people know. Oh, Sally has a pure math degree from Harvard, let me be\nvery careful talking about kernels around her. James studied Distributed\nSystems at MIT, I better over think my system design before I talk to him.\n\nWhat I have realized is that, this anti-pattern comes in conflict with the\nopposite anti-pattern. The one that comes from people who hide their\ninsecurities by being over-confident. The one that comes from people whose\ndeepest fear is saying \"I don't know\". To them, a person who says that is a\nperson who can't code. If you want to progress in your career, you will have\nto deal/learn to deal with such people. Being nice doesn't really help when\nthe other person is a \"Oh, you don't know X\" dick. Especially if you are\nworking in something that is a specialized domain where the other person\ndoesn't have the expertise to evaluate you.\n\n~~~\ngdilla\nThat is a very interesting anti-pattern, and I see it a lot in non\nengineering/tech companies (because I think people are insecure about the\nrapid technical changes they see about them). It's called the Dunning-Kruger\neffect [1].\n\n“One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are\nstupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt\nand indecision.” - Bertrand Russel [1]\n\n[1][http://www.spring.org.uk/2012/06/the-dunning-kruger-\neffect-w...](http://www.spring.org.uk/2012/06/the-dunning-kruger-effect-why-\nthe-incompetent-dont-know-theyre-incompetent.php)\n\n~~~\neshvk\nI don't want to get into the pattern of assuming that all people who are\ncertain are stupid. :) Especially since my career involves working with enough\npeople who are non tech but bring so much value to the table that I would be\nfoolish to assume that.\n\nHowever, another interesting side effect of Engineers who are so damn certain\nabout The Right Way is Product Owners or higher ups who have been trained by\nsuch engineers are absolutely confused by a person who expresses uncertainty.\n\nI have started learning the art of keeping the uncertainty to myself or a\ntrusted set of people who are OK with uncertainty and project a calm, clear\nvision to those who don't.\n\n------\nqwerta\n> “Feigned surprise” (when someone gasps and says something like: “you don’t\n> even know about monads?”)\n\nToo often the surprise is real. There are developers who do not know basics\nsuch as loops, conditions, arithmetic and so on.\n\nI use Java for a long time, but I have problem writing 'switch' statements. In\nScala it is very powerful so I use it often, in Java it is too primitive, so I\nalways just use bunch of 'if-else' statements.\n\nI am not sure what context of previous example applies to. It could be on\nsomeone who claims Haskel skills. But I think every well educated hacker /\nsoftware developer should know about nomads.\n\n~~~\nasuffield\nI have this unhappy experience every day, when I find people don't know things\nthat are essential to doing their jobs. I try hard not to let it show too much\nor fall into the trap of acting superior, but the soul-crushing depression\nmakes this hard.\n\n~~~\nshubb\nThe more I learn, the clearer it becomes that I know very little. Things that\nI used to know fade away - a few years out of college, I can't do matrix maths\nanymore.\n\nSoftware engineering is a big job. Software engineers might know about\nassembly code, pointers, design patterns, UML, functional programming,\nalgorithms, AI, statistics, reverse engineering, driver programming, SQL,\nNoSQL, matrix calculations and numeric simulation, control theory, cloud\nscaling, devops, unit testing, XML schema design...\n\nThen, if you think about the things outside programming an engineer might need\nto know, like marketing, sales, budget control, estimating, project\nmanagement, user experience design, graphic design, human psychology. And the\ndomain they are working in of course.\n\nThat's a lot to know. Even the basics. I don't know the basics of a lot of\nthose things.\n\nDoesn't meeting all these people who don't know things make you wonder what\nyou don't know that you don't know?\n\n~~~\njudk\nOf course I don't know everything. But the stuff I don't know is irrelevant to\nmy job. If you join my team, I expect you to know everything relevant to your\nnew job, not whatever trivia you might have found amusing elsewhere.\n\n------\nColinWright\n\n      > \"Feigned surprise\" (when someone gasps and says\n      > something like: \"you don’t even know about monads?\")\n    \n\nWhen someone doesn't know about something it's an opportunity for them to\nlearn, and for you to experience again the wonder and excitement of\ndiscovering something new. Don't exhibit your superiority just because you've\nbeen exposed to something they haven't, seize with both hands the thrill of\nlearning.\n\n[https://xkcd.com/1053/](https://xkcd.com/1053/)\n\n~~~\njerf\nTone and context are everything. Let's not pretend this isn't usually passive-\naggressive. (And not even very passive passive-aggressive...)\n\n~~~\nhamburglar\nI agree that tone and context are everything, but I don't agree that it's\n\"usually\" passive-aggressive. On my team, if someone says \"oh, man, you\nhaven't heard about X?\" it's usually said with a relish that translates to\n\"dude, you're gonna love this. Check it out: ...\"\n\nI guess that means I don't work with dicks.\n\n------\nmoron4hire\nI have tried for a long time to be understanding of people's differing\nexperiences. Mostly because I've been on the receiving end of so much feigned\nsurprise. I was home-schooled, but actually had a fairly normal childhood\notherwise. My parents didn't shelter my sister and me from pop culture, we\nembraced it just as much as any other family in our podunk Pennsylvania town.\nIt used to really put me off in college when people would laugh at me for not\ngetting an obscure cultural reference--even if I knew what franchise it was\nfrom, just hadn't had time to watch that particular one--assuming it was\nanother \"home schoolers are so sheltered\" moment. No, I'm sorry, there is just\na finite number of television watching hours in a life, and when you were\nwatching Captain Planet, I was watching Teenage Mutant Nina Turtles.\n\nIncidentally, I used to get it from my home schooler \"friends\", too. They\nwould gasp to learn I hadn't read such and such work of classic English\nliterature. Comments about how poor of a reader I must be too have not read\nDickins. Will, sorry I haven't helped validate your childhood, but just\nbecause I hated Oliver Twist and read Kipling instead doesn't mean I didn't\nread any classics.\n\nSo yeah, just be careful. Feigned surprise ids also a form of exclusionary\nprejudice. If you can't even be accepting of someone who is nearly culturally\nidentical to you, then your chances are grim for when you meet someone who is\nreally different.\n\n~~~\njrs99\ncould be a different kind of feigned surprise. Like they want to express how\nweird they find it that you don't know about something.\n\nif someone said \"What!? You've NEVER listened to this album?\", and then\nremoved the album from their shelf and shoved it in my hands, I don't know if\nthat would be in the same class as the passive aggressive type of feigned\nsurprise.\n\nor if someone sees a bag of milk in my fridge and says \"What!? Your milk comes\nin BAGS???\"\n\n~~~\nmoron4hire\nWhen it was followed up with \"told you homeschoolers are weird\", I think I'm\nwell outside of the realm of assumption.\n\nUsually, when people learn I was homeschooled, the first words out of their\nmouth are \"really? You don't seem weird.\" I used to reply with, \"oh? How many\nhomeschooled kids do you know?\" Now I answer, \"oh, I'm certainly weird, just\nnot for that reason.\"\n\n------\nufukbay\nI have been in a similar situation where my \"good will\" caused one of my best\ncoworkers to feel superiour than me and started to try to boss me around. For\nmore than two years everything was fine because we worked on different\nprojects. However for the last couple of months, working together on the same\nproject, everything went down the drain.\n\nI talked to him about big changes and new features before implementing them to\nhear his opinion in order to make him feel more involved but in one of those\nmeetings, he said something like: \"You wouldn't be able to do this on your own\nif I didn't help you. Did you learn about this kind of stuff at school?\". This\nwas the start of a chain of events which finally led to quitting my job and\ntaking up new one from the beginning of May.\n\nNext time I will make sure that I either won't talk about everything in detail\nto my coworker or make sure that people understand why I'm involving them in\nthe decision making.\n\n~~~\njudk\nPeople at my office are afraid to communicate because they don't want other\npeople to think they are dumb and punish them politically.\n\nDon't fall victim to that. Be the good teammate you know how to be. You will\nlearn more and get more done than if you keep your shields up. You may suffer\nfrom insulting peer reviews short term, but you will be a hero to others who\nare like you but more timid, and you will learn and grow faster which will\nmake you more impressive at your next gig.\n\n~~~\nufukbay\nYeah, with lack of communication, stress and chaos is inevitable, it's just a\nmatter of time. At my next gig, I'll give my best to keep an high level of\ncommunication between my teammates.\n\n------\naaronetz\nI am very much against feigned surprise, but this just a symptom of the\nunderlying personality. Ban one thing - and the personality will find other\nways to manifest itself. It's better, in my opinion, to just have an unspoken\nrule like \"respect your coworkers\" and make sure to help arrogant people\nimprove their social skills (sometimes those people don't even realize that\ntheir behavior is causing grief to others).\n\n~~~\ngommm\nI think sometimes correcting the symptom leads the person to realize that they\nare doing that and correct the problem. It's easy to behave like a jerk\nwithout realizing it and a lot of people who come off as arrogant don't\nimagine themselves as being so. If you tell them to respect their coworkers,\nit doesn't have the same impact because it not actionable (they already\nimagine themselves as being respectful).\n\nThat's why banning specific toxic behaviors work, it encourages introspection\nfor people whose bad behavior is unintentional.\n\n~~~\nlawtguy\nThe ban also removes some of the reward for this behavior. Some of the people\nare doing it to make themselves look superior and the target inferior. With\nthe ban, they can instantly be pulled up short (\"Hey! We don't do that here at\nHacker School.\") thus instantly removing some of the superiority they thought\nthey had gained.\n\n------\nfacepalm\nWhy not just have a rule to be nice to each other? Personally I wouldn't like\na climate of micromanaged human interaction. But of course for others it might\nbe different. I am not saying they should change their policy, just that it\nwould be off-putting to me.\n\n~~~\nzhemao\nFrom the Hacker School manual in which these rules are spelled out.\n\n> The goal isn't to burden Hacker School with a bunch of annoying rules, or to\n> give us a stick to bludgeon people with for \"being bad.\" Rather, these rules\n> are designed to help all of us build a pleasant, productive, and fearless\n> community.\n\nTo build a positive environment, it sometimes helps to have a list of specific\ntoxic behaviors that should be avoided.\n\n~~~\nfacepalm\nSure, I guess it depends how you interpret the world \"rule\". It could just be\na recommendation, or people could be expelled for breaking it.\n\n~~~\nzhemao\nDifferent rules have different punishments. It's in the nature of rules. I\nvery much doubt that anyone at Hacker School has been kicked out for feigning\nsurprise.\n\n------\naxanoeychron\nI honestly find this behaviour so difficult to understand.\n\nWhy treat people like this? What advantage does it serve?\n\nIf someone does not know something, it is not an excuse for belittlement. It\nis not an upperhand. It's an opportunity to teach and learn from teaching.\nThis probably makes me a minority and just reinforces my perspective that\nhuman ego can be fundamentally broken and requires time to healthily\nconstruct.\n\n~~~\nleephillips\n\"Why treat people like this? What advantage does it serve?\"\n\nYou seem to have answered your own question in your subsequent remarks. The\nfeigned surprise is a habit of people with very low self esteem. They\nconstantly seek to reassure themselves by trying to place others (usually\npeople whom they fear are more capable than they are) into a position of lower\nsocial status.\n\nIf you are on the receiving end of a feigned surprise attack, think back\nthrough your interactions with the attacker: you will probably remember\nsomething recent that revealed that you had some skill or knowledge that the\nattacker lacked. From that moment on, he was looking for a way to reassert his\nsocial status.\n\n------\nminikomi\nThis reminds me of how great I thought this was:\n\n    \n    \n        Hacker School is positive. When I had a bug that I didn’t \n        understand and asked one of the facilitators to help me out,\n        they would frequently say “Oh, interesting!”. The attitude was \n        “Oh, is something not working? How delightful! \n        A learning opportunity!”. \n    \n\nsource: [http://jvns.ca/blog/2014/02/15/how-was-hacker-\nschool/](http://jvns.ca/blog/2014/02/15/how-was-hacker-school/)\n\n------\nocto_t\nWhat about just surprise?\n\nI've met people who claim to be 'experts' in C++, but (for example) don't know\nhow to use STL algorithms.\n\n~~~\nsillysaurus3\nI'm a C++ expert, but I've never touched std::for_each, for example. (I could\nlearn it in about two minutes if it became necessary to know, but it hasn't\never been.)\n\nIn general, #include <algorithm> is a bit worrisome, because it usually\nindicates someone is trying to be overly clever with C++. On the other hand,\nif the codebase is written in that style, then the _whole_ codebase should be\nconsistently written in that style. The inconsistency is the worrisome part:\neither use it everywhere or nowhere.\n\nAnyway, STL is pretty massive, and knowing all of it isn't the same thing as\nbeing a C++ expert. Knowing what to avoid is almost as important as knowing\nwhat to use.\n\n~~~\njcd748\nYou probably don't need std::for_each anymore. With C++11, you can do the\nfollowing:\n\nfor (const auto& element : collection) { }\n\nWhat's wrong with <algorithm>? I use it all the time for sort, swap, and\nrandom_shuffle comes up more frequently than I expect.\n\n~~~\nsillysaurus3\nThose are all fine. Actually, I forgot that sort was in <algorithm>. I was\njust recalling some of the horrors I've seen due to pre-C++11 fanciness. There\nseems to be a temptation for C++ programmers to overuse clever tricks.\nLuckily, with C++11 fewer tricks are necessary.\n\nUnfortunately, the gamedev industry will probably be stuck with pre-C++11 for\nanother decade.\n\n~~~\nemmelaich\n> I'm a C++ expert ..\n\n> I forgot that sort was in <algorithm>\n\nUhm, sillysaurus3, could I see you in my office please.\n\n:-)\n\n~~~\nsillysaurus3\nMy brain space is limited, so I use it sparingly. Memorizing which header file\nprovides which function is something I've left out. That's what IDEs and\nGoogle are for. ;)\n\n------\nbryan_rasmussen\n_gasp_ I didn't even know what feigned surprise was!\n\n~~~\ntheorique\nI'm _amazed_ that you didn't know about feigned surprise. _Everyone_ knows\nabout feigned surprise (or so I thought).\n\n------\njgroome\nReminds me of this article from way back when:\n\n[http://thingist.com/item/4372/](http://thingist.com/item/4372/)\n\nNot exactly the same, but talks about this attitude prevalent among tech types\nthat encourages belittling of those less experienced/knowledgable.\n\n------\nwingerlang\nThis seems to be the post in question:\n[https://www.hackerschool.com/blog/1-summer-2012-applications...](https://www.hackerschool.com/blog/1-summer-2012-applications-\nopen)\n\n~~~\nlogn\nReading that post and the blog post linked, I think I see computer science\nprograms in a better light now. At least in an automata/assembly/algebra class\nyou're not going to find people who think they're hotshots for knowing the\nmaterial. Most people struggle through and then go find spare time to learn\nprogramming. I'd be really down on myself for not knowing all the latest\nprogramming trends in hacker school, kind of like now when I read endless\nJavascript blogs about new tools, but the difference is I know enough now to\nknow what's important to have a grasp on and what's noise.\n\n------\nmcguire\nThe article might be improved if it mentioned what Hacker School was and how\nthey had banned \"feigned surprise\".[1]\n\n[1] [https://www.hackerschool.com/manual#sec-\nenvironment](https://www.hackerschool.com/manual#sec-environment)\n\n------\npunkrockpolly\nBefore Hacker School, I never realized how unhelpful this was. The naive logic\nis, \"well, I'm genuinely surprised that this person didn't know this\". But in\nthe grand reality of things, all of us know very little. Even experts in one\narea, don't know basic things in another area. By removing the shaming of\nadmitting what you don't know, Hacker School encourages everyone to move past\nthat and help each other learn.\n\n~~~\nlawtguy\nI think this is exactly why they added this rule: some people didn't realize\nthe negative effects of acting surprised when someone doesn't know something.\nThe jerks are probably still going to be jerks of course, but for the others\nit's a chance to learn about how to better interact with the people around\nthem.\n\n------\nbadman_ting\nOh, people who do that are terrible. But then, nerds have _so many_ terrible\npersonality tics like that, which is why they/we are considered socially\nungraceful. Another favorite of mine is the one where you take what someone\nsaid super literally, as a joke (a terribly unfunny joke).\n\n------\njl6\nThis was a new term for me, though I recognise the behaviour. I think the term\nwill help fight it. Reminds me of the phrase \"false balance\" which was also\nnew to me recently.\n\nNames are so important!\n\n------\nArgorak\nI struggle with this anti-pattern. I used to use it, but I know how bad it is.\nIn bad moments, it still slips.\n\nMy solution has been to be more proactive about it. If I see a topic coming\nup, I just ask \"you know about (ABC)?\", which gives the other person the\noption to say \"yes\" (instead of getting something explained they know) or\n\"no\", which is a good start to an explanation.\n\n~~~\nsjtrny\nThe problem is that sometimes the person feels under pressure to pretend they\nknow so they say yes anyway.\n\n~~~\nArgorak\nSure, but thats a different problem you have to solve on another level and\ninherent in all such conversations.\n\n------\ngelisam\nAfter reading the title but before reading the article, I was trying to\nimagine a situation in which anybody might want to fake surprise in a work\nenvironment. The only thing I came up with was as a teaching mechanism, as in:\n\"your program is crashing when you divide by zero instead of returning NaN?\nHow strange! Let's investigate together\".\n\nI was quite surprised to see that by \"feigned surprise\", the article actually\nmeant something along the lines of \"really, you expected an integer operation\nto return NaN?\". The article does explain why people might say that, but I\nstill have a hard time believing it. Why would anybody want to say that? It's\nnot helpful at all.\n\nI guess I must be lucky never to have worked in the bad working environments\ndescribed by the article.\n\n~~~\nbiscarch\n> Why would anybody want to say that? It's not helpful at all.\n\nThe way I read the article (and think about this topic in general) is pretty\nclose to the way I perceived the part of your response that I quoted.\n\nEssentially it often combines explicit or implicit generalized language\n(anybody, nobody, everybody, etc) with an assertion that something is\n\"obvious\" or in some other way \"beneath\" the person saying it. It's not\nnecessarily that people _want_ to say it but more likely that they are unaware\nof what they're saying for whatever reason. By giving it a name Hacker School\nis letting people realize the topic and, hopefully, reducing occurrences.\n\nIMO \"Feigned Surprise\" is a bit of a misnomer but I haven't come up with\nanything better to call it. It may be more correlated with imperfect\narticulation of people's assumptions than actual surprise.\n\n------\nmathattack\nThe \"Let me find something you don't know\" is almost always compensation for a\nproblem of the overconfident. Usually it stems from them being on the\nreceiving end of it. Perhaps in the form of, \"Oh, you can't run a 7 minute\nmile?\" when they were younger.\n\n------\nmyth_drannon\nHere is a short presentation about Hacker School at our local Python meetup\ngiven by someone who went there. She also talks about feigned surprises\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W6yQ2dXJk8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W6yQ2dXJk8)\n\n------\nDanBC\nSome schools in the UK recognisd that some children do not want to look stupid\nby givin the wrong answer or appearing not to know something.\n\nThey realised that this stops those children from asking questions, not jist\nfrom answering questions.\n\nOne technique used to overcome this is for the teacher to nominate a pupil to\nattempt an answer. It doesn't matter iftheu don't know - that's part of the\nprocess.\n\nA side benefit is the teacher gets more inderstanding of any mosconceptions\nthe pupils have.\n\nThere are lots of subtle things happening with teaching and it's a bit\nworrying that we don't have much research or we don't ise the research we\nhave.\n\n~~~\narjie\nIt's an interesting pedagogical technique I've seen elsewhere too. What are\nthe results of applying it?\n\nI know that I was in a class where the teacher followed this procedure. I\n_dreaded_ the moment when I'd be picked even though the questions were usually\nsimple enough if you read for the class and paid attention. It turned my\ninsides to water every time. Absolute dread. Made an otherwise fun class\nscary.\n\n------\ncruise02\nAs always, there's a relevant xkcd. It's one of my favorites.\n[https://xkcd.com/1053/](https://xkcd.com/1053/)\n\n------\nAnimalMuppet\nThe rule is a great idea. But even without it, you can counter this kind of\njunk. \"Hey, why did you respond that way? Does your ego need the boost from\nacting smugly superior? Or is the problem that you don't understand it well\nenough to help me out by actually explaining it?\"\n\nThat would probably cost you someone's friendship, but if they're pulling this\nkind of stunt on you, I'm not sure that they were your friend anyway...\n\n------\nd4vlx\nWhen I worked at Thoughworks there were several people who were terrible for\nthis. Many of them senior. It significantly reduced my respect for the company\nand I left as soon as I found a good replacement.\n\nWhat made it particularly irksome was that they heavily market themselves both\ninternally and externally as being above such things. The cognitive dissonance\nreally grated on me.\n\n------\nrmrfrmrf\nI combat \"feigned surprise\" by admitting that I don't know something and\nasking the person for an explanation.\n\n------\nkyberias\nI still think there are valid and sincere reasons to be surprised when someone\ndoesn't know something and it's OK to express that surprise. Especially in\nprivate conversations!\n\n------\nlowglow\nIf you've gone to a dev school, please help share your experience with others\nwho are looking:\n\n[http://schools.techendo.co/](http://schools.techendo.co/)\n\n------\nef47d35620c1\nIf I went around lording my specific domain knowledge over others, I would\nnever learn anything new myself. What a waste of my life and human\ninteractions that would be.\n\n------\nap22213\nI always try to remember that the most expressive (e.g. loudest) person isn't\nnecessarily the smartest, even though my brain is built to associate the two.\n\n------\ndaemonk\nThe more you know, the more you realize how much you don't know. Feigning\nsurprise just reflects how much of a knowledge bubble one exists in.\n\n------\nMozai\nWould it be better to ban all sarcasm or intentional irony? It's sending a\nmessage by using the opposite signal.\n\n~~~\nnormloman\nWould it be better to ban all subtlety in human communication and reduce the\nexpressive capabilities of speech to straight forward description?\n\n------\ncool-RR\n_What?_ You don't know what feigned surprise means?\n\n------\njudk\narticle seems to be a response to an announcement HS made, but source is not\nlinked or quoted.\n\n------\ngolergka\nThis needs to be a rule. Can we make it a rule?\n\n------\nmichaelochurch\nFeigned surprise is petty bullying by people who get their asses kicked by\neven nastier bullies: the business assholes who run this industry because, as\nengineers, we're absolutely _terrible_ at fighting for our own interests, and\nhave let ourselves become a colonized people who mostly implement others'\nshitty ideas and are paid in table scraps.\n\nIt's no different from the playground bully who goes home and gets the shit\nbeaten out of him by his drunk-ass dad. Because he can't wallop his father, he\ntakes it out on the other kids. These asshats (the ones who feign surprise)\ncan't do anything about the VCs and product executives and idiot fuckups who\nmake the life of a typical programmer so terrible, so they take it out on\nother engineers whom they perceive as marginal: women, minorities, people over\nor under the group's age range, and new entrants to the field.\n\n~~~\nmjolk\nIt's pretty heavy conjecture to assume that jerks are bigots or misogynists\nbecuase they're mad at someone else at work.\n\n~~~\nmichaelochurch\nIf someone's a member of the Taliban or the Ku Klux Klan, it's likely that his\nissues go deeper than \"mad at the boss man\".\n\nHowever, even your most obnoxious brogrammer is not likely to be in the Klan.\nHe probably isn't even a bigot. He's a bully. There's a difference. Bullies\nattack those who are politically weak. It so happens that politically weak\npeople are often in a minority in that environment, but I don't think gender,\nrace, or age are explicitly part of their selection process.\n\nThe archetypical bully brogrammer doesn't wake up and say, \"after my 10:30\nprotein shake, I'm going to direct a few microaggressions at female\nprogrammers. Oh, and Mark turns 40 on Thursday, so I need to put him on my\nrotation.\" It doesn't work that way, obviously. They pick on the weak--\nwhoever that may be, and it often changes-- because they're picked-on from\nabove and it's their only way to restore their battered confidence.\n\n~~~\nmjolk\nYou seem to have a very specific anecdote in mind.\n\n~~~\nmichaelochurch\nActually, no. The \"protein shake\" anecdote was just me throwing bro\nstereotypes and tech-sphere complaints together.\n\nTypical tech bullies avoid and ignore me because they know I'm good at what I\ndo, and better than most of them. The only time I face adversity from a\nprogrammer is when I make him insecure (which doesn't require that I be\nbetter, although that's often the case.)\n\n------\nzk00006\nI work myself, so don't actually have much experience with this rule. But\npeople need negative feedback which often creates big motivation for them and\nenforces learning. Giving only positive examples does not help to become\nbetter person/programmer/whatever...\n\n~~~\ncowls\nThere's a difference between constructive negative feedback and trying to\nsubtly belittle someone.\n\nNot knowing about something is not really a negative feedback point\n\n~~~\nKarunamon\nTo be fair, the author does not successfully make their case that \"feigned\"\nsurprise (how does one know enough about the mental state of another person to\nmake that assumption anyways?) is always negative or always bad.\n\nFunny, in that an article about not making assumptions is packed with them,\nnot the least of which is the assumption that someone who is visibly surprised\nwhen you don't know something is expressing some kind of superiority or\nbelittling.\n\n------\nbrianpgordon\nAnother way of looking at it is that shame is a good disincentive for\nignorance. It _shouldn 't be OK_ to ask questions like \"what's Lisp?\" or\n\"what's synchronization?\" (both of which I've heard). We can enforce that norm\nby rewarding such questions with a grimace. Of course, the absolute most\nimportant thing is to make sure that the environment doesn't become toxic with\ndisdain, but I don't think it's _in general_ a sin to \"feign surprise\" or\nsimilar.\n\n~~~\nAndrewDucker\nIf it's not ok then make that clear up-front and then tell people when they've\ncrossed over into an area that you expect them to understand on their own.\n\nDoing it in a comedic fashion doesn't help, it's just bullying.\n\n~~~\nbrianpgordon\nPlaying out that scene, I can't imagine taking your approach in actual\nconversation with a peer.\n\nPeer: Synchronized? Me: I'm sorry, you've crossed over into an area that I\nexpect you to understand on your own.\n\nThat kind of room-silencing confrontation makes you seem like way more of an\nasshole than answering their question but with a raised eyebrow or feigned\nsurprise.\n\n~~~\nAndrewDucker\nNope, an arched eyebrow makes you look like much more of a dick there. Because\nyou're implying that it's basic stuff, _and_ that it's not even worth you\ntelling them that, because they're so beneath you at that point.\n\nIn a meeting with a peer (rather than a training course/academy situation)\nyou'd presumably tell them that that's fairly basic stuff that you don't want\nto derail a meeting with, and that you'd point them at some resources later.\n\n~~~\nbrianpgordon\n> you're implying that it's basic stuff, _and_ that it's not even worth you\n> telling them that, because they're so beneath you at that point\n\nThat's not how I'd mean it at all. Maybe I'm overanalyzing our folkways but in\ngeneral it seems to be more polite to communicate something unpleasant in a\nway which the other person can pretend to not have noticed. Twitching your\nnose when you know they're looking is more polite than saying \"dude you've got\nBO.\" It allows you to gloss over the unpleasantness and continue the\nconversation.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSoviet Santa - mr_golyadkin\nhttps://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/soviet-santa\n======\naasasd\nEven though we're behind Europe in religiosity and far behind the US, Orthodox\nChristianity was alive and well here after the fall of the SU, and Christmas\nand Easter are variously observed. It's rather notable that despite the\nBolsheviks' no-nonsense and literal approach to eradicating religion,\nChristianity and the church have survived the Soviet era pretty well. One\nreason for this is said to be that in the ramp-up to the Great Patriotic War,\nthe government dropped the anti-religious rhetoric and adopted instead the\nposition of ‘unite and defend your motherland and the people’.\n\nAdd to this the fact that in the 70s and likely later, people were still\nmigrating from rural villages to the cities, with the whole baggage of\ninherited religiosity and mishmash of folk beliefs. My grandmother put in\nplenty of time in prayer each day. Icons or whole arrangements of them are a\nfeature in many homes, cars and sometimes, more rarely, offices. And I still\nreceive messages from my parents each year, commemorating birth and then the\nresurrection of Christ. Folk culture doesn't tend to follow an official\ndoctrine, as exemplified by troves of Soviet jokes—and is also not big on\nideological clarity, so many didn't see a problem in subscribing to both\nsocialism and Christianity, along with crystal healing, magical powers of\nthought and a bouquet of other fringe beliefs.\n\nIn the 90s, my home city already had a bunch of churches including at least\none large temple, and one or two monasteries—and I don't think they popped up\nrecently.\n\nNotably also, even Bolsheviks preserved old and unassuming Karelian wooden\nchurches, recognizing them as architectural and cultural monuments—while\ndemolishing some huge temples in Moscow. Like the Kondopoga church, built in\n1774 and which somebody burned down in August of 2018:\n[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Church_of_the_Do...](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Church_of_the_Dormition_of_the_Theotokos_\\(Kondopoga\\))\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dormition_Church,_Kondopoga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dormition_Church,_Kondopoga)\n\n~~~\nRickJWagner\nIt's just my opinion, but it's not uncommon. I believe Blaise Pascal (the\nbrilliant French mathematician) got it right when he said \"There is a God-\nshaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any\ncreated thing.....\"\n\nFor this reason, I doubt religion will ever die. It will be with us always.\n\n~~~\nskrebbel\nI'd wager that most atheists assume that God is very much a \"created thing\",\nwhich makes that quote feel pretty awkward.\n\n~~~\naasasd\nI vaguely heard some theories that in the absence of better explanations,\nhumans gravitate to attributing weird phenomenons to divine will. Not sure if\nthis is in any way scientific. Inventing forest spirits seems to come pretty\nnaturally by anthropomorphizing a variety of things, but I guess it gets\ncomplicated when dealing with lightning and such, and the deities evolve\naccordingly.\n\nAfaik neuroscience also can induce ‘divine’ experience by applying current in\na proper place.\n\n------\nandreyk\nAs a Russian, can confirm this article is quite accurate - my family only ever\ncelebrates New Years, it's the same as Christmas is usually in the West, and\nDed Moroz is totally a thing.\n\n~~~\ndmix\nHow do you pronounce Ded Moroz in an anglophone way? I noticed you used “Dez”\ninstead of Ded.\n\n~~~\nfirstbabylonian\nThat’s a typo.\n\nThe pronunciation is close to “dee-yet mah-ross”\n\n~~~\nizacus\nYep, we called him \"Dedek Mraz\" in the balkans which also literaly translates\ninto Grandfather Frost.\n\n(Although we did celebrate christmas since the anti-religion clampdown wasn't\nthat aggressive in Yugoslavia.)\n\n~~~\nxmars\nMraz, sounds like мразь, not a very good word :))\n\n~~~\npandaman\nThe word literally means \"something that causes chills\" so it's not that\ndifferent from slavic \"mraz\". It just had been used exclusively in a\nfigurative meaning to describe something that is so disgusting that it makes\none shake.\n\n------\ntwooclock\nCorrect artice and being from ex communist country even after more than 25\nyears I certainly have issues celebrating christmas. \"They were able to\ncelebrate Christmas, but they had never done it before.\" most resonates with\nme. Makes me realize the importance of traditions and how fragile they are.\n\n~~~\nm0zg\nYou do? We (Russian Americans in the US) celebrate two Christmases and two New\nYears, both by the \"new\" calendar (Dec 25/Jan 1) and by the old (Jan 7\nChristmas, Jan 13 \"Old\" New Year). Because, as they say in Russia, \"there's no\nreason not to drink\".\n\n~~~\nnradov\nSerbians also still celebrate Christmas and New Years according to the old\nJulian calendar. In a few thousand years they really will have Christmas in\nJuly.\n\n~~~\npeapicker\nIt moves 3 days forward versus the Gregorian calendar every 400 years. So\nabout 24,000 years (a little less) to hit July\n\n~~~\nddsea\nThink positive: it's just another reason to drink in July in 400 years.\n\n~~~\nm0zg\nIt shows that you're not an Eastern European. There they need a reason to stay\nsober. Drinking is the natural state, hence the lower life expectancy.\n\n------\nbad_user\nWe also had \"Ded Moroz\" in communist Romania, translated to \"Moș Gerilă\".\n\nIt was imported due to the soviet occupation after WWII and the subsequent\nadoption of communism. The word Christmas was censored in 1948. In the 80s our\nbeloved supreme leader wanted to associate those presents with the state\ninstead of Moș Gerilă, so things got a little weird with the state propaganda.\n\nAfter the revolution in 1989 we changed the holiday to the Christmas in the\nGregorian calendar and Santa Claus, translated as \"Moș Crăciun\" (Father\nChristmas).\n\n------\njimbobimbo\nWe still don't know who was Ded Moroz's son or daughter though.\n\n~~~\nxmars\nСнегурочка. But she is probably granddaughter\n\n~~~\nto1y\nShes not related to Ded Moroz. If anything shes depicted as his wife\n\n~~~\nxmars\nWtf, she is always with him on performances and helping him. And check wiki,\nshe is his granddaughter. She is too young relatively to him))\n\n------\ncat199\n> Santa Claus is one of several manifestations of a particular wintertime\n> character, probably originating with the pagan, pre-Christian Germanic and\n> Norse god Odin.\n\nNo, 'Santa Slaus' is a distortion of st. nicholas, to which people may or may\nnot have ascribed characteristics of previous 'wintertime characters', as\nattested to by the further examples of: Sinterklaas, Mikulás, which are both\nactually not distinct entities, but both 'St Nicholas' in their respective\nlanguages. One can make some anthropological case that these are\n'manifestations', but in the case of 'Santa Klaus', the core 'identity' is\nstill a 'nicholas figure' to which people may or may not have ascribed other\nattributes. Lineage and conceptual transactions are important here, esp. since\nthis makes a less appealing narrative to spin, when one is trying to downplay\nthe second-ranked feast day in the official state religion of an empire that\nviewed itself as the direct and legitimate successor of imperial christian\nrome.\n\ne.g:\n\n\"It wasn’t really a festival exactly, but more of a somber religious holiday\nmarked by fasting and long church services in Old Church Slavonic\"\n\nThis is what feast days (aka 'festivals') _are_ in orthodoxy. Followed by a\n'feast'. So yes, it was a festival, \"exactly\".\n\nChristmas was a major day of important significance in imperial russia, and\nFr. Frost was directly promoted as a secular replacement for St. Nicholas,\nbecause soviet-style communists are militantly athiest and hostilly anti-\nreligion. The very fact that this figure exists is a testimonial to the need\nto provide a 'foil' for the people to accept his removal, rather than just\nsome casual 'cultural shift' to a different 'winter character manifestation'.\n\nAs for people 'forgetting how to celebrate christmas' during soviet times,\nplease recall (whether positively or negatively) that Mr. Putin's mother had\nhim baptized in secret from his communist father and he makes pilgrimages to\nmonasteries regularly. The current high place of the church in russian society\ndid not just originate in some ideological vaccum, many never gave up in the\nface of overt and militant religious hostility.\n\n------\ntomaszs\nI live in Poland. Before 89 when my country was occupied by Russia, \"Soviet\nSanta\" was forced here to replace Santa Clous. It was one of many things that\nwas made to erase Christianity and replace it with atheism and communism. Fake\nChristmas, fake Santa, zero beliefs. I was young back than but i felt its\nshallow and dark. So for me Soviet Santa is a symbol of the occupation and\nRussian tyrrany Poland was under until 89...\n\n~~~\nc-smile\nCould you elaborate on \"Poland was occupied by Russia\"?\n\nLet's put alone that in 89 it was USSR so Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia, etc.\nall together.\n\nIn any case there were no Russian troops stationed in Poland. Quite opposite,\nPoland and its army was one of leading members of Warsaw Pact (the name,\nsic!).\n\nSo what does \"occupation\" mean in your statement?\n\n~~~\ncat199\nNot OP, but see Hungary '56 and Czechoslovakia '68 for what happens to\n'leading warsaw pact members' who decide they want to deviate from the soviet\nparty line.\n\n~~~\nlucian1900\nYes, we should be so sad that fascist uprisings threatening to exterminate the\npoor, disabled and non-native were instead defeated with help from friendly\nsocialist countries.\n\nNot all protests, uprisings and revolutions are good. Look at their class\ncharacter and composition.\n\n~~~\ncat199\na) Thread context was communist poland being a vassal of the USSR, whose\npolicy was subordinate to the CPSU. These examples highlight that policy was\nnot in fact independent in these countries, and, when significant deviation\noccured, soviet military invasion was a consequence. Whether the uprisings /\ndeviations are good or bad is secondary to this point.\n\nb) As for 'facism': show me the 'facism' in the key documents:\n\nHU:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demands_of_Hungarian_Revolutio...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demands_of_Hungarian_Revolutionaries_of_1956)\n\nCS:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism_with_a_human_face](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism_with_a_human_face)\n\n(yes, wikipedia scholarship, better sources welcome)\n\nwhile I have no doubt that facists would piggy-back on to any anti-communist\nmovement to seize a moment of opportunity, framing either of these as 'facist'\nat their core is at best poor analysis. Even hard-core bolsheviks would\ndifferentiate betwean 'bourgeois-democratic reactionaries' and 'facists' since\nbeing clear in distinction is necessary for proper argument/strategy.\n\n------\nkuzko_topia\nGosh, this website is one of the worst cookie consent implementation with the\noath familly...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow Will Police Solve Murders on Mars? - xref\nhttps://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/09/mars-pd/569668/?single_page=true\n======\nanoncoward111\nThis is a loaded question. The police are a relatively new phenomenon. For\nexample, in Iceland in the Middle Ages, murders were settled privately between\nfamilies. In Northern Albania, its debatable that that practice continues to\nthis day.\n\nHumans will find a way to settle and enforce and prevent. I am not sure we\nwill see a Martian NYPD for some time.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\n2006 Apple Patent: multiple cameras embedded within LCD display - fiaz\nhttp://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220060007222%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20060007222&RS=DN/20060007222\n\n======\ncar\nIt's an application, not a patent.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nReddit launches an \"about\" page to help new users understand it - austenallred\nhttp://www.reddit.com/about\n\n======\nraldi\nThat's been there for eleven and a half months.\n\n[http://blog.reddit.com/2012/06/announcing-rabout-and-\nreddit-...](http://blog.reddit.com/2012/06/announcing-rabout-and-reddit-\npostcards.html)\n\n~~~\naustenallred\nIt's a page that drops down at the top first time you open Reddit on a device\nnow, not just a subreddit no one will find anyway.\n\n------\nlysium\nWhy are so many April fool's jokes listed in the history time line?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nBooks all founders should read - davidcrow\nhttp://startupnorth.ca/2012/10/29/jump-into-bin-38-founder-books/\n\n======\ndavidcrow\nI'd like to see \"Getting to Yes\" or \"Getting Past No\" in addition. I think\nboth of these books are great at helping founders understand that negotiations\nare not zero-sum games.\n\n~~~\nwoohoo\nI second \"Getting to Yes\" - love that one.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe end of cloud computing [video] - rmason\nhttp://a16z.com/2016/12/16/the-end-of-cloud-computing/\n======\nclusmore\nSo we started with centralized mainframes, because it was too expensive for\neverybody to have their own computer. As hardware improves, computers become\ncheaper and more powerful and then everybody can have their own, and we move\nto a distributed model. Then as internet speeds improve, it becomes practical\nto bring all the compute back in to centralized data centres and communicate\nwith them over the internet from small, less powerful devices. Then as the\nhardware improves again, the small devices become powerful enough to perform\ntheir own computation.\n\nIn the talk, he says that the reason we need to do the compute \"on the edge\"\nis because the latency between the cloud is insufficient for real-time\ndevices. So what happens when network speeds improve again (better fibre\ninfrastructure, LiFi, etc.)? Will we bring the compute back in to centralized\ndata centres? Will we continue to bounce back and forwards forever, as network\nand hardware technology leapfrog each other? Is one model _better_ than the\nother?\n\n~~~\njaredklewis\n> In the talk, he says that the reason we need to do the compute \"on the edge\"\n> is because the latency between the cloud is insufficient for real-time\n> devices. So what happens when network speeds improve again (better fibre\n> infrastructure, LiFi, etc.)? Will we bring the compute back in to\n> centralized data centres? Will we continue to bounce back and forwards\n> forever, as network and hardware technology leapfrog each other? Is one\n> model better than the other?\n\nWell, for one thing, a lot of the examples such as self-driving cars, drones,\nand any wearable clearly don't allow for use of fiber. Lifi may have some use\ncases, but again I don't see how Lifi could help something like a drone or\nself-driving car.\n\nBut another point is availability. Wireless connections can drop in and out\nand our vulnerable to being slowed down by increased demand. Not to mention\nthat the centralized service itself may fail, due to catastrophic power\nfailure, DOS attacks, or any number of other reasons.\n\nIf that centralized service or choppy wireless connection is providing you\nwith your todo-list or family photo album, its probably not a big deal to have\noccasional outages. If the system is making decisions for self-driving\nvehicles, that will be an unmitigated disaster.\n\nEven if it is only enough logic to help an unconnected car pull over to the\nside of the road, a self-driving car needs to be able to operate offline, so\none way or another, these cards will need powerful computers inside.\n\nAnd of course, distributed nodes can also fail. A single car's computer may\nfail, and that's not good. But the AI of every car in an entire area failing\nsimultaneously because power to the local radio tower goes out is going to be\nway worse.\n\nThe other thing, is that as we have with processing speeds, we will eventually\nhit limits in bandwidth. Using bandwidth efficiently will become a larger\npriority (as scarcity increases, so will the cost) and the centralized model\nclearly has a drawback in terms of bandwidth usage.\n\nSo, all in all, I don't think it's just a pendulum that swings back in forth\nforever, but that the future will be a hybrid, but heavily distributed world\nout of necessity.\n\n~~~\nclusmore\nI agree that not _all_ computation would move back to centralized data\ncentres, but then not _all_ computation is done in the cloud now (vs on your\nmobile phone). 20 years ago, people would have thought it was insane to send\ndata packets over the internet to edit a document, or any number of other\ntasks now serviced by SaaS products. Of course there are still some tasks that\nare better done locally, notably real-time or life-critical tasks. And these\nSaaS services only became feasible when the connection reliability and speed\nallowed them to.\n\nAll I'm suggesting is that future improvements to connection reliability and\nspeed will give way to another round of SaaS products, perhaps then able to\nservice real-time needs but still not preferred for life-critical tasks. As\nmuch as I hate to say it, the first example that comes to mind is\nsurveillance/tracking.\n\nIf you think very long-term, like say data-transfer-via-quantum-entanglement,\nthen you could imagine data transfer being insignificant compared to compute\ntime for real-time requirements, so you will naturally offload the compute to\nthe biggest most powerful computer you can get your hands on.\n\n------\nbhauer\nI can't wait for the traditional centralized cloud to fade out. I've been\nanticipating a model I call PAO [1] for several years—personal application\nomnipresence. By that I mean applications that run for you personally and are\navailable on all your devices simultaneously.\n\nWe've seen gradual movement away from the traditional cloud with several\nmodels I call \"proto-PAO,\" such as Microsoft's Continuum. And many\napplications provide one-off PAO-like experiences by connecting multiple\nclients to a central server you administrate. But there is so much more to do.\nI am definitely getting excited, though, that the centralized cloud will\nlikely be replaced in my lifetime.\n\n[1] [http://tiamat.tsotech.com/pao](http://tiamat.tsotech.com/pao)\n\n~~~\nbraveo\nstrangely enough, I've been expecting that as well, but reading your blog\npost, I differ on how it will be realized.\n\nI think it's more likely people will instead carry identities that describe\nthe applications they have access to, and be able to load those on devices for\ntheir identity only, down to the point of being able to walk up to a new PC,\nattaching the identity, and then having access to the apps on that new PC.\n\nIt'll be a 90% solution that's forced to deal with DRM and safe enough remote\nexecution, but it'll also allow you to access your documents from anywhere\nwith a connection.\n\nI know you specifically disagree with the idea of synchronization, but that's\nmore feasible than what you're suggesting imo. synchronizing a document is\ngoing to be as simple as saving it into the cloud and fetching a delta at the\nendpoints.\n\nThis will necessarily not work for certain types of applications, no one is\nprobably going to try and do actual CAD work on the go, although they may view\nit. But for most things it'll work well enough.\n\n~~~\nryandamm\nOnshape.com - check it out. WebGL is good enough for some CAD users.\n\n~~~\nbraveo\nThe issue isn't just one of performance, but form factor and input mechanisms.\n\n------\nedblarney\nI really don't buy it.\n\nIn every case he described current devices (cars, watches) - they are\nincreasing in 'cpu/storage' \\- but they always have been doing this.\n\nIs their something that inherently changes the topology?\n\nNot really.\n\nCars will be able to id stop signs - which is naturally a local function, just\nlike 'backup cameras' are a local function today ... but some things like\nmessaging, gps services, customer data, big data - it's going to be on a\nserver somewhere.\n\nWhy would your car need to talk directly to your blender?\n\n'The cloud' has really more to do with local/small/office servers moving into\nconsolidated centres with virtualization.\n\n'Logical organization' has not changed: some stuff on 'servers' , some stuff\ndone 'locally'.\n\n~~~\nc22\nIf your car did need to talk to your blender why wouldn't you want it to do so\ndirectly?\n\n~~~\nedblarney\n\"If your car did need to talk to your blender why wouldn't you want it to do\nso directly?\"\n\nSure.\n\nBut my car does not need to talk to my blender. :)\n\n------\neranation\nVery interesting and while I think the title is a bit \"clickbaity\" it has some\ninteresting points. He is not claiming cloud computing is going to disappear,\nhe is claiming that due to real-time requirements and amount of data,\ncomputing power at the edge will grow, while SaaS and central data analytics\nwill not stop being centralized in the cloud. He claims the cloud won't handle\nthe vast amount of sensor data and I'm not sure he is right, but can't prove\nhim wrong. In any case it seems that cloud providers are already aiming for\nthis direction. AWS has project greengrass for example:\n[https://aws.amazon.com/greengrass/](https://aws.amazon.com/greengrass/)\n\n------\ndboreham\nInteresting. I still remember Ben pitching me the idea of cloud services in\n1999. I thought he was insane at the time. I retain this as the proof that I\ncan't reliably evaluate a business idea ;)\n\n------\nYZF\nIt's an interesting thought experiment but I tend to disagree overall.\n\nI don't think a self driving car is a data-center on wheels. It will not have\n100(!) servers built in it. It will have one (or two for redundancy) PCBs with\njust the right enough of processing power in whatever form makes sense,\nmultiple cores, ASICs, etc. (which would be less than 100 server worth).\n\nI would agree that the more compute cycles will move out to the edge. This is\nalready have been happening with smartphones and will continue with other\nintelligent devices. The more computers we have in our environment the more\nthe overall portion of cycles move to the edge. The depiction of a smartphone\nas a dumb terminal isn't that accurate. A smartphone can and does do a lot of\nthings locally. My bet is there is a lot more compute power in all the phones\ntoday than in AWS EC2. (though maybe not compute $'s)\n\nThe comments on machine learning don't make sense. There is a lot more data\nfor machine learning in the aggregate of all the devices so it will naturally\nhappen in some centralized location. While there can be some machine learning\nin the edge machine learning is a lot more effective on the aggregate\ncentralized data. So data from the edge will get pulled to central large scale\nsystems. The result of this learning can be pushed back out to the edge to be\napplied (e.g. in the car).\n\nEDIT: He later on modifies his statement about machine learning happening in\nthe edge and rather some \"selection\" of the data will be used for machine\nlearning in the cloud... Still doesn't quite add up.\n\n------\n_pdp_\nIs cloud dead? No! Will it die? Probably not because not everyone wants to\ndeal with some of the complexities involved with building the hardware and\nnetworks required to achieve near perfect resilience.\n\nWhat will certainly going to happen is that we will see more devices online\nand many of them will be IOT. ESP8266 can be bought for at little as the cost\nof a double espresso. The hobby electronics industry is booming in the face of\nArduino and Raspberry Pi. It is happening.\n\n~~~\neveningcoffee\nHas anybody dared to research if EPS8266 contains a backdoor? Its origin and\nmass deployment makes me more than nervous.\n\n~~~\n_pdp_\nWe will reach a point eventually where it will take a lot of investment to\ndeduce if a hardware component contains backdoors. The firmware of the ESP is\nopensource through.\n\n------\nrmason\nWhile certainly thought provoking I'm not certain that he is exactly correct.\nWhat is going to happen is that there will be a lot of devices where a peer to\npeer model makes more sense. It doesn't mean that cloud computing is going to\ngo away but it will instead change over time.\n\nI am more in agreement with the idea that data analysts jobs will grow. Also\nthink that a lot of apps will have their own databases but instead of ignoring\nthe cloud they will need to occasionally sync with the cloud as opposed to\nreal time access.\n\nI think that RESTful data services will become more of a commodity and that\nmost developers will need a data service, an authentication service, a telecom\nservice and a payment service (and perhaps a few more) to construct a program.\n\nWe're not too far off from it happening and the opportunity exists for an\nambitious company to offer a Microsoft Office style suite of services to\ndevelopers. I'd personally prefer it be Stripe or Twilio as opposed to\nMicrosoft or Google that ends up doing it.\n\n------\nmiguelrochefort\nThe solution is obvious. Cache not only data, but functions as well.\n\nI should be able to download entire systems on local devices (a cache hub, a\nrouter, a personal cache hotspot, a smartphone), and have them work offline if\nnecessary.\n\nHowever, this will require a new computing paradigm altogether, powered by a\nnew language. This kind of seamless caching demands a language with superior\nsemantics (API auto-discoversbility) and logic-programming influence. I\nimagine some kind of predicate store should do the job.\n\n~~~\nIanCal\nDo we really need a new language for this? We already have things that run on\nboth server and client, javascript being the obvious one, where there's\nalready a blending of computation for webpage rendering happening (pre-\nrendered on the server then the code for updating sent to the client).\n\n------\ndkarapetyan\nThe edge is limited by power constraints. Only so much computation you can do\nbefore your phone melts.\n\n------\ndmourati\nMade me think of the difference between the Central Nervous System (CNS) vs\nPeripheral Nervous System (PNS).\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripheral_nervous_system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripheral_nervous_system)\n\n~~~\nredwood\nso will the internet be more like a mammal or an octopus? :)\n\n------\nzpallin\n\"Edge intelligence\" is not going to happen in place of the cloud, simply in\naddition to it. When storage gets smaller in form factor, maybe we will be\nstoring 100s of TBs in a car, but there will still be a data center storing\n100s of PBs.\n\n------\ntomc1985\nMan I'm not even old and history is already repeating itself.\n\nWhatever. Down with the cloud!\n\n------\njoelbondurant\nThank Spaghetti, AWS is making people stupid.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDo What You Love and Starve? (2006) - exolymph\nhttp://www.martynemko.com/articles/do-what-you-love-and-starve_id1380\n======\npeppery\nThis article presumes the premise that \"what you love\"/\"your passion\" is the\nsame as \"what you _can_ love\"/the set of all \"passions\" you have not yet\ndiscovered. This is untrue.\n\nEspecially for young people, the amount of time that you have been alive is\nsmall compared to your lifetime. What you currently know to be interesting is\ncorrespondingly a small subset of the number of things you can find\ninteresting over a lifetime, and an even smaller subset of the things which\nyou could find fulfilling to work on with many lifetimes. (For those who have\nlived longer, your life experience makes it even more likely you can identify\nfulfilling connections/facets of the universe to study.)\n\nThe challenge is to find the intersection between what you can be riveted to\nwork on, and what society values (in whatever its flawed wisdom) or can be\ninvited to value. This is not trivial, but the statistics of the universe are\non your side.\n\nWhat sort of society would we be if e.g. Nikola Tesla/Jame Clark\nMaxwell/Mozart/etc. had followed this advice?\n\nTo aspire is human, powerful, fulfilling. To eat is practical. It is possible\nto do both. Society needs people who persist in that pursuit.\n\n~~~\nsametmax\nAlso, not only will you change, but if you invest in something, your taste\ntoward it will change as well. It's a nice trick for people looking for a\npassion: invest yourself in anything that has depth and you don't have, and\nyou may end up getting passionate about it.\n\nWe often have it backward, trying to \"feel like it\" to do things. But it's one\nof the tricky things in life: you may very well have to do things so you can\nfeel like it.\n\n~~~\nRegardsyjc\nI started learning how to program so I could automate some of my business\nprocesses. In the beginning I hated every minute of it. I would avoid working\non the project because it sucked but as soon as I made up my mind that I would\ndo this or die trying, it took being in the right mood off the table. It now\nbecame, OK what's the next problem I need to solve to complete my project. I\nended up falling in love with the process and now I'm consistently\n\"programming\" (more debugging?) for hours until I find a solution. I used to\nhate that there was so much to learn, now it excites me that there are so many\nnew ways to improve.\n\n------\nhprotagonist\n_Where to find a business to copy? Drive around to find a simple business at\nwhich customers are lined up out the door. For example, see a successful\nburrito shop or espresso cart? Open a similar one in a similar neighborhood.\nYour chances of success will be a helluva lot higher than 20%._\n\n... says the man who has obviously never done business in the food service\nindustry. The failure rate of restaurants is shockingly high.\n\n~~~\nD_Alex\nPlus, I don't think you can build a great society on the back of burrito and\nespresso shops...\n\n~~~\nsooheon\nWhy not? We have 8 billion people to build a great society with, I think 1/8\nbillionth of human effort could be directed to a great local burrito shop.\nGreat societies are built by people doing their part and loving their lives,\nnot by everyone trying to \"change the world\".\n\n~~~\nD_Alex\n>I think 1/8 billionth of human effort could be directed to a great local\nburrito shop.\n\nBut... that is not what the article was about - it suggested imitating an\nalready successful business. Whether you love that or not, by the way.\n\nNow if a lot of people followed that advice, you'd get kind of what we have in\nmy home city, an oversupply of coffee shops, all trying desperately to stand\nout, and nearly all struggling and being miserable.\n\n------\nfaitswulff\n> we’ve been sold a bill of goods when we’re told to “Follow your passion, “\n> or “Do what you love and the money will follow.” Fact is, if you do what you\n> love, you’ll probably starve.\n\nI started thinking this somewhere around halfway through college, when my\nparents were telling me to do what I love and I was trying to figure out what\nto do for a living - especially when my parents were struggling, themselves. I\nfeel like \"do what you love\" was a really compelling pipe dream for my parents\nbecause they had always done the opposite to get by and improve their\ncircumstances, and it sucked. They wanted better for their kids, but at the\nsame time, it is easily some of the worst advice I've ever received.\n\n~~~\ngh02t\nIt's give and take. Maybe not \"do what you love no matter what\" but \"try and\ndo something you at least _like_ \" is still good advice. If you force yourself\nto do something you hate just because you think you'll make money not only\nwill you spend your life miserable, but you also likely won't be terribly\nsuccessful because it's hard not to burn out.\n\nSaid differently, making money matters and should be considered, but it should\nnot override all other factors when choosing a career.\n\n~~~\naregsarkissian\nYes there is something like the intersection of three overlapping circles. One\nis do things you like, the other is do things you are good at doing and the\nthird is do things that will give you income that you will be satisfied with.\n\n------\nTheMagicHorsey\nThis is the wrong forum for this advice. I think most of the people here are\nnot looking for a median income or a simple business. They want to swing for\nthe fences or transform the world.\n\nHaving said that, its good advice. Most people underestimate the joy you get\nfrom a good solid, routine job that pays well. And they overestimate the joy\nyou get from a giant windfall ... such as you get when you finally take your\nstartup public or sell it off.\n\nAlso, I have met far more douchebags among the ranks of lawyers and VCs in\nsilicon valley than I have among the ranks of small business owners (my\nbrother owns a couple small businesses and his circle is very down to earth).\n\n~~~\nwar1025\nI think you underestimate the number of people that follow this site because\nthey like the content, but are quite content to have a median income and a\nnice work-life balance.\n\n~~~\nrabbadabba_99\nOr a 1% level income from a \"lifestyle\" business that's boring and never in\nthe news.\n\n------\nthrowaway84742\nMy experience is, stuff you love is best done as a hobby, not professionally\nunless you can’t live without doing it professionally. I have ended up doing\nwhat I love professionally twice, and hated it both times, because guess what,\nif you do it professionally you don’t get to do just the sexy parts, you have\nto go whole hog and do the unpleasant ones as well. And worse, you can’t lay\nit off for a while if you’re bored. This kills the “love” part right there and\nthen.\n\n------\nrebuilder\nIn the arts, the advice I've heard repeated over and over again is: If you can\nlive without this, do something else. And it's pretty good advice in my\nexperience. The visual arts / media sector at least has such an overabundance\nof desperate workers that a sane working environment seems impossible to\nachieve. So if you don't have an inner drive that absolutely forces you to go\ninto a field like that, do something else.\n\n~~~\njurassic\nI got the same basic memo when I was a PhD student in science, and I think I\nwould have quit sooner if not for the emotionally coercive aspects of this\nadvice. This advice replaces the rational question of \"is this going to get me\nto the economic future I want for myself?\" and puts it into the emotional\nspace of \"do I love this enough?\". It implies that if you quit, you didn't\nreally love it. It makes it easier for those who benefit from this\nexploitation to rationalize it when you leave, saying \"Well, they must not\nhave been cut out for this anyway.\" For the young people making these do-I-\nstay-or-do-I-go decisions, it means that in order to quit they must not only\nbe ready to give up their dream but also signal to their community that they\nnever really loved it anyway.\n\nAs an external observer of course it is ridiculous to say someone can't love\nsomething and also recognize the disastrous financial implications of pursuing\na particular type of career. The turning point for me was recognizing that the\n\"expected value\" outcome of the path I was not going to get me anywhere close\nto a middle class lifestyle.\n\n------\nclay_the_ripper\nEvery job comes with pros and cons. I think the software engineers of the\nworld are part of a lucky few who demand high salaries, are able to find good\nwork/life balance and get to work on things they like (in general).\n\nFor the rest of us (I am not an engineer, but have worked in tech with many\nengineers) I think there are perhaps more trade offs. I’m generalizing here\nbut in my experience and those I know, you can either :\n\n-have an office job that pays well but is not all that fun, or restricts your freedom to do what you want\n\n-have a fun job that doesn’t pay well\n\n-Strike out on your own and potentially make more money and have fun but have all the downsides of entrepreneurship: stress, no security, demanding clients, high potential for failure etc etc.\n\nChoose one that suits you best. All have downsides and all have upsides.\nDepends on what you value. If it wasn’t work, no one would pay you to do it.\nNo job and unlimited money seems like the best option, but unless you’re born\nrich that’s not really possible. Such is life.\n\n~~~\nquickthrower2\nThe downside of software dev is you typically need to work in a city, and then\npay extraordinary costs of living.\n\nAs a doctor, for example you can earn good money in a town that is no where\nnear as expensive.\n\n~~~\nfjsolwmv\nOnly mediocre devs in the biggest cities have trouble covering costs of\nliving. And you aren't going to make big bucks as a brain surgeon in Ames\nIowa. And doctors have to make back 4 years of lost income and 4 years of\nmedical school tuition and 4 years of entry level wages.\n\n~~~\nquickthrower2\nThat's a bold statement. It's challenging to support a family, pay rent on a\ntop 1% dev salary in my city (say $150k AUD). Sure you can make ends meet.\n\nIf my partner didn't work I'd have to give up being a dev and become a project\nmanager / BA.\n\n------\nSCAQTony\nYes, you should follow your passion 100% but it does not mean you can't have a\n\"Plan B\" to fund your belly, family and shelter. It worked for me and I\nhappily doing \"Plan A\" right now. Why do people believe it is all or nothing\nwhen choosing a career?\n\n~~~\nthrowa_way_\nIf you're hedging with other plans then you're not really following your first\npassion 100% are you?\n\n~~~\nSCAQTony\nIt's not hedging, it's being industrious. Imaging working on your passion just\n2-4 hours a day seven days a week? You get really good, FAST!\n\nMy day day job was at Nuance, (I quit the end of January) and I was UI\ndesigner there. \"Plan A\" is doing fine art and I got really good at it for I\nwas always doing something art related 10-12 hours a day.\n[http://www.gkaustin.com/](http://www.gkaustin.com/)\n\n------\nprawn\nDerek Sivers had a blog entry the other year where he suggested finding a\ntolerable, well-paying job, then a passion. And then keep your passion as an\nevening/weekend distraction rather than trying to turn it into a financially\nviable thing you can live off. Earn money from the job, not your hobby.\n\nOtherwise you end up forcing your art/passion through a sieve of viability\n(struggling to sell your music, for example), or becoming disillusioned with\nan otherwise unremarkable job.\n\n~~~\nscarecrowbob\nTrue: I found a 30/h a week remote programming job and now I can afford to\nplay music professionally. LOL\n\n------\nchillingeffect\nTime for everyone to remember Ikigai, the overlap between what you like, what\nyou can get paid for, what you're good at and what the world needs:\n\n[https://www.hyperisland.com/community/news/feeling-\ndrained-a...](https://www.hyperisland.com/community/news/feeling-drained-at-\nwork)\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikigai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikigai)\n\n------\nrossdavidh\nOne thing rarely said: if you are trying to get into a career where more\npeople want to do it, than the market can give jobs to, in order to get a spot\nyou will have to kill somebody else's dreams. The harsh math is, if there were\n2 people for every 1 position, and you get 1, then somebody else gets to be a\nloser because you got that spot.\n\nIt's not your job to make that person a winner, of course. But that helps to\nbalance out the propaganda part of \"follow your dreams\". If you pick a career\nwhere more people want to find someone who does it, than there are people\ndoing it, you don't need sharp elbows to keep others out of your spot. Careers\nin acting, singing, non-profits that actually pay a salary, etc. tend to have\nharsh internal politics. This is why.\n\n------\nhaZard_OS\nI must say I'm puzzled by the author's choice to include environmental work\nalongside the arts/humanities as being examples of \"follow your passion and\nstarve\".\n\nAs a scientist working in the environmental field(s), I can confidently say\nthat there is far more work than there are people to do it. Unless he meant to\nspecify NON-scientific work addressing the environment, I can't fathom what he\nis referring to.\n\n~~~\ndyim\nI think he's talking about the Blackfish-style, Greenpeace-ier environmental\nstuff.\n\nMy dad's in the environmental field too, and that sounds about right. He spent\nabout 20 years working as a jack-of-all-trades-CTO-type guy for a Western\nWidget Company, made a six figure salary, and was home every day by 5 PM. I\nknow a lot of my friends' finance-sector parents didn't get to spend nearly as\nmuch time with their kids. There's a lot of very good advice in this article.\n\n------\nnicodjimenez\nLife is way too complex and it's hard to generalize. Telling people that by\nfollowing their passion they will be starve is dangerous advice. So what if\npeople fail? Why is everyone so afraid of failure? And then telling people to\nreplicate instead of innovating! I do agree the passion thing is oversold but\nnow people are going too much in the opposite direction, especially after Cal\nNewport's book.\n\n------\nhnzix\n...and that is the story of why I quit graphic design to program CRUD webapps\nfor boring enterprise customers.\n\nNow moving towards part-time consulting and setting up some passive income\nstreams to try and create the space to work on my creative projects before I\nget old and die.\n\n------\ngrosjona\nYou have to work for companies where capital accumulates quickly and then find\na way to sandwich yourself between where the capital is and where the capital\nwants to go.\n\nFollow capital and consumers will follow you.\n\n------\nmrlyc\nDo what you love, what you are good at and what people are willing to pay for.\nSometimes you have to do the first one as a hobby and the last two as a job.\n\n------\nillnewsthat\nInteresting take on passion vs. money.\n\nDoes anyone else think \"requires a reasonable commute\" doesn't fit on the list\nof \"keys to career contentment\"?\n\n~~~\nForHackernews\nI think it is! A reasonable (as opposed to unreasonable) commute makes your\nday-to-day life much more pleasant.\n\n~~~\nillnewsthat\nI guess it makes sense thinking of it as reasonable vs. unreasonable.\n\nIt didn't make sense to me at first, because I think working from home could\nadd to quality of life, and it felt as if they were specifically saying you\nNEED to commute. But it probably just means, if you do commute, don't make it\n2 hours each way.\n\n------\nmellowdream\nMost people don't have the IQ, psychometric personality profile, and\ncircumstantial history (the right/rich family, friends, networks, etc.) in\nconjunction to succeed.\n\nRomanticism, per Goethe and Nietzsche, has always erred toward the side of\nspiritual sickness - it's often nothing more than an opiate to distract\noneself from the mundaneness, difficulties, and responsibilities of authentic,\nlived experience.\n\nSay what you will of Jordan Peterson, but I believe his experience as a\ncredentialed psychologist and counselor is worth considering as well - one is\nmore likely to preserve his sanity by pursuing (perhaps unpleasant, but stable\nand providing) responsibility rather than upheaving his life with little more\nthan a mistaken impression via survivorship bias.\n\n~~~\nyters\nIt'd certainly be interesting to see the other side of all the success\nstories.\n\n------\nggm\n.. except the franchise thing? It's a huge ripoff risk: you pay licence fees\nup the wazoo for brand value and models which can be terrible. As in any\nendeavour, you have to do your homework. Lots of franchise holders looking\nenviously at class action suits to recover\n\n------\nbitL\nI absolutely despise the advice about cloning; why do we need dozens of clones\nof the same idea, all of them executed poorly, so that somebody can build\ntheir business quicker and have safe returns? What's the point of such life?\n\n------\nnikkwong\nHeh, I don't know how I feel about this, at least for people who are highly\ntalented. Intelligent hard working people at this day in age often choose\npractical career paths that they like, which lead to ample job opportunity.\n\n------\nnerdponx\nI prefer \"do what you like enough to keep doing it every day, so that you can\nearn enough income and time to do what you _really_ love after-hours.\"\n\n------\nparaschopra\nMy entire blog is on this premise: following your passion is a recipe for\neconomic failure as economic value gets created when you help other people\nfollow their passion. I write about this here\n[https://invertedpassion.com](https://invertedpassion.com)\n\n------\nJulianMorrison\nUBI, do what you love and prosper.\n\n------\np3llin0r3\nWhat a crock of crap.\n\n\"Don't be ambitious: be mediocre and replaceable.\"\n\nHe's right. Don't try to be a youtube star or a professional athlete, or an\nactor. Do something realistic.\n\nBut I mean... do something ambitious for god's sake! Be an accountant! Be a\ndoctor! Be a computer programmer! Hell: Be a lawyer. These are not crazy pipe\ndreams.\n\nLets say someone makes $120k as a programmer a year taking out NO debt, and\nhaving NO risk invested in the company they work for. That is a damn healthy\nsmall business.\n\n~~~\ncorndoge\nbeing a programmer is pretty far from ambitious these days, I am already\nbeginning to regret my career choice just a few years into it and I make six\nfigures doing exactly the programming I always wanted to do and more. I am\nalready bored of what can be done with computers and the entire tech culture\nthat I grew up in and loved. it is so repetitive.\n\n~~~\nneffy\nA lot of programming, especially in industry, is horribly boring unfortunately\n(it shouldn't be) - but computers and what can be done with them, is anything\nbut. It's just a question of somehow keeping your imagination from getting\nbogged down by the job.\n\n~~~\ncorndoge\nI work on gpl'd systems software that is very relevant to my interests but I\nlook to the future and can't see myself doing this for many more years,\nsoftware as a whole is just so depressingly mundane\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe gear seer: analyze your bicycle drivetrain - gideonite\nhttp://www.andrusia.com/gearseer/\n======\nlistic\nCached version:\n[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.andrusia.com/gearseer/)\n\n~~~\njws\ndoteasy is serving a 200k \"exceeded\" page to protect themselves from serving\nabout 50k of page?\n\nMaybe it's marketing, but \"Look! I'll randomly embarrass you in front of your\nreaders!\" isn't much of a selling point.\n\n------\njzwinck\nHere is a \"competitor\" which I have found extremely useful when choosing\ndrivetrain parts: [http://www.gear-calculator.com](http://www.gear-\ncalculator.com)\n\nThese are really helpful if you have a bike you mostly like and want to\nupgrade the gears, or if your current bike doesn't have the gears you need. It\nhas become especially important during the recent trends of moving from 3x\nfront gears to 2x to 1x.\n\n------\nakgerber\nNice upgrade. I still use Sheldon's site occasionally. The web in 1998 was\nstill pretty great :)\n\n~~~\nRUG3Y\nI also look at his site. I discovered it maybe 3 months before he passed away,\nit still makes me sad.\n\n------\nneves\nWould someone explain to me why this information is useful? Maybe it is\nbecause English is my second language, but I didn't understand the meaning of\nthe displayed information. I cycle a lot and it looks interesting.\n\n~~~\nkeville\nIn my opinion, this visualization is not particularly compelling if you don't\nalready know what you're looking at, and I can relate to your sentiment of\nconfusion.\n\nThis is a tool for analyzing and comparing differences between drivetrain\nsetups. A bicycle drivetrain is typically composed of a single gear, or two or\nthree gearing choices \"up front\" (on or near the crankset) and either a\nsingle-speed \"rear\", or anywhere from two to 30 (!) [1] selectable gears at\nthe rear hub.\n\nThe various \"output\" modes from this tool are all derived from the Gear Ratio,\nusually simply the ratio of the number of teeth \"up front\" to the number of\nteeth \"in back\" for any given selected gear.\n\nBy entering multiple drivetrain setups, you can quickly compare overall range\nbetween different drivetrains. You can also see the \"steps\" between different\ngears within a given drivetrain, which tells you how many pedal cadence\nchoices you'll get within a given comfort zone for the bike's intended riding\npurposes.\n\n[1] SRAM's DualDrive 3x10 internally-geared hub with a standard cassette and\nderailleur.\n\n~~~\nkeville\nI avoided mentioning it because I couldn't remember off the top of my head\nwhen writing the above comment, but Pinion also makes a gearbox that sits next\nto the crankset and offers up to 18 gearing choices!\n\n------\ncardamomo\nGoogle cache:\n[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:pJh9wHH...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:pJh9wHH6cmoJ:andrusia.com/gearseer/index.html)\n\n------\nMikeNomad\nAs of 30 Dec 2015 @ 0822 hrs US CST, the link generates a Traffic Quota\nExceeded error. Heck, that's one of the reasons why I still occasionally\npeddle to work.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nI'm looking to buy a small SaaS business - ebellity\nDoes anyone have side projects or products they&#x27;re not working on anymore that they&#x27;d be interested in selling ?<p>I&#x27;m looking for products, preferably SaaS, making $300 to $4000 in MRR\n======\nezekg\nDo you have an overall budget for this? And on this topic -- does anyone know\nof a place where profitable businesses can be sold? I know of places like\n[https://1kprojects.com/](https://1kprojects.com/) and similar sites but the\nlistings are not exactly \"businesses.\"\n\n~~~\nebellity\nYes - about $70k\n\nI know of 1kprojects, Transferslot, flippa, empire flippers and FE\ninternational but it's a bit hard to sort through everything to find quality\nproducts\n\n~~~\ncodegeek\nThe problem is that if it is a really good quality product that ALSO makes\nsome revenue, I doubt people are looking to sell on those sites. You have to\ngo hunt yourself. Once in a while, you may be able to find a Gem on those\nsites but yea, most are not worth the time/money unfortunately if you are\nlooking for something more than a simple side project.\n\n~~~\nezekg\nFWIW I have multiple revenue generating businesses that I'd be open to selling\nfor the right price, but IMO there's nowhere to list them that warrants my\nattention. I don't want to list my business alongside bunch of $0/MRR side\nprojects asking $10k.\n\n~~~\nebellity\nCan you share which ones ?\n\n~~~\nezekg\nFeel free to email me\n\n------\njessehorne\nHave you considered funding a team to build one of your own ideas or perhaps\nfinding a team that has ideas of their own but need funding to pursue them? If\nyou'd like to discuss in more detail, you can find my email in my profile.\n\n~~~\npknerd\nWhy would he do that? He is paying for the time spend to market and building a\nproduct.\n\n~~~\njessehorne\nI was just throwing it out there, just in case he doesn't find some more\ndeveloped that he'd like to purchase.\n\n~~~\nebellity\nThanks but I also have my own side projects / products, the goal with this\nwould be to invest in something to get a decent return without all of the risk\nassociated with creating something new!\n\n~~~\njessehorne\nAbsolutely!\n\n------\nbusymichael\nHi -- I am looking for a home for dndemail.com. It offers do not disturb on\nyour gmail inbox, across all devices.\n\nIf you are interested, michael at dndemail dot com.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nReporter suspended from Twitter following tweet run-in with NBC - cooldeal\nhttp://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57482320-93/reporter-suspended-from-twitter-following-tweet-run-in-with-nbc/\n======\nnacorbier\nTwitter is stating that posting the e-mail address was \"personal and private\ninformation.\" NBC suggests that the guy's e-mail address was not published on\nNBC's site.\n\nHonestly, I can see NBC's point. The outing of the guy's email looked to be a\nmeans to have the Internet Lynch Mob attack the guy with that thing they do\n(hate mail, spam, incoherent ranting about death and cats) in reprisal for\nsome slight.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBrazil, Europe plan undersea cable to skirt U.S. spying - lelf\nhttp://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/24/us-eu-brazil-idUSBREA1N0PL20140224\n======\nbrudgers\nIt's a feel good.\n\nThe US has the most sophisticated undersea capability of any nation state.\nTapping transatlantic cables is something at which its intelligence organs are\nexperienced.\n\n[http://www.zdnet.com/news/spy-agency-taps-into-undersea-\ncabl...](http://www.zdnet.com/news/spy-agency-taps-into-undersea-cable/115877)\n\nIt is but one of a long string of sea bottom operations which include Project\nAzorian, the Thresher and Scorpion investigations, Palomares and probably much\nthat remains classified.\n\n[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Azorian](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Azorian)\n\n[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Thresher_(SSN-593)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Thresher_\\(SSN-593\\))\n\n[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Scorpion_(SSN-589)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Scorpion_\\(SSN-589\\))\n\n[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_Palomares_B-52_crash](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_Palomares_B-52_crash)\n\n~~~\nalan_cx\nNot at all.\n\nIf the EU and Brazil are using US cables, the US is just interfering with its\nown cable. Fair enough. Entirely different if the US attacks a cable it does\nnot own. It changes the game. It could be considered a hostile act against\nallies.\n\n~~~\nmercurial\n> It could be considered a hostile act against allies.\n\nCome on. Nine EU countries are complicit in the warrantless wiretap/metadata\ncollection scheme GHCQ is running here on behalf of the NSA. If the US is\ntapping an EU cable, it's just more data going in the same fetid pool. You can\nsee how outraged the various EU governments are by how loud they have been\nabout it. The only one who seems genuinely upset is Merkel, and mostly because\nthe German secret services don't have the same technical abilities.\n\nI don't know how genuinely angry Brazil is, but I would be extremely surprised\nif Brazilian intelligence didn't have a similar setup at home.\n\n~~~\nerichurkman\nAt _least_ nine EU countries are complicit. With as widespread as spying is, I\ndon't think we could safely rule out the other 19 member states.\n\n~~~\nmercurial\nUnfortunately, you are probably right.\n\n------\nalisson\nI think this is great! As a Brazilian developer I would love to be able to use\neuropean datacenters, today the latency makes it almost impossible, they're\nway cheaper than Brazilian ones and travel to EU is easier than to the US\nbecause of the visa.\n\nThis isn't the solution to privacy but solves a lot of other problems.\n\n~~~\nIhmahr\nAnd hopefully traffic in Brazil will also become cheaper :)\n\n~~~\nHugoDias\n[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1tVzEs9zoM](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1tVzEs9zoM)\n:)\n\n~~~\nIhmahr\nSorry, I don't speak Portuguese. Are you implying you do not understand the\nrelation between internet connectivity and the price of renting a server?\n\n~~~\nspeeder\nThe guy in the video is saying \"mais ou menos\", that means \"more or less\"\n\n------\ntokenadult\nKey paragraph: \"Brazil and the European Union agreed on Monday to lay an\nundersea communications cable from Lisbon to Fortaleza to reduce Brazil's\nreliance on the United States after Washington spied on Brasilia.\"\n\nIt's probably a good idea to add to the existing network of transoceanic\ncables\n\n[http://www.submarinecablemap.com/](http://www.submarinecablemap.com/)\n\nbut the technical means of monitoring international signal traffic include a\nlot of other methods besides just having a listening post at the cable landing\npoint, so probably more helpful for worldwide communication privacy is\nbuilding privacy by design\n\n[http://www.privacybydesign.ca/](http://www.privacybydesign.ca/)\n\ninto every device and every network (and every legal system) all around the\nworld.\n\n~~~\nghostDancer\nYou are completely right, but that doesn't make a good headline either for the\npoliticians or the press.\n\n~~~\nwbracken\nAnd, not that \"well, everyone is doing it\" makes it right, etc. etc., but to\nthink that only the US is spying on these communications is a bit naive.\n\n~~~\nAmezarak\nIndeed, the idea that routing your connections through other countries will\nhelp you is beyond naive. Nearly every industrialized country, including EU\nmember nations, is documented conducting surveillance on comparable scales,\nand most of them (including Portugal) work closely with the NSA. Schemes like\nthis, especially when government-sponsored, need to be looked at a lot more\nskeptically. They aren't doing it for privacy-conscious reasons.\n\nAs Der Spiegel put it, the BND spies on everyone but Germans, shares that data\nwith the other collaborating countries, and then gets data on Germans in\nreturn. (And the Germans didn't call France the \"evil empire\" of industrial\nespionage for no reason.)\n\n------\nnemesisj\nMy previous employer collocated in a Terremark facility called \"NAP of the\nAmericas\" located in downtown Miami. ([http://www.terremark.com/data-\ncenters/north-america/nap-amer...](http://www.terremark.com/data-\ncenters/north-america/nap-americas/)) It's a pretty decent facility. One of\nthe most interesting things about it is that at the time (2-3 years ago) they\nliked to boast that more than 2/3rds of all communications traffic to South\nAmerica (voice and data) passed through the building. You can bet the NSA has\na nice cozy relationship with them. It was always a bit surprising to me that\nSouth America had that much of a single point of failure, so it's not\nsurprising they might want to bolster their connectivity a bit.\n\n------\nastrodust\nHeadline two years in the future: \"US plans submarine mission to tap into\nundersea cable.\"\n\n~~~\nDasIch\nWhich brings up the interesting question: What happens if someone is bold\nenough to blow up a US submarine that's spying?\n\n~~~\nsaraid216\nDepends. Is the submarine manned?\n\n~~~\nmpyne\nYes.\n\nThe submarine also contains a fully-operational nuclear reactor.\n\n------\nericcumbee\nReading things like this as an American. I think I know how eastern Europeans\nfelt watching the Iron Curtain go up.\n\n~~~\nbas\nTalking to or knowing someone from Eastern Europe may disabuse you of this\nnotion.\n\n~~~\nericcumbee\nWhat I mean is that it feels like, the US is starting down the road of becomes\neconomically & socially isolated from the rest of the world in some regards.\nMore or less like eastern Europe at the start of the cold war.\n\n~~~\nhappyscrappy\nThat is pretty tepid compared to what you said before.\n\n------\nChuckMcM\nSo we all get how this isn't a \"real\" thing (having your own undersea cable\nwon't help at all in preventing someone from listening in on that cable's\ntraffic), but it is interesting from the point of view of \"Why this headline?\nWhy this story?\" It seems targeted at making unsophisticated readers\nuncomfortable with the NSA's activities and how it reflects on the US in the\nrest of the world. I have no idea how successful it will be, but its a nice\ncounter balance to the various \"Our illegal activities had some benefit for\nyou\" stories we've been seeing.\n\n~~~\nbrudgers\nThe same reason that everyone is reporting that Facebook is paying 16 billion\ndollars for WhatsApp [1] - these stories write themselves so why work hard\nperforming proper analysis?\n\n[1] Facebook would have to provide significantly more shares to sell another\n$12-15 billlion dollars worth of stock because the increase in supply would\ndrive the current price down. Likewise, WhatsApp couldn't dump that much and\nmaintain current valuation. But placing a reasonable value on the stock\nrequires thinking and thinking makes people's brains hurt...Hell, all\nfinancial reporting is that way. The Dow Jones Industrial average keeps going\nup because the losers are taken off the list and replaced by winners.[2]\n\n[2] Yes the footnote is longer than the post. That's what happens when one is\ndriven to explain. Not that the low standards for journalism require\nexplaining to you.\n\n------\nHugoDias\nMost important issues in brazil this days: World Cup and NSA surveillance .\nOh, how i hate this government.\n\n~~~\ngcb0\nso open you window and see all the popular movements being beaten daily by the\npolice.\n\ni think you are more part of the problem if that is all the news you care for\n\n~~~\nrailsdude\nThe only people \"being beaten up\" are the black blocs and rightfully, IMHO.\nAnd it's not daily.\n\n~~~\noscargrouch\nand people with cameras, and everybody protesting.. the status quo dont want\npeople protesting.. or fighting for their rights... the midia show only \"black\nblocks\", wich is always a minority, to criminalize the movement, and make\npeople hate protests.. mostly of course.. brainwashed people manipulated by\nthe corporate media...\n\nYour comment are really uninformed, or probably very bad informed.. i think\nyou dont have a clue of whats really going on behind the curtains of power..\n\n------\njstalin\nAs though the EU doesn't work with US intelligence.\n\n------\nubercore\nToo bad U.S. citizens can't get in on it, to skirt U.S. spying.\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\nI am amused by the idea that putting something outside of the USA (where US\nintelligence organizations aren't even in principle restricted from spying on\nit) will somehow protect it from US spying. Sure, there have been lots of\nstories recently about US _domestic_ surveillance, but those have been news\nspecifically because there are, in theory, _restrictions_ on the agencies\ninvolved spying within the US, which create expectations and that domestic\nspying violates, whereas the _official purpose_ of the NSA is spying on\nelectronic communications _outside_ of the US.\n\n~~~\nthrownaway2424\nYes, the superficiality of commentary in this thread is pretty disappointing.\nAn undersea cable between two countries neither of which is the USA is going\nto be the VERY FIRST THING that the NSA taps. That is the PURPOSE of the\nagency.\n\n------\nrogerthis\nI don't trust Brazil at all. The government is a bunch of communists, friends\nof dictators (Maduro, Castro bros, african 'kings', iran ayatolah, etc). If\nyou don't know, brazilians are ones of the most monitorated people in the\nglobe. We are this time passing through a biometric registration, which soon\nwill be compulsory. Illegal phone wiretapping is very common, and even the\nlegal ones always end in the media, being used to character assassination.\nThere are passed laws that will make long-range RFID obligatory in cars.\n\nHow can the grazilian state be trusted?\n\n~~~\nxj9\nOh great, another dumbass who doesn't now what a communist is. I know the Cold\nWar has turned y'all off from learning anything real about leftist ideologies,\nbut c'mon, you know that Marx et al would be totally opposed to the\ntotalitarian regimes that claim to espose their political theories.\n\n~~~\nrogerthis\nAnd another commy who has never read Karl Marx.\n\n~~~\n_delirium\nI've read some Marx, though I wouldn't say I'm an expert scholar. But I'm\nhaving trouble understanding how Brazil even remotely resembles something Marx\nwould like. It has even larger income and wealth inequality than the USA! And\nlarge portions of the economy are controlled by finance capital, multinational\ncompanies like Banco do Brasil, Santander, Telefônica, Cosan, etc., often in\nan incestuous relationship with political elites. Where is the equal\ndistribution of resources, the control of the economy by workers, or any of\nthe rest of the Marxist programme? I mean, Sweden looks more communist than\nBrazil to me, and Sweden is not actually communist (it's a capitalist welfare\nstate).\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\n> I mean, Sweden looks more communist than Brazil to me, and Sweden is not\n> actually communist (it's a capitalist welfare state).\n\nA welfare state like Sweden's is about what you get when you start with\ncapitalism (under its original definition), and apply about half of the\nprogram in the Communist Manifesto to it.\n\nWestern European and Scandinavian \"welfare states\" are the closest thing in\nthe real world to applying the Marxist program to the kind of economies that\nit was designed to address what Marx saw as problems with.\n\n\"Capitalist welfare state\" is something that people are able to say with a\nstraight face only as a result of the Cold War idea (mostly, ironically,\noriginating from the side that ended up _losing_ ) that whatever stands in\nopposition to Leninism and its descendants is fairly described as\n\"capitalism\".\n\n~~~\n_delirium\nTrue, it was initially quite a Marxist program, though at the time it was\nMarxist it was also considerably more ambitious: at one time the Scandinavian\nsocial-democratic parties included among their goals the eventual ownership\nand democratic management of the means of production by the workers. Their\nmain difference with the Communist Party was that they believed it could be\naccomplished through incremental, non-revolutionary, Parliamentary means.\n\nToday's Scandinavian Social-Democratic parties have jettisoned that part of\ntheir ideological history and no longer mention it much, though, and nowadays\nthe idea of workers owning the means of production is not so popular, and even\nthe state doing so is less popular than it was, with many privatizations\ntaking place over the past 30 years. Today's dominant ideology is probably\nsomething more like Poul Nyrup Rasmussen's \"flexicurity\"\n([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexicurity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexicurity)),\nwhich is the idea that in terms of economic organization and control, the\nsociety should be fully market-based, not worker-owned, with things allocated\nby supply and demand, hiring and firing being easy, etc. But then there should\nalso be taxation to provide for a safety net so the lower end of society\ndoesn't fall too far. There are a few exceptions, for example health-care is\nstill mostly non-market-based.\n\nI think I agree that the Cold War cemented some of this, but afaik the idea of\na capitalist welfare state originated considerably earlier, some of it in\nMarx's writing itself. He argued that one way capitalism would defend itself\nwould be to institute reformist measures to ameliorate the worst conditions of\nthe working class, in order to keep them from revolting (Otto von Bismarck\npioneered the \"right-wing welfare state\" in the 1880s for precisely this\nreason). Thus the argument among many Communist parties of the late 19th and\nearthly 20th centuries that the Social Democratic parties were just helping\ncapitalists to delay revolution, and not fundamentally leftist parties. And\nthen later, capitalist theorists like F.A. Hayek were in favor of a kind of\ncapitalist welfare state (basic income, free hospital care, etc.).\n\n------\nbrianbarker\nWith so much focus on the NSA, the other nations will continue increasing\ntheir spying capabilities and the game continues with more adversaries.\n\n------\njobu\nOnce again, the internet routes around failure.\n\n------\nAutoCorrect\nsubmarine, cable tap, plan is a waste of time and money if anti-spying is the\nreason.\n\n------\nscurvy\nWhat does this accomplish other than a press op for Dilma? The US will just\ntap and spy on this cable, too. This is nothing more than a politically\nmotivated PR stunt so that Dilma can appear to be \"talking tough\" with the US\nto the Brazilian public.\n\n------\nccanassa\nThis is just a populist political move in order to gain votes.\n\n~~~\nlispm\nPoliticians listening to their voters? What a strange concept...\n\n------\nbrianbreslin\nHow soon before we see efforts like this and in the RFQ/RFP it disallows US\ncompanies to bid because they are afraid of us companies not being\ntrustworthy.\n\n------\noutside1234\nLike cables can only be tapped at endpoints. Hilarious!\n\n~~~\nfit2rule\nIts going to be encrypted. And there will be submarine intrusion detection\nsystems. Whats not to like?\n\n~~~\nrblatz\nI'm sure they'll just tap it and screw the submarine intrusion detection. What\nare they going to do? Stop using it and route it through other cables that are\nalso tapped?\n\nAnd if they can't access the data due to it being encrypted end to end on that\nlink they will either sabotage the line over and over until it's given up on.\nOr they will hack into the endpoints (physically or electronically) to\nretrieve the encryption keys.\n\n~~~\nfit2rule\nAnd yet the world will fight on against the tyranny and oppression of the\npowers. This is how it always has been with humans, and it won't be any\ndifferent in this case.\n\n~~~\nalexeisadeski3\nThis plan is not an example of a fight against tyranny.\n\n~~~\nfit2rule\nOh - but yes it is! Indeed there is much tyranny to be had in the undermining\nof foreign economies with espionage and injected turmoil, and the nation of\nthe USA has invested _much_ in its ability to tyrannise other nations through\neconomic means. If you cannot see the tyranny, perhaps you are standing too\nclose.\n\n~~~\nalexeisadeski3\nThis plan is about increasing the amount of tyranny in the world.\n\n~~~\nfit2rule\nThe cable will increase tyranny? I think you mean \"decrease American\nhegemony\"..\n\n~~~\nalexeisadeski3\nAs explained multiple times throughout this page, it'll do no such thing.\n\n~~~\nfit2rule\nEvery little bit counts. I for one welcome the demise of American hegemony -\nand I don't see why this isn't a step in the right direction. Just because a\nbunch of Americans say \"nu-uh .. we'll just hax0r your cables\" doesn't mean\nthe rest of the world needs to bend over and prepare for a greasin' ..\n\n~~~\nalexeisadeski3\nIf the country planning the private cable had a better human rights record\nthan the US, I'd agree.\n\nUnfortunately, that's not the case.\n\n~~~\nfit2rule\nYou might want to think about Americas' Prisons. The secret ones, as well as\nthe ones being used to enslave 1/3rd of the population..\n\n------\ngtirloni\nThis is good network management. The NSA datacenters are too overloaded, let's\ndivert the traffic to the GCHQ ones to load balance this thing.\n\n------\ngrecy\nI look forward to the headline:\n\n\"The European Union and countries x, y, z agree to stop using the US dollar\nfor all transactions due to spying...\"\n\n~~~\nrosser\nYeah, let's _actually_ break the global economy, because NSA.\n\n~~~\nDasIch\nIt wouldn't break the global economy at all. It would definitely have\ncatastrophic consequences on the US economy though.\n\n~~~\nrosser\nWith the dollar still serving as the global reserve currency, it would have\nimplications for _everyone_.\n\nWith the US economy still driving the majority of global consumption (though\nthis is admittedly changing), it would have implications for _everyone_.\n\n\"Break\" is, perhaps, mildly overstating the case. But, unless you live\nsomewhere that doesn't interact with the outside world in any meaningful way,\nyou would without doubt feel the pain of a sudden shift away from USD like\nthat.\n\n~~~\nmark_l_watson\nI don't disagree with you. Some time in the future, other tax jurisdictions\nwill decide it is worth the short term pain to get off of the US$. I wouldn't\nbe surprised if this happens slowly with end to end credit swaps, a few\ncountries getting together to trade with alternative currencies, etc. It is in\nno one's best interest for this to happen very quickly. My personal bet is\nthat in about 5 years, about half of world trade will be done in currencies\nother than the US$.\n\n------\njpkeisala\nThis is really great! We are getting better speed to South-America from Europe\nand maybe it's not even being spied.\n\n------\nptaffs\nGCHQ is in Europe (UK), maybe they should specifically route to mainland\nEurope. (Since GCHQ is working with the NSA).\n\n~~~\noutside1234\nRight, because France or Germany aren't spying on anyone.\n\n~~~\nnraynaud\nit's more like they are not as big, paranoid, weaponized and violent than the\nUS, so basically they spy less and kill less people as a result of the spying.\n\nAnd also they have those pesky European Court of Human Rights and\nInternational Court of Justice overseeing them.\n\n(Not everything if pink tho, some EU countries don't want GMO and Brasil and\nArgentina bet big on it)\n\n~~~\ngnerd\nExplain to me, a European citizen, sitting in Europe how I am protected\nagainst any of the same measures in the US? Forget GCHQ for a second, lets\npick say... the Swedish FRA law, the Swedish Titan Traffic Database, the\nDenmark/Sweden DNS filter (some of the systems I mention have had little or\ndelayed scrutiny from the outside). So how does any European court prevent\nthat from happening in practise? How do these systems throw a spanner in the\nworks?\n\nIt seems to me, perhaps I am a pessimist, that these EU systems mean about as\nmuch as the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in principle it should\nmean everything but in practise it means sweet fuck all. Trade treaties might\nhave more weight but I think the US holds more cards than we do as far as that\nis concerned.\n\n~~~\nnraynaud\n[http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Cases_list_2013_ENG.pdf](http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Cases_list_2013_ENG.pdf)\n\nyou are welcome.\n\n~~~\ngnerd\nThanks very much but I was asking about how any systems we have prevent these\nthings from happening, they don't seems to be your answer. No preventions,\njust consequences... sometimes, assuming the parties aren't too big for\nconsequences or the issues touch on trade factors. Great, but that's the same\ndeal everyone in a moderately free country has all over the world. Show me the\ncase law for Sweden, the UK, NL, Germany, France being taken to court for\ncollecting and processing information, because some of those countries have\nbeen doing this in a public fashion for years.\n\nYou don't think handing over EU citizen data to the US is a violation of EU\npolicy? Tell me again about how I'm protected again?\n\nI am protected when it comes to local issues, perhaps, but if Germany, Sweden,\nFrance, NL, UK etc. decide they are going to keep tabs on things I do online\nif my traffic enters their territories then European protections are just\nfluff. At least that's how it seems to me seeing as none of these things are\ngoing to change and there are clear violations with respect to privacy in\nexisting European Law (and I'm not just talking about GCHQ here).\n\nIt's a bit like slavery being illegal in just about every single country on\nearth. What an amazing achievement to have everyone on the same page on\nsomething important, except on the ground we have more slaves right now than\never before. Every second chocolate bar you've ever bought was probably\ntainted in slavery. Those protections don't mean anything unless the\nstakeholders care and the law is enforced. If it is not enforced, its not\nreally a law.\n\n------\ncaiob\nBecause internet spying is Brazil's biggest issue at the moment. Talk about\npriorities, Eh?1\n\n~~~\nfidotron\nUnfortunately priority #1 needs to be abolishing the counter productive import\ntax on any electronics, which has led to a mix of company closures and\nBrazilian brain drain in favour of a relative handful of less skilled factory\nworkers.\n\nSad, since there is a lot of talent in Brazil and this prevents making the\nmost of it.\n\n~~~\ndcarmo\nLol at you thinking that being able to import your PS4 is priority #1. I too\nhate the import tax, but this priority is way down the list of what the\ngovernment should be tackling.\n\n------\naubergene\nThis article by Neal Stephenson on cable laying from around 1994 is a long but\nstill a very good read\n\n[http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ffglass_pr.html](http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ffglass_pr.html)\n\n------\nbatmansbelt\nWould it stop over in Africa first? It looks like that's along the way.\n\n~~~\namitparikh\nThe Great Circle route looks like it just skirts past the Canary Islands:\n\n[http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=FOR-LIS](http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=FOR-LIS)\n\n~~~\nnly\nYou're correct, it's going to land in Tenerife according to this:\n\n[http://www.submarinecablemap.com/#/submarine-cable/brazil-\nsp...](http://www.submarinecablemap.com/#/submarine-cable/brazil-spain)\n\nThis seems to have been a popular route for telecommunications cables 'for a\nwhile'\n\n[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/1901_Eas...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/1901_Eastern_Telegraph_cables.png)\n\n------\nfalconfunction\nThere is also BRICS cable, and I don't know how it relates to this.\n\n[http://www.bricscable.com/](http://www.bricscable.com/)\n\n------\nacd\nI feels like this cable will be cheddar cheese to a uboat and some skilled\ndivers. Encryption is probably better as is opensource and open hardware.\n\n------\nkumarski\nDoes anyone else see the inherent issue and irony in trying to monitor and\nprotect an extremely long undersea cable across the Atlantic?\n\n------\ncontingencies\nChina should get in on this game... it borders half the planet.\n\n------\ncpncrunch\nWouldn't it be simpler just to use encryption?\n\n------\nigl\nSays the non-democratic European muppet government? Hahaha. This cable goes\ndirectly into obamas laptop.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n“Extremely angry with the state of academic CS research right now” - zdw\nhttp://neverworkintheory.org/2016/04/26/perception-productivity.html\n======\ntedmiston\nFor an engineering community manager, that was an awfully rant-y way to make\nthe point: \"It's frustrating that researchers don't publish their code.\"\n\nNot to say I disagree with the frustration... but it's also not something new.\nIt's been this way for decades. I'd much rather hear about who _is doing_ work\nin this space and what they're working on. Here are the ones I know of:\n\n1\\. _The Center for Open Science_ ([https://cos.io](https://cos.io)) is one\nsuch org trying to fix this with the Open Science Framework [1].\n\n2\\. _GitHub_ also recognizes the need for citable code and gives special\ndiscounts for research groups, in fact, Mozilla is one they work with [2].\n\nTwo smaller related startups are:\n\n3\\. _Datazar_ ([https://datazar.com](https://datazar.com)) - A way to freely\ndistribute scientific data.\n\n4\\. _Liquid_ ([https://getliquid.io](https://getliquid.io)) - A scientific\ndata management platform. Somewhat like \"Excel for scientific data as a\nService\".\n\nAlso, a related HN thread from some years ago: \"We need a GitHub of Science\"\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2425823](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2425823)\n\n\\---\n\n1: [https://osf.io](https://osf.io)\n\n2: [https://github.com/blog/1840-improving-github-for-\nscience](https://github.com/blog/1840-improving-github-for-science)\n\n~~~\nnextos\nI like his rant. But at the same time, as an ex-CS grad student now doing\nbiology, I wish my field was 1/10th as rigorous, tidy and beautiful as\ncomputer science.\n\nCode is a joke, most data is processed using \"pipelines\", which in reality\nmeans some irreproducible mess. People don't generally do research trying to\nunderstand how cells or tissues work, they generally write papers about\n\"stories\" they found. Only a small minority are trying to do some serious\nmodeling using serious math.\n\n~~~\njldugger\n> Code is a joke, most data is processed using \"pipelines\", which in reality\n> means some irreproducible mess.\n\nYou're not wrong, and it's not limited to bioinformatics; Reinhart-Rogoff's\nfindings were reversed when an additional 5 rows were included in a\nspreadsheet they used to calculate their correlation between GDP growth and\ndebt ratios. And of course, they insist that despite the actual outcome being\n_twice as strong and in the opposite direction_ , they still support their\noriginal position.\n\nI wonder if one can get a CS PhD by producing enough retractions. Of course,\nit won't win you many friends in the academy, and would probably lead to less\nsource code made available. But given the Perl code I've seen published who's\ntermination condition is a divide-by-zero exception, one can argue that peer\nreview in the information age has to include code review.\n\n~~~\nsmartbit\nDidn't know about the Reinhart-Rogoff controversy [0], interesting! They state\nthat they have been _careful not to claim that high debt causes slow growth,\nbut rather that it has an “association” with slow growth_.\n\n[0] [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/reinhart-rogoff-\naus...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/reinhart-rogoff-austerity-\nresearch-errors_n_3094015.html)\n\n~~~\nlinhchi\nI read abt this quite a bit, the refutation is attacking a small portion of\nthe data, because that small portion is trendy and hot in politics.\n\nJudging academically, the original paper and the refuting paper is a healthy\ndebate, but the dynamic of the society and politics ab-use them to attack a\nwhole school of thought at large (the austrian school: less bailout, less\nintervention by government, less control over everything) in favor of\nkeynesian school (more bailout, more government spending, more public debt,\nespecially in recession and crisis).\n\nAnyway, it remains a controversy, because theoretically one can do what one\nwants, but once it involves policy and real life matters, it is hard to argue\nfor what method is right and what is wrong, in the presence of so many (ready\nto b angry) interest groups.\n\n~~~\nCerthas\nExcuse me? That single attacked paper was the intellectual blanket for an\nunprecedented victory march of the Austrian school after the financial crisis\nand the recession.\n\nI agree that from a purely academic point of view this is nothing big to worry\nabout, but this paper played a completely outsized role. And the authors stood\nby and let things run their course, without any attempt to reign in or\nmoderate the debate.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth_in_a_Time_of_Debt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth_in_a_Time_of_Debt)\n\n~~~\nlinhchi\nFair enough, but i add that academic life is sad, one has to pursue one's\nendeavor at one's own cost. However, politicians and the public want too much\nfrom us researchers. So sometimes, we do believe that our sweating formulas\nhave life impact, or to fancy, save the world.\n\n------\nxixi77\nHow is this different from any other academic research? What he is asking\nabout is neither openness nor reproducibility (which are, indeed, very\nimportant). He is asking that researchers produce code that he can put into\nproduction. Not only they have negative incentives to do so (for one,\nproviding such code will surely result in a stream of all kinds of support\nrequests), it would actually work against the reproducibility objective.\n\nThe purpose of the code written is usually very simple: to produce results of\nthe paper, not to provide a tool other people can use out of the box. Even\nwhen such a tool is nominally provided (for example, when a statistics paper\nis accompanied by an R package), there are good reasons to be very careful\nwith it: for example, the paper may include assumptions on valid range of\ninputs, and using the package without actually reading the paper first would\nlead to absurd results -- which is something that has happened. The way to use\nacademic research results is to (1) read and understand the paper, (2)\nreproduce the code -- ideally, from scratch, so that his results are\n(hopefully) unaffected by authors' bugs, (3) verify on a test problem, and (4)\napply to his data. Using an out of the box routine skips steps 1-3, which are\nthe whole point of reproducibility.\n\n~~~\nef4\n> reproduce the code -- ideally, from scratch, so that his results are\n> (hopefully) unaffected by authors' bugs\n\nThis rests on a common false assumption that programmers make: they think it's\neasier to write bug-free code when starting from scratch. The reality is that\nit's almost always easier to start with something that's nearly working and\nfind and fix the bugs.\n\nWhat really happens when you do a clean room reproduction is that you end up\nwith two buggy programs that have non-overlapping sets of bugs, and you spend\nmost of the effort trying to figure out why they don't match up. It's a dumb\nway to write software when it can be otherwise avoided.\n\n~~~\nthaw13579\nI wonder though, maybe non-overlapping sets of bugs are actually better for\nscience? That is, it could avoid systematic errors. Of course, one bug free\nimplementation is clearly better!\n\n------\nthaw13579\nTwo points to consider here. First, it's not fair to criticize the whole field\nof academic CS research. Not everyone's work can be accurately represented by\na github repo. Second, even when it can, expecting the \"Run author's\n[whatever] against an up-to-date dataset.\" step to work is asking a quite a\nlot. Typically there are a infrastructural assumptions baked in (file paths,\nlegacy code dependencies, etc) and manual steps to get to plotted results. In\nan ideal world with enough resources, every lab would have technical staff to\nhelp with this process, but most researchers unfortunately don't have\nbandwidth to spend on this problem.\n\n~~~\nmorgante\nIf your paper has results, it has code of some sort which can be put into a\ngithub repo.\n\nThat's the bare minimum. If you don't know how to make code agnostic to file\npaths or dependencies, that's too bad, but fortunately a field practitioner\npicking your code up _will_ know how to work around those issues. At least\nthey're not starting from scratch on trying to rewrite your code.\n\n~~~\neastWestMath\nAs a theorist, not it goddamn doesn't.\n\n~~~\njononor\nHow do you validate your theories?\n\n~~~\neastWestMath\nI prove them.\n\n------\nvisarga\nOn this topic I'd like to mention the machine learning papers site GitXiv,\nwhich is wonderful. It publishes papers alongside the Github repo containing\nthe code.\n\n[http://gitxiv.com/](http://gitxiv.com/)\n\n~~~\njcrites\nThanks! That's awesome. I have long thought that a platform for scientific\npublication where code and data are included would be valuable, and I'm glad\nto learn it exists. Going further, imagine the code is like a container that\nanyone can run to reproduce the findings, including statistical analysis and\nsummary on raw data sets -- the key findings should \"build\". Perhaps the\nplatform also provides continuous build during \"development\" (research) so\nthat researchers can work privately and then publish their \"repo\" publicly\nalong with their paper. An easy way to clone and reproduce the build after\npublication: \"fork my research\"\n\nAs an extreme version of the idea, imagine if the actual paper itself (TeX)\nand all the data within it are also built as part of the repository; any\ngraphs in the paper are rendered from data in the repo, any numbers are data\naccesses, etc. This probably wouldn't be helpful to researchers, but it would\npromote scientific reproducibility and aid everyone building on a researcher's\nwork. Tremendous work goes into authoring the papers themselves, sometimes\nwith methods or tricks that are private; laying it all out publicly would\ngreatly help students of science.\n\nGoing even further: to avoid cherry picking of positive results, review boards\nexpect experimental criteria to be published (at least privately to them) in\nadvance, for research that involves capital-E experiments. Perhaps this\nincludes analysis code at least in prototype form; like test driven\ndevelopment, the acceptance criteria are written first. When the paper is\nready for review, the reviewers can compare the initial prototype analysis\nlogic to the final form. Perhaps the board also expects all data and trials\ncollected during experiments to be made available in the repository, whether\npositive or not. All collected data should be in the platform, in the most raw\nform it was originally recorded, as well as all steps of summary and analysis.\n\nI wonder if a process and platform like this could contribute to the integrity\nand quality and reproducibility of scientific research. People funding\nresearch ought to ask for it, especially public funded research, and the whole\nrepo is made open eventually if not initially.\n\nPerhaps as part of the platform's value prop to researchers (on whom it is\nimposing probably more burdens than benefit, for sake of _public_ benefit),\nthe hosting is free and funded by a foundation, or steeply discounted. (OK, it\nwon't pay for LHC scale data sets, but otherwise ...) So using it to host your\ndata, code, and paper is free, at least up to a point. I would be interested\nto contribute time and resources toward building or supporting a platform like\nthis.\n\n~~~\ngcr\nI don't think research should be as structured as software development. In CS,\nmany of the most interesting papers come about when the authors discover\nsomething unexpected or non-intuitive and choose to explore down that thread.\nThat's why it's research -- sometimes you can't know what you will find until\nyou're there.\n\n~~~\ntremon\n_I don 't think research should be as structured as software development_\n\nIn many ways, it already is: good research requires meticulous log keeping in\norder to reproduce results, and equal effort must be spent on maintaining\nreferences to other literature, or you risk missing a citation in a published\npaper.\n\n------\nrudi-c\nI took a graduate course on software engineering just a month ago and read\nmany of those paper which use Mozilla's data. It's a very popular dataset in\nthe field since it is both open and large. I'm sure Mike Hoye meant to\ncriticize a part of that field, not academic CS research as a whole.\n\nMy impression of the field was there was a severe mismatch of skillset. The\nset of people with the scientific background to carry proper experiments, and\nthe funding to do so, is very disjoint from the set of people who understand\nthe field. That made a lot of the papers feel \"off\". Almost like reading text\ngenerated by a machine: individual sentences make perfect sense, the whole\ndoesn't seem to go in a relevant direction.\n\nAs someone who's done a fair bit of practical software engineering, seeing\nacademics study software engineers feels like seeing a WW2 veteran trying to\nunderstand how youngsters use snapchat. It feels very awkward for the\nyoungster, just as it does for the software engineer. Which I imagine is one\nreason why Mike is pissed off.\n\nThere is some irony that businesses are much more scientific in this\nparticular subfield than academia, because business incentives require the\nresults to be reproducible and meaningful, over a longer period of time.\n\n------\nmodeless\nThe state of machine learning research these days seems pretty good.\nEssentially all research is published on ArXiv and there is a lot of code\nreleased too (though there could certainly be more).\n\nI think openness has been a big contributor to the recent explosion in\npopularity and success of machine learning. When talking to academics about\nthis, machine learning would be a great field to hold up as an example.\n\n~~~\npmalynin\nI'd say the opposite as a member of a group at my university who review ML\npapers. First off right now there seems to be a drive to explain many\nphenomena in ML in particular why neural networks are good at what they do. A\nlarge body of them reaches a point of basically \"they are good at modeling\nfunctions that they are good at modeling\". The other type of papers that you\nsee, is researchers drinking the group theory kool-aid and trying to explain\neverything through that. At one point we got 4 papers from 4 different groups\nthat tried to do exactly that. All of them are flawed, either in their\nmathematics or assumptions (that will most likely never be true, like\nassumptions of linearity and your data sey being on a manifold). Actually\nspeaking of math, many papers try to use very high level mathematics\n(functional analysis with homotopy theory) to essentially hide their errors as\nnobody bothers to verify it.\n\n~~~\neli_gottlieb\n>First off right now there seems to be a drive to explain many phenomena in ML\nin particular why neural networks are good at what they do. A large body of\nthem reaches a point of basically \"they are good at modeling functions that\nthey are good at modeling\".\n\nSince this is closely related to my current research, yes, ML research is kind\nof crappy at this right now, and can scarcely even be considered to be trying\nto actually explain why certain methods work. Every ML paper or thesis I read\nnowadays just seems to discard any notion of doing good theory in favor of\nbeefing up their empirical evaluation section and throwing deep convnets at\neverything.\n\nI'd drone on more, but that would be telling you what's in my research, and\nit's not done yet!\n\n------\nKKKKkkkk1\nFor a computer scientist, reproducibility means more work that they aren't\npaid to do. If I ask the Mozilla team to implement new feature X, the response\nwill be either (a) point me to a donation link, or (b) We're open source, so\nwhy don't you implement the feature yourself? The computer scientist's\nresponse is the same.\n\n~~~\njcrites\nReproducibility for the computer scientist means including any code written\nand data collected or relied on in the scientific publication itself. In\npractice, getting there from here isn't literally zero work, since some actual\nhuman action is needed to bundle the code and data, but that effort ought to\nbe negligible overall, especially if we make it a standard part of the\nscientific process.\n\n~~~\nsemi-extrinsic\nTrust me, it's currently far from zero work to submit code with a research\npaper. I was recently the corresponding author on a software paper sent to a\njournal that at least verifies the code compiles and runs and produces\nexpected output. Since the poor person testing the softwares submitted is\npermanently in the ninth circle of dependency hell, across all platforms and\nlibraries imaginable, it took about fifteen emails back and forth plus an OS\nreinstall before everything checked out. And they said that wasn't anything\nextraordinary.\n\n~~~\njcrites\nHow about a platform centered around Linux containers (or maybe one of several\nOS containers or VM images), as the repository image?\n\nI'm not saying the work is zero now, but maybe we can get there. If a\nresearcher is developing on a platform where their repository is expressed as\na container-like image, then they should be able to publish it for anyone to\nrun exactly as-is. The container repo includes the data, the operating system,\nand any languages and libraries, with an init system that optionally builds\nthe results.\n\n~~~\nsemi-extrinsic\nYes, I think we need to go in this direction. The problem is that the\ncontainer system is yet another tool for researchers to learn. The first step\nis to get everyone using VCS and nightly testing. Many are still at the point\nof clumsily written, old Fortran code that gets emailed around and exists in N\ndifferent variants. (Not that there is anything wrong with Fortran.) Many are\nat the point where if you email them a link to a git repo to clone, they're\nclueless about what to do.\n\n~~~\nAl-Khwarizmi\nIt would help if Git didn't have such an awful learning curve (and I say this\nas a git user that already went through it).\n\nI know researchers that used Subversion when it was on the rise, but they just\nabandoned version control altogether when Git became the generally preferred\noption.\n\n------\nalantrrs\nWe're working on this exact problem at Empirical\n[http://empiricalci.com](http://empiricalci.com)\n\nWe're building a way for CS researchers to run, share and compare experiments\nincluding their whole research environment.\n\nWe just applied to Apply HN and would appreciate your feedback:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11586948](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11586948)\n\n------\nsantaclaus\n> They publish LaTeX-templated Word docs as paywalled PDFs.\n\nSomewhat tangential, but do CS academics actually write papers in Word? During\nmy grad school days I did not encounter a _single_ paper 'typeset' in Word.\nWriting was usually done with a LaTeX and and a makefile in a git repo.\n\n~~~\nnycticorax\nJust adding another data point: When I was in CS grad school (late 90s),\neveryone used LaTeX (including the journals). Then I started hanging out with\nneuroscience people, and everyone (including the journals) used Word+Endnote,\nwith basically ad-hoc treatment of the figures.\n\n~~~\nsantaclaus\nHow does Word work out when multiple collaborators are writing at once? One of\nthe cool things about version controlling LaTeX is that conflicts, merges, etc\nare dealt with using standard tools, which is super helpful when you have\ncollaborators across the globe furiously writing and redoing figures a few\ndays before a deadline.\n\n~~~\njoshvm\nWell when you deal with merge conflicts in Word, your standard tool is Word. I\ndon't think you can get much more standard than Office when you consider\ncollaborators outside academia. It's not great for simultaneous editing\n(although I think this is now possible in 365).\n\nIt is, however, very good for tracking changes over versions. Many academics\nare not familiar with git, diff and so on and it's nice to easily see\nhistorical edits in the document. For simple documents like abstracts, it's\nmuch easier to send a Word document than it is to send a tex file and assume\nthat everyone on consortium is going to be able to compile it (especially if\nyou work with industry).\n\n~~~\nfphhotchips\n\n        > although I think this is now possible in 365\n    \n\nIt would want to have improved since I used it a couple years ago in Word\n2013. The main problem was with citation managers - Word would give a\nparagraph lock to you whenever you edited a paragraph, and it would only\nunlock that paragraph after a save (either auto or manual). Of course, when\nyou have a citation manager, they have the habit of changing all the\nparagraphs when you insert a new citation that changes the numbering (ie. [1]\nbecomes [2], etc.).\n\n------\neinarvollset\nAs a recovering CS academic, I have to say - boo-fucking-hoo. Tell me exactly\nwhere the funds to do this extra level of support is supposed to come from? Is\nMozzila paying for those grad student hours? No? Well then.\n\n~~~\nmorgante\nWe as taxpayers are already paying for your research.\n\nGiven that, it seems reasonable that you should make the modicum of effort to\npublish your code.\n\nAlso, don't construct a false dichotomy. Publishing your code (at all) does\n_not_ mean you have to make it production-quality or provide support for it.\n\n~~~\nkardos\n> Publishing your code (at all) does not mean you have to make it production-\n> quality or provide support for it.\n\nNo. If you publish something that's incomplete or doesn't have all the right\ndependencies listed, etc, it's not really of any use. Writing up compiling\ninstructions plus dependencies plus how to run it plus input files etc takes\ntime and by the time you've got it to the state that someone else can run it,\nnow it's \"production-quality\".\n\n> Given that, it seems reasonable that you should make the modicum of effort\n> to publish your code.\n\nThere's currently no incentive/requirement to publish code, it uses time and\ndoes not increment your publication counter. Find the incentive and you'll\nstart seeing published code.\n\n~~~\nmorgante\n> No. If you publish something that's incomplete or doesn't have all the right\n> dependencies listed, etc, it's not really of any use.\n\nAgain you're creating a false dichotomy which is just fundamentally false.\n\nEven if you only published _half_ your code—to the point where it doesn't even\ncompile—that's still helpful.\n\nIn the status quo, I have to write your entire code from scratch.\n\nIf you published what you have, I would merely have to debug the issues and\nfigure out what the dependencies are.\n\nI don't understand why it's so hard to understand that some code is better\nthan no code.\n\n~~~\nkardos\n> I guess researchers really are so incompetent with software that they think\n> code which requires debugging is useless.\n\nSo published papers are held to a high standard -- filtered through editors\nand peer review -- while publishing code can be half-assed at best? I still\ndisagree; if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right.\n\n------\nalexholehouse\nReproducible is a major issue across science in general, but the difference is\nthere's no reason why one shouldn't be able to easily re-run a defined\nanalysis on a more recently updated data set to ask if conclusions drawn\npreviously still hold. I actually published a side-project paper on this (in\nbiological sciences) last year [1] - what was scary was there was such a lack\nof discussion surrounding this idea, despite the fact that large databases of\nbiological data are CONSTANTLY changing and updating.\n\n[1] Holehouse, A. S. & Naegle, K. M. Reproducible Analysis of Post-\nTranslational Modifications in Proteomes-Application to Human Mutations. PLoS\nOne 10, e0144692 (2015).\n([http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal....](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0144692))\n\n~~~\ncderwin\nThe other difference is that as far as I know, computer science is the only\ndiscipline for which industry has solved the problem of reproducibility; it's\none thing to be asked to design a method to run reproducible studies of\nhumans, it's another to ask researchers to run `git remote add\n[https://github.com/user/repo](https://github.com/user/repo) && git push\n--set-upstream`. That's not asking for any support, or other effort on the\nresearcher's part, and I frankly don't understand how the CS academic\ncommunity doesn't have this as a standard when it'd be so easy to implement.\n\n------\njpolitz\nIt is a real issue. The programming languages and software engineering\ncommunities have been working on evaluating software artifacts for a few years\nnow:\n\n[http://www.artifact-eval.org/](http://www.artifact-eval.org/)\n\nThis doesn't address open access, but it does make sure the software is usable\nby a non-author to reproduce the results of the paper.\n\n~~~\nkaeluka\n@ open access: In my specific subfield of academic CS, a huge success story\nwas ECOOP (one of the biggest conferences in the field) going open access last\nyear. I'm hoping that there'll be other conferences following suit. My money\nis on open access being commonplace in 10-15 years.\n\n~~~\nsamth\nNote that ECOOP went open access partly under the leadership of jpolitz's\nadvisor. :-)\n\n~~~\nkaeluka\nYou had me confused for a second, I didn't realise I was talking to jpolitz :)\nThanks for bringing that up. AFAICT, he (advisor) has done a lot to make that\nhappen, indeed.\n\n------\ndgacmu\nHelp me convince people to do a few things a bit better: [http://da-\ndata.blogspot.com/2016/04/stealing-googles-coding-...](http://da-\ndata.blogspot.com/2016/04/stealing-googles-coding-practices-for.html)\n\n(tl;dr of my linked blog post: Apply a slightly lighter weight form of some\nindustry engineering practices in CS research coding. I think it's feasible.\nIt doesn't solve all of the problems, because as discussed elsewhere in this\nthread, some of them are incentive-related and I'm not going to claim to have\nanswers to everything. :)\n\n(a) Convince more research groups to do their research on GitHub by default --\nideally, in open repositories. They get good hosted SCM, the world gets a\nbetter chance of seeing their code.\n\n(b) Create more incentives, like the USENIX Community Award, for research that\nputs out its code. I'd say that in the systems community, a pretty decent\nchunk of the papers at SOSP, OSDI, and NSDI have code releases (of varying\ndegrees of usability) accompanying them, though that's not a scientific count.\n\nMozilla could throw $1k to help create community-award-style incentives in the\nconferences they're interested in. Win-win. You get engaged with the\ncommunity, you create some incentive for people to do the right thing, and you\ncan use it as an onroad to deeper engagement with the winning authors (i.e.,\nyou can try to bring them in for internships. :).\n\n------\nmoron4hire\nWhat it will take is creating a new system of research and development that\nignores the traditional academic system. Because this has been a problem for a\nwhile and they clearly are not hearing the message.\n\nThe reason academic research works is because it takes risk on potential\nfailures, because it's only donated or grant money anyways. But academic\ninstitutions fetishize academic papers, which is the problem from the article.\n\nWe need to legitimize research outside of the academic institution. Pay people\nto do research on their own time, if they perform it in an open-source,\nreproducible fashion. Incentivize it based on the reproducibility factor, but\navoid attaching a profit motive.\n\nLook at what Xerox PARC and Bell Labs were able to do before the penny-\npinching bean counters took over.\n\nOtherwise, it just sounds like \"we want all this risky work done, and we don't\nwant to pay for it.\"\n\n~~~\nnycticorax\nMaybe I've drunk the kool-aid, but saying \"academic institutions fetishize\nacademic papers\" seems wrong to me. It's like saying that developers fetishize\nworking applications. It's not a fetish, it's the whole point of the thing.\nThe output of research is research papers. Yes, sharing raw data and code are\nboth good things, and should be promoted. But no one is going to take the time\nto look at either unless the paper presents good evidence for some novel\nresult.\n\n~~~\nmoron4hire\nPapers don't do anything. Papers aren't executable. Papers are largely only\nuseful in regards to writing other papers. To make the whole point of the\nexercise to be something that is inert and self-referential is the\nfetishization part.\n\n~~~\nRetra\nPapers teach people things. You can't really hand someone some working code\nand expect them to iterate on it to produce something novel and insightful,\nbecause it won't be written in a high-enough language to express the core\nconcepts flexibly.\n\n~~~\nmoron4hire\nI don't see how open source software is at all compatible with the view you've\njust expressed.\n\n~~~\nRetra\nI don't see how that's related. There are loads of open source software\nprojects that are maintained by only a single person precisely because they\nhaven't bothered to properly document why it exists, what came before it, what\nimportant things it is demonstrating, or what needs to be done to improve it;\nthe archetypical content of a research paper.\n\n------\nEricson2314\nThis is why I believe NixOS is so important. It allows one to completely\nfreeze the entire development environment on one hand, but also does so in a\ndeclarative, well abstracted manner (vs VM image let's say) so\ntweaking/porting is actually feasible.\n\nUntil well get to a point where building/installing/administrating is not\nhours of bullshit, research (and free software) will suffer.\n\n~~~\naub3bhat\nAs an academic researcher I find it absolutely hilarious that you think the\ncomplex social problem of incentive structure and competition will be solved\nby some Unix OS.\n\nIf you are interested just take a look at the complexity of\nlicensing/ownership of code written by a PhD student at a Research University\nin United States.\n\nIf you look at most of my Open Source code, I use AWS AMIs to share both data\nas well as OS + code, however I can do that only for side projects. The main\nthesis projects are typically very high value and consequences of sharing it\nfar more complex to understand.\n\n[https://github.com/akshayubhat/](https://github.com/akshayubhat/)\n\n~~~\nEricson2314\nNo that is not what I think at all, see my follow-up comments below. I just\nthink the combination of shitty tools + incentive structure is even more\ninsurmountable. This is a tough problem that should be attacked from as many\nfronts as possible.\n\n> The main thesis projects are typically very high value and consequences of\n> sharing it far more complex to understand.\n\nCommercial value, the university is just more stringent on the\nlicensing/ownership restrictions, or something else?\n\n~~~\naub3bhat\nThere are several factors.\n\n1\\. Commercial value.\n\n2\\. Future grant applications (a competing group not sharing code will have\nbetter chance winning the grant.)\n\n3\\. Future of other students and collaborators in the group. If two PhD\nstudents write a paper, the junior student might wish to write extension\npapers without getting scooped.\n\nAnd many more. Yet if a paper is important enough, independant researchers\nwill often attempt at replication, this nowadays routinely happens in Machine\nLearning and Vision due to huge amount of interest. Also in several cases\nreplication is fundamentally impossible, e.g. consider a machine learning\npaper that uses proprietary data from hospital attached to the university,\netc.\n\n~~~\njcrites\nI totally get that researchers' incentives are not aligned toward publishing\nit, so no need to explain that further. There are costs and downsides and\nprobably not enough benefit to them. That's fine. Everyone works within their\nsystem of incentives.\n\nIf it's paid for by public dollars, then the code and data belong in the\npublic domain eventually. I understand there are exceptions like hospital data\naffected by patient confidentiality - that's fine. However the code released\nby that researcher should be capable of reproducing their results with that\ndata set plugged in (such as by someone else who has access to it).\n\nAs a taxpayer, my concern for publicly funded research is maximizing benefit\nto the public good. I understand your point about follow-on research, and I'm\nnot saying that I'd expect the code and data to be made available immediately\nwith publication, but that deserves to be the case some reasonable time\nafterward (like a year). I understand that researchers' incentives are not\nnecessarily aligned toward making it public; I am saying that people who fund\nresearch (including taxpayers through the political process) should require\nand expect it. Keeping it private indefinitely is a degree of self-\ncenteredness that does not strike an appropriate balance between benefit to\nthe researcher and to the public in my opinion.\n\n~~~\naub3bhat\nI never understood the meme about \"public funding\" translating into \"public\ndomain\". Just because research is \"publicly funded\", does not means that the\n\"public\" owns it or even has a right to ownership. Public education is\npublicly funded does not means that government can ask for every drawing drawn\nby 9 year old in classroom to be in the public domain :) . In fact its\nactually opposite\n([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayh%E2%80%93Dole_Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayh%E2%80%93Dole_Act)),\ngiven that Universities can and do patent inventions from publicly funded\nresearch.\n\nFurther funding arrangements themselves are very complex, a professor\ntypically procures funding from University, NSF, NIH, private companies,\ndonors etc. In such cases if NSF adopts a hard line approach that any research\ntouching its dollars ought to release code under say GPL, it would make it\nimpossible to collaborate. Finally all requirements aside, one can always\nrelease intentionally poorly written code in form of MatLab .m and compiled\nmex files. I have observed several such cases, where the code can demonstrate\na concept but is intentionally crippled.\n\nFinally graduate students, graduate and are paid for doing research which is\npublishing/presenting papers at peer reviewed conferences and journals. If\nwhat funding agencies really seek is ready made software they ought to fund /\npay at the same level as software developers (as many companies do).\n\n~~~\njcrites\n> Just because research is \"publicly funded\", does not means that the \"public\"\n> owns it or even has a right to ownership.\n\nI didn't make the argument that the public owns it or has a right to\nownership, though I suppose that some people might and so I can see why you\nwould touch on that point.\n\nI would describe my view as like this: public funding is subject to the\npolitical process, and voting by taxpayers (directly or indirectly through\nvoting of politicians or their appointees). As a taxpayer, I prefer to make\npublic domain publication a requirement of publicly funded research, and I\nthink every taxpayer should too. I consider the goal of public funding of\nscience to be the benefit of public good, and believe that public good will\nbest be served by public domain publication of all data, code, and analysis\nmethods. (Whew, there's a lot of \"pub\" and \"public\" in there!)\n\nOne might reach my position by working backwards from, \"Why do we as taxpayers\nagree to fund science with government money?\" It's certainly not to give\nresearchers prestige or jobs! (Those may be necessary parts of achieving\npublic good, but they're not the goal which is the public good, and if they're\nin tension with public good then the public good probably needs to win.)\n\nI don't seek ready made software; not at all. I only seek adequate disclosure\nof data and analysis methods sufficient for others to easily verify it and\nbuild on it. See for example the attempt at replication in\n[http://www.peri.umass.edu/236/hash/31e2ff374b6377b2ddec04dea...](http://www.peri.umass.edu/236/hash/31e2ff374b6377b2ddec04deaa6388b1/publication/566/)\n\n> In such cases if NSF adopts a hard line approach that any research touching\n> its dollars ought to release code under say GPL, it would make it impossible\n> to collaborate.\n\nI will need to think more about this issue. I might be willing to accept the\ndownside as a taxpayer. I'm not sure I understand it well enough what the\nfriction would be to collaboration at the moment. If you're referring to the\nGPL specifically, then yes I agree that's probably the wrong license - public\ndomain would be more appropriate.\n\nI would be OK if this was simply an electronic log of the data as well as all\nmachine commands that have been run on it - something that is recorded\nautomatically by the operating environment. I am truly not looking for\n\"working production code\". But, those sequence of commands should be\nreproducible if someone \"replays\" them; a verifiable digital journal.\nPublishing an article that's difficult-to-reproduce feels like producing the\nleast possible public good while still getting credit. Publishing an article\nthat's fully and automatically reproducible, because it contains references to\nall of the data and code that yield the results as an executable virtual\nmachine with source code, provides the maximum public good, and that's what I\nwant science funded with public money (and ultimately all science) to work\ntoward. (I realize that this is just like, my opinion man :)\n\n~~~\naub3bhat\nYou are correct in expecting return of public investment. Actually NIH has a\npolicy that explicitly favors \"Basic Scientific Research\" over applied or\napplication of research. According to NSF and NIH, the primary goal of\ngovernment funded research is advancement of science, this is done via\nconducting experiments, and publishing results at peer reviewed venues. The\npeer review both during grant application and at publication stage factors\nheavily into assessment by funding agencies. If tomorrow NSF were to give\nsignificant weight to availability of source code (They actually do that to a\nsmall extent), it might set up perverse incentives. A small percentage of\nfederally funded research goes into Computer Science and even a smaller\nfraction involves results where there is enough demand for software. Another\naspect of academic funding that people don't get is that research grants\nunlike say contracts have a significantly different set of expectations\nassociated with them. E.g. a student can get NSF Fellowship, claiming he want\nto cure diseases using machine learning, only to later spend 3 years working\non music recommendation system (True Story!).\n\nRegarding the economics study you linked to, I am very much familiar with that\nstudy having seen the interview of graduate student on Colbert Report. For\nnon-CS fields the quality of code is anyway so bad that its much more\ndifficult. Further several researchers rely on proprietary tools, which only\nmake this task difficult.\n\nIn my opinion the correct way is not by having NSF impose rules, but rather by\nhaving venues that accept papers (Conference & Journals) insist on providing\nsoftware. However this is easier said than done, since its a competitive two\nsided market.\n\nRegarding actual licensing issues, I can assure you that GPL is second\nfavorite license of choice favored by University IP departments, the first one\nbeing \"All rights reserved with modification explicitly forbidden, except for\nreproduction of experiments.\"\n\n------\nchrisbennet\nFunny, as students we were expected to solve the exam problem and \"show your\nwork\"...\n\nI think the root a the problem is that the goals of the researchers are not\naligned with the goals of Science. This isn't a criticism of the researchers\nbut instead of the \"game\" they are forced to play.\n\nFor example,the goal of Science is to move the ball(knowledge) down the field\nfor the benefit of mankind. We don't reward researchers for doing that, at\nleast not very well. We reward researchers for writing _papers_ full stop -\nnot for making their research easy to reproduce or build on.\n\n------\natishay811\nIts not just the researchers' fault. Maybe the industry should help. Mozilla\nis a major stakeholder of the web platform that makes distribution easy. Lets\nmake sure web is the best platform to do all the research.\n\n* Provide great scientific and matrix manipulation libraries within the browser. WebAssembly isn't going to solve this. Why would the academia rewrite everything?\n\n* Provide tools that help research being open. Uploading your code to Github isn't a solution. The real solution is making it easy to use and link other person't research. Can we make research as accessible as a javascript file that you include in your html file to run. And it shouldn't cost the creator to host/maintain it. Offline web sucks(still) and it costs money to host your servers.\n\n* Provide incentive to use the web for everything. A great one would be an easy to use and debug toolset and an easy set of methods to get data in and out, an editing environment that can be setup with one click. The closest is iPython Notebook. And it takes work to get there.\n\nSharing should be default and easy. If it isn't we are no one to complain.\n\n~~~\nwyattpeak\n>Uploading your code to Github isn't a solution\n\nWhy not? This sounds like exactly the solution. It's no burden on the\nresearcher - they don't have to alter their research methods to fit a new\nsystem, they just dump the code, and leave it up to other users to\nreimplement.\n\nBuilding web tools to allow research sounds like precisely the wrong solution,\nat least in the short to medium term. Research funding doesn't go far enough\nas it is, you're not going to get researchers changing their processes\nentirely for no gain. What if they need custom hardware, or access to tools\nand libraries that haven't been implemented?\n\nSharing _is_ default and easy. That's why Github has exploded.\n\n~~~\nrobotresearcher\nYou forgot to consider IP issues. Schools vary a lot on their policies by but\nfor many the code belongs to the school and can not be open sourced without\npermission which requires extra work. Funding sources have their own IP deals\nto consider too.\n\nIt all sounds so easy until you look at the actual constraints. Professors are\nusually smart and experienced and they have thought about this stuff a lot. If\nit was as easy as you thought, it wouldn't be a problem.\n\nI publish all code as a matter of lab policy. I chose where to set up my lab\npartly so that I was able to do this. Not everyone has this luxury or makes\nthis a priority.\n\n~~~\nwyattpeak\nYou're right, I did, but I wasn't actually addressing ease in some absolute\nsense, I was talking about the appropriate tools for the job.\n\nIf researchers have the legal right to publish their work, I can't see any\nreason why github wouldn't be exactly the place they'd share it, rather than\nsome custom online research system as proposed by the parent.\n\nThat said, I don't have any experience in CS research, it's not my field, so I\nmay be wrong about that, do tell if so.\n\n~~~\nrobotresearcher\nWe share our code on github and publish the commit hash for the code that\ngenerated the results in the paper. That way we can continue to develop the\ncode after publication but readers can retrieve the exact code described in\nthe paper if they wish. Simple and effective.\n\nBut again, the IP rules at my university allow this at my sole discretion,\nwhich is unusual.\n\n------\nemeryberger\nJean Yang @ CMU (together with Sam Tobin-Hochstadt @ Indiana) posted a\nresponse to this on her website:\n\n[http://jxyzabc.blogspot.com/2016/05/myth-cs-researchers-\ndont...](http://jxyzabc.blogspot.com/2016/05/myth-cs-researchers-dont-publish-\ncode.html)\n\nReleasing code is a widespread practice in the programming languages and\nsoftware engineering communities, and one that is getting stronger (see\n[http://artifact-eval.org](http://artifact-eval.org)).\n\nIf you are a CS researcher, please fill out this survey of open source and\ndata in computer science:\n\n[https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1U6I3B2XAqGJDYq101e14PS78jhG...](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1U6I3B2XAqGJDYq101e14PS78jhGl4pTHy6eDx2zx0j4/formResponse)\n\n------\nmsiemens\nI guess I can see why many researchers are not inclined to publish their code.\nI've worked as a research assistant in the institute of microelectronics of my\nuniversity for a year and the code quality was somewhere between mediocre and\ndownright terrible. And that's not to mention the absence of sane software\nengineering standards like bug tracking or code reviews.\n\n------\nintrasight\nFrom reading this discussion, it seems that IP rules are inconsistent, and\ntherefore part of the solution needs to be to perhaps have funding agencies\nenforce a standard license. With that barrier eliminated, scientists wouldn't\nexpend valuable time negotiating with their school's layers.\n\n------\ngravypod\nPersonally, I'd feel code with light commenting would be better suited for\ngetting a \"practicable\" point across to readers then a paper will.\n\nYou won't need to put so much weight on describing some of your practices, you\ncan just how how your solution is better.\n\n------\nraverbashing\n> But that never happens. Because CS researchers don't publish code or data.\n> They publish LaTeX-templated Word docs as paywalled PDFs.\n\nCorrect\n\nPublishing in pseudocode made sense some 30y. ago\n\nToday if you're publishing in pseudocode I personally think it's someone who\nis doing that because can't write a Hello World in C\n\nOh and also let's stop the \"research comes only from universities\" idea\n\n------\nmehrdada\nFund the research you want to see in the world. Incentivize it as you think is\nright. Don't whine.\n\n------\ntachim\nCodalab is designed to solve _exactly_ this problem:\n[https://worksheets.codalab.org/worksheets/0x818930127c4d47de...](https://worksheets.codalab.org/worksheets/0x818930127c4d47de84c1ceaadf04d014/).\n\n------\nspot\nmaking research reproducible with publications that actually contain their\ncode (in addition to prose and graphs, all connected together) is one of the\ngoals of Beaker Notebook, which has a publication server where you can share\nsuch results, and then with one click open them up in the cloud, modify them\nas you see fit, and then run them again (if you have seen Beaker before, this\nlast part, the cloud hosted version, is new as of last week).\n\n[http://beakernotebook.com](http://beakernotebook.com) and\n[https://lab.beakernotebook.com/#/publications/featured](https://lab.beakernotebook.com/#/publications/featured)\n\n~~~\ndiimdeep\nWow, looks impressive and that it comes from hedge fund is cool too. It's like\nJupyter but much more robust, multiple languages in single notebook and\nability to share data across languages out of box is really nice.\n\n------\nmikeskim\nI would not be surprised if most academic CS research is not reproducible.\nThis is true for many other fields outside of CS, and I've seen it first hand\nin machine learning. It's a problem but it's also just how things are.\n\n------\naskyourmother\nThere are other issues right now, like impartiality and bought research, like\nMicrosoft at Cambridge University.\n\nI recall the professors at our uni treating the undergrads with contempt as\nwasting their precious lucrative research time.\n\n~~~\ndrjesusphd\nPrecious? Yes. Lucrative? Hardly.\n\n------\ntango12\nMaybe it can be thought of as a tooling problem? Say, a plugin that allows a\none-click publish code + data from Matlab, and then it all goes up on a well-\nindexed page so that others can download/run it.\n\n~~~\nsimonster\nI doubt the problem is that academic CS researchers don't know how to publish\ntheir code, but rather that the disincentives are usually stronger than the\nincentives.\n\n~~~\ncbhl\nIs there even code to publish? I am under the impression a lot of papers from\nBugzilla data are of the form \"we imported the data into Excel and had a hand-\ncrafted one-off spreadsheet\".\n\n~~~\njcrites\nIn that case, yes: the spreadsheet itself consists of data and analysis over\ndata (aggregations over columns and rows, etc.) so the spreadsheet itself\nwould ideally be version controlled and published.\n\nThe idea isn't to ask researchers to formalize what they make more than\nbefore, but to include fully reproducible details in the publication. A\nspreadsheet is totally fine because you can see how it works, reproduce the\nresult, and tweak the inputs/methods to build on it.\n\n------\nskybrian\nIt seems like politely writing to the researchers and asking if they still\nhave the code lying around might have good results. (If nothing else, it lets\nthem know someone cares.)\n\n~~~\nclintonb\nA colleague was working on a replication study. We got the code from the\noriginal researcher and another researcher who did a follow-on study. The code\nbarely runs, and the results seem off. I spent days debugging to no avail.\nJust because researchers provide code does not mean it is well-written code,\nor that it necessarily works.\n\n~~~\njcrites\nThen I'd be skeptical about those results. Releasing the code allows others to\njudge the likely accuracy and integrity of the results. A lot of things can go\nwrong in complex, multi-step computational processes. If care and rigor has\nnot been put into them, then I'd have no reason to believe in the integrity of\nthe output. I want the general public right to judge that, as well as build on\nit when it's useful and valuable.\n\nEvery publication involving data and technical analysis should publish them to\na degree that makes validation possible in at least as detailed a way as\nportrayed in \"Does High Public Debt Consistently Stifle Economic Growth? A\nCritique of Reinhart and Rogo ff\"\n([http://www.peri.umass.edu/236/hash/31e2ff374b6377b2ddec04dea...](http://www.peri.umass.edu/236/hash/31e2ff374b6377b2ddec04deaa6388b1/publication/566/))\n\n------\njilljennV\nWhat about this promising recent link?\n[https://gym.openai.com](https://gym.openai.com)\n\n------\njokoon\nI really wonder, what's the difference between computer science and\nmathematics?\n\nIt seems like CS is a subset of math.\n\n~~~\nyarper\nIn a word - specificity. The same question arises in a number of older fields\nof study, for example \"is chemistry the same as physics?\"\n\n~~~\nmcguire\nHere's a guess: the short answer is that the physicist would say 'yes', but\nwould be unable to solve problems that the chemist would consider trivial.\n\n------\nsnissn\nI would extrapolate that to all of academia. If you want to work on something\nthat's useful, insightful and will make the world a better place, the ivory\ntower of academia is great if you want to live in denial in an echo chamber.\n\n~~~\nrudi-c\nThat's a strong claim. While I'm sure the sentiment is understandable for some\nfields of academia, others have produced significant results that have been\nadopted by the industry, sometimes very quickly.\n\nMachine Learning has a lot of theoretical results produced by academia, but\nthe more practical techniques (decision trees, SVMs, neural networks, etc)\nalso all came from academia. The engineers scaled the algorithms to run on\nbigger datasets, but the initial work is still driving those systems.\n\nGraphics research has seen comparable contributions between industrial\nresearch labs and academia. Sure, a higher proportion of papers from academia\ndon't end up practical, but the number of papers that are very practical makes\nthat quite irrelevant. It's to be expected since you can't predict what works\nin advance, and industrial research labs just don't bother publishing negative\nresults, not that they don't get any.\n\nMany programming languages and compiler techniques came from papers.\n\nI could go on but you see the point - it depends on the field.\n\n~~~\nsnissn\nBut that doesn't say anything about the person in academia who writes a\nspeculative generic research paper about a way too simple implementation of a\ndecision tree. I don't want to demean that accomplishment, but for me it would\nbe hard to have sustained excitement from that. Also I think that a counter\nargument is that just because the initial work of X, Y and Z algorithm were\nsketched out in academia, they still very much so would have been scaled in\nindustry once the actual need has been found for them.\n\n------\nsklogic\nWhat percentage of the CS research based on any data at all? It is mostly\npurely theoretical. Still, it would be nice if they published their proofs as\na Coq code.\n\n~~~\nmoyix\nI think you're conflating a very narrow slice of CS (theoretical computer\nscience) with the larger field. There's a huge amount of CS research that\nrelies on gathering and analyzing data, building systems, etc. Theoretical\ncomputer science is actually a very small slice of the research pie.\n\n~~~\njroesch\nAt least in programming languages, systems, and formal verification project\ncode is both available and often evaluated along side the publication. For\nexample FSCQ([https://github.com/mit-pdos/fscq-impl](https://github.com/mit-\npdos/fscq-impl)) from MIT, Verdi\n([https://github.com/uwplse/verdi](https://github.com/uwplse/verdi)) from UW,\nDune([http://dune.scs.stanford.edu/](http://dune.scs.stanford.edu/)) from\nStanford, and many more.\n\nThese are just the areas I work in, its very hard to making sweeping statement\nabout CS as a full field since it is very diverse sub-community to sub-\ncommunity.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWorld's most maintainable programming language - bootload\nhttp://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2006/03/the_worlds_most_maintainable_p.html\n======\nBrandonM\nAlong with nostrademons, I disagree strongly with that article. In my opinion,\nthe thing that affects maintainability the most is the length of the resulting\nprograms. What's easier to maintain, 20 lines of paren-filled code or 200\nlines of BASIC garbage?\n\nI especially disagree with the last criterion: enforcement of good programming\npractices. The definition of good programming practice varies greatly with the\nintended use, and is something that is best defined on a problem-by-problem\nbasis. Every language I've encountered that attempted to enforce \"good\nprogramming practice\" has required me to write workarounds anytime I wanted to\ndo something interesting.\n\nOne good example is writing a few Java classes that inherit from a parent in\ndifferent ways, and then making a few method calls to note which method was\ncalled. I wanted to print something akin to:\n\n\"Entering class Child constructor.\n\nEntering class Parent constructor.\n\nExiting class Parent constructor.\n\nExiting class Child constructor.\"\n\nThe easiest way to do this is to have something like\n\npublic Child () {\n\nSystem.out.println(\"Entering class Child constructor.\");\n\nsuper();\n\nSystem.out.println(\"Exiting class Child constructor.\");\n\n}\n\nUnfortunately, the creators of Java decided that good practice maintains that\nthe call to the parent constructor must occur before any other code. Because\nof this, I had to create silly workarounds with parameter overloading to call\nthe parent method, something that was not at all extensible or scalable.\n\nIf you want maintainable programs, use a powerful language, hire good\nprogrammers, and agree on some common conventions. If something doesn't fit\nwithin the conventions, discuss it and clearly comment it in the code. How\nhard can that be?\n\nOnly so much can be automated. At some point, programmers have to take\nresponsibility for what their programs look like, and no \"maintainable\nlanguage\" will ever be able to solve this problem.\n\n------\nnostrademons\nCan you read a legal contract and instantly understand all the implications\nwithout having to consult a lawyer? How about a mathematical paper? A medical\ntest result?\n\n------\nstuki\n'Worlds most X' programming language, for programming what? The ideal language\nin which to express something kind of depends on what you are trying to\nexpress, doesn't it? ( maybe unless you are some kind of meta lisper ( or\nperl6'er :) ) dreaming of a language that's a strict superset of all possible\nothers )\n\n------\nmattjones\nThere's a place in the comments of the last article in this series where a guy\ncalled Tony says, \"I have one word: Scheme.\" And chromatic replies, \"I wonder\nif a language that sticks so closely to the lambda calculus is comprehensible\nto non-math geeks.\"\n\nThis kind of perspective (chromatic's) is a problem. The thing is, programming\nlanguages with the property that you can build powerful abstractions and still\nkeep the program comprehensible and maintainable almost certainly will be\nclosely coupled with some areas of mathematics. Things with such powerful and\npeculiar properties usually are.\n\nIt doesn't mean that the thing in question can only appeal to math geeks. One\nthing you can do with Scheme's abstraction power is build abstractions that do\nnot seem especially mathematical.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBest polynomial approximation equal ripple error - wglb\nhttps://www.johndcook.com/blog/2020/03/10/remez-algorithm/\n======\nunlinked_dll\nMathematica does have an implementation of the Parks-McClellan algorithm\n(Remez exchange applied to digital filter design) so somewhere in there is a\nRemez implementation.\n\n------\nremcob\nI've been studying Chebfun lately, a Matlab library implementing these\napproximation techniques. It's written by some of the leading researchers in\nthe field, and their documentation is so well done that it reads like a\ngraduate textbook on the subject:\n\n[http://www.chebfun.org/docs/guide/](http://www.chebfun.org/docs/guide/)\n\nIn particular chapter 4 is relevant.\n\n~~~\nspacedome\nWorth looking at also is Approximation Theory and Approximation Practice,\nwhich is centered around Chebfun. Almost everything by Trefethen is unusually\nwell written, Spectra and Psuedospectra is one of my favorites.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\niOS users buy more apps and pay more for them - jammur\nhttp://gigaom.com/apple/ios-users-buy-more-apps-and-pay-more-for-them/\n======\nflyosity\nThe most interesting (and possibly neglected) piece of information that I've\nfound when analyzing the economics & business of the App Store is just how\nmany apps are a slightly different take on an app that was popular a few years\nago.\n\nEach month, millions of people are getting an iOS device and opening the App\nStore for the first time and are unfamiliar with the apps that were popular 6\nmonths ago, let alone 1-2 years ago. Doodle Jump is popular but it's actually\nextremely similar to Super PapiJump, an iPhone game that was huge a few years\nago. Same exact mechanics, slightly different graphics & execution.\n\nThe mentality that you need an original, unique idea to succeed in the App\nStore is rubbish. A common algorithm for succeeding in the App Store is take\nPopular App A from 2009 and re-implement it with new graphics and perhaps an\nadditional gameplay mechanic and release it as Hopeful Popular App B in 2011.\nApps that were entertaining and popular (but have fallen off the charts due to\nlack of updates) were based on game mechanics that are probably still alluring\nto new audiences in 2011.\n\n~~~\njdq\n_\" A common algorithm for succeeding in the App Store is take Popular App A\nfrom 2009 and re-implement it with new graphics and perhaps an additional\ngameplay mechanic and release it as Hopeful Popular App B in 2011.\"_\n\nNot disagreeing with you, but isn't this the common algorithm for most things?\nI can think of TV Shows, movies, books, websites etc. that use the same\nalgorithm.\n\n~~~\ntomjen3\nThere are actually a number of those algorithms, often it is either a\ncombination of two existing things (G+ is like Facebook but with asymetric\nrelationships like Twitter); a twist on something that already exist (Firefly\nis a western but with an oppressive government set in space); or (but mostly\nwith physical things) something that is not as good as what was previously but\nordinary people can afford it (indoor plumbing which is not as good as\nservants preparing your bath, but much much cheaper or the Ford T).\n\nSometimes it is a mixture of these.\n\n------\nandos\nI was expecting\n\n“iOS users buy more apps and pay more for them _than Android users_.”\n\nbut instead this is about\n\n“iOS users buy more apps and pay more for them _than last year_.”\n\n~~~\nflyosity\nBoth are interesting in their own right, but I think it was a little\ndisingenuous to not announce the previous-year comparison right in the title\nor the first paragraph. They really buried the lede in the article.\n\n------\nsorbus\nSo, some quick math: The average user downloads 83 apps. 15 billion apps have\nbeen downloaded. There are a bit over 180 million iOS devices. $2.5 Billion\nhas been paid out to developers; that's about $14 per user. Since the average\nprice of an app is $1.48, the average user buys 9.45 apps.\n\n------\nsjs\nDon't know if I agree with this conclusion that people will pay more for apps\nnow. What if iPad apps are raising the average? iPhone and iPod touch owners\nmay not have paid a cent more than they did the year before for any given app.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nConvert your React codebase to TypeScript automatically - mohsen1\nhttps://github.com/lyft/react-javascript-to-typescript-transform\n======\nmohsen1\nThis is also available as a VSCode plugin:\n\n[https://github.com/mohsen1/react-javascript-to-typescript-\ntr...](https://github.com/mohsen1/react-javascript-to-typescript-transform-\nvscode)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSelf promotion ideas: Novel resumes - miller_f\nhttp://blogof.francescomugnai.com/2011/04/self-promotion-ideas-15-new-modern-and-inspirational-resumes/\n\n======\nachompas\nThese \"datavis\" resumes exemplify everything that's wrong with data\nvisualization today:\n\n(1) cluttered and distracting\n\n(2) vapid (a Frank Zappa quote and a timeline with tank top reference? a\nquarter page for a pie chart of one's intangibles?)\n\n(3) terrible at actually visualizing data or information (okay...what,\nexactly, can these people do relative to others?)\n\nThey're beautiful resumes, for sure. But their ideas for communicating\ninformation are too clever, and if I'm hiring a datavis guy I would wonder how\neffectively they could visualize real information.\n\n~~~\nrsoto\nI agree with you, but I'd rather deliver a distracting, cluttered resume than\na boring one. Anyways, most of the time, the resumes tell you very little\nabout the person. Delivering one that's different tells you more of what you\ncan expect, even if it's not a creative job, IMHO.\n\n~~~\nachompas\n_I'd rather deliver a distracting, cluttered resume than a boring one._\n\nI similarly agree with you, except that these poorly-visualized resumes would\nhurt if applying for datavis jobs. Why would I hire someone if they cannot\neven communicate their experience effectively?\n\nThey convey almost no information about the applicant, and they're surely\nworse at communicating info than a resume in Garamond that reads \"worked with\nSQL, Python, and CSS/HTML/JS for 2 years.\"\n\n------\nsumeetjain\nSome of the posted samples were interesting. The one from Rebecca Baxter\n(<http://www.behance.net/gallery/Infographic-CV-Resume/1175821>) was the most\ninteresting for me, since it offered ideas I might actually use. She seemed\ninterested in discovering new ways of presenting her information usefully.\nMost of the rest seem like they were just motivated by a desire to be\ndifferent.\n\n\\---\n\n _Note for miller_f:_\n\nOn my 13\" MacBook, your website's design is confusing.\n\nThe _Info_ section on the left contains the title of the blog post, but it's\npushed down partly below the fold. It took me \"forever\" to figure out that\nit's the post's title.\n\nThen the _Post_ section in the middle begins with a 280px-square ad, which\npushes almost everything but the first header of your post below the fold. And\nsince that header isn't the post title, it doesn't instantly register that the\npost is even there.\n\nFinally, I think it's a symptom of poor design that you need text which\nliterally points to the \"Post\" section.\n\n~~~\nalecperkins\nIt's horribly confusing on a larger screen, too. There's no hierarchy or\ndistinction between ad, meta-info, and actual content.\n\n------\ncborodescu\nI find this a great idea of self-promotion, IF you are looking to get hired in\na creative environment/job/company. It might even do the difference between\nyou and someone who is not chosen for he job, due to the way in which you show\nyou are open and willing to work.\n\nBut if you are applying for a job like a more down-to-earth straight-up\nprogrammer or a construction engineer, all those little charts, the QR, and\neverything shown in the article will dazzle the employer, but won't convince\nhim you are the best choice for his company - he needs straight facts, not\npretty colored \"pies\" with information about you.\n\nAll in all, it is best you use the format that best reflects your abilities\nand your work, but always keep in mind the employer's profile.\n\n------\nGBKS\n5 years ago when I was applying to lots of agencies I sent out custom links to\neach one. So when they landed on the site, their company name was used in big\nletters at the top of the page (\"Hi company X\"). It also allows for tracking\nwhether they actually look at your site. It's easy to do, shows that you're\nnot just spamming people, and is not as involved as some of those more intense\nexamples that target one specific company.\n\n------\nepenn\nI like the ideas of finding non-traditional ways to communicate with would-be\nemployers. For ex, using Facebook pictures as the article mentions. Similarly,\nalthough perhaps not quite as creative, I like the idea of using submissions\nand metrics from various job-related websites if available: Hacker News, Stack\nOverflow, etc.\n\nI question the usefulness of the brochure resume from the article though. In\nmy experience most of my prospective employers have wanted resumes emailed to\nthem rather than given to them physically. Even the ones that do want a\nphysical copy will find it harder to store/organize them along with the rest\nof most-likely paper resumes that are given to them. Although in that respect\nI suppose that would make yours stand out that much more. Actually, I think my\nopinion has changed since the beginning of this paragraph. :-P If you're\nsubmitting a resume in person, via snail-mail, etc, it's probably a great way\nto get it better noticed.\n\nI come from more of an engineering background though, rather than the graphic\ndesign background that this post seems to be more geared towards. What kinds\nof experiences have people had with these types of resumes?\n\n~~~\nkgtm\nWeb-based HR systems that require filling in web forms to stitch your CV\ntogether are the worst. You instantly go from \"cool infographic resume\" to\n.nfo/ASCII-art resume. Whatever happened to simple e-mail attachments...\n\n~~~\nsili\nCould the forms be a security measure? Is it really smart for your company\nemployees to be opening hundreds of PDF and Word files sent from random\nstrangers?\n\n------\nsili\nThis is a horrible page design. It literally took me minutes to figure out\nwhere the main content of the post is and where are the navigation and info\nlinks. Add to that the fact that the first link I clicked in the main post\nturned out to be an embedded ad.\n\n------\nskrebbel\nI don't know where those guys live, but on my planet all resumes are\ncommunicated as PDFs. Nearly all shown examples lose some or all of their\npower when not in physical form.\n\nThat said, it seems it's most designers' resumes so maybe that's why. I wonder\nwhat CVs could be cooked up for more technical and/or organisational\npositions. A github printout comes to mind.\n\n~~~\noscardelben\n<http://resume.github.com>\n\n------\nFiddlerClamp\nOr check out my creative resume, which was designed to be sent as plain text.\nIt was originally a response to a job site that required me to fit my\nexperience into boring little boxes...\n[http://www.scribd.com/full/39705569?access_key=key-\ncwlk7b9tf...](http://www.scribd.com/full/39705569?access_key=key-\ncwlk7b9tfinftw80ul9)\n\n------\nharaball\nI like this guy's idea, which adds a hacker flavor to the resume concept. He\ncreated a business card with his CV on it, and handed it out on a job fare:\n\n<http://www.aftenposten.no/jobb/article4063965.ece>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThe Internet Of Things Will Need Millions Of Developers By 2020 - damian2000\nhttp://readwrite.com/2014/06/27/internet-of-things-developers-jobs-opportunity\n\n======\nonion2k\nIf IoT devices make their data open, accessible and work to a defined standard\nwith a machine discoverable, zero config interface[1], then, in theory, apps\ncould be built with no knowledge of whatever devices come along that could use\nthe new data as and when it appears. That way we wouldn't actually need more\ndevelopers, just developers willing and able to take advantage of the new\ndata.\n\nBut that's unlikely.\n\n[1] Like WSDL is supposed to be.\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Services_Description_Langua...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Services_Description_Language)\n\n~~~\nrodion\nThere is a protocol called CoAP that has some traction [1,2]. It describes a\nstandard for accessing sensor data and also includes discovery. Technically, I\ndon't think there is a major challenge.\n\nThe problem, IMHO, is rather in who will pay for the physical devices. The\ncommon view is that there is no money to be made from the sensor hardware\nitself. Thus, the only way to sell hardware would be to bundle it with a\nservice that the user pays for. Assume that I, as a utility company, subsidize\na smart meter to be installed in customers' homes -- what would be my\nincentive to open it up to other developers?\n\n[1] [https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7252](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7252)\n[2]\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constrained_Application_Protoco...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constrained_Application_Protocol)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAudi E-Tron Gets Lower Than Expected 204-Mile EPA Range Rating - codeulike\nhttps://insideevs.com/audi-e-tron-electric-range-epa/\n======\ncodeulike\nThat's with a 95kwh battery. Turns out building EVs is not so easy.\n\n~~~\nclouddrover\nBut only 83 kwh available for use. As mentioned in the article, the battery is\nover-provisioned to increase its longevity and to enable faster charging. The\nAudi e-tron SUV can maintain a 150 kilowatt charge rate up to 80% state of\ncharge, which no other current EV can do:\n\n[https://support.fastned.nl/hc/en-\ngb/articles/115015420127-17...](https://support.fastned.nl/hc/en-\ngb/articles/115015420127-175-kW-fast-chargers)\n\nNot even the Tesla Model 3 on the new Tesla V3 chargers:\n\n[https://electrek.co/2019/03/07/tesla-v3-supercharger-\naction-...](https://electrek.co/2019/03/07/tesla-v3-supercharger-action-first-\nlook/)\n\nThe e-tron's main problem is that it's too heavy for the battery it has. Every\nversion of the Tesla Model X, for example, weighs less than the e-tron.\n\n~~~\ncodeulike\nAlso that 12 kWh of unused battery will be quite heavy\n\n------\nthefounder\nPretty disappointing. It will be a niche car like BMW I3/I8\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSlack Bot Business Tutorial: From zero to $25k per month - alexxtomsk\nhttps://standuply.com/blog/slack-bot-business-tutorial/\n======\nalexxtomsk\nHi folks!\n\nJust in 8 months, we grow our Slack bot from zero to $25,000/mo. Moreover, it\nkeeps growing like crazy. Based on our learnings we prepared a step-by-step\nguide on how we did that. I hope it will be useful to you.\n\nFeel free to ask me questions here.\n\n~~~\nTobbenTM\nWe've seen plenty of people going all in building their business on a platform\nthey don't control, then getting mad when the platform they depend on changes\nhow things work.\n\nWith that said, are you guys also targeting other platforms than Slack?\n\nI'm sure MS Teams, Discord, etc provide the same foundations for an even\nlarger reach?\n\n~~~\nalexxtomsk\nThat is so true. We were building for Telegram before Slack and was very\ndisappointed business-wise about it.\n\nNow we're fully focused on Slack and it helps us in building a great product\nfor the narrow use-case.\n\nHowever, of course, we're looking for ways to expand our market.\n\nI'm not sure about Discord (how many of you guys are using it?), but MS Teams,\nGoogle Chat, and Stride are the other players that in my opinion will be able\nto compare with Slack in terms of features and market size.\n\n~~~\npalisade\nDuring an interview I had at Discord recently the lead engineer mentioned they\nhad exceeded 130 million users. Though, there was also a recent bump by almost\n70 million people that left Skype and joined Discord in the news recently as\nwell. He told me that Skype is the 800 pound gorilla to beat and that they\nhave around 300 million users or something. They're definitely gunning for\nthem, and Microsoft has changed Skype so much that they've alienated much of\ntheir user base in addition to having lots of security flaws. Discord touts\ntheir security, two factor auth, IP address hiding, plus having all the\nfeatures of Skype in addition to the concept of slack-like chat rooms. More\nthan just gamers are starting to use it.\n\n[https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/discord-turns-\nthree-120...](https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/discord-turns-\nthree-1202810983/)\n\nAt the moment, Discord is ad-free and other than Nitro subscriptions which let\nyou have animated profile images and use emoticons in any server, which he\nadmitted was an almost unnoticeable revenue stream at the moment, they don't\nreally have a way to monetize the platform. When I asked how they were\nplanning to generate revenue and whether my job would be secure he said they\nhaven't settled on any ideas yet but have a few bouncing around that he\nwouldn't tell me.\n\nHe mentioned that once they reach 600 million users they consider that the\nbreak-even point where they've succeeded as a platform and can start\nconsidering putting possible plans into action. My guess is that advertising\nwill play a big part, and possibly various other techniques like\nmicrotransactions, platform integrations, affiliates, partnership deals,\ncontent distribution (movies, music, games), etc. It is probably the break\npoint at which you can afford to anger a percentage of your users in exchange\nfor enough revenue to establish themselves as a self-sufficient organization.\n\n~~~\nalexxtomsk\nThanks, that's insightful. I wonder how can they get as many users. There are\nnot enough gamers in the world to hit that number.\n\n~~~\nrnotaro\nYou are clearly underestimating the number of gamers in this world!\n\n~~~\nalexxtomsk\nYep, maybe. What a huge market!\n\n------\nboon\nWhat's the solution to the problem of hating the Content Marketing game?\n\nI think the fear of having to deal with writing spam blogs/emails is one of\nthe bigger mental hurdles to my eagerness to build a product like this.\n\n~~~\nHeyLaughingBoy\nStop thinking of it as spam and start thinking of it as customer outreach?\n\nI mean you have to let people know about this magical thing you've built\n_somehow_.\n\n~~~\ngeekingfrog\nWhy do people _need_ to know about this magical thing? Isn't that enough if\nyou solve a problem? Interested people will look for solution and find your\nmagical thing, no need to add to the general cancerous spam of \"hey, I'm sure\nyou're going to find that thing awesome, even if you don't need it\"\n\n~~~\nhluska\nIf this is true, why is it so easy to name genuinely good products that failed\nbecause of lack of visibility? How do you differentiate your product from that\nof competitors? How do you get seen in the first place unless you own a very\ngood domain/have a massive sales force?\n\n------\ntw1010\nI need to start selling shovels.\n\n------\nsschueller\nCongratulations!\n\nWhat steps are you taking to protect yourself from slack shutting you off? Not\nthat they would but you have all your eggs in someone else's basket?\n\n~~~\nalexxtomsk\nWhy would a company that relies heavily on bots shut us (or another valuable)\nbot off?\n\n~~~\nblihp\nThey decide they want to provide the features you provide directly? See\nTwitter, Google, Apple, Microsoft etc. It's a very old game at this point and\nyou really should be aware of your risk in being so dependent on what is\neffectively a closed platform. (i.e. an API does not make a closed platform\nopen) They're providing APIs right now to help fuel their own growth but once\nthat growth levels off, or worse reverses, watch out... they may decide that\nthey want your business and then there will be very little you can do to\nprotect yourself from that.\n\n~~~\nalexxtomsk\nThanks for saying that. It makes sense for us to be aware of such scenarios.\n\n~~~\nblihp\nNo problem. BTW, I didn't want to discourage you: it's great that you've got a\nsuccessful service and it's often a smart move to start on a well known\nplatform. (many of today's successful companies started that way... see\nMicrosoft and IBM ;-) Just be sure to diversify away from the platform lock-in\nASAP (i.e. build a bot business rather than a Slack-bot business) so when/if\nthe rules change you're not doing a followup post titled 'Slack destroyed our\nbot business' down the road.\n\n------\nVectorLock\nSometimes I wonder how much of these \"we started making $X/mo and heres how\"\nare true and how much are really just more content marketing spam?\n\n~~~\nalexxtomsk\nWant me to do a screen sharing of our Baremetrics dashboard? Reach out to me\nat alex at standuply.com to book a call.\n\n~~~\nLyndsySimon\nI'm amazed at the hostility here these days :( It's very accommodating of you\nto offer to share additional metrics.\n\nTo be honest, my interest isn't intense enough to warrant my time for a screen\nshare, much less yours. I will keep an eye on your blog, though.\n\nETA: I can't seem to find an RSS feed for your blog :(\n\nETA2: It's at\n[https://standuply.com/blog/feed/](https://standuply.com/blog/feed/), but\ndon't see a link to it anywhere.\n\n~~~\nfreehunter\nIt is truly hard to comprehend that one of the most common things successful\nstartup founders recommend is that your startup should have a blog and talk\nabout the company and the product and the engineering, but when that gets\nshared suddenly it's spam and everyone is crying for blood.\n\nRemember when this used to be a friendly startup forum full of people who\nliked hearing about interesting technology and how it was made?\n\n~~~\nalexxtomsk\nYeah, but let's just listen to those positive commenters and disregard haters.\nI think if you talk about your story educating others, it brings value to the\necosystem.\n\nI respect companies like GrooveHQ that share their experience and don't conder\nit as a marketing or spam.\n\n------\nbdcravens\nWe use a similar product (Geekbot). It reassuring to see companies like this\nsucceed. A fear is always adopting a great tool into your workflow only to get\nthat \"our incredible journey\" email.\n\n------\nesseti\nGlad that you made it, I just checked and I actually joined on November 2016,\nbut I'm not using it anymore. Keep up and good luck.\n\n~~~\nalexxtomsk\nThanks, it was almost MVP at those days. Very people from 2016 stayed with us\ntill now.\n\n------\nmatte_black\nAre you guys Slack users yourselves? Could someone really understand how to\nbuild a slack bot business without using Slack themselves?\n\n~~~\nalexxtomsk\nOf course, we do use Slack. Also, we're very into Agile with deep management\nbackground. Here's how we came up with the idea insight.\n\n------\njirenandcell\nCongratulations on your success thus far! How long did it take you guys to\ncreate the MVP?\n\n~~~\nalexxtomsk\nThanks. I wrote a dedicated post on that: [https://standuply.com/blog/saas-\nmvp/](https://standuply.com/blog/saas-mvp/)\n\nIt took us a bit less than a year to build the MVP and experiment with the\nconcept.\n\n------\nsireat\nVery impressive!\n\nFor someone outside normal corporate culture who is actually paying for Slack\nbots?\n\nMiddle level managers who have to administer daily meetings?\n\nIt is amazing that being outside the corporate loop you were able to hit such\na pain point.\n\n~~~\nbdcravens\nWe use a similar product, and it works great for async \"standups\". Solve a\nproblem well (I peek at our standup channel - I don't have to screw around\nwith logins or config screens or dashboards), solve it simply (don't try to be\nBasecamp), and keep it cheap enough - there's a ton of opportunity there.\n\n------\nsiddarthd2919\nI use Standuply. Makes my life easier and the team loves it :)\n\n~~~\nalexxtomsk\nthanks for your warm feedback :)\n\n------\nswyx\ncongrats on your success! Can we see your baremetrics panel?\n\nI think for non technical founders you skipped a very important part of the\nstory - how did you find your initial devs and how did you figure out how to\nwork with them? how much should people set aside for this kind of thing? that\nreally matters.\n\n~~~\nalexxtomsk\nWe haven't decided yet to be among Open Startups, but if you have a particular\nquestion, reach out to me at alex at standuply.com\n\nAs for developers, we have some background working in tech. So it wasn't a\nproblem.\n\n~~~\nswyx\nno worries. i saw that you used baremetrics so i felt a bit voyeuristic and\nasked.\n\nwell, you're very lucky to have that background. some advice for others on how\nyou worked with the initial developers would be very helpful!\n\n------\nBadassFractal\nInteresting! How does Standuply compare to StatusHero, which seems to do about\nthe same thing?\n\n~~~\nalexxtomsk\nStanduply focuses on Slack where it brings all the data and questions. There\nis no need for you/your team to remember using one more external tool.\n\n------\ntopaztee\nhow do you differentiate to geekbot?\n\n------\ncraterdude\nnot a tutorial.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: New developer tool for the JVM - Edmond\nhttp://www.crudzilla.com\n\n======\nbjrnjs\nI wouldn't mind some more information, either on the startpage or under\n`About`. Right now I have no idea what I'm downloading, what I can use it for\nor why I should use it.\n\n~~~\nEdmond\nIt seems the home page is quite clear...no?\n\n------\nEdmond\nFounder here.\n\nWill be happy to entertain questions, feedback, suggestions.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Anyone else regret making free software? - paulryanrogers\nRecently I&#x27;ve published a few modest plug-in&#x27;s to popular software as commercial products, and a part of me wants to give such minor work away. Yet my past experiences producing freeware and the macro effects on labor make me reluctant. After all, I do value my time and producing even &#x27;simple&#x27; functionality can consume a lot of it.<p>Granted, my participation in freeware was a niche game-mod from years ago; circa ~2001. So donation wasn&#x27;t as common as it appears today. Also, while I understand &#x27;free&#x27; as a marketing technique, it seems to be conditioning potential buyers to expect pricing below costs. This can&#x27;t be good for those trying to make it by selling their work.<p>On the other hand I&#x27;ve certainly benefited from free and open software produced by others. There have even been a few occasions where I&#x27;ve donated small amounts. Though, looking at widely used projects like DosBox my guess is contributors (or those of similar projects) would have been compensated a lot more if they were not free. Or at least gotten more funding considering how Steam and GOG have benefited.<p>Am I alone in feeling some regret making freeware? Anyone else feel similarly conflicted in charging for their work?\n======\npdow\nThe single biggest mistake I made when I was an independent software developer\nwas making my flagship product available for free.\n\nOf course when I first released the application I had no idea it would become\na significant part of many people's lives and would come to occupy all of\nmine. I also had a job at the time, and like you I felt conflicted about\ncharging for my work.\n\nThe application was Journler, an information management application for the\nMac desktop circa 2006-2010, and I eked out a living on a \"donationware\" model\nfor some time.\n\nEventually the scope of the project became so large that I needed extra help,\nbut I didn't have the income to hire help. I needed to start charging to be\nable to hire help, but in order to release a new version of the software with\na paid model while continuing to manage customer support, I needed to hire\nhelp. I fell into a vicious circle, and the project collapsed. I open sourced\nit, apologized to the user community, and moved on to contract work.\n\nYou cannot anticipate what will happen with the software projects you release\ninto the wild. But as developers often underestimate how long it takes to\ncomplete a project, I'd speculate we also underestimate how much of ourselves\nwe'll have to commit to a project that becomes even modestly successful.\n\nCharge from the beginning and put yourself into a position where you can hire\nhelp if it should come to that.\n\n~~~\nbelorn\nIn 2015 I would suggest open up a patreon page (or similar service) and define\nhow much money is required for continued work. After that its the users choice\nto pay the salary or not, and as a developer you can see if there was enough\ninterest in the product to support its development.\n\nDonationware or paid version schemes can also work in some cases, but in my\nview there is a bit of an mental distance between a person paying and the\nproduct being supported for further development. It only seems to work in the\nexceptional massive projects and then a large portion of donations often seems\nto be from other companies rather than private citizens.\n\n------\nrebootthesystem\nThe only free (gratis) software I regret releasing is for iOS. A massive\nnumbers of developers have done the same, adding huge value to the iOS\nplatform. Apple socks away billions while developers get nothing or very\nlittle. Apple set up their ecosystem as a slippery slope that shoved everyone\ninto the mud very quickly. That's one of the big reasons for which we have\nzero interest in the watch. Apple needs a ton of free apps to give it value.\n\n------\nviraptor\n> Though, looking at widely used projects like DosBox my guess is contributors\n> (or those of similar projects) would have been compensated a lot more if\n> they were not free. Or at least gotten more funding considering how Steam\n> and GOG have benefited.\n\nI think you may have it a bit backwards. Old applications are easy to run and\npopular, because DosBox exists. If it was a paid app, maybe GOG wouldn't be\nknown at all. Or maybe the prices would be much higher than they are now.\n\nIf you regret releasing free software, that's your right of course. But unless\nyou released something very similar in the same environment and got paid real\nmoney for it (not donated - charged and received), I don't think you can make\na valid prediction of what would happen in a non-free scenario.\n\n~~~\npaulryanrogers\n> Old applications are easy to run and popular, because DosBox exists.\n\nActually I think nostalgia makes old stuff popular even when it is challenging\nto do. I've met people into 1840's-style iron working despite the challenge;\nand certainly not because it's the most optimal way to produce the desired\nproduct.\n\n> If it was a paid app, maybe GOG wouldn't be known at all. Or maybe the\n> prices would be much higher than they are now.\n\nPerhaps GOG would not exist, but Nintendo has been selling repackaged editions\nof their old software for a long time now. And maybe GOG and Steam prices\nshould be slightly higher to compensate those doing the ports. If so then some\nports may have been better quality.\n\n~~~\nviraptor\nI don't understand how the first part is connected to the free/regret post,\nsorry.\n\nNintendo, sure, releases them for the platform they control completely.\nOutside of that platform, there's a lot of free emulators (not a single one\npaid on [http://emulator-zone.com/doc.php/nes/](http://emulator-\nzone.com/doc.php/nes/))\n\n------\nabstractspoon\nI have been writing ToDoList\n([http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/5371/ToDoList-An-\neffecti...](http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/5371/ToDoList-An-effective-\nand-flexible-way-to-keep-on)) as freeware for nearly 12 years and never\nregretted a minute. I have a day job and write ToDoList purely for fun/joy. A\nThriving community has grown up around it, it has provoked a number of people\nto develop related tools and has kept the passion alive when my day job (also\nprogramming) sometimes sucked.\n\n~~~\npaulryanrogers\nInteresting perspective, thanks for taking the time to share. I'd imagine that\nmost people who do open source are in a similar situation. That is, expenses\nalready paid. Yet such efforts also appear to undermine the value of your\nprofession as a whole.\n\nConsider the poor-yet-educated developer (maybe strait out of college or\nliving in the 3rd world) with a great idea for a to-do application like yours.\nHe pours precious time and effort into his work. Then after establishing his\nproduct someone with time to spare starts giving away a free alternative. The\npoor developer cannot compete as more and more of his consumers, and potential\ncustomers, opt for the free project.\n\nQuality and execution are the arguments I often read in response to such an\nargument. Yet the sacrifice of the poor developer just to get basic\nfunctionality are greater than those of us who already have a day job. While I\nlove to share, create, and avoid reinventing the wheel; I'd also like others\nto enjoy at least some of the career and benefits I've been blessed with.\n\n~~~\nabstractspoon\nBut if no one does create that app then my app never gets written... So it's\nnot really a working argument.\n\nAnd if I charge for it and no one buys it, what then, should I give up or make\nit open-source?\n\nWhat if that 'person' can use my software for free and in doing so save some\nmoney so that they can write the software they want to?\n\n~~~\npaulryanrogers\n> But if no one does create that app then my app never gets written\n\nYou could write it and release it at a price equivalent to your time and\neffort. You could even include the source for personal modification and offer\nfree updates to anyone who contributes back to the project. Or write it\nyourself and keep it private.\n\n> And if I charge for it and no one buys it, what then, should I give up or\n> make it open-source?\n\nPricing is an art, so I imagine some experimentation is in order. I've begun\ndoing so myself. Making it open source, as in no cost to redistribute, would\nstill devalue programming as a paid profession; even if it's hard to see at\nthe micro level.\n\n> What if that 'person' can use my software for free and in doing so save some\n> money so that they can write the software they want to?\n\nGood counter-point. Some producers do benefit indirectly as they are also\nconsumers of tools. Yet if they ultimately find it harder to get paying work--\nbecause the market as a whole expects software below cost--then the net effect\nlooks negative to me.\n\n------\nomnivore\nAdd-ons, mods and other freebies are often about solving a problem, learning\nsomething new or simply contributing to the community. I doubt you're alone in\nfeeling regret about giving a thing away that you later see people pay for out\nof someone else, but it doesn't mean the work went to waste or that you\nsomehow squandered the one chance you to contribute materially.\n\n~~~\npaulryanrogers\n> ...it doesn't mean the work went to waste or that you somehow squandered the\n> one chance you [had] to contribute materially.\n\nWhile I did learn a lot through the process of contributing to free software,\nit's also time I could have spent making software that paid for itself. Still,\nit is good to be reminded of the positives. Thanks.\n\n------\nMrTonyD\nI've been working with open source software since before the term existed (it\nused to be called \"free\" before licensing was understood.) At this point, I\nthink it is mostly a bad idea. First, the big users of most open source\nsoftware are big Fortune 500 companies run by a bunch of billionaires - so why\nshould they get software free? Second, I think that everyone should get at\nleast a living wage for any work they do - so working for free really reflects\nan economic system that was set up to create winners and losers.\n\nSo now I would prefer to see more managed economies - less tolerance for the\nbillionares, and less tolerance for a system where people must work for free\nto get the chance to get a good job.\n\n~~~\nvezzy-fnord\n_it used to be called \"free\" before licensing was understood_\n\nThis statement along with saying free software means \"working for free\" and\nthat Fortune 500 companies being large adopters of free software isn't\npreferable, makes me strongly doubt you ever understood it in the first place.\n\n------\ninformatimago\nYou have a defective language. Try French, with logiciel libre et logiciel\ngratuit.\n\nFree software (logiciel libre) is not software given for free, for USD0.00.\n\nFree software (logiciel libre) is software that gives freedoms to the user:\n\n\\- The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose (freedom 0).\n\n\\- The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your\ncomputing as you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition\nfor this.\n\n\\- The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom\n2).\n\n\\- The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others\n(freedom 3). By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to\nbenefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for\nthis.\n\nIf creating software costs you dearly, then of course, you shall invoice your\nusers for selling your software to them. Bug give them those freedoms! Sell\nfree software. Don't give enslaving software for free (gratuitement).\n\nAs a user, I would not use freeware (logiciel gratuit). Freeware (logiciel\ngratuit) is enslaving; usually the source is even not available, so I cannot\nverify that freeware software (logiciel gratuit) doesn't do something evil in\nmy back.\n\nNotice that if you sell your logiciel libre under the GPL license, you have to\ngive the sources of your logiciel libre to your paying _customer_, but not to\nanybody else. Of course, then your customer has the 4 freedoms described\nabove, and he could further sell or give your software, along with the sources\nto somebody else. But this is work and it would involve charges, so he may\nchoose not to do so.\n\n~~~\npaulryanrogers\n> Of course, then your customer has the 4 freedoms described above, and he\n> could further sell or give your software, along with the sources to somebody\n> else. But this is work and it would involve charges, so he may choose not to\n> do so.\n\nWith OpenSSL many apparently did use it and resell it without compensating\nupstream. Only after HeartBleed did that situation change. For a more GPL\nexample I've noticed DosBox Turbo reuses both DosBox and another port's work\nin their sources. My guess is unmodified reselling may be happening with\nWooCommerce plug-in's at Woothemes-plugins.com and Wooextension.com.\n\n~~~\nem3rgent0rdr\nBut let us not forget how efficiently and immediately OpenSSL was able to be\nforked, precisely because it was free software.\n\n~~~\npaulryanrogers\nCertainly that is a benefit for the consumer. But my regrets are because I am\na producer. When others can use one's work to resell updated copies without\ncompensation then I doubt one would feel motivated to keep working on it.\n\n------\nem3rgent0rdr\n\"free software\" is not the same as \"freeware\", which by commonly accepted\nusage is almost always reffering to proprietary software that is distributed\nat no cost. The OP tends to implicitly conflate them by lumping them in\ntogether.\n\n~~~\npaulryanrogers\nPerhaps they are different for some folks. In my experience most people\nconsider both terms any software that is free to acquire, use, and distribute.\nRegardless, if wares are acquired and used without charge then the impact on\nproducers and the price expectations of consumers is the same.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe license is the license - detaro\nhttp://www.boldport.com/blog/2015/9/22/the-license-is-the-license\n======\nChuckMcM\nPerhaps the point was missed? When I read the proposal I read it as one, and\nonly one thing, trying to find a way to \"punish\" people who sold something for\nprofit without acknowledging the originator after having their open source\nhardware designs \"ripped off\".\n\nSo I really understand the author's pain of creating something that folks can\nuse, but not wanting to be associated with a group which isn't effectively\narticulating or executing on its goals.\n\n~~~\ndetaro\nBut it only gives a new way to punish them if they also display the licensed\ncertification logo? That's only useful threat if \"bad guys\" would want to keep\nthe logo, because people would be less likely to buy products without it. At\nwhich point it becomes \"necessary\" for legit projects to register for it.\n\nI think the author mostly disagrees that this requirement is a worthy goal,\n\"just\" to get a bit better recognition for their work.\n\n------\nmrdrozdov\nThe author argues that OSHWA is targeting unreasonable people with their\nlicensing structure, since any participant opts-in to potential fees. I\nbasically agree, but the concept struck a chord. Why would something like\nOSHWA need to exist? Assuming that OSHWA has some motivation besides making\nmoney as an enforcer (which sounds like a ludicrously good business plan if it\nworks), what itch is OSHWA trying to scratch for participants?\n\n~~~\ndetaro\nI guess the itch is recognition of their adherence to \"true\" open-source\nhardware, and getting an additional tool to force people reusing their\nprojects to adhere to the license as well. If they manage to establish in\npeople's minds that \"all good open-source hardware projects have this\ncertification logo\", the members have an advantage in public perception.\nPunishing a) the bad apples and b) those who don't agree with their principle.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIt's Still About the Applications - dsr_\nhttps://freethoughtblogs.com/stderr/2019/12/28/its-still-about-the-applications/\n======\nreggieband\n> the very fact that The Pentagon thinks that all its cloud apps are going to\n> work under either AWS or Azure shows how ignorant they are\n\nI'm not sure why that is the case. I worked at a place that mandated minimum\ntwo cloud support and we were going down that road when I left. I didn't see\nany complete show-stoppers from a technical perspective although there were a\nfew annoying issues. Maybe the author is just hammering home the incompetence\nangle, where the IT managers he lampoons are incapable of managing such a\nproject. But at it's face, holding an expectation that systems be redundant\nacross cloud providers seems reasonable.\n\n~~~\nmusingsole\nI didn't read it as cloud applications should be interoperable between\nproviders but that a given application should be able to pick which platform\nthey build on. I've had a similar argument with a previous employer who wanted\nto select just one provider. I was baffled at the time as provisioning an\naccount on any of them takes seconds. So there's no reason to pick one other\nthan politi---and right about then is when I understood the whole motivation.\n\n------\nAndrewKemendo\nAs one of the \"Federal IT managers\" actually doing this, there are too many\nbroad statements here that the overall message ends up being misleading.\n\nIf you were completely cynical, then you could find enough examples to make\nanything in here seem true.\n\nFor example, this entire paragraph is wrong:\n\n _Here’s something that will surprise you a lot: when it comes to government,\ncloud computing represents a huge shift of money from the public sector to the\nprivate sector. It’s the privatization of of government data. Lock-in is\ncompletely ignored: how will government departments ever get their data back\nout of the cloud? “Not my problem,” says the federal IT manager, “besides,\nthere’s nothing about lock-in in these Powerpoint slides.”_\n\nThere is realistically too much here to unpack in a comment, but I would say\nthat the overall thesis of the article is pointing in the right direction.\n\nHowever it's not like failure is a forgone conclusion, if competent people\n(like a lot of you reading this are) join the government to actually help fix\nthese things then we can actually do things correctly. I posted in the Who's\nHiring Thread last month so we're ready whenever you are.\n\n~~~\nirrational\nI've never actually looked into government tech jobs, but my assumption is\nthat they would pay much less than a competent person could make in the\nprivate sector. Other than pay or patriotism, what would motivate a competent\nperson to want to work for the government?\n\n~~~\nAndrewKemendo\nPatriotism is the wrong word.\n\nIf you think that your government should be doing things a different way, and\nyou feel you know how to do it better then you have a couple of avenues to\nparticipate. One of them is joining the government in a capacity that allows\nyou to affect change directly.\n\nIt's true, you aren't going to get paid $500,000 a year for being a software\nengineer. However, the USG does not pay subsistence wages. For entry level\nData Science jobs in Boston we pay better than the market, and with better\nbenefits, a union, matching investment accounts, low cost health insurance,\nstability and many other things you don't have elsewhere.\n\nWe also have opportunities to work on things that you just can't elsewhere.\n\n~~~\nntsplnkv2\nLet's be honest - working for the government is a very poor way to affect\nchange in it. The decision makers are also very far removed compared to\nprivate corporations and certainly so compared to smaller more agile companies\nlike startups.\n\n~~~\nAndrewKemendo\nI am sitting here, as a government employee, telling you that you can actually\nmake change. And at least for this problem set, you can make it in an\nextremely impactful way.\n\nWhether you believe me or not is up to you.\n\n~~~\ncraftinator\nIn what way have you effected change in the government? In what ways have you\nseen those around you do so (you must have witnessed this, by your stated\nclaims)? I was in the military, which is a different beast entirely, but\nworked constantly with fairly high level government employees. They always\nseemed powerless, and to have accepted that.\n\n------\nlastres0rt\nI guess this article counts as therapy, what with the whole line of \"The\ngoddamn vaunted databases of the government are NOT the stuff of conspiracy\ntheories. In fact, they're just as shitty as you would expect.\"\n\n------\nthinkingkong\nHonestly this entire system is a mess. But it's working so nobody is going to\nchange it, plus going \"over the top\" and building a better, more idealistic\nsolution will have the same set of problems. Assuming you end up building\nsomething dramatically better or easier, getting market share means addressing\nmore and more use cases, and you more or less end up as the n+1th protocol or\nstandard.\n\nTo me the only long term in dealing with this mess is going to be some shift\nin how we actually do computing on data. Leave the data at rest / in-situ and\nmove more and more compute capacity to where it sits, then merge results\ntogether later. We're getting to the point where containers are common place,\nand FaaS is becoming comfortable.\n\n------\nmrkeen\nThis is all rings so true.\n\nWhy do I have to swipe an access card and display a name badge in my building,\nwhen all the important data is outside the building?\n\nWhy do we factor GDPR into our designs if we don't know where we store the\ndata, and we'll never meet (nor be able to trust) the people who hold onto it\nfor us. Can't we just encrypt it on our side then? I don't think we're getting\nhomomorphically-encrypted relational databases anytime soon.\n\nMy last month has been an effort of 'migrating' a service from another team to\nours. The service stayed right where it was - the cloud - but we sank weeks\ninto editing IAM files and deploy scrips to try to make it 'belong' to our\nteam.\n\nWe're programmers; we don't know about AWS's policies model, security groups\nor software-defined networking. Whenever I'm forced to interact with AWS I\nalways feel like I'm doing significantly more work than the \"managed\" selling\npoint of AWS would imply.\n\nI know my way around ssh, docker, iptables etc. But I miss having someone in\nthe team whose actual job it is to be good at these things.\n\n~~~\ngliese1337\n\n        Why do I have to swipe an access card and display a name badge in my building, when all the important data is outside the building?\n    \n\nSo that angry customers can't walk in the front door, take the elevator up to\nthe fifth floor, and hang out in the CEO's office.\n\n------\nphkahler\nThe best part is the elasticity of cloud storage. When the projects fail,\nthey'll just keep all the data in the failed project achive. The next go will\nhave it's own multiple copies of the same data and so on. They'll just keep\npaying incremental storage charges. Meanwhile, behind the scenes in the cloud\n- automatic, transparent deduplication....\n\n------\nmrwnmonm\nNon-native English speaker here. Could someone write an easier summary,\nplease?\n\n~~~\ntabtab\nSure: \"The cloud doesn't solve common IT problems, only shifts them around,\nand makes some problems worse, such as more vendor-dependency. If you hire\namateurs, you get amateurish results. Renting cloud-based amateurs has all the\nsame problems as in-house (internal) amateurs.\"\n\n~~~\nscarface74\nAnd this “vendor dependence” is somehow different than government depending on\nMicrosoft or even older systems that still depend on IBM mainframes.\n\n~~~\nntsplnkv2\nYou're going a step further in the case of cloud though.\n\nBefore you'd at least hire the sysadmins. Now you rely on probably dirt cheap\noffshore consulting.\n\nIt's just more outsourcing. It comes with scale and as cancer it is just a\nreality. Eventually it will have to be burned down.\n\n~~~\nscarface74\nThey won’t admit it, but many companies move to the cloud not only because\nthey don’t want to deal with administering servers but also because they don’t\nwant to deal with server administrators.\n\nIt’s not like on prem server administrators have a great track record when it\ncomes to security.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nIs the U.S. turning a corner on high-speed rail? - edw519\nhttp://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/08/18/us.high.speed.rail/index.html?hpt=Sbin\n\n======\nhsmyers\nYes, going south on US 1, make an abrupt right hand turn...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nObama's Stagecoach - newmediaclay\nhttp://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/01/obama-rolls-a-s.html\n\n======\njosefresco\n\"The Secret Service has since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, required\nthat presidential limos be destroyed upon retirement to preserve their\nsecrets.\"\n\nNeat, reminds me of the Far Side cartoon where the plane passenger discovers\nthe \"wings stay on/off\" toggle.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNikon's 300mm F/2 - brudgers\nhttp://www.company7.com/library/nikon/Nikon_0300f2.html\n======\nbrenden2\nThat's a remarkable lens. One thing that I think has been lost in photography\ntoday thanks to the smartphone is the value of high quality lenses. You simply\ncan't replace great optics with software (at least, not yet).\n\nI've got a few higher end cameras, and my favourite is probably my Leica Q2.\nIt has a fixed prime lens (28mm), and the photos are just astounding.\n\n~~~\nzip1234\nStill have a Nikon D70 from ~2004 that has only about 6 megapixels but will\ntake better photos than any phone made today even using lenses that were made\nin the 1970s. It is hard to describe to people without showing them but the\nsharpness of photos is amazing with high quality lenses.\n\n~~~\ngeerlingguy\nI still shot (for still life images, mostly, with external flash) with a D60\nuntil I upgraded that to an used, beat-up D700.\n\nYou can definitely get much better images if you have a good lens, and on\nolder cameras good lighting or very good form. But more modern smartphone\nlenses and software are plenty good for certain types of photography (and\nespecially video).\n\nI shoot less and less with my D750 and D700 (in non-studio / non-low-light-\nevent situations), and more and more with my iPhone, because of the\nconvenience and portability.\n\nBut there are definitely types of pictures that can't be taken without good\nglass and a larger sensor size. No software can simulate the physics that\nmakes a longer focal length make a great portrait. (You just can't stuff that\nquality of glass into such a small lens, and the sensor can't physically\ngather enough photons to compete.)\n\n~~~\nrconti\nAgreed. I bring all my travel photos into Lightroom which I subsequently edit\non a 5k display.\n\nToday I travel with an iPhone 11 Pro and a Fuji X-T2. In the past it's been\nwhatever current-gen iPhone and pocket cameras like the Sony RX-100Mk3, Canon\nS110, Canon S95, and DSLRs like a Nikon D3000 and D50.\n\nIt used to be, the photos looked better on the phone after shooting them, just\nbecause the screen was so much better, but once imported to the computer, the\niPhone photos looked like an oil painting even compared to a upper midrange\nP+S pocket camera, let alone a DSLR. It wasn't even close.\n\nThese days, between the XT-2 and the iPhone 11 Pro, it's hard to tell which is\nwhich. Sometimes the iPhone looks better as-shot because of the image\nprocessing presets. Other times it's the Fuji. At 1:1 on a 5k display it's\njust not as obvious as it was when the pixels were blown up more.\n\nEven in good light, yes, the sharpness on the Fuji is better, but not by leaps\nand bounds. Not in a way that would be immediately obvious to anyone walking\nby the computer as it used to be.\n\nI've never bought high-end glass, and frankly, some of my earlier DSLR photos\nare pretty bad compared to what my iPhone returns these days.\n\n~~~\nISL\nRent some high-end glass sometime when you're bored. It is enlightening both\nin its capability and when realizing that a lot of consumer glass is\nwonderful, especially at ~f/8 (here's looking at you, nifty-fifty).\n\n------\nScene_Cast2\nOne thing to watch out for, with tele lenses, is the weight.\n\nI personally really like Nikon's 300mm f/4 PF. They use a Phase Fresnel\nelement (which, if you're a lens geek, is quite cool). In return for giving up\na couple of stops of light, the lens is actually hand-holdable! (In fact, it's\nlighter than their top of the line 70-200 f/2.8 zoom)\n\n~~~\nemptybits\nOne approach to saving weight while increasing telephoto reach is to use a\nsmaller sensor. e.g. that Nikon 300mm f/2 lens can be mounted to a modern\nMicro Four Thirds camera (e.g. Olympus or Panasonic) for 600mm of equivalent\nreach while retaining the f/2 light gathering ability and unmodified optics.\nAdapters are very inexpensive (e.g. Voigtländer) compared to the cost of\nlenses like this or good quality bodies.\n\nThe other path to doubling reach would be a 2x teleconverter which would\nreduce light gathering to f/4 and introduce glass elements that won't do image\nquality any favours.\n\nSmall sensor downside: high ISO ability. Probably two stops lost, but with\nmodern MFT sensors you can still shoot up to ISO 6400 with great results.\n\nSmall sensor downside _or_ upside, depending on your needs: deeper depth of\nfield (twice the depth of field, in this case, which is still pretty amazing\nfor 600mm!)\n\n~~~\nfalcrist\nAt the risk of sounding pedantic - the f-stop* roughly equates to \"light per\narea\" or brightness, so if you're using crop factor, you need to apply it to\nthe f-stop as well as the focal length.\n\nSo for a given full-frame lens at a given f-stop, if you drop down to an APS-C\nsensor, you're reducing the amount of light gathered by about one stop (half).\nOn an m43, you're obviously losing 75% of the light gathering capacity (two\nstops).\n\nPutting a 300mm f/2 lens on a micro 4/3rds body should result in images\nsimilar to a full-frame camera with a 600mm f/4 lens.\n\n*Obviously t-stop would be better, since it's an actual measurement of brightness.\n\n~~~\nrodgerd\nExcept you're not. This is a popular talking point in 35mm circles, but the\namount of light on a given area on the sensor remains unchanged, which is what\nactually matters.\n\nThe smaller sensors _are_ challenged to keep their noise down, given they\ntypically have a smaller pixel pitch to keep up the megapickel count.\n\n~~~\nip26\nNoise is the key, as far as I can tell a FF sensor usually has at least 1 stop\nmore usable ISO compared to a crop of the same generation.\n\nSo to get a comparable shutter speed, assuming 1 stop less ISO, you still need\nthat 400mm f/2.8 on crop to match the 600mm f/4 on FF.\n\nHumorously, they have the same front element size.\n\n------\nSharlin\nThere’s also the even crazier Canon 300mm f/1.8 (yes, that’s not a typo!) [1]\nApparently only four or so copies are known to exist and there’s almost no\ninformation on the lens available on the net.\n\n[1] [https://petapixel.com/2017/04/27/canon-300mm-f1-8-yes-\nmonste...](https://petapixel.com/2017/04/27/canon-300mm-f1-8-yes-monster-lens-\nexists/)\n\n~~~\ntwic\nIf we're talking about crazy lenses, might as well jump straight to the Zeiss\n50/0.7:\n\n[http://neiloseman.com/barry-lyndon-the-full-story-of-the-\nfam...](http://neiloseman.com/barry-lyndon-the-full-story-of-the-\nfamous-f0-7-lenses/)\n\nOnly ten were made. NASA bought six to send round the dark side of the moon.\nStanley Kubrick bought the other three.\n\n~~~\nfalcrist\nf/0.7 manual focus and no aperture.\n\nThat thing must be a royal PITA to focus...\n\n~~~\npedrocr\nInfinity focus for the moon I'm sure and special rigs for Barry Lyndon\napparently:\n\n[http://neiloseman.com/barry-lyndon-the-full-story-of-the-\nfam...](http://neiloseman.com/barry-lyndon-the-full-story-of-the-\nfamous-f0-7-lenses/)\n\nI also remember reading somewhere the actors had a bad time from having to\nmake sure to stand still to not go out of focus. 4cm of depth of field isn't\nmuch.\n\n~~~\ntwic\nOne of the articles about it mentions that Kubrick directed the scene so that\nthe actors only moved from side to side, so they'd stay in focus.\n\n------\nsumoboy\nOnly $21k, [https://usedphotopro.com/nikon-nikkor-ais-300mm-f2-ed-if-\nlen...](https://usedphotopro.com/nikon-nikkor-ais-300mm-f2-ed-if-\nlens-300-2-rare-lens-only)\n\n------\njusticezyx\nHah, I mistake it with the slower 300mm f2.8\n\nThis is my first time know this f2 version.\n\nThe price tag is very high close to 10k. And it's very heavy...\n\n~~~\njacobush\nIf you haven't, look into TV broadcasting zoom lenses. Insane, heavy, turret\nmounted. Cool gear. :)\n\n~~~\neqtn\nHere is a video about it:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkTaMyatsTo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkTaMyatsTo)\n\n------\nChrisMarshallNY\nThey did a few other “one-offs.” If you are ever in Tokyo, check out the Nikon\nMuseum, in their Shinagawa headquarters.\n\nHere’s a couple of doozies:\n\n[https://www.stuff.tv/news/just-because-they-could-\nps100000-n...](https://www.stuff.tv/news/just-because-they-could-\nps100000-nikon-fisheye-lens)\n\n[https://petapixel.com/2016/06/22/rare-nikon-1200mm-lens-\nsetu...](https://petapixel.com/2016/06/22/rare-nikon-1200mm-lens-setup-3-feet-\nlong/)\n\n[https://petapixel.com/2013/11/13/ultra-\nrare-2000mm-f11-nikko...](https://petapixel.com/2013/11/13/ultra-\nrare-2000mm-f11-nikkor-lens-ebay-25k-broken/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThe Top 10 Reasons Startups Fail - nreece\nhttp://www.squidoo.com/starup_failures/\n\n======\ndavidw\n11\\. spending too much time reading \"top N X's\" lists.\n\n------\nzurla\nor, #11 naming your startup squidoo\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNew Features in Python 3.9 You Should Know About - zdw\nhttps://martinheinz.dev/blog/21\n======\nasplake\nThanks. Small typo: the second removeprefix() should be removesuffix()\n\n------\nqwerty456127\nThis looks much more useful than what was introduced in Python 3.8.\nNevertheless it's still weird these features take a year to debug.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nA Dark Theme for GitHub - imfunniee\nhttps://github.com/imfunniee/gitark\n======\nleshokunin\nClicked it expecting to be a gimmick, but it turned out much better than I\nexpected. Thank you.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAlgorithm That Tells the Boss Who Might Quit - softdev12\nhttp://www.wsj.com/articles/the-algorithm-that-tells-the-boss-who-might-quit-1426287935\n\n======\namirmc\nSadly, this has the perverse effect of forcing otherwise happy people to _act_\nlike they might be a flight risk, otherwise they risk being passed-over for\ninteresting opportunities, raises etc. If you're not playing that game then\nyou're losing out.\n\nIt's yet another mechanism that devalues loyalty to a firm, which I'm sure\nthey realise is already in short supply. I'd be happier if I'd read that this\nwas also a way to identify and _reward_ the dedicated, productive employees —\nbut no.\n\n------\nsoftdev12\nThe algorithm seems to run on the following factors per the article:\n\n\"job tenure, geography, performance reviews, employee surveys, communication\npatterns and even personality tests to identify flight risks\".\n\nI wonder if employees can try to game the algorithm by artificially ranking\nhigh on their score for leaving - with the sole purpose being to get a pay\nraise.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: We built an easier/amazing way to interact with like-minded individuals - abalog\nhttp://solayo.com/land\n\n======\nabalog\nMy co-founder and I have spent the last couple of months building this\nwebsite. Our aim is to provide a place more than just a forum, where people\nwho share similar interest can connect and discuss, debate or just to simply\nhave a fun interaction in real time. The website has a Multi-live video,\ninstant messaging and commenting feature. Your opinions either good or bad are\nwelcome. :)\n\n------\nbhousel\nI don't think anyone will sign up unless they can see what they're signing up\nfor first.\n\n~~~\nabalog\nCan you elaborate on that please?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nVoter Matchup - ParameterOne\nDo you use a calendar(.ics) to keep up with local elections? -and- Would you like a way to directly tell elected officials if an issue is important to you?\n======\nPaulHoule\nIf they are local officials I will tell them directly, myself.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNativefier: CLI tool to create a desktop application for any site - boredgamer2\nhttps://github.com/jiahaog/nativefier/blob/master/README.md\n======\naphroz\nYou can also add the parameter \"-app\" followed by the website URL in a chrome\nshortcut and it will open as an app.\n\n~~~\njohnmarcus\nWhat's a chrome shortcut?\n\n~~~\naphroz\nOr a \"launcher\" in order to launch it like a desktop native application.\n\n------\npedrocx486\nI haven't tried most recent versions, but ~two months ago WhatsApp couldn't be\n\"nativefied\" (wanted it for Linux) because Nativefier's electron version was\nold and whatsapp was complaining, but I really love this project. :-)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Developers: How do you explain to people what it is you do? - dclowd9901\n\nI try to explain what I do to people in a way they can understand. Rather than go into rote jargon about writing code and making objects extensible, I tell them that I have puzzles and tell a computer how to solve them as efficiently as possible. I think that sometimes gets through, but I feel like it still misses the mark.&#60;p&#62;So how do you guys do it?\n======\nchill1\nI usually try to keep it short and simple at first: \"I build education\nsoftware.\" If they show further interest by asking a follow up question, I get\na little more technical. I don't know why, but it continues to surprise me\njust how few people know anything about how the internet (or computers) work.\n\n------\ncodegeek\nif nothing, tell them \"I build stuff that will change your life. So buy it\nnow!!\"\n\nJokes apart, first explain a problem that they understand. If they get the\nproblem, _then_ tell them that you help solve that problem by [add whatever\nhere]. Simple.\n\n------\nbrk\n\"I work with venture-backed startups to develop new technologies\".\n\nThen, there are usually questions about some or all portions of that, \"What's\na startup?\", \"What do you mean by venture-backed\", etc.\n\n------\nEnderMB\n\"I build websites\".\n\nI'm actually a developer for a full-service digital agency but when you get\ninto developer territory it's rare that the conversation will go any further\nthan \"oh, that's cool\".\n\n------\nAtTheLast\nI tell people I do user experience and user design for the web. Then follow\nthat up with a Facebook or Google related example of it.\n\n------\njamesjguthrie\nKeep it simple, I build software for phones.\n\n------\nshrughes\nI like the way my father explained my job to a golfer we were playing with:\n\"He's a typist at a computer company.\"\n\n------\norenmazor\ndepends on who I'm talking to. for technical people I can tell the exact web\nproduct I'm working on.\n\nfor grandparents and others, I \"solve technical problems using a variety of\ntools. kind of like an engineer would by first drawing schematics, and then\nfollowing them to construct a bridge\"\n\n------\nbazookaBen\ni tell them \"I make mobile games\", in which case 99% of the time, they'll\nbring up Angry Birds.\n\n------\npiyushco\n\"I make Apps for android, iPhone\"\n\n------\ndavidjnelson\n\"I write software\".\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGoogle Adds Song Lyrics to Top of Search Results Points Searchers to Google Play - jamesgagan\nhttp://techcrunch.com/2014/12/22/google-adds-song-lyrics-to-top-of-search-results-points-searchers-to-google-play/\n======\nzarriak\nIt seems like this is a great example of the problem that Google faces. They\nhave built up a good product line based off of the revenue from search and\nthose products support search in turn by providing content and/or more\nopportunities for interactions(read advertising money). This in turn takes\naway from the sites that they are listing, making them the lifeline and the\ncompetition at the same time. The problem is making a search engine has\nevolved from listing the best websites for the user's request, it is about\nproviding information as easy and quickly as possible. This optimization in\nturn takes away from sites dedicated to relaying that information. It makes\nGoogle seem as they are practicing monopolistic business, but they are really\njust trying to improve their product.\n\nIt appears as if resolution can only come from splitting up the search part of\nthe company with the rest (assuming it is split into only two entities). I\nthink Google can resolve this by splitting up the knowledge graph results from\nthe rest of search by making the feeling lucky button analogous to showing\nonly what knowledge graph and information cards. They still would have a very\ndominant share of search, mobile, etc. but it would alleviate the connection\nof Google the search engine provider and Google the 21st century thesaurus.\n\n~~~\nblfr\nThis is from the perspective of a site owner. From user's perspective,\nGoogle's best guess at the top, and a list of websites below is the optimal\noutcome (ie. what I want when searching). Splitting Google would result in a\nworse user experience.\n\n~~~\nkuschku\nOr it could result in a better outcome for the user, if the Search would\ninclude Knowledge Graph results from multiple sources.\n\nYouTube (another Google product) for example shows for videos that contain\nsongs links to iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and Google Play.\n\nGoogle Search could do the same — list different places to get the content,\netc.\n\n------\njamesgagan\nAs a consumer, I like this - saves me some clicks and spares me from ads.\nCan't be good for lyrics sites though.\n\n~~~\nSteko\nSpares you ads? The whole thing has been turned into a Google Play ad.\n\nNobody wants to go to Google Play for lyrics, this is Google giving priority\nplacement to an inferior search result.\n\n~~~\nori_b\nI don't want to go to lyrics sites for lyrics. I have yet to find one that\nisn't awful, spammy, slow, popup and interstitial ridden.\n\nMaybe if there were some that weren't utter shit, I'd agree. But the thing is\nthat before this, the only results I was getting were inferior search results.\n\n~~~\nandrewchambers\nGenius is pretty awesome.\n\n~~~\nShog9\nIronically, Genius tried to game search results and now almost never shows up\nin them (for me at least).\n\nAn (anonymous) search for \"shake hands with beef lyrics\" turns up\nazlyrics.com, lyricsfreak.com as #1 and #2, followed by Wikipedia (which\ndoesn't have lyrics) and then metrolyrics.com - probably the best of a bad\nbunch.\n\nTack \"genius\" onto the search and it'll show up, but right now it's hardly\ncompeting for first-page search results.\n\n~~~\narfliw\nGenius ranks very highly for many, many searches. Even without adding 'lyrics'\nto the search.\n\n------\nbtown\nSomething about this seems familiar... Is there a legal distinction between a\ncompany forcing its operating system users to have its web browser\npreinstalled, and a company forcing its search engine users to have its lyrics\nsearch results \"preinstalled\"?\n\n~~~\nzaidf\n\"forcing\"? I think if you objectively reviewed Search's integration of other\ngoogle services, almost every single time you will find it is to the benefit\nof the user(meaning they are not doing it just to get marketshare; it is\nactually a better user experience).\n\n~~~\nTrainedMonkey\nI think there is qualitative difference between comparing OS, which in case of\nMicrosoft is ubiquitous[0], and a web site. Effort to use different from\nGoogle search is minimal, most people don't because Google is actually very\ngood at providing relevant search results.\n\nIn the end it is a feature, that will stop abuse of some lyrics websites[1]\nand make you be able to find lyrics you care about faster.\n\nNow a problem with this is that it gives Google more control over information\nwe are presented with as they prioritize resources in their steadily expanding\ndomain. In the long run I do not know whether this will be better for the\nusers, but meanwhile immediate quality[2] of search results will definitely\nimprove.\n\n[0] Especially 10 years ago when \"user friendly\" and \"Linux\" had no business\nappearing in the same sentence. There was much work done in that area since\nthen, and now there are distros with much more focus on layman usability.\n\n[1] Shady SEO is very easy due to how repetitive lyrics is, it makes for\nperfect keywords. So you either need manual intervention to moderate the\nsearch results[1.1], or extensive tweaks to the search engine algorithm just\nfor this niche, which is a hack. I rather think this feature is an elegant\nsolution to that problem. Not quite same as prioritizing youtube helped reduce\nnumber of people going to shady sites to download songs, but in the same\nsolution space.\n\n[1.1] Which is widely done for some of the other terms such as \"credit\" and\n\"loan\".\n\n[2] In the future Google could potentially censor some of the results which\nwill lead to the decreased quality of search.\n\n------\njack-r-abbit\nIt is not like they are showing only their lyrics block and not a list of\nlinks right below it. With or without their lyrics block, they still show 10\nresults, so their lyrics block isn't bumping other sites off the first page.\nIf you still have endless love for AZLyrics, fine... click their link. You\nstill have that choice. I'll choose to take advantage of the much cleaner UI\nat Google Play.\n\n------\nrealcul\nNot sure if it is pure innovative thinking or not having to worry about\nregulatory troubles but Bing has been innovating on ideas like this much\nearlier than Google. Irrespective of which company you like, it is always good\nto have competition in any market...keeps the companies on their toes.\n\n------\nextc\nWon't rights owners try to sue Google the same way they whine about lyrics\nsites?\n\n~~~\nsalemh\nThe Rap Genius licensing issue that took until 2014 [1] will be interesting\nwith Google going after this space. Since Rap Genius seemed to get off the\nhook [2] with Google \"easier\" then others.\n\nI imagine Google can offer better terms and/or soft-velvet glove (traffic)\nthen Rap Genius.\n\nI only bring up Rap Genius, because they seem to have taken over (admirable)\nas the foremost lyrics site.\n\n[1] [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/07/business/media/rap-\ngenius-...](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/07/business/media/rap-genius-\nwebsite-agrees-to-license-with-music-publishers.html)\n\n[2]\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6957463](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6957463)\n\n------\nat-fates-hands\nI must either listen to really shitty music, or incredibly obscure music\nbecause I don't ever get lyrics when I search for lyrics of songs I like.\n\nsome examples:\n\nbirthday massacre rain lyrics\n\nkatatonia forsaker lyrics\n\nfive finger death punch wrong side of heaven lyrics\n\ndraconian she dies lyrics\n\nPatrick Reza Take Me Away lyrics\n\n~~~\ndfxm12\nSearch for \"shake it off lyrics\". As of right now, that leads to a bunch of\nnon-google related results too.\n\n------\nsauere\nRest in Peace AZLyrics, you will be missed.\n\n~~~\njohnmaguire2013\nReally? The only lyrics sites I can stand are SongMeanings & RapGenius because\nthey aren't coated in ads and people can explain stuff. AZLyrics is one of my\nleast faves, with MetroLyrics coming in as a fave after the other two.\n\n~~~\npsykovsky\nThe only lyrics sites you can stand are the ones who are burning through\ninvestors millions, you mean.\n\n~~~\njessaustin\nIf someone is going to spend a lot of money in order to provide a more\npalatable free service, it just seems sensible to take advantage of that?\n\n------\ncuriously\n\n        party in the usa lyrics\n    \n\nstill yields azlyrics.com but that might change soon.\n\nI welcome this, it saves a lot of clicking and viewing ads (not that I do\nsince adblock is installed) but on mobile phones and such.\n\n------\namk_\nEdit: Fine, too rambly. Short version.\n\nGoogle Now or Siri are killing the page as a medium for certain types of\ncontent, and I would not be surprised if the info providers transition to an\nAPI-first model where the primary target is layout-agnostic and possibly\nsupported by micropayments.\n\n~~~\nnl\nThis is inaccurate.\n\nGoogle's primary source for their knowledge graph is semi-structured data on\nweb pages, not APIs. Notably, that claim 1200M \"facts\" (of which 8% have \"high\nconfidence\") extracted by understanding web page DOM structure. That compares\nto 140M \"facts\" from human annotations on web pages, with 0.2% high confidence\n(ie, \"semantic web\").\n\nGiven that the premise of your point is wrong it seems your conclusions are\nlikely to be too.\n\n~~~\namk_\nMy point is that the semi structured content that makes up theses web pages is\nbeing parsed out and displayed directly alongside search results. The parsed\nDOM is used as a defacto API, killing the need to provide any layout\ninformation whatsoever and killing page views, too. If this continues, many\ncontent providers (like lyrics sites) could transition to an information-\nserving model (API focused) and just forget about layout altogether.\n\n~~~\nnl\nYou realize there is a close correspondence between the DOM and the layout in\nmost cases, right?\n\nGoogle read the CSS as well, and uses the visual features as signal what\nhumans will see as important on the screen.\n\nThat's impossible with APIs.\n\nThere are specialised cases where Google does use APIs: public transport and\nairline times. They are very special cases though, and for broad web search it\nseems unlikely Google will follow that model.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Widescreen or fullscreen monitors for programming? - codedivine\n\nWhich do you prefer for programming? Widescreens or fullscreens? I prefer a 5:4 monitor to wider resolutions like 16:10 or 19:10. I have found the excess width to be distracting.<p>What is your typical tool of choice? I typically use Vim which does not usually have the sidebars common in IDEs such as Eclipse. Does the UI of the tool may affect your choice of monitors?\n======\nyan\nI prefer widescreen with multiple windows tiled horizontally.\n\nedit: Usually terminal+MacVim windows. Or sometimes, xcode windows, with left-\nmost one being the project window.\n\n------\nmechanical_fish\nThe nice thing about the widescreen is that it fits multiple emacs windows\nside-by-side, so that you can view substantial portions of more than one\nbuffer at once (or two substantial portions of the same buffer).\n\nThat said, the first rule of screen space is to have more of it. Whether or\nnot it's optimally distributed is secondary. In web development there is\nalways a use for more windows. (Docs, server logs, logins under multiple\nidentities, multiple browsers pointing to the same thing for design debugging,\nIRC...)\n\n------\nXichekolas\nI have Dual Dell 2408WFP's... lets me see four apps at once with plenty of\nreal estate.\n\nScreen 1: Browser (showing whatever I'm working on) and gVim (with my code).\n\nScreen 2: Browser (with whatever references/interweb material I'm looking up),\nmultiple terminals (tail logs or for messing with git/whatever).\n\nI use AwesomeWM (tiling window manager), so I don't have to bother arranging\nall this myself. Other tags (workspaces if you are from the gnome/kde world)\nhave things like Pidgin and last.fm open.\n\n------\njohngunderman\nI prefer one widescreen next to one widescreen turned vertical. this way I can\nview plenty of code on the vertical monitor, and yet enjoy the benefits that\nthe widescreen monitor brings.\n\n------\nTallGuyShort\nFor virtually any activity I would do while sitting down at a\ncomputer/workstation, I think wide screens have a much more natural fit to a\nperson's eyesight. I think they're just more comfortable to look at.\n\nOn the other hand, I can definitely see a reason for vertically oriented\nscreens in eBook readers and some hand-helds. I can't think of a time when I\nwould rather have a more square screen.\n\n------\nbgnm2000\nI prefer widescreen, with windows tiled horizontally as well on my mac. I use\nterminal with visor (google blacktree) which is sweet, and then a bunch of\ndifferent spaces - coding w/ textmate for ROR dev.\n\n------\nrscott\nWhy isn't this a poll question?\n\nWidescreen 22\" + Macbook screen. Textmate for some things, but Xcode and its\n(many) requisite windows for iPhone stuffs.\n\n------\nsocratees\nI use a Dell S2209W 22\" wide panel monitor. Its way comfortable than using\nsmaller monitors and i don't think i can go back to using smaller ones.\n\n------\nnoblethrasher\nWidescreen, but I spend almost as much time in Photoshop, Illustrator and\nFlash as I do in Visual Studio and Notepad++.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nInstacart Customers and Workers Are Revolting Against the App - alistairSH\nhttps://www.vice.com/en_us/article/zmj938/instacart-customers-and-workers-are-revolting-against-the-app\n======\nmasonic\nThe obvious solution here is for shoppers and their best customers to hook up\noff-platform and cut out the middleman altogether.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\"Maybe\" is one option too many - dk\nhttp://www.zeldman.com/2007/06/20/remove-maybe-from-invitation-systems/\n======\niloveyouocean\nFor a really excellent, far more comprehensive and much better articulated\nseries of articles pertaining to ratings/rankings, check out\nwww.lifewithalacrity.com\n\nSome of the articles include: Using 5 Star Rating Systems, Experimenting with\nRatings, Systems for Collective Choice, Rating Systems, Competitive Ranking\nSystems\n\nThe ratings users choose are certainly influenced by the presentation of the\nrating opportunity. The result of forcing \"Come on guys rate everything!\" down\nusers' throats is that if people really dont have an opinion or feel strongly,\nmost likely they will indicate neutrality. If users have more of a choice\nabout contributing a rating then only the users who have a strong opinion will\ntake the time/effort to complete a rating and so you will end up with a\nbimodal distribution.\n\nThe good/bad or star ratings are always useless to other users without the\naccompanying explanation of the review.\n\n------\nmynameishere\n_Let users choose from five stars, and they nearly always pick three_\n\nAmazon has the problem of bimodal distributions for their ratings...nearly\nevery user either votes one star (and bitches, \"If I could choose zero, I\nwould\") or five. They've actually started sending emails to people requesting\nreviews to fix this problem (to get the silent majority to vote.)\n\n~~~\naston\nI think the \"liked it\"/\"hated it\" options are basically enough all the time,\nat least in aggregate. RottenTomatoes.com seems to end up with good ratings\ndespite reducing the answer space to green or red tomatoes.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhy Python is Slow: Looking Under the Hood (2014) - s16h\nhttp://jakevdp.github.io/blog/2014/05/09/why-python-is-slow/\n======\nwruza\n>[boxed values...] The dynamic typing means that there are a lot more steps\ninvolved with any operation. This is a primary reason that Python is slow\ncompared to C for operations on numerical data.\n\nNot exactly. Setting typecodes and vals doesn’t slow things down by many\norders of magnitude. The main reason python is relatively slow is that there\nis no practical way to reason about what parts of program may be optimized out\nor leveled down to native datatypes and then restructured in a very efficient\nway. This is what optimizing/jit compilers do to achieve much performance;\nthis one is the source of x100, not unboxing on its own. Technically, tracing\njit that doesn’t care if you’re writing in static or dynamic, strict or duck\ntyping can be done for any language, but (afaik) python is not very jit-\nfriendly in general.\n\n~~~\nryanplant-au\nDoes JavaScript make it easier to reason about those potentially-optimizable\nareas? Which language features make it easier to optimize to the level that V8\nis? (V8 being 7-10x faster than CPython 3 on most of the Benchmarks Game.)\n\n~~~\nchubot\nAs far as I understand, one important difference is that JavaScript doesn't\nhave __getattr__ or __setattr__ (or at least earlier versions didn't).\n\nYou might not use those hooks a lot in your application code, but it seems\nthat web frameworks and the like do a lot of reflection, which makes the code\ndifficult/impossible to optimize (even at runtime with a JIT).\n\nPython also has __add__ (operator overloading) and JavaScript doesn't. This is\na good talk about how subtle or crufty the semantics of something like \"a+b\"\nis in Python:\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeSu_odkI5I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeSu_odkI5I)\n\nThe PyPy developers had to copy a lot of the implementation details of\nCPython, which doesn't always result in the fastest code.\n\n~~~\nmschaef\nYou should take a look at the Chambers and Ungar papers on the implementation\nof Self. In Self, _everything_ is theoretically done through message\nsend/dispatch. This includes field access, numerical operations, flow\ncontrol... the works. (In a language with prototypical inheritance too.)\n\nWhat's interesting is that by the time they're done with their optimizations,\nthey manage to get relatively close (x2, iirc) to native speed by essentially\ninlining everything they can and keeping enough metadata around that they can\nretain the dynamic properties of the languauge. Impressive stuff. (Which is\nprobably why Sun hired them early in the Java/JIT days.)\n\n------\ndnautics\nJulia is all three, yet it's fast (allowing for jit, which in Julia is a one\ntime cost). It's worth noting that those properties themselves are not what's\ncritical, so much as designing around it and allowing for fast paths through\ncritical code (locking down the dynamic types, first class array datatypes\nwith packed forms)...\n\n~~~\nazag0\nIt's rather the degree to which Python is dynamic that makes it slow. PyPy\ncould be considered an implicit JIT compiler for Python, yet it is still far\nslower than Julia. The level of magic you can apply to Python objects that the\ninterpreter/compiler must support is just a different league than Julia. I'd\nbe interested if someone could compare to JS.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nLisp, Smalltalk, Dylan and SELF allow for the same kind of magic.\n\nThe JIT developed for SELF is the genesis of Hotspot.\n\nJRuby guys have a quite good implementation making use of Graal, and Ruby is\nnot less magical than Python.\n\nIn the end it boils down to how much the community prefers to keep on using C,\nor improve PyPy.\n\nEDIT: Fixed auto-correction induced typo.\n\n~~~\nshellac\ns/Gradle/Graal/?\n\nIn the case of python it's clear that the heavy reliance on c extensions is a\nblessing and a curse: it's kept python relevant in communities like science\neven though it isn't very fast. However one of the lessons of Graal seems to\nbe that such extensions can seriously prohibit improving performance, since\nthey are opaque to JITs.\n\nThere's a few talks by Chris Seaton (e.g.\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLtjkP9bD_U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLtjkP9bD_U))\non the topic.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nYeah, typo due to auto-correction.\n\n------\nhasenj\nPython is optimized for small programs being easy and quick (and pleasant) to\nwrite.\n\nEvery other use case it fails in some way. For being slow. For lacking static\ntyping. For lacking compilation. For having a GIL. etc.\n\n~~~\nbaldfat\nDEPLOYMENT\n\nMy ONE HUGE Gripe with Python. This and that Pandas (I understand why BUT it\ndrove me away) Zero based for statistical work. Your math is 1 based and the\nlanguage is 0 based.\n\n~~~\nbillfruit\nPrecisely the opposite reason R drove me away. R uses 1 based\nindexing.Seriously we should all be using Zero based indexing for all\npurposes.\n\n~~~\npeatmoss\nOne can make an appeal to aesthetics, but that’s no differentiator.\n\nOr one could appeal to adherence to existing standards. Fortran is the oldest\n(portable) programming language and was 1-based.\n\nOr one could appeal to consistency with the problem domain. Again, math [EDIT:\nindices are] 1-based.\n\nZero-based is consistent with C, but that’s about the best argument I can make\nfor zero-based.\n\n~~~\nDonbunEf7\nMaths is zero-based. I'm not sure why you think that numbers start with one;\nevery formulation of the integers in modern maths starts with zero.\n\n~~~\npeatmoss\nMatrices, common in statistics because of applications of linear algebra, have\nlong maintained the convention of i,j indexes starting with one.\n\n------\nlorenzfx\nI believe this article [0] (previous discussion [1]) from one of pyston's\nauthors gives a _much_ better overview of why python is slow.\n\n[0] [http://blog.kevmod.com/2016/07/why-is-python-\nslow/](http://blog.kevmod.com/2016/07/why-is-python-slow/) [1]\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12025309](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12025309)\n\n------\nmikebenfield\nAlthough I use and enjoy Python for some purposes, I can't help by see all the\neffort gone into improving Python performance (including Pypy, Cython,\nrewriting code in C, etc) as fixing a self-inflicted wound. Why are we using a\nlanguage whose semantics make it very difficult to execute quickly?\n\n~~~\nwyldfire\nBecause virtually nothing is bound to anything until we get to this line of\ncode, Python is the ultimate dynamic language.\n\nI find that the vast majority of Python code that I write is not processor-\nbound or memory-bound. It's disk or network bound (and still would be if I\nwrote it in C). It's also much simpler to teach programming in than\nalternatives.\n\n------\nchmaynard\nFrom the article: \"Dynamic typing makes Python easier to use than C.\" The\nauthor gives no justification for this claim. Do any language experts care to\ncomment?\n\n~~~\nwinter_blue\nI'm a big fan of strong static type systems. I believe type-safety increases\ncode quality significantly.\n\nI used to think several years ago, that the main benefit of strong static\ntyping was code safety / eliminating a whole class of bugs. But I've changed\nmy opinion. I now think the biggest benefit is that it makes the code _a lot\neasier_ for other people to read and understand.\n\nI mean I have multiple personal projects where I've used Python (which is a\ndynamically typed language), but these are _small one-off_ projects. But I\nthink when working in a team, especially a large team, having types becomes a\nhuge thing. Having types for objects is especially useful. Having types forces\nyou to think more clearly about the structure of your data.\n\nIt's really sad when I see `foo(bar)`, and I have no idea what the type of\n`bar` is, and if it's an object, I have no idea what fields `bar` has. I have\nto simply guess the structure of the various implicit types by looking at the\ncode (sigh). It makes the code difficult to read, and rather unpleasant to\nwork on. Not to mention, all the multitude of bugs that come from duck/dynamic\ntyping.\n\nI don't think good statically typed languages are hard to use at all. Type\ninference has spread everywhere that the old argument of having to repeat your\ntypes doesn't hold anymore. TypeScript, Flow (JavaScrpt), Haskell, languages\nfrom the ML family are really good at type inference. Even the `auto` type\ninference in C++17 was better than I'd expected.\n\n~~~\nu801e\n> It's really sad when I see `foo(bar)`, and I have no idea what the type of\n> `bar` is, and if it's an object, I have no idea what fields `bar` has\n\nWith a statically typed language, you still have to look through the code to\nfind the definition of an object. I believe that can be avoided by having easy\nto access to documentation which would also apply to dynamically typed\nlanguages like Python.\n\n~~~\nwinter_blue\n_> you still have to look through the code to find the definition of an\nobject_\n\nI haven't done this in the last 10 years. I typically use IDEs, and every IDE\nI've used has had a _\" Go To Definition/Declaration\"_ feature, and let you set\na key binding for it. On JetBrains' IDEs, I've gotten quite used to pressing\nCtrl+B to jump to a type definition's, and then pressing Alt+← to jump back to\nwhere I was originally in the code.\n\n~~~\nflavio81\n> _I typically use IDEs, and every IDE I 've used has had a \"Go To\n> Definition/Declaration\" feature_\n\nThis is also available in some dynamically typed languages, working just fine.\n\n~~~\ndahauns\n\"working just fine\".\n\nNo, not even close to the same level.\n\n------\nadenadel\nI thought this was pretty neat\n\n    \n    \n      # WARNNG: never do this!\n      id113 = id(113)\n      iptr = IntStruct.from_address(id113)\n      iptr.ob_digit = 4  # now Python's 113 contains a 4!\n    \n      113 == 4\n    \n\nAnd now since the proper value 113 doesn't exist you have to resort to the\nbinary representation on your system to revert back to normal behavior\n\n    \n    \n      ctypes.cast(id113, ctypes.POINTER(ctypes.c_char))[3 * 8] = b'\\x71'\n\n~~~\nwhyever\nAfter trying this, 113 == 4 is still False for me.\n\n~~~\nquadratoc\nThere was a slight typo in the article, the line of code should be\nctypes.cast(id(113), ctypes.POINTER(ctypes.c_char))[3 * 8] = b'\\x71'\n\n------\nnayuki\nI agree with this article. In practice, when writing number-crunching code in\nPython versus Java, I found that Python is usually 10 to 30× slower than Java,\nsometimes even 100× slower. See: [https://www.nayuki.io/page/project-euler-\nsolutions#benchmark...](https://www.nayuki.io/page/project-euler-\nsolutions#benchmark-timings)\n\n------\nryanpcmcquen\nCounter? [https://hackernoon.com/yes-python-is-slow-and-i-dont-\ncare-13...](https://hackernoon.com/yes-python-is-slow-and-i-dont-\ncare-13763980b5a1)\n\n------\ntjpnz\nAnd yet there are entire industries built on the back of it. Everytime you see\na a movie there'll be some Python code somehow responsible for the pixels\nyou're seeing on the big screen.\n\n~~~\ncriley2\nThis is perhaps a great example of why \"speed\" is a poorly descriptive term\nfor software.\n\nIn automobiles, we wouldn't call a large truck \"fast\" even though it has a\nmuch larger (and more \"performant\") engine than a small car. That small car is\nlikely \"much faster\" than the truck, and yet cannot do most of the things the\ntruck does.\n\nSure, python is popular and important, but I don't think that popularity and\n\"speed\" are necessarily all that connected at all, except in use-cases where\nspeed is the most important factor (say, financial transactions).\n\nWhen overnight rendering 3d graphics, speed is important but final product and\nease of use are probably more important, since you can compensate for speed\nwith a larger render farm. But more bank server aren't necessarily going to\nreduce transaction latency (in fact could increase it) so the gains there must\noften be at a much lower level.\n\n------\njokoon\nHow compatible are existing python libraries with pypy, and is the official\npython taking clues from pypy? Is there more work to do to make pypy even\nfaster?\n\n~~~\ndr_zoidberg\nSome complex libraries needed special porting (eg. NumPyPy), and there was\nwork under way to get rid of that and provide a CPython compatible interface.\n\nThe CPython team does take clues from PyPy (eg: see the CPy3.6 dict\nimplementation), but they are also a lot more careful (some might say\n\"slower\") to adopt changes. Both teams also seem to have some ideological\ndifferences on how to face the long term development of the language (usualy,\nGvR goes for \"simpler\" instead of \"more performant\").\n\n------\nbaybal2\nA thing much bigger than GIL for Python is that in python bytecode, objects\nare used as primitives.\n\n------\nanon1253\nExcept it isn't really. Yes, Python is incredibly slow for day to day stuff,\nbut the sheer amount of easy to use numerical libraries (numpy, scipy, scikit-\nlearn, tensorflow, keras, opencv, just to name a few) make it one of the\nfastest out there for numerical computation. I tried doing some numerical\nheavy stuff on the JVM (with Java and Clojure) and it fights you every step of\nthe way ... and that has static typing and all the things the article\nmentions. Of course, Python derives that functionality from C and Fortran …\nbut just having that interop at your fingertips is magical in terms of\nproductivity. I still get nightmares from working with the JNI.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nThe point is not having to write C and Fortran in first place.\n\n~~~\ndr_zoidberg\nAs a heavy user of numpy, I _use_ a lot of C and Fortran code, _without having\nto write it_.\n\n------\nlispm\n> Python being a dynamically typed, interpreted language\n\n'CPython' is the defining implementation of the dynamically typed language\n'Python' using a byte-code VM (and no jit compiler).\n\n    \n    \n      bash-3.2$ time /tmp/bench.py\n      5000000050000000\n    \n      real    0m19.763s\n      user    0m15.015s\n      sys     0m4.309s\n    \n\n'SBCL' is an implementation of the dynamically typed language 'Common Lisp'\nusing a native code compiler.\n\n    \n    \n      bash-3.2$ time /tmp/bench.lisp\n      5000000050000000\n    \n      real    0m0.319s\n      user    0m0.294s\n      sys     0m0.017s\n    \n\nThe unoptimized code is roughly 65 times faster in SBCL compared to CPython -\nincluding startup time.\n\n~~~\nexikyut\nThis is an unreproducible benchmark. Can we have the programs you used?\n\n~~~\nlispm\nSee the comments in the original article for the python examples...\n\nThe Lisp program is basically this:\n\n    \n    \n      (format t \"~a~%\" (loop for i from 1 upto 100000000 sum i))\n    \n\nThe Python code can be made a lot faster by using xrange and also reduce.\n\nBut then the SBCL compiler can optimize a type declared version down to 0.07\nseconds runtime for the script.\n\n    \n    \n      (locally (declare (optimize (speed 3)\n                                  (debug 0)\n                                  (safety 0)))\n       (format t \"~a~%\" (loop for i fixnum from 1 upto 100000000\n                              sum i of-type fixnum)))\n\n~~~\nacdha\n> The Python code can be made a lot faster by using xrange and also reduce.\n\nThis is a key distinction since it reveals that most of the difference is due\nto these programs doing different things.\n\nChanging this to compare the same thing shows why this matters:\n\n    \n    \n        cadams@jupiter:~ $ sbcl --version\n        SBCL 1.4.0\n        cadams@jupiter:~ $ python2.7 --version\n        Python 2.7.14\n        cadams@jupiter:~ $ pypy --version\n        Python 2.7.13 (84a2f3e6a7f88f2fe698e473998755b3bd1a12e2, Oct 05 2017, 16:34:13)\n        [PyPy 5.9.0 with GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 9.0.0 (clang-900.0.37)]\n    \n        cadams@jupiter:~ $ time ./test.lisp \n        5000000050000000\n    \n        real\t0m0.209s\n        user\t0m0.194s\n        sys\t0m0.011s\n    \n        cadams@jupiter:~ $ time python2.7 test.py\n        5000000050000000\n    \n        real\t0m0.758s\n        user\t0m0.744s\n        sys\t0m0.008s\n    \n        cadams@jupiter:~ $ time pypy test.py\n        5000000050000000\n    \n        real\t0m0.123s\n        user\t0m0.101s\n        sys\t0m0.019s\n    \n\nSo at the end of that we've discovered two things we already knew: an\ninterpreter is slower than a JIT given enough work to balance the startup\ntime, and that allocating a list with millions of items and then immediately\ndiscarding it is more expensive than summing an iterator.\n\nSince Python 3 made range() lazy by default, the core developers clearly agree\nthat this is better than allocating lists unless explicitly requested.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCompiler Warnings - ingve\nhttps://fastcompression.blogspot.com/2019/01/compiler-warnings.html\n======\ndeogeo\n> If a warning message is considered not fixable, or not desirable to fix,\n> it’s preferable to remove the associated flag from the build chain.\n\nI like to use diagnostic pragmas\n([https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Diagnostic-\nPragmas.html](https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Diagnostic-Pragmas.html)) in\nthe vanishingly rare cases where I can't fix the cause of a warning.\n\n~~~\nberti\nThis unfortunately gets messy when you're targeting multiple compilers, and in\nsome cases multiple versions of the same compiler.\n\n~~~\ndeogeo\nAt least clang has it covered:\n[https://clang.llvm.org/docs/UsersManual.html#pragma-gcc-\ndiag...](https://clang.llvm.org/docs/UsersManual.html#pragma-gcc-diagnostic)\n\nDon't know what the situation is on MS's and Intel's compilers.\n\n~~~\nraptorfactor\nThe same functionality is available: [https://docs.microsoft.com/en-\nus/cpp/preprocessor/warning?vi...](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-\nus/cpp/preprocessor/warning?view=vs-2017)\n\n~~~\nMaulingMonkey\nAnd you can use _Pragma / __pragma to hide them inside (conditional) macros\nwithout #ifdefing up every call site.\n\nThere are still edge cases where you can't sanely scope them relating to when\ntemplates are evaluated, being unable to use the pragmas at arbitrary points\nof an expression, warnings that don't respect the warning flags properly, etc.\n- but it works most of the time.\n\nThat said, for warnings with high false positives and low value true\npositives, I'll just globally suppress the warning.\n\n------\nloeg\nSome context: the author is Yann Collet, the principal author of zstd, lz4,\nand xxHash. In my experience he is an extremely talented and friendly\nengineer.\n\n------\nkazinator\n> _-Wdeclaration-after-statement : this flag is useful for C90 compatibility._\n\nThis option is rather for developers who want to avoid declarations after\nstatements in C dialects that support them.\n\nIf you want to enforce actual C90 compatibility use -ansi or -std=c90.\nOtherwise you just have partial compatibility which is actually\nincompatibility.\n\n------\nolliej\nAll of this seems fine, except for the floating point but.\n\nFloating point is completely deterministic, and has a very clearly defined set\nof behaviours.\n\n~~~\nwyattpeak\nI don't know much about the C standard, but the article states that\nimplementation details are platform-specific. If that's the case, it's a very\nsensible suggestion.\n\nSure, if the same system runs the same operation twice, the two values will be\nequal. But what if you're comparing to a stored value generated on a different\nsystem?\n\n~~~\ngizmo686\nIt doesn't even need to be a different system. Different compilations of the\nsame program on the same system can result in different floating point results\n(either because of internal high-precision floating point registers being\nutilized differently, or the compiler making algebraically valid re-\narrangements that change the floating point result).\n\nAdditionally, many usages of == assume basic algebraic properties of numbers\nto hold.\n\nIt is possible to use equality with floats, but require far more care than is\ntypically worth it.\n\n~~~\nolliej\nIf the optimization level changes the behaviour the compiler is broken.\n“Optimizing” by assuming commutivity or associativity of floating point is no\nless incorrect than optimizing by assuming string addition was commutativeand\nassociative.\n\n~~~\ngizmo686\nThere is no requirement that optimization does not change behaviour. The only\nrequirement is that the optimized behavior remains consistent with the\nstandards. The point of the point on floating point equality is that the\nstandards give enough room for variance that you should not use literal\nequality unless you know exactly what you are doing and have a good reason for\ndoing it.\n\nAs an aside, if your concern is that the standards impose too much\nrestrictions, another popular option is the ffast-math option.\n\nWe see this come up with strings fairly often in higher level languages where,\nsometimes, logical equal strings will happen to be equal because the runtime's\ninterning system made them point to the same location, but there is no\nguarantee this would happen and the implementation is free to change it at any\npoint. I believe I have also seen this behaviour come up with interning on\nsome Integer wrapper types.\n\n~~~\nloeg\n> I believe I have also seen this behaviour come up with interning on some\n> Integer wrapper types.\n\nPython, for example:\n\n    \n    \n      >>> 8 is 8\n      True\n      >>> 8**1000 is 8**1000\n      False\n\n~~~\nolliej\nBecause python is broken in this respect -- JS engines do exactly the same\nobject optimisations and get comparisons correct.\n\n~~~\nloeg\nMeh. They're different languages with different expectations. \"is\" is distinct\nfrom \"==\" in both, and Python gets \"==\" right (obviously). Javascript doesn't\nreally have any high ground here[0]. (In contrast, Python:)\n\n    \n    \n      >>> [] == False\n      False\n      >>> object() == False\n      False\n      >>> \"\" == False\n      False\n      >>> {} == False\n      False\n    \n\nThey're just different.\n\n[0]:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et8xNAc2ic8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et8xNAc2ic8)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nForget The Facebook Phone, Here’s Mozilla Seabird — An Open Web Concept Phone - stevederico\nhttp://techcrunch.com/2010/09/23/mozilla-phone/\n======\npavs\nDude, there is post right now on the FP about this. Even assuming you didn't\nsee it why would you submit a regurgitation of the original news source?\n\nPlease don't make this site a TC RSS feed. Flagged.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nC replaced Java at first place in Tiobe index - hamilyon2\nhttps://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/\n======\nlegerdemain\nCan anything really be gleaned from the fluctuation of a language on TIOBE?\nTwo years ago, Apache Groovy wasn't even in the top 50. Last December, it\nascended to #11. Now it's at #31. Whatever the story was, it's too opaque to\ninterpret.\n\n~~~\nJohnL4\nThe tiobe headline itself is about rust.\n\nJava will decline because (1) so many hate on it, (2) there's always the new\nshiny, (3) Microsoft will never give up. No single language will replace it,\nthough. At least not for a long time.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nResource Compiler for Go (single executable deployment) - tebeka\nhttps://bitbucket.org/tebeka/nrsc\n\n======\nkingfishr\nThis is a cool idea, and I love the convenience of deploying a single-binary\napp when using Go for servers.\n\nWhen deploying web servers, though, I'd prefer to leave the images and other\nstatic resources out of my binary, because this means I can use an rsync-based\ndeployment with --copy-dest and --link-dest. --copy-dest means that\ndeployments are blazingly fast (I only have to copy changed files) and --link-\ndest means that deployments are cheap on space (unchanged files are hardlinked\nto the copies). Granted, bandwidth and storage are cheap and getting cheaper,\nbut it still adds up, particularly for large server clusters.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTranscriptic for YC biotech startups - pouwerkerk\nhttp://blog.ycombinator.com/transcriptic\n======\njkimmel\nThis is really remarkable.\n\nI've used Transcriptic in a research setting for a while now. From a user's\nperspective, it's like looking into the future, and it's awesome.\n\nFrom the business side, this makes YC a more attractive option for biotech\nstartups. The life sciences are still very capital intensive. While the New YC\nDeal helps in this department, many businesses still need to look toward an\nSTTR/SBIR grant from the NIH to get to the stage where they have a product to\nshow investors.\n\nMoves like this probably won't change that for a ton of companies, but there\nare a few on the margin who may be able to pursue an idea through YC with the\nbenefit of the extra $20K in fuel.\n\n~~~\npw\nHow does Transcriptic stack up in terms of price? Is it prohibitively\nexpensive for lots of stuff or is it a viable option?\n\n~~~\njkimmel\nWe find it to be pretty competitive for our needs (PCR, genotyping, long-term\nstorage).\n\nPCR is something like ~$1.50/rxn with our standard genotyping protocol, which\nworks out to ~$0.30-0.40 more than the same reaction run in house. If I recall\ncorrectly, the cost per rxn goes down if you run more in parallel, because\nthey share the same instrument time.\n\nSetting up that reaction might take me ~0.5 hours base, and 0.05 hours for\neach subsequent reaction prepared in parallel.\n\nGrad students are cheap, but even valuing my skilled labor at minimum wage,\nit's cheaper to use Transcriptic.\n\n------\nfrisco\nHey, I'm the founder of Transcriptic. We're pretty excited about this. Happy\nto answer any questions!\n\n~~~\ndnautics\nThe biggest pain point I see in this market is that experimental\nparallelization is an intervention-heavy process. Ignoring the equipment\ncosts, it's also capital-intensive (unlike say deploying to AWS). And finally,\nobtaining usable data still requires experiential knowledge. There's something\nabout _knowing and feeling the data_ (yeah, that's awfully fuzzy) that is\nstill an important part about obtaining good results [0]. So for any biologic\nprocess that is parallelizing the operators are going to want to own the\nmachines anyways.\n\nIn order to capture a real market, you're going to have to figure out a way to\noffer parallelization services - be given a non-parallel experiment with\ncertain parameters and scale it up on behalf of the users. So, the user has an\nexperimental plan and just 'hands it over' to transcriptic. I still worry\nabout the experiential knowledge part, putting the experimenter one step away\nfrom the experiment is potentially counterproductive.\n\n[0][http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pro.2339/full](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pro.2339/full)\nIn this paper, the grad student (and lead author) who had spent four years of\nher graduate work on a previous paper had a nagging feeling that the data were\nstrange. By actually looking at the wells, she figured out post-publication\n(with nothing to gain) that the protein was sticking to sides of the 96-well\nplate and causing the observational data to be artefactual. Then there was the\nquestion of how to do more experiments to _prove_ that was going on. And then\nthe political problem of convincing her grad advisor to publish a retraction\n(well at least it was a retraction worth a 10 page paper and a new citation.\nThe story has a happy ending; she got a position at a pharma company largely\non the back of her due diligence).\n\n~~~\nfrisco\nI think the opposite is actually true: you get better data when you don't feel\nthe samples. This is a highly unpopular view right now but I have to wonder\nwhat's going on when things like Amgen getting 11% reproducibility of\nfoundational papers\n([http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v483/n7391/full/483531a...](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v483/n7391/full/483531a.html))\nare happening. There are things that are hard to automate because of their\nmechanical nature, but I think that for the reproducibility of science\nsomewhat distancing the human from the process is a good thing. Of course,\nthis adds short-term costs (which may sometimes be unacceptable) and requires\na lot of behavior change for how people are used to working. I will say that\nwe put a lot of thought into giving you the fidelity of interaction such that\nyou can still make \"breakthroughs from your errors\" on Transcriptic, and\nimproving those reporting capabilities are an ever-ongoing process.\n\nI'll also say that this challenge is bigger than just one company. Some things\nmay make more sense to do via Science Exchange, for example if the method\nrequires some very customized hardware or there are only a few experts in the\nworld who are sufficiently familiar with an unusual method's sensitivities.\nI'm also excited to see what Riffyn comes out with to help labs understand\nwhere reproducibility comes from. We're just getting started, but I can't see\na path forward that puts more humans at benches rather than less. The humans\nshould be free to do real science.\n\n~~~\ndnautics\nI have exactly the opposite opinion. Even scientists are captiviated by\nscientism - the idea that there is something poisonous about human\nsubjectivity and imprecision and that removing subjectivity (and gathering\nmore data) is necessarily a good. Sydney Brenner, for example has a 'money\nquote' about the path that biologists take: \"low input, high throughput, no\noutput science\". Note that this quote doesn't make sense in an environment\nthat doesn't faddishly flock to high througput 'big data' solutions.\n\nYour example is greatly flawed. The biggest consumers of highly\nparallelizeable workflows is the pharmaceutical industry. Highly parallel\nmedchem was a big fad and the number of drugs that it produced for its efforts\nis disappointing. The fact that 11% of Amgen's results are irreproducible is\nif anything a condemnation of parallel scaleup, at least in the context of an\noperator with a strong motive for selective interpretation.\n\nAnother big problem is that when you bring your numbers up, you 'get what you\nare looking for'. Precision optimization can optimize for an artefact. I joke\nI like to make is that sloppy science is good, because if you keep seeing the\nsame result under a noisy platform, what you're seeing is probably real and,\nmore encouragingly, robust.\n\n------\npinot\nAny interest in working with expression re fermentation down the line? CROs\nworking specifically with .25-2L tanks are very tricky to find, price and deal\nwith, and are not local to many biotech firms in the bay. About 25% of my time\nis spent just managing our CRO/CMO, and they only have 4x2L tanks. I used to\nwork for a place with multiple parallel tanks (30+) that made DoEs expedient\nand was a great resource - but sadly not something I can tap into at my small\nbiotech firm.\n\nCombining what you're building with something with a ambr250 or even just a\nbunch of Applikon micros or wellplate fermenters could see a lot of action\n(though something like the ambr250 would fit your business model better,\nrobotics > people).\n\nI'll be contacting you for information about FACS, protein quantitation and\ncell viability work. Stuff I definitely want to farm out.\n\n------\narca_vorago\nSo someone would ship samples to you guys, then your LIMS/robotic automation\nhandles data-flow and actual physical work? Where are you guys storing all the\ndata?\n\nI have two hesitations to point out:\n\n1) I worked in DNA, and the small little issues that cropped up on every major\nplatform (MiSeq/HiSeq/iontorrent,454,etc) seems like it would make automation\nof fixes difficult. I guess if you are keeping a stricter list of reagents,\nparameters, etc, then you could help prevent this, but then people aren't\npushing the edge science quite as much.\n\n2) So much data! My systems used to generate over 200gb per day. Good luck\ndownloading that via any api if you have anything but fiber. Do you intend to\nallow computation to be run on data as a cloud service? If so, I can see this\ngoing big places... as long as you allow full control of the VM for all the\nbio-hats and their custom wizjangles.\n\nI'm out of the industry and have one year left on my non-compete, but I wish\nyou the best of luck! Especially on the LIMS integration: a good LIMS is\nfreaking expensive!\n\n------\nsteejk\nThis is the first I've heard of Transcriptic, but it sounds amazing.\n\nInitially I was sceptical of YC working with startups which would have more\nconventionally come out of universities etc., but this is the sort of\ntechnology that has the ability to completely revolutionise scientific\nresearch.\n\n------\ncorwinbad\nGreat move Max!\n\nThis is Omri (founder of Genomecompiler.com). I'm always amazed about how many\nbiologists think their work is pipetting small amounts of liquids and\nperforming massively low productivity experiments rather then their real work\nof increasing our understanding of nature and finding solution to real world\nproblems (like disease, hunger, aging, running out of civilization critical\ncommodities, etc) using the best available tools.\n\nRobots aren't taking our jobs - they help us be more productive so a biologist\nPh.D. might in the future get paid like a CS undergrad!\n\n------\nthearn4\nVery cool concept! I guess it's also another point to show that the number of\njobs (in this case, lab assistants) that can't be automated away is getting\nsmaller and smaller.\n\nJust an observation though, I'm not a luddite about this.\n\n------\nrjayatilleka\nJust to let people know, Transcriptic isn't the first startup in this market.\nEmerald Cloud Lab is another, and I'm sure there are others.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAn API wrapper to Clarifai's image recognition demo - hackerews\nhttps://api.blockspring.com/users/orliesaurus/blocks/d54a2e2c28aebab4fe079ff547cea495\n\n======\nadamatclarifai\nAdam from Clarifai here.\n\nAs tommoor pointed out, this is just a thin wrapper around our demo at\n[http://www.clarifai.com/](http://www.clarifai.com/)\n\n(we're very flattered...)\n\nA real API will be out soon. It won't be throttled as heavily as the demo, and\nwill be more developer friendly.\n\nyou can sign up for early beta access at clarifai.com.\n\n~~~\ntroels\nWow. The classifier is really impressive. Will it be possible to train your\nown classifier on your service? I have a lot of clothing items that it would\nbe useful to classify. I tried building my own with opencv, but I haven't had\ntoo much luck so far.\n\nI signed up for the api access - would be very interested in playing a bit\nmore with this.\n\n~~~\nadamatclarifai\nThanks!\n\nTraining custom classifiers isn't in the roadmap for v1, but there will be a\nmechanism for providing feedback (suggesting new tags and marking errors), and\nwe'll continue to improve our models based on that.\n\nIf you have a very large (100k+ images) well-labeled repository to train from,\nsend us a note at info@clarifai.com, we'll tawk.\n\n------\nthomasfromcdnjs\nI put in the link to my profile picture on twitter ->\n[https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/488579015507050497/QvG1...](https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/488579015507050497/QvG1ArTx_400x400.jpeg)\n\n[\"black\", \"american\", \"woman\", \"man\", \"pitt\", \"brad\", \"senior\", \"worker\",\n\"group\", \"cuba\"]\n\nBrad Pitt! Great work guys!\n\n------\ntommoor\nI don't know why this link doesn't go directly to the source:\n[http://www.clarifai.com/index.html](http://www.clarifai.com/index.html)\n\n------\ncolumbo\nWow! This is really neat, I tried to find images that I didn't think it could\nprocess, the results are interesting.\n\n[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Blown_up_...](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Blown_up_electrolytic_capacitor.jpg)\n\n[\"piranha\", \"fish\", \"food\", \"water\", \"gold\", \"dish\", \"crab\", \"kitchen\",\n\"glass\", \"silver\"]\n\n[https://www.flippers.com/images/See-SHFA1_Caps&Mods-\nPCB.JPG](https://www.flippers.com/images/See-SHFA1_Caps&Mods-PCB.JPG)\n\n[\"panel\", \"retro\", \"wine\", \"background\", \"design\", \"old\", \"tool\", \"letter\",\n\"art\", \"robot\"]\n\n[http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11_lpi_trvrsmap.gif](http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11_lpi_trvrsmap.gif)\n\n[\"background\", \"metal\", \"water\", \"man\", \"wall\", \"old\", \"abstract\", \"paper\",\n\"hand\", \"paint\"]\n\n------\ndhammack\nVery impressive! Some cool ones it recognized:\n\nmilk jug [http://cdn-\njpg.allyou.com/sites/default/files/image/2014/01/...](http://cdn-\njpg.allyou.com/sites/default/files/image/2014/01/400xvariable/i/2009/08/craft-\na-birdfeeder-out-l.jpg)\n\n[\"milk\", \"gallon\", \"jug\", \"product\", \"detergent\", \"plastic\", \"water\", \"soap\",\n\"canteen\", \"white\"]\n\nmushroom cloud:\n[http://www.atomicarchive.com/Effects/Images/WE12.jpg](http://www.atomicarchive.com/Effects/Images/WE12.jpg)\n\n[\"fire\", \"bomb\", \"mushroom\", \"flame\", \"letter\", \"font\", \"hell\", \"volcano\",\n\"smoke\", \"burn\"]\n\n------\nsjtrny\nVery optimistic. Got a picture of a Hyundai. Reckons it's a BMW or Audi.\n\n[http://www.airnorth.com.au/sites/default/files/Car%20hire%20...](http://www.airnorth.com.au/sites/default/files/Car%20hire%20-%20Budget%20Hyundai%20i30%20-%20LR.jpg)\n\n[\"car\", \"bmw\", \"auto\", \"sport\", \"3d\", \"vector\", \"white\", \"blue\", \"front\",\n\"audi\"]\n\n------\nNavarr\nTried a Pokémon card and got \"semi relevant\" results\n\n[http://sixprizes.com/wp-content/uploads/pikachu-next-\ndestini...](http://sixprizes.com/wp-content/uploads/pikachu-next-destinies-\nnde-39.jpg)\n\n[\"background\", \"card\", \"kid\", \"vector\", \"design\", \"school\", \"book\", \"frame\",\n\"cartoon\", \"dog\"]\n\n------\nabbottry\nFacebook Logo:\n[https://www.facebook.com/images/fb_icon_325x325.png](https://www.facebook.com/images/fb_icon_325x325.png)\n\n[\"cross\", \"sign\", \"plus\", \"pound\", \"medic\", \"first\", \"icon\", \"jesus\",\n\"christian\", \"aid\"]\n\n------\nnivals\nNice! Got some interesting results from a photos of iPhones and iPads.\n\nCurious to know how this compares head-to-head with the CamFind API at\n[https://www.mashape.com/imagesearcher/camfind](https://www.mashape.com/imagesearcher/camfind)\nwhich I've been thinking of using for a project.\n\n------\norliesaurus\nWell this went better than I expected :) EDIT: context- I'm the one that made\nthe wrapper for clarifai's API, loved the service since I heard of it, great\nto see people appreciate (from the number of API calls you guys have made so\nfar) both the service and the small wrapper to the API!\n\n------\nNKCSS\nOnly car was recognised here:\n[http://www.highsnobiety.com/files/2014/05/lamborghini-\naventa...](http://www.highsnobiety.com/files/2014/05/lamborghini-aventador-\ngalaxy-custom-dxsc-0.jpg)\n\n------\nbtbuildem\nI tried a few images, for all of them \"woman\" was the first result (only one\nimage had a woman in it).\n\n------\nFalling3\nCombine this with a Markov Chain and you get a nice story teller.\n\n------\nstuaxo\nTry typing in\n\nA python stacktrace about JSON\n\n------\nantonwinter\nwhat the hell, i tried a few images from unplash and it worked flawlessly. how\ndoes this magic work?\n\n~~~\nantonwinter\ni've tried maybe 30 images now. All of them it nailed. i did find one that\nmade me laugh. it doesnt know what a goat is.\n\n[http://picjumbo.com/wp-\ncontent/uploads/IMG_9454-1300x866.jpg](http://picjumbo.com/wp-\ncontent/uploads/IMG_9454-1300x866.jpg)\n\n[\"dog\", \"australia\", \"deer\", \"bear\", \"cow\", \"mouflon\", \"lemur\", \"wild\",\n\"safari\", \"zoo\"]\n\n~~~\nacomjean\nor a horse apparently. Did figure the jockey though...\n\n[http://plocp.com/user/Aram%20Comjean//The%20Belmont%202007/i...](http://plocp.com/user/Aram%20Comjean//The%20Belmont%202007/images/20070609-_MG_8284.jpg)\n\n[\"race\", \"beach\", \"camel\", \"rodeo\", \"jockey\", \"polo\", \"toreador\", \"torero\",\n\"donkey\", \"dog\"]\n\n------\nazianmike\nwow this is really cool! how is this done?! what kind of sorcery is this?!\n\n------\nrobzz\npretty impressive!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMaking Music with Supercollider - subnaught\nhttp://subnaught.org/supercollider\n======\nsubnaught\nOP here. Starting a blog to help me learn supercollider. Each post contains a\nfinished track with the associated code, along with some musings on what I\nlearned making it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAdobe Launches \"Adobe Edge\" - HTML5 Animation Tool - dglassan\nhttp://labs.adobe.com/technologies/edge/?v=2\n======\nmichaelpinto\nIt's important to keep in mind that when push comes to shove that Adobe isn't\nafraid to eat their own — as someone who had a shop focused on Director and\nLingo I watched then adopt Flash and really shift gears overnight even though\nthey invested a great deal in Shockwave. I'll grant you that was a long tome\nago, but they still may have the will to adopt in their DNA...\n\n~~~\nSimHacker\nThat would have been Macromedia eating its own children, not Adobe.\n\nSpeaking of eating its own children, can anyone explain why Adobe still sells\nPremier AND AfterEffects? Why hasn't one eaten the other? Who needs two\ndifferent video editing programs?\n\nThe only explanations I've heard from Adobe apologists and marketers is that\none is a blah blah blah tool, and the other is a blee blee blee tool. But\nusers need to both blah blah blah and blee blee blee blee, and there's no\nreason to switch between two different programs, or that one program can't\nboth blah blah blah and blee blee blee.\n\nI think the real reason is that Adobe makes more money with selling two\ndifferent products instead of one.\n\nAdobe should eat more of their children.\n\n~~~\ntalmand\nI'm sorry, one product IS a blah blah blah tool and the other IS a blee blee\nblee tool. Some users do in fact need blah blah blah blah and blee blee blee\nblee at the same time but not everyone needs both, hence two separate\nproducts.\n\nYes, Adobe does make more money on two separate products but that's not\nnecessarily the reason for doing so. I guess Adobe makes more money by not\nimplementing Photoshop features into Dreamweaver as well.\n\n~~~\nmichaelpinto\nActually shockwave and flash did the same thing, except at the time shockwave\n(Director) was actually more full featured with a programming language called\nLingo (this was well before actionscript).\n\n------\nStuk\nAfter seeing the demo I thought this was being done in canvas, but no, it's\nactually using css transforms applied to DOM elements. SVG is far more suited\nto this task.\n\nAlso despite it's vector look, all of the lines are in fact pngs\n[http://wwwimages.adobe.com/labs.adobe.com/cdn/technologies/e...](http://wwwimages.adobe.com/labs.adobe.com/cdn/technologies/edge/resources/ferriswheel/images/Ferris-\nWheel2.png) . Disappointing.\n\n~~~\npavlov\nShameless plug -- I'm making a HTML5 animation tool called Radi that outputs\nto canvas for realtime rendering. It also supports the <video> tag, so you can\nseamlessly mix vector graphics and pre-rendered video.\n\nIt's available as a free beta (currently Mac-only): <http://radiapp.com>\n\n~~~\nStuk\nLooks very interesting, it would be great if you could put a video of the app\nin action on that page. I don't have a Mac so I can't try it out myself.\n\n------\nchrischen\nHere's a company doing something similar: <http://www.tumultco.com/hype/>\n\nSeeing as how Adobe has interests in the prolongation of Flash, I'm not sure\nI'd trust their HTML5 app...\n\n~~~\ncookiecaper\nAdobe makes money from its Flash editing tools, so they probably do not care\nif Flash is replaced with HTML5 as long as their editing tools for HTML5\nbecome the standard. In fact, Adobe may even be relieved that it looks like\nthey may be able to drop Flash as a primary platform soon, because they\nobviously have difficult maintaining the plugin.\n\nThere's still an opening for Adobe to make themselves the standard HTML5 IDE\n(as they are the standard photography \"IDE\") and still reap as much money as\nthey were making from Flash, but without the overhead of maintaining the\nruntime.\n\n~~~\nsjs\nIt'll be interesting to see how this compares to Sencha. What else is there?\n\n~~~\njawher\nGenuine question: What does Sencha (a JS UI lib) have to do with Edge (an IDE)\n?\n\n~~~\nsimonw\nSencha have a product called Sencha Animator:\n<http://www.sencha.com/products/animator/>\n\n~~~\njawher\nThanks !\n\n------\nmaxogden\ndemo:\n[http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/edge/resources/ferriswhee...](http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/edge/resources/ferriswheel/Wheel.html)\n\n~~~\nvnchr\nThank you. That was all I wanted to see on Adobe's site, but it just provided\nmore bullet points. Why not advertise what your advertising with your\nadvertisement?\n\n------\nwallflower\nAnyone remember Macromedia Fireworks v1.0? For a preview version, this is a\ngood start. Try to extrapolate to when this might be in Adobe CS and include\nsupport for Actions macro recording and seamless roundtrip Illustrator asset\nembedding.\n\nI believe the power of Adobe is in the Creative Suite integration and\necosystem. This is just a standalone technology preview...\n\n------\nicode\n\"Download and install the Edge Preview\"\n\nThis is so pre internet.\n\n~~~\nshrikant\nNo, this is: [on clicking the \"Download\" link]\n\n _Please log in with your Adobe ID or create a new account to download the\nAdobe® Edge Preview._\n\nWTF?\n\n~~~\nwenbert\nI immediately closed the window. I spent a few seconds looking for a \"skip\"\nlink though.\n\n------\nmortenjorck\nHere's one area where Adobe can really innovate in standards-compliant\nanimation tools: Automate preloading.\n\nEvery \"look at this doodad made in HTML 5!\" demo I've seen betrays its\ntechnology in the loading. Bits appear here and there, images load one by one;\nno matter how solid the execution may be, it _feels_ brittle watching it load\nin, unlike a Flash app that loads first, then executes.\n\nThere's no reason Adobe can't build in a simple loading spinner that hides the\nDOM construction as a piece of dynamic markup loads. It would go a long way\ntoward making the content that Edge generates feel robust.\n\n------\nDanOWar\nMac download:\n[http://trials.adobe.com/pub/esd/labs/edge/edge_p1_install_ma...](http://trials.adobe.com/pub/esd/labs/edge/edge_p1_install_mac_080111.dmg)\n\n------\npoundy\nThe demo works well on the iPhone4\n<http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/edge/resources/>\n\n------\ncatshirt\ncool thing is that it looks like the animation is pretty much generated from a\njson object (likely generated from the program). not that there's many other\nways to do it, but still a nice simple implementation.\n\n[http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/edge/resources/ferriswhee...](http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/edge/resources/ferriswheel/Wheel_edge.js)\n\n~~~\nmanish\nWas it only in my browser the train was going faster on the inclines than on\ndeclines?\n\n~~~\ngeorgemcbay\nI think this is because (as samwillis pointed out) the rollercoaster is\nactually going backwards, so the inclines are really the declines and vice\nversa. Why they are running the animation backwards is another question,\nthough.\n\n------\nsplatcollision\nGood work Adobe, it's important to prepare for the future. Sucks they couldn't\nmake it a web app, then it could run on my iPad.\n\n------\ntambourine_man\nCSS3 is hardware accelerated on iDevices. AFAIK, it's the only way to get\nsmooth animations on paltry hardware like this 3G iPhone. And those demos sure\nlook smooth here.\n\n------\nhunter4\nTim Langdell will not be pleased.\n\n~~~\nsambeau\nThankfully he has crawled back under his stone since the MobiGames debacle.\n\nOr has he resurfaced and I've missed it?\n\n~~~\nteamonkey\nThis is getting somewhat off-topic but he's back.\n\n[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-07-28-langdell-\njudge-...](http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-07-28-langdell-judge-made-\nalmost-100-errors)\n\n------\nleon_\nThat's pretty cool. I'm a programmer and have 0 clue about animation and\ndesign - but the UI makes it pretty straight format for me to create some\nprimitive animations. (Which I can then include into my Mac app via a Webkit\nview).\n\n------\ntomelders\nOh dear lord no. This is a bad move.\n\n~~~\nandybak\nExplain?\n\nAnd if your only answer is 'ads and crappy splash screens' then think a bit\nmore deeply before you respond. People round here'd like a little bit more\ninsight than a simple kneejerk reaction.\n\n~~~\nMaci\nI'll bite.\n\nI think the \"fear\" is that once a non-web weary designer get's going with this\nthere will be absolutely no regard for performance impact since it will render\nfine on what ever pimped up work station is in use.\n\nMeanwhile on platforms with lesser hardware where the browser does not have a\nfull hardware render pipeline the performance will likely be even worse then\nflash.\n\nIn fact, with the ferris wheel demo Safari eats 10% CPU time, Chrome 30%,\nFirefox 50% on a single core. System: OS X 10.6.8, GF 9400M.\n\nNext thing to happen: \"Disable javascript / css to save battery life on your\ndevice\". :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nBootstrapped, Profitable, & Proud: Alien Skin Software - spencerfry\nhttp://37signals.com/svn/posts/2536-bootstrapped-profitable-proud-alien-skin-software\n\n======\npatio11\n_Don’t undercharge. Once you are confident that your product is great, don’t\nbe shy with your price. The smart people will pay for it. The whiners will\nleave. We had a product for a while that was much cheaper than our other\nproducts. Those customers required far more tech support than the\nprofessionals who use our other products. It was a relief when we discontinued\nit._\n\nI cannot repeat this lesson enough, and this is the thirtieth time I have\nheard another company chime in with it. Charging a premium means your worst\ncustomers go afflict a competitor instead.\n\n------\nmaukdaddy\nBeat me to it :p\n\nOne thing that really sticks out to me here is the emphasis on _NOT_ growing\ntoo large. I think this is a management view that is going to grow\nincreasingly common in the future.\n\nDespite years of pounding in our heads that growth is the only avenue to\nsuccess, people are finally realizing that great culture, lifestyle, and\nprofitability are enough. Sure, some people will never have _enough_ and will\ncontinue to grow for the sake of growing. But the idea that you can lead a 20\nperson company for many years and enjoy the profits is very tantalizing to a\nlot of us Gen Y-ers that watched parents work themselves to death.\n\n~~~\nmuhfuhkuh\nIt really looks like that's a preferable future than the one we currently\nsuffer with: large, immovable conglomerates that lobby for an upper hand in\nthe market, have an open disdain for employee culture (i.e., the \"take all the\nfun out of making video games\" quote from Activision CEO, who probably\nwouldn't be anything without absorbing the then small-company Blizzard for\nWorld of Warcraft), and will outsource core competencies for the quarterly\nconcall to sound 10% better over same quarter last year.\n\nI think the larger advantage is that, because of smaller nimbler companies,\nthere is keener, more increased competition, leading to better products and\nmore reasonable prices. Because of the lowered overhead inherent in smaller\ncompanies, more of them can be spread out. If you look at the wasteland that\nis the midwest right now, they could really use smaller companies dotting the\nlandscape that work on all the sexy (hell, even unsexy or staid or sterile)\nindustries that were heretofore dominated by gigantic conglomerates like\nMicrsoft, GE, Medtronic, EA and others.\n\nThe days of \"get big fast\" is over. It caused web 1.0 to crash and burn; but\nfrom that there is a more mature 2.0, which companies like Facebook, 37\nSignals, github, twitter, Valve represent and who are starting to inspire\nothers.\n\nIf small business truly represents the largest employer in the US, we have\nalmost a national moral imperative to eschew building (and supporting!) large\ncorporations and multinationals in favor of small ones, don't we?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nPraise as good as cash to brain - edw519\nhttp://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN2343219520080423?sp=true\n\n======\nredorb\nI always told my old boss, its great to know Im doing a good job, but I can't\npay rent with \"Good jobs\" ...\n\n------\nTichy\nAre they also able to measure the degree of happiness people experience? That\ncould be interesting, like economists could finally get a measurement of the\nutility curves of their subjects.\n\n------\nmaurycy\nWhat's so good about cash? It is just a tool to accomplish your own goals. It\nis pretty sad if cash alone gives people, even temporary, hapiness. Actually,\na lot of stuff would be more sexier if not paid. I feel that reward turns off\nmy creativeness.\n\nTo say nothing about that personally I hate praising. I perceive it to be\nempty.\n\n~~~\nJayNeely\nGood comment!\n\n------\ntomjen\nPeople have a need to belong - well yes, but why is that news let alone\nresearch worthy?\n\n------\nvchakrav\nWell, you can pay people to praise you but the reverse doesnt hold.\n\n~~~\njrmurad\nThe reverse holds for whomever \"you\" pay.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMost Germans don’t buy their homes, they rent - allerhellsten\nhttp://qz.com/167887/germany-has-one-of-the-worlds-lowest-homeownership-rates/\n======\ncm2187\nSo in Germany, the interest on a mortgage is non tax deductible. The article\ndoesn't mention it but I understand that property owners are also liable for\ncapital gain tax if they hold the property less than 10 years.\n\nI think that makes sense. There is no reason to favor individuals investing\ninto an unproductive investment (property) over productive investments (stocks\nand bonds, which enable companies to raise money to start new projects, create\njobs, etc). Over-borrowing to bid the maximum amount one can to buy a\nnineteenth century house doesn't create any job for anyone, it just transfers\nwealth to the hands of the seller.\n\n~~~\nriprowan\n> There is no reason to favor individuals investing into an unproductive\n> investment (property) over productive investments (stocks and bonds).\n\nI beg to differ. I think that real estate, like farming, has critical societal\nbenefits that are worthwhile to develop and maintain.\n\nNamely, it is very difficult to raise a family of four in a mutual fund.\nInvesting in a home may is absolutely \"productive.\"\n\nSee, there are significant societal benefits to home ownership that you are\nnot considering. For example:\n\n1\\. A paid off home is a social safety net against homelessness for an entire\nfamily and many of their social circles. Even if all of them are unemployed,\nall of them have a roof over their heads.\n\n2\\. A paid-off home frees up cash flow. It allows the owner to divert his\nearnings into other activities or investments or reduce the amount he has to\nearn monthly.\n\n3\\. Real estate can be borrowed against. Try that with stocks. If you are an\nentrepreneur, your home is likely the asset you will use to acquire bank\nfinancing for your business.\n\n4\\. With unskilled / low-skilled jobs vanishing left and right, homebuilding\nis one of the few markets which still relies entirely on a giant low-skilled\nworkforce. It's one of the few sectors that can keep a lot of people\nproductively employed. I think there are valid arguments against stimulating\nhomebuilding to reduce unemployment among low-skill workers, but there is\nnevertheless a societal logic here.\n\n5\\. In a time when wealth is centralizing as never before, investments in real\nestate distributes wealth locally. I think there are valid arguments against\npublic policy to distribute wealth, but there is a societal logic here.\n\n6\\. Finally: taxing a home is very counterproductive to the well-being of the\nmiddle class and the poor. I'm sure in Germany the interest on a mortgage\nisn't tax deductible as you say, but I'd also guess that steps are taken to\nrefund the property taxes for the lower classes. Otherwise you simply tax the\npoor out of their homes - a form of confiscation.\n\nI think there's a lot of sense in _NOT_ taxing one's first home, at least not\nif it's below a certain reasonably high value. All things considered, home\nownership is empowering. A second home or income-generating rental property is\na different story, but one's domicile should be unconfiscatable by the state.\n\n~~~\ncm2187\n> _Namely, it is very difficult to raise a family of four in a mutual fund._\n\nIt is difficult to ski without skis. But most people don't buy skis, they rent\nthem. Renting skis do not mean that no skis will be manufactured. There is a\nneed for house, houses will be constructed, irrespective of whether people\nwill over-bid on them or not.\n\n> _A paid off home is a social safety net against homelessness_\n\nStocks and savings are equally a safety net against loss of primary income.\n\n> _Real estate can be borrowed against_\n\nBorrowing against your home to finance your business is no different than\nselling some stocks to invest into your business. In both cases you are using\nprevious savings.\n\n> _I think there 's a lot of sense in NOT taxing one's first home_\n\nWhy? Again you are assuming that the alternative to owning a home is renting\none and having no savings. The cost of housing (renting) would be much lower\nin a country without massive over-bidding on property. There is no reason to\ngive a tax benefit to this particular type of investment (property) over any\nother types of investment.\n\n~~~\ndasmoth\n> > A paid off home is a social safety net against homelessness > Stocks and\n> savings are equally a safety net against loss of primary income.\n\nLandlords and letting agencies can be kind-of funny beasts, they're not\nnecessarily happy to have an unemployed guy as a tenant even if he owns a pile\nof shares.\n\n~~~\nScarblac\nSo? It's not as if they can kick you out of the house you live in. Not in\nGermany, anyway.\n\n------\nDocTomoe\nBeing German I want to pPoint out that the article leaves out one cruicial\ndetail: Building your own home puts you into debt for quite literally the rest\nof your life. We do not like debt.\n\n~~~\nburo9\nYup.\n\nGermany has one of the lowest adoption rates of credit products such as the\nhumble credit card out of nearly all Western nations.\n\nDebt is not liked.\n\nEdit: From the same site, the linked article at the bottom has the answer:\n[http://qz.com/262595/why-germans-pay-cash-for-almost-\neveryth...](http://qz.com/262595/why-germans-pay-cash-for-almost-everything/)\n\nA better link: [http://www.businessinsider.com/you-have-to-understand-\ngerman...](http://www.businessinsider.com/you-have-to-understand-germanys-\nlong-standing-fear-of-debt-2012-7?IR=T)\n\n~~~\npremium-concern\nYep. \"Don't buy things if you can't pay for then.\" sounds reasonable, but some\nother countries seem to disagree.\n\nNot surprised that those countries suffer from government shutdowns over how\nmuch the debt ceiling is raised.\n\n~~~\nthesimon\n>suffer from government shutdowns over how much the debt ceiling is raised\n\nOn the other hand: The government shutdown because of the debt ceiling seems\njust like \"Stop hitting yourself\" on the playground.\n\nAnd Germany's budget is far from balanced.\n\n~~~\nkriro\nNominally Germany has a balanced budget. I agree it isn't really balanced and\nthe big zero is just achieved via some shifting around of things.\n\nHowever the fact that the government jumps through all sorts of hoops to be\nable to say the budget is balanced is at least an interesting indicator that\nit does seem to matter to enough people.\n\n~~~\npremium-concern\nEven government budgets have to adhere to some standardized schemes of\nreporting. See also rating firms.\n\nOtherwise even the US would have a balanced budget and no debts. (Ignoring the\nfact that the US is the main force behind trying to change the account rules\nto make them look less bad.)\n\n------\nLeanderK\nI am a German CS-Student and currently renting in a shared flat with 4 other\nstudents. We call it WG (living-community) and its really popular not only\nwith students, but i know a lot of young professionals and even middle aged\nones that share an apartment (it gained popularity in the 60s, so i think its\nmore of an culture thing that older do not share a flat). If you are in a\npartnership, you can move out and share a smaller one with your partner, but\nif your not in a partnership (or not that close yet) i wouldn't want to miss\nliving in a shared apartment. You come home, talk about your day, cook\ntogether and on the weekend you can go out together. There is always something\ngoing on. I can't imagine living in my own apartment all by myself. Working\nlong and then coming home into an empty, dead, dark apartment with no one to\ntalk to.\n\nSerious question: Why is it not very popular in other countries?\n\n~~~\nrmc\n> _Serious question: Why is it not very popular in other countries?_\n\nBecause some countries have much, much worse tenants rights.\n\nI moved from Ireland to Germany and in Ireland:\n\n* There is basically no protection for rent increases, some people are being told their rent is increasing by 50%\n\n* Can't change your apartment. Not allowed to paint the walls, nearly all come with furniture, better make sure you don't damage any of it.\n\n* Oh the landlord/landlord's relative wants to live in the apartment. Eviction time for you.\n\n* You give your landlord your deposit. Let's hope they can find it again if you move out.\n\n* By default, no pets allowed. And many landlords will say no.\n\n* Did I mention about the rent increases?\n\n~~~\npremium-concern\nIn Germany:\n\n\\- Rent increase limits\n\n\\- Larger changes need landlord's approval (changing walls and stuff). A lot\nof smaller stuff can be done on your own and doesn't require asking the\nlandlords. (Many landlords are happy if you want to paint the walls etc.,\nthough.)\n\n\\- Only smaller apartments (often intended for students) come usually with\nfurniture\n\n\\- The deposit has to be put on a special, locked bank account. The money can\nonly been withdrawn if both sides tell the bank in writing that the rent\ncontract is over\n\n\\- Depends on the size of the pet\n\n~~~\npluma\nActually IIRC the law was changed so tenants only have to make sure the walls\nhave a neutral appearance (i.e. usually white woodchip wallpaper) when moving\nout, so they're pretty much free to decorate the place as they want as long as\nthey don't outright demolish or damage the walls.\n\nThere used to be a requirement for tenants to renovate the apartment (i.e.\nthorough cleaning, new wallpaper and white paint) before moving out but that\nrequirement has been reduced to \"besenrein\" (literally \"broom clean\", i.e. no\nrubbish or dirt). Damage to windows and existing fittings etc is deducted from\nthe deposit but tenants have the right to a formal inspection with a signed\nreport to avoid dubious claims.\n\nThe \"Kautionskonto\" (the special bank account) is widespread but not\nuniversal. However there are also co-operatives that invest your deposit and\nactually pass on the interest to you when you move out (these apartments are\nrare though).\n\nSome specifics on pets: fish and caged pets (e.g. rodents) are generally\nallowed within normal quantities. Cats require approval but disapproval is\npractically impossible unless there are very good reasons. Dogs always require\napproval and disapproval is more likely. Many contracts explicitly allow\nspecific pets (including dogs). If another tenant was given permission for a\ndog, it's hard or impossible to make a case for forbidding a similar dog.\n\"Kampfhunde\" (attack dogs) may be more problematic.\n\n~~~\npremium-concern\n> However there are also co-operatives that invest your deposit and actually\n> pass on the interest to you when you move out (these apartments are rare\n> though).\n\nThis is not optional. It is required by law. Interest from deposits belong to\nthe renter.\n\n~~~\npluma\nSure, but the difference is that they actually invest it. Normally the money\npretty much just sits there.\n\n~~~\npremium-concern\nGiven the size of the deposits, and the ROIs of available low-risk\ninvestments, does the difference really matter?\n\nSkip a single CappuFrappeGingerPumpkinLatte (or what people buy in cafes in\nSF) and you just got more money than any investment on the deposit can ever\nmake.\n\n~~~\npluma\nDepends on the size I guess, but generally that feeling of \"oh, look, my money\ndid some work for me\" leaves tenants with some happy thoughts on moving out.\n\n------\nwhack\nThe Germans seem to be far ahead of the curve here. From a financial planning\nperspective, buying a home results in:\n\n1) The vast majority of your assets becoming concentrated in a single plot of\nland, in a single neighborhood, in a single city\n\n2) Your future mobility to pursue jobs in other cities, becoming significantly\nconstrained\n\nIf you want to invest your savings, then invest them in the stock/bond\nmarkets. If you really love real estate investments for some reason, invest in\na REIT fund where your assets will be diversified across thousands of\nproperties, and fully managed by others on your behalf. Pursuing a national\npolicy of home-ownership makes little sense.\n\n~~~\ncoldtea\n> _Your future mobility to pursue jobs in other cities, becoming significantly\n> constrained_\n\nPerhaps the idea of people who haven't adopted this is that, unless they like\ndoing so, humans should not have to live like nomads moving here and there to\npursue this or that financial opportunity, but instead should be allowed to\ngrow roots in some place, help shape it and improve it, connect with their\nneighbors, etc.\n\n~~~\nKalium\nPeople are allowed to grow roots, shape and improve a place, and connect with\ntheir neighbors all they like. This is the state of places like the USA today.\n\nPeople aren't allowed to demand that the economy provide them with all the\nmeans they might wish for to do these things in any arbitrarily selected\nlocation.\n\n~~~\nmarcosdumay\n> People are allowed to grow roots, shape and improve a place, and connect\n> with their neighbors all they like.\n\nWell, their landlord may disagree.\n\nThat is, if they are renting... what is what this discussion is about.\n\n~~~\nKalium\nThat's covered under the second point.\n\n------\ngumby\nThe idea that owning a home is a great investment is an article of faith, not\nevidence.\n\nImagine if large public companies owned most of the housing stock and rather\nthan buying a house you invested in these companies. Instead of bearing all\nthe location and liquidity risk of owning a house, you would spread that risk\nover large numbers of markets. In fact being stuck owning a house in an\nunfavorable market can keep someone from moving, which reduces labor mobility.\n\n~~~\ncmdrfred\nIt really depends on where you live. I live outside of Philadelphia. My\nmortgage, taxes and insurance is less than $1200 dollars for a 3 bedroom\nhouse. I'd pay at least $1200 to rent a crappy 2 bedroom apartment and rent\njust keeps going up around here. Consider, even If my homes value stays\ncompletely static (according to Zillow it went up a 5 percent this year), in\nten years time I will be paying considerably less mortgage than what that\napartment will rent for.\n\n~~~\njessedhillon\nYes, but there's a reason why the crappy 2br costs as much as your house. That\nreason might not appeal to you, but it exists and has a specific monetary\nvalue.\n\n~~~\ntechthroway443\nCould you explain the reason?\n\n~~~\nshostack\nI'd guess it was referring to the fact that there are geographical, cultural\npreferences etc., not to mention employment opportunities that cause the Bay\nArea, NY, and other extremely expensive cities to be much more popular\ncompared to Philly.\n\nNot to knock your choice, but many people including myself would never\nconsider living there.\n\n~~~\ncmdrfred\nI don't think that explains why the apartment building 5 minutes away in a\nworse town (higher crime, access to lower rated schools) rents a 2 bedroom for\nmore than the cost of my mortgage, taxes and insurance. My belief is that the\npeople in that building don't have the access to capital to buy a home, and\nthus the landlord is able to arbitrage his access to capital via a bank in\norder to charge rents that are rather high in comparison.\n\n~~~\ngumby\nIt's the opposite: the cost of mortgage is fake-subsidized via tax exemption\nand since everyone thinks ownership is the \"goal\" the supply of rental\nproperties asymptotes to the equivalent price. Plus because of the bias to\nhome ownership there is less rental stock.\n\nThe reason I say it is \"fake-subsidized\" is straightforward: say you make\n$100K per year. A reasonable expense on housing is 25% of your income -- 25K\nper year or about 2K/month. Luckily for you, you can use the full 25K because\nyou won't be paying income tax on the money when you buy the house. So you can\nbuy more house...except all other buyers making 100K can do the same. If you\nhad to pay after-tax dollars you could only pay, say, $1500/month -- but so\nwould everyone else you're competing with. In essence the tax subsidy only\nhelps real estate agents and those who want to live off the appreciation of\ntheir house...which is a risk (yes the long term trend is upwards, but not\nnecessarily where you live, and not necessarily when you plan to retire).\n\nAnd let's not forget that almost all the mortgages are held by the US\ngovernment. It's a highly distorted market, and while I believe it developed\nwith good intentions, it's not at all clear it's good for the majority of\ncitizens.\n\n------\nWA\nOn the other hand, many Germans believe: renting is paying someone else,\nbuying is paying yourself (which is nonsense). Especially in more rural areas,\nbuying/building a house is considered a big achievement in life. People are\neven willing to move from a smaller city to little towns just to be home-\nowners.\n\nBuying a house can be a net loss over the years, if you're not located in a\nmajor city. Especially in East Germany, house prices are declining. See this\ngraphic [1]. Everything yellow basically doesn't yield any returns. Housing\nprices in orange and red areas decline over the years.\n\nBut even in green areas, there are so many knobs you can turn to make buying\nor renting more feasible than the other. It boils down to lifestyle decision:\nDo you want to live in your own house or not? If you prefer to rent: Are you\nwilling to save money by other means? Because buying a house works for many\npeople simply because they're forced to \"save\" a certain percentage of their\nincome every month.\n\nI prefer renting, because of the flexibility. I put quite a bit of money in\nstocks instead.\n\n[1]:\n[http://cdn3.spiegel.de/images/image-726182-galleryV9-uttw-72...](http://cdn3.spiegel.de/images/image-726182-galleryV9-uttw-726182.jpg)\n\n~~~\nsickbeard\nFrankly the only people who say this are investors. If you look at it from a\npurely investing perspective it makes sense to buy a house and then rent it\nout, rather than buy a house and live in it as an investment.\n\nBut most people are not investors, they want a home to raise their kids and be\na place they belong. That's the disconnect\n\n~~~\njpetso\nIn Canada, there's a capital gains tax exemption for your (owned) primary\nresidence. If I wanted to live in a given place, it would be stupid to buy the\nplace, rent it out, and rent another place myself with the rent money minus\nthe income tax I paid from it. When selling the place, I owe capital gains\ntaxes on it. Taken together, that ends up being a worse deal for me than\nmerely buying what I need and using it for myself, tax-free.\n\nOf course, what renting gives you is the flexibility to live in a smaller\nplace and avoid overpaying for extra space that you _might_ want to use at a\nlater time. Still, the savings from renting a smaller place have to be greater\nthan the tax expenses that I get charged for renting out.\n\n------\nmrottenkolber\nGermany is a two-class society divided into landlords and renters. A landlord\nwill usually not own only one but ~3-20 houses that total to ~15-100 flats.\nThe landlords often are renters themselves.\n\nWhen compared with big housing companies, private landlords require bigger\nprofit margins, leading to low quality maintenance of existing houses and ex-\norbital rents. Especially in crowded cities, rent regulation is non existent\nand its a sellers market, inflated by wealthy students that rent expensive\nmicro-flats during university.\n\nYou or your parents don’t own houses, and are self sufficient on a regular\njob? Well, you are shit out of luck then. As much as 70% of your income will\ngo towards your rent, effectively financing the better-off and the further\nexpansion of their inefficient renting businesses.\n\n~~~\nfwn\nSpending 70% of your income on rent is far from inevitable in Germany.\n\n~~~\nLeChuck\nNot only far from inevitable but impossible in a lot of cases. When I was\nlooking for an apartment in Germany most (all? I can't remember) landlords\nwanted to verify that my income was at least three times the rent.\n\n~~~\nmrottenkolber\nWell, that can’t work out in all cases, obviously. Remember that a significant\nchunk of the people don’t make 3x of a low rent in many towns.\n\n------\nNormal_gaussian\nThe only liberty that renting provides is the protection from the whims of the\nhousing market.\n\nAside from that it takes liberties right left and centre. I cannot structure\nmy house and life as I want from painting and shelving through pets and\nkitchen appliances.\n\nI cannot fix something without causing a hassle and days off work.\n\nI cannot register a business here.\n\nI am at the whim of my landlord.\n\nRenting in the UK is a pain in the arse. I do to see renting as particularly\npositive for the individual.\n\n~~~\nimtringued\nOn the other hand it eliminates the NIBMY problem. Since the tenants do not\nown their home they don't have the pressure to protect their investment. The\nlandlord receives returns on his investment through rent on a monthly basis\nwhich lessens the risk of a sudden development reducing the value of the home.\nHome owners that live in their own home on the other hand face the full risk\nsince they can only recoup their costs when they sell the property.\n\n~~~\nNormal_gaussian\nWhich introduces the problem of \"Whatever, it isn't my mine I will just move\naway when the area gets shit\" leading to lower quality stock.\n\nOn my current street, opposite the flats further up, there is regular fly\ntipping and various illegal activities. The fly tipping can take weeks to be\ndealt with as nobody rings the council (I've started emailing the council when\nI notice it, but I don't walk that way often).\n\nRenters just don't have enough skin in the game to maintain the communities.\n\n------\nstandel\nIt's an interesting article. I'm from Belgium, one of the highest house owners\ncountries. Even though it's true it's a life-long debt and it might be risky\n(in case of crisis), housing is still considered as a Long Term Investment so\nthat you can pass that investment to your children (after heavy tax deduction\n:)). I find interesting the article does not mention who actually owns all\nthese houses and who benefits in the long term. After all, renting has a\nguaranteed zero ROI.\n\nAlso, recently, I've been looking at housing market in Munich and it's very\nvery expensive. Renting is ~20% more expensive than in Brussels and\nacquisition is +100% more expensive. So, although I admit I do not know rest\nof Germany housing market, I have some troubles thinking why Munich would be\nmore expensive than Brussels. And I certainly miss, from that perspective, why\nGerman system would be more interesting.\n\n~~~\ncoldtea\n> _After all, renting has a guaranteed zero ROI._\n\nA guaranteed zero ROI is better than a negative ROI which you can get with\nbuying a house (e.g. the house you can resell it drops due to the market and\nyou can't afford the mortgage for some reason...)\n\n~~~\nstandel\nnegative ROI on investment is the risk component of your investment. This is\ntrue of any investment. Stock being certainly higher risks than housing and\nstill people invest a lot in stocks.\n\nBut I should have said renting is a sunk cost. There is no investment\ncomponent at all in renting.\n\n~~~\nkdamken\n_Stock being certainly higher risks than housing and still people invest a lot\nin stocks._\n\nI would say low cost index funds are a much lower risk investment than a\nmortgage. They also have the advantage of being very liquid in the case of\nactually needing your money. Rent is not a sunk cost, this is a common\nmisconception.\n\nThere are many good reasons to buy a home, but do not think of it as an\n\"investment\". Compared to other investment options, it's a pretty terrible\none.\n\nI highly recommend reading this article to learn more -\n[http://jlcollinsnh.com/2013/05/29/why-your-house-is-a-\nterrib...](http://jlcollinsnh.com/2013/05/29/why-your-house-is-a-terrible-\ninvestment/)\n\n------\nvslira\nAccording to the article, mainly: 1 - Government doesn't subsidize homeowners;\n2 - Renting rules are reasonable for renters, increasing supply which makes\nrenting affordable.\n\nThere, saved you a click.\n\n~~~\neasytiger\nThe government doesn't subsidies home owners in the UK and it is considered\nvery very expensive, apparently, by many.\n\n~~~\nMagnumOpus\nThe government does subsidise home owners through nearly a dozen different\nschemes[1], landlords through a dozen more[2], and the mortgage banks through\nanother score[3], which is the reason why prices are very expensive indeed.\n\n[1] freedom from capital gains tax, RTB, HTB equity loan, HTB mortgage\nguarantee, HTB ISA, Forces HTB, NewBuy, AFHOS, Shared Ownership Scheme, Key\nWorker Scheme, Home Ownership Scheme for Cripples, and that is just off the\ntop of my head\n\n[2] rent floors through LHA, tax deductability, ability to flip residence\nbetween first and second homes for zero cap gains tax, freedom from\ninheritance tax beyond the usual limit...\n\n[3] state bailouts for all major banks, gurantees, QE, QE2, QE3, liquidity\nschemes, credit purchase schemes etc etc\n\n------\nadrianratnapala\nI agree it is a good thing for Germany to have so much renting. Indeed I think\nhome-ownership will be the #1 driver of inequality in other contries over the\nnext generation or two.\n\nThose countries will have policies that lcaim help poor people buy houses, but\nthe effect is to just inflate prices and increase financial risk -- as the\nworld has already seen. The one thing that would really help -- increased\nsupply is blocked by a powerful home-owners lobby damanding zoning rules and\nother restrictions.\n\nIn Germany the bloc is powerful, and probably gets more goodies than it\nshould. But at least here they are constant building new housing.\n\n------\nbeguiledfoil\nHaving lived in jurisdictions that limit annual rent increases via a rental\nindex and jurisdictions that do not, I prefer the former. In America such\naction is dismissed as a price control, unfortunately for me.\n\n------\njosefresco\nHow does Germany handle retirement? In the US, your home is seen as an\ninvestment, one that can partially fun retirement or depending on the market,\npre-retirement income.\n\n~~~\nnommm-nommm\n>In the US, your home is seen as an investment\n\nHistorically a very poor one.\n\n[http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2014/05/...](http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2014/05/10/why-\nyour-home-is-not-a-good-investment/8900911/)\n\n>\"Capital gains have not even been positive. From 1890 to 1990, real\ninflation-corrected home prices were virtually unchanged.\"\n\n>From 1890 -- just three decades after the Civil War -- through 2012, home\nprices adjusted for inflation literally went nowhere. Not a single dime of\nreal growth. For comparison, the S&P 500 increased more than 2,000-fold during\nthat period, adjusted for inflation. And from 1890 to through 1980, real home\nprices actually declined by about 10%.\n\nNot to say that a house is a bad thing. A house can be great! It provides\nshelter, stability, and can provide a vast amount of joy and pride. Its a very\npoor investment vehicle. Its a very bad idea to have 100% of your wealth tied\nup in your primary residence.\n\nDiversification is a key to financial stability everywhere.\n\n~~~\nbzbarsky\n> home prices adjusted for inflation literally went nowhere\n\nYes, but what does that mean for money invested in houses? The reason this is\nnot the same question is that money invested in houses is leveraged, at least\nin the short term.\n\nSimple example of how this can work: You buy a house at 20% down and an\ninterest-only mortgage with a fixed interest rate of 4%. Inflation averages 3%\nand your house's price grows at exactly inflation. You live there for 40 years\nand then sell. To make our numbers simple, let's say the initial price was\n$100k.\n\nSo you put $20k down and take out a $80k loan. Each year you pay $3.2k in\nmortgage interest.\n\nThe price of your house after 40 years is, in then dollars, $326k. You sell,\npay off the $80k loan, and have $246k left.\n\nLet's consider the alternate situation: you rented for those 40 years. How\nmuch did you pay for rent? Chances are, it's no less than the interest on your\nloan (if only because a landlord would have that interest _and_ other\nexpenses). In practice it probably went up over time, unlike your payments,\nbut let's pretend it didn't. You invested your $20k downpayment in the stock\nmarket. What nominal return do you need to get to end up with $246k at the end\nof 40 years? The answer is about 6.5%. If inflation really averaged 3%, then\nthat's a pretty decent stock market return, and that's all assuming that the\ncapital gains treatment of the house and the stocks is the same (it's _not_ in\nthe US; houses are exempt from capital gains tax to a large extent).\n\nObviously if you actually pay off your house all this goes out the window. ;)\nLikewise, if the house goes _down_ in price the leverage acts against you.\n\nRealistically, houses are an awesome investment if you buy at a time of low-\nish interest rates, and then before you've really paid off a large fraction of\nthe house inflation spikes. If house prices simply keep up with inflation in\nthat situation, you can really win out. People who bought in the US in the 60s\nand sold in the 80s or 90s did quite well, on average.\n\n------\nVLM\nArticle misses the hyperinflation of the 20s and the capital markets in the\n50s.\n\nBy the time the cold war made it apparent that 20s style economy destroying\nreparations would not be paid, renting was already baked into the cake.\n\nResidential real estate is non-productive and post WW2 Germany had not use for\na capital drain if anything they needed capital along the lines of the\nMarshall Plan so its not like anyone was interested in wasting capital in a\nmodern USA style housing bubble.\n\n------\nsleepyhead\nAnd how is that working out in Berlin now? Rents in Prenzlauer Berg and\nNeukölln increasing significantly every year. There wasn't a need to buy\nbefore because rent was dirt cheap. That's changing fast. It's obviously going\nto push out those who are poor but perhaps this will lead to more people\nrealising the benefits of owning property.\n\n------\nadrianlmm\nThe culture is so much different in México, the first thing you do when you\nstart working is to buy a house even if rents are cheap.\n\n~~~\nyolesaber\nWhat's the average house price tho\n\n~~~\nchilicuil\nIt highly depends on the zone, in Mexico City surroundings you could get or\nbuild a house for probably USD 100k+, in downtown it could easily be 500k for\na full house or 200k for a department flat. It could sound cheap but the\naverage salary is low too, so you can easily be in dept for the next 25-30\nyears. Many people buy or build outside of the border city and spend 3-4 hours\neveryday commuting. In general, I think people try really hard (sometimes\nduring its whole life) to buy/build its own but I don't see that happening\nmuch longer, specially for young people who start working at an older age and\nhas additional aspirations.\n\n------\nbogomipz\nI would be curious to know or hear if anyone thinks this trend has been\naltered since 2008. For close to a decade now we have had extremely low or in\nsome case negative(in Europe) interest rates. Thats a lot of cheap financing.\nAs the article points out the data is from 2004.\n\n~~~\nMandieD\nI would be shocked if it hasn't. Here in the greater Nuremberg area, prices\nhave been going up steadily for the past 3 years or so. It took us a year to\nmake the winning offer on a reasonably-priced house. We got a 15 yr mortgage\nat 1.6% from the local Sparkasse (think Savings and Loan), though we did put\ndown a traditional (high) down payment.\n\nSo why did we buy? My (German) husband's fear of inflation finally surpassed\nhis fear of debt to accommodate my Anglo-American need for my own pied a terre\n:) Rents are going up around here, and even though there's the 15% over 3 year\nlimit, that's still a lot over the long term.\n\nIt was nice not to feel like we _had_ to buy a house, though. That gave us\ntime to save up, to know what we really wanted in a house and to be really\ncertain that we wanted to stay in this region.\n\n------\nandroidfox\nI think in small cities people still buy houses. When they cannot afford the\nprice they rent. Or is there really some strong reports that this happens in\nGermany only\n\n~~~\nchrisper\nYes, I agree with you. Reading the comments here seems weird to me, because\nwhere I grew up owning a house is pretty much normal. I grew up in Southern\nGermany where there are a billion small towns. So most people are owning for\nsure and not renting. This may not be true in large cities, like Munich or\nBerlin.\n\n------\ntiatia\nSure. Housing prices in metropolitan areas are sky high, thanks to the asset\nprice inflation of the ECB. Hey, even a house in a tiny village easily sets\nyou 300k Euro back. The secret of the German export\"wunder\" is extremely low\nwages.\n\n\"Most Germans don’t buy their homes, they rent.\"\n\nYes. Because they can't fucking afford a house. Riddle solved. Move on.\n\n------\nmerb\n> more than 93% of German respondents tell pollsters they’re satisfied\n\nYou only trust the statistic you created yourself. That is not a true\nstatement.\n\n------\nbogomipz\nI realize that Berlin is nothing like the rest of Germany but I noticed that\nthe rental housing stock there seems to be pretty tight. There's a fair amount\nof construction going on but it looked like a premium housing stock that was\ngoing up. I assumed these were probably for sale but maybe they are high end\nrentals?\n\n------\nadrianratnapala\nCan somone explain what the article means by:\n\n> Germany also loosened regulation of rental caps sooner than many other\n> countries,\n\nDoes that mean the amount of rent control was deregulated? I thought the rent\ncontrol here in Germany was pretty strict -- at least in the sense that the\nlandlord can't increase the rent during an existing tenancy.\n\n~~~\nfuzzy2\nRent can be increased, of course, but only within limits. Limits that the\ntenant must enforce “manually” by going to court.\n\n~~~\nk__\nI know people who live in a flat for about 20 years now and they don't pay\nthat much more than 20 years ago.\n\nSo it seems to work fine\n\n------\nvarjag\nSo who then owns the property to rent out for most of the Germans?\n\n------\npyb\nWho owns most of the homes then ? Institutional investors ?\n\n~~~\nadrianratnapala\nThe home ownership percentage is still 43%, so not that low. Landlords seem to\nbe the usual mix of older, upper-middle proffessionals that you see in other\ncountries. It's just a bit more concentrated.\n\nAlso there are many houses which have two or three appartments. The owner will\nlive in one appartment, and either have a different generation of their family\nin the other ones, or else rent it for money.\n\n~~~\nygra\nIn my home city (Rostock) a large portion of flats are owned by a single,\nlarge-ish company. A stark difference to now (Tübingen) where most flats are\nowned by individuals. Personally it's much easier to handle contractual stuff\n(which renting always entails) with a company instead of a person. At least\nlandlords here tend to have trouble distinguishing contractual interactions\n(reducing rent resulting from unfixed issues, complaints about things to be\nfixed, etc.) and dealing with them as a person. With the landlord living just\ntwo streets away they're sometimes inclined to take things personal and show\nup on your doorstep.\n\n~~~\npluma\nI live in two places in Germany: a city of one million people and a small town\nof 16,000.\n\nIn the city the apartment I live in as well as most buildings nearby are owned\nby a stock company that owns 42,000 apartments and is mostly (88%) owned by\nthe city.\n\nIn the town the apartment is part of a building owned by an elderly couple\nliving a few blocks away.\n\nCompared with the company, dealing with the private landlord is a hassle. He's\nnot very mobile, so every interaction basically takes place in his living\nroom. He's also of course not doing this full-time, so he's not always up to\ndate on all legal aspects or all of the necessary paperwork.\n\nIt's nice to see private individuals owning land and houses in principle, but\nfrom a pragmatic point of view the company is far easier to deal with. Their\nscale allows them to have offices with actual business hours and problems can\nbe handled as routine whereas with an individual every little thing is of\ncourse special.\n\nBecause the company is mostly owned by the city, they also invest in long-term\nprojects and community building -- which a private individual naturally can't\ndo as easily.\n\nSo far I haven't had any problems with either of the two, but I'm fairly\ncertain that having an actual conflict with the private couple would be a far\ngreater issue than taking the company to court -- not in the least because in\na small town everybody would hear about it and because they're private\nindividuals it would be seen as personal.\n\n------\nwineisfine\nIt seems to me a huge problem when they retire?\n\n~~~\npluma\nIf you run out of money, the state pays for your housing. If you saved money\nlike a good citizen, you're paying out of your own pocket.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nCrash-Only Thinking - zdw\nhttp://www.ribbonfarm.com/2014/10/29/crash-only-thinking/\n\n======\noretoz\nI have been reading Ribbonfarm for sometime now and I really like how Venkat\nanalyses things. But to me, the problem starts after I finish reading those\narticles as I really don't know what to do with that knowledge.\n\nSo I have started to summarise what he says which incidentally is the exact\nopposite of how he likes to write i.e. write long pieces with almost every\nconceivable point covered.\n\nAnd to me, the TLDR version of most things he says on his blog is this:\n\n\\- Life is messy so don't look for smooth contours. Instead, indulge yourself\ninto the messiness.\n\nThis is quite similar to what I felt when I (partially) read Antifragility by\nTaleb. I am sure there are many nuances but there was one TLDR version of that\nbook that kept popping up in my head and it was this: \\- \"What doesn't kill\nyou makes you stronger.\" So the best strategy is not to avoid death but to\nmake sure you get yourself into situations where death is a real possibility.\n\n------\nEdwardCoffin\nThis idea of applying crash-only principles to life and business reminds me a\nlot of how Hubertus Bigend [1], a character in William Gibson's [2] late\nperiod trilogy [3]. This was especially apparent in the third book, Zero\nHistory [4].\n\n[1]\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubertus_Bigend](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubertus_Bigend)\n\n[2]\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gibson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gibson)\n\n[3]\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gibson#Late_period_nove...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gibson#Late_period_novels)\n\n[4]\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_History](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_History)\n\nEdit: formatting\n\n------\nkukla\nHere is a summary of the crash-only software paper at muratbuffalo blog. It is\na really neat concept.\n\n[http://muratbuffalo.blogspot.com/2011/01/crash-only-\nsoftware...](http://muratbuffalo.blogspot.com/2011/01/crash-only-software-\nhotos03.html)\n\n------\nfideloper\nWhat?\n\nDid Venkatesh write this by crashing into the keyboard?\n\nIt feels like the author is breathlessly moving on from point to point like a\nstream of cociousness.\n\n~~~\njeffdavis\n+1\n\nThe point went between software, business, life, and biological systems with\nno segue at all.\n\nAnd it doesn't ring true for me. If you just collapse on the ground, you can\nrecover and pull yourself up, and heal your wounds. But it's much more\nadvisable to lie down gently on a soft surface.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: What's one change you'd make to up conversions on our startup's website? - jimmygatz\n\nHi,<p>I know this is my first post, so apologies if it seems I’m exploiting the HN community. I’ve been lurking for a while and it’s quickly become my favourite forum. I really enjoy the discussions here and I’ve learned a lot from them (I have 7 pages of notes taken from HN threads on everything from cold calling to resources for learning Python). I haven’t contributed because I don’t feel like I have the knowledge to add anything of value to the discussions. In any case If this thread is inappropriate please delete it and I apologize in advance for the inconvenience.<p>Now, for my question. I&#x27;m a University student in the UK, and with two friends I started a business called KitchPack selling packs of kitchenware and bedding to University students – delivering directly to their accommodation before they arrive. The idea is to save the hassle of having to lug everything from the other side of the country&#x2F;world or the time and expense of buying it all upon arrival.<p>We launched last year at our University and sold out in 2 days. Since then, we’ve partnered with 32 Universities&#x2F;Landlords across the UK. Each of our partners has their own affiliate website (e.g. www.kitchpack.co.uk&#x2F;standrews) which they market to their students through contractually agreed upon channels (i.e. social media, welcome packs etc.) in exchange for a commission on each sale. In addition we also have a global website for people who aren’t with any of our partners to order.<p>As broke, non-technical students we’ve had to bootstrap the website on a £200 budget teaching ourselves HTML&#x2F;CSS&#x2F;PHP&#x2F;JS to make it happen (we’re hooked on programming and have started learning Python). We’re proud of the result but we’re aware that it could be much better, and we’d really appreciate some brutal feedback from the knowledgeable folks on HN on what you’d change to make our website convert better.<p>Here’s a link to the global website:<p>www.kitchpack.co.uk<p>Thanks in advance for your time,<p>Jose\n======\nGustomaximus\nFirstly, this website is 90% there. My 10-odd year experience says you can\ntweak a bit more conversion but it's going to be minimal and I would spend\ntime on distribution & marketing. Otherwise from my look-over;\n\nFirst thing I noticed is no Google Analytics. Are you running some web\nanalytics? If not this should be your first (and easy) update so you can\nmonitor what is happening on-site.\n\nSecond I'd look to simplifying messaging. For example - you say 'Cosy bedding\npacks for students'. Why have 'for students'? There are lots of copy points\nlike this that can be stripped and focused. Have a read through and see what\nyou can remove.\n\nStore/FAQ/Contact US - you can probably get rid of the headers saying what the\npage is. It just pushes content down with little benefit.\n\nI tried the order process (York St John University) and it got stuck at 'order\nwith paypal'. Should this be working? I tested from Australia so that may have\nan effect.\n\nAnd take anything I said here with a grain of salt. A/B test changes. Opinion\nis never fact.\n\n------\njoncalhoun\nI doubt there is a single thing that will drastically increase conversions,\nbut here are a couple things I would try:\n\n1\\. Retargetting with Perfect Audience[0]. The idea is that not everyone will\nbuy from you when they first visit your site, but by showing them some ads\nafter they do you increase the chances that they come back and buy something.\nThese people are especially useful to target because they have shown interest\nin your product.\n\n2\\. A/B Testing with Optimizely[1] or a PHP equivalent such as [2]. If you\nwant to update your site to increase conversions, A/B testing is probably the\nbest way to do it. Basically you just want to propose new changes, then test\nthem alongside your current site to see which ones perform better, then go\nwith that one. This one is tricky though, because without enough traffic to\nyour site a/b testing is a lot less reliable.\n\n[0] [http://www.perfectaudience.com/](http://www.perfectaudience.com/) [1]\n[https://www.optimizely.com/](https://www.optimizely.com/) [2]\n[http://phpabtest.com/](http://phpabtest.com/) \\- I haven't ever used this so\nyou may want to do some research yourself.\n\n~~~\njimmygatz\nThanks a lot for the response, I really appreciate it. PerfectAudience looks\ngreat, I've installed it and am reading about it now.\n\nAs for AB testing are there any good resources you can recommend to learn\nabout it? We have no idea where to start with regards to what to test\ninitially. I'm assuming \"conversion funnel analysis\" tools like Mixpanel\nshould also guide our decision. Can you recommend any good resources to read\nabout that also?\n\nSorry for all the questions and thanks again for your quick response.\n\n------\nsoneca\nI think you should focus on changes that will provide bigger gains. From\njoncalhoun comment I heavily endorse the retargeting sugestion, but I don't\nthink you should worry so much about AB test for now. AB test depends on some\nheavy and constant traffic and a more predictable knowledge of your audience\nbehavior. I think you are too early on it to gain a lot from AB testing.\n\nAnother sugestion is assortment and marketing. I think you already have very\ngood channels and niche, but you might exepriment a little more.\n\nPlease, read all this presentation:\n[http://www.heavybit.com/library/video/2013-07-16-michael-\ndea...](http://www.heavybit.com/library/video/2013-07-16-michael-dearing)\n\nFor example, i would suggest you try the market for your product for\nimternational students. Exchange might need the exact same product, but you\nwill have to validate it and validate the channels for it. This is an example\nof assortment, but you should really see the video above and develop your own\nideas about to find new markets and scale a little more.\n\nAnd from what I could see you are doing great. Very well done validation,\ndistribution and website. I predict a lot of success for you.\n\n~~~\njimmygatz\nCheers for your comment, I'll take a look at the presentation now and get back\nto you - looks interesting.\n\nThanks for the kind words too, we really appreciate it.\n\n------\ngriffinheart\nFix the mobile version its incredibly broken. It seems when you scroll to the\ntestimonials some js kicks in and reloads the web page.\n\nOn a side note, great to see more Portuguese entrepreneurs :) if you wanna\nexpand to Japan give me a shout. While not being a student this is something i\nwould've used after i rented my empty apartment here.\n\n~~~\njimmygatz\nCheers for the heads-up, we'll fix that today.\n\nAre you Portuguese yourself? We're definitely looking to expand\ninternationally next year. Would be cool to get in touch.\n\n~~~\ngriffinheart\nYes i am, check my email on my user profile.\n\n------\ntimhargis\nBest article I've read on this that's free.\n\n[http://conversionxl.com/13Ways-\nConversionXL.pdf](http://conversionxl.com/13Ways-ConversionXL.pdf)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWill it happen one day: you open HN in the morning then... - victormustar\nhttps://www.evernote.com/shard/s299/sh/a979e6e0-c79d-4123-af7e-09878a4728f4/a976d5f5204b42865784b0f607ef75c4\n======\nvictormustar\nI'm sure I'm not the only one waiting for it :)\n\n~~~\njulien_c\n+1\n\nPS: Hey victor :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nNobel Peace Prize Winner, Aung San Suu Kyi at Barcamp Yangon 2012 - jfxberns\nhttps://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150599276797567.406584.189050577566&type=1\nSome photos of Aung San Suu Kyi giving the opening speech at Barcamp Yangon 2012.  That's all.\n======\njfxberns\nTwo years ago in January 2010, Yangon had their first Barcamp. People were\nafraid to talk politics. Most of the Internet was firewalled. Aung San Suu Kyi\nwas under house arrest.\n\nTwo years later, Myanmar is awakening and filled with hope for the future.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nA polite rant on mobile UX - toportyan\nhttp://blog.hipwerk.com/a-polite-rant-on-mobile-ux/\n\n======\ndr4g0n\n> The so-called “ow zone” is a zone that is hard to reach with your thumb,\n> like corners of the screen.\n\nThe image that goes along with this point demonstrates the areas that are hard\nto reach for right-handed users, ignoring that ~10% of people are left-handed\nand have trouble reaching the opposite corners. Your design shouldn't assume\nthat two particular corners are bad and the other two are fine, _all_ four\ncorners should be used for uncommon options only.\n\n~~~\novulator\nI’m right handed, but I use my phone with my left hand. Most of the time\nbecause I need my dominant hand to do something more complex. I don’t know if\n“handiness” really determines the hand in which you hold your phone.\n\n------\nemehrkay\n\"Android is Android\"\n\nI don't like the fact that Google's apps, all of them, feel foreign on iOS and\nOSX. Chrome has its own PDF renderer, settings pane, maximize behavior (before\nYosemite), other little things. The iOS apps feel like the Android ones.\n\nGoogle seems to be creating its own little OS inside of every other OS and the\nbaseline is Chrome (OS). Wasn't there an effort, or talk about, to have Chrome\ndo its own thing in Windows 8? This is why Material Design is important to\nGoogle. It targets the lowest common dominator, web browsers, and seems like\nit runs the same on a powerful computer or low-spec'd phone. While Material\nlooks good, I feel that they may have held back a little because of browser\nlimitations (you cannot do overlay blurring like iOS, for example).\n\nAnyway, a lot of people love the common feel of apps across platforms. People\nseem to really like that about SublimeText and Chrome. I personally don't. I\nthought it was in poor taste when Apple made Safari and iTunes behave as if it\nwere on OS X when running on Windows and I think Apple even had its on OS\nX-style update windows for the windows apps.\n\nIt's a fine line. As a developer Id rather code once and ship than to figure\nout all of the little idiosyncrasies for every platform. As a certain type of\nuser I want apps to act like the other apps on my platform of choice, most\nusers probably don't care or notice though.\n\n~~~\nnetcan\nI don't care much about native feel. When the things I like in a platform\naren't preserved (cmd-comma for preferences), I get annoyed. When the things I\ndislike (OSX maximize) aren't preserved, I like it.\n\nOverall, I think a little convention breaking is good. First, code once is a\ngenuine advantage. It means faster releases across more platforms and more\nbenefit to users. Second, it generates a little internal competition. If more\napps break OSX maximize and users like it, maybe Apple will change it.\n\nIn the best cases, the freedom to invent the wheel yields gradually improving\nwheels.\n\n~~~\nDanBC\n> In the best cases, the freedom to invent the wheel yields gradually\n> improving wheels.\n\nExcept on mobile we have a bunch of reinvented wheels of varying non-round\nshapes and they all suck, leaving the user to guess what weird combinations of\ntouching, tapping, swiping, double fingered tapping, etc will perform the\ndesired action for this particular app.\n\n------\nlucaspiller\n> Network data access costs a lot of money in some countries\n\nVery much this. I live in a country which has country wide LTE coverage in\npopulated areas. While the network is fast, data is very expensive. Here 1GB\nof data in a bundle is around 35 USD, where as back home I can get 25GB for\nthe same.\n\nI have mobile data turned off for most apps because of this. Everytime I open\none (even if it works perfect offline) iOS pops up \"Mobile data is turned off\nfor XXX\".\n\n~~~\ntoportyan\nThanks. In the past I downloaded some large files and I had to pay heavy money\nfor them, so, as a developer, I will keep this in mind for a long time :)\n\n------\npodgib\nI couldn't agree more with point one on the 'ow zone.' I really can't\nunderstand why since ICS, google insists on putting so many important UI\nelements at the top of the screen, even as screens are getting bigger and\nbigger.\n\n~~~\ntoportyan\nThat's right. I have a few more thoughts on reasonable screen sizes, maybe\nI'll write another blog post on that topic as well.\n\n------\nAmbadassor\n> Depending on your target audience, strive for accessibility, create layouts\n> that can be used while e.g. driving, try to make your application adapt to\n> the environment (for example mind the time of the day)\n\nSpotify (at least the iOS version) does this both wrong and right.\n\nWhen you browse for music, the app offers playlists based on the time of day.\nThis is great, as the time of day has a lot of influence on the mood you'll\nwant your music to convey.\n\nOn the other hand, player view got one thing wrong. In this view, you can\nswipe down anywhere to exit the player view - as the player is \"minimized\"\nwhen you're browsing for music. However, swiping down anywhere really means\n_anywhere_ \\- even when you're trying to skip the current song, and your\nfinger happens to move down a little (maybe because you're driving), it\nminimizes the player rather than skipping the song. The minimized player is a\nsmaller touch target than the playback icons, which makes returning to the\nplayer view and ultimately skipping the song extra-hard.\n\n~~~\ntoportyan\nThanks for the example. One of the motivations behind this article was to draw\nattention to the handedness of the mobile user and to the fact that the mobile\nuser's attention is usually divided, the mobile user is usually 'multitasking'\nwhile using a smartphone. Under such circumstances, the user could easily miss\na button that is not placed in the best location.\n\n------\nCheckHook\nSpotify has a massive UX flaw.\n\nTo access the options for a track there is a button on the right hand side,\nthis is also where the scroll menu appears. I often find myself half way up\nthe playlist when I wanted to queue a song.\n\n~~~\nuntog\nOn Android? That's where I experience this same infuriating problem.\n\n------\nonion2k\nAt what screen size will the \"ow zone\" problem become moot because it's\nimpossible to use a phone with one hand? Are we already there with phones like\nthe Galaxy Note 2 and iPhone 6+?\n\n~~~\nsp332\nIf you double-tap the iPhone 6 home button, it moves the content of the screen\ndown so you can reach it with your thumb.\n\n~~~\nDanBC\nThat doesn't sound particularly discoverable. That sounds like a power-user\nkeyboard shortcut for what should be simple functionality.\n\n~~~\nsp332\nMost of the touchscreen functions are not discoverable. Pinch-to-zoom, long-\npress, swiping with multiple fingers, etc. It's very easy to do though, not\nwhat I would call a power-user thing. Remember there is only one physical\nbutton on the front of the device, and this is one of the things that it does.\n\n~~~\nDanBC\nYes, I misuse \"power user\" to mean \"someone who reads the fine manual\" or\n\"someone who does a websearch to learn about nice features\".\n\n~~~\nsp332\nAt least for some features like pinch-to-zoom they included very clear\nexamples in the massive ad campaigns. I don't remember seeing this feature in\nan ad but it wouldn't surprise me. At least it's on this page\n[https://www.apple.com/iphone-6/design/](https://www.apple.com/iphone-6/design/)\n\n------\nRyanMcGreal\nSidenote: at the top is a \"tl;dr\" link to a summary of key points at the\nbottom. The link is a named anchor #toolongdidntread. When you click it, the\npage scrolls down to the bottom but the location doesn't change to the anchor.\nThat means you can't hit \"back\" to get back to the top of the page.\n\nIt's just a small thing, but I find the cumulative weight of little touches\nthat break basic browser functionality for marginal aesthetic reasons really\nstart to grate on me.\n\n~~~\ntoportyan\nThanks for the observation. I'll fix this UX issue :)\n\n~~~\nRyanMcGreal\nTrue to your word. Nicely done. Thank you!\n\n------\nSomeone1234\nI haven't held a phone with one hand since 2011. I do mean that literally has\nI've owned a 5.1-5.2\" phone since then. Therefore don't use my thumb to\ninteract with it at all.\n\nThe whole \"The 'ow' zone\" section assumes small phones, small hands, and right\nhanded users.\n\n~~~\ncauterized\nJust because you don't doesn't mean that nobody does. Ever tried to use a\nphone two-handed while holding onto a subway pole? Or walking home with\ngroceries? Or holding your kid's hand?\n\n~~~\nSomeone1234\n> Just because you don't doesn't mean that nobody does.\n\nThe article claims though that everyone does which is what I take issue with.\n\n~~~\ncauterized\n> The reason behind this term is that in many cases Mobile Users hold their\n> device with one hand, and perform actions using their thumbs.\n\nMany, not all. It's enough of a problem for enough people that developers\nshould pay attention to it.\n\n------\nwffurr\nThe standard android and iOS navigation controls are directly within the \"ow\nzone\". Application \"up\" in the top left, system \"back\" in the bottom left. App\nswitcher in the bottom right. The \"go/search\" button on the keyboard, bottom\nright.\n\n------\ndetaro\nArticle is fine, but:\n\nOne of the worst examples for the \"above the fold\" image: a) it is pixelated\nlike crazy and to big to comfortably read its contents, b) the headline is\nreally hard to read and find, because it is white text on a background of\nwhite text on black...\n\n~~~\ntoportyan\nThanks for pointing that out. I will change it to something that fits better.\n\n------\nAmbadassor\nThe part about Android actually applies to all mobile operating systems - they\nwould all rather you'd use their native UX language than invent your own.\n\n~~~\ntoportyan\nThat is correct, the user is used to a platform's behavior, and, in my opinion\nrespecting the native UX language will keep that specific platform's user\nhappy.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nA good problem to have - escapegoat\n\nI have a web app hosted on google appengine.  I built it for folks who suffer from chronic disease (including myself).  Anyway the app has grown to about 1100 users who visit every day and now  appengine wants a couple of bucks every few days to keep the lights on.  Right now the app has no advertisements and is free.  I would like to keep the app free with ads or charge a nominal subscription -- say a buck a year.  I think that certain companies who cater to my disease might want to advertise on it....\nI am not sure how to proceed in the best way.( I got in to engineering not marketing/business after college ) Any suggestions on a good way to monetize this thing?\n======\nthiagofm\nPut on some(only some) google adsense. They pay really high for any disease\nkeyword.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nPigeon Maps – Maps in React with no external dependencies - mariusandra\nhttps://mariusandra.github.io/pigeon-maps/\n======\nramshanker\nThat was like Running maps locally. My first guess was it must be serving from\nsome super local cdn cache. So tried looking for the data serving domain. It\nfeels even more awesome after looking at latency number.\n\nThis is loading all data from maps.wikimedia.org.\n\nTracing route to maps.wikimedia.org [103.102.166.240] over a maximum of 30\nhops:\n\n    \n    \n      1    <1 ms     3 ms     2 ms  192.168.1.1\n      2     7 ms     6 ms     6 ms  abts-north-static-076.220.160.122.airtelbroadband.in [122.160.220.76]\n      3     8 ms     5 ms     9 ms  125.17.2.173\n      4     7 ms    10 ms     6 ms  182.79.181.72\n      5    51 ms    51 ms    65 ms  182.79.149.237\n      6    47 ms    50 ms    47 ms  182.79.198.2\n      7    73 ms    73 ms    72 ms  182.79.224.181\n      8    73 ms    73 ms    72 ms  14907.sgw.equinix.com [27.111.228.186]\n      9    79 ms    79 ms    93 ms  upload-lb.eqsin.wikimedia.org [103.102.166.240] \n    \n    \n\nNow Google Maps seems to be serving all data from root domain\nwww.google.co.in. So here we go.\n\nTracing route to www.google.co.in [172.217.167.35] over a maximum of 30 hops:\n\n    \n    \n      1    <1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  192.168.1.1\n      2     8 ms     5 ms     6 ms  abts-north-static-076.220.160.122.airtelbroadband.in [122.160.220.76]\n      3     6 ms     6 ms     5 ms  125.18.20.57\n      4    10 ms     7 ms     6 ms  72.14.205.93\n      5    42 ms    44 ms    42 ms  108.170.251.113\n      6     8 ms     7 ms    14 ms  72.14.234.117\n      7     8 ms     7 ms     7 ms  del03s16-in-f3.1e100.net [172.217.167.35]\n    \n    \n\nSo even after getting additional latency penalty of ~60ms, it still feels\nsnappier! Imaging it could be even more faster with local CDN nodes. 60ms = ~3\nFrames on 60Hz Monitor refresh rate.\n\n~~~\njakecopp\nEspecially with a local image cache!\n\n------\nneurotrace\nI just want to express how snappy this feels. It really does feel so much\nfaster than other solutions. Good work!\n\n~~~\npetepete\nIt's actually faster than running OpenMapTiles locally on my old development\nmachine was! Excellent work.\n\n~~~\nSahAssar\nThis is using prerendered and cdn-cached PNG files. openmaptiles usually uses\npbf vector tiles, which needs to be rendered in js.\n\nIt is to be expected that this is quicker on any halfway decent internet\nconnection.\n\n------\narayh\nPersonally, I've been really annoyed with the slow, unresponsive Google Maps\non my phone when my reception gets a little bad. I'd definitely like to try\ncomparing this against Google Maps with the same poor connection (packet\nloss). The 25kb compared to 200kb for Google Maps makes a huge difference!\nActual rendering speed seems a lot faster as well, which is another huge plus\non my dated smartphone.\n\n~~~\nfreehunter\nI'm not a web purist who looks for the most minimal libraries and works\novertime to minimize my JS and HTML and CSS, but there is certainly something\nto be said about the old mobile web vs the new mobile web. I remember in\n2006/2007 streaming YouTube videos on an EVDO mobile connection. Meanwhile\nthese days unless my phone says LTE, Facebook won't even load my news feed.\n\nGoogle Maps seems to be the worst, even on my recent Macbook Pro and 60mbps\nInternet, scrolling feels like I'm pushing heavy furniture across an\nunfinished concrete floor. I can almost feel it scratching and scraping and\nresisting every attempt to pan left or right.\n\nIn the era of \"mobile first\" and PWAs and all that, how is it that we require\na rock solid Internet connection and a super fast processor with gobs of RAM\njust to get a shitty experience on the web? And if either one of those drops\nin the slightest, you're locked out solid.\n\n~~~\nburtmacklin\namen. the real world is being pretty stubborn about flakey and slow internet,\ndespite what those living in the SV microcosm experience...\n\n------\nrussx2\nWhat are the cost implications for using this (in terms of the backend maps\nproviders)? I looked at MapBox's pricing, for example. Does that still apply\nwhen using this? Presumably so but I find the distinctions a bit confusing in\nthe JS maps world.\n\n------\nthrowaway2016a\nThis looks like really great work.\n\nCompletely unrelated and irrelevant observation though... I found the use of\nbuttons to mimic checkboxes feels a bit odd to me.\n\nAlso, Github repo link for those who want to see the source or star it, since\nthere is no link on the demo right now:\n[https://github.com/mariusandra/pigeon-\nmaps](https://github.com/mariusandra/pigeon-maps)\n\n~~~\nmariusandra\nThanks! I added a link to the github page on the demo.\n\nAnd for the checkbox buttons... oh well :D\n\n~~~\nlytedev\nI thought that was a rather clever lightweight toggle button for a proof-of-\nconcept!\n\n------\nben-schaaf\nA lot of people seem to be saying this is incredibly fast, but for me it loads\nonly about as fast as android Google maps and the pinch-zoom/pan are\nincredibly choppy with massive input lag.\n\n~~~\nacdha\nYeah, on iOS it’s noticeably slower than {Google,Apple,OSM} and significantly\nchoppier than LeafletJS even without the buggy gesture support.\n\n~~~\nmariusandra\nUnfortunately I have no access to an iDevice for the remainder of the week as\nI'm traveling for work. If anyone can help debug this and perhaps even submit\nPRs, it would be greatly appreciated!\n\n~~~\nben-schaaf\nFor me this was happening on a mid-range android phone using Firefox. It's\nfine in chrome.\n\n~~~\nrapnie\nSame here. Android/FF. But still a bit snappier than Google Maps.\n\n------\nex3ndr\nHow is it even possible to be that fast? What's the secret sauce?\n\n------\nbobwaycott\nIsn’t React an external dependency with a host of dependencies of its own\nneeded to build? Or does this mean it only depends on React and nothing else?\n\n------\ndsego\nKudos, like leaflet for react! Does it support vector tiles?\n\n~~~\nmariusandra\nUnfortunately not. Currently vector tiles are outside my personal scope for\nthe project, but I of course welcome PRs.\n\n~~~\nsteve19\nDoes it support drawing poly lines?\n\n------\npmlamotte\nHow did I miss this a week ago? Looks great!\n\nI recently whipped up a quick hobby project where I'm displaying a map on an\nold kindle by running wkhtmltoimage on a server and displaying the png. It's\ngot a giant delay in responding with a lot of it due to Mapbox initialization\ntime.\n\n------\npolskibus\nDoes anyone know if it is ok to deploy tiles used by this library inside\nintranet, in sites without internet access? If so, what is the recommended way\nof doing it?\n\n~~~\ngorbypark\nTiles are generally just static PNG images. I serve a bunch using nginx and\nalso on CloudFlare CDN. It's as easy as making the folder containing the tiles\navailable on a webserver. I use QGIS/gdal to generate the tiles.\n\n------\ndawnerd\nIt was super smooth at first but really slowed down after moving the map, to\nthe point where I had to force close the tab.\n\n------\ndetaro\nVery quick, but the demo isn't showing attribution for at least some of the\nmap tiles correctly.\n\n~~~\nmariusandra\nHi, I added attribution to the Mapbox maps. Please reply if any of the others\nare wrong as well.\n\n~~~\ndetaro\nStamen requires attribution and license information mentioned, I believe\nWikimedia requires attribution with a link to details.\n\n~~~\nmariusandra\nDemo updated, thanks!\n\n------\npspeter3\nIs there a description about how you built this?\n\n~~~\nmariusandra\nWell, there's the github commit history, that sort of answers the question,\nno? :D\n\nOtherwise no, there is no write up of the process. I might do one some day,\nthanks for the idea.\n\n~~~\ndjsumdog\nYou should totally do a blog post! You could also volunteer to present on it\nat your local JS or React meetup (or the closest city that has one). Maybe\npost a video of your talk?\n\n------\ngammateam\nnice, this is one of those things you clone immediately\n\nspeaking of which, why do people debate about whether forks on github are\npersistent even when the author removes their copy, when you can always clone\neither way, since that keeps a copy on your system and you still have the code\n\n------\niamleppert\nThere’s not much point to use react for something like this. If you know the\nmap canvas size and tile size of your tiles, you simply need to initialize\nthat many images in your container. That only ever changes when the map canvas\nsize changes or the tile size changes. Pans and zooms of the map only change\nthe src of the images at that point.\n\n~~~\njonknee\nReact is already used for tons of apps, some of those apps need to display\nmaps and it makes perfect sense to use something in your existing framework.\n\n~~~\nmariusandra\nExactly! This project is for apps that already use React and need to add maps.\n\nAlternatively, you can try preact [1] or inferno [2] and for a few KB more you\nhave something that is still smaller than Google Maps or Leaflet.\n\nOf course if you need more advanced features and geometric calculations the\nsize can go up considerably. Leaflet and Google Maps provide that out of the\nbox. Pigeon-maps doesn't.\n\n[1] [https://preactjs.com/](https://preactjs.com/) [2]\n[https://infernojs.org/](https://infernojs.org/)\n\n~~~\niamleppert\nLeaflet out of the box implements vector tiles, different map projections, has\na full layer API, full support for mobile, etc. so it's not a direct 1:1\ncomparison with your project which is implementing a basic mercator raster\ntile layer.\n\nYou can also strip Leaflet down to just the raster tile layer stuff and as it\ndoesn't need react or preact or inferno it will be lighter weight than your\nsolution, and still uses the fundamental underlying display mechanism of image\ntags.\n\n~~~\nmariusandra\nIf you need support for all that leaflet provides, go for leaflet. If the\nfeature set of pigeon-maps is enough for your needs and you already use react,\nfeel free to go for it instead.\n\nI have never claimed it to match the features of Leaflet _while_ being\nlighter. It's lighter exactly because it doesn't. Offloading a lot of DOM work\nto React makes it even lighter.\n\nEdit: to correct one point, pigeon-maps does support mobile.\n\n~~~\niamleppert\n>> Offloading a lot of DOM work to React makes it even lighter.\n\nWhat exactly does this mean? The only thing that ever changes, as I mentioned,\nis the src of the image tags in these kinds of tiled maps. How do you get\nbetter performance for updating the src attributes in a grid of images of\nconstant size (256x256 tiles or whatever) other than img.src = ''? That's\nliterally the only DOM manipulation being done, there is no \"magic\".\n\nAlso you can reduce a lot of your mouse event handling stuff down to a single\n\"reactive\" (haha) callback by doing something like this:\n[https://github.com/mikolalysenko/mouse-\nevent](https://github.com/mikolalysenko/mouse-event). Instead of binding a\nbunch of different handlers, the browser's mouse events API is still bizarre\nafter all these years. Should just be a single event that gets sent the state\nof control input.\n\n~~~\njonknee\n> What exactly does this mean? The only thing that ever changes, as I\n> mentioned, is the src of the image tags in these kinds of tiled maps.\n\nWhat about markers?\n\n------\nkrona\nI noticed this also supports Inferno. To the author: what's your preference?\n\n~~~\nmariusandra\nI only use React. The Inferno support was added 2 years ago when an issue\nrequested it, as I was evaluating Inferno support myself at the time. Since\nthen I haven't done anything with it.\n\n------\nmezod\nfirst impression was epic but there's something wobbly with the interaction or\nis it just me? sometimes scrolling goes to hell and same for panning\n\n~~~\nmariusandra\nCould you describe what you experienced in more details? Scrolling with a\nmouse? Trackpad? Touch? Could you quantify \"goes to hell\"? The more details\nthe better of course. Thanks! :)\n\n------\njgalentine007\nSeems really lightweight and fast!\n\n------\nbushiko\nWow, this is fast!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nKeynote on memristors by R. Stanley Williams of HP Labs - modeless\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKGhvKyjgLY\n======\nmodeless\nThis 45-minute keynote presentation has pretty much everything you could\npossibliy want to know about memristors. If you want the 6-minute condensed\nversion instead, try <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvA5r4LtVnc>\n\nIt seems as if memristors have the potential to be very important to the\nfuture of computing, but the one question I haven't seen answered yet is\nendurance. The operation of memristors involves atoms physically migrating\nback and forth. If memristors wear out like flash memory after a few thousand\nswitchings then the talk of them replacing DRAM is just hot air, and building\nartificial synapses seems unlikely to work either.\n\n~~~\nehsanul\nIf I'm not misunderstanding, in the full 45-minute keynote, he mentions\nendurance a bunch of times. Apparently, on the newer memristor devices they\ncame up with, the lifetimes of the devices are on a \"geological\" timescale,\nand could \"theoretically\" last forever. Of course, theory != practice. But\nthere was quite a bit of time spent talking about this issue.\n\nEdit: Also, I would highly recommend those with the time to watch the\n45-minute keynote, and not just the condensed explanation. It really is worth\nit.\n\n~~~\nTuna-Fish\nWhen he was talking about geological timescales, what he meant was how long a\nmemristor retains it's state after being switched, while I'm more interested\nin how many times can he safely switch the device.\n\n~~~\nAron\nHe indicates at 0:33.30 that the endurance is slightly better than flash.\n\n~~~\nmodeless\nYes, and what I'm wondering is if that's a fundamental limitation or if it's\nsomething that can be easily improved. The endurance of DRAM is essentially\ninfinite and I have a feeling that's going to be tough to reach with\nmemristors.\n\n~~~\nAron\nWilliams discusses briefly here (at 50 min) his hope that endurance would be\nsignificantly improved by moving from the lab equipment they use for\nfabrication to a more commercial quality system.\n[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHJvp5MybkM&feature=chann...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHJvp5MybkM&feature=channel)\n\nSounds a bit wishful in thinking, but I have no experience in the matter.\n\nThe center panelist then seems to indicate that Intel is more interested in\nthe phase change version because they want 'a rock that can switch 10^6\ntimes..'.\n\nSo I think you might be right that this is a significant issue (particularly\ninto DRAM or computation).\n\n------\nehsanul\nThis is astounding! To think that circuit component as fundamental as\nresistors/capacitors/inductors has been hidden from us till now..\n\nAnd the applications are equally mind-boggling. If he's right about what is\npotentially possible using memristors then we're in for an amazing ride this\ndecade. I for one hope we can soon say our farewells to HDD's, DRAM and SSD's.\n\n~~~\nableal\nEr ... Josephson junctions, bubble memory, etc. ? Sometimes things do not pan\nout. Either because there's no significant advantage to the new tech, or\nbecause of manufacturing costs/problems, or ...\n\nHaving hope is good, but keep in mind that the guys coming up with the new\nstuff point the upsides, of course. Then the hard-nosed spoilsports figure out\nthe problems.\n\nPersonally, I've been keeping an eye on this one for over a year - we'll\nprobably figure out if it's a 'yea' or a 'nay' in another year. But I'm not\nseeing as much third-party excitement as expectable.\n\n~~~\nskorgu\nI'm wary as well. Think of how many revolutionary ram technologies have been\njust around the corner for ages. Mram, Feram, the \"Upcoming\" section of\nWikipedia's memory pages lists more. Some of them were discovered in the 70s\nand are now 3-5 years from mass market! Just like they were three years ago!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHash_salt= - newsignup\nhttps://github.com/search?p=2&q=%22hash_salt%3D%22&ref=searchresults&type=Code&utf8=%E2%9C%93\n======\nemocin\nanother \"hey i just learned that github has a search feature\" post. what is\ngoing on today?\n\n~~~\nnewsignup\nI don't know what the trigger was but I was thinking of posting something on\nthis line couple of hours back before this whole thing started. Weird\ncoincidence but I can show you history of my github searches for 1-2 hours\nback.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nDNS hosting suggestion: Amazon Route53 vs Zerigo - ellie42\n\nI would like to know pros and cons of each. That said I have used Zerigo (not free, DNS Essentials 1 plan) for a year and it acted pretty well.<p>PS: I'm not interested in other DNS hosting solutions except Route53, Zerigo and Rackspace DNS.\n======\nellie42\nbump\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN - I need a greybeard mentor - factorialboy\n\nI've done plenty of web and enterprise app development. Occasional stints with mobile and desktop apps as well.<p>I am getting bored.<p>I need a greybeard to help me keeping my programming career rewarding.\n======\nseiji\nAs a start, read and understand [http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Linux-\nKernel-Third-Editi...](http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Linux-Kernel-Third-\nEdition/dp/0596005652) (that's a very technical and in-depth book) and\n[http://www.amazon.com/Linux-Kernel-Development-3rd-\nEdition/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Linux-Kernel-Development-3rd-\nEdition/dp/0672329468/) (that's a more gentle overview book) then dive in with\n[http://www.amazon.com/UNIX-Filesystems-Evolution-Design-\nImpl...](http://www.amazon.com/UNIX-Filesystems-Evolution-Design-\nImplementation/dp/0471164836) and write a very simple file system.\n\nLearn C as necessary.\n\nThe FreeBSD kernel book is worth a look too: [http://www.amazon.com/Design-\nImplementation-FreeBSD-Operatin...](http://www.amazon.com/Design-\nImplementation-FreeBSD-Operating-System/dp/0201702452)\n\n------\nzephjc\nWere you looking for something more in terms of systems programming?\n\n~~~\nfactorialboy\nPerhaps. I'm not sure, I'm open to it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nRussian Video Game Industry is booming and you should know why - xsolla\nhttp://blog.xsolla.com/2014/02/13/russian-video-game-industry-2013-overview/\n\n======\nxsolla\nFind out all about the Russian Video Game Industry in our feature post.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMyspace lets you hijack any account just by knowing the person’s birthday - happy-go-lucky\nhttps://leigh-annegalloway.com/myspace/\n======\napostacy\nMyspace was an XSS playground. You could embed javascript into anyone's\nprofile, by leaving a flash applet (or for that matter a java applet) in a\ncomment, and having it do an openurl to a javascript: url, which would execute\nin the context of the user viewing it.\n\nI had fun replacing people's profile pictures after the page loaded, or\nstopping all of that annoying background music.\n\nIt was also possible to capture someone's document.cookie, as late as 2008.\n\nGood times...\n\n~~~\nmaaaats\nA Norwegian social site back in the days called Nettby (\"net-city\") also\nallowed some html, but did it by just removing unallowed tags. I realised I\ncould write <scr<script>ipt>, and after it did the removal of the first script\ntag I still had one.\n\nThis trick still works on surprisingly many sites. Allowing custom html is\n_hard_ , so think long before rolling your own.\n\n~~~\ngboudrias\nHonestly if it's comments, just use Markdown or something. No reason for your\nusers to have access to HTML.\n\n~~~\njoepie91_\nAnd then this happens: [https://github.com/ChALkeR/notes/blob/master/Improper-\nmarkup...](https://github.com/ChALkeR/notes/blob/master/Improper-markup-\nsanitization.md)\n\n~~~\nmaxvu\nI think it's funny that JIRA knows how to prioritize the best of all the list.\n\n~~~\njoepie91_\nI'm hoping that was sarcasm...?\n\n------\ncm2187\nI took the habit of feeding fake random information to all websites asking too\nnoisey questions and keeping track of them in case I need them for recovery. A\nwebsite doesn't need my exact date of birth, at most it may need my\napproximate age. It doesn't need my real name either, even if it wants to\ndeliver something to me, the address should be all it takes. It doesn't need\nmy real email address, all it needs is some email alias that I can delete.\nGood practice for privacy, spam management and security since it is harder to\nguess this information and to reuse it when leaked.\n\n~~~\nx32\nSo much this. I've never saw the need to do give information out like that. As\nfar as every website is concerned my DOB is 01/01/1990.\n\n~~~\nSiemer\nI always use 1/1/1911 to shave off a few more of those precious microseconds\n\n~~~\nsverhagen\nIf so, did you then just compromise yourself?\n\n------\nEiriksmal\nWho owns MySpace now and why does the author's screenshots have varying typos?\nThe \"email found\" prompt changes from \"...Please remeber [sic] update your\nemail address after you log in\" to \"Please remember to update your email\naddress after you log in.\"\n\nAlso, the real MySpace.com's account recovery for \"I don't have access to my\nemail\" is now taking you to a myspace.desk.com ticketing frontend and a screen\nthat looks nothing like the author's post.\n\nSuspicious.\n\n~~~\nmrmondo\nIt’s another Murdoch ‘asset’ I believe.\n\n~~~\nrmason\nRupert Murdoch bought it for $580 million in 2005 and then sold it to Justin\nTimberlake and Specific Media Group a few years later for $35 million.\nAccording to their Wikipedia page Timberlake & Co sold it in 2016 to Time Inc.\n\n[http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/time-inc-myspace-\nviant-...](http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/time-inc-myspace-\nviant-1201703860/)\n\n~~~\nviraptor\nThe last trade is a shame. I saw the demo of MySpace around 2014 and found it\nalmost exciting. It was at the time when they were trying to make it all about\nmedia consumption with transparent handover between devices and TVs /\ncomputers. The tech looked quite fun. Looks like they couldn't get enough\ninterest to pull it off :-(\n\nFor some reason they were trying to get geeks at local meetups excited about\nit. I got a can of MySpace-branded energy drink which was one of the weirdest\ngifts...\n\n------\nthinkfurther\nI remember a time where you could embed js and css in the forums. I never want\nfarther than seeing if I could steal my own login cookie (being new to js I\nwas sure I just _had_ to have overlooked something) and change posts of a user\nwithout that user seeing that change haha (test user also being myself, in\nsome god forsaken part of the forum nobody used), then backed off that stuff\nfor fear of being banned and made little \"utilities\" like expanding text\nboxes, and pretty stylesheets of course. There was just nooooobody paying\nattention, I can absolutely vouch for that.\n\n~~~\nchrischen\nI remember being able to get higher rates as a web developer/designer in high\nschool by being able to make special myspace pages that covered up the UI for\nbusinesses.\n\n~~~\ndawnerd\nSome of my first gigs/job were setting up new myspace layouts for indie bands.\nCompany I worked for had a custom player built and everything. I remember\nfinding some awesome hacks to make stuff work when myspace rolled out their\nown player and tried to force it on everyone.\n\n------\nfranciscop\nIn [https://help.myspace.com/hc/en-\nus/articles/201989404-Forgot-...](https://help.myspace.com/hc/en-\nus/articles/201989404-Forgot-Email-) they even spell \"myspace.com\" wrong...\n\n~~~\nsushid\nWhere? If you're referring to the capitalization, I think it's always been\n\"Myspace.\"\n\n~~~\nfranciscop\nIt might have been removed/changed, but there was a wrong link.\n\n------\nrosariotech\nDoes MySpace still exists?\n\n~~~\nJoshGlazebrook\nDon't expect there to be anything there from back when you actually used it.\nThey deleted all of your wall and private messages years ago.\n\n~~~\n13of40\nI have mine in a zip file somewhere... They had an option to download it for a\nwhile.\n\n~~~\ndjsumdog\nYea I think I have mine somewhere as well. I really hate they removed all that\nhistorical data though. They could have probably banked on a trickle of logins\nsimply from people looking for the nostalgia.\n\n------\nindigochill\nI attempted recovering my ancient Myspace account just now claiming I'd lost\nthe email. I was directed to a Zendesk form that looked different from the one\nshown in the screenshots. So looks like they might have changed the process\nnow?\n\n------\nsundvor\nThat's brilliant. :)\n\nApologies if snarky, but perhaps $15 on this would be well advised: (Humble\nBundle deal also on FP today)\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14791255](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14791255)\n\nJust bought the bundle; looking forward to learning more about security\nmyself. I would like to think I know the obvious things, but will probably\nfind big gaps if I get through all of it..\n\n------\nwodenokoto\nAre birthdays part of the 360 million user account breach?\n\n------\nantihero\nAlso the amount of poor/broken English on that form and the dialogs makes me\nsuspect outsourcing.\n\n------\nwwwhatcrack\nOh no, I hope my Digg and Hotmail accounts are still safe.\n\n------\nshimon_e\nNo less secure than most people's bank accounts.\n\n------\ncollyw\nMyspace still exists?\n\n------\nWhiteOwlLion\nWhat's MySpace?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGuide to Photo Metadata Fields - rolph\nhttps://www.photometadata.org/META-Resources-Field-Guide-to-Metadata\n======\nrolph\nOK facebook is ?injecting? metadata into images uploaded by users, so reuse\nreshare or original can be distinguished, and the chain of transmission can be\nlogged, as always to serve you better, but how vulnerable is this? It is\npossible to forge IPTC for whatever end. either blank it or alter its chain of\norigin.\n\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/ccndcq/facebook_is...](https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/ccndcq/facebook_is_embedding_tracking_data_inside_the/)\n\n[https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31120222/iptc-\nmetadata-a...](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31120222/iptc-metadata-\nautomatically-added-to-uploaded-images-on-facebook)\n\nThis is a good read about the finer points of the subject.\n\n[https://www.hackerfactor.com/blog/index.php?/archives/726-Fa...](https://www.hackerfactor.com/blog/index.php?/archives/726-Facebook-\nTracking.html)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAmazon Employees Pledge to Walk Out as Part of Global Climate Strike - jbegley\nhttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1joUIg5O5pRS_R2OqXoJzbuCXcQ0trL9ki8XO2aO0prg/\n======\nmichannne\nIs this a Silicon Valley thing? People becoming far too attached with what\ntheir company is doing. Even if I had been working there for 5 years, I would\nnever bat an eye at anything my company did in it's own name -- I'm my own\nperson and have my own beliefs, why should I expect a multinational enterprise\nto buckle to my feelings? If at any point I felt like my company was doing\nsomething that went morally against what I believe is right, then I would\nstraight up leave. The thought that I'd get up and go to my manager to\ncomplain at how the executives could do something as atrocious as go against\nmy moral compass sounds impossibly childish. Then, on top of that, virtually\nskipping work so I can complain even further, I'm surprised no one gets fired\non the spot.\n\nI'm not concerned with whether or not this was sanctioned or expected, or if\nthese people will lose their jobs or not, I just can't connect with this idea\nof assimilating my personal views into a corporation's identity.\n\n~~~\nTheSpiceIsLife\nWhat, then, is your comprehensive alternative?\n\nWe probably, at this stage, need to approach this issue with a certainly level\nof moderated-panic, and attempt to address it on al lines across all levels.\n\nIt stands to reason that if the general population can influence corporate\ndecision making that might have a knock-on effect to cause companies to\ninfluence government decision making.\n\nI'd hazard a guess that Jeff Bezos ability to influence government policy far\nexceeds mine by orders of magnitude.\n\n~~~\nmichannne\n>We probably, at this stage, need to approach this issue with a certainly\nlevel of moderated-panic, and attempt to address it on al lines across all\nlevels.\n\nWhat does this mean? I have been hearing the terms \"global warming\" and\n\"crisis\" for almost 20 years now, yet it is almost always followed up with\ntalk -- talk about how others could change their lifestyle choices, talk about\nhow organizations can change how they function, talk about how we can talk\neven more to the right people. Very rarely have I ever seen a plan -- a\nformulated, step-by-step guide on what people or organizations must sacrifice\nin order to bring about a better future, and even less so people who actually\nact on that plan instead of simply reiterating it to anyone within earshot.\n\nI would absolutely not be surprised if this event, which some consider to be\n\"necessary\" on any level, does nothing to impact Amazon to change anything to\nimprove the climate situation -- as far as they can see from my perspective,\nthey see 900+ employees, some of whom are probably part-time and not getting\npaid anyways, with no actual plan of how global warming should be solved with\nrespect to Amazon, but want to feel good for a time, feel as though they are\nmaking some level of actionable change on the world, until their time is over\nand they go back to work while they patiently wait for\n\n>one of the most innovative companies[0]\n\nto come up with a plan themselves. I've seen it time and time again, it solves\nnothing, achieves nothing. And I'd bet it all on black that this earns them\nnothing but contempt from their supervisors/managers.\n\n[0]:\n[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1joUIg5O5pRS_R2OqXoJzbuCX...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1joUIg5O5pRS_R2OqXoJzbuCXcQ0trL9ki8XO2aO0prg/edit)\n\n~~~\nTheSpiceIsLife\nI believe you have neglected to response to the _most important_ part of my\ncomment:\n\n _What, then, is your comprehensive alternative?_\n\n~~~\nmichannne\nYou ask for an alternative as if there is a solution already being proposed,\nand yet, I see none.\n\n~~~\nTheSpiceIsLife\nI can definitely understand that perspective.\n\nPerhaps my earlier comments were too harsh, given I definitely feel defeated\nwith regards to climate change. My current approach is to simply _not care_ ,\nas the added stress of caring didn't help and didn't do any favours to my\ngeneral well being.\n\nIt's all looking like a lot of _too little too late_. But, fortunately, at my\nage, I'll probably miss the worse of it.\n\nWe probably need to simultaneously drastically limit carbon emissions and draw\ndown atmospheric carbon / remove CO2 from the oceans. And I can't see how\nthat's going to happen prior to things getting a lot worse.\n\nHaving said that, we did act collectively to implement the Montreal\nProtocol[1], so there's a bit of a precedent for acting at this scale... but\nthere were fairly straightforward alternatives to ozone depleting gas.\n\n1\\.\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Protocol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Protocol)\n\n~~~\nmichannne\nNo offense taken, I've been downvoted a lot and I can understand people have\nvery passionate beliefs on issues of this scale, I'm also passionate in my\nbelief that talk, protests and walkouts, while they have an impact on\nawareness and of course the right people being aware of the issue may get us\nsomewhere, does not get us anywhere in today's age.\n\nEveryone knows of global warming, I don't want to see more talks, more\nprotests and more blame, I want to see plans being enacted, laws being\nenforced, the world actually improving, but that's not what I see in this\nAmazon spectacle.\n\n~~~\nTheSpiceIsLife\nYeah, I reckon that's probably what everyone wants to see by this stage:\nactual changes. So I see these walk-outs and protests[1] as a sort of _throw\nya hands in the air cos won 't somebody fckn do something already_ sort of\naction.\n\n(For what it's worth, I didn't down vote any of your comments. I typically up\nvote anything I engage in, and usually only down vote comments that are\nshallow or abusive).\n\n1\\. [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-15/students-walk-out-\nof-...](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-15/students-walk-out-of-class-to-\nprotest-climate-change/10901978)\n\n------\nRcouF1uZ4gsC\n>The employees are also asking for zero contracts with fossil fuel companies\nthat use Amazon’s AI technology to help them accelerate oil and gas\nextraction,\n\nThis type of stuff will be the bane of large companies migrating to cloud. A\nlot of large companies are involved in defense initiatives, law enforcement,\nfossil fuel extraction, mineral extraction etc. If they have to worry about\nwhat latest moral crusade will try to get you kicked off the cloud platform,\nthey will be a lot more reticent about migrating to cloud.\n\nIn addition, if you were a fossil fuel or car company that makes gas burning\nvehicles, how confident are you that one of those people that is walking out\nto try to get you kicked off the platform, won't try to be a \"hero\" and use\ntheir insider access to try to sabotage your operations or leak confidential\ndata? I mean if the cause is worthy enough, all sorts of activities that would\nbe illegal are considered justified. I mean if a person thinks they are\nliterally saving the planet from destruction, sabotaging an oil company's\ncloud infrastructure seems like something that they would at least seriously\nconsider doing.\n\nI think Amazon and the other cloud companies need to come down hard and state\nunequivocally that cloud services are not fodder for political crusades, and\nthey will allow all companies that are conducting legal business activities,\nto be able to use their cloud.\n\n~~~\nn_time\n> If they have to worry about what latest moral crusade will try to get you\n> kicked off the cloud platform, they will be a lot more reticent about\n> migrating to cloud.\n\nEquating climate change activism with all other forms of social justice is a\ncommon trend I see. They seem so different to me–the difference between\nempirical reality and ideology. While the outcomes of climate change will be\nideological–save climate refugees or preserve competitive advantage and\nwealth–the immediate concern of attempting to mitigate the impacts of climate\nchange are relatively rational.\n\n> if you were a fossil fuel or car company that makes gas burning vehicles\n\nHave you tried putting on your role-playing hats and empathising with some of\nthe points being made on the environmentalist side?\n\n~~~\nkd5bjo\nThe problem with most climate change activism is that it’s hyper-targeted\nagainst the offender du jour and all of the others are largely ignored. It’s a\nglobal-scale problem that demands global-scale solutions; the vigilantism\nisn’t doing anything other than providing a straw man for the opposition to\nknock down.\n\n~~~\naaronbrethorst\nThen by all means you should show Sierra, 350, Sunrise, ER, and all of the\nother folks out there how to do it better.\n\nI mean this sincerely: I’ve been deeply involved in political and civic\nactivism for the past couple years, and have learned a ton, especially from\nother people—but I also find it deeply frustrating when seemingly well\nintentioned folks offer unspecific feedback on how the significant investments\nof time, money, and energy I and others around me could be spent activisting\nbetter.\n\n~~~\nkd5bjo\nThe goal is policy change, and that requires convincing people to vote for\nthings. The path that makes that happen is education, policy advocacy, and\nultimately gaining political office.\n\nDirect action, however, tends to put more emphasis on the activists themselves\nas the problem instead of whatever their platform is. This is only useful when\nit demonstrates a sufficient commitment by a large number of people, which can\ndemonstrate wide popular support— rallies, peaceful protests, etc. that\ninvolve enough people to potentially change the outcome of an election.\n\nMy problem is really with the publicity stunts done by a small number of\npeople. From outside, it looks like an egotistical act and, if not dismissed\nentirely, hurts the reputation of everyone doing useful work in the same\nfield. Antagonizing people is a poor way to convince them of anything.\n\nAs for why I don’t go into politics myself, it isn’t my calling and I don’t\nhave the temperament to be successful at it. I believe I’ll do more concrete\ngood in the world by being kind and helpful to those I meet in this journey we\ncall life than by trying to force my concerns to the forefront of attention.\n\n------\nGhostVII\n> The employees are also asking for zero contracts with fossil fuel companies\n> that use Amazon’s AI technology to help them accelerate oil and gas\n> extraction\n\nTo me, it seems like activists spend too much time focusing on the producers\nof things like fossil fuels, and not enough time on the consumers.\n\nI have nothing against companies which are producing fossil fuels, in general,\nsince they are usually producing a product that has at least some genuine\nvalue in many cases. If everyone stopped drilling for oil immediately, it\nwould certainly have incredibly negative consequences. I do have a problem\nwith people who are excessively using these types of products, since they are\ncreating waste that damages the environment - if everyone stopped driving\ntheir car everywhere and instead biked when they were able to, it would\ncertainly have a very positive effect.\n\n------\nprivateSFacct\nBe interesting to see if Amazon supports the employee strikes as much as\ngoogle - I think with google a lot of the strikes and walkouts were supported\nby management and/or no consequence. So it was a \"strike\" but everyone got\npaid still.\n\nIs Amazon this progressive as well? Ie, will it pay everyone if an employee\nwas needed but unavailable?\n\n~~~\nkevin_b_er\nAmazon seems far far more cutthroat than Google. They'll get PIP'd and thrown\ninto the pressure cooker as punishment until they quit.\n\n~~~\ncheeze\nAntecdotally - the folks who have organized internal things like this at\nAmazon generally continue to work there. The folks who did the same at google\nseem to have gotten fired.\n\n------\nhirundo\nIf I were their manager I'd want to handle it like any other absence. If an\nemployee has a history of unscheduled ghosting, whether for protesting,\nwatching soap operas or whatever, treat them the same. If it _is_ scheduled or\notherwise arranged with a supervisor, no problem. Politics need not enter into\nit.\n\n~~~\nseanmcdirmid\nThat sort of misses the point of protest via a walk out. You can’t have civil\ndisobedience without the disobedience.\n\n------\ntracker1\nDo these people really think there is no environmental impact to creating\nthese \"zero emission\" vehicles? That the materials aren't destructively being\nmined for the minerals used in the batteries and solar cells? That the engines\nand vehicles aren't themselves shipped multiple times huge distances by cargo\nships using carbon burning engines? That the sunk environmental impact of\nexisting vehicles is worth throwing away? That natural gas shouldn't even be\nconsidered?\n\nI mean, a lot of these \"green new deal\" types of initiatives are short sighted\nat best, and harmful at worst. Wind, solar and nuclear power should all be on\nthe table. Why aren't we talking about desalinization and water pipelines for\nhydrogen fuel?\n\n~~~\nmichannne\n>Why aren't we talking about desalinization and water pipelines for hydrogen\nfuel?\n\nBecause for these types of people, the goal isn't to enact any measurable\nchange on their own. It's to make others feel guilty for not coming up with a\nsolution.\n\n------\natonse\nGood for them. So much focus on \"what we can do\" with the climate crisis puts\nthe onus on individuals, instead of industry.\n\nI like that they go further than just \"use EVs to deliver packages\" – but\ninstead also calling on AWS to not enable or help accelerate Oil and Gas\ncompany extraction. Although I'm sure this one will fall flat, because there's\ntoo much money involved.\n\n~~~\nmc32\n>”...to not enable or help accelerate Oil and Gas company extraction.”\n\nI don’t think that makes any more sense than say “not selling goods and\nservices to individuals who own ICE propulsion cars”. Or won’t sell items\nmanufactured in Chine due to dirty energy and lax enviro controls in\nmanufacturing.\n\n------\ntempsy\nI’m not sure what the research says but is buying something online (+ one day\nshipping) more or less environmentally friendly than going to a store?\n\n~~~\npimmen\nIt depends, where is this hypothetical person living? I live in the middle of\na city, the store close to me serves the thousands of people living in my\nsquare kilometer. Because of scale, the truck that transports new goods to the\nstore has a low carbon emission per customer.\n\nI have friends who live way out of town. If they have a store it serves maybe\ntwenty people. Instead of dividing the truck’s emissions by thousands of\npeople you just divide it by twenty.\n\n~~~\nrobryan\nIf someone has to get in their car at all to go to the shops I would say it is\nlikely to be more carbon intensive than a delivery service with high\nutilisation. A shopping center in general would be generating a lot more\nemissions per product than a warehouse.\n\nOn the other side often things bought online come with a lot more packaging. I\nthink Amazon is trying to cut down on this by having suppliers where possible\nuse a box for a product that is durable enough for shipping without having to\nput it in another box.\n\n------\nbody12\nI would love to know the organizers' opinion on whether these various uses of\nAWS \"accelerate oil and gas extraction,\" i.e. whether they would be allowed on\nAWS:\n\n-The engineering of drill bits or other equipment that could be used for oil wells, but also for water or geothermal wells\n\n-A business consulting firm running payroll, marketing, or accounting for an oil company\n\n-Personal internet services for offshore oil workers\n\n-Telemetry for drilling or pipeline monitoring equipment\n\n-Geology research by a university that is likely to be used by oil companies\n\n------\nlovemenot\nIt's remarkable to me that in the original article and in all these comments\nso far, there's no mention of energy use by AWS.\n\nAWS is market leader in public cloud, which is probably the fastest growing\nclass of energy consumer. Already overtaking traditional industrial energy\nconsumers such as steel.\n\nAssuming this market trend will continue, what can AWS realistically do to\nmitigate their impact?\n\n~~~\nembedded\nAWS, like google and like Azure and every other cloud provider already does\neverything they can to minimize energy consumption because it is in their\neconomic interest to do so.\n\nIn fact I would think the best thing industry can do to reduce energy\nconsumption is to move their data to a cloud provider. It takes far less\nenergy to cool one large room with servers from a dozen companies than it does\nto cool a dozen server rooms with private on-prem servers.\n\n~~~\nlovemenot\nThis all seems correct, but insufficiently proactive, at least not enough to\nsatisfy activists.\n\nFor instance, though it may not currently be economic, how about pre-cooling\nusing renewable energy. Locating data centers next to hydro / geothermal\nsources? Larger UPS? Load balancing across DCs with available renewables?\nOther mitigations to get ahead of the issue?\n\n------\nperfunctory\nThey should also join the Extinction Rebellion on October 7\n\n[https://rebellion.global/events/2019/07/30/rebel-without-\nbor...](https://rebellion.global/events/2019/07/30/rebel-without-borders/)\n\n------\nsmpetrey\nHowever unlikely it is, it would be awesome to see the Amazon warehouse\nworkers join in solidarity.\n\n------\nefitz\nIn other news, Amazon announces over 900 new job openings.\n\n------\npinewurst\n941/647,500 (the 2018 Amazon employee total)\n\n~~~\nmc32\nProbably because if they reversed the numbers in the article, it wouldn’t\nsell. “646,000 out of 647,500 Amazon employees will not pledge to join\nprotest!”\n\n------\nlacampbell\nWalk out into the car park to drive home?\n\n------\naxiom92\nThis (unfortunately paywalled) article from the Economist raises a lot of\npoints discussed in this thread:\n[https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/08/22/what-\ncompanies-...](https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/08/22/what-companies-\nare-for)\n\n------\nPfhreak\nThere's something really interesting going on with the flagging in this post.\nThere are several on topic, polite discussions that have been flagged to\ndeath. (Along with some replies which, rightly, have been flagged to death.)\n\nMaybe it's just folks expressing political views with the flag button, but\nit's interesting to see it used so dramatically here.\n\nEdit: Either someone did something or a bunch of vouching happened, because a\nlot of comments have come back.\n\n~~~\nmattsfrey\nThat's unfortunately what HN comments has become, a popularity contest where\ninstead of replying to views you disagree with using counter arguments, you\njust downvote them and if their statement particularly offends your\nsensibilities, flag them.\n\n~~~\nbadsectoracula\nHonestly, downvoting - especially as implemented here in HN where it fades out\nthings - was a mistake. I do not understand why people still insist on it and\nask people to not use it as a \"disagree\" button (and flagging as a \"super\ndisagree\" button) when many years of evidence show that despite any effort, it\nwill be used as such.\n\nI can understand (even if disagree) with Reddit-the-company wanting it to stay\nthere because it increases \"engagement\" with the platform (regardless of the\nengagement's quality) and thus gets more ad revenue, but why anyone else (and\nany site that doesn't monetize such \"engagement\") would insist on downvoting\nis beyond me (and i especially do not understand people acting as if the topic\nitself is some sort of taboo to not even be discussed and treat its existence\nas unquestionable dogma).\n\n~~~\nmises\nThe better option would be to get rid of political BS entirely. I am\nincredibly sick of hearing each side scream into the wind while the other\nscreams back. This was originally mostly a tech forum; it's grown to a size\nwhere it needs to be _only_ a tech forum. People can go to reddit if they want\nto scream about politics.\n\n~~~\nPfhreak\nThat's a position that's ok if and only if you are ok with the status quo. It\nis, in itself, a political stance.\n\nNow, screaming into the wind is also far from ideal, but I think the answer\nshouldn't be \"Ignore politics because I'm fine.\"\n\nThere are a ton of places where tech intersects with politics, whether that's\nin climate science, gender, mental health, medicine, art/culture, public\ntransit (and other public shared resources), copyright, privacy, safety, etc.\nStrictly restricting the discussion to tech doesn't erase those intersections\nbetween tech and political domains.\n\n~~~\nmises\nExcept all the issues you just raised are primarily things about which one\nside cares. The cares of the other are ignored or, in the rare case they are\nvisible, flagged down.\n\n~~~\nPfhreak\nWhat? These aren't boolean propositions. Each of them has a pretty complex set\nof connections with tech, across a variety of subdomains and interests....\n\n~~~\nmises\nMaybe a better way to describe it is as a venn diagram. If there are circles\nwith \"lefty\" things and \"righty\" things, you took (as HN tends to do) the\nwhole lefty circle. That includes things in the center, but not those on the\nright.\n\n~~~\nPfhreak\nAh yes, the \"lefty\" concerns of privacy, safety, medicine, public land use,\nand intellectual property and how they intersect with tech. I somehow always\nmanage to forget that the \"righty\" folk are disinterested in discussion on how\nthose topics might intersect with tech.\n\nAgain, these issues aren't binary, they aren't left v. right, there's much\nmore to understand than just two fixed points. I didn't even dive into any\nspecific issues. Public resources could mean parks or it could mean the Bureau\nof Land Management, eminent domain or subsidized bus fare. Safety and privacy\ncould be a discussion of the TSA, or gun rights, or immigration, or facial\nrecognition.\n\nThose are obviously concerns that impact a wide group of people, across many\ndifferent political ideologies.\n\nYou are seeing something that isn't there.\n\n~~~\nmises\nYou cherry-picked stuff from the center of the diagram. Stuff like climate\n\"science\" and \"gender\" gets posted a good bit; these are things of which the\nleft has made issues. My point is that the whole left circle - issues\nimportant to the left and important to both left and right - are posted and\ndiscussed. Issues important only to the right are flagged down. Right-wing\nperspectives on political posts are flagged down. To take an example, very\noccasionally, I see a mention of guns that includes a right-wing perspective.\nEven if it's politely stated, flagged down. Example, something like: \"The\narguments about taking guns lowering mass shooting-rates does mot affect the\nright because priorities are different. The right is willing to tolerate some\ndeath as tragic but a fact of life to maintain rights, and mass shooting death\nrates are vastly below other public health issues any way.\"\n\nSuch a comment would be flagged down. A comment taking the opposing point-of-\nview, even much less politely, would be supported. Comments with vulgarity and\nrudeness are also tolerated only from certain perspectives. This disparity is\nparticularly galling because low-ranked comments become greyed to the point of\nun-readability, and flagged ones don't appear at all by default. I couldn't\ncare less about the internet points, but HN ought to leave un-popular opinions\nvisible.\n\n------\nPostosuchus\nI assume, the whole narrative is above such insignificant details as direct\nand indirect costs of producing \"green energy?\"\n\n~~~\nbcheung\nNot sure what you mean but Amazon is doing a lot of research into things like\ndrone deliveries and robotic vehicles which can be powered from renewable\nenergy.\n\nFuel costs money. Ultimately delivery efficiency is better for business and\nfor the environment.\n\nThey also are encouraging all deliveries to happen on a given day of the week\nso they can be batched up and logistically planned better.\n\nSeems like things are moving in the right direction.\n\n------\noh_sigh\nAmazon's entire retail business model is built upon oil(specifically drivers\nmoving individual packages to consumer's homes).\n\n------\nrwoodley\nGreat! The more people strike, the more we'll get the kind of change we need.\n\n------\npanic\nIt's worth emphasizing that these Amazon employees aren't acting on their own\n-- they're taking part in a global climate strike:\n[https://globalclimatestrike.net](https://globalclimatestrike.net). Even if\neach person or company acting individually can't change anything, a large\nenough movement like this may make change possible.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBanker confessed to running a Ponzi scheme, but was he hiding a bigger crime? - zeveb\nhttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-12-18/he-stole-100-million-from-his-clients-now-he-s-living-in-luxury-on-the-c-te-d-azur\n======\nitsmemattchung\nI must admit that, before reading this article, I made an quick (and wrong)\nassumption about the clients who collectively lost $100M. I assumed they were\nnaive folks who blindly handed over the money. But what really boggles my mind\nis the amount of money they were dealing with:\n\n\\- Canadian engineers who had recently sold a water-treatment company to\nGeneral Electric Co. for $656 million.\n\n\\- A few months later, Reissfelder, a laid-back German coder living near San\nFrancisco, sold his travel startup to Expedia for $85 million\n\nI doubt I could ever really trust anyone enough for me to hand over that\namount of money and I doubt I could express the level of anger when all that\nmoney vanishes into thin air.\n\n~~~\nPantaloonFlames\nAccording to the text of the article, the Benedeks lost $20MM and Reissfelder\nlost $12MM.\n\nThe sums you quote ($656MM and $85MM) are what they sold their companies for,\nrespectively; maybe those numbers are from public records. But, the primary\nsellers didn't necessarily retain all that money. There were other\nstakeholders, legal people to pay, and so on.\n\nAlso it says the Benedeks bought another German company after they sold their\nown company. So I guess that cost them a few million, too.\n\nYour point is still valid - these people handed over substantial sums, between\n$10MM and $20MM each to a custom investment house.\n\nWhat amazes me is...where they thought the money was coming from, for the\nhelicopters and private jets.\n\nIf a single client justifies a private jet... well, for a going business, the\nmoney for the jet (whether chartered or owned) is coming out of that single\nclient. $40k is 0.4% of $10MM. That's a pretty high cost for one meeting.\n\nIf the company treats all of its clients this way - each client has to pay\nthat 0.4%. If the company treats only one its clients this way, or only a few\nof its clients this way, then it's a shady company. Either way, it smells, and\nit seems obvious from a distance. It's true that the article is the source of\nthe $40k number for the jet, but fees for private jets (chartered or not) are\nnot hard to estimate. Just read the economist, you can see the $$ in the ads.\n\nI don't have $10MM to invest, but the unsustainable overhead seems obvious to\nme. It would be reckless to ignore it.\n\nIf the investment is $1B... a private jet seems required. $40k against that is\ntiny. I would EXPECT a private jet if I were investing a billion dollars. But\nfor $10MM?\n\n~~~\nathenot\nThe generalization of that is when you see high customer acquisition costs\nrelative to what you think a vendor might earn from you, ask yourself why.\n\n------\ncrescentfresh\nAdditional details, victims: [http://swiss-east-affairs.ch/blog/a-strange-\nbank-robbery](http://swiss-east-affairs.ch/blog/a-strange-bank-robbery)\n\n> Gaglio’s former partner, Jean-François de Clermont-Tonnerre, is back in\n> business as an asset manager, together with his wife. They have put together\n> a network of firms extending from Malta via Luxembourg to Geneva.\n\n------\nkeithpeter\nDr Galli seems like an interesting character. One wonders how you get started\nin that line of work. That database of his strikes me as being of interest to\nquite a few people.\n\nDr Galli has a Web presence..\n\n[http://www.cii2.org/index.php?option=com_community&view=prof...](http://www.cii2.org/index.php?option=com_community&view=profile&userid=20429845)\n\n[http://swiss-east-affairs.ch/](http://swiss-east-affairs.ch/)\n\n~~~\nemmelaich\nAnd he has more articles on Gaglio's victims, e.g. [http://swiss-east-\naffairs.ch/blog/a-strange-bank-robbery](http://swiss-east-\naffairs.ch/blog/a-strange-bank-robbery)\n\n------\nringaroundthetx\nThe interesting thing about this is that legitimate money managers act like\nthis too. These are completely binary propositions: either they make you money\nor they don't. No slew of licenses and regulatory ID number checks will help\nthis.\n\n> He arranged for tours of properties in Geneva and Monaco and once insisted\n> Diana travel on what he said was his company’s private jet. (Hottinger had\n> no plane; it was chartered especially for the occasion, for about $40,000.)\n> “He got us by being relentlessly helpful,” Diana, 59, says. “We’re\n> Francophiles,” adds Andrew, 74. “We both speak French, we love French\n> food—so maybe we were vulnerable. We were impressed.”\n\nHis \"exploitation\" of cross border regulators to evade a harsher conviction\nand restitution isn't really that notable, in my opinion (albeit clever if he\nwas avoiding money laundering charges as the article suggests). Many\nlegitimate funds have to operate with the same flexibility and exemptions for\nother reasons, and ultimately you either create value for your investors or\nyou don't.\n\nThe real deterrent is that people are more concerned about their kneecaps and\nfamilies, especially from any gangsters or politicians they have in the fund.\n\nIf that deterrent is gone then you'll see more of this.\n\n~~~\nwalshemj\ndon't you get banned for life from the finance industry for this sort of scam\n\n~~~\nringaroundthetx\nFirst, the regulatory/court sanction will be in one country, or whichever ones\nbother. In the US for example, these bans are a couple years long.\n\nSecond, thats just investment banks and licences in that country and possibly\nforming your own fund, in that country or with that countrys citizens.\n\nThird, the man was managing other peoples money independently, without working\nfor an investment bank, so it doesnt matter what the broad industry thinks.\n\nFourth, and if you need a license then maybe it matters, but again not in\nevery country.\n\nFifth, if you are perceived as making good returns and your potential\ninvestors arent making good returns, then they want to invest with you.\n\nThe end.\n\n------\nnebgawker\nFor the love of money is the root of all evil.\n\n~~~\nmml\nFrom NIV anyway: \"For the love of money is a root of all _kinds_ of evil.\"\n\nTimothy 6:10. Pet peeve when that word is dropped. Money isn't necessarily\nbehind _everything_.\n\n~~~\nPantaloonFlames\nBut that's the problem in reading an English translation of a 2000-yr old\ntext. Too many handlers have intervened, one must assume the purity of the\noriginal has been compromised.\n\n~~~\nnitrogen\n_...one must assume the purity of the original has been compromised._\n\nOne must also assume the original had any purity to be compromised.\n\n------\ndreamdu5t\n“If there are no consequences, then the world is seriously broken.“\n\nThe world is broken when people make 100’s of millions of dollars and spend it\non villas, expensive art, dining, etc while others work their asses off just\nto scrape by on a meager existence.\n\nBoo fucking hoo they lost millions to a scammer when that doesn’t even near\nbankrupt them. Imagine losing millions and just going on living the same\nlifestyle...\n\n------\nJohnStrange\nPeople loose millions every year without consequences. It's only considered a\ncrime under certain circumstances and if you don't fulfill the general\nexpectations in terms of behavior, dress codes, legal structures, etc. Maybe\nthis guy just made the mistake of using a way of loosing the money that made\nhim personally liable. He used the wrong form of investment and legal\nstructure.\n\nIf he had taken a better lawyer and fund manager, this wouldn't have happened.\n\n~~~\nvaluearb\nIf you tell someone you will invest their money, but your investments lose\nmoney for them, that's not a crime.\n\nIf you tell someone you will invest their money, but you spend it on yourself,\nthat's a crime.\n\nCan you see the difference?\n\n~~~\nRadim\nThe difference is exactly as OP says: better legal structure, lawyers and\naccountants. Achieving the same effect by more convoluted (safer) means.\n\nOr what’s your point?\n\n~~~\nvaluearb\nRight, so you think investing is the same as theft.\n\nThat would make Warren Buffett is the biggest thief of all and has apparently\nstolen $487B from investors. Of course he hasn't spent their money, it's\nactually invested in hundreds of companies and investors can get their money\nback any time they want just by calling their broker.\n\nBut in your mind, it's the same as if he had stolen it. Because of \"lawyers,\naccountants, and stuff\".\n\n~~~\nzafka\nA much simpler case is the investment house my mother used shortly after my\nFather died. While they did not out right steal, they charged very high fees\nand tried to convince her to move her investments around. Now that she\nunderstands what she got into, it will still cost her more than it should to\nwithdraw her money. She trusted them as the salesmen was from her church, and\nthe company had \"lutheran\" in it's name.\n\n~~~\nvaluearb\nCharging excessive fees and poorly serving client needs isn't theft.\n\nSaying the Ponzi scheme guy is no different than a sleazy stock broker is\nmassively trivializing his crimes. Sure, what happened to your parents is\nwrong, but it's far from what he did to his victims.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nOii Instant Messenger - Adywheels\nhttp://www.oii-messenger.com\n\n======\nAdywheels\ntry recording embarrassing messages so there shouted from your friends phones\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLetter to Carmen Ortiz about Aaron Swartz - payne92\nhttp://blog.payne.org/2013/01/30/letter-to-carmen-ortiz-about-aaron-swartz/\n======\nbetterunix\nHm...\n\n\"It is clear Swartz did something wrong and should have been punished\"\n\n\"He didn’t access something he wasn’t supposed to\"\n\n\"Swartz did not destroy or damage data or infrastructure\"\n\nSee, maybe I am just confused about the meanings of words here, but if Aaron\ndid not access anything he was not supposed to access and did not destroy or\ndamage anything, what exactly is it that he did wrong? Who gets to define the\nupper bound on how many articles a person is supposed to access, or what\ncounts as an \"appropriate\" or \"acceptable\" method of utilizing a JSTOR\nsubscription?\n\nAaron was the victim here; his suicide was shocking and brought that fact to\nour attention, but if he were alive today he would still be the victim. I\ncalled this a senseless prosecution when I learned about it months before his\ndeath. Aaron did nothing wrong, and he deserved no punishment.\n\n~~~\nrayiner\n> See, maybe I am just confused about the meanings of words here, but if Aaron\n> did not access anything he was not supposed to access and did not destroy or\n> damage anything, what exactly is it that he did wrong?\n\nContinuing to access MIT's network after MIT tried to get him to stop.\n\n> Who gets to define the upper bound on how many articles a person is supposed\n> to access, or what counts as an \"appropriate\" or \"acceptable\" method of\n> utilizing a JSTOR subscription?\n\nSomething called behaving like a reasonable person. The scope of a license is\nimplied by the nature of the license. If JSTOR gives you permission to access\njournal articles for academic purposes, it's outside the scope of the\npermission to download them wholesale with intent to distribute them. Nobody\nneeds it spelled out to them that this is the case--it's obvious from the\nnature of the transaction.\n\nDisclaimer: I'm not justifying the prosecutor's actions. But it's possible to\nsupport what Aaron did and think the prosecutor overreached without degrading\nthe argument to a hyper-technical and willfully blind defense of how he didn't\nactually do anything wrong.\n\n~~~\nbetterunix\n\"Continuing to access MIT's network after MIT tried to get him to stop.\"\n\nI am not really seeing the _moral_ argument there. MIT's network is designed\nto be open; a ban on a MAC address is, on such a network, little more than a\npolite request to not continue your access. Being rude by ignoring polite\nrequests is not morally wrong.\n\nAs for the law, all I can say is that there are an awful lot of criminals in\nthis world if accessing a network that tries to block your computer is a\ncrime. If the law criminalizes a common behavior, then the law itself is what\nis wrong.\n\n\"behaving like a reasonable person\"\n\nHow conservative of you. I hear there are some lovely caves that people used\nto live in, until some unreasonable person had a \"better\" idea (I wonder if\nyou would have made an argument for punishing him -- after all, not living in\ncaves might disrupt the social order).\n\n\"If I let you come apple picking in my orchard, you can't bring in a fruit\ntruck and some day laborers and strip the trees bare.\"\n\nYou are comparing apples to universal Turing machines. Your comparison is\nactually that bad -- you might as well be talking about the superbowl than\nAaron Swartz.\n\nAaron did not strip anyone or anything. He prevented nobody else from using\nJSTOR, nor did he stop anyone from reading the articles he downloaded, nor\nfrom using the network, nor from using the closet where he hid his laptop. _He\ncaused no measurable damage to anyone or anyone's property_ at any point in\nthe JSTOR incident.\n\n\"If JSTOR gives you permission to access journal articles for academic\npurposes...\"\n\n...then I should be free to use those articles for any purpose, because JSTOR\nhas no claim to them or to the knowledge they contain. What gives JSTOR the\n_moral right_ to tell anyone what they are allowed to do with the articles\nJSTOR provides to them? Sure, we have this thing called copyright that emerged\nfrom British attempts to censor books in the age of printing presses (I wonder\nif the Chinese firewall will lead to the creation of a similar law), but\ncopyrights are in no way related to modern senses of morality or justice --\ncopyrights are just a way for the government to promote a particular class of\nbusiness, and that is all they have ever been about in the United States.\n\"Right\" and \"wrong\" are no more relevant to copyright than they are to parking\nin a loading zone.\n\n\"nobody needs it spelled out to them that this is the case.\"\n\nThat is because prior to the attack on Aaron Swartz, nobody thought that\nautomatically downloading scientific articles on a university network would\never warrant the attention of federal prosecutors. Now we know: don't you dare\ndownload articles using any software other than your web browser, and don't\nyou dare do so if you ever suggested that those articles should be shared\nfreely on the Internet, or else you'll face a long and expensive prosecution\nby the US government.\n\n~~~\nrayiner\n> I am not really seeing the moral argument there. MIT's network is designed\n> to be open; a ban on a MAC address is, on such a network, little more than a\n> polite request to not continue your access.\n\nMIT's network is a private network and they have complete authority over who\ngets to access it, in a legal sense and a moral sense. It's their prerogative\nto extend access to anyone except specifically chosen people. In our society,\nwe do not treat \"get off our lawn\" and the equivalent as a \"polite request.\"\nWe treat it as an enforceable demand.\n\n> How conservative of you.\n\nYes. We live in a society of rules and borders and boundaries. We like those\nthings, so much that we often enforce them with guns (and cheer on those who\ndo). It is not your prerogative to flout them as you please, but your burden\nto convince us which of those boundaries are unnecessary so we legislate\naccordingly.\n\n> What gives JSTOR the moral right to tell anyone what they are allowed to do\n> with the articles JSTOR provides to them?\n\nJSTOR at the very least has a moral right to control how he used their private\nservice to download the articles.\n\n> copyrights are in no way related to modern senses of morality or justice\n\nI disagree. I think most people believe that creators are entitled to control\nthe distribution of their work. I think the prevailing mindset is that a\ndigital creation should not be treated differently, for ownership purposes,\nthan a physical creation. Do people download anyway? Sure. But people also\nsneak into movie theaters. That doesn't mean they feel that theater owners\ndon't have a moral right to exclude non-paying viewers.\n\nTo the extent that I think the law is out of step with the modern sense of\njustice is proportionality. People think (and I'd argue rightfully so), that\ndownloading a movie should warrant the kind of slap on the wrist (if anything)\nthat sneaking into the theater to watch that movie would warrant. Not huge\ndollar fines and possible jail time.\n\nSwartz's case really boils down to that: the trespassing charge was dropped,\nwhile the charge for accessing the network was not. He was trespassing, and he\nwas accessing the network illegally, but if one was minor enough to be dropped\nthe other should have been treated similarly.\n\n~~~\nbetterunix\n\"MIT's network is a private network and they have complete authority over who\ngets to access it, in a legal sense and a moral sense\"\n\nThen as I said, there are an awful lot of criminals in our society, because\npeople routinely access private networks without permission or in violation of\nrequests to discontinue their access.\n\n\"In our society, we do not treat \"get off our lawn\" and the equivalent as a\n\"polite request.\" We treat it as an enforceable demand.\"\n\nMaybe so, but it is also technically trespassing to cross railroad tracks\noutside of designated grade-level crossings. In my town, there was a brief\nperiod where the police attempted to enforce that, and it was found to be\nabsurd and counter-productive to do so: people from every level of society\nwalk across the tracks without hesitation, without thinking about the\nmisdemeanor offense they are committing, and often in plain view of the\npolice. In almost all cases, they are causing no damage to anyone, and so the\npolice do not care -- it benefits nobody to mindlessly arrest everyone who\ntechnically violates some law.\n\n\"JSTOR at the very least has a moral right to control how he used their\nprivate service to download the articles.\"\n\nSure, because they own their computers; they are free to restrict access,\ndisconnect from the Internet, or encrypt everything without releasing the\nkeys, and that is fine. They chose not to do so, so why should we care if they\ndo not like the particular program Aaron used, or his particular plans for the\ndocuments he downloaded?\n\n\"I think most people believe that creators are entitled to control the\ndistribution of their work.\"\n\nI doubt that; outside of one person who works for the music industry yet to\nmeet anyone who shows even one millisecond of hesitation when it comes to\nsharing copies of photos, music, movies, written documents, or any other\ncreative work. Most people are perfectly willing to sing \"Happy Birthday to\nYou\" in public, without spending any mental effort on the idea that it is\ncopyrighted or that the copyright holder forbids public performances.\n\nThe only moral issues people have with copyright infringement are when (a)\nartists are \"ripped off\" by it (but that is usually something the copyright\nholders are doing, and is irrelevant to Aaron's case anyway) or (b) when\nsomeone claims credit for work they did not do (equally irrelevant here).\nCopyright as a system has nothing to do with either of these: artists and\ncreative people are routinely \"ripped off\" without any copyright violation\noccurring, and copyright does not require attribution (and creative people are\noften not credited for their work under the copyright system). It has nothing\nto do with morals, it is a legal framework for promoting businesses that were\nimportant to society _in the 18th century_. It is as morally relevant to most\npeople as a bill meant to promote the laying of fiber optic lines to built\nInternet infrastructure.\n\n\"People think (and I'd argue rightfully so), that downloading a movie should\nwarrant the kind of slap on the wrist\"\n\nNo they don't; most people think downloading a movie is fine because they want\nto watch it, and that it is just the fat cats in Hollywood who would care\nabout stopping them. Hollywood has desperately pushed for a moral basis for\ncopyright, but has largely failed: it's too complex and most people cannot be\nbothered.\n\n------\nChuckMcM\nThank you Andy, that was a well reasoned and clear statement of how I and\nothers feel about this case. You clearly put a lot of effort into composing\nthat letter and it reflects it. I can only hope that it finds its way into the\nthought processes of the policy makers over at the Justice department.\n\n------\nkdude63\nEveryone regards Carmen Ortiz as this heartless evil witch, and this post is\nmore or less defending her.\n\nI was expecting more of a response from the community over the course of\nalmost an hour.\n\n~~~\nmpyne\nSee, that's why I don't like these lynch mobs that form. He wasn't \"defending\nher\" as much as empathizing with her role and duties and using grown-up\nlanguage to debate grown-up topics like a bunch of goddamn grown-ups.\n\nIf treating her like an adult instead of calling for her immediate resignation\nis defending her then I'm not sure what to say... how can you have sane\ndebates with ideologues?\n\nFWIW I have quibbles with the letter (e.g. it's entirely within the purview of\nUSSS to investigate \"computer crimes\" due to historical circumstances) but\nthose are just quibbles, minor areas of disagreements where sane people simply\nmight not agree.\n\nI agree that I expect approximately zero to come of his letter, as least as\nfar as concrete action is concerned. _But_ , his letter is exactly the kind of\nthing that is needed to appeal to those who really can make a big difference\nin how computer crimes are treated (as opposed to pitchforks and shrieking).\n\n~~~\nwmil\n> But, his letter is exactly the kind of thing that is needed to appeal to\n> those who really can make a big difference in how computer crimes are\n> treated (as opposed to pitchforks and shrieking).\n\nI actually disagree completely. Ortiz is a US Attorney. Her office is entirely\naware of the legal issues. Trying to calmly inform them is a ridiculous waste\nof time.\n\nFor some reason she decided to launch a hyper agressive prosecution against\nSwartz. I'm guessing she wanted a big public win to help her political career,\nand she figured an introverted nerd was an easy target.\n\nUnder those circumstances pitchforks and shrieking are the only thing that can\nstop this from happening in the future.\n\n~~~\ndoomicon\nIs Andrew Payne naive enough to think he is providing a U.S. Attorney\ninformation that she didn't already have? Providing the Chief of the \"Cyber\nCrimes\" unit information he didn't already have?\n\nThat is why this letter is bunk. Federal Attorney's and Prosecutors are NOT\nnaive to cyber crime, law, punishment, etc. They've been to law school,\nstudied case law, prosecuted cases, worked with law enforcement.\n\nAndrew, stick to investing brother :-)\n\n~~~\nScottBurson\nAs taxpayers, we all have the right to express our opinions about how our tax\nmoney is being spent. That's what this letter is about -- and very well done,\ntoo, I think -- not providing information that Ortiz might have somehow\noverlooked. Yes, it does summarize the facts of the case as Payne sees them,\nbut that's just for context.\n\n------\nOsiris\nIt's refreshing to see someone engage at this level of dicussion, using\nfactual backing of clearly thought-out arguments and concluding with sensible\nrequests.\n\nJust as the author stated, however, I doubt it will have any impact, though I\nwould certainly hope that it does.\n\n~~~\nrhizome\nIn arguing that the overbroadness of the CFAA was something to be treated\ngingerly, I fear that it is more like trying to make a point to a law\nenforcement officer that gun triggers are too easy to pull. \"Yeah, and...?\"\n\n------\nhuherto\nIn case you don't know who Andy Payne is. (like me)\n\n<http://www.payne.org/index.php/Payne.org_Wiki:About>\n\n------\narbuge\n\"I believe that you and Mr. Heymann were doing “what any good prosecutor would\ndo\"\n\nDisagreed. This is not what good prosectors should do. Maybe substituting \"the\naverage US prosecutor\" for \"any good\" would be more accurate. But good\nprosecturs don't play the system by extracting plea bargains and guilty pleas\nunder the threat of horrific penalties at trial.\n\n------\ngesman\nCarmen Ortiz & Co will appreciate these letters only if they'll be printed on\na soft, white, quality paper.\n\n------\nmtp0101\nDisclaimer: I am a dumb college freshman\n\nDoes this guy actually expect his letter to be read by Ortiz? It seems\nridiculous to me that this guy thinks his opinion regarding the case matters\nat all. But now I know who he is and the URL of his website, so perhaps his\nmore subtle goal was achieved.\n\n~~~\nyoungerdryas\nSo you think this guy sent this letter boost his own image? As you will no\ndoubt soon find out, the world is not black and white, but excruciatingly\nmottled grey. Ortiz, while a lovely pincushion, is the symptom not the\nproblem. This was standard procedure. Now I will be at every protest if she\nruns for higher office, not because I think she is Satan, but because it will\noffer an opportunity to bring attention to Aaron's cause which stands on its\nown merit.\n\n------\nfrere\nYour post assumes this person is anything other than a political agent in a\nbroken system. Quaint.\n\n~~~\nfrere\nWow, Carmen must have 500+ HN pts. I, apparently, was wrong in my assumption\nthat she is in fact yet another political climber in a position that is famous\nfor being a jumping off point for higher office. Obviously a democrat\n(appointed by Obama), her example of Aaron will surely win her points with the\nHollywood/DMCA crowd. Please, downvote me again for a view that, obviously,\nmust be sooooo far off the truth.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Five Things Today – a super simple to-do list - iamben\nhttps://fivethings.today\n======\niamben\nHey HN.\n\nBefore you go ‘not another to-do list’; I wrote this for myself much earlier\nin the year, after using the “only set yourself 5 things to do every day” hack\non paper for a few weeks, and it works quite well.\n\nI put it on its own domain shortly after so I could access it when out and\nabout. I had some vague plan to ‘market’ it at some point, but other stuff\ntook priority.\n\nEarly this week I was talking to a friend about this article:\n[https://taylorpearson.me/fast/](https://taylorpearson.me/fast/) \\- basically,\nat 70% you should just launch something. It coincided with a great book I’ve\nbeen reading (‘How to Be an Imperfectionist’). This project seemed to be a\n(/another) prime example of something I start, that gets to 70% and remains\nun-launched. So he said “Why don’t you just launch it?”\n\nThe ‘perfectionist’ in me hates the idea of sending something out now - I’m\nactually kind of nervous doing it. But I know if I don’t, I probably never\nwill. I’m sure you’ll be able to find some bugs and issues, but I’ve been able\nto use it personally relatively successfully. The homepage / landing page\nhasn’t been designed to encourage signup (which would have been on the\nroadmap), and the whole site was a result of ‘build and see’, rather than any\nkind of logical planning. The design needs a bunch of ‘prettying’, but… well,\n70%. And if you find it useful, then great :-)\n\nThe mailing list comment in the join box refers to the fact that I may, at\nsome-point, send a ‘checkout my site I actually got to 100% on’, but I’m not\nadding anyone to anything now. Feel free to test, use, whatever. There’s a\ndelete option on the settings page - it’ll (permanently) delete everything in\nthe database relating to your account (including any email address before I’ve\nadded it to any kind of list).\n\nSo here you go. Go easy. Feedback welcome!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIBM blamed for Australian online census debacle - thedays\nhttp://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/census-debacle-laid-bare-malcolm-turnbull-to-decide-which-heads-will-roll-20161025-gsacqc.html\n======\nrpeden\nThere have been some high profile instances over the past few years of\nconsultants (IBM, Accenture, etc.) delivering awful, broken solutions after\nbeing paid big dollars by governments.\n\nCan anyone who has worked at one of these consultancies (or on the procurement\nside in government) shed light on _why_ this keeps happening?\n\n~~~\nguitarbill\nEspecially when IBM Australia has been accused of \"ethical transgressions\" [0]\nin a report by the State of Queensland. Although in that case, part of the\nissue was the government not going after them for damages\ncompetently/aggressively enough.\n\nI'm thinking big consultancies either have the \"right\" connections or are\nsimply better at talking to bureaucrats who ultimately decide what gets\nfunded?\n\n[0]\n[http://www.healthpayrollinquiry.qld.gov.au/home?a=207203](http://www.healthpayrollinquiry.qld.gov.au/home?a=207203)\n\n~~~\nrpeden\nMaybe the big consultants are the only ones with the resources (and patience)\nto shepherd a proposal through a government RFP process.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\n.htaccess for Word Press - data6057\n\nDo you have any good resources to understand how to best configure .htaccess files for WordPress? Knowing that the .htaccess is highly configurable AND I come from a Microsoft background.\n======\nterrellm\nWhy not leave the defaults until you are directed otherwise? Wordpress and\nsome plugins will either require write access to .htaccess so they can make\nchanges or give you the text to copy-paste yourself.\n\nThings like your URL structure can be changed inside of Wordpress Admin. Many\nseem to recommend avoiding using dates in the URL if you are concerned about\ngood content appearing stale after a few weeks.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: A Vue webapp to build Vue webapps with API data - F117-DK\nhttps://jig.gy\n======\nF117-DK\nQuestions are more than welcome! :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGoogle to ban 'stalkerware' apps that secretly transmit people's location, info - onetimemanytime\nhttps://www.businessinsider.com/google-to-ban-stalkerware-apps-that-secretly-snoop-on-people-2020-9\n======\nmjangle1985\nSo they're going to delete their location transmitting and tracking app Maps?\n\n~~~\nonetimemanytime\nKilling the competition in the name of privacy :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nDeep dive: Cancellation rate in SaaS business models - dmitri1981\nhttp://blog.asmartbear.com/cancellation-rate-in-saas-business-models.html\n\n======\ndpcan\nIf anybody wants years of insight into the SaaS business model, look at\nreseller web hosting.\n\nPeople have been reselling web hosting for more than 10 years now and it is,\nat its core, an SaaS model in a highly competitive space. You have monthly\nrecurring income from customers who subscribe. You have to maintain and\nimprove your service constantly, and support is a big part of the business.\nThere is overhead, there is a lot of work involved, and it's very stressful.\n\nCheck out WebHostingTalk.com and just read about the ups, downs, pit-falls,\nsuccesses, and problems people have been having for a long time and you'll\nlearn a thing or two about what it's like to capture and keep subscribers.\n\nWhen it comes to SaaS, the thing is, people leave, they cancel, and you have\nto let them go. They know what's best for their business, so you can't dwell\non cancellations.\n\nThe only way you survive in this recurring revenue world is if you are\nacquiring faster than you are losing customers. It's pretty basic math.\n\nI used to try SO HARD to keep those customers who were walking away. I felt\nbad about it.\n\nThings change.\n\nToday, if someone is leaving, I help them get where they are going if I can. I\nam not an obstacle. I'm that friendly face you are always welcome to return to\nif you don't find greener pastures.\n\nYou know what? I get A LOT of people back as years go by.\n\n------\nmvkel\nI'd be interested to see the comparison between _enterprise_ SaaS and normal\n$39.95/month SaaS.\n\nThe churn on enterprise SaaS would presumably be incredibly low, because once\na company invests in integration, workflows, training, etc. for a particular\nsystem, it's going to be very hard to switch.\n\n~~~\nsapphirecat\nDon't forget the long-term contracts, where an enterprise signs onto the\nsoftware for five years in exchange for a discount. That's probably the most\ncommon justification for \"Why can't we have better service?\" that I've seen\nIRL.\n\n~~~\nmvkel\nGreat point... our typical deal is a three-year contract.\n\n------\njebleeb\nMy churn history, for what it's worth: <http://i52.tinypic.com/2v3llr7.png>\n\nBootstrapped b2b saas startup with one part time support guy, 2 technical\nfounders and no one else, avg sub $80/month, 75% of revenue in 2011. Most\ncustomers are small business.\n\nMost people seem to churn because they only want to use it for the 1 month\nfree trial period.\n\n~~~\naaronblohowiak\nWhat kind of customer research do you do with people that leave after the\ntrial?\n\nAlso, many companies that I know don't count trials as part of \"customers\" so\nthey don't impact churn (higher churn among people who have paid you in the\npast is a more urgent cause for alarm than increased amount of canceled\ntrials)\n\n------\nparaschopra\nOne issue with the equation [Cancellation rate] = [product utility] + [service\nquality] + [acceptable price] is that it assumes the product continues to be\nrelevant or useful to customer forever. This may not be true for all products.\nPoint in case is A/B testing software. Many small customers decide one day\nthat they need to optimize their landing page. They purchase a subscription\nand do a couple of A/B tests. They are happy with the product but they anyway\nhave to cancel because the tool served its job and they no longer need it.\n\nProduct utility was there, service was good and price was also okay. It is\njust that the product need wasn't continuous.\n\n~~~\ndhimes\nIn cases like that you may still be figuring out the business model. Unless\nyou are selling to companies that maintain lots of websites, that may not\nreally be a subscription service but rather more like a \"rental.\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDreamIt Ventures SeatGeek founder on Mixergy - shedd\nhttp://mixergy.com/russ-dsouza-seatgeek-interview/\n======\naditya\nWow, the mixergy sponsorship message was so long, I killed it at 1:08\n\n~~~\nfamfam\nI'm happy to listen to it. Andrew's work is incredible.\n\n~~~\nAndrewWarner\nThanks for the support famfam. I'll try weaving the promos into the program\nand see how it goes.\n\nI haven't done it before because when someone tells me, \"Then I almost lost my\nbusiness,\" I didn't want to respond, \"Hang on to that thought. I see by the\nclock that it's time to do a commercial.\"\n\nBut I'm game for trying.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nU.S., in Shift, Sees Marriage Act as Violation of Gay Rights - akitchell\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/us/24marriage.html?_r=1&hp\n\n======\nburgerbrain\nI've never really gotten why _any_ marriage needs to be recognized by the\ngovernment. Yes, I understand it's for tax purposes, and yes, I think taxing\n'married' people any differently than 'single' people is stupid.\n\n~~~\nktsmith\nIt's a lot more than just tax issues involved. Marriages are contracts that\ntwo people enter into and a number of benefits and responsibilities are\ndetermined by that contract.\n\n~~~\nburgerbrain\nPeople enter into contracts every day that the government has nothing to do\nwith. I'm still not getting why government approval should be involved at all.\n\n~~~\nktsmith\nI didn't suggest that the government should be involved I just wanted to point\nout that it's a lot more than taxes. The problem is that the government is\nalready involved and so at the very least we should allow all couples the\nability to enter into this particular contract without discrimination based on\nsexual preference.\n\n------\nTomOfTTB\nI'm for Gay Marriage but I think he loses some serious integrity points for\nthis because he openly said he was against Gay Marriage during the campaign.\n\nBeyond that the Justice Department's job is (by their own definition)\n\"enforcement of the law and administration of justice\". Not enforcement of the\nlaws the current administration happens to agree with. The Bush administration\ndid vaguely the same thing with Microsoft's anti-trust case but at least they\nbothered to make it look like they were still enforcing the law with a wildly\ninsufficient plea deal.\n\nAgain my issue isn't with Gay Marriage. I'm just not crazy about sending the\nmessage that it's ok for the President to subvert the law and lie to the\npublic to do what he thinks is right. Even if I agree with him.\n\n(For those of a liberal bent who can't see past the Gay Marriage issue imagine\na Conservative President deciding not to allow the DOJ to pursue states that\noutlaw abortion because he doesn't feel like enforcing federal law)\n\n~~~\nmetageek\nThe difference is that he's not failing to enforce federal law; he's failing\nto contest the judiciary's finding that DOMA is unconstitutional. If the court\nis right, then it's not a law, and he has no obligation to enforce it.\n\n------\nmildweed\nCongress passed the Defense of Marriage Act, Obama just called BS, now its up\nto the courts to decide. Yay separation of powers.\n\n~~~\nmetageek\nNo, a court already called BS, and Obama gave up on arguing the point.\n\n------\njdp23\nWith 13 votes in less than an hour, I'm surprised that this isn't on the front\npage. Presumably some penalty is being applied, and I'd like to better\nunderstand this.\n\nFor hackers and many other people at startups, marriage is an important way of\ngetting insurance coverage and other benefits. Until now, the US government\nhas taken the stance that many people shouldn't be eligible for it. Now, it's\nchanging the position. Why isn't this relevant?\n\n~~~\njokermatt999\nPolitical articles tend to get flagged, pushing them off the front page.\n\n~~~\nzdw\nCorrect. All of the Giffords shooting in Tucson articles from last month got\nflagged off.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Should we have a “Who is hiring?” for non-profit volunteer positions? - secfirstmd\n\nWe are a non-profit (http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.secfirst.org) currently looking for a volunteer copywriter to help us with some content and PR stuff for the launch of our app, Umbrella - which helps journalists&#x2F;aid workers&#x2F;activists manage their security.<p>It only requires a few hours of volunteer time so doesn&#x27;t really fit into the current &quot;Who is hiring?&quot; - which is full, part-time or internships. Thus does it make sense to have a &quot;Who is looking for volunteers?&quot;\n======\ncdvonstinkpot\nAnd maybe internships...\n\n~~~\nsecfirstmd\nI think the current \"Who is hiring?\" also includes internships? (But I can see\na valid reason to switch it to a volunteer thread also)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nJavaScript Frameworks[survey] - akarambir\nhttps://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDlKclJYX0V4MW9fVFRfUklaUTczTHc6MQ\n\n======\nkarambir\nsome of these frameworks are very good specially Sproutcore but i still prefer\nwriting my own code.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Free trip to Angola. Why is nobody interested in this offer? - seven\n\nHi.<p>First, sorry for the link bait. I'm posting this for the third time and I really expected more feedback.<p>I am trying to find a developer who is interested in the following:<p>Job description:<p>Python developer with a verve for adventure sought for an already developed OLPC-project in cooperation with Dom Bosco Angola. We estimate between 2 and 3 months for the project, starting in August 2013. Due to the charitable cause, we can only provide costs for flights, basic accommodation and a fairly allowance. Your job will be to help the schools faculty members establish extensive training activities for their XO computers as well as teaching the administration staff how to amend the activities' contents.<p>Requirements :<p>* Python (Minimum 2 years)<p>* You need to be able to cope with one-of-a-kind Luanda. If you love challenges and are looking for a fantastic addition to your resume, you might just have found exactly what you're looking for!<p>* Basic Knowledge in Portuguese or at least Spanish (You still got some months, so get cracking!)<p>* Of course experience and knowledge of the OLPC-concept would be great, but motivation and good apprehension would convince us even more.<p>About the project The Angolan OLPC-project was established by the African Innovation Foundation (AIF) in cooperation with schools operated by Dom Bosco Angola, based in poor areas where children do not have easy access to computers. Today, 700 students use their laptops as a regular teaching tool, and 400 more XO laptops are on their way. Now we need your help to add more content to those computers.<p>Email: sven@internet.ao<p>Web: http://www.africaninnovation.org/our-projects/culture-education/one-laptop-per-child-in-angola-olpc/\n======\nheldrida\nThis is the first time I see this. I'm not interested myself, I know lot's\nabout Angola and personally it's not a place I'd like to go. I'll share!\n\nIt's a good cause, I just see how horrible it is having to do charity, when\nthe country as so much money kept in the pocket of the president and his\ndaughter: billionaire!\n\n------\ndirktheman\nIf I was a decent enough Python dev and not married, I'd go in a heartbeat! I\nalways have had a soft spot for Angola: one of the poorest countries in the\nworld yet with unbelievable high prices, an interesting history, and heaps of\nadventure without too much risk of getting hurt.\n\nGood luck!\n\n------\nRobby2012\nIt would be really awesome, if I had any experience with Python I would try.\nAdemás hablo español asi que no tengo problema con eso...\n\n------\nmasukomi\nPersonally, I'm opposed to working at a company that thinks a bait and switch\ntype approach to attracting employees is an appropriate tactic. There are many\nways the headline could have been worded that would have enticed with paid\ntravel in exchange for work instead of promoting a \"free trip\".\n\n~~~\nseven\nWhich company are you referring to? There were some companies involved in\nputting together the financing for this charitable cause. This school is not\nsearching for employees. If you want details, please ask for them.\n\n------\ndragonwriter\nMissing a word here:\n\n> [...] basic accommodation and a fairly allowance.\n\nA fairly _what?_ allowance?\n\n~~~\nseven\nI did not see that while proof reading. Neither the author nor me are native\nspeakers. Google translates the single words into something that is\nunderstandable and would make sense. For Germans at least. :)\n\nI guess the right words would be: pocket money\n\n@all: Thanks for giving this topic a bit attention. In case you have more\nquestions about the offer, let me know. I will find out. Also happy to answer\nquestions about working in Luanda. Perhaps you would like to stay after the 3\nmonth. :)\n\n------\nseven\n\"Escola Dom Bosco, Luanda, Angola\" will show you the location of the school in\ngoogle maps.\n\n------\nelaineo\nI'm interested. I sent an email.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTraffic flow measured on various junctions - ckvamme\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yITr127KZtQ\n======\nckvamme\nOriginally saw this on reddit:\n\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/dvqt8a/traffic_flow...](https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/dvqt8a/traffic_flow_measured_on_various_different_4way/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHTML5 Canvas Cheat Sheet - aundumla\nhttp://blog.nihilogic.dk/2009/02/html5-canvas-cheat-sheet.html\n======\nwebXL\nThe cheat sheet has been around for a while, but the interactive Super Mario\nbackground is pretty sweet!\n\n~~~\norofino\nI recommend finishing the level. Funny ending\n\n------\ntim_church\nFor anyone interested in cheat sheets, I maintain a cheat sheet directory.\nThere are currently 25 HTML5 cheat sheets listed (including this one) -\n<http://devcheatsheet.com/tag/html5/>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBill Cosby sentenced to 3 to 10 years prison - craigferg501\nhttps://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/25/bill-cosby-81-is-sentenced-to-three-to-10-years-in-state-prison-for-2004-sexual-assault.html\n======\nandriesm\nDefense lawyers tried to keep the 81-year-old out of prison while he appeals\nhis conviction, saying he's frail and legally blind. Judge Steven O'Neill\nrefused their plea for Cosby to remain on house arrest, ruling Tuesday that\nCosby will be locked up immediately.\n\nO'Neill says Cosby could \"quite possibly be a danger to the community.\"\n\n\\--- Anyone knows on what basis he is considered a danger to the community at\n81?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFive new Real-Time detections of fast radio bursts with UTMOST - howard941\nhttps://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-abstract/488/3/2989/5528327?redirectedFrom=fulltext\n======\nmavdi\nForgive my ignorance, can someone please explain what this potentially means?\n\n~~~\nianthiel\nThe three bursts 1ms apart don't appear to be natural (or at least, we don't\ncurrently understand how they may occur naturally). The signal may be\nextraterrestrial.\n\n~~~\nganzuul\nIf it is from a three-stage nuke it might be terrestrial. IIRC nukes have a\ncharacteristic double-pulse 1ms apart.\n\n------\ncarbocation\n> \"Optical, radio, and X-ray follow-up has been made for most of the reported\n> bursts, with no associated transients found.\"\n\nWhat is a \"transient\" in this context?\n\n~~~\nimglorp\nI think they're looking for changes in the sky from those locations.\nSupernovae for example leave visible traces--clouds, rings, shock fronts, etc\nand emit all kinds of radio and x-rays. But FRB's not so much, it would seem,\nso far anyway.\n\n------\nkolbusa\nI hope whoever is working on this read the Three Body Problem trilogy.\n\n~~~\nmclightning\nCan you elaborate why?\n\n~~~\nllllllla\nSpoilers for books 1 and 2, at least: [https://bigthink.com/scotty-\nhendricks/the-dark-forest-theory...](https://bigthink.com/scotty-\nhendricks/the-dark-forest-theory-a-terrifying-explanation-of-why-we-havent-\nheard-from-aliens-yet)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMicrosoft's “Love” of Linux - pedrocr\nhttp://pedrocr.pt/text/microsofts-love-of-linux/\n======\njuliangoldsmith\nMicrosoft loves Linux because it makes them money. I'm not sure why anyone\nwould expect differently.\n\nThey won't release products like Office for Linux (though a web interface is\npossible), and they won't move away from Windows-only APIs. Neither of those\nactions would have any tangible benefit for the primary users of those produts\n(Windows users and Windows developers, respectively).\n\nActive Directory is so deeply integrated into the Windows stack that it will\nnever come out. You can authenticate Linux clients against AD, but I doubt\nthey'll be writing a Linux AD server any time soon. I'd imagine most corporate\nmail servers also support SMTP/IMAP, and Office365 has a web client. As far as\nActiveSync goes, that hasn't been a thing since 2007.\n\n~~~\nsmacktoward\n_> They won't release products like Office for Linux_\n\nBecause the market for desktop Linux applications is too small to be worth\nconsidering.\n\nThe whole reason they \"love Linux\" now is because Linux on the server gained\ntoo much market share for them to realistically oppose. They had to find a way\nto make money in that market that didn't involve somehow boiling an ocean of\nLinux machines. So they did.\n\nWindows is still overwhelmingly strong in the desktop market, though, so they\nhave no such incentive to accommodate it there. Nobody retreats from a\nbattlefield they've already won.\n\n~~~\ndredmorbius\nMicrosoft have an established track record of offering, then withdrawing, MS\nOffice for alternate platforms (or refusing to offer it at all).\n\nI seem to recall that there was an Office version for Sun Microsystem's\nSolaris, which is 99.99...% of the way to a Linux variant. That was killed.\n\n(This may have been MSIE or an Exchange-compatible email client, I'm\nresearching this still.)\n\nOSX is better supported, though for a long time Microsoft's email client was\nnot Outlook but Entourage, a now-discontinued project. It had a typical-for-\nMicrosoft opaque binary data storage format, though it's proved possible to\nextract useful information from this using Linux utilities.\n\nMicrosoft discontinued MSIE support on Mac in 2005, an issue given that many\nenterprise Web / intranet tools relied exclusively on nonstandard MSIE web\nextensions.\n\nOffice was never offered for BeOS, which I believe was a deliberate strategy\ndecision, though I'm not finding evidence of this (JLG should be able to\ncomment, if anyone has current contact). The lack _was_ seen as a kiss-of-\ndeath for the OS and hardware.\n\nAlternatively, what made RIM's Blackberry as popular among business executives\nas it was was its integration with MS Exchange email servers.\n\nStrategic control over what ports were and were not supported by Microsoft,\nregardless of technical difficulty or merits, was a major element of that\ncompany's monopoly abuses.\n\n~~~\nphilwelch\nYou’re citing things that happened almost 20 years ago if you’re talking about\nSolaris and BeOS.\n\n~~~\ndredmorbius\nPrecisely my point. The tiger rarely changes its stripes.\n\n~~~\ncwyers\nMicrosoft isn't a tiger, it's a group of people. There is some continuity, but\nthe people making those decisions are not the same people making those\ndecisions now.\n\n~~~\ndredmorbius\n[https://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_meaning_of_the_phrase_...](https://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_meaning_of_the_phrase_%27miss_the_boat%27)\n\n------\ntw04\nI'm not sure I follow what the author is getting at other than \"We should hate\nMS and do our best to not work with them on anything!\".\n\nFirst it was \"MS breaks compatibility on purpose, screw those guys!\". Now it's\n\"sure, they're playing nice but they don't have a product in every market\nsegment we want so they must have some nefarious master plan we haven't figure\nout yet!\"\n\nEverytime I hear someone say \"just look, they don't support office on Linux!\"\nI ask: and what exactly do you think the market share is of guys who love\nLinux so much they use it on the desktop, but also would _PAY_ Microsoft for\nOffice vs. just using LibreOffice or Google's office suite? If you think MS\nhasn't done the math and figured out that solution would never break even much\nless turn a profit, I guess I'd ask anyone making that claim to show their\nwork.\n\nI can tell you unequivocally the thing holding back the average enterprise\nfrom moving their entire business to Linux on the Desktop is _NOT_ Microsoft\nOffice, if it were they'd just tell everyone to use Office Online and move on\nwith life.\n\nPS: I assume all these Linux on the Desktop guys complaining about not having\nOffice on Linux already are subscribed to o365 and use Office Online\nexclusively, proving to MS there's demand. Right?\n\n~~~\nKingMachiavelli\nIf Office was available for Linux, some organizations could consider deploying\nLinux workstations with Office since that's what most users/employees need is\nbasically a browser (100%/users) and the Office suite (50-90%/users). Office\nOnline is severely gimped as noted in the article and is solely to counteract\nadoption of Google Office.\n\n~~~\ndarkcha0s\nWhat kind of an assumption is this. Most people need an operating system they\nare comfortable doing their daily work, not just a browser and a notepad.\nJesus christ, not all non-devs work only in office.\n\n~~~\nKingMachiavelli\n> Most people need an operating system they are comfortable doing their daily\n> work.\n\nTrue, and Windows is very entrenched partly due to Office and legacy software\ndepending on it. Chromebooks and Mac OS seem to be adopted without to much\nhindrance from a UI perspective. i.e How much more populate would Chromebooks\nbe if they ran the full desktop Office suite?\n\n> not all non-devs work only in office.\n\nCertainly not all but a lot of jobs, particularly in management consist mostly\nof emails, meetings, spreadsheets, word documents + a few web apps.\n\nAlso, lets not forget about all the jobs where the computer isn't really part\nof the job at all; it's just a tool to communicate (email) and for document\nproduction/consumption. These machines are basically kiosks that Microsoft has\nmilking licenses out of for Windows + Office + 365 Storage.\n\nSome businesses can switch to Google but many rely on existing Excel\nspreadsheets elsewhere in their organization so there is a lot of momentum to\nswitch away from non-desktop spreadsheet and document applications.\n\n~~~\nClumsyPilot\nI disagree with this 'legacy software's moniker, all the most productive\nsoftware falls into this category.\n\nLook at the Autodesk Suite, Adobe Suite, Enterprise Architect, blender3D,\nUnity game engine, a traditional IDE like Jetbrains or VisualStudio.\n\nThey have waay more power than the their web-based or, worse yet, electron\ncompetitors.\n\n~~~\nKingMachiavelli\nI was only referring to software that's still tied to Windows out of\nlegacy/inertia. I'm not saying all desktop applications are legacy. But It's\nappropriate because if those application were going to be rewritten today,\nthere is no way they would tie them exclusively to the Win32 API.\n\nBlender, Jetbrains IDE's, and even VSCode (pretty sure Unity is multiplatform\ntoo) are all working just fine with multiplatform and aren't dependent on any\nparticular OS. If you've ever had to deal with Autodesk like software, it's a\nmess of old code and poor practices. It's a nightmare getting that kind of\nsoftware working for Enterprise/Educational environments. Just looking at the\nEnterprise Architect site brings me back to the days when software used to\ncome on actual disks in large, book-like boxes.\n\nYes, the software is useful and has yet to be replaced by something more\nmodern, whether web based or at least multi-platform. But that's why it's\nentrenched in many businesses and Microsoft is riding on the back of that by\nmaking sure it's tied to their platform.\n\n~~~\nClumsyPilot\nI agree in principle, i really want most software to be multi-platform.\n\nHowever I cannot ignore the reality that multi-platform software is fraught\nwith peril, either for the developer (QT and the like) or for the user\n(electron).\n\nEach platform moves, introduces updates, removes support and features (looking\nat you, OsX!).\n\nFor some people the choice is: single platform, or no software at all.\n\n------\nderefr\nI’m honestly surprised that Microsoft aren’t working with Linux vendors in an\nattempt to solve Linux problems _by_ more deeply integrating Windows-styled\nsolutions into Linux, such that the Linux _client_ ecosystem becomes more\ndependent on the Windows _infrastructure_ ecosystem. That’d be the natural\nAzure-focused equivalent to “embrace, extend, extinguish.”\n\nFor example, Linux DNS resolution is an arcane mess of upstream components\nbodged together over decades, about the place where sysvinit was before\nsystemd came along. I could totally see Microsoft releasing some FOSS Linux\nüber-network-client-daemon that combines DNS, NMBD, and Bonjour resolution\ntogether (sort of like Apple’s mDNSResolver) in an attempt to “clean up” that\nmess—where, just by coincidence, parts of the SMB stack begin to seep directly\ninto the operation of the system. Then a subsumption for\nKerberos+libpam+GSSAPI that also supports NTLM; etc. until eventually Linux\nends up needing to talk to a real Active Directory Domain Controller to boot.\nMight be Microsoft’s one, might be a Linux FOSS one—either way, it gives\nMicrosoft an advantage.\n\n...but, so far as I can tell, they’re _not_ doing this. I wonder why not?\n\n~~~\nzymhan\n> ...but, so far as I can tell, they’re not doing this. I wonder why not?\n\nBecause maybe, just maybe, they're a tad bit less evil?\n\n~~~\nTheCoelacanth\nNonsense, a publicly traded corporation is inherently an immoral psychopath.\nThey are required to single-mindedly pursue shareholder profit.\n\n~~~\ndelusional\nThe people who make up the corporation are people. They need to be motivated,\nand they no not mobilize immediately.\n\n~~~\noneplane\nDepends on shareholders, doesn't it? Those are the people that 'make up' the\ncorp. The rest are pawns that either fall in line or end up recognizing that\nthe only way to win the game is to not play (and thus quit).\n\n~~~\nskissane\nIf employees think their employer is doing something unethical, that harms\nmorale.\n\nIf morale is harmed, good people are more likely to leave. If an employer has\na poor reputation, it becomes harder to hire employees with in-demand skills.\n\nPoor retention and difficulty in recruiting employees can end up harming the\nbusiness.\n\n~~~\noneplane\nSadly there are far more workers with a broken moral compass than you'd think.\nLuckily, there are also enough with ethics and key positions to somewhat\ncancel that out, but I wouldn't say that unethical employers have a much\nharder time than ethical ones. It's probably simply a different spread on\nmoney/package/freedom within one such company. Plenty of people will believe\nwhat they are doing is justified and ignore any signs of cognitive dissonance\nif the pay check is right and internal communication is 'managed' enough by\nHR.\n\n------\nraesene9\nFrom what I see in general MS like Linux on the server, not so much the\ndesktop. The reason for that is pretty obvious.\n\nThey want as many organizations as possible to use their cloud platform, for\nthat to work, they need first class Linux server support.\n\nOn the desktop, they'd prefer people to be using Windows, but they want to\nensure that developers who deploy to Linux have a great experience, thus WSL,\nVS Code et al.\n\nWith that said, I think there are some groups inside MS who would like to see\nmore desktop Linux support, thus announcements like the Linux Teams client.\nIt's probably a mistake to view MS (or any other v.large corp) as a unified\nentity. There will be groups inside that corp. with differing goals.\n\nYou only have to look at MS presence at Kubecon where you'll often see MS\nstaff with Macs or Ubuntu laptops on their stand.\n\n~~~\nvrthrowaway\nThey don't _like_ it, that's the author's whole point. They would obviously\nprefer that everyone pay for windows server, but they've lost that battle.\n\"Like\" is pure marketing.\n\n>You only have to look at MS presence at Kubecon where you'll often see MS\nstaff with Macs or Ubuntu laptops on their stand.\n\nmarketing in a market.\n\nI think we (or you and the author, I'm just re-iterating his points) are\ntalking past each other and you probably agree, but his whole point again is\nthat the \"Love\" is just public facing market strategy.\n\n~~~\ndarkcha0s\nJust a question-- what would be a path you deem the best? Should Microsoft\njust work in its silo, while Linux develops in its silo? Should Microsoft not\nembrace linux? I feel like the 2 strategies mentioned by the author simply let\nyou point to the other one when the first one doesn't grip. I'm always at a\nloss when these HN posts come about, because I feel like 99% of the\nhate/sentiment stems from the time Microsoft was actually a shitty company\n(I'm sure it is still shit in great lengths today, but not comparable to the\nBallmer years).\n\n------\ntracker1\nIt feels like this article is a lot of FUD spreading. MS is a business that\nlikes to make money. At this point, there are developer minded people at the\nhelm, and it makes more sense selling their software and cloud services than\nchasing negative returns on Windows. I can see that side of it through and\nthrough.\n\nMS has open sourced huge amounts of resource and platform building code in\n.Net Core the past several years, and ASP.Net earlier than that. They did buy,\nand have expanded on the tools from Xamarin not shutter it. I'm not saying\nthey're altruistic in nature, no company is. I will say that their behavior in\nthe community, especially since Nadella took over has been better than any\nother company of it's size or larger that I can think of.\n\nI'm not saying forget or forgive the past, but accept the present.\nCorporations, despite legalities, are not people. They are made up of people,\nand a significant portion of management has rolled over in the past decade and\nthe outward facing culture shows that.\n\n~~~\nblub\nYou couldn't be more wrong.\n\nSince Nadella is at the helm, Microsoft have started to aggressively gather\ncustomer data from their desktop OS and many other products, including office.\n\nThey used to be very decent at this before Windows 10, but they went\ncompletely nuts with telemetry. At the beginning they were completely opaque,\nto the point that a German gov agency had to reverse engineer the\ncommunications to see just wtf was being transmitted.\n\nMore recently the Dutch gov told them to fuck off if they don't cut off the\ncrap and MS was forced to negotiate new privacy terms with them.\n\nAnything they have already and will open source pales in comparison to the\nharms to our privacy, just like for Google. Although Google at least open\nsources some useful things now and then... .NET is Microsoft's dev platform\nthat no one cares about except Windows devs. It started as a JVM/Java clone\nand grew into its own product, but for anyone not already all-in on MS tools\nit makes zero sense to use it when there's so much choice.\n\n~~~\ntracker1\nWindows isn't great... It's a single product of many from a very large\ncompany, and one that other than the assigned computer at work, I don't\ntypically use. Beyond that, I don't mind the telemetry so much, though their\ndecision to emphasis telemetry over test labs and staff is irritating.\n\nAlso, been a few hours since I read TFA, but isn't even a focus of TFA.\n\nThey aren't locking their services and much new software into windows, and\naren't using windows to leverage other things in ways that don't make any\nsense.\n\n------\npksdjfikkkkdsff\nI can't really follow the article. Too much paranoia, or negativity, I guess.\n\nAll I care about is having a usable Linux shell and Linux tool on my Windows\nmachine. What else can you expect from Microsoft? Yeah, they are doing it so\nthat people don't switch over to Linux completely. What more can you expect?\n\nIs it even Microsoft's job to establish a standard for 3d Graphics and what\nnot? Or is the ball in the park of graphics card vendors and game developers?\n\nWhy do I have Windows on my machine? I don't fully trust Linux to achieve the\nsame level of power management. I can play games. I have a dual graphics card,\nwhich would be a hassle to use on Linux.\n\nIt would be notebook vendor's job to release Linux notebooks with good power\nmanagement. Chip vendors to release specs that enable Linux developers to\ncreate such drivers. And so on.\n\n~~~\ngowld\nWhy wouldn't an Operating System developer be responsible for providing an\ninterface between hardware developers and applicaton developers?\n\n~~~\npksdjfikkkkdsff\nOpenGL seems to have coexisted with DirectX for a while. I don't know enough\nabout OS development to be able to judge if Microsoft prevented OpenGL from\nachieving the same performance as DirectX.\n\nGiven the abysmal security history of Windows, my guess would be that it was\npossible to get close to the metal as a driver developer, at least in the old\ndays.\n\nAlso MS couldn't be expected to take care of an interface that works on iOS\nand Linux. They are responsible for Windows.\n\n------\nheadmelted\nThe author misses the bigger picture completely.\n\nMicrosoft used to see Linux as competition, and while that might still be true\nin some ways, it’s largely moot for a couple of reasons.\n\nIn 2019, Windows isn’t competing with Linux for desktop market share not\nbecause Linux poses no threat there, but because _the desktop doesn’t matter\nanymore_.\n\nWindows, and the desktop operating system as a concept, is competing with the\nweb browser in the enterprise and mobile devices in the retail market (and\neven then, it’s not really a competition - most casual users gave up computers\nfor smartphones years ago).\n\nViewed in that lens Microsoft _genuinely_ embracing Linux makes a lot of sense\n- most of their revenue now comes from service contracts, and the one bedrock\nthey’ve always had is their second-to-none developer support. If developers\nwant them some Linux, then by gosh Redmond is going to give them more Linux\nthan anyone else. Maximum Linux for your organisations’ Linuxy needs!\n\nMicrosoft still has great support for gamers on Windows as an incentive not to\ncheck out Wine/Proton and things happening there, but really, when was the\nlast time you paid for a Windows license for home use? One way or another\nthey’ve been literally giving the software away as quickly as they can for\nyears. The future is about services, and that means market share (if users\nleave because they can get a free OS elsewhere then the license has to go).\nLikewise, if it gets more developers to stay in the ecosystem, then Linux\nsupport it is.\n\n~~~\nbaybal2\nSince when? That's nonsense. Browser and a whole operating system are two\ndifferent things\n\n~~~\nAnIdiotOnTheNet\nYou're talking to SV web devs who's careers depend on and are entirely focused\non web tech.\n\n~~~\nheadmelted\nExactly.\n\nI sometimes wonder if people are so in the bubble that they don’t realize\nwe’re rarely the audience.\n\n------\ndesignium\nI think the article misses a bigger fight which is between Microsoft's Azure\nvs. AWS. All what Microsoft is doing is catering to devs who want better tools\nto deal with servers in the cloud.\n\nImagine this potential tactic:\n\n1\\. Create great tools such as Visual Studio Code to serve as first point\ncontact with devs of all types and stacks 2\\. Start creating plugin or easy to\nintegrate dev workflow in those types of tools with Azure 3\\. Make it so easy\nand reasonably cost effective that people may start switching away from AWS to\nAzure\n\nI don't think Microsoft is trying to kill or encroach Linux but instead\ncooping those devs into moving to Azure platform where the market growth is;\nwhile still protecting the existing cash cows.\n\n------\ngwd\n> I think all of these would be strategic blunders from the point of view of\n> Microsoft shareholders. But they’re the kind of things you do for love.\n> Otherwise this is just “love” if your standard is abusive one-sided\n> relationships.\n\nThis is awesome.\n\n------\noblio\nThe author is partly right. You shouldn't trust Microsoft. But the landscape\nhas changed. Focusing too much on Microsoft as the sole, main rival of OSS and\nLinux keeps you tunnel visioning like it's the 90's. And back then Microsoft\nwas huge and overbearing. Now there's many, many other threats to OSS and\nLinux, several of them bigger than Microsoft.\n\nGoogle, Apple, Amazon, Facebook.\n\nThey're keen OSS contributors, where it doesn't matter for them and keen\nclosed source proponents, where it _does matter_.\n\n------\nguardian5x\nThis article makes it sound like Embracing is a bad thing, because necessarily\nExtend, and Extinguish will follow. But it doesn't really work that way with\nOpen Source.\n\n~~~\ndleslie\nGoogle proved the model for embracing, extending and controlling open source\nby way of Android and the shift to Google Play Services.\n\nStart open and let the walled garden grow within.\n\n~~~\ngowld\nHow does a not-open-source product control open-source?\n\nAnyone can try to build an open source alternative to GPS on whatever hardware\nthey can obtain, using Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Without Google open\nsource, they've have to replicate it's functionality from scratch.\n\nIf AOSP never existed, Android would still be Android (GPL allows proprietary\nAndroid) and would still be as popular as it is. iOS was never open source,\nand did fine.\n\n~~~\nWorldMaker\nWhen was the last time a Google-free AOSP fork had a successful handset on the\nmarket? We've seen almost nothing but failures: Amazon Phone, Cyanogen, …\n\nThe market seems to have spoken that Android isn't Android without \"Google\nPlay Services\" secret sauce, and that's entirely proprietary walled garden.\n\n------\ntra3\nI'm having a tough time drawing a conclusion from this article. In my\nexperience with commercial/open source projects the only reason they are open\nsource is because of some sort of market advantage. Is the author suggesting\nthat Microsoft doing all this OSS work out of the goodness of their collective\nheart? Corporations are about making money, while that goal and OSS happen to\nalign we'll get open source from Microsoft. The second it stops being\nstrategically relevant: bye-bye.\n\n~~~\nppseafield\nI think the article takes issue with \"Microsoft loves Linux\" as a blanket\nterm, where it's more like \"Microsoft loves† Linux‡\"\n\n(† supports in only a very specific way because of losing to Linux on the\nserver side.)\n\n(‡ Linux as used only for servers. Linux as a desktop OS can still get bent,\nand we're trying to get devs to abandon it when working on code that deploys\nto Linux servers.)\n\n------\nSimianLogic2\nI used cygwin to do web development circa 2007/2008\\. It was a huge pain in\nthe ass and one of the main reasons I switched to Macs. I've been back on\nWindows for a couple of years now using WSL and it's been pretty great. I'm\nexcited for that integration to get even tighter with WSL2.\n\nThe broad categories I use professionally are office crap, web dev, and\ncreative tools. Macs used to suck at the first and rule the last two, but\nthey've really fallen behind in the last few years. The new macbook pro looks\nlike a good machine, but I switched to a gaming laptop to get a better GPU and\n64gb of RAM. This (2-year-old) machine does everything I need it to do and I'm\nnow at a point where Macs are going to have to do something pretty spectacular\nto get me to switch back (or have Windows screw up in a comparable way to what\nApple has done the last few years).\n\nWhat's the point of all this? I think this article misses the boat pretty\nbadly on who Micrsoft's talking to when it says it loves linux. It's talking\nto web devs like me who work and deploy to linux, not software philosophers\nwho want to debate the meaning of free. From my point of view, they're doing\ngreat right now.\n\n~~~\nthom\nCould you describe your workflow with WSL?\n\n------\nJeremyNT\nData point: MS teams disables all of Teams' A/V features for Linux users based\non browser user agent. If you use chromium and spoof your UA as if you were\nusing Edge/Windows, said features work. [1]\n\nMicrosoft is what it is - a very large company with various business units\nwith differing priorities. I do feel like they are much improved from the bad\nold days, where they seemed to enact a company-wide strategy aimed at actively\nsabotaging Linux. In the face of that, I suppose indifference is an\nimprovement, and their \"we love linux\" marketing is at least an admission that\nLinux support is a consideration for some elements of their business.\n\n[1]\n[https://github.com/meetfranz/franz/issues/1095](https://github.com/meetfranz/franz/issues/1095)\n\n~~~\nmy123\nA proper Microsoft Teams port for Linux is coming by the end of this year.\n\n[https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/su...](https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/16911565-linux-\nclient)\n\n~~~\nJeremyNT\nI wonder if they will stop disabling features for the chrome UA if/when they\nrelease their electron app on Linux? One could hope...\n\n------\nyarg\nWith regards to Linux, Google seems like a far bigger danger.\n\nHave a look at the \"locking-in manufacturers\" section of\n[https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/07/googles-iron-grip-\non...](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/07/googles-iron-grip-on-android-\ncontrolling-open-source-by-any-means-necessary/).\n\nIn a more general sense, cloud computing is the biggest danger to Linux, since\nit allows companies to allow access to forked versions without needing to\ndistribute source - this is why the AGPL exists.\n\nThere's also potential for bad faith actors to utilise closed source build\ntools to distribute releases that are technically opensource - but that cannot\nbe built by anyone but the distributor.\n\n------\nsquarefoot\nEven if Microsoft does really love Linux, I'd rather want to know _which_\nLinux they love: a generic one such as any popular distro out there, or rather\n_their_ own version of Linux, which could be a frankenpenguin where some\nobscure proprietary technolgy, no matter how small, would magically make their\nsoftware run \"better\".\n\nI am 100% speculating, of course, but if I was in Microsoft pants and wanted\nto kill Linux because it makes essentially impossible to achieve domination in\nsome context (server, embedded, mobile, etc), once realized I can't destroy it\nfor failing many moons ago to understand its potential at step 1 of \"first\nthey ignore you...\" , the best alternative would be to embrace it, pollute it\ndiscreetly injecting closed technology in key areas (all it needs is a key\ndriver or library), port some great software to it with seemingly innocuous\nstrings attached to the proprietary parts that will make it _run better or run\nat all_ , have its users love my software and get used to it, make its use\nappealing to business users as well (offering discounted pro support as an\nexample), acquire game companies and port their titles as above, etc. Once I\nhave say the 20 most used apps depend on that closed blob or technology, I'd\nbe ready to roll out my own distro which of course by being the favorite one\namong \"normal\" users will be the one dictating other Linux distros future. To\nmake it short, Microsoft will indeed love Linux, although not before making\nLinux one of their products.\n\nAs I wrote, that's pure speculation, but think of it when the first \"best run\non WSL\" Linux software comes out.\n\n~~~\nSmellyGeekBoy\nTo be fair, this sounds just like Google's strategy with Android.\n\n------\nthrowaway8291\nI'm in the camp of moving my stuff out of GitHub (thankfully so many nice\noptions, like GitLab, gitea/gogs, and of course sourcehut) because the only\nreason I do not hate Microsoft is that I was able to avoid any of their tech\nsuccessfully for the past 15 years.\n\nIn it for the money, and gone if there's nothing more to capture. Simple\nstory. That's exactly how something like a community does not work.\n\n------\nClumsyPilot\nI am getting the impression the author is fighting yesterday’s war and on top\nof that has not been following what's going on in windows/.Net development\nlately. There has been a large-scale effort to open-source and port chunks of\nWindows and .Net Framework\n\nWinForms 'the win95-style UI'\n[https://github.com/dotnet/winforms](https://github.com/dotnet/winforms)\n\nWPF 'the Vista-style UI'\n[https://github.com/dotnet/wpf](https://github.com/dotnet/wpf)\n\nWinUI3 'the Modern-style UI' [https://github.com/microsoft/microsoft-ui-\nxaml](https://github.com/microsoft/microsoft-ui-xaml)\n\nWindows Communications Foundation\n[https://github.com/dotnet/wcf](https://github.com/dotnet/wcf)\n\nAnd more stuff I am not aware of. Judge as you wish, but if you are going to\ndiscuss the topic, they are important.\n\n~~~\nint_19h\nNone of the UI frameworks have been ported.\n\n~~~\nClumsyPilot\nEfforts like Avalonia and Uno platform enjoy a level of support from MS, and\nMicrosoft produces Xamarin Forms to enable Xaml-based cross platform\ndevelopment.\n\nMicrosoft themselves have stated that it's a requested development, but they\nhave not yet figured out a sensible way forward.A lot of effort was invested\nand I feel accusing them of ill will is unfair.\n\nMeanwhile Linux UI/Graphics situation is a mess and Avalonia developers\nstruggle with it. The same flexibility that makes Linux a good as\nembedded/server, makes it a horrible target for client application\ndevelopment.\n\n------\nlasermike026\nHmmmm, Linux has proven itself on its own. The GPL has done its work. POSIX is\na working standard. Linux isn't completely POSIX compliant. I don't think\nthere is much Microsoft can do about it.\n\n------\ntyingq\n_\" I think all of these would be strategic blunders from the point of view of\nMicrosoft shareholders\"_\n\nIt seems to be working well for MS thus far, so I'm curious why the author\nthinks this.\n\n~~~\nwinkeltripel\nit's referring to the author's suggestions to show authentic love.\n\n~~~\ntyingq\nI'm not clear on why that would help shareholders as compared to current\ncourse.\n\n------\nzwieback\nTBH, Linux as a desktop productivity environment is a small enough market that\nI wouldn't expect MS to make a big investment there. It's either iOS, Android,\nMac or Windows for the average user so MS is trying to stay relevant in those\nareas by focusing on the server side and Windows client side.\n\n------\nsova\nTremendous. Well written and well played. If there are two facets to divide\nand conquer (in this case, play along until you can conquer and conquer right\naway) Microsoft is certainly doing their best to fulfill the Caesarian\ncommandment. Thanks for revealing this very snide practice, clearly if their\nintent was an embrace of OSS there would be much revamped in the base layers\nof their offerings. Yet, here we are. The number of life-seconds lost to\nMicrosoft greediness is likely measurable and might even out-exceed the wealth\nof shrewd and pernicious altruists like Billy G. Not to be nefarious with this\ncomment, but to assume that propaganda is honest is to wonder why the\npropaganda has to exist in the first place.\n\n------\nJackRabbitSlim\nAn anti-MS article full of FUD, Delicious.\n\nIf anyone is embracing, extending and extinguishing its Redhat's giant\nlovecraftian eldrich horror starting at Pid 1 as it's tentacles spread across\nthe (user)land to incite madness and crush the life out of system\nadministrators.\n\n------\nskohan\nI don't think it's a particularly good thing for Microsoft to cozy up with\nLinux, let alone any of the larger tech firms. In particular, I don't think\nit's great that Microsoft is such a heavy contributor to the Linux foundation.\n\nIf the people who work on Linux become financially dependent on large tech\nfirms, this creates potential conflict-of-interest. For instance, is it\nimpossible to imagine that as Proton becomes more capable of making the\nWindows gaming experience portable, there couldn't be pressure to kneecap it\nin some way at the kernel level? If Ubuntu had dropped 32 bit app support as\nplanned, it would have done just that.\n\n~~~\njrs95\nLinux development is _already_ dependent on large tech firms and has been for\na long time.\n\n~~~\nskohan\nI understand that. I’m saying I don’t think it’s a good thing.\n\n------\noaiey\nMicrosoft loves Linux ... On the Azure Cloud. And nothing else. This strategy\nwas only discussed in this context and nowhere else I assume.\n\nSo do not interpret more in it than what is said. Microsoft earns money. What\ndoes not earn Money is not supported.\n\n------\nwill4274\nThis blog appears to argue that by bringing some but not all of it's products\nto Linux, Microsoft is engaging in Embrace, Extend, Extinguish (EEE). That's a\ntough sell. If you apply the same standard, virtually ever large company that\nhas ever contributed to Linux is EEE-ing Linux because they released some\nproduct that doesn't run on vanilla Linux. The bad action in EEE is extending\nAPIs in incompatible ways and then dead ending them - it's hard for me to see\nhow not shipping Office to Linux qualifies.\n\n~~~\nsimion314\nI think the author refers at the fact you release just a bit of functionality\nfor Linux but if you want the full stack you have to use Windows. Like you\nmake .Net for Linux but only some parts, release other tools but not the admin\npart etc.\n\nI would be convinced when MS and Wine project has an agreement so the Wine\ndevs can access the Windows source code.\n\n~~~\nwill4274\n> I would be convinced when MS and Wine project has an agreement so the Wine\n> devs can access the Windows source code.\n\nThis is exactly what I'm saying is absurd. Microsoft isn't EEE-ing by not\ngiving Wine devs access to Windows source. There is a difference between not\nhelping and actively sabotaging. Conflating the two is an unfair attack.\n\n~~~\nsimion314\nThe part about Wine is not related, it was about what would convince me that\nMicrosoft \"loves\" Linux or at least is not intimidated by it. The WSL seems to\nme as the first part of the EEE and the competition would be fair if Linux\ncould have it's own project Wine supported by Microsoft, as it is now it feels\nas an exploit, MS can do WSL but Linux and Mac have to struggle with Wine and\nthe FUD around it.\n\n~~~\nzamalek\n> Linux and Mac have to struggle with Wine and the FUD around it.\n\nWhat FUD? I don't think I've ever seen someone spread FUD about Wine. Are you\nreferring to the website that lists how well games/apps work with it?\n\n~~~\nsimion314\nThe accusation that Wine devs were looking at the Windows code and it is\n\"illegal\"\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20341022](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20341022)\n\n~~~\nwill4274\nThis post is about ReactOS, not Wine.\n\n------\nshmerl\nWhile things improved in some aspects (like recent freeing up of exFAT), as a\nLinux gamer, I still see MS if not outright hostile, then surely by far not\nfriendly when it comes to Linux.\n\nThanks to Phil Spencer, they didn't join the Vulkan working group, and\ncontinue pushing their DX lock-in. For Linux it means dxvk and vkd3d are\nimportant tools to break it. When MS will start using Vulkan proper, I might\nchange my mind about them being hostile towards Linux.\n\nSame applies to other lock-in cases the article mentions.\n\n------\njuped\nThere was more of a case in the 90s, but the fact is that today's Microsoft\nhas a strong open source development presence, and incompatibly embracing and\nextending was always, even in the 90s, an odious GNU practice that they\nhappily perpetrated against non-copyleft Unix.\n\n\"FUD\" is a mindkilling term, so I won't call this apparently sincere post\n\"spreading FUD\", but I will suggest that you try PowerShell Core (MIT\nlicensed) on the platform of your choice.\n\n------\nde_watcher\nCan add Visual Studio to the Office/DirectX/Outlook/ActiveDirectory section.\n\n~~~\npjc50\nThey're sort of heading in this direction with VSCode. I can imagine that VS\nitself is a non-portable COM-infested disaster area.\n\n~~~\ngarganzol\nCOM is good and it is anything except disaster. It its raw form, COM is just a\nsmall and natural abstraction over plain C interface.\n\nJust like a C interface is a small and nice abstraction over plain\nregisters/stack call models of the past.\n\nThe advent of calling conventions like C was a huge step forward in 1970s.\nBefore that, there was a mad zoo of passing parameters via random CPU\nregisters and praying that you made no mistake and it would work without a\ncrash.\n\nCOM is no different. IUnknown is just 3 methods (QueryInterface, AddRef,\nRemoveRef) over a plain C. It immediately brings an ability to use service\nmodel design in APIs.\n\n------\ngmaster1440\nPersonally strikes me very much as an article making valid points but\ngenerally in bad faith. Microsoft can both begin to change and embrace Linux\ngradually as they've been doing recently and at the same time have an unsavory\npast with the ecosystem. If anything, they're willingness to change, however\nsmall, should be interpreted generally as a positive shift.\n\n------\nJohnL4\nOof. All these Linux-on-desktop replies.\n\n(1) The web is (slowly) destroying MS on the client-side. Sure, there's a ton\nof existing WinForms/WPF stuff now, but I think new development is on the web.\n\n(2) Linux is destroying MS on the server-side. It is simply impossible to beat\nthe price (both AMZN and MS offer Linux images at half the price of Windows\nimages).\n\nSo, where does that leave MS? Competing with AMZN in cloud infrastructure.\nThey have the technical chops and maybe other-than-1st mover advantage gives\nthem a chance to present a cleaner experience, although it ain't easy being\nsandwiched between AMZN and Digital Ocean/Netlify.\n\nI think even Blazor is a stretch, dependent on the maturity of WASM, but...\nrequiring devs to switch from React/Angular? And competing with whatever else\nmoves to WASM.\n\nOf course MS loves Linux. It'd be stupid not to.\n\n(For now.)\n\n------\nneilobremski\nWithin the company you have to remember that there are greedy executives (as\nanywhere) built on top of a fatty layer of incurious middle management and\nmixed in with enthusiastic tech heads. Whether or not the happy chaps working\non the Linux support have their work mutilated by the fat cats has yet to be\nseen ... it's always like this in the beginning of an embrace. And in the\nmeantime I think there's a lot of good being done even if it's just serving as\na model for FOSS projects. So as the support fades and the dream dims, there\nwill be things to pop up to continue the legacy.\n\nIn the meantime, I'm quite happy to see Microsoft participating feverishly. I\nmuch prefer that to the alternative of intentionally making my life hell when\nnot using their software / systems.\n\n------\nelldoubleyew\nI would love to see MS release a version of Windows that is built on Linux but\nwith a custom GUI to look and behave like Windows.\n\nThey could even add support for Windows apps through WINE to make it _feel_\nlike a native experience. Especially if they are willing to dedicate\nadditional resources to better hardware optimization for WINE*\n\nI have always hated Windows because I grew up on UNIX-like systems, whenever I\nwant to do something non-trivial involving the OS I tend to get lost and give\nup pretty quickly. But I don't mind Windows GUI from a UX perspective, and I\nwould be interested in running a \"Linux-Windows\"\n\n*I am not sure what MS official stance on WINE is, however I would imagine that supporting it is likely in their long-term best interests.\n\n------\njasoneckert\nI'm not too sure what to think of this article. There are some valid points to\nme made for sure, but intent today isn't as clear cut as it was 20 years ago.\n\nFor example, almost 20 years ago, I stood in front of a group of _mostly_\nsales people in a board room at Microsoft Canada to answer emotionally-charged\nquestions about this \"Linux threat\" that was looming. Just under a year ago, I\nsat on a couch at Microsoft with some talented Microsoft developers drinking a\ncustom Americano listening to them talk about how Microsoft recognizes their\npersonal open source and ethical values in a way that makes them love their\njob.\n\nAs a Linux developer and geek, it's difficult to hate Microsoft today.\n\n------\nzzo38computer\nIt seems possible to me that they may make Office usable from web browsers on\nnon-Windows systems (probably with a few features missing, some of that just\ndue to the limitation imposed by the web browser anyways), but probably not a\nnative Linux program. I do not expect them to drop Win32 and DirectX; however,\nmaybe later they might make a few contributions to ReactOS (although probably\nnot enough). What they say about Active Directory I suppose may be done in the\nway mentioned in that article, seems not very unlikely to me.\n\nI do not really think Microsoft \"love\" Linux all the way, although it seem to\nme they do \"love\" Linux more than they used to, at least.\n\n------\nzoechi\nWhen I had to deal with Windows 10 recently I got the impression MS has given\nup on Windows completely. The last notable improvements were introduced in Win\nXP. Most stuff that came later was just changing the look&view of a few\nsettings windows with the only effect that all consistency was lost and Win\nlooks more like a mess than a Linux desktop where some apps were built for X,\nKde, Gnome, ... It was also funny that SQL Management Studio crashed at the\nsame use cases as it did 10-15 years ago. It would be interesting if there\nwere any developers working on anything but cloud at MS the past 10 years.\n\n~~~\nCrinus\nThe last time there was a real UI and UX consistency was with Windows 2000 (or\nME, if you want to stay on the consumer side). With Windows XP Microsoft\nintroduced themeable controls but instead of making them available to all\napplications, they used an opt-in mechanism (based on special EXE resources or\nmanifest files) so even nowadays unless you use that mechanism you get the\nWin2K era of controls.\n\nEven then, with Windows 7 _most_ things were consistent and if you really\ncared about consistency even with non-themed apps you could always switch to\nWindows Classic theme (which i always did, not so much because of consistency\nbut also because i just like that theme :-P).\n\nSince Windows 8 with the introduction of Metro/UWP/WinUI/WinWhateverNext\nconsistency was thrown out of the Window, without even trying to pretend\notherwise (it isn't a coincidence that the UI guidelines for desktop\napplications in Microsoft's site still use the Win7 theme).\n\n------\nstevbov\nWhy would any Linux shop use SQL Server anyways? Why would they use .NET Core?\nThe only people I know pushing .NET Core are .NET people, not Linux people. My\ngeneral rule is to never use a technology where your primary platform is a\nsecond class citizen. It just makes things a pain: not only could support be\ndropped in the future because there's no profit in it, its also harder to find\nanswers to problems on the internet.\n\n~~~\nlghh\nI'm a Linux person who likes .NET Core. I like C# quite a bit, and I don't\nthink Linux is a 2nd class citizen for .NET Core.\n\n~~~\nripley12\nIt is still a 2nd class citizen, IMO – but I think that's improving rapidly.\nSome examples:\n\n-IDE support from MS is markedly better on Windows (real Visual Studio) and Mac (VS for Mac). VS Code+Omnisharp is still pretty rough around the edges for C#.\n\n-Many of the older .NET class libraries were just not designed with *nix in mind. System.IO still doesn't support symlinks [https://github.com/dotnet/corefx/issues/26310](https://github.com/dotnet/corefx/issues/26310)\n\n~~~\nzamalek\n> Many of the older .NET class libraries were just not designed with *nix in\n> mind. System.IO still doesn't support symlinks\n\nWindows supports symlinks, so that problem is not unique to netcore on nix.\nMany of the newer APIs are designed with explicit support for nix.\n\n~~~\nripley12\nYup, but I think the problem stems from symlinks being relatively uncommon in\nNTFS compared to nix filesystems - it just wasn't a priority for the original\n.NET designers who were mostly targeting Windows.\n[https://blogs.windows.com/windowsdeveloper/2016/12/02/symlin...](https://blogs.windows.com/windowsdeveloper/2016/12/02/symlinks-\nwindows-10/)\n\n------\nausjke\nMicrosoft \"loves\" linux because it failed to beat Linux with FUD etc.\n\nMicrosoft to me is the cancer to the OSS, why not just admit that you had\nnever, and will never love Linux, you are simply doing all these for financial\npurposes solely, which is totally fine --- just don't ruin the \"love\" word,\nit's so awkward.\n\nLife is too short to be cheated multiple times, I will never trust Microsoft\nsince I switched to linux fully 15 years ago.\n\n------\nrcarmo\nI’m going to add a data point here: I work at Microsoft and my primary e-mail\nclient is... Firefox. The Outlook web UI is so good these days that the UX for\nmail, viewing attachments and booking meetings is much, much better than the\nnative app (which I only use for ensuring I have an offline database when\ntraveling).\n\nAnd yeah, I use WSL extensively, and work from a Mac at home. There is a lot\nmore to the story than the article covers.\n\n------\n29athrowaway\nUse SoftMaker FreeOffice, or SoftMaker Office. It is a pretty nice and\nperformant replacement for MS Office.\n\n~~~\nhamsapelea\nGoogle docs works like a charm\n\n------\nxenorplxx\nHm. MS started to support React, especially React Native project lately with\ntheir react-native-windows and AppCenter, but I honestly have no idea why\nwould they do that instead of going with something like Electron, since they\nstarted to invest in Chromium and V8 anyway.\n\n~~~\ntracker1\nThey've done a lot with Electron as well... Github now being a subsidiary of\nMS. VS Code is really nice, and Teams is decent. I'd be surprised if we don't\nsee new cross platform Office releases based on the Web versions wrapped in\nElectron in the next couple years.\n\n~~~\nWorldMaker\nOffice has been heading towards React Native and React Native for Web,\naccording to BUILD talks.\n\n------\nfortran77\nThe quote at the end of this piece is misattributed.\n\n[https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/12/05/fake-\nhonesty/](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/12/05/fake-honesty/)\n\n------\nogre_codes\nHow on earth can you have any kind of meaningful conversation about\nMicrosoft's Linux strategy and not even mention Azure?\n\nMicrosoft's Cloud service is one of their fastest growth businesses and Linux\nis a huge piece of that.\n\n------\nwooptoo\nThe whole reason for doing WSL2 was running Docker on Windows, which is\ncurrently one of the development \"killer apps\". AFAIK in the previous\nimplementation they could not get Overlayfs to work properly.\n\n------\ncampfireveteran\n0\\. Embrace\n\n1\\. Extend\n\n2\\. Extinguish (or at least Exhaust Energy on Extraneous complexity through\nEngineering design-by-committee feature creep)\n\n(But never Excellent Enginerding, unless trying to gain status at a\nconference.)\n\n------\ndabbernaught420\n\"I fucking love open source!\" \\- Microsoft\n\nIf this doesn't make you want to use the term 'free software' I don't know\nwhat will.\n\n------\nmagashna\n\"Embrace, extend, extinguish\"\n\n*nix is too big to really extinguish, but MS can certainly bear hug some cash out of them.\n\n------\njeffdavis\nThe technology landscape has changed so much in 20 years. Is this analytical\nframework still relevant?\n\n------\nHavoc\nnah. MS was dangerous in windows era. And had another go at that with their\ndocx shenanigans.\n\n...but in cloud era their teeth are just as long/short as google/AWS in my\nopinion. No more win32 .exe home turf advantage.\n\nThat said I consider all 3 clouds dangerous in a sense.\n\n------\nsimonblack\nThe only 'Loves' that Microsoft has are 'Love of Control' and 'Love of Money'.\n\nIf you ever trust Microsoft, you have only yourself to blame when you get\nhurt. That's been true for at least 25 years, and I don't see it ending any\ntime soon.\n\n------\nQuarrelsome\nWas this article really written this decade?\n\n------\nfearface\nI love Linux, but I hate Linux Desktop.\n\n------\nbydl0coder\nFirst, desktop Linux sucks, so there's no point of porting anything to it.\nSecond, office suites including MS Office are now cloud-based.\n\n------\nlawlessone\nThey'll turn linux in a microsoft app.\n\n~~~\njabedude\nI know this is hyperbole, but funny enough you can download \"Ubuntu\" for WSL\nfrom the Windows app store: [https://www.microsoft.com/en-\nus/p/ubuntu/9nblggh4msv6](https://www.microsoft.com/en-\nus/p/ubuntu/9nblggh4msv6).\n\n------\n50ckpuppet\nEmbrace Extend Extinguish\n\n------\ngowld\nEvery dollar and every minute of attention you give to proprietary software,\nhurts open source.\n\n------\n1996\nDear new corporate overlord, if you want to disprove this, please invest in\nwine!\n\nIt is an alternative option that would yield great dividends for both linux\nand windows user. win32 binaries are just more multiplatform that .net/uwp/the\nnext shiny new thing you will try and fail to spin.\n\n~~~\nTomMarius\nI think they want to go the HyperV route for this purpose, wine is not really\nthe solution a company like Microsoft would choose (based on their business\nneeds). HyperV based hybrid desktop seems to be much easier to develop,\nmaintain, sell etc.\n\n~~~\n1996\nEasier, maybe, but it will not succeed. hyperv will be the next big shiny\nthing to fail.\n\nMeanwhile, wine keep my old binaries useful - and will keep them long after\nuwp or whatever shades into obscurity.\n\n~~~\nTomMarius\nI kind of agree with you, but that does not change anything about it being the\nstrategy of choice for Microsoft\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWalking Dream – single-player adventure game for the Oculus Quest - simonpure\nhttp://walkingdre.am/\n======\ngfaure\nThe most interesting thing here for me is the use of redirected walking\n([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redirected_walking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redirected_walking)).\nI saw the video accompanying the paper but this would be the first game I've\nseen try to use it.\n\n~~~\ngwillen\nI will be very curious what the minimum area requirement for the game is. I\ncan't imagine redirected walking being very convincing in the Quest's minimum\n6.5 x 6.5 ft square.\n\n~~~\ntrsohmers\nI've played around in Tea For God ([https://sidequestvr.com/app/65/tea-for-\ngod-under-development](https://sidequestvr.com/app/65/tea-for-god-under-\ndevelopment)) which does this on the quest, and it works really well, and I\ndidn't even use the full 6.5'x6.5' (in my case ~6'x4') possible. Within a\nminute I lost all sense of where I was in the real world.\n\n~~~\njmiskovic\nTea For God does not use redirected walking. It procedurally adopts game space\nto available room space, and uses clever mechanisms like non-euclidian\ngeometry and various elevators to allow for huge worlds. Still, movement is\n1:1 mapped between room and game.\n\nRedirected walking means distorting the mapping when moving or rotating, to\nfit any game world into limited playing space. In research it's always applied\nin larger spaces, x5 times bigger than living rooms. If you distort moving or\nturning too much, users lose balance or become nauseous.\n\nHere's a decent intro paper. 15 Years of Research on Redirected Walking in\nImmersive Virtual Environments\n[https://illusioneering.cs.umn.edu/papers/nilsson-\ncga2018.pdf](https://illusioneering.cs.umn.edu/papers/nilsson-cga2018.pdf)\n\n------\nsxp\n> Conrad was ... the author of several technical books, including the classic\n> \"Land of Lisp\".\n\nThat book has very interesting art. I hope he brings that style to the game. I\nhope he does something strange like implement the game in Lisp and use some\nsort of self-modifying game engine.\n\n> Walking Dream, on the other hand, is built on a brand new combat engine with\n> a rich weapons crafting system. This system is shared by both the player as\n> well as the many enemies, and turns each battle into a completely novel\n> experience, requiring completely novel strategies at every encounter!\n\n~~~\ntazjin\nI immediately recognised the Land of Lisp art style - looking forward to\ntrying this. On a side note, this is one of the few things where I would\n_like_ to be able to sign up for a newsletter.\n\n~~~\nandybak\n> On a side note, this is one of the few things where I would like to be able\n> to sign up for a newsletter.\n\nHow does one solve the \"tell me about this in a few weeks/months when you\nlaunch\" without email notification?\n\nThere's no reliable way to notify someone via Twitter or Facebook. Timelines\nare too noisy and there's no mass private messaging APIs.\n\nI love my email but I've noticed that projects and products are beginning to\nappear that shun email communication totally.\n\nI nagged a few projects into starting a simple list via Google Forms because I\nknew I wouldn't notice when they launched any other way. But \"Me nagging\"\ndoesn't seem very scalable.\n\n------\nmrfusion\nThe developer posted more information on Reddit and goes into details in\nredirected walking.\n\n[https://pay.reddit.com/r/OculusQuest/comments/hlyp0o/walking...](https://pay.reddit.com/r/OculusQuest/comments/hlyp0o/walking_dream_an_rpg_for_the_oculus_quest_with/)\n\n------\nmark_l_watson\nI can’t wait. Conrad is into so many interesting things. A few years ago he\ngave a video talk to my local blockchain meetup.\n\nThe Quest is my favorite toy/leisure activity device. Can’t wait!\n\n------\nstephen_cagle\nNot directly related, but I just finished \"Half Life: Alyx\" yesterday. It is\nexceptional. I can't believe it is running on the same Rift hardware I bought\nyears ago. They have just figured out how to do so many things correctly in\nthat game. Sorry about the tangent, just can't recommend it enough.\n\n------\nkierenj\nWould love to see a newsletter signup form. Sounds great but I'm not sure I'll\nremember it. And I can't trust The Great Algorithms to plop this at the top of\nany feed..\n\n------\nmrfusion\nRedirected walking is what I’m most excited about. You get another whole level\nof realism when you can just walk endlessly through VR.\n\nI tried tea for god on the quest and I was sold on it. It’s the future of VR\nIMO.\n\n------\nmatty22\nI don't see anywhere where it says _where_ it will be released. I assume\nSideQuest?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow do you recall and apply insights from non-fiction books? - dwightgunning\nI really enjoy books about human behaviour and how the mind works. For instance, I&#x27;m currently reading Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.<p>As is often the case with these types of books, I get the feeling I&#x27;m not absorbing the content as well as I could or should be. I struggle to see when or how I can apply many of the insights in my day to day life. This seems like a missed opportunity.<p>I&#x27;m curious if anybody has any advice to get more out of these types of books?<p>Maybe I need to should be taking notes, writing summaries, creating flash cards &#x2F; cheetsheets, or something along those lines. What has worked well for you?\n======\ntjr\nI usually make pencil marks (a star, underlining, boxes, etc.) in a book as I\nread it, to notate things I found especially interesting. Generally I will\nthen also write a summary of the book, rewriting what I learned in a mixture\nof my own words and quotes from the book.\n\n~~~\ndwightgunning\nI read on a kindle so the physical underlining is tricky. I guess I could try\nusing the digital highlighter.\n\nI think I will definitely try writing a summary of Thinking Fast and Slow, and\nsee how that goes.\n\n------\nddingus\nMy goto in this is to read the book, and when something relevant comes up,\nstop.\n\nThink on whatever it is and run through related experiences and model\npossible, alternative outcomes, given whatever insight is at hand.\n\nThe way to remember in an enduring way is to make connections. For that to\nhappen, you must invoke what you know.\n\nSimulation and extrapolation are two great ways to do this.\n\nAffirmation, as in \"that's why it happened as it did\" is good too, but is also\neasily forgotten.\n\nExtrapolation and simulation make much deeper, enduring connections, and those\nare what you seek. With this effort will come a genuine change in, or\nexpansion on your perspective. There will also come decisions too. Perspective\nchanges are not always a net positive. You need to give the insight enough\nconsideration to judge this.\n\nExtrapolation can be near future events too. Model them, get your expected\noutcomes and what drives them clear, then refactor with that insight. Compare\nto your past or others experiences where possible.\n\nDoes it make sense outside the context in which it was presented? Does it\ncontradict that which you hold dear? Why? Is it self consistent? All of these\nand more will play out for you during this investment of time and thought.\n\nIt can be very helpful to do this with others too. Group model, simulate,\nextrapolate then reassess what makes sense.\n\nMost of the things in those books come down to a handful of words, phrases,\nideas. The book is there for context and comprehension, as well as drama to\nget you through to exposure.\n\nYour own context is where the value is, and the work to realize that can often\nbe done on a live chat with friends, standing in line, at the bar, etc...\n\nRealization does take some human time. That is where the really good stuff is.\n\nMy best improvements have come from these activities and some new ideas to\nprocess and understand what they mean in my context, not just the context in\nwhich they were presented.\n\nDon't pick up the book again, until you have processed these things. A very\ngood indicator is a sense of new motivation or urgency related to something\nyou normally would take as it comes. When you feel that, continue, and it\nshould become more resonant, and when it does, consider action then.\n\nDoing this is also a great bullshit or flash in the pan filter. Shiny things\ncan cost us. Should they remain shiny after handling them for a while, chance\nof real value is improved.\n\nSo handle it. Try to rub the shine off, pick at the seams, find the edges,\npoke, prod and work to see what it is you have really got.\n\nYou won't forget that so easily. You may also find connected thoughts and\nideas too. These can have more value than the insight.\n\nI will carry one of these ideas around for some time. Quick is not always\ngood. A genuine insight can take some time, days, maybe weeks even, to play\nout.\n\nOf course, this does then bring up how to understand what is a waste of time\nand what is not.\n\nNo answer for you there. There is genuine risk in all things. You can abandon\na book that does not yield net improvements, but only after internalizing\nenough to understand.\n\n~~~\ndwightgunning\n> Realization does take some human time. That is where the really good stuff\n> is.\n\n> My best improvements have come from these activities and some new ideas to\n> process and understand what they mean in my context, not just the context in\n> which they were presented.\n\nI guess that's really the nut of it.\n\nThank you.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe limit of The Semantic Web  - jmorin007\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_limit_of_The_Semantic_Web\n======\nkarzeem\nThere's a grain of an argument somewhere in there, but the writing is\nastoundingly unclear and confusing. It needs a serious overhaul.\n\n~~~\nbsaunder\nYeah, it felt like I was reading a SCIgen paper\n(<http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/>).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nOne man feeds Western Media on Syria  - jdmitch\nhttp://bigstory.ap.org/article/england-one-man-feeds-western-media-syria\n\n======\nJugurtha\nOne man feeds western media on Syria .. That's one hell of a fast-food: The\nMedia doesn't even bother digesting it, but they don't forget to wipe with\nnews-papers they produce and throw them to readers.\n\nIt's apparently a sport practised at the highest levels of Office. Kerry\napparently will be featured on CSI with his \"Sarin\" hair samples he pulled out\nof I don't know where...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: I versus We - maguay\n\nWhen writing a post, newsletter, or really anything for your site, startup, or freelance job where you're the only author/worker/employee, is it best to use I or We?  I struggle with whether to use <i>I</i> or <i>we</i> in blog posts when I'm the only writer on the site.  On other sites I write for, I use we always, but on my own where there's no other person for the <i>we</i>, it seems odd.<p>Thoughts, Opinions?  What do you usually do?\n======\nhighlander\nIf it seems odd, don't do it. If you're the only person, I think it's fine\njust to use 'I'.\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majestic_plural> ;)\n\n'In a frequently-repeated story, United States Navy Admiral Hyman G. Rickover\ntold a subordinate who used the royal we: \"Three groups are permitted that\nusage: pregnant women, royalty, and schizophrenics. Which one are you?\"'\n\n~~~\nmaguay\nThanks ... that looks like the link I needed :)\n\nAnd the quote that (possibly) comes from Mark Twain is great, too: \"Only\nkings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use\nthe editorial 'we.'\"\n\nPerhaps it's the _editors_ part where bloggers get the idea to use _we_ on\neverything...\n\n------\nRiderOfGiraffes\nIn addition to the comments already made about sounding personal, pregnant\nwomen, royalty, and the schizophrenic, sometimes I use \"we\" to mean \"us both -\nyou, the reader, and me, the author.\" With that in mind, some places where\n\"we\" would otherwise sound wrong suddenly become normal/sensible/reasonable.\n\n~~~\nmaguay\nAh, very good point. _We've_ all experienced situations where this would be\ntrue ;)\n\n------\nfreerobby\nUse \"I\" when you want to convey something personal; use \"we\" when you want to\nconvey unity, mutual empathy or some other connection with your team and\naudience. If it's a close call, a good rule of thumb is to think hard and be\nhonest -- are you referring to yourself or to your team?\n\nExamples:\n\n1) I'd say \"I deeply apologize\" rather than \"we deeply apologize\" when I want\nto be clear about owning responsibility for a corporate failure without hiding\nbehind our corporate outfit.\n\n2) I'd say \"We're excited to launch...\" to convey a team's hard work,\ndedication and excitement.\n\n3) I'd say \"We all hate having to do foo. That's why we created bar!\" to show\nmutual empathy with our audience and convey that we are trying to solve a\nproblem that \"we\" all have.\n\nThese tips mostly come from a public speaking class that I took, but they've\nserved me very well for writing copy.\n\n------\njonschwartz\nAnother school of thought on this is if you're trying to look bigger than you\nare, which alot of startups do, \"we\" might be more appropriate.\n\n~~~\nmaguay\nRight, and that's exactly why I've had some tell me to use _we_ in articles\nand other copywriting. But it just doesn't really feel appropriate always ...\nif you're just one guy writing a blog, seems like you should make it sound\nthat way. I do see the value in projecting the bigger image, but sometimes it\nseems like down-to-earthness can go a long ways too...\n\n~~~\nSemiapies\n\"Bigger images\" go both ways - you can find yourself held to standards and\nprey to expectations that you don't want.\n\nI've seen this a lot in hobby industries - guys working out of a tiny rented\nspace in a office park find themselves wondering why their customers think\nthey're a big company with a lot of money. This is inevitably due to their\ntrying to look \"professional\", which tends to be a mingling of actual\nprofessionalism and aping the promotional styles of larger companies.\n\n------\nzalew\nIf you use 'we', better have a good answer when someone asks who else works\nwith you or you'll seem douchy. I don't see anything wrong in using 'we' if\nyou have coworkers, even if they're remote or work occasionally on demand. If\nyou're completely on your own, use 'I'.\n\nHowever, I've heard anectodes about one-man/woman businesses where a person\nfakes there's more people in the office. Seems dumb but sometimes it's needed\nand they had success with it, I don't think it suits your case though :)\n\n------\ngintas\nI try to use \"I\" whenever possible. It makes the message more personal and\ninvites comments and replies. \"We\" is best when talking about collective\ndecisions.\n\n------\nalexophile\nIt depends a lot on the perception you're trying to create. I can't find it\nnow, but there was an article a while back that spoke to the benefits of\nhaving a dedicated identity for your billing department. In short, it helps to\nseparate the you that negotiates contracts and produces from the you that asks\nfor the money. Of course, if you were doing something like this, you would\nwant to make sure you used the plural.\n\n------\nxiongchiamiov\nI was reading a post from SmartBear the other day that touches upon this:\n[http://blog.asmartbear.com/how-to-get-customers-who-love-\nyou...](http://blog.asmartbear.com/how-to-get-customers-who-love-you-even-\nwhen-you-screw-up.html)\n\n------\nXurinos\nI use \"we\" when I refer to my target audience and me or when I am speaking for\nmy group. \"We\" is always plural. I sense a dishonesty when it is used to\ncreate groups of people that do not exist, to imply numbers when there is only\none.\n\n------\neftpotrm\nThis may well be a habit inherited from my start in a very small organisation\nwhere I was in charge of anything electronic, regardless of how much it looked\nlike a computer, but....\n\nI find when I'm describing a project I've done to anyone outside the\norganisation (and quite often inside, too), I almost always use We\nautomatically. I may have done it but I did it on behalf (and frequently under\nthe direction) of the organisation - it is an achievement and an asset for the\norganisation and should be credited as such.\n\n------\nefsavage\nI think it depends on the attribution. If I see I, but no personal name, it\nseems weird. If there's a name, and we is used, it should be clear who the\nother people are.\n\n------\nrlpb\nIt's all about emphasis.\n\nEvery sentence in my copy has a reason to be there, and the I/We thing isn't\nit. As it's important to not detract from the real message, I try and use what\nI think the reader might expect. This stops the reader from putting too much\nimportance into my word selection on a point that I didn't intend to\nemphasize.\n\nSo I use both, depending on the context (although I'm sloppy unless I'm\nwriting copy).\n\n------\nT_S_\nOne often thinks of the word \"I\" when one stumbles upon Martha Stewart on\ntelevision. The rate at which she uses the word is remarkable. One can't help\nbut believe its uses is intentional or at least consistent with her marketing\nstrategy. Has anyone else noticed this? Or, are we being overly sensitive as\nwe quickly change the channel, resolving to use the word less often than\nMartha?\n\n------\nlandhar\nThis article makes an attempt at illustrating that more often thant not, using\nthe first-person-singular can also be an indicator of respect and boundary-\nmaintenance to others:\n\n<http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2533>\n\n------\nwidgetycrank\nKeep in mind that if you decide to hire people later on, you may have to go\nthrough your site/app and change every instance of \"I\" to \"we\". :)\n\n------\nzoomzoom\nMy writing teachers never let us use \"I\" in high school, because it is\nconsidered poor form by most grammar purists.\n\n~~~\nalextgordon\nWhat an odd thing for them to say. \"I\" is one of the most common words in the\nEnglish language. I very much doubt even _grammar purists_ would recommend\nagainst it. What's next? \"'The' is considered harmful\"?\n\n~~~\nalexophile\nI think the gp was in reference to writing academically, in which case it is\noften inappropriate to use 'I' as you should be writing in more absolute\nterms. I never did like that, though, as it makes your writing sound\nstructurally dismissive of alternative viewpoints.\n\n~~~\nandrewce\nIt also leads to passive voice, which is sometimes appropriate (\"Then three\ncubic centimeters of goat bile were added to the solution\"; ideally, anyone\nshould be able to perform this experiment, and the experimenter is out of the\npicture entirely), but in general, I agree with you.\n\nThe mental trick is to append \"I think\" to the beginning of every sentence and\nhope that that works.\n\nAlso: using the \"I\" opens up the argumentum ad hominem, which can focus\ncriticism into uncomfortable territory (\"Goat bile shouldn't have been added\nuntil after the solution was brought to a boil!\", versus \"You shouldn't have\nadded goat bile until....\" One of those is a bit more likely to be taken\npersonally (albeit by someone with thin skin, perhaps as a result of too much\nexposure to goat bile)).\n\n------\nedw519\nNeither.\n\nFind a way to restructure the sentence to use \"you\".\n\nIt's about your audience, not yourself.\n\n~~~\nprotomyth\nMy brother when he was in college had a writing instructor that said if a\nstudent used \"you\" in a paper then they better buy her flowers.\n\n~~~\nkls\nWell that is because collage papers are supposed to be written in third person\nto remove biasing the user by framing them in the situation. You are also not\nsupposed to use, I, we, or us. You should never refer to the reader, author or\nresearcher as an entity in of personal reference. In academic papers you are\nproviding information not framing a story to build character development. It\ncan seem kind of steril but it is done for a reason. That said, in the real\nworld, you generally want to bias the hell out of the reader. Patio11 made a\nsuggestion on a article once in which he suggested flipping all the we's of\nthe article to you. I went back and reworked some marketing material I had to\nreflect that suggestion and was amazed at how compelling the once boring text\nbecame. The reason was simple it framed the reader in the conversation.\n\n------\npbhjpbhj\n>What do you usually do?\n\nOne struggles to decide.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHouse Opens Inquiry into Proposed U.S. Nuclear Venture in Saudi Arabia - noobermin\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/19/us/politics/trump-saudi-arabia-nuclear-power.html\n======\ngwbas1c\nArticle without paywall: [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-\ncanada-47296641](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47296641)\n\n------\nmcintyre1994\nI'm not going to pretend to understand all the moving pieces here, but this is\nfascinating because it sounds like the root conspiracy being alleged by the\n\"Mueller, she wrote\" podcast from the few episodes I've heard so far. It'll be\ninteresting to see what comes out of this and if they've actually somehow\npieced it together.\n\n------\ntome\nIs controversial international politics _really_ what we want to read about on\nHN?\n\n~~~\ntoomuchtodo\n\"On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes\nmore than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the\nanswer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity.\"\n\n~~~\nbuzzerbetrayed\nThat was some very selective pasting.\n\n\"Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're\nevidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters,\nor cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-\ntopic.\"\n\n~~~\ntoomuchtodo\nOne person's algorithm research paper is another person's global public\npolicy. How the macro geopolitical world works interests me. Hit \"hide\"\ninstead of \"comments\" or \"discuss\" and move on please (intended as politely as\npossible if tone was ambiguous).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFederal Judge Says Embedding a Tweet Can Be Copyright Infringement - ad_hominem\nhttps://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/02/federal-judge-says-embedding-tweet-can-be-copyright-infringement\n======\nsfifs\nThe ruling actually seems very reasonable. Someone took a photo and posted it\non his social media account. The platform license on those accounts presumably\nallows others to share as fair use\n\nSome for profit media companies then used the photo in their content without\nlicensing hiding behind a technicality of it being served from a third party\nserver and got stomped by the court.\n\nPresumably if the story was an artistic criticism of the photo or described\nthe photo, they would have been safe under fair use.\n\n~~~\nDeregibus\nThe photographer didn’t post the image on Twitter, someone else who presumably\ndidn’t have a license to do so did. The sites then embedded that other\nperson’s tweet.\n\nIf it had be the photographer that posted the tweet then the media companies\nwould have been in the clear AFAIK since part of Twitter’s TOS allows for\nembeds.\n\nThis ruling doesn’t make a ton of sense assuming the media companies were\nacting in good faith. If they knew that the image was copyrighted and the\nTwitter user didn’t have the rights to post the image but embedded it anyway\nin an attempt To get around the copyright on a technicality then this seems\nmore reasonable.\n\n~~~\nDannyBee\nIAAL\n\nIn general, outside of any safe harbors, you are responsible for infringement\nwhen you republish something, even if it was by accident.\n\nIE if i reprint a newspaper article that fucked up and didn't clear an image,\ni am also a copyright infringer[1]\n\nThe main thing that makes this not true on the web is the DMCA safe harbor for\nhosting third party content (which is inapplicable in this context).\n\nThis ruling, IMHO, is completely and totally consistent with every copyright\nruling i've ever seen about republication.\n\n[1] The circumstances in which you would have an innocent infringement defense\nwould be something like: you having licensed, from the newspaper, the right\nthe republish, and mistakenly, but reasonably, believed that they had the\nright to license you the image.\n\n~~~\nnprecup\nBut in this case the media companies are not the ones publishing the photo,\nTwitter is. The embedded data was never produced or even passed through their\nservers. It is loaded directly from Twitter.\n\n~~~\nDannyBee\nSo, this is basically a technical argument based on a technical implementation\ndetail. These mostly are considered irrelevant and frequently fail (see, e.g.,\nnapster et al)\n\nIt's true, fwiw, the ninth circuit did reject visual incorporation tests in\nfavor of a physical transmission test. This is, IMHO, silly, and only some\ncourts have chosen to follow it.\n\n~~~\nmcbits\nIt seems like more than an implementation detail to me. If Twitter receives a\nDMCA notice and deletes the image, it will immediately be deleted from all of\nthe sites embedding it. When the publishing, distribution, and unpublishing\nare entirely under someone else's control, it's really hard to justify\ntreating a link as infringement.\n\nBTW I know you're talking about the way judges actually tend to interpret\nthese things. I'm talking about the way they would interpret things if they\nhad any sense.\n\nWith your ebook example, if the ebook \"auto-loaded and displayed that content\nfor the user\" then you're describing something completely different from what\nhappens when a site links to a tweet. It's more like if the ebook reader\nparses \"Encyclopedia Britannica volume B, page 38\" whenever it appears in any\nebook and embeds the contents itself. If Encyclopedia Britannica is violating\nsomeone's copyright on that page, it's just crazy to hold the ebook publisher\nliable.\n\n~~~\nDeregibus\nThe sites aren’t linking to a tweet, they’re embedding them. There’s a\ndifference of intent between a plain old <a> link to a tweet’s URL, and the\nfull set of tags, scripts, and configuration used to embed a tweet inline with\nyour page. It would be unreasonable to hold you accountable for a simple link\nif I had a browser plugin that automatically converted them into embeds, but\nif you used the twitter markup such that they would be rendered as embeds on\nany standards compliant browser that’s a different story.\n\n~~~\nmcbits\nEmbedding, a.k.a. hotlinking, a.k.a. transclusion is just another type of\nlinking. Any of those terms would work just as well in my comment because they\nall share the property that the content is being published by someone else.\n\nBut there isn't much of a difference between hotlinks and anchor links in this\ndiscussion anyway, since sites (e.g. Google, Pirate Bay) also face legal\nliability for simple anchor links to copyrighted works. Just Google \"[any\npopular book] pdf\" and read the DMCA blurb at the bottom of the results.\n\n~~~\nrayiner\nBut technically they’re not the same. Like, if you were to describe the DOM\nnodes generated in response to a hyperlink versus an embed tag, they’d be\nquite different, right?\n\n------\nbo1024\n(Armchair copyrighting ahead.) This case, which is apparently about\n\"embedding\", raises some questions about the line between linking to\ninfringing content and hosting it.\n\nI feel it is clear (apparently unlike the judges) that linking cannot possibly\nviolate copyright while hosting content without permission does.\n\nI'm not clear technically what this article means by \"embedding\". I think the\ninteresting blurry lines are when page A contains code from page B (say as a\nframe), and the code loads infringing content.\n\nI wonder if this situation should be subject to DMCA \"safe harbor\" provisions,\nwhich are what protect Twitter, YouTube, etc. from liability for user-uploaded\ninfringements as long as they take them down upon request.\n\nBut in general, I tend to think the responsibility should fall on page A for\ncontent that it serves to users, even if indirectly by loading third-party\ncode....\n\n------\nISL\nAs I read the article, it sounds like a more-accurate headline would be\n\"Federal Judge Says Embedding an Infringing Tweet Can Be Copyright\nInfringement\".\n\n~~~\ndjsumdog\nBut if you were commenting on or critiquing the photo or the narrative around\nit ... wouldn't that be fair use?\n\n------\nk_sh\nYikes - this is bad. Criminalizing embeds (and hyperlinks, it sounds like?) is\na swing at the jugular for the Internet.\n\n~~~\nzipwitch\nWorse, it is teaching a generation (or more) that our justice system is stupid\nand broken. That in turn erodes ideas like rule of law that a essential to\nmodern civilization.\n\n~~~\ncraftyguy\n> Worse, it is teaching a generation (or more) that our justice system is\n> stupid and broken\n\nWell, you wouldn't be wrong for coming to this conclusion (source: this\nruling, and more!)\n\n> That in turn erodes ideas like rule of law that a essential to modern\n> civilization.\n\nNot necessarily. Our implementation of this is essentially flawed, but that\ndoesn't mean all possible implementations of rule of law are flawed as badly.\nI would hope that this would inspire change, but people are inherently against\nchange so at the end of the day you are probably correct.\n\n~~~\nhelthanatos\nThe only direction people really want to change in is socially. They focus all\ntheir attention on social issues and poverty and taxes. The _actual_ laws\ndon't want to be touched by anyone. We have very poor and contradictory laws\nand decisions with regards to new technology. The people in charge don't seem\nto understand the internet and internet-related rights.\n\n~~~\ncraftyguy\nYep, which is why our implementation is flawed. It allows folks who have no\nknowledge of certain topics to make and enforce laws that pertain to those\ntopics.\n\n~~~\nravenstine\nI know the solution: Just remove government officials who use the word\n\"cyber\".\n\n------\niakh\nSomebody help me out. Neither the article nor the quoted decision provides any\nrational as to how they jumped to linking would also be considered\ninfringement. From my reading, the argument is that the sites made a\nconscience effort to display a copywritten image, tweet or not. Help me\nunderstand why displaying the tweet that included the image should not be\ninfringement when displaying the image directly is.\n\n~~~\nbobwaycott\n> _... the sites made a conscience effort ..._\n\nI believe you mean the sites made a _conscious_ effort here.\n\n~~~\niakh\nThank you. Autocorrected\n\n------\nrayiner\nThe EFF write-up is quite misleading. The district court does a perfectly\nreasonable job of explaining the difference between a hyperlink and an embed\ntag, namely that the latter results in the content integrated into the webpage\ninstead of taking you to a separate site. Contrary to the EFF write up,\nfocusing on the “coder” is not misleading. The choice to embed a tweet versus\nlinking to a tweet is in fact what someone writing HTML code would make.\n\n~~~\nmar77i\n> The choice to embed a tweet versus linking to a tweet is in fact what\n> someone writing HTML code would make.\n\nDuh, HTML is code now?\n\nTell twitter to remove the feature, then.\n[http://socialmarketingwriting.com/wp-\ncontent/uploads/2013/09...](http://socialmarketingwriting.com/wp-\ncontent/uploads/2013/09/Embed-Tweet-Code-With-Preview.jpg)\n\n------\naresant\nYoutube, soundcloud, and other huge sharing platforms have all dealt with\ncopyright & infringement through a combination of:\n\n1) Easy takedown process DMCA\n\n2) Algorithmic content identification & blocking\n\nIs there a start-up that provides similar content moderation / blocking as a\nSAAS?\n\n------\nrebuilder\nWhat's the difference between a news org embedding a tweet containing a photo\nvs. embedding just a photo hosted by a third party?\n\n~~~\nBuge\nFrom a practical (not legal standpoint), the second one is has the possibility\nof going down due to too much traffic, or being replaced by obscene images.\n\n[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/28/cartoonist-\nthe...](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/28/cartoonist-the-oatmeal-\ntrolls-huffpo-over-images-published-sans-permission)\n\n------\nPica_soO\nDefinitely good for the lawyer business to turn more of society into a\nwarzone.\n\n------\nalsadi\nI was told that one can't copyright less than 3 lines.\n\n------\ndbuder\nHow is tweeting not considered putting it into the public domain, it's open\nbroadcast.\n\n~~~\nruytlm\nBecause being on the receiving end of a public broadcast does not give you the\nright to re-use the content. The content owner, for better or worse, typically\nretains the exclusive right to use or broadcast the content, regardless of how\nmany times it is broadcast.\n\nConsider older mediums; does broadcasting a TV show put it into the public\ndomain? Or playing a song on the radio?\n\n~~~\nmcbits\n> Consider older mediums; does broadcasting a TV show put it into the public\n> domain? Or playing a song on the radio?\n\nIn a sense, it does, yeah. It's just that copyright injects a century or so of\nlag time before members of the public domain are allowed to exercise their\nrights.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHow We Use Make - ianstormtaylor\nhttps://segment.com/blog/how-we-use-make/\n\n======\nseanwilson\nI avoid Make at all costs now if I can.\n\nMakefiles are far too difficult to read and write compared to alternatives in\nmy opinion when you're automating anything beyond a few simple tasks. You'll\ninevitably have tasks that require several lines of code, complex logic,\ndifferent settings for production, staging and development environments,\ncommon code that has to be shared between build steps etc. I find it difficult\nto make shell scripts robust and maintainable.\n\nI'd much rather use JavaScript's Gulp (especially if my project was using Node\nlike in the post) or Python's Fabric if possible.\n\n~~~\ndavexunit\nYou know that you could keep the make tasks simple and have them invoke\nexternal scripts that are written in the language of your choosing, right?\nBuilding a mound of spaghetti shell code in a single file isn't the only way\nto construct a Makefile.\n\n~~~\nseanwilson\nSure, but once you want to start sharing code between your external scripts\nand the Makefile, it makes a lot more sense to me to write it all in a single\nmore maintainable language.\n\n------\nbartbes\nIt's interesting how they list targets that have \"practically become a\nconvention\", yet they're missing \"all\".\n\nI'm also intrigued by their claim they used @ in the recipes, yet they never\ndid.\n\n~~~\nshazow\n> It's interesting how they list targets that have \"practically become a\n> convention\", yet they're missing \"all\".\n\nI think what he means is that their Makefiles effectively start having a\ncommon API across projects, by having similar target names.\n\nNo need to use \"all\" if you put the default target first (see `default`\nsubsection in the post).\n\n> I'm also intrigued by their claim they used @ in the recipes, yet they never\n> did.\n\nYea seems that got stripped out.\n\nStill, this is a good practical example for using a Makefile. I'm a fan of\nthis too.\n\n~~~\nbartbes\nI realise their standard probably doesn't include all, but it seems like the\nobvious choice. Maybe I've just been conditioned by autotools, but I think\nit's standard practice to have all be your default target.\n\n~~~\nshazow\n¯\\\\_(ツ)_/¯\n\nAs long as running `make` does the Right Thing, does it matter if it does it\nvia an `all` target or by defaulting to a different first target?\n\nI do agree that generally `all` is a common convention, though.\n\n~~~\nbartbes\nIt's really only relevant when specifying multiple targets, like 'make clean\nall', or the more common 'make all install'. It just seemed odd to me.\n\n~~~\nxyzzy_plugh\nWhy would you have `make all install' behave differently than `make install'?\nI'm imagining specifically when you have the install target present.\n\n~~~\nLeszek\nBecause `make all install` would first build, then install, while `make\ninstall` would just do the installation, regardless of build state.\n\n~~~\nwtallis\nWouldn't any sane install target depend on the build products it seeks to\ninstall, and consequently build before installing?\n\n------\ngkya\nMay be selective perception, but I have seen a rather uncommon increase of\nsubmissions regarding make here nowadays. Have I missed something?\n\n~~~\nexogen\nI think it's a reaction to there being a new build system announced fairly\nfrequently. A while ago I actually started writing up a \"Make for web\ndevelopment\" tutorial file similar to Isaac's gist (linked in the article). At\nleast for me, seeing new systems announced over and over again – especially\nthe ones where you're writing JS functions to build stuff instead of shell\ncommands – just makes me want to spread the \"just use Make\" word even more.\n\n------\nraverbashing\nMake manages dependencies\n\nYes, 70's era Unix tools are not the most friendly, but there's still a lot of\nuses to Make (as opposed to Autotools)\n\nYou can actually build a Make file to solve any DAG, written as dependencies,\nor use its tools to not rebuilt your whole project when only one file has\nchanged\n\n------\nMichaelMoser123\ni have a makefile/make system that uses gnu make macros;\n\n(here\n[http://mosermichael.github.io/cstuff/all/projects/2011/06/17...](http://mosermichael.github.io/cstuff/all/projects/2011/06/17/make-\nsystem.html) )\n\nthis saves you from repeating the same make constructs many times over, in the\nfollowing example you do a static library and executable.\n\n    \n    \n      1: TOPDIR=../..\n      2:\n      3: # - declare build targets. (built with make)\n      4: TARGETS:=shlib slibuser\n      5: \n      6: # - slib target is a static library -\n      7: shlib_TYPE=lib\n      8: shlib_SRC=slib.c\n      9:\n      10:\n      11: # - slibuser target is a executable using slib -\n      12: slibuser_TYPE=exe\n      13: slibuser_SRC=slibuser.c slibuser2.c slibuser3.c\n      14: slibuser_LIBS=shlib\n      15:\n      16: include $(TOPDIR)/rules.make\n\n~~~\nccoggins\nThis is similar to how it was done on a project I recently worked on. It\nworked well enough on a project that built about 300 libraries and 200\nexecutable. It also made it really easy to add new things.\n\n------\ntoolslive\nIt's amazing how far apart evaluations can be. Even something like `Make` has\npeople who love it, and people that eschew it. Moreover, both camps contain\nvery rational, intelligent people. I wonder why.\n\n------\njcoffland\nIt seems like the kids these days would rather write a completely new tool\nthan just learn the basics of Make.\n\n~~~\nPeaker\nI learned Make, but it is just a terrible tool:\n\nA) It is a 2-phase build system (read DAG, traverse DAG) whereas code\ngeneration requires an N-phase build system (build some files, detect more\ndependencies, build more files, ...)\n\nB) It has no way to express dependencies on the inexistence of files (#include\n\"foo.h\" will behave differently if the first search directory in the include\npath starts also featuring a \"foo.h\", but this cannot be specified),\nnecessarily meaning that incremental build become incorrect in various\ncircumstances\n\nC) It does mtime-newer check, rather than mtime-equal check. This has numerous\nproblems with various file systems.\n\nD) It does not check the mtime did not change _during_ a build, effectively\nallowing the build tree to be poisoned with an incorrect build result. For\nexample, edit foo.c _while_ foo.o is being compiled from it. foo.o can be\ncorrect w.r.t old foo.c, but its mtime suggests it is newer than the current\nfoo.c. All incremental builds thus become incorrect.\n\nIn short, make doesn't try hard enough to be a _correct_ build system, and it\nis also _inflexible_.\n\nThis is why I wrote `buildsome`[1], where I resolve all these issues and more.\n\nbuildsome is only tailored for our needs at the moment, so can only build on\nLinux, and not on OS X or Windows.\n\n[1]\n[https://github.com/Elastilotem/buildsome](https://github.com/Elastilotem/buildsome)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGermany Calls for European Firewall Against U.S. Sanctions - jtangelder\nhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/germany-calls-for-european-firewall-against-u-s-sanctions-11577459502\n======\njplayer01\nThis is all about German politicians who've been bought out by Russian\ninterests trying to protect their pet project(s). Speaking as a German, the\nfact that Germany would rather deal with and be reliant on a country like\nRussia is, frankly, insane and incredibly shameful. It's as if Ukraine didn't\nhappen, nor Russian interference of elections across the Western world. For\nall the bad that the US does, at least they don't invade and annex European\ncountries, and try to undermine European politics.\n\n~~~\nmschuster91\n> For all the bad that the US does, at least they don't invade and annex\n> European countries, and try to undermine European politics.\n\nAnother German here. I find Putin and Russia absolutely revolting, but that\nlast part is utter propaganda. The US has meddled in European politics for\ndecades - just take Trump's stupid whining against BMW or Bush/Obama's\ncomplaints about NATO budget or us Germans not joining the fun in Iraq.\n\n~~~\nsyshum\n>>just take Trump's stupid whining against BMW\n\nI can not find anything current but if you are talking about his statements on\nthe MX plant, he does that to every Manufacturer that sell items in the US but\ndoes not manufacturer them here (at least in part).\n\nTrump is a nationalist and loves protectionism, he believes that Products sold\nin the US should be made in the US. Thus BMW building a plant in Mexico to\nsell cars to the US goes against what he wants which is a US Factory employing\nUS Workers. He has done the same to other Auto companies including both Ford\nand GM\n\n>> Bush/Obama's complaints about NATO budget\n\nUmm a large number of Presidents have complained about the other nations not\npaying their fair share into NATO as part of the agreements all nations\nsigned, Germany does not spend enough of thier GDP on NATO, instead the US has\nto disproportionately fund world defense...\n\nThen we get to be lectured by the EU about why we do not have Universal\nHealthcare which in part because we need to spend soo much on world defense\nbecause the other nations refuse to\n\n~~~\npgeorgi\n> he believes that Products sold in the US should be made in the US.\n\nLet's ensure that software and media sold in Europe are made in Europe. (not\nthat Trump minds: both hit California for the most part and he doesn't care\nabout CA)\n\n> Germany does not spend enough of their GDP on NATO, instead the US has to\n> disproportionately fund world defense\n\nAnd now that the EU is planning a defense fund (which will help on that\nparticular front, and also improve EU's capabilities so that there's less\nreal-or-perceived reliance on the US) the US complains again because they\ndon't get to sell their crap overseas.\n\nHypocrites.\n\n------\nH8crilA\nIt is beyond me for the German state to call for \"EU unity\" because of a\nproject that is essentially a huge \"fuck you\" to Eastern Europe. If anything\nthe EU should back the US sanctions to protect unity, as weird as it sounds.\n\n------\npraptak\nThis particular case is pretty bad for getting EU to unite.\n\nNordstream is contentious within EU too - it's basically a way for Russia to\nthreaten Poland with the gas cutoff without endangering their business with\nGermany.\n\n------\njtangelder\nFull article at Reddit:\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/egorb9/comment/fc82...](https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/egorb9/comment/fc82ydj)\n\n------\nConsiderCrying\nOpenly calling for cooperation with Russia and China, of all places, should be\npolitical suicide. But it seems like the message of 'let's protect ourselves\nfrom /insert boogeyman/' still works well enough to muddy public opinion.\n\nThe sanctions are there for a reason and saying that you need protection\nagainst them is like saying 'well, they did a bad thing and got a slap on the\nwrist, the obvious conclusion is to keep doing bad things but fend off the\nslaps'.\n\n------\nkoksik202\nSince US is starting to be a supplier of gas to Central European counties such\nas Poland via the gas carrying vessels and some countries trying to gain\nenergy independence from Russia it becomes an interest of US not to lose the\nnewly acquired buyers of their gas. Then it is problematic for countries like\nGermany that they can't boost the import because of US interference\n\n------\nrichliss\nThe disrespect that Germany is showing the US is mind boggling. The US being\npart of NATO is the greatest deal the other countries have ever\nsigned/received. The US spends nearly $700 Billion per year compared to\nGermany’s nearly $56 Billion per year on its military.\n\nThe US needs to start sending ultimatums - you are either part of NATO and\ntherefore don’t enrich Russia by buying their resources and pay your fair\nshare (2%) at the very least or we’re going to pull out of NATO and have a\ntreaty with just Estonia, Greece, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Britain who\nall meet the treaty conditions of 2% and don’t whine.\n\nIf NATO ended and Germany had to build up and army capable of defending itself\nagainst Russia it would cost way more than 2% per year.\n\nAll Europeans need to understand the financial burden US tax payers meet to\nkeep us safe. I think the Brits realise how important it is and the Poles and\nthe Baltic’s do because they know what it’s like to live under Russian\nmilitary fear.\n\n~~~\nYouden\n> The US spends nearly $700 Billion per year compared to Germany’s nearly $56\n> Billion per year on its military.\n\nThe US spends that much by choice, not necessity.\n\n> All Europeans need to understand the financial burden US tax payers meet to\n> keep us safe.\n\nSafe from what? The US military hasn't fought to protect anybody since WWII\nand there's frankly no realistic threat that Europe needs to be protected\nfrom. The EU already spends three times as much on its military as Russia and\ntwo (soon to be one) EU members are nuclear states.\n\n~~~\nTazeTSchnitzel\nAnd the US's recent meddling in the Middle East arguably made things “worse”\nin Europe, if the large number of refugees is to be considered a problem.\n\n------\netaioinshrdlu\nThe politics on this issue seem quite confusing. It might point to a lot of\ninternal infighting within the politics of both Europe and the US.\n\n~~~\nTomte\nWhile Nord Stream 2 is obviously beneficial to Germany (cheaper gas than from\nthe US), there are two totally different interests working against the\nproject:\n\n* The Eastern European states (and especially Ukraine) want Germany to rely on pipelines going through their countries, so that Germany – as a big player – can be relied on to be working with those states when there is a conflict with Russia. (I find that interest well-founded and a debatable reason to refrain from building the pipeline)\n\n* The United States want Germany to buy more (liquefied) gas from them. Quite a few gas terminals have been built in recent years, and America is keen on selling its oil to Europe, because with all that fracking they aim to be a primary supplier of gas in the world. (I do not consider that a valid reason, and if it were the only one, Nord Stream 2 would be a no-brainer, in my opinion).\n\nIt's all been complicated even further by Germany rushing this along without\nconsulting (or at least not diplomatically working with) other EU member\nstates, including France, which likes to put its foot down, since Germany is\nthe big rival (and now that the UK is gone, the only real rival on the\nEuropean stage).\n\n------\nchestermacwerth\nIt turns out that Germany has been adversarial toward the US throughout its\nhistory. This\"German call for European unity against the US\" is almost\nidentical to their opposition in the Spanish-American War.\n\n------\nsecondo\nWhen tariffs are used as a mechanism to create unfair advantages for US\nentities over foreign states’ instead of even pretending it’s under the veil\nof US freedom policy not even your old pals will put up with it.\n\n------\nHershelBronev\nsorry, I'm new in this social\n\n------\nHershelBronev\nI wanna know more about\n\n------\njokoon\nSometimes I wonder if the US and the EU are really friendly to each other.\n\n~~~\nhackeraccount\nProbably path dependence as much as anything else.\n\n------\nsyshum\nGermany's influence over the EU is one of the reasons Brexit Happened, and\nwill likely lead to more nations leaving the EU\n\n------\ntheredbox\nWe need the US to step in for Eastern Europe. We need a reliable partner that\nis at least very direct and honest about its interests unlike Germany that is\nall about german interests while preaching european unity and values.\nSeriously Germany has been destroying my part of Europe for way too long! No\nmore!\n\nI would rather deal with the american way of life than being forced to live\nthe german way.\n\n------\nGiorgi\nGermany sounds like corrupted shithole digging deep into Russians ass\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n“There is no market” for VR that requires you to dedicate a room - evo_9\nhttp://vrsource.com/gtas-strauss-zelnick-no-market-vr-1593/\n======\nJoeAltmaier\nBut lots of folks fixed up their family room/rumpus room for WII. I guess they\nmay be in the minority.\n\n~~~\nkinsho\nThe bulk of Wii games can be played from your couch.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: What tech stack do YC startups use? - johan_larson\nWhat tech stack do the YC software startups tend to use these days?<p>I&#x27;m going to guess Ruby on Rails, AWS, Angular.\n======\nnwenzel\nHere's a broader look at tech stacks used by startups on Angel List:\n[http://codingvc.com/which-technologies-do-startups-use-an-\nex...](http://codingvc.com/which-technologies-do-startups-use-an-exploration-\nof-angellist-data)\n\n~~~\ncageface\nLove this bit:\n\n _The likelihood that PHP is being used is strongly anti-correlated with\ncompany quality._\n\n~~~\ntroymc\nUnless you're Automattic (Wordpress.com). Or Acquia (Drupal).\n\n\"Acquia… today announced that its co-founder Dries Buytaert was named CTO of\nthe Year at the 2014 MassTLC Leadership Awards, hosted by the Massachusetts\nTechnology Leadership Council. Acquia led all companies with four finalists at\nthis year’s awards…\" [1]\n\nThose examples show that PHP _can_ be used, in a core way, by great technology\ncompanies.\n\n[1] [http://www.acquia.com/about-us/newsroom/press-\nreleases/dries...](http://www.acquia.com/about-us/newsroom/press-\nreleases/dries-buytaert-named-cto-year-massachusetts-technology-leadership)\n\n~~~\njayzalowitz\nMailchimp? Facebook? Saying php cant be used at a good startup is a bit like\nsaying you can't start a good company over 35.\n\n~~~\nbritknight\nCorrelation in not a death sentence. No one is saying it _can 't_ be used,\nmerely making a observation based on the gathered statistics.\n\n------\npbiggar\nRails. In w10, we were one of two non-rails users, though it seems that has\nchanged to larger diversity.\n\nMost YC companies use CircleCI, so we get to see some of the diversity. While\nI haven't got concrete stats on this, I think it leans slightly more heavily\nrails than usual (and usual is about 50%). Bear in mind that that's skewed in\nsome ways: if they were using C# for example they couldn't use us.\n\n~~~\ntel\nI thought you guys were using Clojure?\n\n~~~\nKiro\nWhat makes you think they are not?\n\n~~~\ntel\nVia a complete and total misreading of his answer, actually! The initial\n\"Rails.\" stuck in my mind even after he directly noted that they weren't using\nit.\n\n------\nhackerboos\nPrevious discussions:\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8105286](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8105286)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5227071](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5227071)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2223683](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2223683)\n\n------\njonahx\nI wouldn't assume there is a \"YC tech stack\". From individual blog posts I've\nread there is great diversity among YC companies' tech stacks. I also wouldn't\nassume that rails + angular is, or is even considered to be, the cutting edge\nof web stacks.\n\n~~~\njohan_larson\nMaybe. On the other hand, Paul Graham has strong views on what great hackers\nare like, which are likely to color his evaluations of candidate companies. It\nwould be surprising to see a YC company running an Azure/Windows/C#/Visual\nStudio/TFS stack. And there are good reasons why someone might do so.\n\n[http://www.paulgraham.com/gh.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/gh.html)\n\n~~~\narihant\nI believe Loopt was on C# stack and its founder is currently leading YC, so\nI'm sure Paul didn't take stack too seriously when evaluating companies. There\nare a lot of good reasons to use Microsoft stack, and I suspect more than a\nhandful YC companies use it.\n\nPaul said it is advisable to not use enterprise technologies if you're willing\nto attract high quality engineers only. He never said it can't be done and it\nis never implied that high quality small number of workforce is important to\nevery business. If you're in consulting, for example, you'd want a larger\nworkforce you can get for cheap. But I think you already mentioned that point,\njust throwing it out there.\n\n~~~\nkogir\nI was Loopt's CTO and would use Microsoft's stack again, especially now.\n\nNot everything was perfect, but C#, F# and SQL Server are great, updates\nrarely broke anything, and security updates came regularly and promptly.\n\n------\nlpolovets\nYou can use AngelList search to get some approximate relative counts of\ntechnologies at YC companies. For example, here are the counts for Java and\nPython:\n\nJava:\n[https://angel.co/companies?incubators[]=Y+Combinator&teches[...](https://angel.co/companies?incubators\\[\\]=Y+Combinator&teches\\[\\]=Java)\n(15 companies)\n\nPython:\n[https://angel.co/companies?incubators[]=Y+Combinator&teches[...](https://angel.co/companies?incubators\\[\\]=Y+Combinator&teches\\[\\]=Python)\n(31 companies)\n\nI basically used this same technique for the CodingVC blog post that was\nmentioned elsewhere in the thread.\n\n------\ntomblomfield\nFrom my experience - Ruby on Rails, some kind of Javascript framework (Ember,\nBackbone, Angular), Postgres & Redis as data stores, hosted on Heroku.\n\nAs you scale to the point at which Heroku is expensive, move over to AWS.\n\n~~~\njohan_larson\nAny idea why Google's App Engine isn't more popular?\n\nToo many restrictions? Too expensive?\n\nIt's used quite a bit by other AngelList companies:\n\n    \n    \n       App Engine 295\n       Heroku     969\n       AWS        388\n\n~~~\natmosx\nBecause Google's App Engine might not be around this time next year, while AWS\nwill most probably be there 10 years from today.\n\n------\nsandGorgon\nAre there any startups using Java (not JVM) based web stacks (not backend or\nAPI endpoints). Any comments/experiences would be welcome !\n\n~~~\neduardordm\nHi!\n\nI use Rails in my company, which is not a startup anymore, but we are using\njava in a new venture.\n\nOur stack in this new company is based on spring (spring-boot, spring-data-\nrest, etc) and angularJs. We are very happy with it. Spring security and\nspring-data-rest are amazing.\n\nI love Rails with all my heart since it's what we use since 2005, but I have\nto say I'm impressed by the advances in Java in the last year or two. That\nsaid, if you are doing SPAs Java can be more productive than Rails.\n\n~~~\nsandGorgon\nI'm a rails guy myself - how has your experience been in things like\nmigrations, asset pipeline and integration of things like Coffeescript?\n\n------\nlgieron\nThe ubiquitousness of the assumption that software startup == web startup\nsaddens me.\n\n------\nnickthemagicman\nIs php ever used?\n\n~~~\ne1g\nAs an anecdote - in my circles I observe that PHP is very popular among people\nwho started working in web ~2000, while ruby is popular among those who\nstarted in ~2007. Nothing to do with seniority etc, I think it's simply the\ndefault choice of whatever was in vogue at the time when the person started\nhacking, and by now many PHP guys skew older and are out of the startup game\n(i.e. working in established companies on established products).\n\nAs another example, I'm still astonishingly productive with PHP for backend\nAPIs and rapid development projects. The symfony/Doctrine community has done a\nphenomenal job at bringing world-class tools to the language.\n\n~~~\nlegohead\nAs a young person, when I was examining possible choices for development, I\nchose what was fast and stable. At the time that was C & PHP, and maybe even\nperl.\n\nI don't see how the young people of today decide to go with Ruby, with it's\nterrible performance, and especially last year with it's slew of\nvulnerabilities. If you like the beauty of Ruby, use it on your own stuff or\nfor learning. But using it with intention for a production environment? I just\ndon't get it...\n\n~~~\njohan_larson\nIt's not Ruby. It's Rails. Ruby on its own is just a slightly more flexible\nPython.\n\nRails was embraced because it provided a clear way to write DB-driven web apps\nwith minimal configuration, following a strict pattern. And a lot of people\nsort of like strict.\n\n------\ncpncrunch\nI'm not a YC startup, although my product was forked by a YC startup.\n\nI mostly pure javascript (no frameworks) on the front-end and\nC++/perl/php/mysql on the back-end. Incredibly reliable and stable.\n\n------\njjbrow10\nHere at Enplug we use a wide range of tech.\n\nServer: C#, Databases: MongoDB and SQL Server, Messaging: RabbitMQ, Clients:\nLibGDX and Java on Android, Web client: AngularJS\n\n------\nswah\nThe tools that everyone else usess, skewed to the \"new, modern side\" would be\nmy guess.\n\n------\naswanson\nInteresting that bootstrap is negatively correlated with success.\n\n~~~\ntim333\nYeah, I guess maybe it's good for knocking things together quickly but a bit\ngeneric looking for your masterpiece.\n\n~~~\nnotduncansmith\nIf you don't change the default styles, sure. It looks decent enough that you\ncan get an MVP into production without having to do much other than a light\ntop coat for branding. Later on, you may want to invest in more heavily\ncustomizing some elements, but Bootstrap will pretty much stay out of your\nway.\n\nSource: Senior front-end dev that puts around one app per month into\nproduction using Bootstrap (some more heavily tweaked than others).\n\n------\narthurquerou\nSailsJS,Heroku, Angular @ MotionLead\n\n~~~\nmackwic\nI like SailsJS a lot but didn't have the chance to experiment it on a real\nproject. How well does it scale ?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nPhilips reverses decision to close the Hue Platform - alaaf\nhttp://www.developers.meethue.com/content/friends-hue-program-update\n======\nmdip\nA point brought up in the replies to their forum post warrants repeating: They\nclaim that they were concerned about the quality of their brand being eroded\nby third-party bulbs that didn't reproduce the same quality experience that\nfirst-party/certified bulbs did.\n\nThey had the solution available to them from day one. Since they can clearly\nidentify third-party bulbs, they could have simply presented a warning along\nthe lines of \"We've detected you're using bulbs that are not certified by\nPhilips. For best results, we recommend using only certified bulbs (link to\npurchase here) and cannot guarantee a quality experience with the bulbs you've\npurchased. Click \"OK\" to continue.\"\n\n~~~\nculturestate\nI don't think this would accomplish anything vis-a-vis brand protection, since\nconsumers have been conditioned to just click \"OK\" at every dialog box that\ndoesn't look like it will explode a mine. Six months down the line, nobody\nwould remember the warning -- they'd still get mad at Philips when a third-\nparty bulb breaks.\n\n~~~\nTeMPOraL\n> _they 'd still get mad at Philips when a third-party bulb breaks._\n\nWould they? Wouldn't they blame their bulb first? It's like complaining to\nyour PC manufacturer that a program you downloaded doesn't work. Most people\nwould blame the program and look for another one. I'm sure there are some who\nhave it backwards, and they probably will be calling support, but I can't\nimagine there's enough of them for a company to actually care about damage to\nthe brand those people may be doing.\n\n~~~\njads\nI've worked in tech support for many years, and the vast majority of people\n_would_ blame the PC manufacturer or the operating system for the problems. I\nspent many years on the Genius Bar (back in the PowerPC and early Intel days)\nand, in almost, every interaction, the device was to blame - as far as the\ncustomer was concerned. In some cases, they were right, in others it was due\nto outdated software, buggy third-party drivers or just something they bought\nthat was not Mac compatible. But as far as the customer was concerned, it\ndidn't work so therefore it was a problem with their computer.\n\nWhat has to be remembered is that the types of people who read Hacker News\nwould understand, in more detail, what might be causing the issue and know\ntroubleshooting is all part of the process. I bet printer companies get many\ncalls a day from people who bought third-party cartridges (sometimes without\nrealising) and complaining that their stupid printer isn't working and that it\nmust be the printer's fault.\n\nThe vast majority of consumers who would walk into an Apple Store or Best Buy\nto purchase something like this, they just think of it as one big ecosystem.\nIf it doesn't work with a bulb they bought off the internet, they will simply\nassume the product, as a whole, is terrible.\n\n~~~\ngmac\nOn the printer point, I once bought a 3rd-party cartridge for a Dell laser\nprinter that not only didn't work but actually broke the printer (it stopped\nrecognising all cartridges in that slot).\n\nThe first question they asked on the phone was whether I'd used a 3rd-party\ncartridge. I said yes.\n\nThe second question was where I'd like the free replacement printer delivered\n(now with added WiFi, and a full set of cartridges). Painful for Dell, but\nI'll buy from them again.\n\n~~~\nars\nYour post makes we wonder if the printer broke on purpose with that 3rd party\ncartridge, and that's why they sent you a new one.\n\n------\nmdip\nI'm glad to see they've reversed the decision. It was the only reasonable\nchoice they had with such an immature market that could have them dethroned as\nthe leader very quickly. Their reasons for lock-in made no sense. For a\nproduct like this _compatibility is a feature_ and many people chose the\nPhilips products because of the ecosystem of compatible products available,\nthe ZigBee protocol and third-party light bulbs.\n\nI'm sure that third-party products were causing problems, however, wholesale\nblocking of them via software update is a terrible solution. They, literally,\nturned out the lights on their customers. Meanwhile, I'd be willing to bet\nsupport costs _immediately_ spiked -- people call support when things don't\nwork and they just pushed out a solution that _increased_ rather than\ndecreased that.\n\nUnfortunately, I think they've bruised their reputation quite a bit with this\nmove. It's now delayed my purchase of such a product until I am convinced that\nthey have a solid third-party certification program in place (with very low\nlicensing fees) or (even better) a guarantee with the product that they won't\ntry this again when the market is more mature and they have the option of\nignoring complaining customers.\n\nTheir competitors could see a rise in sales by taking advantage of this\nblunder and committing to open protocols. I haven't looked at the landscape in\nthis category, yet, and had just assumed I'd be buying the Philips Hue\neventually, but they've motivated me to do more research.\n\n~~~\npkgapkg\nTheir move concerned me, because now I don't know if this is \"we won't close\nour ecosystem\" or \"we won't close our ecosystem YET\". I don't feel like waking\nup and discovering that they've decided that they now have enough market share\nto be abusive and controlling. Most of my existing ZigBee stuff isn't as slick\nas the Hue stuff, but I know it won't get turned off.\n\nI get that people make mistakes, but their original move showed that Philips\nhas essentially NO understanding of their market, and that they are willing to\ncasually engage in extraordinary hostility towards their customers. This isn't\na winning combination.\n\n------\nthemartorana\nWow. Most companies are deaf to user outrage. The original decision wasn't\nfantastic, but I understand the whole \"Friends of...\" certification route.\n\nAt least in the future they'll be able to stick to \"if it's not certified by\nus...\" for customer support, which was likely the original impetus (along with\na desire to cut off cheap alternatives to their devices).\n\nI'm not mad at this at all.\n\n~~~\neveningcoffee\n_I 'm not mad at this at all. _\n\nI am. Because it is a way to extort money out of other ZigBee participants.\n\n~~~\nrubidium\nIt's not extorting. It's making sure your house doesn't burn down because you\nbought the el cheapo bulb from knockoff brand C.\n\n~~~\nraverbashing\nPray tell how does a LED Lamp can burn your house down\n\nOh wait it can't (if it can because your wiring is crap and the protection\ndevices are not working you have much bigger problems)\n\n~~~\nTeMPOraL\nA LED bulb converts your 230V AC (or 110V in the US) power source into 12V DC\n(in case of Hue itself). This converter part can, if poorly made, create a\nfire hazard. And a bulb is usually mounted inside a lamp, many of which are\nflammable and have the shape that will accumulate heat inside instead of\ndissipating it.\n\n~~~\nraverbashing\nYes, but that applies to china mobile chargers and a lot of other devices that\nnobody worries about (and also to CFDs and any led lamp that might be today in\nyour house)\n\nAnd of course it's not a software issue\n\n~~~\nWorldMaker\n> And of course it's not a software issue\n\nFunny thing though, but that AC/DC converter is manipulated by firmware\nactivated by a wifi protocol. If the fire only starts when the converter is\nactivated into its highest conversion rate in a particular sequence by certain\ncommands sent across that wifi protocol and those commands are being chosen by\na user of an app on a mobile device two rooms away, is that a software issue?\nIt's certainly a gray area.\n\n~~~\nraverbashing\nIf your DC/DC converter has a duty-cycle of 100% most likely the controlling\nFET will burn out and stop working\n\n------\nHarryHirsch\nCompare this with Ethernet. You plug it in - and it just works. No\n3com/Realtek/Intel certification required. As a user I may be shielded, but I\nbelieve there are no interoperability issues between Cisco/Juniper/Brocade\nswitchgear either.\n\nWith this as the background, it's surprising to see a large crowd defending\nthe equivalent of Ford-branded gasoline.\n\n~~~\nfastball\nApples and oranges.\n\nPure hardware is a lot easier to make compatible consistently than\nhardware+software.\n\n~~~\nCydeWeys\nHuh? There's a _lot_ of software involved in wired networking. Way more than\nfor lightbulbs, I'd suspect. And yet they all interoperate via open standards,\nand any vendor that tried to sell equipment that only worked with their own\nequipment would be laughed at of the market.\n\n~~~\nfastball\nAn ethernet cable does not contain any software. A smart lightbulb does.\n\n~~~\nCydeWeys\nBut now you've drawn an irrelevant comparison. The power line and socket that\nthe smart lightbulb is connected to don't contain any software. _Those_ are\nthe parts that are analogous to a simple Ethernet wire (which is really just\neight separate leads instead of three). The smart lightbulb itself is\nanalogous to a router.\n\n------\nDiabloD3\nThe thing is, to me, the fact that they ever decided to do this in the first\nplace means I will never buy Philips smart home products ever.\n\nThey have proven they can't be trusted with this sort of power, and that is a\none way trip. You don't come back from that, you don't get back off my list.\n\n~~~\nrubidium\nEither A) You don't trust any large, publically traded company. B) You don't\nunderstand how large, publically traded companies work.\n\nThis decision was made by someone in marketing. Phillips engineers (in this\ndivision) were ambivalent because it meant less verification and testing\n(yea!) but also means they have a less capable product. It got approved\nbecause someone (likely a director somewhere) put together a market strategy\nthat showed they could make x dollars in the next 2 years doing this.\n\nPublic backlash was bigger than expected. VP gets involved. Decision is\nchanged.\n\n~~~\nrrrx3\nThe decision to only support Philips products came most likely from the\nengineering division themselves. Marketing probably had a shit-fit because\nlosing a marketable feature is a giant regression to your general user.\n\nPeople in Marketing and Product tend to be way more in-tune with customers and\ndon't make boneheaded decisions like this. Another easy tell: the company was\nshocked by the reaction of users. That meant the company wasn't aware of user\nimpressions of the decision. That also meant Product/Marketing teams weren't\ninvolved in the decision.\n\nWhen the \"what does it cost us to test this compatibility\" calculus comes out\nas more expensive than \"what is the cost of the backlash to our company,\" you\nrealize that Engineering divisions without enough resources are driving this\ntype of decision, 99 times out of 100.\n\n~~~\nCydeWeys\n> The decision to only support Philips products came most likely from the\n> engineering division themselves.\n\nI disagree. I don't see engineers coming up with or getting on-board with such\na clearly anti-open-standards decision. Much more likely, what I think\nhappened is that this decision was forced on engineering from above, morale\nhit all-time lows, there was much grumbling and consternation as they\nimplemented this anti-feature that they clearly didn't believe in, then they\nrejoiced at the huge public outcry when the change was pushed, and are now\ncelebrating that those assholes up in management had to reverse course with a\nheavy dose of \"I told you so\".\n\nSource: I am an engineer at a big company and have seen this scenario play out\nmany times internally.\n\n~~~\nthrowaway2048\nRead the comments here, many engineering types are falling all over each other\nto excuse phillips. There is a massive anti-sentiment towards open platforms\nthere days it seems, likely driven by apple's success and the startup\n\"industry\".\n\n~~~\njhall1468\nBecause a practicing engineer and an anonymous person on the internet that\nseems like the \"engineering type\" is the same thing?\n\nThere is zero reason for an engineer to have \"anti-sentiment\" to an open\nplatform because it's moot. Most likely, an engineer would be completely\nindifferent to a decision like this.\n\n------\nanc84\nThey can still control it and reverse the reversal in the future. You are at\ntheir whim. It is not user-friendly unless it is free software (and hardware).\nAmazon can still remotely remove books and no one bats an eye. This is just an\nissue because at the moment these kinds of home automation are per-dominantly\n\"nerd\" territory while e-book readers are already mainstream.\n\n~~~\nfastball\nWhere is this magical place where I can find free hardware?\n\n~~~\nstefs\nTo understand the concept, you should think of “free” as in “free speech,” not\nas in “free beer”.\n\n~~~\numanwizard\nGP's point still stands. Open hardware is very rare.\n\n------\nsismoc\nI won't be so quick to \"roll-back\" my decision to boycott their products.\n\n~~~\ngnulnx\nHey, give them some credit. They listened to their customers and responded\nvery quickly.\n\n~~~\nsspiff\nExactly this. Their management / decision makers aren't familiar with the\nhacker mindset, but they responded to public criticism quickly by acquiescing\nto the demands. I don't so anything bad about this.\n\nThey mad a public about face, admitting that their decision was not the right\none for their audience, and changed it. That's not easy to do for most people,\nlet alone companies.\n\n~~~\nlightbritefight\nThey didnt really admit the decision was bad for the audience. They said\n\"well, we were just looking out for you, and highly recommend you doing what\nwe want, but I guess you can do that too, but you shouldnt.\"\n\nThe tone is very much \"we did nothing wrong.\" I don't expect more, but I was\nhoping for it.\n\n~~~\njhall1468\nI disagree. The tone was more akin to \"This really doesn't impact _a lot_ of\nour customers, but the customers it did impact caused a significant\n(unexpected) response.\"\n\nThat's perfectly valid. They felt that it was a minority doing it (which is\nprobably true) so this would be a non-issue. It wasn't, so they reversed it.\n\n------\nnichochar\nI really respect philips for having the humility to come back on a decision\nlike this. As someone who already owns hue and has bought into the ecosystem,\nthis makes me want to promote their brand further, and I will.\n\nHat down to whoever made this happen over there! The world is better when\nthings are open.\n\n------\nohitsdom\n\"We underestimated the impact this would have upon the small number of our\ncustomers\"\n\nDo they really believe it is a small number of customers that use non-Philips\nlight bulbs? I mean, good for them in reversing the decision, but the damage\nis already done (check out Amazon reviews for one) and it should have been\neasily foreseen.\n\n~~~\njoezydeco\nTranslation: \"we'll do this to shut up the pro users that are generating all\nthis bad P/R, and it really doesn't matter since 99.9% of our customers won't\ncare about this anyway.\"\n\nCan't say I disagree with the idea. Everyone wants a system like this to be\nopen on principle, but in reality it won't really get used that much. This\nstuff is still too hard for the average consumer.\n\n~~~\nsoylentcola\nI dunno. I bought a Hue starter kit (hub+3 bulbs) and three more bulbs when I\nmoved into my new house. I wanted something cool and \"gadgety\" to set up in\nthe new place. They've generally been OK but I haven't bought any more bulbs\nsince that first setup two years ago.\n\nThis is mainly because the Hue bulbs are quite pricey and I've had a couple of\nthem semi-fail (some colors in the spectrum stop working due to the blue LEDs\ncrapping out). I've been keeping an eye out for compatible bulbs that are a\nbit more affordable since Hue prices haven't dropped at all and I'm more\nlikely to drop $20-30 on a fancy bulb than another $60 when they can still\nfail.\n\nGranted, I've already got the hub so they have my money. Their risk is that I\nonly buy third party bulbs instead of Hue bulbs from now on. Still, the next\ntime I go to buy more lamps to expand my setup, if there are less expensive\noptions that are reasonably equivalent, I'll buy them instead anyway. If Hue\nlamps become more affordable, I'll stick to first-party by default. But if\nHues are still $60 each and some other platform starts selling good RGB LED\nbulbs for $15-25 each (and Hue has locked out third party bulbs), I'll just\ndrop Hue in general and cut my losses.\n\n~~~\njon-wood\nI got a couple of the OSRAM RGB bulbs a while back, and while they're not\nquite as good as the Hue ones at half the price they were definitely the right\nchoice. The only really issue I have is that their colours don't match the Hue\nones, so it can be a bit hit and miss getting what you're looking for.\n\n------\nsneak\nThe funny part is that they claim to have broken their customers' previously\nworking functionality in good faith.\n\nWho writes these things, and why do their supervisors allow them to keep\nworking there?!?\n\n~~~\nGracana\nIt could be worse: \"Some customers were involved in a darkness-related\nincident.\"\n\n~~~\nBrian-Puccio\nI'm not sure if this is a specific reference to something like McSweeney's\nInteractive Guide to Ambiguous Grammar [0], to something else, or just a\ncomment in general. (But I agree.)\n\n[0] [http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/an-interactive-guide-\nto-a...](http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/an-interactive-guide-to-ambiguous-\ngrammar)\n\n------\ntomlongson\nI wonder if this had anything to do with the flood of negative comments to\ntheir Amazon product pages?\n\n3/5 stars: [http://www.amazon.com/Philips-455303-White-Starter-\nGeneratio...](http://www.amazon.com/Philips-455303-White-Starter-\nGeneration/dp/B014H2OZAC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1450292147&sr=8-2&keywords=philips+hue+hub)\n\n4/5 stars (previously 4.5/5): [http://www.amazon.com/Philips-456210-Ambiance-\nStarter-Genera...](http://www.amazon.com/Philips-456210-Ambiance-Starter-\nGeneration/dp/B014H2P4KW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1450292147&sr=8-3&keywords=philips+hue+hub)\n\n------\nrevelation\nNot sure why people are screaming \"boycott\". Philips never advertised their\nsystem as being compatible with third-party lights. The fact that they use an\nopen protocol to communicate with their own lights doesn't change this.\n\nIt's like connecting to your office chat with an IRC client because you\nfigured out that's what they are using under the hood. Why would you scream\nbloody murder when one day your IRC client stops being compatible with it?\nThey never advertised this to begin with!\n\nYou can't exactly demand functionality that you were never sold.\n\n~~~\nHelloNurse\nNot bothering to test and actively support devices from other vendors would be\nreasonable, but customers have the expectation that a product does a decent\neffort to respect the standard; whitelisting a subset of Philips lightbulbs\nand deliberately refusing to work with anything else means giving users a bad\nproduct for the sake of anticompetitive business practices. This kind of\ndeliberate, obviously harmful abuse is worse than merely reckless behaviour\nlike the Superfish scandal or the Windows 10 update that uninstalls user\nsoftware.\n\n~~~\nrevelation\nExcept I don't think Philips advertised that they are using an open standard.\nIt's just what they used for the implementation.\n\nThey are free to mutilate that standard as they see fit for their own product,\nand since they didn't make it into a selling point, there is no reason for\nthem to expect compatibility.\n\n~~~\nHelloNurse\nIn the world of customers who prefer trustworthy vendors, there's a\nsubstantial difference between not wanting to spend money to respect a\nstandard any more than advertised, and deliberately spending money (firmware\nupdates aren't free) to worsen the product and screw customers.\n\nLikewise, \"mutilating\" a standard to leverage standard technology in a not-\nreally-standard product isn't the same as deliberate artificial\nincompatibility for purely commercial reasons.\n\n------\ngedrap\nA lot of the people are talking about how important integration and\ninteroperability is. I agree with it, however, a lot of work has to be done to\nachieve it.\n\nIn order to do it properly, there should be standards that major providers\nagree upon making integration much easier and predictable. That takes plenty\nof time.\n\nThen you probably need some walled garden to control the experience. Approved\napps, approved 3rd party providers, etc. If some crappy app is released,\nregular users won't blame the developer but the platform, as it was discussed\nin great details in other threads. We need to get out of the HN bubble.\nSeriously. We forget that a computer is a device to watch porn and browse\nfacebook and that's about it for A LOT of people. Chances are, it will cause a\nwave of anger in communities such as this one (where there's a strong\nsentiment for open systems).\n\nThis work has to be done be a number of large providers (read: long processes)\nand followed by startups popping up and disappearing now and then. This stuff\nalways takes time.\n\n------\ndonkeyd\nSecond large company this week to rollback a change after public outcry, with\nValve rolling back a change in CS:GO. I hope their marketing people take a\nlesson out of this.\n\n~~~\nthecatspaw\nif only valve would listen more often and faster. Im not demanding fixes the\nnext day, but it would be nice to at least get some message saying \"We know\nabout this issue, we're looking into it\"\n\n------\nvilts\nSounds exactly like the FTDI FT232 \"serial killer\" saga all over again.\n\nThey got many people very pissed off and probably never buying or building\nproducts with their chips again.\n\n------\ntoppy\nHow many developers does it take to change Philips lightbulb?\n\n------\nNilef\nAny recommendations for third-party lights?\n\n~~~\njerrysievert\nthe GE Link bulbs are pretty nice. they have a great hue (pun actually not\nintended).\n\n------\njosscrowcroft\n\"We fucked up, but we don't want to admit it.\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHow Baidu Won China - felipe\nhttp://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/10_47/b4204060242597.htm\n\n======\nquanticle\nDidn't Baidu basically win China because they were the only search engine\nwilling to play ball right from the beginning with regards to censorship? It\nseems that plus the fact that they were homegrown got the playing field tilted\npretty heavily in their direction.\n\n~~~\nnl\nDid you read the article?\n\nIt was more about how Baidu beat other _Chinese_ -companies than how it beat\nGoogle. The other Chinese companies were (a) playing ball on censorship and\n(b) homegrown, too.\n\n------\ncies\nin china big companies are usually in close yet undisclosed contact with the\ngovt. it would supprise me if baidu was an exception.\n\nwhen i was in china i found that all google services where extremely flaky:\ndropped packets, super long roundtrips, meager throughput and often\nunreachable for a few minutes. in my opinion they where almost unusable for\n'business'.\n\nat the same time websites like slashdot or our beloveth hn were just doing\nfine. while baidu.com, qq.com, taobao.com (all super popular sites in china)\nwere all blazing fast.\n\ni know i am suggesting something without providing proper proof. but for me it\nis quite clear what drives the success behind baidu -- its the lousy access\nthe chinese have to the world's leading alternative to it.\n\njust my 2 rupees.\n\n~~~\nvorg\nMost google services are unreachable, e.g. all spreadsheets...\n\n[http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/traffic/?r=CN&l...](http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/traffic/?r=CN&l=SPREADSHEETS&csd=1230796800000&ced=1289635200000)\n\n~~~\ncies\nwow! i didn't know this status overview was keeping history aswell!\n\namazing to see how internet --the one network for us all-- can end up meaning\nsomething entirely different within the borders of some countries.\n\n------\ncamz\nKnowing China intimately and having a family with multiple businesses in the\ncountries has given me an unique understanding of the business world in the\ncountry (they own factories in southern china that produce clothing for\nAmerican companies like armani exchange and RL and are constantly required to\ndeal with the government in regards to labor, customs and etc).\n\nThe main reason why every American company will fail in China is because of\ncultural differences. American companies lack the ability to understand the\nChinese mindset and often that leads to misunderstandings that wont be easily\nforgiven.\n\nAmerican companies that truly want to succeed in China need to readjust their\nbusiness model. You cant bring an American company to China, you need to\ninvest and develop organically a Chinese company that is substantially owned\nby an American company so that the citizenry and the state will allow and\nappreciate its existence.\n\nAs for competition among the Chinese companies, it is often the case that\ndeveloping a relationship with the government is vital. But, developing a\nrelationship or \"guanxi\" is a very different concept in Asian culture compared\nto American culture. Giving a \"red envelope\" is considered a necessary sign of\nrespect and acknowledgment of their status, but in the US its a straight out\nbribe.\n\nTo curry favor with the people is simple, just give lots and lots of free\ndata, products or whatever the people want. Whether that data is copyrighted,\npatented or otherwise. That's how baidu did it, thats how youku did it and\nthats how the next big thing is going to do it.\n\nChina's next big wave is going to be to develop its own silicon valley of\nsorts because its very popular to copy American startups and put an Asian spin\non the idea to create a NEW multi-billion dollar company.\n\n~~~\nPakG1\nI think it can be simpler than that. It's just about how products are made for\nChina. Honeywell has an amazing success story in China, and I got to hear\ntheir top Asia executive this year at the APCAC 2010 Conference in Beijing,\norganized by the China chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce. He noted\nthat China proved that Honeywell couldn't just waltz in with their products,\nlocalize a bit, and succeed. When they tried that approach, they got decimated\nby numerous copycats because Honeywell products were too expensive and too\nfeature-rich for what China needed. He said Honeywell's Chinese copycat\ncompetitors often said, \"Honeywell created the market and the demand, but we\nhad to provide the supply.\"\n\nSo Honeywell changed tactics and set up R&D centres in China to deeply\nunderstand why Chinese companies were buying imitation products instead of\nHoneywell products, and then create products that were better suited for the\nChinese market. They got a lot more intimate knowledge of the market and for\nthe first time were making major global product design decisions outside of\nthe USA. Then with their new R&D centres, they were able to make better\nproducts at an acceptable price point to the Chinese. They dominated. Today,\nonly a few of those copycat competitors remain and are considered a real\nthreat by Honeywell, whereas in the past, there were almost a hundred of them.\n\nThe approach was so successful, it became Honeywell's blueprint for how they\nwant to enter all emerging markets from now on. His main point is that you\ncan't expect an emerging market to lap up western products just because\nthey're western. You need a hardcore local presence doing hardcore local\nproduct development, because the market needs will often be unique.\nFascinating story. He's writing a book about everything he learned, and I'm\ndefinitely buying it when it gets released. I'd put the guy's name down, but I\ncan't remember his name off-hand; have it at home in an APCAC 2010 program\nsomewhere.\n\nNo doubt local presence helps with guanxi and all that, but I do bet you that\nas the Chinese economy and market gets more and more sophisticated, guanxi\nwill matter less and less compared to product and service quality.\n\n------\nSriniK\nIrony in the whole setup. Baidu is chinese government controlled company -\ntraded and financed in US markets.\n\nIt is surprising to me that these companies which get traded with SEC\nrequirements, yet they are allowed to do whatever it is considered illegal\nhere and still get away with it. It pisses me off that there are no\nregulations/jurisdiction about such shortcuts companies take. There is gotta\nbe a solution.\n\n------\nradioactive21\nMany Asian countries do this and they back companies that are home grown. For\nexample Samsung basically is run by the South Korean government. In China, it\nis no different, look at all the big companies that were built and raised in\nChina, and they are backed by the government.\n\n------\nbigwally\nBaidu has won China simply because it is a more relevant search engine for\nChina's needs.\n\nGo to <http://video.baidu.com/> and search for a TV show you want to watch,\nyou will find the whole episode. With Google video you will get 3 minute\nclips. Baidu also has an excellent mp3 search. Looking for a movie to watch?\n\nGoogle has made plenty of mistakes in China. For starters most of Googles\ndocumentation is blocked in China thanks to the way China and Google have set\nthe network.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMost common passwords list from 3 databases - Anon84\nhttp://blog.jimmyr.com/Password_analysis_of_databases_that_were_hacked_28_2009.php\n======\njrockway\nThe passwords say a lot about each site's userbase.\n\nsingles.org users commonly use passwords with religious meaning, like \"jesus\",\n\"pastor\", and so on. Apparently this is a site that appeals to the religious\nfolks.\n\nphpBB has things like \"phpbb\" and \"password\". Their forums force people to\ncreate an account they don't want, so they pick a dumb password. (I had to ask\na phpbb question once. I think I used 1234 as my password.)\n\nFinally, Myspace is Myspace, and has commonly-ocuring gems like \"poop\" and\n\"nigger1\". Ah, high school kids...\n\n~~~\nsketerpot\nI just use the same username and password for all sites I don't care about\nthat much. That way if I ever come back again I can just log in easily, and\nthe process of signing up is so familiar I could do it in my sleep.\n\nNo, the real issue is password questions. \"What is your mother's maiden name?\"\n\"In what city were you born?. Those always seem like a security hole, so I\nchoose a random question and just remember that the answer to all my security\nquestions is \"the landed gentry\". That's fairly secure, right?\n\n~~~\njrockway\nYeah, I especially like the sites that ask you to make your own security\nquestion. Mine is always, \"what is your password?\"\n\n~~~\nelectromagnetic\nThat's what my XP hint did, and my password contains an accented character\n(áéíóú/ÁÉÍÓÚ) as I noticed password breakers tend not to use these characters\nby default, but a lot of programs and services accept them. To say just\nhitting 'Alt Gr' can prevent any password breaker, I thought it was a pretty\ngood safety measure.\n\n------\nmynameishere\nIt's better to use 123456 at unimportant sites than re-using your e-trade\npassword. Simple good sense.\n\n------\nGeneralMaximus\nI have recently started generating all my passwords using a Markov chain\nscript I wrote in Python. They're much more secure and, since they sound very\nsimilar to English words, easier to remember than, say, &&364e7forty-two88()l.\n\n~~~\nquizbiz\nI started writing words backwards (among other things). Not as secure but I\ndon't hit myself when cookies expire.\n\n~~~\ndkokelley\nI've been a fan of geometric shapes on the keyboard and number pad.\n\n~~~\nbd\nI knew a guy that didn't even know his password explicitly, all was just a\npattern of finger movements stored in muscle memory.\n\n------\ntvchurch\n\"Don't forget God. System operators love to use God. It's that whole male ego\nthing.\"\n\n~~~\ndjahng\nHaha Hackers...and when you break into a computer system it goes all 3-D too\nright?\n\n------\nsnprbob86\nWhy aren't these sites storing salted hashes? Plain text passwords are bad\nnews...\n\n~~~\ndreish\nWhere did you get that impression? Not from the linked-to article, from my\nreading of it.\n\n~~~\nhbien\nIf a site is storing hashed passwords with salts, you generally don't know\nwhat the user's password is and you can't unhash them to find out.\n\n~~~\ndreish\nRight, and what does that have to do with this article about lists obtained by\nphishing and the like?\n\n~~~\nhbien\nMy mistake, I thought these passwords came straight from the databases.\n\n------\ntimdorr\nGood thing that...heh...my password is totally...um...not on that list.....\n\n~~~\ncatz\nYup, I'm also lucky that poiuyt is not on that list.\n\n------\ngeuis\nMight be an interesting white-hat idea to have a service that gets into a\nsocial network and spiders out, collecting thousands of user names. Then\nattempt library login attempts. In the event they are successful, the service\ncontacts the user and warns them that they have a weak password.\n\nUnfortunately this is so similar to standard phishing attacks that I'm afraid\nthe good would be offset by the bad of reinforcing user behaviors that its ok\nto click through on 3rd party notices like this.\n\n~~~\nDenisM\nThis is also likely illegal (as in: jail-time illegal). Talk to a lawyer\nbefore implementing anything like this.\n\n------\ndandelany\nOh, those silly pious folks and their predictable passwords. Jesus may save,\nbut he certainly doesn't protect very well.\n\n~~~\njrockway\nYeah, thanks to those bad passwords I can totally compromised 100s of\naccounts! Then I will... uh... oh wait, there is no value in doing that.\n\nThe best protection is not a good password. It's having something that's not\nworth stealing.\n\n------\nstreety\nOut of interest does anyone attempt to warn their users when they attempt to\nuse a common/easily guessed password?\n\nAt the moment all I do is insist on a minimum length but it doesn't seem as\nthough it would be all that difficult to add checks for common passwords.\n\n------\nTichy\nI like how some people go the extra length, using \"12345678\" instead of\n\"123456\".\n\n------\nschtono\nHaving a closer look at the list shows that password rules like \"alpha +\nnumericals\" don't add much of security in real world scenarios: In approx 95%\npeople seem to add one or two digits at the end of a string.\n\n~~~\ndkokelley\nI don't like password requirements - It restricts the number of possibilities\nand for crackers who know the restrictions it makes life a lot easier for\nthem.\n\n------\neli\nwhat the heck is \"rotimi\" ?\n\n~~~\nwillchang\nRotimi is a Nigerian given name. Perhaps it reflects a large number of\nNigerian scammers?\n\n~~~\neli\nI dunno, seems weird. 163k hits on google? Doesn't even seem like a\nparticularly common Nigerian name. And there aren't many other given names on\nthe list.\n\n------\nquizbiz\nUntil I read this, I always wondered why the keyboard was called QWERTY. As\nsoon as I saw it on the list, I instantly realized the reason. I feel\nignorant.\n\n------\nalgebra\n'volcom1'? (#39 on myspace)\n\ninteresting.\n\n------\nmroman\nYou gotta be kidding . . .\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNotice of data breach at Teachable (formerly Fedora) - chaghalibaghali\nI just received this email (to an address I&#x27;d used to sign up to a course on https:&#x2F;&#x2F;bitfountain.teachable.com&#x2F;):<p>Dear &lt;chaghalibaghali&gt;,<p>We are writing to inform you of a suspected data breach involving accounts created between September 17, 2013 and November 21, 2015. We have reason to suspect that personal information related to accounts on Bitfountain (joined 2014-08-19) may have been compromised. This includes the email addresses and passwords associated with the school&#x27;s Teachable (formerly Fedora) account.<p>As a precaution we are enforcing password resets for potentially affected users.<p>You can reset your password here: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;sso.teachable.com&#x2F;secure&#x2F;teachable_accounts&#x2F;password&#x2F;new<p>If you happen to use this password with any other service, we highly recommend updating your password there as well.<p>We apologize for the inconvenience, and thank you for your understanding in helping us keep Teachable safe.<p>Team Teachable\n======\ncuro\nI got this too. There's zero incentive for startups to protect data privacy of\ntheir users when the repercussions are just that they have to shoot out a\nbroadcast email to their old users asking them to spend hours resetting\npasswords.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFacebook hands out White Hat debit cards to hackers - FluidDjango\nhttp://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-57350464-245/facebook-hands-out-white-hat-debit-cards-to-hackers/\n======\ndanielmeade\nI for one think this is a brilliant concept. As mentioned previously it taps\ninto the feeling of exclusivity and being part of the 'elite few' eligible for\nsuch a thing, going much farther than just a monetary reward. Surely that in\nitself is enough to keep hackers interested and producing results, which\nultimately is what the program aims to do.\n\n------\nadamjernst\nThis is a well-meaning gesture and I'm sure that Facebook can't track\ntransactions just because they commissioned the card.\n\nStill, I can't imagine security researcher types are going to like the idea of\nmaking daily purchases with a card commissioned and owned by Facebook!\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nI'm sure if you're finding bugs and you ask nicely, Facebook will forgo the\npublicity stunt for you and just cut you a check.\n\n~~~\ndaeken\nYou have the option of getting a check, Western Union payment, or the card.\nThe WU option may no longer be there since they put out this debit card -- not\nsure.\n\n------\njballanc\nSo what happens when one of the White Hats figures out how to access the\ninterface used to add value to his/her card?\n\n~~~\nwmf\nHe goes to prison?\n\nBut seriously, I wouldn't even _look_ for holes in any payment system without\nprior indemnification.\n\n~~~\ndaeken\nHell, I work as a security consultant for a living and any time I touch live\nfinance systems I tread _very_ lightly. Any significantly complex system with\nmoney directly involved is going to have too many variables to predict its\nbehavior. I wouldn't touch something like this with a ten foot clown pole.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nPresumably this is being run through a real bank with a real underwriting\ndepartment. A VISA card that works at ATMs is not fun-and-games; it's not a\nFacebook feature.\n\n~~~\ndaeken\nYea, this is well into the realm of going to jail for a long time if you touch\nanything. Find it pretty doubtful that anyone will even try.\n\n------\nMichaelApproved\nThe card reminds me of the American Express Black Card in its exclusivity.\nIt's Like a certificate of achievement and a nice item to have even after you\nspend the money.\n\n~~~\njustincormack\nEr no you just need lots of money to get that.. Wikipedia says\n\n\"The \"Centurion\" card is invitation-only after appropriate net worth, credit\nand spending criteria are met. American Express does not publicly disclose the\nrequirements for getting a card\"\n\n~~~\ncorin_\nYes, in that example the \"achievement\" is meeting their net worth and spending\ncriteria.\n\n------\nhudibras\n\"Facebook whitehat card not as prestigious as the SVC card, but very cool.\"\n\nWhat's the SVC card?\n\n~~~\nnbpoole\nI assume it's a card issued by Secunia's program:\n\n<http://secunia.com/community/research/svcrp>\n\n------\nsliverstorm\nShouldn't the card be ivory?\n\n------\ncomex\nI think the card would look more distinctive if it were white. :)\n\n~~~\ncf0ed2aa-bdf5\nWhen I heard about the white hat card I imagined it having a more facebooky\nlook.\n\nLike facebook blue and \"white hat\" in the facebook font.\n\nThe debit card is a really cool idea though.\n\n------\nditoa\nIs that MZ in the reflection?\n\n~~~\ncf0ed2aa-bdf5\nIt certainly looks like him.\n\nThe image was provided by facebook as well so I guess it would be pretty safe\nto assume it's MZ.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGoogle to ramp up AI efforts to ID extremism on YouTube - janober\nhttps://techcrunch.com/2017/06/19/google-to-ramp-up-ai-efforts-to-id-extremism-on-youtube\n======\ntyingq\nEarlier related discussion:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14583017](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14583017)\n\n------\nfrenchie4111\n\"expanding counter-radicalisation efforts by working with (other Alphabet\ndivision) Jigsaw to implement the “Redirect Method” more broadly across\nEurope. “This promising approach harnesses the power of targeted online\nadvertising to reach potential Isis recruits, and redirects them towards anti-\nterrorist videos that can change their minds about joining. In previous\ndeployments of this system, potential recruits have clicked through on the ads\nat an unusually high rate, and watched over half a million minutes of video\ncontent that debunks terrorist recruiting messages,” says Walker.\"\n\nDoes them performing this kind of intentional manipulation, and having such\nsuccess, scare the shit out of anyone else?\n\n------\npawadu\nHow about employing real people this time, google?\n\nYour previous efforts to police crafty humanss using AI has utterly failed.\nJust look at adsense and play store.\n\n~~~\nKlathmon\nThere is something like a decade of video uploaded to YouTube every day.\n\nEven if you employed entire countries you still wouldn't stand a chance at\nreviewing it all.\n\nAutomated systems are the only way it can function at all.\n\n~~~\npawadu\n> Automated systems are the only way it can function at all.\n\nNot in its current form. Google with all its might hasn't even managed to\nremove those \"work from home for $$$\" youtube comments.\n\nGoogle doesn't have a good way to incorporate human intelligence (users) into\nits AI. Pure AI has no chance against an army of highly adaptable humans.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThe whale internet: communication over hundreds of miles - chadmalik\nhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/11/SP781EBM1P.DTL&type=living\n\"What's really incredible is how all these whales showed up overnight,\" Black noted in an e-mail. \"We do know that blue whales have long-range communication. Their low-range frequency calls can travel hundreds of miles through the oceans. So it seems likely that the whales communicated to others about the food source here.\"\n======\nchadmalik\nQuote: \"What's really incredible is how all these whales showed up overnight,\"\nBlack noted in an e-mail. \"We do know that blue whales have long-range\ncommunication. Their low-range frequency calls can travel hundreds of miles\nthrough the oceans. So it seems likely that the whales communicated to others\nabout the food source here.\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Bucket Query – Automatically index and search your AWS S3 buckets - barefootsanders\nhttp://www.bucketquery.com\n======\nbdcravens\nWhy does the marketing on the site not make a comparison with Athena?\n\n~~~\nbarefootsanders\nFounder here. Great thought. We had toyed with the idea of a comparison\nchart/table aired on the side of simplicity. Based on your feedback it might\nmake sense. We'll see how we can incorporate something like this on a future\nwebsite update.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIf you're not writing tests first you're missing out - mokagio\nhttp://www.mokacoding.com/blog/if-youre-not-writing-tests-first-youre-missing-out\n======\njondubois\nI already tried writing unit tests first (TDD); it was a waste of time in my\ncase.\n\nTDD doesn't help you at all in terms of designing the right architecture. It\nencourages you to write lots of small classes and it discourages you from\nchanging them later as your understanding of requirements becomes deeper -\nThis leads to suboptimal architecture.\n\nI much prefer integration tests to test my code during development. They don't\nhave to be slow if you design them properly.\n\n------\nTH3R3LL1K\nWell it's not easy writing tests first when working on a legacy system.\n\nIn my instance, we've created integration tests. And business tests to make\nsure our business rules work as it should be.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n50 employees left Zappos before an important project was finished - MarlonPro\nhttp://www.businessinsider.com/50-zappos-employees-left-before-super-cloud-project-finished-2016-1\n======\nsmt88\nImportant detail buried at the end: \"...those who took the Super Cloud\nextended buyout offer were mostly nontechnical managers who would probably\nhave been laid off anyway if they hadn't taken the offer.\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMaximator: European signals intelligence cooperation - tormeh\nhttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02684527.2020.1743538\n======\nsgift\nSource article this is based on:\n[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02684527.2020.1...](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02684527.2020.1743538)\n\n(Found it since I cannot read the full economist article)\n\n~~~\nlivatlantis\nThank you for this complete version.\n\nRandom detail, but \"Maximator\" is a type of beer (a Starkbier/Doppelbock)\nbrewed by the the very popular Augustiner brewery, not a brand in itself. In\nfact, it's a Bavarian tradition for the names of Doppelbocks to generally end\nin \"-ator\": Celebrator, Optimator, Animator...\n\n~~~\ncmroanirgo\nThe article covers this fact well. I like the idea that a super secret cabal\nname is based on the drink they were having at the time. It humanizes the\nwhole endeavour showing how they agree on more than secrecy.\n\n~~~\nsorokod\nOr the place they were having the drink in, like the Beer Hall Putsch\n\n[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_Hall_Putsch](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_Hall_Putsch)\n\n------\nSiempreViernes\nFrom the source article:\n\n\"Certain countries were deliberately not allowed to join because within the\nMaximator alliance they were considered as lacking relevant (signal-/crypto-\nanalytical) expertise and/or experience. Allegedly, these countries include\nNorway, Spain and Italy.\"\n\nAnd\n\n\"Belgium is a notable exception in north-western Europe; it had not been\ninvited to join Maximator because of its lack of SIGINT (and COMSEC)\ncapabilities.\" adding in a footnote that \"Belgium’s cryptographic behaviour\nand discipline were problematic. For instance, at least once it compromised\nits own communications via a basic mistake in key management;\"\n\n:D\n\n~~~\nkoheripbal\nIt is disappointing to continue to see such rampant fragmentation within\nEurope.\n\nI had hoped that the EU would break down regulatory barriers and force\nbureaucratic consolidation, but it seems progress has stalled in the last 10\nyears.\n\nThe EU should have one single intelligence agency - not a dysfunctional\ncollection of fighting to be part of the \"in\" group.\n\n~~~\njhelphenstine\nOne single intelligence agency? And what if the Germans are interested in\ngaining better understanding of Viktor Orban? Or if the Italians want to know\njust how far Germany will really go to help them financially? An intelligence\nagency is a means of acquiring answers to intelligence needs - I'm not sure\nEurope is of one mind with regard to what questions merit answering.\n\n~~~\nseppin\nExactly. You'd need a single united economic and political union first.\n\nThe EU is heading away from that, not towards it.\n\n~~~\nnormalnorm\nHow do you figure that?\n\nThe EU is an economic and political union. It might not be complete or\nperfect, but integration has been happening decade by decade. We now have a\nsingle currency, a unified supreme court, a single charter of citizen rights,\nfreedom of movement and a single market. A lot of younger people feel\nEuropean, there is such a thing as an European identity. Each one of these\nthings was considered impossible at a certain point. It is a slow and hard\nprocess but it is happening.\n\nI find that the English-speaking media is particularly keen on repeating the\nmantra that \"the EU is collapsing\". I've witnessed this all my life. It became\nmore intense now with Brexit, but the UK was not ever a real member. It opted\nout and demanded exceptions for everything. Unfortunately, the EU had to be\nbuilt _around_ the UK, not _with_ it. There was also a shift in attitude with\nthe current administration in the US, which sees the EU as an adversary\ninstead of as a friend. So I would take anything I read in English about the\nEU with a pinch of salt...\n\n~~~\nJetSetWilly\n> the UK was not ever a real member. It opted out and demanded exceptions for\n> everything. Unfortunately, the EU had to be built around the UK, not with\n> it.\n\nThere's a tendency among hardcore europhiles to blame the nasty british for\nall questioning of the European ideal, as though if it weren't for perfidious\nalbion Europe would be of one mind.\n\nThis completely ignores both the deep euroscepticism felt by many people\nacross the EU(which European countries tend to just ignore instead of being so\nhasty like Britain as to actually have a referendum - and if a referendum must\nbe held, just have it again and again until you get the right answer...) and\nalso ignores that other countries have differing opinions to France and\nGermany too.\n\n~~~\nnormalnorm\n> There's a tendency among hardcore europhiles to blame the nasty british for\n> all questioning of the European ideal, as though if it weren't for\n> perfidious albion Europe would be of one mind.\n\nPerhaps, but that was not what I said at all. What I said is that the UK\nalways chose to not participate in the project, and that the project went on\nwithout it. Now, with Brexit, the UK government is openly hostile towards the\nEU. This is just a fact. Another fact is that the EU was able to maintain a\nunited political front when faced with Brexit (which posed -- and was meant to\npose -- an existential threat to the EU). So the reports of EU's death may be\npremature, as the cliché goes...\n\n> This completely ignores both the deep euroscepticism felt by many people\n> across the EU\n\nWell, I haven't. On the contrary, I said that it is a very hard and incomplete\nproject, and that it was considered impossible by a lot of people every step\nof the way. I also mentioned that it is among the younger generations that a\nEuropean identity is growing. Not established, but growing.\n\n> and also ignores that other countries have differing opinions to France and\n> Germany too\n\nWell, I ignored none of that. You just assumed it.\n\nWhat I think is undeniable is that there are vested interests in the collapse\nof the EU. The EU is composed of many small countries, that could be much more\neasily pushed around if not acting as bloc. Naturally, those who would indeed\nlike to push Europe around dislike the EU. With the stance of the current US\nadministration and of the post-Brexit UK government, it just so happens that\nin the current year of 2020, a lot of people with such vested interests write\nin English.\n\n------\nPatrolX\nWhat's most interesting about this is what Professor Jacobs omitted, and the\nstuff he omitted happens to be related to his circle of friends.\n\nSet up a Google Alert for appropriate keywords, this could get really\ninteresting in the coming months. That's all I can say, sorry.\n\n~~~\nsecfirstmd\nIntriguing comment given what he has worked on and with who.\n\n------\ntormeh\n> Crypto AG, a Swiss firm that dominated the global market, turns out to have\n> been jointly owned by the CIA and its German counterpart, the BND. They\n> would sell rigged machines to friends and enemies alike, including several\n> NATO countries.\n\n~~~\nbillfruit\nHow is this getting a free pass, while allegations about other countries\nprompt much consternation.\n\nI think it is ethically problematic to assist/work for any\nespionage/intelligence related work during peace time.\n\n~~~\nblaser-waffle\nThe Cold War was mostly a spy game and it kept the peace for decades. There\nwas no gigantic WW3, no nuclear holocaust, and kept the regional conflicts\nlimited to that specific region.\n\nEveryone plays the great game, even allies vs other allies (e.g. the French\nspying on US businesses, and the US NSA spying on Europeans during\nnegotiations).\n\n~~~\nntsplnkv2\nSurely the threat of mass destruction had more to do with that so-called\npeace.\n\nAnd was it really peaceful? All that espionage essentially led to the proxy\nwars across the globe that cost countless number of lives.\n\n~~~\ndeathgrips\nHow many people died in WW2 vs all wars after WW2?\n\n~~~\nntsplnkv2\nWhy?\n\n~~~\ndeathgrips\nProxy wars and spying kills less people than world wars. It's objectively\nbetter.\n\n~~~\nntsplnkv2\nIt's only objectively better until another world war comes - we are not\nimmune, and then, it will be easily objectively worse. This argument is rather\npointless - externalizing warfare to poor nations and then saying the world is\n\"peaceful\" is quite immoral.\n\n~~~\ndeathgrips\nDo you have a better, moral way to reduce war fatalities?\n\n~~~\nntsplnkv2\nDo you have an argument that isn't a straw-man?\n\nEspionage is not used by governments to maintain peace and reduce war\nfatalities - it's used by governments to gain an edge over their adversaries.\nEspionage existed in WW2 as it did in times of peace - to say peace is a\nconsequence of it is absurd.\n\nMAD is the only thing that has prevented major world conflict.\n\n------\ndisabled\nAs both an American (culturally) and European (by citizenship, as in European\nUnion citizen), this whole ordeal is going to be profoundly damaging to US-EU\nrelations.\n\nBut, you (Americans) should be angry because democracy has been in backslide\nhardcore in the US. Europe has dealt with populism before, unlike the US, and\nis more likely to recover from these bad times than the US—and it is really\ndue to a multitude of reasons.\n\nMy bet is that the US closed the operation once they knew they were certainly\nbusted. Who knows, maybe even a European counter-operation of some sort\noccurred. The US probably has several other covert operations now based\ndirectly on intelligence from the devices with poor encryption. Sure, post\nWorld War 2, the US maybe had legitimate reasons to be spying on such\nactivities in general in Europe. They also probably knew (practically\nguaranteed) over time from various patterns (from good data—whatever that data\ncould possibly be) that a super coordinated secret intelligence operation was\ngoing on between European countries, while not knowing who exactly they were\n(as in not being able to put their finger on what was going on, but still\nbeing able to rely on intuition to just know and to justify the means).\n\nSwiss laws permitting ultra-confidentiality in banking do absolutely have a\nlegitimate purpose, but they are problemsome too. Unless you have been living\nunder a rock in recent years, everybody knows that there are plenty of\noligarchs (Russian oligarchs in particular) funneling dirty money through the\nSwiss banking system. America also effectively has its own form of oligarchy\ntoo (by the way, guess who is listed top in the world for wealth inequality by\nCredit Suisse? Russia. Guess who is second? USA.), so it is not like this\nroute seemed unnatural.\n\nEven if the Europeans knew for certain that somebody had some sort of\nsubstantial counterintelligence on them, it would still take a long time to\nfigure out the source of failure. That is, unless the US messed up severely,\nwhich, I suspect, is probably what happened.\n\n~~~\nmicrocolonel\n> _But, you (Americans) should be angry because democracy has been in\n> backslide hardcore in the US. Europe has dealt with populism before..._\n\nPopulism is a creature of democracy, what you're talking about is a failure of\nthe republic; which itself is debatable.\n\n------\nvslira\n\"Maxinator\", \"Five Eyes\"\n\nImagine being in the brainstorming session to come up with name for\nintelligence agencies alliances.\n\n\"It must sound dangerous, yes, but not evil. Like some kind of anti-villain\"\n\n~~~\ndghughes\nWhenever I read about such organizations I always wonder who cleans the\ntoilets. Whether they are real like the CIA, Five Eyes, or even Dr. Evil\nsomeone low down on the ladder has to get access.\n\n~~~\n_jal\nKeep in mind that there are all sorts of odd circumstances and that the rules\nsurrounding this stuff are necessarily inflexible, so there are lots of\ndifferent arrangements.\n\nThat said, in the US, the janitor is probably a contractor. Typically ex-\nmilitary, they have to pass a background check and are cleared to work in\npublic spaces. When cleaning secure areas, they're escorted and watched.\n\n~~~\nttul\nAnd the people escorting and watching them are also escorted and watched. And\ntheir families are interviewed. Etc... It's a huge undertaking.\n\n------\nHokusai\n> to the considerable irritation of those who had kept it under wraps for\n> decades\n\nOn one side, so much secrecy worries me. On the other side kudos for keeping\nthe secret pact secret for so long.\n\n------\nl1ghthouse\n[http://archive.is/zmTgX](http://archive.is/zmTgX)\n\n------\nselimthegrim\nThey let the Turkish Army into NATO and hold nukes and it reuses OTPs?\n\n~~~\nnabla9\nThey don't let Turkish Army hold nukes.\n\nThey are just located in Turkey. Turkish Air force practises the delivery so\nthat they can do it if necessary.\n\n~~~\njacobush\nYeah, however there was talk that getting the nukes _out_ of Turkey would not\nbe easy, especially if Turkey would not cooperate.\n\n------\nwooptoo\nSans paywall [https://outline.com/VKPeR4](https://outline.com/VKPeR4)\n\n------\nneonate\n[https://archive.md/FMsZM](https://archive.md/FMsZM)\n\n------\nHarvesterify\nCan somebody explain why The Register and The Economist suddenly pick up the\nsubject, while the original article from Jacobs was published a few months\nago, and several newspaper already covered the topic ?\n\nAnything new happened ?\n\n------\nHavoc\nI wonder what is behind the comment that french/german works better than\nfrench/UK\n\n~~~\nfrabbit\nThe origins of the EEC were a French(agriculture + coal) and German\n(manufacturing) alliance. The other countries were just added on as export\nmarkets.\n\n~~~\nDoingIsLearning\nThose were probably powerful lobbies for an enlargement of an economic union.\n\nHowever, technically the concept of an european economic union originated with\nthe treaty for the Benelux Economic Union (1958)\n\n(Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg)\n\n~~~\nfrabbit\nGenerally treaties occur after interested parties have realized their\ninterests and undertaken discussions for a great deal of time prior to the\nsigning of anything.\n\n------\nkleiba\nSupposedly, they mean West-Germany when they say Germany?\n\n~~~\nwyldfire\nYes. BND originated as West German intelligence agency.\n\n------\nadaisadais\nNothing on SPECTRE\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nCalifornia companies with 5+ employees must now provide pensions? - jalanco\nhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-28/california-is-first-to-offer-private-pension-management.html\n\n======\njalanco\n\"The law is aimed at businesses with five or more employees that don’t offer\npensions or 401(k) savings programs. The law requires companies to contribute\n3 percent of a worker’s salary to a retirement account. Workers will be\nenrolled in the program unless they choose to opt out.\"\n\n~~~\nhga\nDepending on the details, a strong motive to hire no more than 4 direct\nemployees. This could bring about some major structural changes.\n\n~~~\n001sky\n_3 percent of a worker’s salary_\n\nThats 1/3 of sales tax rate. Its literally not material, economically.\nLogistically, this will need to be outsourced, which ironically mighthit fees\nat a cost ~3% of payroll (ie, like a ~= to a credit card fee). So this law is\na boon for special interest = those companies.\n\n~~~\nhga\nAgreed with you on the outsourcing, but I think you underestimate the \"death\nby a thousand paper cuts\" problem. Sure, any one of these things is not\nnecessarily material or at least very big, but there's no limiting principle\nto California's style of government, they just keep piling up and up.\n\nAnd it'll be material for companies that are right now at the margin, where\nthis pulls them under the break even point, or the point at which the salary\nthe eeeeevil business owner can pay himself is just not worth it.\n\n~~~\n001sky\nI don't disagree on the PITA factor. But its not a death-knell. Provided that\nit is outsourced at payroll or via a bank relationship, etc. In that sense,\nthis is just another legistated subsidy to these industries.\n\nBut the only awkward case is n=4, where they need +1 to do the paperwork =].\n\nBut analytically, A 3 to 6% increase in labour cost only kills a very weak\nbusiness plan. Consider the edge-case example: Even with 100% labour expense\nand a 6 month runway of cash, you are running out of cash 1/2x6%=3% sooner?\nThats ~3 business days (240/2x3%).\n\nAgain, its massive brain damage. Until it gets outsourced. But in theory it\nshould be no more difficult than a pre-tax Medical savings account, or a pre-\ntax Transportation voucher system, etc (which almost everyone already has).\n\nBut even BigCo's outsource this crap to PayChex or what not.\n\n~~~\nhga\nThe point I'm failing to communicate is that all these little bites add up.\nEach particular one may not be very large, but when you add enough of them you\npreclude a number of business plans, especially if you move your focus from\nour sorts of businesses where the Bay area defines the very best place to do\nthem (although all of California enjoys the unique benefit of non-competes\nbeing unenforceable, providing the country's most liquid market for human\ntalent).\n\nIf the California/Bay area competitive advantages aren't so overwhelming, you\nhave to ask yourself how much sense it makes to try to create and build it in\nCalifornia vs. states that are sane. If the company type is inherently local\n(e.g. a dry cleaner with all those environmental issues), can I afford to try\nto continue running it in California, or should I move and do whatever\nelsewhere, or just retire?\n\nIn the long run, its hard to see the Bay area etc. remain viable for high tech\nif too many other types of companies are forced out of the state.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nGrok cassandra's data model - flazzarino\nhttp://flazz.me/grok-cassandras-datamodel\n\n======\njdefarge\nThis column-family/column/super-column lingo that Cassandra pulls out just\nmakes it harder to understand its data model. In fact, it's quite simple:\n\nKeyspace: a hash table that holds your application data. Okay, the table is\ndistributed among nodes (i.e.,a DHT), but it's still a hash table;\n\nRow: an entry in the above hash table where each value is composed by a\ncollection of \"column-families\".\n\nColumn Family: a key-value table (I avoid to call it a hash table because I\ndon't remember if it's implemented as such). A better name for this thing\nwould be 'Attribute Set'.\n\nColumn: it's a key-value pair (with timestamp). Thinking about it as a column\njust blurs the concept. Better name: 'Attribute'.\n\n _Note: it's possible to have a different set of attributes on a per-row basis\n(for the same Column Family), so this concept of 'column' breaks quite\neasily._\n\nSuper-column: key-value pair where the value is yet another key-value table!\nBetter(?) name: 'Super-Attribute'.\n\nThen Cassandra data model is in fact a nested set of key-value tables while\ndynamo's model is flat (just one level hash table). Oh! Last but not least,\nit's not a column-store. It's on-disk storage is row-oriented.\n\n------\nwccrawford\nI think he makes the mistake of thinking the RDB-specific definition of those\nwords is the absolutely definition, and that nobody else can use them if they\naren't using them in exactly the same way.\n\nYou can't go into a new language and assume any words that appear to be the\nsame are exactly the same. This applies to spoken language as well as computer\nlanguages. Only heartache lies down that road.\n\n~~~\nflazzarino\nmistake or not, i don't believe i assumed any words from the RDB (or any\nother) domain are the absolute definition.\n\ni do assume that people often learn and understand things based on existing\nconceptual prototypes. that was my problem trying to understand cassandra.\n\n~~~\nwccrawford\nThey why did you say:\n\n\"Not only is Cassandra’s terminology confusing it’s downright misleading. Row,\nColumn & Key all have existing semantics in the land of databases. To make\nmatters worse, Cassandra’s definitions are not even orthogonal to the existing\nones — they exist in a difficult state of quasi-synonymity.\"\n\nYou assumed that the RDB definition of those words was absolute, and didn't\nbother to question if a different kind of database would use them somewhat\ndifferently.\n\n~~~\npohl\n_You assumed that the RDB definition of those words was absolute..._\n\nI'm not the author, but I don't see how the portion you quoted requires an\nassumption that those definitions are absolute. The only thing one must accept\nis that those definitions are pervasive. That doesn't seem controversial, to\nme. When selecting the nomenclature, the makers of Cassandra could have made a\npractical decision not to create unnecessary confusion.\n\n~~~\njdefarge\nThe Facebook guys who wrote Cassandra have heavily drawn its design and\nterminology from Google's Bigtable. By the way, Column Family (CF) in BT makes\na lot more sense because the compression of data,as well as disk storage\nlocality, is made on a per-CF basis. They have even filled a patent about this\n(<http://bit.ly/ooop2s>).\n\n _Oddly enough, BigTable's terminology seems fits more naturally in the\nclassic concepts than Cassandra's. Maybe it's the result of Dynamo's design\nchoices (DHT, etc) that got into the mix or new concepts like SuperColumn._\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Should a n00b learn front-end and work back, or vice versa? - webmaven\n\nSomeone I know is very interested in switching to web design and&#x2F;or development as a career, but is uncertain about where to start, and I am uncertain what to recommend (my own experiences as a beginner are now 20 years in the past, and the environment is very different now).<p>This person has an interest in design and likes to make things look nice, but also enjoys data organization and has serious data manipulation skills using spreadsheets.<p>Do I suggest they start on the front-end with HTML+CSS, add JS for some interactivity, and then work toward the backend with a web framework, eventually adding various DB, numeric processing, and other backend skills as well...<p>Or do I suggest they start with data storage and manipulation with databases and tools like Python and Pandas, and then moving to the front-end via web frameworks and visualization libraries?<p>Either path would be rewarding for them, just in different ways, and it is unlikely they would be able to figure out what they find <i>most</i> enjoyable until they have tried a broad range of the &#x27;stack&#x27; for themselves, so the real question is which sequence is actually easier&#x2F;faster&#x2F;less frustrating to learn for someone new to the field.<p>Or perhaps there is some other direction or sequence I am overlooking?\n======\nnostrademons\nI generally recommend that new devs who don't yet know what they want to\nspecialize in learn front-end dev first and then work their way backwards.\n\nThe reason is that frontend skills are widely transferrable between companies,\nand qualify you for a large number of jobs. This means that you can get your\nfoot in the door at a lot of different places, and if you don't like it, you\ncan switch to another company or product really easily. Once you find a\nspecialty, _then_ you can start learning backend technologies in depth, and\nprobably switch roles within the company.\n\nBackend technologies are often surprisingly tightly tied to a particular\nproblem domain. Yes, familiarity with SQL and an RDBMS will help you in a lot\nof places. However, many of the more interesting places to work need graph\ndatabases, high-performance timeseries stores, memory caches, bloom filters,\nflat file formats, and a large number of custom technologies.\n\nAnd when it comes to data _analysis_ , your effectiveness is largely dependent\nupon how familiar you are with the particular data set you are analyzing. I\nsaw wizards work wonders with Google's corpus of news articles; they could\nreally quickly machine-learn models from the corpus, even for totally new\nproducts, because they'd been working with the data set for the last 10 years.\nHowever, while there are some general techniques that most data extraction &\nprediction problems use, that wizardry wouldn't translate to, say, protein\nfolding. Backend data processing is much less transferrable between different\nsets of data.\n\nThe flip side is that domain-specific knowledge tends to last much longer than\nfrontend technologies. Typically, you have to learn a new frontend technology\nevery 5-10 years; I started my career in 2000 and have already had to jump\nfrom Java Swing to static webpages to single-page webapps to mobile\ntechnologies.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: My GCP Account Has been Hacked What do I do? - dkroy\nI have had a number of GCP accounts over the past 5 years, but this last month I have appeared to have been hacked. As a result there are resources that I cannot remove that Google Support refuses to help with. What do I do? This hacker has run up a very large bill, and I do not have the resources to pay it. It would be crazy to me that I would be the first person to run into this issue so advice is welcome.\n======\nposguy\nGoogle has no support, and when you do not pay they will brick every Google\naccount you have.\n\nStart a Google Takeout immediately if you have any personal data, and if you\nuse Gmail then update all accounts to a non-Google email address.\n\nGoogle Takeout: [https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-google-\ntakeout-4173795](https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-google-takeout-4173795)\n\n------\nGuardLlama\nI wouldn't worry.\n\nYou just did exactly what you needed to do! Post to HN and hope the thread\ngets enough upvotes to reach the frontpage to find a human at Google.\n\n~~~\nswagonomixxx\nThat's actually so sad.\n\n------\ngbrindisi\nOuch. What resources can you not remove? What exactly are you running?\n\nIn general, as first thing stop the bleeding:\n\n1\\. Stop your services from running\n\n2\\. Check your IAM policies for anything suspicious, new service accounts, new\nusers. Clean up.\n\n3\\. Rotate all your Service Accounts and Service Account’s keys! If possible\nre-provision your machines (with a new SA) and redeploy your apps.\n\n4\\. Check your VPC’s firewall\n\nThen you absolutely need to figure out how you’ve been hacked. If the breach\nis on the application layer you must figure out where and patch it. Check your\napplication logs.\n\nThen check your GCP activity logs, search for unexpected calls from service\naccounts - assume the attacker has compromised a service account and search\nfor attempt to persist with calls to `setIam` or other sensitive api calls.\n\nSorry, I’m on mobile but feel free to reach out If you need (email in profile)\n\n------\nrxsel\nI’m just here for the support. There is definitely someone here lurking that\ncould definitely help :)\n\nAlso, I’ve seen a trend of terrible google support. Is this the norm?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nOnly One of Six Air Force F-35s Could Actually Take Off During Testing - farseer\nhttp://fortune.com/2016/04/28/f-35-fails-testing-air-force/\n======\nPopsiclePete\nI can _feel_ the kind of project this must have been. A giant cluster-fuck of\ndozens of managers and dozens of teams \"collaborating\" (a.k.a. spending 60% of\ntheir productive time in meetings), and more and more people being added as it\nstarted to get bad, thus making it worse. Working long hours, trying to patch\nup some fundamental flaws in the overall design, the fuck-tard MBA 'manager'\ntelling them how much their hard work is \"appreciated\" and how it's just \"a\nlittle big longer\" as they steadily burn out...\n\nAnd the uber-fucktard above, who keeps pushing harder, piling more people and\nmore meetings, until the whole thing starts to collapse onto itself.\n\nThey never learn. Never.\n\n------\nsevenless\nMaybe they should open all the source code to the public and offer large\nrewards for finding bugs.\n\nThose planes cost, what, a third of a billion each? Even a million dollars per\nsubstantial bug might be a bargain.\n\n~~~\nvinay427\nI think that could allow for bigger security flaws than the actual bugs\nthemselves, if you literally mean \"public.\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nVenezuela’s central bank holding Bitcoin is just crazy enough to work - euphemized\nhttps://decrypt.co/9697/venezuela-central-bank-holding-bitcoin-just-crazy-enough-work\n======\nhnghost\nAccurate title!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk YC: How did you name your startup? - rksprst\n\nI've been having trouble naming my startup (or renaming). I'm wondering how you guys came up with your name, what criteria you used, and how long it took?<p>My criteria is basically this: http://alexkaminski.blogspot.com/2008/03/naming-your-startup.html\n======\ntyohn\nI am working on that right now. Something that is easy to remember - easy to\nspell correctly - and creative...\n\n~~~\nrksprst\nAre you just thinking of names? Or do you do something like making a list of\nwords related to your startup, and then combining them to see what works (and\nisn't taken)?\n\n~~~\ntyohn\nI start with names related to the concept but it always seems to morph into\nnames that aren't related. I end up pulling words out of my brain and then\nbreak them apart and put them together in different forms. I also use a\nthesaurus to find other meanings for words...\n\n------\nideas101\nthe following 2 links should help you - good luck\n\n[http://onstartups.com/home/tabid/3339/bid/223/The-Startup-\nNa...](http://onstartups.com/home/tabid/3339/bid/223/The-Startup-Name-\nGame.aspx)\n\n<http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/02/the_name_game.html>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSony officially 50% of all GitHub's DMCA notices  - ecaron\nhttps://github.com/github/dmca/commit/5476ab2ffe18a286a1476293276c3149c0c2d50d\n\n======\nbenologist\nI don't really see how GitHub receiving a staggering 1 DMCA notice a month\nfrom Sony is newsworthy ... the interesting number isn't that 50% (aka \"6\")\nnotices were sent this year by Sony, it's that GitHub's only gotten 12 all\nyear.\n\nOther than not deliberately cultivate an environment for illegal file sharing,\nwhat has GitHub done to insulate themselves from the piracy & file sharing\ncommunity so effectively? It seems like it'd be a great place to dump illegal\nmusic/videos/app/game/etc downloads, and accounts are easy to make.\n\n~~~\nhenryw\nyeah, 12 is not that statistically significant. If they had >30, than maybe.\n\n~~~\nHoyaSaxa\nO how I love the central limit theorem\n\n------\necaron\nThe larger question I'm curious about is how many of these are legitimate DMCA\nviolations vs. the attack on fair-use that HNers have come to expect when this\n4-letter word is invoked.\n\n------\njevinskie\nDoes anyone know what the tool was?[0] jimmikaelkael is a well known PS2 dev.\nI had checked out the DMCAed repo when he first put it up about a week ago but\nI can't recall it was.\n\n[0]: <https://github.com/jimmikaelkael/ps3mca-tool.git>\n\n~~~\nmcbarry\nIt's a driver to provide filesystem access to PS2 memory cards, using the USB\nMemory Card Adaptor designed for the PS3.\n\nThere's another tool using this to make bootable memory cards for bypassing\nregion checks.\n\n------\nsenthilnayagam\nThe amount Sony spends on Lawyers it could have spent on real security(so many\nserver/network issues in last 2 months) and some path breaking products.\n\nAll my Sony money now goes to Apple.\n\n------\ntzury\nif you want to read it in more elegant format, there you go:\n[https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2011-06-21-sony.m...](https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2011-06-21-sony.markdown)\n\n------\nkeyle\nThe title doesn't quite make sense? \"Sony officially 50%...\"?\n\n~~~\nspicyj\n\"Sony [is now] officially 50% …\" – The \"is now\" is implied.\n\n------\nomouse\nSony are dicks, this is news?\n\n~~~\nswaits\nFor attempting to protect their IP by following the processes established in\ncurrent law?\n\n~~~\nProduce\nI suppose that you would have stood up for slave owners back when that was\nlegal? IP is an oxymoron and the law is wrong.\n\n~~~\nswaits\nWe aren't talking about enslaved humans. We are talking about a company\ndefending its inventions, its business. I don't see where Sony are being\n\"dicks\".\n\n~~~\nburgerbrain\nNo, we are talking about consumer rights, and the property rights of the legal\nowners of Sony manufactured devices. It may not be autonomy rights, but it is\nan issue of rights nevertheless.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAdvanced soccer analytics: building and applying a pitch control model in Python - rjtavares\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X1cSehLg6s\n======\nrjtavares\nThis is a really niche topic (Football/Soccer analytics), although its reach\ncould be high, so let me contextualize a little bit (btw, I'm using the word\nFootball from now on):\n\nFootball statistics were traditionally based on specific event: passes and\nshots. From these you can compute certain statistics like % of Possession\n(contrary to what it may look, % Possession is calculated from passes, not\nactual possession time) and Shots on Target.\n\nFootball is notoriously a low scoring sport, and shots differ in quality quite\na bit, so a measure was created to address this: Expected Goals (xG). This was\naround 2010, and only this season hit the mainstream as the Premier League\nbroadcasters started to present those values (based on Opta's model).\n\nMore advanced stats, but similar in concept, were created since, like Expected\nAssists and xG Chain (in this case, a value is attributed to each player that\nparticipated in the possession chain).\n\nBut even shots are kind of rare (usually around 10 shots on target per match),\nand these stats completely disregard the defensive side of the equation, so\nincreasingly full positional data is used in Football Analytics.\n\nIn 2018, William Spearman presented an influential paper at MIT Sloan Sports\nAnalytics Conference called \"Beyond Expected Goals\" (this video is an open\nimplementation of that paper)[1]. He was later hired by Liverpool FC as their\nlead Data Scientist.\n\nYou can watch a video by Spearman himself about the Pitch Control Model and\nrecent innovations here.[2]\n\nAs you can see, this is pretty close to the state of the art in Football\nAnalytics. It's a huge moment that very few people noticed, so I'm trying to\nget it out there.\n\n[1] [http://www.sloansportsconference.com/wp-\ncontent/uploads/2018...](http://www.sloansportsconference.com/wp-\ncontent/uploads/2018/02/2002.pdf)\n\n[2]\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9PrwPyolyU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9PrwPyolyU)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Gambling & smoking limited but not entrepreneurship and stock trading? - amichail\n\nThere are dangers involved in gambling and smoking.  Consequently, governments provide limits/warnings to mitigate those dangers.<p>But why do governments not do the same with entrepreneurship and stock trading?<p>For example, 3rd party developers could receive a warning that gives them the expected profit from a particular platform.  Without such warnings and in cases with very low expected profit, companies would be essentially getting free labor to promote their products.\n======\nasimjalis\nI assume you are joking. Gambling is a closed system with fixed rules. The\nexpected winnings form a Gaussian bell curve. Entrepreneurship is an open\nsystem. You can change the game. The idea of expected profits assumes that\nprofits will follow a bell curve. But in fact they don't. There is really no\nupper bound. To use the terminology of Taleb's Black Swan, entrepreneurship\nprofits are Mandelbrotian. The outliers can completely change the average, to\na point where the concept of the average or expected becomes meaningless.\n\n~~~\namichail\nYou could give the median profit, which is not sensitive to outliers.\n\n~~~\nprofquail\nWhy should the government be required to help you out here. Contact the\ncompany and find out some more about their platform. If they won't give you\nsome straight answers, then it's time to move on. It's a private company, and\nit's totally within their right to refuse your information request, but they\nwill also be driving themselves out of business...\n\n~~~\namichail\nWhy would a company voluntarily give out information that would discourage\nthird party developers?\n\nDoes Facebook for example give out the median profit from a Facebook app?\n\n~~~\nprofquail\nThey wouldn't. And if they lied to you, that's fraud, and you can press\ncharges against them.\n\nIf they don't lie, but they don't tell you good things about their platform\n(you'll have to judge the amount of 'spin' on your own)...then move on. It's\nreally that simple.\n\nFrom your example, you could contact Facebook and ask for some stats about\ntheir application platform (telling them that your company is thinking about\nbuilding an app for that platform). If they refuse to give you stats, either\nask to be transferred to a 'higher-up', or tell them you're sorry you couldn't\nwork together and get off the phone. If they do give you stats, you need to\njudge for yourself if building your app will be profitable on that platform.\n\nThere is absolutely no company (or person) in the world that is going to be\nable to quote you a hard number on the amount of profit your app is going to\nmake before it exists.\n\n------\nSwellJoe\nOh, yes, more government involvement in the tech industry is _exactly_ what we\nneed at this juncture in American history. It's worked so well for\nautomobiles, railroads, health care, and drugs, what could possibly go wrong?\n\n------\nprofquail\nI think that if you develop something for a 3rd-party platform without knowing\nwhat you're getting into, any negative (i.e. non-profitable) outcome is 100%\nyour fault. I'm certainly not going to ask for my tax dollars to go toward\nsomeone that was so excited by greed that they didn't even bother to google\naround a bit and find out some more about that platform.\n\nIf you do some preliminary web searches on small business statistics or\nentrepreneurship, you'll find that plenty of them fail right off the bat. I\nthink that a large part of the reason that people love 'corporate culture' is\nbecause it's very secure, unlike when you start your own business and have to\nactually take some risks with your future.\n\n------\nzandorg\nI see the difference between gambling and stock trading as this: Gambling has\na negative long-term percentage, but stock trading is the opposite: a positive\nlong-term percentage.\n\nIf you gamble at roulette for long enough with any strategy, you'll lost 2.6%.\n\nIf you play the stock market for that long, again randomly, you'll GAIN 2.6%\n(just a made up number - it could be 1% depending on the economy).\n\nPostscript: At stock trading, like in a casino, you have to make enough to\ncover the \"house cut\", which is the fees you pay to brokers to sell and buy\nstocks (in roulette, it's 2.6%).\n\n~~~\namichail\nI suspect most people lose money in the stock market because they need the\ncash so they may end up selling low.\n\n~~~\nprofquail\nIt's called Risk Aversion:\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_aversion>\n\n------\nbkovitz\nThere are dangers involved in eating at McDonald's, going to grad school,\ntalking to strangers, thinking things through very carefully, dressing funny,\nstarting religions, getting married, staying single, doing meaningless\nhomework, getting a cubicle job, and heeding the advice of your high-school\nguidance counselor. The dangers are quite severe, including heart disease,\ngetting beaten up, and living a wasted, unfulfilling life (a fate worse than\ndeath).\n\n------\nsarvesh\nWhy not right? You may soon get more than just protecting 3rd party developers\nwhen the bill to regulate VC funds is passed. I think it will be big blunder.\nNobody who is an entrepreneur has any delusions of safety, we know the risks\nwe are taking. The whole reason that this model has worked so far is because\npeople have the freedom to take these risks. Take that away and you will\nprobably end up killing a lot of innovation.\n\n~~~\namichail\n_Nobody who is an entrepreneur has any delusions of safety, we know the risks\nwe are taking._\n\nNot true! <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=683810>\n\n~~~\nsarvesh\nSorry, an article in businessweek doesn't disprove the fact that fact that\nApple, Microsoft, Sun and a gazillion other startups were created by\nentrepreneurs and VCs who were willing take those risks.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow Text Messages Change from Dating to Marriage - adamnemecek\nhttp://adashofdata.com/2014/10/14/how-text-messages-change-from-dating-to-marriage\n======\nderefr\n> more recently I seem to have decided to no longer greet my husband\n\nThis is the most interesting part. When you're dating someone, there are\ndefined parts of the day where you start-and-then-stop interacting with them,\nso there are greetings exchanged, etc. When you're married (or in a very\nsteady relationship), it's more like one continuous conversation; since it\nnever ends, it never has to begin again.\n\n~~~\nineedtosleep\nJust had to say that your last sentence was surprisingly touching (obviously\nIMO). I have my own qualms about the article in the OP as I've studied\nwritten/spoken language patterns a good amount in my time, but your point of\nrelationships evolving into longer and longer 'continuous conversations' is a\ngreat way of putting it.\n\n~~~\nwodenokoto\nI just started computational linguistics at uni and I thought this was very\ninterested (albeit very light hearted)\n\nCould you elaborate on your qualms?\n\n------\nchristiangenco\nThis is fascinating. Looking back on my ~4 year relationship with my soon-to-\nbe-wife, I notice a lot of parallels. Looking back even at our last week of\ntexts, it's all transactional and logistical things: pickup times and places,\nconfirmations, and quick tasks.\n\nIt's not necessarily that our communication has lost that \"fresh love\" spark,\nmerely that it's developed and aged (like a good cheese) into deeper, more\nmeaningful transactions that happen in person. We no longer _need_ to reaffirm\nanything over texts, because everything meaningful happens in person.\n\n~~~\neitally\nThis x100 (just speaking from probably a few years further out that where you\nare now)! On the other hand, though, richer messaging apps have certainly made\na lot of things much easier (sending map locations, sending pics/vids, links,\netc) than SMS/MMS.\n\nThe same patterns hold true with email, btw. This isn't at all unique to\ntexting.\n\n------\nJacobAldridge\nI'm reminded of the time Facebook prompted me to \"reconnect\" with my beautiful\nwife, because we hadn't communicated in some time. Ah, no, we just don't\ncommunicate with each other via Facebook.\n\nSadly, most of my historic data (we've been together 11 years; married 6) is\nlost in ancient phones. One difference I believe we would observe compared\nwith the OP is how prominent _xxx_ would appear (representing kisses, I might\nadd). We made a tacit agreement early in our relationship to always add those\nand/or an expression of love at the end of messages and conversations. One of\nthose little things that can get lost in transactional stuff, so I'm glad we\nmade the effort (even if it's now mostly habit, it's still valuable).\n\n~~~\nneduma\n>> We made a tacit agreement early in our relationship to always add those\nand/or an expression of love at the end of messages and conversations.\n\nRight on. Thanks of sharing this tip.\n\n------\nherbps10\nThis is great to see as I've been working on a similar project to try to\nvisualize relationships by looking at the number of texts sent over time.\n\nIf anyone would like help generating similar analyses of their texting data,\nI'd be glad to help as I have some machinery set up to do so!\n\nHere's a prototype site I put together that takes iPhone SMS backups and\ngenerates a graph of how many texts you've sent over time:\n\n[http://herbsusmann.com/relationships/](http://herbsusmann.com/relationships/)\n\n------\njoshschreuder\nI would be interested in trying this out for myself. Any ideas or open source\non extracting the data from phones (specifically the iPhone?).\n\nI think the iPhone may use a SQLite DB for messages?\n\n~~~\nartmageddon\nIt does, and it's totally possible if you haven't encrypted the phone's\nbackups and lost the password* like I did :(\n\n*I swear I didn't put a password on it but for some reason it got one...\n\n------\ncafard\nInteresting, and sweet.\n\nAccording to the history of SMS on Wikipedia, the notion was conceived before\nI met my wife, but the first SMS was sent almost five years after we married.\n\n------\nrotub\nI really enjoyed this thanks for sharing and I have bookmarked your site for\nfuture reference. It seems like a great idea if you keep it up which I hope\nyou do.\n\n------\nitazula\nAt first, looking at her picture, I thought her skirt was a data mosaic of the\ntext messages. That would make a nice pattern actually.\n\n------\nhereonbusiness\nCase sensitive word clouds, it's like looking at trypophobia images :)\n\nBut by the looks of it, wouldn't have made much difference anyway.\n\n------\nshahocean\nsuch a great analysis! Is there any space in this to disrupt? I mean to make\nthings as before!\n\n------\nljk\nalways reminded by this xkcd comic whenever people share observations about\ntheir relationships\n\n[http://xkcd.com/523/](http://xkcd.com/523/)\n\n~~~\nneduma\nLOL.\n\n------\nneduma\nVery interesting article among all apple crap.\n\n~~~\nneduma\nit was my mistake to say bad about apple. Sorry apple fans.\n\n~~~\nmikeash\nYour first mistake was writing a comment that didn't really add anything (if\nall you want is to express approval, click the upvote button) and your second\nmistake was complaining about it.\n\n------\nfuddle\nI think this topic would be more interesting: \"How Text Messages Change from\nMarriage to Divorce\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nChina’s Internet Controls Will Get Stricter, to Dismay of Foreign Business - danielmorozoff\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/08/business/international/china-cyber-security-regulations.html?ref=technology\n======\nRcouF1uZ4gsC\nThe Chinese government actually has very little incentive to allow foreign\ninternet companies inside China. By restricting outside companies they do the\nfollowing\n\n1\\. Reduce the ability of outsiders to influence their people\n\n2\\. Avoid Arab Spring like events where because the companies are foreign, the\ncoordinating network is opaque to the government\n\n3\\. Allow the domestic internet companies a chance to grow and develop without\ncompetition from established foreign companies\n\n4\\. Retain and develop talent and technology (ie big data, machine learning)\ndomestically\n\nBecause China has such a large population, they can easily develop and sustain\ntheir own internal internet industry without needing Western/American\ncompanies.\n\nI think the Snowden leaks showed that the Internet has been weaponized by the\nUnited States and having American companies controlling large services like\nAmazon, Google, Facebook, Twitter gives the US government a massive trove of\nintelligence. It also enables them to influence citizens of other countries. I\nthink a lot of countries in the near future will see the Internet as essential\nto their national security and thus try to limit foreign influence as much as\nthey can with varying degrees of success\n\n~~~\nsho\nYour comment has been downvoted, probably because of the hyperbolic \"the\nInternet has been weaponized\", but you bring up a good point. I've long\nthought it absolutely insane that governments all over the world blithely\nallow Facebook, and by extension the USG[1], to collect a comprehensive social\ngraph of their entire citizenry. Who's friends with who, who talks to who, how\noften and about what, who works where, who goes where and when. This level of\ninformation about another country's citizens sounds like the wildest dream of\nan intelligence agency. It literally sounds like the onion:\n[http://www.theonion.com/video/cias-facebook-program-\ndramatic...](http://www.theonion.com/video/cias-facebook-program-dramatically-\ncut-agencys-cos-19753)\n\nWhy did these other governments let FB & friends in? I think they just didn't\nsee it coming, and by the time they realised the cat was out of the bag. Well,\nChina saw it coming, and closed the door before it was too late. I'm not\nsurprised China is doing that - I'm surprised other countries don't do it.\n\n[1] Does anyone seriously believe that at least parts of the USG do not have\naccess to facebook's data?\n\n~~~\nwavefunction\nOne of the first investors in facebook was In-Q-Tel.\n\nI think most people who care about things like that already knew a long time\nago.\n\n~~~\nlate2part\nThis is false. Please provide supporting information for your assertion that\nIn-Q-Tel invested in The Facebook.\n\n~~~\nCamperBob2\nThe OP may be confusing Facebook with Google. Apparently there's some evidence\nof Google's ties with the US intelligence community:\n\n[https://www.corbettreport.com/meet-in-q-tel-the-cias-\nventure...](https://www.corbettreport.com/meet-in-q-tel-the-cias-venture-\ncapital-firm-preview/)\n\n    \n    \n        Two of the names that come up most often in \n        connection  with In-Q-Tel, however, need no \n        introduction: Google and Facebook.\n    \n        The publicly available record on the Facebook/In-Q-Tel \n        connection is tenuous. Facebook received $12.7 million \n        in venture capital from Accel, whose manager, James \n        Breyer, now sits on their board. He was formerly the \n        chairman of the National Venture Capital Association, \n        whose board included Gilman Louie, then the CEO of \n        In-Q-Tel. The connection is indirect, but the \n        suggestion of CIA involvement with Facebook, however \n        tangential, is disturbing in the light of Facebook’s \n        history of violating the privacy of its users.\n    \n        Google’s connection to In-Q-Tel is more \n        straightforward, if officially denied. In 2006, \n        ex-CIA officer Robert David Steele told Homeland \n        Security Today that Google “has been taking money \n        and direction for elements of the US Intelligence \n        Community, including the Office of Research and \n        Development at the Central Intelligence Agency, \n        In-Q-Tel, and in all probability, both the \n        National Security Agency (NSA) and the Army’s \n        Intelligence and Security Command.” Later that year, a \n        blogger claimed that an official Google spokesman had \n        denied the claims, but no official press statement was \n        released.\n\n------\nbobjordan\nOne does not simply launch a website on a server inside of China. First, I had\nto wait about four months on a waitlist with AWS-China to get setup with an\nAWS-China account for our China business. Now, I've had the AWS-China account\nfor about 3 months and still awaiting the ICP license to be issued, so I can\nactually open port 80 on a VM. No less, the time it took to get fully\nfunctioning companies in place to even be able to have a business account. It\nis a crazy struggle over here, but I guess if it was easy, everybody would be\ndoing it.\n\nEdit: forgot to mention that the solution also depends on my Chinese wife\nhaving her name on the ICP linense documents. It wouldn't even get done\nwithout that.\n\n~~~\nrsync\n\"still awaiting the ICP license to be issued, so I can actually open port 80\non a VM.\"\n\nIt is my understanding that things are much, much easier if you are not\n\"publishing\". That is, if you don't have a website or open port 80 (for\ninstance) you can quickly and easily co-locate devices inside China - without\nany kind of license.\n\nAlthough we have not yet deployed rsync.net in mainland china (we have a\nlocation in Hong Kong) all of our contacts and partners were happy to rent us\nrackspace for non-publishing infrastructure - no licenses needed.\n\n------\nJerry2\nI never understood why Western technology companies haven't taken China to a\nWTO tribunal for restricting their business practices. I mean, China exports\ntrillions of dollars worth of goods to us yet when you try to export services\nto China, you're met with \"The Golden Shield Project\" aka \"The Great Firewall\nof China\". That doesn't seem like a fair deal at all.\n\n~~~\njza00425\nYou mean American tech companies. Stop playing this West vs China, It is just\nUS.\n\n~~~\nlinkregister\nI think your tone is overly aggressive and accusatory.\n\nEuropean countries have a large trade deficit with China (€170B)[1]. The U.S.\nhad about double the amount of trade deficit ($336B), mostly due to its\ngreater value of imports [2].\n\nThis doesn't prove that China restricts access to its markets by European\ncompanies, but it provides evidence that the situation may not be as simple as\nyou suggest.\n\n1\\.\n[http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/7553974/6-120...](http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/7553974/6-12072016-BP-\nEN.pdf/67bbb626-d55f-4032-8c24-48e4c9f78c3a)\n\n2\\. [https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/china-mongolia-\ntaiwan/peo...](https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/china-mongolia-\ntaiwan/peoples-republic-china)\n\n~~~\njza00425\nTrade deficit does not suggest anything. Whenever China tries to buy some\ntechnology, the US is so protective and at the same time buy all the clothes\nand low profit stuff. That is how you get the trade deficit. So it is pretty\nmuch that EU and US just keep Chinese work like slave forever. By the way, it\nis really just American tech companies. not a single european company's name\npop up in my mind.\n\n~~~\nlinkregister\nThis is a bizarre and false statement. U.S. companies have been selling\ntechnology to Chinese companies and consumers for decades.\n\nRouters (Cisco), farm equipment (Caterpillar), software (AutoCAD, Microsoft,\nOracle, etc), medical devices (GE), factory equipment (GE), microchips (AMD,\nIntel, Qualcomm), high-precision measurement (Agilent/Keysight), etc.\n\nThe list is absurdly long. Your agenda is preventing you from seeing a more\nbalanced view of things. Try to read a bit about cooperation between the two\ncountries, such as huge foreign investment in Shenzhen, exchange programs\nbetween Chinese and American universities, success of Chinese technology firms\nin the U.S. (Huawei, Nexus 6P; Almost all solar panel companies; etc)\n\n------\nnullnilvoid\nThis reminds me of the Ming and Qing dynasty when the emperors decided to\nclose the door and shut out foreigners. Gradually, China fell behind and the\nwestern powers bombed the door open during the opium war.\n\nIt is unlikely that other countries will bomb open the door this time, as\nChina is a great military power. Instead, it will be disbenefit to Chinese\npeople and consumers as they cannot access the services from outside.\n\n~~~\njjoonathan\nMaybe. It's certainly true that protectionist policies tend to destroy tons of\neconomic value, but remember that \"economic value\" itself is a notion whose\ndefinition has been carefully cultivated to steer thought away from the weak\nbits of western economic theory (here: tragedies of the commons / damage to\nthird parties outside each transaction). The sum total of consumer\ninconvenience caused by the Great Firewall could well be worth the economic\nself-sufficiency and industrial prowess it bought. There is value in laying a\nfoundation today for tomorrow's competitive industries, but you won't see it\nuntil too late if you limit your thinking to the margin.\n\nDon't get me wrong, the GFW is also motivated by the corruption, censorship,\nand manipulation it enables, and I don't see a silver lining in any of those.\nI just wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the strategic value of protectionism.\n\n~~~\nnullnilvoid\nThe GFW is not so much motivated by protectionism but by CPC's tight grip on\npower and greed, to my understanding. If the CPC are adopting protectionism to\ncultivate their own tech industry, it is about time for them to loosen the\nInternet control because Chinese tech industry are very strong and established\nat this moment. It is unlikely for western counterparts to out-compete them in\nChina market even on level playground. Among the top 10 most valuable Internet\ncompanies, China has four of them.\n\n------\ncoldcode\nEveryone want to be like China and control their internet, their people and\ntheir industry and avoid external competition. Most countries can't quite do\nit or are unwilling to because it does have downsides.\n\n------\ncontingencies\nUtter crap.\n\nI have and continue to run companies inside of China, and have lived here on\nand off for 16 years. IMHO like most of the China-focused muck-slinging coming\nout of US media (increasingly frequently of late), this article lacks context\nand basically cries wolf over nothing concrete whatsoever.\n\nFirst it claims \"required security checks on companies in industries like\nfinance and communications, and mandatory in-country data storage\". That's\nreally no different to EU and US regulations. Anyway, if the journalist (who\naccording to the dateline allegedly published from Hong Kong) had basic\nknowledge about mainland China, they would know that _foreigners are largely\nbarred from finance and communications-related business anyway_ (despite China\ncommitting to open finance when it joined the WTO).\n\nFinally, in China it's _extremely_ common for new laws to be made (eg.\n\"smoking inside is illegal\") but absolutely zero enforcement to be done.\n\n(Edit in response to stupendous quantity of downvotes: Oh sorry for having an\ninformed opinion instead of upvoting faux-journalism that agrees with ignorant\nanti-foreign sensibilities. The evil freedom-destroying communists are coming!\nRun for the hills!)\n\n------\nrdiddly\nBiased article. Apparently some people can't grasp the fact that being\nisolated from the world is the least of China's worries.\n\n~~~\nfrozenport\nThe problem is that American business is participating in unilateral trade and\ntechnology transfer to China. Further, many companies are, in the present,\nheavily invested. While it might be the least of China's worries, it certainly\nshould not be the least of ours.\n\n~~~\nsangnoir\n> The problem is that American business is participating in unilateral trade\n> and technology transfer to China.\n\nAs a CxO, if you are going to meet the ever-rising quarterly growth target and\nall you've reached saturation in all your markets, you'll have to pander to\nChina at some point soon. You aren't paid to worry about the long-term, the\nfuture CEO will deal with that. All you need to do is beat the street and keep\nthe shareholders happy for the next quarter/FY.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nOculus Facebook deal could ignite equity crowdfunding - bernardlunn\nhttp://bernardlunn.wordpress.com/2014/03/30/oculus-facebook-deal-will-accelerate-equity-crowdfunding-and-change-the-world/\n======\naaronbrethorst\n\n        The Oculus founders got $2.4m of free seed funding via Kickstarter.\n    \n\nNo they didn't. They took money for pre-orders.\n\n    \n    \n        I believe that the Oculus Facebook deal will accelerate the equity\n        Crowdfunding revolution.\n    \n\nI don't doubt this for a second, but I bet you that the vast majority of\npeople who are allowed to invest in startups through the JOBS equity\ncrowdfunding provisions are going to lose their shirts.\n\n    \n    \n        even if a lot of people who gave free funding to Oculus via\n        Kickstarter in return for a beta product and a T Shirt feel\n        a bit burned today.\n    \n\nWhy should any of them feel burned? They spent money in order to get a t-shirt\nor an Oculus DK1.\n\n    \n    \n        FWIW, the terms were clear, the folks who ponied up cash were\n        promised an early version of the product and got what “it said\n        on the tin”.\n    \n\nYep, exactly.\n\n    \n    \n        Personally I think how millions of people make a living\n        [via crowd funding]...is more interesting than...the VR\n        Oculus story.\n    \n\nCitation needed on that \"millions of people\" figure, and what does this have\nto do with equity? Do you really think that the next musician who funds their\nfirst album through a Kickstarter is going to hand out equity to their\nbackers?\n\n    \n    \n        If Oculus had been in the Valley they would have easily got\n        Angel funding – and given 25% to those Angels.\n    \n\nUm, Oculus raised almost $100mm after their Kickstarter. I would be astonished\nif they didn't give up at least 25% of the company across those two rounds.\nStill, it's pretty cool that they were able to skip raising a seed round, and\nI don't doubt that the founders retained more equity than they would have\notherwise.\n\n    \n    \n        Nobody wants a bunch of T Shirts plus being the first kid\n        on the block with a new toy for $500m of equity value.\n    \n\nIf Oculus had sold equity instead of product pre-orders I don't believe for a\nsecond that their Series A round would have worked out nearly as well. I'd\nmuch rather walk into a meeting with a VC with 7,400+ pre-orders for my\nexpensive gadget tucked under my arm than a list of people who ponied up a\nthousand bucks for a sliver of equity in my company.\n\n    \n    \n        However we are still in the really, really early days of\n        crowdfunding, the days when we have not yet moved from the\n        “first they laugh at you” phase.\n    \n\nRight, because the Indian independence movement is _exactly_ like\ncrowdfunding.\n\n~~~\nBrainInAJar\n> Right, because the Indian independence movement is exactly like\n> crowdfunding.\n\nGrandiose, self-important valley startup wank talk. Like \"disrupting the\nmarket\" by making another bullshit website or app.\n\n~~~\ndang\nThis is a truly awful comment that should never be on Hacker News at all, let\nalone upvoted. This is not because of what it says about \"the valley\", but\nbecause of its form. It could be about anything else and be just as bad.\nPlease don't post this sort of thing.\n\n(Edit: I completely rewrote my comment here, because I'm still getting the\nhang of this. Also, all these feedback comments I've been adding are an\nexperiment in comment quality and transparency. We're going to keep\nexperimenting until we find things that work. I doubt that this experiment is\ngoing to work, because I'm getting tired of writing these, and some of you are\nno doubt tired of reading them.)\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nI think these comments are awesome, but I can't imagine having to write them\nregularly.\n\nThe \"I'm burying the story\" stuff is especially useful.\n\n~~~\ndang\nI'm going to keep writing them for a while while we brainstorm alternatives.\nIt's good to do things manually for a long time before you figure out how to\nautomate them. That's how I wrote my HN moderation software.\n\n~~~\nrdl\nI especially love how you generally stick to criticizing the action vs. the\nperson -- sort of like \"this comment isn't appropriate for HN; please do\nbetter\" vs. \"please die\".\n\n(I was just going through all your comments after seeing one; this is really\nbecoming the new 'pg: \"Please stop\"')\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nSomeone needs to buy Paul Graham a baseball cap with those words embroidered\nonto it.\n\n------\nphilmcc\nI -guess- each $300 backer could've received $150,000 of stock/cash...\n\n...if this kickstarter happened 6 months from now, as an equity kickstarter.\n\nThe 6 month number is sort of arbitrary, but the SEC is currently evaluating\nRegulation Crowdfunding. Title III of the JOBS act.\n\n(for more info, here [https://blogs.law.harvard.edu/corpgov/2013/12/06/jobs-\nact-ti...](https://blogs.law.harvard.edu/corpgov/2013/12/06/jobs-act-title-\niii-crowdfunding-moves-closer-to-reality/))\n\nRegulation Crowdfunding will allow \"funding portals\"\n(kickstarter/indiegogo/etc) to facilitate equity based crowdfunding, with a\nlimit of up to $1,000,000.\n\nWe'll pretend that Oculus at $1mm KS has the same destiny as Oculus as a\n$2.4mm KS. [I think in an equity world, people would be less inclined to\ninvest after that wall is hit.]\n\nWe'll ALSO pretend (here's the bigger stretch) that the subsequent rounds of\nfinancing at $16mm and $75mm somehow magically didn't affect the equity of the\nseed round. [Hahaha, hilarious.]\n\nIf the KS had stated that the $1mm was to own 25% of the company (I bet\nhe'd've done more, but we'll go low) that means that each $300 backing is\nequivalent to %0.0003 of $1mm.\n\n%0.0003 of 25% equity is %.000075 of Oculus.\n\n%.000075 of 2 billion dollars is $150,000.\n\n[I think. %50 chance I mucked this math up at some point.]\n\n~~~\nbernardlunn\nI was only suggesting that the people who pony up the early cash get some\ntoken equity. Lets say give up 5% to enthusiastic early adopters who share\nyour passion rather than 25% to angels. If say the $300 netted you $3,000\nbonus on exit, you can have a party and celebrate the founder's good fortune.\nIts a win/win (founders get lower cost of capital than angel route, early\nadopters make some cash. Methinks we will see more of this, but only time will\ntell.\n\n------\nig1\nThe big problem that equity crowd-funding faces is that the seed rounds of\nmost top-tier companies are already over-subscribed; that means the only\nstartups who'll end up raising on equity crowd-funding sites are those who\ncan't raise the money from good angels.\n\nGiven angel investing follows the power law with the majority of returns\ncoming from a small number of companies not having access to the top 10% of\nthe deals vastly reduces your chance of having a decent return.\n\n~~~\nbackprojection\nWhat if, rather than offering equity, crowdfunders got voting rights instead.\nI feel that most of the outrage from the Oculus deal is that people feel\nbetrayed. They could almost not have picked a worse outfit to have been bought\nby (rightly or wrongly, the point here is sentiment). If there had been a\nshareholder-esque vote, I think it's unlikely the deal would have been\napproved.\n\nSo maybe that could be the deal going forward - sure I'll put up $100 to fund\nyour project, but that comes at the cost of you not selling out in the future.\n\nEDIT: Clearly the weight of your vote would be proportional to your\ninvestment.\n\n~~~\nmattzito\nThis would be disastrous for startups - for $100 you get a say in what we do?\n\nHow deep does that go? Change of control events? That would basically mean\nthat a startup would have to disclose that they were in negotiations for\nacquisition/investment/whatever, with whom, and for how much. That would\nbasically mean potential acquisitions would become public knowledge - it's\nhard enough keeping them quiet when it's just the startup, their investors,\nand the acquirer involved.\n\n~~~\nbackprojection\nWell your vote would be proportional to your investment, $100 out of $2.4M, in\nthis case.\n\n> That would basically mean potential acquisitions would become public\n> knowledge\n\nThat would kind of be the point, it would be about fairness. People may not\nwant to invest in a promising project that could change the world, just for it\nto be bought up by the next FB/Google.\n\n------\nsamstave\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7471344](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7471344)\n\nSo I am not the only one who thinks this;\n\n\" __ _Personally, I think this illustrates a severe gap in how crowd-funding\nworks. 10K drops by an individual are no different than an angel investor.\nThere should be a chip-in-level for crowd-funding campaigns that require the\nOP to provide some % equity into the project._ __\"\n\n------\nfragsworth\nCrowdfunding could be a powerful way to fight against monopolies.\n\nFor instance, if a town's population cares enough, they can decide on their\nown to invest $500-1000 per person in a series of fiber cables (and get equity\nfor it), making the initial costs more appealing to everyone involved.\n\nThen the crowdfunding participants would receive dividends on the lease\npayments for the lines.\n\n~~~\nianbishop\nIsn't that what a traditional co-op is?\n\n~~~\nandygates\nOffering equity as well as gadgets is an interesting spin on the co-op model.\nIt works well enough; generally it's chosen for something that doesn't want\nexplosive growth but instead is serving a community -- and that might not gel\nwith the \"get rich\" urges of some startup types.\n\n------\nmcphage\nIs the problem that people had with the Facebook deal really just that they\ndidn't get a cut?\n\n~~~\nyaeger\nThat would be stupid of them as nowhere did it say that was even a\npossibility.\n\nAs the article says, everyone got what it said on the tin. After they received\ntheir shirts and the dev kit, the kickstarter campaign was done. Period.\n\nThe only people who like to make a stink now are people like this Notch fellow\nwho throw a tantrum cause they don't like the business model of the company\nthat acquired Oculus.\n\nCompletely ignoring the facts that as a tech company, facebook really does a\nlot of good things. Open Sourcing inhouse technology. Backer of the open\nhardware project to mention two examples.\n\nThey all be better served to stay quite until it becomes evident that facebook\nbacktracked from their original statements and starts to call the shot at\nOculus. But that is of course not how angry, emotional people act. On the\ninternet or in real life.\n\nI for one would have pre ordered the DK2 last week if I had the money and I\nwould pre order it today. And I look forward to call a lot of people out on\ntheir hypocrisy once the final product launches and I notice people who swore\nthey were boycotting this and who swore they were so done with Oculus suddenly\nraving about how great this thing is.\n\n------\ntormeh\nCrowd investment is already happening. Check out Seedrs. The companies are\nmostly uninspiring, but that will hopefully change at some point.\n\n~~~\nonehp\nThere's wefunder too ([https://wefunder.com/](https://wefunder.com/)) who are\ngetting set up to allow unaccredited (lower net worth) investors once the JOBS\nact goes through.\n\n------\nHelloMcFly\nThe font on that article is all over the place.\n\n~~~\ndadrian\nAgreed, I couldn't concentrate enough to even read it because the font kept\nchanging.\n\n------\nsiglesias\nWe already have \"equity crowd funding.\" It's called an IPO.\n\n------\nhershel\nThe main problem with crowdfunding is prevention of scams. The SEC which is\nresponsible for implementing this bill,have an expensive list of\ndemands(papers, lawyers) for companies wanting to go that route, making the\nwhole process not worthy for companies.\n\nUntil a solution for this problem will be found, it's hard to see crowd-\nfunding becoming an option.\n\n~~~\nswalsh\nWhat prevents scams on kickstarter?\n\n~~~\nsquidfood\nA scam where you don't get one product you ordered is a different order of\nmagnitude than one where you lose a long-term stake in a company.\n\n(For Kickstarter, it's the same thing that prevents scams over any online\nexchange really - nothing except you might go after someone for fraud).\n\n~~~\nsmsm42\nYes, the former is much worse - you're immediately don't get a useful product,\ninstead of not getting a paper which may or may not bring you some money\nsomewhere in the future if 1000 things align right. Note that most sales of\nproduct actually end up in product being sold, while most startups end up\nfailing and wiping their investors clean. That is without any fraud - just\nplain statistics.\n\n------\nJonovono\nSaskatchewan just started allowing something like this to exist. No one has\ntaken advantage of it (from what I have heard). I am thinking of looking more\ninto it:\n\n[http://www.fcaa.gov.sk.ca/SKEC](http://www.fcaa.gov.sk.ca/SKEC)\n\n------\nbashcoder\nIt's possible that new investment instruments, such as YC's Safe [0] which\nremoves the friction of convertible notes by offering warrants for future\nequity, could facilitate this sort of thing.\n\n[0] [http://blog.ycombinator.com/announcing-the-safe-a-\nreplacemen...](http://blog.ycombinator.com/announcing-the-safe-a-replacement-\nfor-convertible-notes)\n\n~~~\nbashcoder\nMy point being, the OP lists four methods by which he thinks crowdfunding can\nwork (pre-order plus reward, equity, debt, and donation).\n\nEach method has its own set of concerns for regulatory issues, requirements\nfor qualified investors, upside potential, tax implications, etc.\n\nMy point is that there may be other possible options, and I point to Safe as a\ngood example of how VC can innovate and remove friction from raising startup\ncapital.\n\n------\neveryone\nWhat language is this article written in?\n\n------\nnotastartup\nequity crowdfunding is a bad idea. it's an open invitation for government\nregulation for something that works really well right now.\n\nNext time you want to make a game on kickstarter and share the wealth with\n\"investors\", you are going to be facing the SEC and fending off people's\nlawsuits.\n\nNot to mention people getting scammed appearing on News would ruin the whole\ncrowdfunding movement.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: how to gauge my skill as a programmer  - jwdunne\nI was just wondering how I would objectively gauge my skill as a programmer. Obviously there is the effect where by everyone rates themselves as more competent than they are. Not so with me.<p>Sometimes I receive a confidence boost, I will feel like I&#x27;m fairly decent.<p>Sometimes when I can&#x27;t grok something, I feel a drop and I don&#x27;t feel very good about my abilities.<p>Nowadays I often say its impossible for me to measure as it currently stands.<p>To be fairly honest, it doesn&#x27;t matter too much to me. I enjoy programming and learning new languages, techniques, paradigms, concepts, perspectives, etc. I spend a massive portion of my time doing so and I probably always will. I can tell without a doubt I&#x27;m a better programmer than I was 6 months ago. 6 months ago I was better than 6 months before.<p>I guess it&#x27;s more of a validation thing too. Perhaps a lot if imposter syndrome type of stuff (I am 100% self-taught - I am a high school dropout in US terms). I&#x27;m always in doubt.\n======\nbjourne\n[http://ask.metafilter.com/235568/How-do-you-know-if-you-\nare-...](http://ask.metafilter.com/235568/How-do-you-know-if-you-are-a-good-\nprogrammer) [http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/41473/how-\ncan...](http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/41473/how-can-i-know-\nwhether-i-am-a-good-programmer) [http://sijinjoseph.com/programmer-competency-\nmatrix/](http://sijinjoseph.com/programmer-competency-matrix/)\n\n------\norionblastar\nLearn how to do quality and security checks to become a better programmer.\n\nLearn some higher math and science to learn better algorithms and formulas.\n\nCheck out Khan Academy for the math and science:\n[https://www.khanacademy.org/](https://www.khanacademy.org/)\n\nI hold two university degrees, one in computer science and one in business\nmanagement. I have written mostly business apps. That is where the money\nreally is at.\n\nYou pick the best libraries to support your project, if you write libraries\nyourself you are a system developer. You want to be a business app developer\nbecause it doesn't require the advanced math and science a system developer\nneeds. Business math isn't that hard to learn it is just basic math and\nstatistics. All you need know is Algebra.\n\nIf you want to do video games learn advanced math and physics.\n\nDon't drop your confidence, or you'll end up disabled like me. I am trying to\nget my confidence back.\n\nOne thing will always be true, never stop learning. Learn from your mistakes\nand failures by first admitting to them and then figuring out how to fix them.\n\nGood luck, friend.\n\n------\nread\n\n      To know how good you are at something requires the same \n      skills as it does to be good at that thing. Which means\n      if you are absolutely hopeless at something you lack\n      exactly the skills that you need to know that you are \n      absolutely hopeless at it.\n    \n      And this is a profound discovery. That most people who \n      have absolutely no idea what they're doing have no idea \n      that they have no idea what they're doing. It explains a \n      great deal of life. It explains particularly Hollywood.\n    \n      - John Cleese\n\n------\nEleventhSun\nI found this to be quite interesting - the Programmer Competency Matrix. It's\nhard to be honest with yourself with these things, but worth a look anyway:\n\n[http://sijinjoseph.com/programmer-competency-\nmatrix/](http://sijinjoseph.com/programmer-competency-matrix/)\n\n------\nCmonDev\nHave a long-term piece of code that belongs to you. Keep improving this over\nthe time. Host the code online. Upgrade as technologies change. You will\nalways be able to show it (off) to prove you are good.\n\n------\nclark-kent\nI think a good way to gauge your skills is to do job hunting, even if you\ndon't need a job, go on a couple of interviews. Have them evaluate your work\nand very soon you will be able to gauge your skills, you will also discover\nthings you need to improve on. You can try using recruiters as they can put\nyou in a lot of job interviews very fast.\n\n------\npeachepe\nInterview. I was in SF for a month and interviewed in a few places. Now I know\nI know nothing : )\n\n------\nwglb\nGoogle Code Jam:\n[https://code.google.com/codejam/](https://code.google.com/codejam/) Topcoder.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTwo people fly jetpacks over Dubai [video] - gmays\nhttp://www.theverge.com/tldr/2015/5/11/8587941/jetpacks-yves-rossy-dubai-balloon-boy\n======\nzeeed\nThat vid just makes you want to go afk and DO something.\n\n------\nListeningPie\nAre they flying or falling with style?\n\n~~~\nrm445\nMore towards the latter, it appears. They're certainly air-launched and\nparachute-landed. Still I think there's a reasonable case that you should call\nit flight if they are capable of straight level powered flight while the fuel\nlasts, but I don't think they're quite there.\n\nThe website cites a flight time of 6 to 13 minutes - I suspect that is the\npeak of the trade-off between launch weight, fuel duration and descent time.\nRather than 6-13 minutes of powered flight followed by the equivalent of a\nparachute jump.\n\n(EDIT: I've just seen on the developer's wikipedia entry that he claims stable\nlevel flight has been achieved. Very impressive - though one might still\nconjecture that that might only be achievable at certain lower fuel levels).\n\nDepending on the amount of control the pilot has, I'd expect them to be\ncapable of levelling out and making short ascents, basically trading speed for\nheight. And above all it looks like great FUN!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nEveryone Who Tried to Convince Me To Use Ember Was Wrong - platz\nhttp://www.wekeroad.com/2014/03/22/every-who-tried-to-convince-me-to-use-ember-was-wrong/\n\n======\ngreenyoda\nNowhere does the article say what problem the author was actually try to solve\nby switching to Ember. It sounds like his only reason for this painful\nexperience was that he didn't want to the last one in his group of friends who\nwasn't using this cool, new framework. And that's not a good basis for a\nbusiness decision.\n\n~~~\nrobconery\nThe post is satire of sorts, although in the course of writing it I found such\na common cause with Yehuda it was crazy. His pain learning Vim was my pain\nlearning Ember. And the payoff is just as fun (to me at least).\n\nRead this post here: [http://yehudakatz.com/2010/07/29/everyone-who-tried-to-\nconvi...](http://yehudakatz.com/2010/07/29/everyone-who-tried-to-convince-me-\nto-use-vim-was-wrong/)\n\nAnd hopefully you'll see the genesis of the post.\n\n------\nmacu\n> Can you tell me a way to switch that will not significantly reduce my\n> productivity for the first few weeks.\n\nThe only way I can imagine doing this is to time-travel and give myself a\ncrash-course in all the stuff I struggled to figure out in the beginning. Now\nI feel like I could give myself a complete tutorial in a day.\n\nThe trouble is partly that everyone coming to Ember has a different way of\nthinking, and the documentation can't target all the sets of prior skills and\nassumptions. I always thought that for a great book, the reader should meet\nthe writer half-way. In this case, however, the reader has a long way to go\nbefore they can move easily through the range of Ember's capabilities.\n\n------\nEvilTrout\nI'm glad that you finally found a way to get up to speed. I find it very\nchallenging helping people over the initial jump of Ember learning so any\nfeedback about what worked for you is great to have.\n\nI'll probably have lots of conversations about this next week at Emberconf!\n\n------\nlightblade\nI need an Ember expert to compare it to ExtJS. I've skimmed over Ember. It\nfeels like it'll take the same amount of pain as ExtJS to get through it, but\nthe overall feature set is inferior.\n\n------\nsphildreth\nConnery seems to make his mark by being a professional douchy complainer. Just\nsaying take whatever he says with a dose of \"if I didn't write it, it sucks\"\ntype attitude.\n\n~~~\nrobconery\nAlso - thank you for the new Twitter bio. You've motivated me to be a better\nperson. I shall never forget you Mr. 5-day old HN account...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nGitHaven, an open source clone of GitHub - icefox\nhttps://github.com/icefox/GitHaven/\n\n======\naugustl\nI'd just like to add that since Git supports SSH, it's pretty easy to set up\ngit repos on any server. `cd ~; mkdir myrepo.git; cd myrepo.git; git init\n--bare`. Then you can just `git push username@server.com:myrepo.git`.\n\nThis of course doesn't give you a web UI for creating repositories. And\neveryone with access to `username` on the server can access all the\nrepositories.\n\n~~~\ngks\nSince Bitbucket now supports Git I'd say that's a better option for anyone\nthat just wants to keep their repos somewhere.\n\nEither way is great, but Bitbucket makes it easier for sharing if that's\nneeded.\n\n------\nByteMuse\nGitHaven.com is down for me. I would be a lot more interested if a demo was\nup; I have been looking for something like this project.\n\n~~~\nicefox\n<http://git.meyerhome.net:8080/> is my little arm box that is running it that\nyou can at least check it out (warning: it is just a low end arm dev board, it\nprobably will go down). I let GitHaven.com elapse when I realized I wouldn't\nbe able to continue working on the project.\n\nEdit: fyi GitHaven supports private repos which are the majority of the repos\non my home server which you can't see (sorry!). The others were more tests or\nrepos that are too huge (above the 300MB limit) to put on GitHub.com\n\n~~~\nrgbrgb\nThanks for posting that. I definitely like the look of Gitlab a lot better.\n\n------\nDanielRibeiro\nInteresting. Yesterday this other one (Gitlab) showed up on HN as well:\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3114447>\n\n------\nZolomon\nSeems like it's lacking in activity, nothing has happened for a year.\n\n~~~\nicefox\nMy work legal department decided it was a conflict of interest (we use Git)\nand forbid me from working on it anymore.* So I open sourced it in the hopes\nthat others besides just me (I run it at home) could find some value and maybe\nthey would fork it and continue on with it.\n\n* Ironically GitHaven's original goal was a solution that could be installed inside corporate firewalls, but without the cost of GitHub:Fi.\n\n~~~\nscg\n> My work legal department decided it was a conflict of interest (we use Git)\n> and forbid me from working on it anymore.\n\nCan you expand on this? It sounds so incredibly stupid that I'm not sure I got\nit right.\n\n~~~\nicefox\nI started to get involved with the Git Servers at work (Not the primary admins\nor anything, just helping them not make the wrong choices\n<cough>gitorious</cough>). After that legal said if I do any GitHaven stuff on\nmy own time from then on they would own it.\n\n~~~\n32321215\nscg is right, this is indeed incredibly stupid. How can they own something you\nmake in your spare time.\n\n~~~\nchr15\nThis is common in almost every mid to large size corporation in the US with a\nlegal department. If you're working on a side project, it might be best to\nclear it up with your employer and make sure it's not a conflict of interest.\n\nIt's mainly an issue of copyright. The company wants to make sure it owns the\nIP to every line of code you write. For example, if you do some work on the\nweekend they want to make sure they own the copyright to that.\n\nEvery company I've worked for had a clause in my hiring contracts. Some will\nenforce it more than others.\n\nHere's some in depth discussion:\n[http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/19422/if-im-\nworking-...](http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/19422/if-im-working-at-a-\ncompany-do-they-have-intellectual-property-rights-to-the-st)\n\n~~~\n32321215\nWhat is shocking to me is that if I were working in say the automobile\nindustry and I make a highly customized bike, these kind of clause would mean\nthat my employer owns all of that.\n\nSome may argue since I have paid for the components and not the company that\nwould save me, but to be fair the programmer paid for his/her laptop/desktop,\nservers (if any), maybe even some programming tools. Does having most of the\nstuff to make a side project come for free make me eligible for giving up my\nIP to my employer? This is just insane.\n\n------\niFire\nAGPL means I can't use this.\n\n~~~\nizak30\nThat's usually my first reaction to the AGPL -- Because most open source\nprojects I try to file away as \"This might be useful for XYZ client, or in a\nproject that does UUU\"\n\nI'm not sure that this fits in that criteria, I could imagine installing this\non a server, unmodified, and just for internal use. You're not breaking the\nlicense from my understanding, and you got some use without selling or\nmodifying it.\n\nThis seems like the only time that I'm interested in something that's AGPL. I\nget most frustrated when things like libraries or widgets are marked as AGPL.\n\n~~~\niFire\nIf I write a git pre-commit script for my repo in githaven, is that forced to\nbe agpl?\n\nI'm using githaven and yes.\n\nIf I want Geckoboard to show a chart of how many githaven commit per day I\ndid, do I need to agpl geckoboard.com?\n\nI don't know.\n\nI'm not a lawyer. This is my interpretation and I would like comments.\n\n<gnu.org> In AGPLv3, what counts as “interacting with [the software] remotely\nthrough a computer network?”\n\n<gnu.org> If the program is expressly designed to accept user requests and\nsend responses over a network, then it meets these criteria. Common examples\nof programs that would fall into this category include web and mail servers,\ninteractive web-based applications, and servers for games that are played\nonline.\n\n~~~\niFire\nAGPL only grants an exception to GPL code. Not the unlicensed and presumed to\nbe owned by the person who wrote it code.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nIf this is the beginning of the end of Reddit, then Reddit deserves to die - jarcane\nhttp://www.theverge.com/2015/6/10/8762839/jerks\n\n======\nmechazawa\nComparing 8chan to the KKK is pretty low\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nRare book experts join forces to stop tome raiders - Thevet\nhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/17/rare-book-experts-join-forces-to-stop-tome-raiders\n======\nhammerandtongs\nA very ugly crime.\n\nTo me this also suggests that if you own or control one of these texts that\nits literally your duty to the rest of humanity to make sure it's scanned and\navailable for free and infinite copying SOMEWHERE.\n\nWe might lose track of the digital version but without it it's inevitable that\nthese volumes will decay and be lost forever.\n\nWhat is the the general ethical stance about this in the rare book community?\n\n~~~\nbkst\nThe rare book community is the community that has facilitated these crimes.\nThere are more black hats than white hats--no money at all for white hats in\nthis business.\n\nPrivate book traders make all their money by selling unique items to rich\npeople. The rich people doing the buying want to own something special that\nother people can't have.\n\nBibliophiles are technophobes. They love the paper page, the book binding, the\nbook stacks. They don't love the content of the books, and they don't want to\nshare them. They have \"aristocratic\" ideas about who deserves to have access\nto these special items. Every last one of them is a hoarder that wants to have\nthings that others can't have.\n\nThey hate book scanners. They hate ebooks. They hate digitization. It just\nthreatens their business, their status, their one-of-a-kinds.\n\nRare books is all about prestige and exclusivity. Digitization is a threat to\nthis.\n\nI'm a book scanner--someone who loves the contents of books more than the\nobjects--and my kind are scorned like the gargoyles from Snow Crash.\n\n~~~\nmajormajor\nWhat's the state of the art in damageless scanning? Do you still have to rip\nthe pages out in order to get good, fast results?\n\n~~~\ndb48x\n[https://archive.org/details/InternetArchive-\nTour](https://archive.org/details/InternetArchive-Tour)\n\nThis is a video of the Scribe machine that the Internet Archive built for book\nscanning. It uses two commodity digital cameras to image the pages. The\ncomputer driving the process is running Linux and gPhoto. They're also working\non a tabletop version, which will be easier for smaller institutions to set up\nand use.\n\n------\nWalterBright\nAny book that is a \"cultural heritage\" item needs to be scanned, and it's the\nduty of the library/museum to do it. The scans don't even have to be that good\n- a photo with a hand-held iphone is good enough for a quick first pass.\n\nIf budget is a problem, scan a couple, sell them, and use the proceeds to scan\nthe rest.\n\n~~~\nuserbinator\nI'd extend that to \"anything which is now in the public domain\".\n\n _a photo with a hand-held iphone is good enough for a quick first pass_\n\nNot to mention far less damaging to the original since it doesn't have to be\nmanipulated as much, and quicker too. Distortion is a problem but\npostprocessing can give good results.\n\nThe last time I was at a library, which seems like ages ago, there were (paid)\nphotocopiers for those who wanted to copy a page or two. With everyone\ncarrying high-res cameras in their pockets, I wonder if they're still around.\n\n~~~\nWalterBright\nPeople who scan rare books seem to be obsessed with pixel perfect scans, and\nso what happens is it doesn't get done. A 90% scan is infinitely better than\nno scan when the library burns down or the books are stolen.\n\nHeck, the libraries in the article didn't even know what they had, so they\ndon't know what was lost.\n\n------\nbrianstorms\nIf you want to learn more about this kind of crime, I highly recommend a\nlittle book by Miles Harvey called THE ISLAND OF LOST MAPS: A TRUE STORY OF\nCARTOGRAPHIC CRIME. Fascinating whodunit regarding thieves who would go into\nrare book collections and quietly use a razor blade to carefullytear out an\nancient map inside some hundreds-of-years-old book, and often then sell it for\nhuge sums.\n\n------\ncontingencies\nPart of the impact of these thefts is difficulty of legitimate access by the\npublic.\n\nAllow me to explain with an example literally from a few days ago. I turned up\nin Madrid for a few days, and visited the national library wanting to see what\nthey held both in terms of materials regarding the area of China I am\ncompiling a history on, and in terms of early Spanish records of island\nSoutheast Asian (eg. Philippines) multihull vessels like the _vinta_.\n\nI am forced to go through airport-like security, have my face recorded on an\nAxis IP-based CCTV camera, sent to a room with three enormous desks each with\nan official library bureaucrat. I explain my case, and am rapidly informed\nthat should I wish to view anything at all _before 1950_ then I must apply for\na research card. Sure! What does that require? Photo ID - passport, check.\nProof of address - what? Bank statement accepted, download one, OK, check.\nProof you are from an inexplicit list of recognized national, educational or\ncultural institutions. I'm an admin for Wikipedia, writing articles\nspecifically on traditional multihull vessels that have hundreds of thousands\nof pageviews and have been front page featured, but that didn't seem to count.\nThey wouldn't let me in. The 'librarian' (who I feel deserves no such title)\nactually went so far as to attempt to 'explain' to me - \"You see, it's like a\n_club_. The universities, the libraries, ...\".\n\nThat very same night, I had dinner after visiting a diplomat in their home.\nSome friends of theirs were also present, one of whom a reigning library\nscience academic of repute within that field in Madrid and Spain. I explained\nthe horrible experience I had attempting to dedicate some of my minimal time\nin the city to using their national library. In return, it was explained that\nthe difficulty of using the place is a direct response to the theft of a\nnumber of extremely rare texts some years ago, over which people lost their\njobs. The problem is frequent, and even international academics all face it. I\nwas of course also offered a letter of reference, but did not have enough time\nleft in the city to visit a second time... so the resources remain\nunconsulted. (The irony of the fact that we dined on Mahgreb cuisine was not\nlost on me: the former Muslim rulers of Cordoba/Andalusia were great sponsors\nof libraries, translation and learning in general.)\n\nMoral of the story, then, is perhaps that the real loser is the public: paying\nfor increased security, losing access to the stolen items, but critically -\nbeing denied access at all for legitimate inquiry, thereby making a mockery of\nthe purpose of the institutions in the first place.\n\nThe best possible thing would be to digitize the originals... this removes the\nneed to visit by making them more accessible, allows backups to secure against\ndisaster, theft or loss by other means, and increases the value of the\noriginals (because people know they exist, cite and use them). British Library\nwant some godawful amount like 400GBP to photograph old images they hold. It's\ndaylight bloody robbery, especially coming from these colonial countries that\nstole their damn holdings. The EU should force libraries to digitize this\nstuff.\n\n~~~\npbhjpbhj\nI can't see a reason a Freedom of Information Act request wouldn't be proper\nagainst the contents of BL held photographs assuming the photos are out of\ncopyright.\n\n[http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/foi/overview/](http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/foi/overview/)\n\nHowever, I'm sure the BL have lawyers standing by ready to stop you under one\nof the mentioned - but not disclosed - \"exemptions\" in the above link.\n\n~~~\nuserbinator\nThe \"freedom\" they refer to there is probably \"free as in libre\", not \"free as\nin gratis\" \\- they are allowed to provide you with that information, and if\nit's public-domain you can do whatever you want with it afterwards, but they\nare allowed to charge you for the labour of doing it.\n\n~~~\npbhjpbhj\nAIUI under FoI they can charge an admin fee, IIRC that's of the order of £10.\nThat would be considerably cheaper than £400 mentioned.\n\n<a few seconds of research ensues ...>\n\n[https://www.justice.gov.uk/information-access-rights/foi-\ngui...](https://www.justice.gov.uk/information-access-rights/foi-guidance-for-\npractitioners/fees) mentions £25 per hour. Assuming that the images are\nalready on BL computers somewhere then them providing a link or sending them\nby email would likely be a couple of minutes; with admin certainly within the\nhour.\n\nFoI is about free-libre but they can't put financial blocks in the way as\nthat's undemocratic, it would make the FoI only accessible to the rich.\n\n~~~\nuserbinator\n_Assuming that the images are already on BL computers somewhere then them\nproviding a link or sending them by email would likely be a couple of minutes;\nwith admin certainly within the hour._\n\nI read his comment as meaning they haven't digitised them (yet), and BL wants\n£400 to do it. Not that I agree with charging that much as I think they\nshould've done that already, but if he's asking for a bunch of large, old, and\nfragile images, it could be delicate and time-consuming work.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nYahoo's Flickr Takes on Google's YouTube - danw\nhttp://blogs.business2.com/beta/2007/05/yahoos_flickr_t.html\n======\nbootload\nNot surprised, heard this a couple of weeks ago listening to Caterina Fakes\ntalk on ITConversation (The History of Flickr) where Fake didn't rule flickr\nout for hosting video ~ <http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail1755.html>\n\nWonder how this is going to be executed and it's effects on flickr?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nOff Book | Generative Art - Computers, Data, and Humanity Arts - spot\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0OK1GiI83s\n\n======\njamesbritt\n_... that delegates essential decisions to computers, data sets, or even\nrandom variables._\n\nNo. What good generative art shows is that the essential decisions are made at\na higher level than what one might expect.\n\nIndeed, pretty much most bad generative art (bad in the sense of being\ntedious, or unwatchable/unlistenable) comes about when essential decisions\nreally are allowed to happen by pure chance or random input.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nEvent sourcing, CQRS, stream processing and Apache Kafka: What's the connection? - nehanarkhede\nhttp://www.confluent.io/blog/event-sourcing-cqrs-stream-processing-apache-kafka-whats-connection/\n======\nsrinikhil\nSuch a neatly elucidated article Neha! We have been building an event sourced\narchitecture for our app, using kafka streams, since a month. This article has\nvalidated everything we planned out for our app. Thanks!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nNotepad5 – a simple offline notepad webapp, distraction-free writing zone. - udhb\nhttp://notepad5.me.pn/#\n\n======\nudhb\nblog -\n[http://uddhabh.blogspot.in/2014/01/notepad5.html](http://uddhabh.blogspot.in/2014/01/notepad5.html)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nMeebo adds Facebook and MySpace chat for full chat goodness - moses1400\nhttp://www.centernetworks.com/meebo-facebook-myspace-chat\n\n======\ntrickjarrett\nMeebo is an impressive breakout from the past few years, they keep pushing the\nenvelope and are really doing an amazing job at finding their revenue stream\nas well as finding new functionality which brings their users back over and\nover.\n\nWhat's next? Complete interoperability?\n\n~~~\naxod\nIt's funny how little you hear about Meebo compared to say Twitter. Meebo do a\ngood job in the main, although I'm not convinced Meebo rooms was a good idea.\n\n~~~\nmdasen\nIt's true. Probably because Meebo tends against lock-in and everyone is\nobsessed with being the next company with lock-in and, therefore, Microsoft-\nlike profits.\n\nTwitter has users with accounts, histories, people they follow. Same with\nFacebook, MySpace, etc. Meebo can be \"easily\" replaced by a competitor. Easily\nin this case means, you don't have to transfer all your data nor do you need\nto get your friends to move services.\n\nThat's why we aren't as giddy about Meebo. They need to keep working really\nhard to stay one step ahead of the competition. As opposed to\nTwitter/Facebook/MySpace who have to work just hard enough that users won't\ntake the effort to transfer data and bug their friends to switch to a\ncompetitor.\n\n~~~\nntoshev\nI agree, Google can be replaced just as \"easily\".\n\n------\nfourlittlebees\nAm I the only person in the world who intentionally avoids both those apps\nlike the plague? Facebook chat doesn't work in Camino. All hail Camino.\n\n~~~\nneilc\nNo one I know uses Facebook Chat.\n\n~~~\ngustaf\nFacebook have shown that IM on websites is really just a commodity at this\npoint. The technology is not the hard part but them owning the social graph is\npowerful here. I do believe that Facebook Chat will succeed and I think it\nalready is.\n\nHowever, chat have never been easy to monetize so right now it's adding to the\namount of time that users spend on facebook. Which is good\n\n------\nzack\nHaha, no way! This is great news. Now, I only wish I had access to my Facebook\nchat list within my Gmail client. I already have both AIM and GChat rolled\ninto one, and that's great. Then, I just need an iPhone client, and some way\nto integrate it with both texting and email.\n\nExchange for chat + email + texting, all specced out with an API for easy\nintegration into browser-side clients...\n\n~~~\nntoshev\nMeebo works well in the iPhone browser.\n\n------\nriver_styx\nGreat, now I can chat with all the annoying acquaintances and old highschool\nfriends who randomly add me on Facebook. I think I'll pass.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWatch German Typhoons Intercept a Boeing 777 That Lost Contact with the Airport - mpweiher\nhttp://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/watch-german-typhoons-intercept-a-boeing-777-that-lost-1792530997\n======\nguruz\nSemi-related: There was a TV event/movie in Germany/Austria/Switzerland last\nyear about a (fictitious) court decision about an airforce pilot that shot\ndown such a plane. The plane was taken hostage by terrorists and took course\nto a football stadium. The (non-fictitious) audience in Germany could vote if\nthe pilot is guilty for killing the people in the aircraft or not. 86,9% in\nGermany voted that the pilot is not guilty.\n\n[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5680442/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5680442/)\n[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terror_%E2%80%93_Ihr_Urteil](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terror_%E2%80%93_Ihr_Urteil)\n\n~~~\nsgift\nTo give a bit more background: The law strongly disagrees with the court of\npublic opinion here. It is illegal to shoot down an aircraft in such a\nsituation in Germany. The German government at one point tried to change this\nand our constitutional court told them that their new law violated the\nconstitution and has to be scrapped.\n\n~~~\nralfd\nThere was a new judgement a few years ago:\n\n[http://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2013-04/verfassungsge...](http://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2013-04/verfassungsgericht-\nterrorismus-flugzeug)\n\nShooting down an aircraft is legal, but only if the cabinett gives the order.\nWhich is still unrealistic, as the Minister of Defence can't order it alone\neven in an emergency. The judges recognised that this is suboptimal, but a\nchange would need a change in the constitution. Some former ministers of\ndefence are though on record they would still order it and deal with the legal\nconsequences fallout later.\n\nThen there is the question if the pilot alone (I guess that what the tv movie\nwas about?) could make a decision? For example if the aircraft is flying\ntowards a stadium or nuclear plant and the jet pilot has to make a decision in\na split second.\n\n~~~\ngreedo\nThe nuclear plant worry is an unrealistic trope. Most Western nuclear plants\nhave a very robust containment dome that can handle the impact from an\nairliner.\n\n[https://www.nei.org/News-Media/Media-Room/News-\nReleases/Anal...](https://www.nei.org/News-Media/Media-Room/News-\nReleases/Analysis-of-Nuclear-Power-Plants-Shows-Aircraft-Cr)\n\n------\nroryisok\n> In the meantime, we have some pretty mind-blowing video of what such an\n> incident actually looks like from the air.\n\nMind-blowing is a bit of an exaggeration. it's just a video of three planes\nflying along side one another.\n\n------\naedron\nVery cool video. I wonder what the fighter jets could actually achieve by\npulling up alongside like that? I don't suppose they could do any kind of\nvisual inspection or signaling at that distance - even though one did seem to\ninch closer at one point.\n\nThe wording from the airline statement was a bit funny: _\" the German Air\nForce deployed its aircraft to ensure the safety of the flight and its\nguests\"_ \\- considering that their main purpose was presumably to blow up the\njet if it posed a threat.\n\nOn a side note, I had never seen a video like this before and it really drives\nhome what massive amounts of exhaust these machines put out.\n\n~~~\neliaspro\n> and it really drives home what massive amounts of exhaust these machines put\n> out.\n\nIt just looks this massove, but that's mistly due to condensation of water\nvapor. Sure, those engines have a massive throughput of air, but the visible\n\"exhaust\" is barely the result of burning kerosene.\n\n~~~\nsandworm101\nAnd water vapor from the burnt fuel. Hydrocarbon + o2 = co2+h2o. Those\ncontrails are burnt fuel, just like car exaust on a cold day. The water is a\nproduct of burning.\n\n------\nsoebbing\n\n      [Contact] was briefly lost while flying over German airspace. Communication was safely restored within a few minutes.\n    \n\nThat sounds like the whole incident didn't take more than 15 minutes. Does\nsomebody know how fast the Typhoons were with the airliner?\n\nI know there are some guidelines for the Luftwaffe like \"a fighter needs to be\nable to get to any point in german airspace within 15 minutes\" or so, but that\nall sounds VERY fast.\n\nEdit: Formatting\n\n~~~\nJHof\nInteresting that they intercepted after only 15 minutes. Maybe the aircraft\nhad crossed the border without making contact. In the US, airliners\naccidentally lose contact for close to this time period quite frequently. To\nreestablish, the controllers will sometimes have a fellow company ship relay a\nmessage with the correct frequency via ACARS, or the lost aircraft can listen\non 121.5 until someone calls with the correct frequency. I suppose in Europe\nthis would be considered a more critical issue due to the frequent border\ncrossings.\n\n~~~\ndogma1138\nIt's dependant on the airspace you are flying through and when are you\nsupposed to make contact.\n\nTry flying over NYC out of contact for 15min and lets see how it goes.\n\n~~~\nJHof\nAn airliner at that altitude would be well outside of any city's airspace.\n\n~~~\ndogma1138\nI know, there are still different communication requirements for different\nairspaces.\n\nWhen you file your travel plans you'll have to check in with different ATCs at\ndifferent points, you are also likely to be contacted by ATCs depending on the\nflight plan, conditions and various other factors during the flight.\n\nIf you do not check in on schedule e.g. when there is a handover of ATCs or\nyou do not respond to ATCs that trying to make contact with you, there will be\na flag and an alert will be likely sent. If this goes on for minutes then\nthey'll assume something was wrong and follow their procedure to make contact\nand investigate which might involve scrambling jets to make visual contact.\n\nIt's not like pilots can be too busy to respond to ATCs yes they might delay a\nresponse if they are in a middle of a sentence with a member of the air crew\nbut that's a 5 seconds delay. Even a 1 minute delay would be flagged and\nyou'll likely to be asked why you haven't responded or made contact on time.\n\n------\najeet_dhaliwal\nQuite the LOL at the chatter between the the British Airways pilots filming\nthis saying _I expect they love the opportunity to do this. Any excuse_ and\nthe other one _yeah_.\n\n------\niSnow\nCould anyone comment on why both lower fighters keep to the left side of the\nairliner? For better visibility, I would have expected them to take it between\nthem. Additionally, the sun seems to be on the left, so they would be hard to\nmake out.\n\n~~~\nzuzun\nIt's all standardized interception behaviour. The flight leader is trying\nestablish contact with the plane on the left side, the other jet is just on\nstandby.\n\nEdit: And they picked the left side because that's where the pilot in charge\nof the plane is supposed to sit.\n\n~~~\nPiskvorrr\nPlus, I would imagine, the interceptors are leaving the right side clear:\nshould an additional _aviation_ emergency develop, the plane is still safe to\nmaneuver in 5 directions (the sixth being blocked by the interceptors).\n\n------\ncodeisawesome\nEverything is so beautiful, up there.\n\n------\nstd_throwaway\nIn the northern hemisphere these warplanes are called \"Tornado\".\n\n~~~\nroryisok\nEurofighter Typhoon and Panavia Tornado are different aircraft.\n\n~~~\nmanicdee\nIt was an obvious joke relating to regional names for weather events.\n\n~~~\nstd_throwaway\nOf course; it doesn't even make sense for Europe to have a \"Typhoon\" aircraft\ndue to the geographical location.\n\nI guess Europe has some \"Penguin\" submarines, too.\n\n~~~\nTeMPOraL\nWe'll consider renaming the plane when US changes the Apollo program to\nsomething that doesn't refer to European heritage.\n\n------\nMarkoff\n> As a precaution, the German Air Force deployed its aircraft to ensure the\n> safety of the flight and its guests.\n\nsure, safety of the flight and guests, you mean humanely killed by rocket\ninstead of hitting some target on ground?\n\n~~~\ndogma1138\nMaking visual contact and making sure that the passengers and the crew are not\nin distress.\n\nCould've been cabin preassure loss and all of them are passed out all dead\njust as much as hijacking.\n\nShooting down can be just as achieved with surface to air missiles.\n\nWe send jets to establish contact and use short range and if needed LOS\ncommunication to figure out what is going.\n\n~~~\ntomp\n> cabin preassure loss and all of them are passed out\n\nWhat could the fighter jets possibly do to \"save\" the passengers in such a\nsituation?\n\n~~~\niSnow\nNothing:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios_Airways_Flight_522](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios_Airways_Flight_522)\n\n~~~\ntunap\nObserve and report.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_South_Dakota_Learjet_cras...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_South_Dakota_Learjet_crash)\n\n------\ntomp\n> As a precaution, the German Air Force deployed its aircraft to ensure the\n> safety of the flight and its guests.\n\nDoes anyone still believe this bullshit? Clearly there's nothing that the\nfighter jets could do to ensure the safety of the flight/passengers - the most\nthey could do is to shoot the plane down in a safe area to avoid casualties\n_on the ground_ , if it were e.g. controlled by terrorists.\n\nAnd the media/institutions wonder why people don't trust them...\n\n~~~\niSnow\nIt would be illegal in Germany to shoot down a hijacked airliner and ordering\nthe pilot to do so would be an illegitimate order the pilot would be forbidden\nfrom following. The most anyone could do would be the Minister of Defence of\nthe Chancellor talking directly to the pilot and telling her that they would\ntake the fall if her conscience allowed them to shoot down the plane. The\npilot would still face a trial with uncertain results.\n\nSo, please stop with the alternative facts and the conspiracy stuff. Not every\ncountry works like the US of A, unbelievably.\n\n~~~\nhubert123\n> It would be illegal in Germany to shoot down a hijacked airliner and\n> ordering the pilot to do so would be an illegitimate order the pilot would\n> be forbidden from following\n\nYeah we're going need a source on that. Don't even think of pulling up that\nvague Grundgesetz about human dignity, the legality of refusing an order would\nbe established AFTER the fact. To call such an order illegal before any court\njudgement is the very thing that you are branding as an alternative fact.\n\n~~~\niSnow\nDecision 1 BvR 357/05\n([https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Entscheid...](https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Entscheidungen/DE/2006/02/rs20060215_1bvr035705.html)):\n\n>The armed forces’ authorisation pursuant to § 14.3 of the Aviation Security\nAct (Luftsicherheitsgesetz – LuftSiG) to shoot down by the direct use of armed\nforce an aircraft that is intended to be used against human lives __is\nincompatible with the right to life under Article 2.2 sentence 1 of the Basic\nLaw in conjunction with the guarantee of human dignity under Article 1.1 of\nthe Basic Law __to the extent that it affects persons on board the aircraft\nwho are not participants in the crime.\n\n~~~\nhubert123\nIt sounds incredibly dumb and the fact that nobody has challenged and changed\nthis is testament to the pace of public official life. If somebody were to get\na nuclear bomb on a civilian plane, the german government would be\nconstitutionally obligated to let them fly to wherever they want. I imagine\nthat in real life the german government would ask France or Great Britain to\nquickly fly over and do the job for them. Afterwards it's nobody's fault and\nwe can all keep pretending that the Grundgesetz is perfect.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Any SaaS idea to share? - Im_a_throw_away\nRecently we got 2 ask HN related to SaaS business [0] [1].<p>This time I&#x27;m curious if you have any SaaS business idea that you don&#x27;t plan to pursue? And if so, feel free to share it here.<p>[0]: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=11924009<p>[1]: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=11937132\n======\nadiian\nAn idea is useless. What it matters, especially in SAAS is to identify a need\nof an heterogeneous group of people. A painful one for which they would pay a\ncertain amount.\n\nSo instead looking for an idea try looking for a community and try to\nunderstand it. Study it, see what they do, how they do and what they really\nneed. Don't ask them what they need, or if they have an idea because they\nmight not know.\n\nOnce you understand them you can start crystallizing an idea. It might be bad,\nyou start (in)validating assumptions, pivotating and iterating through those\nsteps until you reach to the good \"idea\".\n\nAn idea you get from somebody else is in the best case scenario one which\nidentifies a need. You still have to validate it, which is the hard part. And\nyou still have to understand your customers which is even harder.\n\nThe successful one man side-projects are successful because they are started\nby passion by people who follow those steps sometimes without even knowing it.\nThey are annoyed by something or they need something which does not exist.\nThey create it first for them and for people like them.\n\n------\ngoing_to_800\nI want an email service that sends each week 10 saas ideas and also see who\nstarted working on which.\n\n~~~\nskiltz\n[http://nugget.one](http://nugget.one)\n\n------\nwmcneil\nI am also interested in hearing ideas. It has been too long since I've last\nhad a good side project and not just small one off things that go unfinished.\n\n------\nbbcbasic\nWith YNAB moving to the cloud, a good old fashioned desktop budget app.\n\nWrite it natively for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android and Windows Phone so\nit performs well.\n\n~~~\nstephenr\nI think one of us is confused, you want a Software-as-a-Service desktop app?\n\n~~~\nbbcbasic\nBeing SaaS doesn't dictate web delivery. Desktop apps can be rented and auto\nupdated. Case in point: Office 365\n\n~~~\nstephenr\nBeing subscription based doesn't make it SaaS.\n\nEmphasis mine:\n\n\\- Wikipedia: Software as a service is a software licensing and delivery model\nin which software is licensed on a subscription basis _and is centrally\nhosted._\n\n\\- Dictionary.com: Software as a Service: a software distribution method in\nwhich a service provider gives customers _access through the Internet to\napplications_ , usually ones developed and owned by the provider\n\n\\- techterms.com: Stands for \"Software as a Service.\" SaaS is software that is\n_deployed over the Internet rather than installed on a computer_. It is often\nused for enterprise applications that are distributed to multiple users. SaaS\napplications typically run within a Web browser, which means users only need a\ncompatible browser in order to access the software.\n\n\\- Salesforce.com: Software as a service (or SaaS) is a way of _delivering\napplications over the Internet—as a service. Instead of installing and\nmaintaining software, you simply access it via the Internet_ , freeing\nyourself from complex software and hardware management.\n\nSure, desktop apps _can_ be subscription based, but that isn't the same as\nSaaS. The second S in SaaS is \"service\" as in, you are providing something\nmore than just the software. With your example of Office365, there is a web\nbased component, and the accompanying storage to go with it.\n\nSo given that the post I replied to, was suggesting a desktop app because a\nprevious solution had \"moved to the cloud\", I maintain that there is confusion\nabout what SaaS means.\n\n~~~\nbbcbasic\nWell you got be bang to rights there.\n\n------\nsmilingtom\nI would like to get rich from working on an easy software project that will\nmake me a lot of money for not a lot of effort.\n\nDoes anyone have an idea like that? Thank you.\n\n~~~\nlj3\nFart apps. You're welcome.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nMobile is Still in a \"Pre-PageRank\" Phase - applecore\nhttps://medium.com/p/3f606bf985c6\n\n======\nmonsterix\nIt is. And it is the web _side_of_story_ that is super exciting.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: File format for declarative language? - mchahn\nI&#x27;m in the process of developing a pure declarative language. The source consists of simple JS-like data structures that would be at home in a JSON file.  I have two questions ...<p>- I&#x27;m naturally considering using JSON, but I don&#x27;t think it is great for writing original code. It has too much visual clutter like quotes. My next thought was YAML but it seems kind of obtuse and overly-complex.  Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.  Am I overlooking any?<p>- Assuming I have a format chosen, can I use a new custom file suffix matching my language or must it be `.yml`, `.json`, etc.?  One could argue that the suffix should match the syntax (`.json`) or one could argue it should match the semantics (my language).  There are languages than match C syntax but don&#x27;t have the `.C` suffix (if I&#x27;m not mistaken).\n======\ntwangist\nIf you opt for making your declarative language a subset of JSON or YAML,\npresumably it will be a proper subset, with some further expectations and\nconstraints. It makes total sense to use a custom file extension — say,\n`.mdl`, \"my declarative language\", for the sake of discussion. Users will be\nable to easily find their files written in your language without having to\nwade through all possible files of the superset format. A `.mdl` file really\nis its own thing, it's not just a .json or .yml file. It may be the case that\na `.mdl` file is a just `.json` or `.yml` file, but the converse will not be\ntrue.\n\nThe only advantage I can think of that accrues from using the more common\nextension is editor support: a user's favorite editor may well provide syntax\nhighlighting and checking, auto-indenting, etc. for `.json` or `.yml` files,\nbut not for `.mdl` files out of the box. You might want to develop `.mdl`\nprofiles (sic) for popular editors.\n\nAny decent parser for the 'true' format will accept either a string or a full\nfilename (including extension) and shouldn't expect a fixed file extension.\n\nRegrettably I can't think of a single example right now, but I know I've\nencountered many programs that use custom file extensions which have turned\nout to be just some familiar format after all.\n\nThat said, it's another question whether either JSON or YAML is a great\nchoice. I agree with your reservations about both. In fact I've had the very\nsame problem in a couple of development projects, one recently. JSON is\nfriendlier than XML, true, but it's not really a language to think in, even\ndeclaratively — too much clutter. YAML is certainly versatile enough, but it\nprovides probably more than you need, and it is... yes, obtuse. Of course, it\ndepends on your intended users; I found it was too \"programmerly\" for mine. I\nended up developing a custom parser for a language with more syntactic sugar\nthan YAML, which has its advantages and disadvantages.\n\n------\nbrudgers\nOne way to look at it is as a domain specific language and the choice as\nbetween an embedded DSL or a stand alone DSL. The advantage of an embedded DSL\nis that a lot of existing tooling can be leveraged and the entire host\nlanguage can be leveraged. On the other hand, debugging in the new language\nmay wind up requiring deep knowledge of the host. JVM languages often have\nthat drawback.\n\nBut at a higher level, the new language should be designed around it's use\ncase. If it's always used in a JavaScript context, the JSON might make more\nsense. If it's for *nix hackers then YAML might be better. If it's for\nphlembotomists then perhaps something altogether new.\n\nGood luck.\n\n------\nmchahn\nThanks everyone. You've given me more to think about. Unfortunately I'm still\non the fence. Usually I'm a lot more decisive. I guess it shouldn't matter in\nthe long run. But you know how it is, I want my new language to be perfect.\n\n~~~\nahazred8ta\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-expression](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-expression)\nand [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xupl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xupl)\nare available and have many language bindings\n\n------\ntwunde\n1)There are a couple alternatives. There's TOML, axon.\n\n2)It can be whatever you want. It's your language. If you are reusing a\ncurrent format it will be easier for devs and sysadmins to keep the current\nsyntax\n\n------\nborplk\nIf you don't mind I'd like to ask what the language is about?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Videoloupe for Mac – A new video player and editor for macOS - kennycarruthers\nhttps://www.videoloupe.com\n======\nkennycarruthers\nDeveloper here...\n\nTwo years ago, the Hacker News community helped kick off my indie-developer\n\"career\" with Fileloupe for Mac. Now I'd like to share my second app,\nVideoloupe for Mac with everyone. If you're a macOS user and do anything with\nvideo, then Videoloupe probably has some cool features you'll find\ninteresting.\n\nI've \"soft launched\" the app this week and would love any feedback. There's a\nfree trial, but if you'd like to purchase a copy then please take advantage of\nthis 50% off coupon code: VLHACKERNEWS\n\n[https://www.videoloupe.com](https://www.videoloupe.com)\n\nI've benefitted so much from reading the stories of other indie developers\nhere on Hacker News. Hopefully my story helps encourage others. Thanks so\nmuch.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: My humble little side project to support OSS and developer happiness - sleight42\nhttp://rubypair.com\n\n======\ndamncabbage\nJust a heads-up: signing in with GitHub automatically puts you in _both_ the\nRemote and In-Person lists if you just cancel out of the form that pops up\nafter you authenticate.\n\n~~~\nsleight42\nYup. That's intentional for now. We assume that you signed up for a reason.\nYou just didn't tell us exactly why. So we make a broad assumption. ;)\n\n------\ntomstuart\nWhat does this site do? Is it a directory of developers who are willing to\npair, or something more/else? Can I find out without signing up?\n\n~~~\nsleight42\nOk, we kind of glossed over that. I'll update the about page.\n\nIn a nutshell: we're about helping kindred developer spirits find one another\nfor local/remote pairing. Later on, I'm hoping to add more features to\nactively mediate the experience.\n\nI'd love to integrate with pair.io to help other people remote pair. But, for\nnow, I use a simple arrangement of SSH+tmux+vim+skype to remote pair with\nfolks when I do.\n\n------\nahmetalpbalkan\nWhy is this Ruby-specific? I see other language tags in other people's\ninterests.\n\n~~~\nsleight42\nTotally. Nola already had the domain so we went with that. I still see the app\nas an experiment. Once we get things more nailed down, I'm thinking about\nopening it up beyond Ruby.\n\nBesides, frankly, we \"Rubyists\" tend to be polyglots. That is to say: there's\nnothing stopping Java developers from signing up. :D\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n[iOS] Create a Protocol-Oriented Animations Library in Swift 3 - kalub92\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AySlYrel7fc\n======\nfish111222999\nI saw this video a while back. Pretty good stuff. Any good protocol-oriented\nbook suggestions?\n\n~~~\nkalub92\nHmm... The Packt Publishing POP book is good and actually it looks like they\njust came out with the Swift 3 version! I only have the Swift 2 version but it\nreally compares the POP method with OOP and shows it's strengths and pitfalls.\n\n[https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1787129942/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1787129942/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491399538&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=protocol+oriented+programming)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe tyranny of chairs: why we need better design - SirLJ\nhttps://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/aug/25/the-tyranny-of-chairs\n======\nmattlondon\nJust out of curiosity, am I the only one that seems to be happy to just sit on\na dining chair when at my desk?\n\nWhen the WFH wave hit, people seemed to be going mad buying webcams and office\nchairs. Loads of people I work with spent a _lot_ of energy researching and\ndiscussing chairs etc.\n\nI have a sit-stand desk and I stand for perhaps 2 to 3 hours any working day.\nBut the rest of the time I just sit on a normal old wooden dining chair. No\npain. No aches. No RSI. No CTS.\n\nI've been doing this for decades and nothing seems to have gone wrong yet. I\ndo run 2 to 4 times a week so I do wonder if that helps avoid problems?\n\nAre all the uber-expensive office chairs just snake oil? Or have I just been\nlucky?\n\n~~~\n2OEH8eoCRo0\n>I do run 2 to 4 times a week so I do wonder if that helps avoid problems?\n\nI think there are a lot of stressed and unconditioned office workers who want\nsome magical device to solve everything. Vertical mice, split vertical\nkeyboards, expensive chairs. None of it replaces exercise.\n\nMight be a controversial opinion.\n\n~~~\nnostromo\nThis is my experience.\n\nI had lower back pain while sitting at a desk when I was younger.\n\nOnce I started lifting weights, and specifically doing heavy deadlifts, I've\nnever had back pain again.\n\nInterestingly, a lot of people are afraid deadlifts will _cause_ back pain,\nbut in my case at least, it _cured_ back pain.\n\n~~~\nstouset\nGeneral fitness and strength training is just about the closest thing we have\nto a miracle cure for a wide array of common issues.\n\n~~~\n2OEH8eoCRo0\nYup. Too bad it doesn't come in pill form.\n\n------\nscrooched_moose\nIf anyone is looking for a better chair, we found this was a great time to\npick up Herman Miller Aerons off of craigslist.\n\nThere's a steady stream of small-to-medium offices in our area closing, and\nthey're all liquidating office furniture. We picked up 2 for $500.\n\nThey're a massive improvement over my $80 chair that was fine for a few hours\na week pre-WFH, and my back is feeling much better.\n\n~~~\nsupernova87a\nThis isn't exactly work related, but do people have opinions on the Herman\nMiller Eames chair? You know, this iconic look? [1]\n\nI ask because the lockdown has me fantasizing about distracting myself with\nreplacement stuff for the home.\n\nBut this chair is freakin $5000. Is it that good to be worth it? Or are any of\nthose $1000 knockoffs acceptable quality?\n\n[1] [https://www.hermanmiller.com/products/seating/lounge-\nseating...](https://www.hermanmiller.com/products/seating/lounge-\nseating/eames-lounge-chair-and-ottoman/)\n\n~~~\nscrooched_moose\nWe have a 60s hand-me-down Eames.\n\nIt is a very good chair. The build quality is fantastic and stylistically it\nstill holds up.\n\nIt is truly a \"lounge chair\" though - almost a semi-recliner. I rarely use it\nif it's a social situation because it sits back so far. It's amazing for\nrelaxing and watching TV or a movie though.\n\nI'm assuming the quality has held up. I've never tried a knock off.\n\n------\nadamnemecek\nThe worst chair in the world is the American high school/college desk+chair\ncombo like this one\n\n[https://www.schooloutlet.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/Screen...](https://www.schooloutlet.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/Screen%20Shot%202016-07-13%20at%2010.00.49%20AM.png)\n\nThe people making and buying these place are committing crimes against\nhumanity.\n\n~~~\ngrugagag\nIt's not comfortable but I don't think that's the worst chair especially if\nyou pay attention how you sit in it. The worst chair is the cheap office chair\nthat is often misaligned, wobbly and encouraging you to rest your back in a\nwrong way. And the free rotating swivel makes sure you are you really have a\nbad posture and not being able to sit properly. I relearned to sit down and\nnow prefer a rigid surface and most often don't rest my back on anything. If\nyour back is tired and you need to use the backrest it's time to get up and\nwalk around a bit.\n\n~~~\nadamnemecek\nYou shouldn't have to pay attention to how you sit in it. there is literally\nonly one position to sit in.\n\n~~~\nKozmoNau7\nYou can almost certainly improve how you sit down. A lot of people just sort\nof flop down and sit with their hips slid forward and a pronounced bend in\ntheir back. Anecdotally I have also noticed many of the same people\ncomplaining about a lack of legroom in trains, airplanes, cars and so on.\n\nIf they would simply sit down by pushing their butt and lower back into the\nchair instead of lazily flopping down, there would be plenty of space.\n\n(Not directed at those people with long legs, who do have genuine legroom\nissues even when sitting up straight)\n\n------\nTheodores\nChairs need a failsafe mode. This is what I call better design.\n\nRecently my father sat on a chair that collapsed underneath him. It was a\nseemingly okay teak garden chair that had been recently in service and offered\nup to important guests. So in that way it was good that it was him rather than\nhis brother in law or elderly neighbour that received a bruised elbow.\n\nThis got me thinking about the safety of chairs. This chair - a folding chair\n- really should have included a wire around the seat so that it had a failsafe\nmode in order to prevent complete failure once the wood of the seat eventually\ngave up.\n\nThere should be proper testing of seats to see if they are fit for purpose.\nCar seats for babies can't be passed on because there could be some crack in\nthe polystyrene, yet regular chairs have no standards for safety. It is not a\nbig deal until such time as you see a valued relative come a cropper.\n\nDesign is how it works and chairs are not designed to have a failsafe aspect\nto the design.\n\n~~~\nlightgreen\nRealistically, how many people get injured from collapsed chairs? I think less\nthan from fire or drowned or something.\n\nJust buy not the cheapest chair, and you will be safe.\n\n~~~\nTheodores\nThere is no such thing as an accident. If your chair breaks in a restaurant\nyou can sue them. I bet the restaurant owners never thought of this when\nsetting up. Injuries can also be quite serious, it depends on the circumstance\nand the individual.\n\nYour argument is the same for airbags, seatbelts and wearing hard hats. We\nlive in a Health and Safety world where liability exists. Except for chairs.\n\n------\njamespetercook\nI don’t think I’ve ever found a chair that I felt completely comfortable in. I\nlike to sit upright and feel alert and most chairs seem to be made for\nrelaxing. I’ve always wondered if it’s just me or not, and have often thought\nabout designing a chair but realistically I don’t have the skills :(\n\n~~~\nTACIXAT\nI have this same issue. I've never seen a chair that supports shoulders back\nand down good posture. They all seem to hunch or arch forward. None offer the\nmid back support needed to put your chest forward.\n\nSame situation for sitting cross legged. My solution for posture has been a\nstanding desk. I never really made any progress on my posture until I started\nstanding.\n\n------\nblunte\nAt age 35, otherwise healthy and having spent 10 years in Herman Miller Aeron\nchairs, I had hip problems and a small but growing waistline.\n\nThen I transitioned to working from home and built my own standing desk (sadly\nbefore the very affordable mechanical Ikea standing desk was first released...\nBut which I have now happily used for years).\n\nThe first few weeks were challenging, but within three months I could stand\nfor 12+ hours a day, and my hip problems went away. Also my overall energy\nseemed higher, and afternoon energy dips became less noticeable.\n\nFor 13 years now I stand for virtually all of my day, and I have no back or\nhip problems. I do have slight spider veins on my ankles and knees, and that\nmay be due in part to the standing. But it is cosmetic and barely visible, and\ntotally worth the trade.\n\n~~~\ngrugagag\nHow do you type standing for long periods of time? Do you rest your arms on\nthe table?\n\n~~~\nchiefalchemist\nIf you're using a mouse my PT told me to \"anchor\" your elbow on the desk so\nyou use your wrist to move the mouse, not your upper back. This is true\nwhether standing or sitting.\n\nThere was a good reason I was in PT and was told this ;)\n\n~~~\nblunte\nI've always used a mouse with my fingertips, and my outer hand bone is resting\non the mouse mat. Rarely am I pushing the mouse around with my entire hand or\narm...\n\n~~~\nchiefalchemist\nIt's not your \"entire arm\" per se. It's that - per the PT - the shoulder and\nupper back aren't designed for repetitive micro-movements. That is, unless\nyour elbow is anchored your shoulder is likely doing more work than it should.\n\n------\nraindropm\nFor anyone that have sore butt syndrome, here's my personal tip: improve blood\ncirculation of your...butt!\n\nI bought Steelcase Think six month ago to replace my $50 chair, and while it\nis good chair with good price and comfy-but-firm seat cushion, it cannot solve\nmy chronic \"sore butt\" problem. Half and hour in the chair and my butt\nsoreness begin to appear. Doesn't help that I'm the type that sit in front of\nmonitor all day. I know I need to move more frequently, or did some light\nexercise or stretching, but when you need to work, you need to sit anyway.\n\nThen I read that the soreness is the result of lack of blood circulation, so I\ndecide to give thing that improve it a try: a beads car seat. You know, the\nvintage-looking one taxi driver use.\n\nTHE SORENESS IS GONE. It's been several months since. Now I can sit all day\nlong without feeling a thing.\n\nNote that the version I use is the 'beads mat' with rubber texture on the\nbottom(This is important because it help prevent the beads seat from slipping)\n\n~~~\nmpol\nSore butts are a common theme in cycling :) On longer rides people might\nprefer harder saddles. A softer seating clamps down on your soft tissue and\nprevents proper blood circulation. Having a harder seating will make you sit\non your sit bones and have your blood flow free. The sit bones can start to\nfeel a bit irritated after some time, but that is the time to get up for a\nwalk. If your soft tissue (from lack of blood flow) starts hurting, it is\nbecause it is starting to get damaged. Even if you would walk for an hour and\nsit again, the pain would come back instantly.\n\n~~~\nraindropm\nThat's new to me! because I never ride a bike more than 10 minutes at a time\nhaha.\n\nEverything you describe is what I experience. I have good time sitting on my\nold wooden chair, and yes, the butt is free of pain (but my back hurt instead,\nbecause its backrest is in upright 90 degree angle) also there is not armrest\nwhatsoever so I can't work for long....\n\nwell, maybe that's the point, I need to move more.\n\n------\nrkagerer\nI hate how the first thing this site does is make me lie and say \"I'm Happy\"\nabout their cookies.\n\n------\nwar1025\nI read somewhere that if you want good posture, just sit on the edge of the\nseat. So that's what I do and it seems to work fine.\n\nChairs with backs are nice, but it seems like they will always just lead to\nterrible posture.\n\n~~~\nNicolasGorden\nI've used a posture corrector. It's really very effective and cheap. Love it\nsince it makes me conscious every time I start slouching.\n\n------\namanaplanacanal\nWe would do better for ourselves to get rid of chairs entirely and sit on the\nfloor. Getting down and up from the floor is a natural human movement that\nwould keep us all fitter into old age.\n\n~~~\njohnchristopher\nHave you tried sitting on the floor and work with a keyboard ? Do you have a\nsetup you could share ?\n\nI suppose Japanese should have something fitting but that might be a\nstereotype.\n\n~~~\ndmvinson\n[https://www.nutritiousmovement.com/furniture-free-\nahs13/](https://www.nutritiousmovement.com/furniture-free-ahs13/) is an\nexample of someone doing this in their home. Personally, my setup is a coffee\ntable along with a zafu (buckwheat hull filled floor cushion) and sheepskins\nor a zabuton to cushion the floor a little. It's very comfortable, although\nI'd like to also have a standing desk to go with it. Coffee tables tend to be\na pretty good height for this purpose if you want to avoid purchasing\nsomething custom. Besides that it's just a regular desk setup, albeit missing\ndrawers or storage on the table.\n\n~~~\njohnchristopher\n> [https://www.nutritiousmovement.com/furniture-free-\n> ahs13/](https://www.nutritiousmovement.com/furniture-free-ahs13/)\n\nInteresting reading, thanks.\n\nWould you be so kind as to share a picture of your setup ? To have a rough\nidea of heights, space arrangements, elbow positioning, etc. ?\n\n~~~\ndmvinson\nYeah, here is what I'm working with as of now. Moved recently (like everyone\nelse) and still getting an office setup, but this is the basics. As far as\nheight, I'd say it's a very ergonomically sound setup when in kneeling\nposition with the cushion in between your feet. Laptop just below eye level,\narms level, etc.\n\nI think the biggest benefits are it forces you to move and adjust a little bit\nmore than in a chair, and forces you to use your muscles to sit properly much\nmore. Would highly recommend to anyone.\n[https://ibb.co/XYN3HFx](https://ibb.co/XYN3HFx)\n\nThe coffee table is [https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/lisabo-coffee-table-ash-\nveneer-...](https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/lisabo-coffee-table-ash-\nveneer-70297658/) The sheepskin is from sheepskin town, but any cushioning\nthat softens the floor for your ankles/knees is good.\n\n~~~\njohnchristopher\nThanks a lot, much appreciated !\n\nI was browsing though the different pillow/cushion and was a bit worried at\nfirst by the $150 zafu/zabuton but it looks like there are ~$50 ones so I can\ngive it a try.\n\n------\ngagabity\nThe Ikea POANG recliner chair, you know the one, is the most comfortable chair\nI have ever used, you need to rearrange your desk setup because its so low and\nleaned back but once you have it destroys any other option out there, your\nback is just relaxed.\n\n~~~\ntonyedgecombe\nI can sit and read in mine but I can't imagine trying to work in it.\n\n------\npolote\nI have been trying to find info on laying down desks and chairs in the past\nfew weeks, but there is really not a lot of people who have experienced with\nit. If you had, please comment here\n\n~~~\nmegameter\nHere is my setup, which is a very inexpensive, low-footprint way of doing it:\n\n1\\. A large lap desk. This is a powerful tool for adding flexibility as you'll\nsee. It lets you keep all the peripherals near you. I currently use it with a\nUSB hub, a 65% mechanical keyboard, a keypad with macro functions, and a\ntrackball mouse.\n\n2\\. A floor chair with reclining functions. The one I have is one of the\ncheapest on Amazon, basically a folding backrest with a bit of cushion.\n\n3\\. A laptop/monitor arm and a shelf to hang it off of.\n\nWith a laptop angled at 90 degrees so that the screen is overhead, I have a\nfully supinated setup on the floor, with the floor chair folded most of the\nway back for support.\n\nBut it gets better. With a low folding table or breakfast tray I can switch\nthe laptop and chair over to floor seating. Here the lap desk serves as a way\nto let me move around more. This is a great way to add variety of posture and\nstretch as I work, and I find that I use different positions for different\nlevels of intensity during the day. Supination is better for passive viewing,\nwhile upright with no support is focused, intense. Seated with the chair\nreclined is the medium for \"Tired but still want to work\".\n\nAnd then I still have more traditional feet-dangling seats I can use too.\nAgain, just haul over the lap desk and plug in.\n\nThe best part is, none of these items need to cost more than $100. Most are\ncloser to $50. So you can solve everything with an investment of perhaps\n$200-300.\n\n~~~\nnfour\nSounds interesting - I have a lapboard setup as well but it could use\nimprovement.\n\nAny chance you could provide some pictures?\n\n------\nspaetzleesser\nIt kind of sucks that computers allow us to do most of our work while sitting\nin the same place. When I started working there were more reasons to get up,\ntake something somewhere, walk to the printer and so on. This feels much\nhealthier.\n\nI don’t think any design with better chairs, stand up desks or whatever will\nmake it healthy to stay in the same place the whole day. If I had to choose a\ncareer now I would definitely think about something that allows for more\nwalking or other activity.\n\n------\njseliger\nFor people working at computers in offices, get a motorized desk that can\nraised or lowered to a pre-determined height at the push of a button.\n[https://jakeseliger.com/2015/01/24/geekdesk-max-sit-stand-\nde...](https://jakeseliger.com/2015/01/24/geekdesk-max-sit-stand-desk-review-\ntwo-years-with-a-motorized-desk/)\n\n------\narmagon\nGee, I was just thinking I needed to make some new chairs for the kitchen\ntable (which seems to be a somewhat challenging woodworking project, as curves\nas usually called for and the way to craft them isn't obvious). I wish the\narticle offered more advice about what makes a good chair, or chair\nalternative.\n\n~~~\ncpwright\nIf you are going to invest the effort in a set of dining chairs, I would\nrecommend watching the Wood Whisperer guild dining chair videos. I have made a\nHank chair and high chairs, but have never made a dining char. I did buy the\nclass and found how Marc Spagnuolo broke it down interesting and informative.\n\n------\nthrowawaysea\nPerhaps we need to design for a furniture-less world, where we sit and stand\nas we did for most of our evolution.\n\n~~~\nlightgreen\nWe just need neuralink with text input and output to the visual cortex so we\ncould do our work literally anywhere: on the bus, lying on a bed, taking a\nshower.\n\n------\ntrashcan\nI replaced an Aeron with a a gaming chair that was much more affordable\n(although it was back-ordered for a few months). What a huge improvement! It\nfeels like I'm in a bucket seat in a car, which is basically what it is.\n\n~~~\nherman_toothrot\nWhich specific chair did you get?\n\n~~~\ntrashcan\n[https://secretlab.co/collections/omega-\nseries](https://secretlab.co/collections/omega-series). I opted for the fabric\ncover to discourage my cats from chewing on it. :)\n\n------\nunnouinceput\nI use my bed as my chair. My desk has wheels, so I can sit on my \"chair\" way\nmore comfortable then on any expensive chair.\n\n------\nsgt101\nI got a gaming chair at the beginning of lockdown, and I propped up my desk to\nget everything to the right height. The things I looked for : adjustable arm\nrests, adjustable height, adjustable tilt and headrest & lumbar support.\n\nAlso buy a 28\" 4k monitor, proper keyboard and mouse device of choice (I got\nan apple magic pad).\n\nAll for ~ £500. It's worth the investment.\n\n~~~\n_alex_\nDo you like the gaming chair? I ordered an aeron and didn’t like it, sent it\nback. Need a new chair. Decade old office chair is falling apart.\n\n~~~\nsgt101\nyes, it's good : [https://secretlab.co.uk/collections/titan-xl-\nseries](https://secretlab.co.uk/collections/titan-xl-series)\n\n~~~\nbladegash\nI have the Omega and love it. Comes with a lumbar pillow too, which works\ngreat.\n\n------\nlightgreen\nBtw for those who are in London I can recommend refurbished Herman Miller\nchairs from this guy\n[http://www.welovechairs.co.uk/](http://www.welovechairs.co.uk/) I’m not\naffiliated with him, just bought a chair from him and was very happy by the\nservice.\n\n------\nezoe\nExercise ball is the best chair for me. It has the best cushioning unmatched\nto any unreasonably expensive chairs. Backrest and armrests aren't necessary.\nYou should have developed enough core to support your weight.\n\nYou are free from developing injuries caused by long use of ordinary chair.\n\nIt's cheap and portable too.\n\n------\nBrandoElFollito\nI've been sitting on a ball at the office for now 3 years. I love it.\n\nI do not have any hard numbers, but the fact that I move around, make small\njumps , must keep balance etc. seems to be a good thing.\n\nI was sitting on an office chair at home during lock down and I think my back\nhurted more\n\n------\nLoSboccacc\n> The real science of ergonomics, Cranz argues, should point designers toward\n> chair design that supports and enables the body’s need for movement, not\n> stillness – with seats that angle downward in front, for example, and have a\n> base that’s flexible enough for the sitter to shift their body weight from\n> leg to leg\n\nweird then not finding mention of the Varier Balans chairs.\n\nI had one growing up, and bought another one after a month of lockdown as my\nhome office setup wasn't meant for extended usage.\n\nthat one and a standing desk seems working well so far.\n\n------\nmspe\nYou could also combine furniture instead of buying an expensive standing desk:\n\n[https://imgbox.com/9tFW5Pvs](https://imgbox.com/9tFW5Pvs)\n\n------\nblueridge\nMy sense is that we all just need to _move_ more: sit, stand, roll around on\nthe rug, squat, go for a walk, you get the idea. Basically don't spend the\nentire working day in a single position.\n\nI briefly went through a phase where I thought I'd enjoy the no-furniture\nlifestyle, but it wasn't for me. It also wasn't for my partner, nor my parents\nwhen they come to visit, nor anyone else whom I might want to invite into the\nhome.\n\nI don't want to Marie Kondo the shit out of my space—I want to surround myself\nwith beautiful, practical pieces of furniture that I enjoy using.\n\nI don't think most people go and try out furniture before they bring it home.\nI'm talking multiple trips to a furniture store, where you go and sit and\nexplore the same few pieces over and over and until you're sure you've found\nsomething you love.\n\nYou've got to stay seated for a bit to figure out where the pressure points\nare, whether or not the angle or depth of a seat makes your legs go numb, or\nhurts your back, etc. Do you like a firm seat? Do you like to sit \"on\" the\ncushions, or \"down in to\" the cushions? You want something with a high seat,\nor a low seat? There's a lot of furniture out there. It pays to take time to\ndo the research, learn about how it's built, learn about different fabric\ntypes and how they affect the way a cushion holds it shape, then spend a good\ndeal of money on a quality product.\n\nFurthermore, there's a huge difference in quality between buying a chair from\nWest Elm and buying a chair from Knoll. For instance, I think this is one of\nthe most comfortable and practical chairs on the planet:\n[https://www.knoll.com/product/saarinen-executive-arm-\nchair](https://www.knoll.com/product/saarinen-executive-arm-chair)\n\nWe use it as a dining chair, and as a reading chair with an ottoman, and as a\nstandard desk task chair. It's truly wonderful. Is it expensive? Yes it is.\nBut it looks great, it's built well, it has a firm and comfortable seat, and\nit'll last a lifetime.\n\nBut hey, comfort is subjective, you like what you like!\n\nEdit for those who are furniture shopping:\n\n\\- Saarinen chair linked above also comes with casters and hydraulic lift:\n[https://www.knoll.com/product/saarinen-executive-arm-\nchair-s...](https://www.knoll.com/product/saarinen-executive-arm-chair-swivel-\nbase)\n\n\\- Don't knock it, it's surprisingly comfortable for long stretches:\n[https://www.knoll.com/product/brno-chair-flat-\nbar](https://www.knoll.com/product/brno-chair-flat-bar)\n\n\\- Great reading chair (with ottoman) if you have the space:\n[https://www.knoll.com/product/womb-chair](https://www.knoll.com/product/womb-\nchair)\n\n\\- Of course, the Eames lounge chair is a classic, though if you're taller\nthan 5'8\" go with the Tall version as you'll get a deeper seat and head\nsupport. For those with lumbar spine issues, probably not the most\ncomfortable: [https://www.hermanmiller.com/products/seating/lounge-\nseating...](https://www.hermanmiller.com/products/seating/lounge-\nseating/eames-lounge-chair-and-ottoman/)\n\n\\- Wonderfully firm sofa, great for long meetings, reading with attention. If\nyou like to lounge, not great for movie nights. Durable fabric options, along\nwith custom leather: [https://www.roomandboard.com/catalog/living/sofas-and-\nlovese...](https://www.roomandboard.com/catalog/living/sofas-and-\nloveseats/andre-sofas)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nA Field Guide to the 'Weapons' of Hostile Architecture in NYC - pseudolus\nhttps://gothamist.com/2019/08/14/hostile_architecture_nyc.php\n======\nng12\nSkateboarders destroy things. They wax concrete edges and repeatedly grind\nthem with metal trucks -- it doesn't take long at all for the edge to be worn\naway. If you've skated for any period of time you can pretty easily pick out\nwhere skateboarders have been. Additionally these edges usually exist in\npedestrian areas, I can't tell you how many times I've almost been knocked\ndown in front of Borough Hall.\n\nI don't know if I'd term anti-skater deterrents as \"hostile\" but they are a\nnecessity.\n\n~~~\nceejayoz\nStuff like [https://www.instagram.com/p/B0jF72Sp-\nwh/](https://www.instagram.com/p/B0jF72Sp-wh/) aren't for skateboarders,\nthough.\n\n------\nthinkingemote\nThere was a great blog by a PhD student called Architectures of Control that\nlisted many of these.\n\n------\nclockfan24\nWalk through there on your way home from work at 9pm and tell me if you change\nyour mind.\n\n~~~\nsterkekoffie\nDo you think all the people taking these photographs just go home to the\nsuburbs at night? This is a difference in worldview, not life experience.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nVolkswagen Chief Martin Winterkorn Resigns Amid Emissions Scandal - aaronharnly\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/24/business/international/volkswagen-chief-martin-winterkorn-resigns-amid-emissions-scandal.html\n======\njeromeflipo\nIn July, France 2 (the #1 public national television channel in France)\nreleased a documentary [0] that showed to which extent the French auto\nmanufacturer PSA lied about NO2 emissions.\n\nAt 1h19s [1], Pierre Macaudière, head of emission control systems at PSA,\nadmits that the model tested emits 1700 ppm of NO2, after measuring 200 ppm\n(the legal limit) with their own machines.\n\nAt 1h17m11s [2], the researchers commissioned by the EU shows the journalist\nthat _not one_ manufacturer respects the legal limits of 200 ppm. He's\nfrightened to tell the journalist that it's all just a widespread fraud.\n\n* [0] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JFprj6v37Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JFprj6v37Q)\n\n* [1] [https://youtu.be/5JFprj6v37Q?t=1h19s](https://youtu.be/5JFprj6v37Q?t=1h19s)\n\n* [2] [https://youtu.be/5JFprj6v37Q?t=1h17m11s](https://youtu.be/5JFprj6v37Q?t=1h17m11s)\n\n~~~\ndifferentView\nIf that's true, then there's no way government officials weren't bribed and\nneed to be prosecuted.\n\n~~~\nekianjo\nWhich calls for decentralized inspection, instead of relying again and again\non governments to do the right thing. The only thing they are good at is\naccepting bribes.\n\n~~~\nanigbrowl\nKind of throwing the baby out with the bathwater there, no? I was in and out\nof publicly-run hospitals as a child, I wouldn't be alive today if not for\nsocialized medicine.\n\n~~~\nduncan_bayne\nThat's incorrect. You wouldn't be alive today without medicine; the fact that\nit was provided by a socialized system is almost certainly irrelevant. There\nexist other, better and fairer mechanisms to provide healthcare, especially to\nthose in genuine need.\n\n _Edited_ : to put it another way, imagine if you lived in a country with\nsocialized car mechanics. You could easily make the claim that the only thing\nkeeping you on the road was your good comrades at State Autoworks ...\n\n~~~\nkefka\nThat's right, the capitalist-libertarian answer is always \"Fuck you, pay me\",\nor in this case, \"fuck you, die\".\n\nWe have insurance. Its a great way to leverage the group so that all get a low\nrate. That given, \"socialized\" medicine is a group policy population wide:\nwhich should give the lowest rates split equally between all. Certainly makes\nthe most sense.\n\n~~~\nduncan_bayne\nFurther to this, in Rand's words:\n\n=====\n\n“Dear [socialists], our objective, like yours, is the welfare of the poor,\nmore general wealth, and a higher standard of living for everybody—so please\nlet us capitalists function, because the capitalist system will achieve all\nthese objectives for you. It is in fact the only system that can achieve\nthem.”\n\nThis last statement is true and has been proved and demonstrated in history,\nand yet it has not and will not win converts to the capitalist system. Because\nthe above argument is self-contradictory. It is not the purpose of the\ncapitalist system to cater to the welfare of the poor; it is not the purpose\nof a capitalist enterpriser to spread social benefits; an industrialist does\nnot operate a factory for the purpose of providing jobs for his workers. A\ncapitalist system could not function on such a premise.\n\n=====\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\n> This last statement is true and has been proved and demonstrated in history\n\nOn the contrary, that last statement is false, which has been demonstrated in\nhistory, and is largely why the system for which the term \"capitalism\" was\ncoined is no longer the dominant system of the developed world, having been\nreplaced by mixed economies -- which transition Rand was part of the rear\nguard arguing against, and to reverse -- which retain in outline the property\nstructure of capitalism, but import many aspects of socialism to deal better\nwith exactly those problems than capitalism ever did.\n\n~~~\nduncan_bayne\n\"... which retain in outline the property structure of capitalism, but import\nmany aspects of socialism to deal better with exactly those problems than\ncapitalism ever did.\"\n\nThat's a contradiction. You can't have both the property structure of\ncapitalism, and state socialism. You have to violate the former to achieve the\nlatter. I'd argue that current systems _claim_ to keep the structure of the\nformer, but violate it at will.\n\nIn terms of dealing better with the provision of healthcare than capitalism\n... have you _seen_ the state of the American healthcare system recently?\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\nYes, US healthcare sucks, but is still-- despite being less universal and less\nefficient than that of any other modern advanced economy (all of which are\nalso mixed economies) -- better than anything that existed anywhere when\ncapitalism was the dominant model, and not just due to (non-social) technical\nadvances.\n\nOf course, the US has adopted, in many areas and healthcare particularly, less\nelements of socialism than other advanced mixed economies. So maybe there's a\nreason US healthcare sucks so hard, and its not insufficient devotion to\ncapitalism.\n\n~~~\nduncan_bayne\n\"So maybe there's a reason US healthcare sucks so hard, and its not\ninsufficient devotion to capitalism.\"\n\nThe list of problems that the previous poster provided were almost all (\n_especially_ cronyism and cartels) characteristics of systems _other_ than\ncapitalism.\n\nIs it possible we're using different definitions of capitalism, here? I think\nyou might mean crony-capitalism, a.k.a. fascism.\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\nI mean the real economic system that was dominant in the developed world from\nthe late 19th to early 20th Century, which certain of its socialist critics\ncreated the word \"capitalism\" to refer to, since criticising it without a name\nwas problematic, and it was an economic system by which property arrangements,\npolicy, etc., were organized around the interests of the capitalist class.\n\nCronyism and cartels were certainly not infrequent features of that system.\n\nFascism is something different and newer.\n\n~~~\nduncan_bayne\n... which was also the system that produced _this_ :\n\n[http://crfblog.org/wp-\ncontent/uploads/2010/03/2007112238img1...](http://crfblog.org/wp-\ncontent/uploads/2010/03/2007112238img1.gif)\n\nSure, there were problems. Abuses of power, cronyism, etc. But capitalism\nquite literally rescued the world from poverty, and continues to do so:\n\n[http://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/posts/wordpovert...](http://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/posts/wordpoverty2-600x387.jpg)\n\n------\nlordnacho\nHow is it possible that the real emission is 40x the allowed limit? Wouldn't\nyou see VW being the only manufacturer under the limit, and everyone else\nunable to get the car approved? Or alternatively, everyone is cheating?\nBecause you can imagine a world where some firms cheat to get 10-20-30% less\nthan rated, so that they're in line with the industry.\n\nBut if VW's normal car is 40x worse than advertised, and most cars were close\nto the correct standard, wouldn't they just hire a guy who knew how to fix\ntheir cars? Did VW's internal testing test competitors' cars?\n\nIs this going to explode across the industry?\n\nAlso, this isn't the only kind of test that a car goes through. There's crash\ntests, MPG tests, and all sorts of things that I wouldn't know about. If you\ncan game an emissions test, you can game the crash test and the MPG test,\nwhich are probably both things people care about a fair bit more than\nemissions.\n\n~~~\njoshmoz\nWhen I was car shopping the VW diesel numbers, for tdi sportwagen in\nparticular, were impressive. Nothing else came close to VW's combination of\npower, space, and mileage. Now maybe there are people who know more about cars\nthan I do and can dispute that, but that was my perception a couple of years\nago.\n\nIf I were the other car companies, I'd want to know exactly how VW was pulling\nthat off. They must have looked into it, and surely they're not as easily\nmisled as I apparently was (how would I know if VW was outright lying about\nthe car?).\n\nThis suggests to me that the other car companies must have known that VW was\ndoing something wrong. The fact that they didn't rat VW out suggests to me\nthat they were either doing the same thing (maybe not as aggressively as VW)\nor they hoped to get away with the same thing. The former seems more likely,\nand if that's true then I expect this to spread beyond VW soon.\n\n~~~\nNelson69\nVW has also built a huge reputation on diesel. They go and win Le Mans with\ndiesels. They have a giant budget and research ability. They've pushed diesel\nforward in a lot of ways.\n\nMaybe the others knew they were cheating, I can't imagine that it wouldn't\nleak out some how. I also can't imagine how you wouldn't go buy a hundred VWs\nand meticulously take them apart and understand them after getting brutalized\nin the diesel market.\n\nWith mid-sized and heavy trucks, there is an entire subculture of guys that\nmod them for \"more power\" and such. There is a little industry built on it and\nnearly a religion surrounding the \"better mileage\" and \"more power.\" Some of\nthe systems and devices are sophisticated enough that they have integrated\non/off switches for passing smog tests and such. If we really really cared\nabout it, that would be illegal, there would be much more stringent emissions\ntesting more frequently.\n\nI'm of the belief that the regulators knew or suspected there was some\ncheating but it's political to make waves.\n\n~~~\nCamperBob2\n_I also can 't imagine how you wouldn't go buy a hundred VWs and meticulously\ntake them apart and understand them after getting brutalized in the diesel\nmarket._\n\nThis is exactly how the auto industry works, contrary to the uninformed\nperson(s) who modded you down. People should refrain from moderating posts\nfrom users who actually know what they're talking about.\n\nFor example, the first thing GM did when they began work on the current-\ngeneration Corvette was buy a Porsche 911 (from Volkswagen, no less) and study\nit in detail. This is an objective fact by GM's own admission\n([http://www.edmunds.com/porsche/911/2013/comparison-\ntest.html](http://www.edmunds.com/porsche/911/2013/comparison-test.html)).\nCompetitive analysis is a key engineering strategy, no less important than any\nother.\n\nIt's inconceivable that other manufacturers weren't aware of exactly how VW's\nseemingly-impossible engineering worked. The only question is why _they_\ndidn't rat them out to the EPA.\n\n~~~\nhenrikschroder\n> It's inconceivable that other manufacturers weren't aware of exactly how\n> VW's seemingly-impossible engineering worked. The only question is why they\n> didn't rat them out to the EPA.\n\nEveryone cheats, and preserving status quo is in the best interest of\neveryone.\n\n~~~\nSapphireSun\nWhat worries me is that if this explodes across the industry, the common\nrefrain will become that EPA guidelines are unrealistic and that's why\neveryone is cheating. Just what we need as the world is coming around to\ndirely needed environmental regulation.\n\n------\ncodeshaman\nAs I'm observing this scandal unfold, I find it amusing that all the eyes are\non the VW company and how it affects it's finances, it's reputation, etc\n\nWhile the effects on the company are extreme, I think we should also consider\nthe broader and ultimate consequences of this trickery.\n\nThe fact that those cars pollute a lot more than officially acknowledged. I've\nread figures like 40x as much.\n\nDoes that make those 11 million VW cars caught cheating the politically\naccepted pollution equivalent of 440 million cars ?\n\nAnother interesting question - if VW was caught doing it, who else is doing it\n?\n\nAnd if other companies (and factories, etc) are doing it, what is the purpose\nof the international pollution treaties ? How does it affect the plans to\nreduce pollution, given that the numbers that we base our calculations on\nmight be off by factors of 40x ?\n\n~~~\nrcthompson\nNitrous oxide is about 300x more potent a greenhouse gas than CO2[1]. It also\ndepletes the ozone layer. So yes, this could be a major issue for climate\nchange.\n\n[1]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrous_oxide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrous_oxide)\n\n~~~\nrefurb\nIs nitrous oxide a major component of the nitrogen oxides from car exhaust? I\nthought it was mostly nitrogen dioxide (NO2)and dinitrogen tetroxide (N2O4).\n\nI haven't heard of nitrous oxide (N2O) being much of a concern.\n\n------\nhackuser\nWill the EPA and other automotive regulators test other brands for similar\nproblems? Perhaps this practice is widespread. Testing them seems obvious, but\nI know little about how regulators work.\n\nEDIT: VW isn't the first. From the other story on HN's front page right now\n[1]\n\n _[Caterpillar Inc and Cummins Engine Co] agreed to pay $83.4 million in civil\npenalties after federal officials found evidence that they were selling heavy\nduty diesel engines equipped with “defeat devices” that allowed the engines to\nmeet EPA emission standards during testing but disabled the emission control\nsystem during normal highway driving._\n\n[1]\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10264894](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10264894)\n\nEDIT2: On queue, from the NY Times: \"Volkswagen Test Rigging Follows a Long\nAuto Industry Pattern\"\n\n[http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/24/business/international/vol...](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/24/business/international/volkswagen-\ntest-rigging-follows-a-long-auto-industry-pattern.html)\n\n~~~\nShivetya\nThe EPA has already stated that all diesel passenger cars will be retested. I\nthink all cars should go through the same complete testing process and by more\nthan one organizations.\n\nThe EPA didn't find this issue, a university testing team did\n\n~~~\ne40\nDoes anyone know how the test was detected? I'm thinking they noticed either\nthe revving of the engine without the wheels turning or just one set of wheels\nwere turning.\n\nHopefully the EPA will test in a real situation, by attaching the test\nequipment to the car and actually driving it. That should foil the cheaters.\n\n~~~\ntzs\nFrom the EPA's description: \"The 'switch' senses whether the vehicle is being\ntested or not based on various inputs including the position of the steering\nwheel, vehicle speed, the duration of the engine's operation, and barometric\npressure. These inputs precisely track the parameters of the federal test\nprocedure used for emission testing for EPA certification purposes.\"\n\nSomewhere I saw a description of the EPA test procedure. It is not just a\nsimple small set of test points. It is a long sequence of operations, calling\nfor specific speeds and durations and rates of change simulating a variety of\noperating conditions ranging from a wide open freeway to a New York City\ntraffic jam. I believe I read that the order of the various test segments\nmight change from test to test, but each segment's parameters were very\nstrict.\n\n~~~\ntlb\nBut keep in mind it has to detect the test pretty early. Because non-test-mode\nemissions are 40x, it has to detect it well before 1/40th of the test is over\nor it will dominate the average.\n\nYou can see the test schedule at [http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-\nidx?SID=457ac7ef4b94883cc2c...](http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-\nidx?SID=457ac7ef4b94883cc2c6bdca43e80640&mc=true&node=ap40.19.86_11931_686_11999.i&rgn=div9).\nIt starts with 21 seconds of warm-up at zero speed, which is probably unusual\nfor real drivers.\n\n~~~\nmarincounty\nThe engineer/engineers who pulled this off were pretty slick. I don't condone\nthe cheat, but I am still trying to figure out how they turned on specific\nemmissions devises, or fooled with pulse cycles, etc.\n\nI have a weird feeling it wasn't fool proof, and they're a bunch of VW owners\nwho failed smog? They brought the auto back, or to a different shop and the\ncode somehow turned on the right components, leaned out injectors, etc? The\nproblem is the customer had to pay for this slick trick. These smog tests are\nnot cheap in my neck of the woods. Every two years, I end up paying close to\n$100. They always try to nail me with the \"leaky\" fuel cap. I just keep a new\none in the back storage area, and bring it out at the right time. I'm an ex-\nmechanic so my vechicle always pass the emmission test, but boy, I have had\nproblems with the visual test.\n\nWhile I'm here, some of us drive older cars, for a long time. Smog shops in\nCalifornia are required to have one copy of an Emissions Publication. Most use\nuse Motor Publications. That manual is filled with errors. It's is the\ncheapest emmission manual on the market.\n\nIf you happen to fail a visual smog test, go to a smog shop that has access to\nMitchell Emission Smog manuals(OnDemand5). I have yet to find an error in\nMitchell manuals.\n\n(The only reason so many smog shops only buy the Motor publications is because\nthey are cheap. Any Smog technician will tell you they have found multiple\nerrors in Motor Emission Publications. Vechicle owners don't have a clue to\nthis problem, and are just sent home with a failed Smog test, or end up\nspending a day taking to CARB--just praying they will get an exemption. All of\nthis is due to errors in Motor Emission Publications.)\n\n------\nharryh\nTwo things that are surprising to me about this story:\n\n1) The secret was kept for so long. How many programmers were involved with\nthe relevant code? How many project managers signed off on it? Surely VW does\nits own emissions testing internally so some of them must have known. How high\nup in management did this go? It seems like it must have been quite a few.\nAmazing that none of them got mad and told someone outside the company.\n\n2) I would never have guessed that emissions from a car engine could vary so\nwidely. 20%? Sure. 50%? Sure. But news outlets are reporting that these cars\nare emitting at least 10x and possibly as much as 40x NOx as they should. This\nis clearly because of my ignorance of the details of the engineering here, but\nI was shocked that such a difference could happen.\n\n~~~\nhackuser\n> The secret was kept for so long. How many programmers were involved with the\n> relevant code? How many project managers signed off on it? Surely VW does\n> its own emissions testing internally so some of them must have known. How\n> high up in management did this go? It seems like it must have been quite a\n> few. Amazing that none of them got mad and told someone outside the company.\n\nWe should not be surprised; we need to learn to expect it and manage that\nrisk. Institutions of all types have long histories of such conspiracies to\ncover illicit activity. Think of the many recent financial industry scandals,\nthe Catholic Church (and Penn State University) covering widespread rape of\nchildren, various military scandals, US government spying on citizens, IT\ncompanies spying on their users, performance enhancing drugs in baseball ...\nin fact we should be surprised when someone steps forward.\n\nThe #1 rule of any institution is loyalty. Rape will be covered for; blowing\nthe whistle is a mortal sin. It shouldn't be that way but we can't deal with\nthese problems until we accept that it's human nature, at least in certain\nsituations.\n\nEDIT: I don't mean to preach. A certain part of me is always surprised too.\n\n~~~\nnotvladputin\nThe used of PEDs in baseball was a well known issue dating back to the 1980s.\nPlayers, front office types, writers, and anyone in the public paying\nattention knew about it. I can't comment on the other items, but it's pretty\nclear that everyone knew about PEDs but just didn't care enough to ban them.\n\n(That said, my personal opinion is that steroid testing done in baseball is\nmuch more about using the issue as a wedge to weaken the MLB Players\nAssociation, rather than \"fixing\" the game.)\n\n~~~\nhackuser\nI don't agree: Back then I was a very knowledgable baseball fan (I probably\ncould have named almost every player on every team) and I didn't know. I heard\noccasional rumors but nothing more persuasive than that, and nothing at all\nwhich indicated, in any convincing way, how widespread it was. When Jose\nConseco talked about it, he was ridiculed as a nutcase and shunned (as\nexpected; see my comment above about loyalty).\n\nI remember when home runs and offense increased dramatically, to record\nlevels, and everyone was saying that the ball was juiced - nobody suspected it\nwas the players who were juiced.\n\n~~~\nnotvladputin\nIn 1991, the commissioner tried to institute a policy banning steroids. He\ndidn't have the authority, so it was no different than if I tried to write\nthat. But it's a clear indication that MLB was aware of the steroid problem\nand tried taking a small step to fix it.\n\nRegarding the \"players being juiced\", it's never been shown that juiced\nplayers performed better. There have been a number of studies comparing\nplayers who were caught using PEDs, before and after, comparing to clean\nplayers, etc. None of them show any indication that taking steroids helped\nplayers perform better on the field.\n\nIf you look at the power-on-contact or ISO of players across periods (the 90s,\n00s, current game), you find that there is just as much power on contact in\nthe game now as before. The different is strikeouts, which is clearly tied to\nstrike zone enforcement and some other tradeoffs hitters are making now that\nteams understand strikeouts are fine if you have power.\n\nI apologize if my tone has some frustration in it, but my pet peeve is people\nsaying that steroids = strength = McGwire hit ball far. The reality is far\nmore nuanced, and if you are able to come into the analyses without\npreconceived conclusions, it's pretty clear that the 'steroid slugger' era\nhappened to overlap with the power era, but it does not appear to have driven\nthe higher rate of home runs and offense during the time.\n\n~~~\nhackuser\nI don't know about studies, but the evidence is strong. Let's look at home\nruns:\n\n* Since 1920 [1], excluding the PED era, only twice have players hit 60 or more home runs in a season and both barely passed the threshold: Babe Ruth hit 60 in 1927 and Roger Maris hit 61 in 1961.\n\n* In the 4 years from 1998 to 2001, the feat was accomplished 6 times by 3 different players (2 very strongly associated with PEDs, the other widely supsected of it), many blowing away the former threshold, hitting 73, 70, 66, 65, 64, and 63 home runs.\n\n* Since PEDs were banned in baseball, only one player has hit more than 55 home runs in a season.\n\n[1] 1920 is when hitters embraced the modern strategy of trying to hit home\nruns, led by innovator Babe Ruth. Before that, a period called the 'Dead Ball\nEra', they generally just tried to get any hit they could and home runs were\nmuch more rare. Also, there were technological and rule changes which may have\nfacillitated home run hitting. Before 1919 players regularly led the league\nwith 10-15 home runs; in 1919 Ruth hit 29, a record at the time and more than\nmost entire teams hit; in 1920 he hit 54.\n\n~~~\nnotvladputin\nThe problem with this type of evidence is that it assumes the single change in\nthe game was the presence or absence of steroids. To learn more from the data,\ncheck out the references I included at the bottom. The TL;DR is that there is\nno compelling statistical evidence that suggests steroids impacted homers, or\noffense in general.\n\nThe facile argument fails to address the fact that the game underwent\nexpansion (weakening the average pitcher). The strike zone was changed a\nnumber of times (if you normalize for strikeout rate, the power in today's MLB\nis the same as in the 90s). Umpires got a lot better once PitchFX was able\nprovide them feedback. (Lots were let go as well). Colorado started using a\nhumidor, reducing home runs at the greatest hitters park of all time.\n\nThere's not really any way of knowing who did or did not use. MLB and\nmainstream sports media \"strongly suspected\" PED usage is closer to HUAC\nfindings than real evidence. Also, it doesn't acknowledge the fact that a lot\nof pitchers were found using PEDs.\n\nIn short, it's incredibly facile to look at some superficial stats and hints\nof suspicion in order to reach the \"steroids = homers\" conclusion. But when\nyou look at the underlying component numbers and adjust for the changing\nenvironment in the game, there is no evidence to support that conclusion.\n(That does not mean steroids had no effect, just that we cannot detect them\nwith our best efforts.)\n\nHere's an incredibly strong counter argument from Joe Sheehan's paywalled\nnewsletter [I added it to pastebin for reference, I doubt Joe will mind].\n[http://pastebin.com/DXW0HSSt](http://pastebin.com/DXW0HSSt)\n\nDan Szymborski is one of the top baseball data analysts in the country. From\n[0] (paywall) \"Despite the rhetoric surrounding PEDs, players caught for\nsteroid/testosterone use do not show a pattern of overperforming their\nprojections in the years leading up to the drug suspension or a pattern of\nunderperforming their projections in the years after a drug suspension.\"\n\nIn layman's terms, if all you knew about players the past 10-15 years was\ntheir past OPS+ and whether they were busted for steroids -- now or at any\ntime in the past -- it appears the PEDs had no noticeable effect on the\nprojection of their future OPS+.\n\nWhat this means is that, even with the knowledge of what outliers such as\nBarry Bonds accomplished while allegedly using performance-enhancing drugs, as\na whole, there's extremely limited evidence of a significant effect on\nstatistics of the drug users as whole. And without double-blind research\nstudies of PED use among major leaguers and/or detailed information of what\nplayers are using, all we have to go by so far is the bottom-line results.\n\nNow, none of this should be taken as endorsing the idea that MLB should simply\nopen the floodgates and allow players to do whatever they want. Instituting\ndrug testing is a very good thing for the sport -- but that improvement is for\nreasons other than the record books, such as the long-term health of players\nand the public trust. As far as the record books being tainted by PED use,\nwell, it appears there isn't much evidence of that.\"\n\n[0]\n[http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/10922627/m...](http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/10922627/melky-\ncabrera-strong-start-helps-demonstrate-why-peds-really-enhance-performance-\nmlb)\n\n------\nkorisnik\nSomewhat relevant, allegations have come out that the German government was\naware of VW cheating on emissions tests\n\n[http://www.independent.ie/world-news/volkswagen-scandal-\ngerm...](http://www.independent.ie/world-news/volkswagen-scandal-german-\ngovernment-accused-of-covering-up-rigged-emissions-data-31552152.html)\n\n~~~\nyc1010\nI am currently shopping for a car and now need to keep in mind which\nbrands/models are affected by this fiasco as another factor in my shopping.\n\nHere in Ireland motor tax is based on CO2 emissions\n\nI can see some very very unhappy VW drivers in this country in coming months\nif their tax suddenly jumps by an order of magnitude due to this avoidance\nscheme putting these cars into the high emission bands\n\nI do wonder how Revenue will handle this, not only some people might find\nthemselves with a more polluting car but a larger and unexpected tax bill will\nimpact peoples pockets directly.\n\n~~~\norgansnyder\nThe CO2 amount should remain the same—the issue is with other pollutants that\ncause smog. The only reason that CO2 might go up is if the fix involves\nincreasing fuel consumption. However, you might not even need the fix in\nIreland, as many European countries (as I understand it) have laxer smog\nrequirements to begin with.\n\nRegardless, though, I wouldn't buy a VW product right now, wherever I lived.\n\n~~~\ntadfisher\nEuro standards are backwards; they have stricter CO2 emissions regulations,\nbut are lax on NOx. I'd imagine they don't have a lot of smog events like what\nhappened in California during the 60s and 70s.\n\n~~~\norgansnyder\nI wouldn't call them \"backwards\". They're opposite of the US, but that's\nbecause they're optimizing for reducing a different pollutant. Smog is\ncertainly undesirable (as an asthmatic, I know that from experience), but CO2\nmay well have more dire long-term costs.\n\nOf course, the optimal situation would be to tightly regulate both pollutants.\n\n~~~\nars\nI would definitely call them backwards.\n\nThe amount of extra CO2 from a car running a better NoX system is utterly\nirrelevant compared to how much CO2 is emitted.\n\nTrading CO2 for NoX is completely indefensible. NoX is really really bad for\nthe environment.\n\n------\nWalterBright\nThe emissions standards are particularly inefficient. They say things like\nemitting 101ppm is bad and 100 ppm is good. But pollution isn't like that.\n\nA much more practical solution is to annually measure the pollution emitted,\nmultiply by the number of miles driven in the last year, and multiply by the\ntax rate.\n\nWhat this does is:\n\n1\\. cause the consumer to care about the emissions 2\\. introduce competition\nto have better numbers, rather than merely meeting the standard 3\\. enable\nhigher polluting occasional uses rather than banning them outright\n\n------\nArkyBeagle\nOther than border disputes, when has _measurement_ been a political football\nbefore? The nerd in me is happy about this, but the rest of me is kinda ...\nsad.\n\nIt's also interesting that there appears to be a tradeoff between NOx and CO2\nhere.\n\nIMO, VW sort of ... prematurely fell on the grenade in a PR way of thinking\nabout it. Actually proving it as fraud would have taken some doing. Admitting\nit up front does not have clear advantages that I see. If we use the GM\nkeyswitch debacle as a yardstick, there's evidence than being a cheeseball is\nrewarded. GM managed to constrain the damage to $99M .\n\nNot saying anyone did the right thing here, but the adversarial approach has\nconsequences.\n\n~~~\nZeroGravitas\nThey appear to have been denying it for a year at this point, before they\nadmitted it. So presumably something happened in that period of time that made\nthem calculate that admitting it now was better than continuing to deny it.\n\n~~~\nwhatthesmack\nI don't recall where I saw it, but there was mention of 2016 VW TDI models not\ngetting road certification until the issue was dealt with. Maybe this was\nincentive for VW to come clean.\n\n------\nDrNuke\nProblem is they've got the money and the market, CEO can't resign and get away\nwith it, they should pay back all plus a hefty fine. This is much too common\nnowadays, big corps have no face and are too big to fail, no one is directly\naccountable and geopolitics are at stake. Hit them hard in the monies, would\nsay, but the risk is fear and a market bubble.\n\n------\nfloor__\nAs bad as it is to screw the environment.. I am still shocked by all the out\nrage coming from countries. Its like everyone forgot GM knowingly left faulty\nparts that were killing people for 10 years. This entire thing seems so\npolitical.\n\n~~~\nInclinedPlane\nDiesel pollution is deadly. And it seems that more people at a higher level\nare complicit in this scandal than in the GM one.\n\nBesides which, what does it matter how bad GM was? This scandal stands on its\nown.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque)\n\n~~~\nfloor__\nYeah that is kinda my point. I am upset that GM wasn't held to this standard\nof accountability or any other car company for that matter. I agree with you\nthat this one is as bad or worse.\n\n------\nJustSomeNobody\nReally? 11M vehicles affected and you knew nothing about it and you simply get\nto resign?\n\nI'm growing more and more disappointed in the world we are living in.\n\n------\nhodder\n[1] Winterkorn studied metallurgy and metal physics at the University of\nStuttgart from 1966 to 1973. From 1973 to 1977 he was a PhD student at the\nMax-Planck-Institute for Metal Research and Metal Physics, where he received\nhis doctorate in 1977.\n\nWinterkorn embarked on his career in 1977, as a specialist assistant in the\nresearch division \"Process Engineering\" at Robert Bosch GmbH.[4] From 1978 to\n1981, he headed the refrigerant compressor development group \"Substances and\nProcesses\" at Robert Bosch and Bosch-Siemens-Hausgeräte GmbH.\n\n[1]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Winterkorn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Winterkorn)\n\n------\njhallenworld\nI wish this scandal would somehow add pressure to clean up ship and truck\npollution. VW is having severe consequences, but their contribution to the\nproblem might not be that significant:\n\n[http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/apr/09/shipping-...](http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/apr/09/shipping-\npollution)\n\n[http://www.ucsusa.org/clean-vehicles/california-and-\nwestern-...](http://www.ucsusa.org/clean-vehicles/california-and-western-\nstates/diesel-trucks-air-pollution.html)\n\n------\ndeegles\nI'm expecting a snarky press release from Tesla any moment now...\n\n~~~\nTeMPOraL\nThey'll probably start installing NOx emitters in their cars - with defeat\ndevices that will make them active only during tests) - in order to bring\nTeslas in line with the rest of the industry.\n\n------\nScramblejams\nHe was only in his job for about 5 months, but I'm not familiar with his\nprevious work history at VW. Was he in some significant sense responsible for\nthe scandal by way of his prior responsibilities? Or is his resignation, for\nlack of a better way I can think of to put it, an honor move?\n\nEdit: Thanks for the clarifications, all. Although he assumed Ferdinand\nPiëch's former position as chairman in April 2015, he was VW's CEO since 2007.\n\n~~~\npc86\nHe has said publicly that he is not aware of any wrong-doing on his part. I\nimagine that just about any board would require just about any CEO to resign\nafter something like this, though.\n\n~~~\nScramblejams\nWhen it comes to a relatively new CEO, I'm not so sure about that. GM didn't\nrequire Mary Barra's resignation over the ignition switch scandal, for\nexample. (Though admittedly that one was smaller than VW's.)\n\nEdit: Winterkorn took over as chairman of the supervisory board of VW in\nApril, but as petewailes pointed out, he's been CEO since 2007, so his\nresignation makes more sense.\n\n~~~\nJoeAltmaier\nIs it the difference between deliberate/undefendable and simple cost savings?\nI'm not very familiar with the switch issue.\n\n------\narbuge\nThere is usually more than one cockroach in the kitchen if you spot one. I\nwonder how many other aspects of their software they messed with in ways they\nprobably shouldn't have...\n\n------\nlargote\nWhat surprises me is that VW thought they wouldn't be caught doing this, it\ntook a while but it seems like sooner or later someone would figure it out.\n\n------\njschulenklopper\nWell, you could say that Volkswagen implemented an A/B test on the emission\ncontrol, but with an unfortunate population segmentation.\n\n------\ngherkin0\nDoes anyone have an technical details on what their \"defeat device\" was\nactually doing (like what systems it was disabling)?\n\n~~~\nthrownaway2424\nIt doesn't disable anything, it just uses a different engine management map\nthat runs the engine hotter or leaner (probably both) to get more power and\nbetter fuel economy while producing more NOx.\n\n------\nemodendroket\nI just can't see how someone sits down and green-lights this decision. It\nseems like it'd be sure to come out eventually.\n\n~~~\njtriangle\nIt's market demand for efficient yet sporty cars. They saw a market and made\ntheir cars dominate that market. To that end they were wildly successful, so\nif you set aside any ideological barriers that would speak against creating\nmore pollution than is allowed, it's a fairly logical decision.\n\n~~~\nemodendroket\nYes, but what's not logical is cheating by means that seem so blatant as to be\nsure to be discovered and potentially vaporizing all the gains you made by\ncheating in the first place.\n\n~~~\njtriangle\nWeirdly enough, it wasn't the EPA that caught them, so they were doing a good\njob hiding it from the people that are in charge of finding these things out.\n\nSo you could say, they would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those\nmeddling kids!\n\n------\ntwblalock\nI would be very surprised if VW was the only company that did this.\n\nI hope this is a catalyst for the EPA to change to real-world emissions\ntesting.\n\n~~~\nKenji\n'a catalyst for [...] emissions testing'\n\nHahaha, that is a fantastic pun that lightens up the mood of this comment\nsection.\n\n------\nmtgx\nAnd if all of that wasn't bad enough to make you dislike VW, they've now hired\nBP oil spill lawyers to defend them:\n\n[http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/23/volkswagen-h...](http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/23/volkswagen-\nhires-kirkland-ellis-to-defend-emissions-cases)\n\n~~~\nArkyBeagle\nWell, yeah.\n\n------\npaulojreis\nIs he going to jail?\n\n------\niamleppert\nI think someone at the EPA should be held liable for their lousy testing\npractices. They test cars on a dyno, which is far from real-world testing.\nThey would have easily caught this if they tested cars in the way and same\nenvironment that they are driven.\n\nI fully expect corporations to try and skirt the law whenever possible, that's\nwhy we have institutions like the EPA. Their practices need to be sound and\ntamper-proof. It's not impossible. It's engineering 101.\n\nThe head of the EPA should resign in disgrace for letting this situation get\nthis far.\n\n~~~\nrobwilliams\nI mean, they caught it. This is a win for the EPA.\n\n~~~\nsetpatchaddress\nWell, they didn't catch it, but when it was brought to their attention, they\nverified it and went after VW. This exposed a gap in their their testing\npractices, but the overall process certainly worked as it should.\n\n------\nsimi_\nEdit: Thank you for the several downvotes.\n\nI initially wrote a stupid rant based on this [0] about how VW's ex-CEO\ndoesn't speak English, but a quick Youtube search proved that was wrong [1].\nOops!\n\nI'll just leave some quick facts that I dug up in the process:\n\n* VW just had another scandal that made it to HN recently, regarding hiding security vulnerabilities [2]\n\n* VW Group numbers for 2014: €204B of which €12.7B revenue, 583k employees [3]\n\n* the board made some weird-ass declarations about the ex-CEO [4]\n\nMy confidence in VW is shaken to the point that I'll never buy another car\nfrom them again (I didn't like how they artificially segment the market by\nowning Audi/VW/Skoda/etc anyway), but how do other German manufacturers\ncompare? [5]\n\n0: [http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/17/9347275/auto-industry-\nmeet...](http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/17/9347275/auto-industry-meet-the-\napple-effect)\n\n1:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEPJluU09RU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEPJluU09RU)\n\n2: [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-14/vw-has-\nspe...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-14/vw-has-spent-two-\nyears-trying-to-hide-a-big-security-flaw)\n\n3:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Group](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Group)\n\n4: [http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/23/9383835/volkswagen-\nboard-s...](http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/23/9383835/volkswagen-board-\nstatement-diesel-scandal)\n\n5: [http://finance.yahoo.com/news/volkswagen-may-not-only-\ncar-18...](http://finance.yahoo.com/news/volkswagen-may-not-only-\ncar-185400060.html)\n\n~~~\nmason55\n> _I didn 't like how they artificially segment the market by owning\n> Audi/VW/Skoda/etc anyway_\n\nHow is this different from Honda/Acura, GM/Cadillac, or Toyota/Lexus?\n\n~~~\njoezydeco\nNot just GM/Cadillac, but GM/Chevrolet/Buick/GMC/Opel/Vauxhall/Holden/Cadillac\n\n~~~\nfunction_seven\nI miss the old days:\n\nGM/Chevrolet/Buick/GMC/Opel/Vauxhall/Holden/Cadillac/Oldsmobile/Pontiac/Hummer/Saturn/Saab\n\n~~~\njoezydeco\nWhat, no love for Geo? =)\n\n~~~\nams6110\nThose were actually Toyotas.\n\n~~~\njoezydeco\nMore than Toyotas...\n\n\"Geo models were manufactured by GM in joint ventures with three Japanese\nautomakers. The Prizm was produced at the GM/Toyota joint-venture NUMMI\nassembly plant in Fremont, California, and the Metro and Tracker were produced\nat the GM/Suzuki joint-venture CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario. The\nexceptions, the Spectrum and Storm, were entirely manufactured by Isuzu in\nJapan. Geo Metro convertibles and early Geo Trackers were built by Suzuki in\nJapan.\"\n\nPostscript: The NUMMI plant is now owned by Tesla.\n\n------\nvaadu\nGM killed more than 100 people with a known defective ignition switch.\nVolkswagen killed ... the air.\n\nGuess which company will get the greater penalty from the US government?\n\nBTW, GM spends significantly more on lobbying and campaign contributions to\npolitical candidates.\n\nSource: OpenSecrets <a\nhref=\"[https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000042113&a...](https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000042113&amp;cycle=A\">Volkswagen</a>)\nand <a\nhref=\"[https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000155&a...](https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000155&amp;cycle=A\">GM</a>)\n\n~~~\njeromeflipo\nSeriously? Just in France, diesel emissions kill 42,000 persons every year\n[0]. In California, they kill at 1,500 to 2,400 people a year [1].\n\nIt might be possible that these estimations rely on measurements communicated\nby the manufacturers (i.e underestimated by 40x)!\n\n[0]\n[http://www.lemonde.fr/sante/article/2013/03/02/diesel-42000-...](http://www.lemonde.fr/sante/article/2013/03/02/diesel-42000-morts-\nprematurees-chaque-annee-en-france_1841726_1651302.html)\n\n[1] [http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/diesel/diesel-\nhealth.htm](http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/diesel/diesel-health.htm)\n\n~~~\nhappyscrappy\nEuropean cities have much worse air pollution than American ones because they\nwent with diesels instead of hybrids in an attempt to be more green and partly\nbecause of German auto lobbying.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nGoogle Drives Towards Microsoft and Adobe With Gears - ideas101\nhttp://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/13/google-drives-towards-microsoft-and-adobe-with-gears/\n\n======\nComputerGuru\nOnly problem: Google doesn't support x64 Linux installations.\n\n[http://code.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=83194\u0003...](http://code.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=83194&topic=11691)\n\n(note that the nspluginwrapper link on their site doesn't work for Gears - it\nwas reported by a poster on a mailing list as working, but future posts\nconfirmed it doesn't do the trick)\n\n...whereas both Flash and Moonlight work quite well on x64 now (nevermind the\npast).\n\n------\nph0rque\nThis article helped me refine an idea that's been sloshing around in my semi-\nsubconscious for a while: a server-side plugin that lets the designer write\n100% standards-compliant CSS, and it would be \"compiled\" to whatever is needed\nfor various quirky browsers requesting to see the particular page... is this\nfeasible?\n\n~~~\njsjenkins168\nYou are partially describing what GWT does. Except that it doesnt do much\nspecial in the way of CSS yet...\n\nBut in terms of Javascript/HTML/AJAX, it compiles separate versions for each\nbrowser (which are automatically loaded), virtually eliminating the need to\nhandle various quirky browser behaviors. And any standard Java app server\nworks fine for the server side, nothing special needed there.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Managed VPS or shared hosting? - maxraz\nFor a non-server guy, I&#x27;m quite comfortable with cPanel on shared hosting (I can add domains, set up an email and SSL). So I want to ask you if a managed VPS with free cPanel included can be also easy to handle for a simple designer?<p>I don&#x27;t even know what is LAMP is, and it seems to me this one is not installed...<p>Can I make this move, as I need more resources for my site? Thank you for advance.\n======\ntmaly\nI use both, but if your a non-server guy, your going to have a learning curve\nif you want to use a VPS.\n\n~~~\nmaxraz\nThank you, Sir!\n\n------\nmaxraz\nI tried already a VPS, it's not for me - too hard. But recently I've heard\nabout managed VPS with free cPanel, that's why I had this idea.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Who is Hiring? (March 2011) - kevinburke\n\nDid I miss this thread somehow?<p>Full time positions only and please lead with the location.<p>Thread for remote workers: \nhttp://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2216921<p>Thread for internships:\nhttp://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2273865<p>Thanks!\n======\nrobinwarren\nThere is this one which seems the most popular at the moment. Put your weight\nbehind that and see if we can get it where more people will see it.\n\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2270790>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nState.of.dev – Explore the current state of development - carlio\nhttps://stateofdev.com/home/\n======\nBrandiATMuhkuh\nYour SEO chart pretty much confirms my strategies. It's all about the incoming\nlinks and disavow links. Looks like really useful info overall, thanks.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nReal-time sentiment analysis of the debate - nikita\nhttp://election.memsql.com/\n======\ngrzm\nInteresting! I wonder how well VADER handles tweets. Is there a lot of sarcasm\nin 140 characters? Reminds me of the vector space mathematics post from a a\ncouple of days ago.\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12714406](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12714406)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nU.S. Warms Up Its Own Old Spy Stories to Bash Putative Chinese Espionage - cribbles\nhttps://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/02/us-warms-up-old-spy-story-to-warn-of-foreign-espionage.html\n======\njava-man\nThis is the _real_ story.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSurfing, Schools and Jets: WeWork’s Bets Follow CEO Adam Neumann’s Passions - terryauerbach\nhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/surfing-schools-and-jets-weworks-bets-follow-ceo-adam-neumanns-passions-11551787200\n======\nkolbe\n[https://outline.com/tWd8Z4](https://outline.com/tWd8Z4)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nIdea for the structure of a tutoring site - andrewmech55\n\nI don't have any real coding ability and I certainly don't have time for a side project but I was hoping to get some feedback on an idea of mine:<p>Upon visiting the site you would be asked to register as a student or as a tutor. Upon registering as a tutor you would select your areas of expertise and take a few diagnostic tests, perhaps pulled from khan academy and other sites. You would be encouraged to buy a low cost usb writing pad to assist you in your teaching, and you would agree to accept no payment for your first 20 or so tutoring sessions. This is because you would be proving your abilities as a tutor to students who had agreed to do sessions with tutors of unproven ability (this would also serve as the free pricing tier). After each session the student would rate the tutor in several categories, allowing them to build up credibility and desirability among the students. Once they are proven the students who would like a more professional experience can submit reasonable payments before their session through stripe or some other simple payment system. The sessions look like a split screen with a video feed of the other person on one side and a virtual paper display on the other. Tutors can log in and do sessions with available students whenever they want, or students can subscribe to specific tutors at given times if both parties agree. I can see this having a problem with an initial lack of tutors/users and also a library of diagnostic tests would be difficult to build up since this idea isn't limited to standard subjects. I'd love to hear HN's ideas on this, thanks for reading.\n======\ndmils4\nMake a few mockups dude! Even if you can't code, use microsoft paint or\nwhatever program you have - it'll help you clarify your own ideas of how the\nproduct will work, but more than that, it'll give the people here something\nmore actionable to help you with!\n\nI don't understand the \"buy a low cost usb writing pad\". Shouldn't be\nnecessary. But other than that, anything in the tutor providing space sounds\nuseful - there's a need there, and tons of companies trying to address it\n(study aid sites like notehall/cramster, course management platforms like\npiazza) that's more than enough validation to keep moving on it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nEmployee retention rate at top tech companies - throwaway40483\nhttp://www.businessinsider.com/employee-retention-rate-top-tech-companies-2017-8\n======\nmgiannopoulos\nThese seem very low, but how do they compare with other industries?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe traveling German carpenters - luccastera\nhttp://blog.intellum.com/2011/04/traveling-german-carpenters.html\n======\ndylanz\nMy good friend is a journeyman, and I always wished there was a US equivalent,\nespecially in the realm of software engineering. I'm sure a lot of people\nwould enjoy coding with brilliant programmers and traveling around the\ncountry.\n\nAnecdotally speaking: My friend has a \"wunderstick\", which is a hand made\nwalking stick. When we go into bars in Germany, he taps it, and the bartender\ngives us free drinks. Before we leave, he taps his stick again, and says some\nbig speech in German (about how grateful he is, etc). Most bars and hotels\ncater to the journeymen quite well. While we were in Berlin, he also had girls\nrun across the street to him and kiss him on the cheek or lips. I guess it's\ngood luck to kiss a journeyman.\n\n~~~\nrobyates\nActually, there are journeyman software developers. Here are some links:\n\n1\\. Corey Haines: <http://programmingtour.blogspot.com/>,\n<http://www.coreyhaines.com/>, <http://www.coderetreat.com/>\n\n2\\. Journeyman Programmer Description: <http://teamdoty.us/journeymanwp/?p=4>\n(from <http://www.thejourneymanprogrammer.org/>)\n\n3\\. Software Craftsmanship:\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_craftsmanship>,\n<http://scna.softwarecraftsmanship.org/>,\n<http://www.softwarecraftsmanship.org.uk/>\n\n------\nugh\nThis article talks only about journeymen and women who are truly exotic and\nrare but it doesn't really emphasize that vocational training — the\nalternative to college — still is alive and well in Germany. You usually don't\ngot to college if you want to become a hairdresser or a mechatronic engineer.\n\nAfter they finish school, the apprentices work three or four days per week at\nsome company and go to a vocational school the rest of the time.\n\n~~~\nzwieback\nThe German system indeed has a lot more options between a full blown academic\ncareer to learning a craft in a structured 4 year program all the way to being\nan unskilled laborer with 10 years of school.\n\nThe drawback is that career paths are also more structured than in the US and\ntake a long time. Want to start a painting business? Better get your\nMeisterbrief first and that will take a good while.\n\nHere in the US things are more fluid, which leads to people changing careers\nand going back to school at a later age more willingly. The flipside is that\nalmost everyone is an amateur and quality of work varies wildly.\n\n------\nzinssmeister\nYeah I experienced this growing up as a kid in Germany. I remember these\npeople from other towns in their \"strange\" outfits. Over the years they got\nless and less but you can still find a few.\n\nNow living here in the U.S. I wonder how something like this would maybe\ntranslate over to coders and designers in startups. Seeing that we have these\nstartup heavy areas across the country. Why not have people work a year in the\nValley, then move a year to NYC, followed by another year in Boston or Austin.\nWould be a fun and rewarding program for young talent.\n\n~~~\nnir\nNo need for a program - you can just do it. Even go outside the US (some\ncountries have a work/holiday visa program, eg Australia). It's a great\nlearning experience.\n\n~~~\nzinssmeister\nYes of course one can just do it. But having a bit of an umbrella organization\naround this would help get the word out.\n\n~~~\nplastics\nWhat would we need to create one?\n\n~~~\nzinssmeister\nI think the most critical step towards success of such a thing is getting a\nfew bigger companies in each of the startup areas to offer exclusive\nintern/entry/mid-level positions to these kinds of people.\n\n~~~\nplastics\nI guess a lot of hacker news reader work in said startup areas. So is anybody\nwilling to give it a shot?\n\nI am located in Munich, Germany, not exactly a startup hup, but I have some\nconnections to Berlin and would be willing to annoy my contacts there until\nthey agree.\n\nAlso should the plans for my own company work out in the next months, I would\nbe willing to offer exclusive intern/entry/mid-level positions.\n\n~~~\neru\nI'm in Cambridge, UK, but come from Germany and have seen the Walz. I'd be\ninterested.\n\n~~~\nzinssmeister\nI was born and raised in Germany as well but am now in Dallas getting ready to\nmove to Palo Alto.\n\nBesides this digital Walz it might also be interesting to start a small\nnetwork for \"Global German Tech Talent\" or something. I know there are a few\ngermans in the Valley.\n\n~~~\neru\nThat might actually work in practice. But in principle selecting on the basis\nof nationality always sounds silly to me. (But I guess I'm just being a good\nGerman here. Where not even our President is a patriot.)\n\n------\nintellectronica\nIt's worth keeping in mind that the travelling carpenters are a souvenir from\ndark times in Europe, when economic progress remained extremely slow because\ncraftsmen were evaluated by their belonging to a guild and would not compete.\n\n~~~\ngwern\nIt's worth noting that those 'dark times' were periods of perfectly ordinary\neconomic growth compared to the rest of the world and all the millenniums\nprevious.\n\nComparing those times to the Industrial Revolution that came shortly after is\na little unfair - _no_ tradition or souvenir compares well.\n\n~~~\nroel_v\nEh, no. The first explosion of efficiency and economic prosperity was in Roman\ntimes, when there was peace in much of Europe and cities flourished, complete\nwith sanitation systems, elaborate transportation networks etcetera.\n\nWhen that crumbled, city states took over, and economic life was once again\ndictated by the whims of rulers who in reality depended on keeping the ruling\nclasses of the cities in their empire happy; in these cities, tradesmen\nclasses operated in rigid, protectionist and mercantilist guild systems. There\nwas stagnation and in many fields enormous regression until the Enlightenment\nand the Industrial Revolution (when freedom brought back the drive for\nprogress).\n\n~~~\narihelgason\nExactly.\n\nEconomic activity centered on agriculture where efficiency increases were\nminuscule. Because of this economic activity did not grow much.\n\nSee this diagram for an idea of just how little growth there was:\n\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:World_GDP_Capita_1-2003_A....](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:World_GDP_Capita_1-2003_A.D.png)\n\n~~~\ngwern\nOn a small base (like a graph where the initial datapoints are less than\n1/27th the ending datapoints), even large percentages can be hard to see. And\nI'm not sure how you can be agreeing 'exactly', since the Roman empire was as\nagriculturally based as anything else around (latifunda, panem et circenses,\nthe Egypt grain tribute etc.).\n\nBut you are right that the annual growth due to _efficiency_ was relatively\nsmall:\n\n> Indeed generations of English schoolchildren have read, probably with bored\n> bemusement, of the exploits of such supposedly heroic innovators as Jethro\n> Tull (author in 1733 of An Essay on Horse-Hoeing Husbandry), “Turnip”\n> Townsend, and Arthur Young. But this agricultural revolution is a myth,\n> created by historians who vastly overestimated the gains in output from\n> English agriculture in these years.4 The productivity growth rate in\n> agriculture was instead modest, at 0.27 percent per year, lower than for the\n> economy as a whole. But even these modest gains represented considerably\n> faster productivity growth than had been typical over the years 1200–1800.\n> Figure 12.4, for example, shows wheat yields per seed sown in England from\n> 1211 to 1453. Medieval agriculture seems to have been totally static over\n> hundreds of years.\n\n(Clark remarks elsewhere that agricultural productivity growth is more like 1\nor 2%, and the Chinese had easily double England's agriculture efficiency, but\nbecause farming is a war against entropy, with land being damaged and local\npests adapting etc., the net productivity growth is small.)\n\nEconomic growth came mostly from population growth and exploiting additional\nnatural resources.\n\n------\nwazoox\nIn France there is a related system, \"les Compagnons du devoir\". However, it\nexists for carpenters, masons, sculptors, bakers, etc. Almost all hand crafts,\nin fact. They must travel around the country to learn their craft, and present\na \"masterpiece\" as a proof they master it.\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compagnons_du_Tour_de_France>\n\n------\nvidar\nReminds me of a proverb from Nassim Taleb: \"Skills that transfer: street\nfights, off-path hiking, seduction, broad erudition. Skills that don't:\nschool, games, sports, laboratory - what's reduced and organized.\"\n\n------\narjn\nBack when I was in undergrad, I met a German exchange student who mentioned\nsomething about this. He may have been part of it at some point. They have a\nspecial belt buckle or something which identifies them and he said it was\nalmost a status symbol (the belt buckle). I believe he was a roof-shingler and\nnot a general carpenter though.\n\n------\nLuc\nI really wanted to see those beer-giving sticks, and found that the magic\ngoogle word for more pictures is 'Wanderschaft':\n<http://www.google.com/images?q=Wanderschaft>\n\n~~~\njsilence\nSorry, but \"Wanderschaft\" is a rather old fashioned word for hiking. It is the\nnoun version of the verb \"Wandern\" (to hike).\n\nThe stick is called \"Wanderstab\" or \"Stenz\".\n\n~~~\nDanielH\n\"Wanderschaft\" is the German noun used especially for the carpenters journey.\n\n------\nbobbywilson0\nCorey Haines has done this with software development. In a similar fashion\nworking for room and board. Which turns out to be a great deal for the company\nand I assume great experience for Corey.\n\n~~~\nkragen\nHe has a blog at <http://programmingtour.blogspot.com/> but I don't see where\nhe talks about programming for room and board.\n\n------\nmrspandex\nDid anyone else read that title as \"time traveling German carpenters?\"\n\nDoes the internet make this less relevant for those in the software field?\n\n~~~\nplastics\nThe \"Walz\" is not for building primary skills (i.e. in our case Software\nDevelopment or in their case Carpentry). It is assumed that carpenters doing\nit are already quite skilled in their respective profession. The reason of the\n\"Walz\" is to teach self reliance, soft skills and to round out ones primary\nskills by being exposed to practices of their craft that have\nevolved/developed differently from those they learned during their\napprenticeship.\n\nIn short the goal is to become a \"Master\" which in the german vocational\ntradition originally meant having your own shop and not needing to be an\nemployee any longer (so in our case to become a founder).\n\nI think the internet undermines these goals, because, well IMHO it is becoming\nmore and more a gigantic echo chamber (we all read the same blogs/books,\nadmire the same persons, use remarkably similar tools etc.)\n\nI think it is astounding that a lot of very smart people assume that currently\nhip and promoted best development practices, say for a Web 2.0 whatever\nplatform are relevant for other areas (e.g embedded, big iron, medical,\naeronautic, finance) because there is not much evident push back in the blog\nsphere from practitioners in these spheres... which AFAIK is more a result of\nthese people tending to much less likely to blog or work on open source\nsoftware, than of the universal applicability of said practices (and if the\npush back, the results I have seen so far have been highly embarrassing for\nthe hipster crowd).\n\n~~~\nmhd\n_In short the goal is to become a \"Master\" which in the german vocational\ntradition originally meant having your own shop and not needing to be an\nemployee any longer_\n\nNot just originally, for some professions you're _still_ not allowed to have\nyour own business without your \"Meister\" degree. Never understood why this\nincluded hairdressers…\n\nTotally agree with your assessment of the web subsection of the IT profession.\nAnd it's quite splintered, with the \"young turks\" against academia against the\nenterprise, with plenty of small areas of expertise vanishing in the cracks.\nIt does get a bit better if the forum of discussion is sufficiently abstract\nand spread over different niches (e.g. programming languages that transcend\nspecific fandoms).\n\n------\nfleitz\nInteresting article, it's one of the directions I want to take with Answer in\n30. We're very people focused so I think it's essential to be out and about\nwith the 99% of people who aren't tech startups, getting work, getting to know\nour customers and seeing how our product can make their lives better and\nbusinesses more successful.\n\nI want to take a van and travel North America working on the startup and\ntalking to our userbase and customers. What could be better from a community\nmanagement perspective than to get a visit personally from the founders. I\nthink it says a lot more than some silly badge you can display on your\nprofile.\n\n------\nWA\nFunny, I have seen these guys in a bar a few months ago (in Germany). I didn't\ntalk to them. However, that would've been interesting I guess. Anyways,\ninteresting story.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nMcDonald's Europe: Computers to Replace Cashiers - chailatte\nhttp://www.thestreet.com/story/11122512/1/mcdonalds-europe-computers-to-replace-cashiers.html?cm_ven=GOOGLEN\n\n======\nIanMikutel\n\"The touch-screen platform will be implemented in around 7,000 McDonald's\nrestaurants in the United Kingdom, according to reports, in an effort to\nimprove efficiency and speed up customer service times.\"\n\nHere's an idea: create a Chipotle-style ordering app. You'll improve\nefficiency, speed up customer service times, cheaper capital investment than\nbuying all those touchscreen kiosks, still get the benefit of looking\ntechnologically savvy, increase your brand recognition by getting your logo on\nmillions of phones, and most of all, keep all those cashiers employed and\ncontributing to the economic growth of Europe--a win-win for the long term\nhealth of McDonald's and their shareholders.\n\n------\njff\nThey have an order kiosk here at the local Jack In the Box (California). I've\nenjoyed using it simply because most people seem to want a human to take their\norders; I'm comfortable using the computer, so I can step right up to the\nunoccupied kiosk and place the order.\n\nIt's convenient.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nPin your friends - edwardliu\nhttp://www.hellol.com\n\n======\nedwardliu\nwe're the pinterest for people. Right now our theme is focused on dating.\nCheck it out and give us some feedback :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nResources for Learning Graphics Programming - ingve\nhttp://stephaniehurlburt.com/blog/2019/3/25/resources-for-learning-graphics-programming\n======\nrenholder\nSimplygon[0,1] has an SDK[2] - migh be worth a look, as well?\n\n[0] -\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplygon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplygon)\n\n[1] - [https://www.simplygon.com/](https://www.simplygon.com/)\n\n[2] -\n[https://account.simplygon.com/#/downloads](https://account.simplygon.com/#/downloads)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAir Force Blocks Media Sites That Posted Leaked Cables - shrikant\nhttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704694004576019944121568506.html\n======\nDupDetector\nDup:\n\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2007332> \\- wsj.com - no comments\n\nAdditionally, same story, different sources:\n\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2007015> \\- nytimes.com - 2 comments\n\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2007650> \\- theregister.co.uk - no\ncomments\n\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2008075> \\- reuters.com - no comments\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHighly mutated cancers respond better to immune therapy - pseudolus\nhttps://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00143-8\n======\napathy\nThat’s not the important conclusion of the primary article. Highly mutated\ncancers _of certain types_ respond better to checkpoint inhibition and so\nforth. Melanoma, lung adeno, colorectal with MMR defects, for example. Others\n(glioma, high-grade serous ovarian, germ cell for example) don’t seem to get\n“hot” immunologically in proportion to their mutation burdens. (And there are\nother tumors, serous ovarian hypercalcemic for example, that have a\nvanishingly low mutational burden and respond to checkpoint inhibitors\nanyways).\n\nThe initial results suggested that more mutations == more immune response.\nThat’s clearly not universal enough to rely upon clinically, although in some\ntumor types it’s suitably reliable to stratify clinical trials. In other tumor\ntypes, it looks like we are stuck with trial and error to find good enough\nbiomarkers for response, as with most drugs.\n\nSo while TMB can be useful, it has limitations, and this study (the primary\nresults, published in _Nature Genetics_ , a related but different journal)\nhelped clarify where those limitations are. The news & views piece just has\npull quotes.\n\n~~~\nyread\nI think there were some trials with negative results trying to link just TMB\nto immune response or outcome. It's really about problems with MMR genes.\n\n~~~\napathy\nNot only, and not always. HGSOC-hypercalcemic is a particularly notable\nexception. The idea that it’s always MMR came from Lynch syndrome, but that\ndoesn’t seem to be universal.\n\nImmunity is complicated, you heard it here first...\n\n------\narcticbull\nMakes sense, the immune system is for detecting things that aren’t “you” and\nkilling them, so the more mutated it is the less you it is — the easier it is\nto kill. Intuitively, anyways.\n\nI wonder if this is what spontaneous remissions are all about: the cancer\nmutates to the point that the immune system picks it up and knocks it out?\n\n~~~\nnajarvg\nThe headline is a bit misleading and if you look at the landscape of cancer\nimmunotherapy research you will see this generalization does not hold at all\ni.e. tumor mutational burden is not necessarily a good predictor of response\nin all types of tumors. See apathy's response above. W.r.t spontaneous\nremission, there have been a few lines of research that would seem to lend\ncredence to your hypothesis (e.g. - see\n[http://www.fevertherapy.eu/](http://www.fevertherapy.eu/)) but it has never\nbeen studies systematically enough to draw any conclusions one way or the\nother.\n\n------\ncrb002\nThis makes sense. Barely mutated cancers are harder to distinguish from cells\nwith benign mutations.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nQuickStart for a SQL Database with Blockchain Features - auxten\nhttps://testnet.covenantsql.io/quickstart\n======\ndaniel-l\nGreat work, I have Stared your project, so what's the difference between u and\nbigchain?\n\n~~~\nauxten\nFirst, we have SQL support, Bigchaindb is MongoDB. CovenantSQL is written in\nGolang and C. Bigchaindb is written in Python. For more, you can refer our\nREADME\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nY Combinator - Startup Library as Single pdf (12 MB) - Chirag\nhttp://ff.im/776I7\n\n======\ndavidcc\nThis is handy! But embedded flash adverts? Not for me.\n\n------\ndanw\nWhat's in the pdf?\n\n~~~\njcl\nIt appears to be a capture of the articles on this page:\n<http://ycombinator.com/lib.html>\n\n------\nsid\nFreaking awesome, thanks for this mate. Once i finish the current book im\nreading (on the train commute to work) i will have more great reading with\nthis 12.8meg file :P.\n\nI have read alot of PG's essays but it wouldnt hurt to re-read some of it\nagain .. could notice things i hadnt the first time through.\n\n------\nVirax\nI was expecting something useful - like legal documents, lots of howtos. For\nexample: basic Linux networking including setting up services, basic security;\nlegal documents, basic negotiating, basic people networking, PR strategies,\netc...\n\nThis is just a bunch of advice - not really that useful.\n\n------\nterpua\nThanks for the library. Useful. However, I found a blog post cut-off.\n\nHere's the post: <http://evhead.com/2005/11/ten-rules-for-web-startups.asp>\n\n------\ncallmeed\nSent to Kindle! ... props to whoever put that together.\n\n------\nrrikhy\nThis is great...thanks for the upload, Chirag!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nA behind-the-scenes look at Facebook release engineering - 3lit3H4ck3r\nhttp://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/04/exclusive-a-behind-the-scenes-look-at-facebook-release-engineering.ars?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arstechnica%2Findex+%28Ars+Technica+-+Featured+Content%29\n======\njoshuahedlund\nSo many gems in this article.\n\n _To help spot problems, Facebook employees who access the social network from\nwithin the company's internal network will always see an experimental build of\nthe site based on the very latest code, including proposed changes that\nhaven't officially been accepted._\n\nProbably the only place where your excuse for checking Facebook at work can be\n\"Looking for bugs!\"\n\n _The many data sources tracked by Facebook's internal monitoring tools even\ninclude tweets about Facebook. That information is displayed in a graph with\nseparate trend lines to show the change in volume of positive and negative\nremarks_\n\nGuess I need to tweet more about how slow their mobile app is getting...\n\n _One of the major ongoing development efforts at Facebook is a project to\nreplace the HipHop transpiler. Facebook's developers are creating their own\nbytecode format and custom runtime environment.... the company can push thin\nbytecode deltas representing just the parts that have changed. Facebook may\neven be able to splice the updated bytecode into the application while it's\nrunning, avoiding a process restart._\n\nEven though I'm doing nothing nearly this awesome, this article has done more\nto inspire and excite me about my own coding than anything I've read in a long\ntime.\n\n~~~\nmikeleeorg\nI'm also really intrigued by the \"karma\" rating for all of their developers.\n\nCan anyone speak to how well that is working? Has it been effective? Any\nnegative side-effects? Is it just for the release process, or for any\ndevelopment effort?\n\n~~~\nnbm\nIt is \"Push karma\", so generally only applies to the push process. It isn't\nvisible to anyone but the pushers and yourself (at least, I can't see anyone\nelse's push karma in the expected places).\n\nIt isn't a complex rating system - there are probably 97% of people at the\nbase karma level, maybe 0.1% at one rung higher, 2.7% at one rung lower, and\n0.2% at lower than that. The \"Push\" tech talk at\n<https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100259101684977> has more on it.\n\nMostly it is a way of letting you know that you made people's lives difficult\nby holding up the push process by not being available to support your changes.\nYou know that you won't get away with that, that you need to make up for it,\nand you also know when you've made up for it.\n\n(It also doesn't apply to a decent number of engineers, since they work on\nservices and infrastructure that are not part of that process.)\n\n------\nbrown9-2\nThis tech talk video from Chuck Rossi on the same topic also has a lot of\nreally interesting information\n<https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100259101684977>\n\n------\nbenjaminwootton\nI'm surprised by the monolithic all-or-nothing deployments that they have off\nof the single binary.\n\nI prefer to componentise applications and allow those components to be\ndeployed, released, and rolled back separately.\n\nI also don't agree with the 'rollback is for losers' message as hinted at in\nthe article.\n\nA fast dependable rollback (measured in the seconds) is significantly\npreferable to getting a developer to implement a fix to some issue under\npressure and push it out in a rush. Much better to roll back, take stock, then\nimplement the right fix under the tested process.\n\n~~~\nflyt\nFacebook is updating tens of thousands of servers with every push. \"Rolling\nback\" a release could take as long as a regular push and contribute to\nproblems as the version in use diverges.\n\nInstead, FB has an aggressive and flexible internal system for \"ungating\"\nfeatures to groups based on different criteria. Usually a feature would be\npushed out in a deactivated state, then a developer will slowly ramp up its\nexposure to actual traffic. This limits the ability for a push to insta-break\nthe site and means they can come back around for the next day's push with\ntweaks, then increase the code's exposure.\n\n~~~\nnumlocked\nAccording to the article reverting does NOT involve re-deploying. Each server\nmaintains the previous version of the binary and if needed the release team\ncan pull the switch to revert all the servers. I assume that takes seconds,\nnot 30 mins.\n\n~~~\nTeeWEE\nIn fact i worked at a dutch social network where we also used hiphop. The new\ncompiled binary is pushed to all servers and then it is started, the old\nbinary is stopped and a port handover is done. Thus deploying without\ndowntime. The old binary is available on the system, making a rollback very\nfast. However old binaries are removed after a time. So you can only roll back\nto a previous version quickly.\n\n------\nstcredzero\n_Facebook's developers are creating their own bytecode format and custom\nruntime environment.... the company can push thin bytecode deltas representing\njust the parts that have changed. Facebook may even be able to splice the\nupdated bytecode into the application while it's running, avoiding a process\nrestart._\n\nNB: Fast JIT byte code VMs running web app frameworks in high level languages\nthat can do all of this have been around since the early 2000s. (Including the\ndistribution of binary deltas that can be applied atomically to live servers.)\nSmalltalk web app servers had all of this tech, plus refactoring capabilities\nand distributed version control years ahead of the rest of the industry. It\nmakes me wonder what else is out there beneath the radar today.\n\n------\njpeterson\nWhy would they transfer the entire 1.5g binary each time, and not a delta?\nSurely it doesn't change _that_ much between releases.\n\n~~~\njrockway\nBecause the continuous integration runs tests for all components at HEAD, not\nat every random possible combination that could end up on a machine. The key\nto releases is repeatability and consistency. Copying one big blob to every\nmachine is repeatable and consistent. Installing a bunch of libraries and\nupdating things piecemeal is much more difficult to do right. Internal\nbandwidth is cheap, so this is almost a no-brainer. Even without an internal\nbittorrent distribution mechanism, it's still easy.\n\nThe reason why people tend to gravitate to incremental deployments for web\napplications is because the typical tools encourage it; modules get installed\nin separate directories, each part of the app is a separate file (back in the\nCGI days), etc. When you compile everything into one file, though, then you\njust copy that file around to deploy. It's easier. (Ask a PHP programmer how\nto change one file, and it will probably be \"change that one file\". Ask a Java\nprogrammer, and it will be \"fix the file, build a WAR, and replace the WAR\".\nTools dictate process, and the \"scripting language\" default is to work on a\nfile level instead of an application level.)\n\nI've always wanted one-file deployment for my personal applications, but I\nnever saw anyone doing it so I assumed I was wrong. But nope, it turns out\nthat everyone else was wrong :)\n\n~~~\nsciurus\njpeterson didn't suggest \"installing a bunch of libraries and updating things\npiecemeal\". Instead of transferring the entire binary for every release they\ncould generate a (likely much smaller) patch, transfer just it, then apply it.\nI expect they're not doing this because it's computationally intensive\ncompared to transferring the entire binary.\n\n------\nbonaldi\nI find it most interesting that they rely on irc internally. They work on one\nof the world's largest online communications platforms -- surely they could\nsolve their problem in a way that gives it to their millions of users too?\n\n~~~\nnbm\nWe do make extensive use of Facebook messages (many people, including me, make\ngood use of Facebook Messenger on mobile and/or desktop) and of Facebook\ngroups.\n\nIRC's ability to quickly create temporary groups, temporary membership\n(essentially muting discussion by leaving, or peeking by joining), bot\nframeworks, and multiple clients are potential reasons why IRC might be\npreferable for the sort of things it is used for, I guess.\n\n~~~\nalexgartrell\nAs I understand it, the main reason is that IRC is decoupled from Facebook\ncompletely (or should be). In \"Oh shit, the sky is falling!\" SEV situation we\ncan trust (sorta) that IRC will be there.\n\n------\nraphinou\nThe article mentions that employees visiting Facebook from inside use an\nexperimental build. Any idea how they manage this if the experimental build\nrequires changes in the data structures used by the site?\n\n~~~\nbonzoesc\nI suspect that if new features require storage changes, the changes are\nstrictly additive and won't affect old features, or old features are modified\nto use the new storage setup.\n\nWith the amount of data Facebook has, they probably don't have the option of\nan \"iterate over every row and change a thing\" kind of migration.\n\n~~~\nflyt\nNo, but they do have an extremely fast and efficient tool for performing\nonline schema changes to its huge MySQL deployment:\n[https://www.facebook.com/notes/mysql-at-facebook/online-\nsche...](https://www.facebook.com/notes/mysql-at-facebook/online-schema-\nchange-for-mysql/430801045932)\n\n------\ncake\n_The company has two separate sets of these tests; one does some conventional\nsanity checking on the code and the other simulates user interaction to make\nsure that the website's user interface behaves properly._\n\nAnyone know more about this ? How are the user interaction made ?\n\n~~~\nrheide\nI'm guessing they're talking about unit tests and integration tests, the\nintegration tests probably simulating user input using a framework such as\nSelenium(RC).\n\n~~~\nalexgartrell\nIt's been a while since I've had to deal with it (bootcamp), but I'm pretty\nsure we still use Watir [1]\n\n[1] <http://watir.com/>\n\n------\nzbuc\nHow do you wind up with a 1.5gb binary? That's incredible -- especially\nconsidering all their static assets are on their CDN, so this is basically\ntheir code and all the libraries they're pulling in.\n\n~~~\nkmavm\n(I work on the HipHop compiler.) You start by compiling PHP source.\n\nSimple PHP statements take a lot more space in the binary than intuition\nsuggests. E.g.:\n\nif ($a == $b) ...\n\nwould seem like it should be\n\n    \n    \n      cmp $rax, $rbx\n      jz ...\n    \n\nBut! If type inference has failed, we don't know what types $a and $b are, so\nthey might be strings or objects or something crazy. So we're going to have to\nindirectly dispatch to $a's '==' method. We also spend a ton of space on\nreference counting code; the semantics of the language basically force you to\ndo naive reference counting, since refcounts can be witnessed in various ways,\nso every time we pass an argument, do an assignment, sometimes even evaluate\nexpressions, we need to manipulate reference counts, and if they've gone to\nzero call a destructor.\n\nIt ends up making the code really large, and one of the things that's unique\nabout our efforts to run PHP fast relative to other dynamic language efforts\nis that sheer code bulk ends up being our largest enemy; if we're not careful,\nicache misses eat us alive.\n\nFinally, I'll note that it's not _quite_ a 1.5GB binary. The actual ELF binary\nis something like 1.1GB, and the remainder of the package we bittorrent around\nproduction is stuff like static resources (javascript, css) and primed\ncontents for the APC cache that we want prepopulated on boot.\n\n~~~\ncookiecaper\nBased on your work heretofore, do you think it's wise for Facebook to continue\non the PHP path instead of working on a backend rewrite in C# or some other,\nsaner language? I find it odd that Facebook is still using PHP and pouring\nlots of effort and cash into things like HipHop when they're obviously hiring\npeople smart enough to use another language, and when they obviously have the\nrunway to perform a dark horse rewrite into a much cleaner, saner backend.\n\n~~~\nkmavm\nThis is a long and deep subject.\n\nI wouldn't say that we've \"continued on the PHP path.\" I'd say that we've\nrefused to throw out the precious PHP parts of our application, while not\nbeing afraid to use more appropriate languages across Thrift boundaries when\nneeded. Our search engine, newsfeed, and ad serving infrastructure, for\ninstance, are in C++.\n\nA drop-everything-and-rewrite of the PHP code is entirely out of the question,\nfor all the reasons covered in Spolsky's 12-year-old classic on the subject:\n<http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html>. Those of us\nworking on making PHP perform better are a tiny fraction of Facebook\nengineering as a whole; this small overhead cost is nothing compared to the\nrisks inherent in a ground-up rewrite.\n\nMost of PHP's language-level faults can be engineered around. For instance, we\nhave a code-review-time script that parses (really parses) the code to warn\nengineers (and reviewers) about dangerous or deprecated idioms.\n\nPHP also has some affirmative virtues. The programming model is more\nproductive than that of compiled languages, and even many interpreted\nlanguages; save/reload the web page is just a better, tighter loop to get work\ndone in than save/compile/restart my server/reload the web page. I'm actually\na fan of PHP's concurrency model, which naifs often mistake as \"no concurrency\nallowed\"; PHP's concurrency primitive is curl[1], and if you wrap a tiny bit\nof library around it, you can make it behave like actors.\n\n[1] Seriously. curl provides a shared-nothing way to asynchronously run code,\nand has the virtue of not caring what language the other side is written in to\nboot.\n\n~~~\ncookiecaper\nRight, I'm familiar with Spolsky's piece, but I think there are times when a\nrewrite is legitimate. I think that a situation where you must roll a\ncompletely custom in-house compiler that generates binaries which exceed 1 GB\nin size in order to get adequate performance of your app is a good candidate\nfor a new architecture, despite Spolsky's claims. Spolsky's article discusses\nthrowing out pages of code because the programmers \"don't know what half of\nthese API calls are for\" and \"[wanting] to build something grand\" -- these are\nquite different impulses than the real-world problems staring Facebook in the\nface by its continued usage of PHP.\n\nI think also that there is a difference between writing a new backend for\nsomething that is solid and in place and just throwing the whole product out\nthe window and re-imagining it from the ground up, and I think the latter is\nthe kind of rewrite that should be avoided and considered dangerous. When you\ncould throw 4-5 guys on a real C# or C++ rewrite and tell them the final\nproduct has to behave identically to the PHP version, you have a much less\nvolatile situation.\n\nAs for the PHP workflow, I agree it's nice not to have an intermediate step,\nbut that intermediate step can usually be circumvented pretty rapidly by\nthrowing a script or two (or just flipping a config option) into your\ndevelopment environment.\n\n~~~\nericd\nI think developing in PHP and compiling to C++/binary probably results in much\nhigher developer productivity than developing in C++/C# directly. Developer\nsalaries are undoubtedly their largest expense, by far, dwarfing those\nsalaries of the people who make PHP performant and 1.5 gig binary updates\nsane.\n\n~~~\nsciurus\nI expect that running their datacenters is a larger expense than developer\nsalaries.\n\n\"In 2011, $606 million was allocated towards total capital investment in data\ncenter infrastructure by Facebook, which includes the cost of servers,\nnetworking equipment, construction, and storage.\" -\n[http://www.colocationamerica.com/blog/facebook-data-\ncenter-i...](http://www.colocationamerica.com/blog/facebook-data-center-\ninfrastructure-expenditures-a-quick-analysis.htm)\n\n~~~\nevgen\nThe assumption that migrating the entire www stack to something like C++ would\nhelp with the datacenter costs is not supported by reality. Please remember\nthat the bits that are in PHP are mostly front-end code. This handles the\npresentation of the data, but the actual heavy-lifting and data manipulation\nis done by the back-end infrastructure which is mostly C/C++ with some Java\nthrown in for the hadoop bits.\n\n~~~\nnbm\nI would disagree here - every percent CPU saved for the same workload is a 1%\nreduction in the number of machines needed. The number of web machines is\nsufficiently large that savings of even 1% are praiseworthy. Quite a bit of\neffort is expended to keep this going down and to the right (at least some of\nthe time).\n\n------\nalgolicious\n_Facebook's testing practices and culture of developer accountability help to\nprevent serious bugs from being rolled out in production code. When a\ndeveloper's code disrupts the website and necessitates a post-deployment fix,\nthe incident is tracked and factored into Facebook's assessment of the\ndeveloper's job performance.\n\n[...]\n\nEmployees with low karma can regain their lost points over time by performing\nwell—though some also try to help their odds by bringing Rossi goodies. Booze\nand cupcakes are Rossi's preferred currency of redemption; the release\nengineering team has an impressive supply of booze on hand, some of which was\nsupplied by developers looking to restore their tarnished karma._\n\nThis sounds like Facebook strongly rewards developers who work on trivial,\nlow-risk features rather than larger, more important features. Also, it sounds\nlike bribery factors into your overall job performance rating.\n\n~~~\nnbm\nPush karma primarily affects how likely the release engineering team will\naccept any breaking of the standard rules of getting your code into the push.\nIt generally doesn't drop if you are responsive and responsible for any\nproblems your change causes. The only way to restore points is to show respect\nand consideration for the hard work the release engineering team does.\n\n(I'm not 100% sure, but I think most of the booze and cupcakes come from\npeople who were appreciative of the release engineering team for bringing\npotential issues to their attention or for being accommodating in terms of\nhours and in terms of delay to get things fixed.)\n\nBeing irresponsible (not supporting your changes) will factor into your\nperformance review, but working exclusively on low-risk features will most\nlikely hurt it way more.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nRun Ruby on Rails on Apache Mesos - tknaup\nhttp://mesosphere.io/learn/run-ruby-on-rails-on-mesos/\n\n======\nfilm42\nI've never seen this before:\n[https://elastic.mesosphere.io/](https://elastic.mesosphere.io/)\n\nSeems like an awesome idea to onboard people to using Mesos. I'm definitely\ngonna play with it this weekend!\n\n------\npspeter3\nThis looks awesome!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nApple Security Update released, fixes several serious vulns - lvh\nhttps://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222\n======\nSomeone\nThat's not the best HN story title (it currently is \"Apple Security Update\nreleased with several serious vulns\"). From what I can tell, this update\ndoesn't _have_ several (known) vulnerabilities, it _fixes_ them.\n\n~~~\nlvh\nThat's fair. I've edited the title.\n\n------\nlvh\nIf you have an Apple device, be it running macOS, tvOS, watchOS or iOS, you\nshould go update it, right now.\n\nDetails aren't entirely clear, but it doesn't seem impossible that these vulns\ntogether chain from browser to kernel.\n\n------\n0x0\nUnfortunate choice of URL, since this is the generic list of all Apple\nsecurity advisories.\n\n~~~\nlvh\nI wanted to link the the most official source. They're sorted by date, so you\ncan just look at the ones released today.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBreitbart, other conservative outlets escalate anti-SpaceX campaign - rbanffy\nhttps://arstechnica.com/science/2017/11/breitbart-other-conservative-outlets-escalate-anti-spacex-campaign/\n======\nmarksellers\nThis new flavor of conservatism is so strange in light of how bound to free\nmarket ideals most flavors of conservatism are.\n\nIn general, I really quite dislike Conservative/Liberal labels as political\nstances are not two-dimensional, but rather multidimensional. Parties are\nloose alliances of disparate groups. And somehow there's this rising\ncontingent of neocons, who also happen to dislike SpaceX.\n\nDoes anyone understand this?\n\nEdit: I want to clarify that the alternative to private enterprise competing\nfor government contracts (usually military, again usually a conservative\ndelight) is direct government sponsorship, i.e. NASA.\n\nSpaceX is one of those cases where the free market actually has been more\neffective. So why not seize on it?\n\n~~~\neli_gottlieb\n\"Neocons\" were the foreign-policy hawks of the 2000s. These guys largely call\nthemselves the \"alt-right\".\n\nThey're basically as bad as you've heard, but hiding it sometimes.\n\nEven I find this particular turn against SpaceX somewhat weird. My internal\nmodel of the alt-right has largely been that they have one wing who are\nbasically Nazi fanfiction, another who idolize the \"throne and altar\nconservatism\" of pre-Revolutionary France, and another who think they should\nbuild Warhammer 40K's Imperium of Man as a real-life society (they're _very_\npop-culture influenced). Turning against a private space company seems to\nindicate that some factions (Nazis plus... someone else?) are throwing the\n\"far-right futurism\" faction overboard.\n\n(Again, these guys are _really weird_ , but hey, it's all there on their\nblogs.)\n\nMy big question is: where's Peter Thiel in all this? Just last year, he was\nthe one trying to assure everyone that, oh don't worry, this was all about\ntearing down overbearing regulations and political correctness in favor of\nunbound innovation, that the Right weren't anti-science religious people\nanymore, etc. Turning against SpaceX isn't just throwing a faction of bloggers\noverboard, it's thrown Thiel overboard, and he was a major billionaire backer\nfor all of this.\n\n~~~\nexelius\nI'm not saying I agree with them, but a common theme I hear from the alt-right\nis \"no gods no masters\" (Game of Thrones reference, ding on the pop-culture).\nNow, nevermind that these guys are setting up as many gatekeeping functions as\nthey tear down; they simply justify it as \"protecting real hard-working\nAmericans\" through xenophobia.\n\nIt's all built on the false nationalism of a flagging superpower, and if any\nof these people traveled in the least they would see that other countries are\nactually doing a lot of things better than we do here. We got arrogant, our\npoliticians got greedy, and our voter base got complacent. It's only going to\nget worse too.\n\n~~~\nkevinmchugh\n> \"no gods no masters\" (Game of Thrones reference, ding on the pop-culture)\n\nthat's not a game of thrones reference as far as I can tell. It's an old\nanarchist and socialist slogan. It'd be an odd fit for that part of the right.\n\"No gods or kings, only man\" is a Bioshock reference that pops up sometimes in\nthose parts.\n\n~~~\nFreak_NL\n> \"No gods or kings, only man\" is a Bioshock reference that pops up sometimes\n> in those parts.\n\nWhich in turn uses Ayn Rand's philosophy (Objectivism) as the basis of the\nfictional (failed) society in Bioshock.\n\n(Compare with this quote: [https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/207108-at-first-\nman-was-ens...](https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/207108-at-first-man-was-\nenslaved-by-the-gods-but-he) )\n\nAyn Rand and her philosophy are quite popular in right-wing circles (and\nincidentally, largely denounced in academic circles).\n\n~~~\nwmil\n> and incidentally, largely denounced in academic circles\n\nNot surprising. A tenured professor getting government grants for research is\na villain by Randian standards.\n\n~~~\njandrese\nIt has been many years since I read the books, but I'm pretty sure university\nintellectuals were actual villains in Atlas Shrugged. IIRC didn't they say\nthat more testing was needed before they could count the new supermetal as\nsafe?\n\nI remember thinking at the time that the hero was being really reckless and\nthat advanced composites often fail in new and unexpected ways and that\nbuilding an entire rail line out of the stuff before you understand how it\nfails is beyond risky. Of course because it was a book the metal is perfect in\nevery way and never has a problem, but the real world is rarely so forgiving.\n\n------\ntim333\nNot that I agree with it but the conservative argument against SpaceX seems to\nbe largely:\n\n>Despite the numerous public statements by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk decrying crony\ncapitalism, SpaceX would not exist without government contracts and subsidies.\nAccording to The Wall Street Journal, government contracts account for about\n70 percent of SpaceX’s contracts. U.S. taxpayers have provided SpaceX more\nthan $5.5 billion in the form of Air Force and NASA contracts.\n\nfrom \"Ron Paul: Crony defense budget hands SpaceX a monopoly - why?\" op ed in\nFox News [http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/09/12/ron-paul-crony-\ndef...](http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/09/12/ron-paul-crony-defense-\nbudget-hands-spacex-monopoly-why.html)\n\nI think he also annoys Breitbart types by talking about global warming.\n\n~~~\nCuuugi\nThank you for not falling into the \"Conservatives hate science\" trap.\n\nI can't speak for other people, but my personal issue with Musk's ventures are\nhow much money he funnels from the government.\n\n~~~\npjc50\nMultiple choice question!\n\nFor its launch capability, the US government should:\n\n\\- buy on the open market at the lowest available price. Currently this turns\nout to be Russia.\n\n\\- buy on the US market at the lowest available price. This may be SpaceX\nalthough other contenders are mentioned in the article\n\n\\- build its own rocket systems from scratch inside government agencies\n\n\\- just pay Boeing/Lockheed like they've always done\n\n\\- just give up on space\n\n(basically, if you think Musk funnels a lot of money from the US government,\nyou should check out the rest of the aerospace industry...)\n\n~~~\nwallace_f\nThere is a fair point to be made that we _should_ be quite critical of how\ntaxpayer dollars are spent. Musk himself even agrees that subsidies lead to\ncronyism. He has even said himself that subsidies to Tesla should end in favor\nof a carbon tax, which would be a more just,fair, competitive, and efficient\npolicy tool. Musk and Ron Paul are both actually right about that.\n\nSo given that government money spent towards space should be spent fairly and\nin support of a policy that maintains multiple competitors, these criticisms\nare a mix of 1) A warranted and necessary critical thought process, 2) likely\ninfluenced and supported by some good-old-boy network/industry support for\nULA, and 3) opportunistic politics cashing in on a shallow opportunity to get\nback at a couple of Trump's adversaries like McCain and Musk.\n\n------\nInTheArena\nRon Paul and Rand Paul identify as libertarians and are as close to\nlibertarian as the (R) party gets. Ron Paul has the added benefit of having\nwacky neo-nazi roots that he disavowed during the Clinton era. They loathe any\nsort of government investment. McCain is the only real conservative mentioned\nhere. The alt-right has their true god (Bannon) and their lesser god (Trump).\nTrump loathes conservatives, and conservatives mostly loathe him, but they\nneed each other (for the moment). McCain has traditionally been a huge backer\nof Mueller, and is openly looking to take Trump down.\n\nBoth sides have seen ideological purges, and the \"blue dog democrats\" and\n\"Rockefeller republicans\" were purged over the last twenty years. The last\nreal moderate was probably Boehner, and the combination of the Tea Party, and\naborted \"great compromises\" by Obama did him in. The former Senate Majority\nleader claimed to be a pro-life (personally) Democrat from Vegas, but\nincreasingly abandoned this as his party lurched to the left, and was replaced\nby a corporatist Democrat with deep deep links to investment banks (Schumer).\nBiden is still out there as a moderate Democrat, but was completely\nmarginalized in party politics when his great compromise efforts with Boehner\nwere torpedo'd by more activist portions of Obama's cabinet. (No one has ever\ntaken credit for actually convincing Obama to ask for additional trillions in\ntax-raises last minute both times). I think Biden is just about the only\ncandidate who could have won against Trump in the last election.\n\nThe so-called \"Neo-cons\" (their original name was \"Vulcans\") were not neocons\nbecause they were reformed conservatives, but rather former Wilsonians who\nturned more Jacksonian over time.\n\nAs for Musk, Shelby and Ryan, more then anything else, they are opportunists.\n\nThere is a very similar fracturing and disintegration on the left right now,\nwith the AntiFa, the move on crowd and so called progressives all purging\nthose who disagree with them. Then you have much much more radical elements in\nthe colleges and universities.\n\nThe French Revolution comparisons are not without merit.\n\n~~~\norblivion\nThe \"god\" of the alt-right is Richard Spencer. Granted the definition of alt-\nright has shifted around, but by the current prevailing standard among those\nwho adopt the label and used to do so, I think it is strictly an\nethnonationalist movement. Unless you're going to cite rumors about Bannon,\nI'd say Breitbart doesn't quite qualify. Again, forgetting anything Bannon\nonce said about it being the platform of the alt-right, and going by current\nrunning definitions. Breitbart would probably be considered \"alt-light\".\n\n~~~\nbbctol\nNo one cares about Richard Spencer other than media figures who needed a dude\nin a suit to claim to be the leader of the alt-right. He's a random non-entity\nthat was virtually unknown even in cryptofascist circles until liberals\ndecided, for no good reason, to start paying attention to him.\n\n~~~\norblivion\nWell, he coined the term alt-right. Maybe he's not the most important figure,\nthat was just my best guess.\n\nMy point is about use of the term. In particular, the way it's fuzzy, and\nattributing ethnonationalism to people who are civic nationalists.\n\n------\ncuriousgeorgio\nI'm not intimately familiar with the details of this issue, nor with the\nvarious \"flavors of conservatism\" mentioned in comments here, but this article\nmakes a strong argument for a few points that we can probably all agree on:\nSpaceX likely isn't responsible for pushing for the legislation in question\n(as some news outlets claim), but there _does_ seem to be ample evidence of\nprivate influence on the government leading to proposed legislation with\nanticompetitive characteristics. If it does pass, SpaceX is expected to\nbenefit as a result, so whether or not they are pushing for the legislation\nthemselves, the end result may be just as worrying as if they had.\n\nInstead of debating labels or levels of political congruence among the various\npeople who have brought up this issue, perhaps it would be more productive to\ndiscuss the possible ramifications of this legislation passing. Also worth\nconsidering is the topic of private influence over government (especially in\ndefense, where it's largely just \"the way things are done\"), and whether or\nnot business practices that benefit from such arrangements actually qualify as\ncapitalism.\n\n------\nperlpimp\nSuppose ULA charges 10x for launches and SpaceX bargain bin launches that get\never cheaper(with reusable rockets) have threatened ULA. I bet if you follow\nthe money you will find the culprits.\n\n~~~\nDenisM\nULA isn’t the only entity hurt by cheap launches.\n\n~~~\nle-mark\nAre you alluding to other launch providers such as Russia, European Space\nAgency, etc, or did you have something else in mind?\n\n------\nbrennankreiman\nI recall a congressional hearing where a person from SpaceX stated that\nCouldn't figure out why ULA rockets cost $422 Million while SpaceX rockets\nonly cost ~$90 Million. Methinks there are some established players pulling\ntheir congressional strings. [https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/06/air-\nforce-budget-rev...](https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/06/air-force-budget-\nreveals-how-much-spacex-undercuts-launch-prices/?comments=1&post=33514969)\n\n------\nMountain_Skies\nElon Musk picked up the mantle of Steve Jobs tech showman. His high visibility\nmakes him a target. There is no public face that I'm aware of for ULA and\nwhile Jeff Bezos is certainly hated in that crowd for his ownership of the\nWashington Post, Blue Origin gets very little criticism. Some of that might be\ndue to differences in what entanglements each has with the government but\nBezos also avoids the type of spotlight Musk goes to great effort to stand in,\nat least when it comes to rocketry. If Tom Hanks somehow became the face and\nchief string puller at ULA, he'd probably get the same hatred that Musk\nreceives.\n\n------\nlaretluval\nNot a single link to Breitbart in a piece about Breitbart. Are they so afraid\nof the site that they feel they can't link to it?\n\nThe result is I can't evaluate what they're talking about. What Breitbart\narticles do they have in mind? I found a bunch of neutral articles about\nSpaceX there, and this negative op-ed: [http://www.breitbart.com/big-\ngovernment/2017/09/18/elon-musk...](http://www.breitbart.com/big-\ngovernment/2017/09/18/elon-musk-giveaways-wont-make-america-safe-\nagain%E2%80%A8/)\n\nIs that what they're talking about?\n\n------\nmaxxxxx\nHow can anybody keep reading Breitbart or other partisan sites? Are people so\naddicted to outrage that they want keep reading stuff that's obviously wrong\nif you take the time to check things for only a few minutes?\n\n~~~\nwilliamle8300\nBreitbart is a bastion for free-thinking much like HackerNews. While you may\ncriticize their opinions, it's at least sane reporting... instead of\ncheerleading and narrative controlling like CNN and NBC.\n\n~~~\nmaxxxxx\nAre you kidding?\n\n~~~\nmercer\nBased on their comment history: it's a lost cause. Don't waste your energy\nhere.\n\n~~~\nmaxxxxx\nI honestly didn't think that anyone would think of Breitbart as sane\nreporting. If the comment was honest then I have to change my opinion and have\nlearned something.\n\n------\nkharms\nThe only motivation I can think of is that Musk's resources are limited and if\nhe spends more time/money on SpaceX less gets spent on Tesla. Still, super\nweird.\n\n~~~\nmmcwilliams\nWhat about the fact that Musk publicly exited the presidential councils he was\na member of over the Paris Accord? It was a move that would have offended US\nconservatives, particularly those at Breitbart, on at least two fronts:\nsupporting efforts to combat climate change and damaging the President's\nreputation as an ally to Silicon Valley.\n\n~~~\nkelukelugames\nTrue, the President is vindictive. I wonder if we can use this. Send in\nsomeone who pretends to be anti renewable energy and then piss off Trump so\nTrump will praise solar power.\n\n------\ngozur88\nRon Paul has always been seen as a crank, even by other conservatives.\n\n------\nHelmet\nEDIT: The article does break down the purpose of Section 1615, and shed light\non its context - I did not see that the article continued beyond the massive\npicture below the blurb that I quoted.\n\n~~~\ntclancy\nIt's very strange you would read that bit entirely but miss the multiple\nparagraphs directly below it saying it is equivocally untrue.\n\n~~~\nHelmet\nAll I saw was a large picture below the article and didn't scroll all the way\ndown. I've updated my comment after this was raised to my attention.\n\n------\nPatientTrades\nElon Musk has proved again and again that he is a gift from heaven to the\nhuman race. We must continue to support genius like him for the sake of\nhumanity. Stop wasting money on endless wars, entitlements, fraud, waste,\nabuse, etc. Give our tax dollars to people that want to help mankind make a\nquantum leap forward. Extending life beyond earth is a necessity for the\nsustainment of humans\n\n~~~\nstrange_quark\nIs this supposed to be satire?\n\n~~~\nAnimalMuppet\nMy money's on \"true believer\", but satire is also possible...\n\n~~~\nmercer\nPart of the appeal is that's it's impossible to tell.\n\n------\nmake3\n\"Musk has given lavishly to politicians, especially Arizona Senator John\nMcCain (R). In return, McCain added Section 1615 to this year's defense\nauthorization bill, which includes language to restrict the military from\ninvesting in new launch systems.\"\n\nAs much as I love Musk, this is fucked up. Just a normal day in the American\ndemocracy I guess\n\n~~~\nFootkerchief\nThat argument is presented for context in the introduction. The entire rest of\nthe article is about debunking it:\n\n> The central canard of these attacks is that John McCain did not, in fact,\n> add \"Section 1615\" to the Defense Authorization Act, which is now being\n> finalized by a conference between the House and Senate. This clause does not\n> exist at all in the Senate language. Rather, it was inserted into the House\n> legislation by US Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican from Alabama.\n\n> Two sources familiar with the legislation told Ars that Rogers added Section\n> 1615 specifically to benefit Aerojet and its AR1 rocket engine.\n\n> \"The purpose of the provision is simple,\" one Washington DC source said.\n> \"Instead of the Department of Defense continuing their open-ended, market-\n> friendly risk reduction investment across several providers to enable\n> Russian-engine-free launch capabilities, Rogers wants DOD to fund Aerojet to\n> build AR1 to be inserted into Atlas V.\" In other words, the language\n> benefits Aerojet by favoring its \"drop in\" engine solution over building a\n> completely new Vulcan rocket.\n\n------\ndanjoc\nSuppose Elon is a bad guy. What's to stop him from dragging a big space rock\ninto orbit and holding the planet hostage in X years? Government will build in\nredundant checks and balances at extra expense. Corporations, not so much.\n\n~~~\ntekromancr\nThe hundreds, maybe thousands, of people working under him. The majority of\nwhich would need to agree that project \"Dr. Evil style giant space rock\nrandsom\" was a good idea.\n\n~~~\ndanjoc\nYou're the only response that actually tried to make a legitimate argument\nwithout resorting to logical fallacies and insults. Thanks.\n\nStill, I have to disagree with your point. Lots of people did bad things on\nHitler's orders. Lots more looked the other way. The \"thousands of people\"\nargument falls apart when looking at historic examples.\n\n------\ncreaghpatr\nSo is their argument “the bad guys are against it so it must be right?”\n\nThey made a point to drop that terrifying B-bomb in the title, sending shivers\nup the spine of many a HN reader.\n\nI see the ULA vs Space X competition as productive in producing innovation,\nregulatory fairness aside. Regulatory problems are much less of a drag if\nresulting innovation is a net positive for both private and public sectors\n\n~~~\nlinkregister\n> They made a point to drop that terrifying B-bomb in the title, sending\n> shivers up the spine of many a HN reader.\n\nI chuckled at this.\n\nI think your analysis of their rhetoric is apt.\n\nThat said, the lede of the article is the media campaign pushing the pay-to-\nplay narrative, not the righteousness of SpaceX (which is expected to be taken\nas a given).\n\nOverall, the article was informative because I wouldn't have known that there\nwas a counter argument to Sen. Paul's narrative.\n\n------\neighthnate\nAs much as I despise all \"news\" organizations, I say good.\n\nConsidering that most of the media has been fawning over musk and spacex and\neverything musk does, perhaps some criticism of musk is required in a free and\ndemocratic system.\n\nI just don't like how so much of media are pretty much colluding with each\nother to spread the same narrative. On almost all topics, it seems like most\nof the media is pushing a particular narrative.\n\nI wish we had a media environment where about a third is pro-musk, a third is\nanti-musk and a third is neutral.\n\nThe same with trump/obama/clinton, politics, technology, business,\nglobalization, economics, international relations, etc.\n\nAll we seem to get is cheerleading by the media for one particular agenda.\n\nI'm a believer in diversity and I think we need diversity in the media.\n\nAnd I don't believe in saints. Musk has done a lot of good things, but he\nisn't a saint. He has done plenty of things that can be criticized. How most\nof his business lives off government subsidies. How much in bed he is with\nwall street. How he really hasn't invented or created anything new. Most of\nhis proclamations and \"inventions\" are decades old technologies. None of his\ngrandiose proposals have born fruit yet.\n\nIf all the media seems to do is praise or criticize, then I know something is\nwrong.\n\nEdit: Wow, that was a swift and quick number of downvotes. I know that pay to\nplay is a big thing in news ( both arstechnica and brietbart and everyone else\ndoes ). But I wonder if musk has pr firms working the social media scene?\n\n~~~\nbarrystaes\nIn the US are only two political parties. Yet North Korea and Russia only have\none, so its not that bad.\n\nAnd diversity does exists.\n\n~~~\ncorpMaverick\nAFAIK, China only has one. And it seems to work remarkably well. At least they\nseem to have very smart people at the top.\n\n~~~\nkelukelugames\nI would say the bottom quintile Americans is doing orders of magnitude better\nthan the bottom quintile of Chinese. Maybe even bottom half. This is probably\ntrue when comparing any developed nation to a developing nation.\n\n~~~\nrbanffy\nIt seems the bottom quintile Americans (WRT intelligence) took over the\ngovernment...\n\nBurn, karma, burn!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: What is wrong with my Launch Page? - psg\n\nHi everyone. I'm working on a project and have created a launch page with the hope of compiling a list of early adopters. As with many other websites that have launch pages, the hope is that these early users would provide valuable feedback and would allow me to iterate and (hopefully) achieve market/fit.<p>The problem is that my launch page isn't getting a substantial number of sign-ups. At a quick glance, this could be for one of three reasons.<p>1: I'm attracting the wrong type of users (through advertising). In other words, not early adopters;\n2: My launch page needs improvement, or; \n3: My idea just sucks, and it's validation that I should not pursue this idea.<p>I truly believe I need more tests to validate that the idea is not worth pursuing (It's only been a few days). Therefore, I'm looking for advice on the other two bullets. In other words,<p>1) Any advice to get potential early adopters to the website? I've tried Google Adwords and StumbleUpon ads (note with StumbleUpon I did the auto-targeting).\n2) Any advice on the launch page itself (It's at http://www.lloquy.com/).<p>Thanks in advance.\n======\nentangld\nI think your users don't understand your website.\n\nThe word content and conversation are very abstract terms that don't inform\nthe reader to specific uses for your website. I watched your video thinking I\nwould get a clear use-case but it still wasn't clear to me.\n\nIt would be easier to understand if you said use lloquy to follow interesting\ncomment threads on the most interesting topics on your favorite websites\n(blog, Huffingtonpost, etc...) while you continue surfing the web.\n\nThe explanation you gave requires the user to use their imagination a little\ntoo much. I know you don't want to limit the use of your site, but it would be\nhelpful if the writing was more specific and exciting and the video was\nfocused less on explanation and more on fun useful actions users are actually\ngoing to take on your site.\n\nYou start off talking about content creators (like it's a tool for blog\nauthors) and then you describe it's use for blog/content readers. That's\nconfusing.\n\n1\\. In your example of how to use it, you start off talking about a\n\"conversation\" (a little vague - I wouldn't know where to find a conversation\non the web) and you start to list other uses for it before I understand the\ninitial use for it.\n\n2\\. You suggested people \"filter content by calculating influence\". That's too\nabstract. I think you meant \"follow popular and interesting users and vote for\nthe best comments.\"\n\nI think more exciting language that describes tangible actions users will take\nand pictures that are not flat screenshots of text will improve your\nconversion rate.\n\n~~~\npsg\nThanks. Your feedback makes me believe I've fallen into the chicken/egg trap,\nwhere I switch between different types of users. Will fix.\n\nAlso appreciate the feedback on the video.\n\n------\ndanny3stacks\nI have a few quick thoughts about why you're not getting many sign-ups.\n\nThe copy on the landing page makes sense, but it's still confusing in a way.\nMaybe if you had a small diagram or brief description on how this is done,\npeople might be more interested.\n\nBut, if I was interested I would be weary of oauthing on twitter because I'm\nstill not sure what or how you do what you claim to.\n\nThe video should probably be less than 60 seconds and should answer what the\nservice does, how, why, for who in the first 20 seconds.\n\nStumbleupon traffic doesn't work well. People are simply browsing from one\nsite to the next looking for articles or funny cats and your bounce rate using\nSU is probably 100%.\n\nGoogle ads might work but you might be better off getting on\n<http://betali.st> and <http://startupli.st> to get those early adopters.\n\nBest of luck!\n\n~~~\npsg\nThanks for the links, as well as the feedback. I have been wondering if oAuth\nwith Twitter has been turning people away, so definitely appreciate the\ncomment and will look into straight email.\n\n------\ntoddwahnish\nJust my 2 cents,\n\nYour join button is pretty muted- it's gray, it's small, it's in the corner\nand it's surrounded by the same blue color that sits in the background. Try\nA/B testing by moving the join button to the center of your top banner, making\nit big and green.\n\n:)\n\n~~~\npsg\nThanks. I've been testing different text throughout, but haven't looked at\nbutton placement. Will definitely look at that.\n\n------\npatheman\nhey, some feedback:\n\n\\- on first glance i don't get the idea of the site, somehow not even\ncompelled to start the video (maybe try a more \"compelling\" preview-screen\nthere)\n\n\\- some \"bussines buzzwords\" like Online Conversation and Audiences . .. maybe\ntry a quote instead (ask a friend if you dont want do make one up) in the\nquote, state the one or max. two TOP benefits i have from the site.. and also\ngive me a hint who needs your thing. like: \"lloquy helps me maximize my\nreaders engagement..\" (Jon Doe, BigBlog.com)\n\n\\- signup might increase with a green or orange signup button, conveys success\nand gets attention\n\nI think you really need a 1-sentence pitch to tell whats the benefit for me as\na user? (answer for what? so what? now what?)\n\nBest regards Patric\n\n~~~\npsg\nThanks Patric. A more compelling preview screen is something that hasn't even\ncrossed my mind (Sometimes it's the little things). Also appreciate the other\nfeedback.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nT-Mobile CEO to users hiding their hotspot tethering activities: “It's over.” - atomical\nhttp://www.zdnet.com/article/t-mobile-ceo-to-hackers-stealing-hotspot-data-its-over/\n======\nbrandon272\nI always find it amusing when these issues come up and people need to remind\nus all that \"UNLIMITED SHOULD MEAN UNLIMITED!\" ... I've always assumed it was\ncommon sense that \"unlimited\" is essentially a marketing buzzword.\n\nNo network is capable of offering \"unlimited\" service to all customers. It\nmeans they aren't going to enforce draconian caps on every day usage. It's to\ngive the typical user the reassurance that they have nothing to worry about in\nterms of overage. It's not to provide people with 2TB a month of transfer.\n\nFrankly, I find using 2TB a month on an \"unlimited\" plan to be abusive and\ndisrespectful to other customers. These networks obviously have real limits\nand capacities. Clearly abusing an \"unlimited\" plan does little but encourage\nservice providers to enforce data caps and overage fees.\n\n~~~\nuserbinator\n_These networks obviously have real limits and capacities._\n\nThere are only real limits in terms of bandwidth, and not the quantity of data\ntransferred.\n\n~~~\nsnuxoll\nYou are 100% right. Unfortunately, due to the way wireless spectrum works you\nhave no choice but to oversubscribe available bandwidth in the hopes that not\nevery user is using their devices at once. While they suck for a consumer,\nlimits on total data transferred allow wireless providers to allow users the\nability to use their devices but limit the _amount of time_ they are consuming\navailable bandwidth.\n\n------\nduaneb\nThe idea that data can fundamentally change based on how it's viewed, legally,\nis absurd. I hope this trend passes quickly.\n\n~~~\nsnuxoll\n> The idea that data can fundamentally changed based on how it's viewed,\n> legally, is absurd.\n\nData itself doesn't change, usage patterns do, and that is why restrictions\nlike this exist. My internet connection at home is a reasonably fat 75/5Mbps\n'business-class' pipe, I'm paying for a service that expects pretty high usage\nand the infrastructure is designed to handle it - the coaxial cable going to\nmy house has enough bandwidth and so does the fiber going from the local cable\nnode back to the big datacenter where my traffic eventually gets routed to the\nrest of the internet.\n\nMobile has an extremely annoying limitation in that we can't just run a cable\nto every phone, we want stuff to happen wirelessly! Well, since there's no\nwires providing service every user has to in essence share the same bandwidth\ncoming from a cell site. We can make sure there's plenty of fiber going to\neach site, but physically 10Mhz of spectrum can only provide so much\nbandwidth, and that is a huge limiting factor of wireless service.\n\nYour 3-6\" smartphone has very different usage patterns compared to my 13\"\nultrabook. You may watch a couple youtube videos, stream some music, maybe\neven watch a movie on Netflix - but you are unlikely to do so for extended\nperiods of time or on a frequent basis, the usage is very sporadic and lends\nitself well to sharing with other users.\n\nUsage on a tethered laptop or other device is very different, I'm sitting down\nright now connected to my work VPN 'getting stuff done', checking email,\nmoving large files around, downloading an update for Visual Studio, the list\ngoes on. And this is not something that I do for 10 minutes or even an hour,\nthis is my entire work-day, and I regularly use 10's of Gigabytes of data,\nsomething our limited wireless spectrum is not well suited to handle for a\nlarge amount of users (that's what WiFi is for!).\n\nUnless nationwide we are going to turn a large enough block of wireless\nspectrum into a national wireless ISP (we're talking probably 100-200Mhz) we\nsimply do not have enough bandwidth over the airwaves to support people with\nthese usage patterns.\n\n~~~\nduaneb\nThis strikes me as preemptive optimization. That's a lot of argument to back\nup, though I think it has merit.\n\nI would feel much more comfortable with straight up metered internet,\nvariably-priced based on current congestion. I would feel much more inclined\nto believe you if it didn't look like the service providers were trying to\nchange the meaning of internet access—it shouldn't matter which kind of device\nis \"plugged in\". That's just terrible service.\n\n~~~\nchc\nIn what way is it possibly beneficial to me as a user to have metered Internet\nfor all cases rather than unlimited for most cases and metered for others?\n\n~~~\nduaneb\nBecause, when I look around, I don't see internet being offered at a e.g. per\nGB rate. So I don't think your dichotomy is correct; I think people WOULD look\nquite favorably on metered tethered data with up-front costs as opposed to a\ncap with hidden metered fees or retroactive fines.\n\nHowever, even if it WERE correct, I much prefer to think of internet as a\nservice. It is incredibly frustrating to deal with tiers that are only slowly\napproaching the reality _they use to defend the tiers themselves_. I'm very\nopen to the idea that bandwidth might be a dominating restriction, but the\noptimal way to deal with it would be a) transparency and b) incentivizing\navoiding congestion. However, I'm afraid to tether my computer and actually\ntake advantage of the service I'm paying for since the tools are horrible to\nactually figure out what the costs might be or how to avoid them.\n\n~~~\nchc\nT-Mobile offers apps with up-to-the-minute accounting of your usage, and at\nleast with me, they were quite explicit about how everything is priced. It\ndoesn't seem that hard or scary to me, and I've never gotten \"shock\" bills\nfrom them.\n\n------\ndrivingmenuts\nSeems to me that T-Mobile should not be able to tell me how I use my device.\nThe device-to-device connect (hotspot) occurs on my hardware and doesn't\ninvolve them. The data usage is _all_ mobile usage after that, since it's\ncoming thru my phone.\n\nNow, T-Mobile may object to certain kinds of traffic (torrents, etc.) but that\nopens up a whole different can of worms. If the high-volume data consumers are\n_actually_ causing a problem for other users, then T-Mobile probably should\nconsider expanding their bandwidth with new equipment.\n\nTrying to squirm away from the term \"unlimited\" because of a few inconvenient\nusers with inconvenient bits, however, is just weaselly as hell _and_ avoiding\nthe real issue.\n\n~~~\nchc\nIf it seems to you that T-Mobile should not be able to tell you how you use\nyour device, then it seems to me that you should not sign a contract granting\nT-Mobile that permission.\n\n~~~\nbrandon272\nConsumers never look at that side of the equation. They don't read their\ncontracts, they don't do their due diligence. They just blame the company and\nclaim the role of victim when something doesn't work out in their favour or\nwhen the company does things like ask people to not abuse the network.\n\n~~~\nteacup50\nThe party with more resources has the advantage -- information and power\nasymmetry falls in their favor.\n\n _Of course_ consumers don't \"do their due diligence\", because they'd have to\ndo so 1000s of times a day. This is a large part of why we have consumer\nprotection laws in the first place.\n\n~~~\nbrandon272\nI don't sign 2 year cell phone contracts \"1000's of times a day\" and when I do\nsign them I read them because they're really not that long. And if I don't\nread them and something doesn't work out in my favour I don't pretend it's the\nphone company's fault.\n\nConsumer protection laws do not remove all responsibility from the consumer to\nbe aware of what they are getting into.\n\n~~~\nteacup50\nWhat percentage of consumers do you think are capable of reading contract\nlanguage accurately, assessing risk/value, judging things like how much\nbandwidth they use, doing what, and how that may increase or decrease?\n\nLikewise, how many lawyers working for cell phone companies are capable of\nreading contract language accurately? How capable do you think cell phone\ncompanies are at projecting data utilization based on the huge trove of\ncustomer data they have available to them?\n\nRequiring honesty around simple terms like \"unlimited\" helps level that\nplaying field, at least in some small way.\n\n------\ndoki_pen\nI don't think it would hurt their business to say something like :\n\n    \n    \n       120GB of data (compared to verizon's 12GB)\n    \n\nIf they are being honest and really are only worried about people using 2TB,\nthen this should solve the problem completely.\n\n120GB would be unlimited for 99.99% of users.\n\n~~~\ngkanapathy\nThey actually do say \"unlimited phone, and 7GB tethering\". It's very explicit,\nand limited tethering is a specific part of the \"unlimited phone\" plans. And\nas the article says, if you want more tethering, you are able to add and pay\nfor that separately. The issue is people bypassing the tethering limitations.\n\n------\nroddux\nThis is the reason that I always take a very sceptical view on mobile\ncontracts that offer \"unlimited\" data.\n\nI wonder if they'll be allowed to continue calling it \"unlimited\" here in the\nUK after this revelation.\n\n~~~\nDanBC\nASA ruled that unlimited doesn't mean unlimited and can be used in adverts\nwhen referring to limited plans.\n\n[https://www.asa.org.uk/News-resources/Hot-\nTopics/~/media/Fil...](https://www.asa.org.uk/News-resources/Hot-\nTopics/~/media/Files/ASA/Hot%20Topics/Broadband%20hot%20topic.ashx)\n\nAll you can do is keep sending complaints and encourage others to keep sending\ncomplaints. They do, apparently, occasionally take notice of complaints.\n\n------\nbriantakita\nLabeling people as thieves is manipulative & hypocritical when the marketing\nliterature claims \"unlimited\" data.\n\nAll TMobile needs to do is tell the truth & have a reasonable plan for high\nbandwidth customers. Instead they treat these customers like criminals & turn\ninto the data gestapo.\n\nIn the meantime, TMobile seems to be quite profitable.\n\n[http://www.wsj.com/articles/t-mobile-raises-subscriber-\ngrowt...](http://www.wsj.com/articles/t-mobile-raises-subscriber-growth-\noutlook-1438257047)\n\n------\njoezydeco\nWait - so TMO monitors your data usage and throttles you down when you exceed\nyour cap on a _phone_ , but doesn't do this for hotspots and trusts the\nhotspot to police the data cap?\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nNo, I think the phone sends a certain bit to their servers when you're\ntethering, to say \"this data is from tethering\", and they only allow a certain\ncap for that. These \"omg hackers\" found a way to prevent that bit from being\nsent, forcing the carrier to make good on their promise of \"unlimited data\",\nwhich the carrier doesn't want to do.\n\n~~~\nmmcclure\n> forcing the carrier to make good on their promise of \"unlimited data\"\n\nI'm on the fence about what I think about the announcement itself (because of\nthe implications around enforcement), but this is a pretty untenable argument\nif you want to get into \"promises\", or, who's really breaking their contract.\n\nContractually, the promise is unlimited data _without_ tethering. Explicitly.\nIf we want to talk about who's breaking what promises by rooting phones to\nbypass tethering data limits, it's actually the \"omg hackers\".\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nHow do they know it's people tethering? How do they know it's not someone just\ndoing all their downloading on the phone and then transferring it to the\ncomputer or whatnot?\n\nThe only clue they have that these people were tethering was that they used 2\nTB, but they may just as well have been watching a lot of Netflix on their\ntablet.\n\n~~~\njsnell\n> The only clue they have that these people were tethering was that they used\n> 2 TB\n\nThat's not true, and it's kind of uncharitable of you to assign malice and\ntechnical incompetence to T-Mobile. There can be all kinds of differences in\nthe tethered traffic patterns vs. native phone traffic. For example:\n\n\\- Differences in IP TTL of packets\n\n\\- Differences in TCP options, advertised windows, and so on\n\n\\- Differences in packet ordering / RTTs (if you've got interleaved TCP flows\none which is terminated at the phone and one which isn't, you'd see the\nterminated packets being acknowledged sooner)\n\n\\- Differences in the application layer data (for example the user agent\nfield)\n\nThe people who are camouflaging their tethering would of course try to apply\ncountermeasures against as many things as possible. But if they miss one kind\nof fingerprint, it could be used to detect the tethering. That'd be the case\nif it's a signal that'd be hard to deal with by a realtime automated system,\nbut requires some kind of expensive offline analysis.\n\n------\nmrrrgn\nI noticed that when I hit my tethering cap, and start seeing an upsell page,\nmy Linux vms can still access content like normal. Seems that they do all of\ntheir fancy tracking via user agent strings and consider Linux browsers as\nbeing smart phones.\n\nIf true, it means that Linux users might end up getting accused of being ToS\nbreaking \"hackers.\" Beware.\n\n~~~\niotku\nI wouldn't be surprised if how these \"Hackers\" were getting around the data\nlimits was far from sophisticated.\n\nI've ended up getting around somewhat similar restrictions accidentally due to\npoor implementations.\n\n------\nNovaS1X\nCan someone clarify this for me (still haven't finished my coffee yet): If\nT-Mobile is offering \"Unlimited Mobile Hotspot\" data as a part of their plans\nthen how exactly is this stealing?\n\n~~~\nJohnTHaller\nThey don't advertise unlimited hot spot. They advertise unlimited data for\nyour mobile device and 6gb of hot spot data. Some users are cheating and\nmasking their hot spot data used by multiple PCs and sometimes servers to get\naround the 6gb limit without having to pay for the additional hot spot data.\n\n~~~\nthescriptkiddie\nYou actually don't have to do any masking, it just works. It's not like your\nphone tells T-Mobile's servers when you start tethering, or they can detect\ntethering through DPI. It all looks the same to them. So when they accuse\ncustomers of \"cheating\" because they neglected to obey a hidden clause in a\ncontract they didn't read, it comes across as insulting.\n\n~~~\nryan-c\nAndroid's built in tethering absolutely does explicitly tell T-Mobile you're\nusing it. [http://danielpocock.com/android-betrays-tethering-\ndata](http://danielpocock.com/android-betrays-tethering-data)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nA startup’s plan to sell solar like cell phones - FluidDjango\nhttp://gigaom.com/cleantech/a-startups-plan-to-sell-solar-like-cell-phones/\n======\namalcon\nFrom a marketing perspective this seems absolutely genius.\n\nFrom an engineering perspective, it seems completely backwards. The coupling\nbetween the actual cost of the system and what the user pays is minimal:\ndrawing more power doesn't actually increase wear on the solar cells. Really,\nall they have done is wired a meter whose sole purpose is to waste electricity\nif the user isn't paying.\n\nIf it works, and if it successfully brings electricity to people who would\nreally benefit, I can't argue with it. It just seems so very wrong from an\nengineering perspective.\n\n------\ndmbass\nDoesn't this model work for cell phones because they are really cheap and the\nprovider doesn't care if they get lost/stop paying? Afaik solar panels are\nexpensive to make so how does this make any sense?\n\n~~~\nmeow\nA 50W solar panel isn't all that costly (150-200$). This model is just a way\nto 'loan' these devices for consumers who can't afford even those. You will be\nsurprised by how much utility these small capacity solar panels might provide\neven for those Indian consumers connected to grid (if they provide 2 lamps/ 1\nfan as mentioned). This is because in rural areas, power cuts of around 8\nhours/per day are very common.\n\n------\ndfxm12\nI wonder what their overhead is for going to rural areas to install/service\nthese devices.\n\n~~~\nGiraffeNecktie\nProbably not too bad since labour costs in rural areas are very low. I'm not\nsure what they are now, but unskilled labour used to be about $3 a day. I\nremember when I was in India seeing guys climbing telephone poles with no\nsafety equipment whatsoever, just raggedy street clothes and flip flop\nsandals.\n\n------\nmmatey\nCurious how they would keep them from not just ripping off the meter?\n\n~~~\nbobds\nI wonder why they chose a pay-as-you-go system depending on how much energy\nthey use.\n\nI think this would be much better as a rent-to-own program with a flat monthly\nfee.\n\n~~~\nmarquis\nSeasonal work, summer hours, school and other needs take precedence over what\na family spends money on, on a month-to-month basis. Pay-as-you-go electricity\nis common in some western countries and it is not unusual for there to be days\nwhere the family cannot afford to top-up until pay-day again, where food etc\ncomes first as a primary need.\n\n------\nww520\nCell phone can be cut off at anytime so as making it easy to link its access\nto continuous payments. The company has little leverage against the cell panel\nusers due to non-payment.\n\n~~~\njustsomedood\nThese look like pre-paid power-minutes or something similar. So you pay for\n500 minutes of power, and when you've used it all the power stops. When the\nsolar panel knows when you've paid for however many minutes are required to\n\"own\" the device you stop having to buy minutes for it.\n\nSo they could run the risk of people just not paying for the device anymore\nbecause they can't afford or don't want it anymore, or tamper with it to try\nand get it working without paying it off. They'd still have the 10% initial\nfee plus any minutes they paid for already.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nInterview with \"The Founder's Dilemmas\" Author Noam Wasserman - tmflannery\nhttp://startupharbor.me/2012/09/17/the-founders-dilemmas/\n\n======\ntmflannery\nFred Wilson asked for it a long time ago in this post:\n[http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/09/moneyball-for-\nstartups-1.htm...](http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/09/moneyball-for-\nstartups-1.html). I think Noam hit it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: How to get a programming job as a twice exceptional? - twExceptional\nhttps:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Twice_exceptional<p>I have a CS degree. I have been unable to get a job for 2 years. I have obvious symptoms of being 2e. I usually fail the communication portion or get rejected due to low GPA. My tech skills are decent.<p>Are there any services that can help me?\n======\nmattbgates\nI failed miserably when they gave me a math portion, but they still hired me,\nbecause I knew the language and I was good at logic.\n\nAnyways, you might want to try a job site like\n[https://codefights.com/jobs](https://codefights.com/jobs) in which they test\nyou on your coding skills.\n\nI would also suggest getting together whatever projects you have worked on and\nyour portfolio and resume.\n\nAside from that, I highly, highly recommend you go back to the college you\ngraduated from and see a career counselor. Why do I recommend this? They can\nlikely help you with your interview skills and personality. (Believe it - a\nsense of humor helps)\n\nI'm convinced that personality plays a huge role in helping with the hiring\nprocess, and since you claim you fail the communication portion of your\ninterview, it may be that you just need some help with your people skills.\n\nWhile GPA matters slightly, a good personality can probably explain yourself\nout of why that isn't important in who you are.\n\nAdditional advice:\n\n\\- Make sure you have nice clothes to wear to the interview with a nice pair\nof shoes. (hopefully a strong resemblance to what you will be wearing and feel\ncomfortable in, business casual)\n\n\\- Make sure your hygiene is on par along with a nice smelling cologne (if you\nknow any women at all, ask them if they could come shopping with you or find a\nwoman at the store -- the clerk who will likely be standing near the cologne /\nperfume section -- and ask her for an appropriate \"business casual cologne\")\n\n\\- Make sure you appear confident (even if you have to spend hours in front of\nthe mirror practicing)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAresDB: Uber's GPU-Powered Open Source, Real-Time Analytics Engine - Recovery2020\nhttps://ubere.ng/2HzMPVK\n======\nuberemployee\nWhen I worked at Uber, this project was openly mocked. One of the CTO’s\nbiggest failures was implementing a promotion scheme where you needed to\ncreate a new service in order to be considered “innovative”. This promotion\nscheme marked what I consider the end of Uber’s engineering excellence and the\nstart of what made Uber turn into a bureaucratic mess.\n\nOne of the VP’s of engineering called it “toil vs talent”. People who “toiled”\nat work, meaning doing good maintenance work, would be rewarded with good\nbonuses but those with “talent” would be rewarded with promotions. Of course\nthis drove people to come up with fake new services so that they could\ndemonstrate “talent”. This also lead to an explosion of new services that\noverlapped or did nothing useful. Instead of working together, groups would\nmake new services instead of working with existing service-owners because they\nneeded to justify writing a new service. It was sickeningly transparent.\n\nThis project was one of those projects. It has no real use case because why\nthe fuck would we want to use GPUs except to look cool on your resume. The sad\nthing is that the projects is overstating how well it’s being used internally.\nInternally people use Pinot instead of this.\n\nFor all you future CTOs, consider your incentive schemes carefully and don’t\nbe so far removed from the action that you can’t see when your org is rotting.\nThis is what the CTO did, and like I said, it was one of his biggest failures\nbecause it gutted the engineering org. Instead of working together, every team\nwas looking at get promotions at the expense of the company and it showed.\n\n~~~\nPragmaticPulp\nI wish I had understood this earlier. My past company made a push to hire from\ntop companies like Uber for some key positions. Some of them were great people\nwho were relieved to be out of the FAANG rat race. Others were single-mindedly\nfocused on rewriting everything they touched with cleverly-branded project\nnames, regardless of whether or not it made business sense.\n\nEarly I on, I made a harmless comment in Slack about how one person’s pet\nproject wasn’t a good fit for our needs so our team would be using the older,\nmore proven solution. Later that evening the person pulled me aside, almost in\ntears, begging me to never say anything critical about his project in a Slack\nchannel again. He explained that at his previous role, success or failure\ndepends entirely on the perception of one’s personal projects and that\nseemingly innocent comments could tank someone’s promotion chances for years.\n\nI felt bad for him because he had clearly come out of a toxic situation.\nHowever, one of his teammates later warned me that he was keeping a journal of\npotentially incriminating things that I had said in Slack and a detailed log\nof every issue that he could find with our team’s project in case he “had to\nuse it against me later”.\n\nI could never tell if this was a unique experience or the norm at some\ncompanies like Uber.\n\n~~~\nuberemployee\nWhat you describe was definitely not a common occurrence. Engineering wasn’t\ntoxic for many years until the last 9-12 months or so I would say. Pre-Susan\nFowler memo, it was the best company I had ever worked at. From 2017-2019 we\nsort of stalled because of the internal drama and it didn’t get really bad\nuntil the last 9 months, where attrition of our best engineers and vile\npolitical maneuvering from the dregs made it too much for me to stick around.\n\nThe engineer you describe sounds like they have mental health issues. There\nmay be some teams with terrible managers but all companies have this, and I’ve\nseen similar or worse situations at Amazon.\n\nMost engineers I worked with were great but there were many engineers that\n“played the game” in order to get a promotion and more money. It was sickening\nbut if that’s the way the CTO sets the incentive scheme, who can blame an\nengineer for following it? It’s more on the CTO for setting the terrible\nculture than the engineers.\n\n~~~\nkamaal\nBeing blind to politics rarely ever means politics isn't going on.\n\nPretty much every company out there has a concept of _' promotion packet'_,\nits basically building a case for one's promotion. Of course in a company the\nbudgets are fixed, and so are promotion cycles(yearly in most places). You\nmiss out a turn, you could lose an year, or even risk losing two. In that case\nits fairly common for managers to build a list of\naccomplishments(file/packet), and rival managers to build a anti-case/defence\nfor the same. Stack ranking eventually is all about a combination of\nmerit+advocacy+lobbying+counter-lobbying at so many levels that I'd say the\nengineer who cried wasn't wrong at all.\n\nThis is the case in nearly every company. We just wish to delude ourselves\nthat politics is absent at some places.\n\nThis sort of power play comes with the territory in a large people structure.\n\n------\nstatictype\n> Like Pinot, Elasticsearch is a JVM-based database, and as such, does not\n> support joins\n\nUh. What does the JVM have to do with the data model’s ability to do handle\njoins?\n\n~~~\nEdwardDiego\nYeah that's a very odd statement, I mean, PrestoDB, Impala, KSQL...\n\n------\neinpoklum\nGPUs and analytic DBMSes / query engines are actually my own field of research\n([https://eyalroz.github.io);](https://eyalroz.github.io\\);) and it's\nobviously beyond what a comment would encompass, but:\n\n1\\. There are very few analytic DBMSes which are actually fast (and compare\nagainst reasonable baselines). Most claims of speed are bogus. Or rather,\nmight be better than what's otherwise available to use, but are still slow.\n\n2\\. Designing an analytic DBMS to properly utilize a massively-parallel\nprocessing device is a monumental task, and I would claim that it has not yet\nbeen undertaken. Existing research and production systems graft such use onto\na system whose fundamental design dates back to the 1980s in many ways.\n\n3\\. CPU-utilizing anallytic DBMSes are typically faster than GPU-based ones,\nto a great extent due to the above - but also since we've had decades of work\non optimizing them.\n\n4\\. GPUs are artificially handicapped on Intel-architecture systems, because\nthey are placed \"far\" from main memory relative to the CPU. More literally -\nthe bandwidth you get t between your GPU and main memory is typically 0.25x\nthe bandwidth a CPU socket has with main memory. This is critical for analytic\nquery processing (as opposed to neural network simulation which is more\ncomputation-heavy and can tolerate this handicap much better).\n\n\\--\n\nPS - Always glad to discuss this further with whoever is interested.\n\n~~~\nbronxbomber92\nHow much would the trade offs change if GPUs shared the same main memory as\nCPU?\n\n~~~\neinpoklum\nNot sure I understand exactly which trade-off you're referring to, but on\nsystems without the GPU-handicapping (e.g. IBM Power; and also when you put\nlink up many GPUs together with NVLink) - there is still a significant design\nand implementation challenge to produce a full-fledged analytic DBMS,\ncompetitive vis-a-vis the state-of-the-art CPU-based systems.\n\nThere are also other considerations such as: The desire to combine analytics\nand transactions; performance-per-Watt rather than per-processor; performance-\nper-cubic-meter; existing deployed cluster hardware; vendor lock-in risk; etc.\n\n------\nsocial_quotient\nCurious - what’s the use case for an organization like Uber needing real time\nanalytics at high frame rates? I noticed the emphasis on dashboards but was\ncurious what a real-time dashboard at this scale actually ends up being used\nfor.\n\nMaybe my question is more around, what business decision would be impacted by\nnot having real-time instantly reserved dashboards.\n\nHonest question here not trolling.\n\n~~~\nDonald\nAll sorts of departments at Uber use real-time queries (operations,\nmarketplace, eats, new mobility, their data science and growth group, finance,\ncommunications, legal.) Marketplace in particular has a demand for real-time\nprediction, matching and dispatching, and pricing queries.\n\n~~~\nbogomipz\nI understand why any marketplace-based system would need real time data but\nwhy would any of \"growth group, finance, communications, legal\" require real-\ntime data to do their jobs?\n\n------\ned25519FUUU\nIt must have been fun to be at Uber 2017-2019. They seemed to have an\nunlimited appetite (and funding) for “invent it here”, and a lot of those\nprojects made it into open source.\n\n~~~\ntyingq\nI'm sure it was fun, but it does seem to point at a lack of focus. I suppose\nthat's hard to resist when there's an endless pipeline of money.\n\n------\nuberOG\nI worked at Uber before. The team and the project is pretty much gutted after\nlast couple layoffs. Check the commit history/contributors and go figure.\n\nIt was some amazing tech, but it falls into the category of \"when all you have\na hammer, everything looks like nail\". sometimes you really need a company\nculture to reward people for creating values instead of deliverable for\npromotion\n\n------\nDevKoala\nDoes anybody with Clickhouse experience at scale know if AresDB is better on\nsome use cases?\n\n~~~\nhodgesrm\nIt's hard to say, though I think the UPSERT capability looks useful because it\nsimplifies handling duplicates. On the other hand it does not appear that Ares\noffers clustering, which is critical for large datasets.\n\n(I work on ClickHouse and enjoyed this article when it came out.)\n\n~~~\neinpoklum\nIt should be mentioned, to ClickHouse' credit, that they made an effort to\npublish relatively detailed benchmark results for a some data sets and\nqueries, when they first came out. They even got in contact with my research\ngroup at the time (the MonetDB group at CWI) to make an effort to present the\nMonetDB results in a fair manner.\n\n------\nkuharich\nPast comments:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19028860](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19028860)\n\n~~~\nramoz\n> GPU databases are brilliant for cases where the working set can live\n> entirely within the GPU's memory. For most applications with much larger (or\n> more dynamic) working sets, the PCIe bus becomes a significant performance\n> bottleneck. This is their traditional niche.\n\n> That said, I've heard anecdotes from people I trust that heavily optimized\n> use of CPU vector instructions is competitive with GPUs for database use\n> cases.\n\nThis comment is important imo. Also related to applied ML inference in\napplications... the memory needs can grow quite a bit and this data transfer\ncost, including the memory size limitations vs RAM, becomes very real very\nfast.\n\nNot sure I understand the scale of the use case or where it's mentioned as\nwell as in comparison to the big data tools mentioned.\n\n~~~\nkanwisher\nNext gen Nvidia 30x0 series, can have direct access to SSD without hitting the\nCPU. In that case would they be any worse than cpus on any workloads? I guess\nyou could still have larger ram amounts on the cpu, albeit slower ram usually\n\n~~~\nWanderPanda\nWow nvidia is selling SBCs now?\n\n~~~\nReactiveJelly\nNo, there's a new thing about giving GPUs some kind of DMA to storage. And\nit's pointless on HDDs, so it's only discussed in terms of SSDs.\n\nMicrosoft is bringing the DirectStorage API from XBox to Windows, Nvidia calls\ntheirs RTX IO. I think they're the same class of idea, like Vulken vs. Metal.\n\nThey do have SBCs, I think, but other than being the basis for the Nintendo\nSwitch I haven't heard much about them.\n\n------\nbriandilley\n> Like Pinot, Elasticsearch is a JVM-based database, and as such, does not\n> support joins and its query execution runs at a higher memory cost.\n\nWhat does the JVM have to do with joins?\n\n------\nkevsim\n> In the past, we have utilized many third-party database solutions for real-\n> time analytics, but none were able to simultaneously address all of our\n> functional, scalability, performance, cost, and operational requirements.\n\nCompletely original excuse for an over-staffed engineering organization to\njustify doing some crazy stuff.\n\n------\ngrej\nDoes anyone know how this compares to the RapidsAI project called BlazingSql?\n\n~~~\nroaramburu\nHowdy, full disclosure I'm the CEO at BlazingSQL (BSQL).\n\nI'm not incredibly familiar with Ares save the linked article, but we aren't a\nDBMS or manage data in any way.\n\nBlazingSQL is a SQL engine, it's easier to think of it similar to SparkSQL,\nPresto, Drill, etc.\n\nWe're core contributors to RAPIDS cuDF (CUDA DataFrame), which is a Pyhton and\nC++ library for Apache Arrow in-GPU memory. The Python library follows a\npandas-like API, and the compute kernels are in C/C++.\n\nBSQL binds to the same C++ as the pandas-like cuDF. What this enables users to\ndo is interact with a DataFrame with either SQL or pandas depending on their\nneeds or preferences. This interoperability means that the rest of the RAPIDS\nstack can be applied to a variety of different use cases (data viz, ML, Graph,\nSignal Processing, DL, etc), with the same DataFrame.\n\nThe DataFrame also has performant libraries for IO, Joins, Aggregations, Math\noperations, and more.\n\nHere is an example of running a query on ~1TB on a single GPU in under 9\nminutes. The data was stored on AWS S3 in Apache Parquet.\n[https://twitter.com/blazingsql/status/1303370102348361729](https://twitter.com/blazingsql/status/1303370102348361729)\n\nHere is an example of scaling that same query up to 32 GPUs and running it in\n16 seconds.\n[https://twitter.com/blazingsql/status/1304450203030880257](https://twitter.com/blazingsql/status/1304450203030880257)\n\nAgain, think of BSQL as a query engine, that runs queries on data wherever and\nhowever you have it. Here is a BSQL user running 1-2 minute queries on 1.5TB\nof CSV files using 2 GPUs.\n[https://twitter.com/tomekdrabas/status/1303824164273270789](https://twitter.com/tomekdrabas/status/1303824164273270789)\n\nLet me know if that helps at all (or not).\n\n------\nshaklee3\nThis should have the 2019 tag in the title\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNetflix is down. Some tweets say scheduled maintenance on Sat Evening. Wtf? - BIackSwan\nhttps://twitter.com/#!/search/netflix\n======\nhollerith\nWas up for me first time I saw this submission, but a few minutes later it\nwent down, saying \"Streaming is temporarily unavailable.\"\n\n------\nchokolad\nUp and running for me right now.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nIs this research on Roundup as damning as it looks? - aethertap\n\nI started reading this paper [1] on the effects of glyphosphate and quickly realized that I'm way out of my depth here. The claim they make is very bold, basically that glyphosphate inhibits a critical enzyme (Cytochrome p450), ultimately leading to many of our modern diseases through a process that damages gut microbes.<p>While I'm not a fan of glyphosphate or the model of agriculture it supports (for other reasons not relevant here), I don't know anywhere near enough about biochemistry to know whether there's any merit to this paper's conclusions. Are there others in this community who can shed some light on this?<p>[1] http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/15/4/1416\n======\nPaulHoule\nWell, Cyto P450 is involved in the detoxification of drugs such as\ndextromethorphan. Two important things about it are: (1) it is possible to\noverwhelm P450 activity which will slow down the metabolism of other\nP450-metabolized drugs (drug interactions) and (2) a big chunk of the\npopulation (I think 10-20%) have insufficient P450 function and they\nmetabolize P450-toxins slower than most other people.\n\nOf course the dose makes the poison. It's not a good idea to guzzle roundup.\nIt's not particularly persistent and I don't think you're at a risk of eating\nit from food or spraying roundup to kill a weed now and then.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAWS Costs Cheat Sheet (Updated) - edbyrne\nhttps://cloudvertical.com/cloud-costs\n\n======\npixeloution\nThis is a very nice tool, although it should really have \"include upfront\namortization cost\" checked by default, otherwise the \"75% savings\" for a\n1-year heavy reserve is very misleading.\n\nI'd previously done the same on a spreadsheet but its nice to have this tool\ninstead.\n\n~~~\nedbyrne\nThanks for the feedback. We can enable by default no problem - we just left it\nout since the upfront cost is included in the list.\n\nI had a spreadsheet prior to this too ... that's why we decided to publish it\n(and programmatically keep it updated so it's always right - spreadsheets are\ntiresome to maintain!)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThe Hidden Co-Founder - remyt\nhttp://techcrunch.com/2015/03/05/the-hidden-co-founder/\n\n======\nrifung\nIt's fascinating that some founders will always post things like this, \"I\ndon’t think true work/life balance is possible in the day-to-day reality of\nstartups\" and yet others say that there's really no need to sacrifice work\nlife balance even at a start up, and that if you are working yourself to\ndeath, you aren't working smart.\n\nI suppose there's not necessarily a right answer.\n\n~~~\nonion2k\nPeople who say it isn't possible to maintain a work/life balance in a startup\nare usually those who find it hard to delegate - they don't have people around\nthem that they trust to do as good a job of something as they do themselves so\nthey refuse to hand responsibility to other people or accept that they aren't\nthe best person for the job.\n\nIn a small startup that's fine because there aren't that many things to do. A\nfounder _can_ be the developer, support, strategist, and marketer all at once.\nArguably it's even a good thing at that stage because it keeps the burn rate\ndown. The problems arise when there's too much growth for the jobs to be all\nbe done, or even just overseen, by a founder. Then they struggle and start to\nhold the business back.\n\nA good founder is always be looking for people who are _better_ than they are\nto hand things over to. That's how a business succeeds.\n\n~~~\nlouischatriot\nAbsolutely. It's crucial for a founder to be able to take a step back and\nthink strategically. Being always under water and completing task after task\nprevents you from seeing the big picture and taking the big decisions.\n\n------\ndavidw\nIf you're interested in this kind of thing, Sherry and Rob Walling have been\ndoing a nice podcast here: [http://zenfounder.com/](http://zenfounder.com/)\n\nHighly recommended, although I hope that sooner or later they'll add a\ntranscript.\n\n------\nthomasatethose\nisn't this just a different way of saying success is who you know, not what\nyou know?\n\nalso what do you do if you don't have any of those support systems or\nconnection networks?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Economy According To Mint - bd\nhttp://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/30/the-economy-according-to-mint/\n======\nvaksel\nif their average user spends $4,000 a month(before savings etc), wouldn't this\nmean that this data is pretty much useless? I mean sure it might help you\nidentify some middle class families trends but thats about it\n\nBased on that data an average minter makes at least $4,100 x 12 * 1.33(to\naccount for taxes) = $65,436...and thats specific spending, who knows what %\nof their income gets saved or invested.\n\nSo thats the 10% or so of the population who are well off, what about all\nthose people making less than 70-80K?\n\n~~~\nsangaya\nThe data is likely limited in scope by more than just income. For instance,\nits a web-based startup. This means that users of it are more likely to be\ntech savvy. It also means that the users are younger, which gives the baby\nboomers a weaker representation.\n\nMint is also a money management site, so by it's very nature it's users are\ninterested in properly managing their money. People who care about proper\nmoney management are probably doing a better job of making/saving/investing\nit.\n\nMy life experience is limited (I'm only 24) but from it I can say with\nconfidence that the majority of people in my community, family, school, etc\nare not tech savvy, don't worry about managing money, and frankly most still\nbelieve that if you can't buy the software at bestbuy or walmart it's not made\nby a reputable company.\n\n~~~\njerf\nYes, this struck me as a classic example of how you can't just say \"Look, I\nhave a huge sample, so it's statistically valid!\" (1% is a huge sample by\nstatistical standards at this scale... or it would be if it were properly\nrandom.) The bias in the data is strong and pervasive.\n\nHaving such a huge sample means that the data does at least mean _something_.\nIt does indeed tell us something about the habits of those likely to sign up\nfor that service, after all. It's just that converting that to the universal\ndata we're all really interested in is non-trivial, and if the bias is strong\nenough, basically impossible if the projection of the noise dominates the\nsignal.\n\n(In other news, this article worked. I'm seriously considering signing up. :)\nInformative marketing, the best kind.)\n\n------\njacoblyles\nI wonder if they took into account normal seasonal variation in their data.\nFrom the looks of it, they didn't.\n\nIt's mighty hard to draw conclusions from one year's worth of data. We see\nconsumer spending spiking again in December. Is it Christmas (.com), or is it\na recovery?\n\n~~~\nmarketer\nI completely agree. They claim this is a 'quantitative' analysis, but it's\nreally anecdotally describing a graph. They should have removed seasonal\nvariations, used a larger data set, and tried a couple time series models.\nMaybe in a couple years, when they actually have more data, it will be more\nmeaningful.\n\n------\nBFalkner\nIt mentions that \"the WSJ used our empirical data on bank fees to identify the\nworst banking offenders\" but no link to an article and I'm coming up short\nwith Google. Has anybody seen this?\n\n------\njderick\n~300$/mo for a financial advisor?\n\n------\njupiter\nThis is very insightful and because it's real life data (as opposed to data\ngathered/guessed/invented by agencies) it has authenticity. Patzer should be\nofficial advisor to the government.\n\n~~~\niron_ball\nBy 'agencies' I assume you mean government agencies; and by\n\"gathered/guessed/invented\" I assume you mean government agencies are wildly\ninaccurate. Citation needed.\n\n------\nsocmoth\nthis is the best techcrunch article posted in ages. (we've had a negative\ntrend, just giving credit where it is due, even if it is just a guest\narticle.)\n\n------\nlionhearted\nAnyone have numbers for revenue or projected lifetime value of a customer for\nMint? It looks like they've raised over $19m in venture capital and I like\nwhat they do - I'd be curious how they're doing on money.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSublime Git is a clean code editor for merge conflicts - bedros\nhttps://thenextweb.com/dd/2018/09/21/sublime-git-is-a-clean-code-editor-for-merge-conflicts/\n======\nmockindignant\nThe product is called Sublime Merge.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGetting Started with Algorithmic Cryptocurrency Trading - jaynagpaul\nhttps://jaynagpaul.com/algorithmic-crypto-trading\n======\nbrndnmtthws\nIf you want to lose money, this is a good way to do it.\n\nYou're better off buying what you believe in and holding it. It's easy to fit\na perfect model to historical data, but it rarely works going forward, unless\nyou have insider information.\n\n~~~\na13n\nCan you expand on why you don't think algo trading with predictive algorithms\nis a viable strategy?\n\nGDAX has 0% fees on limit orders. Say you set a limit sell at +1% and a stop\nloss at -1%. You could trigger a buy whenever you predict that it's >80%\nlikely to hit +1% before -1%.\n\nPlug in everything you can get (trades, order book, etc) from GDAX's WebSocket\nAPI into an RNN, and I'd guess you can be right more than you're wrong. Aka\nprofitable.\n\n~~~\nadjkant\nAnother interesting idea is that patterns can hold if the market is mostly\nbeing affected by bots. Especially at the micro level.\n\nEven basic ML/AI strategies can be easily profitable with the current\nvolatility. It drastically reduces the risk of the HOLD strategy, and while\nnot necessarily the top profits, can be much safer.\n\nI've been running various algorithms for the past 4 months with varying\nsuccess (whole system homemade in Python), all profitable.\n\nI'd also note that as mentioned elsewhere in the thread, what algorithm is\nvery important. This market is like few others, and thus I have found lends\nitself to very different strategies.\n\n~~~\na13n\nSee? Now there's a blog post I'd read!\n\n------\nscottmsul\nI was hoping to see some discussion about market-making bots or arbitrage\nbots, which I know for a fact can make money. Can these kinds of prediction\nbots actually beat random chance? I assumed price fluctuations mostly followed\na random walk.\n\n~~~\njoosters\nThat's not really related to it being a bot, though. For any form of trading\n(whether manually or through some form of automation), of course there's going\nbe some choice of buys & sells that return a profit.\n\nHow you choose such a profitable strategy is a huge area of discussion.\nHowever, it's a completely different subject to the article, which is just\nfocused on the mechanism of running a bot.\n\n------\nbigiain\n> # Install NPM dependencies\n\n> $ npm install\n\nSo we know for sure that there's not a malicious leftpad.js getting pulled in\nthere that looks for and exfiltrates your exchange credentials?\n\nYeah - I'm not going there... Not anywhere near there...\n\n------\noil7abibi\nAll this post is how to set up a github project. Nothing more. I’d hope to\nrather see writing on portfolio management, risk management, or other\nstrategies.\n\nThat said, Zenbot actually provides a decent platform to start trading.\n\n------\nlvturner\nThanks for this - would be nice if the article included an example on how a\nstrategy was built, or how to add additional ones into the framework.\n\n------\njiggunjer\nI've heard of strategies where multiple accounts can collude to manipulate the\nsolo bots that make statistical decisions. Is this a real danger when\nprofessional companies start getting involved in crypto?\n\n~~~\na13n\nHmm, just looking at GDAX's API, you aren't able to tell who's making an\norder. You don't know if it's one account with ten orders, or ten accounts\nwith one each. So I don't see why multiple accounts would be an advantage.\n\n~~~\nlvturner\nOne thing that springs to mind is that it would allow you to have POSITIONS on\nboth sides of the market, you could use this to create a series of small sell\norders that would lure the bots down towards a larger buy order.\n\nYou could do this by just placing orders, but I guess in some instances it\nwould be beneficial to be able to hold positions in both directions.\n\n~~~\nRandomInteger4\nThe API let's you take positions on both sides with a single account, or\nprevent yourself from self-trades by setting a flag.\n\nEDIT: Nvm, the flag just specifies what the behavior is in the event that the\nsystem encounters a self-trade: decrement and cancel, cancel resting, cancel\nincoming, cancel both.\n\n------\nlocusm\nThis reminded me of Tradewave back in 2014, any idea what happened to it?\n\n~~~\nsenatorobama\n[https://archive.is/ZvE6z](https://archive.is/ZvE6z)\n\n~~~\nlocusm\nThanks.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: An ATS with smart requirements, digital profiles and more - micael_dias\nhttps://www.mropus.com\n======\nmicael_dias\nHi guys, I've developed Mr. Opus in the last few years (with big breaks in\nbetween) but I feel it's now in a good place to see the world.\n\nFeatures: \\- smart job requirements include professional field experience,\neducation experience, language spoken and country of residence. If the\napplicant doesn't meet them, he can't apply.\n\n\\- digital profiles so you won't have to parse cvs as word documents anymore\n\nThere's quite a few features I want to add in the future but for the time\nbeing, give it a try and let me know what you think! The first job opening is\nfree.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMSBuild is now open source on GitHub - pauljz\nhttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/dotnet/archive/2015/03/18/msbuild-engine-is-now-open-source-on-github.aspx\n======\njammycakes\nThe problem with MSBuild is that it tends to get used for things for which it\nis not really designed.\n\nMSBuild was originally designed as a file format for Visual Studio solution\nand project files, generally intended to be managed by a GUI. If all you are\ninterested in is spitting out binaries, it works pretty well, and the fact\nthat it adds a ton of extensibility is actually quite useful.\n\nIt becomes problematic though when people try to use it to manage their entire\nend-to-end build process -- running tests, generating reports, stopping and\nstarting servers, manipulating configuration files and so on. When you get to\nthat level you really need a proper scripting language with a clean, readable\nway of expressing loops, conditions and subroutines, and that's where MSBuild\nfalls down -- XML is horrible for that kind of thing, and the declarative,\ntask-based paradigm simply isn't flexible enough.\n\nUnfortunately, because of the all too common insistence of many .NET teams on\nbeing spoon-fed by Microsoft, a lot of projects stick with MSBuild for their\nentire end-to-end build process regardless, simply because they believe That\nIs How Microsoft Wants You To Do It.\n\n~~~\nraverbashing\n> XML is horrible for that kind of thing, and the declarative, task-based\n> paradigm simply isn't flexible enough.\n\nOf course! That's why the Java world uses maven\n\nIt makes no sense, but hey, it's XML\n\n~~~\nkyllo\nTask running is more what Ant is for, isn't it? Maven is more of a dependency\nmanagement tool than a task runner. A lot of Java projects use both tools\ntogether for builds.\n\nI've never used it, but MSBuild sounds like Microsoft's version of Ant to me.\n\n~~~\neropple\nMSBuild has a lot of Ant-yness to it, yes. However, I quibble with your\ndefinition of Maven as a dependency manager--it has one (and the independent\nimplementation that can work with Maven repos is Apache Ivy) but I've never\nseen a Java project use both. Usually somebody jams some sort of runner into a\nMaven project as a different build step or something.\n\n~~~\nkyllo\n_Usually somebody jams some sort of runner into a Maven project as a different\nbuild step or something_\n\nLike this? [http://maven.apache.org/ant-tasks/](http://maven.apache.org/ant-\ntasks/)\n\n~~~\neropple\nIf you're lucky. I've seen a lot more home-rolled ones in Java.\n\n~~~\nkyllo\nYeah... I've also worked on corporate Java projects with no Ant, Maven, nor\nhand-rolled substitute, where the build process was to download the\ndependencies' jars from the internet manually into /lib.\n\n------\nMrZipf\nIIRC MSBuild was the brain child of Alex Kipman, father of Kinect and\nHoloLens. As legend tells it he lashed up a demo version over a weekend and\npitched it successfully in the corridor shortly thereafter. The rest is\nhistory.\n\nMSBuild is essentially a clone ant, and it's not a bad tool per se. For the\ndevdiv engineering team it allowed them to get off the horrible pre-msbuild\nproject files.\n\nThe messiness came with solution files (since VS uses solution files and\nproject files). Unfortunately, they left the also awful solution files around.\nAnd this added an alternate way to specify dependencies between projects. VS\nsolution files are awful to maintain - just a bag of guids that makes\nresolving conflicts very hard for humans and VS is poor at automatically\nresolving them (very noticeable when you get >3 developers on a project).\n\nThe solution to the messiness would be to use an MSBuild project file instead\nof a solution file. It'd have to conform to a schema VS understands, but it's\nnot rocket science. However, fixing this would require the VS source code and\nMSFT to accept a patch.\n\nUsing Visual Studio, gui or command line, uses the MSBuild engine though the\nVS wrapping does some internal caching that occasionally makes it wrong (ah!\nThere's a cryptic flag that fixes this).\n\n~~~\nstinos\n_The solution to the messiness would be to use an MSBuild project file instead\nof a solution file._\n\nRead somewhere this is definitely on the dev team's list, but cannot find it\nanymore. When building a solution it is first converted to an msbuild file\nwhich is then built. So all that is left is to add VS gui support for such\nfiles to treat them as project containers, and then it's byebye sln.\n\n~~~\nMrZipf\nThat's good news. I left MSFT last year and know some of the internal build\ntoolsets have their own similar solution, but it's not integrated with Visual\nStudio.\n\n------\nrsuelzer\nFantastic. As a .NET Developer, who has been forced into doing Ruby and Java\ndevelopment, I really miss the .NET framework and c#. I'm hoping that this\nmove toward open source will help more open-source projects adopt .NET. C# is\nsuch a wonderful language and anything that helps make it more mainstream in\nthe open-source community is a Good Thing.\n\n~~~\nryan-allen\nAs a .NET developer who has wholly abandoned Ruby and it's culture, I'm having\nthe time of my life!\n\nC# and Visual Studio are seriously good tools. I'm using Typescript and\nAngular, too. Good times!\n\n~~~\nghuntley\nThis * 10000.\n\n------\nzaphar\nI have a hate/hate relationship with msbuild as a build tool.\n\nHowever the mono xbuild tool has subtle incompatibilities and holes in\nfunctionality as compared to msbuild so for no other reason than having the\n\"same\" build tool in mono and .Net I applaud this move.\n\n------\nserve_yay\nI spent a lot of time with this thing in my career. I wish I had some nice\nthings to say about it. But I'm glad it is open source.\n\n------\nmattchamb\nNice to see this makes the old approach of using reflection to use msbuild\ninternal classes to parse solution files obsolete.\n\n[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/707107/library-for-\nparsin...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/707107/library-for-parsing-\nvisual-studio-solution-files)\n\n------\nakandiah\nSimply one of the worst development tools that MS has put out. Its problem is\nthat it's a hack-job - an attempt to make it in to a 'project' file that\nVisual Studio can load and also where one can treat as a traditional (n)ant-\nlike build file. That's not to say that I think (n)ant is better, but it's\ncertainly not hacky and far better documented.\n\n------\narrowgunz\nLicensed under MIT, impressive.\n\n~~~\nghuntley\nAll of the Microsoft technologies which have been open sourced over the last\ncouple months have been under MIT which is really strange actually as Mono is\nlicensed under LGPL2 which is actually more restrictive!\n\nFancy that, how times have changed.\n\n~~~\nmasklinn\nWouldn't licensing under GPL limit their flexibility with respect to external\ncontributions? They wouldn't be able to use that in proprietary product, or\nmove the project's development back to a closed model.\n\n~~~\nhyperpape\nDepends. Some companies use GPL with copyright assignment to control the\nproject: you can use it as a wholly open source product, but the company has\nthe right to do future development in a closed source way, embed it in\nproprietary products, etc.\n\nI don't know if that's likely with a build tool, but it happens elsewhere.\n\n------\ndclusin\nSort of off topic, but I've always wondered if github charges larger orgs for\nhosting their projects like this. It seems like google and and microsoft get\ntons of free bandwidth from github to the point of being unsustainable w/o\ncharging.\n\n~~~\nNegitivefrags\nI would bet that it helps github far more than it hurts.\n\nHaving a company like Microsoft mentioning github all the time is great\npublicity.\n\nAlso bandwidth for hosting code is so cheap to be practically negligible.\n\n------\npionar\nThe worst part of msbuild has (for me) been the lack of documentation of\nflags. Hopefully this will help.\n\n------\nghuntley\nMSBuild is great and all but seriously why bother when there's better\nalternatives available - i.e. Fake?\n\n[https://github.com/fsharp/FAKE](https://github.com/fsharp/FAKE)\n\n~~~\nRapzid\nI was curious to see what would happen with build systems when they first\nannounced the open source/cross platform. Initially I figured maybe something\nlike FAKE or scriptcs based so we could break away from msbuild and\npowershell. But then they announced cmake and now this.\n\nThis was inevitable from the announcement last year, but I'm afraid the\ncommunity has not spoken on this, per say. One of the benefits of the open\nsource community is that ideas get to duke it out in the wild and the most fit\nwill survive. How long will we be saddled with msbuild? Maybe some brave\nheroes will create an alternative some day? There is a lot of legacy stuff\nthat has not been properly vetted. Will be interesting to see what happens.\n\n------\nacqq\nReally great news! For those who didn't do Windows programming, the MSBuild is\nthe \"back-end\" \"make\" engine behind the Visual Studio.\n\n------\nO____________O\nDespite being a Windows developer for 90% of my career, I have no idea why\nanyone uses MSBuild. I've created several automated build and deployment\nsystems, but I always used the command line Visual Studio interface.\n\nHonestly, I don't know why anyone wants MSBuild. Poking around, people cite\nnot needing to install the VS IDE on build servers, but I see zero drawback to\ndoing that. Why would I want to maintain project dependencies, build orders,\nand whatnot in two places, when I could just build in exactly the same way,\nusing the same solution/project files, on my dev box and my build server?\n\nIt seems to me that this is actually vastly more meaningful to traditionally\nopen-source LAMP developers who are considering C# and ASP.Net on Linux in the\nfuture.\n\n~~~\ncssmoo\n_> I could just build in exactly the same way, using the same solution/project\nfiles, on my dev box and my build server_\n\nDo you run VS on your production servers? Because that's where it will shit a\nbrick because you forgot to install ASP.Net MVC KB123123213 but the IDE\ninstalled it as part of update 4. Etc etc...\n\nThis problem gets VERY deep.\n\n~~~\nO____________O\n_Do you run VS on your production servers?_\n\nWhy would I have any build system installed on a production _server_?\n\n~~~\nsnuxoll\nFor CI? Gotta run your builds somewhere, and a build agent is a production\napplication.\n\n~~~\nO____________O\nWhat is CI?\n\n------\npvsnp\nThis is really exciting move. I wonder if this would make compiling the .NET\ncore easier in OSX and Linux?\n\n~~~\nmattchamb\nInterestingly, Roslyn already includes its own parsing/handling of visual\nstudio solution files:\n[http://source.roslyn.codeplex.com/#Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Wo...](http://source.roslyn.codeplex.com/#Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Workspaces.Desktop/Workspace/MSBuild/SolutionFile/SolutionFile.cs,102)\n\n~~~\nygra\nWhich is built on the MSBuild API. Which makes it a bit annoying to use\nwithout the pre-release Visual Studio right now, as Roslyn is built against an\nMSBuild assembly that doesn't exist on my machine.\n\n~~~\nkhellang\nSee\n[https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn/issues/212](https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn/issues/212)\n\n------\nmichaelfeathers\nIt would be poetic if they put up Visual SourceSafe.\n\n------\nangersock\nPerhaps we can use this to start making headway in the fight to get rid of\nmake, autotools, and cmake?\n\n:)\n\n~~~\nmoron4hire\nI come from a Windows background. I've been having a need to do more C\nprograms lately, and I have generally been trying to migrate more towards\nplatform-agnostic configurations. I had started looking at CMake under the\npromise of a cross-platform build system, but now I see a lot of non-specific\ncomplaints about it. Is there something specific you can articulate that is\nwrong with CMake, and what alternative is there for someone who A) wants to\nbuild cross-platform, but B) with as native of tools as possible for those\nplatforms?\n\nIn other words, I'd rather not build with GCC on Windows.\n\n~~~\nangersock\nSure, I'll bite.\n\nSo, my issue with CMake is that I usually run into it with annoying academic\nprojects, or other weird shit--that doesn't matter, but what does matter is\nthat the code quality tends to correlate pretty well with my personal rage.\n\nWhen I try to run it on Linux, sometimes it'll just fail because reasons\n(looking at you, player-stage five years ago). When I try to run it on\nWindows, I have to fiddle with settings, rerun it a few times, and only\ngrudgingly will it emit a project and directory for me.\n\nAnd what it does emit? Almost never a properly organized project. Usually a\nproject with a name like \"Project1\" and some rando layout. Usually I can't\neven figure out what #defines are being set, because it's hidden away.\n\nI'd much rather people just write simple Makefiles (it can be done!), and a\nfew VS project files, and be done with it. CMake has never once, in the last\nfive years, ever resulted in me looking up from my machine going \"Man, that\nwas such a good experience, I'm sure glad we have CMake!\".\n\nThe JS ecosystem, as crackheaded as it is, is still not 1000th of 1% of the\nannoyance as dealing with C/C++ using CMake.\n\n~~~\nmoron4hire\nOk! Thank you. I think that makes a lot of sense.\n\n~~~\nangersock\nNo problem.\n\nAnd to be fair, there are a couple of folks I trust who have had great success\nwith it--and yet, I never seem to run into those projects when I need them.\n\nCool VR stuff by the way...hit me up if you'd like to BS about it sometime.\n\n------\nvoltagex_\nWill this help CMake's ability to generate solution files?\n\n~~~\ndietrichepp\nSolution files are easy. Project files (I think you meant project files) are\nnot too hard, if all you want to do is build. Integration with Visual Studio\nis part of the equation, too.\n\n~~~\nvoltagex_\nFrom memory CMake was only producing VS 2010 project files which then had to\nbe fiddled a bit to upgrade them to 2012 - so a version bump would be\nappreciated.\n\n~~~\nihnorton\nCMake supports VS2012-2015 natively in the latest releases.\n\n------\njulbaxter\nWhat's the difference with Roslyn?\n\n~~~\nMichaelGG\nRosyln's a compiler/framework for certain language tools or something like\nthat. Msbuild is like a Make type tool that actually calls the compiler,\npasses in flags and input files, determines what else needs to get done, etc.\n\n~~~\njulbaxter\nDoes it mean msbuilb uses roslyn somehow?\n\n~~~\nMichaelGG\nI understand that Roslyn powers or is the C#/VB compiler. Yes, the build\nsystem will often call the compiler as part of the build.\n\n------\ndetay\nWould this lead to a Visual Studio on MacOs/Linux one day? (I hope it would)\n\n~~~\nNoGravitas\nIt's more likely that it would make MonoDevelop more strictly VS compatible.\nIt already opens and saves .sln and .csproj files, but my understanding is\nthat going back and forth between VS and MD can lead to problems.\n\n~~~\nfloatboth\nI'm working on a pretty advanced solution right now (F# + PCLs), everything\nworks both fine both in VS and Mono's xbuild.\n\n------\nedandersen\nNobody is seriously going to fork this and create their own port of MSBuild,\npossibly one of the most mocked and reviled parts of the .NET ecosystem. I do\nhowever congratulate the ground level MS staffers on the effort it likely took\nto convice the Risk and Legal departments that open sourcing something like\nthis won't make their business fail. That must have been trying.\n\n~~~\ncwyers\n> Nobody is seriously going to fork this and create their own port of MSBuild,\n> possibly one of the most mocked and reviled parts of the .NET ecosystem.\n\nYou're probably right. But it does mean there's one more part of the .NET\necosystem that potentially runs on Linux and OSX, and that's probably the\nreasoning behind this.\n\n~~~\nedandersen\nThe reasoning is likely that there is now an internal KPI for open sourcing\ncode because it helps MS PR.\n\n~~~\ncwyers\nI doubt that it's anything as ephemeral as \"public relations\" that's driving\nthis. They want developer mindshare. Having developers writing for .NET means\nmore software available for Windows users and for Azure services. That means\nmore people buy Windows devices and Azure time.\n\n------\nsteveklabnik\nThe, uh, first PR:\n[https://github.com/Microsoft/msbuild/pull/1](https://github.com/Microsoft/msbuild/pull/1)\n\n~~~\nacdha\nI wish he had a bit more empathy for whatever poor grunt at Microsoft had to\nslog through the process of open-sourcing it only to get this in thanks\n\n~~~\nrobashton2\nI got loads of time for that, but I've also suffered at the hands of MSBuild\nas have thousands of others so the PR seemed like a funny troll at the time.\n\nSeriously - I remember at one client there was a specific machine set up to\nedit the build on because it was the only one that could open the workflow\neditor without crashing. Why there was a workflow editor to edit MSBuild stuff\nI don't know but that's that world in a nutshell.\n\n~~~\nacdha\nI don't disagree that people have problems with Microsoft products but I would\njust suggest asking yourself whether the people who went to the trouble of\nopen-sourcing something are likely to want those problems to exist rather\nthan, say, engineers trying to do what they can at a big, complicated company.\nIs it more likely that the person who reads a troll PR is going to say “I had\nno idea everyone wasn't happy with this!” or that their boss will say “See, I\ntold you that releasing this was a waste of time”.\n\n------\nnickbauman\nWhat the hell is MSBuild and why should I care?\n\n------\nedandersen\n[https://github.com/Microsoft/msbuild/commits/master](https://github.com/Microsoft/msbuild/commits/master)\n\n3 commits. Because MSBuild just happened.\n\nThe whole point of open source is that you get to go back and see how the\nsoftware evolved. Git blame. Everybody learns.\n\n~~~\nadamtulinius\nThe historic commits might contain things unsuitable for relicensing.\n\nAlso, never before have I heard such an absurd claim as to what the purpose of\nopen source is.\n\n~~~\niso8859-1\nI think it is an interesting perspective. What would you say the purpose of\nopen source is? If not purpose, you can call it an attractive property.\n\nLet say you have the sources of an algorithm implementation, but they are\nunreadable because the variables are not named, you don't know the name of the\nalgorithm getting implemented and so on. Of course this is a lot harder to\nunderstand than code which cites its references (like papers and so). Wouldn't\nthis qualify as being able to \"see how the the software evolved\"? Granted, VCS\nhistory is only a small part of this, but I think it may help cause it would\nshow what improvements were done, which shows the direction of the project,\nshowing what's important. A large part of being a good programmer is knowing\nwhat NOT to do. If you see what others failed to do, don't you think that\nhelps?\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\n> What would you say the purpose of open source is?\n\nThe Open Source Initiative has this to say: \"Open source is a development\nmethod for software that harnesses the power of distributed peer review and\ntransparency of process. The promise of open source is better quality, higher\nreliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor\nlock-in.\"\n\nRecognizing that \"Free Software\" and \"Open Source\" are terms for essentially\nthe same thing originating from groups with slightly different goals, the FSF\nsays this about Free Software: \" Free software is about having control over\nthe technology we use in our homes, schools and businesses, where computers\nwork for our individual and communal benefit, not for proprietary software\ncompanies or governments who might seek to restrict and monitor us.\" [1]\n\nSeeing the past history of a project before the point at which it was opened\nis somewhat related, but not necessary, to the motivation cited by the OSI,\nand not, as I see it, even related to the FSF motivation.\n\n[0] [http://opensource.org/about](http://opensource.org/about)\n\n[1] [http://www.fsf.org/about/](http://www.fsf.org/about/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nJapan's second highest volcano erupts - oska\nhttp://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-27/several-injured-in-volcanic-eruption-in-central-japan/5773890\n\n======\noska\nGood collection of photos in this Guardian piece:\n\n[http://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2014/sep/27/escape-...](http://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2014/sep/27/escape-\nfrom-mount-ontake-in-pictures)\n\nThe last photo shows the erupting volcano with Mt Fuji looming in the\nbackground.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMozilla Launches Preview Of Firefox For Windows 8 Tablets - Garbage\nhttp://techcrunch.com/2013/09/20/mozilla-launches-preview-of-firefox-for-windows-8-tablets/\n======\nisaacwaller\nI just tried this on my Surface Pro and although performance is really lacking\nand pinch to zoom does not work, I am excited about the possibility of using\nother browsers than IE11. Chrome for Windows 8 has been abandoned since\nrelease so I hope Firefox will continue to develop this UI.\n\n------\ncorporalagumbo\nThis looks like that Firefox Junior prototype that popped up a while ago. Nice\nto see thumb-centered controls spreading on tablets.\n\n------\nl0c0b0x\nI sure hope its less buggy than regular Firefox on Windows 8. I mean, my lord\nits bad most of the time! (depending on the update).\n\n------\nmethodin\nI don't know if it's a good or bad thing that WP8 apps break all historical\nresemblance to other app UIs. Anyone with first-hand experience that can offer\nsome feedback of how these apps hold up from a usability standpoint?\n\n~~~\nAaronontheweb\nVaries a lot by form factor - my experience with Metro apps on touch devices\nhas been amazing. On desktops, I rarely have a reason to use them - except for\nrunning a full-screen Kindle / Netflix app on an additional monitor.\n\nFWIW, iOS7 and the latest Android UI actually borrow a lot from the Windows\nPhone flavor of metro pretty heavily. The context switching between apps on\niOS7 is identical to what MSFT introduced in WP7.1 (Mango.)\n\n~~~\njccalhoun\nI agree. On my (non-touch screen) laptop I hardly ever use the metro apps. I\nlike win8 but I just go to the desktop practically every time. There just\naren't any metro apps worth using right now (I basically only use this laptop\nwhen i'm in front of my netflix-capable tv)\n\n~~~\nAaronontheweb\nDecent Metro Apps: I recommend ReddHub - it's a pretty slick Reddit client for\nthe Windows Store. I use it on my Surface RT all the time.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nExtend the life of threads with synchronization (C++11) - indatawetrust\nhttp://stackoverflow.com/q/15252292/3986712\n======\nobi1kenobi\nMy two cents -- just use Cilk Plus: [https://www.cilkplus.org/tutorial-cilk-\nplus-keywords#spawn_a...](https://www.cilkplus.org/tutorial-cilk-plus-\nkeywords#spawn_and_sync)\n\nWhy I like it:\n\n\\- easy to learn (3 keywords total: cilk_spawn, cilk_sync, cilk_for)\n\n\\- runtime handles thread creation, deciding appropriate number of threads\nbased on hardware\n\n\\- provably efficient work-stealing scheduler\n\n\\- natively supported in GCC 5, branches available for GCC 4.8/4.9 and Clang\n\n\\- comes with a race detector (guaranteed to discover determinacy/data races)\n\n\\- trivial to convert your parallel code to serial (#define spawn/sync\nkeywords -> empty string, and cilk_for -> for)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBuilding software to identify trends in unsolved murders - adventured\nhttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-02-08/serial-killers-should-fear-this-algorithm\n======\ne28eta\nDoes anyone know why MAP focuses on the clearance rate? It seems to conflate\narresting someone with \"solving\" the murder.\n\nI can think of some plausible reasons: practicality (easiest to collect,\nstable over time), political (if your audience is the police, basing your work\non the assumption that they arrest the right guy is probably smart),\nstandardization (is it?), etc.\n\nWikipedia is fairly light, but does link to a pair of articles on the criminal\njustice conflict vs consensus models, so it seems this is a potential can of\nworms.\n\n------\ndsfyu404ed\nI'm really not moved by the \"resources\" argument all the PDs are giving.\n\nInvestigating murders is the kind of thing you do when you've run out of meth\nlabs to bust and black guys to beat. It's a high effort, low reward task. Of\ncourse they'd much rather cut back there than not buy everyone tazers.\n\n------\nmasscontrol\nThe article title \"Serial Killers Should Fear This Algorithm\" is naive since\npsychopaths do not feel emotions like fear or empathy, or at least not\nspontaneously.[1]\n\nI've tried to test a psychopath in the wild using a word association\npsychoanalysis method[2], but they are hard to find. Hospitals would not\ndivulge names (no surprise there) and many psychopaths are senior corporate\nprofessionals who run successful companies.[3]\n\n[1] [https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-empathic-\nbrain/2013...](https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-empathic-\nbrain/201307/inside-the-mind-psychopath-empathic-not-always)\n\n[2] [https://criticalstimulus.com/](https://criticalstimulus.com/)\n\n[3] [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/13/1-in-5-ceos-\nare-p...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/13/1-in-5-ceos-are-\npsychopaths-australian-study-finds/)\n\n~~~\nwmil\nA serial killer who strangles women is probably a \"Lust Killer\" and not a\npsychopath.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lust_murder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lust_murder)\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lust_serial_killers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lust_serial_killers)\n\n~~~\nabiox\n> a \"Lust Killer\" and not a psychopath\n\nare these exclusive notions?\n\n------\neptcyka\nAnd regular readers should fear this headline.\n\n~~~\ndang\nWe've replaced it with a phrase from the subtitle.\n\n~~~\nriskneural\nI feel like you build a model which you implement in software. (which runs on\nhardware)\n\n------\nffef\nKeyword: Before the fact\n\n------\nShivetya\ncynical me thinks it simply isn't profitable to them to solve murder cases\nunless public outcry is very high and more profitable to beat on the fear of\ndrugs and perform seizures.\n\npost 2010 drop could unfortunately be attributed to a hostile media and\nPresidency towards the police because of some overly politicized cases\n\n~~~\nmcphage\nDefinitely there's been a reduction in trust between police departments &\ncitizens, but I'm not sure I agree with you whose _fault_ it is.\n\n~~~\nep103\nThe drug war. #1 culprit.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhy Google allows target.com to spam search results - madars\nhttp://www.goodroi.com/why-google-allows-target-com-to-spam-results/\n======\ncodexon\nThis is a result of Google's reliance on domain authority over relevance and\npagerank now.\n\n[http://www.seomoz.org/blog/google-spam-illuminates-the-\nalgos...](http://www.seomoz.org/blog/google-spam-illuminates-the-algos-\nreliance-on-domain-authority)\n\n[http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-googles-rankings-algorithm-\nha...](http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-googles-rankings-algorithm-has-changed-\nover-time-)\n\n------\nEvgeny\nA guy posted a \"fictional\" link to a search for \"jon payne is so hot\" on\ntarget website in the comments:\n\n[http://www.target.com/gp/search/188-1977530-4602238?field-\nke...](http://www.target.com/gp/search/188-1977530-4602238?field-\nkeywords=jon+payne+is+so+hot&url=index%3Dtarget%26search-alias%3Dtgt-\nindex&ref=sr_bx_1_1&x=0&y=0)\n\nSoon enough, the search for \"jon payne is so hot\" on google returns target as\ntop result.\n\n[http://www.google.com.au/search?q=jon+payne+is+so+hot&ie...](http://www.google.com.au/search?q=jon+payne+is+so+hot&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=com.ubuntu:en-\nUS:official&client=firefox-a)\n\n~~~\ntimdorr\nAlso humorous, on these search results:\n\n[http://www.google.com/search?q=site:target.com+We+could+not+...](http://www.google.com/search?q=site:target.com+We+could+not+find+matches+for)\n\nthe top result is:\n\n\"Anal Massage for Lovers Vol 2 : Target Search Results\"\n\n:|\n\n------\nrobryan\nI would go as far to say any results page which is the result of an in site\nsearch should be removed, rarely if ever have I found any value from these\npages through google.\n\n~~~\nandrewljohnson\nI disagree with this as an absolute.\n\nGoogle will often show cooks.com search results for a search for \"X X recipe,\"\nand these are typically the correct result, showing a dozen similar recipes\nfor the dish I'm looking to cook.\n\n------\nMaciek416\nAre these pages being served up as 404s ? If not, that sucks. If yes, why\nwould Google diligently index a 404 and strongly rank it?\n\n~~~\nmadars\nUnfortunately they are served as 200 OKs (see <http://tinyurl.com/yzca7ec>)\n\n~~~\npyre\nI'm not really 'up' on involved rules with respect to web programming /\ninterfacing with Apache, but is it standard practice to return a 404 when your\nsearch finds no hits? Technically it's not a 'page not found.'\n\n~~~\nars\nIt would require extra programming, so is not done unless you think of it/get\na special request for it.\n\nShould you use a 404? I could see arguments both ways. A \"no results\" result,\nis still a result. So it's not a 404.\n\nI would do a 404 if you try to link to a product that does not exist, but not\nfor a zero results found page.\n\nBTW madars don't use url shorteners here - even for really long ones.\n\n------\nwglb\nInteresting: this story is apparently of enough concern that when i serch for\n\"Exercise Bike Clearance\" I get mostly articles talking about Target spamming\nGoogle.\n\n------\nvaksel\nhow hard is it really, for Google to add\n\nif \"we are sorry we couldn't find\" + searchquery then nofreetrafficforyou\n\nI mean there are only a dozen or so ways for people say \"we are sorry we\ntricked you into coming to our site with fake content\", surely a company the\nsize of Google can do a fix for this. Would eliminate overnight 90% of all\nthose crappy fake search results\n\n~~~\nrobk\nBut that's not really feasible for 100+ languages, not to mention character\nsets, etc. Editorial doesn't really scale for Google at all.\n\nFor many of the smaller languages (i.e., outside the top 20 or so) Google only\nemploys at most one native speaker who's tasked to work on search quality.\n\n~~~\nvaksel\nbut they only need to cover 1 language, English. EVERY SINGLE \"fake\" page I've\nseen was in English.\n\n------\nandreyf\n_Big brands have more links and more trustworthy websites referring to them_\n\nHere's something I don't get: where the hell are there links to target.com? I\nsure have never seen one...\n\n~~~\nalmost\n[http://www.google.com/search?q=link%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.targe...](http://www.google.com/search?q=link%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.target.com)\n\n~~~\nredorb\n[https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/search?p=http://www.ta...](https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/search?p=http://www.target.com&fr=sfp&bwm=i)\n\nis a better source, it shows 3.1mm incoming links...\n\n[https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/search?p=http://www.ta...](https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/search?p=http://www.target.com&bwm=i&bwmo=d&bwmf=u)\n\nShows that only 267k are from outside sources. Target is getting the credit of\ninternal link structure from all their other pages. </educated guess>\n\n~~~\nbyrneseyeview\nIf that were true, this would be the best-ranked site in the universe:\n<http://ianab.com/trillion/1.html>\n\n~~~\nredorb\nExcept that those trillion pages have little incoming links ~ so they have no\n\"juice\" or \"pageRank\" to pass. Target has 267k incoming links then\nredistributes that via internal links / a while ago people started \"link\nsculpting\" using 'no-follow' in the link <ahref> to take all the homepage link\njuice and pass it to what they perceived as their better converting pages..\nbut google has since come out and said that wasn't a good thing to do...\n\n~~~\nbyrneseyeview\nRight. Having extra pages, versus extra content, is not specifically\nbeneficial. If that were the case, other sites would fill themselves with\nspecious stuff like empty search results pages.\n\n------\nalmost\n\"Imagine if each page generates just one visitor each day\"\n\nYes, just imagine that! While we're at it we could even imagine that each page\ngenerates 6 billion visitors a day. How bad would that be???\n\nLooks like a flaw in Target's site. Not news. Not interesting. Not anything\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMeeting Technical Cofounders in SF? - absamer\nHey guys - I will be in San Francisco between Aug 22 - Aug 24 and was wondering if I could meet technical cofounders who are interested in building the following tourism mobile app:<p>What is Tropoo:\nhttps:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=I4SJHPOrk_g<p>How it works:\nhttps:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=Aawxqetbyss<p>Drop me an email at: samer@tropoo.com<p>Cheers!!\n======\nabsamer\ntest\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nUber Data and Leaked Docs Provide a Look at How Much Uber Drivers Make - impostervt\nhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/carolineodonovan/internal-uber-driver-pay-numbers?utm_term=.ncJOK7YoA7#.tsrdRXW7rX\n======\ndanso\n> _Rather than relying on Uber 's figures, BuzzFeed News conducted an\n> independent analysis of the raw trip data and driver data. Uber subsequently\n> recalculated BuzzFeed’s estimates using a broader and more detailed set of\n> internal data — which it declined to share directly with BuzzFeed News._\n\nWas it the calculation or the original data that they declined to share? If\nthe former, I guess that's a sign that Buzzfeed isn't far off?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nEd Mastery (Is This a April Fools Joke) - joelinuxyx\nhttps://www.tiltedwindmillpress.com/?product=ed\n======\ncperciva\nIt's a real book.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nCornell professor driven to convey beauty of mathematics - tokenadult\nhttp://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20130114/NEWS02/301140061/Cornell-professor-driven-convey-beauty-mathematics\n\n======\npcurve\nOld video, but in case anyone wants to see metronomes syncing in action.\n\n<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yysnkY4WHyM>\n\n~~~\nDanBC\nI also like the video on this page:\n\n([http://sciencedemonstrations.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyw...](http://sciencedemonstrations.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k16940&pageid=icb.page80863&pageContentId=icb.pagecontent341734&state=maximize&view=view.do&viewParam_name=indepth.html#a_icb_pagecontent341734))\n\n(<http://youtu.be/yVkdfJ9PkRQ>)\n\n------\nchris_wot\nThis is very interesting. I've always struggled with Mathematics. Recently I\ngot a Dover book on Trigonometry, and I finally understood what radians are!\n\nNow I know there are folks here who intuitively grasp mathematics - I see and\nsometimes envy their grasp of the material - but I'm finding that I'm enjoying\nunderstanding the most basic of mathematical concepts. There's something\nincredibly satisfying about it all.\n\n------\nmathattack\nGiven my screen name, one would suspect that I like this article. :-)\n\nMath should be a joy. I wish I had heard of this book sooner. I certainly\nadded it to my wish list in Amazon. [http://www.amazon.com/The-Joy-Guided-\nTour-Infinity/dp/054751...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Joy-Guided-Tour-\nInfinity/dp/0547517653)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Sound of Pixels - myth_drannon\nhttp://sound-of-pixels.csail.mit.edu/\n======\na-dub\nInteresting. I wonder how well a logistic regression that spits out masks\nwould perform in the source separation task.\n\nAlso a bit surprising to see that they had to STFT the audio before feeding it\ninto a convnet. I thought half the point of convnets was that they figure out\nhow to do spectral domain representations on their own...\n\n~~~\nblack_puppydog\nin theory yes, but in practice, giving the network the full information _in\nthe right format_ is crucial to have it train well and quickly.\n\n~~~\na-dub\nisn't that supposed to be the magic of convnets though? they _figure out_ the\nright format. instead of doing feature engineering, like stfts and mel\nwarping, you do stuff like build convolution layers into an ann and let it\nsort it out?\n\n------\nkeyle\nCool stuff. Any real world usage/benefits for this? I can't think of any.\n\n~~~\ndrhodes\nmatching faces with voices in a surveillance situation, which person is\ntalking?\n\n~~~\nvernie\nThat's actually this paper: [https://ai.googleblog.com/2018/04/looking-to-\nlisten-audio-vi...](https://ai.googleblog.com/2018/04/looking-to-listen-audio-\nvisual-speech.html)\n\n~~~\nblack_puppydog\nthat's actually a whole subfield, not \"this paper\".\n\n------\nrflrob\nI haven’t tried my hand at any machine learning, but I’m impressed that it\ncould work with only 60 hours of training data. Perhaps the input clips were\nfairly short, which would increase the total number of videos.\n\n------\napp4soft\nIt remind me such apps like _PhonoPaper_ [0], _Nature - Oscillator_ [1] and\n_PixiVisor_ [2]\n\n[0] [http://warmplace.ru/soft/phonopaper](http://warmplace.ru/soft/phonopaper)\n\n[1] [http://warmplace.ru/soft/nosc](http://warmplace.ru/soft/nosc)\n\n[2] [http://warmplace.ru/soft/pixivisor/](http://warmplace.ru/soft/pixivisor/)\n\n------\nfunkdified\nThis is going to be huge for the hard of hearing.\n\n~~~\npjgrad\nUnlike reading, I don't think audio can convey the same meaning in a different\nsensory format. At best, they perceive it but in an alien way to most people.\nIt's like describing a painting in musical notes.\n\n~~~\npjgrad\nAnd the \"some\" to that \"most\" are those with synesthesia\n\n------\nggm\nDoes anyone remember Gerry Anderson? he designed relays attached to puppets,\nwhich made the jaws clack in time to the sound-track being played, while they\nfilmed the puppets for _Thunderbirds are go_ in the 1960s. Look at me ma! my\npuppet is speaking!\n\nThus, it only took us 50-odd years to write the reverse-compiler..\n\n------\nxtagon\nI wonder if this can segregate vocals from instrumentals in a mix? That would\nbe great for mashups.\n\n~~~\nbscphil\nIncidentally, due to the way a lot of stereo tracks are mixed, it's often\npossible to mostly remove the vocal track from a song. I'm more curious if\nthis algorithm could perform the reverse task - playing the vocals only. My\nintuition is that the results would be poor because of the wide human vocal\nrange and the fact that words need to be discernible, not just notes. But I\nwould love to be proven wrong here.\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nIf you can remove the vocals from a piece, you can then subtract that from the\noriginal to get just the vocals.\n\n~~~\nnawgszy\nWell that's not quite true. The point is, I believe, that vocals are generally\nput right in the center of the sound-stage, so they play equally in the left\nand right channels. Thus right - left is most of the rest of the song, but the\nvocals cancelled each other out.\n\nHowever, the right - left mix isn't exactly the song minus the vocals, it's an\nodd off-version, so subtracting that from the original song will leave mostly\nthe vocals but with artifacts from the difference between the song truly\nwithout vocals and the right - left mix's interpretation thereof\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nYes, certainly. My point is that if you have \"mostly no vocals\" you can\nsubtract that from the left + right mix to get \"mostly the vocals\". It won't\nbe exactly right, sure.\n\n~~~\nnawgszy\nFair enough!\n\n------\nhrayr\nInteresting, I was wondering what to do with my audiblepixel.com domain.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nDragscroll – a tiny JS library which enables scrolling via mouse drag - xpostman\nhttps://github.com/asvd/dragscroll\n\n======\natesti\nEven before having a mouse with wheel I used to scroll stuff with by dragging:\nI just selected text and when the selection reached the border, it started to\nscroll. I bet I'm not the only one. Anybody considering disabling selection or\nshowing social media tools after selecting text should consider such weird\nbehaviour.\n\nNowadays I use my Thinkpad without Synaptics or trackpoint drivers and the\nmiddle button works perfectly: Either using it open links in new tabs, or\npressing it to start scroll mode. Now the mouse pointer changes and moving it\nscrolls. Unfortunately some software breaks this, probably WPF\n\n~~~\njoeframbach\nRelevant xkcd: [https://xkcd.com/1172/](https://xkcd.com/1172/)\n\n------\nams6110\nTangentially, what's a good JS library to implement drag/drop on mobile?\n\nI'm thinking of one site in particular that implements prioritizing choices by\ndrag/dropping them into order of preference. But when you try to use the site\non a mobile browser, it just scrolls the page when you try to drag an item.\n\nI'd like to suggest to them how to fix it, rather than just complain.\n\n~~~\njewel\nIf they are using jquery UI, then there is a small fix addon called \"touch\npunch\" which repairs it.\n\nA similar approach should work for other libraries. You need to handle the\n\"touch\" events in addition to \"mousedown\" and \"mouseup\".\n\n------\nWhitneyLand\nIt's a nice idea, but could it be made to be mobile friendly? For example when\ntouch scrolling on a device the text scrolls in a choppy fashion rather than\nsmooth with momentum.\n\nI understand this is for desktop, but it would be nice if it could not get in\nthe way of what div/overflow gives us for free.\n\n~~~\nxpostman\nSorry, I think I don't clearly get what you mean. Tablets normally scroll\nsmoothly pixel-wise as long as you move the finger. In fact, dragscroll\nimplements the similar behaviour for desktops, because I consider such\nbehaviour as more reasonable in many cases (comparing to selecting the content\nof the area, I mean).\n\n~~~\nWhitneyLand\nYou are right about how tablets are supposed to work.\n\nThe problem is that in your examples this behavior no longer functions as\nexpected on tablets.\n\nThe example should work well for both desktop and tablet. Your current\nimplementation changes the normal behavior on tablets.\n\n~~~\nxpostman\nThere probaby an bug in dragscroll then. It is not supposed to break the\nbehaviour on tablets, will test it..\n\n------\nunicornporn\nThe problem with solutions like these: without a notice, how will the user\never know that they can drag scroll on my site? Perhaps for a web app with a\nlimited user base that can be educated...\n\n~~~\nmobiuscog\nThe cursor changes. Admittedly, if people aren't capable of noticing that,\nthey may be a lost cause.\n\n~~~\ncontradictioned\nTrue for images, but not for the text (chromium+linux). And I get annoyed when\nI cant select text.\n\n~~~\nxpostman\nThis is defined by the developer actually. And besides there is no problem for\na user if he does not know that he can scroll with dragging.\n\n------\n1and2equals0\nI also like the idea. Would be cool if it could work naturally with pointer\nlock - annoying to have to reset pointer position manually :)\n\n~~~\nxpostman\nthen you will have to manually reset the mouse on the table :-D\n\n------\nglxybstr\nsort of interesting. i expected it to have velocity/inertia, but I think that\nwould make it much more than ~900 bytes\n\n------\nnfoz\nWhy shouldn't this be up to the mouse driver? I used to just use middle-click\nfor this.\n\n~~~\nadrusi\nBecause sometimes there are scrollable areas on the page that you want to pan,\nnot scroll, but there's no panning built into HTML. Yes, mouse drivers should\nmake it possible to pan any scrollable area, but most don't, and websites have\nto be usable with shitty drivers.\n\n------\nsupercoder\nI've been using ftscroller which is great for emulating UIScrollView\n\n------\nwhoisthemachine\nNifty\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nTracking Cirrus: Is This the Silk Road 2.0 Mole? - r721\nhttp://motherboard.vice.com/read/tracking-cirrus-is-this-the-silk-road-20-mole\n\n======\npstuart\nWhy was Homeland Security involved in this? One of their charters[1] is to\n\"Safeguard and Secure Cyberspace\", which they state is:\n\n    \n    \n      * analyze and reduces cyber threats and vulnerabilities;\n      * distribute threat warnings; and\n      * coordinate the response to cyber incidents to ensure that our computers, networks, and cyber systems remain safe.\n    \n\nNone of that looks like \"stop people from buying drugs\".\n\n[1] [http://www.dhs.gov/safeguard-and-secure-\ncyberspace](http://www.dhs.gov/safeguard-and-secure-cyberspace)\n\n~~~\ndmix\nA friend of mine did contract SEO work for a company selling synthetic drug\nsimilar to marijuana (before the DEA made it illegal). But they kept selling\nit after it was made illegal and long after his online-marketing contract\nended. But he was contacted by the DHS, specially ICE with questions about his\nprior involvement. Nothing came of it but this story shows that they do\ninvestigate drug matters.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_E...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement)\n\n> ICE is the second largest criminal investigative agency in the U.S.\n> government, following the FBI.\n\n> HSI Special Agents investigate a range of issues that threaten the national\n> security of the United States such as human rights violations, human\n> smuggling, art theft, human trafficking, drug smuggling, arms trafficking,\n> transnational gang investigations, financial crimes including money\n> laundering and bulk cash smuggling, trade-based money laundering (including\n> trade finance and Kimberley Process investigations), computer crimes,\n> including the production and transportation of child pornography via the\n> Internet, import/export enforcement issues, trafficking of counterfeit\n> pharmaceuticals and other merchandise, and international Cultural Property\n> and Antiquities crimes.\n\nICE basically investigates any sophisticated crimes and their mandate\ndefinitely covers drugs, especially drugs that are imported from overseas.\n\nThis is part of the reason why 90% of the time the patriot act has been\ninvoked it has been for drug investigations and not terrorism related crimes.\n[https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110908/02534215846/wasnt...](https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110908/02534215846/wasnt-\npatriot-act-supposed-to-be-about-stopping-terrorism.shtml)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow one SV engineer benefitted from the tacit acceptance of entrenched sexism - gregleffler\nhttps://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-one-silicon-valley-engineer-benefitted-from-tacit-faye-keegan\n======\na_puppy\nI agree Haseeb's comment was sexist, and I'm glad that Keegan called him out\non it.\n\nBut I think the punishment she's asking for is too strong. She seems to be\nimplying that he shouldn't be allowed to have a successful career after making\nthat comment, which I think is a massively disproportionate punishment.\n\nAlso, this isn't \"tacit acceptance of entrenched sexism\". There was nothing\n\"tacit\" about her calling him out, and her response and Ruggeri's response\nwere not \"acceptance\". In fact, if every sexist comment got called out like\nthis, people would stop making sexist comments. The problem is when people\nmake sexist comments and don't get called out on it, or when the incident is\nbrought to higher authorities and the authorities defend the sexist comments--\nneither of which happened in this case.\n\n------\nPaulHoule\nAlso it is not so clear that this person is really a winner in the long term.\n\nMy experience is that if you negotiate for a high salary, unless you really\nperform like a super-superstar, you will be the last to get a raise and the\nfirst to go if anything goes wrong.\n\n------\nandrewl\nI'd only heard the name App Academy before this article. I did a bit of\nreading on it. It's an intensive twelve-week program, and it looks like\napplicants have to pass heavy screening for aptitude. I can well believe that\nproperly screened and highly-motivated people can learn a huge amount in\ntwelve weeks. And Qureshi seems highly intelligent. He's described in the\nBusiness Insider article as a former professional poker player with an English\ndegree. His blog says he was a millionaire poker player by the age of 19. So\nI'm guessing he's pretty powerful analytically.\n\nBut still. If a company is putting a _quarter of a million dollars_ on the\ntable, I would think they'd be able to find somebody as smart as Qureshi who\nalso had a computer science or computer engineering or mathematics background\nand _years_ of coding experience.\n\nI don't work in the tech world this article is describing, so I don't know.\nBut it seems odd to me.\n\n------\n11thEarlOfMar\nIf you're looking for a job in any field, and any type of _ism_ is a concern\nfor you, you have three options:\n\n1\\. Ignore the _ism_ and be yourself.\n\n2\\. Call out bad behavior and campaign against the _ism_.\n\n3\\. Adopt the behaviors of the _ism_ and try to minimize the differences.\n\nIndividual personalities and circumstances likely dictate which of these you\nchoose, but everyone who is subjected to an _ism_ and looks for work chooses,\nand none of those options are the better choice for everyone.\n\nIf you are in a hiring role, keep in mind that you put your company's\nreputation at risk and can invite legal action if you judge candidates by any\nmeasure associated with _isms_. Be thoughtful and prudent out there.\n\n~~~\nfullshark\nyou forgot\n\n4\\. Whine about it in a blogpost to try to create an internet outrage army\n\n------\nxiphias\nI think Haseeb wants to offer genuine help to women. If this woman doesn't\nwant to take the advice, it's OK. Just ignore it. But please don't write a\nblog post about how he communicates instead of what's important: the message.\nFor Engineers communication style was always secondary, and although it's\ngetting more important, it should be staying secondary to the content and the\nreal meaning behind the message.\n\n------\nYeGoblynQueenne\n>> “Shake hands like a man, especially if you’re a woman.”\n\nEr, that's a load of bollocks.\n\n------\nskmurphy\n[Haseeb left a long comment (sorry it does not seem to be possible to link\ndirectly to it) Here is an edited version (I have removed sentences but\nbelieve I have preserved some key points) To be clear I don't know Haseeb and\nhave never met him, but I thought his comments helped to put aspects of the\noriginal post in context. I don't know that they are true but they are posted\nunder his LinkedIn ID.]\n\nHey Faye, Someone linked me to your article that you posted on LinkedIn Pulse\nabout me. First off, your article is completely fair. Though this took place\nabout 6 months ago, it's something that weighed heavily on me when it\nhappened. I never reached out to you to discuss it personally, though I don't\nthink that was my fault. Let me explain.\n\n[...]\n\nThat presentation was the first time that I realized I'd said something\nflagrantly sexist. I'd written the slides about 30 minutes before the\npresentation and never read them aloud to anyone. I immediately felt ashamed\nwhen I read them aloud, because I knew it was a sexist line that I should've\nimmediately deleted and re-written. So when you pointed out that it was\nsexist, I hoped that the best way I could concede the point would be to\nacknowledge you were correct and fix it in front of everyone. After the\npresentation, I was pretty ashamed. I wasn't really sure what to do about it,\nbecause I thought two things: one, I made a point to fix the presentation, so\nwas that enough? Should I have done something else? Second, should I apologize\nto you personally? But would that be weird? You weren't the only woman in the\ncrowd; should I go apologize to every woman? Would that be even weirder? I\nwasn't sure what to do, so I decided I'd wait for lecture feedback.\n\n[...]\n\nWhen Ned took me aside a few days later and told me about receiving an\nanonymous e-mail about it, it made me feel even worse. He didn't tell me which\nfemale student it was, but his conversation had confirmed both that someone\nwas strongly affected by this incident, and that I hadn't done enough to\naddress it. Ned did not tell me who you were. I told Ned to let whoever had\nsent that message know that I'd be happy to apologize to them personally if\nthat was something they'd be open to. I also would've hoped to ask what I\ncould do best to address it to the rest of the class. I never heard back. So\nthe personalized apology you said never came, was because Ned rightly did not\nreveal who you were unless you wanted to communicate with me directly. Though\nI didn't hear anything more about it, that incident affected me very strongly,\nand made me much more vigilant to be thoughtful about my language and what\nbiases I bring to my teaching at App Academy. I decided that if I were ever to\nmake a mistake like that again, the best thing to do would be to call it out\nand openly address it as a mistake after the lecture, and apologize explicitly\nto the students.\n\n[...]\n\nThere's a lot in your post I don't agree with (no surprise there). I also\ndon't think Ned was in the wrong in any way here, and I think it's unfair for\nyou to paint him as having been complicit in anything untoward. But mostly I\nwant to say, I'm sorry. I'm sorry both that this happened and made you feel\nunwelcome at App Academy, and also that I wasn't able to make it right after\nit did. Sincerely, Haseeb\n\n------\nJoeAltmaier\ntl;dr: too-blunt reality check offends some\n\n~~~\nsp332\nTrying to make your interviewer believe you are like them is fine. Accepting\nthat most interviewers are men, as immutable fact, is not. Telling women they\nneed to be less womanly to get a job is not.\n\n~~~\nJoeAltmaier\nEven if it works? I mean sure, in a perfect world. But the advice was to job-\nseekers in the current world. Thus, 'reality check'.\n\nWe can spell out the right and wrong way things should be run all day long.\nNot useful unless you're in a position to change them. For the rest of us,\ngood advice is to adapt.\n\n~~~\nsp332\nWell I also left out the most obvious thing, which is describing a confident\nhandshake as \"shaking hands like a man.\" That really is blatantly sexist.\n\n~~~\nJoeAltmaier\nDid you understand what was meant? Then the phrase was effective. Are there\nstatistical correlations between handshakes and gender? Blunt reality check\nagain.\n\n~~~\nsp332\nWhat it means is that women should be encouraged to give confident handshakes,\nnot that women should renounce their femininity and try to be more manly.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGoogle BigQuery Service: Big data analytics at Google speed - Anon84\nhttp://googleappengine.blogspot.com/2011/11/google-bigquery-service-big-data.html\n======\nepaulson\nIt has joins now, but Google says this: \"Joins have size restrictions due to\nimplementation details. Essentially it means that the data on both sides of\nthe JOIN clause cannot be large. For example, select count( _) FROM big_table\nJOIN another_big_table will fail, but select count(_ ) FROM big_table JOIN\nsmall_table will succeed. Because this size restriction depends on many\ncomplex variables, the best way to handle joins is to try your join, and if it\nreturns a \"Table too large for JOIN query\" error, limit the data handled by\njoin clauses by specifying fewer fields or rows.\"\n\nIf someone is in the pilot, I'd love to know some different table/result set\ncardinalities where you hit the \"too large for join\" limit, as well as what\nyour data and join conditions look like.\n\n~~~\nameyamk\nI was taken aback by support for 'JOIN' but this comment makes me less excited\nabout the service.\n\n~~~\nrxin\nSupport for joining two very large tables is nice, but isn't really a super\nbig deal. In a typical warehouse star schema, you have a very very large fact\ntable, and a number of dimension tables. The dimension tables tend to be\nsmall.\n\n~~~\njukaykwek\nThat's the general idea. At least for the current release we prioritized a\nmore common case ilke what rxin describes.\n\nThat said, if you have a \"big join\" use case, please sign up for the wait list\n(<http://goo.gl/7zpSn>) and specifically list your use case. We'd like to talk\nto you about that. :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBootstrap 3 - bauerpl\nhttp://getbootstrap.com\n======\nsaurabhnanda\nIs it just me or do flat styles actually have worse usability? There's\nabsolutely no visual cue for what's clickable and what's not.\n\n~~~\nwiremine\nYeah, I agree. A good case-in-point is the new button groups.\n\nHere is 2.3.2:\n[http://getbootstrap.com/2.3.2/components.html#buttonGroups](http://getbootstrap.com/2.3.2/components.html#buttonGroups)\n\nAnd here are groups in 3: [http://getbootstrap.com/components/#btn-\ngroups](http://getbootstrap.com/components/#btn-groups)\n\nThere _is_ a rollover state, but it doesn't really convey it is a button\nanymore.\n\n~~~\nzeckalpha\nAnd rollover doesn't work if you are mobile-first.\n\n------\nyesimahuman\nIf anyone's interested, I wrote up a little guide on how to prepare yourself\nfor B3 - [http://blog.jetstrap.com/2013/07/bootstrap-3-how-to-\nprepare-...](http://blog.jetstrap.com/2013/07/bootstrap-3-how-to-prepare-\nyourself/)\n\n------\npixelmonkey\nThe actual reason that all the styles are \"flat\" right now? One of the main\nproject authors removed them temporarily while he focuses on fixing other\nissues in the current pull request for Bootstrap 3.\n\n    \n    \n        mdo commented: Gradients and other embellishments have \n        temporarily been removed while I focus on other things.\n        It has nothing to do with skeuomorphism or anything \n        like that.\n    \n\nStop reading the tea leaves, people. Source:\n[https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/pull/6342#issuecomment-123...](https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/pull/6342#issuecomment-12332378)\n\n~~~\nWickyNilliams\nIt would be pretty neat if all the \"gloss\" was an additional, optional\n\"module\" that you could add in at your discretion.\n\nPeople who want something they can work with straight away can then add that\nin and get their gradients, drop shadows etc. People who want something more\nbasic that they can augment with their own styles can then choose to not\ninclude this \"module\", and save themselves having to jump through hoops to\nundo the default styles (which is a pain, as anyone who has had to do this\nknows)\n\n------\ntaspeotis\n> Bootstrap 3\n\nIt's a release candidate. The first of at least two.\n\nIf you want discussion, check out\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6112141](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6112141)\n(disclaimer: my submission).\n\n@mdo jumped in for a bit of commentary, too.\n\n------\ngirvo\nMan, I feel weird. I used BS2 temporarily, but then stripped it out for a\nstraight reset and grid system. Old habits die hard, I guess, and what I Want\nfrom a UI doesn't always match Bootstraps ideas... I'll give this another shot\nfor my startup prototype, but I have a feeling the same will happen.\n\nIs anyone else like that, or am I now old-school at the ripe age of 22?\n\n~~~\nmoogleii\nMaybe Foundation would suit you better. I heard it's a bit more lightweight\nthan BS.\n\n~~~\nnahname\nI checked it out for that reason. Then I found a number of social images and\nbegan wondering why a lightweight CSS framework needed images for facebook,\ntwitter, etc...\n\n~~~\njaredmcateer\nYou mean the Social Icons in the _Add-ons_ section? You don't need to include\nthose, in fact, I believe they are opt-in, not opt-out.\n\n~~~\nnahname\nJust checked and you are correct.\n\n~~~\nthatswrong0\nIf you want something lightweight, I wouldn't go for Foundation either. Even\nafter stripping out the unnecessary stuff, I found it overly obnoxious to\nstyle.\n\nI ended up with the Skeleton framework after struggling with both Bootstrap\nand Foundation for a few days. It was a much better decision. I've also been\neyeing Bourbon Neat lately as well.\n\n------\nmessage\nDude,\n[https://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=Bootstrap+3](https://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=Bootstrap+3)\n\n~~~\nscrrr\nSo what. Now all the people that haven't seen it will notice. heh\n\n~~~\nthejosh\nIt's still on the second page of HN, was on the frontpage for a while.\n\n~~~\nGoNB\nI guess it goes to show front end design is one of the most controversial\ntopics on HN. On GitHub, Bootstrap has maintained an almost permanent position\nin the daily top ranked repos.\n\n------\nxtrumanx\nI don't think I get the new grid system.\n\n    \n    \n        <div class=\"col-12 col-sm-8 col-lg-8\">.col-12 .col-lg-8</div>\n    \n\nWhat's going on here? If I were to guess, I'm assuming it's going to be 12\ncolumns if its a mobile, 8 if a tablet or a desktop.\n\nIn what situation would that be useful? It looks like you'd end up with some\npretty complicated mark-up quickly like that.\n\n~~~\ntimdorr\nIn order to reduce complexity like this, you should avoid using Bootstrap\nclasses in your HTML directly.\n\nInstead, use semantic class names for your app and use the new &:extend()\ndirective in LESS 1.4 or @extend in SASS (if you're using bootstrap-sass).\nYou'll end up with much more readable HTML and CSS, and will insulate yourself\nfrom future changes in Bootstrap.\n\nI do stuff like this in SASS\n\n    \n    \n        %flash {\n          @extend .container;\n          @extend .alert;\n          margin: 15px auto;\n          border-radius: 0;\n        \n          .close { top: 0; }\n        }\n        \n        .flash-success {\n          @extend %flash;\n          @extend .alert-success;\n        \n          .close {\n            color: $successText;\n            opacity: 1;\n          }\n        }\n    \n        .flash-error {\n          @extend %flash;\n          @extend .alert-error;\n        \n          .close {\n            color: $errorText;\n            opacity: 1;\n          }\n        }\n\n~~~\nWickyNilliams\nI'll politely (and completely) disagree with this. I much prefer the HTML\nconvey semantics (to the dev, not to the user) than having magic happening\nbehind the scenes with CSS.\n\nBy having the classes in the HTML, you know at a glance what is going to\nhappen. Whereas using extend there's an extra layer of indirection, you end up\nhaving to look at the HTML, see there's a class called something like\n\"sidebar\". Then you have to look at the SASS, find the sidebar class to see\nthere's an extend directive, then and work out what's going on in there.\nThat's an extra step i'd rather avoid.\n\nPeople usually follow this approach to get \"clean\" or \"semantic\" markup, but\nthere's some falsehoods in that thinking. The \"markup looks ugly\", or is \"non-\nsemantic\" are misguided: no user agents infer semantics from classes, and the\nugliness you describe is purely aesthetic, _the real beauty is in the\nsemantics the developer can infer from having clear and obvious classes in the\nHTML_. Another classic argument is it makes the markup bloated. This may be\ntrue on the surface, but when you factor in GZIP, it is completely negated as\nmore repetition == better compression.\n\nA great read on the topic is Nicholas Gallagher's article \"About HTML\nsemantics and front-end architecture\"[1]. Reading that article for the first\ntime was one of those moments of clarity, where your previous perceptions are\ncompletely shattered. Hopefully you guys will feel the same :)\n\n[1][http://nicolasgallagher.com/about-html-semantics-front-\nend-a...](http://nicolasgallagher.com/about-html-semantics-front-end-\narchitecture/)\n\n~~~\ntimdorr\nI'm not sure I follow. You're basically arguing for including style attributes\nthroughout your HTML. CSS classes are always a layer of indirection,\nregardless of whether they are semantic or functional. As such, you shouldn't\nbe forcing style and layout directives into the structure of the document.\n\nThe main benefit of what I'm describing isn't actually semantics. It's\nallowing CSS to do what it does best: cascade.\n\nSay I've got an application where I've got several pages with unique layouts\nand the designer has come up with a new form style that has all the labels\ninline instead of on top of each input and has a new dynamic tour system that\nneeds some area on the right of each form.\n\nIf you were using Bootstrap classes directly, you'd have to go to _all_ of\nyour forms and add .form-inline and change the column size classes. You\nwouldn't want to redefine what those classes are because that may have effects\non other areas of the application. This may also break some of your\nJavascript, as it was dependent on those class names.\n\nIf you were using semantically-named classes, you'd simply change the width\nand add @extend .form-inline to your main form placeholder (which is in turn\n@extend'ed by any specific form class). Your HTML would stay the same, meaning\nany Javascript dependent on those classes wouldn't break.\n\n~~~\nWickyNilliams\nNo I'm not arguing for style attributes, that's a maintenance nightmare\nwaiting to happen (with very little waiting needed!). They are a layer of\nindirection indeed, but which of these do you think conveys more\ninformation/semantics to the developer (these aren't bootstrap specific\nclasses, just illustrative):\n\n<div class=\"sidebar\"> <!-- content --> </div>\n\n<!-- or -->\n\n<div class=\"sidebar grid-one-whole grid-one-half-medium grid-one-third-large\">\n<!-- content --> </div>\n\nThe second one is _way_ more verbose, but at a glance you know exactly what is\nhappening (assuming my class names are obvious enough). The classes convey\ninformation that an amalgamated class you get from @extend simply cannot.\n\nFirst let me say that a lot of what I'm talking about is optimal for building\nlarge-scale web sites with lots of page variants. Your mileage may vary for\nsmaller sites, the principles can still be applied, but you might not need\nadhere to them as strictly.\n\nThere's been a movement in recent years, Object Oriented CSS (OOCSS). This\nethos urges the developer to write CSS as they would other code, using the\nhard lessons that have been learnt in other language. We should be thinking in\nabstractions, utilising the single responsibility principle, favouring\ncomposition over inheritance, loose coupling, and self-documenting code. I'll\ngo through these one at a time, because the benefits of each flow throughout\none another.\n\nAbstractions - using a single class like \"sidebar\" to contain all your styling\nfor the sidebar is not thinking in abstractions. The sidebar may need specific\nstyling (say a different BG colour) but it also has a lot in common with other\nparts of the page. For instance, it's nothing more than a grid column, so why\nbundle all styles into one class instead of using the grid abstraction to\n\"decorate\" the sidebar with this? This is equivalent to breaking a system into\nreusable classes. See Nicole Sullivan's article on the Media Object [1] and\nHarry Roberts on the open/closed principle in CSS [2]\n\nSingle-responsibility principle - Do one thing and do it well. A class should\nhave a single-responsibility so that it can be composed into larger \"blocks\"\nof styling. A class that does everything is monolithic and difficult to work\nwith as soon as a design needs to change. Overly broad selectors in CSS can\nalso break the single responsibility principle - suddenly your styling is\nrelying on the coincidental placement of elements inside one another. Harry\nRoberts cover this [3]\n\nLoose-coupling: Can parts of your code base change without affecting others?\nBy @extending grid classes you're tightly coupling yourself to the\nimplementation details of the grid system. Now you can of course override\nstyles in your sidebar class, but overriding styles from previous classes is a\ncode smell. If you're \"undoing\" what another class has done, you've applied a\nstyle too early. You suggest changing the CSS and leaving the HTML the same\nwhen a change is required. I always prefer changing the HTML because it has a\nfar more limited scope for far reaching changes. If you change one segment of\nHTML you know it's not going to affect other parts of the site beyond itself\n(and possibly it's children), but if you change some tightly-coupled CSS its\neffects could ripple throughout the whole site. The previously mentioned\narticle on the open/closed principle [2] touches on tight coupling in classes.\n\nFavour composition over inheritance - In OO languages we've learnt that we\nshould favour composition of granular, single-purpose classes over deep\ninheritance hierarchies. Why? Inheritance is a fundamental tenet of OO, just\nas the cascade is in CSS, but we still frequently eschew it. The reason for\nthis is because we can compose infinitely more flexible pieces of\nfunctionality from granular building blocks than we can from inheriting traits\nfrom \"super classes\". And now that we're thinking in abstractions (as outlined\nabove) using the single-responsibility principle, we can put multiple classes\non an HTML element to compose them as you wish into large blocks. Harry\nRoberts (CSS Wizardry) covers this nicely [4] and also when talking about grid\nsystems [5]\n\nSelf-documenting code - From the HTML I ideally want to know exactly where\neach bit of style is coming from. With one monolithic class all I know is that\nit's a sidebar, which doesn't really tell me much that I can't work out\nvisually. Multiple classes tell me exactly how it will behave at a glance.\nThis means your classes should be as descriptive as possible. Classes should\nnot describe the content of the markup they are applied to (sidebar is\ndefinitely content-centric) but rather their intent. And small, abstract,\nsingle-responsibility classes convey more information than a monolith can, and\nthey ease understanding of the system. Someone familiar with bootstrap could\nquickly get to grips a site using the plain bootstrap classes, whereas\n@extending all over the place necessitates digging into the CSS to gain an\nunderstanding of the system. This is covered in great depth in the original\narticle I linked to.\n\nFinally, you should never use as a JS hook a class whose purpose is visual\nstyling, then the whole mess you outlined is avoidable. Either use data-*\nattributes (as most bootstrap widgets do) or a class which conveys intent and\na single responsibility e.g. \"js-date-picker\".\n\nNow my incoherent ramblings are probably lacking in a number of points, I had\nto leave out a lot so this didn't balloon even further (e.g. I didn't talk\nabout specificity or BEM methodology). I urge you to read all the articles\nI've linked to, as hopefully you've already read the original one. You might\nalso want to read this article which kinda covers everything in one post:\n[http://engineering.appfolio.com/2012/11/16/css-\narchitecture/](http://engineering.appfolio.com/2012/11/16/css-architecture/)\nMost of the principles I've outlined here are actually used in bootstrap.\n\nPS. if you want to continue the conversation, hit me up on twitter\n(@WickyNilliams) or something, I always forget to check back on HN comments\nfor replies.\n\n[1] [http://www.stubbornella.org/content/2010/06/25/the-media-\nobj...](http://www.stubbornella.org/content/2010/06/25/the-media-object-saves-\nhundreds-of-lines-of-code/) [2] [http://csswizardry.com/2012/06/the-open-\nclosed-principle-app...](http://csswizardry.com/2012/06/the-open-closed-\nprinciple-applied-to-css/) [3] [http://csswizardry.com/2012/04/the-single-\nresponsibility-pri...](http://csswizardry.com/2012/04/the-single-\nresponsibility-principle-applied-to-css/) [4]\n[http://csswizardry.com/2012/10/a-classless-class-on-using-\nmo...](http://csswizardry.com/2012/10/a-classless-class-on-using-more-classes-\nin-your-html/) [5] [http://csswizardry.com/2013/02/responsive-grid-systems-a-\nsol...](http://csswizardry.com/2013/02/responsive-grid-systems-a-solution/)\n\n------\nweego\nMeh, at some point they should start to realise that you can't change\neverything every release and expect everyone to keep up. It feels like it's\nbecoming more of a chore than the real initial win it was able to deliver on\nfirst release.\n\n~~~\njvzr\nYou don't _need_ to stay up to date with this kind of frameworks. It isn't\nlike every update has security fixes.\n\nThe company I work for uses several versions of Bootstrap 2 and we have no\nissue dealing with it. Newer projects will use BS3, but we don't need nor feel\nthe need to update every project.\n\n~~~\nsteveklabnik\nThere is an image gallery plugin that I use that secretly downloads its own\nlatest version of bootstrap, which can conflict with the one you have loaded,\nbreaking everything :(\n\n~~~\nnahname\nIt must be a very good library to be chosen in spite of that behaviour.\n\n~~~\nsteveklabnik\nAs you might tell by my :(, I wasn't aware that it did this until quite\nrecently. When it broke my site.\n\n------\nWickyNilliams\nIs there actually a changelog somewhere or will that be written up with the\nfull official release? I can't see anything detailing what's changed\n\nAlso, it's a damn shame they're still using pixels for everything (from a\ncursory glance). Fluid grids (i.e. %-based) and ems (for font-size and media\nqueries) are much better. They are infinitely more flexible and much more\neasily adaptable to any layout.\n\n~~~\npixelmonkey\nThe Bootstrap 3 pull request has a lot of details about what is changing:\n[https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/pull/6342](https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/pull/6342)\n\n~~~\nWickyNilliams\nThanks, that's really comprehensive (perhaps too low-level for the end-\nconsumer to care about).\n\nReading through that PR it seems they are actually using percentage-based\ngrids now, but the grid containers are fixed width (and probably defined in\npx). That's definitely better than completely fixed width grids, though I'd\nmuch prefer having max-width on my containers instead of an absolute value,\nand relative values used throughout\n\n------\ndave1010uk\nThis looks like the changelog:\n[https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/pull/6342](https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/pull/6342)\n\n------\nnateweiss\nWhile simple, I believe Panel and Listgroup are new components; nice to have\nthose nicely implemented and styled in the framework. Will be handy for me. In\nmany ways I think Bootstrap helps the most with the little things like this. I\nam very appreciative of this terrific framework being made available for us to\nuse.\n\n------\nNanoWar\nWhy is everything _flat_ :-C\n\n~~~\njoeblau\nI think it's flat because it's easier to add CSS and build up widgets as\nopposed to having a stylized widget, then trying to override the CSS to re-\ncustomize each widget. Foundation, the original front-end framework which\nBootstrap emulates, works the same way.\n\n~~~\njaredmcateer\nFoundation doesn't isn't completely flat though. Buttons, for example, hint at\nbeing intractable by giving a tiny bit of depth using the line at the top of\nthe object.\n\n------\nchrisweekly\nA big improvement: the media queries are ordered properly, mobile-first. Great\ndecision.\n\n------\nphpnode\nIt's interesting to see that the references to twitter are basically gone now,\npresumably this means we'll see more things from `Bootstrap` in future,\nperhaps a company since it already has a lot of mind-share.\n\n------\nLukeWalsh\nThe nav bar that automatically collapses for mobile is an excellent addition.\nThis is one of the main things lacking in quickly made prototypes.\n\n~~~\nnadaviv\nThis exists in Bootstrap 2 too:\n[http://twitter.github.io/bootstrap/2.3.2/examples/fluid.html](http://twitter.github.io/bootstrap/2.3.2/examples/fluid.html)\n\n------\njasonkester\nBug report:\n\n    \n    \n      - open on iPad in landscape\n      - navigate to a long doc page\n      - scroll halfway down\n      - rotate to portrait\n    \n\nExpected: content scaled to fit\n\nActual: content zooms way in, document scrolls several pages\n\n    \n    \n      - rotate back to landscape\n    \n\nExpected: content returns to previous view\n\nActual: content zooms even further\n\n~~~\nfrakkingcylons\nIt's probably best if you submit bugs to their issue tracker:\n[https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/issues](https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/issues)\n\n------\ndb-dzine\nwtf is wrong with the button ... srsly.\n[http://s14.directupload.net/images/130729/kassm787.png](http://s14.directupload.net/images/130729/kassm787.png)\n\n~~~\nadventured\nI'm on Firefox 22, and the same thing happens here. Mouse over download\nbutton, click it, download pop-up appears, click cancel on the download,\nbutton disappears. It re-appears upon giving focus back to the page.\n\n~~~\nepmatsw\nStill happens in FF 25 nightly as well.\n\n------\njzone3\nPersonally, I think the \"Download Bootstrap\" button is too ambiguous. Why is\nthe default color the same as the background color, it is just confusing and\nugly\n\n~~~\nwilfra\nI love that button, think it looks awesome.\n\n------\nhearty777\nI'm assuming this was design by committee. The first versions of Bootstrap\nseem a whole lot better visually.\n\n------\ngreaterweb\nIt's really unfortunate to see all the haterade being spilled over the\ncomments. The efforts to take Bootstrap to version 3 were pretty significant,\nat the minimum they deserve a pat on the back for that alone.\n\nHere are some important concepts I think a good portion of people are missing.\n\n _Upgrading_ \\- Don't upgrade for the sake of upgrading. If you have a fully\nfunctional site right now which uses or extends a previous version of\nBootstrap your incentive to upgrade at this point is probably minimal.\n\nAt some point you had conceded that version X of Bootstrap was the right front\nend framework for your project. If that has changed you need now concede you\nhave some work ahead of you.\n\nIdentify and evaluate the features introduced in Bootstrap 3 that are lacking\nfrom your current project. Scope out the markup and stylesheet refactoring\nrequired for any of the \"must haves\" and setup a schedule to integrate.\nRealize that this doesn't necessarily mean you are bringing Bootstrap 3 into\nyour project, more so you may just be adapting your existing front end assets\nto model Bootstrap 3 features/patterns.\n\nThis is really no different than an existing site that doesn't use Bootstrap\nnow wanting to bring the framework into their project. If you've identified\nthat you need Bootstrap 3 for your project, you would expect there is work to\nbe put in.\n\n _Usage_ \\- I see a number of comments critiquing design and usability. Is\nBootstrap really intended to solve those problems for you?\n\nIn my opinion this is a framework intended to bootstrap your front end assets\nand development efforts. It prescribes conventions for common component markup\nand their respective selector naming conventions.\n\nThink about that for a moment how valuable that is to your project (especially\nthose with a large number of contributing developers). How many projects\nprevious to one using Bootstrap did you have such well documented markup,\nstyle and naming conventions?\n\nBootstrap standardizes and documents front end patterns for rapid adoption and\nimplementation into your project. That's pretty damn special. If what they\npromote doesn't align with your needs or development practices, well, don't\nuse it.\n\n _Style_ \\- Bootstrap wasn't designed for your site, your users or even to\nkeep up with the latest design trends. The styling, while in the view of many\nis decent, seems to have been intentionally minimalistic and not overly\nopinionated.\n\nIt provides basic structure and basic styling. It's your starting point. You\ncan get to your destination now a bit quicker without needing to reset their\nstyle rules.\n\nHaving such minimalistic styles probably serves to be good motivation to get\ncreative. If you want custom and don't have the design ability to get there,\nrest assured there will be a companion stylesheets to extend bootstrap coming\nsoon to at a market place near you.\n\n _Inspire_ \\- If the Bootstrap shoe fits, wear it. If Foundation, Pure or any\nother front end framework fits the need, use it.\n\nTo me the great benefit of all these popular frameworks is they bring to light\nmany well thought out development approaches to the front end. Not everyone\nwill agree with them. They aren't always bullet proof. Though at the end of\nthey day though they invoke developers to take a look at their individual\nassets and recognize areas of improvement.\n\nFind the framework or approach that best aligns with your needs and personal\npreference and customize the hell out of it.\n\n------\nda_n\nThis is awesome work, well done to the Bootstrap team.\n\n------\ndangayle\nOther than the grid, it looks like all the classes and markup are the same.\n\nI wish the examples used more semantically meaningful html5 elements where\nappropriate, but that's not too big of a deal.\n\n~~~\nmrgreenfur\nI noticed last night that the forms have been cleaned up a bit and outfitted\nwith new class names\n\n~~~\ndangayle\nOh, I missed the forms. I haven't had much call to use them in my current\nproject, so I missed those.\n\n------\nhawleyal\nThe CSS/JS on the website is broken.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Deb-simple, a no fuss/frills apt repo server - johnnycarcin\nhttps://github.com/esell/deb-simple\n======\njustinsaccount\nShouldn't createPackagesTar be createPackagesGz ?\n\n~~~\njohnnycarcin\nProbably ;) fixed!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThe Substance Found in Pencils will Speed Up our Computers One Thousand Fold - cwan\nhttp://hplusmagazine.com/articles/toys-tools/graphene-next\n\n======\nvl\nAs it quite often happens it's better to read wikipedia article:\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene>\n\nthan to suffer through things like \"substance found in pencils\"\n\n~~~\npo\nI hate how science writers get to the part of the article where they have to\nwrite about why it is useful. They usually start dipping into their stock\ncliché material. This one is particularly bad. The whole last half of the\narticle is junk.\n\n------\nhga\nCheck this out, it sounds like it might be fairly near term stuff, e.g.\nFujitsu is depositing it on Si wafers, IBM has preliminary (large and\nhopefully slow) 30GHz test transistors, which is where Si maxes out according\nto a linked article at the bottom.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nVulnerability in Internet Explorer Could Allow Remote Code Execution - lelf\nhttps://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/library/security/2963983\n\n======\neps\nMitigated by EMET.\n\nIf you are on Windows and you are _not_ running EMET, you should really drop\neverything right now and install it.\n\n[http://www.microsoft.com/emet](http://www.microsoft.com/emet)\n\n~~~\nbananas\nNo you shouldn't.\n\n1\\. It breaks a lot of stuff.\n\n2\\. It isn't very good:\n\n[http://bromiumlabs.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/bypassing-\neme...](http://bromiumlabs.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/bypassing-emet-4-1.pdf)\n\nAt best it's a dose of Tamiflu.\n\nAs many people before have said, you can't retrospectively apply security\nmitigations properly; you have to design them in from the start.\n\n~~~\nSpittie\n1\\. Really? I've been using it for a while, and no breakage. Sure, I just use\nthe default rulelist instead of applying rules to everything (which imo is\nwhat most people should do).\n\n2\\. Sure, but it's better than nothing. As parent said, this exploit is\nmitigated by EMET. See [http://rationallyparanoid.com/articles/emet-\ntesting.html](http://rationallyparanoid.com/articles/emet-testing.html) for\nmore tests\n\nYes, it's a bandaid. But since it help and it's free, why not?\n\n~~~\nbananas\nWe've had a couple of older COM-based applications that target Windows 5.1\n(2003/XP) platforms fail unpredictably with it on later operating systems.\nWhether these are just badly behaved applications or compilers or a faulty\ndesign in EMET we don't know as it's all closed source and when you're left\nwith a steaming minidump (because you can't catch these unless you use ADplus)\nit's not easy to work out why a process failed from that if EMET shot it.\n\nAs for the better than nothing, yes until your phone starts ringing like a\ncheesy sci-fi flick because half your MSMQ sinks are crashing...\n\nMy comment above probable shouldn't have been: no you shouldn't use it until\nyou've soak tested your applications on it.\n\n~~~\nnoinsight\nEMET should show a notification when it blocks something and it should also\nmake an event log entry. (These are configurable iirc.)\n\n------\nmkempe\nThe subtitle has the meat: \"Vulnerability in Internet Explorer Could Allow\nRemote Code Execution\".\n\n\"Microsoft is aware of limited, targeted attacks that attempt to exploit a\nvulnerability in [IE 6 through 11].\" \\--date published: April 26, 2014.\n\n~~~\neasy_rider\nI think remote code execution and the easy method for payload delivery\nwarrants a high level of concern.\n\n~~~\nrainforest\nIt seems from the subtitle that this isn't just a known vulnerability, but one\nbeing exploited in the wild, if I'm not mistaken. Definitely a serious concern\neither way though.\n\n------\nld00d\nXP is absent from the list of affected OSes. Does that mean XP isn't affected,\nor is it just off the radar now that it's no longer supported.\n\nCould this be the first big unpatched XP hole?\n\n~~~\n0x0\nIsn't there an extended, for-pay support service for xp? In that case, it must\nmean a patch will be engineered and released to paying customers. How long\nuntil these leak out and pirates start trading XP patches?\n\n~~~\nTheLoneWolfling\nHow long until people start offering unofficial patches that include\nbackdoors?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nKarma Is Coming - mitko\nhttps://dimitarsimeonov.com/2019/08/20/karma-is-coming\n======\nCausality1\nI disagree. Call-out culture is not karma. Karma is equal reward for good as\npunishment for bad. Call-out culture is informational natural selection that\nbenefits the most outraging story, whether or not it's even true.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCustos is using Bitcoin to turn digital pirates against each other - eddyg\nhttps://qz.com/1028528/custos-startup-uses-bitcoin-bounties-to-make-pirates-rat-on-one-another/\n======\nbadosu\n> _Custos embeds imperceptible bitcoin private keys in the digital files, with\n> different keys for different advance copies of a movie or ebook. (...)\n\n> At the same time, Custos makes a piece of free software that screens movie\n> files for these private keys and markets the screener to content pirates.\n> Pirates now have an incentive to check pirated movie files in case they\n> contain a key. If a key is detected, the pirate can claim the bitcoin\n> bounty—usually between $5 and $10—and is free to keep it. But once a bounty\n> is claimed, Custos is alerted, and can begin the process of figuring out the\n> origin of the leak._\n\nThis is really clever! A very interesting social experiment with some game\ntheory dynamics on the way.\n\n~~~\nBlahah\nSeems pretty self-defeating. I'd just strip the keys and not claim the bounty.\nThis whole system depends on pirates wanting $5 more than they want to pirate\nthe thing, which from my 10 years around release and fxp groups in my younger\ndays, I can say is barely ever the case.\n\n~~~\ncodezero\nI'm assuming the keys are embedded before it's leaked like a watermark of\nsorts. The leaker isn't the pirate in the scenario described _I think_.\n\n~~~\nBlahah\nAh! I read the references to pirates as referring to the person sharing the\nfile online from an original source. But someone just torrenting it or\nsomething makes a lot more sense as the target here.\n\n------\nAdverblessly\nMaybe I don't understand something?\n\nJohn Doe, random employee working for Universal Studios leaks an advance copy\nof \"The Revenge of the Avengers: The Revengers Strike Back\" to their contact\nXPirateSepirothX for 250$ (or for free because they really want to get back at\ntheir boss for laughing at them).\n\nXPirateSephirothX passes on the watermarked movie to their friendly\nneighbourhood reencoder IAmBecomeDeath who notices the watermark strips it,\nand reencodes the movie for general consumption.\n\nThe pirating public receives an unwatermarked copy and cannot claim any prize.\nIAmBecomeDeath, XPirateSephirothX and John Doe have no incentive to claim the\nprize because they will implicate themselves in copyright violation.\n\nAre they implying the watermark is impossible to remove? That seems unlikely\nto me as pirates can be quite enterprising (and there may be some money on the\nline for them as well), so I'd expect them to reverse engineer the process and\nfigure out how to strip it. Heck, this company is even offering an application\nthat checks if the watermark is present or not which should at least give the\npirates a measurement on whether their watermark removal method worked (on at\nleast some version of the watermark detection logic).\n\nOr maybe the plan is to play a constant game of cat and mouse, Custos will\ncontinually switch up their methods for watermarking and so the pirates will\nnever be sure if they caught and successfully stripped the latest and greatest\nversion of the watermark, preventing some piracy through uncaught watermarks\nand some piracy through fear?\n\n~~~\nanilgulecha\n> IAmBecomeDeath who notices the watermark strips it, and reencodes the movie\n> for general consumption.\n\nOr wants the $$, so claims it, putting down a breadcrumb. (Atleast that's what\nthe technology in the article is for.)\n\n~~~\nhorsawlarway\nIt's not lucrative enough. The product is worth far more than the measly\nbounty. Sure, claim that 15 dollars in bitcoin, and _never_ receive another\npre-release copy again, or... strip it and continue business as usual.\n\nThis model really only works when most encoders are not aware the tag is there\nat all, and don't strip it.\n\nAlternatively (as some other comments suggested) Custos buries additional tags\nwithout revealing them, in which case they act just like all sorts of other\nwatermarking companies doing the same thing (not terribly effectively).\n\n------\nplus\nIf it is possible to strip the private key, e.g. by re-encoding, then an\nintelligent and determined leaker would simply do that before distribution.\nThey likely won't be tempted to take the reward for themselves, given the\nconsequences, and by stripping the private key they can prevent anyone else\nfrom claiming it. I suppose this would catch less savvy leakers, though.\n\nEdit: To be clear, I understand that digital watermarking techniques can be\nresilient to a simple re-encode, but since Custos is providing the tool to\nclaim the reward for free to pirates, it should be possible to reverse-\nengineer the tool to identify and destroy the watermark.\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\nReading data out of an enclosed file is much less of a problem than altering\nthat data without damaging the file. All you need for “screening” and\n“claiming” is to read out the keys and check if the funds have already been\ntransferred out on the blockchain and, if not, transfer them out. There's no\nalteration to the file content involved.\n\nDestroying the keys requires altering the file while leaving it functional,\nwhich requires more than reverse engineering the tool, because the tool\ndoesn't need that capacity.\n\n~~~\nplus\nMy point is that if you can identify how the private key is stored in the\nvideo, then it should be possible to develop a strategy to destroy that data\nwithout damaging the integrity of the file. Presumably the key will be hidden\nin such a way that it won't be obvious to viewers (that is, it won't be a\n_literal_ watermark). If that's true, then it should be possible to destroy\nthe key without making the video quality noticeably worse, e.g. by selectively\nre-encoding certain parts of the video in a certain way that ensures\ndestruction of the private key. Of course I'm speculating, because I don't\nknow exactly how the private key is stored in the video, but video quality is\na lot more robust to bit massaging than a hidden digital private key would be.\n\n------\ntuxxy\nThis is neat, but I can't help but feel it's not going to work.\n\nIt would work if you encounter a movie that you wanted to watch, decide you\nwant the money instead, and you report to Custos.\n\nThis is not how piracy works.\n\nInstead, a pirate knows the value of the good they have. They know it's worth\nmore to their reputation in the community than $5-10 dollars. By setting a\nbounty on it, you'll just have others willing to pay more to leak it\nthemselves. This is an experiment, not a business.\n\n~~~\nsimias\nYou don't \"report\" to CustOS directly, rather you simply move the money from\none of the CustOS \"bounty\" private keys into one of your own.\n\nEffectively it does the same thing but I think psychologically it's pretty\ndifferent. For one thing you know that the bitcoin transaction will be very\nhard to trace (you can't be betrayed by your IP address or something like\nthat) and you don't really rat anybody, you're just moving bitcoins. If you\ndon't have any direct relationship with the original leaker (say, you\ndownloaded the file through bittorent on some private tracker) there's really\nno incentive not to claim the bounty. It's free money.\n\nI wonder what happens if a legitimate recipient of one of these copies decides\nto claim the bounty without actually leaking anything. Could they be in\ntrouble? If people accuse them of leaking a copy and they show that they have\ncontrol of the coins, will they be off the hook? Do they have to sign\nsomething that forbids them from using the key?\n\n~~~\npavel_lishin\nIf I were a pirate/leaker/sharer, I would be very tempted to just paste the\nkey on some completely unrelated forum to lay down a false trail.\n\n~~~\nphilh\nWhat does that get you? If I understand correctly, I don't think the content\nowner finds out who uses the private key. They find out that the key has been\nused, which normally means that someone leaked the file to a pirate, and tells\nthem who leaked.\n\n~~~\nsimias\nPlausible deniability? Since there's an other way for somebody in the wild to\nhave had access to the key without IP violation you could claim that you never\nleaked the file in the first place.\n\nOf course it's one of these smartass \"hacker technicalities\" that may not hold\nmuch water in a court of law.\n\n~~~\nkgwgk\nSo your defense would be that you didn't leak the file but you did leak the\nkey?\n\n------\ngrizzles\nIt seems like a good way to drive awareness of digital watermarking in the\nfile sharing community.\n\n------\njakobegger\nThe big disadvantage with this scheme is that the publisher needs to pay the\nreward in advance for every copy they want to protect. That‘s why the rewards\ncan‘t be big. (The publisher could of course keep the private keys and redeem\nunclaimed rewards themselves after some time, only risking currency\nfluctuations)\n\n~~~\nrtkwe\nHow much do they have to actually stock though? 50-100k USD ($5-10 over 10000\nscreeners) is a good bit of money but they'd probably only pay out a tiny\nportion of that and compared to the budgets of a large blockbuster it's not\nthat large of an outlay.\n\nIf they can reliably embed multiple private keys into the screener DVDs they\ncould get by with having fewer account and using the combination of accounts\nas the key. Though really if they're able to embed a whole private key in a\nway that survives encoding why bother with the bounty, though I guess that\nsaves them the trouble of having to go find torrents/rips themselves.\n\n~~~\njakobegger\nThis is a brilliant idea! Since we expect only a handful of leaks, each\nscreener could contain lets say around 100 bounties of $10, with 200 bounties\ntotal. Then the first leak would be worth $1000, the second leak $500\n(expected value) etc, and the studio only needs to pony up $2000 in total. We\nare guaranteed to be able to identify the first leak, I'm not sure if we can\nidentify further leaks (there is probably some kind of trade-off between\npayout for the first leak, total amount of bounties, and probability of being\nable to identify further leaks, but the mathematics of this is probably not\ntrivial.\n\n------\n0x0\nI looked around their web page but I couldn't find the \"freely available\nbounty hunter tool\" they are talking about. Does it exist somewhere or is this\nnot actually launched yet? They are saying that individuals in pirate circles\nare already hunting bounties with this tool...?\n\n------\nair7\ntl;dr: Scenario: Studio sends 10ks advanced copies of their film to reviewers\nbefore screening. One of them gets leaked. They want to know who leaked it.\nCustos embeds a \"watermark\" in the copies that contains a private key of a\nbitcoin wallet containing 5$. Each copy has a different wallet. When anyone\ndown the pirate chain decides to take the money, Custos knows who the leaking\nsource was. Benefit over traditional watermarks is that they only have to\nmonitor the wallets.\n\nIMO this is quite a clever idea because even after pirates start scrubbing the\nkey off, there will always be an incentive to claim the money, perhaps much\nlater when someone can get many of them at once. It will seed distrust that'll\nbe hard to weed out.\n\n~~~\ndelinka\nIf cashing out were delayed well past the statute of limitations, it'd be\ninteresting to see the repercussions.\n\n------\nanotheryou\nI see no advantage over traditional invisiblee watermarks.\n\nA movie usually just leaks once or twice, these leaks get replicate\neverywhere. So if you are looking for a specific movie, just get a pirated\ncopy from anywhere and check the watermark yourself. It's trivial to check if\nthere is a leak at all and also trivial to find that leaked version and test\nit. No need to throw 15 bucks per copy on it, just let the intern monitor some\ntorrent trackers.\n\n~~~\nicebraining\nI think the difference is that the person who spreads the movie over the\ntrackers, who is not necessarily the original leaker, now has an incentive to\nreport it, whereas with regular watermarks they'd simply remove it before\ndistributing over those public channels.\n\nOf course, it's hard to see such person being in a position to receive many\nleaks in the future, after burning the original leaker, so the incentive seems\nquite small.\n\n------\nbcoates\nCalling \"Insider gets the master private key list, steals all the bounties\" as\nthe way this turns out.\n\n------\nborne0\nI don't get it. Any 'damage' to the studio happens when the movie is publicly\nleaked, at that point just download the copy yourself and check for a\nwatermark, telling you where the leak originated without ponying up $5-$10\n(which is a paltry sum to begin with).\n\n~~~\nMatt3o12_\nFor this, the company has to first find the leak version. This means they need\npeople to monitor all kind of sites for this material. With the bitcoin\nmethod, the company only needs to monitor a bunch of bitcoin wallets and, as\nsoon as a transfer is made, the are aware of the leak immediately (with much\nless men power. Furthermore they also don’t need people who have access to\nthose “private” torrent exchanges).\n\nFurthermore, their response times are pretty awesome (if they are in fact\ntrue):\n\n> Van Rooyen claims once a leaked copy containing a bounty hits the dark web,\n> it takes just five minutes on average for the bounty to be claimed and\n> Custos and its client to be alerted. On social networks it takes 42 seconds;\n> and offline, like if a movie is copied or shared on a DVD or USB drive, it’s\n> 28 minutes.\n\n------\nmustafabisic1\n“You just need a single rotten apple in that group,” he says.\n\nReminds me of my Primary school teacher :)\n\nCustos did it masterfully.\n\n------\nnfriedly\nHah, now some pirate is going to try and figure out how to get all of the\nprivate keys :P\n\n~~~\nrtkwe\nBeyond just hacking into Custos and stealing them or Custos using a somehow\npredictable keygen (not even sure that's really a thing?), in doing that\nthey'd be tracking down all the leaks which is exactly what Custos and their\ncustomers are wanting.\n\nIn reality only a few screeners seem to leak for any given movie.\n\n------\ntest6554\nWhat's to stop the intended recipient of the movie from intentionally and\nunabashedly claiming the bitcoins for themselves.\n\n~~~\net2o\n1) It marks them as a \"leaker\" 2) If you keep claiming the bitcoins, you are\ngoing to stop getting videos sent to you. This could have professional\nimplications.\n\n~~~\npavel_lishin\nYou can claim the bounty without leaking the film, though as you point out,\nthis could prevent you from being sent films in the future.\n\n------\ndrewbuschhorn\nIt's a great idea from a game theory perspective, but I think an adversarial\nneural network plugin built into vlc as a preencoding step would probably\ndefeat it pretty quickly with minimal quality loss.\n\nYou just can't effectively watermark data intended for human consumption, our\ntolerance for intentionally induced noise is too high.\n\n~~~\nplus\nI don't want to be confrontational, but I really don't understand the point\nyou're trying to make. Why a neural network, why VLC? I understand that you\nare suggesting it would be possible to strip the watermark, but the way you've\nsaid it sounds a lot like \"create a GUI interface using visual basic, see if I\ncan track an IP address\"[0]. Which is to say, you've not said what you would\ndo to defeat it, but how you think it would be implemented... which doesn't\nreally tell us anything about HOW you think it could be defeated.\n\n>You just can't effectively watermark data intended for human consumption, our\ntolerance for intentionally induced noise is too high.\n\nIf this were true, steganography[1] would be useless in practice (it isn't).\n\nI would suggest reading up on digital watermarking[2].\n\n[0]\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDD03yeLnU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDD03yeLnU)\n[1]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steganography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steganography)\n[2]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_watermarking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_watermarking)\n\n~~~\ndrewbuschhorn\n> I don't intend to be confrontational\n\nOf course you do, or you wouldn't end the comment with \"I suggest you read up\non.\"\n\nStenography is only useful when it's unknown or impractical to investigate\npossible payloads, either do to volume of possible hits or lack of knowledge\nhow to decode the payload out of the source. If you tell an opponent: here is\nthe decode technique and here is where the message is likely to be, you've\nbasically defeated your own stenography.\n\n~~~\nplus\nIt is true that my intention was not to be rude. My \"I suggest you read up on\"\ncomment was in response to your claim:\n\n>You just can't effectively watermark data intended for human consumption, our\ntolerance for intentionally induced noise is too high.\n\nWhich is simply not true! That kind of misunderstanding suggests that you are\nunfamiliar with the kinds of digital watermarking that are used TODAY, hence\nmy suggestion that you read up on it. If the comment came off as rude, I\ncertainly apologize, but I stand by the point I was trying to make.\n\n>If you tell an opponent: here is the decode technique and here is where the\nmessage is likely to be, you've basically defeated your own stenography.\n\nI agree with you on this point 100%. I also made a post to that effect\nelsewhere. But that is not the same argument you made in your previous post!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nCompiling to CPS Javascript (part 2): stepping debuggers, no callback hell, etc - jlongster\nhttp://jlongster.com/2012/05/18/cps-results.html\n\n======\nmahmud\nVery interesting. Seems like you're having heckova time, cheers! :-)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSpain Runs Out of Workers with Almost 5M Unemployed - dismal2\nhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-01/spain-is-running-out-of-workers-with-almost-5-million-unemployed\n======\nknocte\n> Pimentel’s client asked him for list of candidates trained in “Agile”\n> project management techniques for helping companies boost their productivity\n> by using more I.T. systems. The client was offering as much as 200,000 euros\n> ($220,000) a year -- almost 10 times the average salary in Spain.\n\n> But such people are thin on the ground in Spain. It takes at least eight\n> months for an experienced software developer to earn an Agile qualification\n> and they also need the ability to deal with senior executives, limiting the\n> pool of people who could potentially fill the roles.\n\nThat part of the article is hilarious, not only because 200K euros is\ncompletely made up and untrue (by far surpasses best salaries in other more\ndecent countries), but because of the Agile qualification mention. Do we have\nAgile certifications now? What a load of bullshit.\n\nThe only truth in the article is this:\n\n> Spanish executives are less-skilled than their competitors in Germany,\n> France or Italy, according to a study of 11 European countries. Only Greece\n> came out worse.\n\nAnd that's the reason why the executives don't find workforce. Being less-\nskilled means they don't value the engineering profession up to the required\nlevel to compromise and give good salaries.\n\n(Spanish dev here --working abroad obviously--.)\n\n~~~\nlogingone\nAgile is barely different to how teams I worked on in the 90s operated,\nnaturally, without trying to implement and enforce a new holy grail, chase the\nrainbow routine of machinic efficiency. I find it really is much ado about\nnothing, the emperors new clothes. An anal retentive formalising and\ntrumpeting of common sense. I recall only one project which was waterfall, and\nthe rest were used as soon as they were useful. I have an agile coach at my\ncurrent job. As far as I can tell his job is to be the expert at drag and drop\nin Jira, and peeling post it notes. The only good thing I can say about agile\nis that it fills a space that will otherwise be filled with the next holy\ngrail gimmick which management won't be able to resist as they sell themselves\nand their new magic power up the corporate ladder. I'm neck deep in this farce\nat the moment.\n\n~~~\nkpil\nSure. A lot of \"Agile\" is actually cargo-cult agile, used as a vehicle for\nself-promotion: The daily scrum, the sticky-notes or the Jira.board, and all\nthat other ceremony.\n\nTypically retrofitted on top of a defunct process, with separate requirement\nanalysts, \"software architects\" whatever that means, and a lot of control\nfunctions and processes inherited from the manufacturing industry.\n\nWhat makes that work is probably the few people that actually understands\nsoftware development - typically a low percentage of the massive overhead in a\ntypical business software development center.\n\nBut you've got to start somewhere.\n\nThe Agile ceremonies are not bad, but relatively useless if there is no \"real\nAgile\" beneath. Unfortunately, they are easy to implement whereas \"real\" agile\nis not.\n\nAnd what is \"real\" agile: The core agile ideas (the manifesto), the focus on\nflow-control, the incremental analysis-build-analysis cycle, continuous\nimprovement, multi-disciplined teams, knowledge sharing, analysis methods that\ninvolves multiple people (like story mapping), empowerment (self governing\nteams, but also product owners).\n\nPerhaps above all, the idea that software development processes should not be\ndefined by business administrators, but instead by people that are actually\nqualified.\n\nI guess it could be labeled as \"common sense\", but a few things are typically\nhard to reason about for a lot of people, for instance the flow-control part\n(such as kanban), as dynamic efficiency is harder to \"see\" than static\nefficiency.\n\nBut getting good at that is actually hard. Adding 1000 fields and workflows to\nJira is easy.\n\n~~~\nRetric\nProcess is not going to fix a toxic work environment. But, it can make a\npositive difference over time.\n\nMany teams start out productive, but they also tend to degrade over time. How\nmany 10 year old projects have you been happy to start working on? How about\n20?\n\nThose are the places most in need of someone to cut the bullshit.\n\n------\nvemv\nSpanish dev here, 3 years in the business, been twice a freelancer and twice\nan employee. My main complaints:\n\n\\- The maximum salary a developer can earn at any given company is almost\nwritten in stone - around 36000 euros. Every public job posting will have that\nfigure as the max. When it's higher, they'll water it down in the interview.\n\nWhy? Probably because they don't have the notion of a 10x programmer at all.\nWe all are perceived as 'equal' or even replaceable.\n\n\\- Also, companies are scared of the mere possibility of their programmers\nleaving. The sole hint of that you may leave will turn their red alarms on,\nand they'll start searching a replacement.\n\nThere rarely exists here the mentality that a work relationship is a\ncommercial exchange, not an intimate family-like relationship. Being open to\nthe market is not 'treason'.\n\n\\- Tech stacks tend to be years behind San Francisco, whether is languages,\nframeworks, ops practices...\n\n\\- Functional programming opportunities extremely scarce. Elixir is gaining\ntraction here though.\n\n~~~\ncharlesdm\nHave you considered working remotely for a US company? I know a guy making €7\nor 8,000 per month, after tax, living in Paris. Best of both worlds: amazing\nquality of living, cheap cost of living + healthcare, lots of spending (or\ninvesting) money! Seems to be working well for him.\n\n~~~\njules\nIs the cost of living in Paris less than a normal US city?\n\n~~~\nfchollet\nParis is much less expensive than the bay area, but more expensive than the\naverage US city. In fact, it's barely less expensive than NYC, one of the most\nexpensive US cities.\n\nAlso, if you are working remotely you cannot command a bay area salary.\n\n~~~\ngorkemyurt\nSo you are saying NYC is much less expensive than Bay Area?\n\n~~~\nfchollet\nYes. Specifically, rents are much higher in SF/SV than in NYC. SF has even\nhigher rent than Manhattan. Most of NYC (not Manhattan or Williamsburg) can be\nquite reasonable.\n\n~~~\nfeklar\nDoes SF gave rent brokers you have to go through? Manhattan you have to pay\nfirst/last rent to a broker plus deposit you need around 8-$12k to sign any\nlease up front\n\n~~~\nJBReefer\nBrokers fee is one month, not two, and the outer boroughs are much cheaper.\n\n~~~\ndlandis\nBroker's fees of 15% or even 20% seemed to be fairly common last time I was\nlooking in Manhattan several years ago. It's definitely not pegged at one\nmonth anymore nowadays even in Brooklyn.\n\n------\naltoz\nYou have two groups:\n\n1\\. 5 million unemployed people 2\\. very highly sought after workers\n\nThe employers complaining about people in group 2 being scarce are merely not\npaying enough. The workers complaining in group 1 need more skills that the\nmarket wants. They're at different ends of the spectrum.\n\nOther than that they live in the same country, they really don't have much to\ndo with each other. Whether you can convert people from group 1 to group 2 is\nan interesting question, but generally if it were easy to be in group 2, a lot\nmore people would be in it.\n\n~~~\ncharlesdm\nVery true. Just compare salaries of software engineers in most EU countries\nwith salaries in the US.\n\nIf you're a good developer, 99% of the time it's better to work remotely from\nEurope for a US company. It really is a simple problem to solve -- pay\ntalented people in Europe more. And yet, for some reason, this is often\ndismissed by CEOs as a ridiculous statement. They're probably the same people\nwho think you need 100 software engineers to complete a complex technology\nproject.\n\n~~~\nduckingtest\nI don't think it's that developers are underpaid in Europe. They are just\nobjectively less productive there. After all it's a very specialized job that\nrequires modern, developed economy open to disruptions to be really\nproductive. On the extreme opposite end of a spectrum - a pre-industrial\neconomy - a developer's productivity would be zero.\n\nAmerican nominal GDP per capita is 2.13 times that of Spain's and 1.38x that\nof Germany's, and the distance keeps increasing. There are many possible\ncauses, but I think lower salaries are a symptom.\n\n~~~\npcrh\nGDP per capita seems to be a curious way to estimate if a local dev is likely\nto be productive. Would a Luxembourgish, Swiss or Norwegian dev be expected to\nbe more productive than one from the US or UK?\n\nIt seems to me that the prime determinant of pay is how close the worker's\n\"category\" is to the money. So in a start-up intensive environment like the\nBay Area, the devs are also sometimes the executives, and executives are often\nformer devs, so devs get paid correspondingly.\n\n~~~\nduckingtest\nSwitzerland does have higher average pay CHF 91,374 = $93,703.5 [0] compared\nto USA $68,082 [1]. Their nominal GDP per capita is 36.62% higher and the pay\nis 37.6% higher.\n\nNorway interestingly has almost the same pay as USA - $68,737 [2], probably\nbecause of high share of oil extraction in GDP (22% [3]) which skews the\nresult. If you subtract oil share from the GDP, you get $56,195.88 nominal GDP\nper capita, which is almost the same as the American one ($57,220)!\n\nNow Luxembourg is a tax haven/financial center with a population of half a\nmillion so I don't think it's a relevant comparison. Just due to population to\nget something close to true pay average you would have to ask a relatively (to\nother countries) very big percentage of their developers.\n\nSame site for comparable data\n\n[0]\n[http://www.payscale.com/research/CH/Job=Software_Engineer/Sa...](http://www.payscale.com/research/CH/Job=Software_Engineer/Salary)\n\n[1]\n[http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Software_Developer/S...](http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Software_Developer/Salary)\n\n[2]\n[http://www.payscale.com/research/NO/Job=Software_Developer/S...](http://www.payscale.com/research/NO/Job=Software_Developer/Salary)\n\n[3] [https://www.ssb.no/en/befolkning/artikler-og-\npublikasjoner/_...](https://www.ssb.no/en/befolkning/artikler-og-\npublikasjoner/_attachment/237252?_ts=1516c73e3a8) page 40, graph\n\n~~~\nigravious\nDude. You're not getting the objection. We're not objecting to the numeric\nratios, we're objecting to using those numbers in the first place.\n\n> GDP per capita seems to be a curious way to estimate if a local dev is\n> likely to be productive.\n\nCurious is putting it mildly. :) What is being objected to is your _measure_.\nStop using the GDP per capita _of an entire country_ as a proxy for software\ndeveloper productivity. It's frankly stupid. Anyway GDP per capita using PPP\n(purchasing power parity) is seen as a fairer comparison. But even GDP per\ncapita by PPP is a stupid metric to compare software developer productivity.\nI'm sorry for using the word stupid. But it's stupid.\n\n~~~\nduckingtest\n>Stop using the GDP per capita of an entire country as a proxy for software\ndeveloper productivity. It's frankly stupid.\n\nOutside of entertainment where software is a direct consumer product, the\ndeveloper's productivity comes from increased efficiency of use of other\nproductive resources. You can't eat code, but you can eat food that comes from\nhigher production due to better software. So software has a multiplicative\neffect on existing production. That is, GDP.\n\nNow even added value of entertainment software (games etc) depends on total\nGDP, because people have to pay with something for that entertainment.\n\nSo average developer's productivity IS a function of GDP, with different\ncoefficient depending on the structure of a economy.\n\nA primitive non-mechanized agricultural economy would have a coefficient of\nnear zero because there's almost nothing to automate.\n\n>Anyway GDP per capita using PPP (purchasing power parity) is seen as a fairer\ncomparison.\n\nA fundamentally wrong metric because pay is nominal.\n\n~~~\npcrh\nThis way of estimating a dev's likely productivity would operate independent\nof their individual ability, as well as be applicable across all worker\ncategories. For example a dairy farmer in Switzerland earns more than one in\nPoland because people pay more for milk products in Switzerland compared to\nPoland.\n\nSo why would the GDP per capita of their country be a useful tool in deciding\nwho to hire?\n\n~~~\nduckingtest\n>For example a dairy farmer in Switzerland earns more than one in Poland\nbecause people pay more for milk products in Switzerland compared to Poland.\n\nA Swiss farmer is much more productive when measured in currency units, but\nprobably not that much in milk volume.\n\nHowever as we are talking about salary differences it's money that matters.\n\n>So why would the GDP per capita of their country be a useful tool in deciding\nwho to hire?\n\nWhy would it be? In this conceptual model the ability of a developer is how\nmuch he multiplies the output of whatever he's working on, but his\nproductivity is the absolute value of added output. How could it be counted\notherwise, in what? Lines of code?\n\nIf productivity didn't depend on location immigration wouldn't exist.\n\n~~~\npcrh\nI guess it depends on the sense in which \"productivity\" is being used.\n\nA remote dev working for a Bay Area company from Spain can be just as\nproductive for his employer as one located in Los Gatos, CA. However the above\nmethod would categorize this dev as \"objectively less productive\", which seems\ncounter-intuitive...\n\n~~~\nduckingtest\n>However the above method would categorize this dev as \"objectively less\nproductive\", which seems counter-intuitive...\n\nIt wouldn't, it purports to explain the differences in local salaries, or more\nprecisely salaries paid by local entities to on-site developers.\n\nIt's true I didn't specify that explicitly in the first comment, along with\ndefinition of productivity, so your reading of it was a reasonable\nunderstanding. It's a good thing you helped me clarify the intended meaning.\n\nOne assumption is that foreign demand (for non-local use) for local on-site\ndevelopers is small enough to not change the workforce demand significantly.\nSo it won't work for India or other common offshore destination, but it seems\nto explain pay differences between USA and Spain, Norway and Switzerland\nreasonably.\n\n~~~\npcrh\nIn other words, pay differentials are more closely related to locale than to\nthe amount or quality of work produced.\n\n------\nwhamlastxmas\nThe article says the average salary in Spain is around $22k. Even at twice\nthat, it's not hard to see why developers are not working for (or maybe even\nin) Spain. I suspect the problem has more to do with Spanish businesses not\nbeing willing or able to compete for developers with market salary rates.\n\nIt's frustrating that they don't provide data like that in articles like this.\nInstead of they a single data point anecdote about how a company can't find an\nAgile project manager for \"up to\" $220k.\n\nHow about comparing the percentage of software developers in Spain to the US?\nOr discussing how the education for technology is different? Or what\npercentage of the unemployed are developers? Or software developer salaries\ncompared to rest of EU. Or the number of Spanish developers working abroad or\nfor companies abroad. Instead have a graph of Spain's GDP and a graph showing\nthe size of their workforce.\n\nThis is why I rarely ever click on articles and only read the comments. Most\nof the time it's the only place with any substance.\n\n~~~\nldng\nA lot of skilled Spanish dev have fled to Paris and London despite the high\ncost of living of those cities and being paid less because they're foreigners\nbecause it is still more rewarding.\n\nIn Spain, politician and corruption are pushing skilled people away. I have\nseen (and heard of) too many people moving out to be just mere coincidence.\n\nThe subtlety is that most of the time the greedy consulting firm will keep\n198K out of the 220K and the be surprised not to find anyone.\n\n\"Spain is different\" as some friends say.\n\n~~~\nadwf\nAfter Brexit, I'm very tempted to move in the opposite direction. If the\nSpanish consulting firms can be undercut to that extent, there's a potentially\nlucrative market.\n\nUnfortunately I only know French and German, but I could learn Spanish\nrelatively quickly I guess. The corruption and politics is troubling however.\n\n~~~\ncalgoo\nIts not to bad. I live in Barcelona, the corruption is a problem, and will not\nbe solved soon. But thats such a deep problem thats going to take a long time\nto solve. There is currently a a lot of talented local people and\ninternational people who want to work here. A lot of the agencies pay between\n15K and 25K on average for junior developers / administrators. However, you\ncan be stuck in the bracket for a long time unless you are able to find a way\nto switch to a different position. The issue is once you get a job in the 30K+\ngroup where its a lot harder finding anything. Let me know if you have any\nother questions :)\n\n------\nfranciscop\nSpanish dev here. I created with some friends the most active Maker group in\nSpain [1]. We won contests like Hyperloop's, NASA's SpaceApps (once winners,\ntwice finalists), making robot competitions [2], teaching to everyone, etc. A\ncouple of days ago we were talking about who would continue it, since ALL of\nus are leaving the country for different reasons.\n\nSo I can say that I know what it means that skilled workers are leaving first\nhand. Now I reverse the question, why would we stay? Spain has some great\nthings, such as weather, food and party, but it's horrible in any tech-related\nindustry.\n\nFor instance, I did a couple of internships to help with my University credits\nand earn some money. I got paid per month almost the same that I'm getting\npaid now every couple of days working as an US contractor. Not only that, now\nI'm doing things that I really love, challenging but rewarding, collaborating\nwith the best people I know and living wherever I want. We made\n[https://www.angularattack.com/](https://www.angularattack.com/) , now we're\nlaunching a new one way better (not yet public though) and I'm helping doing\ntwo websites for two of the biggest Venture Capital firms in USA.\n\nNow tell me, why should I go back to working 9-5 for some company that doesn't\ncare at all about developers and treat us as code monkeys, for peanuts and in\nhorrible conditions? I had a horrible chair for example but there was \"no\nbudget\" for a better one.\n\nIt's a pity because the country gets worse, but it's also good since the hard\nworking Spaniards get the best -- even if it has to be outside. I am lucky I\ncan visit my sister in UK and my friends in Japan, Sweden, Germany and USA :)\n\n[1] [http://makersupv.com/](http://makersupv.com/)\n\n[2] [https://orchallenge.es/](https://orchallenge.es/)\n\n~~~\nimaginenore\nSame shit in Italy and the Netherlands. I get with very low offers, recruiters\nare shocked that I bill $100-150 per hour.\n\n~~~\nraarts\nI work in the netherlands and I bill $125/hr.\n\n~~~\njc80\nI too, but with mainly US and Nordic customers -- my hourly starts at €250,\nlast contract was above €500\n\n~~~\nkofejnik\nWow, congrats, really envious here. May I ask - what industry and tech? And\nhow do you find those clients?\n\n------\nDaishiman\nI'm wondering what is the cognitive dissonance with employers who are\nunwilling to train workers. I mean, I understand the reasons if you're a an\nSMB, but large corporations used to train their employees or hold something\nclose to apprenticeship programs.\n\nI'm guessing this is more along the lines of \"we want qualified work but we're\nnot really willing to pay for it\"?\n\n~~~\nzeveb\n> I'm wondering what is the cognitive dissonance with employers who are\n> unwilling to train workers. I mean, I understand the reasons if you're a an\n> SMB, but large corporations used to train their employees or hold something\n> close to apprenticeship programs.\n\nIt was far less common for people to change jobs back then, too. Neither\nemployers _nor_ employees feel any real loyalty towards one another, so\ninvesting in one another feels foolish. There's nothing to incentivise someone\nto stay once he's learnt the skills he needs to get a position elsewhere.\n\n~~~\nZenoArrow\n> \"It was far less common for people to change jobs back then, too. Neither\n> employers nor employees feel any real loyalty towards one another, so\n> investing in one another feels foolish. There's nothing to incentivise\n> someone to stay once he's learnt the skills he needs to get a position\n> elsewhere.\"\n\nSorry, I still don't understand this attitude. I live in the UK, it's common\nhere to have at least some level of on-the-job training, especially for jobs\nwhere there's a skills shortage. In my experience, training opportunities are\na great way of building up company loyalty, you want to stay with the company\nbecause you know you can progress in the company.\n\n~~~\nNetStrikeForce\nJob culture in the UK is soooo much better than in Spain. I've worked on both\nplaces, so this is first hand experience.\n\nIn Spain I would get sent to a training, because we needed to have someone\ncertified on that product to get discounts, then the company would ask me to\nsign a contract to either stay with them at least two more years or pay a 2k\nfine. The idiots only tried to do this after the training, thinking otherwise\nI might just refuse to get trained. Of course I refused to sign, but I was\nonly one of the few who would refuse.\n\nIn the UK I even get to choose my training. Not just technical, but also on\nsoft skills. Even training that I might not apply in my current role, but I\nmight need to move to a new role.\n\nThe biggest shocker for me was the manager-employee relationship. In Spain the\nmanager owns you. In the UK the manager is a team member with a very specific\ngoal: make you and your team successful.\n\nAnd don't get me started on leaving the office before your manager does... Of\ncourse he would be the biggest sucker (otherwise you don't get to be a\nmanager) and won't leave until 8pm. Leaving shortly after your shift ended was\nfrowned upon by colleagues and verbally challenged by managers:\n\n\\- Where are you going?\n\n\\- Home.\n\n\\- Don't you have work to do?\n\n\\- Yep, that's why I'm coming back tomorrow again.\n\nThat company was terribly toxic and I have seen it destroy several families\nand people's health.\n\n~~~\ncwilkes\n> \\- Don't you have work to do? > \\- Yep, that's why I'm coming back tomorrow\n> again.\n\nHah, good one.\n\nI'm curious in this toxic situation doesn't it just take a few good companies\nthat treat their employees well to change things around? The good engineers\nwill flock there leaving the bad ones at the old companies.\n\nGranted that probably means the managers will now try and get 2x the work out\nof the remainders. Maybe some will get a clue though and change their ways.\n\n~~~\nNetStrikeForce\nI thought about it a few times. What would it take to turn this around? Surely\nI can take some capital and start a development company where the people are\ntreated better hence more productive, so I can deliver better products?\n\nThe problem is the customer. The customer ends up always being the government\n(national, regional or local) and they have a higher degree of employees that\ndon't care about quality, so the big software factories (called butchers over\nthere because they sell you almost by weight) can put under payed, under\nqualified and burned out developers on the project.\n\nI have hopes on all the new tech companies flourishing around the country that\nare looking outside Spain for their customers. I am hoping they will end up\nshaping the market for good.\n\n------\njandrewrogers\nThe gap isn't the pay or the training per se.\n\nA growing issue I see frequently is that companies need more highly\nexperienced (read: senior) people, and are willing to pay for it, but there is\nno fast pipeline from \"no experience\" to \"highly skilled\" even if companies\ndid invest in training. Meanwhile, the existing pool is much too small to meet\ndemand; redistributing the talent won't address the underlying issue.\nCompanies are hiring to fill a need _now_ , not 2-3 years in the future. The\ncompany or product generating the demand might not even be around in that\ntime.\n\nAn unfortunate reality that people tend to ignore is that the length of time\nrequired to train for the average high skill/high pay job has been\n_increasing_. There are many high demand specialties in software that require\na _minimum_ of 2 years of hardcore experience to really be \"experienced\", but\nyou can't manufacture that overnight and the hiring companies have little use\nfor someone without that experience. Many companies with existing teams do\nrecognize this and hire a mix of junior and senior talent to generate an\ninternal pipeline but you still need the senior talent when building teams in\nthe first place.\n\nReallocation of people sounds simple but it doesn't account for the increasing\nlatency of acquiring a different skill set at the level of quality required to\nperform the jobs that actually exist. It is a sticky problem because it is a\nbit of a vicious cycle.\n\nNOTE: this is a more general observation, Spain has its own peculiarities.\n\n~~~\nkartan\nKing hired in Barcelona a lot of highly senior developers, people that were\nleading protects, being architects, etc in other companies. How? Better pay,\nbetter conditions and it gives more autonomy to the developers.\n\nA fraction of them are talent brough from abroad because they wanted to live\nin Barcelona. So it is less hard to find talent when you are willing to be\ncompetitive.\n\n~~~\nvacri\n> _willing to be competitive._\n\nOn the other hand, it's not like businesses have a big bag of gold that they\ncan simply choose to dip into to increase salaries, especially for the smaller\nshops.\n\n------\nmuse900\nGreek here, living and working abroad.\n\nSpain is doing a bit better than Greece but its on the same boat.\n\nWhen I speak with friends back home, I do get a feeling that they don't want\nto work. Is it because they are lazy? part of me wants to say yes. I can't\nignore the fact that the working conditions are awful. Salaries are quite low\ncompared to the rest of Europe, an employer has full control over you, and can\nfire you any time. An employer won't ever promote you. They will just hold you\nas long as they can and then they will just hire someone else for less money.\nAlso when you have internet and so much information avaialble to you, and you\ncan see what are the working conditions in other Countries it kinda makes you\nsad.\n\nI live in London, and tbh there have been many times that I've been thinking\nwhat am I doing here. London is quite expensive and the salaries are not as\nhigh compared to rent, food etc (at least for developers).\n\nNow I just made this comment in order to give an overview of whats going on to\na country that is on the same boat as Spain.\n\n~~~\ninoop\n> I can't ignore the fact that the working conditions are awful\n\none of the great things about the EU is that people can freely move inside it\nand work wherever they want. Nothing is stopping your friends from doing what\nyou did - seek employment elsewhere.\n\nAt the same time, if Greek and Spanish companies want to survive they'll have\nto learn to adapt to the new order and treat their people better, or perish.\n\n~~~\nnoinsight\n> one of the great things about the EU is that people can freely move inside\n> it and work wherever they want.\n\nThat's true in principle but languages are an issue. In Nordic countries\neveryone will speak English but central Europe is different. You might get by\nwith English but not everyone (or even most, depending on the country) will\nspeak it.\n\nDo you want to go through the trouble of learning another language from\nscratch? The culture will be completely different too.\n\nComing from Finland I've thought about moving somewhere else just for the\nexperience as it would probably be interesting, but I don't really feel like\nlearning another language when I already speak English.\n\nI've also always wondered how difficult it would be to actually get a job,\nespecially if you don't speak the local language. Maybe with a rockstar\neducation and resumé it would be easy but what if you're \"average\" (at least\non paper)? Having worked for well-known international companies would probably\nbe beneficial.\n\n------\nkartan\nSpanish here. I moved to Sweden, I prefer the business culture here. Less non\npaid extra hours. More respect from managers. Better pay. Etc.\n\nThey rant about not being able to use more people as part time slaves. It's a\nproblem of using industrial business mentality in the high tech industry. They\ncare only for reducing salaries and getting long hours with no respect for the\ndevelopers that are expected to be code monkeys.\n\nSo yes, they don't find as a big supply as they want.\n\n------\ncalgoo\nSo I live in Barcelona at the moment. I have 10 years of system administration\nexperience and 3 years of devops / sysadmin experience as well. The average\nsalary I am offered when I look around is between 25K and 45K Euros a year.\nHowever, I would say the ratio is about 60% < 30K & 30% < 35K.\n\nFor friends and family that are looking it really depends. If you are lucky\nand have / had a position in certain companies who are well known, you might\nget into the higher bracket. If you dont, and for example only have a\nUniversity degree, then expect to start between 15K and 25K (unless from one\nof the known private schools, in which case you can normally jump to the next\nbracket).\n\nFrom what I know, the two places to look are Madrid and Barcelona, but Madrid\nnormally list almost double the amount of jobs that Barcelona does (mainly\nbecause a lot of headquarters are located there).\n\nAnother important thing that I have notices is that its a lot harder to climb\ninternally in companies here. It depends if the company has American business\nculture or Spanish (but sometimes it tries to be American but its run in a\nSpanish way). This is in general over all businesses. My wife is currently\nworking at a call-center and have co-workers who have been in that position\nfor over 10 years. There are basically no way to get promoted, unless you get\nlucky and someone retires or leaves. I have seen this everywhere, basically no\nway to really grow, no incentives to grow, an over educated workforce, where\nthe cashier in the supermarket has a masters degree in childcare or similar.\n\nThere is a saying here, where they call people \"mil eurista\" meaning thousand\neuroist more less. The amount of the working population that earn around 1000e\na month is quite high but its something thats accepted here basically. People\nare not happy about it, but \"At least I got a job\" attitudes are everywhere.\n\nA last thing, take care regarding any unemployment numbers that appear during\nthe month of May, as thats basically when the tourist season starts. That\nalone probably employs over 1,000,000 workers during the summer months.\n\n~~~\nnjloof\nThis promotion stagnation happens in the US as well, but if the market is\nfluid enough you can get the promotion by changing employers now that you have\nyour 5+ years experience in skills and methodology.\n\n~~~\ncollyw\nIts crazy as it takes 3 - 6 months to get up to speed on any non complex\nsoftware system. They will save on wages but loose on productivity.\n\n------\ntluyben2\nI live in Spain (am Dutch); even more; I live in Andalusia. For me that's\nbetter, besides getting people to work. We cannot find people at all for\nprogramming or our brewery. Everyone around us is unemployed, however they\neither a) do not speak English; we speak Spanish, but a lot of our clients do\nnot b) do not want to work c) are foreign and have no papers to work. It's\nquite horrible. And it's not for lack of trying; we have been trying for at\nleast 5 years. In my experience it has nothing to do with payment. This is\njust limited to Andalusia ofcourse; my colleague says it's better up north,\nhowever some people I met from other parts and who have companies complain\nabout the same thing.\n\nThen another issue with the country is the extremely hard time you have in\nhiring someone ; paperwork, you cannot fire them even if they are crap etc.\nAnd the paperwork to get grants for hiring people (which are there) is\nincredible. We have a company in PT as well and it's quite different there.\nThe gov needs to take their finger out. Luckily we have a very helpful\n(Spanish) mayor who loves entrepreneurs and helps us with whatever, but he\nalso shakes his head when talking about hiring people locally.\n\n~~~\nOletros\n> you cannot fire them even if they are crap etc.\n\nI highly doubt that, it has not been easier to fire someone in Spain since the\nlatests reforms.\n\nNot taking into account that there is always a period were the employer and\nthe employee can cancel the contracts without any duty. Normally 6 months\n\n~~~\ntluyben2\nWhen were those because I was discussing this 'recently' with my lawyer on the\ncoast? Yes the 6 months is true and I compare it with NL where firing is also\nhard but it's very straighforward how it works. Here I haven't been able to\nget it explained in that fashion. So far people look at us with pity when we\ntalk about hiring people legally. Note; we are a tiny company.\n\n~~~\nOletros\nBasically you can fire anyone when you want. If the cause is justified you pay\n10 day for year worked, if it is not justified you pay 20\n\n------\njlg23\nWhat I am missing in the article and in all discussions here is: Why not pro-\nactively train people? Looking 2 months for someone with some kind of\ncertification for \"agile\" is already a fourth of the time required to train\nsomeone who is already working for the client (numbers taken from the\narticle).\n\nIf one is willing to pay 220k and cannot find anyone while most job offers\n(according to comments here) max out at 36k, make a deal with a current\nemployee: \"We pay for training, after 2 years you get a bonus of 72k and we\ndouble your salary.\" Company does not make a loss even if the dev leaves after\n2 years, it has built the experience in-house and it had 16 months to\ndisseminate the newly acquired knowledge to other employees.\n\nThe mindset that people must already have knowledge about some specific\ntechnology and universities accommodating employers there is exactly why we\nhave so many code monkeys who don't know anything about CS finishing with a\ndegree in CS who, after a few years, realize that their knowledge is basically\nworthless because the IT world has moved on and other languages or stacks are\nnow en vogue.\n\n------\npvaldes\nThe \"you need more skills\" issue is a false problem. Is just that the bad guys\nhave kidnapped, blocked for years, or freeze, most of the good jobs.\n\nThis is a mediocrazy and they need to raise a lot of walls for keeping off the\nbrigther people who give them a bad image by comparison. And all is carefully\nplanned to keep this people unemployed also for the next four years.\n\nRequisites to be a minister in Spain?. Speaking english? not necessary.\nHolding any sort of degree of PhD? Not necessary. Years of experience working\nfor private companies?. Not necessary, but it helps. If you helped a big\ncompany to contaminate a bay for example, you could be even be promoted as the\nnext environment minister.\n\nRequisites for the rest of guys for a normal job?. A hamster wheel. Well,\nfirst of all you need to be fluent in three or four languages, just because\nmaybe one time a year, or once in ten years, you could need to speak with a\nforeigner; and for some reason you can't just raise a phone and hire a\nprofessional translator for this special day. You will burn in hell if you\ndare to suggest your boss this logic and simple solution. Then you need to\nhave a degree, a PhD, and also a few masters, and being able to hypnotize a\ngoat in less than five minutes, and work for free for some years, and ...\n\nJob market in Spain is a question of kinship and means being promoted directly\nin lots of cases... or never.\n\n~~~\nwallflower\n> Well, first of all you need to be fluent in three or four languages\n\nMy understanding is that English to CEFRL level B1 was mandatory to work at a\nmulti-national company. Are there other languages required?\n\n~~~\npvaldes\nYes, it happens. In any case 500 millions of people have spanish as native\nlanguage in the world so \"mandatory\" is a relative term. You will need chinese\nto work in China, and spanish or portuguese to work in South-America.\n\nIf you don't speak Catalan and live in Cataluña you just will never finish the\nmiddle school. Or if you want to work for the administration you will be\nostracised or directly banned for working for the public, just because you are\n\"an subhuman stubborn charnego\". If you born in Euskadi and then go to\nBarcelona for work, you need to be able to speak fluently four languages\n(spanish, english, vasque and catalan) just to start talking about having a\njob. If this guy move to Galicia later, will need to learn the Galizian\nlanguage also.\n\nOh, If your foreign language in the middle school was french, and a lot of\nspanish people still studied french in this generation, you will not graduate\nunless you speak French. If you want as adult to work for a german company you\nwill need a little deutsch of course to be competitive in the job interview.\n\nBut the worst stupid thing is that most of the time to be fluent or not is not\nnecessary at all for the job because some kind of problems can be solved in\nany language and because human brain can fill the communication gaps easily.\nIs just that is trendy to ask for this.\n\nFor some jobs you will need to be \"fluent\" also in more languages: C, Ruby,\nJava, Python... Don't worry. They still will say that you are \"unskilled\" and\nwill want to pay you in peanuts.\n\n~~~\nthrowaway_9191\nOh please, spare the HN crowd of your anti-Catalan obsessions. Or, on second\nthought, please continue to educate the community on the anti-Catalan\nsentiment that is unfortunately so common throughout Spain.\n\n> If you don't speak Catalan and live in Cataluña you just will never finish\n> the middle school.\n\nOr you will learn Catalan which is kinda the fucking point of education? Boo-\nhoo, Catalonians want kids to learn Catalan if they are going to live in\nCatalonia! By the way Spanish is mandatory too, why won't you find a problem\nwith that?\n\n> Or if you want to work for the administration you will be ostracised > Is\n> just that is trendy to ask for this.\n\nTry getting a job in the public administration in Spain without speaking\nSpanish, in France without speaking French, in Italy without speaking Italian,\nin the UK without speaking English... see the pattern? Should we give up our\nright to address our public administration in our own language just to please\nnon-Catalan Spaniards?\n\n> because you are \"an subhuman stubborn charnego\"\n\nYour comment depicts the Catalonian society as overtly xenophobic. This is an\nextremely offensive and unfair characterization of Catalonian society as\nmillions of native Spanish speakers living here can certify. You are either\ncompletely misinformed about Catalonia, or spreading lies deliberately (both\nbeing extremely common within Spain).\n\nFortunately support for independence is growing fast. Hopefully once we are\nindependent we won't have to endure this sort of bs anymore.\n\n~~~\npvaldes\n> Try getting a job in the public administration in Spain without speaking\n> Spanish, in France without speaking French, in Italy without speaking\n> Italian, in the UK without speaking English... see the pattern?\n\nYes, I see it, and is not the same as you think.\n\nWould be, \"Try getting a job in the public administration in Spain without\nspeaking Spanish AND catalan, in France without speaking French AND Patóis, in\nItaly without speaking Italian AND Lombard, in the UK without speaking English\nAND Gaelic\"... see the pattern? Duplicated effort, same result.\n\nBut in Argentina the same guy could use the extra time to learn other things,\nthat maybe could be even useful for their employers.\n\n~~~\nthrowaway_9191\nAgain, you mirror the Spanish public opinion very well.\n\nThe pattern is clear: you only respect state backed cultures, my culture and\nlanguage are mere nuisances that waste people's time.\n\nThat's one of the main reasons we need to break away from Spain ASAP. Before\nit can complete the cultural genocide it has repeatedly attempted during the\nlast 3 centuries.\n\n~~~\npvaldes\nI'll hire the Argentinian. Looks like a less problematic fit.\n\nMaybe this could be one of the problems here?.\n\n~~~\nthrowaway_9191\nSo people who know more languages are now a problem. Please, stop it.\n\n------\ndthal\n>>“It’s a paradox,” said Valentin Bote, head of research in Spain at Randstad,\na recruitment agency. “The unemployment rate is too high. Yet we’re seeing\nsome tension in the labor market because unemployed people don’t have the\nskills employers demand.\n\nThere's no real paradox there. Employment of young people, and therefore\nnormal career progression for that cohort, essentially shut down for 6-8\nyears. Now the pipeline is a little empty.\n\n~~~\npvaldes\nThis is also a big point. One of the problems with teachers and scientists for\nexample.\n\n------\nanjc\nSame thing is happening in every country, it seems. Spanish companies have the\nentire EU from which they can draw workers without any paperwork or issues,\nand yet they can't find any? From central/eastern Europe even, whose workers\nmay have lower wage expectations?\n\nNo. They're flagging this \"shortage\" and will simultaneously petition their\ngovernment to allow faster issuing of/more visas to non-EU countries, i.e.\nIndia etc, with lower wage requirements for incoming workers.\n\n~~~\nUVB-76\nHow many people from Eastern Europe speak Spanish?\n\nObviously not as important for low-skilled, manual labour, but we're talking\nabout highly skilled jobs in the tech sector here.\n\n~~~\ncalgoo\nRomania is one example, but there is a bit of a racial issue going on between\nthe countries.\n\n~~~\nNetStrikeForce\nYet Romanians are the second biggest minority in Spain. There are no more\nproblems than the disgusting and systemic racism that Spain has towards any\nother country and hurt feelings on the other side.\n\n------\nwinestock\nCheck out this little gem from the article:\n\n“Education and work exist in two alternative worlds that don’t really\nconnect,” Gomez said. “While in other nations, like the U.S., college\neducation is designed to get you a job, that’s not the case in Spain.”\n\nThis may be a case of \"the grass is always greener on the other side of the\nhill.\"\n\n~~~\nnostrebored\nGreener but not false. There is a reason why a US education is highly valued\nby exceptional international students and by multinational companies.\n\n~~~\nlacion\ncorporate you mean, most startups and valued tech companies don't give any\ncredit to formal education, and the real balance is moved by experience,\nseconded only by cultural fit.\n\n------\njoeyspn\nIt's a catch 22\n\n1 - Spanish Universities not in tune with the market reality, pouring out\nthousands of unemployed people into the market...\n\n2 - Graduates living in a bubble... 99% not wanting to move their asses and\nthinking that the academic degree is all they need. Get a crappy job or move\nto another country. Let others create the jobs...\n\n3 - Zero entrepreneurial spirit and risk aversion, making starting up a remote\nto non-existing option. Blame it on the executives of your crappy company, and\nobviously, the government...\n\n4 - Gov not having a clue about scientific research, innovation and\nentrepreneurship, with policies that fail to build a proper ecosystem for\nstartups, and also fail to connect academic and industry worlds (I.e: Silicon\nValley <-> Stanford).\n\n5 - Back to 1\n\n~~~\ninternaut\nYou're getting the downvote brigade but you're right. It's a many faceted\nproblem with plenty of blame to be shared around.\n\nThere are almost zero people at the best colleges and universities in Europe\nwho want to start a new company. I remember trying to convince about a dozen\npeople to start a bitcoin exchange several years ago when it was in the single\ndigits. No go. We could have fucked up almost everything and still been\nmillionaires. I did okay but we would have done much better working together\ninstead of looking for 'a good job'.\n\n> Graduates living in a bubble... 99% not wanting to move their asses and\n> thinking that the academic degree is all they need. Get a crappy job or move\n> to another country.\n\nWhole lot of that going around. They don't realize they will be living in\ntheir city living hand to mouth for the rest of their lives. There is no big\nbreak coming for them. The smarter ones move, but the core problem is\nentrepreneurial spirit.\n\n------\nkonschubert\n> It takes at least eight months for an experienced software developer to earn\n> an Agile qualification and they also need the ability to deal with senior\n> executives,\n\nI am a bit confused by this sentence. How does one \"ear an Agile\nqualification\"? Why does it take eight months? What is \"the ability to deal\nwith senior executives\"?\n\n~~~\ntremon\n_What is \"the ability to deal with senior executives\"?_\n\nPatience and prudence.\n\n~~~\nwhyaduck\nActually, I think it's the ability to translate the state of a project into\nrisks, rewards and trade-offs. It's not necessarily an innately understood\nskill for technical individual contributors.\n\n------\nHillaryBriss\nStarting about 2009, there have been a lot of discussions about whether the\nunemployment in the US was \"structural\" or not.\n\nSome argued that a huge number of laborers and potential employees did not\nhave necessary skills and therefore would be unable to find work. Period. This\nwas a big component of unemployment.\n\nOthers including Paul Krugman and Dean Baker argued that, because employment\nwas down _across most every field_ , the cause of the unemployment was\ninsufficient demand. They basically likened it to the Great Depression, where\nhighly employable people were thrown out of work despite their skill levels.\n\nThis news story makes me think that we have some combination of the two\nstories going on in Spain. And maybe also the US?\n\nOf course, how the country responds to that situation is a separate\ndiscussion.\n\nMaybe the government can just borrow some cash (at historically low rates)\nand, instead of building another airport somewhere, educate twenty thousand IT\nengineers, even paying them to go to school. Maybe government could demand\nthat employers train people.\n\nAlso, what's going on in the EU with the free movement of labor? Don't some IT\npeople want to move from Estonia and Poland down to sunny Spain?\n\n~~~\nFindeton\nIn Spain, we just had elections on the 26th of June, and the conservatives\nwon. There is money, as taxes in Spain are high on wages but low on big\ncompanies and the government's budget is 10 points lower % than the EU\naverage... but we have a conservative government.\n\n~~~\nswitch007\nPP won the most votes but not enough to secure a majority. Rajoy is currently\nin talks with other parties to form a majority, hopefully \"within a month.\"\nTechnically you still have a conservative government but who knows what will\nhappen.\n\n------\nmtrn\nA company once flew me to Madrid for an interview. Unfortunately, I cannot\nunderstand Spanish, but the receptionist at the hotel seemed to mumble to a\nfriend: look they are flying people here, but our people are unemployed. It\nseemed a bit crazy for me as well, since I was unsure, if my person and skills\njustified _that_ kind of effort.\n\nThe interview went fine and I think I was offered something around 30k, which\nwas below my current wage in another (non-capital) European city, so I had to\ndecline, although I loved Madrid and the team seemed really nice.\n\n------\nmooreds\nWonder if it has anything to do with low salaries?\n\nJust as an example,\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12017439](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12017439)\nhas a pretty low salary for the skills they want.\n\n~~~\nmerqurio\nI don't think so.. Most of my friends left Spain looking for better long term\nopportunities rather than money. Even if our economy (and politicians) sucks,\nquality of life is pretty high with those salaries.\n\nI think the problem is the polarisation in the population. Very well trained\npeople is leaving the country while non-skilled people remain.\n\nSkilled people do not trust the system therefore they leave as soon as they\ncan.\n\n~~~\nnostrebored\nQuality of life is high, but what if you have a long term goal of moving?\nMaking a lower wage even if proportionally you're taking home more money has a\nbreak even point, and 35k in Spain doesn't hit it.\n\n~~~\nmerqurio\nTotally agree, i wasn't defending low salaries at all, just sharing my insider\nexperience of the reasons why people is leaving Spain.\n\n------\nmathattack\nI've seen software projects where this was a big issue. Many ambitious\nSpaniards wind up working in London or elsewhere. Then Spanish companies have\nto hire overpriced consultancies to fill local tech positions with\nunderqualified resources.\n\nI wonder how much the Brexit will send folks home.\n\nMy impression is that many companies are looking at Spain as alternatives to\nLondon HQs, but those are also the kind of jobs for elites, rather than the 5M\nunemployed. Very hard to convert housing builders into programmers.\n\n~~~\npatrickaljord\nBrexit will happen in 2 years at best. Even so, the UK would still offer work\nvisa to skilled EU workers, there's nothing stopping them from doing that, in\nfact this is what they said they were going to do. Does everyone really think\nBrexit is some kind of apocalypse or something for the UK? They love money as\nmuch as anyone else and want to remain the finance capital of Europe because\nmoney.\n\n~~~\nNetStrikeForce\nYes, but big part of the people that voted Leave are not the people that do\nbusiness or that like money above other things.\n\nMany Leavers I've talked to justify their decision on \"border control\" and\n\"sovereignty\". They have been given the power to decide and apparently they\nwere \"better off with a grand or two less\" (sic) \"than being slaved to the\nEurocrats\" (sic).\n\nThe problem with visas is that if I have to go through the burden and\nuncertainty of visas for me and my family, I might as well just move to Paris,\nHamburg or Munich for no visas or Australia or California for good economy and\nfucking decent weather. You'll still get talent, but the shortage will still\nbe much worse and you'll end up lowering your requirements.\n\n~~~\npatrickaljord\nEU citizens probably won't event need a visa, just a passport. Especially from\nrich western EU countries, like it was already the case before Schengen.\n\n~~~\nNetStrikeForce\nThe UK is not in Schengen, that's a common misconception :)\n\nOne of the points of the Leave campaign, reinforced after the vote by some of\nits leaders like Michael Gove, is to setup a points system for immigration. If\nthere was no \"limit EU migration\" argument, Leave would have easily lost the\nvote.\n\n~~~\npatrickaljord\nI know it's not, it's why my wife can't get there :) That's why I said that's\nhow it was even _before_ Schengen, ie French and German didn't need a visa to\ngo to the UK even before the EU.\n\n------\nmacspoofing\nThis was a frustrating article to read. I got the sense the author missed\nsomething. Spain is part of the EU common market which numbers 500 million\npeople - how is it that this is only a problem for Spain, and why can't they\nrecruit fellow EU citizens to make-up the shortfall?\n\n~~~\ncloakandswagger\nThis assumption is the same mistake made by almost all supranational\nfederalists.\n\nEurope is composed of different countries with vastly different languages,\ncultures and economic conditions. Just because they're technically \"joined\"\ntogether via treaties doesn't mean labor is going to naturally distribute\nthroughout the union.\n\n~~~\nthemartorana\nAnd yet they thought a shared currency would be no big deal.\n\n~~~\ncloakandswagger\nDon't get me started.\n\nEconomists from around the world were adamant that the Euro was a terrible\nidea when it was founded. Binding dozens of wildly differing economies to one\ncurrency controlled by one central bank has always been a pipe dream, but it\ntakes decades for it to start to unravel.\n\n~~~\nZeroGravitas\nThe politicians knew a shared currency without sharing other aspects was a bad\nidea, but they gambled that as the problems became manifest, they would be\nsolved by greater unity.\n\nMaybe that was stupid, but it's a different kind of stupid than not listening\nto the economists.\n\n------\ndavidgerard\nPay. More. This. Is. The. Market. Speaking.\n\n~~~\nsbmassey\n€200,000 in Spain seems a pretty good wage\n\n~~~\nldng\nYeah, that's what the client is willing to pay to the consulting firm who\ndon't want to hire the guy at more than 24K ...\n\nSad truth.\n\n------\np0nce\nWhen you are willing to hire women, older people and provide adequate salaries\n(dare I say work conditions), suddenly there isn't so much tech shortage.\n\n~~~\nci5er\nCouldn't 100% of your claim be solved with just the salary variable? What\nevidence do you have that old+female+cheap people are not being considered as\npart of the option matrix?\n\n~~~\np0nce\nNo only anecdotal data that I hear again and again. Likewise, where is the\navidence about the tech shortage?\n\n------\nwinestock\nFrom the article:\n\n\"Pimentel’s client asked him for list of candidates trained in “Agile” project\nmanagement techniques for helping companies boost their productivity by using\nmore I.T. systems. The client was offering as much as 200,000 euros ($220,000)\na year -- almost 10 times the average salary in Spain.\"\n\nSo they're willing to pay ten times the going rate, but they're not willing to\ntake the time to train anyone?\n\nBut wait; there's more!\n\n\"But such people are thin on the ground in Spain. It takes at least eight\nmonths for an experienced software developer to earn an Agile qualification\nand _they also need the ability to deal with senior executives_ , limiting the\npool of people who could potentially fill the roles.\"\n\nAgain, note that they're willing to pay ten times the going rate, so training\nthem for eight months and then paying them the regular wage would pay for\nitself after a few months on the job; but they still won't train. More\nimportantly, look at the part which I italicized. Dealing with senior\nexecutives takes special skill? I am but a lowly suburban nerd, and the ways\nof my betters intimidate me, so could someone enlighten me as to what that\njournalist is talking about? I have a sneaking suspicion that Clay Shirky\nknows.\n\n[http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2013/11/healthcare-gov-and-\nthe-...](http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2013/11/healthcare-gov-and-the-gulf-\nbetween-planning-and-reality/)\n\n\"Back in the mid-1990s, I did a lot of web work for traditional media. That\noften meant figuring out what the client was already doing on the web, and how\nit was going, so I’d find the techies in the company, and ask them what they\nwere doing, and how it was going. Then I’d tell management what I’d learned.\nThis always struck me as a waste of my time and their money; I was like an\noverpaid bike messenger, moving information from one part of the firm to\nanother. I didn’t understand the job I was doing until one meeting at a\nmagazine company.\n\n\"The thing that made this meeting unusual was that one of their programmers\nhad been invited to attend, so management could outline their web strategy to\nhim. After the executives thanked me for explaining what I’d learned from log\nfiles given me by their own employees just days before, the programmer leaned\nforward and said “You know, we have all that information downstairs, but\nnobody’s ever asked us for it.”\n\n\"I remember thinking “Oh, finally!” I figured the executives would be relieved\nthis information was in-house, delighted that their own people were on it,\nmaybe even mad at me for charging an exorbitant markup on local knowledge.\nThen I saw the look on their faces as they considered the programmer’s offer.\nThe look wasn’t delight, or even relief, but contempt. The situation suddenly\ncame clear: I was getting paid to save management from the distasteful act of\nlistening to their own employees.\"\n\nEDIT: formatting\n\n~~~\nshostack\nIt is easy to be dismissive of executives and the fact that dealing with them\ntakes a certain skill set.\n\nIf it is one thing I've learned as someone in a data-heavy field it is that\nexecutives don't care about the details and nuances, and that distilling the\ndetails of things like log files, etc. and conveying it in a way that aligns\nwith their pain points, strategy, etc. does in fact take great interpersonal\nskills that many more technically-inclined folks unfortunately lack.\n\n~~~\nZenoArrow\n> \"conveying it in a way that aligns with their pain points, strategy\".\n\nIn my experience, some executives don't even care too much for facts if it\ninterferes with their agenda. This is usually expressed in subtle ways, but in\none instance I've heard an executive directly ask for a report that was easy\nto manipulate the figures on in order to push our employees into generating\nmore sales.\n\nThis is part of the problem when you have directors who see themselves as\ninsulated from day to day challenges. I accept that there's a need for a long\nterm vision, but if someone isn't prepared to understand the details of what's\nblocking it, they'll not be in a place to advise on how to fix it, and if\nthey're relying on other people to fix those organisational issues, what's the\npoint of having directors at all?\n\n~~~\ninternaut\n> This is part of the problem when you have directors who see themselves as\n> insulated from day to day challenges. I accept that there's a need for a\n> long term vision, but if someone isn't prepared to understand the details of\n> what's blocking it, they'll not be in a place to advise on how to fix it,\n> and if they're relying on other people to fix those organisational issues,\n> what's the point of having directors at all?\n\nThere isn't any. Why do you think small groups of computer programmers and a\nhandful of venture capitalists are like a wrecking ball to so many different\nindustries.\n\nIn the 20th century we got used to the idea of managerial capitalism. Now in\nthe 21st we're seeing that unless you're an Elon Musk level manager, capable\nof both understanding fine detail plus having comprehension of the big\npicture, you're surplus to requirements. You'll be competing against managers\nwho are also geeks as well aka the real Silicon Valley advantage.\n\nIf your manager thinks 'the market should decide' they ought to step down\nunless they mass produce widgets in a B2B context. Their entire job is central\ncoordination. In the 18th/19th centuries the manager of a factory would have\nunderstood the functions of every bit of machinery they acquired.\n\n------\nalienjr\nThere was a Polish composer, writer and politician Stefan Kisielewski who used\nto say: \"Socialism is a system which bravely fights problems that are not\nknown in any other system\". That describes situation of Spain perfectly.\n\n~~~\npvaldes\nNice cliche. That describes the situation perfectly, except by the small fact\nthat Socialism parties do not rule in Spain since a lot of years. We have the\nequivalent to the Conservative Party, that... ehem, aren't exactly\n\"socialists\".\n\n------\nBjoernKW\nLanguage is a large part of this problem, not willing to pay market prices is\nanother.\n\nWhy else would recruiters have to look for candidates in Argentina when\nthere's a huge amount of suitable candidates in the EU with an automatic work\npermit?\n\n~~~\nvacri\nArgentines speak fluent Spanish, and will be able to understand complex and\nsubtle business requirements presented in Spanish.\n\n~~~\nBjoernKW\nTherein lies the rub. In most other countries business people who have to deal\nwith subtle business requirements speak English decently well where in Spanish\nbusiness it's absolutely normal for a CEO of an international company to only\nspeak broken English at best.\n\n------\nOletros\nI've seen offer for senior .NET developers for 20.000€/year before taxes and\ngoing through outsourcing companies.\n\n20.000/year is 15.000/year after taxes.\n\n------\nheisenbit\nMr. Pimentel is a Managing Partner and regional director over several\ncountries and as such the main job is to talk the playbook and drum up\nbusiness. Finding good people is hard and we are the right guys to talk to.\nFinder fees are proportional to salary so aiming high is important. He claims\non his web page to hire country sales directors and country managers so\ntalking salaries of 200k+ is probably quite natural for him. Maybe he is more\nthinking of a person who can turn a dead end organization into an agile one -\nsuch a feat is hard and requires a multitude of skills. In any case it is\nlikely that some things were mixed up in the interview.\n\nOne thing is clear - after the property bust in Spain and Portugal a lot of\nthe higher skilled and mobile people were heading elsewhere. There has been a\nbrain drain in the region. Disproportionally high (vs. average Spanish)\nsalaries may be required if mobile top talent is needed. Agile project\nmanagement or product ownership for run of the mill projects aren't those. But\nwhen talking about roles that shape organizations then things may be\ndifferent.\n\n------\nnjloof\nOne of my first jobs (in the US) had a great strategy for getting low cost\ntalent:\n\n1\\. Hire cheap 2\\. Train on the job 3\\. Lock in your investment with a multi-\nyear employment contract, broken down into options to \"not renew\" the contract\nat 6-month, then 12-month, intervals.\n\nWorked great, they got cheap talent and a means to weed people out, and I got\nvaluable training I used for the next 15 years.\n\n------\nfiatjaf\n> From software developers and mathematical modelers to geriatric nurses and\n> care workers, a mismatch in qualifications means companies are struggling to\n> fill posts, even though the unemployment rate at 20.4 percent is the second-\n> highest in Europe.\n\nThis is the result of years of malinvestiment in human capital. The Austrian\nTheory of Business Cycles explain.\n\n------\nsmsm42\nSo, if they don't have enough qualified workers, why don't they start creating\non-the-job training programs? I understand there's risk in such investment\n(i.e., you train a person and then they leave for a higher salary) but there\nare many ways to counter it. Is there something like that happening in Spain?\nIf not, why?\n\n------\nrcarmo\nI've been pinged by recruiters for positions in Spain pretty much every week,\neither multinationals who need to grow their presence or local corps looking\nfor experts. Cost of living is about the same as here in Portugal, but my\nprevious experience with local execs makes me leery of those opportunities.\n\n------\nSixSigma\nThe agriculture sector employs many North African illegal immigrants.\n\nVisit the greenhouses of Almeria and see what happens when you take your\ncamera from its bag.\n\n~~~\npatrickaljord\nThe do so because local people don't want to do these jobs.\n\n~~~\nSixSigma\nIf people don't want to do a job, it is because it is not suitably\nremunerated.\n\nUsing illegal labour instead should not be defended. It undercuts the position\nof the legal workers.\n\n~~~\npatrickaljord\nPaying people more for these jobs would make the end product way more\nexpensive and make it hard to compete on the global market and make your\ncountry not competitive (what's happening here in France). Another side effect\nis that because the price of the end product gets more expensive, people will\nhave to work more in order to buy said products or just avoid buying them.\n\n~~~\nSixSigma\nThe EU restricts agricultural imports, fixes prices and pays out massive\nsubsidy for non-production via the CAP.\n\nPerhaps market manipulation by the EU should be reassessed if the consequence\nis widespread and necessary use of illegal labour by some of the richest\nfarmers in Europe.\n\n[http://www.europarl.europa.eu/atyourservice/en/displayFtu.ht...](http://www.europarl.europa.eu/atyourservice/en/displayFtu.html?ftuId=FTU_5.2.1.html)\n\nObjectives\n\nArticle 39 TFEU sets out the specific objectives of the CAP:\n\n1 to increase agricultural productivity by promoting technical progress and\nensuring the optimum use of the factors of production, in particular labour;\n\n2 to ensure a fair standard of living for farmers;\n\n3 to stabilise markets;\n\n4 to ensure the availability of supplies;\n\n5 to ensure reasonable prices for consumers.\n\n~~~\npatrickaljord\nI totally agree that we should get rid of the CAP. Not going to argue on this\none.\n\n------\nvonnik\nThe skills gap is very real in America, too. It can be hard to find the people\nyou need. And many of the folks who are out of work don't fit the bill. There\nare specific training programs, sponsored by large companies, that are trying\nto give post-high-school trainees the right vocational skills... (Can't\nremember the names atm!)\n\n------\nreledi\nThere's a lot of talented Spaniards out there. I know because I can proudly\nsay many of them are my teammates.\n\nDid I mention we are hiring? Clojure, Ruby, Data.\n\n[https://www.fundingcircle.com/uk/careers/](https://www.fundingcircle.com/uk/careers/)\n\n------\nAnimats\nThat's what the US has done. There are lots of available workers in the US\nwith non-salable skills.\n\n------\nforthefuture\nIt looks like Spain has almost reached the US' rate of economic non-\nparticipation.\n\n[http://www.ine.es/en/prensa/epa_prensa_en.htm](http://www.ine.es/en/prensa/epa_prensa_en.htm)\n\n------\nknown\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wage_slavery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wage_slavery)\n\n------\nfiatjaf\nAt the same time, I bet there are a lot of Spaniards getting majors on\nphilosophy and other weed-smoking specialties.\n\n------\nssjohal\nSo EU was merely a clever plan by stronger economies to suck brains out of\nstruggling economies?\n\n~~~\nfwn\nI guess a good rule of thumb is: If you can pack what you think is the\nmotivation for such a big and time intensive project as the EU into one tweet,\nit's probably far from the truth.\n\n------\nSFJulie\nIt means the expectation of the demand (companies) are not matching what the\nmarket provides.\n\nHaving to look for a job in Europa, I dare say most job offers are laughable.\n\nC#, PHP and java are MODERN technologies that no one should be scared of.\n\nWindev is a very good tool.\n\nMysql and mssql are the only two worthy databases.\n\nFree software is a free as a bier.\n\nAGILE is SOOO complex...it has to be officiated religiously like ITIL or ISO\nnorms.\n\nThey want software devs on the market already proefficient in\nproprietary/tricky technologies, and no one understand why jobless persons\nwith so much time cannot buy these 10K€ tools and use their worthless time in\nself formation.\n\nAnd salary expectation are low : a coder MUST not be paid more than any\nmanager. Even the manager responsible for the cleaning team of 500m² office\nwith a headcount of 2.\n\nThey just have irrealistic expectations. That's all folks.\n\n------\nmikerichards\nSo Spain isn't Germany, but I'm curious why even in the midwest (St. Louis no\nless), senior developers easily command $120k+.\n\nBut I guess this also goes to the point why SV is only playing \"normal\" senior\ndevelopers $150k/yr?\n\nUnless you're really digging the Bay Area lifestyle (or \"I'll get my chance in\nthe next cool startup), why even bother.\n\n------\ninternaut\nEurope in general, with some rare exceptions, does not value the kinds of\nskills that are selected for in SV.\n\nThe culture is bad. The incentives are all wrong. Pay peanuts, get monkeys.\n\nThe typical business person in Europe considers him or herself top of the\npecking order. This only looks to be true relatively because they hire less\ncapable workers. These are the exact kind of people who imagine hiring twice\nas many developers gets the job accomplished faster i.e. simpletons.\n\nThe typical software engineer is at least one standard deviation above them.\nJust not in one specific area. In everything. I have friends who did part-time\ndegrees in literature or language studies while they were also studying for\ncomputer science at some of the most elite european universities. Most geeks\nare systems thinkers and have no trouble in grokking areas outside of their\nmain thing. Many of us refuse to be put into a box.\n\nHaving interests in exclusively one thing is a pretty fair indicator of not\nbeing very adaptive, I'd say it's almost defintional. That is the kind of\nperson they want to hire. You can hire them, but they won't be very good.\n\nThen you get these idiots who think they can run circles around us because\nthey have the phone number of a venture capitalist or bank manager. Get a grip\nboys, your money doesn't count for much when a software engineer can be ramen\nprofitable so easily. I have all manner of skills I don't bother to put on the\nmarket because the rates of pay are so pitiful and I can obtain better results\nby doing my own thing. Lots of other people just physically move. This is then\nmisread by the business community as 'not enough skills'.\n\nThe other thing is that most projects they offer are really boring grunt work\nwhere you learn nothing by doing them. If there was an actual project we found\ncool or innovative we'd probably work for lower base salary plus some equity,\nbut that's not the kind of work we get here in Europe, those kinds of benefits\nare reserved for Clod-Class. A good many programmers would prefer to work 20\nhrs a week as janitors and then work on interesting projects rather than put\nup with this bullshit plus work 60-70 hour weeks. How many European\nprogrammers are told they'll be paid 20-30 euro per hour but actually are\nrequired to work three or four hours a day for free? Apparently they like to\nthink we can't do arithmetic but can order a machine to do floating point\noperations just fine.\n\nDiagnosis: Failure to Coordinate. Failure of Imagination.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Best Object-Oriented Programming Book - Kinnard\nWhat&#x27;s the best book for getting a handle on object-oriented programming? I&#x27;m an experienced web dev but new to OO.\n======\nrahimnathwani\nI was looking for a similar thing a while back. I don't remember why, but I\ndecided on Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby:\n[http://www.poodr.com/](http://www.poodr.com/)\n\nAlthough it uses Ruby as the instructional language, you don't need to know\nmuch Ruby syntax to be able to understand the examples.\n\n------\nvram22\nThe Object Primer by Scott Ambler (IIRC). Read years ago but got some insights\nfrom it.\n\n[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Ambler](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Ambler)\n\n[http://www.ambysoft.com/books/theObjectPrimer.html](http://www.ambysoft.com/books/theObjectPrimer.html)\n\nNote that is the 3rd edition. I had read an earlier edition. He lists the\ndifferences between 2nd and 3rd.\n\n------\nstevenspasbo\nCheck out the Head First: Object-Oriented Analysis and Design. It's pretty\nbasic, but would be a good intro if you're brand new to OO.\n\n~~~\nromanhn\nSeconded. It's a great introduction to OOP written in a very approachable\nmanner.\n\n------\nruraljuror\nI am relatively new to this myself, but at my work there is a lot of\ndiscussion of the SOLID principles:\n[http://butunclebob.com/ArticleS.UncleBob.PrinciplesOfOod](http://butunclebob.com/ArticleS.UncleBob.PrinciplesOfOod)\n\n------\npaulroest\nI would highly recommend Eric Evans' Domain Driven Design as the second Object\nOriented book to be read. Most any primer on OO will give you the foundation\nof ideas but Erick's book makes the knowledge useful and has been repeatedly\ncalled OO done right.\n\nISBN-13: 978-0321125217 ISBN-10: 0321125215\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTed Ts'o: For those who believe systemd developers are reasonable - dredmorbius\nhttps://plus.google.com/117091380454742934025/posts/K7ijdmxJ8PF\n======\ndredmorbius\nLinus Torvald's commnt provides some additional context (on the link above):\n\n _I think what you (and others) seem to miss is that the systemd people made\nthe \"debug\" option that we introduced not just do something - but do something\nuseless that actively broke other peoples use of that option._\n\n _It doesn 't matter who \"owns\" it, the fact is, they broke it._\n\n _Ok, fine. Bugs happen, and that 's not what makes people upset._\n\n _What makes me (and others) upset is that when the bug is reported, with\nexplanations and a suggestion for how to fix it, Kay just closed the bug-\nreport, claiming it wasn 't a bug._\n\n _Seriously? You want to debug kernel stuff, using the kernel command line\ncommand \"debug\" that makes the kernel more verbose, and now the systemd people\nsay \"sorry, we stole your thing and made it useless, and it's not a bug\nbecause you didn't call shot-gun\"._\n\n _Now, if this was an isolated incident, I personally would let it go. There\nare bad engineers out there, it 's not worth worrying about. Ignore them and\nmove on._\n\n _But this is not an isolated incident. This is how Kay has treated other bugs\nin the past. Literally months of stalling, closing bug-reports, and blaming\nother people and projects for problems that he caused, telling others how they\nshould change their projects because he broke something, and obviously it can\n't be his fault._\n\n _And that is a problem._\n\nI'll openly admit I'm not a systemd fan. I've seen too much brokenness from\nthe developers involved, in this and other projects. I've seen far too much\narrogance. I see too much complexity. I'm quite disappointed in both the\nDebian vote and Ubuntu's decision to go along with it (I was really hoping\nthat Shuttleworth would hold out as loyal opposition). Yes, systemd does\nprovide _some_ useful features, but at an extremely high cost in complexity\nand unproven changes to a system at the core of every last Linux system.\nEmphasis on \"Linux\", as it's also not cross-compatible with other OSes on\nwhich many Linux programs will run, and on which some distros (such as Debian)\nprovide builds.\n\n~~~\ncoldpie\nI'm still mixed on systemd. My favored distro, Arch, switched to systemd well\nover a year ago, and is currently the only supported init system. It works\nfine for me, but I don't do a lot of complex sysadmin tasks. To be honest, I\nhaven't even learned the unit file syntax yet.\n\nI do find Lennart's software to have godawful UIs and APIs. I dare you to\nwrite a simple audio output program using the PulseAudio API. Let me know when\nyou've got the threading, mainloop, and callback APIs figured out so you can\nwrite your sine wave...\n\nThe command to interact with systemd is not 'systemd', but instead 'systemctl'\n(which is not 'sysctl'!). Systemd has units and targets which can be enabled\nand started and disabled and stopped (what's the difference again? off to the\nman pages...). systemd is trying to replace /var/log and cron as well, but\ndamned if I can remember the right four switches to journalctl to make it do\nsomething useful.\n\nOn the other hand, systemd feels cleaner at a conceptual level to me.\nApparently more competent sysadmins find the new journalctl idea to be super\nuseful--it provides a consistent window into log files, so you don't have to\nremember varying paths and log file formats and such. Service unit files allow\nfor complex dependency resolution for service startup, far more powerful than\nthe old symlinks-in-etc or rc.conf files allowed.\n\nIt feels like the right solution to me. I just wish it was more intuitive to\nuse.\n\n~~~\nloudmax\nI've found systemd to be fast and stable on Arch. There's a learning curve\nassociated with a new way of doing old things. That doesn't bother me that\nmuch because this is how progress happens.\n\nWhat I find far more disconcerting is that systemd seems to eschew core Unix\nphilosophy\n([http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/ch01s06.html](http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/ch01s06.html)):\n\n _This is the Unix philosophy: Write programs that do one thing and do it\nwell. Write programs to work together. Write programs to handle text streams,\nbecause that is a universal interface._\n\nSystemd does none of these. Well, maybe it works with other programs... it\nreally feels like it's own world.\n\n~~~\nhga\nThat philosophy, which has many merits, was nonetheless a virtue forced by\nnecessity. UNIX(TM) is Multics with, as the name implies, various important\nfeatures ... omitted in squeezing down a big system, for a multiple 32 bit CPU\nmainframe architecture, to minicomputers. The first PDP-11 they used, which\nwas not the first PDP model used, was the original, later named the PDP-11/20,\nwhich had 56KiB maximum of memory (above was reserved for memory mapped\ndevices, an innovation of the architecture).\n\nThe 2nd, where they really got going, was the PDP-11/45, which allowed any one\nprogram 64 KiB of code and the same of data, but due to its paging\narchitecture the data was divided into 8 KiB of stack and 56 KiB for normal\nuser data.\n\nSo now that we use computers with as much or more L1 and L2 cache, we can, if\nwarranted, ignore that philosophy. Don't know if that's the case here, the\ngravamen is that systemd's development team is grossly irresponsible. Which\ncould be reflected in its architecture, but even if it was more in the\ntraditional UNIX(TM) philosophy, their being that way would be as bad.\n\nI just hope the next version of Debian is not a disaster, would not like\nmoving off of it, not that I'm entirely satisfied with it.\n\n~~~\nkillnine\nSo wait, some geniuses came along and banged out the OS of the future, in the\nsmallest purest form they could, and now decades later, just because our\ncomputers have improved, you think it logical to ditch the philosophy that got\nus here???\n\n~~~\npeawee\nMore like \"some geniuses came along and banged out an OS that would suit their\nneeds on the limited hardware they had on hand\"\n\n~~~\nfelixgallo\nThe philosophy applies no matter how much hardware you have.\n\n~~~\nhga\nNot going to directly reply to the reading comprehension impaired, but my\npoint is that part of the philosophy _was required_.\n\nTo print technical papers to a phototypesetter, one of the first use cases for\nwhich the UNIX project got serious funding, required a pipeline so that, as I\nremember, tables, equations and basic formatting were all separate programs\npiping their output to the next, with troff at the end (as I recall, I only\nused nroff in one step to a Xerox daisy wheel printer for one paper before I\nmoved to Scribe and then TeX to a laser printer). No one single program doing\nall that could fit into the 11/45's split I&D address space as described\nabove.\n\nNow we can and have made individual programs bigger, but the philosophies of\ndoing a limited number of things well and communicating by plain text are\nstill very solid for many applications (but, not, say, many of the use cases\nof Photoshop/GIMP etc. Or a browser. Or (in)famously, the linux kernel\nitself).\n\nHow much they should apply to system initialization and daemon management etc.\nI just don't know, haven't examined the issue. Not entirely, I would hazard a\nguess, certainly nothing I can think of that looks like the chain ending in\ntroff. That the creators of systemd are reported to have ignored this\nphilosophy does not automatically make it bad.\n\nTheir reported consistent bad behavior (from people I know and trust, at least\nin the case of Ted Ts'o) would seem to make it automatically problematical.\nThat Linus felt compelled to revoke this person's kernel commit privileges\n([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7522791](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7522791))\nis also telling.\n\nOr let's put it this way: a program like systemd must, by definition, \"play\nwell with others\", _that 's its job_ after all. That main developers can't do\nthat in the real world is a very bad sign.\n\n------\ndevnonymous\nJust a small note, this story was posted earlier today (\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7521153](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7521153)\n). For people looking for a tl;dr:\n\na. systemd hijacks the usage of the 'debug' parameter on the kernel command-\nline for it's own purposes. In some cases this renders the system un-bootable.\nSince kernel devs can no longer use a parameter that has literally been around\nfor _years_ and was introduced with the explicit intention to help debug the\nkernel, this is reported as a bug against systemd.\n\nb. The maintainer of systemd closes the bug as NotABug and refuses to fix it\n\nc. A patch is posted on the lkml that simply 'hides' the debug flag from\nuserspace in retaliation.\n\nd. The patch is accept and Linus expresses his anger at what he thinks is a\nrepeating pattern of behavior (to cause regressions, break userspace and\nrefuse to fix the cause of the breakage forcing kernel devs to work around the\nmatter). He also decides to ban systemd maintainer from committing to the\nkernel\n\nhth,\n\n------\nprofquail\nI'm not a heavy Linux user -- I mainly use Windows and FreeBSD -- but I'm\ncurious to know why none of the Linux distros have looked at using launchd?\nIt's being ported to FreeBSD\n([https://github.com/rtyler/openlaunchd);](https://github.com/rtyler/openlaunchd\\);)\nis there some reason it _couldn 't_ work with Linux, or is it just being\noverlooked/ignored?\n\nI have heard that launchd doesn't have all of the features systemd does, but\nlaunchd does seem to be fairly solid for the features it does support.\n\n------\nrcxdude\n[http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/systemd-\ndevel/2014-Apr...](http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/systemd-\ndevel/2014-April/018390.html)\n\nCan't say I'm terribly impressed by the communication on either side currently\n(apart from the above email).\n\n------\nyoha\nGoogle Cache of the linked article:\n\n[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?output=search&s...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?output=search&sclient=psy-\nab&q=cache:I4weZxyAFqUJ:http://lkml.org/lkml/2014/4/2/415%2Bhttps://lkml.org/lkml/2014/4/2/415&gbv=1&sei=SmA9U7n7E6nT0QWN5oFw&hl=en&ct=clnk)\n\n------\ndman\nCan someone please copy / paste the post here - sadly google plus is blocked\nfor me.\n\n~~~\nloudmax\nThis is the entirety of Ted Ts'o's post.\n\n _For those who believe the systemd developers are reasonable and will listen\nto constructive criticism....._\n[https://lkml.org/lkml/2014/4/2/415](https://lkml.org/lkml/2014/4/2/415)\n\nThere are dozens of comments on the G+ page.\n\nAt the moment, I can't even pull up [http://lkml.org/](http://lkml.org/) Not\nsure if that's an outage or just me.\n\n~~~\nDaviey\n[http://www.gossamer-\nthreads.com/lists/engine?do=post_view_fl...](http://www.gossamer-\nthreads.com/lists/engine?do=post_view_flat;post=1897161;;list=linux)\n\n------\nadobriyan\nI didn't know about \"debug\" until this post because I used \"ignore_loglevel\"\nfor years.\n\nKernel is fun.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhat is signals buissness model - egodestroyer\nSignal is run by the signal foundation. But what are the financial incentives behind all of this?<p>I want to create an open source, rake free poker client myself, and I dont know how to finance it, i also want to get rich in the process ;) (just being honest)\n======\nnotkaiho\nSignal's initial funding were $50 million from one of the founders, and\n\"Between 2013 and 2016, the project received grants from the Knight\nFoundation, the Shuttleworth Foundation, and the Open Technology Fund.\"[0]\n\nThey are not in the game to make money. As long as they can cover costs, and\ngiven they are tax-exempt as a non-profit they can't 'get rich' off of it, the\nwork can continue.\n\n[0]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_(software)#Developers_a...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_\\(software\\)#Developers_and_funding)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThe Quadshot: combining a quadcopter and a plane in one - jgrahamc\nhttp://thequadshot.com/\n\n======\nunwind\nIf you were confused by the logo's use of a coffee cop in the initial 'Q',\nthat's a reference to espresso (each individual espresso is called \"a shot\").\nA drink with four espressos would be considered very strong indeed, and\nprobably make you go fast.\n\n------\nesden\nThank you very much for featuring a link to our website here. Calculating the\ntime of the post you probably missed the newest video of a prototype gimbal\nmount for the Quadshot. You can see it here:\n<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd1js8WIL7E> So Quadshot is not only a mix of\na quadrocopter and a plane but also an aerobatic aircraft that can be stable\nenough to shoot areal footage.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nKilling a process and all of its descendants - shiroyasha23\nhttp://morningcoffee.io/killing-a-process-and-all-of-its-descendants.html\n======\nrlpb\nThis is why cgroups were invented. They solve this problem. Start a process in\nits own cgroup, and you can later confidently kill the process and all of its\ndescendants. Container \"technologies\" use cgroups extensively, as does systemd\nservice management.\n\n~~~\nmenage\n[CGroups original developer]\n\nYes, for tracking processes and reliable resource control. Prior to cgroups,\nin Google's Borg cluster management daemon the best strategy I was able to\ncome up with for reliably and efficiently tracking all the processes in a job\nwas:\n\n\\- assign each job a supplementary group id from a range reserved for Borg,\nand tag any processes that were forked into that job with that group id\n\n\\- use a kernel netlink connector socket to follow PROC_EVENT_FORK events to\nfind new processes/threads, and assign them to a job based on the parent\nprocess; if the parent process wasn't found for some reason then query the\nprocess' groups in /proc to find the Borg-added group id to determine which\njob it's a part of.\n\n\\- if the state gets out of sync (due to a netlink queue overflow, or a daemon\nrestart) do a full scan of /proc (generally avoided since the overhead for\ncontinually scanning /proc got really high on a busy machine).\n\nThat way we always have the full list of pids for a given group. To kill a\njob, nuke all the known processes and mark the group id as invalid, so any\nracy forks will cause the new processes to show up with a stale Borg group id,\nwhich will cause them to be killed immediately.\n\nThis approach might would have had trouble keeping up with a really energetic\nfork bomb, but fortunately Borg didn't generally have to deal with actively\nmalicious jobs, just greedy/misconfigured ones.\n\nOnce we'd developed cgroups this got a lot simpler.\n\n~~~\nthe8472\nWas giving each job its own UID not an option? users are the original\nprivilege separation after all and kill -1 respects that.\n\n~~~\nmenage\nNo, because multiple jobs being run by the same end-user could share data\nfiles on the machine, in which case they needed to share the same uid. (Or\nalternatively we could have used the extra-gid trick to give shared group\naccess to files, but that would have involved more on-disk state and hence be\nharder to change, versus the job tracking which was more ephemeral.) It's been\na while now, but I have a hazy memory that in the case where a job was the\nonly one with that uid running on a particular machine, we could make use of\nthat and avoid needing to check the extra groups.\n\n------\npixelbeat__\nThe GNU coreutils timeout command encapsulates a lot of these issues. It's\nsurprisingly difficult to handle all the edge cases and races.\n\n[https://www.maizure.org/projects/decoded-gnu-\ncoreutils/timeo...](https://www.maizure.org/projects/decoded-gnu-\ncoreutils/timeout.html)\n\n~~~\ncastratikron\nCool. Anyone know how they make diagrams like those?\n\n~~~\nkevinoid\nI was curious as well. According to the author, \"All the diagrams were hand-\ncrafted in PowerPoint.\"\n\n[https://github.com/MaiZure/coreutils-8.3/issues/1#issuecomme...](https://github.com/MaiZure/coreutils-8.3/issues/1#issuecomment-455773553)\n\n------\nsrathi\nSometimes I wonder if I'm on a list somewhere for frequent Google searches\nsuch as this one - \"How to kill a parent with all the children\"!\n\n~~~\nstephen82\nPersonally I use `killall` command and works as expected, at least on Debian.\n\nFor instance, when I want to stop conky, all I do is run `killall conky` and\nkills all of its processes at once.\n\nAnother longer way to do such thing is to run `kill -9 $(pidof conky)` which\nkills all returned processes.\n\n~~~\nDylan16807\nJust be careful around Solaris!\n\n------\njchw\nBazel-watcher tries to accomplish this on Linux by using process group IDs. It\nworks, if imperfectly sometimes. I ported this to Windows[1] using Job\nObjects. As usual, the Windows API was hell, and I made use of undocumented\nsyscalls in order to make it work (though that part is partly Go’s fault: when\nyou start a process, it immediately drops the thread handle on the floor. If\nyou start a process suspended, that means it’s impossible to resume _using\ndocumented APIs._ )\n\nThankfully Raymond Chen wrote an article[2] about Job Objects which helped me\nfigure out the last bits. I genuinely am not sure I could have gotten it right\nwithout that article. There’s so many subtle ways to fail!\n\n[1] [https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel-\nwatcher/pull/144/files](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel-\nwatcher/pull/144/files)\n\n[2]\n[https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20130405-00/?p=47...](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20130405-00/?p=4743)\n\n~~~\nneerajsi\nI'm confused by this post, but I'm an ex-dev on the NT kernel.\n\nResumeThread is a well documented API. As is TerminateJobObject. The one thing\nI find a bit baroque is the recently added way to make sure a process is in a\njob on creation, which I believe is part is the ProcThreadAttributes\nmechanism.\n\n~~~\njchw\nYes, ResumeThread is. NtResumeProcess is what I had to use, because Go\nimmediately closes the thread handle.\n\nI’m sure it’s safe to rely on NtResumeProcess. I have used it since XP without\nissue. But I definitely wish there was a better way to go back from a process\nto a thread. The best I could find is using Toolhelp32 to iterate all the\nthreads on the system, which I believe is just wrapping\nNtQuerySystemInformation. Would’ve worked but definitely wasn’t fast.\n\n------\neikenberry\nOn Linux you can also use prctl with PR_SET_PDEATHSIG to set a signal that\nwill be sent to all child processes when the parent dies. This is a syscall\nyou'd need to make from in the program. See 'man 2 prctl'.\n\n------\nPopeDotNinja\nOne low hanging fruit I've thrown into my ssh-ing aliases/functions is is just\nthrowing 'timeout' on the front. I usually exit cleanly and/or don't spin up\nzombie-prone processes, but sometimes I do dumb things, so to exit after a\nday...\n\ntimeout 86400 ssh me@example.com\n\nI was reading the man page for timeout, and it looks like you can throw some\nkill options, but I never needed them, so I never looked for them.\n\n------\nadrianmonk\nReally nice writing style on this article.\n\nIt covers everything that needs to be covered, but it also gets right to the\npoint. Yet without being overly terse or dry.\n\nAnd it explains everything clearly. So often the writer is good at\nunderstanding an idea but not conveying it. This lays it out where it's easy\nto pick up.\n\n------\nk_sze\nCan somebody re-explain the last part about nohup propagation to descendant\nprocesses?\n\nI don’t quite get what the implications are. The author also doesn’t seem to\ntalk about their solution for it in the context.\n\n------\nnanaya\n>but on BSD and its variants like MacOS, the session ID isn’t present or\nalways zero\n\nDon't know about macOS, but session ID/pointer does present on FreeBSD and\nOpenBSD.\n\n------\npsef\nRelated post with interesting comments:\n\nUNIX one-liner to kill a hanging Firefox process:\n\n[https://jugad2.blogspot.com/2008/09/unix-one-liner-to-\nkill-h...](https://jugad2.blogspot.com/2008/09/unix-one-liner-to-kill-hanging-\nfirefox.html?m=1)\n\n------\nbandrami\nIsn't this exactly why you can freeze cgroups?\n\n------\nmehrdadn\nEven _waiting for a process to exit_ is surprisingly hard (impossible?) in\nLinux, unless it's your child.\n\n~~~\nAnssiH\nThat is getting considerably easier with the addition of pidfds, though:\n[https://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/794707/93ffb35438fd3710/](https://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/794707/93ffb35438fd3710/)\n\n~~~\ntwic\n> Beyond the ability to unambiguously specify which process should be waited\n> for, this change will eventually enable another interesting feature: it will\n> make it possible to wait for a process that is not a child — something that\n> waitid() cannot do now. Since a pidfd is a file descriptor, it can be passed\n> to another process via an SCM_RIGHTS datagram in the usual manner. The\n> recipient of a pidfd will, once this functionality is completed, be able to\n> use it in most of the ways that the parent can to operate on (or wait for)\n> the associated process.\n\nSo, to wait for a process that is not your child, do you have to get the\nrelevant pidfd from its parent? In which case, this doesn't help all that\nmuch. Or is there some other way to get pidfds for arbitrary processes?\n\n~~~\nmehrdadn\nPerhaps pidfd_open(pid, ...)?\n[https://lwn.net/Articles/789023/](https://lwn.net/Articles/789023/)\n\nI find it bizarre they called it \"pidfd_\" rather than just \"process_\" or\n\"proc_\"... almost seems like they deliberately avoided the obvious?\n\n~~~\ncyphar\nIt's because the object you get is a file descriptor.\n\nIn fact it's exactly equivalent to getting a file descriptor for /proc/$pid --\nChristian (the person who developed the patchsets) quite cleverly solidified a\ntrick that some folks knew about for several years (that you could use\n/proc/$pid as a race-free way of checking if a process has died if you grabbed\na handle while it was still alive). Before pidfd_send_signal(2) there wasn't a\nway to use that \"interface\" nicely. But now it's a first-class citizen (and\nChristian had to fight a lot of battles to get this in over several releases).\n\nIt's really cool work and I have high hopes it will be used far and wide\nbecause it solves so many individual problems in one fell swoop.\n\n~~~\nmehrdadn\n> It's because the object you get is a file descriptor.\n\nIt is, but you're opening the object, not the descriptor (which doesn't even\nexist yet). When you open a kernel object, you always get back a (new) file\ndescriptor representing that object. It's against previous naming conventions\ntoo. It's not like mkfifo() was called mkfifofd() or socket() was called\nsocketfd() or perf_event_open() was called perf_event_fd_open()...\n\nI'm really amused that you're so excited about it and find it so cool. I mean,\nI'm not suggesting it isn't awesome that they added it, but to me, it's such a\nglaring obvious deficiency that I'm completely flabbergasting that a lot of\nbattles had to be fought to include it. It should've been added and embraced\nwith open arms over two decades ago...\n\n~~~\ncyphar\n> It is, but you're opening the object, not the descriptor (which doesn't even\n> exist yet).\n\npidfd_open(2) is still a proposed interface, and isn't in mainline yet (and if\nI'm remembering the ML discussions correctly, it might not even go in any time\nsoon). The currently-available interfaces are pidfd_send_signal(2),\nCLONE_PIDFD, and the new pidfd_poll(2) support for pidfds. In that context,\ncalling it \"pidfd_\" makes more sense (since you're operating on existing\nhandles) and thus pidfd_open(2) also makes sense because otherwise the naming\nwould be needlessly inconsistent.\n\nThere are also several pre-existing APIs that are called process_ (such as\nprocess_vm_{read,write}v(2)) which use pids and not pidfds -- so calling the\nnew APIs process_ (or even proc_) could lead to confusion. From memory the\nfirst couple of iterations of the patchset changed the name several times\nuntil we landed on pidfd_ and nobody really complained much afterwards.\n\nAlso (and now I'm just nitpicking), mkfifo(3) doesn't give you an fd -- it's\njust a wrapper around mknod(2). But I do get your point.\n\n> I'm really amused that you're so excited about it and find it so cool.\n\nI might be a little bit more biased towards thinking it's cool, since the\ndeveloper is a good friend of mine and we went back and forth on the design\nquite a lot (the fact he managed to get /proc/$pid fds to have these features\nis pretty remarkable and it's unbelievably cool that it didn't require having\nmultiple classes of fds -- if you'd have asked me a year ago I would've said\nit'd be very hard to get right and would never be merged because it'd be so\ninvasive). But thinking that it's neat isn't mutually exclusive with thinking\nthat (something like) it should've been implemented a long time ago.\n\n------\nwilsocr88\nOff topic, but this headline makes me think \"...unto the tenth generation upon\nthe Earth...\"\n\n------\nsabujp\nadvanced programming in the unix environment is an excellent book that dives\nmore into this\n\n------\nsadris\nI just use rkill\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nBallmer sells Windows 1.0 - g0atbutt\nhttp://codesketch.com/2010/11/25-years-ago-this-was-the-future-of-computing/\n\n======\njimminy\n\"Except in Nebraska!\" Does anyone have a reason why Nebraska would be singled\nout?\n\n~~~\nbeej71\n[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OfferVoidInNebras...](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OfferVoidInNebraska)\n\n------\nchamakits\nIt makes me sad that those features seemed advanced, when something as complex\nas the Sketchpad had been created a good amount of time before. (more here:\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sketchpad>)\n\n(Note: Its not completely related, but its just that the Sketchpad seemed to\nme much more advanced than what had Stevy here so excited)\n\n~~~\njonhendry\nHell, NeXT was founded 25 years ago.\n\n------\nitblarg\nHilarious. Is this real?\n\n~~~\nrpeden\nI can't find a source at the moment, but I remember reading more about this a\nfew years back. IIRC it was made as a joke for an internal company conference,\nor something along those lines.\n\n------\nantipaganda\nwait... I had that clock on my Amiga 500! And Reversi! And notepad! ...or\nsomething like it. So what gives?\n\n------\njared314\nReminds me of the old SNL Bassomatic skit.\n\n------\ndanilocampos\nGood old Microsoft — selling features instead of benefits. Some things never\nchange.\n\nIt's a shock that the same company who brought us Windows could also make the\nXbox. Without J. Allard, I worry about its future.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: How did you solve the \"developing on multiple machines\" problem? - Eduard\n\nI have several computers (a desktop computer, a laptop, etc.). I'm developing with Eclipse, using a bunch of plug-ins.<p>It's a time-waster to synchronize my development environment between all my machines.\nUsually, I develop on my desktop computer. Whenever I'm \"on the road\", I first have to configure my laptop Eclipse setup - reflecting the current setup of my desktop computer (including custom views, custom hotkeys, esoteric plug-ins etc.).<p>What is your solution to the \"personal (integrated) development environment on multiple machines\" problem? Which related problems are you facing?\n======\ndwc\nI use Vim. Most of the fancy IDE features are one of a) already there if you\nknow where to look, b) available in one or more plugins, or c) not actually as\nuseful as you've been lead to believe. Seriously. My setup is something you\ncan put on a thumb drive, or better yet put it in source control and sync\nwhenever you like. Much or all of this applies to Emacs.\n\nI realize that some people will never be happy with Vim or Emacs and really\nwant a big GUI IDE. That's ok, too.\n\n------\ndlikhten\nWell, Eclipse, unlike intellij, has a special workspace directory, you can\nsync that baby up using dropbox/aerofs.\n\nI use intellij/rubymine (jetbrains) and the advantage is that I pretty much\ncheck in my configurations along with my repo. Good stuff.\n\n~~~\nEduard\nEclipse plug-ins are usually located in the plugins folder of the Eclipse\ninstallation. Do you mean there is a \"special workspace directory\" that could\ncontain all sorts of plugins?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhat’s New with “The Rust Programming Language”? - doppp\nhttp://words.steveklabnik.com/whats-new-with-the-rust-programming-language\n======\nEduardoBautista\nI really like Rust. As someone who never had a formal computer science\neducation, the early version of this book helped me understand how programs\nhandled memory in a way that no other resource has been able to.\n\nI started looking at my Ruby programs and would focus on trying to reduce the\namount of memory allocations in order to improve performance, and it worked.\n\nEven though I don't think I am going to use Rust in a production environment\nsoon, it taught me to think about my code in a new way. It definitely is a\nlanguage that everyone should take the time to learn.\n\n~~~\nsteveklabnik\nI am really glad to hear it. One of the reasons I had made the Ruby -> Rust\njump fairly easily was that I'd been programming in C for most of my life, and\ngot a BS in CS. But I also know that a _ton_ of people have not. So it's\nreally really important to both me and the Rust team broadly that we make Rust\naccessible to this crowd.\n\n(I also agree with you with going back to Ruby; I look at my code now and go\n\"oh no so many allocations\" \"oh no is this threadsafe I have no idea\" :) I\nwill still always love Ruby though. )\n\n------\nardit33\nI have a serious question: Is anybody using Rust in production? I mean, I have\nseen so many countless blogs about it, but I have yet to hear it being used\nseriously.\n\nAt this point it looks like it is just a lot noise/marketing but no real large\nscale deployments yet and why is this?\n\n~~~\npornel\nFWIW, I'm using it for\n[https://imageoptim.com/api](https://imageoptim.com/api) — it's an image\ncompression API. Rust is at its very core (with high-level fluff in NodeJS).\nIt's not large scale yet, but that's only because I'm just starting.\n\nRust is working great. It's stable and reliable. I don't love Cargo, but it's\nstill _sooo_ much better than autotools.\n\nI've got efficiency I need for pixel-pushing, and I'm not worried that an off-\nby-one error will get my servers owned.\n\n~~~\nnamelezz\nWhy don't you like Cargo? Do you use pure Rust or have FFIs to C libs?\n\n------\njat850\nSteve,\n\nTRPL has proven a fantastic resource for learning Rust. I'm wondering if you\nhave a plan for how it will track the advancement of the Rust language itself\n- do you intend to maintain a version of the book for major point releases of\nRust, minor point releases, etc?\n\nI wish I could cite some specific examples but I didn't keep notes, but I\nthink I've come across a a few instances where, say, something behaved\ndifferently in Rust 1.10 versus Rust 1.12. Will the book attempt to tackle\nthis?\n\n~~~\nsteveklabnik\nThis is a great question, with a lot of details. So, let's start from the\nbeginning.\n\nIn a sense, there _is_ a version for each version of the language:\n\n    \n    \n      * https://doc.rust-lang.org/1.8.0/book/\n      * https://doc.rust-lang.org/1.9.0/book/\n      * https://doc.rust-lang.org/1.10.0/book/\n    \n\netc. Since the current book is stored in-tree, this is just part of the\nregular release cycle. That said, I haven't been working on the book because\nI've been working on the new book, so it's largely the same, just with some\ntypos.\n\nThe second bit is, thanks to the stability guarantees, these days, the book\ndoesn't really go out of date. Everything works. That said, there are\nsometimes new features added that it doesn't always cover; this is really\ntricky in general. There's an overall tension here, since it's an official\nproject: I feel the need to be comprehensive, yet a good text is often defined\njust as much by what you leave out as what you put in. So the book tries to be\n_mostly_ comprehensive, but not totally so. So it's okay if new features\naren't immediately in the book.\n\nThis also ties into Rust itself, and something the team has been thinking a\nlot about. With most languages, you have major releases in order to sort of\nchronicle the language through history: new idioms, new features, etc. With\nour release schedule, and no plans to make a \"2.0, major breaking changes\neverything is different\" release, we don't have that normal point to tell the\nstory of how Rust is changing. So I can imagine that major updates to the book\nwill happen along these same \"epochs\", as Rust changes over time. We're still\ntrying to figure that all out, though. But the key is that many Rust releases\naren't game-changing: only some features actually change idioms.\n\nFinally, No Starch will be publishing the book in paper form. So there's also\nthe question of that, but at the moment, we're mostly interested in shipping\nthis one, but everyone is on board with _some_ sort of periodic refresh of the\nprinted edition as well. We'll see how it goes.\n\nDoes that make sense?\n\n~~~\nronjouch\nRelated: I understand the versions hosted at doc.rust-lang.org you mention\nabove, but what's about the version linked in your post? ( [http://rust-\nlang.github.io/book/](http://rust-lang.github.io/book/) ). It's what's in\nmaster right now, right?\n\nEDIT ah, [https://github.com/rust-lang/book](https://github.com/rust-\nlang/book) clarifies this, it's a rewrite, and is not (yet) part of the main\nRust repository.\n\n~~~\nsteveklabnik\nThe version hosted on docs.rust-lang.org is the current edition of the book,\nwhose source is in-tree. [https://github.com/rust-\nlang/rust/tree/master/src/doc/book](https://github.com/rust-\nlang/rust/tree/master/src/doc/book)\n\nIn order to not trash the book while we're doing the re-write, we've moved it\nto a new repository, which is the one you've linked.\n\nWhen the new book is ready, we will either merge it into `src/doc/book` or\nremove the book from the main repository and use rust-lang/book as the new\nofficial source, it's not totally clear yet which.\n\n~~~\ncarols10cents\n> When the new book is ready, we will either merge it into `src/doc/book` or\n> remove the book from the main repository and use rust-lang/book as the new\n> official source, it's not totally clear yet which.\n\nAlso, no matter which of these two options we choose, we still plan to ship\nthe book inside installations of Rust for offline reading, and host the book\non docs.rust-lang.org.\n\n------\nsteveklabnik\nHi all! As always, happy to answer questions here.\n\n~~~\nkevinmgranger\nThe Rust Programming Language remains as one of the best introductions I've\nhad to a new programming language. I thank you for your work on it.\n\n~~~\nbluejekyll\nYes, and the work on the documentation in general. It's amazing. So many other\nyoung languages are crap in this area, even mature ones. I think the thing\nthat makes Rust amazing is that it's young, and yet well documented, making it\neasier to get started.\n\nCan't thank you enough, nice work.\n\n------\ndoppp\nHas anyone used Rust for game development? I know about the Piston engine but\nhas anyone successfully released a commercial game on Windows, Mac OS X and\nLinux with it or is it still pretty much an academic endeavour to make games\nin Rust?\n\n~~~\nrsaarelm\nI've been developing a hobby game engine and did a 7-day roguelike with it\nlast year:\n[https://github.com/rsaarelm/phage](https://github.com/rsaarelm/phage)\n\nI'd say it's about on par with C++, effort-wise. Big learning curve to get\nsomething as complex as a game off the ground, and you need to think about the\ndesign, but I can't think of many long-term annoyances. The ecosystem is still\nsparse, so viable game projects will probably skew towards 2D and otherwise\nmodest scale.\n\n------\ndman\nOne feature request - could the book be made available in info format so that\nits idiomatically integrated into emacs?\n\n~~~\nsteveklabnik\nIs there a good markdown -> info converter? I don't use emacs.\n\n~~~\ndbaupp\nThe default answer for \"is there a X to Y?\" converter for text formats is\npandoc, so one could possibly go markdown -(pandoc)-> texinfo -(makeinfo)->\ninfo. I do not know if this is sufficiently high fidelity.\n\n~~~\ndman\nWill give this pipeline a shot and see what the results look like.\n\n------\nseeekr\nOT/typo: \"and I’m proud to have her name next time mine on the cover\" should\nhave -time and +to. Keep up the good work!\n\n~~~\nsteveklabnik\nGah, thanks!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhat the Public Knows About Cybersecurity - rrdharan\nhttp://www.pewinternet.org/2017/03/22/what-the-public-knows-about-cybersecurity/\n======\nchha\nNon-IT friends tend to see me as somewhat paranoid when they notice me using\n2FA or VPN's, but I was actually surprised people knew this much.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nColor e-book devices coming from E Ink in 2011 - waderoush\nhttp://www.xconomy.com/boston/2010/03/15/new-e-ink-leader-sees-colorful-future-for-company-under-taiwans-prime-view-international/\n\n======\nXichekolas\nE Ink's big problem is the Mirasol technology that Qualcomm has.\n\nMirasol supposedly has better power usage characteristics than E Ink, and does\ncolor and full-motion video to boot. It's also basically ready now, with\nQualcomm promising both 5.7 and 10.5 inch tablet/readers using the display by\nthe holiday season.\n\nTo see the Mirasol in action:\n[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmpBgaPGYKQ&feature=playe...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmpBgaPGYKQ&feature=player_embedded)\n\nThe rumor is that this is the display that will be found in the next Kindle,\nbut who knows for sure.\n\n~~~\nelblanco\nThanks for linking to Mirasol, I hadn't heard of it before and am now terribly\nexcited.\n\nI think E-Inks main problems are two-fold: 1) It took _forever_ to come to\nmarket in any meaningful way. I think I remember reading about it in the mid\n90's if I'm correct.\n\n2) It cost too much once it did come to market. I'd expect an 8.5\"x11\" display\ncapable of showing PDFs to cost a fraction of what they do now.\n\nokay, actually three-fold\n\n3) It's dead slow and leaves artifacts all over the place unless you do an\nannoying blank out of the entire display area.\n\nThere's plenty of room for B&W digital paper displays in today's world, but it\njust seems to have come out all wrong, too late and too much money for the\nindustry to stick with it. E Ink just won't be able to keep up with the\ntechnology demands of the market space it seems to have created.\n\n~~~\nberntb\nThe slow update is my main problem with E-Ink. I want to browse and make notes\nin documents/code on an A4-sized screen which is as easy to read as paper.\n(Preferably sized as two A4. Color and video would be nice, but optional.\nMinimal power need also optional.)\n\nI don't really care if Pixel Qi, E-Ink, Mirasol or one of the others solves\nthis, but is seems I'll finally be able to buy one in less than a year.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSharing Salary Figures on Facebook - chaostheory\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/fashion/27salary.html?_r=1&ref=fashion&oref=slogin\n======\njeremytliles\nWhen I was getting my MBA, one of my professors discussed the idea of a\nworkplace where everyone's compensation was disclosed. The basic conclusion of\nthe discussion was that since there are virtually no workplaces in which\ncompensation is truly tied to value (and value is impossible to measure\nanyway), knowing what co-workers make will always lead to morale issues.\n\nAs far as friends go, I think we will experience feelings of resentment,\njealously, inferiority, or superiority to a lesser degree than with coworkers,\nand are more likely to be happy for a friend who is compensated above what we\nsee as her perceived value, and more willing to try to help someonse who is\ncompensated below what we see as her perceived value. This is at least partly\nbecause we are not competing for pieces of the same pie as we are in the\nworkplace.\n\n~~~\nryanmahoski\nAs the number of measurable work metrics increases, it becomes (roughly)\nexponentially more difficult to assess employee net value. If we can\ntriangulate this measured value, we still may have immeasurable metrics--which\nwill always break the formula. To the extent compensation is tied to\nimmeasurable quantities, all employees should resent the system as unfairly\nhackable.\n\nSome work systems are possible to measure and thus compensation may be\nformulaic and (roughly) just. For example, if I offered you a monetary reward\nto enter a boolean into a form, you either do the work (by entering a 1 or 0)\nor you don't. With Mechanical Turk, I can design complex algorithms with\nfailsafe controls that will objectively assess and reward worker value. To the\ndegree I can describe real-world problems and automate inputs and outputs, I\ncan build an efficient and viable organization. Is a fair, transparent system\nintrinsically \"happier\"? I am not sure, but I do know the wealth creation\npotential here is massive.\n\n------\nhugh\nIs this a real trend, or just another trend made up by the New York Times to\nfill in space?\n\n~~~\nsimianstyle\nThe only other company that I know that does this is Whole Foods Stores. Each\nstore has all the salaries listed up for all the employees to portray a\ncompletely transparent display of trust.\n\nHowever, i'm not quite convinced that it works.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSafety Implications of Serialization Timing in Autonomous Vehicles [pdf] - blahblahblah1\nhttps://polysync.io/download/polysync-safety_and_serialization.pdf\n======\njjj777\nI don't get the context for this paper. Normally in a mission/safety critical\nsystem you're looking to determine the worst-case latency from stimulus-\nresponse. This means you:\n\n1\\. Determine the worst-case execution time of the software on your system\n(all components, including ISRs) 2\\. Do scheduling analysis (e.g. construct a\nstatic cyclic schedule, use a priority preemptive scheduler and do Response\nTime Analysis). 3\\. Do scheduling analysis for the network (e.g. using CAN you\ncan apply Response Time Analysis to get worst-case latencies). 4\\. Do system-\nwide analysis (e.g. using Holistic Scheduling) to get the end-to-end\nlatencies. Then check these against the requirements. This is particularly\nimportant in TMR systems where you need all three channels to produce results\nin order for voting to take place - a late result = a serious fault condition.\n\nSo I don't get why there's this focus on average performance of this algorithm\nrather than looking for a deterministic algorithm with good low bounds. It\nalso seems that the message sizes depends on the algorithm itself: that also\nneeds to be bounded to be able to analyze the communications system to\ndetermine worst-case latencies (this is of course crucial if a static time-\ntriggered communications bus like FlexRay is being used).\n\nThe paper mentions that Linux is used to conduct the tests. But what's the\nactual target platform? A microcontroller with a cyclic schedule or an RTOS\nwith priority pre-emption? If the latter, what does the schedulability\nanalysis look like? If the former, what does the cyclic schedule look like?\n\nWhat's the communications architecture look like? Is it switch-based like\nAFDX? Or a CSMA/CA bus like CAN? Or a TDMA bus like FlexRay? What's the timing\nanalysis look like for the communications?\n\n~~~\nzackpierce\nHello, and thanks for the feedback.\n\nWhat you have described is absolutely the reasonable and traditional approach\nfor designing a solution for a particular critical hard real-time system.\n\nThe context is that broad serialization technology decisions for autonomous\nvehicles are being considered outside of the focused engineering process for\nspecific critical systems. For example, when middleware or integration\nframeworks come up (often with an eye toward being imposed top-down for many\nsystems), consideration of serialization technology and its implications for\nperformance seems to occupy an unfortunately small portion of the analysis.\n\nThis paper attempts to send the relatively simple message that \"yes,\nserialization tech choice matters\" to decision makers for whom it may not be\napparent. Also, to highlight that there's a need to pay attention to messaging\nperformance even outside of the hard-realtime parts of an autonomous vehicle.\n\nIn retrospect, you're right that more detailed bounds analysis rather than\nrelying on the relatively facile use of means (outside of the minimal outlier\nvisualization in the boxplot) would have been a good addition to the paper.\nThanks again!\n\n------\njjj777\nOK, I get it now. Quite surprising that serialisation is a key performance\nissue. But then again, pushing signals in and out of CAN frames is also a key\nperformance feature in regular ECUs so I guess that's a universal issue with\nall sensor/control/actuator systems.\n\nFinding the WCET used to be about cycle accurate models but that's long been\nblown away by the complexity of real hardware. But there's quite a good bit of\nwork on how to instrument real hardware and then pick up key subpaths\nmeasurements to assemble into a good bound. These guys have been doing this\nfor a few years now and have a good tool:\n\n[https://www.rapitasystems.com/products/rapitime](https://www.rapitasystems.com/products/rapitime)\n\n------\nzackpierce\nPrimary author here, should be able to address questions that arise.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nQuickly review changed methods and functions in your pull requests - stablemap\nhttps://github.com/blog/2407-quickly-review-changed-methods-and-functions-in-your-pull-requests\n======\nzachrose\nThis sounds like a step in a good direction.\n\nIMHO diff-based code review creates distorted incentives. Moving large pieces\nof code around feels harder to review, and adding an extra line or two feels\neasier to review. In the long term, this drives codebases in the wrong\ndirection. (That 900-line method got there through hundreds of innocuous-\nlooking PRs.)\n\nI hope eventually we get tools that make refactorings easy to review. I don't\nknow what that would look like, or how well this can be done in today's\nlanguages, but there's room for improvement.\n\n~~~\nsdesol\nHaving talked to both Microsoft and GitHub, I get the impression that\nintelligent code reviews, is an area of great interest for both companies. In\nthe near future (~2 years), I can see us starting to review code in both the\ntraditional way (line diffs) and in a more intelligent way (semantically and\nby code change impact).\n\nFor example, if you moved a function 50 lines down and changed a string\nvariable in that function, you'll be able to review and discuss the code\nchanges like so:\n\nSemantic changes\n\n    \n    \n        - Moved function FOO with public scope 50 lines down\n        - Updated string variable FOO with public scope in function FOO\n    \n    \n\nChange impact\n\n    \n    \n        - Moving function FOO 50 lines down does not change its scope.\n        - Lines 56 and 30 in files X and Y in repositories Q and Z, reference the BAR variable.\n        - Open pull request #35, contains FOO function changes as well.\n        - Active releases 1.x and 2.x do not have these changes.\n    \n\nThe basic idea is, instead of only being able to review and comment on the\nlines changed, I fully expect us to be able to discuss their impact as well.\n\n------\napeace\nI hope Github introduces this to the main code browser as well, not just PRs.\n\nI very often clone repos just so that I can open the code in an IDE,\nCTRL+Click a method and jump to its definition. It would be neat if Github had\nIDE-like features (but without becoming a platform for editing--just viewing!)\n\n~~~\nalimoeeny\nsourcegraph.com is your friend, at least for some languages.\n\n------\nnikic\nTangentially related, my number one feature request for GitHub would be\nsupport for cross-referencing (a la Opengrok) in the code browser. Browsing\nthrough project code without a local checkout is one of the main things I do\non GitHub, but it's not very ergonomic without cross-referencing. (I also\nrealize that this is much to ask for, considering how much time Opengrok takes\nto index large codebases.)\n\n~~~\nmichaelmior\nSourcegraph[0] has a Chrome extension which provides a version of this\nfeature.\n\n[0] [https://sourcegraph.com](https://sourcegraph.com)\n\n~~~\nsqs\nSourcegraph founder here. The Chrome extension direct link is\n[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sourcegraph-for-\ngi...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sourcegraph-for-\ngithub/dgjhfomjieaadpoljlnidmbgkdffpack?hl=en). Thanks for the mention!\n\n------\ntedmiston\n> Searching the file finder for a method or function in a Go, JavaScript,\n> Ruby, or TypeScript file will provide you with a timeline-style view of the\n> results, so you can skip to the most impactful parts of a pull request.\n\nIt would be awesome to hear a timeline for rolling this out to more languages,\nespecially Python.\n\n------\nbcherny\nI wonder how the Souregraph guys feel about Github getting into their\nterritory..\n\n~~~\nsqs\nSourcegraph founder here. We love it. The more developers who are using code\nintelligence in their tools, the better the language support will be for all\nthe various languages and repositories out there. That's good for developers\neverywhere, and we (Sourcegraph) could never build it all alone.\n\nOur master plan at\n[https://sourcegraph.com/plan](https://sourcegraph.com/plan) describes what\nwe're building on top of these basic \"code intelligence\" primitives, to help\ndevelopers in all of their dev tools (not just GitHub), in all of their\nworkflow, and in companies that have lots of code. And just like GitHub, we\nlet people use these things for free on open-source so they can see how useful\nthey are.\n\n------\npetetnt\nNice addition!\n\nIf anyone at GitHub is reading this, the dropdown cannot be keyboard navigated\nbecause the dropdown doesn't scroll with the focus.\n\n------\npmoriarty\nCan magit do this for code outside of github?\n\n~~~\ncosmicexplorer\nActually not sure how to do this with magit, but I just tried `vc-region-\nhistory' while highlighting an R method signature and body and got a pretty\nslick view of all the relevant commits. Would definitely prefer magit for\njumping to commits, might take a few lines of elisp.\n\nEDIT: Actually, [0] mentions =L, which seems to work flawlessly. Hacking on an\noption to take the selected region instead of manually specifying file and\nlines is easy. Alternatively, magit-blame lets you look at a specific change's\ncommit.\n\n[0]\n[https://github.com/magit/magit/issues/1717](https://github.com/magit/magit/issues/1717)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nOur first $100,000 Month and the Hacker News discussion from a year ago - localcasestudy\nhttp://www.reddit.com/r/EntrepreneurRideAlong/comments/1dy1i0/one_year_anniversary_of_my_first_post_and_we_just/\nThought it would be interesting to stop back and show what we've done.\n======\njosephagoss\nImpressive. Being open about the journey and giving ideas and hope to others\nis very commendable.\n\nAlso $100,000 a month from a company that couldn't scale like a software\ncompany is really cool. I think more Hacker news people should worry a bit\nless about 'scaling' and getting a good product going first and foremost.\n\n~~~\nlocalcasestudy\nThanks man, really appreciate it. It's been a fun ride! You're absolutely\nright. I think, \"will it scale\" is often a fairly silly question when you\nthink about it. Not every company has to become a billion dollar company to be\nsuccessful. And while scaling geographically is great, one can create a model\nthat goes deep instead of going wide, and for a local business this could mean\ntotally dominating a city with multiple verticals. Either way, \"will it scale\"\nshouldn't be the question. \"Will it sell?\" is more important, especially for a\nboot-strapped company.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Shakti.sh: Arthur Whitney's latest K version (k9) - jloveless\nhttps://shakti.sh/\n======\njloveless\nIncludes new FFI interface. node.js , C and python. See (limited docs)\n[https://shakti.sh/ffi/_.d](https://shakti.sh/ffi/_.d)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMeditations on Moloch (Coordination Problems) - arikr\nhttps://archive.fo/Yiryp\n======\narikr\nUsing the archive.is link because the current version of the post has some\nedits from the original.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: How do you learn a new language or library? - eric-hu\n\nI've been reading through the Backbone.js source code this week.  While it's been a good exercise for my javascript-fu, it does feel pretty dull at times.  I'm forcing myself to power through all of it because I know that I can't really form ideas with tools I'm unfamiliar with.<p>So, out of curiosity, how do you learn a new language or library?  What's been most effective?  Has that changed over time?\n======\nsaiko-chriskun\nI don't really see why I'd take the time to learn a new language or library if\nit seemed dull to me.\n\n------\ntjr\nMake something with it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShapeoko forums and wiki hacked – obfuscated PHP found, we're trying to reverse - justinclift\nhttp://www.shapeoko.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=7659\n======\njustinclift\nIs anyone around with experience reversing obfuscated PHP code?\n\nWe're trying to figure out what the code implanted by some hacker types in our\nforum pages does:\n\n    \n    \n      http://www.shapeoko.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=7659\n    \n\nInitial reversing of code here by jacob32123, one of our Community members:\n\n    \n    \n      http://pastebin.com/U6qwqhSX\n      (line 221+ has more decoded info)\n    \n\nIf people are around with interest in this kind of thing, and time to\nassist... it would be really helpful. :)\n\n    \n    \n      http://www.shapeoko.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=7659&start=10#p60550\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nClass-action settlement against Paypal - alphydan\nhttps://www.accountholdsettlement.com/\n======\nteslabox\nPaypal closed my account a few years ago - my friend panicked when her own\naccount was closed, and ended up taking me with her. Looks like I'll get $3 as\na result of this class action lawsuit.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCan American soil be brought back to life? - clumsysmurf\nhttp://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/09/13/soil-health-agriculture-trend-usda-000513\n======\noldandtired\nLike a lot of things, soil infertility is a symptom of a much larger societal\nproblem. Within society, there are many different competing groups that have\n\"the answer\". Progressives want a specific list, conservatives want another\nlist, city dwellers want a list (irrespective of being progressive or\nconservative), country dwellers want another, business owners want their own\nlist, workers want another, government wants a list, law enforcement wants\none, radicals want one, etc., stc., etc.\n\nAll of these lists of wants are at cross purposes. All of it is based on self-\ninterest. Very little of it is based on a wider responsibility for all\ncitizens and the country that supports them.\n\nThis won't change as people won't give up on their list of wants. The attitude\nof \"us and them\" just reinforces the basic problems. Is there a solution? Most\ncertainly. But it requires a change in the basic attitudes of every citizen\nand most will object to having to face who and what they are.\n\nWhen a society is focus on \"rights\" instead of responsibilities then the\nsociety loses its ability to think in the large. When a government is focussed\non it continuation and power it loses sight of its responsibility to build\nsociety.\n\nThere is no short term solution that is a quick fix. In the case of America,\nit is heading down the path of civil war and devastation because pretty well\nevery level in the American society is in the mindset of \"them and us\". This\nis obvious to anyone who opens their eyes. Law enforcement has forgotten that\nthey are there to serve and protect the citizenry and not themselves.\nGovernment is self-serving. Corporations are treating their customers as\nslaves and a resource to control. The general population is focussed on their\nown little problems of day to day self-gratification.\n\n~~~\nAdamCraven\nYou've hit the problem on its head, but the solution is not to try and change\npeople's behaviour on a large scale, but to incentivise based on the self-\ninterest you've mentioned.\n\nFrom the consumers perspective, there is little indication as to the quality\nof soil something has been grown in. But there must be an effect on the plant\nitself if it is grown in poor soil in the form of lower macro, trace minerals\nand other indicators of plant health detectable within the plant.\n\nLike the organic standards that cover production methods, we need an opt-in\nfood quality standard. If plants were tested after production for indicators\nof plant health and labels could be put on vegetables indicating quality.\nSelf-interest of the consumers buying higher quality foods would quickly\nincentivise farmers into increasing plant quality, which in turn will correct\nour soil.\n\n~~~\noldandtired\nI grew up in an area in which the major crop was sugar cane. Some years ago\n(15 or so), I was talking to my father about the fertility of the soil in the\narea.\n\nHe passed onto me a conversation he had had with one of his farmer friends. He\nwas told that the soil was totally infertile and was only there to hold up the\ncane. All nutrients came from fertiliser that they put into the soil.\n\nIn this case, the results is sugar which you can't tell how good the plant is.\n\nThere have been a number of farmers over the years in that area who did crop\nrotation and field resting. But they were far and few between. In other areas,\nthey are using recycling methods to put organic matter back into their fields.\nHowever, this is not common, even though there are groups of farmers who see\nthe benefit of these processes for themselves and the surrounding environment.\n\nPart of an education process that we undertake with our young people is for\nthem to understand where food comes from, including when we have the\nopportunity to teach them gardening (vegetables), animal husbandry and the\nkilling, dressing and butchering of animals for food (sheep and goats).\n\nSome take the lessons well, some do not. But they do start to understand where\ntheir food comes from.\n\nToo many people have no idea of what is needed to produce the food they\nconsume. No idea.\n\nTesting foods can be quite simple. The taste of good quality well grown food\n(meat, vegetables, fruit, milk, eggs, etc.) is quite different to those that\nare grown in the common farming practices of today.\n\nI am currently enjoying eating 7-8 year old mutton and it is better than the\nbest spring lamb that I have had. They ate and they wandered and were not\nstressed.\n\n~~~\ndennis_jeeves\n>I am currently enjoying eating 7-8 year old mutton and it is better than the\nbest spring lamb that I have had.\n\nWhere do you get this?\n\n~~~\noldandtired\nThe sheep were originally given to me by people who just wanted to get rid of\nthem, I still have a goat that was originally intended for someone else and I\nhad been asked if I could look after it for a few weeks. The person who was to\nreceive it moved into a nursing home and it was subsequently given to me. My 6\nyear old granddaughter has been keen to be involved with doing the goat, which\nI'll be doing later. If the weather is still cold when I get back from\nvisiting my parents, I'll be looking at doing it then. In the meantime, he\nwill be fattened up as much as possible.\n\nI have 2 acres just on the edge of town and for many years, we have run some\nlevel of stock on it. All of the various beasts have ended up in my freezer.\nThe last lot I killed, dressed and butchered myself (with the help of a number\nof young people) out of necessity as no butcher would come in for just 3\nsheep.\n\nAs the sheep had little need to run anywhere and had luscious feed, they\nturned out to be so tender. I did try to source some more via the local\nbutchers, but found that would be extremely expensive as most of the sheep are\nculled for lamb and not kept for wool in our region.\n\nIf you ask around, you might find some appropriate beasts that you can get\ncheaply (whether that be steers, goat or sheep). Though you may find getting\nthem to the abattoir and then to the butcher somewhat expensive.\n\n------\nescape_goat\n> The federal crop insurance program is based on farmers planting the same\n> crop in the same place each year to have a record for production, and it is\n> not flexible enough to account for practices like cover crops.\n\nIf you want to take an actionable item away from this article that fits\n(potentially) the skillsets of your friends and neighbours on Hacker News, it\nis this one. This is a data problem and an actuarial problem. Solving it can\nresult in net social benefit disproportionate to the investment in\ninfrastructure, politicial capital (to change legislation), and (already\nexisting) government programs required.\n\nI don't know if, politically, there are any groups who would be organized to\nswing into action in opposition to federal crop insurance reform, but they or\nany who may shake out of the math (presumably there's some practices and crops\n_cough_ corn that benefit from less information, relatively speaking) have an\nuphill battle to fight against a variety of constituent-motivating narratives.\nIt's hard to argue against big government spending when tens of millions of\ndollars is at stake.\n\n~~~\n24gttghh\nSo, after the Dust Bowl, there were all kinds of things promoted by the\nFederal Gov't like crop rotation, contour farming, and planting wind breaks to\nkeep the soil from blowing away. When did we forget that lesson?\n\nAnd I looked up what I think is an actual rule regarding Crop Rotation when it\ncomes to the FCIC[0]:\n\n>(B) ASSIGNED YIELD.—If the producer does not provide satisfactory evidence of\nthe yield of a commodity under subparagraph (A), the producer shall be\nassigned— (i) a yield that is not less than 65 percent of the transitional\nyield of the producer (adjusted to reflect actual production reflected in the\nrecords acceptable to the Corporation for continuous years), as specified in\nregulations issued by the Corporation based on production history\nrequirements; (ii) a yield determined by the Corporation, in the case of— (I)\na producer that has not had a share of the production of the insured crop for\nmore than two crop years, as determined by the Secretary; (II) a producer that\nproduces an agricultural commodity on land that has not been farmed by the\nproducer; or _(III) a producer that rotates a crop produced on a farm to a\ncrop that has not been produced on the farm;_\n\nJust search the doc for \"rotate\". It is only mentioned once. I think the FCIC\nonly applies to wheat and some other grains.\n\n[0][https://www.agriculture.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/75-30%20-%2...](https://www.agriculture.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/75-30%20-%20Agricultural%20Adjustment%20Act%20Of%201938%20&%20Federal%20Crop%20Insurance%20Act1.pdf)\n\n------\nexDM69\nI recently took part in a course on doing farm work with horses. It was a\nlarge garden where all the farm work had been done exclusively with horses for\nabout 10 years, after decades of using tractors. The tractors had turned the\nsoil into hard, clumpy clay which yielded bad crops and required more and more\nfertilizers every year. In about a decade of using horses, manure and\ntraditional methods, the topsoil had turned nice and soft and nutrient-rich.\nNot at all like the hard clay my grandparents' farm and the owners of the\ngarden were more than happy with the results.\n\nWorking with horses was slow, hard and laborious work but it was a lot of fun!\nMuch more fun than doing the same with tractors (which I also think is quite\nfun).\n\nUnfortunately, going back to horses or oxen never going to be viable in a\nlarge scale. The recent trends in agriculture have been making machines larger\nand larger to reduce the amount of labor required, causing the soil to be\npacked even harder, requiring more tilling for the next crop.\n\nMaybe autonomous farm equipment could reverse the trend, as machines could be\nmade smaller without increasing the amount of human labor.\n\n~~~\nroel_v\n\"The tractors had turned the soil into hard, clumpy clay which yielded bad\ncrops and required more and more fertilizers every year.\"\n\nMechanization is of course the main driver of soil compaction, but here too\nthere are advances in technology that mitigate issues without having to revert\nback to horses (or needing revolutions like swarms of small autonomous bots).\nFor example, soil compaction can be reduced to the point where it doesn't\naffect plant growth significantly any more by using the correct tire pressure\non tractors; i.e. (much) lower pressure when the tractor is on the field. But\nthose pressures are not suitable for riding on roads or longer distances, so\nmany farmers (actually, generally the contractor doing the work, although this\nvaries by region/country) don't deflate their tires because it takes so much\ntime to adjust them every time.\n\nSo, modern tractors have automatic inflate/deflate installations, making it\nmuch easier to use the right pressure for every task and on every soil type.\nOf course this costs extra, so you still need to convince people of the need\nfor it, and enforce the habit on those actually doing the work.\n\n~~~\ndsfyu404ed\nIt's not practical to deflate a liquid filled tire. Most tractors run liquid\nfilled tires for weight/traction.\n\n~~~\nroel_v\nNot sure if you're saying I'm just making things up - here are some of the\nfirst links off a quick google:\n\n\\- [http://www.fwi.co.uk/machinery/tractor-tyres-make-sure-\nyour-...](http://www.fwi.co.uk/machinery/tractor-tyres-make-sure-your-\npressures-are-right.htm)\n\n\\- [https://www.agribrink.com/](https://www.agribrink.com/)\n\n\\-\n[http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/field/news/croptal...](http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/field/news/croptalk/2013/ct-1113a1.htm)\n\nNow I'm not a soil scientist, but I am a programmer who's for the last year or\nso been programming models for assessing soil threat risks, including soil\ncompaction (one of the biggest soil threats in agriculture); and work with\nsome of the world's foremost expert scientists in this field, as well as with\nrepresentatives of e.g. machine manufacturers. They all say that compaction is\nmostly due to increases in weight of machinery, and that proper tire pressure\nis the most important mitigation measure we have available. Liquid-filled\ntires are never mentioned in this context, it's a rarity.\n\nYou claim that 'most' tractors run liquid filled tires - I'm not sure what\nyou're basing that on, or what locality you're talking about, but while I do\nnot have any numbers at hand, I have never heard of this being something other\nthan an incidental thing. For example, the Michelin site\n([http://agricultural.michelinman.com/us/Properly-use-your-\ntir...](http://agricultural.michelinman.com/us/Properly-use-your-\ntires/Ballasting-tyres-for-better-use)) mentions it as a possibility, but not\nas something that 'most' tractors would have.\n\n------\nAFNobody\nWell the obvious answer is \"Yes\" but I am honestly uncertain whether it can be\ndone while maintaining current profit margins which is was always the _real\nissue_.\n\nA well-educated farmer, focused on a plot of land that is meant to be kept for\ngenerations without a profit focus can certainly do it. I suspect if you try\nto scale this process up, the issue is its more expensive if you were a\ncorporation who has to pay a better educated class of labor to maintain soil\nquality.\n\nTill, fertilize, water is alot simpler than trying to build an ecosystem that\nspans a 4000 acre plot of land.\n\nI think until society values externalities more accurately, it is unlikely to\ncatch on like so many other things that cost even a tenth of a percent of the\noverall corporate profit margin.\n\n~~~\nQAPereo\nThis is also a society that happily wastes a vast amount of food which is\nproduced based on conformity issues, and other nonsense designed to maximize\nprofits in supermarkets. At every level, we’re deeply complicit, and our\nrevealed preferences are clear.\n\n~~~\nAFNobody\nI think the majority's preferences as a society is clear.\n\nI also believe there is a substantial minority that would prefer a more\nsustainable approach to many things in the interest of long term\nsustainability.\n\nThe reality is our level of infrastructure spending, to the way we produce\npower, to the condition of the majority of the arable land is fundamentally\nunsustainable for more than another 50 years without substantial technological\nchange. This does not even get into climate change related impacts on\nagriculture.\n\n~~~\nWalterBright\nWe've historically often engaged in unsustainable practices, like:\n\n1\\. hunting whales for lamp oil\n\n2\\. cutting down trees for fuel to make glass and build ships\n\n3\\. using natural rubber\n\n4\\. no sanitation in the cities\n\n5\\. using horses for transportation\n\n6\\. using well water in cities\n\nAs these became unsustainable, alternatives were discovered and developed.\n\n~~~\njacobolus\nOr in some cases they weren’t, and civilizations collapsed.\n\n~~~\npdfernhout\nTo support your point:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Societal_collapse#Theories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Societal_collapse#Theories)\n\n------\njfarlow\nCheck out Trace Genomics [1] for a new company at QB3 that is taking a stab at\nquantifying what organisms are part of a particular farm's microbiome. They\nsequence the DNA of everything in a given soil sample, then figure out who's\nDNA is who's - providing a snapshot of what life is living in that soil. And\nwith enough snapshots, a farmer can actually start to develop a quantitative\npicture of the web of inhabitants in a given parcel of land. And then act on\nthat information.\n\n[1] [https://www.tracegenomics.com](https://www.tracegenomics.com)\n\n------\nTwirrim\nWhat's somewhat amusing is this is essentially talking about a variation on\nthe four course crop rotation, a farming practice that dates back to the 17th\ncentury, and at one stage dominated the farming practices of Europe.\n\nfrom [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Norfolk-four-course-\nsystem](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Norfolk-four-course-system)\n\n> In the Norfolk four-course system, wheat was grown in the first year,\n> turnips in the second, followed by barley, with clover and ryegrass\n> undersown, in the third. The clover and ryegrass were grazed or cut for feed\n> in the fourth year. The turnips were used for feeding cattle and sheep in\n> the winter. This new system was cumulative in effect, for the fodder crops\n> eaten by the livestock produced large supplies of previously scarce animal\n> manure, which in turn was richer because the animals were better fed. When\n> the sheep grazed the fields, their waste fertilized the soil, promoting\n> heavier cereal yields in following years.\n\n~~~\nstinos\n> dates back to the 17th century\n\nNote that crop rotation itself (2 course/3 course) is much, much older. And\nWikipedia claims it was first done in the 16th century in what now is Belgium.\n\nActually, there are a bunch of things presented as 'new' in the article while\nI read nothing which I never read before, and many of the solutions bascialy\ncome down to 'do it as our ancestors did it' so it's not all that new either.\nThe vast scale of it though is new. And the rigid economic system attached to\nit.\n\n~~~\nTwirrim\n2 course / 3 course used to rely on fallow periods, IIRC, though it's been\nmore than 20 years since I covered this in school :)\n\nWhat's so significant about all this stuff is that this agrarian revolution\nlead to greater food productivity, increasing populations, and started to\nincrease the labour pool available for other tasks. This stuff basically kick\nstarted the eventual industrial revolution. That's part of why it's so strange\nto see it coming around again\n\n------\nseiferteric\nWhat about the fact that our agriculture system is (mostly) open loop? Every\ntime you harvest food and consume it, where do the waste products end up? I\nthink we need to also work on closing this loop.\n\n~~~\nabhinavkulkarni\n@seiferteric: Can you please explain this more? I don't quite understand what\nyou mean by 'open loop'. Thanks.\n\n~~~\nmikekchar\nNot the OP, but essentially you take vegetables out of a field. You eat the\nvegetables. You poop. Your poop ends up in a sewage treatment plant. Nothing\nends up back in the field. Instead we add fertilisers that we have mined out\nof the earth for the macro nutrients.\n\nIt's not just sewage either. Every time you till the earth, you expose it to\nthe air. This oxidises the minerals and often makes them unavailable for the\nplants. Because the fertiliser we add is very water soluble it drains through\nthe water table and ends up in the rivers and eventually washes out to sea (or\njust clogs the rivers with algae).\n\nTilling and pesticides also kill the organisms that are responsible for moving\nnutrients around under the earth. Additionally, we tend to plant mono-culture\ncrops with short root structures. This stops a variety of plants from breaking\ndown nutrients in the soil and moving them to the top layer of humus. So\neither we till deeper (exacerbating the problem) or we essentially lock all of\nthe nutrients below the level that the plants can access.\n\nIn the end, you basically are slowly extracting all of the bioavailable\nnutrients out of the soil, and depositing them in the sewage treatment fields.\nAt the same time you are oxidising what's left and washing everything else out\nto the sea. Any fertility that remains is below the access of the plant roots\n(and probably not in a form that can be utilised right away).\n\n\"Closing the loop\" means looking at the places where we are losing fertility\nand making sure that it is looping back. So, if you take nutrients out in the\nform of food, we return it in the form of sewage. You avoid tilling and you\nplant a variety of crop varieties that circulate the nutrients in the soil\nlayer. You avoid adding highly water soluble salts that simply leach out of\nthe soil and into the water table.\n\nIt sounds simple-ish, but it's actually quite a bit challenge. We don't really\ndo a lot of research in this area (as far as I can tell). Most agricultural\nresearch is geared toward increasing yields and reducing costs as opposed to\nsustainability.\n\n~~~\noldandtired\nIt is not just a bit of a challenge, it is a huge challenge that requires so\nmany things to change in the infrastructure. There are many who have\nresearched this problem and have published their results. But it requires some\nexpense which many of the farmers cannot afford and certainly the corporations\nthat control the various associated industries don't want to put funds into as\nit would drastically reduce their control and profits.\n\n------\nwavefunction\nI am doing my part in my backyard as I'm fortunate to live in an extra-\njudicial territory of my municipality so the regulations are sparse at the\nmoment.\n\nMulch, sun and water. I also dug a large bio-char pit I've been using to\nreduce wood-stuff into carbon and potash. I am eventually going to ammoniate\nthese products and redistribute throughout the plot.\n\nI also underestimated the biochar hell-pit and buried and hosed-down a hot-\nburning pyre and one week later woke up to a tendril of smoke curling up from\nthe pit which later turned back into a fire with additional fuel.\n\nI found it alarming and remarkable so be sure to be safe with pyrolysis,\nfolks!\n\n~~~\nSophistifunk\nI would like to know more about this \"bio-char pit\" could you point me to a\nURL or three?\n\n~~~\ndebacle\nA good video series on the topic:\n\n[http://skillcult.com/biochar-and-charcoal/](http://skillcult.com/biochar-and-\ncharcoal/)\n\n~~~\nSophistifunk\nThanks!\n\n------\nkwhitefoot\n> Promoting soil health comes down to three basic practices: Make sure the\n> soil is covered with plants at all times, diversify what it grows and don’t\n> disrupt it. What this means in practice is rotating crops, so fields aren’t\n> trying to support the same plant year after year. And it means using\n> techniques like “cover-cropping”–planting a secondary plant like grasses,\n> legumes or vegetables–between rows of crops or on other exposed soil instead\n> of leaving it bare.\n\nThis is hardly news. How come Norfolk crop rotation has been 'forgotten'? See\nthis Britannica article: [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Norfolk-four-\ncourse-system](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Norfolk-four-course-system)\n\n------\nbostik\nRegenerating soil is nothing new, really. The Amazonian tribes learned how to\ncultivate a rich black soil[0] long time ago. There is ongoing research on how\nto make that work again on an industrial scale - and with sufficiently short\ntimespans.\n\nThe article mentions that even common composting helps, but the problem tends\nto be how to prevent it from running off. No wonder. As anything in biology,\nsoil regeneration takes time. Having your fresh biomass flow elsewhere runs\ncounter to the purpose.\n\n0:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta)\n\n~~~\nsigmaprimus\nI agree this is nothing new, and although I tend to believe that no till is an\nessential part of healing the soil it will not work alone if nothing is done\nto break up the agricultural economic complex controlled by the multinational\ncompanies only interested in profit.\n\nA good book published in 1975 written by Masanobu Fukuoka called \"One Straw\nRevolution\" is very informative on this subject easy reading and obtainable\nfor free by searching it's title followed by .pdf in your favorite S.E.\n\n------\npdfernhout\nIt's long been known how to fix soil; see for example from 1987: \"Towards\nHolistic Agriculture: A Scientific Approach\" by R.W. Widdowson:\n[https://www.elsevier.com/books/towards-holistic-\nagriculture/...](https://www.elsevier.com/books/towards-holistic-\nagriculture/widdowson/978-0-08-034211-5)\n\nOr from 1911:\n[https://permaculturenews.org/files/farmers_of_forty_centurie...](https://permaculturenews.org/files/farmers_of_forty_centuries.pdf)\n\nMore: [http://soilandhealth.org/](http://soilandhealth.org/)\n\nAdding rock dust works wonders too:\n[https://remineralize.org/](https://remineralize.org/)\n\nMy wife and I wrote a FOSS garden simulator in the 1990s (a six+ person-year\nlabor of love) to help people understand some of this: [http://www.kurtz-\nfernhout.com/summary_gwi.html](http://www.kurtz-fernhout.com/summary_gwi.html)\n\nI got the idea while working as the Program Administrator on summer for the\nNOFA-NJ Organic Farm Certification Program in the later 1980s, but it took\nmany years (including more education in grad school in biology) to make the\nsoftware.\n\nSee especially from the help system of that software on how conventional\nagriculture destroys the soil:\n[http://www.gardenwithinsight.com/help100/00000385.htm](http://www.gardenwithinsight.com/help100/00000385.htm)\n\"In the soil, tiny charged particles called micelles usually have many areas\nof negative charge (called sites) on their surfaces. Positively charged ions\n(cations) are drawn to these negative charge sites and stick to the clay\nparticles (are adsorbed). In most soils, 99% of soil cations can be found\nattached to micelles (clay particles and organic matter) and 1% can be found\nin solution. Mineral cations in the soil (mainly Ca2+, Mg2+, K+ and Na+)\nmaintain an equilibrium between adsorption to the negative sites and solution\nin the soil water. This equilibrium produces exchanges -- when one cation\ndetaches from a site (leaving it free), another cation attaches to it.\nTherefore the negatively charged sites are called cation exchange sites. The\nnumber of these sites per unit weight of dry soil is called the cation\nexchange capacity, or the capacity of the soil to hold cations. Because any\ncations loose in the soil solution are vulnerable to leaching as water flows\nout of the soil, a high cation exchange capacity is always desirable. Cation\nexchange sites act as a sort of mineral buffer for the soil, storing minerals\nimportant to plant and animal growth for long periods of time. The attraction\nof cations to cation exchange sites is strongest for H+ ions (which make the\nsoil acidic) and for polyvalent ions such as Ca2+ and Al3+. The weakest\nattraction is for monovalent ions such as K+. When ammonium nitrate\nfertilizers are added to the soil, the ammonium ions (NH4+) are strongly\nattracted to cation exchange sites because of their high valence (4). The\nammonium ions displace many other cations which are then leached out of the\nsoil and lost to plants. Some of the ammonium ions are converted to nitrate\nduring nitrification (by aerobic soil bacteria); the process produces excess\nH+ ions which acidify the soil (causing earthworms and other soil organisms to\ndie or desert the area). (For an excellent description of cation exchange\ncapacity, see Widdowson's Towards Holistic Agriculture: A Scientific\nApproach.)\"\n\nThat's a big reason why organic agriculture which focuses on building up\norganic matter in the soil (which increases cation exchange capacity) is\nbetter for soil health (and human health too, as the plants are better fed).\nThat's reflected in the article when it describes two lumps of soil put on\nwire mesh that behave differently -- one falling apart as dust (from lack of\norganic matter and so not much CEC) and one clumped together (more organic\nmatter and CEC).\n\nWish I had time to bring that Delphi app to the web as a JavaScript app... And\nimprove it further.\n\nI don't know the exact numbers to completely quantify this, but I suspect poor\nfarming practices on the US prairies that have reduced (in some places) six\nfeet of topsoil to six inches of top soil have released a vast amount of\ncarbon from lost organic matter into the air and contributed to climate\nchange.\n\n~~~\nroel_v\nDoes your model support root nodule nitrogen fixation? I've been looking for\nsimulation software to estimate optimal levels of nitrogen fixers, but I\ndidn't find any comprehensive models that included this. I didn't look at your\nmodel for it though; although I _did_ come across it several years earlier\nwhen I was looking for plant growth simulations for another reason. In what\nway(s) does it diverge from EPIC? EPIC & APEX are (widely) applied for policy\nevaluation purposes (how much sense that makes is another matter, but let's\njust accept reality for now); is your model robust enough for such things, I\nmean comparable to EPIC? And does it still run on Windows 10? I tried to\ninstall it but got some error that it failed writing to a registry key, and\nthen I didn't look any further.\n\n~~~\npdfernhout\nMost of the model source code is derived from EPIC (and a bit from SPUR which\nwas about rangelands, weather, and plant competition). The EPIC conversion\ninvolved a person-year of painstaking work going through EPIC and creating\nsensible names for the cryptic FORTRAN variables (which were also sometimes\nreused multiple times with different meanings) and short function names as the\ncode was rewritten into C++ and then later Delphi. My wife -- who I met via\nthe PhD program in Ecology and Evolution I went to to try to learn enough to\nwrite the simulator -- did most of that translation.\n\nIt's been twenty years, so I could not answer detailed questions about it of\nthe top of my head without digging into the code (and maybe not even then).\nBut the core parts of the soil percolation model should be very close to\nEPIC's code and data. The source code for the soil models references the EPIC\nequations and the related scientific literature.\n\nThe simulator was written under earlier versions of windows (Win 3.1 and 95),\nand from around WinXP and later it seems the code that updates the registry\ncauses an error. Not sure how to easily work around that.\n\nYou can download the source here: [http://www.kurtz-\nfernhout.com/GardenSimulatorSourceCirca1997...](http://www.kurtz-\nfernhout.com/GardenSimulatorSourceCirca1997InDelphi.zip)\n\nOr, I just put it up on GitHub right now for you: :-)\n[https://github.com/pdfernhout/GardenSimulatorSourceCirca1997...](https://github.com/pdfernhout/GardenSimulatorSourceCirca1997InDelphi)\n\nHere is the file you would want to focus on first, and it does mention\nnitrogen fixation and nodules, but you'd have to make your own decision about\nhow useful that was to you as a reference:\n[https://github.com/pdfernhout/GardenSimulatorSourceCirca1997...](https://github.com/pdfernhout/GardenSimulatorSourceCirca1997InDelphi/blob/master/ueq.pas)\n\nHere are the lines to look first inside that file:\n[https://github.com/pdfernhout/GardenSimulatorSourceCirca1997...](https://github.com/pdfernhout/GardenSimulatorSourceCirca1997InDelphi/blob/master/ueq.pas#L4741-L4764)\n\nRemember that a lot of EPIC is empirically derived functions and values from\nUS soils in certain climates -- so it may not be totally applicable elsewhere,\neven if it is a place to start.\n\nAnd here is a 100 page programmer's manual: [http://www.kurtz-\nfernhout.com/progmanlong.htm](http://www.kurtz-fernhout.com/progmanlong.htm)\n\nI put our PlantStudio and StoryHarp code up on GitHub (which share some common\ncode with the garden simulator) and have been meaning to someday put the\ngarden simulator code there.\n\nI spent a couple of months about a decade ago porting part of the code base to\nJava and also Python which involved writing a Delphi parser and translation\ntool, but the result is not a finished work. But the converted code for the\ngarden simulator is not on GitHub (yet). You can see some of the converted\nplant drawing code here though:\n[https://github.com/pdfernhout/PlantStudio](https://github.com/pdfernhout/PlantStudio)\n\nI had wanted to help develop self-replicating space habitats and helping\npeople grow their own food better seemed like a good first step towards that\nwhich both had short-term on-Earth benefits plus long-term benefits for space\nsettlement. We did this all on our own money from consulting and also credit\ncards. When they were maxed out (~US$100K) we took unrelated programming jobs\nat IBM Research and elsewhere to pay it all back on-time with interest -- it\ntook many years to get back to zero -- and we never got a chance to do that\nmuch more with the simulator...\n\nOur (at first shareware) PlantStudio software was a spinoff for breeding\nvirtual plants which got substantial interest from 3D modellers -- but even\nthere, we did not have time to keep improving it since we were both working\nfull-time the at IBM. PlantStudio was mainly my wife's project in response to\nuser feedback from the Garden Simulator that people liked playing with the\nplant design part of it. We eventually made that free and then open source.\n[http://www.kurtz-fernhout.com/PlantStudio/userssay.htm](http://www.kurtz-\nfernhout.com/PlantStudio/userssay.htm)\n\nAnd then we had a kid: :-) [http://www.kurtz-\nfernhout.com/historyandfuture.html](http://www.kurtz-\nfernhout.com/historyandfuture.html)\n\nAfter that effort on our own, I'd get a bit annoyed I got when I'd watch NASA\nand other places give big grants to people who then made proprietary software\nwith it. That motivated me to write essays like this back around 2001:\n[http://pdfernhout.net/on-funding-digital-public-\nworks.html](http://pdfernhout.net/on-funding-digital-public-works.html) \"As a\nsoftware developer and content creator, I find it continually frustrating to\nvisit web sites of projects funded directly or indirectly by government\nagencies or foundations, only to discover I can't easily improve on those\nprojects because of licensing restrictions both on redistribution and on\nmaking derived works of their content and software. ...\"\n\nBut I can give kudos at the USDA ARS BRC and the EPIC team for developing\ntheir code in-house and putting it in the public domain. The EPIC developers\n(but not administrators) were annoyed a bit themselves at our own plan\noriginally to make proprietary software from their models, which was another\nfactor in our making that garden simulator effort FOSS.\n\nOur hope had been to keep improving those models and getting more people\ninvolved in that process online with a 2.0 version of the software as a shared\nmodelling environment. But our few small efforts to find funding to continue\nin that direction were not productive. I guess we were just better software\ndevelopers than sales people. :-) Plus we have learned a lot since then about\na more incremental development style.\n[http://gardenwithinsight.com/nsfprop.htm](http://gardenwithinsight.com/nsfprop.htm)\n\nAnyway, I can hope that using that Garden Simulator software as an initial\nreference point can help a next generation of soil scientists and free\nsoftware developers create even better software for research, education, and\napplications from bringing soil anywhere back to life. :-)\n\n~~~\nroel_v\nThank you, very interesting. I feel your pain wrt converting Fortran models;\nI've spend quite some time doing it for models similar to EPIC. In fact, about\n7-8 years ago in a fit of hubris, we submitted a proposal as part of which I\nwould integrate EPIC into some other models, as a part of which I would have\nto convert it to C++; IIRC I estimated about 6 months for it. TBH I do have\nlarge libraries of simulation framework, so it would mostly be understanding\nequations and converting them. Still, I'm happy we didn't win that proposal :)\n\n------\nbeautifulfreak\nPaul Stamets has studied the soil restorative effects of mycellium mushroom\nand published a number of videos. In this Ted Talk at the 10 minute mark,\nthere's a demonstration of just how rapidly a patch of ground can be\ntransformed compared to other commonly used methods, even land polluted with\ndiesel fuel, which the mycellium rapidly breaks down into harmless compounds.\nAll the videos are fascinating.\n[https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_c...](https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world/transcript#t-452343)\n\n------\nkwhitefoot\nThe problem is not going to be really solved until we get rid of the idea that\na corporation can own land. The big agribusinesses don't value the land as\nmuch as society needs them too so of course they don't look after it.\n\nLand is a common resource and no one business should have unfettered control\nof it.\n\n~~~\nbluGill\nThat is false. Big business cares about land more than the small farmers\n\nIt is the big farmers that care the most for the land. They are big enough\nthat they have collected the data and seen that investments in the land pay\noff. When you have one field it is really hard to test for yourself how\ndifferent practices pay off. The university will tell you \"go no till, after 7\nyears your yields will be bigger than if you till the land every year\", but\nsmall farmers generally think \"yeah right, it works for your soils over there,\nbut here we have different soils and so that won't work\". By contrast the\nlarge farmers have enough fields that they are willing to try every new\npractice in a couple places to see if it really works for them. The largest\nfarms are now able to scientifically show that they are building soil every\nyear.\n\nSecond, in Iowa corporations are banned form owning farms. There are\nexceptions for seed companies and equipment manufactures, but those are\nspecific loopholes with limits to what can be done. I work for John Deere (but\nof course do not speak for them), and we have to be very careful that the\nplaces where we test our prototypes does not count as farms. (generally the\ncrop is destroyed before harvest - I don't know how the harvester division\ndoes their testing though)\n\n~~~\nkwhitefoot\nI was not contrasting big and small farmers. I was contrasting big business\nbehaviour with what society needs.\n\n~~~\nbluGill\nTrue, but big business behavior is often closer aligned with what society\nneeds than small farmers.\n\n------\nsampl\nHere's a great book on the subject, \"New Roots for Agriculture\" by Wes Jackson\n(forward by Wendell Berry)\n\n[https://www.amazon.com/New-Roots-Agriculture-Farming-\nRanchin...](https://www.amazon.com/New-Roots-Agriculture-Farming-\nRanching/dp/0803275625)\n\n------\nmmagin\nAs has been hinted at by other commenters, I think the big thing that's wrong\nwith modern industrial agriculture (including some \"organic\" agriculture) is\nthat it typically does not add carbon to the soil (via composted plant matter,\nmanure, etc) and it also unnecessarily disturbs the soil structure, allowing\nthe organic carbon compounds in the soil to become excessively exposed to the\natmosphere where they'll break down or be eroded.\n\n(No, I don't have specific sources for this, it's mostly a combination of what\nI've read from the Permaculture folks and personal observation in my own\ngarden over the past 5 years.)\n\n------\nvram22\nAs a teenager, I had read this book called The Forest and The Sea, by Marston\nBates, which explains many of the fundamental principles of ecology that\nunderlie these issues.\n\n[https://www.google.co.in/search?q=book+the+forest+and+the+se...](https://www.google.co.in/search?q=book+the+forest+and+the+sea&)\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marston_Bates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marston_Bates)\n\nI thought it was a pretty good and informative book.\n\n------\nMisterBastahrd\nWe could probably simply compost the produce and meat that gets thrown away\nfrom grocery stores and fix that problem. A moderate sized grocery store in a\nsmall town is going to throw away a ton or two of compostable material a\nmonth. This all goes into a landfill. Most of these stores are very good about\nrecycling dry paper waste... but do nothing about the rest of their waste sans\ncooking oil.\n\n------\nOvertonwindow\nNot likely, unless we turn away from corn and abusive practices. Farming has\nbecome such a money-losing venture that the only way to survive is to increase\nyield, and try to squeeze more out of the same acre of land. This, imo, leads\nto abuse.\n\n~~~\ndevmunchies\nPeople consume too much meat and dairy, which requires lots of corn and soy\nfor feed. Thats one reason why corn and soy is so heavily subsidized.\n\n~~~\nkwhitefoot\nWhy does that make the production heavily subsidized? Surely the state doesn't\nneed to subsidize what is already very popular?\n\n~~~\nbluGill\nThe state has a different concern: making sure you have enough to eat. One\ncrop failure and people starve to death. We as a society have chosen to solve\nthis problem by subsidizing farming ensuring that there are more crops grown\nevery year than is strictly needed. As such farmers plant more crops than\npeople will eat. This ensures that in bad years there is still enough food.\n\nYou can argue that there is a better solution to the problem, but don't argue\nagainst subsidizes without a different solution.\n\n------\nmadshiva\nCan half of America be given back to native American?\n\n------\nmartin_a\nHas anybody already tried to put Brawndo on the fields? I think it got\nelectrolytes, that should help!\n\n------\nalexnewman\nNot until we figure out what's killing it\n\n~~~\nreefoctopus\n> the main change from one year to the next was intensively planting more and\n> more acres of corn and soy, churning up the soil and using ever more\n> chemical fertilizers and herbicides to try and turn a profit.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nFrom WikiChina - credo\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/01/opinion/01friedman.html\n\n======\nraghava\n>>America’s politicians are mostly lawyers; not engineers or scientists like\nours\n\nIs that so? /* Am really asking an honest question! */\n\n    \n    \n      A google_search(\"chinese politicians scientists\"); seems to be a story by it's own, BTW.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThis battery advance could make electric vehicles far cheaper - NicoJuicy\nhttps://www.technologyreview.com/s/610792/this-battery-advance-could-make-electric-vehicles-far-cheaper/\n======\ndemwitt\nAnode is negative??? Guess that explains hole flow....\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n“Critical mass” vs “network effects” - olivercameron\nhttp://daltoncaldwell.com/critical-mass-vs-network-effects\n======\ndm8\nI do agree that Twitter's asymmetric model works. And Google + also have same\nfeature. I don't have to be \"friend\" with someone to follow them.\n\nHaving signed up on Orkut in 2004, and used that social n/w quite regularly\nfor ~ 4 years. People forget the beauty of Orkut. In someways they were ahead\nof times -\n\n1\\. Privacy: Privacy settings were impeccable. In fact, it would notify you if\nsomeone visited your profile too. So no more \"stalking\". Believe it or not,\nOrkut never allowed search engines to index their pages.\n\n2\\. Communities: Facebook groups are quite popular now. But still, Orkut\ncommunities in 2005 were better. They were malleable. You could turn them into\nforums/boards for discussion. Group announcements. Group Polls etc. And most\nimportantly owners/mods had ability to make any content public/private with\nsimple switch.\n\n3\\. Testimonials: LinkedIn started with this \"recommendations\" feature. But\nOrkut had \"testimonials\" since its beginning. It was fun reading testimonials\nonce in a while.\n\n4\\. Design: Orkut's design during initial years was the best any social\nnetwork could have. Simple and clean!\n\n5\\. Search: I've used majority of the social networks. Orkut's search engine\nwas simply the best. It's search engine in 2005 could easily beat FB's search\neven today.\n\nWhat led to Orkut's downfall? I've heard form Googlers that there was no\nstrong internal support to Orkut. In 2008 they started copying FB and it\nbecame unusable since it had worst UX due to this. And last but not the least,\nFacebook's Feed. Feed was game-changer for FB and it's eventual growth.\n\nEdit: Grammar\n\n~~~\ndalton\nYou are correct about many of these points.\n\nThe other thing worth mentioning re:Google internal support is that Orkut had\nsome, um, early controversy:\n<http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2004/06/64046>\n\n------\nkingsley_20\nI resent the digs at Orkut. It was a great community - if you were Brazilian\nor Indian. That Google chose not to run with it says more about their lack of\nlong term social vision and parochialism than about the health of the\ncommunity itself.\n\n~~~\ndalton\nTo be clear, it's not a \"dig\" at international users.\n\nTo speak from personal experience, the site that I was founder/CEO of earlier\nin my career, imeem, was wildly popular in the Philippines and Thailand. At\npeak, we were a top 20 site in the Philippines, according to Alexa.\n\nWe spent a lot of time adding country-specific filters to music charts,\ncomments, etc once tagalog and thai started seeping into every page of the\nsite.\n\nWe loved our foreign users, but from an advertising business perspective, a\nuser in southeast asia is worth a small fraction of a US or UK user. The\nrelative low value of developing country users to brand advertisers is the\nprimary reason sites like Orkut, Friendster, Hi5, etc ended up in the place\nthey are.\n\nIt's not a question of nationalism, it really does boil down the what the\nadvertising market is willing to pay. This is one additional factor re:why ad-\nsupported social platforms end up with mis-aligned incentives w/users...\n\n~~~\nkingsley_20\nI would invest the same way (focus on users in developed economies) if it were\nmy startup - but Google isn't a startup. When you have two of the BRIC\neconomies sewn up in a social network, AND you have cash to stay for the long\ngame, I think you're doing your shareholders a disservice by not sticking it\nout.\n\n------\njfarmer\nA slightly better article on the same topic from a few years ago:\n[http://blog.bumblebeelabs.com/social-software-\nsundays-2-the-...](http://blog.bumblebeelabs.com/social-software-\nsundays-2-the-evaporative-cooling-effect/)\n\nIt's funny we couch it in such intellectual language. There's an everyday word\nfor this: Potemkin village.\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potemkin_village>\n\nOr, a thought experiment. What's more valuable? A social network with 10,000\npeople who are all at most two degrees of separation from everyone else in\nreal life? Or a social network filled with 10,000 people from around the\nworld, selected at random?\n\nCould you even call the second thing a \"social network?\"\n\n~~~\ngruseom\n\"Potemkin Village\" isn't about original communities leaving. A Potemkin\nVillage is a fake facade erected to hide the real thing and fool visitors.\n\n~~~\ncaseysoftware\n\"Potemkin Village\" is what the Reddit guys started with by making thousands of\naccounts and sharing, commenting, etc. In that case, the fiction became\nreality which I (assume) is incredibly rare.\n\n~~~\nwoah\nWait, can we get a link? This sounds pretty epic, I haven't heard about it\nbefore.\n\n~~~\njfarmer\nJust Google: \"reddit fake accounts\"\n\n------\nkbenson\nIn his bid to get more viewers of his blog, and thus more perspective signups\nfor join.app.net which he links to in every post, Mr. Caldwell has put out\nmore interesting articles on the social space than I've seen in a long, long\ntime.\n\nApp.net seems like an interesting experiment, and I support it in theory, but\ndon't really use much of social networks so haven't contributed yet. I think\nI'm going to give him $50 just to see if he can sustain the same level of\noutput on his blog, as my own little experiment.\n\n~~~\nbreckinloggins\nI agree. It just goes to show you that marketing and self-promotion only make\nyou look like a sleazy used-car salesman when you have nothing interesting to\nsay.\n\n------\nrusstrpkovski\nThe In the Plex book provides some insights into why Orkut failed:\n\n1\\. As Orkut increased in popularity, it was flooded with identity thieves and\nViagra ads.\n\n2\\. Google focused on rewriting Orkut's Windows-based infrastructure to scale\non Google's platform instead of improving the design and adding features\n\n3\\. Users bailed because of poor response time. Brazilians and Indians used to\nslow Internet access so they were tolerant of the delays.\n\n4\\. While finishing the rewrite of Orkut, Facebook was starting to take off.\n\n------\nJVIDEL\nI just want to say is funny how some people downplay Orkut for being full of\nBrasilians and Indians when those are 2 of the most growing consumer markets\nin the world.\n\nYou have companies all over the world fighting to get those markets, Apple\nwent as far as building a factory in Brasil to get a foothold there.\n\n------\nmrkrwtsn\nIt's really exciting to consider how Twitter fundamentally changes how we can\ncommunicate in large groups. Essentially, through the use of hash tags,\nTwitter has created a new conversation/comment stream that any one in the\nworld can be a part of. For example, while watching the Olympics, there are\nseveral hash tags that show up on screen and allow everyone from celebrities\nto random people talk about it. It creates a conversation that is not even\npossible using other mediums. They're not doing social networking better,\nthey've created a new way to communicate. This changes mass media from being a\none-way conversation to a place where anyone can participate in the\nconversation.\n\nApp.net simply can never do this as a result of it costing money. Since it\ncan't build a large user base of \"regular\" people, the data on App.net simply\nwon't be that interesting or very open. Sure it would be a cool service, and\nfor many people, particularly geeks, it might be nice. It could even be a\ngreat medium to communicate with specific people, but it will never be as\nuseful as Twitter in the sense that it will never be able to fill the same\nspace as Twitter.\n\nIf there really is a problem with Twitter's business model that's causing cash\nproblems all they need to do is charge for API access. Twitter's data feeds\nprovide immensely valuable data about a large variety of issues.\n\n~~~\nte_chris\nThey do charge for api access. You have to pay for the firehose.\n\n------\njoe_the_user\nI think what the author is talking about is the spamminess/internet-y-ness\nthat has crept into Facebook in the last few years.\n\nBut that is something that I think most Facebook users at least try to ignore.\nThe goodness and desirableness of Facebook happens despite this stuff rather\nthan because of this stuff. Facebook has been a place where a lot of people\nlike to come to chat with their friends (duh!). This kind of virtual tavern is\nsomething that a lot of people enjoy. But the problem is that Facebook has\nsucceed so well at being that kind of place, that the limitations of being\nthat kind of place are showing; suddenly realize you just own the nightclub,\nyou're not the most popular person in the nightclub. And making grandiose\nstatements on the nightclub loud speaker isn't going to make you more popular.\n\n\\- Being the place where people talk to their friends does mean you can sell\npeople anything (they don't come to buy but to chat).\n\n\\- There are plenty of things that it's in people's better interests not to\nshare and sooner or later they'll figure that out - when they do, they don't\nappreciate being previously mislead and get more closed about the entire\nmedium (it's interesting how the telephone produced a lot of same ).\n\n\\- And there are many reasons to step outside your circle of friends. And\ncompletely outside is both easier and safer than any conceivable \"multiple\ncircles\" system.\n\nFacebook's stuff lately has been butting-up against these limitation but not\novercoming them. I don't know these can be directly overcome with the \"I will\nmonetize my efforts\" approach and if they can't, it might be good.\n\n------\nnrmehta\nThought-provoking post. To me, one way to determine whether a system will have\nnetwork effects or anti-network effects is to ascertain how much of its usage\nis driven by fashion versus utility. Take email as an extreme example of the\nlatter. It's valuable because it's so universal - but it's not fashionable at\nall. It's a pure utility. So no anti-network effects (perhaps beyond spam but\nthose are less about #s of participants as behavior). I put Facebook in an\nintermediate category where it's transitioned reasonably well from fashion to\na utility, though the folks that looked at it as fashion are now getting more\nturned off by it. Indeed, the anti-network effect isn't simply about numbers -\nit's about who is coming into the network and a lost feeling of exclusivity\n(which honestly sometimes picks on very base human emotions) when the network\ngrows with certain types of people. I think twitter has moved further up the\nutility value chain than facebook has so I'd posit it's less vulnerable to\nanti-network effects (not to mention the asymmetric follow model that dalton\ntalks about).\n\n------\nSniffnoy\nI feel it is worth pointing out here that asymmetry is not original to\nTwitter. Consider e.g. LiveJournal.\n\n------\nepaik\nThis effect seems to happen commonly among news aggregating site communities.\n\nDigg used to be pretty cool when it was used largely by people excited about\nthe start-up/tech enthusiasts. As it became more popular, the user-base seemed\nto devolve as the content started to cater to the LCD.\n\nReddit has done a good job combating this, with their implementation of\nsubreddits that focus on specific core user demographics. But most of their\nlargest subreddits have a dubious quality of users.\n\nHacker News seems to have the best quality of discourse/users at the moment,\nbut I attribute this to its relatively small user-base.\n\n~~~\npooriaazimi\n> _Hacker News seems to have the best quality of discourse/users at the\n> moment, but I attribute this to its relatively small user-base._\n\n50 to 100 thousand daily users (\"users\", not visitors) is not small by any\nmeans!\n\n~~~\ndredmorbius\nAt Internet scale (~2 billion connected users) it's minuscule.\n\n0.005% of all available users.\n\nWithin the United States, it would fall well below the 100th most widely\ncirculated print magazine, as a _monthly_ circulation statistic. I'll assume\nthat monthly stats are a few times higher than the daily usage metric, but\nyou'd still have to hit roughly 1 million to break into the top 100.\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_magazines_by_circulati...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_magazines_by_circulation)\n\nFrom an advertising perspective, unless you're extremely focused in your\ninterest base (and there are markets of interest within the HN readership),\nit's tiny.\n\n------\npdog\nI think Mr. Caldwell makes a convincing argument that there needs to be a\ncompelling (not ad-supported) alternative to Twitter. My question is this: Why\ncan't this alternative have a \"free tier\" that allows the average user to\naccess and use the service without paying and have additional features\navailable to those who pay for them?\n\nIn determining a payment model for app.net, it seems he's never addressed why\nthere isn't a free tier...\n\n------\ndaemon13\nExcellent, very well thought out post.\n\nFirst time I saw the notion of diminishing effect of adding new users.\n\nWould be great if author elaborated on various \"how to\" to mitigate this.\n\n~~~\nsimondlr\nI think one of the best ways to do this, is to keep the social system smaller\nonce it reaches critical mass. It sounds counter-intuitive, but hear me out.\n\nNew users that join once critical mass has been reached, will be able to\ncreate their own graph and enjoy the social network in question equally to\nwhen a person joined it 4 years ago (given the site is still the same in terms\nof functionality). However, the person that joined 4 years will become bogged\nby an ever increasing graph of connections to pages, friends, groups, history\netc that eventually undermine what made the site relevant to them in the first\nplace (ie Dalton's experience with Orkut).\n\nSo, just as in the real life, social relationships come and ago, a natural\ndecay has to happen that allows a person's graph to remain relavent. Currently\nFacebook (and to a certain Google+) are doing it right. They filter. Heavily.\nIf you don't interact with the people from 4 years ago, you just don't see\nthem anymore on it.\n\n------\nsimondlr\nApp.net's approach won't solve the problems that Dalton here talks about. Does\nhe have plans that will solve this?\n\n------\nNHQ\nSocial networking services and APIs are not the utility. The Internet is the\nutility.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAn attorney suing Uber, Lyft, GrubHub and a dozen California tech firms - jackgavigan\nhttp://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-class-action-lawyer-20160124-story.html\n======\n100k\nThe most recent issue of Mother Jones also has an article about Liss-Riordan\nand her employment law lawsuits. According to the article, she got her start\nsuing restaurants that were skimming tips from employees -- which Uber is also\naccused of.\n\n[http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/12/uber-lawsuit-\ndri...](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/12/uber-lawsuit-drivers-\nclass-action-shannon-liss-riordan)\n\n~~~\nSilasX\nOy gevalt! That again? It's the modern version of counting angels on a pin.\n\nUber said, \"drivers get this percent from the fee, Uber gets this much\". Uber\nclaimed \"tip's included\". Modern philosophers claimed this makes a difference\nbecause the law prohibits taking a cut of tips.\n\nBut there is no difference! Any allocation of the fee can be rephrased as\nbeing \"with\" or \"without' a tip in such a way that the money flows are all the\nsame. There is no \"fact of the matter\" as to what part of the fee is a tip!\nAny phrasing can be correct!\n\nLet's say Uber took 25%. You can say that the fee breaks down as:\n\n1) 25% to Uber, 50% driver payment, 25% driver tip\n\n2) 25% to Uber, 75% driver payment, no tip\n\n3) 25% driver payment, 75% tip to driver, which Uber takes a 1/3 cut off\n(illegal).\n\nIf the law treats observationally equivalent situations differently because of\nhow they're labeled, that law is meaningless, and basically just taxing you on\nangel pinheads. (I call the property of passing this test \"nominal\ninvariance\".)\n\n(The exception of course is when a customer gives a cash tip on top of the fee\ndirectly to the driver. But Uber definitely doesn't take a cut of that!\n\n------\ngpsx\nAnd when it is all over I can see each driver getting a check for $2.37 and\nLiss-Riordon getting a check for $60,000,000.00. (OK, this maybe a slight\nexaggeration, but only a slight one.)\n\n~~~\nrayiner\nIn the Fed Ex settlement she won $223m for 2,600 class members. Even if she\ngets a 1/3 cut that's, $60,000 on average per class member for mis-\nclassification over a seven-year period.\n\n~~~\ntoomuchtodo\nI assume that doesn't include back taxes and fines due to the IRS.\n\n~~~\nrayiner\nYeah, that's just the fund for claims from employees.\n\n------\nbluefinity\nUber is the world's most highly valued private company? Somebody better tell\nSaudi Aramco.\n\n~~~\nmikeyouse\nOr Koch Industries..\n\n~~~\nzzazzdsa\nor Cargill, or Mars....\n\n------\nbenbowden\nIf she does win the case then wouldn't Uber and Lyft simply give less of a\npercentage of earnings per ride to their drivers to compensate for the change\nof cost? Would Uber and Lyft make more if they had their drivers on a similar\nmodel to a pizza delivery driver ($4.50/h + tips)?\n\n~~~\ntoomuchtodo\n> If she does win the case then wouldn't Uber and Lyft simply give less of a\n> percentage of earnings per ride to their drivers to compensate for the\n> change of cost?\n\nUber and Lyft would need to pay hourly wages, along with all of the associated\ntaxes due.\n\n> Would Uber and Lyft make more if they had their drivers on a similar model\n> to a pizza delivery driver ($4.50/h + tips)?\n\nUber and Lyft's entire business model is built on the independent contractor\nmodel. I don't believe they could reach profitability in any scenario with\nhuman drivers if they have to pay them as stipulated by IRS regulations.\n\n~~~\nSilasX\n>Uber and Lyft would need to pay hourly wages, along with all of the\nassociated taxes due.\n\nNot true. You can be an employee with a non-hourly pay structure. Just one of\nmany misconceptions batted around about the implications of driver\nreclassification, along with (these aren't all false per se, just not-\nnecessarily-true):\n\n\\- Drivers would have to get the Uber-paid lavish health care plan that\ndevelopers there get.\n\n\\- Driver cash payments would remain the same and not be reduced.\n\n\\- Drivers would get fixed work schedules.\n\n\\- Drivers would value the compensation package that includes employee\nbenefits but has lower cash pay, over the compensation they get now.\n\n\\- Uber would have to provide the vehicles.\n\n\\- The economic incidence of FICA taxes would shift to Uber (not how economic\nincidence works[1]).\n\nAgain, the employee/contractor distinction depends on a number of factors; you\ncan be classified as an employee without meeting all of criteria.\n\n[1] Good explanation:\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/badeconomics/comments/422av5/some_g...](https://www.reddit.com/r/badeconomics/comments/422av5/some_good_old_fashioned_101level_errors_on/cz73e8g)\n\n~~~\ntoomuchtodo\nI agree those are all things _that should happen_. But can Uber be profitable\nin that configuration? I would argue not, but maybe they pull it off.\n\n~~~\nSilasX\nMy point was that the reclassification as employees does not imply that any of\nthose would be true (very unlikely for a few, false as a matter of law in at\nleast one).\n\nYou can't just assume that the change would achieve this state where workers\nget strictly more benefits and Uber's profits are sucked out. You need to take\ninto account how much they can cut driver cash payments in that circumstance\n(i.e. paying them via benefits), where the economic incidence of car costs and\nFICA taxes currently lies, what the law says about piecework, etc.\n\n------\nKarunamon\nOne thing I never see addressed in these Uber stories is how, precisely, the\ndrivers got classified as employees.\n\nThe only test I'm aware of refers to things like set hours, dictated methods\nof working, company equipment, payment, and so on[1].\n\nJust by that those tests alone, I don't see how an Uber driver is\nrealistically anything other than a contractor.\n\nSo either a judge screwed up somewhere, or I'm really missing something. Would\nanyone have some more information on the particulars?\n\n[1]: [https://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-\nEmplo...](https://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-\nEmployed/Independent-Contractor-Self-Employed-or-Employee)\n\n------\neugenekolo2\nReminds me of Microsoft's contractor lawsuit.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permatemp#Vizcaino_v._Microsof...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permatemp#Vizcaino_v._Microsoft)\n\n[http://www.reuters.com/article/businesspropicks-us-\nfindlaw-d...](http://www.reuters.com/article/businesspropicks-us-findlaw-dont-\ntreat-c-idUSTRE53063S20090401)\n\n------\nsecondtimeuse\nDiscounting the tripe \"You go girl\" tone of the article, there is no divine\nlaw asserting that there ought to be only two forms of (W2/1099) employees.\nThe labor laws should change in tune with evolution in technology. However\ngiven the current dysfunctional congress, and from experience with other\nPatent/Immigration laws this won't happen any time soon. Had it been about\nPatent/IP litigation and any other lawyer the tone of the article would be\ndifferent.\n\nThis is parasitic legal rent seeking at its worst, let's call a spade a spade.\n\nHere is an WSJ article that calls for change in labor laws.[1]\n\n[1] [http://www.wsj.com/articles/what-if-there-were-a-new-type-\nof...](http://www.wsj.com/articles/what-if-there-were-a-new-type-of-worker-\ndependent-contractor-1422405831)\n\n~~~\nzzalpha\n_This is parasitic legal rent seeking at its worst, let 's call a spade a\nspade._\n\nOr, its someone fighting organizations profiting illegally by flouting labour\nlaws that have protected workers from corporate exploitation for decades.\n\nBut potato, potahto, right?\n\n~~~\nsecondtimeuse\n\"Fighting organizations\" is a rhetorical device used by lawyers to fool\ngeneral public and people like you.\n\nThe reality today is that there is a large lobby of litigators actively trying\nto keep any change in labour/Patent laws from happening. [1]\n\nI own no shares of Uber Inc. and any other companies involved in these\nlitigations. But the reality is that by framing this incorrectly as David (The\nattorney) vs Goliath (Uber et. al.) fight the article is just pushing your\nemotional buttons. At end of the day litigation is not going to magically\ncreate jobs out of thin air. Uber will eventually shift to autonomous cars or\nwill go bankrupt or might end having chinese drive the cars via video\nconference. It's easy to blame Uber for the mess that is the employer provided\ninsurance.\n\nIts not the Uber which created that problem, its the legislative gridlock\nwhich is at fault. But its cooler these days to hate Uber for all that ills\nthe hapless middle class in USA.\n\n[1] [http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/09/16/how-the-\ntech-...](http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/09/16/how-the-tech-lobby-\ngot-beat)\n\n~~~\ngeofft\nThe way that inappropriate laws get fixed in the US is that new laws get\npassed, not that people violate the laws that seem irrelevant to them. I have\nno objection to Uber lobbying for laws to introduce a new class of employees\n(and I have absolutely no objection to Uber or anyone else making life hard\nfor the taxi lobby). I do have a strong objection to Uber deciding to treat\nemployees in a way prohibited by law because they, on their own, think it\nmakes more sense.\n\n\"Legislative gridlock\" is a weak excuse. Plenty of legislation gets through,\nfrom PPACA (which had, and continues to have, widespread objection) to USA\nFREEDOM (even if you claim PATRIOT's expiration was the result of \"deadlock\",\nthe replacement came a day later) to JOBS (specifically legalizing things that\nstartups wanted to do!) to allowing people to unlock their cell phones (not\nreally a Big Foo priority). If the people really want Uber and Airbnb -- which\nthey seem to -- why can't they just get a law passed? And why can't all these\ninnovative, well-funded startups figure out how to disrupt and fix something\nas obviously dysfunctional as our political system?\n\nMy worry is not so much with these particular ways they're breaking the law;\nit seems like this is probably reasonable (though I'd still like someone other\nthan Uber to consider it). My worry is with the loss of the rule of law, and\nthe precedent that we're not going to care about whether the law is followed.\nIt's certainly true that Uber et al. aren't the first companies to break laws,\nbut this seems like a qualitative change in what laws are being broken and\nwhat the impact on society is, and a democratic society should be able to have\nan opinion on it.\n\n~~~\nhollerith\n>The way that inappropriate laws get fixed in the US is that new laws get\npassed,\n\nFixed a lot of inappropriate laws, have you?\n\n~~~\n1stop\n... It was a statement of fact.\n\nI know how a plane flies without being a pilot.\n\nObvious troll is obvious.\n\n------\nla6470\nMillenials are unknowingly signing up for slavery and throwing away all the\nhard earned labour rights in the name of being more agile.\n\n~~~\naggieben\n...or simply trading those \"rights\" for the freedom to be responsible for\ntheir own lives. One gives up a lot of freedom to be an employee. That\ntradeoff might be worth it for some people, and not as much for others.\n\n~~~\nskrause\n> _One gives up a lot of freedom to be an employee._\n\nAs an employee I can walk away from my job any time I want and just get\nanother. If I had my own business that would be _way_ harder.\n\nBecause of that I feel actually more free and independent as an employee. You\njust need to make sure to have a good financial buffer so that\nlosing/switching a job won't hurt very much. Then your employer also can't\npressure you too much.\n\n~~~\naggieben\nI feel exactly the opposite: I'm independent now, and I can walk away from my\ncurrent gig without all that much disruption in my life because I don't depend\non an employer for benefits or what have you. While I'm not walking away, I've\ngot more flexibility than I might with an employer (depending on the\nemployer).\n\nYou're 100% right about having a buffer, though. That's a pretty immovable\nprerequisite no matter what your professional situation is.\n\n------\nsteven2012\nI don't think they will win. Every single uber driver I talk to loves it. They\nlove that they can work whenever they want, that they can choose to work for\nLyft or uber, etc. I don't know how you can say they are anything like an\nemployee. There is no negative consequences for not working except less money.\n\n~~~\ntoomuchtodo\n> I don't think they will win. Every single uber driver I talk to loves it.\n\nThat's not quite how the law works. Whether you enjoy being subjugated or not\ndoesn't effect if the law can be enforced against the entity violating the\nlaw.\n\n~~~\nsteven2012\nHow are drivers being subjugated and what law is being violated. What evidence\nis there that they are actually employees besides the fact that lawyers and\nunion activists want them to be?\n\n~~~\ntoomuchtodo\n> How are drivers being subjugated and what law is being violated.\n\nDrivers are being paid as independent contractors. Under the current Uber\nmodel, they are not independent contractors as defined by labor law (nor the\nIRS). Ergo, Uber is in violation of both labor law and tax regulations; if\nthey are found to have violated IRS employee classification rules, they'll be\nliable for back taxes, penalties, and officers of the company can be held\npersonally liable.\n\n> What evidence is there that they are actually employees besides the fact\n> that lawyers and union activists want them to be?\n\nYou must be blinded by some sort of belief that Uber is the victim here; my\napologies. Employee vs independent contractor classifications can sometimes be\ndifficult, but the gist of it is:\n\nIf you tell someone how to do the work, and you set the price, they're an\nemployee; if you give someone the work, they set their prices, and they have\ncontrol over how the work is performed, they're a contractor.\n\nGuess which model Uber uses?\n\n~~~\nsteven2012\nYou are wrong. They are independent contractors. They are not employees as\ndefined by current labor laws.\n\nI think it is you that are blinded by your beliefs. They are not told how to\ndo the work. Each driver chooses when they want to work and how long they\nwork. They are free to work with whomever else they want, including other ride\nsharing companies at the same time.\n\nUber is a marketplace that brings drivers and riders together. It's not an\nemployer because drivers have complete freedom.\n\n~~~\ntimwaagh\nalthough i think most people would agree with this the local laws apparently\nsay everyone who does something central to the core business of a company and\ngets paid for it by the company is an employee. it's in the article.\n\n~~~\npfarnsworth\nExcept for taxi drivers.\n\n------\ngnodar\nIt would have been nice if this article addressed the negative consequences of\nthese companies skirting labor laws. The only mention of this is here:\n\n _\" she alleges that these firms exert the kind of control that employers\nwould have over employees — without providing any of the benefits employees,\nby law, are entitled to.\"_\n\nBut it doesn't explain what specific benefits are being withheld from\nemployees, so I don't know what bad thing she is trying to prevent, or the\nmagnitude of the problem, if there really is one.\n\n~~~\n100k\nW2 employees have all kinds of protections that 1099 contractors don't. Paid\nsick time, FMLA leave, retirement plan contributions...A big difference is\nthat 1099 contractors must pay their own self-employment taxes (15%) to cover\nSocial Security and Medicare whereas W2 employees have half of that paid for\nby their company. (Economists would say that comes out of wages, but it still\nmeans $15/hour W2 is not directly comparable to $15/hour 1099.)\n\n~~~\nProAm\n>still means $15/hour W2 is not directly comparable to $15/hour 1099\n\nof course not that is why contractors get paid more than salary employees. If\ncontractors dont ask for more money per hour then its their own fault.\n\n~~~\ntoomuchtodo\nCan you show me how \"independent contractor\" Uber employees can ask more per\nhour?\n\n~~~\nzzalpha\nWhich is, incidentally, one of the points this case will hinge on. Being able\nto set your own rates is one of the key differentiators between contract and\nemployee labour, and Uber drivers clearly do not have that ability.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBump stocks are turned in or destroyed as ban takes effect - oblib\nhttps://apnews.com/ea1b1c1b13194118b83a1f0d4aa08a2a\n======\noblib\n\"Anyone in possession of a bump stock from now on can be charged with a\nfederal offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison.\"\n\nI may be wrong, but I don't think this is widely known right now. I live in an\narea where there are a lot of gun owners and \"AR\" type rifles are one of the\nmost popular among those who love to shoot guns. I'm sure quite a few own bump\nstocks, but not at all sure they know they need to get rid of them.\n\n------\nsarcasmatwork\nI'm keeping my rubber bands tho.... Are they going to ban rubber bands now?\nDumbass law that does nothing!\n\n[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5XzQ1BS7gU&t=0m25s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5XzQ1BS7gU&t=0m25s)\n[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ0jTMLK9jI&t=0m18s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ0jTMLK9jI&t=0m18s)\n\n~~~\noblib\nAs I said, I live in an area where guns are very much a part of the culture.\nHunting is big here, and so is shooting for fun.\n\n76% of my neighbors voted for Trump, and they're very open and vocal about\nthat and their 2nd Amendment rights.\n\nI don't personally own a gun and very rarely shoot them. I don't hunt either,\nbut I don't have any fears of or animosities for those who do.\n\nBut they've been completely silent on this on FB. And looking back, with all\nthe noise from Kavanaugh to the Mueller report this issue has been buried by\nthe media, and that 10 year potential prison sentence has too, and that really\nbothers me.\n\nI don't know what to make of that. I don't know if they're uninformed or not\nwilling to criticize Trump or why they're so silent. They've been very open\nabout their right to own firearms in the past and the right to own a bump\nstock.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nStatically Checking Web API Requests in Atom - allthingsapi\nhttp://www.apiful.io/intro/2016/11/30/ide-specification-checking.html\n======\nkrsyoung\nAll the more motivation for API Providers to publish their specifications so\nthat IDE integrations like this are effective!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFree O'Reilly Books - Cieplak\nhttp://oreilly.com/openbook/\n======\nolefoo\nManaging Projects with Make 3rd edition\n<http://oreilly.com/openbook/make3/book/index.csp>\n\nThis is the definitive reference to the software that lifts you from writing\nsoftware to building software systems.\n\nSee also <http://bost.ocks.org/mike/make/> for why it's still a useful book,\n27 years after the first edition. Compare that to most of the technical books\nyou own; most of which were hopelessly obsolete by the ripe age of 27 months.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nActually I find it quite sad.\n\nIt means many developers are doing software in 2013 as if their main system\nwas a System V one, stuck in 1977.\n\n~~~\nolefoo\nNot quite, a linux system of ~2010 has several advances over a Unix system/V\nfrom the late 1970's it's a late 1960s muscle car compared to the Model A of\nPDP-11. Same basic technology under the hood, but refined and much better\nunderstood.\n\nMost of the \"advanced\" programming environments look very nice but fail to\nmeet the needs of real world usage; where you have to talk to other systems\nand get dirty doing it.\n\n------\nhkmurakami\n_> Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software_\n<http://oreilly.com/openbook/freedom/index.html>\n\nI'm familiar with the general gist of the FSF's philosophies but I had never\nreally sat down and read an in-depth write up of the importance of Free\nSoftware, so I'm looking forward to reading this :)\n\n~~~\nAndreasFrom\nI found it good and think you can look forward to reading it.\n\n~~~\nhkmurakami\nThanks! Just finished reading the first chapter and I found it to be\nsurprisingly well written.\n\n------\nbstpierre\n> Through its Open Library project, the Internet Archive is scanning and\n> hosting PDF versions of our open books.\n\n _scanning_?? I would have thought that O'Reilly could give text/source to the\nInternet Archive that could be massaged into a better quality output product.\n(And allow formats other than just PDF -- text/epub/mobi/etc.)\n\n~~~\nbluedino\nI wouldn't be surprised if the originals are lost.\n\n------\nbravura\nThere is also _Learning JavaScript Design Patterns_.\n\nIt's an O'Reilly book, and it's under creative commons, but it's not on that\nlist.\n\nYou can find it here:\n\n[http://addyosmani.com/resources/essentialjsdesignpatterns/bo...](http://addyosmani.com/resources/essentialjsdesignpatterns/book/)\n\n------\nhayksaakian\nDoes HN have any good picks from this list?\n\nI see a lot of out of print books and books not about programming/software\ndevelopment, so if there are any that someone could recommend from this\nmassive list I'd appreciate that.\n\n~~~\nkoralatov\nA lot of the stuff in it is out of date, but `Unix Text Processing' is a great\nread, if only to get a feel for the concepts and ideas.\n\n~~~\nD9u\nThat title caught my eye also. Not much difference between Unix text\nprocessing then, and now.\n\n------\nzimpenfish\nGrief, I had dead tree versions of the XView books back in 1993. Back when\ndealing with X was Proper Work. None of this GNOME bullshit.\n\n~~~\nadrianhoward\nYeah - doing X work was \"my job\" for a few years in the early nineties. The\nvarious O'Reilly XLib/Xt books were a godsend. Still have 'em somewhere in the\ngarage.\n\n~~~\nprakashk\nI also have a few of those sitting in boxes in my garage. Every time I do some\ncleaning-up, I debate (just for a second!) whether I should dispose of them,\nbut end up keeping them.\n\n------\nbrudgers\nI bought _The Whole Internet User's Guide & Catalog_ in early 1994. I had an\naccount at NERDC, a 9600 baud Intel modem, and connection time was\n$0.01/minute. One month my bill was over $20.00.\n\nThat's a lot of Gopher and Usenet.\n\n------\nxradionut\nI'm surprised that there isn't any Fortran guides or manuals on how to\nmaintain VT100 terminals on the list.\n\n~~~\nwglb\nJust checked, they don't have no TECO manuals.\n\n------\nprostoalex\nOpen Feedback Publishing System from O'Reilly is another source\n<http://ofps.oreilly.com/>\n\n------\nSkittlesNTwix\nMany of these books are out-of-print for a reason - they're not really\nrelevant in todays tech landscape. There's a few gems in here though.\n\n~~~\ndogweather\nAnd those are...?\n\n~~~\njlarocco\nMy choices for the \"good\" ones are:\n\nThe PNG book: <http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/book/toc.html>\n\nThe GNU Make book: <http://oreilly.com/openbook/make3/book/index.csp>\n\nThe Subversion book: <http://svnbook.red-bean.com/>\n\nThe Cathedral and the Bazaar: <http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-\nbazaar/>\n\nAnd I haven't read it, but I would guess \"Making TeX Work\" is still relevant:\n<http://makingtexwork.sourceforge.net/mtw/>\n\n------\nAloha\nI've found Unix Text Processing (<http://oreilly.com/openbook/utp/>) to be\nvery very helpful when trying to some data processing I would normally do in\nexcel.\n\n------\nDigitalJack\nIt says that Archive.org is producing pdfs of these books, but I'm not having\nany luck finding the Managing Projects with Make as a pdf. Anyone else see it?\n\nEDIT: I misunderstood, it's at archive.org's openlibrary project:\n[http://openlibrary.org/works/OL3823216W/Managing_projects_wi...](http://openlibrary.org/works/OL3823216W/Managing_projects_with_Make)\n\n------\nprogrock\nI was excited to find one book as html broken into chapters, but the others\nare in various formats - there isn't much consistancy - which makes it\ndifficult to read them, or write my own glue code - to get them onto my\ne-reader.\n\n------\ndfc\nThe list of out of print books is twice as long as those still in print.\n\n------\njjacobson\nOh man, a book on Mason! That takes me back to some good old Perl days.\n\n------\njasongaya\nGood\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nPyresto - A general REST based ORM for Python - berkerpeksag\nhttp://pyresto.readthedocs.org/en/latest/index.html\n\n======\nalpb\nThis would be great library -- only if they begin to support a wide range of\ncommonly used APIs. Idea is good, so should be the execution.\n\n------\ngokmen\nNice. i think to use it my django projects.\n\n------\nembrangler\nSeems useful!\n\n------\nfka\nAwesome!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFor Bono and U2, Apple iTunes Partnership Finally Hits a Wrong Note - NaOH\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/10/business/media/for-bono-and-u2-apple-itunes-partnership-finally-hits-a-wrong-note.html\n======\ngph\nThis is perhaps a bit off-topic but,\n\n>after all, the company is fresh off a hack that allowed strangers to steal,\nview and share nude photos of famous actresses from iCloud accounts\n\nWhy do people still parrot this line? Unless I missed some later revelation,\nthis was barely even Apple's fault. They may have had some subpar security\npractices, but it's not like their system was utterly compromised like this\nmakes it sound.\n\nI'm not an Apple fan, but they don't deserve the ignorantly parroted line that\nthey let celebrities phones get compromised. And I would especially expect\nmore from the New York Times. That statement is almost libel.\n\n~~~\nakamaka\nIf the claims that they ignored warnings are correct, I would indeed lay most\nof the blame on Apple:\n\n[http://iphone.appleinsider.com/articles/14/09/25/researcher-...](http://iphone.appleinsider.com/articles/14/09/25/researcher-\naccuses-apple-of-ignoring-icloud-brute-force-attack-for-6-months)\n\nIt may be the case that celebrities chose poor passwords, but how can you\nblame them? Did Apple enforce strong passwords? Did it allow an excessive\npassword retry rate? Did it fail to follow up on warnings from security\nresearchers?\n\nUnless the answer to each of those questions is \"no\", it is entirely fair to\nblame them.\n\n~~~\ngph\nI suppose what mostly bugs me is using the word hack. Calling something that\nappears to be targeted social engineering a hack seems wrong to me. I guess\nthe definition of hacking has been rather fluid in recent years. Course that\nword has been redefined and misused for a very long time so I guess I\nshouldn't be surprised.\n\n~~~\ntranspy\nIf you can fire up the Task Manager in windows, you are considered a hacker in\nmy circle of friends.\n\n------\nadventured\n\"It took nearly 30 years for “The Joshua Tree,” the 1987 album that was U2’s\nbreakout ticket to megastardom, to reach 30 million people.\"\n\nThat's a bit disingenuous. More people than that would have heard all the\nmajor songs off of Joshua Tree on the radio and on MTV in one single market -\nthe US - in just the first few years. U2 was everywhere from 1988 - 1995. It's\nvery likely that college radio stations alone ended up playing the entire\nJoshua Tree album for 30 million people in the US over the first decade of its\nrelease.\n\n~~~\nPsychoPenguin\nYeah, you can't compare actual album sales with free listens.\n\n------\nEarthLaunch\nI liked his answer. Transcript:\n\nQ: Can you please never release an album on iTunes that automatically\ndownloads to people's playlists ever again? It's really rude.\n\nA: Uh, oops! Um, I'm sorry about that. I had this beautiful idea. Got carried\naway with ourselves. Artists are prone to that kind of thing. Drop of\nmegalomania. Touch of generosity. Dash of self-promotion. And, deep fear that\nthese songs that we poured our life into for the last couple of years mightn't\nbe heard. There's a lot of noise out there. I guess we got a little noisy\nourselves to get through it.\n\n~~~\njoering2\nBono is a hard-core businessman, not an artist.\n\nThis is a guy who raised to fame on giving fundraising concerts to help poor\nchildren in Africa, and himself donated ZERO dollars out of 1.7 billion he\nmade on Facebook stock.\n\nGod only knows what deals has been made behind scenes U2 vs Apple.\n\nEdit: I stand corrected: first and foremost, he's a hard-core businessman,\nTHEN an artist.\n\n~~~\npbreit\nSorry, still clearly an artist first. Perhaps even philanthropist would be\nhigher than \"hardcore businessman\".\n\nAnd Bono made way less than $1.7b on Facebook. Probably well less than $100m.\nPossibly less than $10m.\n\nSimple downvote.\n\n~~~\naaronbrethorst\nSome math: [http://fortune.com/2012/05/18/no-facebook-did-not-make-\nbono-...](http://fortune.com/2012/05/18/no-facebook-did-not-make-bono-worlds-\nrichest-musician/)\n\n    \n    \n        So, again, at best Bono gets $43 million.\n        Or, in other words, just more than Britney\n        Spears will make for two years of judging\n        The X Factor. Let alone Paul McCartney’s\n        reported $1.04 billion net worth. Clearly\n        Facebook has been good to Bono, but not\n        nearly as good as is being portrayed…\n\n------\nlogicalman\nIt would have been amazing if they released the album for free but people had\nto download it. By making it mandatory, they showed they were very tone deaf\nand ruined the promotion.\n\n------\nMCRed\nNobody seems to talk about how much Apple paid U2 for the right to give the\nalbum away for free. I suspect that U2 may have made more money from this\nalbum than they did from the last-- and that's just in the free period. (after\nsome amount of time it goes back up to normal price.) I bet even after it goes\nup to normal price it will do better due to the publicity of being free.\n\nI don't think Apple got the album for free. :-)\n\nAll in all, I think it was a great deal. I didn't get the album pushed on me--\nI went and chose to download it from iTunes-- and I think the \"album as\npromotion for larger brand\" method is kinda win-win. It's not relevancy U2 is\nchasing but awareness, and that's the trade they made with Apple. That plus\nbags of cash.\n\n~~~\nuserbinator\n> I don't think Apple got the album for free. :-)\n\nIn other words, it wasn't exactly pro-Bono. :-)\n\n _I didn 't get the album pushed on me-- I went and chose to download it from\niTunes_\n\nMany people did get the album automatically downloaded, which is really what\nangered them, and not the fact that U2 is giving one away for free.\n\n------\nNaOH\nIf a moderator thinks it's worthwhile, the article headline has changed to\nChasing Relevancy at Any Cost, Even Free.\n\n~~~\njack-r-abbit\nThis is probably due to the bookmarklet[1] that just reads the document.title\nfrom the page you are posting. It fills in the title automatically in the\nposting page. It is quite convenient... but often ends up not producing the\nactual title that is placed on the page. I believe this is the cause for a lot\nof HN posts not using the article title but the html title instead. And then\npeople complain about the wrong title. And then mods make a call.\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/bookmarklet.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/bookmarklet.html)\n\n------\npbreit\nI wonder if this would have blown over more if iTunes had some sort of \"hide\nalbum\" feature from the get go? To achieve their distribution objective, I\nthink it had to be automatically added to libraries vs being a free\n\"download\". Comparing to Taylor Swift's removing all her stuff from Spotify,\nthis all seems rather minor.\n\n------\nIgorPartola\nI really don't get why people are this upset over this little stunt. I\nremember when I bought my first iPod it came with a U2 song. Winamp came with\nthe \"llama's ass\" thing. Other players had their own promo songs. Now Apple\nhas taken it to the next level and pushed a song to you rather than sold it\nwith the device. It's a little weird, a little selfish, maybe even a little\ndesperate, but I wouldn't characterize it as anything but at most mildly\nannoying. Who cares? Unless you ran out of room on your device and couldn't\ntake that one in a million picture because of it, what does it matter? I am\nnot defending it, just trying to figure out why anyone would give it more than\n30 seconds of their time, to complain, etc.\n\n~~~\ngwillen\nBecause if you don't want them to take a mile, you'd better watch out when\nthey start taking an inch.\n\n~~~\nIgorPartola\nWhat? Sorry, still don't get it. Are you saying that using a branded Apple\nphone which you know they can completely control remotely is all good as long\nas they don't push music you don't want to it? If so, this is probably the\nlast inch in the mile they are taking. There are lots of issues with how\nmobile phones operate and even specifically how Apple does them, but if we are\ndoing the whole fight for our freedom thing, this is probably not the best\nplace to start.\n\n~~~\nrakoo\n> which you know they can completely control remotely\n\nThat's the problem though -- people don't know it's remotely controlled, so\nthey didn't expect this. When you think of it, there is very little to remove\nthe notion that a Music app is not just a glorified mp3 player because the\nwhole system is different.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nYahoo! Pipes and the web as a database - Readmore\nhttp://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/yahoo_pipes_web_database.php\n======\nReadmore\nThis is a really interesting idea, it would be cool to have an API for pipes\nbut I supposed you could really do the same thing locally by just scraping the\ndata sources. I'm pretty excited to play around with this.\n\n------\neli\nI bet Google really wishes they thought of pipes (to go with Google Base).\n\n(Note: Google Base is one of the potential data sources in Pipes)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhy I think Tesla is building throwaway cars - Shivetya\nhttp://syonyk.blogspot.com/2016/03/is-tesla-building-throwaway-cars.html\n======\nryandrake\nOne of the things that makes a car valuable is having a healthy aftermarket.\nIt looks like, from this article anyway, Tesla is doing anything they can to\nmake sure there is no aftermarket for their vehicles.\n\nTo me, a car that you can't service yourself is worthless. A car that needs\nthe manufacturer's permission to activate is not your car--it's owned by the\nmanufacturer. And, when the manufacturer places a threatening call to the\n\"owner\" after he tries to get diagnostic information from his own car [1],\nwell that's so far beyond crossing the line it's not even funny.\n\nI think we're going to start seeing \"jailbroken\" Teslas soon after they start\nfalling out of their warranty period. I'm surprised it hasn't happened\nalready. You'd think that out of the thousands of people who have already\nbought one of these cars, there might be one out there with both the skills\nand desire to actually own what they paid for.\n\n1: [http://gas2.org/2014/04/14/road-slightly-traveled-hacking-\nte...](http://gas2.org/2014/04/14/road-slightly-traveled-hacking-tesla-\nmodel-s/)\n\n~~~\nuserbinator\n_You 'd think that out of the thousands of people who have already bought one\nof these cars, there might be one out there with both the skills and desire to\nactually own what they paid for_\n\nOn the other hand, it could just be that those who want to really own their\ncars would not consider buying a Tesla anyway, and those who have the skills\nare too scared of the legal aspects. I think at the moment, electric cars are\nstill somewhat niche and don't really appeal to the demographic who would be\nmodding their cars. The aftermarket community for existing cars basically\ndoesn't care about emissions --- one of the biggest attractions of an\nelectric. As a bit of a car-geek myself, I'll admit that electrics are rather\n\"boring\" and for the same reason I'm not so interested in the newer super-\ncomputerised vehicles either; it's the noisy, smelly, smoky, aggressive,\nobnoxious-mechanical-monster nature of petrol/diesel engines that's the really\n\"fun\" part. Batteries, electronics, and motors just don't evoke quite the same\nfeeling.\n\n~~~\nAmezarak\nAt least for me, it's not about souping the car up, it's about doing repairs\nand maintenance myself because a) it's cheaper and b) it's more convenient.\n\nIf I knew I was going to have to drive a car to the dealership anytime\nsomething went wrong, I would not buy that car. It's a big hassle (especially\nif the dealership is any distance away) and almost always outrageously\nexpensive for anything outside of warranty. And if it's something that I can't\ndo myself, I'd rather take it to a cheaper local mechanic I know and trust.\n\nAccording to the article, Teslas only have service manuals available in\nMassachusetts (and there only on an extremely expensive subscription basis),\nno independent shops, and doesn't have a working OBD-II port. That sounds like\na nightmare to me.\n\nGranted, it's way out of my price range anyway. ;)\n\n~~~\nmcv\nSame here. We recently bought a second hand Prius at an official dealer\n(because new is unreasonably expensive, we do care about emissions, and I\nthink we got some warranty from the official dealer). Half a year later, the\nbrakes need to be replaced. Turns out not to fall under the warranty, whereas\nwe think it's unreasonable to sell a car with brakes that need to be replaced\nthat soon. Repair at the official dealer is pretty expensive.\n\nSo my wife takes it to our old, trusty local mechanic, and their repairs are a\nlot cheaper. I forgot if they could also advise us on whether this was\nreasonable in the first place.\n\nI think my mother also often ended up at an independent mechanic after getting\ndisappointed by official dealers. (My dad always drove leased company cars so\ndidn't have to worry about this stuff. I know nothing about cars (but I'm glad\nmy wife does).)\n\n~~~\nufukbay\nI bought a used car around 2 years ago and went to the dealer because of a\nproblem and was shocked when he informed me about (obviously after selling the\ncar) what everything doesn't fall under the warranty. It's probably easier to\nsay what falls under which is the motor and transmission. Otherwise they bring\nthe argument with wear parts which I can understand for the brakes.\n\nIt's unlucky that they sold you a car where the brakes were soon to be\nreplaced but they are really wear parts. However I was suprised to hear that\nalso most of the electrical stuff doesn't fall under warranty. I'm from\nGermany so it might be different in other countries.\n\n------\nbrandmeyer\n> A lot of Tesla fans claim that electric vehicles are inherently superior,\n> because with fewer moving parts, they'll be able to stay on the road\n> basically forever - no piston rings to wear, no transmissions to fail, no\n> oil to change.\n\nThere are at least two major components that \"wear out\" in power electronics -\ncapacitors and power transistors. Traditional vacuum-impregnated motor winding\ninsulation also has a wear-out mechanism.\n\nElectrolytic capacitors have both an electrolyte breakdown and dryout at\nextended temperatures and voltage. Film capacitors also have a (much slower)\ndielectric breakdown. Power transistors have two wear-out mechanisms: one that\nis based on thermal cycling of the wire bonds and one that is based on thermal\ncycling of the solder between the transistor and direct-copper-bonded\nsubstrate.\n\nDatacenter-scale UPS addresses both of these with field-replaceable modules.\nThe main AC and DC capacitor banks are replaceable in advance of failure, and\npower transistors are field replaceable in much larger power modules,\ntypically only after a failure.\n\nVacuum-impregnated motor winding insulation is typically not completely void-\nfree. The high dV/dt that a direct-connected inverter imposes on the windings\ncauses large repetitive voltage spikes across the winding insulation. The\nvoltage spikes trigger partial discharge in the voids, which in turn erodes\nthe insulation.\n\nIMO, long-lived electric cars should at least have capacitor banks that are\nschedule-replaced, and drive modules that are replaceable after failure. With\nthe level of diagnostics and history monitoring available today, we should be\nable to replace both components in advance of failure as well.\n\nDo electric cars have lower maintenance, longer life, and higher reliability\nthan ICE cars? Definitely, probably, and probably, respectively. But \"lower\",\n\"longer\", and \"higher\" don't mean \"zero\", \"forever\", and \"infinite\".\n\n~~~\ngeorgefrick\nI found your addition very interesting. But I think the \"Tesla fans\" referred\nto, are referring to something different.\n\nThe Tesla vehicles are \"missing\" a lot of parts that rust, corrode, and cause\nengineering challenges. One of the main ones behind the exhaust system. Speak\nwith a series of car mechanics and they'll invariably tell stories of cars\nthat never received an oil change until something fails. There are videos,\npictures, and documentation of Tesla being able to swap drive trains, etc.\n\nPut together, Tesla is able to better protect the frame and body from\ncorrosion by separating it from the same parts that usually \"Carry this\nalong\". That's a lot of text to say they reduce the surface area and mass of\ncorrosion and failure prone parts.\n\nThis isn't to say I agree, but I find the information all fascinating (as a\ncar guy). The best way to make a car, in my mind; more serviceable is to\nincrease the protections from rust and corrosion. Otherwise a simple brake pad\nends up being an entire brake system upon repair attempt. In regards to\nelectronics; they can go in sealed compartments and be easily serviced. How\nawesome. They can also just as easily be replaced by a superior\nimplementation.\n\nAnyways, your post made me ramble a bit but I'm trying to determine if I agree\nwith the original post or not.\n\n~~~\nWalterBright\nI have an 89 Ford. It has been parked outside in rainy Seattle for 20 some\nyears. Other than the exhaust system, it is free of corrosion. I find this\nrather incredible. Ford has done a truly amazing job with corrosion\nprotection, unlike my older car which rusts when a cloud passes by.\n\nI also have to compliment Ford on building a low maintenance vehicle that is\nalso cheap and simple to repair when it does go wrong.\n\n------\nqume\nThis is a good place to share this with geeks who may not be into cars: I\ndrive a 1994 Mercedes (W124 chassis). One of the most reliable cars ever made.\nSimple to repair yourself. A TON of info available online for anything you\ncould want to fix.\n\nPretty much (probably 100%) of all parts on the car are available super cheap\nas chinese replacements because the model was around for so long and so many\nof them are still on the road (I just replaced the car window regulator -\nnormally a few hundred $$, got it on amazon delivered for $23).\n\nMade to be serviced/repaired. Quite a bit of fun doing it too. You can pick\none up for $2k and it will probably do another 200k miles no problem.\n\nAnd the best bit? FAR FAR more environmentally friendly than a new Tesla. I'll\nleave that up to you to figure out ;)\n\n~~~\nSwizec\nYou should look up crash tests between cars considered safe in 1994 and modern\ncars.\n\nI saw one for two Renault Espace models. The old one was so crumply compared\nto the new one, that the new one didn't even deploy airbags because there was\nno need. Both got top safety ratings when new.\n\n[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xQS-7heF-\nog](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xQS-7heF-og)\n\n~~~\nqume\nOh, and one more thing. Go walk around the yard of a tow company. Be prepared\nto feel sick.\n\nYou'll come away with the conclusion that the standard crash tests, which are\nwell designed for common accidents, are still just a small minority of serious\naccidents.\n\nAnd the most horrifying thing that I came away with is the number of wrecks\nwhere there is 'car' where the passengers should be. Even in trucks and SUVs.\n\nThe strongest cars ever built historically are still the strongest cars on the\nroad, even though there have been some great innovations that they miss out\non.\n\nThis is just for fun really, not trying to make a point with it, but this is\nan old Volvo destroying other cars:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R95yOXPoR_s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R95yOXPoR_s)\n\n~~~\nuserbinator\nVolvos definitely have a well-deserved reputation; for many years, their\nslogan was \"Drive Safely\", and they took it seriously.\n\nHere's another video where the Volvo's passenger compartment doesn't even\nchange shape while the other car's is completely crushed:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt0oQsRvtWI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt0oQsRvtWI)\n\nAlthough a downside is that, as the joke goes, \"a Volvo doesn't need a crumple\nzone; it uses the other car.\" Not so good if the other car also happens to be\na Volvo...\n\n~~~\nkerberosg\nThat is only true if the other car is of the same era.\n\nVerus newer cars the crumple roles are very much reserved\n\n[https://youtu.be/qBDyeWofcLY?t=105](https://youtu.be/qBDyeWofcLY?t=105)\n\n------\nvaline\nThis is very troubling to read. I can understand that tampering with an\nautomobile might pose safety concerns. I can also understand that Tesla is\ntrying to protect its brand. That being said, the fact that Tesla is\nmonitoring individual cars in a way that they can detect when you're used the\nEthernet port is seriously Orwellian. I can only imagine this will get worse\nas cars become more autonomous.\n\n~~~\nzanny\nThe ability to potentially break your car has never stopped any other car in\nhistory from having an accessible engine compartment.\n\nThis is basically in tandem with the John Deere story - the consequences of\nproprietary software bleed into the physical world and cause an incredible\namount of difficulty for people who do not even recognize what the problem is.\nTesla can only get away with all this because of how digital the car is in the\nfirst place.\n\n~~~\nericd\nTinkering with an electric car when you don't know what you're doing will kill\nyou so much more easily than a gasoline car will. That probably has something\nto do with it?\n\n~~~\nzanny\n\"Sticks a potato in exhaust pipe\"\n\n\"Drives around car\"\n\n\"Dies\"\n\nAlternatively, disconnect the steering column and drive off a cliff.\n\nThere are a thousand easy ways to kill yourself making uninformed\nmodifications to any motor vehicle, by its nature. Its a ton of steel that\ngoes up to a tenth the speed of sound. If anything, the reduced complexity of\nelectric vehicles gives you fewer vectors for wrongdoing to screw yourself\nover. You can break any number of parts in a combustion engine to make it\nfail, whereas in an electric vehicle all you really have is steering column +\ndrivetrain + battery pack.\n\n~~~\nericd\nIt's much easier to intuit the risks from a mechanical danger than an\nelectrical one. It's the difference between breaking a mechanical linkage and\naccidentally brushing up against a live terminal.\n\n------\nbri3d\nThe \"paywalled workshop manual\" requirements are common to every manufacturer.\nThe only reason service manuals are available for free online for other modern\ncars is that they're ripped from the manufacturer's pay portal, not that the\nmanufacturer is supplying them out of the goodness of their hearts. And the\nservice prices are pretty much in line with other luxury cars at the price\npoint.\n\nNot that that really defends Tesla, though. Cutting off an owner from dealer\nparts supply because their car is salvaged is unprecedented as far as I know.\nAnd the cutthroat attitude that every part of the car is a trade secret is\nridiculous.\n\nI think the biggest challenge for Tesla when they release the Model 3 will be\nscaling up their service network while scaling down costs. $70,000 car owners\nare generally willing to pay $400-$800 every few years for a dealer service.\n$30,000 car owners aren't. And for most manufacturers, scaling dealer service\nis a franchise : they need to supply parts, training, and certification, not a\nwhole service department. For Tesla, it's a brave entry into a challenging\ncore business.\n\n~~~\nJupiterMoon\nDo most manufacturers only supply manuals when legally compelled to?\n\n~~~\nburger_moon\nIf you pay for alldata or michelin ondemand you get access to all of that.\n\n------\nnraynaud\nInteresting, I work in the wind turbine industry (at the margin, and since one\nmonth, I guess I'm an expert), and it's the same, there are interesting\nsensors and data everywhere, but everything is locked down, and as long as the\nwarranty runs, the owner of the turbine is at the mercy of a very reluctant\nmaker for every maintenance task. The owner can't use any of those very useful\nsensors to assess the state of the turbine, he has to call external\nconsultants who will re-instrument the turbine with external sensors at great\ncost, when they could have just downloaded the existing data from their office\nto give a look at it.\n\n~~~\nbrandmeyer\nAnd then what happens when the mfr. goes out of business? For example, see\nClipper Windpower.\n\n~~~\nscblock\nSpecific to Clipper, the owner of the technology keeps enough money around to\nkeep rebuilding the crazy gearboxes for current owners, while other spares can\noften be obtained directly from the actual component manufacturers. Third\nparty service organizations like EDF Services or UpWind keep them running for\nyou, or you can hire your own techs.\n\nDepending on the contract the relevant design information may also put in\nescrow in the event the manufacturer goes under and spares are no longer\navailable.\n\nFor comparison, Zond and US Windpower died more than a decade ago but the\nowners are still keeping the machines going. It can be a challenge but it's\nnot the end of the world.\n\n------\nnkw\nI'm glad someone wrote about this. I have a deposit on a Model X, and this is\nthe single largest issue that is making me lean towards not buying the\nvehicle. I occasionally enjoy doing my own maintenance or repair on stuff I\nown and my present vehicle (close to a Model X equivalent but dinosaur powered\nand German) has been pleasant in that regard. There is nice fully functional\n(though Windows) third-party diagnostic software available, the actual service\ndocumentation is available to owners (for a pretty reasonable fee), there is a\nbit of competition on parts price amongst dealers (though ultimately only\nwithin a certain range as they still originate with one manufacturer) and I\nhaven't once felt like instead of owning the car I merely have a license from\nthe manufacturer to use it. I worry after the warranty expires that I will be\nat the mercy of Tesla for any service and support, which is an unknown\nquantity right now. I've seen the terrible spot a product owner can be left in\nwhen a manufacturer decides (for whatever reason) that service and support are\nnow their primary profit center. Not only are you screwed in that your product\nnow costs a fortune to maintain, your product is now essentially worthless for\nresale because everyone knows the cost to maintain and repair it makes it\nuneconomical. (See, e.g. several private aircraft companies which went\nbankrupt)\n\n------\nphkahler\nThis is dumb. Can you replace the tie rods, brake pads, tires? So long as the\nregular maintenance items can be handled I don't see a problem. Electronic\nparts on other cars are getting herd to replace too - they do things like\nrecord the VIN code upon first use and refuse to work in a different car, all\nin the name of anti-theft. Also, as people get excited about self driving\ncars, safety becomes a huge concern. You have throttle, brakes, steering,\ncamera systems, radar, all working together to achieve that. You're not going\nto be tampering with any of that stuff on any car in the near future.\n\nSo if regular maintenance items can be replaced, and body damage can be\nrepaired, I don't see the complaint.\n\n~~~\nmdorazio\nYes, basic maintenance like you describe is entirely possible to do on your\nown or at any normal mechanic. Body work can be done at normal high-end body\nshops as well, with the caveat that getting replacement panels from Tesla is\nexpensive and challenging due to their limited production capacity.\n\nSource: Friend's Tesla recently needed some body work to repair a dented door.\n\n------\npcarolan\nThis sounds a lot like the open vs closed system debate we had/(have?) with\ncomputers. I'm glad that in my youth I could wrench on the internals of a PC\nand I'm glad that in my 30s I never have to because my Mac 'just works'. Also,\nthis debate is older than I am: [http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Motorcycle-\nMaintenance-Inquiry...](http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Motorcycle-Maintenance-\nInquiry/dp/0060589469)\n\n~~~\nloopbit\nIf you had read Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance you'd known that it\nhas very little to do with actual motorcycle maintenance, apart of using it as\na tool to make its point.\n\n~~~\nwetmore\nThis is a kind of dickish way to reply. Yeah it's not the original point but\nthere is a discussion of this issue in it IIRC.\n\n~~~\nloopbit\nIt may have come across dickish, It was not my intention. I had no time to go\nin more detail and just left it as a note.\n\nAs for the issue at hand, yes, it's mentioned nearly at the beginning of the\nbook, when the narrator is discussing the motorcycles each character has and\nwhy they chose it, mentioning the two views[0]. If I recall correctly, there's\nno discussion, it's simply there to give an example of the concept of quality\nthat the author is trying to define. Anyone thinking that the book has\nanything to do with actual motorcycle maintenance (or worse, trying to use the\nadvice) didn't understood the ideas and concepts of the book.\n\n[0] The tinkerer, open view, exemplified with an old motorcycle (of which I\ndon't remember the make) vs the \"it just works\", closed view, using a brand\nnew BMW.\n\n------\ntokipin\nPeople used to repair televisions but at some point it became cheaper to just\nbuy a new one due to the tech/manufacturing being sufficiently evolved and\ncommoditized/cheap, as well as the issues involved with repairing more complex\ncircuitry.\n\nElectric cars have the same potential, I think, because of their inherent\nsimplicity. That potential already seems clear given that battery costs will\nkeep falling.\n\n~~~\nseiji\nVCR repair too.\n\nThe big thing nobody talks about (or some people even brag about) is how Tesla\nrecords your entire driving history to improve their future products. It's\nkinda creepy and you have no option but to obey if you want the Tesla\nExperience.\n\nOther companies are trying to \"catch up\" in this way too like how Google\nAndroid Auto Car Integration _requires_ manufactures allow Google Android Auto\nCar Integration to send live, real-time individual car performance data back\nto Google HQ so they can also analyze it all for their own purposes.\n\nThere's basically no legitimate reason why a 3rd party music player app\nrequires your car to transmit real time acceleration data, sensor data, fluid\nlevels, and seat positions back to Google.\n\n------\nvvanders\nI don't think things are as dire as he makes it out:\n\n1\\. Small amount of cars on the road so there's limited incentive for\naftermarket parts.\n\n2\\. People already do brakes/tires/suspension/etc. It's a car after all.\n\n3\\. I wouldn't want to get _near_ the powertrain. 425kw(~400V @ 1,000 Amps)\nwill kill you if you touch something that you shouldn't.\n\nI think it'll be a bigger issue once we see the Model 3 on the road.\n\n~~~\nTD-Linux\nYour computer power supply has a ~400 volt rail in it. Are you unwilling to\never open a desktop computer?\n\nThe Tesla battery has contactors inside of it, so you'll only have 400V live\nwhen the car is on. Additionally, assuming the HV is floating relative to the\nchassis, you need to touch two spots at different potentials to actually get\nshocked.\n\nThat said, it looks like this is an attempt to prevent service of a lot of\nnon-powertrain components, considering that the Tesla owner in the article got\na letter for connecting just to the ethernet port.\n\n~~~\nsaulrh\n> Your computer power supply has a ~400 volt rail in it. Are you unwilling to\n> ever open a desktop computer?\n\nIf it's plugged in and turned on - yeah, sure, I don't want to muck around in\nthere. The thing is, my computer power supply:\n\n* Can be completely physically disconnected from the rest of the computer\n\n* _Doesn 't have a battery in it_\n\nIf I pull the plug on my desktop, disconnect the power supply, and maybe if\nI'm being really paranoid touch a lamp to it just to be sure there isn't\nanything trapped in a cap or inductor, I know that that 400 volt rail is\nactually at _zero_ volts relative to anything near me. Batteries? Especially\npower batteries that I can't guarantee are physically disconnected, and that\ncan't really be grounded because they're inside an insulated mobile platform?\nIt's more like looking inside a microwave oven or a CRT, and you're _damn\nright_ that I don't open those up.\n\n~~~\nsmileysteve\n> Doesn't have a battery in it\n\nAny work done on a car w/ airbags (the last 20 years) has had a risk of airbag\nexplosion with any localized short.\n\nThe Takata airbag recall means that many of these may shoot shrapnel at you.\nAnd the original airbags were known for occasionally flinging phosphorous at\nyou.\n\nBeyond that, Lead Acid batteries can be dangerous when the battery or the\nalternator fails - that's not steam, that's sulphuric acid steam.\n\n~~~\nsaulrh\nI don't know why airbags aren't opto-isolated digital devices activated by\nsimple challenge and response over canbus (read a single byte off address 0,\nwrite the same byte back to address 1 to trigger). I'd have expected\npyrotechnics to have been first on the list for conversion to digital.\n\n------\ndkhenry\nThis article is spot on, but the author fails to account for the fact that on\n_most_ new cars, your in the same boat. Unless its a maintenance item, your\nnot going to be able to replace it with anything but the manufacture's\nblessing. The biggest difference is there are a lot more maintenance parts on\na conventional car, so you have more of an opportunity to replace things. It\nwas my understanding that the only true maintenance part on the Tesla was the\nwiper blades.\n\n~~~\njonknee\n> It was my understanding that the only true maintenance part on the Tesla was\n> the wiper blades.\n\nAnd the brakes / tires.\n\n~~~\ntclmeelmo\nAnd the HVAC system. I don't know but wouldn't be surprised if the HVAC system\non Teslas, in addition to the cabin environment, had some responsibility for\nthe battery and motor thermal management too.\n\n------\ncharlesdenault\nIf Tesla's longterm business strategy is to build a fleet of autonomous cars\nthat operate in fractional ownership/lease models, of course it makes sense to\nbuild a car that has a <10 year product life cycle. They can iterate quickly,\nrelease new versions, and not have legacy hardware on the market. If they use\na buyback program similar to Apple's it might make sense for their particular\ndemos.\n\nTime will tell, and it will be interesting to see what the Model 3 has for a\nwarranty, considering it's targeting a much broader market than the Model S/X.\n\n~~~\nteacup50\nIterate quickly?\n\nHardware is not software. The environmental cost alone of building a new car\nis outrageous.\n\nIn addition to which, the SV2.0 \"iterate quickly\" ideal turns consumers into\nguinea pigs for half-baked and half-broken products that will just be updated\nout from under them.\n\n~~~\nmdorazio\nAnd yet Apple produces a new $500+ phone every single year, intentionally\nleaving behind customers who are still using hardware more than 3 years old. I\nwould say that the software iteration business model is making inroads into\nthe hardware market as well, including in the automotive space. The solution\nto your guinea pigs point is a lease model, in which customers get a new car\nevery two years to stay on top of developments. Or when autonomous cars are\navailable, don't own a car at all - outsource all the hardware upgrades and\nmaintenance to the manufacturer and pay for the service of getting from point\nA to point B when you need it (ala Uber).\n\n~~~\nteacup50\nWhat you're proposing isn't a good thing. It's an ugly, environmentally\nunfriendly, anti-consumer model.\n\nHow many people are debt-financing their $800+ iPhone? How much value is that\nextracting from people, and what are the opportunity costs for them?\n\nWhat's the environmental impact of phones becoming nothing more than expensive\nbricks after 2-3 years due to lack of vendor support, coupled platform DRM\nthat prevents re-use?\n\nWhat happens when market choices disappear along with the very concept of\nownership?\n\nThis dystopian ideal of inescapable corporatism may be a commercially viable,\nbut it's not remotely ethical.\n\n~~~\nmchahn\n> phones becoming nothing more than expensive bricks after 2-3 years due to\n> lack of vendor support, coupled platform DRM that prevents re-use?\n\nI have repurposed my old Samsung android phones around the house as displays\non the walls. They all have the net connection shut down and I use the wifi.\nThey all work great and I see no reason they won't work until the hardware\ndies.\n\nI know this is only one data point. Can someone describe how other models of\nphones can become bricks?\n\nEdit: People less weird than me can still use the phones like tablets are used\nwithout a radio connection.\n\n~~~\nteacup50\n> _Can someone describe how other models of phones can become bricks?_\n\niPhone's have a fully DRM'd trust chain, starting with the bootloader, which\nis itself on-die and immutable.\n\nInstalling a new OS image requires online activation with Apple's servers,\nwhich return public-key signed installation permission.\n\nUnless there's a vulnerability that allows jailbreak, you're not installing\nnon-Apple-approved software on that device.\n\nThat's the future of the fully centralized/cloud-based 'software iteration\nbusiness model ... making inroads into the hardware market'\n\n~~~\nmchahn\nAh, I understand what you are saying now. Technically, not being able to\ninstall new software isn't bricked since you can still run the old. I only run\nthe browser on my old phones so I didn't notice this.\n\n------\nsremani\nGreat article, very forward looking and constructive criticism. Tesla is a\nyoung company with Silicon Valley ethos, it does not surprise me, they are\ntreating Cars like Software. Where you are licensed to use software but do not\nown it and how that world view may or may not work.\n\nI am just wondering since Volt is from Old guard, its chances are better\nbecause the maintainability is a bit more traditional (but not all Volts can\nbe repaired at any GM dealership). We may need a different model for EVs and\nPHEVs.\n\n[http://www.voltstats.net/Stats/Details/1579](http://www.voltstats.net/Stats/Details/1579)\n\nLogically it may extend to other EVs and PHEVs like Model S, but here is a\nreal world volt which crossed 300K miles (the driver has a long commute, its\nkind of real world validation of longevity of EVs/PHEVs)\n\n~~~\nams6110\n_they are treating Cars like Software. Where you are licensed to use software\nbut do not own it_\n\nWhy do they sell the cars at all then? Why not just lease them?\n\n------\npyb\nAfter reading the article, really I don't think Tesla is offering particularly\nworse conditions than any other manufacturer. Their 8 year guarantee is\nactually pretty inclusive, and now it's transferrable as well. The lack of\nindie garages is the only item in his list I agree with, but things could\nchange in the future, as the pool of ex-Tesla mechanics grows.\n\n------\napi\nA lot of this revolves around the new business model of using the Internet to\nlock everything down. Basically half your car, house, whatever will be in the\ncloud.\n\n~~~\njacquesm\nI refuse to buy products like that. If it doesn't operate stand alone then you\ncan keep it.\n\n~~~\nawqrre\nThere should also be an easy way to disconnect your car from the network,\nbecause apparently, newer cars are always connected and reporting on your\nactivities[1].\n\n1\\. [http://www.businessinsider.com/ford-exec-\ngps-2014-1](http://www.businessinsider.com/ford-exec-gps-2014-1)\n\n~~~\nbane\nOr visa-versa, let me tap into that data connection for free for internet\naccess.\n\n~~~\nawqrre\nMost people probably would choose that option then, but either way, you should\nhave to opt-in for the data sharing (whether or not it includes free Internet\nor other services...):\n\nExample: 1\\. Do you want to share data with us?* 2\\. Do you want to share data\nwith us and get free Internet?* 3\\. Do you want to share data with us and get\na free service service that requires data sharing (ie: ads as you drive past\nbusinesses)?* 4\\. None of the above.\n\n* Position, speed, microphone, car weight, Wi-Fi devices detected, etc..\n\n------\nmatt_wulfeck\nwhy wouldn't an electric car be easier to service? A combustible engine has so\nmany moving parts, fuel pump, filter, oil changes, regulator, etc etc. an\nelectric car is just a battery and an electric engine, which is actually a\npretty old peice of technology.\n\nI do concede that the battery is a pretty complex piece of engineering. My\nfear is that DRM \"authorized\" replacements will become like the toner\ncartridges of the future.\n\n~~~\nCalRobert\nThe article discusses the difficulty of servicing a Tesla at length. Perhaps\nyou should read it?\n\n------\nprotomyth\nHow is \"Tampering with the Vehicle and its systems, including installation of\nnon-Tesla accessories or parts or their installation, or any damage directly\nor indirectly caused by, due to or resulting from the installation or use of\nnon-Tesla parts or accessories;\" not a violation of Magnuson–Moss Warranty\nAct?\n\n~~~\narkem\nThere's an exception if you can convince the FTC that the product will only\nwork correctly with branded parts. Take a look at 15 USC 2302(c):\n[https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/2302](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/2302)\n\n~~~\nprotomyth\nHas that ever been applied to car parts?\n\n------\ngreendesk\nI remembered this story when reading the article:\n\nA boy wants to repair his dad's printer. As he troubleshoots the problem, he\ncalls a repair shops with the information on the printer. The repair shops\ngives him guidance on how to repair the printer on his own and sends the parts\nfor it. The boy asks: \"Why would you do it? Would not you make more money by\nasking me to have it repaired at the shop?\" \"Oh, but when people try to repair\nit on their own they usually spend much more money after their attempted\nrepair.\"\n\nI have been burned many times by car repairmen. A misdiagnosed or malice\nrepair is a very big nuisance. I rather trust official repairs than garage\nshops. If I had a Tesla, I would lean towards using the official service.\n\n~~~\nprotomyth\n\"I rather trust official repairs than garage shops.\"\n\nHad a Chevy and took it in for an official repair on the recall. They didn't\ndo it correctly. Had it in the shop because the belt broke (not timing) and\nthey asked if it I had taken it in for the recall. I was a bit peeved to find\nout the official shop had not only messed up the recall repair on the brakes,\nthey had actually broke some other stuff.\n\nTook my Dad's Buick into Devils Lake to get the door repaired. Common problem\non that model, and the local repair shop (Harold's) decided ordering a $120\nplastic part was all kinds of dumb, so he made an aluminum version of the\npart. It never broke again.\n\nIts about people and incentives. There are very important consumer protections\nin not letting the manufactures control everything. I have seen bad\nmanufacture shops and good ones and good and bad independent shops. Its about\npeople.\n\nIf we can keep manufactures from controlling all repairs with decent\nlegislation, we might be able to keep a strong and healthy 3rd party repair\ncapability. Otherwise, its just one more thing we don't actually own and the\nincentive is to build things that will break.\n\n------\nAndrewKemendo\nSo maybe this is a dumb question but does this mean that whomever builds an\n\"open\" EV will win in the long run? My guess is not and people will just get\nlocked into their \"platform\" vehicle in the same way that you are locked into\nApple devices.\n\n~~~\nneffy\nNot a dumb question at all. I would say that it means that there's a very real\nbusiness opportunity for anyone who wants to compete with Tesla and takes the\nopen route. Beyond that who knows, but the very fact that they're shutting\ndown analysis as much as possible (they probably don't really care that much\nabout hackers, it's the reverse engineering shops that all the major car\nmanufacturers run that would be their big fear), suggests that what they have\nis easy to copy. Or reinvent.\n\nHistory, I suspect, will be on the side of the battery makers.\n\n------\ntinhangliu\nPutting a lithium battery on a traditional car doesn't make the mobility\nindustry more sustainable. Tesla's are still going to end up in car\ngraveyards.. To be sustainable, we need to rethink how cars are designed from\nthe bottom up. Especially to sustain the growth in car-as-a-service (i.e.\nHigher usage rates) we need modular design to have replaceable and upgradable\nparts, without throwing away what works.\n\nThat's why we created OSVehicle,the first open source electric vehicle\nplatform. www.osvehicle.com\n\n------\nal_biglan\nInteresting, but Tesla is both just getting started and \"feeling the space\" in\nthe auto industry. They have taken pride in taking a different approach to\ntraditional car companies and I imagine some of the wording around the\nExtended Warranty is simply being new and not copy-pasting examples from other\ncompanies.\n\nAlso, Tesla isn't making cars for everyone (yet) but instead focusing on\nexpensive/luxury cars. Rather than compare against GM/Honda/etc. How do they\ncompare against Maserati/Aston Martin/etc.?\n\nFinally, as a young company, it may indeed be their _goal_ to build cars that\nlast forever, but the first few generations they are still pushing the\nenvelope of (their) understanding. In this case, bringing ell cars back to\ntheir repair centers may be the \"right\" way to build this experience into\ntheir future automobiles.\n\nSo... \"yeah, they aren't making cars that will last more than N years unless\nyou, as an owner, are prepared to sink a bunch of cash into achieving this\" It\nmay be more interesting to watch the auto that replaces the Model S. Both in\nterms of their timeframe for introducing new models (beyond expanding into\ndifferent classes of vehicles) as well as how they adopt what they learn into\nmore fundamental design changes. Thank you to all those cutting edge people\nwilling to buy Teslas now. I'll wait 5-10 years till they get mainstream and\nkeep my Honda and Toyota on the road for 250k miles :-)\n\n------\nnorea-armozel\nThere's always been a push in the automotive industry to make parts in cars\nthat the average person can't replace or repair easily. If anything, this\nmakes more money for the automakers (like Tesla) because they can setup all\nkinds of service licenses and the like at their leisure. And if a particular\nproduct line gets too long in the tooth, then you just killed off any\nauthorized servicing and parts. Now you got an instant customer if they keep\nthinking it's worth it. Especially if Tesla were to institute some sort of\ntrade in program that would be cheap to finance but great for PR especially if\nit touts the recycling angle. Frankly, I'm surprised no one would think such a\npossible outcome was going to happen. Elon's not dumb, he's a businessman\nfirst and foremost. Telsa cars aren't a charity. You buy them to feel good,\nthey are nice fun cars to drive, then when the time comes you're likely to get\nbored with it anyways and want to trade for the newest model because you're a\ngood little consumer, right?\n\n------\nlacker\nNone of this seems \"throwaway\" to me. It just means that rather than build a\nproduct that ends up being repaired by a distributed army of mechanics, they\nare going \"full stack\" and aiming to repair everything in-house. To me that\nseems like the ideal system - some people like the author might enjoy\nrepairing their own cars, but I would rather not.\n\n~~~\ncarlivar\nNow imagine Apple got rid of independent repair shops (they are already\nheading in this direction pretty much). There would be outrage, and there's\nalready unease with Apple's direction in these areas. Why does Tesla get a\npass?\n\n~~~\nx0x0\nMy phone and laptop have a much lower price and expected service life than a\n$100k vehicle.\n\n~~~\ncarlivar\nWhat is the price and service life at which it becomes okay?\n\n------\nmhandley\nIf the resale value of an out-of-warranty Tesla ends up being essentially\nzero, the new ones will start to look like a pretty poor investment. This will\nimpact Tesla's sales. You can be pretty sure that Tesla will rectify this\neventually if they want to stay in business in the face of emerging\ncompetition from other electric cars.\n\n------\nmizzao\nIt seems like at least one of the problems mentioned here is going to be\ncommon to many cars in the future: more and more of the vehicle will involve\nsoftware rather than hardware, and as such is less transparent to the end-\nuser. It's not just Tesla customers who will be dealing with this.\n\n------\nsklogic\nNot sure singling out Tesla is fair. Pretty much all the modern (built in 21st\ncentury) cars are far less serviceable and far less modular than they used to\nbe before. The military designs are the only exception from this unfortunate\ntrend, for the obvious reasons.\n\n~~~\nmcv\nI've always loved the idea of the Citroen 2CV, which was famously easy to\nrepair (sometimes with some string and chewing gum), and trivial to modify.\nBut it's an old car and is not being made anymore, and no modern car really\nseems to fit that niche.\n\n------\ncallesgg\nThe first thing that hit my mind was that they are doing it the apple way,\napple is doing quite fine with its locked devices.\n\nlike most engineers I like to play with and explore my technical equipment but\nfor most people it is just a hasle.\n\n~~~\nsoared\nI had the same thought. How many people would ever even consider maintaining\ntheir own car? I bet its insignificant in the face of Tesla's target market.\n\n------\ngreggman\nGiven the cars have various levels of self driving it would seem like the\nmoment you mod your car Tesla would want nothing to do with you because you've\nchanged something that could cause a crash.\n\nThat seems in some way different from a non-self driving car. Of course you\nshould be able to do anything you want with your car but would it be\nunreasonable if Tesla basically disabled all their software and services at\nthat moment? Basically making it clear if you mod the car they want no\nresponsibility in what happens when it's self driving.\n\n------\nrebootthesystem\nInherent issues with anything battery powered:\n\n    \n    \n        - I have 20 year old grid powered drills, saws, \n          routers, sawzalls, sanders\n        - They all work and in perfect condition\n        - Same period: Three sets of battery powered drills\n        - Technology changes: NiCd to Lithium\n        - Battery pack voltage/form-factor EOL\n        - Aftermarket batteries expensive crap\n        - Good motor, gearbox, chuck discarded\n        - Environmental impact of early EOL?\n    \n\nThe Tesla scenario:\n\n    \n    \n        - Will they be around in 20 years?\n        - Will there be any parts for current cars?\n        - Will you have access to service manuals, software and information?\n    \n\nThe battery packs:\n\n    \n    \n        - Technology and chemistry will evolve\n        - No reason to make packs with 20 year old tech \n        - Will Tesla guarantee replacement packs in 10 to 20 years?\n        - Could be vehicle lifetime limiting factor\n        - Shame to crunch a perfectly good chassis, motor, etc.\n        - Potentially significant environmental impact\n    \n\nWorking on electric cars:\n\n    \n    \n        - Most people not qualified, even most techies\n        - 400~500 V DC systems are deadly dangerous\n        - Electric cars will be the domain of experts, not hobbyists\n        - High voltage, high power, high energy density \n          system can do horrific things in accidents\n        - Who wants to be the responsible party?\n    \n\nAfter market:\n\n    \n    \n        - Potential for advanced after-market companies\n        - More efficient, smaller motor controllers\n        - Smaller, lighter, more energy-dense battery packs\n        - On-board computers and entertainment systems\n        - Might not be viable market for another 20 years\n        - Tesla (and others) likely not interested in doing \n          this themselves, they want to sell new cars\n    \n\nElectric car market:\n\n    \n    \n        - In 20 years all makers will have electric cars\n        - Multiple models per maker, multiple choices\n        - Buying from established makers gives you \n          massive sales and support infrastructure\n        - As market grows Tesla might have trouble reaching scale\n        - Tesla has a 3 to 5 year window to become mainstream\n        - If they fail at that they might well become irrelevant\n        - Battery manufacturers (Panasonic, etc.) will support\n          large car makers\n        - Car manufacturers know how to make cars by the millions\n        - Ford made a million F-150 trucks last year\n        - That's just one maker and one model\n        - They have the factories, people, process and product know-how\n        - Electric cars far easier to build than IC cars\n        - Tesla might be reduced to the Ferrari/McLaren of the industry\n    \n\nBetter for the environment:\n\n    \n    \n        - Nobody talks about/quantifies dirty battery manufacturing\n        - Nobody talks about/quantifies dirty battery disposal\n        - Nobody talks about/quantifies dirty electricity generation\n        - It's like leather:  Process is dirty and disgusting \n          but the end product looks beautiful and clean and\n          nobody thinks about how it got there\n        - Where is reality of environmental impact of 100 million pure \n          electric cars when considering the entire chain of events \n          that leads to manufacturing, using and retiring one?\n        - I don't know the answer\n        - Point:  Don't be too sure you are \"clean\"\n        - Maybe you are...by a little bit\n    \n\nIn all, today, analytically, I don't think electrics make much sense yet. Good\nfor you if you are OK burning cash on one of these things. Thank you. I think.\n\nThe inflection point for this industry is 100% connected to better battery\ntechnology. No other technology matters one bit. We know how to make cars,\nelectric motors, transmissions and electronics. We need better and cheaper\nbatteries.\n\nThe minute a new battery technology (super-capacitors?) emerges with twice the\nenergy in half the volume at half the cost we will have dozens of pure\nelectrics to choose from. The infrastructure will be built as soon as\ncompanies can start making money with them.\n\n------\nmicheljansen\nA lot of this is not that uncommon for other car manufacturers as well. The\n\"Premium\" warranty of a used BMW also depends on the car being serviced at an\nauthorised repairer. Yes, it's the manufacturer trying to be more of an\n\"integrated\" service provider and keeping the resale value up, but it also\nends when the car gets older. Most of those cars the go on to lead a long life\nwith aftermarket parts and repairs.\n\n~~~\nghaff\nI think the question is how practical third-party service will be (by\nindividuals or independent garages). As you suggest, the common wisdom that\nI've always heard is that, if you want to hold onto a luxury car past the\nwarranty/extended warranty timeframe, that's great and can be a fun and cost-\neffective auto--but only if you're handy and willing to spend the time or have\nan indie mechanic who you trust. Otherwise, dealer service will eat you alive.\n\n------\nimh\nThis seems to be part of a larger trend towards controlling the things we own.\nCell phones, tractors, cars, and I'm sure tons of other things are moving this\nway, where they're trying to make it illegal to root/jailbreak/service your\nown property. Cell phones seem to be trying to move away from ownership in\ngeneral. What's the solution?\n\n------\nck2\nSo super-liberal-progressive Vermont doesn't have a \"right to repair\" law?\n\nInteresting Mass. is the first.\n\nShould be a federal law.\n\n~~~\ncastratikron\nI was delighted to read that a right to repair law exists in at least one\nstate. I've been working to get one passed here (MN).\n\n------\ndeagle50\nLease and all the complaints go out the window. Why buy when battery density\nkeeps going up? Not to mention the autopilot features and other tech.\n\nModel S well equipped lease is <$1000, why the hell anyone without f-u money\nwould shell out $100k upfront I'll never know.\n\n------\nkayman\nI don't care to own the car. From my point of view, it's a service I want\naccess to, to get me from point A to point B. Tesla makes that process\nenjoyable.\n\nBecause Tesla leveraged software, like an app, I want Tesla to handle the\nupdates for life of the car.\n\n------\nJohnnybe\nAnd now I know for certain I will never purchase a Tesla. What a shame.\n\n------\nSpooky23\nIt's pretty easy.\n\nThey don't want an aftermarket for the cars because the batteries will wear\nout, essentially cannot be replaced, and you'll see lots of Teslas in the side\nof the road.\n\nI still don't understand why these cars exist. You pay a premium that vastly\nexceeds the fuel savings vs a comperable gasoline vehicle. The warm fuzzy\nfeeling associated with saving the earth is low value to me.\n\nThey also aren't magical machines that don't break. A guy on my campus bought\none about 18 mos one and it's been towed (presumably to NJ or Boston) 2-3\ntimes. There goes the warm fuzzy feeling about saving the earth!\n\n~~~\nmikeash\nWhy do you say the batteries cannot be replaced? Swapping a battery literally\ntakes five minutes. The cost of a new one is high, but will likely come down.\n\nAs for why these cars exist, it's simple: they're awesome cars. They're\npowerful and quiet and have advanced technology. Never mind environmental\nconcerns, not having to visit the gas station is just very convenient.\n\nNot emitting (local) pollution is a nice bonus, but it's pretty far down the\nlist.\n\n~~~\nSpooky23\nThey can't be replaced because they are extremely expensive, and no mechanic\nis going to touch these thing without manuals and tools.\n\n~~~\nmikeash\nExpensive is different from \"can't,\" and there's definitely one company whose\nmechanics can replace the battery.\n\n~~~\nSpooky23\nIt's all about ROI. You can make a case for almost any conventional repair,\nsave a transmission or engine overhaul.\n\nWhen a battery replacement exceeds the value of the vehicle, and the one\nsource of mechanics is incentivized to sell a new car, the economics will\nnever make sense.\n\n~~~\nmikeash\nMuch will depend on exactly what batteries cost in 10-15 years, or whenever\nthe current batteries start to fail.\n\nIf they still cost $25,000, then yeah, that's probably going to be a poor\nvalue proposition.\n\nIf they cost, say, $5,000, then no problem!\n\nIf Tesla and others start selling ~$35,000 cars with 200+ mile ranges in the\nnext couple of years, then I think it's going to be closer to the latter\nscenario. But it's hard to know for sure.\n\n------\nkuschku\nThis is an interesting topic.\n\nAnd an interesting idea for a hack: Hacking a Tesla Model S to work without\nany connection to Big Brother, eh, Tesla, I mean.\n\n~~~\nmartin_bech\nBut you want a connection to Big Brother, you want free super charging, you\nwant software updates, you want free internet access and navigation, you want\nthe free Spotify Account.\n\nMy Car wouldnt have AutoPark, Summon, Traffic Aware Cruise Control, Lane\nAssist, Spotify, Autopilot, 50 ekstra Horse Power and so on, without the\nsoftware updates the connection to Big Brother provides. (Euro Spec S85D)\n\n~~~\ndingo_bat\nHow is the extra HP related to the Big Brother connection?\n\n~~~\nsahat\nI don't remember the details, but in one of the recent updates they increased\nthe performance at top speed and initial start (below 3 mph). Prior to that,\n85D and 90D (all-wheel drive configuration) got a significant boost to its\n0-60 performance via a software update.\n\nSince all the hardware is controlled via a software firmware, they are able to\ntweak the voltage supply of each motor to decrease or increase output\nperformance.\n\n------\nAnimats\nJust think of it as customer engagement. It's like calling slavery \"job\nassurance\".\n\n------\npravda\nI don't think anyone who buys a Telsa for 100 grand cares the slightest bit\nabout being forced to pay overpriced dealer service rates.\n\nAnd it's not like a 'worn out' Telsa is going into the car crusher. Every part\nis going to be pulled from it and sold on eBay.\n\nI look forward to being able to buy a Telsa motor for cheap on eBay. Maybe in\n2026.\n\n~~~\ngambiting\n\"And it's not like a 'worn out' Telsa is going into the car crusher.\"\n\nWell, it actually might. The article mentions it - if a car is deemed a \"write\noff\" by the insurance company(because cost of repair is quoted as >50% of the\nvalue of the car) then only Tesla can re-activate it. It's crazy, my dad used\nto have a car repair shop any buy dozens of cars that were \"written off\" by\ninsurance companies, he would fix them, they would go through an official\ncheck-up process to be allowed on the road and that was it. He never had to\nask Mercedes or Honda or Audi to \"reactivate\" their cars.\n\n~~~\npravda\nWhat happens to cars that are written-off and not bought by your dad or\nsomeone else who wants to fix them up and get them back on the road?\n\nThey go into the car crusher, but only after every part with any value is\nstripped from them.\n\n(Yes, I agree that a functioning Telsa car is worth more then a bunch of Telsa\nparts)\n\nIf Mercedes could prevent people from buying written-off Mercedes cars, fixing\nthem up and re-selling them, they certainly would!\n\nTelsa can do this, and they have a phony-baloney reason for doing this\n(safety! protecting the children!), so it makes sense for them to do it.\n\nAnd also, this is good for Telsa-buyers. If I spend 100-large, or 70-large on\na Telsa, I don't want the hoi polloi to be able to purchase value-priced\nTelsas!\n\nIt's a win-win-win. Telsa gets more money, Telsa-buyers get a more exclusive\nbrand, and hackers get cheaper Telsa parts on eBay!\n\n------\nnjharman\nHaters gonna hate and short sellers gonna drum up FUD.\n\n~~~\nwetmore\nSo you're saying this guy's blog post is part of a conspiracy to drive down\nthe price of Tesla stock?\n\n------\ngcb0\nit's a $100+k car.\n\nit's a luxury, anyway you look at it, not a necessity for anyone.\n\nit's not the same as a car but the same as a money pit Lamborghini.\n\nstop trying to make Tesla happen so hard, internet yuppies.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAd slowdown finally hitting Google, too? Revenue estimates cut. - pakafka\nhttp://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20081110/ad-slowdown-finally-hitting-google-too/\n\n======\njosefresco\nIf Google had more inventory I'd buy it. For those of us that have mastered\nour niche in AdWords Google is practically a money printing machine.\n\nFor others? Not so much. Maybe this will get rid of some of my pesky\ncompetitors.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nPyrex - tosh\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrex\n======\nrini17\ninbound: lamentations of USians that pyrex isn't borosilicate glass anymore...\n\n1\\. You can buy proper ISO 3585:1998 borosilicate glass kitchenware on amazon,\njust under another brands (Boral, Simax).\n\n2\\. The borosilicate glass is softer than lime glass and thus prone to\nscratching and subsequent catastrophic failure. With laboratory glassware this\nisn't an issue as reagents aren't likely to contain sand grains.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: PJDL v2.0 – Single wire data link - gioscarab\nhttp://www.pjon.org/PJDL-specification-v2.0.php\n======\ngioscarab\nHere the repo:\n[https://github.com/gioblu/PJON/tree/master/strategies/Softwa...](https://github.com/gioblu/PJON/tree/master/strategies/SoftwareBitBang)\n\nThis is a totally software emulated single wire, multi-master data link\nimplemented in less than 200 lines of code, supporting direct pin to pin\ncommunication with more than 50 meters range.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLine Notify Client SDK – Lotify - NiJiaLin\nhttps://github.com/louis70109/lotify\n======\nNiJiaLin\nLotify is my first client SDK with my friend, It support developer use LINE\nNotify quickly,\n\nI referenced line-bot-sdk-python tests which I think so good!\n\nWelcome Issue or PRs if any problems :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDon't comment your code. Refactor it. - mcrittenden\nhttps://critter.blog/2020/09/15/dont-comment-your-code-refactor-it/\n======\njfengel\nThe most important \"comments\" in your code are names. Taking a chunk of code\nand giving it a name gives you a small bit of free text to explain what it\ndoes. The function signature gives you a few more words to play with: foo(Bar\nx) -> Baz is a function that foos a Bar into a Baz. (Another reason why\nfunctions should have as few arguments as you can manage.) A well-named piece\nof code will often read almost like natural language text.\n\nPeople tend to ignore comments anyway. The fewer of them you have, the more\nlikely they'll take notice of one that's actually important.\n\n------\nvaland\n> Explaining why the most obvious code wasn’t written. (Design decisions)\n\nThis is actually the most important thing in this article. The technical why\nof things are often overlooked in today's software development. It rarely is\nthe problem until the original maintainer moves out to other project. Non-\ntechnical contributor sometimes won't or can't be bothered with it because\neither it is pretty complex, they have a lot in their plates doing non-\ntechnical stuffs, or both.\n\nWhile commenting on the what is DISCOURAGED because 1.) comments can be\nquickly outdated and they are not tested/compiled 2.) they can be replaced\nwith self-documenting code, commenting on the why must be ENCOURAGED, unless\nthe software has a dedicated technical manuals / design document, which is\npretty rare these days.\n\n> The problem with comments is that they have no compile-time check and tend\n> to be forgotten. It’s very easy to change your code but forget about the\n> comments.\n\nI write a bit of Rust and they have partial comment check on compile time. We\ncan write example in the comments and they actually runs and get converted\ninto a documentation. Neat!\n\n------\nmariaanton89\nagree...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThe Myth of Multitasking - robg\nhttp://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/article_detail.asp?id=414&css=print\n\n======\nbryarcanium\nIf you are interested in time and multitasking, look at some of anthropologist\nEdward Hall's stuff.\n\nMonochronism and Polychronism have been co-opted to apply to individuals but\nthey were coined by Hall to describe patterns of culture. A highly monochronic\nculture would be Germany; things happen one at a time, from start to finish,\nwhere a new thing starts. A highly polychronic culture would be a lot of latin\ncultures, where whatever is most important that second takes precedence, no\nmatter when you started it (this is usually determined socially;\nfamily>customer, for example).\n\nMost cultures are more complex than that, though. Japanese business tends to\nbe highly polychronic in the planning stages, where a consensus must be\nreached and all the time in the world is taken to reach it. However, once the\ndecision has been made, the implementation is not only wicked fast but highly\nmonochronic.\n\nHe's worth looking into if you really want to make the leap from how multi-\ntasking affects individuals to how it affects complex systems.\n\n------\nlvecsey\nThey conflate a few different issues here, the first is interleaving which is\nok since you don't really suffer a performance loss or mental setback. The\nother one is a context switch, for example when a manager interrupts you with\nsomething trivial. Theres nothing more effective at stalling a high speed\npipeline than that.\n\n~~~\nscott_s\nCan you explain what you mean by interleaving? My intuitive definition ends up\nbeing the same as multitasking.\n\n~~~\ncconstantine\nI'm guessing the grandparent post is talking about working on multiple (2,\nmaybe 3) tasks. While waiting for something from one task like a compile/test\nrun to complete or a response from another developer on a question, you can\nwork on the other. This allows you to fill empty time with something\nproductive and lets you context switch at favorable times.\n\nThat kind of soft context switch is fairly easy to manage. A task coming and\nforcing a context switch in the middle of something incurs a much higher\npenalty.\n\n~~~\nscott_s\nStill sounds like plain 'ol multitasking to me, as does the other reply.\n\n~~~\nfallentimes\nBut with multitasking you're working on something at the direct cost of\nworking on something else and indirect cost of time lost switching context.\nWith this, you work on things while other items are being autoworked on (e.g.\nrunning a test or a crawl, downloading a file).\n\n------\ncarruthk\nMultitasking is a pernicious evil of our times! Also the cost of context\nswitching (especially for developers) can be hours per day.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFuck-That Money - joshuap\nhttps://www.honeybadger.io/blog/f-ck-that-money/\n======\nJohnFen\nThis essay is spot on. I'm a big believer in having \"fuck that\" money. When I\nhave less than that, I feel trapped for obvious reasons. When I have more than\nthat, then the money itself brings additional headaches and pains that also\ngrind me down.\n\n~~~\njoshuap\nThanks John!\n\n------\ndownerending\nAgree, though it's kind of an odd way to express the idea. Looking at it\nanother way, make sure your expenses always remain so low that you can simply\nwalk away from any job. That's the only way to remain free.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHTML5 Scorecard: Chrome for Android Beta - mariuz\nhttp://www.sencha.com/blog/html5-scorecard-chrome-mobile-beta/\n\n======\nypcx\n\"This item cannot be installed in your device's country.\"\n\nWhoever did that - I'd deny them access to any cafe or restaurant not located\non their home street, because you know, it's not on their home street!\n\nAPK download links from the XDA forum (I've installed from the first one):\n<http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22987550/com.android.chrome-1.apk>\n[https://dl.dropbox.com/0/view/h01lx63elymar7i/com.android.ch...](https://dl.dropbox.com/0/view/h01lx63elymar7i/com.android.chrome-1.apk.zip)\n\n~~~\nnextparadigms\nVery strange that they did that. Any one care to guess why they only allowed\nit in some countries? Is it just because the developers forgot to check all\nthe country boxes?\n\n------\npoutine\nDoesn't look it supports server sent events, a pity as they're much nicer to\ndeal with than websockets (which it does support unlike the native browser).\nStill going to be a long time until we can depend on these technologies for\nandroid as uptake on chrome is going to be slow.\n\n------\nleeoniya\n\"Happily, the very new -webkit-overflow-scrolling: touch property, which\ndebuted in iOS 5, is also now available in Chrome for Android. It’s smooth and\nfast. (Nice job Chrome team!)\"\n\nvendor prefix glorification :`(\n\n~~~\npolyvole\nMany good things in CSS3 started out as a vendor prefix. Don't be silly.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow choosing the wrong cloud provider could kill your SaaS startup - ponderatul\nhttp://blog.howtoweb.co/2015/11/cloud-infrastructure/\n======\nstephenr\nNot a single mention of the biggest risk that apparently no one considers\nanymore: Vendor lock in.\n\nIf your business is tied specifically to Amazon or Google or Azure \"cloud\"\nservices, you might as well get out the hacksaw because you've already shot\nyourself in the foot and it's turned gangrenous while you had a circle jerk\nabout how your startup is so \"cloudy\".\n\nBesides that. Jesus fucking christ 2MB of shit to serve me 12KB of text on a\nwhite page? Are you fucking kidding me?\n\n~~~\nponderatul\nWell, everyone is speaking about what they have encountered. But I see your\npoint. Companies should look ahead to when they reach a bigger scale.\n\n~~~\nstephenr\nVendor lock-in isn't just an issue with scale.\n\nYou can be a small player and still get fucked over when your sole vendor\nincreases prices/stops running a service/changes a service drastically/has\nlarge amounts of downtime/etc\n\nIf you use standard components that you deploy yourself, you are beholden to\nno single provider, and you can even split your hosting between DCs operated\nby different companies, to reduce the chances of 'whole-of-org' issues.\n\nHonestly a server vendor should be treated how most people _want_\nphone/internet companies to act (dumb pipes): a dumb VM/Physical Host\nprovider.\n\n------\nponderatul\nHi,\n\nI don't post much, but I read a lot from the content here and haven't seen too\nmuch written about choosing a cloud provider for a SaaS Startup.\n\nIt seems to me a critical decision in the life of a startup, that if you get\nwrong, can cost you at least a few months of catching-up to get back to your\ninitial pace.\n\nDoes anyone have any similar experiences to share ?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDocker and Security - mwcampbell\nhttp://blog.docker.io/2014/02/docker-and-security/\n======\nkogir\nContainers are great for isolating trusted applications from one another to\nease deployment, but using them for multi-tenant security is ill advised.\n\nSince all containers share the same kernel, any local privilege escalation\nvulnerability in Linux can be used to escape the container. Such\nvulnerabilities are much more common than vulnerabilities in mature\nhypervisors, so virtualization is the safer choice.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nThis, and also bear in mind that kernel crypto state, particularly for the\nRNG, is shared.\n\n~~~\nsneak\nOh, fuck. I hadn't even _thought_ of that. That's disaster.\n\n~~~\nSvenDowideit\nonly if you're expecting containers to somehow be a unicorn that lets you give\npeople you don't know have your root password. :)\n\n------\naroch\nSo, does Docker run their blog in its own docker container? If so, it crashed!\n\n~~~\njamtur01\nOops. Looks like a little hiccup but we're back.\n\n------\nvoltagex_\nWas this written in response to an irresponsible disclosure?\n\n~~~\njamtur01\nHi\n\nWe didn't have an irresponsible disclosure. We did recently present some of\nthis information and were asked about our security policy. That policy wasn't\nyet published or announced so we decided it was important to get it out there,\nespecially leading up to the Docker 1.0 release.\n\nPlease feel free to contact me, james@docker.com, if you have any questions or\nconcerns about the policy.\n\nThanks!\n\n~~~\nvoltagex_\nHm, maybe my comment sounded more harsh than I meant it to - I was more\ncurious because I've seen similar statements from other companies after\nsomething bad had happened. Thanks for clarifying.\n\n------\nkbar13\n502 Bad Gateway _\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBill Ackman Scored a 10k% Return Amid Coronavirus Market Meltdown - spking\nhttps://observer.com/2020/03/hedge-fund-bill-ackman-profit-coronavirus-market-crash/\n======\ncjbenedikt\nLet's not jump to conclusions before we can see the losses on his portfolio\nwhich he will have to net off. After all it was a hedge...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhat Is Apache Beam and How Is It Used? - johnson_mark1\nhttp://www.talend.com/blog/2016/05/02/introduction-to-apache-beam\n======\nericand\nGoogle's take: [https://cloud.google.com/blog/big-data/2016/05/why-apache-\nbe...](https://cloud.google.com/blog/big-data/2016/05/why-apache-beam-a-\ngoogle-perspective)\n\nData Artisan's take: [http://data-artisans.com/why-apache-beam/](http://data-\nartisans.com/why-apache-beam/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nA Nixon Deepfake, a 'Moon Disaster' Speech and an Information Ecosystem at Risk - LinuxBender\nhttps://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-nixon-deepfake-a-moon-disaster-speech-and-an-information-ecosystem-at-risk/\n======\nmellosouls\nCurrently being discussed in another thread:\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23896996](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23896996)\n\n~~~\ndang\nComments moved thither. Thanks!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBusiness Card Ray Tracer (2013) - harel\nhttp://fabiensanglard.net/rayTracing_back_of_business_card/index.php\n======\neat_veggies\nAlso see this one:\n[https://mzucker.github.io/2016/08/03/miniray.html](https://mzucker.github.io/2016/08/03/miniray.html)\n\nwhich generated the logo for the IOCCC!\n\n~~~\nmroche\nAndrew Kensler did it again for Grace Hopper Celebration 2018 for Pixar's\nRecruiting booth:\n[http://fabiensanglard.net/postcard_pathtracer/index.html](http://fabiensanglard.net/postcard_pathtracer/index.html)\n\nPictures of the postcard can be found in the footnotes of that page.\n\n------\nsehugg\nLook at that subtle off-white coloring. The tasteful thickness of it. Oh, my\nGod. It even has a watermark.\n\n------\nwurst_case\nYou like that huh? [https://www.dwitter.net/](https://www.dwitter.net/)\n\n------\nr-w\nThey misspelled “Courier” in the CSS.\n\n------\nRandyRanderson\nHonest question: why do ppl do this?\n\n~~~\nalanbernstein\nI dunno, why do people play golf?\n\n------\nrimher\nThis is so fascinating!\n\n------\nCriper1Tookus\nI see a bug in the code. Columns 14 and 17 do not appear to be working. If the\nvector values are replaced with 524251 (which is the sum of 2^0 through 2^18)\nwe should get 9 rows of 19 shiny spheres, but we get 9 rows of 17 shiny\nspheres with the spheres at positions 14 and 17 missing from each row. Can\nanybody say why this might be?\n\n------\nbitmadness\nReally neat project, beautiful code.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: Nabaroo, discover and collect media from social networks - rtrankler\nhttp://nabaroo.com\n\n======\nmercnet\nWhat exactly does this do? Does it crawl my social networks for pictures,\nvideos, and links? Please add more information, a demo, or a video to the\nlanding page. Also, the background is straining my eyes.\n\n~~~\nrtrankler\nUsing the APIs, it gives you ability to search and discover photos, videos,\nand audio from your social networks authenticated with the site. Users can\nthen hand pick their favorite media and organize it collections.\n\nFunctionally it's similar to pinterest but with a broader range content.\n\nThank you for the feedback!\n\n------\nhsx\nI think this is a great idea but do you store these images? If someone were to\nset the content to private, would it still be available through Nabaroo ..?\n\n~~~\nrtrankler\nNo, we don't. The content is accessed dynamically so the private content\nwouldn't be accessible once it is set to private.\n\nAlso, on Nabaroo you can choose to keep your collections private w/ an option\nto invite select users only.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Golang Websocket Chat Room Server - starlineventure\nhttps://github.com/dafinley/websocket\n======\nstarlineventure\nThere's an ios and android app setup to work with it:\n[https://github.com/dafinley/twilio-video-app-\nandroid](https://github.com/dafinley/twilio-video-app-android)\n[https://github.com/dafinley/twilio-video-app-\nios](https://github.com/dafinley/twilio-video-app-ios)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nUmami, the fifth basic taste - nyellin\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umami\n\n======\nmetafunctor\n...which doesn't actually exist:\n[http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2008/07/scienceofflavo...](http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2008/07/scienceofflavor)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: I am turning 20 today.Got some advice?(as an entrepreneur or a developer) - pvsukale1\nI am a newbie web developer. and a wannabe entrepreneur . I am confused about a lot of things  .like grad school , to focus on studies or some idea. I am asking for some advice you got for me as an  developer or entrepreneur.\n======\nthecupisblue\nI am not much older than you and started working professionally when I was\nyour age, tho I did toy with programming since I was a kid. There is one quote\nI like that really makes the huge difference in everything.\n\n\"No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, show up\".\n\nGo to meetups. Considering another language? Go to their meetups. No meetups\nfor your field of interest? Start one. Join slack communities. Join local\nfacebook groups. Help others. Like, if you know someone who wants to learn\ndevelopment, needs help finding a job, needs advice or similar - as long as\nthey aren't a leach/asshole, help them, it will come back to you. Reputation\nmatters. Learn from older developers around you. Ask questions, be polite, if\nyou think they won't help, try their ego: \"Hey, I know you're an expert on\nX...\". As people below said, learn about marketing and sales, learn people\nskills, knowing that stuff is a ticket to be more than a code monkey and will\nmake you a better entrepreneur. Speak at as many conferences, panels, talks as\nyou can. Don't tie your identity to the company you work for. Read books by\npeople smarter than you. Don't argue with people on the Internet, it's\nuseless, especially on social networks.\n\n~~~\npvsukale1\nthank you for your advice. being part of developer communities really helps.I\nhave gained a significant amount of knowledge in these online meetups, forums.\n\n------\nFlopV\nDo everything you do, with a sense of passion. Don't half ass anything. This\nisn't limited to learning web development or starting a company as an\nentrepreneur. Have passion in your personal relationships, your health, your\nfun, your downtime. Enjoy the ride and execute, don't be afraid to make\nmistakes and don't get stuck \"thinking\" about what you need to do, you're\nbetter off \"doing\".\n\n~~~\nJ-dawg\nDo you have any practical tips for doing this on a daily basis? I read your\ncomment and completely agreed with the sentiment, but then found myself\nthinking \"what can I do differently?\"\n\nI'm a lot older than the OP, and fear I have spent a lot of my life living\nwithout passion.\n\n~~~\nFlopV\n1\\. Get quality sleep, if I don't sleep well, my mind is foggy all day, and\nI'm just going through the motions. 7-9 hours is key for me depending on the\nnight. 2\\. Wake up a little earlier than you need to be up. This way you won't\nbe rushing to start your day, and you'll feel a less stressed. 3\\. Write\ndown/be aware of your goals. Break them into small achievable tasks, this way\nyou aren't overwhelmed, but you're constantly working towards them. 4\\. Block\nyour schedule for what you want to achieve, this way you do that specific\nthing, instead of trying to do 10 things, and focus on what that block is for.\n5\\. Look at things with prospective, you've only have so much time on this\nearth. This is tough and my own view changed with a near death experience,\nalthough I'd avoid that one...ha!\n\n~~~\npvsukale1\nyeah and the \"you've got only one life\" perspective kept me inspired many\ntimes. and good sleep is rare (I am in college) but I have realized the\nimportance of it . :) I am trying to wake up early and go for running and\nstuff !\n\n------\ntrost\nRead the book \"So Good They Can't Ignore You\" by Cal Newport. It's not about\nweb dev or entrepreneurship, but it's well worth the read. (I'm a web dev\nturned entrepreneur, so I know it suits your situation). I'm finally reading\nit and it is eye-opening. In short: Become really good at what you do through\ndeliberate practice. This will open doors and get you where you want to go.\n\n~~~\npvsukale1\nthanx man for the suggestion :-) will read that book ..for sure.\n\n------\nBjoernKW\nLearn about marketing and sales. Talk to and connect with people. More\nimportantly, listen to them first.\n\nDon't try to focus on ideas, rather train your mind to be aware of problems -\nbig and small - around you. Take notes about problems you noticed and review\nthose notes from time to time.\n\nTalking to people and noticing things will let you discover true opportunities\nwhile thinking about ideas for yourself is more like a gamble: You might fluke\nit but it'll really be down to sheer luck.\n\nA word about passion: Doing something you love is essential but don't limit\nyourself to something that you've determined to be passionate about early on.\nAs with problems around you rather be open-minded and let passion come to you.\nThere can be passion in the most unlikely places (I for one am quite\npassionate about creating boring enterprise software because there's plenty of\nimprovement to be made in that area, particularly in terms of usability and\nUX)\n\n~~~\npvsukale1\nthank you for your advice. and yeah it is true ..unless you keep an open mind\nyou don't know what else are you passionate about :)\n\n------\nkdamken\nHappy birthday. Go to this site, and read through this article -\n[http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/02/22/getting-rich-\nfrom-...](http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/02/22/getting-rich-from-zero-to-\nhero-in-one-blog-post/).\n\nFocus on saving. As a developer, you can save a lot of money by the time\nyou're thirty, likely enough that you won't ever need to work again. I'm not\nsaying you'd have to, but you can give yourself the ability to choose when you\nwork, how often you work, and what you work on.\n\n~~~\npvsukale1\nthank for your advice ! :)will keep this in mind!savings!\n\n~~~\nkdamken\nNo problem! Basically you'd want to follow these steps:\n\n1\\. Keep your living expenses as low as you can while increasing your salary\nas much as you can.\n\n2\\. Try and save at least 50% of your income. After you have six months of\nliving expenses saved as an emergency fund, focus on maxing out your tax\nsheltered retirement funds - your 401k and IRA's. Make sure to invest in low\ncost index funds.\n\n3\\. If you have money left after, open a brokerage account with Vanguard and\nlook into investing in their low cost index funds as well. Poor as much money\nas you can into this.\n\nMore on picking index funds\n[https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Lazy_portfolios](https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Lazy_portfolios)\n\n------\nnoir_lord\nDon't take your health or general physical condition for granted.\n\nIt's _a lot_ harder to get back in shape than stay in shape.\n\n~~~\npvsukale1\nsure will keep that in mind!! ;)\n\n------\nMalcolmDiggs\nWork less. Smile more. :)\n\nSeriously, this is one of the best times of your life...unless you take a job\nthat squeezes every bit of energy and life out of you. Achieving work-life\nbalance early in your career will make this profession sustainable for you in\nthe long run; so I'd focus on that.\n\nBeyond that: do whatever jobs interest you at the time, live on less than you\nmake, and don't forget to backup your work.\n\n~~~\npvsukale1\n:) thanks. I just want to ask .. work-life balance is it important in your\n20's ?\n\n~~~\nMalcolmDiggs\nLife is important in your 20s. If you max-out the time you're working, you'll\nmiss some of the best parts of life. You're only young once.\n\n------\nsharemywin\nentrepreneurship is about sales. Even the SV hype machine is doing a major\nsales job on people. If you don't like to sell or know some one that does that\nyou like to work with. Find a hobby you'll be happier.\n\n~~~\npvsukale1\nok ;)\n\n~~~\nsharemywin\nI've built several sites/businesses that if I could sell I would be a\nmillionaire.\n\n~~~\npvsukale1\nwhat you gonna do about the selling part? I mean how do you develope it ?\n\n~~~\nsharemywin\nI mean sell a service not sell the sites.\n\n------\ndividual\nDon't seek trophies. Nearly every endeavor in our modern world is some form of\ngamification. Degrees are gamification, or traveling is gamification (Think of\nthose stamps they put on your passport. Did you really travel just to get a\nlittle stamp, or learn something new?).\n\nBuild on strengths. We all have weaknesses and it is worthwhile finding these\nweaknesses early so that you're not hung up about them later. You can only\nbuild on strength. Don't waste a thousand lifetimes fixing weakness.\n\nGet a routine. The secret of success is invariably found in daily routine.\nEveryone has their own routine. The key is to make progress with the routine\nand have an 'upper hand' over others.\n\n~~~\npvsukale1\nthank you very much for your advice!that gamification thing is really true!\n\n------\nmax_\nBeat Procastination!!!\n\n[http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/11/how-to-beat-\nprocrastination.ht...](http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/11/how-to-beat-\nprocrastination.html)\n\n~~~\npvsukale1\n:) procrastination is a major issue\n\n------\nalc90\nJust start - build things - don't stop. Don't fear failure. Make big bets\nstarting yesterday - because at 20 you have nothing to lose - no wife, no\nkids.\n\n~~~\nosullivj\nYes! Take risks, try new stuff, follow your muse. Later on, possibly with\nresponsibilities like partner, kids & mortgage you won't have so much freedom.\n\n~~~\npvsukale1\nthanks :). I am trying to build stuff !\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11674372](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11674372)\n\n------\nhvo\nFirst of all,happy birthday to you. My advice to you is to avoid distraction\nat all cost.When you set goals to achieve something meaningful in life,you\nwill almost always come to face distraction at some point.Distraction can come\nin different shades and shapes. I encourage you to learn how to separate\nsignal from noise. I wish you well.\n\n~~~\npvsukale1\nthank you very much for your advice!\n\n------\nbo_Olean\nJust Two things:\n\n1) Always be writing code to build things.\n\n2) Be selling what you build.\n\nWithout (1) you won't grow professionally.\n\nWithout (2) you won't survive.\n\n~~~\npvsukale1\nthanks :) . how to learn about the selling part?\n\n------\nsavoiadilucania\nStay off the Internet and read books.\n\n------\ntmaly\ntry to identify patterns of things that work for you. No one likes taking\nadvice, but if you can figure out some good shortcuts, you can focus on\ncreating value.\n\nI am just finishing up an audio book of Linchpin by Seth Godin. It has some\ngreat ideas in there in regards to being a remarkable artist instead of being\na cog in the machine. I think this is important, especially as we are moving\naway from a manufacturing based economy.\n\n~~~\npvsukale1\n:) can you explain a little more about creating a value? thanks\n\n------\nerac1e\nWhen you are 30 you will probably be less enthusiastic about cutting code.\nHave a backup plan.\n\n~~~\npvsukale1\n:)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWireless vehicle-to-vehicle communication would be required in new cars - serg_chernata\nhttp://www.theverge.com/2016/12/13/13936342/wireless-vehicle-to-vehicle-communication-v2v-v2i-dot-nhtsa\n======\nblendo\nFrom the fact sheet\n[https://www.safercar.gov/v2v/pdf/V2V_NPRM_Fact_Sheet_121316_...](https://www.safercar.gov/v2v/pdf/V2V_NPRM_Fact_Sheet_121316_v1.pdf):\n\nWhat data is exchanged? The data, known as the “basic safety message” (BSM),\nis exchanged between vehicles and contains vehicle dynamics information such\nas heading, speed, and location. The BSM is updated and broadcast up to 10\ntimes per second to surrounding vehicles. The information is received by other\nvehicles equipped with V2V devices and processed to determine collision\nthreats. Based on that information, if required, a warning could be issued to\ndrivers to take appropriate action to avoid an imminent crash.\n\nWill drivers’ privacy be at riskw hen V2V is deployed? By design, the V2V\nsystem will not collect, broadcast, or share information linked or linkable,\nas a practical matter, to individuals or their vehicles. V2V-enabled vehicles\nexchange only generic safety information. The system is designed to operate\nwithout using any personal information about specific vehicles or drivers.\n\nThe details are at:\n[http://www.safercar.gov/v2v/pdf/V2V%20NPRM_Web_Version.pdf](http://www.safercar.gov/v2v/pdf/V2V%20NPRM_Web_Version.pdf)\nSee particularly \"Proposed V2V Basic Safety Message (BSM) Content\". This\nincludes a 32-bit random id, transmitting 10 messages per second, to include\ntime, lat/lng/elevation, speed, heading, acceleration, and yaw (yaw being the\nrate at which the vehicle’s direction is changing (i.e., the rate at which the\nvehicle’s face is pivoting towards the left or the right).\n\nRange will be about 300 meters.\n\nAnd this goody: A PER of less than 10% aligns with the ASTM standard E2213-03\n(2003) 4.1.1.2 where “(2) DSRC devices must be capable of transferring\nmessages to and from vehicles at speeds of 85 mph with a Packet Error Rate\n(PER) of less than 10 % for PSDU lengths of 1000 bytes and to and from\nvehicles at speeds of 120 mph with a PER of less than 10 % for PSDU lengths of\n64 bytes.”\n\nI expect real benefits when traffic lights could also transmit messages such\nas \"Hey you people coming from the North and Sound, I'm going to turn red in\n10 seconds.\"\n\nAnd as an urban pedestrian, I want a portable unit. Sorry, Tesla owners, your\n\"Ludicrous\" mode may be periodically downgraded to \"Meek and Mild\" mode.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCheck if your data was shared with Cambridge analytica FB check tool - askari01\nhttps://www.facebook.com/help/1873665312923476?helpref=search&sr=1&query=cambridge\n======\nforkerenok\nThe cynic in me keeps wondering whether this is a genuine attempt at getting\nsome transparency points or FB wants to more precisely analyze how many people\nactually care...\n\n~~~\npanarky\nThis only applies to the leak of 84 million profiles to Cambridge Analytica.\n\nThis leak was less than 4% of a much larger leak that's not getting much\nattention.\n\nWhy doesn't Facebook alert users if their profile was leaked to \"malicious\nactors\" who collected profiles of \"most of its 2 billion users worldwide\".\n\n[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-\nswitch/wp/2018/04/04...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-\nswitch/wp/2018/04/04/facebook-said-the-personal-data-of-most-its-2-billion-\nusers-has-been-collected-and-shared-with-outsiders/)\n\n~~~\naylmao\nI think the reason this isn't being reported much on is because it wasn't a\nleak. It sounds like it was just a scrape of data from the site.\n\nScraping websites to collect public information is nothing new. Malicious\nactors do it all the time, as do non-malicious actors too. Google literally\ndoes it.\n\nEDIT: I'm all for facebook messed up and we need more guarantees but lets be\nobjective though. The CA issue is an issue, this 2 billion thing is just a\nweb-crawler.\n\n~~~\npanarky\nNo, this wasn't just garden variety web crawling.\n\nSites can control whether they get crawled or not.\n\nFacebook, for example, stops Google from crawling Facebook profiles.\n\nBut Facebook allowed \"malicious actors\" to access to user profiles for \"most\nof its 2 billion users worldwide\".\n\nThese 2 billion users didn't choose to expose their personal information to\n\"malicious actors\", Facebook did it without their consent.\n\n------\ndevilmoon\nWhat about those of us that actually deleted Facebook after the scandal? How\nare we supposed to check if our data was shared with CA if Facebook requires\nyou to be logged in to check?\n\n~~~\nhshehehjdjdjd\nIf Facebook purged your information, how could they verify your identity? They\ndon’t want to provide the ability to check if an arbitrary person was leaked,\nbecause that has its own privacy issues. So in this context I wonder what you\nexpect them to do.\n\n~~~\ndevilmoon\nFacebook takes up to 90 days to purge my information from their systems (if\never, I am quite sure a ghost account will always remain and it will be a\nstrong one as well since they've collected so much information on me\nthroughout the years). They have my email address, they could just email\neveryone whose data was shared.\n\n------\ncreo\nHey Facebook, how about you notify people, not other way around?\n\n~~~\nandrewguenther\nEveryone who was impacted is getting a notification at the top of their feed.\nLooks like it isn't showing up for everyone immediately though, I first heard\nabout it two days ago and I just saw it today.\n\n~~~\nprimitur\nThey've got my email. They can send me an email notification.\n\nMethinks they don't want to do that because lawyers.\n\n~~~\nHenryBemis\nI won't downvote you, I will just say: duh! the objective is that you spend\nmore time on Facebook, NOT on your mailbox :)\n\n~~~\nnotheguyouthink\nIs \"duh\" really a meaningful statement here? We're discussing this because\nFacebook is already in \"trouble\" for scummy tactics. Doesn't _\" duh, of course\nthey want you to login\"_ sort of accept one of those tactics?\n\nImo, yes - email should totally be possible, without logging in ideally, if\nthey wanted to truly save face. The fact that they aren't is, of course, a\nclear indication that they aren't being honest, instead they're primarily\nconcerned with using this as a scummy tactic to get their hooks into your\nbrain again.\n\nSo.. no, not duh, imo. If we accept \"duh\", we start lowering our expectations,\nin the same way that American politics has as of late. We lose our base\nposition, indicating when we should be outraged/etc.\n\n------\nkerng\nStep 1) Login to Facebook.\n\nSorry, that's not how breach notification works. Facebook attempts to continue\nmaking money off of their customers data being leaked.\n\n------\ntudorw\n\"you must log in first\", er no, I deleted my account, I'd still like to know\nwhat they shared, is that possible ?\n\n~~~\nnevi-me\nI think there's no incentive to do that.\n\n\\- \"I deleted my account 3 months ago, so how come my records still exist on\nyour servers\"?\n\n\\- If a class-action or some other litigation takes place, proof that n+1\npeople's into was shared is worse than n people's info. If an account is\ndeleted, perhaps less risk.\n\n\\- If the only non-creepy way of verifying who I am is logging in, and I can't\nlog in anymore, any other option is bad PR for FB, and is subject to abuse.\n\n~~~\ntudorw\nI have not checked, but it would seem likely I still have some rights to know\nwhat they know about me, does anyone know their current legal obligation to\nfulfil my right to be forgotten ?\n\n------\ngjm11\nOne thing I find interesting about this is the very cautious wording of the\nmessage you get in the \"good\" case.\n\n'As a result, it doesn't appear your Facebook information was shared with\nCambridge Analytica _by \"This is Your Digital Life\"_.'\n\nThey don't say your information wasn't shared with Cambridge Analytica. They\ndon't even say your information \"doesn't appear\" to have been shared with\nCambridge Analytica. They say it doesn't appear to have been shared _by this\nparticular route_.\n\nMere caution on general principles? Or do they know or suspect that there may\nbe other means by which Facebook users' data have been shared with Cambridge\nAnalytica?\n\n------\nverteu\nIs there a tool to check if my social graph data was scraped by the Obama\ncampaign? Or is this only a scandal when it helps Republicans?\n\n[1]\n[https://twitter.com/cld276/status/975568130117459975](https://twitter.com/cld276/status/975568130117459975)\n[2] [http://thehill.com/opinion/technology/379245-whats-genius-\nfo...](http://thehill.com/opinion/technology/379245-whats-genius-for-obama-is-\nscandal-when-it-comes-to-trump)\n\n~~~\nbtown\nThere is a subtle difference in that the Obama campaign obtained consent from\nthe friend who volunteered their subgraph to use that data for political\npurposes, whereas Cambridge Analytica’s academic sources obtained no such\nconsent from anyone. One could argue that the distinction is less meaningful\nas Obama’s usage was not very well informed consent. But it’s a distinction\nnonetheless. And beyond that, Facebook has no incentive to expand the scope of\ntheir PR problem by advertising this lesser known fact.\n\nAs the tweet cites, Facebook was politically biased in a specific enforcement\naction in the past. That does not itself indicate that there is any political\nreasoning behind the decision not to release an Obama tool today.\n\n------\naphextron\n>”You must log in first.”\n\n~~~\njsendros\nI'm not sure how you expected to avoid this.\n\n~~~\naphextron\nBecause I deleted my account immediately upon learning about the disclosures.\nI assumed the notifications would come via email or SMS. They've never had\ntrouble doing that before now. For FB to turn this into yet another data\ncollection vector, as well as tricking people who may have “deactivated” their\naccounts into logging back in and stopping the deactivation process, is just\nthe height of evil absurdity. This is beyond the pale even for them.\n\n------\nblablabla123\nCheck, probably not shared for me and my friends.\n\nThat's not surprising though as I'm from Germany. And of course it's \"not\nshared\" for most Facebook users. However this is highly misleading as this is\njust one example of data harvesting on Facebook.\n\n------\nstuaxo\nI find it very hard to imagine that \"This is your digital life\" was the only\nsource CA used.\n\nIt's more logical that they would have had an ongoing effort to keep\ncollecting data.\n\n------\nTycho\nWhat’s funny about this whole thing is that nobody really cares that _their\nown_ data may have been accessed by CA, they are just angry that _other_\npeople, meaning gullible Trump supporters, may have been affected.\n\n~~~\naksss\nIt’s a ridiculous narrative (the trump thing). Any explanation for behavior of\na group that depends on patronizing assumptions rarely reflects a true\nunderstanding of that group’s motivations. It’s not a reason to let up on\nFacebook but it’s always been a stretch to think that in an election with\nbillions spent that Hillary lost because of this shit. Try a simpler\nexplanation: Hillary was a shit candidate who many distrust, and she worked\nvery hard to get that reputation.\n\n~~~\nvostok\n> Try a simpler explanation: Hillary was a shit candidate who many distrust,\n> and she worked very hard to get that reputation.\n\nIt seems to me that many people who are not Clinton worked very hard at\nmanufacturing this reputation.\n\n------\nitakedrugs\nIs it possible to know if they target democrats?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWhat Do Real Thugs Think of The Wire? - tyn\nhttp://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/what-do-real-thugs-think-of-the-wire/\n\n======\nwhimsy\nFull list of links to the story.\n\n1: [http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/what-do-\nrea...](http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/what-do-real-thugs-\nthink-of-the-wire/)\n\n2: [http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/what-do-\nrea...](http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/what-do-real-thugs-\nthink-of-the-wire-part-two/)\n\n3: [http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/25/what-do-\nrea...](http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/25/what-do-real-thugs-\nthink-of-the-wire-part-three/)\n\n4: [http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/what-do-\nrea...](http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/what-do-real-thugs-\nthink-of-the-wire-part-four/)\n\n5: [http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/what-do-\nrea...](http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/what-do-real-thugs-\nthink-of-the-wire-part-five/)\n\n6: [http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/what-do-\nrea...](http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/what-do-real-thugs-\nthink-of-the-wire-part-six/)\n\n7: [http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/what-do-\nrea...](http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/what-do-real-thugs-\nthink-of-the-wire-part-seven/)\n\n8: [http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/what-do-\nrea...](http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/what-do-real-thugs-\nthink-of-the-wire-part-eight/)\n\n9: [http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/what-do-\nrea...](http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/what-do-real-thugs-\nthink-of-the-wire-part-nine/)\n\n(This is worse than multi-page stories. =( )\n\n~~~\npavel_lishin\n> This is worse than multi-page stories. =(\n\nBut I bet dead simple to write. I mean, sure, getting in touch with these\npeople and getting them to speak honestly to you is hard, and keeping them\ncoming back probably isn't easy either, but... you go hang out with them,\nwrite down what they say, and type it out.\n\n~~~\nwhimsy\nAh, I was merely commenting on the format of the story. It wasn't HARD to get\nthis list, but it was non-trivial.\n\n------\njonathanjaeger\nThe Wire is, in my opinion, the best show in the history of television (or at\nleast of what I've seen). The Wire seems to have received a lot of critical\nacclaim and a cult following, especially after its end. Too bad it never got\nthe popularity it deserved when comparing it to The Sopranos. Although I like\nThe Sopranos, I think The Wire brought a lot more to the table in terms of\nwriting, gritty realism, and pure entertainment.\n\n~~~\nproemeth\nOne thing that can be both a quality and a problem, is that The Wire is very\ndemanding. A lot of what happens is implicit or not directly seen on camera.\nAlso, episodes are not as self-contained as, for instance Mad Men, where you\ncan watch one stand-alone, without needing too much background on who's who,\nand what happened before.\n\n~~~\njonathanjaeger\nExactly, especially when story arcs last a complete season and sometimes\nlonger. You find that many people can't commit to it. It's not Law & Order..\n\n------\nthristian\nOn a related note, a video game journalist gets Yakuza bosses to play and\nreview Sega's \"Yakuza 3\":\n\n<http://boingboing.net/2010/08/10/yakuza-3-review.html>\n\n~~~\nprodigal_erik\nCool. Have to admit I'm surprised they sought anonymity. I remember Dave Barry\nwriting\n\n> The _yakuza_ are about as clandestine as the National Football League.\n> Everybody knows who they are. Many of them get large tattoos and chop of\n> finger joints to demonstrate loyalty or some other important gangster\n> quality. Also they're the only people in Japan who wear double-breasted\n> suits, white ties, and sunglasses. \"Hi!\" their outfits shout. \"We're\n> gangsters!\"\n\n~~~\nwahnfrieden\nEveryone knows who is a yakuza, but they don't necessarily broadcast their\nindividual identities.\n\n------\nrudenoise\nAs I see a few Wire fans replying here, I'd like to recommend two related\nbooks that will give more insight and provoke some thought (if you haven't\ndone so already):\n\nHomicide (a year on the killing streets), David Simon\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homicide:_A_Year_on_the_Killing...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homicide:_A_Year_on_the_Killing_Streets)\n\nThe Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood, David Simon and\nEd Burns\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corner:_A_Year_in_the_Life_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corner:_A_Year_in_the_Life_of_an_Inner-\nCity_Neighborhood)\n\n------\nmise\nSpoiler alert for the first point.\n\n------\nWalterBright\nApparently this reporter is capable of actually doing real research on thug\nlife, rather than the Harvard professors who use \"The Wire\" as a lazy\nalternative to studying reality.\n\n------\nojbyrne\nThey got some things right, as I recall:\n\n\"Shine proposed that Marlo would kill Prop Joe; the youngest attendee, the\n29-year-old Flavor, placed $2,500 on Clay Davis escaping indictment\"\n\n~~~\nkenjackson\nIn the Netflix era, spoilers son, spoilers!\n\nI would have been interested to get their take on Omar.\n\n~~~\nllimllib\nI suspect it would require some heavy editing to be suitable for the Times.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nYummy cookies across domains - Killswitch\nhttps://github.com/blog/1466-yummy-cookies-across-domains\n======\nultimoo\nThis is a great article. It is nice that github is comprehensively explaining\nhow they are protecting user data to reassure their users.\n\nHowever, this is one of the rare blog posts that go on to educate the reader\nabout the technical aspects of something (in this case -- cookie attack\nvectors) that they can put to use somewhere in their own projects. Unlike a\nhigh level gloating blog post that is meant to inspire awe in the readers\nabout how awesome company X is doing thing Y.\n\n------\n0x0\nVery well written blogpost, but it would be nice if they didn't downplay the\nseverity of the original blog post:\n\nA PoC of how you could clone private repositories, such as the github.com\nsource code itself at github.com/github/github (as an assumed example)\n\n~~~\nhomakov\nUntil the fix everything was possible.\n\nI think they meant \"within this few weeks period you could not fixate CSRF\ntoken\"\n\n------\nsamarudge\nWould adding a HMAC string to the cookie value not get around this issue? For\nexample, Tornado has the set_secure_cookie method\n([http://www.tornadoweb.org/en/stable/web.html#tornado.web.Req...](http://www.tornadoweb.org/en/stable/web.html#tornado.web.RequestHandler.set_secure_cookie)),\nwould this not prevent this sort of attack? Even if a script modified the\ncookies, they would never (well, hopefully never) be able to generate the\ncorrect HMAC token so the server could just discard the cookies. You'd still\nbe able to sign a user out but there wouldn't be a security issue (I think).\nAnyone smart able to verify/refute?\n\n~~~\nX-Istence\nYou as the attacker can visit the page and get yourself a session cookie that\nis valid and set that on the victim's computer...\n\n~~~\nsamarudge\nWould it increase security to include the user-agent, or part of the user-\nagent, in the HMAC secret? So the secret was \"abc123Mozilla[etc]\", that would\nthen presumably require identical browsers to work, at the expense of logging\neveryone out every time their browser updates. Or include all, or part of the\nIP address to restrict the network.\n\n~~~\nX-Istence\nUsing the IP address to restrict it would work, since now the attacker would\nneed to have the same IP address to get a session that will stick, but this\nmay cause users to be logged out when their ISP changes their IP, or when they\nmove from home to a coffee shop for instance.\n\n------\nmagic_haze\nDoesn't this issue affect Tumblr (and Blogspot, and Wordpress) as well? They\nall allow arbitrary javascript to be injected by the user in a subdomain, so\nhow are they tackling it?\n\n~~~\narb99\nIIRC only the blog front ends are on the blogspot.com domain. All user\nlogins/blog admin etc are on the blogger.com domain (and no *.blogger.com\ndomains).\n\n(not used their services for ages, so there might be more overlap than i\nremember)\n\n------\ncpeterso\nIt sounds like Rack should fix these cookie vulnerabilities, so users don't\nneed to rely on middleware workarounds.\n\n~~~\ntanoku\nThese are not vulnerabilities in Rack (necessarily), but in the way the cookie\nspec has been drafted and the way Chrome decides to implement it. There's\nnothing that can be \"fixed\" in Rack: the only definitive fix is a domain\nmigration.\n\n------\nsamholmes\nWhat sort of malicious things can be accomplished with a cookie tossing\nattack?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nPretending it isn’t there: how we think about the nuclear threat - monort\nhttps://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/06/pretending-it-isnt-there\n======\nqubex\nLike the author, I spend a significant amount of time pondering the utter\nhorror that nuclear war would entail, the death and destruction it would rain\nupon innocent _hundreds of millions_ of innocent civilians. I find myself\npondering whether my own home city of Milan, a relative backwater\nstrategically, would nonetheless be worth a deliberately targeted warhead\n\"just for the sake of thorougness\". What that would look like, what it would\ncause, what would happen to me and everybody I know, what the aftermath would\nbe. It's truly horrifying.\n\nIn a certain sense I get annoyed whenever I read or hear endless hand-wringing\nover the latest terrorist attack (Manchester and, as of last night, London now\nfeaturing largely in the European public discourse, as well as the\nbewilderment that Italy itself has not yet been a theatre for such\natrocities). Why does it annoy me? Because in terms of impact what these hate-\nfuelled young men can do is negligible compared to what a single high-impact,\nlow-probability event involving thermonukes could entail.\n\nEvery morning I wake up and read the latest outrage tweeted by Trump, and I\nfind myself quaking in fear at the thought that whilst he rabidly poked at his\ntwitter account in the dead of night an aide was not far away with a nuclear\nbriefcase that can inflict essentially infinite damage upon the world, and\nthat it'll be in his possession for the next 1,326 days and nights.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nDevelopers vs iphone - sinzone\nhttp://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/12/facebook-please-back-developers-vs-iphone/\n\n======\nbluebird\nSurprise, surprise... Yet another post against Apple on TechCrunch.\n\n------\nnikcub\nbad title, I know - and you mangled it further, but still, +1 from me.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Simple Binary Data Visualization in R - tincholio\nhttp://martin.varela.fi/post/simple-binary-data-visualization/\n======\nrcthompson\nFor the observation toward the end that compressed files seem highly uniform,\nthis makes sense intuitively. If there were any visible patterns, that would\nimply that the data is further compressible, which would mean the compressor\ndidn't do it's job very well.\n\n------\nlottin\n> as.tibble(cbind(x,y,z)) %>% na.omit()\n\nWhy on earth would anyone write that instead of\nna.omit(as.tibble(cbind(x,y,z)))? Baffles me.\n\n~~~\nconfounded\nAlternatively,\n\n    \n    \n        x %>%\n          bind_cols(y, z) %>%\n          as.tibble() %>%\n          na.omit()\n    \n\nMakes the order of execution a little clearer (and uses more dplyr\nconventions). I still nest functions when working interactively with a REPL,\nbut for code I'll have to reread in the future, the pipes save me much head\nscratching. Death to the pyramid of doom.\n\n~~~\nminimaxir\nFor emphasis, bind_cols is a dplyr function (meaning it gets the speed boost\nfrom using Rcpp, albeit not much difference when adding a few columns), while\ncbind is a base function which does not.\n\ndplyr nowadays obsoletes most of the basic building blocks of data frame\nconstruction, although they are hidden in the docs.\n\n------\nfractal618\nthank you for sharing this! i'd like to try and recreate this in R.\n\n~~~\ntincholio\nHi, author here. You can use the code in there as a starting point, it's\nrather simple!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nUnderstanding Slices in Go - codezero\nhttp://www.goinggo.net/2013/08/understanding-slices-in-go-programming.html\n\n======\nAYBABTME\nUnderstanding slices :\n\n    \n    \n      - slice.c, http://golang.org/src/pkg/runtime/slice.c\n      - Dynamic arrays, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_array\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAVR support merged into Rust nightly - zargon\nhttps://github.com/rust-lang/rust/commit/e91bf6c881dc8fa50dc18fc2f518a6c22424ddb5\n======\nshepmaster\nNote that there is still plenty of work to be done in LLVM, Rust, and the\necosystem.\n\nFor example, function pointers accessed in global variables have the incorrect\nrelocation applied. This notably affects the ability to use futures executors.\n\nHowever, a lot of things do work, and we are always looking for more people to\ncontribute!\n\nCheck out [https://book.avr-rust.com/](https://book.avr-rust.com/) for more.\n\n------\npedalpete\nPerfect timing, I just started learning how to get Rust running on Arduino\nNano yesterday.\n\nThe Arduino tooling left a bit to be desired, and we don't want to re-write\nwhen we move from prototype to production.\n\nI'm sure I'll make mistakes which means I'll have to re-write a ton, but at\nleast this is starting to get me part-way to a good working environnment.\n\n------\nmfgs\nWhat does this mean for someone who is quite familiar with AVR but new to\nRust? How much of what I can normally achieve in my AVR projects can now be\ndone under Rust?\n\n~~~\nzargon\nIn theory, Rust can completely replace C for AVR development. Based on what\nshepmaster said, certain Rust features may not work yet. I'm also a Rust\nnewbie. This article is a great intro to Rust for microcontrollers (but it's\nfor ARM Cortex): [https://interrupt.memfault.com/blog/zero-to-main-\nrust-1](https://interrupt.memfault.com/blog/zero-to-main-rust-1)\n\n------\nkarmakaze\nThis is really cool. I had seen some ATmega microcontrollers but not it's AVR\nnaming.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVR_microcontrollers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVR_microcontrollers)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAn Interactive Quine in Clojure - tosh\nhttp://blog.klipse.tech/clojure/2019/01/08/quines-in-clojure.html\n======\nDannyB2\nI think that using any kind of self-referential technique in a quine is\ncheating.\n\nIf you learn how to write a quine in an 'ordinary' language, then the same\ntechnique works in Clojure or anything else.\n\nSPOILER\n\nThere is basically a pattern to how it works. The program consists of a Start\nand a Finish section. In the middle are two arrays of strings. The first array\nis the strings of the code of the Start section, and the second array is the\nFinish section.\n\nThe Start and/or Finish section are the mechanics that prints out the two\narrays of strings.\n\nFirst print out the first array, eg, the Start section.\n\nNext print out the first array again, but 'quoted' in a way that it actually\nforms the code that initializes the first array.\n\nNext print out the second array in the same quoted way that it actually forms\nthe code initializing the second array.\n\nLast, print out the second array.\n\n------\nInsanity\nI quite like Quines :) Here's a bunch more of them:\n[http://wiki.c2.com/?QuineProgram](http://wiki.c2.com/?QuineProgram)\n\n------\nScarbutt\nClojure is a great language on its own, like many articles show. But it feels\nlike a big chore when you are doing business apps. You are between these two\nworlds, debugging imperative java code/libs and debugging clojure functional\ncode/libs at the same time.\n\n~~~\ntombert\nI have to respectfully disagree. I find that Clojure makes dealing with Java\npretty straightforward, and in fact is (in some ways) a \"nicer Java than\nJava\", especially if you don't mind paying the cost of runtime reflection.\n\nFor example, the way you call a method is by using the (.myMethod args)\nsyntax. Imagine we have something like this:\n\n    \n    \n        (defn myCoolFunction [myarg]\n            (.myMethod myarg \"some argument\"))\n    \n\nThis effectively gives us a level of structured typing...I don't particularly\ncare _what_ myarg is, as long as it has myMethod defined.\n\nThere are other features that make interop with Java pretty pleasant. The\n`doto` macro allows you to have a nice encapsulated system when you have to do\na bunch of property setting methods.\n\n    \n    \n       (doto (MyClass.)\n         (.setSomething 1)\n         (.setSomethingElse 2)\n         (.setSomethingElse 3))\n    \n\nOr, for that matter, the ability to directly compose methods and functions\ntogether without intermediate variables with the threading macros\n\n    \n    \n        (-> myObject\n            (.myMethod 1)\n            (.myOtherMethod 2)\n            (some-regular-function 3)\n            (.anotherMethod 4))\n    \n    \n\nMy point is not to be a salesman for Clojure (even though I love the\nlanguage), but rather to point out that the interop with Java tends to work\nvery well, at least in my experience.\n\n------\njjtheblunt\nIs that \"quine\" not similar to the y combinator?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Evil Within the Comparison Functions (C,C++,C#) - DmitryNovikov\nhttps://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/the-evil-within-the-comparison-functions\n======\njepler\nThis is why you should use clever language features such as macros (C) and\npointers to member data (C++). If your code looks like this, there's no scope\nfor accidentally comparing two fields in the same object, or comparing\ndifferent fields in the two different objects:\n\n    \n    \n            return less_helper(pt1, pt2)(&pt::x)(&pt::y);\n    \n\nwith pt::x and pt::y being integers, this ends up the same size as the open-\ncoded version on the clang versions I tested, but two instructions longer on\nthe gcc versions I tested, because gcc does not succeed in eliminating a\nneedless comparison of y<x. (x86_64 in both cases) This could be fixed by\ntaking away the automatic conversion to bool and requiring the last comparison\nin the chain to specify that it _IS_ the last one.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAutify – driving UI overlay - zdedu\nhttps://www.producthunt.com/tech/autify-driving-ui-overlay\n======\nzdedu\nHey guys, so I just launched my newest startup Autify. I’d love to hear your\nfeedback. Autify about gesture based smartphone controlling.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nI hate Forth - dimitar\nhttp://www.embedded.com/story/OEG20010731S0028\n\n======\ngvb\nMy observation of Forth is that it is used to write an _undocumented_ [1] DSL\nand then solve the actual problem using that DSL.\n\nThis is great if you were the one that wrote the DSL and thus understand it\nintimately (having a prodigious ability to memorize is pretty important too).\nOn the other hand, it sucks if you didn't write the DSL and have to understand\nhow to use it or fix bugs in it because you first have to reverse-engineer the\nDSL. Reverse-engineering the DSL may take as long as writing it in the first\ncase.\n\n[1] The biggest documentation failure I typically have seen in Forth is a\nfailure to document the word's parameters, i.e. the stack contents going into\nand returning from words. This is aggravated by the stack manipulation\noperations duping, swapping, etc. that look more like a game of \"15 squares\"\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifteen_puzzle> than an algorithm.\n\n~~~\nchipsy\nStack languages present a troublesome problem for documentation. Forth in\nparticular is untyped, but my own experience was with a small\ncompiler/interpreter I wrote over a dynamic language(haXe). The language was\neasy to implement, and it solved one domain problem very well(in-game\ndialogue) and another not so well(choreographing two-dimensional movement\npatterns). I've filed it away as \"cool experiment.\" My implementation allowed\nthe same syntax to be used with different semantics - a batch compiled word,\nor words sliced up into lists of function calls, which made them usable in\ncontinuation-passing style - very useful for my in-game dialogue.\n\nThe debugging I encountered mostly revolved around correcting stack\nmanipulations so that things lined up with the right parameters. The brevity\nof these languages comes from the stack allowing implicit parametrization;\njust list your data and then the word you want to use. The downside comes from\nthis property also allowing the stack to leak when under or over-parametrized\n- enabling mystery behavior or crashes that you wouldn't see with C-style\ncalling conventions.\n\nOn the other hand, a major plus: Working with the stack lets you avoid\nlittering your code with named variables. This is what enables Forth words to\nhave extremely high density and readability, and I've incorporated more of\nthis style into my coding elsewhere, so that in the most extreme case, I might\ngo ahead and set up a stack in(for example) an object, and then list out\nmethod calls like a high-level Forth operation:\n\nobj.wordA(); obj.wordB(); obj.wordC();\n\nBlending this with more imperative or functional constructs, I can get the\nbest of both worlds: something compact and readable but also self-documenting,\nwith decent type and parameter safeness.\n\n------\nCapitalistCartr\nReminds me of cats. Ask someone who hates cats to describe cats, and cat\nlovers will agree with the description. Cat hater ends with something like,\n\"And that's why I hate cats,\" while cat lover ends with, \"And that's why I\nlove cats.\" Both to the same description.\n\n~~~\nDannoHung\nI like cats, but I am really allergic to them, and thus hate being around\nthem.\n\nWhat is the similar situation for a programming language?\n\n~~~\nzck\nI have had people assert that they are allergic to parentheses, causing them\nto hate Lisp.\n\nOf course, offering to make them a read macro to let them use any two other\ncharacters in place of parentheses didn't help, but such is life.\n\n------\njrockway\nWhat a strange article. He's upset because it's easy to experiment and test\nwith Forth? OH NOES, TEH TERRIBLES!!\n\nIf you don't like interactive development, then just type everything into a\nfile, compile it, and run. The choice is yours.\n\nIf there's something to complain about with respect to Forth it's the\nflakiness of concatenative programming. I'd rather write a program in terms of\nfunction application or sending messages than in stack transforms. That's why\nI don't like Forth, and is probably the only _real_ reason to dislike it.\nEverything the author dislikes is in his coworkers, not in the language.\n\n------\npvdm\nHe mentioned everything I like about Forth. Peek and poke machine registers.\nQuick check out of hardware. Forth should be in the toolkit of any one\nbringing up new hardware. What is there to hate about it ? Every tool has it's\nlimitations and should be judiciously applied to each task.\n\n------\ncolig\nNote the article was written in 2001.\n\n------\ncsmeder\n\"Well, now when this all is over, I want to tell you that thisarticle\ndefinitely was a joke. ... But why people did not take this article as a joke?\nBecause one has to know Forth to understand this joke. Given that most people\ndo not know Forth, distribution of such articles is anti-education.\"\n\nThe article was satire?\n\n------\ncsmeder\nAre any HN users using forth in your personal life at work? I haven't seen it\nmentioned here much.\n\n~~~\nvineeth\nIt's used as a shell interface in Open Firmware. So, it's in more places than\nmost realize.\n\nBTW, the phrase \"personal life at work\" is amusing.\n\n~~~\ncsmeder\nhaha, oops. I meant to say \"personal life or work\"...\n\n------\nDaniel_Newby\nThis seems to be a rant about the limitations of certain language tools, not\nthe language itself.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nVruby alpha – like virtualenv, but for ruby - joefiorini\nhttps://github.com/joefiorini/vruby\n\n======\njoefiorini\nFor the last few months before I stopped doing Ruby full time I was using a\nworkflow (on OS X) in which I downloaded a binary Ruby build (the one rvm uses\nwhen you do \"rvm install --binary\" on OS X) and extracted it to\n\"/opt/rubies/2.1.0\". I created a script called \"activate\" that exports the\nenvironment variables necessary to run Ruby and placed it under \"bin\".\n\nThen for each project I would copy the entire ruby installation to my project\nroot in a folder called \"vruby\". To load ruby for that project I would run\n\"source vruby/bin/activate\". It would setup all the environment variables with\nGEM_HOME pointing to a \".gem\" folder under the project's root. Therefore gems\nare isolated to each project. To unload, I just close the terminal.\n\nThe vruby project automates this workflow, by installing a binary ruby using\nTraveling Ruby and symlinking it to the local project using GNU stow. The plan\nis to eventually support multiple Ruby versions and more platforms than just\nmy Linux box. Unfortunately, I no longer do Ruby full time and don't have the\nbandwidth to make it as robust as I'd like. If you like this solution and need\nhelp setting it up, don't be afraid to get in touch.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\n'Tap Tap Revenge 3' going free today as Tapulous bets on virtual goods - fromedome\nhttp://www.businessinsider.com/tap-tap-revenge-3-going-free-today-as-tapulous-bets-on-virtual-goods-2009-12\n\n======\ncmelbye\nI want a version of Tap Tap Revenge that is $5.99 _without_ advertisements.\nVideo interstitial ads? Guess which iPhone game I'm going to be avoiding now.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nInterview: Creating a FOSS printed circuit board design tool - Jefro118\nhttps://www.sourcesort.com/interview/urban-bruhin-librepcb\n======\nredis_mlc\nFYI: KiCad is very good and is funded by CERN: [http://www.kicad-\npcb.org/](http://www.kicad-pcb.org/)\n\nLicence is GPL3/AGPL3.\n\nKiCad has high-end drawing features, but the commercial tools will always have\nbetter parts libraries.\n\n------\nJefro118\nEditor here. This interview is a great example of a useful project emerging\nfrom frustration and tinkering. Urban was unsatisfied with the proprietary\ntools for making PCBs while building a quadcopter, and ended up making\nsomething much bigger in the course of solving his own problem.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nGitter – Chat, for GitHub - ejdyksen\nhttps://gitter.im/\n\n======\nrileytg\nLooks really nice but you guys ask for too many permissions! SSH keys??\n[http://cl.ly/U1pP](http://cl.ly/U1pP)\n\n~~~\nmydigitalself\nHey,\n\nI've answered this numerous times in this thread, but I'll say it again, very\nloudly and very definitively: WE DO NOT WRITE TO YOUR SSH KEYS, EVER. EVER.\nEVER. We don't even read them.\n\nUnfortunately, as beautiful as GitHub's API is, they've got their scopes for\npermissions completely wrong and we know they are working to fix this.\n\nShort answer: [https://gitter.zendesk.com/hc/en-\nus/articles/200178961-Why-d...](https://gitter.zendesk.com/hc/en-\nus/articles/200178961-Why-do-you-ask-for-write-access-to-my-profile)\n\nLong answer: [https://gitter.zendesk.com/hc/en-\nus/articles/200176672-Authe...](https://gitter.zendesk.com/hc/en-\nus/articles/200176672-Authenticating-with-GitHub)\n\nMike\n\n~~~\nmdcatlin\nI see your explanation in\n[https://gitter.im/login/explain](https://gitter.im/login/explain) and it\nsuggests a business solution that doesn't require me to believe the promises\nof someone I don't yet trust.\n\n\"In order to create a good first-time user experience that allows people to\ncreate and join chat rooms for public repositories and organisations... [the\nrest of the technical explanation]\".\n\nStop doing this.\n\nMake this feature optional. I don't even want a public chat room for my\ncompany's private repo.\n\n~~~\nmydigitalself\nIt has nothing to do with your company's private repo, it has to do with\ngetting a list of ORGS you belong to.\n\nIn fact chats for private repos is a completely separate matter and we allow\nusers to upgrade their access to GitHub's repo scope if they want access to\nprivate repos.\n\nOtherwise we'd have to do: * signup (only public repos) * upgrade permissions\n-> org chats * upgrade permissions -> repo chats\n\nAnd so then users need to understand three levels of permissions and scope and\nI don't want to burden people with that level of cognitive overload. It's hard\nenough to explain to people that they need to elevate privileges to get\nprivate repo access.\n\nWhilst a few people share your view, we've had nearly 10,000 grant us this\naccess in a very short space of time and so it's not massively affecting our\nproduct right now and we have confidence in the future that GitHub will change\ntheir permissions and introduce a read-only permission that we will then\nswitch to.\n\n------\nmydigitalself\nHey, thanks for posting. Mike here from Gitter.\n\nI know a lot of this audience are pretty bullish on IRC and so we're also busy\ntesting an IRC bridge for Gitter. Once you've signed up, feel free to go to\n[https://irc.gitter.im](https://irc.gitter.im) and give it a whirl.\n\nFeel free to leave any feedback on Gitter here or get in touch with us via our\nchat room:\n[https://gitter.im/gitterHQ/gitter](https://gitter.im/gitterHQ/gitter) or\n[http://support.gitter.im](http://support.gitter.im)\n\n~~~\ncoherentpony\nMike? Why did you have to change you name? _He 's_ the one who sucks!\n\n------\nmikexstudios\nThis is really cool, but is there a reason why the authorization permissions\nrequires r/w access to: Private email addresses, and SSH keys?\n\n~~~\nmydigitalself\nHey Mike,\n\nWe don't ever write anything to your profile. As explained in the link below,\nthis is a standard GitHub permission.\n\nPS your SSH keys are 100% public:\n[https://api.github.com/users/mikexstudios/keys](https://api.github.com/users/mikexstudios/keys)\n\nMike\n\nShort answer: [https://gitter.zendesk.com/hc/en-\nus/articles/200178961-Why-d...](https://gitter.zendesk.com/hc/en-\nus/articles/200178961-Why-do-you-ask-for-write-access-to-my-profile-)\n\nLong answer: [https://gitter.zendesk.com/hc/en-\nus/articles/200176672-Authe...](https://gitter.zendesk.com/hc/en-\nus/articles/200176672-Authenticating-with-GitHub)\n\n~~~\nmisterdai\nAny idea if GitHub will ever alter the way that works so you can avoid it\ngiving you write access. I was all ready to give Gitter a go until I saw the\npermissions that would be granted. Sure you're trust worthy but us IT types\ncan be paranoid ;-)\n\n~~~\nsuprememoocow\nHi, this is Andrew from Gitter.\n\nAnd we completely understand. We're waiting on Github to update their OAuth\nscopes, and we understand that they're working on it.\n\nIf you're not comfortable with the OAuth permissions Gitter requires, you\ncould try Gitter's sister product, Troupe [https://trou.pe](https://trou.pe).\nIt's got most of the same features, but with less Github integration and no\nmarkdown or syntax highlighting.\n\n------\nimjared\nPretty cool but I can't see having another chat client on top of Hipchat. Wish\nthere was some way to bake this into Hipchat since the features look awesome.\nGreat work!\n\n~~~\nmydigitalself\nThanks! We've got a few people migrating from Campfire and Hipchat to us... :)\n\n------\nsunkarapk\nI have been using this since the beginning for my open source project\n[https://github.com/pksunkara/alpaca](https://github.com/pksunkara/alpaca).\nThey provide very good support. And the features are awesome.\n\nShort story, Gitter is awesome!\n\n[https://gitter.im/pksunkara/alpaca](https://gitter.im/pksunkara/alpaca)\n\n~~~\nsuprememoocow\nThanks for all the brilliant support Pavan!\n\nIn fact, Gitter uses Pavan's excellent Octonode library\n([https://github.com/pksunkara/octonode](https://github.com/pksunkara/octonode))\nfor all it's communications with Github.\n\n------\ndangoor\nWe've been testing it for Brackets:\n\n[https://gitter.im/adobe/brackets](https://gitter.im/adobe/brackets)\n\nIt's a really cool service and I think one of the big considerations for us\nright now is that our freenode channel (#brackets) has 86 people in it as I\ntype this. We've potentially got some inertia to overcome.\n\n------\nmariocesar\nAwesome :)\n\nI just integrated with sorl-thumbnail, I don't know if it will be a fully\nreplacement for our IRC channel, however I'm sure most of the devs will give\nit a try.\n\nGitter Room: [https://gitter.im/mariocesar/sorl-\nthumbnail](https://gitter.im/mariocesar/sorl-thumbnail)\n\n~~~\nmydigitalself\nFeel free to give our IRC bridge a go to. It's very new and still very much in\ntest phase.\n\n[https://irc.gitter.im](https://irc.gitter.im)\n\nLet us know you get along with it:\n[https://gitter.im/gitterHQ/gitter](https://gitter.im/gitterHQ/gitter)\n[http://support.gitter.im](http://support.gitter.im)\n\nMike\n\n------\njoeblau\nCould you guys add the Webpage Icons[1]?\n\n[1] -\n[https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/AppleA...](https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/AppleApplications/Reference/SafariWebContent/ConfiguringWebApplications/ConfiguringWebApplications.html)\n\n~~~\nmydigitalself\nGreat request, will certainly look into it. We'll also have an iOS app out\nsoon.\n\n~~~\njoeblau\nThat was going to be my original question until I actually used my _reading_\nskills.\n\n------\nnamuol\nReminds me a lot of Slack[1], but the gh-flavored-markdown and tighter issue\nand CI integration make Gitter stand out.\n\nAny chance of BitBucket integration?\n\n[1] ([http://slack.com/](http://slack.com/))\n\n~~~\nmydigitalself\nBitBucket is coming soon! Follow us on twitter for updates (@gitchat)\n\n------\nyssrn\nIs there a privacy policy or ToS? I don't see one on the site.\n\n------\njbranchaud\nIt looks great, I'd love to try it, but I am not comfortable with how many\npermissions it requires on my Github account.\n\n~~~\nmydigitalself\nHey,\n\nWe don't use those permissions, unfortunately as good as GitHub's API is,\ntheir scopes are very limited.\n\nshort answer: [https://gitter.zendesk.com/hc/en-\nus/articles/200178961-Why-d...](https://gitter.zendesk.com/hc/en-\nus/articles/200178961-Why-do-you-ask-for-write-access-to-my-profile)\n\nlong answer: [https://gitter.zendesk.com/hc/en-\nus/articles/200176672-Authe...](https://gitter.zendesk.com/hc/en-\nus/articles/200176672-Authenticating-with-GitHub)\n\n~~~\nmynameisfiber\nMaybe a good solution would be to request a less privileged token if the user\ndoesn't want integration with private repos. Then, if they want to upgrade to\nintegration with private repos they need to get a new oauth token with the\nrelevant privileges.\n\nI'd love to try this service out, but I also don't want to hand out oauth\ntokens that can read my ssh keys.\n\nEDIT: Just read more comments and saw that my github ssh keys are completely\npublic. I guess that makes sense since they are public keys!\n\n------\nhartator\nHow do this compare to HipChat? Seems interesting.\n\n------\ntwir\nWhere's the privacy policy?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nLiked the Stripe CTF? The World's Largest Student-Run CTF is this Weekend - dguido\nhttps://csawctf.poly.edu/\n\n======\ndguido\nThere are 700+ teams currently registered. The competition is open to anyone,\nbut only students are eligible for the over $200,000 in prizes and travel\nscholarships to attend the final round in NYC.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Uncertainty of Science by Richard Feynman (1963) - micaeloliveira\nhttp://fermatslibrary.com/s/the-uncertainty-of-science\n======\njoaorico\nFeynman has another fantastic talk on \"What is Science?\" [1].\n\nAmong other things, at a certain point in that talk, this is how he lays out\nhis \"best definition of science\":\n\n\"What science is, I think, may be something like this: There was on this\nplanet an evolution of life to a stage that there were evolved animals, which\nare intelligent. I don't mean just human beings, but animals which play and\nwhich can learn something from experience--like cats. But at this stage each\nanimal would have to learn from its own experience. They gradually develop,\nuntil some animal [primates?] could learn from experience more rapidly and\ncould even learn from another’s experience by watching, or one could show the\nother, or he saw what the other one did. So there came a possibility that all\nmight learn it, but the transmission was inefficient and they would die, and\nmaybe the one who learned it died, too, before he could pass it on to others.\n\nThe question is: is it possible to learn more rapidly what somebody learned\nfrom some accident than the rate at which the thing is being forgotten, either\nbecause of bad memory or because of the death of the learner or inventors?\n\nSo there came a time, perhaps, when for some species [humans?] the rate at\nwhich learning was increased, reached such a pitch that suddenly a completely\nnew thing happened: things could be learned by one individual animal, passed\non to another, and another fast enough that it was not lost to the race. Thus\nbecame possible an accumulation of knowledge of the race.\n\nThis has been called time-binding. I don't know who first called it this. At\nany rate, we have here [in this hall] some samples of those animals, sitting\nhere trying to bind one experience to another, each one trying to learn from\nthe other.\n\nThis phenomenon of having a memory for the race, of having an accumulated\nknowledge passable from one generation to another, was new in the world--but\nit had a disease in it: it was possible to pass on ideas which were not\nprofitable for the race. The race has ideas, but they are not necessarily\nprofitable.\n\nSo there came a time in which the ideas, although accumulated very slowly,\nwere all accumulations not only of practical and useful things, but great\naccumulations of all types of prejudices, and strange and odd beliefs.\n\nThen a way of avoiding the disease was discovered. This is to doubt that what\nis being passed from the past is in fact true, and to try to find out ab\ninitio again from experience what the situation is, rather than trusting the\nexperience of the past in the form in which it is passed down. And that is\nwhat science is: the result of the discovery that it is worthwhile rechecking\nby new direct experience, and not necessarily trusting the [human] race['s]\nexperience from the past. I see it that way. That is my best definition.\"\n\n[1] Feynman, R. P., \"What is Science?\" The Physics Teacher Vol. 7, issue 6,\n1969, pp. 313-320\n[http://www.fotuva.org/feynman/what_is_science.html](http://www.fotuva.org/feynman/what_is_science.html)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Truth About Rod Vagg - maxharris\nhttps://medium.com/@rvagg/the-truth-about-rod-vagg-f063f6a53557\n======\nwolco\n\"It is evidence to others that Node.js may not be serious about its commitment\nto community and inclusivity.\"\n\nWhen a project focuses on other things unrelated to the core reason why they\nexist things like this happen.\n\nTo the outside world these issues seem unrelated to why they use the language.\n\nInclusivity seems more like creating documentation in different languages\nrather than kick someone out over a retweet with an acceptable message to the\naverage node user.\n\n~~~\ncurtisblaine\nDoes Node _need_ to be inclusive anyways? We're taking for granted that\ninclusivity is good for a technical project just because it feels \"right\", and\nbecause they told us that it is right. But does it help or does it harm? Does\nit really help to take people onboard who are less technically and more\npolitically oriented? Does it really help to hold down criticism to not offend\nanyone, risking a situations where points are never made and emphasis is never\nplaced? We have an example of a successful and long lived open source project\n- Linux - which is famous for being exclusive and \"snarky\". Yet, it has taken\nover the server and embedded world. Would it have been the same if it had a\ncommittee kicking out and reprimanding people for not adhering to a Code of\nConduct where everyone has to be kind and mindful and avoid criticizing the\nway things are done? Because people, when they're working, will eventually be\nnot nice to each other. They will write snarky comments and they will be rough\nand they will always prefer qualities related to the work they're doing\n(technical / architectural proficiency) to qualities related to the social and\npolitics sphere. Technical projects are technical, deal with it.\n\n~~~\nzimpenfish\n> Yet, [Linux] has taken over the server and embedded world\n\nI would posit that this is nothing to do with Linus being a dickbag to people\nand everything to do with a) they focused on \"getting shit working\" over\n\"purity\", b) were (as best I can tell) much more open to contributions and\npartnerships than the _BSDs, and c) expanded rapidly to cover just about every\nlittle niche there was.\n\nAny of the _BSDs (or other OSs, I guess) could have had the same viral\ntrajectory if they'd focused on the same things instead of their ideological\npurity, code stability, et al.\n\n> But does it help or does it harm?\n\nI believe there are several studies that show increasing diversity can improve\ntechnical projects because this reduces \"situations where points are never\nmade\".\n\n> Does it really help to take people onboard who are less technically and more\n> politically oriented?\n\nThat depends - does your project exist in a world that contains politics? Is\nit meant to solve problems for human beings? Both of those benefit from\ndiversity because, and this will shock you, a very small percentage of the\nworld is comprised of privileged white dudes.\n\n~~~\ncurtisblaine\n> a) they focused on \"getting shit working\" over \"purity\"\n\nAlso, they focused on \"getting shit working\" over \"making sure to not offend\nanyone\".\n\n> b) were (as best I can tell) much more open to contributions and\n> partnerships than the BSDs\n\nAnd they managed to be more \"open to contributions\" despite having a \"dickbag\"\nas benevolent dictator and an \"hostile environment\" (as you probably would put\nit) to beginner devs. And not having a CoC for 20 years. So maybe it's not\nterribly essential to be forcibly inclusive in order to be open to\ncontributions?\n\n> c) expanded rapidly to cover just about every little niche there was.\n\nAgain, they managed that _being a non-diverse environment_ , by most meters of\n(modern) judgement. So maybe it's not so essential to be inclusive when you\nmanage to cover _all_ niches in no time? It was so exclusive that managed to\ncover _everyone 's_ needs? How's that even possible?\n\n> I believe there are several studies that show increasing diversity can\n> improve technical projects because this reduces \"situations where points are\n> never made\".\n\nIndeed, but you have to consider that being overly-inclusive opens the doors\nto bike-shedding and, for example, wanting to exclude perfectly capable\nprogrammers just because they communicate aggressively. I believe that more\npoints are made (and I don't find difficult to believe studies prove that),\nbut are highly capable people valued correctly in such an environment? Is it\nan _overall_ gain, in all aspects?\n\n> That depends - does your project exist in a world that contains politics?\n\nA lot of stuff exist in a world that contains politics, but doesn't have to be\npolitical. Is medicine political? Obviously yes. Are you \"including\" surgeons\nbased on their right to be there? No.\n\nBut I concede that there should be an overall body with actual powers\ncontrolling that a series of Code of Conducts, known and approved by anyone\n(by representation) are respected. And that this body should be periodically\nelected democratically. Oh, wait... we have one - it's called \"Government\" and\nthe CoC are called \"laws\".\n\nHaving that, do we really need to tell people on Github to avoid telling\nothers to \"stop saying bullshit\" because it's offensive? Do we need to make\nkindness mandatory? Do we need to favour inclusion over technical prowess?\nSounds like the recipe for a disaster.\n\n~~~\nzimpenfish\n> more \"open to contributions\"\n\nYes - and Linus wasn't involved in most of them (since he delegated subtrees)\nwhich makes your \"despite having a dickbag in charge\" completely irrelevant.\n\n> Maybe it's not terribly essential to be forcibly inclusive in order to be\n> open to contributions\n\nBut you'll note I specifically said \"more open [...] than the BSDs\" \\- it\nwasn't an absolute. The Linux kernel is very much not open to contributions\nper se -but- compared with the *BSDs etc. it is a paragon of welcome.\n\n> exclude perfectly capable programmers just because they communicate\n> aggressively\n\nBeing able to communicate effectively - and that generally excludes\n\"aggressively\" \\- is an important part of being a capable (and better)\nprogrammer.\n\n> Are you \"including\" surgeons based on their right to be there? No.\n\nWhat?\n\n> you have to consider that being overly-inclusive opens the doors to bike-\n> shedding\n\nIronic that you call it \"bike-shedding\" when that was coined from a project\nthat wasn't \"overly-inclusive\". Almost as if your link between the two is\nfanciful nonsense.\n\nIt's clear your only argument is \"I don't like inclusivity\" and that's fine -\nyou're on the wrong side of history and doomed to fail.\n\n~~~\ncurtisblaine\n> which makes your \"despite having a dickbag in charge\" completely irrelevant\n\nSo not having a CoC and having a dickbag in charge is OK? Cool! QED!\n\n> Being able to communicate effectively - and that generally excludes\n> \"aggressively\"\n\nIt doesn't. Aggressivity doesn't exclude efficiency. Aggressivity is a human\ninteraction with a purpose. If used correctly it can express emphasis with\namazing efficiency.\n\n> Ironic that you call it \"bike-shedding\" when that was coined from a project\n> that wasn't \"overly-inclusive\".\n\nBike-shedding is a reality in non-inclusive project like FreeBSD. Now imagine\nin \"inclusive\" projects where every word has to be carefully weighted in order\nto not offend anyone. People fighting not only over the color of the bike\nshed, but also on the political undertones of supporting bikes, on the\npercentage of male and/or white bike riders, all while constantly accusing\neach other of being threatening. Exponential bullshitting and no work done :)\n\n> It's clear your only argument is \"I don't like inclusivity\"\n\nActually, I like it. But, in a technical project, it should always come after\nthe actual \"getting shit done\" part.\n\n> you're on the wrong side of history and doomed to fail.\n\nAm I? I was there in the 90s, when riot grrrls were all the shit and PC\npeaked. I wasn't terribly impressed back then and I'm not impressed now :)\n\n------\nnailer\nHalf the case here has been assisted by the removal of details for the thread.\nUnless you read the archived version with working links (available online but\nalso reproduced in this article) you'd have no idea what Rod actually tweeted.\n\nLinking to a Quilette article and screen capping abuse you receive doesn't\nmean you're a 'known hostile' and all the various hyperbole that's been around\nin the last couple of days.\n\n------\nlord_jim\n(after reading through\n[https://github.com/nodejs/board/issues/58](https://github.com/nodejs/board/issues/58)\nand other issues related to this situation)\n\nThe Github comment revision needs to stop. It makes it impossible for people\nwho were not involved in the original conversation to understand what actually\nhappened. Without a full archive of all revisions, you cannot even judge if\nthe edits were made in good faith or if the current text represents the\nauthor's original intent. It casts doubt on everything.\n\nThe whole mess is even worse on long threads like the ones linked to. Editing\na comment that other users responded to can make the responding comments look\nsilly or stupid, or completely change the meaning of their response.\n\nThis is mostly a process thing but Github also needs to improve how edits are\nhandled.\n\n------\nzaphirplane\nThis story is everywhere, i don't feel you are drumming up support by this.\nThe options of the responses seem negative to the ppl behind the fork\n\n~~~\nnailer\nIs 'you' Rod, Max or the people behind the fork? Having trouble parsing your\ncomment.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSTF - Use commodity hardware to build your own scalable storage system - draegtun\nhttp://stf-storage.github.com/\n======\ndraegtun\nDaisuke Maki gave a talk on using STF at livedoor.com - _Serve Billions Of\nUser Uploaded Media On PSGI and Commodity Hardware_ |\n<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SR4xAY7eno>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "Ask HN: How to handle Payroll for remote “employees” payroll outside the U.S.? - hichamin\n======\nraooll\nI work as a remote employee for a us based startup out of India. I raise and\ninvoice every month corresponding to the salary account.\n\nFor all legal purposes, I'm a consultant to the company.\n\n------\nthisone\nevery time I've looked at remote (out of country) work, it was always as a\ncontractor/consultant. Never as a true employee. That way the company pays an\ninvoice, the contractor handles all their own taxes.\n\nTreating your \"foreign\" remote workforce as employees I imagine will land you\nin some tricky international waters much better suited for your accountant,\ntax attorney, and your general business lawyer.\n\n------\nbusymichael\nAll of my remote contractors invoice me weekly. We just use a shared google\nspreadsheet that track times on one tab and sums it on another by week.\n\nI actually handle payments via xoom.com -- it is now owned by paypal. It takes\na little work to setup a new payee, but once you have paid a person once, you\ncan pay them again very easily.\n\n------\ngt2\nIf they are US citizens then whichever way you would pay the non-remote\nprobably. If they aren't, then they will tell you which is best for their\nsituation/country according to what's available there and the lowest fees.\n\n------\nhemantv\nWww.rippling.com\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFrameworks vs. Libraries in PHP - pauljonas\nhttp://www.otton.org/2008/08/05/frameworks-libraries-php-zend/\n======\ncousin_it\nCan't help but link to IMO the best piece on libraries vs frameworks: \"I’d\nreally like to give you this fork Jimmy, but you’re gonna need a knife and\nplate to use it.\" <http://an9.org/devdev/why_frameworks_suck>\n\n~~~\nHexstream\nThat seems a gripe about _monolithic_ frameworks... There's no reason a\nframework can't be organised as a coherent collection of libraries of which\nyou can pick only the ones you need and that lets you assemble an\n\"instantiation\" of the framework by choosing a variant of each type module you\nneed.\n\n~~~\ncousin_it\nHere's my humble perspective on code reachability and the fork/knife/plate\nthing.\n\nGood: a library function with no dependencies, that accepts and returns\nprimitive data structures.\n\nWorse: a library with lots of dependencies, and a set of idiotic \"data types\"\nor \"classes\" I have to construct just to access the functionality.\n\nWorst: a \"framework\" that calls your code itself, and requires a specific\n\"environment\" that should be \"set up properly\".\n\n------\nmarkbao\nI use Kohana primarily. It is an excellent framework supporting only PHP5,\nwith a great ORM engine and extensibility. It's fast, efficient, and\norganized.\n\nTheir community isn't yet as strong as CodeIgniter's, but it's growing rapidly\n(2.2 just released!)\n\n~~~\njamongkad\nBeen hearing alot of good things about this framework and community. Currently\nI'm submitting libraries to the CI hive. Will they be compatible with Kohana?\n\n~~~\nmarkbao\nDepends. It would probably need certain customizations to fit into the Kohana\nsystem. Definitely check into the Kohana IRC channel, the lead developers who\nported the CodeIgniter libraries themselves will be in there and will be there\nto help you (#kohana on irc.freenode.net.)\n\nThe fundamental differences (general structure, etc.) between Kohana and\nCodeIgniter are currently pretty low, so it shouldn't be too much.\n\n------\nrichtaur\nEh, not much value in this article. Really, you take a fantastic set of tools\nlike symfony, and shrug it off with a one-liner like \"over-engineered?\" Lousy\nand unfair.\n\n~~~\nMrFantsyPants\nI've been working on a symfony project for the last six months, and after it\nends, I hope to never see it again. Over-engineered fits, but I also have\nissues with many of their choices. In the end, I would have built a better\nproduct in the time allotted using something else, even my own primitive\ncodebase.\n\nHaving come to know it pretty damn well, I'd have trouble recommending it to\nanyone else.\n\n~~~\npauljonas\nI looked at Symfony, CakePHP, and a few others (at time, Zend was not anywhere\nnear production ready), and all just seemed like (a) overkill or (b)\ninadequate. In the final analysis, I wrote my own framework.\n\nOn the flip side, homebrew framework development has become a larger project\nin recent years. Nowdays, you need to include in AJAX integration, slicker\nclient UI, mobile phone accommodation, web services API, multimedia handling,\netc.... And you're going to be reliant on 3rd party libraries that you need to\nresearch, choose, perhaps configure and upgrade at intervals.\n\nHave used Rails for a few projects and it provided a constant stream of\nannoyances as anytime you attempted to do something that didn't quite fit into\nthe DHH \"vision\", it was a hassle. Though I liked the DB migration setup in\nspite of the lock in to autoincrement integer keys.\n\n------\nlyime\nhas anyone used Kohana php here?\n\n~~~\ngigawatt\nI'm in the middle of learning PHP with plans to learn a framework afterwards.\nI had pretty much decided on CodeIgniter since I'm such a big fan of\nExpressionEngine, and EE 2.0 will be based on CI. But Kohana definitely looks\ninteresting - based on CI, but with full PHP5 support. And the payment library\nlooks particularly enticing. The one thing that makes me a little leery is\nthat the CI docs looks a lot more complete than the Kohana docs, and I am\nguessing the CI community is more robust. I'd love to hear some feedback from\nanyone who has used both CI and Kohana...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Will cryptocurrency bubble as large as the dotcom bubble? - codewithcheese\nAs the Ethereum market cap approaches Bitcoin and ICOs are going on sale every week. How would one compare the cryptocurrency bubble to the dotcom bubble in terms of scale?\n======\nairbreather\nBubble will continue while there are still new victims to attract.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBlocklist Facebook domains - z0a\nhttps://github.com/jmdugan/blocklists/blob/master/corporations/facebook/all\n======\njiaweihli\nI highly recommend using uMatrix[1][2] if you're very privacy-conscious. It's\nthe full-blown everything-at-your-fingertips console.\n\nBy default, it blocks third-party scripts/cookies/XHRs/frames (with an\nadditional explicit blacklist). You then manually whitelist on a matrix which\ntypes of requests from which domains you want to allow. Your preferences are\nsaved.\n\nIt is a bit annoying the first time you visit any new domain, because you need\nto go through a bootstrapping whitelist process to make it work. After a while\nI find I do it almost automatically though.\n\nI use it in conjunction with uBlock Origin and Disconnect, and it _still_\ncatches the vast majority of things. As a nice side-effect, I find I keep\npretty up-to-date with new SAAS companies coming out!\n\n\\---\n\n[1]\n[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/umatrix/ogfcmafjal...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/umatrix/ogfcmafjalglgifnmanfmnieipoejdcf)\n\n[2] [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-\nUS/firefox/addon/umatrix/](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-\nUS/firefox/addon/umatrix/)\n\n~~~\njoeblau\nAny browser plugin is inferior to using a hosts file. Hosts file's blackhole\n_any_ network request before even attempting to make a connection. These\nbrowser plugins only help if you're using the specific browser — they aren't\ngoing to help that electron/desktop app that's phoning home. They wont help\nblock inline media links (Messages on a Mac pre-rendering links) that show up\nin your chat programs which attempt to resolve to Facebook. They also wont\nblock any software dependency library that you install without properly\nchecking if it's got some social media tracking engine built in.\n\nI don't even waste time or cpu cycles with browser based blocking\napplications. Steven Black's[1] maintained hosts files are the best for\nblocking adware, malware, fakenews, gambling , porn and social media outlets.\n\n[1] -\n[https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts/](https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts/)\n\n~~~\ngeofft\n> _they aren 't going to help that electron/desktop app that's phoning home._\n\nWhat's your threat model? Mine is third-party tracking cookies, and desktop\napps don't share my browser's cookie jar. So while technically I can be\ntracked by IP from a desktop app, Facebook can't tell if it's me or someone\nelse at the same coffee shop.\n\nIn particular, one nice thing about Chrome extensions is that they _don 't_\napply to incognito windows. I regularly use HTTPS Everywhere in block-all-\nHTTP-requests mode + an incognito window on wifi connections I don't trust,\nbecause the incognito window will permit plaintext requests, but it doesn't\nread my cookies or write to my cache, so it's sandboxed from my actual web\nbrowsing. I can safely read some random website that doesn't support HTTPS\nwith my only concern being my own eyes reading a compromised page; none of my\nlogged-in sessions are at risk.\n\n> _any software dependency library that you install without properly checking\n> if it 's got some social media tracking engine built in._\n\n... is this a thing? (I totally believe that it's becoming a thing, I just\nhaven't seen it yet and am morbidly curious.)\n\n~~~\ntraviscj\nBrowser fingerprinting is an easy path toward a “stronger than ip”\ncorrelation. [1] is an interesting starting point.\n\n1: [https://panopticlick.eff.org](https://panopticlick.eff.org)\n\n~~~\nchopin\nThat works only with JavaScript active which uMatrix blocks for 3rd party. The\nsites one visits mainly are not known for 1st party fingerprinting (that's\nmainly done by the ad networks). The extra paranoids (like me) can also block\nJS for certain 1st party sites.\n\nI use uMatrix only experimentally (I rely on NoScript) but it offers a\nfascinating flexibility of control if one is in the mood. As well, NoScript is\nnear useless when doing stuff with AWS where uMatrix offers the right\nflexibility (allow from site Y, but only when fetched from site X).\n\n~~~\ntraviscj\nDerp, I missed the obvious. Thanks.\n\nI had heard of uMatrix but didn't realize it had that functionality, which is\npretty cool! Thanks for sharing!\n\n------\nDigital-Citizen\nYet again, software freedom fighters got there years ago.\n\nFree Software Foundation got there earlier. From publishing\n[https://www.fsf.org/facebook](https://www.fsf.org/facebook) published on on\nDec 20, 2010. FSF & GNU Project founder Richard Stallman has been rightly\nobjecting to Facebook for years in his talks and on his personal website at\n[https://stallman.org/facebook.html](https://stallman.org/facebook.html).\n\nLong-time former FSF lawyer Eben Moglen rightly called Facebook \"a monstrous\nsurveillance engine\" and pointed out the ugliness of Facebook's endless\nsurveillance (at length in\n[http://snowdenandthefuture.info/PartIII.html](http://snowdenandthefuture.info/PartIII.html)\nbut in other places in the same lecture series as well). See\n[http://snowdenandthefuture.info/](http://snowdenandthefuture.info/) for the\nentire series of talks.\n\n~~~\nheretoo\nYes, but where do they offer solutions to transition (emphasis on transition)\nfrom what people currently use to a more open ecosystem?\n\nAt least in the software licensing arena, having personally visited a lecture\nfrom Stallman, I was left with the impression that he wasn't offering a\nsolution, just a vision of a Utopia without any guidance on how to transition\nto it -- more specifically, how would we make money from open source software,\nwhen currently proprietary software is the default for making money.\n\n~~~\ncyphar\n> how would we make money from open source software\n\nThere are many existing examples, so this is clearly a solved problem already.\nYou charge for support, or for feature requests, and so on. That's how SUSE\nand RedHat make their money.\n\nThe flaw with looking at proprietary software's monitisation is that it\nusually just boils down to \"pay for the binary\". This obviously won't work\nwith free software, you need to charge for development rather than access\n(though you can also use a seat-based model where you only provide support for\nmachines that have valid licenses).\n\n(I work for SUSE.)\n\n~~~\nheretoo\nThat definately is one solution, but perhaps made possible by restricting\ndistribution of software in the first place to get a leg up (see comments\nregarding improvements and distribution restrictions regarding installer\nscripts in SLS\n[http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/2750](http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/2750)).\nThis suggests that it isn't a solved problem, because the initial conversion\nto an open source model (or free software) with support on the side may have\nrequired a different model to start the venture.\n\nNone the less, it's admirable, and hopefully a net benefit for everyone.\n\nMy point was more about Stallman and co calling foul with regards to software\nfreedom, codifying their own ideal, but not giving directions to reach that\nideal. This feels like a safe pulpit to sit upon, where their view isn't\nfalsifiable, useful when they want to say \"I told you so\", and eventually\ntaking all credit for everyone else's efforts in between to make the end goal\npossible.\n\n~~~\ncyphar\n> perhaps made possible by restricting distribution of software in the first\n> place to get a leg up\n\nThis is incorrect, you can download the full ISOs for SLE from the SUSE\nwebsite, with 30 days worth of updates. The source code (and the system\nrequired to build it) is all publicly available on\n[https://buid.opensuse.org/](https://buid.opensuse.org/). I beleive RedHat\nhave something similar.\n\nI'm also not sure that an interview _from 1994_ with the creator of Slackware\nis a good indicator of the current state of distribution business models.\nThough even in 1994, both RedHat and SUSE were selling enterprise\ndistributions.\n\n~~~\nheretoo\nSince the past determines the future, the relevant part of the 1994 interview\nis \"... Instead, he claimed distribution rights on the Slackware install\nscripts since they were derived from ones included in SLS...\", which as I\nunderstand it, is the restriction of distribution I was referring to (perhaps\nredistribution is more accurate).\n\nThis suggests that the business model benefited from restricting\nredistribution and modification of the source code, so breaks the assumptions\nthat the business model was purely based on making money from open source, and\nso doesn't fully support the idea that proprietary software is unnecessary, in\nthe case where we take SUSE as an example of saying it is \"already solved\".\n\n------\nalcover\nI wonder how Facebook devs feel when they read such posts. Do they feel\nrejected ? shameful ? Does their salary really outweigh this collective\ndisapproval of their peers ?\n\n~~~\nsecondarychris\nI actually just got a job there out of school, starting in a few months.\nReading these comments is certainly interesting although it's not news to me\nthat Hacker News hates Facebook.\n\nI've long been skeptical of the effects of social media though, and I'm taking\nthis job mostly just because doing otherwise seems like a really poor career\nchoice. Plus it seems like Facebook is here to stay, and I can dream of\nhelping to fix the problem instead of just enabling it.\n\n~~~\nnot_kurt_godel\nYou are enabling it. You know that and it will gnaw at your soul and make you\ndeeply unhappy as long as you work there.\n\n~~~\njoering2\nI spilled OJ at myself when I read his post. I mean its great he is so\ngullible to believe he can change something at such big corp, and he reminds\nme when I was 16 with big head of dreams how to change the world.\n\nBut seriously - do we know any single example of an intern coming to a big\ncorp and \"saving it\" \\- by that I mean steering it off the dark and deceiving\nwaters and actually bringing it into light for the good of society and people\nin general??\n\n~~~\nGrangar\nDidn't Snowden have intentions to leak NSA documents right from the start..?\n\n------\nlwhsiao\nPi-Hole [1] is another nice way to filter domains at the DNS level network\nwide, if you want a wider reaching solution that supports wildcards. Great way\nto use an extra Pi if you have one sitting around.\n\n\\---\n\n[1] [https://pi-hole.net/](https://pi-hole.net/)\n\n~~~\nmadez\nSadly, Pi-Hole is not integrated into Debian. I feel uneasy running software\nnot from the Debian repository. I hope Pi-Hole will be packaged soon.\n\n~~~\narbitrage\nDebian has had its share of fuck-ups in its package management system. There's\nvery little difference between blindly trusting debian, vs blindly trusting\npihole. Don't pretend you check out the contents of all the packages you use.\n\n~~~\nmadez\nThat is unnecessarily aggressive. Also, besides the snarkyness, it is a bad\nargument. What you write seems to be an appeal to hypocrisy. To see that, the\nfollowing analogon might be helpful: One doesn't need to personally comprehend\nevery decision in a democracy to have more trust in it than in a dictatorship,\nand one can say that without living in a democracy.\n\n------\nbhauer\nLooks like this is already covered by the \"Social\" add-on to StevenBlack's\nhosts:\n\n[https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts/blob/master/extensions/...](https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts/blob/master/extensions/social/hosts)\n\n~~~\njoeblau\nSteven Black's list is better. More complete and also has hosts for other\nsocial outlets, ad networks and trackers to block.\n\n[https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts/](https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts/)\n\n~~~\nthelittleone\nIs there a way to redirect to a local HTML file for any blacklisted host file\naddresses? Something like \"You tried to access a site that's blocked in hosts\nfile\"? I tend to add blacklists like this then few months later wonder why\nsome site doesn't work.\n\n~~~\nhjek\nYes. As the hosts file redirects to localhosts, you can run a local server,\ndisplaying a notification. As root:\n\n    \n    \n        while true; do printf \"blocked by hosts file\" |nc -q 1 -l -p 80; done\n\n------\ntartrate\nIs it really any use trying to enumerate all variants under *.facebook.com and\nsimilar?\n\nThe counts:\n\n    \n    \n        307 facebook.com\n        295 fbcdn.net\n        250 tfbnw.net\n         12 whatsapp.com\n          9 instagram.com\n          3 fb.com\n          3 edgesuite.net\n          2 metrix.net\n          2 fbsbx.com\n          2 fbcdn.com\n          2 facebook.net\n          2 edgekey.net\n          2 cdninstagram.com\n          2 akamaihd.net\n          1 fb.me\n          1 appspot.com\n\n~~~\nSjuulJanssen\nA bit further down in the replies reustle mentions: `It's a shame /etc/hosts\ndoesn't support wildcards`\n\n~~~\nTremendousJudge\nI find that ridiculous. Is there a reason why it's that way?\n\n~~~\nlnx01\nIt's been around since the beginning of time itself I guess. You can try\nsomething like dnsmasq. One liner in the conf file:\naddress=/.facebook.com/127.0.0.1\n\nedit: For Ubuntu this should work (one versions from Trusty and newer):\n\nsudo touch /etc/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.d/local\n\nPut these lines into the above file and save:\n\n    \n    \n      address=/.facebook.com/127.0.0.1\n      address=/.fbcdn.net/127.0.0.1\n      address=/.tfbnw.net/127.0.0.1\n      address=/.whatsapp.com/127.0.0.1\n      address=/.instagram.com/127.0.0.1\n      address=/.fb.com/127.0.0.1\n      address=/.edgesuite.net/127.0.0.1\n      address=/.metrix.net/127.0.0.1\n      address=/.fbsbx.com/127.0.0.1\n      address=/.fbcdn.com/127.0.0.1\n      address=/.facebook.net/127.0.0.1\n      address=/.edgekey.net/127.0.0.1\n      address=/.cdninstagram.com/127.0.0.1\n      address=/.akamaihd.net/127.0.0.1\n      address=/.fb.me/127.0.0.1\n      address=/.appspot.com/127.0.0.1\n    \n\nAnd then: sudo systemctl restart network-manager\n\n------\nrawland\nLet's put this in global context:\n\n    \n    \n        Adblocking is a non-trivial task, but there are trivial solutions.\n        \n        1.) Install hosts-gen from http://git.r-36.net/hosts-gen/\n        \n        % git clone http://git.r-36.net/hosts-gen\n        % cd hosts-gen\n        % sudo make install\n        \n            # Make sure all your custom configuration from your current /etc/hosts is\n            # preserved in a file in /etc/hosts.d. The files have to begin with a\n            # number, a minus and then the name.\n        \n        % sudo hosts-gen\n        \n        2.) Install the zerohosts script.\n        \n        # In the above directory.\n        % sudo cp examples/gethostszero /bin\n        % sudo chmod 775 /bin/gethostszero\n        % sudo /bin/gethostszero\n        % sudo hosts-gen \n    \n\nAdd a cron job, and enjoy your faster and adfree-er internet. Further, you can\nadd your custom (this FB) block to the local files in /etc/hosts.d, which then\nwill be concatenated automatically.\n\n[source]: [https://surf.suckless.org/files/adblock-\nhosts/](https://surf.suckless.org/files/adblock-hosts/)\n\n------\nrvshchwl\nThis is a good thing to enable, but I think that smartphones contribute\nexponentially more data to Facebook services than laptops and browsers do.\nSmartphones give easy access to location, background running services,\nmicrophone. Even if you block these permissions to the app, Facebook gets the\ndata from their data providers that use Facebook ads.\n\n~~~\nrs86\n\"Exponentially\" means nothing here. Perhaps you are looking for \"orders of\nmagnitude\"\n\n~~~\nnostromo\n[amount of data collected from phones]=[amount of data collected from\ndesktops]^[some exponent]\n\n~~~\nbtrettel\nIf the exponent is less than 1 then the amount of data collected from phones\nis less than that from desktops.\n\n~~~\nhueving\nWhen you hear 'exponential back off algorithm', do you envision one that keeps\nretrying faster and faster?\n\n~~~\nbtrettel\nI'd say better than 50% chance that the delay increases. But the phrase would\nbe unambiguous if it were called an \"exponentially _increasing_ back off\nalgorithm\".\n\n~~~\nmarksomnian\nThis is unnecessarily pedantic. An exponential back off algorithm has a 100%\nchance of increasing the delay, that's the whole point. Nowhere other than\npure mathematics would I see the phrase \"exponentially\" and even consider a <1\nexponent.\n\n~~~\ncmstoken\nI think \"needlessly\" would work better than \"unnecessarily\" there.\n\n------\ndontchooseanick\nI advocate for iptables instead of DNS filtering.\n\nProcess of enumerating and rejecting facebook IPs :\n\n* Query the RAD [http://radb.net/query/](http://radb.net/query/) , search for AS32934\n\n* Enumerate ip ranges by [http://radb.net/query/?advanced_query=1](http://radb.net/query/?advanced_query=1)\n\n* Check inverse query by origin, use AS32934\n\n* Grep the response route and route6 CIDR ranges\n\n* Build a netfilter script with REJECT\n\nGives those scripts for iptables (updated once in a while) :\n\n* [https://cdn.rawgit.com/smigniot/mu/ea0f32867907b855063c56ae8...](https://cdn.rawgit.com/smigniot/mu/ea0f32867907b855063c56ae8dbd7237d35913f1/fbmute/no_facebook_in_ipv4.sh)\n\n* [https://cdn.rawgit.com/smigniot/mu/ea0f32867907b855063c56ae8...](https://cdn.rawgit.com/smigniot/mu/ea0f32867907b855063c56ae8dbd7237d35913f1/fbmute/no_facebook_in_ipv6.sh)\n\n* [https://cdn.rawgit.com/smigniot/mu/ea0f32867907b855063c56ae8...](https://cdn.rawgit.com/smigniot/mu/ea0f32867907b855063c56ae8dbd7237d35913f1/fbmute/no_facebook_out_ipv4.sh)\n\n* [https://cdn.rawgit.com/smigniot/mu/ea0f32867907b855063c56ae8...](https://cdn.rawgit.com/smigniot/mu/ea0f32867907b855063c56ae8dbd7237d35913f1/fbmute/no_facebook_out_ipv6.sh)\n\nTo enable :\n\n* iptables -I OUTPUT -j no_facebook_out\n\n* iptables -I INPUT -j no_facebook_in\n\n* ip6tables -I OUTPUT -j no_facebook_out\n\n* ip6tables -I INPUT -j no_facebook_in\n\nBy design, instagram and connect-with-facebook get muted too.\n\n~~~\nDavideNL\nTo get a list of all Facebook ip's:\n\n    \n    \n      whois -h whois.radb.net '!gAS32934' | tr ' ' '\\n' | awk '!/[[:alpha:]]/' > facebook.list\n      whois -h whois.radb.net '!6AS32934' | tr ' ' '\\n' | grep '::' >> facebook.list\n\n------\nfrawley\nI don't see [https://messenger.com](https://messenger.com) or\n[https://m.me](https://m.me) (which also leads to messenger)\n\n~~~\npksadiq\nThe last commit to the file is on 4 Oct 2016. So you could expect that.\n\n~~~\ndang\nOk, we've added 2016 above.\n\nUnsurprisingly, there is recent stuff on\n[https://github.com/jmdugan/blocklists/pulls](https://github.com/jmdugan/blocklists/pulls).\nIf anyone notices it getting updated, could you tell us? hn@ycombinator.com is\nbest.\n\n------\nsource99\nIts actually quite annoying to block all of facebook. There are a lot of\ninnocuous sites that have at least some small reliability on facebook and\nblocking all of facebook makes using these sites a tad bit difficult / poor\nUX.\n\n~~~\ncheckyoursudo\nAny examples? I have blocked Facebook for many years, and I can't think of a\nsingle time where it has mattered.\n\nI run without JavaScript by default, so maybe I just don't notice those kinds\nof things after years of conditioning.\n\n~~~\n__alias\nyou run without js by default? God your internet must be boring :)\n\n~~~\n__jal\nOnly whitelisted sites run JS in my browser. If by 'boring', you mean vastly\nless annoying, yes, it is terribly boring.\n\nI'd likely never look at the bulk of commercial websites if I had to render\nthem the way owners intended them to render.\n\n------\nepiapp\nFor anyone who's interested, I also maintain a tracking protection list for\nInternet Explorer. It's based originally on the Ghostery and Disconnect lists,\nbut I now update it independently. It's designed to be concise and speedy, yet\nalso comprehensive. Note, however, that due to the limitations of tracking\nprotection lists in IE, it can't block everything. You may need to supplement\nit with a small hosts file. Check it out here:\n[https://github.com/amtopel/tpl](https://github.com/amtopel/tpl)\n\n------\nangadsg\nCreated a pi-hole friendly blocklist\n[https://gist.githubusercontent.com/angad/3db2da1cb50a4432c9e...](https://gist.githubusercontent.com/angad/3db2da1cb50a4432c9ea3cfa2bb249f5/raw/7fd0fddc08dd23ed205ec488fd5068c195662fe0/facebook.txt)\n\n------\nreustle\nIt's a shame /etc/hosts doesn't support wildcards\n\n0.0.0.0 *.facebook.com\n\n~~~\nrbritton\nYou could sort of work around that by just blocking their IP ranges:\n\n[https://stackoverflow.com/a/11164738](https://stackoverflow.com/a/11164738)\n\n~~~\ntopranks\nThe ranges could change over time.\n\nIf you run your own DNS resolver you can use the wildcard trick.\n\nSomething like this in an RPZ zone should do it:\n\n    \n    \n        facebook.com    IN CNAME .\n        *.facebook.com  IN CNAME .\n        facebook.net    IN CNAME .\n        *.facebook.net  IN CNAME .\n        fbcdn.com       IN CNAME .\n        *.fbcdn.com     IN CNAME .\n        fbcdn.net       IN CNAME .\n        *.fbcdn.net     IN CNAME .\n        fb.com          IN CNAME .\n        *.fb.com        IN CNAME .\n        fb.me           IN CNAME .\n        *.fb.me         IN CNAME .\n        tfbnw.com       IN CNAME .\n        *.tfbnw.com     IN CNAME .\n\n~~~\nzaarn\n\n        *.facebook.com IN CNAME .\n    \n\nshould be unnecessary since the DNS zone above it, facebook.com is already\nCNAME'd. Most resolvers will take a CNAME as \"any further requests go to\nhere\", which to my experience usually includes NS servers.\n\n(This is also why you don't CNAME your root domain, CNAME conflicts with any\nother record type)\n\n------\ndigitalbase\nSomeone should start a business for this:\n\nProvide people that care about privacy with a public DNS server they can use\nthat auto blocks those domains (and update's its lists). I would pay for it\n(few dollars a month)\n\nFeature suggestion: allow people to add their own entries so I can purposely\nblock reddit or hacker news to reduce distractions.\n\nPretty sure I would set this DNS server on both my phone and desktop.\n\n------\nthetruthseeker1\nCan somebody elaborate why this link from 2016 is gaining steam here? Is it\nbecause Cambridge Analytica misused FB data? May be I am missing something, do\nwe know if facebook was wittingly complicit?\n\n~~~\nRealityVoid\nI'm not a big fan of Facebook but I do find it useful. That being said, this\nfeels to me like a coordinated attack campaign. Take an issue, blow it up,\nattach various other nebulous bad things and push it to a public that was\nalready primed against that very service. Seems to be working great.\n\nI do not know who or why is pushing this campaign but it definitely feels\norganized and calculated.\n\n------\nnielsbjerg\nThe whole conversation, without having read into everything here in absolute\ndetail, seem to be very tool oriented. Am I the only one here overwhelmed by\nthe sheer amount of domains involved?\n\n~~~\nMoru\nIt's mostly subdomains since windows can't use wildcards (*.domain.com).\nSetting up such a large hosts-file might slow down your computer a bit though.\n\nThere are some tools that lets you run wildcards in the hosts-file but can't\nremember the names at the moment.\n\n~~~\nnielsbjerg\nAgain, a tool concern. Not trying to downplay the possible solutions, but\nrather bring attention to the magnetude\n\n~~~\nMoru\nI'm not sure what you mean, I see 13 different domains in that list, the rest\nis subdomains of the same 13 domains. You can't count that as \"sheer amount of\ndomains\". Our company probably have 2000 different subdomains on 5 domains?\nSubdomains we can create as we want to, it's just some letters before the\ndomain part of the adress. Eg: Subdomain.Domain.com. That is what the wildcard\nis for, *.Domain.com catches them all no matter how many extra we create.\nWildcarddomain is needed for example on an SSL certificate to accept any\nsubdomain for the domain you ordered.\n\n------\nyorby\nblock all of Google's IP addresses:\n[https://support.google.com/a/answer/60764?hl=en](https://support.google.com/a/answer/60764?hl=en)\n(note: your internet (the web) will stop working properly if you do block all\nof those IPs, which is a big problem)\n\n~~~\ncbdumas\nCan you be more specific about your internet not working with those addresses\nblocked? What exactly doesn't work?\n\n~~~\nrphlx\nA lot of sites pull in popular js libraries from google; the idea being that\nthey'll already be in a user's cache and even if they're not, google has a\nbetter (cheaper, faster and/or lower latency) CDN than the site author.\n\n~~~\n908087\nMost of this can be worked around by installing Decentraleyes, which replaces\ncommon CDN-loaded resources with local copies.\n\n~~~\ngeokon\nI'd like something so I can use the web from China (without a VPN) . Right now\na lot of the common JS/fonts/etc from Google break - and webpages go wonky. Is\nthere a way to preload a cache?\n\n------\nmalloreon\ndoes this include instagram, messenger, and whatsapp domains too? I'm not sure\nif these services use their own domains.\n\n'fb' itself will eventually be, if it's not already, just a data holding\ncompany for these and other acquisitions.\n\n~~~\nflixic\nYes it does. But you could have found this out way faster by just searching on\nthe page.\n\n------\npaxy\nI wish it were that easy. Good start, but Facebook will still:\n\n1\\. Get your data from other websites/apps that you allow\n\n2\\. Get your data through your friends that use Facebook\n\n~~~\ndwighttk\nshouldn't this keep javascript from facebook domains from loading?\n\n~~~\npaxy\nYes, but a lot of data transfer happens on the backend without the client\nbeing involved.\n\n~~~\nfreedomben\nThis is certainly possible but hasn't been my experience. Most of Facebook\nstuff is xhr that is easy to block on the client side.\n\nIt's certainly possible that services are doing this on the backend, but it\nseems far easier to plug in Facebook's libraries in the frontend.\n\n------\nheckanoobs\nWhy would you block all the domains but still keep your account that you would\nno longer be able to access? The account is the problem not the domains. You\nwould have to block the domains on every device you use. Just kill the problem\nat the source and delete your entire surveillance account with facebook.\n\n~~~\nlnx01\nBecause facebook tracks you even if you don't have an account.\n\n------\nknowThySelfx\nWhy only Facebook? All companies which store data are suspect.\n\n------\nwalrus01\nSimilar solution to blocking things at your local recursive DNS resolver,\nassuming you have a captive pool of devices, let's say in 10.240.0.0/24) in a\nLAN, all of which are given DHCP addresses and DHCP-assigned DNS resolvers,\nand you're in control of a bind9 server that's on the same LAN.\n\nNot going to prevent people with admin rights on their workstations from using\nanother DNS resolver (or VPN, or whatever), but a fairly low effort solution.\n\n[https://community.jisc.ac.uk/library/janet-services-\ndocument...](https://community.jisc.ac.uk/library/janet-services-\ndocumentation/how-block-or-sinkhole-domains-bind)\n\n------\nmockindignant\nThere is more coverage of this topic here:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11791052](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11791052)\n\n------\nthrowaway84742\nDoes anyone have this for Google ads domains and/or YouTube?\n\n~~~\namarka\nI don't have a list that I can easily share, but you can curate your own off\nof\n[https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts](https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts)\n\n~~~\nthrowaway84742\nDidn’t know about this. Thanks for the link!\n\n------\nodammit\nMan, that person put in some effort. That’s a lot of good lists.\n\nScrolling through them it’s really interesting to see the other sites\ncompanies own.\n\nI always forget WhatsApp is Facebook.\n\n------\nRickS\nThis list presumably updates/moves around often.\n\nIs there a service that, say, subscribes to a live list of this domain set\n(like adblock consumes easylist) and updates my hostfile automatically?\n\nIf not, that is a piece of software that I would find useful and worth paying\nfor (with the ability to audit the software's ability to phone home about the\nrest of my hosts file)\n\n~~~\ndao-\nYour host file, hmm. Maybe something based on disconnect.me. If you're mostly\nworried about the browser (which seems sensible for most users), you can just\nenable tracking protection in Firefox: [https://support.mozilla.org/en-\nUS/kb/tracking-protection](https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/tracking-\nprotection)\n\n------\nstirner\nI wrote a small tool that translates AdBlock Plus filter lists into hosts file\nformat [1]. It can only translate simple domain-name rules but might be of\ninterest to people in this thread.\n\n[1]\n[https://github.com/wwalexander/hostsblock](https://github.com/wwalexander/hostsblock)\n\n~~~\nzackmorris\nThank you, I didn't know about the `cat -` trick to read from stdin (works the\nsame as `echo hi | cat /dev/stdin`). Even after all this time, I still learn\nsomething new every day.\n\n~~~\nstirner\n\n        echo hi | cat -\n    \n\nis also equivalent to\n\n    \n    \n        echo hi | cat\n    \n\nYou only need the - if you are concatenating other files with stdin [1].\nIncidentally, any use of\n\n    \n    \n        echo x | y\n    \n\ncan be replaced (at least in Bash) with\n\n    \n    \n        y <<< \"x\"\n    \n\nThis is called a \"here string\" [2].\n\n[1]\n[https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=cat&manpath=FreeBS...](https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=cat&manpath=FreeBSD+9.1-RELEASE)\n\n[2]\n[http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/x17837.html](http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/x17837.html)\n\n------\nPete_D\nA lot of commenters mention dnsmasq. I wrote some scripts a while ago to help\nminimize a dnsmasq config that had been generated from a hosts file. People in\nthis thread might find them useful.\n\n[https://petedeas.co.uk/dnsmasq/](https://petedeas.co.uk/dnsmasq/)\n\n------\nMizza\nI made one of these for Google:\n[https://github.com/Miserlou/nogoogle](https://github.com/Miserlou/nogoogle)\n\nalso: [https://github.com/Miserlou/Poop](https://github.com/Miserlou/Poop)\n\n~~~\nthrowahey\nYour list does basically nothing for Google tracking domains. Here is mine:\n(note that this blocks recaptcha which a lot of websites are now using for\nlogin annoyingly). I add entries for IPv4 and IPv6 (0.0.0.0 and ::1\nrespectively).\n\n    \n    \n        0.0.0.0 google.com\n        0.0.0.0 www.google.com\n        0.0.0.0 fonts.googleapis.com\n        0.0.0.0 google-analytics.com\n        0.0.0.0 apis.google.com\n        0.0.0.0 tpc.googlesyndication.com\n        0.0.0.0 ssl.google-analytics.com\n        0.0.0.0 www.google-analytics.com\n        0.0.0.0 www-google-analytics.l.google.com\n        0.0.0.0 stats.g.doubleclick.net\n        0.0.0.0 clients.l.google.com\n        0.0.0.0 pagead.l.doubleclick.net\n        0.0.0.0 pagead2.googlesyndication.com\n        0.0.0.0 googleads.g.doubleclick.net\n        0.0.0.0 www-googletagmanager.l.google.com\n        0.0.0.0 googleadapis.l.google.com\n        0.0.0.0 gstatic.com\n        0.0.0.0 ssl.gstatic.com\n        0.0.0.0 www.gstatic.com\n        0.0.0.0 www.googletagservices.com\n        0.0.0.0 www.googletagmanager.com\n        0.0.0.0 securepubads.g.doubleclick.net\n        0.0.0.0 tpc.googlesyndication.com\n    \n    \n\nTo login to a google service such as gmail or enable captcha, comment out the\nthree (*.)gstatic domains.\n\n~~~\nmito88\nnice!\n\n------\nxyrouter\nI can block domains on my laptop, no problem. But I have not been able to\nfigure out any convenient way to block websites on my Android phone. My\nAndroid phone comes with a Chrome browser. Any ideas about how to block\nwebsites reliably on an unrooted/jail-not-broken Android phone?\n\n~~~\nbronco21016\nBlock at DNS level on a device (router or DNS server) and proxy all Android\ntraffic to said device.\n\nI use a pfsense router running OpenVPN and pfblockerNG. PfblockerNG sinkholes\nall DNS requests to domains from a list such as this one. Then by using\nOpenVPN I simultaneously encrypt my connection when roaming remotely and I can\nspecify to use my home DNS server to sinkhole ad/tracking domains.\n\n~~~\nxyrouter\nThanks for the suggestion. I think this will work fine in a home network that\nI can control. But this is not going to work when I am traveling and using my\ncarrier's 4G network. Am I right? Is there any nifty solution to address the\nlater?\n\nI am a little disappointed that I can't do something as simple as install\nplugins for my phone browser that can block sites.\n\n~~~\nmoviuro\n> But this is not going to work when I am traveling and using my carrier's 4G\n> network.\n\nThat's what VPNs are for. See openvpn, for example (or tinc, strongswan, etc)\n\n------\nyumraj\nMinor segue, is there any easy way to Geo-block URLs, both by ccTLDs and by\ngeolocation of IPs from certain countries.\n\nI have pi-hole running but it doesn't support that currently, best it does is\nwildcard but even for that it needs domain and won't do just on the ccTLD.\n\n~~~\ndredmorbius\nASNs, kinda, maybe.\n\n------\nsnowpanda\nNice to see HackerNews create pull requests to make the list more up to date.\nI hope they get committed.\n\n[https://github.com/jmdugan/blocklists/pulls](https://github.com/jmdugan/blocklists/pulls)\n\n------\nryanlol\nThis is a terrible approach. Facebook can rotate many of these names whenever\nthey feel like.\n\n------\ncyberferret\nInteresting to see several domain names/servers with 'mqtt' referenced.\nWondering if Facebook interacts with IoT devices routinely, or perhaps they\nuse MQTT for Messenger message transfers etc.?\n\n------\nHenryBemis\nI want to share my favorite HOSTS file provider [1] which includes FB\naddresses.\n\n[1]: [http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/](http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/)\n\n~~~\nmito88\ngoatse!\n\n:)\n\n------\nDavideNL\non macOS i use a bash script to get all Facebook ip addresses:\n\n    \n    \n      whois -h whois.radb.net '!gAS32934' | tr ' ' '\\n' | awk '!/[[:alpha:]]/' > \"/etc/pf.anchors/usr.home.sub/facebook.list\"\n    \n\nand then use a pfctl anchor to block them all\n\n    \n    \n      table <facebook> persist file \"/etc/pf.anchors/usr.home.sub/facebook.list\"\n      block drop quick to <facebook>\n\n------\namelius\nI need something like this that I can install on friend and family's\nphones/iPads/computers whenever they ask me to fix something for them >:)\n\n~~~\nFabHK\nGas Mask is a neat macOS app to manage hosts. You can subscribe to a remote\nhosts file, too.\n\n------\njakeogh\nMy setup:\n[https://github.com/jakeogh/dnsgate](https://github.com/jakeogh/dnsgate)\n\n------\npartycoder\nA blacklist approach to this is for sure a cat and mouse game. A better\napproach is to incrementally whitelist the domains you trust.\n\n~~~\nrphlx\nIn general blacklists are a better choice overall for non-technical users. Do\nyou really want an angry text message or phone call every time $FAMILY_MEMBER\nhas some site that's rendering poorly because they haven't properly\nwhitelisted one of the 12 legit domains it hits? And do you really trust them\nto _not_ whitelist some ad & tracking domains?\n\n~~~\nmegous\nPresumably, $FAMILY_MEMBER would have to get past the phone number whitelist\ntoo. So it might not be that bad.\n\n------\nanonu\nI might do this. Just curious if this will break the internet for me... Will\ncertain non Facebook pages fail to load?\n\n------\nChoGGi\nThe list has fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net, but it missed fbcdn-\ncreative-a.akamaihd.net\n\nIf anyone wants it\n\n------\njason_slack\nAre there any implications to having 40,000+ lines in your /etc/hosts?\n\n~~~\nnomercy400\nIt's basically a big lookup table, trading storage for speed.\n\nThe most noticable effect is that your web pages load faster, because a lot\nrequests for unnecessary data (eg. Facebook in this example) complete\nimmediately. Occasionally you will miss out on a webpage that depends on it.\n\nThink uBlock Origin, but not for just your browser but your entire system.\n\n~~~\njason_slack\nThanks I have used /etc/hosts for a long time. I however just realized exactly\nhow big mine is getting.\n\n------\ndandigangi\nOne of the posts I wish I could upvote more than once. Thank you.\n\n------\nalpb\nThis list must've updated a lot since 2016.\n\n------\nmito88\nwhat is the difference between 0.0.0.0 and 127.0.0.1 with respect to redire\nction?\n\nwill redirecting to localhost eat more cpu cycles?\n\n~~~\ndredmorbius\n0.0.0.0 is no host. 127.0.0.1 is localhost, and will still generate a query.\n\nIf you've a webserver there, its logs might get busy with the blocked traffic\nrequests.\n\n------\nimhelpingu\nIt's pathetic that it takes a literal propaganda campaign to make people see\nthe problem with facebook after 10 years, but whatever I'll take it.\n\n------\ndrchiu\nAny way to do this at the router level?\n\n~~~\nspaceandshit\nPi-hole on a raspberry pi\n\n~~~\nmito88\nBeavis?\n\n:)\n\n------\nstiangrindvoll\nThis is quite a powerful message!\n\n------\nCiPHPerCoder\nWhy would you block WhatsApp?\n\n~~~\nbinarysaurus\nOwned by FB.\n\n~~~\nCiPHPerCoder\nIt may be owned by Facebook, but it's one of the viable secure messaging apps\nfor people what don't use Signal. The other is Wire.\n\n~~~\n908087\nIt's only viable if you're comfortable sharing your contact list and metadata\nwith Facebook.\n\n~~~\nCiPHPerCoder\nE2E encryption that isn't MTProto? Done.\n\n------\nhalamadrid\nWow the hate/dislike is very real.\n\n------\nmito88\nmerci.\n\n------\nFroyoh\nWhy not do something like *facebook.com?\n\n~~~\ndredmorbius\nHosts syntax doesn't allow for that.\n\nDNSMasq would, however, allow you to only specify each TLD.\n\n------\ncomputator\nI'd like to mention a problem with blocklists like this that you put into\n/etc/hosts. I've noticed that many sites trivially evade the blocklist by\nadding a redirect. I.e., if example.com is blocked, but it redirects to\nexample.ru or example123.com or example.team, then it still works. The\nspammers and advertisers don't have to change all the existing links to\nexample.com -- they simply need to add a new redirect every few weeks.\n\n~~~\nrem7\nthat's not how /etc/hosts works. the domain listed in /etc/hosts (example.com)\nwill point to 0.0.0.0 (or 127.0.0.1)... you'll never even make it to the\nserver so you won't get the redirect.\n\n~~~\ncomputator\nOops, you're right. I discovered that it was my browser that was \"helpfully\"\nadding www in front of lots of domains I had blocked in /etc/hosts. For\ninstance, if I blocked example.com, my browser would automatically try\nwww.example.com (which might then redirect to something else entirely).\n\nIn my case, I'm using Firefox. I can stop this behavior by setting\n\"browser.fixup.alternate.enabled\" to \"false\" in about:config.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSocks - A javascript UI toolkit inspired by Shoes - desheikh\nhttp://wiki.github.com/petejkim/socks\nIntroducing Socks. An easy to use javascript UI toolkit with Shoes (http://www.shoooes.net) like syntax. Build webapps quickly and easily with no knowledge of HTML or CSS.\n======\nSephr\nIMO, a better MIME type would be application/socks+ecmascript or\napplication/socks+javascript instead of application/javascript-socks. That\nlooks closer to how content types that are built on XML have their MIME types.\nFor example, XHTML's MIME type is application/xhtml+xml, not application/xml-\nxhtml.\n\nAlso, a shoes-like syntax is already available in JavaScript, though it would\nbe very hard to utilize as-is (in <JS 1.7, wrap in a function and use `var'\ninstead of `let'):\n\n    \n    \n        app: {\n          stack: {\n            para(\"Foo 1\"); // para as a function\n            para: \"Foo 2\"; // para as a label\n            button: {\n              let bar = new Button(\"Bar\");\n              bar.onclick = function() { alert(\"Baz!\") }\n            };\n            flow: {\n              style: ({ // CSS block\n                color: \"red\",\n                after: {\n                  content: \"!\"\n                }\n              });\n              para(\"This is red and ends with an exclamation point\");\n            }\n          }\n        }\n\n~~~\nraingrove\nthanks a lot for your insight. will look into fixing those in future releases\n\n------\nchaosmachine\nThis project makes the same mistake Prototype does: Using the unmodified name\nof an existing tech concept.\n\n------\nomouse\nI started a similar project last year during the summer:\n<http://github.com/omouse/sandals/tree/master>\n\nI called it Sandals and it's dead mainly because I'm lazy but also because I\nfind it stupid to re-invent the wheel. YAY yet another UI toolkit to learn\n_grumble_\n\n------\nhelium\nHmmm... pretty cool. I wrote a little sample app for this that will generate a\nsierpinski triangle:\n\n[http://cloud.github.com/downloads/petejkim/socks/socks-\nchaos...](http://cloud.github.com/downloads/petejkim/socks/socks-chaos.html)\n\nAnd the code: <http://gist.github.com/113435>\n\n------\nandreyf\nThat doesn't look like JS syntax... am I missing something, or are they using\nJS to parse/interpret it?\n\n~~~\njayro\nIt's JavaScript object literal syntax.\n\n~~~\nmisuba\nNo - the application/javascript-socks scripts are putting Ruby-style code\nblocks in places JavaScript doesn't generally allow them. Presumably that's\nthe reason for the alternate MIME type on the script.\n\n------\njcapote\nLooking over the api it's pretty thorough and the custom controls look very\npolished; nice work.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAgent-Based Modelling for Hospital Resource Allocation in Viral Crises - floodedhere\nhttps://github.com/jetnew/COVID-Resource-Allocation-Simulator\n======\nMrK93\nHaving developed a discrete event simulator myself for my master's thesis I\ncan guarantee that the usefulness of tools like this one depends heavily on\nthe veracity and quality of the time parameters and the random distributions.\n\nThis one is a very cool exercise, but applicability is dubious.\n\nAnyway, does anybody have any suggestion about job positions where the job\nrequires developing this kind of stuff (simulators, process optimization,\nheuristics)? Being a fresh graduate in this time period is pretty bad, but\ndoesn't hurt to do some research on interesting job positions. I only see web\nrelated job positions and \"machine learning\" job positions lately.\n\n~~~\n7thaccount\nIf you're interested in MIP/LP optimization models and have either AIMMS or\nGAMS experience and either CPLEX or GUROBI knowledge, the vendors of most\npower systems simulators probably have some openings. They're large codebases,\nbut actively saving billions annually in the US. The problems of unit\ncommitment and economic dispatch are well understood, but the business rules\nframework is massive for all the US RTO/ISOs and is always changing.\n\n~~~\nMrK93\nI have research experience with MIP/LP and GUROBI but didn't know about the\nfield of power systems simulations, so thanks for the suggestion!\n\n~~~\n7thaccount\nNo problem. Vendors are GE, Siemens, and ABB. I'm sure at least one is hiring.\nThey generally prefer some industry experience, but a Masters or PhD would\nlikely go far, especially with some research projects.\n\nThese models are amongst the most difficult out there as far as size and time\nrequirements. One of the founders of GUROBI got involved with the industry\nrecently to try to help some researchers speed things up.\n\nIf you want a decent example/starter model to analyze, there is a unit\ncommitment model someone made in Xpress that is free online if you Google for\nit that shows the fundamental formulation although they are much larger in\npractice.\n\n~~~\nMrK93\nThis paper?\n[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269636462_Implement...](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269636462_Implementing_a_Unit_Commitment_Power_Market_Model_in_FICO_Xpress-\nMosel)\n\nAmazing, thank you! Having a lot of time in my hands I could try to implement\nit in some other environment.\n\n~~~\n7thaccount\nThis has the full link:\n\n[https://arxiv.org/abs/1412.4504](https://arxiv.org/abs/1412.4504)\n\nUnit commitment is the MIP problem that combines linear and integer\nconstraints and tries to determine the least cost set of units to bring online\nfor each hour of the day. Constraints include things like the minimum amount\nof time the unit has to remain offline before being started up again, the\nminimum amount of time it has to run once online, how fast it can move (ramp),\nhow much capacity it has..etc. You try to minimize the costs of starting up\nthe unit, the cost of the unit just being online, and energy costs. The\neconomic dispatch problem is much simpler and asks, with the set of units that\nwere given to me by unit commitment, where should I set each one. The\ncommitment problem runs the day ahead at hourly granularity for the next day\nand is also run periodically throughout the day. The dispatch problem\ngenerally runs every 5 minutes 24/7 365. There are also other constraints like\nnot burning down the transmission grid.\n\n------\njetnew\nHi, I'm the creator of this project. Seems like someone shared it here. This\nis a school project and a current work-in-progress, and I'm open to any\nfeedback available. The usefulness of a simulator is heavily dependent on how\nwell it approximates to reality, which I have yet to do. It is currently a\nbaseline experiment without any reference to current research on COVID-19, but\nstay tuned as I'm working on it! And thanks for sharing :)\n\n~~~\njoemccall86\nIt sounds like you and I are thinking along the same line:\n[https://github.com/joemccall86/cap5600-project2](https://github.com/joemccall86/cap5600-project2).\n\nI am also taking AI this semester and was considering expanding upon something\nlike this for my masters' capstone project. The application of machine\nlearning to this type of situation is going to be very interesting to say the\nleast.\n\nJust wanted to say good luck!\n\n------\njuskrey\nBasically optimizations and \"modelling\" are the reason resource allocations\nare total failure in the case of rare emergencies, like ongoing. You assume\nthe worst \"one in a 1000 years\" case, multiply by 2..10, depending on your\ncash flow, and keep allocations up to date. Period.\n\nAnd the simple truth again: you can't immediately allocate during a crisis.\n\n------\ncoderthrow\nI am modelling with American Community Survey complete raw data, physically in\nBerkeley, California.. using PostGIS, python and an SEIR model; Urban Planning\nbackground.. suggestions welcome\n\n~~~\ncoderthrow\nexample output, US Persons by Age-Sex 50+ by Census Tract, nationwide.. exec.\ntime 1230 ms. local, no clouds\n\n    \n    \n      -[ RECORD 221408 ]----+\n      mtable_2_pkey         | 18744349\n      geoid                 | 08000US361198400084000000900\n      geo_name              | Census Tract 9, Yonkers city, \n      Yonkers city, Westchester County, New York\n       Total_Population      | 2307\n        Male                 | 1085\n         male over 50 est.   | 285\n        Female               | 1222\n         female over 50 est. | 272\n      -[ RECORD 221409 ]----+\n      mtable_2_pkey         | 18754394\n      geoid                 | 08000US421338704887048000900\n      geo_name              | Census Tract 9, York city, York city, York County, Pennsylvania\n       Total_Population      | 7100\n        Male                 | 3934\n         male over 50 est.   | 1453\n        Female               | 3166\n         female over 50 est. | 1347\n       -[ RECORD 221410 ]----+\n       mtable_2_pkey         | 18776479\n       geoid                 | 14000US42133000900\n       geo_name              | Census Tract 9, York County, \n       Pennsylvania\n       Total_Population      | 1169\n        Male                 | 667\n         male over 50 est.   | 226\n        Female               | 502\n         female over 50 est. | 240\n\n------\nnrjames\nIf you find this interesting, check out Project Hospital on Steam:\n[https://store.steampowered.com/app/868360/Project_Hospital/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/868360/Project_Hospital/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nDeveloper Bootcamp in Vancouver BC - jasonh1234\nhttp://codecore.ca\nCodeCore is an intensive 8 week, full time course that will teach you the necessary skills to excel in the software development industry.\n======\njasonh1234\nIt's about time Vancouver got one!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nA Bitter Pill - hourislate\nhttp://www.theverge.com/2016/5/4/11581994/fmt-fecal-matter-transplant-josiah-zayner-microbiome-ibs-c-diff\n======\ngoldhand\nThat's awesome! He's real mad scientist! Super cool.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow To Use Twitter and Not Be a Douchebag - twism\nhttp://www.darowski.com/tracesofinspiration/2009/05/26/how-to-use-twitter-and-not-be-a-douchebag/\n======\njnorthrop\nAm I the only one who couldn't get past the author's tone. I'll paraphrase the\nway I read it: \"Hey kids, I've been doing this a long time, and I know what do\nto, and you are doing it wrong, so listen to me... And by the way your a\ndouchebag.\" He comes across as elitist -- about Twitter!\n\nTwitter is an open service and you can do with it what you like as long as it\nis within the terms of service. That is it.\n\n~~~\njackowayed\nIt was kind of condescending, but I see where he's coming from. Basically,\nhe's saying \"a lot of people on Twitter tweet annoyingly. Here are some major\noffenses that people should avoid.\"\n\nAnd the tone probably made it a more effective piece of writing. The putting-\noff effect of his tone is counteracted by people being more likely to read it\nbecause it sounds more extreme/interesting and people's desire to avoid being\na \"douchebag\", which is stronger than their desire not to be \"someone who\ntweets kind of annoyingly.\"\n\nThat said, it was kind of annoying and elitist. But for accomplishing his goal\nof getting the most people to remedy these poor tweeting habits the most, it\nwas probably more effective than just complaining about annoying ways people\ntweet.\n\n------\njgrahamc\nThe @ reply information is useful, the rest is obvious and I'm guessing that\nif you are a douchebag then you won't follow his advice.\n\n~~~\nswombat\nI'm not so sure... some people jump into Twitter without knowing much about\nit. If they \"meet\" the wrong people at the beginning, they may adopt\nbehaviours that those noisy and spammy individuals think are ok, without\nactually being comfortable with them themselves.\n\nSometimes, you're a douche because you're a douche. Sometimes, you're a douche\nbecause you don't know better (yet).\n\n~~~\naxod\nI don't see much of it as \"douchebag\" on Twitter, obviously there's some who\nare just playing the numbers game etc, but Twitter is obviously also an\neffective marketing tool.\n\nUsing Twitter to make money isn't really the same as being a douchebag. Of\ncourse for users at the receiving end, it's irritating, but you can't blame\npeople who have flocked to Twitter to promote and market.\n\n~~~\nRaphael_Amiard\nor can you ?\n\nI never understood this mentality, how is it ok if it's for\npromoting/marketing purpose ?\n\nhow is making money always ok ?\n\n~~~\naxod\nI didn't say it's ok, I'm just saying it's not necessarily 'douchebag'\nbehavior, if Twitter is setup in a way that makes it very attractive for\nmarketing/promotion.\n\n------\nimp\nI didn't know the details of the reply stuff. That's good to know. I also hope\npeople stop the automatic DM with each follow. That really is annoying.\n\n~~~\nsant0sk1\nIf I follow somebody and they auto-DM me with some canned message, I\nimmediately unfollow them. It really is a douchebag-indicator.\n\n------\ntdm911\nThe point I liked the best was 6. Don’t break the system. I know people loved\nthe see all tweets option, but 97% of us had it turned off for a reason.\nAdding a character to the front of a tweet (which thankfully seems to be\nstopping) just inconveniences your followers because you're trying to make a\npoint. I don't appreciate that.\n\n------\ntlrobinson\nTwitter is infested with these \"social media experts\", aka multi-level\nmarketing assholes. It's quite annoying.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Working as part of an interview, for free? - meesterdude\n\nI recently applied to a startup for a development position. I was told I would do a &quot;trial interview&quot; which was really just a feature implementation they needed. I was sent an NDA which also talked of when to invoice and had &quot;rate: TBD&quot; which i put in my rate next to. the spec was large, and I wasn&#x27;t expected to do all of it, but I implemented the core of it, which was nontrivial; it took me over 25 hours to implement.<p>Now, I just talked with the boss today, and he said I wouldn&#x27;t be paid for that time; that&#x27;s part of the interview, he says. But I sank more than half my work week into this, and thought this was just a 1099 until i may or may not go on full time, because i was delivering a business feature and not just doing an arbitrary test.<p>Anyway, what should I do? I&#x27;m not so worried if I get the job, but if I don&#x27;t then I feel like I&#x27;ve been cheated.\n======\nmtmail\nIf you sent back the NDA, it mentions an invoice, you included your rate and\nthey accepted the document you might now have a valid contract.\n\nA lawyer will sort this out for you. Until then enjoy the classic 'f*ck you,\npay me' video [https://vimeo.com/22053820](https://vimeo.com/22053820)\n\n------\nlsiebert\nActually, if you signed a contract and provided a rate, and they accepted it\nand they didn't pay you, they have (I am not a lawyer so in my opinion and\nthis isn't legal advice) violated the contract. That may mean the NDA is not\nenforceable, depending on the terms.\n\nIf you have not been paid then you also still have copyright over the code.\n\nFor small claims, I think you want to be able to prove that you invoiced them,\nthen serve them.\n\nOr talk to a lawyer.\n\n------\ndavismwfl\nPersonally, whichever startup did this is a douchebag and I wouldn't want to\nwork for them regardless.\n\nI have never heard of an interview done this way. I am familiar with and okay\nwith a coding test, ok with a proof of your abilities, not ok with\nimplementing code for the company sans payment.\n\nMy 2 cents, is they agreed to a price and code so they should pay. Frankly,\nI'd ask an attorney to send them a letter stating as much on your behalf.\nMight cost you a few bucks but seems reasonable. If they still refuse, I'd\nseriously consider a public shaming, although I know this isn't likely a good\nidea, it just seems so appropriate. lol\n\n------\nthekonqueror\nDilbert covered the same topic today [0]\n\n[0]:\n[http://dilbert.com/strip/2015-08-01](http://dilbert.com/strip/2015-08-01)\n\n------\nsteven2012\nCompanies that don't compensate interviewees for their time working on actual\nfeatures are not the type of company you want to work for.\n\nCulture is set from the top and it sounds like the company culture sucks.\nDon't join them and I hope you didn't send in the code.\n\n------\nanon3_\nI see kickstarters trying to use this to weasel out free work.\n\nIf they're engaging in such activity, their financial predicament probably\nisn't too good to begin with.\n\n------\nstray\nWhat should you do? Stop whining.\n\nIf they didn't tell you upfront that you'd be compensated for your time -- you\nhave no reasonable expectation of getting compensated for your time.\n\nMore than likely that \"business feature\" is the same task they give every\napplicant -- they just want to see how you do with something that looks like a\nreal-world task.\n\nWe do that here: We have a fake project that we pull a fake task out of, and\nhave applicants pair with one of us on its solution. During the \"work\", the\nboss will throw us a couple curve balls too -- it's interesting to see how\napplicants react.\n\nWe do however, pay them a modest amount for their time.\n\n~~~\nmeesterdude\ni would not take issue if this was a fake project meant to test my skillset.\nit's replacing app functionality with a more robust solution; it is a feature\nrequest for a change to be made to production which i implemented the core of.\n\nIt is very clear that this will go on to be user facing. What is not is if i\nwill receive any kind of reimbursement for doing the work; or if this is just\na tactic they employ: get people to work for free in an interview, don't hire\nthem, repeat. I truly hope that is not the case.\n\n~~~\nstray\nEach of our applicants believes the fake task we give them is meant for\nproduction too.\n\nIn reality, it's a very old, inactive project. We simply adjust timestamps to\nmake it _look_ current.\n\nIt is presented as if it were the bread and butter of our biggest client. And\nwe do our best to make everything seem realistic.\n\nI doubt any applicant, before being hired, has ever figured out that the\n\"feature\" they had worked on was something that had been built dozens of times\nalready.\n\nIt's always the same.\n\nThe \"product\" they're working on is the remnants of a side-project that went\nnowhere.\n\nBut like I said, we _do_ pay people for their time unless we hire them. We do\nit onsite. And we do one 7-hour workday. And we pay $250.\n\nAnd we do that mainly so nobody is suspicious that they had been duped into\nworking for free.\n\nIt's _possible_ but imo, unlikely that your work is actually making its way\ninto a shipping product.\n\n~~~\nmeesterdude\nIt sounds like you guys do it a respectable way. But I don't understand why\nyou can't accept the facts as I present them, as I have given no reason for\nyou to doubt my claims or abilities to properly assess the situation. Maybe\nyou think it's just too crazy to be true? Because that's what I'm thinking for\nsure... But them be the facts despite my preference of otherwise.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: What is a good free alternative for Picasa for photo editing? - foo101\nNow that Picasa is end-of-life, I would like suggestions about an alternative photo editor that is amateur-friendly. I am not a professional photographer. I am a programmer. But I do like to perform some quick enhancements on the photographs (like altering brightness, shadows, etc.). Is there a good free alternative (free as in free speech or free as in free beer)? If it works on all three of Mac, Linux and Windows, it&#x27;s a bonus!\n======\nbrudgers\nGimp. Darktable. Learning to do simple things in either is probably a matter\nof a few hours but only one time. Then either is as fast as anything else.\nYes, 'a few hours' sounds like a lot of time, but I have often found myself\nspending many hours on Google chasing software that does not exist.\n\nPhilosophically, the user spending a few hours learning Free software does not\nseem entirely disproportionate to the thousands of hours developers have spent\ndeveloping it. Picasa was closed source because it was written to make money.\n\n------\nnip\nNot free but rather cheap (around 30€), but you should look at the Affinity\nsuite (Photo in your case, and Design if you are at some point interested in\nvector drawing).\n\nI made the exact same research a couple of years ago: I couldn’t afford\nAdobe’s products and wasn’t feeling Pro enough to use Photoshop nor\nIllustrator.\n\nIt’s snappy, easy to use and has lots of features for me not to feel\nconstrained whenever I use it.\n\nBest software purchase so far.\n\n------\nbaccredited\nThere isn't a good alternative. I prefer to pay for Acorn flyingmeat.com/acorn\nand pay $30 only once, rather than pay an eternal $10/mo to Adobe.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAT&T Throttling Unlimited Plans after 2GB Data Use - mediamaker\nhttp://www.johncozen.com/2012/02/att-throttling-unlimited-plans-after-2gb-data/\n======\nlpolovets\nOne particularly nasty thing about automatically throttling the top 5% is that\nit is completely divorced from costs and level of usage. Over time, if heavy\nusers try using less data, that will just depress the amount of usage required\nto be the in top 5% -- but 5% of customers will still be affected by\nthrottling.\n\nOn a side note, I wonder how the cost of supplying customer service to address\nthe complaints of the top 5% compares to the cost of just letting people\nconsume as much data as they like. I would guess even a few minutes of a CS\nrep's time is more valuable than letting someone download an extra gig of data\nper month.\n\n~~~\nclick170\nThat is why I made as much noise as possible about the (IMO) abusive\nthrottling practices of my previous ISP. Don't take this cr*p lying down, call\nthem and tell them youre unhappy, ask them to disable it on your connection\n(they won't) and when they refuse, demand to speak to the supervisor. Rinse\nand repeat. Make it cost more to throttle than it does not to.\n\n------\nmikeash\nI wish ISPs would just give up on the whole \"Unlimited\" concept. Clearly it's\nnot practical for them to offer truly unlimited service, so let's just cut the\nbullshit and go to usage-based billing.\n\nUnfortunately, the tech community hates usage-based billing about as much as\nthey hate throttling. Baffles me as to why.\n\nI think we need to make it illegal to advertise \"unlimited\" without it\nactually being unlimited. I would have thought that existing truth-in-\nadvertising laws would cover this, but apparently they don't.\n\nMake it illegal to promise what you never intend to deliver and this whole\nproblem goes away. If unlimited is practical to offer, then it will be\noffered. If unlimited is not practical, then ISPs will no longer be allowed to\npretend that it is, and will be encouraged to make the limitations of their\noffers obvious up-front instead of using shady nonsense like this.\n\n~~~\nsliverstorm\nAs I see it there are three reasons the tech community hates usage-based\nbilling.\n\n\\- First, any time a company tries usage-based data billing, they charge\nabsolutely criminal rates. If you paid attention to usage-based cell service\nover the years, you'd know what I speak of.\n\n\\- Second, in an \"unlimited\" model, some users use more, some use less. In\ngeneral the tech community will be the ones using more- so they benefit at the\nmarginal expense of other users. They pay comparatively less by volume for\ntheir usage.\n\n\\- Third, in my opinion there's at least a tiny bit of entitlement going\naround in the online community as a whole. Nobody wants to pay for anything.\nYou know, because \"information wants to be free!\" and all.\n\n~~~\nmikeash\nAT&T's overage rates are pretty reasonable. They charge $10/GB, which is about\nwhat you pay for the initial monthly data plan anyway. Of course, there's\nprobably leftover sentiment from times when overages were much less\nreasonable, and there are still plenty of such places remaining.\n\nThe second two I agree with, but they're sad reasons.\n\n~~~\nsliverstorm\nRates _have_ gotten better, I agree.\n\n------\nalexqgb\nAs recently as 18 months ago, I routinely got solid customer service from\nAT&T. While the wireless service itself was really sketchy in NY and SF, any\naccount problems were handled with competence and care.\n\nGiven the incredible blowback they'd received from their poor iPhone support,\nI always felt compelled to tell the people I ended up talking to that they\nwere doing great jobs, and that in spite of what was said in the press about\nthem not having their act together, I found them to be on their game, and that\nI really appreciated the effort they were making.\n\nThen something changed. Intelligence and responsiveness went off a cliff. On\nthe occasions I did have to call I ended up so deeply infuriated that I'd find\nmyself becoming angry BEFORE having to call again - even months later. It\nalmost seemed that they'd adopted a posture of calculated incompetence,\nspecifically designed discourage people from calling them.\n\nWithin a year (and after a series of truly appalling encounters) I'd gone from\npublicly defending them to hating them with an intensity bordering on\nincandescent. Were their service any less vital to my life in general, perhaps\nI'd feel more sanguine. But given the central importance of wireless\nconnectivity, a \"service\" relationship costing north of $100 per month and\ndelivering nothing by dropped calls and furious anger quickly made it to the\ntop of of my dump-judiciously list.\n\n------\nrmc\nPart of the shock the OP had is their suprise at 2.1GB putting them in the top\n5%. That seems believable to me. I worked in a residential ISP and once ran\nthe numbers on about how much data people use. Something like 90% of people\ndidn't go above 5GB or so. And this was on residential DSL, not on mobile\ninternet.\n\nOf course in theory this is going to reduce the average usage of AT&T users,\nsince someone is always on the top 5% (by definition 1 in 20 customers will be\naffected). It also seems a little unfair to have a rule that you can't know in\nadvance.\n\n~~~\nX-Istence\n5 GB makes the 250 GB Comcast cap look overly generous, when I can tell you\nfrom experience that 250 GB with two people using the Internet on a daily\nbasis is too little.\n\nNew games come in at 10 GB or more when you are downloading them from places\nlike Steam, add in two people downloading new games and you can easily see\n100's of GB's going to just gaming. If I rebuild my Windows desktop and have\nSteam re-download all of the games I tend to keep locally I myself use about\n150 GB of transfer. On top of that comes watching TV Shows (on Hulu/NetFlix)\nand movies (iTunes/NetFlix/Hulu) and various other downloads. The latest Mac\nOS X update weighed in at a hefty 1.38 GB, split across 4 devices.\n\nGranted, I am a technology person, I am a programmer, I spend more time behind\na computer than doing almost anything else (including sleep). My usage pattern\nis going to be vastly different compared to grandma and grandpa that check\ntheir email. The thing is though that I want higher quality content delivered\nto me instantly, Hulu's 480 is nice and all, but I would love to have it in\n720p or 1080p for my large TV. All of this uses up bandwidth/transfer.\n\nAs for mobile data, I don't tend to do a lot of streaming of music and the\nlike, so far I haven't had any issues with going over the allotted 2 GB from\nAT&T, that and when I do want to stream I am near Wifi.\n\n~~~\njff\nYet as another anecdote, even when watching Netflix streaming basically every\nnight, and downloading the occasional Steam game, I have never once passed my\n250 GB Comcast limit. Much as I dislike these kind of caps, it is pretty damn\nhard to go over 250 GB. That's, what, 200 hours of reasonably high-quality\nstreaming video? 300+ Linux ISOs (the only reason you run bittorrent, right?)?\n\nSadly, I don't think \"unlimited\" internet is a sustainable model, because\ngenerally speaking every bit you send costs the provider money, and the rise\nof things like Youtube mean that people actually use more bandwidth. However,\n250 GB plus a reasonable per-GB charge after that should be reasonable for a\nvery larger percentage of users.\n\n~~~\nX-Istence\nI don't run bittorrent at all (nobody on the home network does), mainly has to\ndo with my current employment. Between my room mate and I we do 200 GB on\naverage, we've had one warning sent out for getting to 245 GB.\n\nHere is our yearly usage chart: <http://i.imgur.com/wZbU1.jpg> (since the\nrouter/gateway was last rebooted). Do note that there is NO illegal\ndownloading at all. NetFlix, Hulu, Pandora, Spotify, Steam, Dropbox, WoW and\nmany others.\n\n------\nevolve2k\nI would suggest that 'Unlimited' has a very clear meaning to the reasonable\nperson and that they are now breaching their contract as it was initially\nadvertised to the public. Assuming it was initially advertised as 'Unlimited'\nwith relation to speed and data.\n\nOf note; Lets say you were in Australia you could take this case straight to\nthe ACCC or the Communications Ombudsman and from experience I would be fairly\nconfident of you getting what you want.\n\n~~~\nZakharov\nAre you sure? Most companies here offer \"unlimited\" home Internet plans that\nare still capped.\n\n------\nlancewiggs\nWhile the main thrust of the story is concerning, what really makes me feel\nill are the scripted responses. The service agents are just picking responses\nfrom a list and hitting send. They appear to have no ability to apply thought\nto the process, and no authority to delegate up. I'm sure the staff are smart\nand frustrated, and I'm reasonably sure that they are constrained by their\nsystems and processes. But how good would it be if the very first agent was\nable to actually address the question. My suggested answer would be \"yes, this\ndoes seem very low, but that's what we are told - 95% of people use less than\n2gb per month. It seems a little ridiculous. I can switch you to the 3gb plan\nof you like - it's cheaper as well (my guess). \" No matter what the response\nit's time to stop this cruel and unusual punishment of both CS staff and\ncustomers.\n\n~~~\nseanp2k2\nAll that sounds great and I agree with you 100%...however, since they're a\npublic company, their first priority is to maximize profits, and that is\nexactly what they're doing here. Since USA citizens are so lazy that they let\ntelco lobbyist groups write the laws and don't riot over them when they're\npassed by bought politicians, we have to deal with idiotic support as\ndescribed above.\n\nThis is also the reason that the sales drones at Best Buy just read the\nproduct packaging when you ask them a question about it. Unskilled labor is\ncheap, and these days, almost all level 1 support is unskilled (think across\nindustries, not just IT; IT still has some great lvl1 support if you look hard\nenough.)\n\n~~~\nJonWood\nIs causing your customers to think you're ripping them of, and making them\nlook elsewhere for service actually maximising profit though?\n\nGiven the cost of acquiring a customer they should be bending over backwards\nto keep existing customers.\n\n~~~\nilmare\nYes, since they know customers have nowhere else to go.\n\n------\nrexf\nAT&T is vile garbage. I'm grandfathered into their unlimited plan, but\nthroughout NYC, at work, and at home, my reception is spotty at best. As\ndiscussed in this thread, their customer service is non-existant.\n\nWith an unlimited data plan at worse than dial-up speeds, the data service is\nuseless. I'm planning on switching to Verizon when my iPhone 4 AT&T contract\nis up, but I'm not holding my breath for any better customer service from\nVerizon. There really is no cell phone company in the US that I want to give\nmy money to.\n\n~~~\nCrazedGeek\nIf you don't mind me asking, why are T-Mo/Sprint/US Cellular/etc not options\nfor you?\n\n------\nghshephard\nI tried to finish - but the author was either being dense or argumentative. I\nthink AT&T has made their position pretty clear - Unlimited doesn't have\noverage charges, but you get rate limited when you hit the top 5% of usage\n(currently 2 Gigabytes). AT&T also offers 2 Gigabyte and 3 Gigabyte plans,\nwith overage charges.\n\nHappily, AT&T has been prevented from taking over T-Mobile, so we still have\nat least four providers for wireless data in most major markets - let's hope\nit stays that way.\n\n~~~\nseanp2k2\nWhile oligopoly still > than monopoly or duopoly, it's still < free market.\n\nYou think the wireless ISP biz is a free market? Try to start one. Try to get\ncities and tower owners to give you permission to put your gear up. Who will\nyou get fibre interlinks from for those towers? Who will issue permits to dig\ntrenches to lay fibre all over the cities? Wireless ISPs (\"wireless telcos\"\nbut I consider them ISPs because ALL their calls, SMS, MMS, and data is now\ndigital) know the game and make no mistake, it is this way on purpose. They\nhave done everything they can to ensure an anti-competitive market.\n\nEDIT: I'm sure someone will mention that you could just resell service as many\nregional WISPs do. Again though, WISPs know the score here, and they price\nreseller service so that it basically matches what they're offering direct to\nconsumers. At my old company, we'd resell SBC-ATT-Yahoo-Cingulair-Bell-\nBellSouth-Ameritech-Edge Wireless-Cellular One-Centennial-Wayport DSL (yes,\nthose are all just known as \"ATT\" today) and the cheapest we could offer\n1.5mbit DSL service was $25/month.\n\n~~~\nghshephard\nI've never suggested it's a free market. I'm just saying there are four\nvendors who you can chose from based on your feelings about price and quality.\nI'm just happy it's not three.\n\n------\nwarfangle\nMy virgin mobile (35 per month) unlimited data plan will start getting\nthrottled in march - after 2.5gb.\n\nI'm so glad I left ATT behind. Sure it's a little slower, and I can't get an\niphone or the latest or greatest android phone. But it's one of the best\nvalues out there, and I didn't need to sign a freaking lock in contract.\n\n~~~\ndamptrousers\nSo it starts throttling at a half gig later? And you have to deal with crappy\nphones? Great deal you got there.\n\n~~~\nwarfangle\nAt a third of the price. Price-to-value ratio is much better.\n\nAnd while the LG Optimus Slider has a smallish screen, it still runs android\n2.3. And with a slide-out keyboard, SSH sessions are a lot easier. It's \"good\nenough.\"\n\n------\nfuryofantares\nThey didn't throttle mine, they simply changed my plan to the 4GB plan and\ntold me after the fact. They did this to my wife's account as well.\n\nAnd if I change it to the 2GB plan and then tether using an unofficial\ntethering app, they automatically change my plan back to the 4GB tethering\nplan.\n\n------\nTYPE_FASTER\nAnd there goes my last remaining reason not to switch back to Verizon.\n\n------\nbryanh\nAnyone have any experience in the process of switching an AT&T iPhone to\nVerizon? Worth it? Any gotchas?\n\n~~~\njohngalt\nWon't work. Different network and different hardware.\n\n~~~\nseanp2k2\nThe 4S has CDMA and GSM radios built in. You could just unlock it and move it\nover if you can find the right CSR to add your IMEI to Verizon.\n\n~~~\nmodeless\nYou can't \"just\" unlock it. Unlocking is risky: it voids your warranty, makes\nthe process of updating your OS difficult or impossible, and has a very real\nchance of bricking your phone.\n\n~~~\nSoftwareMaven\nUnlocking does not void your warrantee. I've had many unlocked iPhones\nreplaced under warrantee. That said, if you brick it while unlocking (and the\n4S tools are _very_ new), you won't be covered.\n\n~~~\nmodeless\nPerhaps your local Apple Store doesn't check for unlocks before warranty\nreplacement, but unauthorized unlocking absolutely voids your warranty in\nprinciple and Apple would be well within their rights to refuse service. If\nyou don't believe me here's the relevant section of the warranty (written by\nApple in _bold_ ):\n\n\"This warranty does not apply: [...] to an Apple Product that has been\nmodified to alter functionality or capability without the written permission\nof Apple\".\n\n------\nyabai\nI received the dreaded text from AT&T at around 2GB of use. I have an\nunlimited plan, and believe that it should be \"unlimited\" without any\nthrottling. I am upset about this situation, but feel a bit helpless.\n\nI applaud the comments and the post. Perhaps enough outrage will spark a\nrevolution.\n\n------\njoelhaasnoot\nUnfortunately, this is \"standard industry practice\" for most mobile\nproviders...\n\n------\nouchiboy\nOuch. They wouldn't like the 3.9 TB of my last 16 month...\n\n~~~\ntzs\nThat's almost 250 GB a month. How do you use that much on a mobile device?\nThat's more than most people use on their regular Internet connection.\n\n~~~\nouchiboy\nTethering. _cough_. You can do that with many non-thethering plans on some\njailbroken devices to save money or get around no-tethering allowed companies.\nI'm not going to lie and say that more than 10% of that traffic accounts to\nyoutube videos and torrented linux distributions...\n\n------\nmrhyperpenguin\nCan anyone think of any rational behind this? Why would they want to switch\npeople to tiered data plans when there is no effective difference to them?\n\n~~~\nineedtosleep\nWhy?\n\n> …You may also consider switching to a tiered data plan if speed is more\n> important to you [...] Customers on tiered plans can pay for more data if\n> they need it, and will not see reduced speeds. (from the blog post)\n\nThat's why. AT&T has shown that nearly every move they make is for the sole\npurpose of squeezing out all the money they can from their users.\n\n~~~\ntomjen3\nThey are a company and as such is in the business of making money. Of course\nthey want to squeeze every last bit out.\n\nIn this case the problem is that they offered an unlimited plan and then did\nstick with their offer.\n\n~~~\nmontecarl\nThe problem is that they can get away with it. That is the cell phone market\nhas very little competition.\n\n~~~\njcnnghm\nThere really needs to be a movement to address the collusion in the\ntelecommunication industry. I priced out a business cell plan (with > 5\nlines), and there was not even a single penny price difference between ATT and\nVerizon, and both refused to negotiate at all. No matter what options changed,\nthe prices matched to the cent. Strong regulation needs to be introduced, the\nmajor players need to be broken up again, or their infrastructure needs to be\nnationalized. Working, efficient, non-crippled and inexpensive communications\ninfrastructure is too economically important to leave it in the hands of these\nbozos.\n\nIt is unconscionable that wireless communication, which is fast becoming a\nnecessity, amounts to a $100/month/person tax on the citizens of this country,\npayable to the corrupt interests of two or three companies. The government has\nlaws to prevent this, they should be enforced.\n\n~~~\nTheAmazingIdiot\nIt's unconscionable that _you_ pay 100$/person for cell service.\n\nI pay for my and my SO's cell service. The combined bill is 55$/mo. That\nincludes unlimited calls, unlimited txts, and for the time being 20k/s data\nbandwidth. Note that I did not pay extra for the data.\n\nAnd yes, I'm within the US, using a division of T-Mo.\n\n------\nepikur\nI used precisely 5 gigs last month and received no notifications. I guess that\nmeans I'm in a higher capacity area?\n\n------\nSoftwareMaven\nSo all the unlimited users need to use over 4gb to raise that \"top 5%\" number\nsignificantly.\n\n------\ncreativityland\nYep, I can confirm about this.\n\n------\nrorrr\nFind people like you. Class action lawsuit.\n\n~~~\nquellhorst\nI also have a grandfathered at&t unlimited plan and would be willing to join a\nclass action lawsuit.\n\n------\nexecutive\nfacepalm.jpg\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: is http://www.fcc.gov/comments down for anyone else? - dmschulman\n\nSo if I have this correctly, the FCC set up an app to get public comment on FCC related issues (most notably right now Net Neutrality) and the public comment period is something they&#x27;re obligated to do under law, yet the system they&#x27;ve created does not work or fulfill its purpose:<p>http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.fcc.gov&#x2F;comments<p>Has this site just flat out not worked for anyone since the public comment period began May 15th?<p>Is this an issue of the site being overloaded at the moment?<p>Maybe it&#x27;s some kind of ironic commentary on how user rights and free speech will suffer under the FCCs new proposed rules?\n======\ndoctorshady\nLast I checked an FCC proceeding on Friday it worked. Not so much right now,\nthough. I just get an error saying \"Cannot open connection\" after a long\npause.\n\nMy suspicion is someone might be ddosing it out of outrage, but it could just\nas easily be their own problems. The commenting system did stop working once\nin February or so.\n\nEDIT: Their main site seems to be up, so I assume it's not anything shady.\n\n~~~\ndmschulman\nYeah, I should have been more exact in my initial wording. This is the error I\nwas receiving as well, though I check it now and instead am getting an error\nfrom my browser (\"No Data Received\") instead of getting the \"Cannot open\nconnection\" error from the service.\n\nI noticed on Techcrunch today there was a segment on John Oliver's Sunday\nnight HBO show where he discusses Net Neutrality. I didn't watch the clip but\nmaybe the outage is related to this.\n\n------\ndragonwriter\n> Has this site just flat out not worked for anyone since the public comment\n> period began May 15th?\n\nThe site is up and shows 45,647 comments on Proceeding 14-28 \"Protecting and\nPromoting the Open Internet\" in the period since comments opened on it (which\nis more than 30 times the activity of the next-heaviest over the past 30\ndays), so it clearly has worked for some people. I suspect any errors you are\nencountering (the only error I see is if you attempt to click through the link\nto the existing public comments) are because of an unanticipated activity\nlevel resulting from the fact that the comment link is being broadcast with\nmany opinion articles/broadcasts on the issue accompanied by calls to flood\nthe system.\n\n------\nshayna123\nThis is crazy, I can't believe this insanity. If not for John Oliver I\nwouldn't even know about net neutrality. Who thought this up anyway!!!\n\n------\nozten\nI had to re-submit 4 times before it saved successfully.\n\nTheir EJB prints SQL back to you. Wonderful.\n\nto retry: Hit back, confirm, submit again.\n\n------\nleftydunne\nis this the fcc? a lobbyist should not be able to influence regulations that\nare contrary to the public good. he should be excused due to conflict of\ninterest. as a matter of fact, the whole motion should be excused!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNew Shepard's 8th test flight [video] - thibran\nhttps://www.blueorigin.com/#youtubeZUV53Nn3PhA\n======\nChuckMcM\nCongrats Blue Origin Team! That was nicely done. I am always amazed when\nsomething so complicated is made to look \"easy.\"\n\nWith Virgin Galactic getting back into test flights after losing Spaceship 2,\nthe possibility that non-astronauts might be making suborbital flights seems\nso much closer.\n\nI share the suggestion with other commentators here that using metric units\nmight be more useful, even if your target audience (the tourists that fly)\nmight not understand them, is a good one. Even if they don't understand them,\ntourists will recognize when something looks \"Just like NASA does it\" and that\nwill instill confidence.\n\nThe dynamic range on the BE-3 is particularly impressive. I don't believe\nanyone else's restartable rocket engine has a similar range of operation.\n\nI can't wait to hear when you guys start taking applications for passengers.\n\n~~~\njackfoxy\nOr use both units of measure. Is there a reason not to?\n\n~~~\ncm2187\nHere is one:\n[http://edition.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/30/mars.metric/](http://edition.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/30/mars.metric/)\n\n~~~\nSmellyGeekBoy\nI think jackfoxy was referring to their press releases, not their engineering\nteam.\n\n------\nevv\nThe behavior of the booster landing looks very different than SpaceX's.\n\nBlue Origin's booster seems to switch to a different control logic at ~30ft\nup, from a rapid descent to a slow controlled touchdown procedure. Meanwhile,\nSpaceX has a very smooth touchdown that seems to use a single control logic.\nI'm sure that the SpaceX approach is better for fuel consumption, but the\nslower Blue Origin landings seem better for spectators!\n\nI love watching the physical effects of somebody's code, and I'd love to hear\nmore about the decisions that led to this behavior.\n\n~~~\npilsetnieks\nF9/FH cannot throttle down enough to do a hover landing, so they have to do a\nsuicide burn (i.e., fire the engine just so the speed goes to 0 m/s at 0 m\naltitude.) The engine is too powerful and the body is too light to hover.\n\nBlue Origin might eventually encounter just that problem with New Glenn.\n\n~~~\nwalrus01\nI don't know where you're getting this idea. The grasshopper hovered all the\ntime in tests and uses the same single-engine as the F9 full thrust.\n\n[https://www.google.com/search?q=spacex+grasshopper+video&num...](https://www.google.com/search?q=spacex+grasshopper+video&num=100&client=ubuntu&hs=kOO&channel=fs&source=lnms&tbm=vid&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiorJPOm-\nHaAhVmVWMKHY1WBeUQ_AUICygC&biw=1493&bih=2011)\n\n~~~\ndoikor\nThey probably just put extra weight (fuel) in the grasshopper for easier\ntesting. The F9 on the other hand is basically an empty soda can with engines\nat the bottom and small fins at the top when it’s landing so even when firing\njust a single engine at minimum power it will generate too much thrust to\nhover.\n\n------\njordanthoms\nKeep in mind, yes this is just a small suborbital vehicle but Blue Origin is\nmaking a lot of progress on their New Glenn rocket, which has a reusable first\nstage and capabilities between the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy with a single\ncore. They'll be built right next to the launch site in Cape Canaveral and use\nMethalox rather than RP-1 (SpaceX is moving to Methalox for the BFR rockets).\n\nI'm a big SpaceX fan and they've got a big lead in terms of actual launches\nand recovery experience, but don't count Blue Origin out.\n\n------\n51Cards\nOne difference I find is that Blue Origin's videos almost seem too polished to\nme? With the advertising-esque overlays, the rock music, the editing. Always\nfeels like I'm watching a commercial vs. an actual space flight. SpaceX has\ndone this but usually it's just during their 3D sim videos. I guess the\ndifference is that Blue Origin really needs to market this to the \"general\npublic\" as that is their projected income source for now.\n\nEdit: I also found it interesting that they chose to show the closeup of the\ncapsule landing in \"slow motion\".\n\nEdit 2: Seems they have just added the full live stream video vs. just the\npolished edited version I was commenting on earlier.\n\n~~~\n_wmd\nMaybe stating the obvious, but you are watching a commercial :)\n\n------\nnordsieck\nStart 31:16\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=31m16s&v=ZUV53Nn3PhA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=31m16s&v=ZUV53Nn3PhA)\n\nLaunch 1:09:50\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=69m50s&v=ZUV53Nn3PhA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=69m50s&v=ZUV53Nn3PhA)\n\n~~~\nnordsieck\nLooks like they edited the livestream.\n\nLaunch 38:41\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=38m41s&v=ZUV53Nn3PhA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=38m41s&v=ZUV53Nn3PhA)\n\n------\nloeg\nDirect link (to the video included in the article as of this writing):\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSDHM6iuogI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSDHM6iuogI)\n.\n\n(Edit: Note that it's an earlier launch from December. They've pulled the\nlivestream video of this launch, which is\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUV53Nn3PhA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUV53Nn3PhA)\n.)\n\n~~~\nwmf\nNote that's from December; there's another flight today but that isn't it.\n\n~~~\nrory096\nThe webcast was removed from Youtube when it ended — we'll have to wait for\nthem to recut and reupload it.\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUV53Nn3PhA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUV53Nn3PhA)\n\n------\niamcreasy\nCan anybody answer me, why BlueOrigin has to detach the passenger module?\nCan't they just land the passenger module with the booster since the booster\nhave such controlled landing?\n\n~~~\njessriedel\nI don't know, but one possibility is that they think it's easier to ensure the\nextremely high degree of safety with a separate parachute capsule. If the\nboosters can be recovered 99% of the time, but are destroyed 1% of the time,\nthat would be plenty reliable to drastically cut the cost of the trip but\nobviously not reliable enough for humans. And it might not make sense to bring\nthat reliability to something like 0.1% or 0.01%, which you need for humans,\nif it doubles the cost of the booster.\n\n------\nckdarby\nCurious what happens if the parachute for the landing capsule fails or only\none deploys? Does it spin out of control and not land at 1 mph?\n\n~~~\nshirro\nThey tested that already. They can land with two just fine. There is video on\ntheir youtube channel\n[https://youtu.be/xYYTuZCjZcE?t=2m10s](https://youtu.be/xYYTuZCjZcE?t=2m10s)\nwhere they test this.\n\nThey also tested an emergency escape from the booster near maximum dynamic\npressure\n[https://youtu.be/ESc_0MgmqOA?t=51s](https://youtu.be/ESc_0MgmqOA?t=51s)\n\n~~~\ngreglindahl\nYes, a one-chute-fails test is standard for these sorts of systems.\n\n~~~\nckdarby\nWhat about a two-chute fail?\n\n------\ncallesgg\nIt is fun to see that they are trying to get some publicity the same way that\nspacex has pulled of so nicely.\n\nI guess they could work on the polish of the video.\n\nI have become quite used to the insane production value levels that spacex\nhas. I have asked myself how many people is involved in just the\nfilming/streaming of spacex launches on multiple occasions.\n\n------\nelvirs\n'beautiful soft landing' ? really? at the beginning of the video she said the\ncapsule will touch the ground at 1-2 mph speed because the rockets will come\non kicking up dust and all. no visible dust and speed went from constant 16-17\nmph in last 5 seconds to 0. Did the rockets fail?\n\n~~~\nrory096\nAs she said, it happens in the last _milliseconds_. You can see the cloud of\ndust kicked up just before impact at 49:00 in the video — that the speed\nreduction didn't make it to the on-screen indicator is probably more a\nreflection of the short time window than the rockets failing.\n\nCompare to the nominal landing at 1:14 in this video.\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSDHM6iuogI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSDHM6iuogI)\n\n~~~\nplicense\nPardon me for the stupid question, but how is bringing the speed down to 0\nmilliseconds before landing by firing the rocket thrusters different from just\nletting the capsule hit the ground? I thought the thrusters were there to make\nthe passengers not feel the inertia due to sudden arrest of speed from\n16-17mph to 0mph. Firing the thrusters milliseconds before landing seems to\nhave the same effect as just letting the capsule hit the ground? Or is it to\nprotect the capsule itself?\n\n~~~\nkevan\nI'm a bit rusty on my physics, but the general idea is that with both methods\nthe total impulse (force over a time interval) is the same. The capsule goes\nfrom 16mph to 0mph.\n\nBut, if you let the ground stop you, you end up with all of the energy\ntransfer in a few milliseconds. Because the time is so short, the force spikes\nto crazy high levels. This breaks equipment and people. The rockets firing\nspread out that force over a longer period of time.\n\nFor example (all numbers made up):\n\nTime the ground takes to stop you: 25ms\n\nTime rockets fire before touchdown: 100ms\n\nLanding capsule weight: 2000kg\n\nImpulse needed to stop capsule: 7.15264m/s * 2000kg = 14300Ns\n\nAssuming in both cases the force is evenly applied over the time period...\n\nForce from the ground stopping you: 14300Ns / 25ms = 572,000N\n\nForce from the rockets + the ground: 14300Ns / (100ms + 25ms) = 115,000N\n\n------\nakaryocyte\nIt feels odd to see such a transparent exhaust from a rocket\n\n~~~\nsaagarjha\nThe Space Shuttle burned hydrogen and produced water, none of which are really\neasily visible to the human eye. If you look closely at a launch you might be\na able to catch a glimpse of the heat shimmer from the main engine.\n\n~~~\ngreglindahl\nWorth noting that you're talking about what's going on after the SRBs finish\nfiring. The solids produce a lot of visible exhaust.\n\n~~~\nexDM69\nThe space shuttle main engines did fire at liftoff while the SRBs were firing.\nThey may be a bit hard to see at launch but the exhaust mach diamonds are\nclearly visible e.g. in [0]. They were much more clearly visible in the 7-ish\nseconds before liftoff, after the SSMEs had been ignited but before the SRBs\ngo off.\n\n[0]\n[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/STS120La...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/STS120LaunchHiRes-\nedit1.jpg)\n\n~~~\ngreglindahl\nSorry, I didn't mean to imply that the SSMEs were not firing at liftoff. Since\nthey fire for a few seconds before the SRBs get lit, I suspect most people\nknow what's going on with them.\n\n------\nnewnewpdro\nDidn't it seem like the capsule speed suddenly dropped from ~18MPH to 0MPH at\nlanding? I was under the impression there would be a short burn smoothing that\ntransition, it did not appear to be the case to me.\n\nAlso, the whole commercial advertisement format of the launch is far too\ncontrived. Hearing the host describe the capsule window as gorgeous cheapens\nthe entire thing, it's like I'm watching home shopping network.\n\n~~~\njessriedel\nThe burn just before impact is very short. It is designed to ensure there are\nno injuries, but not to make the landing feather soft. I don't know what the\ntechnical restrictions are that motivate this, but I'm sure the design choice\nis deliberate; the Soyuz landing is very similar.\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l7MM9yoxII&feature=youtu.be...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l7MM9yoxII&feature=youtu.be&t=17m38s)\n\n------\n__john\nThe exciting bit\n\n[https://youtu.be/ZUV53Nn3PhA?t=4202](https://youtu.be/ZUV53Nn3PhA?t=4202)\n\n------\nzargath\nIm a huge SpaceX fan, but Blueorigin's New Shepard does seem more robust.\nMaybe just because its a smaller and more thick rocket, but somehow by not\nbeing as spectacular it makes space travel more \"normal\" as we all hope it\nsomeday will become.\n\n~~~\nceejayoz\n> Im a huge SpaceX fan, but Blueorigin's New Shepard does seem more robust.\n\nThat's a little like comparing a F1 racer to a wheelbarrow, isn't it? Both are\nimmensely useful for specific things, and would fail miserably if applied to\nthe other's thing. New Shepard is cool, and I'd love to hop in it some day,\nbut it's doing a little up-and-down suborbital hop. The two launchers have\ntotally different purposes, and are constructed in entirely different ways as\na result.\n\n------\npipboy\nwhy not show metric units, only on screen if not while they present. Please :)\n\n------\nFPGAhacker\nHey listen, people that work at these companies also like and read hackernews.\nMaybe try to have a little compassion before you sound off with thoughtless\ncomments like “it looks cartoonish compared to spacex.”\n\nPeople work pretty damn hard on these things that you piss on without a care.\n\n~~~\njessriedel\nMore important than the feelings of employees is probably just the fact that\nHN doesn't need uninformed comments talking exclusively about how the music in\nthe video makes the commenter feel, or which company they think is cooler.\n\n~~~\nbkor\n> uninformed comments talking exclusively about how the music in the video\n> makes the commenter feel\n\nIf someone is talking exclusively about themselves, why is this considered\nuninformed?!?\n\n~~~\njessriedel\nI don't mean \"uninformed about the comment's claim\", I mean \"uniformed about\nthe topic of discussion\"\n\n------\njacquesm\nI hope internally Blue Origin uses the metric system, it's been a long time\nsince Miles per hour and feet were used to talk about rocketry, NASA learned\nthis the hard way.\n\n[http://edition.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/30/mars.metric.02/](http://edition.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/30/mars.metric.02/)\n\n~~~\nrory096\n>it's been a long time since Miles per hour and feet were used to talk about\nrocketry\n\nFalcon 9 is built on the imperial system, as are Atlas and Delta. SpaceX is\nonly switching to metric with BFR.\n\n~~~\njustinclift\nOuch. They use Siemens NX, which AFAIR has to be set to _either_ metric _or_\nimperial for all models and assemblies.\n\nGetting them mixed up sounds potentially risky. :/\n\nDefinitely would expect they've added some automatic safety checks around\nthat, which is quite do-able in NX from memory.\n\n------\nnotaki\nBO, lol.\n\n------\npavs\nLooks a bit cartoonish compared to falcon9. I know they have a different\npurpose and are different in size.\n\n~~~\nCommieBobDole\nI agree, though 'different purpose' might even be understating it a bit. While\nimpressive, New Shepard is really just a small-scale test vehicle, designed to\ndo exactly what you see here and nothing more; it goes straight up and comes\nstraight down; it can't get anywhere near orbital altitude or orbital speed -\non the latter, it maxes out around 2000 mph, which is about 15,000 mph short\nof orbital velocity.\n\nI don't want to minimize what Blue Origin is doing here; they've got a good\ntest vehicle, smart people, lots of funding, and ambitious plans, and they\nwill no doubt be very successful, but what SpaceX does with the Falcon 9 on a\nregular basis is orders of magnitude more difficult and impressive.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe best car in the world - cocoflunchy\nhttp://gearpatrol.com/2015/08/10/best-car-world/\n======\nJoeAltmaier\n...except for the 50-minute refuel time.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBauhaus: Last Rites - daddy_drank\nhttps://the-easel.com/essays/bauhaus-a-failed-utopia-3/\n======\neternalban\nAnd that is not \"Bauhaus\". The building in question definitively looks like a\nCorbu clone.\n\n[https://www.archdaily.com/806115/ad-classics-master-plan-\nfor...](https://www.archdaily.com/806115/ad-classics-master-plan-for-\nchandigarh-le-corbusier)\n\nI've always admired Nervi's concrete works:\n[https://www.google.com/search?q=nervi+concrete+buildings&btn...](https://www.google.com/search?q=nervi+concrete+buildings&btnG=Search&hl=en&tbm=isch)\n\n------\nxtiansimon\nMeis dismisses the Breuer and Nevi church which is shown at the opening of the\narticle: “It is a sheet of concrete that pretends to be nothing else. It looks\nmore or less like a giant sidewalk lifted up and placed horizontally across\nthe sky.”\n\nStrikes me as manipulating criticism. The author freely admits to having not\nvisited the site, so his criticism is really about his impressions of the\nphotograph.\n\nOf the Eiffel Tower, it’s said French author “...Guy de Maupassant ate lunch\neveryday at the base of The Eiffel Tower, because that was the only place in\nParis from which he could not see it...”\n\nI’ve not visited this church, but I can fully imagine if you stood underneath\nthe bell tower would cast a most unique shadow and not have the same\nimpression of lifted sidewalk. Pfft!\n\nNow, Breuer’s Norton Shores church? Looks like a hideous bunker (in the\nphoto). Haha\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nIntercepting USSD calls in Android - scorpioxy\nhttp://www.codedemigod.com/intercepting-ussd-calls-in-android/\n\n======\nscorpioxy\nHappy to answer any questions.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Making of Apple’s Emoji - Doubleguitars\nhttps://medium.com/@agzmn/the-making-of-apples-emoji-how-designing-these-tiny-icons-changed-my-life-16317250a9ee\n======\nxwvvvvwx\nMust be an incredible feeling to have designed and drawn what is fast becoming\na core part of our language.\n\nAlthough looks like the pile of poo and ice cream no longer use the same\nswirl:\n\n[https://emojipedia.org/pile-of-poo/](https://emojipedia.org/pile-of-poo/)\n\n[https://emojipedia.org/soft-ice-cream/](https://emojipedia.org/soft-ice-\ncream/)\n\n~~~\npantalaimon\nThey are still the same in WhatsApp\n\n~~~\nSlartie\nWhatsApp seems to be an interesting case with regard to Emoji history anyway.\nAm I right that they appear to have copied Apple's emoji library at some time\nin the past and reused those on all platforms (except iPhone, of course)\ninstead of the native emoji symbols that those platforms also started to\nprovide? Are they still doing that today?\n\nI remember talking to confused Android users many years ago, when all this\nEmoji and WhatsApp craze started (I'm from Germany, where there are a lot of\nAndroid users and WhatsApp is king among messaging services due to its\nmultiplatform capability, while iMessage isn't used nearly as much due to its\ninherent limitation to iOS) and people saw me using Emojis in other apps on\niOS that were not WhatsApp. They were like \"hey, how did you get those cute\nWhatsApp icons out of WhatsApp and into that other app?\". It got pretty clear\nthat many Android users associated the Emojis directly with WhatsApp instead\nof recognizing them as a feature provided by the operating system, and that\nseems to have been caused mostly by WhatsApp copying the iOS Emoji library\nearly on, when Android did not yet have Emojis or had different-looking ones.\n\n~~~\nmxstbr\nNot only did they ship the iOS ones on Android for the longest while, but they\nrecently started testing a completely self-designed set of emojis on Android\nthat looks unlike any other!\n\nSee [http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/10/03/whatsapp-\nintroduces-...](http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/10/03/whatsapp-introduces-\nemoji-set-latest-android-beta-v2-17-364/) and\n[https://emojipedia.org/whatsapp/](https://emojipedia.org/whatsapp/) for the\nfull list.\n\n~~~\ncurrysausage\nMy girlfriend recently switched to iOS just because she wants those emojis\nback for WhatsApp. Can’t even blame her!\n\n~~~\nacct1771\nHieroglyphic society....\n\n------\nElmntOfSurprise\nI liked the old Android emoji much more and was disappointed that they lost\nthe race for becoming the standard. It used to be possible to express the\nemotion of being content that is not exaggerated by showing teeth or blushing\n[1], and \"weary face\" could be used to humorously express exhaustion [2] while\nit now seems to stand for \"my house burned down\" [3] (I especially miss \"weary\ncat face\" [4]). The Apple emoji look like they were designed for people with\nemotional agnosia.\n\nI guess one could argue that emojis are supposed to express the essence of an\nemotion to the fullest extent, but just like with color pigments it is nice to\nhave dilutions.\n\n(At least they got rid of that awful, awful grinning emoji [5].)\n\n[1] [https://emojipedia.org/google/android-4.4/smiling-face-\nwith-...](https://emojipedia.org/google/android-4.4/smiling-face-with-open-\nmouth/)\n\n[2] [https://emojipedia.org/google/android-4.4/weary-\nface/](https://emojipedia.org/google/android-4.4/weary-face/)\n\n[3] [https://emojipedia.org/apple/ios-11.2/weary-\nface/](https://emojipedia.org/apple/ios-11.2/weary-face/)\n\n[4] [https://emojipedia.org/google/android-4.4/weary-cat-\nface/](https://emojipedia.org/google/android-4.4/weary-cat-face/)\n\n[5]\n[https://assets.change.org/photos/2/by/dr/IcbYdrlxwuCPHHJ-800...](https://assets.change.org/photos/2/by/dr/IcbYdrlxwuCPHHJ-800x450-noPad.jpg?1474087343)\n\n~~~\n_xander\nThere's a study that was done on that grinning emoji - and the\nmiscommunication it can cause. I'm glad they fixed it:\n[https://grouplens.org/blog/investigating-the-potential-\nfor-m...](https://grouplens.org/blog/investigating-the-potential-for-\nmiscommunication-using-emoji/)\n\n------\nfredley\nSee also this interview with Susan Kare, who designed the first set of icons\nfor Mac:\n\n[https://web.stanford.edu/dept/SUL/sites/mac/primary/intervie...](https://web.stanford.edu/dept/SUL/sites/mac/primary/interviews/kare/trans.html)\n\n------\nkuroguro\n_> I had no idea that within a few months of completing such project, it would\nrevolutionize our culture’s way of communicating_\n\nI'm pretty sure emojis were all over the internet before apple - forums, chat\napps, IMs etc? Were they the first ones to include them in the default SMS app\nor something?\n\n~~~\noakesm9\nI believe they were used a lot in Japan and Apple created them initially for\nthat market as well. They were one of the first to make them accessible in the\nwest though.\n\n~~~\narchagon\nIIRC, for the longest time, you couldn't even get the emoji keyboard on\nWestern devices without some sort of weird kludge.\n\n~~~\nrangibaby\nPutting a magic number into the “magic number” app unlocked emoji on any\niThing iirc.\n\n------\naglionby\nSmilies on the old phpBB [0] forum software etc. must've been around for\nlonger than emoji. This[1] particular set gives me a lot of nostalgia, but I\ncan't remember what forum software it was packaged with. Things got pretty\nextravagant, I can't really imagine these[2] being useful in everyday\nconversation (potentially slightly NSFW)! Hell, even MSN Messenger had them.\n\nLooking at these brings back all kinds of memories from the BBs I frequented a\ndecade or so ago.\n\n[0] [http://i.imgur.com/LuZeOn7.png](http://i.imgur.com/LuZeOn7.png)\n\n[1] [https://4.img-\ndpreview.com/files/p/E~forums/58700537/8eea8bf...](https://4.img-\ndpreview.com/files/p/E~forums/58700537/8eea8bf64a73466d8929da0488d74605)\n\n[2]\n[https://forums.somethingawful.com/misc.php?action=showsmilie...](https://forums.somethingawful.com/misc.php?action=showsmilies)\n\n~~~\ngsnedders\n> Smilies on the old phpBB [0] forum software etc. must've been around for\n> longer than emoji.\n\nEmoji started appearing in the late 90s; phpBB is \"only\" 2000.\n\n------\nasmosoinio\nCan someone explain to me what these parent could be about?\n\n> It should be noted that although Raymond and I, Angela Guzman, are the\n> original Apple emoji designers responsible for the initial batch of close to\n> 500 characters ( _and were awarded a US patent for them_ )...\n\n~~~\ntinus_hn\nProbably a design patent, which is a completely different thing than a patent\nyou get for an invention. It grants someone an exclusive right to an\nornamental design.\n\n~~~\nasmosoinio\nInteresting, had never heard of a Design Patent before. Or at least was not\nactively aware what that is.\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_patent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_patent)\n\n------\nchecker659\nWhat is Raymond's full name?\n\n~~~\nreubenmorais\nRaymond seems to be Raymond Sepulveda -\n[http://www.xanthic.net/about/](http://www.xanthic.net/about/)\n\n~~~\nchecker659\nThankyou\n\n------\nbarronlroth\nWhat about Willem Van Lancker, who claims to have created 400 of the 500\noriginal emoji characters at Apple?\n\n[http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/emoji-2012-12/](http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/emoji-2012-12/)\n\n------\namelius\nI just noticed that HN strips out the unicode emoticons.\n\nFor example here's supposed to be a smiley face:\n\n(but it's not there)\n\n[http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/263a/index.htm](http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/263a/index.htm)\n\n~~~\napplecrazy\nI think comments are in ascii, not unicode.\n\n~~~\neric_h\n¯\\\\_(ツ)_/¯\n\nHN strips out a bunch of emoji unicode, but some unicode is allowed to get\nthrough.\n\n------\ngadders\n//OFFTOPIC\n\nThe author says:\n\n>>Designer at Google with a RISD sleeping pattern.\n\nWhat is an RISD sleeping pattern?\n\n~~~\nhealeycodes\nShe's referring to the Rhode Island School of Design, her alma mater.\n\n~~~\ngadders\nThank you. I thought it was some disorder or type of polyphasic sleep or\nsomething.\n\n------\nerikrothoff\nI remember first seeing emoji on Github and that they were very early those\nemoticons. I'd love to know more about the story there. I did some Googling\nand found nothing...\n\n~~~\nwhyever\nGitHub is not so old, it started in 2008 IIRC.\n\n------\namelius\nI'm missing two smiley icons:\n\n-big hypocritical smile\n\n-not impressed\n\nAnd I'm missing the option to create and send my own emoticons as SVG.\n\n~~~\noblio\nI basically want all the old Yahoo Messenger smileys, updated for higher\nresolution displays: [https://usefulshortcuts.com/yahoo-messenger/smileys-\nemoticon...](https://usefulshortcuts.com/yahoo-messenger/smileys-\nemoticons.php)\n\nWe have a billion emojis yet we're missing some of the basic ones...\n\n~~~\nmixmastamyk\nThose were great, the hug for example is so much better.\n\n------\nyuhong\nI wonder if Sundar would be willing to attend Unicode UTC meetings.\n\n------\nivanb\nEither I'm too old or I don't get how to use Emojis. I only use them to add\ntone or express my feelings or attitude so I use maybe five to ten most common\nemoticons. Eggplant, ice cream or almost any kind of other \"factual\" icons are\ncompletely useless to me. I would rather have more readable and expressive\nemoticons than hundreds of useless figurines. It would be nice to see if\npeople indeed use them.\n\nMy favorite emoticons are Koloboks [1][2]. They are very expressive and\nadorable. There were also static versions of the emoticons and they were\nalmost equally as expressive.\n\n[1]\n[http://www.en.kolobok.us/content_plugins/gallery/gallery.php...](http://www.en.kolobok.us/content_plugins/gallery/gallery.php?smiles.2)\n[2]\n[http://www.en.kolobok.us/content_plugins/gallery/gallery.php](http://www.en.kolobok.us/content_plugins/gallery/gallery.php)\n\n~~~\ntabs_masterrace\nIts about being a standard. The good thing about Emojis is they are part of\nUnicode and are now almost baked into everything natively. Vendors have\nslightly different art, but the same meaning is always conveyed. And there's a\nwhole lot of them. It's like a international standardized pictogram language,\nand no surprise it became popular in Asia first. Just think about how you can\nalready use Emojis to do some basic communication with someone on the street\nof Beijing or Tokyo.\n\n~~~\nmadeofpalk\n> but the same meaning is always conveyed\n\nDebatable. [https://medium.com/matter/lost-in-emoji-translation-apple-\nvs...](https://medium.com/matter/lost-in-emoji-translation-apple-vs-\nandroid-648fdd57ca25)\n\nOld article, and Android is/has ditched the blobs, but still highlights the\nimportance of the art in conveying the same meaning.\n\n~~~\nandrepd\nThat article misses the gravest one in my opinion: toy water gun vs actual gun\n[https://emojipedia.org/pistol/](https://emojipedia.org/pistol/)\n\n~~~\nFej\nThat has to be the most idiotic emoji implementation - clearly not what the\nUnicode Consortium intended, and borderline against the specification.\n\n~~~\nabritinthebay\n> clearly not what the Unicode Consortium intended, and borderline against the\n> specification.\n\nWhile I think the change was a bit silly so this this hyperbolic and unfounded\nstatement.\n\nThe specification merely states \"pistol\" and uses a silhouette of a gun as\nit's reference. Even if you argue that the reference is clearly an automatic\npistol (reasonable) the specification in fact specifically states _\" The\nshapes of the reference glyphs used in these code charts are not prescriptive.\nConsiderable variation is to be expected in actual fonts.\"_\n\nSo, as much as I disagree with the change (the intent was... well meaning if,\nI think, misguided) it is not only _not_ \"against the specification\" \\- it's\ndirectly in line with guidance of the specification.\n\n------\ncraigsmansion\nThese just about symbolise everything wrong with the modern web.\n\nWhereas the humble ascii emoticon was a fun exercise in pareidolia--as an\nemotional aside to whimsically add a little lightness to proper writing, they\nhave now been standardised, streamlined and commercialised, and are used as a\nsubstitute for proper writing, turning everything they're supposed to\nrepresent into a lie--a Web of lies.\n\nPopularity seems to be the death-knell for anything cute, quirky, quaint, or\nmildly amusing with its initial charm being brutally curb-stomped by the one-\nsize-fits-all boot of commercial interests.\n\n> it would revolutionize our culture’s way of communicating\n\nThanks for that :'( Sic transit gloria mundi. And no, I'm not being snooty: I\nam _that old_!\n\n------\nrplnt\nFirst of all, I absolutely loathe emojis and hate that they are on by default\nwith no (easy) way to disable (turn into flat glyphs in the color of the text,\nnot :some_stupid_name: as some applications offer).\n\nHaving dozens of sets of emojis that look quite different doesn't help either\n(on web in particular). And there's not that much coherence within the sets\neither. Apple in particular is really bad at this. For example, beer[1] looks\nlike a photo, whereas crap[2] is in a completely different style. Each\nindividual one can be nice and well thought out, but it makes them all look\nbad if they don't fit together.\n\n(Twitter's are much better in this regard)\n\n1\\. [https://emojipedia.org/beer-mug/](https://emojipedia.org/beer-mug/)\n\n2\\. [https://emojipedia.org/pile-of-poo/](https://emojipedia.org/pile-of-poo/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThis Is the First Known Image of DARPA's Submarine-Hunting Drone Ship - ourmandave\nhttp://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/exclusive-this-is-the-first-known-image-of-darpas-subm-1759205822\n======\nPhantomGremlin\nWeird. If it's unmanned and unarmed, whats to prevent pirates from boarding it\nand taking it over?\n\nSaid \"pirates\" could perhaps come from a nearby Russian trawler? Or maybe they\ncould be actual pirates from Eastern Africa? Maybe they're planning on keeping\nthese things way out in the ocean, 1000+ miles from any potentially hostile\ncoast?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nMetaLab's Andrew Wilkinson redesigns TED.com - alibosworth\nhttp://dribbble.com/shots/702217-TED-com-Rethink\n\n======\neps\nMeh would be the word. TED has personality and vibe. This doesn't, or rather\nits vibe is that of an iPhone app site - generic and instantly forgettable.\n\n------\noxwrist\nIt's pretty, but that's about it. I like the current design better.\n\n------\nonetwothreefour\nMeh.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nMudflap: Pointer Use Checking for C/C++ - nkurz\nhttp://gcc.fyxm.net/summit/2003/mudflap.pdf\n\n======\ntolmasky\nI really wish I could use Readability on all these Scribed PDFs.\n\n~~~\nchronomex\nSeriously. Why do people publish to PDF anyway?\n\n~~~\n_delirium\nIn a lot of cases, like the one here, it's because they're publishing for a\nconference or journal that takes submissions as PDF, not for the web. Then\nthey just put the same PDF on the internet.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: SvgVerlet.js a SVG-based physics library - miketucker\nhttp://mike-tucker.com/\n\n======\nmiketucker\nGithub Repo: [https://github.com/miketucker/svg-\nverlet.js](https://github.com/miketucker/svg-verlet.js)\n\nAll pages are based on an SVG file, such as: [http://mike-\ntucker.com/13/svg/hello.svg](http://mike-tucker.com/13/svg/hello.svg)\n\nAfter loading into the engine, optional plugins and effects are added:\nGravity, wind, mouse attractors, etc.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nTinker – Create duration-based goals on your iPhone - joekndy\nhttp://leef.io/tinker\n\n======\ncarlaldrich\nIt would be cool to track some history / time spent on different things. As it\nstands it does not seem differentiated enough from the native timer (or a\nwatch, for that matter).\n\n------\nshadesandcolour\nI hope that their next feature is the ability to queue up a bunch of goals for\nthe day. Scheduling something for an hour from now is nice, but being able to\nsay \"I would like to do x,y and z today for this many minutes each\" would be a\nnice thing to have. As it stands right now this is pretty similar to the built\nin clock app.\n\n~~~\nc3\nthere's an app called Habit List (ios) that pretty much does that.\n\n------\nArtemis2\nNo Android app, no Windows Phone app. This is not an application suited for\nmodern smartphone world.\n\n~~~\nandr\nAs an app just launching it'd make sense to try product-market fit on one\nplatform before investing in all three.\n\n~~~\nnoahtkoch\nI don't know, he has a point, look at Instagram, Vine, and Clear. All very\nunsuccessful apps, all launched exclusively on iPhone first. /s\n\n~~~\ndpcx\nUsing the term \"unsuccessful\" with Instragram and Vine is a bit misleading,\nIMHO. Instagram got a rather large (even if undeserved) purchase, and Vine is\nhuge.\n\n~~~\nceejayoz\nI think that was the (sarcastic) point.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNPM v5.7.0 - el_duderino\nhttp://blog.npmjs.org/post/171139955345/v570\n======\nr1ch\nBeware that this release seems to destroy your filesystem if run via sudo.\n\n[https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/19883](https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/19883)\n\n~~~\nfabian2k\nThis is a pre-release not a final one. But running npm update -g seems to\ninstall the 5.7.0 pre-release, due to a second bug, so some people will still\nhit the filesystem permissions bug in practice, even if they don't try to\nexplicitly install this specific release.\n\n~~~\nlolikoisuru\n>This is a pre-release not a final one.\n\nWhich is __not __mentioned anywhere in the linked blog post.\n\n~~~\nfabian2k\nWhich is why I explicitly mentioned that, as the blog post is likely to\nconfuse people in this regard.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhy “Growing the Economy” Doesn’t Even Make Sense - mindstab\nhttps://medium.com/@girlziplocked/why-growing-the-economy-doesn-t-even-make-sense-c2a3900d8403#.wxul8jcxb\n======\nAnimalMuppet\nThe assertion is \"growing the economy does not benefit the average person; the\nrich take all the gains\". Well, let's think about moving in the opposite\ndirection: \"Shrinking the economy does not hurt the average person; the rich\nwill take all the damage\".\n\nWhen I put it that way, the statement seems (at least to me) much less\nbelievable. So we have a statement about the shape of the productivity-vs-\npersonal-well-being graph that seems believable if we move one direction, but\nseems unbelievable if we move the other direction. That makes me much more\nskeptical of the whole idea.\n\nI think it's more likely to be the case that we aren't recognizing all the\nways that productivity is enhancing the average person's well-being.\n\n------\nbufordsharkley\nThis is sloppily argued, but it's essentially right about a lot of things.\n(You can hear the same arguments, albeit made with much more clarity, 150\nyears ago in Henry George's \"Progress and Poverty.\")\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\n\"This page is best viewed from the United States\" - jodoglevy\nhttp://chronline.posterous.com/this-page-is-best-viewed-outside-the-us\n\n======\nmorsch\nI thought this would be about content restrictions that prevent international\nusers from seeing the same stuff as US users.\n\nMost of his arguments seem to apply to access from the US just as they apply\nto international access. He describes his experiences with slow network access\nin various countries, but slow mobile internet access exists in the US (and\nother developed countries) as well -- either because you're so rural that\nyou're lucky to get even 2G data, or because you're _so urban_ that the 3G\nbandwidth is clogged. Granted, slow access is probably more widespread in non-\nUS, developing or underdeveloped countries.\n\nEither way, yes, obviously you should try to minimize your site's download\nsize, and a full-featured but minimalistic version of a site is a very good\nthing to have.\n\nThe only thing that seems to me to apply only to international access is the\nadvice to make your site available through an international CDN.\n\n------\nlatch\nI wish people didn't use S3 in lieu of a CDN.\n\nFrom Hong Kong on a 100mbps line (and I can hit 11MB up and down):\n\n    \n    \n      10mb binary file\n    \n      S3 US Standard avg 112k/s took 1:31\n    \n      S3 Singapore avg 1290K/s took 0:07\n    \n      S3 Tokyo avg 895K/s took 0:11\n    \n      Cloudfront avg 8758k/sec took 0:01\n    \n\nLatency to Singapore is around 50ms, latency to Cloudfront is < 4ms.\n\n~~~\ndredmorbius\nCloudFront _is_ S3-backed CDN.\n\n~~~\ncoderdude\nYou can use S3 as an origin server for CloudFront but it's not serving files\ndirectly from S3. CloudFront has \"edge locations\" that you can push files to\nfrom S3 -- which \"stores the original, definitive versions of your files.\"[1]\n\n[1] <http://aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/pricing/>\n\n~~~\ndredmorbius\nThanks. Still picking this up myself.\n\n~~~\nenjo\nIt's important to note that Cloudfront also supports custom origins, so it\ndoesn't even have to involve s3 these days.\n\n------\nxiaoma\n> _\"Some big cities like Taipei, Beijing, and Singapore have government\n> sponsored free public wireless more or less all throughout the city\"_\n\nBullshit. I just moved from Beijing. Not only is there no government sponsored\nwireless all throughout the city, but internet cafes must record each\ncustomer's ID info before you can log-on. Even McDonalds' free internet for\ncustomers requires identification (which is troublesome for foreigners or\nanyone without national ID cards).\n\nI was in Singapore less than three months ago, and found no public free wifi\nduring my stay. On the good side, many, many cafes there offer wifi and it's\nnot locked down like in Beijing.\n\nTaiwan, on the other hand is making strides with their new service rolled out\nlast October.\n\n------\nswiecki\nThis could really use a lot of editing. Far too much of it is whining about\nslow internet that doesn't reach a meaningful conclusion, but instead\ngeneralizes from his anecdote.\n\nIf anyone is reading comments before reading the article, I recommend scanning\nit quickly. You won't miss anything.\n\n------\nsandieman\nNot that this matters but relative to the other sites listed going after\n\"world domination\" dukechronicle has much higher % of US based traffic.\n\n------\nchsnow\nGood article, thanks.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow I came up with my product name - infocaptor\nhttp://www.mockuptiger.com/mockuptiger-in-the-zoo\n======\ncode_duck\nThinking up names sure can be tricky. Name trends are silly for web\nbusinesses, no doubt - word+ ster, word +r, and now word + ly.\n\nMockupTiger actually fits a name trend I call 'adjective animal', which is\nvery popular in the jewelry and gallery world - Sleepy Lizard Designs, Golden\nSwallow Jewelry, Soaring Eagle, stuff like that. I suppose there are web\nbusinesses with that sort of name, too, MailChimp for instance. It's a good\ncombination - animals are symbolic, memorable, and having a mascot works well\nfor many types of marketing and branding.\n\nJust make sure nobody confuses you with my personal favorite auction site,\n<http://valuetiger.com/> !\n\n~~~\ninfocaptor\nI forgot about mailchimp. yep that one is an animal :)\n\n------\ninfocaptor\nDoes anyone else find the number + word naming strategy annoying? I am\nreferring to people naming websites similar to 37signals\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThesis Theme is now using a split GPLv2 license - PStamatiou\nhttp://twitter.com/pearsonified/status/19288707443\n======\nbriandoll\nThis has been really interesting to watch unfold. Starting with Andrew\nWarner's tweet (<http://twitter.com/AndrewWarner/status/18538556171>) \"How can\nI get @photomatt & @pearsonified on Mixergy right now to talk? I bet I can\nbring peace here.\"\n\nI've loved the Mixergy interviews in the past, but this shows just how good\nAndrew really is. He never pit them against one another, and really helped\nthem each clarify their points in a last-minute interview that easily could\nhave turned hostile.\n\nNow that the code is on the GPL (the php at least), we can thank Andrew for\nbrining peace!\n\n~~~\npavs\nIt couldn't have turned hostile, because one of the two was level headed and\nnon-combative. The other guy was just talking gibberish.\n\n~~~\nslouch\ni contend that the audio quality on the live feed was degrading a few of\nmatt's smart-assed sentence-ending chuckles. he also made one completely\ninflammatory comment that andrew condemned. sure, chris let his passion get\nthe best of him, but matt trolled him more than once.\n\n------\nPStamatiou\nand in another tweet:\n\n\"The PHP is GPLv2; CSS, JS, and images are proprietary.\"\n<http://twitter.com/pearsonified/status/19288875981>\n\n~~~\ncheald\nWhich is perfectly reasonable, according to what I know of the GPL and how it\nhas been ruled to apply to software packages in the past.\n\nGood on him for license compliance.\n\n------\npavs\nFinally, sanity ensured. Maybe he watched his own interview and realized how\ndubious his reasoning was.\n\n~~~\nduck\nMaybe he watched his own interview and realized Matt might actually take him\nto court.\n\n------\njoshuacc\nFinally. It seemed to me completely obvious that CSS, images, etc. couldn't be\nforced into GPL. The PHP still seems a bit of a gray area, but at least now\nthere's a semblance of consensus.\n\n~~~\ngabrielroth\nI don't think CSS and images were a sticking point. If my recollection holds,\nwhen Matt asked the Software Freedom Law Center for an opinion on Thesis, they\nsaid that the PHP would have to be GPL'd and the other elements wouldn't have\nto be.\n\n------\ndotBen\nTwitter status update aside, I couldn't find this documented/posted on\nThesis's diythemes.com site.\n\nI'd like to see the license and exactly how and what has been dual licensed.\n\nAnyone have any info?\n\n~~~\nslouch\n\"@keener You can view the split GPL license in the new DIYthemes Terms of\nService: <http://bit.ly/a4WozG>\n<http://twitter.com/pearsonified/status/19294129775>\n\n~~~\nPStamatiou\nfrom the site:\n\n2\\. Intellectual Property License\n\nThesis General PHP License The PHP code portions of Thesis are subject to the\nGNU General Public License, version 2. All images, cascading style sheets, and\nJavaScript elements are released under the Thesis Proprietary Use License\nbelow.\n\nThesis Proprietary Use License The Thesis Proprietary Use License is a GPL\ncompatible license that applies only to the images, cascading style sheets,\nand JavaScript files contained in Thesis. These elements are the copyrighted\nintellectual property of DIYthemes and cannot be redistributed or used in any\nfashion other than as provided in this Agreement.\n\nNOTICE: Distribution of Thesis in its entirety inherently violates the Thesis\nProprietary Use License. Further, use of the Thesis brand (trademark) to\ndistribute the GPL portions of Thesis is a violation of trademark law.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIEEE publishes draft report on 'ethically aligned' AI design - miraj\nhttp://www.zdnet.com/article/ieee-publishes-draft-report-on-ethically-aligned-ai-design/\n======\nmiraj\nthe report :: (.pdf)\n\n\"Ethically Aligned Design: A Vision for Prioritizing Human Wellbeing with\nArtificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems (AI/AS)\"\n\n[http://standards.ieee.org/develop/indconn/ec/ead_v1.pdf](http://standards.ieee.org/develop/indconn/ec/ead_v1.pdf)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe EU's bizarre war on memes is totally unwinnable - jkaljundi\nhttp://www.wired.co.uk/article/eu-meme-war-article-13-regulation\n======\nDanBC\nBecause most people on HN have never read this, here is article 13:\n\nArticle 13\n\nUse of protected content by information society service providers storing and\ngiving access to large amounts of works and other subject-matter uploaded by\ntheir users\n\n1.Information society service providers that store and provide to the public\naccess to large amounts of works or other subject-matter uploaded by their\nusers shall, in cooperation with rightholders, take measures to ensure the\nfunctioning of agreements concluded with rightholders for the use of their\nworks or other subject-matter or to prevent the availability on their services\nof works or other subject-matter identified by rightholders through the\ncooperation with the service providers. Those measures, such as the use of\neffective content recognition technologies, shall be appropriate and\nproportionate. The service providers shall provide rightholders with adequate\ninformation on the functioning and the deployment of the measures, as well as,\nwhen relevant, adequate reporting on the recognition and use of the works and\nother subject-matter.\n\n2.Member States shall ensure that the service providers referred to in\nparagraph 1 put in place complaints and redress mechanisms that are available\nto users in case of disputes over the application of the measures referred to\nin paragraph 1.\n\n3.Member States shall facilitate, where appropriate, the cooperation between\nthe information society service providers and rightholders through stakeholder\ndialogues to define best practices, such as appropriate and proportionate\ncontent recognition technologies, taking into account, among others, the\nnature of the services, the availability of the technologies and their\neffectiveness in light of technological developments.\n\n------\nwmf\nSorry to rain on the outrage parade, but I don't see any evidence of a \"war on\nmemes\". Sure, the EU might force Imgur to implement some kind of content ID\nsystem and Hollywood _could_ register source images in that system to block\nsome memes, but the motivations for this new copyright law appear to have\nnothing to do with memes.\n\n~~~\nprobably_wrong\nIf I understand you correctly: it's not that this is a law against memes.\nRather, blocking memes is one of the unintended effects that the new law would\nhave, for the reason you said.\n\n\"War on memes\" is a catchy nickname, the same way the Patriot act is not\nreally about patriotism.\n\n~~~\nRjevski\nHonestly, blocking memes would be the only good result of this law. I can’t\nwait to see social networks cleaned of that crap.\n\n------\nmalmsteen\nBut who is at the source of such a law ? I mean who's interest does it serve ?\nWho had the idea.\n\nBecause afaik movie and music creators are already winning the piracy war\nright ?\n\n~~~\nraverbashing\nOld legislators that have no idea on how the internet works heavily backed by\ncopyright heavyweights that think they can still win this fight\n\n------\ngoldenSilence\nIt's laughable to state that such a war is unwinnable.\n\nTotalitarianism is a historic precedent which demonstrates the possibility of\npropaganda supremacy.\n\nIt's only impossible to win a fight like this, if one refuses to do harm to\nthose who engage in the behavior being controlled. Make an example of a few\npeople, and wow, look at how quiet it gets.\n\n    \n    \n      (HN Moderators, feel free to chime in, lol)\n\n------\nmabynogy\nIt is. Make the EU collapse.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSF Supervisor Pushes to Remove Zuckerberg Name from Hospital - Jerry2\nhttps://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/california/SF-Supervisor-Pushes-to-Remove-Zuckerberg-Name-From-Hospital-501491461.html\n======\nmc32\nYou know what? I dislike Zuck's company and what he does as much as anyone,\nbut this is naked revisionism and opportunism and pandering. Back in the day\nthe Supes were wagging their tongues and smiling broadly at the prospect.\n\nNo, sorry, give those $75 million back, if you want to remove the name. Don't\nbe a hypocrite.\n\nMy unrequitted wish is that one day SF gets a new city charter made for adults\nwith kids in mind. These supes always, always look for the lamest things to\nhang their hats on and boast what a wonderful job they are doing. You got\nneedles, you got homeless, you got people who can't afford rent, you have\njobless, drug abuse, infrastructure which needs retrofitting, MUNI, etc., etc.\nlet’s not worry about that. Let’s take a name down!!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nTesting a e1/t1 card before shipping to haiti - aaronzinman\n\nHi friendly HN peoples,<p>We're shipping a server to Haiti, ideally Friday for an MIT project (konbit.media.mit.edu). It is a voice-based service that interfaces with the public via ordinary telephones. The goal is to make it easier to employ Haitian nationals rather than bringing in foreign contractors (the norm). It is 100% free &#38; open source.<p>It will be hosed by Digicel, the main telcom down there. We have a Digium telephony card that connects to them via E1 channels. The card can do T1 and J1.<p>Does anyone have any equipment/T1 lines we can use to test the actual card before shipping it? Once we ship it is will be very difficult and expensive to try to deal with any broken cards.<p>&#60;obvious&#62;We're in Boston/Cambridge, so you should be too.&#60;/obvious&#62;<p>We're reachable at konbit at-sign media.mit.edu<p>Thanks,\nAaron &#38; Greg\n======\nnoonespecial\nWe use sangoma here. (Far more reliable than digium in our experience). We\njust set up a test bench with extra cards (a cisco 1720 with t1 wic for data\nand an asterisk box with another sangoma in master mode for simulating a\ntelco). This allows us to test with any of the bazillion different line\nprotocols you're likely to face on site (especially in a 3rd world setting).\n\nAlso when we face the inevitable problems on site, we can simulate Apollo 13\nstyle at home base to work out solutions.\n\n~~~\naaronzinman\nThat's a good idea. What were your problems with Digium cards?\n\nProblem is we are on a very tight budget. Any money spent on testing is not on\nphone calls, which means less jobs for the population.\n\n~~~\nnoonespecial\nWe had problems with Digiums vanishing from lspci and never working again (mid\noperation). Tech support vanished as well.\n\nSangoma was a completely different animal. Techsupport wrote patches _just for\nus_ to help us get going on our wacky custom kernel for embedded devices. I\nthink if you called sangoma and told them what you're up to, you are quite\nlikely to get a steep discount or even free gear.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nProgressive Enhancement Makes Me Sad - oliverdunk\nhttp://www.heydonworks.com/article/progressive-enhancement-makes-me-sad\n======\nfishtoaster\nThis is a weird piece, since it's clear by the end that it's satire, but he\nhas a few good points (whether he knows it or not):\n\n1\\. \"But who’s to say there’s going to _be_ any users?\" -> Which is true. If\nyou're just starting a project out, you have to decided whether it's worth an\nextra X hours/days/weeks for any given bit of technical improvement, whether\nit's progressive enhancement or something else. If it expands my potential\nuser base by 10%, but doubles my time to market, it may not be worth it.\n\n2\\. \"The less time I spend on creating a robust architecture (boring) the more\ntime I have for creating features.\" -> Ignoring the \"boring\" remark, this is\ntrue. I could spend a near infinite amount of time improving my architecture,\nbut at a certain point I reach diminishing returns. Where I cut off my\nrobustness work depends on the nature of the project, but every project has\n_some_ point at which you'd improve user experience more by adding a feature\nthan improving performance. For an early prototype, that point may be quite\nsoon.\n\n3\\. \"It’s all web apps now\" -> I think the author is aware of this, but there\n_are_ many apps which just don't fit particularly well into a document. It's\nnot clear whether the author really thinks all such apps are trivial (eg\ndetecting your dog's age), but I'd argue there are plenty of substantial apps\nthat don't fit that model well, and benefit substantially from being a full-on\njs-heavy web app.\n\n~~~\nsmadge\n> whether it's worth an extra X hours/days/weeks for any given bit of\n> technical improvement, whether it's progressive enhancement or something\n> else\n\nProgressive enhancement leads to less initial effort. Single page and script\nheavy applications are more complex and take more time to develop and debug\nthan server side rendered applications. They often duplicate logic between the\nclient and the server. Alternatively, throw together some database queries and\nhook them up to html templates, and you have the foundation for a\nprogressively enhancing site. You can then expend the extra effort to ENHANCE\nyour site by sprinkling in client side code and cutting edge css features.\n\n~~~\nfishtoaster\nI suppose this is entirely subjective, but I have to disagree that an SPA is\ninherently more complex and time-intensive that building equivalent\nfunctionality mostly server-side. I split my time about evenly between\nserverside development (Rails, then PHP before that, then Java before that)\nand clientside (React, then Angular before that, then Backbone before that,\nand jquery soup before that). I think it depends on the app, but I definitely\nfind certain kinds of apps are a lot easier in a large clientside framework.\n\nNow, there are cases for each. Building a simple blog, you'd be right: a\nserver-rendered app with a sprinkling of JS for flavor would probably be a lot\neasier. On the other hand, a site that behaves more like an app might be\nquicker to build as an SPA. For example, an e-commerce site with complex\nfiltering (you can filter by size, but it goes 0-20 for shoes, sm-xl for\nt-shirts, 10-70 for jeans, etc) and complex UI interactions available in-page\non each item such as one-click buying, searching for similar items, setting up\na price-alert, etc). You _could_ do that mostly server-side, but I'd argue\nyour frontend (at least on the item-browsing page) is heavier enough that it\nmay be easier to just build a js-first site to start with.\n\n~~~\nsmadge\nIt all depends on the use case. I'm just trying to refute the parent comment.\nIn some situations, e.g. when you are starting with server side logic and\nrendering, progressive enhancement is actually less effort. You get it for\nfree since all user agents support html. Some applications might justifiably\nstart out as single page applications. Other make more sense using the\nmetaphor of hyperlinked resources.\n\n~~~\nsanderjd\nHere is my own personal experience: You're fighting user expectations by doing\nthings this way. Your users almost unanimously don't care how you architect\nyour application, but they are used to using Facebook, Gmail, Dropbox, AirBnB,\netc. etc. and they will eventually expect and ask you for the same sort of\nexperience, at which point you will put more time into tacking on dynamic\nfeatures to a static application than you would have spent designing a dynamic\napplication to begin with. Then you'll probably end up re-writing the complex\nportions (and eventually all portions, because hybrids suck to maintain) in a\nfront-end framework and pulling out the back-end logic into a convenient API,\nand coming to the conclusion that you would have started that way if you knew\nyou were going to end that way. Then you'll start looking at new applications\nthrough that lens of whether your users will ever want that sort of dynamism,\nand you'll start concluding pretty much every time (because nobody _ever_ asks\nyou to build a blog or publication site) that your users will want that sort\nof thing, so you're better off going dynamic up front. Now you just have the\n(smaller, IMO) problem of what to do about the users who don't want the\ndynamic stuff, and if you're successful enough that you can afford to invest\nin it, you can put the time into progressive enhancement, which (in my\nopinion!) is easier than retro-fitting rich front-ends onto static apps.\n\nThis may all be wrong at each step, but hopefully it illuminates a bit how a\nlot of us (otherwise sensible developers) ended up thinking it makes more\nsense to start most things as rich-front-end+API apps.\n\n------\nrvdm\nTo me, the awkward \"is this funny or not\" approach to writing this article\nfits in perfectly with the sentiment of the author (and my own) about the\nsubject.\n\nIn my 18 years as a web dev I've tumbled down every rabbit hole and been\ncaught by every trap ever.\n\nWe wanted animation? Great, learn some ActionScript. Now you want databases?\nAdd some MySQL and PHP. But then those weren't cool anymore and everything had\nto be RoR and jQuery. Then we ended up writing monsters of jQuery code trying\nto make sites feature packed and along came Backbone. After that there was\nAngular, but then people realized SEO and accessibility still need to be\nconsidered so now I spend my days writing what should have been as simple as:\n\n<h1>Hello World</h1>\n\nLike this:\n\nReact.createElement(\n\n    \n    \n      'h1',\n    \n      {},\n    \n      'Hello World'\n    \n\n);\n\nSo the solution to HTML is now to simply give up on HTML and write everything\nin JavaScript…\n\nI like React, Redux, Node, etc a lot. The fact we can have Universal and\nNative React and that there finally is a robust solution to most ( all? ) web\ndev problems is fantastic. But the overhead in development time is\nsignificant. When possible I use these tools, but in a lot of cases, I just\ngive up on it all and end up writing straight up HTML divs without any\nflexboxes or animations or shivs or shims or 5's or 3's. Just the good old\nstuff I was writing back in 1998.\n\nWhen comparing web development to something like developing for iOS, this full\ncircle we've made does feel painful ironic. So much so it's hard to tell if\nit's funny or not.\n\nSmall note to the author : love the beautiful big font on your site but you\nhave some colliding elements on iPad portrait.\n\n~~~\nfishtoaster\nIf you can accomplish what you want with just html, you absolutely should! :)\nIt doesn't work for a lot of use-cases, but it's great if it fits your use-\ncase.\n\n------\nebiester\nFor the most part, I think people are talking past each other. For sites that\nare document-based toward a wide audience, progressive enhancement makes the\nmost sense. For application-centric sites (For example, an internal admin app,\nor a B2B application where SEO and phones aren't the primary interface) why\nwould I spend the money for the extra work?\n\nIt's almost as if your use case should determine your strategy.\n\n~~~\naarongustafson\n> For application-centric sites (For example, an internal admin app, or a B2B\n> application where SEO and phones aren't the primary interface) why would I\n> spend the money for the extra work?\n\nIf you have control over the end-user's environment, by all means do whatever\nyou want. But when you don't (let's say your building an online banking site),\nyou should ensure your real users can access it (and their money) no matter\nwhat.\n\nOf course locking into specific technologies is why IE6 continues to persist\n(Intranets, South Korean banks), so that's some additional food for thought.\nIt may not be a concern in your specific instance but it's a risk if you don't\nuse web standards.\n\n> It's almost as if your use case should determine your strategy.\n\n:-) I wish more folks thought that way. When all you have is a hammer…\n\n------\npmalynin\nWe've faced this problem when we were deploying our Meteor application. The\nissue in particular was mostly for crawlability purposes and Twitter/Facebook\nmetadata. The first issue (crawlability) -- which, of course, directly impacts\nusers who cannot run javascript such as search engines [1] -- can be solved\ntrivially by sticking phantomjs in front and redirecting server-side depending\non UA. Combined with NGINX's caching you can then serve these rendered pages\nwithout needing to hit phantomjs every single time. The nice thing is, if you\ndon't prune the \"script\" tags from the rendered pages, you can then just serve\nthese cached pages back to the user. The HTML will be rendered, then if you\nhave JS enabled the Meteor (React | Angular | JSFrameworkOfChoice) it will\njust re-render the page.\n\n[1] I am aware that Google now can run JavaScript, but I've found it to be\nrather bad and to mangle my pages in quite horrible ways.\n\n------\njschwartzi\nI completely agree with this post. Most people don't realize what a burden it\nis to write websites that function while taking less than a gigabyte of ram\nand four cores. You shouldn't be browsing the newspaper with a device that's\nolder than two years anyway.\n\n~~~\nhashkb\nRead it again. You actually disagree with it.\n\n~~~\ndack\nI'm pretty sure jschwartzi was kidding :)\n\n------\nhashkb\nI was hoping for good arguments so I could justify laziness but am almost as\npleased to have that hope lampooned.\n\n------\nbjterry\nAny additional technical requirements lead to more work (or less quality), and\nprogressive enhancement is obviously a technical requirement. I think this is\nobvious if you think of even the most basic web interaction: form submission.\n\nWith progressive enhancement, you have to have one form submission that\ndoesn't use AJAX, which means it POSTs to the server and the server accepts\nthe POST and replies with a fully-formed HTML document. Then, because you want\nto delight your users with animations and a responsive low-latency feel, you\nhave an AJAX version of the form, which posts to the server and receives a\nJSON response for client-side template rendering. You can share some code\nbetween these two, but because rendering the whole page requires completely\ndifferent data from rendering just the component you are updating, there is a\nbunch of conditional code.\n\nYou essentially have to build two models of your application, one on the\nserver side which knows the state of your application (is this modal open, is\nthis widget showing, have they collapsed this widget) and one on the client\nside that separately maintains all the same state and has transitions between\nthem that will result in identical html. It has to be this way, otherwise your\nUI is not going to be responsive, animated and delightful for users, and\nyou're going to lose in the marketplace. Since you have two models of the\nstate of your app, now you have to make sure they are always in sync. All the\ntesting and bugs and complexity maintaining that dual state could instead be\nspent on building the next great feature for your users.\n\nNow obviously, this is sensitive to context. If you work for a giant\nenterprise and have more programmers than you know what to do with and clear\nproduct requirements set by the market, you can spend the time to build a\nproduct that addresses 99% of the users, even if going from 80% to 99% takes\n80% more work. But if you are a startup, and you are either racing with\ncompetitors to build out the functionality demanded by users, or still\nexploring the functionality that will see successful adoption of your product,\nyou'd be crazy to slow yourself down to get every user running NoScript, IE10,\nor whatever other old browsers. You just need to get your product working for\nsome subset of passionate users, then you can spend more engineering resources\non supporting users with older devices once you've proven out the market.\nOtherwise you may not be around to do so.\n\n~~~\nkuschku\nHave you worked with GWT before? Or Grails? Or RoR?\n\nA lot of web frameworks do all those tasks for you.\n\nIn Grails, I can just specify a single piece of backend code, and it’ll work\nas REST API with data in JSON or XML, it will work in webbrowsers, and I can\nusually easily integrate it into mobile applications, too.\n\n~~~\nfishtoaster\nI've done a bit of work with Rails' js tools. I hear they're getting better in\n5, but I haven't paid attention to them in a while. Last I looked, they were\ngreat if all you wanted to do was take a basic html form and make it act\npretty much the same but actually submit via ajax. If you wanted to do\nanything more complex, it got tricky.\n\n------\ncmrx64\nPoe's law has struck me down here. Either author is an asshole, or author\ndoesn't know how to do good parody.\n\n~~~\ndllthomas\nUp until 3, I was leaning \"not parody\", but 3 _has_ to be parody.\n\n _\" Then there’s trains. Urgh. So you’re having trouble downloading a client-\nrendered, blocking-javascript-dependent web page over 2G because you’re on a\ntrain? The solution’s staring you in the face: Stop travelling by train.\nEither get a pad in the city center near your place of work or sleep under\nyour desk. That’s what I did, why can’t you?\n\nHonestly, take some responsibility.\"_\n\n~~~\nmrgoldenbrown\nThe \"take some responsibility\" line is actually very close to what I hear real\npeople say all the time in discussions on poverty. Many people seem to firmly\nbelieve the idea that poor people are only poor because they're lazy. It is\nnot hard for me to believe there are developers out there who would actually\nsay something like this.\n\n~~~\ndllthomas\nI don't disagree that there are echoes of things that are actually said -\nthat's to be expected of parody. But it's the combination that's so over the\ntop. \"If you (and your partner?) are not living in the (same) city center\nwhere you (both) work, _you_ are responsible for our app's poor experience.\"\n\n------\ndaigoba66\n> There’s no “document” version of an app that guesses what age your dog is. I\n> mean, what would that even look like?\n\nI guess the author doesn't realize that code can live on a server. And the\nanswer to his query can simply be a \"document\".\n\nEdit: I did not catch that the article is supposed to be a joke. If that's\ntrue... I suppose it's not very funny.\n\n~~~\noliverdunk\nI'm not sure how apparent it is, but the post is a joke aimed at pointing fun\nat people who agree with the arguments (I didn't write it, by the way)\n\n------\nchris_wot\nI'm not really sure why progressive enhancement is considered hard...\n\n~~~\nchriswarbo\nYes, it's strange. Progressive enhancement _was_ the idea that you throw\ntogether a simple, working site with HTML and POST forms, then once it's\nworking you can burn as much time as you like adding fanciful doodads with\nCSS, Javascript, etc.\n\nNow it's apparently easier to build a fanciful doodad than it is to write a\nstring of text.\n\n------\njff\nIt's a little off-topic, but this was one of the few websites where I've had\nto _shrink_ the text to make it readable. I'm not complaining, completely the\nopposite--it just reminded me of an article the other day that said it's\nbetter to be more accessible by default, and for instance my dad would have\nprobably been pretty happy with the default text size.\n\n------\nzeveb\nHeh, excellent. He really had me there for a moment.\n\n------\nwahsd\n#3 Encourages Bad Behavior ... I was in the middle of Silicon Valley at a\nhotel that barely had a medium 3G signal and a weak LTE signal in pockets...\nand that was outside the building facing the bay. If not even SV can muster\ngood signal strength that point is moot.\n\n------\njhpriestley\nThe premise that server-side HTML generation is faster than client-side HTML\ngeneration is simply false. See here for experimental confirmation:\n[http://www.onebigfluke.com/2015/01/experimentally-\nverified-w...](http://www.onebigfluke.com/2015/01/experimentally-verified-why-\nclient-side.html)\n\nWhy would offloading computation to a heavily-taxed central server speed\nanything up? It doesn't make much sense. Nor is HTML generation a bottleneck\nin most realistic applications.\n\n~~~\njoekrill\nYou almost confirm his point:\n\n> Well, I’ve got a pretty good setup for starters: Fibre, 16GB RAM.\n\nYou're using a fairly decent desktop setup, and a top-of-the-line mobile\nsetup, and there's no talk about server-side specs. So yes, it's true that\n\"The premise that server-side HTML generation is faster than client-side HTML\ngeneration is simply false.\" \\-- in your one particular, very specific use\ncase.\n\n~~~\nJoeAltmaier\nThe server has to do it for everybody, right? If it scales at all, no server\nis powerful enough. But mobile makes it more complex.\n\n~~~\nRetric\nIf you can afford to do X on a server. Then spending 10x the resources to load\nin 1/10 or better yet 1/100th the time scales just fine.\n\nConsider, there is no way for a single users machine to do a Google search in\nany reasonable time frame. Google search works because they can scale out to\nenough machines to keep everything important in RAM which drastically reduces\nthe workload per request. They can also cache results.\n\n------\nplaceybordeaux\nWhat is up with HN and promoting barely parody pieces?\n\n~~~\nwcummings\nPeople enjoy entertainment. Satire is entertaining.\n\n~~~\nplaceybordeaux\nI enjoy satire, but so many of these pieces are barely satire.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nUruguay's president at Rio+20 saying what needs to be said - gcmartinelli\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cQgONgTupo\n\n======\npitiburi\nIt's a pity the translation is so, so bad.. The speech is just brilliant, the\nthoughts are deep, and the guy is just amazing. He is a south american\nMandela, he has been prisioner for 15 years in solitaire confinement under the\nmilitar government, and now he is president. He lives in his farm, in a very\nsimple little house, and gave the presidential palace to be used for housing\npeople without houses.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: What personal projects/goals are people working on for this summer? - techdemic\n\nWell, school's out for summer, but the learning doesn't stop. Jobs and internships aside, what personal projects/goals do you hope to accomplish during Summer 11'?<p>---<p>I just had my wisdom teeth (all four) removed, and to help pass the time I've been working through Zed Shaw's 'Learn Python the Hard Way'. My end-goal is to have a few Python/Django projects in my portfolio come September.\n======\nswhopkins\nI started my summer a bit early: In Feb. I quit my job and moved to Guatemala.\nHere I'm spending the mornings learning Spanish, and the afternoons playing\nwith Rails and Javascript. After I finish my current project, I'd like to look\nsome into iOS development.\n\n~~~\ncj\nWhat brought you to Guatemala?\n\n~~~\nswhopkins\nCheap spanish classes (cheap everything, really) and nice weather. The\ninternet could be a little faster, but I guess you can't have it all.\n\n~~~\nczheng\nIf you get a free weekend, and have an extra $75 or so, you should spend a\ncouple of nights at Casa del Mundo on Lake Atitlán. Amazing.\n\n------\nbenreyes\nInteresting question, techdemic. Just to mention for questions like this on\nHackerNews it's often common to prepend the post with 'Ask HN:' in the title.\n\n\\----\n\nAs for what I'm working on in the summer. If everything goes to plan.\n\n\\- A directory of startup tools\n\n\\- Brush up on my probability and statistics with the help of the Khan Academy\nand some text books.\n\n\\- Then explore machine learning. Hope to go through the Stanford Machine\nlearning video lectures. Then apply some of the modelling to the project\nabove.\n\nAs for goals, I'd like to be ramen profitable with the tool/service directory.\n\n~~~\ntechdemic\nThanks for the tip Ben, regarding questions for the HN community; it's been\nnoted.\n\nI'm interested in learning more about this \"directory of startup tools\" you\nmentioned. Will it be a self-compiled directory, or something more\ncollaborative in nature?\n\n~~~\nbenreyes\nNo worries, happy to help. What I'm working on right now is a manually curated\ndirectory for the MVP and hopefully I can get it to ramen profitability during\nthat phase.\n\nThen will spend some time to work out the algorithms to do the automatic\ncuration of the services & tools. Hence my interest into exploring probably &\nstatistics modelling / machine learning further.\n\nI'll send you an email.\n\n------\nDTrejo\nI'm writing an app that helps you become a better programmer by recording\nstatistics on your coding style and habits. It is built with node and CouchDB.\n\nIf you want to beta test, sign up at <http://hackharder.com/> (really ugly,\ngonna fix it soon).\n\nAlpha testing has not yet started, but soon :)\n\n------\nlkozma\nI'd like to:\n\n\\- learn the 4 balls mills mess juggling pattern (almost there)\n\n\\- become fluent in German (still quite far)\n\n------\ndkersten\nI am currently working on (and will be all summer):\n\n\\- MIDI Controller-related stuff (just finished a hardware project, moving on\nto some new and advanced firmware mods for the Midifighter).\n\n\\- 2D SciFi viking game, using a custom C++/Lua engine, using OpenGL 3 for\ngraphics, Intel Threading Building Blocks for multicore, SDL 1.3 for windowing\nand input, GLM for math, Bullet for physics. Component entity system based. No\naudio yet.\n\n\\- Backend web development for money.\n\n\\- Tinkering with various bits and pieces: a Qt-based mini-dwarf-fortress type\nthing; programming language concepts; bitcoin related stuff...\n\nAmount of time spent on each is roughly in the above order, from most time to\nleast time.\n\n------\nbeck5\nBuilding an app in Node.js, so will be learning that along with MongoDB.\n\nHave another project to start and need to decide if I use as a tool to learn\nPython by using django or if learning 2 new languages/frameworks at a time is\na silly idea.\n\n~~~\nm0hit\ni'm working on building a node.js + socket.io realtime streaming web app. Also\nhoping to run through some of the new javascript frameworks such as\nBackbone.js for the frontend along with d3.js for visualization.\n\naiming to write some more <http://www.privacypatterns.org> so that I can talk\nabout the project more widely.\n\n------\npkamb\nImmediate goals for <http://www.onehandkeyboard.org/>\n\n-Make/upload an example video\n\n-Content... guides for different ailments, etc.\n\n-First sale!\n\n------\nad80\nBeing a non programmer I try to build my first web app in RoR, but as I am\nlearning from scratch it will take some time. Any others starting from scratch\nhere?\n\nOn the other hand I am completing a project I am really excited about, a long\nkept idea, using external developers, which I hope to reveal in June -\n<http://www.mindthebook.com> . Stay tuned.\n\n------\nczheng\nI've been working on an idea for a data-driven, rule-based web templating\nengine semi-inspired by CSS and XSLT. Been doing lots of research and working\non a spec. Maybe by end of summer I'll have found some collaborators.\n\nAside from that, trying to learn Python.\n\n------\npavelludiq\nI'm trying to teach myself how to write games using common lisp, and will be\ndocumenting my experience in the form of a series of screencasts. Mostly\nbecause i want to learn lisp better, learn game programming, and learn how to\nproduce good screencasts.\n\n------\ntritogeneia\nLearning Python, Django, and JavaScript for a project; goal is to have a\nprototype by the beginning of July.\n\nStuff to learn: numerical linear algebra, dictionary learning, Judea Pearl's\nCausality\n\nResearch: diffusion geometry for databases (?)\n\n~~~\nstc043\nLearning Django and Javascript and probably PostgreSQL.\n\n------\nnocipher\nI am working on:\n\n\\- Learning Russian with a friend\n\n\\- Expanding my background in the core areas of Mathematics\n\n\\- Reacquainting myself with graphics programming and implementing at least\npart of a game engine.\n\n\\- Finding a Thesis topic...\n\n------\ncfdrake\n\\- Keep up my blogging streak.\n\n\\- Write a small webapp or two (I've got a few ideas).\n\n\\- Learn either Node or a functional language.\n\n\\- Keep a workout schedule.\n\nSomebody has to remember to repost this question in a month or so... :)\n\n------\nspcmnspff\nMy winter break is only about a month before I begin another semester of uni.\nI will try to do as much of the following as possible: \\- start going through\nSICP \\- learn python+django \\- read up on some of next semester's courses\n\n------\ncallmeed\n\\- get closer to my blue belt in BJJ, maybe enter a tournament\n\n\\- continue my 6 year streak of visiting Hawaii every year\n\n\\- potty train my youngest kid and break my 6 year streak of buying diapers\n\n------\nharrigan\nA real-time fantasy sports website using Rails, jQuery, and Faye -- all new\ntechnologies for me ;-)\n\n<http://www.fantasy5live.com>\n\n~~~\naderaynal\nglad to see I'm not the only one here working on fantasy sports ! I've created\n<http://pickemfirst.com> and I'd love to chat with you about your project.\nemail me at alain@pickemfirst.com\n\n~~~\nharrigan\nYou seem to be a a lot further along than me ;-)\n\n------\nMatt_Cutts\nTraining to run a marathon in the fall. There's a cool group called USA Fit\nthat helps folks find each other and run together.\n\n------\njensnockert\n\\- Learn (basic) German\n\n\\- Brush up on statistics\n\n\\- Write a cloudish music player\n\n~~~\nDTrejo\njplayer.org is your friend :)\n\n------\nbadkins\nOfficially launch my company's first product and snag a sale to a total\nstranger.\n\n------\ntaphangum\nI'm trying to find a way to show people the ads that they really want to see.\n\n------\nimjonathanlee\nlearning another foreign language, going out of country for summer (i work too\nhard, I really need a break) and meeting new friends.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThe Purification of Web Development - johnjlocke\nhttp://cssconf.com/talk-gallagher.html\n\n======\niends\nTalks without abstracts are a waste of time. Why should I invest 5-10 minutes\nwatching to figure out what the talk is actually about?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Expounder – A small JavaScript library for more engaging tutorials - StavrosK\nhttps://skorokithakis.github.io/expounder/\n======\nbart3r\nMy advice would be to somehow indicate exactly the text that was expounded -\nmaybe with a faint underline or something. When it expands out, it's sometimes\ndifficult to track the exact words that suddenly appear.\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nAh, good idea. Right now you get a fade, but that's easy to miss. Of course,\nthe intent is that the expounded text becomes a part of the overall paragraph,\nso you shouldn't _need_ to know what was just expounded, you just read on, so\nthere's definitely a balance there.\n\nAlso, the text is very very easy for the website owner to style, with just a\nsingle CSS rule.\n\nEDIT: I've added some styling information to the page, thanks.\n\n~~~\nNicoJuicy\nThis is the first time i heard about\n[https://gitcdn.xyz/](https://gitcdn.xyz/) while checking your page source.\n\nThat's actually a smart idea for a CDN :)\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nYep! We were using rawgit initially, but it went down on the first day for\nhours, so we changed to that instead.\n\n------\namk_\nInteresting. I personally like to use sidenotes for this type of thing on my\nwebsite; it's nice to be able to scan the sidenotes for additional info\nwithout clicking on anything. On the other hand, they really don't work on\nmobile. BigfootJS[0] is the nicest footnote-inliner I know of that also works\ngracefully on small screens (unpaginated media); if you haven't seen it, take\na look.\n\nFeedback for this library:\n\n\\- It would be cool if you could set a few preset levels of expansion (TL;DR,\nexpert, beginner, ELI5) and toggle them at the top of the page.\n\n[0] [http://www.bigfootjs.com](http://www.bigfootjs.com)\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nThanks for the feedback, the tiered approach is also something I considered,\nalthough with a different method. You would tag things with a number from 1\nfor outermost to N for innermost and then let the user expand to the specific\nlevel. I haven't yet tried that concept, but I probably will soon!\n\n------\npolm23\nThis is an old idea in Hypertext called Stretch Text (since 1967!):\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StretchText](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StretchText)\n\nEvery so often someone hears about the old hypertext theory and implements a\nJavascript or CSS version, but this is honestly one of the nicest\nimplementations I've ever seen. Good work!\n\n------\nKinnard\nThis seems like something that could impact the nature of composition. I\nwonder if writers would write differently if they knew they could \"expound\".\n\n~~~\nharel\nSurely if you write with expounding in mind you'll take that into\nconsideration in your text. You DO write the expanded text after all...\n\n~~~\nKinnard\nNo, I don't believe I do. I think this could be implemented into a blogging\nplatform— a new medium.\n\n~~~\nponyous\nLol yeah, I feel like I want more examples to read. Easy way to filter data\nyou already know. I think I could learn so much faster with this if texts are\nwritten properly.\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nI used it in \"normal\" usage here:\n\n[https://www.stavros.io/posts/building-cheap-home-\nsensorcontr...](https://www.stavros.io/posts/building-cheap-home-\nsensorcontroller/)\n\nEDIT: I've added a \"real-world examples\" section to the page with the above\nincluded.\n\n------\nrawnlq\n(As someone who can't write concisely (without inserting a lot of\n(unnecessary) context)) I would love (to use) an automated version ((of this)\nso I can just write with full context (and let people choose the level of\ndetails they want (to read))).\n\nI would love an automated version.\n\n------\nNegative1\nWouldn't a tooltip give the same information while taking up less space and\nnot messing up your carefully setup layout?\n\n------\nivan_ah\nVery nice, reminds me of telescopictext.\n\nHere's an example that explains magnetic fields:\n[http://www.telescopictext.org/text/pFjkqQY9bmfvQ](http://www.telescopictext.org/text/pFjkqQY9bmfvQ)\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nThat's pretty much the same context, but I think the demo is lacking. For\nexample, clicking on \"magnetic\" replaces it with \"B\", which confuses me even\nmore. There's also at one point a link on \"be\", which is just baffling. What\nis there to explain about \"be\"?\n\n~~~\nivan_ah\nFully agree. Your semantics of \"expounder\" and \"expounded\" spans is much more\ncoherent.\n\nIt's a new modality, but I think it has a lot of potential: I love\nexplanations with \"multiple levels\" in general...\n\n------\nkaishiro\nI feel like this could be a really interesting tool for wikis. It'd be neat to\nbe able to read what is, essentially, an executive summary of a topic, but\nthen be able to drill down into a path of discovery that you're interested in.\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nThat's one of the reasons I developed this. You could essentially go into as\nmuch detail as you wanted in the topic you wanted. Of course, the writer must\nbe careful not to overdo it, because sometimes the reader _does_ want to just\nread everything, but it'd be great for things a reader might be familiar with,\nor that not everyone will find interesting.\n\n~~~\nkaishiro\nYeah, nice work! I dig it.\n\n------\nwatson\nReminds me a little of what Wait But Why is doing in his articles - e.g:\n[http://waitbutwhy.com/2016/03/cryonics.html](http://waitbutwhy.com/2016/03/cryonics.html)\n(look for \"New to WBW? Open these.\")\n\n------\np0larboy\n(Click -> Tool tip) works better IMO. The sudden append of words threw off my\nreading rhythm.\n\n------\nsteveklabnik\nI've used something similar for talking about complex code examples. You can\nshow only the current line you're talking about, but have a button to expand\nout the full example. it's pretty great. Excited to give this a try!\n\n------\nGroSacASacs\nHow does a screen reader handle that ?\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nI'm not sure (I'd appreciate some feedback by someone who uses one), but I'd\nthink it would just read the whole text. Depends on what it does with hidden\ntext.\n\n~~~\nGroSacASacs\nI recommend reading [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAI-\nARIA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAI-ARIA)\n\n------\nvisarga\nGreat, a nice little used UI pattern. Now when will my Expounder Wikipedia\nviewer come?\n\n------\nharel\nVery nice and clever. I like it it fits seamlessly into the text.\n\n------\nChristianBundy\nI _knew_ that name looked familiar! Small world.\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nHaha, you bastard :P\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Examples of good writing in computer science? - chewxy\n\nHey fellow HNers<p>I&#x27;m about to go off for a holiday and I&#x27;d have many hours to kill on the plane and I&#x27;d like to spend some time reading. I&#x27;ve started work on writing a book on virtual machines and ECMAScript, and I would like some examples of good writing for computer science for inspiration.<p>An example I liked is K&amp;R C. It&#x27;s clear, and to the point. It is however, also a little dry. TAoCP is also very dry and it takes a lot of work to read it. PRML is a good read but can be intimidating at certain points. I also found On Lisp to be a good read if a little meandering.<p>What are your favourite compsci books that are well written; easy to understand and follow;  and caters to multiple reading levels, from newbies to advanced readers?<p>What to you, makes good writing?\n======\nswanson\nNot strictly computer science - but the one textbook that I really liked from\nmy computer engineering degree was \"Computer Organization and Design: The\nHardware/Software Interface\" ([http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Organization-\nDesign-Fourth-Ed...](http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Organization-Design-\nFourth-Edition/dp/0123747503)). It was surprisingly readable and easy to\nfollow. It covers the design of a MIPS processor from the ground up (ALU,\ncaches, memory, pipelining, etc) and also is self-aware enough to not pretend\nthat x86/ARM don't exist.\n\n------\nvergeman\nI suppose it depends on your approach - my two cents - is your book . . .\n\na. geared toward programming / learning a language? I've been surprised, given\nthe sparsity, the efficacy of a \"showing-by-example\" style of writing seen in\nthe Apache Thrift documentation. K&R (to me) is decent for language\nacquisition, but even more useful as a quick \"how did they do that again\"\nrefresher. I've found \"Linux Kernel Development\" (Love) as a very nice book\nblending concepts with programmatic examples. So the above is maybe a spectrum\nwithin this style of writing that I've found helpful.\n\nb. a more \"textbook\" / algorithmic approach? I remember thinking \"Computer\nNetworking: A Top-Down Approach\" (Kurose, Ross) was one of the lighter texts\nthat didn't necessarily feel \"textbook.\" \"Introduction to Information\nRetrieval\" (Manning, Raghavan, Schutze) also comes to mind, but more academic.\n\n~~~\nchewxy\nI don't think I am ever qualified to write text book material. Bits of the\nbook I suspect will be \"How I got to this point in the code\".\n\nThere will be a lot of show-by-example. I've written half a chapter so far and\nit does really feel like I'm just annotating my code, which isn't a good\nthing.\n\n~~~\nvergeman\nI hear that - skim through Love's Linux Kernel Development and see what you\nthink. It sounds like you're going for something much lighter, so maybe\nsomething along the lines of the \"Little Book on Coffeescript?\"\n\n------\nktf\nDidn't even have to think about this one: _Eloquent Javascript_ , by Marijn\nHaverbeke. He's an amazing writer and a brilliant all-around guy. Technically\nit's geared toward new programmers, but it's worth a read at pretty much any\nlevel.\n\nYou can find it free online here:\n[https://eloquentjavascript.net/](https://eloquentjavascript.net/) or buy a\nprint version here: [http://nostarch.com/ejs](http://nostarch.com/ejs).\n\n(Full disclosure: I'm listed as the editor on the print version, though in\nthis case my job basically consisted of nodding as chapters came in and\nsaying, \"Yup, that's a damn good book.\")\n\n------\nLocalMan\nProgramming Pearls: [http://netlib.bell-\nlabs.com/cm/cs/pearls/](http://netlib.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/pearls/)\n\nBest Software Writing:\n[http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/BestSoftwareWriting.h...](http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/BestSoftwareWriting.html)\n\nLast resort: Bring a sleeping pill and sleep through the flight.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nOne petabyte data loss at Australian Tax Office - juiced\nhttp://www.itnews.com.au/news/hpe-storage-crash-killed-ato-online-services-444490\n======\njoshiej\nCorruption!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAnother awesome US immigration experience - nphase\nhttp://seldo.tumblr.com/post/39891584034/another-awesome-us-immigration-experience\n======\njacquesm\nAs long as you feel the benefits outweigh the downsides the only person you\ncan complain to is yourself. You're still going there aren't you?\n\nI've had an episode quite comparable to this one and it was the last time I\nvisited the US. I don't bitch about it, I don't begrudge the border guards\ntheir jobs or attitude (I assume they get a lot of shit heaped on them every\nday, not an excuse for a non-professional attitude but I'm sure that it\neventually wears you down). I simply took my few-hundred-K per year benefit\nfor the US elsewhere, their loss.\n\nDon't like US immigration? Good, don't emigrate to the US. Once enough people\ndo this that it starts to affect the US GDP I'm sure there will be some\nchange. As long as everybody accepts it this will continue or it will even get\nworse.\n\nI had a pretty lucrative offer about two years ago to become involved in a\ncompany. The catch: the work had to be done in the United States. No thanks...\nBut call me when the TSA is abandoned and the border guards are no longer\ntreating immigrants like shit. You know, the way it used to be before\neverybody went crazy.\n\nAnd on an off-topic and non-related note, additional conditions would be that\nGuantanamo is closed, the US ceases its drone program and the CIA gets\nthoroughly reamed for their 'renditions' program, including full exposure of\nall parties that were involved domestically and abroad.\n\nUntil then the US will have to do without me, I'm quite sure they don't care\none bit.\n\n~~~\njimmaswell\n> Don't like US immigration? Good, don't emigrate to the US. Once enough\n> people do this that it starts to affect the US GDP I'm sure there will be\n> some change.\n\nLess immigrants would negatively affect the GDP? I've heard the opposite many\ntimes, but I'm not an economist. Why is that so?\n\n~~~\nlbarrow\nThere's no realistic situation in which having another person working in a\ncountry decreases its GDP. GDP is simply the sum of all goods and services\nafter net exports and investments. Given that a working person is, by\ndefinition, producing a good or service, their contribution to GDP is always\npositive.\n\n~~~\najg1977\nNot always true - see Wall St circa 2008.\n\n------\nDrSbaitso\nI'm a Canadian citizen and get this type of treatment all the time. Every time\nI enter the US, which is about once a month or so, they send me to a back room\nfor secondary screening. The reason? Their system thinks I overstayed my visa\nonce back in 1995. What actually happened was my family took a road trip to\nNew England, and nobody bothered to check our passports on the way out, so\nthere was no departure record.\n\nSo for the last 18 years, they've sent me back for questioning every single\ntime, wasting countless hours of both my time and their time. They always ask\nme if I worked illegally in the States in 1995 and I just tell them, \"No, I\nwas nine years old.\" When I ask them if they can remove the flag on my\naccount, they say it's impossible because only the government department that\ncreated the flag can remove it, and that department no longer exists.\n\n~~~\nadrianmsmith\nOver the years, I guess you've tried various different approaches talking to\nthe staff at immigration. Friendly, apologetic, assertive, and so on.\n\nWhat worked best? What would you recommend for someone else in that situation?\n\n~~~\njzwinck\nSay as little as possible. Speak clearly. And if entering the UK, have a bank\nstatement with you. They like people with money (this is not something I made\nup, it's in the immigration rules, called \"maintenance\").\n\n~~~\nNursie\nIf you have no money then you may be there to make some (is the thinking).\n\nIf you can show you have enough money to support yourself and get out again\nthen it will make your life easier. However they will already need to be\nsuspicious of you to take an interest in this.\n\n~~~\nnicholassmith\nFrom what I've heard, Australia does the same and so do a few other places.\nThe question is often framed as \"and how much money have you brought along for\nyour holiday?\", which is doubly loaded as there's a right answer and two wrong\nanswers (nothing and X, where X is bordering on enough to kick start a new\nlife). Immigration sucks.\n\n~~~\npatrickk\nAustralia has an actual dollar amount (AU$3000 I think) that you have to have\nbefore getting a one year work visa. A friend went there recently and that was\nhis experience.\n\n------\nzee007\nI had many similar run-ins with immigration when I worked for Microsoft in the\nRedmond area (brown guy with a beard, likes to travel the world [sometimes\ntaking trips as short as one weekend]). I've missed more than my share of\nflights (at one time my name was in the do-not-fly list because it partially\nmatched the name of someone they wanted).\n\nFinal straw came when one time I was returning from an international trip with\nmy x-wife and kids when the immigration officer decided she didn't qualify to\naccompany me (we were married at the time).\n\n\"No big deal, she'll just fly back to Canada\" (we're Canadians). We were told\nshe couldn't do that, she had to be deported to the country she came from.\n\"But sir, we just had a single entry visa and cannot re-enter\". \"That's not my\nproblem, the law is the law. You need to be deported back to countryX\". \"But\nsir, we have no ties to countryX. We dont have visa to countryX. We have a\nCanadian passport, if you dont want to admit us then let us just turn around\nand go to Canada\". \"Oh y'all can come in, but she can't\".\n\nSo I ask for a supervisor and he refused (I later learned he wasn't allowed to\ndo that). Had us sit there for many hours with cranky kids after a\ntransatlantic flight and then said:\n\n\"You can take her now (take her??) but I'll hold on to her passport. She can\ncome before the judge in 30 days with the document and collect her passport or\nshe'll be deported to countryX\".\n\nI had to unnecessarily waste time and money hiring a lawyer to figure out what\nthe heck went wrong. She showed up 30 days later with our lawyer and the judge\ncouldn't figure out why she was there. Gave us the passport. My x-wife dropped\nme home, told me to pack up and drove up to Toronto the same day. Even though\nI was about to get my green card (everything including labour cert was done) I\ntold my employer to halt the process and moved back. For next few years I\ncontinued to work for US companies but remotely from Canada and pulled in\nclose to $1 million in salary and stocks over the years that IRS wasn't able\nto tax at all. Canadian economy (not the American economy) benefited from my\nwell over average spending over these years.\n\nI can wrap my mind around \"your name is similar to xyz we are looking for\n[even though xyz was a different ethnicity with a different age, height and\neverything]. But for me this made me realize how vulnerable non-citizens are\nwhen it comes to US immigration and border patrol. To this day I have no idea\nwhat ticked that guy off to single us out like that but I decided I did not\nwant to live in a country where I had such little rights. I am well educated,\nmake a lot of charitable contributions and spend a lot of time volunteering in\nthe local community. Everything the US used to benefit from but now Canada\ndoes.\n\n~~~\njacquesm\nI have no idea why you got downvoted.\n\n~~~\nzee007\nI don't either especially since I am not even bitter about the experience. I\nam just confused.\n\nThe irony is that since then I've crossed the border 12+ times a year and the\nexperience is always pleasant (now I enter as a Canadian citizen for either\nvacation or a short business trip). One would think they'd have preferred me\nwhen I paid taxes there (and by the virtue of being on visa, they knew a lot\nmore about me).\n\n~~~\nSoftwareMaven\nAs a US citizen, I, on the other hand, am extremely bitter and angry about\nthese kinds of offenses. It makes me sick to my stomach and I really do\nbelieve every day is one day closer to me becoming an expat.\n\n~~~\nkmfrk\nYour government at work trying to make that as unpleasant as possible:\n<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FATCA>.\n\n~~~\njacquesm\nThat is - for want of a better word - an astounding piece of legislation.\nWhat's next, a deal with the hereafter? I figure that the only thing this will\neffectively accomplish is that a lot of American expats will go all the way\nand will ditch the American nationality and that a lot of people in the United\nStates will be denied access to services. Brilliant move, the world-stage\nequivalent of the schoolyard bully mentality.\n\n------\nrdl\nI hate how hostile and incompetent the US immigration process seems to be for\nforeigners. It's sad to go by an embassy basically anywhere in the world, see\nthe fortress that is the US embassy, and the huge lines and amount of\ndocumentation needed for people to get US visas. Even worse is the non-\ndeterministic hell on actual arrival.\n\nI'm glad I've never had immigration or customs problems anywhere, despite\ngoing to some really sketchy places (flying into Iraq as a civilian at the\ncivilian airport with no visa a few times after the invasion...) or otherwise\nbending the rules ($200k in computers, including 6 big 21\" CRTs, on my way to\nset up an office in Anguilla...).\n\n~~~\njzwinck\nI'm a US citizen, and recently visited my embassy abroad. I was denied entry\nand told to make an appointment. The first available was about 10 days away.\nThis was for a simple document I needed signed by them. And I was leaving this\ncountry in less than 10 days. The guard who turned me away said they used to\ntake walk-ins but not since mid-2012.\n\nSo as far as embassies go, being a citizen doesn't help too much.\n\n~~~\npatrickod\nMy experience with US embassies (both the one in Brussels and Dublin) has\nnever seen them refuse entry to a US citizen and tell them to re-schedule.\nThey usually have separate entrances as well with different procedures.\n\n~~~\njzwinck\nWell this was in London. It's a large embassy obviously. They do have separate\nentrances--we went to the US Citizens one. We were blocked from even entering\nthe security lobby at all--the outermost door to the street was locked and the\nguard who cracked it open gave us a postcard with the embassy contact\ninformation to make an appointment. I called them immediately and explained I\nwas in front of their building and could I make an \"appointment\" for right\nthen, but they said I had to use the website. Which told me there was a 10-day\nwait.\n\nAs I said, apparently this practice was instituted just last year.\n\n~~~\npatrickod\nFrom my (albeit limited) observations I thought they never turned away\ncitizens but obviously I was wrong. Getting appointments with the US embassy\ncan sometimes be a challenging ordeal. They do however make allowances for\nemergency appointments which can be very helpful at times.\n\n~~~\nrdl\nYeah, in general they help citizens pretty well, and help citizens a lot more\nin dangerous places. Although to get US citizen services in Baghdad was really\ncomplex; despite it being inside a fairly secure area (the \"Green Zone\"), I\nwasn't allowed to carry inside, had to make an appointment a week in advance,\netc. I ended up just making friends with people at a nearby heliport who had\nbadges to escort me in. It turns out most of the extra security was because\nthey had slightly better quality food than the nearby military bases, and were\ntrying to keep military people and contractors from eating all of it.\n\nThe Embassies in Bangkok, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, etc. were all excellent, however.\n\n------\nryan\nIf you have a green card you can avoid this by signing up for Global Entry[1].\nThen you can avoid customs lines and just swipe your card at the kiosk - enter\nthe country without ever talking to anyone. As an extra benefit the kiosk is\nalways empty so you are through in minutes... hmm maybe I shouldn't be\nspreading the word about this :)\n\n[1] <http://www.globalentry.gov/>\n\n~~~\nonetwothreefour\nSerious question: can you be non-white and get one of these?\n\n~~~\njfb\nWhy would you think otherwise?\n\n~~~\nonetwothreefour\nThe same reason the \"random checks\" line at security isn't really random?\n\n~~~\nUnoriginalGuy\nIn Canada their \"random checks\" seem to be via a machine/automated process.\nYou stand on a mat and an arrow either directs you into a line or to\nadditional checks, so there can be no racial or otherwise profiling.\n\nIt is a great system, I really enjoyed it when I was there.\n\n------\nta201301\nThis is precisely the sort of nonsense that made me decide to leave my job a\nfew years ago. I used to work for <household name Internet technology\ncompany>. After some re-structuring I would have had to travel to the US a lot\nmore often, or possibly even move to the US. For me it wasn't really worth it.\nThe dehumanizing experience of subjecting myself to dangerously stupid,\nunderpaid, over-empowered, assholes on a bi-weekly basis made the decision\neasy.\n\nWhile I do love California, and the Bay Area in particular, it is still inside\nthe US. And I do not enjoy travelling to the US. To get to the US you have to\ngo through the twilight zone that is immigration and customs. Not to mention\nthe TSA.\n\nI can remember travelling to germany as a kid during the Baader-Meinhof\nterrorist era. I can remember that I felt it was somewhat unpleasant being\npointed at by germans with sub-machine guns. But you know what: they were not\neven half as frightening as the sort of personel you encounter when travelling\nto, from or within the US. Because with the germans you at least have the\nsense that the people holding the gungs are not the lowest life-forms of their\nsociety.\n\nBut I am not complaining. Taking this choice meant that I had to figure out\nwhat to do. And now, some years later, over 100 people have jobs because I\ndon't want to travel to the US ever again.\n\n------\nblago\nI am a US citizen and I had a similar experience. About a year ago I spent a\nfew months in Asia while working remotely for my US employer. Reentering the\nstates (after an almost 24 hour trip), the border agent really didn't like the\nfact and went out of his way to find a hole in my \"story\" - \"So you did work\nin Asia?\", \"But your company did not send you there?\" This dragged on for a\nwhile.\n\nThis was the climax of the confrontation:\n\n\\- \"Have you been in trouble with law enforcement before?\"\n\n\\- \"No, but you make it sound like I am now. Am I?\"\n\n\\- \"We'll see\"\n\n\\- \"I am a law abiding citizen and I've been giving honest answers to all of\nyou questions. What can I possibly be afraid of?\"\n\nEver since, I DREAD reentering the states. I have dual citizenship, work\nflexibility, and friends and family all over the place. I find myself spending\nless and less time in the US.\n\n------\niloveponies\nSo I've experienced something similar minus the overcrowded room with British\nimmigration. I watched the immigration official turn from apathy the moment I\nhanded my passport over into passive agression with loaded questions (\"When\nwas the last time you were deported?\" answer: \"never\") into apologies (\"Sorry\nfor making you wait sir there clearly has been a misunderstanding\") to vague\nanswers to the question of future prevention.\n\nAfter being told \"and there's nothing you can do to stop this happening\nagain\", I tell every British immigration official I stand before briefly what\nhappens every time I want to come back here and they're usually understanding\nabout it all.\n\n~~~\nUnoriginalGuy\nBritish immigration are as bad as US immigration.\n\nThey aren't even polite, which as a Brit' myself I am both shocked and\ndisappointed with.\n\nI'd like to see changes there...\n\n~~~\nX-Istence\nUntil you Brits do away with the requirement for me to go through the porno\nscanners I refuse to visit the country. Sorry, but just because I am traveling\nfrom your country doesn't mean I want to go through a machine that to date\nstill hasn't been verifiable been tested by a 3rd party to not have negative\nhealth risks associated with it.\n\n~~~\niloveponies\nAs someone who goes in and out of the UK on a regular basis, this is news to\nme as I've yet to be subjected to full body scanners.\n\n~~~\nX-Istence\n[http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/no-\noptou...](http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/no-optout-for-\npassengers-on-body-scanners-6265565.html)\n\n[http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ca6c8bd4-142b-11e1-b07b-00144feabd...](http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ca6c8bd4-142b-11e1-b07b-00144feabdc0.html)\n\n[http://www.prisonplanet.com/despite-eu-ban-uk-makes-\nradiatio...](http://www.prisonplanet.com/despite-eu-ban-uk-makes-radiation-\nfiring-body-scanners-compulsory.html)\n\n------\nPermit\n>They keep taking breaks to crack off-color jokes about each other’s sex\nlives, and moan about how hard they’re having to work tonight.\n\nThe jokes might be uncalled for, but you just told us they were under-staffed\nand had hundreds of extra people to process. I can see why they'd be upset.\nEspecially when absolutely zero of the hundreds of people they talk to in a\nday are happy to see them.\n\nI get the impression you've never worked in the service industry or in retail.\nThe immense fuckup that is United States immigration is not the fault of its\nlowest level employees.\n\n~~~\nmscarborough\nOne of the first rules of service industry is that you don't complain about\nyour job in front of the customers. I haven't worked retail but have done\nplenty of years in restaurants.\n\nI'm not sure how you can use \"you've never worked in the service industry\" as\nsome kind of trump card, as this kind of behavior could easily get you fired\nfrom any half-decent service industry position.\n\n~~~\ntolmasky\nThat's in a private company. Here, for all practical purposes, there is no\nincentive for things to get better. There is no one to complain to since the\n\"customers\" here are completely antagonized and have no power, imagine on top\nof all this complaining! There really isn't anyone to be held accountable,\nperiod.\n\nAnd no, \"voting\" is not the way these things get fixed. if it was, the DMV\nwould have stopped being miserable ages ago:\n\n1\\. As mentioned above, the people most affected can't vote.\n\n2\\. Even if they could, it's not clear at all how to use your vote to affect\nchange. Which candidate exactly represents better service at government\nagencies?\n\n3\\. Even if you knew, you get effectively four federal representative choices\nthat _could_ affect this (president, 2 senators, and 1 house representative).\nIn those 4 choices you must weigh _all_ your grievances. How high on the list\nis immigration staffing going to be?\n\nThe reality is that our system is not set up to deal with this kind of\nparticular issue well. There's no good gradual feedback loop. Things have to\nget really bad, beyond where it's clear exactly what caused the problems, to\nthe point where _huge_ sweeping changes get made, probably over zealous and\ntoo far in the opposite direction then.\n\n~~~\njrockway\nIsn't the whole DMV thing largely fixed? In Manhattan, they even have\n\"express\" DMVs. I have to assume the idea came about due to voter pressure\nrather than some altruistic bureaucrat.\n\n~~~\ntolmasky\nI can't speak for New York but going to the DMV in California often means\ncommitting an entire work day.\n\n~~~\njrockway\nSounds like California.\n\n------\nrajeshd\nHis experience doesn't seem all that bad. It looks like they were merely doing\ntheir jobs trying to ascertain that they aren't making a mistake letting him\nin. If the immigration officer isn't sure of something (either because of an\nunclear answer to a question or a nervous vibe), it's not abnormal for him/her\nto ask for a more thorough check of the person. I wouldn't expect them to\nclear everyone with a quick, cursory glance of a passport or a green card.\n\nI sympathize with him, but it doesn't look like his rights were violated in\nanyway.\n\n~~~\nGiraffeNecktie\nYou're setting a very, very, low bar for \"doing their jobs\". The reason we\nemploy human beings at border points is so that they will, theoretically, use\ngood judgement to allow the free flow of legitimate goods and travelers (i.e.\nnot create massive delays without a clear reason).\n\n------\njfb\nI like particularly the sneering attitude of superiority towards the initial\nimmigration officer in this article. I'm no apologist for the US immigration\nsystem (Canada's, on the other hand, I have nothing but good words for), but\nJesus creeping Christ, having to deal with that sort of entitled horseshit ten\nhours a day would turn the Buddha into Dick Cheney.\n\n~~~\nseldo\nI can see why you'd think that, but I was totally polite and respectful to the\nimmigration officer at all times -- like I said, I'm a very nervous immigrant,\nso I would never do anything to jeopardize my processing. I don't fidget or\nroll my eyes, or indicate impatience. While I'm no fan of the staff of the\nUSCIS, I would never say anything to them to indicate it. Apart from it being\nvery impolite, it would be stupid, and I am TERRIFIED of these guys.\n\n~~~\njfb\nI understand the terror, particularly of the US ICE people, who are\nunnecessarily militarized at the best of times. But why the puerile jab at the\nofficer's \"educational attainment\"? Needed to feel big? Story wasn't \"punchy\"\nenough?\n\n~~~\nseldo\nPartly because I think it's a relevant detail -- I think he genuinely didn't\nunderstand that a web developer is a type of software developer. But partly\nbecause they scared the shit out of me, and the system is stupid and\nunnecessarily hostile, so, yes, I'm angry at them.\n\n~~~\njfb\nIt's not only insulting and juvenile, it's irrelevant. I've met PhDs from the\nLSE who wouldn't know the difference between email and snail mail, but that's\nnot material to a) how good they were at their jobs or b) whether or not they\nwere good people.\n\nThe system _is_ stupid, and hostile, and (in my opinion) totally self-\ndefeating. And people -- normal, decent people -- will act like petty little\ntyrants in that sort of system. Isn't _that_ sufficient to call them out? An\nasshole is an asshole, regardless of their eduction, no?\n\n _EDIT_ : Too, it may very well be material that you gave a different answer.\nThere's only one word different between \"landscape architect\" and \"naval\narchitect\", and those are significantly and materially different positions.\nHow is J. Random Tyrant supposed to know that a is a member of the set b for\nall given a?\n\n _EDIT the second_ : Man, I was in love with the word \"material\", eh?\n\n~~~\nseldo\nYou're not wrong. On further consideration, I've edited the post to reflect\nthat it was a rude and unnecessary observation.\n\n------\nphotorized\nAs someone who went though lengthy (10+ years) immigration process, from\nstudent visa to work visa to Green Card to Citizenship, with extensive travel\nin between - there is nothing particularly unreasonable about the experience\ndescribed. OK, so he was delayed for a few hours, due to some error or\ninconsistency in the USCIS database... There's no reason to freak out.\n\nAnd the condescending remarks about the officer not knowing the difference\nbetween \"web developer\" and \"software developer\" were unnecessary.\n\n------\nflavmartins\nI completely agree with your feelings here. I, too, am a permanent resident\nwith a green card. I live in fear of immigration deciding that \"something\nisn't in order\" and then my life is completely upside down. I've grown up in\nthe US, my wife is a US citizen, my kids are all US citizens, yet dad always\nhas that crazy worry in the back of his mind.\n\nAND...for those of you who brush this off. Please contact my wife and ask her\nfeelings about immigration. When I was going through my green card process she\njust about went nuts at the immigration office and destroyed a few of the\nworkers. Eventually she had to stop coming to the appointments and just wished\nme luck. She is more frustrated with the process than I am.\n\nThe problem is that we're talking about immigrants here. No one is going to\nstand up for them. Citizens never have to deal with the these issues, and most\nimmigrants, once they've gone through the process, never want to look back on\nit again, let alone try to fight it.\n\n------\nsurfmike\nIt's embarrassing how poorly people are treated when entering the US. We\nshould put pressure on the government to improve that, but also pragmatically\nif we want to keep attracting talented people from around the world we really\nneed to change this.\n\nFor the time being, I'd highly recommend to the poster to enter into Global\nEntry (people with PR are eligible:\n<http://www.globalentry.gov/eligibility.html>)\n\n~~~\nsmsm42\nSecond that. All you need is your papers, short interview in a closest major\nairport and you don't have to do this passport-fingerprint-photo stuff\nanymore.\n\n------\nsmsm42\nLet's look at the incentives. The picture here is not pretty. There's a big\nincentive to squeeze budgets, of course, anybody who watches US politics knows\nyou can't just get any money you want, especially when there's 2 dozen another\n3-letter agencies competing for the same. There's some incentive to serve\ncitizens better - since once in the country, the citizen can call his\ncongressmen or his local paper and raise hell if he was mistreated, and if\nbureaucratic middle-management hates something it is being featured in bad\npress and asked unpleasant question by his superiors. But when it comes to\nvisitors, there's pretty much zero incentive to treat them better. I'm not\nsaying that immediately leads to bad treatment - I am a non-citizen, I crossed\nUS border more than a dozen times last few years and always was treated with\ncourtesy and respect, which I assign to the good nature of the people that\nworked there. But there always are bad apples, and there's very little that\ncan keep those in check. If the immigration officer mistakenly denies entry or\ncosts a person 5 hours of their life, there are no consequences, ever. So\nthese things are bound to happen, unless some kind of incentive to become\nbetter will be found.\n\n~~~\nseldo\nOne of those incentives could be if US citizens decided to complain about the\nimmigration system -- the point of the post is to attempt to marginally\ncontribute towards that happening.\n\n~~~\njakejake\nAs sad as it may be I don't think the average US citizen is concerned about a\n5-hour delay for non-citizens at the border. The ordinary Joe is likely to be\nOK with 200 people being delayed if that results in a few people being\ndeported and 1 person being hauled off to jail (which is pretty much what the\nOP said happened). I have a feeling the \"average\" consensus would be that it\nwas worth in in order to keep those 4 people out.\n\nI'm not saying I agree with this whatsoever - I'm just saying my gut tells me\nthis mentality is likely to get you more votes if you are running for office\nin a border state. The average citizen is not thinking about the relatively\nsmall number of skilled IT workers and entrepreneurs entering the country.\nThey are thinking about all of the unskilled labor that is coming in and\n\"taking their jobs\" as some people perceive.\n\nThat, plus I'm sure there is an aspect of \"doesn't affect me - I have my own\nproblems to worry about\".\n\n------\najg1977\n_Pointless, wasteful bureaucracy_\n\nI think few people would consider border controls to be any of these things.\n\nYou were flagged somehow and that sucks, but if you don't like the immigration\nprocedures of the US you are free to either a) live elsewhere or b) try to\ntake action to change it (we are a democracy after all). On the other hand,\nventing on a blog isn't going to do anything but irk people who wish they were\nfortunate enough to hold a US green card, or come back to haunt you if this\nhappens again and some cranky overworked agent google's you.\n\nFWIW I'm a former, now naturalized, US green card holder and this happened to\nme twice in six years. It sucks, but I considered it a very small price to pay\nfor being able to freely travel and work (or not work!) in this country.\n\n~~~\nnatrius\n\"Venting on a blog\" is most certainly considered action in a democracy. That's\nbasically what the Federalist Papers were.\n\n~~~\najg1977\nAye, they were just some guys blowing out their frustrations.\n\nOr not.\n\n------\nMvandenbergh\nThere is nothing unique to the US about this in my experience. There is\nliterally one part of the government that deals (by definition) with people\nwho cannot vote and do not have elected representatives.\n\nIf you want to know what it's like dealing with government agents in highly\nundemocratic countries, it's precisely this. Except it's every day and it's in\nyour own country.\n\n------\ndkokelley\nI would not want to be a non-citizen in America. I love my country, but I\nagree with the general sentiment that we have things very wrong when it comes\nto treatment of non-citizens. I believe that much of it stems from fears about\n9/11. The Bill of Rights does lots to protect US citizens from an\nagressive/repressive government. The spirit of the law is that there are basic\nhuman rights that the government can't remove without due process.\nUnfortunately those \"human\" rights in practice only barely apply to US\ncitizens.\n\n~~~\nphilwelch\nPerhaps when entering the country, and there is a risk of deportation, and the\ndifficulty of immigrating legally puts far too many people on unsafe footing\ndue to the constant risk of being reported, but on a basic, everyday level you\nhave the same rights. If you get pulled over on the road, the cop can't search\nyour car without a warrant, whether you're a US citizen or just a tourist.\n\n~~~\ndkokelley\nThis is true, but I would argue that it's only true because of the assumption\nthat random driver being pulled over is a citizen (or rather that you can't\nask a citizen if he or she is a citizen. This was part of the big deal with\nArizona's new laws a year or two ago).\n\nWhen writing my post, I was considering the \"unlimited detainment\", and lack\nof due process for non-citizens in too many special cases.\n\n------\ntlear\nWas coming back from NYC (vacation over Christmas) and got the typical BS\nbully treatment by the security guy, I made a decision there, I will not go on\nvacation to US ever again.\n\n------\ntinbad\nAs a non-US citizen, I've had similar experiences where I was taken apart and\nasked some more questions by border patrol. However none of those experiences,\nalthough very similar to yours, came over as unnecessary harassment. I don't\nquiet understand why you would be 'terrified' crossing the border if you have\nall your shit together, which it seems you have.\n\nThe people \"whose educational attainments have qualified them to sit behind a\ndesk stamping passports\" were simply doing their job and from what you\ndescribed they did it without causing more inconvenience for you than\nnecessary.\n\nLike some others commented, if you don't like to abide by the rules of your\nnew country of residence, nobody is forcing you to be there. Oh, and\ndownplaying other people's intellectual abilities does come across quiet\nsnobbish :)\n\n------\ntrimbo\nThis story is true the world over. A friend got deported from India the other\nday for a mistake they (as in the Indian government) made on his visa.\n\n------\nstickdick\nThere's somebody on the US no-fly list that has the exact same name as me. I\ncan't check-in online with any airline, and checking in at the desk anywhere\nin the US results in some sort of warning on their computer, and a quick call\nto somebody to come out from the back and check it out. Unfortunately I have\nto fly at least once a month.\n\nA quick look over the passport shows it's obviously not me (though I don't\nhave any details of the real bad guy). Must happen to quite a few because I\nhave a fairly bland, common British name.\n\n~~~\nUnoriginalGuy\nDidn't they try to resolve this by issuing redress numbers or whatever? When I\nenter my passport on most airline's web-sites it gives me the option to add a\nredress number, which in theory should allow them to identify you as NOT the\nindividual on the no-fly list.\n\nSee this:\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Fly_List#DHS_Traveler_Redres...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Fly_List#DHS_Traveler_Redress_Inquiry_Program)\n\n~~~\nstickdick\nInteresting. I've never really looked into it, I just get over the fact I have\nto check-in at the airport, and over time it's become less embarrassing since\nI just expect to see the assistants face drop in panic, and be pulled to the\nside.\n\nIt's never been mentioned to me either. I'm not actually a US citizen, so\nperhaps it doesn't apply. I'll look into it further, thanks for the advice.\n\n------\ncodegeek\nSeems like you name might be similar to a name they had in their database who\nmight have the criminal/arrest record. These are false hits and irritating but\nonce the verify, they let you go. Hope they correct it soon for you.\n\nAlso, sometimes they randomly (not sure how random though) select individuals\nfor what they call \"secondary inspection\". Here, you are just asked \"extra\"\nquestions to ensure you are not a threat. I was pulled over once and the guy\nhad a great time asking me all kinds of questions.\n\n~~~\nseldo\nIt's highly unlikely to be a name match -- my name is not very common, and\ncombined with my gender is literally globally unique: there is no other male\ncalled Laurie Voss in the whole world.\n\n~~~\nDoubleMalt\nSee ... very suspicious. No MAN is called Laurie. Seriously.\n\nSorry for your experence. WIll try to avoid MIA, as this is not the first bad\nstory I heard from there.\n\n------\ncunac\nI am Canadian citizen and for two years I was traveling every second week to\nUS on TN visa. In all that time I got 1 \"bad\" experience from US side and 2\nfrom Canadian side. (it wasn't that bad just longer questioning with 'trick'\nquestions) Question which confused me a most entering Canada was \"How long you\nplan to stay ?\" , WTF , I have Canadian passport ? It took me a moment not to\nsay \"Not your damn business.\" and just play nice.... But in general crossing\nborder is 99% no issue\n\n------\nalexkus\nMy first two attempts at entry to the US on my H1-B were simple, maybe one\nquestion and in I go. It was the third entry that they asked more questions\nand asked to see more paperwork (which I did have with me).\n\nI guess it's to catch people who obtain visa/green-cards and then pass them\noff to others or their situation changes (and they no longer qualify for the\nvisa). I'd also guess that frequent visitors to the US go through at least one\nof these increased scrutiny experiences every few years. I don't think it's\nunreasonable given the amount of problems they have with people trying to\nsneak into the country; I know that I don't have a right to be there so I\nexpect some hassle.\n\nThe only other problem I had was coming back into the US after I'd gone to\nCanada for a friend's wedding (all on a VWP); so UK->US, then two weeks later\nUS->Canada->US, and I wasn't due to fly back to the UK for another 2 weeks or\nso. I was nowhere near the 90 days of my original VWP, but they might have\nthought I was taking a quick trip to Canada in order to reset my 90 days with\na new VWP entry. It just took a few extra minutes explanation.\n\nOther than that I've done lots of trips to the US (20 on the Visa Waiver\nProgram, 5 with my H1-B and another 10 or so since I moved back to the UK)\nwith no problems at all.\n\n------\naneth4\nImmigration processes millions of people each day. There are going to be\nmistakes.\n\nThis sounds like they got a false positive, investigated, and released him.\nThat's how the process is supposed to work. Making this into some massive\nanti-American rant says more about the author than America. This experience\nsounds unpleasant, but like it was handled professionally.\n\nI've spent an hour being searched by customs. I don't know why - perhaps\nbecause I was returning from India and hadn't shaved in a month. It was\ninconvenient, but also the job of customs. This did not bother me.\n\nI fly domestically and internationally at least 20 times a year. I get caught\nup briefly in all sorts of different ways all over the world. It's part of\ntravel, and it's really not that bad. This is how nations protect their\nborders and enforce their laws, because not everyone is a saint like you.\n\nAll you idiots saying you won't work in or travel to the US because of the TSA\nsearches - give me a break. EVERY country in the world I have ever been to has\nnearly identical search procedures as the TSA and most countries have\nstringent immigration checks. Many asking far more probing questions than\nAmerican immigration, including Netherlands, Israel, and Britain. I was nearly\ndenied entry to Britain because I didn't know the address of a friend who I\nwas staying with.\n\nSorry, I'm tired of all this false outrage about minor f-ups with the TSA and\nDHS. These organizations have some major policy and procedural problems, but a\nfew hours one time while immigration officials do their job of making sure you\ndon't have false documents is not among them. If you don't like it, go\nsomewhere else where a $20 bribe instead of an objective investigation gets\nyou admitted - which is most countries in the world.\n\n~~~\nnottrobin\nWhen was the last time you had to wait in one crowded room for 3 hours without\nbeing allowed to use your phone, and without a seat?\n\nThe last time I was in a situation anywhere close to this was when I\naccompanied my girlfriend to get her visa renewed in London. We had to wait\nfor about 5 hours in a fairly crowded hot room with pretty uncomfortable\nseats. But we had each other's company and while there was a sign saying we\nweren't allowed to use electronic devices, most people seemed to be ignoring\nit, so it wasn't so bad.\n\nBut still worse than anything I ever have to experience in my normal travel as\na white British man.\n\n~~~\naneth4\nThis is not a competition for the worst experience one can have. I've had\nplenty of horrible ones. Ever been detained for several days in a crowded\nthird world jail for no legitimate reason and extorted a large sum of money to\nbe released? Ever been stabbed by thugs too powerful for the police to do\nanything other than write a lie-filled police report? This is what happens\nevery day in the actual world away from privileged white developers with US\ngreen cards.\n\nThis is a privileged person, someone who travels internationally, writes a\nblog, was able to get a US green card (something tens of millions aspire to,)\nis in one of the most lucrative careers on the planet, and is the founder of a\nfree enterprise despite being young and (presumably based on his caption) gay.\nIn the grand scheme of things, this experience doesn't even measure on the\npity scale, and to bitch and moan about such things reveals a major lack\nappreciation for what one has and a sad sense of entitlement.\n\nSorry, no go.\n\n~~~\nadekok\n> This is a privileged person, someone who travels internationally, ...\n\n... and who has gone through extensive scrutiny to get a green card.\n\nExactly the kind of person who should hit red flags at the border, right?\n\n~~~\naneth4\nWhat's your point? Nobody is arguing whether this was a mistake, not even DHS\nofficer when asked. Nobody is saying the DHS is the most competent\norganization on the planet or that it can't be better. In the vast majority of\ncases, people enter the country without issue and in a tiny minority there is\nsome inconvenience.\n\nClearly many of the people in that room were there for a reason, as some was\narrested and some were denied entry.\n\nThe guy had to stand in a room for 3 hours before entering the country because\nhe tripped a false positive. We can hope that this won't happen every time -\nif it does, he might have something to complain about, though still not\njustification for the exasperation shown in this forum.\n\n------\ngadders\nI know everyone hates on the US Immigration people, but as a fairly regular\ntraveller to the US (normally at least twice a year, mixture of business and\npleasure), I've never had a bad experience. The guards I've dealt with have\nnever been less than professional, and some have gone out of their way to make\nsmalltalk (\"You have nice handwriting\" (?), \"Your birthday is the same as\nmine.\") etc.\n\nI even got let back through immigration from baggage control as I had a bad\nstomach and really badly needed to use the toilet, No guns were drawn on me.\n\nOf course, it probably helps that I'm white and British, but I thought I would\noffer up at least one counterpoint.\n\n------\nzobzu\nI entered quite a few times under visa so far and my experience has been more\nthan fine (in fact, it's even been pleasant). Hopefully, it'll never get to\nwhat you've had.\n\nIt happened a couple of times that the officer wasn't sure if I was doing what\nI said I was, for whatever reason, and they generally just asked a follow up\nquestion like \"do you have an access card for this company and can I see it?\"\nwhich resolved the matter every time. Didn't realize it was so close to \"wait\nin the horror room for hours\".\n\n~~~\njzwinck\nIronically, it is poor security practice to print names on access cards. But\nit is fairly common.\n\n------\n_pferreir_\nI know what you mean. The bureaucratic establishment allows people in low\nranking public jobs to have a disproportionate amount of power over pretty\nmuch anyone.\n\n9/11 seems to have made things worse for pretty much everyone. Governments\nwent paranoid and chose the easy way: delegating extra authority on people\nthat were not prepared to exert it.\n\nBut border guards tend to be dumb and/or rude pretty much everywhere, so,\ndon't take it too seriously.\n\n------\ndonohoe\nThis is why I choose citizenship.\n\nI have kids so I cannot risk some guy having a bad day at the border ruining\nmy life.\n\n------\ny1426i\nThis is not an immigration issue. There is no place for common sense in\ngovernment matters. Some day computers will take over the decision making and\nwe will have a joyous experience coming in or happily avoid this country\nbecause the decision will be known.\n\n------\nthawt\nI haven't seen anyone say it, but I can tell you that the experience of\nentering the US as a US citizen is only marginally better.\n\nLeaving/entering the US is something I avoid at all costs. Sad but true.\n\n------\nnottrobin\nThanks so much for sharing this.\n\nI think treatment of immigrants by border controls is shocking, and the\nbiggest problem is how little attention / voice the problem gets.\n\nPlease continue to write about your experiences.\n\n------\nrjzzleep\nwelcome to how germany treats their own citizen\n\n~~~\nsourishkrout\nBS\n\n------\nmadaxe\nI have a simple solution for not dealing with US immigration's bullshit. Too\nmany trips marred by days spent in featureless rooms waiting for Godot, a\nfull-time employee of your border agency.\n\nAnyway - simple solution - don't go to America. Don't work with Americans.\n\nEurope and Asia are big markets.\n\n------\ntmktmk\nThis is the biggest non-problem ever:\n\n1) Did the author get in? Yes\n\n2) Did customs do their job and scrutinize the person's paperwork? Yes\n\n3) Was the person held for an inordinately long time? No -- 3 hours is not a\n\"long time.\" If you can't deal with the fact that you just flew (potentially)\nhalfway across the world in an airplane\n\n4) Was the author unduly molested or given harsh treatment, perhaps by being\ndenied food, water, medication, or otherwise harassed? No -- the author points\nout that there was a water fountain and snack machines, and the author was not\nstrip searched, nor was he otherwise harassed/degraded. Sitting in a waiting\nroom while your paperwork clears is \"not a big deal.\"\n\nPlease stop blowing things out of proportion, and criticizing the US for no\nreason. I've immigrated to and lived in 3 different countries, and BY FAR the\nprocedure described here is not difficult or tedious. If you can't deal with a\na 3 hour wait, how can you deal with anything? Patience is a virtue.\n\nBTW -- I was a paying awe.sm customer -- I just cancelled my account due to\nthis overblown blog posting. Enjoy.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGoogle Wants a Piece of Air-Traffic Control for Drones - smullaney\nhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-24/google-has-way-to-unclog-drone-filled-skies-like-it-did-the-web\n======\nAnimats\nThis is actually an FAA/NASA initiative.[1] They're trying to figure out how\nthis can work.\n\nThe FAA's first round is out, with the proposed \"drone pilot licenses\" and\ncoordination with existing ATC for drone operations in controlled airspace.\nThat won't scale up to large numbers of drones, but can be done now. The FAA\nis considering fewer restrictions on very small drones (<2KG). They have a\nstudy indicating that in theory most 2KG drones won't damage large aircraft\njet engines enough to destroy them. But as yet, that hasn't been tested on\nreal engines. (Real engines are tested against bird strikes by firing frozen\nchickens of various sizes into the engine, using an air cannon. That's going\nto have to be done for drones, and it's not cheap.)\n\nThe FAA is trying to get this under control before some large quadrotor with\nmotors with cobalt-neodymium magnets gets sucked into a jet intake.\n\n[1] [http://utm.arc.nasa.gov/index.shtml](http://utm.arc.nasa.gov/index.shtml)\n\n~~~\nsopooneo\nThank you for the information, most of which is new to me. However, one minor\npoint of correction, is that I believe the birds are thawed, not frozen, when\nfired into jet engines to test them.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_gun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_gun)\n\n------\nbluthru\n>The idea really is anyone should be free to build a solution\n\nI can't think of a worse outcome.\n\nIf drones and automated cars don't operate off of an open and public\ncommunication system, it will be a massive failure.\n\nGPS works because a for-profit company isn't in charge of it.\n\n------\ncmurf\nToday, we're still using AM line of sight radio, on a frequency that can only\naccept one transmission at a time.\n\nFirst innovate a better system for drones. Then replace the legacy ATC system\nin stages for Class A, Class B, Class C, Class E IFR, and finally Class E VFR.\nAnd only then can the altitude restriction on drones be lifted, and integrated\ninto the rest of the ATC system. But even getting Class A and B under the same\nmodern and scalable system as drones, even if they aren't sharing airspace, is\nsomething pilots, airlines, ATC, and the FAA have needed/wanted for a long\ntime.\n\n~~~\nytdht\nEnabling Super Wi-Fi[1] nation-wide would be a good start to a better system\nfor wireless communications for drones and other internet-connected devices\n\n1\\. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Wi-\nFi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Wi-Fi)\n\n~~~\nw-ll\nI actually worked with Spectrum Bridge and the city on the implementation in\nWilmington, North Carolina while in college.\n\nAt the time it was called 'Whitespace Wifi' and we actually had a handful of\nservices other than public wi-fi. It was good fun.\n\n~~~\nytdht\nDo you know of any plans to expand it further? or was there any substantial\nproblems discovered that could not be solved?\n\n------\nswalsh\nOne thing i'd like to see from drones is a registration of the drones firmware\nsignature. So as a drone is flying, it would broadcast the signature, and you\ncan see above you what's flying around.\n\n------\nthrowaway859876\nRetailers will be in for a lot of heartache if they hope that the FAA will\n\"work with them.\"\n\nADS-B is already mandated for 2020. The spec is cast in stone, and the only\nthing that could change is the month it's enforced.\n\nAs we've seen with the SoCal fires last week, integrated tracking is essential\nfor safe low-level flight.\n\nCertified ADS-B avionics prices have ranged from $10,000 - $1,000,000+.\nExperimental prices are around $2,000 now.\n\nObviously that's more than the price of most consumer drones.\n\nAlso, what load can the ADS-B system handle? How many drones would overload\nit?\n\n~~~\nwheaties\nThis. Alot of drone guys or people who dream of drones forget that there's GA\nplanes up there. I've had to dodge stupid cameras on balloons while landing.\nThat's so dangerous\n\n~~~\nwmeredith\nGA planes?\n\n~~~\nspc476\nGeneral aviation.\n\n------\nams6110\nThe idea of centralized air traffic control for drones seems completely\nbackwards to me. Birds don't have air traffic control, they have eyes and a\nbrain and avoid obstacles and each other autonomously.\n\nMaybe there will be a need for some defined airways for drones, but they\nshould be able to fly and navigate for themselves.\n\n~~~\nsarwechshar\nWhilst I appreciate a bird analogy as much as the next guy (and it makes sense\nfrom a mechanical perspective), I'm not sure if it works for regulation purely\nbecause birds aren't responsible to anyone or anything else if things go\nwrong. Drones are human products and thus someone, ie their creator or user,\nwould need to be held accountable.\n\n------\njamespitts\nThis is very exciting, and inevitable. This sort of infrastructure will lead\nto a lot of innovation because it alleviates many of the questions about\noperating drones in shared spaces.\n\n~~~\ncmurf\nIt deals with drone on drone, but not really drone on non-drone. And also\ndoesn't deal with the \"virtual pilot\" firmware drones will run, that should\nhave an analog to FAR 91 rules such as the obstacle avoidance and being able\nto avoid injuring people and property on the ground. I have to be able to do\nthat as a pilot, there's no good reason why an up to 55lb drone going up to\n100mph should be exempt.\n\n------\nterminado\nSkynet!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: How Would you purposefully slow down a specific website? - source99\n\nIf you could configure a VPN or Proxy or ??? How would you create a setup so that all traffic for a specific url was slowed down?<p>For example if I went to www.example.com, the website would still load but it would load much slower than if I were to be browsing www.example2.com.\n======\npwg\nThe linux firewall includes a rate limiter module (several actually). That\nwould be one way to slow down data from specific IP's. And websites located at\nthat IP would be slowed down.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Day I Drove for Amazon Flex - clebio\nhttps://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/06/amazon-flex-workers/563444/?single_page=true\n======\nspyckie2\nThe 'gig' economy reminds me very much of the state of factory workers in the\nearly 1900s. For businesses, it was very clear that forcing workers to work in\na very unfriendly way (doing a repetitive task as part of an assembly line)\nwas a multiplier for scale and productivity. However, associated with that was\nthe \"price\" unfair wages, long hours, stress, strain, and injury.\n\nIt took 30-60 years of unions and labor rights before the problem was 'solved'\n\\- the non-monetary economics of that kind of production sucked (worker's comp\n+ regulations for human rights) and those factories shipped overseas to where\nthose things didn't exist.\n\nThe modern gig economy is really just scaling up distribution instead of mass\nproduction. On paper, it is cheap and scalable. But add in all the socio-\neconomic components and you'll realize that it's not really that cheap, and\nnot an economic engine that can survive long term past the initial stages,\nreason being that demand exists only because the price is subsidized.\n\nCurrently, shipping is extremely cheap, subsidized by Amazon, the government,\nand more recently, the individuals who due to lack of opportunities live with\nsubsistence wages. If shipping was actual market price (where gig workers\nearned a fair wage), the cost would be much higher, which would shrink demand.\n(shipping was available as a function since forever, and wasn't ever a popular\nshopping option until today).\n\nIf we wanted free shipping as a standard of living, we would need to subsidize\nshipping on a governmental level, similar to how we subsidize food (especially\nmeat). Americans don't realize it but meat is cheap in the US, much cheaper\nthan the rest of the world. This is purely because of subsidies, which is a\nperk to allow the american standard of living: [https://www.quora.com/Why-are-\nmeat-and-animal-by-products-so...](https://www.quora.com/Why-are-meat-and-\nanimal-by-products-so-cheap-in-the-U-S-despite-of-the-fact-that-it-takes-a-\nlot-of-natural-resources-to-produce-them).\n\nIf you want to make the american standard of living free package delivery,\nsubsidize the wages from the US government, and force the tech companies to\npay real corporate tax.\n\n~~~\namelius\nIsn't subsidized pricing illegal?\n\nSee:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_pricing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_pricing)\n\n> Predatory pricing , also known as undercutting, is a pricing strategy in\n> which a product or service is set at a very low price with the intention to\n> drive competitors out of the market or to create barriers to entry for\n> potential new competitors. Theoretically, if competitors or potential\n> competitors cannot sustain equal or lower prices without losing money, they\n> go out of business or choose not to enter the business. The so-called\n> predatory merchant then theoretically has fewer competitors or even is a de\n> facto monopoly.\n\n> Predatory pricing is considered anti-competitive in many jurisdictions and\n> is illegal under competition laws.\n\n~~~\nshanghaiaway\nIs Uber illegal?\n\n~~~\nrainbowmverse\nCourts exist to answer this question.\n\n------\nsulam\nIt's not so great on the other end, either. My house has a gate to get to the\nfront door. The gate is very easy to operate and never locked. A driver (I\nhave to assume Flex) instead _threw_ a 20lb box with an ice maker in it over\nthe fence and into a rose bush that was clearly visible (the fence is just\nwrought iron). It crushed a lot of roses and thankfully didn't damage the ice\nmaker. My wife was literally 20' away in her office when it happened and says\nthe driver simply drove up, threw it over, and drove away.\n\n~~~\nfapjacks\nI know a person that uses a paintball gun to keep people out of his apartment\nbuilding's dumpster (identity theft from documents stolen out of trash is a\n_huge_ problem where he lives) and also to tag delivery trucks and (yikes)\ndelivery drivers that do this kind of hit-and-run delivery. He'd had enough of\nthings being broken in this way.\n\n~~~\nlostctown\nThat seems a little excessive? I hope he sees judicial consequences for his\nbehavior.\n\n~~~\ndsfyu404ed\nI'm not defending the GP's acquaintance but getting hit by a paintball is\nlower than the typical risks you accept when you dig around in a dumpster.\nGenerally speaking dumpster diving isn't trespassing unless it's behind a gate\nor something. It really depends on the dumpster in question.\n\nIf it's a good construction or scrap metal dumpster with a lot of nice\nmaterial in it then defending it with a paintball gun is very much a dick move\nthough.\n\nI don't see why he's getting down-voted. He just said he knew a guy who did a\nthing. He didn't even imply whether he approved of it or not.\n\n------\nextralego\n_> Because of the way Flex works, drivers rarely know when blocks of time will\nbecome available, and don’t know when they’ll be working or how much they’ll\nbe making on any given day.”_\n\n _> ”Kelly Cheeseman, an Amazon spokeswoman, told me that Flex is a great\nopportunity for people to be their own boss and set their own schedule.”_\n\n~~~\nTsiklon\nThe Doublethink is real here isn't it?\n\nI note a similar thing here in the UK - most of the folks working 'gig\neconomy' or more accurately 'single person zero guaranteed hour contractor'\njobs are doing this stuff full time and are pushed hard to make a workable\nliving out of it.\n\n------\nduxup\nThe Kobayashi Maru delivery situations where there are few parking options or\nthe customer simply isn't there seem terribly unfair.\n\n~~~\ntanagra\nI’ve never before seen the term kobayashi maru used in the wild. Now that I\nhave, I think, it should be more widely used.\n\n~~~\nduxup\nIt feels like a very literary type term... I get my monocle out each time i\nuse it.... and my Star Trek badge.\n\n------\nmoltar\nWhy there were never these articles for pizza drivers and other deliveries\nbefore?\n\n~~~\nplankers\nBecause the companies they worked for didn't threaten to upend the retail\nmarket of an entire nation, I'm guessing.\n\n~~~\nextralego\nThat makes sense in some clearcut ways and a lot of generally concerning ways.\nI wonder if the sentiment from how it affects peoples’ lives is at play or if\nit’s just Amazon being so big. It seems similar to Wal-Mart rage, which was\nmostly the former.\n\n------\nars\nSounds like non-drivable, only walkable, cities are a real problem for\ndeliveries.\n\n~~~\nDjvacto\nI don't think this is a huge problem though, as it forces the use/development\nof things like delivery lockers, last-mile bike/foot delivery, pickup\nstations, and just generally pushing back on the idea that a car should be\nable to go everywhere until a human is absolutely forced to get out of the car\nand walk.\n\nI think cities/bigger towns would eventually (in my idealistic world vision)\nhave major highways/roads that go around them, and have primarily\nfoot/bike/public transit traffic for everything internal.\n\n~~~\nglenneroo\nDomino's recently opened up some shops in Vienna, Austria and they gave a lot\nof their delivery people e-bikes. UPS also seems to have people delivering\nlast-mile with e-bikes. Seems to work out great and they aren't clogging up\nthe streets with delivery cars parked everywhere, blocking entrances, etc.\nlike most other delivery services.\n\n------\njjoske\nWhen google initially invested in Boston Robots I thought was to try and solve\nthis problem.\n\n~~~\nZigurd\nI think you mean Boston Dynamics.\n\n------\ntardo99\nI mean, the truth is these jobs will go away relatively soon because of drones\nand robotics.\n\n------\nJohnny555\n_The security guard at the front door of the office building chastised me for\ncarrying the box, and told me that I should be using a dolly to transport it.\n(None of the 19 videos I had to watch to be a Flex driver recommended bringing\na delivery cart or a dolly.)_\n\nHow could you not know this? Have you never seen another delivery driver? Do\nyou really need a training video to tell you that when you need to carry a lot\nof heavy packages, you should use a dolly?\n\n~~~\ngeezerjay\n> Do you really need a training video to tell you that when you need to carry\n> a lot of heavy packages, you should use a dolly?\n\nYes, you need.\n\nCase in point, in the last half a dozen orders I've made that involved a\nsomewhat heavy and/or large package, not a single delivery service used a\ndolly or delivery cart, even on orders from a certain multibational furniture\nstore.\n\nYou expect your employees to do their job safely? Then you explicitly cover\nthe safety procedure during training, and you directly and intentionally state\nthat it's in their best interests to do so. Otherwisr you can't possibly\nassume they will comply with an implicit rule.\n\n~~~\nmichaelt\n\n      in the last half a dozen orders I've made that involved a\n      somewhat heavy and/or large package, not a single delivery\n      service used a dolly or delivery cart\n    \n\nI work for a company called Ocado that does grocery delivery right to people's\nkitchens (unlike Amazon Flex, our drivers are employees, paid by the hour, and\ndrive company-owned vans). I've been out with drivers several times. Drivers\nare issued with dollies and trained in their use.\n\nDollies are inherently a mixed blessing. You can pile more stuff on them - but\nif you've got to get up a kerb, you've still got to be able to lift that\nweight, and the dolly as well, and keep everything from sliding off at the\nsame time.\n\nAnd it's not just kerbs. They've got steps up to their front door? Can't use\nthe dolly. Old flat/apartment without a lift? Can't use the dolly. Lift needs\na key you don't have? Can't use the dolly. They've got a gravel path? Can't\nuse the dolly. They've got a thick-bottomed UPVC door frame? Can't get the\ndolly through it. On a steep hill? Dolly will make things harder...\n\nAnd it turns out, in a city like London, there are a great many buildings with\none or more of these defects - and the worse the parking situation, the\nfurther away you park the van, the more kerbs and things you're likely to need\nto cross.\n\nHence, even though drivers are issued with dollies and trained in their use,\nmany deliveries are made without the dollies because they don't make things\nall that much easier.\n\n~~~\nthrowaway426079\nYou also don't want the dolly in your kitchen because you don't know what it\nrolled over before that. As an Ocado driver pointed out to me.\n\n~~~\nmcherm\n> You also don't want the dolly in your kitchen because you don't know what it\n> rolled over before that.\n\nHow are the dolly's wheels any different from the delivery person's shoes?\n\n~~~\nthrowaway426079\nOnly one person wears the shoes and (maybe) takes care where they walk. Many\npeople use a single dolly over different shifts and don't know what the last\nuser did with it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nUS contractor fined $3.1M for outsourcing work to India - known\nhttp://sakshipost.com/index.php/news/international/77667-us-contractor-fined-$3-1mn-for-outsourcing-work-to-india.html\n======\nesbranson\nFor those who prefer primary sources:\n\n\"STATE CONTRACTOR TO PAY MORE THAN $3 MILLION IN PENALTIES FOR ILLEGAL AND\nCOVERT OUTSOURCING OF MILLIONS OF FINGERPRINT RECORDS TO INDIA FOR DATA\nENTRY\", New York State Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott, 24 March 2016\n(Press Release)\n\n[https://ig.ny.gov/sites/default/files/pdfs/IGFocusedTechRepo...](https://ig.ny.gov/sites/default/files/pdfs/IGFocusedTechReportPR3-24-16.pdf)\n\n\"Investigation of Improper Outsourcing of Confidential Records\", New York\nState Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott, March 2016 (contains report and\nagreement/order by state IG)\n\n[https://ig.ny.gov/sites/default/files/pdfs/FocusedTechnologi...](https://ig.ny.gov/sites/default/files/pdfs/FocusedTechnologiesReportandAOD.pdf)\n\n------\ndkopi\n\"The agreement arises from a USD 3.45 million contract...\" \"Focused paid the\nIndian company just over USD 82,000...\" \"Overall, the Indian company performed\napproximately 37.5 per cent of the work on the contract”.\n\n~~~\nzaroth\nThe Indian company handled 16m out of 22 million documents. Not sure what\nother work there was which led to the 37.5% overall figure, otherwise last I\nchecked 16/22=73%...\n\n~~~\nUSNetizen\nIt goes by tasks. Each contract is broken into a series of tasks (CLINs) and\nassigned a value. The \"prime\" contractor typically has to perform 51% of the\nwork by value and task when some sort of set-aside preference is used (like\nVeteran-owned, etc.).\n\n------\nabruzzi\nMy read is that the title here is a bit misleading. The article implies that\nthe illegality is not outsourcing to India, but rather that the Indian\ncontractor was not approved to handle the data it indexed. Am I misreading\nthis?\n\n~~~\nksherlock\n> Given the confidential nature of the information of the fingerprint cards,\n> Focused was required to perform all of the work in New York and it could\n> only use employees that had passed a criminal background check. It was also\n> prohibited from subcontracting any of the work to any other entity.\n\n(Breaching your contract is only illegal (as opposed to a tort) when the other\nparty is the government)\n\n~~~\nSpooky23\nNot necessarily.\n\nIn this case, the contract involved a vendor bidding with/through NYS\nIndustries for the Disabled, which is a \"preferred source\" contractor that is\nsupposed to employ disabled people to perform work. Typically this is light\nmanufacturing work, although operating scanners for a purpose like this is\nalso common.\n\nAs a preferred source contractor, they have preference over any other\ncompetitor -- if you bid on the contract and offered to perform the services\nfor $1, the preferred source vendor would win.\n\nThe issue is that this is a serious fraud, not just a case of violating some\ncontract term. I'm curious as to why the principles aren't facing criminal\nprosecution.\n\n~~~\nnewjersey\n> \"To advance special social and economic goals, certain providers have\n> preferred source status under the law. The acquisition of commodities and/or\n> services from preferred sources is exempted from statutory competitive\n> procurement requirements. All state agencies, political subdivisions and\n> public benefit corporations (which includes most public authorities), are\n> required to purchase approved products and services from preferred sources\n> in accordance with the procedures and requirements described in the\n> Preferred Source Guidelines.\n\n[https://www.nyspro.ogs.ny.gov/content/buying-preferred-\nsourc...](https://www.nyspro.ogs.ny.gov/content/buying-preferred-source-0)\n\nThis is why the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It seems to me\nthat the people who should face criminal prosecution are the people who came\nup with this nonsense \"preferred source\" scheme.\n\n~~~\nnl\nYou prefer welfare for blind people vs giving them meaningful work?\n\n~~~\nnewjersey\nIf that means a level playing field, yes. Positive discrimination is\ndiscrimination and should be banned outside of education.\n\nWhy the downvote? Is that for disagreeing?\n\n~~~\nnl\nI didn't downvote you, but I would if I could. I both disagree with your view\nand think that you haven't really argued your point very well.\n\nBlind people aren't born on a level playing field.\n\nI believe that a society should take care of people who are unfortunate, and\nthis method seems like a reasonable way to allow market mechanisms to improve\ntheir life.\n\nI'm assuming that you disagree that this is a role society should take.\nHowever, the consensus of of most societies in history is that blind people\nshould be taken care of in some way.\n\nI think it's reasonable that you should be expected to make a better argument\nto overturn that view than you have.\n\n------\nbpicolo\nFor _illegally_ outsourcing a government contract\n\n~~~\neplanit\nExactly. It's like immigration vs. illegal immigration. It's easy to drop the\n\"illegal\" part and stir up racial emotion and thus divert attention away from\nthe real topic.\n\n------\ntheflork\ncan someone with more knowledge of the legal code explain why no criminal\ncharges?\n\n$3.45m - $3.1m - $0.082m = $268k profit\n\nAlso getting to hold onto $3.4 million for the 8 year time period since 2008\nwould net some good returns as well.\n\n~~~\ncheriot\nThere's also the expenses for the other 62.5% of the contract, the taxes paid\non the profits, and the business development to get the contract in the first\nplace.\n\nI don't actually know how these things are calculated, though.\n\n~~~\nzaroth\nGood points. They are certainly not making out after the fines. Now I wonder,\nif the fine is tax deductible?\n\n~~~\njacalata\nIt shouldn't be in general - [http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/business-\nexpenses-tha...](http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/business-expenses-\nthat-are-never-deductible.html)\n\n------\nEvanPlaice\nSounds like 'business as usual' to me.\n\nSmall company is granted preferential treatment on the contract reward because\nthe company fits under a 'special class'. For example SDVOSB.\n\nThe company doesn't actually have the skill/ability to fulfill the contract\nrequirements so they outsource a significant portion of the work; either by\npicking up one of the bidders who lost as a subprime or bynoutsourcing to a\nthird-party. Passing off the responsibility violates the 'protected class'\ncertification threshold but there's no oversight to verify compliance so the\ncontractor is never held accountable.\n\nMany/most small business defense contractors are simply administrative\ncompanies that work the 'special class' certification process, pocket a\nsignificant percentage of the funds, and either outsource most of the actual\nwork or hire people and provide substandard pay and provide little/no\nresources to do the work.\n\nSource: I used to work for one such company. Never again...\n\n------\neddd\nI love that kind of stories:\n[http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-21043693](http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-21043693)\n\nCapitalism! :)\n\n~~~\n0x264\nIt's like life imitates satire:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYaZ57Bn4pQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYaZ57Bn4pQ)\n[Onion video]\n\n------\nmchahn\nThis reminds me of the story from a while back about a contractor who took\njobs and farmed them all out to Indian companies for a small percentage of his\ntake.\n\n------\nMichaelBurge\nHow did they catch them?\n\n~~~\nUSNetizen\nContracting with the government means you open your books to them, essentially\nwhenever they want. They can audit you at any time.\n\n------\njpoech\nman, that was messed up!\n\n------\nGustomaximus\nSo have these guys essentially lost $40k plus time involved? This doesn't\nsound like much of a deterrent. There should really be criminal charges for\nthese blatant fraudulent behaviours. While I believe prison should primarily\nbe a rehabilitation, giving white collar criminals actual time will work as a\ndeterrent rather than a 'don't get caught' mentality.\n\n~~~\nytpete\nDon't forget lost future business too - good luck winning the next contract\nbid with this kind of track record (hopefully). If that effect is strong\nenough, it could potentially even put a place out of business.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: What is your favorite screen recorder? - franca\nTo build video tutorial, what software and tools do you use?\n======\nlixtra\n[http://www.maartenbaert.be/simplescreenrecorder/](http://www.maartenbaert.be/simplescreenrecorder/)\nmy version only works with X11, not wayland though.\n\n~~~\noblib\nI took at look at this and had to try installing it on my Raspberry Pi. It\nworked great!\n\nI couldn't get it to recognize my microphone but I didn't fiddle with that\nmuch. It was easy to capture an audio track on my Mac while recording the\nscreen on the Pi and bring the movie over into Quicktime and sync them up.\n\nI've been looking for a way to record the screen on my Pi so I thank you too!\n\n------\nsgslo\nI have recorded many hundreds of hours of content. I first used Quicktime on\nMacOS, it worked well enough. Great quality, fast, and easy to use.\n\nMore recently I moved over to OBS, which I consider to be far superior to\nQuicktime for one important reason: more control over audio settings. With OBS\nI can use just about any mic and get reasonable sound quality with a few\ntweaks. At present, I'm using a $20 headset and it works just fine.\n\n------\nRandomGuyDTB\nOBS has been useful, so has Overwolf, but I think the best tool I've used has\nbeen Quicktime on OSX. It's much easier to use than most things. My go-to on\nWindows is the XBox Game DVR recording functionality but I only use it because\nthe alternatives are pretty slow.\n\n------\nBorisMelnik\nshareX for windows! Been using it for prob 10 years and its donate-ware\n\n[https://i.imgur.com/qOQIWoi.png](https://i.imgur.com/qOQIWoi.png)\n\nrecords in MPEG or GIF and lots of screenshot options as well. auto-upload to\nlots of free sharing sites if you choose. for screenshots I use Windows10\nbuilt-in \"snipping tool\" you dont get any simpler than that.\n\n------\ntothrowaway\nFor simple recordings, I use [https://screencast-o-\nmatic.com](https://screencast-o-matic.com)\n\n------\nakulbe\nMy answers are platform-specific:\n\nFor Windows: Camtasia\n\nFor macOS: Screenflow\n\n------\nsimonebrunozzi\nScreenflow or Quicktime.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSecuritas discriminates against Firefox users - afed\n\nIf you use Firefox you are not allowed to apply for a position on Securitas's web site.  Apparently they believe open source users are not trustworthy or reliable.  By trying to start the online application, Firefox users are routed to a page stating that Internet Explorer 6 must be used.<p>http://www.securitas.com/us/en/Career/Come-Join-Us/Start-On-line-Application/\n======\njgoosdh\nIts pretty common for big companies to have internal apps designed exclusively\nfor various versions of IE, because they can control what browsers their\nemployees use, but this is just plain ridiculous!\n\nWhen you design and build a web app for public consumption you need to develop\nfor ALL major browsers or risk losing business. These guys are nuts!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nReactOS 0.4.0 Released - setra\nhttps://www.reactos.org/project-news/reactos-040-released\n======\norionblastar\nI've been waiting for this, I donated money so they can reach the 0.4.0\nversion.\n\nThey have made a lot of improvements on it and added more hardware support\nlike USB and Sound cards. Even added a virtual 16 bit machine to run DOS code.\n\nIt is not ready for prime time yet, but it can be run in a virtual machine. It\nis a Windows alternative that can run some Windows programs and shares code\nwith the WINE project.\n\nIt uses a low memory footprint, so you can install Apache, MYSQL, PHP etc on\nit and use it as a server.\n\nThey are trying to make it XP/2003 compatible. So it is really designed for\nolder Windows technology.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSubstrata - A Responsive, Semantic Grided Front-End Boilerplate - Hirvesh\nhttp://shaunchurch.com/substrata/index.html\n======\nHirvesh\nvia: [http://www.functionn.in/2012/12/substrata-responsive-\nsemanti...](http://www.functionn.in/2012/12/substrata-responsive-semantic-\ngrided.html)\n\n[Check out <http://www.functionn.in> for more web resources to keep you\nfunctionn.in']\n\nSubstrata, from the words of its developer is a lightweight, minimalist,\nresponsive, semantic grid powered, unstyled, front-end boilerplate. Substrata\nwas born out of the dissatisfaction with currently existing front-end\nframeworks like Twitter Bootstrap, HTML5 Boilerplate or Semantic Grid System.\n\nSubstrata aims to find the balance between having too much functionality or\ntoo little functionality. It borrows the best ideas from all the other front-\nend frameworks and tries to make the perfect cocktail which allows you to get\nstarted with your project with minimal restrictions.\n\nSubstrata is lightweight, with the CSS file’s size at around 8KB minified. It\nalso comes with several baked-in features like Google Web Fonts Code,\nAnalytics code, Modernizr.js, HTML5 Boilerplate’s .htaccess file and more.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nVisualise the shift to blockchain by big companies - flywithdolp\nhttps://www.producthunt.com/posts/shiftblock\n======\nverdverm\nShift or experiment or say something in the media?\n\nThis seems like a website / article aggregator for big co + blockchain\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHow to Get PayPal To Freeze Your Account in Four Easy Steps - jamievayable\n\nAs first-time entrpreneurs, we have of course hit many bumps and snags along our path to launch.  But none have been more painful, irrational or bloody our perpetually-losing battle with PayPal.  I have written the following to help other startup founders using PayPal fail faster.<p>How to get PayPal to Freeze your account in four easy steps.<p>1.  Be a bootstrapping startup.  \nWith no funding, transactions or big names behind us, we set up our PayPal merchant account like any innocent first-time founders would: by following procedure.  We provided our Employer Identification Number, a summary of our business, a summary of how we would be using PayPal for our transactions, and all the other good details you’d a payment service to require.  All good?  It seemed so, but then we got greedy.  We wanted to use PayPal Pro to streamline our transactions.<p>2. Apply for Payments Pro.  \nWe first get a phone call from a representative at PayPal informing us that Vayable is conducting illegal activity by running a business without a Travel Seller’s license from the State of California.  Without this license number, they tell us, we cannot use PayPal’s service.  This is the first we’ve heard of needing to acquire a Travel Seller’s license, as we’re not actually selling travel, but I go ahead and look into it.  Turns out, the State will not issue us a Travel Seller’s license even if we wanted one: they’re reserved for sellers of transportation, like airlines and bus companies.  We do not do this.  We are a community marketplace for individuals to buy and sell unique experiences from one another.  Think Etsy or Airbnb for EventBrite for unique travel experiences-- Or whatever marketplace startup du jour you want to throw before “unique experiences.” (Note: Etsy, Airbnb  and Eventbrite all use PayPal).<p>I call PayPal back and tell them that we in no way fall under the state’s definition of a Seller of Travel and therefore not only don’t need the license, but wouldn’t qualify for it.  “Then we’re going to have to decline your application for Payments Pro” I am told by three different representatives. (I’m always a believer in calling back to talk to someone else if the first person doesn’t give you the answer you want).  In this case, no one was giving us the answer we wanted.  Time to pivot.<p>3.  Comply with PayPal’s requests.  \nAfter failing to qualify to use Payments Pro, we decide to go with another one of their merchant products:  Express Checkout, a free and streamlined merchant service PayPal released last fall that does not require a lengthy application process.   While building it into our site,  we receive a notification from PayPal that our merchant account is going under review (note: we have yet to test a single transaction yet).  They are concerned that we are are not a real business, they say, and ask us to submit our Articles of Incorporation as well as our EIN number (which I had already submitted several times) in the enrollment process) as well as a statement of how we intend to use PayPal for our transactions.  Of course, we comply. Within an hour of receiving the email from them, I have uploaded these documents to the Resolution Center, as requested, and wait.  And wait. And wait.  After several days of hearing nothing back, I call PayPal.  I talk to a guy in their customer support department who informs me that the account is fine, but they just need to verify that the business name is actually Vayable.  This sounds odd to me.  So again, I provide them with the material and am assured by customer support that the account will be restored to good standing as soon as they look over the paperwork I’ve provided.  Ten days later, our account status has not changed and I still cannot get any more information from PayPal customer support.<p>4. Stay Loyal.\nWith no new information, we decide to charge ahead and implement PayPal into the site. After all, we need transaction on the site and PayPal is the most widely recommended and seemingly accommodating platform.  After a painful implementation process (which involved the server-side technical problems from PayPal throughout, making it nearly impossible to test and use the sandbox), we finally got our Express Checkout up and running.  Seamless and perfect? Far from it.  Functional and secure?  Yes.  Less than 12 hours after getting the service us and running, I receive the following email from PayPal:<p>Dear Jamie Wong,<p>Thank you for your response.<p>Per our Acceptable Use Policy, under credit card association rules, PayPal\ncannot permit the use of the PayPal service as a funding method for payment\nprocessors to collect payments on behalf of merchants.   Upon review of\nyour account, it appears that you are offering an aggregation service that\nallows multiple merchants to process transactions that are against various\nAcceptable Use rules.  The service you provide allows said merchants to\ncircumvent our policies.<p>While we wish you the best of success in your future business endeavors, we\nrespectfully ask that you seek another method of payment for your online\nbusiness.<p>Your PayPal Account has been limited and there will be no appeals to the\ndecision.  Any remaining funds in your account balance will be held for 180\ndays from the date of the limitation.  Once 180 days has passed, the funds\nwill be available for withdrawal.<p>If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us again.<p>Sincerely,\nJulie\nPayPal Compliance Department\nPayPal, an eBay Company<p>Responses to this email address are not monitored.  Please send any\nadditional questions that you may have to compliance@paypal.com.<p>Translation: Your account has been frozen and there’s nothing you can do about it.  \nUpon referring to PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy, as they suggest, I find nothing to suggest we are not in compliance.   In fact, we seem to be the exact kind of merchant PayPal would want using its services.  We are bringing them new users by requiring our customers to pay with PayPal, we are building a global marketplace that is ideal case study for PayPal’s robust risk management and fraud management and we’re a budding new startup that enables a brand new community of merchants and transactions, off of which PayPal will be able to profit.<p>We’re still unclear why PayPal froze our account, but we’ve got a pretty good idea of how it happened, which really started with following procedure, followed by compliance, followed by loyalty to their service.<p>PayPal doesn’t want their cut of tens of millions of dollars of revenue we project in the next two years.   Any idea of who does?<p>-Jamie Wong \nCo-Founder, Vayable.com\nhttp://blog.vayable.com\n======\nig1\nI can't say I really blame them, you're in a high-risk business which tends to\nhave lots of credit card chargebacks and you can't guarantee delivery of\nservice. If you went the merchant bank/credit card processor route you'd\nprobably have to put down a substantial deposit.\n\nIf you're operating a high-risk business you can't really expect PayPal or a\nmerchant bank to absorb that risk on your behalf unless you're willing to pay\nfor it.\n\nPayPal's policies do forbid the kind of marketplace aggregation you're doing\n(Unless you're using their Adaptive Payment split payment mechanism which is\ndesigned for this sort of situation; but from your description I assume you're\nnot)\n\n------\nLiveTheDream\n> tens of millions of dollars of revenue we project\n\nPaypal's revenues are well over $3 billion/year and growing. They are also\nknown around these parts as a fraud detection company with a payment\nprocessing component. Respectfully, I would first suggest you be happy that\nthose millions are still just projected and not sitting in limbo in a frozen\nPayPal account.\n\nNext, check out some other payment processing options. Here is a great place\nto start:\n[http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/startupswiki/Ask_YC_Archive#t...](http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/startupswiki/Ask_YC_Archive#toc85)\n\n------\ndaimyoyo\nYour solution here is obvious. Several times per week it seems there's a\nthread here lamenting paypals policy's. My advice to you would be to start a\ncompetitor to paypal. (yes they're owned by eBay, but remember that there's\npotential antitrust issues if they harass you too much or refuse to allow you\nto integrate your payments widget into the listings.) You certainly aren't\nalone in your struggle, and were I in your position, that's what I'd do. Just\nmy $0.02.\n\n~~~\nwladimir\nAren't there already many competitors to Paypal? They're not as well-known,\nbut I don't think starting another web payment service is a very good business\nplan. For example, I know Netteller has been struggling pretty much.\n\nI agree that Paypal needs a bigger competitor though. They're really making a\nmess of it.\n\n------\nJigSaw81\nYour site looks pretty sketchy. Try to make it look more trustworthy, then re-\napply for Payments Pro in 2-3 months. They might reconsider.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nOpinion: Google Is Still Bad at Selling Phones - wbsun\nhttps://www.droid-life.com/wp-content/cache/page_enhanced/www.droid-life.com/2017/10/26/opinion-google-still-sucks-at-selling-phones/_index.html\n======\ndovdovdov\nThis is just market research, when they asked the community what they see in\nthe competitor,\n\npeople said 'no headphone jack' and 'overpriced crap'.\n\nGoogle just delivered on these desires.\n\n~~~\npiyush_soni\nYes. Apparently, when they sold the amazing value for money Nexus phones\n(especially the 5), no one wanted buy those \"cheap plastic phones\". Pixel 1,\nthe overpriced phone was the first one people noticed and bought. Sad, but\ntrue.\n\n~~~\nrak00n\nRemember the bootloop issue in 5x and 6p? They have a long way to go in this\nmarket.\n\n~~~\ntotalZero\nMy Nexus 6P soft bricked itself in exactly this way, by spiraling into a\nnever-ending bootloop. I contacted Google to ask for help, and they wouldn't\neven send me the documents I needed to get my credit card's warranty service\nextension program to replace my phone. I will never again buy a Google\nhardware device as long as I live.\n\n------\nnoncoml\nWhy would anyone buy a phone from an advertising company?\n\n~~~\na012\nBecause they're advertised\n\n------\nNateyJay\nFixed link: [https://www.droid-life.com/2017/10/26/opinion-google-\nstill-s...](https://www.droid-life.com/2017/10/26/opinion-google-still-sucks-\nat-selling-phones/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nMaking a commit with the Github API - swanson\nhttp://swanson.github.com/blog/2011/07/23/digging-around-the-github-api-take-2.html\n\n======\nzmanji\nVery fascinating, a static file blog backed by git is powerful, back by github\nwould allow for a lot of features. I can see the power I get with editing code\neasily applied to writing with the same usability I get from WordPress or\nsomething similar.\n\n------\nfollower\nOff topic, but I noticed in your post you said:\n\n> but I liked the idea of keeping an “engineering notebook” as I work.\n\nI've created a site Labradoc\n(<[http://www.labradoc.com/>](http://www.labradoc.com/>)) that is a low\nfriction way to keep an engineering notebook (or as I call it--a project log).\nFor me it makes a huge difference in being able to keep track of multiple side\nprojects.\n\nYou might like to try it out.\n\nAlso, thanks for the pointer to the Javascript Markdown parser \"Showdown\"--\nI've been wanting to get a Markdown live-preview working for Labradoc and that\nseems like it could do the job. :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThreats to macOS Users - heshiebee\nhttps://securelist.com/threats-to-macos-users/93116/\n======\ntaylodl\nPhishing is an extremely effective attack vector. My company's security group\nregularly and randomly sends out phishing emails. Those falling for it are\nsent to training for how to identify a phishing attack. I've heard anecdotally\nthat some people have had to go to the training three times! Which I don't say\nto gloat - but merely to point out how well that attack vector works.\n\n------\njava-man\nI know of no email client that tries to detect and warn about phishing or\nother forms of attacks.\n\nMessage contains executables masquerading as data files?\n\nFrom: domain name is different from the received from:?\n\nHomoglyphs in the domain name?\n\nTracking pixels?\n\nWhite on white text?\n\nSuspicious Javascript?\n\netc.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSex and Gor and open source - healsdata\nhttps://techcrunch.com/2017/03/26/sex-and-gor-and-open-source/\n======\nnetaustin\nI spent a good portion of my early career working with Drupal on large-scale\nmedia sites and got to know some folks central to the movement. I liked almost\neveryone I met, including Dries, but after starting my own agency, left the\nplatform and the community. Not because of individual conflicts, but because I\nconcluded that I did not want my agency to orbit Acquia. This is what happens\nin commercially mature open source communities, and a huge source of mundane\nconflict. The founder and BDFL of the movement becomes the founder and BDFL of\na venture funded, IPO-bound startup, and incentives start to become crossed.\nOr in the case this case, incentives become entirely perverted.\n\nSo I have a darker take on this: Dries banned Crell as a face-value reason to\nstrip a competitor of a seat at the core contributor table. Crell works for\nPlatform.sh, a challenger to Acquia's main hosting platform product. Drupal\nhas lots of very senior architectural voices already, so losing Crell isn't\ngoing to jeopardize the platform, and it's more convenient for Acquia for them\nto work in the same place.\n\nAccording to Crell's post about this [[https://www.garfieldtech.com/blog/tmi-\nouting](https://www.garfieldtech.com/blog/tmi-outing)], the Drupal Association\napparently attempted to apply their code of conduct and found repeatedly that\nCrell had done nothing wrong. But then Dries decided to ban Crell with little\nfanfare. Hard to believe that Dries cares that much about Crell's sex life.\nEasy to believe that he's become a cutthroat opportunist who would use the\nCode of Conduct to optimize Acquia's outcomes. What would have happened if\nCrell had worked for Acquia?\n\nThat's the thing about a BDFL. Give him enough VC money and ultimately all\nthat's left is a giant D.\n\n~~~\nnearlythere\nThere's an appearance of conflict of interest, and you are not the only one to\nmake this accusation. But this is a red herring.\n\nIt was also brought up on the related Reddit thread. Someone surmised this\nmight be \"motivated by the direct competition.\"\n\nTo which rszrama (Ryan Szarma) said \"As a co-founder of Platform.sh, I know\nwith absolute certainty this is not the case.\"\n\nAssuming Ryan knows more than both of us, and he would be in a position to\ngain from making such a claim -- it's important to note he emphatically said\nNO.\n\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/drupal/comments/60y9mq/larry_garfie...](https://www.reddit.com/r/drupal/comments/60y9mq/larry_garfield_on_harassment_in_the_drupal_project/dfcg0n8/)\n\n~~~\nnetaustin\nI'm with you 100% here, yeah, and I agree entirely with the points made here\n[[https://subfictional.com/thoughts-on-recent-drupal-\ngovernanc...](https://subfictional.com/thoughts-on-recent-drupal-governance-\ndecisions/)]. But I don't think Dries has the credibility to act in the\ncommunity's best interest and also in the best interest of Acquia. As an\nofficer of Acquia he has a fiduciary responsibility; his responsibility to\nDrupal is purely ethical.\n\nI'd argue that Ryan can't really gain from making a claim that Dries is trying\nto damage his business, because then he's admitting that his business has been\ndamaged without any real recourse. But I do agree that he knows plenty that we\ndon't!\n\nMy thesis is not that Crell's behavior was acceptable. I know I don't have the\nstanding to opine on that. My thesis is that Dries isn't accountable for this\nconflict of interest and the demands of running a venture-backed startup are\nlargely at odds with the demands of running a community worthy of its code of\nconduct.\n\nOf course, Dries is not the only BDFL with this kind of a conflict of\ninterest. Many of us who have a career on the Internet live in the shade of\none tree or another...\n\n------\nSexyCyborg\nI'm not at all surprised by this. I'm not a BDSM enthusiast, but in my\npersonal life I wear clothes and have body mods that while legal and socially\nacceptable in my country, many Westerners find outrageous and deeply\noffensive. I have always complied with the standards and dress code of any\nbusiness event I attend. It's simply what I wear in my personal time.\n\nIt's been a huge obstacle to getting recognition when dealing with Western\ntech media. Even when I don't appear at all with the project, simply the off-\ncamera creator's appearance being offensive has been sufficient excuse for\nexclusion. I have no doubt that BDSM enthusiasts, or Furries, or many others\nface similar issues even when they check all aspects of their lifestyle at the\ndoor and it has no bearing on their projects.\n\nAs part of a knee-jerk reaction to community problems with sexism, parts of\ntech are now deeply, deeply conservative and judgmental about anything even\nvaguely sexual.\n\nYou can very easily have permanent damage done to your career prospects by\nappearing or acting in some way different from what they feel is the norm.\nOnce that's done, there's no appeasement or washing away the stain- you might\nas well embrace your eccentricity and resign yourself to whatever fringe niche\nwill have you.\n\n------\ntptacek\nThis article is written from one side of a complicated conflict.\n\nIt's the perspective of the ousted Drupal member that his beliefs are entirely\npackaged up in the BDSM subculture that he takes part in, and that to have a\nproblem with his beliefs is to persecute his BDSM subculture.\n\nIt's the perspective of the other Drupal members who ousted him that his\nbeliefs are not in fact cabined in that subculture, but in fact bleed out of\nit into his interactions with the broader world. They cite evidence.\n\nSince the beliefs that we're talking about could be broadly and probably\ninaccurately but by how much I don't know described as \"females are subhuman\",\nit's the perspective of the Drupal members who did the ousting that those\nbeliefs matter very much to the project.\n\nI don't know what the right answer is, but I do know that this TechCrunch\narticle basically defined away the controversy. That doesn't help anyone make\nsense of it. I'm happy letting the Drupal community work this stuff out for\nthemselves though, and also flagged this story, which is, after all, really\njust drama.\n\n~~~\ncrawfordcomeaux\nCommunity governance in a world where open source is increasing and privacy\ndecreasing will necessarily require drama as long as emotions are involved.\n\nThe article raises questions in the controversy worth exploring in countless\nopen source projects.\n\nI didn't encounter evidence cited by the ousting members in the article. Can\nyou link to your sources?\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nYou didn't encounter pretty much any of the other side in that article, which\nis not an accurate summary of the controversy. I'm not sure this article makes\na good starting point for discussing this issue, and I'm not sure the issue\nitself is really worth mining to find a good starting point.\n\n~~~\najsalminen\nIn a way it looks very much like just the same issue that has come up before\nwith people getting banned from tech conferences for example: Should the\nbeliefs a person holds that are unrelated to the community in question be\ngrounds for ostracizing him from said community. I don't really understand why\nyou think that isn't an issue worth discussing.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nI didn't say it wasn't an issue worth discussing. I said that the article\nwe're commenting on is highly misleading. It would lead one to believe that\nthe community is penalizing consensual sexual behavior, when in fact the\nconcern has virtually nothing to do with his BDSM subculture.\n\n~~~\najsalminen\nI don't think the article is that one-sided. It also raises another issue\nwhich is that the total lack of transparency even to the person being\nprosecuted is problematic.\n\nThe comments from the DA side about this have been few and self-contradictory\nso that partially the reason the article is the way it is.\n\n------\nlosvedir\nSad. I definitely agree with the article's \"yes (no), hell no, hell no\"\nanswers. But I wonder how many people would answer the same here as with\nBrendan Eich being forced to resign or Curtis Yarvin being dis-invited from\nLambdaConf.\n\nEdit to be more clear: I can understand either position as long as it applies\nconsistently. I also think I may have pattern matched this incorrectly as\n\"person unfairly ostracized for his personal sexual preferences\", when perhaps\nthe part that will get play in the tech community is \"woman hating white\nmale\", in which case this will fit right in with Eich and Yarvin.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nYarvin was not disinvited from LambdaConf. LambdaConf was boycotted because\nYarvin presented there.\n\n(To your edit: so far as I know, the issue with Yarvin has more to do with\noutspoken racism than with gender equity).\n\n~~~\ntedunangst\nDisinvited from strangeloop I think? It's hard to keep track of it all.\n\n~~~\nmcphage\nRight, disinvited from strangeloop. When he was invited to speak at\nLambdaConf, pressure was brought to bear to get him disinvited. When that\ndidn't work, people instead brought pressure against LambdaConf's sponsors,\nspeakers, and attendees, in an effort to get LambdaConf cancelled.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nThat's a lurid way to describe people boycotting (pretty successfully) a\nconference.\n\n~~~\nmcphage\nWhich claim are you objecting to? That people attempted to get him disinvited?\nThat people pushed LambdaConf's sponsors to pull out? That people pushed\nLambdaConf's speakers to pull out? That people encouraged LambdaConf's\nattendees to switch to MoonConf? Calling that \"attempting to get LambdaConf\ncancelled\" doesn't seem particularly lurid, especially not compared to things\nlike \"You chose to die on this hill.\"\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nAgain, all you're doing is rattling off a description of a boycott.\n\n~~~\nmcphage\nRight, which is why I'm confused that you objected to it.\n\n------\nalexandercrohde\nAt first I thought this article would be linkbaity-gossip about a tech\nindividual's private matters. However I think it raises a good point:\n\nGenerally our attitude toward different sexual preferences (previously labeled\n'deviant') is that it is _illegal_ and _wrong_ to use them to hold back\nsomebody's career. However fetishism thus far hasn't been approached the same\nway as homosexuality, nor has the debate even begun in any public fashion.\n\nI think this debate will have to happen and it's very nuanced.\n\n~~~\ndi4na\nDisclaimer : i am a dom/top/whatever you want to call it in my private life.\n\nEven more interestingly, the majority of the fetish/BDSM community is heavily\nfeminist and open minded. (There are always grey nuance and complex case but\nstill) It is a community that is deeply rooted into consent and people that\nsubmit making a conscious and informed decision.\n\nYou tend to meet people that accept someone else opinion or lifestyle, that\nare team player and adapt to others, more than proselyts or zealots.\n\nInterestingly, the legal implications are complex, and most of the time, in\nthe US, would not support the lifestyle that much. Consensual non-consent or\nviolence is a strange place legally.\n\nBut from the public information so far, it seems hard to believe that this was\nabout proselytising or promoting anything.\n\nJust a witch hunt. Which, to be honest, do not surprise me.\n\nI am semi public about my personal involvement since 50 Shades, because i\naccept the problem i could get in exchange of informing people that need it\n(50 shades is hated in a lot of the community for good reasons) It is not easy\nand you get a lot of anxious/uneasy look.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nTo be clear: the claim here --- not that you'd know it from the article --- is\nthat proselytizing was in fact an issue.\n\n~~~\ndi4na\nWell proselytising what ? Because once again, the fact he plays as a Gorean\nmaster does not mean he believes women to be subhuman.\n\nThis tends to be the problem with most of these things. But in any case we\nreally lack information here.\n\n~~~\naries1980\nRegardless what he believes, whether it is in line with the mainstream western\nvalues or not, it hurts the inclusion and tolerance to expel members based on\nthat. One's taste, political views (regardless how extreme it is) should not\nbe a subject of investigation in a professional community.\n\n------\nslang800\n> More generally, is it OK for an open-source community to ban/ostracize a\n> member purely because their “belief system” — perhaps better described as a\n> complicated fantasy milieu in which they happen to spend their personal time\n> — was doxxed? [hell no]\n\nIt's interesting to compare this with the TechCrunch article written after\nBrendan Eich was ousted for his “belief system”:\n[https://techcrunch.com/2014/04/03/brendan-eich-resigns-as-\nmo...](https://techcrunch.com/2014/04/03/brendan-eich-resigns-as-mozilla-ceo-\nfollowing-criticism-of-his-support-for-prop-8/)\n\n------\nWillyOnWheels\n[http://www2.rdrop.com/users/wyvern//data/](http://www2.rdrop.com/users/wyvern//data/)\n\n------\nmgbmtl\nThe Techcrunch article has a broken link to Dries' blog post:\n[http://buytaert.net/living-our-values](http://buytaert.net/living-our-values)\n\nThe Techcrunch article focuses too much on BDSM in general. If I understand\ncorrectly, the problem here is on the specific aspect of viewing women as\ninferior and the fact that this contributor wields significant influence in a\ncommunity where (like many free software communities) gender is a problem.\n\nThis isn't very different than being anti-gay and being the lead of a big free\nsoftware project. Some people can pretend that their personal opinions have no\nimpact on their work, but that's very rarely the case. If there was more\ndiversity, this would probably be less of an issue.\n\n~~~\ntnones\nIt is both notable and unsurprising that the Drupal code of conduct [1] makes\nzero mention of any of the topics in this debate. Nothing about sexuality,\nnothing about feminism, or equality, ... Yet every discussion about this\nimmediately turns to gender politics. I think this shows the duplicitous\nnature of COCs: no matter what the letter says, the intent, as understood by\nnearly everyone, is to apply it to filter by reigning morality, under the\nthreat of public punishment.\n\nWhen it comes to Drupal, the only gender problem it has is the people who keep\nmanufacturing major incidents out of minor slights, even when the people\ninvolved don't mind. Case in point, the Drupal Association member who resigned\nbecause he called his friend a pussy, who in turn didn't mind it.\n\nIt is disingenuous to uphold a code of respect, diversity and inclusion while\nsimultaneously expecting everyone to conform to the wishes of the most easily\noffended. More so to act like the only way to be respectful to women is to\ntreat them like fragile flowers. Some people prefer traditional gender roles,\nin or outside the bedroom, and some are women.\n\nThe last thing these inclusion activists want is diversity, it would expose\nthem as the sheltered and privileged upper class they are.\n\n[1] [https://www.drupal.org/dcoc](https://www.drupal.org/dcoc)\n\n~~~\nmgbmtl\n> Nothing about sexuality, nothing about feminism, or equality, [...]\n\nFrom the DCOC: \"The Drupal community and its members treat one another with\nrespect.\"\n\n> When it comes to Drupal, the only gender problem it has is the people who\n> keep manufacturing major incidents out of minor slights [...]\n\nI don't know for Drupal, but gender is an issue in most computer-science\nrelated fields, I doubt that Drupal is immune to this. Free Software has a\nlower % of women involved than computer science in general. In any case, until\nthere is near parity, there is a gender problem.\n\nI agree that 'we' are pretty bad at handling incidents. Damned if we do,\ndamned if we don't. There's been an evolution in the last 10 years, but\nclearly more work to be done.\n\n~~~\naries1980\n> “The Drupal community and its members treat one another with respect.”\n\nFrankly, the DCOC is vague. If we want to kick out people with a reference to\nthe DCOC, we have to define with mathematical precision what is “respect”,\n“poor manners”, “people outside the Drupal project”.\n\n> I don't know for Drupal, but gender is an issue in most computer-science\n> related fields, I doubt that Drupal is immune to this. Free Software has a\n> lower % of women involved than computer science in general. In any case,\n> until there is near parity, there is a gender problem.\n\nYou can always find an aspect which is underrepresented. Gender, ethnicity,\nsolved tickets, religion, eye colour… Can we just focus on getting things done\nand being a welcoming toward everyone who would like to donate free time until\nthat person does not restrict others to do so?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSad state of cross platform GUI frameworks - s9w\nhttps://blog.royalsloth.eu/posts/sad-state-of-cross-platform-gui-frameworks\n======\nthomaszander\nIts a great overall look, but I'd like to add some details to the Qt parts.\n\n* he reviewed the QtWidget parts, and the designer for such. This is by now 15 years old tech that has not seen any new development for years. He didn't look at the QtQuick and QtComponents parts which people use now.\n\n* He writes: «You can always buy a commercial license that gives you the rights to statically link your application but it comes with a hefty price.».\n\nThis seems an emotional conclusion. First, most people don't actually require\nto statically link their apps. So this is only required for a small subset of\nusers. Shipping your app on mobile, for instance, can be done with the open\nsource version just fine. I think it helps to actually ask the sales team a\nprice instead of concluding it has a heafty price. Compared to visual studio\nit actually is cheaper, last I checked...\n\n* «Chart components are missing.»\n\nActually, there are several. Including 3rd party ones.\n\n* he first states that QML allows one to use Javascript as a con, and then continues in his next line saying it is not nice to have to use C++. I think thats unfair. You can write your entire app in Javascript or C++. You can mix them. Your choice. This are add-ons. Like NPM can be seen as a bunch of add-ons to Node. Complaining about the ecosystem being diverse doesn't really sound like a negative to me...\n\n------\ns9w\n> QT website is one big clusterfuck of corporate bullshit and hard to find\n> stuff. They keep redesigning it and every year its getting worse and worse\n\nThat captures my own impression accurately\n\n~~~\nthomaszander\nI would fully agree about their main website :)\n\nbut, yeah, its a website they use to sell stuff. Advertisements tend to work\nbetter if they don't get stale.\n\nOn the other hand, the doc.* website (its on its own sub-domain) is almost\nboring and just entirely functional. And that is what techies actually use.\n\n------\n_bxg1\nI think the vitriol against JavaScript is unfair, but I absolutely agree that\nif native cross-platform desktop development weren't so horrendous, many\nthings that currently use Electron, wouldn't. The web's main draw these days\nis that it's a free, cross-platform GUI platform that sees _active development\nand community support_. That's the bar.\n\nAll of that said - and I've said this elsewhere before - _JavaScript is not\nthe problem with Electron._ I'm so weary of hearing this. Even the web is not\nreally the problem with Electron. Electron's problem is that there's no way to\nshare Chromium instances across installations or processes. _That 's it_.\n\n~~~\ngiulianob\nIt's both. Go look at your memory usage per tab and it's not uncommon to see\nhundreds of megabytes for a simple static 2d UI. The way web renders is\nextremely inefficient then you couple that with a language that has no regards\nfor how a computer actually works and you get to the sad state we're in today.\n\n~~~\n_bxg1\n> hundreds of megabytes for a simple static 2d UI\n\nWithout a specific example that's hard to argue against, but I would wager it\nhas more to do with images, unnecessarily complex DOM, and possibly just poor\nengineering, as opposed to JavaScript itself.\n\n> that has no regards for how a computer actually works\n\nYou mean like Python? And Lisp? If you're taking issue with the very concept\nof high-level languages then state it as such, and good luck making a case for\nthat.\n\n------\ngiulianob\nI recently went through this exercise and it really is sad. I actually decided\nto use the Godot game engine because at the end of the day it's fairly\nlightweight, you're in complete control over the rendering, the built in\ncomponents are great (the editor itself is written in the game engine), it\nsupports C#/C++, it runs literally everywhere, and it's completely free/open\nsource.\n\nI'm keeping my eye on Flutter and Avalonia as well but so far Godot seems the\nmost mature on the desktop.\n\n~~~\n_bxg1\nIt's fascinating that a whole game engine ended up being the right solution.\nAlthough, I guess I have heard of people doing the same with Unity. And I've\nheard good things about Godot as a project in general.\n\nFWIW here's one more relevant option that popped up earlier today:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22766639](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22766639)\nIt looks pretty Flutter-like.\n\n------\nlubonay\nFlutter _may_ deliver, but Google has this nasty habit of killing projects\nright after you personally buy into them.\n\n------\ngyrgtyn\n> I can’t quite figure it out, why do people prefer writing Electron apps as\n> opposed of having a thin backend layer that communicates with the frontend\n> in the user’s existing browser via websockets or long polling or whatever.\n\nthat's not possible. For one thing, you need https.\n\n~~~\nSupermancho\nA one-and-done installer for an existing browser is too sandboxed to work as\nhe describes, afaik.\n\nIf you ran local code and added some plugins with permissions, it would be\npossible, maybe.\n\n------\nmixmastamyk\nInteresting that the author understandably hates on C++, mentions Python\nbindings but then never appears to try them. It is true often cross-language\ndocs are not great, but is pretty easy to convert between the two languages\nwith a few examples.\n\nAlso, I'd never heard of the limit of LGPL on static-linking. I have a few\npure Python projects under this but don't think the rule applies.\n\n------\njava-man\nMissing from the list: java swing. Of course, it is missing latest eye candy\nfeatures like shadows, but otherwise it's rock solid.\n\n~~~\nRandyRanderson\nHaving developed in Java for many years now, primarily on Windows for the\ndesktop, Linux for the server side, the occasional MacOS desktop and even\nAndroid and Android Wear, I'm very rarely reminded that there are differences\nin platforms.\n\nThe biggest issues I've faced:\n\n* On a headless server you can't load any GUI components (mostly my mistakes).\n\n* Android is still effectively Java7. I blame Oracle and Google for this.\n\nI've even recently moved from Java 7 to Java 11 with very little issue.\n\nI'd be interested in people's thoughts about why \"new is better\"? My own take:\nyou can't sell tools, tutorials, books, conference tickets, etc for something\nthat just works and is well documented with great IDE support.\n\n~~~\njava-man\nIn the context, I take it the question is about why javafx is better than\nswing?\n\nI would say javafx produces better eye candy, and the programming model is\nmuch better in terms of properties and bindings (not that one can't\nreimplement a similar framework in swing, but in javafx it is just there).\n\nI feel javafx is still lacking in many areas:\n\n\\- focus handling is still buggy: one can have multiple nodes having focus and\naccepting keyboard input\n\n\\- WebView behavior differs a lot between 8/9/10/11\n\n\\- mouse subsystem has critical issues on linux\n\nI wish javafx got more support from Oracle, but we know that neither Sun nor\nOracle viewed the desktop as high priority. I don't think the situation will\nchange, considering the fact that the majority of development switched to\nbrowser-based js.\n\n------\nTurboHaskal\nSo, if you don't mind dropping some cash...\n\n\\- Delphi is great if you have a Windows machine and is still quite popular in\nEurope if you _really_ want to make a career out of it.\n\n\\- Xojo is extremely well priced. I cannot say much about it but a friend that\nis a former Lazarus programmer swears by it.\n\n\\- LispWorks CAPI is hands-down the best I've tried, but requires individual\nlicenses for each platform and if you want 64bit you'll be breaking the bank.\n\n> Pascal is showing its age and feels a bit wonky in comparison to C like\n> languages.\n\nWhat makes Pascal show its age? Proper records? Generics? :)\n\n~~~\nbadsectoracula\n> a friend that is a former Lazarus programmer swears by it.\n\nI'm not sure swearing evokes much confidence :-P\n\nI've only tried the demo version of Xojo a couple of times but i found its\ndesign to be _very_ macOS oriented. The GUI does work in Windows and Linux\n(and actually i've tried it on both of these systems instead of macOS) but\npretty much everything about the layout and design feels macOS-y.\n\n------\ncocoa19\nI have written multiple applications with Qt, GTK, JavaFX and your blog post\nis spot on, on everything I read.\n\nThis is a very high quality post. It shows you really worked on learning the\nframeworks, as opposed to writing a superficial post after 1 hour of playing\naround with a framework.\n\n------\npkphilip\nOther interesting cross platform IDEs include imgui when used with Nim. This\nis remarkably easy to use\n[https://github.com/nimgl/imgui](https://github.com/nimgl/imgui)\n\n------\narkanciscan\nNever seen a cross platform gui that I'd rather use than a website.\n\n~~~\nScottFree\nImagine you have seen a cross platform gui that you'd rather use over a\nwebsite. What would it look like?\n\n~~~\npdamoc\nSomething like Elm but that compiles to native binaries. It should come with\nMaterial Design level of HIG documentation and a tone of examples. The\ncompiler and the Native/Kernel parts should be implemented in a modern systems\nprogramming language, maybe rust.\n\n~~~\nScottFree\nWhy elm? It looks more like a DSL than a real language and a verbose one at\nthat. I'm looking at some of these examples on their website, like the random\nnumber generator, and wondering why it takes so much code to print a random\nnumber to the screen.\n\n------\nj88439h84\nBeeware makes native guis on all platforms, android will be ready soon.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nOnline PSD to Sketch file converter - helloiamvu\nhttp://avocode.com/convert-psd-to-sketch\n======\nhelloiamvu\nHi everyone!\n\nI'm very excited to show you our new tool.\n\nIt's a free online PSD to Sketch Converter. If you're manually re-creating\ndesigns from Photoshop into Sketch, now you don't have to.\n\nIt converts named layers, layer groups, basic layer effects, layer masks,\nvector shapes, text layers and more.\n\nLet me know your thoughts. I hope you will like it.\n\n~~~\nagopaul\nNice! Are you using an ExtendScript script to extract all the info? Or is it\nan in-house C++ extension for Photoshop?\n\n~~~\nhelloiamvu\nWe're actually using our own technology to parse PSD files without using any\nPhotoshop API. We're already working on other design formats as well.\n\n~~~\nagopaul\nThat's impressive! I read a few stories about reverse engineering the PSD\nformat and how much technical debt it carries in it\n\n------\nXoros\n\"Notwithstanding the above, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free,\ntransferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use, store, display,\nreproduce, re-post, modify, create derivative works, perform, and distribute\nUser Content on the Site or Application or other third party websites or\napplication...\"\n\nWell... no\n\n------\ngirvo\nNeat! I've been a super happy user of Avocode for years, and I'm stoked to see\nyou lot continue to innovate :)\n\n------\nbrailsafe\nWorks quite well so far. Opened some giant ass old PSD files and was able to\nstart tweaking the design right away.\n\n------\ngoeric\nSuper useful, thank you!\n\n------\ndkonofalski\nI'm guessing that the lack of detail on this is really an explanation for\nexpectations of this. It probably doesn't work well for anything complex but,\nif it works halfway decently, this could be a boon for those trying to get out\nfrom under the dark Adobe umbrella.\n\n~~~\nusaphp\n> I'm guessing that the lack of detail on this is really an explanation for\n> expectations of this\n\nWhat details do you expect? It's a PSD to Sketch converter, what else do you\nexpect it to say? He could have filled it with a \"gorgeous\", \"unique\",\n\"innovative\" marketing keywords but it would still be a PSD To Sketch\nconverter.\n\n> It probably doesn't work well for anything complex but\n\nI just tried converting a really big photoshop file and it worked pretty good,\nwhy don't you try it before making comments on it's functionality?\n\n~~~\non_and_off\nKnowing in advance which kind of layers won't be converted successfully sounds\nreasonable to me.\n\n~~~\nMattRoskovec\nAs the matter of fact, when you enter the website:\n[https://avocode.com/convert-psd-to-sketch/](https://avocode.com/convert-psd-\nto-sketch/) \\- there is a call to action to \"Read more about supported\nfeatures\". If you click it, you would see a page explaining what will and what\nwon't be converted. Here's the link: [https://avocode.com/convert-psd-to-\nsketch/features](https://avocode.com/convert-psd-to-sketch/features)\n\n------\njbob2000\nUgghhh, if you're using this, then you don't really grok Sketch. Sketch has\nall these wonderful tools for breaking up your design into reuseable\ncomponents and playing with them like lego pieces. If you're doing a straight\nconversion from PSD to Sketch, you're missing all the things that make Sketch\ngreat.\n\n~~~\nmatousroskovec\nWhen you're starting from scratch in Sketch it has a lot of great features\nthat are worth exploring. But what about making the switch to Sketch from PS?\nNormally, you would have to recreate the whole design. Most people and\nespecially bigger design teams don't have time for that. So this service is\nmeant to save you all that time, convert your current design system and then\nyou can play around with the design some more and add all the wicked funtions\nin Sketch anyway. And I'm sure others can think of more use cases.\n\n~~~\njbob2000\nWell that's my point. If you don't have the time to convert your design\nsystem, then you might as well stick with PS until you do. You'd just be using\nSketch as PS-Lite. It's not a \"cheap PS\" or a PS-lite, it's a tool for a new\nsystem of design.\n\nIt would be like using JIRA for Waterfall development. Sure, you _can_ do\nthat, but that's not really the point of JIRA...\n\n~~~\nRaphmedia\nConsider the use case where the designer doesn't have PS but receive a bunch\nof third party .PSD files.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nYet another massive Facebook fail: Quiz app leaked data on ~120M users for years - benryon\nhttps://techcrunch.com/2018/06/28/facepalm-2/\n======\njohn58\nTough time for Facebook\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTSP in real life: Researchers Tell Umpires Where to Go - ColinWright\nhttp://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=researchers-tell-umpires-where-to-g-11-08-18\n======\nbumbledraven\nOriginal paper: <http://moya.bus.miami.edu/~tallys/docs/umpires-inte.pdf>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe essential startup team: content, analytics, design, engineering - ColinWright\nhttp://paraschopra.com/blog/entrepreneurship/startup-team.htm\n======\nNameNickHN\nThe article lists marketing almost as an afterthought whereas it's probably\nmore important than analytics and at least equally important as the other team\nmembers.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: Harness.io - Create Automated Tests for Your Web App in 60 Seconds - ralfthewise\nhttp://harness.io\n\n======\nralfthewise\nHey everyone, I'm one of the developers that worked on this, and am happy to\nanswer any questions or discuss feedback.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n500 Lines or Less - divkakwani\nhttps://github.com/aosabook/500lines\n======\ndebo_\nHi, I'm the editor of 500Lines. Thanks for posting this! A few notes:\n\n\\- Code golf was strictly discouraged throughout the review process. When\nauthors were faced with implementing functionality poorly to fit more in, we\ngenerally cut scope instead.\n\n\\- 500 lines was selected as a limiting criteria because it is easy to specify\nand understand. You will see that the chapters written e.g. with Clojure do\n\"more\" (for some definition of more), but that does not make the lessons\nlearned in the other chapters less interesting.\n\n\\- The \"or less\" moniker is grammatically a bit offensive but sounds cute on\npaper, so we kept it.\n\n\\- If you'd like to learn more about the philosophy or story behind this\nvolume, Ruby Rogues hosted us a little while ago: [https://devchat.tv/ruby-\nrogues/256-rr-reading-code-and-the-a...](https://devchat.tv/ruby-\nrogues/256-rr-reading-code-and-the-architecture-of-open-source-applications-\nwith-michael-dibernardo)\n\n\\- The print version of this book (and the official launch on aosabook.org)\nshould happen sometime in the next 4-6 weeks. You can follow this issue if\nyou'd like to know when that happens:\n[https://github.com/aosabook/500lines/issues/212](https://github.com/aosabook/500lines/issues/212)\n\n~~~\navar\nThe first thing I looked through, the pedometer/ directory, has a project that\nitself may be <500 lines, but is using compressed versions of JS libraries\nlike highcharts.js & jquery.js.\n\nDon't you think including huge external libraries like that defeats the spirit\nof showing things that are 500 lines or less?\n\n~~~\nrtpg\nI don't think so. Would you rule out things like the python standard library?\n\nThough external library size can be important, does it come into play when\ntalking about your own code structure?\n\n~~~\nKarunamon\nOnly if you assume it to be bug free in a way that your code will never\nexpose.\n\n------\nbanthar\nFrom:\n[https://github.com/aosabook/500lines/blob/master/ci/code/hel...](https://github.com/aosabook/500lines/blob/master/ci/code/helpers.py)\n\n    \n    \n        s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)\n        s.connect((host, port))\n        s.send(request)\n        response = s.recv(1024)\n        s.close()\n    \n\nIs that correct use of TCP? It seems to rely on response not being fragmented.\n\n~~~\nDSMan195276\nIt's definitely not right as far as the C interface is concerned - and Google\nindicates that the Python interface doesn't do anything extra. That said, it\nprobably does generally work considering the small size of the messages,\nespecially if the dispatcher is run locally. It's unlikely that a two-byte or\nten-byte message would get fragmented, though it technically could - and\nthat's all that is sent by the dispatcher.\n\nThat said, this should be a loop that combines all the responses until you\nreceive a response of length zero, indicating EOF. The actual code to\ncorrectly handle this is really simple if you don't do any extra error\nhandling - but it's not obvious if you haven't done some socket programming\nbefore.\n\nThis code will probably work until the dispatcher and clients are expanded\nupon, resulting in more complex messages that eventually lead to sporadic\nfragmentation.\n\n------\ndivkakwani\nHere is a link to the pdf:\n[https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/29696071/500L.pdf](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/29696071/500L.pdf)\n\n~~~\narve0\nThis is \"The Performance of Open Source Applications\", not \"500 Lines or\nLess\".\n\nEdit: An older version?\n\n~~~\ndivkakwani\nThis is 500L indeed. Don't know why the cover says POSA.\n\n------\namelius\nOfftopic. Why, in github, is the README always below the repository files, if\nthe first thing you want to read about a project is the README?\n\nEdit: Could we take the convention on HN to always link to the README in a\ngithub repo? In this case that would be:\n\n[https://github.com/aosabook/500lines/blob/master/README.md](https://github.com/aosabook/500lines/blob/master/README.md)\n\n~~~\nmarssaxman\nI considered Github links to be essentially content-free noise for several\nyears because I did not know about their \"README.md\" convention. I think that\npeople who live and breathe github probably don't realize how confusing their\ninterface can be to a newcomer.\n\n~~~\nmjrbrennan\nYou didn't think to just scroll down?\n\n~~~\nmarssaxman\nI didn't know to scroll to the bottom, as I had never used github and was\nunfamiliar with its interface. I thought it was basically just a prettier\nversion of the classic auto-generated \"index\" page for a directory, so it\ndidn't occur to me that there would be more to it than the file list if I\nscrolled down.\n\n~~~\npc86\n> _I didn 't know to scroll to the bottom_\n\nIf only there was some sort of bar that could indicate your relative position\non the page. Maybe in the same spot on all websites to make it easy to see.\nMaybe even part of the browser!\n\nIn all seriousness this seems much less a GitHub issue and much more about how\nwell you computers.\n\n~~~\nmarssaxman\nIt is an issue of expectations and affordances. If there's no clue that what's\nat the bottom is going to be different than what's at the top, and what you're\nseeing at the top is not giving you anything useful, why would you scroll\nfurther and waste your time seeing more of it? Perhaps for some people that is\nnatural, but different people navigate unfamiliar spaces in different ways.\n\nWhat you see when you open a github project page is a file directory. If you\nhave no pre-existing reason to believe the page is something more than it\nappears to be, it's reasonable to believe that the page you're looking at is,\nin fact, just a file directory. There is nothing on the page which suggests\nthat it also contains a readme file viewer, hidden underneath.\n\nI didn't scroll because the directory structure suggested to me that one would\nnavigate by digging around to see what was inside. After the first couple of\ntimes I tried this without getting anywhere, I wrote github off as a waste of\ntime, and after that I simply closed such links immediately. It might have\nbeen easier to discover README.md from some later link with a smaller\ndirectory, where a smaller amount of scrolling down might have revealed it,\nbut by then I was no longer looking.\n\n------\nBromskloss\nIs there a compiled version somewhere? I don't think I will be able to build\nthis on my phone.\n\n~~~\nsatai\nEarly Access: [http://aosabook.org/en/500L/](http://aosabook.org/en/500L/)\n\n~~~\ndrauh\nThe embedded images seem to be broken.\n\n------\nsien\nThis is a really interesting book by some brilliant people.\n\nI wonder if the problems selected are the ones that many people would select\nthough.\n\nWhat would people here select as, say, the top 5 or 10 things to write in a\nshort amount of code. Say perhaps in 1K lines of code.\n\nA web browser? A compiler? A simple relational database?\n\n~~~\nzem\ninterpreter for an interactive fiction language\n\n------\nfalcolas\n> canonical problem in software engineering in at most 500 source lines of\n> code\n\nI'll reserve judgement of the book for when its in a form I can easily read,\nbut this seems to come up on the wrong side of the \"less isn't always more\"\nline.\n\nI can implement a lot of logic in 500 lines of code, but I won't be able to go\nback a month later and understand any of it, at least not without rebuilding\nthe logic from scratch. And I certainly can't also implement the safety\nchecks, corner cases, and tests in that line quota.\n\nI would personally think there is more value in showcasing a single complete\nand well commented solution instead of a slew of partial solutions with \"the\nerror checking left as an exercise to the reader\" (I'm not sure if this phrase\nis in the book, I plucked it from any number of poor college textbooks).\n\n~~~\nfermigier\nYou probably misread the intent of the book editors and writers. As @debo_\nwrote above: \"Code golf was strictly discouraged throughout the review\nprocess. When authors were faced with implementing functionality poorly to fit\nmore in, we generally cut scope instead.\"\n\n------\nexabrial\nHow about a competition to see who can write the clearest code for the next\nguy, in minimal lines of code?\n\n~~~\nvoltagex_\nSometimes optimising for the least lines of code leads to _less_ clarity than\nbeing a bit more verbose and explaining yourself better.\n\nI still haven't quite worked out the code vs comments ratio.\n\n~~~\nexabrial\nCouldn't agree more.\n\n------\narchos1\n*500 Lines or Fewer\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fewer_vs._less](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fewer_vs._less)\n\n~~~\narsenerei\nFrom your reference.\n\n> However, descriptive grammarians (who describe language as actually used)\n> point out that this rule does not correctly describe the most common usage\n> of today or the past and in fact arose as an incorrect generalization of a\n> personal preference expressed by a grammarian in 1770.\n\n> Many supermarket checkout line signs, for instance, will read \"10 items or\n> less\"; others, however, will use fewer in an attempt to conform to what is\n> incorrectly perceived as required by the prescription although this is in\n> fact a clear case of hypercorrection as explained in Pocket Fowler’s Modern\n> English Usage.\n\n> Less has always been used in English with counting nouns. Indeed, the\n> application of the distinction between less and fewer as a rule is a\n> phenomenon originating in the 18th century.\n\n------\ngenos\nLooks like there's code in different languages, so the arbitrary 500 line\ncount gets even more hazy. As an extreme case, consider 500 lines of APL vs.\nJava.\n\n------\nnine_k\n500 lines of _what?_ 500 lines of APL / J / Q is enormous; 500 lines of\nHaskell / Scala / Ruby is quite a mouthful, 500 lines of Java or C is rather\nmoderate, and 500 lines of assembly is precious little.\n\nAlso, since a line of code can contain zero or more statements, something like\ncyclomatic complexity, or just statement count, could give a better measure.\n\n(Edited: fought autocorrect.)\n\n~~~\nchrisseaton\nWhat on earth do you think this is? It's not a research hypothesis. Nothing is\nbeing measured. It's a clever way to get people to show that ideas many people\nthink are beyond their understanding can be illustrated in just a few lines of\ncode.\n\n'Cyclomatic Complexity of N or Less' would work against that goal as it says\nnothing about length and is hard to explain.\n\nWhat a mindless criticism of a worthwhile project.\n\n~~~\nnine_k\nI'm actually all for books like this.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nOne of the ways I am approaching the crowded iPhone Twitter client space - hboon\nhttp://motionobj.com/blog/the-conversation-view-in-simplytweet\n\n======\nhboon\nThere are many Twitter clients on the iPhone at the moment. Most of seem to be\nfocused on implementing the API and offering integration to other services.\nSome are doing very well and are very impressive.\n\nWhile I'm also doing some of that, I'd like to experiment in a different way,\nthat of building new features. The conversation view, while it is not a\ntotally new concept (it is available in a similar form in the Summize page,\nand the current Twitter search page), doesn't exist yet on the iPhone clients\nand it's pretty interesting how much you can do in the backend to churn out\njust a view of a conversation.\n\nDigress a little: I've been working full-time on iPhone applications for the\npast 3 months but have only started selling a few weeks ago (a delay of 3\nmonths due to the paperwork blackhole!). And it's been a huge challenge to\nbreak into the market and break even, but nevertheless an interesting\nexperience.\n\nAs I mentioned in the article, I have a few ideas (for features) in my mind\nwhich I'll be experimenting with. If anyone of you have any ideas, please feel\nfree to share them and/or discuss/comment on what I have done.\n\n~~~\nsidsavara\nThis is interesting, why an iPhone application rather than something that can\nbe perhaps web-based?\n\nI am working on (and by \"working on\" I mean, I created some messy code 5\nmonths ago and then abandoned it but cling to the dream that I may one day\nfinish it) something similar, but wanted a web based UI - I have the same\nissue whether it is on a mobile client or at my desk. I want a twitter client\nthat is smarter than a linear display of what's going on - and instead figures\nout the context of tweets (like replies and retweets) and intelligently gets\nme that context\n\nIt looks like you are trying to solve that issue with replies, kudos to that.\n\n~~~\nhboon\nBeing an iPhone application partially solves the selling part of the equation.\nYou still need to market and have a good product, but sales and delivery is\ndone for you, at the cost of 30% revenue and somewhat unpredictable release\nschedules.\n\nThis particular functionality is actually a web service though. I built this\nrunning on a server and the iPhone client talks to the service. This provides\nsome flexibility in terms of release schedules and most importantly works\naround the default Twitted rate limit. There is just no way a standalone\nTwitter thick client can do this without hitting the rate limit all the time,\nmaking the feature useless.\n\nIt's interesting you mentioned retweets though, I haven't thought about that.\nOne thing I'm looking into is the timestamp, @names and some herestics based\non commonalities between tweets. I come from a search engine background, so\nmining text and relationship is always interesting to me.\n\nWhy did you stop your work though?\n\n~~~\nthwarted\n_Being an iPhone application partially solves the selling part of the\nequation. You still need to market and have a good product, but sales and\ndelivery is done for you, at the cost of 30% revenue and somewhat\nunpredictable release schedules._\n\nInteresting. A web based application doesn't need delivery, but I wonder what\nkind of marketing you could get by leveraging the app store to market your\nproduct, but actually deploy it on the web. In other words, put a simple app\non the app store that is merely a shortcut to spawning the web browser and\ntaking you to your page. Could be free or paid, depending on how people\nrespond to it. You could do more frequent updates too, without having to go\nthrough the app store, since it is web based. Do any apps do this currently?\n\n~~~\nhboon\nIf it's a web app, and you don't need/want the app store distribution, then\nyou probably want to build it as a web app and market it as such. The app\nstore itself is not much of a marketing tool unless you are already very\npopular.\n\nBut then if it has no app store presence, how would you charge the user? I\nmight build a few more features around the web service approach to take\nadvantage of the rapid deployment benefit you mention, but probably not as a\nfull blown web app. I don't know of any app doing the latter, but I'm not\nsurprised if there is.\n\n------\nwallflower\nNot to scope-creep but:\n\nHave you thought about virtual Twitter follower groups (e.g. groups of people\nyou don't actually follow but still like to overhear and/or summize search\nterms actings as groups)?\n\nAlso, have you considered implementing visualizations like these:\n[http://personalpages.manchester.ac.uk/staff/m.dodge/cybergeo...](http://personalpages.manchester.ac.uk/staff/m.dodge/cybergeography/atlas/topology.html)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWARR Hyperloop pod hits 284 mph to win SpaceX competition - 0xbxd\nhttps://www.theverge.com/2018/7/22/17601280/warr-hyperloop-pod-competition-spacex-elon-musk\n======\neden123\nHere is a video of the WARR pod going through the tunnel:\n[https://www.facebook.com/WARRHyperloop/videos/67189321983076...](https://www.facebook.com/WARRHyperloop/videos/671893219830766/)\n\nIn another livestream video from the WARR team Elon Musk states that next\nyear’s competition will take place in the test tunnel of Boring Company. There\nlength of the tunnel will be 2 instead of 1.2 kilometers. At the end of this\nvideo\n[https://www.facebook.com/WARRHyperloop/videos/67170361318306...](https://www.facebook.com/WARRHyperloop/videos/671703613183060/))\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLisp, Jazz, Aikido – Three Expressions of a Single Essence - kuwze\nhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1804.00485\n======\nPetitPrince\nPrevious discussions on HN:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16993330](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16993330)\n\n------\npeatmoss\nAt various points in my life, I’ve done all three of these things. But I see\nno essential nexus between any of them. I mean, if we torture any metaphor\nenough we can link anything to anything.\n\nMost human activities of sufficient complexity are a mix of art and science.\nAll three of these activities are of this sort (neither being purely aesthetic\nnor completely reduceable to settled science). But those kinds of pursuits are\ncommon.\n\nI’d gladly recommend aikido, jazz, and lisp to someone, but I’d also happily\nrecommend judo, rhythm and blues, and smalltalk. Or fly fishing. Or go (the\ngame or language). Or woodworking. Or... well the list goes on.\n\n~~~\nAnimats\nRight. From the article \"My personal life has been revolving around three\nmajor creative activities, of equal importance: programming in Lisp, playing\nJazz music, and practicing Aikido.\" This is someone who extrapolated their own\nlife to a universal.\n\nNext!\n\n------\nxarill\nWhy on earth would someone publish a paper like that? This is absolutely\nrubbish. A guy wanted to show the world how special he is because he writes\nLisp, listens to jazz, and practices Aikido, and wrote a whole meaningless\npaper for that. I thought that papers where examined by some committee before\npublication, and you need to have serious work done to get your research\npublished. This lookes more like an article on some lifestyle magazine or\npersonal blog, rather than a scientific paper.\n\n~~~\nSOLAR_FIELDS\nThis is ArXiV, a place where you can post preprints. Little if any moderation\nis done here, even less if you post something outside of the topic of math or\nphysics. Presence of a paper on here does not mean it has passed peer review\nor been published in a reputable journal.\n\n------\nWintamute\n\"Science (what we can explain), and Art (what we can't)\"\n\nEr, no. This is a horribly limiting definition of both terms.\n\n------\nf2f\nNeither of which is very effective. Aikido is not a very efficient form of\nmartial arts, even though it looks good. Jazz is not a popular form of music\neven though it sounds good. Lisp is not a popular language even though it\nwrites good.\n\n------\nabenedic\nI always have a small problem with trying to define art, and relate it to\nscience. It never seems to go well.\n\n------\nballooney\nIn which Dean Moriarty writes a paper.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAmericans Strongly Dislike PC Culture - tszymczyszyn\nhttps://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/large-majorities-dislike-political-correctness/572581/?fbclid=IwAR0BPxtpnc90jI4kBO9HJaWyZ7jyOPnRrayA4Ynuo35yq3QoTJfusuhu8Hg&amp;single_page=true\n======\ndetaro\npreviously:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18215215](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18215215)\n\n------\namriksohata\nAmerica though part of wars, the mainland itself has been protected for many\nyears unlike Europe of constant invasion. Europe has been though all that and\ndoesn't want to again, it understands the cost.\n\n~~~\nlj3\nEuropeans don't like PC culture anymore than Americans do. The rapid and\nsudden rise of nationalism and nationalist political parties across Europe\nproves you wrong.\n\n------\ntonyedgecombe\n_\" By contrast, the two-thirds of Americans who don’t belong to either extreme\nconstitute an “exhausted majority.”\"_\n\n------\nbillwashere\nKnn\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHow I made $2,000 in 20 seconds - nate\nhttp://okdork.com/2013/04/30/2000_dollars_by_asking/\n\n======\nbradddd\nGreat example of the old adage: you'll never know if you don't try.\nInteresting title as it's slightly misleading at first, but ultimately\ntruthful.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWhy designers hate Powerpoint - 2pointsomone\nhttp://blog.varunarora.com/2012/5-reasons-why-designers-hate-powerpoint/\n\n======\nmichaelpinto\nI'm a designer and I don't hate PowerPoint, I hate the fact that most users\nabuse PowerPoint by cluttering up the screen with endless novels and too many\ngraphics that don't illustrate a point. A good designer can clean up a well\ndone PowerPoint show in minutes by changing themes and picking the right\ntypeface. However what's often really required is an editor to turn volumes of\ntext into a story -- and that's a task that shouldn't be done at the last\nminute.\n\n~~~\n2pointsomone\nThat is completely true, as well. But the software does nothing to discourage\nmindless design, which is some reason for worry\n\n------\nhdra\nWhat designers hate might be what makes what other's (most of them) job\neasier.\n\nthat said, I myself have a \"reset.css\" template so that I don't have to deal\nwith the defaults...\n\n~~~\n2pointsomone\nPlease do share - I am sure a tonne of us would benefit\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBitcoin: Investment or Bubble? - ry4n413\nhttp://buckinghamadvisor.com/bitcoin-investment-or-bubble/\n======\ncjbenedikt\n\"...we cannot make any recommendation on whether or not purchasing bitcoin is\na good investment...\" But we give it to you anyway.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMy Non-Technical Co-Founder Horror Story - danaseverson\nhttps://startupsanonymous.com/story/co-founder-horror-story/\n======\nspitfire\nWhen business guys start saying \"you can be replaced\" or that they'll \"start a\ncompeting company\" the correct answer is /always/ \"Fantastic! Please do,\nyou'll make me look good.\".\n\nThis guy was a clown playing for status. Where there's money there is always\npeople playing like this. Focus on delivering value to the customers at a fair\nprice and nothing else.\n\nAlso, if people are saying \"You can be replaced\" it means you can't be\nreplaced and you're doing something right.\n\n------\nmooreds\nMaybe I missed this, but did you get a founders agreement put together? It's\nnot a fun conversation, but it's worth nailing down at the very beginning.\n\n~~~\ndanaseverson\nI agree though, should be nailed down immediately. Plus, I don't think it's\never a good situation when equity is given equally. Just asking for trouble.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAre Tiny Nuclear Reactors The Power Plant Of The Future? - alanedge\nhttp://www.fastcoexist.com/1679004/are-tiny-nuclear-reactors-the-power-plant-of-the-future\n======\nsdoering\nQuite interesting read. Have to think a little bit more on this topic, as it\npopped up thrice in my life now. and I am interested in the energy-\ndevelopment.\n\nso this might be an interesting angle. But more important would be, that we\nhave more R&D in recycling atomic waste. the world really wasted a lot of time\nin this field, imho.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAmazon Offering Cremation Online, Who'd Have Thought? - techiediy\nhttp://www.techieinsider.com/news/13353\n======\nrpikencal\nInteresting idea, but morbid\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Advice for a first-time DBA on a self-built e-commerce app? - aerovistae\nI&#x27;ve been a developer for 7 years, primarily front-end, and have managed to avoid doing any work with databases up until now because they&#x27;re just not something I personally find interesting or enjoyable.<p>But now I&#x27;ve built an ecommerce site that takes customer orders for a product, and I have to set up and manage my own database, and I&#x27;m nervous.<p>I know how easy it is to make a mistake as simple as a typo and screw up your schema or delete records, and with customers&#x27; money on the line I&#x27;m afraid to be in the position of making such mistakes.<p>In front-end development, I&#x27;m fairly well-versed on best practices and how to build a site that&#x27;s sturdy and flexible and secure. I have no idea how to do any of those things with a database and am worried about falling into pits I don&#x27;t know exist yet. SQL injection is the only pit I know to keep an eye out for.<p>How can I make the best of this? How can I become a competent DBA for myself when money&#x27;s already on the line without screwing anyone over with amateur mistakes? Just looking for advice from anyone else who&#x27;s had to do anything similar.\n======\nhakanderyal\n\\- In my projects, I rarely run ad-hoc insert/update/delete queries on live\nproduction database. Instead, I write scripts using the language I used for\nthe app for all database operations. I test the script on a local database,\nmake sure there is no unintended side effects, than run the script on the\nproduction database, thus avoiding any chance of typos or wrong queries\nmessing with the database. In any case, I also take a backup right before I\nrun the script on production.\n\n\\- For SQL injection, if you are using an ORM or library, it should have safe\nparameter binding for queries, make sure to follow its guidelines.\n\n\\- It's mandatory to have an automated backup system for your database to\nensure you can recover from any data loss scenario. Remember, a backup is only\nvalid if you have tested to restore your database from it. So ideally your\nautomated backup system should also check if the backup is working properly. I\nrealize it's a lot of work, but it'll pay off when (not if) you encounter a\ndisaster scenario that requires you to restore from backup.\n\nAt the very least, create an automated backup solution, and test it manually\nperiodically to make sure it's working properly.\n\nStore your backups in two or more separate places, if possible. Always encrypt\nyour backups. You can check out Tarsnap.\n\n------\nsegmondy\nHire a DBA to give you a crash course. Use managed DB like AWS RDS where they\nbackup and take care of installs.\n\nDB's are generally very stable and don't need much maintenance. Most of your\nwork really is from the dev side, schema design, good index placement.\n\n------\nrajeshamara\n1)Have stored procedures with parameters for all you backend transactions\n2)Make sure you have foreign key constraints between tables 3)Log everything\nso that you can track 4)Daily backup your db so that you can restore in case\nsomething happens 5)Create primary keys for each table 6)For all you order\nmake sure if is between transaction and roll back in case of failures 7)After\nsuccessful, payment transaction, send out email notification to the end\ncustomer. You can cc yourself too. Again this if for auditing purpose. What I\ncame up is a very quick list. Again you need to thoroughly analyze your req.\nand come up appropriate solutions\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHackers Are Coming for Your Tap Water - jskhfjkds\nhttp://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/08/chinese-hackers-attack-trend-micro-honeypots\n\n======\ncoldtea\nI call BS for most of the so called \"attacks\". Bored foreign teenagers maybe.\nHostile governments, not so much.\n\nDo people seriously believe that third world countries oficially back hacking\nattempts on american companies? Like they have something to gain from this?\nPeople really consider the possibillity of some third world country messing\nwith a large foreign power, like in BS tv serials and movies? Or think they\nneed to create their own pretext to get invaded themselves? Such actions are\nonly done by the big players, as it always was.\n\n------\ntrueblooooood\nWin---> \"Kyle Wilhoit, a 29-year-old Missourian working for a cybersecurity\ncompany called Trend Micro, has spent the last year building fake water plant\ncontrol systems that mimic the online control systems used by real American\nutilities.\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "What is the future of Python - pythonbull\n======\nwebmaven\nNeeds an \"Ask HN:\" added to the title.\n\n------\nshpaker\nshining\n\n------\nNichooo\nBright. I m learning the machine.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThe programming language that is fastest to implement features - deltrem\n\nSlashdot said that programming has a political axis with conservative and liberal programmers. Liberal programmers worry about how fast you take to implement a feature. Liberal programmers need the answer to this question. (1)<p>Paul Graham said that his company could implement features faster than his competitors, because his company programmed in Common Lisp and Common Lisp makes you twice more productive as a programmer. (2)<p>Time passes, progress happens, Common Lisp <i>was</i> the fastest, a more modern programming language <i>is</i> the fastest, so <i>today</i> what programming language is the fastest to implement features? Why?<p>(1) http://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=political+axis\n(2) http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html\n======\ngyardley\nMust we use this 'liberal' vs. 'conservative' language for programming styles?\nThe terms are already so ridiculously value-laden, you're at risk of letting\nyour political leanings involuntarily bleed through and muddle up your\nprogramming decisions.\n\n~~~\n27182818284\nI think that's a reaction to there being a blog post about liberal and\nconservative programming languaged on the HN page a bit ago.\n\n(And yes, we should absolutely not use them. )\n\n------\nlumberjack\nThere is no objective way to answer this. You are probably talking about rapid\nprototyping languages. The most popular ones in use today are Python and\npossibly Java (?). Dialects of Lisp have a strong tradition of being good\nrapid prototyping languages and there is potential in languages like Haskell.\nI'm obviously talking about general purpose languages here and therein lies\nthe problem. Different languages have different resources, different\ncommunities and perform better at different tasks. It not possible to go in\nmore detail. However this is not a question that you should be asking yourself\nbecause the answer will come naturally with time. Try to experience and learn\nas much and with time you'll have a preference for a language when you just\nwant to hack something together. That's your answer.\n\n------\ncodeonfire\nProductivity depends way more on the programmer and his/her knowledge of the\ncommon idioms, language features, and libraries for any particular platform\nthan any specific language. The characteristics of languages that make it fast\nto implement features include dynamic typing, built-in collections, a large\nclass library, availability of an interactive console, availability of a\ndebugger that can easily be used on any host machine, JIT compiled or\ninterpreted, no binaries or packages to build.\n\n------\nGFischer\nIf you want a quick and dirty CRUD app, GeneXus is probably up there:\n\n<http://www.genexus.com/global/home?en>\n\nIt's a code generation tool that's mainly popular in South America and is\nmaking some inroads in Japan and Europe.\n\nIt does generate some ugly code, and ugly-looking applications, but it\ngenerates all the backend code and can generate to iOS and Android too.\n\n------\n_delirium\nIt sounds like you might be asking about what's often called \"rapid\nprototyping\". That doesn't cover every possible case (e.g. adding a new\nfeature to a large existing system is not usually covered by \"rapid\nprototyping\"), but I think it points to the languages that tend to emphasize\nease-of-getting-something-out. Python and Ruby are often promoted in that\ncategory. Delphi used to be big, but is waning.\n\n------\nhasenj\nIf you're new to common lisp, it will take you 10x longer to implement the\nfeature you want than if you use technologies you're more familiar with.\n\n------\nthiagodotfm\nRuby on Rails.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWant Smarter Kids? Space Them (At Least) Two Years Apart - mikeleeorg\nhttp://www.freakonomics.com/2011/11/17/want-smarter-kids-space-them-at-least-two-years-apart/\n======\nabscondment\nIf time and attention really are the determining factors, maybe we parents\nshould just chuck our smartphones and tablets for the first 5 years.\n\nI'm only partly joking. I ditched my iPhone after my 2-year-old started\nsaying, \"Dadda, put your phone down! Come play!\". It's relegated to my office\nnow.\n\n~~~\nehsanu1\nIn fact, if one has sufficient savings and has no worries about career,\nquitting the full-time job also makes a lot of time/energy for the kids.\nThat's pretty drastic, but I'd consider it myself in the future.\n\n~~~\nwatmough\nI've just spent two years bringing up my daughter (and iPhone apps on the side\nat night), whilst my wife works.\n\nHighly recommended, if you can swing it, at least once.\n\nNow, how to get back in the work-force...\n\n~~~\ntomjen3\nYou can go back as a consultant for ios development.\n\n~~~\nwatmough\nIf only I had the social skills!\n\nYeah, hopefully something will turn up. I'm actually not that bad. I worked in\nan consulting shop for 4 years and commuted across the US every week.\n\n------\naresant\nAhhhh freakonomics, meaninglessness-mass-market-pseudo-data-into-linkbait at\nits finest!\n\nTheir read is that \"Smarter\" kids = Math and Science test scores.\n\nIs that how you measure \"smart\"?\n\n\\- What about musically smart?\n\n\\- What about non-linear thinking (classic entrepreneur trait)?\n\n\\- What about decision making capabilities?\n\nFreakonmics is link-bait data drivel that, due to its mass appeal, is\ndangerously influential.\n\nIt gets under my skin because you'll often see Freakonomics data repeated as\n\"truth\" in the media or in casual conversation.\n\nTruth is not their product.\n\n~~~\njeff18\nSo in other words, it is not responsible to ever use the word \"smart\" in a\nheadline?\n\n~~~\naresant\nThe first paragraph of the article is in conflict with the headline:\n\n\"The positive effects were seen only in older siblings, not in younger ones.\"\n\nSo the headline is false.\n\nYour \"kids\" won't be smarter.\n\nBut maybe the older one will be.\n\nThen the rest of the article just fills space.\n\nIt's linkbait, which is my expectation with anything from Freakonomics.\n\nMy problem is that their headlines are disseminated as gospel and repeated\nverbatim thousands or millions of times, until that headline becomes a truth.\n\nAnd winds up in a parenting book.\n\nAnd causes somebody to make a decision based on false data.\n\nMaybe I have too active an imagination, but this just gets under my skin.\n\n~~~\neric-hu\nSo to update the headline to your (very reasonable) criteria:\n\n\"Study: Oldest children test scores higher when 2+ years older\"\n\n------\ngrandalf\nDo to lactational amenorrhea, mothers who breast feed their kids until age 2\n(as the World Health Organization recommends) are much less likely to get\npregnant again quickly enough to have kids spaced less than two years apart.\n\nConsidering that breast feeding (at all) is correlated with an 8 point IQ\nincrease on average, the above could completely explain the study's findings.\n\n~~~\nTheSOB88\nCould be, but I bet the amount of people who breastfeed their kids for 2 years\nis dwarfed by the amount of people who don't, but due to chance have kids 2+\nyears apart.\n\n~~~\ngrandalf\nCould be, but b/c gestation takes 9 months breast feeding would only have to\ntake place for 13 months for lactational amenorrhea to result in the 2 year\nspacing.\n\nBased on a quick google search of breastfeeding rates, in the US 25% of women\nwho breast feed do so until 12 months, which may be enough to create the\ndifference noted in the study.\n\n------\nnitrogen\n_We already know that children from larger families generally have lower\neducational attainment and IQ scores, worse employment outcomes, and are more\nlikely to engage in risky behavior._\n\nHas the direction of causation been determined? Do children from large rich\nfamilies do worse than children from small rich families? (Also: the paper\nlinked on the words \"educational attainment\" in the original article seems to\ncontradict this quotation in its abstract: \"First, neither birth order nor\nchildhood family size significantly influences the level or growth rate of\nwages...\"[0])\n\n[0] <http://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jlabec/v9y1991i4p413-26.html>\n\n~~~\ndmgottlieb\nThe paper in the link includes an instrumental variable model to look at\nexogenously caused birth spacing (caused by miscarriages). So if the model\ndoes what the abstract says it does, then that pins down the direction of\ncausation to some extent.\n\nOf course to be really sure you'd need to take a closer look and probably do\nmore research.\n\n------\nscrrr\nSome people are looking for meaning in everything. Perhaps they do that enough\nthey start seeing patterns.\n\nNot saying that the study is bogus, it might well be true (e.g. the older\nchild becomes a role model for the younger and thus tries harder or something\nsimilar), and while I like this age we live now many seemingly random things\ncan be explained, I think it's good to stay skeptical and take such results\nwith a grain of salt. Some people might draw conclusions that are not\nbeneficial (for themselves and society as a whole).\n\nJust saying, now back to work.\n\n~~~\nhugh3\nThe trouble with these articles is that they actually affect some folks'\nlives. No doubt, for years to come, there will be couples sitting there and\nplanning out how they want to space their families based on a half-remembered\narticle that they read in the New York Times one day about how they'll ruin\ntheir kids' lives if they're spaced less than three years apart. Some of these\ncouples will no doubt go on to delay their second child until they wind up\ninfertile. Others will probably delay their second child until they're so old\nthat the second child winds up with Down's syndrome (that being vastly more\ncommon for older than younger mothers). And basically, it's just another one\nof those random factors that really don't matter much for middle-class parents\nto agonize over (while lower-class parents keep pumping out a dozen crack\nbabies to get more welfare).\n\n~~~\npessimizer\nSince crack babies don't exist, but black people have been have been the\nmajority of people incarcerated for crack related offenses (though they are\nnot the majority of crack users), I'm assuming that you're just awkwardly\ntrying to specify black people?\n\n[http://www.nationalreviewofmedicine.com/issue/2005/07_30/2_f...](http://www.nationalreviewofmedicine.com/issue/2005/07_30/2_feature04_13.html)\n\n~~~\nrsheridan6\nDon't know whether to upvote for the informative link or downvote for the\nunwarranted accusation of racism.\n\n------\npessimizer\nPure anecdote, but I and my sister (2 of 2) were born almost exactly two years\napart, and I know that before she was born, there was an absurd amount of\nattention paid to me for the first couple of years (judging by the sheer\nbalance of photography.) I was also read to constantly, and learned to read\nfairly well before kindergarten.\n\nBy the time my sister was a couple of years old, it was me that was constantly\nreading to her. The age distance there allowed me to be able to teach her\nthings as well as my parents, and I'm sure that the act of reading for her and\nshowing her things helped me to strengthen my grip on those things myself.\n\nAs adults, we're both 99 percentile types now, according to IQ and\nstandardized tests and such. I'm not sure had the dynamic been different, we\nwould have turned out the same way.\n\n------\ninuhj\nThe most irresponsible parents don't practice family planning. That probably\ncontributes heavily to their results.\n\n~~~\nandrewhare\nBe careful with terms like \"irresponsible parents\" and \"family planning\". Some\npeople plan to have kids close together in age.\n\nFor what it's worth, however, I have this to offer:\n\n* My oldest son (age 5) can read at a second grade level and can do addition.\n\n* My next son (age 4) can read at a first grade level and can also do addition.\n\n* My next son (just turned 3) knows all of his shapes (including the difference between octagons and hexagons), recognize and count all numbers from 1-20, and knows all his letters and their sounds.\n\n* My next son (almost 2) knows all his colors, can count to ten, sing his ABCs, and knows all his animal sounds.\n\n* My last son (7 months old) just figured out sitting up unsupported, and can babble on his level.\n\nNow keep in mind that my little guys also love Pixar movies, playing LEGO\ngames on their Wii, dressing up as superheros, and hiking so they have managed\nto learn all these things while having a well-rounded and balanced childhood.\n\nThe reason these boys know as much as they do and are so well behaved is\nbecause my wife and I have taken the time to know their hearts and minds and\nhave invested countless precious hours teaching and training them to be men.\n\nSo I want to make sure you understand that just because a family may have\nchildren close in age, it is no way has any bearing on their intelligence. My\nexperience has shown me that the complete well-being of children directly\ncorrelates to the amount of time and love their parents invest in them, no\nmatter how many siblings they have or far apart their ages may be.\n\nIrresponsible parenting does not mean having many kids close in age.\nIrresponsible parenting simply means that you aren't willing to offer the time\nand love your kids need to thrive.\n\n(edit for formatting)\n\n~~~\nglimcat\nHe's claiming that spacing is the dependent variable, not the independent\nvariable.\n\nParents who are not considering these issues at all are arguably more likely\nto cluster towards shorter spacings, but shorter spacings alone do not provide\nenough information to classify the cause.\n\n~~~\nandrewhare\nGood point! I just wanted to make sure that the OP knew that he was too\nsweeping in his generalizations.\n\n~~~\ninuhj\nIt wasn't too sweeping--I purposefully said nothing about what responsible\nparents do ;).\n\n------\nlightcatcher\nI seem to have attributed a different cause to this correlation than most\nother HN'ers in the comments. Is it possible that the isolation of the older\nchild plays more of a role in the higher test scores than the 2-3 years of\nundivided parental attention? The older child would grow up without an always\navailable \"playmate\", and this seems like it could lead to more reading and\neventually higher test scores. This same effect could also apply to lone\nchildren.\n\nNote: I'm not saying this isolation is a completely good thing (child may not\nhave as good of an opportunity to develop strong social skills).\n\n------\nmaratd\n> The largest effect they observed suggested that a one-year increase in\n> spacing improves reading scores for older children by 0.17 SD—which would be\n> three times the effect of increasing annual family income by $1,000.\n\nIn other words, instead of having your kids back to back, you wait a year ...\nand that's equivalent to $3000 of extra family income.\n\nOK.\n\nEarning 3K extra a year is ridiculously easy. Far more so than worrying about\nfamily planning. All I have to do is earn an extra $10 a day. If we split that\nbetween my wife and myself, that's an extra $5 a day. I'd rather focus on\nthat. On top of it all, I can actually spend that money ... I can't spend 1\nyear.\n\n~~~\nrobrenaud\nI'd guess that 3k of income is at levels of the median or average family,\nwhere it actually matters. 40k vs 43k, that extra $3k might buy your family\nsomething important. Whereas at competent hackers income levels, I'd bet the\nmarginal contribution of $1k toward children achievement is a lot lower. The\ndifference between 120k and 123k is much less important.\n\n------\nwaratuman\nThis is using a predefined standard for being \"smart,\" higher reading and\nwriting skills. First the basis should be established that proves that being\nsmarter, based on this metric, is actually better for every person. I find\nvalue in being smarter, but this does not mean that others will.\n\nA better metric would be the amount of value the person derives from what he\nor she is doing. But this is an impossible metric to gather and even if it\nwere it can't be used to compare individuals.\n\n~~~\nbillpatrianakos\nI wonder why you got downvoteed? That makes sense, actually. The predefined\nmetric is pretty standard but maybe it is flawed. Then again, everything is\nrelative so we have to have _some_ standard metric and can't be changing it to\nsuit every individual either.\n\n~~~\nwaratuman\nPerhaps there is no need for a standard for everyone. Take any student who\nwishes to enter into an industry, whether it is engineering, philosophy,\naviation, or sports. Is there any value for him or her being rated by a\nstandard that does not apply? Instead the student will try to achieve the\naccepted standard for the industry they enter.\n\nHow many years after high school will you or any employer care about your\ntranscript? How about college? The experience you have in an industry quickly\noutweighs the number of years in college, at least in my industry (this may\nnot be true when you need to go to specialized schooling, such as when you\nenter a medical profession, but I speak of general schooling).\n\n------\nangelbob\nIt looks like the abstract basically says that the older child does better\nwith a larger spacing (more dedicated time with parents, possibly), while the\nyounger is basically unaffected. That makes sense to me.\n\n------\ncarsongross\nThank goodness association _is_ causation, otherwise where would be?\n\n------\nlarrik\nAKA \"You having another baby is bad for your toddler\"\n\n~~~\ncjfont\nIn many cases your toddler will let you know, too, in the form of jealousy.\n\n------\nRoboprog\nDouble and triple take on the title:\n\nThrow my kids out an air lock? (Space them!)\n\nSend my kids to the ISS? (Space them at least two years)\n\nOK, I got this one a bit off :-(\n\n------\ngeorgemcbay\nUnless you want your own TLC reality show, in which case you should just keep\npopping them out as fast as you can.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nJulian Assange Reddit AMA on Thursday Morning (1/5/17 9am EST) - saycheese\nhttps://www.reddit.com/r/iama\n======\ndeepnet\nIt is now revised to be on the 10th of January at 9am according to the sidebar\nof [http://reddit.com/r/iama](http://reddit.com/r/iama)\n\nand\n\n[https://mobile.twitter.com/wikileaks/status/8169761115319132...](https://mobile.twitter.com/wikileaks/status/816976111531913216)\n\n------\nffggvv\nThe link is to the subreddit. How do you know there will be an AMA?\n\n~~~\ndigler999\nlook at the table on the right margin of the page. it has a list of upcoming\nAMA's\n\n~~~\nsaycheese\nOn the mobile view, it's harder to see; click main navigation link then\ndesktop view, or just load the AMA Google Calendar here:\n\n[https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=amaverify@gma...](https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=amaverify@gmail.com)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: What collaborative whiteboard are you using? - simonmales\nI feel my team was way more productive when we all were whiteboarding together when designing new solutions.<p>Recently I have been day dreaming about VR whiteboards and tablet assisted whiteboards as I feel the tactile sense of a pen would help.<p>What are you using today?\n======\njtolds\nHere's the best set up I've used so far:\n\n1) Get the cheapest iPad that supports the Apple Pencil. The 2018 non-Pro was\nthis for me last I looked.\n\n2) Get the Google Jamboard app (not the Jamboard hardware, it is not at all\nworth it).\n\n3) Share the \"jam\" with yourself on a different device (a nearby laptop)\n\n4) Screenshare the laptop.\n\nThings I think any virtual whiteboard scheme needs to have:\n\n1) You need to be able to see people's faces! If you can't see the people in\nthe video call, good luck having anything feel natural.\n\n2) See #1 again. Having the laptop drive the video call is important so you\ncan configure it to see everyone's face while you present.\n\n3) being able to use a pen to write and a finger to erase (if you have to open\na menu, fail. sadly the jamboard app also gets this wrong though their way\noverpriced hardware gets it right)\n\n4) ideally you have the ability to have an infinitely scrolling whiteboard.\nJamboard doesn't do this, but it's close.\n\nThe Jamboard app also works on phones so other people can fairly easily join\nin and contribute. This scheme has its problems, but holy crap, so many\nwhiteboard apps focus way too much on fancy new widgets and shapes and text\nand whatever and not enough on getting out of the way.\n\n~~~\nmelvinroest\nCheckout doodledocs.com -- no account creation needed, front-end app only (it\ndoesn't always work behind corporate wifi)\n\nIt's nowhere near perfect, but it's open source and I'm open to any\ncollaboration on it for fun (even a complete rewrite, I'm not a fan of\nEmberJS. I explored EmberJS with it). I'm currently noticing an eraser bug\nwhen you are in draw mode and they are in eraser mode (d'oh).\n\nI didn't know Jamboard existed when I made it. But I made it because I didn't\nfind any app that applies pressure sensitivity and it's quite simple to do\n(TL;DR modern browsers support pressure sensitivity).\n\nYou can also annotate websites with it. Though, I didn't get the collaborative\naspects of that working.\n\nMy focus was on the question \"what if websites are like paper?\" And I ran with\nit for a month, while exploring EmberJS. For that reason, I don't have an\nundo, but simply an eraser. It's also why the default style is pencil /\npressure-sensitive based (you can have a more pen-like style though).\n\nIts main use cases that I use it for are:\n\n\\- Learning how to draw by tracing images.\n\n\\- Brainstorming / whiteboarding (empty board)\n\n\\- Brainstorming / whiteboarding (image loaded via URL)\n\n\\- Draw over websites (mostly for annotation / having margins to write on)\n\nI'm curious to know what you think of it.\n\nPeople can also use an MS Surface or Wacom by the way.\n\n~~~\negfx\nIt’s not exactly mobile friendly. You should direct mobile users to use this\non their desktop with some kind of alert.\n\n~~~\nmelvinroest\nThat is a really good tip! Thanks :)\n\n------\nnikivi\nI love [https://excalidraw.com](https://excalidraw.com)\n\nChristopher Chedeau did a recent talk on nice challenges they had building it\nin the open\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fix2-SynPGE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fix2-SynPGE)\n\nI want to build a plugin for Figma to embed Excalidraw inside Figma as I use\nFigma for all my design work already.\n\n~~~\nasdkhadsj\nI like the look and UX of this, but I can't seem to draw on Safari. Anyone\nknow a workaround?\n\n~~~\nvjeux\nCan you open an issue on github? It should work on both mobile and desktop\nSafari.\n\n------\nuzername\nOur team's have been using Miro for this kind of collaboration. I was\nsurprised that it felt better than using a whiteboard in person, because the\ncost of changing the already drawn boxes and arrows went way down.\n\nFor more technical whiteboards, I've been using excalidraw. I like presenting\nthe \"drawn\" look to help imply that this is an unfinished idea and we're\nsketching the concepts out.\n\n~~~\nfacorreia\nMiro works great for us as well.\n\nIt's particularly good that multiple people can edit at the same time. It's\npretty fast and we reuse the notes across sessions.\n\n------\niandanforth\n[https://miro.com/](https://miro.com/) (previously realtimeboard.com)\n\n~~~\ncygned\nWe use Miro for backlog grooming and idea visualization. The Jira sync is very\nhelpful for us.\n\n~~~\niandanforth\nI've never used that feature. Can you describe your workflow for backlog\ngrooming of Jira issues in Miro?\n\n~~~\ncygned\nSo what we do is importing Jira issues to a Miro board using the Miro Card for\nJira plug-in. The development team orders them by difficulty/size\nhorizontally. PO orders them by value vertically. We use that every couple\nsprints to visualize the overall shape of the backlog. Stories are updated\nfrom Miro directly, if necessary.\n\nWe are currently thinking about keeping Jira issues permanently on a board and\nthen update them, rather than pulling them in just for ordering\n\n------\nldiracdelta\nAn engineer has a problem. So he says to himself, \"I'll use a remote-enabled\nauto-capturing whiteboard.\"\n\nNow he has two problems.\n\n~~~\njyounker\nNow his team has a problem :)\n\n~~~\npmiller2\nNow N people have N+1 problems.\n\n------\nmurkle\nThis seems very good: [https://awwapp.com/](https://awwapp.com/)\n\n~~~\nsenko\nThanks!\n\nCofounder here, happy to answer any questions.\n\nWhile AWW has been around for some time we've seen a big surge (~6x) in the\npast two months due to current situation (as did most online/collaborative\ntools).\n\nWhile AWW can be used directly on site, we also have an embeddable version,\nfor example some interviewing startups use us as part of their web-based\ninterviewing workflows.\n\nEdit to add: AWW was launched here almost 10 years ago as a hobby project:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2886353](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2886353)\nIt grew steadily over time and now profitably employs several people and is\nused by millions of people worldwide.\n\n~~~\nmitchell_h\nThank you! Seriously AWW is an awesome app.\n\n~~~\nykevinator\nSecond, awwapp is awesome\n\n------\nkaraterobot\nFigma. It's not all that useful for actually mimicking a whiteboard, in the\nsense of drawing arbitrary shapes with a pen. It has a pencil tool, but it's\nnot great. Fortunately, most of what we do is drawing rectangles with text in\nthem and lines between them, and it's pretty good at that. Plus, it supports\nundo with cmd-z, which most whiteboard apps don't seem to.\n\n~~~\nthingsilearned\n+1 here. Figma's collaboration features are also just incredible so many\npeople can participate simultaneously, and make copies w/ their own versions.\n\nWe've got ours also well setup with a big library of assets like buttons, and\nillustrations we've had made, and different example charts, so if what you're\ndiscussing is a new feature or landing page it's really easy to drag in a\nbunch of ready-made components to express your idea.\n\n------\nlovasoa\nI recommend WBO : [https://wbo.ophir.dev/](https://wbo.ophir.dev/)\n\nI am the main developer, and I have been maintaining and using it for several\nyears now. Some of its advantages :\n\n\\- It is fully open-source, free, and without advertisement. You can easily\ndeploy it to your own server.\n\n\\- All the whiteboards have an infinite size.\n\n\\- It is fully web-based, you can use it without installing anything, even on\nrelatively old browsers.\n\n\\- It's translated in several languages.\n\n\\- It's actively developed. In-development features include image upload,\nelement resizing, new tools, and others...\n\n~~~\nAlexITC\nThanks for sharing, looks interesting.\n\nBy the way, for some reason I have problems scrolling with the trackpad as it\nscrolls very slowly, while scrolling with the arrow keys works just fine.\n\n~~~\nlovasoa\nYou're welcome. Yes, scroll amounts are not consistent between browsers, and\nwe haven't implemented anything yet to work around that. I've opened a github\nissue to track the problem.\n\n------\nwortelefant\nMural.co - other than miro, it allows unlimited anonymous co-editing without a\nneed to sihn on. Since we use it only occasionally, we just have a single\nfacilitator account for the team\n\n~~~\noso2k\nI've used Mural.co quite successfully as well. I think we probably bought an\nenterprise license. Collaborative, full-featured, almost as good as a\nwhiteboard/butcher paper and a tall stack of stickie notes.\n\n~~~\nwortelefant\nI experienced two longer outages though in the last momth, both times during\nworkshops. I'm keeping screenshpts on a google slides deck as a backup for the\nmore important events at least until the growth pains have subsided.\n\n------\nCactus2018\nOsmo \"base + reflector\" for iPad, a document camera \"whiteboard\" for video\nconference.\n\n>> I don’t want to look like promotional, but recently a professor used an\nOsmo reflector\n([https://twitter.com/romps/status/1237617042338897921?s=12](https://twitter.com/romps/status/1237617042338897921?s=12))\nto project class notes and it caught on with teachers.\n\n>> A team worked through the weekend and released a free app to make this\nsuper easy\n([https://twitter.com/PlayOsmo/status/1241152565083090947](https://twitter.com/PlayOsmo/status/1241152565083090947)).\n\n>> While the base + reflector is not free, if you already have an Osmo game at\nhome, you can reuse that.\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22660301](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22660301)\n\n~~~\njtolds\noh this is actually really good and it's just a $10 mirror! you can see the\npeople you're presenting to, and while they can't see your face, they can see\nwhat you're writing. what a neat idea\n\n------\nrubayeet\nGoogle Jamboard + Wacom Intuos tablet with stylus [1]\n\n[1] [https://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/pen-tablets/wacom-\nintuo...](https://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/pen-tablets/wacom-intuos)\n\n~~~\naaronharnly\nWhich hardware are you using exactly? There are a lot of different price\npoints; I’d love to find the cheapest that is still good enough to be useful.\n\n~~~\nstan_rogers\nAny of the low-end Wacom tablets would do the trick, and you don't need the\ncurrent model. Previous to the move to \"everything is an Intuos now (and the\nIntuos all become Intuos Pro because 'Pro')\", that would have been the Bamboo\nCreative, and before that the Graphire. All of them are _well_ more than good\nenough for the task at hand, and if you can pick up old stock (or used)\ncheaply, go for it. Note, though, that if you've never used a tablet before,\nit'll take a bit before your movements coordinate - I've always suggested\ntrying to live as much as possible using the tablet in lieu of mouse or\ntrackpad for about a week. Once you've got the knack, it's pretty much with\nyou for life, but it's easy to give up in frustration when you're not used to\nabsolute positioning that's remote from the screen until the moment it all\njust sort of clicks.\n\n~~~\naaronharnly\nThank you!\n\n------\nanairs\nHands down Miro has been a great tool for.What I really liked about Miro is\nthat it has a desktop app which makes it really snappy, its simple and\nintuitive to use and has great collaboration features (stickies, comments,\nnotes etc.)\n\nhope that helps\n\n~~~\nandrethegiant\n+1 for Miro. It's truly an impressive piece of work.\n\n------\nDesignGuy85\nFreehand by InVision is great! Very simple and intuitive.\n\n[http://freehand.new](http://freehand.new)\n\n~~~\ndavefp\nSeconding Freehand.\n\n------\nrvivek\nI love excalidraw.com A quick shoutout to our service, we embedded excalidraw\nin our pair programming solution that helps you do system design interviews\neffectively:\n[https://www.hackerrank.com/products/codepair/](https://www.hackerrank.com/products/codepair/)\n\n~~~\neddyg\nIndeed. Excalidraw is really good... has an end-to-end encrypted collaboration\nmode... _and_ is MIT-licensed.\n\n[https://github.com/excalidraw/excalidraw](https://github.com/excalidraw/excalidraw)\n\n------\nvivster7\nIts still very much in development, but we're building\n[https://whiteboard.systems/](https://whiteboard.systems/)\n\nIts based on the idea that for most system diagrams, you just need boxes, text\nand arrows. everything else is superfluous. Its collaborative by default so\nyou can invite someone to join you with the URL. The tools aren't discoverable\nyet, so to use it:\n\n\\- option(⌥) + click to create a box\n\n\\- option(⌥) + drag to create a grouping box\n\n\\- select a box and option(⌥) + click another to draw an arrow\n\n\\- select a box and type to edit text\n\nwould very much appreciate feedback! (email in profile)\n\n~~~\nrckoepke\nAs you requested feedback, it's dead simple and I like that. Speed and low\nfriction is super useful in a lot of situations.\n\nI have just some \"bugs\" I guess (Windows Chrome):\n\n\\- Can only add text to a box immediately after selecting it. Move it first,\nthen cannot add text. Probably should be a blinking insert symbol to indicate\nwhen you can edit text or not, as this would at minimum make the state\n\"discoverable\". Personally I feel a lot of people will try to double click to\nedit text.\n\n\\- Backspace deletes boxes but \"delete\" does not.\n\n~~~\nvivster7\nappreciate the feedback.\n\nwe fixed a bug so text should always be editable if the box is selected. and\nthe \"delete\" key should also work now.\n\nagree the blinking cursor is the standard for indicating if something is text\neditable. Its proven a bit tricky to get right, but hopefully, we'll have it\nworking soon.\n\n------\naaronharnly\nI’d love to hear what hardware people are using. I’m looking at buying\nhardware for some of our team, but obviously woild like to find the right\ncost/quality ratio.\n\n~~~\nfinaliteration\nI’ve been using a Wacom Intuos S combined with Microsoft Whiteboard. The\nIntuos wasn’t outrageously expensive and has been working really well for my\nneeds (mostly just process and class diagrams during online architecture\ndiscussions).\n\n~~~\naaronharnly\nThank you!\n\n------\nnews_to_me\nIf you have an Apple Pencil, I made\n[https://whiteboard.zjm.me/](https://whiteboard.zjm.me/) as a collaborative\nwhiteboard tool. (It also supports mouse, but a stylus is way better.)\n\n~~~\npbsurf\nSeems to be the only one here with real stylus support - pressure sensitivity\nand draw with pen, pan with finger. Very nice!\n\n------\nfilipn\nWe've been trying different tools, and we've found Excalidraw\n([https://excalidraw.com/](https://excalidraw.com/)) to be satisfying our\nneeds. It's relatively new and albeit it's lacking a few features, it has\nproven really good for drawing diagrams and designing new solutions like ui\nmockups and stuff like that.\n\n------\nsixhobbits\nI've been following the progress of [https://room.sh](https://room.sh) and it\nlooks really promising. Haven't used it much yet though.\n\n~~~\na21y\nroom.sh co-founder here. Thanks! :) We've got loads of cool stuff on the\nhorizon so stay tuned.\n\nThat being said, happy to answer any questions if anyone has any.\n\n~~~\nAlexITC\nAs a suggestion, the website allows you to type a room name, which opens a new\ntab and asks you for the room name again, certainly the second step could be\navoided.\n\n~~~\na21y\nThe second step is asking for your name, not the room name, so that you can be\nidentified by others in the room. But noted, there might be room to make that\nclearer!\n\n------\ntoddmoy\nFor whiteboarding, I prefer Whimsical (whimical.co) over Figma or Mural. It's\nfocused on digramming, wireframing, and mind-mapping; it's an absolute joy to\nuse. Blazing fast, simple, and stays out of your way.\n\nFor context, I spend much of my day designing in Figma, which I love as well,\nbut not for whiteboard-style collaboration.\n\n------\ntaylodl\nI have a team using IdeaBoardz\n([https://ideaboardz.com](https://ideaboardz.com)). Our Scrum of Scrums is\nusing Miro ([https://miro.com](https://miro.com)). Miro is more full-featured,\nbut IdeaBoardz is easier to use.\n\n------\nscreye\nI use MSFT whiteboard with my surface pro 7 and share it over teams. (teams\nalso has a whiteboard tool, but for some reason it is very clunky)\n\nIf it doesn't have to be collaborative, then I use Onenote, because the\nscribbles can be saved as meeting notes.\n\nIt helps that I work at MSFT and everyone uses Windows + has whiteboard\ninstalled.\n\n~~~\ns1mon\nOneNote can be collaborative. It also runs reasonably well on an iPad with\nApple Pencil. I used this combo for a remote meeting recently while we were\nall on teams for audio. Some people were using OneNote on Windows and drawing\nwith a mouse. There was occasional sync/lag issues, but I will certainly try\nit again.\n\nThe Teams Whiteboard is pretty bad, and clunky to get to in the middle of a\nmeeting. Most Teams users don't even know it's there.\n\nAs others have mentioned the ideal solution would have an easy way to point at\nthings on the whiteboard. The lack of a hover state on touch based systems\nmakes this more tricky, but there can, of course, be a pointer tool.\n\n~~~\nscreye\n> OneNote can be collaborative\n\nI have moved to it last week. Let's see how it goes. I love how convenient it\nis that my natural brainstorming serves as detailed meeting notes.\n\n> easy way to point at things on the whiteboard\n\nI use whiteboard on my surface, and then project my screen instead of starting\nwhiteboard from team. That way I can point at stuff, but it is harder to be\ncollaborative.\n\n------\nNullError\nWe use MIRO and it has changed the entire company culture. We have 5\ninternational offices, and with micro, it allows everyone to have full\ntransparency with what other offices and teams are working. It is now the 2nd\nmost important tool beside Slack. (400+ Employees)\n\n------\ndublin\nShared whiteboards and a good audio connection are FAR more important than\nmost videoconferencing solutions. Microsoft's Surface line kicks Apple's iPads\naround the block here, at least partly because the Surface \"pen\" has a built-\nin \"eraser\", but Apple's \"pencil\" doesn't. Windows Whiteboard is a pretty\ndecent starter solution here, and runs on both Windows and iOS. Run in\nconjunction with Zoom or Teams, it's a pretty darn usable setup.\n\n------\nsixdimensional\nPrior HN on shared whiteboards:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22675247](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22675247)\n\n------\nirskep\nI started building my own with a friend because nothing else had what I wanted\n(great freehand drawing and text tools) and was cheap. We've only just\nfinished the MVP, so feedback would be very helpful!\n\n[https://browserboard.com/](https://browserboard.com/)\n\nI have no idea if it'll hold up under load, I guess let's see. ¯\\\\_(ツ)_/¯ You\ncan share the URL to collaborate with someone else.\n\n~~~\nzenhack\nNeat; simple but I like it. One concrete thing that jumps out at me as I play\naround with it: I keep instinctively trying to hit Ctrl+Z to undo, which\ndoesn't work (and then I remember there's a button). Might be nice to make\nthat shortcut work.\n\nAlso: I enjoyed this:\n\n> No BS\n\n> Browserboard is written by two people in their spare time who aren’t thirsty\n> for advertising dollars. We have no reason to spam you or violate your\n> privacy.\n\nA thought: any interest in porting to Sandstorm? It seems like the app would\nbe a perfect fit, and giving people an easy way to run it themselves gives you\nan out if it gets too popular for you to keep running it for free. If you're\nnot familiar:\n\n[https://sandstorm.io](https://sandstorm.io)\n\nRelevant blog post: [https://sandstorm.io/news/2014-07-21-open-source-web-\napps-re...](https://sandstorm.io/news/2014-07-21-open-source-web-apps-require-\nfederated-hosting)\n\n(Disclosure: I am one of the more active contributors to Sandstorm)\n\n~~~\nirskep\n> I keep instinctively trying to hit Ctrl+Z to undo, which doesn't work\n\nI've only tested on Mac, and Cmd+Z works. What platform are you on?\n\nSandstorm is a maybe, but we're doing great on a $7/mo Heroku instance. :-)\n\n~~~\nzenhack\n> What platform are you on?\n\nFirefox on Linux.\n\n~~~\nirskep\nFigured it out: I was using 'meta' instead of 'mod'. Should be fixed, thanks\nfor the report!\n\n------\nmikecoles\nOBS (Open Broadcaster Software) - Provides the screens/windows to the conf\ncall as well as your camera shot.\n\nGromit-MPX - Allows drawing overtop whatever screen/window you'd like.\n\nWacom Intuous - Much nicer to draw with than a mouse or finger.\n\n[https://obsproject.com/](https://obsproject.com/)\n\n[https://github.com/bk138/gromit-mpx](https://github.com/bk138/gromit-mpx)\n\n[https://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/pen-tablets/wacom-\nintuo...](https://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/pen-tablets/wacom-intuos)\n\n------\nagrafix\nWe noticed that most whiteboarding apps out there over-focused on perfect\ndiagrams, so a lot of time in meetings is lost due to rearranging boxes and\narrows. Hence, we built [https://letsboard.co](https://letsboard.co) \\- a very\nsimple collaborative whiteboarding tool and are using it daily now.\n\n------\nmatco11\nMiro.com is great. It is so much more than a whiteboard. We use it for\nbrainstorm sessions, retros and all sort of things.\n\n------\negyptish\nInVision's Freehand has developed leaps and bounds over the last month - it\nintegrates with our MS Teams so it was easy to use and jump into.\n\nAlso comes with a presentation mode so you can walk through designs and have\nothers on it follow along.\n\nCompatible with iPad and Apple Pencil, which I recommend over the browser for\nmarkups.\n\n------\nnojito\nMicrosoft Whiteboard is pretty phenomenal for collaborative white boarding\n\n[https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/microsoft-\nwhit...](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/microsoft-\nwhiteboard/digital-whiteboard-app)\n\n~~~\nNicoJuicy\nI wished they made PC version on par with the school's edition though :( .\n\nIt would be much more usefull for event-storming.\n\n------\ndharma1\nAny video conferencing tool + cheap wacom + Figma is quite powerful. Works on\nMacOS/Linux/Windows.\n\nThere are some things Figma isn't intended (and as such very good fit) for\nthough, like diagramming/flowcharts, or marking up PDF's - haven't found great\nmultiplayer web apps for those.\n\nFeels like concurrent multiuser editing is something that a lot of software\nwould benefit from - maybe something we will look back in 5 years as being\nweird it didn't exist and we had to send files back and forth to work on\nsomething together. Would make working together on almost anything easier\nremotely.\n\nMiro and Mural are also quite nice collab tools, more limited than Figma but\nsome nice things out of the box.\n\n------\nryanmarsh\nRemote training\n\nI've found Google Jamboard has the right mix of features and ease of use for\ncollaborative exercises during training.\n\nEverything else\n\nI've introduced a few enterprise clients to Miro and they're running with it.\nI've been impressed with how they've employed it.\n\n------\ndavidwitt415\nI've been using MURAL, Miro and Figma. MURAL and Miro are pretty close, and\neach has it's strengths, but I prefer MURAL. For a team that doesn't need the\nbells and whistles, Figma is a great choice.\n\n------\nAlexITC\nWhile I don't use it daily, I built\n[https://collabuml.com](https://collabuml.com) (launched on HN a month ago:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22955971](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22955971))\nwhich has been helpful for me, I made it this way as lots of time you mostly\ncare about writing system diagrams instead of freestyle whiteboard.\n\n------\nprando\nOne of the main criteria for a whiteboard is to use it with a stylus - so I\npurchased [https://air.bar/](https://air.bar/) to turn my non-touch-screen\nlaptop into a touch-screen-one. However, its latency is not low enough to\nprovide a smooth experience. Does anyone know of a good digital pen that plays\nwell with Win 10. I suspect our company policies won't allow me to share\nscreen via an iPad.\n\n------\nNullError\nMiro! Its a company changing tool!\n\n------\niso1631\nI use a real whiteboard on my wall in shot of the camera\n\n~~~\npmiller2\nI'm surprised I had to scroll down so far to see this. You could distribute\nindividual whiteboards to every engineer, and even have a dedicated\nwebcam/tripod setup, for next to nothing.\n\nIt's not \"collaborative\" in the sense that remote people can erase stuff on\nyour board, but, I don't think that's a big deal. The \"erase API\" just becomes\n\"Hey, @iso1631, why don't we get rid of X and replace it with Y?\"\n\nI suppose if you wanted to try and automate it, you could do so pretty easily\nwith some custom software that just overlays photos of all the boards. The\namount of image processing would be pretty trivial.\n\n~~~\niso1631\nNormally when we whiteboard we just have one person at the controls anyway\n\n------\nme_me_me\nI have tried few of them, but what I find most infuriating is the lack of\nkeyboard shortcuts.\n\nUsually they support only C+z for undo.\n\nSwitching between pen and eraser by having to actually click an icon is fine\non iPad but it drives me up the wall when I am using wacom tablet and\nkeyboard.\n\nDoes anyone know application that supports keyboard shortcuts?\n\n------\ngreenfiddlefig\nWe've been LOVING Sprink (trysprink.com) and it's free! Compared to Miro which\nwe previously used, the interface was much easier for our team. Plus there's\nno setup required which is a huge bonus when you want to quickly share a board\nand still video/audio call.\n\n------\naustinking\nOur company was stuggling to conduct remote interviews, so I made a shared\nwhiteboard tool to help out. Great for team collaboration as well.\n\nYou can generate as many unique boards for free as you want here:\n[https://interviewboard.io](https://interviewboard.io)\n\n~~~\nAlexITC\nI feel you, I created another tool which has helped me on system design\ninterviews: [https://collabuml.com](https://collabuml.com), hopefully you will\nfind it helpful.\n\n------\ndemosthenex\nRecently I've been using Openboard\n([http://openboard.ch/](http://openboard.ch/)) while screensharing. Yes its\nnot a team board, but at least it's local. It helps me explain concepts to\nothers easily.\n\n------\njacquesm\nIf you're into Obeya and/or Agile:\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obeya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obeya)\n\nThen check out Iobeya:\n\n[https://www.iobeya.com/](https://www.iobeya.com/)\n\nDoes one thing and does it very well.\n\n------\neugenekolo\nGoogle Slides and share desktop on Zoom. No need to complicate it with yet\nanother piece of software.\n\nPowerpoint and Slides are perfectly capable for drawing diagrams, or\nwhiteboarding. Zoom screen share is low enough latency and you're already\nusing it for voice comm.\n\n------\nwajsbrot\n[https://app.scratchwork.io/](https://app.scratchwork.io/) is a simple\ncollaborative dashboard and support writing math equations by hand or with\nlatex. Nice for researchers or engineers.\n\n------\nmontroser\nWe recently moved from Miro to\n[https://beta.plectica.com](https://beta.plectica.com) and have been loving\nit.\n\nSo much better than anything else we tried at handling hierarchy (nested\nlists, sections, etc)\n\n------\ngautamdivgi\nI use a Wacom tablet (the cheapest one works well). I can use sketchbook (came\nwith the Wacom tablet) when I want to diagram spontaneously in meetings. But\nhaving people edit my sketches is a challenge since no one has the same setup.\n\n------\njpallen\n[https://www.ideaflip.com](https://www.ideaflip.com) \\- it's nice and simple\ncompared to e.g. Miro, and nicely recreates the offline collaboration feeling\nof working around a whiteboard\n\n------\npbsurf\nI've added shared whiteboarding to my handwriting app:\n[http://styluslabs.com/share](http://styluslabs.com/share) It is possible to\ndeploy your own server.\n\n------\ndarkerside\nOne by Wacom, with Autodesk sketch express. You can zoom share screen into the\napp, and it's much better than Zoom's native whiteboard function. Pressure\nsensitivity and functional pen buttons are so key.\n\n------\nivankuz\nVery honorable mention to this topic would be\n[https://www.ryeboard.com/](https://www.ryeboard.com/).\n\nThey're moving quite fast and seemingly in the right direction.\n\n------\njustincormack\nI am using small (A4) physical whiteboards with an Ipevo v4k camera pointing\nat them. Its not quite the same, but I do like having a physical board. And\nits cheap compared to an ipad+pencil.\n\n------\nmwdalrymple\nLucidchart is amazing - love the simultaneous editing. Its the best thing that\nI have come across for collaborative whiteboarding. It also has great\nintegration with Confluence.\n\n------\nfblp\nWhich whiteboard apps have the best integrations? I've been trying to find one\nthat can 2-way sync with fields in airtable so that i can build a dynamic org\nchart.\n\n------\ndezzeus\nAmong the free ones there’s [https://drawpile.net/](https://drawpile.net/) but\nI haven’t tried it yet…\n\n------\nnhorob67\nI heard about a whiteboard app that has fading gestures that were highly\nreviewed. Does anyone know which app has these?\n\n------\ntrenchgun\nThis is good: [https://app.mural.co/](https://app.mural.co/)\n\n~~~\nrl3\nNot when it hijacks your browser's back button in an unethical manner.\n\n~~~\ntsieling\nAgreed. Instant deal breaker.\n\n------\niameoghan\nAnother +1 for Miro. Super simple & intuitive. For my needs, I can get by on\nthe free version which is great.\n\n------\nsethammons\nWacom tablet and any shared canvas, usually Zoom’s. A colleague uses an ipad\npro with a stylus.\n\n------\nzubairq\nMural, jam board and lucid charts\n\n------\nfoobaw\nDidn't know there were so many options!\n\n------\nyachay\nI've been using excalidraw.com\n\n------\nsidcool\nMural\n\n------\natentaten\n+1 for Miro\n\n------\nSimianLogic2\nMy mom is a retired teacher, and she's been doing remote preK for my 5yo and\nmy niece for a couple of hours a day so the grownups can get work done.\nEvaluating whiteboards for a 60-year-old and two 5-year-olds to use together\nwith video chat was.... not super fun.\n\nWhat we've settled on:\n\nWe do the video chat on an old fullscreen iMac we had lying around. My mom and\neach kid all have their own iPads. For the first couple of weeks we used a\nwebwhiteboard, but the littles were having a LOT of trouble with it. It's not\noptimized for iPads. It's easy to click on links in the nav. Different size\nscreens see different regions of the whiteboard. My niece and son kept\nclearing each other's work and causing fights.\n\nI ended up building a little prototype for them with rails/websockets that\ntried to solve all the dumb stuff that makes it hard to use it on iPads. Apple\nreally doesn't make it easy, though. You can bookmark a page to your\nhomescreen to get rid of the Safari chrome (URL bar is the worst for 5yos),\nbut then you can't have cookies and regular usage (maybe just while\nfullscreen?) will prompt you that the webpage is trying to steal your\npasswords (fake keyboard warning). Guided access gets rid of most of the\nobnoxious gestures they were triggering by accident. I disabled most of the\nmulti-touch events in javascript.\n\nI fixed the board size with selectable orientation (portrait/landscape) and\nset it to scale + aspect-fits to everyone's device. I added a simple\nhost/guest permission model so my mom has a few teacher permissions that the\nkids don't have. She can either be in teacher mode (she can draw/clear, they\ncan't), class mode (anyone can draw/clear), or student mode where each kid\ngets their own private board that she can swap between (she can still\ndraw/clear on student boards).\n\nI was starting to work on more teaching features -- the ability for her to\nsave/load sketches so she could do lesson plans ahead of time, the ability for\nher to \"broadcast\" saved boards to the student boards so she could make\nassignments for each 5yo to fill out. We had kind of a rough stretch where one\nof the kids or the other would forget their tablet for about a week, though,\nand my mom got fed up and just ordered them workbooks for all 3 of them that\nthey could do together.\n\nIt's still running on Heroku, but I haven't been working on it much lately.\n\n[http://yiayiaboard.herokuapp.com/rooms/sLZqbw2KHWi](http://yiayiaboard.herokuapp.com/rooms/sLZqbw2KHWi)\n\nI think this is the right model for small-class whiteboards, but I think you'd\nhave to build a native solution to make it usable for kids that small.\n\nWhen it worked, it was pretty magical!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhat Americans Buy - xxpor\nhttp://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/04/05/149997097/what-americans-buy?sc=fb&cc=fp\n======\nlmkg\nI would like to see those bar graphs, without them being normalized to % of\nincome. For example, a huge difference is the fraction of income spent on\nfood: how much of that is food costs going down, and how much is income going\nup? Non-noramalized stacked bar graphs of (inflation-adjusted) dollars would\nanswer that better than normalized ones.\n\n~~~\nrauljara\nI actually worked on the project on which the graphic in the Atlantic is based\n(and which, in turn, this piece is based on). We came up with different\npercentages because we are looking at a wider swath of spending than this\npiece is. But here are our numbers for food spending (in billions of 2009\ndollars):\n\n1947: 468.7\n\n1967: 637.1\n\n2007: 1,230.2\n\nYou might conclude that we are spending dramatically more on food all around,\nbut keep in mind the population of the US in 1947 was less than half what it\nis now, so those numbers aren't quite as dramatic as they appear. All\nindications are that on the whole we have much better access to high quality\nfood now (we have more access to things like fresh fruit, and wine), though\nthis is not necessarily true if you are poor.\n\n~~~\nsmokeyj\nAre the prices adjusted for inflation?\n\n~~~\nolalonde\n> (in billions of 2009 dollars)\n\nYes.\n\n------\ncickpass_broken\nIt may be of interest to some: As food costs have come down in US so have some\nimportant nutrients in fruit & veggies.\n\nEating Your Veggies: Not As Good For You?\n[http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1880145,00.ht...](http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1880145,00.html#ixzz1rBmN0inp)\n\nAnd,\n\nChanges in USDA Food Composition Data for 43 Garden Crops, 1950 to 1999\n<http://www.jacn.org/content/23/6/669.full>\n\nWhich concludes: \"We suggest that any real declines are generally most easily\nexplained by changes in cultivated varieties between 1950 and 1999, in which\nthere may be trade-offs between yield and nutrient content.\"\n\n------\nbmelton\nI would love to see this data compared to other countries.\n\nI find it interesting that despite everything to do with health care, we're\nonly spending approximately 4% more on medical care than we were in 1949.\n\nThat we are generally buying larger houses is no surprise, but that we're\nspending a substantially larger portion of our incomes to do so is, while not\nsurprising, certainly interesting in the sense that this binds us to our\nincome streams more than generations past.\n\nI don't know the data, so perhaps someone could enlighten me as to whether or\nnot this is because houses are just more expensive than they used to be, or\nbecause we just like buying larger houses (possibly for status) than we used\nto, or whether we just have more income available to spend on houses since\nwe're spending so much less on food and clothing?\n\n~~~\nroc\nThe medical care number has to be distorted. I don't know _any_ American\nfamilies whose contributions toward their insurance premiums alone would\namount to only 7% of spending. Not counting co-pays or co-insurance or any out\nof pocket costs.\n\nTo get down to 7% they must not be counting employer contributions, those who\nget medical care from the VA, Medicare or Medicaid, nor people going uninsured\nand then filing bankruptcy when they get hit with notable medical costs.\n\nThere is simply no way.\n\n~~~\npdx\nMy insurance (healthy young family of four, $1K deductible per person) costs\nme 12.6% of my pretax earnings, not including what my employer kicks in. It\nwas over 14% before my last raise, and it would be even higher if my company\nhadn't aggressively shopped around among several insurers. That's for me as an\nengineer making almost 100K. What about the guy making $70K with a family of\nfour? It is a huge drain.\n\n~~~\nkingnothing\nOn the flip side, I'm paying insurance premiums for only myself and spending\nless than 1% of my pretax income. The medical, dental, and vision is all\nexcellent. Shop around. You can certainly do better than $1,000 a month (12%\nof 100k / 12).\n\n~~~\nroc\n> _\"You can certainly do better than $1,000 a month\"_\n\nFor a family of four? Not that I've seen. Even after employer contributions\npeople in my orbit are usually looking at ~$1000 out-of-pocket (granted,\npretax) for family medical/dental/drug/vision.\n\n------\ntimwiseman\nPerhaps someone could explain this to me, \"But too many workers serving a need\nleads in one direction for prices: Up.\"\n\nI am no economist, but I would expect the opposite. Having too many people in\none field would result in a reduction in wages and prices until people started\nleaving that field as a result and the supply/demand ratio stabilized. What am\nI missing or misunderstanding?\n\n~~~\ndkrich\nI agree that statement was poorly worded, but I think what they meant is that\nif a particular good is inefficiently produced, or rather, requires a large\ninvestment of human capital, that good is going to be more expensive than if\nthe same good requires fewer workers. I believe that was a reference to the\ncost of health care.\n\n------\ncinquemb\nI would love to see \"What Americans Are Offered To Buy\",the advertising\nspending on it, what products have the most advertising, and then the author\npresenting a question at the end if we really need those things people are\ntelling us that we should (and continue to) buy the most.\n\n------\njfoutz\nMens clothes really jumped out at me. I'd assumed since retail space for women\nwas 7x that dedicated to men, women's clothing would be around 7x that of\nmens.\n\nSomething really complicated is going on making those two channels very\ndifferent.\n\n~~~\nnoblethrasher\nSome hypotheses based on anecdotal observations:\n\nWomen spend more time shopping for men and children than men spend shopping\nfor women and children.\n\nWomen spend a lot more on shoes than men.\n\nWomen spend a lot more on accessories than men.\n\nWomen enjoy shopping more than men so retailers offer more opportunity to\nbrowse.\n\n~~~\njfoutz\nMaybe. At the very least, shoes are a separate category on that chart. One\nrolex makes up for a ton of less expensive accessories.\n\nI think it's more like, the vast majority of clothes are socks, underwear,\njeans and t-shirts. Simple, everyday stuff that wears out. I'd bet the sales\nof this stuff pretty much equals out. However, there's a layer of \"nice\"\nclothes. mens stuff is more expensive, but lasts and is fashionable longer.\nSuits vs dresses might be a good example.\n\nI'd also guess men are spending more on clothes than they have historically.\n\n------\nkerryiob\nA few important things that aren't being discussed:\n\nIf your income level drops, it should be relatively easy to cut back on food\nexpenses. You can simply eat less or buy less expensive food. Not great\noptions, but possible. On the other hand, if you income level drops, it's can\nbe very difficult to reduce housing costs fast. Thus I would think that people\nare more vulnerable to unexpected drops in income.\n\nSame thing goes for medical costs. It can be very difficult to reduce those\nwithout sacrificing health.\n\nAnother big issue is that in 1962 most households were single income. Most\nmothers were at home. If the husband lost his job, there were 2 potential wage\nearners that could theoretically renter the job market to regain the needed\nincome. Today most households are dual income, and require all of that income\nto pay the bills. So if one personal loses their job, there isn't a backup\nworker able to enter the workforce if needed. So again, more vulnerability to\nreduced income.\n\n~~~\nusaar333\nGreat points.\n\n> On the other hand, if you income level drops, it's can be very difficult to\n> reduce housing costs fast. Thus I would think that people are more\n> vulnerable to unexpected drops in income.\n\nI was shocked to see how high housing was. 31.3% just for rent or mortgage?\nYou are screwed in a two person household if someone loses a job.\n\nAnd 5.4% for utilities? I assume that includes mobile, but that feels\nincredibly high.\n\n~~~\nTloewald\nWhat's the median household income post tax? Can't find a good figure but it's\naround $50k pretax. Which is I guess 40k ish post tax, $3.5k or so per month.\nSo 5% of that is $175.\n\nPhone, cable, water, trash, electricity?\n\n------\nmarrakech\nLenin said that there are in progressive order: lies, total lies, and finally\nstatistics.\n\nAnybody here spending 3% of their income on health care? I mean in most cases\ninsurance premiums alone are much more than 3% of average income. Not to\nmention things like cancer that cost about 500k on average to treat. Who takes\nthis data seriously?\n\n------\nte_platt\nIt would be interesting to see how total income is allocated. That would\ninclude income taxes, debt payments, and other things that aren't purchases.\n\nAlso, I think it's interesting that recreational spending has increased very\nlittle. Are we already saturated with all the recreation we want?\n\n~~~\neli_gottlieb\nWhy would we spend more on recreation when we have less time for it?\n\n------\nseancoughlin\nGrocery spending versus restaurant/ deli spending stands out to me: 8.6% on\nGroceries vs. 5.7% on some version of eating out.\n\nIn a better scenario, groceries, being cheaper and generally healthier than\nfood \"eaten out\" would make up a bigger percentage of total food spend.\n\nThat said, as a 20something single guy, I don't remember the last time I went\nto a grocery store and i think i manage my money pretty well.\n\nI'd like to see these food spend #s (and the rest of these #s) broken down for\nincome levels and other demographics\n\n~~~\nwaterside81\nThe implication of your comment is you eat out 3 (or more/less) times a day, 7\ndays a week? Out of curiosity, what kinds of foods are you buying? How much\nwould you say you spend a week on food?\n\n~~~\ncobrausn\nIn my early 20s I was somewhat like the OP - I would eat out for pretty much\nevery meal. The trick to it was only eating twice a day, or once if you could\nmanage it. The end result was actually fairly inexpensive depending upon where\nyou were eating.\n\nOf course, that was back when my body could handle this kind of abuse.\n\n------\nJVIDEL\nSo a \"niche\" startup with a solid monetization plan would involve selling\ncheap alcohol and cirrhosis pills?\n\n(j/k)\n\n------\nzitterbewegung\nWhy why why are they having a two dimentional represntation of a 1 dimentional\ndata point? If they wanted something like this to work you should use squares\ninstead of circles regardless.\n\n~~~\nMaxGabriel\nMy only experience is reading Tufte, so I have a question for you. If you\nbased the circles' area on the data, rather than making the circles based off\nthe radius based off the data, you wouldn't be misconstruing the data, right?\n\n------\nwisty\nEngle's law - the consumption of food drops as income rising. It's sad that\nEngle had such a similar name to Engles, because he had a lot of interesting\nstuff to say.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nJim Mellon and high-profile partners roll the dice on an anti-aging upstart - discombobulate\nhttps://endpts.com/british-billionaire-jim-mellon-and-high-profile-partners-roll-the-dice-on-an-anti-aging-upstart/\n======\neasytiger\nAn interesting area investment wise. Really don't know what to make of it as I\ndo see a great deal of risk in these companies personally, that somehow others\nare happy with.\n\nNo real products, no real roadmap. Jim has also made some very bad pharma\ncalls in the past and had some very clueless people running his pharma\ncompanies. That said he looks to have done some real research.\n\n> The primary game plan at Juvenescence, explains Bailey, is to come up with\n> various operations engaged in developing new anti-aging drugs\n\n> Juvenescence Bio will be charged with building the pipeline, says Bailey, in\n> part with the molecules that will be identified through the AI venture.\n\nTo me that's a warning sign. I like the ambition. This is Elon Musk level\nstuff. But he isn't crazy enough to deal in unproven potential outcomes. He\nknew rockets can go to space, he knew electric cars can drive, he knew\nbatteries can store energy/money. He knew what he could sell when he solved\nthe issues\n\nHere i'm not sure they know what they will have in the end and that would\nscare me off.\n\n~~~\ncolbyh\nthis is the difference between basic and applied research - Musk is doing\ngreat work in the applied research space. taking proven models and bringing\nthem to market, bringing down costs, etc.\n\nanti-aging research is still in the basic phase - it might be decades before\ntechniques can be applied with any sort of scale. in that sense you really do\nneed huge institutions (or in this case, billionaires) to fund it all. retail\ninvestors like you (assuming) and I really can't get involved at the scale or\ntimelines these sorts of ventures require.\n\n~~~\neasytiger\nIndeed. Very pleased of course someone is willing to take risks.\n\nThis is how we ended up with railways, undersea telegraph, commercial\ncommodotised flight and so on.\n\n------\nidlewords\nThis is an interesting case where it's hard to separate rationality from human\nnature. On the one hand, people don't want to lose their investment. On the\nother hand, people really, really don't want to die. So as billionaires get\nolder, they are going to feel a lot of psychological pressure to believe life-\nextension startup stories they might not find as credible in another context.\n\nI think one nice way to solve this is to require a small, objective proof of\nconcept for startups claiming to have a rejuvenating technology.\n\nI propose they solve baldness. It will not only demonstrate the technology,\nbut remove the funding problem entirely.\n\n~~~\njacquesm\n> This is an interesting case where it's hard to separate rationality from\n> human nature.\n\nThe Roman Catholic Church has had this thing sewn up for at least a\nmillennium. Giving large amounts of money to the church on your deathbed is a\nsurefire way to open the gates of heaven, or so I'm told.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nMaybe in the time of the Medicis. The Roman Catholic Church doesn't give much\nof a fuck whether you give them a dime today. It's not that kind of\norganization.\n\n~~~\njacquesm\nHaha. That's so funny. You should have been around when my grandmother died.\nThey took her for a pretty penny. Not that I care because I didn't want any\nmoney from her anyway but they sure know who their marks are.\n\nIn Poland just about every interaction with the church has a price tag\nattached to it, ditto in Spain. There's a reason the Vatican is lined with\ngold and it has precious little to do with the Medicis and everything to do\nwith tithe, real estate, compound interest and outright scams.\n\n~~~\nidlewords\njacquesm is right, the Polish church is a complete racket. A small example—my\nfather wanted to be buried in the family crypt in Warsaw. This meant having to\npay off his parish (he was not a churchgoer, but everyone is assigned a\nparish), and then pay off the parish the cemetery was in to allow the transfer\n(in addition to all the regular burial fees).\n\nThe most popular conservative priest in Poland drives a Maybach.\n\nPriests in Poland will go door to door once or twice a year basically\ncollecting envelopes. Not paying them complicates your life.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nThat is deeply fucked up.\n\n~~~\njacquesm\nNot as bad as in Romania, but there it is the Orthodox church rather than the\nRoman Catholic one. They're spending 100 million euros fleeced from some of\nthe poorest people in the EU on a new church right now just to it will be the\nbiggest in a country that could _really_ use that money in better ways.\n\n[https://www.romania-insider.com/romania-peoples-salvation-\nca...](https://www.romania-insider.com/romania-peoples-salvation-cathedral/)\n\nNot bad, money straight from the Romanian government to the Church to build\nmore churches.\n\n[http://www.ibtimes.com/why-poverty-stricken-romania-\nbuilding...](http://www.ibtimes.com/why-poverty-stricken-romania-building-so-\nmany-churches-1375913)\n\n------\nreasonattlm\nIf Juvenescence puts serious effort into senolytics, then this will be useful.\nThe more the merrier in that field to join Unity Biotechnology, Oisin\nBiotechnologies, SIWA Therapeutics, etc.\n\nEverything else outside the SENS portfolio that can be accomplished via drug\ndiscovery to alter the operation of metabolism, focusing on known targets such\nas mTOR, is most likely a pointless waste of time and energy. It has been a\npointless waste of time and energy for the past two decades, and I don't see\nthat changing any time soon. The approach of trying to mimic calorie\nrestriction or upregulate autophagy or mess with growth hormone/insulin\nmetabolism or mimic exercise has very definite upper bounds on effectiveness.\n\nThe longevity dividend promise of \"spend billions to add a couple of years of\nlife expectancy by 2040\" is underwhelming, and anyone out there talking about\ndrug discovery to alter metabolism to slow aging is in that camp.\n\nIf billions are to be spent, then use them to follow the SENS approach of\ndamage repair, not tinkering the system to slightly slow down the pace of\ndamage accumulation. Only damage repair, such as via senolytics to clear\nsenescent cell accumulation, can in principle produce rejuvenation of the old\nand greatly extended healthy life spans, more than just a few years.\n\nIt is not a coincidence that senescent cell clearance has in a few short\nyears, just as soon as people started to try it in earnest, proven itself far\nmore effective and reliable and useful than the past 20 years of people trying\nto mimic calorie restriction or boost autophagy.\n\n~~~\nkanzure\nI think most of this money would be better spent focused on reducing the cost\nof life extension research, like essential tooling, not spelunking through\ncombinatorial search space for drugs. Granted, this is more of an engineering\napproach, so I could see why biologists might prefer tinkering with oxidation\npathways. If a synthetic genome costs $40 million then how are you going to\ntry out 1,000 low-aging variants of the genome without spending an impossibly\nlarge amount of money? The cost centers need to be ruthlessly attacked--\nsequencing, synthesis, combinatorial array testing, scale-up of arbitrary\nbiomolecule production, debugging methodologies (optogenetics has been a\ntremendous success), etc.\n\n~~~\ntrue_religion\n$40 million times 1000, is forty billion dollars. This is less than half the\nnetworth of Bill Gates.\n\nIf a single-mans fortune could potentially fund the entire thing, then for\nsure a coalition of wealth could easily fund it if there was even a mild\nguarantee for success.\n\n~~~\nkanzure\nWell, low-aging phenotypes (and genotypes) have already been discovered in the\npopulation. Doesn't make you invincible, of course. How mild of a guarantee\nare you looking for, again?\n\n------\nnarrator\nIt's great how trying to live forever went from being considered impossible to\nsomething that Google and many billionaires are investing a lot of money into.\nI think Aubrey de Grey had a lot to do with this by making the SENS approach\nwhich has helped properly characterize the types of cellular damage\nattributable to aging.\n\n~~~\nidlewords\nThere is nothing new about rich people pouring massive resources into promises\nof immortality.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Shi_Huang#Elixir_of_life](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Shi_Huang#Elixir_of_life)\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_pyramids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_pyramids)\n\n~~~\nnarrator\nDon't forget Gilgamesh, possibly the oldest work of fiction in existence, has\na living forever theme.\n\n------\ndistantsounds\nI've had my immortality rings from Alex Chiu for years now. They should just\ntalk to him.\n\n[http://alexchiu.com/](http://alexchiu.com/)\n\n~~~\ndesireco42\n:) I forgot about that. Yeah, he needs some serious backing.\n\n------\ncupcakestand\ntl;dr\n\nBritish billionaire Jim Mellon wants to launch a company named Juvenescence\nwith plans to make a big splash in anti-aging research.\n\n------\nRichardHeart\nTier 1 entrepreneur gives the masses what they want. Tier 2 gives the masses\nwhat they should want, and makes them want it. Tier 3 saves their lives so\nthey have time to learn to want better things. Med tech is best tech. It also\nrelies on much of the fun tech.\n\n------\ndghughes\nI'm worried about my brain more than the other parts of my body. I can do\nsomething to stay relatively health but my brain will shrink into a raisin no\nmatter what I do.\n\n------\nmatt_wulfeck\nNothing new here. The rich always fund the search for the fountain of youth,\nand yet they always die.\n\nThank goodness.\n\n------\nmark024\nI would spend half a billion and for myself first and foremost, why would I\nsave money for, to be the richest guy in the graveyard.\n\n------\nvictor106\nDeath will become optional at some point. But it will be only for the rich.\nDeath was always this great equalizer. With that not being the case there will\nbe a revolt on the size and proportion humanity would not have seen. how do we\ndeal with that?\n\n~~~\nImSkeptical\nTechnology is going to force us to deal with some age old questions. There is\na line I remember from Gibbon's \"Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire\" that\ngoes something like \"There is neither art nor skill at arms which will protect\none man from one hundred of his fellows.\" In context, it's referring to the\nfact that even Roman emperors could be murdered by a relatively small\ncoalition of men. No matter how rich and powerful a person is, a few people\nworking together and willing to sacrifice can kill that rich and powerful\nperson.\n\nTechnology seems to imperil this age old truth. What about an immortal\nbillionaire with drones, AI, and a robot army?\n\nThe coming elite will have power that no human individual, or even\norganization, has ever had. We should figure out how to deal with that - but I\ndon't really expect the common folk will. Instead, we may just have to hope\nthat our future billionaire deities are benevolent.\n\n~~~\ntrue_religion\nCould the rich raise armies and hold off the rest of the world? Yes... but\nonly if the rest of the world has no technology or monies of its own, and\nadditionally none of the 'rich' are in opposition that that single renegades\nplan.\n\n------\nfithisux\nAnti-aging is for future. For now\n\nban smokes/alcohol tax fat/sugar\n\nfor those causing accidents, make them pay the hospital bills and eliminate\nunemployment. Law cannot stop injustice, which reduces quality of life, but\ncan make people feel that someone is by their side, which increases quality of\nlife.\n\n~~~\naggie\n> ban smokes/alcohol\n\nThat didn't even work with a Constitutional amendment. If culture doesn't\nchange, you'll have to live with it - there's no legal remedy.\n\n> tax fat/sugar\n\nRisky, given the track record of nutrition science, but better than outright\nbans. Why don't we start by not subsidizing sugar.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHands on preview of Nvidia's new handheld system that can stream Steam games - hybrid11\nhttp://www.theverge.com/2013/1/7/3846624/nvidia-project-shield-hands-on-video-preview\n\n======\nwaitwhat\nA \"hands on preview\" of a games console where \"I didn't get a chance to\npersonally try out gaming with the console\"?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: What kind of scoring algorithms exist? - esflow\nHi HN, in my project I need to sort apartments and there is a lot of data about each of them. I give each parameter score, f.e. to the size of the apartment I give some certain score, to location as well, but it doesn&#x27;t really work well because I don&#x27;t understand how to give the weight to each parameter. Question: Is there some sort of guideline on scoring&#x2F;sorting things, some algorithms that might help? Or you might have some suggestions on where to look for information about such things. Thanks!\n======\nPaulHoule\nIt's tricky. Read up on Pareto Optimization.\n\nYou can't really trade off square footage vs commute length linearly because\nthere is no objective criterion.\n\nWhat you can do is prove that Apartment A has fewer square feet than Apartment\nB and a longer commute so A is dominated by B.\n\nOut of your complete set of apartments you can that there is a small set that\ndominate all the others. When you are down to that you can make your personal\nchoice from that set.\n\n~~~\nesflow\nAt this moment how I do it: The initial score is 0, based on year of\nconstruction (newer is better ofc) I add 0-36 points, amount of square meters\nI multiply by 0.5 and add it as extra points, based on how prestigious is the\ndistrict I add extra 0-4 points and there are many other things.\n\nSo why it's not possible like that to give score to each apartment? I mean if\nI find right weight for each parameter? How f.e. google rates websites, I\nguess it gives some kind of score to each of them? Or not?\n\n~~~\nPaulHoule\nAn obvious problem is that the linear score doesn't represent the value I feel\nI get from the attribute.\n\nFor instance, I live in a 2000 sq ft. space, I will have to store things if I\nmove into a 1500 sq ft. space, and have to sell them or throw them out if I\nmove to a 500 sq ft. space.\n\nA 3000 sq ft space would feel spacious to me but I would not get 10x the\nutility if I had a 30,000 sq ft space because I don't have enough stuff to\nfill it.\n\nSee\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility)\n\n~~~\nesflow\nThat's why I'm wondering how to score it. If I give too much weight to the\nsurface it won't make sense definitely. So at the beginning surface and price\nwere the most important so then I had a lot of really big and cheap apartments\nfrom suburbs as first results, which didn't make sense, then I introduced\nrating based on district and few other parameters and it improved rating a lot\nbut still, it's not good enough. I will check this Utility, thanks.\n\n------\nteh_g\nFor real estate, a quick and dirty solution that comes to mind is asking price\nper square foot, assuming that the market itself has taken into account all\nthe common relevant factors. Unless price is something you intend to test\nagainst, of course.\n\n~~~\nesflow\nBut even in the same neighborhood super well-furnished apartment and shell\napartment will have very different prices per square foot. Also depending on\nconstruction year price per square can greatly differ.\n\n------\ncuro\nHopefully I understand your problem correctly...\n\nYou can use window functions to do things like dense rank, rank, percentiles,\netc on each parameter in order to normalize the data. E.g., this one is at the\n63rd percentile in size, 20th in distance, etc. This doesn't work so well if\nyou have lots of 0s in your data.\n\nOr you can find the min and max of each and divide by the max. This one is 42%\nof max, etc.\n\nIn each case you're trying to normalize diff parameters to represent something\ncomparable (x/max, percentile, etc) so you can combine them. You can also do\nintermediate operations like take the logs or take the z score if you're\ntrying to muffle the effects of outliers.\n\n~~~\nesflow\nThanks a lot, I will try it and test how well it works.\n\n------\nxaedes\nThe problem you describe is known as \"multi objective optimization\".\n\nNormalizing the input data to similar ranges usually helps, but there is no\nsingle golden rule how to weight. It depends on what you want to accomplish.\n\nBut regardless of any weighting in multi objective optimization problems there\nis a subset of all items (apartments in your case) that is better then all the\nitems not in this set. This set is called the \"pareto front\". There are\nmethods to compute this set.\n\nYou can't decide which item of the pareto front is better than another; it is\na rock, scissors, paper situation. But the pareto front can exclude a lot of\nitems, that you then don't need to consider. These items are worse in every\naspect (optimization objective) than any item from the pareto front.\n\nAs a computer science student we often used population based optimization\nmethods for dealing with multi objective optimization. For example ant colony\noptimization or evolutionary algorithms.\n\n------\njventura\nIn these kind of things I usually start by multiplying (or dividing) the\nparameters to get a score (weight=1). Then I sort them, see if they look\n\"good\" and add weights as needed. My thinking is that the first result should\nmatch my preferences and the last result should not. I know it's a kind of\nconfirmation bias, but..\n\nWhen I bought my car years ago, I had some parameters, but comparing the price\nwas harder because of devaluation. I remember that I assumed a 15% yearly\ndevaluation so that I could compare prices. For instance, a 2000's car valued\n1000€ was almost similar in price to a 1999's car valued 850€..\n\nI make sure to always include a \"Preference\" (aka bias) parameter and give it\nmore or less weight the more it harms my results.\n\n------\nmmb_\nif i were you i would look to PCA analysis and cluster analysis. PCA can help\nfind what are the key (reduced) set of drivers/dimensions that provide you\nwith the ability to explain the majority of your variability. Cluster analysis\ncould help you group the data you have in meaninful reduced set of groups and\nthen you can measure dimensions within clusters and between clusters to help\nyou come up with a strong score system. Again assuming you have a relative\nhigh dimensional problem with many data\n\n~~~\nesflow\nYes, there are several thousand apartments. Based on what to cluster them?\n\n------\ninertiatic\nWell, rank based on what? You need a metric to optimise for.\n\nMaybe that's price, or maybe that's user clicks or bookings if you're Airbnb.\n\n~~~\nesflow\nRank based on apartment data, like surface, district, price, year of\nconstruction, number of rooms, etc. So based on it to rate apartment, in the\nend, to sort it from the best to worst :)\n\n~~~\ninertiatic\nAgain, you don't have a metric to optimize.\n\nYou could, for a simple example, label a number of these properties yourself,\nwith values. Say you could go rate 1000 of them with a rating out of 10.\n\nThen you could learn the importance for each of these parameters by trying to\napproximate your rating (regression of some kind).\n\nAlternatively, because labeling a lot of these, and doing so accurately is a\nnon-trivial task, you can look into generating these ratings.\n\nIn learning to rank for search for example, you can extract this information\nfrom interactions the users have with your items.\n\n------\nbrudgers\nCosign similarity is a standard method of searching multi-dimensional data.\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosine_similarity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosine_similarity)\n\n~~~\nesflow\nThanks, I will check it out!\n\n------\nBOOSTERHIDROGEN\n37% rule in algorithms to live by book's\n\n~~~\nesflow\nThanks, sounds interesting, I will check it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHow to keep your customers from abandoning your software - jsullivandigs\nhttp://dipperstove.com/design/Apps-have-abandonment-issues.html\n\n======\namerine\nI love thoroughly referenced blog posts like this. It's nice to discover some\nof the inspiration behind the ideas.\n\nThough I do have a question. He mentions the following:\n\n\"You can cultivate habitual use by careful observation of the most important\ntasks your users need to accomplish. If you understand the situations your\ncustomers are in when they're accomplishing tasks in your software, then\nyou're on the right track.\"\n\nWhat would one to do to understand the \"situations\" customers are in? Is he\nreferring to the state of mind a person would be in while completing a task?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nFacebook: Why Applications Suck - ajkates\nhttp://www.alexkates.com/2007/10/facebook-why-applications-suck.html\nMy take.  Let's hear what you guys think.\n======\nutnick\nThe article seems kind of bitter.\n\nObviously some people find value and fun in facebook applications plus they\ngenerate pageviews and ad dollars so everyones happy.\n\nMy main complaint is that profiles with tens of applications on them take\nforever to load on my connection and make certain friend's profiles unusable\nto me.\n\n~~~\nbyrneseyeview\n\"Obviously some people find value and fun in facebook applications plus they\ngenerate pageviews and ad dollars so everyones happy.\"\n\nThey generate externalities, which make some people unhappy. When you see\nFacebook Vampires, think of Facebook AIDS\n([http://www.byrneseyeview.com/byrnes_eye_view/a_little_more_o...](http://www.byrneseyeview.com/byrnes_eye_view/a_little_more_on_why_applicati.html)).\n\n------\nTichy\nNice analysis\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nRust in Production with Docker - kgraves\nhttps://jstoelm.com/episodes/40-rust-in-production-with-docker\n======\nvkjv\nI highly recommend using multi-stage builds to move the rust binary to a clean\ncontainer. The rust build tool chain is fairly heavy and is unnecessary at\nruntime.\n\nIt can be as simple as adding something like this at the end of your\nDockerfile.\n\n    \n    \n        FROM debian:jessie-slim\n    \n        COPY --from=0 /src/target/release/my-bin /usr/bin/my-bin\n    \n        ENTRYPOINT [\"my-bin\"]\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhatsApp Rolls Out End-To-End Encryption to Its Over 1B Users - randomname2\nhttps://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/04/whatsapp-rolls-out-end-end-encryption-its-1bn-users\n======\nianpurton\nIt's great that WhatsApp can't see my cat pictures anymore. But there are 2\nprivacy and free speech issues that are not met.\n\nFirstly META DATA. They know who I contact, when I contact them and how\nfrequently. So people could derive information about me based on who I talk\nto.\n\nSecondly, they can ban me.\n\nPerhaps the EFF need to add more criteria to their secure message score card.\n[https://www.eff.org/secure-messaging-scorecard](https://www.eff.org/secure-\nmessaging-scorecard)\n\nBut on the whole, a positive move.\n\n~~~\nmaxerickson\nWhen the client is a phone and the service is rapid messaging, how do you even\nbegin to solve the metadata problem?\n\nEven with opaque routing the phone company can correlate activity times.\n\n~~~\nnxzero\nThere's never a single right solution, but if traffic analysis was the issue,\nendpoints could introduce latency, use Tor, sync/mix traffic with other\nendpoints via P2P, inject fake traffic, etc. - though if the core system leaks\nmetadata, this would be pointless.\n\n~~~\n21\nMessaging apps are often used outside, with limited bandwidth, and are highly\ninteractive. I would be annoyed to wait more than 0.5 sec until my message is\ndelivered.\n\nMaybe an \"ultra-secure\" mode could be created, and if you enable that for a\nchat, traffic could be routed through tor. And you would have a separate list\nof \"ultra-secure\" contacts, which are not based on phone-numbers.\n\n~~~\nmaxerickson\nSpecial routing for the ultrasecure messages highlights that they were\nrequested to be ultrasecure and makes correlation easier (by reducing the\ncandidate pool).\n\n~~~\n21\nRight, but it would be like the ISP knowing that you use Tor. Useful, but not\nthat much if you do it constantly.\n\nThis ultra-secure mode for example could send a 1 KB packet every 15 minutes,\nweather you are talking with someone or not. Something would also need to be\ndone to incoming packets, so that they won't stand out. I'm sure there is a\nsuitable protocol out there. This would increase latency and reduce capacity,\nbut this is why it's called ultrasecure, some inconveniences are expected.\n\n------\nlrei\nApps that force you to give them (and everyone else) your phone numbers for ..\nummm ... \"contact discovery\" and yet talk about privacy are a bit of a\ncontradiction.\n\nNo plausible reason for why apps like WhatsApp (and Signal) couldn't use\ne-mail addresses for this. Or at least provide it as an alternative. It's even\nproblematic for people who change phone numbers, have multiple phones, want to\nuse desktop clients, etc\n\nMy opinion: if it requires a phone number, it's not really interested in\nprivacy. Move on.\n\n~~~\nBhavdeepSethi\nI feel there is no relation to privacy here. It's also the practical choice.\nEmails can be easily created to by people pretending to be someone else. If\nyou have someone's number on your phone, there is a good chance you have\ncommunicated with them before and have thus done some authentication. You can\nkeep creating new email ids to spam people. That becomes very difficult with\nnumbers.\n\n~~~\nlrei\nSure there is. My phone number is private information. And it can trivially be\ntraced back to me (no possibility of anonymity).\n\nI don't necessarily want to share it with everyone I want to talk to. Or every\ncompany that makes a chat app.\n\nI'm pretty sure Snowden didn't start out by giving his phone number around...\n\nPlus every successful chat app before WhatsApp (from ICQ, XMPP apps, MS\nMessenger, Google Chat, Facebook Messenger) was fine without this requirement.\n\nIs the hypothesis that it is now impossible to have a successful chat app\nwithout it being tied to a phone number?\n\nWe are not discussing a convenience \"option\" the user can skip but rather a\nrequirement for these apps to work.\n\n~~~\npfg\nWhatsApp is a mobile messaging app. It's a drop-in replacement for SMS. There\nwould be absolutely no reason for _anyone_ to use WhatsApp if they were just\nanother chat app with their own contact discovery that's not based on phone\nnumbers. Their market share would be miniscule.\n\nNo one is forcing you to use a messaging app which is using your phone number\nas an identifier to contact anyone you don't want to see your phone number.\n\n~~~\nlrei\nNo one is forcing anyone to make claims about privacy either.\n\n1) New social networks tend to replace old social networks: I'm not forced to\nuse it but, for example, I can't go back to XMPP because others don't use it\nanymore. Meaning the option is not to communicate.\n\n2) If everyone, including open-source developers (e.g. Signal), are doing this\nnow and no-one is developing alternatives that run on modern platforms and are\neasy to use in non error-prone way w/o phone numbers, what exactly are the\noptions even disregarding social network effects?\n\n3) I doubt it's fully clear to many people what can be inferred from metadata\nrelated being trivial to prove who they spoke to and when. E.g. if it had been\ntrivial for the NSA to know that one of its contractors was chatting with\nreporters it would've been game over for Snowden. In courts, circumstantial\nevidence like this can still be (and has been) used to imply guilt. Implying\nprivacy under these circumstances seems unwise.\n\n4) WhatsApp is mobile, fast, reliable and easy to use; Most of their\ncompetition at the time it launched and even now can't match that. This\nincludes FB Messenger, Skype, Google, MS Messenger, etc I'm not sure it is\nproven that their success is entirely due to phone numbers. I've seen lots of\npeople exchange phone numbers just for whatsapp.\n\n~~~\npfg\n> 1) New social networks tend to replace old social networks: I'm not forced\n> to use it but, for example, I can't go back to XMPP because others don't use\n> it anymore. Meaning the option is not to communicate.\n\nRight, but this is a _mobile messaging app_. There are still hundreds of\n_desktop_ (or: not primarily mobile) messaging apps out there, many of which\nare _very_ popular, and they're not going away any time soon. Phone numbers\nare how mobile phones are usually identified, and to ask a _mobile_ messaging\napp to use something else for identification is, to put it bluntly, quite\nsilly.\n\n> 2) If everyone, including open-source developers (e.g. Signal), are doing\n> this now and no-one is developing alternatives that run on modern platforms\n> and are easy to use in non error-prone way w/o phone numbers, what exactly\n> are the options even disregarding social network effects?\n\nThere's nothing in the protocol that forces anyone to use phone numbers as\nidentifiers. The current users of the Signal protocol just _happen_ to be\nmobile messaging apps, where it makes sense to use phone numbers as\nidentifiers.\n\n> 3) I doubt it's fully clear to many people what can be inferred from\n> metadata related being trivial to prove who they spoke to and when. E.g. if\n> it had been trivial for the NSA to know that one of its contractors was\n> chatting with reporters it would've been game over for Snowden. In courts,\n> circumstantial evidence like this can still be (and has been) used to imply\n> guilt. Implying privacy under these circumstances seems unwise.\n\nNow you're talking about metadata, and that's a different topic entirely.\nMerely using a pseudonym instead of your phone number as an identifier is\ngoing to do exactly _nothing_ to prevent any of the things you mentioned. If\nyou want to hide your metadata, you should be looking at something like\nvuvuzela[1]. No one claimed that WhatsApp is doing any of that.\n\n> 4) WhatsApp is mobile, fast, reliable and easy to use; Most of their\n> competition at the time it launched and even now can't match that. This\n> includes FB Messenger, Skype, Google, MS Messenger, etc I'm not sure it is\n> proven that their success is entirely due to phone numbers. I've seen lots\n> of people exchange phone numbers just for whatsapp.\n\nI'd argue that they wouldn't have been able to reach critical mass without\nphone number-based contact discovery. That they were the only ones who did it\n_right_ at the time doesn't mean the two aren't related.\n\n[1]:\n[https://github.com/davidlazar/vuvuzela](https://github.com/davidlazar/vuvuzela)\n\n~~~\nlrei\n> . Phone numbers are how mobile phones are usually identified, and to ask a\n> mobile messaging app to use something else for identification is, to put it\n> bluntly, quite silly.\n\nI disagree it's silly.\n\n> There's nothing in the protocol that forces anyone to use phone numbers as\n> identifier\n\nI'm aware. But there's also no alternative to phone number now. So my point\nstands until this changes.\n\n> Merely using a pseudonym instead of your phone number as an identifier is\n> going to do exactly nothing to prevent any of the things you mentioned\n\nYes it does if the pseudonym can not be connected to me. That requires other\nsecurity/privacy measures but phone numbers prevent that.\n\n> No one claimed that WhatsApp is doing any of that.\n\nIf you say something is great for privacy but don't include the asterisks it's\nmisleading.\n\n> I'd argue that they wouldn't have been able to reach critical mass without\n> phone number-based contact discovery.\n\nNo one has proven it either way. I can't be certain they would've been\nsuccessful, you can't they wouldn't. But I do submit as evidence of my\nhypothesis that several social networks were successful on mobile without it\n(e.g. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook).\n\n~~~\npfg\n> But I do submit as evidence of my hypothesis that several social networks\n> were successful on mobile without it (e.g. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook).\n\nAll of those examples use phone numbers as (at the very least) a secondary\ncontact discovery mechanism on mobile. All but Instagram had existing user\nbases when they went into the mobile market. None of them are primarily a\nmessaging app.\n\nDo you have an example of a _popular_ mobile messaging app without phone\nnumber-based contact discovery?\n\n~~~\nlrei\nDo you have an example of a popular mobile messaging app other than WhatsApp\n\n~~~\npfg\nWeChat has over 650 million users, mostly in China. Quoting Wikipedia: \"WeChat\nallows people to add friends by a variety of methods, including searching by\nusername or phone number, adding from phone or email contacts [...]\"\n\n~~~\nlrei\nGood one.\n\n------\ntptacek\nEFF should stop with this silly scorecard. I hate the thing because it's\ninaccurate and incoherent (arguments I've made ad nauseam elsewhere on HN),\nbut on this thread you can see another good reason: it makes EFF the ref, and\ncrowds always try to work the ref.\n\nSo whatever \"score\" WhatsApp gets, it's the wrong score, because: not open\nsource; because: runs on iPhones; because: metadata; because: Facebook is\nevil, &c.\n\n~~~\nFindeton\nBut the point the EFF makes is very important. If the code is not open source,\nwe just cannot verify the security of the application. All applications must\nbe considered unsafe unless we can review the code. We can't review Whatsapp's\nsource code, and therefore Whatsapp is to be considered unsafe.\n\nSo yeah, Whatsapp has made a probably positive move, but it is still largely\nunsafe.\n\n~~~\nsimonh\nBut if the code is open source, we _can_ verify it's security?\n\nHeartbleed and Shellshock, the two most significant vulnerabilities found in\nheavily used open source software, were found by vulnerability testing and not\ncode inspection. So while being open source is a nice-to-have attribute for a\npiece of software, that's as far as it goes. Painting open source as being a\nmagical wand that wishes away all our security troubles is completely out of\norder.\n\nEdit: I'll go further. It's become dismayingly apparent that very little\nsystematic code review of open source software in order to secure it is\nactually taking place. It now seems quite possible that the most thorough\ninvestigations of software vulnerability, via code analysis or any other\ntechniques, are carried out by those wishing to exploit them. They are well\nfunded and highly motivated. Looked at in that light, the balance may well tip\ntowards open source actually increasing the likelihood of software\nvulnerabilities being exploited maliciously.\n\nThe open source community has a long way to go if it's going to clearly\ndemonstrate that it's model is advantageous, and complacent pronouncements of\nit's assumed superiority like this aren't going to achieve that.\n\n~~~\nlmm\n> But if the code is open source, we _can_ verify it's security?\n\nNo - the code could be \"open source\" but unreadable. But if it's not open-\nsource there's definitely nothing we can do.\n\n> Heartbleed and Shellshock, the two most significant vulnerabilities found in\n> heavily used open source software, were found by vulnerability testing and\n> not code inspection. So while being open source is a nice-to-have attribute\n> for a piece of software, that's as far as it goes\n\na) afl-fuzz and the like require access to the source code.\n\nb) Those were the vulnerabilities that made it into production. They tell you\nnothing about what proportion of potential vulnerabilities were stopped by it\nbeing open source.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nFuzzers _do not_ require source code. That is absolutely false. Afl-fuzz does,\nbut you badly overplayed your hand by adding \"and the like\". Fuzzing\nproprietary closed source protocols by instrumenting closed-source binaries is\na bread-and-butter software security project that virtually any application\nsecurity consultant can do effectively.\n\n~~~\nJoachimSchipper\nAnd even afl has qemu-mode, although I have no idea how well that works.\n\n------\n_wmd\nThis is quite a cavalier recommendation for proprietary unaudited (for the\npublic at least) spyware that uploads your phone book to a company\nparticipating in PRISM.\n\n~~~\nkccqzy\nWhatsApp doesn't upload your phone book. All contact info resolution is done\nlocally.\n\n~~~\n_wmd\nHow does the app figure out another telephone number has a WhatsApp account?\nHow does it fetch profile information for that telephone number without\ncommunicating the desire to fetch it to WhatsApp? Perhaps WhatsApp ships their\nentire profile photo and telephone number database to every phone\n\n~~~\nkccqzy\nThere are two things here: a) the app can take a snapshot of your phone book,\nupload it, associate it with your own WhatsApp account, and then keep the\nremote version synchronised; and b) the app can periodically perform disparate\nrequests to the central directory server to query the profile information for\neach number. As far as I know, WhatsApp uses approach b. These two may seem\nsimilar but in approach b, WhatsApp the service wouldn't learn of any contact\nremovals. WhatsApp the app would, of course, but the service wouldn't. Now,\nwith some simple filtering and statistics, WhatsApp the service can deduce\nyour phone book with some certainty, but I believe most would agree that it is\nmaterially different from actually uploading your phone book.\n\n~~~\npfg\n> Now, with some simple filtering and statistics, WhatsApp the service can\n> deduce your phone book with some certainty, but I believe most would agree\n> that it is materially different from actually uploading your phone book.\n\nNo, not really. Both implementations give WhatsApp a complete list of all my\ncontacts. The fact that one of those implementations _might_ not be 100%\naccurate because of deleted contacts changes nothing - if you're someone who's\nworried about a third party having your contact list, it doesn't make sense to\nthink \"but hey, they don't know I removed $FOO last week, so their list isn't\n100% accurate!\".\n\nBoth implementations mean you'll have to take their word on what they will and\nwon't do with the data, so there's really not much of a practical difference.\n\n------\njfindley\nDoesn't appear to mention metadata at all.\n\nWhile metadata is somewhat tangential to the actual encryption, it's still a\nvital part of a truly secure messaging platform - who we talk to reveals quite\na lot about us.\n\nI'm not sure how solvable this is without sacrificing the usability that makes\nwhatsapp as nice to use as it is, and I certainly don't want to take away from\nhow great it is that they've done this - but it is important not to lose sight\nof the fact that encrypting the contents of your messages is only one part of\nthe puzzle.\n\n~~~\nedhelas\nIt's the same problem with Signal actually ;) All the communications of the\nofficial clients are sent to some \"official\" Signal Amazon servers (see\n[https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-\nAndroid/blob/master...](https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-\nAndroid/blob/master/build.gradle#L166-172)).\n\nDoing end to end encryption is nice, but I really think that having a\ndecentralized AND standard architecture is also very important.\n\n------\neeturunen\nToo bad 8/10 of your contacts have automatic backups to iCloud or Google Drive\nenabled. Kind of defeats the idea of \"end-to-end\". More like end-to-end-to-\ncloud.\n\n~~~\nrtkwe\nApps can control the content that they backup to Google, I'm going to guess\nApple has something similar.\n\n[http://developer.android.com/training/backup/autosyncapi.htm...](http://developer.android.com/training/backup/autosyncapi.html)\n\n------\nqetuo\nThat's nice. What I really want to know is, can Mark Zuckerberg read my\nmessages? Do WhatsApp servers have access to the private keys needed to\ndecrypt my communications? If the answer to those questions is \"yes\", then\nit's great that we are now protected from most cybercriminals, but the NSA is\nprobably monitoring our messages. If the answer to those questions is \"no\", I\nmay actually decide to start using WhatsApp.\n\n~~~\nrmellow\nThey cannot read your messages. The entire idea behind this is to give them a\nclaim of technical infeasability if they are served with a warrant. However,\nif there is/will be some sort of back door to cease encryption without the\nuser's knowledge, that's another matter which really would require it being\nopen source.\n\n~~~\nefdee\nHow will it being open source guarantee you that the app you downloaded from\nthe platform's store is using the exact same code?\n\n~~~\ndingo_bat\nYou can compile the binary yourself and match the SHA1 against the binary\ndownloaded from the store. It seems quite trivial.\n\n~~~\nMajesticHobo\nIt's not that easy. Due to toolchain and platform differences, there is no\nguarantee that your compiler will produce the same binary as the official\ndistribution. This is why deterministic, reproducible builds are a growing\narea of interest right now.\n\n------\nekianjo\nEFF recommending closed source clients, erm they just drop in my esteem.\n\n~~~\nvulpino\nThey deduct points as it's still open source. And they are more applauding the\nfact that WhatsApp - probably the most widely used messaging app currently -\nhas adopted strong end to end encryption, something which other clients have\nbeen loathe to do.\n\nThis is a win. To disregard everything that WhatsApp and Signal have\naccomplished because WhatsApp isn't open source is silly.\n\n~~~\nsickbeard\nNo but to blindly trust in it is silly. Even openssl had a heart-bleed bug\nthat persisted for years without most people realizing it. All it takes is one\nbug for the entire thing to be useless.\n\n~~~\nvulpino\nAnd heartbleed is also than example of open source not being totally secure.\nIt was a bug that persisted for years before it was found - and OpenSSL is\nopen source.\n\nIt's just as foolish to blindly trust OSS. There will always be holes - the\nmain point to OSS is not to combat these, as they will exist regardless.\nRather, it is so one might know exactly what they're installing/using, without\nhaving to trust the corporation behind it.\n\n~~~\nsickbeard\nno it's foolish to trust something that hasn't been independently reviewed.\nHow can EFF recommend something that hasn't even been subjected to an\nindependent security audit?\n\n------\n1024core\nBut WhatsApp requires a phone number, and requires that the recipient (of your\nmessage) have your number in their contacts list (or at least you should have\ntheir number in your contacts). Once your number (and your contacts') have\nbeen leaked to WhatsApp, enough metadata has been leaked to make communication\nrisky.\n\nWhy doesn't WhatsApp allow anonymous communication? I should be able to create\nephemeral WhatsApp \"IDs\", and anyome who knows my \"ID\" should be able to\ncommunicate with me anonymously and securely, no strings attached.\n\n------\nconfusedjs\nThis is a bit weird. I don't believe WhatsApp are lying but there's absolutely\nno proof they're not.\n\nI could release a closed source app with a bunch of padlocks in it and\ncopy/paste their white paper and have exactly the same level of proof of\nsecurity. Would I get a 7/10 from EFF?\n\n~~~\nikeboy\nIf you had the credibility of a billion dollar company behind you saying that\nyou're not making it up, then probably.\n\n~~~\nteddyh\nI didn’t know credibility was measured in dollars.\n\n~~~\nikeboy\nReputational damage is higher for entities with more money. Therefore their\ncredibility of not doing something that causes reputational damage is higher.\n\n~~~\npdkl95\n> Reputational damage is higher for entities with more money.\n\nIn what world? Big business figured out a long time ago that most of the time\ntheir bad actions _won 't be noticed_ by most people. The rest can often be\nfixed with some inexpensive spin and PR. Their reputation is only damaged when\na scandal is _very_ large and in the right place and time to be noticed.\n\nA \"billion dollar company\" necessarily has a strong profit motive. It's also\nsubject to the codes and regulations of the country in which they operate. The\nformer damages their credibility (they will do what is profitable, not what is\nmoral), and the latter makes communication platforms suspect (government\ninvolvement).\n\nOf course, we don't have to speculate - this is Facebook. They are not only\npart of Prism, but their entire business is based on surveillance. Not only do\nthey have _zero_ credibility for respecting privacy, they are actively\n_hostile_.\n\n~~~\nikeboy\nYou're disputing that it causes reputational damage, not that reputational\ndamage scales with money.\n\nI'm _not_ saying that they'd lose reputation from \"not respecting privacy\".\nThat's not considered that bad by the general public. I'm saying that they'd\nlose reputation from \"claiming to release a feature while lying through their\nteeth about it\".\n\n------\nshaggy\nIt's important to point out that all the Whisper Systems code is open source\n([https://github.com/whispersystems/](https://github.com/whispersystems/)). So\nif you have concerns, go read their code. Some of the best minds in security\nhave, and they've come away with good things to say. There's a desktop version\nof Signal coming, which I'd personally be inclined to use over WhatsApp, but\nthis is still a fantastic move.\n\n------\nlazyjones\nIt's an improvement, but proper end-to-end encryption on unsafe devices is\nabout as useful as seat belts on an airplane.\n\n~~~\ndecasteve\nSo it protects you from bad turbulence but in a catastrophe you are still\nscrewed.\n\n------\nlifeisstillgood\nI am still trying to wrap my head around privacy in the modern age, and this\ntriggered something for me - this is the end of the privacy-at-a-distance\nproblem.\n\nThere is a large body of law around making distance communication private\n(\"secure in ones papers\" I think is the phrase from American law. Not allowing\npeople to steam open your letters etc)\n\nThis move, which I am including the inevitable \"pgp emails using whatsapp\ncollected public/private keys\" seems destined to end the problem - two hundred\nyears of law, one code release.\n\nReally sure an email app will be next now they are building a base of secure\nkeys\n\nEdit: it's now the purview of regulation to require me to keep / handover\nprivate conversations as pre-Snowden and that seems a good thing. It forces\nsurveillance to be active and open once again\n\n------\nSeanDav\nI am so cynical (or is that realistic?) these days, that I would not trust the\nencryption on WhatsApp as far as I can throw a large, adult saltwater\ncrocodile.\n\n~~~\nkasey_junk\nThey implemented a known & vetted encryption protocol with expert consultation\nfrom the outside.\n\nIts one of the most widely distributed apps in the world & thus likely to have\nlots of people looking at it.\n\nIf you don't trust it, is there any possible encryption scheme you would\ntrust?\n\n~~~\ndarklajid\nI think the general trust issues people have are\n\n\\- metadata / contact lists in the hand of Facebook\n\n\\- a proprietary binary that _claims_ to use said encryption schemes\n\nScenarios that you could come up with:\n\nThe next version of WhatsApp sends unencrypted data again.\n\nWhatsApp encrypts for your recipient just fine, but also encrypts the same\nmessage for the great Facebook skeleton key.\n\nBasically trust is a bigger problem than you acknowledge here, I think. If you\ntrust the encryption scheme, even the specific encryption implementation, then\nyou still need to trust the (binary, closed) application. Ignoring the\nmetadata issue completely for now.\n\n~~~\nrtkwe\n>The next version of WhatsApp sends unencrypted data again. >WhatsApp encrypts\nfor your recipient just fine, but also encrypts the same message for the great\nFacebook skeleton key.\n\nBoth of these can and would show up in an analysis of the code.\n\n------\nsleepychu\nweb.whatsapp.com still works, so clearly it's possible for something outside\nmy phone to gain access to my phone generated keys. That doesn't seem\nbackdoorable to me /s.\n\n~~~\npfg\nWhatsApp Web communicates directly with your phone. You have to authorize the\nsession from within the app. Communication between your browser and the app is\nend-to-end encrypted.\n\n~~~\nsleepychu\nI hadn't thought about re-encrypting the messages for end to end communication\nwith the browser so it's a plus that the phone doesn't have to give away its\nkeys _but_ there exists a mechanism for the phone to retransmit the messages,\nbecause we can't see the source we have no idea if there's a way for WhatsApp\nto trigger this remotely and as such create a back door.\n\n~~~\npfg\nThe existence of this feature has no implications on the question of whether\nor not there's a backdoor in the client. The current implementation requires\napproval by the _client_. A hypothetical backdoor could be anywhere, and you\nwouldn't know about it unless you check the bytecode.\n\n------\ntinus_hn\nThis is quite a big win for privacy. If you use Whisper, Tor or most of the\nother privacy minded communications mediums, you are in a small minority so\nyou stand out. Because a very large part of the population is using Whatsapp\nthis allows you to communicate privately without standing out.\n\n------\ndarkhorn\nWhat happens when I log on to WhatsApp Web? How they send my private key from\nmy phone to my web browser?\n\n~~~\nnickik\nThey do not. They create a e2e connection between your phone and your browser.\nEverything goes threw the phone.\n\n~~~\nosweiller\nTo post a follow-up comment, what happens when you lose your phone, or simply\nmove to a new phone? Presumably you've lost all of your private keys (I\nmean...obviously they must not upload them or this would all be farce),\nmessage history, etc, right?\n\n~~~\ntinus_hn\nYour message history is lost unless you back it up yourself. Your contacts\nreceive a message stating you changed the key once you send them a message or\nthey send you one. I'd presume any messages that were sent before you\nactivated the new key, but not received yet, cannot be decrypted any more.\n\nI do not know how this works with push messages though; it used to be such\nthat these can only be sent as-is so the server would need the key.\n\n------\nantihero\nHas the WhatsApp code been audited by trusted third parties? I know it's not\nquite as good as it being open source, but if we had people we trust audit it,\nthat seems like a good step. Also, disassembly and teardown.\n\nI think something this big needs people to really really scrutinise it.\n\n------\ngcr\nHow does the WhatsApp encryption model differ from Apple's iMessage encryption\nmodel?\n\n\\- In iMessage, Apple handles key distribution, so if I'm in your contacts, I\nknow the keys for all of your Apple devices. (I'm guessing the private key\nstays on the device, but I'm not sure).\n\n\\- iMessage seems to provide no way of verifying someone's key fingerprint.\n\n\\- On the other hand, whatsApp seems to force you and your contacts to meet at\na Starbucks so you can distribute and sign each other's public keys.\nInteresting.\n\nWhat other differences are there?\n\n(to make this easier, let's assume that both companies implemented the system\nthe way they claim they did)\n\n~~~\nosweiller\nThe app automatically distributes public keys, to my knowledge, and the QR\ncode is merely a validation mechanism to ensure that no MITM is substituting\nkeys.\n\nThe EFF seems to think the QR code thing is the bee's knees. In practice, I\nwould wager less than 0.1% of users will make use of that functionality. It's\nmore of a placebo.\n\n~~~\ntinus_hn\nIf there is widespread snooping even a small percentage of users verifying\ntheir keys will expose it.\n\n~~~\nosweiller\nIf there was widespread snooping, it would imply either WhatsApp collaboration\nor compromise, in which case the app could show whatever they wanted it to\nshow (or they could just upload all of the private keys, which they may very\nwell do in any case).\n\nHowever I was talking about QR code versus the widely known fingerprint. The\nEFF seems to think the QR code is just a huge improvement, but I just don't\nthink it will see any usage at all over the fingerprint, but instead it\nprovides the illusion of security ala \"look there's this complex thing...and\nsome people must be validating it...so I'll just trust it.\"\n\n------\nmark_l_watson\nFantastic news - gets us closer to most Internet traffic being encrypted.\n\nI have seen complaints that meta data is not hidden, that is, there is a\nrecord with who you communicate with.\n\nI might have an unpopular opinion here, but I don't think that having the meta\ndata unhidden is in general such a bad thing. I am happy having my\ncommunications secure but having who I communicate with potentially public\nknowledge. Fair compromise.\n\nFor whistleblowers, protecting metadata is important, so use something else.\n\n------\ndaveloyall\nGarden path questions:\n\nWhat's the easiest way to get a copy of your own WhatsApp private key from\nyour phone?\n\nWhat's the easiest way to get a copy of your friend's WhatsApp private key\nfrom their phone?\n\nWhat if the phone is rooted, or you can root it?\n\nWhat if they won't hand you the phone?\n\nWhat if they are on your specially built wifi?\n\nWhat if you have a fake cell tower?\n\nWhat if you have a real cell tower?\n\nWhat if you have a different makes/models of phone?\n\nfor fun: s/phone/debian laptop/g\n\n------\nnxzero\nGet the sense that EFF didn't even talk to any of the parties involved before\nposting their review, and to me, given how much weight they carry in the\ncommunity, it's unclear why they didn't.\n\n------\ndarkhorn\nWhy some people got \"you are end to end encrypted with your friend\" while\ntheir same friend got \"the connection is not end to end encrypted with your\nfriend\"?\n\n~~~\nmrSugar\nBecause one end in this \"end-to-end\" is you, and the other is Facebook's\ngovernment-facing data storage.\n\n------\njsprogrammer\nIs there a way to build and deploy whatsapp from source?\n\n------\nsickbeard\nWhat? How can you give it 6/7 stars if you don't even know what holes are in\nthe code?\n\n~~~\nevgen\nPerhaps by knowing that the distributed binaries will be disassembled and\ninspected? The same way it would have to be examined even if there was a\nGitHub repo out there claiming to be the code used?\n\n~~~\nosweiller\nYou've made this claim multiple times now. Do you really honestly believe that\ndisassembled binary code sees the same scrutiny or gained confidence that open\nsource code does? Have you ever analyzed disassembled code?\n\nIt is non-trivial. No one is going to disassemble this and say \"Yup, it\npasses\". That doesn't happen.\n\n~~~\nevgen\nAs a matter of fact I am certain they will be dissassembled and examined. For\nthe bounty, for the PR and noteriety if you can find a bug or be the one to\nstar in the \"<big company> screwed up or lied to us\" story of the week. In\ngeneral, for lots of reasons that seem to motivate a select crowd who have the\nskills to actually pull this off.\n\nIf you have the source code it makes the disassembly and examination of whatis\ndistributed a lot easier, but it is not a necessary pre-requisite.\n\n------\nsschueller\nI hope I can get my friends to switch to actor IM [1] or some other open\nsource solution that doesn't suck. In the end all these chat systems turn into\ncrap full of ads even if they aren't spying on you.\n\n[1] [https://actor.im/](https://actor.im/)\n\n~~~\nedhelas\nSeems centralized and doesn't rely on a standard. If I were you, I would\nforget this solution as well.\n\n~~~\nnickik\nYou can set up your own server. They want to devlop a federated protocol. So\nthey are the only ones that actually have stated a goal to devlop something\nlike that. OWS would probebly do it as well if they had the time and money.\n\nThey already have the best clients in the buissness, if they manage to get the\ncrypto and the federation right, it would be fantastic. They also have some\nsupport for using their web and desktop clients with email. I wish the Actor\nguys the best of luck.\n\n~~~\nedhelas\n\"They want to develop a federated protocol\". There is already one, it's a IETF\nstandard, deployed accross the globe and have already hundreds of clients and\nseveral serious servers : XMPP.\n\n~~~\nnickik\nI just restated what they said, if you are so convinced that XMPP would solve\nall their problems, then I suggest you go to them.\n\nI dought that they don't know already [1], and I also think they have put a\nlot of thought into spending their money on devloping everything again.\n\n[1] [https://github.com/actorapp/actor-\nplatform](https://github.com/actorapp/actor-platform)\n\nActor Messaging platform, modern replacement for Jabber/ejabberd\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nQuantum Algorithm Implementations for Beginners - lainon\nhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1804.03719\n======\nhannob\nThe way this starts seems to tell a story that I feel is quite disconnected\nfrom reality:\n\n> As quantum computers have become available to the general public, the need\n> has arisen to train a cohort of quantum programmers\n\nIt seems to peddle the idea that in a few years we'll replace all normal\ncomputers with quantum computers. I don't think this is even remotely\nplausible.\n\nIt's still an open question whether quantum computers that do anything useful\nat all are feasible. But even if they are - we can safely assume that for a\nlong time they will be expensive devices, running in complex physical\nexperiments, that will be reserved for very special needs.\n\nFrom all we know QCs aren't magically faster computers that are suitable to do\neverything better. There are just a few very special algorithms where QCs have\nan advantage. That's certainly interesting, but even if it would be possible -\nand that's a big if - it's unlikely anyone will add them to our smartphones\nanytime soon, simply because there's no need for that.\n\nIf quantum computers arrive we'll need a handful of specialized programmers\nthat are familiar with their algorithms. But not masses of them.\n\n~~~\nblauditore\nI think the relevance of potential quantum computer programming can be\ncompared to that of GPU programming: It's useful to solve particular problems\nwith much more power than with classic approaches, but for most applications\nthere's no gain. So most software will probably continue to run on classic\ncomputers as today.\n\n~~~\nhannob\nI think use of QCs will be orders of magnitude lower than use of GPUs.\n\n~~~\ngiomasce\nI suppose people thought the same of classical computers when the ordinary way\nto carry out computations was to deliver them to arrays of people sitting at\ndesks. Now, history is not forced to repeat itself, but it has happened\nfrequently enough so that it might be premature to exclude that QC will at\nsome point be generally available and used. I agree that having a lot of\nprogrammers is not an immediate need, though.\n\n------\nvtomole\nThis paper is a good example of how much progress we've had in quantum\nalgorithm research since the dawn Quantum information science. Here is another\ngood survey for people who want to learn more about quantum algorithms [0].\n\nFrom the abstract, it seems like a resource I wish I had when I was starting\nto get into quantum computation.\n\n[0]: [https://math.nist.gov/quantum/zoo/](https://math.nist.gov/quantum/zoo/)\n\n------\ngiomasce\nI like the idea, but I must admit that (with my background of a mathematics\nresearcher, but almost completely ignorant of quantum physics and quantum\nphysicists' notations) it is rather difficult to understand. In particular the\nbra-ket notation (which to me is already difficult due to its breaking the\nobvious way to match parentheses, but this might just require some time) seems\nto be used inconsistently across the paper (I believe that different authors\nwrote about the different algorithms, and the variations are rather evident\nand unhelpful). There are some formulas of which I cannot make any sense (last\nexample I found: in the definition of QFT inside Shor's algorithm, the k\ninside the ket ranges from 0 to N-1, while according to the introduction it\nshould range on all the combinations of a certain number of qubits).\n\nAlso, some authors seem to take for granted some concepts (such as the\nproperties of the quantum gates) that are not explained anywhere and not\nobvious to me.\n\nStill, an interesting read.\n\n~~~\nmathgenius\nI'm not sure if this is open to the public yet, but if you really are\ninterested you could post your questions here:\n\n[https://quantumcomputing.stackexchange.com/](https://quantumcomputing.stackexchange.com/)\n\n------\nneuxenian\nI've started reading some quantum computing texts, and dabbled a bit with\nIBM's quantum computing experience, and this is where I get stuck:\n\nI can follow the basics at the level of \"gates\" or circuits -- a lot of what's\nout there is essentially quantum assembly language or something of that sort.\n\nBut what about interfacing classical and quantum computing? Is the idea that\nyou just run something from start to finish on a quantum computer? Or that you\ntake the output from a classical system and input into a quantum system?\n\nSome of the things I'd be most interested in with a quantum computer seem to\nrequire an interface with a classical computer, or at least raise the issue,\nwhich generally isn't addressed by these sorts of pieces. It's sort of assumed\nthat you're programming whatever it is you're interested in at the level of\nmachine/assembly code.\n\n~~~\nwzeng\nThis is a great question! I've worked a lot on this topic and its crucial to\nunderstanding how quantum computers will be used in the near term.\n\nWhile I don't have an easy answer for the high level interface, the assembly\nlevel interface between quantum and classical computing is also important. If\nyou're interested in that then you should check out this paper where we\ndescribe Quil, an instruction set architecture for hybrid quantum/classical\ncomputing based on shared memory:\n[https://arxiv.org/abs/1608.03355](https://arxiv.org/abs/1608.03355)\n\nThis instruction set is the basis for Rigetti Computing's Forest quantum\nprogramming environment:\n[https://www.rigetti.com/forest](https://www.rigetti.com/forest)\n\n~~~\nneuxenian\nThanks for these links--these are interesting and probably come closest to\naddressing my questions of anything I've seen so far.\n\n------\nmcguire\nPage 9-10:\n\n\" _Fig. 2 shows the circuit that was designed to fit the ibmqx4 quantum\ncomputer. The circuit consists of state preparation (first two time slots), a\nToffoli gate (the next 13 time slots), followed by the 2 | ψ 〉〈 ψ |− I\noperator (7 time slots), and measurement (the final 2 time slots). We use q\n[0] (in the register notation from Fig. 2) as the ancillary bit, q , and q [1]\nand q [2] as x 1 and x 2 . Note that the quantum computer imposes constraints\non the possible source and target of CNOT gates. Some care must be taken to\nchoose the appropriate qubits to represent each variable so that the necessary\nCNOT gates can be implemented. It is possible to circumvent some of the\nlimitations in the source and target of the CNOT gates (i.e., the source and\ntarget can be reversed), but this requires increasing the depth of the\ncircuit. Our initial implementation utilized a Toffoli gate that used such an\napproach, but the circuit was significantly deeper and the results were\ninferior to the results with the circuit in Fig. 2._\n\n\" _Using the simulator, this circuit produces the correct answer x = (1 , 1)\nevery time. We executed 1,024 shots using the ibmqx4 and x = (1 , 1) was\nobtained 662 times with (0 , 0) , (0 , 1) , and (1 , 0) occurring 119, 101,\nand 142 times respectively. This indicates that the probability of obtaining\nthe correct answer is approximately 65%. The deviation between the simulator\nand the quantum computer is apparently due to the depth of the circuit\ncombined with the approximate nature of the quantum computer. We note that our\nfirst implementation of this algorithm which used a Toffoli gate with a depth\nof 23 (compared to a depth of 13 here) obtained the correct answer 48% of the\ntime._ \"\n\n\" _We designed a circuit that implements an instance of Grover’s algorithm for\nan IBM 5-qubit quantum computer. The outcome was successful in the sense that\nthe quantum computer successfully completed the search with a probability that\nis appreciably greater than 50%. However, the 65% success rate that was\nobtained is much lower than the 100% that is obtained by the simulator. Deeper\nand more complex oracles would likely produce less satisfactory results, and\nthis is in line with our experience implementing the oracle with a deeper\nimplementation of the Toffoli gate._ \"\n\nI'm still not sure how measurement of quantum computing results works, and\nthis isn't helping.\n\n------\nmlevental\nthis isn't related to the paper's content but why in the world are there so\nmany authors? i mean if it were an experimental paper i wouldn't be surprised\nbut this is theory (or at the least exposition).\n\n~~~\nosti\nIt’s a survey paper on many different algorithms so they could have each\nwritten parts of it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Legal implications of launching a file sharing service? - mantazer\n\nI&#x27;m looking towards launching a file sharing service, and I was wondering what I&#x27;d be getting myself into, legally.<p>Am I responsible for users using my service to share illegal and malicious files?<p>What else should I be worried about?\n======\ndeclan\nYes, you should know what you're getting into. Especially after the U.S.\nSupreme Court's Grokster decision. I posted a pseudocode liability IF-ELSEIF-\nELSE tree here a few weeks ago (replace \"distributing\" with \"offering\"):\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8455648](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8455648)\n\nNote the above only discusses copyright liability, and not other potential\nlegal issues.\n\n------\nMalcolmDiggs\nI'm no attorney, but here are some stories you should look into:\n\n* MegaUpload\n\n* Kazaa\n\n* Limewire\n\n* Napster\n\n* PirateBay\n\n------\nahazred8ta\n(A) a lot,\n\n(B) yes, and\n\n(C) going any further without being an actual paid client of an intellectual\nproperty lawyer\n\n(D) see [https://www.eff.org/wp/iaal-what-peer-peer-developers-\nneed-k...](https://www.eff.org/wp/iaal-what-peer-peer-developers-need-know-\nabout-copyright-law)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWho Cares? Crowdsourcing Your News Intake - johnkary\nhttp://johnkary.net/who-cares-crowdsourcing-your-news-intake/\n\n======\nsmoody\ndon't you see any irony in writing that post and then posting it to a news\naggregation site? it's very much a \"do as i say, not as i do\" post.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMore young men dropping out of job market to spend time in an alternate reality - zerogvt\nhttps://www.1843magazine.com/features/escape-to-another-world\n======\nSileni\nIs anyone really surprised?\n\n\"We're not going to pay you enough to ever actually own anything, so you'll\nhave to rent most things for the rest of your life, and you're still going to\nbe living paycheck to paycheck.\"\n\n\"Gee, maybe I'll find something else to do than maintain the institutions you\nrigged against me because you didn't want to invest in your own retirement.\"\n\n~~~\nthrowaway77384\nCouldn't agree more.\n\nI have been an avid gamer all my life. In the recent decade it's taken a hit,\nas life (work, moving in with the gf, etc.) got in the way.\n\nUltimately, though, I come back to gaming. I play fewer games, as their\nquality overall has been affected by capitalism's relentless pursuit to ruin\neverything in the name of profits, but there are still plenty of good titles\nleft.\n\nI have come to the realisation that nothing else in life gives me the kind of\nhappiness and peace of mind as gaming does. It's about as good as the most\neffective drugs I've known and that's saying quite something (certainly\nhealthier too).\n\nWhen I play games, I have something to focus on, while simultaneously\nrewarding the part of my brain involved in learning and accomplishment. It's a\nkiller mixture I've fostered since I was a toddler pretty much, so it hooks\ninto something very primal, deep down.\n\nThe funny thing is, that gaming has gone from the thing reject-nerds used to\ndo, to a thing that's broadly socially accepted. So nowadays I can finally\njust happily admit that I enjoy games.\n\nWhat I do not admit is, that almost anything I do in life is so I can play\nmore games and ultimately, I don't mind, because that's where I have found\nmore happiness than anywhere else.\n\nThe only thing that comes remotely close is the stability I get from a healthy\nfamily life living with my girlfriend, who loves gaming just as much.\n\nGoing to work, the forced socialising required to hold down the job, etc. is\nall just a means to do more gaming. If I could disappear into a virtual world\nfull-time, I would.\n\n~~~\nzerogvt\nI don't understand (and always disapprove anyway) the downvoting. Fella above\nis contributing an honest point of view that actually adds a lot to the\nunderstanding of the situation. If anything s/he should be upvoted.\n\n------\njungler\nGames offer a degree of empowerment and security to anyone feeling\ndowntrodden: it's no surprise that they come entangled with other life issues.\nTo deal with anything in the real world, you have to summon the energy to get\nup and do tasks, make calls, send emails and hold meetings, and worst of all,\nspend your limited money on something. If you're already depressed, even\nmildly so, you will have trouble reaching the \"activation threshold\" needed to\ndo any task.\n\nWith an investment in a game, you pay for the game and the equipment once, and\ncan then have a multitude of experiences with no financial consequence.\nNegative elements have been guardrailed and smoothed out for you into minor\nirritants, allowing you to get through a day without experiencing stress,\npanic or anxiety even if your mind and mood are at a low level of resilience.\n\nWhat games often don't do is guide their players back into views and habits\nthat aid in overall life satisfaction. Most forms of human development involve\nstruggling with more and more things - but in a liberated sense, where you are\ntaking it on because you want to grow and challenge yourself. The escapist\nfantasy can't do that - which doesn't mean they shouldn't exist, but society\nis conflicted with how they should be used.\n\n------\nAIX2ESXI\nyeah, the majority of my male friends are addicted to gaming and living in an\nalternate reality; it is something I have struggled with as well. Though I\nhave always held a job and currently am enrolled in college in pursuit of my\nB.S. Comp sci degree, I would rather relax at home and game on my PS4/PC than\ngo out to bars or clubs. Every year I spend hundreds to thousands of dollars\non new games, hardware, monitors and whatever comforts that enhance that\nexperience.\n\nMany of us don't see the point in chasing marriage, higher education, careers,\nrelationships or being a homeowner. The dating game in most cities is abysmal,\nand the majority of attractive single ladies are high end escorts, sugar\nbabies and or gold diggers. There are many factors in society that has led to\nthat. Sure I can spend a thousand or two on a nice watch, but for what? I can\nget a high NUC PC and huge monitor for that price. The same applies to a\nluxury car, sure I can afford it, but I would rather walk, take the train/bus\nor uber, so that I space out and listen to podcasts, youtube or game while\ncommuting.\n\nPhillip Zimbardo wrote a recent book on the afflictions that young men are\nfacing today. It seems dauntless. Sometimes, I too ask myself if the chase is\nworth it. My gut feeling is that it's not.\n\n~~~\nwatwut\nIt is kind of interesting that you see two alternatives - drinking+clublife or\ngaming and not much else.\n\n~~~\nminkzilla\nI hear a baffling amount of this sentiment these days, and its not just\ngaming, though gaming is probably the most common. Do people see the only\nalternative to leaving their home as drinking at clubs / bars? or is it just\nan excuse and people don't really mean it ? I hear it enough that I don't\nreally think it is. Do people not know there are a plethora of social\nactivities that don't involve drinking?\n\n~~~\nwatwut\nMaybe it is that when are isolated long enough, you cease to know what people\nnormally do (not having occasion to observe it) and pop-entertainment reality\ntakes over in your mind.\n\nIsolation does that. And majority of population was never heavy clubbers or\nkeg drinkers. That was always only minority of people despite being shown in\nmovies as norm.\n\n------\ngurpreet-\nI was addicted to gaming in my teens, often staying up late nights till 4am.\nI'm 100% sure if I'd have stayed playing games I would have destroyed my\ncareer. I understand the allure of games. I understand the buzz of fading into\na world where you can be anyone or anything.\n\nI came to the realisation one night that I was wasting my life away. That\ngaming was an escape from reality. I stopped gaming completely because I felt\nlike I was missing out on what the world had to offer.\n\nAfter I stopped gaming a lot of things changed for the better. I became\nhappier, healthier and made more friends in real life than I had ever before.\n\nGaming addiction should be spoken about more.\n\n------\nGaryNumanVevo\nGames have a really well defined goal-reward structure. \"Do this X times and\nget Y\". If you get a job, your path to success is nebulous. Learning new\nthings is hard, getting outside your comfort zone is hard.\n\nCombined with slight depression, it's really easy to see video games\ndominating all aspects of someone's life.\n\n~~~\nmrgreenfur\nAgreed. They are very comfortable and it's super easy to feel good about\nexisting in the confined parameters. OPs attitude sounds a lot like \"we've\nstopped trying and decided to let the games win\". Rallying against the\n'opposite' (opposite sex, or perceived successful men, 'jocks') seems like a\ndefense mechanism that the group reinforces so that they don't have to face\ntheir own circumstance / fears.\n\nI've fallen into it a bit in the past and it's easy to get bitter and\nisolated.\n\nI think the only way out is to turn off the games and try something different.\n\n------\nm0llusk\nAll this focus on gaming could be backwards. The young guy I know who games\nall day instead of working is always sending out resumes. None of his jobs\nlasts very long but he does well while they last. This labor market has failed\nyoung people and not everyone is going to respond by founding concerns of\ntheir own. Its not the games, its the economy.\n\n------\nherogreen\n[2017]\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13890782](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13890782)\nStill very interesting though.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nStudies.Show – 140 character summaries of interesting research papers - brahmwg\nhttp://studies.show/\n======\ntedmiston\nGreat work. What's it built with?\n\nP.S. Reminds me of (a slightly more serious version of) the wonderful Tumblr\nblog \"lol my thesis\" ([http://lolmythesis.com/](http://lolmythesis.com/)).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nUnfair comparisons - bhauer\nhttp://tiamat.tsotech.com/unfair-comparisons\n\n======\nsker\nBenchmark Nazis will always complain about _any_ benchmark, no matter what.\nDon't let them dissuade you from continuing work on this amazing project.\n\nPersonally, this project has prompted me to change my career path from C# to\nsomething else, due to the abysmal performance of ASP.NET. I'm still waiting\nto see more tests, especially the asp-stripped one, and hopefully some\nOWIN/Katana in the near future. But for now, I'm seriously considering\nJS/Node.js or Scala/JVM as my main development platform. So thanks.\n\nIs there any date for the next round?\n\n~~~\nMalcolmEvershed\nI worked on improving the aspnet (on Windows) results and I committed aspnet-\nstripped (based on @pdonald's aspnet tests) and HttpListener.\n\nAs that committer, I have to ask: Why would you change your career path due to\nsupposed 'abysmal performance' reported on a website?\n\nKeep in mind that the 'abysmal performance' of many of the frameworks can\nstill handle millions of requests per day. Plus, many of the 'slower'\nframeworks have other development benefits like ease of development, community\necosystem, static type checking, etc.\n\nThe reason I replied is because I'm considering jumping from aspnet to a\n'slower' framework like django and I'm not basing my decisions solely on the\nresults of this collaborative benchmark where I don't even know if experts\nhave tuned the results, and where I don't know _why_ the results are 'poor'.\n\n~~~\npekk\nYou can actually know that experts often haven't tuned the results because\nmany PRs are being ignored ever since the beginning of this project. There is\na pretty clear agenda.\n\n~~~\nbhauer\nSay what? Which of these [1] is old and being ignored?\n\n[1]\n[https://github.com/TechEmpower/FrameworkBenchmarks/pulls](https://github.com/TechEmpower/FrameworkBenchmarks/pulls)\n\n------\nmdasen\nThe area that I would be the most critical of the benchmarks is that it's\nunclear whether frameworks that use process based concurrency are being set up\nwell. With frameworks that use process based concurrency, generally one wants\nto run as many processes as can fit in RAM with a nice amount of headroom.\nThat way, when one app process is waiting on I/O, another will be handling\nanother request (and the operating system handles the context switching).\n\nRight now, the setup.py for Django specifies that it will create 3 * NCPU\nworker processes. On the i7, that would probably be 24 processes and possibly\nusing an eighth of the RAM in the box. Similarly, for Rails, the Unicorn\nconfiguration specifies 8 worker processes (one process per GB of RAM)\nregardless of whether it's on EC2 or the i7 (while Django goes from 6 to 24\nprocesses depending on the box it's on since it's 3 * NCPU). For all we know,\nthe CPU usage might be around 25% and the RAM usage even less. As such, it's\nhard to determine if the speed achieved is because of the limitations in the\nframework or whether the box is simply being under-utilized due to sub-optimal\nconfiguration.\n\nIf you're going to do another around, more than any other changes, I think a\nview of the CPU and RAM usage would really help - if for no other reason than\nto show that the test is accurate. Right now, I have questions about whether\nthe process concurrency frameworks are well set-up. Why would Django benefit\nfrom getting 4x the number of worker processes on the i7, but not Rails? Is 24\nprocesses utilizing the i7 box with Django? CPU and RAM numbers would help\nprovide answers.\n\n~~~\nbhauer\nTo the degree feasible given the breadth of submissions we've received, we\nhave worked to ensure that frameworks that use process-level concurrency are\nconfigured to in fact use multiple processes. See question #5 from our\nquestions section [1].\n\nThat said, across the board, inclusive of both process-concurrent and thread-\nconcurrent frameworks, we never rule out the possibility of a configuration\nglitch. We've asked that any subject-matter experts for any framework\nperceived as underperforming review the code and configuration. To date, we've\nreceived a great deal of pull requests to deal with many such matters. On the\nother hand, very few such tweaks have had a significant impact on performance\ndata.\n\nWe do intend to capture CPU, network, and IO utilization in the future. For\nthe time being, we invite fans/SMEs to review the code, run the tests on their\nown multi-core machine and/or EC2 instances and determine if there is room for\nimprovement.\n\n[1]\n[http://www.techempower.com/benchmarks/#section=motivation](http://www.techempower.com/benchmarks/#section=motivation)\n\n------\nfrik\nThanks for compiling the Web Framework Benchmarks!\n[http://www.techempower.com/benchmarks/#section=data-r6](http://www.techempower.com/benchmarks/#section=data-r6)\n\nI discovered some interesting and speedy platforms like OpenResty. And PHP\nperformance for multiple queries isn't too bad either - top five.\n\nFor round #7, I suggest an addition of the HipHop-PHP (hhvm) Facebook's speedy\nopen source PHP implementation. [https://github.com/facebook/hiphop-\nphp/wiki](https://github.com/facebook/hiphop-php/wiki)\n\n~~~\ntmister\nAFAIK hhvm doesn't have namespace support yet. So Symfony2, laravel, ZF2 can\nnot be run in it. But basic PHP performance would skyrocket I assume.\n\n~~~\nfrik\nHHVM is moving fast - Namespace support arrived. I heard reflection\ncompatibility with PHP.net needs some work. They are fixing bugs that prevent\ntop PHP project from working.\n\n------\nmorgo\nI think it would be interesting if respective technology vendors could be\nmotivated to tune the configuration, and be bound by some rules. eWeek did a\nDB shootout like this 10 years ago, and (as the rumor goes) led to the\ncreation of the MySQL query cache to specifically beat the benchmark.\n\nGetting the various vendors involved would require a lot of clout though :(\n\nHere is some commentary on the MySQL configuration:\n[https://github.com/TechEmpower/FrameworkBenchmarks/blob/mast...](https://github.com/TechEmpower/FrameworkBenchmarks/blob/master/config/my.cnf)\n\n* innodb_log_flush_at_trx_commit is not specified, so it's going to default to 1 (durable). This is a little unfair, since other databases won't do this.\n\n* innodb_buffer_pool_size isn't specified, so it's going to default to 128M. A database that uses mmap files will have an atvantage here - since it can automatically use free memory and won't require this level of tuning.\n\n* I thought it was fair to disable query cache though :)\n\n~~~\nbhauer\nActually, mostly in an informal matter, we have in fact received many test\nimplementations from maintainers of frameworks directly. If you go through the\npull requests, you may recognize some folks. I don't want to name drop though.\n\nI had in passing asked a few if they would be willing to apply an \"official\"\nindicator next to their rows. But the response had been uniformly \"not\ninterested.\" Maybe later I'll ask again. :)\n\nThanks for the notes on the MySQL configuration. There are a lot of gray areas\nin setting up the configuration, but we do seek recommendations such as these.\nAside from concessions we've made to the matter of running a benchmark, the\noverriding goal for configuration is that \"production-class\" configuration is\npreferred.\n\nI'm not an expert at InnoDB tuning, so you might tell me that\n\"innodb_log_flush_at_trx_commit = 1\" is not typical for production\nenvironments, in which case I'd want to make a change. But if it _is_ typical\nfor production, I'd like to keep it as-is.\n\nIf the point is that other databases do not have something comparable, that\nspeaks to the point of the linked blog entry. These things are not directly\ncomparable, feature-by-feature. We would like Postgres and MongoDB to be\ndeployed in a typical \"production-class\" configuration, but that may or may\nnot be feature-identical with MySQL.\n\n~~~\nrsynnott\nIn many production environments where a few lost writes in the event of OS\ncrash aren't entirely the end of the world, innodb_log_flush_at_trx_commit is\nset to 2. In some it will even be set to 0 (in that instance, data is lost in\nthe event of MySQL crash). If you care deeply about every write definitely\nhitting disk in a recoverable manner, you set it to 1, but at that point you\nmay have to do other stuff (is the OS lying to you? Is your RAID controller\nlying to you? Is your disk lying to you?)\n\n> If the point is that other databases do not have something comparable, that\n> speaks to the point of the linked blog entry.\n\nOther databases do have something comparable. It looks like MongoDB actually\ndoesn't, but that's highly unusual. Postgres does (I believe it's on by\ndefault), Riak does, Voldemort does (one could make an argument that it's\nsafer to leave it off in the latter two cases than elsewhere).\n\n~~~\nbhauer\nIf I am parsing you right, it sounds like \"innodb_log_flush_at_trx_commit = 2\"\nis what you would recommend for a majority of production environments.\n\n~~~\nmorgo\nDurability will typically be very expensive to implement unless you have a\nfast SSD or RAID controller with NVRAM, so it will skew the test considerably\nif you make MySQL offer it, but say MongoDB does not have to.\n\nBut I do recommend it for the majority of people. Shameless plug:\n[http://www.tocker.ca/2013/06/19/deciding-whether-or-not-\nto-m...](http://www.tocker.ca/2013/06/19/deciding-whether-or-not-to-make-\nmysql-durable.html)\n\nAlso: [http://dom.as/2013/08/09/on-durability/](http://dom.as/2013/08/09/on-\ndurability/) (Domas works on MySQL@Facebook).\n\n~~~\nrsynnott\nIncidentally, on the EBS durability thing, it's addressed here:\n[https://forums.aws.amazon.com/thread.jspa?threadID=27590](https://forums.aws.amazon.com/thread.jspa?threadID=27590)\n\\- An fsync isn't a guarantee, or wasn't in 2013, but they estimate the risk\nof loss after fsync to be very low.\n\nCan't find anything on whether their newer SSD-providing instances guarantee\ndurability, though.\n\n~~~\nmorgo\nThat's really cool. Thanks!\n\n------\njanerik\nA moving background makes it easy to read! Thumbs up!\n\n~~~\nbhauer\nIndeed! Glad you like it.\n\nJokes aside, if you hate it, you can turn it off at the bottom right. Maybe\nsome day I'll disable it by default. But for now, I kind of enjoy these\nresponses. Edit: very well, it's disabled by default. :)\n\n~~~\nMister_Snuggles\nIt does a fantastic job of pegging one CPU!\n\n~~~\nbhauer\nYeah, I've noticed that Chrome is especially bad since it still does very\nlittle to GPU-accelerate SVG. Frankly, one reason I had left it enabled for so\nlong was to make a point about Chrome's bad GPU+SVG support. Why should it be\nnecessary to use the CPU to move a semi-circle?\n\nBut in any case, I'd rather not distract from the points I'm trying to make in\nthe blog entry, so the background is now off by default.\n\n~~~\nrsynnott\nWhere does it actually run well? It doesn't peg a core on Safari, but\nscrolling still feels laggy and unpleasant. I initially assumed you'd\nimplemented your own inertial scrolling, as with old Google mobile sites.\n\n~~~\nbhauer\nIt runs well on all my PCs, which admittedly are all Windows. It's just an\nSVG+SMIL animation. My opinion is that in 2013, it should run entirely on the\nGPU. But I acknowledge that's not the case as much as I think it should be.\n\nOn my box, it uses ~2.1% CPU and ~16% GPU in Aurora.\n\n~~~\nrsynnott\nAh, yep; it actually works quite acceptably in Firefox. Very unpleasant in\nChrome and Safari, though.\n\n------\nqwerta\nBecause benchmarks are usually just useless. It is like what has better\nacceleration on free fall? Race car or truck?\n\n------\nAsymetricCom\nSince we're throwing fruit onto the stand..\n\nI'd love to see Perl Mason on here (the benchmarks)\n\nMake the DB something CPAN like tie::Storable and load it in RAM. Lets see how\nthat stands up XD\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: Teamodoro, pomodoro timer for teams - a12b\nhttp://teamodoro.com/\n\n======\na12b\nWe built Teamodoro because we figured out that the Pomodoro techniques works\nwell for individuals but not so much for a team. A team willing to use this\ntechnique must synchronize in order to prevent interruptions. Interruptions\nkill productivity and require a significant recovery period.\n\nI'd love to get some feedback.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nGood navigation starts with good content organization  - one2many\nhttp://www.emediavitals.com/content/media-navigation-bar-design-content-classification\n\n======\none2many\nJust received an email from someone at my company with the link to a section\non nav bar design page:\n\n[http://www.emediavitals.com/content/navigation-bar-\ndesign-4-...](http://www.emediavitals.com/content/navigation-bar-\ndesign-4-part-primer)\n\nClicking on the first link to \"Good navigation starts with good content\norganization\" Took me to an 'article not found page'\n\nSomething about this site providing advice to newspapers is very odd...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nBlackberry captures 10.6% of US cell phone market - martythemaniak\nhttp://www.rcrnews.com/article/20080811/WIRELESS/799815845/-1/rss01\n\n======\nmartythemaniak\nI thought this was notable for several reasons.\n\n-This figure is for the entire cell phone market, not just the smartphone market.\n\n-There has been a lot of hype around the iPhone around the blogosphere (HN being no exception), yet the real-world figures are more telling. Despite what many may think, the iPhone isn't and won't be a BB killer (and vice versa).\n\n\\- The Blackberry is probably getting ignored by the HN/startup in favour of\niPhone apps. If you're doing something with mobile development, you probably\nshouldn't ignore a platform with a bigger market share and a far more capable\nAPI.\n\n~~~\ntstegart\nA bigger market share and more capable API doesn't matter if you don't have\nthe capital to make a business out of it. Sure, you can build a Blackberry\napp, but how would you sell it and get it in front of people without a lot of\nmoney spent on marketing and promotion? Blackberry apps don't usually make the\nfront page of TechCrunch.\n\nThe capital requirements for making an iPhone app are lower. $99 to be exact,\nat the lowest. And you get your app in front of millions of people while not\nhaving to worry about building out a website, getting users to that website,\nand accepting credit cards.\n\nIf you're a established mobile company, sure, ignoring the Blackberry would be\na bad move. But if you're a small shop or a programmer working in your spare\ntime, the advantages of the iPhone platform are hard to ignore.\n\nI'm not saying there isn't too much hype, but I think a lot of the hype is\nbecause developers sitting at home are saying to themselves \"I can do that\"\nwhen it comes to iPhone apps, but not when it comes to Blackberry apps.\n\n~~~\nstcredzero\nJust how hard would it be for BlackBerry to duplicate the important parts of\nthe AppStore? How about do that and lose the the obnoxious part, like setting\nup a standardized framework that's easy for developers to opt-in to, and not\nrequired?\n\n~~~\niigs\nThe real coup with the the iPhone is Apple's handling of the user's experience\nin the iPhone App store.\n\nBB certainly has the least retarded relationship with US carriers (especially\nnow that they're so big), but their old-world mindset of small crappy web\nportals reflects more on their history with the carriers and their tendency to\n\"eat their seed corn\" and over-monetize channels (pay to get your app listed\nand pay to download it? no thanks)\n\nOtherwise BB has the iPhone beat for indie developers -- the SDK is free to\ndownload and use, and you can transfer apps straight from your website to a\ntelephone. BB doesn't force themselves into the center of your transactions,\nwhich means as a developer you're free to do things like charge per month or\nper message, or distribute your app for free and allow people to buy it inside\nthe application itself.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWriting Skills - __Joker\nhttp://xkcd.com/1414/\n\n======\nthrowaway000002\nThe problem is that much like with Joyce, we'll end up with _Finnegans Wake_.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nGood-Bye Paper - Say Hello to Paperless Employment References - getreference\nhttp://www.getreference.co\n\n======\ngetreference\nGet Reference solves the problem around seeking employment references for\nemployers, by letting them obtain and manage paperless references. It also\nallows applicants to pro-actively seek and store employment references using\nour simple and easy-to-use platform.\n\n~~~\ntherobot24\nIs this really a _problem_ though? I mean this is clearly a _solution_ , but\nreferences are really just a few names and numbers an employer might call to\ndo a quick background check. There isn't really a need to save/manage/revisit\nthem after the hiring process is over.\n\n~~~\ngetreference\nThere are two aspects to it; Employer can use this single platform to request\nreferee details from new recruits and send the reference form at the click of\na button. The references can be deleted, no need to waste time chasing up past\nemployers, sending emails back and forth.\n\nApplicants, can proactively seek and store professional and social references,\nif employers request references they can share the stored references with\nemployers saving time.\n\n~~~\ntherobot24\nYou're still giving me solutions. I need you to spell out the problem.\n\nWhen i'm applying for a job, what problems do i encounter with my references\nthat you are solving?\n\nWhen i'm hiring what problems do i encounter when i receive an applicant's\nreferences that you are solving?\n\nThis is what i'm failing to understand.\n\n~~~\ngetreference\nThe problem is waste of time, energy and resources for both applicants and\nemployers.\n\nI am a recruiter myself and been working in HR for the past 10+ years and\nobtaining a reference is not as simple as you make it sound, which is a phone\ncall away.\n\nThere are many instances when ex employer quits a job, relocates, doesn't\nrespond to phone calls, hence the new employer and applicant both waste time\nchasing someone who is not available to provide a reference. Saving paperbased\nreferences is a very old method of safe keeping references, noone these days\ncarries a file of credentials when they go for interviews, hence, storing\npaperless references saves them the trouble and they can forward them to any\npotential employer.\n\nSimilar for the employer its a simple system, no need to engage in multiple\nemail exchanges or phone calls, simply use one simple platform, once the\nreference is done, save a pdf, or delete it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nIntroducing Projector - gotwalt\nhttps://www.projector.com\n\n======\nbb01100100\nGreat, a page full of words with no content.\n\n------\nminimaxir\nModern Silicon Valley is where the company's founders are the first thing a\nprospective customer sees on the product page.\n\n------\nsoyiuz\nprojector of empty possibilities\n\n------\njhirshon\nNice!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTried creating a node http client that's closer to english grammar - rvnlj\nhttps://github.com/ravenjohn/cuddle\n======\nbrudgers\nIf it meets the guidelines, this might make a good \"Show HN\".\n\nGuidelines:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nStatistical Mechanics: Entropy, Order Parameters, and Complexity (free ebook) - TriinT\nhttp://pages.physics.cornell.edu/sethna/StatMech/\n\n======\naswanson\nHumanity has generated too much information for me to absorb. I'll never be\nable to learn it all. There, I finally admitted it.\n\n~~~\nTriinT\nSame here :-( I would need a 1000 years to learn all the things and work on\nall the projects I would like to. Since I only have 50 years or so left (if I\nam lucky) on this 3rd rock from the Sun, I will have to choose the top 2% of\ncool things on my long list and stick to those...\n\n~~~\ntrapper\nThere's a startup idea there you know :P\n\n~~~\nTriinT\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methuselah_Mouse_Prize>\n\nI wish I were a mouse ;-)\n\n------\njackdawjack\nI've a print copy of this, the content is quite good but rather marred by the\nannoying typsetting everything is all jammed in right up to the marigns\n(something which is sadly true across this whole series of great books).\n\nThe problems however are absolutely fantastic, a great mix of computational\nand theoretical which go from half an hours fun to really unanswered problems.\nFun fun fun! I highly recommend trying them and referring to the text as\nneeded.\n\n~~~\nslackenerny\nEhh, memories… I have yet to finish that book.\n\nDirac said, _“follow mathematical idea wherever it leads”_. When I first\nopened ths book years ago, unpublished draft then, I just skimmed the ToC,\nchecked a few problems and then to my horror encountered that interesting\napproach to restricted three–body problem (nicely wrapped as the “Jupiter”\nproblem in the book). I was horrified because I had a lead on that too… and\nthere – it's all in textbooks. That situation allowed no relaxed wackiness in\nmy thinking about it anymore, I had to formulate my thoughts. ‘I need more\nmath’, I thought. When I finally digged out of that rabbit hole I found myself\nlearned in dynamical systems, ergodic theory, harmonic analysis, spectral\ntheory, operator algebras, homology, algebraic topology, and constructive\nrenormalization, and in numerical methods, symbolic dynamics, symbolic\nalgebra, Grobner bases and group cohomology and applied algebraic geometry,\nand then Hopf algebra of Connes–Kreimer computable renormalization and, uh,\nfollowed Connes the way up to motivic integration… (ok. ok. I'm done\nenumerating now) at which point I lost all interest in physics and turned\nmathematician.\n\nAll that not to mention intersection of algebra and topology of statistical\nmechanics with coding theory and infromation theory which led me to machine\nlearning (which is just statistics btw).\n\nI'm unsure what the moral is. That was not healthy. (OTOH, mathematicians have\nhigh life expectancy, routinely living up to 90, gauging from AMS Notices\nobituareis).\n\n------\nreader5000\nStat mech is basically the math of 'complex systems'. Evolution, neural\nprocesses, economics --- it's all coming out as stat mech in one way or\nanother. Thus familiarity with stat mech is important if you have any interest\nin these areas.\n\n------\nprofquail\nNothing like a little light reading before bed ;)\n\n/math guy\n\n~~~\nTriinT\nGive this one a try, too:\n\n<http://www.stanford.edu/~montanar/BOOK/book.html>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHachikō - shibafreenu\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachikō\n======\nsupernova87a\nIsn't it interesting how, when a dog shows such extreme and unquestioning\nloyalty, we find it so adorable and endearing. When a person shows such\nloyalty, it can almost be off-putting!\n\nIs it that people have so many hidden motivations you become suspicious, or\nworry about generating / reciprocating feelings of obligation, or end up\ndisappointing you after causing you to invest emotion?\n\nOr just that a \"simple\" animal can exhibit such complex behavior that we find\nespecially endearing?\n\n~~~\nfreeflight\n_> When a person shows such loyalty, it can almost be off-putting!_\n\nI don't think it's really as universal as that and depends a lot on the\ncultural norms and the specific manifestation of loyalty.\n\nA good example would be the common misconception of the Samurai ethos in\nWestern circles. Many people cite the Hagakure [0] and Bushido [1] like they\nare some kinds of manuals for a bad-ass Samurai making their own way through\nstrong principles, perfectly fitting the pop-culture depictions.\n\nWhen in reality, these books describe the Samurai as the most loyal retainer\nto his daimyo, who holds up his strict principles not out of vain/self-\nglorification, but because that was considered the best way to serve his\nmaster, which was considered the most important thing to them.\n\nIt's an ethos about loyalty to the point of self-sacrifice for the master's\nhonor, which doesn't hold up very well in our modern hyper-individualistic\ntimes.\n\n[0]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagakure](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagakure)\n\n[1]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushido:_The_Soul_of_Japan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushido:_The_Soul_of_Japan)\n\n~~~\nthe_af\nIt's important to note that the Hagakure and Bushido were late additions to\nSamurai culture -- the Hagakure in particular is a nostalgic idealization of a\nway of living that was almost lost by the time it was written -- and in many\nways are idealizations that were seldom followed by the actual warrior class.\nA bit like samurai fan-fiction!\n\nWestern circles often mistakenly believe the Hagakure truly embodies the\nSamurai spirit, when in practice most Samurai didn't follow it and weren't as\nselfless or honor-bound as the code would have you believe.\n\n~~~\nPsyladine\nYes, written by a wanna-be reflecting nostalgically on the past the way a\nromanticist today twirls a fedora for a time when 'men were men'.\n\n------\nbrenden2\nThere's a film adaptation of this (true) story, called Hachi[1]. Worth a watch\nif you like dogs. I think they actually used a Shiba for most of the puppy\nscenes, and the adult dog was an Akita.\n\nI've got a 2 y/o Shiba Inu, and she's pretty amazing. I've had several dogs in\nthe past, but a Shiba is nothing like other breeds. She's incredibly smart and\nhas more personality than I've ever known a dog to have.\n\n[1]:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachi:_A_Dog%27s_Tale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachi:_A_Dog%27s_Tale)\n\n~~~\nfreeflight\nOne of the few movies that actually made me cry.\n\n------\nolingern\nIf you live in Tokyo, you know that the statue of Hachiko-san is the default\nmeeting place / hang out spot for many Tokyoites in Shibuya\n\nI don't think there's any conscious symbolism around it today, but I wonder if\nthe trend of waiting there started off as an ode to Hachiko's loyalty and\nextending that to a friend you're meeting.\n\n~~~\nGuiA\nI suspect that any cute statue right outside of a major transit station would\nquickly become a de facto meeting point...\n\n~~~\nolingern\nTypically it's so crowded that it's impossible to find who you're meeting. So,\nI don't understand why people typically meet there other than tradition\n\n~~~\ndvcrn\nIt's not a tradition. People meet there because it's a spot everyone knows,\nright outside the station, with a ton of signs telling you where it is. If not\nHachiko people usually say \"let's meet at the green train\" which is another\nthing right next to the Hachiko statue and has no history about loyalty\nattached to it whatsoever.\n\n------\nnetsharc\nI've seen his statue outside Shibuya station, and also knew about the story,\nbut seeing the black and white pictures on that page hits me how Hachiko\nwasn't waiting in a neon-lit super-busy corner of Tokyo, surrounded by glass\nand concrete skyscrapers, it was a whole different world back then.\n\n------\nblahbhthrow3748\nWe have a pet Japanese Akita and he's extremely loyal and good at remembering\npeople. He freaks out when he sees his favourite people, even after years\napart.\n\n~~~\nfinestkludge\nDogs' ability to cling to long term memories like this is always amazing to\nme.\n\n------\nsmallnamespace\nProbably inspired the ending to a classic, sappy Futurama episode:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic_Bark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic_Bark)\n\n~~~\nfourier_mode\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachik%C5%8D#In_popular_cultur...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachik%C5%8D#In_popular_culture)\n\n------\nmilankragujevic\nInteresting coincidence, just yesterday I saw a video on Serbian TV about a\nsimilar case of a dog waiting for his owner, who had gone on a bus (as was the\nroutine) and died. The dog is still waiting for him, being fed and taken care\nof by nearby people, but refusing to be moved from that place.\n\nYou can see the video I captured here: [https://milankragujevic.com/uploads-\ncdn/310724819332445.mp4](https://milankragujevic.com/uploads-\ncdn/310724819332445.mp4)\n\n------\nvariaga\nSee also Greyfriars Bobby\n[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyfriars_Bobby](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyfriars_Bobby)\n\n------\nmlang23\nDoes anyone know how tths story actually gained public recognition? I mean,\nits a dog from 1925, and back then, people weren't posting pics all day and\nthe dog was likely also not featured in the daily TV news :-) Maybe thats a\nstupid question, but I still wonder.\n\n~~~\ncaligarn\nA journalist originally noticed the dog and reported on him, thus capturing\nthe imagination of the citizens of Tokyo.\n\n------\nfeintruled\nRationally I know the dog probably just got somewhat accidentally trained to\ngo the station at the same time and kept doing it (reinforced after his\nmaster's death by getting fed there) but that picture of the station staff all\nmourning the dying dog really got me!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n“Women invented computer science. WWhy are they behind?” - aaditya001\nhttps://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/519426/how-did-tech-become-so-male-dominated/?single_page=true\n======\nOxitendwe\n>Women invented computer science.\n\nPlease stop pinkwashing history. Women did not invent computer science. Also,\nthe gender gap only needs to be \"fixed\" if it is true that women have an equal\ninterest and potential in computer science, this has not been proven. The push\nfor more women in positions of power in tech (who will thus displace men, and\nknow to whom/what political faction they attribute their success) is a power\ngrab by the American left to seize control of a power and influential industry\nthey can use a tool to advance their interests. This is why there no real push\nfor gender equality in female-majority fields, or non-lucrative/influential\nmale-majority fields, e.g. offshore oil rigging or construction.\n\n------\npducks32\nI once had someone ask in a class of mine why CS is considered such a male\nsubject when all these women seem so influential (Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper,\nand many more) and the teacher responded: I wouldn't be concerned what other\npeople think now, I'd be more concerned with what you can do today. These\nwomen did incredible things when no one was paying attention. And I've always\nthought that was a great point. I have no doubt based on the stats that tech\nis male dominated but there are a ton of incredible women out there and\nhighlighting there stories is really important.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Review my site, nice-entity.com - shawn_allison\n\nhttp://www.nice-entity.com<p>Longtime reader, first time submitter.<p>I've just launched Nice Entity. Basically, it's a resource for web designers and developers to quickly and easily look up character references.<p>Yes, there are already a lot of sites out there that do this, but they either:<p>A) look awful, \nB) are poorly organized, \nC) not as complete as I hope my site is.<p>Any feedback and/or critique would be most welcome.<p>Thanks in advance!\n======\nugh\nI would change the hover color. This will not really be a problem for many\nusers, but with the default OS X selection color – combined with your hover\ncolor – entity selections are very hard to see. Since many will want to copy\nthe entities from your site this could be problematic. You could change the\nhover color to grey or something like that. (This is less a problem with your\nsite and more one with OS X behavior: selection colors shouldn’t be hard to\nsee, no matter the background.)\n\nOne more thing: It really breaks my heart that this site – of all sites – uses\nwrong quotation marks. It’s “Find your character!”, not \"Find your character!\"\n(Whether or not it is appropriate to use quotation marks for claims like this\nis certainly also debatable.)\n\n~~~\nshawn_allison\nThanks very much for bringing this issue of the OS X selection colour to my\nattention! Based on your feedback I am going to change the table hover colour\nto be a shade of grey.\n\nI also feel mortified that, of all things, I did not wrap the site's tagline\nin proper quotation marks. This will be remedied!\n\nThanks again for your feedback.\n\n------\nmbrubeck\nIt looks great! A search box seems like an obvious useful feature (even though\nthe dataset is small enough to browse through for the most part).\n\nEdited to add: Shouldn't &quot; and &apos; appear somewhere? Yes, real\nquotation marks should be preferred in typography, but straight quotes are\nextremely common and sometimes appropriate (e.g. in source code) and it's\nnecessary to escape them inside of HTML/XML attributes. And yes, I know &apos;\nhas compatibility problems that should be made clear somehow...\n\n~~~\nshawn_allison\nThanks for your feedback!\n\nIn regards to the issue of &apos; I didn't include it based on compatibility\nissues and this article's opinion\n<http://fishbowl.pastiche.org/2003/07/01/the_curse_of_apos/>\n\nI did totally forget to include &quot; and it will be added in an update later\ntoday.\n\nA search box may be something I will implement in the future, but for now I do\nfeel the dataset is small enough that people should be able to find what they\nneed quickly enough. The suggestion is noted though.\n\nThanks.\n\n~~~\nmbrubeck\nWhy not list apostrophe as &#39; and include a link to that article? If you\nomit it, users will just look it up somewhere else and maybe get it wrong.\n\n~~~\nshawn_allison\nI've updated the site and done as you suggested. Thanks for the advise!\n\n------\nc_allison\nVery nice. Points for cleanliness. I'm running Chromium on Win7 RC1 (SRWare\nIron specifically) and I'm getting blocks for the quotes in the sub title\n“Find your character!”\n\nAlso couldn't ignore your last name, Allisons win :D\n\n~~~\nshawn_allison\nThanks letting me know!\n\nI've decided to take the quote marks off the tagline to just make life easier.\nRegardless of browser, there should be no issues now with text rendering in\nany of the main parts of the site template. (Fingers crossed)\n\n------\ntdoggette\nDashed URLs are internet ghettos.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIt's time to pray for global warming - gibsonf1\nhttp://www.mlive.com/opinion/flint/index.ssf/2009/01/its_time_to_pray_for_global_wa.html\n======\ngregatragenet\nI counter with data. World ocean temps were higher in 2005 & 2006 than in\n1998. Every year after 2000 has been higher than all of the 90's except 1998.\n\n<http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/>\n\n------\njhancock\njust another article explaining that \"global warming\" is not the best name for\nwhatever may or may not be happening.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nMina: Really fast deployer and server automation tool - esolyt\nhttp://nadarei.co/mina/\n\n======\ncookrn\nI haven't used Mina before, but by looking at its Github issues and pull\nrequests, it seems like the project is not well maintained or supported. I\nwould probably stick with using something else like Capistrano or Ansible.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAstrophotography with Night Sight on Pixel Phones - JayXon\nhttps://ai.googleblog.com/2019/11/astrophotography-with-night-sight-on.html\n======\nemptybits\nThis is amazing. Now just FYI, for those curious, some recent \"old guard\"\ninnovations by pro camera makers for astrophotography include:\n\n1\\. Leveraging the multi-axis image-stabilizing movement available to an in-\ncamera DSLR sensor with GPS for the purpose of tracking the sky during a long-\nish exposure to reduce star trails. Ricoh-Pentax Astrotracer.\n[http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/photo-life/astro/](http://www.ricoh-\nimaging.co.jp/english/photo-life/astro/)\n\n2\\. Removing the camera's IR filter, allowing it to capture hydrogen-alpha\nrays (656nm). This captures energy (image, color) not otherwise seen by normal\ncamera sensors. Canon EOS Ra.\n[https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/products/d...](https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/products/details/cameras/eos-\ndslr-and-mirrorless-cameras/mirrorless/eos-ra)\n\nI know this only because I've been researching a DSLR/mirrorless camera\nupgrade but also delaying it regularly while I'm reminded how excellent phone\ncameras have become! Unless you're a pro, a pixel-peeper, an artist, or just\nsomeone who simply enjoys the machinery and process.\n\n~~~\ndr_zoidberg\nI didn't quite like the article. At the begining it shows a good picture of\nthe Milky Way and it says:\n\n> The image has not been retouched or post-processed in any way.\n\nThen the whole article describes how they've automated a full astroprocessing\npipeline inside the phone, that makes heavy postprocessing...\n\n~~~\nbla3\nI think what \"has not been retouched or post-processed in any way\" is supposed\nto convey is that no work is needed by the user of the camera app to get\npictures of this quality. There's lots of in-camera processing of course.\nThat's always been the case for digital cameras: sensors don't produce jpeg\nfiles.\n\n~~~\ndr_zoidberg\nThat doesn't mean there wasn't heavy post-processing on the image. It simply\nmeans the user didn't have to do it.\n\n~~~\nBeetleB\nWhat people are trying to say is that if this is your definition of post\nprocessing then there doesn't exist any digital camera system that produces\nphotos without post processing. Indeed such a camera cannot exist.\n\n~~~\ndr_zoidberg\nI know, I work in digital image processing, and I'm an amateur\nastrophotographer. Demosaicing is not on the same level as star registration,\nstacking (posibly HDR processing in the middle), plus some more AI driven\n\"magic\" in between.\n\nThat's what I'm referring to: for the shown image \"without post-processing\"\nthe phone has performed a lot more actions after demosaicing, that's why i say\nit was heaviliy processed.\n\n------\nsaiya-jin\nAs a full frame DSLR shooter (Nikon D750 + 20mm F1.8), this is wild\nconsidering those crappy tiny sensors on phones. To get similar (albeit much,\nmuch sharper) results, I have to lug around 2kg of camera and lens plus bulky\ntripod.\n\nEven with this, to get those dark dust clouds and stark colors some heavy\npostprocessing is required (which I mostly don't do because I consider it too\nmuch an alteration of original image, but it creates more interesting image).\nDon't think for a second that those superb images you can see everywhere are\nnot literally over-painted in Photoshop (look at online tutorials on how to do\nit if you don't believe me).\n\nI guess to make things impressive, google guys went to some proper remote\ndesert far from any artificial light. And unless I missed something, they\nstill used some tripod. In european alps, this kind of result is practically\nimpossible - there is always some tiny village in every valley, and even if\nnot light pollution seeps from far. One night panorama I have has quite strong\nglow coming from village of Chamonix some 15km far, that is on the other side\nof massive Mont Blanc range [1]. Anything can be achieved if you start playing\na lot with Photoshop brushes, layers etc. but for me its one step too far.\n\nImagine what results can be had when such algorithms are paired to a full\nframe (or bigger) sensor!\n\n[1]\n[https://www.flickr.com/photos/99251154@N04/22790364795/in/al...](https://www.flickr.com/photos/99251154@N04/22790364795/in/album-72157660842726331/)\n\n~~~\nlm28469\n> To get similar (albeit much, much sharper) results\n\nTbh it's not that hard to get sharper results, this was shot on a 40 years old\ncamera, with a 50+ years old lens using a cheapo carbon fiber tripod ( 25+mph\nwind that probably rocked my camera quite a bit)\n\n[https://i.imgur.com/sdxyyEw.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/sdxyyEw.jpg)\n\n> And unless I missed something, they still used some tripod.\n\nThey did: \"Clearly, this cannot work with a handheld camera; the phone would\nhave to be placed on a tripod, a rock, or whatever else might be available to\nhold the camera steady.\"\n\n------\nrbritton\nZoomed out, those photos aren’t terrible, but if you click to view a higher\nresolution version, you can see the softness created by the noise removal\nalgorithm. Based on my experience, the image quality is comparable to DSLRs of\nabout ten years ago. Noise removal is a bandaid. In astrophotography, it will\nvirtually always look softer than reality actually is, and it will also have\nremoved actual stellar objects. There is no substitute for a better, lower\nnoise sensor, but you work with what you have.\n\nSensor size is inversely correlated with the noise level. Smaller sensors have\nmore noise where the least noise is on full frame (i.e., 35mm) or larger\nsensors. Phones have small sensors.\n\n~~~\nbaq\nthat's exactly what is amazing about this tech - 10 years ago you'd have to\ncarry a backpack, now the same quality pictures can be taken with a multi-\npurpose device which fits in your pocket. nothing to complain about if you ask\nme!\n\n~~~\nkonart\nI still get better photos with my almost 10 year old camera though.\n\nUPD: oops, XT-1 is just 5 years old, actually. I guess I have to take my words\nback, sort of.\n\nStill, the point is the same - as long as you make a shot for your Instagram\naccount - your smartphone is alright. For anything bigger you still need a\ncamera with decent lens.\n\n------\nbla3\nThis is super cool tech. But I can't help thinking that this shows that the\nPixel camera lead must be someone with an engineering background who got nerd\nsniped by this problem because it's cool and hard to do. Someone with a\nproduct background would've focused on something less niche.\n\nOn the other hand, some people who like Google like it because it still\nsometimes works on geeky, cool, fun stuff instead of being super product\nfocused.\n\n~~~\ntln\nMy impression is that night sight as a feature has been pretty impactful in\nthe market. As in, people buy them on this feature alone\n\n~~~\nbla3\nNight sight for normal night photography, absolutely. Taking pictures in low-\nlight situations is common. Astrophotography on the other hand is much less\ncommon.\n\n------\nJNRowe\nI can't read about commodity hardware stargazing without my mind drifting to\n2bit Astrophotography¹ which used the Gameboy Camera².\n\nIf you compare a paper star chart from the Gameboy era to Stellarium³ and a\nPixel, then it can only lead you to wonder where we will be in another 20\nyears.\n\n1\\. [http://pietrow.net/astrogb.html](http://pietrow.net/astrogb.html)\n\n2\\.\n[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Boy_Camera](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Boy_Camera)\n\n3\\. [http://www.stellarium.org](http://www.stellarium.org)\n\n------\ncageface\nI'd prefer to see Google focus on just making the Pixel line better everyday\nphones than working on exotic stuff like this or the motion sensor they added\nin the Pixel 4. Right now there's not much reason to choose a Pixel unless\nstock Android is your top priority.\n\n~~~\nharrygeez\nHaving Chrome on my phone or choice of any alternative web browser is big\nenough of a reason for me to pick Android. Besides, my experience with Android\nin the last couple of years has been more solid and consistent than iOS, even\nif the UI and animations are less polished.\n\n~~~\ncageface\nI agree and I prefer the UX on Android in a lot of respects too. I just don’t\nthink the Pixels have been a good value compared to other Android phones\nlately. They either need to be cheaper or better than they are now.\n\n------\nhabosa\nThe photos are gorgeous and I would definitely use this mode.\n\nAstrophotography always kind of rubs me the wrong way though because that's\nnot how it looks. Even if you go out to somewhere that's really dark, like a\nlarge National Park, and wait for a clear night it's never going to look in\nyour eye like it does on Instagram. Don't get me wrong, what you do see is\nabsolutely magnificent, it's just not what's in those pictures.\n\nSeeing the galaxy with your own eyes is one of the most majestic things you'll\never witness. It's something that has inspired spontaneous prayer throughout\nhistory. It doesn't really need a filter.\n\n------\njakecopp\nIf all the advancements in smartphone photography is in software, why aren't\nDSLR/mirrorless manufactures doing it too?\n\nI don't want my camera to have a touchscreen/social media/wifi but it'd be\ncool if Adobe Camera Raw/some alternative could do this stuff!\n\n~~~\nygra\nIMHO they've basically missed an opportunity here for many years. They'd be in\na perfect position to offer those things, combined with a much better/larger\nsensor, which enables even better images. On smartphones it's a matter of\nnecessity, as the sensor is (fairly) crappy in comparison, but on a DSLR it\ncould still be a benefit. Personally I'd be perfectly happy to get a pre-\nprocessed DNG from the camera instead of having to do this afterwards. And\nthen give me the raw files to do it manually as well.\n\nPerhaps they're trying not to cannibalize their lower market segments or think\nthat professionals would never use those things (on which they _might_ be\ncorrect). But I can definitely see that computational photography beyond\nraw->JPEG conversion with a color profile could have its place in a DSLR.\n\n~~~\nSiempreViernes\nWhile it would be nice to load some post-processing script onto the camera and\nget all that done by the camera without having to bother with it yourself, all\nthat processing _will_ cost battery life, as well as response time. Having to\ncharge your DSLR every day is a huge cost in convenience, and making a\n_dedicated_ imaging machine unresponsive would be terrible.\n\nAdditionally, you are always going to move your pictures out of the camera for\nproper viewing, so it doesn't make a lot of sense to provide the best possible\npicture already in the camera.\n\nI don't know if the software they bundle with the camera is any good at this\ncomputational photography though (I've never checked to see if there are linux\nversions), but it better be if it indeed helps image quality.\n\n~~~\nygra\nYeah, it's definitely nice to get ~1000 images per battery charge. But when\nuploading to the PC infrequently you'll then have to sort photos into groups\nto process individually (something I already hate with panoramas). Personally\nit's something I'd rather not do, at the expense of only getting ~200 photos\nper charge. It's also not necessary to compromise, as those special modes\nwould be, well, special modes. So to preserve battery I could just as well\nshoot raw as normal.\n\n------\nPopePompus\nThe photos taken in this mode are amazing. But I think they are improved a lot\nif a vignetting correction is applied. Without that correction, the sky\nbrightness is much greater near the center of the field than near the edges.\n\n------\nkohtatsu\nAny recommendations for tripods/cases?\n\niPhone 11 Pro here.\n\n------\nimvetri\nWhat are the possibilities that this AI camera app is not faking the image.\n\nHere is why I ask \\- It has gyro - so knows whether we are pointing at sky or\nnot. \\- AI checks whether its a clear sky - if yes - post fake image. If no -\nDont risk getting caught. \\- Time + geo spacing - Gives the angle, position of\ncamera relative to the space above us.\n\n~~~\nPopePompus\nThere is no chance this is being faked. I've been playing with the\nastrophotography mode on a Pixel 4 XL in a remote country location with no\ncell phone connectivity. A single 4 minute exposure is able to record stars\ndown to about magnitude 9.5. A single exposure can detect the Crab Nebula, or\nthe two brightest satellite galaxies of the Andromeda Galaxy (M 32 and NGC\n205). To fake such results without internet connectivity would mean that the\ncamera software would have to have an internal catalog of about 250,000 stars,\nwith accurate colors and coordinates. It would need the size and shape of\nnebulae, the contours and brightness of the Milky Way, etc. When I add\nmultiple frames, I see fainter stars appear, as they should, so the internal\ncatalog would really need millions of stars, most of which would not show up\nunless the user carefully aligned multiple individual image and summed them.\nThis is not being faked.\n\n~~~\nJyaif\nYou do realize that with 2 floats to store the position of a star on a sphere,\nthat's like 8 MB per million of star? With compression you can almost\ncertainly get away with something like 2 bytes per stars.\n\nAnd an other solution is to simply store a bitmap of the sphere around earth.\n\n~~~\nPopePompus\nIt also shows the positions of the planets correctly, so it would need to have\nan ephemeris, or planetary orbital elements. Meteors and satellites show\ntrails across the star field. At some point simulating all of this would be\nmore complicated than really doing it.\n\n------\nganitarashid\nAs long as you manually control the exposure and exposure time, the same can\nbe achieved with an iPhone camera. This is not specific to Pixel.\n\n~~~\noceanofsolaris\nThey mention a couple of features that are not just \"long exposure\" in the\npost:\n\n* Compensating for moving stars\n\n* \"Live viewfinder\" during exposure\n\n* Selectively darkening the sky\n\n* Dark current compensation (though that is probably needed for all long-exposure photography...still, not a simple \"more exposure\" feature)\n\n~~~\nganitarashid\nAll easy software implementations. This is not a hardware story.\n\n~~~\njeen02\nIf they're so easy, why haven't Apple implemented them?\n\n~~~\npiyush_soni\nOr at least someone would have come up with an app already, had it been that\neasy.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nES6 in Depth – Symbols - jansc\nhttps://hacks.mozilla.org/2015/06/es6-in-depth-symbols/\n\n======\nnni\nIt is my understanding that symbols were going to be a way to have private\nmethods. This aspect of them - the reason they were going to be introduced in\nthe first place - was dropped, and so you are left with its current limited\nform with a much narrower use-case.\n\nFrom A Rossberg (he's also the guy behind SoundScript) in a March 2014\nstackoverflow post ([http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21724326/why-bring-\nsymbol...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21724326/why-bring-symbols-to-\njavascript/22280202#22280202)):\n\n\"Enabling private properties ... was indeed the original motivation for\nintroducing symbols into JavaScript. Unfortunately, however, they ended up\nbeing severely downgraded, and not private after all.\n\nThey are now known as unique symbols, and their only use is to avoid name\nclashes between properties....Whether that is strong enough a motivation to\nadd symbols to the language is debatable.\"\n\nand from R. Waldron as part of this response\n([https://esdiscuss.org/topic/proposal-about-private-\nsymbol](https://esdiscuss.org/topic/proposal-about-private-symbol)) to a\nproposal about a private symbol (Dec 2014)\n\n\"Ultimately it was decided that Symbol is just a symbol and that \"private\"\nthings will be dealt with orthogonally (and at a later date).\"\n\nYMMV\n\n~~~\nbraythwayt\nYou can still use them to make almost-completely-private methods and\nproperties, it's just the syntactic sugar that was dropped:\n\n[http://raganwald.com/2015/06/04/classes-are-\nexpressions.html](http://raganwald.com/2015/06/04/classes-are-\nexpressions.html)\n\nHN discussion:\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9660658](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9660658)\n\n------\nlispm\n> Calling Symbol() creates a new symbol, a value that’s not equal to any other\n> value.\n\nLisp:\n\n    \n    \n        CL-USER 1 > (eq (make-symbol \"Foo\") (make-symbol \"Foo\"))\n        NIL\n    \n\n> Symbols aren’t exactly like anything else\n    \n    \n        CL-USER 2 > (type-of (make-symbol \"Foo\"))\n        SYMBOL\n    \n\n> Trying to concatenate a symbol with strings will result in a TypeError.\n    \n    \n        CL-USER 3 > (concatenate 'string \"abc\" 'foo \"def\")\n    \n        Error: In a call to LENGTH: FOO (of type SYMBOL) is not of type SEQUENCE.\n    \n    \n\n> There are three ways to obtain a symbol.\n\n> Call Symbol()\n    \n    \n        (make-symbol \"FOO\")\n    \n\n> Call Symbol.for(string)\n    \n    \n        (find-symbol \"FOO\")\n    \n\nOther than that symbols in Common Lisp have a package, a value, a function and\na property list. Symbols can be interned in a package or not. So-called\nKeyword symbols are in the package KEYWORD and have itself as the value.\n:I-AM-A-KEYWORD evaluates to :I-AM-A-KEYWORD.\n\n~~~\ndrudru11\nThat first example with 'eq is a little surprising to me. Previous to your\npost, I believed that Common Lisp symbols were equivalent to Lisp atoms. That\nis, I just thought of symbols as a way of interning strings (like Smalltalk,\nObjc, Ruby, etc.) ES6 Symbols reminded me of gensym. I didn't expect to see\nES6 having the same behaviour as Common Lisp!\n\nThanks for posting.\n\n------\nunwind\nAs a very green JS programmer, I found this post informative and fun.\n\nI think this sentence has an editing mistake in it:\n\n    \n    \n        It’s simply a property whose name is not a symbol rather than a string. \n    \n\nI think that the \"not\" shouldn't be there, the double negation makes the\nsentence fail to parse for me at least (ObCaveat: not a native speaker).\n\n------\nyoshuaw\nI wrote a lil' article about using Symbols a month ago -\n[https://medium.com/code-ops/party-tricks-with-es6-symbols-\nee...](https://medium.com/code-ops/party-tricks-with-es6-symbols-ee328fdb6c4b)\n\nProbably the most interesting use I've found for Symbols so far is to detect\nif an object / function was created by a specific factory -\n[https://gist.github.com/yoshuawuyts/2bf8d5394e6f995791a0](https://gist.github.com/yoshuawuyts/2bf8d5394e6f995791a0)\n\n------\nBinaryIdiot\nSymbols are odd. Maybe it's just me but they feel like they work \"funny\" in\nJavaScript.\n\nAs the article says you can't implicitly convert a symbol's description to\nstring. Symbol is now the only native object in JavaScript that has this\nbehavior.\n\nvar str = \"something\" \\+ \"str\"; // Works\n\nvar num = \"something\" \\+ 5; // Works\n\nvar func = \"something\" \\+ function () { }; // Works\n\nvar obj = \"something\" \\+ { some: \"test\" }; // Works\n\nvar bool = \"something\" \\+ true; // Works\n\nvar dt = \"something\" \\+ Date.now(); // Works\n\nvar und = \"something\" \\+ undefined; // Works\n\nvar nul = \"something\" \\+ null; // Works\n\nvar nan = \"something\" \\+ NaN; // Works\n\nvar sym = \"something\" \\+ Symbol(\"test\"); // Throws TypeError\n\nAnother thing, which is more of a style thing in my opinion, is you can\nactually define a property with a Symbol which just seems awkward to me. I\nmean sure you can use it as a property by design so why wouldn't you be able\nto use defineProperty? I always felt those should be public types of\nproperties where you can add additional logic where necessary.\n\nvar obj = { };\n\nObject.defineProperty(obj, Symbol(\"MyProp\"), {\n\n    \n    \n        get: function () { return 15; } \n    \n\n});\n\nI feel like almost the same thing with Symbol could be accomplished with a\nsimple UUID generator. It's a neat little thing it just feels awkward to me\nwith how JavaScript works.\n\n~~~\njkrems\nThe other funny thing is: ES6 introduced `Map`, `Set`, and the `class`\nkeyword. All of them throw if you try to create a new instance without `new`.\nIt also introduced `Symbol`, which throws if you _do_ use `new`.\n\n------\nskrebbel\nI don't understand why the author compares ES6 symbols to Ruby symbols;\nthey're _nothing_ alike. It's kind of the opposite: Ruby symbols are\nguaranteed to be the same object if they have the same name, ES6 symbols are\nguaranteed to be a _different_ object, even if they have the same name\n(description)\n\n~~~\nespadrine\n\n      s1 = Symbol.for('cat')\n      s2 = Symbol.for('cat')\n      s1 === s2  // true\n    \n\nThe most common use-case for them is to generate symbols that don't collide,\nthough.\n\n~~~\nahoge\n`Symbol.for` uses a global registry and the whole thing is \"stringly typed\".\n\nLooks like an anti-pattern to me.\n\nIf you want one particular symbol from some library, you could import it.\n\n~~~\nartursapek\nThis was the one thing I didn't understand. Why is using a global Symbol\nregistry any better than just using string properties like usual?\n\n~~~\ntowelguy\n\n        s1 = Symbol(\"cat\");\n        s2 = Symbol.for(\"cat\");\n        s3 = Symbol.for(\"cat\");\n        s1 == s2; // false\n        s2 == s3; // true\n    \n\nYou can still have Symbols outside the registry.\n\n~~~\nartursapek\nThat I understand. What I don't understand is why s2 and s3 shouldn't just be\nvanilla strings.\n\n------\nmeric\nLooks like Symbols is a type being introduced because objects, when used as a\nkey in another object, gets turned into a string, unlike Lua tables can be\nused as keys of other tables, and are guaranteed to not be equal to any other\nvalue. Lua tables are built-in symbols. Javascript's objects are not.\n\n~~~\nbcoates\nYeah, it seems like kind of an odd choice to introduce a whole new type _and_\nextend the kind of values that can index an object, when extending object\nindexing alone would do everything symbols do anyway.\n\n~~~\nquarterto\nIt's actually not extending object indexing. From the object's point of view,\nthe symbol is just another (albeit opaque) string.\n\n~~~\nbcoates\nThere's still some magic involving the symbol properties being automatically\nnon-enumerable, right?\n\n------\nIshKebab\nI wish javascript had some kind of flag so you could get it to act sanely. All\nthe comparison operators would work like they do in sane languages; type\nconversion wouldn't be _quite_ so automatic and insane, etc.\n\n~~~\njordanwallwork\nIf you just make sure to always use === then this is exactly what happens. You\ncan use tools like jslint to warn you if you accidentally use ==\n\n~~~\nmkolosick\nNot quite though. I had a bug with Javascript where I was reading in a number\nand forgot to parse it to a float. I ended up doing an addition with that\nvalue, which later got used as a float again. So I had 1 + \"10\" turn to 110\nwhen I tried to use it. No == or === anywhere.\n\n~~~\njordanwallwork\nI was only really referring to automatic type conversion for comparisons. That\nsaid, the example you gave sounds like the opposite, where you wanted it to do\nsome auto-conversion and you're disappointed that it didn't? If I did 1 + \"10\"\nI don't think I'd want it to return 11!\n\n~~~\nafandian\nI'd want it to throw some kind of cast exception, personally, not try and do\nwhat it thinks I want. (I'm not the GP)\n\n------\nnabla9\nThis is very limited symbol type. They might have named them keywords instead.\nIt's just interned string with a new type.\n\n(It's like Common Lisp symbols limited inside the keyword package)\n\n------\nwelfare\nI'm not entirely convinced with the function-call syntax for declaring a\nSymbol.\n\nWhy not using something more of the lines with Ruby's :symbol syntax?\n\n~~~\ncarussell\nHere's the other thing that neither of the other commenters mentioned:\n\nYou can't go around peppering your code with use of this new syntax if you\nwant it to continue working on older runtimes. With `Symbol`, you can at least\ncreate a polyfill that approximates what it's shooting for.\n\n> declaring a Symbol\n\nDon't think of it as \"declaring a symbol\" (because it isn't). Think of it as\n_generating_ a symbol (because it is).\n\n~~~\nhajile\nES6 already adds a ton of new constructs that won't run on older browsers.\nRelying on symbols to be interned also won't work on older machines. A symbol-\nliteral syntax like #symbol and #\"spaced symbol\" would make them far easier to\nuse and increase their adoption.\n\nWho really wants to write map.add(new Symbol(\"foo\"), 'bar') instead of\nmap.add(#foo, 'bar')?\n\n~~~\najuc\n> Who really wants to write map.add(new Symbol(\"foo\"), 'bar') instead of\n> map.add(#foo, 'bar')?\n\nIt makes it clear when you are generating new symbol, and when you are reusing\nexisting symbol.\n\n    \n    \n        var a = new Symbol(\"foo\");\n        var b = new Symbol(\"foo\");\n        map[a]=\"firstValue\";\n        map[b]=\"secondValue\";\n        Console.log(map[a] + \" \" + map[b]);\n        // writes \"firstValue secondValue\"\n    \n\nHow does it work with your syntax?\n\n    \n    \n        map[#foo]=\"firstValue\";\n        map[#foo]=\"secondValue\";\n        Console.log(map[#foo]); // what is written here?\n\n------\nasdf99\nyet another duct tape kind of feature, from people already too corrupted by\njs, that will be further abused and cause yet more duct tape features in ES7.\n\nthis is nothing but a more convoluted way of the pattern that sets a unique\nobject as a unique value for comparison. well, it adds a label for easy debug.\nhooray.\n\n~~~\npmontra\nSymbols are used all the time in Ruby (and a bunch of other languages), not as\nduct tape but as a very core feature of the language. Why should it be\ndifferent in JavaScript?\n\nThe most simple way to use them is to replace definitions like this one\n\n    \n    \n        var north = 1;\n        var south = 2;\n        var east = 3;\n        var west = 4;\n        var direction1 = north;\n        var direction2 = south;\n        direction1 === direction2 ? \"ops\" : \"ok\";\n    \n\nThe programmer is doing the work of the interprer/compiler here and make sure\nto pick unique values for all the constants that are going to be compared\ntogether. With symbols that becomes\n\n    \n    \n        var north = new Symbol();\n        var south = new Symbol();\n        var east = new Symbol();\n        var west = new Symbol();\n        var direction1 = north;\n        var direction2 = south;\n        direction1 === direction2 ? \"ops\" : \"ok\";\n    \n\nwhich is an improvement even if it is (in a traditional JavaScript way) so\nmuch more verbose than Ruby's\n\n    \n    \n        direction1 = :north\n        direction2 = :south\n        direction1 === direction2 ? \"ops\" : \"ok\"\n    \n\nI just wish they'll add some syntactical sugar to do without that \"new\nSymbol()\" thing and create symbols as needed like Ruby does.\n\nUnfortunately, from\n[https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/JavaScript/Referen...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Symbol)\n\n    \n    \n        Symbols and JSON.stringify()\n    \n        Symbol-keyed properties will be completely ignored when using JSON.stringify():\n    \n        JSON.stringify({[Symbol(\"foo\")]: \"foo\"});                 \n        // '{}'\n    \n\nWe're going to manually serialize them when they leave the RAM.\n\n~~~\nahoge\nN, E, S, W? I think you want an enum for that.\n\n~~~\npmontra\nIt was an example of replacing constants with symbols when the value of the\nconstant really doesn't matter. Purposely not fancy stuff. I understand the\nadvantages of enums (among the others, their values are constrained) but does\nJS have enums?\n\n~~~\nahoge\n> _does JS have enums?_\n\nNo, but TypeScript and Dart do.\n\nEnums don't really work without types.\n\nBut using Symbols for fake enums is probably a good idea.\n\n    \n    \n        class Enum {\n          constructor(...props) {\n            props.forEach(p => this[p] = Symbol(p));\n          }\n        }\n        const dir = Object.freeze(new Enum(...'NESW'));\n        console.log(dir.E === dir.E); // true\n        console.log(dir.E === dir.N); // false\n    \n\nSlightly awkward, but this might be about as good as it gets.\n\n~~~\nahoge\nI should have used Object.freeze(this) in the c'tor.\n\n------\nagd\n_Call Symbol.for(string). This accesses a set of existing symbols called the\nsymbol registry. Unlike the unique symbols defined by Symbol(), symbols in the\nsymbol registry are shared. If you call Symbol.for( \"cat\") thirty times, it\nwill return the same symbol each time. The registry is useful when multiple\nweb pages, or multiple modules within the same web page, need to share a\nsymbol._\n\nHave they added inbuilt support for globals here? People could easily add\ntheir own global symbols, why does this need to be built in?\n\n~~~\ncarussell\nCould you reword the question? I don't understand what you're asking.\n\n~~~\nagd\nI guess I don't understand why the global symbol registry exists. If someone\nwants a global symbol map, they can create their own. What else does this add\nover a user implementation, and what are the use cases?\n\n~~~\npavlov\nMaking the registry global allows compilers to optimize away those\nSymbol.for() calls, since they know that each call to Symbol.for(\"cat\") is\ngoing to resolve to the same symbol instance.\n\n~~~\nagd\nBut if people are concerned about performance, they can just pre-\nallocate/memoize the symbols.\n\nIt doesn't seem like the registry adds any new functionality, and it might\nencourage use of globals. Surely that's a bad thing?\n\n------\njordanwallwork\nI'm not from a Ruby/Lisp background, so I don't know how symbols are typically\nused, but the explanation of why symbols are required is to prevent collisions\nif two libraries chose to use the same property name; so given that, what is\nthe point of the Symbol registry? I don't understand what the value of a\nsymbol that is referenced by a string is, over simply using the string?\n\n~~~\ncarussell\nSee `Symbol.hasInstance` and `Symbol.iterator`; take them as examples. Mapping\nan object to its iterator is going to be part of the spec and will be required\nat the language level (`for...of`). Before, if you looked at all of an\nobjects' properties in SpiderMonkey, you will have noticed an `@@iterator`\nproperty. The spec could achieve the same thing as it's trying for with\n`Symbol.iterator` by just using a string-valued `@@iterator` property, but you\nstill get the collision with anybody who would have used that name for\nsomething else or anyone looping over all the properties.\n\nThe gist is this: symbols are just a way to have non-strings that you can use\nfor properties. There are _also_ facilities to generate them in such a way\nthat the symbol will never, ever collide with those generated by somebody\nelse, but that's not their only purpose.\n\n~~~\njordanwallwork\nAh yeah that makes sense, cheers!\n\n------\nespadrine\nIf you think that this language feature has no equivalent in your favorite\nlanguage, it is similar to Ruby's :symbol, where it is mostly used as keys to\ntheir hash tables (they're implemented with hashes internally).\n\nCommon Lisp has something even closer for its macro system. When you write\ncode that writes code, you often need to create new variable names that won't\ncollide or shadow anything. `(gensym)` does that:\n[http://www.lispworks.com/documentation/lw50/CLHS/Body/f_gens...](http://www.lispworks.com/documentation/lw50/CLHS/Body/f_gensym.htm#gensym).\n\nHere's a list of languages with support for symbols. You will see even\nObjective-C has it:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbol_%28programming%29#Suppo...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbol_%28programming%29#Support).\n\nI'd be curious to learn how it is implemented in JS engines.\n\n~~~\ninglor\nLike a property basically - except the key is not a string and is known to the\nengine. This is both simple and uses existing JIT facilities. Symbol property\naccess isn't particularly slower than regular access this way too.\n\nSee\n[http://blog.peschla.net/doxygen/v8_chromium_r157275/classv8_...](http://blog.peschla.net/doxygen/v8_chromium_r157275/classv8_1_1internal_1_1_symbol_key.html)\n\\- it's\n\n------\nxienze\n> Sometimes it would be awfully convenient to stash some extra data on a\n> JavaScript object that really belongs to someone else.\n\nConvenient yes, a good idea, no.\n\n> Other code using for-in or Object.keys() may stumble over the property you\n> created.\n\n> The standard committee may decide to add an .isMoving() method to all\n> elements. Then you’re really hosed!\n\nSo I dunno, maybe don't stash properties into an object that doesn't belong to\nyou? It's this sort of thing that makes me hate the culture around JavaScript.\nHacks upon hacks upon hacks just to save a little effort.\n\n~~~\nsombremesa\nI don't see why they didn't just use an Object/dictionary. Shouldn't be slow\nto iterate and solves this exact use case.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nRolls-Royce Touts Nuclear Reactors as Key to Clean Jet Fuel - JumpCrisscross\nhttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-06/rolls-royce-pitches-nuclear-reactors-as-key-to-clean-jet-fuel\n======\nnradov\nIn the long run this will also be the future of merchant shipping. We can't\ngenerally install nuclear reactors in civilian vessels due to high costs and\nsecurity concerns. But we can use nuclear power on shore to produce carbon\nneutral synthetic fuel, then run ships on that.\n\n~~~\ntrenchgun\nIt would in the long run be a lot better solution to run container ships with\nnuclear reactors directly though.\n\nBut probably not going to happen because of public opinion.\n\n~~~\nkylehotchkiss\nThere's some issues with pirates in many parts of the world though (source:\nCaptain Phillips movie). It's just not practical to really secure container\nships from every feasible sea and air attack surface, unless there was a big\nred button that just drops the reactor into the depths of the ocean.\n\n~~~\nDuskStar\nAnd even without pirates, merchant vessels have incidents with disturbing\nfrequency. A lot of these incidents never have a cause firmly attached to\nthem, because the crew's all dead, the ship is somewhere in a 10,000 square\nkilometer stretch of ocean, and that ocean is 1km+ deep. Not that the wreck\nbeing known and (relatively) shallow is a panacea either, as the variety [0]\nof hypotheses concerning the cause of the Edmund Fitzgerald wreck should\ndemonstrate.\n\nI trust the US Navy to operate reactors at sea - they've done a damn good job\nof it over the years, with no losses since 1968. And even those losses (USS\nThresher, SSN-593 [1] and USS Scorpion, SSN-589 [2]) haven't caused radiation\nleaks. Merchant shippers? Yeahhhhh.... No.\n\n0:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Edmund_Fitzgerald#Hypothese...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Edmund_Fitzgerald#Hypotheses_on_the_cause_of_sinking)\n\n1:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Thresher_(SSN-593)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Thresher_\\(SSN-593\\))\n\n2:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Scorpion_(SSN-589)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Scorpion_\\(SSN-589\\))\n\n~~~\nsterlind\nMaybe you could get the US Navy to crew a few container mega-ships in the\nnational interest of international commerce? Reducing climate change and\npolitical concern over the carbon involved is arguably a better use of the\nNavy's time than fleet exercises, and it wouldn't take that many people.\n\n~~~\nsimonh\nThere are over 9,000 fully cellular container ships operational right now, and\ncontainer ships are only 13% of global merchant shipping capacity. The roughly\n70 ~20k TEU megaships all together are only 10% of total container ship\ncapacity. A few megaships is insignificant in overall economic terms.\n\n~~~\njiofih\nWhat is the other 87%? How is that possible if 90% of goods are transported by\nsea?\n\n~~~\nmaxerickson\nThe majority of goods are on bulk carriers and tankers. Grain, coal, oil, etc.\n\n~~~\njiofih\nThe parent said “container ships are only 13% of global merchant shipping\ncapacity”. I’m wondering how else goods are being transported...\n\n~~~\nmaxerickson\nIndeed, bulk carriers and tankers are ships that aren't container ships.\n\n------\nerentz\nIt seems to be around the wrong way. We need the nuclear reactors providing\nconstant reliable power day and night to the grid, whereas variable renewables\nsuch as solar are better for creating synthetic fuels since to be viable on a\nlarge scale they need to be combined with a form of storage anyway, which is\nwhat the synthetic fuels would be.\n\n~~~\nAloha\nClean energy seems wildly impractical for airplanes. There is no battery tech\napproaching kerosene for power density, and unlike fuel, the battery doesn't\nget lighter as it's used up.\n\n~~~\nloeg\nThe article suggests compressed hydrogen. Although that has obvious problems\n(at some point there is probably a tradeoff between increased density and the\nweight of the storage tank required to safely hold that density, which\ndirectly related to energy density) and probably more subtle problems, it\nwould be clean-burning.\n\nEdit: Random wikipedia page[1] gives energy density of \"jet fuel\" as 35 MJ/L\nand liquid (i.e., about as compressed as you're going to get) hydrogen as ...\n8.5 MJ/L. Yeah, that's not even close, nevermind. LNG gets you to 22 MJ/L,\nwhich is still 2/3 of the density and requires storage at -160°C, which costs\nmore energy, etc, and isn't clean-burning (but maybe slightly better than\nkerosene).\n\n[1]:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density)\n\n~~~\njemfinch\nBut a liter of compressed hydrogen weighs 38 grams, while a liter of kerosene\nweighs 810 grams. So the energy density by _gram_ , rather than liter, is in\nfavor of compressed hydrogen by a factor of more than 5x.\n\nI don't know what the tradeoff is between volume and weight in aviation, but\nit's worth noting that we can measure density by both volume and weight, and\nby weight compressed hydrogen defeats kerosene.\n\n~~~\nevgen\nIf you are going to compare hydrogen and kerosene by weight you need to\ninclude the weight of the containment vessel. For kerosene that is a thin\npiece of aluminum. For hydrogen it is...not.\n\n------\nwahern\nIf they were serious about this I would think they make an effort to start\nbuilding such a project in a country where the chance of regulatory approval\nis better than a snowball's chance in hell. Like maybe somewhere in the Middle\nEast, near several mega airport hubs, existing shipping routes for fossil fuel\nshipments (e.g. natural gas), and a political environment eager to establish\nan industry on the upswing that complements existing competitive\nadvantages.[1]\n\n[1] I know the Middle East isn't very strong in the high-end, value-add part\nof the energy supply chain--refining, etc. But this would be a perfect way to\nrectify that.\n\n~~~\ngodelski\nMiddle east doesn't work, there is a connection to nuclear weapons. I honestly\ncan't think of a country that fits your criteria. China? Maybe? But that's\niffy and comes with other issues. NK? But working with NK or any country that\nis going to violate nuclear arms treaties ( _cough_ Middle East _cough_ )\nyou're going to have a hard time doing business with the first world. Which\nmeans that if you're a business trying to do this that you have to be\ncompletely funded by said country that will violate those treaties because you\nare giving up your other revenue streams. I don't imagine Rolls-Royce wants to\ngive up their current revenue streams and work with dictators for this high\nrisk endeavor.\n\n~~~\nbuzzkillington\nSingapore probably. They already have a hugely cancerous, in the traditional\nsense, chemical industry within a stones throw away from major population\nzones. Throwing some nuclear into the mix will be a step up in terms of\nenvironmental damage.\n\n~~~\ntim333\nThe 'hugely cancerous' industry doesn't seem to be cancering it up very hugely\ngiven this recent headline:\n\n\"Singaporeans have world's longest life expectancy at 84.8 years\"\n\n~~~\nbuzzkillington\nYes, they are smart enough to have the Malays and Indians working with the\ntruly heinous chemicals. Maybe Mainlanders now - haven't been there since the\n00s. So much better on your statistics when the people dying do it back home,\nafter you have worked them 8/9ths to the grave.\n\n~~~\ngdy\nSo the 'environmental damage' you were talking about affects people\nselectively based on their citizenship?\n\n------\nrsynnott\nRolls Royce, maker of nuclear reactors and jet engines, apparently wants to\noffer a package deal.\n\n~~~\nacidburnNSA\nDid you know that the US Air Force and Atomic Energy Commission spent $1B\n1950s dollars on nuclear-powered airplanes before we perfected\nintercontinental ballistic missiles? It's true! In fact, the much loved Molten\nSalt nuclear reactor design is a direct descendant of this program.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_Nuclear_Propulsion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_Nuclear_Propulsion)\n\n~~~\nmissosoup\nNow that drones are set to completely dominate the arena and shielding is no\nlonger a concern, nuclear propulsion is going to come back.\n\nRussia is already doing it with the Skyfall missile.\n\nHaving a weapon or an attack craft with practically unlimited range and\nendurance is too tempting a capability to not develop.\n\nI'm sure Lockheed and co are dreaming up large nuclear powered flying carriers\nwhich deliver swarms of smaller drones and standoff missiles anywhere on earth\nin a few hours.\n\n~~~\njabl\nWhat additional useful capability does this provide? ICBM's already provide\nglobal nuclear strike capability.\n\nFWIW the US also had a mad doomsday nuclear powered cruise missile project\n(project Pluto).\n\n~~~\nmissosoup\nIt's the dream. A flying carrier delivers conventional air superiority\nanywhere on the planet in hours at a fraction of the cost and risk associated\nwith naval carriers. ICBMs are a ww3 doomsday weapon and belong to a\ncompletely different class.\n\nThe ideal air superiority fight for USA would be to get a bunch of large long-\nrange cargo planes carrying pallet launched missiles and drones and dump it\nall at standoff range. The only thing holding that strategy back is the cost\nand logistics of keeping those planes fuelled in the air.\n\n~~~\npastage\nKeeping those planes maintained and serviced is going to cost abit too.\n\n------\nyk\n> Electricity costs [for small modular reactors] would be 30% lower than for a\n> large nuclear facility, matching wind power, with the modular approach\n> allowing parts to be made on a factory production line.\n\nI wonder why they don't use wind power in that case.\n\n~~~\nzbobet2012\nBase load generation.\n[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_load](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_load)\n\nOr put another way the wind doesn't always blow at the same rate.\n\n~~~\nKrasnol\n[https://skepticalscience.com/print.php?r=374](https://skepticalscience.com/print.php?r=374)\n\nSummary\n\nArguments that renewable energy isn't up to the task because \"the Sun doesn't\nshine at night and the wind doesn't blow all the time\" are overly simplistic.\n\nThere are a number of renewable energy technologies which can supply baseload\npower. The intermittency of other sources such as wind and solar photovoltaic\ncan be addressed by interconnecting power plants which are widely\ngeographically distributed, and by coupling them with peak-load plants such as\ngas turbines fueled by biofuels or natural gas which can quickly be switched\non to fill in gaps of low wind or solar production. Numerous regional and\nglobal case studies – some incorporating modeling to demonstrate their\nfeasibility – have provided plausible plans to meet 100% of energy demand with\nrenewable sources.\n\n~~~\nj-pb\nWhy the hell is this well argued and reference providing comment down voted?!\n\n~~~\n08-15\n\"The intermittency... can be addressed by... natural gas\"\n\nThat is indeed a great way to argue that renewables can do it all. Cynical\nindividuals would even conclude that they just use renewables as a convenient\ntalking point to shill for fossil methane.\n\n~~~\nimtringued\nI don't understand this argument. Renewable energy and fossil fuel usage can\nbe summarized in a single number: percentage of energy produced by renewables.\nAs long as that number goes up everything is fine. Switching to natural gas\nallows that number to go up even faster. So why does it matter what label is\nattached to the fossil fuel part of the number?\n\nWhat a lot of people seem to forget is that the CO2 level doesn't care about\nthe time of the day the CO2 is emitted or whether you use 80% fossil fuels on\none particular day and then 30% on every other day. Intermittency doesn't\nprevent renewables from reducing CO2 emissions, unless of course people ban\nthe transition technology called natural gas. Then it doesn't even make sense\nto close the coal plants and we will have neither renewables nor will we stop\nusing fossil fuels and the fossil fuels that are still in use, will be the\ndirtiest kind because coal emits more CO2 emissions per kWh than natural gas.\n\nOnce you realize the crucial difference between a peaker plant and a\n\"baseload\" plant you will start to realize that it's the baseload plants that\nare holding everything back. Peaker plants have low capital costs. They can be\nbuilt in a short time frame. Unlike a baseload plant they do not have to run\ncontinuously to recoup their initial investment even if that means that\nrenewables will have to be shut off (alternatively you shut off the coal\nplants but remember you still have to pay for them even if they produce\nnothing). The key aspect is that natural gas is more expensive, to the point\nthat it never makes sense to deploy natural gas when renewables are available.\n\n------\ncredit_guy\nAs many nuclear skeptics are keen to point out, the main counterargument to\nnuclear is construction costs. In the tens of billions. As Elon Musk has\ndemonstrated though, there is nothing set in stone when it comes to\nmanufacturing costs, the lower bound is only the cost of raw materials. If\nmanufacturing costs go to zero, a new nuclear power plant could cost of the\norder of $10 MM rather than $20 BN. Elon has shown us that you can reduce\nmanufacturing costs of rockets by a factor of 10 to 100 in a mater of one to\ntwo decades, if you put your mind to it.\n\nSmall nuclear reactors are the only chance of the nuclear industry to reduce\nmanufacturing costs, but once they get rolling, there is no reason to believe\nthey can't reduce their costs by a factor of 10 at least. For example, this\narticle mentions a cost of $2.4BN per small reactor. A comparable US Navy\nsmall reactor (used for submarines) costs around $100 MM [1]. For some reason\nthe US Navy doesn't appear inclined to share its know-how with the civilians,\nbut that should give us an idea of what's possible.\n\n[1] [https://www.quora.com/How-much-does-it-cost-to-build-the-\nrea...](https://www.quora.com/How-much-does-it-cost-to-build-the-reactor-in-a-\nnuclear-submarine-aircraft-carrier-or-ice-cutter)\n\n~~~\nbaybal2\n> Elon has shown us that you can reduce manufacturing costs of rockets by a\n> factor of 10 to 100 in a mater of one to two decades, if you put your mind\n> to it.\n\nWell, it's better to say that he reduced the _price_ of the launch, not the\ncost.\n\n~~~\npugworthy\n> Well, it's better to say that he reduced the price of the launch, not the\n> cost.\n\nHe improved the ROI by enabling reuse\n\n------\nnickik\nNuclear was the future of merchant shipping, rocketry, electricity production,\nliquid chemical fuel production and lots of other things since the 60s.\n\nThat humanity has not moved into a nuclear age is nothing but utter and\nsytstematic failure of human society and institutions.\n\n------\nnewnewpdro\nThis is not a solution. CO2 emissions in the upper atmosphere are problematic\nregardless of how you make the fuel. We need a different propulsion system for\naviation, period.\n\nThe generally accepted \"impact\" multiplier for aviation emissions is 2.6, so\nlet's say the fuel was \"carbon neutral\" \\- wouldn't it then be 1.6? Not 0.\n\nEdit:\n\nUnless we're talking about straight hydrogen-fueled engines, is that where\nthis article is aimed? Biofuels and Synfuels are still carbon-based AIUI, but\nTFA is a bit ambiguous here.\n\n------\ndredmorbius\nIn the event anyone thinks that the notion of synfuel generation from nuclear\npower is new ... it's not.\n\nM. King Hubbert, who first conceived of (and successfully predicted US) peak\noil suggested this ... in 1962:\n\n\"Energy Resources: A Report to the Committe on Natural Resources\"\n\nOn p. 139:\n\n<quote>\n\nSynthesis of Chemical Fuels. Automotive vehicles for both highway and air\ntransportation are dependent for their energy supply upon the energy stored\nchemically in the form principally of liquid fuels, and, so far as can now be\nseen, will continue to be so. Heretofore these fuels have been obtained almost\nsolely from the fossil fuels in which the energy was originally stored by\nphotosynthesis. On the other hand, it has long been known to be possible to\nmanufacture simpler but equally useful fuels by means of the schematic\nchemical reaction:\n\nEnergy + CO2 + H20 -> Fuel + O2\n\nThis has not been done because the energy required for the reaction would have\nto be obtained by burning already synthesized fossil fuels.\n\n[NB: It has been done, but generally in converting solid fossil fuels to\nliquid, e.g., Germany's coal-to-liquids program during WWII.]\n\nWith the advent of nuclear energy this situation is drastically changed. Here,\nwith an almost unlimited supply of energy potentially available, it would be a\na comparatively simple matter to synthesize any desireable quantity of liquid\nand gaseous fuels from common inorganic substances such as water and\nlimestone. Were this eventually to be done, our remaining fossil fuels,\ncomprising already synthesized complex organic molecules, could be more\neffectively used as the raw material for an increasingly versatile chemical\nindustry.\n\n</quote>\n\n[http://www.hubbertpeak.com/hubbert/EnergyResources.pdf](http://www.hubbertpeak.com/hubbert/EnergyResources.pdf)\n\nThere was a small bit of stir a few years ago when the US Naval Research Lab\npublished research on the concept, also looking to use nuclear power, largely\nfor _in situ_ fuel provisioning for carrier-based combat aircraft. Those\npapers only cited research back to the mid-1990s, making the concept seem\nnovel. I discovered it's not, with active research dating to the mid-1960s at\nBrookhaven National Laboratory and the late Mayer Steinberg, as well as\nM.I.T., and the more recent USNRL work.\n\nThe underlying chemistry works. Scaling the concept seems to be problematic,\nas well as economics, though that has more to do with the mis-pricing of\nfossil fuels than failures of Fischer-Tropsch, in my view.\n\nI posted a number of items on it, including a literature review, here:\n\n[https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/search?q=fischer-\ntropsc...](https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/search?q=fischer-\ntropsch&restrict_sr=on)\n\nLit review:\n\n[https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/28nqoz/electri...](https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/28nqoz/electrical_fuel_synthesis_from_seawater_older/)\n\n~~~\ndarksaints\nThe big problem with Fischer Tropsch is the wasted energy. Solid oxide fuel\ncells can directly turn carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide with a little bit\nof electrical current, but that last oxygen atom comes off in the Fischer\nTropsch reactor where it is far more likely to bind with hydrogen than it is\nto another oxygen molecule. This essentially means that half the hydrogen you\nelectrolyze is going to end up back as water again. That's a lot of wasted\nelectricity.\n\nBiomass has potential through Fischer Tropsch though. Not much use on an\naircraft carrier, but way more energy efficient to produce syngas with\nbiomass.\n\n~~~\ndredmorbius\nI don't know the chemistry all that well (other than the net overall balance).\nBut if there are alternative pathways ... that could be useful. I do believe\nthat there are catalysts (generally iron, thankfully not very exotic)\ninvolved.\n\nThere's also the Sabatier process, which yields methane rather than liquid\nfuels. I believe that can be further processed to arrive at longer-chain\nhydrocarbons. HC6-HC10 chains are roughly petrol/gasoline, HC12 is about\nkerosene, and HC16 or so roughly diesel, as I understand. Methane is CH4.\n\nThe problem with biomass is that our present energy demands are _immense_. A\nsufficient amount for military aviation needs, possibly. Enough to sustain\npresent levels of commercial and private aviation: no.\n\nHANPP / the photosynthetic ceiling is a real bitch.\n\n[https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/2cvap7/the_int...](https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/2cvap7/the_intractable_problem_of_biomass_for_fuels_is/)\n\nBoeing claimed a major \"breakthrough\" some years back. It ... doesn't add up:\n\n[https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/1wo2hl/boeings...](https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/1wo2hl/boeings_biofuel_breakthrough_less_than/)\n\nWhen I'd first started looking at fuel concerns, I'd thought biofuels offered\na viable path out. I'm utterly convinced they don't. At least not for a world\nwith 1-7 billion drivers.\n\n _Maybe_ with 100 million cars. Henry Ford suggested alcohol, from grains, as\na fuel circa 1900. At the time, 20% of US grain production _was_ dedicated to\ntransport, though utilising a somewhat different prime mover: horses.\n\n~~~\nphilipkglass\nWhen electricity from solar and wind power were much more expensive, biomass\nlooked attractive as a lower cost (if limited-availability) energy source. I'd\nsay that it is still potentially attractive for making liquid fuels, but less\nbecause of its embodied energy content and more as a compact source of carbon\nthat has recently been removed from the atmosphere.\n\nCellulosic ethanol is pretty terrible even when the process is operating as\nplanned:\n\n[http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/15344/zero-\nto-10-mil...](http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/15344/zero-\nto-10-million-in-5-years)\n\n70 gallons of ethanol from 1 short ton of cellulose means 230 kg from 1000 kg\nof cellulose. There's 444 kg of carbon in that much cellulose, enough to make\n518 kg of diesel fuel if given enough externally supplied hydrogen. The energy\ncontent of the final fuel from 1 tonne of cellulose is 23.6 GJ for diesel and\nonly 6.9 GJ for the ethanol.\n\nLiquid biofuels from non-cellulosic inputs have even worse areal productivity.\n(Barring (theoretically) algae, which nobody seems to be able to implement at\nindustrial scale.)\n\nUS airline fuel consumption peaked in 2007 at 20 billion gallons per year:\n\n[https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=31512](https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=31512)\n\nThat's about 63 million tonnes of kerosene/diesel. You'd need at least 122\nmillion tonnes of cellulosic biomass to supply carbon for that much fuel.\nYou'd also need refiners, crackers, and recapture in addition to F-T units to\nensure that both too-light and too-heavy carbon compounds get recycled to\nproduce liquid hydrocarbons of the desired saturation and molecular weight. It\nwould basically be running a state of the art petrochemical complex with\nbiomass gasifiers and electrolytic hydrogen bolted on.\n\nBut assuming you did all that, the raw material availability looks relatively\nfavorable. As of 2005, this report estimated that over 300 million tonnes of\ncurrently-unused dry biomass could be sustainably harvested from forests and\nagricultural wastes:\n\n[https://www1.eere.energy.gov/bioenergy/pdfs/final_billionton...](https://www1.eere.energy.gov/bioenergy/pdfs/final_billionton_vision_report2.pdf)\n\n~~~\ndredmorbius\nThe reduction in fuel consumption apparently also suprised the FAA.\n\nIn its 2002 RITA projection, the forecast total commercial aviation\nconsumption for 2012 (that's nearly 8 years ago now) was ~33 billion gallons.\nAs of 2016, it was still only aroun 17 billion, or nearly 50% below the\nforecast _for four years prior_.\n\nWhether this is a testiment to efficiency or a harbinger of peak oil, I'm not\nentirely certain. Though as an example of the shifts in resource utilisation\nfollowing prices, it's instructive.\n\nThe efficiency improvements, it should be noted, are in both per _revenue_\npassenger mile and per _capacity_ passenger mile. Those result both from an\nincreased number of seats per aircraft (that's where your legroom's gone),\n_and_ in the number of paying butts in those seats, largely courtesy improved\npredictive sales / incentives methodologies. And improvements in aircraft\nefficiencies. Such as by high-bypass turbofan engines, which require ever\nhigher, and forward-positioned, mounting systems. Which then affect aircraft\nhandling and stability....\n\nThere are probably limits to both approaches.\n\n------\nChuckMcM\nWould be an excellent application of a travelling wave reactor located in a\nremote spot.\n\n------\nviburnum\nAviation uses so much energy, it’s gotta be this or stop flying.\n\n~~~\nBurningFrog\nMy theory is that people hugely overestimate the importance of things they see\nand touch.\n\nFlying is _the_ most fossil fuel intensive thing regular people interact with,\nso we naturally assume it's the biggest energy user there is.\n\nLast I heard the number was around 2% of all CO₂ emissions.\n\n~~~\nduckymcduckface\nHeating is actually the biggest user, accounts for 50% of global energy\ndemand. This includes space heating as well as process heat.\n\n~~~\npetre\nProcess heat is useful, only nobody wants to live near industry or nuclear\npower station. Maybe it can work out with SMRs.\n\n~~~\nacidburnNSA\nI lived 6 miles from an operating nuclear power plant for decades. It was\nfine. Interestingly, the most pro-nuclear people are often those who live in\nthe emergency planning zone. It's thought that this is due to the local\noutreach that the plants do with boy scouts and whatnot.\n\n~~~\nMiroF\nAlso probably selection bias. And also people who are employed there live\nnearby.\n\n~~~\nacidburnNSA\nThat's also certainly part of it. I think it's a good thing that people who\nwork there generally feel very safe. Interestingly, the nuclear industry has\none of the best occupational health records. Mostly because you have to take a\ndamned training before you operate a ladder.\n\n------\njdkdnfndnfjd\nSolar is way better for this. Producing jet fuel can start and stop which is\nperfect for solar. Powering houses has to be constant\n\n~~~\nacidburnNSA\nI used to believe this too. Talking to industrials, I learned that many\nindustrial processes require major capital investments that demand continuous\nsupply of power. For instance, a big water desalination plant can cost $4B.\nYou better believe they want to run that sucker 24/7 to make a good return on\ninvestment.\n\n------\nhristov\nRolls Royce makes small nuclear reactors for submarines, and naturally, their\nsolution to the worlds climate crisis is for more people to buy their small\nmodular nuclear reactors. Don't pay attention, this is just salesmanship. It\nis a little depressing to think that with the world at crisis, the best\ncompanies like Rolls Royce can respond is to think \"well there must be some\nway to shoehorn our existing products into this existential crisis everyone is\ntalking about\".\n\nSmall modular nuclear reactors are very dangerous because they are not secured\nunder heavy concrete and thus can easily blow up when something goes wrong.\nAnd something usually goes wrong.\n\nTheir reasoning for using nuclear is nonsensical. There is no reason why those\ngreen fuel generating facilities cannot be connected to the grid. And as far\nas building new power generation for the grid, renewable energy is already far\ncheaper than nuclear.\n\n~~~\ngodelski\nThe majority of climate scientists are pro nuclear. But that is just talking\nabout grid energy.\n\nThere's still a lot of problems in other industries (and sub problems within\nenergy and transportation). There's no great green revolution in:\n\n\\- Flying\n\n\\- Shipping\n\n\\- Heat and A/C\n\n\\- Industry\n\n\\- Concrete/Steel/Construction\n\n\\- Agriculture\n\nand many more. We often talk about transportation and grid energy, but that\nisn't even half the problem. And the US is only 15% of global emissions and\nthe EU-28 is 9%.\n\nWhat's happening here is that there is no good solution currently proposed. If\nyou want to critique the proposed solution, that is welcomed. But critique it\non its merits. But from your comment you seem to believe that all reactors are\nthe same, that no advanced have been made since Chernobyl, and most\nimportantly that you haven't read the article.\n\n~~~\nKrasnol\n> The majority of climate scientists are pro nuclear.\n\nDo you have any credible sources on that?\n\n~~~\ngodelski\nI commonly quote IPCC recommendations because this is an easy reference with\nrecommendations in several releases, but people rather don't like this and\nclaim bureaucracy (this is easy to find and can be found from emission reports\nto the climate summits. I can explain some nuance if there are actual\nquestions here). I can also anecdotally, working in HPC, tell you that I have\nyet to meet a climate scientist that is anti-nuclear or anti-sequestration (a\npolitician that I really like sadly calls these \"false solutions\"). By\nanecdotally I mean that I talk to these people.\n\n[https://world-\nnuclear.org/uploadedFiles/org/WNA/Publications...](https://world-\nnuclear.org/uploadedFiles/org/WNA/Publications/Working_Group_Reports/comparison_of_lifecycle.pdf)\n\n[https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/03/SRREN_Full_R...](https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/03/SRREN_Full_Report-1.pdf)\n(you'll notice a lot of talk about \"continuous energy\" here and notice quite a\nlot of graphs about emission comparisons)\n\n[https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy13osti/57187.pdf](https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy13osti/57187.pdf)\n\nI can provide more, if needed.\n\n~~~\nKrasnol\nThe first compilation is highly selective (what are those Swedish\nEnvironmental Management Council sources for example? None of them are\navailable and all lead to a page that is not the SEM council) in it's sources\nand would not even closely cover either the statement \"pro nuclear\" nor any\n\"majority\" and it's been selected for this publication by the World Nuclear\nAssociation...\n\nThe second one consist sentences like: \"Increasing the installed capacity of\nRE power plants will reduce the amount of fossil and nuclear fuels that\notherwise would be needed in order to meet a given electricity demand.\" or\n\"There are multiple means for lowering GHG emissions from the energy system\nwhile still providing desired energy services.\" where nuclear is just one\noption among many others or \"There have been significant power reductions from\nnuclear and coal plants during drought conditions in the USA and France in\nrecent years.\" and so on. The focus is clearly on RE and I don't see a clear\n\"pro nuclear\" message there.\n\nThe third one is focused on emissions based upon unnamed sources from an\nunknown time range (which is relevant for RE as there is rapid development\nunlike in nuclear) ignoring relevant topics like nuclear waste management\n([https://worldnuclearwastereport.org/](https://worldnuclearwastereport.org/))\nand seems to end up being pro wind. I tried to find some more data on nuclear\nenergy on their page but it seems they are not considering it at all:\n[https://www.nrel.gov/research/data-\ntools.html](https://www.nrel.gov/research/data-tools.html)\n\nSo yeah, you could provide something that focuses on that \"majority\" and \"pro\nnuclear\" parts. That would be nice. And please spare me nuclear lobby groups.\nWe had enough of their marketing efforts in the recent months here.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHas Swedish feminism gone too far? - drucken\nhttp://www.euronews.com/2013/03/08/has-swedish-feminism-gone-too-far/\n\n======\nSZenith\nHonestly, I think it's the natural course of things for feminism to go too\nfar. It's society finding its bounds. When too far is reached, people will\nrevolt, and we'll go the other way again. Eventually, equilibrium will be\nreached. At least, that's my dumbass arm-chair anthropologist assumption of\nthings.\n\n------\nPiskvorrr\nI have seen this _exact_ news story 4 times so far - in 1998, and every five\nyears thereafter. Hey, recycling is good for the environment, right?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: what SaaS do you currently pay for? - subpixel\nMy list.<p>/mo.<p>Basecamp\nBackpack\nCampfire\nGetExceptional\nGitHub\nTender\nLighthouse\nDropBox<p>/yr.<p>MobileMe\nFlickr\nVimeo\nPandora One\n======\ndanudey\nMobileMe and Flickr for me. For my previous company, we used Hoptoad, GitHub,\nand Lighthouse for a while.\n\nI'd pay for Dropbox if I had more than one computer and/or I was ever anywhere\nnear my storage limit.\n\n------\ntbgvi\nRight now I'm using Get Satisfaction, ZenDesk, Salesforce.com, and Basecamp\n\n------\neliot_sykes\nDNS made easy, Get Clicky, couple software development related ones\n\n------\ntonystubblebine\nBasecamp, Highrise, Campfire, Glance, Blinksale.\n\n------\npuredemo\nPandora. I think that's it right now.\n\n------\napsurd\ngithub, linode, pandora, getclicky\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThe Country That Stopped Reading - sazpaz\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/opinion/the-country-that-stopped-reading.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0\n\n======\npavel_lishin\nI wish the article had linked to the Unesco study. I wonder who Mexico beat\nout.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nImproving Stack Overflow jobs search with machine learning and R - slashdotdash\nhttps://medium.com/@aurelien.gasser/a-dive-into-stack-overflow-jobs-search-62bc6e628f83\n======\nrattray\nI found it got off to a bit of a slow start, but was a fun, rewarding, and\nvery real-world read.\n\nIn particular, I appreciated admissions like this:\n\n> Writing our own genetic algorithm in C# was a bad idea. It took us weeks to\n> implement, test, and optimize. Not to mention all the time spent waiting for\n> results. There was a better solution available all along (the optim function\n> in R). Because we didn’t do proper research, we overlooked it and lost time.\n> Sigh.\n\n... which far too few eng blogs overlook / fail to mention.\n\n------\ngaius\nR is a very well supported language on Windows (since MS bought Revolution\nAnalytics), very well integrated with SQL Server and Azure, and R Server\nsolves a pain point that a lot of real-world users have. And of course it's\nopen source.\n\n------\nstevenwu\nQuestion to spark discussion and for me to fill potential gaps in my\nknowledge, not to criticize the article as I very much appreciate the\ntransparency and build-up from the simple naive initial approach to the final\napproach used in production:\n\nIs anyone else bothered by the claim that there \"is a 100% chance that the new\nversion is better than the current one\" shown by using bootstrap? Maybe I've\njust never come across such a use of bootstrap through my encounters with\nstatistics. I know it as a tool for resampling from a population to build up\nproperties of your estimator (mean, variance, what have you) when all you have\nis a dataset and no clue about the actual distribution. When I saw bootstrap\nwith that probabilistic claim, I thought the author would calculate a\nbootstrapped (100-x)% confidence interval for both the current and the new\nweights: and if the intervals didn't overlap with one another then you can\nclaim with (100-x)% certainty that one is better than the other. But the\nauthor creates a new statistic that is a function of both datasets; Z_i = 1 if\nnew is better than current on iteration i (on a random subset of data) else 0,\nand for all N=10000 iterations Z_i = 1. The chance/probabilistic claim made of\nnew being better than current is based on the fact that no variation was seen\non Z_i (I'm also kind of skeptical that out of so many iterations with random\nsubsets that each time the new weights were better than the current). I think\nat most you can say that you simulated subsets of the data and 100% of the\ntime new > current; the current claim leads me to believe there's inference\nthat isn't there.\n\nMaybe I should just ask one of my past stats profs. Open to someone\nenlightening me.\n\n~~~\nbrockf\nA quantile-based confidence interval from bootstrapping can yield a 100%\nconfidence interval that does not contain 0, i.e., with 100% of cases\npositive/negative. But that does not (necessarily) mean that there is a 100%\nchance that the new version is better than the old one. Confidence intervals\nare not Bayesian credible intervals and cannot be treated as such. (That said,\nmaking some certain assumptions about the underlying model can in some times\nallow one to treat nonparametric bootstraps in such a way.)\n\n~~~\nstevenwu\nRight. The author finds 100% of the time for his current dataset but makes a\nstatement that implies some certainty or inference on future cases. Like\ntaking 100 men, 100 women and finding that 100 randomly matched pairs had the\nman taller than the woman 100 times, and making the claim that there is a 100%\nchance that men are taller than women.\n\nThe more I type the more I realize how pedantic this is, but we're emphasized\nin stats to pay extra attention to the conclusions we draw from the data we\nanalyze.\n\n------\nEternalData\nGreat read. I loved the honest balance between engineering features and how\nmuch they ultimately ended up mattering to users. Oftentimes, the features we\nselect can be quite arbitrary -- it's good to do gut checks by running real-\ntime validation of results as often as possible. Fortunately, at Stack, you've\ngot the userbase to do just that :)\n\n------\namenod\n> Genetic algorithm running on 56-core machine\n\nWow, just... wow. I wonder why they didn't utilize (multiple) GPUs instead? I\nwould guess it would be far more efficient in all aspects. Especially now that\nthere is TensorFlow & co.\n\n~~~\ngaius\n$150k on GPGPUs seems a bit steep if you're going to throw that approach away\nanyway...\n\n~~~\nannnnd\nWhy $150k? Ordinary GPU (<$1k) would probably be equivalent to 56 CPU cores,\nif not faster.\n\nI imagine the reason for using CPU was that they would throw it out anyway, so\nthere was no need to make an ideal solution - and they already had those 56\nCPU cores.\n\n~~~\ngaius\nThat was just the price of some nVidia kit I was looking at, roughly.\n\n~~~\nannnnd\nI had no idea they have this, but it would probably be an overkill for SO. An\nordinary (nVidia) GPU which starts at $150 is roughly >10 times faster at NN\nproblems than 4 core CPU.\n\n~~~\ngaius\nThis: [https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/data-\ncenter/dgx-1/](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/data-center/dgx-1/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nObamaCare is No Starship Enterprise - skmurphy\nhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-25/obamacare-is-no-starship-enterprise.html\n\n======\ncrazy1van\nVery insightful points about non-technical and technical personnel's\ninteractions in business. In my experience the \"illusion of omnicompetence\" is\npretty pervasive within technical professions.\n\n------\nskmurphy\nclosing paragraph contains a key piece of advice for entrepreneurs:\n\n\"We like to think that being “smart and competent” makes you less likely to\nmake mistakes. But when you’re out of your element, it may merely enable you\nto make more -- and larger -- mistakes.\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTop open source apps for Mac OS X - abennett\nhttp://www.itworld.com/open-source/81060/top-10-open-source-apps-mac-os-x\n======\nmakecheck\nOne-pager. <http://www.itworld.com/print/81060>\n\n~~~\ncolbyolson\nI was just about to do the same. I hate when they break up an article,\nespecially just a list, into multiple pages.\n\nUGH.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow effective is basic account hygiene at preventing hijacking - edmorley\nhttps://security.googleblog.com/2019/05/new-research-how-effective-is-basic.html\n======\nbradknowles\nThe actual title on the page is “New research: How effective is basic account\nhygiene at preventing hijacking”.\n\nDropping words like “account” makes a significant change to the typical\nconnotation that a reader might be expected to derive.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTreble: A modular base for Android - chickenbane\nhttps://android-developers.googleblog.com/2017/05/here-comes-treble-modular-base-for.html\n======\nsorenjan\nFinally, can't believe it took them this long. The sorry state of the update\nsituation is one of the worst things about Android. Next step would probably\nbe to provide an API to the OEMs so they can add their \"value add\"\nfunctionality as apps, so Google can push updates to all phones regardless of\nhardware drivers and OEM modifications. And maybe make it possible to update\nemoji via the Play store, instead of needing a new system update. I don't like\nthe blank boxes in messages from my iOS friends.\n\nI wonder if this means that Google will lead by example and prolong the time\nthey deliver updates to their own phones. They don't guarantee new updates to\ntheir current Pixel phones after October 2018 [0], which is not good enough.\n\n[0]\n[https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705?hl=en](https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705?hl=en)\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nIt is an illusion to think this will ever change, if Google doesn't make it\nlegally binding to having updates in place to access Google Play Services for\nexample.\n\nThere are no incentives in place for doing otherwise.\n\nAlready in the old days, Nokia was one of the very few manufacturers that\nbothered to provide firmware updates, and even then usually only once.\n\n~~~\nsorenjan\nIf Google makes it easier for manufacturers to make phones that can be updated\nOTA by Google than phones that can not (custom Android builds) most of them\nwould probably do so. Have a hardware layer, an Android system layer, an OEM\nlayer, and have a clear interface between them so they can be updated\nindependently. Then Google should push updates themselves, they can't leave\nthat to phone manufacturers or carriers, like you said, there's no incentives\nfor them to do so. Of course, this has been an issue for Android since day\none, so I wont hold my breath.\n\nAre there any work done on a system similar to the one on PC, where software\ncan enumerate available hardware? We have advanced computers in our pockets,\nbut they can't be updated to a new OS version as easy as a 15 year old PC.\nIt's ridiculous.\n\n~~~\nizacus\nBut \"ease\" isn't the problem - the issues OEMs have are because they literally\ngo hack and fork the AOSP source itself (making upstream merges hard or\nimpossible) for sometimes really dumb reasons. This is also the source of\nconstant headaches for us app developers (like the recent case where Realm\nfound out that Samsung broke memmove() on their devices!).\n\nThe other issue is that there's zero (0, no) incentive to update the devices.\nNo matter how easy it is - the OEMs see that as a pure cost that won't be\nrecuperated. For each of the (literaly!) 100 devices they churn out per year\nthey need to get new drivers from the SoC manufaturer (and Qualcomm pretty\nmuch does not give a crap about SoCs of the previous year, especially lower\nend ones - which makes this process stop there), update the kernel and move\nall their specific hacks to it.\n\nI don't see how these changes Google did will change incentives. The only way\nwe might see a change in this field is by a few class action suites from users\nbeing left without updates or regulators putting down the punitive damages\nhammer. Everything else is just Google kindly hoping OEMs will stop being\ndicks from the goodness of their heart.\n\nIn car industry we have strong regulation which demands that your car is\nserviceable at least 5 years since last unit was sold (and that their security\nissues are fixed by recalls). We need that for arguably the most important\nelectronic devices in our lives as well.\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\n> No matter how easy it is - the OEMs see that as a pure cost that won't be\n> recuperated\n\nTreble removes much of the cause for forking, and removes the cost for OEMs\nthat follow it's design.\n\n------\ndemarq\n\"device makers can choose to deliver a new Android Update\" ... \"can choose\".\n\nPreferably they shouldn't be able to choose. Google should be in charge of\nupdates and manufacturers should have to make a special effort to prevent an\nupdate. i.e if they are certain that an update will brick their device they\nwould then make a formal request to google not to send the update to their\ndevices.\n\n~~~\nsigmar\nAgreed. Updating the phone being easier won't solve the problem. The problem\nis a mismatch in incentives.\n\nManufacturers don't have an incentive to update older devices because (1) they\ndon't want to put any resources into last year's phone and (2) they want their\ncustomers to upgrade to their newly released phone.\n\n~~~\nusrusr\nStill waiting for a phone brand to bite the bullet and offer _paid_ updates.\nBecause it's either that or no updates. I know what I would prefer.\n\n~~~\nvoltagex_\nIt still won't solve the \"Qualcomm won't update the BSP\" issue, though.\n\n~~~\nswiley\nThis right here!\n\nClosed SOC BSPs that are tied to android are the real problem! If google had\nstuck with the standard Linux APIs or added appropriate new one when they\nneeded them and where more strict about open software we wouldn't be in this\nmess.\n\n~~~\nvetinari\nNot true. Witness the routers or another embedded devices, that are using\nstandard Linux and yet are never updated.\n\nOr worse, coming with obsolete kernel right at the release day.\n\n------\nslackstation\nThis should usher in a new era of cheap phones that upgrade immediately to the\nnewest version of the Android OS.\n\nIt lowers the price floor for a shiny new phone. All of these additional\nfeatures are expensive to create but, they are differentiators. With this,\nGoogle has the ability to push more new features on the base OS. By conforming\nto this standard, Google make it easier for them to compete with all of these\nmanufacturers' features.\n\nNow it's up to them to make compelling reasons to upgrade their phones beyond\napps. I see things like Google Assistant, Mapping, etc. being more integrated\ninto the OS so that you are always in the Google system no matter what app you\nare currently in.\n\nThis is a big and brilliant win if they can first pull it off technically and\nthen pull it off with compelling services. They certainly look like they are\ninvesting heavily in both.\n\nI look forward to a $99 or $199 (or $49 if you can stomach sketchy Chinese\nphones) phone that just keeps getting better and better and better for free as\nlong as the phone works. This also makes a very compelling thing to make the\nphone into a computer once the battery can't hold a charge, etc. Take the guts\nor use some kind of USB->HDMI out and make it into a TV app or a digital\nmirror or another internet station somewhere.\n\nBrilliant move Google.\n\n~~~\nsmichel17\n> I see things like Google Assistant, Mapping, etc. being more integrated into\n> the OS so that you are always in the Google system no matter what app you\n> are currently in.\n\nNo thank you. I use Android because it's a free and open system.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nGiven the lack of updates and the missing parts on AOSP source tree, that is a\nfallacy.\n\n------\ncwyers\nI am amused that their graphical representation of the Android version\ncustomized for a particular model of phone is \"Android mascot dressed up in a\nreally cool spacesuit looking thing\" and not \"Android mascot with bags of\ntrash stapled haphazardly to him,\" which would probably be more accurate.\n\n~~~\nduncanawoods\n> really cool spacesuit looking thing\n\nLook closer - its a fetching combo of fanny pack, boxer shorts, ice skates,\nski goggles etc. pretty much the crap you wanted.\n\n~~~\nkbutler\nThat's really awesome - thanks for making me go back and actually look at it.\n\nUpvoted the grandparent, just to keep it high in the list so that your comment\nwould stay near the top of the page...\n\n------\nGordonS\nDo vendors actually _want_ to let users update the software on their devices\nthough?\n\nI would have thought new shiny software was a nice incentive to get customers\nto upgrade to a new phone?\n\n~~~\njm_l\nCompanies are incentivized in the long term to make good products. This\nincentive usually eclipses incentives that our (often justified) anti-\ncorporate suspicions invent.\n\n~~~\nGordonS\nI'd like to believe that. But profits rule.\n\nSmartphone usage must be pretty close to saturation point, in the developed\nworld at least. Samsung, Apple etc release a new, _expensive_ device every\nyear, and it's natural that they are going to want existing customers to\nupgrade.\n\nI think the only way Android users (of non-Google devices, that is) are going\nto get software upgrades is if Google somehow forces vendors to do it.\n\n~~~\npetra\nIt might be enough for a single vendor to \"break ranks\" and go with treble to\nhave a decent effect. Xiaomi did so with their large batteries, for example.\n\n~~~\nGordonS\nI'm more an Android guy, so I don't have an iPhone (except for testing on\nmobile apps I'm working on), and so I don't know what the update situation is\nlike. But my (limited!) understanding is that when they release new iOS\nversions they are available at least a couple of generations back - is that\ncorrect? Or if you buy a network locked phone is it up to the network?\n\n~~~\nhalostatue\nDepending on the nature of the update, iPhone updates are generally 3–5\ngenerations back. Just on the iPhone side, iOS 10 has some level of support on\nthe iPhone 7 (current generation); iPhone 6s (-1 year); iPhone 6 (-2 years);\niPhone SE (slightly updated iPhone 5s); iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c (-3 years);\nand iPhone 5 (-4 years). That’s five generations of support for iPhone.\n\nThey are a little more aggressive with iPad and iPod touch deprecation, but I\nthink that’s because some of those devices were built underpowered anyway.\n\n------\ntherealmarv\nMaybe we can benefit from this in 2 or 3 years? I'm very pessimistic... it\ntakes LOOOOOOONG before vendors will look into Android O and the interfaces\nand the first generation benefiting from this will be earliest Android P\nupdates. And do not forget: This whole process does not reduce testing time\nand the carriers might also look for long testing on updates ;)\n\n~~~\nJabbles\nIt sounds like the vendor abstraction layer will make things a lot simpler for\nmanufacturers and vendors, so the cost savings alone should tempt them.\n\nI'm not sure, but couldn't this benefit vendors/manufacturers/users upgrading\nto O?\n\nAlso, remember that manufacturers have probably known about this for a while.\n\n~~~\ncpeterso\nAn improved vendor abstraction layer might make porting easier but it still\ndoesn't provide any incentive for vendors to actually update old devices. :(\n\n------\njulioneander\nIf Google actually implements a way of pushing those underlying Android\nupdates directly to the phones then I think they might actually be successful.\nIf Google end up still relying on the manufactures and carriers to push those\nupdates out, then what incentive will they have to keep the phones updated?\n\n~~~\ndmitrygr\nIf we're lucky - consumer pressure.\n\n~~~\nocdtrekkie\nAn almost nonexistent percentage of users know what version of Android they\nhave or if it's the latest, in the grand scheme of things. In the tech bubble,\nit's hard to imagine, but I'd go so far as to suggest most Android users don't\nknow they run Android.\n\nIf people realized how many security risks they open themselves up to by\nrunning old Android versions and that the \"your phone is up to date\" line in\ntheir Settings app is basically a lie, Android would not be the dominant\nplatform on earth.\n\n~~~\nUnoriginalGuy\nBy contrast many iOS users do know which version and the media reports on\nreleases.\n\nOne could argue that this is the power of releasing to millions of devices\nconcurrently, as opposed to spread out over sometimes years like Android.\n\nWindows Phone had issues but updates was not one of them and you knew which\nrelease you were on them too.\n\n~~~\nbitmapbrother\nOf course Windows Phone had update problems. Carriers would hold back or not\neven release updates. And then there was Microsoft who was osborning their\nOS's and phones.\n\n~~~\nocdtrekkie\nThe point here is that Windows Mobile has already solved this problem: All\nWindows 10 devices receive OS updates directly from Microsoft servers, as a\nrequirement of using the platform. (Even in 8.1, if you were on Developer\nPreview, you got updates straight from Microsoft, apart from carrier/OEM\nchannels.) Drivers/firmware are pushed separately.\n\nThis appears to be where Google is perhaps finally heading. Once Treble is out\nthere, Google will change their contract terms to mandate control over OS\nupdates for all devices which license the Play Store.\n\n~~~\nbitmapbrother\nNo Windows mobile has not solved that problem. Any updates involving firmware\nare still controlled by the carriers. It's a rather moot point as windows\nphone is dead anyway.\n\n>The new process still does not provide firmware updates, as far as we know,\nso carriers and their bottlenecks will still be involved in upgrading phones.\n\n------\ndmitrygr\nThis removes one of the main excuses various vendors use for not providing\nAndroid updates. I truly hope this works in helping users always be up to\ndate.\n\n------\ncjhanks\nIt is my opinion that Google does not view Android as simply \"an operating\nsystem for phones\". Android has tremendous application in IoT devices and\nappliances. The lifecycle of many applications is quite a bit longer than the\ncell phone.\n\nAs we see an increase in the diversity of applications using Android, this\nupgrade path will be very important. Just wait until you see your first ATM or\nPOS system \"Powered By Android ©\".\n\n~~~\nswiley\nThe only two reasons people put up with android on phones are\n\n1) it's the only choice if you want something small with a cell modem\n\n2) it's the only choice if you want to run Snapchat\n\nAndroid is incredibly aweful. It's actually impossible to write apps for it\nthat won't crash. If you're writing firmware it's even worse! Have you ever\ntried to build it? It's a nightmare! The source for a basic system is over\n60GB and has a crazy number of dependencies.\n\nFor embedded systems/IOT you're thousands of times better off just using\nbuildroot or an RTOS.\n\n~~~\ncjhanks\nWell, is it really much worse than Windows CE?\n\n~~~\nswiley\nThat's like comparing shooting yourself in the foot to shooting yourself in\nthe head. There's no reason for either!\n\n------\nsandGorgon\nis this a hypervisor ? I'm kinding of wondering about the abstractions here...\nis this replacing the bootloader with a kind of bootloader+hypervisor and the\nactual OS loads on top of the hypervisor ?\n\nTheir abstraction with the camera2 and hal3 was a small step in this\ndirection. any camera with these abstractions would be able to use RAW\nimaging.\n\n~~~\nEddieRingle\nNope, they've introduced a HIDL for defining hardware interfaces. See\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13928385](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13928385)\nwhich I posted back in March.\n\n------\nblinkingled\nSo this will get users on to the next Android Framework version but if there\nare security bugs in vendor implementation or underlying firmware it'll still\ncontinue to be problematic for users. But it will solve the PR problem for\nGoogle if OEMs and Carriers update the framework version quick enough - the\nquestion raised mostly by tech pundits - when am I going to get the next\nupdate to Android - will have a satisfactory answer.\n\nNot to say this isn't a huge step forward from status quo - if vendors\ncontribute features and fixes to MediaServer and everybody uses the same\nimplementation it will be much easier to update it for all vendors.\n\nWhat still sucks is this is not going to be Google that will update the\nAndroid framework - it's still OEMs and the carriers.\n\n------\nneuromancer2701\nThis would seem to allow security updates at a faster rate, but the linux\nkernel will forever be abandoned to hardware vendor whims aka still on 3.10.X\n\n~~~\npritambaral\nIt seems they're making the vendors push their kernel patches into AOSP.\n\nFrom TFA:\n\n\" In addition to the architectural changes, we're working with our silicon and\ndevice partners to take their code changes, such as features for a carrier\nnetwork in a specific country, and move them into the common Android Open\nSource Project (AOSP) codebase. For example, Sony and Qualcomm contributed\ndozens of features and hundreds of bugfixes to Android O so they no longer\nneed to rework these patches with each new release of Android. \"\n\n~~~\nneuromancer2701\nSo is this a way around mainlining all of the silicon vendor's various\nkernels? I have heard that each vendor just hacks their hardware into the\n3.10.X and then just keeps a repo of it to meet open source requirements.\nBecause they are unable to make the quality requirements to get their code\nupstream.\n\n~~~\nmakomk\nBy the time anyone can get all the code required to support a modern SoC\nupstream in Linux, it's already obsolete.\n\n------\nafeezaziz\nFor someone that is considering Android, coming from iOS, this is a brilliant\nidea that should have been implemented long ago.\n\nFor example, a lot of Android phones are running 4.4 and 5.0 in this part of\nthe world. Those versions are pretty bad and the people that bought Android\n4.4 and 5.0 actually do not know what they are missing and how to actually\nupdate their OS since there is no way for them to do that for now.\n\nI hope that with this Treble, there will be a lot more Android phones(from\nChinese makers) that can update base Android OS to the latest one much more\nfrequently.\n\n------\npasbesoin\n\"...they'll be no [Treble] at all!\"\n\n\\-- Scotty, in _The Trouble With Tribbles_\n\nWhat was the previous \"vendor integration\" initiative? How long did it last?\nTwo years? Or was it one.\n\nLack of vendor buy-in. Combined with Google's ADHD project support.\n\nNice idea, but color me skeptical.\n\nI don't see anything that hints at a change in the fundamental cost/benefit\nthat's driving the current mess.\n\nMaybe I'm just projecting cynicism, because I'd actually like to be proven\nwrong. And bad press seems to be the only external influence on Google, that\nactually gets through.\n\n------\nchrisballinger\nWould this help projects like LineageOS (formerly Cyanogenmod) maintain\nongoing support for older devices?\n\n~~~\nethbro\nIf all the vendor crap and secret drivers are abstracted out sufficiently,\nyes.\n\n~~~\npetecox\nThe bottom diagram suggests that the 'Android OS framework' could be made\ndevice independent, with Lineage OS only responsible for maintaining the\n'Original vendor implementation'.\n\nA 'ROM' could then be split into 2 - the core system and the userspace running\non top, with potentially the latter maintained by Google's AOSP across all\ndevices.\n\n------\nEddieRingle\nI discovered this back in March. This is pretty exciting!\n\nNow all we need is to have Google distribute the framework over the Play Store\ninstead of relying on OTAs, and all will be right with the world.\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13928385](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13928385)\n\n------\nexabrial\nspeaking of Android: How about switching to the JVM/OpenJDK to keep pace with\nmodern Java? Maybe deliver CDI as a standard feature?\n\nAlso, how about using cgroups instead of the custom security model? Maybe we\ncould get reuse out of Google's security patches for Linux, and they could\nbenefit more from the community.\n\n~~~\nkllrnohj\n> speaking of Android: How about switching to the JVM/OpenJDK to keep pace\n> with modern Java?\n\nThey did that already. [https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/android-n-\nswitch...](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/android-n-switches-to-\nopenjdk-google-tells-oracle-it-is-protected-by-the-gpl/)\n\nWell, they switched the library to OpenJDK. The runtime is still ART, but\nthat's probably for the best as the runtime balance decisions made by hotspot\nare definitely not suitable for phones, and ART is pretty good these days\nanyway.\n\nAnd you can use Java 8 stuff:\n[https://developer.android.com/studio/preview/features/java8-...](https://developer.android.com/studio/preview/features/java8-support.html)\nsome of which is even fully backwards compatible (like lambdas)\n\n> Also, how about using cgroups instead of the custom security model? Maybe we\n> could get reuse out of Google's security patches for Linux, and they could\n> benefit more from the community.\n\nAndroid has always used cgroups. cgroups are not a security mechanism, though,\nit's for resource allocation.\n\nRegardless Android makes use of cgroups, cpusets, selinux, etc... That's all\nunrelated to the permission model, though, which more or less doesn't exist on\ndesktop platforms.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nActually the reality is a bit different than those marketing articles.\n\nThey started to cherry pick library implementations from OpenJDK, but\nachieving feature parity is certainly not something they care about.\n\nAnyone can easily check the AOSP commits to see exactly that.\n\n[https://android.googlesource.com/platform/libcore/](https://android.googlesource.com/platform/libcore/)\n\n[https://android-\nreview.googlesource.com/#/q/status:open+open...](https://android-\nreview.googlesource.com/#/q/status:open+openjdk)\n\n~~~\nkllrnohj\n> but achieving feature parity is certainly not something they care about.\n\n[citation needed]\n\nwhat is missing?\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nSo many things.\n\n\\- Swing\n\n\\- JavaFX\n\n\\- NIO and NIO2\n\n\\- invoke dynamic\n\n\\- method handles\n\nAre a few that come to my mind, but basically besides from what was left out\nof Java 6 libraries, almost everything that was introduced in Java 7 and 8.\n\n~~~\nkllrnohj\nSwing & JavaFX are not part of the JCL. Those are addon libraries.\n\nNIO: [https://developer.android.com/reference/java/nio/package-\nsum...](https://developer.android.com/reference/java/nio/package-summary.html)\n\"added in API 1\"\n\nAs in, it's been there since forever. What are you referring to specifically?\n\nNIO2:\n[https://developer.android.com/reference/java/nio/file/packag...](https://developer.android.com/reference/java/nio/file/package-\nsummary.html)\n\nInvoke dynamic: is a runtime/bytecode thing, not part of the library. The\nactual feature, lambdas, works just fine on Andorid\n\nMethod handles:\n[https://developer.android.com/reference/java/lang/invoke/Met...](https://developer.android.com/reference/java/lang/invoke/MethodHandle.html)\n\n------\njoshmarinacci\nI think this will be pretty successful. Ultimately the manufacturers want to\ndo as little software work as possible. If Project Treble gives them\neasier/less work to do, then they will adopt it quickly.\n\n------\namluto\nOne potential side benefit of this type of work: vendor kernel drivers tend to\nbe insecure buggy pieces of crap. Vendor Treble drivers will surely still be\ninsecure buggy pieces of crap, but they might be sandboxable. If Google really\nhas its eyes on the Magenta kernel, I imagine that Treble will be runnable in\nuser mode, so I bet it really will be sandboxed. This would be a huge win.\n\n------\nibic\nAndroid finally adapted the approach of Windows on PC - OS maker dictates the\nsoftware pieces on all devices, the device makers only create the hardware and\nwrite drivers (optionally, some bloatware). I believe this is the right/better\napproach, and it solves no only the Android update hassle, but more\nimportantly the fragmentation issue.\n\n------\nbsharitt\nNeat, Google has release this years fix for Android updates. I can't wait to\nsee what next years fix looks like.\n\n------\nasciimo\nI wonder if this will make it easier to circumvent the vendor layer entirely--\njailbreak without replacing the OS?\n\n------\ndrewg123\nHow much of the update problem is due to vendor customized UIs and apps, and\nhow much is due to not upstreaming driver support for their hardware?\n\nWhich of these problems will Project Treble solve? Eg, have they actually\nadded a stable driver KBI? Or pushed drivers to userspace? Or is this just\nabout GUIs?\n\n------\nReverseCold\nTook them long enough.\n\n------\nTwoNineA\nYou can't fix a business/greed problem with technology.\n\n~~~\nwmf\nThis is true, but Google may have more leverage than they think. If the phone\nvendors don't like the direction of Android what are they going to do, switch\nto Windows/Tizen/webOS/FirefoxOS?\n\n------\nscotu\nthat's cute. It's like Google doesn't get that hardware manufacturers need to\nsell you hardware... Am I missing something?\n\n~~~\ndukoid\nI assume you are implying that if the software can be updated, there would be\nno need for new hardware. Yet, for Apple, the opposite seems to be true :)\n\n~~~\nlaumars\nApple is an edge case in so many ways that Android OEMs differ:\n\n* Apple has a greater following of \"must have the latest\" consumers than most Android OEMs put together\n\n* Apple makes money from the app store. Both selling apps and developers submitting apps that expose cool new features in iOS.\n\n* Apple can release iOS updates that coincide with newer handsets but with software features only exposed in the newer hardware. Which also helps with the adoption of newer hardware.\n\n------\nocdtrekkie\nIt's incredible to me how long it took Google to realize this was their fault.\nA lot of people here have bought the \"blame the OEM\" nonsense for a really\nlong time, and you can see the comments here reflect that.\n\nBut in reality, there's a huge expense to all the work of updating devices to\nsupport Google's rapid change cycle for dozens or hundreds of different\nmodels, and the problem stems first and foremost from that lack of abstraction\nlayer.\n\nThis is likely a first step to finally catching up to Windows Mobile: Making\nthe core OS upgrade come straight from the actual OS developer, so that the\ncompany that writes the code is actually the one that updates the code.\n\n~~~\ntherealmarv\nWell I can blame OEM because I never asked for special features and skins on\ntop of Android. I want stock Android and stock should be easier to update.\nSpeaking about testing of updates: I'm sure this abstraction layer will not\nreduce the testing time and it will only slightly reduce the release time of\nnew version.\n\n~~~\nocdtrekkie\nThere's no such thing as \"stock Android\" from an update distribution view.\nEach Android release, currently, has to be custom-fitted to each given\nhardware model. That is the problem being solved here, and it's not the OEM's\nfault, it's the architectural design of Android itself, which is changing.\n\n~~~\nnileshtrivedi\nIt's not just Android design's fault though. ARM does not have the equivalent\nof Bios for hardware discovery and initialization. So you can't have a generic\nOS image to be installed on any device.\n\n------\ntarikozket\nSeems like Google is trying not to lose Samsung:\n[https://9to5google.com/2016/06/13/report-claims-that-\nsamsung...](https://9to5google.com/2016/06/13/report-claims-that-samsung-is-\nconsidering-moving-all-of-its-devices-to-tizen/)\n\n~~~\nJabbles\nMaybe, but [https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/04/samsungs-tizen-is-\nri...](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/04/samsungs-tizen-is-riddled-with-\nsecurity-flaws-amateurishly-written/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nQuestion answering on the Facebook bAbi dataset using RNN - vkhuc\nhttp://smerity.com/articles/2015/keras_qa.html\n\n======\nSmerity\nMinor note for anyone wanting to re-run all the experiments, there's a one\nline change that needs to be done such that it will run on QA19[1]. I'll be\npushing the updated code to Keras mainline soon.\n\nOtherwise, all experiments run out of the box, with many of the experiments\ndoing the full training and testing in under a minute. Play around! :)\n\n[1]\n[https://github.com/Smerity/keras/commit/63284a47ffc83e485500...](https://github.com/Smerity/keras/commit/63284a47ffc83e4855004929daa42621e275a1e8)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow an accident revolutionized guitar sound - shawndumas\nhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/tunein/2013/08/04/peter-cooper-on-music-how-a-happy-accident-revolutionized-guitar-sound/\n======\ndrcube\n> The distorted sound of rock ’n’ roll guitar aggression was born in\n> Nashville, in 1960.\n\nThat's not the way I heard it. Snoddy might have introduced the Fuzz-Tone in\nthe 60s, but the distorted guitar sound began with Link Wray poking holes in\nhis amplifier's speaker on \"Rumble\", in 1958.\n\nNot to minimize the Fuzz-Tone's impact, by any means. Just setting the record\nstraight. ;)\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumble_(instrumental)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumble_\\(instrumental\\))\n\n~~~\nNav_Panel\nAlthough all of the comments here have been valid and interesting, I'm gonna\npoke this reply thread with a Youtube link:\n[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAqTrbuxCRI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAqTrbuxCRI)\n\nJames Cotton - Cotton Crop Blues, on Sun Records. Recorded 1954, with a guitar\nsolo harder/heavier than most records up until the late 60s (with a few\nexceptions like Dick Dale). And it features distorted power chords. Pretty\nmuch the first really heavy track out there, I figure. It's my go-to point to\nshow people the origins of heavy, distorted guitar music.\n\nI also like to show them some Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys, as he had a lot\nof electrified instruments (electric guitar, electric mandolin, pedal steel)\nand was a big influence on Chuck Berry and Elvis. Plus I love Bob Wills.\n\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_rock_and_roll](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_rock_and_roll)\ndoes a pretty good job of covering the important records that led up to the\nexplosion of rock music in the 60s. Not sure about how it is beyond that.\n\nPretty glad a musical topic came up here on HN, though. I'm more passionate\nabout music history than I am about computer science (though there are no\ncareer prospects there, so CS it is).\n\n~~~\nGoodIntentions\nOT, but that Cotton Crop Blues link is at 6575 views as of now. (19:25\n6Aug2013 ) Very curious to see what an HN link does to it.\n\n~~~\nZecc\nIt's at 6605, after nine hours (according to the time indicator between your\nusername and \"| link | parent | flag\"; you forgot to say in what timezone\nyou're in).\n\nOne of them is mine, and I only went there because of your comment to be\nhonest.\n\nEdit: you said \"19:25\" and \"nine hours ago\" was 2013-08-07 09:03:45 UTC, so\nyou're at EDT? (incidently, everytimezone.com is pretty cool)\n\n~~~\nGoodIntentions\nhaha, yeah. Edit the comment to tag the time, forget the the timezone... EDT (\nviews are 6785 as of 21:42 7Aug2013, fwiw )\n\n------\nsehugg\nAnother article at Gibson.com talks more in detail about \"fuzz milestones\":\n[http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/who-\ncal...](http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/who-called-the-\nfuzz-714.aspx)\n\nThe distortion in \"Don't Worry\" was a faulty preamp on the console, probably\ntube-based since the first transistor-based mixing board was made in 1964. The\ndistorted guitar in the Beatles' \"Revolution\" was also an overdriven mixing\nboard, but theirs was solid state IIRC.\n\nBut if you like country-flavored fuzz, WFMU has you covered with a\nretrospective: [http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/11/country-fuzz-\nsp.html](http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/11/country-fuzz-sp.html)\n\n------\nbbx\nThis reminds me of the famous \"Phil Collins sound\", which basically is a gated\nreverb applied on the drums, and was discovered by accident during a studio\nsession.\n\n[http://thecollectivereview.com/hugh-padgham/hugh-padghams-\nga...](http://thecollectivereview.com/hugh-padgham/hugh-padghams-gated-drum-\nsound.html)\n\n~~~\ntehwalrus\nin Music Technology lessons (yes, that was a subject for a few years in the\nUK, I think it's defunct now) they _loved_ giving us Phil Collins to analyse -\nhe used all sorts of weird stuff noone else has ever bothered with (gated\nreverb, _reverse_ reverb, short time delay on vocals, _all in the same song,_\nalmost as a matter of course.)\n\nThe endless repetition is why I still sit still every time I hear the intro to\n\"in the air tonight\" trying to find the beat before the vocals come in!\n\n~~~\nphiljohn\nAh, I remember doing Music Technology A-Level - it was a brilliant course, and\nit helped that our school had the funds to build a halfway decent digital\nrecording studio.\n\n~~~\ntehwalrus\nI was lucky enough to attend Hurtwood House - I really wanted to do proper\nMusic A-Level, but they didn't offer it, only music tech.\n\nIn retrospect, I enjoyed it far more than I would have pure music, because I\nwas right in the middle of my guitars-are-awesome phase - a studio was just an\nelaborate set of effects pedals to me.\n\nHurtwood, anyway, had a ridiculously awesome setup - they spend much of the\n(substantial) school fees on Media, Theatre and music tech kit, so full\ndigital edit suites, a huge theatre with proper cabling and sound systems,\nunderground recording studios with proper soundproofing and _huge_ mixers for\nA level projects (In my day, a 24-channel soundcraft monster, plus numerous\nphysical compressors, EQs etc - I remember a particularly expensive white\nvalve-driven vocal preamp! Now I believe their kit is just a digital desk +\nLogic Pro.)\n\nWhen I left for Cambridge, I didn't make it onto their \"wall of fame\" \\-\nbecause Cambridge isn't an Equity-approved drama school. Seriously.\n\n------\nS_A_P\nI think that its a case where a lot of people had the same idea at around the\nsame time. As recording technology advanced in the 1950s, people realized\nthere was some creativity to be found there.\n\nMany people attribute backwards recording to the Beatles and George Martin,\nbut it had been done nearly a decade earlier (on purpose even) by André Popp\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Popp](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Popp)\nwith delirium in Hi-fi. Im sure this is not even the first instance.\n\nCertainly there is significance here with the invention of the fuzz tone, and\nit definitely inspired a new wave of guitar effects, and most likely effects\npedals. I think it demonstrates how the electric guitar is one of the most\nversatile instruments ever made and has a wider sonic palette than most any\nother thing out there when you account for playing styles, effects, and\nexpression. Either way this was a great read, and I love to nerd out to audio,\nproduction and recording.\n\n------\npfraze\n> Snoddy explains what happened by invoking tech-talk about tube amplifiers\n> and insufficient wiring. But whatever happened inside that console...\n\nHe came at me with the mumbo jumbo!\n\nHere's the song, for anybody curious:\n[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCbIAmy6X0M](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCbIAmy6X0M)\n\n~~~\nunclesaamm\nbetter quality:\n[http://grooveshark.com/s/Don+t+Worry/450UFD?src=5](http://grooveshark.com/s/Don+t+Worry/450UFD?src=5)\n\n------\ntmuir\nThe \"discovery\" of distortion is an example of the idea that inventors are\nsometimes the first person to tell someone else about something, instead of\nthe first person to discover the thing.\n\nThe electric guitar was invented in 1931. It then follows that guitars were\nbeing electrically amplified in 1931. Are we really to believe that it took\n20-30 years for someone to turn up the gain higher than what would allow it to\naccurately amplify the input signal?\n\n~~~\nsehugg\nTube amps distort in a very gradual way when overdriven. The \"fuzz\" sound is a\nmore severe form of clipping. This is why transistor-based stomp boxes were\nsought out; it's actually hard to get a tube amp to clip in this exact way.\n\n------\nkevincennis\nIt would really be borderline impossible to try to pinpoint the origins of the\ndistorted electric guitar sound.\n\nWell before 1960, most amplifiers would begin to distort at higher gain\nlevels. And even if you only want to count \"deliberate\" distortion, there's\nthe famous example of Link Wray poking holes in his amp's speakers in '58.\n\nThis is an interesting story, but it's kind of overstating the significance.\nOr maybe just oversimplifying the history.\n\n~~~\najross\nAll amplifiers will go non-linear at high gain, so certainly the technical\neffect can be pushed well back into the 20's. I'm sure someone, most likely an\nengineer in broadcast radio, \"heard\" distorted audio long before this.\n\nI think it's reasonable and interesting to ask how it became art, though.\n\n------\npessimizer\nNot the first distortion, but the first distortion using transistors. Didn't\nrevolutionize guitar sound, but did give guitarists something to step on\nrather than a switch to flip.\n\n------\nAmadou\nWhat I took away from the article was that the patent didn't really help the\n\"inventor.\" That sales didn't really start to take off until very near the end\nof his royalty period. But yet he was still very successful in the business\nwith a long career.\n\nMaybe it is just confirmation bias, but it sounded a bit like his invention of\nthe fuzzbox did more for his reputation in the industry than it did for his\nbank account.\n\n------\nlinker3000\nIf that 'hack' story interests you, try this one about the amp found in a skip\n(dumpster) by Queen bass guitarist and electronics engineer John Deacon:\n\n[http://www.brianmay.com/brian/briannews/briannewsjun05.html](http://www.brianmay.com/brian/briannews/briannewsjun05.html)\n\n[http://www.deacyamp.com/index.php?route=information/informat...](http://www.deacyamp.com/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=19)\n\nLink2 is to the slideshow of a booklet\n\n------\nrombdn\nAnother accidental discovery of distorted guitar sound was made by Dave Davies\nof the Kinks in 1964, who says he sliced is amp with a razor\n([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Davies#Early_years_.281963...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Davies#Early_years_.281963.E2.80.931966.29))\n\nThe Kinks - You Really Got Me :\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXWKowSK3yY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXWKowSK3yY)\n\n------\njolohaga\nDon't Worry's distortion is breathtaking in the context it's presented. I can\nsee how it would make an impact in the industry. It's quite a unique sound,\nconsistent square wave distortion, verging on not sounding like a guitar any\nlonger. Can't say I've heard anything like it in earlier electric guitar\nrecordings.\n\n------\nwalshemj\nI always like the story that when the Beatles went to the BBC to record a show\nthe sound engineer (white lab coat and pipe) Flatly refused to allow them to\nuse a feedback sound as this is the BBC we don't have feedback here!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHandling Overflow condition in calculating p-Norm - rehanguha\nHow can we handle overflow condition when we tr yo calculate p-norm.<p>https:&#x2F;&#x2F;rehanguha.github.io&#x2F;&#x2F;articles&#x2F;2019-03&#x2F;overflow-p-norm\n======\ngus_massa\nClicky: [https://rehanguha.github.io//articles/2019-03/overflow-p-\nnor...](https://rehanguha.github.io//articles/2019-03/overflow-p-norm)\n\nPost with text instead of a URL have a penalty here, so it's more difficult to\nget to the front page. Try submitting it again. You can add a comment after\nsubmitting, but in this case I think it is not necessary.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Am I the only one lost interest applying YC? - brokenhope\nApplying YC is time consuming and soul crashing at the end. More like a lottery now, what do you think?\n======\nsnake117\nIn my eyes, the application is free and has a lot of benefit in just doing it.\nIt makes you think about your idea in depth and asks questions targeting\ndifferent areas. For example, you may have thought about how you are going to\nget a user base, but have you thought about how you are going to get the\n_first_ user, the _second_ , and _third_? Have you thought _that far_ in the\nbeginning? When I looked at the application this was the question that stumped\nme, because I had a general plan/idea as to how to go about getting users, but\nnot something concrete that could help me get the first few. So now I'm\nrethinking my strategy and have some better ideas for my app.\n\nI would still do it. The worst that will happen is that they say \"no\".\n\n~~~\nsoneca\nI don't know, i have the impression that the application is more about\nthinking how impressive you and your achievements are so far. And I don't see\nany benefits in this kind of self congratulatory or self disappointment\nexercise.\n\nYC always said it was more about the founders than the idea, so applying is\n_nothing_ like doing a business model canvas or whatever. That said, I think\nit is still very worthy to apply if you think you are a YC-type founder. I\njust do not buy that applying is an exercise worthy for itself.\n\n~~~\nsnake117\nPersonally, I don't really see it like that at all. I mean they obviously will\nask you for past accomplishments so they can see if you have the aptitude, but\nI don't see it as an application where you solely brag about yourself.\n\n> _YC always said it was more about the founders than the idea_\n\nI've heard this before. I do believe it's true, but only after the initial\nidea. They have had some cases where the founders applied with an idea, got\naccepted, and then found out that their initial idea wasn't going to take off.\nNow they are really investing in _you_ , the founder, over your idea. The\nstories of Optimizely ([https://soundcloud.com/akharris/startup-school-radio-\nep-3-pe...](https://soundcloud.com/akharris/startup-school-radio-ep-3-pete-\nkoomen-jeremy-yamaguchi)) and Codecademy come to mind.\n\n------\nbrudgers\nThe world of startups is ruthless. In my opinion, YC has positioned itself\nnear its center of gravity by being a bit more ruthlessly efficient and a\nsomewhat paradoxically a bit more humane. The humanity comes from being a more\nopen about its process, more open about its thinking and providing a low\nbarrier online application process. Sure, it's a lottery. But at least an\nintroduction isn't necessary to buy a ticket.\n\nI guess the ideal situation from both YC's perspective and a founder's is when\nthe application is mostly exhaust fumes from impassioned existing execution:\nwhen the effort to produce the content of the application is something that\nthe founder(s) are committed to independently of the YC process. Their goal is\nto add momentum not overcoming inertia.\n\nYC is a popular game of chance. It's not the only one. It's targeted at a\nparticular type of player, not everyone. Building something provides several\nother options.\n\nGood luck.\n\n~~~\nbrokenhope\nCould you please define the YC type founder?\n\n~~~\nSpoom\nAs I understand it:\n\nGraduated from or attended Stanford or an ivy league school (but preferably\nspecifically Stanford). Proven track record of success. Under 30. Without\nfamily ties. Has impressive hacks they can mention on their application. Has a\nproduct with current traction. Has a product with unicorn upside potential\n($1B possibilities). Product is very early in its lifecycle. Not a single\nfounder (preferably two to three). Can sell the startup quickly (this is\nimportant if you make it to the interview) and address potential issues with\nthe business plan.\n\nBut remember that at this point, they probably only interview 1 in 500\napplications if that, so there's a lot of chance involved as well.\n\n------\ngautamb0\nIMO, if you've got your act together, it shouldn't be too difficult. The\nquestions it poses related to your startup are ones you should be thinking\nabout day in and day out anyways, and should have easy answers to. If you\ndon't know how to acquire users or what your product's value proposition is,\nyou're dead in the water anyways. The questions about your and your\ncofounder's accomplishments can be tricky, but in the same vein, if you can't\nsell yourself properly, you'll have trouble with conventional applications for\ncollege, jobs etc. anyways, let alone raising funds. On the flip side, if you\ncan address the tough questions about your startup properly, you just might be\nable to do well without them, in which case, who cares whether you get\naccepted or not?\n\n------\nzippy786\nThe very premise that an idea will get you money is BS. I guess this is a\ncultural change and there are those who love it and those who hate it. I fall\non the later and miss days where startups in garage could bring down huge\ncorporation and it was all about building. Now, it seems most startups are\npart of a big corporation via funding and we mostly get to see a plethora of\nnames ending with \"ly\" or an \"xyz\" clone. So, on paper they say stop thinking\nabout money and yet everything becomes about it. A bit of a double standard I\nwould say.\n\n------\ndanieltillett\nI think it would be nice if YC would make their exclusion criteria explicit. I\nunderstand why they don't, but the pain it is causing young people who don't\nknow any better is sad.\n\nStop worrying about YC. Work hard (for someone else), learn everything you\ncan, save your money, and think a lot. When you have the resources then start\na bootstrapped business and never look back.\n\n~~~\nbrokenhope\nI was thinking YC is for what you just explained in second paragraph. I do\nremember the SV scene where guy says \"i can not guide you unless you give me\nsomething to guide\" May be this startup world is a big lie!\n\n~~~\ndanieltillett\nYC sells itself as an accelerator, not as a lottery.\n\nOne of the big changes that have happened over the last few years is that the\nresources you need to start a tech business is much reduced to the point that\none skilled person with relatively modest savings can start and build a\nserious business. Get on with acquiring the skills and resources you need to\nstart without needing outside investors.\n\n~~~\nbrokenhope\nI do wish application reflects being accelerator by filtering people in the\nbeginning who needs incubation. I wish there is a quick and easy way of\nbootstrapping the network and connections for a successful exit.\n\n~~~\nbrokenhope\nWould love to hear more about your experience and what was the top 3 do and\ndont that you can share\n\n~~~\ndanieltillett\nHave a read of this post on my blog\n\n[http://www.tillett.info/2015/06/24/why-i-kept-my-startup-\nin-...](http://www.tillett.info/2015/06/24/why-i-kept-my-startup-in-australia-\nand-why-it-was-crazy/)\n\n------\ndenismars\nLike all things in startup life - nothing is easy, everything is hard. To me\nit sounds like you've given up already.\n\nIf you don't have the fire in your belly to overcome challenges, then chances\nare you probably won't be very good at building a successful company.\n\n\"soul crushing\", \"lottery\" are words that people who easily give up use.\nWhere's the fire, where's the ambition?\n\nThat's one of the most important things I'm looking for in the founding team\nwhen I read applications. I want to see determination, fire in the soul, and\nan ambition to go out there and make amazing things happen.\n\nA great founding team can take a shitty idea and still make a success out of\nit, a shitty team can take a great idea and make nothing out of it.\n\n~~~\nbrokenhope\nI wish I can show you the fire in me about my startup! If you were knew me you\nwere seen the determination. But 20 fellowship where min 10 will be remote out\nof 6500, dont you agree the lottery part. Can people say rejection email from\nYC is not soul crashing(), unless you knew it will not work out.\n\nIt's true that I gave up applying to YC but not my dreams!\n\n~~~\ndenismars\nIf you are truly determined, and will stop at nothing to build a successful\nstartup, then I strongly encourage you to apply for YC and don't worry about\nyour chances or treating it as a lottery.\n\nYes, it sucks not getting into YC. I know, I didn't get in the first time I\napplied, it felt shitty for a day, but then I just went on with building my\nstartup regardless. I applied again the following year and this time we did\nget in. I didn't give up or think about our chances once.\n\nDetermination is not something you say, it's something you do, especially when\nthe odds are stacked up against you. So if you are determined, apply for YC,\ndon't over think it, then keep moving forward with your world domination\nplans.\n\nMore here: [http://imars.posthaven.com/so-you-didnt-get-into-yc-now-\nwhat](http://imars.posthaven.com/so-you-didnt-get-into-yc-now-what)\n\n~~~\nbrokenhope\nDid you applied with the same idea with more progress?\n\n------\nsocceroos\nAs with everything, you can become too focused on a formula as your 'winning\nsolution' or 'silver bullet'. YC is a formula. There are many formulas to\nsuccess.\n\nYC is a leg up, not the ultimate be-all and end-all of getting your startup on\nit's feet.\n\nExplore your other options. :)\n\n~~~\nbrokenhope\nSearch for \"how startup funding works\" by Anna Vital. You will realize that YC\nis uncle.\n\ni think problem is wys is not wyg. Someone wants to surf and we are becoming\nthe wave.\n\nI would love to hear alternatives.\n\n------\nmayi12345\nif the reason to not apply YC is \"time consuming and soul crashing at the\nend\", we should not even consider starting a startup at all.\n\nfor us, we apply because we realize how much we can learn (why do we know\nbefore even get in? i have talked to a lot of YC alum, and 90% of them that i\ntalked to are independent and in-depth thinkers, who suggest me to look at\nthings from different angles. and we could only imagine how much more we can\ngrow if we get in).\n\n~~~\nbrokenhope\nIMO there is no question about benefits when you get in, i am more focusing to\nprocess.\n\n~~~\nmayi12345\ncalculate your own opportunity cost and sure you will get an answer. Our time\nspent to perfect & submit the application is fun and valuable, just as a\nreference.\n\n------\nbrokenhope\nSolo founder = no insurance, idea needs to be easy to execute with lots of\nuser base and growth 2 co founders = insurance, but not the best if technical\nguy is not that technical. 3 co founders = more insurance, best option, think\nabout it even if you screw one or two you are good.\n\nAs as Solo founder do you have hope at all when it comes to applying to YC?\nPlease no BS about startups are hard you need help thing!\n\n------\ngeoffbrown2014\nAt some point you are going to have to sell at your startup. You are going to\nhave to sell yourself. Selling is a soul crushing, time consuming lottery. But\nevery once in a while its brilliant. If you think YC application is tough, try\nselling to customers. ;) You don't have to apply to YC, but my advice is that\nyou should probably make peace with the idea.\n\n~~~\nbrokenhope\nIf you see selling your company as a lottery then you fouled your self long\ntime ago about what you are doing in life. I do like my work/effort speak for\nitself. I do respect your opinion and have a peace with it.\n\n------\ntmaly\nFor me, I am going to keep focusing on building my product. Its the best use\nof my time.\n\n------\nbrokenhope\nIt seems most of the people afraid of commenting, thanks for the silent ack!\n\n------\ncodeonfire\nI've always thought of YC as a cool message board site.\n\n~~~\nbrokenhope\nYou need to add comments and be part of the wave, isnt PG checks HN although\nhe has no contribution to HN last two years even as an user, what a metric?\nOne day if i made couple of million dollars with my stupid startup, i will do\na better job. Especially to the part where you say \"we will reject you most\nlikely but send it anyways\"\n\n------\ngenkidesuka\nI didnt' even applied yet. I am not at all lose interest xD\n\n------\ntarekkurdy\nThere's never just one way. Keep going!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFli4l (flexible internet router for linux) - Tomte\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fli4l\n======\nbrudgers\nHomepage: [http://www.fli4l.de/en/](http://www.fli4l.de/en/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGermany to ban anonymous SIM cards[German] - Bouncingsoul1\nhttps://www.pressetext.com/de#news/20160415021\n======\narviewer\nAnd again, a new measure that will affect everybody except criminals, who pay\na drug addict to register hundreds of these cards.\n\n~~~\nfab13n\nBut then, the simple fact that you're using a SIM card bought from a known\nSIM-trafficking criminal makes you worthy of interest. The phone being\ninstrumental in a first crime, it'll be easy to get a wire warrant and listen\nfor the subsequent crimes you'll commit by using it.\n\nMost criminals aren't masterminds (and the few who are, are genrelly designed\nwith other names, such as \"politicians\"); if you make it difficult to procure\na phone, and a weapon, and to hide on the net, etc., many of them won't be\nable to assemble everything they need to commit serious crimes without getting\ncaught.\n\nOne of the reasons why gun homicides are so much less prevalent in Europe is\nthat if a minority of hardcore, resourceful criminals can find guns through\nblack markets, most of the random losers can't: too complicated, too\nexpansive, some planning-ahead required... And the many losers are the ones\ncausing the bulk of criminality, not the few hardcore criminals.\n\n~~~\npmarreck\n> But then, the simple fact that you're using a SIM card bought from a known\n> SIM-trafficking criminal makes you worthy of interest.\n\nThis is the same circular non-logic that permits officers to arrest you merely\nfor resisting arrest.\n\nThe state decides to make wearing blue illegal; I continue to because I am a\nstrong \"blue believer\"; thus, merely by insisting on wearing blue, I MUST hang\nwith other law-non-abiders (aka \"criminals\") and thus become a \"person of\ninterest\" to law enforcement for no other reason than sticking to principles.\n\nPossessing an anonymous SIM card is no sole indicator that you are up to no\ngood. Assuming so is problematic due to a good privacy argument by Martin\nFowler: [http://martinfowler.com/articles/bothersome-\nprivacy.html](http://martinfowler.com/articles/bothersome-privacy.html)\n\n~~~\nfab13n\nI'm not arguing that it's a very dangerous slope for public liberties. I\nbelieve the checks and balances against executive branches are increasingly\nbroken in most western democracies, and that robust online privacy pushes in\nthe very desirable direction of re-establishing a bit of that balance. I'm\nreally concerned that most citizens don't see this as a major voting issue.\n\nHowever, this was neither the OP's point, nor what I was answering too. He\ndescribed the measure as ineffective, because most criminals would be able and\nwilling to acquire an illegal SIM before using a phone. I believe this to be\nfalse and I explained why. Being dangerous for liberties is not the same as\nbeing effective from police forces' PoV; actually, these two qualities are\nnegatively correlated most of the time.\n\n~~~\npmarreck\nAh, thank you for the clarification\n\n------\nswimfar\nIn a tangentially related topic, here's an interesting animation of location\ntracking of a German politician based on his phone records:\n\n[http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-data-\nretention](http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-data-retention)\n\nMalte Spitz sued to have his telephone provider hand over six months of his\nphone data. He gave it to Zeit Online who used it to create this record of\nwhere he had been.\n\nIt's probably not too surprising to many people any more, but I still find it\namazing when I watch it. And it might be interesting to people who don't\nrealize how detailed the information is. I also think the visualisation is\nnice.\n\n~~~\nIvyMike\nIf you've got an Android phone and location history is on, take a look at your\nown:\n[https://www.google.com/maps/timeline](https://www.google.com/maps/timeline)\n\n------\ntitzer\nI live in Germany. In general Germans are very privacy conscious, due to, as\nothers have mentioned in this thread, experiences with the Stasi. Up until\nrecently with the refugee situation, border control hasn't been too strict,\nand agents generally don't berate you with questions if you possess validate\ndocuments.\n\nThis pisses me off, and I wager a large portion of the German populace. Let's\nhope this goes down in flames.\n\n~~~\ncloudjacker\nA lot of germans I know are concerned about the new representation of\nextremist parties in the last elections.\n\nMy perspective is continually that the existing government fails to represent\nthe people, and any polar opposite party will force the existing government to\ncompromise in their plans, and create policies that do more accurately reflect\nthe will of the people.\n\nExhibit a\n\n------\n05\nThankfully because there's no roaming in the EU, there's absolutely no other\nway to get an unregistered SIM card to work in Germany..\n\n~~~\ncm2187\nIf even if there was roaming, there isn't any internet to order foreign SIM\ncards online.\n\n~~~\nlukasm\nGet a car in Berlin, drive for 1h to the first gas station in Poland. This is\nyet another stupid law. No problem for bad guys, just hurting legitimate\nbusinesses.\n\nAnd obviously no identity theft will happen, since no one ever hacked any\nprovider and you cannot ask a homeless guy to buy you a dozen.\n\n~~~\nskoczymroczny\n> drive for 1h to the first gas station in Poland.\n\nNot for long\n\n[http://www.gazetawroclawska.pl/polska-i-swiat/a/koniec-\nanoni...](http://www.gazetawroclawska.pl/polska-i-swiat/a/koniec-anonimowych-\ntelefonow-na-karte,9784741/)\n\n------\nDominikPeters\nMain points of the article: For purposes of terrorism prevention, the current\nGerman government wants to require sellers of SIM cards to check photo ID and\nask for current address. If this happens, it will be (theoretically)\nimpossible to own a German phone number that isn't connected to a name.\n\nThe address data is supposed to be put into a searchable database allowing\nsecurity officials to search for names even if the exact spelling isn't known\n(which appears to be a problem with current systems). For privacy purposes,\nthey plan to put a limit on the number of records displayed in response to a\nsearch query.\n\n~~~\nphillc73\nI think these checks are probably already pretty common in other parts of the\nworld.\n\nFor at least the last three or four years in Australia there is a requirement\nto present Photo ID before buying a SIM card. I was quite surprised by this\nwhen I tried to buy a SIM at Sydney airport a few years ago.\n\nI have no idea what the government is doing with the data nor how it is\nprotected. At the time, I just wanted a local SIM and to be on my way.\n\n~~~\ncreshal\n> I think these checks are probably already pretty common in other parts of\n> the world.\n\nGermany is a bit touchy when it comes to measures like this. After the\nexperiences of the Nazi regime, even things like a census or introduction of a\nTIN met massive, years long resistance.\n\nOne election gone wrong is all it takes and all those data will be used for\ngenocide. Again.\n\n~~~\ndanielbln\n> One election gone wrong is all it takes and all those data will be used for\n> genocide. Again.\n\nI like to believe we are a bit further away from genocide than one election\ngone awry. 71 years passed, you know.\n\n~~~\nrfrey\nSocieties pass from peaceable to terrifying all the time, and it generally\nhappens pretty quickly. Nobody ever seems to see it coming, although it's\nalways obvious in hindsight to armchair analysts.\n\nIt hasn't happened in one of the big powers in awhile, but 71 years isn't that\nlong. It wouldn't be paradise the day before an election and hell the day\nafter, but you never know what event will be pivotal. Until armchair time.\n\n~~~\nrwmj\nRussia being a good example.\n\n~~~\nicebraining\nWhen was the transition? I don't remember Russia ever being a peaceable\nsociety.\n\n~~~\ncreshal\n1989\\. Most of the west expected communism to fall _eventually_ , but nobody\nexpected it to end as it did, when it did.\n\n------\njkot\nAnon SIMs are already banned in many EU countries. It does not really work,\nsome homeless people have thousands SIMs registered on their name.\n\nAlso opposition in Germany says this might be discriminatory to refugees,\nsince some of them have no documents.\n\n~~~\nthe_mitsuhiko\nIn which ones? I have manu prepaid sims from all over Europe and the only one\nwith a name on is an old italian one when they required it. Which i think they\nno longer do.\n\n~~~\njkot\nI had to show ID in Czech Republic, Hungaria, Ireland and Greece.\n\n~~~\nthe_mitsuhiko\n> Czech Republic\n\nI have a czech prepaid sim, never had to show an ID for it.\n\n> Hungaria\n\nTrue, ID needed there.\n\n> Ireland\n\nI had an Irish Three Sim. No ID was needed.\n\n> Greece\n\nLooks like an ID is needed there from Googling.\n\n~~~\nithkuil\nI confirm: in Ireland you can buy a sim (I have a tesco mobile SIM) with no ID\n\n------\ndonohoe\nIf I want to text or talk to you over a cell network I need to show ID.\n\nIf I want to text, call (VOIP), email, chat, message you over wifi I don't.\n\nSounds very secure.\n\n~~~\nTACIXAT\nWhat I dislike about it is as more sites require sms verification, your sms\nnumber becomes a 'real id'. Given that your mobile subscriber likely sells\nyour demographic information, it's pretty shit for privacy. A lot of services\nreject voip numbers for verification.\n\n~~~\ntunap\nThis is why 'free' online services require your mobile number to activate &\n\"protect access\" to your account. Sure it works for that purpose, but more\nimportantly, for data/digital tracking, the modern mobile has become the new\ntracking super-cookie to your digital ID.\n\n~~~\nreitoei\n> the modern mobile has become the new tracking super-cookie to your digital\n> ID\n\nNever a truer word spoken.\n\n------\nJazCE\nThis is terrible news. I wanted to get a sim card for Japan, but you can only\nget a pocket wifi device, which isn't so bad, but not as straightforward as\nswapping your sim out for a local sim as i do when in the states or malaysia.\n\n~~~\nhamishforbes\nThat's not true. You just can't get a sim card with voice/SMS capability.\nForeigners can get data only SIMs no problem, most airports will sell them\n(often out of a vending machine) e.g.\n[https://t.iijmio.jp/en/](https://t.iijmio.jp/en/)\n\n~~~\njessriedel\nGiven VOIP, what is the rationale of making this distinction?\n\n~~~\ntangent128\nSo voice SIMs can't be used as throwaway cell numbers, I'd guess.\n\n------\nexpertentipp\nAn ID document and proof of address are already required in Germany when\nbuying SIM card directly from mobile network operators (i.e. Telekom, O2,\nVodafone). Apparently they plan to apply the same to resellers and virtual\noperators.\n\n~~~\njeffasinger\nThe ID requirement and address requirement were not enforced all that strictly\nwhen I was last in Germany.\n\nI bought a 10EUR SIM with a US driver's license (had left my passport in the\nhostel, and just wrote down the address of the hostel I was staying at).\n\n------\nBouncingsoul1\nCouldn't find link in English. German government is planning to make it\nimpossible to buy SIM cars anonymously.\n\n~~~\nopless\nLink 404s\n\n------\nnikolay\nThose SIM cards are also banned in Bulgaria, but people find all kinds of way\nto buy hundreds of cards that belong to retired or mentally ill people, and\nothers or import cards from abroad.\n\n------\njunto\nI didn't realise it wasn't possible. I've always been asked for ID.\n\n~~~\naluhut\nYou could buy those \"Sets\" at ALDI for example. You would still have to\nregister it somehow. I did it once on a public phone stating fake information.\nPhone stopped working after few weeks.\n\n------\nmadiathomas\nIn South Africa, we have had this kind of legislation since 2003. It is called\nRICA(Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of\nCommunication-Related Information Act). Shops aren't allowed to sell a SIM\ncard without proof of identification. Foreigners can use their passports to\nregister a SIM card.\n\nIt takes few minutes. This was done to fight identity theft. We don't have\nterrorism problem here because people who used to be regarded as\nterrorists(freedom fighters) by former unjust, apartheid government are now in\npower. If your SIM card is registered under your name, no-one else will be\nallowed to do a SIM swap on it. Only you can do such after providing proof of\nidentification.\n\nI feel it makes it easy for the law enforcement agencies to track down\ncriminals if they used the SIM card to commit crime. Our government doesn't\nhave history of invading privacy of their citizens, which makes it easier to\ntrust them.\n\n~~~\n_djo_\n>I feel it makes it easy for the law enforcement agencies to track down\ncriminals if they used the SIM card to commit crime.\n\nNo, it doesn't. SIM cards registered with false identities are available for\nabout R50 apiece in central Johannesburg, without any need for the buyer to\nprovide identification. The police are aware of this.\n\n>Our government doesn't have history of invading privacy of their citizens,\nwhich makes it easier to trust them.\n\nThat's naive, there have been a number of stories showing just how badly the\ngovernment abuses the privacy of ordinary citizens. Amongst these was a story\nby the Mail and Guardian showing that the government had performed over 6\nmillion electronic intercepts in the first years that RICA was active, along\nwith testimony from current and former intelligence officers stating that they\noften hid unauthorised intercepts amongst the multitude of authorised ones.\n\nThere is also clear evidence that a number of journalists, including two at\nthe Mail and Guardian, have had their phone calls, text message and internet\nusage intercepted by SA intelligence agencies.\n\nAs for authorisation, all the state requires to perform a broad intercept is\nthe say-so of a retired judge appointed and paid by the Minister of Justice.\nThat means that unlike a regular court judge, whose remuneration and service\ndepends on an independent entity in the Judicial Services Commission, the RICA\njudge is subservient to the Executive.\n\nThe access for those intercepts is easy too, given that RICA requires that the\nmajor phone companies, internet exchanges and ISPs create real-time data feeds\ninto the various Interception Centres managed by the Office of Interception\nCentres. This allows them to snoop on the internet and phone traffic of all\nSouth Africans in real-time without the need to even inform the companies\nproviding the data.\n\nRICA's main purpose was to make it easier for the state to legally surveil as\nmany people as it wanted to without too much in the way of opposition. It's\nnot a good law.\n\n~~~\nmadiathomas\nThanks for the information. I didn't know that there is so much surveillance\nfrom our government. Snooping on journalists isn't on at all. Now I know my\ntext messages aren't safe.\n\n------\nAmbroos\nIs this so bad? I remember back in 2012 when I visited Berlin I had to\nregister my SIM with my Belgian ID and address too. It only took a few\nminutes, it's not that much of a hassle. At the phone shop in Belgium where I\nwork we were required to ask for a name and address too (but didn't check ID's\nfor prepaid cards).\n\nI doubt this will solve much terrorism-wise though. You can't expect phone\nshops to verify the validity of every foreign ID and address, just supplying\nfake data wouldn't be hard (and probably go unnoticed until it was 'too\nlate').\n\n~~~\nvbezhenar\nFor me it's certainly bad. Terrorism isn't a real issue, it's an excuse for\ngovernments to take freedom from people. I want to be able to use phone and\ninternet without being tracked by anyone.\n\n~~~\nJustSomeNobody\nThis is exactly spot on.\n\n------\nstegosaurus\nThe last time I visited Germany I was asked for my details in order to buy a\nphone, and the same to register the SIM card.\n\nI just gave invented details both times.\n\nSo now it's impossible, eh?\n\nA mobile phone might be a 'new invention' that you can get away with not\nusing, but what about transport? In my city it's been game over for years,\ndecades even.\n\nThe London Underground is the one subway in London. It uses a smart card, the\ncash fares are a multiple of the cost, and there are CCTV cameras everywhere\nanyway so you're tracked.\n\nThe red buses removed cash fares and now smart card/contactless bank card are\nthe only way of paying.\n\nThe central region is plastered in car licence plate recognition cameras so\nyou can't drive. (They exist ostensibly because there is a congestion charge\nfor driving in the central region).\n\nYou can cycle or walk but facial recognition kills that eventually.\n\nSo yeah, existing in London basically means the authorities know, or have the\nability to know, where you are at all times within a few metres regardless of\nwhether you use a phone or not, it's just a matter of how integrated these\ndatabases are and whether anyone can be bothered.\n\nTo me it feels a lot like, in major cities anyway, this privacy battle is just\ncompletely lost, because there are attacks on all fronts. You can have your\nanonymous phone, but are you wearing face paints? Do you ever drive? Do you\never take public transport?\n\nThe further you go out of the city, assuming you don't have a mobile phone, I\nsuppose there are fewer data points available. You can roam about in farmer's\nfields or something, no cameras there yet. Maybe the minor cities have\nanalogue cameras, or they're turned off due to funding, or whatever.\n\nIt's gone beyond something to be depressed or feel a call to action about at\nthis point I feel - it's a bit like a lion chasing a gazelle - it just is.\nFighting against this individual initiative feels good, but is it ultimately\nfutile?\n\nThe actions required in order to attempt not to fall into these databases seem\nto have gone from \"don't use your real name online\" to \"don't drive a car\" to\n\"don't take trains with your bank card\" to \"pay cash on the bus\" to...\neventually it's just done, all of it's tracked, I can pay with cash at the\nlocal store but there's a digital IP camera in the corner so sooner or later\nthey know it anyway.\n\nAnd the rational amongst us know that it's not about us. It means nothing that\nI can go 'off the grid'. What means something is that society as a whole is\nable to appreciate this, and I think the number of intrusions is high enough\nnow that they simply can't. It's like asking people to go without oxygen. It's\neverywhere.\n\nThe fight I'm really concerned with is privacy within the home, in private\nestablishments. I want to know that conversations between me and my friends\nstay within that box, that private sphere. Miniaturization and propagation of\ntechnology just seems to make that an impossible goal, though.\n\nI don't want it, but I really feel like privacy is dead, we just don't fully\nknow it yet.\n\n~~~\nstegosaurus\nOne thing I am interested in is visualizing a journey, or an average day, and\nconsidering the global view of it.\n\nHas anyone attempted such a thing? For example, on my commute to work I might\npass a security camera, tap in my smart card, pass a few more cameras, spend\n50 mins on a predefined route (unless I jumped a fence which a camera would\nprobably see me doing), etc etc.\n\nSo on the left side of the 'video', you would have me walking about doing\nstuff, and on the right side, you can have a google-maps overlay of what's\nactually happening, little pop ups 'stegosaurus buys a pack of chewing gum',\netc.\n\nThe idea has been floating around in my head for a while, I don't know why or\nwhat I'd hope it would achieve, just seems like a fun way to illustrate the\nproblem, if it even is a problem and not just a natural progression.\n\n------\ngedsic\nAccording to the text, they want to achieve this by forcing vendors/providers\nto check the ID of the buyer, even for prepaid SIMs.\n\n------\nEGreg\nAnonymity can be obtained in one of two ways:\n\n1) Building up a tree of accounts from anonymous services like mailinator and\nanonymously bought sim cards and phones\n\n2) Hijacking random people's equipment in order to do 1.\n\nBy banning anonymous services, people will have to turn to temporary hijacking\nto achieve the same ends.\n\n------\nharperlee\nI know for a fact that there are big banks that don't even have the ID of lots\nof clients. I'm skeptical of the speed that telcos will apply on the\nremediation of all these clients. I actually believe the existing clients\nmight stay undocumented forever.\n\n------\nKequc\nI didn't even know you could get an anonymous sim. The gauntlet of questions I\nwas asked and the paperwork the salesman thankfully filled out for me, for a\nprepaid sim, was dizzying.\n\nObviously if I knew I could have just bought one off a shelf I would have.\n\n------\ngozur88\nWhen I was vacationing in Germany years ago I couldn't get a prepaid phone or\na sim without having a German address. Did they make it easier only to now\nmake it more difficult?\n\n------\norbitingpluto\nDid I read that right? Complete address required?\n\nFirst you get rid of the public payphones, then you require a valid address\nfor a mobile. Poof! The homeless truly can disappear.\n\n------\nChrisArchitect\nas a tourist, first priority on the ground in a new country is to get a data\nconnection. I had more difficulty in Germany than other EU countries visited\naround the same time. Despite promise of a handful of prepaid sim's available\neverywhere, activation was a roadblock because no local credit card.\nEventually found my way to an O2 store where they used their own _store\naddress_ to activate for me and it was all good\n\n~~~\n05\nThere's a Wiki specifically for that purpose [1]. I had minimal problems\nbuying Fyve (Vodafone MVNO) SIM cards two years ago, activated at the point of\npurchase if I remember correctly. I had to cut them to Nano SIM size myself\nthough..\n\n[1] [http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Germany](http://prepaid-data-\nsim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Germany)\n\n------\njasiek\nDang, I wonder what would happen if someone were to use fake ID \"issued\" the\nRepublic of Nagorno-Karabakh.\n\n~~~\ncoldcode\nI'm an official in the country of Nagorno-Karabakh, all of our ID's are fake.\n\n------\nbtreesOfSpring\nlet's just add to the servicewüste[0] of dealing with communication companies\nin Germany.\n\n[0]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servicew%C3%BCste](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servicew%C3%BCste)\n\n------\nguard-of-terra\nYet another example of \"terrorists hurt you, so we're going to hurt you to\ncompensate\".\n\nCan we please think of something to stop this?\n\n------\nvenomsnake\nOh well. I will create a MVNO in some of the tax heavens. Couple of roaming\nagreements and we are set. And just issue sim cards at large. It will be more\nexpensive. But doable.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFacebook to Open Startup Garage at Station F in Paris - programLyrique\nhttps://techcrunch.com/2017/01/17/facebook-to-open-startup-garage-at-station-f-in-paris/\n======\nmuse900\nI don't know why, it might just be me, am thinking of startups as a bad thing.\nIf I ever decide to build my own app or solution or something I wouldn't go\nfor a startup setup. I'd set it up as an actual business, make profit and\nexpand, I wouldn't wait for some investors coming in throwing money at me, I\ndon't get why people in tech cant see that. Just because people that built\nuber etc became rich out of that doesn't mean that the percentage of the\nstartups that actually make it and their creators become comfortable enough is\nmore than lets say 5%. Chances are you'd win the lottery easier than starting\na startup.\n\nSo dear fb and google and whoever, build business garages where people go with\nan idea and they've been given a cheaper way to expand their business on their\nown and see if they can actually make it, rather than trying to find the best\nideas to invest for yourselves, that would help.\n\n~~~\nespadrine\nWhen creating a business, there is this old choice between _bootstrapping_ and\n_venture capitalists_.\n\nThe former forces you to squeeze every penny into gaining traction in the\nmarket, as becoming profitable is hard, and your cash reserves limit your\nability to advertise.\n\nThe latter gives you the means to grow very fast and to gain experience from\npeople who have played the game countless times, but it encourages reaching an\nexit (either by selling the company or through an IPO).\n\nIt sounds like you favor bootstrapping.\n\n> _build business garages where people go with an idea and they 've been given\n> a cheaper way to expand their business on their own and see if they can\n> actually make it_\n\nThat was the idea behind Kima15 [0], which was co-created by Xavier Niel, who\nis also behind Station F. It provided 150 K$ within 15 days in exchange for\n15% of the company's shares at a post-money valuation of 1 M$.\n\n[0]: [https://medium.com/kima-ventures/kima15-lessons-learnt-\nand-w...](https://medium.com/kima-ventures/kima15-lessons-learnt-and-whats-\nnext-a1a456800233)\n\n~~~\nK0SM0S\nI may be old (is 34 already old?) but to me a \"startup\" by definition is the\nlatter in your post, VC-style funding aimed at hyper-scaling. Hence the \"up\",\nfrom the \"start\".\n\nOtherwise it's just a regular small business (most countries and stats\ninstitutes would have a specific name for these >10 employees companies, like\n\"very small\" business or whatever).\n\nThere's confusion, imho, when we call any new company a startup just because\nit's operating in the tech industry (you can totally be a startup in any\nindustry, so long as it has the potential to scale up dramatically). You can\nbe a regular small business even in tech, you can be a startup-er in food.\nThis is a 2x2 matrix.\n\nAlso, funding can take many forms, e.g. some startups being groomed by\ncorporations (I know HP did that sometimes, with former employees). You still\nget the big money and obligations, and you already have one major future\nclient; but nowhere near the same level of nonsensical buzzing.\n\n------\nirmbrady\nNice timing for the French Tech Visa:\n\n[http://visa.lafrenchtech.com](http://visa.lafrenchtech.com)\n\nDiscussion:\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13410510](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13410510)\n\n~~~\nmavdi\nand Brexit\n\n~~~\ngourou\nand the Presidential Campaign [https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/17/frances-\npresidential-front...](https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/17/frances-presidential-\nfront-runner-francois-fillon-on-french-startups/)\n\n~~~\nmavdi\nAnd Donald Trump too I guess...\n\n------\npokemon-trainer\n\"startup garage\"\n\n _looks at photos of spacious, high end, neomodern office architecture_\n\nwe've come a long way since hp\n\n~~~\npaganel\n>\n> [https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/photo-j...](https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/photo-\n> jan-17-8-45-31-am.jpg)\n\nThose containers look like worse than prison cells. A prison cell at least has\ngot an window.\n\n~~~\nBoorishBears\nOf course the difference here is you can just leave your \"prison cell\" and go\nhome whenever you want.\n\n~~~\nwott\nNot sure. They are startups after all.\n\n------\ntom_mellior\n\"And anyone will be able to rent some office space [at Station F] for\n€195/desk/month in the huge 366,000ft² (34,000m²) building.\"\n\nInteresting. The last time I looked at this a few months ago their web site\nseemed to suggest that they were looking for startups to rent space, but not\nindividuals. Details are lacking, but a quick comparison with other coworking\nspaces in Paris suggests that this is 100-200 EUR cheaper per month.\n\n------\nchinathrow\nLooking at the pictures of Station F, all I see is noise. How will they tackle\nthe noise problem when having so many people working in one big hall?\n\n------\nmatt4077\nI just learned from some protest flyers that google is opening a similar\ncampus literally a stone's throw from my apartment (in Berlin, Germany).\n\nIt'll feel kinda strange. Like your parents coming to visit you at college.\n\n~~~\nlostboys67\nProtest flyers what are they protesting about?\n\n~~~\nhocuspocus\nLiving in Berlin I'd guess that people are protesting about the\ngentrification.\n\n~~~\nbogomipz\nAnd this is part of what makes Berlin and specifically Kreuzberg charming and\nunique. Google already has an office in Mitte where it is not out of place.\n\nI really don't like the ideas of these giants co-opting start-up spaces. Once\ncompanies have reached the FB and Google size they are kind of the antithesis\nof start ups. This just feel like they are building \"right of first refusal\nacquisition\" spaces.\n\nI realize this sounds curmudgeonly but I feel like their money and influence\nin these spaces encourages building acquisition targets rather than\nencouraging people to build their own Google and Facebooks.\n\n------\nwelanes\nWhile considering a move to France, one of most interesting organisations I\nstumbled across was The Family\n([https://www.thefamily.co](https://www.thefamily.co)).\n\nThey exude a really good ethos - or have really good copywriters, at least -\nand show self-awareness of some of the reservations that come up on HN when\nsomebody mentions Startup and France in the same sentence.\n\nTheir 'Toxicity' post damn well near seduced me (pesky Frenchies!) and is\nworth a read:\n\n> _France is full of incubators, there’s news coverage, there’s this startup\n> out of Bulgaria that just raised 2 million, everybody’s a software engineer,\n> hell, in some countries, everybody’s a CEO! But that’s the difference\n> between hype, which is useless, and hope, which is useful..._\n\n> _...If you rely on TechCrunch and Medium to give you hints on how to be an\n> entrepreneur, you risk three things: the first is that you believe it’s all\n> true. The job of any good entrepreneur is to sell a good story. Nobody sells\n> you the horrible things going on with the company (at least not until after\n> the company is well on its way to being dead). The second is that you miss\n> critical information filters ...The third risk is that you start to think\n> it’s easy...that growth is just a matter of deciding when it’s the right\n> time._\n\n> _Money and people are needed to make any project work, but they are\n> replaceable: there’s always someone willing to write another check, and\n> there’s always someone who you can find to take over a particular job. But\n> you can’t get back time. A bunch of people sitting around, saying that\n> they’re working, talking about new projects every two months, focusing on\n> getting a grant rather than getting a sale, those are people in a toxic\n> ecosystem who are just wasting time._\n\n> _Learn to recognize fake work — anything that doesn’t bring you closer to\n> more customers, that doesn’t bring you closer to a better product, that\n> doesn’t put people in contact with your solutions. Applying for public\n> money, going to conferences, taking meetings, this is fake work that doesn’t\n> help you with your business model, doesn’t identify problems and solutions,\n> doesn’t show you the actual goals that you have to achieve in order to have\n> success. Real work does all of those things._\n\n> _If you can make money, you’ll have time to figure out the right business\n> model. You won’t have to rely on investors who don’t understand your goals.\n> Finding bad investors can be worse than having none at all._\n\n[https://www.thefamily.co/toxicity](https://www.thefamily.co/toxicity)\n\nAnyone have any experience with these guys? Algolia and Crisp.im passed\nthrough their doors, and they seem to be doing well.\n\n~~~\nbsaul\nJust for info, they're not an incubator in the traditionnal sense. You can't\nwork at their (gorgeous) office. You can see it more like a \"club\", for doing\nnetworking. You also have access to some ressources, but most of their\n\"startup spirit\" talks you'll find are mostly translations of american books\nor talks from valley people, not really first hand experience. They do provide\nyou with good trainings on fund raising, but you may want to ask for the\ndetail of everything you're going to bave access to before you agree to give\nthem 1 to 3% of your company.\n\nAlso, to my knowledge, the only successfull startup they have was \"save\",\nwhich is a fantastic company lead by very nice people, but it unfortunately\nfiled for bankruptcy a few months ago, after having had a too intense growth.\n\nAt the moment, i'd say the biggest problem with every single incubator i know\nis the lack of unicorns coming out of them. Most people giving advices haven't\ncreated anything big themselves, and the few people who created really big\ncompanies ( criteo and blablacar for the last 10 years) don't go in those\necosystems to mentor newcomers.\n\n------\njulio83\nThank you X.Niel for 42 and station F.\n\n------\ncracker_jacks\nAre startups also required to provide 5 weeks of paid vacation + public\nholidays? Also, are there limits on the number of hours worked per week?\n\nI'm all for workers benefits, but I don't see how a startup with limited\nfunding could afford those benefits to their employees.\n\n~~~\nSamReidHughes\nI'd compare the costs of vacation, short work days, to the cost of a Bay Area\nsalary.\n\n~~~\ncracker_jacks\nBut the salaries for Bay Area startups are usually much lower than the\nstandard tech companies like FB and Google. Startups make up for the\ndifference by distributing equity (which could potentially be worth more in\nthe long run, but could also be worthless).\n\n~~~\nhocuspocus\nEven assuming worthless equity, for the cost of one employee in SF you can\nhire two in Paris.\n\nStartups in France get several kinds of tax breaks. Also, many founders get\nstarted while on unemployment benefits.\n\n~~~\ncracker_jacks\nWhat are you thinking the salary of early stage startups are in the Bay Area?\nI really doubt the ratio is 2:1 compared to Paris.\n\n~~~\nhocuspocus\nGross salary would be more like 3:1. Real cost to the employer at least 2:1.\n\nI just opened AngelList to search for junior developer positions at seed-stage\nstartups and it confirms the ratio.\n\nSF: 80-120k\n\nParis: 30-45k\n\n------\nhn_news\nIf start up becomes successful, Will Facebook own part of the equity in this\nstart up?\n\nAs a founder, why would i want to give up equity to Facebook? Why would i need\nto be in this \"garage\"?\n\n------\nd_theorist\n\"Thirty students will meet with Facebook every week to make the world a better\nplace (or that’s how I think about it).\"\n\nFantastic neutral reporting here from TechCrunch. Not at all just a recycled\npress release.\n\n~~~\nJordrok\n_\" But most importantly we're making the world a better place. Through\nconstructing elegant hierarchies for maximum code reuse and\nextensibility.\"_[1]\n\nWhich one is the parody? Sometimes it's hard to tell.\n\n[1]\n[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3222784/quotes?item=qt2896998](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3222784/quotes?item=qt2896998)\n\n------\ntrhway\ngiven the history of creativity in Paris shouldn't it be a mansard instead of\ngarage?\n\n------\nsbt\nthis is political theatre\n\n------\ndanyfs\nThanks Facebook for this good offering! WE will certainly apply to be part of\nit.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFacebook algorithm found to actively promote holocaust denial - elsewhen\nhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/16/facebook-algorithm-found-to-actively-promote-holocaust-denial\n======\nlipstone\nSurely the tech-minded folks of HN understand that this doesn't actually occur\nunder any reasonable definition of \"active.\" This article is a clear example\nof how the media twists reality due to their lack of understanding and/or\nmaliciousness.\n\n~~~\nseesawtron\n>> Researchers found that when they followed public Facebook pages containing\nHolocaust denial content, Facebook recommended further similar content.\n\nI can understand that being precise is crucial when making statements like\nthis but instead of getting hung up on that detail, the tech-minded folks of\nHN would also understand the main argument about the perinicious effect of\nsuch feedback of \"similar content\" reinforcing the false beliefs and\nconspiracies.\n\n~~~\nithkuil\nIndeed, often technically correct is not the best kind of correct.\n\n------\nrbecker\n\"Actively promote\" meaning being treated no different than any other content,\nunless the article omitted some information about that study. Perhaps\ntechnically true, but still a highly misleading title.\n\n------\nchillacy\nThis is the full headline:\n\n> Facebook algorithm found to 'actively promote' Holocaust denial > Similar\n> content is also readily accessible across Twitter, YouTube and Reddit, says\n> UK-based counter-extremist group\n\nReminds me of back when Foxconn was the big media story and every article lead\nwith \"Apple uses child labor\" (Subtitle: also every other company uses Foxconn\ntoo)\n\n------\nthrowawaysea\nWhat does “actively promote” mean here? The article doesn’t seem to have\nevidence of this. It seems more like “we found a nonzero amount of holocaust\ndenial content”.\n\n~~~\nuniqueid\nHow much holocaust denial content should one _expect_ to find? The internet\nhas increasingly normalized nonsense. I'll bet plenty of people, post- the\nadvent of social media, would think 25%, for example, would be perfectly\nreasonable.\n\nHow much would one find in the pages of a newspaper, transcripts of a public\nconference, or publications in a university library? Would it even be 1%?\n\nIf this new normal on social media is enlightening people and making the world\na better place, one would expect to see it reflected in the world around us. I\ndon't think the general consensus is that society has been making big strides\nin a good direction, over the past decade.\n\n~~~\nrbecker\nThose are some fine rhetorical questions, but they don't shed any light on\nwhether \"actively promote\" is grossly misleading in this case.\n\n~~~\nuniqueid\nOkay, I can't go all the way, and describe it as _grossly_ misleading, but \"\n_actively_ promote\" uses too strong an adverb. So, I'll concede that, strictly\nspeaking, the headline _is_ misleading.\n\nOn the other hand, if a reader gets the impression that Zuckerberg and the\nother social media CEOs, _to the extent that they can get away with it_ ,\nsignal-boost holocaust denial (and propaganda from hate-groups, in general),\nrecent history speaks for itself.\n\nSo if someone asked me to rewrite the title, I would go with \" _passively_\npromote.\"\n\n------\nCkfu\nHow many HN authors are masons?\n\n------\naaron695\nThey wanted a shitty paper on holocaust denial that the trailer park trash can\nfroth at the mouth about how evil it all is and the newspaper got it's clicks.\n\nPretty good AI, delivered exactly what everyone wanted.\n\n------\nslim\nthey typed \"Holocaust\" in fb search box and got suggestions for pages denying\nHolocaust. So they concluded that Facebook alogorithms promote Holocaust\ndenial but did not check if there is actually any reachable alternative\ncontent for the keyword \"Holocaust\". I don't think facebook users created any\neducative pages about Holocaust.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: Nerdy Content All-In-One Place (Just for Fun) - frankel0\nhttp://nerdmash.com\n\n======\nfrankel0\nThis is just a weekend project for fun. It is mainly for my own use but I\nthought I would post it here to see if anyone had good sources of content that\nI could add into my daily reads. Thanks!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSpark Labs Raises $4.9M to Help Engineers Make Their Devices Smart - jwcooper\nhttp://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2014/07/08/spark-io-raises-4-9-million-to-help-engineers-make-their-devices-smart/\n\n======\n100k\nCongrats to the Spark team. Sad to see the Twin Cities lose another IoT\nstartup, but I hope this positions them in the best possible way for success.\nWelcome to San Francisco!\n\n~~~\nmiddleca\nA lot of us are staying in the Twin Cities, and we're hiring!\n([https://www.spark.io/jobs](https://www.spark.io/jobs)), we're looking for\ngreat engineers, and we support remote work as well. :)\n\n------\nvicngtor\nWell deserved. Their chip is practically the only chip that works and can be\neasily integrated into arduino boards.\n\n~~~\nbravo22\nThey don't make a chip. They use a CC3000 from TI -- which costs about $10 --\nand provide a thing wrapper around TI's own provided driver.\n\nYou can take the same CC3000 from TI -- around $11 in low volume -- put it on\nyour board and write your software with their driver.\n\nThey basically make a good dev board but for anyone wanting to make anything\nin a volume beyond 1K they'd use the TI module directly. You don't put a dev\nboard in an end product.\n\nI fail to see how their business is going to scale beyond this.\n\n~~~\nhashmymustache\nThey recognize that it's more for prototyping and wouldn't be used at a\nproduction level:\n\n\"We use industry-standard components — chosen to be powerful, inexpensive, and\nwidely available — that can be designed directly onto your own circuit board,\nbringing your Bill of Materials down for volume production.\"\n\n~~~\nbravo22\nRight, I agree. That is what I gathered before but the article and their new\nsplash page makes it seem like they want to supply this to large device makers\n(i.e. anyone not building things out of their basement) and I don't see how\nthis could work.\n\nThey can't make money on the hardware, because TI makes the chip and provides\nthe reference design and drivers for free. Spark boards are all OSHW anyways.\nYou'd spend the extra week and integrate the TI part into your device anyways.\n\nTheir cloud stack is open source, and is basically a transport. As the device\nmaker you'd still have to write the cloud app that gathers data from different\npoints and sends commands to the end unit.\n\nBeyond the dev kits I'm having a hard time seeing the revenue stream and/or\nvalue proposition.\n\nWhat am I missing? Maybe guys from Spark want to chime in?\n\nIf I use Spark to prototype, is there a product they are offering me that I\nwould need to pay for at scale?\n\n~~~\nmiddleca\nHi bravo22,\n\n    \n    \n      I'm from Spark, and I can try to answer! :) \n    \n\nWith more than 20,000 units in the field, the Spark community is the largest\nconsumer of the CC3000 module, so you get the benefits of driver testing and\npatches, and great community support. Large businesses could certainly use the\nopen source modules and run with them, but if you're a large business you\ngenerally want to pay for support and licensing. Next for us is building a\nsuite of fleet management tools and controls that larger companies want that\nalso benefit hobbyists.\n\nIf you're a business or a maker, using the Spark Cloud saves you from having\nto worry about building your own protocol, dealing with socket programming,\nspinning up servers, as well as worrying about encryption on microcontrollers,\nor wearing a pager. Having the source code available means you can keep your\nprivate things private by not going over the internet, as well as building\nthings we haven't thought of yet.\n\nThanks!\n\nDavid\n\n~~~\nbravo22\nThank David. Thanks so much for answering!\n\nCouple of questions: \\- Are you always sticking w/ CC3000 or are there other\nWiFi modules you intend to support?\n\nMy main question, might have gone unnoticed in my long post... Is there a\nservice of yours that I need to pay for to get these features, or do I get the\nbenefits you outlined above by running your firmware and deploying your open\nsource cloud code on my system?\n\nDo you have plans to go closed source in the future?\n\n~~~\nzsupalla\nZach here, also from Spark. We're definitely working on next-gen hardware now,\nhaven't selected a final chipset yet.\n\nOur hosted cloud is somewhat different from the open source version, and the\ndifferences will grow over time. As an open source company, the question\nalways comes to \"how do we make money?\" Our open source thesis is to give away\nbasic technology and sell advanced technology. Right now the biggest\ndifferences between our hosted cloud and the open source version is\nscalability; our system is designed to scale horizontally whereas the open\nsource one is a single instance (although it could, of course, be modified).\nWe are still deciding which features that are still in development will be\nopen sourced, and which won't. We've learned from other for-profit open source\ncompanies (like MongoDB, for instance), that even after being on the market\nfor years they're still trying to figure out which features to give away and\nwhich to sell.\n\n~~~\nbravo22\nThanks for answering Zach! Your answer certainly helps make it more clear.\n\nTo use your feature rich cloud, would one have to use your spark core board or\none can roll own CC3000 based board + your open source firmware but pay you\nand have it talk to your closed cloud for scale? When is your plan to announce\npricing for this feature rich cloud?\n\n~~~\njenesaisdiq\nYou've got it- you can build your own board using our reference design and pay\nus a minor fee to use our lovely cloud. Pricing isn't public yet, but we can\ndiscuss it privately if you have a need. Thanks!\n\n------\nlisper\nSounds a lot like [http://electricimp.com](http://electricimp.com)\n\n~~~\njasonlaramburu\nIt's more expensive than imp but has a smoother wifi pairing process.\n\n~~~\njenesaisdiq\nAnd a lot cheaper than Imp at scale- <$15 per device in hardware at scale.\n\n------\ntricky\nDo these guys have any patents on their tech?\n\n~~~\nbravo22\nTheir product is open source: board design, firmware, and cloud software. The\nWiFi module is CC3000 from TI.\n\n~~~\ntricky\nmy next project is going to be in this area and you seem like a good person to\nknow. get in touch with me if you want. email address in my profile.\n\n~~~\nmiddleca\nWe have a really awesome community that can help too! -\n[https://community.spark.io/](https://community.spark.io/)\n\n------\nfiatmoney\nCan we stop naming things Spark already? There are\n\n\\- these guys\n\n\\- [http://www.sparkjava.com](http://www.sparkjava.com)\n\n\\- [http://spark.apache.org](http://spark.apache.org)\n\nEven worse, they're all high-quality projects. I can process data from my\nSpark devices on my Spark cluster and serve the results via Spark.\n\n~~~\nfollower\nEven more so in this area with [http://SparkFun.com/](http://SparkFun.com/)\nwho had to deal with issues arising from having a name with \"spark\" in it:\n[https://www.sparkfun.com/news/300](https://www.sparkfun.com/news/300)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSteganography done with JavaScript - eigenschinkpete\nhttp://www.peter-eigenschink.at/projects/steganographyjs/\n\n======\n0x09\nUnfortunately alpha-channel steganography is one of the simplest and most\ntrivially detected of image steganography algorithms, making it not very\nuseful. For an example of what goes into a serious and secure steganographic\nalgorithm see perturbed quantization:\n\n[http://dde.binghamton.edu/download/pq/Fri05pq.pdf](http://dde.binghamton.edu/download/pq/Fri05pq.pdf)\n\n[http://dde.binghamton.edu/download/pq/](http://dde.binghamton.edu/download/pq/)\n\n------\ndarkxanthos\n\"Hiding\" your data in the alpha channel of most images doesn't really seem at\nall secure to me. That's like hiding your valuables by placing them in your\nbasement.\n\nSteganography that I'm used to seeing intertwined ones data with the actual\nimage data. Which is much more difficult to detect (though certainly not\nundetectable).\n\n------\nToenex\nThere is a joke here somewhere about pictures and specific number of words. I\njust can't work it out.\n\n~~~\nrorrr2\nA picture is worth a thousand DWORDS.\n\n------\nkybernetikos\nI had issues with precomputed alpha when I played with storing data in the\nalpha channel of images in the browser. In the end, since I didn't really need\nto 'hide' the data, I just wrote a few pixels at the top of the image, but\neven then, I found some services (i.e. gravatar) was modifying the pixel\nvalues slightly. I had to just use a bunch of the most significant bits from\neach pixel.\n\nIf you're interested why I was playing with all this, it was for storing\npublic keys in gravatar images:\n[http://kybernetikos.github.io/VisualSecrecy/](http://kybernetikos.github.io/VisualSecrecy/)\n\n------\ntarikozket\nI didn't see a useful answer on \"Why use steganography.js?\" block, it just\nexplains \"How?\".\n\nI wonder answers about \"When and why?\" questions. Can you guys answer it?\n\n------\nspookylukey\nThis doesn't really attempt to hide the fact of communication from computers -\nonly from humans casually viewing the image.\n\nsteghide has a far superior approach:\n\n[http://steghide.sourceforge.net/](http://steghide.sourceforge.net/)\n\nBut that can be broken too:\n\n[http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1578445](http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1578445)\n\n------\nfranze\n@eigenschinkpete come by the next viennajs meetup (www.viennajs.org) next\nwednesday there will be a talk about a similar topic\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNew Project: JDK Ports to Modern Mobile Platforms - javinpaul\nhttp://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/announce/2015-September/000200.html\n======\nbased2\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/java/comments/3mfgix/new_project_jd...](https://www.reddit.com/r/java/comments/3mfgix/new_project_jdk_ports_to_modern_mobile_platforms/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCloudera and Hortonworks merger means Hadoop’s influence is declining - wenc\nhttps://venturebeat.com/2018/10/06/cloudera-and-hortonworks-merger-means-hadoops-influence-is-declining/\n======\nphilippeback\nThe move makes sense. Cloudera has cash on board and Hortonworks has excellent\ntechnical chops and associated vision. The offering is not Hadoop only. Druid\ncan be deployed with ease and Superset can hook into it nicely, all with\nproper metrics captured. Ambari is a wonderful single pane of glass to manage\nit all nicely. YARN is really good at managing capacity leveraging cgroups.\nSpark is one thing but far from the only thing. E.g.Flink. Hadoop3 introduces\nDocker containers right into YARN. It is all driven with JVM components, so\nsecurity actually works. For all its limitations HDFS also has pretty cool\npowers. HBase is also a beast for a couple use cases. It is a versatile\nplatform and is evolving well. Of course the learning curve is pretty steep.\nBut payoffs are huge.\n\n------\nMrPowers\nThis article makes it sound like Spark needs to be run on Hadoop clusters and\nthat's not the case. Spark can be run on object stores like AWS S3 and Azure.\n\nI also don't agree with the author's assertion that Spark is \"Scala centric\".\nYes, Spark is written in Scala, but PySpark is definitely a first class\ncitizen. Databricks maintains a MLFlow project to make it easy to use Python\nwith Spark: [https://databricks.com/blog/2018/06/05/introducing-mlflow-\nan...](https://databricks.com/blog/2018/06/05/introducing-mlflow-an-open-\nsource-machine-learning-platform.html)\n\n~~~\nwenc\n> I also don't agree with the author's assertion that Spark is \"Scala\n> centric\". Yes, Spark is written in Scala, but PySpark is definitely a first\n> class citizen.\n\nTo be fair, prior to Spark Dataframes (i.e. the days of pure RDDs), the only\nway to get performance out of Spark was to write Scala code. The serialization\noverhead of PySpark precluded it from large-scale data engineering workloads.\nMost companies rewrote their PySpark code in Scala for production.\n\nNow that we have Spark dataframes, PySpark performance is mostly on-par with\nScalaSpark for many SQL-amenable operations. And with Apache Arrow in-memory\nsupport on Spark >2.3, the Python serialization overhead problem goes away.\n\nBut Spark is still to some extent Scala-centric. The documentation is\ntrilingual, but there is still a distinct Scala-first culture.\n\n------\nmonksy\nThank goodness on Hadoop's influence. Hadoop has mostly been about 1 time\ntransformations with large machines. It's doesn't exactly produce an efficent\nway to do a process, nor does it make it easy to do that. (The amount of\nspeciality integration for your app is a bit large). (Also the move in spark\nwas needed.. but it's still behind the times with \"microbatching\")\n\n------\nwenc\nTo me, Hadoop was primarily designed around large-scale semi-structured data\nlike logs; this plays to its strengths of scale and schema-on-read.\n\nIf I'm not mistaken, Hadoop was created at Google to handle weblogs (side\nnote: in 2014, Google announced that Hadoop was no longer being used\ninternally)\n\nEnterprise data however is primarily structured and relational, which is more\nsuited to handling in a database-like system. Hadoop was never designed for\nthis use case. Scalable cloud databases like Redshift, Aurora etc. always\nseemed to be a better fit. Cloudera created technology like Impala and Kudu to\naddress this but not sure about the uptake there.\n\n~~~\natombender\nNo, Hadoop was started at Yahoo! by Doug Cutting, the original author of\nLucene.\n\nHadoop was based on Google's published papers on the Google File System (GFS)\nand MapReduce. The later project, HBase, was a direct carbon copy of Google's\nBigTable paper.\n\nBy the time Hadoop reached maturity, Google had mostly moved onto newer\ntechnologies such as Colossus and Megastore, and mostly doesn't use MapReduce\nanymore.\n\nTo my knowledge, Google has never used Hadoop internally, although you can\nlease a hosted version of Hadoop on Google Cloud Platform.\n\n~~~\nwenc\nYou're quite right. It was GFS and MapReduce that was invented by Google, and\nDoug Cutting based it on those technologies.\n\n------\ncrb002\nOn demand cloud compute and storage killed the Hadoop beast. Python/C++\ntooling is slowly gaining marketshare back to the HPC glory days where MPI was\nking.\n\nOnce IBM mainframe, the king of CAp, is put in a major AWS/MS/GCP data center\nexpect them to gobble Cloudera. Or Principal corporation goes nuts and starts\ntaking on Guidewire.\n\n------\nbsg75\n> The deal signifies that the Hadoop market could no longer sustain two big\n> competitors.\n\nMapR is still out there.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWebFPGA: Rapid FPGA Development System - peter_d_sherman\nhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanmjacobs/webfpga-rapid-fpga-development-system\n======\njacobush\n\"Our cloud-based toolchain performs synthesis on our backend\"\n\nLast time I looked into doing something like that, the software licenses\nprohibited exporting the proprietary toolchains like that. Comment?\n\nOr is it using something like:\n\n[https://symbiflow.github.io](https://symbiflow.github.io)\n\n~~~\nryanmjacobs\nWe're using the equivalent of Symbiflow for Lattice chips -- specifically\nIceStorm.\n\n~~~\njacobush\nThis is great! Maybe you should display that somewhere in the fine print. In\nmy mind it reduces your legal risk quite a bit that you use free software\ninstead of some draconian vendor software.\n\n------\nngcc_hk\nGood but need to do a bit more comparison.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nPoint-Free style: What is it good for? - bkudria\nhttp://buffered.io/2009/06/27/point-free-style-what-is-it-good-for/\n======\nmbrubeck\nI just like point-free style because it leaves me with fewer things to name,\nand fewer choices to make. Placeholder names like \"xs\" are just noise. The \"x\"\nhas no meaning here:\n\n    \n    \n        double x = 2*x \n    \n\nSo I'd rather write it like this:\n\n    \n    \n        double = (2*)\n    \n\nSimilarly, there's no need to introduce an arbitrary name like \"input\" or\n\"numbers\" for this function (part of a Project Euler solution):\n\n    \n    \n        highestProduct = maximum . map product . concat . map (groupsOf 4)\n\n------\nhristov\nFirst I would like to say that I am only learning Haskell, and have done\nnothing but toy programs thus far. But the point free style is something that\nI really do not like about Haskell. It makes code much more complicated for\nthe dubious benefit of saving a couple of keystrokes.\n\nFor example, take the code from the article:\n\nThis is without point free style: sum xs = foldr (+) 0 xs\n\nAnd this is with: sum = foldr (+) 0\n\nYou have saved a total of 4 keystrokes. And made that line of code look really\nweird and hard to understand.\n\nThus, now when you look at code you cannot say at first glance how many\narguments a function takes. The second line of code looks like sum takes 0\narguments. But you have to look more carefully at the definition of the\nfunction, and see that it uses foldr, and know that foldr takes three\narguments, but here only two are defined, and then you figure out that someone\nis using point free style and then you figure out that sum, actually takes one\nargument that must be a list.\n\nAnd this of course, is a simple example. Here we have a big clue in that the\nfunction is defined with zero arguments, and most functions take at least one\nargument, therefore the function probably uses the point free notation. But\nfor a more complex and longer function, the point free style can very easily\nconfuse someone reading the code.\n\nSo yeah, I think point free style is one of these annoying features of\nHaskell, that seem to be put in so that users of Haskell can pat themselves on\nthe back and feel like they are very smart. But in the end it does not add\nmuch to the language and makes it much less accessible.\n\n~~~\nmbrubeck\nOnce you're used to the idiom, I find point-free style at least as easy to\nread as pointful.\n\n _\"Thus, now when you look at code you cannot say at first glance how many\narguments a function takes.\"_\n\nIn Haskell I generally look at the type signature - explicit or inferred - to\nsee what a functions' arguments are.\n\nI find this style is actually more beneficial for larger-scale examples than\nsmaller ones. For example, if you have a memoizing combinator, most people\nwould not find it odd at all to write:\n\n    \n    \n      fast_factorial = memoize factorial\n    \n\ninstead of:\n\n    \n    \n      fast_factorial xs = (memoize factorial) xs\n    \n\nThe key to point-free style is to think of all functions as potentially acting\nlike combinators, and being modifiers for other functions.\n\n~~~\nhristov\nAnd where do you find the inferred type signature?\n\n~~~\nmbrubeck\nI load the module into ghci and use the :t command. But I mostly do this\nduring development. This is the big reason that production-quality code should\ngenerally have explicit type signatures for top-level functions.\n\n~~~\nhristov\nWell this kind of proves my point. If you have to compile code simply to read\nit, then the language is not very easy to read. What if you are reading the\ncode in order to debug it and the code cant compile?\n\nAnd I know code should have type signatures but it often doesn't.\n\n~~~\njrockway\n_And I know code should have type signatures but it often doesn't._\n\nOften? All the libraries in GHC have type signatures. All the libraries on\nHackageDB I've used have type signatures. All the apps I've written have type\nsignatures. Even most Haskell blog posts (and wiki pages) use type signatures.\n\nI think you should just peruse some production Haskell code, and try writing a\nbit of your own. If you set aside your belief that everyone is out to confuse\nyou for a few minutes, I think you'll find that most Haskell is quite\nreadable, and quite writable. You'll see how other people compose functions,\nwhat the idioms are, and then stuff like \"sum = foldr1 (+)\" won't confuse you\nanymore. Instead, I think you'll see how you can read and write code more\nquickly, and how to understand your program in terms of function application\ninstead of in terms of passing around boxes that hold data.\n\n------\ncamccann\nFrom the comments, an alternate form of the (.) . (.) operator:\n\n    \n    \n      foo = fmap fmap fmap\n    \n\nNothing says \"welcome to Haskell!\" like an inscrutable pile of fmaps. Oh,\npointless style, how beautiful you are.\n\nIn all seriousness, though, there are a lot of cases where a pointless--er,\n\"point-free\"--style is actually clearer and more comprehensible, typically\nwhen you're writing functions intended to be used as combinators. Similarly,\napplicative style sometimes looks a lot cleaner than using do notation.\n\n------\nTichy\nI am not convinced\n\n(.^) = (.) . (.)\n\nis supposed to be more readable than\n\n(.^) f g x y = f (g x y)\n\n?\n\nI don't know Haskell, but even so. I think there might be exercises with a\nbetter benefit.\n\n~~~\naerique\nThe former is definitely more suggestive.\n\n~~~\nTichy\nProgramming in balance with Yin and Yan :-)\n\n------\nhow_gauche\nI often use this algorithm:\n\n1\\. write a function in pointed style 2\\. run it through pointfree 3\\. is it\nshorter/easier to read? then use pointfree's definition\n\nThis is really a personal shortcoming though because after 20+ years of\nwriting code in \"standard\" languages my brain is sufficiently warped that I'm\nnot always able to think of the short and clear solution without \"grinding the\ngears\".\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: If ideas are so cheap, why can't we think of better ones? - entangld\n\n\n======\nmechanical_fish\nYou don't understand. Ideas are cheap the way DNA is cheap. It is extremely\ninexpensive to generate one million different strands of DNA. What is\nexpensive is to test them all and figure out which one, if any, might code for\nsomething worth having.\n\nIf you think for a while, you'll very likely think of a better idea. The\nproblem is that you'll also think of 100 or 1000 not-so-good ideas at the same\ntime, and you have to decide which ideas to keep and which to throw away, and\nyou'll probably guess wrong. It's the _testing_ that is not cheap, and that we\nwish to make as cheap as possible.\n\n------\nlichichen\nI honestly want to challenge you to define the term \"better.\" Is \"better\"\nmeasured by the degree of \"feasible execution,\" \"profitability,\" \"match to\nconsumer needs\" or a combination of those?\n\nOther than that, here are my thoughts\n\n1) Ideas aren't cheap. Not good/executable ideas anyways. Those ideas are\nsparked by work, experience, time invested into research, fostering a good\nenvironment that encourages ideas/competition.\n\nI'm sure you can ask a 5 year old on his ideas on how to end world hunger and\ncompare that of someone who is 30 or 40 something. Both ideas were cheap, but\nwho's is better?\n\n2) As mentioned by someone else here, not all ideas are executable or worth\nexecuting.\n\n3) Personality traits. Not everyone find pleasure in thinking, have you had a\nfriend who brushed you off every time you bring up an ideas? In addition there\nare many internal and external factors that help create or hinder ideas such\nas level of conformity at the work place, tolerance to risk etc\n\n~~~\nentangld\nI think all three of those criteria are good. I'd rank them by:\n\ncustomer needs>feasibility>profitability\n\nAgreed on your other thoughts as well.\n\n------\nhitechsites\nI really do not buy the oft repeated maxim that ideas are cheap. I think one\nreason for this thinking is because unless an idea is converted to an actual\nproduct there is no way to tell if it is good. But just because we can't judge\nwhether an idea is good - does not mean ideas are cheap and worthless either.\nI think this notion was made popular by investors and VCs, and it makes sense\nin their cases - as they make nothing from mere ideas - only from products\nthat sell. Outside the domain of startups and VCs, ideas are very precious\nindeed - just ask scientists who work on ideas that can create brand new\nindustries. Quantum physics was just an idea with equations - but we would not\nhave any of modern electronics, lasers, computers or mobile phones. Which\nbrings us to tbe second part of your question - why can't we think of better\nones. My theory is that the human brain is wired to perceive what exists and\nact on it, whereas innovation requires perceving what does not exist and\nseeing the gaps. It is much harder for the human brain to focus on this. Which\nis why it is easier to improve upon what already exists than it is to create a\nbrand new product.\n\n------\njoeld42\nI like to think if it as a multiplier:\n\nidea * execution = outcome\n\nidea * 0 = 0. \"Ideas are worthless without execution\"\n\n1 * execution = execution. \"with hard work, any decent idea can succeed\"\n\n100 * execution = something amazing. \"great ideas can change the world\"\n\n~~~\nbluekeybox\nIf that is correct, it follows that one should seek out the best people to\nwork with, no matter whether one is more of an engineer or a visionary.\n\n~~~\nJoeCortopassi\nJust be prepared to make up for what they lack. i.e. If they are a visionary,\nyou better be prepared to work.\n\n------\nimechura\nWhen you are focused on \"the idea\" you cannot see the forest for the trees.\nWhen you are more familiar with the execution and what it takes to go from\nidea to successful product you realize that the idea is a smaller part of the\nequation then you originally thought.\n\nDo you think that great companies like Netflix, Amazon or facebook are really\ndoing anything revolutionary from the idea stand point? A movie rental chain,\na department store and party line. They are simple everyday things that are\nworked upon very hard for years until they finally become a success.\n\nI am in the opposite position. So many \"good enough\" ideas that is is hard to\nchoose which one I want to be married to for the next 3 to 5 years.\n\n------\nschmittz\nWho says we haven't? We're blissfully unaware of most of human thought because\nit isn't acted on in such as way that we become aware of its existence. YC is\na great example of this, to a certain extent PG started it because there was\nno possible way for him to carry out every idea he came up with, so he created\nan environment where he can involve himself with other people who have ideas\nthat he's had or likes. I'm not entirely behind the \"ideas are worthless\"\ncamp. They're worth something (after all, you do have to execute on SOMETHING\nthat had to be thought of prior to), but most of a company's value is still\nderived from the fruition of its core idea.\n\n------\nentangld\nThis is a reaction to my current frustration. My ex-partner said ideas are\nonly worth 2%, technology 5% and implementation 93%. But he wants to know if\nhe take the idea and continue to work on it on his own.\n\nSo I said _\"If ideas are so cheap, why don't you think of a better one?\"_\n<crickets>\n\nIt's getting to the point where people say it without thinking.\n\n~~~\njerf\n\"Ideas are worthless\" means that having some idea about how to make some money\nis cheap and worthless. It has to be instantiated quite laboriously with a lot\nof additional effort and lots of other ideas supporting the original core one.\nYou can tell this happens because ten startups may start with the same \"idea\"\nbut end up with completely different concrete solutions on different platforms\nwith different tradeoffs and each taking ten man-years of work to create. It's\nin those ten man-years of work that the value lies, not the core idea.\n\nAs proof that is where the value lies, many solid businesses exist that have\ndone the work but haven't even hardly got an \"idea\" the way startup founders\nthink of it, just exploited opportunity. What's the \"big idea\" behind a\ngraphics design firm, or a plumbing company? On the other hand, try making\nmoney with an uninstantiated idea. Where the value comes from is pretty clear.\n\nNow that you've presumably done some of that work, the core original idea\nremains as useless as ever, but the work done around it to get it some\ndistance down the path to instantiation is not. A new idea would be starting\nback at square one, and once again be, yes, worthless.\n\nI doubt that he really wants the idea so much as he wants to move forward with\nthe instantiation.\n\n(Ideas with no instantiation effort put into them are worthless because\nbasically supply is effectively infinite.)\n\n~~~\nentangld\nAn idea is a direction. If he wants to move forward with the instantiation\nhe's moving forward in the same direction. That's like saying paraphrasing\nisn't plagiarism. It's not the same if it's different.\n\n _You can tell this happens because ten startups may start with the same\n\"idea\" but end up with completely different concrete solutions_\n\nAirbnb is an idea. If you do it a little bit different it's still the same\nidea. The value lies in what the customer receives, not the man-years. If\nyou've built something with large customer benefit then you've done something.\nBut the customer benefit comes from the direction the original idea took.\n\n _Now that you've presumably done some of that work, the core original idea\nremains as useless as ever_\n\nIf the idea has changed completely then yes, but that's probably a different\nidea. Google search is still Google search even though they've added countless\nman-years to it.\n\nHe wants the idea because he wants to solve the same customer problem in the\nsame way. Especially if the original idea unveiled a problem that was ignored.\nAn idea can often identify a problem. No amount of implementation can do that.\n\n~~~\njerf\n\"An idea is a direction.\"\n\nYou're making my point for me. Directions are cheap. It's the road traveled\nthat matters.\n\n\"The value lies in what the customer receives, not the man-years.\"\n\nOK. Build your AirBnB clone in two man-hours. Go!\n\n~~~\nentangld\nThis is the problem with metaphors. They get misunderstood and misapplied.\n\nI didn't mean a general direction, I meant a specific one. Like a telephone is\ndifferent from a cellphone. Landlines have only so much potential. You may\nattribute cellphones to implementation, but someone had to figure it out.\n\nHow many millions of man hours would make AirBnB worth more than Groupon? Not\nthe best example, but I'm sure you get it. Ideas have limits, but so does\nimplementation.\n\n------\njp\nBecause how is something better when \"better\" is just an adjective and not\nsomething you created, tested and executed ? Going to the moon is an idea,\nexecuting the moon landing is a million ideas all put together in the correct\norder. Different is not always better. One bad idea, 999 999 good ideas and\nthen you explode and die, consistently.\n\n------\nadrianwaj\nCreativity is free, but having mental models, abilities to express, experience\nand domain knowledge is expensive and hard-won. If you don't have the latter,\nthe former (creativity) will not produce good ideas that fit and evolve the\nlatter, to result in success and wealth. Not everyone has the former, and not\neveryone has the latter.\n\n------\nJarred\nI think the reason why people consider ideas cheap is if it's just an idea. If\nthe idea is the solution to the problem then that's what makes it a good one.\nThen again that's just my interpretation of the large amount of seemingly-good\nstartup advice on the internet. It also just makes sense.\n\n------\npetervandijck\nI think what they mean is that the _initial_ idea is cheap.\n\nThe idea after much execution is expensive.\n\n------\nrhizome\nI think part of it is a bias against solo founders. We simply don't hear of\nmany solo successes, but I'd venture that's where a lot of idea-mill work\nhappens.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Who is hiring? (February 2017) - whoishiring\nPlease lead with the location of the position and include the keywords\nREMOTE, INTERNS and&#x2F;or VISA when the corresponding sort of candidate is welcome.\nWhen remote work is not an option, please include ONSITE. A one-sentence summary of\nyour interview process would also be helpful.<p>Submitters: please only post if you personally are part of the hiring company—no\nrecruiting firms or job boards.<p>Readers: please only email submitters if you personally are interested in the\njob—no recruiters or sales calls.<p>You can also use kristopolous&#x27; console script to search the thread:\nhttps:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=10313519.\n======\njaas\nLet's Encrypt | Systems Administrator | US and Canada | Remote\n\nWe are a free, open, and automated certificate authority. Our goal is to help\ncreate a more secure and privacy-respecting Web by driving adoption of HTTPS.\n\nWe're currently hiring another Systems Administrator.\n\nKey Qualifications:\n\n* Experience working with highly-available, internet-facing sites * Solid understanding of PKI * Configuration management experience (SaltStack, Ansible, Puppet, Chef) * Ability to effectively communicate and collaborate with development team * Hardware SAN experience * Scripting and coding experience * Networking management experience (firewalls and switches) * Experience implementing monitoring, security, and logging systems * Database troubleshooting and HA maintenance experience * Ability to use and manage security tools such as FIM, IDM, SIEM, vulnerability scanner * Experience in regulated and high-security environments * Hardware Security Module (HSM) experience is a plus\n\nPlease see full job description here:\n\n[https://letsencrypt.org/jobs/#systems-\nadministrator](https://letsencrypt.org/jobs/#systems-administrator)\n\n------\nmightybyte\nTakt | Haskell Engineer | San Francisco, CA | Full-time, ONSITE preferred, but\nREMOTE is an option for senior candidates.\n\nTakt also has open positions for Data Software Engineer, Systems and\nInfrastructure Engineer, Data Scientist, Product Managers/Designers, and more.\nCheck them out at [http://takt.com/careers](http://takt.com/careers). Here is\nthe Haskell Engineer job description:\n\nTakt is seeking experienced Haskell programmers to help develop our flagship\nproduct. Our platform processes giant event streams of all kinds, identifying\npatterns, trends and opportunities to intervene and improve processes, aided\nby machine learning. Our vision will change the way people engage across\nmultiple industries, be it retail, finance, or healthcare. We're reaching more\nthan 10 million users, making us one of the largest ventures using Haskell.\n\nAs a Takt engineer, you'll work in small, self-sufficient teams with the\nshared goal of delivering excellent software anchored in an agile culture of\nquality, delivery, and innovation. You understand that legacy code is the work\nyou did yesterday. You also share our passion for functional programming and\nusing data to solve complex problems. Contact mightybyte at the google mail\nservice for more information.\n\n~~~\nefnx\nDoug! You beat me to the punch! ;) I signed on with Takt in October and it has\nbeen very rewarding. The culture is great and I'm learning a lot from\nabsolutely everyone. I highly recommend applying :).\n\n------\nsnowmaker\nY Combinator (yes, the people who run this site) is hiring hackers (San\nFrancisco, ONSITE)\n\nY Combinator has a very big vision, one that goes beyond just funding\nstartups. Yesterday we announced a new partnership with the ACLU:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13531707](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13531707)\n\nHere's a secret most people don't know: software is at the core of our plans\nfor taking YC to the next level.\n\nWe're looking for a couple of great hackers to join a small team in San\nFrancisco working on these new projects. It's not a job for everyone, but it\nwould be a good fit for someone who loves startups. Working at YC, you won't\njust write code, you'll be involved in everything YC does.\n\nHere's an example of something interesting we built recently:\n[http://themacro.com/articles/2016/08/investor-day-\nsoftware/](http://themacro.com/articles/2016/08/investor-day-software/)\n\nIf you're a hacker, send us a note here:\n[http://bit.ly/1Od0T2l](http://bit.ly/1Od0T2l). You can also email me with\nquestions: jared@ycombinator.com\n\n------\niamnafets\nAmazon New Product Demand Forecasting | Seattle | Full-Time | On-Site\n($130-$250+ depending on experience)\n\nAmazon's New Product Demand Forecasting team is responsible for one of the\nmost challenging problems in supply chain optimization: predicting sales for\nproducts that have no sales history. This is a uniquely creative space in\nForecasting requiring our machine learning models to capture both the nuances\nof the global consumer marketplace as well as customer behavior on Amazon.\n\nOur team works closely with research scientists to invent new ways to make use\nof novel data, solve hard engineering problems around scaling and performance\nin predicting for tens of millions of products, and iterate quickly in order\nto stay on the cutting edge. I'm looking for an experienced software developer\nthat is comfortable with big data and machine learning and can:\n\n* Design systems that provide a stable base for innovation in a rapidly changing business\n\n* Improve Forecasting algorithms through data-driven analysis and experimentation in our Scala/Spark environment\n\n* Optimize for scalability and performance of both distributed computations and near-metal C++ code\n\n* Learn quickly and keep up with a rapidly changing machine learning and big data landscape\n\n* Communicate their ideas clearly with all members of a diverse team\n\nIf this sounds interesting, as the hiring manager I'd love to chat or buy you\ncoffee. Email me (Stefan) at smai@ (amazon.com) with your resume and a brief\nintroduction. (Interview process is 1 phone screen and onsite interview with\nwhiteboard coding and behavioral questions about your experience.)\n\n------\ncorbet\nLWN.net | [https://lwn.net/](https://lwn.net/) | Writer/editor | Remote |\nfull-time or freelance\n\nLWN.net is (IMHO) the premier news site for the free and open-source\ndevelopment community. We are looking for a top-quality writer/editor to join\nour staff. It's demanding work, because LWN's readership is highly technical\nand used to high-quality writing by people who understand how the development\ncommunity works. But it's rewarding, and opportunities for international\ntravel abound. See\n[https://lwn.net/Articles/696258/](https://lwn.net/Articles/696258/) for more\ninformation.\n\n------\nnavahq\nNava | Washington DC & San Francisco SF | DevOps/Infrastructure/Systems\nEngineers, Software/Fullstack Engineers | Product and Project Managers | On-\nsite - Full-time | $100k-$160k+ + equity + benefits\n\nWe're a small team of engineers, designers, and product builders that were\nbrought in to help fix Healthcare.gov in the winter of 2013. Our revamped\napplication is used by millions, converts 35% better, and halves the\ncompletion time.\n\nIt turns out there’s a lot more to reimagine within government services, which\nis why we’re partnering with both the Department of Veterans Affairs and\nMedicare. With the VA, we are working to modernize their appeals system,\nmaking millions of veteran’s lives better through the process. Today, the\naverage appeal takes 5 years to process; we can fix this. For Medicare, we are\ndesigning and building the architecture for Medicare's historic transition\ntowards value-based care.\n\nIt’s surprising how much can be done by a small group of empathetic people\nwith a Silicon Valley mindset, deep technical experience, working closely with\ndedicated civil servants in government. We’ve started Nava as a public benefit\ncorporation to radically improve how our government serves its people, and we\nbelieve that the services our government provides should be clear and\nreliable. If you feel the same way, we'd love to hear from you at\njobs@navahq.com\n\nLearn more about working here:\n[http://navahq.com/careers](http://navahq.com/careers)\n\nJob descriptions: [http://jobs.lever.co/nava](http://jobs.lever.co/nava)\n\nOur blog: [https://blog.navapbc.com/](https://blog.navapbc.com/)\n\n------\nScotterC\nAndela | Software Engineer, iOS Lead, DevOps Lead | Nairob, Kenya & Lagos,\nNigeria | Full-Time\n\nBrilliance is evenly distributed; opportunity is not.\n\nAndela extends engineering teams with world-class software developers. We\nrecruit the most talented developers on the African continent, shape them into\ntechnical leaders, and place them as full-time distributed team members with\ncompanies that range from Microsoft and IBM to dozens of high-growth startups.\nBacked by Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, GV (Google Ventures) and Spark Capital,\nAndela is building the next generation of global technology leaders. We're\nbuilding teams in Africa, staffed by our developers and led by experts to\nbuild the systems that'll scale us to 100,000 developers across the African\ncontinent.\n\nSome technologies we use React | Angular | GoLang | Python | Ruby | JS | PHP |\nKubernetes | Docker | Google Cloud\n\nAll our engineering positions are currently in Africa but we are a distributed\ncompany. So if you want to try out a move to Nairobi for awhile, here's your\nchance :)\n\nOther positions on our careers page\n[http://careers.andela.com/](http://careers.andela.com/)\n\nReach out to me at scott.carleton@andela.com\n\n------\njauco\nHuygens ING | Amsterdam, The Netherlands | Software Engineer | Full-time,\nonsite | $35K – $60\n\nBuild open source software that slowly but surely gathers all historical data\nin Europe\n\nWe're a team of engineers at the Royal Academy of Sciences in the Netherlands.\nWe build a Backend as a Service that allows users to deposit their data[1].\nWe're looking for front-end / back-end engineers (we prefer people who like a\nlittle bit of both) to add features for exposing the data (search,\nvisualisation) and for working with the data (distributes storage,\nreasoning/inferring knowledge).\n\nWe provide an environment where people enjoy freedom of work, where our\nclients understand the uncertainty of experimentation (they're researchers\nafter all) and where all code is published under an open-source license.\n\nWe're using java (yes, voluntarily), react/redux (I know, sooo 2016) and we're\nhosting on kubernetes (sorry, no disparaging remark here). We don't really\ncare if you've used these exact technologies before, but we do care if you\nhave built up greenfield applications as well as to have worked on\napplications that have been in development for a few years.\n\nInterview process: phone interview -> at a later date a technical challenge\n(in person or screenshare) -> final interview (finalizing the agreement)\n\nDrop me a line at jauco.noordzij . huygens.knaw.nl!\n\n[1]\n[http://github.com/huygensING/timbuctoo](http://github.com/huygensING/timbuctoo)\n\n~~~\nsiculars\n35-60k... euros? That's kinda low even in pound sterling. Is this what folks\nget paid in The Netherlands as a \"software engineer\"?\n\n~~~\njauco\nYeah that's euro's.\n\nWe're bound by the collective bargaining agreement (cao) for universities. So\nit's a bit low even for dutch standards.\n\nHowever, it's hard to compare it against SV or london positions because the\ncost of living is lower, and a lot of the conttact is very much in favour of\nthe employee (a company cannot just fire you for example, you get health\nbenefits that are probably very good by us standards).\n\nI'm purposefully not making a case here. The vsnu cao is online[1] and you\nshould make your own deliberation.\n\n[1]:\n[http://www.vsnu.nl/files/documenten/CAO/Januari%202016/CAO_N...](http://www.vsnu.nl/files/documenten/CAO/Januari%202016/CAO_NU%20ENG%20jan2016.pdf)\n\n~~~\nimdsm\nGood luck, hope you find someone. Luckily, most people who see this and scoff\nwon't have been the person you're looking for anyway.\n\n------\nbradavogel\nMixmax | Full-Stack Engineer or intern | On-site San Francisco or Remote (for\nengineers with experience) |\n[https://mixmax.com/careers](https://mixmax.com/careers)\n\nWe're a growing, fast-moving team looking for all types of engineers: full-\nstack, backend, site reliability, data, integration.\n\nMixmax's mission is to reinvent the way professionals communicate for work.\nWe're building the impossible: a rich communications platform that brings the\npower of the web to everyday communication. This includes easily scheduling\nmeetings, completing surveys, making purchases, signing documents, and even\ninteracting with apps. We’re fully integrated with Gmail and Google Inbox, and\neven have a Electron-based native desktop application. Already, we’re seeing\nphenomenal growth, with customers from Uber, Airbnb, and tens of thousands of\nmore businesses depending on us for their daily communications.\n\nWe’re well-funded with an A++ list of investors who previously backed\ncompanies like Twitter, Heroku, Lyft, and Square. We have big plans ahead.\nCome do the impossible with us.\n\nCheck out our engineering blog to see what we've been working on:\n[https://mixmax.com/engineering](https://mixmax.com/engineering)\n\nOur stack: Node, Mongo, Elasticsearch, AWS, Redis, Electron (full stack:\n[http://stackshare.io/mixmax/mixmax-for-\nweb](http://stackshare.io/mixmax/mixmax-for-web))\n\nEmail careers@mixmax.com and let’s chat!\n\n~~~\ndesi_ninja\nIs the post still there ? I sent a mail in January for this post and haven't\ngotten any reply. Should I apply again or no response is automatically a\nrejection ?\n\n------\ngaff\nAmazon Prime Now | SDEs, SDMs, TPMs, QAEs | Seattle, WA and San Diego, CA |\nFULLTIME | ONSITE\n\nMy team is working on a confidential, high impact initiative for Prime Now\nthat involves working with over 75 teams across Amazon, solving highly\nambiguous problems on an international scale at a tremendous pace with a heavy\nfocus on customer experience. This is an early stage initiative with a fast\npaced, highly collaborative start up like environment inside Amazon.\n\nI am hiring Software Development Engineers, Software Development Managers,\nTechnical Program Managers, and Quality Assurance Engineers to work on this\nexciting and evolving challenge. We operate under a single-threaded owner\nwhich means the technical team work extremely closely with our product team.\n\nBelow are a few of the positions we are hiring for in both Seattle and San\nDiego. If you are interested please reach out to me (gjones @ amazon . com)\nand include HN in the subject. Thanks!\n\n* [https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/421561](https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/421561)\n\n* [https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/415742](https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/415742)\n\n* [https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/415741](https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/415741)\n\n* [https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/475667](https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/475667)\n\n* [https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/475666](https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/475666)\n\n~~~\nManikandan\nHow about Visa?\n\n~~~\ngaff\nWe can sponsor a visa.\n\n~~~\nManikandan\ngaff, cool, I have sent you a mail. Review when you are free.\n\n------\nebildsten\nOpenAI | San Francisco | Full Time, Onsite, Interns, Visa |\n[https://openai.com](https://openai.com)\n\nOpenAI’s mission is to build safe AI, and ensure AI's benefits are as widely\nand evenly distributed as possible. We are building a team of researchers and\nengineers to make the defining breakthroughs in machine learning.\n\nWe care about what people will accomplish here much more than what they've\nalready done: for any of our hiring criteria, demonstration of exceptional\nmotivation and potential can overcome a lack of experience. We value personal\ndevelopment; we hire curious, highly-motivated individuals who look to grow in\nareas where they have not yet achieved mastery.\n\nOur impact is greater than just publishing research papers. We build working\nsystems. We try to empower and strengthen the AI research community, and\ncollaborate freely. We publish our techniques, tools, and methods, and try to\nfind creative approaches for how to improve the progress and impact of ML\nresearch.\n\nWe're currently hiring software engineers, machine learning researchers,\nmachine learning interns, and a recruiting coordinator.\n\n[https://openai.com/jobs/](https://openai.com/jobs/)\n\n~~~\neli_gottlieb\nSimilar question to the other person: I applied via your portal a while ago.\nWant to talk?\n\n------\niamtheneal\nSquare, Inc. | Software Engineer, Mobile Security | New York (preferred), San\nFrancisco (for senior or exceptional candidates) |\n[https://squareup.com/careers](https://squareup.com/careers)\n\nSquare's Mobile Security team is hiring in our SoHo, NYC office. We're a full-\nstack engineering team building Square's software tamper detection and remote\nattestation system.\n\n\\----\n\nWhat we do:\n\nresearch iOS and Android attacks and countermeasures\n\nbuild backend services to filter and analyze system-level telemetry from the\nmillions of devices running our software\n\ndevelop heuristics and models to detect malicious activity\n\ncollaborate with Square's mobile, hardware, and anti-fraud teams\n\n\\----\n\nWhy it's cool:\n\nWe work across many disciplines: security, mobile, backend, data\ninfrastructure, data science.\n\nOur system is critical: without it, some Square products couldn't exist.\n\nSeveral companies have built systems like this; ours is the most advanced.\n\nWe catch real hackers and criminals.\n\n\\----\n\nWho we're looking for:\n\nreverse engineers familiar with C\n\nmobile engineers familiar with C and with Android or iOS internals\n\nbackend engineers\n\n\\----\n\nTech we use: C, Java, Objective-C, Python, Ruby MySQL, Vertica, Spark\n\n\\----\n\nIf this matches your background and interests, we'd love to talk to you --\nemail me at neal@squareup.com.\n\n------\nwho_is_firing\nAs an FYI, I started a who is firing thread here:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13528301](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13528301)\n\nPlease feel free to contribute if you know any companies involved in layoffs\nor want to find out who is conducting layoffs.\n\n------\nsashagitlab\nGitLab | Remote Only | Hiring All Roles\n\nWe're hiring VP of Engineering, production engineers, build engineers, Sr. Go\n+ Ruby developers, and more, see\n[https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/](https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/) We're a\nremote only company so everyone can participate and contribute equally. GitLab\nCommunity Edition is an open-source Ruby on Rails project with over 1000\ncontributors.\n\n~~~\nkoolba\nSomething tells me you're going to get quite a few responses this month :D\n\n~~~\naardvarkit\nFor the Ruby dev positions, be prepared with a few links to open source Ruby\nprojects you've written on Github et al, or contributions to open source\nprojects. Not a hiring strategy I'd agree with, but I guess that's what\nthey've decided on.\n\nI asked if they'd do a 'challenge' of some sort, but they didn't like that\napproach, and returned with 'Please look at our buglist and submit a patch\nthen'. I find that quite an inventive way to get your defects looked at.\n\n------\ngibybo\nAtlas | Full Stack Developer | PHX, MSP, DC, NYC, SF | $90-130k + benefits |\nFull-time, REMOTE or ONSITE | [http://atlas-x.com](http://atlas-x.com)\n\nConsumers get to use software they love, but most businesses are stuck using\nsoftware they tolerate. We are changing that.\n\nWe don’t know what the final product looks like, yet.\n\nTo find the answer, we’re going to the source, working with small clients,\nspending time understanding them. These projects have delivered tremendous\nvalue while allowing us to gain deep, exhaustive understanding.\n\nWe need talented full stack developers who have empathy for users and love\nmaking thoughtful and simple solutions to complex problems; developers who\nwant to see their software used daily and witness a visible improvement in the\ndaily lives of employees, families, and businesses.\n\nOur favorite tools include Node, C#, Angular, Kendo, and React. If you have\nexperience building all parts of modern webapps, value autonomy over routine,\nand are interested in helping us develop the next generation of software for\nsmall and medium businesses, we’d love to hear from you.\n\n80% Y/Y Growth. Profitable. Cash Positive. Currently Four Developers.\n\nTo get in touch: careers@atlas-x.com.\n\n------\ndanpat\nMapbox | ONSITE in Washington D.C. or Berlin, Germany | Systems Engineer -\nDirections | Full-Time | [http://www.mapbox.com/](http://www.mapbox.com/)\n\nThe Directions team at Mapbox is looking for someone to help grow our\nnavigation platform infrastructure. We have a core group working on routing\nalgorithms and traffic data analysis, and we need help growing the\ninfrastructure that runs that code (we develop and make heavy use of\n[http://project-osrm.org/](http://project-osrm.org/)).\n\nWe use nodejs and AWS services extensively for our infrastructure, so\nfamiliarity with those tools is a plus, but by no means a requirement. We like\nadaptable people who aren't afraid to learn new skills, and bring new\nperspectives to the table.\n\nA bunch more details at:\n[https://www.mapbox.com/jobs/553439/](https://www.mapbox.com/jobs/553439/) or\nhit me up with any questions.\n\n------\njaz46\nPachyderm -- San Francisco -- Onsite only -- jobs@pachyderm.io\n\nCore distributed systems/infrastructure engineer (Golang, Docker, Kubernetes)\n-- experience with any systems language is fine even if you don't know Go yet.\n\nCheck out [http://pachyderm.io/jobs.html](http://pachyderm.io/jobs.html) to\nsee all positions and more detailed descriptions.\n\n[http://github.com/pachyderm/pachyderm](http://github.com/pachyderm/pachyderm)\n\n[https://medium.com/pachyderm-data/lets-build-a-modern-\nhadoop...](https://medium.com/pachyderm-data/lets-build-a-modern-\nhadoop-4fc160f8d74f)\n\nWhat would data analytics infrastructure (namely Hadoop) look like if we\nrebuilt it from scratch today? We think it would be containerized, modular,\nand easy enough for a single person to use while still being scalable enough\nfor a whole company. Tools like Docker and Kubernetes provide the perfect\nbuilding blocks for us revolutionize data infrastructure!\n\nPachyderm is just 7 people right now, so you'd be getting in right at the\nground floor and have an enormous impact on the success and direction of the\ncompany as well as building the rest of the engineering team.\n\nSalaries start around $120k and go up from there based on experience. We also\noffer significant equity, full benefits, and all the usual startup perks. This\nposition is based in SF.\n\n------\ndlwh\nSemantic Machines | Software Engineers and Machine Learning Engineers |\nBoston, MA and SF Bay Area, CA (Berkeley) |\n[http://www.semanticmachines.com/careers/](http://www.semanticmachines.com/careers/)\n\nSemantic Machines is developing technology to power the next generation of\nconversational artificial intelligence: AIs that you can actually have a\nconversation with. Think Google Assistant or Alexa or Siri, but without having\nto carefully craft commands like you're talking to a Bash shell.\n\nOur team has built much of the core technology underlying Siri and Google Now,\nand our founders (including both the former Chief Speech Scientist for Siri\nand the head of UC Berkeley's Natural Language Processing group) have multiple\n>$100 million exits under their belt.\n\nWe're looking to hire a few talented software engineers and machine learning\nengineers to help build out technology, by expanding our core NLP\ninfrastructure, data processing pipelines, neural net clusters, and backend\nservices.\n\nExperience with natural language processing systems is a plus, as is\nexperience with the JVM (especially Scala), but we're mainly interested in\npassionate engineers who can learn quickly and work effectively in complex\nsystems.\n\nPlease reach out to me directly or email info@semanticmachines.com. Thanks!\n\n------\nsshumaker\nCredit Karma | San Francisco, Los Angeles, Charlotte | Full Time, Onsite |\n[https://creditkarma.com](https://creditkarma.com)\n\nCredit Karma's mission is to make financial progress possible for everyone. We\nhave over 60 million US members and are a true mission-oriented business, a\nrare case where our incentives are aligned with our users - we succeed by\nhelping our members attain financial progress.\n\nWe've been growing rapidly over the past few years (hypergrowth) and are\nhiring across a wide range of positions. On the backend side, we are moving to\nScala-based microservices using finagle and Thrift, and as well as GraphQL on\nnode.js. Our native iOS and Android apps are #1 in finance (with a 5 star\nrating on the App Store) and we're rebuilding our website in React + Redux.\nOur data teams use Kafka, Spark and BigQuery among other technologies.\n\nIf you're motivated by growth and impact Credit Karma is probably the best\nplace to work in tech today. We have solved product / market fit and\ndistribution, but compared to our peer unicorns there is still so much work to\ndo. If you look at the gap between our product today and what we are well-\npositioned to become - the main touchpoint for consumer finance - there is\ntons of opportunity for people joining now to take on responsibility and\nownership and have a meaningful impact.\n\nFeel free to reach out to me personally (scott.shumaker at creditkarma dot\ncom) or visit:\n[https://www.creditkarma.com/careers](https://www.creditkarma.com/careers)\n\n------\nJonnyB_Amazon\nAmazon | Edinburgh, UK | Full Stack Engineers - On-site Only | Relocation\nAssistance Available | Full Time | Visa Sponsorship available\n\nAmazon development Centre (Scotland) is looking for experienced software\ndevelopers with strong technical ability, a focus on the customer experience,\ngreat teamwork and communication skills, and a motivation to achieve results\nin a fast-paced environment.\n\nOur development centre in Edinburgh is responsible for devising and growing\ninnovations for Amazon around the world. Small teams of developers, designers\nand leaders run major parts of Amazon’s business, technology and operations.\nFrom interactive UI design to large-scale distributed systems and machine\nlearning, we do whatever it takes to deliver great products and experiences\nfor our customers.\n\nOur work is characterised by high scale, complexity and the need for\ninvention. We offer great opportunities to work on big data, machine learning\nand high-scale, low-latency distributed systems. We use a wide variety of\nlanguages including Java, Python, Ruby, and JavaScript; Open Source\ntechnologies including Linux, Ruby on Rails, and AngularJS; and we build on\ntop of Amazon’s world-leading AWS platform.\n\nFor more information take a look at our microsite -\n[http://www.amazondc.com](http://www.amazondc.com)\n\nFeel free to get in touch with me – contact details in my profile - if you are\ninterested in having an informal chat about roles here.\n\n(Please note, I only recruit for the Edinburgh Dev Centre, so cannot help you\nwith other roles/locations)\n\n------\nrkrebs\nGoogle | Inside Sales/Customer Growth | SF Bay Area, Austin | ONSITE | Full-\ntime\n\nCome join Google Cloud!\n\nWe're a fast growing entrepreneurial team that works with Google Cloud's whole\nsuite of products, ranging from Compute Engine to Container Engine, G Suite,\nML API's and more.\n\nDetails/Apply: [https://careers.google.com/jobs#!t=jo&jid=/google/cloud-\ninsi...](https://careers.google.com/jobs#!t=jo&jid=/google/cloud-inside-sales-\nand-customer-growth-1600-amphitheatre-pkwy-mountain-view-ca-2455080061&)\n\n~~~\njedberg\nFinally!! I've been saying for years that Google Cloud is technically superior\nto AWS but can't capture the enterprise because they don't have the sales team\nthat enterprises need. I'm excited to see you grow your team.\n\n------\nhazz\nGoCardless (YC S11) | London | DevOps, Data, Backend and Frontend Engineers |\nOnsite | Full-time | Visa\n\nGoCardless is building a payments network for the internet. Since 2011 we've\nbeen focused on simplifying Direct Debit for small and medium companies (who\npreviously had no access to it) and we're now expanding to serve the largest\ncompanies (think newspapers, utilities) and connect with existing payment\nsystems in countries all over the world. We already support the UK and Europe\nand are aiming to expand to more countries over the next year.\n\nAs an engineering team at GoCardless we care most about stable, reliable,\nunderstandable code. We rely on testing and code review and a culture of\nfrequent constructive feedback. We define and manage our own roadmap and run\nprojects in whatever way works best for us.\n\nOur stack: Rails, Angular, Postgres, Elasticsearch, Docker, Chef. We also have\na bit of Go and Python knocking around.\n\nWe love learning new things and contributing back to the community. We open\nsource everything we can[1] and regularly host meetups and hackathons at our\nwheelchair-accessable office in Angel. We have a weekly bookclub within the\nteam and give internal (and external) talks about things that interest us.\n\nInterview process: an intro call, one coding challenge, then a couple of\nonsite interviews (pair programming and some chats - no whiteboards!)\n\nFor more info and to apply:\n[https://gocardless.com/jobs](https://gocardless.com/jobs). If you've got any\nquestions, drop me an email (it's in my profile).\n\n[1] Notable examples are Statesman\n([https://github.com/gocardless/statesman](https://github.com/gocardless/statesman))\nand Coach\n([https://github.com/gocardless/coach](https://github.com/gocardless/coach))\n\n------\njisaacso\nQuora | ML Engineer | Mountain View\n\nML, Python, C++, TensorFlow, Spark, Information Retrieval\n\nWe are looking for experienced Machine Learning engineers, ML infrastructure\nengineers and product infrastructure engineers to join our team. At Quora, we\nuse Machine Learning in almost every part of the product - feed ranking,\nanswer ranking, search, topic and user recommendations, spam detection etc. As\na Machine Learning expert, you will have a unique opportunity to have high\nimpact by advancing these systems, as well as uncovering new opportunities to\napply Machine Learning to the Quora product. You will also play a key role in\ndeveloping tools and abstractions that our other developers would build on top\nof.\n\nMachine Learning Engineers:\n[https://jobs.lever.co/quora/4ea5b0e2-b570-439f-a3a1-1f301042...](https://jobs.lever.co/quora/4ea5b0e2-b570-439f-a3a1-1f3010422273?lever-\norigin=applied&lever-source%5B%5D=Hacker%20News)\n\nSoftware Engineer Product Infrastructure:\n[https://jobs.lever.co/quora/37d396ed-a089-4cc2-a817-8ab65fb6...](https://jobs.lever.co/quora/37d396ed-a089-4cc2-a817-8ab65fb6303e?lever-\norigin=applied&lever-source%5B%5D=Hacker%20News)\n\nSoftware Engineer ML Infrastructure:\n[https://jobs.lever.co/quora/5ae871e6-12a7-40d2-829a-64041e24...](https://jobs.lever.co/quora/5ae871e6-12a7-40d2-829a-64041e24da42?lever-\norigin=applied&lever-source%5B%5D=Hacker%20News)\n\nPlease submit online at the link above and mention my HN user name. Or email\n\"%sn@quora.com\" % my_HN_user_name\n\n------\nevanjacobs\nAlexa Smart Home | Software Development Engineer (all levels) | Seattle |\nONSITE\n\nWe're focused on making Alexa the UI for the home and we're looking for\nengineers who want to help us in this mission. This is a unique opportunity to\nbe an early member of a team whose work will have a big impact on customers.\nIn order to achieve this mission, you'll get to build a wide variety of\napplications and services using a range of technologies.\n\nHere are just a couple of the positions that I'm hiring for but please feel\nfree to reach out to me (evan @ amazon . com) with any questions:\n\n[https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/478440](https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/478440)\n\n[https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/479984](https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/479984)\n\n------\ngd832\nDavid | San Francisco, CA |\n[https://www.senddavid.com](https://www.senddavid.com) | Full­time | Onsite\n\nDavid is a San Francisco-­based software startup that combines technology and\nlegal research to help customers resolve disputes with their cable, internet,\nor wireless service provider. The $200+ billion legal industry is still stuck\nin the 20th century: paper-based, error-prone and slow. With rates averaging\n$300 / hour, only 15% of Americans with serious legal problems even seek the\nhelp of a lawyer. For everyday issues like bogus cable bills, fewer than 1 in\n1,000,000 of us seek justice, even though monopolists like Comcast rank in the\n0th percentile for customer satisfaction. Class actions used to provide the\nnecessary scale to combat certain widespread frauds, but over the past 5\nyears, the Supreme Court has allowed businesses to eliminate them. The\ntechnical challenges are hard, ranging from automating the monitoring of\ncorporate misconduct to crafting delightful user flows to building the leading\ndatabase of outcomes in consumer disputes. In parallel with the software\ndevelopment, a team of Yale Law School alums conducts the deep research so\nthat our users finally feel empowered, rather than intimidated, by the law.\n\nWe currently have a MVP\n([https://www.senddavid.com](https://www.senddavid.com)) and are looking for a\nSenior Engineer as a very early member of the team.\n\nPosition: Senior Engineer | Salary: $80­-$125k | Equity: 1.0%-­4.0% |\n[https://angel.co/david-174/jobs/72943-engineer](https://angel.co/david-174/jobs/72943-engineer)\n\nContact us via Angel List or talent@senddavid.com\n\n------\nsl4yt1m3\nTeachers Pay Teachers | Engineers, Product Managers, Product Designers | NYC\n(New York City) | Full-Time\n\nTeachers Pay Teachers is a community of millions of educators who come\ntogether to share their work, their insights, and their inspiration with one\nanother. We are the first and largest open marketplace where teachers share,\nsell, and buy original educational resources. Since we've started, authors on\nTeachers Pay Teachers have earned over $200M. Here's a bit more of the\nbackstory ([https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/06/technology/a-sharing-\necon...](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/06/technology/a-sharing-economy-\nwhere-teachers-win.html)). Our engineering culture focuses on Fearless\nDevelopment ([http://engineering.teacherspayteachers.com/2015/10/11/the-\nfe...](http://engineering.teacherspayteachers.com/2015/10/11/the-fear-of-\nbreaking-things.html)), curiosity, learning, and autonomy.\n\nWe're currently running our infrastructure on AWS with a combination of\nterraform and chef to manage our servers. The tiers of our application are\nbuilt with AWS Aurora, Elixir, and React.\n\nIf you want to learn more about us, check us out on The Muse:\n[https://www.themuse.com/companies/teacherspayteachers/](https://www.themuse.com/companies/teacherspayteachers/).\n\nI'd be happy to chat about positions over email at\nryan.s@teacherspayteachers.com or check out our careers page\n([https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Careers](https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Careers)).\n\n------\nd8niel\n1 point by d8niel 61 days ago [-]\n\ndrchrono | Software Engineer | Mountain View | REMOTE, VISA,\n\n[https://www.drchrono.com](https://www.drchrono.com)\n\ndrchrono is a medical platform for doctors and patients. We are crafting only\nthe best mobile healthcare experience, with a focus on iPad, iPhone, Apple\nWatch and web. The driving force of our efforts is in changing the way people\nengage and experience healthcare through electronic health records. You would\nbe part of an entrepreneurial, sharp, capable and curious team. Since our\ninception, we have attracted over 85,000 physicians, 5.5 million patients. So\nfar we've booked 19 million patient appointments and processed 1.2 billion\ndollars in medical billing per year.\n\nWe’re hiring Python/Django Devs! Take our healthcare hackerchallenge here!!\n\n[https://www.hackerrank.com/tests/2tenc80md2q/5dc28bc357687ab...](https://www.hackerrank.com/tests/2tenc80md2q/5dc28bc357687ab88e6a2cc06c44050c)\n\nSteps to getting hired\n\nStep 1: Take our Hackerchallenge\n\nStep 2: Phone call with our People Operations Manager\n\nStep 3: On-Site Healthcare Hackathon\n\nStep 4: Join the team & change healthcare!!!\n\n~~~\ncalcsam\nWord on the street is that you guys pay really below-market salaries. Could\nyou post a salary range please?\n\n------\nconstexpr\nSan Francisco; Full Time; Onsite\n\nI'm the cofounder of Figma ([https://www.figma.com](https://www.figma.com)), a\nstartup in San Francisco building a browser-based collaborative design tool to\nimprove the way designers and developers work together. We're a small team\n(~25) and we're looking for talented engineers\n([https://www.figma.com/careers](https://www.figma.com/careers)) who are\ninterested in tackling hard technical problems with smart people and building\na product that startups will rely on.\n\nIf you want to see what we value, you might find these interesting:\n\n\\- First principles thinking: [https://medium.com/figma-design/introducing-\nvector-networks-...](https://medium.com/figma-design/introducing-vector-\nnetworks-3b877d2b864f)\n\n\\- Pushing the web to the limit: [https://medium.com/figma-design/building-a-\nprofessional-desi...](https://medium.com/figma-design/building-a-professional-\ndesign-tool-on-the-web-6332ed4f1fcc)\n\nUpcoming/ongoing projects:\n\n\\- Develop a plugin ecosystem from the ground up\n\n\\- Build a community of design content and tools from scratch\n\n\\- Cross-document shared symbols\n\n\\- Multiplayer editing infrastructure (realtime simultaneous editing)\n\nOur tech stack: C++, Emscripten, Node, TypeScript, React, WebGL, Ruby, Sinatra\n\nIf you're interested in learning more about what we're working on or want to\nmeet up to talk about any of my other projects\n([http://madebyevan.com/](http://madebyevan.com/)), you can email me at\nwallace@figma.com.\n\n~~~\ndakerfp\nDo you sponsor visas?\n\n------\nHolo-hiring\nHologram | Chicago, IL | Full-time |\n[http://boards.greenhouse.io/hologram](http://boards.greenhouse.io/hologram)\n\nOur mission is to build _the_ platform for creating connected products by\ntackling some of the hardest challenges at the intersections of hardware,\nconnectivity, and software.\n\nAt Hologram, we believe in you and your immediate squad members to know what's\nbest for our platform and enable you to make immediate customer-impacting\ndecisions. You can see this in how we develop products and processes: Hologram\npushes decision-making out to the edges of the organization to reduce\nmanagement overhead and increase speed to market.\n\nWe have a number of open positions and would love to hear from you!\n\n\\+ Embedded Systems Engineer:\n[http://boards.greenhouse.io/hologram/jobs/561434](http://boards.greenhouse.io/hologram/jobs/561434)\n__*Remote Available\n\n\\+ Full Stack Cloud Engineer:\n[http://boards.greenhouse.io/hologram/jobs/562395](http://boards.greenhouse.io/hologram/jobs/562395)\n\n\\+ Full Stack Engineer:\n[http://boards.greenhouse.io/hologram/jobs/562369](http://boards.greenhouse.io/hologram/jobs/562369)\n\n\\+ Customer Success Engineer:\n[http://boards.greenhouse.io/hologram/jobs/541597](http://boards.greenhouse.io/hologram/jobs/541597)\n\n\\+ Product Designer:\n[http://boards.greenhouse.io/hologram/jobs/580826](http://boards.greenhouse.io/hologram/jobs/580826)\n\nFor any questions, feel free to email me directly at derrick@hologram.io\n\n------\nFlammy\nAppuri, Seattle WA, [http://www.appuri.com/](http://www.appuri.com/)\n\nWhat we do: Appuri helps online businesses understand, diagnose and reduce\ncustomer churn. We provide a beautiful, end-to-end solution that makes it easy\nfor our customers to tackle churn. By removing the need to hire data\nscientists or data engineers, we offer a very compelling price point. Very few\nproducts can bring Big Data and Machine Learning at the scale and price point\nwith the results we offer. We serve both B2B and B2C customers, with strong\nsuccess in both spaces.\n\nOur go-to-market solution is backed by a world-class ETL pipeline and data\nplatform that makes onboarding, insight-generation and integration with\ncorporate business processes many times faster than competitors or do-it-\nyourself alternatives. This platform is also a solid foundation for us to\nbuild future solutions.\n\nWho we’re looking for currently:\n\nSenior Solutions Engineer (Seattle, Full Time, ONSITE, $100k-140k and 0.1% -\n0.3% stock options comp) which is our term for solutions architect,\nimplementation engineer, forward deployment engineer. If you’re familiar with\npython and SQL you can apply from our AngelList listing\n[https://angel.co/appuri/jobs/75799-senior-solutions-\nengineer](https://angel.co/appuri/jobs/75799-senior-solutions-engineer)\n\n------\nsamroberton\nROKT | www.rokt.com | Sydney, Australia | ONSITE\n\nSoftware Engineers (Clojure/ClojureScript)\n\nROKT is hiring thoughtful, talented functional programmers, at all levels, to\nexpand our Clojure team in Sydney.\n\nROKT is a successful startup (~100 employees) with a transaction marketing\nplatform used by some of the world's largest ecommerce sites. Our Sydney-based\nengineering team supports a business that is growing rapidly around the world.\nOur Clojure team is responsible for a variety of sites and services written in\nClojure and ClojureScript.\n\nIf you have professional Clojure experience, great. What we're really looking\nfor, though, is developers comfortable with a simple, functional style of\nwriting code -- we'll happily bring you up to speed on Clojure if you're not\nthere already.\n\nDue to Australian visa requirements, unfortunately we're only able to consider\ncandidates who already have the legal right to work in Australia, please.\n\nContact Claudio at claudio@rokt.com\n\n~~~\nnojvek\nAre the Australian visa requirements that bad? With the current nastiness of\ntrump, isn't this a great opportunity for Australia to steal some talent.\n\nAlso didn't Trump tell Turnbull that he is an idiot for asking him to take\n2000 refugees when he just signed the anti-muslim order?\n\n~~~\nsamrobertonrokt\nSponsoring engineers to come to Australia is definitely possible -- and in\nfact we've done it in the past for certain roles. But, as in some other\ncountries, it does come with the caveat that you need to be able to justify\nthe sponsorship with evidence that it's not possible to find anyone who could\ndo the role and who already has the right to work in Australia.\n\nWe're pretty open about what sort of candidates we'd consider: we're looking\nfor good engineers to join the team, and are willing to accept that that means\nthat we might have to spend some time and effort training them up in the\ntechnologies we use, etc. I think that's a great attitude for us to have. But\nit does make it pretty difficult for us to turn around and tell the government\n\"we have to bring this specific individual from overseas because no Australian\nhas the exact skillset we need for this role\".\n\n------\nErinSlack\nOscar Insurance is a startup using technology, data & design to change the way\npeople find and access care. We are disrupting the healthcare industry by\nputting people first, not business and cost. www.hioscar.com W e're currently\nhiring for a variety of Full-time/Onsite roles here in our New York City\nlocation.\n\nSite Reliability Engineer (NYC)\n[https://www.hioscar.com/about/jobs/13255?gh_jid=13255](https://www.hioscar.com/about/jobs/13255?gh_jid=13255)\nSecurity Engineer: (NYC)\n[https://www.hioscar.com/jobs/?gh_jid=483542](https://www.hioscar.com/jobs/?gh_jid=483542)\nSoftware Engineer: Web & Mobile (NYC)\n[https://www.hioscar.com/about/jobs/?gh_jid=247940](https://www.hioscar.com/about/jobs/?gh_jid=247940)\nSoftware Engineer: Data/Systems (NYC)\n[https://www.hioscar.com/about/jobs/?gh_jid=248056](https://www.hioscar.com/about/jobs/?gh_jid=248056)\nSoftware Engineer: New Grad (NYC)\n[https://www.hioscar.com/about/jobs/?gh_jid=261348](https://www.hioscar.com/about/jobs/?gh_jid=261348)\nSoftware Engineer: Internship Summer 2017 (NYC)\n[https://www.hioscar.com/about/jobs/?gh_jid=268766](https://www.hioscar.com/about/jobs/?gh_jid=268766)\nSoftware Engineer: SWAT (NYC)\n[https://www.hioscar.com/about/jobs/?gh_jid=261602](https://www.hioscar.com/about/jobs/?gh_jid=261602)\nSoftware Engineer: Product Infrastructure (NYC)\n[https://www.hioscar.com/about/jobs/?gh_jid=240077](https://www.hioscar.com/about/jobs/?gh_jid=240077)\n\nOscar was valued at $2.7 billion following a $400 million investment by\nFidelity. Take a look at how we're simplifying healthcare:\n[http://incredibleinsurancemachine.com](http://incredibleinsurancemachine.com)\n\n~~~\ncharleshkang\nHi Erin!\n\nIf my background is not traditional(went from being a professional chef to an\niOS dev), can I still apply for the internship or new grad position? Oscar as\na company interests me a ton, just not sure which position I should apply to.\n\n~~~\nErinSlack\nHi - please feel free to apply to the 'new grad' position - we always make\nsure to take background into consideration throughout the interview process.\n\n~~~\ncharleshkang\nThanks! I'll apply now.\n\n------\ndazbradbury\nOpenRent | London, UK | Full-Time | ONSITE |\n[https://www.openrent.co.uk](https://www.openrent.co.uk)\n\nOpenRent is the way people rent property online - a force for good in an\nindustry tarnished by rip-off agencies. Enabled by an unrelenting focus on\ntechnology, we now let more properties than any high-street agency in the UK.\nIn the last 12m we let over £9.5bn worth of property, without charging any\nadmin fees to tenants.\n\nWe're hiring into a team of 10 people, looking for generalists, thought-\nleaders, and those with a passion for solving real-world problems.\n\nYou'll be working in a close-knit team, directly with the founders, and have\nfull autonomy to work on, and how best, to solve the biggest problems in the\nindustry. We find problems and improve customer experiences via code every\nday.\n\n\\- Senior Front-End Developer | £30k - £75k (negotiable based on experience) |\nup to 0.5% equity | [https://angel.co/openrent/jobs/143011-front-end-\ndeveloper](https://angel.co/openrent/jobs/143011-front-end-developer)\n\n\\- Jobs Page: [https://angel.co/openrent/jobs](https://angel.co/openrent/jobs)\n\nPress Coverage: \\-\n[https://angel.co/openrent/activity](https://angel.co/openrent/activity)\n\nContact via AngelList or email in profile.\n\nLook forward to meeting you!\n\n~~~\njarofgreen\n> without charging any admin fees to tenants\n\nIsn't that illegal in the UK anyway? :-)\n\n~~~\ndazbradbury\nNope. Whilst the chancellor mentioned a ban in the Autumn statement, nothing\nfurther has been put in place.\n\nThe average fee still sits in the hundreds of pounds.\n\n~~~\njarofgreen\nFair point, and good on you then. (It has been illegal in Scotland for years,\nI lose track of some details down south.)\n\n------\nmilesward\nGoogle Cloud | The Earth | Full-Time | On-site / Remote\n\nYo! We are continuing to grow the GCP Solutions Architect team; a bunch of\nhappy folk learning and helping others to use Google's cloud infrastructure\nfor fun and profit. Machine learning, petabytes, OSS, Kubernetes; you bring\nthe smarts we'll supply the hardware :)\n\nAny of these work:\n[https://careers.google.com/jobs#t=sq&q=j&li=20&l=false&jlo=e...](https://careers.google.com/jobs#t=sq&q=j&li=20&l=false&jlo=en-\nUS&j=solutions+architect&jcoid=7c8c6665-81cf-4e11-8fc9-ec1d6a69120c&)\n\n~~~\ntiefenb\nAre these positions remote? if yes: for which location should I apply?\n\n------\nnumlocked\nGrove Collaborative | Jr. Software Engineer | SF, CA | www.grove.co\n\nGrove is hiring! We're looking for a full-stack web developer with 1-3 years\nof experience to join our engineering team of 4 (two here in SF, and two in\nEurope), and our company of about 25. You'll work to build features that drive\nrevenue, grow our customer base, and create tools our marketing team didn't\neven know they needed, to help them scale their efforts across channels.\n\nWe're an ecommerce company that prides itself on being able to adapt to\ncustomer and market needs in near-real-time; if we see a business opportunity,\nwe grab it.\n\nYou like solving real problems, and seeing your code live on the web. You know\nto think clearly about tradeoffs. You know to ask why and are the person who\ndiscovers that, when someone is asking for a shovel, maybe they really need a\nhole.\n\nWe primarily speak Python (with Django) and ES6 JavaScript. If you know that\nstuff already, great. If you know comparable languages and frameworks, that's\nfine too.\n\nWe write tests, contribute to open source (see github.com/groveco/), practice\ncontinuous integration & deployment, and focus on shipping working software\nwith measurable outcomes. Our office is a beautiful, sunlit space on Union\nStreet in Cow Hollow, with 2 office dogs.\n\n$80,000 - $100,000 + equity & full benefits\n\n~~~\nsmartfin\nAnd what is the contact to write you :)? I'm interested in your vacancy, but\nat website found only clients support. Thanks\n\n~~~\nnumlocked\nRight! That would be useful :) You can email me: cc@grove.co\n\n------\ncaulagi\nOneflow AB ([https://oneflow.com](https://oneflow.com)) | Frontend, Backend |\nStockholm, Sweden | Full-time | Onsite | Relocation within EU\n\nOur ambition is to redefine contract handling, fundamentally. Our vision is to\nlead the innovation and become the global market leader of digital contract\nhandling. Contracts serve as the backbone of any company, whether you work in\nsales, procurement, human resources or legal. Oneflow ties up the whole\ncontract handling process in one single application, and makes it easy and\nefficient for everyone involved.\n\nWe are looking for awesome frontend and backend engineers to join this journey\nand together solve interesting problems. Some of them you might have worked on\n- like moving to a container-based microservice architecture using\norchestration. Others are more challenging. For example, allowing multiple\nclients to edit the same contract.\n\nYou will join a small team and have an impact on the technology choices and\nthe solutions we build.\n\nBackend - [https://emp.jobylon.com/jobs/6237-oneflow-backend-\ndeveloper/](https://emp.jobylon.com/jobs/6237-oneflow-backend-developer/)\n\nFrontend - [https://emp.jobylon.com/jobs/6550-oneflow-frontend-\ndeveloper...](https://emp.jobylon.com/jobs/6550-oneflow-frontend-developer/)\n\nDo mention hackernews in your application for some brownie points :). Or I am\nhappy to answer questions - pradip dot caulagi at oneflow dot com.\n\n------\ndbuxton\nArachnys | senior and junior engineers | London (UK) or NYC (USA) | On-site\n\nArachnys makes software to help banks manage know-your-customer checks and\nanti-money laundering (KYC/AML). It's what's perhaps most broken about banks -\nthe FT recently said that they are spending $270B/year on compliance! - and\nwe're helping to fix it. Our customers are tier-1 financial institutions and\nlarge multinationals.\n\nAt the moment we're looking for generalist engineers of any experience level.\nWe work in Python, Go, Java and JavaScript. We have two projects with over 1k\nstars on GitHub (one just broke 3k\n[https://github.com/arachnys](https://github.com/arachnys)). We're always\nlooking to open source more.\n\nOur small, tight-knit team has a can-do mentality and isn't scared to use new\ntools when they are the right ones for the job. We have a relentless focus on\nquality of delivery, while not being scared of pushing back on customer\ndemands. (A tier-1 bank recently told us that we were the first supplier that\nhad asked them, \"Why?\", about their requirements.)\n\nDrop me a line (email in profile) if any questions.\n\nEmail jobs@arachnys.com to apply, linking to your GitHub or some other code\nthat you think tells a good story about you.\n\n------\nmajogu\nFreeAgent, Edinburgh and REMOTE (UK-only)\n\n[http://www.freeagent.com](http://www.freeagent.com)\n\nAt FreeAgent we help freelancers and micro-businesses be more successful by\nputting them in control of their company finances.\n\nWe have built an award-winning online accounting product that offers full end-\nto-end compliance, from time tracking to tax return filing. We're based in\nbeautiful Edinburgh and we're growing from strength to strength with over\n55,000 paying customers and strong YoY growth. Our NPS is off the charts (76!)\n- customers love what we do!\n\nWe're a growing team of over 115 people, and recently became a public company\nlisted on AIM ($FREE.L). The majority of our team are based in Edinburgh but\nwe have staff distributed across the UK. If you want to help us make small\nbusinesses awesome at doing their finances, we have great new opportunities in\nour product and engineering team. Our stack is currently Ruby/Rails,\nJavaScript, React.js, MySQL, RabbitMQ, Elasticsearch.\n\nHere's a condensed list of current vacancies in our engineering organisation:\n\n* Team Leads\n\n* Full-stack engineers\n\n* Data engineers\n\nYou can apply directly via the website –\n[https://www.freeagent.com/company/careers](https://www.freeagent.com/company/careers)\n– or feel free to get in touch with me (VP Engineering) directly: maria [at]\nfreeagent [dot] com.\n\n(We are looking for UK-based full-time staff only right now)\n\n~~~\n013\nAre all jobs listed here\n([https://www.freeagent.com/company/careers/](https://www.freeagent.com/company/careers/))\nremote? For example\n[https://freeagent.workable.com/jobs/411049](https://freeagent.workable.com/jobs/411049)\n\n------\nantgoldbloom\nKaggle | San Francisco | Full Time | ONSITE or REMOTE | Software Engineering\n\nTechnologies: C#; ASP.NET MVC; React; TypeScript; Docker; Azure.\n\nYou can read the job req and apply here:\n[http://kaggle.applytojob.com/apply/GjSjOi/FullStack-\nEngineer...](http://kaggle.applytojob.com/apply/GjSjOi/FullStack-\nEngineer?source=hn)\n\nKaggle is best known as a platform for machine learning competitions. We have\na community of over 800K data scientists. We're on track to grow past 1MM in\nthe coming months. Now also building a sharing-and-collaboration platform\n(closest analogy is Github for data science:\n[https://www.kaggle.com/kernels](https://www.kaggle.com/kernels)).\n\nThree of our engineers have come via HN posts, so we take HN referrals very\nseriously.\n\n------\ninfomofo\nKit | Frontend Software Developer | New York, NY | ONSITE, Full time,\n[https://kit.com](https://kit.com)\n\nCome build an amazing experience that users will love. This is a rare\nopportunity to work with entrepreneurs with a solid track record on a very\nearly stage product. If the following describes you, get in touch!\n\n    \n    \n      * You are passionate about building and shipping a product that users love\n      * You thrive on the challenge of how to build a new product experience from scratch\n      * You care about finding and focusing on the right ideas collaboratively\n      * You love working in teams and work great under pressure\n    \n\nKit is a platform for product discovery. We are building a service that uses\nsocial discovery to recommend products across various categories. We are based\nin New York City and were recently named as one of Business Insider's Top 15\nNYC startups to watch. As a part of Expa we sit in an amazing office in Soho,\nare surrounded and supported by smart & experienced teams, and get early\naccess to cool new products.\n\nOur small team is diverse, inclusive, and fun. It is not required that you\nidentify with a particular gender, race, orientation, national origin, age\nrange, hobby set or belief in order to be a member of team Kit.\n\nWe hail from some of the best companies out there including YouTube, Apple,\nGoogle, Gilt, and Foursquare. We even count a professional producer/DJ in our\nmidst.\n\nWe are also hiring a designer. You can check out our job listings at\n[https://kit.com/jobs](https://kit.com/jobs) to apply.\n\n------\ngreattypo\nClever (YC S12) - San Francisco - onsite\n\nRight now the market for educational software is a mess. It’s incredibly\ndifficult for developers to get their products into schools, and it’s even\nharder for them to scale. School districts spend tons of money on learning\napplications, but they have no way of knowing if students are even using the\napps they’re purchasing. Teachers know there’s great software out there, but\nrelatively simple challenges like getting 30 students logged in at once make\nusing it impossible.\n\nAt Clever, we’re working to change all that. We provide schools with a free\nAPI and single sign-on solution that makes using educational apps a breeze.\nWe’ve grown fast: after four years, half of all schools in the US (68,000\nschools) are using our platform. Our goals are much bigger than that, though.\nWe want to be two things:\n\n-a single place where schools can easily integrate, manage and analyze all the software they’re using, and\n\n-a single identity that students can use to see everything they’ve learned across multiple apps.\n\nWe’re a team of just over 100 (40 engineers) based in downtown SF, and we’re\nlooking for engineers who enjoy working in (or would enjoy learning) Golang,\nNode and React. More generally, we want people who are sharp, adaptable, and\npassionate about improving the way education works for everyone.\n\nCheck us out at\n[https://clever.com/about/jobs](https://clever.com/about/jobs), or check out\none of our product releases here:\n[https://clever.com/products/badges](https://clever.com/products/badges)\n\n------\ntapad\nTapad | Unify Life Across Devices | Onsite: New York, NY or Onsite: Oslo,\nNorway | $100K - $160K/YR + Bonus\n\nUnify Life Across Devices\n\nTapad is the leader in cross-device content delivery. Our groundbreaking,\nproprietary technology assimilates billions of data points to find the human\nrelationship between smartphones, desktops, laptops, tablets, connected TVs\nand game consoles. The result: an unprecedented understanding of consumer\nbehavior across related screens and the ability to reach the right people on\nthe right device at the right time. With Tapad, publishers and advertisers can\ndeepen consumer engagement with a more fluid experience while increasing\ncampaign cost-effectiveness.\n\nData Engineer (NYC): [http://grnh.se/ajq78c1](http://grnh.se/ajq78c1)\n\nData Scientist (NYC): [http://grnh.se/f4oxqe1](http://grnh.se/f4oxqe1)\n\nInfrastructure Engineer (NYC):\n[http://grnh.se/7xursi1](http://grnh.se/7xursi1)\n\nSenior Software Engineer (NYC):\n[http://grnh.se/it2sn31](http://grnh.se/it2sn31)\n\nSenior Software Engineer (Oslo):\n[http://grnh.se/2gfab11](http://grnh.se/2gfab11)\n\nHead of Engineering (Oslo): [http://grnh.se/5l10w71](http://grnh.se/5l10w71)\n\nOur Stack: Scala, Finagle, Kafka, Aerospike, Cassandra, Redis, Zookeeper,\nHadoop, Scalding, Spark, Mesos, Docker, and much more...\n\n------\ngdeglin\nOneSignal | Backend Developer (Rails, Rust) | Mountain View, CA | Onsite.\nFull-Time. $110-150 + Equity |\n[https://www.onesignal.com](https://www.onesignal.com)\n\nOneSignal is a startup running the most widely used Push Notification service\nin the world. We work with top clients including IAC, ProductHunt,\nTomsHardware, Line, and many, many more.\n\nWe're a company built by developers, for developers. We believe in shared\nownership, continuous integration, multiple daily releases, code review, zero\ndowntime deployment, and doing everything we can to improve the lives of the\ndevelopers that use our product.\n\nWe also happen to run one of the largest production Rust applications in the\nworld. You can read about it here: [https://onesignal.com/blog/rust-at-\nonesignal](https://onesignal.com/blog/rust-at-onesignal)\n\nIf you haven't used Rust we'll help you get up to speed.\n\nThe rest of our stack includes Ruby, Rails, Rspec, Javascript ES6, PostgreSQL,\nRedis, and React.\n\nOther openings:\n\n* Full Stack Developer $110-$150 + Equity\n\n* Mobile Developer $110-$150 + Equity\n\n* Support Engineer $75-$85 + Equity\n\nLearn more and apply at\n[https://jobs.onesignal.com](https://jobs.onesignal.com)\n\n~~~\ngeekoSnap\nHow to reach out to you?\n\n------\ndm03514\nSimpleReach | Senior/Lead Rails Engineer | NYC | ONSITE | $120-160k + equity\n\n[https://angel.co/simplereach/jobs/208333-senior-rails-\nengine...](https://angel.co/simplereach/jobs/208333-senior-rails-engineer)\n\nI'm a backend engineer there for almost 3 months now. Tight knit team, tons of\nleadership opportunity, overall great place to work with lots of opportunity\nfor an individual to guide the direction of the engineering! My interview\nprocess consisted of:\n\n    \n    \n      - phone screening ~30 minutes\n      - tech screening with CTO ~45 minutes\n      - tech/culture screening with engineering manager ~ 60 minutes\n      - onsite technical interview with Lead Engineer, Chief Architect,\n     non-technical with VP of Engineering ~ 4 hours\n\n------\nleocassarani\nGeckoboard | Back-end/Front-End Developers | London, UK | VISA, ON SITE (but\nsome WFH is not a problem)\n\nThousands of businesses use Geckoboard to build TV Dashboards that help drive\ngrowth and focus teams, by taking the complexity out of connecting their data\nand understanding it at a glance. Some of our customers include Airbnb, Slack,\nNetflix and Skyscanner.\n\nWe have a lot of interesting, creative work ahead and are looking for curious\nproblem solvers to reimagine how our customers get their data into Geckoboard.\nYou'll be joining a friendly team with great people in an environment with\nempowered developers, flexible working conditions, and a focus on skill\ndevelopment.\n\nWe are heavy users of Go on the back-end, alongside some Ruby services. On the\nfront-end, we've been using React (and, more recently, Redux) for 2+ years,\nbut a lot of us have learned it on the job so you don't need professional\nexperience with it. If you share our interest in distributed systems,\ndatabases, and data visualisation, we have plenty of fun problems for you to\nwork on :)\n\nHere are all our job listings:\n\n* Back-end: [https://www.geckoboard.com/careers/#op-155708-backend-develo...](https://www.geckoboard.com/careers/#op-155708-backend-developer)\n\n* Front-end: [https://www.geckoboard.com/careers/#op-26828-front-end-devel...](https://www.geckoboard.com/careers/#op-26828-front-end-developer)\n\n* Product Designer: [https://www.geckoboard.com/careers/#op-155693-product-design...](https://www.geckoboard.com/careers/#op-155693-product-designer)\n\n------\namymassey\nBroad Institute of MIT and Harvard - Cambridge/Boston, MA - ONSITE\n\nDo you want to help cure cancer? We are a motivated team of software engineers\nbuilding scalable tools to analyze massive amounts of genomic data using cloud\ncompute software to process 24TB of biological data daily... and that's just\nthe beginning! We are co-developing products to advance science with Google,\nAmazon, Microsoft & Intel – working directly with and alongside their\nengineers.\n\nWe are seeking software engineers to provide technical leadership on a few of\nour teams. We have a flat organizational structure with self-directed, agile\nteams.\n\nWe use Scala, Spark, Akka, React & Clojurescript. Experience in the tech stack\nor sciences not req’d. Roughly we're looking for someone with a solid CS\nbackground, at least a few years of experience, a genuine excitement to learn\nnew stuff\n\nPlease email resumes or questions directly to Amy Massey -\nmassey@broadinstitute.org or visit\n[https://www.broadinstitute.org/careers](https://www.broadinstitute.org/careers)\n\n------\npixelvita\nMisix | Full Stack Developer | Milwaukee, WI | Onsite | Full-time\n\nMisix is a data-driven marketing firm building, maintaining and managing a\nvariety of applications that lean heavily on all aspects of data-handling.\n\nWe are seeking a developer who: \\- appreciates standards but enjoys a blank\ncanvas. \\- is comfortable with CLI, SQL queries and pure JavaScript, with\ninterests in compilers. \\- quickly and intuitively understand systems, and is\nable to program in the large and small. \\- isn't afraid to ask for help and\nadvice. \\- has a deep thirst for knowledge, and is a constant student.\n\nStuff we use: \\- Unix (Ubuntu, CentOS, macOS) \\- Nginx, Apache \\-\nPHP/MySQL/Node/Python \\- Docker\n\nSkills and experience necessary for this role: \\- Pure JavaScript programming\nskills \\- Demonstrated HTML, SASS/CSS programming skills \\- Developing cross-\nbrowser and cross-platform compatible solutions \\- Demonstrated experience\nwith SQL/MySQL is preferable \\- Demonstrated experience working with REST APIs\nto produce dynamic web pages\n\nBonus: \\- Appcelerator Titanium experience \\- Rust, R, Elixir, LISP experience\n\nContact: misix.io, misix.com\n\n------\ndaniellemswank\nPlanet | San Francisco, CA or Seattle, WA | Machine Learning Engineer (and\nother roles) | Full-time | Onsite\n\nPlanet's mission is to use space to help live on earth. Our goal is to image\nthe whole world every day and make global change visible, accessible and\nactionable. We are currently seeking several experienced Machine Learning\nEngineers to help us figure out how our world changes every day.\n\nOpen positions:\n\n* Lead Machine Learning Engineer: [https://www.planet.com/company/careers/jobs/?gh_jid=553913](https://www.planet.com/company/careers/jobs/?gh_jid=553913)\n\n* Machine Learning Engineer: [https://www.planet.com/company/careers/jobs/?gh_jid=510465](https://www.planet.com/company/careers/jobs/?gh_jid=510465)\n\n* Other roles: [https://www.planet.com/company/careers/](https://www.planet.com/company/careers/)\n\nHave questions and want to talk to a person? Email me at danielle@planet.com\n\n------\npondruska\nBlue Vision Labs | London, United Kingdom | Onsite | Full-time, Internships |\n[http://www.bluevisionlabs.com/](http://www.bluevisionlabs.com/)\n\nBlue Vision Labs is a stealth startup working on a new transformative\ntechnology for self-driving cars, augmented reality and robotics. Founded in a\nY-Combinator Fellowship and backed by Accel (Facebook, Dropbox, etc.) with\nHorizons Ventures (DeepMind, Siri, etc.), our mission is to revolutionize the\nfuture of intelligent machines.\n\nOur team consists of a mix of PhDs from top universities, hackers, finalists\nof programming competitions and accomplished entrepreneurs. We have a full\nrange of benefits, a friendly and dynamic atmosphere where everyone can learn,\ngrow and contribute to impactful solutions. We are looking for talented people\nto join our team in the following positions:\n\n\\- Software engineers (full-stack, cloud, AWS, distributed computing)\n\n\\- Research scientists (machine learning, computer vision, SLAM systems)\n\n\\- Robotics engineers (sensors, signal processing, calibration)\n\nPlease apply at careers [@] bluevisionlabs.com\n\n~~~\nPaulRobinson\nInteresting on your site you're gunning for C++ for your full-stack engineers.\nI suspect you'd get more traction in the London market for full-stack devs\nwith Golang, and even more with Ruby (but given your market, might be tough to\nmake the latter dance nicely).\n\n------\npassive\nInsight Catastrophe Group | [https://www.icg360.com/](https://www.icg360.com/)\n| Quality Engineer | REMOTE preferred | full-time\n\nInsight's vision is to innovate and modernize property insurance solutions\nthrough technology, risk management and consulting from industry experts.\nInsight uses sophisticated modeling to deliver value to clients and\npolicyholders nationwide.\n\nWe have a mostly-remote software organization, developing a RESTful web-\nservices platform the supports HTML and Flash (for now) front ends. We are\nlooking to add an engineer to our QA team, focused primarily on automation of\ntests against our HTML interfaces. There's a lot of low-hanging fruit here\nright now, we just don't have the resources to pick it yet.\n\nOur ideal candidate has some experience with Selenium and testing, but is\nhungry to learn more about the best way to produce and maintain high-quality\nsoftware.\n\nIf this interests you, send me a note: alec<dot>munro<at>icg360<dot>com\n\n~~~\npassive\nIn my rush to get this out, I forgot to mention we can only hire people who\ncan legally work in the US.\n\n------\ndatahipster\nAirbnb.com | Portland, Oregon | Front-End Engineer | Full-time | Onsite\n\nHello! Airbnb is looking for a front-end engineer to join its growing Service\nExcellence team in Portland, Oregon. We are building world-class tools for our\nglobal team of Customer Experience and Trust and Safety agents to ensure our\nguests and hosts have a great experience on Airbnb, 24/7, and 365 days a year.\n\nWorking closely with designers, we implement the user interface of our web\napp. We build libraries and abstractions to make our lives easier, such as\nDLS, our front-end toolkit. We make the most of modern tools like React, ES6,\nand Redux, and even our next-generation mobile apps are built with JavaScript\non React Native.\n\nPlease feel free to apply online at\n[https://www.airbnb.com/careers/departments/position/572443](https://www.airbnb.com/careers/departments/position/572443)\nor contact us at join-sx@airbnb.com if you have any questions.\n\n------\nemilburzo\nMETA\n\nIf you find ctrl-f ineffective for this thread, I made:\n\n[https://hnjobs.emilburzo.com/](https://hnjobs.emilburzo.com/)\n\nWhere you can use the search operators that elasticsearch has -- click on\n\"(syntax)\" if you don't use them daily.\n\n~~~\nCisSovereign\nThis is awesome\n\n~~~\nemilburzo\nThanks!\n\n------\njcnhvnhck\nSimplyCredit, Inc., | FT Clojure or Scala Engineers | SF or Remote (in US\nonly) | www.simplycreditinc.com\n\nWe are looking for talented Clojure and Scala engineers eager for a defining\nrole in building a company. As an early employee you will be responsible for\narchitecting and building key aspects of our platform, work autonomously\nguiding the technologies we use and create, and help develop our company and\nengineering culture. You’ll work directly with the founders who have deep\nexperience in consumer lending, data science and business development from\ntheir work at companies FICO and Kaggle.\n\nRESPONSIBILITIES\n\nBuild RESTful APIs that will power the user-facing website and mobile apps *\nWrite secure code and ensure the privacy and safety of sensitive user\ninformation * Interface with financial system APIs such as the credit bureaus\nand payment systems * Architect the backend to allow for sophisticated\ndeployment of machine learning algorithms and data science * Design and build\nthe data warehousing infrastructure * Define key workflow infrastructure\nincluding automated testing, continuous integration, and continuous\ndeployments * Experience with PCI compliance, payment systems or other banking\napplications is a plus * Language/stack experience in Scala or Clojure * At\nleast 4 years of experience with web applications * Experience building\nconsumer products\n\nIf you’re itching to get in on the ground floor of building a new product and\ncompany, then we’d love to hear from you! Send an email with your resume to\njobs@simplycreditinc.com and let us know why you would be a good fit at\nSimplyCredit.\n\nAbout SimplyCredit At SimplyCredit, our mission is to redefine consumer\nlending as it is known today. We believe in doing right by the consumer: no\nfees, no penalties, no gotchas or fine print. We want to bring sanity back to\nlending and ensure that consumers get the value and service they deserve.\nUsing advanced technologies we are creating credit and lending innovations in\nline with these values, all delivered through seamless customer experience.\n\n------\nryguytilidie\nOpendoor - www.opendoor.com - San Francisco, CA -\n[https://www.opendoor.com/jobs](https://www.opendoor.com/jobs)\n\nAt Opendoor we're changing the way homes are bought and sold. Moving is one of\nlife’s most stressful events. We empower people with a simpler, more\nthoughtful approach to buying or selling their home. We have an amazing team\nof talented and passionate engineers and data scientists. We are looking for\ndata scientists, front-end engineers, and generalist software engineers to\nhelp us change the real estate industry. Leadership experience is a plus.\n\nTechnologies we work with: Angular, Rails, PostGIS, Python, AWS, Webpack,\nPhoenix (Elixir), GoLang, Docker. Help us reinvent life’s largest and most\nimportant transaction. Please email directly at: hannah@opendoor.com\n\n------\njsadow\nScoop | Backend, Mobile & DevOps | San Francisco, CA | Onsite. Full-Time.\n$100-150 + Equity | [https://www.takescoop.com](https://www.takescoop.com)\n\nThere's a problem that's been unsolved for 40 years. It's called carpooling -\nheard of it? We know you have. But now, there's a team of engineers,\nmarketers, and business people actually making headway on this problem. With\nover 400,000 rides done to date, the Scoop team has made carpooling easy for\nthe first time - and we need an awesome engineer to help in the fight against\ntraffic. Maybe it's you? The Scoop team has a simple mission: to eliminate\ntraffic and reimagine transportation, giving life back to commuters and\ncommunities. Two years after our San Francisco Bay Area launch, Scoop has\nbecome a vibrant community of coworkers and neighbors that have shared\nhundreds of thousands of commutes. Our mobile-first commuting technology\npowers the carpooling programs of many of the Bay Area’s largest employers,\nincluding Cisco, Tesla, Workday, and Salesforce.\n\nOur stack? Node, AWS, native on iOS (all Swift) and Android. We might be a\nstartup, but we care deeply about testing and great technical design. And our\nentire matching algorithm is home-brewed. We're hiring for Android, backend\ngeneralists, DevOps/Infra addicts and data lovers.\n\nLearn more and apply at\n[https://jobs.lever.co/takescoop](https://jobs.lever.co/takescoop)\n\n------\njennaluthy\nSolvvy/Palo Alto, CA/Full-time/ Onsite/ www.solvvy.com\n\nSolvvy is a machine learning startup reinventing the customer experience. Its\nfirst product, Solvvy for Support, delivers a better self-service platform\nthat improves customer satisfaction and decreases costs for businesses. This\nintelligent NLP solution is the first customer support SaaS application based\non Solvvy’s powerful answer graph technology. Solvvy deploys in days and\ndelivers immediate financial returns for business.\n\nWe are hiring!!\n\n-Machine Learning Engineers $120-200k plus equity -Lead Full-stack Developer $120-200k plus equity -Customer Success Manager $60-70k, plus bonus plan and equity\n\nPlease apply via [https://jobs.lever.co/solvvy](https://jobs.lever.co/solvvy)\nor send me an email: Jenna@solvvy.com\n\n------\nalexatkeplar\nSnowplow Analytics\n([http://snowplowanalytics.com](http://snowplowanalytics.com)) | Support\nEngineer | REMOTE UTC+8 to UTC+10\n\nHaving grown our team to two support engineers with a broad timezone reach\n(Alberta, Canada to Berlin, Germany), we are now looking to move to a full\n“follow the sun” model, and hire our third support engineer in the UTC+8 to\nUTC+10 timezone range.\n\nThis is a support engineering role - not a support agent role. We are looking\nfor candidates who can learn, troubleshoot and explain the many complex\ntechnical systems that make up the Snowplow offering. You will be supporting\nthe Snowplow Managed Service, under which we orchestrate and monitor the\nSnowplow event pipeline for over 100 customers.\n\nThe support that we provide to our customers is a core part of the Managed\nService offering, and we strive to provide the best technical support of any\nanalytics vendor.\n\nYou'll find more information here:\n[http://snowplowanalytics.com/about/jobs/support-\nengineer/](http://snowplowanalytics.com/about/jobs/support-engineer/)\n\nFor the rest of our open positions see:\n[http://snowplowanalytics.com/about/jobs/](http://snowplowanalytics.com/about/jobs/)\nWe are additionally hiring for a Sysadmin in London (job role not yet posted).\n\n------\njkarraker\nScriptDash | San Francisco, CA | Software Engineer | Full Time - Onsite |\n[https://www.scriptdash.com](https://www.scriptdash.com)\n\nAt ScriptDash we are using technology to re-design and re-build the pharmacy\nfrom the ground up to offer better patient care and improve people's lives.\nJustin Kan recently named us one of his 3 favorite recent startups\n([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12618741](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12618741)).\n\nWe believe that the status quo in the pharmacy industry is broken and we’re\ndoing something about it. We’re a VC funded ($6 million series A) technology\nstartup based in San Francisco made up of ex-Facebook engineers. We offer free\nmedication delivery in the Bay Area and we’re building an advanced technology\nplatform to help patients manage and understand their medication therapy. We\nallow patients to text, call or email their pharmacists with any question and\nstrive to provide an amazing patient experience. The pharmacy experience is\ncompletely broken, and we have a huge opportunity to use technology to improve\nthe lives of millions of patients.\n\nOur stack is Ruby on Rails, React, React Native, and Go. We’re offering a\ncompetitive salary and a generous equity package.\n\nMore details at\n[https://scriptdash.com/careers/software_engineer?gh_jid=5536...](https://scriptdash.com/careers/software_engineer?gh_jid=553687)\n\n------\nnjay\nHipmunk | San Francisco | ONSITE Looking for Site Reliability, Full-Stack, and\nMachine Learning engineers.\n\n[http://www.hipmunk.com/jobs](http://www.hipmunk.com/jobs)\n\nTravel is a huge industry and we're shaking it up. We consistently lead the\npack in every measure of customer love (net promoter scores, app store\nratings, etc) because delightful customer experiences in travel are why we\nexist. We value the same high standards in our code and people. We value\nlearning and growth (and not having bored people) and invest regular time in\ndoing so. For example, every quarter we have one week of open time for you to\nspend becoming a better engineer. Our stack is built on PostgreSQL, Redis,\nPython, nginx, HBase, Coffeescript, React/Redux, ES6, Swift, and a few more\nthings.\n\nWe hire diverse, well-rounded, communicative people we can envision being\nfriends with and trusting. Our projects tend to be 1-2 engineers max so trust\nand accountability is required for us to work. Also helps us keep processes &\noverhead low. We appreciate that we've built a reasonably-sized, high-powered\nteam so far (55 employees incl. 30 engineers) and are always striving to be\nthe best place to work for them. We're looking for folks that love all of the\nabove and will help us keep our standards high.\n\nYou can go to www.hipmunk.com/jobs if you're interested!\n\n~~~\nmalhaar\nHey, You guys are doing amazing job! I did apply to hipmunk last month and\nawaiting reply. Should I apply again? Thanks!\n\n~~~\nnjay\nYes, please! You can send an email with your resume to jobs-2017@hipmunk.com\n\n------\nsuperscalar\nGambit Research Ltd ([http://gambitresearch.com](http://gambitresearch.com)) |\nLondon, UK | ONSITE | Full time\n\nAt Gambit we research and manage automated sports betting algorithms on behalf\nof our clients. Their algorithms run on our proprietary execution platform\nwhich interfaces with a large variety of bookmakers and exchanges, enabling\naccess to the best prices and massive liquidity.\n\nOur distributed, concurrent system has a core written in Erlang, which\ninteracts with a wide variety of Python processes across the rest of the\nbusiness. Some of the other technologies we use are: Linux (Ubuntu, CentOS),\nDocker, Kubernetes, Ansible, C, C++, Julia, R, Go, JavaScript, AngularJS,\nReactJS, Django, PostgreSQL, Redis, Apache Spark, Apache Kafka, RabbitMQ,\nCelery, Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana, Graphite, Sentry, Git, GitLab.\n\nWe have a very flat hierarchy and an emphasis on employee freedom. We\nencourage our team to work on projects that interest them, as we believe\npeople are happiest and most productive when intellectually stimulated. You\ndon't need to be interested in sports or betting.\n\nWe're actively hiring for the following positions:\n\n    \n    \n      - Software developer\n     \n\nMore information can be found at\n[http://gambitresearch.com/jobs.html](http://gambitresearch.com/jobs.html)\n\n~~~\neggie5\nI know how to solve the application challenge, i've just been putting it off\nsince December!\n\n------\nsnewman\nScalyr | San Mateo, CA (ONSITE)\n\nFrontend Engineer: $135-170K, >=0.3% equity\n\nAgent Engineer | $135-170K, >=0.3% equity\n\nAt Scalyr, we've built a log analysis and ops visibility tool that our users\nrave about, because it smashes expectations for performance and ease of use.\nWe offer the equity, influence, and fun of an early-stage company, with\nstability, great pay, and a low-stress culture. We have great backers, amazing\ntraction (50x growth in the last two years), and an 11-digit target market.\nI've built half a dozen startups, including Writely (aka Google Docs), and I\ncan honestly say this is my favorite so far.\n\nFrontend Engineer: we earn our keep by giving users unprecedentedly fast and\neasy tools for exploring vast amounts of operational data. That starts with\nour unique backend query engine, but it doesn't mean anything without an\nequally amazing frontend. We're building a brand-new web app that adds\nfeatures while removing complexity, all with an eye to performance. As a\nground-up rewrite, there's lots of opportunity for you to have a significant\nimpact. If you care about user experience, enjoy great engineering, and want\nto join an experienced team where you can really stretch yourself, we'd love\nto hear from you.\n\n\"Agent Engineer\" sounds like something from Person Of Interest, but actually\nyou'll own our lean, mean data collection agent. An ops visibility tool is\nonly as good as the data it collects, and we pride ourselves on gathering\neverything from logs to system metrics to application metrics to API data. If\nyou enjoy constantly getting to play with new tools, come help us connect\nto... everything. You'll get to play with packages from Apache to Zookeeper,\nAPIs from AWS to, er, Azure, while tackling challenges such as monitoring\n100,000+ simultaneous log files using minimal CPU.\n\nIf this sounds like fun, check out the links below, or drop us a line at\njobs@scalyr.com!\n\n[https://www.scalyr.com/company/jobs/front-end-\nengineer](https://www.scalyr.com/company/jobs/front-end-engineer)\n\n[https://www.scalyr.com/company/jobs/agent-\nengineer](https://www.scalyr.com/company/jobs/agent-engineer)\n\n------\ngxespino\nExcella | Arlington, VA & Washington, D.C. | Full-time, ONSITE |\n[https://www.excella.com/](https://www.excella.com/)\n\nWe're a small-mid sized consulting company (~200 people) with a small company\nfeel. Founders really invest in personal development, have weekly if not\nmonthly happy hours, summer and winter weekend getaways, and the ability to\nWFH when necessary. Also, the projects are pretty engaging and there's hardly\na dull moment. I'm on a small team working to revamp the entire US Immigration\nportal - high visibility, and direct impact on millions of lives. The White\nHouse has estimated that we'll make a 'direct impact on at least a million\nlives this year alone. If you don't like were immigration is going in this\ncountry, here's your chance to be on the front lines working to solve\nimmigration issues.\n\nWe are hiring for a wide range of positions in software development. Looking\nmainly for Ruby, Rails, JavaScript, React/Redux, Python, .NET, and mobile\nengineers for a variety of experience levels. However, we have more demand for\nexperienced engineers than junior engineers. Also always looking for DevOps\npersonnel. Please reach out to me or someone in HR if this interests you. My\nemail is glenn[dot]espinosa[at]excella[dot]com.\n\n------\nstunder\nHart | Orange County, CA | ONSITE | [https://hart.com](https://hart.com)\nHello, its Eric (eric@hart.com) from Hart. Happy first of the month. I come in\nhere every month and post the jobs we are looking for. Right now we are\nlooking for several open positions. We look for highly talented technical\nenterprise level engineers and staff to meet the requirements of our partners\nin the healthcare world. We keep things very casual around the office, with\nour own professional chef, drinks, and snacks, your own custom workspace,\ninsurance packages, 401K perks that can’t be touch, and I can’t even list all\nthe perks here. Anyways this month we are looking for the following positions.\nSCALA Data Engineers!!! - [http://grnh.se/mj6wpb](http://grnh.se/mj6wpb) we\ncan’t wait to talk to you if Scala is the game you are playing Node.JS\nEngineer - [http://grnh.se/3fujn5](http://grnh.se/3fujn5) We love the Node\npeople in the community. If you want to join a crew of your Node Brothers and\nSisters to push this incredible product stack into the healthcare industry\nthen this job is for you. FrontEnd -\n[http://grnh.se/7sf5ha1](http://grnh.se/7sf5ha1) If you have React skills its\na plus :D Software Engineer in Test (SDET) -\n[http://grnh.se/qc3ms11](http://grnh.se/qc3ms11) I have to admit I hang out\nwith these guys a bunch and beat them in video games a lot. If you can please\ncome here and give me some competition that would be outstanding.\n\n------\njgspotify\nSpotify | Security Engineer | NYC onsite (relocation available)\n\nThe Spotify Security team is looking for talented guys and gals to join our\ngroup based in NYC. We do a wide variety of things, from reviewing our\ncryptography to incident response to appsec, so you'll do great if you're a\ngeneralist, but it wouldn't hurt to have a concentration. You'll be working\nclosely with other engineering teams helping them solve security problems at\nscale, and innovating on security platforms and tools.\n\nYou'll work in our NYC office ([http://www.businessinsider.com/spotify-office-\ntour-2016-7](http://www.businessinsider.com/spotify-office-tour-2016-7)) in\nthe Chelsea neighborhood, our second largest engineering hub. We can relocate\nfrom anywhere in the US and in some cases from anywhere in the world.\n\nWe're looking to hire Security Engineers and Staff Security Engineers:\n[https://www.spotify.com/us/jobs/view/oJqy1fws/](https://www.spotify.com/us/jobs/view/oJqy1fws/)\n[https://www.spotify.com/us/jobs/view/oKCs4fwC/](https://www.spotify.com/us/jobs/view/oKCs4fwC/)\n\n------\nadam-p\nPsiphon | [https://psiphon.ca](https://psiphon.ca) | Toronto, Canada - ONSITE\n\n= What we do =\n\nWe develop and operate Psiphon, an Internet censorship circumvention network\nthat helps millions of people in freedom-restricted countries access\nuncensored Internet every day.\n\nWe work at the leading edge of circumvention technology, where the latest\nnetwork protocol and endpoint obfuscation research is rapidly deployed into\nproduction around the world. Our tasks include censorship technology research,\nserver and client software development, and operation of a dynamic, global\nnetwork of thousands of proxy servers.\n\nWe’re a small team (8 developers) looking for skilled and enthusiastic people\nto join us.\n\n= Tech stack =\n\nOur entire system is open source, check it out at\n[https://bitbucket.org/psiphon/psiphon-circumvention-\nsystem](https://bitbucket.org/psiphon/psiphon-circumvention-system) and\n[https://github.com/Psiphon-Labs/psiphon-tunnel-\ncore](https://github.com/Psiphon-Labs/psiphon-tunnel-core)\n\nWe use Java (Android app), Obj-C (iOS app), C++ (Windows app), Go (cross-\nplatform core client and server), Python/JavaScript/C/shell script (server-\nside stack), ElasticSearch/Logstash/Kibana (stats), and more.\n\n= Contact =\n\ninfo+hn@psiphon.ca\n\n------\nswesthafer\nPayPal | San Jose, CA | Onsite (relocation available) | Hiring Javascript\nApplication Engineers\n\nPayPal is looking for JavaScript engineers who want to work both in the\nbrowser and on the server-side in Node.js. Over the past couple of years,\nwe've worked hard to migrate our entire web application stack to Node and\npowerful client-side apps and we're looking to turn the dial towards product\nexperimentation and innovation. We need your engineering ability and your\ndesire to be a part of the whole product!\n\nI’m a manager on the Online Checkout (that’s the “Pay with PayPal” button and\nexperience) engineering team. We're looking for experienced JavaScript\ndevelopers. My team is currently working primarily with Angular on the client\nand Kraken on Node. If you've got experience with React, we're actively\nexploring doing an inside-out migration of our application and could use your\nexpertise. As most Node shops go, we're leveraging a whole lot of other open\nsource tools as well and we're very supportive of open source activities for\nour people.\n\nWe have several openings within my team as well as within other teams--so drop\nme a line even if my particular opening doesn't sound interesting and I'll\nhelp you find the right place! You can contact me at swesthafer at paypal dot\ncom\n\n------\npdevine\nTaskRabbit | Staff Ruby Engineer | San Francisco | Onsite | Visa considered |\n[https://tr.co/](https://tr.co/)\n\nEach day brings more chores and less time to accomplish them. Whether someone\nneeds a handyman, house cleaner, mover or delivery person, TaskRabbit delights\nclients by matching the right skilled person in minutes. On the other side of\nthe marketplace we help our Taskers earn a living by setting their own prices,\ndefining their working hours, and give them control to help people when and\nhow they want in the most supportive marketplace.\n\nAs a Staff Engineer you'd be one of the leaders of the team, helping to mentor\njunior engineers, propose creative solutions, and detangle the complex into\nthe simple. This role will be primarily responsible for driving the backend\ndevelopment. You'll work alongside our Chief Architect to have a full vision\nof the system working to build a robust platform that's clearly organized and\neasy to maintain. We believe strongly in test-driven development, code\nreviews, and collaboration. It's expected that you'd be a main reviewer\nhelping to grow the skills of the more junior engineers, along the way\nhopefully you'll learn a thing or two during the reviews as well. You'll also\nspend significant time writing code and building features; and we're looking\nfor someone who will be as excited to learn engineering insights from us as\nthey are to teach us the gems of wisdom they've learned along the way.\n\n[http://grnh.se/o2et631](http://grnh.se/o2et631)\n\n------\ngeorgethomas\nRavelin | Software Engineer | London, UK | onsite, full time, interns,\n[https://www.ravelin.com/](https://www.ravelin.com/)\n\nWe use machine learning to provide real-time fraud detection for online\nbusinesses, such as Deliveroo, YPlan and Easy Taxi.\n\nThe tech stack is Go microservices on the backend and TypeScript and Angular\non the frontend. Experience in these is nice, but definitely not required.\n\nWe're currently hiring for:\n\n* Senior front end engineer: [https://angel.co/ravelin/jobs/165301-javascript-engineer-sen...](https://angel.co/ravelin/jobs/165301-javascript-engineer-senior)\n\n* Senior / Mid level full stack engineers: [https://angel.co/ravelin/jobs/133765-full-stack-engineer-dev...](https://angel.co/ravelin/jobs/133765-full-stack-engineer-developer-mid-senior)\n\n* Software engineering interns: [https://angel.co/ravelin/jobs/69087-software-engineering-int...](https://angel.co/ravelin/jobs/69087-software-engineering-intern-paid)\n\n* and also a VP sales (but I don't know much about that one): [https://angel.co/ravelin/jobs/207300-vp-sales](https://angel.co/ravelin/jobs/207300-vp-sales)\n\nEmail your CV / GitHub / LinkedIn to jobs@ravelin.com to apply!\n\n------\nkdeorah\nHyperTrack |San Francisco, CA | Developer Evangelist | Full-time, onsite |\nwww.hypertrack.io | 3 openings\n\nDeveloper evangelists at HyperTrack are responsible for inspiring developers\nto build location tracking features. They provide technical leadership and\nguidance to our users and partners through the lifecycle of their HyperTrack\nexperience. Our users and partners are an extremely diverse group – from the\nfastest growing, technology driven startups in the world today, to traditional\nenterprise customers who are transitioning to a more modern infrastructure, to\nentirely new businesses getting ready to launch.\n\nAt HyperTrack, we are building the location stack for the new economy. Our\nengineering team has IIT alumni, Silicon Valley returnees and engineers with\ndecades of combined experience in building great consumer products globally.\nWe are looking for stellar developers to join us. If you love building\napplications dealing with maps, geospatial data, transaction data, device\nsensors, consumer apps, data visualization, developer tools, elegant APIs,\nopen source SDKs and cloud software, we want to hear from you. Please send\nyour bio to knock.knock@hypertrack.io.\n\nSee more on this link\n[https://www.hypertrack.io/career](https://www.hypertrack.io/career)\n\n------\nalexzhu\nAlphaSheets | San Francisco, CA | Frontend Developer (React) | Full-time\n(contractors welcome too) | Remote or onsite\n\nWhat we're building: Collaborative, programmable spreadsheets. Think Google\nSheets, but like this:\n[http://www.alphasheets.com/videos/headliner.gif](http://www.alphasheets.com/videos/headliner.gif)\nYou can check more examples out at alphasheets.com. AlphaSheets marries the\ncapabilities of spreadsheets (simple WYSIWYG calculation interface) with the\nfull power of programming. We've gotten excitement from wall street quants,\nmarketing analysts, pharmaceutical scientists, insurance analysts. Our broader\naudience is the burgeoning population of people who can write small bits of\ncode but aren't full-on software engineers. We envision a future where tens of\nmillions of people with these skills see AlphaSheets as their tool of choice\nfor data analysis. Short video demo:\n[http://d.pr/i/jK28.gif](http://d.pr/i/jK28.gif)\n\n1 yr+ React experience is a must. We have a React+ES6+Flow / Haskell stack. We\nlove seeking leverage through good architecture, languages (Haskell!),\nframeworks, and tools. (Doesn't matter at all for this position if you don't\nknow Haskell.) We're well funded (big seed round) and have 2 years' runway so\nwe're not going away overnight. Our culture is one of efficient, open\ncommunication and rational decision-making. You'll be joining a founding team\nof 4 guys out of MIT.\n\nEmail our VP Eng (Ritesh Ragavender) at ritesh (at) alphasheets (dot) com.\n\n------\nmeta_AU\nGeli | Melbourne, Australia ONSITE | Senior Developers and a QA Lead |\nRenewable energy\n\nWe're a growing Series-A funded company with 30+ employees headquartered in\nSan Francisco, California with a growing office in Melbourne, Australia\nlooking for a outstanding engineers fluent in technology that share our vision\nof a world running on 100% renewable energy. Geli provides software and\nbusiness solutions to design, connect, and operate energy storage and\nmicrogrid systems ranging in size from residential to utility-scale, as well\nas grid-tied, microgrid, and off-grid systems.\n\nWe have a number of positions open and we have some carefully crafted position\ndescriptions at the link below. More generally, we are looking for well\nseasoned developers to add to our analytics team and our production team with\nexperience in Java and/or Python.\n\nApply at\n[http://www.geli.net/about/careers/](http://www.geli.net/about/careers/) or\nfeel free to contact me directly at: ben.harris[~at~]geli.net. Our interview\nprocess is typically a quick phone screen followed by an onsite interview. We\nthen conduct any follow up questions, a reference check and then move to offer\nstage.\n\n~~~\nmeta_AU\nSorry, we aren't able to sponsor any 457 visa holders.\n\n------\nwillemwijnans\nPoki — [http://jobs.poki.com](http://jobs.poki.com) | Amsterdam | Onsite |\nFull-Time\n\nPoki is an online playground with 30 million users around the world. With a\nteam of 25 we're building a web game platform that helps game developers\nachieve success, and brings fun games to kids of all ages around the world.\n\nWe’re a bootstrapped company where development, data and design come together.\nWe are looking for:\n\n• Full-Stack Web Developer - [http://jobs.poki.com/full-stack-web-\ndeveloper](http://jobs.poki.com/full-stack-web-developer)\n\n• Senior Front-End Developer - [http://jobs.poki.com/senior-front-end-\ndeveloper](http://jobs.poki.com/senior-front-end-developer)\n\n• Senior Back-end / DevOps Developer - [http://jobs.poki.com/back-end-devops-\ndeveloper](http://jobs.poki.com/back-end-devops-developer)\n\n• Product Manager Web Platform - [http://jobs.poki.com/product-manager-web-\nplatform/en](http://jobs.poki.com/product-manager-web-platform/en)\n\n# Stack: Go, Node, React, Redux, Kubernetes, Docker, Microservices, GCE.\n\nWe believe in giving smart and creative people the freedom and autonomy to do\ngreat work.\n\nApply: [http://jobs.poki.com](http://jobs.poki.com)\n\nCulture: [http://blog.poki.com](http://blog.poki.com)\n\n------\nmeredydd\nMQA | Software Engineers | Huntingdon (near Cambridge), UK | Onsite, Visa,\n[http://mqa.co.uk](http://mqa.co.uk)\n\nWe are looking for software engineers to help us roll out the next generation\nof music distribution. We're still small (7 full-time engineers and a few\ncontractors, ~20 total), and the music recording and hi-fi industries are\nalready beating a path to our door, so we need all-rounders to keep up. If you\nlike the idea of hacking on our (C++) encoder/decoder, learning assembly for a\nnew instruction set to optimise porting to a new hardware platform, then\nspending the next week helping us analyse, process and revitalise the back\ncatalogs of the world's top record labels...we want to hear from you. DSP\nexperience not required (although obviously it's nice!).\n\nMQA has developed a music encoding and delivery system whose quality blows\nbasically anything commercially available out of the water. (Think it's\nimpossible to improve on CD? So did a lot of people. If you want to help out\nwith the peer-reviewed double-blind studies that proved them wrong, here's the\nplace to do it.) MQA is an end-to-end system, that ensures precise\ntransmission of the analog signal from the mastering desk to the listener's\nears. We've signed with household-name record labels, artists and hi-fi\nmanufacturers, we've got music-industry luminaries working here (they're\nremarkably nice), and it's only getting bigger from here. We're a friendly,\ninternational team that values initiative and getting things done, and we're\nlooking forward to meeting you. Interviews are a phone screen then on-site\nwith the team.\n\nEmail: jobs [at] mqa.co.uk\n\n------\nweitingliu\nCodementor | Senior Front-end & Back-end Engineers | Anywhere | REMOTE,\n[https://www.codementor.io](https://www.codementor.io)\n\nCodementor ([https://www.codementor.io](https://www.codementor.io)) is a live\nhelp platform connecting developers to experts via screen sharing, video and\nchat. We have over 5000+ vetted expert developers, including book authors, top\nStack Overflow answerers, popular open source contributors, and engineers at\ntop tech companies. Codementor is more than just mentoring. We also have a new\nplatform CodementorX where we connect top freelance developers to interesting\nremote opportunities. We’re currently looking for more remote developers for\nclient projects on our platform in the following areas: - React / Redux -\nAngularJS - JavaScript - Ionic - Android - Python - Ruby on Rails - Node.js -\nObjective-C - iOS Swift - Ember.js - and more\n\nThis is a remote opportunity. We’re looking for both full-time & part-time\ncontractors.\n\nTo apply please visit:\n[http://codemntr.io/2fYhmMQ](http://codemntr.io/2fYhmMQ)\n\n------\nchrismartin\nCyVerse | DevOps Engineer | Tucson, AZ\n\n[https://uacareers.com/postings/9869](https://uacareers.com/postings/9869)\n\nCyVerse is an NSF-funded project building cloud platforms for biosciences\nresearch. As a DevOps Engineer on the Core Services team, you'll work with me\nto build and manage the systems that run Atmosphere\n([http://www.cyverse.org/atmosphere](http://www.cyverse.org/atmosphere)) --\nthink \"virtual Linux workstations for research scientists\". Some technologies\nyou'll work with are GNU+Linux, OpenStack, Ansible, and Python. Our web\napplication is written in Django and React.\n\nWe also support one of the world's largest iRODS deployments\n([http://irods.org](http://irods.org)), and are in the early stages of\nimplementing Ceph for block storage. We have an exciting feature roadmap for\nthe next year, and need a strong generalist sysadmin/developer to help us\ndeliver valuable tools to our community.\n\nEverything that we build is released to the world under a BSD license -- look\nup our GitHub orgs (cyverse, iplantcollaborativeopensource, and cyverse-\nansible). We sit next to a team of science analysts and have plenty of\nopportunities to help our users get the most from our services. We work in a\nbeautiful, modern building at the University of Arizona\n([http://bio5.org/](http://bio5.org/)). As university employees we have great\nbenefits and work-life balance. Tucson is a wonderfully livable Southwestern\ncity with a growing tech/software/research community and plenty of things to\ndo outside.\n\n------\nrizz0\nPoki — [http://jobs.poki.com](http://jobs.poki.com) | Amsterdam | Onsite |\nFull-Time\n\nPoki is an online playground with 30 million users around the world. With a\nteam of 25 we build a web game platform that helps game developers achieve\nsuccess, and brings fun games to kids of all ages around the world.\n\nWe’re a bootstrapped company where development, data and design come together.\nWe are looking for:\n\n• Full-Stack Web Developer - [http://jobs.poki.com/full-stack-web-\ndeveloper](http://jobs.poki.com/full-stack-web-developer)\n\n• Senior Front-End Developer - [http://jobs.poki.com/senior-front-end-\ndeveloper](http://jobs.poki.com/senior-front-end-developer)\n\n• Senior Back-end / DevOps Developer - [http://jobs.poki.com/back-end-devops-\ndeveloper](http://jobs.poki.com/back-end-devops-developer)\n\n• Product Manager - [http://jobs.poki.com/product-manager-web-\nplatform/en](http://jobs.poki.com/product-manager-web-platform/en)\n\n# Stack: Go, Node, React, Redux, Kubernetes, Docker, Microservices, AWS, GPC\n\nWe believe in giving smart and creative people the freedom and autonomy to do\ngreat work.\n\nApply: [http://jobs.poki.com](http://jobs.poki.com)\n\nCulture: [http://poki.com/company/tropical-\nretreats/](http://poki.com/company/tropical-retreats/)\n\n~~~\nizolate\nLekker culture! Excited to see startups like this in Amsterdam.\n\n------\nroddylindsay\nHustle | Software Engineer | San Francisco | ONSITE\n\nHustle is a peer-to-peer text messaging platform that provides organizations\nacross the country with an affordable, efficient, and effective tool to reach\ntheir supporters. By facilitating two-way conversations, Hustle’s clients\nmaintain genuine, personal dialogues with hundreds, thousands, and even\nmillions of people. Our clients include Planned Parenthood, Human Rights\nCampaign, and Our Revolution (Bernie Sanders' organization). It's 48 times\nmore effective than making phone calls.\n\nAs a product engineer, you will be working on Hustle's core web and mobile\nproducts: our web and mobile text messaging apps, our campaign administrative\ninterface, and our message delivery back end. Product engineering at Hustle is\nunique in that we do not have mobile, front-end and backend specialists.\nInstead engineers are empowered to develop and ship features in their entirety\ncovering the whole stack. This feature of product development is enabled by\nHustle's particular technology choices: the use of JavaScript, React, React\nNative and Node.js through out the stack. It's a stack that heavily rewards\ngeneralists that just want to ship things. It also makes for a very dynamic\nworking environment: form a temporary team for a larger project where you\ndecide to focus on shipping a polished mobile frontend and for the next\nproject form another temporary team where you would focus on delivering a\nhumming backend.\n\nHustle was started by engineers from Facebook and MongoDB and is backed by top\nVC firms including Social Capital and Index Ventures. Please apply on our site\nto learn more about us and our growing team of 18!\n\n[https://jobs.lever.co/hustle.life/](https://jobs.lever.co/hustle.life/)\n\n------\nspwestwood\nOpenSignal | [https://opensignal.com/](https://opensignal.com/) | Angel,\nLondon | ONSITE\n\nOur mission is to become the global authority on wireless networks; our Wifi\nand mobile signal crowdsourcing apps have been downloaded over 20 million\ntimes, our public reports reach a wide audience and our OpenSignal Insights\nare purchased by key players in the telco industry. We gather, process and\nvisualize terabytes of data, providing insight into mobile networks to the\npublic and our clients.\n\nWe are currently hiring across the tech team. We are looking for a data\nengineer, data analyst, backend developer, devops engineer, and a product\nmanager. For more details on the roles please see and apply using the links\nbelow. Email us at join@opensignal.com if you have any questions!\n\nBack-end Developer: [https://opensignal-\nlimited.workable.com/jobs/313810](https://opensignal-\nlimited.workable.com/jobs/313810)\n\nData Analyst: [https://opensignal-\nlimited.workable.com/jobs/296676](https://opensignal-\nlimited.workable.com/jobs/296676)\n\nData Engineer: [https://opensignal-\nlimited.workable.com/jobs/412944](https://opensignal-\nlimited.workable.com/jobs/412944)\n\nSenior DevOps Engineer: [https://opensignal-\nlimited.workable.com/jobs/383368](https://opensignal-\nlimited.workable.com/jobs/383368)\n\nProduct Manager: [https://opensignal-\nlimited.workable.com/jobs/318623](https://opensignal-\nlimited.workable.com/jobs/318623)\n\n------\npeatmoss\nSocrata | Variety of front-end & back-end engineering, product managers,\nprogram managers, sales tech and non-tech, accountant | Seattle and Washington\nDC\n\n[https://careers.socrata.com/jobs/](https://careers.socrata.com/jobs/)\n\nWe do civic data. If you've ever been to data.[foo].gov, chances are that\nyou've touched one of our products. People here really believe in helping\ngovernments do a better job.\n\nI do a mix of customer-facing data science / data engineering things, but feel\nfree to PM me about any specific positions you might be interested in!\n\n~~~\nbringbacksonics\nHi there -- I'm really interested in Socrata! I sent in an application for a\nbackend engineering position a few weeks ago but haven't heard back. I think\nSocrata is doing really important work, though, so I'd love to talk to you\nabout it if you have a minute. I didn't see your email address in your\nprofile, but my email address should be in mine so please send me a note if\nyou'd be free for a quick chat! Thanks!\n\n~~~\npeatmoss\nHowdy--sorry about that. I could have sworn I put contact info in my profile\nat some point. Since you've got an active app (and I'm not on that team) I\npassed along your info to our recruiter who will follow up with you.\n\n(I'll also go add my personal email to my profile so if you have any more\ngeneral questions about the place, you can ping me there)\n\n~~~\nbringbacksonics\nNo problem, and thank you for doing that! I'll definitely reach out if I have\nquestions!\n\n------\ngghh\nSUSE | Software Engineer | REMOTE | Full Time\n\n _Live Patching developer_\n\n\"Live Patching\" is the Linux kernel infrastructure by which one can apply\nchanges to a running kernel; this allows, for instance, to fix a security\nvulnerability with no downtime. As a live patching developer you will extend\nand maintain our live patching tooling, both for kernel and userspace live\npatching. The main purpose of this role is working on improving the automation\nthat helps with generation and verification of the actual live patches. In\naddition to that, you will implement tooling for userspace live patching and\nparticipate in developing the actual live patches as well.\n\nThis is a remote working position; if you want to work at a SUSE office\ninstead (Nuremberg, DE, Prague, CZ or Provo, USA), that is fine as well.\n\n _What we offer_\n\nYou will take part in the development of the core parts of our enterprise and\ncommunity distributions and you will be encouraged to submit your work\nupstream. We will sponsor travel to relevant conferences where you can present\nyour work. Working time is flexible and we offer a bunch of the usual benefits\n(these differ in different countries, though).\n\n _How to apply_\n\nPreferably, submit all relevant information in a single PDF file, so that no\nimportant detail is lost in transit. Give us some time to process your\napplication. Expect the interview to be done over phone. Form submission for\nthis position at [https://jobs.suse.com/job/nuremberg/live-patching-\ndeveloper-...](https://jobs.suse.com/job/nuremberg/live-patching-developer-\nglobal-locations/3486/3308529)\n\nThis is not the only job opening currently available at SUSE, see\nsuse.com/jobs\n\n------\ngkop\nBinti | San Francisco, CA | Software Engineer | Full-time, onsite, will\ntransfer H-1B | $100K – $140K, 0.25% – 1.0%\n\nBinti makes software for foster care and adoption agency staff to improve\ntheir daily workflow so they can make better-informed decisions and spend more\nof their time actually helping people. Our mission is to find a safe, loving,\nand stable family for every child.\n\nBinti's software is used by private adoption agencies in 30 states. We're in\nthe midst of expanding into serving government foster care agencies and are\nclose to reaching two-thirds of the foster care families in the state of\nCalifornia.\n\nWe have sustainable revenue, fanatical customers, and ample seed funding from\ntop investors like First Round, Kapor, and Lowercase. We work together in SF\nand are growing rapidly.\n\nBinti's main SaaS web product is a conventional monolithic Rails/Postgres app\nthat delivers value in heaps and heaps, and remains super fun to hack on.\nWe're building the monolith up higher and higher, and looking forward to soon\nchipping off a service or two (perhaps in Elixir?). Some of the areas in which\nwe are especially seeking to round out our engineering team include devops,\nsecurity, and compliance (we're seeking a full-stack engineer interested in\ncontributing in these areas early on - whether or not you are already an\nexpert). We're using Kubernetes/Google Cloud.\n\n[https://binti.com/binti-careers/software-engineer/](https://binti.com/binti-\ncareers/software-engineer/)\n\nAlso we will be posting a couple of non-technical/quasi-technical roles\nshortly, please keep an eye on [https://binti.com/binti-\ncareers/](https://binti.com/binti-careers/) .\n\n------\njustinmayer\nStrata Labs | Sunny Santa Monica, CA | Full Stack Web Engineer | REMOTE\nWELCOME\n\nWe are looking for a full-stack web engineer to join our team.\nResponsibilities for this full-time position will mostly focus on front-end\ndevelopment and its interaction with Python + Django back-end environments.\n\nWe're a small team focused on software-as-a-service web applications. We have\nbeen in business for over eight years, have solid financial backing, and\ndeliver real value in a mature industry with large, reliable customers.\n\nWe have a very open culture without an overly-formal hierarchy. We are based\nin Los Angeles, but team members can be located anywhere and benefit from\nbeing able to work remotely with modern tools without having to uproot for a\nrisky startup.\n\nWe are looking for individuals who have experience with some or all of the\nfollowing:\n\n* web application development via Django, Rails, or similar frameworks\n\n* JavaScript and its interaction with above frameworks\n\n* React / Angular\n\n* writing unit/functional tests\n\n* Git branching, merging, and rebasing\n\n* Linux server system administration\n\nSend resume and other details about yourself to: [recruiting] at\n[stratalabs.com]\n\n~~~\nmcjiggerlog\nIs that remote US only?\n\n~~~\njustinmayer\nAll remote locations are welcome.\n\n------\nxando\nHey, a friendly reminder. I’m parsing the thread, all job offers added here\nare also available on the map on\n\n[https://whoishiring.io](https://whoishiring.io)\n\nAlso I’ve started a small campaign to update thread format and make it more\nparser friendly for whoishiring.io and others (I know that at least few\nwebsites that do similar thing). Also you can read more about whoishiring.io\nin a recent “Show HN”\n([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13500701](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13500701))\n\nHere is the format.\n\n    \n    \n      1) {company} | {job title} | {locations} | {attrs: REMOTE, INTERNS, VISA, company url}\n      Google | Software Developer | SF | VISA https://google.com\n      DuckDuckGo | Software Developer | Paoli PA | REMOTE, VISA\n\nor\n\n    \n    \n      2) {company} | {job title} | {locations}\n      Google | Site Reliability Engineer | London, Zurich, Sydney\n      Facebook | Web-developer | London, Zurich\n\nI’m using this regex to test the firstline.\n\n    \n    \n      \\s*(?P<company>[^|]+?)\\s*\\|\\s*(?P<title>[^|]+?)\\s*\\|\\s*(?P<locations>[^|]+?)\\s*(?:\\|\\s*(?P<attrs>.+))?$\n    \n\nYou can test it in Python or here\n[https://regex101.com/r/relwQD/3](https://regex101.com/r/relwQD/3) (for the\nmatch look right).\n\nAs a result off this calling in previous editions of “Who is Hiring” many\nposters actually complied. Which resulted in more accurate map positions,\nbetter tagging (REMOTE, VISA, INTERNSHIP, …) and for some I was even able to\nget LOGOS!. Thanks!\n\n~~~\nasidiali\nFrom looking at postings so far, my guess is it's not natural for the\nsubmitters to remember or accurately list the job params as you've laid out.\n\nMy suggestion would be, if you're not already doing/working on it, to start\ndoing some basic NLP around the specific verbiage used for each param, and\nthen you can organize by match instead of by position in the list. I'm betting\nyou'll see some nice results without much optimization even since each\nexpected param argument is pretty different from one another.\n\nJust an idea, best of luck!\n\n~~~\nxando\nI agree. I'm talking to HN people, they are in loop as well here. There is a\nchance that they will suggest something or we will adopt the format that I'm\nposting. Always would be good to have some feedback before too not miss to\nmany things later.\n\nAs for the NLP, I'm doing it (kind of and I've tested many things including\nStanford NER lib and external APIs) Having said that, If your format wont\ncomply, no worries. I will do my best to find the location, tag the job if\nit's remote or intern. Although to get the rest like company name, positions\nnames the mission is hard here.\n\n~~~\nasidiali\nI hear ya. I was able to format my submission properly (I believe), but just\nnoticed that pattern as I scrolled.\n\n~~~\nxando\ncool, looks good\n[https://whoishiring.io/s/hn13542817](https://whoishiring.io/s/hn13542817)\n\n------\nedawerd\nGusto - VISA, ONSITE (SF or Denver)\n\nGusto is building delightful payroll, benefits, and HR software for small\nbusinesses.\n\nIn only 4 years, we've grown to process nationwide payroll for more than\n40,000 companies, process more than $20B in payments, and serve our customers\nwith health insurance, 401(k), and a host of HR features.\n\nTeam culture is a huge part of what makes Gusto special. We have a team of\nsuper-sharp, passionate, hard-working, and friendly software engineers. You\ncan read more about us on our engineering blog:\n[http://engineering.gusto.com/](http://engineering.gusto.com/) Some of the\ntechnologies we use: Ruby/Rails, JavaScript, and React.js.\n\nWe have openings to work in our Payroll, HR, and Platform teams\n\nApply online here! [https://gusto.com/careers](https://gusto.com/careers) or\nemail me directly.\n\nInterview process: 1 technical phone screen (1 hour over Coderpad), and 1\nonsite interview (~4.5 hours of interviews + pair programming)\n\n~~~\napoorvsgaur\nMay I please know your email ID?\n\n------\nEmilLondon\nCitymapper. London, UK. (ONSITE VISA)\n\nReinventing the transport app, built for commuters and their daily needs. One\nsingle app for all the different use cases and challenges of city life.\n\nRead our blog at\n[https://medium.com/@Citymapper](https://medium.com/@Citymapper)\n\nPlease apply at [https://citymapper.com/jobs/](https://citymapper.com/jobs/)\n\nContact me at emil at citymapper dot com\n\nSome keywords: Python, Go, golang, C++, Web, React, iOS, Android, data\nscience, site reliability(SRE), DevOps, AWS, EC2.\n\n------\nrivetingcarp\nPalo Alto Networks | Santa Clara | Product Manager | Full-Time | On-Site\n\nPalo Alto Networks is expanding the product management team responsible for\nour malware detection and prevention product, WildFire.\n\nI’m looking to work with someone who has a background in Cybersecurity/threat\nresearch who can collaborate with our researchers and engineers to identify,\nand design the future of malware detection and prevention within WildFire.\nThis is a great opportunity for an engineer or researcher looking to\ntransition into product management -- we aren't focused on KPIs, GTM, or other\nMBA acronyms or marketing buzzwords.\n\nPrior PM experience not required.\n\nKnowledge in the following areas is expected: \\- Technical implementations of\napplication and user level attacks (Malware & Exploits) \\- How the different\npieces of an OS interact (e.g. User Space and Kernel Space) \\- Malware\nanalysis techniques \\- Designing methods to detect and/or prevent malware\n\nTravel – As little or as much as you make of it email available in my profile\n\n------\njzhen\nThinknum | New York | Backend Engineer | On-site - Full-time | VISA |\n$90k-$140k + equity\n\n=== Who We Are ===\n\nThinknum is a Fintech company that organizes the Internet’s commercial\nactivity into data models. Thinknum provides real time granular data (e.g.,\nthe average discount for Michael Kors handbags vs Coach handbags across\nretailers). We have hundreds of clients across major financial institutions\nand corporations. We're a profitable company that is growing quickly.\n\n=== Who We Are Looking For ===\n\nWe're looking for back-end engineers that can streamline our data collection\nprocess. You will design and implement systems that collect data from websites\nand make it available to our customers on our platform. Looking for engineers\nwith experience in Python and Javascript and familiarity with the DOM and\ntools for parsing the DOM like Selenium and BeautifulSoup.\n\n=== Interested? ===\n\nInterested? Drop me a note at jzhen@thinknum.com\n\nLearn more about us: [https://www.thinknum.com/](https://www.thinknum.com/)\n\nThanks, Justin\n\n------\nbessieweiss\nCloud Academy | Multiple Positions| San Francisco, CA / Mendrisio, Switzerland\n| Full Time | On-Site/Remote | Salary varies by position\n\nAt Cloud Academy, we‘re builders. Learning new technology is just as exciting\nfor us as building it. Find detailed job postings and apply at:\njobs.cloudacademy.com.\n\nWe are looking for several members of our cloud engineering research and\ntraining team to work on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and/or DevOps. If you’re\npassionate about cloud technologies, and love to always be learning, this\nmight be a great fit for you.\n\n* Azure Researcher and Trainer, Remote\n\n* Cloud Researcher and Trainer, Remote\n\n* Content Researcher and Developer, Labs, Remote\n\nWe’re also looking for some great developers and product designers to join our\ngrowing Product team in our Swiss office. We offer relocation for new hires\ninterested in moving to the beautiful Ticino region of Switzerland!\n\n* Full-Stack Developer, Mendrisio, Switzerland\n\n* Front-End Developer, Mendrisio, Switzerland\n\n* Senior Python Developer, Mendrisio Switzerland\n\n* Data Engineer, Mendrisio, Switzerland\n\n* Sr. Product Designer, Mendrisio, Switzerland\n\n------\ngalori\nSan Francisco, CA / REMOTE OK | Lead Full Stack Rails Developer | Stitchfix |\nFull-time\n\nHello, we're continuing to do a ton of hiring at Stitchfix, but specifically\nI'm hiring a developer to join my small team - \"Better Data Engineering\". We\nare a small team that is responsible for Stitchfix's famous \"Style Profile\",\nand other similar data intensive customer facing features. We work closely\nwith the Data Science team, and our goal is always to serve our customers\nbetter using the information they provided while not being creepy :-)\n\n    \n    \n                 ,---.             Stitchfix is a clothing / style personalization service.\n               .((___))            Search Instagram for #stitchfix, which will tell you a whole lot \n             ,'  `---' `.          about us, how much our customers love us and you'll get \n            / |========| \\         an idea of our business. \n           /  |/\\/\\/\\/\\|  \\        \n          /  /|/\\/\\/\\/\\|\\  \\       Come back when you're done.  \n         /__/ |========| \\__\\      \n        ////  |________|  \\\\\\\\     \n        \"\"'   [||||||||]   `\"\"     \n              `\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"'          \n    \n\nYou can reach out directly to me (gal at stitchfix.com) - I'm a Principal\nEngineer at Stitchfix and the hiring manager for this position.\n\nHere is a job posting roughly covering this role:\n[https://www.stitchfix.com/careers?gh_jid=455296&gh_src=r8m5v...](https://www.stitchfix.com/careers?gh_jid=455296&gh_src=r8m5v11)\nand Stitch Fix's \"Multithreaded\" Tech Jobs blog & site\n([http://technology.stitchfix.com](http://technology.stitchfix.com)) has a lot\nmore about the team and other positions (we’re also hiring iOS, DevOps, and\nUX)\n\n~~~\nelcritch\nI get a kick out of the ASCII art on a job board posting. It's unique and\nthanks for the smile it brought!\n\n------\nrepspark\nRepSpark | Senior .NET Developer | Irvine, CA | Full-time, ONSITE, $75k-$100k\n\nWe’re a casual, nine-person software development team based in Orange County,\nCA (south of Los Angeles). We provide many large apparel brands with intuitive\nand efficient sales workflows, enabling sales representatives to place bulk\norders for brick and mortar stores (e.g. how O’Neill ends up in Tilly’s or how\nArmada ends up on Backcountry).\n\nOur stack includes C#, ASP.NET, SQL Server, TypeScript, IIS, and Git\n([http://stackshare.io/repspark/repspark](http://stackshare.io/repspark/repspark)).\n\nWe’re looking for Senior .NET Developers (C#, MVC, SQL Server) with 5+ years\nof professional experience.\n\nSide note: we finally set up our ping pong table after moving to our new\noffice space. Spontaneous 1v1s and 2v2s are in full swing again!\n\nPlease email hn@repspark.com with applications or questions. We'd love to hear\nfrom you!\n\n------\nmoondistance\nHaskell Lovers Stealth Co. | Software Engineer | Menlo Park, CA | Full-time |\nOnsite\n\nVery well-funded startup seeking fellow Haskellers who would also enjoy coding\nexclusively in Haskell. Seeking all levels of experience (multiple positions).\n\nExperienced team working on an exciting product. Competitive compensation.\n\nInterested in chatting? Email eulerconstantine@gmail.com\n\n------\ntyre\nSeneca Systems (YC S16) | Full-stack, front-end, database engineers | Redwood\nCity, CA | ONSITE -\n[http://seneca.systems/careers](http://seneca.systems/careers)\n\nSeneca Systems provides cloud-based software that empowers city managers and\ngovernment workers to provide outstanding service to citizens and communities.\nRomulus, our flagship product, helps local government workers to manage\ncasework and be the system-of-record for city data.\n\nCities and local governments across the country—like San Jose, Sacramento,\nBoston, Chicago, Houston, and Miami—depend on Romulus to make government run\neffectively.\n\nStack: Ember => Ruby/Rails and Elixir/Phoenix => Postgres\n\n[http://seneca.systems/careers](http://seneca.systems/careers)\n\n[https://romuluscrm.com](https://romuluscrm.com)\n\n------\nbostik\nSmarkets | Full Time | ONSITE (London, UK; now also Santa Monica, California)\n\nWe're a modern betting exchange, going technology first to enable proper price\ncompetition in a field of fat commissions. Join a small, agile, and fast-\ngrowing team, in our beautiful office in St. Katharine Docks. If our US\nlocation tickles your fancy, you get to help setting up a brand new office\ntoo.\n\nSmarkets develops a reliable, low-latency, highly concurrent betting exchange\nbased on trading exchange designs. We're also building a fast, modern web\ninterface to allow for a smoother experience. Servicing our users is top\npriority.\n\nThe Smarkets platform is written predominantly on Python and Erlang, and\nrelies heavily on asynchronous programming techniques. We use REST where we\ncan. Life at Smarkets circles around people, version control, configuration\nmanagement and automation. We can - and do - deploy to production several\ntimes a day.\n\nOur entire production is in AWS. In fact, Smarkets was the first gambling\noperator under the Maltese regulator to get permission to run _everything_ in\nthe cloud. We push the envelope where needed and educate auditors when\nnecessary.\n\nWe are looking for:\n\n* Infrastructure Engineers, both junior and senior (think midway between SRE and devops; security background is a bonus)\n\n* An Infrastructure Lead Engineer\n\n* Software Engineers (London, Los Angeles)\n\n* UX/UI Designers\n\nIf you like the idea of flat structure and practical engineering approach, see\nour jobs at [https://smarkets.com/careers/](https://smarkets.com/careers/) .\n(A while back I wrote an overview about our engineering challenges, which you\ncan find at [https://smarketshq.com/the-challenges-of-running-a-\nbetting-e...](https://smarketshq.com/the-challenges-of-running-a-betting-\nexchange-4a55320d0978) .)\n\n~~~\nninjate\nDo you have anything in place for people who have a no-compete clause and are\nworking at one of your competitors? Asking for a friend.\n\n~~~\nbostik\nWe haven't had to consider this situation before, so I don't have an answer.\nNot yet.\n\nI'll get an answer for tomorrow.\n\n~~~\nbostik\nWell, I have an answer: <EMPTY STRING>\n\nThe question itself is risky, even to ask. We cannot condone or encourage\nanyone breaking contractual agreements - no matter what they might be or how\nthe parties involved feel about them.\n\n~~~\nninjate\nOh well, my friend says \"Thanks for trying\". But why is risky to ask?\n\n------\nckridler\nRoot | Columbus, OH | Full-time | Onsite |\n[https://joinroot.com](https://joinroot.com)\n\nRoot is an auto insurance company, like GEICO and Progressive. We use data\nscience to identify and insure good drivers, reducing insurance premiums for\ngood drivers significantly as a result.\n\nWe're a startup — we're 18 people who have been working on this for almost 2\nyears. We've built an iOS app that gathers data on how well people drive. We\nuse that to set insurance prices. To build the best possible product and user\nexperience, we went through the arduous process of starting an insurance\ncarrier from scratch.\n\nWe've raised $7M, and we're looking to bring on a couple more talented\nengineers. Tech stack involves Ruby / Rails and Javascript / React Native.\nEmail us at jobs@joinroot.com\n\n------\nbentlegen\nSentry | San Francisco | Full-time, onsite |\n[https://sentry.io](https://sentry.io) |\n[https://github.com/getsentry/sentry](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry)\n\nSentry is an open source crash reporting tool trusted by thousands of\norganizations to notify them of software errors, and provide them with the\ndebugging information and tools they need to resolve them.\n\nWe are looking for experienced candidates in product engineering, operations,\ngrowth, and visual design. If you'd like to join a scrappy team (25 employees)\nthat builds transparent, open software, we'd like to hear from you.\n\nMore information here: [https://sentry.io/jobs/](https://sentry.io/jobs/)\n\n------\nHotjar_Rec\nHotjar | REMOTE | Full-time\n\nHeadquartered on the beautiful island of Malta, in the ‘heart’ of the\nMediterranean, Hotjar is a young startup that embraces remote working and\npersonal development. Hotjar's culture is driven by transparency, respect,\nopen discussion, collaboration and blunt and direct feedback. In fact, we're\nobsessed with communicating with our users as well as within the team. We hate\nbureaucracy and slow moving organisations – but we're suckers for well-defined\nprocesses. We love lean, iterative improvements and success is measured by the\nvalue we create for our users.\n\nFront-end Developer (Europe) [http://careers.hotjar.com/o/frontend-developer-\neurope/?sourc...](http://careers.hotjar.com/o/frontend-developer-\neurope/?source=HackerNews)\n\nPython Developer (Europe) [http://careers.hotjar.com/o/python-developer-\neurope/?source=...](http://careers.hotjar.com/o/python-developer-\neurope/?source=HackerNews)\n\nFull Stack Developer (Europe) [http://careers.hotjar.com/o/full-stack-\ndeveloper-europe/?sou...](http://careers.hotjar.com/o/full-stack-developer-\neurope/?source=HackerNews)\n\nDevOps Engineer (North America) [http://careers.hotjar.com/o/devops-engineer-\nnorth-america/?s...](http://careers.hotjar.com/o/devops-engineer-north-\namerica/?source=HackerNews)\n\nBig Data DevOps Engineer (Europe) [http://careers.hotjar.com/o/big-data-\ndevops-engineer-europe/...](http://careers.hotjar.com/o/big-data-devops-\nengineer-europe/?source=HackerNews)\n\nCheck out our careers page for the full listing of roles including marketing,\ndesign, and customer success\n[http://careers.hotjar.com/](http://careers.hotjar.com/)\n\n------\ndi\nPromptWorks | Software Engineer | Philadelphia PA | ONSITE\n[https://promptworks.com/](https://promptworks.com/)\n\nWe are a development shop that focuses on software craftsmanship. Our calling\nis to help companies create amazing, intuitive web & mobile applications,\nAPIs, products, and services.\n\nPair programming, continuous integration & delivery, kaizen, and TDD/BDD\naren't just ideas we pay lip service to, but core practices of our day-to-day\nwork.\n\nWe love polyglots. We use lots of Ruby, Python and JavaScript (mostly React\nand React-Native), some Elixir and Go.\n\n[https://www.promptworks.com/jobs/software-\nengineer](https://www.promptworks.com/jobs/software-engineer)\n\n------\ndargueta\nPinterest - San Francisco & Seattle - ONSITE | INTERNS (freshmen)\n[https://careers.pinterest.com/careers/engineering](https://careers.pinterest.com/careers/engineering)\n\n\\- Android \\- iOS \\- Ads infra \\- Homefeed infra \\- Payments infra \\- Traffic\nengineering \\- Infosec \\- Data science & engineering and more\n\nTech stack: Python, JavaScript (Node & React), Java, C++, Go, Elixir\n\n~~~\nDrHow\nHi there, I recently applied to the S.E. intern position. I have experience\nshipping web apps with Node & React(SquadStream.com). I also interned at JP\nMorgan where I used Python. If you need my resume you can email me:\nme@ammarkarim.com\n\nHere is to hoping I don't get lost in the pile!\n\n------\napurvadave\nSysdig | [https://www.sysdig.com](https://www.sysdig.com) | jobs@sysdig.com |\nSan Francisco, Davis, or Remote | Many Positions\n\nSysdig is building the intelligence layer for next-generation applications\nbuilt on containers and microservices. Hundreds of enterprise customers use\nour commercial solution for monitoring, troubleshooting, and managing\nperformance of their applications.\n\n-50+ People\n\n-Founded by Loris Degioanni, co-creator of wireshark\n\n-Open source sysdig ([http://www.sysdig.org](http://www.sysdig.org)) is used by millions\n\n-Funded by Accel and Bain Capital Ventures\n\n-Global Engineering Team\n\nBenefits:\n\n-Work from anywhere\n\n-Health, Vision and Dental Insurance\n\n-Monthly learning stipend\n\n-Monthly housecleaning stipend\n\n-Motivated, smart, enjoyable coworkers\n\nPositions:\n\n-Frontend\n\n-Kernel Engineers\n\n-Backend / big data\n\n-QA\n\n-Customer Success\n\n-Product Marketing\n\n-Technical Marketing\n\n[https://www.sysdig.com/jobs](https://www.sysdig.com/jobs)\n\n~~~\nkristopolous\nHighly recommended\n\n------\naechsten\nLaunchDarkly | Mobile SDK Engineer | Oakland, CA |\n[https://launchdarkly.com/](https://launchdarkly.com/)\n\nLaunchDarkly | Ruby SDK Engineer | Oakland, CA |\n[https://launchdarkly.com/](https://launchdarkly.com/)\n\nLaunchDarkly | Software Engineer (Full-stack) | Oakland, CA |\n[https://launchdarkly.com/](https://launchdarkly.com/)\n\nLaunchDarkly | Technical Consultant | Oakland, CA |\n[https://launchdarkly.com/](https://launchdarkly.com/)\n\nLaunchDarkly | Technical Support Engineer | Oakland, CA |\n[https://launchdarkly.com/](https://launchdarkly.com/)\n\nLaunchDarkly | Developer Advocate | Oakland, CA |\n[https://launchdarkly.com/](https://launchdarkly.com/)\n\nLaunchDarkly | Sales Engineer | Oakland, CA |\n[https://launchdarkly.com/](https://launchdarkly.com/)\n\nAll jobs full-time and onsite. Full descriptions here:\n[https://jobs.lever.co/launchdarkly](https://jobs.lever.co/launchdarkly)\n\nLaunchDarkly serves four billion feature flags daily to help software teams\nseparate feature rollout from code deployment, putting power in the hands of\nthe business and freeing up developers. Ultimately, teams can deliver faster,\nmore personalized software with less risk. Companies use our feature flag\nmanagement platform to control the whole feature lifecycle from launch to\nsunsetting and manage feature flags at scale. LaunchDarkly has SDKs for all\nmajor web and mobile platforms.\n\nRead about LaunchDarkly’s unique architecture:\n[https://stackshare.io/launchdarkly/how-launchdarkly-\nserves-o...](https://stackshare.io/launchdarkly/how-launchdarkly-serves-\nover-4-billion-feature-flags-daily)\n\n------\nblakeweb\nRecursion Pharmaceuticals | SLC, Utah | Onsite, full-time\n\nRecursion is a startup with about 40 people, generating rich biological data\nat a pace comparable to the biggest institutions anywhere doing biology and\ndisease research. We have literally millions of images from experiments we\nconducted in our lab, and we generate terabytes more each week. We’ve gotten\nmore than $2M in multiple grants from the NIH, and last fall closed a $15M\nseries A led by Lux Capital. We’re using imaging experiments to turn human\ncell experiments into massive amounts of rich biological data so we can find\ntreatments using ML and data science for many diseases as fast as possible.\n\nHiring:\n\n* Software engineering: Full-stack Software Engineer - Front-end Software Engineer - Machine Learning Engineer\n\n* Data science: Data Analyst - Data Scientist - Applied Mathematician - ML Researcher - Computational Biologist\n\n* Technical HR Specialist/Manager - Technical Team Development Operation (New--if these posts aren't up yet, feel free to apply via Data Scientist and call out your interest in these positions)\n\n[http://www.recursionpharma.com/careers](http://www.recursionpharma.com/careers)\nfor more details and to apply.\n\nLogistics: Salt Lake City, Utah. Hiking/running/biking is literally out our\nback door, and it's half an hour to 5 ski resorts. Competitive pay, health\ninsurance, relocation assistance (onsite is required), equity, a top-caliber\nteam, and help make a massively positive impact. Happy to sponsor/extend\nvisas, but you need to already be authorized to work in the US--we can’t\nhandle the lottery at this stage.\n\nTech: Data science: python scientific stack (pandas, numpy, scikit-learn,\nmatplotlib, bokeh, etc). Software engineering: go, python, angular.js, react,\njavascript on aws and gce. Deep learning (e.g. convolutional networks) we're\nmainly using the python frameworks (keras, theano, tensorflow, etc).\n\nOur team of ~40:\n[http://www.recursionpharma.com/team](http://www.recursionpharma.com/team)\n\n------\nnchuhoai\nWellframe | Healthcare | Boston, Ma | Onsite/Fulltime\n[https://www.wellframe.com](https://www.wellframe.com)\n\nAt Wellframe, we are building an intelligent care-management platform that\nallows health plans and care-delivery organizations to better manage large\npopulations of complex patients. Because the most clinically complicated cases\nin a patient population tend to drive a majority of the costs, even seemingly\nsmall improvements in these patients’ well-being have dramatic benefits for\nthe care provider. Wellframe focuses on improving patient health by providing\npersonalized and adaptive care programs for people trying to recover from or\nmanage serious health problems. We use the health data we collect in order to\nintelligently allot care resources to the specific needs of patients, paying\nspecial attention to the most-critical patients. Through clinical studies and\nworking with large healthcare payers, we have seen that our platform improves\npatient outcomes, increases the capacity of care management teams and reduces\ncosts of the care provider. We have a relatively small engineering team at\nabout 10 engineers. What makes us unique is that we have a full time clinical\nteam of doctors that work with us to break down clinical science so that we\ncan build it back up into personalized and adaptive care programs.\n\nWe're currently looking for several mid/senior engineering positions (android,\niOS, frontend, backend, infra/platform, sre) across our engineering team. More\ndescriptions can be found on our jobs page (below). If you're in the area I'd\nlove to just grab coffee regardless of whether or not you're actively looking\nto move -- I love talking to other passionate, driven people about what they\ndo.\n\nOur stack is native Android (Java) and iOS (Objective-C), our API is served in\na Ruby on Rails monolith and Scala services, on top of MySQL, Cassandra,\nElasticSearch and Spark. Our frontend is mostly Backbone + React, although\nsome more complex state we are moving to Redux.\n\nJobs: [https://www.wellframe.com/jobs](https://www.wellframe.com/jobs) Also\nfeel free to reach out to me at nam@wellframe.com!\n\n------\nmb22\nAtScale | San Mateo, CA | Scala Platform Engineer | Full Time, On Site |\n[http://atscale.com](http://atscale.com)\n\nWe build analytics software for big data platforms. Originally Hadoop,\nbranching out to the new serverless platforms such as Big Query, Athena, etc.\n\nOur Scala team is small and very highly skilled. Engineers are treated like\nadults. We do very sophisticated things that are often challenging and never\nboring. We have never used a recruiter to hire engineers. We are winning in\nour market. We are very good at Fantastic Gymnastics.\n\nIf interested, shoot an email to me matt@atscale.com.\n\n------\nmfl\nAmpMe | www.ampme.com | Montréal, Canada | ONSITE, VISA |\n\nPut your mobile devices together and get ready to make some noise! AmpMe is\nthe world’s most portable sound system. We’re not just any old music app; we\nbring people and music together. Our mobile app lets you sync and play the\nsame music simultaneously across multiple devices.\n\nOur team is growing! This is your opportunity to discover the beautiful city\nof Montréal, Canada. We're looking for:\n\n\\- iOS Developer \\- Android Developer \\- Back-End Developer \\- Senior Data\nEngineer\n\nDetails here: www.ampme.com/jobs you may apply through the website or by email\nat jobs@ampme.com\n\n~~~\nflovilmart\nAnd Montreal is so neat!\n\n------\nsamjbobb\nOctopart | New York City | Full Time | Onsite\n\nOctopart (YC W07) is a search engine for electronic components. Every month,\n500,000+ engineers and part buyers use Octopart to find parts, research\npricing and availability, find datasheets, and select components for new\ndesigns.\n\nYou'll be part of a small, supportive, friendly team who genuinely enjoy\nworking together.\n\nWe use: Linux, Python, Go, MySQL, Elasticsearch, AWS.\n\nPositions:\n\n* Backend Web Engineer * UX Designer\n\nContact: jobs @ octopart.com\n\nFull position details and info to apply:\n[https://octopart.com/jobs](https://octopart.com/jobs)\n\n------\namyngu\nCisco Meraki | Software Engineer | San Francisco | Full-Time ONSITE |\n[https://meraki.cisco.com/jobs](https://meraki.cisco.com/jobs)\n\nMeraki is disrupting the world of traditional networking by bringing it to the\ncloud. Our mission is to make networking simple with ease of management\nthrough our web app called Dashboard, whether you have one local site or 500\nworldwide. We make enterprise switches, firewalls, wireless access points,\nphones, and security cameras! Engineering at Cisco Meraki has the best of both\nworlds - job stability and benefits of a leading enterprise, but the Meraki\nmagic of remaining like a SF startup in structure and culture. Meraki\nEngineers hack the full stack. You own your projects from start to finish and\nyou have a lot of say in what project to tackle next! We're hiring across all\nteams:\n\n    \n    \n       * Senior Software Engineer, Full Stack Web: https://meraki.cisco.com/jobs#48453\n    \n       * Senior Software Engineer, Networked Systems: https://meraki.cisco.com/jobs#194290\n    \n       * Senior Software Engineer, Platform: https://meraki.cisco.com/jobs#50444\n    \n       * Software Engineer, Test: https://meraki.cisco.com/jobs#53181\n    \n       * Software Engineer, Business Systems: https://meraki.cisco.com/jobs#543848\n    \n\n... and many more positions! Please apply directly on our website, thanks.\n\n------\nTsarbomb\nOntario Institute for Cancer Research |\n[http://oicr.on.ca/](http://oicr.on.ca/) | Toronto | Full time | Onsite\n\nWe are looking for a senior backend developer with strong Java skills to join\nour team working on the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC). You'll\nget to work on some really hard problems pushing data models and technologies\nto their limits. You'll get to write modern code in Java 8, play with cool\ntechnologies like Elasticsearch and Spark, all while working on open source\nprojects which you can show off. We are talking about working with petabytes\nof data, billions of documents, and private and public clouds. Plus, you'll be\nworking along side the most talented group of frontend/UI guys around.\n\nYou can take a gander at some of the code here: [https://github.com/icgc-\ndcc](https://github.com/icgc-dcc)\n\nOur engineering blog is here:\n[http://softeng.oicr.on.ca](http://softeng.oicr.on.ca)\n\nSo if you have some skills and/or interests in the areas of Java, Big Data,\nCloud Tech, Micro Services, Docker, Python.... please apply!\n\nYou can find the posting here:\n[https://www.recruitingsite.com/csbsites/oicr/JobDescription....](https://www.recruitingsite.com/csbsites/oicr/JobDescription.asp?JobNumber=795225)\n\n------\njohnrball\nNamely | Product Manager | New York, NY | Full time (Onsite)\n\nNamely is the first HR, payroll, and benefits platform employees actually love\nto use. People are at the center of everything we do—from our platform to our\nstaff. Our team embraces different ways of thinking, working, and succeeding\ntogether.\n\nWe are looking for a Product Manager with the following background: 3-5+ years\nof Product Management experience working for a HR, Compensation Management or\nTalent Management vendor Experience in developing business cases, product\nrequirements, use cases and product roadmaps The ability to elicit customer\nbusiness needs and spot market trends and opportunities. Experience with\ncustomer driven usability and hypothesis driven experimentation An easy time\ntalking with prospects and customers about the product vision, goals and\nproduct roadmap A proven track record of developing SaaS products using Agile\ndevelopment methodologies Superior communication skills with the ability to\nweave strategy, insights, priorities and plan forward into a structured and\norganized storyline at all levels of management High energy, self-starter with\na positive mindset and with a \"can do\" attitude. Must be persistent,\nambitious, curious and creative\n\nIt is a great time to join an exciting team! Please feel free to email me\ndirectly at john@grayscalable.com\n\n[https://www.namely.com/jobs/?gh_jid=564150](https://www.namely.com/jobs/?gh_jid=564150)\n\n------\nrwalker\nApple, Inc. | Cupertino\n\nApple’s Siri is looking for exceptional engineers, designers, and project\nmanagers well versed in machine learning, natural language, speech\nrecognition, server automation, and/or mobile software development. Siri is\nused on countless iOS, tvOS and watchOS devices and handles over a billion\nrequests per week.\n\nIf you’re passionate about media, home automation, automated testing, building\ntools, or one of a variety of our open positions, you’ll be right at home!\n\nApply online or send a resume and a feature request to brittanyd@apple.com.\n\n------\nsuchow\nUC Berkeley | Software Engineer | Berkeley | Full-time, REMOTE, ONSITE,\n[http://berkeley.edu](http://berkeley.edu)\n\nUC Berkeley is hiring a full-time software engineer to work on a DARPA-funded\nproject to build next-generation methods for social science research [1]. The\nsoftware engineer will join a team of scientists and engineers building\nDallinger [2], an open-source platform that automates the full pipeline of\ncrowd-sourced experimentation, from recruiting participants to managing the\nresultant data; think lab-on-a-chip or microfluidics, but with people. The\nposition is a 2-year contract, renewable up to 3.5 years, and includes a\ncomprehensive benefits package. The full job ad and instructions for applying\ncan be found at [http://bit.ly/2hCqGrj](http://bit.ly/2hCqGrj). Remote work is\npossible.\n\nOur stack is Python, Flask, PostgreSQL, Redis, WebSockets, the SciPy stack,\nJupyter notebooks, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, all on Heroku & AWS.\n\nNote: if you responded to the January \"Who is hiring?\" post, no need to\nreapply — we'll be reviewing applications this week.\n\n[1] [http://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2016-03-04](http://www.darpa.mil/news-\nevents/2016-03-04)\n\n[2]\n[https://github.com/Dallinger/Dallinger](https://github.com/Dallinger/Dallinger)\n\n~~~\nddorian43\nIs this open to remote outside US ?\n\n------\njmpz\nPandora | Full Stack Software Engineer | Oakland | Onsite, Full-time\n[http://pandora.com](http://pandora.com)\n\nPandora has multiple great opportunity for seasoned engineers with several\nyears of diverse experience, and a passion for learning and applying new\ntechnical knowledge.\n\nAt Pandora, we're a unique collection of engineers, musicians, designers,\nmarketers, and world-class sellers with a common goal: to enrich lives by\ndelivering effortless personalized music enjoyment and discovery. People—the\nlisteners, the artists, and our employees—are at the center of our mission and\neverything we do. Actually, employees at Pandora are a lot like the service\nitself: bright, eclectic, and innovative. Collaboration is the foundation of\nour workforce, and we’re looking for smart individuals who are self-motivated\nand passionate to join us. Be a part of the engine that creates the soundtrack\nto life. Discover your future at Pandora!\n\nSr. Software Engineer:\n[https://pandora.com/careers/position?id=ozOo3fwy](https://pandora.com/careers/position?id=ozOo3fwy)\nSr. Software Engineer:\n[https://pandora.com/careers/position?id=ooYb4fwl](https://pandora.com/careers/position?id=ooYb4fwl)\nSoftware Engineer:\n[https://pandora.com/careers/position?id=oTcx3fwp](https://pandora.com/careers/position?id=oTcx3fwp)\n\n~~~\ngmcerveny\nIs Pandora still expanding in St Louis? Would love to chat with anyone here.\n\n------\nbchociej\nJuristat | Frontend & Full-stack JS developers | Saint Louis, Kansas City |\nRemote/Onsite\n\nJuristat is a legal analytics startup based in Saint Louis. We build\nintelligence products for patent attorneys and applicants.\n\nWe are currently looking for an experienced front-end developer with\nfamiliarity around modern front-end JS frameworks (Angular, React, ...), and\nan experienced full-stack JS developer comfortable with ES6/7, Node.js,\nExpress, and so on.\n\nOur engineering team is currently 5 developers, of which 4 are onsite in Saint\nLouis. We have a very laid back, autonomous work culture, and we provide lots\nof flexibility and support in terms of using the best tech and tools for the\ntask at hand. We are on AWS and use JS almost entirely, but we never exclude\nother languages or tech if it's right for the job.\n\nAs for our interview process, it generally starts with looking at your code,\nthen a video chat \"phone screen\" (if not in Saint Louis), and then an on-site\ninterview to meet the team, see the office, and get to know you better. We'll\nmake the final decision after all candidates have finished that process.\n\nIf you're interested, check out our careers page at\n[https://www.juristat.com/careers/](https://www.juristat.com/careers/) or send\nresume, cover letter, code samples / Github, etc to jobs@juristat.com\n\n------\newmy\nLondon, UK - Pusher - [https://pusher.com/](https://pusher.com/) \\- Full time\n- Onsite Only\n\nPusher is a multi-tenant distributed system that allows our customers to\ndeliver billions of messages to their connected users. We operate at massive\nscale, and this informs and affects everything we do.\n\nOur engineering team is based in Shoreditch, London. We are looking for\nengineers who want to work on interesting problems in a production\nenvironment, and take responsibility for the real-world operation of a large\nand increasingly distributed system. Our software stack is built around Go,\nRuby, Node.JS, Redis, MySQL, Git, Puppet and Ansible.\n\nOur standard interview process is pretty straightforward: two Skype interviews\nand a half-day onsite technical interview covering real-world problems we've\nexperienced ([https://blog.pusher.com/heres-what-i-learned-\nfrom-3-months-o...](https://blog.pusher.com/heres-what-i-learned-\nfrom-3-months-of-startup-interviews/)), with travel and accommodation expenses\npaid.\n\nWe are currently hiring Software Engineers, Cloud Infrastructure Engineers and\nfor people to join our Graduate programme. We also have several roles open in\nsales and marketing.\n\nMore information at [https://pusher.com/jobs](https://pusher.com/jobs)\n\n------\nBMarkmann\nCounterpoint Consulting | www.c20g.com\n\nLocation: Vienna, VA (near Washington, DC)\n\nCounterpoint creates sustainable competitive advantage for our clients through\nbusiness and workforce automation solutions. We create software which lets\nmachines deal with administrivia while enabling people to focus on the parts\nof their work that matter most. We are looking to hire new software developers\nand consultants who are passionate about technology, who relish the\nopportunity to work in a dynamic, small company culture and who have a strong\nentrepreneurial spirit.\n\n    \n    \n      -- Associate Consultant -- Experience Level: 0-3 yrs\n    \n      JOB RESPONSIBILITIES: Work directly with our customers to translate business needs into technical solutions Analyze business problems Work independently or cooperatively within software development teams\n    \n      REQUIREMENTS: \n      * Demonstrated record of excellence inside and outside of the classroom \n      * Software development experience or interest in pursuing a career in technology\n    \n      -- (Senior) Consultant -- Experience Level: 3-6 yrs\n    \n      NON-TECHNICAL JOB RESPONSIBILITIES: \n      * Work directly with our customers to translate business needs into technical solutions \n      * Analyze business problems \n      * Work independently or cooperatively within software development teams\n    \n      TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS: \n      * Java, Java Web Frameworks and / or .NET professional development experience \n      * Web Development Technologies and Libraries (HTML, JS, CSS, jQuery) \n      * Relational Databases & SQL \n      * BPM development experience (esp. Appian, Cordys, Metastorm, Activiti)\n\n------\ndorrab\nIBM Canada | Eclipse OMR Developer | Toronto, ON | Full-time, ONSITE |\n[https://ibm.biz/BdsBQD](https://ibm.biz/BdsBQD)\n\nThe IBM Runtime Technologies team is looking to hire motivated software\ndevelopers to join our mission to nurture an open source community around the\nEclipse OMR toolkit for language\n\nruntimes ([https://www.eclipse.org/omr](https://www.eclipse.org/omr)).\n\nWe develop the Just-In-Time compiler for various language runtimes (Java,\nJavaScript, Python, Ruby etc.) built on Eclipse OMR:\n[https://github.com/eclipse/omr](https://github.com/eclipse/omr). The IBM\nruntime compiler team\n\nalso ports and optimizes industry standard open runtimes such as Google V8 and\nNode.js. We contribute industry-leading performance and capabilities across\nmultiple hardware platforms\n\n(Intel, ARM, IBM Power and z Systems) and operating systems (Windows, Linux,\nAIX, z/OS).\n\nWe are looking for software developers comfortable in an environment that is\npredominantly C and C++ based, but also willing to go down to the assembly\nlanguage level. Polyglot skills are\n\nan asset, as we work in a variety of exhibited scripting languages.\n\nWe want to hear from you, please apply here:\n[https://ibm.biz/BdsBQD](https://ibm.biz/BdsBQD)\n\n~~~\neli_gottlieb\nThis actually sounds like a perfect position for me. Can you help sponsor\nvisas for Americans? It would help me get through Express Entry.\n\n~~~\ndorrab\nUnfortunately we cannot. We can only extend an offer to candidates that are\neligible to work in Canada.\n\n~~~\nzerr\nInteresting. Did IBM laid off HR staff? Even small shops are able to sponsor\nwork permits/visas for Canada...\n\n------\nagilord\nAgilord | Software Engineer | Budapest, Hungary | remote |\n[https://www.agilord.com/](https://www.agilord.com/)\n\nWe are a small consulting shop, slowly moving to build bootstrapped products,\ncurrently looking for a frontend software engineer.\n\nThe candidate should be familiar with modern web technologies. Experience in\nwriting games is a plus but not required. We build our new products with Dart\n(both frontend and backend), non-fancy SQL DB and common sense.\n\nE-mail: jobs@agilord.com\n\n------\ndebuggest\nInComm Digital Solutions | UI/UX Designer, Systems Engineer, Database\nEngineer, Software Engineer, SQL Server DBA | Portland, Oregon | ONSITE\n\nInComm is hiring for many positions in the Portland office. We're in the\nstored value product industry (think gift cards), and many other financial\nproducts. We're using C#, React, RabbitMQ, Redis, and SQL Server, and any\nexperience with AWS or Docker is a bonus. Building out APIs to integrate a\nwide variety of customers and third parties. Free lunch and breakfast once a\nweek, located downtown, free parking or TriMet pass. Free snacks and\nhackathons once a year. Great atmosphere and opportunity to grow.\n\nLooking for:\n\n* Senior UI/UX designer to help us create designs for new and existing products. In this role you will collaborate with our product management and software development teams to turn ideas, use cases, and user stories into mockups, wireframes, and working software. * Senior Systems Engineer to assist with dev ops * Senior Software Engineer (.NET/client side with AngularJS or React) * Senior Database Engineer (SQL Server) - ideal candidate for this position with have experience performing enterprise reporting development in a Microsoft environment. You will be sharp, motivated, hardworking, and well versed in enterprise reporting tooling, frameworks, and best practices. Experience writing testable, scalable solutions is very important to us. * SQL Server DBA\n\nRelocation may be available for some positions. Email me at rfaaberg at incomm\ndot com with your cover letter and resume if you're interested.\n\n------\nlschweikert\nVirta Health | San Francisco, CA [Onsite] | FULL-TIME\n\nVirta is on a mission to cure the most complex chronic diseases by combining\nadvanced biochemistry, clinical expertise, data science, and digital tools.\nFounded by experienced scientists, Virta develops and delivers clinically\nproven and medically supervised individualized therapies to restore metabolic\nhealth in chronic disease patients.\n\nOPENINGS:\n\n-Head of Analytics: [https://boards.greenhouse.io/virtahealth/jobs/510397#.WJJ9Tr...](https://boards.greenhouse.io/virtahealth/jobs/510397#.WJJ9TrYrK_M)\n\n\\- Data Engineer:\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/virtahealth/jobs/263090#.WJJ9Tb...](https://boards.greenhouse.io/virtahealth/jobs/263090#.WJJ9TbYrK_M)\n\n-FullStack Engineer: [https://boards.greenhouse.io/virtahealth/jobs/127456#.WJJ9Ub...](https://boards.greenhouse.io/virtahealth/jobs/127456#.WJJ9UbYrK_M)\n\n-Content Lead: [https://boards.greenhouse.io/virtahealth/jobs/493268#.WJJ9S7...](https://boards.greenhouse.io/virtahealth/jobs/493268#.WJJ9S7YrK_M)\n\n-DevOps Engineer: [https://boards.greenhouse.io/virtahealth/jobs/180073#.WJJ9Ub...](https://boards.greenhouse.io/virtahealth/jobs/180073#.WJJ9UbYrK_M)\n\n------\nFabioFleitas\nTesorio (YC S'15) | Senior Full-Stack & Backend Engineers | Burlingame, CA |\nONSITE [https://www.tesorio.com/careers/](https://www.tesorio.com/careers/)\n\n* Senior Backend Engineer: build microservices to interconnect accounting software & work on our webapp's backend (Python/Django)\n\n* Senior Full Stack Engineer: work with our frontend stack (React/ES6) & our backend stack (Python/Django)\n\n* Apply to any of these roles here: [https://www.tesorio.com/careers/](https://www.tesorio.com/careers/)\n\nTesorio is a Y Combinator-backed startup that is building the next-generation\nof business finance & transactions. In the same way that Stripe modernized\npayment processing, we want to do the same but for business finance.\n\nWe are developing machine learning algorithms to understand business cash\nneeds, predictive algorithms to forecast future cash flow, and a sleek UI/UX\nto make our products enjoyable to work with.\n\nWe raised a seed round led by top investors including First Round Capital\n(Uber + Warby Parker), Floodgate Capital (Twitter + Lyft), Fuel Capital (Layer\n+ CoreOS), Red Swan (Coinbase + Buffer), Slow Ventures (early Facebook team),\nHillsven Capital (founders of Ariba), and Paul Buchheit (creator of Gmail, YC\nPartner).\n\n------\nChuckMcM\nSpectranetix | Sunnyvale CA | Onsite |\n[http://spectranetix.com](http://spectranetix.com)\n\nSpectranetix is doing software defined radio research and development on a\nnumber of government contracts, the company is combining software and FPGA\nexpertise to build best in class, multi-mission capable systems.\n\nWe have openings for at least 2 software engineers.\n\nOn the plus side the work is challenging, cutting edge, and meaningful. We\naren't hung up on how old you are or whether or not you have a degree from the\n'right' school. We're also right in the middle of Sunnyvale so relatively easy\nto get there from the South Bay.\n\nOn the down side you have to be US Citizen (sorry no green cards) and our\nsalary flexibility is constrained by what is budgeted in the contract. One\nrole is more data science focused doing feature extraction from real and\nsynthetic data sets, and the other is more build a pipeline between multiple\nSDRs to visualize and quantify various radios that can be detected.\n\nPrincipals only, we will not be able to accommodate any recruiters or\nplacement services.\n\nIf you like interesting puzzles, have an affinity or interest in complex real\ntime systems, you would find these opportunities interesting.\n\nStack: Vivado, C, ARM architectures, some C# and Java for some customer's UI\nwork.\n\nemail chuck.mcmanis@spectranetix.com if you would like to hear more.\n\n------\nalchemism\nSidecar | Philadelphia, PA - ONSITE Looking for\n\nSysAdmin: [https://sidecar-orspartners.icims.com/jobs/2457/devops--\nsysa...](https://sidecar-orspartners.icims.com/jobs/2457/devops--sysadmin/job)\n\nDBA: [https://sidecar-orspartners.icims.com/jobs/3468/database-\narc...](https://sidecar-orspartners.icims.com/jobs/3468/database-\narchitect/job)\n\nFront-end Engineer: [https://sidecar-orspartners.icims.com/jobs/2727/front-\nend-en...](https://sidecar-orspartners.icims.com/jobs/2727/front-end-\nengineer/job?in_iframe=1)\n\nSidecar helps the largest online retailers in the world connect their products\nto the right consumers through advertising channels including Google Shopping,\nFacebook Dynamic Ads, and Bing Shopping. We believe in our people and in the\nimportance of a good beer. We hire fun, intelligent people. We closed our\nB-Round in Nov'16 and have been in hyper-growth mode since; now we need more\nengineers on our team.\n\nWe are looking for hackers experienced with some of the following: Go ⬪ PHP ⬪\nPython ⬪ Git ⬪ Percona MySQL ⬪ Ansible ⬪ Packer ⬪ Terraform ⬪ Apache ⬪ Nginx ⬪\nRedis ⬪ ElasticSearch ⬪ MapReduce ⬪ InfluxDB ⬪ Grafana ⬪ AWS wizardry in\ngeneral\n\nIf you are interested and local, visit our careers back at getsidecar.com, or\nemail jeff@getsidecar.com directly. Mention in the email that you were\nreferred by Steven.\n\n------\nlocalhost3000\nMensch Labs | Product Engineer | San Francisco, CA | Interns & Full-time |\nOnsite preferred | [http://rep.ai/](http://rep.ai/)\n\nWe are a small team (6) building tools to change the way businesses\ncommunicate with customers. Our product, Rep, combines customer context,\nmachine learning, and a slick app that enables organizations to build\nmeaningful relationships through mobile and desktop messaging.\n\nWe're actively looking for builders — folks that want to contribute more than\ncode. Your specialization is less important than your desire and ability to\nlearn fast and adapt to shifting technologies.\n\nWe're founded by ex-Googlers with deep experience in messaging,\npersonalization, and machine learning, and we're backed by some of the top\ninvestors in Silicon Valley: Accel Partners, First Round Capital, SV Angel,\nand Forerunner Ventures.\n\nWe offer competitive salaries, meaningful equity and generous health, dental\nand vision benefits. If you are a member of an underrepresented group in\ntechnology, we strongly encourage you to apply.\n\nTechnologies: Python, Postgres, WebSockets, React, Redux, ML, etc.\n\nDrop us a note at hi@menschlabs.com with a link to your LinkedIn, a resume, or\nanything else we should know. We’ll get back to you quickly!\n\n\\--\n\np.s. I love working here. The team is smart and talented but also deeply good,\nrespectful, and empathetic.\n\n------\ndekobon\nJoyent | San Francisco or Seattle (Remote Possible)\n\nSenior Solutions Engineer\n\nQualifications\n\n6+ years experience developing software and experience working in more than\none language, one of which is Java (Node.js and Golang experience a plus)\nExperience in deploying and maintaining applications and systems with one or\nmore infrastructure automation and configuration management tools (e.g.: Chef,\nPuppet, Terraform, Packer, Ansible) Awareness of Docker and trends in modern\napplications and operations, including schedulers or orchestrators (e.g.,\nKubernetes, Mesos, Nomad, etc.) Experience deploying and managing both noSQL\ndatabases (e.g., Cassandra) and SQL databases (e.g., MySQL) in production\nExperience designing the architecture of a multi-service application and have\nhelped maintain it in an enterprise setting Experience with AWS core IaaS\nservices (EC2, S3, DynamoDB, VPC) Familiarity with Triton and Manta products\nContributed to an open source project Willingness to travel 1-2 weeks per\nmonth. Occasional extended trips.\n\nAdded Bonus\n\nFluent in English and Korean Experience with Node.js and JVM languages Hands\non experience using Docker Experience working within a global multi-national\ncorporation About Joyent Joyent delivers container-native infrastructure,\noffering organizations high-performance, yet simple public cloud and private\ncloud software solutions for today’s demanding real-time web and mobile\napplications.\n\nPlease send an email to jobs@joyent.com with a brief introduction, a copy of\nyour resume and (optionally) a link to your profile on LinkedIn.\n\n------\nbillytetrud\nTechincal Cofounder | San Francisco Bay Area, CA | Tixit | Full Time or Half\nTime | Equity: 10-20% | REMOTE welcome\n\nI'm Billy Tetrud, the Founder of Tixit. We're a small (9 person) team building\na lightening fast extensible project management system. We're looking for a\n2nd technical cofounder to accelerate the development of our product. You'd be\nworking with me (the other technical cofounder) in designing and implementing\nthe core backend as well the web frontend. We value our test-driven\ndevelopment, clear internal and external documentation, and doing things right\nto build and maintain momentum. Our stack is node.js and mongodb. I'm happy to\nchat with you over the phone or skype about what we're doing. We're just about\nto announce our public beta this month.\n\nEmail me at billy@tixit.me and mention you're from HN, I'd love to hear what\nyou've been working on.\n\nCheck out more info about us at\n[https://angel.co/tixit-1](https://angel.co/tixit-1) and more info about the\nposition at [https://angel.co/tixit-1/jobs/114395-technical-co-\nfounder](https://angel.co/tixit-1/jobs/114395-technical-co-founder)\n\nThanks, Billy Tetrud, Founder at Tixit, billy@tixit.me\n\n------\nrabidonrails\nPhaxio | Chicago | Full-time | REMOTE OK (U.S. only)\n\nA bit about us: Phaxio is a simple, yet powerful, faxing API (you heard that\nright, faxing). We power small companies from places like YC and Techstars to\nmajor banks and Fortune 100 companies. Who we're looking for: As a full stack\ndeveloper at Phaxio, you will be working with a variety of technologies on the\nfront and back end. We recently rewrote our API in Rails and just rolled out a\nwhole new look and feel.\n\nOn an average day you might find yourself: - Updating chef recipes to deploy a\nnew service \\- Working to add a new feature to our Rails web dashboard or the\nflagship API \\- Tweaking our packer or vagrant development setup to optimize\ndev time for other engineers \\- Using Wireshark to diagnose issues with one of\nour carriers \\- Improving fabric scripts we use to automate our infrastructure\non AWS \\- Answering a technical support ticket that involves a feature you\ncreated \\- Work on an open source library that helps developers or even non-\ntechnical end-users integrate with Phaxio\n\nFor interviews: After a brief conversation to make sure that we're all on the\nsame page, we'll send over an interesting issue for you to diagnose and solve.\nNobody looking over your shoulder or breathing down your neck :)\n\nIf you're interested, send an email to howard at Phaxio.com\n\n------\ncaffodian\nPolicyStat | Carmel, Indiana or remote | full-time (remote)\n\nA hospital’s best tool for standardizing and implementing life-saving\nimprovements are their written policies and procedures. PolicyStat’s mission\nis to improve healthcare delivery by making those policies and procedures\neasier to find, access, and enhance. Our clients (across 46/50 states) use our\nSaaS application to ensure that this critical information is correct, their\nstaff can find it, and that it supports regulatory compliance.\n\nIn this role as our 5th engineer, an experienced software engineering\ngeneralist, you will be a critical part of our engineering team. You will\nspend time on all aspects related to delivering a great web application to our\nusers. We're a small team, so you'll sometimes be asked to wear hats ranging\nfrom API design to algorithms and libraries to front-end engineering. We’ve\nrecently been freed from the tyranny of supporting Old IE, and we’re excited\nfor the opportunity to improve interaction for the hundreds of thousands of\npeople that rely on PolicyStat.\n\nTech stack: Django, Python, JavaScript, React, Trello, Hipchat, Vagrant,\nGitHub, Chef\n\nWe are a remote-friendly team, currently with members in Indianapolis,\nVancouver, Brasov, Barcelona, and elsewhere.\n\nOur interview process is mainly work sample based: one short screening work\nsample, human interviews, then a 3-4 hour work sample using our tech stack. No\nwhiteboarding involved.\n\nInterested? Apply through Greenhouse:\n[http://grnh.se/jyx8101](http://grnh.se/jyx8101)\n\n------\nquiqueqs\nPicnic | www.picnic.nl | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Full-Time | Onsite, VISA\n\n== About us ==\n\nPicnic is the world’s fastest growing online supermarket with a simple\nmission: to make grocery shopping quick, easy and affordable for everyone. Our\nunique tech-driven approach enables us to work towards a greener and more\nsustainable future, with our fleet of 100% electric vehicles delivering fresh\nproducts from our warehouse to customers daily.\n\n== Positions ==\n\nDev ops: [http://stackoverflow.com/jobs/128573/devops-\npicnic](http://stackoverflow.com/jobs/128573/devops-picnic)\n\nJava Developer: [http://join.picnic.nl/jobs/java-\ndeveloper/](http://join.picnic.nl/jobs/java-developer/)\n\nSys admin: [http://join.picnic.nl/jobs/system-\nadministrator/](http://join.picnic.nl/jobs/system-administrator/)\n\nWeb Developer: [http://join.picnic.nl/jobs/software-engineer-web-\ndeveloper/](http://join.picnic.nl/jobs/software-engineer-web-developer/)\n\nData Engineer: [http://join.picnic.nl/jobs/data-\nengineer/](http://join.picnic.nl/jobs/data-engineer/)\n\n------\nmaxgo\nZagster | Cambridge / Boston, MA | Full-time | Onsite |\n[http://www.zagster.com](http://www.zagster.com)\n\nZagster is the leading provider of bike share programs for cities,\nuniversities, businesses and properties. We simplify bike sharing through a\nfull-service model that covers everything involved in planning, building and\noperating a system. By using right-sized infrastructure and app-based\ntechnology, Zagster bike sharing programs are flexible and affordable for both\nthe communities we serve and the riders within them.\n\nNamed one of the best places to work by the Boston Business Journal and\nOutside Magazine, Zagster sits at the intersection of technology and\ntransportation. As North America's fastest-growing bike-share provider we put\nmore people on more bikes every day. We recently closed a $10M Series B\nfunding round and we're looking for talented people to help us build the\nfuture of bike sharing.\n\n~~~ Positions we're currently hiring ~~~\n\n* Principal Backend Software Engineer\n\n* Senior Mobile Developer\n\n* Salesforce Administrator\n\n* Product Manager - Web/Mobile Apps\n\n* Product Development Engineer - Embedded Electronics\n\nOur stack: Javascript ES6, Node, Express, React, Redux, React Native, MongoDB\n\nLearn more and apply at\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/zagster](https://boards.greenhouse.io/zagster)\n\nReach out to me at max@zagster.com with any questions.\n\n------\nHoyaSaxa\nNarmi (Techstars NYC '17)| New York, NY (NYC) | Full Time | ONSITE |\n[https://www.narmitech.com](https://www.narmitech.com)\n\nNarmi is helping the 10,000+ community banks and credit unions in the United\nStates reinvent themselves with better online and mobile banking. We want to\ncreate a more diverse and engaging financial ecosystem by empowering these\ninstitutions to compete with the top 10 banks that hold almost half of all\ndeposits in the United States currently.\n\nNarmi was founded by two Georgetown University alums who previously worked as\nCEO and CTO of a $18 million credit union and also at some of the largest\nbanks in the world. We are looking for engineer #3 and #4. Even if you don't\nthink you are an exact fit for one of our current openings, we'd still love to\ntalk. We are always looking for well-rounded engineers that have expertise in\nAWS, Ansible, Terraform, Swift/Objective-C (iOS), Java (Android), python\n(Django), visual design/UI/UX, and/or security.\n\nThe interview process entails a call to get to know each other, followed by a\nhalf-day in-person interview that includes a code pairing session.\n\n* Full Stack Engineer * Mobile Engineer\n\nYou can learn more and apply via email[1] or AngelList[2]. Please make sure to\ninclude you came from HN! [1] Email published on this page\n[https://www.narmitech.com/careers](https://www.narmitech.com/careers) [2]\n[https://angel.co/narmi/jobs](https://angel.co/narmi/jobs)\n\n------\nrazvanh\nUniversity of Iowa Health Care | Web Developer/Designer | Iowa City, IA USA |\nFull-time, ONSITE\n\nThe UI Health Care Marketing and Communications Web Team provides support for\nthe major consumer facing web properties of UI Health Care, mainly uihc.org\nand uichildrens.org. We are a small team that keep things interesting by\nworking on a diverse range of projects. We are looking for a talented web\ndeveloper to join us, on site in Iowa City. Most of the work consists in\nbuilding new features and fixing bugs on the two Drupal 7 websites mentioned\nabove. There is quite a bit of interaction with non-technical peers and you\nshould be comfortable communicating and providing support to people with\ndifferent backgrounds and skillsets. Well-qualified candidates will have\nstrong development and problem solving skills and an exceptional ability to\ncommunicate highly technical concepts to any audience. The ideal candidate\nwill also have experience with all aspects of the lifecycle of a web\napplication: wireframing, design, frontend & backend coding.\n\n[https://jobs.uiowa.edu/jobSearch/pandsDetailDisplay.php?requ...](https://jobs.uiowa.edu/jobSearch/pandsDetailDisplay.php?requisitionNumber=70436&fromComm=Y)\n\n------\nkasrak\nAirtable | Software Engineer | San Francisco | Onsite, full-time,\n[https://airtable.com](https://airtable.com)\n\nAirtable is a collaborative real-time database. Our mission is to expand human\nproductivity by letting people create tools to organize their world. Unlike\nsingle-purpose apps, we think of Airtable as a toolkit of building blocks that\npeople can repurpose to create their own applications. Our product roadmap is\nfilled with interesting enhancements and additions to this toolkit that will\npush the boundaries of Airtable's capabilities.\n\nWe're hiring engineers for web (JS, Node, React), iOS (Objective-C, Swift),\nand Android.\n\nPeople love Airtable:\n[https://twitter.com/airtable/timelines/566728799115440128](https://twitter.com/airtable/timelines/566728799115440128)\n\nWe're a small team, with backgrounds from Google, Facebook, Microsoft, etc. We\nbelieve in the power of highly motivated and capable individuals to accomplish\ngreat things in small teams, with end-to-end ownership of projects and rapid\niteration. We’ve raised over $10 million in funding.\n\nYou can apply here: [https://airtable.com/jobs](https://airtable.com/jobs)\n\n~~~\nmacca321\nSounds like the product from Microserfs :) edit: it's also a really nice\nproduct!\n\n------\narsenerei\nStaples SparX | San Mateo, CA or REMOTE | Full Time\n\nLooking for:\n\n    \n    \n       * Software Engineers (Clojure and JavaScript)\n       * Dev Ops\n       * Data Analysts\n       * Data Scientists\n    \n\nSparX is a small engineering team focused on applying online machine learning\nand predictive modeling to eCommerce (impacting a 21 billion dollar business).\nOur service stack is 100% Clojure, service oriented with 10ms SLAs. Our data\npipeline and model generation is Python and Spark. We apply engineering and\ndata science to tough problems such as dynamic pricing, shipping estimations,\npersonalized product recommendations, and multi-variate testing targeting 50\nmillion users. We are always looking for talent in data science, engineering\nand devops. Bonus points if you can bridge 2 of these together. We love people\nwith strong fundamentals who can dive deep.\n\nWe're a small team, so you will have an opportunity for a high-impact role,\ntargeting over 50 million users. But our best perk is our colleagues: a\ndiverse and extremely talented team of seasoned engineers and data scientists.\nWe are located in San Mateo, walking distance from the Cal-Train station. Come\nvisit or apply online at [http://staples-sparx.com](http://staples-sparx.com).\n\n~~~\ndottedmag\nI have sent an e-mail to careers@stapleslabs.com, but it got bounced.\nHopefully there is more than one intended recipient at this address, so at\nleast someone has received my mail.\n\n------\niperdomo\nAkvo | Barcelona, Amsterdam, Stockholm | Full time | Platform Engineer |\nREMOTE | [http://akvo.org/about-us/](http://akvo.org/about-us/)\n\nAkvo is a non profit foundation, creating open source software and sensors. We\nfocus on making international development and country governance more\neffective, transparent and collaborative. Our Development team is a diverse\nand distributed group across EU with clusters in Amsterdam, Stockholm and\nBarcelona.\n\n    \n    \n        == Main tasks and responsibilities\n        * Develop common/shared platform services in Akvo\n        * Together with the team lead, coordinate architecture concerns between products\n        * Provide technical direction to the rest of teams\n        * Research existing FOSS components and assess the trade-offs (build vs buy)\n        * Collaborate with QA and Ops teams to make better and more reliable software.\n        \n        == Requirements and competencies\n        * “Strong opinions, weakly held”\n        * You have developed complex systems under organizational constraints\n        * You like mentoring developers and you're advocating good programming practices\n        * You have JVM and Linux experience (performance and memory troubleshooting)\n        * You have experience from fast growing organizations and/or Lean startup methodology\n        \n        == Interview process\n        You'll have interviews via Skype/video, with Platform team lead, Head of Development and your potential \n        colleagues. Please send motivation letter and resume to Iván Perdomo <work[at]akvo.org>\n    \n\nMore details at [https://goo.gl/ZLnWwc](https://goo.gl/ZLnWwc)\n\n------\nreddineer\nReddit | San Francisco, CA | Full-time | Onsite\n\n\"The front page of the internet” -\n[https://github.com/reddit/reddit](https://github.com/reddit/reddit)\n\nReddit is comprised of thousands of user-run communities, each with its own\nfront page, unique focus, and moderator team. Founded in 2005, Reddit is a\nplace for community, conversation, and connection with over 250 million users\nworldwide. You’ll help build the exciting features, services, and\ninfrastructure tools needed to fuel the next wave of Reddit’s growth and get\nto directly see the impact of your work on hundreds of millions of users\naround the world.\n\nThe company is really great to work for with tons of amazing benefits (weekly\nmassages, breakfast & lunch, vacation stipend, unlimited vacation, and tons\nmore) and a great culture. It's rapidly growing, so we're hiring for many\ndifferent engineering roles including:\n\n* Backend Engineer (primarily using Python)\n\n* Data Engineer\n\n* Data Scientist\n\n* Full-stack Engineer\n\n* Frontend Engineer (primarily using Node.js, React, and Redux)\n\n* Senior Software Engineer - Android, iOS, Backend, Full-Stack, Frontend\n\n* Senior DevOps Engineer\n\nIf you're interested, check out our open positions at\n[https://about.reddit.com/careers/#jobs-16253](https://about.reddit.com/careers/#jobs-16253)\nand feel free to email me directly at reddineer at gmail dot com for any\ninfo/referrals.\n\n------\nmprodywus84\nKeyboarding Without Tears | Gaithersburg, MD | Front End Developer Software\nEngineer Job Duties:\n\n _8Design, develop, implement, and test front end administrative and student\nfacing technical products._ Collaborate with back-end and full stack\ndevelopers to enhance the user experience. _Work closely with UX and visual\ndesign teams to develop creative solutions that take into consideration the\ntechnical, organizational, schedule, and business requirements._ Collaborate\nwith support engineers and customer experience teams to understand customers'\nneeds. _Work closely with product owner, business analyst and customer\nexperience team to understand use cases and user needs._ Problem solve for\ndigital product development _Develop sites with responsive-designed adaptive\ntechnologies to meet the variable needs of differing browsers on multiple\ndevices._ Develop cutting edge code for digital products. Write technical\ndocumentation related to processes and specifications. *Troubleshoot general\nscripting and code issues.\n\nMore information/apply here:\n[https://hwtears.applicantpro.com/jobs/475251.html](https://hwtears.applicantpro.com/jobs/475251.html)\n\n------\nkepano\nLumi (YC W15) | [https://www.lumi.com](https://www.lumi.com) | Los Angeles, CA\n| Frontend/React Engineers | REMOTE OK | Fulltime\n\nLumi helps e-commerce brands design and order packaging online. We're solving\ncomplex supply chain problems involving everything from turning vector-based\ndesigns into production-ready artwork, to bringing elegance to the complex\nsystems of pricing, manufacturing, shipping and freight in the packaging\nindustry.\n\nOur stack: React, Node, Haskell, HapiJS, RethinkDB. As an engineer at Lumi,\nyou'll become an important part of our dynamic and productive team. You will\nbe leading projects building the architecture of our customer-facing site and\nbackend tools.\n\nBecause of our small team and rapid development cycle you'll have the\nopportunity to work on a wide variety of projects and interact closely with\nthe design and strategy of Lumi. Expertise with Javascript is required. Our\nstack consists of React, HapiJS, RethinkDB and Node. Our admin-facing tools\nare built in Haskell and React.\n\nYou can apply by going here:\n[https://www.lumi.com/jobs/apply](https://www.lumi.com/jobs/apply) or contact\nme directly stephan@lumi.com\n\n------\nthmorton\nCounsyl | Software Engineering (Robotics) | South San Francisco | ONSITE\n\nCounsyl is a health company that offers DNA screening for diseases that can\nimpact men, women, and their children. We screen patient's DNA for inherited\n(and other) conditions in our automated lab:\n[https://www.counsyl.com/](https://www.counsyl.com/)\n\nWe are looking for a Software Engineer to join the Automation Software team.\nWe are a small team that builds the software that runs automated systems that\nprepare blood samples for DNA sequencing. We have a modern stack (Python +\nDjango + Postgres + React running on Linux), and day-to-day do everything from\nbuilding user interfaces to controlling industrial robotic arms from a web\nbrowser.\n\nCheck out the links below and apply online, or shoot me an email at taj at\ncounsyl.com if this sounds interesting to you!\n\nVideo of our lab:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH4q428jAEs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH4q428jAEs)\n\nOfficial job posting: [https://www.counsyl.com/careers/software-engineer-\nautomation...](https://www.counsyl.com/careers/software-engineer-automation-\nrobotics/)\n\n~~~\nmalhaar\nHey! I have been following Counsyl for quite a long time, and it is very\nimpressive what you guys are doing. I am a python guy, and have done few open\nsource contributions; if not many. Are you guys very strict about 5 years of\nwork ex if one has Masters?\n\n------\nk_donald\nBloomberg | NYC & LONDON ONSITE | C++ Opportunities\n\nAt Bloomberg our technology doesn’t just inform the markets, it drives them.\nThe Trading & Analytics team is building industry-leading trading platforms\nand real time analytics applications to keep our clients ahead of the\ncompetition.\n\nC++ is our weapon of choice and we're looking for skilled engineers passionate\nabout making an impact to join us. Full job description here:\n[https://careers.bloomberg.com/job/detail/50222](https://careers.bloomberg.com/job/detail/50222)\n\nAs engineers, our environment is friendly and collaborative, and there are\nalways opportunities here to use new technologies, learn about finance, and\nget exposure to other areas of the business. We have opportunities in NYC &\nLondon - email me your resume @ kdonald1@bloomberg.com (put hackernews in the\nsubject line) and I will do my best to help you find a job here that matches\nyour skillset and interests. If you're fresh out of school, please apply here:\n[https://careers.bloomberg.com/job/detail/56444](https://careers.bloomberg.com/job/detail/56444)\n\n~~~\nlixingxian\nI can vouch for Kelly, she's busy but she will set aside time and energy for\nyou and isn't just sitting there resume farming\n\n------\n_bAp_\nMakeMeReach | Paris, France (near Opera) | Full Time | Onsite\n\nMakeMeReach is a fast-growing social ad tech company. We empower agencies\n(Havas, Dentsu-Aegis, GroupM...) and advertisers (Meetic, BlaBlaCar,\nL’Occitane...) to outperform their campaigns on Facebook, Twitter and\nInstagram, at scale.\n\nOur solution leverages a cutting-edge platform that automates and optimizes\nall social ads campaigns in one place, and a team of performance marketing\nexperts who maximize ads efficiency.\n\nOur intuitive tool and team expertise are leading to success thousand\ncustomers in hundred countries. MakeMeReach is vetted by Facebook, Twitter and\nInstagram as an Official Partner.\n\nWe are looking for a Full-Stack Software Engineer to join our amazing team.\nYou will be part of a human-size, fun and fast-moving team and you will have a\ndirect impact on the product. We would like someone who can learn quickly and\nplay ping-pong at a professional level (last point optional).\n\nStack : HHVM (Hack), Angular, MongoDB, Coffeescript, Node.js, Ping-Pong,\nFoosball\n\nAdvantages : Startup experiencing exponential growth, Attractive wages,\nAmazing office in the center of Paris, Autonomy, Fun environnement, ...\n\nWebsite : [http://makemereach.com/](http://makemereach.com/)\n\nApply : [https://makemereach.workable.com/](https://makemereach.workable.com/)\n\nCulture :\n[https://www.instagram.com/make_me_reach/](https://www.instagram.com/make_me_reach/)\n\n------\nalienhard\nScribd | San Francisco, CA | Senior Backend Engineer | VISA | ONSITE\n\nScribd is a reading subscription that gives you access to the best books,\naudiobooks, magazines, and more. Our mission is to re-imagine the way the\nworld reads.\n\nMy team is looking for smart engineers to work on recommendations, search, and\npayments (no experience in these areas required). We are a small team which\nmeans you can have a ton of impact and bring in your own ideas. We work on an\nambitious project to organize all the books in the world and use it to take\nbook discovery to the next level.\n\nScribd has a very friendly, engineering-driven company culture, is profitable,\nand well funded. We are ambitious but at the same time we value a good work\nlife balance.\n\nStack: Ruby on Rails (we are one of the largest Rails sites), Go, MySQL,\nRedis, Kafka, Spark (Scala). But we care way more about your personality and\nhacking skills than what languages you've used so far.\n\nScribd alumni have gone on to found 4 other YC companies, probably more than\nfrom any other startup our size. We think this says something about the kind\nof people that we like to hire.\n\nIf you have questions you can reach me at adrian at scribd.com (I'm the tech\nlead and happy to answer any question related to this role). Please apply\ndirectly via\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/scribd/jobs/76768](https://boards.greenhouse.io/scribd/jobs/76768).\nNB, we are also hiring for a lot of other positions:\n[https://www.scribd.com/about/jobs](https://www.scribd.com/about/jobs).\n\n------\nlinorosa\nAutomat | Several positions | Montreal, QC | ONSITE\n[http://www.automat.ai](http://www.automat.ai)\n\nAutomat's aim is to let companies use AI to talk to their customers over\npopular messaging apps to understand them and serve them better.\n\nOur stack includes Scala, Python, React, Docker, TensorFlow.\n\n* Full Stack Developer / Functional Developer: [https://automat.breezy.hr/p/36ff3f09893b-full-stack-develope...](https://automat.breezy.hr/p/36ff3f09893b-full-stack-developer)\n\n* AI Research Engineer: [https://automat.breezy.hr/p/3630e98317c6-ai-research-enginee...](https://automat.breezy.hr/p/3630e98317c6-ai-research-engineer)\n\n* Conversational User Interface Designer: [https://automat.breezy.hr/p/4696cebf2e45-conversational-user...](https://automat.breezy.hr/p/4696cebf2e45-conversational-user-interface-designer)\n\n* Head of Customer Delivery: [https://automat.breezy.hr/p/73ed155d7957-head-of-customer-de...](https://automat.breezy.hr/p/73ed155d7957-head-of-customer-delivery)\n\n------\nethanjdiamond\nMobile Software Engineer - iOS/Android | Seattle, WA | Full Time | ONSITE\n\n98point6 is an early-stage technology company in stealth mode. Our goal is\nsimple – we’re seeking to revolutionize the healthcare industry by applying\nleading-edge data science to greatly reduce the cost of primary care. We’re\nhiring several experienced software engineers to architect and build our\noffering. This is a unique opportunity to get in at the beginning of an\nexciting new company.\n\nThough 98point6 is still small, we are a company with strong values.\nIntegrity, trustworthiness, and transparency are a few of the values that we\nare building into our culture. Not only is the work we do innovative; the way\nwe do it is as well. 98point6 combines the culture of a startup with the\ninnovation and creativity of an R&D Lab. We offer a greenfield opportunity for\nbuilders to build and change the direction of modern healthcare.\n\n[https://www.98point6.com/](https://www.98point6.com/)\n[https://jobs.lever.co/98point6/73ee1a0a-1552-4033-ad2a-a059e...](https://jobs.lever.co/98point6/73ee1a0a-1552-4033-ad2a-a059e971adae)\n\n------\nrguldener\nAvrios | Software Engineering (Frontend, Fullstack, Web) | Zurich | Full Time\n| ONSITE\n\nAvrios is a very fast growing startup from Zurich which develops a SaaS\nplatform that help companies manage their cars better. Thanks to Avrios our\nclients go from Excel & Paper mess to a neatly organized system with the push\nof a button.\n\nWe're a very international team of 25 and have a driven, customer focused\nculture: We believe in data, learning every day and a strong focus on details,\nwhich make our product a delight to use.\n\nWe are hiring on all parts of the stack:\n\nFrontend Engineer/Web Developer (ES6/AngularJS) -\n[https://avrios.workable.com/jobs/406217](https://avrios.workable.com/jobs/406217)\n\nFullstack Engineer (Java + AngularJS) -\n[https://avrios.workable.com/jobs/406218](https://avrios.workable.com/jobs/406218)\n\nWeb Engineer/Web Developer (Python or NodeJS) -\n[https://avrios.workable.com/jobs/417904](https://avrios.workable.com/jobs/417904)\n\nWe are also hiring various business roles, you can find all positions here:\n[https://avrios.workable.com/](https://avrios.workable.com/)\n\nAnd if you are curious for more just visit our website (unfortunately German\nonly right now): [https://www.avrios.com](https://www.avrios.com)\n\nOr get in touch with me directly at robin (at) <company name> (dot) com\n\n------\nrobbomacrae\nSoundHound | NLU Engineers & other roles | Santa Clara / San Francisco /\nToronto / Sacaramento / Baltimore | ONSITE -\n[http://soundhound.com/careers](http://soundhound.com/careers)\n\nI'm an NLU / Data Engineer at SH. We've just raised $75 Million from NVIDIA,\nSamsung, KP and others to take on Amazon, Google in AI with our \"Collective\nAI\" Houndify platform. Houndify has the world’s fastest speech recognition and\nmost sophisticated natural language understanding.\n\nThings have come a long way since our leaked demo video took top spot on\nReddit a year ago!\n\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/38fdyl/this_is_insa...](https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/38fdyl/this_is_insane/)\n[https://www.houndify.com/](https://www.houndify.com/)\n[http://app.jobvite.com/m?3uCiQhw0](http://app.jobvite.com/m?3uCiQhw0)\n\nIf you have any questions you'd like to ask an engineer here just email me:\nrob at (company name) dot com.\n\n~~~\nabcd132\nDo you have any intern positions?\n\n------\ncynusx\nNoviCap | Senior software engineer | Barcelona | ONSITE, VISA novicap.com\n[https://gist.github.com/noverloop/c009b47332cb75b8659692753e...](https://gist.github.com/noverloop/c009b47332cb75b8659692753e..).\n\n=== About us ===\n\nNoviCap is helping companies that need money to get early payments for their\noutstanding invoices. We are based in Barcelona and have an international\nengineering team that likes rock climbing, predictable code, fantasy lore and\nscience!\n\n=== Senior software engineer ==\n\nWe are looking for a senior software engineer to help us roll out our early\ninvoice payment api to UK and US. It involves scaling, lots of scraping and\ngood knowledge of design patterns is a must.\n\nWe believe that great software is not written, it is rewritten once you get a\nmuch better idea of all the use-cases and common breakage patterns.\n\nYou must be experienced in at least one modern Object oriented programming\nlanguage and we'll assume you can learn a new language in a short timeframe.\n\nyou can find more info in the gist above, the website:\n[https://novicap.com/en/careers.html](https://novicap.com/en/careers.html) or\nby emailing me at nicolas@novicap.com\n\n~~~\nkamyarg\ngist is broken corrected link end with c009b47332cb75b8659692753eed58ff\n\n------\narthurcl\nFujitsu RunMyProcess | Site reliability Engineer | Paris, France |\nONSITE,VISA, [https://www.runmyprocess.com](https://www.runmyprocess.com)\n\nAs an innovation subsidiary of the Fujitsu group we develop, operate and sell\nan innovative cloud platform that helps our customers build and run\napplications that connect people, processes and systems.\n\nWe are looking for a site reliability engineer to join our Devops team that is\nresponsible for building and operating our platforms. Stack : AWS, CentOS,\nAnsible, Chef, Capistrano, JBoss, Docker, CoreOS, Prometheus and soon\nKubernetes.\n\nYou will: * Take a leading role in the operation and maintenance of our\nproduction platforms. * Join the oncall rotation team. * Work closely with our\ndevops and developers to build and scale our infrastructure constantly. *\nPartial remote work possible.\n\nYou profile: * 2+ years experience working as sysadmin, devops or related\nfield in critical/demanding environment. * Linux and OSS passionate (we are\nCentOS centric). * Experienced with automation tools (Ansible). * Experienced\nwith AWS.\n\nAvoid the confidence gap, you do not have to match all the listed requirements\nexactly to apply.\n\nApply: Arthur Clément, arthur@runmyprocess.com\n\n------\ntreyreynolds\nAbilitie | Full-Stack Software Engineer | Austin, TX | Full-Time |\n[http://www.abilitie.com](http://www.abilitie.com)\n\nAbilitie is an energetic 10-person company located at the Capital Factory in\nthe heart of downtown Austin. We've built a profitable business creating\nmulti-player business strategy games for corporate training. Our award-winning\nsimulations are used in 20 countries and by many Fortune 2000 companies.\n\nWe’re looking for a Full-Stack Software Engineer to join the team building\nboth the new Nextvite platform as well as aid in supporting our simulation-\nbased learning apps. In this role, you will be responsible for growing and\nsupporting architecture, implementation, testing, and deployment of our web\nand mobile application.\n\nWe offer a competitive salary, health insurance, parking, a stipend to\npurchase your development machine, and opportunities for domestic and\ninternational travel (not required), along with many other perks that come\nwith working at the Capital Factory in Austin!\n\nApply here: [http://www.abilitie.com/full-stack-software-\nengineer](http://www.abilitie.com/full-stack-software-engineer)\n\n------\nnkane213\nTransfix | New York City | Front-end Engineers, Full-stack Engineers, Data\nEngineers | Full-time onsite\n\nAt Transfix, our vision is to efficiently move any freight to anyplace in the\nworld over land, sea, or air, starting with trucking. We work to make\nlogistics effortless, fair, and efficient through the use of software. Come\nmove atoms with bits.\n\nWe've raised our Series B, and just got named one of the top 10 startups to\nwatch in NYC by Inc: [http://www.inc.com/zoe-henry/10-new-york-startups-to-\nwatch-i...](http://www.inc.com/zoe-henry/10-new-york-startups-to-watch-\nin-2017.html)\n\n\\- Our stack is currently React/Redux and Aurelia on the front-end, and\nRails/Node/Lambda on Docker for the backend. But we have lots of green-field\nprojects ahead to try new stuff. \\- We're well-funded with founders who deeply\nunderstand the domain we're serving (the freight logistics industry), and\nseveral were early employees at Gilt Groupe. \\- We're all about constant\nlearning as an engineering team through code reviews, experimenting with new\ntools, and internal tech talks and doing meetups in NYC.\n\nOur interview consistent of a short technical video chat (with a Transfix\nengineer) interview followed by half-day on-site where you'll meet various\nteam members (including the co-founders) and go through a more coding\nproblems. I'm a front-end engineer at Transfix and think it's an amazing place\nto solve complicated, real-world problems. Feel free to email me with\nquestions (nathankane@transfix.io), or apply directly at\n[https://jobs.lever.co/transfix](https://jobs.lever.co/transfix)\n\n------\ngregwebs\nKarius | Redwood City, CA | ONSITE | Full-time | Software Engineer or Analyst\n\nKarius has taken the genomic sequencing revolution (NGS) out of the lab to\ntransform infectious disease testing. Traditional testing approaches rely on\nhypothesis-driven testing, but we directly sequence the pathogen DNA to\ndetermine what a patient is infected with.\n\nI am a software engineer without a biotech background. I really appreciate\nworking with a team with diverse backgrounds and having the opportunity to\nlearn many new things. Its nice that Karius is still a startup where you can\nmake significant contributions in one area or broaden your understanding of\ndifferent areas.\n\nThere is a great vibe at Karius: people are happy to come to be at work, there\nis a lot of maturity, and everyone seems to bring their own special talents\ninto the mix. We have company retreats twice a year and we care about making\nit possible to experience joy at work.\n\nWe are greatly expanding our engineering team this year.\n\n• Bioinformatics Pipeline: Bioinformatics experience not required if you are\nan eager learner. Experience or desire to work with a strongly-typed language\n(Rust, Haskell, Scala, F#, OCaml, Flow/TypeScript2).\n\n• Front-End: TypeScript, React, CSS, and work well with designers\n\n• Dev-Ops: Docker, building infrastructure on AWS with terraform and\nCloudFormation. Postgres, MySQL\n\n• Backend Web Services: service oriented architecture in a regulated\nenvironment, schema modeling, REST APIs with Swagger documentation\n\nWe are also hiring for our analytics team to do bioinformatics analysis.\n\nwebsite: kariusdx.com jobs at kariusdx.com\n\n------\nHNtribal\nTribalScale | Toronto, Canada | Orange County, California | Full time | Onsite\n| [http://www.tribalscale.com/](http://www.tribalscale.com/)\n\nTribalScale is a mobile first company that specializes in connected devices\nand the Internet of Things. Located in the heart of downtown Toronto,\nTribalScale is a rapidly growing Product Development firm that aims to collide\nthe physical and digital worlds. Our team members have a history of partnering\nwith some of the world’s most premium brands, helping to shepherd businesses\ninto the connected age. We are growing extremely fast and looking for talented\nsoftware engineers to support that growth. Some of the platforms and\nenvironments that we have worked on and will be working on are: Mobile apps &\nWeb Services (iOS, Android, Smartwatches, Google Glass & Other Wearables,\nConnected Home,Smart TVs, Beacon solutions\n\nWe're hiring for many roles including:\n\n\\- Full Stack Web Engineer\n\n\\- iOS Engineer\n\n\\- Android Engineer\n\n\\- UI/UX Designer\n\n\\- Enterprise Solutions Architect\n\n\\- Mobile QA\n\nPlease apply here\n[https://tribalscale.workable.com](https://tribalscale.workable.com) or email\ntlui [at] tribalscale.com if you’re interested in learning more.\n\n------\nlyschoening\nDTU Biosustain | Software Engineer (Web) | Copenhagen, Denmark | Full-time,\nONSITE, VISA, [http://biosustain.dtu.dk](http://biosustain.dtu.dk)\n\nWe are seeking a developer to join our team developing a web platform that\nsupports genetic engineering of microbial strains for sustainable chemical\nproduction at our center. We write services and UIs for storage, analysis and\nvisualization of experimental data produced by our scientists.\n\nOur stack in no particular order: JavaScript, TypeScript, Angular, Angular-\nMaterial, Python, Flask/aiohttp/gRPC, Redis, PostgreSQL, NumPy/SciPy,\nBiopython, Docker\n\nYou would be expected to have strengths in developing single-page web\napplications, development using Python or both. A collaborative attitude,\ninterest in science and willingness to learn matters more than knowing\nspecific tools.\n\nTo read more about the position and apply, visit:\n\n[http://stackoverflow.com/jobs/132915/developer-for-\nscientifi...](http://stackoverflow.com/jobs/132915/developer-for-scientific-\nweb-services-in-angular-dtu-biosustain)\n\nYou are also welcome to email me directly at lays@biosustain.dtu.dk\n\n------\nStylightGmbH\nStylight | Munich | ONSITE, FULLTIME,\n[http://www.stylight.com/](http://www.stylight.com/)\n\nWe’re a fashion company but you won’t have to wear the latest Karl Lagerfeld.\nA hoodie or your favorite Docker shirt will do just fine. You don’t even need\nto like fashion at all, but a certain admiration for Ken Thompson, Rob Pike or\nMartin Fowler is always appreciated. You don’t speak German? No big deal, we\nuse English as our main language.\n\nLooking forward to receiving your application! Cheers!\n\nVP Engineering - [http://jobs.stylight.com/vp-\nengineering/](http://jobs.stylight.com/vp-engineering/)\n\nReally, Really Good Software Developer - [http://jobs.stylight.com/really-\nreally-good-software-develop...](http://jobs.stylight.com/really-really-good-\nsoftware-developer/)\n\nSenior Android Developer - [http://jobs.stylight.com/senior-android-\ndeveloper/](http://jobs.stylight.com/senior-android-developer/)\n\nBackend Developer - [http://jobs.stylight.com/backend-\ndeveloper/](http://jobs.stylight.com/backend-developer/)\n\nSenior Data Scientist - [http://jobs.stylight.com/senior-data-\nscientist/](http://jobs.stylight.com/senior-data-scientist/)\n\nFrontend Developer - [http://jobs.stylight.com/frontend-\ndeveloper/](http://jobs.stylight.com/frontend-developer/)\n\n------\nanthonylukach\nOsprey Informatics | QA Developer/Product Owner | Calgary, AB, Canada | ONSITE\n\nHelp us build the visual layer of the Industrial Internet of Things. We have\nbuilt a fault-tolerant SAAS product to manage a distributed network of\ncameras, sensors, and on-premise servers. We employ both Cloud and Fog\ncomputing architectures to ingest, process, and store hundreds of thousands of\nimages daily. Data is processed utilizing a number of computer vision/machine\nlearning techniques (eg convolutional neural networks).\n\nOsprey Informatics is looking for a new team-member to take ownership of the\ndevelopment’s QA process. This person should be a take-charge developer, have\na strong desire to automate whenever possible, and possess a passion for\nquality and a sense of pride when a job is done right. Our development team is\nboth a product development team as well as a research team in the area of\nComputer Vision and Machine Learning. We write software deployed both to the\ncloud and on-premise servers. We follow the Scrum Agile framework, use JIRA to\ndrive all work and Confluence for documentation.\n\nThis is a unique position in that it straddles two roles.\n\n\\- At least 5 years experience working in QA role\n\n\\- At least 3 years experience with a scripting language (eg Python, BASH)\n\n\\- Experience with testing methodologies (such as: Unit Testing, Integration\nTesting, System Testing, Acceptance Testing, Performance Testing)\n\n\\- Excellent written and spoken communications skills\n\n\\- Experience with Continuous Integration and Deployment\n\n\\- Experience with Git and branching strategies\n\nEmail me at anthony@ospreyinformatics.com for more information.\n\n------\nmcgoverncadre\nCadre | New York (NYC/SOHO), NY | Full-time | Senior Full Stack Software\nEngineer (React/Node) | [https://cadre.com/careers](https://cadre.com/careers)\n\nThe Cadre team is growing. We believe software is not only eating the world,\nit’s eating finance, and we’re feeding the beast. We’re building, from the\nground up, a technology-driven trading platform for the coveted commercial\nreal estate asset class, previously only accessible to the largest\ninstitutional investors.\n\nBecause we’re passionate about opening access to this historically exclusive\nmarketplace to an ever broader group of participants, we’re relentlessly\nbuilding an experience so intuitive and efficient individuals and institutions\nalike are empowered to invest. With technology as our core engine, we’re also\nengineering machine learning and data science strategies to accelerate\ndiscovery and vet better assets, faster.\n\nWe have raised roughly $70 million to date, from outstanding venture investors\nincluding Khosla Ventures, Thrive Capital, General Catalyst, Founders Fund,\nand Goldman Sachs.\n\nFull Stack Engineer:\n[https://cadre.com/careers?gh_jid=554376](https://cadre.com/careers?gh_jid=554376)\nSenior Full Stack Engineer:\n[https://cadre.com/careers?gh_jid=75123](https://cadre.com/careers?gh_jid=75123)\nSite Reliability Engineer:\n[https://cadre.com/careers?gh_jid=460998](https://cadre.com/careers?gh_jid=460998)\nSoftware Engineer in Test:\n[https://cadre.com/careers?gh_jid=155526](https://cadre.com/careers?gh_jid=155526)\n\n~~~\nlady_gigi_\nThis company is backed by the Kushners (Thrive) and Peter Thiel. Curious:\nAnyone deterred from applying for that reason?\n\n~~~\nDrewChambersDC\nNo way, not everyone in tech is a leftist.\n\n------\nsthielen\nGoMeta | Augmented Reality | San Diego, CA | Full-time, Onsite or Remote\n\nAngel backed ($2M), led by Xooglers, GoMeta is building a platform that allows\nanyone to create interactive AR experiences. What Youtube did for the\npublishing, distribution, and discovery of video, we are doing for AR.\n\nOur early beta testers have already built all kinds of stuff -\n[https://medium.com/@metaverseapp](https://medium.com/@metaverseapp)\n\nSome other links:\n\n[http://www.gometa.io/about/](http://www.gometa.io/about/)\n\n[https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/ex-googler-\nraises-2-...](https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/ex-googler-\nraises-2-million-debuts-platform-to-let-you-build)\n\n[http://www.cbs8.com/clip/12772141/mad-dash-for-hidden-\ncash-d...](http://www.cbs8.com/clip/12772141/mad-dash-for-hidden-cash-\ndowntown-saturday)\n\nWe are running quickly, and are looking for exceptional developers. Some of\nthe technologies and languages we currently work with are Swift, React, and\nNode.\n\nEmail sean@gometa.io if interested\n\n------\nralphz\nSimplePractice | Santa Monica (Los Angeles area) | Onsite/Full time |\n[https://www.simplepractice.com](https://www.simplepractice.com)\n\nSimplePractice is the future of practice management. We’re at the forefront of\nmaking it simple for clinicians to run and grow their practices. We’ve built\nthe highest-rated practice management software and we’re on track to become\nthe most-used product in our industry.\n\nWe are looking for a passionate, motivated and skilled (senior) Full Stack\nengineer (Ruby on Rails/Ember.JS) and a mid-level to senior front-end engineer\n(Excellent HTML5/CSS3 and Ember.JS/ReactJS) to make an impact in the health\ncare industry. We value delivering a great customer experience,\nclean/maintainable code, automated testing and code reviews.\n\nYou can find out more here\n[https://www.simplepractice.com/careers/](https://www.simplepractice.com/careers/)\n\nOur stack includes Ruby Rails, EmberJS, React, MySQL, Postgres, Redis,\nSidekiq, Elasticsearch, Chef\n\nIf you have any questions or you are interested - Please reach out to me (CTO)\nralph@simplepractice.com\n\n------\njfriedman\nAclaimant, Inc | Software Engineer, Clojure | US | Full-time, REMOTE,\naclaimant.com\n\nAclaimant is looking to expand it's development team. We're a small team that\nis looking to grow significantly this year. We work remotely from the comfort\nof our own homes. Our current stack consists of Clojure for our servers and\nClojureScript on our front end. If you're interested in learning more, contact\nus at jobs@aclaimant.com\n\n------\nTorn\nSkyscanner | full-time senior hires | London, Barcelona, Edinburgh, Glasgow,\nBudapest, Sofia | ONSITE, VISA\n[http://www.skyscanner.net/jobs/](http://www.skyscanner.net/jobs/)\n\nWe're one of the biggest travel search products in the world. Recently\nacquired by CTrip, China's biggest travel services provider, we have a unique\nposition in the market and are continuing our incredible growth as a tech\ncompany.\n\nHiring at an experienced level in lots of disciplines: backend with\nmicroservices & distributed systems, big data & data science, full stack\n(modern frontend + api skills - particularly Node or Python), designers,\nproduct, iOS & Android. We're growing in all of our European offices; London\nand Barcelona in particular.\n\nWe want to hire people looking for large-scale challenges and building new\nproducts. In short, if you've got good industry experience, know what best\npractices look like, and have the drive to improve product and people around\nyou, we're interested.\n\nOur current focuses are around high-frequency travellers, data-driven\npersonalization and recommendation, as well as developer enablement and\ntooling. What should the future look like -- how do we best use our data, our\nscale and new technologies to our advantage as we grow? Come help us find out.\n\nPlease ping me an email at alex.treppass@skyscanner.net for a referral. Happy\nto answer questions or pass you to someone who can. CV in pdf or word doc\nformat would be ideal.\n\nOn a personal note, I see a lot of freedom, responsibility, accountability\nhere. Engineers have room to make decisions, move fast, and the encouragement\nto make things better. It's exciting.\n\n------\naprioni\nMeasurence | Junior Python Developer, Frontend/Full-Stack web developer,\nMarketing Manager | NY, Milan (Italy) | Full time, remote\n\n\\------\n\nOur vision\n\n90% of the economy lives offline but we know very little of what happens\nthere. Our vision is to quantify and understand the physical world around us\nto improve business decision making.\n\nWe analyze people behavior in physical spaces by collecting millions of data\npoints with our simple, plug&play WiFi sensor and we build algorithms that\ndelivers actionable analytics from the physical world.\n\n\\------\n\nWho we are\n\nWe are a remote first company committed to creating a strong culture based on\nthe values we live by: Transparency, Honesty, Autonomy, Curiosity, Commitment,\nApproachability, Creativity, Collaborativity, Frugality, Ownership, Focus.\n\nWe believe that while implementation experience is essential, enthusiasm and\ninterest can trump experience: we are willing to take a chance on someone who\nwants to step up!\n\nWe're still young but we've just closed a $1mln seed round that we will use to\ngrow faster and we have been selected for prestigious acceleration programs\nlike Cisco EIR in SJ, Acceleprise SF and EU IMPACT.\n\n\\------\n\nWhat we are looking for:\n\n\\- a frontend developer: Javascript, React \\- a junior Python developer for\nour data science team: math background, knowledge or willingness to learn\nstatistics \\- a marketing manager: B2B, PR, inbound marketing\n\n\\------\n\nIf this sounds interesting and our culture resonates with yours, we'd love to\ntalk to you => email me at aprioni@measurence.com\n\n------\nmkohlmyr\nSnapEngage | Senior Front-End Software Developer | Berlin, Germany | ONSITE,\nVISA [https://snapengage.com](https://snapengage.com)\n\nSnapEngage is a live chat solution for support and sales teams. We are looking\nto hire a senior front-end developer who would primarily help to design and\ndevelop the next version of our chat portal and analytics offering.\n\nOur Berlin office has a multi-national and multi-lingual team, you can work 2\ndays per week from home and we will be providing weekly german classes at the\noffice. We also have an annual team building trip, this year it's in Portugal!\n\nOur ideal candidate has 5 or more years professional experience as a\nJavaScript developer, has worked on large scale web applications and has very\ngood knowledge of React, Angular or a comparable framework / library.\nExperience with D3, GWT and other programming languages are a plus.\n\nPlease see the full job description here:\n[https://snapengage.com/careers/senior-front-end-software-\ndev...](https://snapengage.com/careers/senior-front-end-software-dev-berlin/)\n\n------\naajhiggs\nAkkroo | Full Stack Web Developers, Customer Success, B2B Sales | London |\nONSITE, VISA, [https://akkroo.com](https://akkroo.com)\n\nOur mobile and web based SaaS product for marketing & sales teams improves\neverything about collecting customer lead data at events, tradeshows and\nexhibitions.\n\nWe’re 4 years old, SaaS based product, healthy and growing quickly. Our global\ncustomers include Aston Martin, PayPal, IBM, Vogue and Patagonia.\n\nI’m Andy, one of the co-founders, and right now I'm hiring for a PHP full\nstack developer to join our engineering team:\n\n[https://akkroo.com/jobs/developer](https://akkroo.com/jobs/developer)\n\nOur hiring process includes a video or face-to-face chat and a role-specific\ntask (which we’ll step through together). If you’re used to working at an\nagency and would love to focus on delivering a SaaS product instead, we could\nbe a great fit.\n\nWe're also looking out for smart, friendly people with experience in Customer\nSuccess and B2B Sales:\n\n[https://akkroo.com/jobs](https://akkroo.com/jobs)\n\nGot questions? Ask me! jobs+andy+hn@akkroo.com\n\n~~~\njarofgreen\nJust FYI,\n[https://akkroo.com/jobs/developer](https://akkroo.com/jobs/developer) says no\nVisa's and this says Visas.\n\n------\nmichaelgao\nNewYork Presbyterian-Hospital Innovation Center | Full-time Fellowship | NYC\n\nAs part of our mission, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital continues to support\nprocesses and programs to keep up with advancements in healthcare and stay on\nthe cutting edge. One way we achieve this is through our NYP Innovation\nCenter, comprised of pioneering professionals who use the Hospital's powerful\ncare delivery network (with thousands of micro environments, practices, and\nworkflows) to work with new concepts and technologies, prototype rapidly, and\ncreate transformative enterprise-level solutions.\n\nEach year, we select one outstanding individual to be the Silverman Fellow.\nThis Fellow joins the NYP Innovation Center’s startup-like environment,\nreceives careful mentorship, gains unprecedented access to Hospital\noperations, and connects with senior leadership. Through this experience, he\nor she learns to take ideas from concept to practice-changing product.\n\nSee\n[http://innovatenyp.org/silvermanfellowship/](http://innovatenyp.org/silvermanfellowship/)\nfor more details.\n\nContact me personally with any questions by PM.\n\n~~~\nTech1\nDrop your contact info in your profile please!\n\n~~~\nmichaelgao\nThanks - added it.\n\n------\nnutonomy\nnuTonomy | [http://grnh.se/f75mb21](http://grnh.se/f75mb21) | dozen of\npositions in self-driving cars technology | Cambridge (MA), Santa Monica,\nZurich, Singapore | full-time\n\nCome work on our fleet of self-driving cars!\n\nnuTonomy aims to be the first company in the world to launch an autonomous\ntaxi system, and we are building up an awesome team to make this goal a\nreality. This includes software for autonomous vehicle navigation in urban\nenvironments, smartphone-based ride hailing, fleet routing and management, and\ncontrolling a vehicle remotely through teleoperation. The company’s software\nhas been tested in the U.S., Singapore, and Europe.\n\nCurrently, the positions that have a formal opening are: Vice President of\nEngineering, Perception Lead, Computer Vision Research Scientist, Control\nSystem Engineer, ECU Engineer - Automotive, Embedded / GPU Software Engineer,\nEngineering - Recent Graduates, Functional Safety Engineer, Machine Learning\nSpecialist, Mapping and Localization Engineer, Motion Planning Engineer,\nPerception Engineer, Radar Engineer, Software Test Engineer, Software Test\nEngineer, Sr. Cyber Security Engineer, Sr. Software Engineer - C++, Sr.\nSoftware Engineer - Full Stack, Sr. Software Engineer - Simulation, Sr.\nSoftware Engineer - Tools and Infrastructure, Sr. Systems Administrator, UI/UX\nDesigner.\n\nThese positions are available across our 4 offices: Cambridge (MA), Santa\nMonica (CA), Zurich, Singapore.\n\nSee the complete listing at: [http://grnh.se/f75mb21](http://grnh.se/f75mb21)\n\n _We are more than happy to tailor our positions for exceptional candidates:\nwhat would you like to work on, exactly?_\n\n~~~\njmcmahon443\nHi, I just finished revising my cover letter and applying to the intern\nposition. Looking forward to your reply!\n\n------\nblazamos\nCoinbase | Senior Software Engineer (full-stack), Product Manager (PM) |\nonsite in San Francisco or remote |\n[https://www.coinbase.com/](https://www.coinbase.com/)\n\nCoinbase (YC S12) is creating an open financial system for the world. As a\nsoftware or infrastructure engineer at Coinbase you will help build the future\nof payments infrastructure and digital currencies like bitcoin and ethereum.\nWe're looking for people especially excited about payment\nsystems/microservices, ethereum smart contracts/tokens and cryptocurrency\ninfrastructure (e.g. our hot/cold storage, private key infrastructure for both\nbitcoin and ethereum).\n\nSenior Software Engineer —\n[https://www.coinbase.com/careers/477665](https://www.coinbase.com/careers/477665)\n\nProduct Manager (PM) —\n[https://www.coinbase.com/careers/16847](https://www.coinbase.com/careers/16847)\n\nTech stack: • Ruby and Ruby on Rails • Node.js • React.js • PostgreSQL •\nMongoDB • CoreOS • Docker • Kinesis • Etcd • ELK\n\n------\nmcafeeryan92\nRaise.me | Full time | SF (ONSITE) | Senior Full-Stack Engineer, Full-Stack\nEngineer, Lead iOS Engineer\n\nRaise.me is expanding access to college by reinventing how scholarships are\nawarded ([https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/21/technology/got-an-a-in-\nal...](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/21/technology/got-an-a-in-algebra-\nthats-worth-120.html)). We're a Series A funded startup backed by top\ninvestors such as First Round Capital. We're looking for engineers and offer a\nmeaningful equity stake along with great benefits and competitive pay.\n\nTech stack: Ruby/Rails, Node microservices, Go microservices, React.js/Redux\nfrontend\n\nHere are the listings: [https://www.raise.me/jobs](https://www.raise.me/jobs)\nand here is a bit about life at Raise.me: [https://medium.com/@raiseme/life-\nraise-me-69d546d65c6b](https://medium.com/@raiseme/life-raise-me-69d546d65c6b)\n\nApply to jobs[AT]raise.me or you can email me directly at ryan[AT]raise.me.\n\n------\nkonfio\nKonfio | [https://konfio.mx/](https://konfio.mx/) | Database / Full Stack /\nBackend / Front End / DevOps / QA / Engineers, Data Scientist, SET's (Software\nEngineer in Test) | Mexico City ONSITE | Full time\n\nAbout Konfio: Small businesses are the backbone of the economy, yet have been\ncompletely disregarded by banks. Konfío was created in order to finally change\nthis! Our mission is to fuel the growth of promising small businesses so they\nbecome strong and relevant in their field.\n\nKonfío is an online lending platform for small businesses in Mexico, using\nalternative data for rapid credit assessment, allowing owners to focus on\nwhat’s important: Growing their business.\n\nWe’ve had awesome traction and are venture-backed by QED Investors, Kaszek\nVentures, Accion, and Jaguar Ventures. Considered one of the 5 Most Successful\nstartups in Mexico according to El Financiero, we are building a world-class\nFinTech team in order to set the new standard.\n\nFor more and to apply: [https://konfio.mx/jobs](https://konfio.mx/jobs)\n\n------\ncuriousphil\nCurious Media | Boise, ID | Full Stack Software Engineer | Full-time, onsite\n\nCurious Media is a interactive agency devoted to creating ridiculously fun\nexperiences for children and adults alike. We create everything from kids\nmovie websites to games, apps and connected toys. Our regular clients include\nDisney, Hasbro, Warner Bros., PBS Kids, Scholastic, Dreamworks and a host of\nother kid focused companies.\n[http://www.curiousmedia.com](http://www.curiousmedia.com)\n\nWe’ve been around since 2004 and have a team of 35. We are extremely stable\nand have many employees who have been with the company for 6-12 years now. We\nare very mindful and focused on being a family friendly workplace, both in the\ntype of jobs we take and our expectations of employees time. We rarely work\nmore than 40 hours a week and when we do, we give PTO at a 1:1 ratio (any\nhours over 45 in a week).\n\nWe are more specifically located in Nampa, about 14 miles west of Boise. Many\nemployees commute from Boise/Meridian and its rarely more than a 25 minute\ncommute as all the traffic is going towards Boise (and the opposite on the way\nhome). This area is amazingly affordable and provides easy access to a wealth\nof outdoor activities. The closest respectable ski mountain is only about 30\nminutes from downtown Boise and there are some world class resorts within 2-3\nhours (Sun Valley, Tamarack, Brundage). If you are from one of the larger\ncities and looking for a change of pace, you should check Boise out!\n\nMore details here: [http://www.curiousmedia.com/assets/content/curious-media-\nweb...](http://www.curiousmedia.com/assets/content/curious-media-web-\ndeveloper.pdf)\n\nApply: jobs@curiousmedia.com\n\n------\ncbogie\nMesosphere, Inc. is hiring a variety of software engineers to help build the\nDatacenter Operating System, based upon Apache Mesos. If you're looking to\nwork on distributed systems, large clusters at scale, containers &\nmicroservices, and big data frameworks, we'd love to hear from you. Languages\nwe use include Scala, Java, Erlang, Go, C++, Python, & Javascript.\n\nWe start the process with an introductory call, then a coding challenge +\nreview call, followed by a full day of onsite interviews. Software Engineer\nopenings:\n\n-Infinity (SF): [http://grnh.se/rjxb2e](http://grnh.se/rjxb2e)\n\n-Marathon (SF & Hamburg: [http://grnh.se/pab62x](http://grnh.se/pab62x)\n\n-Networking (SF & Hamburg): [http://grnh.se/5psoa0](http://grnh.se/5psoa0)\n\n-Foundations (SF): [http://grnh.se/5bsnkd1](http://grnh.se/5bsnkd1)\n\n-Frontend (SF & Hamburg): [http://grnh.se/f3wyvu](http://grnh.se/f3wyvu)\n\n-Mesos (SF & Hamburg): [http://grnh.se/2daykb](http://grnh.se/2daykb)\n\n-Intern (SF & Hamburg): [http://grnh.se/a4052y](http://grnh.se/a4052y)\n\nWe are hiring for full time roles in our SF, CA and Hamburg, Germany offices,\nand will sponsor visas wherever possible.\n\nIf it makes sense for you and works for our team, we are open to remote, home\noffice working arrangements, in both the US and EMEA.\n\n------\nshabonkerz\nMetromile | Senior Frontend Engineer | SF | ONSITE\n[https://www.metromile.com](https://www.metromile.com)\n\nAbout Metromile:\n\nMetromile is a start-up that is disrupting the $185 billion car insurance\nmarket by offering an entirely new model where the monthly bill is based on\nmiles driven, paired with a smart driving app. Our product marries engineering\nand data science to deliver mobile technology, automotive telematics, and\ndata-driven applications to make a car's data accessible and useful to modern\ndrivers, including street sweeping alerts, trip stats, decoded check-engine\nlights, and car location. We aim to make car ownership as simple and\naffordable as it can be.\n\nWhat we're looking for:\n\n\\- 4-6+ years of hands-on development experience working on consumer-facing\nproducts\n\n\\- 4+ years working with JavaScript, HTML, & CSS\n\n\\- Experience with Angular, or any MV* or component-based frameworks\n\nTechnologies:\n\n\\- CoffeeScript, Gulp, Sass, and Angular(1.3, 1.5, and soon migrating to 2.0+\nw/ TypeScript).\n\nJoel Test Score: 11/12\n\nFunding: $205.5M since 2011\n\nApply here: [http://grnh.se/2dntly1](http://grnh.se/2dntly1)\n\nQuestions? Drop me a line at arudick at metromile.com\n\n------\nahultgren\nOmni (Schibsted) | Senior Full Stack Engineer | Stockholm, Sweden | Onsite |\nFull-Time\n\nOmni is an award winning news app (and website) with the focus on\npersonalization and quick and complete news coverage (aggregating all other\nnews sources).\n\nYou will be part of a small and efficient team (4 full stack devs, 1 UX, and 1\ndesigner in Stockholm; 4 Android and iOS devs in Gdansk) who have just begun\nexpanding the app into new markets. We're small enough that you will have a\nbig impact, but there's still plenty of career opportunities within the rest\nof Schibsted.\n\nWe're looking for a senior engineer that is very experienced with javascript\nand node.js (or so good at other stuff and willing to learn that it doesn't\nmatter). The rest of our stack consists of Postgresql and Elastic Search,\nvirtual-dom for the web, and Heroku and Kubernetes/AWS for hosting.\n\nHowever, we're constantly experimenting and innovating and no strangers to\ntrying new technology when we get a good opportunity (personally I can't wait\nto use Elm in production; we just need more devs who knows it!).\n\nEmail me at andreas@omni.se if you're interested.\n\n------\nsankethkatta\nSmartcar API | Frontend, Backend, Business Development, Design | Mountain\nView, CA | ONSITE | [https://smartcar.com](https://smartcar.com)\n\nWe're a small team (9 people) making a big change in transportation.\nTechnological additions to vehicles are kicking off a new era of better\ntransportation which is affordable, greener, and safer. The automotive\nindustry is undergoing the most disruptive changes since its inception. We\nbelieve the future of transportation is Autonomous, Electric, Shared and\nConnected. Smartcar is building an API platform to solve the \"connected\" part\nof it.\n\nThe positions we are hiring for:\n\n\\+ Business Development / Account Manager with 2+ years of experience.\n\n\\+ Software Engineer with 2+ years of experience. Our stack is Node.js,\nPostgres, Redis, Docker, AWS.\n\n\\+ Designer (contract position) to shape the UX and design of our frontends.\n\nIf you are interested in helping us modernize transportation and enjoy working\nin a collaborative environment, we'd like to meet you. $95K to $130K + up to\n1.0% equity\n\nIf you want to learn more, email me at sanketh@smartcar.com or call me at 530\n475 2882. No recruiters.\n\n------\nscottaj2\nCampspot | Denver | Full-Time | Onsite |\n[http://campspot.com](http://campspot.com)\n\nCampspot is hiring a senior full-stack web developer. We’re a startup that\ncreates online reservation and management software for campgrounds.\n\nOur development team is really small right now (3 devs) but we have a ton of\npositive growth on the business side and are looking to expand. Whoever gets\nhired into this role will have the opportunity to have a big impact on our\nculture, technology, and business.\n\nOur stack is Java on the backend (Java 8 and Dropwizard, no XML) and Angular 1\non the front end (considering options to change that going forward, haven’t\ndecided on anything yet). Experience with any part of our stack is a big plus\nbut not a requirement.\n\nThis is a full-time permanent position, not looking for contractors or\nfreelancers.\n\nFeel free to email me (al.scott at campspot.com) and ask any questions about\nCampspot, the position, or our technology.\n\nYou can apply here:\n[https://campspot.recruiterbox.com/jobs/fk06vjw](https://campspot.recruiterbox.com/jobs/fk06vjw)\n\n------\nquadrature\nShopify | Canada (Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Waterloo and now San Francisco!)\n| Full-time, Internships | Onsite | Remote | VISA\n\nShopify is a platform that allows entrepreneurs to easily setup an online\nstore. We build solutions that empower merchants at every step of their\njourney. Our product help merchants who are just starting as well as\nestablished brands that need a solution that can scale with their traffic.\nWe're always working on products that make it easier for entrepreneurs to\nreach their audience and help them make data driven decisions. Shopify is\nbuilt in Ruby on Rails running on a stack composed of Docker, Golang, Python,\nMysql, Kafka, HDFS and Apache Spark. If you're interested in building tools\nthat empower Entrepreneurs come take a look at who we are and what we're doing\n[https://jobs.lever.co/shopify?lever-\nvia=XBuWsYM_Q2](https://jobs.lever.co/shopify?lever-via=XBuWsYM_Q2)\n[https://github.com/Shopify](https://github.com/Shopify).\n\n~~~\nrakeshkadamati\nDon't see any internship listings at that link, can you point me in the right\ndirection on applying for an internship?\n\n~~~\nquadrature\njumped the gun on this a bit, looks like we're done hiring for our summer\nterm.\n\n------\nro_bo\nAltspaceVR | Software Engineers | Redwood City, CA | Onsite | Full-time |\nPermanent eligibility to work in US required | Virtual reality, Unity, Rails,\nHTML5, React, ES6, WebGL, three.js\n\nAbout us: [http://altvr.com](http://altvr.com)\n\nOpen positions: [http://jobs.altvr.com](http://jobs.altvr.com)\n\nOur team: [http://altvr.com/team](http://altvr.com/team)\n\nWHO WE ARE:\n\n\\- AltspaceVR is a virtual reality software company building a platform for\ncommunication in VR.\n\n\\- Backed by some of the best investors on the planet\n([https://altvr.com/about/](https://altvr.com/about/))\n\n\\- With a team that is passionate about the future of VR.\n\nWHAT WE BELIEVE:\n\n\\- VR will be for everyone.\n\n\\- The social connection enabled by VR will change your life (and we can show\nit to you.)\n\n\\- We should embrace everything that is great about the 2D web.\n\n\\- That we can and will invent the 3D web.\n\nFor more info: [http://altvr.com](http://altvr.com) For open positions:\n[http://jobs.altvr.com](http://jobs.altvr.com)\n\n------\nadamd_shieldai\nShield AI | San Diego, CA | Full-Time | Onsite | US Citizen\n\nWe protect service members and innocent civilians with artificially\nintelligent systems. With regard to ground combat missions, Shield AI's goal\nis to reduce American and civilian casualties to 0 by 2030. Along the way, we\nhope to inspire other entrepreneurs to help this community - which is under-\nserved by tech companies. Help us advance the field of autonomous navigation,\nperception, and multi-agent operations. Expect challenging work, broad\nresponsibility, brilliant colleagues, lots of fun, and the chance to make a\nmeaningful difference in the lives of millions of people.\n\nWe're looking to hire:\n\n\\- Software Engineers | $70K – $120K | up to 0.5% equity\n\n\\- Machine Learning Engineers | $70K – $120K | up to 0.5% equity\n\nFocused on solving challenging problems in robotics on small aerial vehicle\nplatforms.\n\nFeel free to apply at [https://angel.co/shield-\nai/jobs](https://angel.co/shield-ai/jobs) or send me an email\nadam.dorwart@shieldai.com\n\n[http://shield.ai/](http://shield.ai/)\n\n------\ntombenner\nEntelo | San Francisco, CA | Full-time | Onsite\n\nEntelo uses huge amounts of data and predictive analytics to help companies\nbuild great teams. Our ~20-person engineering team uses technologies like\nRuby, Golang, JavaScript, Kubernetes, Docker, Kafka, Spark, and Redshift, and\nwe already have customers like Facebook, Tesla, and Paypal. We ingest and\nparse up to 2 TB of social profile data per day, predict when people will\nchange jobs, match people to jobs, and more.\n\nWe care deeply about promoting diversity in tech and being pleasant,\ncollaborative folks; we were recently ranked as the #3 Best Place to Work by\nGlassdoor among small and medium companies. Join us as we continue to grow\nvery quickly and discover new ways to merge machine learning, big data, and\nfull-stack engineering to provide value to our customers!\n\nWe're hiring for many roles including:\n\n* Architect\n\n* Data Engineer\n\n* Data Scientist\n\n* Senior Backend Engineer\n\n* Senior Software Engineer\n\n* Software Engineer\n\nIf you're interested, check out our open positions at\n[https://www.entelo.com/careers](https://www.entelo.com/careers), or feel free\nto email me directly at tom at entelo dot com.\n\n------\njbk\nVideoLabs | Software Developer | Paris, France | REMOTE, INTERNS\n\nWe are VideoLabs ([http://videolabs.io](http://videolabs.io)), a company\naround the open source technologies of VideoLAN and VLC\n([http://videolan.org/](http://videolan.org/))\n\nWe are currently looking for a few engineers (and Interns) on a few positions:\n* C and C++ engineers, with knowledge of either multimedia or system\nprogramming, on Linux; * C++ Windows engineers, not afraid of Win32 or WinRT;\n* iOS/macOS engineers, doing both UI and lower-level Apple APIs; * Go\ndevelopers to develop some webservices.\n\nThe topics we're going to cover this year are related to VR, emscripten and\nthe usual mobile ports of VLC.\n\nWe're open to remote, interns and other special cases. Speaking French is\nclearly not necessary to work for us.\n\nEmail: jobs@videolabs.io [http://videolabs.io](http://videolabs.io)\n\n------\nlaurenmelton\nEllevation | Boston, MA | Full Time | ONSITE |\n[http://info.ellevationeducation.com](http://info.ellevationeducation.com)\n\nWe are looking for a Senior Software Engineer to join our technology team. You\nwill play a key role in building dynamic web applications and services, help\nimplement complex data and API integrations, and drive the conception-to-\ndesign-to-implementation product development process.\n\nYou will help define our software architecture principles and standards\nthrough direct coding activities. Your ideas will translate our product and\ncorporate strategy into technical solutions and engineering best practices.\nYou will research and evaluate new technologies and determine how and where\nthey will apply to our engineering roadmap.\n\nAs an integral member of our engineering group, you will be asked to create,\ncontribute to, and own pieces of our software development platform and\necosystem. Just as important, we are looking for someone who wants to be in a\nstartup, has tremendous communication skills, and is motivated and a self-\nstarter.\n\nWe value best-practice software engineering principles such as continuous\nintegration, loose coupling, and SOA. As a small technology company, we seek\nindividuals who are willing to be cross-functional, hands-on in multiple\nareas, and a technical thought leader for the organization. You will be\ntesting, releasing and supporting the code that you develop.\n\nYou are expected to take on and own vital initiatives and duties for the\ncompany, spark and lead discussion, and help establish the company’s technical\ndirection while providing timely and quality support and education across the\norganization. This is a tremendous opportunity to build the engineering\nfoundation of the company.\n\nEmail to careers@ellevationeducation.com.\n\n------\naidos\nRapid Tender | Junior Frontend Developer | London, UK | Full-Time, Onsite,\nwww.countfire.com (www.rapidtender.com)\n\nAre you super inquisitive? When you don't understand why something happens are\nyou filled with a need to dig deeper? We're looking for an enthusiastic junior\ndeveloper to be the 3rd developer on our team. You'll be doing all sorts of\nwork but we're after someone with an eye for detail on the frontend.\n\nWe (Rapid Tender) make software (Countfire) for the construction industry. I\nknow, enterprise software doesn't sound exciting but we do really interesting\nwork. The technology you will learn includes (but is not limited to); python,\nflask, js, react, angular, sql, postgres and linux.\n\nWe're looking for somebody with a thirst for knowledge. We will be\ncollaborating directly and you will be given all the support you need to\nprogress rapidly to an experienced developer. My expectation is that what\nyou're missing in experience, you will make up for in enthusiasm and a desire\nto learn.\n\nEmail aidan@rapidtender.com for more details (no recruiters please)\n\n------\nharaball\nOncoImmunity | Senior front-end developer / UX designer | Oslo, Norway | Full-\ntime, ONSITE\n\nOncoImmunity is a Norwegian startup developing bioinformatics software to\nempower precision cancer immunotherapy. We develop machine-learning methods\napplied to genomics data for immune profiling in personalized cancer medicine.\nOur flagship software product predicts patient’s response to cancer\nimmunotherapy.\n\nWe are a growing team of developers that hails from 7 different countries,\nincluding Norway, consisting of a diverse mix of data-scientists,\nbioinformaticians and software engineers.\n\nWe're looking for a senior front-end developer to drive the front-end\narchitecture and implementation of the OncoImmunity software solutions, with\nthe vision to empower personalized immunotherapy. As the senior front-end\ndeveloper your main mission will be to lead the development of intuitive\ninterfaces for our clinical and scientific clients, with a focus on user\nexperience and data visualisation.\n\nSend a mail to harald at oncoimmunity dot com with a short introduction and\nyour resume if you’re interested!\n\n------\nadamilardi\neBay | www.ebay.com | New York | NYC | Full Time | ONSITE | jobs@ebaynyc.com |\nVISA ok\n\nWe are hiring data scientists to change the way eBay does advertising. eBay's\nold advertising strategy was 3rd party focused (Ads that sent people off\neBay). Our CEO said during our last earning call that strategy has changed. We\nneed ads that keep people on eBay and offer better choices for our buyers. We\nare the team blowing up the old strategy and doing something better. You can\nmove the needle when it comes to eBay's profit. We are a small team in a\ngrowing remote office. This is a unique opportunity to learn search engine and\nrecommendation technology which rank eBay's 1+ billion active items. We apply\ncutting edge machine learning techniques on petabytes of data and thousands of\nSpark/YARN nodes. This includes deep learning, XGBoost and online learning. We\nwelcome recent grads and experienced candidates alike. Our interview consists\nof two phone screens. Then you come onsite to meet the team and do a code\ntest.\n\njobs@ebaynyc.com | Ask for Adam\n\n------\ndanistrebel\nCotiviti Labs | Fullstack Engineer / Scala Engineer | Atlanta GA or Remote\n\nDevelopers with the Cotiviti Labs team are responsible for working with a\nglobal team of medical doctors and business experts to create break-through\nsolutions for incredibly difficult problems. In 2015 we found $3.2B in health\nsystem inefficiencies. We use a combination of innovative and proven\ntechnologies game-changing solutions\n\nWe use a combination of innovative and proven technologies game-changing\nsolutions into production as quickly as possible. Our solutions are scalable,\nelastic, concurrent, parallel, and deliver results to our clients in real-\ntime. We are a Scala functional programming shop but are willing to use the\nbest technologies to get into production quickly. Our DevOps team members have\ncreated a sophisticated ChatOps infrastructure that supports everything from\ndeployments, to releases, to provisioning new clients. Our continuous\nintegration and build facilities are world class.\n\nThe Labs team has a flat organizational structure so people on this team have\nno direct managers, are responsible for their own work assignments, and will\nreceive and give quarterly 360 reviews from their peers. We have no deadlines,\nonly a requirement to move as fast as humanly possible and make every minute\ncount. To thrive in this environment team member must have a passion for\ncomputer science, technology, innovation, and delivery.\n\nWe value teamwork above everything. We succeed together as a team and are\naccountable to each other for that success. Though we are scattered across the\nworld we regularly get together to have fun. If you are looking for such a\ntribe apply now.\n\n[http://stackoverflow.com/jobs/companies/cotiviti#jobs](http://stackoverflow.com/jobs/companies/cotiviti#jobs)\n\n------\nsborsje\nAmazon Web Services | Solutions Architect | New York, NY | ONSITE\n\nIn this role, you'll be helping scale a $10B/year business that's still\ngrowing like a startup.\n\nEager to immerse yourself in the latest technologies in IoT, machine learning,\ndevops, and big data? As a solution architect, you'll get actual hand's on\nexperience with all of these while helping some of the coolest customers in\ntechnology today.\n\nWant to contribute to technical communities through thought leadership? AWS\nSolution Architects regularly present at meetups and conferences, including\nthe flagship re:Invent conference in Las Vegas.\n\nAt AWS, you'll be surrounded by some of the best minds in technology and\nyou'll have endless opportunity to learn, grow your skills, and become an\nexpert in cloud computing.\n\nSound interesting? Please feel free to reach out to me directly at\nsborsje[at]amazon[dot]com and include HN in the subject.\n\nFull job description at:\n[https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/458479](https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/458479)\n\n------\njoelm\nBigleaf Networks | Beaverton, OR (Portland suburb) | ONSITE |\n[http://www.bigleaf.net](http://www.bigleaf.net)\n\nBigleaf is an SD-WAN platform that provides reliability and performance for\nCloud applications over commodity broadband. We're a small team but we've got\nan established business with hundreds of paying mid-market customers, and\nwe're growing quickly.\n\nOur interview process entails some initial email discussions, 1-2 in-person or\nphone-based interviews (no crazy technical algorithm memorization tests), and\noften a brief (~1 hr) coding challenge for you to do from home.\n\nWe're hiring for the following technical roles right now: * Front-end\nDeveloper * Sr. Software Engineer (Linux networking focus) * Network\nOperations Engineer * Network Integration Engineer\n\nCheck out more details here:\n[http://www.bigleaf.net/careers](http://www.bigleaf.net/careers) and feel free\nto email me (Founder and CEO) at joelm@bigleaf.net (no recruiters please).\n\n~~~\nkshk123\nYour product lines are extremely impressive, great times ahead.\n\n------\nTChiring\nTrueCar | Santa Monica, CA - San Francisco, CA - Austin, TX | Full Time\n\nTrueCar is hiring Engineers with interest in the below technologies and more\nat our HQ in Santa Monica\n\n* Rails\n\n* React\n\n* Angular\n\n* AWS\n\n* Data Engineers (Java/Hadoop or Ruby)\n\n* DevOps / Site Reliability / Infrastructure Engineers\n\n* QA / Software Development Engineers in Test (SDET)\n\nWe acquired the talent of quite a few Carwoo (YCS09) alums a few years ago.\nWe've been around for 10 years and went public 1 year ago. The company has big\nplans for the coming years and is looking for good developers to help us grow.\nSee [http://careers.true.com](http://careers.true.com) for the full scoop.\n\n* We prefer you work with us in-person in Santa Monica, San Francisco, or Austin. We'll handle most visa situations.\n\n* Benefits are exceptional:Your health premiums are 100% paid for, we match your 401k (up to 3% of your contributions), and give stock options. We also pay for your gym membership (up to $50/month) and have catered lunches every Wednesday.\n\n* Our Santa Monica HQ is right by the beach and Third Street Promenade, so expect fresh air and plenty of food options. Our SF office is right off the Montgomery BART station with 360 degree views of downtown and the bay.\n\n* A meaningful subset of some of the technologies we use: Ruby on Rails, React, AWS, React, Flask, Redis, MySQL, Hadoop, and Elasticsearch (the whole ELK stack).\n\n* VISAS are handled under the right circumstances. Send an email to me (Brett) (bemma AT truecar.com) with your resume and/or GitHub profile. Even if you're not applying but just have questions, drop me a line\n\n------\nasnr\nACTU | Software Developer | Melbourne, Australia | ONSITE, FULLTIME\n($89k-$104k + 15% super)\n\nThe ACTU (www.actu.org.au) is the peak union body representing almost 2\nmillion Australian workers and their families. The ACTU works with affiliate\nunions, members and the community to improve the lives of working people and\ntheir families by campaigning for improved working conditions, healthcare,\neducation and policies that help to create an inclusive society.\n\nWe are looking for a full-time software developer with at least 3 years of\nexperience working with stakeholders and delivering code into production.\n\nThis role will form part of the ACTU’s Melbourne-based campaigns team. Working\nacross a variety of issues and with a mix of highly skilled colleagues you\nwill have a big impact on the growth and campaigns work of the ACTU and the\nwhole Australian union movement. Here, you will work with designers, social-\nmedia gurus, data experts, and organisers to:\n\n* Build and maintain applications that support the campaigning work of the ACTU and the broader union movement. We select the best tools for the job and use modern languages and frameworks. We are currently building software with:\n    \n    \n      - Clojure\n    \n      - React/Redux\n    \n      - Amazon Web Services\n    \n\n* Assist with integration of systems across the union movement.\n\n* Build a network of developers and data experts across the union movement to share skills and knowledge.\n\n* Work with key stakeholders to collectively figure out how to build the right things.\n\n* Maintain a transparent, open, communicative, development style.\n\nSee more info and apply (before Feb 6th!) here: [http://www.actu.org.au/get-\ninvolved/job-vacancies](http://www.actu.org.au/get-involved/job-vacancies)\n\n------\ncpeel\nBlackSky Global | [http://www.blacksky.com](http://www.blacksky.com) | Seattle\nWA | Relocation | ONSITE | Full-time\n\nBlackSky Global, a service of Spaceflight Industries, is hiring Software\nDevelopment Engineers in Test (SDETs) in Seattle WA and Herndon VA as we build\nout our constellation of 60 imaging satellites and the ground systems that\ncommunicate with them. We launched our first satellite, Pathfinder-1, in\nSeptember 2016. Our next launch is scheduled for later this year.\n\nGround System SDET\n\nIn Seattle WA we're hiring a Ground System SDET to work alongside our ground\nsystems dev team as we build out our next generation ground systems platform.\nThis includes the software operators use to task the satellites, the software\nrunning on our ground stations to communicate with the satellites, and the\ntelemetry infrastructure used to track and monitor it all. Want to work on\nsoftware used to control satellites in space? This is the team for you!\n\n* Stack: Python 3.6 (with asyncio, aiohttp & flask), unittest, RESTful APIs, Docker on CoreOS with Nomad, ElasticSearch, LogStash, Kibana, Redis, Consul, Vault, Terraform, Vagrant, GovCloud (plus radios, antennas, and satellites)\n\n* [https://www.blacksky.com/detail-job/job_20161030221054_7WKMY...](https://www.blacksky.com/detail-job/job_20161030221054_7WKMYSHELDTBDT9L)\n\nPlatform SDET\n\nIn Seattle WA or Herndon VA we're hiring a Platform SDET to work with\ndevelopers and other testers to validate all aspects of our imaging and\nanalytics platforms. This includes UX testing, feature validation, API-level\nunit testing, integration testing, and scale & performance testing. While some\nof this work will be manual, the focus will be on writing and running\nautomated tests and integrating those into an automated regression suite. You\nwill work closely with our DevOps team as we drive the organization to a true\ncontinuous integration model.\n\n* Stack: Node.js, AngularJS, React/Redux, Karma, Mocha, Java, GitHub, CircleCI, AWS\n\n* [https://www.blacksky.com/detail-job/job_20161030214322_SXA3R...](https://www.blacksky.com/detail-job/job_20161030214322_SXA3RF6C7WDLBRAQ)\n\nApply online at the links above or email me directly at\n<my_HN_username>@blacksky.com.\n\n~~~\nWWLink\nI like your choices for ground system software! If I ever get interested in\nmoving to Seattle I might have to send my resume to you guys!\n\n------\ng_delgado14\nHomigo | Various | Toronto ONSITE or REMOTE\n\nHomigo is a virtual home manager for busy homeowners. We put homes on\nautopilot by offering a text-based concierge for on-demand services, an online\nhome management dashboard, and a fully automated, preventative maintenance\nstrategy for every unique home. Homigo makes home maintenance seemingly\ndisappear.\n\nFull-stack engineer:\n[http://www.homigo.com/careers/softwareengineer](http://www.homigo.com/careers/softwareengineer)\n\nProduct Designer:\n[http://www.homigo.com/careers/productdesigner](http://www.homigo.com/careers/productdesigner)\n\nVisual Designer:\n[http://www.homigo.com/careers/visualdesigner](http://www.homigo.com/careers/visualdesigner)\n\nWe're backed by 500 Startups Mountain View, Creative Destruction Lab & quickly\ngrowing. Currently situated in Toronto.\n\nIf you are interested please email gio@homigo.com or visit our careers pages.\n\n------\nlafay\nKentik | San Francisco | Full Time | REMOTE, VISA considered\n\n[https://www.kentik.com/careers/](https://www.kentik.com/careers/)\n\nInterested in building a distributed column-store time series database?\nCrafting a sleek, intuitive front-end? Evangelizing a breakthrough approach to\nnetwork intelligence? This is your opportunity to get involved in a dynamic,\nrapidly growing San Francisco-based startup. Kentik Technologies is the\ncreator of Kentik Detect, a big data SaaS for network traffic visibility, DDoS\ndetection, and infrastructure optimization. Accessible via web portal, psql\nclient, and API, Kentik Detect is the network visibility solution that our\nfounders — former network operators from Akamai, Netflix, YouTube, and\nCloudFlare — always wanted but could never find. It lets network operators see\ncomplete traffic paths, find root causes for link congestion, reduce costs by\npeering with other networks, and know immediately when their networks are\nunder DDoS attack.\n\nIn our first 18 months on the market we've landed 100+ customers including:\nShopify, Pandora, DailyMotion, Yelp, Box, Neustar, Instart Logic, Cisco,\nAppnexus, and University of Washington plus top carriers, telcos, and hosting\nproviders.\n\nOn the backend we're looking for folks with real-world experience building\ndistributed systems in Go/C/C++. On the frontend we need experts at both\nclient- and server-side JavaScript, with broad experience in monitoring,\nvisualization, and building state-of-the-art Web applications. And in sales we\nneed proven performers with a track record in highly technical markets\n(network-related preferred).\n\nSound like a good fit? Check us out at\n[https://www.kentik.com/careers/](https://www.kentik.com/careers/), and\ncontact us at hr@kentik.com.\n\n------\njmckenzie\nDataStax | Core Engineer | 100% REMOTE |\n[http://www.datastax.com/company/careers](http://www.datastax.com/company/careers)\n\nDataStax builds fully distributed database technology inspired by Apache\nCassandra to power applications that need massive scale, 100% uptime, and\nnear-linear scalability on commodity hardware. If you're into \"low-level\"\nSystems Java, high performance computing, and distributed computing this role\nis for you; it's a high profile position working on core database technologies\nin our flagship product, rapidly making a big impact on the entire business.\nWe’re an international, fully remote team of highly independent engineers\nlooking for like-minded, quality-focused and seasoned developers to join our\nranks. We welcome strong, reasoned opinions on our team and believe in healthy\ndebate, respect, and collaboration.\n\nIf you're interested, please reach out to josh dot mckenzie at datastax dot\ncom\n\n------\nEllaGorev\nNulogy | Toronto, Canada | Full-Time ONSITE VISA | Full Stack Web Developer |\n[https://nulogy.com/careers](https://nulogy.com/careers) | Rails SaaS for\nSupply Chain | Our motto is: \"It’s Not Just Business, It’s Personal.\"\n\nOur mission:\n\n\\- Enable companies to perform the activities necessary to deliver\npersonalized products more effectively.\n\n\\- Allow companies in the supply chain network to collaborate and do business\ntogether more efficiently.\n\n\\- Reveal transformative insights about the operations and network dynamics of\nthe industry.\n\n\\- Drive data-driven decision making and continuous improvement.\n\nAbout Nulogy:\n\nWe are a Canadian success story. Our story started 15 years ago when four\nengineering grads from the University of Waterloo worked on a design project\nthat grew to become the company. We are now a world-leading provider of\nspecialized solutions for complex supply-chain challenges. As a company\nfounded by friends wanting to make a difference, the close relationship\nbetween the founders influence the family-like culture that exists here.\n\nBenefits:\n\n\\- Unlimited paid vacation (take as much time off as you need, with at least 2\nweeks off a year).\n\n\\- 100% top-up for 13 weeks for any parent of biological or adopted children.\n\n\\- Dev culture is infused with learning; emphasis on clean code, strong\ntechnical practices, and collaboration.\n\n\\- Free format hack days roughly once a month.\n\nLearn about the Culture: [http://bit.ly/Nulogy-\nGlassdoor](http://bit.ly/Nulogy-Glassdoor) APPLY AT: [http://bit.ly/Nulogy-\nFullstack](http://bit.ly/Nulogy-Fullstack)\n\n------\nKurtisL\nSigOpt | Software Engineer Full Stack and Backend | San Francisco, CA | Onsite\n| Full-time\n\nSigOpt is the optimization platform that accelerates your modeling. From\nmachine learning to computational fluid dynamics, our products provide an\nensemble of the state of the art in optimization research, making our\ncustomers’ model development faster, cheaper, and better. SigOpt was founded\nin 2014 to bring optimal learning technology to every expert in every field.\nWe are a seed-stage company funded by Andreessen Horowitz, DCVC, and Y\nCombinator, and are growing our team in San Francisco.\n\nWe're looking for generalists who feel comfortable working on everything from\nmachine learning pipelines to javascript to join our small but growing team.\nOur stack is built on tested and popular tools like postgres, python, AWS,\nnode, react. We prefer versatile developers over experts in a single field.\n\nMore info at [https://sigopt.com/careers](https://sigopt.com/careers)\n\n------\nhakanito\nOden Technologies | [https://oden.io](https://oden.io) | New York, NY | Full-\ntime | Onsite\n\nWe are an IoT startup creating a hardware / software platform for Industry 4.0\nfactories [1]. We collect data from industrial machinery and analyze,\naggregate and display it so that manufacturers can make more product with less\nmaterial. There's a lot of exciting things happening at the company and now is\na great time to get into a small (8-person) team working working on a lofty\nmission that will revolutionize an underserved industry.\n\n* Data Engineer: responsible for building and maintaining scalable APIs, the secure and timely ingestion of millions of time-series data points daily, building realtime and batch data pipelines and integrating models created by our data scientists into our product in order to generate realtime insights and predictions about production processes.\n\n* Frontend Engineer: We need a solid front-end / JavaScript engineer with React experience, to help us design, build, and deploy the next-generation factory analytics platform.\n\n* Forward Deployed Engineer: You'd be responsible for deploying, installing, monitoring and improving our on-premise devices, as well as building out the code that runs on them. Much of the code is communicating at low level (ex: Modbus) with industrial machinery and reporting back to our analytics platform.\n\nRead more on [https://oden.io/joinus](https://oden.io/joinus) or feel free to\nreach out to us directly: hello@oden.io\n\n[1] [http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-\nmckinsey/...](http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-\ninsights/the-internet-of-things-the-value-of-digitizing-the-physical-world)\n\n------\nnowarninglabel\nKiva | San Francisco, CA | Full-time | Onsite | Back-end Software Engineer |\n[http://kiva.org/careers](http://kiva.org/careers)\n\nWe're hiring someone who wants to make the world a better place with us\nthrough working on the code and systems that serve www.kiva.org. We're a non-\nprofit helping to alleviate poverty through connecting lenders to borrowers\nacross the world and here at home. We offer awesome benefits including a\npartner trip to anywhere we work for a week to meet our borrowers and\npartners. We're looking for someon with financial system skills for our back-\nend position or a DevOps person to join our Operations team. If those aren't\nyour thing then we're also going to be hiring for other positions later in the\nyear, just shoot me an email (my username at gmail) and let me know!\n[http://kiva.org/careers](http://kiva.org/careers)\n\n------\nylere\n1aim | Berlin, Germany | Onsite, Full Time, Visa\n[https://1aim.com](https://1aim.com)\n\nAt 1aim, we develop and produce access control systems, which allow to open\ndoors with mobile phones. We create all hardware, software and IT-\nInfrastructure to run our systems on our own. Beside access systems we are\nalready putting a lot of R&D effort in creating further new smart\nhome/building automation products. We see ourselves as an engineering-driven\ntechnology company, that influences how a future with connected devices will\nlook.\n\nWe enable engineers to focus on what they can to best, letting them work on\nnew products in small, highly interdisciplinary teams. We try to get rid of as\nmuch management overhead as possible (no daily standup meetings!).\n\nRight now, we are hiring new engineers for the following areas:\n\n\\- RUST Backend Developer\n\n\\- (Frontend) Web Developer\n\n\\- Electrical Engineer\n\nWe do not care about your academic degrees or where you are from, but about\nthe stuff you did and what you could create in the future given the right\nopportunities. If you are interested in working at 1aim, write us an email at\nwork.hn<?>1aim.com and tell us about the projects you worked on that you are\nthe most proud of and which technological feats of the past inspire you. We\nprovide visa assistance, relocation support and free housing until you find\nyour own place to live last month.\n\nInterview process: 1st phone interview (screening) -> 2nd phone interview\n(technical) -> home assignment/technical challenge (depending on application)\n-> 3rd interview (mixed, via phone or onsite)\n\nPlease note that our reply times are still a bit slower than usual because we\nstill have a backlog from last month as a lot of time was taken up by our\npresence on an important trade fair.\n\n~~~\nManikandan\nI applied a month ago, never got a reply. 1 month is too long for a reply\nthough!\n\n------\nbitxbitxbitcoin\nPRIVATE INTERNET ACCESS |\n[https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/](https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/)\n| Developers, DevOps, Marketing, Tech Support | Denver, CO | Onsite [Remote to\nqualified applicants] | Full-Time\n\nPRIVATE INTERNET ACCESS is fighting the good fight against censorship,\nsurveillance, and overall evil.\n\nPlease e-mail jobs@privateinternetaccess.com to APPLY. Please make sure to\nsend a resume, cover letter, links to anything worth seeing, etc.\n\nPlease read this if you haven't already:\n[http://www.activism.net/cypherpunk/manifesto.html](http://www.activism.net/cypherpunk/manifesto.html)\n\nIf you want to help fight the good fight with the company who has donated the\nmost to organizations such as the EFF, FFTF, Creative Commons, Linux Mint,\nFreenode, etc., then send us an e-mail.\n\nThank you in advance, and have a wonderful day. We look forward to standing in\nline with you against draconian injustice.\n\n~~~\nbogomipz\nA while back I did multiple interviews and completed a coding project with\nyour company and was \"ghosted.\" A buddy of mine just had a similar experience\nvia a \"HackerNews Who's Hiring\" post, they had multiple interviews with you\nand were assigned a coding project and then you responded with a terse canned\nrejection email. Definitely not a good experience and seemed disrespectful of\nothers time.\n\n~~~\ngiis\nNot related to this org.\n\n> seemed disrespectful of others time\n\nI had similar experience with unknown startup, after spending few hours on\ntask, the founder didn't even bother to respond. After that I decided not to\ntake-up interviews which has similar requirement (ex: ask to finish small\ntask).\n\n~~~\nbogomipz\nSure, if you do elect to do them, I think the best thing you can do is share\nyou experience and help someone else avoid having their time wasted by\ncompanies that act like this.\n\nI think it can be seen as a telling sign about the company itself.\n\n------\nSamGlasberg130\nStitch, Inc. | Philadelphia,PA | Multiple Open Positions\n\n __* Who We Are __* Stitch is a simple, powerful ETL service built for\ndevelopers. Stitch connects to all your data sources--from databases like\nMongoDB and MySQL, to SaaS tools like Salesforce and Zendesk--and replicates\nthat data to your data warehouse. With Stitch, developers can provision data\nto analysts and other team members in minutes, not weeks. To learn more, visit\nwww.stitchdata.com, read our blog, and follow us on Twitter (@stitch_data).\n\n __* Open Positions __* We currently are looking to fill the following roles:\n\\- Mid-level /Senior Software Engineer (ONSITE) \\- Senior Cloud Operations\nEngineer (ONSITE) \\- Developer Evangelist (REMOTE) \\- Business Operations\nManager (ONSITE)\n\nAll job descriptions can be found here:\n[https://www.stitchdata.com/jobs/](https://www.stitchdata.com/jobs/)\n\n __* Interested? __* Email Sam Glasberg - sam@stitchdata.com or apply online.\n\nThanks!!\n\n------\ntwp\nCentralway Numbrs AG | Multiple positions | Zurich, Switzerland | ONSITE, VISA\n\nWe aim to connect all users with all banks. We are well funded and actively\nhiring. The company is large enough that you can focus, while still small\nenough that you can make a large positive impact.\n\nWe're looking for backend (Golang), Android, iOS (Swift), Web (JavaScript),\nSREs, data science, QA engineers, and engineering managers, amongst other\npositions. See [https://www.centralway.com/uk/careers/open-\npositions](https://www.centralway.com/uk/careers/open-positions) for a full\nlist.\n\nThe interview process typically consists of a 45 minute Skype interview\nfollowed by an invitation to come onsite in Zurich for a day, but varies\ndepending on the role.\n\nFeel free to contact me by email (tom.payne@centralway.com) for personal\nquestions, or apply directly through our website. Positions are onsite only,\nbut we can help with visas. The working language is English.\n\n------\nw8rbt\nVirginia Cyber Range | Blacksburg, VA | Cloud Application Developer | REMOTE |\n[https://listings.jobs.vt.edu/postings/71822](https://listings.jobs.vt.edu/postings/71822)\n\nThe Virginia Cyber Range is a Commonwealth of Virginia initiative with a\nmission to enhance cybersecurity education in our high schools, colleges, and\nuniversities. The Cyber Range will provide an extensive courseware repository\nfor educators and a cloud-hosted environment for hands-on cybersecurity labs\nand exercises for students.\n\nThe Virginia Cyber Range was proposed by Governor McAuliffe in spring 2016 as\npart of his vision to boost Virginia’s cybersecurity industry through\nstrategic educational investments. The Cyber Range is led by an executive\ncommittee representing public institutions that are nationally recognized\ncenters of academic excellence in cybersecurity within the Commonwealth.\n\nIf interested, please apply at the link above and mention Hacker News.\n\n------\nmkong1\nGiveCampus (YC S15) | full stack engineer (Ruby on Rails) | DC, SF| Full Time\n| onsite | www.givecampus.com/careers\n\nGiveCampus creates fundraising software for educational institutions. They're\nstuck on a sea of crappy software built in the '90s, and we are bringing\nactual fast-paced innovation to the space.\n\nWe're still a small team, and looking for someone who enjoys wearing lots of\ndifferent hats.\n\nWe are looking for someone with:\n\n* 2+ years professional Rails experience\n\n* ability to work on the full stack, from db queries to css.\n\n* conceptualize, design, build, and support new features and products to help schools raise money.\n\nWe offer health & dental insurance.\n\nSend over your github/projects you're proud of, and a few words about why\nyou're interested in GiveCampus to careers@givecampus.com.\n\nWe're also hiring for business development roles as well, so check out\n[https://www.givecampus.com/careers#business-\ndevelopment](https://www.givecampus.com/careers#business-development) to see\nthose.\n\n------\nkavbojka\nClubhouse - [https://clubhouse.io](https://clubhouse.io) | New York, NY |\nONSITE\n\nClubhouse is building the next generation of project management tools for\nsoftware companies. Using Clubhouse, companies can plan and manage their\nproduct management effectively, visualize progress across the entire\norganization, and better define deadlines and milestones.\n\nWho we’re looking for:\n\n* A well-rounded front-end engineer, with 5+ years of experience with web application design and development. * Someone familiar with the JS library/tooling/testing ecosystem and MVC architectural patterns. * Bonus Points if you know the pain of working with existing project management tools and want to make something a million times better.\n\nHow to Apply: See the listing and apply (if you think you are a fit) here\n[https://clubhouse.io/hiring/front-end-\nengineer](https://clubhouse.io/hiring/front-end-engineer)\n\n------\nkanny96\nCognii | Boston, MA or remote\n\n _2016 Innovation of the Year EdTech Winner_\n\n _2015 Best Learning Assessment Innovation of the Year_\n\n _2016-2020 Leading vendor for exponentially growing AI market in education -\nTechnavio_\n\nCognii brings the power of Artificial Intelligence technology to Education &\nTraining market. Join us to participate in our growth, advance your career and\nget rewarded with generous stock options. We are looking for entrepreneurial\ncandidates in the following areas:\n\n1\\. AI and NLP Research Engineers (Senior, Junior)\n\n    \n    \n      - natural language processing\n      - statistical machine learning\n      - syntactic and semantic analysis\n      - linguistically process text corpora\n      - information extraction\n    \n\n2\\. App Developer\n\n    \n    \n      - Mobile App development\n      - Front End design\n    \n\n3\\. System Architect\n\n    \n    \n      - Back-end development\n      - Experience with Ruby on Rails based scalable architecture\n      - DevOps and manage the scalable web platform\n    \n\nPlease send your application and resume to jobs@cognii.com\n\n------\nngoel36\nUber | Transportation & Software | San Francisco, CA | Onsite\n\nAt Uber, we're building the future of transportation.\n\nMy team is hiring two senior, standalone mobile engineers (iOS, Android) for\nUber Beacon\n([https://newsroom.uber.com/beacon/](https://newsroom.uber.com/beacon/)) a BLE\nhardware device that functions together with the rider and driver apps. The\nideal applicant would have extensive consumer-facing mobile experience, as\nwell as experience with Bluetooth-enabled devices. Unfortunately this position\nis _only_ for senior engineers with at least 2-4 years of experience.\n\nI'm also looking for a PM for Uber Elevate\n([http://www.uber.com/elevate](http://www.uber.com/elevate)), our initiative\nto accelerate the future of urban, on-demand air transportation.\n\nPlease email me directly at ngoel@uber.com if interested, with a PDF copy of\nyour resume.\n\n------\nliangzan\nCourex - www.storeviva.com | Creative Director | Singapore | Full\nTime/Consultant/Onsite or Remote(Asia only)\n\n# What the company does\n\nCourex is a 8 year old ecommerce logistics company driven by technology. We\nhelp our customers manage their supply chain so they can focus on selling. We\ndo the following \\- last mile delivery \\- warehousing \\- omnichannel\nintegration\n\nOur operations is driven by technology. Some interesting stuff \\- We run a\nhybrid crowd-sourced(uber style) + fixed fleet model. \\- We built an automated\nparcel dimension measurement machine using Kinect \\- We have autonomous robots\ncoming in 2017 to pick and sort parcels\n\nExperience a different sort of scale. Not bits and bytes, but parcels,\nmachines and people. Your work affects the real world.\n\n# What the job entails\n\nWe are looking for someone strong in design who can help us in the design of\nour web and mobile applications. It can be a full time position or as a\nconsultant.\n\n# Contact\n\nNo formal qualifications needed. Please email zan+hn@courex.com.sg if you are\ninterested.\n\n------\nguha\nOnai | FULL TIME, CONTRACTORS, GRADUATE INTERNS, POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS\n\nOnsite in Silicon Valley or remote depending on role\n\nInterview process: Video calls if you're distant or an in-person visit if\nyou're local.\n\nWe are developing high-performance algorithms for truly big data, video\nanalysis, NLP, and more. We solve deep technical challenges and are building\nofferings relevant to interesting real-world problems in a variety of fields.\nWe are currently open to engineers with solid experience in CUDA, Mesos, deep\nneural networks, Scala, Clojure, and/or ScalaJS and React Native, as well as\nto enthusiastic developers who might lack this precise experience but are\neager and able to learn. We also welcome interest from postdoctoral\nresearchers or senior graduate students. We are interested in solving problems\nefficiently, and our polyglot architecture includes C++, Clojure, Scala, and\nPython.\n\nWe do not presently have openings for undergraduates (B.Sc. students).\n\nContact info@onai.com.\n\n~~~\nrajesht\nI have worked with Onai on a short term project and had great time, would\nhighly recommend them.\n\n------\najpgrealish\nBBOXX | Embedded Systems Engineer, Python Developer | London | ONSITE,\nbboxx.co.uk/careers/\n\nBBOXX is a venture backed company developing solutions to provide affordable,\nclean energy to off-grid communities in Africa. We are fully vertically\nintegrated, controlling every part of our customer experience. Our market\nleading products and appliances coupled with our SMART Solar platform bring\nmachine-learning and customer experience optimisation to rural Africa. Our\nground-breaking financing structure has brought off-grid solar into the\nWorld’s financial markets. Whilst our human centred and system design approach\nto our retail business ensures that the BBOXX eco-system is poised to\nmassively scale during 2017.\n\nWe are looking for both Python Developers and Embedded Systems Engineers to\njoin the Engineering team in London. To find out more go to\nbboxx.co.uk/careers/ and in your application mention you saw this post.\n\n------\ncelrae\nProPublica | Product Developer | New York, NY\n\nWe are seeking a talented, versatile full-stack developer to advance the\nfunctionality and design of our website and platform-level projects.\n\nThis is a new position at ProPublica. It will be at the epicenter of one of\nthe most important and exciting news organizations in the country. Every day\nwill be a chance to make a difference in an environment where smart\nengineering and thoughtful design are integral to the mission.\n\nThis position is responsible for collaborating directly with the business-side\nstaff and newsroom leadership to improve our core site, implement new tools to\nsupport our expanding business operations, and find useful, delightful ways\nthat technology can help us do our jobs better.\n\n[https://www.propublica.org/atpropublica/item/propublica-\nis-h...](https://www.propublica.org/atpropublica/item/propublica-is-hiring-a-\nproduct-developer)\n\n------\nbrettz\nPornhub | Adult content | Montreal QC | On-site | pornhub.com (NSFW)\n\nCome work at the 22nd highest trafficked website in the world.\n\nWe are looking for:\n\n-Senior PHP developers\n\n-Senior front-end/javascript developers\n\nMust be willing to relocate to Montreal.\n\nEmail me your CV: jobs@pornhub.com\n\n------\nbeghbali\nGrand Rounds | Warehouse & Search Engineers| San Francisco | Onsite |\nFulltime| [https://www.grandrounds.com](https://www.grandrounds.com)\n\nData driven healthcare navigation and delivery. Billions of rows of exclusive\nand semantically rich data from hundreds of data sources. Looking for right\ncandidate to lead our data modeling/data warehousing, metrics and measurements\nteam. Also looking for experienced engineers in search, particularly\ndistributed search. We have positions on the application, infrastructure and\nQA side as well. Join a team of really smart (and nice) engineers and doctors\nchanging the way Americans and others across the globe access health care. eng\nblog: [http://eng.grandrounds.com/](http://eng.grandrounds.com/)\n\napply directly (and mention HN) or email me bashir [at] grandrounds.com\n\n------\nflgr\nTwitch | Sr. Distributed Systems Engineer | Berlin, Germany | Onsite | VISA +\nRelocation provided | [http://www.twitch.tv](http://www.twitch.tv)\n\nIf you enjoy building distributed systems (in Go) that have 2.5 million users\nusing them in the same minute, and if you also enjoy data analytics, let us\nknow. We're a small team based out of Berlin. We primarily work on viewbot\ndetection.\n\nThis is a pretty senior role and we'd greatly appreciate it if you already\nhave experience building distributed systems, dealing with various failure\nmodes of multiple systems talking to each other, scaling systems, and all\nthat.\n\n[https://jobs.lever.co/twitch/2225a17f-7f4c-47f9-8134-6335d89...](https://jobs.lever.co/twitch/2225a17f-7f4c-47f9-8134-6335d89a8c7e)\n(the first paragraph in the ad is a little cheesy; sorry for that!)\n\n~~~\npostit\nI didn't know Twitch had a Berlin office =)\n\n~~~\nflgr\nStill pretty small, but growing. :)\n\n~~~\nt3nary\nIs it the same office as Amazon's Berlin office?\n\n------\nawill\nAmazon Web Services - Simple Storage Service (S3) | Software Engineers |\nSeattle, WA (ONSITE)\n\nCome and join S3's backend storage data plane team:\n\n\\- Senior Software Development Engineer, S3:\n[https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/389223](https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/389223)\n\n\\- Software Development Engineer, S3:\n[https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/389224](https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/389224)\n\nYou can also email me your resume - wantony [AT] amazon.com. Please add 'HN'\nto the subject.\n\n(*) Note, I currently don’t have openings for interns or recent college grads.\nFor internships or recent college grads positions please apply here:\n[https://www.amazon.jobs/en/team/university-\ntech](https://www.amazon.jobs/en/team/university-tech)\n\n~~~\nssambros\nAlthough I ended up not accepting the offer, I definitely enjoyed the\ninterview process and meeting the team. If you would like to do some\ninteresting large scale work I recommend applying. Antony seems to be a very\ngood manager to work with, as well.\n\n------\nvictorNicollet\nSoftware Engineer, C# | Lokad | Paris, France | FULL-TIME, ONSITE\n\nLokad is a software company that provides inventory and price optimization for\ncustomers in retail, aerospace or manufacturing. We are profitable and growing\nfast. We are closing deals in North America, Europe and Asia. The vast\nmajority of our clients are based outside of France.\n\nAs a C# developer, you will integrate a team of talented software engineers in\norder to further develop our Big Data analytics environment : an in-house\nprogramming language and its modules for data import, export and storage,\nprobabilistic forecasting, linear programming, and data presentation. We have\ninfrastructure, data processing, scalability and reliability challenges, and\nneed your help in addressing them.\n\nAt Lokad, you will benefit from the coaching of an awesome dev team. You will\ngain skills in large-scale data processing, domain-specific language design\nand cloud computing apps. Our codebase is clean, documented and heavily unit-\ntested. Located in Paris, 50m from Place d'Italie, our offices are quiet (no\nopen space!), bright, and you can get three monitors.\n\nWe are a C#/.NET shop, and you will be developing under Visual Studio, the\nsource code being versioned in Git. Our apps are hosted on Microsoft Azure. In\naddition, with the arrival of .NET Core, we also anticipate a few strategic\nmigrations towards Linux.\n\nWe expect you to have strong software development skills. As a bonus, we\nappreciate people with a taste for low-level high performance computing, for\ncompiler design and implementation, or for distributed systems. Contributions\nto open source projects are also highly regarded.\n\nIf you are interested, please reach out at victor.nicollet@lokad.com (I'm the\nCTO) with your resume, and we will schedule a short interview over Skype,\nfollowed by an in-person interview in Paris. We are mostly looking for\ncandidates from Europe, but are willing to sponsor a visa for truly\nexceptional candidates.\n\n------\ndstillman\nZotero | Backend Developer | Fairfax, VA | REMOTE\n[https://www.zotero.org](https://www.zotero.org)\n\nZotero is an open-source project that develops software and web services to\nhelp people collect, organize, cite, and share their research. Our software is\nrecommended by most universities and used by millions of students, scholars,\nscientists, and researchers worldwide.\n\nWe're looking for a remote, full-time, contract developer to work on Zotero's\nserver-side architecture — our public API, backend services, AWS\ninfrastructure, etc. You’ll be part of a small team producing free and open-\nsource software along with an amazing global community and help make a huge\ndifference in people's ability to manage their research effectively.\n\nMore details here: [https://www.zotero.org/jobs](https://www.zotero.org/jobs)\n\n------\nelwatto\nElevate (Apple App of the Year 2014) | iOS Engineer | San Francisco, CA |\nOnsite | elevateapp.com\n\nElevate is a cognitive training tool that was the recipient of Apple's App of\nthe Year award and Google's Editors' Choice distinction. It has been\ndownloaded more than 13 million times, helping users around the world build\ncritical communication and analytical skills.\n\nWe're looking for an experienced mobile developer who has a passion for\nbuilding great user interfaces, knows the value of small details and believes\nin software that helps its users. We are an agile team looking to make our\ncustomers' lives better by building the future of cognitive training and\nproactive mental health.\n\nResponsibilities:\n\n* Working closely with product, games, and content teams to build great mobile experiences\n\n* Keeping up with platform changes and adapting Elevate as they happen\n\nRequirements:\n\n* Shipped at least one iOS app\n\n* Passion for user interface and user experience\n\n* Experience testing your own work and communicating with QA when you can't\n\nBonus points:\n\n* Experience with C++\n\n* Experience with building web-backed applications\n\n* Experience with OpenGL\n\n* Experience building complex CoreAnimation\n\n* Interest in cognitive training and educational technology\n\n* Interests in test-driven development and software development best practices\n\nBenefits:\n\n* Deliciously healthy chef-cooked meals\n\n* Equity\n\n* Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance\n\n* 401k plan\n\nTo learn more or apply, please visit\n[http://elevateapp.theresumator.com/](http://elevateapp.theresumator.com/)\n\n------\nrkrzr\nChannable - [https://www.channable.com](https://www.channable.com) | Utrecht,\nThe Netherlands | ONSITE\n\nChannable is a data feed management company that connects ecommerce companies\nto all big online marketing channels (marketplaces, price comparison sites\netc.) We also optimize and synchronize product data, offers and orders on the\nvarious platforms.\n\nWe currently have two open positions for a Backend Engineer and a DevOps\nEngineer.\n\nOur Stack includes: Python (Flask), Scala (Apache Spark), Haskell, PostgreSQL,\nRedis, HDFS, Ansible, Ember.js\n\nWe process millions of products per day and offer technically interesting and\nchallenging work. We are looking for highly motivated and skilled engineers to\njoin our team in the heart of Utrecht.\n\nSee [https://www.channable.com/jobs/](https://www.channable.com/jobs/) for a\ndetailed job description.\n\n------\nbennettweb\nAlfresco | Java Software Engineers | Maidenhead, UK | ONSITE\n\nWe're an open source company building a platform to help businesses become\nmore efficient through content and process services. The majority of our\nengineers are based in Maidenhead, UK, about 25 mins outside London by direct\ntrain.\n\nWe're looking for Java Software Engineers to join our team, and help us build\nthe next generation content platform. Our main technology stack is core Java,\nSpring, JavaScript, and Angular, with a growing use of Docker and AWS.\n\nDetails about the role can be found here:\n[https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/Alfresco/104324578-software...](https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/Alfresco/104324578-software-\nengineer)\n\nAnd details about the company can be found here:\n[https://www.alfresco.com/](https://www.alfresco.com/)\n\n~~~\nKrishnaKanhaiya\nHi, I am interested in the job opportunity. The link to my resume\nis:[https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2oOdWdSJWa1NkpiSDhuUy1fb28...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2oOdWdSJWa1NkpiSDhuUy1fb28/view)\n\nRevert back if I am a good fit.\n\n------\njasonchen913\nMongoDB | New York, NY (relocation is available) | Software Engineer, Cloud\n(Mid to Sr. level) | Full-Time | Competitive Base + Pre-IPO stock Options\n\nWe are looking for a server-side engineer that will work on core functionality\nfor our cloud products, writing code that will help store petabytes of data in\nMongoDB all over the world, touching millions of users! At our size, you will\nhave the chance to have a big impact @ MongoDB.\n\nDo you have any interest or questions? Please reach out to me at\nJC@mongodb.com or apply here [http://grnh.se/kr5738](http://grnh.se/kr5738)\n\n\\--- If you have any interest, this is a short post from InfoWorld\n([http://spr.ly/60078rGKH](http://spr.ly/60078rGKH)), which named MongoDB\nAtlas (our newest cloud offering) one of its 2017 Technology of the Year! ---\n\n~~~\ntictactoey\nIs it ok to reach out to you for new grad/junior level position? I have\napplied to MongoDB few months ago but didn't hear anything back.\n\n------\njcookster\nBlack Mountain (blkmtn.com) | Automated QA Engineer | San Diego, CA | Onsite,\nFull Time\n\nBlack Mountain is a software company that develops innovative, tailored\nsolutions for data aggregation, process management, and business reporting.\nWe've made the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 List for 3rd year in a row. We're\na fun company to work for, and we have great benefits.\n[https://www.themuse.com/companies/blackmountainsystems](https://www.themuse.com/companies/blackmountainsystems)\n\nPosition Description: C# / Selenium / JS / TeamCity / Chef / OpsWorks This is\nan exciting time for an Automated QA Engineer. You get to build the solution\nfrom scratch using the technologies you feel best fit the problem space. Help\nus move towards a Continuously Deployed product.\n\nContact: jcook@blkmtn.com\n\n------\nlpgauth\n\n      AdGear - ONSITE - Backend Engineer (Erlang, C) - Montreal - FullTime\n      AdGear - ONSITE - Data Engineer (Scala, Java, Bash)- Montreal - FullTime\n      AdGear - ONSITE - Javascript Application Engineer (ES6, Knockout.js) - Montreal - FullTime\n      AdGear - ONSITE - Ruby Application Engineer (Ruby, Rust) - Montreal - FullTime\n      \n\nAdGear is a digital advertising technology company providing platforms and\nservices for digital media innovators such as publishers, advertisers, and\nmedia agencies. We operate a full-stack advertising platform enabling our\ncustomers to innovate with formats, audience data, reporting, pricing and\ndistribution strategies.\n\nFor more information, complete description of roles, and details on applying,\nplease see [http://jobs.adgear.com/](http://jobs.adgear.com/)\n\n~~~\nKrishnaKanhaiya\nHi, I am master's student pursuing Mathematics & Computer Science at IIT\nKharagpur with specialization in optimization. I am also a Google Summer of\nCode, 2016 fellow. I am interested in Data Engineer job profile. I am\nattaching the link to my webpage : [https://ayush-\niitkgp.github.io/](https://ayush-iitkgp.github.io/)\n\nDo revert back if you find me a good fit.\n\n------\nfuzzieozzie\nCompilerWorks | San Francisco Bay Area | Full-time, remote | $130k-$210k\ndriven by your productivity\n\n[http://www.compilerworks.com/job.html](http://www.compilerworks.com/job.html)\n\nCompilerWorks is a bespoke compiler company, with our core product centered\naround compiling on dialect of SQL to execute on a different backend - e.g.\nwould you like to run Oracle PL/SQL on a Postgre database? You can with\nCompilerWorks.\n\nWe are driven to solve interesting engineering problems, for this reason we\ntake on challenges where compiler are useful. This means we choose work that\nthe team is interested in, and only a third of our revenue is around our core\nproduct.\n\nIf you are an experienced Java developer (we are a Java shop and want you to\nhit the ground running) let us know if you are interested info {at}\ncompilerworks.com\n\n------\nantoviaque\nREMOTE (Worldwide) - Open Source Developer on Open edX - Python/Django,\nJavascript (OpenCraft - Remote/worldwide company based in Berlin)\n\nDevelopment specialized on the free software project Open edX, used by many\nuniversities and companies to run online courses. See edx.org, stanford.edu or\nfun-mooc.fr for examples of Open edX instances. We are a team of ten senior\ndevelopers, working remotely from Europe, North America, Asia, Russia &\nAustralia. The company is not affiliated with edX, but contributing and\nworking with them on various projects. This is a full time position, were you\nwould be able to work remotely from where you want, as long as you have a good\ninternet connexion. : )\n\nIt's a large Python/Django codebase, with good code standards and architecture\n(a lot of the edX engineers come from MIT). You would work on different\nclients contracts using the platform. The clients list/references include\nHarvard, edX themselves, the French government, and various startups &\nuniversities currently running their own instances, or looking to create one.\nTasks are varied, from developing developing core platform features, custom\nexercises and tools for specific courses (XBlocks), customizing and deploying\ninstances, working on both client/server sides, etc.\n\nMost of your work is published as free software (Open edX is released under\nthe AGPL license, which requires clients to release modifications under the\nsame license), and you would also contribute to the free software project,\npushing some of your developments upstream through pull requests, contributing\nfeatures, documentation or help on mailing-lists.\n\nStack: Python/Django, Ansible, AWS/OpenStack, Debian/Ubuntu, JS, HTML/CSS,\nMySQL, MongoDB\n\nInterview process: a 15 minutes (simple) coding exercise & a 30 minutes\nHangout.\n\nTo apply, fill this form: [http://opencraft.com/jobs/open-source-\ndeveloper/](http://opencraft.com/jobs/open-source-developer/)\n\n------\ndrewsimon\nOrderMyGear | Software Engineer | Dallas, TX\n\nJob listings:\n[https://ordermygear.workable.com](https://ordermygear.workable.com)\n\nJoin OrderMyGear and play a pivotal role in a rapidly changing industry. We\nprovide an e-commerce platform for the unique world of team sports apparel and\nother online group sales. OrderMyGear is a fast growing company, ranking #12\nin Dallas on the Inc. 500 list. With our continued growth, we are hard at work\nscaling our platform while improving the experience for our customers and\nconsumers.\n\nBe a part of a growing development team and make a direct impact on the\ndevelopment process and our culture. We're building our platform with tools\nlike Docker, Kubernetes, Go, PHP, Node, React and other exciting technologies\n— we believe in picking the right tool for the job.\n\n------\nKuhlMensch\nPerkbox perkbox.co.uk| London | Fulltime | Developers and DevOps\n\nPerkbox (London) is in the process to scaling up its SAAS and is looking for\ntalent to pitch in. Specific skills are less important, but experience in the\nfollowing would be looked on favourably:\n\n\\- Saas/SME technologies\n\n\\- microservices & legacy code\n\n\\- broad knowledge of serverside languages/technologies\n\n\\- processes/tools to ensure quality engineering output\n\n\\- CloudOps/DevOps\n\nSpecific skills would likely be a nebula of PHP, Microservice tech, Relational\ndatabases, and application infrastructure (Api Gateways, Message queues etc).\n\nInterviews process has a first stage take-home test (small and practical), and\nthen the second is hang with the engineering leads for an hour or so.\n\nABOUT US\n\nWe build SaaS tools to allow employers to reward their employees with\nfinancial perks & recognition:\n\n\\- ~115 staff\n\n\\- located in Blackfriars, London UK\n\n\\- recently closed £4.2m on SEEDRS\n\n\\- startup culture\n\nIf any of this catches your eye, please send your CV onto damir@perkbox.co.uk\n\n------\njuulikene\nRelayr | Berlin/Munich, Germany | ONSITE | Full time\n\nWho we are? relayr is a well-funded and rapidly expanding start-up based in\nBerlin and Munich. We have an extremely international and very friendly team,\nwho build and maintain a full IoT technology stack. We are shaping the IoT\nworld and building the future! Let’s do it together!\n\nWe are actively hiring for the following positions:\n\nNodeJS Developer / Scala Developer/ QA Engineer/ DevOps/ Full Stack Developer/\nUX UI Designer/ JavaScript Engineer/ Agile Coach/ Security Specialist\n\nCheck out our career page for more details. You can also apply there directly,\nif any position sparks your interest!\n[https://relayr.io/jobs/](https://relayr.io/jobs/)\n\nAny questions? Don’t hesitate to get in touch! julia.rovnik@relayr.io\n\n------\njcookster\nBlack Mountain (blkmtn.com) | Software Engineer | San Diego, CA | Onsite, Full\nTime\n\nBlack Mountain is a software company that develops innovative, tailored\nsolutions for data aggregation, process management, and business reporting.\nWe've made the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 List for 3rd year in a row.\n\nWe're a fun company to work for, and we have great benefits.\n[https://www.themuse.com/companies/blackmountainsystems](https://www.themuse.com/companies/blackmountainsystems)\n\nPosition Description: C# / SQL Server / JavaScript Junior - Mid level We are\nconstantly adding new functionality into our core product. Alongside our core\nproduct, we have some fresh new initiatives we are building from the ground up\nto help us break into new market segments.\n\nContact: jcook@blkmtn.com\n\n------\nbenrict\nOpenDataSoft ([https://www.opendatasoft.com](https://www.opendatasoft.com)) |\nParis, France | Full-time, on site\n\nOpenDataSoft (founded in 2011, 40 employees nowadays) is developing a SaaS\nplatform that aims to make it very easy for anyone to create a data portal\n(which can be a public open data portal, a private internal data sharing\nspace, or anything in between), and at the same time build a wide catalog of\npublic easy-to-use data. You can see the public half of our work here\n([https://data.opendatasoft.com/explore/](https://data.opendatasoft.com/explore/)).\n\nWe're hiring:\n\nFront-end Engineer (Senior or Junior) : help us build easy-to-use UIs to make\ndata publishing intuitive; also help us re-build entirely our front-end stack\nthis year (from AngularJS 1 to ...?)\n\nBack-end Engineer (Senior or Junior) : we like to add a few 0s every year to\nour data processing performance metrics; help us make our Python stack faster\nand more resilient!\n\nTechnical Consultant : you like to hack around a platform (and talk to the R&D\nteam about it), and to help customers become autonomous on a product (which\nsometimes means teaching a bit of HTML)\n\nBeing an Engineer at OpenDataSoft means being able to \"drive a feature home\",\nfrom the design and implementation choices to the documentation and advanced\nsupport. If you like contributing to a product and making impactful choices,\nwe may be a great fit for you! We may look like a startup, but we have\nsensible working hours, a sane growth rate, and a very very low turnover.\nHowever, we still like beer, weird jokes, and food (a lot).\n\nYou can find more information and contact us on our website:\n[https://www.opendatasoft.com/company/jobs/](https://www.opendatasoft.com/company/jobs/)\n\nIf you're in Paris and would like to know more about us while drinking a beer,\nthat's possible too!\n\n------\ncompliance_data\nIntegriChain | Senior Dev-Ops Engineer | Philadelphia PA | ONSITE\n[http://www.integrichain.com/](http://www.integrichain.com/)\n\nWe are a profitable healthcare data aggregator seeking to define the next\nstage of healthcare analytics.\n\nWe are a people-first software company looking to set the stage for our next\nlevel of growth.\n\nWe are looking for someone to help us accelerate our AWS infrastructure for a\nbrand new product line. You will be able to set things up “the right way”,\nwork with great developers, and have the opportunity to make decisions that\nwill pave the way for years to come.\n\n[http://www.integrichain.com/about-us/senior-dev-ops-\nengineer...](http://www.integrichain.com/about-us/senior-dev-ops-engineer/)\n\n------\nBenderV\nDoctrine | Sales | Paris | Doctrine.fr | ONSITE\n\nDoctrine is the \"Google\" for the case-law in France! We are a young startup\nwith a huge growth. We have raised more than 2M € after less than 6 months of\nexistence.\n\nWe use DL / NLP to automate lawyers' interns jobs! and we have a deep focus on\nUser Experience.\n\nWe are looking for a French-speaking sales (wo)man to join the team and kick-\nstart our growing sales!\n\nWe are also always hiring A-player Developers, Data-Scientists or any bright\nand ambitious hackers.\n\nApply here:\n[https://www.doctrine.fr/recrutement](https://www.doctrine.fr/recrutement) or\nsee our open positions on Angel List:\n[https://angel.co/doctrine-/jobs](https://angel.co/doctrine-/jobs)\n\n------\njpuccinelli\nNo-IP.com | www.noip.com/careers | Reno, NV | Front-End Developer | ONSITE |\nFulltime\n\n-3 years of Front-End Development experience specific to web and mobile applications\n\n-The ability to understand project requirements and turn them into functional code that meets the goals of the stakeholders and is visually appealing.\n\n-Strong experience with modern website front-end development including HTML5, CSS3, Javascript frameworks and browser compatibility.\n\n-Understanding of Single Page Application model\n\n-Proficient understanding of client-side scripting and JavaScript frameworks\n\n-Strong facilitation and collaboration abilities\n\n-Approaches projects with a flexible and adaptable mindset, and the attitude to always strive for the best solutions\n\n-A self-starter always looking for solutions, and someone who can easily tackle projects from a customer’s perspective\n\n-A sample portfolio of work completed\n\n------\nalacombe\nCradlepoint | Multiple positions | Kelowna, Bc, Canada | Boise, Id, US | Los\nGatos, Ca, US | Onsite | Full-Time | Cloud networking\n\nWe are looking for creators, leaders and team players that want an opportunity\nto work with a smart, energetic and passionate team that is revolutionizing\nthe way businesses think about how they can add performance and scale to their\nexisting network infrastructure. Innovation truly drives our core value and\nthe success of our company, so we’re always brainstorming, analyzing and\noptimizing how to make our solutions better for each and every customer.\n\nOpen positions:\n\n\\- R&D Program Manager\n\n\\- QA Engineer III (SaaS)\n\n\\- QA Analyst (FW)\n\n\\- QA Engineer 2 (FW)\n\n\\- QA Engineer 1 (FW)\n\n\\- QA Analyst I (IS)\n\n\\- Salesforce Developer\n\n\\- User Interface (UI) Engineering Manager\n\n\\- SaaS Software Development Engineer\n\n\\- Software Development Engineer\n\n\\- Development Operations Engineer (Dev/Ops)\n\nEmail directly alacombe@cradlepoint.com if interested by any of these\nposition.\n\n------\nnatekupp\nThumbtack | [https://thumbtack.com](https://thumbtack.com) | San Francisco, CA\n| ONSITE\n\nThumbtack is a local services marketplace that connects millions of customers\nwith the right professionals for anything they need done.\n\nWe are a friendly, ambitious team of 100+ engineers in a bright SoMa office\nwith daily home-cooked food, backed by Sequoia and Google Capital. Together,\nwe are disrupting a $700B market in the US alone where word of mouth is still\nthe status quo.\n\nWe're looking for engineers and SREs interested in working with Go,\nScala/Spark, PHP, Angular, iOS, Android, and AWS/GCP. We're also looking for\ndata scientists interested in predictive modeling, machine learning, and\nexperimental design and analysis. Join us!\n\n~~~\nCisSovereign\nDo you have a contact email?\n\n~~~\nnatekupp\nSure, please reach out to jessica [at] thumbtack.com!\n\n------\nalexdunn\nNumerai | Web App Developer | San Francisco Onsite Only | Full-time |\n[https://angel.co/numerai/jobs/198993-web-app-\ndeveloper](https://angel.co/numerai/jobs/198993-web-app-developer) |\nxander@numer.ai\n\nnumer.ai is a real-time web app for Numerai’s weekly tournament to solve the\nstock market. Our users are thousands of anonymous data scientists around the\nworld who compete to make the best predictions to control our hedge fund’s\ninvestments. We’ve successfully begun a revolution in the finance industry,\npaying 7500 users for their 30 billion stock market predictions. Our work has\njust begun, and we’re looking for an amazing web developer to take the lead\ndeveloping our web app.\n\n~~~\ngpi5\nI applied through angelist days ago -- out of curiosity do you read the\napplications you get from there?\n\n------\nMartinAlbertsen\nGAN Integrity | Copenhagen, Denmark | Back-end Engineer (Node, Mongo) |\nONSITE, VISA |\n\nSaaS Startup in Copenhagen looking for Engineers to join our team on-site. Our\nproducts are built on the MEAN stack.\n\nCurrently looking for NodeJS developers, but also full-stack, DevOps and\nfrontend.\n\nSuper international and diverse team. Dedicated to building scalable and high\nperforming products to help our customers with their compliance efforts. We\nare removing tedious paper-proccesses and building an intuitive and smart\ncloud based solution.\n\nMore details here: [https://gan-integrity-\nsolutions.workable.com/jobs/429547](https://gan-integrity-\nsolutions.workable.com/jobs/429547)\n\nFeel free to reach out with any questions or comments. martin@ganintegrity.com\n\n------\ndaveb5130\nJaunt VR | Software Engineers | San Mateo | Onsite www.jauntvr.com\n\nJaunt is pioneering the future of creative storytelling through cinematic\nvirtual reality. Founded in 2013, Jaunt is the leading developer of the\nhardware, software, tools, and applications to enable cinematic VR and put the\npower of virtual reality in the hands of today’s best content creators. Jaunt\nworks with leading creatives – from brands to artists to filmmakers – to\ncreate cutting-edge content accessible across all devices and platforms.\n\nAvailable Openings:\n\nSenior QA Engineer\n\nSenior Software Engineer - Applications\n\nSoftware Engineer - Full Stack (backend web)\n\nSenior Software Engineer - Video Streaming\n\nSoftware Engineer - Android\n\nSoftware Engineer - SDK\n\n[https://www.jauntvr.com/careers/positions/](https://www.jauntvr.com/careers/positions/)\n\n------\nsolworks\nSolworks | Full-stack Developer Node.js | Leicester UK, Nottingham UK | ONSITE\n| Full time\n\nWe: Are a small startup creating beautiful SaaS applications to help companies\nmanage employee time and holiday in a simple and consistent manner.\n\nYou: Are an enthusiastic developer who loves all things JavaScript, including\nits quirks, and wants to write modern, clean code. You are able to learn new\nthings but also aren't afraid to teach what you know.\n\nUsing:\n\n* React\n\n* Sequelize\n\n* Semantic-UI\n\n* Hapi, Nginx\n\n* Swagger / OpenAPI\n\n* Babel & Gulp & Mocha & ESLint\n\nBonus Points:\n\nYou can spin your own VMs or Containers, you know all your IDE shortcuts, you\nhave existing open-source contributions.\n\nBenefits:\n\n* Exciting challenges.\n\n* Free pizza Friday every month.\n\n* Staff social events including coastal sailing and barbeques.\n\n* Working with passionate, like-minded people.\n\n* Great tea and coffee.\n\n* Relaxed atmosphere and great facilities including our new table football\n\n* As many monitors as you want!\n\n* On-site parking.\n\nIf this sounds like your sort of opportunity, drop us a line at\nhello@sol.works\n\n------\nJDevlieghere\nGuardSquare | Software Engineer C++ / LLVM | Leuven, Belgium | Full-Time | On-\nSite\n\nGuardSquare is looking for a software engineer with an interest in software\nsecurity. You have knowledge of compiler technologies (LLVM) or the Mach\nand/or Linux kernel and you are definitely not afraid of disassemblers and\ndebuggers. Our team is building iXGuard, software that protects iOS\napplications through obfuscation and encryption. Think ProGuard (our open\nsource solution for Java) but for Objective-C and Swift.\n\nFor more information have a look on our website:\n[https://www.guardsquare.com/en/jobs](https://www.guardsquare.com/en/jobs)\n\nYou can apply online or e-mail me directly at\njonas.devlieghere@guardsquare.com.\n\n------\nrbultje\nTwo Orioles | Video Software Engineer | New York, NY | Full-time, on-site\n\nAt Two Orioles, we're building a team of video compression pioneers to shape\nthe future of online video streaming, working with some of the biggest video\nstreaming companies in the business.\n\nWe're looking for software engineers to enhance and further develop our VP9\nvideo encoder for our clients. This requires experience in C/C++. Knowledge of\n(x86) assembly is a plus. Ideal candidates are familiar with or have\nexperience with the VP9, H264 or HEVC bitstream formats or model software\nand/or have experience working on (not with) opensource video codec software\n(x264, ffmpeg/libavcodec, etc.).\n\nInterested in building tomorrow's video? Email me at rbultje@twoorioles.com\n\n------\npotench\nNFL (National Football League) | Los Angeles CA | Onsite | Full Time\n\nNFL has really creative Engineering and Product teams collaborating to deliver\npremium digital experiences for the growing online football fan-base. Checkout\nour growing open-source footprint at\n[https://nfl.github.io/](https://nfl.github.io/) for a deeper dive into our\nstack and engineering culture.\n\nNFL is hiring for senior Web, Backend, Connected TV, and Mobile Engineering\npositions. If GraphQL, Java, Node (Backend/Web), JS/React/Mobx (Web),\nSwift/Java (Mobile), or C++ (CTV) are your things, then send us an email at\n[engineers @ nfl.com] with your resume and area of interest (CTV, Mobile, Web,\nBackend).\n\n------\ntlrobinson\nMetabase | [http://www.metabase.com/](http://www.metabase.com/) | San\nFrancisco, CA | ONSITE, REMOTE | FULL-TIME\n\nWe're a small team building open source business intelligence tools with a\nstrong focus on user experience.\n\nClojure backend, React + Redux + ES6 + etc frontend. Nearly all of the work we\ndo is open source. We're looking to hire strong frontend, backend, or\ngeneralist engineers.\n\nIf you love open source, building beautiful products, and working with data,\napply at [http://www.metabase.com/jobs](http://www.metabase.com/jobs) and feel\nfree to contact me directly with questions.\n\n~~~\nGoodbyeEarl\nbeautiful UI you've got there :) would you like to screen share sometime?\n\n------\nhalfturk\nFullstack ASP.NET Developer | FullTime | Raleigh Durham, NC\n\nI'm a software developer located in Raleigh Durham for a high end vacation\nrental management company in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I need to hire\na fulltime senior level developer to help me out. This job is local to the\nRaleigh Durham area.\n\nI'm looking for someone with strong OO and web programming skills. Looking for\nsomeone experienced with the following skills:\n\nASP.NET MVC C# SQL Server TypeScript KnockoutJS WebAPI\n\nThese skills are a plus: Cloud Technologies - AWS/Azure/Google Compute Linux\nNginx Redis Google Analytics BigQuery Big Data\n\nIn the beginning it will be ONSITE, with some REMOTE work possible after we\nget up to speed. Can sponsor VISA for the right candidate.\n\nEmail me at josef[d0t]akinc[at]gmail[d0t]com to apply.\n\n------\nlegoman06\nAha! ([http://www.aha.io](http://www.aha.io)) | Rails & Front End Engineering\n| REMOTE\n\nAha! is looking for experienced Ruby on Rails, Javascript and front-end\nengineers to develop rich interactive experiences in React with a Rails\nbackend. Aha! is the #1 tool for product managers to plan strategy and\nroadmaps.\n\nAha! is profitable, you can work from anywhere in North America and we offer\nexcellent benefits.\n\nWe use our own product to manage our work (which is especially rewarding), we\ndeploy continuously and we are developing in Rails/CoffeeScript/React/d3. Our\nentire team is remote - primarily in US and Canada.\n\n[http://www.aha.io](http://www.aha.io) | email: amy@aha.io\n\n------\npdegnan\nlittleBits | Software Developer | NYC onsite |\n[http://littlebits.cc](http://littlebits.cc)\n\nlittleBits is a company aiming to get the world inventing. We make an award-\nwinning system of modular electronics. Our kits have been integrated heavily\nin STEAM education programs and we are dedicated members of the maker\nmovement. We aim to teach kids of all ages about systems thinking, empathy,\nand curiosity.\n\nOur roots have been in hardware, but we are starting to rely more and more on\nsoftware to enhance the system, and this is a position with that software\nteam. We recently launched an iOS and Android app to allow you to control our\nBluetooth LTE bits wirelessly. We also make a small internet-connected bit and\nrun our own internet-of-things cloud to back it. Right now we are working on a\nprogramming-based kit that runs on top of our Arduino bit, and a new app that\nwill communicate over BLE.\n\nAs a small team of software developers, we choose sharp tools and aim to keep\nour stack small. We enjoy a services layer written in Scala. Our main client\nis a Rails application that powers our community invention platform. Most UI\nwork is done in React. Our IoT cloud is Java and a bit of Go. The\nresponsibilities of this software team are 80% web/mobile product work, with\nthe remaining 20% to support our ecommerce site, brand site, sales/marketing\nefforts, and enterprise system integration. The positions we currently have\nopen are:\n\nSenior Full Stack Engineer (Ruby)\n\nFull Stack Engineer (Ruby)\n\nFrontend Engineer (Javascript / React)\n\nMobile Engineer (Android)\n\nOur interview process consists of a one-hour phone screen followed by a more\nextensive coding project with a 5-day deadline, and an in-person meeting of a\nhalf to a full day with the whole team.\n\nIf any of this sounds interesting to you, don't hesitate to get in touch at\n[paul.degnan@littlebits.cc]. There's a tremendous amount to do; ideally you\nhave experience. Most of all though, we hope you're warm, understanding,\nfunny, and committed to the cause.\n\n------\nstegro32\n(spabreaks|yourgolftravel).com | London, UK | Full-time\n\nTeam of ~20 people (developers, designers, infrastructure) in a well-\nestablished travel company (~200 people, ~100m GBP turnover), working on\ncustomer-facing and internal (mostly-)web-based applications.\n\nThings we do/use (in no particular order): pair programming, TDD, small cross-\nfunctional teams, Ruby, Rails, Python, Go, Javascript (sometimes with\nReactJS), Puppet, Vagrant, Webpack, Varnish, HAProxy, Node.js, Git, RSpec,\nJasmine.\n\nInterview process: two rounds, first always remote, second on-site where\npossible - first is a (sometimes technical) chat (~30-45 minutes), second is\npair programming with a few of our team (up to 2 hours).\n\nTo apply / ask questions: stephenl+hn201701@yourgolftravel.com.\n\n------\narshneet\nAmazon Web Services | Senior Software Engineer, Senior Software Engineer in\nMachine Learning | Vancouver, Canada; Seattle, WA | Full-time | ONSITE, VISA |\n\nRDS is looking for a Senior Software Engineer to join our team working on AWS\nscale big-data analytics problems. RDS Performance Insights team is working on\na new and as yet unreleased service which will reshape the way that customers\nuse databases and redefine industry expectations of what a modern, enterprise\ngrade cloud-native database provides. Leveraging a number of AWS services\nincluding Kinesis and EMR/Spark, our mandate is to provide actionable insights\ninto underlying database performance and push the boundaries of product and\ntechnology innovation in this area. As the only big-data, analytics and ML\nfocused team in RDS, our greenfield project is worked on by a tight knit\ndevops team, owned, and operated entirely from the new Amazon office here in\nVancouver, Canada.\n\nRequirements (Senior Software Engineer): \\- Comp Sci, Engineering,\nStats/Mathematics BA/MA/PhD \\- 8-10+ years professional experience in software\ndevelopment \\- Experienced technical leader. For more information and to\napply:\n[https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/392408](https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/392408)\n\nRequirements (Senior Software Engineer in ML): \\- Post-graduate level Computer\nScience, Machine Learning, Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics or a\nrelated quantitative field with up to 5 years of related work experience \\-\n10+ years professional experience in software development \\- Ability to\nindependently define and execute against a technical vision and roadmap –\nRecruitment, coaching and mentoring of other engineers – Strong will to adhere\nto best practices in OO development and a need to leave well–structured code\nin your tracks. For more information and to apply:\n[https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/425454](https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/425454)\n\nYou can also directly contact me (I'm an engineer on the team)\n[MyHNUsername][AT]amazon.com, or my manager pimmel[AT]amazon.com\n\n------\nkevinherron\nInductive Automation |\n[https://www.inductiveautomation.com](https://www.inductiveautomation.com) |\nSoftware Engineer | Folsom, CA\n\nCome help develop the future of software used in industrial automation. In\nthis position, you would join our core product development team. Together, we\nwork to build our primary product, Ignition.\n\nThis position is focused on implementing and maintaining network protocols for\ncommunicating with industrial controllers (PLCs, RTUs, etc…) as well as the\nsystem responsible for bridging data from those implementations into the\nIgnition platform. Responsibilities include new feature and protocol\ndevelopment as well as the maintenance and enhancement of existing\nfunctionality.\n\nWe are a tight-knit team of developers working every day to delight customers\nworldwide with a product they actually need. If this sounds like something\nyou’d like to be part of we look forward to talking to you.\n\nRequirements\n\n\\- B.S. in Computer Science, or equivalent experience\n\n\\- Minimum 5 years of programming experience\n\n\\- Strong Java 8 skills\n\n\\- Experience writing server and networking code\n\n\\- Experience writing highly concurrent multithreaded code\n\n\\- Modern toolchain and source control familiarity, e.g. Maven/Gradle and\nGit/Hg\n\nSkills Not Required, But a Plus\n\n\\- Experience with OPC Classic or OPC UA\n\n\\- Experience with industrial automation fieldbuses or protocols such as\nModbus, EtherNet/IP, Omron FINS, Siemens S7, Emerson/Fisher ROC, ABB Totalflow\n(DB/DB2), etc\n\n\\- Experience with PLCs and/or PLC programming\n\n\\- Any other relevant experience in industrial automation\n\n[https://inductiveautomation.com/about/careers/senior-\nsoftwar...](https://inductiveautomation.com/about/careers/senior-software-\nengineer-backend)\n\nYou can also contact me at my email address in my profile.\n\n~~~\nperrylaj\nWork at IA, and to supplement what Kevin posted from an employee's\nperspective:\n\n\\- Great team that listens to and appreciates good ideas regardless of where\nthey originate.\n\n\\- Good location, right at the foot of the Sierras (if you like\nnature/outdoors). Sane commute from midtown Sacramento if you want to be in\nthe city, but great suburbs/schools.\n\n\\- No open floor plan\n\n\\- Much more reasonable COL and traffic relative to the bay\n\n\\- sane 40 hour work week\n\nDefinitely get in touch with Kevin if you have questions, technical or\notherwise (Kevin's a team member, he'll give you real non-HRified answers as\nbest he can).\n\n------\nmsft_rtagger\nYammer (Microsoft) | Software Engineer | San Francisco, Redmond | Onsite |\n[https://careers.microsoft.com/yammer](https://careers.microsoft.com/yammer)\n\nHiring all roles (mobile, front end, java services, infrastructure) in San\nFrancisco and Redmond. Yammer's mission has always been to connect people with\ninformation to enable better, faster decisions. We believe effective\ncommunication involves more than chat rooms (though we use those too!). A big\npart of the mission I enjoy is that we are sparking cultural changes in our\ncustomers; to become transparent workplaces, with fewer silos and greater\nconnections across the org chart from left to right and bottom to top.\n\nSince winning TechCrunch in 2008 our growth has been exponential year over\nyear. Over the last 4 years as a part of the Microsoft Office 365 suite, we've\nbeen quietly tying our systems together with the O365 fabric while continuing\nto improve the experience using our tried-and-true data-driven methods. We\nknow everything we ship has an impact, and precisely how much. We create with\nvim, SublimeText, IntelliJ, and GitHub; run on Macs and Ubuntu; write Swift &\nObjC, Java (Dropwizard), Python, and Ruby on Rails; manage PostgreSQL, HBase,\nRabbitMQ, Memcache, HAProxy, ElasticSearch, Kafka, Storm, Kibana, and Vertica\nclusters at scale; and automate using Puppet, Docker, Mesos, Marathon and\nAzure across physical data center & cloud environments. We have two floors in\nthe \"Twitter building\" at 10th and Market in San Francisco, where we work next\nto the Outlook Mobile, MileIQ, Volumetrix, and other acquired startup teams.\nIt's a fantastic, open, creative space.\n\nIf San Francisco isn't your thing, we have a large sibling team in Seattle\n(Redmond). We're hiring for all roles in both locations!\n\nMicrosoft pays very competitively, invests in employees, and is highly\nsupportive of a diverse and respectful workplace. It's a startup atmosphere\nwith the stability and maturity of a large company, which makes it a perfect\nbalance for me.\n\nEmail me, Richard; rtagger [at] microsoft.com, for more information or if you\nhave questions :]\n\n------\njklontz\nRank One Computing | Denver, CO | Onsite | Full-Time\n\nRank One Computing is an employee-owned small business specializing in\ncomputer vision and facial recognition algorithm development. Our technology\nis licensed by numerous organizations around the world, and our facial\nrecognition SDK is increasingly found to be second to none.\n\nWe are interested in hiring a full-stack web developer to satisfy both client\nprojects and internal R&D demands:\n\n    \n    \n        http://www.rankone.io/jobs/WebDevJobReq.pdf\n    \n\n30 minute phone screening followed by onsite interview.\n\nFlexible work schedule, competitive salary commensurate with experience and\nequity. Come ski with us when we close the office for a powder day!\n\n------\napplehire\nApple | Cupertino, CA | Data Engineer |Full time | Onsite\n\nApple's ■redacted■ team is looking for experienced engineers to work on big\ndata, machine learning and high-scale, low-latency distributed systems. As a\npart of this team you will use machine learning at very large scale to build\ndistributed systems that serve millions of customers.\n\nRequirements:\n\n\\- Hand on experience with Spark/Spark streaming/Kafka.\n\n\\- Experience building analytics piplelines in both batch and streaming\nenvironments.\n\n* We are not hiring junior developer for this position.\n\n* Candidate must have existing authorization to work in United States. We are not sponsoring new work visa at this time.\n\nif interested send your resume to mansur.ashraf@apple.com with [HN] in email\nsubject\n\n~~~\nlookingforwork\nSaw this post on last month's Who's Hiring thread, except at the time, it said\njuniors/new grads were being considered. Are those positions already filled?\n\n~~~\napplehire\nyes, we have already filled junior positions\n\n------\nnigelgutzmann\nSniply | Software Developer, Machine Learning Engineer | Vancouver, BC |\n[http://snip.ly](http://snip.ly)\n\nSniply is a small startup (4 people so far), that makes a saas marketing tool.\nWe're hiring for two new positions:\n\n1) Intermediate Software Developer: a fullstack web developer, the core skill\nis javascript (we use react), but we also use python a lot (django, DRF)\n\n2) Machine Learning Engineer: we are working on a lot of NLP problems,\nspecifically with document summarization.\n\nIf you're interested, check out our postings:\n[https://angel.co/sniply-1/jobs](https://angel.co/sniply-1/jobs)\n\n------\nohitsdom\nSun Nuclear Corp | Melbourne, FL | ONSITE (Madison, WI also an option)\n\nLooking for a full-stack software engineer working with: C#, JavaScript\n(currently using knockout), Entity Framework, MS SQL Server, HTML/CSS. The\nproduct is a SPA for the medical industry. Great work life balance, and every\nengineer is empowered to make technical decisions to improve the product and\ntech stack.\n\nInterview process: phone call with technical questions, then one on-site\ninterview (~2 hours).\n\n[https://www.sunnuclear.com/careers#job-4212](https://www.sunnuclear.com/careers#job-4212)\nYou can also email me your resume: dominicfoti at sunnuclear.com\n\n------\nSoliah\nKinesis | Full Stack Web Developer | Sydney, Australia | Full-time, Onsite |\n[https://kinesis.org](https://kinesis.org)\n\nWe build tools that enable sustainable and liveable cities, from planning and\ndevelopment through to operational tracking and optimisation of existing\ninfrastructure.\n\nWe’re looking for a senior generalist web developer who can move between back\nand front of the stack, ideally with experience in either (or even better,\nboth) Django and Rails.\n\nCurrent stack/Technologies: Ruby/Rails, Python/Django, JavaScript/Ember.js,\nPostgreSQL, AWS If you’re interested email me at chris at kinesis dot org for\nmore info.\n\n------\nldabiralai\nPassFort | Front-End Engineer & Mobile Engineer | London, UK | ONSITE |\n[https://passfort.com](https://passfort.com)\n\nPassFort is a young and ambitious start-up— you’ll join a team of 6! We’re a\nseed stage company (we raised £650k at the end of 2015), based in the centre\nof London, near Southwark tube station.\n\nWe're working to solve the problem of digital identity in regulated markets\nthrough new technology, great UX and simple solutions.\n\nWe use react, es6, redux, mocha and enzyme.\n\nSalary: £40k - £55k with 0.3% - 0.6% equity\n\n[https://passfort.com/about#jobs](https://passfort.com/about#jobs) or\njobs@passfort.com\n\n------\nmentalhealtham\nMental Health America | Front-end Web Developer | Alexandria, VA (Washington,\nDC area) | Full-time, ONSITE preferred, mainly because we're fun to be around\n| $80-90K + benefits\n\nMHA has a strong benefits package, including a family-friendly work\nenvironment, health insurance, flexible work schedules, telecommuting, PTO,\nprofessional development funds, and a 401K match.\n\nWe're looking for a Front-end Web Developer with CMS experience (Drupal\npreferred) for our office in Alexandria, VA. Candidates with a portfolio and\n3+ years of experience are preferred. MHA believes we must address mental\nillness before Stage 4. We promote mental health as a critical part of overall\nwellness, including prevention services for all; early identification and\nintervention for those at risk; integrated care, services, and supports for\nthose who need it; with recovery as the goal.\n\nThe Front-end Web Developer will broadly support the organization by\nmaintaining the design and navigation of the MHA website, implementing special\nweb-based projects, and providing other support for web-based initiatives.\n\nJob duties/responsibilities include:\n\n* Maintain the MHA website (built on Drupal)\n\n* Lead periodic web design and alignment projects\n\n* Implement and adapt additional Drupal modules as required\n\n* Develop custom content for MHA websites and other properties\n\n* Develop content, including email templates and page wrappers, for other MHA web-based programs, such as Blackbaud’s Luminate Online Marketing system\n\n* Advise senior team on web and digital strategy\n\nDesired Skill Set: JavaScript, jQuery, and other javascript frameworks; HTML5;\nCSS3/SASS/SCSS; PHP; cross-browser development; CMS experience; experience\nworking with APIs to build data-driven user interfaces. Any experience with\ndesign or user experience is a bonus.\n\nFull description and application instructions at\n[http://careers.mentalhealthamerica.net/jobs/8763761](http://careers.mentalhealthamerica.net/jobs/8763761)\n\\- please reply here with any questions!\n\n------\nscottrogers86\nNerdWallet | Engineering | San Francisco, CA | FT | ONSITE\n\nInterview Process: We start off with a recruiter phone screen, then a\ntechnical phone screen, followed by an on-site.\n\nFront End Engineer - [https://nerd.me/2jxbSMr](https://nerd.me/2jxbSMr)\n\nFull Stack Engineer - [https://nerd.me/2jxbI86](https://nerd.me/2jxbI86)\n\nPrincipal Security Engineer -\n[https://nerd.me/2jxc4v9](https://nerd.me/2jxc4v9)\n\nAny questions feel free to email me (srogers [at] nerdwallet.com), but if you\nare applying please do so through the links provided.\n\n------\ncentury19\nAACB | Amsterdam | DevOps Engineer| ONSITE AACB is a leading company in\nfinancial (clearing) services. We run a global business where we process\nmillions of transactions every day. We are looking for Big Data Developers to\nwork on our Global Reporting and Analytics systems. This is a new and growing\narea with in the bank, you will be joining a small team and get great\nexperience in developing global applications from the ground up.\n\nWe work with the Hadoop ecosystem: Scala, Spark, Impala, Kafka and more.\nExperience in some of these areas is a must. Send me a mail at\npatrick.mc.gloin at nl.abnamro.com\n\n------\nPrepScholar2\nPrepScholar | Boston, MA | Onsite | Full-time | Product Manager |\n$100,000-$200,000\n\nPrepScholar is hiring Product Managers!\n\nPrepScholar’s mission is to improve education at scale through technology. Our\nflagship product is an SAT/ACT prep program that automatically learns the\nstrengths and weaknesses of each student and creates an individualized\nlearning program through machine learning. You can think of it as an automated\ntutor that provides a compelling learning experience at scale. We also have a\nlarge web presence with over two million monthly visitors to our free tools\nand articles.\n\nWe believe we have a major advantage over other companies in our space because\nof our technology-centered and analytical approach to education. We're\nprofitable and bootstrapped, and you'll work on products that impact millions\nof students worldwide.\n\nAs a Product Manager, you'll be launching a brand new product for a graduate\nexam (GRE/GMAT/LSAT/MCAT). You'll oversee the entire go-to-market strategy,\nincluding product development, test content, customer development, marketing,\nand sales. You'll be responsible for your product's P&L and plan to grow it to\nbe the leading product in its category.\n\nResponsibilities\n\n* Build and manage a product roadmap for product launch and iterations\n\n* Interface with engineers and test content developers to create the product\n\n* Develop effective marketing materials for all our online channels\n\n* Manage P&L and develop a strategic business plan to grow your product to a dominant position\n\nOur ideal candidate has:\n\n* Experience developing and shipping products and technologies\n\n* Demonstrated ability working with technical teams to rapidly produce prototypes and iterations\n\n* Understanding of financial and business metrics, including P&L, conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, net promoter score, viral factor\n\nPlease send your resume and cover letter to job.pm+hn@prepscholar.com, and\nread more at [http://www.prepscholar.com](http://www.prepscholar.com)\n\n------\nprophetjohn\nPolicyGenius | New York, NY (NYC/Manhattan) | Full-time, on-site only\n\nWe're crushing the insurance industry and hiring for lots of roles! Growing\nsuper fast (but not too fast!)!\n\nCheck out some of these sweet roles you could apply for:\n\n\\- Full stack software engineer!\n\n\\- Front end software engineer!\n\n\\- DevOps engineer!\n\n\\- Data engineer!\n\nMy goodness, who _is_ this company?! Find out more here:\n[https://www.policygenius.com/careers](https://www.policygenius.com/careers)\n\nDidn't answer your question? You can ask me directly! I'm\njosh@policygenius.com\n\nAre you a recruiter who has a super qualified Data|DevOps|Software engineer\nfor me? Please don't — we don't use recruiters.\n\nThanks!\n\n------\navaazjobs\nAVAAZ | [https://www.avaaz.org/en/hiring/](https://www.avaaz.org/en/hiring/) |\nGlobal | Full Time | REMOTE\n\nAvaaz is changing the world, and we’ll give you the means to change it, too.\nOur team is a place to exercise your creativity and your leadership, while\nbuilding never-before-seen tools for one of the world’s top online activism\norganisations. You can let your imagination run wild figuring out how to grow\nthe platform and tools, improve rapid-iterative processes and integrate new\ntechnologies. We are a nimble team working on creating opportunities to bring\nabout the world most people everywhere want -- one of justice, peace, and\nfreedom. The work environment is quite unique: whether you’re in the office or\nworking from home, our collaborative culture ensures everyone is heard and\ntreated respectfully, with a strong focus on personal development.\n\nOur tech build comprises the latest technologies (cloud computing, distributed\nsystems, big data) using great languages (Python, PHP, JS) with proven and\ncutting-edge datastores (MySQL, Redshift, MongoDB, Redis, Memcache). At Avaaz,\nyour work will have an impact on a huge scale: we have more than 40 million\nmembers, who have taken over 200 million actions, told over 500 million\nfriends about Avaaz campaigns and donated more than $50 million online. Our\nglobal and distributed tech team creates beautiful, efficient code that works\nacross browsers, platforms and localisations. It’s backed by developers with a\nproven track record of designing, building and debugging large web\napplications.\n\nWe’re roaming the world in the search for challenge-driven hard-working\ndevelopers and senior developers with excellent spoken and written\ncommunication in English who are able to adapt and learn, with talents for\ncreativity and abstract thinking. The quest is for people who fit that\nprofile; we know specific skills can always be trained and developed.\n\nWe are currently hiring senior developers & system administrators.\n\nSalary is competitive in the non profit space with generous benefits.\n\nApply here:\n[https://www.avaaz.org/en/hiring/](https://www.avaaz.org/en/hiring/)\n\n------\nDuber\nPlain Concepts | Barcelona, Spain | ONSITE\n\nWe are looking for a software crafts(wo)man to join our Barcelona team.\n\nWe are specialized in .Net and web (C#, HTML, CSS, JS, Node) yet lack of\nexperience in .Net is not a problem as long as you are solid at software\ndesign and development.\n\nTake a look at the offer:\n[https://plainconcepts.workable.com/jobs/335899](https://plainconcepts.workable.com/jobs/335899)\nand the web [https://www.plainconcepts.com/](https://www.plainconcepts.com/)\n\nAlso, I can answer any question you may have :)\n\n~~~\nozgkrc\nHello, do you give visa or blue card sponsorships for non-eu?\n\n------\ndtran\nPRX is reinventing PR (public relations, not pull requests, although we create\na lot of those too) for companies by making it on-demand, transparent, and\naffordable. Unlike working with traditional PR agencies that cost tens of\nthousands of dollars a month and endless hours of meetings, companies can\nlaunch a campaign with by signing up on our site and manage everything through\nour dashboard. PRX is looking for a full-stack software engineer to join our\nteam in building and scaling our platform to tens of thousands of businesses\nand hundreds of thousands of journalists and bloggers and using ML to disrupt\na very old-school industry.\n\n _Responsibilities_\n\n\\- You'll ship code to PRX’s core product\n\n\\- You'll develop new features and improve our PR platform, which our PR\nmanagers use to conduct campaigns for our clients\n\n\\- You'll work on our crawling engine that indexes millions of articles across\nthe web and scrapes information to our media targeting system\n\n\\- You'll use a wide range of technologies including React, Redux, Django,\nSCSS, PostgreSQL, ElasticSearch, Github and Git Flow, Redis, Celery, Heroku,\nlots of AWS services (RDS, SQS, S3, Cloudfront, ElastiCache)\n\n _Qualifications_\n\n\\- You have experience writing and maintaining code shipped to real users,\nwhether for work or a side project.\n\n\\- You have experience in writing web software and are comfortable working\nacross the stack. However, it's okay to be stronger or have a preference for\nbackend or frontend, as long as you're willing to learn.\n\n\\- You have a firm grasp on CS fundamentals\n\n\\- You are able to learn new concepts and technologies quickly\n\n _Valued, but not required_\n\n\\- Experience in our specific technologies. PRX is primarily built in Python\nusing Django with Postgres and ElasticSearch on the backend and React + Redux\nand SCSS on the frontend.\n\n\\- Experience in Numpy, Scipy and ML or NLP\n\nApply at\n[https://prxco.workable.com/jobs/413395/candidates/new](https://prxco.workable.com/jobs/413395/candidates/new)\n\n~~~\nrandomnumber314\n|Experience in Numpy, Scipy and ML or NLP\n\nEvery line above this one states nothing but \"you will work here\"\n\nAm I losing context or are \"ship code to product\" and/or have experience\n\"writing [...] code\" or \"not dumb\" terrible benchmarks?\n\n~~~\ndtran\nHi, thanks for your feedback/questions. No, you're not losing context—these\ncan be rewritten to be much more informative and expressive. We've been mostly\nfocused on recruiting through our network, so I haven't had a change to spend\nas much time on this language as I'd like to.\n\nRe: the \"You will ship code to the core product\", that specific line was\ncopied and pasted from a job posting for an internship position where it\nwouldn't necessarily be implied.\n\n------\nzecto\nMSC | DevOps | Permanent | Fulltime | Bethesda MD / Washington DC | ONSITE |\nVISA\n\nMedical Science & Computing (MSC) is hiring DevOps at the National Center for\nBiotechnology Information\n([https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov))\n\nTech: Linux, Python, Django, Scala/Finagle, C/C++, SaltStack, consul, packer,\nlinkerd, TeamCity, docker/mesos/kubernetes/nomad, aws/gce\n\nSmall, fast-moving team, smart people, great culture, great opportunities,\nlots of potential.\n\nHelp bring progress to an amazingly important public resource!\n\nContact via email in my profile.\n\n------\ndarose\nDailymotion | Multiple roles | NY, NY | Full-time, on-site | Visa |\n[http://jobs.dailymotion.com/en/offers#departments=1#loc=Unit...](http://jobs.dailymotion.com/en/offers#departments=1#loc=UnitedStates)\n\nDailymotion, the global video-hosting company, is looking to fill multiple\nroles to help us staff up a green-field project, building out a new ad-tech\nplatform from the ground up. Hiring for multiple tech positions, including\nFront-end Engineer, Data Science, and Big Data Engineer, as well as more\nsenior roles.\n\n------\ndflenniken\nBrain Health Registry | Web Developer | San Francisco\n\nWe're working to accelerate the development of cures for brain disorders by\ndriving down the time and cost of finding research participants through an\ninnovative online registry.\n\nSeeking an experienced developer who excels at backend web development and is\nno slouch on the front end. Bonus points if you know our stack (C#/MVC/Azure),\nbut experience with any similar stack is a-ok.\n\nShould be smart, get things done, and have some fun.\n\nDecent salary, solid benefits, awesome coworkers, laptop, stunning location\n(Lands End)\n\nEmail the pertinent details to hiring@brainhealthregistry.org\n\n------\nNelnet\nNelnet - IT Infrastructure Engineer - Data Center - Sioux Falls, SD - Full-\nTime\n\nProvides daily ongoing deployment, configuration, support, administration,\nmaintenance and technical solutions to various technology components that make\nup the data center environment. This position is located in Sioux Falls, South\nDakota.\n\nFor more info and to apply: [https://careers-nelnet.icims.com/jobs/4381/it-\ninfrastructure...](https://careers-nelnet.icims.com/jobs/4381/it-\ninfrastructure-engineer---data-center/job?mode=view)\n\n------\nGxorgxo\nTravelPerk | Senior Back-End Developer | Barcelona | ONSITE travelperk.com Are\nyou a Back-End Developer with extensive Python experience? Do you particularly\nenjoy working with amazing people, having fun at work and building something\nawesome? If so, this role may just be a fit. As a senior developer you will\nwork as a part of the team that builds a next-generation application for\nbusiness travel. On a day-to-day basis you will work with our product team to\ndesign, architect and implement the back-end of our product. Your code will\nrun fast, efficiently and will never break. This position involves: System\narchitecture design, implementation and testing. Product development in Python\nand Django of a travel related web-based product. Integrations between our\nproduct to 3rd party APIs. Work in Agile environment with strong attention to\na well-documented code, unit testing and continuous integration. Being able to\nmentor/coach/train other colleagues as a subject matter expert. What do we\noffer? Competitive compensation including base salary, bonus and equity in the\ncompany. 24 vacation days per year and flexible working hours. This position\nrequires full-time, in-house work in Barcelona, Spain. We can help with\nrelocation from anywhere in the world. English is the official language at the\noffice. No prior knowledge of Spanish is required. The link to apply is\n[http://bit.ly/backend-eng-tk](http://bit.ly/backend-eng-tk)\n\n------\nshan28harris\nSmugMug | Mountain View, CA | Frontend Engineer | ONSITE, REMOTE | Full Time\nPhoto sharing We are looking for a seasoned frontend engineer!\nResponsibilities \\- Design, develop, enhance and maintain the frontend of the\nbest photo sharing site on the internet, duh! \\- Own a significant stake from\ninception to launch in projects that have a direct impact on customer\nacquisition, new user experience, and growing our customers’ business revenue\ngrowth. \\- Collaborate in designing and developing intuitive, responsive\ninterfaces in HTML, CSS, and JS, working in React, redux and ES6. \\-\nIncorporate and refine JS modularization, automated test coverage, A/B\ntesting, internationalization, accessibility, and build tooling \\- Be active\nin code reviews and discussions to learn, share knowledge, and improve code\nquality across the codebase Must haves \\- 5+ years of experience building\nlarge-scale server-based web applications • 2+ years of experience developing\necommerce solutions, or new user \\- Substantial experience working with HTML,\nCSS, and vanilla JavaScript \\- Thorough comprehension of frontend UX design,\nperformance optimization, and JS architecture and methodologies \\- Deep\nunderstanding of web form usability and security concerns\n[https://jobs.smugmug.com/Job-\nOpenings?gh_jid=586094](https://jobs.smugmug.com/Job-Openings?gh_jid=586094)\n\n------\nmichael_schmidt\nElenion Technologies | Senior DevOps Engineer | New York, NY | ONSITE Full-\nTime\n\nElenion Technologies is driving innovation in silicon photonics, an emerging\ntechnology poised to significantly increase performance and reduce costs of\noptical systems. We are headquartered in New York City, with offices in San\nJose, California and Munich, Germany. The technical team includes world\nleaders in our space, and many members are PhD scientists and engineers from\nthe top schools in the world, such as MIT, Caltech, UChicago, and Columbia.\nThis has enabled our team to run very lean on IT resources, relying on\nexternal consultants for support up to this point.\n\nWe are looking for an experienced DevOps engineer to help drive our success in\ndeveloping world-class optical technologies. As this is position is our first\nfull-time IT hire, we need someone who can assess existing systems, transition\nservices to new platforms, implement industry best-practices, generate\ndetailed documentation, and help create a culture of operational excellence in\nall aspects of our IT infrastructure. Additionally, we are looking for someone\nwho is interested in building tools to automate processes directly involved in\nour research, development, and operations teams.\n\nFull job description below:\n[https://app.trinethire.com/companies/1301-elenion-\ntechnologi...](https://app.trinethire.com/companies/1301-elenion-\ntechnologies/jobs/3743-it-infrastructure-engineer)\n\n------\nkamiller201\nLifion | New York, NY (Chelsea) | Full-Time ONSITE | Software Engineer, Mobile\nEngineer, Sr Software Engineer | Rapid Application Development Platform\n\nWe utilize Javascript with React on the front-end and Node.js on the back,\nDocker containers, Scala and more. If you are the kind of person who thrives\nin a challenging environment and has creative expertise and a thirst for\npushing the limits, we are interested in you!\n\nOur scrum teams are comprised of Software Engineers who get a thrill out of\nsetting up test frameworks and thrives on quality code. If that’s you, let us\nknow and you can take the lead.\n\nResponsibilities \\- Deliver highly automated, intelligent and predictive\nsolutions for our client offerings \\- Responsible for building out the core\nframeworks of the metadata-driven platform being developed in-house, including\nbuilding out the Source Control \\- Management piece that will allow\napplication developers to have their own isolated development environments \\-\nDeliver innovative solutions to drive next generation user experiences,\ndesigns and technologies \\- Responsible for ensuring the successful transition\nto a Service Oriented Architecture framework with the help of containers \\-\nSpearhead POC’s on the latest technologies and help Lifion by ADP move even\nfaster \\- Choose the right tool for the right job\n\nCheck out all of our postings here:\n[http://grnh.se/fs3lh51](http://grnh.se/fs3lh51)\n\n------\nashchristopher\nWave | Toronto, Canada | Fulltime | Onsite\n\nWave is a top Toronto startup backed by amazing Silicon Valley investors ($60+\nmillion USD raised). We build an ecosystem of financial applications for\nstartups and small businesses. We currently have openings on our engineering\nand platform engineering teams:\n\nAt Wave you will:\n\n    \n    \n        * Build scalable, fault-tolerant, tested, API-centric backend services in Ruby or Python\n        * Use proven modern technologies to power financial grade distributed systems\n        * Participate in architecture conversations, code reviews, and pair programming\n        * Build rich user-centric experiences for businesses using modern front-end technologies (we use ReactJS)\n        * Investigate and implement new technologies like GraphQL\n    \n\nWhat we offer:\n\n    \n    \n        * Top tier compensation\n        * Formal mentorship and career development\n        * Unlimited snacks and beverages\n        * Vibrant neighbourhood, ping pong, Xbox, rooftop patio, BBQ parties, and game nights\n        * 5-star Glassdoor review (https://www.glassdoor.ca/Overview/Working-at-WAVE-EI_IE554319.11,15.htm)\n    \n\nIn the press:\n\n    \n    \n        * http://betakit.com/wave-raises-14-6-million-with-goal-to-grow-team-to-150-and-continue-mobile-development/\n    \n\nApply here:\n[https://www.waveapps.com/careers](https://www.waveapps.com/careers) and\nmention Hacker News in the submission!\n\n------\nTDMLB101\nMLB Advanced Media (BAMTech) | New York, NY | (Sr.) Software Engineer ||\nONSITE or REMOTE, Full time\n\nJoin our team and help us drive the cord-cutting revolution! MLB Advanced\nMedia (now BAMTech) isn’t just about streaming Baseball – we also manage HBO\nNow, NHL, Twitter NFL, Fox Sports Go, WWE, and several other content\nproviders. You would be helping a team whose services act as the linchpin for\nvideo playback, handling new challenges of scale and speed in a rapidly\ngrowing industry. The company is aggressively expanding to meet increased\ndemand, and you would be getting in on the ground floor of this new\nopportunity. You would help the team create new designs to meet our scaling\ndemands, build out services in cloud infrastructure providers with exposure to\nAWS EC2, S3, Dynamo, and Kinesis, and help the team introduce new processes to\nscale. If you like tinkering with new technologies, have experience with high\nscale systems, or simply want to gain exposure to new tools, this team is a\ngreat fit. You’d be helping the team embrace microservices architecture with\nan emphasis on non-blocking, highly concurrent programming. Experience with\nScala/Play/Akka is highly preferred, but not a requirement. With strong CS\nfundamentals and an entrepreneurial attitude, you’d be an asset to our team.\n\nApply here:\n[http://www.mlb.com/careers/mlbam/?gh_jid=262978](http://www.mlb.com/careers/mlbam/?gh_jid=262978)\n\nFeel free to PM me for more information.\n\n~~~\nMarcAstr0\nI've sent a couple of emails but haven't gotten any reply at all. :/\n\n~~~\nTDMLB101\nHi MarcAstr0 apologies! Please shoot me a note directly and I'll make sure to\nrespond. Some folks have applied for different positions which I've forwarded\non to recruiting / hiring managers so it's possible something got lost in the\nshuffle. Apologies again and appreciate your interest.\n\n------\npaulieontech\nSecret Escapes | LONDON, BERLIN | ONSITE | Full Time\n\nDevOps Engineer - Apply: [http://goo.gl/wSlq9y](http://goo.gl/wSlq9y) Web\nDesigner - [https://goo.gl/EHqHmF](https://goo.gl/EHqHmF) Technical Lead -\n[https://goo.gl/8fazyz](https://goo.gl/8fazyz)\n\nSecret Escapes is a Index Ventures and Google Ventures backed startup and is\nthe UK's biggest members-only website offering flash sales on luxury travel\nwithin the UK and around the world. We negotiate amazing deals and exclusive\ndiscounts for our members.\n\nTravel is - and should be - exciting, and booking a holiday or hotel should be\na great experience. That's what we set out to achieve, and it's the philosophy\nthat drives us on. We want to inspire the world to escape, and we do so with\nstrong imagery, stylish writing, sought-after destinations and unbeatable\nprices.\n\nApply if you are looking for a fast paced, entrepreneurial environment where\nself-starters have an opportunity to make a huge impact in one of the\ninternet's fastest growing categories. We're a dedicated and passionate team\nwho work hard to make things happen. You won't find us standing on ceremony or\nworrying about corporate red tape (we're fresh out of that stuff).\n\nSee more: [https://goo.gl/EHqHmF](https://goo.gl/EHqHmF)\n\n------\noliviao\nTop Hat | www.tophat.com | Toronto, ON, Canada | ONSITE Full-time\n\nTop Hat is still hiring!! We are looking for really smart software engineers\nto join our team! Some of the roles we have available are: iOS developer,\nAndroid developer, Mobile Lead and Full stack web developer (Python, Django,\nJavascript, React.js/Flux, AWS, Ansible). Salary ranges based on experience\nfrom $80K to $130K. We're a pretty awesome growth startup in the education\nspace - we make the classroom more interactive, fun and engaging for both\nstudents and professors. We've got VC funding from some of the best investors\nin the world (the same guys that funded Shopify, Salesforce, Box.net etc.) Top\nHat helps professors make every lecture count by transforming mobile devices\ninto powerful engagement tools, inside and outside the classroom. Recently,\nTop Hat has been building out interactive textbooks and creating a way for\nprofessors to produce new content and share it through a market place! We have\na great dev culture and some really cool problems to work on!\n\nTop Hat is also hosting Hack & Tell: Round 11 on February 7th. If you are in\nthe Toronto area and would like to come out rsvp here:\n[https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Hack-and-\nTell/events/23702478...](https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Hack-and-\nTell/events/237024788/) (There will be free pizza and beer)!\n\nIf you are interested in our open positions send your resume/github account to\nolivia at tophat dot com.\n\n~~~\nvirde\nI havent gotten a single response from TopHat, ever :/\n\n------\ndban\nAuthorea | Senior Software Engineer | Brooklyn, NY | On-site | Visa possible |\nwww.authorea.com\n\nSpun out of CERN by a group of astrophysicists, Authorea is building the\nworld’s best collaborative document editor for research. We are a New York\nCity-based company with recent backing from Bloomberg Beta, ffVC, Lux Capital,\nand Techammer. We are pre-Series A with 70,000+ users and growing.\n\nWe are a close group of researchers, engineers, and product people fixing some\nenormous fundamental problems in research. Our goal is to advance\nsubstantially the pace of scientific innovation by delivering a superior\nresearch editor built for the web.\n\nThe editor is built on git and supports multiple markup languages. Every\ndocument is a repo and has a commit history. Researchers can run\nvisualizations and IPython notebooks inside the document. Citations can be\npulled from online reference libraries and documents can be exported to\nhundreds of styling formats. In short: We have a lot of stuff to work on, and\nwe need your help!\n\nPlease say hello with a note to jobs@authorea.com and “HN” in the subject\nline.\n\nRequirements: \\- Passion for open science \\- 6+ years of web development\nexperience \\- Deep familiarity with Ruby/Rails \\- Extensive knowledge of the\nmodern front end stack, CSS/JS, React, Redux \\- History of completing projects\non time and to spec \\- A great team player with a positive attitude willing to\nhelp the team accomplish our ambitious goals\n\n------\nchicagomint\nDigital Mint | Chicago, IL | On-site | full-time |\n[http://digitalmint.io/](http://digitalmint.io/)\n\nDigital Mint is an on-demand cash-to-bitcoin exchange company, enabling\nconsumers to participate in the online economy using the versatility of\ndigital currencies. We allow customers to convert their cash into bitcoin\nthrough physical kiosks and convenient point-of-sale solutions. It is our\nvision to become the largest consumer bitcoin transaction company in the\nUnited States, empowering underserved and unbanked consumers to utilize\ndigital currencies as a tool for their financial lives.\n\nCurrently, we operate over 50 brick-and-mortar locations in 9 states — serving\nover 13,000 individual customers! In addition, we are profitable, growing\nfast, and need motivated and talented team members to help us shape the\nlandscape of the burgeoning digital currency ecosystem.\n\nWe're looking for dedicated engineers to help us scale our existing stack to\nkeep pace with the ever-growing demand for bitcoin. Some technologies we use\ninclude Ruby on Rails, React.js + Redux, react-native, Redis, Elasticsearch,\nSQL, and Git. Experience working with bitcoin APIs and DevOps knowledge is a\nplus.\n\nSend resume to: careers [at] digitalmint [dot] io\n\n[http://www.builtinchicago.org/job/lead-\nengineer-5](http://www.builtinchicago.org/job/lead-engineer-5)\n\n------\nagconway\nAlluvium | Brooklyn, NY | ONSITE | Full-time |\n[http://www.alluvium.io/](http://www.alluvium.io/)\n\nAlluvium is an enterprise software startup developing a mesh intelligence\nplatform for complex industrial operations. The platform is designed to\nsupport machine intelligence software services for industrial operations\nwherein there are complex streams of heterogenous data, and expert human\noperators tied to those operations. The company was founded in September,\n2015, and since then has received interest from a broad spectrum of industries\n– most notably oil and gas, fleet and logistics, and advanced manufacturing.\n\nWe're looking for software engineers and product engineers to join our small\nteam in Brooklyn and help us build core products and technology.\n\nAs a software engineer you will help us build out our core stream processing\nplatforms for doing distributed machine learning on noisy streaming data from\nphysical systems. We primarily work in Scala.\n\nAs a product engineer you will design and build great web experiences for our\nusers by understanding their workflows and finding ways to convey complex\ninformation. If that sounds interesting to you, we would love to hear from\nyou: [http://www.alluvium.io/software-\nengineer](http://www.alluvium.io/software-engineer)\n[http://www.alluvium.io/product-engineer](http://www.alluvium.io/product-\nengineer)\n\n------\nanthonylukach\nOsprey Informatics | Senior Full Stack Developer | Calgary, AB, Canada |\nONSITE\n\nHelp us build the visual layer of the Industrial Internet of Things. We have\nbuilt a fault-tolerant SAAS product to manage a distributed network of\ncameras, sensors, and on-premise servers. We employ both Cloud and Fog\ncomputing architectures to ingest, process, and store hundreds of thousands of\nimages daily. Data is processed utilizing a number of computer vision/machine\nlearning techniques (eg convolutional neural networks).\n\nOsprey is looking for a Senior Full Stack Python Developer to expand its core\ndevelopment team. The majority of our near-term upcoming work will be in\nbackend development, however there will be some front-end development\nopportunities as well. As we build out new features, we will also be re-\narchitecting our system to promote continuous delivery and improved\nscalability.\n\nRequired Skills / Qualifications:\n\n* At least 5 years experience working with:\n    \n    \n      - Python\n      - Linux/Unix environments\n      - Git (or other source code management tools)\n      - SQL Databases (we use Postgresql)\n      - RESTful web services\n      - Distributed systems\n      - Object Oriented Programming\n    \n\nSee more details here: [http://stackoverflow.com/jobs/134238/senior-full-\nstack-pytho...](http://stackoverflow.com/jobs/134238/senior-full-stack-python-\ndeveloper-osprey-informatics)\n\n------\nreid\nYahoo | Software Engineer | Sunnyvale, CA | ONSITE\n[https://www.yahoo.com](https://www.yahoo.com)\n\nWe are creating Yahoo Bar, a modern and effortless login, search, notification\nand email experience on top of every Yahoo product. Our work will have a big\nimpact because it will appear on every Yahoo product reaching millions of\npeople every day. We are creating delightful way to switch accounts, discover\nnew places to go, stay up to date with email and even login without passwords\n(using Yahoo Account Key) across Yahoo, Flickr and Tumblr.\n\nWe're looking for a front-end engineer who will enjoy the challenge of quickly\nbuilding and expanding Yahoo Bar on the web. We work with ES6, Node, Lasso,\nMarko, Jest and Protractor for building the core product. We're also\ninterested in a back-end engineer who'll build a hosted service for delivering\nYahoo Bar in Java.\n\nWe have a focus on shipping and are rolling out the product to production as\nwe create features. For example, you can check out our work at\n[https://view.yahoo.com](https://view.yahoo.com) today.\n\nThere's a lot of cool stuff going on internally, too. I've been with the\ncompany for over 8 years and before this I worked on Yahoo's now open-source\ncontinuous delivery system: [http://screwdriver.cd](http://screwdriver.cd)\n\nIf this sounds interesting, get in touch. rburke@yahoo-inc.com\n\n------\nitaifrenkel\nForter | Security DevOps | Tel Aviv, Israel | Full-Time\n\nTL;DR:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyCCLp3-M0k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyCCLp3-M0k)\n\nForter is looking for a DevOps Engineer with broad experience in security to\njoin us in the amazing challenge of combating online fraud. We are looking for\nan experienced DevOps who has faced security challenges such as DDoS\nmitigation, data breach protection and applying data access policies for\nalmost 100 employees. We at Forter spend all day stopping online criminals\nfrom stealing, and this makes us a logical target for an attack. We’re looking\nfor someone to lead data security compliance at Forter, taking it all the way\nfrom designing to implementing and communicating (including documentation)\nwith management and customers. Just to clarify… we are a lean startup with\nflat-org engineering, and compliance means infrastructure automation, best\npractices and training, not a long list of policies. The Senior Security\nDevOps role shall evolve to take ownership on growing needs, beyond security,\nof Enterprise Readiness.\n\nIf you are interested, please apply [https://www.forter.com/careers/senior-\nsecurity-devops-engine...](https://www.forter.com/careers/senior-security-\ndevops-engineer-secops-tel-aviv/) or email me at itai@forter.com\n\n------\nsarahlodato\nSOLTECH | Technical Project Manager (90-115K) + Solutions Architect (120-150K)\n| Atlanta, GA | ONSITE Full-time\n\nSOLTECH is hiring! We're a custom software development firm in Atlanta, GA,\nspecializing in building the complex engineering problems others can't tackle.\nWe have an engineering team of 30+, and our project services cover all\nindustry verticals; we don't cater to a specific type of product, but focus\nmore on taking on clients with complex problems that can challenge our team\nand offer growth opportunities for their tech stack.\n\nTechnical Project Manager: This is a leadership position on our team, managing\nlarge projects with teams of anywhere from 5-10 people. We are seeking people\nwith end-to-end SDLC experience with Agile and Waterfall process experience.\nProgramming background is a huge bonus, and experience in a consultancy is a\nrequirement. Help guide the team through sophisticated tech decisions to\nensure success for our clients!\n\nSolutions Architect: Our Solutions Architects are experts in both software\narchitecture and design, with a heavy background in server-side technical\nknowledge. Polyglots in every respect, with a diverse portfolio of solutions\ndesigned for clients. You'll make design architecture decisions, as well as\nconsult on what latest technology is right for the application. You're highly\nengaging as a speaker and enjoy really getting to know clients and their\nbusiness problems to provide custom solutions.\n\nEmail us at recruiting at soltech dot net. Can't wait to chat!\n\n------\nbotswana99\nDataKitchen | Technical & Documentation Writer | Boston/Cambridge, MA | ONSITE\nfull or part-time [https://www.datakitchen.io/](https://www.datakitchen.io/)\n\nDataKitchen, Inc. enables analytic teams to deliver value quickly, with high\nquality, using the tools that they love. DataKitchen provides the world’s\nfirst DataOps platform for data-driven enterprises, enabling them to support\ndata analytics that can be quickly and robustly adapted to meet evolving\nrequirements. DataKitchen is leading the DataOps movement to incorporate Agile\nSoftware Development, DevOps, and manufacturing based statistical process\ncontrol into analytics and data management. Our company is profitable, stable,\nrapidly growing and stock will be part of the package.\n\nAt DataKitchen, we have a lot to say about DataOps, but speak in code. Help us\ncreate documentation of our product, command line, configuration, and REST\nAPIs. Part time schedule is an option for this position. Qualifications:\nExperience as a technical writer. Ability to work independently. A background\nin data/analytics is a plus. Some programming background. Bachelor’s Degree in\nEnglish, Journalism or equivalent.\n\nWe offer very competitive pay, benefits like a company funded 401K,\nexperienced team (we all code), amazing customers, equity, and a cool office\nlocation.\n\nContact info@datakitchen.io\n\n------\nGxorgxo\nTravelPerk | Senior Product Designer (UX) | Barcelona | ONSITE travelperk.com\nAs a Senior Product Designer, you will have a number of years of solid\ninteraction design under your belt and will be able to bring something new and\nunique to the team. You know that designs are never completed but are\nconstantly evolving based on user feedback. To you an interface is not a\n“pretty-picture” fabricated from an ideal state, but is a compilation of\ncomplex components which can have many states and need to work fluidly with\nthe data that is thrown at them. You have a passion to learn new things and\nyou see failure as a way of learning. Key Responsibilities Design and test new\ncomponents and interfaces using lean methods. Communicate ideas clearly and\nquickly with key stakeholders. Decide on the best approach for your designs\nbased on a strong understanding of commonly understood patterns and usability.\nUnderstand technical constraint and how this will impact your designs.\nConsider how your designs will adapt across multiple devices and in various\ncontexts. Aim to delight users through thoroughly considered designs and\nmicrointeractions. What do we offer? Competitive compensation including base\nsalary, bonus and equity in the company. 24 vacation days per year and\nflexible working hours. This position requires full-time, in-house work in\nBarcelona, Spain. We can help with relocation from anywhere in the world.\nEnglish is the official language at the office. No prior knowledge of Spanish\nis required. The link to apply is [http://bit.ly/srUX-tk](http://bit.ly/srUX-\ntk)\n\n------\nSCM\nStevens Capital Management LP| Radnor, PA| FULL TIme| ONSITE|\n[https://www.scm-lp.com](https://www.scm-lp.com)\n\nStevens Capital Management LP (“SCM”) is a registered investment adviser that\nmanages a multi-billion dollar hedge fund that has been in business for 25+\nyears. SCM specializes in the rigorous development and disciplined\nimplementation of empirically based quantitative trading strategies. Our\nhighly productive team works in a fast-paced collegial environment, utilizing\nextensive data sets, technology and the scientific method to devise and employ\ntrading strategies throughout the world’s most liquid financial markets.\n\nWe are currently looking to hire for the following positions: Technical\nRecruiter: [http://scm-lp.com/technical-recruiter/](http://scm-\nlp.com/technical-recruiter/) C++ Market Data Feeds Developer: [http://scm-\nlp.com/c-market-data-feeds-developer-position/](http://scm-lp.com/c-market-\ndata-feeds-developer-position/) Execution Developer: [http://scm-\nlp.com/execution-developer-positions/](http://scm-lp.com/execution-developer-\npositions/) Implementation Developer: [http://scm-lp.com/implementation-\ndeveloper-positions/](http://scm-lp.com/implementation-developer-positions/)\n\nPlease submit your resume to: recruiting@scm-lp.com\n\n------\nfazanhabib\nLondon, UK - DEVOPS ENGINEERS - Automation Logic (www.automationlogic.com) -\nONSITE / Permanent Employment\n\nAutomation Logic is a leading European professional services firm providing\nconsultancy and support to large enterprises in the field of data centre\nautomation.\n\nAutomation Logic are hiring DevOps Engineers from varying background at\nvarying levels of seniority.\n\nThe interview process - telephone screening -> technical test -> face to face\ninterview -> offer\n\nIf you are interested please feel free to apply by emailing\nfazan.habib@automationlogic.com\n\n------\nmontasaurus\nBlackcomb Software | San Francisco, CA | Full Time | ONSITE\n\nHey, my name's Adam and I'm looking for help creating the next generation of\nfield service management software. We started inside an air conditioning\ncompany in Sarasota, FL building the software we needed to manage our growth.\nToday, the systems we developed are in use at the largest HVAC companies in\nthe nation.\n\nOur goal is to be the platform that every HVAC company loves to use and can't\nlive without. At our core is the belief that we can achieve this through a\ndeep understanding of what makes our user's lives simpler.\n\nI'm looking for someone to lead the development of this platform. Here are\nsome traits that define this person:\n\n* Hungry to learn the details of an established and \"old-fashioned\" industry * Excited by the prospect of improving someone's quality of life through automation * Comfortable architecting and coding effective software solutions, actively participating in recruiting, and managing the same in others * Inspired to bring economic prosperity to hard-working people across the country\n\nIf that sounds like you, or you'd like to help in another role, I'd love to\nspeak with you.\n\nOur current stack includes Ruby on Rails, iOS / Swift, .NET / C#,\nJavascript/CSS/HTML, and React Native.\n\n[https://www.blackcombsoftware.com/jobs](https://www.blackcombsoftware.com/jobs)\n\n------\nmichaelbryzek\nFlow Commerce | Hoboken NJ | Full-time, onsite |\n[http://flow.io](http://flow.io)\n\nFlow is an enterprise SAAS platform that makes it simple for ecommerce brands\nto sell globally. It’s a large market (~$300B last year) and growing quickly\n(~30%/year). We launched MVP in October and are now scaling the team.\n\nWe love building software. We love open source. We spend tons of time\ncarefully designing our APIs - a core part of our business is a simple set of\nAPIs built by developers for developers.\n\nWhat we are looking for:\n\n    \n    \n      - Passion to define and build simple APIs\n      - Passion for natural language processing and/or general algorithmic work\n      - Passion to create great UX and UI\n    \n\nAbout us:\n\n    \n    \n      - Balanced and Productive. We have a great core team and think a lot about culture, starting with a foundation of trust\n      - Founded in 2015 by second time successful entrepreneurs (Gilt Groupe, Fizzback). Well-funded.\n      - Open source: node.js, react, redux, scala (the kind of scala without a var), play framework (APIs), go (CLIs) - more at: https://github.com/flowcommerce\n    \n\nWe have many friends here on HN, and we are really looking for interesting\npeople. It's early enough that you will have a huge impact on what we do and\nhow we do it. If you have questions or want to apply, pls drop me a note: mike\nat flow.io\n\n------\nADASENS\nADASENS | Development Engineer Computer Vision | Germany, Lindau | ONSITE,\nadasens.com | Full Time\n\nADASENS – as part of the FICOSA Group – develops intelligent and innovative\ncomputer vision and machine learning algorithms for modern camera based driver\nassistance systems. We are an innovative, young, international team facing\ntechnological challenges at the cutting-edge. Lindau is located at the\nbeautiful Lake of Constance in the south of germany. We enjoy the lake for\nswimming during the summer and the close by mountains for skiing during the\nwinter. A healthy work-life balance is important to us.\n\nWe are looking for engineers to solve the following problems: * Development of\nmachine vision algorithms for camera based driver assistance systems in series\nproduction * Adaption and optimization of existing machine vision\nfunctionalities, e.g. pre-processing, tracking, segmentation, clustering,\ndetection and classification * Test and verification of the algorithms (e.g\nmodule tests, static and dynamic tests, code reviews) * Close collaboration\nwith the embedded and tooling team * Support of test and validation also\nduring test drives\n\n(Full job description including our requirements at\n[http://adasens.com/development-engineer-computer-\nvision.html](http://adasens.com/development-engineer-computer-vision.html))\n\nIf you see yourself able to contribute to these topics, please feel free to\ncontact us at jobopps@adasens.com with your resume/github account and mention\nhacker news.\n\n~~~\nADASENS\nSorry, the link to the job description changed to:\n[http://adasens.com/development-engineer-computer-\nvision-138....](http://adasens.com/development-engineer-computer-\nvision-138.html)\n\n------\nvictorquinn\nSpring | multiple positions | NYC | onsite | full-time |\n[https://www.shopspring.com](https://www.shopspring.com)\n\nJoin our growing engineering team at Spring, a well backed startup\nheadquartered in New York City. We are building the future of shopping,\nhelping brands make the transition from brick and mortar to mobile and web. We\nhave built and are scaling a single source marketplace for a growing list of\ngreat brands to sell their products direct to consumer.\n\nA few cool challenges we are tackling: building out a good REST API so our\nexternal partners can integrate with our massive multi-brand product catalog,\nbuilding our own custom order management system, tons of scalability work,\nusing machine learning to bring greater personalization and product\nrecommendations to our product\n\nWe've got a beautiful office by the Flatiron building and we offer all the\nstartup benefits you'd expect.\n\nWe are looking for iOS, web, and backend engineers in lead, senior, and junior\nroles.\n\nLearn more about our tech stack and working here at Spring:\n[https://www.shopspring.com/engineering](https://www.shopspring.com/engineering)\n\nApply here: [http://grnh.se/icdh7l1](http://grnh.se/icdh7l1)\n\nOr feel free to email me directly victor at shopspring.com with a resume or\nany questions about our company, our roles, etc.\n\n------\nmarkhelo\nLife360 | San Francisco\n\nLife360 is the world’s largest network for families available for Android and\niOS. Using proprietary location-based technology, Life360 processes over 1.3\nbillion location requests per day and enables over 50 million families to\nprivately share location, provide vehicular crash detection for safety,\ncommunicate with ease and stay connected with alerts, lists and in-app\nmessaging. The app operates in a convenient and secure way reducing friction\nand offering peace of mind to make family life easier. Founded in 2008,\nLife360 has raised $76M in venture financing and is headquartered in San\nFrancisco with 50 employees.\n\nFor the Android/iOS roles, we are looking for engineers who are interested in\ndesigning polished UI or deep passion for functional programming which are two\nmajor areas of work this year.\n\nFor the backend roles, we are interested in engineers who are comfortable with\nscale and interested in stream processing and machine learning.\n\nIf you are interested, checkout out all our roles here -\n[https://www.life360.com/jobs/](https://www.life360.com/jobs/)\n\nOur interview process is a phone screen and a day of 5-6 interviews followed\nby a quick decision. We interview for design skills, general relevant\ntechnical skills and overall communication skills. If you have those three, we\ncan work with everything else.\n\nIf this is interesting, contact us at jobs@life360.com or directly apply from\nthe link above.\n\n------\nastronomax\nSecret Escapes | London, UK | Multiple Positions - Engineering | Full-time,\nOnsite\n\nSecret Escapes is the UK’s biggest members‐only website that runs\nbest‐in‐market flash sales of four and five star hotels and holidays\nworldwide. We offer our members exclusive rates of up to 70% off.\n\nWorking on the platform team will involve ensuring the best tooling is\navailable to deliver features that are reliable, scalable, secure - and the\nprocess is repeatable. We are looking for new members of the team to join at a\nrange of levels from junior to senior Developers and to be based in our London\noffice.\n\nYou can learn more and apply direct to us, using the links below:\n\n\\- Technical Lead - [https://boolerang.co.uk/job/secret-escapes-technical-\nlead/](https://boolerang.co.uk/job/secret-escapes-technical-lead/)\n\n\\- Software Developer - [https://boolerang.co.uk/job/secret-escapes-software-\ndevelope...](https://boolerang.co.uk/job/secret-escapes-software-developer/)\n\n\\- DevOps Engineer - [https://boolerang.co.uk/job/secret-escapes-devops-\nengineer-2...](https://boolerang.co.uk/job/secret-escapes-devops-engineer-2/)\n\nThanks for your time - and best of luck - we can't wait to hear from you! :)\n\n* No recruiters * Applicants must already have permission to work full-time in the UK _\n\n------\nmscience-pdx\nM Science | Data Scientist, Core Infrastructure Engineer, PM Role| Portland,\nOR : NYC | ONSITE\n\nWe’re data-driven explorers, discovering invaluable insights and data about\nmarkets and consumers each and every day. Our insights fuel the growth engine\ninside of the world’s top corporations and financial institutions. We bring\ntogether advanced access to data, curious minds and cutting-edge technology. M\nScience is shaping the future of data and analysis.\n\nWe are looking specifically to build out our development team in our Portland\nOffice. Please apply if you have interest\n\nCore Technology : B.S/M.S in Computer Science/Software Engineering or related\nfield. Ability and interest to build and architect large scale production\nquality systems. Exposure to machine learning / cloud computing / full stack\nweb development a significant plus. Languages : \\- has written production\nquality code for school /work projects in any language. \\- Exposure to C#,\nJava, python, scala a plus.\n\nData Scientist : B.S/M.S/PhD in Computer Science, Applied Math, Statistics or\nrelated technical field. Superior programming skills, able to write\nmaintainable, well commented code of production quality (not just scripting in\nR) Good communication skills, able to communicate with researchers to\nunderstand concepts and propose better methods. Passionate interest in Data\nQuality, Transformation and all aspects of the ETL pipeline. Able to work\nindependently.\n\nTo apply, send a cover letter and resume to info@mscience.com.\n\n~~~\ndavidw\nIt's difficult to search for 'OR' \\- please write out the name of our state to\nmake it easier to find.\n\n------\nbensummers\nHaplo -- London, UK -- Full time, ONSITE\n\nWould you like to write high quality software, for users in universities who\nlove your work?\n\nWe're looking for developers to join our team, especially those who are early\non in their career. Here's how we support your learning: [http://www.haplo-\nservices.com/blog/2017/working-with-early-s...](http://www.haplo-\nservices.com/blog/2017/working-with-early-stage-developers)\n\nThe Haplo platform is open source, and we're working on open sourcing\neverything else we do: [http://haplo.org](http://haplo.org)\n\nOn top of the platform, we've built a suite of products for higher education,\nand are rolling them out to universities across the UK. Our flagship product\nis PhD Manager: [http://www.phd-manager.co.uk](http://www.phd-manager.co.uk)\n\nLike a startup: Small dedicated team. No barriers to doing your best work.\nOpportunity to get involved with everything, should you want to. Lovely\noffice, great espresso. Ambition to change the world in a small but\nsignificant way.\n\nNot like a startup: Sensible working hours. Quiet environment away from the\nhustle. No random pressure from investors. Quality product without hacks.\n\n[http://www.haplo-services.com/jobs](http://www.haplo-services.com/jobs)\n\n------\nfoomoo\nVincuVentas | Full-Stack Software Engineer | Bogotá, Colombia | VISA\n[http://vincuventas.com/](http://vincuventas.com/)\n\nWe're looking for a Full-Stack Software Engineer to join our diverse\ncolombian-swiss-dutch-german-us-american team in Bogotá. VincuVentas is a\ndata-driven marketplace for matching job-seeking candidates and businesses.\nThe inception of our business idea was enabled through one of the most\nimportant company builders in the LATAM region, Polymath Ventures [0], with\nwhich we share an office. Our stack includes Ember.js, Python (Flask),\nPostgreSQL, Heroku, Elasticsearch.\n\nNecessary: Proficiency in using SQL for data summarization and data\naggregation, e.g. for reporting and analytics Bonus points: Good applied\nstatistics skills or experience in machine learning\n\nNeedless to say, Bogotá is a very exciting place to live in, Colombia offers\nmany options for getaways and exploration (think beaches, mountains, plains\nand jungle rolled into one).\n\nMore info and application here:\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/polymathventures/jobs/468065](https://boards.greenhouse.io/polymathventures/jobs/468065)\n\nFeel free to ask me any questions you might have, find my email in my profile.\n\n[0] [http://www.polymathv.com/](http://www.polymathv.com/)\n\n~~~\nsmoe\nI work here as well and have been in Colombia for about two years now. If you\nhave questions about living in the country send me a mail to\nvictor@vincuventas.com\n\n------\nszx\nCode Ocean | Junior Developer Advocate | New York City |\n[https://codeocean.com](https://codeocean.com)\n\nCode Ocean is a Cornell-Tech startup company on a mission to make scientific\ncode more accessible and reproducible. We're building a cloud-based executable\nresearch platform that provides researchers and developers with an easy way to\nshare, discover and run code published in academic journals and conferences.\n\nWe are recruiting a Junior Developer Advocate to join our team.\n\nYour main responsibility would be to help users get their code running on our\nplatform in a way that best showcases their research and results. You should\nbe able and eager to quickly familiarize yourself with and dive into any of\nthe following as needed: Python, R, MATLAB/Octave, C/C++, Julia, Lua, Java,\nshell scripting - whatever we throw at you, really. Don’t worry, we’ve got\nyour back if you get stuck!\n\nGood communication skills are important - you'll be spending a lot of your\ntime interacting with users, holding their hand and encouraging them as they\nencounter the platform for the first time. Most of them would be academic\nresearchers, so personal familiarity/experience with scientific research and\nacademia in general is a major plus.\n\nTo apply please email contact@codeocean.com with the subject \"Junior Developer\nAdvocate\" and any relevant information.\n\n------\nsecretnewco\nSecretNewCo | Software Developer | Washington, DC | ONSITE Full-time\n\nSecretNewCo is an exciting new company looking to revolutionize the self-\nservice data analytics industry by enabling user-friendly access to all\nfunctions of the analytical process from data ingestion/prep, deep industry-\ngrade analytics, and interactive visualizations, to publishing and socializing\nactionable results. We have created a highly flexible and scalable platform\nusing a cutting-edge tech stack – Java 8, the latest front-end frameworks\n(Angular, React), stream processing (Storm, Twitter Heron, Kafka), industry-\ngrade bigdata and parallel computing (Spark, Hadoop), and native R/Python\nintegration.\n\nWe are looking for a strong team of both backend and frontend developers to\nhelp us further the platform including building out the core engine, custom\nmodules, enhanced visualizations, and other exciting stealth features that we\nwould love to talk to you about!\n\nJAVA DEVELOPER \\- Strong experience developing robust Java/J2EE applications\n\\- Hands-on experience with SQL, database management systems (MySQL, Oracle,\nSQL Server, H2) \\- Working knowledge of RESTful web service development using\nframeworks such as RESTEasy, CXF, Jersey, or similar\n\nJAVASCRIPT DEVELOPER \\- Strong experience with JavaScript, HTML, CSS, JSON \\-\nWorking knowledge of front-end development frameworks such as AngularJS,\nReact, Ember, jQuery \\- Experience consuming RESTful web service endpoints \\-\nGood understanding of asynchronous request handling and AJAX\n\nEmail us! secretnewco at gmail dot com\n\n------\nWeareHiring\nLawrence Livermore National Laboratory | Livermore, CA | Full-Time | Onsite\n\nCome work at one of the world’s largest HPC centers, and join our world-class\nteam\n\n[http://computation.llnl.gov/livermore-\ncomputing](http://computation.llnl.gov/livermore-computing)\n\nBig Data Infrastructure System Engineer [http://careers-\next.llnl.gov/jobs/search?q=101971](http://careers-\next.llnl.gov/jobs/search?q=101971) apply your knowledge in the development and\nimprovement of our high performance and Big Data Intensive compute\ninfrastructure and parallel file system environment.\n\nSr. Linux Administrators [http://careers-\next.llnl.gov/jobs/search?q=101912](http://careers-\next.llnl.gov/jobs/search?q=101912) provide advanced support for systems in a\nheterogenous environment.\n\nSr. Middleware Administrator [http://careers-\next.llnl.gov/jobs/6196916](http://careers-ext.llnl.gov/jobs/6196916) provide\nadvanced diagnostics, system administration, and operational support for our\ncomplex IT infrastructure, including Linux servers, Window servers and Oracle\nEnterprise Manager.\n\nTo see all postings: [http://careers.llnl.gov/](http://careers.llnl.gov/)\n\n------\nnh2903840\nTwist Bioscience | San Francisco, CA | ONSITE | www.twistbioscience.com\n\nPrecision Machine-Vision-Controlled Laboratory-Robotics for DNA Synthesis\n\nProgrammable DNA, the software of Life, is finally here! Twist Bioscience is\ndeveloping a disruptive Synthetic DNA technology that will change the world,\nenabling widespread health and sustainability. Synthetic biologists will use\nour products to engineer how organisms produce cures to diseases, everyday\nchemicals are made using the atmosphere as the carbon source, plants make\ntheir own fertilizers, in-vivo diagnostics will alert us when we are sick, and\nmany more applications.\n\nHiring software engineers to write laboratory automation control software for\nDNA synthesis. Work primarily in C#/.NET. Get experience with precision\nrobotic equipment, state-of-the-art machine-vision, and custom\nfirmware/FPGA/electronics. Work on a diverse set of problems from UI design to\ninterfacing with bioinformatics databases to writing robot drivers to writing\nsophisticated data-analysis algorithms. Be part of a team creating an\nautomated DNA synthesis factory!\n\nOther Keywords: Biotech, hardware, WPF, C++, mechanical, electrical, physics,\nchemistry, control systems, Git, Python\n\nSoftware Engineer - Robotics\n[https://www.twistbioscience.com/careers/?gh_jid=205184](https://www.twistbioscience.com/careers/?gh_jid=205184)\n\nApply on website or you can contact me (an engineer) directly: nhowells at\n[company domain]\n\n------\nrobotpony\nLemonStand | Canada (Vancouver) | Full-time Full Stack | Onsite | Remote\n\nThis is position is open to remote team members living within Canada, or for\nVancouver folks to work (mostly) in our lovely downtown office.\n\nWe're looking for a skilled Full Stack Developer to join and lead our front\nend dev team. At LemonStand we help web designers and developers create some\nof the best online stores for fast growing brands. We've released many\nexciting new features and tech, and want you to help us build more.\n\nYou will be working with the founder and CEO to understand how our customers\nuse LemonStand to build great online retail businesses, translating that into\nproduct features and priorities. You'll also be working with the CTO to\ndevelop these user stories into productive experiences and technical\nprinciples, applying them to the product on a weekly basis.\n\nAt LemonStand we get excited about our customer's success, we obsess over the\nstories of the people who use our software, we know their business challenges\nand workflow and we want you to help us build software that'll make them\nhugely successful.\n\nYou would be working using a number of standard tools and driving direction\nfor the front end stacks.\n\nTell us about yourself at [jobs] at [lemonstand.com], or learn more by\nvisiting: [https://lemonstand.com/careers](https://lemonstand.com/careers)\n\n------\ntk120404\nInstavans | Bangalore, India | Full-time, Onsite |\n[http://www.instavans.com](http://www.instavans.com) | 4 openings\n\nAbout us: Instavans is a technology startup working primarily in Urban Freight\nLogistics (Intra-city) and Internet domain. The company is promoted by two\nseasoned entrepreneurs/technocrats to cater to the incredibly growing\nlogistics industry across the world. We are committed to deliver the best\nUrban Freight Logistics solutions built to create a real-time marketplace as\nan “Uber” experience for truckers and shippers. Focus will be on development\nof products, executing and running the marketplace portal that will improve\nthe overall efficiency & productivity by dramatically improving the asset\nutilization and thus reducing logistics costs. The products will be\nimplemented using hugely scalable architectures on the web and various mobile\ndevices.\n\nOpenings: Front End, Back End, Full Stack and Android developers. We're also\nhiring Quality assurance Engineers.\n\nStack: Node, Angular, WebSockets, Mongo, Redis, Php, AWS & Heruko. It doesn't\nmatter if you know our stack or not, if you love to learn you'll fit right in.\n\nFreshers with a Computer Science degree, exceptional Data Structure/\nAlgorithms skill and ability to code in ANY language will be considered as\nwell.\n\nPlease send your cover letter and resume along with your github /\nstackoverflow details to ['careers', '@', 'instavans.com'].join(''). Thanks!\n\n------\nacketon\nBoston University | Web Developer II | Boston, MA USA\n\nInteractive Design is a piece of Boston University’s award-winning Creative\nServices group. We are looking for both designers and developers.\n\nWeb Developer II:\n\nWe are looking for a Web Developer II who’ll contribute to the development and\ndeployment of both websites built with a content management system (WordPress)\nand static websites. If you’re passionate, conscientious and love to innovate,\ntest, and launch interactive projects from large websites to editorial stories\nto mobile applications this is the place for you. What you’ll do: You’ll work\nwith the project team to fulfill requirements based on scope, wireframes, and\ndesign comps, optimize code within the code base, collaborate on QA testing\nand bug-fixing, and assist with implementation and deployment. You’ll\ncollaborate with other developers, designers, project managers, and\nphotographers to build complex functionality–all while being around some\nreally nice people. You’ll determine appropriate tools, methods, and solutions\nfor projects, help inform project scope, and estimate effort to inform project\nmanagers in setting project schedule and deadlines. If you want to work with a\ncreative team of professionals to develop engaging, results-oriented online\nproducts for high-visibility, high priority areas of Boston University, we\nwant to hear from you!\n\nSee full descriptions and apply: [http://www.bu.edu/interactive-design/join-\nour-team/](http://www.bu.edu/interactive-design/join-our-team/)\n\n------\nduellsy\nelev.io | Melbourne, Australia | Frontend Developer | Full Time\n\n== About us ==\n\nelevio is a fast growing Australian based startup, specialising in customer\nsuccess software. Having gone through Australias top accelerator program\n(Startmate) in 2016, and successfully raising a seed round in July '16, we're\nfurther expanding the team to deliver best in market software to help site\nowners better educate and up-skill their user base, through contextual in-app\nguidance.\n\nYou work will be viewed by teams at companies like Dell, Staples, AdRoll and\nhundreds more whose usage is among the 100M+ page views with our embeddable\ninstalled on each month.\n\n== The role ==\n\nYou will be responsible for our backend dashboard. This is the app our\ncustomers use to create content, view advanced and insightful reporting and\nsmart suggestions (which will aim to help them improve their product with data\ndriven decisions), manage settings, and a bunch of other tasks. In particular,\nyou will be building functionality that isn't in the current version (i.e.\ngreenfield/blue-sky).\n\nIdeal candidates will also have strong knowledge of modern Javascript, solid\nReact experience will be a huge plus.\n\n== Applying ==\n\nIf this sounds right up your alley, head to the following page to apply\n[https://elev.io/jobs/a4b07e54-484d-4dc5-86ce-9d5ebf7935b3](https://elev.io/jobs/a4b07e54-484d-4dc5-86ce-9d5ebf7935b3)\n\n------\nadrianhon\nSix to Start | London or REMOTE | Full-time\n\nWe make the world's most successful smartphone fitness games with over 3\nmillion players. Every day, we receive emails telling us how our games have\nliterally improved our players' health and, in some cases, even saved their\nlives. Talk about job satisfaction!\n\nOur flagship games, Zombies, Run! and The Walk, combine innovative real-world\ngameplay with captivating stories and design. We want to find someone who can\nhelp us improve our existing games and develop new games and fitness apps that\nare just as revolutionary and innovative as Zombies, Run!\n[https://zombiesrungame.com](https://zombiesrungame.com)\n\n* Senior iOS Developer: [http://www.sixtostart.com/onetoread/2017/senior-ios-develope...](http://www.sixtostart.com/onetoread/2017/senior-ios-developer/)\n\n* Senior Android Developer: [http://www.sixtostart.com/onetoread/2017/senior-android-deve...](http://www.sixtostart.com/onetoread/2017/senior-android-developer/)\n\n* Full Stack Web Developer: [http://www.sixtostart.com/onetoread/2017/web-developer/](http://www.sixtostart.com/onetoread/2017/web-developer/)\n\n------\nFuanasa\nBadoo | London | ONSITE | FULL-TIME | VISA\n[https://badoo.com/](https://badoo.com/)\n\nBadoo is one of the largest and fastest growing Social Discovery companies out\nthere. Our London office is home to 90 talented Engineers behind Legendary\nproducts like Badoo (+330 million single registrations since launch) but also\nanother 7 innovative Social Networking products. If you fancy the opportunity\nto have a strong impact on world renowned products as well as early stage\nones, all with the security of an established company - get in touch!\n\nMobile Web Developer (Senior) - [https://goo.gl/imr9lP](https://goo.gl/imr9lP)\n\niOS Developer - [https://goo.gl/XZJjcG](https://goo.gl/XZJjcG)\n\nAndroid Developer - [https://goo.gl/5NsNr4](https://goo.gl/5NsNr4)\n\nPHP Developer (Payments) - [https://goo.gl/lCLNuh](https://goo.gl/lCLNuh)\n\nMobile QA Engineer (Manual) - [https://goo.gl/Om7DKi](https://goo.gl/Om7DKi)\n\nSenior Billing Web QA Engineer -\n[https://goo.gl/szg9SQ](https://goo.gl/szg9SQ)\n\nSenior Mobile Web QA Engineer - [https://goo.gl/1yxYQ4](https://goo.gl/1yxYQ4)\n\n------\ntaeric\nAmazon AI | Developers, managers, and data scientists | Primarily Seattle |\nONSITE\n\nWe are looking for Software Engineers, Development Managers, Product Managers,\nand Scientists as we build tools across the AI stack. Applied Machine Learning\nexperience is not required for all engineers, but our roles will provide a\ngreat way to grow in the field working with talented ML practitioners.\n\nFull job descriptions at\n[http://amazon.jobs/amazonai](http://amazon.jobs/amazonai)\n\n~~~\nkhaledtaha\nThe PM, Dev Managers & Scientist jobs are not showing. Are they posted\nanywhere else?\n\n~~~\ntaeric\nI will bug the posting teams to see where those postings are. If you want to\nreach out sooner, message josber AT amazon.com and put hacker news in the\nsubject.\n\nI will try to post here when that is updated, for anyone that doesn't want to\nemail me.\n\nEdit: Some postings below\n\n[https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/489118](https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/489118)\n\n[https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/481805](https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/481805)\n\n[https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/485991](https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/485991)\n\n[https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/460255](https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/460255)\n\n------\ndplatzman\nSoftware Engineer (3D Graphics) | New York, NY, USA | Onsite | Full-time\n\nPlease apply at: [http://grnh.se/od7fm31](http://grnh.se/od7fm31)\n\nThis is an opportunity to join a highly credible and well-funded (over $10\nmillion) stealth tech startup in NYC. We’re looking for someone with a history\nof building amazing applications to join our team. You'll be working with a\ngroup of very passionate engineers and designers that are dedicated to\nbuilding a successful mobile application. The Founding team is made up of\nmembers from Twitter, eBay, Gilt, Glamsquad, Yahoo, Apple, and Dropbox and our\nadvisory board include senior executives from Google, Facebook, Microsoft,\nTwitter, Square and Adobe.\n\nRequirements: \\- 5+ years working in 3D graphics- software engineering \\-\nExperience in developing production-level systems including software packages\nand game engines (i.e. Unity, Unreal, etc.) \\- Ability to work independently\nand be self-directed (startup experience is a bonus) \\- Exceptional\ncommunication skills, verbal and written Experience with rendering engines and\nframeworks (Blender, 3DS Max, Maya) \\- Strong SW engineering skills (C++,\nPython) \\- Experience developing clothes rendering SW is a strong plus -\nExperience working with Marvelous designer is a strong plus Kubernetes is a\nplus\n\n------\ndistcent\nDistributorCentral | Senior Frontend Web Developer | Kansas City, KS | Onsite,\nFull-Time\n\nDistributorCentral is the leading e-commerce platform in the promotional\nproducts industry. We host over 8,000 websites along with a full suite of SaaS\norder management tools for our customers. Our small, highly skilled\ndevelopment team is provided the freedom to let their creativity thrive in a\nfun, exciting and relaxed environment. We are looking for a passionate,\nmotivated and skilled (senior) front-end developer with excellent HTML5 / CSS3\nand ReactJS experience to join the development team at our Gardner location.\n\nOur Stack: ReactJS, Redux, ColdFusion, Node.js, MSSQL, Lambda, ElasticSearch\n\nOther Technologies: Full AWS stack (EC2, ELB, API Gateway, S3, Route53,\nRedshift, Elastic Beanstalk, CloudFront, SNS, SQS, SES, IoT), Git, CentOS,\nLESS, SASS\n\nWho we are looking for: A forward thinking developer that loves Javascript\nfrontend frameworks (Angular, React). At DistributorCentral, you are not just\nanother developer but a highly valued, contributing member to the success of\nour company. We expect our entire development team to have an entrepreneurial\nspirit and be directly involved with shaping the future of our company. We\nhighly value creative input and you should not be afraid to bring new ideas to\nthe table.\n\nInterview Process: Intro call, code challenge, a couple of onsite interviews\n(one with the development team)\n\nApply at:\n[http://jobs.distributorcentral.com](http://jobs.distributorcentral.com)\n\n------\nddeparolesa\nGive Lively | New York, NY / NYC | ONSITE | Full Time / No Remote / No\nSponsorship\n\nWe create digital products for social good. Help us make philanthropy an\nactive, conscious, and enjoyable part of people's everyday lives by creating\nproducts that help people \"give better\".\n\nWe're unique in that we're the only organization funded to experiment in the\nsocial good space. There are over 1.5 million nonprofits in the United States,\nand they need help now more than ever.\n\nWe're looking for a full stack engineer who brings a passion for philanthropy,\ntechnical experience, and the capacity iterate rapidly in a collaborative,\nagile team to make products with purpose. Our stack currently includes Ruby on\nRails, ReactJS, Twitter Bootstrap alpha 4, and Postgres/Heroku.\n\nWe're fully funded and here for the long term. Our target comp for this role\nis $100-$125k with generous benefits.\n\nFind our open jobs [https://angel.co/give-lively/jobs](https://angel.co/give-\nlively/jobs) or contact david [at] givelively.org\n\nRead about one of our experiments, SwearJar for Slack, a bot that converts\ncolorful language into donations to charity on The Next Web:\n[http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2016/04/20/swearjar-is-a-\nsl...](http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2016/04/20/swearjar-is-a-slack-bot-\nthat-gives-to-charity-each-time-you-drop-a-naughty-word/)\n\n------\npetethomas\nC2FO | Research Engineer | Seattle | ONSITE, Full time, Visa considered |\n[https://c2fo.com](https://c2fo.com)\n\nThe C2FO lab is charged with developing tools for small businesses to help\nthem win the fight against their own unpredictable cash flow using networks\ninstead of traditional financial intermediaries, e.g., banks.\n\nToday we work mainly in Go and JavaScript and put roughly equal emphasis on\nwriting papers and writing software. Team members need to be able to define\ntheir own areas of interest, write their own supporting documents, and lead\ntheir own coding projects while welcoming help and input from others.\nSimultaneous with the largely independent effort is a need to demonstrate to\nstakeholders outside the team why your work is valuable.\n\nOur interview process consists of an initial conference call to assess mutual\ninterest, then one or more onsite interviews in Pioneer Square.\n\nC2FO as an organization is headquartered in Kansas City and has some great\ninvestors on board including Mithril Capital Management, Temasek, and Union\nSquare Ventures. We have a separate, larger engineering team that we\ncollaborate with and that publishes open source at\n[https://github.com/c2fo](https://github.com/c2fo).\n\nThe position includes an excellent compensation package (commensurate with\nexperience), equity ownership, Health Benefits, 401K and more.\n\nIf interested, please email pete@c2fo.com.\n\nEDIT: added benefits blurb\n\n------\nphelm\nPimloc | [http://pimloc.com](http://pimloc.com) | London, UK | Deep Learning\nResearcher, Full Stack Developer\n\nFounded in 2016 and headquartered within the heart of London in Somerset\nHouse, Pimloc Ltd is a machine learning company focussed on developing and\nenabling private and personalised image management solutions. Pimloc has\nsuccessfully raised its first round of funding through its founders and UK\nbusiness angels. The founding team includes some of the world's foremost\nthinkers in deep learning visual technology and computer vision application\ndevelopment across a range of fields.\n\nWe are looking for someone to research and train new deep learning based\narchitectures and algorithms to improve our current solution as well as\ndevelop new ideas for the next generation of personalised image search.\n\nWe are also looking for a full stack developer to help design and develop a\ndeep learning based AI image search system that can run on embedded devices as\nwell as being deployed in the cloud. We need someone who is enthusiastic about\nall aspects of system design and code development whether it be programming\nDSPs or developing cloud infrastructure.\n\nRead the full descriptions at [http://pimloc.com/jobs](http://pimloc.com/jobs)\nor email jobs@pimloc.com for a chat.\n\n------\nemily_mikailli\nSignifyd | Mid-level / Senior Software Engineer | San Jose | Onsite | Full-\ntime\n\nSignifyd is a 115-person startup that was named one of the 50 most innovative\nFintech companies of 2016 by Forbes, and our engineers build systems that\ncatch bad guys. Using all available payment, user, and machine data, we have\nto separate legitimate credit card transactions from fraudulent in under\n400ms. That means doing just-in-time mash-ups of internal data with external\nAPIs and reducing it all into a single score with a few critical insights for\nend-users.\n\nWe are hiring back-end, front-end and machine learning engineers that want to\ntake their skills and experience and applying them to the fraud domain to\ncombat online transaction fraud and make the world of e-commerce a better\nplace.\n\nOur stack: Java, Python, Cassandra, MySQL, Solr, Apache Spark, Play!\nframework, Linux, Docker, AWS\n\nOur recruitment process is as follows: \\- Phone interview - At home code test\n- On-site interview\n\nFor more information and to apply: Back End Engineer -\n[https://www.signifyd.com/careers/?gh_jid=44015](https://www.signifyd.com/careers/?gh_jid=44015)\nMachine Learning Engineer -\n[https://www.signifyd.com/careers/?gh_jid=567011](https://www.signifyd.com/careers/?gh_jid=567011)\nFront End Engineer -\n[https://www.signifyd.com/careers/?gh_jid=134954](https://www.signifyd.com/careers/?gh_jid=134954)\n\n------\naaronlevin\nSoundCloud | Senior Data Scientist, Machine Learning | Berlin, Germany |\nONSITE, FULLTIME, RELOCATION OFFERED |\n[https://soundcloud.com/jobs/2017-01-31-senior-data-\nscientist...](https://soundcloud.com/jobs/2017-01-31-senior-data-scientist-\nmachine-learning-berlin)\n\nWe are looking for an impact-driven Senior Data Scientist to solve exciting\nproblems in recommendations, search, and personalization using Machine\nLearning. As a Data Scientist at SoundCloud you will work closely with other\ndata scientists and engineers to find opportunities and build, tune,\ninstrument, and evaluate machine learning models.\n\nSome projects you might work on include:\n\n    \n    \n       * a personalized playlist recommendation model to empower curation at SoundCloud\n       * offline evaluation to improve the search experience of our users\n       * prototyping deep neural networks and demonstrate their benefits in powering recommendations for our users\n       * iterating on our Spark-based locality sensitive hashing implementations to improve recall.\n    \n\nPlease see the ad for more details!\n[https://soundcloud.com/jobs/2017-01-31-senior-data-\nscientist...](https://soundcloud.com/jobs/2017-01-31-senior-data-scientist-\nmachine-learning-berlin)\n\n------\nperseusmirrors\nPerseus Mirrors | Engineering (multiple) | Cambridge, MA | REMOTE or ONSITE\n\nPerseus Mirrors is building the next-generation mirror - find out more here:\n[http://www.perseusmirrors.com/](http://www.perseusmirrors.com/)\n\nWe're an alumnus of the Google Launchpad and XRC accelerator programs, and\ncurrently operating out of the Harvard Innovation Lab in Cambridge, MA.\n\nWe're growing quickly and expanding our engineering team - looking to fill the\nfollowing roles:\n\n\\- Software Team Lead\n\n\\- Software Developer Intern\n\n~~~\naarohmankad\nWhat is the recommended method of contact for you? I don't see a jobs page on\nyour website.\n\n------\nkris99999\nTrice Imaging | QA Engineer | REMOTE (USA time zones)\n\n\\- Contribute to a better patient experience for medical images\n\n\\- Current stack is mostly Ruby on Rails, Ember.js\n\n\\- All-remote (two people at the HQ office), across the US and Europe\n\nDuring interviews, you will get a chance to video chat with everyone on the\nengineering team (not all at once)\n\n[https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Trice-Imaging/jobs/QA-\nEngineer-01...](https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Trice-Imaging/jobs/QA-\nEngineer-0142069e967ea841)\n\n------\nspicerex\nSpiceworks | Austin | Full time | Onsite with relocation assistance available\n\nSpiceworks helps millions of IT pros do their jobs with free tools and connect\nthrough our online community. Come help us transform IT. We are looking for\nthe following:\n\n\\- Site Reliability Engineer\n\n\\- Security Engineer\n\n\\- Data Engineers and Scientists\n\n\\- DevOps Automation and Tools Engineer\n\nWe have an awesome culture with full benefits, an onsite gym, free drinks &\nsnacks (with breakfast tacos on Monday and bagels on Friday), a weekly\ndevelopment lunch-n-learn and more. We're also ranked as one of the best\nplaces to work by Fortune ([http://fortune.com/best-medium-workplaces-in-\ntechnology/](http://fortune.com/best-medium-workplaces-in-technology/)),\nGlassdoor ([http://www.glassdoor.com/Best-Small-and-Medium-Companies-\nto-...](http://www.glassdoor.com/Best-Small-and-Medium-Companies-to-Work-For-\nLST_KQ0,43.htm)) and have been ranked at a top work place by the Austin\nAmerican-Statesman six years running\n([http://www.topworkplaces.com/frontend.php/regional-\nlist/comp...](http://www.topworkplaces.com/frontend.php/regional-\nlist/company/statesman/spiceworks)).\n\nFind out more about Spiceworks and see the current openings at\n[http://www.spiceworks.com/jobs](http://www.spiceworks.com/jobs)\n\n------\ndanamclee\nAccenture Federal Services | www.accenturefederal.com | ONSITE | Full-Time\n|[https://www.accenture.com/us-\nen/careers/jobsearch?keyword=fe...](https://www.accenture.com/us-\nen/careers/jobsearch?keyword=federal)\n\nMust have Defense Government Contract experience for each opening.\n\nAccenture Federal Services Company, is a leading solutions integrator focused\non using information and technology to solve real world problems for the\nFederal government.\n\nMultiple positions listed below: LOCATION: Reston, VA | Federal Cloud\nEngineer/LINUX [https://www.accenture.com/us-\nen/careers/jobdetails?id=004130...](https://www.accenture.com/us-\nen/careers/jobdetails?id=00413006_en)\n\nLOCATION: Chantilly, VA | Software Engineer [https://www.accenture.com/us-\nen/careers/jobdetails?id=003797...](https://www.accenture.com/us-\nen/careers/jobdetails?id=00379797_en)\n\nLOCATION: Reston VA | Federal DevOps Engineer [https://www.accenture.com/us-\nen/careers/jobdetails?id=004450...](https://www.accenture.com/us-\nen/careers/jobdetails?id=00445058_en)\n\nPlease contact dana.mclee-mcdavid@accenturefederal.com for more details.\n\n------\ndror\n[http://www.worldreader.org](http://www.worldreader.org) | Senior Android\nDeveloper| Barcelona| Onsite | Full-time\n\nWorldreader is a non-profit on a mission to bring digital books to all\nchildren and their family, so that they can improve their lives. Every month\nover half a million people use Worldreader’s library of 40,000 e-books to read\nin 40 languages in countries such as Ethiopia, Nigeria, India and Philippine\n\nYou'll join our international team in Barcelona's Eixample district.\n\nWe're looking for an experienced Android developer to enhance our existing\napps:\n\n* Read to Kids: [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.worldreade...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.worldreader.readtokids)\n\n* Worldreader: [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.worldreade...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.worldreader)\n\nAnd help develop our new Worldreader Classroom app to help students read and\nlearn how read in the classroom.\n\n[https://www.worldreader.org/about-us/jointheteam/careers-\neur...](https://www.worldreader.org/about-us/jointheteam/careers-\neurope/#SrAndroidDeveloper)\n\n------\npetmycat\nQuividi | Python DevOps | Paris | REMOTE FULLTIME\n[http://www.quividi.com/jobs-python-devops/](http://www.quividi.com/jobs-\npython-devops/)\n\nQuividi, founded is 2006, has become the world leader in measuring attention\nin public places, by developing and commercializing a video analytics\nsolution. Using image processing algorithms, our software is able to detect\nand label faces. The data is then stored and displayed in a back-office\nhosting billions of anonymous audience events. We are looking for someone to\njoin the Web / Data team. We are a lean and autonomous team, with a lot of\nfreedom in our projects and in the solutions we choose. In the past few years,\nwe have been facing an important growth of the data flux to ingest, store and\nanalyse, both on the infrastructure and software side.\n\nOur technical stack consists of Python / Django / MySQL / Elasticsearch.\nExperience with Linux administration and these technologies will be\nappreciated!\n\nOur interview process will start with a phone call, then a more technical\ninterview on-site, and an on machine technical test.\n\nThe position comes with extensive medical benefits, competitive compensation\nand stock options. Send your resume / Github profile / Bitbucket profile /\nMySpace account at jobs-web@quividi.com\n\n~~~\nhomarp\nTime to polish my MySpace account. Would you consider mygale.org instead (with\na rocketmail email address, of course) ?\n\n~~~\nbrightsize\nAssuming you're in the U.S., you'll need to provide your MySpace credentials\nat the border when you return from your on-site interview in Paris for this\nREMOTE position. So yes, do polish it up, and also polish up on your \"Strong\nproficiency in French and English\" but be sure not to use the former with the\nborder authorities.\n\n~~~\nsnockerton\nImpressive lulz in this post. Do you require an outrageous sense of humor as\nwell?\n\n~~~\nbrightsize\nI'm not sure if you're replying to me or the company. I have nothing to do\nwith the company, I'm just some random developer wiseguy. I don't see any\nmention of needing experience with the latest LULZ stack in the posting and I\nsuspect it wouldn't be compatible with ICE. There are worse things than being\nstuck in Paris with plenty of lulz I would think but YMMV.\n\n------\ndaxhuiberts\nSalonized | Senior Ember.js / Rails developer | Amsterdam | ONSITE / REMOTE |\nFULL-TIME\n\nSalonized eliminates the time-consuming and tedious task of scheduling\nappointments, managing inventory, calling to confirm appointments and sending\nout reminders. Salonized is designed for all kinds of salons: single person\nbusinesses, large businesses with numerous employees and multiple locations,\nand everything in-between.\n\nWe’re a small 7 person team located in the Hackers & Founders building on the\nHerengracht in the heart of Amsterdam. We’re bootstrapped and quickly growing\nour revenue every month and starting to scale up to bigger clients. Our\nclients value our support, ease of use and quality very highly, which are also\nour own biggest priorities. You can see the passion to create a high quality\nproduct within each of the team members.\n\nWant to know more? Visit the following pages or send me an email at\ndax@salonized.com.\n\nEmber.js Developer - [https://www.salonized.com/en/jobs/senior-emberjs-\ndeveloper](https://www.salonized.com/en/jobs/senior-emberjs-developer)\n\nRails Developer - [https://www.salonized.com/en/jobs/senior-ruby-on-rails-\ndevel...](https://www.salonized.com/en/jobs/senior-ruby-on-rails-developer)\n\n------\nNewsNow\nWeb Developers / News Algorithm Developers / Programmatic Advertising\nEngineers | NewsNow.co.uk | Folkestone, Kent | Full-time, permanent\n\nWe may be a top ten UK media publisher, our websites loved by millions. Yet\ndespite our huge success, we've jealously protected our start-up culture over\nthe past 20 years. Which means today, we're still a company where everyone who\njoins us gets to make a massive impact. Our ethos and news product are well\nproven, but we know we've more to do to be the best site on the web for those\nseeking news from all the angles.\n\nWe currently have three opportunities:\n\n\\- As a /Web Developer/, you will work directly with our Founder & CEO on a\nwide array of UI/UX challenges.\n\n\\- As a /News Algorithm Developer/, you will work directly with our Founder &\nCEO developing an entirely new news product for the site, which will\neventually replace the site's homepages.\n\n\\- As a /Programmatic Advertising Engineer/, you will work directly with our\nFounder & CEO, driving the company's commercial success as an industry leader\nin development and application of programmatic advertising technologies.\n\nWe have positions in our strategically located office in Folkestone, Kent - an\nideal commute from Canterbury, Ashford and Dover areas.\n\nIf you like the sound of us, we’d love to hear about you. Please get in touch!\n[http://www.NewsNow.co.uk/careers/](http://www.NewsNow.co.uk/careers/)\n\n------\npriz3\nBeaconhome.io ([http://beaconhome.io/](http://beaconhome.io/)) | Lead SW\nEngineers: Embedded Systems, Linux/Android Build, Android/iOS Applications,\nMachine Learning | San Francisco, CA or Austin, TX | ONSITE\n\nWe're a stealth consumer electronics company that's building a product poised\nto change the way people experience their homes and bring them material\nimprovements to their health and well being. The opportunity is enormous,\nmaking our work exciting, challenging and rewarding when we look at how our\ncompany stands to make people's lives better. We're a small team so you'll\nhave the opportunity to be a part of the early team and build critical parts\nof our company.\n\nWe're at the forefront of applying the latest technologies to a challenging\nproblem. Hardware, firmware, Android (RxJava), iOS (RxSwift), AWS, Serverless,\nDeep Learning and more are all on the table and being implemented everyday.\n\nCheck out detailed roles on our website or AngelList and mention HN --\n[http://www.beaconhome.io/roles](http://www.beaconhome.io/roles) |\n[https://angel.co/stealth-consumer-iot-company](https://angel.co/stealth-\nconsumer-iot-company)\n\n~~~\najford\nLooking for any Jack-of-all-trades? I've got some background in digital\nelectronics and RF, and about 7 years of Python experience (across web\nbackend, data processing, automation, and desktop applications).\n\nNo Android experience, but always wanted to learn. Somewhat familiar with AWS.\n\n------\npatothon\nOmada Health | San Francisco, Ca | Rails, DevOps, iOS, Android | H1B Transfers\nOK | ONSITE\n\nOmada Health is a digital health company on a mission to make healthy behavior\nchange more accessible and achievable. We’re looking for software engineers on\nall our stack to join our growing engineering team. As a key member of our\nengineering team, you will help design, build and maintain systems necessary\nfor rapid growth. Our team practices pair programming (at least 50% of the\nweek) so you will have the opportunity to learn new techniques and share your\nskills.\n\nRails Engineers:\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/omadahealth/jobs/94276](https://boards.greenhouse.io/omadahealth/jobs/94276)\n\nDevOps Engineers:\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/omadahealth/jobs/267353](https://boards.greenhouse.io/omadahealth/jobs/267353)\n\nAndroid Engineers:\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/omadahealth/jobs/267369](https://boards.greenhouse.io/omadahealth/jobs/267369)\n\niOS Engineers:\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/omadahealth/jobs/125038](https://boards.greenhouse.io/omadahealth/jobs/125038)\n\nFront End Engineers:\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/omadahealth/jobs/266693](https://boards.greenhouse.io/omadahealth/jobs/266693)\n\n------\nzbear\nAXIOM ZEN | Vancouver, Canada | FULL-TIME | ONSITE (visa assistance provided)\n\nAxiom Zen is an award-winning venture studio. Our products have made “Best of\nthe Year” lists (Apple; The Next Web), and are used by the world’s leading\ncompanies – including Adobe, Sony, Starbucks, Phillips, and SEGA. In 2015\nalone, our work was featured in TIME, The New York Times, USA Today, and\nWired.\n\nWe just made the cover of Canadian Business' 2016 \"Most Innovative Companies\nin Canada\".\n\n\\- UI Engineers (CSS Experts) -\n[http://grnh.se/rk83fw1](http://grnh.se/rk83fw1)\n\n\\- AI / Machine Learning Expert -\n[http://grnh.se/cjat6v1](http://grnh.se/cjat6v1)\n\n\\- ZenHub's Front-end Engineer (Javascript) -\n[http://grnh.se/jw56tk1](http://grnh.se/jw56tk1)\n\n\\- UX/Product Designers - [http://grnh.se/1y3txb1](http://grnh.se/1y3txb1)\n\n\\- Lead Project Manager - [http://grnh.se/7udpje1](http://grnh.se/7udpje1)\n\nDon’t see an opening that matches your skills?\n\nApply at [http://grnh.se/j16n8w](http://grnh.se/j16n8w) and provide us with\nyour own job description.\n\n[https://www.axiomzen.co](https://www.axiomzen.co)\n\n~~~\nMarcAstr0\nI noticed you have an office in Santiago, Chile. Any engineering roles\navailable there?\n\n------\nheyadayo\nBlackstorm | Engineer | $140k - $220k | San Francisco Bay area (SF, Mountain\nView) | Tokyo, Japan | REMOTE OK | VISA OK\n\nBlackstorm is building the world's most advanced javascript game engine, among\nother cool products like an IDE (js.io)\n\nWe are hiring senior engineers who can tackle architecture and APIs for our\ngame engine on a small team of 3-4 folks.\n\nFor flavor: our last project was to use redux as a server state timeline for\n5M+ active players; before that we used code mods to port it from our\npropriety module and class system to es6; there are numerous projects coming\nup, such as first class typescript support to facilitate better tooling and\nAPI documentation, a facial tracking/AR engine, and a react-powered webgl-\nbased UI system.\n\nWe have projects for hosted real-time multiplayer gaming, social gaming,\ncross-compilation to native platforms, and many other core infrastructure\ntools that we would welcome your support on defining and creating.\n\nOur technologies engine have already been in front of tens of millions of\nusers, and we're adding millions of new users monthly.\n\nThis is a high leverage position, and very senior. We welcome remote for\ncertain folks, because we're looking to build the best small engineering team\nin the world.\n\nPlease email keela@blackstormlabs.com\n\nSubject: Blackstorm Core Engineer\n\nPlease include a personal note about your background and interests so we can\nprioritize your application!\n\n~~~\nMarkPNeyer\nThese guys are great! I know a few people on the team and can vouch for the\nculture.\n\n------\njtefera\nHi! Seeing that the search script posted on top just shows the number of jobs\nthat meets certain criteria and not the jobs per se, I decide to build this\nmorning a better search and filtering engine. You can find it here:\n[https://jtefera.com/hn/?url=https://news.ycombinator.com/ite...](https://jtefera.com/hn/?url=https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13541679)\n\nHope it helps1 Feedback is welcomed.\n\n------\nanton_y\nCoboc | Embedded Software Engineer C/IoT/E-Bikes | Heidelberg | ONSITE, FULL-\nTIME\n\nWe are developing, producing and selling electric bikes of a new kind. They\nstand out by a award winning design, light weight, unique usability and a\nfully integrated drive system that we develop completely in house including\nmotor control, battery management and bluetooth connectivity. We are selling\nthese for the fourth year now and need support to expand our technological\nlead.\n\nAt coboc you will: * Architect, implement embedded software in C for our\nintegrated drive system * Develop new features in short development cycles\nwith quick product integration * Evaluate new technologies and streamline our\ndevelopment process\n\nTechnology Stack: * Embedded C, Python * Linux, Eclipse, MPLabX, MATLAB,\nBitbucket (GIT, Mercurial) * TDD: Unity, CMock * Microchip dsPIC,\nAtmel/Arduino, ARM Cortex-M * Slack, Trello, Confluence\n\nWhat you should bring: * Degree in information technology, electronical\nEngineering or similar * At least 3 years of work experience in electronics\ndevelopment, testing and troubleshooting * Strong knowledge of embedded C or\nC++ for programming microcontrollersleshooting * Collaborate with the team,\nand also possess the ability to work autonomously * Speaking German fluently\n\nInterested? Please write to anton[at]coboc[dot]biz | www.coboc.biz/jobs\n\n------\nlintaho\nTrialspark | Full-stack developers, product designers, and more | New York\nCity / NYC | Full time |\n[https://www.trialspark.com](https://www.trialspark.com)\n\nWe're a software and technology company that helps accelerate the discovery of\nnew drugs and medical treatments by reimagining the clinical trial process.\n\nWe've worked with a range of studies that have helped develop new treatments\nfor diseases such as Ebola, Alzheimer's, and HIV. We are an early-stage\ncompany based in NYC looking to hire our first few employees to help us\nachieve our mission of bringing life saving treatments to patients faster. We\noffer competitive compensation packages (salary + equity) and benefits.\n\nAs an early stage employee, you'll be working directly with the founders and\nhave a strong voice in product and technology decisions. You'll have ownership\nover large portions of the product and how it evolves. Ideally you have at\nleast 2+ years of experience. For engineers specifically, you'll be working at\nall levels of the stack (flask/python + react/javascript).\n\nWe'd love to hear from you - apply at\n[https://jobs.lever.co/trialspark](https://jobs.lever.co/trialspark) or shoot\nme a message at linhao@trialspark.com!\n\n------\nkatewharton\nHala Systems, Inc. | Lead Server-Side Developer | Remote, Global | Full-Time\n\nWe aim to transform the nature of civilian protection during warfare, as well\nas to reduce casualties during post-conflict recovery, natural disasters and\nother major crises. Our solutions are already saving lives, reducing trauma,\nand improving resilience in some of the most dangerous places in the world.\n\nCurrently hiring a lead server-side developer to implement next-generation\nanalytics and state-of-the-art security and data protection; optimize for\nmaximum speed, fault-tolerance, and scalability; and participate in the\nproduct development process.\n\nWe’re a distributed company with team members spanning the globe. This role\ncan be based anywhere, with start date on or before March 1.\n\n* Advanced understanding of emerging web technologies * Strong OOP and software design knowledge * Strong understanding of sound security measures throughout the stack * Cloud computing integration * Knowledge of MVC architectures * Experience in the design and development of fast-growing and scalable systems * Knowledge of Laravel PHP framework and data mining experience are a plus * 5+ years of progressive experience in a lead developer role * Values-driven, trustworthy, and honest * Good sense of humor, patience, and strong spirit *\n\nReach out to me at kate@halasystems.com if interested.\n\n------\nkomrade\nStudent Loan Hero -\n[https://studentloanhero.com/](https://studentloanhero.com/) \\- Austin, TX -\nFull Time - Remote\n\nStudent Loan Hero combines financial education with easy-to-use tools to help\nthe millions of Americans living with student loan debt to manage their\nstudent loans smarter.\n\nFounded in 2012, Student Loan Hero is helping 100,000+ borrowers manage and\neliminate over $2 billion dollars in student loan debt. We're on a mission to\nhelp 44 million Americans manage their student loans smarter.\n\nFor both current and former students who want to manage their loans in line\nwithin their own budget, Student Loan Hero offers free loan calculators,\nunbiased personalized advice, and repayment plans, all with a user-friendly\ninterface and dashboard.\n\nCurrent Openings:\n\n* SEO Manager - Full-time, Remote: [https://student-loan-hero.workable.com/jobs/410312](https://student-loan-hero.workable.com/jobs/410312)\n\n* Marketing Copywriter - Full-time, Remote: [https://student-loan-hero.workable.com/jobs/399078](https://student-loan-hero.workable.com/jobs/399078)\n\nMore jobs:\n[https://studentloanhero.com/careers/](https://studentloanhero.com/careers/)\n\n------\ndwolfand\nUnited Income | Brand New FinTech Startup | Full Stack Engineer - Node,\nPython, Math-Focused | Onsite in Washington, DC | Full Time\n\nWe all are coming from a very successful startup that exited about 2 years\nago. Time for round two. We have a great team and are continuing to hire.\nCurrently looking for talented full stack engineers with experience in Node\nand Python. A background in math or statistics is a plus too! Stack includes\nReact, AWS (API Gateway/Lambda), Node, Python, etc.\n\nMore information about us here:\n\n* [http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnovack/2016/06/28/fintech-s...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnovack/2016/06/28/fintech-startup-aims-to-help-boomers-manage-retirement-income/)\n\n* [http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/techflash/2016/06...](http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/techflash/2016/06/he-sold-his-first-local-financial-startup-for-52.html)\n\n* [http://dcinno.streetwise.co/2016/09/16/dc-tech-hellowallet-f...](http://dcinno.streetwise.co/2016/09/16/dc-tech-hellowallet-founder-new-financial-service-startup/)\n\nEmail david@unitedincome.com\n\n------\npburkeUBER\nUber | Multiple openings | New York City\n\nProcess: phone screen, 1 onsite interview, offer.\n\nUberEverything is leading the charge to change Uber from a company that moves\npeople, to a company that moves everything and we’re doing it all from a small\nengineering office here in New York. Every day we work on engineering problems\nthat range from picking the right car on the right route to building an\napplication for our partners that helps them do complex jobs without being\nable to actually look at the app. If any of these things sound interesting to\nyou, let us know!\n\nContact: pburke@uber.com\n\nSenior Android Engineer:\n[https://www.uber.com/careers/list/28642/](https://www.uber.com/careers/list/28642/)\n\nSenior Backend Engineer:\n[https://www.uber.com/careers/list/28611/](https://www.uber.com/careers/list/28611/)\n\nSenior Fullstack Engineer:\n[https://www.uber.com/careers/list/28612/](https://www.uber.com/careers/list/28612/)\n\nSenior iOS Engineer:\n[https://www.uber.com/careers/list/28646/](https://www.uber.com/careers/list/28646/)\n\nSenior Data Engineer:\n[https://www.uber.com/careers/list/27813/](https://www.uber.com/careers/list/27813/)\n\n------\nGrahamL\nBranchLabs | Magento Developer | Denver, CO | Remote\n\nThis is a hands-on, remote, contract, Magento programming position. You'll be\nworking on eCommerce platforms and CMSes like Magento, Shopify and WordPress.\nThe core technologies you'll be working with are PHP, HTML, CSS, and JS.\n\nOur projects are generally focused around making large, material changes to\nour clients' sites or designing and developing new sites from the ground up.\nWe are heavily data-driven and provide robust tracking and reporting\ncapabilities for our clients' initiatives.\n\nAn ideal applicant will be ready to hit the ground running with Magento.\n\n _About BranchLabs_\n\nBranchLabs is a rapidly growing eCommerce consultancy based in the LoHi\nneighborhood of Denver, CO.\n\nOur reputation is built on delivering results. We take pride in the work we\nproduce. The products we deliver are high quality inside and out, and they\nhelp our clients capitalize on real opportunities. We work closely with\nfounders and stakeholders, combining their understanding of their business\nwith our understanding of all things eCommerce. Together, we craft solutions\nthat work for our clients and their customers.\n\nMore details on the position: [https://weworkremotely.com/jobs/4077-magento-\ndeveloper](https://weworkremotely.com/jobs/4077-magento-developer)\n\n------\nhchitali\nAppFormix | San Jose, CA | Full Time | ONSITE\n\nFull Stack Developer\n\nDid you spend four or more years working hard towards your education to be\nunfulfilled by your work? Do you feel like you are having no impact in your\ncurrent job? Do you know that you can bring a fresh perspective to challenges\nbut aren’t given the chance? At AppFormix, our team is creating new products\nand features and all of our work is directly seen or used by our growing\ncustomer base. Our engineers work together as a team, collaborating and\ndiscussing new ideas daily. We share our ideas openly without worry for who\ngets the “glory” because when the team wins, we all win.\n\nHonestly, AppFormix is not for everyone. If collaboration isn’t your cup of\ntea and working in a very agile environment bothers you, then we probably are\nnot the best match. But, if you are relentlessly focused on the quality of\nyour code, see the value in peer code reviews, and have an interest in cloud\ncomputing, then we might be a match and you should apply. As a member of this\nteam, you are creating products that will be used by all of our customers. On\na daily basis you will be doing code reviews, working with your team to\novercome challenges, and creating a UI that is second to none.\n\nThe most successful engineers in this role have: - A Computer Science degree\nand/or 2 years of related work experience - High proficiency in Javascript,\nAngularJS, and NodeJS - Experience with HTML5, CSS3 - Superb communication\nskills - A thirst to continue learning - A desire and interest to learn and\nwork in the Docker ecosystem\n\nReach out to us: jobs AT appformix.com\n\n------\nzjellstrom\nDoist | Windows UWP Developer | World | Full-time | Remote:\n[https://doist.com/jobs/#windows-uwp-\ndeveloper](https://doist.com/jobs/#windows-uwp-developer)\n\nDoist | Front-end Web Developer | World | Full-time | Remote:\n[https://doist.com/jobs/#front-end-web-\ndeveloper](https://doist.com/jobs/#front-end-web-developer)\n\nDoist | Api Integrations Developer | World | Full-time | Remote:\n[https://doist.com/jobs/#api-integrations-\ndeveloper](https://doist.com/jobs/#api-integrations-developer)\n\nDoist | Ai Developer | World | Full-time | Remote:\n[https://doist.com/jobs/#ai-developer](https://doist.com/jobs/#ai-developer)\n\nAt Doist, we’re always striving to build not only amazing products but also\namazing teams: Teams that innovate and change how productivity tools are made.\nOur flagship product is Todoist, a to do app with over 10 million users\nworldwide.\n\nThese are all remote positions, so you'll be free to work from wherever you\nplease. You could also choose to work from our office in Porto, Portugal, or\nwe'll get you a co-working space in the city where you live. :)\n\n------\naturek\nConvoy | [https://convoy.com](https://convoy.com) | Software Engineer |\nSeattle | Full-time, onsite\n\nWe're optimizing the trucking and logistics industry; automating what is,\ntoday, a $749B industry that still runs on fax machines and phone calls.\nCurrently backed by top tier investors. Read about us:\n[http://fortune.com/2015/10/27/superstar-investors-back-\nconvo...](http://fortune.com/2015/10/27/superstar-investors-back-convo..).\n\nI'm employee #2, and I've been here since we were borrowing desks at a local\nstartup incubator. We've grown a lot since then, but we still have a tight-\nknit, high leverage engineering team. I love arriving at the office in the\nmorning - I get to work with the smartest folks I've ever met. No company I've\never been at, including Amazon, has felt like this much potential for impact.\n\nWe would love more engineers, up and down the stack, and anywhere on the\ngeneralist <-> specialist spectrum. We use pretty cutting-edge tech (React,\nReact-Native for mobile, TypeScript + Node for backend), but we're a lot more\ninterested in engineering chops than any particular tech skills.\n\nIf you're in Seattle, reach out and grab coffee with me or one of our other\ndevelopers. The last 18 months have been a wild ride, but we have years and\nyears ahead of us to build a logistics titan!\n\nSome, but not necessarily all, of our open jobs:\n[http://jobs.convoy.com](http://jobs.convoy.com)\n\n------\nArchM\nAppNeta | Full-Stack Developer, Operations Engineer, Test Automation Engineer,\nProduct Manager | Vancouver, Canada |\n[https://www.appneta.com/](https://www.appneta.com/)\n\nAppNeta is a fast-growing, international technology startup that has achieved\n100% year-over-year sales growth and is poised to take advantage of the\nmassive performance monitoring marketplace sized by Gartner as $3.5B in 2017.\nAppNeta has been named to the Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies list\nfour years running, and has won numerous awards in the Boston market,\nincluding BBJ’s Best Places to Work and BostInno’s Coolest Companies.\n\nAll Positions: [http://grnh.se/n7iu5g1](http://grnh.se/n7iu5g1)\n\n* _Full-Stack Developer_ ( [http://grnh.se/e1k3s21](http://grnh.se/e1k3s21) ): JavaScript, React, NPM, gulp.js, Browserify, Ember.js\n\n* _Operations Engineer_ ( [http://grnh.se/uqf36d1](http://grnh.se/uqf36d1) ): AWS, Chef, Consul, Packer, Linux\n\n* _Test Automation Engineer_ ( [http://grnh.se/uml3wd1](http://grnh.se/uml3wd1) ): Java, Python, Selenium, bash, Git\n\n* _Product Manager_ ( [http://grnh.se/67evbl1](http://grnh.se/67evbl1) )\n\n _Disclaimer:_ URLs include referral IDs for a referral bonus, you are welcome\nto strip the ID out if you prefer.\n\n------\njonrkarr\nKarr Lab ([http://www.karrlab.org](http://www.karrlab.org)) @ Mount Sinai\nMedical School | New York, NY 10029 | Research Associate, Postdoctoral Fellow,\nor Software engineer | Full-Time | ONSITE | $50-70k\n\nThe Karr Lab at the Institute for Genomics & Multiscale Biology at the Icahn\nSchool of Medicine at Mount Sinai is seeking a talented, ambitious scientists\nand engineers to develop technology for building, simulating, and applying\ncutting-edge whole-cell computational models of individual cells.\n\nWe are developing whole-cell computational models which comprehensively\npredict how behavior emerges from the molecular level by representing all of\nthe biochemical activity inside cells. Our goal is to use whole-cell models to\ntransform bioengineering and medicine into rigorous, quantitative disciplines.\nOur work is highly interdisciplinary, involving systems biology, genomics,\nbioinformatics, data integration, parallel simulation, optimization, software\nengineering, and data visualization, and highly team-oriented.\n\nWe are looking for scientists and engineers to help develop several\ntechnologies, including a domain-specific language for describing whole-cell\nmodels, a parallel multi-algorithmic simulator, scalable tools for visualizing\nand analyzing high-dimensional simulation results, and tools for handling\npersonal `omics data.\n\nMore information: [http://www.karrlab.org/join](http://www.karrlab.org/join)\nor Jonathan Karr (karr@mssm.edu)\n\nHow to apply: Send a cover letter and a CV to Jonathan Karr (karr@mssm.edu)\n\n------\nicanhasfay\nHulu | Santa Monica, CA | Onsite | Full-time\n\nHulu is a premium streaming TV destination that seeks to captivate and connect\nviewers with the stories they love. We create amazing experiences that\ncelebrate the best of entertainment and technology. We’re looking for great\npeople who are passionate about redefining TV through innovation,\nunconventional thinking and embracing fun. It’s a mission that takes some\nserious smarts, intense curiosity and determination to be the best. Come be\npart of the team that’s powering play.\n\nHulu’s Information Security Team is seeking an Application Security Engineer\nand an Information Security Architect as new additions to the team. You can\nfind the descriptions for the two roles at the links below.\n\nApplication Security Engineer -\n[https://www.hulu.com/jobs/positions/o4vg2fwr](https://www.hulu.com/jobs/positions/o4vg2fwr)\nInformation Security Architect -\n[https://www.hulu.com/jobs/positions/onlr4fwn](https://www.hulu.com/jobs/positions/onlr4fwn)\n\nAnd of course you can check out the rest of Hulu's open positions at\n[https://www.hulu.com/jobs](https://www.hulu.com/jobs).\n\n~~~\napurvbhar\nInterested. Is there any email that I can send my resume at?\n\n------\nlaunch-potato\nLAUNCH POTATO | Engineers, Product Managers, Marketing |\n[http://launchpotato.com/careers](http://launchpotato.com/careers) | Delray\nBeach, FL, or Remote | Full Time\n\nLaunch Potato is a profitable startup studio that incubates and launches\nmobile and web companies on our proprietary technology stack.\n\nWe’re HQed in Delray Beach, FL, but have an amazing, distributed global team.\nWe believe in building teams who can solve complex problems using smart\nmarketing, great engineering, data science and fun!\n\nFeatured Openings:\n\nFront-End Engineer, Marketing - [http://launchpotato.com/front-end-\nengineer](http://launchpotato.com/front-end-engineer)\n\nDevOps Engineer - [http://launchpotato.com/devops-\nengineer](http://launchpotato.com/devops-engineer)\n\nData Engineer - [http://launchpotato.com/data-\nengineer](http://launchpotato.com/data-engineer)\n\nProduct Manager - [http://launchpotato.com/product-\nmanager](http://launchpotato.com/product-manager)\n\nCampaign Manager - [http://launchpotato.com/campaign-\nmanager](http://launchpotato.com/campaign-manager)\n\nJunior Marketing Analyst - [http://launchpotato.com/marketing-analyst-\njr](http://launchpotato.com/marketing-analyst-jr)\n\n------\njdiez17\nOwlstone Medical | London/Cambridge UK | Onsite, full-time | Full Stack\nSoftware Engineer\n\nThe work you'll do at Owlstone will be at the intersection of electronics,\nphysics, chemistry, computer science, and data visualization. Owlstone’s\nmission is to save 100,000 lives and save health care providers $1.5B by 2020.\nWe need to add more top-class Software Developers to our team to help us\nachieve it. You can choose to join our office in London or at the Science Park\nin Cambridge.\n\nAs a Software Developer at Owlstone, you will be a vital part of the team\ntackling very challenging problems such as detecting early-stage cancer from\npatients’ breath, or warning people of the presence of minute amounts of life-\nthreatening chemicals in their surroundings. To enable development of new\ndetection & diagnosis algorithms for multiple applications, we are expanding\nthe team responsible for building & administering our data pipelines and data\ninterfaces.\n\nFull job spec here: [https://www.owlstonemedical.com/about/careers/full-\nstackdevo...](https://www.owlstonemedical.com/about/careers/full-stackdevops-\ndeveloper/)\n\nSend an email to am9zZS5kaWV6QG93bHN0b25lLmNvLnVr to get past the HR filter ;)\n(no recruiters, please)\n\n------\nehin345\nNutmeg | www.nutmeg.com | Vauxhall, London | Full Time | Onsite | Full Stack\nWeb Developer, JavaScript Developer, Senior Java Developer | emilie@nutmeg.com\n\nNutmeg is an award-winning online FinTech company. We are transforming the\nindustry by building intelligent investment portfolios for anyone with as\nlittle as £500 to invest and our growth continues at an explosive pace.\n\nWe are looking to enhance our team with the addition of Engineers,\nspecifically Java, Front-end / JavaScript and Full Stack!\n\nThis is a fantastic opportunity for an Engineer to join a progressive\nenvironment, to be a part of a growing company which can offer development and\nexposure to greenfield projects.\n\nWe run a pure AWS-based cloud environment and deliver features using a\ncontinuous delivery approach. Our continuous delivery capability means that we\nare actively working to make sure our test infrastructure is as fast,\nautomated and comprehensive as possible.\n\nThis is a challenging role with great rewards and we are excited for what the\nimmediate future brings - get in touch with me for details: emilie@nutmeg.com\n-\n[https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/search/?keywords=nutmeg&locati...](https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/search/?keywords=nutmeg&locationId=gb%3A0)\n\n~~~\ngingerbread-man\nDo you sponsor visas for US-based devs?\n\n~~~\nehin345\nWe can offer sponsorship but this is limited and I would need to know a little\nmore about your situation - it would be great to chat, let me know if you\nwould be free for a Skype call, emilie@nutmeg.com\n\n------\neriktrautman\nViking Education | Course Mentor | Remote | Part Time |\n[http://www.vikingcodeschool.com](http://www.vikingcodeschool.com)\n\nViking Code School is a 100% online development bootcamp driven by the mission\nof launching a million high-growth careers around the world regardless of a\nstudent’s location, prior experience or economic standing.\n\nOur mentor-led Flex Program pairs students with industry veterans who perform\nweekly code reviews as part of the learning process. It is a great chance to\npass on your knowledge without leaving your day job (or your house). As a\nmentor, you work with your mentee(s) during their full time in the course,\nwhich typically takes between 6-12 months to finish. You meet with your mentee\n1-3 times per week for code review and can work with anywhere from 1 to 10+\nstudents, depending on desire and ability.\n\nOur back end has two tracks (Ruby/Rails or Node/Express) and our front end\ncovers JavaScript/React/Redux. As a mentor, you have access to the course\nmaterials so you can get up to speed on anything you aren't firm on.\n\nCheck-ins are compensated.\n\nRequirements:\n\n* 4+ years of professional development experience as part of an engineering team.\n\n* Strong grounding in CS fundamentals like Data Structures and Algorithms.\n\n* Relevant experience with CS, Ruby/Rails, SQL, JavaScript/React etc.\n\nEmail careers@vikingcodeschool.com with your CV, links and anything else that\nwould prove your development or teaching ability and general awesomeness.\n\n------\ncurrentoor\nAdStage | Full-Stack Engineer | San Francisco ONSITE\n\nAdStage is a cross-channel advertising management platform helping in-house\nmarketers and digital agencies easily report, automate, and optimize paid\nsearch and social campaigns under one roof. We are looking for someone to join\nour report product team. Report is a WYSIWYG tool for marketers to build\ndashboards and present their performance internally and to their clients.\n[https://www.adstage.io/reporting/](https://www.adstage.io/reporting/)\n\nThe report product stack is Clojure and Datomic on the backend, with\nClojurescript and Om Next on the front end. We are looking for people with\nexperience or a desire to learn functional programming in a modern Lisp.\n\nYou can read our blog to see how we leverage this stack.\n[https://medium.com/adstage-engineering/realtime-apps-with-\nom...](https://medium.com/adstage-engineering/realtime-apps-with-om-next-and-\ndatomic-470be2c8204b#.q0e0qnjdj)\n\nAlso see some of our open source work (more in progress).\n[https://github.com/AdStage/pluck-api](https://github.com/AdStage/pluck-api)\n\nIf you are interested please email jason@adstage.io.\n\n------\nsignafire\nSignafire | Big Data Engineer | New York | ONSITE\n[http://signafire.com/careers/](http://signafire.com/careers/)\n\nTo apply, email jobs[at]signafire[dot]com with the subject line [Hacker News\nBig Data Engineer] and your resume attached. Please include a brief personal\nsummary.\n\nOur data engineers build and support the backbone of our software. We're a\nnearly 100% Clojure shop, with a distributed processing architecture powered\nby: Elasticsearch (ELK), Apache Storm, RabbitMQ, Redis, Linux, and AWS. We\nmainly develop on Macs, host Gitlab, and use Slack, Google Apps, and JIRA for\ncollaboration. If you have an interest in any of Functional Programming,\nDistributed Systems, NLP, Search, or Data Mining: this is the job for you!\n\nOur backend team works closely together and is highly agile with flexible\nroles: if something needs to get done, you have the full power to make it\nhappen. Every team member gets full access to all our projects.\n\nAbout the company:\n\nSignafire provides business intelligence and decision support tools for high-\nprofile commercial companies. We enable better and faster decision making\nthrough tailored solutions for data collection, analysis, and visualization.\nPlease see our website for more information about the company.\n\n------\nromapatel\nMac Properties | Systems Administrator | Chicago, IL | ONSITE\n\n[http://bit.ly/2kZsaOC](http://bit.ly/2kZsaOC) for full advertisement and to\napply\n\nWe're a property management company in Hyde Park (55th/LSD), hiring sys\nadmin/help desk. Team is 1 other sys admin, 3 DBA's, intern, CIO. Growing\ncompany, perm with benefits, budget $55-65K, depending on experience.\n\nThis role works heavily with end users since in addition to\nsupport/maintenance, the sys admins are the main troubleshooters for helpdesk\ntickets - system updates, equipment issues, etc. Small but tight team, typical\nbusiness hours with flexibility if there was an overnight emergency, and\nbright group in IT.\n\nSummary - Server data integrity, IT audit, system & network changes, Windows\nserver environment (MS IIS, Active Directory, Exchange) Skills - Microsoft\nWindows Server Architecture (Windows Server 2008/2012), Office/Outlook 365,\nExchange 2010/201, and Active Directory design and implementation, VMware\ndesign and implementation/Hyper -V, Desktop Support, Terminal Server,\nSpiceworks Experience with TCP/IP and IP-based networking, including DNS,\nDHCP, SNMP, SMTP, Firewalls and Network Access Control Thorough knowledge of\ncurrent hardware systems, RAID and disk subsystems (including SAN technologies\nand blade server systems) Ability to manage all systems maintenance activities\nincluding backups, monitoring, and optimization/tuning\n\nProcess is resume review by CIO, brief phone interview, office interview with\nCIO and team. Overall interview process is ideally 2 weeks, max.\n\n------\nThoughtMachine_\nThoughtMachine| Software Engineer| Full Time|ONSITE|London|\n\nThought Machine is a leading London FinTech company which works with banks to\nrevolutionise the way banking technology is delivered to users. We are led by\nPaul Taylor, a serial entrepreneur and machine learning expert. In 2010, Paul\nsold his last company to Google, and subsequently led the Google speech\ntechnology team from London. Thought Machine was founded in 2014 and has built\na world class team expert in cloud computing, machine learning, finance,\ndesign and app building.\n\n\"Despite holding the vast majority of the world’s wealth, banks aren’t exactly\nhotbeds of cutting-edge tech, often relying on decades-old systems for\neveryday tasks. ThoughtMachine, a company led by ex-Google engineer Paul\nTaylor, is looking to change that with a modern, fully integrated, blockchain-\nbased banking operating system called Vault OS\" -TechCrunch, 13th July 2016\n\nRequirements:\n\n*Programming experience: strong preference for Python or Go. Willing to look at candidates with experience in other scripting languages (e.g. Ruby), or other languages like Java or C++.\n\nSee full job description and how to apply here:\n[https://thoughtmachine.workable.com/](https://thoughtmachine.workable.com/)\n\n------\nstale2002\nPubNub | San Francisco, CA | ONSITE | Full Time\n\nCome work for one of the few entirely developer focused companies. PubNub Data\nprovides global cloud infrastructure and key building blocks for realtime\napps. PubNub powers thousands of realtime apps around the world, from\ninnovative start-ups to globally recognized brands. We manage 3 million\nrealtime messages per second and 100 million devices per month. We support\nover 70 SDKs for mobile, browser, desktop and server. And we are globally\nscaled, with 16 points of presence and 99.999% SLAs. Interview Process: Phone\n/ hangout, a couple interviews, build a realtime app. We're looking for:\n\n* Backend Web Developer\n\nThe Business Applications team is responsible for the customer-facing\nadministrative portal, data analysis and reporting, and internal system\nintegrations. Our mission is to use uptime, performance and scale as tools, to\nextend the fabric of real-time possibilities and stay true to the trust and\nconfidence reposed in us by customers to deliver delightful user experiences.\n\nDesign and build REST APIs in Python, interfacing with various backend systems\nand a MySQL database. The APIs are consumed by the administration portal user\ninterface as well as customer applications.\n\n\\-------- Email bryan [at] pubnub.com if you're interested.\n\n~~~\nstale2002\nApply here: [http://grnh.se/xqp3uk1](http://grnh.se/xqp3uk1)\n\n------\nadambutler\nNexmo | Developer Advocate | London, UK | REMOTE | Fulltime\n\nNow a Vonage Company, Nexmo is the emerging leader in the $100B+ cloud\ncommunications platform (CPaaS) market. Customers like Airbnb, Viber, Line,\nWhatsapp, Snapchat, and many others depend on our APIs and SDKs to connect\nwith their customers all over the world.\n\nAs a Developer Advocate at Nexmo your main responsibilities will be to build\nrelationships within developer communities through learning, creating, sharing\nand helping others. You will learn about technologies and share your knowledge\nthrough talks, written tutorials, example applications and open source\ndeveloper tools and libraries. You will demonstrate the benefits of\ncommunications functionality and inspire others to innovate. You will be the\ninterface between developer communities and our product teams to ensure that\nNexmo continues to build products that provide a great developer experience\nand reimagine the possibilities of communications technologies.\n\nMore details at: [https://jobbio.com/uk/job/37990/44-featherstone-street-\nlondo...](https://jobbio.com/uk/job/37990/44-featherstone-street-london-\nec1y-8rn-united-kingdom/nexmo/developer-advocate)\n\n------\nflyinghoops\nFluidigm | Software Automation Tester | Toronto (Markham) | ONSITE | Full-time\n\nFluidigm creates innovative life science technologies designed to\nrevolutionize biology through a relentless pursuit of scientific truth. Our\ncore technologies, based on microfluidics and mass cytometry, enable the\nexploration and analysis of individual cells as well as the industrial\napplication of genomics.\n\nWe're looking for a Software Automation Tester with strong Windows desktop\nsoftware automation testing experience to join our team. Your key\nresponsibility is to build our software automation testing framework from the\nground up. This includes selecting testing tools, deciding what functionality\nto test, creating test scripts / keyword / record & playback tests,\nintegrating them into the development process, and establishing best practices\nthat minimize test churn. This is a greenfield activity, and you are in the\ndriver’s seat.\n\nInterested? See full job posting and apply here:\n[https://www.fluidigm.com/careers/job/2017-2388-software-\nprod...](https://www.fluidigm.com/careers/job/2017-2388-software-product-and-\nautomation-tester-35)\n\nYou can also leave a comment here if you have any questions.\n\n------\nwskemper\nViaSat | Cloud Software Engineer | Austin, TX | On-site or remote (USA only) |\nFull-Time | [https://www.viasat.com](https://www.viasat.com)\n\nViaSat's Cloud Engineering team provides the bedrock network and security\nservices that every group at ViaSat uses to operate and protect their\nproducts. We also engage hands-on with other engineering teams to help them\nget to the cloud.\n\nOn any given day, you may be walking colleagues through the finer points of\nVPC design, helping a product team debug a critical failure in production, or\npresenting a workshop on developing against our internal APIs. You might be\nadding new features to our PKI, writing automation to validate TLS\nconfigurations across the entire network, or expanding our platform into São\nPaulo. Our work and our products are always evolving, which leaves little\nchance you'll ever get bored.\n\nWe are looking for engineers who are proficient with multiple languages, and\nare familiar with existing IaaS and PaaS products like AWS, OpenStack, or\nMarathon. We also need our team members to be good communicators and people-\nfriendly, as our daily work involves interfacing with many people all around\nthe company. An engineering degree or equivalent experience is necessary.\n\nYou'd get bonus points for having a strong security background, in-depth\nknowledge of networking, or previous work experience building globally-\ndistributed applications.\n\nThis position is location-agnostic; you can work from any of our offices, or\nfrom home, as long as you reside within the United States.\n\nInterested? Email stephan.kemper@viasat.com\n\n------\nyoloswagins\nHomelight | Software Engineer | San Francisco | ONSITE | fulltime |\n[https://www.homelight.com/about-us#careers](https://www.homelight.com/about-\nus#careers)\n\nCurrent Interview Process: quick chat, engineering phone screen, onsite, team\nlunch, reference check, offer.\n\nHomeLight is creating the best way for home buyers and sellers to find the\nbest real estate agent using objective data about real estate agent\nperformance. We're continually working on our matching algorithm (machine\nlearning & data science) and currently working on some big initiatives to\nimprove how home buyers and sellers and agents interact with homelight and\nwith each other (mobile apps, new product features, etc.)\n\nWe're a small team of 7 engineers. Our stack is Ruby on Rails(4.2), and\nPostgresql hosted on Heroku. We're starting to use Ember, but most of the\nfront end is well written javascript without any frameworks. We've got\nreasonable test coverage with rspec.\n\nTasks are reasonably defined, and its normal to push back on tasks to\ndetermine the business value in our work. We're not just a feature factory, we\ncare about the value delivered in what we build. As engineer's, we have an\nenormous amount of latitude in the implementation details of our work.\n\nBecause we're small, you're going to need to know the full stack. You're going\nto have to write javascript here, sorry.\n\nI applied via the link on the careers page, but if you have any questions, you\ncan email me at evan@homelight.com. When you apply, make sure to mention you\nsaw this hackernews post.\n\n------\nceefry\nSaatchi Art | Santa Monica, CA | Fulltime, ONSITE\n\nSaatchi Art ([https://www.saatchiart.com](https://www.saatchiart.com)) is the\nworld's leading online art gallery, a global marketplace where artists in over\n100 countries have sold to collectors in 80 countries!\n\nWe are currently looking to hire software engineers that possess solid CS\nfundamentals, are fluent with design patterns, and will dive in fearlessly to\nany part of our complex stack as necessary. The number of years of work\nexperience matter less to us than the complexity of what you have been\nrecently doing.\n\nSpecifically for our Sr. Front End position, we want someone with production-\nlevel React/Redux/Webpack experience, and expert-level HTML, CSS and\njavascript.\n\nSpecifically for our Sr. Backend position, we are looking for folks with PHP\n(Laravel), SQL (mysql), and NoSQL (Couchbase, MongoDB) experience. Async\nprogramming experience is a definite plus, as is experience with configuration\nmanagement tools (Puppet/Chef/Ansible), Docker, and AWS.\n\nOur engineering team is a small tight knit bunch of talented developers who\ncare deeply about our craft and work everyday to better ourselves at it while\niteratively building product features that make it easier for artists and\ncollectors to connect across geographies and cultures.\n\nYour work will have a direct impact on the livelihoods of people who might\notherwise not have had the opportunity to share their works across the globe,\nevery single day.\n\nCheck out our site, then hit me (Chris) up at careers@saatchiart.com if you\nwant to know more.\n\n------\nchrisnewark\nASOS Marketplace | Mid-level / Senior Software Engineer | London | Onsite |\nFull-time\n\nWe have two opportunities to join a unique development team within ASOS\nworking on our Marketplace platform. This is a small team within ASOS\noperating like a start-up where the business and engineering teams work\ntogether daily.\n\nYou will be a Software Engineer with commitment to deliver high-quality well-\ntested software, working directly with the business to produce the right\nsolution for the customer. As a member of a small team you will have\ninvolvement in all areas of the software development process from feature\nplanning through to deployment based largely (but not exclusively) on the\nMicrosoft Technology stack (.Net)\n\nOur recruitment process is as follows:\n\n\\- Phone interview \\- At home code test \\- On-site interview\n\nFor more information and to apply:\n\nSenior Software Engineer -\n[https://jobs.asos.com/epostings/index.cfm?fuseaction=app.job...](https://jobs.asos.com/epostings/index.cfm?fuseaction=app.jobinfo&jobid=2014)\n\nMid-level Software Engineer -\n[https://jobs.asos.com/epostings/index.cfm?fuseaction=app.job...](https://jobs.asos.com/epostings/index.cfm?fuseaction=app.jobinfo&jobid=2013)\n\n------\nkbaker\nVenture Research Inc. | Software Engineer | Plano, TX (Dallas, TX, DFW) |\nOnsite Only | [http://www.ventureresearch.com](http://www.ventureresearch.com)\n\n _February Already ?!?_\n\nInterested in RFID? In improving inventory and replenishment processes in\nhospitals, labs, and clinics? In automatically tracking pallets, containers,\nand other assets around a facility? Come join us!\n\nVenture Research is a leader in the RFID industry and is consistently pushing\nthe leading edge of what is possible using RFID. We have a variety of\nopportunities available for both fast-paced new product design and development\nas well as for development on some of our long-term stable products. 17 year\nold small but growing company, privately held, with excellent benefits, 401K\nmatching, paid health insurance and highly competitive salary and bonus\nstructure.\n\nWe are hiring for the following positions:\n\n* Embedded platforms engineer: C, Linux, Android NDK. Experience with hardware co-design, Python, QT, Django, React a plus.\n\n* Embedded firmware engineer: microcontroller development using primarily NXP Kinetis parts.\n\n* Senior .NET / Backend developer: C#, VB.Net, ASP.NET, MSSQL, Oracle, JavaScript and JQuery. .NET MVC a plus.\n\nPlease email resumes to hr@ventureresearch.com, or use the email in my\nprofile. Thanks!\n\n------\ncianuro\nChartbeat | Senior Backend Engineer | NYC, NY | Onsite, Full time\n\nChartbeat is a New York City-based company that makes products which help\npublishers build and grow their audience. Our software measures how users\nengage with online media beyond clicks and pageviews, so content creators can\nunderstand what, within their content, is keeping people engaged. Partnering\nwith more than 50,000 websites across 60+ countries, Chartbeat's software and\nfront-line tools help the world's leading media companies understand, measure,\nand value the attention earned by their content.\n\nWe are seeking curious Backend Engineers to join us on this adventure by\nhelping build the components, systems, and dashboards that newsrooms use to\nlearn about how their audiences engage with their content.\n\nOur stack includes Python, Clojure, Postgres, Redshift, and Kafka. Over 1\nmillion messages pass through these systems each second and support measuring\ntens of millions of concurrent readers across our customers’ sites.\n\nIf this sounds interesting to you or if you have any questions please reach\nout to paul+hiring@chartbeat.com or apply here:\n[https://chartbeat.com/careers?gh_jid=149293](https://chartbeat.com/careers?gh_jid=149293)\n\n------\nksolanki\nEyenuk, Inc | Senior Software Engineer and Research Engineer | Woodland Hills,\nCA | Fulltime | Onsite | [http://www.eyenuk.com](http://www.eyenuk.com)\n\nAt Eyenuk we are developing the next generation of retinal diagnostic\nsolutions that leverage state of the art computer vision using deep learning\nwith novel low-level morphological image analysis algorithms.\nSoftware/algorithms we develop makes critical clinical recommendations, and\nthe healthcare professionals rely on the code we write to make these life-\naltering decisions.\n\nWe are hiring for:\n\n1) Algorithms research engineer: The algorithms research engineer will conduct\napplied research in computer vision and deep neural networks, developing and\nimplementing high-throughput image analysis algorithms, working closely with\nclinicians and expert doctors.\n\n2) Senior software engineer: The senior software engineer will architect,\ndesign, develop, maintain, and deploy software that implements high-throughput\n(think hundreds of thousands of images an hour) image-based diagnostics.\nDesktop, web, and mobile.\n\nOur stack: python/flask, Angular, Qt, and C++.\n\nInterview process: Intro over skype -> Phone screen -> Onsite interview ->\nOffer.\n\nSend email to jobs@eyenuk.com to apply (US-based candidates; H1b or OPT ok).\n\n------\nahstilde\nStockpile | Palo Alto, CA | Full-time | ONSITE\n\nStockpile’s mission is to democratize stock ownership. We built our own\nfractional trading platform to break down the barriers to stock ownership and\nhave partnered with Fortune 500 companies to make the stock market accessible\nto everyone in simple ways — like a physical or digital gift card. We’re also\npartnering with nonprofits to promote financial literacy and empowerment so\nanyone around the world, of any age or income level, can invest for their\nfuture.\n\nWe're backed by Sequoia Capital, Mayfield, and Ashton Kutcher.\n\nBased in Palo Alto, CA, Stockpile's engineering team is growing fast, and\nwe're hiring front-end, back-end, and full-stack devs. Our tech stack is a\nJava backend with Angular front-end and React Native for mobile. There's some\nNodeJS and Ruby sprinkled into the microservices, too. The team values work-\nlife balance and camraderie. Perks of working at Stockpile include catered\nbreakfast and lunch, great snacks, flexible leave, and an incredible insurance\npackage.\n\nView our open positions at\n[https://jobs.lever.co/stockpile](https://jobs.lever.co/stockpile)\n\nYou can apply through there, or email me (full-stack engineer)\naakash(AT)stockpile.com\n\n------\nAdsEnv\nADS Environmental | Full-Stack Developers | Huntsville, AL | Remote, US, Full-\nTime, www.adsenv.com\n\nADS is helping create a cleaner and safer environment by bringing exceptional\ninsight and intelligence to municipalities around the world through our\nhardware and software products. We're very passionate about the products we\ncreate because of the positive effects it will have on millions of people\naround the globe.\n\n _Tech Stack_ :\n\n    \n    \n      Front End: Angular2, TypeScript, Google Material Design\n    \n      Backend: ASP.NET Core for microservices, Python for our machine learning apps\n    \n      Public Cloud: Azure\n    \n\n_Interview Process_ : We've hired from HackerNews successfully before. Phone\ncall first, remote coding session, then if all goes well, we'll bring you on-\nsite for interviews and to meet the team.\n\n _Positions We Need_ :\n\n    \n    \n       -Someone who is strong in Angular2/TypeScript and can lead a front-end team\n    \n       -Someone who is strong at backend microservices with ASP.NET Core. Ideally also well versed in DevOps and can help us work more efficiently.\n    \n       -Someone who can help us implement more unit testing, for both front-end and back-end.\n    \n\n_Interested?_ :\n\nEmail Mary Beach (mbeach@idexcorp.com) or check us out at idexcorp.com/careers\n\n------\naee333\nHealthVerity | Philadelphia, PA | ONSITE | Permanent | Full Stack Developer,\nHealthcare Data Engineer, Director - Data Warehousing, Healthcare Data\nScientist | [http://www.healthverity.com/](http://www.healthverity.com/)\n\nHealthVerity is a VC-funded early-stage tech startup that offers the fastest\nand most efficient way to explore and acquire healthcare data. We help our\nclients discover, license and link patient data across the widest range of top\ntier data providers. We empower customers to gain new perspectives on patient\nactivity while ensuring complete privacy management and HIPAA compliance.\n\nOur stack runs entirely on AWS and some of the tools we use are Spark,\nAirflow, Docker, Emberjs, and Django. We’re always looking for team members\nwith healthcare data experience related to: EMR, EHR, prescription and medical\nclaims, ICD-9 and ICD-10.\n\nHiring process includes: phone interviews, sample work submissions or\nassessments, onsite interview, references.\n\nYou can reach me with any questions at: aelefante@healthverity.com\n\nSee job descriptions here:\n[https://app.jobvite.com/j?bj=o8MI4fwq&s=Hacker_News](https://app.jobvite.com/j?bj=o8MI4fwq&s=Hacker_News)\n\n------\nKaedon\nChowNow | Los Angeles, CA (Playa Vista) | Full Time | Onsite |\n[https://www.chownow.com/](https://www.chownow.com/)\n\nAt ChowNow, we build online ordering systems for thousands of restaurants and\nmillions of diners. We're launching a few new products soon that I'm excited\nabout. I love working here as an engineer. It's a great balance of challenge,\nfreedom, and impact.\n\nWe've been growing quickly and we're looking to hire an Operations (DevOps)\nengineer! As background, we had a manually configured AWS infrastructure that\nwe've retired in favor of an Ansible / Terraform-based setup. We've automated\ninfrastructure and our deploy process so it's a great time to come in and\nshape where we go from here.\n\nWe also have positions open for a Principal Front-End Engineer (Ember.js /\nNode) and a Data Analyst on our careers page at\n[https://jobs.lever.co/chownow?lever-via=MO5-ac-\nqvc](https://jobs.lever.co/chownow?lever-via=MO5-ac-qvc).\n\nIf you're interested or have questions what it's like to work here, please\ncontact me at kevinlondon@chownow.com or our recruiter, Candice, at\ncandice@chownow.com.\n\n------\njennybrennan\nEntrepreneur First | London | Software Engineer and Junior Software Engineer |\nFull-time | ONSITE\n\nEntrepreneur First supports engineers and computer scientists to build world-\nclass tech companies from scratch - so far we've helped 300 individuals form\n100 companies, worth over $500m.\n\nOur tech team's mission is to capture, and leverage, the best dataset around\nstartup formation in the world, and these roles will be a key part of\nrealising that vision. This ranges from building systems which support our\nTalent team to find the world's best technical individuals, to tools that\nfacilitate team building and ideation on our programme, to portfolio tracking\nand management tools.\n\nTo learn more about EF: [https://www.joinef.com](https://www.joinef.com).\n\nJunior Software Engineer:\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/workforef/jobs/533282#.WJ9bSraL...](https://boards.greenhouse.io/workforef/jobs/533282#.WJ9bSraLTMU)\n\nSoftware Engineer:\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/workforef/jobs/533365#.WJ9bTLaL...](https://boards.greenhouse.io/workforef/jobs/533365#.WJ9bTLaLTMU)\n\n------\njkruzek\nVerdigris | Mountain View, CA\n\nLooking for: * Solutions Architect (Full time)\n\nApply here: [https://vdgr.is/2ldehLU](https://vdgr.is/2ldehLU)\n\nAs a Solution Architect at Verdigris, you're part sales, part implementation\nengineer. As an early member of a startup company, your responsibilities are\nbroad. Customers will lean on your expertise. You will translate their\nrequirements into a sensible Verdigris deployment scope. From nurturing\ncustomer prospects to coordinating installations and verifying equipment\ncommissioning, you’ll work with growth and customer operations colleagues to\ndeliver a seamless, scalable customer setup experience.\n\nAt Verdigris, we organize ourselves as small agile teams between 3 and 8\npeople. The Growth team drives customer acquisition, revenue growth and\nplatform deployment. The Customer team delivers insights and helps customers\nget more value. Your teammates are cross-functional. We have diverse and deep\nexperience in sales, marketing, business development, product marketing,\naccount management, data science and building systems engineering. We’re\nsearching for the right teammate to share our collaborative focus.\n\nYou can find more information about us at verdigris.co\n\n------\nprettyweird\nLunchBadger | Senior Software Developer (Backend) | San Francisco, Vancouver,\nor REMOTE | [https://www.lunchbadger.com](https://www.lunchbadger.com)\n\nLunchBadger is a VC-funded early-stage startup building a next-generation\nplatform that empowers developers and enterprises to compose, manage, monitor,\nand monetize cloud-native API microservices. For more information on our\nproduct, please check out\n[http://www.lunchbadger.com](http://www.lunchbadger.com).\n\nWe are looking for a Senior Software Developer (Backend) to join a small but\ngrowing team. This is a great opportunity to have a real impact on the product\nand the team. Due to our small size, we're looking for someone who can\nparticipate in the project in multiple ways, whether that is writing and\ndesigning software, creating automation to deploy and manage it in production,\nor helping to support our customers.\n\nTech we use: Node.js, express.js, LoopBack, AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform\n\nMore information at [https://www.lunchbadger.com/careers-senior-software-\nengineer...](https://www.lunchbadger.com/careers-senior-software-engineer-\nbackend/)\n\n------\ngesundkrank\nmbr targeting | Berlin, Germany | [https://mbr-targeting.com](https://mbr-\ntargeting.com) | Full-Time, ONSITE\n\nmbr targeting uses machine learning algorithms for highly efficient real-time\nadvertising. We are 100% science- and technology-focused and process and\nanalyze massive amounts of data. We are working at the cutting edge of big\ndata, machine learning and real-time technologies and we are operating large-\nscale deployments of real-time web services.\n\nWe are looking for smart people that are always eager to learn something new.\nOur stack is built with Java, Node, Python and C++. Using frameworks like\nHadoop, Spark, Flink, Vert.x, Kafka, Druid, Luigi and ZeroMQ.\n\nWe're looking for Backend Engineers to work on our low-latency bidding engine,\nData Engineers that wanna develop solutions for real big data problems and\nData Scientists with a deep understanding of statistics and machine learning\ntechniques.\n\nYou will work with a small, young and highly passionate team of extraordinary\nco-workers in a nice and spacious Berlin-style office in the heart of\nNeukölln.\n\nInterested? Detailed job offers: [https://mbr-\ntargeting.com/jobs.html](https://mbr-targeting.com/jobs.html)\n\n------\nMholli40\nManzama | Bend, OR | Full-time | Senior Full Stack Software Developer |\n[http://manzama.com/jobs-senior-software-engineer/](http://manzama.com/jobs-\nsenior-software-engineer/)\n\nCurrent Tech Stack (ideally familiarity with some of these):\n\nPython Django application hosted on Google Cloud Backed by Postgres, Solr,\nGoogle Datastore, and Redis, SendGrid Other tools include Salt, BigQuery,\nRabbitMQ, Nginx, Celery, Java\n\n~~~\ndavidw\nYou might want to write out 'Oregon' so people can find it via a text search.\n'OR' is not easy to search for. Greetings from over at G5 :-)\n\n------\nryands\nGrio - [http://grio.com/](http://grio.com/) | San Francisco, CA | Full-time\n\nGrio is a boutique consulting company located in SOMA (Market & New\nMontgomery). We are a 40 person org (mostly engineering!). The founders are\ndevs and we have a dev-focused culture. We focus on building top-quality web\nand mobile applications for a wide variety of clients.\n\nWe are currently looking for the following:\n\n* Senior Android Engineer (also mid-level) - [https://grio.workable.com/jobs/279782](https://grio.workable.com/jobs/279782)\n\n* Senior Web Developer - [https://grio.workable.com/jobs/302187](https://grio.workable.com/jobs/302187)\n\n* Web Developer - [https://grio.workable.com/jobs/343435](https://grio.workable.com/jobs/343435)\n\n* Senior iOS Developer - [https://grio.workable.com/jobs/304890](https://grio.workable.com/jobs/304890)\n\n* All job postings - [https://grio.workable.com/](https://grio.workable.com/)\n\nWhen applying mention \"Ryan's Post on HN\"\n\n------\nyfixedpoint\nCarousell ([http://carousell.com](http://carousell.com)) | Engineering Manager\n| Singapore | Full-time | ONSITE\n\nCarousell is a mobile-first, peer-to-peer marketplace app that makes buying\nand selling on the internet inspiring, social and super simple.\n\nFor Engineering Manager position, I'm looking for someone who can:\n\n\\- Be actively involved for guiding the engineering technical strategy, make\nstrategic decisions and clearly communicate high level strategy to our team\nmembers in order to lead Carousell Engineering to work better and more\nefficiently in bringing great features to our users faster \\- Continuously\ninspire and mentor our team of Engineers to grow in their careers and\nprofessional development \\- Be able to clearly communicate technical details\nto non-technical members of our organisation in a manner that is easily\nunderstandable \\- Communicate the roadmap, scope and risks of your projects,\nand lead the delivery of major initiatives on clear timelines \\- Be able to\nstay on top of the bleeding edge of technology and know how to assess a new\ntech and how it may help Carousell Engineering improve our work and our\nproduct \\- Anticipate headcount needs and work with the recruiting team to\nattract and retain high quality engineering talent for our organisation\n\nIf you are interested, please email your resume or ask questions directly to\nme at charlotte.lee@thecarousell.com.\n\nWe also have positions for Software Engineers (Front-end, iOS, Android, Back-\nend, Data), Data Engineering Manager, etc. Please check them out at\n[http://careers.carousell.com](http://careers.carousell.com).\n\n------\norjan\nLinkon | Full-stack Java Developer | Stockholm | Full-time, ONSITE,\n[http://www.linkon.se](http://www.linkon.se)\n\nWe’re expanding our development team in Stockholm and are looking for highly\nskilled Java developers.\n\nJoin a fast-paced environment where our customers expect a rock solid platform\nwith excellent availability, capable of handling millions upon millions of\ntransactions. Our dev teams are small and agile and focus on code quality.\nWhen you start working here, be prepared for a flying start – most likely\nyou’ll be committing code aimed for production in your first week.\n\nWhat we expect of you: You are a skilled Java developer who knows SQL and web\nservices, and are no stranger to the frontend (we thought of a lot of\nbuzzwords to put here, but truth be told, we don’t care too much about buzz.\nWhat matters is ability and drive). You speak Swedish and good English.\n\nWe’re located right in the middle of the city, two minutes from Stockholm\nCentral Station.\n\nRead more about us at www.linkon.se or check out our Prezi:\n[https://prezi.com/iis46ovdtm4k/about-\nlinkon/](https://prezi.com/iis46ovdtm4k/about-linkon/)\n\nInterested? Apply via email to eva.widell@linkon.se\n\n------\nbrdd\nConduit | [https://conduit.to](https://conduit.to) | Boston, MA (Cambridge,\nMA) (Harvard Square) | ONSITE, REMOTE, INTERNS accepted\n\nConduit is a small, funded startup based out of beautiful Harvard Square. We\nbuild a personal CRM software to help people reconnect with others and develop\ngenuine relationships. It's meaningful work for today's world.\n\nBENEFITS include: \\- strong salary and significant equity in a fast-growing\ncompany; \\- incredible location (it's so hard to get offices in Harvard Square\nbut we did it); \\- technology budget and flexible hours; and \\- responsibility\nand ownership over large projects.\n\nSTACK: Full-stack, front-end (ES6/React/Python), back-end (Python/Django\nand/or Node/Express), data operations (Python), mobile (React\nNative/Swift/Java)\n\nWE'RE HIRING full-time engineers (see below) as well as particularly strong\npart-time engineers and interns. You should be able to hold your own and have\nprevious experience. If you're looking for an opportunity to do great and\nimpactful work, eventually lead your own team, and be an early member of an\nincredible company, get in touch with me, Brandon: bw [at] conduit.to\n\n------\nbluefoxio\nBluefox.io | DevOps Engineer | Sunnyvale, CA | Full-Time | Onsite\n\nBluefox has an opening for a Sr. DevOps Engineer to join our lively team.\nWe're a bunch of very highly driven individuals with a touch of humor\nguaranteed to give you chuckle everyday without fail.\n\nOur Solution: Without having to download an app, opt-in or login, BlueFox\nhelps businesses and brands sell more and engage with customers in any\nlocation, and in a privacy-friendly way. We have won and are winning\nprestigious awards and our customers are among the most known brands in the\nworld.\n\nKey Qualification: Create and maintain software to monitor and improve all\naspects of mission-critical software Help design highly scalable, available &\nsecure systems. Use and create tools to monitor latency and availability of\nservices. Participate in a follow-the-sun model to perform regular on-call\nduties. Analyze existing system capacity and perform system tuning. Be\nresponsible for maintaining continuous deployment and continuous integration\nsystems.\n\nOur full job description: [https://angel.co/bluefox/jobs/206671-senior-devops-\nengineer](https://angel.co/bluefox/jobs/206671-senior-devops-engineer)\n\n~~~\nmmt\nI don't expect you'll attract very many qualified senior candidates in the Bay\nArea at 95k-120k, with no equity.\n\n------\ndotzenlabs\nRallyPoint ([https://www.rallypoint.com](https://www.rallypoint.com)) |\nBoston, MA | Senior Software Engineer | Onsite | Full Time\n\nAbout the Team We are a small team tackling big problems. We’re an open source\nshop using Rails and Ember to continuously deliver our app to desktop and\nmobile devices from AWS. We use MySQL, S3, and Redis for our data and\nElasticSearch for searching. The team works together on front and back-end\nfeatures, collaboration and communication are important. Every piece of code\nis peer-reviewed and automated tests are encouraged. We move fast with several\ndeployments a day.\n\nAbout the Product We are creating an application that improves the lives of\nmilitary members and veterans by allowing them to build out their professional\nnetwork, connect with other members of the military and veterans in a safe\nenvironment, and explore career opportunities both within the military (PCS\nopportunities) and in the private sector.\n\ntechjobs@rallypoint.com [http://stackoverflow.com/jobs/130695/senior-software-\nenginee...](http://stackoverflow.com/jobs/130695/senior-software-engineer-\nrallypoint)\n\n------\nurciuoj1\nZoomi Inc | Software and Machine Learning Engineer | Malvern, PA | Full-time,\nREMOTE\n\nZoomi is an analytics company that uses proprietary artificial intelligence to\ndiscover, interpret and communicate insights from learning interventions to\noptimize individual and business performance – Analyze massive amounts of data\ncollected both natively and/or through our API\n\n– Identification of individual cognitive, behavioral and affective preferences\nand performance to understand unique learning strategies\n\n– Proprietary artificial intelligence including machine learning, deep\nlearning, data mining, and natural language processing methods\n\n– AI-informed learning analytics (descriptive, predictive, prescriptive)\nderived from data combinations between learning and business metrics allowing\ncalculation of ROI\n\n– Dashboard visualization and real-time, automated AI-based personalization of\ncontent for an individualized learning experience\n\n– AI-based optimization of social learning\n\n– Productivity, Efficiency, and Compliance Improvements\n\nYou can find job postings here:\n[http://zoomiinc.com/careers/](http://zoomiinc.com/careers/)\n\nFor the Data Scientist role, we are looking for specifically for a candidate\nwith a deep understanding of machine learning, preferably an advanced degree\nin the subject.\n\nAlthough not currently posted, we are also looking for Python and JavaScript\ndevelopers to work on our product development. Keep an eye out for these\npostings soon or feel free to reach out to learn more before they are posted.\n\n------\npea\nNStack | London, UK | Full time | Onsite | Functional Developers / Data\nScientists | [http://nstack.com](http://nstack.com)\n\nNStack lets data analysts to do sophisticated data work in the cloud without a\nteam of engineers. To accomplish this, we’re a building a platform for\ncomposable, data-driven microservices, using a mixture of Haskell and Linux\nsystems (including containers, systemd, dbus, with some typed DSLs, systems\ncode, and distributed systems thrown in.) Our aim is to use the fundamental\nlessons of programming languages and operating systems to provide an\nabstraction over infrastructure.\n\nWe’re looking for both talented programmers -- preferably with some knowledge\nof typed functional languages and *NIX systems programming -- and data\nscientists to join our team to make this a reality. It’s a challenging role,\nworking on hard problems, and offers the chance to work with a top technical\nteam and shape a company and product from an early stage.\n\nNStack is funded by top-tier investors from the West Coast, the founders are\nboth technical and ex-YC / academia, and our team is lucky enough to include\nworld-class talent for the problem we're solving. Salaries are competitive and\ninclude generous stock options. EU applicants welcome (other visas possible).\nWe’re looking at a range of positions and experience levels - whether you’ve\njust left uni or been hacking for 20 years, if you’re interested please get in\ntouch.\n\nAny questions please comment, reach out via leo@nstack.com, or\n[https://angellist.com/nstack/jobs](https://angellist.com/nstack/jobs)\n\nCheers!\n\n~~~\ndeafmacro\nHi! I had applied on angellist about a week ago. Yet to hear back about my\napplication. Should I send you a reminder note personally or resend the\napplication to you over e-mail?\n\n------\ndgrant\nGrow | Frontend Developer, React | Vancouver, BC | ONSITE,\n[https://www.poweredbygrow.com/careers/](https://www.poweredbygrow.com/careers/)\n\nGrow’s enterprise financial technology is powering a new generation of data-\ndriven banking products and services, including the first Canadian company to\nlaunch digital personal loans, instant customer on-boarding and account\nopening, advanced data analytics, and real-time compliance and identification\ntools. We are on a mission to save people time, money and stress related to\npersonal finance, using technology and data analytics.\n\nOur tech stack: our front-end stack is based around React, but we are\ncontinuously updating it to ensure we are using best-in-class technology.\nWe’re huge proponents of code reviews, continuous integration, extensive\ntesting, and frequent deployments to allow us to respond in real-time.\n\nWe are looking for Frontend Developers to join the Engineering team in\nVancouver. To find out more go to\n[https://www.poweredbygrow.com/careers/](https://www.poweredbygrow.com/careers/)\nand in your application mention you saw this post.\n\n------\nkar1181\nMuscle & Strength |\n[https://www.muscleandstrength.com](https://www.muscleandstrength.com) |\nColumbia, SC | REMOTE OK | Fulltime\n\n\\-- Senior Frontend Developer – Remote\n\nMuscle & Strength is a comprehensive online resource that provides people with\nthe tools and information they need to reach their health and fitness goals.\nOur site features thousands of workouts, guides, videos and articles in\naddition to our fast-growing sports nutrition store. We help people from all\nover the world look better, feel better and live healthier lives. We are\nlooking for a Senior Front-End Engineer to join the Muscle & Strength\nEngineering team. You will be a key leader making important technical\ndecisions that will shape the company's future. If you love building things,\nwant to create wonderful user experiences and work on a collaborative team of\ndevelopers to build outstanding products, then we’d love to talk to you!\n\nMore details at [https://weworkremotely.com/jobs/4151-senior-front-end-\ndevelo...](https://weworkremotely.com/jobs/4151-senior-front-end-developer) or\ncontact us at careers@muscleandstrength.com\n\n------\nericlucb1\nBayes Impact | San Francisco, CA | ONSITE | Full Time\n\nBayes Impact is a technology nonprofit that builds data-driven social\nservices. Our services leverage software and data science to deliver\npersonalized and scalable interventions for millions of underserved people\nacross the world. We're funded by Y Combinator, Bill & Melinda Gates\nFoundation, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.\n\nSince our launch in 2014, we’ve built the first state-level data collection\nsystem for police use of force in the United States, a nationwide digital\nplatform for reducing unemployment in France, and predictive algorithms to\nimprove community health for underserved patients. And we’re just getting\nstarted.\n\nAs a NGO, our belief is that new technologies can do more than generate\nprofit. That’s why all of our work is open source and built for the global\npublic good. Software and data science are incredible levers for change that\ncan enable a few great people to make a huge positive social impact. Join our\nsmall but mighty team in building radically better social services for\nmillions of people in need.\n\n[http://www.bayesimpact.org/careers](http://www.bayesimpact.org/careers)\n\nOr email me at Eric at bayesimpact.org\n\n------\nuntitledwiz\nTeradata Labs | Senior Software Engineer, DevOps Engineer | Boston, MA OR\nWarsaw, Poland | H1B transfer OK\n\nOur group within Teradata Labs (Teradata Center for Hadoop) is an active\ncontributor to the SQL on Hadoop open source project PrestoDB. We're looking\nfor senior software engineers to join us in bringing PrestoDB to the\nenterprise!\n\nTechnology stack:\n\n\\- Presto is written entirely in Java 8\n\n\\- Admin and infra support tools are written in Python\n\n\\- Git for source control\n\n\\- We are big believers in continuous integration so we run builds and tests\ncontinuously on Travis CI and Jenkins\n\n\\- We use Ansible, Docker and Vagrant for automated installation and\nenvironment provisioning\n\nAs a Senior Engineer you’ll be responsible for the following:\n\n\\- Building new functionality into Presto to increase enterprise adoption.\n“Thinking at Scale” and being a performance conscious engineer\n\n\\- Applying strong familiarity with algorithms and complexity analysis,\ndatabase systems, and distributed systems concepts\n\n\\- Writing unit, integration, and system tests that run in our continuous\nintegration environment\n\n\\- Collaborating with teams members to solve engineering problems\n\nThe Teradata Center for Hadoop was established through the acquisition of a\nstartup (Hadapt) and so the culture and feel of our office is still very much\nthat of a startup.\n\nE-mail me directly if you're interested :) presto -DOT- hackers -AT- gmail\n-DOT- com\n\n------\nNelnet\nExecutive Director, FUSE Coworking - Lincoln, NE - Full-Time Fuse Coworking is\na shared workspace where Lincoln’s startups, freelancers, telecommuters and\ncorporate innovation teams work and collaborate. We have a thriving work\ncommunity that contributes to our members’ productivity and happiness. Our\ncore values are collaboration, community, inclusivity and sustainability. We\nare located in the Haymarket in Lincoln, Nebraska, in the midst of over 100\nstartups within a four block area.\n\nFuse is hiring for the position of Executive Director. This person will build\non the momentum that we have created and lead Fuse further forward in the\nareas of coworking, entrepreneurial education and startup community\nleadership. The Executive Director will be responsible for managing all\noperations, culture and growth at Fuse.\n\nFor more info and to apply: [https://careers-\nnelnet.icims.com/jobs/4439/executive-directo...](https://careers-\nnelnet.icims.com/jobs/4439/executive-director%2c-fuse-\ncoworking/job?mode=view&mobile=false&width=720&height=500&bga=true&needsRedirect=false&jan1offset=-360&jun1offset=-300)\n\n------\nkubatyszko\nZestFinance -\n[https://www.zestfinance.com/careers.html](https://www.zestfinance.com/careers.html)\n| Los Angeles | Onsite | Full-Time\n\nZestFinance is a well-established FinTech startup founded in 2009 to provide\nfair and transparent credit to everyone. With our machine learning technology,\nwe've been able to disrupt credit market and continue to innovate in this\nspace.\n\nWe currently have several openings, and one that hasn't been posted yet.\n\nDevOps Engineer, minimum 3-5 years of relevant work experience.\n\nYou're an ideal candidate if:\n\n    \n    \n       * Solving difficult problems is your game\n       * Your friends see you as UNIX (Linux) guru\n       * You know how networks work\n       * You have experience with cloud solutions (AWS)\n       * You have experience with containers (Docker, Kubernetes)\n    \n    \n\nPrevious experience in financial companies highly welcome\n\nApply through General Application here:\n[https://jobs.jobvite.com/zestfinance/apply](https://jobs.jobvite.com/zestfinance/apply)\n\nFor other openings visit:\n[https://www.zestfinance.com/careers.html](https://www.zestfinance.com/careers.html)\n\n------\nhoelle\nSoulbound Studios - Lead Engine Programmer - Bellevue WA - Full Time - Onsite\n\nSoulbound Studios is seeking a full-time engineer to join the dedicated team\nworking on Chronicles of Elyria. Experience in games, C++, Unreal, and engine\ndevelopment is helpful.\n\nChronicles of Elyria is the first MMORPG where your character ages and dies,\nencouraging you to think beyond your character to their role in a larger\nstory. It embraces a character's ability to impact other characters. A closed\neconomy, finite resources, non-repeatable quests, and a fully destructible\nenvironment means the world is experienced differently for every character.\nEach time you log in there is something for you to participate in. Local,\nregional, and national conflicts are continuously unfolding, giving birth to\nrepeated opportunities for you to change the course of history.\n\nRead more about the game here:\n[https://chroniclesofelyria.com/](https://chroniclesofelyria.com/)\n\nMore about the job opening here:\n[http://soulboundstudios.com/jobs/Lead_Client_Programmer.aspx](http://soulboundstudios.com/jobs/Lead_Client_Programmer.aspx)\n\nEmail: steve@soulboundstudios.com\n\n------\nLeviter\nBVA-Auctions | Engineers | Amsterdam (Netherlands) | Onsite/Remote |\n[https://www.bva-auctions.com](https://www.bva-auctions.com)\n\nWorking in an office in the city center of Amsterdam for a big auction house\nin Europe (present in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Austria).\n\nCurrently, we serve around 30 million visitors per month and 200 million page\nviews.\n\nAlways changing and improving the platform (from a classic all-in-one\napplication, towards a real platform exposing an API and a new front-end\nwritten in AngularJS). There is no hierarchy within our team and do everything\nourselves (also recruitment).\n\nKeywords: REST, AngularJS, Java, Spring, Hibernate.\n\nCurrent job openings can be found on our techblog, but for your convenience...\nhere are some direct links:\n\n\\- AngularJS front-end developer ([http://techblog.bva-\nauctions.com/agile/vacancy-front-end-dev...](http://techblog.bva-\nauctions.com/agile/vacancy-front-end-developer/))\n\n\\- Java developer ([http://techblog.bva-auctions.com/bva-auctions/vacancy-\njava-d...](http://techblog.bva-auctions.com/bva-auctions/vacancy-java-\ndeveloper-amsterdam/))\n\n~~~\nLeviter\nWe prefer people to work onsite, as that improves communication. If people\nneed to work a day from home (or another location), that is not an issue.\n\n------\nclay_to_n\nStasis Labs | [https://www.stasislabs.com](https://www.stasislabs.com) |\nOnsite Bangalore, India or Los Angeles, USA\n\nUp to 75% of injuries and deaths in hospitals happen to patients who lack\ncontinuous monitoring technology. Existing solutions are expensive and\ncomplex.\n\nStasis has built a cloud-connected vital signs monitoring system that rescues\nthose patients. We are expanding access to a fundamental tool of modern\nmedicine to the 11 million under-monitored beds around the world.\n\nWe're a small team (11 total), with engineering split across a Los Angeles\noffice, a Bangalore office, and remote team members. For these next few hires,\nwe're looking to expand the Bangalore office so that we can get more engineers\nclose to our first customers.\n\nIn engineering, we're hiring the following roles:\n\n\\- Senior Android Developer (Java, Bangalore)\n\n\\- Senior Firmware Engineer (C++, Bangalore)\n\n\\- Senior Backend Web Developer (node.js, PostgreSQL, optionally AWS dev-ops\nskills, Bangalore)\n\n\\- Quality Assurance Engineer (help us build QA processes across our full\nstack, Bangalore or Los Angeles)\n\nOur stack is pretty big, and uses HTTP as well as Bluetooth 4 (formerly BLE).\nWe're looking for people excited to learn new tech, and comfortable writing\ncode that is testable and reliable (TDD + CI experience in any of these roles\nis a plus).\n\nIf you're interested, full job descriptions and contact info for each role are\nhere: [http://stasislabs.com/careers](http://stasislabs.com/careers)\n\n------\njwoah12\nBAMTech (formerly MLB Advanced Media) | Software Engineer | NYC | ONSITE\n\nBAMTech is the technology and digital media company spun out of Major League\nBaseball, providing end-to-end content delivery solutions over web, mobile,\nand connected devices. In addition to baseball, our platform powers video and\ncontent for partners including HBO, PGA, WWE, NHL, and more. We operate at the\ncutting edge of digital media at a time when more people than ever are\nchoosing to consume their media over the internet.\n\nThe Content Delivery Engineering (CDE) team builds the systems at BAMTech that\nenable client applications for all of our partner companies to consume the\ncontent and content metadata that power them. From team lineups and editorial\narticles on MLB.com to video metadata on the HBO Now mobile app to NHL team\nwebpages, CDE’s services and applications enable us to make content available\nto consumers.\n\nAs a CDE Software Engineer, you'll be part of a collaborative group of\ndevelopers who are serious about delivering quality software. You'll also be\nencouraged to spend some of your time each sprint on professional development:\ntake an online course, experiment with a new technology, or work on an\ninternal side project.\n\nThe interview process consists of a 45-minute online/phone interview followed\nby a 4-hour onsite interview consisting of 4-5 technical sessions with team\nmembers.\n\nIf interested, please reach out to me (details in profile), or apply directly\nto the position:\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/majorleaguebaseballadvancedmedi...](https://boards.greenhouse.io/majorleaguebaseballadvancedmedia/jobs/477105#.WGqbDpLLQVI)\n\n------\nppcsf\nGetSwift | Melbourne, Australia | ONSITE | FULLTIME\n\nGetSwift is a logistics software company that's just listed on the ASX. We're\nlooking to grow our small team to keep up with our huge growth and\ninternational expansion.\n\nAs an early-stage employee, you'll have a big impact on the architecture of\nour product, which includes real-time vehicle routing & dispatching, data\nanalytics/ modelling, and complex SPAs. Our stack is primarily .NET, Angular,\nReact/Redux, AWS, but we're moving toward an event-driven microservices\narchitecture, using Kafka/Kubernetes/Haskell/React.\n\nWe're hiring at all levels of the stack, but we'd be particularly interested\nin full-stack engineers. Bonus points for:\n\n• The ability to code in a variety of languages, particularly of the\nfunctional flavour\n\n• Data science skills (R/ Pandas etc, solid stats background)\n\n• Devops, containers, Kubernetes, aws\n\n• Familiarity with any parts of our stack\n\nWe are also hiring UX designers to revamp the UX of our rather complex\nproduct.\n\nFor engineers, our interview process consists of a short code test (if you\ndon't have any publicly accessible code for us to look at), and a technical\ninterview in our Collins St office, 1-2 hours. After that, we'll be in touch\nwithin about a week.\n\nFor UX designers, if we're happy with your portfolio, we'll give you some paid\nwork to see if we're a mutual fit.\n\nEmail me (joash at getswift dot co), prefixing the subject with \"HN:\". Include\nanything you think will show off your skills!\n\n------\nnovember84\nPosition:Designer OR Back-End Engineers | Alar Software | Chicago, IL | Full-\ntime, ONSITE | Salary range: $80,000.00 - $160,000.00 + options based on\nexperience\n\nPlease email resumes to hiring@alar.net\n\nWe’re aiming to aggregate logistics data to enable customers to operate more\nefficiently and connect them with other logistics companies. We believe we’re\non to something big, but to get there we’re working through end-to-end complex\nproblems in a complex and old-fashioned domain. We’re taking an unconventional\napproach (event sourcing with a twist and a touch of farmville) and dealing\nwith big data to boot.\n\nDESIGNER POSITION\n\nLogistics software is notorious for overloading users with information, which\nrequires a masters in spaghetti science to understand. Complexity in\nenterprise software is unavoidable, but we believe the end user shouldn’t have\nto jump through hoops to manage it. This may seem simple, but logistics is\nfilled with antiquated processes and users.\n\nBACK-END POSITION\n\nThis isn’t a run of the mill MVC app and requires solving performance and\nscalability problems in distributed systems using combined data from many\nsources.\n\nBack-end stack: GCP, Kafka, Scala, Kubernetes, Jenkins, NGINX, Docker with a\nbit of postgres, some simple mongo for non-critical functions.\n\n------\nzimzalabim\nArio | Lead Electrical Engineer, Software & Data Engineer | San Francisco,\nSeattle | [http://arioliving.com](http://arioliving.com)\n\nWe’re seeking a lead electrical engineer and a data engineer who will also\nlead software development to join a venture-backed startup disrupting the $80\nbillion/year lighting industry. Ario has developed a smart lighting system\nthat automatically adjusts light direction, color, and intensity throughout\nthe day to improve sleep and health. If you are a lover of connected devices\nand want to join a fun team that likes hotels (we're going B2B), stop reading,\nand let’s chat.\n\nWe're looking for candidates who have:\n\n\\- Familiarity with IoT product development (WiFi, Sub-GHz, BLE)\n\n\\- Project management and team leadership experience, or is interested in\ndeveloping these skills\n\nYou'll be joining a passionate team consisting of Harvard and Stanford alums\nwith 15+ years’ experience in technology product management and 40+ years’\nexperience building health and lighting products, who care deeply about\ndelivering the best lighting technology can offer.\n\nEE: [https://angel.co/ario/jobs/193486-electrical-engineer-\nembedd...](https://angel.co/ario/jobs/193486-electrical-engineer-embedd..).\n\nSoftware & Data Engineer: [https://angel.co/ario/jobs/164445-software-lead-\nand-data-eng...](https://angel.co/ario/jobs/164445-software-lead-and-data-\neng..).\n\nInterested? Reach out to us directly at jobs@arioliving.com\n\n------\nsnaza\nCJ Affiliate by Conversant |\n[https://engineering.cj.com](https://engineering.cj.com) |\n[https://github.com/cjdev](https://github.com/cjdev) | Full Stack | Full-Time\n| Westlake Village (Los Angeles), CA | Onsite\n\nCJ Affiliate is the market leader in affiliate marketing. We're looking for\nsenior and associate software engineers with Haskell, JavaScript, and Scala or\nJava experience.\n\n* We value TDD, pair programming, automation, and agile practices\n\n* Our codebase is ready to be deployed at any time\n\n* Functional programming: Scala, Haskell, Clojure, JavaScript, etc. are big here.\n\n* We believe that sustainable development of great products can only be accomplished by continually refining and applying the craft of writing clean code, all in the context of small co-located, product-focused teams.\n\nApply Online:\n[https://engineering.cj.com/join](https://engineering.cj.com/join) or on\nLinkedIn:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/search?f_C=5679&f_L=us:0&f_F=e...](https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/search?f_C=5679&f_L=us:0&f_F=eng)\n\n------\nQuietStream2017\nInvestor Management Services, LLC.-Charlotte, North Carolina-Onsite IMS\nbelieves the best technology alone isn’t enough. That’s why everything we\nbuild and deliver begins with something else — the best people. Visit IMS\ncareers page to begin the journey with us at\n[https://www.investormanagementservices.com](https://www.investormanagementservices.com)\n\nWhy we would want You to join the team?\n\n•You have at least 1+ year of experience in a data engineering, development,\nor a similar position. •You understand best practices with SQL. You can\nthoughtfully design a database to enable perform queries and use advanced\nfeatures to make those queries fast and clean. •You have experience with Ruby\non Rails and JavaScript, understand the strengths and weaknesses of them, and\nare curious to explore more. •You have some experience or a strong interest in\ncontinual learning and are always continuing to strive for personal\ndevelopment.\n\nWhy You would want to join us?\n\n•We’re dedicated to finding the right fit with our people. We pick people and\nwe are dedicated to the development of those people. We are willing to boosts\nyour strengths, as long as you are looking to do that too. •Our team works on\nsolving problems. We like to help other teams turn their needs into great\ntechnology, and we like developers to tackle the challenges. •We move fast,\nwith many releases and an interactive approach to developing new features and\nmeasuring their success by client feedback. •We have a gym in the office;\ncater lunch to everyone, Monday through Friday; Also have 4 rotational beer\nkegs to celebrate our successes! •We offer very competitive salaries,\nexcellent benefits (and perks), and a generous PTO plan\n\n------\ntopstriker515\nMightySignal | Full Stack Engineer | San Francisco, CA |\n[https://mightysignal.com](https://mightysignal.com), ONSITE\n\nMightySignal | Frontend Engineer | San Francisco, CA |\n[https://mightysignal.com](https://mightysignal.com), ONSITE\n\nMightySignal unearths and analyzes hard to find data in the world of mobile,\nand we're looking for engineers to join our growing team. Backend engineers\nhere are free to explore daily and work on a variety of problems including\nreverse engineering, data discovery and analysis, and more. Frontend engineers\nown the whole process of designing and building the interfaces for our\ncustomers to absorb and make sense of our data. We're a small team and each\nperson has a major role in guiding the future of our infrastructure and\ncompany. We're hoping to find people who share in our adventurous spirit.\n\nFor a small taste of what we do, check out our free iOS and Android SDK\nreports: [https://mightysignal.com/top-ios-sdks](https://mightysignal.com/top-\nios-sdks)\n\nIf you're interested, please reach out to osman at mightysignal dot com\n\n------\nkmflutey\nNot my company, but my country are hiring.\n\nNew Zealand, specifically our beautiful capital Wellington, are looking to\nattract global tech talent.\n\nIn fact they're bringing (fully paid) 100 successful applicants across from\nanywhere in the world and arranging interviews etc.\n\nCheck it out here [http://www.wellingtonnz.com/work/looksee-\nregistration/](http://www.wellingtonnz.com/work/looksee-registration/)\n\n~~~\nnojvek\n100 is a pretty small amount no?\n\nAlso NZ isn't known to pay top salaries is it?\n\n~~~\nkmflutey\nI guess everything in perspective.\n\nWe're a pretty small country (approx 4.5mil), so bringing 100 people over to\nNZ would be like California committing to bring 800+ over.\n\nAnd in terms of salaries, again perspective. A good dev will command a six\nfigure salary easy, and a nice house in Wellington costs around $600,000. When\nyou take cost of living into account, you'd be doing alright.\n\nBut hey, Middle Earth isn't for everyone :)\n\n------\nghc\nSentenai | Boston | FULLTIME | ONSITE\n\nContact us at jobs@sentenai.com\n\nSentenai automates the process of ingesting and organizing sensor data so that\ndata science teams and automation engineers can search for historical patterns\nand behaviors without the need for manual preparation or integration projects.\nWe enable data scientists to explore and operationalize their data in real-\ntime applications in the languages and toolkits they already use. Our\ncustomers are solving bleeding edge industrial IoT problems in complex and\nlarge-scale environments.\n\n _Customer-facing Data Scientist_\n\nWe're looking for a data scientist to support our customers by designing\nmachine learning solutions that address customer needs in various complex\nindustrial environments.\n\nRequirements:\n\n\\- At least 3 years of experience with the SciPy stack Experience with time-\nseries predictions\n\n\\- Desire to work on a variety of projects with customers Strong written\ncommunications skills\n\n _Senior Haskell Engineer_\n\nWe're looking for a senior Haskell engineer who is passionate about\ndistributed systems and machine learning to join our Haskell engineering team\nfocused on creating the next generation of sensor data time-series database\nfor IoT applications.\n\nRequirements:\n\n\\- Deep familiarity with Haskell\n\n\\- Industry experience in functional programming\n\nSound interesting? Contact us at jobs@sentenai.com\n\n------\njoshatidealspot\nIdealSpot | Austin, TX | Software Engineer | ONSITE | Full-time (contract) or\nINTERNS | [https://www.idealspot.com/](https://www.idealspot.com/)\n\nIdealSpot is a commercial real estate SAAS platform dedicated to helping brick\nand mortar retailers find the best locations to open new stores. We have a\nstrong focus on innovating in this space by blending conventional demographic\ndata with bleeding-edge online behavior data and machine learning.\n\nOur tech stack spans Leaflet.js and Vue.js for our browser-based mapping\napplication to Ruby on Rails for account management to Python for data\nanalysis and Docker/Kubernetes for cluster management. We aim to hire\ngeneralists who can contribute in many ways but do have a few important gaps\nto fill:\n\n\\- Ruby on Rails: Maintaining, refactoring, and/or replacing our legacy code.\nThis may not be full time work so it would be best if you could also help\nelsewhere. An eye for API design and security required.\n\n\\- Docker/Kubernetes: There are a number of potential projects which aim to\nimprove our cluster configuration. AWS experience and interest in distributed\nsystem desired.\n\n\\- Python: We have an internal service that will be taking on an external role\nand new responsibilities in the coming months and could use help accelerating\nthe timeline. Flask, SQLAlchemy, and Postgresql experience required and\nNumpy/Pandas, Celery recommended.\n\nOur primary need is RoR and we are only considering contract positions at the\nmoment but would also be happy to talk with talented individuals seeking\ninterships. If any of this sounds like a fit please email your resume to josh\nat idealspot dot com.\n\n------\ngabriellep\nGravity Brands, Marketing Startup | Downtown Los Angeles | Software\nEngineers(Python/Django stack), Director of Engineering, Web Developers, and\nUX/UI | 10 openings on tech Full-time, on-site in DTLA | Phone screen, ~1.5\nhour on-site, offer.\n\nWe are a self-funded marketing startup, www.gravitybrands.com, that has our\nFlagship product, www.fragrantjewels.com, producing almost 60 million in\nrevenue to date after 2.5 years. We are looking to expand our tech team with\nambition this year to build an app, a custom analytics platform, a robust\ncustomer loyalty program, customized consumer experience driven by sales,\ngamification layer, and work on so many more projects in our pipeline...(aka\nyou wouldn't touch landing pages!).\n\nWe offer highly competitive pay, wear what you want, beer on tap, ping pong,\nand many more perks.\n\nCheck out our openings: [https://fragrant-\njewels.workable.com/](https://fragrant-jewels.workable.com/) then ping me\ndirectly at gabrielle(at)gravitybrands.com with HackerNews in the subject\nline. I have a 100% response rate to all applicants that I hold near and dear\nto my heart if you do decide to apply directly.\n\nHappy hacking!\n\n------\njesseyjean\nDenver / Remote / Interns / Co-Ops/ Visa Sponsor Interested in DSRC (Dedicated\nShort Range Commutations) in Connected Vehicles? V2X Technology? We are a\nsmall, start up team situated within a large corporation, primed to deliver\nthe next generation intelligent transportation system.\n\nLooking for Architects, Engineers, Software: security OR analytics OR machine\nlearning.\n\nCassandra, Scala, Hadoop, Postgres, Python, Go, NodeJS, Spark\n\njesseyjean @ gmail [dot] com\n\n------\nanohkha\nZipRecruiter - [https://ziprecruiter.com](https://ziprecruiter.com) \\- Santa\nMonica (LA area) - REMOTE OK for some positions\n\nOur goal is to create the best online services for filling and finding jobs.\nWe bootstrapped for the first four years, growing to 500+ employees. August\n2014, we raised $63M led by Institutional Venture Partners.\n\nWe have a number of open positions:\n\n    \n    \n      - Software Engineer (Santa Monica)\n      - Software Engineer (primarily Python) (Santa Monica)\n      - Software Engineer (primarily Perl) (Santa Monica or remote)\n      - Data Engineer ETL (Santa Monica)\n      - DevOps Engineer (Santa Monica)\n      - Linux Systems Administrator (Santa Monica)\n    \n\nWe're growing rapidly and have a large customer base (primarily small and\nmedium sized businesses). We have interesting problems to solve in the areas\nof search, yield management, analytics, scalability and new product\ndevelopment. If you'd like to learn more, please visit\n[https://www.ziprecruiter.com/hiring/technology](https://www.ziprecruiter.com/hiring/technology)\nor email us at techjobs@ziprecruiter.com\n\n~~~\nsprocket\nFor the remote position, are you able to hire candidates outside of the US?\nI've been developing in Perl for 20+ years and am located in Canada, but would\nbe unable to relocate to the Santa Monica location.\n\n------\nkvarela\nCoffee Meets Bagel | iOS Engineer, Android Engineer | San Francisco | Full-\nTime | ONSITE\n[https://coffeemeetsbagel.com/jobs/](https://coffeemeetsbagel.com/jobs/)\n\nHey I’m Karim, CTO at Coffee Meets Bagel. I’m looking to hire a couple mobile\nengineers to work on our best in class dating app.\n\nWe currently have 2 engineers each on Android and iOS and are growing them.\n\nCoffee Meets Bagel is a dating app that focuses on quality over quantity.\nWe're growing fast and looking for great engineers to help build new features\nand scale out our platform globally.\n\nWe have a super fun office near Union Square right off the BART line and you'd\nget to work with a bunch of very smart, driven, passionate, and fun people all\ndedicated to helping our users find love!\n\nAndroid:\n[https://jobs.lever.co/coffeemeetsbagel/660f4125-2749-4f12-84...](https://jobs.lever.co/coffeemeetsbagel/660f4125-2749-4f12-84e6-4a0e2a1194dc)\n\niOS:\n[https://jobs.lever.co/coffeemeetsbagel/4f404064-3c3e-4acf-a8...](https://jobs.lever.co/coffeemeetsbagel/4f404064-3c3e-4acf-a885-da8d60c8615b)\n\n~~~\nryangittins\nHey, I really enjoyed your pitch on Shark Tank! I'm glad to see your company\nis doing well.\n\n------\nAJDFraser\nNested.com | Data Engineer | London | ONSITE\n[https://nested.com/](https://nested.com/)\n\nData is at the heart of everything Nested does - from our customer facing\nautomatic valuation model to the tools our team uses internally. We’re looking\nfor someone to help us develop the foundations we already have into world-\nclass data infrastructure capable of supporting production quality product\nfeatures. We’re also looking for someone who can play a central role in our\nresearch and development programme to improve our data models on an ongoing\nbasis.\n\nWe believe in fewer, better people and you will join our small, extremely\ntalented London based team, backed by Europe's leading investors. We have\nexperience of founding successful start-ups like GoCardless and Songkick and\nbackgrounds from McKinsey and the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.\n\nWe would love to hear from you if you’re interested! Please send your CV and a\nlink to anything else you think might be relevant to alistair@nested.com.\n\nMore info at\n[https://nested.workable.com/jobs/395002](https://nested.workable.com/jobs/395002)\n\n------\nlarih\nWolt | Front-end Engineer, iOS Engineer, Android Engineer | Amsterdam |\nONSITE, FULLTIME, [https://wolt.com](https://wolt.com)\n\nWolt is a technology company building the one app for food. Be it discovering\nor getting great meals – takeaway, home delivery or to the table – Wolt takes\ncare of it for you. Pick a restaurant, build your order, choose delivery,\ntakeaway or eat in and hit send. Magic ensues. We’re a Series A startup well\nbacked by EQT Ventures (lead by Kees Koolen - served as CEO of Booking.com),\nSkype founder Niklas Zennström, Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen, and Nokia’s\nChairman Risto Siilasmaa.\n\nWe have built native consumer apps for iOS and Android. In addition we've\nbuilt our own courier app with React native. For web apps we use mainly React,\nRedux and Node.js. You can pick your own tools and are free to explore new\ntechnologies.\n\nWe offer a competitive salary and ESO plan.\n\nPlease apply through our Lever website.\n\nFront-end Engineer:\n[https://jobs.lever.co/wolt/0aeea7ef-c4bb-4d2a-9af0-19d395101...](https://jobs.lever.co/wolt/0aeea7ef-c4bb-4d2a-9af0-19d395101819?lever-\nvia=JFwPPikhGl)\n\niOS Engineer:\n[https://jobs.lever.co/wolt/ba8e113b-0df3-4217-80b6-c8f4a47ce...](https://jobs.lever.co/wolt/ba8e113b-0df3-4217-80b6-c8f4a47ce6ce?lever-\nvia=JFwPPikhGl)\n\nAndroid Engineer:\n[https://jobs.lever.co/wolt/4e3bb37f-b6d4-4098-912f-c59a0f554...](https://jobs.lever.co/wolt/4e3bb37f-b6d4-4098-912f-c59a0f5549e9?lever-\nvia=JFwPPikhGl)\n\n------\nphilippb\nKeepsafe | Software Engineers | San Francisco (South Park)\n\nKeepsafe is redefining consumer privacy and security. Join a cash flow\npositive startup in a product expansion stage and a small team of highly\ntalented people.\n\nOpen positions:\n\n\\- Android Engineer\n([https://jobs.lever.co/keepsafe/d561f35a-2435-466a-85d7-f346f...](https://jobs.lever.co/keepsafe/d561f35a-2435-466a-85d7-f346fdce5b06))\n\n\\- Senior iOS Engineer ([https://jobs.lever.co/keepsafe/484258ca-\ncea9-4ec6-8cff-74db0...](https://jobs.lever.co/keepsafe/484258ca-\ncea9-4ec6-8cff-74db0cce8b6e))\n\n\\- Android Kotlin Engineer\n([https://jobs.lever.co/keepsafe/6414e440-ed8e-4c1e-a156-6e4e1...](https://jobs.lever.co/keepsafe/6414e440-ed8e-4c1e-a156-6e4e1b716577))\n\n\\- Senior Backend Engineer\n([https://jobs.lever.co/keepsafe/9b12b55a-5480-49ed-92c8-9d8c9...](https://jobs.lever.co/keepsafe/9b12b55a-5480-49ed-92c8-9d8c969c4f31))\n\nOther benefits:\n\n\\- Healthcare, dental, vision, 401k\n\n\\- Free daily lunch\n\n\\- Able to work in Berlin for periods of time in Keepsafe Europes HQ\n\n\\- Flexible work days to accommodate skiing deep powder during the week.\n\n------\nsylvainkalache\nHolberton School | San Francisco | Marketing and Community | ONSITE - Full-\ntime\n\n=== Who We Are === A 2-year alternative to college training Full Stack\nSoftware Engineers using a peer-learning and project-based approach: no formal\nteachers, no lectures, students learn by practicing and collaborating with\npeers.\n\nWe are a team of 6, moving fast and positively impacting people's life.\n\n=== Who We Are Looking For === We are looking for a someone to help us on our\nMarketing and Community efforts.\n\nHolberton is built around our community: students, alumni, staff and mentors\n(~200 of them). We are building the school as a family and everybody is\ncontributing to it. Our mentors play an important role in our school they are:\n-Guiding students to enter the Tech industry -Guiding the school to make sure\nthe curriculum is up to date\n\nThe biggest part of job would be to connect and manage this community of\nmentors, organize meetups/office hours/workshops...\n\nThe second part of the job would be to connect with potential candidates.\nGoing to High school and college fair, organizing/being present at\nhackathons...\n\nThe interview process is short and is assessing passion and ability to execute\nand take initiative.\n\n=== Interested? === Shoot an email to sylvain@holbertonschool.com\n\n~~~\ngingerbread-man\nDuplicate\n\n------\nmattbooy\nPhantom | [http://phantom.land](http://phantom.land) | London | Developers\n(Python/JavaScript/Hybrid) | Full-Time | ONSITE Phantom is a forward thinking\ndigital creative agency based in Old Street, London. We are currently on the\nhunt for Python developers of all levels, especially those with a more\ncreative side. We will also consider any exceptional front end devs as well!\n\nWe don't put our developers in a box, but expect them to be involved from\nstrategy to delivery, working collaboratively with the entire team to find\nunique solutions to some amazing briefs. To help facilitate this we have our\nown bar in the office (with no locks on the fridge!) and the cupboards are\nalways stocked with snacks and treats. Most importantly we have an awesome\ndevelopment and creative team in place and are looking for more like-minded\npeople who will keep pushing the agency forward.\n\nA small sample of the technologies, languages and frameworks we use include\nAngularJS, Three.js, Django, Python and Google App Engine. Some recent\nprojects we've worked on include a Google Cardboard VR Experience for Petra\n([http://phantom.land/work/petra/](http://phantom.land/work/petra/)) and an\ninteractive piece for the TATE Modern featuring music by Sigur Rós\n([http://phantom.land/work/states-of-matter/](http://phantom.land/work/states-\nof-matter/)).\n\nPlease check out our site ([http://phantom.land](http://phantom.land)) for\nmore info. Alternatively send matt@phntms.com an email directly with your CV\nand any relevant information.\n\n------\ngitonup\nIndeed | Senior Developer IC | Seattle, WA | ONSITE | Fulltime |\nwww.indeed.jobs\n\nWork for the world’s #1 job site.\n\n[https://www.indeed.jobs/career/JobDetail/Senior-Software-\nEng...](https://www.indeed.jobs/career/JobDetail/Senior-Software-\nEngineer/3654)\n\nOur Seattle office has exploded in size in the past couple of years and we\nneed developers with strong CS backgrounds. Web focus is a plus. We run an MVC\nwebapp-backed-by-microservices platform, with a large Hadoop slow-cycle\nprocessing backend and more and more technical challenges to work with daily\nat a global scale with millions of users.\n\nWe have a gorgeous office space downtown near Pioneer Square by the water. All\nof our openings for this office can be found at:\n[https://www.indeed.jobs/career/JobListSeattle](https://www.indeed.jobs/career/JobListSeattle)\n\nWe're looking for someone who Has a passion for run-time performance Thrives\non simplifying complex information Loves to learn and develop new skills\ncontinuously Has a strong sense of ownership in every application they build\nRequirements BS in Computer Science or related area, or relevant work\nexperience Minimum 6 years experience in software development with at least 2\nyears in Java programming Deep background in information retrieval (IR),\nknowledge representation or computational linguistics Significant experience\nwith large scale, high performance systems. Experience building solutions for\nhigh traffic web sites a plus\n\nYou can drop our Seattle recruiter a direct line by b64decoding\namdhYnJpZWwtY2UraG5AaW5kZWVkLmNvbQ==\n\n~~~\ntaesis\nJust pointing out that that's quite an amusing way to defeat spam bots, though\nI'd imagine some of the automated job scrapers will also miss your address :)\n\n------\ncardine\nCortx | Junior Software Engineer (Artificial Intelligence Focus) | Baltimore,\nMaryland | Full Time, Onsite | [http://cortx.com](http://cortx.com)\n\nCortx is a small, profitable, natural language processing startup looking to\nhire a software engineer. You would be developing natural language processing\nsoftware that is able to intelligently read, understand, write, and proofread\ntext. Some applications of this technology include:\n\n\\- A newspaper comprised entirely of robot authors\n\n\\- A marketing consultant that uses AI to provide actionable advice to clients\n\n\\- A machine proofreader that automatically corrects bad grammar\n\nNo artificial intelligence or machine learning experience is required - we\ncare far more about your software engineering abilities than any prior machine\nlearning experience. We will provide you with specific AI/ML training when you\nstart.\n\nOur interview process involves a quick coding screen, a more intensive Skype\ninterview, and a final onsite interview.\n\nYou can see more info here\n[http://cortx.com/careers/](http://cortx.com/careers/) or you can contact us\nat jobsatcortxdotcom - make sure to mention that you found us on HN!\n\n------\nbkolics\nPing Identity | Software Engineer in Test | Austin, TX | Onsite, full-time\n[https://pingidentity.com](https://pingidentity.com)\n\nPing Identity is creating a new generation Identity-as-a-Service solution. The\nAustin team (formerly known as UnboundID) is focused on a scalable and high\nperforming backend service that exposes APIs for accessing data,\nauthentication, authorization, data governance services leveraging standards\nlike LDAP, SCIM, OpenID Connect, OAuth2, XACML.\n\nEngineers in the Quality Assurance team get exposed to a wide range of\ntechnologies, programming languages and tools. This role requires familiarity\nprimarily with Java for both creating automated tests as well as to be able to\nparticipate in code reviews for the entire engineering team.\n\nApply here (our idiotic career page unfortunately does not have a direct\nlink):\n[https://www.pingidentity.com/content/pic/en/about/careers/li...](https://www.pingidentity.com/content/pic/en/about/careers/listings.html)\n(look for the Software Engineer in Test position in Austin, TX)\n\n------\nchuckouellet\nSnipcart | Québec City | Remote or on-site | Full-time\n\nSnipcart is a developer-first, HTML/JS shopping cart platform with a set of\nAPIs & webhooks to enable e-commerce on any site.\n\nWe are looking for a full stack developer with experience in ASP.NET Web API,\nASP.NET MVC, C#, JavaScript, Backbone.\n\nDetails: [https://snipcart.com/jobs/full-stack-\ndeveloper](https://snipcart.com/jobs/full-stack-developer)\n\n------\noshoma\nDIVE Networks | Senior Software Engineer | Toronto, ON, CA | ONSITE preferred,\nbut REMOTE is an option for senior candidates | Full-time\n\nDIVE is building the world's best software-driven news network. Our product\nreplaces mass market comercial news products like CNN on TV screens within\nbusiness environments. Unlike old school TV news, DIVE is algorithmically\ncurated, always fresh, and highly relevant (personalized) to each customer's\nneeds. Customers publish their own news too.\n\nOur platform is Clojure, ClojureScript, React, Python, Django, Postgres and\nUbuntu on AWS. Right now we’re focused on building out our news content\nportfolio (data ingest and web UI), adding essential platform features, and\nmaking the whole thing scale with TV-like reliability.\n\nOur team is small and growing. We need your help both to build DIVE and define\nits evolution.\n\nWe are hiring a senior software engineer. This is a full-time position at our\nToronto location. We need someone who has done big things before. There are\njunior roles at DIVE but this is not one of them.\n\nDetails here: [https://www.dive-networks.com/jobs/](https://www.dive-\nnetworks.com/jobs/)\n\n~~~\ntictactoey\nHey,\n\nHow does one apply for junior level job. It seems only senior role is\navailable in the career page.\n\n------\nmorenoh149\nCapsule Pharmacy | New York City, NY NYC | fulltime\n\n[http://capsulecares.com](http://capsulecares.com)\n\nCapsule is a healthcare technology company on a mission to elevate and\nsimplify the consumer pharmacy experience. We believe in improving health\noutcomes through innovative design, mobile technology, logistics, and\npredictive analytics.\n\nWe are seeking a Software Engineer with a generalist/fullstack orientation to\njoin our development team in New York City.\n\nAt Capsule you will:\n\n\\- Work at all levels of our stack. Key technologies: React, Swift,\nDjango/Python, Postgres, Go, Node\n\n\\- Influence architecture, tooling, process, and culture at a small but\ngrowing engineering shop\n\n\\- Contribute daily to the product dialogue\n\n\\- Build things that meaningfully improve peoples’ wellbeing\n\nYou should have:\n\n\\- Breadth in many different skill areas (Maybe you’ve written APIs and some\nfront-ends and done some light devops and know a bit of Photoshop and have\ncoded in a functional language … the more the merrier)\n\n\\- Depth in one area that you can really school us on (Perhaps you’ve written\na pubsub framework as a sideproject?)\n\n\\- Experience writing code as part of a (preferably large) team\n\n[https://jobs.lever.co/capsulecares](https://jobs.lever.co/capsulecares)\n\n~~~\ntictactoey\nany junior level/new grad roles available?\n\n~~~\nmorenoh149\nno not atm sorry. try the nyctech or nycdevs slack channels ;)\n\n------\nGxorgxo\nTravelPerk | Senior Frontend Developer | Barcelona | ONSITE travelperk.com We\nare looking for a talented Senior Front-end Developer with a passion to\ndevelop a performant single-page web application with great user experience.\nYou will work as a part of the team that builds a next-generation application\nfor business travel. This position involves: Building and maintaining\nreusable, testable UI components. Writing a readable, well-documented code.\nWorking closely with our product team to build new features. Working in an\nAgile environment. Being able to mentor/coach/train other colleagues as a\nsubject matter expert. What do we offer? Competitive compensation including\nbase salary, bonus and equity in the company. 24 vacation days per year and\nflexible working hours. This position requires full-time, in-house work in\nBarcelona, Spain. We can help with relocation from anywhere in the world.\nEnglish is the official language at the office. No prior knowledge of Spanish\nis required. The link to apply is [http://bit.ly/front-eng-\ntk](http://bit.ly/front-eng-tk)\n\n------\nemirozer\nMendix | Scala Developer, Software Engineer - Infrastructure, Test Engineer -\nInfrastructure, Cordova/Phonegap Developer | Rotterdam, The Netherlands |\nONSITE, VISA, FULL-TIME | [https://www.mendix.com](https://www.mendix.com)\n\nAt Mendix we want software to be delivered faster, cheaper and better so\ncompanies can innovate with IT and we're building the platform to do that. Our\nsweet spot is business focussed web apps. We compete with force.com and offer\ncloud based frictionless visual programming & deployment. We are HQ'ed in\nBoston but R&D is in the Netherlands. Company is about 250 people and we\nreceived $40M of VC funding.\n\nSo as far as I can give information about the above positions, I can talk\nabout my team(Which is the infra). I'm a part of the 10 person strong Cloud\nteam which works with AWS, Golang, Java, Python, Postgres, Cloud Foundry. We\nbuild an enterprise grade hosting platform which runs thousands of apps with\nmany more to come. We're looking for Testers as well as Junior and Senior\nDevelopers with an interest or background in Systems. Besides that we have\nmany other open positions in R&D, some i listed at the title, other from\nSoftware Development Managers, Product Managers\n[https://www.mendix.com/company/join-our-\nteam/](https://www.mendix.com/company/join-our-team/) We typically have 1\nphone screen, 1 interview, a take home assignment + on-site review and a meet\nthe team and management session. We offer relocation and have the first\ninterview via Skype if you are not based in NL. You can email me at emir.ozer\nat company domain, I'll forward you to the right people if you are not\napplying to a cloud related position.\n\n~~~\njoined\nAre you also considering part-time collaborations?\n\n------\njnaulty\nJob Description\n\nWe are looking for a devops engineer at one of our engineering locations:\nMountain View (California, US), Raleigh (North Carolina, US), Antwerp\n(Belgium), Bratislava (Slovakia).\n\nAs part of the infra team, you work in coordination with the main office in\nCalifornia to :\n\n\\- maintain the build system of the Nuage Virtualized Services platform,\nensuring quality and consistency of the builds generated by our continuous\nintegration system\n\n\\- manage source code repositories and continuous integration overlook the\ntest infrastructure, where we simulate most of the major cloud environments\n(VMware, KVM, Openstack, Cloudstack, Openshift, Kubernetes)\n\n\\- maintain and develop the core infrastructure of Nuage engineering,\nprovision and monitor servers, develop integration scripts written in Python\nand Bash, and keep the whole environment secure\n\n\\- work with engineering leads to develop testing platforms and methodologies\nin new areas of the Nuage platform\n\nSkills & Requirements\n\n\\- good knowledge of systems administration and the Linux platform\n\n\\- proficiency at Git and the Github pull request model\n\n\\- experience in building software and continuous integration\n\n\\- knowledge of network protocols, virtualization and virtual - packet\nswitching is a plus\n\n\\- good coding skills: Python, bash\n\n\\- Ability to delve into pre-existing source code with little guidance and to\nswitch context rapidly is paramount\n\n\\- good communication skills, ability and willingness to assist people is key\n\nPlease e-mail: john.naulty at nuagenetworks.net\n\n------\nAJDFraser\nNested.com | Front-end Developer | London | ONSITE\n[https://nested.com/](https://nested.com/)\n\nWe're looking for an experienced front-end developer to help us revolutionise\nthe way property is bought and sold. A first class user experience is key to\neverything we do, and that's not possible without a rock solid front-end.\n\nYou'll work closely with our design and back-end development teams to deliver\na beautiful, modern, usable and maintainable web interface across our customer\nfacing application portfolio. We believe in fewer, better people and you will\njoin our small, extremely talented London based team, backed by Europe's\nleading investors. We have experience of founding successful start-ups like\nGoCardless and Songkick and backgrounds from McKinsey and the Universities of\nOxford and Cambridge.\n\nWe would love to hear from you if you’re interested! Please send your CV and a\nlink to anything else you think might be relevant to alistair@nested.com.\n\nMore info at\n[https://nested.workable.com/j/1F4F50E119](https://nested.workable.com/j/1F4F50E119)\n\n------\nmglidden11\nTulip | [https://tulip.co/careers.html](https://tulip.co/careers.html) |\nBoston, MA | Full time, interns | Onsite\n\nDo you want to help realize the next industrial revolution? Tulip is\ntransforming manufacturing processes by bringing the latest technological\nadvances from the lab to the shop floor. We have multiple Fortune 500\ncustomers and are already enabling production lines building the things you\ninteract with everyday.\n\nWhereas most factories are still using state of the art technology from the\nmid 19th century, we come from the future to bring them a rich, realtime web\napp, modern tablets, IoT systems, in-depth analytics, and more. Our products\nare already (measurably!) helping our customers, so we're rapidly expanding\nour number of customers and size of deployments.\n\nWe’re looking for people to join our core team who are excited about working\nacross our software stack: Meteor-based web development, IoT/embedded\nsoftware, computer vision, data engineering, technical operations / DevOps,\nweb-based UI design, and anything else we need to make the best product\npossible. E-mail us at jobs@tulip.co.\n\n------\nErem\nINSTRUMENTAL | SRE / DevOps | Bay Area, CA (Palo Alto) | Full-time, Onsite |\ninstrumental.ai\n\nInstrumental makes intelligent data-driven tools that help product companies\nfind and fix issues on their assembly lines. We are working to improve the\nmanufacturing of millions of things each day. We value diversity and our team\nis collaborative, supportive, transparent, and pun-tastic. Join us to\nmodernize manufacturing!\n\nAs our first DevOps engineer, you will work with senior developers to build a\ndistributed data pipeline between our AWS infrastructure and the factories of\nthe world. The automation we write will power software running on assembly\nlines for the most desirable and confidential consumer electronics products.\nIt will deliver software to factories in China, the USA, Mexico, and anywhere\nelse on Earth that things are made.\n\nDoes building a world-wide distributed service like that sound like a fun\nproblem to you? Hooray! Let’s do it.\n\nApply here: [https://www.instrumental.ai/join-\nus?position=Site%20Reliabil...](https://www.instrumental.ai/join-\nus?position=Site%20Reliability%20Engineer%20\\(SRE\\)%20/%20DevOps%20Engineer)\n\n------\nsendgridee\nSENDGRID is hiring Senior Software Engineer | Redwood City, CA\n\nApply here: [http://grnh.se/2byfw11](http://grnh.se/2byfw11)\n\nFounded in 2009, SendGrid is an industry-disrupting, cloud-based customer\ncommunication platform that solves the challenges of reliably delivering\nemails on behalf of our customers. We deliver over 33 billion emails a month\nfor customers like Airbnb, Spotify, and Uber.\n\nWe are building an Internal Platform Team to drive SendGrid’s evolution to the\nnext level of technological sophistication. This team’s primary objectives are\nall rooted in the need to give SendGrid the ability to scale to extreme\nvolumes. You will be supporting high-volume data pipelining, providing a\nscalable and fault-tolerant platform that enables the email sending engine,\nand supporting the core network services which all SendGrid products are built\non. Your team will focus on developing and maintaining multi-datacenter\nmanaged systems for the flow, processing, and storage of massive amounts of\ndata. You will develop scalability and reliability strategies for handling a\nlarge user base and billions of messages per day.\n\n------\nsubkamran\nGeneral Mills | [http://generalmills.com](http://generalmills.com) |\nMinneapolis, MN | ONSITE | DevOps Engineer\n\nMy team is looking for someone to join and work on our internal web\ninfrastructure. You would work with other team members to manage our web\nserver infrastructure, new technology projects (think containers, cloud,\netc.), writing infrastructure automation (using Powershell, .NET), and if you\nare interested in development we also own a few .NET web applications that\nprovide self-service and infrastructure support. We work on a lot of fun\nprojects _with modern tooling_ and we also handle day-to-day support (on a\nrotational basis).\n\nInterviews are with fellow team members and walk through common scenarios you\nmay run into and we work through them together.\n\nIf that sounds like something in your wheelhouse, see the posting online:\n[http://careers.generalmills.com/job/6989697/sr-web-\nhosting-e...](http://careers.generalmills.com/job/6989697/sr-web-hosting-\nengineer-windows-iis-net-minneapolis-mn/)\n\nFeel free to contact me through HN or email to discuss.\n\n------\ncju\nIAV France | Paris area, France | Autonomous Driving development/validation\nengineer | ONSITE\n\nIAV France is the French subsidiary of the German automotive engineering\ncompany IAV. We are expanding our Driving Assistance team to keep up with the\nfast growing of this exciting field.\n\nYour tasks will involve in particular:\n\n* Realize technical specification of the function\n\n* Modeling the function (Matlab/Simulink, CarMaker…) and tuning it\n\n* Possibility to manage some activities (work package management)\n\nYour skills:\n\n* System / Electronic / Software / Control Engineering degree (Master or PhD) with focus on ADAS fields\n\n* Minimum 3 years of experience in ADAS applying System Engineering Processes such as Configuration and Requirement Management\n\n* Highly interested in the automotive field: vehicle systems decomposition, functional architecture, ECUs etc.\n\n* Functional modeling (Matlab/Simulink) dedicated to data fusion, decision process and trajectory planning\n\n* Knowledge of sensors: Radar, Lidar, Ultra-sonic, Camera\n\n* General knowledge of functional safety ISO26262 and of validation processes (V&V)\n\n* Very good oral and written communication skills, in French & English, German would be a plus\n\nSimilar offers are available for USA (Michigan, California) and Germany.\n\nPlease apply at\n[https://www.iav.com/us/careers/jobs/guyancourt-f#maincontent](https://www.iav.com/us/careers/jobs/guyancourt-f#maincontent)\n\n------\nbartman\nPlaytestCloud | Full Stack Developer | Potsdam, Germany (Berlin Area) | ONSITE\n| [https://www.playtestcloud.com](https://www.playtestcloud.com)\n\nWork on a great product being used by game studios like Ubisoft, ZeptoLab,\nWooga, and many, many more.\n\n* We‘re looking for a full stack developer keen to learn new things & technologies.\n\n* Join a growing, highly motivated team of 8 people wanting to change the way video games are tested.\n\n* Both founders have a tech background and we are proud of our engineering culture.\n\nWhat we‘re looking for:\n\n* 3+ years of development experience (in university or in the industry)\n\n* Fluent in English\n\n* Quick learner aiming to deeply understand the whole stack\n\n* We DO NOT require any prior experience in the technologies we‘re currently using, but here‘s a list: Ruby on Rails, AngularJS, Java (Android), Objective-C/Swift (iOS), CoffeeScript, JavaScript/ECMAScript 2015, ReactJS, C++14, PNACL, PostgreSQL, Redis, Heroku\n\nAbout PlaytestCloud:\n\nPlaytestCloud is the premier provider of user testing for game studios. We run\nan online platform where game designers can upload their in-development iOS,\nAndroid or browser games, let real players try them out and get feedback in\nform of summaries, surveys, and in-game video recordings.\n\nPerks:\n\n* Our office in the quiet and beautiful Potsdam Griebnitzsee area is easy to reach with the S-Bahn train from Berlin\n\n* You‘ll get a MacBook Pro for work\n\n* We offer free drinks, snacks, and coffee in the office\n\n------\nmclarke\nSilicon Valley Bank | San Francisco, CA | REMOTE (US) | FULL TIME | INTERNS\n\nEnable the world of FinTech by building public APIs for commercial banking.\nWe're using clojure & postgres to expose brand new, easy to use, well\ndocumented RESTful interfaces for clients. Among other projects we work on,\nour small team created the technical integration with Stripe that powers Atlas\n([https://stripe.com/atlas](https://stripe.com/atlas)). Our team consists of\nformer Facebook, Disqus, and Standard Treasury (YC S13) engineers; startups\nare in our DNA.\n\nWith an aggressive roadmap of new products we'd like to launch in 2017, we're\nlooking to expand our team to help deliver new APIs. While we don't currently\nhave any full time remote employees on our team, we are open to remote US-\nbased engineers helping us become a fully-distributed team.\n\nWe're also accepting intern applications for summer 2017.\n\nContact Mike at api-jobs@svb.com for more information and to apply.\n\n[http://docs.svbplatform.com/jobs/api-\nengineer.html](http://docs.svbplatform.com/jobs/api-engineer.html)\n\n~~~\nctdean\nI work with Mike at SVB and wanted to add that we are particularly interested\nin remote contractors. If you are a great engineer who is also remote (US\nonly) and also a contractor, please contact us.\n\n------\nfrequent\nNEXEDI | Lille/Munich/Paris/Plovdiv | ONSITE | 6/12 months INTERNS\n\nWe are looking for new colleagues to help on our free open-source software\nsolutions and contribute to research and industrial projects. If you are\npassionate about open source software and like one of our topics on\n[http://www.nexedi.com/jobs](http://www.nexedi.com/jobs) get in touch! All\ncandidates will do a programming test followed by an interview. We're looking\nfor:\n\n    \n    \n        - Nexedi | Connected Cars Big Data Javascript Engineer | Lille | INTERN    \n    \n        - Nexedi | Artificial Language Processing Python Developer | Lille | INTERN    \n    \n        - Nexedi | Out-of-Space Python Engineer | Lille | INTERN  \n    \n        - Nexedi | Big Data/Machine Learning Developer | Lille, Munich | INTERN   \n    \n        - Nexedi | Out-of-Core PyData Engineer | Lille | INTERN  \n    \n        - Nexedi | Site Reliability Engineer | Paris | INTERN    \n    \n        - Nexedi | Port the Linux Kernel to Javascript | Lille, Paris | INTERN\n    \n\nAbout Nexedi: We are a small international team (headquarters in Lille,\nFrance) creating free software since 2001. We run our own stack including\nsolutions like SlapOS (Cloud Deployment), ERP5 (Business) or Wendelin (Big\nData/Machine Learning) for which we provide customization services as well as\nother software products which we develop and use internally (NEO - distributed\ndatabase, jIO - cross storage JavaScript connector with offline/sync). Besides\nthat we contribute to various research projects (like [http://ict-\npristine.eu/](http://ict-pristine.eu/)). We all work with Chromebooks, our\noffices are paperless and we have no meetings. We mostly hack in Python and\n(vanilla) JavaScript. Join us!\n\n------\nFleming_1\nEverwise | New York | Full Stack Developer | Onsite | Full-time |\n\nAbout Everwise Everwise is a startup that works with companies to help their\nemployees grow and reach development goals over our platform. We do this from\na new angle - harnessing the power of social relationships, including matching\nusers with mentors and peer groups, and using curated content to supplement\nthe experience. Our platform allows us to scale out customized learning\nexperiences for both our enterprise clients and individual users.\n\nDay-to-day we leverage Docker, AWS, Node, React, Ruby, Redis, and Postgres;\nwe're looking for someone who can solve an array of problems with a broad set\nof technologies.\n\nInterview Process. We have 3 structured interview - A phone interview,\nfollowed by a panel engineering interview over Video/Coderpad, followed by a\nstructured on-site interview.\n\nIf you are interested in this role, or any of our others, please reach out to\nme over email.\n\nThis role, and all others can be found here.\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/everwise#.WJNT2LYrI6g](https://boards.greenhouse.io/everwise#.WJNT2LYrI6g)\n\nThanks Stephen Fleming Everwise stephen@geteverwise.com\n\n------\nccenten\nBodyport (YC S15) | Senior Data Engineer | San Francisco, CA | ONSITE -\n[http://www.bodyport.com](http://www.bodyport.com)\n\nAt Bodyport, we are on a mission to eliminate the leading cause of death\nworldwide - heart disease. We are bridging the gap between hospital grade\nmedical devices and the health tools presently available in the home. Our\nfirst product uses a novel sensor technology to rapidly screen for the major\nrisk factors of heart disease in under fifteen seconds. The clinical-grade\ndata measured by our system fuels algorithms aimed at predicting and\npreventing the onset of cardiovascular disease.\n\nBy joining us as Data Engineer, you will play a critical role at an early-\nstage company dedicated to bringing lifesaving medical technology into every\nhome. You will work directly with our data science team to implement a backend\nthat will enable the design and implementation of groundbreaking learning\nalgorithms capable of improving the health and lives of all people.\n\nApply here: [https://jobs.lever.co/bodyport/](https://jobs.lever.co/bodyport/)\n\n------\nAJDFraser\nNested.com | Back-end Developer | London | ONSITE\n[https://nested.com/](https://nested.com/)\n\nWe are an ambitious new company started by founders of GoCardless and Songkick\nand backed by some of the world's leading investors and entrepreneurs. We\nbelieve in the value of fewer, better people and are looking for a skilled\nengineer to join our small, extremely talented and product-oriented London\nbased team.\n\nOn a day-to-day basis you will: \\- Develop the core consumer facing product,\nwhich currently uses Ruby, Python and JavaScript. This will require rapid,\nagile iteration based on customer feedback and metrics. \\- Develop tools to\nsupport our internal operations team. \\- Work closely with our designer to\nimplement a high quality, modern front end experience.\n\nWe would love to hear from you if you’re interested! Please send your CV and a\nlink to anything else you think might be relevant, such as your personal\nwebsite or GitHub profile, to alistair@nested.com.\n\nMore info at\n[https://nested.workable.com/jobs/403118](https://nested.workable.com/jobs/403118)\n\n------\nabarb\nConsulting|Financial Software Developer/Engineer or Quant | NYC, LA, SF |\nFull-time\n\nRun your own startup development utilizing big company benefits and resources.\nFull freedom to architect your own financial library and work with experts in\nthe field.\n\nResponsibilities: \\-->Working with clients, capital markets and insurance\nexperts to implement model point approach with key random variables\nstochastically modeled (for all asset classes) on a risk neutral basis for\noptimizing the distribution of the risk adjusted return on capital for a block\nof business \\-->Prototyping and implementing a portfolio level optimization\nacross all blocks of business incorporating the ability to grow and shrink\ncertain businesses \\-->Designing new financial application libraries to\naddress client needs\n\nKey Qualifications: _3+ years of recent software development experience in\nanalysis (R, Matlab) and programming languages (e.g. Ruby, JAVA,Python,C#)_\nExperience in building financial analytics applications and libraries *\nKnowledge of quantitative finance, modeling, capital markets and derivatives\npricing\n\nPlease, contact abarbashova@gmail.com (can't expose company name)\n\n------\nyoumin\nNexiona | Barcelona (Spain) | Multiple positions | REMOTE\n\nAbout Nexiona ([http://nexiona.com/](http://nexiona.com/))\n\n    \n    \n      • Software development company focused 100% on professional IoT\n      • Young company but growing very fast (currently 17 people expecting 30 before the end of next year)\n      • HQ in Barcelona, office in UK and looking forward to open on GE, FR and US very soon\n    \n\nPositions\n\n    \n    \n      • Backend/frontend developers, product manager, system administrators... Open positions and apply details: https://goo.gl/EiiXGY (We are open to spontaneous applications for other positions)\n      • keywords: rabbitmq, mongodb, python, flask, elastic, graphite, extjs, javascript, node.js, ansible, raspberry pi, arduino, embedded, docker, cloud, agile, scrum, etc.\n      • Interview = culture [1h] + technical interview [1h] + coding project presentation [1h] + onsite interview [1h]\n    \n\nFinal notes\n\n    \n    \n      • g33k p30pl3 and nice atmosphere\n      • remote work but fully connected with workmates\n      • one week every 4-6 we spend time together in our Barcelona office\n\n~~~\nalimon\nHow to apply? Any Email?\n\n------\nismail\nZyeLabs.net | Senior Front End Developer | Johannesburg, South Africa | ONSITE\n[http://www.zyelabs.net](http://www.zyelabs.net)\n\nZyeLabs is a boutique consultancy where we are focus on creating exponential\nvalue for customers using Software, data and Design thinking.\n\nWe believe that by helping companies be more efficient, serve their customers\nbetter and help them solve real problems we can have an exponential impact on\nsociety. You will be part of a passionate team focused on enabling our clients\nto effectively harness the value of technology to create exponential value. We\nuse software, data and design thinking to solve problems for our customers.\n\nYou need to be passionate, open, curious, and someone who loves tackling\ndifficult challenges.\n\nWe value:\n\n\\- Simple solutions over complex ones\n\n\\- Solving real problems and adding real value\n\n\\- Taking action over long winded discussions\n\n\\- Diversity of people, ideas and solutions\n\n\\- Constantly learning\n\nSome of the technologies we use: Hadoop, Apache NiFi, Spark, Ruby, Python,\nJavascript, Java. Having said that, the technology you are familiar with is\nunimportant.\n\nMail me at hnusername @zyelabs.net\n\nor\n\n[https://zyelabs.typeform.com/to/sl7rCS](https://zyelabs.typeform.com/to/sl7rCS)\n\n------\nhellofreshjobs\nHelloFresh | Frontend (Full Stack), Backend, iOS, Android | Berlin | Onsite |\nVisa\n\nWe are the leading global company in the expanding online recipe kit delivery\nmarket. This is a unique opportunity to gain valuable and challenging\nexperience at a rapidly growing startup. Responsibility is given from day one\nto use your initiative and creativity to help us grow our business. We are\nfast-paced and love the food world.\n\nWe're looking for Senior Frontend (Full stack), Backend, iOS and Android\nDevelopers who are keen to gain exposure to a modern stack and work as part of\na team of exceptional engineers.\n\nFor more info about our culture and projects check out our Engineering blog\nat: [https://engineering.hellofresh.com](https://engineering.hellofresh.com)\n\nFor our stack check out our Stackshare at:\n[https://stackshare.io/hellofresh/hellofresh-\ncom](https://stackshare.io/hellofresh/hellofresh-com)\n\nWe work with PHP, Go, Docker, React.JS/Redux, Angular.JS, and are currently\ntransitioning towards a microservice focused approach.\n\nIf you're keen to join our team, please apply using the appropriate link (so\nwe know you came from HackerNews!):\n\nFrontend (Full Stack): [http://grnh.se/e3m2ki1](http://grnh.se/e3m2ki1)\nBackend: [http://grnh.se/p4s6yu1](http://grnh.se/p4s6yu1) iOS:\n[http://grnh.se/ocy2f81](http://grnh.se/ocy2f81) Android:\n[http://grnh.se/kwlf6j1](http://grnh.se/kwlf6j1)\n\n------\nismail\nZyeLabs.net | Senior Software Developer | Johannesburg, South Africa | ONSITE\n[http://www.zyelabs.net](http://www.zyelabs.net)\n\nZyeLabs is a boutique consultancy where we are focus on creating exponential\nvalue for customers using Software, data and Design thinking.\n\nWe believe that by helping companies be more efficient, serve their customers\nbetter and help them solve real problems we can have an exponential impact on\nsociety. You will be part of a passionate team focused on enabling our clients\nto effectively harness the value of technology to create exponential value. We\nuse software, data and design thinking to solve problems for our customers.\n\nYou need to be passionate, open, curious, and someone who loves tackling\ndifficult challenges.\n\nWe value:\n\n\\- Simple solutions over complex ones\n\n\\- Solving real problems and adding real value\n\n\\- Taking action over long winded discussions\n\n\\- Diversity of people, ideas and solutions\n\n\\- Constantly learning\n\nSome of the technologies we use: Hadoop, Apache NiFi, Spark, Ruby, Python,\nJavascript, Java. Having said that, the technology you are familiar with is\nunimportant.\n\nMail me at hnusername @zyelabs.net\n\nor\n\n[https://zyelabs.typeform.com/to/sl7rCS](https://zyelabs.typeform.com/to/sl7rCS)\n\n------\nismail\nZyeLabs.net | Senior Business Analyst | Johannesburg, South Africa | ONSITE\n[http://www.zyelabs.net](http://www.zyelabs.net)\n\nZyeLabs is a boutique consultancy where we are focus on creating exponential\nvalue for customers using Software, data and Design thinking.\n\nWe believe that by helping companies be more efficient, serve their customers\nbetter and help them solve real problems we can have an exponential impact on\nsociety. You will be part of a passionate team focused on enabling our clients\nto effectively harness the value of technology to create exponential value. We\nuse software, data and design thinking to solve problems for our customers.\n\nYou need to be passionate, open, curious, and someone who loves tackling\ndifficult challenges.\n\nWe value:\n\n\\- Simple solutions over complex ones\n\n\\- Solving real problems and adding real value\n\n\\- Taking action over long winded discussions\n\n\\- Diversity of people, ideas and solutions\n\n\\- Constantly learning\n\nSome of the technologies we use: Hadoop, Apache NiFi, Spark, Ruby, Python,\nJavascript, Java. Having said that, the technology you are familiar with is\nunimportant.\n\nMail me at hnusername @zyelabs.net\n\nor\n\n[https://zyelabs.typeform.com/to/sl7rCS](https://zyelabs.typeform.com/to/sl7rCS)\n\n------\nismail\nZyeLabs.net | Senior UX Specialist | Johannesburg, South Africa | ONSITE\n[http://www.zyelabs.net](http://www.zyelabs.net)\n\nZyeLabs is a boutique consultancy where we are focus on creating exponential\nvalue for customers using Software, data and Design thinking.\n\nWe believe that by helping companies be more efficient, serve their customers\nbetter and help them solve real problems we can have an exponential impact on\nsociety. You will be part of a passionate team focused on enabling our clients\nto effectively harness the value of technology to create exponential value. We\nuse software, data and design thinking to solve problems for our customers.\n\nYou need to be passionate, open, curious, and someone who loves tackling\ndifficult challenges.\n\nWe value:\n\n\\- Simple solutions over complex ones\n\n\\- Solving real problems and adding real value\n\n\\- Taking action over long winded discussions\n\n\\- Diversity of people, ideas and solutions\n\n\\- Constantly learning\n\nSome of the technologies we use: Hadoop, Apache NiFi, Spark, Ruby, Python,\nJavascript, Java. Having said that, the technology you are familiar with is\nunimportant.\n\nMail me at hnusername @zyelabs.net\n\nor\n\n[https://zyelabs.typeform.com/to/sl7rCS](https://zyelabs.typeform.com/to/sl7rCS)\n\n------\ndmangot\nPapertrail (Solarwinds) | Lead Operations Engineer | San Francisco | ONSITE\n[http://bit.ly/2krNaNm](http://bit.ly/2krNaNm)\n\nFor more information, email dmangot[at]librato[dot]com with the subject line\n[Hacker News Papertrail Ops]\n\nIf your idea of fun is ingesting terrabytes and terrabytes of data 24 hours a\nday, then we've got the job for you. Papertrail is looking for a lead ops\nengineer to help build, improve, and manage our high performance stream\nprocessing pipeline. This is truly one of those jobs where you and your\ndevelopers/operations friends can use the tool you operate every single day.\nThe Papertrail stack is largely Ruby, Java, Scala, and MySQL. Lots and lots of\nMySQL. This is your opportunity to come in and lead a small operations team at\na company that is growing every month. Plus, with the backing of Solarwinds\nbehind it, there are no worries about running out of VC funding, or where the\nnext round is coming from. We're a small distributed Ops team where everyone\nwrites code, operating an existing successful business and we're looking for\nthe next piece of the puzzle to collaborate in taking our operations\nengineering to the next level. If this sounds interesting to you, we'd love to\nopen up a conversation about whether we're a good match, setup some interviews\nand a coding test. You can find the contact info above. About the company:\nPapertrail manages billions of log messages for operations-savvy companies.\nPapertrail provides time-saving log tools, flexible system groups, team-wide\naccess, long-term archives, charts and analytics exports, monitoring webhooks,\nand 45-second setup. It's all your logs in one place, and it \"just works\".\nPapertrail is a wholly owned subsidiary of Solarwinds, Inc.\n\n------\npropter_hoc\nCoPower | Director, Legal & Regulatory | Montreal ONSITE |\n[https://copower.me](https://copower.me)\n\nCoPower is a fintech/impact-investing startup that makes it easy to invest for\nprofit and planet. Our investment products are backed by rigorously originated\nloans to energy efficiency and renewable generation project, and our online\nplatform provides a simple access point to analyze opportunities, invest, and\nmonitor financial and impact performance.\n\nWe are looking for an experienced lawyer to oversee the legal software of our\nbusiness. The candidate will cover corporate law, securities law, and\nregulatory compliance; participate in the design of innovative impact-\ninvestment products; lead the activities of external counsel in originating\nclean energy financings.\n\nIf you're a lawyer who's into startups, finance and the environment, give us a\nshout.\n\nMore info at\n[https://s3.amazonaws.com/copower/projects/job_postings/Direc...](https://s3.amazonaws.com/copower/projects/job_postings/Director%2C+Legal+%26+Regulatory.pdf)\n\n------\nJoryFormlabs\nFormlabs | Boston, MA | Onsite | Full-time | Software Engineer\n\nSound interesting? Get in contact with us here:\n[http://grnh.se/uj0s1o1](http://grnh.se/uj0s1o1)\n\nTHE COMPANY: We are a passionate team of engineers, designers, and problem-\nsolvers who make 3D printing tools for professionals. Started out of MIT in\n2011, Formlabs is committed to bringing innovative and sophisticated\nfabrication tools into the creative hands of designers, engineers, and artists\naround the world. We just raised $35 Million in our series B.\n\nJOB DESCRIPTION: If you’re passionate about systems, can seamlessly move from\none platform to another, and want to have a big impact on the backend side of\na complex product – we want you on the Form Team as a Software Engineer.\nDesign bigger software systems to support our 3D printing desktop software\nSeamlessly integrate all or our backend system architecture Get your hands\ndirty in all kinds of code\n\nYOU WILL:\n\n* A talented generalist who is passionate about backend functionality\n\n* Are a full stack software developer, from systems level software to user interfaces\n\n* Love to work in diverse environments (Windows, OSX, Linux)\n\n* Code extensively in C++ (Qt) and Python\n\n* Know Git inside and out\n\n* Can architect and implement complex software products\n\n* Can lead projects and work closely with a high-caliber team\n\n* Are excited to dive into a huge variety of challenges\n\nSound interesting? Get in contact with us here:\n[http://grnh.se/uj0s1o1](http://grnh.se/uj0s1o1)\n\n~~~\nabhisri003\nThere is an error in your application form.\n\n------\nsilverthorn\nAngaza | Android Developer | SF | ONSITE [https://www.angaza.com/jobs/android-\ndeveloper/](https://www.angaza.com/jobs/android-developer/)\n\nAngaza creates software for selling life-changing products _with financing_ in\nemerging markets, with a focus on off-grid solar energy systems. Your work\nmeans more families turning on electricity for the first time each night:\n\n\\- [http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/23/angaza-raises-4m-to-make-\ncl...](http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/23/angaza-raises-4m-to-make-cl...).\n\nWe're a for-profit company, post-series A, with our technical team based in\nSan Francisco. Right now, we're searching for an Android developer interested\nin working on software used to sell and service off-grid solar installations\nin more than twenty countries. You can lead its development as we continue to\nrapidly expand.\n\n\\- [https://www.angaza.com/jobs/android-\ndeveloper/](https://www.angaza.com/jobs/android-developer/) [San Francisco]\n\nWe're also hiring a number of other roles in Nairobi, e.g.:\n\n\\- [https://www.angaza.com/jobs/director-of-\nsales/](https://www.angaza.com/jobs/director-of-sales/) [San Francisco +\nNairobi]\n\nOur standard hiring process involves a phone conversation, a well-scoped home\nproject, and an on-site interview. We don't believe in gotcha logic puzzles or\nadversarial whiteboard exercises, and we strive to give you specific\nconstructive feedback regardless of the outcome.\n\n------\npauldekt\nNumina | Backend Engineer | San Francisco, CA, New York, NY or St. Louis, MO |\nFull-time\n\nNumina is a sensing platform that uses computer vision to deliver real-time\ninsights from streets and make cities responsive. Numina's deploy-anywhere\nsensor is purpose-built to help urban planners measure all kinds of activity\nin streets — bicycles, pedestrians, wheelchairs, strollers, different types of\nvehicles, and more — and not just what things are, but where they are and how\nthey're moving. Numina empowers cities to design safer and more equitable\nstreets, while providing the data backbone for private-sector urban\nautomation.\n\nWe seek a software engineer to help build out the backend infrastructure for\nNumina. Our backend engineer will be reporting to our CTO with daily progress\nand technical deliverables, and s/he will be responsible for collaborating\nwith the product team to provide functionality to our frontend applications.\n\nMore details: [https://angel.co/cty/jobs/204709-backend-software-\nengineer](https://angel.co/cty/jobs/204709-backend-software-engineer)\n\n------\nQuovo_Sydney\nQuovo | New York, NY | ONSITE | Front-end Engineer | www.quovo.com\n\nHiring a few roles to be filled immediately via phone call, code review, and\nin-person interviews.\n\nSeeking a Software Engineer to join our Platform Team that is responsible for\ndesigning and building the core services and APIs that power Quovo’s products\nand applications Full description and application:\n[http://grnh.se/cdsbx01](http://grnh.se/cdsbx01)\n\nWe are seeking a skilled Junior Python developer to work on web crawling\nprojects, along with API implementations and other data analytics tasks. If\nyou’ve ever enjoyed feeling like a hacker or data detective, this might be the\njob for you. Full description and application:\n[http://grnh.se/v7qyrc1](http://grnh.se/v7qyrc1)\n\nOur API Product Manager will be reporting directly to our Chief Product\nOfficer, and will be deeply involved in defining and executing Quovo’s product\ngrowth over the coming months Full description and application:\n[http://grnh.se/yq51an1](http://grnh.se/yq51an1)\n\n~~~\nchetankabra8\nHello Quovo,\n\nI applied using url, can i get any references\n\n~~~\nQuovo_Sydney\nHi- we've received your application; I'll follow up via email.\n\n~~~\noliv__\nHi Quovo,\n\nSame here, just a heads up!\n\nOlivier\n\n------\njmorse\nSpaceX | FULL STACK ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE ENGINEER | Hawthorne, CA | Full-Time |\nONSITE\n\n[http://www.spacex.com/careers/position/206174](http://www.spacex.com/careers/position/206174)\n\nThe EIS (Enterprise Information Systems) team writes the software that builds\nrockets and powers SpaceX. We are responsible for all of the software on the\nfactory floor, the warehouses, the financial systems, the restaurant, and even\nthe public home page. Elon has called us the \"nervous system\" of SpaceX\nbecause we connect all of the other teams at SpaceX to ensure that the entire\nrocket building process runs smoothly.\n\nWe are seeking developers with demonstrable experience in: ASP.NET, C#, SQL\nServer, and AngularJS. We are a fast-paced, highly iterative team that has to\nadapt quickly as our factory grows. We need people who are comfortable\ntackling new problems, innovating solutions, and interacting with every facet\nof the company on a daily basis. Creative, motivated, able to take\nresponsibility and support the applications you create. Help us get rockets\nout the door faster!\n\n------\nshield007\nARM IoT | Web Services Engineer | Cambridge\n\nWe are looking for a talented web services engineer who relishes the unique\nchallenges of working in a new business space, to help us provide reliable web\nservices that are part of our mbed connected device platform.\n\nTechnical skills required\n\n* You are an accomplished developer in Python or similar. * In depth knowledge of Linux and general Internet systems. * You have mastered at least one web application framework such as Django, Rails, node.js. * You use monitoring tools like Nagios, Zabbix, Munin, Logstash, Graylog or Graphite. * Experience with configuration and deployment tools such as Puppet, Chef, Docker, Vagrant, Ansible. * Experience with technologies such as databases, queues, clusters, key/value stores and service oriented infrastructures. * You have used cloud hosting platforms or virtualisation as part of a production environment. * You have experience with continuous integration workflows, version control, and both functional and unit testing.\n\nPlease read the full job description here:\n[http://bit.ly/2kOV9lm](http://bit.ly/2kOV9lm)\n\n------\ndabent\nMedTech Exchange, Inc. | Atlanta, GA | ONSITE\n\nWe are a small, but growing healthcare IT company based in Atlanta, Georgia.\nWe’re looking for developers who are passionate about making fast, scalable,\nand well-designed web interfaces for the healthcare industry. You will be\nutilizing the latest web technologies to solve challenging problems, create\ninnovative web applications from the ground up and understand exactly what it\ntakes to create an outrageously good user experience while driving down the\ncosts of health care. As a member of the team, you'll be designing and\ndeveloping new user interfaces as well as supporting our existing systems. As\nan early hire, you'll have the chance to build new products and shape the\nculture of our company as we grow.\n\n* We're looking for experienced developers with strong skills in Java and a familiarity or willingness to learn and work with the Play Framework and Angular.\n\n* We are also looking for business intelligence developers who have deep familiarity with Microsoft data warehouse and data visualization products (SQL Server, Power BI, SSIS, Azure).\n\nInterested? Send your resume to hiring@medtechexchange.com\n\n------\nnwenzel\nMountain View, CA | Full Time | Onsite\n\nI'm the CEO and co-founder of SimpleLegal. We're enterprise SaaS for the Legal\nDepartment from the YC13 batch.\n\nSales has Salesforce. Marketing Has Hubspot/Marketo. Customer Success has\nGainsight. Legal has SimpleLegal. We're a team of 16 and growing with a great\nlist of customers.\n\nDirector of Customer Success - Lead the Support and CS team. Hire ahead of\nneed. CS drives growth. You'll drive CS.\n[https://www.simplelegal.com/careers/customer-success-\ndirecto...](https://www.simplelegal.com/careers/customer-success-director)\n\nSDR/BDR - Spend the first 1-3 months in support to learn about our customers\nand product. Then move into an outbound role to help us build our customer\nbase. [https://www.simplelegal.com/careers/sales-development-\nrep](https://www.simplelegal.com/careers/sales-development-rep)\n\nProduct Manager - Help manage the growth of our product between Developers,\nCustomer Success, and Sales. (Not yet posted.)\n\nCheck the postings for more info, then email our careers inbox at\nSimpleLegal.com.\n\n------\npaladin314159\nAmplitude Analytics | San Francisco, CA (SOMA) |\n[https://www.amplitude.com](https://www.amplitude.com) | ONSITE\n\nWe help companies build the best products by providing analytics for\nunderstanding user behavior. We believe that the future of product development\nis in smart, fast, and easy-to-use analytics, not the complex data science\nstacks or surface-level vanity metrics of today. We're a 55-person company (15\nengineers), and we raised our Series B earlier this year. We've gotten\nincredible traction helping customers like Venmo, Udacity, Square, Intuit,\nMicrosoft, Postmates, and Square Enix change the way they build products.\n\nWe have many open positions that can be found here (we're growing fast!):\n[https://www.amplitude.com/careers](https://www.amplitude.com/careers). In\nparticular, we're looking to grow out the engineering team with the following\npositions:\n\n* Senior Backend Engineer\n\n* Senior DevOps Engineer\n\n* Senior Frontend Engineer\n\nOur tech stack consists of Java, Python, Redis, Kafka, PostgreSQL,\nElasticsearch, Docker, SaltStack on the backend and JavaScript, React, Flux,\nHighcharts, d3 on the frontend. We've got a number of extremely challenging\ntechnical problems to solve thanks to being in the analytics space, and we're\nlooking for talented people who are passionate about the intersection of\ntechnology and product to help us take the next step.\n\nIf this sounds interesting to you, please reach out to us at\ncareers@amplitude.com or apply directly through\n[https://www.amplitude.com/careers](https://www.amplitude.com/careers).\n\n------\nindomitable\nUltimate Software | Ft. Lauderdale FL, Atlanta GA, Toronto CA | Onsite/Remote\n|\n[http://www.ultimatesoftware.com/careers](http://www.ultimatesoftware.com/careers)\n\nUltimate Software is hiring for a large number of full time development\npositions, including:\n\n    \n    \n         - Cloud Architect\n    \n         - Software Engineers (Java, C#, Golang, Python), \n    \n         - Software Test Engineers, and more.\n    \n\nAbout 20% of our Product Development team works from home. We have an\nunbelievable benefits/401K package, so apply to Fortune’s #1 Best Tech Company\nto Work For in 2016 today. Here is a link to our Java Software Engineer role\nwe have available, but feel free to check out the other opportunities on our\nsite as well!\n[https://recruiting.ultipro.com/usg1006/JobBoard/dfc53730-57d...](https://recruiting.ultipro.com/usg1006/JobBoard/dfc53730-57d1-3460-336f-ddafabd108f3/OpportunityDetail?opportunityId=76aedd19-d01b-4671-8805-30a17bc877a4)\n\nYou can also email resumes to techcareers AT ultimatesoftware.com\n\n------\nopenutility\nMid Level Python/Django Developer + DevOps Engineer | ONSITE | London |\n[https://www.openutility.com/](https://www.openutility.com/)\n\nJoin Open Utility to make a difference in world - we're on a mission to\ndecentralise the energy industry and have renewables power our future.\n\nWe're looking for new team members, one who loves developing in Python /\nDjango and the other who's into DevOps. Both need to have around 4 year\nexperience. You'll be working on our SaaS product called\n[https://piclo.uk/](https://piclo.uk/), it takes energy generation and\nconsumption data from our customers and processes them through our matching\nalgorithms - the results show where your energy came from!\n\nWe'll be adding more customers to the platform and improving our matching\ncapabilities this year so come and join a growing team on a mission.\n\nFull job specs and application process at\n[https://www.openutility.com/jobs/](https://www.openutility.com/jobs/)\n\nWe look forward to hearing from you\n\n------\ngreendude29\nAl Jazeera Digital - Platforms Team | Mostly San Francisco | Full-time\n\nWell, inventing the future of news media isn't easy and we need you to work\nwith us. Al Jazeera Digital is pretty simple: we're international, operating\nin three languages - English, Arabic and Spanish - and we want to tell\ncompelling stories in innovative ways in a media landscape that is constantly\nchanging. At Al Jazeera Digital, you not only get to work in our coffee-\nfactory-turned-office building with journalists from around the world but you\nget the creative freedom to tell the stories that matter - to you and to the\nworld.\n\nWe need engineers because the world of content is complex - we're growing\nrapidly and are looking to bring on great engineers to solve problems of rich\nAPIs, Machine Learning, Recommendation Engines, CMSes, microservices, QA,\nDevOps and automation that power a world class organization.\n\nWe also have short term opportunities for cloud networking engineers,\ntechnical writers, agile coaches, product management associates (Doha),\nservice desk engineer; rollout (Doha)\n\nEmail bhatnagara @ aljazeera.net and mention that you're coming in from HN.\n\n------\njalateras\nComware Australia | NodeJS, AWS, DevOps | Melbourne Australia | Permanent,\nContract | REMOTE (Australia Only)\n\nLooking for a software engineer with extensive experience in nodejs, aws and\nelasticsearch and knowledge of Ansible, Docker and Kubernetes to help with\ndeveloping and extending an audience management platform. which currently\ncollects in excess of 100M+ events per day. Front-end experience in VueJs or\nReactJS is a bonus but not required as is a fervour for entrepreneurialship.\nIf you have a passion for quality and automation, can hit the ground running\nand work autonomously then email me directory at jima at comware dot com dot\nau.\n\nThe interview process is lightweight, no code review, no testing just point me\nto your github account or some projects you've worked on and let's grab a\ncoffee, or hook up over skype for a chat. I am a big fan of the Longflow\nManifesto ([https://github.com/Nax/longflow-\nmanifesto](https://github.com/Nax/longflow-manifesto)), collaboration and\nknowledge sharing. Willing to pay premium for the right person\n\n------\nrobrockit\nStamps.com | El Segundo, CA | Web Applications Developer\n\nThe Stamps.com Web Applications Development team is looking for a Web\nApplications Developer who will be responsible for coordinating and\nparticipating in all facets of web application development for multiple\nprojects, production, maintenance, upgrades, quality assurance and compliance\nwith established company development standards.\n\nResponsibilities:\n\n\\- Develop new and maintain existing web applications \\- Support of long-\nlived, rich web applications using JavaScript, HTML, CSS, jQuery \\- Object\noriented JavaScript using frameworks & libraries such as ExtJS, jQuery,\nAngularJS, etc. \\- Collaboration with other team members, Scrum/Agile process\n\\- Evaluation of product designs to help refine requirements and adherence to\ndesign & specifications \\- Documentation and design of code to ensure\nreadability and maintainability \\- Ability to perform deep debugging into\nexternal frameworks when needed\n\nQualifications:\n\n\\- 3+ years Object Oriented JavaScript experience \\- 3+ years web development\nexperience (HTML/XHTML/DHTML/CSS) \\- Experience with other frameworks like\nJquery, AngularJS, etc. \\- Experience of DOM manipulation and other DHTML\nconcepts \\- Experience in cross-browser and cross-platform compatibility \\-\nUnderstanding of web development best practices \\- Full stack experience with\n.Net Web Api is a plus \\- Strong attention to detail \\- Desire and willingness\nto learn and master new technologies \\- Excellent verbal and written\ncommunication skills\n\nApply here: [https://careers-stamps.icims.com/jobs/1372/web-\napplications-...](https://careers-stamps.icims.com/jobs/1372/web-applications-\ndeveloper/job)\n\n------\nmikebabineau\nSecond Measure (YC S15) | SF Bay Area (San Mateo, CA) | ONSITE (relo ok) |\n[https://secondmeasure.com](https://secondmeasure.com)\n\nSecond Measure analyzes credit card data. We process billions of purchases to\nhelp investors (VCs and hedge funds) answer questions like:\n\n    \n    \n      - How quickly is Shake Shack growing?\n      - Is Lyft gaining or losing market share in Boston?\n      - How does Hilton spending change after a customer's first Airbnb stay?\n      - (Check out our research blog [1])\n    \n\n…through an analytics platform we build in-house.\n\nWe’re a 13-person team comprising mostly engineers and data scientists. 10 of\nus are technical, and 4 have PhDs. We love solving hard problems with\ncompelling data. We’re looking for other strong builders, especially those who\ncan grow into leadership roles:\n\n    \n    \n      - Data Scientist / Research Scientist (stats; Python/R/Spark helpful; quantitative PhD preferred)\n      - Senior Software Engineer (frontend/backend/full-stack; AWS; Python; Mesos/Spark/Lambda; D3+ReactJS)\n      - Product Designer / UI/UX Designer (\"full-stack\", from research to prototype to mockup to engineer-ready spec)\n      - (See: https://boards.greenhouse.io/secondmeasure)\n    \n\nWe’re in downtown San Mateo, just minutes from Caltrain and 101.\n\nI'm a founder (mike@). Submit via job board and mention HN, or email jobs@ and\nCC me.\n\n[1] [http://blog.secondmeasure.com/](http://blog.secondmeasure.com/)\n\n[2] [http://techcrunch.com/2015/08/10/second-measure-launches-\noff...](http://techcrunch.com/2015/08/10/second-measure-launches-offering-\npowerful-live-data-analysis-of-publicprivate-companies/)\n\n[3]\n[http://www.economist.com/news/business/21705369-alternative-...](http://www.economist.com/news/business/21705369-alternative-\ndata-firms-are-shedding-new-light-corporate-performance-watchers)\n\n[4] [http://www.businessinsider.com/second-measure-is-secret-\nweap...](http://www.businessinsider.com/second-measure-is-secret-weapon-for-\ninvestors-to-outsmart-each-other-2016-4)\n\n------\nejo0\nPHOSPHORUS | Software Engineers | New York, NYC | ONSITE | Fulltime |\n[http://phosphorus.com](http://phosphorus.com)\n\nPHOSPHORUS is a computational genomics company with the vision to create a\nworld where every healthcare decision is optimized with genomics. Founded in\n2016 and based in New York City, Phosphorus develops powerful data-driven\nsoftware that enables labs around the world to deliver the most advanced\nclinical genetic tests beginning in cardiovascular genetics and for\ninfertility. With a team of experts in computational biology and computer\nscience, Phosphorus is building a data network that will help providers,\nresearchers and patients around the world better understand and harness the\npower of the human genome.\n\nWe are a spinoff from Recombine's acquisition for $85M by CooperSurgical last\nyear, we are growing quickly, and are well-funded with a Series A by FirstMark\nCapital.\n\nWe are looking to hire experienced software engineers. We use Spark, Scala,\nRails, Parquet, Javascript, SQL, AWS, etc. Our interview process is\nstraightforward and quick. Phone screen, followed by in-person interviews.\n\nKeywords: genomics, genetics scala, software, intern\n\nMore information on positions can be found here: * Software Engineer -\n[https://phosphorus.workable.com/jobs/312859](https://phosphorus.workable.com/jobs/312859)\n* Senior Software Engineer -\n[https://phosphorus.workable.com/jobs/312856](https://phosphorus.workable.com/jobs/312856)\n\nMessage Eugene at eugene@phosphorus.com if interested. Also if you want to\nlearn more about this area happy to talk, just send me a message.\n\n------\njdotjdot\nWayUp is changing the way that early career professionals find the perfect\njob, starting with college students. We’re a mission-driven organization and\nyou will be absolutely critical to our long-term success. You enjoy working on\na team but also get a thrill out of creating something from nothing, and\nyou’re looking forward to being part of the foundation of our NY-based\nengineering and data teams.\n\nPlease see open roles below:\n\nSenior iOS Engineer -\n[https://www.wayup.com/joinus/#544372](https://www.wayup.com/joinus/#544372)\n\nSenior Data Scientist -\n[https://www.wayup.com/joinus/#512217](https://www.wayup.com/joinus/#512217)\n\nDevOps Engineer -\n[https://www.wayup.com/joinus/#574860](https://www.wayup.com/joinus/#574860)\n\nRecommendations Systems Engineer -\n[https://www.wayup.com/joinus/#571492](https://www.wayup.com/joinus/#571492)\n\nHead of Product Intelligence -\n[https://www.wayup.com/joinus/#575145](https://www.wayup.com/joinus/#575145)\n\nSenior Backend Engineer -\n[https://www.wayup.com/joinus/#120804](https://www.wayup.com/joinus/#120804)\n\nData Scientist - Applied NLP -\n[https://www.wayup.com/joinus/#580829](https://www.wayup.com/joinus/#580829)\n\nWe're also hiring for various business roles - check them out here:\nwayup.com/joinus\n\n------\nDaniel07\nMalauzai | Front End Engineer | Austin | Onsite\n\nMalauzai is a FinTech company providing mobile and internet banking solutions\nfor community banks and credit unions. We are looking to hire a Front End\nEngineer to join our Web team.\n\nOur team uses a fully Javascript stack: React, Redux, and Node. We encourage\nfunctional programming practices. We welcome people who can push the product\nforward and bring their own improvements and ideas to the table. We don't just\nwant to build an internet banking solution, we want to build the best internet\nbanking solution.\n\nWe are a high visibility team with a quickly growing product in a fast moving\ncompany - there is plenty of opportunity to make your mark.\n\nFull job description - [http://www.malauzai.com/front-end-web-engineer-\nscripting-foc...](http://www.malauzai.com/front-end-web-engineer-scripting-\nfocused/)\n\nInstructions for applying as well as other open positions (iOS, Android, Ruby)\n- [http://www.malauzai.com/about-\nmalauzai/careers/](http://www.malauzai.com/about-malauzai/careers/)\n\n------\numuse\nUmuse ([http://www.umuse.io](http://www.umuse.io)) | Data Engineer, Frontend\nEngineer, Full Stack Engineer | Austin, TX | Onsite\n\nWe are a recently funded early stage startup growing our relatively small\nengineering team. The team is made up of experienced entrepreneurs with 5\nstartups and multiple exits under our belts. We are looking for engineers that\nwant to be part of small, nimble team that is looking to make a difference,\nleave a mark, and hopefully transform an industry. Sound challenging? It will\nbe.\n\nWe are adding 3 more engineers as soon as you are ready to start. Given the\nsize you will make an immediate impact and have the responsibility to define,\ndesign and build a great product. You will also help define a culture you will\nenjoy working in. Open positions are:\n\nData Engineer (Python, MySQL, you get to help figure out the rest)\n\nFrontend Engineer (React, React Native, ES6, Node.js, Electron)\n\nFull Stack Engineer ( Python, Scala, Redis, MySQL, AWS, Docker)\n\nSee our jobs site for more details and to apply\n[https://umuse.workable.com/](https://umuse.workable.com/)\n\n------\nalattimore\nBeHealth Solutions | Senior Rails Developer | US | Remote\n\nHi, I'm Alan Lattimore, lead developer at BeHealth Solutions. We are seeking\nan experienced software engineer to join a small team developing high-volume\nSoftware as a Service web applications in the field of digital health using\nall of the latest technologies.\n\nWhat You'll Do: * Build maintainable, scalable web applications with rich\ndynamic interfaces.\n\n* Work with a solid team of experienced peers.\n\n* Participate in the mentoring of junior developers, contribute your expertise to technology choices, and collaborate on architecture and design.\n\n* Add features, fix code and deploy from day one.\n\nOur stack is: Rails 5; Ruby 2.2; MySQL 5.7; Bootstrap 3 and Sass; vanilla\nJavaScript, jQuery and CoffeeScript; AJAX and JSON; Sidekiq; Redis; RSpec 3;\nCapistrano 2; git and GitHub; JIRA; Slack\n\nFull job description here: [http://www.behealthsolutions.com/wp-\ncontent/uploads/2017/02/...](http://www.behealthsolutions.com/wp-\ncontent/uploads/2017/02/Programmer_Job_Description.pdf)\n\nYou can reach out to me at alan.lattimore at behealthsolutions dot com.\n\n------\nhectormalot\nIPsoft | cognitive implementation engineer | New York, Austin, Amsterdam,\nFrankfurt, and London | ONSITE\n\nWe're looking for implementation engineers to help implement our cognitive\nsolution - Amelia - at our clients. Amelia is already helping various\ncompanies improve their customer and employee contacts at for example SEB bank\nand the Enfield Council in London. We're rapidly growing our team to keep up\nwith all our new clients.\n\nAs a CIE, you will configure Amelia's cognitive modules such as intent\nrecognition, business processes and back end integrations, while working\nclosely with our clients to make sure we exceed their expectations.\n\nIdeal candidates have a good sense of scripting in either groovy, JavaScript,\nor python. You're interested in cognitive technologies, and are comfortable to\nwork directly with clients.\n\nWe offer you an exciting environment with cutting edge technologies, and the\nability to grow quickly as our organisation grows as well.\n\nFor more information please reach out to Dennis.dereus (@) IPsoft.com. Due to\nthe large amount of undirected applications, applications without a motivation\nmight not receive a response.\n\n------\nHovertruck\nEngineers (Data, Platform, Web/Frontend) | Button\n([https://www.usebutton.com](https://www.usebutton.com)) | NYC (Data SF/NYC) |\nOnsite\n\n[https://www.usebutton.com/join-us](https://www.usebutton.com/join-us)\n\nButton is building an ecosystem of connections that drive commerce. We're\npartnered with many of the largest mobile commerce companies around, allowing\nyou to add real-time inventory for these on-demand services to users in your\napp. We're processing more transactions each and every day and just landed a\n$20M Series B[1]! We use a mix of different technologies, but some common\nthemes are NodeJS, Python, React/Redux, Docker/ECS, Objective-C, and Java.\n\nFeel free to shoot me an email (daniel@usebutton.com) if you have any\nquestions!\n\n[1] [https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/25/button-the-marketplace-\nfor...](https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/25/button-the-marketplace-for-app-\nintegrations-lands-20-million-in-series-b-funding/)\n\n------\nNelnet\nIT Manager - Systems Security - PaymentSpring - Omaha, NE - Full-Time\n\nThis position will design and implement physical and logical security efforts\nacross PaymentSpring. The position will take a proactive approach to managing\nsecurity including oversight of security planning, policy and procedure\ndevelopment, PCI and other compliance, and will implement policies and\nprocedures. Security responsibilities will include network security\narchitecture, network access and monitoring policies, application security\nawareness, physical security, social engineering practices, and employee\neducation and awareness.\n\nThe position will coordinate with Corporate Security Group (CSG) to ensure\nthat PaymentSpring is compliant with all Nelnet security polices, as well as\nextend existing policies and develop new policies specific to PaymentSpring\nand its business.\n\nFor more info and to apply: [https://careers-nelnet.icims.com/jobs/4466/it-\nmanager---syst...](https://careers-nelnet.icims.com/jobs/4466/it-manager---\nsystems-security---paymentspring/job?mode=view)\n\n------\nderekhaswell\n10% Happier | Lead Developer | Boston, MA | ONSITE | Full Time\n\nA clear, simple approach to meditation with a NY Times bestselling author and\nsome of the most respected (and cool) meditation teachers on the planet.\nLaunched last year, 8 person core team, venture-backed, growing quickly.\n(Here’s the app: [https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/meditation-for-fidgety-\nskept...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/meditation-for-fidgety-\nskeptics/id992210239?mt=8) )\n\nWe're looking for a lead developer excited by the challenges of building a\nfast-growing + consumer mobile + meditation startup.\n\nYou're likely a full stack generalist with mobile experience, ready to tackle\nanything from architecting the back-end to coding our consumer apps (currently\niOS only, Android coming soon). In addition to leading the technical direction\nof the company, you'll also help establish a strong engineering culture -\nmentoring, recruiting, development process, etc. Last but not least, you'll\nwork on a product that actually makes people's lives better. (If you don't\nbelieve us, take a look at our reviews on the App Store.)\n\nThe product (for now) is our iOS app. It’s built in Swift & ReactiveCocoa. Our\nweb-back end is Ruby on Rails and Postgres, all living atop Heroku. If you’re\ninterested in functional programming & clean, readable code, we think you’ll\nlike what you see - but there's plenty of room to make it better still.\n\nThe interview process involves (i) a 30min call, (ii) a 2hr culture interview,\nand (iii) a 2hr technical interview (followed by reference checks and\nconversations to answer any questions you have).\n\nEmail me derek@ (10percenthappier.com) if you’re interested.\n\n------\nandrest\nThe Farmer's Dog | Software Engineer | New York |\n[https://www.thefarmersdog.com/](https://www.thefarmersdog.com/) | Onsite |\n90-140k + equity\n\nThe Farmer's Dog is a VC backed direct-to-consumer pet food company. We're\nbuilding a subscription based e-commerce platform to support and manage custom\nsubscriptions and food production. We've been cashflow positive from day 1 and\nare growing faster than expected.\n\nEven though we don't sound like a typical tech company we take pride in\ndevelopment. We've built an e-commerce platform from ground up. It consists of\n2 isomorphic Redux apps backed by a shared NodeJS API. We have CI and CD\nprocesses in place, and make use of docker-based microservices via Iron.io. We\nhave plenty of challenges to tackle from predictive analysis to optimizing\nfulfillment operations.\n\nWe're looking for a senior Software Engineer who's comfortable writing backend\ncode and dealing with docker and aws. Our stack is react (and redux), node,\npostgres, docker and aws.\n\nIf this sounds like you reach out at info+hn@thefarmersdog.com\n\n------\nQuelqueChose\nPartoo | [http://www.partoo.fr/](http://www.partoo.fr/) | Paris | ONSITE\n\nHelp our clients maintain an awesome online presence in an exciting startup\nenvironment. We’re looking to hire talented developers to help us build and\ndesign new products on both our front and back.\n\nPartoo helps our customers taking advantage of the best qualities of spreading\ntheir info and products online. Imagine openness, collaboration, good coding\npractices, workflow automation all made possible thanks to your contributions.\nIn Partoo, you would play a crucial role in our company’s success. Your\ncontributions to our state-of-the-art solution will make or break our goal to\nbring happiness to the lives of business owners from small to big companies\n(Carrefour, Auchan, Effia, and so on...).\n\nAll of this while working out of an incubator (pépinière) in the heart of\nParis. Intrigued? Search us on angel.co for more details.\n\nSome of our stack: Python (Pyramid), JavaScript (React, jQuery), MongoDB,\nAmazon Web Services (AWS)\n\nEmail co-founder and CTO benoit at partoo.fr to say hello.\n\nBonus points if you can come play football with us every week!\n\n------\nhbeaver\nPrimeRevenue ([https://primerevenue.com/](https://primerevenue.com/)) | Sr.\nSoftware Engineer - Ruby (Contract) | Atlanta, GA | ONSITE/Part-REMOTE\n\nSeeking Sr. Software Engineer, full stack with deep experience building web\napplications using Ruby on Rails and modern front-end frameworks like EmberJS,\nAngularJS, etc.\n\nSkills:\n\n    \n    \n      * Solid Ruby and Ruby on Rails\n      * JavaScript & modern frameworks (Angular.JS, Ember.JS)\n      * Experience with legacy code, refactoring\n      * 12 Factor App\n      * Message Queues\n      * API Design & testing (contracts)\n      * RSpec, TDD\n      * Docker (desired)\n    \n\nWork at a profitable financial technology company on applications that have\nprocessed more than $120 billion in transactions last year. The company\nculture values employee contributions , diversity and respects work/life\nbalance. Read more and apply below:\n\n[http://primerevenue.applytojob.com/apply/G4cIgL/Sr-\nSoftware-...](http://primerevenue.applytojob.com/apply/G4cIgL/Sr-Software-\nEngineer-Contract)\n\n------\njrowley\nIntegrated Healthcare Association | Oakland, CA | Senior Full Stack Engineer /\nGeneralist | Full Time | On Site |\n\nCompetitive Salary + 401k + Full Health + subsidized gym membership + other\nperks\n\nWe're a small non-profit healthcare group focused on bringing together\ndisparate healthcare actors to push the needle of healthcare quality and\ninnovation. With 20 years in California's healthcare space, we have the\nconnections, reputation, and expertise to make significant change.\n\n* Do you enjoy creating coherent data models from many disparate data channels?\n\n* Do you enjoy uncovering and conveying insights from organizing data?\n\n* Do you enjoy building interactive web applications and data pipelines?\n\nWe're looking for Full Stack Web Engineer to help us build data pipelines and\nweb apps. Due to our company's relatively small size, the role is very broad,\nand the ideal candidate is well rounded, both technically, and otherwise.\n\nWe are looking for someone with good Python chops (we use Django and Pandas a\nlot). If you do you not have experience in Python, please do not apply.\n\nCheck out the listing for more information:\n[http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/sof/5965292887.html](http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/sof/5965292887.html)\n\nIf interested, please contact jobs [[at]] iha.org and include \"HN: Full Stack\nEngineer\" in the subject line. If you've have any questions, feel free to\nreply to this post directly or reach out via email to me directly at jrowley\n[[at]] iha.org.\n\nWe will do our best to reply to your submission in a timely fashion but\napologies in advance for any delays.\n\n------\nvimarshk\nOkta | SF, Toronto, Seattle, London | Full-time, On Site\n\nWe are builders and owners. We believe we are solving some extremely big\nproblems. Join a group of amazing humans who thrive on making customers—and\neach other—successful.\n\nWhy work at Okta? We believe that work is a never-ending process of learning\nand iteration. We work on extremely complex problems. We work on products that\nmake millions of people's work lives better. We're funded by the industry's\nmost respected investors.\n\nBenefits: Happy hours, Ping pong, Lounges, Food, Global offices, HQ in San\nFrancisco's bustling SOMA district, HQ South in San Jose — opening March 2017,\nCompetitive salary, Stock options, Flexible time off, Weekly All-Hands,\nHackathons and Volunteer events\n\nThese are some of the ideas we live by: Confront the hard problems and solve\nthem. Don't bullshit people. Protect the customer. Think bigger. Make it work.\nNever stop.\n\nPlease visit:\n[https://www.okta.com/company/careers/](https://www.okta.com/company/careers/)\nfor all open positions and email: vimarsh.karbhari@okta.com\n\n~~~\nslythrowaway\nNote for those applying - I applied a month ago to both the website and\ne-mail. It's common etiquette for a company to let you know if you are out\nconsideration.\n\n------\nmikeverbeck\nTenable Network Security | Senior Full Stack Web Developer | Columbia, MD |\nOnsite or Remote | Full Time |\n[https://www.tenable.com/](https://www.tenable.com/)\n\nWe are looking for a full stack web developer who loves building impressive\nweb applications. Quality, best practices and \"wow factor\" are very important\nto you. User experience is paramount. You have the ability to identify UX pain\npoints and resolve them without direction. You like to stay current with\ntechnology and are a self starter.\n\nThe team is small so we have high ownership of our software. We are\nresponsible for the full software development cycle, starting at design and\nending with deployment. It has always been important to us to stay current\nwith the latest technology and use as needed.\n\nTech Stack: Ruby on Rails, Node, PHP, AWS, React, Docker, MySql, Postgres\n\n[https://careers.tenable.com/?p=job/oFof4fw6&__jvst=JobBoard&...](https://careers.tenable.com/?p=job/oFof4fw6&__jvst=JobBoard&__jvsd=Hacker_News&nl=1)\n\n------\ngibrown\nAutomattic (WordPress.com, Jetpack, WooCommerce, .blog, Polldaddy, Gravatar) |\nSearch Wrangler | Full Time | REMOTE\n\nWe're a distributed company with employees in >50 countries. Help us influence\nsearch and recommendations for the 27% of the Web that runs on WordPress.\n\nWe're looking to take our search infrastructure up a few notches. A bit on\nwhat we're working on:\n\n\\- We have some good distributed systems deployed that we are constantly\nimproving: [https://data.blog/2016/05/03/state-of-wordpress-com-\nelastics...](https://data.blog/2016/05/03/state-of-wordpress-com-\nelasticsearch-systems-2016/)\n\n\\- Various versions of search, related posts, and recommendations have been\nlaunched over the years, but we've only recently had good enough tracking to\neasily test algorithm changes at our scale. Lot's of new data available for\nimproving search relevancy.\n\n\\- Billion plus unique users of our search systems each month, searching in\nevery language that humans use.\n\n\\- Search is not just about the algorithm. We're working to build great user\ninterfaces and product integrations that engage users.\n\nNo walls around the garden. Make the Open Web a smarter place.\n\n[http://automattic.com/work-with-us/search-\nwrangler/](http://automattic.com/work-with-us/search-wrangler/)\n\nOur hiring process can take a bit of time. Read about it here:\n[https://www.google.com/search?q=automattic+hiring+process#q=...](https://www.google.com/search?q=automattic+hiring+process#q=automattic+trial+period)\n\n------\nmelonakos\nAtlanta -- Onsite only -- jobs@arrayfire.com -- Full-time, internship\n\n* Deep Learning Engineer - [http://arrayfire.theresumator.com/apply/glNpcr/Deep-Learning...](http://arrayfire.theresumator.com/apply/glNpcr/Deep-Learning-Engineer)\n\n* Computer Vision Engineer - [http://arrayfire.theresumator.com/apply/SOnzat/Computer-Visi...](http://arrayfire.theresumator.com/apply/SOnzat/Computer-Vision-Engineer)\n\n* CUDA / OpenCL Engineer - [http://arrayfire.theresumator.com/apply/nutSdR/CUDA-Or-OpenC...](http://arrayfire.theresumator.com/apply/nutSdR/CUDA-Or-OpenCL-Developer)\n\nArrayFire is a leader of accelerated technical computing. We maintain the\nArrayFire open source library as well as deliver services to clients around\nthe world in the areas of deep learning, computer vision, and accelerated\ncomputing.\n\nWe started as a Georgia Tech company and are now located in the startup hub\nnext to the Atlanta Tech Village.\n\nWe look forward to talking to you!\n\n------\nneftaly\nConqa\n\n===\n\n* Intermediate frontend Javascript developer (React + Cerebral + Ramda)\n\n* Full time - salary (50-90k NZD) & equity negotiable\n\n* Remote or on-site (Auckland, New Zealand)\n\n* International / visa applicants considered\n\n* Functional programming experience preferred (Clojure, Haskell, Erlang, etc)\n\n\\---\n\nWe're a web & mobile start-up, based in the construction industry. Our product\nis essentially Git for QA, built on a blockchain, and powered by AWS.\n\nPlease send your CV and/or GitHub to jobs at conqa dot nz. No recruiters,\nplease.\n\n------\nedited-dev\nEDITED | Engineering Positions | London, UK | Onsite | Full-Time\n\nWe’re currently hiring for front-end, back-end, and DevOps Engineers. Our\nstack is primarily Python & JavaScript, with frameworks like Django/Flask and\nreact.js/d3. We aren’t afraid to integrate new tech and like to keep exploring\nwhat’s out there.\n\nWe're an established startup, focused on doing important things for retail,\nthe fourth biggest industry in the world, helping them reduce waste and be\nmore efficient. We have a beautiful web app, used everyday by hundreds of\npeople at Topshop, Saks Fifth Avenue, GAP and more.\n\nOur engineering team is a group of smart people from really varied\nbackgrounds. We’re solving diverse and interesting problems on a daily basis,\nlike image analysis, big data visualisation and a load of other fun things\nthat come with having a rapidly growing data set. We love good practices like\nextensive testing and continuous integration, and enjoy giving back to the\ncommunity, so open source contributions are highly encouraged.\n\nOur office is large and sociable; people eat lunch together every day and we\nhave drinks and snacks in the office every Friday, as well as team days out\nand all expenses paid trips abroad. There’s a video on our jobs page of our\nmost recent one: [http://edited.com/jobs/](http://edited.com/jobs/)\n\nHalf of the team has actually found and joined us through “Who’s hiring”, so\ndon't hesitate to get in touch, we're always happy to meet new people!\n\nSee here for more details about current vacancies and to apply directly\nonline:\n[https://edited.com/jobs/engineering/](https://edited.com/jobs/engineering/)\n\n------\nsinehq\nJavaScript Full Stack Developer | Adelaide | ONSITE, Full time\n\nSine.co is changing the way you check-in to physical location you visit. We\nare looking for talented JS developers with experience with Angular JS to join\nour amazing team in Adelaide, Australia. send cvs to info@sine.co\n\nThe Role: The JavaScript Engineer will join a growing agile team to deliver\nsolutions to both the front and backend of the core Sine product. They will\nwork closely with the business and existing team to scope, design, solution,\nand deliver new features and technical improvements to take the product to the\nnext level.\n\nSine’s Technology Stack: ● AWS EC2, ECS, S3, SNS ● Postgres, Redis ● Node.js,\nES6/7, Express, Sequelize ● AngularJS\n\nKey skills: ● Strong JavaScript background in web applications and Node.js ●\nGood principles of software design and architecture ● RESTFul API design ●\nUnderstanding of relational database concepts ● Experience working with non\ntrivial SPAs ● Comfortable with HTML5, CSS3, Bootstrap ● Working knowledge of\nAngularJS ● Can develop in a Linux based environment\n\nBonus: ● Experience working with AWS ● Loves zero downtime deployments\n\n------\ndeet\nInit.ai | New York (NYC), San Francisco (SF) | Full-Time\n\nInit.ai is a platform for conversational understanding. We handle integration\nwith messaging services, natural language processing, and business logic,\nincluding integration with third-party APIs.\n\nOur technology provides the ability to automate conversations, assist agents,\nand analyze conversations between two or more parties. Our initial customers\nrange from independent developers to Fortune 500 corporations.\n\nMachine learning engineer\n\n* This role is part research, part engineering. We want to push the boundaries of the NLP field while actively deploying those findings into the world\n\n* Research, develop, extend, and productize our NLP and machine learning systems, based on cutting edge techniques\n\n* Would be responsible for developing and improving models and systems, as well helping to deploy the models in a scalable and efficient manner\n\n* Should have advanced degree or experience in commercial machine learning development. Expertise in language processing is specifically valued.\n\n* Must be capable of both independent and collaborative work in a small team, fast moving environment.\n\n* Potential to publish significant findings if developed\n\nEmail jobs@init.ai if interested.\n\n------\ntamentis\nTruveris | New York, NY | Full Time | ONSITE\n\n[http://truveris.com/](http://truveris.com/)\n\nThe systems we build help millions of American afford their medications and\nbring transparency in the complicated space of pharmacy benefits.\n\nWe like simple and robust systems and we need people who first write code for\ntheir peers. In the perfect world, you're a UNIX philosopher and Pythonista,\nfluent in SQL (we love PostgreSQL and SQLAlchemy) and you've abused public\ncloud APIs (we use AWS). We're very team-centric and while you'll have the\nopportunity to work on your own, you should be kind, have good communication\nskills and a sense of humor.\n\nStop wasting your talent placing ads, working in finance or building yet\nanother social networking app, join us to improve healthcare in America.\n\nRequired:\n\n\\- 3+ years of coding under your belt, be it open source or commercial\n\n\\- Python experience\n\n\\- RDBMS (we use PostgreSQL but a decent exposure to any SQL system is good)\n\n\\- Experience with version control, ticket systems, code review\n\n\\- Experience with Linux/Unix (you know your way around a shell)\n\nNice to have:\n\n\\- Experience building and working with APIs and web apps\n\n\\- AWS experience (we use EC2, S3, SQS, Redshift, RDS, VPC)\n\n\\- Experience with SQLAlchemy, Pyramid (or Django, Flask)\n\nEmail me (CTO): bertrand@truveris.com or\n[https://stackoverflow.com/jobs/131066/software-engineer-\ntruv...](https://stackoverflow.com/jobs/131066/software-engineer-truveris)\n\n------\nevolutiongaming\nEvolution Gaming | Riga, Latvia | ONSITE, FULL-TIME (relocation assistance),\n[http://www.evolutiongaming.com/](http://www.evolutiongaming.com/)\n\nEvolution Gaming is the world’s leading provider of video-streamed Live Casino\nsolutions, delivering world-class, ‘as real as it gets’ live dealer gaming to\nour licensees, which include many of the world’s best-known gaming brands.\n\n* Scala Developer - [https://www.smartrecruiters.com/EvolutionGaming/95486846-sca...](https://www.smartrecruiters.com/EvolutionGaming/95486846-scala-developer)\n\n* JavaScript Developer - [https://www.smartrecruiters.com/EvolutionGaming/95476628-jav...](https://www.smartrecruiters.com/EvolutionGaming/95476628-javascript-developer)\n\n* QA Automation Engineer - [https://www.smartrecruiters.com/EvolutionGaming/95483524-qa-...](https://www.smartrecruiters.com/EvolutionGaming/95483524-qa-automation-engineer)\n\n------\nbbhughes12\nChicago, IL | Trunk Club | ONSITE | Fulltime\n\nWe're building the future of retail, enabled through technology. Talk to us if\nyou're interested in creating lightweight single-responsibility apps, building\nadvanced Javascript MV*-powered front-ends, leveraging graph databases and\nmachine learning, and creating amazing user experiences for users both\ninternal and external. Our platform powers everything from the member\nexperience (online and in-store) to our sales and relationship tools to our\nwarehouse operations to our financial and merchandising capabilities - there\nis a lot going on!\n\nWe're currently hiring for the below roles (US only):\n\nSenior Engineering Manager: boards.greenhouse.io/trunkclub/jobs/155114\n\nSenior Software Engineer: boards.greenhouse.io/trunkclub/jobs/44918\n\nSenior DevOps Engineer: boards.greenhouse.io/trunkclub/jobs/497712\n\nSoftware Engineer - Test: boards.greenhouse.io/trunkclub/jobs/88244\n\nJavaScript Engineer: boards.greenhouse.io/trunkclub/jobs/44922\n\nSenior Data Scientist: boards.greenhouse.io/trunkclub/jobs/582519\n\nDirector of Data Science: boards.greenhouse.io/trunkclub/jobs/111879\n\nSecurity Engineer: boards.greenhouse.io/trunkclub/jobs/482266\n\nBI Reporting Analyst: boards.greenhouse.io/trunkclub/jobs/575030\n\nApplication Support Engineer: boards.greenhouse.io/trunkclub/jobs/117713\n\nPlease check out our website to learn more:\n[https://www.trunkclub.com/careers](https://www.trunkclub.com/careers).\n\n------\nSteffenEnni\nFR8 Revolution Inc | Oakland, CA | ONSITE | Senior/Principal Full Stack\nEngineer and Senior UI/UX Engineer | Full-time\n\nHi, I'm Steffen Enni, CTO at FR8 Revolution Inc a Volkswagen backed Series A\ncompany. We’re providing the $700B truck freight industry with a new and\npowerful way to help fleets fill their trucks, shippers track loads in real-\ntime and drivers gain some control over their lives and careers. We're hiring\nexperienced front end / full-stack / back end engineers to help build our\nproduct vision.\n\nOur front-end stack is React, MobX, Material-UI, Jest+Enzyme on top of an api\nlayer using Swagger/Node.js in front of a set of micro services built with\nDropwizard, Java, Docker, Mongo and SQL. (See more on\n[http://stackshare.io/fr8-revolution/fr8-revolution](http://stackshare.io/fr8-revolution/fr8-revolution))\n\nFor more information have a look at our job openings at\n[http://www.fr8.guru/jobs](http://www.fr8.guru/jobs). Interested? Fee\n\n------\npasquattro\nG Adventures | Toronto, Canada | Full-time (ONSITE)\n\n[https://www.gadventures.com/](https://www.gadventures.com/) G Adventures is\nthe largest small group adventure travel company in the world and offers\nsocially and environmentally sensitive travel.\n\nWeb Stack is mainly Python/Django, and JavaScript Positions:\n\nIntermediate Developer, Front End\n[https://www.gadventures.com/careers/position-\ndetails/interme...](https://www.gadventures.com/careers/position-\ndetails/intermediate-developer-front-end2/)\n\nMobile Developer, Android [https://www.gadventures.com/careers/position-\ndetails/mobile-...](https://www.gadventures.com/careers/position-\ndetails/mobile-developer-android1/)\n\nFinancial Systems Analyst [https://www.gadventures.com/careers/position-\ndetails/financi...](https://www.gadventures.com/careers/position-\ndetails/financial-systems-analyst1/)\n\n------\nbridgetschultz\nGlassbreakers | Senior Software Engineer | San Francisco & Oakland, CA | Full-\ntime | Onsite\n\nGlassbreakers has successfully launched our suite of enterprise software\nsolutions for diversity and inclusion with some of the biggest companies in\nthe world. We are looking for experienced engineers to help scale, build and\ninnovate our products. This meaningful work on our team will allow for\nexposure to many different skillsets - architectural scaling, core product\ndevelopment as well as engineering leadership.\n\nWhat we are looking for:\n\n* You understand that good code also means a robust test suite that serves as a safety net for both current development and when things are refactored and changed in the future * You possess strong computer science fundamentals: data structures, algorithms, programming languages, distributed systems, and information retrieval * Experience developing on Ruby on Rails and PostgreSQL - over 4 years RoR development experience preferred * Knowledge of Rspec/Capybara * Working knowledge of front end web technologies like HTML, SASS, or JavaScript. React is a nice-to-have * A high level of comfort using git * Experience scaling multitenant implementations * You like to solve complex problems and are able to prioritize between different projects * Experience architecting scalable systems * Experience with Heroku and AWS hosting platform\n\nEven if you don’t meet the majority of our preferences above, we encourage you\nto please apply for this role. We are growing quickly and we value building\nrelationships with all engineering candidates who share our passion for\ndiversity & inclusion in the workforce.\n\nTo learn more and apply, check out:\n[https://www.glassbreakers.co/careers#sse](https://www.glassbreakers.co/careers#sse)\n\n------\nericcholis\nDave & Adam's | Software Developer | Buffalo, NY | ONSITE\n[http://www.dacardworld.com](http://www.dacardworld.com)\n\nDave and Adam's Card World was founded in 1991 when two friends opened a small\nsports card store in Buffalo, NY. Dave and Adam's passion for trading cards\nhas helped the company grow to be a leader in the industry. We have two retail\nstores in Western New York; one of which is the largest store of it's kind in\nthe country. Our two offices and warehouses are located in Tonawanda, NY,\nwhich services our e-commerce operations. Shipping hundreds of orders daily,\nwe reach all of North America as well as an extensive international customer\nbase.\n\nWe need a Full-Stack Software Developer with e-commerce experience.\nSpecialties should include PHP, Python, HTML, Javascript, etc.. Core\nresponsibilities would include development on our primary e-commerce platform.\n\n[https://dave-and-adams.workable.com/jobs/416448](https://dave-and-\nadams.workable.com/jobs/416448)\n\n------\nev9\nEatPakd.com | Senior Software Engineer | Chicago | Onsite | Full-time\n\nEatPakd delivers ready-to-go lunches directly to your door. EatPakd lunches\nare balanced and wholesome, and completely customizable so you can create the\nperfect lunch. We're starting with kids, but will one day take over the world.\nWe have a cozy office right atop our working kitchen.\n\nOur platform is Ruby on Rails, React+Redux, Postgres on Heroku. At the moment\nwe are focused on our consumer ordering webapp, and will move over to mobile\nsoon. We also have a ton of operational problems to solve with technology. If\nyou like solving real world problems, this is your gig.\n\nWe are hiring a senior software engineer. We're looking for someone with\nexperience who wants to stretch their capabilities and learn a ton. This is a\nfull-time position at our Chicago location.\n\nIf you're interested, contact me at (josh) at (eatpakd.com). More details:\n[https://go.eatpakd.com/careers/senior-software-\nengineer/](https://go.eatpakd.com/careers/senior-software-engineer/)\n\n------\njeffrey_caron\nPingup | [https://pingup.com](https://pingup.com) | Boston | Full Stack\nEngineer | fullstack@pingup.com\n\nWe are hiring a Node.js and browser-side Javascript developer to work on\nfrontend and backend components of our stack. Development will include:\n\n\\- Developing APIs with Node.js \\- Creating browser automation scripts with\nPhantomjs \\- Developing web apps with Backbone / Marionette\n\nApplicants must demonstrate strong experience with the following: \\- Node.js\n\\- Backbone / Marionette \\- Javascript design patterns (async control flows,\npromises)\n\nSome experience with the following is also required: \\- Mongoldb \\- Redis \\-\nPhantomjs \\- Async.js \\- Bluebird.js \\- Express.js \\- NGINX \\- Ubuntu\n\nPublished CODE TALKS -- applicants are strongly encouraged to submit samples\nfrom their Github accounts, and ideally NPM / Bower packages they have\noffered.\n\nCode evaluation will be the first step of the hiring process.\n\nInterested applicants please apply using fullstack@pingup.com or:\n[https://pingup.workable.com/jobs/415736](https://pingup.workable.com/jobs/415736)\n\n------\nmirashii\nSpire Global | Senior Software Engineer | SF, Boulder, Glasgow, Singapore |\nFull-time | On-site\n\nSpire is a satellite-powered data company building out the full pipeline from\ncustom spacecraft to data and analytics products. You can read a little more\nat [http://spire.com](http://spire.com) or in the news.\n\nI'm looking for experienced software engineers with systems experience to lead\nteams and architect existing and new systems. Our stack is primarily Python,\nLinux, and C, but we have plenty of variety, and care less about a language or\nframework and more about building systems that last.\n\nIf you want to learn a little more, e-mail me (Robert) at rdeaton@spire.com\nwith questions.\n\nWe have a variety of other roles as well, including Electrical, FPGA and DSP\nengineers, DevOps, Satellite Operators, Business Development and Sales, which\nI'm happy to answer questions about or refer you to the right person.\n[https://spire.com/careers/openings/](https://spire.com/careers/openings/) .\n\n~~~\ntyrankh\nAre your software engineer positions available in Boulder, or only SF/Glasgow?\n\n~~~\nmirashii\nWe do have some positions available in Boulder as well. In general, we'll\nprefer to place individuals with the teams that they'll interfacing most with.\n\n------\nni-recruit\nNative Instruments GmbH | Frontend Software Engineer, DevOps Engineer, C++\nDeveloper, System Administrator, Scrum Master, Agile Coach | Berlin, Germany |\nONSITE | Full-time\n\nNative Instruments is a leading manufacturer of software and hardware for\ncomputer-based audio production and DJing. Our mission is to develop\ninnovative, fully-integrated solutions for all musical styles and professions.\nWe push technological boundaries and open up new creative horizons for\nprofessionals and amateurs alike.\n\nWe're looking for people with both the left and right brain fully engaged –\nexceptional individuals with strong analytical minds and a passion for music\nand technology.\n\nAgile Coaches and Scrum Masters to actively promote agile thinking in our\ncompany, and to support our teams to develop their skills and reach their\ngoals.\n\nFrontend Engineers to build & maintain highly usable, state-of the-art\nwebsites and web applications.\n\nDevOps Engineers to build & maintain highly reliable and scalable API’s to be\nconsumed by our music production and DJing applications.\n\nC++ Developers to help us evolve our MASCHINE, KOMPLETE, and TRAKTOR software.\n\nLinux loving System Administrators to administer and improve our network and\nserver landscape.\n\nFind out more and apply here:\n\n[https://www.native-instruments.com/en/career-\ncenter/berlin](https://www.native-instruments.com/en/career-center/berlin)\n\n[https://www.native-instruments.com/en/career-center/los-\nange...](https://www.native-instruments.com/en/career-center/los-angeles)\n\nrecruiting@native-instruments.de\n\n------\nedwinwills\nRentify | Software engineer | London | Full-time\n\nRentify is an online letting agency that uses technology to make both\nlandlords' and tenants' lives easier (and cheaper). We offer landlords\nguaranteed rent based on an algorithmically determined property valuation, and\nattribute most of our savings to efficiently using technology to solve\nproblems.\n\nWe're looking to add some mid to senior Ruby/Rails engineers to our in-house\nengineering team, to help us build both public-facing and internal tools.\n\nRecently projects include building an internal search engine using React,\nElasticsearch and Rails and an automatic rent payout system based on Stripe\nConnect.\n\nOur main app is Ruby on Rails with PostgreSQL as a store, hosted on AWS. Other\ntechnologies we use every day are Elasticsearch, React, Chef, Sinatra and\nRedis.\n\nIf you're interested or would like to know more, please get in touch with us\nat jobs@rentify.com - our full job description is available at\n[https://www.rentify.com/jobs#ruby-\nengineer](https://www.rentify.com/jobs#ruby-engineer)\n\nNo recruiters please.\n\n------\nweisen\nNew eCommerce business | Business partner | US-resident only | REMOTE\n\nI am looking for a business partner responsible for non-technical side of\nrunning an almost automated e-commerce system for selling on Amazon. Your role\nwould be in identifying suitable suppliers (competitive pricing &\nautomatable), building and developing business relationships and handling\ncustomer issues. This usually takes 15-60 minutes/day and a regular routine is\na must. We can start with 1-2 suppliers I know already.\n\nCompany must be incorporated in Delaware or Nevada, preferably as LLC. Initial\nrequired capital share $1-2k, up to 50% company share for you (ownership &\nprofit share), depending on your initial capital share. Company gets a license\nto my own software, state of art data transformation and repricing used in\nother companies. The idea is to have a passive income stream with minimum\nwork/attention needed. I already bootstrapped a few profitable companies this\nway and have time for creating 1-2 additional ones. I expect company to be\nprofitable within 3-4 months with regular monthly expenses <$50.\n\nI am based in Germany and look for a US-resident to run a company with me\nduring US working hours. I'll do the whole tech side, you'd do complete\nbusiness side. Some of my partners got substantial promotions in their main\njobs for skills they learned running a real business with me.\n\nI am looking at automating most of customer or even supplier interaction in\nthe future.\n\nThe business is as described; it's unlikely you'd get an access to my time as\na \"rock-star programmer\" as I have plenty of other interesting projects to\nwork on (robotics, self-driving cars, drone photogrammetry, new programming\nlanguage creation etc.)\n\nIf you are interested, contact me on weisen (at) tutamail.com\n\n------\nbrianr\nRollbar | [https://rollbar.com](https://rollbar.com) | San Francisco or REMOTE\n| Dir. Product Marketing, Contract SDK Engineers\n\nAbout Rollbar:\n\n* We help tens of thousands of developers find and fix errors faster.\n\n* Our backend handles billions of errors with low latency and high reliability.\n\n* Our front-end allows developers to discover and drill down across millions of errors in real-time.\n\n* Our open source libraries are used by some of the best engineering teams in the world, including Kayak, Twilio, Heroku, Zendesk, Instacart and Twitch.\n\n* We're a 19-person team (SF, LA, Las Vegas, Fort Worth, Barcelona, Nomad) building tools that make developers' lives better.\n\n* Benefits and perks: competitive salary and stock options, medical, dental and vision insurance, annual conference budget, generous hardware and software allowance, casual work environment, inclusive team-oriented culture, rapid career growth opportunities, have fun and have an impact.\n\nWe're looking for:\n\n* Director of Product Marketing\n\n* Contract SDK Engineer\n\nTo get in touch, please apply via\n[https://rollbar.com/jobs](https://rollbar.com/jobs)\n\n------\ntyppo\nSoftware Engineer, Designer | Zenysis (YC W16) | SF | Onsite, Fulltime\n\nZenysis is building a data analysis product for governments of developing\ncountries. Our current projects focus on healthcare and affect over 100\nmillion people. In 2016, we helped governments fight epidemic outbreaks,\ncombat food shortages, and allocate nearly $150 million in healthcare\nspending.\n\nWe have a lot on our plate in 2017: we're building early warning systems for\ndisease outbreaks, automatically detecting low-quality data, and running\nmodels to recommend the most effective health interventions across entire\ncountries. The work we do is not always easy, but it's very rewarding. As an\nearly engineer or designer, you'll be responsible for core aspects of this\nanalysis platform.\n\nEmail jobs@zenysis.com if you're interested.\n\nEngineer posting:\n[http://www.zenysis.com/engineer.html](http://www.zenysis.com/engineer.html)\n\nDesigner posting:\n[http://www.zenysis.com/designer.html](http://www.zenysis.com/designer.html)\n\n------\nkerianne\nFlexport | San Francisco\n\nFlexport is a platform for global trade in an industry that comprises 12% of\nthe global GDP. We are building products that are enabling anyone to\nparticipate in trade regardless of geographic, regulatory or logistical\nboundaries. By dramatically simplifying the process of importing goods from\noverseas, we aim to empower a new generation of entrepreneurs benefitting from\nthe wonders of international trade.\n\nTo do this, we need a mix of brilliant technologists and logistics experts\ninterested in solving challenges that result in reshaping a multi-trillion\ndollar industry.\n\nStarted in 2013, we've raised $94M from investors that include Peter Thiel’s\nFounders Fund, Google Ventures, First Round Capital, Bloomberg Beta, Y\nCombinator, & more. We have six offices around the globe & are growing our\nrevenue 20% month over month.\n\nFlexport is scaling all of our tech teams. We are looking for Engineers,\nProduct Managers & Designers to help us build the platform for global trade.\n\nWant to learn more? Email kerianne@flexport.com or check out our site @\nflexport.com/careers.Flexport\n\n------\npjacobson\nPumpUp | Front End Developer | Toronto, Canada | FULL-TIME, ONSITE, VISA\n\nPumpUp is a positive community for health & fitness. Our mission is to empower\npeople across the world to become the best versions of themselves! We’re\nventure-backed with 5 million users (and growing)!\n\nTech Stack: React Native, Redux\n\nIf you're interested in joining our talented team and impacting millions of\nlives globally, email us at careers@pumpup.com\n\n------\nDabergcobo\nMANGOWIN | Full Stack Developer | San Jose, CA | Full-time\n\nMangowin is a mobile-web app that connects high school students with their\nfirst job, allowing them to become independent. We are passionate about\nhelping the ones in need, including people with special needs. We envision a\nworld where everyone who wants a job gets one.\n\nWe are seeking an experienced software engineer to join our small, highly\ntalented team to lead our product development.\n\n* Prior early stage start-up experience as a technical leader. * 5+ years of work experience. Strong abilities in programming, algorithms, and web infrastructure. Fluency in HTML+CSS, and solid working knowledge of layout, cross-browser compatibility, and accessibility.\n\nWe think big and aim for excellence in all we do. We listen to our customers\nand strive to exceed their expectations. We celebrate success recognizing and\nrewarding the achievements. We are flexible. We help team members strike a\nbalanced life. We give back to our communities. We protect the environment. We\nhave fun.\n\nIf interested, please email daberg@mangowin.com and we can schedule a call.\nThanks!\n\n------\nnumbsafari\nBainbridge Health | [http://bainbridgehealth.com](http://bainbridgehealth.com)\n| Philadelphia, PA | Python, JS, QA, SRE | ONSITE | Fulltime\n\nA spinout of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), Bainbridge Health\nis building a data analytics and clinical support system for hospital\nmedication safety management. We are integrating transactional data from the\nmultiple devices and systems involved in the medication ordering, preparation,\nsupply chain, and administration pipeline, turning it into actionable insights\nand clinically relevant recommendations.\n\nOur stack: Python, Go, React, Kubernetes, BigQuery, GCP. You'll be getting in\nearly, so you'll have a chance to help shape and grow all of this.\n\nOur office is in Center City Philly, convenient to transit and all the good\nthings a major city can offer.\n\nYou can apply via our careers page,\n[http://www.bainbridgehealth.com/careers](http://www.bainbridgehealth.com/careers),\nor by emailing me using the address in my profile.\n\n------\njoshuakarjala\nFounders ([https://founders.as](https://founders.as)) | Copenhagen, Denmark //\nBerlin | Full-time | Onsite\n\n== ABOUT ==\n\nHackers in Residence (HIR) are hired by Founders to co-explore and co-found\nnew projects. In our studio you will work together with designers, product\nmanagers, data scientists and growth marketers exploring new ideas and\nbuilding prototypes.\n\nWhen a prototyped idea shows promise we create a roadmap of how to turn it\ninto a launchable product together. We then ruthlessly validate the product in\nthe open market, looking for traction. If it takes off, we then transform it\ninto an independent company with you as a co-founder.\n\nYou can read much more about the journey:\n[https://medium.com/@joshuakarjala/come-hack-away-with-\nus-273...](https://medium.com/@joshuakarjala/come-hack-away-with-\nus-2731dba4bda2)\n\n== APPLY ==\n\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/founders/jobs/554550](https://boards.greenhouse.io/founders/jobs/554550)\n\n------\nechelon\nSquare, Inc. | Software Engineer | Atlanta, ONSITE |\n[https://squareup.com/careers/jobs](https://squareup.com/careers/jobs)\n\nSquare's Atlanta office is hiring for multiple positions. We have several\nfull-stack engineering teams in the office building features for our Point of\nSale system as well as backend services that power our payments platform.\n\n\\----\n\nWhat we do:\n\nDesign, develop and manage microservices that provide identity management used\nthroughout the Square ecosystem. Develop and support routing and gateway\nsupport between Square’s products and payment processors in the US and abroad.\nProvide inventory and item management services for Square’s Point of Sale and\nAPI products.\n\n\\----\n\nWhy it's cool:\n\nOur system is critical: without it, some Square products couldn't exist. Our\nAtlanta office has a history of working on mission critical projects.\nInfrastructure used throughout Square was designed and developed here. We’re\ncontinuing to increase our footprint here. Our work environment includes lots\nof Silicon Valley style perks, plus all the advantages of working in a smaller\noffice where everyone knows each other.\n\n\\----\n\nWho we're looking for:\n\nEngineers familiar with Java, Go, or Ruby or another high level language. Web\ndevelopers who are comfortable dabbling working on large web applications.\nEmber experience a plus. We are hiring both recent college grads and those\nwith industry experience.\n\n\\----\n\nTech we use: Java, Go, Ruby, Objective-C, Ember.\n\n\\----\n\nIf this matches your background and interests, we'd love to talk to you --\nemail mhaehl@squareup.com.\n\n------\nmrferos\nFlexShopper | Node Engineer & DevOps Engineer | Boca Raton, FL | Full-Time,\nONSITE preferred, but REMOTE is an option.\n\nFlexShopper is the leading online lease-to-own platform, with the largest LTO\nmarketplace, an LTO payment method for third party sites, and an expanding\nportfolio of verticals for generating leases online.\n\nFlexShopper is seeking smart, energetic, passionate engineers to join a\ngrowing team to help develop our new microservices platform that has real\nscaling requirements (at 3 years old, the current system is handling multiple\nmillion hits a day).\n\nEngineers would be joining a fast-paced environment driving towards the goal\nof delivering rock-solid software that solve interesting problems to enhance\nthe user's experience, solve back office problems, or new ways to aggregate &\nanalyze data (we have tons of it).\n\nSome of the technologies we work with: Node, Angular, Mongo, Docker (in\nproduction! containers are deployed onto our Deis - soon to be Kubernetes -\ncluster), ElasticSearch, MySQL, Python, R (Data!)\n\nIf you're interested, contact andres.galindo at flexshopper.com\n\n~~~\nmrferos\nShould've specified, we're moving away from Deis V1 (CoreOS-based).\n\n------\nmookerji\n\n      Swift Navigation | SF | Hardware/Infrastructure/Scientific Software Jobs | INTERNS / VISA\n    \n      Swift Navigation is looking for firmware, scientific tooling, and infrastructure\n      software engineers to work with us on high-precision GPS receivers\n      (https://github.com/swift-nav/). We're shipping this week (!) the world's first\n      low-cost, multi-constellation, inch-accurate satellite navigation receiver for\n      autonomous vehicle applications. Questions? Email Buro (mookerji@swiftnav.com)\n      or Margaret (jobs@swiftnav.com) or apply to https://jobs.lever.co/swift-nav.\n    \n      + Firmware (Production embedded programming on the Zynq platform, FPGA-based\n        DSP, C, C++, Python, VHDL, real-time Linux).\n    \n      + Scientific Python Tooling (production scientific Python for product\n        prototyping, testing, and analysis).\n    \n      + Web and internal platform infrastructure (front ends, rear ends, services,\n        production programming, Haskell, Python, JS, C++, containerized distributed\n        workflows, etc. etc. etc.).\n     \n      + Interns with interesting project experience in any of the above, or interested\n        in hacking together hardware/software demos for new applications, integrating\n        UAV autopilots.\n    \n      Our interviews have a few steps: an intro phone call, technical phone screen or\n      take home problem, and an onsite. Our technical interviews aim to fairly assess\n      your skills and also preview our own day-to-day work.\n    \n      Satellite navigation is a rich problem space! Our 40 (??!) person group in the\n      Civic Center neighborhood of San Francisco is spread across analog/RF/digital\n      hardware design and embedded systems, statistics, satellite navigation,\n      functional programming, and web infrastructure. Our work is highly\n      interdisciplinary with an environment emphasizing effective communication,\n      collaboration, and inclusion with a flexible working policy.\n\n------\nasidiali\nBillTo | Co-founder | San Diego, CA | REMOTE\n[https://bill.to](https://bill.to)\n\nBillTo is an early stage fin-tech startup building the future of automated,\nscalable billing implementations for online businesses big and small. We\nbelieve that the fight for global equality and opportunity begins with\nempowering individuals and small businesses worldwide. That's why we aim to\nbuild the highest quality of tools possible for doing business online and\nestablishing a lasting presence - available to all, not just those who can\nafford it.\n\nWe're seeking technical and business minded individuals who are interested in\njoining us on this mission. We do currently have paying customers, and are\nlooking to expand the range of our efforts immediately (marketing,\noptimization, etc etc). We have started with a small, focused scope, and are\nnow ready to grow our bandwidth and offering.\n\nFeel free to email me with any questions/comments/etc, thanks for your time\nand I'm looking forward to hearing from you.\n\nAdam <adam@bill.to>\n\n------\nroger_lee\nCaptain401 (YC S15) | San Francisco, CA | Full Time | ONSITE\n\nWe're building the perfect retirement savings plan for startups and small\nbusinesses. We make essential HR administration a snap for businesses large\nand small, and sound investing strategy accessible to everyone.\n\nWe also raised a substantial seed round from top investors:\n[http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2016/02/24/captain401-ra...](http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2016/02/24/captain401-raises-3-5-million-\nto-help-small-business-employees-save-for-retirement/). If you’ve been wanting\nto dive into an early stage startup, this is the perfect time to start talking\nto us.\n\nWe're hiring for the following roles:\n\n* Full-stack Engineer (We use Node.js, React.js, Golang, and PostgreSQL)\n\n* Outbound Email Specialist / Outbound Demand Generation Expert\n\n* Account Executive / Inside Sales\n\nPlease reach out to careers@captain401.com, or apply at\n[https://captain401.com/careers](https://captain401.com/careers)\n\n------\nsupac\nHockeystick | Toronto, Canada | Full-Time | Onsite | Canada Citizen or\nPermanent Resident\n\nWe're a fintech startup\n([https://www.hockeystick.co/](https://www.hockeystick.co/)) with a big vision\nfor using data to improve how private capital markets and innovation clusters\nwork. With Hockeystick, you can automate your data collection and reporting\nprocess while making use of that insight for better analysis. Funds can\ncapture private company data and measure portfolio performance in less time,\nand even evaluate the quantitative and qualitative impact of startup programs\nand services with ease.\n\nOur small team is set to accomplish some lofty goals this year and we want you\ninvolved.\n\nRoles we are hiring for include: * Software Engineer - Ruby on Rails 4, HTML\n5, CSS 3, Javascript * Data Engineer - Python, ETL, DevOps\n\nFor more information, please visit\n[https://www.hockeystick.co/about#jobs](https://www.hockeystick.co/about#jobs)\nor forward your CV to jobs@hockeystick.co\n\n------\njdawe\nJovio - [http://jovio.com](http://jovio.com) | Full-stack Engineer | Austin,\nTX | ONSITE | Fulltime\n\nJovio is an early-stage, funded tech startup in the real estate industry\nlooking for full-stack software engineers to join its growing team in Austin.\nWe are seeking to transform the traditional experience of selling your home\ninto one that is easier, more convenient, stress-free, and puts more money in\nyour pocket.\n\nOur stack is Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, and React. Ideal candidates have some\ncombination of 2-3 years experience in Ruby on Rails and 1-2 years experience\nin React and Redux (React Native a plus). This is a unique opportunity to join\na startup on the ground floor and make a massive impact on the product and the\nteam. We are really inspired by Netflix’s “Seven Aspects of our Culture”.\n\nOur interview process begins with an initial informal phone screen, followed\nby a conversation with our CEO and a technical phone interview with our\ntechnical advisors.\n\nSend your stuff to my Gmail address (jonathan.dawe) and please mention HN.\n\n------\nasokumar\nCoupa Software Inc. | Software Engineer, Test Automation - Web Services| San\nMateo, CA | Full-time, Onsite\n\nCoupa Software (NASDAQ: COUP) is the cloud platform for business spend. We\ndeliver “Value as a Service” by helping our customers maximize their spend\nunder management, achieve significant cost savings and drive profitability.\nCoupa provides a unified, cloud-based spend management platform that connects\nhundreds of organizations representing the Americas, EMEA, and APAC with\nmillions of suppliers globally. The Coupa platform provides greater visibility\ninto and control over how companies spend money. Customers – small, medium and\nlarge – have used the Coupa platform to bring billions of dollars in\ncumulative spend under management. Learn more at www.coupa.com. Read more on\nthe Coupa Blog or follow @Coupa on Twitter.\n\nApply Here:\n[http://www.coupa.com/careers/openings/?p=job/oA1I4fw7&nl=1](http://www.coupa.com/careers/openings/?p=job/oA1I4fw7&nl=1)\n\n------\ncnbuff410\nStryd, Boulder, CO, Techstars Boulder 2015 | Intern | Mobile Developer or Full\nStack Developer\n\n[http://www.stryd.com](http://www.stryd.com)\n\nStryd is a multidisciplinary team that is enthusiastic about the future of\nwearable technology for athletes. Out of this passion, we've developed the\nworld’s first wearable power meter for runners that provides insight into\ntheir running technique and performance.\n\nWe are looking for Full-stack developers and mobile developers . We use plain\njavascript/HTML/CSS for the main page and Polymer/D3JS for the other critical\nparts. We also develop both iOS/Android mobile app in house.\n\nWe also want you to be an endurance runner, or a triathlete, or at least to\nhave the passion about running. This is very important.\n\nGood sense of design is bonus.\n\nBeing able to relocate to Boulder for the internship is required. BTW, if you\nlike running, Boulder is pretty much your dream place. You get tons of\nopportunities to run and train with LOTS of elite athletes who are Stryd\nambassadors here.\n\nIf interested, please send an email to kun@stryd.com\n\n------\nghogi\nGotthardt Health Group AG | Full Time | Heidelberg, Germany | C++ Developers /\nSystem Administrator / Python Back-End Developer\n\nGotthardt Healthgroup AG [http://www.gotthardt.com](http://www.gotthardt.com)\nis hiring several C++ Developers, one Python Back-End Developer and one System\nAdministrator in Heidelberg. Preferably full time on site, but freelancing and\nremote work might be negotiable.\n\nOur small company has the mission to put medical evidence to action and our\nproduct helps many medical doctors with their day to day work. We now look to\nscale up our capacity.\n\nWe are located directly in the beautiful old city. Working here in our awesome\noffice includes free drinks, free coffee and free fruit. Plenty of lunch\noptions around.\n\n11/12 in the Joel Test (no Hallway usability testing yet). We mainly focus and\nQt in C++, Django in Python and Linux (Ubuntu) as host systems. Our product\nruns on Windows.\n\nInterested? Send your CV and a few words about you to jobs@gotthardt.com and\nmention hackernews in the subject for special treatment :)\n\n------\nhandyman5\nQuantcast ([https://www.quantcast.com](https://www.quantcast.com)) | Senior\nSoftware & Systems Engineers, Developer Tools | San Francisco, CA | ONSITE |\nFull-time\n\nDeveloper Tools scales our developers' joy. We deliver tools to make our\nglobal engineering corps happier and more productive while they build systems\nthat process over 40 PB/day. We own CI/CD, monitoring and alerting,\ncollaboration tools, and lots more. If running one of those sounds\ninteresting, drop me a line at acompton@quantcast.com or apply below.\n\nSenior Software Engineer:\n[https://www.quantcast.com/careers/7ed14e90-4cd5-43a7-be5b-57...](https://www.quantcast.com/careers/7ed14e90-4cd5-43a7-be5b-57a31974ff21/)\nSenior Systems Engineer:\n[https://www.quantcast.com/careers/c9d0bc2a-b258-462c-9e93-c7...](https://www.quantcast.com/careers/c9d0bc2a-b258-462c-9e93-c781deeb9281/)\n\n------\nramikhalaf\nWorkpop | Santa Monica, CA | Front End Engineer | Full-time, onsite,\n(Relocation bonus, Visa Transfer, TN) | www.workpop.com | 5+ openings\n\nWorkpop is a well capitalized venture backed startup based in Santa Monica. We\nare streamlining hiring and HR for SMB’s and their employees. We provide\nemployers with sourcing, screening, digital onboarding and employee management\nall in one place. For job seekers, Workpop makes the job application process\nless painful by providing more transparency and personalized feedback on how\nto get the jobs they want. We’re transforming an outdated industry with\ninnovative technology and design, and we’re having a lot of fun doing it.\n\nWorkpop is looking for mission driven, talented, and passionate front-end\nsoftware engineers to join our growing team. You work where design meets code.\nYou know HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript like the back of your hand. You're\npassionate about experimentation, innovation, and playing around with the\nlatest front-end technologies. You write clean, compatible, powerful user\ninterfaces with speed. Bonus points if you are passionate about understanding\nyour audience, and dreaming up ways to build great experiences for them. As a\ncore member of our growing team, you’ll work closely with the rest of our\ndesign, engineering, product, team to turn ideas into tangible user\nexperiences. You'll combine your keen design sense, stellar front-end chops,\nand the right technologies, to realize these ideas and validate them with\nusers. Your wizardry will translate design concepts into living, breathing\nprototypes and finished products. We are a JavaScript shop: React, Meteor,\nnode.\n\nYou can apply here\n[https://www.workpop.com/jobs/64oY9i6iFYPmDGSDg](https://www.workpop.com/jobs/64oY9i6iFYPmDGSDg)\nand mention hackernews, or reach out to me at 'rami' at ‘workpop.com’\n\n------\nagilebyte\nNeuranet | Senior JavaScript Developer | Toronto, Canada |\n[http://flexitive.com](http://flexitive.com)\n\nWe're a small engineering team building the future of HTML5 content creation.\nOur browser-based design product (Flexitive) allows designers to build content\n~once~ and have it look great on any screen. We are primarily Javascript (ES6)\nbased. Angular and React on the frontend, Node on the backend. We're looking\nfor a senior software engineer, ideally with good knowledge of the latest\nbrowser tech and experience building complicated content for a range of\nbrowsers/devices/screen sizes. Prior startup experience is a big plus.\n\nCheck out our team page here:\n[http://neuranet.com/team](http://neuranet.com/team)\n\nApply via our Indeed posting and mention HN:\n[https://employers.indeed.com/m#jobs/view?id=6944da599937](https://employers.indeed.com/m#jobs/view?id=6944da599937)\n\n------\ndplatzman\nDevOps Engineer | New York, NY, USA | Onsite | Full-time\n\nPlease apply at: [http://grnh.se/xfuk2j1](http://grnh.se/xfuk2j1)\n\nThis is an opportunity to join a highly credible and well-funded (over $10\nmillion) stealth tech startup in NYC. We’re looking for someone with a history\nof building amazing applications to join our team. You'll be working with a\ngroup of very passionate engineers and designers that are dedicated to\nbuilding a successful mobile application. The Founding team is made up of\nmembers from Twitter, eBay, Gilt, Glamsquad, Yahoo, Apple, and Dropbox and our\nadvisory board include senior executives from Google, Facebook, Microsoft,\nTwitter, Square and Adobe.\n\nRequirements:\n\n\\- Senior level: 8+ years experience in industry, not necessarily in the same\narea. \\- At least one engagement as a team/tech lead. \\- Recent experience in\na Microservice or SOA environment, preferably at scale. \\- Has at least one\nnon-trivial contribution to an infrastructure project on github (in Go, Scala,\nor Java)\n\n------\ncialowicz\nGlassdoor | Mill Valley, CA (near San Francisco) | Senior Software Engineer\n(and other roles) | Full-time | Onsite |\n[https://www.glassdoor.com/glassdoor](https://www.glassdoor.com/glassdoor)\n\nWe’re on a mission to help people everywhere find a job and a company they\nlove. In the process, we’re transforming an entire industry through the power\nof transparency. Join us!\n\nWe have excellent benefits and perks: free catered lunch and snacks, 100%\nhealth care coverage with 90% dependent coverage, unlimited PTO, dog-friendly\noffice located in beautiful Mill Valley (on the water), free parking, onsite\ngym, and more!\n\nWe have a number of engineering roles open:\n\n* Senior Software Engineer: [https://www.glassdoor.com/job-listing/senior-java-software-e...](https://www.glassdoor.com/job-listing/senior-java-software-engineer-glassdoor-JV_IC1147372_KO0,29_KE30,39.htm?jl=1575726912)\n\n* Senior Software Engineer in Test: [https://www.glassdoor.com/job-listing/senior-software-engine...](https://www.glassdoor.com/job-listing/senior-software-engineer-in-test-glassdoor-JV_IC1147372_KO0,32_KE33,42.htm?jl=1973762024)\n\n* Senior Web Developer: [https://www.glassdoor.com/job-listing/senior-web-developer-g...](https://www.glassdoor.com/job-listing/senior-web-developer-glassdoor-JV_IC1147372_KO0,20_KE21,30.htm?jl=2279449132)\n\nMore openings for management, product, sales, and other engineering roles\nhere: [https://www.glassdoor.com/Jobs/Glassdoor-\nJobs-E100431.htm](https://www.glassdoor.com/Jobs/Glassdoor-Jobs-E100431.htm)\n\n~~~\nsceew\nDog-friendly office -- what about people who are allergic to dogs?\n\n~~~\ncialowicz\nIf you have allergies or just don't like dogs, we have dog-free zones. Also,\nwe only allow well-behaved dogs that keep to themselves. I have pretty severe\nallergies to dogs (and cats), and have no issues here.\n\n------\ncaitlinspothero\nSpotHero | Chicago, IL | [http://spothero.com](http://spothero.com) SpotHero\nis changing parking, and our tools will redefine the transportation industry.\nWith over a million cars parked, fast growth, and solid funding\n([https://angel.co/spothero](https://angel.co/spothero)), SpotHero offers\ncountless ways to make an impact on the company and your career.\n\nSenior Engineer - Platform -\n[https://spothero.com/careers/570628](https://spothero.com/careers/570628)\nSpotHero is seeking a Senior Engineer for our Platform Team. You will be\nresponsible for building all things related to our Platform Services and\nInfrastructure that power our website, our API, and our native apps.\n\nTo apply, please email your resume to jobs@spothero.com. Include any github\naccount, linkedin profile, and any project that you’re particularly proud of.\nWe love seeing work that others loved working on.\n\n------\nknocte\nGatecoin ([http://gatecoin.com](http://gatecoin.com)) | Hong Kong ONSITE |\nMultiple Positions | Fulltime | (INTERNS also welcome, VISA sponsor)\n\nWe're a regulated exchange for bitcoin, ether and other blockchain assets\nbased in Hong Kong, with many projects in our backlog!\n\nWe're looking for technical folks to join our growing international team of\nblockchain technology specialists:\n\na) Devs: Backend, Fullstack, Mobile (soonish via Xamarin)\n\nb) QA (using NUnit, canopy, etc)\n\nc) DevOps (using Ansible+Linux+GitLabCI)\n\nd) Hybrid roles of the above\n\nOur production environments are Debian, using technologies such as Redis and\nMySQL.\n\nOur codebase is leaning more and more towards functional programming, in\nparticular F#.\n\nGet in contact to know more at andres at gatecoin dot com, using the subject\n\"Interested in Gatecoin roles\".\n\nWe help with sponsorship/relocation to Hong Kong.\n\nSome nice perks we have:\n\n\\- 10% of \"free to tinker\" time\n\n\\- 10% of remote work time allowed\n\n\\- International (more than 10 nationalities in same office), friendly work\nenvironment\n\nWant to make a difference in the blockchain space? Join like-minded people and\nwork together to bring about the decentralized financial revolution!\n\n~~~\nKrishnaKanhaiya\nHi, I am a master's student pursuing Mathematics & Computer Science at the\nIndian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur with specialization in\noptimization. I am also a Google Summer of Code, 2016 fellow. I will be\ngraduating in April, 2017. I am interested in the job profile. I am attaching\nthe link to my webpage : [https://ayush-iitkgp.github.io/](https://ayush-\niitkgp.github.io/)\n\nDo revert back if you find me a good fit.\n\n~~~\nStratoscope\nHi Krishna, welcome to \"Who is hiring?\"\n\nJust FYI, applying directly here in the thread isn't how it's done. Imagine if\neveryone did that! :-)\n\nOf course if you have a question about a company or position, and you think\nthe answer may be of interest to others, it's good to ask here.\n\nOtherwise, to apply for a job, contact the employer through the links they\nprovide.\n\nBest of luck!\n\np.s. In your last sentence, the word you're looking for is \"reply\", not\n\"revert\".\n\n~~~\nKrishnaKanhaiya\nHi, Thanks !!!! Got your point :)\n\n------\nmoss_whitney\nTriggr Health | Full Stack and Data Engineers | Chicago | RELOCATION\n\nTriggr Health is the first predictive system of care for addiction recovery.\nWe are a world-class team of engineers, designers, doctors, and researchers\nfrom institutions such as Stanford, Google, UCSF School of Medicine, UPENN,\nNorthwestern, and Rackspace. We are currently working with many of the top\ntreatment providers, government initiatives, health systems, and academic\nresearch programs in the world. Our core platform utilizes phone sensors and\nphone data to predict the state of an individual’s recovery in real-time,\nenabling the right care to be delivered proactively the moment it is needed.\nImagine if you could predict risk factors that lead to regressive behavior,\nsuch as when someone is angry; when they are experiencing a craving; when they\nare not sleeping well; or when they are falling off their continuing care\nplan. Now imagine doing all of this without self-reported data.\n\nWe are building apps on both Android and iOS, a customer-facing web\napplication, a robust web services API, machine learning-driven analytics, and\nlarge-scale data processing. Our tech stack includes NodeJS and MongoDB on the\nbackend, Backbone on the frontend, React Native, Swift and Java for mobile,\nand Python 3 for machine learning.\n\nWe are always looking for talented people to join our team. If you could be\ndescribed as one of the following, please email talent@triggrhealth.com!\n\nSr Full Stack Engineer Jr Full Stack Engineer Data Engineer\n\nFull job descriptions here: [https://angel.co/triggr-\nhealth/jobs](https://angel.co/triggr-health/jobs)\n\nAt Triggr Health we value diversity and endeavor to treat everyone with\nrespect, no matter their age, gender, race, ethnicity, or sexual, cultural or\nideological preferences.\n\n------\nilleto\nCharlie Finance | San Francisco, CA | Onsite |\n[https://www.hicharlie.co](https://www.hicharlie.co)\n\nCharlie is a free, text-based behavioral robo-advisor that helps ordinary\npeople worry less about money. Our secret is that we realize that no one\nactually wants to think about money or look at charts, but everyone wants to\ndo the right thing at the right time.\n\nWe are very well funded, our engagement is extraordinarily strong, and our\nuser base is growing rapidly. So, we have the freedom and the runway to build\ncutting-edge technology that can improve the financial health of millions. If\nthis is an adventure you want to go on, join us!\n\nWe are looking for curious, relentless devs who care about everyday people and\nwho can teach us a thing or two.\n\nInterview Process: We’ll ask you normal interview questions, but as we are\nstill a very small team, we will also spend just as much time learning about\nwhat kind of person you are and how you’ll help us define this company and\nculture.\n\nStack: Python, Django, AWS.\n\nIf you are interested, please email join@hicharlie.co\n\n------\nMartinMond\nPSPDFKit | Senior Frontend Engineer | Vienna, Austria, EU or REMOTE UTC +- 5\nhours\n\nWe're looking to hire an experienced web developer to join our team working on\nPSPDFKit for Web. PSPDFKit is the leading PDF framework on iOS, it's used by\nDropbox, IBM and Evernote, and we want PSPDFKit for Web to match and surpass\nthat level.\n\nPSPDFKit for Web is a ES2016+ React project, using Flow type annotations,\nRedux and Immutable.js. WebSockets are used for real-time communication. Our\ncustomers host the PSPDFKit for Web Docker container themselves and embed the\nJavaScript library in their web apps.\n\nCheck it out at [https://pspdfkit.com/web](https://pspdfkit.com/web)\n\nPSPDFKit is a fully bootstrapped company, with headquarters in Vienna,\nAustria, and a team that can be found all over the world in places like\nRaleigh, Hamburg, Ljubljana, Kiev, Mexico City, Bratislava, Cologne and\nLondon. We are committed to having the best developers from all over the\nworld.\n\nMost of us are around the UTC timezone. We found that working with people\nwithin 6 hours of time difference works best and we have a few people in EST\n(UTC-5). Other, more distant timezones might work but only in exceptional\ncases.\n\nWe are looking for people joining our team - not for outsourcing companies or\nrecruiting agencies.\n\nJob ad: [https://pspdfkit.com/jobs/#senior-frontend-web-\nengineer](https://pspdfkit.com/jobs/#senior-frontend-web-engineer)\n\nHere's everything you need to know about our hiring process:\n[https://pspdfkit.com/blog/2016/hiring-a-distributed-\nteam/](https://pspdfkit.com/blog/2016/hiring-a-distributed-team/)\n\n~~~\nzerr\nDo you differentiate compensation by region/country?\n\n~~~\nMartinMond\nYes, we take region/country into consideration, but ultimately performance can\nnegate that.\n\n~~~\nzerr\nBut if you ask someone in the poor country to have more performance compared\nto colleague from the rich country, assuming they are on the same\nlevel/position, you still differentiate by country/region...\n\n------\nbotswana99\nDataKitchen | Full Stack Principal/Lead Software Engineer | Boston/Cambridge,\nMA | ONSITE full-time\n[https://www.datakitchen.io/](https://www.datakitchen.io/)\n\nDataKitchen, Inc. enables analytic teams to deliver value quickly, with high\nquality, using the tools that they love. DataKitchen provides the world’s\nfirst DataOps platform for data-driven enterprises, enabling them to support\ndata analytics that can be quickly and robustly adapted to meet evolving\nrequirements. DataKitchen is leading the DataOps movement to incorporate Agile\nSoftware Development, DevOps, and manufacturing based statistical process\ncontrol into analytics and data management. Our company is profitable, stable,\nrapidly growing and stock will be part of the package.\n\nStack = (Angular, CoffeeScript, Python, AWS, big data, docker, mesos,\nredshift)\n\nWe offer very competitive pay, benefits like a company funded 401K,\nexperienced team (we all code), amazing customers, equity, and a cool office\nlocation.\n\nContact info@datakitchen.io\n\n------\njkruzek\nVerdigris | Mountain View, CA\n\nLooking for:\n\n* Technical Sales Engineer (Full time)\n\nApply here: [https://vdgr.is/2koNGvP](https://vdgr.is/2koNGvP)\n\nAs a Technical Sales Engineer at Verdigris, you're part sales and part\ntechnologist. You’ll work with our marketing, sales and business development\ncolleagues. We'll drive sales throughput and create organizational and product\nlearning. As an early member of a startup company you'll help in post-sales\nsupport too. Your flexibility for logistics, RMA or technical support makes\nyou a connector between customer and product teams.\n\nAt Verdigris, we organize ourselves as small agile teams, typically sized\nbetween 3 to 8 people. Growth drives customer acquisition, platform\ndeployment, and revenue growth for the company. Your team is cross-functional,\nwith diverse and deep experience in sales, marketing, business development,\nproduct marketing, data science and coding. We’re searching for the right\nteammate to share our collaborative focus.\n\nYou can find more information about us at verdigris.co\n\n------\nsharethisTA\nShareThis | Data Science Engineer | Palo Alto | ONSITE ONSITE Full-Time | H1B\nTransfers OK\n\nOpen positions:\n\nPrincipal Software Engineer - Data Science Platform Senior Software Engineer -\nData\n\nShareThis is a sharing intelligence network that spans across platform walled\ngardens (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc). We transform real-time data\ninsights from shared engagements into actionable moments that deliver results\nfor marketers and publishers.\n\nWe're looking for principal level engineers with a background in Java/Spark\nand knowledge of machine learning/data science. You'll be coming in to build\nout our machine learning engine that'll drastically improve our understanding\nof sharing data. You'll be the conduit between our data engineering and our\ndata science team here.\n\nIf you're interested in joining our machine learning efforts and exploring all\nthe use cases of activating social sharing data, email me directly at\nrana@sharethis.com with Hacker News in the subject name. Feel free to read\nmore about the role here: go.sharethis.com/datarole\n\n------\nshapeshiftio\nShapeShift | Multiple Positions | Denver, CO | FULLTIME | ONSITE\n\nWe are a rapidly-growing VC-backed FinTech startup, focusing in the\nBitcoin/blockchain sector. We need outstanding engineers (who are also great\npeople) to join our fun and productive team, helping to build and manage our\nplatform(s) as we change the future.\n\nWe are about to go through a new hiring round looking for: \\- Full Stack\nSoftware Engineers \\- MEAN/MERN stack developers (focus on Node.js) \\- Front-\nend UI/UX developers \\- Devops Engineers \\- Quality Assurance Engineers\n\nMore description in the following ads:\n\n[https://goo.gl/PrqqpU](https://goo.gl/PrqqpU)\n[https://goo.gl/mb892e](https://goo.gl/mb892e)\n[https://goo.gl/fSMA4c](https://goo.gl/fSMA4c)\n[https://goo.gl/R50N0c](https://goo.gl/R50N0c)\n\nApply through the above links or send resumes/examples of code to\njon@shapeshift.io\n\n------\ncdgregg\nClassDojo | San Francisco | Full Time, On-site |\n[https://classdojo.com](https://classdojo.com)\n\nClassDojo is looking for React-Native developers to join our team to help\nintegrate React-Native into our massively popular Android app.\n\nIf you have Android experience and this sounds interesting, we'd love to chat\nwith you. React-Native is easy to teach, so if you have no React-Native\nexperience yet, but you're excited to learn something new, we'd love to chat\nwith you too. We're looking for strong generalists and great teammates to help\nchange the future of education.\n\nAndroid and Java experience is essential for this role. We're happy to train\nanyone without React-Native experience at all, but we want to make sure we're\nworking with someone who has existing experience developing on Android.\n\n[https://jobs.lever.co/classdojo/72442c2b-be83-47c6-8fdc-\naec0...](https://jobs.lever.co/classdojo/72442c2b-be83-47c6-8fdc-aec0e9096e29)\n\n~~~\nbohnej\nThis company doesn't respond to all job applicants.\n\n------\ntemuze\nMoat | Software Engineer | New York City | FULLTIME, ONSITE\n\nMoat is an adtech startup with products in two core areas:\n\n1) Analytics\n\nMoat Analytics measures content and advertisements for many of the most\ntrafficked websites on the Internet. Most new ad deals require third party\nmeasurement and for many of the top brands and websites, Moat's metrics are\nthe go-to. We were one of the first companies to begin measuring ad\nviewability and we helped make these metrics a standard in the online ad\nindustry. We handle over 19 billion impressions a day and tackle large\nscalability problems every day.\n\n2) Search Moat Search tells you who's advertising where online. We give\nadvertisers, publishers and other adtech companies an overview of the entire\nonline ad ecosystem (kind of like the Bloomberg of the ad world). Our\ncustomers can see their competitors' ad campaigns, find prospects by seeing\nthe clients of similar companies or see trends in the industry before anyone\nelse. We have a free product, moat.com and a premium product, Moat Pro.\n\nWe recently raised $50M and we're still growing very quickly:\n\n[https://www.wsj.com/articles/moat-raises-50-million-to-\nhelp-...](https://www.wsj.com/articles/moat-raises-50-million-to-help-develop-\ndigital-ad-currency-1458554401)\n\nBoth technical and non-technical openings can be found at\n[http://moat.com/jobs](http://moat.com/jobs). Among other things, we're\nlooking for frontend/backend/fullstack engineers, devops engineers, and\nsecurity engineers.\n\nThe interview process involves a short coding assignment, 1-2 phone interviews\nand onsite.\n\nQuestions? Email me at rodrigo.menezes <at> moat.com\n\n------\necosystech\n\n       Eco (kojikondo@stanford.edu) | Frontend Engineer | Palo Alto, Los Angeles\n       Eco (kojikondo@stanford.edu) | Backend Engineer | Palo Alto, Los Angeles\n       Eco (kojikondo@stanford.edu) | Web Developer | Palo Alto, Los Angeles\n    \n\nWe're a web startup based in Silicon Valley and we're seeking web developers\nwith deep knowledge and interests in social sciences, humanities, and various\nweb subculture. We're building a platform and infrastructure for a robust and\ndiverse economic ecosystem that'll facilitate hundreds of millions of people\nto derive income from focusing on their passions full time: a unity of work\nand life.\n\nWe feel that the web is not as magical in 2017 as it was in 2009 (Yes, 2009\nspecifically was a magical year for the web). We understand the practical\npossibilities that have not been realized: we're working together to realize\nthose possibilities.\n\nWe don’t believe that “being busy is a badge of honor” and that one must work\nlong hours to be productive. We want to create a fun environment where people\nlove to learn and explore. Our goal of unity with work and life is inherent in\nall facets of our startup, both in our product and though our culture.\n\nContact\n\nPlease address inquiries to Dave at the following address:\nkojikondo@stanford.edu\n\n    \n    \n      · Web developers can send a portfolio or Github link.\n      \n      · Resumes (optional); in our experience, resumes convey little about the applicants.\n      \n      · In the email please include responses to the two questions enumerated below:\n      \n      1. What about our company intrigues or resonates with you from our short description?\n      \n      2. If you had no economic concerns and could choose any activities and life trajectories, \n      what life would you want to live and what activities would you want to do? *(There are no wrong answers.)\n\n~~~\nRangerScience\nDo you guys have any web presence at the moment? Someplace I can go to see\nmore?\n\n------\nslajax\nFinn.ai | Senior Software Engineer | Vancouver, BC | ONSITE, FULLTIME |\n[https://angel.co/finn-ai/jobs](https://angel.co/finn-ai/jobs)\n\nFinn.ai is a small but rapidly growing fin-tech startup working in beautiful\nVancouver, BC. We are working with banking clients globally to deliver best in\nclass software products to their customers. We're looking for Senior Engineers\nand Data Scientists to join our small but growing team in Vancouver BC.\n\nIn this role you will have a lot of influence over the technical direction of\nour products. You will be iterating on our code base and helping design the\nbest practices that will ensure the product will scale. You will work directly\nwith the leadership team on defining requirements for the product.\n\nIf you are an enthusiastic, driven, self directed learner with experience\nusing JavaScript, Node.js, Python, RoR or something similar and want to be a\npart of the next big thing in banking. Give us a shout! We look forward to\nmeeting you!\n\n~~~\nalihaghani\nAre you guys hiring interns/co-ops at all?\n\n------\nmwiles\nPindrop - Ruby on Rails Engineer - Atlanta, GA - Full time - VISAs eligible\nfor those already located in the U.S. - ONSITE\n\nPindrop is the pioneer in voice fraud prevention and authentication. We\nprovide enterprise solutions to reduce fraud losses and authentication expense\nfor some of the largest call centers in the world. Pindrop’s patented\nPhoneprinting™ technology can identify, locate and authenticate phone devices\nuniquely just from the call audio thereby detecting fraudulent calls as well\nas verifying legitimate callers.\n\nWe are venture backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Google Capital, IVP, Citi\nVentures, Felicis Ventures, & GV.\n\nWe are looking for an experienced Ruby on Rails Engineer to work with a\ngrowing team to maintain and upgrade a production web application. We use\nRails, JavaScript, SQL, React, Python, and more.\n\nYou can do more research and apply here: [https://www.pindrop.com/careers-\nopen-positions/?gh_jid=55044...](https://www.pindrop.com/careers-open-\npositions/?gh_jid=550441)\n\n------\nadambutler\nNexmo | Technical Writer | London, UK | ONSITE | Fulltime\n\nNow a Vonage Company, Nexmo is the emerging leader in the $100B+ cloud\ncommunications platform (CPaaS) market. Customers like Airbnb, Viber, Line,\nWhatsapp, Snapchat, and many others depend on our APIs and SDKs to connect\nwith their customers all over the world.\n\nAs a Technical Writer at Nexmo your main responsibilities will be to translate\ntechnical specifications into high quality developer focused documentation and\nensure that the documentation standards (style, tone of voice etc.) are\nadhered to within the Nexmo Developer Center (NDC). You will work as part of\nthe Developer Relations team to create content within the NDC and ensure it is\nseen as offering an amazing developer experience.\n\nMore details at: [https://jobbio.com/jobs/view?id=41292&location=london-\nenglan...](https://jobbio.com/jobs/view?id=41292&location=london-england-\nunited-kingdom&company=nexmo&job=technical-writer?utm_sourcelinked-in)\n\n------\ncrcastle\nHeroku is hiring! I'm a Heroku Dev Advocate. Here are the open roles that work\nwith me, but there are a few other openings (python, node, managers):\n[https://www.heroku.com/careers#openings](https://www.heroku.com/careers#openings)\n\ncastle@heroku.com if you see anything interesting.\n\n\\- Lead Marketing Designer / Front-End Dev\n[https://www.heroku.com/careers/lead-marketing-\ndesigner-220](https://www.heroku.com/careers/lead-marketing-designer-220)\n\n\\- Senior Technical Product Marketing Manager\n[https://www.heroku.com/careers/senior-manager-technical-\nprod...](https://www.heroku.com/careers/senior-manager-technical-product-\nmarketing-239)\n\n\\- Developer Events Manager [https://www.heroku.com/careers/marketing-manager-\ndeveloper-e...](https://www.heroku.com/careers/marketing-manager-developer-\nevents-heroku-230)\n\n------\nmfreiert\nLovepop | Boston | Full Time | ONSITE\n\nWe're hiring for numerous tech/prod positions, notably: \\- Senior Full Stack\n\\- Dev Ops (req is not up yet) \\- Data Analyst/Engineering \\-\nVisual/UI/Product Design\n\nYou can see all our roles at:\n[https://www.lovepopcards.com/pages/jobs](https://www.lovepopcards.com/pages/jobs)\n\nI'm Max, and I head up product at Lovepop. we combine hardcore engineering\nwith paper to make amazing 3D greeting cards and invitations. We're building a\ncustomization engine on top of of our product and are building out a team\naround it. We closed a $6m A round in November and have a very fast growing,\nsurprisingly large e-commerce/direct-to-consumer business.\n\nOur interview process starts with screening directly with myself or our head\nof engineering, depending on the role may involve a (small!) piece of homework\nand a few hours with various members of our team. We don't believe in coding\nwhiteboards!\n\nReach out with q's! max (at) lovepopcards.com\n\n------\ngedmark\nAstranis (YC W16) | San Francisco, CA | Full-Time | Onsite | US Citizen or\nGreen Card\n\nWe’re building small, low-cost telecommunications satellites. Our mission is\nto help bring the 4 billion people online who are without internet. And to\npull it off we have to reinvent microwave-frequency radios in space using\nSDRs.\n\nWork with engineers from SpaceX, Google, Qualcomm, and Planet Labs who have\nflown things in space before. Well-funded, but still a small team that moves\nfast. No prior space experience needed, you just need to enjoy getting your\nhands dirty with real hardware and be ok with struggling to do things that\nseem impossibly hard.\n\nRoles we’re hiring for include:\n\n* Electrical -- PCB design, layout, bringup, test. Bonus: experience with fault-tolerant systems or power electronics\n\n* RF/Microwave -- work across a broad range designing and implementing RF systems at microwave frequencies, including LNAs and power amplifiers\n\n* DSP/FPGA -- program FPGA hardware, develop custom DSP IP cores and integrate off-the-shelf IP cores\n\nPlease email john@astranis.com if you’re interested in learning more.\n\n------\ndannyrosen\nKemp Technologies | Product Managers, Network Engineers, Customer Support |\nNew York, Limerick, Ireland | Full-Time\n\nWhat we do: We make some of the best Application Delivery Control technology\nin the world that is easily deployable, in real time; anywhere, anytime and on\nany platform.\n\nWho we are: KEMP Technologies is one of the fastest growing ADC vendors in the\nworld with over 26,000 customers (including NASA, Apple, EA, Fender, Dyson,\nSONY & NYPD) and offices in New York, Long Island, Santa Clara, Limerick,\nHannover and Singapore. KEMP was ranked #1 ADC vendor by growth in 2013 and #3\nADC vendor by units shipped worldwide in 2013. KEMP Technologies has been\nnamed in Crain's 2014 New York Business Fast 50, Inc. 2014 Fast 5000 and\nDeloitte 2014 Technology Fast 500 and is a disruptive and innovative force in\nthe ADC space globally.\n[http://life.kemptechnologies.com/](http://life.kemptechnologies.com/)\n\nIf you'd like to learn more: drosen at kemptechnologies dot com\n\n------\nasokumar\nCoupa Software Inc. | Software Engineer, Cloud Ops Test Automation| Pune,\nIndia | Full-time, Onsite\n\nCoupa Software (NASDAQ: COUP) is the cloud platform for business spend. We\ndeliver “Value as a Service” by helping our customers maximize their spend\nunder management, achieve significant cost savings and drive profitability.\nCoupa provides a unified, cloud-based spend management platform that connects\nhundreds of organizations representing the Americas, EMEA, and APAC with\nmillions of suppliers globally. The Coupa platform provides greater visibility\ninto and control over how companies spend money. Customers – small, medium and\nlarge – have used the Coupa platform to bring billions of dollars in\ncumulative spend under management. Learn more at www.coupa.com. Read more on\nthe Coupa Blog or follow @Coupa on Twitter.\n\nApply Here:\n[http://www.coupa.com/careers/openings/?p=job%2Fo60I4fwC](http://www.coupa.com/careers/openings/?p=job%2Fo60I4fwC)\n\n------\nenascimento\nPagar.me | São Paulo - Brazil | Full-time | ONSITE\n\nWe're looking for software developers and devops engineers to join our team\nand help us build the best payment system in the galaxy.\n\nIn terms of technology, we use JavaScript(node.js), React, Angular, Go, PHP,\nPostgres, Mongo, AWS.\n\nPlease send your resumé to: venhapara@pagar.me\n\nLearn more about us at [https://pagar.me](https://pagar.me)\n\n~~~\nGoodbyeEarl\nnice stack, man. Hate Angular though. Any node.js or mongo? React + Redux, I\npresume, right? I'm from Poa. :) Would love to tackle Go any time.\n\n~~~\nenascimento\nSorry, I forgot to mention, we use node.js and mongo too.\n\nOur actual dashboard uses Angular, and we're building a brand new with React.\n\n~~~\naclsid\nPlease make sure the new one works well with mobile devices. I tried the\ncurrent dashboard but only works in the desktop, looks really nice though even\nif a bit cluttered. But otherwise keep up the good work.\n\n~~~\nenascimento\nAbsolutely, is a mandatory requirement for the future version :)\n\n------\nkassovic\nResearch Data Scientist (w/m) for Applied Biophysics @ Beiersdorf\n\nREQUIREMENTS:\n\n-An extremely good degree in natural sciences, engineering, or IT, plus a doctorate if possible (preferably in computer science, mathematics, or physics)\n\n-Very good theoretical and practical knowledge of mathematics, physics and software / algorithm development (like R, Python), especially in the areas of big data and machine learning/deep learning#A strong entrepreneurial drive plus an extremely creative approach to/enthusiasm for research\n\n-Initial experience of working in a tech start-up environment and/or of wearable data processing is an advantage but not a must\n\n-International exposure in the course of your studies, or as an intern or visiting researcher, is an advantage\n\n-Interest in and willingness to pursue a career in an international group\n\n-Excellent English and a willingness to learn German if you don’t already speak it\n\nAPPLY:\n[https://career.beiersdorfgroup.com/jobs?refcode=DE_17_0086](https://career.beiersdorfgroup.com/jobs?refcode=DE_17_0086)\n\n~~~\ndaxald\nSent in an application!\n\n------\nppandey\nAsana ([https://asana.com/jobs/eng](https://asana.com/jobs/eng)) | San\nFrancisco, CA . New York, NY | ONSITE Software Engineers (generalists and\nspecialists: mobile, web, api, infra, security)\n\nWe’re a mid-stage startup (~250 people) building a SaaS product that allows\nteams to track their work and achieve their most ambitious goals. We are\nlooking to grow our team with engineers and managers who want to build\nenterprise software that delights users while ensuring the highest level of\nsecurity, availability and performance. We're hiring across all of our teams\nin SF and NY, each of which has 2-5 engs at a time and is responsible for\nprojects from inception through launch and beyond. We value distributed\nresponsibility, mindfulness, and maximizing impact, which leads to an\nengineering culture that focuses on shipping quickly (and sustainably) as well\nas mentorship.\n\nOur interview process consists of a written test, phone interview, followed by\non-site interviews. You can view our interviewing guide at\n[http://asa.na/interview](http://asa.na/interview) Here are a few links in\ncase you are interested in learning more: Engineering Blog:\n[https://blog.asana.com/category/eng/](https://blog.asana.com/category/eng/)\nAsana's vision doc and where we are going:\n[http://asa.na/vision](http://asa.na/vision) Our Engineering Values:\n[https://asa.na/14g](https://asa.na/14g) Our co-founder Dustin on why work-\nlife balance is so important to us: [http://asa.na/live-\nwell](http://asa.na/live-well) Please email me at hn@asana.com if you're\ninterested in our engineering positions.\n\n~~~\nmalhaar\nHey! Thanks for sharing it again! I did apply to few engg positions last\nmonth, but did get a reply yet. Could you please elaborate more on the\nprocess? Thanks!\n\n------\nzach-kuhn\nSmashing Boxes | Multiple Positions | Durham NC, New Orleans LA | ONSITE\n[https://smashingboxes.com/](https://smashingboxes.com/)\n\nWho we're looking for:\n\n    \n    \n      - iOS Developers\n      - QA Engineers\n      - Designers\n      - Project Managers\n      - Digital Marketing Interns\n    \n\nSmashing Boxes is a digital product agency with locations in Raleigh-Durham\nand New Orleans. Our team is growing and we're looking for people who are\ncurious, kind, creative, and great at what they do. We work with exciting\nclients ranging from startups trying to get new ideas off the ground to\nFortune 500 companies tackling big challenges.\n\nOur interview process typically consists of an informal phone screen, and an\nhour or two of on-site interviews with team members and your future manager.\n\nApply to any of our openings at\n[https://smashingboxes.com/careers/](https://smashingboxes.com/careers/) or\ncontact me directly at zach@smashingboxes.com.\n\n------\nbrendanmh\nMountain Hub | Front-end Engineer | Park City, UT | ONSITE\n\nDo you want a proper job based in a ski resort?\n\nWe are looking for a front-end engineer to work on our website that shows\nreal-time observations about safety and experiences in the outdoors.\n\nOur company is well funded with around 20 employees in Park City and Chamonix.\nThis position is onsite in our Park City office.\n\nThe position involves producing new features for, and maintaining our single\npage web app which uses React and leaflet for the map layers and observations,\nwhich are sourced from the Mountain Hub iOS and Android apps.\n\nAs our app ([http://app.mountainhub.com](http://app.mountainhub.com)) is all\nabout the outdoors, we get to play outside. If that appeals to your, please\ncontact me (brendan@mountainhub.com) or apply through the link below.\n\nSee more on our Lever Job Posting:\n\n[https://jobs.lever.co/mountainhub/a51ed858-b716-40ad-8329-c7...](https://jobs.lever.co/mountainhub/a51ed858-b716-40ad-8329-c7983453fd18)\n\n------\nsdabby\nClickTime |\n[https://www.clicktime.com/company/jobs](https://www.clicktime.com/company/jobs)\n| Onsite San Francisco; Austin, TX also possible for QA | Full Time\n\nABOUT US: We help businesses become more productive every day. We're a\nbootstrapped, profitable, 33-person company going through an exciting stage of\ngrowth.\n\nINTERVIEW PROCESS: Two phone interviews, one to two onsite interview/s\ndepending on the role, and reference checks. Most of our interviews also\ninclude a short practical component (e.g. coding exercise, QA exercise,\nproduct demo, Excel exercise, etc) that would reflect your day-to-day work at\nClickTime.\n\nROLES: Director of Customer Success - Customer Support Specialist - Quality\nAssurance Tester - Senior Front End (JavaScript) Developer - Sales Development\nRepresentative\n\nAPPLY:\n[https://www.clicktime.com/company/jobs](https://www.clicktime.com/company/jobs)\n\nPlease email sdabby@clicktime.com with any questions!\n\n------\ncdouglasosborn\nMerlin Guides | Senior Software Engineer | New York | Onsite | Full-time\n\nMerlin Guides ([https://www.merlinguides.com](https://www.merlinguides.com))\nis trying to make training at companies considerably better. No more process\ndocuments or long training videos. Merlin allows you to create in-product step\nby step help, ontop of any web application (Salesforce, Jira, Asana...etc).\nFounded by a ex-Googler and finishing up a Seed round now is a great time to\njoin us.\n\nWe're looking for 2 great engineers: 1\\. More architecture, security and Dev\nOps but still enjoys getting stuck in with a bit of code once in awhile (Team\nlead position available if wanted) 2\\. More algorithm based, preferably with\nChrome Extension experience (Junior Developers fine too)\n\nIf you're interested you can read more here: [https://angel.co/merlin-\nguides-1/jobs](https://angel.co/merlin-guides-1/jobs)\n\nOr you can contact me direct charles AT merlinguides.com\n\n------\nthorgaardian\nConfirm.io | Backend Engineer | Boston, MA (ONSITE) | Full-time\n\nConfirm.io is an 18 month old, Series B funded SaaS startup providing APIs and\nSDKs to authenticate state and federally issued identity documents. Our team\nspecializes in machine learning tactics to detect differences between real\ndocuments and forgeries, and offers those abilities to customers to include in\ntheir mobile apps. Being able to reliably trust the identity of users is\ncrucial for high-risk mobile transactions, and we aim to deliver that trust\nwith as little friction as possible.\n\nOur distributed architecture is powerful, but requires top-notch developers to\nmanage and proactively contribute to it. We're seeking a backend engineer to\njoin our platform team and deliver the APIs that feed intelligent and curated\nresults to customers, so they can reliably prevent fraud within their\nbusiness.\n\nMore details:\n[https://www.confirm.io/careers#job-35483](https://www.confirm.io/careers#job-35483)\n\n------\ncatinka13\nAppboy-New York-Full Time-Internship-ONSITE\n\nAppboy is currently looking for full time software engineers to join their\nteam! Appboy is a NYC based start-up specializing in smart marketing\nautomation. Our powerful SDK and dashboard have enabled companies like Urban\nOutfitters, Samsung, EPIX and iHeartMedia to create targeted marketing\ncampaigns to their users. Check out our open positions and feel free to apply!\nIf you have any additional questions please email Cat Espiritu at\ncat.espiritu@appboy.com.\n\nMobile Engineer: [http://grnh.se/rb1c2v](http://grnh.se/rb1c2v)\n\nSenior iOS Engineer: [http://grnh.se/kai1ny](http://grnh.se/kai1ny)\n\nDevOps Engineer: [http://grnh.se/4n2o1s1](http://grnh.se/4n2o1s1)\n\nEngineering Lead-Internal Tools:\n[http://grnh.se/wlc8vr1](http://grnh.se/wlc8vr1)\n\nSr. Product Engineer: [http://grnh.se/sniw421](http://grnh.se/sniw421)\n\nSr. Software Engineer: [http://grnh.se/6plc1d1](http://grnh.se/6plc1d1)\n\nSr. Software Engineer- Data Infra:\n[http://grnh.se/j4ac5t1](http://grnh.se/j4ac5t1)\n\nSoftware Engineer: [http://grnh.se/nyija71](http://grnh.se/nyija71)\n\nSoftware Engineer- Support: [http://grnh.se/x17dik1](http://grnh.se/x17dik1)\n\nSecurity Engineer: [http://grnh.se/xfl8wo1](http://grnh.se/xfl8wo1)\n\n------\njreks\nSaylent | UI Developer | Boston | FULLTIME | ONSITE Contact us at\ncareers@saylent.com\n\nWe are a venture funded, fintech company. We are redefining the B2B banking\nmarketplace through cutting edge user interfaces that deliver a world class\nuser experience. Our mission is to help redefine customer engagement for Banks\nand Credit Unions. You will join a small and motivated team that is on the\nground floor of building a platform with access to the largest channel\npartners and over 4,000 financial institutions. We are looking for a new team\nmember with UI experience who will be part of a new platform. And the frosting\non the cake is that we are moving to a brand new office in Downtown Boston\n(116 Huntington Ave, to be exact!).\n\nTech Stack: Angular JS 2, D3.js, Pentaho BI, Grunt, Gulp, Bower, Restful APIs\nand data manipulation with JSON, Node.js, Jasmin, Sinon, Protractor, Git, Aws\n\nInterview process: technical phone screen, followed by a half day on-site with\nemphasis on problem-solving / colloboration /team-work\n\n~~~\nboston0201\n>Downtown Boston (116 Huntington Ave, to be exact!)\n\nIsn't that in Back Bay, not downtown?\n\n------\nDenisM\nSeattle, WA, ONSITE ONLY\n\nWe're building a communication hub for manufacturers and retailers, so that\nthey can exchange all kinds of information related to the goods being traded.\nThis hub will gradually take over all other communication methods such as\nExcel/FTP/Email/Dropbox towards Cloud/Mobile. As well, it will allow to\nrepurpose a customer's data for a number of additional products for them.\nWe're aiming for scale of tens of thousands of manufacturers, this is not a\nconsultancy gig.\n\nWe're looking someone who can empathize with how the users are running their\nbusiness, and who can employ technical skills and wits to build a better\nworkflow for those users. This is a Principal-level position, you would need\nto own the outcome in it's entirety. Your scope of responsibility will start\nwith optimizing individual workflows for our customers, a combination of\nfeatures to remove a given thorn in customer's side, and it will progress to\nentire products. All the way from interviewing representative customers to\nmass-deployment.\n\nThere is no shortage of work:\n\n    \n    \n      - E-Commerce integration\n      - EDI integration\n      - Mobile development\n      - Interaction design\n      - Generating print material\n      - Payment processing\n      - User analytics (for our customers to track *their* customers)\n      - Email campaign orchestration and tracking (ditto)\n      - Data visualization (ditto)\n      - Logging\n      - C# business logic\n      - Modern web front-end, likely React or Vue.js\n    \n\nAbout us:\n\n    \n    \n      - Opportunities: A huge area of responsibility. Pick two if you dare.\n      - Family-friendly: Sane hours, generous vacations.\n      - Benefits: Health.\n      - Financial security: Enough pay so you don't have to worry about it.\n      - A stake in success: Meaningful stock option grant. Really.\n      - Profitable\n    \n\nCan you get things done? Please contact denis@amptab.com\n\n------\nmgw\nDealini | Zurich, Switzerland | Onsite | Fulltime | Senior Python Developer |\n85k-110k CHF\n\nDealini is creating and running marketing campaigns in retail stores, moving\npeople from the physical world onto our online experiences.\n\nWe are looking for a Senior Python Developer to:\n\n\\- Craft clean and elegant REST APIs in Python, consumed by our web\napplications and mobile apps\n\n\\- Improve our development environment and workflow consisting of a Python\nREST framework, MariaDB, Redis, Varnish, Buildbot...\n\n\\- Tend to our services and servers running on Amazon Web Services\n\n\\- Take architectural decisions for new features\n\nOur interview process: A short chat over the phone, interview with me\n(founder) and a second (ideally on-site) interview with someone from the team.\n\nWe have a very laid back atmosphere and some Silicon Valley style perks. You\ncan find more information here: [http://stackoverflow.com/jobs/132982/senior-\npython-developer...](http://stackoverflow.com/jobs/132982/senior-python-\ndeveloper-dealini-schweiz-ag)\n\nContact me at michael.wirth@dealini.ch\n\n------\njesseendahl\nFleetsmith | Junior Product Manager | San Francisco | Onsite | Full Time\n\nWho we are\n\nFleetsmith solves the computer management problem for IT and Security teams:\nsimple and secure provisioning, enforcement, and inventory of devices.\n\nWe were motivated to create Fleetsmith by our deep frustration with existing\ncomputer management solutions. We knew we could do a lot better. Our product\nis very powerful, yet incredibly easy-to-use. We bring the product & design\nfocus traditionally only associated with consumer companies to the \"enterprise\nsoftware\" space. We’re a company where product comes first, and where design\nand user experience aren’t an afterthought, but are fundamental to the process\nof making/creating a product our customers love.\n\nWe're hiring a Junior Product Manager, check out the full job posting at the\nlink below!\n\n[https://jobs.lever.co/fleetsmith/539b5a47-a504-413d-9b1b-adc...](https://jobs.lever.co/fleetsmith/539b5a47-a504-413d-9b1b-adc6f4e7d871)\n\n------\nnitindhar\nFevo | Full-stack Engineers, Product Designer | New York, NY |\n[https://fevo.com](https://fevo.com) | ONSITE | Full-time\n\nFevo is a well funded startup that's disrupting the social group buying\nexperience. Our mission is to turn organizing groups into a game, be that live\nevents like a ball game or theater with the extended family.\n\nWe're looking for rockstar __Full-stack Engineers __and a __Product Designer\n__to join our small team to help build our next-generation consumer web and\nmobile products.\n\n=== Fevo Engineers ===\n\n\\- think BIG - Facebook, Snapchat or Instagram big\n\n\\- hackers at heart, but understand the challenges of scale.\n\n\\- hungry to learn & self-starters.\n\n\\- full stack - ES6, Node, React/ReactNative, Play Framework, Babel, Gulp,\nScala/Java, AWS, Postgres, Git, MacOS\n\n\\- 3-5 years of experience\n\n\\- Bonus if iOS, Android, Objective-C/Swift, AR/VR experience\n\n=== Fevo Designers ===\n\n\\- have an eye for clean, artful design\n\n\\- are trimming and simplifying everything they touch\n\n\\- evoke emotion in everything they put their hands to\n\n\\- design skills: Sketch, Mobile App Design, Illustration\n\n=== Apply here ===\n\nFullstack Engineers: [https://www.authenticjobs.com/jobs/28721/software-\nengineer-f...](https://www.authenticjobs.com/jobs/28721/software-engineer-\nfevo)\n\nProduct Designer: [https://www.authenticjobs.com/jobs/28706/product-\ndesigner](https://www.authenticjobs.com/jobs/28706/product-designer)\n\n------\n_neilandr\nEventMAP | Engineer | Belfast, Northern Ireland | ONSITE\n\nEventMAP\n([https://www.eventmapsolutions.com/](https://www.eventmapsolutions.com/))\nbuilds optimisation and scheduling platforms based on cutting-edge research.\nWe’re quietly starting a revolution in resource management and planning in the\nhigher education sector and the wider business world – delivering analysis and\ntools to help large organisations become fitter and faster. We provide unique\ntools to a very big potential market and, with a growth plan that’s right on\ntrack, we’d like to expand our development team.\n\nWe’re currently looking for engineers who thrive on pushing boundaries and\nproducing innovative work within an intellectually stimulating environment.\n\nSome tech we use: C# | ASP.NET MvC/WebApi | Entity Framework | MS-SQL Server |\nJavaScript | React | Backbone | Angular.\n\nJoin us by applying at jobs [at] eventmapsolutions.com.\n\nFeel free to reach out to me at neilandrews [at] eventmapsolutions.com with\nany questions!\n\n------\ndplatzman\nWeb Engineer | New York, NY, USA | Onsite | Full-time\n\nPlease apply at: [http://grnh.se/h15ut61](http://grnh.se/h15ut61)\n\nThis is an opportunity to join a highly credible and well-funded (over $10\nmillion) stealth tech startup in NYC. We’re looking for someone with a history\nof building amazing applications to join our team. You'll be working with a\ngroup of very passionate engineers and designers that are dedicated to\nbuilding a successful mobile application. The Founding team is made up of\nmembers from Twitter, eBay, Gilt, Glamsquad, Yahoo, Apple, and Dropbox and our\nadvisory board include senior executives from Google, Facebook, Microsoft,\nTwitter, Square and Adobe.\n\nRequirements: \\- 3+ years developing and shipping beautiful web applications\nfor a consumer internet company \\- Maniacal attention to detail across devices\nand browsers \\- Deep understanding of JavaScript and web stack best practices\n\\- B.S. in Computer Science or equivalent\n\n------\ndplatzman\nBackend Engineer | New York, NY, USA | Onsite | Full-time\n\nPlease apply at: [http://grnh.se/5xasb21](http://grnh.se/5xasb21)\n\nThis is an opportunity to join a highly credible and well-funded (over $10\nmillion) stealth tech startup in NYC. We’re looking for someone with a history\nof building amazing applications to join our team. You'll be working with a\ngroup of very passionate engineers and designers that are dedicated to\nbuilding a successful mobile application. The Founding team is made up of\nmembers from Twitter, eBay, Gilt, Glamsquad, Yahoo, Apple, and Dropbox and our\nadvisory board include senior executives from Google, Facebook, Microsoft,\nTwitter, Square and Adobe.\n\nRequirements: \\- 5+ years developing and shipping at large-scale internet\ncompanies \\- Strong foundation in algorithms, data structures, and complexity\nanalysis \\- Fluency in Scala \\- Production experience with relational\ndatabases (MySQL) \\- B.S. in Computer Science\n\n------\navdobb\nVSCO | Android Engineer | Oakland | Onsite | Visa considered |\n[http://vsco.co/about/careers](http://vsco.co/about/careers)\n\nVSCO is a leading creative platform empowering people everywhere to create,\ndiscover & connect through images and words.\n\nAs our community continues to expand rapidly, we're looking for an Android\nengineer (2+ years of professional working experience) to craft and execute\nnew features on a wide range of VSCO products.\n\nTech stack is ndk/c++/java/opengl/tensorflow/rxjava/google protobuf for most\nof work related to client-side (we use Go mostly on the backend)\n\nInterview process: initial phone chat, followed by a technical interview,\nfollowed by a half day on-site (technical interviews with emphasis on team-\nwork)\n\nPlease apply at: [http://vsco.co/about/careers/android-engineer-\noakland](http://vsco.co/about/careers/android-engineer-oakland)\n\nContact: andie@vsco.co\n\n~~~\nnavgattu\nI'm a platform engineer turned Android (and more platform) engineer at VSCO.\nI've been here roughly 8 months, and I can't say enough about the environment\nand culture. The Android team is remarkable in their skill, resourcefulness\nand dedication. They are continually pushing the limits of the platform, and\nserving users globally. Any questions what its like working with two teams\n(platform or android), shoot me an email: naveen@vsco.co\n\n------\ndumbfounder\nPlanetRisk | [http://planetrisk.com](http://planetrisk.com) | Mclean, VA\n(Washington, DC) | ONSITE\n\nWe are hiring .NET, Java, and big data developers. Full stack whenever\npossible!\n\n[http://www.planetrisk.com/about-us/careers/](http://www.planetrisk.com/about-\nus/careers/)\n\n------\ncasey_lang\nDaily Burn | Software Engineer, DevOps | New York, Austin | REMOTE (US Only)\n\nWe're looking to add a new member to our infrastructure team here at Daily\nBurn. We're still a small team so this role has a lot of responsibility and\nopportunity for growth. The team is responsible for keeping the site live and\ndeveloping tools to aid deployment. To do this we use:\n\n\\- Rails\n\n\\- Go\n\n\\- Ansible\n\n\\- The Hashicorp Stack (Terraform, Packer, Vagrant, Consul)\n\n\\- Google Cloud Platform\n\nIn the coming year our projects will include:\n\n\\- Ephemeral isolated staging environments\n\n\\- Chatops\n\n\\- Autoscaling\n\n\\- Vault integration\n\nDaily Burn is a fitness company with a focus on getting everyday people back\ninto shape. We have a live show we film daily as well as a back catalog of\nhundreds of original workouts. Everyday we get messages from users sharing the\nchanges they've made in their lives not every company can say the same. If\nfitness is an area of interest for you this is a great place to get involved\nin changing peoples lives.\n\nAs a member of our team you'll get:\n\n* Gym membership\n\n* Yearly conference and travel budget\n\n* Your pick of development hardware\n\n* Access to all the corporate benefits of IAC\n\nIf this sounds interesting to you, reach out to me directly:\ncasey@dailyburn.com\n\n------\nsikhnerd\nPyze | Senior Backend Developers | Redwood City, CA | Full-Time | Onsite, VISA\nconsidered\n\nWe are a growing and fully funded company and are looking to hire our tenth\nemployee. We're looking for someone who cares about making a huge impact in\nmaking mobile app publishers create and grow successful and thriving mobile\napp businesses. We've built a business intelligence platform for mobile apps\nthat automates and personalizes user engagement to drive stickiness and usage.\n\nWe work with Java, Scala, Kafka, Storm, Spark, Cassandra, Redis and much more.\nExperience in these areas is a big plus. We are looking for backend engineers\nwith big data and scaling experience, with some familiarity with our toolset.\nNice to have experience working with one or more of the following: R, Java-ML,\netc.\n\nYou can check out our jobs page [http://pyze.com/jobs-at-\npyze.html](http://pyze.com/jobs-at-pyze.html) or reach out to me directly\nmuntek+hn @ pyze.com\n\n------\nfleaflicker\nFleaflicker | Senior Front-end Engineer | Brooklyn, NY | REMOTE, Full-time\n\nWe are a small, highly-focused team dedicated to delivering a best-in-class\nfantasy sports application to our customers. We're looking for a seasoned,\nprofessional developer to help build the next-generation of our web and mobile\napplications.\n\n* Significant front-end engineering experience\n\n* Expertise working on at least one large application\n\n* Strong knowledge of, and experience with, modern HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, including\n    \n    \n      - at least one major JavaScript framework (e.g., Angular, Backbone, React),  \n    \n      - CSS preprocessing (e.g., SCSS, Less), \n    \n      - templating engines (e.g., Closure Templates) \n    \n      - CSS frameworks (e.g., Bootstrap, Bourbon)\n    \n\n* Excellent telecommuting and time-management skills\n\nSend resume and cover letter to jobs+hn@fleaflicker.com\n\nMore details at [https://weworkremotely.com/jobs/4115-senior-front-end-\nengine...](https://weworkremotely.com/jobs/4115-senior-front-end-engineer)\n\n------\njbdowney\nAirware | San Francisco, CA | Fulltime | ONSITE\n\nAirware is building differentiated, innovative software for drones to collect\nnew types of aerial data, take people out of harm's way, and provide\ncompletely unique insights to businesses in the insurance and\nmining/construction industries. We're looking for iOS and Cloud Platform\npositions right now:\n\nEngineering Manager, iOS [http://grnh.se/r4t0he1](http://grnh.se/r4t0he1)\n\nSoftware Engineer, iOS [http://grnh.se/4b7wsg1](http://grnh.se/4b7wsg1)\n\nSoftware Engineer, Cloud [http://grnh.se/b1lot01](http://grnh.se/b1lot01)\n\nSee all roles here:\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/airware](https://boards.greenhouse.io/airware)\n\nFor perks we've got a downtown office, catered meals, flexible working\narrangements, and the occasional day in the great outdoors for flight testing.\n\n------\nyayalice\nGladly | San Francisco | Engineering, Product | Fulltime onsite only\n\nWe've had a lot of great folks find us from this post on HN, and we're still\nhiring for a couple of roles: platform engineer, software engineer and senior\nproduct manager.\n\n\\- We have a modern tech stack (React/GoLang/Docker/AWS/Kubernetes) and\nproduct architecture (real-time pubsub microservices) and tons of interesting\nproblems to solve\n\n\\- We're well-funded with an experienced founding team of B2B serial\nentrepreneurs\n\n\\- We have an environment of mutual respect, mentorship and learning from\npeers\n\nOur interview process starts with 1 hour technical video interview followed by\nhalf-day on-site where you'll meet various team members and give a short\npresentation to the team.\n\nI'm an engineer at Gladly and I'm enjoying it a lot! Feel free to email me\nwith questions (alice@gladly.com), or apply directly at\n[https://www.gladly.com/careers/](https://www.gladly.com/careers/)\n\n------\nnahyunk\nJohn Hancock Digital | San Francisco, CA | FULL TIME | ONSITE\n\n[https://angel.co/john-hancock-digital](https://angel.co/john-hancock-digital)\n| [https://www.johnhancockdigital.com/](https://www.johnhancockdigital.com/)\n\nHead of Engineering (Ruby on Rails) | Full Stack Developer (Ruby on Rails) |\nProduct Manager | UX Researcher/Designer | Double Threat Visual Designer |\n\nJohn Hancock Digital uses machine learning, mobile chat innovation and\nautomated money management to help millions of families better manage their\nfinances. Our team has the impact and excitement of a startup with the\nresources and stability of a Fortune 500 company.\n\nThis is an exciting time for us, as we have completed a fully functional MVP,\nand have now released a private beta while working with a world-class digital\ndesign firm to refine key features before a public launch in 2017. Our work\ninvolves complex integrations with leading aggregation and clearing providers\nto enable real-time money movement, portfolio management and intelligent\nfinancial guidance.\n\nWe are currently looking to grow our team and are looking for:\n\n\\- Head of Engineering (Ruby on Rails) \\- Full Stack Developer (Ruby on Rails)\n\\- Product Manager \\- UX Researcher/Designer \\- Double Threat Visual Designer\n\nJoin us as we redefine what’s possible on mobile.\n\nFind more information here [https://angel.co/john-hancock-\ndigital](https://angel.co/john-hancock-digital) or\n[https://www.johnhancockdigital.com/](https://www.johnhancockdigital.com/)\n\nOr feel free to directly get in touch with me, Nahyun (Team Operations) here:\nnahyun@johnhancockdigital.com. Let's chat!\n\n------\ncloudera_raj\nCloudera | San Francisco or Palo Alto, CA | Full-time, onsite, will transfer\nH1-B\n\nThe Cloudera Manager team is looking for passionate developers to join our\ngrowing engineering team. The team is responsible for building out the market\nleading management product for Hadoop. The goal of the team is to make\nmanagement of Hadoop simple and develop useful capabilities to interact with\nthe data in amazingly interactive ways for everyday users, operators and\nadmins. We are building a team of top-notch engineers that are passionate\nabout distributed systems, scalability, test-driven development, and user\nexperience.\n\n5+ years industry experience building software in a large scale production\nenvironment. Expertise in enterprise-grade Java is a must Strong understanding\nof systems, databases, networks and the web Strong grasp of algorithms and\ndata structure fundamentals Experience with 'data-center scale' computing B.S.\nor M.S. in Computer Science or equivalent experience\n\n------\nWaldronFaulkner\nBison [https://www.bison.co](https://www.bison.co) | Boston, MA | ONSITE\n\nBison is disrupting fin-tech, starting with PE - a world badly in need of\ndisruption. Advanced analytics & visualizations, consumer-suitable UI/UX.\nFantastic supportive and collaborative team. Looking for:\n\nLead Engineer - Full Stack (Python, JS, Postgres, etc.)\n[https://angel.co/bison/jobs/48247-lead-developer-full-\nstack](https://angel.co/bison/jobs/48247-lead-developer-full-stack)\n\nQA Engineer / Manager: [https://angel.co/bison/jobs/114054-qa-engineer-\nmanager](https://angel.co/bison/jobs/114054-qa-engineer-manager)\n\nGreat gig with great guys, early enough for significant equity, successful\nenough to provide a paycheck!\n\nProcess: quick phone screen to establish job fit, then in-person interview(s)\nw/ hiring manager and team members.\n\nResumes to jobs@bison.co\n\nNo recruiters please.\n\n------\ndgrant\nGrow | Junior/Intermediate Software Engineer, Java Developer | Vancouver, BC |\nONSITE,\n[https://www.poweredbygrow.com/careers/](https://www.poweredbygrow.com/careers/)\n\nGrow’s enterprise financial technology is powering a new generation of data-\ndriven banking products and services, including the first Canadian company to\nlaunch digital personal loans, instant customer on-boarding and account\nopening, advanced data analytics, and real-time compliance and identification\ntools. We are on a mission to save people time, money and stress related to\npersonal finance, using technology and data analytics.\n\nWe are looking for Backend Java Developers to join the Engineering team in\nVancouver. To find out more go to\n[https://www.poweredbygrow.com/careers/](https://www.poweredbygrow.com/careers/)\nand in your application mention you saw this post.\n\n------\nshan28harris\nSmugMug | Ops Engineer | Mountain View, CA | Full-time, Onsite preferred, but\nremote is an option for senior candidates.\n\nSmugMug is searching for a behind the curtain guy/gal who’s got brains,\ncourage, heart and wants to join our close-knit team responsible for operating\na SaaS infrastructure serving billions of photos and millions of customers. Do\nyou also have a passion for automation, testing and tool building?? No way! We\nthought it was just us. We like you already!\n\nWe are seeking is an experienced system administrator who’ll help our\noperations team solve difficult puzzles that arise when running a fast-moving\nlarge-scale infrastructure. You’ll touch all parts of our framework with your\nmagic, from web servers and databases to continuous integration systems to AWS\ntools and products.\n\nApply here: [https://jobs.smugmug.com/Job-\nOpenings?gh_jid=586100h](https://jobs.smugmug.com/Job-Openings?gh_jid=586100h)\n\n~~~\ngeekoSnap\nApplied. Look forward to hear from you.\n\n------\nearnuptalent\nSenior Software Engineers needed at EarnUp ( one of Forbes Magazine FinTech 50\nfor 2016)! Join a diverse team at a high-growth FinTech Startup today.\n\nPaying loans sucks. That’s where EarnUp comes in. One of Forbes Magazine’s\n“Fintech 50 for 2016,” we offer our users a convenient payment platform that\nintelligently syncs with their income schedules, puts aside extra cash to put\ntowards principal, and puts them on an accelerated path to living debt-free!\nThrough our platform, we are able to give peace of mind to anyone holding a\nloan. Additionally, EarnUp’s platform ultimately helps the 75% of Americans\nliving paycheck to paycheck beat the “budgeting game” and become financially\nsound. Founded by one Princeton graduate, and a Harvard Law School Graduate,\nwe manage over $1 billion in loans. growing daily. Come and join our diverse,\npassionate, and dedicated team to help disrupt the $20 trillion debt market we\nhave today!\n\nVisit earnup.com/careers to learn more!\n\n------\nallisonkopf\nAgrilyst | Brooklyn, New York | Full-time | Onsite | Sales Executive\n\nAgrilyst is a web-based software platform that helps indoor farms manage their\ncrops and gain data-driven insights to make more profitable production\ndecisions.\n\nWe’re looking for an experienced sales executive to join our growing team.\nYou'll be responsible for creating new revenue opportunities from our full\nfunnel. We're looking for someone who enjoys the hustle of a startup and is\nalways willing to go the extra mile.\n\nWe can offer you a competitive base salary + commission, equity, comprehensive\nbenefits, flexible work hours/PTO, and 401k.\n\nOur interview process includes conducting a demo of our product with our CEO\nand an interview with a member of the sales team.\n\nPlease apply on our jobs site:\n[http://agrilyst.applytojob.com/apply/yu4eZa/Sales-\nExecutive](http://agrilyst.applytojob.com/apply/yu4eZa/Sales-Executive)\n\nReach out to Allison with any questions: akopf@agrilyst.com\n\n------\nfluxsauce\nCNE Media / Kink.com | Senior Software Engineer | San Francisco, CA | ONSITE\n\nCNE Media is a respected industry leader at the forefront of cutting-edge\nonline content delivery technology and targeted, cross-platform marketing\ncampaigns. Our team is made up of some of the most creative, innovative\ntechnical and marketing minds in the world. CNE Media strives to foster an\nenvironment where our employees are excited about the work they do and deliver\nunparalleled excellence every day.\n\nWe are headquartered in one of the most beautiful, livable cities in the US –\nSan Francisco – and offer a truly unique work environment to our over 100\nemployees. Housed in a historic landmark, we offer full benefits, paid\nvacations, employer-matched 401(k) programs and much more!\n\nCurrently hiring a Senior Software Engineer and Senior Systems Administrator.\nFull job descriptions: [http://jobs.kink.com/](http://jobs.kink.com/)\n\nQuestions? jonpeck at kink dot com\n\n------\ntolmasky\nRunKit (now a part of Stripe) | Designer, Infrastructure Developer, Community\nDeveloper | San Francisco, CA / Onsite, Full Time\n\nWe're working on some incredibly interesting engineering problems spanning\nfrom Docker to JavaScript parsing to make developer's lives easier. We were\nrecently acquired by Stripe and have really ambitious goals:\n[http://blog.runkit.com/2016/09/13/tonic-is-now-runkit-a-\npart...](http://blog.runkit.com/2016/09/13/tonic-is-now-runkit-a-part-of-\nstripe.html)\n\nIn fact, we just made a big release today:\n[http://blog.runkit.com/2017/02/01/stop-filing-bugs-file-a-\nco...](http://blog.runkit.com/2017/02/01/stop-filing-bugs-file-a-\ncontainer.html)\n\nLet us know if you want to join!\n[https://runkit.com/jobs](https://runkit.com/jobs)\n\n------\ngcontella\nReverb.com | Chicago, IL | Full-time | On-site | Infra Engineer\n\nReverb.com is the online marketplace [for musicians] to buy, sell and learn\nabout new, used, vintage and handmade music gear. Since launching in 2013,\nwe've grown into the world’s most popular music gear website with more than\nseven million monthly website visits.\n\nWe are currently in transition from a monolithic Rails app with a few\nperipheral services to a multi-service environment with Docker and AWS at the\ncore. If you have experience with Docker containers, we'd love to hear from\nyou as we're moving in this direction.\n\nWant to learn more? Follow our work here:\n[https://product.reverb.com/](https://product.reverb.com/)\n\nLink to full job description:\n[http://reverb.applytojob.com/apply/7kiCX1/Infrastructure-\nEng...](http://reverb.applytojob.com/apply/7kiCX1/Infrastructure-Engineer)\n\n------\njbaviat\nSqreen - [https://www.sqreen.io](https://www.sqreen.io) | Full-time Onsite\ndevelopers | Engineering team in Paris (France)\n\nSqreen is like New Relic, but for security.\n\nWe develop solutions that combine instrumentation, defensive algorithms and\nmachine learning.\n\nWe are recruiting new engineers to join our team to help porting Sqreen to all\nenvironments and ship our incoming products:\n\n\\- Python lover wanting to dive deep into Python (you’ll be working on this\npiece of software: [https://blog.sqreen.io/dynamic-instrumentation-agent-for-\npyt...](https://blog.sqreen.io/dynamic-instrumentation-agent-for-python/))\n\n\\- React engineer, working on this dashboard - just Github login to check it\nout!) [https://my.sqreen.io/](https://my.sqreen.io/)\n\n\\- a DevOps (e.g. Linux sysadmin with cloud knowledge & CI love) to manage our\nDocker / AWS / CI - we have high traffic APIs,\n\n\\- C gurus with a strong PHP background (or the opposite!),\n\n\\- low level Java experts, who like Java internals, such as bytecode\nmanipulation,\n\n\\- developer evangelist to share Sqreen love accros the world.\n\nWe are obviously looking for great developers, and you don't need to be a\nsecurity nerd (but you will learn a lot about it here). Therefore we also have\na position for a Web security expert:\n\n\\- Web hacker, with great knowledge of frameworks attacks and browsers\ndefenses\n\nSqreen is already live for Ruby on Rails, Python and Node.js.\n\nYou can find our job offers here:\n[https://www.sqreen.io/jobs/](https://www.sqreen.io/jobs/)\n\nEmail: jobs@sqreen.io\n\n------\nlatch\nSecond Spectrum | Engineering & Creative roles | Los Angeles, Lausanne,\nShanghai | Full-time, On Site\n\nWe create products that fuse cutting-edge design with spatiotemporal pattern\nrecognition, machine learning, and computer vision to enable the next\ngeneration of sports insights and experiences. We aim to transform the way\npeople play, coach and watch sports.\n\nWe're looking for intermediate to senior developers at this time particularly\nfor our Full Stack, Machine Learning and DevOps openings. Also looking for ML\nwith strong SE fundamentals. Computer Vision positions are in Lausanna. For\ncreative we're looking for UI designers and Animators.\n\nApply:\n[https://jobs.lever.co/secondspectrum](https://jobs.lever.co/secondspectrum)\n\nMore Info:\n[https://www.secondspectrum.com/videos/](https://www.secondspectrum.com/videos/)\n\nI'm happy to answer questions: karl@secondspectrum.com\n\n------\nfrancesca\nMongoDB | Developer Advocate | Palo Alto | ONSITE, Full Time\n\n _I am the hiring manager for this role_ Seeking Developer Advocate to help\nsupport the MongoDB community. You have written software and know first hand\nhow powerful it can be to solve human problems. You love Open Source\ntechnology and community building. You enjoy creating compelling presentations\nand blog posts to educate your peers. Celebrating human accomplishment is\nsomething you do naturally and you get energy from creating relationships.\n\nLanguage/Stack agnostic, but helpful if you have expertise in one or more of\nthe following: Node.js, Go, Python, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Kubernetes,\nDocker.\n\nInterview process: Technical interview, on-site interview w/ stakeholders,\ncoding/writing challenge.\n\nto apply:\n[https://www.mongodb.com/careers/job/583167](https://www.mongodb.com/careers/job/583167)\nor francesca [at] mongodb [dot] com\n\n------\nnicholasjon\nLemans Corporation | Madison, WI | Full-Time | On-Site\n\nLemans is looking for engineers to be part of a new team that will build\nproducts to amplify our forty year success story. We're heavily investing in\nthe future of our company as we design, develop and ship the most innovative\ndigital products powersports fans have ever seen. If you're motivated to solve\ninteresting problems and want the opportunity to build products that will\nshape and transform an entire industry, this is your chance to get in on the\nground floor and make it happen.\n\nHighlights from our stack include: Java/Kotlin, Elasticsearch, Angular2, and\neven a little Go.\n\nIf you're interested, see our posting here:\n[https://www.jobsinmadison.com/j/t-software-engineer-e-\nlemans...](https://www.jobsinmadison.com/j/t-software-engineer-e-lemans-\ncorporation-l-madison,-wi-jobs-j23025591.html)\n\n... and mention that you found us through HN!\n\n(No recruiters please.)\n\n------\ntortillasauce\nAzarius | Amsterdam, The Netherlands | Full Stack PHP Developer | ONSITE\n\nAzarius is looking for a Full Stack PHP hacker to help us develop our custom\nshopping software. We work in a small team, so you get to do a bit of\neverything. The job will involve mostly developing but also server maintenance\nand network maintenance. You'll be working with PHP 7, MySQL, Linux, LXC,\nAnsible, etc.\n\n\\-- Who we are --\n\nSince its humble beginnings in 1999 Azarius has become the world's largest\nonline smartshop. Our mission is to give every European of age access to only\nthe best smart- and headshop products.\n\nWe do this in a responsible and informative manner. This means that we only\nsell products we believe in and that we provide good, honest and complete\ninformation with each product we sell. This responsibility does not end after\na product has been purchased. Each customer who buys a product at one of our\nwebshops must be pleased with his or her shopping experience.\n\nYou can contact us at: gijs@azarius.net\n\n------\nsrainier\nBonsai AI | Seattle, WA (Onsite only) | Full Time |\n[https://bons.ai](https://bons.ai)\n\nWe're an early stage startup creating developer tools to enable all software\ndevelopers to build sophisticated AIs without having AI expertise. We're\nheadquartered in Berkeley, CA, but are currently hiring for the position of\nBackend Engineer out of our Seattle office.\n\nOur Backend Team has a need for an engineer with strong programming skills and\nthe ability to write quality production code. Responsibilities in this\nposition will include:\n\n* Design and implement scalable, highly available software services in Python.\n\n* Build and improve infrastructure automation.\n\n* Monitor, diagnose and fix production issues.\n\nOur ideal candidate has the following:\n\n* At least 3-5 years of industry experience as a Software Engineer or similar.\n\n* Familiarity with Docker or other containerization technologies.\n\n* Proficiency with a general purpose language like Python or C++.\n\n* Experience working with Linux and cloud platforms (AWS, etc).\n\nIf interested, send a resume to jobs@bons.ai.\n\n------\nkristopolous\nWaiveCar | Software Engineer | Santa Monica, Los Angeles, California | ONSITE\n| [http://waivecar.com](http://waivecar.com)\n\nWaiveCar is a free-to-use advertising based on-demand all-electric car-rental\nservice. We're looking for a senior engineer with experience in small-shop\nstartups. The tech is javascript/mobile app/etc ...\n\nWe are expanding via a partnership with Hyundai to multiple cities soon. If\nyou want to be in early where the action is, this is the juice. We've got\ncompetitive salary/options/benefits, all the good stuff. It's fully funded and\ncash flow positive. (I'm the guy who wrote the filtering script that's\nmentioned every month in these posts) (mostly duplicate) additional info here:\n[https://www.waivecar.com/job.html](https://www.waivecar.com/job.html) Apply\nby email: chris@waive.car\n\n------\nstevenmiller888\nSegment | Full-Stack Software Engineer | San Francisco, CA | Full-Time |\n[http://www.segment.com](http://www.segment.com)\n\nSegment’s mission is to make it super easy for companies to use their customer\ndata to build incredible products. We’re building towards a future where all\ncustomer data in the world flows through Segment.\n\nAs a Full Stack Engineer, you are essential to that future. You will work\nclosely with designers to build the user interface that sits in front of the\ninfrastructure that receives billions of API calls every day. We use cutting-\nedge tools like React, Webpack, Redux, and ES6. Some of our team specializes\nin CSS, some of us specialize in Go, but all of us are JavaScript experts and\nfull stack engineers.\n\nIf you're interested, please apply at\n[http://grnh.se/6vyhiu1](http://grnh.se/6vyhiu1) or feel free to email me at\nsteven@segment.com.\n\n------\nReedJessen\nIP Street | Technical Sales Representative | Spokane, WA | Full Time\n\nIP Street provides the building blocks for companies and organizations to\nmodernize their current patent operations or to build new functionality not\npreviously possible with legacy patent data services. We're looking for\nEnterprise Sales Reps to work with our customers to build great relationships,\nhelp them to learn about IP Street and our products and facilitate the buying\nprocess. Our sales process is a highly consultative one and we care deeply\nabout our customer success. The ideal candidate will have the aptitude and\npassion to become a master of IP Street’s product capabilities, underlying\ntechnology, and competitive advantages.\n\n[http://www.ipstreet.com/job-posting-technical-sales-\nrepresen...](http://www.ipstreet.com/job-posting-technical-sales-\nrepresentative)\n\nEmail me directly if you are interested. Reed (at) ipstreet.com\n\n------\njustignore\nCommercialTribe | Senior Software Engineers | Denver, CO | Onsite | Full-time\n|\n[https://www.commercialtribe.com/careers](https://www.commercialtribe.com/careers)\n\nCommercialTribe is the industry leading SaaS platform for onboarding,\ndeveloping, and coaching sellers and their managers. Sales people learn best\nby doing, and we are unique in our ability to observe sellers as they\npractice, role play, or make a live call. We then leverage an innovative\napproach to activate coaching amongst managers by providing clear\nrecommendations and guidance.\n\nWe're seeking Senior Software Engineers in the Denver, Colorado area to help\ndevelop our solutions. We're a progressive team working in MEAN Stack, WebRTC,\nDocker, and Kubernetes, with an enterprise-grade SaaS app built for web and\nmobile. We work with companies like NVIDIA, LinkedIn, and British Telecom to\nrevolutionize sales training.\n\n------\nshoguninc\nShogun Enterprises, Inc. | Software Engineer | San Francisco | Interns, Visa\n\nShogun Enterprises is an online loan and insurance marketplace for the home\nimprovement segment. The company is founded on a core belief that networked\nfinancial services allow for more competitive underwriting, a point of\ndifferentiation enabled by our technology-driven instant decisioning platform\nand informed by the bundling of currently divorced credit and insurance\nproducts.\n\nOur tech stack consists of: Ruby/Rails, React, PostgreSQL, nginx, Ansible, AWS\n\nOur product team joins us from tech companies such as Palantir, Facebook,\nSlack, and OpenGov whereas our operations team joins us from stints in venture\ncapital at 8VC, Formation 8, Summit, and Bessemer. As our culture takes shape,\nwe are always looking to add fresh talent to our early DNA.\n\nPlease apply at\n[https://jobs.lever.co/shogunenterprise](https://jobs.lever.co/shogunenterprise)\n\n------\nrobinson-wall\nOsper | Senior Backend Engineer | London, UK | VISA ONSITE\n\nOsper ([https://osper.com](https://osper.com)) is mobile banking for young\npeople aged 8-18. We give children the power to manage their money, and\nparents the confidence to let them. We've already helped tens of thousands of\nyoung people learn what it means to spend and save in the digital world. We\nare growing fast, and need to expand our team.\n\nWe are looking for an experienced backend developer with DevOps skills. Our\ninfrastructure is built on python and Flask; postgresql and dynamo db;\ndocker/ECS for deployment. We integrate with quite a few third-parties for\ntransaction processing/card payments/subscriptions/kyc checks etc.\n\nYou can apply at\n[https://osper.workable.com/jobs/415580](https://osper.workable.com/jobs/415580)\nor contact me directly with questions.\n\n------\nvbui\nMatterport makes a 3D camera that allows users to easily capture physical\nspaces. That has resulted in the world’s largest dataset of aligned RGB-D\nimages--200 million images from 300,000 different locations, and we want you\nto help us work with it. We have a broad research agenda focusing on 3D\nreconstruction and deep learning that includes semantic labeling and\nsegmentation, 3D object classification and pose estimation, depth from RGB,\nestimation of unseen 3D surfaces, texture/depth in-filling, photogrammetry,\nSLAM, keypoint matching, and passive stereo.\n\nCheck out the gallery here: matterport.com/gallery\n\nmatterport.com\n\nRoles: Computer Vision Engineer / Computer Vis. Researcher / Deep Learning\nEngineer/ Back-End Developer / Full-Stack Developer / Infrastructure\nEngineer(DevOps)\n\nStack: C++, Python, Javascript\n\nApply: matterport.com/careers/positions/ Process: Resume > Technical Phone\nscreen > Onsite Contact: vbui(at) matterport(dot)com\n\n~~~\nnojvek\nWhere is this based? SF?\n\n------\nbriankircho\nDokkio | Front-End JavaScript; Back-End JavaScript; DevOps | San Francisco Bay\nArea (San Mateo, CA) | Onsite Only, Full time\n\nAbout Dokkio: Teams everywhere use a wide variety of cloud file services like\nDropbox, Google Drive, Box and others to share billions of files a day. Then\nit’s nearly impossible to find and manage all those files. Dokkio provides a\nbetter way to search your content, give it business context, organize it, work\non it with others -- to make content-focused teamwork more effective. Join us\nand become part of the founding technology team of a funded company.\n\nOur Stack: React/Webpack/ES6, Node.js, PostgreSQL, Redis, Elasticsearch, AWS,\nDocker\n\nPositions: \\- JavaScript Front-End Engineer \\- JavaScript Back-End Engineer \\-\nDevOps Engineer\n\nEmail us your resume at jobs-engineer@dokkio.com or jobs-devops@dokkio.com.\nFor full job descriptions, see\n[http://dokkio.com/#jobs](http://dokkio.com/#jobs)\n\n------\ntransfix\nTransfix | NYC | Front-end/Back-end Engineers | Full-time | On-site\n\nAt Transfix, our vision is to efficiently move any freight to anyplace in the\nworld over land, sea, or air. We’re starting with full truckloads in North\nAmerica. We work everyday to make logistics effortless, fair, and efficient\nthrough the use of software. The problems we solve everyday are real and\nrequire creativity, grit, and determination.\n\nWe're looking for mid-senior engineers (2+ yrs of experience) to build a\nmarketplace that connects shippers with truck drivers in a $420B industry\nthat's ripe for automation.\n\nFront-end stack: React/redux, aurelia.js, ES6, HTML, Sass Back-end stack: Ruby\non rails, python, postgresql, AWS, firebase\n\nInterview process: Recruiter Screen (30m) > Tech Screen (1-1.5hrs) > 1 On-site\nInterview (3-4hrs)\n\nTo apply: [https://jobs.lever.co/transfix](https://jobs.lever.co/transfix)\n\nYou can also reach out to me at michelle@transfix.io\n\n------\ntechHX\nSoftware Engineers | Kent, UK | Permanent |\n\nHoliday Extras are looking for experienced software engineers to come and use\ncutting edge technology to helps us revolutionise how customers (7 million and\ngrowing) travel better. We’re in the process of moving to an API first micro\nservices architecture and your skills and experience will be key in helping us\nachieve that, alongside helping us continue to deliver features that delight\nour customers and partners. More information at :\n[http://join.holidayextras.co.uk/vacancies/software-\nengineer-...](http://join.holidayextras.co.uk/vacancies/software-engineer-4/)\n\nSee what our team say about working here at Glassdoor and our Tech Team Blog -\n[http://tech.holidayextras.co.uk/](http://tech.holidayextras.co.uk/)\n\nOr drop us an email if you want to learn more: recruitment@holidayextras.com\n\n------\nalbundy\nTeradata | Teradata Unity | San Diego, Toronto | Onsite | Full-Time\n\nTeradata Unity is heading to the cloud, and we're seeking good people to help\nus get there. If you want to be part of a team that is driving change within\nTeradata and with our customers, this is it!\n\nWe're looking for skilled, passionate people who enjoy highly technical\nchallenges and play well with others. Tech stack includes\n\n\\- Python - C/C++ - Java - Node.js - Angular - AWS - Azure - Scrum - Linux -\nTest Automation - Test Scripting\n\nfor multiple positions\n\n\\- architects - developers - testers - automation - devops - scrum masters\n\nat a wide range of experience levels that probably include yours. For more\ninformation about these opportunities or how to apply, please contact me:\ndavid.glick [at] teradata.com.\n\nTeradata Unity is an enabler for the Teradata DBS, providing capabilities such\nas high availability, synchronization, fail-over, routing and other critical\nservices that allow customers to get their work done when bad stuff happens.\n\n------\nyummyfajitas\nWingify | All sorts of technical roles | Pune and Delhi (India) | On Site.\n\nWingify (wingify.com) is the company behind Visual Website Optimizer\n(vwo.com). Wingify Labs is focused on building new worldclass products, both\nSAAS and consumer facing. If you want to level up your skills and build things\nyou've never thought you could build, this is the place for you. We've got a\nlot of projects cooking - a SAAS focusing on re-engaging site visitors, a\nmobile app aiming to be WeChat for India, a FinTech project servicing\nagriculture and several more.\n\nI'm personally hiring data scientists and infrastructure engineers\n(algorithms/concurrency/computer architecture). The company as a whole is\nhiring application engineers (frontend and backend), devops, mobile\ndevelopers, support, and a director of engineering/other engineering leaders.\nWith high probability we have a place for you here.\n\nIf interested reach out to chris@wingify.com.\n\n------\njohnwinstanley\nAngel Solutions | Liverpool, United Kingdom | ONSITE | FULL-TIME\n\nWe are looking for 2 junior software developers. Angel Solutions is the\nLiverpool Echo SME of the year, a growing SME with circus themed offices, this\nis a great opportunity - check Angel out here\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6hCzqk91Mw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6hCzqk91Mw)\n\nFamiliarity with these would be an advantage\n\nWeb based programming. ASP.NET (or similar) OOP and C# (or a similar high\nlevel programming language) SQL Server and T-SQL HTML, CSS and JavaScript UK\neducation system\n\nPlease see full job description here\n[http://www.angelsolutions.co.uk/jobs/sd2017/](http://www.angelsolutions.co.uk/jobs/sd2017/)\n\nAnd various benefits here\n[http://www.angelsolutions.co.uk/jobs/](http://www.angelsolutions.co.uk/jobs/)\n\n------\nsponnapa90\nPlushCare, Inc - plushcare.com | Fullstack | Fulltime San Francisco,\nCalifornia At PlushCare, we believe in helping every individual achieve health\nand happiness. We believe through the use of technology, we can create the\nideal healthcare experience. Simply put, our mission is to challenge the\nstatus quo by providing every person convenient and affordable access to the\nbest-trained doctors in the country. We allow patients to skip the waiting\nroom and get diagnosed, treated, and prescribed medication by top U.S. doctors\nvia smartphone. We're looking for people to join our team to help bring\nhealthcare to the next level. Interview Process: 30 min phone chat w CTO, a\ntechnical screen (~1hr), and a few hours onsite\n\nCulture: Super fun, collaborative team. Everybody here shares the same\nambition to make healthcare more transparent. Feel free to shoot us an email\nat careers at plushcare.com for more information.\n\n------\nOrenGreenberg\nKurve | Front End / Full Stack Developer | London UK based | REMOTE,\nfreelance.\n\nKurve is a building tools to make it easier for sales people and recruiters to\ndo their jobs efficiently. Should ideally be in a timezone near GMT.\n\nTech Stack: Chrome Extension, Javascript, React, Redux, NodeJS\n\nEmail me at jobs@kurve.co.uk Can check more about me here:\nlinkedin.com/in/orengreen\n\n------\narobbins\nFactual | Engineers and data lovers | Los Angeles, San Francisco, Shanghai |\nwww.factual.com/jobs#openings\n\nFactual is currently hiring engineers and data lovers of all levels in the SF\nBay Area, Los Angeles, and Shanghai.\n\nFactual’s location platform enriches mobile location signals with definitive\nglobal data, enabling personalized and contextually relevant mobile\nexperiences. Built from billions of inputs, the data is constantly updated by\nFactual’s real-time data stack. We were named one of \"50 Disruptive Companies\nin 2013\" by MIT Technology Review. We have a terrific team that is still\nfairly small and an incredible CEO who was previously the co-founder of\nApplied Semantics (which was bought by Google and became AdSense). Factual has\nventure funding from Andreessen-Horowitz and our partners/customers include\nBing, Apple, Facebook and Groupon.\n\nThere are many challenging problems to work on at all layers of the stack:\ndata cleaning and canonicalization, storage, deduping, serving, APIs,\nimproving data using machine learning, etc. A great example is one of our most\nrecent products, Geopulse Audience, which stands at the intersection of high\nquality places data and large scale analysis of user geo-data:\n[http://www.factual.com/products/geopulse-\naudience](http://www.factual.com/products/geopulse-audience) . If you love\ndata, Factual is the place to be. Our main criteria are that you're smart and\nget things done, but you'll get bonus points for experience with Clojure\n([http://www.factual.com/jobs/clojure](http://www.factual.com/jobs/clojure)),\nmachine learning, NLP, algorithm design, or Hadoop/Spark.\n\nYou can email me personally at alexr@factual.com, or view our job postings\nhere:\n[https://www.factual.com/jobs#openings](https://www.factual.com/jobs#openings)\n\n------\nDLarsen\nConnexity | Santa Monica, CA | Full-Time | Onsite\n\nJoin a small, tightly-knit Data Science team as we transform our data assets\ninto valuable business products. Although this group of 4 has a great deal of\nindustry experience, we've only worked together in this capacity for about a\nyear. This means that there's still a lot of opportunity and green-field work\nahead of us.\n\nThe position could be described as a Sr. Data Scientist or Machine Learning\nEngineer. We work with billions of records per day and small hundreds of\nthousands of (messy!) features. We primarily use Scala/Spark and Python, but\nwe employ R, Ruby, plain old SQL and other tools on a regular basis.\n\nWe'd like to find someone familiar with Bayesian systems, Random Forest and\nother classification. Experience in ad-tech, e-commerce or online retail is a\nplus, but we strongly favor hiring someone with the right qualities that\ntranscend mere familiarity.\n\nMore than anything we value sound judgement. It's great if you have loads of\ntools in in your tool belt, but you really have to know when it makes sense to\nuse them. As you get involved with research or optimization work, we want to\nhave confidence that you'll have the right intuition about what questions to\npursue and what questions to defer. With our high transaction volume, hundreds\nof unique models in production and hundreds of thousands of potential\nfeatures, discernment is an essential virtue. We'll always have 5x more\nquestions and curiosities than we'll have time to chase down. We're looking\nfor that person whose judgement is guided by experience possesses a knack for\nuncovering valuable, actionable insights.\n\nWithin our team I lean strongly toward the engineering side of the spectrum,\nbut I'd be happy to have a conversation about our work. dlarsen@connexity.com\nIf you're more comfortable going the typical HR route, you can find the\nposting here: connexity.com/open-positions\n\n------\nuseful_systems\nUseful Systems | Boulder, CO (ONSITE) | SR. Frontend Dev, SR. Backend Dev, Mid\nFrontend Dev\n\nUseful Systems, Inc. is a Boulder, Colorado-based software company founded\nwith the intent to build genuinely useful apps that are beautiful, easy-to-\nuse, technically superior and change lives. We’ve created a one-of-a-kind,\nmobile-first job management platform that provides tools and data that help\nfield service companies run their businesses smarter. Email at:\ncareers@usefulsystemsinc.com\n\nSr. Frontend Dev - [http://getuseful.com/sr-frontend-\nengineer](http://getuseful.com/sr-frontend-engineer)\n\nSr. Backend Dev - [http://getuseful.com/sr-backend-\nengineer](http://getuseful.com/sr-backend-engineer)\n\nMid Frontend Dev - [http://getuseful.com/mid-frontend-\nengineer](http://getuseful.com/mid-frontend-engineer)\n\n~~~\nbrainday\nWhat is the email?\n\n~~~\nuseful_systems\nSorry, updated. careers@usefulsystemsinc.com\n\n------\ntejasv\nChaldal (YC-S15) | Senior Engineers / Architects | SF, Singapore | Fulltime,\nOnsite preferred / Remote considered\n\nBuild out entire tech ecosystems in developing countries.\n\nWe're a US company, currently focused on Bangladesh, and we're building out\nthe infrastructure for all digital commerce. We're already the biggest tech\ncompany in the country by far, supported by the government, with our own\nwarehouses, logistics fleet and a 400-person ground-team, about to break\nthrough from urban to rural areas.\n\nWe believe in lean yet strong engineering.\n\nApply if you're extremely passionate about computer science, Haskell, F# or\nLISP, or if you can't find sleep because the world isn't as integrated as it\ncan possibly be.\n\nYou'll be responsible for your own business unit, and you will be managing\njunior engineers. MUST NOT be afraid to get into the dirty details of the bits\nand MUST be able to visualize the entire system.\n\nEmail: founders [at] chaldal [dot] com\n\n------\nethanahte\nDia&Co | New York City or REMOTE | Software Engineer, Product Manager, Data\nScientist, and Data Analyst | Full-time\n\nDia&Co is the premier personal styling service for plus-size women. We’re\nlooking for engineers, product, and data people to help create our suite of\nlarge consumer-facing and internal products that are transforming both\noperational efficiency and consumer e-commerce. We work with Ruby on Rails on\nthe engineering side and Python on the data science side.\n\nPlease check out our tech blog to get an idea of what we think about and\nvalue: [https://making.dia.com/](https://making.dia.com/)\n\nThe interview process is a phone screen, a take home coding challenge, and\nfinally an on-site interview. Apply here, and let us know that you found us on\nHacker News: [https://www.dia.co/careers](https://www.dia.co/careers)\n\n------\nk70841\nElement Science | Sr / iOS Engineer | San Francisco | Full-time | Onsite:\n[http://www.elementscience.com/assets/senior-ios-engineer--\npo...](http://www.elementscience.com/assets/senior-ios-engineer--position-\nsummary.docx.pdf)\n\nElement Science | Sr / Backend Engineer / Architect | San Francisco | Full-\ntime | Onsite: [http://www.elementscience.com/assets/senior-backend-\nengineer...](http://www.elementscience.com/assets/senior-backend-engineer--\nposition-summary.docx.pdf)\n\nElement Science is a medical wearables startup funded by Google Ventures and\nThird Rock Ventures.\n\nWe also have various FW, EE, DSP, and Manufacturing roles open. See\n[http://www.elementscience.com/#career](http://www.elementscience.com/#career)\nfor job descriptions.\n\n~~~\nk70841\nWe also have Tool Verification Engineer role open:\n[http://www.elementscience.com/assets/tools_verification-\nengi...](http://www.elementscience.com/assets/tools_verification-engineer----\nposition-summary.pdf)\n\n&\n\nApplication Verification Engineer role:\n[http://www.elementscience.com/assets/application-\nverificatio...](http://www.elementscience.com/assets/application-verification-\nengineer----position-summary.pdf)\n\nThanks!\n\n------\nbenjaminlhaas\nIntersection | New York City | Full-time | Onsite |\n[http://www.intersection.com](http://www.intersection.com)\n\nWe're the team behind LinkNYC\n([https://www.link.nyc/](https://www.link.nyc/)), LinkUK\n([http://www.linkuk.uk/](http://www.linkuk.uk/)) and the MTA On-The-Go kiosks\n([http://web.mta.info/nyct/OntheGoAds/](http://web.mta.info/nyct/OntheGoAds/)).\n\nWe have many openings within engineering, including Software Engineer, Network\nEngineer, and Hardware Engineer.\n\nSee the entire list of postings here:\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/intersection](https://boards.greenhouse.io/intersection)\n\nShoot me an email at benjamin.haas@intersection.com and we can talk more.\n\n------\necsa\nEconomic Space Agency (ECSA.io) | SF, Oakland, Europe, World | Software Team\nLead/Engineer\n\nOur aim is to transform finance. We are building a platform on a beyond-\nblockchain technology for people to operate financial contracts that will\nproduce a radically different economy. It is a place for rapid building &\ndeployment of little DAOs. #p2peconomy #openeconomy We are looking for: 1\\.\nTeam lead experience\n\n2\\. Skills with Javascript\n\n3\\. Web platform experiece (HTTP, HTML, NoSQL)\n\n4\\. Experience with smart contracts — game design and blockchain experience a\nplus\n\n*Also another senior software architect position for Open Source protocol (Agoric) \\- NodeJS expert\n\n\\- NoSQL database\n\n\\- Experience with Computer Language design+implementation, Distributed\ncomputing, and blockchain technologies highly desired.\n\nWe also have more financial instruments technology in the money market and\ncapital market space in the pipeline. Candidates with experience of financial\nalgorithm (or just algorithm) are encouraged too.\n\nContact: recruitment@ecsa.io\n\n------\ndflenniken\nSan Francisco, CA | Sys Admin / Developer (CentOS, ESXi, Ansible, Python,\nMedical Imaging) Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIND)\n\nThe CIND is a research center dedicated to studying the causes and effects of\nneurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders, using imaging techniques such as\nMRI and PET.\n\nPrimary responsibility is maintaining ESXi, a handful of Windows servers, and\nmany CentOS systems. We use ansible, Powershell, python, bash, SGE.\n\nAs time allows (and there should be time), we're hoping you can put on a\ndeveloper hat too. Python, SQL, & C#.\n\nWe'll be building out a distributed image processing framework and managing\n25+ processing nodes and storage systems. Opportunities to work on data\nanalysis (R & Python).\n\nBonus points if you are familiar with medical image processing, R, numpy.\n\nShould be smart, get things done, and have some fun.\n\nDecent salary, solid benefits, awesome coworkers, laptop, stunning location\n(Lands End)\n\nEmail the pertinent details to hiring@vacind.org\n\n------\nchaag123\nAgariData | Raleigh NC | Full Time | Onsite | VISA | www.agari.com Agari is\nsolving the email phishing problem through a combination of Big Data based\nanalytics and a next generation web application that provides visibility into\nevery message that our customers (and bad guys) send. Our goal is to spread\nthe DMARC standard and ensure no one gets their personal data stolen ever\nagain. We like opinionated engineers who enjoy a healthy debate but can commit\nto a solution. We're AWS hosted and are working hard to automate away as many\nof the reactive and tedious aspects of development as possible. We've got a\nnice Scrum approach that empowers engineers to make their own decisions and\nlook to improve with each sprint. Our stack includes Ember, RoR, Python and\nSpark as well as orchestration and automation via Packer, Consul, Terraform\nand Ansible. chaag)at(agari[dot|com\n\n------\ndispatchai\nDispatch | [http://dispatch.ai/](http://dispatch.ai/) | San Francisco Bay\nArea, CA | Full-time, onsite\n\nWe are Dispatch (dispatch.ai), a well-funded startup that is creating a\nplatform for local delivery powered by a fleet of autonomous vehicles designed\nfor sidewalks and pedestrian spaces.\n\nWe're bringing together a team with deep domain expertise in robotics,\nautonomous vehicles, and artificial intelligence. If you're interested in\njoining us for work on this exciting technology and help create the future of\nautonomous vehicles, we'd love to hear from you.\n\nRoles we are hiring for include:\n\nSoftware Engineer - Motion Planning and Controls\n\nSoftware Engineer - Perception\n\nSoftware Engineer - Mapping and Localization\n\nSoftware - Generalist\n\nHardware - Electrical\n\nHardware - Embedded/Firmware\n\nContact us at jobs-hackernews@dispatch.ai!\n\nOr apply through our listing on AngelList\n([https://angel.co/dispatch-6/](https://angel.co/dispatch-6/)).\n\n------\njimschley\nCodeship | Boston | Full-time | REMOTE | Software Engineering and Customer\nSuccess\n\nCodeship is a hosted continuous integration and delivery service. Our mission\nis to accelerate software development teams. Our stack is a\nRails/Postgres/Redis webapp and a Golang microservice and Docker-based elastic\nbuild infrastructure. [https://codeship.com](https://codeship.com)\n\nCodeship is hiring Software Engineers (back end + front end) and Customer\nSuccess Engineers: [https://codeship.com/jobs](https://codeship.com/jobs)\n\nWe have a remote-first culture and will consider applicants in Boston or who\nare remote with a successful track record contributing to a team remotely.\n\nSend us your info via [https://codeship.com/jobs](https://codeship.com/jobs)\n(preferred) or email jobs[at]codeship[dot]com\n\n------\nolalonde\nBlockai | Sr. Backend Engineer | San Francisco |\n[https://blockai.com](https://blockai.com)\n\nWe're hiring our first backend engineer to work on a reverse image search\nengine for the whole web. Our ideal candidate has experience with data\nintensive systems, web crawling, search/indexing and/or computer vision.\n\nWe started Blockai with the simple belief that people who create things should\nown their creations. As the world continues to change and many jobs get\nautomated, one of the few things that won't be replaced is creativity. Thus,\nit is an imperative that there be proper infrastructure for creators to\nmanage, monitor and monetize their work. We believe what we are building will\nenrich the lives of creators and inspire more people to create, making the\nworld a better place.\n\nIf you're up for the challenge, send me an email (oli@blockai.com) and mention\nHN.\n\n------\nreal-anthony\nThe RealReal | San Francisco ONSITE | Product Engineers\n\nI’m the Director of Consumer Products Engineering at the foremost name in\nluxury consignment - therealreal.com - and am looking to build out my team by\na few key frontend-leaning, full-stack, Rails people.\n\nThe company is Series E stable and our HQ is located on the sixth floor of a\nbuilding near Fisherman’s Wharf with sweeping panoramic views of the bay. Our\nsalaries are competitive and we still have equity to offer.\n\nInterview process : 1) initial phone screen 2) tech phone screen 3) onsite 4)\noffer\n\nLead Ruby On Rails Engineer, Consignor Web\n[https://www.therealreal.com/careers/9789EB23A8](https://www.therealreal.com/careers/9789EB23A8)\n\nSenior Ruby On Rails Engineer, Consumer Web\n[https://www.therealreal.com/careers/3928DE4896](https://www.therealreal.com/careers/3928DE4896)\n\n------\natsaloli\nVertical Sysadmin, Inc. | Sales | Los Angeles, USA | REMOTE, PART-TIME\n\nSeeking commission-only sales agent for high-quality IT training.\n\nWe deliver on-site training world-wide. Small class sizes (12 max), expert\ninstructors, excellent materials, tons of lab exercises.) People tell us it's\nthe best training they've ever had. We're partnered with GitLab and Docker;\nand now with O'Reilly Media (to teach Shell Basics).\n\nIt's a small company (me and 1 employee). Our main income is from consulting\nbut we are working on increasing our training volume.\n\nI'm looking for someone who can act as an independent agent selling our\ntraining.\n\nI'm offering 15% commission.\n\nYou'd have to generate your own leads.\n\nCourse catalog: \\- Linux shell basics \\- Time Management for System\nAdministrators \\- Power Editing with vim \\- Git Foundations: From Novice to\nGuru \\- Continuous Integration with GitLab CI \\- Engineering for Reliability,\nMaintainability, and Security with C and C++\n\nwww.verticalsysadmin.com\n\n------\nxwilders\nBEYOND LABS | Full Stack Developer | London £28-40k + up to 0.5% equity |\nONSITE\n\nBeyond is an enterprise SaaS platform that’s spearheading a new generation of\ncompanies - ones that remain agile as they grow. We do this by transforming\nthe way companies plan their numbers - their budgets. Ultimately, we believe\ncompanies do best when employees are empowered to take initiatives, rather\nthan constrained by outdated budgets.\n\nYou will:\n\n\\- Integrate key finance and productivity tools with Beyond, such as Xero,\nAsana and Slack.\n\n\\- Build & automate components which slice and dice huge datasets, making them\nmeaningful to Beyond’s different users.\n\n\\- Work with our talented front and back end teams to deliver whole features -\nfront end components that users will love, linked to a robust and efficient\nback end.\n\nLearn more at [http://bebeyond.co/jobs/](http://bebeyond.co/jobs/) or drop me\nan email: xavier@bebeyond.co\n\n------\njslampe\nDwolla | Cloud Systems Engineer | Des Moines, IA | Full Time | Onsite |\n[https://www.Dwolla.com/](https://www.Dwolla.com/)\n\nWe care about mastering the ideal way to move money. At Dwolla, we empower our\nengineers to select the right languages, tools, and libraries for the job and\ndeliver products based on those choices. If you want to become of a master of\nyour craft while building something that matters, Dwolla may be right for you.\n\nWe've been growing quickly and we're looking to hire a Cloud Systems Engineer!\n\nIf you're interested, check out our job posting to apply or ask more questions\n([https://careers.jobscore.com/careers/dwolla/jobs/cloud-\nsyste...](https://careers.jobscore.com/careers/dwolla/jobs/cloud-systems-\nengineer-dBJsziTZ0r5PsFeMg-44q7?ref=rss&sid=68))\n\n------\nrobotfelix\nClickMechanic | Head of Engineering & Full Stack Engineers | London, UK |\nFull-Time | Onsite\n\nClickMechanic brings trust & transparency to car repair. We give real-time\nindustry-standard quotes & enable customers to quickly book a vetted mechanic\nonline.\n\nYou'll join a small team of developers working on a huge consumer pain point.\nOur stack is focused around Ruby on Rails and PostgreSQL.\n\nWe're hiring for:\n\n* Head of Engineering / Lead Engineer - [https://goo.gl/r4geD7](https://goo.gl/r4geD7)\n\n* Senior / Mid-level Full Stack Engineers - [https://goo.gl/Fd59rW](https://goo.gl/Fd59rW)\n\nSalary: £40k-£80k, dependent on role and experience, with equity also.\n\nProcess: phone/skype interview => remote coding exercise => 1 on-site\ninterview. We can be flexible and some people complete the coding exercise on-\nsite.\n\nSend any questions to jobs+felix@clickmechanic.com\n\n------\nryanb\nRankScience | [https://www.rankscience.com](https://www.rankscience.com) | SF\nBay Area or Remote\n\nHiring: Front-end Developers, DevOps Engineers, SEO Analysts\n\nRankScience automates split-testing for SEO to grow organic search traffic for\nbusinesses. 80% of clicks from Google go to organic results and yet most\ncompanies don't know how to improve their SEO, or can't effectively measure\ntheir efforts to do so. Because both Google and your competitors are always\nchanging, the only way to succeed in the long-run is with software.\n\nWe've built a CDN that enables our software to modify HTML and run A/B testing\nexperiments for SEO across groups of pages. Experiments typically take 14-21\ndays for Google to index and react to changes, and we use Bayesian Time Series\nmodels to determine the statistical significance of our experiments.\n\nE-mail founders@rankscience.com with any interest.\n\n------\nreza_n\nVarnish Software | NYC, NY | Onsite | Fulltime\n\nC, Linux\n\nVarnish Software is the company behind Varnish Cache, the popular open source\ncaching proxy. Looking for a full time engineer who is comfortable working\nwith Varnish, C, Linux, HTTP and with client facing interactions. Full\nbenefits, all skill levels considered.\n\nIf you are interested, please email reza@varnish-software.com\n\n------\nbenzor\nDouble Stallion Games | Senior Gameplay Programmer | Anywhere/Montreal, QC,\nCanada | Onsite/REMOTE | Fulltime |\n[http://dblstallion.com/](http://dblstallion.com/)\n\nWe're a small independent games studio, currently comprised of a single dev\nteam but looking to grow. Our most recent games are mobile (iOS, Android,\netc.) but our next one is PC and console (PS4/Xbox One).\n\nWe're looking for a senior gameplay programmer. A generalist would be the\nideal candidate since there's all kinds of systems, UI, and AI to put\ntogether, as is the nature of a small team. We develop in Unity and C# so\nideally we want someone who's comfortable with that, but anyone who is smart\nand willing to learn is great too.\n\nTo apply, please visit:\n[http://dblstallion.com/jobs](http://dblstallion.com/jobs)\n\n------\nwesrowe\nFarmers Insurance | Los Angeles, CA | Full-time | ONSITE\n\nWe're building a brand-new test-driven, Agile team from the ground up. Come be\na part of the innovative future at Farmers! Seeking a lead as well as mid-to-\nsenior Java Spring devs to lead development of an Angular + Spring web app.\n\nBe an integral part of a brand new team building web products that reach\nmillions! Along they way you'll work in an environment with the flexibility of\na start-up but the stability and backing of an industry powerhouse.\n\nI'm Wes, the TPM leading the hiring of the team. Interview process is quick,\nfrom phone call to remote pairing session to in-person.\n\nPlease see the job listing and apply at Stack Overflow:\n[http://stackoverflow.com/jobs/133840/senior-java-services-\nen...](http://stackoverflow.com/jobs/133840/senior-java-services-engineer-\nfarmers-insurance)\n\n------\nmeiparsable\nParsable - San Francisco, CA & Vancouver, BC - Full Time Onsite\n\nParsable is a mobile collaboration and workflow platform (Product Video:\n[http://goo.gl/68hyJb](http://goo.gl/68hyJb))\n\nCompany Culture: [https://goo.gl/Tw5Kq1](https://goo.gl/Tw5Kq1)\n\nWe're looking for a full time Senior Deployment Specialist (think software\nimplementation + acct manager) to the Customer Success team in SF.\n\nPlus many other roles: -Deployment Specialist -\n[https://goo.gl/gE1EVr](https://goo.gl/gE1EVr) -Senior AE -Account Executive\n(Mid-Market AE) -Sales Engineer -Sales Prospecting Analyst Intern All\nOpenings: [https://goo.gl/hkVQS2](https://goo.gl/hkVQS2)\n\nYaletown, Vancouver: -DevOps Eng -Senior iOS En\n\nSoMa, San Francisco: -Android Eng -Product Designer\n\n~~~\ncoygui\nHello, there. Will you hire any new graduate in Yaletown, Vancouver location?\n\n------\nendymi0n\nJustWatch | Backend, Frontend & System Engineers | Berlin, Germany | INTERNS,\nVISA, ONSITE,\n[https://www.justwatch.com/us/talent](https://www.justwatch.com/us/talent)\n\nis searching for hungry & curious engineers (from INTERN to senior level):\n\n\\- Backend Engineering (Golang, GRPC, Postgres, Aerospike)\n\n\\- Web & hybrid Engineering (Typescript, Angular, Ionic, Cordova)\n\n\\- Site reliability engineering (Golang, GCP/AWS, Kubernetes, Prometheus)\n\nAbout us:\n\n\\- B2C and B2B products with massive traction in 24 countries\n\n\\- Hard problems, no politics, clear focus, great context - driven by values &\nexcellence\n\n\\- We're self-funded, profitable and rather share the company with our\nemployees than with VCs\n\nCulture:\n\n\\- an intense learning culture with high degrees of autonomy and room for\npersonal growth\n\n\\- a development philosophy that balances fast hacking with a solid\narchitectural foundation\n\n\\- great mentoring and regular feedback\n\n\\- every two weeks is Dev Day, reserved for automation, simplification and\ntech talks\n\n------\nmyvest\nMyVest | San Francisco | Senior Software Engineers (as well as Architect and\nother roles) | Full-time | Onsite |\n[https://www.myvest.com/careers/](https://www.myvest.com/careers/)\n\nAre you passionate, authentic, and looking for a challenge? MyVest is a\nfinancial technology pioneer based in the heart of San Francisco. We combine\nbest practices in wealth management with best-in-class technology. We're not\nhere to make rich people richer; we embrace our mission to help more families\nsecure their financial future by providing advisors access to technology\ngenerally available only to the very wealthy.\n\nWe have a number of open roles:\n[https://www.myvest.com/jobs/](https://www.myvest.com/jobs/) \\- Senior\nSoftware Engineer (multiple openings) \\- UI Architect\n\n------\nianpri\nOpenPlay | London | ONSITE OR REMOTE (UK only),\n[https://www.openplay.co.uk](https://www.openplay.co.uk)\n\nWe're a sports/activity marketplace looking for a mid-level full stack PHP\ndeveloper, daily activities include\n\n\\- Add new features to our core booking system\n\n\\- Improving [https://www.openplay.co.uk](https://www.openplay.co.uk) for our\n30,000+ users\n\n\\- Developing new endpoints for our APIs\n\n\\- Investigating new ares of interest for our business including mobile\npayments, keyless entry systems, iBeacons etc\n\n\\- Looking into react native for some upcoming apps we're developing\n\nTech stack is:\n\n\\- Laravel 5/Redis\n\n\\- Bootstrap\n\n\\- Ionic hybrid apps\n\n\\- All hosted on AWS deployed via codeship with forge/envoyer.\n\nsee [https://larajobs.com/job/758/midsenior-laravel-developer-\nlon...](https://larajobs.com/job/758/midsenior-laravel-developer-london-\nonsite-or-uk-remote) for more information\n\n------\nspark1\nEasyPost | San Francisco | Full-time | Onsite | Senior Software Engineer\n\nEasyPost is a fast growing startup that provides a RESTful API to\nrevolutionize the entire shipping process for e-commerce companies.\n\nWe are looking for a Senior Software Engineer with Ruby on Rails, Python, or\nGo experience to join the EasyPost team. If you love to code, want to build\nAPIs, and work on a small team of collaborative developers to build meaningful\nproducts, then we’d love to meet you!\n\nCheck out our API:\n[https://www.easypost.com/docs/api.html](https://www.easypost.com/docs/api.html)\n\nWe can offer you a competitive base salary, equity, comprehensive benefits,\nfree daily lunches, and flexible work hours/PTO.\n\nOur interview process includes one phone call and then one onsite technical\nmeeting with the rest of the team.\n\nPlease apply on our jobs page and we will contact you: www.easypost.com/jobs\n\n------\nthegorgon\nCaviar | San Francisco | iOS, Full Stack | Onsite\n\nThe Caviar team is hiring!\n\nWe're looking for an iOS specialist and a full stack generalist to join our\nteam.\n\nWe're building the world's best food delivery and logistics service. We’re\nchanging the way businesses and consumers order food from restaurants. We\nbelieve that everyone should have access to the best eateries in their city\nwithout any hassles. Want your favorite burger joint, but hate the traffic and\nlong lines? We're a team of passionate foodies solving that exact problem for\nyour home and office.\n\nOur software powers the entire delivery experience: we have close\nrelationships with the best restaurants in every city, a network of Caviar\nCouriers and customer ordering products on 3 platforms.\n\n[https://squareup.com/careers/jobs?team=Caviar](https://squareup.com/careers/jobs?team=Caviar)\n\n------\nDesaiAshu\nMake School | Multiple Locations | Onsite | Temporary\n\nMake School was founded in 2012 to empower students to build and ship products\nthat impact their communities.\n\nWe’re looking for iOS developers to teach at our Summer Academy, an eight week\nprogram where students of all ages build and ship their own iOS app, game, or\nVR experience. You'll teach Swift fundamentals plus product design,\nprototyping, user testing, analytics, and more. This is a contract position in\n2017 from mid-June to mid-August. Locations include San Francisco, Oakland,\nSilicon Valley, San Jose, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Dallas, Boston,\nWashington D.C., Atlanta, New York City, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Tokyo.\n\nApply here and mention Hacker News:\n[https://www.makeschool.com/jobs](https://www.makeschool.com/jobs)\n\nWe've met some great people through HN and would love to meet more!\n\n------\nMTAlex\nMetal Toad Media | Software Engineer | Portland OR |\n[https://www.metaltoad.com](https://www.metaltoad.com)\n\nMy team is hiring Software Engineers with Front End/Back End experience.\n\nOur team builds analytics applications for enterprise-grade IoT applications\nacross multiple clients. We're a software development agency, so our tech\nstacks vary depending on the quarter/project/team. Our requirements are pretty\nsimple:\n\n\\- 2+ years experience\n\n\\- Experience with at least one strongly typed language (C#, Java, Go, Scala,\netc).\n\n\\- A working understanding of RESTful design principles\n\n\\- An understanding of modern Javascript implementations\n\nIf you think this is a good fit, shoot me an email at alex.banks@metaltoad.com\nand apply on the website at\n[https://metaltoad.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=57](https://metaltoad.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=57)\n\n------\naforsyth\nSilverside Detectors | Software Engineer | Cambridge, MA | ONSITE Full-\ntime/Part-time\n\nSilverside is a 10 person interdisciplinary team in Cambridge focusing on\nincreasing global nuclear detection by an order of magnitude. We are\ndeveloping low-cost neutron radiation detectors with networked embedded\nsystems specifically designed to cover large geographic areas that will\nprovide actionable intelligence to first-responders.\n\nJob Description: Reporting to the VP or Engineering, you’ll be responsible for\ndesigning, developing, and testing key systems independently and as part of a\nteam. Silverside is a start-up, and the only guarantee is that there will be\nsurprises and opportunities that emerge, a desire to learn and a work ethic to\nmatch are essential.\n\n[http://sside.co/about/jobs/](http://sside.co/about/jobs/)\n\n------\njcookster\nBlack Mountain (blkmtn.com) | Director of Security | San Diego, CA | Onsite,\nFull Time\n\nBlack Mountain is a software company that develops innovative, tailored\nsolutions for data aggregation, process management, and business reporting.\nWe've made the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 List for 3rd year in a row. We're\na fun company to work for, and we have great benefits.\n[https://www.themuse.com/companies/blackmountainsystems](https://www.themuse.com/companies/blackmountainsystems)\n\nPosition Description: We're looking for a driven, experienced and hands-on\nsecurity professional to own the day-to-day and strategic security\ninitiatives. Your day-to-day activities will range from pursuing security\ncompliance to implementing a WAF solution for our AWS-based cloud offering.\n\nContact: jcook@blkmtn.com & kbaker@blkmtn.com\n\n------\nd0m\nListrunner | Full-time, Montreal |\n[https://www.listrunnerapp.com](https://www.listrunnerapp.com)\n\nListrunner is a secure collaboration platform for clinical teams.\n\nUsing human design and machine learning, we connects doctors to their team’s\ncollective expertise. We helps clinical teams make the best decisions for\ntheir patients, saving lives and reducing costs.\n\nLooking to hire a front-end and a back-end engineer.\n\n[https://angel.co/listrunner/jobs/208216-front-end-\nengineer-i...](https://angel.co/listrunner/jobs/208216-front-end-engineer-in-\nmontreal)\n\n[https://angel.co/listrunner/jobs/208224-back-end-software-\nen...](https://angel.co/listrunner/jobs/208224-back-end-software-engineer)\n\nOur stack is mostly node, react, react-native.\n\nFeel free to reach out: phzbox at gmail.\n\n------\nmaxmind\nMaxMind | Senior Software Engineer | Remote - US & Canada | Full Time |\n[https://www.maxmind.com/en/home](https://www.maxmind.com/en/home)\n\nPlease view our job description and apply here:\n[https://jobs.lever.co/maxmind/c378f96c-aaad-4cab-8709-091d05...](https://jobs.lever.co/maxmind/c378f96c-aaad-4cab-8709-091d050825cf)\n\nResumes without cover letters will not be considered. Please include a link to\nyour GitHub account or portfolio if you have one. We want to know about you!\n\nMaxMind does not currently sponsor US employment visas.\n\nFor Canadian candidates, you must be eligible/authorized to work in Canada.\n\nNote: We will consider candidates from any state except NJ, NY, TX, and WA\n(for regulatory reasons) and from anywhere in Canada. Candidates who are open\nto relocating will be considered.\n\n------\ngrantnicholas\nNielsen | Software Engineer | Chicago | full-time\n\nEveryone knows about the Nielsen Ratings - but what happens when demographics\naren't enough? Nielsen's Media Analytics team is building a world-class\nplatform for data science and analytics in the adtech space. We are utilizing\ncutting-edge open source technologies like kubernetes, docker, spark, scala,\npython, hive, glusterfs, and more to solve the data pipeline problem for good.\n\nIf this sounds interesting to you, please apply on LinkedIn:\n[https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/271085501](https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/271085501).\n\nAdditionally, feel free to reach out to me directly at\ngrant{dot}nicholas{-at}nielsen{dot}com. I'm a software engineer working on the\nplatform and I'll gladly answer any questions you have or speed the process\nalong.\n\n------\nthomasfromcdnjs\nListium | Front-end or Full-stack Developer | Melbourne, Australia | ONSITE\nFull-Time\n\nWe’re looking for a senior developer with 3+ years working with Javascript,\nand experience with singe-page apps. A good understanding of React is also\nsuggested, although if you’re a proven fast learner that might work. We use a\nvery modern stack (Node, React, Postgres) and have a small team of outstanding\ndevelopers. If you like technical challenges, working with smart people,\nhaving significant input at all stages of the process, and no committees to\nget in the way, you should take a quick look at our jobs page at:\n[https://angel.co/listium/jobs](https://angel.co/listium/jobs). We are funded,\nand offer generous equity packages.\n\n[https://listium.com](https://listium.com)\n\n------\ngigixu16\nRadius delivers predictive marketing software that transforms the way B2B\ncompanies discover new market opportunities, acquire the right customers, and\nmeasure success.\n\nLocation: San Francisco | Full Time - Onsite\n\nSenior Data Scientist\n[https://jobs.lever.co/radius/d09cf54f-82db-4600-a08f-dab544f...](https://jobs.lever.co/radius/d09cf54f-82db-4600-a08f-dab544f98030?lever-\nsource=hackernews)\n\nSenior Data Software Engineer\n[https://jobs.lever.co/radius/4b64307f-b7a4-4e29-9ff8-6377ce3...](https://jobs.lever.co/radius/4b64307f-b7a4-4e29-9ff8-6377ce349a73?lever-\nsource=hackernews)\n\nMachine Learning Software Engineer\n[https://jobs.lever.co/radius/63f7b3b5-2e74-4a20-94ef-5ff6b9c...](https://jobs.lever.co/radius/63f7b3b5-2e74-4a20-94ef-5ff6b9ccb0be?lever-\nsource=hackernews)\n\nSenior Python Data Engineer\n[https://jobs.lever.co/radius/5d55b5bf-2667-4948-b69a-c8bafc7...](https://jobs.lever.co/radius/5d55b5bf-2667-4948-b69a-c8bafc73354e?lever-\nsource=hackernews)\n\nOperations Engineer\n[https://jobs.lever.co/radius/a5f170b1-159e-4414-bfc7-3f0fcd8...](https://jobs.lever.co/radius/a5f170b1-159e-4414-bfc7-3f0fcd8bb04a?lever-\nsource=hackernews)\n\nSenior Data Product Manager- Profiling\n[https://jobs.lever.co/radius/e52f1e76-2dea-4527-9ecd-6ced728...](https://jobs.lever.co/radius/e52f1e76-2dea-4527-9ecd-6ced7284ab6e?lever-\nsource=hackernews)\n\nProduct Manager- Data Science\n[https://jobs.lever.co/radius/342ab4e8-5fba-4718-be68-c3ace0d...](https://jobs.lever.co/radius/342ab4e8-5fba-4718-be68-c3ace0dd4867?lever-\nsource=hackernews)\n\n------\nnoorani\nNUITEQ | Software Engineer | Bangalore, India\n\nWe work in the Human Computer Interaction space, focused on Natural User\nInterfaces and in specific Multitouch Technology\n\nWe're currently hiring for the position of Software Engineer.\n\nJob Description: Develop applications using various web stacks and our\ninternal software development kit (SDK). Improve existing applications in the\ndifferent software suites (primarily Snowflake Business and Snowflake\nMultiTeach® and secondarily develop new web applications). You will also be\nresponsible for testing and bug fixes during the release phase of the product\ndevelopment life cycle.\n\nPlease see the full job description here:\n[https://www.dropbox.com/s/f2bg3siv0vq6dn6/SoftwareEngineerJo...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/f2bg3siv0vq6dn6/SoftwareEngineerJobDescriptionWeb.pdf)\n\nWe can connect on mn@nuiteq.com\n\nThank you.\n\n------\ne-dard\nInfluxData (YC W13) | San Francisco or Remote |\n[https://www.influxdata.com/](https://www.influxdata.com/) | Golang | Full\nTime | REMOTE OK\n\nWe're looking for database engineers to help work on InfluxDB and other\nproducts. The current InfluxDB team is spread across four timezones and two\ncontinents; we're definitely a remote-first company.\n\nIf you love Go, open-source, writing high performance code and solving\ninteresting data/distributed systems problems, then we want to hear from you.\n\nWe're hiring for a number of roles:\n[https://www.influxdata.com/careers/](https://www.influxdata.com/careers/)\n\nNo puzzles and technical interviews for us; if you're an exceptional Go\ncandidate you'll probably stand out already with your previous work or\nsoftware projects.\n\n------\nmickeyben\nDrivy | Paris, France on site | Full-time | Android Engineer |\n[https://en.drivy.com/jobs](https://en.drivy.com/jobs)\n\nWe believe shared cars are a better way to move around, offering more\nflexibility and more convenience. We are already the #1 car rental marketplace\nin Europe, and we believe the adoption will be 100 times larger in just a few\nyears. We are present in several countries, have great mobile apps, and kick-\nass hardware. And we're just getting started.\n\nWe're looking for someone who is not only well versed in Android development,\nbut also has a strong understanding of good UX.\n\n[https://en.drivy.com/jobs/57caa312-85cc-4ab2-b0ba-0402affc5f...](https://en.drivy.com/jobs/57caa312-85cc-4ab2-b0ba-0402affc5f20)\n\nPlease apply via the above links and mention Hacker News!\n\n------\npsycr\nSenior Full Stack Developer @ Universe |\n[https://www.universe.com/](https://www.universe.com/) | ONSITE | Toronto\n\nInterview process: \\- Submit application at\n[http://universe.applytojob.com/apply/6hV3Xj/Senior-Full-\nStac...](http://universe.applytojob.com/apply/6hV3Xj/Senior-Full-Stack-\nDeveloper)\n\n\\- Phone screen\n\n\\- In person + pair programming challenge\n\nAs a Senior Full Stack Developer at Universe, you will apply your passion for\ntechnology and live events in your quest to build a world-class Event\nTicketing platform. In this deeply technical and business-minded position,\nyou’ll architect, implement, and evolve our frontend and backend systems with\na talented team of like-minded peers. As a senior developer with great\ninfluence on our product, you’ll be challenged with the rewarding tasks of\nunderstanding our customers with strong empathy, curating an amazing product\nexperience, and championing our vision to new heights.\n\n_What your day would look like_:\n\n\\- Writing new application code for our core product API and client\n(especially transactional pieces)\n\n\\- Advocating best practices for development and testing\n\n\\- Performance profiling new and existing features in both our server\nprocesses and in the browser\n\n\\- Mentoring junior developers on the team and promoting skill growth\n\n_What we’re looking for_:\n\n\\- Experienced in Ruby on Rails, NodeJS, and/or MVC backend frameworks\n\n\\- Experienced in Ember or React frontends\n\n\\- Excited about BDD, automated deployment, fixing bugs, and shipping code\n\n[http://universe.applytojob.com/apply/6hV3Xj/Senior-Full-\nStac...](http://universe.applytojob.com/apply/6hV3Xj/Senior-Full-Stack-\nDeveloper)\n\n------\nXophmeister\nWellcome Trust Sanger Institute | Cambridge, UK | Onsite |\n[http://www.sanger.ac.uk](http://www.sanger.ac.uk)\n\nSenior/Software Developer, Human Genetics Informatics\n\n[https://jobs.sanger.ac.uk/wd/plsql/wd_portal.show_job?p_web_...](https://jobs.sanger.ac.uk/wd/plsql/wd_portal.show_job?p_web_site_id=1764&p_web_page_id=297364)\n\nWe are seeking a software developer to join the Human Genetics Informatics\n(HGI) team at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. HGI is an agile development\nteam responsible for providing efficient access to cutting-edge analysis\nmethods to human genetics faculty groups at the Sanger Institute.\n\nSkilled developers are encouraged to apply regardless of prior job experience,\nas the focus is on coding and core computer science skills rather than on work\nexperience. Recent graduates or current students in their final year are\nespecially encouraged to apply, although it is essential that any candidate\nhas substantial development experience outside of coursework (e.g. active\nparticipation in open source projects or the pursuit of personal coding\nprojects). An interest in scientific research and a strong intellectual\ncuriosity are also necessities, although a formal education in genetics is not\nrequired.\n\nOur team's focus is the development and operation of scientific analysis\nworkflows and tools for genetic data analysis, as well as developing the\ninfrastructure necessary to manage the efficient operation of those workflows.\n\nThis role will involve working as part of the HGI team to deliver working\nsystems that produce analytical outputs for human genetics faculty research\ngroups within the Sanger. Team members will be expected to produce quality\ncode; to be able to work both independently and closely with colleagues to\ndevelop, debug, and optimize their code; and to be comfortable communicating\ndirectly with scientific researchers regarding requirements.\n\n------\nsylvainkalache\nHolberton School | San Francisco | Software Engineer | ONSITE - Full-time\n\n=== Who We Are === A 2-year alternative to college training Full Stack\nSoftware Engineers using a peer-learning and project-based approach: no formal\nteachers, no lectures, students learn by practicing and collaborating with\npeers.\n\nWe are a team of 6, moving fast and positively impacting people's life.\n\n=== Who We Are Looking For === We are looking for a generalist Software\nEngineer to work on our tools and curriculum: -Tools: website, intranet, auto-\nreview system and a bunch of other small tools -Curriculum: design, write and\nimplement correction for projects given to the students\n\nThe job is both about interacting with software but also with humans (our\nstudents and mentors who are helping us building the curriculum)\n\nThe interview process is short and is focusing on passion and execution.\n\n=== Interested? === Shoot an email to sylvain@holbertonschool.com\n\n------\nspeek\nArmada - [http://armada.ai](http://armada.ai) \\- Cambridge/Boston ONSITE\n\n    \n    \n       **************\n       = What we do =\n       **************\n    \n\nWe're helping shippers make the right logistics decisions at the right times\nby tracking pallets and running analysis on the global supply chain to figure\nout what the hell is going on. (Think Skynet for Logistics if we gave skynet a\nfinger to touch every shipment in the world).\n\nThis is one of the few massive industries ($4T) left that are left to be\ndigitized and completely optimized with technology\n\nWe're a funded startup, coming off a recent exit, with a friggin' fantastic\nteam in central sq.\n\n    \n    \n       ***************\n       = Looking for =\n       ***************\n    \n\n\\- Fullstack engineer\n\nIf you'd like to learn more, please shoot us an email at hello@armada.ai (feel\nfree to mention Marc)\n\n~~~\nitamarst\nYou realize in the movies Skynet tried to destroy humanity?\n\n------\nmattmhickman\nHandshake | Software Engineer | 2601 Mission St, San Francisco, CA |\n[https://www.joinhandshake.com](https://www.joinhandshake.com)\n\nOur mission is to democratize opportunity - to make it easy for any student to\nbuild a great career, no matter where they go to school, what they're majoring\nin, or who they know.\n\nBacked by $34m from Spark Capital, Kleiner Perkins, True Ventures and\nLightspeed Partners, Handshake has partnered with 170 universities (schools of\nall sizes and locations, including Stanford, Princeton, UVA, Michigan, Texas,\nSpelman and Harvey Mudd), and has more than 3 million student profiles and\n100,000 companies recruiting on our platform, including 95% of the Fortune\n500. Our extensive data on students' interests and historical career outcomes\ngives Handshake the unique ability to help students imagine, plan and\njumpstart their future careers.\n\nCome join our passionate, diverse team at our beautiful offices in the heart\nof the Mission in San Francisco!\n\nHiring for:\n\n-Full stack developers (we're a RoR shop but open to all types of software engineering backgrounds): [http://grnh.se/y3vipr](http://grnh.se/y3vipr)\n\n-Lead Mobile Engineer: [http://grnh.se/oafjw21](http://grnh.se/oafjw21)\n\n-Platform & Infrastructure Engineer: [http://grnh.se/t3wjek1](http://grnh.se/t3wjek1)\n\n-Product (UI/UX) Designer: [http://grnh.se/1d650y](http://grnh.se/1d650y)\n\nNot seeing a role that fits? We have more positions, just check out our\ncareers page:\n[https://joinhandshake.com/careers/](https://joinhandshake.com/careers/)\nAlternatively, you can email me if you have questions: scott@joinhandshake.com\n\n------\nRichardPrice\nAcademia.edu | Full Stack Engineer | San Francisco, CA | Onsite\n\nAcademia.edu is addressing two problems:\n\n\\- Open access. The goal here is to put every academic pdf ever written on the\ninternet, available for free.\n\n\\- The reproducibility crisis. It has emerged over the last few years that\n65-90% of the scientific literature is not reproducible. What this means is\nthat if you try to reproduce the experiments described in a paper, 65-90% of\nthe time you will not get the same findings. This is known as \"the\nreproducibility crisis\"\n\nWith regard to open access, Academia allows academics to upload papers to\nAcademia, and make them freely available. Academics have uploaded about 16\nmillion pdfs to Academia.edu, and upload about 1 million a month. About 30\nmillion people come to Academia each month to access and share papers.\n\nWith regard to reproducibility, we think the way to solve the reproducibility\ncrisis is to build a new peer review system that (a) crowd-sources peer review\nfrom the academic community and (b) provides credit to material that journals\ndon't publish (data-sets, code, replications, failed replications).\n\nAcademia has built a recommendation system which is the basis of our approach\nto (a) and (b). We realize that addressing reproducibility is a huge\nchallenge. We need mission-driven engineers to come and help us. We have\nraised $28 million from Tencent, Khosla Ventures, Spark Capital, and True\nVentures. Bijan Sabet from Spark Capital writes \"We believe open science is\nreally important. We believe Academia.edu is going to have a profound impact\non the world.\"\n\nWe are looking to hire full stack software engineers. Technologies we use\ninclude Ruby, Rails, Postgres, DynamoDB, React. Our office is in downtown San\nFrancisco. For more information, visit\n[http://academia.edu/hiring](http://academia.edu/hiring). If you are\ninterested to learn more, please email Richard Price at richard [at]\nacademia.edu\n\n------\nmarkstraub\nSmile Identity | Mountain View | Full time | Full Stack Engineer | REMOTE,\nVISA\n\nSmile Identity solves hard problems of identity for high value transactions in\nlow-trust environments. We are backed by Vinod Khosla & 500 Startups.\n\nWe are looking for someone with a passion for server side development who\nwants to be a key part of the team designing a server architecture from the\nground up. We need someone flexible that can code in a bunch of web\ntechnologies while dealing with the inevitable day to day issues of bringing a\nnew service to life. The job is to implement and then continuously improve our\nAPI's, enterprise facing web, server security, and cost per transaction.\n\nRequirements\n\nYou love to code. You have coded a variety of languages/technologies; in\nparticular heroku, sql, rails, js, html, css, python.\n\nYou are comfortable with combining web and compiled languages in a unified\nsystem. You understand security, the need to protect our client's privacy and\nthe integrity of our data.\n\nYou understand the need for instrumenting. We need metrics for everything.\n\nYou are highly entrepreneurial. You take the initiative to solve problems as\nthey arise, love to troubleshoot, and are flexible.\n\nYou are a great collaborator. You know that startups are a team sport. You\nspeak your mind but also listen to others. You can take the heat. You are\norganized, do well under pressure, and can prioritize multiple tasks.\n\nYou have been part of a team that launched and maintained systems and APIs at\nscale. You have worked with AWS services and components and have a deep\nfamiliarity with Linux.\n\nPreferred Qualifications\n\nYou were a SysAdmin in a previous life. Some C/C++ background Some ML\nbackground You are a seeker of truth and get excited about expanding access\nand trust in underserved markets around the world\n\nQualified & interested? Email resume to talent@smileidentity.com\n\n~~~\njimymodi\nSeems smileidentity.com doesn't exists. Where can we get more info from ?\n\n~~~\nmarkstraub\nEmail us at talent@smileidentity.com And yes, it does www.smileidentity.com\n\n------\nbrittanie5340\nWinc.com | Full time | Los Angeles | Frontend Engineer, JavaScript Engineer |\nwww.winc.com\n\nWe are looking for a few great ONSITE Front End Engineers to join our highly\ncollaborative and fast moving team. In this role, you'll create functional and\npolished user interfaces with an emphasis on the mobile experience, work with\nsenior developers to architect scalable front-end solutions that integrate\nwith multiple backend systems, and strategize with digital product\nstakeholders to ensure the highest return on our engineering resources. In\nthis role it is crucial to be deadline driven, an internal drive toward\ncontinual improvement, and open to collaboration and being part of our\nproduct, not just production.\n\nTO APPLY: [https://goo.gl/KsNnYt](https://goo.gl/KsNnYt)\n\nSincerely, Winc Careers Team Careers@winc.com\n\n------\nbnoohi\nPangea Money Transfer | Chicago, IL | Lead iOS and Software Engineer\n(Platform) | Full Time, On Site |\n[http://engineering.gopangea.com](http://engineering.gopangea.com)\n\nFounded in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, IL, Pangea started with the\nmission of making money transfer simple, fair and safe. Since then, we’ve been\nstriving to enhance the security and reduce the cost and pain points of\ninternational money transfer.\n\nOur first solution allows users to complete a transfer in three easy steps and\npay with any US debit card, with an innovative nationwide cash solution coming\nsoon. Receivers in Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador and Dominican\nRepublic can collect the transfers in cash or receive the money directly into\na bank account. Through every partnership and product iteration, we’ll\ncontinue to help our users save more time and money.\n\nPangea is successful because of our world-class team members and strong\npassion for making an impact in our customers’ lives. We are different. We are\ninnovative. We are eager to learn from each other. We are dedicated to\nbuilding the world’s best platform for transferring money.\n\nYou can see the full description at:\n\n\\- Lead iOS Engineer - [http://engineering.gopangea.com/join/lead-engineer-\nios](http://engineering.gopangea.com/join/lead-engineer-ios)\n\n\\- Software Engineer (Platform)\n[http://engineering.gopangea.com/join/software-engineer-\nplatf...](http://engineering.gopangea.com/join/software-engineer-platform)\n\nYou can email me directly with a resume at bardia --at-- gopangea.com\n\nYou can learn more about the engineering team at: \\-\n[http://engineering.gopangea.com](http://engineering.gopangea.com) \\-\n[https://github.com/gopangea](https://github.com/gopangea)\n\n------\ncubistml\nCubist Systematic Strategies | Quantitative Developer – Systematic Options |\nNew York | Onsite | Full Time\n\nCubist Systematic Strategies is the systematic investing business of Point72\nAsset Management. We deploy systematic, computer-driven trading strategies\nacross multiple liquid asset classes.\n\nWe’re looking for a lead developer to join a new team focused on short term\nsystematic futures, FX, and options strategies. You will drive the design and\ndevelopment of components of a research, simulation, and trading system,\nincluding:\n\n* Option pricing and greek computation\n\n* Portfolio construction and optimization\n\n* Position, risk, and P&L services\n\n* Compute cluster, high throughput research infrastructure\n\n* Monitors, dashboards\n\nYou should have experience working with:\n\n* C++/Java and Python\n\n* Systems for real-time option pricing, risk, and execution\n\n* Fully automated option delta hedging strategies\n\n* Real-time forecast, alpha services\n\n* Tick/microstructure level data\n\nTo learn more or apply, send an email with your CV to\ntalent@cubistsystematic.com.\n\n------\nboschse\nRobert Bosch AB | Lund, Sweden | Software Security Engineer | Full-time |\nONSITE\n\nThe goal is to build up a team in Lund that has the main responsibility for a\nsecure execution environment in Linux based infotainment systems.\n\nWhat distinguishes you:\n\n• C/C++ Software development on embedded systems.\n\n• Relevant experience from software development in a Linux based embedded\nsystem.\n\n• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.\n\n• Experience from software security related technologies, for example:\n\n• Trusted Execution Environment\n\n• Hardware virtualization, including Hypervisor technology\n\n• Certificate / Key management\n\n• Mandatory Access Control (SELinux, AppArmor or similar)\n\nFor all the details and the link to apply:\n\n[http://www.bosch-\ncareer.com/media/nc/documents_master_3/appl...](http://www.bosch-\ncareer.com/media/nc/documents_master_3/applying_documents_master_3/Trusted_Execution_Environment.pdf)\n\n------\nroablep\nEmogi | Infrastructure Engineer | New York City (NYC) | Full Time\n\nWe’re a consumer-first data and content company that helps people find and\nshare innovative and useful content in their messaging experiences. Our\nproducts, the Emogi Conversation Graph and Emogi Content Studio, let messaging\napps build deeper engagement with their users, and brands connect with\naudiences.\n\nI'm looking for an experienced infrastructure engineer to help scale\ninfrastructure and mature our release management - a hybrid role that's part\nTech Ops, part DevOps, part QA automation. It's perfect for someone who wants\nto grow their skillset in new disciplines.\n\nYou can expect to:\n\n* _Build, Provision, and Operate Infrastructure._ Use Chef and AWS OpsWorks to manage configurations. We may evolve into a hybrid cloud.\n\n* _Own deployment workflows._ Build workflows from the time the source code is written 'till it is delivered. We use Jenkins CI and AWS CodeDeploy\n\n* _Branch & release management._ Manage our release process so that we get the right bug-fixes and features deployed.\n\nWe value:\n\n* _Speed to market_ Security, monitoring, and CI/CD deployment are key so we can ship product faster.\n\n* _Team orientation._ We believe that if you want to go fast, you go alone, but if you want to go far, you go with a team.\n\n* _Intellectual curiosity._ Innovation doesn't happen without curiosity. We think abstractly and reinvent continuously. You should too.\n\nWe’re open background and experience but experience with the following\nbuzzwords are ideal -\n\n* AWS Service Soup - EC2, S3, CloudFront, ELB, VPC, etc;\n\n* ElasticSearch/Solr;\n\n* Storm, Zookeeper and Kafka.\n\nSounds interesting? I'd love to chat or buy you coffee if you’re in NYC. Email\nme (I'm the hiring mgr) - peter attt emogi.com. Sane interview process.\n\n------\ndanielamc\nUken Games | [http://uken.com](http://uken.com) | Toronto | Full time | Onsite\n\nUken is looking for talented developers to help us build amazing mobile games.\nIn particular, we have positions available for:\n\nBackend Developers\n\nHelp us scale our backend to enable a million concurrent players by creating\nthe infrastructure and services (SOA) that underly all of our games. Primary\ntech is Rails and MySQL, but you'll be working with many more such as Docker,\nRedis, NSQ, websockets, Hadoop, Spark and InfluxDB.\n\nSoftware Developers\n\nJoin one of our game teams to build something that millions of people will\nplay and love. Primary tech is Unity.\n\nAbout Uken\n\nWe are one of the largest independent game studios in Canada, with hundreds of\nthousands of players a day across mobile and Facebook.\n\nMore info including full job postings at [http://uken.com](http://uken.com)\n\n------\ncborosie\nSocratic | Android Lead + Head of Design | New York ONSITE | Full Time\n\nSocratic is hiring for 2 awesome roles! Join our small team as we build a\nworld-class (ranked #1 in Free Ed apps!) digital tutor and homework helper for\nstudents all over the world.\n\nWe're looking for an experienced Android Developer. This person will make all\nthe critical technology and architecture choices that we'll work with for\nyears. They will have built Android apps from scratch and shipped them to\nusers via the Play store.\n\nAlso hiring for Head of Design. This person will have full ownership of design\nat Socratic: first as the sole designer, then as design manager as the company\ngrows. They will work with our CEO to define product strategy (plan roadmaps,\ndefine product requirements, prioritizing tasks).\n\nLearn more at socratic.org/jobs or say hey at jobs at socratic dot org!\n\n------\nmonicabreton\nWealthfront | Redwood City, CA | Engineering Managers and Engineers | Onsite |\nVisa\n\nOur mission is pretty simple; we believe that everyone deserves sophisticated\nfinancial advice. We are focused on taking services typically reserved for the\nultra-wealthy, automating them and delivering them directly to the investors\nat an incredibly low cost. We have clients in all 50 states who trust us with\n$5 billion in assets and growing. With our clients' trust, we believe we can\nand will change this industry.\n\nWe are hiring across the board, but are specifically looking for Engineering\nManagers, Sr. Backend Engineers and Sr. Data Engineers with Java experience.\n\nFeel free to check out the job descriptions and apply here:\n[http://grnh.se/6regmv1](http://grnh.se/6regmv1) (please mention HN in\napplication).\n\n------\nchadwittman\nDolly | Seattle, WA | Full-time, ONSITE | $80k - $120k + Equity | Android\nDeveloper\n\nWe're looking for an Android Developer with experience building and\nmaintaining an Android app. Developer will work closely with iOS peer & design\nteam.\n\nDolly is like Uber for moving stuff. We're a Product Team of 8: 3 full stack\nengineers, 2 app engineers (we're losing 1 and we'd be gaining you), 1\ndesigner/developer, 1 UX designer, and a PM. We're native on both Android &\niOS and maintain 2 apps on each (one for our customers and one for our\ndrivers).\n\nWhat we're looking for:\n\n\\- Expertise in Java\n\n\\- Experiencing shipping native Android applications (show us your work!)\n\n\\- Works collaboratively\n\nOur stack:\n\n\\- Native Android App (Java)\n\n\\- Full-stack Javascript\n\n\\- Node.js\n\n\\- Mongoose and MongoDB\n\n\\- REST API design\n\nFull job posting: [https://angel.co/dolly/jobs/205540-android-\ndeveloper](https://angel.co/dolly/jobs/205540-android-developer)\n\n------\nhackernews\nGrand Rounds | Sr. Software Engineer | San Francisco, CA USA |\n[https://www.grandrounds.com](https://www.grandrounds.com)\n\nGrand Rounds was recently named Best Digital Health Company to Work For[1] by\nRock Health, and is currently recognized by Glassdoor's as the #2 Best Places\nto Work[2].\n\nWe are also represented on Wealthfront's Career Launching Companies[3] for the\nsecond year in a row and are looking for talented Software Engineers to join\nour mission.\n\nYou'll be embedded in an agile team tasked with business problems to solve and\na solid, well built platform to leverage. We believe in empowerment through\nautonomy. We employ a services oriented platform[4] primarily utilizing Rails\non the back-end and React on the front-end. Every new Engineer delivers code\nfrom day one.\n\nWe're specifically looking for talented Engineers with strong architectural\npattern knowledge (Fowler is your preferred bedtime reading). You're familiar\nwith the concerns of MVC, perhaps with the Redux pattern. You've used Backbone\nto create front end frameworks, can talk web standards and best practices. You\nknow why accessibility is important, and have a desire to learn about building\nsecure applications. You can debate for hours on microservice vs monolithic\napplications and can sniff out code smell and recognize anti-patterns from a\nmile away.\n\nHere at Grand Rounds we are literally saving lives through our technology and\nservices, it's rewarding work. Email me at brett@grandrounds (mention\nHackerNews) or visit our website[5] to view and apply to open opportunities.\n\n[1] [https://rockhealth.com/announcing-the-2017-top-50-in-\ndigital...](https://rockhealth.com/announcing-the-2017-top-50-in-digital..).\n[2] [https://www.glassdoor.com/Award/Best-Small-and-Medium-\nCompan...](https://www.glassdoor.com/Award/Best-Small-and-Medium-Compan..).\n[3] [https://blog.wealthfront.com/2017-career-launching-\ncompanies...](https://blog.wealthfront.com/2017-career-launching-companies..).\n[4] [https://stackshare.io/grand-rounds/grand-\nrounds](https://stackshare.io/grand-rounds/grand-rounds) [5]\n[https://www.grandrounds.com/life-at-grand-\nrounds/](https://www.grandrounds.com/life-at-grand-rounds/)\n\n------\nKabukks\nSPIEGEL Tech Lab | Android Developer | Hamburg, Germany | Full time | Onsite |\n[http://www.spiegel.de](http://www.spiegel.de)\n\nWe're looking for someone to dive into our existing Android code bases as well\nas develop new mobile apps from the ground up.\n\nApps you'll be working on include SPIEGEL ONLINE, DER SPIEGEL, and SPIEGEL TV\nwhich are used by millions of readers daily.\n\nWe need you to be proficient in Java, Android SDK, and Git. We would be very\npleased if you bring a curious mind as well :) In addition to that,\nfamiliarity with relevant technologies used within SPIEGEL will be a plus\n(e.g. SQL, HTML, CSS, JS, iOS development, Java server side).\n\nDue to the nature of our industry (publishing), you should be able to\nread/write/speak German on a native level.\n\nInterested? Please send your application to techlab@spiegel.de\n\n------\nleegutman\nEnigma|[http://enigma.io/|](http://enigma.io/|) New York, NY\n\nEnigma was founded back in 2012 to make sense of the massive array of public\ndata. Fun fact, our big coming out party was winning TechCrunch Disrupt's 2013\nBattlefield. Fast-forward four years later, we're now building technology to\nhelp Fortune 500 companies, government, and others use public and private data\ntogether to address large-scale challenges, ranging from ensuring drugs are\nsafe to investigating money laundering.\n\nCurrently hiring Software Engineers, Data Scientists, Product Managers,\nProduct Designers and more.\n\nFeel free to email me directly: lee.gutman@enigma.io and/or apply\nonline:[http://enigma.io/careers/](http://enigma.io/careers/)\n\n------\naembleton\nRideways | Java Developer | Manchester, UK | ONSITE |\n[https://www.rideways.com/](https://www.rideways.com/)\n\nRideways is hiring Java Developers, Senior Java Developers and a Technical\nLead to work at our office in central Manchester. We're using Java 8, Spring\nMVC, React, Camel and AWS to make it easier to book a taxi from the airport to\nyour hotel or conference centre.\n\nWe are a small team within the larger Rentalcars.com company and we are\nlooking for enthusiastic developers, keen on working in an agile team.\n\nIf you are interested, please email me on arthurembleton@rideways.com or apply\nthrough our jobs board at [http://grnh.se/fvg20p](http://grnh.se/fvg20p) where\nyou can see all of the jobs currently available across Rentalcars.com\n\n------\ncolebowl\nTiller Digital | Full Stack Developer | Calgary, Alberta | Onsite\n\nWe are looking for a Node.js developer to contribute to the success of our\nclients by providing quality development solutions for a range of web\nexperiences from marketing websites to complex web applications. If you're a\ndeveloper who thrives in a collaborative environment; is skilled in pairing\nthe appropriate development solutions with the project goals; and can execute\nsolutions with close attention to detail we are interested in talking with\nyou.\n\nThe primary role of this position is to help us build, scale, and maintain\nNode.js applications for our clients.\n\nOur stack includes Node.js, Koa, React, ES5 & ES6, Mongodb, AWS & Digital\nOcean\n\nApply via Workable: [https://tiller-digital-inc.workable.com](https://tiller-\ndigital-inc.workable.com)\n\n------\nMKK\nAurora Solar | Senior Frontend & Backend Engineers | Bay Area, CA (Palo Alto)\n| Full-time, Onsite | aurorasolar.com\n\nAurora is a SaSS company and the one-stop solution for solar installers. We\nhelp them streamline their entire solar sales and design process. Think CAD\nfor solar. You input the address and your energy consumption, we output an\naccurate solar design and sales proposal.\n\nWe are venture-backed and have won several engineering grants from the US\nDepartment of Energy and Stanford University. If you care about applying your\ntalents towards building something that truly makes a difference, we would\nlove to hear from you!\n\nInterview Process: 30min phone screen, 3-4 hour take home coding task, 1 day\nonsite interview.\n\nApply here:\n[http://www.aurorasolar.com/careers](http://www.aurorasolar.com/careers)\n\n------\nellisv\nPowerley | Data Scientist, Android Developer, iOS Developer, NodeJS Engineer |\nRoyal Oak, MI | Full-time |\n[http://www.powerley.com/](http://www.powerley.com/)\n\nPowerley is connecting the smart grid to the smart home and building the next\ngeneration of home energy management.\n\nHere are some of the things we do:\n\n\\- Real-time energy use visualization and personalized feedback\n\n\\- Energy signal disaggregation to understand of how individual appliances\ndrive aggregate usage in the home\n\n\\- Home automation and control using key smart home protocols (ZigBee, Z-Wave,\nWi-Fi, Bluetooth and Thread)\n\n\\- Identify problems with appliances before they occur\n\nWe're looking for experienced Data Scientists, Android & iOS Developers, and\nNodeJS Engineers to help us build the platform that provides both the utility\nand the homeowner a new level of connectivity and intelligence.\n\nIf you have any questions feel free to send me a PM or comment. You can apply\nat\n[http://www.powerley.com/about/careers/](http://www.powerley.com/about/careers/)\n\nRecent new articles\n\n[1]\n[http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170131006068/en/Powe...](http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170131006068/en/Powerley-\nUnveils-Energy-Driven-Smart-Home-Experience) [2]\n[https://techcrunch.com/video/detroit-hustle-with-tome-\npowerl...](https://techcrunch.com/video/detroit-hustle-with-tome-powerley-and-\nirule/587013a7c4d21f6c543e9beb/) [3]\n[http://www.einnews.com/pr_news/361508874/parks-associates-\ndt...](http://www.einnews.com/pr_news/361508874/parks-associates-dte-and-\npowerley-to-keynote-smart-energy-summit-engaging-consumers)\n\n~~~\nchetankabra8\nHey, Can I get any reference for applying.\n\n------\nJoryFormlabs\nFormlabs | Boston, MA | Onsite | Full-time | Applications Engineer\n\nSound interesting? Learn more here:\n[http://grnh.se/ipwv0r1](http://grnh.se/ipwv0r1)\n\nTHE COMPANY: We are a passionate team of engineers, designers, and problem-\nsolvers who make 3D printing tools for professionals. Started out of MIT in\n2011, Formlabs is committed to bringing innovative and sophisticated\nfabrication tools into the creative hands of designers, engineers, and artists\naround the world. We just raised $35 Million in our series B.\n\nJOB DESCRIPTION: Be one of the first to work with unreleased resins and help\nrealize their potential by immersing yourself in advanced processes, ranging\nfrom industrial moldmaking and digital dentistry to contemporary craft. Use\nyour technical know-how and curiosity to develop resources that help our\ncustomers be successful to engage new audiences and ultimately drive sales. If\nyou’re more interested in the digital workflow than post-print processes, help\nus evaluate and recommend end to end solutions, incorporating scanning, 3D\nmodelling or parametric design. The applications team pursues projects that\nare high risk / high reward, so a good sense of priority and personal project\nmanagement is required.\n\nYOU WILL: * Propose, research and develop highly visual demos that will\ntranslate well online.\n\n* Collaborate and support customers already doing amazing things, providing input and friendly guidance to build mutually beneficial relationships that we can convert into content marketing.\n\n* Stay up to date with the latest trends and popular topics in the industry, benchmarking competitors and advising development teams so we can offer industrial solutions at a fraction of the cost.\n\n* 3D modeling, 3D printing, writing, documentation, part finishing, experimentation, strategy and communication.\n\nSound interesting? Learn more here:\n[http://grnh.se/ipwv0r1](http://grnh.se/ipwv0r1)\n\n------\nmgadams3\nMissionU | San Francisco or REMOTE | Part-time | Spring Research INTERNS\n\nMissionU is a higher-education company focused on preparing students for 21st\ncentury careers. We are looking for current college students to fill our\nintern class. Interns will co-create the MissionU experience and have\npotential to secure full-time employment.\n\nPrimary responsibilities include: Conduct research and analysis Test beta\nproduct to provide feedback and creative insight Collaborate with team members\non high-priority projects\n\nThe internship program will run from through May 2017. Interns will be\nexpected to contribute ~8 hours of work per week. San Francisco location is\npreferred, but remote work is possible.\n\nPlease apply at [https://goo.gl/3nwUHZ](https://goo.gl/3nwUHZ).\n\nFor additional questions, please reach out to jobs@missionu.com\n\n------\nsebmanchester\nJaza Energy | Full Stack Engineer | Halifax, NS or Tanzania or Remote\n\nWe build energy access for communities beyond the grid. We make electricity\naffordable through novel energy distribution systems and custom control\nhardware that integrates standard solar energy equipment. We need someone to\ntake the lead on developing our software - mainly energy system data\naggregation and monitoring tools for our field technicians.\n\nWe are early-stage but well funded. You would be given a lot of freedom to\ndesign your own stack / architecture.\n\nOur small engineering team is based in Halifax, but all of our operations are\nin Tanzania. Ideally we will find someone willing to live in one of those\nlocations, but would consider allowing a remote workplace if you are the right\nfit.\n\nIf this sounds interesting to you, please get in touch:\nsebastian@jazaenergy.com\n\n------\nliquidise\nMeetMindful | Software Engineer | Denver, CO | ONSITE\n\nMeetMindful is a revenue-driven online dating app for mindful lifestyles\n(meditation, spirituality, wellness, fitness, etc.) Since launching 1.5 years\nago we have completed Techstars, had great traction in a growing space and are\nseeing 20% monthly growth in every major company metric.\n\nWe are looking for candidates with full-stack experience and a real passion\nfor growth. Our team is lean and we take pride in our developer to user ratio.\nThis hire will be our third developer and will help us scale through millions\nof users. Our stack is a Ruby on Rails API serving a BackboneJS and ReactJS\nclient. We are running on AWS with a Postgres database.\n\nIf you are excited about working at a startup that believes in sustainability\nand reducing complexity, toss me an email: ben+hn@meetmindful.com\n\n~~~\ncalebcowen\nI’m a graduate of Turing School of Software and Design, and I am interested in\na position as a software developer at your company. I am proficient in Ruby on\nRails, especially in building and consuming APIs. I also have recent\nexperience in ReactJS. I take every opportunity I can to try a new technology\nand see if it is more well suited to the task at hand.\n\nI've attached a link to my resume and look forward to speaking with you soon!\n\n[https://resume.creddle.io/resume/hftiigi8w11](https://resume.creddle.io/resume/hftiigi8w11)\n\n~~~\nStratoscope\nHi Caleb, welcome to \"Who is hiring?\"\n\nApplying to a company by replying here in the thread isn't how it's done.\nImagine if everyone did that! The thread would be even longer than it already\nis. :-)\n\nOf course if you have a question about a company or position, and you think\nthe answer may be of interest to others, it's good to ask here.\n\nOtherwise, to apply for a job, contact the employer through the links they\nprovide.\n\nBest of luck!\n\n------\nabpavel\nIP Fabric | Senior NodeJS developer | Prague, CZ | ONSITE\n\nWell-capitalized start-up seeks extremely talented Node.JS/React to help\nnetwork engineers manage global network infrastructures, enabling growth of IP\nnetworks worldwide, foundation of modern digital communication. You must have\nexperience designing and building large and complex (yet maintainable)\nsystems, and you should be able to do so in about one-third the time that most\ncompetent people think possible. You should have a BS, MS, or PhD in Computer\nScience or the equivalent. Top-notch communication skills are essential.\nExpect talented, motivated, intense, and interesting co-workers. Must be\nwilling to relocate to the Prague area (we will help cover moving costs). Your\ncompensation will include meaningful equity ownership.\n\nEmail us at pavel@ipfabric.io\n\n------\nheadcanon\nFarmLogs (YC W12) • Ann Arbor, MI • Onsite/Remote •\n[https://farmlogs.com](https://farmlogs.com)\n\nFarmLogs is inventing the future of farming. We build software to help farmers\ngrow more with less.\n\nOur stack is predominantly Clojure and Python, with a strong trend towards\nmore and more Python. Our domain involves data from all over: soil samples,\nsatellite imagery, radar, telematics from tractors, temperature data, the list\ngoes on.\n\nWe run 100% on Kubernetes, Docker, and AWS.\n\nWe have a strong preference for onsite candidates, but would accept a remote\ncandidate if they have experience working remotely before and are in the US.\n\nWe've got a handful of open positions, notably:\n\n\\- Chief Architect\n\n\\- Product Designer\n\n\\- Product Analyst\n\n\\- Senior Backend Engineer (6+ years experience)\n\n\\- Data Engineer\n\n\\- Geospatial Engineer\n\nCome take a look! [https://farmlogs.com/jobs](https://farmlogs.com/jobs)\n\n------\nvlad\nMedallia | Palo Alto (California); Washington DC (Virginia); Buenos Aires\n(Argentina) | Software Engineer, Front-End, Back-End, Infrastructure, DevOps,\nSecurity, iOS, Android, Mobile\n\nNews: The headquarters are moving to San Mateo and will be 26 minutes by\nCaltrain from San Francisco or Palo Alto (free unlimited pass.)\n\n1) Medallia powers reports and surveys for hundreds of the world's best\ncompanies like AirBnB, Hilton, Vanguard, Mercedes-Benz, Four Seasons,\nNordstrom, and Delta Airlines.\n\n2) Sequoia recently invested more money into Medallia than they ever have in\nany company.\n\n3) We use many technologies and tools on various teams, such as Java,\nAngular.JS, and React Native. We host some customers on AWS but the majority\nuse our own scalable platform. Please send me your resume and I'll make sure\nit gets looked at: email (my HN username) @ medallia.com\n\n\\- Vlad\n\n------\nsaucelabs\nSauce Labs (San Francisco, CA, Vancouver, B.C., Berlin, Germany and/or Remote)\n\nSauce Labs provides the world’s largest cloud-based platform for the automated\ntesting of web and mobile applications. Its award-winning service eliminates\nthe time and expense of maintaining an in-house testing infrastructure,\nfreeing development teams of any size to innovate and release better software,\nfaster.\n\nWe are currently looking for:\n\n _Director of Engineering (Cloud)_\n\n _Principal Architect_\n\n _Senior Backend Engineer_\n\n _Senior Backend Engineer (Sauce Connect)_\n\n _Senior C /Objective C Developer_\n\n _Senior Database System Engineer_\n\n _Senior DevOps Engineer_\n\n _Senior DevOps Security Engineer_\n\n _Senior Java Developer_\n\n _Senior Performance Engineer_\n\n _Senior Software Engineer (Full Stack Web)_\n\nIf you’re interested in joining Sauce Labs and would like to learn more,\nplease visit: [https://saucelabs.com/careers](https://saucelabs.com/careers)\n\n------\nvramarap\nVisa Inc. | Full-stack developers, security automation, performance\nengineering, and architects | Austin, TX | Full-time, Onsite\n\nVisa's Digital and Mobile Product Development (DMPD) team is building a new\ngeneration of products to facilitate commerce in everyone's digital and mobile\nlives. Our focus is to build intuitive features that expose profound new value\nfor our customers, merchants and developers. DMPD is looking for architects,\ndevelopers, and engineers for our digital and mobile products. We seek\nengineers strong in Java development and continuous integration with focus on\nperformance, security, and scalability.\n\nShoot me a message at vramarap@visa.com; register for our hiring event at\n[http://tinyurl.com/hezyqet](http://tinyurl.com/hezyqet)!\n\n------\ndatboitom\nAlbert ([https://meetalbert.com/](https://meetalbert.com/)) | Android\nDeveloper | Los Angeles, CA | Onsite, Full-time\n\nAlbert is a well funded, fast growing mobile app that gives simple, actionable\nfinancial advice. We're building the APIs and integrations to every type of\nfinancial institution so that people can seamlessly act on any type of\nfinancial advice. We're on a mission to improve financial health – with a\nbeautifully designed, simple product.\n\nCurrently hiring: Android Developer (to take full ownership of our Android\napplication).\n\nDetails/apply at: [https://jobs.lever.co/meetalbert/1f8bc848-e2ac-4dee-\nac2b-c34...](https://jobs.lever.co/meetalbert/1f8bc848-e2ac-4dee-\nac2b-c3485e8907f8)\n\n------\nbwreilly\nReUP | Seattle, WA | full-time | onsite\n\nReUP is a angel-backed startup improving and professionalizing the\nrecreational cannabis industry with a wholesale marketplace integrating\naccounting, seed-to-sale tracking, and inventory management.\n\nWe are looking for general purpose, motivated technologists who are interested\nin the domain and willing/able to wear many hats. We believe in building\nquality software for the long term using the best technology for the job\n(currently ClojureScript and Python among others). We love open source and\nfrequently contribute our own work.\n\nOur hiring process involves reviewing work you have done, reviewing our stuff,\nand pairing up on an open source bug. We want creative, thoughtful, empathetic\npeople to join an inclusive team, not just a rando who can implement quicksort\non a whiteboard.\n\nContact hiring@reup.tech\n\n------\ncubistml\nCubist Systematic Strategies | Machine Learning Researcher | New York, London\n| Onsite | Full Time and Interns\n\nCubist Systematic Strategies is the systematic investing business of Point72\nAsset Management. We deploy systematic, computer-driven trading strategies\nacross multiple liquid asset classes.\n\nWe’re looking for researchers who have a curiosity about financial markets, a\npassion for seeing research through from initial conception to eventual\napplication, and a healthy streak of creativity. Some successful researchers\nhave joined us from similar backgrounds at other firms. Others have joined\nfrom related fields or directly from academia and have thrived with hands on\nguidance from our large team of experienced portfolio managers and\nresearchers.\n\nTo learn more or apply, send an email with your CV to ml@cubistsystematic.com.\n\n------\nkaratkier\nKarat | Software Engineer | Seattle, WA\n\nHiring top talent is a critical activity for all companies, yet the way\norganizations interview candidates is broken. Interviewing is a time consuming\nprocess that is rarely data-driven. Here at Karat, we see a massive\nopportunity to transform the interviewing experience for every candidate and\ncompany.\n\nAs a member of Karat's engineering team, you will get to work on an exciting\nmission with a superstar team that feels like family. You will be able to\neasily relate to the product given that we've all been through technical\ninterviews.\n\nLearn More/Apply Here:\n[https://jobs.lever.co/karat/586c77ea-5c3a-40e6-a940-f74ffeba...](https://jobs.lever.co/karat/586c77ea-5c3a-40e6-a940-f74ffeba7262?lever-\nsource=HN)\n\n------\nvivekrkumar\nQlicket | Engineers & Salespeople | Pittsburgh, PA |\n[https://www.qlicket.com](https://www.qlicket.com) REMOTE Engineering and\nONSITE Sales\n\nQlicket currently provides hotels/motels/B&Bs with a superior guest WiFi\nsolution, utilizing a patented gateway controller. We have 100% retention of\npaying customers in the U.S. market and at present serve clients across 16\nstates. Now that we've found initial product/market fit, we are looking for\nsomeone to lead and scale our sales efforts.\n\nWe also are doing some things with WiFi in the Offline to Online space, and\nwill be launching a new product offering this year targeted at a much larger\nmarket. We are looking for engineers with the following development\nbackgrounds:\n\n* Linux Kernal\n\n* Device Driver\n\n* Embedded Systems\n\n* Low Level C, C++\n\nPlease email kumar@qlicket.com if interested.\n\n------\nmanicminer\nRoom Key | Clojure Developer | Charlottesville, VA | Full-time, onsite |\nwww.roomkey.com | 2 openings\n\nRoom Key is looking for a software engineer with strong server-side web\ndevelopment experience in a functional language - preferably Clojure - to join\nour back-end web development team.\n\nRoom Key was founded by six of the world's largest hotel companies to lower\nthe cost of hotel distribution for our founders and commercial partners.\n\nWe are located downtown in beautiful Charlottesville VA, the home of the\nUniversity of Virginia and a growing and active tech community. It's a great\nplace to live and work. We are looking for on-site team members and we are\nwilling to help with re-location costs.\n\nRead more:\n[https://www.roomkey.com/careers.html](https://www.roomkey.com/careers.html)\n\n------\nguitarjosh\nMass General Hospital - Center for Clinical Data Science | Machine Learning\nData Scientist and Software Engineer | Boston, MA| ONSITE | Full Time |\n[https://www.mgh-ccds.com/](https://www.mgh-ccds.com/)\n\nThe Center for Clinical Data Science at Massachusetts General Hospital is\nfocused on creating, promoting and commercializing AI for healthcare.\n\nWe are: -A fast-growing startup within one of the world’s oldest academic\nmedical centers\n\n-A data-obsessed team of machine learning gurus, software engineers, doctors and scientists\n\n-A place where innovative products are born, tested and put into clinical practice\n\n-A community of researchers and industry partners with a passion to improve human health\n\nInterview Process: Initial Phone call, project + second call, on-site\ninterview\n\nYou can email us directly at info@mgh-ccds.com or jymoore@partners.org.\n\n------\nMattGreenburg\nZeroCater | San Francisco | onsite\n[https://zerocater.com/careers](https://zerocater.com/careers)\n\nHelp bring people and ideas together through food. Our engineers appreciate\ngood design, whether it’s clean API or good UI. Enjoy working with Python or\nRuby and have worked with Django or Rails. Here are our technical roles we\ncurrently looking for:\n\nSr. Full-Stack Engineers Head of Product\n\nThe work we do is bringing tens of thousands of people together every day.\nShared meals are a fundamental human experience. To us, food fosters\nrelationships and new ideas. We’re obsessed with improving our customers’\nlives by making every meal count.\n\nContact recruiting@zerocater.com or\n[https://zerocater.com/careers](https://zerocater.com/careers)\n\n------\nvladislav\nMenlo Park, CA | ONSITE | Deep Learning/ Computer Vision Researcher, ML\nEngineer | VISA\n\nHelm.ai is an early-stage startup team of highly mathematically oriented AI\nresearchers and engineers, founded by a former MIT Math postdoc and a Stanford\nCS PhD. We are innovating on perception algorithms for autonomous navigation,\nwith the goal of reaching full autonomy for self-driving cars and other\nrobots. Helm has recently secured seed funding and we are currently expanding\nto a team of about a dozen.\n\nWe are hiring for the positions of researcher, data scientist and machine\nlearning engineer. For the researcher positions, previous experience in\napplied mathematics, computer vision and/or deep learning is recommended, but\nnot required for otherwise highly exceptional candidates.\n\nTo apply, send your resume to vlad@helm.ai.\n\n------\nnate362\nLos Angeles, CA -- Riot Games -- Esports/Merch Engineering Team\n\nEngineering Manager - Merch Team Management experience: must have built at\nleast one strong engineering team in the 5-10 range that has shipped +\noperated a live client/server product.\n\nEngineering Manager - Esports Team Management experience: must have built at\nleast one strong engineering team in the 5-10 range that has shipped +\noperated a live client/server product.\n\nEngineering Manager + Tech Lead - Broadcast Innovation Passion around the\nesports space with experience in streaming.\n\nSenior Software Engineer (Platform)- Design, written, shipped + operated\nRESTful services at large scale (>10,000,000 MUs, >500 aQPS) Expert level in\nJava or Go\n\nTech Lead/Senior Software Engineer (Mobile) Expertise in Android and iOS\n\nIf you're interested shoot me your resume to nclauss(AT)riotgames.com\n\n------\ndanielnc\nSoftware Engineer (Back End) | CareMessage (YC W14) | REMOTE | FullTime\nCareMessage is looking for a Software Engineer with Ruby on Rails experience\nto help build and maintain our web platform that streamlines care management\nand delivers interactive mobile programs to improve health outcomes. You’ll be\nworking on exciting projects like optimizing our Sidekiq queuing system,\nimproving and building new integrations with Twilio, building our customer\nanalytics code, and helping improve and maintain our own API. Our engineering\nteam follows agile principles in a test driven development process. We are a\nremote first team that values open collaboration and shared ownership.\n\nMore Info: [http://grnh.se/fhi2ql1](http://grnh.se/fhi2ql1)\n\n------\njasonchen913\nMongoDB | New York, NY (relocation is available) | Software Engineer, Cloud\n(Mid to Sr. level) | Full-Time | Competitive Base + Pre-IPO stock Options\n\nWe are looking for a server-side engineer (Java) that will work on core\nfunctionality for our cloud products, writing code that will help store\npetabytes of data in MongoDB all over the world, touching millions of users!\n\nAny interest or questions? Please reach out to me at JC@mongodb.com or apply\nhere [http://grnh.se/kr5738](http://grnh.se/kr5738)\n\n\\--- If you have any interest, this is a short post from InfoWorld\n([http://spr.ly/60078rGKH](http://spr.ly/60078rGKH)), which named MongoDB\nAtlas (our newest cloud offering) one of its 2017 Technology of the Year! ---\n\n------\n_iago\nFundApps | Infrastructure Engineer + Software Engineer | London | Full-time,\nOnsite | [https://www.fundapps.co](https://www.fundapps.co)\n\n=== Who we are\n\nFundApps is an award-winning Fintech startup helping investment managers\ncomply with worldwide regulation. We're a small team of smart, friendly people\n{[https://www.fundapps.co/about-us/meet-the-\nteam](https://www.fundapps.co/about-us/meet-the-team)} who collaborate closely\nand take pride in delivering amazing software and providing outstanding\ncustomer support.\n\nWe know that diverse teams are strong teams and we welcome applications from\neveryone regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, sexual identity, faith or\ndisability to join our team of superstars.\n\n=== Roles\n\nDevOps Engineer | We are looking for someone who knows how to build out,\ndeploy and maintain multiple applications in different languages on AWS.\nSomeone who can write code both for production apps and for tooling. You\nshould have a mindset of automating all the things all the time. | Apply here:\n[https://fundapps.workable.com/jobs/22278](https://fundapps.workable.com/jobs/22278)\n\nSoftware Engineer | We are looking for motivated, intelligent coders to join\nour close-knit engineering team (see stack below) to work on anything from new\nfeatures to greenfield products. We pride ourselves in getting our engineers\nup and running fast – expect to build and deploy your first feature in week\none! Hiring process: coffee or call, followed by on-site interview with pair\nprogramming exercise | Apply here:\n[https://fundapps.workable.com/jobs/64778](https://fundapps.workable.com/jobs/64778)\n\n=== Stack + Tooling\n\nC#, F#, ASP.NET MVC, ES6, SCSS, Handlebars, Golang, AWS, Lambda, Terraform,\nPacker, Atlas, Consul, HAProxy, Sumologic, Sentry, TeamCity, Visual Studio,\nResharper, GitHub.\n\n------\ntomatohs\nPubNub | San Francisco, CA | ONSITE | Full Time\n\nCome work for one of the few entirely developer focused companies.\n\nPubNub Data provides global cloud infrastructure and key building blocks for\nrealtime apps. PubNub powers thousands of realtime apps around the world, from\ninnovative start-ups to globally recognized brands.\n\nWe manage 3 million realtime messages per second and 100 million devices per\nmonth. We support over 70 SDKs for mobile, browser, desktop and server. And we\nare globally scaled, with 16 points of presence and 99.999% SLAs. Interview\nProcess: Phone / hangout, a couple interviews, build a realtime app.\n\nWe're looking for:\n\n* Backend Web Engineer\n\n* Core Architect\n\n* Core Engineer\n\n* Core Engineer - Entry Level\n\n* Digital Art Director\n\n* Visual Designer\n\n* Web & Digital Marketing Mgr\n\n* Website Creative Sr. Manager (UI/UX)\n\n* Web UX/UI Designer\n\n\\--------\n\nCheck out all our open positions and apply at:\n[http://grnh.se/if35o81](http://grnh.se/if35o81)\n\n------\neric_the_read\nNexia | www.nexiahome.com | Full-stack Ruby / JS (React) Developer |\nBroomfield, CO | Full Time\n\nABOUT US:\n\n    \n    \n      * Profitable home automation business, since 2009\n    \n      * We integrate Z-wave devices, as well as a number of 3rd-party services including Nest and Alexa\n    \n      * A small team (9 developers, 1 UX) backed by the resources of Ingersoll-Rand\n    \n\nHiring Process:\n\n    \n    \n      * One phone interview\n    \n      * Onsite interview\n    \n      There will be a practial component, intended to show off problem-solving skills, not necessarily esoteric tricks.\n    \n      * Reference checks\n    \n\nRole:\n\n    \n    \n      * Full-stack software developer\n    \n      * Technologies include: Ruby without Rails, Ruby on Rails, Sinatra, JS+React\n    \n      * We'd be interested in experience with languages such as Go and/or Elixir as well.\n    \n\nApply:\n\nemail sgee@irco.com\n\n------\ndrelihan\nIntex | Programmer | Needham, MA\n\nIntex Solutions, Inc. is the world's leading provider of structured fixed-\nincome cashflow models and related analytical software.\n\nWe are a small, established company about 20 minutes outside of downtown\nBoston. Really smart, motivated people to work with and significant\nresponsibilities from the start. We are a very flat organization, so must be\nself-motivated and willing to take ownership of projects with minimal\nguidance.\n\nThe official description is here:\n[http://www.intex.com/main/company_careers.php](http://www.intex.com/main/company_careers.php)\n\nReach out to me at dan@intex.com if you are interested ( I have worked here\nfor almost 12 years as a programmer and will try my best not to give you the\nhard sell this place deserves ).\n\n------\nchutchins\nGrove | Full Stack Engineer | San Francisco\n\nGrove is a small seed-funded company with a bold vision to democratize access\nto quality financial advice and redefine the multibillion dollar financial\nadvising industry using technology.\n\nWe're looking for a generalist developer to join our founding team (3rd\nengineer) and help create our infrastructure, client-facing apps, and internal\ntools.\n\nWe're looking for someone who has 4+ years of full-stack experience and an\ninterest in personal finance (more info:\n[http://bit.ly/2kVLxUw](http://bit.ly/2kVLxUw)).\n\nWe offer competitive salaries, generous equity, full benefits, 401(k), daily\nlunches, and flexible work hours/PTO. Please email me, Chris Hutchins\n(Founder/CEO), if you'd like to chat more: chris@usegrove.com\n\n------\nstvnbn\nVersus Systems | Los Angeles | Software Engineer | Full Time | ONSITE |\n\n[http://www.versussystems.com/careers/](http://www.versussystems.com/careers/)\n\nCome be part of a team of smart, passionate, and talented individuals working\ntogether to create a suite of next-generation products that will revolutionize\nthe games industry. We offer competitive salaries, equity packages, medical,\ndental, vision, 401K matching, flexible hours, and paid vacation time that we\nencourage you to actually take.\n\n\\- Frontend engineer\n\nHelp us design and build frontend web applications, and mobile apps used by\nVersus and our partners.\n\n\\- Fullstack Engineer\n\nBuild the core platform and admin dashboards for Versus.\n\nSenior backend engineer\n\nHelp us design, architect, and build the Versus platform API used by our\npartners to offer legal real-money and prize based matches.\n\n------\nlawrencegripper\nAltitude Angel | Reading, UK | Full-Time | On-site | £30 - £45k depending on\nexperience\n\nIf you want to work in a startup, looking at problems that have never been\ntackled before and building on a modern cloud tech stack with freedom to think\ncreatively we’d love to chat.\n\nWe’re solving one of the biggest challenges for commercial and consumer drone\nuse in the coming years: integrating these machines into the airspace safely\nand securely. Everything we do is focused on this goal, so the technology must\nscale, adapt and learn as the world changes and the load placed on it\nincreases.\n\nLooking for full stack developers with experience in\nAzure/AWS/C#/Javascript/SQL/Typescript.\n\nEmail me: eap@altitudeangel.com\n[https://altitudeangel.com](https://altitudeangel.com)\n\n------\nbraithers\nRideways is a new ground transportation service launched by Rentalcars.com,\nand is rapidly growing to be a significant B2B and B2C player in this space.\n\nRentalcars.com is part of the Priceline Group, the third largest e-commerce\ncompany in the world and the world's largest car hire booking service,\narranging over 7 million rentals a year in 46,000 locations in 167 countries\nacross 40 different languages.\n\nOur mission as part of Rentalcars.com is Helping people experience the world\nand our business and market sector are seeing substantial growth.\n\nWe are looking for a Tech Lead\n([http://grnh.se/5y7due1](http://grnh.se/5y7due1)) and a Software Engineer\n([http://grnh.se/cfar7j1](http://grnh.se/cfar7j1))\n\n------\nguptaneil\nInstructure | Senior Software Engineer | Chicago, Salt Lake City, Seattle |\nVISA [https://instructure.com](https://instructure.com)\n\nBuild open-source software to help people learn! We make tools for schools and\nbusinesses that delight our users and make their lives easier, while helping\nthem learn faster.\n\nYou can check out [http://code.instructure.com](http://code.instructure.com)\nto see our primary product, Canvas, and some of our open source tooling and\nlibraries.\n\nWe are looking for a Principal Software Security Architect\n([https://jobs.lever.co/instructure/79d03eca-9dc1-43d2-8e5e-ab...](https://jobs.lever.co/instructure/79d03eca-9dc1-43d2-8e5e-ab...)),\nwhich is a director-level position responsible for leading our security\nstrategy.\n\nWe're also hiring for the following positions: \\- Senior software engineers \\-\nAndroid engineers \\- Senior iOS engineer \\- QA engineers\n\nOur primary stack is Rails & React, but we also work with JVM/Go/Node, and\nwe're not afraid to try new (or old) things. We have an engineering-driven\nculture with quarterly hack weeks, internal tech conferences, millions of\nusers who love us (search twitter or instagram for #instructurecon ;) and use\nour products daily, and challenging engineering problems that come with being\none of AWS's biggest users. Oh, and the benefits are amazing too!\n\nI'm an engineer at Instructure, and genuinely love the culture and people\nhere. I would highly recommend it!\n\nJoin us by applying at [https://jobs.lever.co/instructure?lever-\nvia=NiHimSaI8r](https://jobs.lever.co/instructure?lever-via=NiHimSaI8r)\n\nFeel free to reach out to me at neil(at)instructure(dot)com with any\nquestions. Keep in mind I am not a recruiter. I can answer questions about\nculture or work, but you should submit your application through the URL above.\n\n------\nlimo\nOradian | Scala Developer | Zagreb, Croatia | Full-time, ONSITE\n\nOradian is building a SaaS core banking for emerging markets, targeting\nmicrofinance institutions. We are searching for a Scala developer to join us\nand help bring financial inclusion to the 3 billion unbanked.\n\nOur backend stack is built on 100% Scala, with PostgreSQL as our ORDBMS of\nchoice. We are currently transitioning from vanilla Play to Akka-HTTP + React.\n\nWhile knowledge of Scala is preferable, it's not mandatory for an experienced\nsenior developer. This is a full-time position in Zagreb, Croatia (HQ of\nOradian).\n\nOradian's official non-programming language is English. :) We also have other\nopen position (i.e. QA/Front-End) - check them out here:\n[https://oradian.com/](https://oradian.com/)\n\n------\nsplix\nEthereum Classic | Go/Rust Engineer | Remote\n\nEthereum Classic is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts on\nblockchain. Ethereum Classic is a continuation of the original Ethereum\nblockchain - the classic version preserving untampered history. See more at\n[https://ethereumclassic.github.io/](https://ethereumclassic.github.io/)\n\nWe're looking for Go and/or Rust developers to join our core team to work on\nOpen Source projects at\n[https://github.com/ethereumproject](https://github.com/ethereumproject)\n\nPlease send your CV and Github link to igor@artamonov.ru Please also include a\ncover letter with some details what is your experience with blockchain,\ndistributed systems and crypto\n\n------\ntracker1\nEMAILAGE | Multiple Positions (Engineering, Software, Data Science) |\nChandler, AZ, USA | ONSITE Prefered | Fulltime |\n[https://emailage.com/](https://emailage.com/)\n\nI mention onsite above, but we do have remote team members. I've only been\nhere about a month so far, and it's been a nice place to work. Also, although\nthe software engineer position mentions .Net (as most of our existing codebase\nis C#), we do have development in other languages (Java, Node, etc).\n\nWe provide risk analysis based on email addresses and other information for\nmajor financial institutions, airlines and other industries.\n\nMore information:\n[https://blog.emailage.com/jobs/](https://blog.emailage.com/jobs/)\n\n------\nvldr\nGUTS Tickets | Junior .. Senior Full stack developer | Amsterdam, The\nNetherlands | (partial) Onsite €35k-€70k p.a. depending on experience, part-\ntime/full-time\n\nAre you a developer who loves live music? And do you want to join the ticket\nrevolution? At GUTS we’re not only building a product, but as a team we\nchasing a common goal: Stop disgraceful secondary ticket prices and ticket\nfraud. We don’t work to punch out a time card, we work hard to give fans what\nthey deserve. GUTS is a ticketing system which uses blockchain technology to\nregister ownership of SMART-tickets. GUTS makes ticket fraud impossible. The\nticket can only be (re)sold at a fixed price, so no more disgraceful prices\nfor secondary tickets.\n\nGUTS Tickets is hiring frontend and backend junior / senior developers! We\nhave about 2 to 3 positions to fill depending on experience and flexibility of\nthe developers.\n\nOur current stack consists of\n\n\\- Python 3.5 / Django / Django Request Framework - Ethereum / solidity /\nblockchain technology\n\n\\- EmberJS (2.10)\n\n\\- react native\n\nTo expand our team we're hiring for different roles:\n\n\\- junior .. senior backend developer. Experience with Python, Django, DRF is\npreferred, experience with ethereum would be nice\n\n\\- junior .. senior frontend developer. Experience with EmberJS (>2.3) is\npreferred\n\n\\- react-native developer\n\nOf course full stack frontend/backend/mobile developers that have experience\nwith a mix of the above technologies are also very welcome to apply\n\nWe're located in the center of Amsterdam (Leidseplein). We prefer people who\ncan occassionally be onsite so full remote working is not an option right now.\nWe also cannot provide visa's or relocation services at this time.\n\nIf you're interested in working with us, please send your CV to\njobs@guts.tickets [https://guts.tickets/](https://guts.tickets/)\n\n------\ndanielnc\nSoftware Engineer (Integrations - HL7) | CareMessage (YC W14) | REMOTE |\nFullTime CareMessage is looking for a Software Engineer with HL7 interface\nexperience to help build and maintain integration solutions for connecting\nCareMessage with leading EMR systems. You will help build integrations that\nprovide a seamless experience across the CareMessage web application and\nleading EMR systems. These integrations play a key role in improving the\ncustomer experience with our product and ensuring user growth. Our engineering\nteam follows agile principles in a test driven development process. We are a\nremote first team that values open collaboration and shared ownership.\n\nMore Info: [http://grnh.se/l6omh5](http://grnh.se/l6omh5)\n\n------\nocs_datajobs\nOlympic Channel | Software Architect, Data Systems Engineer | Madrid | On-site\n| Temporary through 2020 & Full-time, permanent\n\n# Software Architect ([https://olympicchannelservices.com/ocs_jobs/software-\nsystems...](https://olympicchannelservices.com/ocs_jobs/software-systems-\narchitect/)) We are looking for an experienced Software Architect to make\nintuitive high level decisions for software development and the operational\navailability of bespoke software platforms. He/she will see the “big picture”\nand create solid architectural approaches for software design and\nimplementation that will either be placed to the market for third parties to\nbuild and deliver and/or be used to guide internal sw development teams.\n\nA great software architect has a strong computer science background and\nexcellent IT skills. We seek a person experienced in software designing that\npossesses ability to develop a unified vision for software characteristics and\nfunctions, a vision that should lead to implemented software solutions that\nwill satisfy the OCS constituents requirements for the short and the long\nterm.\n\n# Data Systems Engineer ([https://olympicchannelservices.com/ocs_jobs/data-\nsystems-eng...](https://olympicchannelservices.com/ocs_jobs/data-systems-\nengineer/)) The Olympic Channel is seeking to fill a permanent position as\nData Systems Engineer to work in the Digital Development & Network unit, as\npart of the Technical department.\n\nThe Data Systems Engineer will coordinate all of the Olympic Channel’s data\ninfrastructure activities and is responsible for the security and service\nquality levels, manage the design, implementation, operation and support of\nthe applications infrastructure within the Olympic Channel and ensures that\nall services are produced and maintained at the required quality levels.\n\n\\--- Please feel free to apply online or reach out directly with questions or\nresumes at datajobs [at] olympicchannel.com -- please put HN in the title!\n\n------\nlshepstone\nWayin | Senior Software Engineer | Oxford, UK | ONSITE,\n[https://www.wayin.com](https://www.wayin.com)\n\nWayin is a campaign management platform for marketers and agencies, helping\nthem build consumer facing interactive applications. Our platform is used by\nenterprise household names to run high volume marketing campaigns. We are a\ngrowing startup with offices in Oxford, London, New York & Sydney and an HQ in\nDenver, CO and we think we have a great roadmap with some really interesting\nstuff to work on.\n\nWe are looking for:\n\n\\- Senior Frontend Engineers (Oxford, UK and Denver, CO)\n\n\\- Senior Backend or Full Stack Engineers (Oxford, UK)\n\n\\- Infrastructure Lead Engineer (Oxford, UK)\n\n\\- Senior QA Engineer (Denver, CO)\n\nOur stack is:\n\n-Backend: Java, Groovy, Vert.x, Grails, Redis, Kafka, MySql\n\n-Frontend: React, Redux, Webpack, ES6/Babel, LESS, Yarn\n\nSound interesting? Contact us at engj@wayin.com\n\n------\nsuhpreme\nNova Credit (YCS16) | Full Time | San Francisco | Software Engineer |\nwww.neednova.com\n\nNova is a fintech startup founded at Stanford. We are solving the problem of\nimmigrant lending by connecting global credit reporting into a single,\npredictive cross-border credit database. We connect US lenders to our systems\nvia API so that they can underwrite immigrants. In effect, we are the first\nand only platform that allows for financial identity to move around the world.\n\nWe are looking for an exceptional engineer to add to our team. You will have\nownership of the integration of systems around the world and responsibility\nfor deployment in order to address an important social problem of financial\ninclusion.\n\nTO APPLY: [http://bit.ly/2jrURl6](http://bit.ly/2jrURl6)\n\n------\nchiamonkey\nIndigenous Software | Full Stack Developer | SD, REMOTE | Comp. to match level\n| Full-time, Contract | [http://indigenous.io](http://indigenous.io)\n\nIndigenous Software is a two year-old startup with a fully integrated SaaS\nmarketing suite for agencies and small businesses. We're funded, revenue-\ngenerating, growing and based in San Diego but with a fully-remote engineering\nteam.\n\nWe're looking for MEAN full-stack developers at all skill levels but are\nparticularly keen to find colleagues obsessed with clean and responsive UX.\nAgency experience is a bonus. Compensation to match experience.\n\nTo be considered, submit your resume and any pertinent support (links,\nexamples, etc.) to jobs@indigenous.io. Candidates with right to work in the US\nwill be prioritized.\n\n------\njimmyb0b\nAspen Systems | Full Stack Web Developer | Wheat Ridge, CO | Onsite | Full\nTime\n\nAspen Systems, a 35 year leader in the High Performance Computing (HPC)\nindustry, is seeking an experienced Full Stack Web Developer to join our\ngrowing team. Need to be experience with: HTML/CSS/JavaScript Classic ASP/VB\nScript C#, ASP.NET, MVC GIT MySQL/MSSQL jQuery Angular JS PHP WordPress CMS\nProduct Cart\n\nApply here: [https://www.aspsys.com/about-aspen-systems/aspen-systems-\ncar...](https://www.aspsys.com/about-aspen-systems/aspen-systems-careers/full-\nstack-web-application-developer/) Learn more about us here:\n[https://www.aspsys.com/](https://www.aspsys.com/)\n\n------\nclassyjim\nFarmdrop - [https://farmdrop.workable.com/](https://farmdrop.workable.com/) \\-\nLondon, UK - Onsite - Permanent - Full-time. Farmdrop represents a new\neconomic approach to food retailing whereby the benefits of cutting out the\nmiddle-men are shared between customers who enjoy fresher, healthier food at\nlower prices, and smaller scale producers who enjoy best-ever trading terms.\nWe are supported by many in the food and farming communities and backed by the\nentrepreneurs behind Asos, Love Film, Zoopla, and Street Car. Tech stack Ruby,\nReact, Redux. Current openings in London - Android Engineers, Fullstack\nEngineers, QA Automation Engineers. E-mail me direct at james@farmdrop.co.uk\nfor more information.\n\n------\narupchak\nPagerDuty | Multiple Roles | San Francisco or Toronto | Full Time, Remote\n[https://www.pagerduty.com/careers](https://www.pagerduty.com/careers)\n\nPagerDuty is growing like crazy and we need great engineers to help us build\nwhat Incident Management should look like. Every company is becoming more\ndependent on software, and with that, they are becoming more dependent on the\npeople they need to run their software. We aim to help people build great\nsoftware by being able to rapidly learn and get better.\n\nWe are hiring across the entire stack: Backend, Frontend, Infrastructure,\nMobile, Security, etc. Check out our jobs site, if there is a role that you\nare interested in, feel free to get in touch with me directly or shoot over\nany questions.\n\n~~~\nwyclif\nYou have \"remote\" in the post, but when I took a look at your Careers page it\nlooks like every opening is location-based. Can you clarify? Thanks.\n\n------\nnsantosa\nHealth Recovery Solutions | Hoboken, NJ | FULLTIME | ONSITE\n\nHealth Recovery Solutions is looking for talented Software Engineers who are\neager to solve big problems with cutting edge technology in order to improve\nthe lives and promote the well being of patients who use our platform every\nday. We are a venture-backed software company that supplies leading medical\ncenters with platforms that help reduce readmissions and improve clinical\nresults. We are looking for people with PHP, Java and web application\nexperience.\n\nRoles: Senior Software Engineer\n\nIf you are interested please visit our website and apply -\n[http://healthrecoverysolutions.com/job-\nlisting/9](http://healthrecoverysolutions.com/job-listing/9)\n\nQuestions? Send to nsantosa@healthrecoverysolutions.com\n\n------\ndkuebric\nTracelytics | Boston/Cambridge/Providence | Full Time | Onsite\n\nI'm the co-founder of Tracelytics, a distributed tracing product that's used\nby engineers at companies like Kayak, HubSpot, Care.com, etc to monitor their\nproduction apps. We're hiring and if you might be interested in working on\ntechnical software with big data viz, you should check us out! I've excerpted\nthe job post below. (Our team is small--15--but distributed; we're also hiring\nfor different roles in SF and Vancouver.)\n\n\\--\n\nThe Trace team in Cambridge, MA is looking for a senior software engineer who\nspecializes in web applications with sophisticated data visualizations. We\nmake a tool that allows software engineers to monitor the performance of their\nweb applications even when they are distributed across multiple technologies\nand on multiple hosts\n([https://traceview.solarwinds.com/](https://traceview.solarwinds.com/)).\n\nOur team consists of about 15 engineers distributed across offices in\nCambridge, Providence, RI, and Vancouver. We're a smart, experienced, and\nopinionated bunch who care a lot about shipping well-engineered code that\nmakes our users happy and care very little about who's smartest or best at\nwinning arguments. Our team size and relative independence give us the\nflexibility and agility of a startup but our parent company, SolarWinds,\nprovides the financial stability and resources we need to do high quality\nengineering.\n\nThis position is located at our office in the Cambridge Innovation Center\n(CIC) in Cambridge's Kendall Square. The CIC is convenient to the Red Line and\nfeatures many great perks including community events and classes, well-stocked\nkitchens, and an energetic atmosphere amid lots of startups. Also ping pong\ntables.\n\n[http://solarwinds.jobs/cambridge-ma/senior-full-stack-\nsoftwa...](http://solarwinds.jobs/cambridge-ma/senior-full-stack-software-\ndeveloper/9C011255E05D4F95A677BB515F7BACD3/job/)\n\n------\nfivefootseven\nShaper Tools | San Francisco, CA | Full-time, ONSITE\n\nAt Shaper we are developing a revolutionary line of computer-augmented power\ntools, starting with a handheld CNC router called Origin. We're growing in\n2017 and need help from skilled software and mechanical engineers to help us\nbuild the future of power tools. We are currently a SF based team of experts\nwith backgrounds in robotics, woodworking, film, computer vision, and design.\n\nMore about us: [https://shapertools.com](https://shapertools.com)\n\n[https://shapertools.com/careers/](https://shapertools.com/careers/)\n\nFront End Engineer | Back End Engineer | UX/UI | Embedded Software Engineer |\nSystem Software Engineer | Product Design Engineer\n\n------\ndruml\nYoyo Wallet | Software Engineer | London, UK |\n[http://yoyowallet.com](http://yoyowallet.com)\n\nWe're a group of ~15 software developers working in an engineering centric\nculture. We use contemporary tools and methodologies and are driven by the end\nuser product. We're looking to take on intermediate - senior Python developers\nand fullstack web developers. If you're looking for an engaging new\nopportunity or would just like to know more, please follow the link and apply\nand we look forward to discussing this in more details with you! Send your\napplication or more info at\n\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/yoyowallet](https://boards.greenhouse.io/yoyowallet)\n\nCome join us and make a great impact!\n\n------\nBen-G\nPlanGrid (YCW12) | San Francisco | Full-time, On-Site | Visa\n\nWe’re building software that is changing the construction process (think\nGitHub for construction). Our users love our app because it helps them build\nreal things more efficiently. By joining our team you can influence product\ndecisions and work on interesting technical challenges (our client apps work\nwith GBs of blueprints and metadata). Our engineering teams are small;\nwhatever team you work on, you'll have a chance to have a big impact.\n\nWe’re hiring across all of our engineering teams: Android, Web, iOS, Windows,\nBackend (Python).\n\nYou can see our job postings and apply here:\n[https://jobs.lever.co/plangrid?lever-via=SzsN-\n_Jgq1](https://jobs.lever.co/plangrid?lever-via=SzsN-_Jgq1)\n\n~~~\nseventi9\n[http://grnh.se/8fcutd](http://grnh.se/8fcutd)\n\nThe board you are looking for is no longer open.\n\n~~~\nBen-G\nJust noticed dead link, sorry for that. We recently switched from greenhouse\nto lever. This is the new link: [https://jobs.lever.co/plangrid?lever-\nvia=SzsN-_Jgq1](https://jobs.lever.co/plangrid?lever-via=SzsN-_Jgq1)\n\n------\ngauri\nInstrumentl (YC S16) | Full-stack Software Engineer | San Francisco (Onsite)\n\nInstrumentl simplifies the grants process for researchers and nonprofits. Over\n$160 Billion in funding moves between scientists and funders every year yet\nscientists waste up to 40% of their time hustling for money instead of\nactually doing science. We are changing that.\n\nWe're looking for a Full-stack software engineer with at least 2 years of\nprofessional working experience.\n\nYou'd be the 2nd engineering hire on our core team so you'd have plenty of\nimpact on our technology roadmap and be instrumental (pun intended) in\ndeveloping our engineering organization.\n\nEmail gauri@instrumentl.com if you're interested. More info at\n[https://www.instrumentl.com](https://www.instrumentl.com)\n\n------\nHawkWilson\nVarious | Social Nature | Vancouver, BC (onsite) | www.socialnature.com\n\nSocial Nature is making waves with our people-powered marketing vision (people\ntrust friends not ads) and commitment to only promoting brands with natural\nproducts. We are a small and mighty team where everything you do will have an\nimmediate impact on those around you. You'll get to work closely with our\ncustomers, invent new ways to integrate with social channels, and wrangle\nextremely big data as we build and grow our intelligent platform.\n\nWe're looking for a full stack developer who is comfortable working on a\nproduct that is consumer-facing in the front while integration and data-heavy\non the back. A basic grasp of UX and UI design principles will come in handy\nalong with a solid foundation in algorithms, data structures and design\npatterns. More than anything we want people who love what they do, have\nopinions and get excited about software.\n\nBonus points for experience with any or all of the tools in our stack:\nAngular.js, ASP.NET MVC, Node.js, SASS, Foundation, jQuery, PostgreSQL,\nAWS+ElasticBeanstalk.\n\nCheck us out and apply:\n\nLead Developer - [https://www.socialnature.com/careers?job=lead-developer-\nfull...](https://www.socialnature.com/careers?job=lead-developer-full-time-\nvancouver)\n\nFull Stack Developer - [https://www.socialnature.com/careers?job=full-stack-\ndevelope...](https://www.socialnature.com/careers?job=full-stack-developer-\nfull-time-vancouver)\n\nIntermediate JavaScript Developer -\n[https://www.socialnature.com/careers?job=intermediate-\njavasc...](https://www.socialnature.com/careers?job=intermediate-javascript-\nengineer-full-time-vancouver)\n\nServer/Backend Developer -\n[https://www.socialnature.com/careers?job=serverbackend-\ndevel...](https://www.socialnature.com/careers?job=serverbackend-developer-\nfull-time-vancouver)\n\n------\nQuobert\nQuobyte | Berlin, Germany | Full-time | Onsite |\n[https://www.quobyte.com/](https://www.quobyte.com/)\n\nQuobyte is building the parallel file system of the next generation: scalable,\nfault-tolerant and with high performance for file, block and object storage.\nOur customers use Quobyte for scientific and commercial HPC clusters,\ncontainer and OpenStack infrastructures, video and CGI clusters, and as a\nscalable backend for SaaS products.\n\nIf you’re into systems, we got it all: kernel, concurrency, network,\ndistributed algorithms, ...\n\nLanguages are C++, Java and Python. We do white-board interviews and value\npassion for coding.\n\nRoles: Senior Software Engineer, Junior Software Engineer, Engineer in Test,\nSupport Engineer, Sales Engineer\n\nSend your CV to: work@quobyte.com\n\nWe currently do not sponsor visas.\n\n------\nhlmencken\nHiring React Node Scala SDET and Product Owners at Hart, a healthcare company\nin Orange county. React: [http://grnh.se/skjun51](http://grnh.se/skjun51)\n[http://grnh.se/ic2hlt1](http://grnh.se/ic2hlt1) Scala:\n[http://grnh.se/6xbea11](http://grnh.se/6xbea11) Node:\n[http://grnh.se/fsm81d](http://grnh.se/fsm81d) SDET:\n[http://grnh.se/omv10e1](http://grnh.se/omv10e1) PO:\n[http://grnh.se/81rf7m](http://grnh.se/81rf7m)\n\n------\nkubuqi\nExinda | Mid-level / Senior Software Engineer, DevTest |Toronto | Onsite |\nFull-time\n\nAt Exinda, our mission is to help enterprises, educators and service providers\neffortlessly exceed their network service level agreements and deliver the\nbest application performance possible. We do this through our innovative\napproach called WAN Orchestration and our award-winning product, Exinda\nNetwork Orchestrator.\n\nWe are hiring C++ Software Engineers, QA Specialists, and Network Optimization\nEngineers.\n\nOur stack: C/C++, Java, MySQL, Linux, AWS Our recruitment process is as\nfollows: - Phone interview - At home code test - On-site interview For more\ninformation and to apply:\n[https://www.exinda.com/careers](https://www.exinda.com/careers)\n\n------\njdevonport\nAirfinity | London, UK | Full Time | Senior Engineer (Data) |\n[http://airfinity.com](http://airfinity.com)\n\nWorking to organise and understand the world's event, attendee and sponsor\ndata.\n\nCurrently hiring for multiple roles in our data engineering team based in\nLondon. We are looking for accomplished engineers looking for their next big\nchallenge.\n\nWe are a year old and have secured several rounds of funding and have a small\nteam currently working on our event data products.\n\nSalary Range £60-75k + Equity + Benefits\n\nIf you would like to talk please either reach out to me directly and mention\nHN [james at airfinity .com] or through our Workable page.\n[https://airfinityjobs.workable.com/](https://airfinityjobs.workable.com/)\n\n------\nnanek\nSpanishDict.com | VP of Engineering, iOS/Android Developer | Arlington, VA |\nOnsite | Full-time\n\nSpanishDict uses cutting-edge technology to dramatically improve the way\npeople learn and speak a foreign language. Last year more than 100 million\nvisitors came to our site, making it the world's largest Spanish reference\nwebsite.\n\n[http://curiositymedia.applytojob.com/apply/b91R2O/VP-Of-\nEngi...](http://curiositymedia.applytojob.com/apply/b91R2O/VP-Of-Engineering)\n[http://curiositymedia.applytojob.com/apply/FzkdQL/Senior-\nSof...](http://curiositymedia.applytojob.com/apply/FzkdQL/Senior-Software-\nEngineer-Mobile-Apps)\n\n------\npravinb19\nRtbrick|Packet Forwarding Engineer|Bangalore,India\n\nWe are building high performance network infrastructure software based on\nmicro-services architecture. We are a passionate team of engineers looking to\npush the technology limits building cutting edge networking software for\nenterprises and data-centers\n\nKey Qualifications: * Experience in C, Python programming _Experience with\nLinux virtualization and container technologies (KVM, LXC)_ Experience in\nIntel DPDK & NIC drivers _Experience in Layer 3 networking technologies\ndesired Strong problem solving and software development /troubleshooting\nskills _Experience with Broadcom BCM56960 “StrataXGS” / “Tomahawk”\n\nBonus Skills: Experience with Broadcom BCM88370/BCM88670 “StrataDNX” /\n“Jericho/Qumran”\n\n~~~\npravin19\nJob description @ [https://www.rtbrick.com/md/job/sr-software-engineer-\npfe.html](https://www.rtbrick.com/md/job/sr-software-engineer-pfe.html)\n\n------\ntjbladez\nBenchprep | Senior Engineer | Chicago | ONSITE\n\nCompany: We are a small group of driven, ambitious individuals committed to\nchanging the landscape of education. We work hard, eat well, and have lots of\nfun. We work at BenchPrep because we love it (plus benefits, competitive\nsalary, perks etc).\n\nWe are looking for talented and motivated professionals who are excited about\nthe chance to leverage technology in order to impact the lives of millions of\nstudents. Our clients include ACT®, HRCI, Hobsons and many other educational\ncompanies. Check out job description\n[http://www.builtinchicago.org/job/senior-\nengineer-6](http://www.builtinchicago.org/job/senior-engineer-6) and shoot\nemail to techjobs@benchprep.com\n\n------\nslvrspoon\nAbine: Online Privacy | Boston, MA | Full Stack | Part-time, ONSITE preferred,\nREMOTE OK\n\n[https://www.abine.com/about.html#careers](https://www.abine.com/about.html#careers)\n\nPlease be a doer with show-able work, interested/curious, and not a recruiter\n\n------\nclassyjim\nGoEuro | Berlin, Germany | Engineering| Full-time | On Site We are Europe’s\nleading travel platform and you get to work alongside our CTO Kacper (former\nEngineering Director at Google). We are a Goldman Sachs and Atomico backed\nbusiness. We are seeking Engineering Managers to improve our travel search\nbackend & booking engine with a software craftsmanship mindset to design and\ndevelop software to an amazing scale and create an outstanding engineering\nculture. We are mainly working with Java8, microservices, docker and solving\nvery hard and ambitious travel problems.\n[http://www.goeuro.com/jobs?gh_jid=100355](http://www.goeuro.com/jobs?gh_jid=100355)\njames.peters@goeuro.com\n\n------\nmeli_\nNexon M, Inc. | IT Support Specialist | Emeryville, CA | Onsite\n\nNexon M is a mobile game publisher based in Emeryville, CA. We are searching\nfor a highly motivated and passionate person who loves computers to join our\ndynamic workforce as an IT Support Specialist!\n\nResponsibilities include:\n\n\\- New computer setup, troubleshooting, software configuration and user\nadoption training with new technologies \\- Responding to support requests and\nanswering/resolving them in a timely manner \\- Assisting internal non-\ntechnical personnel with computer and software support as needed\n\nIf this sounds good to you, please check out the full job description here:\n\n[https://app.jobvite.com/j?cj=oPBM4fw0&s=Hacker_News](https://app.jobvite.com/j?cj=oPBM4fw0&s=Hacker_News)\n\n------\nkmann\nWork Market | NYC, TO | Full time | Onsite |\n[https://www.workmarket.com](https://www.workmarket.com)\n\nWork Market boasts an impressive engineering team backed by successful and\nreputable investors such as Union Square Ventures, Spark Capital SoftBank\nCapital, Industry Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank. We recently received $20\nmillion in Series C funding that is being reinvested back into hiring.\n\nWork Market is the leading platform for freelance labor. Our freelance\nmanagement platform enables both the biggest brands in the world and\nfreelancing businesses to manage an end-to-end contract, on-demand engagements\nat scale. We are helping drive the rapidly growing freelance economy that will\nmake up 50% of the workforce by 2020.\n\nOur engineers build the tools and workflows that allow our customer to be more\nefficient and productive in a competitive marketplace. We are customer driven,\nour engineers work closely with the product team to help define and articulate\na vision for the Work Market platform. We focus on providing simple, elegant\nsolutions to complex problems. We use tools such as RxJava, Java 8, Javaslang,\nReact.js, Kubernetes, Terraform, and Docker.\n\nWe have opportunities across the board in both our NYC office and our Toronto\n(CA) office:\n\n-Bi Analyst/Developer\n\n-Build/Release Engineer\n\n-Senior Software Engineer- API\n\n-Director of Engineering\n\n-Infrastructure Engineer\n\n-Manager, Test Engineer\n\n-Mobile Engineer- Android (TO)\n\n-Senior Front End Engineer\n\n-Senior Search Engineer\n\n-Senior Software Engineer- API (TO)\n\n-Product Manager (TO)\n\n-Technical Product Manager- API & Integrations\n\n-UX/UI Developer\n\n-Implementation Manager\n\nApply now: [https://www.workmarket.com/jobs](https://www.workmarket.com/jobs)\n\n~~~\nfivedogit\nI work here (in solutions engineering and professional services) and it's the\nbest job I've ever had. Strong trajectory, great management, smart peers. On\ntop of that, we're solving a real problem: matching skills to jobs which --\njust look at this thread -- is such an incredible hodgepodge right now.\n\nAnyway, feel free to ask me any questions.\n\n~~~\nOsiris\nI'm a freelance software engineer. I signed up for the site.\n\nA little feedback: this is what the tax and profile pages looks like for me\n(Chrome):\n[https://www.dropbox.com/s/t7hd3n4qb8xn9ae/Screenshot%202017-...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/t7hd3n4qb8xn9ae/Screenshot%202017-02-01%2013.38.55.png?dl=0)\n\n------\nBurnstreet\nSandbox Interactive GmbH | Web Engineer / DevOps / Sysadmin / Game Designer /\nTwitch host | ONSITE\n[https://www.albiononline.com](https://www.albiononline.com) Sandbox\nInteractive is looking for Web-Developers, SysAdmins, ideally people who can\ndo both. We are a small game studio building a sandbox MMO\n[https://albiononline.com](https://albiononline.com) and are in the process of\nbuilding an in-house web dev team that will extend and operate our website.\nMore detailed job descriptions:\n[https://albiononline.com/en/jobs](https://albiononline.com/en/jobs)\n\n------\nloourr\nSenior Java Developer | New York City | ONSITE | Contract/Full-Time\n\nAbout the project:\n\nYou would be in charge of architecting a system that processes hundreds of\nthousands of transactions and tracks millions of dollars. The system is\ndesigned to make sure recording artists get paid every time their songs are\nplayed internationally, and you'll get to work in the heart of downtown\nManhattan.\n\n\\- Stable and long-term (12 months or more)\n\n\\- High impact (you'll be taking backend lead with a small team)\n\n\\- Great for your portfolio, we're a leader in the music industry.\n\n\\- Well compensated\n\nIf you're interested in the project respond with a little about yourself and\nyour portfolio if you have one.\n\nThis is for senior candidates who can work onsite only so please only respond\nif you're able to commute to NYC.\n\nIf you're interested contact us at hello@staffhappy.co\n\n------\nresalisbury\nCheckr, SF -- [http://grnh.se/u7o46a1](http://grnh.se/u7o46a1)\n\n| Backend Engineer | Full Stack Engineer | Machine Learning Engineer | Product\nDesign Lead | Consumer Product Manager | B2B Product Manager\n\nRequirements: | 4+ years of relevant experience | onsite in SF\n\nAbout: Checkr provides modern and compliant background checks for global\nenterprises and startups and is on Forbes list of next $1bn starups.\n\n[http://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2016/10/19/next-\nbilli...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2016/10/19/next-billion-\ndollar-startups-2016/#)\n\ncompensation is very competitive. email me at rex DOT salisbury at gmail for\nmore info :)\n\n------\nstevebrambilla\nNuvyyo (Tablo TV) | iOS Developer, Android Developer | Ottawa, Canada | ONSITE\n[http://tablotv.com](http://tablotv.com)\n\nTablo is a whole-home DVR that lets you stream live and recorded OTA HDTV\ncontent to mobile and streaming TV devices.\n\nWe're looking for talented iOS and Android developers to join us in building a\nbetter over-the-air TV experience. We're a small, tight-knit team with a focus\non building beautiful, polished apps that our customers love using.\n\nOur interview process starts with an introduction call, then on-site\ninterviews and a take-home coding challenge.\n\nIf you're interested, learn more about the roles here:\n[http://nuvyyo.com/#careers](http://nuvyyo.com/#careers)\n\n------\npwarner\nCiena | Ottawa, ON | Platform Engineer | ONSITE | Full-time\n\nCiena writes software to help folks operate their networks.\n\nThe Platform team offers our Application teams a solid set of databases,\nmessaging, UAC, metric and monitoring services. Our goal is to make it easy\nfor them to write the network management software.\n\nOur technologies are Kafka, Cassandra, Galera/MariaDB, Grafana, ElasticSearch.\n\nThis Job is in Ottawa, ON Canada but our team is split between there and\nSonoma County in California. We use Slack and GitHub to collaborate.\n\nMessage me or [https://ciena-\nopenhire.silkroad.com/epostings/index.cfm?fuse...](https://ciena-\nopenhire.silkroad.com/epostings/index.cfm?fuseaction=app.jobinfo&jobid=5330&version=4#.WJKx-1BdGao.link)\n\n------\napi_or_ipa\nYewno | FrontEnd, BackEnd | Redwood City, CA | ONSITE\n\nFresh off our Series A ($16.5M), we're looking to expand our engineering team\nwith great talent. At Yewno we're moving beyond keyword search and allowing\nusers to explore concepts derived from a vast wealth of vetted and trusted\nknowledge from the world's leading academic and financial publishers.\n\nAlong the way we're solving really cool problems in data storage, ingestion,\nanalysis and visualization. Our front end is a modern\nReact/Redux/Babel/D3/Webpack stack and our backend runs on Python, Go &\nNodejs.\n\nFeel free to send me an email at {joey}{at}{yewno.com} for more details. I'm\non the front end engineering team and I'd be happy to tell me you more about\nwhat we do.\n\n------\nsmohnot\n500 Startups (FinTech) | SF | Full Time / Intern | ONSITE OR REMOTE\n\n500 startups is a seed stage fund and accelerator program. I'm a partner there\nfocused on FinTech, running a FinTech focused fund and accelerator program.\nWe're based in the SF office, in SoMa. We're going to be looking for an\nanalyst/associate to join us shortly, and in the meantime are looking for an\nintern to help us out. What you need: hustle, attention to detail, interest in\nFinTech. It's a fun gig - work involves helping portfolio companies, helping\nus scale etc. We're really open, so in your email to me please tell me what\nyou'd like to do and we'll see if we can make it happen.\n\nAdditional would be nice: you're a builder yourself.\n\nsheel at 500 dot co\n\n------\nJasonZ_\nCounterPath | Vancouver, BC (downtown) | Onsite | Jr. SDK Support Engineer\n\nLooking for an SDK support engineer to help support our cross platform (iOS,\nAndroid, Windows, Mac) VoIP SDK.\n\nGet to work on multiple platforms with multiple different programming\nlanguages (C#, C++, Objective-C, Java). Learn VoIP and our SDK by helping\ncustomers with their challenging technical questions.\n\nCandidate should have strong networking knowledge, with a degree in Computer\nScience or Software Engineering.\n\nWe offer a flexible, results focused work environment with generous\ncompensation plans that include employee stock purchase program, retirement\nsavings, and a healthy extended health plan.\n\nIf you're interested, checkout the full posting at counterpath.com/careers and\nemail me jzablotny .a.t. counterpath.com\n\n------\nitajaja\nButterfly Network | New York City or Guilford, CT | Full Stack Engineer,\nMobile Developer (React Native)\n\nWe're a team of world-class scientists and engineers working to build the next\ngeneration of low-cost, ultraportable medical imaging devices to really change\nhow medicine works. We need you to help us make the software as awesome as the\nhardware, and build an integrated system that will bring laboratory-grade\nmedical imaging to everyone.\n\nEmail me at gtagliabue at 4catalyzer.com or learn more at:\n[https://www.butterflynetinc.com/#opportunities](https://www.butterflynetinc.com/#opportunities)\n\nSome of the technologies we use: docker, kubernetes, python (Flask), postgres,\nreact, graphql, node, react native.\n\n------\njsomau\nTradeIt | Software Engineer | New York | Onsite | Visa considered |\n[https://www.trade.it](https://www.trade.it)\n\nWe're a small but senior team made up of finance veterans and ex-Pivotal\nconsultants. We build products that allow app developers to offer live stock\nmarket trading to their users through their existing brokerage accounts.\n\nTech stack is a Java backend, with Swift and Android SDKs.\n\nInterview process: initial phone chat followed by a half day on-site where\nyou'll pair on the actual product and be free to ask us any questions.\n\nDetails: [https://angel.co/tradeit/jobs/80530-software-\nengineer](https://angel.co/tradeit/jobs/80530-software-engineer)\n\n~~~\nkakaorka\nIt says on the website that Visa Sponsorship is not available, but you say\nhere visa considered?\n\n------\news\nVIDA, San Francisco (or remote if very experienced). Mid to Senior\nReactJS/node hacker.\n\nWhat we are doing : 'good' e-commerce. (semi-automation in factories, fair\npay, alphabetization programs, etc). Very early stage, Google Ventures backed\nand profitable.\n\nCareer page :\n[https://shopvida.com/pages/careers](https://shopvida.com/pages/careers)\nTechcrunch info : [https://techcrunch.com/2014/11/12/vida-raises-1-3-million-\nfo...](https://techcrunch.com/2014/11/12/vida-raises-1-3-million-fo..).\n\nPM me or pablo@shopvida.com\n\nPS no recruiters, please (we got several hundreds of emails from recruiting\ncompanies last time). Thanks.\n\n------\nJangoSteve\nGenomenon | Senior Software Developer | Ann Arbor, MI | On-site\n\nWe're building a database of genomic information that helps with data curation\nand genome interpretation for diagnosis and treatment, as well as research.\n\nIdeally, someone with full-stack experience would provide the most flexibility\nin terms of responsibility, as we're an early-stage (funded) startup. We've\nbuilt the first version of the product and have customers, but we have lofty\nambitions and a large vision for what we can become.\n\nExperience with Python and/or Ruby, Bash, and JavaScript (front-end, along\nwith frameworks like Angular and React) are mostly what we need now.\n\n[https://www.genomenon.com](https://www.genomenon.com)\n\nReach out to me at schwartz@genomenon.com.\n\n------\nedawerd\nGusto | VISA, ONSITE | Lead Data Engineer | San Francisco\n\nGusto is building delightful payroll, benefits, and HR software for small\nbusinesses.\n\nWe're looking for a senior engineer to take our data efforts to the next\nlevel. Be an owner as you architect, build, and refine our data infrastructure\ntechnologies — the outcome of your work will drive decisions that affect\nbillions of dollars of transactions\n\nApply online here!\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/gusto/jobs/188188#.WJJynrYrLAw](https://boards.greenhouse.io/gusto/jobs/188188#.WJJynrYrLAw)\nor email me directly.\n\nInterview process: 1 technical phone screen (1 hour over Coderpad), and 1\nonsite interview (~4.5 hours of interviews + pair programming)\n\n------\nsid6376\nBooking.com - Amsterdam(Netherlands), Shanghai (China), Seattle, WA (USA),\nONSITE Full-time, relocation to Amsterdam, (H1B or its dutch equivalent\nanyway) is taken care of by the company.\n\nGeneral Interview Process -> Hackerrank test, call with the recruiter, phone\ninterview, onsite interviews\n\nI work at Booking.com, which is a world leader in travel accommodations, as a\nbackend developer. I have only positive things to say about working here. The\npeople are intelligent and helpful, interesting problems to solve and the work\nhours are unbelievably sane. The company is strongly data driven and very\ndynamic, which was one of its biggest charms for me. Amsterdam is not a bad\nplace to be either :) The Dutch government also gives a tax break through the\n30% ruling to non-dutch people.The work environment is very international and\neverybody speaks fluent English. The relocation process is also very finely\ntuned through years of experience of doing this.\n\nIf you have any other questions about the company or the hiring process or you\nwould like me to refer you, please feel free to send me an email at\nsiddharthsarda01 at gmail.com (Email also in my profile at Hacker news). To\nhave an idea of the kind of problems being solved here, you can also look at\nour dev blog:[http://blog.booking.com/](http://blog.booking.com/)\n\nWe are hiring for our headquarters office in Amsterdam:\n\n\\- Backend developers - [http://grnh.se/g5n6oe](http://grnh.se/g5n6oe)\n\n\\- Frontend developers - [http://grnh.se/cxmso8](http://grnh.se/cxmso8)\n\n\\- Product Owners in various departments -\n[http://grnh.se/edvq2n](http://grnh.se/edvq2n)\n\n\\- Data analysts - [http://grnh.se/al15kt](http://grnh.se/al15kt)\n\n\\- Data Scientist(Machine Learning) -\n[http://grnh.se/5uxtdv](http://grnh.se/5uxtdv)\n\n\\- Android Developers - [http://grnh.se/1bnljt](http://grnh.se/1bnljt)\n\n\\- UX Designer - [http://grnh.se/e23axu](http://grnh.se/e23axu)\n\n\\- Mobile App Designer: [http://grnh.se/kxvh8m](http://grnh.se/kxvh8m)\n\n~~~\nthrowaway0X8585\nI went through the interview process at Booking.com and wanted to share salary\nexpectations in case that is useful for others. As a senior engineer, the\nrecruiter told me the range is between €60k-€65k depending on the level of\nexperience. Also, it is important to note that much of the backend is written\nin Perl and the recruiter stressed that it would be absolutely necessary to be\ninterested in writing a lot of Perl. They use Go, Python, and Java for some\nsmaller parts of their stack.\n\n~~~\nvgy7ujm\nIs that 60-65k euros including benefits like bonus, pension etc? How is that\nsalary in comparison to other senior engineer jobs in the same country?\n\nHaving to write a lot of Perl sounds really cool!\n\n------\npaullth\nSynoptica | Guildford, UK | Fulltime, ONSITE | Front End Developer & Full\nStack Developer\n\nOur mission is to improve and automate research carried out on companies.\nWe’re driven by a belief that technology can offer deeper and smarter insights\ninto business that will change the way our clients approach their sales and\ninvestment decisions.\n\nWe do use Java 8 a lot in the back but I promise there is no JEE in sight. The\nfront end role will come with a lot of autonomy for the successful candidate\nto choose the tools/frameworks used.\n\nInterview process: 15 minute Skype/face to face preliminary chat, followed by\na more formal interview of around 15 minutes chat and 30 minute technical\nassessment.\n\nWe'd also love to hear from any data scientists in the Durham area\n\n------\nTicketCity\nTicketCity | Sys Admin | Austin, TX | Onsite\n[https://www.ticketcity.com/](https://www.ticketcity.com/) We are an eCommerce\nmarketplace for live events (sports, concerts, theater). If you are customer\nservice focused and love working on a close-knit team, we want you!\n[https://jobs.lever.co/ticketcity/8db5220b-dbb7-4c1b-b93a-160...](https://jobs.lever.co/ticketcity/8db5220b-dbb7-4c1b-b93a-1601b91a57ef?lever-\norigin=applied&lever-source%5B%5D=HackerNews) Feel free to email me (Caitlin)\nat csullivan@ticketcity.com to learn more about the role or life at as a\nTicketCitizen!\n\n------\nchrisacky\nRentivo | [https://www.rentivo.com](https://www.rentivo.com) | REMOTE\n(Europe/East-europe prefered due to time zones)\n\nWe are a small UK based tech team looking to hire a remote full stack\ndeveloper with strengths which focus on fronted development to create our new\nAngular2 application for a new project we are launching for our Vacation\nRental marketing platform.\n\nYou will have a lot of flexibility and autonomy to work on projects based on\nspecs that we supply.\n\nYour front end knowledge should include: Angular2, TypeScript, Google\nmaterial-design. (Angular2 essential, although choices you make after that are\nup to you).\n\nIf you are interested please email join@rentivo.com and I'll be happy to have\na chat and discuss.\n\n------\nalexiskavazanji\nPatientPop|Sr. Frontend, Sr. Backend, QA, Fullstack|Santa Monica, CA| Onsite\n\nPatientPop is hiring!\n\nWe're looking for Sr. Front End, Back End and Full Stack Engineers to join our\ngrowing team. Our Engineering team will double in size this year along with\nthe rest of the team.\n\nPatientPop is a rapidly-growing, well-funded startup in the heart of Silicon\nBeach. We’re scaling fast and plan to double our team in 2016. While this\noffice knows how to play, we’re serious about pursuing excellence and owning\nthe results of everything we do. We value innovation as much as collaboration\nand believe in empowering our team to build and drive their own careers.\n\nApply online! [http://grnh.se/sil750](http://grnh.se/sil750)\n\n------\nmsilvey\nWomply | DevOps Engineer | San Francisco, California | ONSITE,\n[https://womply.com/](https://womply.com/)\n\nWomply makes software to make small/medium business life easier.\n\nThe DevOps team manages AWS infrastructure with Puppet and a fair bit of\nPython code.\n\nWe work with a series of microservices written in Java or Ruby.\n\nOur data tends to live in PostgreSQL, Cassandra, or MySQL.\n\nThe role is further described here: [https://www.womply.com/jobs-\nsanfrancisco?gh_jid=146642](https://www.womply.com/jobs-\nsanfrancisco?gh_jid=146642)\n\nWe are also hiring on many other fronts:\n[http://www.womply.com/jobs/](http://www.womply.com/jobs/)\n\n------\nqdotbio\nQ | Data Engineer and Platform Engineer | Millbrae, CA | ONSITE, Full-time,\n[https://q.bio](https://q.bio)\n\nWe are an a16z and FF backed company building technology that quantifies,\ndigitizes, and simulates human physiology.\n\nData Engineer:\n[https://jobs.lever.co/qbio/2131dbb9-f673-453f-81cc-58f474696...](https://jobs.lever.co/qbio/2131dbb9-f673-453f-81cc-58f47469691d)\n\nPlatform Engineer: [https://jobs.lever.co/qbio/c18f77ae-156a-4cbb-bfed-\ncd13d882f...](https://jobs.lever.co/qbio/c18f77ae-156a-4cbb-bfed-cd13d882ff91)\n\n[https://q.bio](https://q.bio)\n\n------\naustinlchang\nLawgix Inc. | Software Developer | Austin, TX | FULLTIME | ONSITE\n\nLawgix, Inc. is a hybrid entity (tech + law firm) looking to change the way\nthe world thinks about legal services. We're building technology to deliver\nbetter legal services to clients while enabling attorneys to work smarter.\n\nWe're looking to bring on a software developer to join our small engineering\nteam. You'll be engineer #4. Some of the technologies we're using: Ruby on\nRails, React.js, Git, Heroku.\n\nSome more information on the job is here: [http://www.lawgixlaw.com/software-\ndeveloper.html](http://www.lawgixlaw.com/software-developer.html)\n\nHow to apply: please send your resume / information to austin@lawgixlaw.com\n\n------\nandersgb\nImerso | Software Engineer | Oslo, Norway ONSITE |\n[http://www.imerso.com](http://www.imerso.com)\n\nImerso builds 3D Scanning software for mobile devices. Like shooting a video,\nit digitises real-world spaces into 1:1 3D models within seconds. Our mission\nis to address the challenge of work documentation and job-site surveying\nwithin Construction and Property Development. We are an international team of\nsoftware engineers, researchers, and business developers.\n\n[https://hub.no/jobs/software-engineers](https://hub.no/jobs/software-\nengineers) or jobs.at.imerso.com\n\nTech stack: C++, Java/Kotlin on Android, Scala, React, Kubernetes, Docker\n\n------\ngourneau\nGuardant Health | Redwood City, CA | ONSITE |\n[http://guardanthealth.com](http://guardanthealth.com)\n\nGuardant Health develops diagnostic technologies to improve cancer management.\nWe are the market leaders in liquid-biopsies. We take blood samples and are\nable to detect the trace amounts of cancer DNA. In the best cases we can\nidentify treatment options for patients. We have dozens of peer reviewed\npublications\n[https://guardanthealth.com/publications/](https://guardanthealth.com/publications/)\n\nWe are looking for looking for folks who are awesome at any of the following:\n\n\\- Software engineers, at all levels.\n\n\\- DevOps\n\n\\- Bioinformatics\n\nemail me at jgourneau@guardanthealth.com for more info.\n\n------\nerik_p\nGreatSchools | Oakland, CA | ONSITE | Full Time Software Engineer (Ruby on\nRails)\n\nGreatSchools is a national non-profit that reaches half the families with\nchildren in the US.\n\nGreatSchools is looking for a talented and energetic software engineer with a\nfocus on web development to join our team. You need to be able to produce\nhigh-quality, maintainable code and mobile responsive web interfaces. If you\ncan do that and want to work on a team of passionate engineers who enjoy\nfinding creative solutions to problems together, then this is the job for you.\n\n[http://www.greatschools.org/gk/careers/#software-\nengineer](http://www.greatschools.org/gk/careers/#software-engineer)\n\n------\njohnrball\nMM.LaFleur |Senior Software Engineer| Full Time (Onsite) NYC\n\nMM.LaFleur is a fast-growing professional womenswear company based in New York\nCity. We aim to be the go-to wardrobe solution for modern women of purpose.\nHow? By delivering luxury-quality clothing via a seamless, direct-to-consumer\nstylist experience. We're a varied group of go-getters who are all passionate\nabout reimagining the way women shop and dress for work. We have a validated\nmarket and die-hard fans, a quickly growing revenue stream, and a whip-smart\nand energetic team. We take our work (but never ourselves) very seriously.\nWe’re data obsessors who like nice clothes. We truly believe we can do it\nbetter and faster and smarter and have more fun. They are one of the faster\ngrowing e-commerce companies!\n\nWhat will you do? Herein lies your opportunity: * Build an integrated CRM,\nmarketing, and sales system with a combination of custom and third-party\ntools. Take our proven customer data-centric sales model and make it more\nefficient and scalable. * Define product and choose technologies as we grow,\nstarting with a “free the data” architecture overhaul. * Help hire a team of\nengineers, both in-house and contract.\n\nWhat skills do you have? * Know PHP backwards, forwards, and upside down.\nMySQL, HTML, CSS, and Javascript, too. Magento? Great! * Be good at (or ready\nto learn) commerce platform management and development. * Love the entire\nstack, from devops to cross-browser styling to A/B testing marketing campaigns\nto internal tooling. * Desire to set the foundation for an awesome engineering\nculture and help build the team. * Be excited about analytics and data-driven\ndecisions. * Appreciate UX and the designers and engineers that make it\npossible. * Heart startups—you like flexibility and ownership; you move\nquickly and (sometimes) break things; you appreciate process, but don’t mind\nif it doesn’t exist sometimes.\n\nPlease feel free to reach out directly at john.ball@mmlafleur.com\n\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/mmlafleur/jobs/134873#.WJIPNrYr...](https://boards.greenhouse.io/mmlafleur/jobs/134873#.WJIPNrYrLUJ)\n\n------\noctodragon\n|| AlphaSights -- New York -- REMOTE && ONSITE -- Full Time ||\n\nInterview Process: 3 or 4 rounds of interviews with future teammates that\nyou'll be working with.\n\nYou’ll build usable software that supercharges our employees in their everyday\nwork. We practice test driven development, continuous integration &\ndeployment, and pair programming. As a Software Engineer at AlphaSights you\nwill:\n\n\\- Write high quality and maintainable code\n\n\\- Understand all other functions of AlphaSights to build software to meet the\nneeds of our growing business.\n\n\\- Work in a collaborative project team with two week iterations and be part\nof iteration planning and retros.\n\n\\- Pair with teammates, review PRs, help others with technical questions &\nshare your learnings\n\n\\- Learn to master a specific part of the stack, e.g., UI/UX, microservices,\nDevOps, etc. with the opportunity to take on product and/or technical\nleadership over time.\n\n\\--- What We're Looking For ---\n\nAt AlphaSights, we value diversity and individuality. Drawing on a range of\nexperiences and perspectives better equips us to solve challenging problems.\nWe believe you’ll be successful in this role if you:\n\n\\- Have 1+ years of experience developing web applications and/or programming\nwith languages similar to Ruby,Javascript, Python, Java, etc.\n\n\\- Are able to understand difficult technical problems and develop end to end\nsolutions. \\- Enjoy collaborating and making teammates better by teaching and\nmentoring.\n\n\\- Have excellent communications skills and are fluent in English.\n\n\\- Take responsibility for leaving things in better shape than you found them.\n\n\\- Are always positive and a little quirky.\n\nFor more information about our team, how we build, our projects, our tech\nstack, and our benefits, visit engineering.alphasights.com.\n\nQuestions? Interested in chatting? You can reach me at:\nisabel.lee@alphasights.com\n\nThanks and Have an Awesome Day!\n\n------\nzoba\nReside | Software Engineer, QA Engineer | San Francisco, CA | Fulltime |\nONSITE\n\nReside is building a modern real estate brokerage, with the aim of unseating\ndinosaur brokerages like Remax and Coldwell-Banker. We just closed Series A a\nfew weeks ago and are looking to grow our engineering team from 3 -> 10\\. We\nuse React, Firebase, and Node. Reside is committed to creating an inclusive\nand diverse company.\n\nInterview process: screening phone call, then 4 hour onsite.\n\nSoftware Engineer: [http://grnh.se/3aytm11](http://grnh.se/3aytm11)\n\nQA Test Engineer: [http://grnh.se/teo8j21](http://grnh.se/teo8j21)\n\nFeel free to reach out to me directly, chris@residenetwork.com\n\n------\nrdcasey\nDirector of Finance & Accounting | Mindflash | Palo Alto, CA | Onsite only\n\nHiring the first full-time finance professional at Mindflash, the leading SaaS\ntraining platform for large, distributed workforces. This hire will be\nresponsible for critical finance functions including planning, analysis, and\nday-to-day finance and accounting. As a small and growing company (~50\nemployees), we need a Director of Finance who will roll up his/her sleeves and\ndive into the details.\n\nDetails at:\n[https://jobs.lever.co/mindflash/2e7d9174-0db0-4ccf-85b0-ea14...](https://jobs.lever.co/mindflash/2e7d9174-0db0-4ccf-85b0-ea1407edb32d)\n\nYou can also email interest to Bob[at]IGSB.com\n\n------\newa\nIntercom | Dublin, Ireland | ENGINEERING MANAGER | SOFTWARE ENGINEER | SUPPORT\nENGINEER | Full Time | ONSITE\n\nWHAT: Software-as-a-Service, customer communication platform. Intercom is one\nof the top 5 fastest growing software companies of our generation. If you\nhaven't heard about us yet, we are the first Irish tech start up of it's kind\nto rapidly grow and take Europe and USA by storm and we have only just began!\n\nROLE: Want to write code, define product vision & manage a team? We are\nlooking for an Engineering Manager in Dublin. You’ll work directly with a\nproduct, design, and engineering team who’ve worked in places such as Amazon,\nFacebook, Google, Apple and Zendesk. And best of all, be early enough to hold\na leadership position where you have a high impact role in our success over\nthe coming years. Apply here: [http://grnh.se/1tlsfw](http://grnh.se/1tlsfw)\n\nBENEFITS: Competitive salary, meaningful equity, free food, health insurance,\nlife assurance, unlimited holidays, paid parental leave, public transport and\ngym covered. Hiring process consists of tech test, phone interview and an\nonsite interview with technical and culture sessions.\n\nTECH: The core Intercom product is a Ruby on Rails application with an\nEmber.js frontend. We use MySQL and MongoDB for most of our storage, though\nwe’re starting to migrate to other services like Amazon’s DynamoDB. We don’t\nneed you to be familiar with any of these technologies to work with us. Great\npeople are effective and learn what we use quickly (or introduce us to better\nways of working).\n\nHow we work:\n[https://www.intercom.io/careers/engineering](https://www.intercom.io/careers/engineering)\n\nAlso hiring for Product Engineers:\n[http://grnh.se/hkso711](http://grnh.se/hkso711), Lead Data Engineer:\n[http://grnh.se/h8qa7l](http://grnh.se/h8qa7l) and Support Engineer:\n[http://grnh.se/8k2xe61](http://grnh.se/8k2xe61)\n\n------\nmatthiasRMS\nScalia| Software Engineer | London, Paris | INTERNS\n\nEntrepreneur First startup (best/most selective incubator in Europe\n[https://www.joinef.com](https://www.joinef.com)).\n\nJoin a fast growing startup in London or Paris working with the biggest\nfashion retailers and brands.\n\nWe use machine learning to structure and enrich fashion data + Rails/Django to\nprovide a scalable API.\n\nJob offer:\n[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KIBZVvE4q0nBnC9fSWRYjFcr...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KIBZVvE4q0nBnC9fSWRYjFcrWE3-f3a5sUWaKReBvn0/edit?usp=sharing)\n\ncontact: matthias@getscalia.com attach your resume/github and a few words\nabout you.\n\n------\nalie\nOpenMail | Los Angeles, CA | ONSITE\n\nOpenMail, an adtech startup based in Venice Beach, is hiring!\n\nDevOps Engineer: AWS, Python [http://www.openmail.com/job-\nlisting/98f3de21-d010-4cdf-b4e2-...](http://www.openmail.com/job-\nlisting/98f3de21-d010-4cdf-b4e2-a340996ad4d4)\n\nData Analyst (A/B Testing): SQL, Strong Statistics background (Stats PhD\npreferred) [http://www.openmail.com/job-\nlisting/8dd08a47-5e78-4250-bf08-...](http://www.openmail.com/job-\nlisting/8dd08a47-5e78-4250-bf08-8acf52385d17)\n\nProduct Manager: Technical background, adtech experience strongly preferred\n[http://www.openmail.com/job-\nlisting/bcf6e434-6524-47a9-8334-...](http://www.openmail.com/job-\nlisting/bcf6e434-6524-47a9-8334-7ae577c2f0a5)\n\nDirector of Product Management: Technical background, 5+ years adtech\nexperience [http://www.openmail.com/job-\nlisting/1d42d4c7-27c7-4552-89d8-...](http://www.openmail.com/job-\nlisting/1d42d4c7-27c7-4552-89d8-42f1f48d332e)\n\nSoftware Engineer: Python [http://www.openmail.com/job-\nlisting/a2612066-fef4-458c-b216-...](http://www.openmail.com/job-\nlisting/a2612066-fef4-458c-b216-19b276e81ba6)\n\nSenior Software Engineer: 4+ years of Python experience\n[http://www.openmail.com/job-\nlisting/46b7b99f-18d1-47c5-bd3f-...](http://www.openmail.com/job-\nlisting/46b7b99f-18d1-47c5-bd3f-6c4009e073e6)\n\nOpenMail | Seattle, WA | ONSITE\n\nOpenMail is also hiring in our Bellevue office!\n\nProgrammatic Partnership Manager: 5+ years digital marketing experience, 2+\nyears programmatic display ad experience [http://www.openmail.com/job-\nlisting/bf1b39f9-38e4-4103-88fe-...](http://www.openmail.com/job-\nlisting/bf1b39f9-38e4-4103-88fe-0a0e89f660b5)\n\n------\narpeechara\nCopart | Dallas | Onsite\n\nFront End Engineers\n\nWe are back office and mobile app dev team at Copart building cool apps using\nlatest technologies. We're focused on bringing business processes on to the\nweb/mobile and automating them using latest approaches in the industry. This\nis an opportunity to work on new and high impact projects while dramatically\nchanging the way Copart does business.\n\nCurrent Technologies:\n\n    \n    \n      - ReactJS / React Native\n      - Ruby/Java\n      - Html5/CSS/JavaScript\n    \n\nApply here: [http://stackoverflow.com/jobs/114633/javascript-developer-\nco...](http://stackoverflow.com/jobs/114633/javascript-developer-copart)\n\n------\nsongc\nSongspace | Full Time | Ember.JS | Remote OK if +/\\- 3 CST\n[https://songspace.com](https://songspace.com)\n\nSongspace is looking to hire developers to join our team to continue to make\nthe music industry better. You will be joining our team of 4 remote developers\nto implement cutting edge collaboration features in the music industry. While\nthe position is remote, the main office is located in Nashville, TN, USA. The\nentire development team is remote, so we heavily embrace remote culture.\n\nWe are currently hiring for:\n\n\\- Junior Ember.JS Developer\n\n\\- Senior Ember.JS Developer\n\n\\- Data Integration Engineer\n\nTo apply visit\n[https://songspace.workable.com/](https://songspace.workable.com/)\n\n~~~\nbatok\nREMOTE from any country or only USA?\n\n------\nyegg\nDuckDuckGo | Site Reliability Engineer | Paoli PA | REMOTE, VISA\n\nWe're looking for candidates that will join us in raising the standard of\ntrust online.\n\n[https://duckduckgo.com/hiring/](https://duckduckgo.com/hiring/)\n\n------\nPelotonTech\nBig Data Infrastructure Engineer, Cloud & Mobile WLAN/ Autonomous Vehicle\n-Peloton Technology\n\nFull-time, Onsite, Mountain View, CA GoLang/Java/C++\n\nAPPLY HERE: [http://peloton-tech.com/careers/?gh_jid=505358](http://peloton-\ntech.com/careers/?gh_jid=505358)\n\nThe Automated Vehicle Data Infrastructure Engineer, Cloud will develop key\nsystems that interact with mobile fleets of vehicles. This includes systems to\nsync large quantities of data from and to each vehicle, the management of data\nin the cloud scaling to the petabyte range, and coordination apps providing\nkey operational data to the vehicles.\n\nQualified candidates have a strong background in developing large-scale server\nsystems interacting with many thousands of mobile clients in real time.\nUnderstanding of the issues of intermittent connectivity, security, bandwidth\noptimization, priority queues, and large-scale data movement are critical to\nthis role. Additionally, a strong understanding of location-based computation\nwill be a key asset for this engineer.\n\nKEY QUALIFICATIONS:\n\n5+ years industry experience building hosted (cloud or colo-based) back-end\nsystems, with deep understanding of systems that scale and are highly\nresilient to node failure\n\nWell versed in current data marshalling, compression, and communication\nmethodologies.\n\nCurrent in building secure web services in the cloud Experience with AWS\n(Amazon Web Services) deployment or similar highly desired.\n\nKnowledge of fault-tolerant message routing platforms (RabbitMQ, ActiveMQ,\nZeroMQ or similar)\n\nExperience with wireless networking, especially ad-hoc networking protocols\n(MANETs and VANETs)\n\nKnowledge of stream processing technologies (Kafka, Storm or similar)\n\nFluent in leading edge software languages and tools; passionate about test\ndriven, agile development; committed to tight collaboration and continuous\nintegration (CI)\n\nPreferred languages: Go, C++, Java\n\nBSCS or equivalent experience\n\n------\nbenpapillon\nUmbel | Austin, TX USA | Onsite, full time\n\nUmbel ([https://www.umbel.com/](https://www.umbel.com/)) specializes in\nhelping some of the most recognizable names in sports, media, entertainment,\nand the nonprofit sector aggregate customer data, gather insights and drive\nrevenue. We are currently hiring two Software Engineer positions to join us at\nour office in Austin, TX; Check out our careers page at\n[https://www.umbel.com/about/careers/](https://www.umbel.com/about/careers/)\nfor more information!\n\nTech stack involves Python/Django, AWS, React, Cassandra, MySQL, and more.\n\n------\neschnei2\nJibo, Inc. | Character AI Developer | Boston, MA | Regular, Full-time | Onsite\n\nJibo is the world's first social robot for the home. Our AI team is looking\nfor a developer who works collaboratively with others to plan, create, and\nimplement aspects that make the robot feel lifelike, produce dynamic behavior,\nand allow him to behave in a manner that is consistent with his character. If\nyou have a background in agent AI, machine learning, or a similar field as\nwell as a passion for robotics and good UX, we'd like to hear from you!\n\nJob description here:\n[https://www.jibo.com/jobs?p=job%2FokK43fwV](https://www.jibo.com/jobs?p=job%2FokK43fwV)\n\n------\ncameronkay\nBuild Software that Builds Rockets | Full Stack Software Engineering | Los\nAngeles and Redmond | Onsite\n\nWe're hiring talented software engineers to build the internal software that\npowers SpaceX's operations. We develop on the C#.NET stack and employ modern\nweb dev technologies on the front-end like AngularJS. Elon has called us the\n\"nervous system\" of SpaceX because we connect all of the other teams at SpaceX\nto ensure that the entire rocket building process runs smoothly.\n\nCheck out the full job description and apply here:\n\n[http://www.spacex.com/careers/position/206174](http://www.spacex.com/careers/position/206174)\n\n------\niamjj\nNxchange - www.nxchange.com | Amsterdam | Full-Time | FinTech | ONSITE\n\nWe launched a next generation stock exchange for direct trading in securities\nbetween companies and investors in April ’16. Here is a nice video of what we\ndo and try to achieve: [https://www.nxchange.com/s/webm/homepage-\nintro.mp4](https://www.nxchange.com/s/webm/homepage-intro.mp4)\n\nTo further fuel our growth we are looking for developers both frontend &\nbackend: * Mid to Senior Frontend Engineer: Javascript, ES6, Angular2 * Mid to\nSenior PHP Developer Please get in touch via j.verhoeve@nxchange.com if you're\ninterested in one of our roles.\n\n------\nthomasfromcdnjs\nListium | UX/UI Designer | Melbourne, Australia | ONSITE Full-Time\n\nWe’re looking for a senior UX/UI designer with 3+ years experience, and a\nstrong understanding of singe-page apps. We are a small team that is making\ngood progress without an experienced designer, so the right person has a\nchance to make a big difference to our product and demonstrate all of their\nskills. Learn more and apply via our jobs page at:\n[https://angel.co/listium/jobs](https://angel.co/listium/jobs). We are funded,\nand offer generous equity packages.\n\n[https://listium.com](https://listium.com)\n\n------\nfortpoint\nLinkable Networks | Senior Java Engineer | Boston, MA | Remote (U.S. Only) |\n[https://linkablenetworks.com/available-position-senior-\nengin...](https://linkablenetworks.com/available-position-senior-engineer/)\n\n* Company Summary\n\nLinkable Networks was founded on the premise that the disconnect between\ndigital media and physical retail was a major gap in delivering a great\nexperience to consumers. Since 2011, we’ve been nose-down building a scalable\nplatform that provides brands and retailers the ability to engage, reward and\nincent their consumers directly and across any channel – online, mobile and\nin-store. We pioneered the concept of card-linked-offers and have taken it to\nthe next level – always-on loyalty. Both our self-service and SaaS-based\nplatforms enable the creation of actionable ads, coupons, offers, promotions,\nrebates and more that let you reward loyalty... not just discount a purchase.\nThis is the future of Loyalty.\n\n* Technology Stack\n\nJava, Spring, Sharded MySql, Hazelcast, RabbitMQ\n\n* Additional Info\n\nWe're wired into card networks and processors. We have a broad range of\ncustomers from grocery giant SuperValu where we're deployed with a first of\nits kind card-linked SKU offer solution to FanBank where we help enable\ncommunity based Loyalty programs.\n\nWe run an agile shop with 102 successful sprints under our belts. Our process\nhas been improved over the 6 years we've been running it so that we deliver on\ntime and without drama. Our engineers don't sit in meetings they build\nsolutions.\n\n* Benefits\n\nHealth and dental benefits, 401K, Short/Long Term disability insurance, Life\ninsurance, Section 125 & Section 132 plans, paid time off, stock options,\nremote work opportunities, other perks and a great work environment are part\nof the compensation package.\n\nWe're looking for solid Java engineers to join our team and help us build out\nthe next level of capabilities on our platform.\n\nIf this sounds interesting, please shoot me an email at\ncoolgigs@linkablenetworks.com\n\n------\nNataliaPuntel\nWRKSHP | Android & iOS Engineers | San Francisco, CA | ONSITE\n[http://wearewrkshp.com/](http://wearewrkshp.com/)\n\nAt WRKSHP, our mission is to bring people together through the power of play.\nOur first game, Battle Camp, has over 40 millions of downloads since we\nlaunched in 2012. Our games are long-term experiences, not hits. Battle Camp\nis on the front page of Play Store and App Store's US Games categories, today.\n\nOpenings:\n\n• Junior iOS Engineer\n\n• Junior Android Engineer\n\n• Mid-level iOS Engineer\n\n• Mid-Level Android Engineer\n\n• Senior iOS Engineer\n\n• Senior Android Engineer\n\nApply to any of these roles here:\n[http://wearewrkshp.com/#careers](http://wearewrkshp.com/#careers)\n\n------\nmattrowe\nReviewsnap [http://www.reviewsnap.com/](http://www.reviewsnap.com/) | Frontend\nDeveloper (Angular) | San Francisco; Seattle; Portland | ONSITE or REMOTE\n\nUse your extensive knowledge of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS to contribute to the\nsite-wide redesign of Reviewsnap, a flexible employee performance review\nmanagement system. This is a unique opportunity to work on a greenfields\nground-up redesign of a profitable product.\n\nIf you're interested, please apply here:\n[https://reviewsnap.recruiterbox.com/jobs/fk0hbew](https://reviewsnap.recruiterbox.com/jobs/fk0hbew)\n\n------\njoshcarr\nAclima - [https://www.aclima.io](https://www.aclima.io) \\- San Francisco, CA\n\n==========\n\nHelp us turn billions of data points into healthier cities.\n\nJoin our team of tinkerers, scientists, designers, and engineers to empower\npeople with environmental intelligence. In collaboration with partners like\nGoogle and the EPA, Aclima’s mission is to use this new body of knowledge to\ncreate a more resilient, healthy and thriving world.\n\nSome of the tools we use: Python, Git, MariaDB, Cassandra, Nginx, NSQ, Redis,\nAnsible, Docker, Kubernetes, React, ES6, Webpack, D3.js\n\nPositions:\n\n* Senior Backend Software Engineer\n\n* UX Designer\n\n* Interface Developer\n\n* Data Visualization Specialist\n\n* And more... [http://jobs.aclima.io](http://jobs.aclima.io)\n\n------\njpuccinelli\nNo-IP.com | www.noip.com/careers | Reno, NV | Full Stack Developer | ONSITE |\nFulltime\n\n-Develop an understanding of No-IP products, infrastructure, architecture, and business model -Create and maintain database schemas to support business processes -Migrate legacy code to more efficient frameworks and structures -Write clean, well designed code -Troubleshoot, test and maintain the core product software and databases to ensure strong optimization and functionality -Contribute in all phases of the development lifecycle -Follow industry best practices -Develop and deploy new features, procedures, and tools. -Be an active participant on an Agile Software team\n\n------\nI-M-S\nRuby | Multiple Positions | Toronto, Canada | ONSITE with VISA\n\nLooking to work for a great company? A great company I work for is looking\nfor:\n\n    \n    \n      - Application Security Specialist\n      - Security Architect & Operations Lead\n      - Front-End Developer\n      - Sr. Mobile App Designer\n      - Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Specialist\n      - Business Systems Analyst\n      - Product Manager\n      - Data Analyst\n      - Ruby on Rails Developer (Contract)\n    \n\nCheck out\n[https://www.rubylife.com/careers/](https://www.rubylife.com/careers/) or\ncontact me directly if you want to know why it is a great company to work for\n;)\n\n------\nwglb\nkCura | Sr. Software Engineer | Chicago, IL; Reston, VA; Krakow, Poland |\nFull-time, Flexible REMOTE | [https://careers-\nkcura.icims.com/jobs/2364/senior-software-en...](https://careers-\nkcura.icims.com/jobs/2364/senior-software-engineer-%28work-from-home-\nflexibility%29/job)\n\n• Product: Relativity, handles large volumes of data and helps corporations,\nlaw firms, and government agencies solve their own unique data problems. •\nWhy: To fulfill the vision we set for our product, Relativity: to simplify and\naccelerate how the world conducts e-discovery by bringing the entire process\nand community together in one open, flexible, connected platform. • Vision:\nOur mission is to help our customers organize data, discover the truth, and\nact on it. Building great e-discovery software for managing massive volumes of\nelectronic evidence during litigation or investigations.\n\n• Stack (Reston, VA): Java, Scala, JVM, Linux, REST, GIT, Akka, Jenkins,\nBamboo • Stack (Chicago & Krakow, PL): C#, ASP.NET, MVC, SQL Server, Azure,\nREST, Chef, Powershell • Core Values: Be humble and stay hungry, Be an\nexcellent communicator, Exceed the expectations of your customers and your\ncolleagues, Hold yourself and your colleagues accountable, Enjoy and be great\nat your job, Embrace the talents of your colleagues and our customers, Do more\nwith less ==Team== • Founder and owner: Andrew Sieja, CEO • Advisor: ICONIQ\nCapital ==Interview== Phone call [30 min] >> Code Challenge (2 hour, at home,\nfun coding exercise) >> Interview in office to meet the team (3 ½ hours) >>\nDecision communicated to you within 24 hours ==Contact== mmcfarland@kcura.com\n\n------\nAchiel\nConversable | Austin, TX | Full-time | Onsite |\n[http://www.conversable.com](http://www.conversable.com)\n\nWe're a conversational UI platform company in Austin. Some people call them\nchatbots, we think that's a bit too simplistic. Conversations are hard and\nrequire more than what's currently out there. We have a lot of traction with a\ngood clientset and are showing no sig ns of slowing down.\n\nAt the moment we're a team of a bit over 20 people, but growing like crazy.\nWe're looking for all sorts of engineers, from front-end to ML and NLP. If\nyou're interested reach out to us at jobs@conversable.com!\n\n------\ndenizozger\nVelocity | London | Full Stack Developer | Onsite | Full-time\n\nWe’re looking for an experienced full stack Node JS Engineer to join our\nrapidly growing development team as we scale to thousands of restaurants over\nthe remainder of the year. Key responsibilities will include building our REST\nAPIs for our flagship consumer iOS and Android app.\n\nRequirements:\n\nAt least 4 years commercial software development experience, with the last 2\nyears in Node JS REST API development Microservices Docker Excellent knowledge\nin relational databases AWS and GCE BDD / TDD (We use Mocha and Cucumber)\n\n[https://velocityapp.com/careers](https://velocityapp.com/careers)\n\n------\njorda\nBarcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) | Research Engineer | Barcelona | On-\nsite, Visa\n\nOur research group at BSC is working on improving the management of Software\nDefined Infrastructures for next generation data centers. We are looking for a\nresearch engineer to work on the modernization of workloads (in particular,\ngenomics) to take advantage of acceleration through FPGAs and NVM.\n\n[https://www.bsc.es/join-us/job-offers/job-offers-\nlist/205css...](https://www.bsc.es/join-us/job-offers/job-offers-\nlist/205cssuppeng)\n\nIf you are interested or have questions, feel free to send me an email:\njorda.polo@bsc.es\n\n------\nsloop\nNetActuate | Devops / Systems Network Engineer | Raleigh, NC | Onsite, Full\nTime\n\nNetActuate is a network provider with a focus on BGP and cloud connectivity\nservices for global scale Internet infrastructure solutions. We provide the\nplumbing used by many top Internet properties and SaaS providers. We are\ncurrently hiring for a senior infrastructure engineer, with strong experience\nin:\n\n    \n    \n      * Network operations (routing, switching, protocols such as BGP/OSPF)\n      * Systems administration (Linux / BSD shell scripting and runbooks)\n      * Datacenter operations (familiar with server and network hardware)\n    \n\nInterested? email mp@netactuate.com\n\n------\nBenjiben\nWorkHeld | Vienna, Austria | Front-end Developer (Web, AngularJS, Typescript)\n| On-site - Full-time |\n\nWe are SaaS Startup in construction-tech, developing a SaaS field management\nsolution. We are looking for a web front-end developer for a new product.\n\nMore details (in German): [http://www.tabletsolutions.at/job/web-developer-\nmw-3/](http://www.tabletsolutions.at/job/web-developer-mw-3/)\n\nTo apply please send us a message to jobs@tabletsolutions.at at put [HN] in\nthe subject. You will then have an interview with one of our developers.\n\nYou can always also send me a direct email if you have questions:\nbs[@]tabletsolutions.at\n\n------\ncam_pj\nAiden.ai | Data scientist - ML engineer | London\n\nAiden is your new AI coworker. It’s your virtual sidekick that helps you be\nmore productive at your everyday job.\n\nSee our TechCrunch Battlefield pitch here:\n[https://techcrunch.com/video/aiden-helps-your-marketing-\nteam...](https://techcrunch.com/video/aiden-helps-your-marketing-team-with-\nai/5845a56ec4d21f6ddd697644/)\n\nWe are a small and experienced team (with folks from Apple, Dyson…) growing\nfast. We need your help to build Aiden’s brain.\n\nIdeally you have a few years of experience as a data scientist or machine\nlearning engineer, with a strong math background.\n\nGet in touch: pj at aiden . ai\n\n------\nSwizec\nYup | iOS, Android, Full-Stack Web Engineers | SF | ONSITE |\n[https://www.yup.com](https://www.yup.com)\n\nPrivate on-demand tutoring for high school kids. You help us build the\ninfrastructure, our tutors teach the kids, the kids get better grades[1],\nrelieve anxiety, and become better humans.\n\nHere's how it works:\n\nImagine you're a high school kid and you can't do your homework. Take out your\nphone, snap a pic of the problem, and within 20 seconds a tutor will help you\nout via chat. You talk to the tutor for however long it takes[2], and by the\nend of the session you've learned how to solve those kinds of problems. Your\nlife is now better.\n\nHere's where you come in:\n\nWe need engineers to help us build the product. It's been just four of us so\nfar and we need help. I've personally built large swathes of the\ninfrastructure, primarily the tutor side, and I need your help. On the\nimmediate, you can help me move the rest of our codebase from Backbone to\nReact. We're halfway there :)\n\nAnother imminent project is rebuilding the messaging infrastructure, making\nstudent/tutor matching smarter, moving the backend to a microservice model.\nAll the things you'd expect to do in a startup moving from small to bigger.\n\nWhy Yup:\n\nWe're not just a Silicon Valley startup trying to get big fast and loose. Our\ngoal is to build a product that helps people, has sound unit economics, and\ngenerates real revenue, not just users. Our BD branch is finding ways to bring\nYup to underprivileged youths whose families couldn't afford it on their own\nby selling it to schools.\n\nI've worked with many startups before and, honestly, this is the only one\nthat's made me feel really good about what I'm building every day.\n\nIf you have questions, I'm on twitter and here as Swizec. If you wanna join\nus, email the CEO -> nag@yup.com\n\n[1] we've had parents send us really nice emails saying their kid went from a\nD to a B+.\n\n[2] some of our longest sessions so far have been north of 2 hours.\n\n------\nholtbp\nTeespring | Sr. Full Stack Engineer | SF |\n[https://teespring.com/](https://teespring.com/)\n\nJoin our awesome engineering team! We are building a platform to enable anyone\nwith a design idea to create and sell custom T-shirts, totes, mugs and more!\n\nJob descriptions: * SF:\n[http://teespring.com/jobs?gh_jid=50923](http://teespring.com/jobs?gh_jid=50923)\n\nCheck out [http://teespring.com/jobs](http://teespring.com/jobs) for a\ncomplete list of non-engineering jobs.\n\nFeel free to email me with any questions: brett.holt@teespring.com\n\n------\ndbRM\nRails Machine | DevOps & SRE | Full-Time | Remote | Hiring Junior to Senior\nLevels\n\n[http://railsmachine.com](http://railsmachine.com)\n\nWe give our customers the ability to reach out to us like they would an\ninternal DevOps team!\n\nAs DevOps/SRE at Rails Machine, you will ensure our customer’s applications\nare available, fast, and secure. Our customers need the best service, support,\nand products, and we need you to help us deliver. You’ll work with\nvirtualization and container technologies (Xen, Openstack, Docker, and\nKubernetes) and setup high availability data clusters (MySQL Galera,\nPostgreSQL replication, Redis failover, ElasticSearch clustering, Memcached,\nMongoDB etc.). You'll manage application instances built with Ruby-on-Rails\nand Elixir/Phoenix (to name a few) and layer on management, orchestration,\nmonitoring, and alerting for fleets of instances. If you’ve ever wanted to\nwork at a scale that few companies do, you’ll find the right challenge here at\nRails Machine!\n\nResponsibilities:\n\n* Manage availability and performance problems for customers\n\n* Pair with other SREs and Systems Administrators, mentor junior staff\n\n* Author blog posts and participate in the community as a Rails Machine representative\n\n* Create and maintain system architecture, design, and implementation\n\nMinimum Qualifications :\n\n* Proficient in Ruby with additional experience in C/C++, Python, Elixir, Java, or JavaScript preferred\n\n* Experience with config management or automation framework (like Chef, Puppet, Ansible, Capistrano)\n\n* Experience maintaining production infrastructure on a Linux environment\n\n* Intermediate Ubuntu system administration skills\n\n* Strong DevOps experience and customer service skills\n\n* Self Motivated and Diligent.\n\n* Ability to participate in on-call/pager rotation\n\n* U.S. Residents Only\n\nInterested? Tell us what you'll bring to the team by emailing\nhiring@railsmachine.com !\n\n------\nphilfreo\nClose.io | REMOTE\n\nWANTED:\n\n\\- Full Stack Python/JS Engineers who sweat Product Details\n\n\\- Senior Frontend Engineer (React.js & Backbone.js)\n\nWHO ARE WE:\n\nAt Close.io we’re building the sales communication platform of the future.\nWe’ve built a next-generation CRM that eliminates manual data entry and helps\nsales teams close more deals. We are hiring product-focused engineers to help\nus unify the world's sales calls and emails into one beautiful workflow.\n\n[https://close.io](https://close.io)\n\nLearn more or apply: [https://jobs.lever.co/close.io/?lever-\nsource=HNFeb17](https://jobs.lever.co/close.io/?lever-source=HNFeb17)\n\n------\nchrismoos\nInAuth | Santa Monica, CA or Remote | Site Reliability Engineer\n\nInAuth is looking for SREs to help operate and scale our real-time mobile and\nbrowser security platform. We use a variety of technologies and are looking\nfor people with experience in:\n\n* AWS * Infrastructure Automation (Terraform, CloudFormation, etc,.) * Chef, Salt, etc. * Golang / Java / Ruby * Highly-available and fault-tolerant architectures\n\nThe role has a lot of opportunity for growth as the SRE team is new. We have\nan office in Santa Monica, CA but we also are willing to have someone remote\n(if they are the right fit).\n\nIf you are interested or have questions email Chris Moos at: moos [at]\ninauth.com\n\n------\nRick_Sullivan\nFocusVision | Portland, OR | ONSITE - Full-time | Software Engineer\n\nFocusVision is looking for a full-time software engineer in Portland with C#\nexperience, who is also excited to learn new languages and technologies.\n\nAt FocusVision, we create applications for qualitative and quantitative market\nresearch. Our stack varies based on the application, but you will mainly use\nC#, Ruby, Javascript (React, Ember), MySQL, and Postgres. Experience with any\nof these is a plus, but C# is the only requirement.\n\nOur interview process involves a short phone screen (30-45 minutes) and one\n4-hour onsite interview.\n\nApply by emailing Jon at jso@focusvision.com and mention that you came from\nHN.\n\n------\nkin\nHoney | Downtown Los Angeles, CA | ONSITE | Full Time | Senior Backend\nEngineers | [https://www.joinhoney.com](https://www.joinhoney.com)\n\nWe're that browser extension that saves you tons of money.\n\nHoney is hiring for senior engineers with backend chops in Node or Python. If\nyou love savings, Melee, and dinosaurs, we urge you to apply today! You can\nemail me directly (kin[at]joinhoney[dot]com) or check out our open positions\nand apply directly on our career page:\n[https://www.joinhoney.com/careers](https://www.joinhoney.com/careers)\n\n------\ndanielnc\nQA Engineer (Automation) | CareMessage (YC W14) | REMOTE | FullTime\nCareMessage is looking for a QA Automation Engineer to help with manual and\nautomated quality assurance of the CareMessage web application and API. You\nwill be responsible for entire features and will be a full-time member of the\nCareMessage Engineering team. Our engineering team follows agile principles in\na test driven development process. We are a remote first team that values open\ncollaboration and shared ownership. More Info:\n[http://grnh.se/4ikfq11](http://grnh.se/4ikfq11)\n\n------\nzmb\nKeepsafe | San Francisco | Senior Backend Engineer | VISA| ONSITE\n\nKeepsafe makes privacy tools for consumers. Over 60 million people have used\nour flagship app.\n\nWe are looking to hire a senior backend engineer to build out our secure sync\ninfrastructure and lay the groundwork for new products that are in the\npipeline.\n\nKeepsafe cares about what you can do, not about credentials:\n[https://www.getkeepsafe.com/noresume.html](https://www.getkeepsafe.com/noresume.html)\n\nAll jobs here:\n[https://www.getkeepsafe.com/careers.html](https://www.getkeepsafe.com/careers.html)\n\n------\narbesfeld\nLogRocket | Boston and Cambridge | Full Time, Onsite |\n[https://logrocket.com](https://logrocket.com)\n\nLogRocket is a logging service that helps developers fix problems in their\napps by letting them replay bugs. Our product is used by hundreds of companies\nlike UserTesting, Carfax, and NBC to eliminate the guesswork for developers as\nthey fix bugs.\n\nWe are a few engineers today and looking to double our team in the next few\nmonths. If you are interested in joining at the ground-floor of a venture-\nfunded, fast-growing company, free to reach out to me personally at (matt at\nlogrocket dot com).\n\n------\nryanf20\n20spokes | Full-Stack & Rails Engineers | Chicago, IL on-site\nhtttp://www.20spokes.com/careers\n\n20spokes is looking for its next team member. We’re a small team that work in\nweb development building web apps and mobile apps. The office is located in\nRavenswood just off the Montrose Brown Line and Ravenswood Metra.\n\n20spokes is growing fast and quickly becoming one of the premier agencies in\nChicago for startups. Projects are exciting and new as we work with our\nclients to build their ideas and businesses start on the web. Our unique and\nbroad experience helps us work effectively with projects ranging from 2-6\nmonths.\n\n~~~\nryanchants\nThere's a third 't' in your 'http:' that's breaking the linking.\n\nI live right around the corner, so I might be in touch!\n\n------\nkainolophobia\nLong Game | Software Engineer | SF | Full-time\n\nWe’re building a savings app for people that struggle to save money. How you\nask? We’re using a new form of investment called prize-linked savings (new to\nthe US as of 2014). The simple explanation is that you trade part of your\ninterest for the chance to win from a prize pool of everyone's interest.\n\nAs a software engineer at Long Game you’ll be joining a small team of\nengineers and will have full exposure to all aspects of our product\ndevelopment processes.\n\nWe’re looking for developers that enjoy building fun mobile UX and/or\nengineers with considerable finance experience.\n\nOur stack: React Native, Node, Postgres, AWS\n\nCheers,\n\nadam at longgame.co\n\n------\nspecialdragon\nWorld First Ltd | Millbank Tower, London | Full time | ONSITE\n\nWorld First is an established currency company. We have a medium sized IT team\nlooking for PHP developers to continue development on the existing World First\nsystems. The stack is PHP, RabbitMQ, Apache/Nginx and MySQL.\n\nJob links below: Senior software dev:\n[https://app.jobvite.com/j/?cj=okPz0fws&s=AddThis#.VguQkA8d_D...](https://app.jobvite.com/j/?cj=okPz0fws&s=AddThis#.VguQkA8d_D4.hackernews)\n\nMore information available by commenting here, or emailing\nvictoria.bradford@worldfirst.com referencing HackerNews\n\n------\nAxonVR\nAxonVR | Senior Software Developer | San Luis Obispo, CA | Full-time | ONSITE\nonly | Equity + Benefits\n\nAxonVR is building the future of haptics and we are looking for a senior\nsoftware developer to join our team.\n\nInterview process includes phone and onsite interviews. All travel will be\npaid for.\n\nFull job description can be found here: [http://axonvr.com/s/Senior-Software-\nDeveloper-Job-Descriptio...](http://axonvr.com/s/Senior-Software-Developer-\nJob-Description.pdf)\n\nIf you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at\njobs@axonvr.com and one of our engineers will get back to you.\n\n------\njaytaylor\nMedallia | Palo Alto, CA | Full-time | Onsite |\n[http://www.medallia.com/careers/](http://www.medallia.com/careers/)\n\nMedallia powers reports and surveys for hundreds of the world's best companies\nlike Hilton, Vanguard, Mercedes-Benz, Four Seasons, Nordstrom, Delta Airlines.\nSequoia recently invested more money into Medallia than they ever have in any\ncompany.\n\nWe use many technologies and tools on various teams, ranging from things like\nJava and Go all the way to Angular.JS and React Native!\n\nPlease send me your resume and I'll make sure it gets looked at: email (jay) @\nmedallia.com\n\n\\- Jay\n\n------\nigrekel\nExPretio | Montreal, Canada | DB Dev, UI/UX JS Dev, Lead QA, Deployment &\nSupport Manager | ONSITE We provide software to help passenger transport\ncompanies do revenue/yield management. Know how plane tickets change prices?\nWe make it happen for train companies so that they best use the seats they\nhave on each departure. This means lots of data, non-trivial problems,\ninteresting algorithms, some machine learning and a lot of fun.\n[http://www.expretio.com/about/#careers](http://www.expretio.com/about/#careers)\n\n------\ngault8121\nQuill.org | New York City, NY NYC | ONSITE | Fulltime & Interns\n\n[https://Quill.org](https://Quill.org) is hiring a fulltime Javascript\ndeveloper and a machine learning intern.\n\nOur open source web app helps low-income K-12 students become sharp writers.\nQuill is now being used by 200,000 students from 2,000 schools across the\ncountry, and we are a non-profit funded by foundations such as the Bill &\nMelinda Gates Foundation, Google.org, and the AT&T Foundation.\n\nWe are looking for developers who are passionate about helping tens of\nmillions of students improve their writing skills. The developer’s primary\nresponsibilities will be developing features and the user interface,\noptimizing code for speed and scale, and working with members of our teacher\nand developer community. You should have a passion for making education more\naccessible, experience in building single-page web applications, fluency in\nJavascript, experience working with CSS / SCSS, and an understanding of\nRESTful web services. We use React, Ruby on Rails, Heroku, Firebase, Postgres,\nand Angular. It's also a plus if you have an interest in mobile web\ndevelopment, natural language processing, and/or machine learning technology.\nQuill is focused on foundational skills, and we are using NLP technology to\nbuild an increasingly more complex set of tools.\n\nTo see how writing instruction is a game changer for students, please check\nout this Atlantic article:\n\n[https://theatln.tc/2aJnEfU](https://theatln.tc/2aJnEfU)\n\nWe’re a small team of four working in the Financial District of New York City,\nand you will be joining as our fourth engineer. Our entire team is self-\ntaught, and we value resourcefulness over previous experience. This is a full-\ntime role on-site in the Financial District of New York City, and we cannot\nsponsor a visa. To apply, send us a resume, and links to your blog, projects,\nGithub, and any other resources that might help us understand your background\nand skills.\n\nEmail Peter at jobs@quill.org\n\nTo learn more about Quill, check out these links:\n\n\\- [https://quill.org/play](https://quill.org/play)\n\n\\- [https://medium.com/writing-with-quill](https://medium.com/writing-with-\nquill)\n\n\\- [https://twitter.com/Quill_org](https://twitter.com/Quill_org)\n\n------\nshawneebaughman\nSTRIVR Labs | Menlo Park CA | Onsite | Full Time | Multiple Development Team\nPositions STRIVR Labs has been successfully training college and professional\nathletes in VR since 2014. Our company is now expanding to provide training\nsolutions for all enterprises. We've got big players on board and need more\ntalent to help us engineer fantastic training experiences in VR. We are hiring\nfor the following positions: Unity VR developer, 3D Modeler, Web Developer,\nBackend Developer, Frontend Developer, Data Science programmer\n\nSee job descriptions in detail on the Jobs page of our website: strivrlabs.com\n\n------\nadamgluck\nUber | San Francisco | Fulltime | Android | iOS\n\nInterested in a highly leveraged, collaborative engineering role at the heart\nof Uber's core product? Awesome. We are hiring on the Driver Platform team at\nUber. Our mission is to transform Uber's Driver application into a world class\nengineering platform that's easy to build on and impossible to break.\n\nThis is a senior role that requires thinking holistically about application\ndevelopment and solving hard architectural problems unique to Uber's scale.\nMost qualified candidates will have >2 years experience.\n\nIf you're interested, please email gluck@uber.com\n\n------\nanwain\nPalleTech | Embedded Systems Engineer | San Francisco | Full-Time ONSITE |\nwww.palletech.co\n\nCurrent supply chain technology sorely needs a makeover. We're building the\nnext generation cargo monitoring solutions. We're a heavily hardware and low\nlevel software focused company. Come and help us resolve true IoT challenges\nwhere power and connectivity are at a premium.\n\nFeel free to reach me at: anthony [at] palletech.co\n\n[https://angel.co/palletech/jobs/204097-embedded-systems-\nengi...](https://angel.co/palletech/jobs/204097-embedded-systems-engineer)\n\n------\namykobi\nElasticSearch Expert | Cambridge, MA | REMOTE OKAY |Contract/Part-time\n\nI'm looking for like-minded independent consultants available to collaborate\nwith me on quality projects. I have relationships with federally funded\nresearch and development labs, and medical research academic and non-profit\nlaboratories.\n\nI have a current need for someone who is an Elasticsearch expert for a project\nwith a non-profit laboratory in Cambridge, MA. If you value your independence\nand desire flexibility and have extra bandwidth, let’s talk. Send me a resume\nand the time you’ll have available. (amy.kobi@springbok.io)\n\n------\nyoaviram\nSEEKING FREELANCERS ONSITE - London, UK\n\nEnergized Work has a number of upcoming client requirements for which we\nrequire the following contract roles:\n\n    \n    \n      - Graphic Designer (with UX understanding) \n      - Front End Developers \n      - Full Stack Developers \n      - Product Managers \n      - Scrum Masters \n      - Technical Client Services Leader \n      - Testers \n      - UX Researcher\n    \n\nInterested in joining us or know someone who is? For more information, or to\napply, please visit:\n[https://www.energizedwork.com/careers](https://www.energizedwork.com/careers)\n\n~~~\nqchen5943\nHello, is there a direct contact? I have some questions about the UX positions\n\n------\nmoovacha\nBlueCat | Toronto, ON | ONSITE | Full Time | Software Engineer / Support /\nSales Engineers\n\nBlueCat is a rapidly growing company specializing in Enterprise DNS. The\nsolutions involve DNS, DHCP, and IP Address Management services.\n\nWe provide the DNS/DHCP technology for some very large global networks. Some\nof our clients are companies such as Facebook, Apple, Coca Cola, Disney, JP\nMorgan Chase, Zurich, Dell, Motorola\n\n[https://www.bluecatnetworks.com/our-company/work-at-\nbluecat/](https://www.bluecatnetworks.com/our-company/work-at-bluecat/)\n\n------\nspowers\nMORSE Corp | Software engineer | Boston, Cambridge | ONSITE | www.morse-\ncorp.com/jobs\n\nMORSE is an employee owned company based in the technical hub of Kendall\nSquare, Cambridge MA. We develop algorithms and software for operational\nsystems, implementing leading edge technologies for robotics, autonomous air\nand undersea vehicles, and coordination of human teams.\n\nWe are hiring for several positions, including:\n\nFull Stack Web Developer\n\nRobotics Software Engineer\n\nVision Navigation & Estimation Engineer\n\nMachine Learning & AI Engineer\n\nSenior Software Architect\n\nVisit us at [http://morse-corp.com/jobs](http://morse-corp.com/jobs) to learn\nmore and apply.\n\n------\neriktrautman\nViking Education | JavaScript Instructor | SF or Remote |\n[http://www.vikingcodeschool.com](http://www.vikingcodeschool.com)\n\nViking Code School is a 100% online development bootcamp driven by the mission\nof launching a million high-growth careers around the world regardless of a\nstudent’s location, prior experience or economic standing. Our core program is\nthe only online 12-week Immersive where students only pay tuition when they\nget a job.\n\nWe are looking for an experienced and opinionated full stack web developer who\nwill lead instruction in that program and spearhead the ongoing development of\nour curriculum. You will work with students and assistant instructors to lead\nthe Immersive Program while architecting changes to the curriculum and\nsupporting materials which are used by all of our programs.\n\nWe cycle instructors through our development team (as desired) so you don't\nhave to give up building in order to teach.\n\nBecause we are 100% online, this is a REMOTE OK position which allows for a\nhigh degree of lifestyle flexibility while giving you a chance to potentially\naffect millions of lives with the lessons, demos, projects and posts you\ncreate. Just note that program hours are based on US time zones.\n\nAs the leader of the Immersive Program instruction, you will also be eligible\nfor incentive-based compensation when the students are successful in their job\nsearch.\n\nRequirements:\n\n* 5+ years team-based development experience, 3+ in JavaScript and relevant frameworks (e.g. Angular, React...). Strong CS, testing and data fundamentals. Passion for exploring, learning and teaching new and current technologies.\n\n* Significant experience with writing, sharing and educating (e.g. blogging, delivering conference talks, podcasting, teaching, or committing to OSS). Great communication is prized over specific teaching experience.\n\n* Experience running a team\n\n* A legitimate passion for education and, preferably, also a quirky weird sense of fun.\n\nApply with your CV, a description of why you are a good fit, and any relevant\nlinks to Github, conference talks, blog posts etc. to\ncareers@vikingcodeschool.com\n\n------\nblairanderson\nShareGrid | Senior Software Engineer | Seattle | ONSITE www.sharegrid.com\n\nJoin a small team building a fun product. We're helping video artists be more\nproductive by enabling the p2p economy around professional camera/production\nequipment.\n\nMost people cannot buy a $50k but can afford to rent one for a few hundred\ndollars for a weekend. Similarly the people that do own that equipment have a\ndeteriorating asset on their hands.\n\nCome help us build/clean/refine the product.\n\nWe have a traditional rails stack.\n\n[https://angel.co/sharegrid/jobs](https://angel.co/sharegrid/jobs)\n\n------\nahamez\nEasyMile | Elixir/Erlang Engineer | Toulouse, France |\n[https://easymile.com](https://easymile.com)\n\nEasyMile designs and integrates software solutions for autonomous vehicles. We\nhave built our own vehicle: the EZ10 shuttle. To develop our fleet management\nsystem in Elixir, we are looking for developers with a very good experience of\nOTP (Elixir or Erlang). Developers coming from functional languages such as\nScala with Akka are also welcome to apply!\n\nIf interested, feel free to send me an email with your resume at\nalexandre.hamez at easymile.com.\n\n------\nmni\nMultapplied Networks | Senior Developer | Chilliwack, BC, Canada | Full-time |\nOnsite\n\nMultapplied Networks is looking for a senior developer to join our team.\nMultapplied Networks was founded in order to bring bonding technology to the\nglobal marketplace and provide improved bandwidth alternatives. If interested,\nsee details here: [http://www.multapplied.net/about-us/careers/senior-\nsoftware-...](http://www.multapplied.net/about-us/careers/senior-software-\nengineer/) jobs@multapplied.net\n\n------\nlenan\nAmazon Lab126 is an inventive research and development company that designs\nand engineers high-profile consumer electronics. Lab126 began in 2004 as a\nsubsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc., originally creating the best-selling Kindle\nfamily of products. Since then, we have produced groundbreaking devices like\nFire tablets, Fire TV, and Amazon Echo. What will you help us create?\n\nLooking for software engineers (3+ years entry level to mid/senior level) &\nfull stack engineers to join our team. On Site, permanent in Sunnyvale, CA.\n\nIf interested, please send resumes to: Lenan@lab126.com\n\n------\ndmotto\nSoftware Developer (.Net Developer) | United Nations | Vienna | Onsite,\nFulltime\n\nWe are looking for a senior and mid range .Net Web Developer in our Vienna,\nAustria duty station!\n\nYou will work on systems that:\n\n-improve the delivery of UN resolution and documents\n\n-automate and assist the translation of UN documents\n\n-make scheduling of conferences for UN delegates easier\n\n-make finding the right translator and interpreter for the right job fast and efficient\n\nWe do offer residency permits for non-Austrian citizens.\n\nApply here!\n[https://careers.un.org/lbw/jobdetail.aspx?id=73765](https://careers.un.org/lbw/jobdetail.aspx?id=73765)\n\n~~~\ncard0s\nI've considering moving out of my country. How's the working environment\nthere? And the salary?\n\n------\n1as\nIntercom ● Onsite ● San Francisco ● Product Engineers\n\nI’m looking for great software engineers who are highly opinionated about the\nproducts they work on.\n\nIntercom [1] is growing exceptionally quickly [2], as we build out the\ncustomer communication platform. At the highest level, we’re trying to make\nInternet business authentic and personal for everyboddy.\n\nEmail me directly at stephen@intercom.com and let’s chat.\n\n[1] [https://intercom.com](https://intercom.com) [2]\n[https://breakoutlist.com/](https://breakoutlist.com/)\n\n------\nbobbykrk\nIdeamotive | Warsaw, Poland | New Business Developer | Part-Time | Remote\n\n[https://ideamotive.co/](https://ideamotive.co/)\n\nIdeamotive is a Polish software house developing web applications to clients\naround the world. We are looking for a person who will help us sell our\nservices to the most prominent markets (USA, UK, Germany, Switzerland,\nScandinavia, Israel). Our technology stack includes Ruby on Rails and React.\nOur offer is targeted to start-ups and middle size companies willing to\nmodernize their processes.\n\nApply at: newhero@ideamotive.co\n\n------\npatmcguire\nTeachable | NYC | Full Time | ONSITE | VISA\n\nTeachable lets anyone easily create and sell online courses on a beautiful,\nself-branded website. We have 7,500 active teachers (and counting), who to\ndate have made over $36 million teaching over 3 million students on Teachable-\npowered online schools.\n\nWe're hiring for Senior Front-End Developer and Data Engineer, as well as\nother roles. Interview process generally work sample then onsite.\n\nFull details/application at\n[https://angel.co/teachable/jobs](https://angel.co/teachable/jobs)\n\n~~~\npatmcguire\nCan also reach out at patrick@teachable.com\n\n------\nra\nAirteam Australia | Head of Growth | Sydney, Australia | Onsite full or part\ntime.\n\n[http://www.airteam.com.au/](http://www.airteam.com.au/)\n\nWe design and develop digital products for some of Australia's most prominent\nbrands.\n\nWe are looking for someone with a background in agencies, consulting or\nproduct development to help us grow our business through recruiting and\nmarketing our brand through social media, communications and at events.\n\nIf interested contact rich at airteam dot com dot au with a CV or covering\nemail.\n\nOnsite only, flexible arrangements, no recruiters please.\n\n------\namattn\nCollective Health, (\n[https://collectivehealth.com/jobs/](https://collectivehealth.com/jobs/) ),\nSan Francisco (very near caltrain), CA (Full time, ONSITE only, VISA case-by-\ncase, see below)\n\nWe're replacing health insurance with a system that members love. Using our\nSW, platform and services, an employer can pay doctors directly, saving a ton\nof money and making the employee experience amazing (with the testimonials to\nback it up). The company is well-funded, ~two and a half years old and growing\nvery rapidly with sales traction. We punch well above our weight-class with\nexperienced founders, ~250 team members (~ one quarter is engineering), and\npaying customers.\n\nOur tech stack is a mix of Go and Java components with Angular on the front\nend. We use a custom service bus to tie our SOA together, microservices style.\nWe love Docker, CoreOS, postgres, automated testing, and continuous\nintegration. We've got some neat in-house tools for service discovery, health\nchecks, cluster setup and deploy and more.\n\nAs a company, we're strong believers in transparency, trust and balance. As an\nengineering team, we believe good code is easy to read and should have a short\n\"time to understanding\". We expect all of our engineers to continually teach\nas well as learn. We also believe that everyone should write good code, yet\nbalance that against the need to ship.\n\nWe've got a ton of interesting problems to solve around distributed systems,\ndata analytics and predictions, complex data modeling, ultra high-\navailability, security, privacy and more.\n\nWe're currently looking for experienced SW engineers up and down the stack.\nOur biggest needs are DevOps and Backend Engineers. All open jobs:\n[http://grnh.se/8f7q15](http://grnh.se/8f7q15)\n\nIf you are non-technical, but are interested in experiencing a hyper-growth\nstartup, we also are hiring for sales, business development and other roles as\nwell. If you care about such things, we were flattered/embarrassed to be\nhighlighted as one of fifty potential next unicorns by the nytimes:\n[http://nyti.ms/1JLKaCT](http://nyti.ms/1JLKaCT)\n\nWe're super proud of the company mission, engineering culture and tech stack\nwe've put together and would love a chance to explain it all in detail!\n\n*VISA minutiae: We can transfer H1B visas. We can sponsor TN & H1B1 visas in most cases. If you have another existing visa, we can probably transfer it.\n\n~~~\ndshah22\nIs it possible to contact you through email to discuss non-technical positions\nin detail?\n\n------\nalpendre\nOLX Group | Lisbon, Portugal | Full-time\n\n[http://www.joinolx.com/](http://www.joinolx.com/)\n\nThe OLX Group is a network of leading classifieds platforms in 40 markets,\nincluding brands like OLX, Avito, Letgo, Dubizzle, Standvirtual among others.\n\nHundreds of millions of people in local markets around the world generate more\nthan 1.7 billion monthly visits, 35 billion monthly page views and 54 million\nlistings every month on the OLX Group's online marketplaces.\n\nPositions:\n\n\\- Backend Developer (PHP, Laravel, MySQL, Redis)\n\n\\- Frontend Developer (React, pure Javascript)\n\n\\- Architect\n\n\\- Test Engineer\n\nPlease send e-mail to miguel.alpendre@olx.com to apply.\n\n------\nvaldezm_com\nTrafficly | (Fullstack _) Software Engineer | Coeur d 'Alene, Seattle, Dublin\n| Full-time Onsite _ / Remote | Contract-to-Salary\n\napply.traffic.ly\n\nBe and do amazing things with us! At Trafficly we are building the future of\ntraffic-analytics software.. Currently building in Rails 5 and ES6, but plan\non bringing in Phoenix/Elixir soon enough(microservice-oriented). Come build\nthe next great thing where creativity is rewarded and realized daily! Feel\nfree to reach out to me(Mark) with any questions at: developer@traffic.ly\nThanks for your time!\n\n*indicates_optionally_preferred\n\n------\nthebrain\nToronto, Ontario, Canada | Achievers\n[http://www.achievers.com](http://www.achievers.com) | ONSITE | Developers\n\nMy company has built a kick-ass employee recognition platform and we're\nlooking for developers of all shapes and sizes. Please don't apply if you're a\njerk though, we don't hire assholes.\n\nHe are some of our current requisitions:\n\nAccounting Support\n\nLead Developer, Automation Test\n\nSenior Software Developer\n\nSenior Technical Consultant\n\nSoftware Development Lead\n\nSr. Android Mobile Developer\n\nFull details at\n[http://app.jobvite.com/m?3DeWniwX](http://app.jobvite.com/m?3DeWniwX)\n\n------\nvoidness\nAvant | Full Stack Developer | Chicago | Full-time, ONSITE |\n[https://www.avant.com/jobs](https://www.avant.com/jobs)\n\nAt Avant, we are revolutionizing the world of lending by lowering the costs\nand barriers of borrowing for everyday people. We are growing our tech team\nand are seeking pragmatic programmers who will not only help execute, but also\nprovide a strong voice for technological direction of the consumer web\nplatform.\n\nWant to be a part of helping people improve their financial lives? Check us\nout and apply today!\n\n------\nflippyhead\nPathable, Inc | Seattle, USA | Full-time REMOTE |\n[https://www.jsco.re/nukt](https://www.jsco.re/nukt)\n\nWork from anywhere on either Ruby/Rails application or our next generation\nES6/Meteor application. We build software for in-person conferences and\nevents. We're profitable, established, small (>25 people), and majority owned\nby the original founders. We provide stipends for co-working space wherever\nyou may find yourself. Likewise for health insurance if you are not a US\ncitizen.\n\n------\ntvollmer\nMeisterLabs | Multiple Positions | ONSITE | Europe, Austria, Vienna | Fulltime\n\nInventor of MindMeister\n[https://www.mindmeister.com](https://www.mindmeister.com) and MeisterTask\n[https://www.meistertask.com](https://www.meistertask.com)\n\n\\- Back-end Developer (Ruby on Rails) \\- Front-end Developer (React, Redux) \\-\nSEO / Analytics \\- SEM \\- iOS and Android Developers\n\nFor more information see:\n\n[https://www.mindmeister.com/jobs](https://www.mindmeister.com/jobs)\n\n------\nclassyjim\nStreetTeam - [https://street-team.workable.com/](https://street-\nteam.workable.com/) \\- London, UK - Onsite - Permanent - Full-time. StreetTeam\nis building a global platform that enables advocates to sell the products they\nlove to their friends. We're growing fast, breaking new ground and are well\nfunded by some of the best in the business. We seek Frontend Engineers with\nreact.js/relay background ideally. Please contact\njames.peters@getstreetteam.com for more details.\n\n------\nejcx\nCloudflare [https://www.cloudflare.com/](https://www.cloudflare.com/) | San\nFrancisco, CA; London, UK; Singapore, SG; Urbana-Champaign, IL; Austin, TX; |\nVISA, ONSITE\n\nCloudflare is building a better Internet. Our long term goal is to give every\nsite the same performance, security, and reliability that major sites like\nGoogle and Facebook accomplish, without any specialized network hardware or\ncomplicated administration. We enhance millions of sites, including this one.\n\nWe believe in working collaboratively with an emphasis on personal growth and\nresponsibility. Working at Cloudflare lets you wear many hats, spearhead new\nprojects, and shape your career. Product market fit is established, but\nthere's a lot of great engineering, product, sales, and support work to be\ndone. We're starting 2017 at 330 people, with plans to double that in the next\nyear.\n\nWe're always hiring for operations/SRE, sales, general systems engineering\n(mostly in Go, nginx, and network, as well as DNS at scale), and web\ndevelopment. Here's some specific roles we're keen to hire:\n\n0) Engineering Manager, Platform Operations -- We're looking for an\nEngineering Manager to lead our PlatOps team. Our engineering management team\nis very strong and we are looking for someone who join and help keep all of\nour backend services alive and healthy.\n\n1) Data Engineering(s) -- We have a ton of different technologies that our\ndata engineers work with, and they are a really strong core team here. Kafka,\nPostgreSQL, Docker, Mesos, Marathon, Chronos, nginx, and so many more\ntechnologies.\n\n2) Product Security Engineer -- We have a lot of applications and need more\ntalented software engineers who love to break and fix. We need hands on\nengineers who are not afraid to dive in and drive fixes to completion, and\nevangelize security.\n\n3) Systems Engineer (Austin) -- We are hiring systems engineers at all of our\noffices, but our Austin office is growing very quickly. Our Austin office is\nworking on some really new and innovative projects. Web and distributed\nsystems built with Go, Node, Docker, and much more. Check out our blog to see\nwhat's planned for 2017\n([https://blog.cloudflare.com/](https://blog.cloudflare.com/))\n\nIf you're interested, please apply through the\n[https://www.cloudflare.com/join-our-team](https://www.cloudflare.com/join-\nour-team) link, our recruiting team looks at every single application from\nevery applicant.\n\n------\natuschman\nFull-Time Sales Director Position for San Francisco-based Revolutionary Ad-\nTech Company. If you are passionate about the science of human psychology, are\nfirst to embrace revolutionary new technologies, and have a hunter mentality,\nthen this is an opportunity that you can't miss. Please find more information\nand job description here:\n[https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B08T5DhNKQ16dV81YnNiNkt6VE...](https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B08T5DhNKQ16dV81YnNiNkt6VEU)\n\n------\nmjmayank\nViome | Software Engineer | Cupertino, CA | Full-time, Onsite |\n[http://viome.com/joinus/](http://viome.com/joinus/)\n\nVIOME is a wellness as a service company that applies machine learning to\nvaried biological data - from genome to mobile application data - to provide\nyou with personalized recommendations for a healthy living. Viome has an\nexciting and small interdisciplinary team where you will be working with\nexperts in medicine, genomics, big data and machine learning.\n\n------\nguiseppecalzone\nHelloSign | San Francisco | Full time Onsite | Sr. Product Designer\n\nIf you’re passionate about designing intuitive interfaces that make the most\ndaunting of tasks delightful, we'd love to hear from you. HelloSign is looking\nfor an experienced UX designer to join our Product team. In this role you will\ncollaborate with our Product, Design and Engineering teams to help us achieve\nour vision of making agreements frictionless.\n\nApply here: [https://tinyurl.com/gshlktk](https://tinyurl.com/gshlktk)\n\n------\nredazebra\nZebra | London, UK | Front-end/React Engineers | Remote OK | Fulltime | Part-\ntime || [https://www.zebra-fuel.com](https://www.zebra-fuel.com) |\n\nZebra is disrupting the traditional petrol station model by delivering fuel\ndirectly to customers. We are rapidly expanding and our team is growing fast!\n\nOur stack:\n\nReactJS Apache Cordova HTML / CSS\n\nNice to have: Python Django\n\nAs an engineer at Zebra, you'll become an important part of our team. You will\nbe leading projects building the architecture of our App.\n\nYou can apply by emailing me directly reda@zebra-fuel.com\n\n------\nqhoxie\nSwiftype | Software Engineer | San Francisco, CA | ONSITE | Relocation\nAssistance\n\nSwiftype builds a search platform that powers hundreds of millions of queries\na month. We are a small team of generalist software developers and we are\nlooking to grow our team in order to build new products and maintain our\nexisting search platform. Come join us in our newly expanded office!\n\nEmail us at jobs+hn@swiftype.com or check out\n[https://swiftype.com/jobs](https://swiftype.com/jobs) for more information.\n\n------\nandrewzk\nAirtame ([https://airtame.com](https://airtame.com)) | Copenhagen, Denmark |\nFull-time, Onsite or Remote\n\nAirtame is an early-stage startup in the heart of Copenhagen. Our wireless\nstreaming solution helps people work better.\n\nWe're currently hiring:\n\n* Embedded Linux Engineer ([https://airtame.com/jobs/embedded-linux-engineer](https://airtame.com/jobs/embedded-linux-engineer))\n\n* Senior C/C++ Software Engineer ([https://airtame.com/jobs/senior-c-software-engineer](https://airtame.com/jobs/senior-c-software-engineer))\n\n* Senior Full-Stack Engineer ([https://airtame.com/jobs/senior-full-stack-engineer](https://airtame.com/jobs/senior-full-stack-engineer))\n\n* Senior Frontend Engineer ([https://airtame.com/jobs/senior-frontend-engineer](https://airtame.com/jobs/senior-frontend-engineer))\n\n* Senior QA Engineer ([https://airtame.com/jobs/senior-qa-engineer](https://airtame.com/jobs/senior-qa-engineer))\n\nOur talented engineers are given significant ownership and responsibility over\nprojects. We value rapid iteration, continuous integration and testing, and we\nare serious about producing high-quality, maintainable software\n([http://blog.airtame.com/code-quality-at-\nairtame/](http://blog.airtame.com/code-quality-at-airtame/)). Frequent code\nreviews, linting, and pairing are all integral components of our engineering\nculture. We encourage experimenting with new technologies and constantly\nchallenge ourselves to improve our code, processes, and systems.\n\nYou can read a bit about our values on our Company Culture Trello Board:\n[https://trello.com/b/ZXs2YYy6/culture-\nairtame](https://trello.com/b/ZXs2YYy6/culture-airtame)\n\nSend an email to tech-jobs@airtame.com if you're interested. We can sponsor\nwork visas for non-EU applicants.\n\n------\ntaylorbuley\nMcNaughton Newspapers | Digital revenue coordinator | Fairfield, Davis,\nPlacerville, Winters, Georgetown, CA (& remote considered) | Systems\ndepartment\n\nI'm working to build up the digital side of a family newspaper company. Join\nme for hard, but rewarding, work building for news and other local businesses\nin Northern California.\n\nAs CTO I hit the reset button on digital strategy in 2015 and we're now\nseeking a profit-minded #2 to help with our abounding digital growth,\nreporting to me. Everyone in the family wants to move the business forward and\nwe're limited by our digitally-dedicated resources, not bureaucracies or lack\nof imagination. The position would represent the 1st employee fully focused on\ndigital operations. Revenue support is the obvious first area we're expanding.\n\nI've got a fixed salary budget that can scale to match experience. Ideally\nI'll find a partner with a history and desire to tackle major revenue\nresponsibilities:\n\n* WordPress management (marketing pages, SEO, forms)\n\n* DFP management (trafficking)\n\n* Campaign management (landers, display/text creatives, spec ads)\n\n* Salesperson support (help requests, FAQs/documentation, walk-throughs)\n\n* Reporting (revenue and analytics, Excel/Google Sheets)\n\n* Prospecting (research and analysis)\n\n* Salesperson support (help requests, FAQs/documentation, walk-throughs)\n\n* Customer support (Google Slides presentations, capability marketing, advertiser onboarding)\n\n* Ecommerce (products, discounts)\n\n* 3rd party revenue management (Affiliate, ad networks, placements, audiences/cookies)\n\nThe challenge: We're reaching more people than ever before, but 9 out of 10\nour customers don't pick up a newspaper. How do we make money from a growing\ndigital audience commensurate with print revenues that appear to be in secular\ndecline? Our business is worth fighting for. Join the fray!\n\n[https://www.ziprecruiter.com/jobs/mcnaughton-newspapers-\ninc-...](https://www.ziprecruiter.com/jobs/mcnaughton-newspapers-\ninc-07b5d5e9/digital-revenue-coordinator-f1ab7b98)\n\n------\nkristenatmodus\nModus Create | Java Software Engineer | Remote | Full-Time Contract\n\nApply Here: [http://bit.ly/2kTTdud](http://bit.ly/2kTTdud)\n\nYou will use Java and Spring Boot to analyze, code and deliver functionality\nfor a microservices platform for our client in the Education / Career\nPreparatory space. At Modus Create you will collaborate daily on a cross\nfunctional, distributed SCRUM team to build better products. You can also\nemail me directly kristen at moduscreate dot com Thank you!\n\n------\nILIKEPONIES\nUnderdog.io | New York, NY | [https://underdog.io](https://underdog.io) |\nFull-Time | ONSITE\n\nWe’re looking to hire two full-stack engineers. Ideally, one would be a\nJavascript/Node.js Engineer, and the other would be a Python Engineer.\n\nToday, Underdog.io is a curated marketplace for talent. We connect amazing\npeople with founders, hiring managers, and recruiters at top technology\ncompanies.\n\nWe’re building technology to reduce the noise of the job search and match. We\nstarted Underdog.io because we experienced the pains associated with (1)\nhiring while working at top startups and (2) looking for new opportunities.\n\nOur platform is currently live in SF, NYC, and LA. We work with over 250\nawesome companies. Quality is key to our model -- we turn away one of every\ntwo companies that have tried to join the network. We've proudly bootstrapped\nand profitable.\n\nAs we scale, we’ll focus on building tools for candidates to organize, search,\nand discover new job opportunities. In our view of the future, job candidates\ndon’t receive as much unsolicited outreach from recruiters. Job search is\norganized, and talented candidates have more high-quality options.\n\nWe use Python/Flask, Javascript/Node.js, PostgreSQL, Elastic Search, AWS.\nWe're also working on a project in Ruby/Sinatra. And we're big supporters of\nopen source.\n\nLink to Github: [https://github.com/underdogio](https://github.com/underdogio)\n\nLink to recent Medium post: [https://medium.com/@cmuir/lessons-from-sixteen-\nmonths-of-boo...](https://medium.com/@cmuir/lessons-from-sixteen-months-of-\nbootstrapping-at-underdog-io-6deb98344d31)\n\nEmail chris@underdog.io to apply.\n\nBecause we're still a small team, we're not able to accommodate recent\nbootcamp graduates. No recruiters or dev shops, please. =/\n\nKeywords: New York City, Brooklyn, Developer, Dev, Engineer, Python, Flask,\nNode.js, Ruby, Sinatra, PostgreSQL, Elastic Search, Open Source,\n[https://underdog.io/](https://underdog.io/), Los Angeles, San Francisco\n\n------\nphilrenaud\nAffinio | Halifax or Toronto, Canada | Full-time |\n[http://affinio.com](http://affinio.com)\n\nAffinio builds data products that revolve around social graphs and the\nclustering thereof. We're looking for QA testers with experience with JS\nsingle-page apps and web-facing API testing.\n[http://www.affinio.com/company/quality-\nassurance/](http://www.affinio.com/company/quality-assurance/) to learn more!\n\n------\nfazanhabib\nLondon, UK - DEVOPS ENGINEERS - Automation Logic (www.automationlogic.com) -\nONSITE / Permanent Employment\n\nAutomation Logic is a leading European professional services firm providing\nconsultancy and support to large enterprises in the field of data centre\nautomation.\n\nAutomation Logic are hiring DevOps Engineers from varying background at\nvarying levels of seniority.\n\nThe interview process - telephone screening -> technical test -> face to face\ninterview -> offer\n\nIf you are interested please feel free to apply by emailing\nfazan.habib@automationlogic.com\n\n------\nkrytenboot\nRakuten | Software Engineer | Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan | ONSITE | Full Time\n\nTech: Java, Spring Boot, Docker, Kubernetes, MQ messaging, Google Container\nEngine.\n\nSeeking experienced server side engineers to develop backend services for\nsmart device applications. Full description and application process here:\n[https://jobs.rakuten.careers/careersection/rakuten_ext_cs/jo...](https://jobs.rakuten.careers/careersection/rakuten_ext_cs/jobdetail.ftl?job=00002293)\n\n------\nmbr0wn\nEttus Research (National Instruments) | Staff/Senior Software Engineer | South\nBay, California | Full time, Onsite\n\nWe build software radios! And we're hiring another software developer to help\nwith our code base. If you're familiar with open source code development,\nhardware drivers, FPGAs, C++11, microcontrollers, SoCs, embedded devices,\nlogic analyzers, GNU Radio, or a subset thereof, go check this out:\n\n[http://bit.ly/2l5LBSX](http://bit.ly/2l5LBSX)\n\n------\nTripleH\nApplidium | Paris, Lyon | ONSITE | Full Time / Interns | Mobile / Backend\nSoftware Engineer\n\nApplidium is a design and technology boutique, focused on delivering both\ninnovative and industrial mobile products. Working with us means evolving\namong experts in an environnement where creativity means quality. Right in the\ncenter of Paris and Lyon.\n\nFull job description here:\n[https://applidium.com/en/jobs/#dev](https://applidium.com/en/jobs/#dev)\n\n------\nneoprospecta\nNeoprospecta | Python backend developer | Florianópolis, Brazil |\n[https://neoprospecta.com/en/](https://neoprospecta.com/en/)\n\nWe are a company dedicated to development and commercialization of\nmicrobiological analyzes based on DNA sequencing and bioinformatics.\n\nWe are looking for someone with a solid experience in Django, django-rest-\nframework, Linux, git and PEP8.\n\nTo apply send a cover letter a resume/cv and - ideally - your github profile\nto ricardo@neoprospecta.com\n\n------\nindymike\nWorkHere | Business Development Manager | Indianapolis, IN | Full Time |\nOnsite |\n[https://app.workhere.com/places/workhere/positions/jobs](https://app.workhere.com/places/workhere/positions/jobs)\n\nWorkHere is changing how people find jobs by helping people find better jobs\ncloser to home. We're looking for people who love to work with recruiters, HR\nand C level executives to help build a pipeline of local talent.\n\n------\nenoren\nFanThreeSixty | Software Developer, Software Architect | Austin, TX or Kansas\nCity, MO | [http://www.fanthreesixty.com/](http://www.fanthreesixty.com/)\n\nAt FanThreeSixty we strive to build software which allows sports teams and\nvenues to better engage with fans to keep them connected to their teams by\nproviding more personalized and fluid experiences whether at game time or in\nthe off-season. Headquartered in Kansas City, MO, we are hiring in both KC as\nwell in Austin, TX for multiple development positions to help expand our data\nscience and data intelligence capabilities for real time intelligence,\nrecommendations and predictions. Interest in machine learning, analytics,\ndata, and system design is a must as you will be heavily involved in each area\nof the system. You will also work directly with data scientists on the team to\nscale models for production and provide an efficient available platform for\nanalysis and insight.\n\nThe basics:\n\n* 3-5 years of Java or Python experience required. We leverage both Python and Java, but Python is the primary language of the data intelligence team, however as long as you have a good Java background and are not afraid to learn than Python experience is not required.\n\n* Prior experience in one or more of Spark, Kafka, Cassandra, Hadoop, machine learning application preferred, but not required\n\n* Ability to learn quickly and work independently desired as there is a remote component to this position as we are a distributed team. No fully remote positions available though. All applicants must be able to work in either the KC or Austin office.\n\n* Our interview process is fairly direct and painless with an hour phone interview and then a half day on-site before making a final decision.\n\n* In addition to medical, dental and vision insurance, we also offer a competitive PTO package, matching 401k and reimbursement of attending 2 sporting events each year, for market research.\n\nThis specific position is not yet posted on our site, but you can see more\nspecifics about what working at FanThreeSixty is like on our site\n[http://www.fanthreesixty.com/careers/](http://www.fanthreesixty.com/careers/)\nor contact me directly with any questions or to send your resume.\n\n------\nnphippen\nConvergys Analytics | DENVER, CO | Full-time | remote/office/your choice\n\nConvergys is a multinational corporation of over 140,000 employees worldwide\nand a leader in call center management. Our team, Convergys Innovations\nAnalytics, is a cutting edge research and development program focused on\nkeeping Convergys ahead of the competition.\n\n* C# .NET MVC DEVELOPER * +1 if you have a keen eye for design! ==> [https://goo.gl/BxZwzp](https://goo.gl/BxZwzp)\n\n------\njaypaulynice\nMedviv | Co-Founder/Business Dev/Engineer | Boston |\n[https://medviv.io](https://medviv.io)\n\nEarly stage startup. Checkout our submission in the Boston Scientific and\nGoogle Connected Patient Challenge:\n[https://medstro.com/posts/5307](https://medstro.com/posts/5307)\n\nIt's still early, but we're looking to change healthcare using machine\nlearning, deep learning, computer vision, etc.\n\nEmail: hello@medviv.io\n\n------\njeremiahblatz\nBlink Health | Security Hire #2: Infrastructure-Focused Security Engineer |\nNew York NY | VISA\n[https://www.blinkhealth.com/](https://www.blinkhealth.com/)\n\nOfficial job posting is here:\n[https://jobs.lever.co/blinkhealth/14ec8b7a-b5fe-495e-803d-16...](https://jobs.lever.co/blinkhealth/14ec8b7a-b5fe-495e-803d-16..).\n\nLooking for someone primarily to help securing our AWS infrastructure and\nmaybe local network and host security. What does this mean? Well, what do you\nwant it to mean? We’re a 60ish person startup, so you not only have a lot of\nflexibility in the role, but also the role requires a fair amount of\nflexibility.\n\nAs the title says, this is the 2nd person in the security department.\nCurrently I’m doing AppSec, AWS cloud sec, office IT security, physical\nsecurity, and policy & security governance. I’m looking for someone to add a\nbit more capacity, primarily in the AWS area. Our servers are generally linux,\nand our laptops are generally MacOS. You might be super-senior and able to do\neverything from day one, you might be junior and need some help ramping up.\nEither and everything in between is okay. I’m happy to tailor the role to\nmatch your experience, expertise, and interests. (Obviously, salary will be\nbased on relevant experience & skills. That said, I’m happy with my pay.)\n\nWhy you want to work for Blink Health:\n\n* Interesting, varied work\n\n* Building a real thing that actually helps people\n\n* Get in early on a startup that actually has hundreds of thousands of paying customers\n\n* Livable work environment (friendly, reasonable people, no permanent crunch time)\n\n* Standard “well-funded startup” perks (unlimited vacation time (this is actually a thing), free lunches, good stock plan, etc.)\n\n* Standard “real company” benefits (health/vision/dental, 401(k), etc.)\n\nWhat you should have to apply:\n\n* Some experience related to network/host/IT security\n\n* Some coding/automation skills\n\n* Desire for varied work\n\n* Desire to work in NYC SoHo\n\nQuestions? Ask away or email me at jeremiah @.\n\n~~~\nbhoomit\nHiring for other positions as well? Full-stack or Backend?\n\n~~~\njeremiahblatz\nDef other positions (just not me), including backend and full-stack.\n[https://www.blinkhealth.com/careers](https://www.blinkhealth.com/careers)\n\n~~~\nbhoomit\nGreat. Applied for full-stack position on the careers page. Thanks!\n\n------\nanniejackson\ncarwow | Full-stack Ruby on rails developers | London, UK | ONSITE, VISA |\nwww.carwow.co.uk\n\ncarwow is the 1st business in Europe to take on the old style of buying &\nselling cars. The automotive industry traditionally has relied on face to face\nsales which is stressful and actually not that great for the consumer. We’re\nusing technology and a fresh approach to change the way that the industry\napproaches the customer. In much the same way that Deliveroo has transformed\nthe way that people order from restaurants, we’re looking to disrupt this\nmarketplace. We’ve raised over £19m in funding, from Europe’s best VCs, and\nfacilitated the purchase of more than £1 billion worth of cars.\n\nWe currently have 13 engineers and we are looking to grow the team. We have a\nstrong focus on people writing clean code, and working using an agile\nmethodology. We work in very short rapid fire sprints - 1 to 2 weeks depending\non the work we are doing. We use Ruby as our core language and look for Full\nStack developers who can think for themselves and enjoy working as a team -\nstandard stuff but important for us to stress this.\n\nYou can learn more about the role here:\n[https://carwow.workable.com/jobs/207674](https://carwow.workable.com/jobs/207674)\n\nThe interview process is: initial phone interview, tech test @ home, on-site\n2-hour interview We can also set up an initial coffee meeting/call if you'd\nprefer to talk with someone on our tech team before applying.\n\nPlease get in touch by contacting talent@carwow.co.uk\n\n------\nhuahaiy\nJuji | Full Stack Software Engineers | Saratoga, CA | Full-time | Onsite\npreferred\n\nJuji is a seed-stage company focusing on AI platform. The founders are world-\nclass researchers. Our product is used by multiple customers and is generating\nrevenue. We are hiring our first round of full time employees. The stack\nincludes Clojure/Clojurescript, PostgreSQL, Datomic, Kafka, Docker and AWS.\n\nMore info at [https://juji.io/fullstack](https://juji.io/fullstack)\n\n------\ntimhwang21\nRocket Fuel | Web Applications Developer (fulltime) | ONSITE |\n[https://rocketfuel.com/](https://rocketfuel.com/)\n\nLooking for frontend developers to help port our existing platforms into an\nintegrated UI build with React and Redux.\n\nHiring process: coding challenge > phone interview > on-site interview with\nteam.\n\nContact: thwang@rocketfuelinc.com\n\nJob description:\n[http://app.jobvite.com/m?3GJgqiwS](http://app.jobvite.com/m?3GJgqiwS)\n\n------\nkostiskostis\nAthens, Greece | Avocarrot | ONSITE | Full-time | Senior Front-End and Back-\nend Engineers\n\nAvocarrot, the leading mobile ad exchange, is hiring experienced front-end and\nback-end software engineers.\n\nThe interview process consists of an initial phone screen and subsequent on-\nsite technical pair programming interviews.\n\nOur stack includes Go, Node.js, Java, Hadoop, Spark and React just to mention\na few.\n\nApply now: [https://avocarrot.workable.com/](https://avocarrot.workable.com/)\n#jointhehackers\n\n------\n_caseyw\nNullSpace VR | Software Engineer | Seattle, WA |\n[http://hardlightvr.com](http://hardlightvr.com)\n\nWe're a small virtual reality startup creating a haptic feedback suit and the\nsoftware to power it. If you are looking for a job with a lot of autonomy, and\nan opportunity to shape our culture, please apply by emailing\njobs+hn@nullspacevr.com. Interview is a get-to-know you call, a short tech\ntest, and a finalization call.\n\nWe use C++, C#, Unity, and Unreal Engine.\n\n------\nwgancayco\nArcanys | Web Architect | Cebu City, Philippines | ONSITE\n\nHi guys, interested in discovering the Philippines? If you are an experienced\nweb Architect, I just might have the opportunity for you. check out our job\ndescription here: [https://www.arcanys.com/jobs/#op-119518-senior-web-\narchitect...](https://www.arcanys.com/jobs/#op-119518-senior-web-architect--\ntechnical-leader)\n\nYou can either apply through our website or email me at w.gancayco@arcanys.com\n\nCheers!\n\n------\ntonit\nrebaze - [http://rebaze.com](http://rebaze.com) | \"Developer Advocate as a\nService\" \\- Type of Engineer | Hannover, Germany | REMOTE + ONSITE in Germany\n| Fulltime\n\nHey there, We develop tools, principles and products for enterprise\nengineering teams so they can have startup-like fun, too. We create rockstar\ntools, coach teams on new techs and reimagine existing software products.\n\nWe are \"Developer Advocates as a Service\" for our clients.\n\nYou are a software remodelling enthusiast! You love to refactor dusty\ncodebases, simplify processes and removing obsolete stuff all DAY.\n\nYou need to live in Germany or at least be able to travel to Germany 3\ndays/week.\n\nYou should have a deep background in at least 2 of the following technical\nareas: \\- OSGi \\- Gradle \\- Machine Learning \\- Jetbrains MPS \\- Eclipse\nPlatform (Plugins) \\- Devops Expert: Docker, Git, Jenkins Pipelines\n\nYou should have fun working remotely (anywhere in the world) but willing to\ntravel to clients (usually Germany) on a weekly basis.\n\nOur interview process begins with a video-call, followed by a coffee or beer\neither in Hannover, Frankfurt or Cologne.\n\nFind out more on\n[https://github.com/rebaze/hr/blob/master/hire_junior_consult...](https://github.com/rebaze/hr/blob/master/hire_junior_consultant.md)\n\nContact me at toni@rebaze.com or on Twitter @rebazeio\n\nCheers, Toni\n\n------\neverhardt\nAbel Technologies | Amsterdam | ONSITE | Full-time | Senior iOS, Android and\nPHP developers\n\nWe're a ride-sharing transportation network company, offering affordable and\nsocial rides with our Abel drivers.\n\nOur product is fully automated: riding with Abel requires a customer, a driver\nand our tech. We're growing fast and looking to bring more of the development\nin-house.\n\nFull description: [https://rideabel.com/en/jobs](https://rideabel.com/en/jobs)\n\n------\nresalisbury\nCheckr is looking to hire devs with 4+ years of relevant experience. Company\nis 2.5 yrs old, 90ppl, 20 engineers, already quite profitable, a lot of fun :)\n\n[http://bit.ly/checkr-full-stack](http://bit.ly/checkr-full-stack)\n\n[http://bit.ly/checkr-backend-eng](http://bit.ly/checkr-backend-eng)\n\n[http://bit.ly/checkr-ml-eng](http://bit.ly/checkr-ml-eng)\n\n------\npowrben\nPOWr.io | San Francisco | Full Stack Dev | Full-time, onsite |\n[https://www.powr.io/jobs](https://www.powr.io/jobs)\n\nWe help small businesses grow online. We're a small team with a big user base.\nie Lots of opportunity to make an impact. We have never raised a VC round and\nwe're profitable.\n\nJavascript, Rails, Node, Backbone, React, Redux\n\nMore info: [https://www.powr.io/jobs](https://www.powr.io/jobs)\n\n------\nrelouleco97\nTechnical Project Manager - REMOTE - Anywhere\n\nCodeMyViews Summary: www.codemyviews.com CMV exists to make software\ndevelopment better for everyone involved – developers included. We believe in\na fully managed development process where our team handles the entire software\ndevelopment workflow from Project Management to Coding & Execution. Clients\nwork with us because they love our hands on approach, senior engineering team,\nand get-it-done culture. Developers love us because when you work at CMV,\nevery project you start on is fully spec’d out and defined in such a way that\nyou can do what you love – write code. We’re a fully remote team, so you can\nwork anywhere, anytime. We value smarts, hard work, and diversity which is why\nwe hire only the best from all over the world.\n\nJob Description:\n\nOur Technical Project Manager role at CMV means you will work with our great\nteam of engineers, designers, product managers, and our CTO to deliver the\nbest code for clients along with an amazing customer experience. Your day to\nday will primarily involve managing a variety of software projects, organizing\nworkflows, interfacing with developers, managing clients, and being an overall\nbadass that keeps operations moving smoothly. You will work closely with our\nteam developers and VP of Engineering who will be doing the day to day coding\non the project.\n\nThis is a remote position that can be done from anywhere with a solid internet\nconnection, and we hope, some coffee. During the year we like to get together\nas a team, like last year’s trip to Amsterdam & St. Petersburg. Join us soon –\nwe’re thinking Indonesia this year!\n\nRequirements & Responsibilities:\n\nInsanely organized, but nice about it Experience working remote Experience\nmanaging large and small software projects Client service experience a plus\nTechnical skill – you may not code every day, but you could if you needed to\nCan move fast while maintaining highest quality Identify development issues\nand blockers and devise smart solutions Help to mentor & onboard new team\nmembers At least 3 years of software project management experience You must be\na top individual contributor to do great at CMV.\n\nTo apply: [https://codemyviews.com/careers/technical-project-\nmanager](https://codemyviews.com/careers/technical-project-manager)\n\n------\nkristenatmodus\nModus Create | QA Automation Engineer | Remote | Contract\n\nYou will act as senior QA Automation Engineer on a team building Sencha ExtJS\napp for the insurance industry. You will discover bugs and vulnerabilities and\ndecide how to fix them. You will collaborate daily representing QA on a tight-\nknit distributed SCRUM team. email me, kristen at moduscreate dot com or Apply\nhere: [http://bit.ly/2k8b5Nv](http://bit.ly/2k8b5Nv)\n\n------\nwayfaringrob\nHuman API | Redwood City, CA | Full-time, Onsite |\n[https://humanapi.co/](https://humanapi.co/) | jobs@humanapi.co\n\nMake a difference with technology: specifically, by fixing healthcare. We're\nbuilding a real-time data network that allows getting health data from\nanywhere to anywhere in close to realtime. We roll up this data in a clean\nRESTful API that developers use to build apps that make peoples' lives better.\n\nWe have a whole pile of hard problems, and a team of smart, passionate people\nthat love working on them. We like to work iteratively in small teams, and to\ngive people autonomy and ownership to solve those problems.\n\nSome of the things you'd be working on:\n\n    \n    \n      - Mapping and indexing the world's healthcare data: figuring out where it lives and how to retrieve it\n      - Scaling and optimizing our APIs\n      - Modelling human health\n      - Building our ingestion pipeline\n      - Data engineering and building tools for data science - NLP and Classification\n      - Extracting healthcare data from a wide variety of unstructured, unclean formats\n      - Building intuitive UIs to allow users to find and share their health data\n    \n\nOpen positions:\n\n    \n    \n      - Full Stack Engineer (node.js, MongoDB, ElasticSearch, RabbitMQ)\n            https://jobs.lever.co/humanapi/7c411192-551e-4c6c-8133-99d34f17f207\n      - Frontend Engineer (node.js, React, Redis, ElasticSearch)\n            https://jobs.lever.co/humanapi/f31262f1-6613-455f-96a5-2135a4d6f0d6\n      - Machine Learning Engineer (node.js, Python, Kafka, Cassandra)\n            https://jobs.lever.co/humanapi/b698a09d-a5f4-4667-a52a-9e8939659b92\n      - DevOps Engineer (Ansible, Packer, Terraform, Docker, Mesos)\n            https://jobs.lever.co/humanapi/c74886f1-1e50-4323-a846-7ccac5855164\n    \n\nMore information here:\n[https://humanapi.co/company/join](https://humanapi.co/company/join)\n\nThe process: a quick phone screen, a screen-share technical interview, then an\nonsite to meet with the team and pair with someone on a problem.\n\nWe'd love to hear from you even if you don't \"fit\" one of the job specs -- we\nhire for people, not roles. Contact us at jobs@humanapi.co -- we're nice!\n\n------\nfelixjendrusch\nxbird | Backend/Machine Learning Engineer | Berlin, Germany | ONSITE, VISA,\nFULL-TIME | [http://xbird.io](http://xbird.io)\n\nEvery minute, 8 people die from a preventable disease. xbird is an award-\nwinning medical artifical intelligence company. We use the latest know-how in\ndata science and machine learning to save lives. Our technology captures data\nstreams from the built-in sensors of smartphones and wearables, and analyzes\nthese to detect critical health events before they occur.\n\nWe are looking for someone that has experience in both backend engineering and\nmachine learning. The combination is key to us, because you will have to\ndeploy your knowledge outside of the lab. This includes building a reliable,\nscalable, and secure data processing infrastructure. You should feel\ncomfortable with Python, have experience with Go, Scala/Java, Python, or Ruby,\nand have demonstrated capability to build and maintain backend services,\npreferrably on GCP or AWS.\n\nTo learn more or apply, please visit\n[http://www.xbird.io/jobs/](http://www.xbird.io/jobs/) or write to\n<jobs@xbird.io>. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me directly\n(<felix@xbird.io>).\n\n------\nsmokescreentech\nSmokescreen | Software Engineer | Mumbai | ONSITE, REMOTE, INTERNS |\nwww.smokescreen.io\n\nSmokescreen brings military deception tactics to cybersecurity. We hire\nrockstar software engineers and then get out of their way.\n\n    \n    \n      - Python, Node.js, GoLang, C#\n      - AngularJS, ReactJS\n      - UNIX (BSD experience is a plus)\n    \n\nApply here:\n[https://www.smokescreen.io/careers/](https://www.smokescreen.io/careers/)\n\n------\nRossSheingold\nCycle | Los Angeles, CA | Onsite | Full-time | Full-stack software engineer |\nCompetitive salary, unlimited PTO, 401(k)|\n[http://cycle.media](http://cycle.media)\n\nCycle seeks a Full-stack software engineer to own the entire software\ndevelopment and deployment process. You should have a passion for all things\nsocial and extensive knowledge in leveraging external APIs. You will\ncollaborate with the Chief Innovation Officer to develop and implement an\nefficient internal database. A successful candidate will have in-depth\nunderstanding of and experience with:\n\n\\- Developing software features using object-oriented programming in Ruby, and\nthe popular web framework Ruby on Rails. \\- Developing software features using\ntemplating languages ERB and Mustache. \\- Developing software features using\nrelational databases (specifically Postgres), as well as database maintenance\n& migrations. \\- Developing software features using various data stores,\nespecially Redis, and usage patterns relevant to job queues. \\- Developing\nsoftware features leaveraging threaded environments, especially with relation\nto Sidekiq and background job processors. \\- Developing software features that\ninteract with multiple authentication protocols, especially Google OAuth &\nMicrosoft 365 OAuth. \\- Developing software features and custom scripts that\nleverage external APIs (especially Google’s GeoLocation API, Facebook’s Graph\nAPI, YouTube’s Data API, as well as Instagram, Twitter and any yet to be\nreleased API such as Snapchat), as well as dealing with rate limits,\nthrottling, and efficient retry patterns. \\- Developing software features\nusing front-end technologies, such as JavaScript, SASS, and Sprockets asset\npipeline. \\- Developing software features by creating database schemas that\nrepresent and support business processes \\- Git code versioning tool \\-\nHeroku’s deployment, logging, and add-on resources. \\- Hosted Search APIs and\nhow to efficiently integrate with third party data stores (specifically\nAlgolia).\n\nExperience: 2-4 years Apply here:\n[https://cycle.workable.com/jobs/419205](https://cycle.workable.com/jobs/419205)\nInterview process:\n\n\\- Recruiter application/resume screening \\- Recruiter phone screening \\- On-\nsite interviews with key stakeholders and senior software engineers \\- On-site\nor take-home technical coding challenge/exercise\n\n------\nmsavelyev\nmbr targeting / Ströer Digital Group | Big Data Engineer | Berlin, Germany |\nFull-time, On-Site\n\nAt mbr targeting in Berlin we are developing and scaling the core technology\nthat powers Germany's market leading digital advertising company Ströer.\n\nWith online advertising being one of the most challenging fields in high\nperformance computing and data processing, we are working at the cutting edge\nof big data, machine learning and real-time technologies and we are operating\nlarge-scale deployments of real-time web services.\n\nTo expand our team of highly skilled engineers we are looking for talented\nengineers who either already have some experience with big data technologies\nor who are willing to expand their skill set into the area of these\ntechnologies.\n\nThe languages we're speaking are Java, Scala and Python (if you’re fluent in\nonly one of them that's fine!) and technology buzzwords include Hadoop, Spark,\nFlink, Storm, Hive, Impala, Kafka, Druid, …\n\nAlso we’re looking for the following:\n\n* Software Engineer (Java/Scala) (f/m)\n\n* Technical Product Manager (f/m)\n\n* Systems Engineer (f/m)\n\n* Backend JavaScript Developer (Node.js) (f/m)\n\n* Data Engineer (f/m)\n\n* Data Scientist (f/m)\n\nPlease find more info here: [https://mbr-targeting.com/jobs.html](https://mbr-\ntargeting.com/jobs.html)\n\nGet in touch with us: jobs@mbr-targeting.com\n\n------\ncoryfoo\nWindfall Data | Data Engineer, Lead Data Scientist | SF | ONSITE | $110k-$160k\n\nAt Windfall Data, our goal is to determine the net worth of every person in\nthe world. Its a super hard problem with broad applications.\n\nWe're looking for: \\- experienced data engineers to help build our\ninfrastructure and help us scale \\- lead/senior data scientists to build a\nteam and take our ML and predictive algorithms to the next level\n\nIf you're interested, send a message to cory@windfalldata.com\n\n------\nyashesh\nYelp | San Francisco, New York, Hamburg | Full Time | REMOTE, VISA sponsorship\navailable\n\nI am sure everybody knows about Yelp. Yelp is public company yet full of\nyoungsters hard core open source programmers.\n\nOpen Positions:\n\n1\\. Mobile developers iOS/Android\n\n2\\. Backend Developers\n\n3\\. Front-end Developers\n\n4\\. Designers\n\netc..\n\nYou can directly apply here. [https://jobs.lever.co/yelp?lever-\nvia=zadW2_WL9N](https://jobs.lever.co/yelp?lever-via=zadW2_WL9N)\n\nor you can send me your resume at yashesh321[at]gmail[dot]com and I can refer\nit for you.\n\n~~~\nmacobo\nWould you mind elaborating on what sort of remote positions yelp offers.\nHere's a few common ones:\n\n\\- It's okay to work from home a few/most days of the week. \\- Anywhere, same\nworking hours for everyone \\- Flexible working hours, limitations (i.e. must\nhave N hours of overlap and be in US/CA) \\- Globally distributed organization\n\n------\nnathalie91\nKinnek in NYC is hiring! We are looking for Senior Backend and Frontend Devs.\nMinimum 7 years of experience.\n\nKinnek is an online marketplace ( the first, and largest) for small business\npurchasing. We are a Series B funded start up (Matrix and Thrive). We have a\n10- person dev team that we are looking to expand!\n\nTech Stack: Our tech stack: Unix, Python, Django, MySQL, REDIS, JS, Angular\nand looking to expand our horizons!\n\nCheck us out, if you are interested contact me directly : nathalie@kinnek.com\n\n#micdrop\n\n------\nbradgessler\nPoll Everywhere is hiring an SRE and DevOps engineer.\n\nWe're always looking for really strong rails back-end developers and front-end\nJS developers.\n\nIf you want to dive deep into D3.js, we have a position open where you'd work\nmostly on our live visualizations.\n\nAll of that at\n[https://www.polleverywhere.com/jobs](https://www.polleverywhere.com/jobs).\nReply here if you have questions or email brad at poll everywhere dot com.\n\n------\nmicrum\nFriendlyData | PR/Marketing Manager (Intern) | SF| Onsite\n\nFriendlyData helps businesses increase user conversion and employees\nproductivity by providing natural language interface for databases.\n\nOur mission is to make data accessible for everyone.\n\nWe're looking for specialist in product PR field with strong content-writing\nskills and marketing experience.\n\nFull description:\n[https://friendlydata.io/careers](https://friendlydata.io/careers)\n\n------\nescap\nUNESCAP | Java software developer | Bangkok, Thailand | Onsite |fulltime |\nvisa provided | www.unescap.org\n\nESCAP is the regional arm of the United Nations in Asia and the Pacific. We\nare building and maintaining several web applications in Java/Spring for our\ninternal usage, using Java Spring, deployed on linux/tomcat, interfacing with\nother systems via WS(REST/Soap).\n\nTo know more and/or apply, email us at escap-it-recruitment+hn0217@gmail.com\n\n~~~\nescap\nThe actual contact email is escap.it.recruitment+hn0217@gmail.com\n\n------\nKudos\nUdemy | Site Reliability Engineers | Dublin, Ireland | ONSITE\n\nUdemy is an online learning marketplace, our mission is to improve lives\nthrough learning.\n\nWe have engineering offices in San Francisco, Ankara and Dublin. This role is\nbased in Dublin, home of our SRE team. The team was founded just over a year\nago and today is made up of half a dozen super nice and talented people.\n\nIf monitoring, automation, and web stacks are your thing fire a mail my way\njonathan.cremin@udemy.com\n\n------\nishwarn\nDrive Motors (W16) | Sr. Software Engineer | San Francisco | ONSITE\n\nDrive Motors is revolutionizing the car buying process by making e-commerce\nsolutions for car dealerships and buyers.\n\nWe're looking for a software engineer, comfortable with the full stack, to\njoin our small team. You will be working with Node.js, React.js, Redux, MySQL,\nRedis, HTML, CSS, and AWS.\n\nIf you're interested, please email jobs@drivemotors.com with your resume and a\nlittle bit about yourself.\n\n------\nyvoschaap\nPararius | Amsterdam | Onsite, full-time,\n[https://www.pararius.nl](https://www.pararius.nl)\n\nWe're looking for a full-stack developer to lead our products' development.\n\nFor details (Dutch): > [http://stackoverflow.com/jobs/132632/full-stack-\nontwikkelaar...](http://stackoverflow.com/jobs/132632/full-stack-ontwikkelaar-\npararius)\n\n------\nspjwebster\ntails.com | Front-end & Full Stack Developers | Richmond, London | ONSITE,\nfull time\n\ntails.com is a tech-centric startup, using the power of technology combined\nwith applied nutritional science to change the world of dog food for good.\n\nSo much more than just a website, our intelligent systems formulate and fulfil\nbespoke, individually optimised blends of food for each dog, and we evolve\nthat blend over time to match the dogs' constantly changing nutritional needs.\nOrders are delivered direct to owners' doorsteps every month all across the\ncountry; every bag of food that leaves our blending facility is totally\nunique.\n\nWe launched in July 2014 and we're currently expanding the current team of 9\nwith developers of both front- and back-end persuasions. The platform is\nPython based, though we've flirted with Go recently too, and with an ex-Amazon\narchitect among our tech founders we of course make full use of AWS in\nbuilding a robust, distributed set of applications and services.\n\nIf you're interested in finding out more, head to\n[https://tails.com/careers](https://tails.com/careers) or drop an email to\nsteve@tails.com.\n\n------\ndanecjensen\nSock Club | Web Developer (Ruby on Rails, Javascript) | Austin, TX | FULL-\nTIME, ONSITE, www.sockclub.com\n\nThe retail landscape is shifting it's reorganizing from around the automobile\nto around the smartphone. We are working to capitalize on this change building\na DNVB (digitally native vertical brand) and also working on the discovery\nproblem for ecommerce. If you're interested in this opportunity contact me at\ndane@sotmclub.com\n\n------\nloourr\nBackboneJS | New York City | ONSITE | Contract/Full-Time\n\nAbout the project:\n\n\\- Stable and long-term (up to 12 months)\n\n\\- High impact (you'll taking frontend lead with a small team)\n\n\\- Great for your portfolio, we're a leader in the music industry\n\n\\- Well compensated\n\nIf you're interested in the project respond with a little about yourself and\nyour portfolio if you have one.\n\nThis is for candidates who can work onsite only so please only respond if\nyou're able to commute to NYC.\n\nIf you're interested contact us at hello@staffhappy.co\n\n------\nworldadventurer\nCode4Good -- [https://www.engageSPARK.com](https://www.engageSPARK.com) \\-\n\"Twilio (Voice IVR & SMS) for Everyone\" | REMOTE or ONSITE: Cebu, Philippines\n| Full-Time\n\nengageSPARK, a social enterprise, is the world's EASIEST Platform that\nempowers professionals (marketing, sales, hr, operations, project managers,\netc) at NGOs & Businesses to easily & quickly build interactive Automated\nPhone Calls (IVR) and 2-Way SMS campaigns in any country. We're especially\nfocused on emerging markets, where 66% have no Internet and another 15% who\nhave smartphones can't afford data plans regularly. Interactive automated\nphone calls are the most cost effective and scalable way to engage anyone\nanywhere with any mobile phone. People opt in by sending an SMS or doing a\nMissed Call, which trigger an automated call back to them.\n\nCustomers such as Intel, UNICEF, Noora Health (YC W14) Asian Development Bank,\nInternational Rescue Committee, Innovations for Poverty Action, MedAir, Mercy\nCorps, and US Institute for Peace use the engageSPARK platform to interact\nwith people for a variety of use cases, including social change in the areas\nof Agriculture, Health, Finance, Elections, and Disaster Planning & Response,\nas well as for sales, marketing, customer feedback, and operations.\n\nForbes says we're \"A Leading Startup\" and a \"Notable Social Enterprise\". Since\nlaunch a little over a year ago, engageSPARK has become the global leader in\nour space - we've already been used in 100+ countries.\n\nAdventure Fellowship (1 year): [https://goo.gl/YA8ENR](https://goo.gl/YA8ENR)\n| Full-Time Full Stack: [http://goo.gl/Pljcgr](http://goo.gl/Pljcgr)\n\nOur stack: Go (GoLang) Microservices, Python/Django, Java, Docker, Redis,\nThrift, PostgreSQL, CouchDB, AWS, Android\n\nLocated in tropical Cebu Island, Cebu City is the second largest city in the\nPhilippines. It’s a safe place to live with a variety of malls, restaurants,\nshops, beaches, and activities such as scuba diving, running, hiking, rock\nclimbing, and snorkeling. It has a busy international airport with cheap\nflights to domestic and regional destinations. Check out Google Images:\n[https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&site=imghp&tbm=isch&s...](https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1104&bih=639&q=cebu+philippines&oq=cebu&sout=0&sa=X)\n\nEmail us at Jobs at engageSPARK.com\n\n------\npaulius005\nLoom | San Francisco, CA | Full Time | Full Stack Engineer // Product Design\nLead\n\nLoom is the largest cloud-based video recording and communication platform\nempowering remote and distributed teams.\n\nOur mission is to format video for modern teams who more often than not\ncollaborate with colleagues and clients spread around the globe.\n\n[https://www.useloom.com/careers](https://www.useloom.com/careers)\n\n------\nd3dtn01\nGenome Medical | VP of Engineering | San Francisco Bay Area | REMOTE\n\nWHO IS GENOME MEDICAL Genome Medical, Inc. is an early-stage company using\ntelemedicine to integrate genomic medicine into everyday health care. Founded\nby personalized medicine pioneers Dr. Randy Scott, Dr. Robert Green, and Lisa\nAlderson, our goal is to bridge the growing gap between available genome\ntechnology and current medical practice. As genetic information becomes\nincreasingly important in medicine, there are too few experts to meet the\ngrowing demand for interpretation. We are addressing this challenge by\ncreating a scalable, efficient model for lifelong genome-centered health care.\nOur network of clinical genomics experts provides consultations to both\npatients and physicians. To learn more, please visit www.genomemedical.com or\nfind us on Twitter.\n\nROLE We are searching for an engineering leader who will work with product\nmanagement to transform our already launched, speed-to-market product offering\ninto the envisioned experience that Genome Medical was founded upon. You will\nbe reporting directly to the CEO and will be responsible for overall\nengineering function.\n\nRESPONSIBILITIES \\- Oversight for all aspects of software development and\ntechnology operations including product engineering, platform engineering,\nrapid prototyping and QA \\- Develop and maintain detailed technical and data\narchitectures that will ensure rapid scaling of the business and creation of\nstrategic assets \\- Create clinical support tools and knowledge databases for\nefficient, scalable genome-centered care \\- Manage off-shore engineering team\n\\- Liaise closely with Product team \\- Oversight for IT-related issues\nincluding internet access, VoIP phones, email and other collaboration tools\n\nQUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE \\- Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree\npreferred \\- Demonstrated success building web and mobile products \\- Prior\nexperience managing teams of engineers \\- Demonstrated success managing off-\nshore resources \\- Passionate focus on continual improvement of process and\npeople \\- Experience scaling products, processes and people in a mission-\ncritical software development environment \\- Proven ability to interact with\nand instill confidence in a diverse set of stakeholders\n\nWe are located in the South Bay of the San Francisco Bay area. This position\naffords the opportunity for both remote and onsite work. If interested, please\nsubmit your resume to info@genomemedical.com.\n\n------\nezhome\nezhome | Fullstack & iOS/Mobile Engineers | Fulltime | Fully Remote\n\nezhome is a Series B funded home services startup founded by two serial\nentrepreneurs (founders of oDesk and PatternInsight) who are passionate about\ncreating a global/remote workforce. We're building a company that will become\n\"The Amazon of Home Services\" and are looking for phenomenal talent to join\nour team.\n\nHere's more about us:\n[https://www.ezhome.com/about](https://www.ezhome.com/about) Here's more about\nour remote teams:\n[https://www.ezhome.com/careers/remote](https://www.ezhome.com/careers/remote)\nAngel List: [https://angel.co/ezhome](https://angel.co/ezhome)\n\nApply here: Senior Software Engineer -\n[http://grnh.se/wev5f61](http://grnh.se/wev5f61) Senior iOS/Mobile Engineer -\n[http://grnh.se/32sehk1](http://grnh.se/32sehk1)\n\nOr email Liz at Recruiting@ezhome.com\n\n------\nerichurkman\neShares | Palo Alto, San Francisco, Seattle | Engineering & technical roles |\nFull time | Onsite\n\neShares is the platform and network for tracking and managing private asset\nownership. Many of the companies you see on this page use eShares to manage\ntheir equity. We're looking for a wide range of people to join us.\n\n* Full stack engineers (Python, Django, APIs, PostgreSQL, AWS, React)\n\n* Front end engineer (Javascript, ES6, React, APIs)\n\n* Dev-ops (AWS, Ansible, Jenkins, - or - what are we missing?)\n\n* Android\n\n* Internal tools, business ops, growth ops (vague on purpose; we're huge fans of tooling. Come help us build the next generation working environment.)\n\n* Security engineer\n\n* Product design (HTML, SCSS (BEM), UI/UX)\n\n* Interns for any of the above (based in Palo Alto or San Francisco only)\n\nOur Seattle presence is coming early 2017, so if you're in the Bay area and\nare interested in moving to Seattle later this year, let's talk.\n\nWhat's eShares like (aka, what's different)?\n[https://blog.esharesinc.com/eshares-101/](https://blog.esharesinc.com/eshares-101/)\n\nHow do we hire at eShares? [https://blog.esharesinc.com/how-to-\nhire/](https://blog.esharesinc.com/how-to-hire/)\n\nWhat do eShares offer letters look like?\n[https://blog.esharesinc.com/a-better-offer-\nletter/](https://blog.esharesinc.com/a-better-offer-letter/)\n\neric+201702@esharesinc.com\n\n~~~\nthepredestrian\nFeedback to those applying: We scheduled a phone interview but got ghosted (no\nemails or replies as to what happened)\n\n~~~\nerichurkman\nOh no! Looking into this now. It was me you were scheduled with, so mea culpa\nif something got dropped here.\n\n------\nclutchski\nDatadog | New York, NYC, Paris | FULL TIME | ONSITE, REMOTE\n\nDatadog builds state of the art monitoring tools. If you can make thousands of\nmachines work as one, love grinding 10% more performance out of a function,\nbuild amazing data visualizations or just love hacking, drop us a line.\n\n[https://www.datadoghq.com/jobs-engineering/](https://www.datadoghq.com/jobs-\nengineering/)\n\n~~~\nmalhaar\nI did apply to your company many times, but never got a reply. How much time\nshould one expect to get a reply?\n\n------\njanbernhart\nOptiver | Software Developers | Amsterdam | Onsite | Visa and relocation\nsponsored\n\nOptiver is an (algorithmic) trading company. Challenges include ultra-low-\nlatency, constant change and because of huge volume you can rest assure every\nedge case will occur sooner or later. We use C++, C#, Python (and some LUA\nscripting) but welcome any good developer willing to learn one of these\nlanguages.\n\nInterested? Contact janbernhart –AT- optiver.com\n\n------\nlizzyschiller\nSmart Yields | San Francisco, CA or Honolulu, HI | Lead Javascript Engineer\n\nTHE COMPANY: We're a team of farmers, engineers and explorers looking to\nchange agriculture with technology. Posed with the complex problem feeding 9\nbillion people by the year 2050, we’re looking to team up with other\nindividuals who are hungry to help us meet that goal by making farming a\nsustainable and prosperous endeavor.\n\nJOB DESCRIPTION: In order to make a change in agriculture, we need great\nengineers who are independent problem-solvers looking to use their programming\nskill sets to make a change for a greater good. Software plays a big part at\nSmart Yields especially with the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) and\nour play to capture big data. Whether it’s developing an alarm system to alert\nfarmers of potentially harmful situations or creating automated watering\nschedules for farm hands, you’ll be charged with constantly improving the\nlives and efficiencies of farmers on a daily basis.\n\nYOU WILL: \\+ Design, test and deploy cutting-edge software for farmers and\nagronomist. \\+ Assist in maintenance and upkeep of created and existing\ndatabase, application and server infrastructures.\n\nSKILLS Minimum \\+ BS degree in Computer Science, Information Sciences or\nequivalent practical experience. \\+ 3+ years developing full-stack web\napplications using tools such as Nginx, NodeJS, Express, React and React\nNative. \\+ Is an independent and efficient problem-solver and troubleshooter.\n\\+ Ability to solve real-world problems using software.\n\nPreferred \\+ Masters, Ph.D in Computer Science, Information or equivalent\npractical experience. \\+ 6+ years developing full-stack web applications using\ntools such as Nginx, NodeJS, Express, React and React Native. \\+ Experience\nworking with hardware engineers on Internet of Things (IoT) projects. \\+ Low-\nlevel experience working with scalable information and system architectures.\n(+1M users or devices) \\+ Experience using testing suites and Continuous\nIntegration (CI) in development and deployment. \\+ Good judgment in UX/UI and\nusability. \\+ Mastery of all client-side languages, libraries and practices\n(i.e. can build any interface with ease) \\+ Familiarity with agile development\npractices (e.g. scrums, etc.) \\+ Mastery of version control (such as Git) in\nthe development process.\n\nHOW TO APPLY Post your resume and a cover letter briefly describing why you’re\ninterested in growing with Smart Yields to lizzy@smartyields.com\n\n------\nx110dc\nThe Texas Tribune | Software Engineer | Austin, Tx | ONSITE\n\nWe're seeking a Python developer (Django experience is a plus!)\n\nPlease see here for details:\n\n[https://www.texastribune.org/jobs/software-\nengineer/](https://www.texastribune.org/jobs/software-engineer/)\n\nApplying simply involves emailing your cover letter and resume to tech-\njobs@texastribune.org. Also email there with any questions.\n\n------\ntroika\nBERLIN ONSITE FULLTIME\n\nWe are looking for a skilled and motivated Junior Fullstack Developer to work\non both the deepstream.io open source server and our upcoming realtime data\nplatform deepstreamHub.com (on-site/fulltime in Berlin).\n\nPlease find more information here\n\n[https://deepstreamhub.com/careers/junior-\ndeveloper/](https://deepstreamhub.com/careers/junior-developer/)\n\n~~~\nJokoX\nHi, I'm very interested in this position. Is a German Lebenslauf okay, or\nEnglish CV only?\n\n------\njordanf\nRocketmiles | Chicago, IL and Brooklyn, NY NYC | On-Site\n\nRocketmiles helps frequent travelers take more vacations. Our team is\nheadquartered in Chicago's West Loop with a satellite office in Dumbo,\nBrooklyn.\n\nWe're currently looking for:\n\n* Grails / Kotlin / Java / Backend developers (Chicago, NYC)\n\n* Data Engineer (Chicago)\n\n* Senior Systems Engineer (Chicago)\n\n* QA Engineer (Chicago)\n\n* Product Manager (Chicago)\n\nI lead our product team, so please reach out to me directly\n(jordan@rocketmiles.com) if you are interested.\n\n------\nbhalp1\nThe Practical Dev | JavaScript Developer | New York City\n\nWe are @ThePracticalDev on Twitter. That's the fastest way to get to know what\nwe're about. Our site is [https://dev.to](https://dev.to)\n\nWe're on the lookout for a disciplined developer who likes writing tests and\ndocs, and enjoys our content. Email ben@dev.to if you're interested. Local is\na bonus, but remote is cool too.\n\n️\n\n------\ncnj\ncommercetools | Scala Backend Engineer | Berlin, Germany | ONSITE, VISA\n[https://commercetools.com](https://commercetools.com)\n\nOur team of five experienced Scala Devs is building the API of commercetools.\nOur customer base is growing fast (our API calls grew by a factor of 5 last\nyear). We work a lot on scaling the platform. Because our product is for\ndevelopers, we work closely with our Product Owners and contribute to the\ndocumentation.\n\nWe're looking for strong Backend Engineers with a love for functional\nprogramming. We're hiring for both a senior and a junior position.\n\nStack: Scala, MongoDB, ElasticSearch, Cassandra\n\nOur team is tightly knit. Some of us work on Open Source Scala projects, e.g.\n[https://github.com/sangria-graphql](https://github.com/sangria-graphql),\n[https://github.com/agourlay/cornichon](https://github.com/agourlay/cornichon),\n[https://github.com/scaldi/scaldi](https://github.com/scaldi/scaldi) or\ncontribute to meetups (e.g. we hosted the Scala User Group Berlin-Brandenburg\nin January). We value work-life balance (no overtime, two of us work 4\ndays/week), have great parental leave policies and encourage regular Home\nOffice.\n\nOur interview process starts with two short interviews, usually via Hangout.\nThe final interview round is preferably on site.\n\nFor more info, and to apply, visit\n[https://commercetools.com/careers](https://commercetools.com/careers)\n\nFeel free to ping me with any questions at christoph.neijenhuis (at)\ncommercetools.de\n\n------\nsturgill\nDaily Burn | Business Analyst | New York, NY | Remote, Full-time\n\nDaily Burn ([https://dailyburn.com](https://dailyburn.com)), the industry\nleader in online fitness, is adding a Business Analyst to our growing\nAnalytics team. Read more and apply online:\n[https://www.jsco.re/okdp](https://www.jsco.re/okdp)\n\n~~~\nsturgill\nUpdated application link:\n[https://careers.jobscore.com/careers/dailyburn/jobs/business...](https://careers.jobscore.com/careers/dailyburn/jobs/business-\nanalyst-b054Fg79Cr5QiceMg-44q7)\n\n------\n8iterations\nSan Francisco | Full-time | C++/C#/Xamarin\n\nGenomics it's good stuff. We made some tools that are better than what\nacademics/gov/big companies make.\n\nDesktop applications, not web or \"cloud\"\\-- b/c you make video games and\nmovies with desktop applications, so maybe when lives depend on it skip the\nweb browser.\n\nAnyways you'll get paid market-rate and get to work with fun technologies.\n\nYou can email me: mo_r [at] me.com\n\n------\ngigatexal\nRecruiters and job-posters: any entry level positions?\n\n~~~\nindiegamergirl\nin which field?\n\n~~~\ngigatexal\nSoftware development, ops, database management\n\n------\nstevedave\nPortland Trail Blazers | Portland, OR (local candidates only) | Computer\nSupport Specialist | Full-Time | ONSITE |\n[http://trailblazers.com/](http://trailblazers.com/)\n\n[http://blazers.teamworkonline.com/teamwork/r.cfm?i=105271](http://blazers.teamworkonline.com/teamwork/r.cfm?i=105271)\n\n------\nscandox\nSpondool Ltd | Dublin, Ireland | ON SITE | Application Developer | C++ *\nMinimum 5 years experience of C++ programming on a Linux platform\n\n* Strong proficiency in C++ with thorough knowledge of the standard library\n\n* Familiarity and experience with templating in C++\n\n• Experience in the design and implementation of highly performant, scalable,\ndistributed and resilient systems\n\nIt's a small team, an interesting product and nice people. scandox@gmail.com\n\n------\nsuperquest\nLaobot | Generalist & Machine Learning Engineer | Beijing & San Francisco |\nREMOTE\n\nLaobot is building an AI English teacher. Our conversational agent teaches\nspoken English to native Mandarin speakers.\n\nJoining Laobot is an opportunity to solve fascinating technical and pedagogic\nproblems while teaching millions of people English fluency — a life-changing\nskill.\n\nSend us an email at jamoen7@gmail.com if you're interested.\n\n------\nZilroy\niDevices | San Francisco, CA / Avon, CT | Backend engineer | Full-time |\nOnsite\n\niDevices is looking for a Backend Systems Engineer, preferably with Erlang\nexperience, to be involved in all aspects of the company's infrastructure and\noperations. This person will be working on server-side architecture, coding\nand troubleshooting, and maintaining security of backend servers.\n\nResponsibilities: • Maintaining the backend modules; • Participating in\narchitecting new capabilities; • Implementing new capabilities; • Design and\nmaintenance of performance instrumenting subsystems; • Maintaining security of\nbackend servers; • Design and maintenance of provisioning procedures.\n\nRequirements: • BS/MS in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering • 5+ years\nrelevant experience • Preferably Erlang experience, but quick learners are\nencouraged to apply • Experience with high performance switching frameworks •\nExperience with UDP messaging • Extensive knowledge of Linux and FreeBSD •\nKnowledge of Cryptography stacks\n\nPlease reply to fpbqx-5965004806@job.craigslist.org\n\n------\nbriankwest\nFreeSWITCH Solutions, LLC | Work From Home | Full Time\n\nemail brian at freeswitch.org, You'll work on and with the FreeSWITCH core\nteam on some exciting projects.\n\n/b\n\n------\njosh_carterPDX\nBrightWork | [https://brightwork.io](https://brightwork.io) | Portland, OR |\nFull time | Onsite\n\nBrightWork is a serverless API micro services platform making it easier for\nDevelopers and Teams to build their applications faster using the skills they\nalready have. They write a small amount of javascript to a manifest and they\ncan have a RESTful API up and running within minutes. This enables the\nDeveloper to focus on their frontend without having to worry about\ninfrastructure in a serverless environment. The platform is scalable,\nreliable, and the pricing is predictable for the customer and recurring for\nBrightWork.\n\nYou’re a developer that loves Javascript, NodeJS and web frameworks (Angular,\nReact). One who is passionate about building tools that make the lives of\nother developers easier. You must be able to follow the direction of the\nsenior management team and turn the roadmap into a reality. Ideally you are\ngood at both backend and frontend development, are a ninja coder with\naspirations to be a leader. Willing to take direction and provide direction\nand leadership to junior team members. You have an entrepreneurial mindset and\ntake ownership of projects and/or tasks to see them through to completion. You\nalso have opinions and aren't afraid to bring them to the table.\n\n _Requirements_ The position will require that you have experience with\nNodeJS, RESTful API, MongoDB or similar database. At least 3 years of\ndevelopment experience. Unit testing with Mocha/Chai or similar. Understanding\nof good software engineering patterns and practices, OOP vs functional, etc.\nExperience using Git for source control is required.\n\n _Bonus Points_ \\- MEAN stack, HTML, CSS, SASS experience is preferred. \\-\nExperience with ES6. \\- Agile development experience and continuous\nintegration/delivery practices desired. \\- DevOps tools experience (Docker,\nChef, Puppet, Vagrant) is desired.\n\n __Please no 3rd party recruiters or agencies __\n\n __This is on site in Portland, Or. Local candidates or persons willing to\nrelocate to Portland only (no relocation compensation included). __\n\n __ _May be required to travel_ __\n\nApply at[https://angel.co/brightwork-1/jobs/146020-full-stack-\njavascr...](https://angel.co/brightwork-1/jobs/146020-full-stack-javascript-\nengineer)\n\n~~~\ndavidw\nYou might want to write out 'Oregon', as searching for 'OR' is not very easy.\n\n------\ncurbside\nTake a stab at our little challenge and ensure your CV gets reviewed by our\nteam: curl\n[http://challenge.shopcurbside.com](http://challenge.shopcurbside.com)\nCurbside is enabling a new way to shop, built for the era of instant mobile\ncommerce. The Curbside app makes it easy to find, buy and pickup products at\nnearby stores. Curbside searches realtime local inventory across retailers and\nuses location-based technologies to alert stores when a customer is arriving\nfor a pickup. Curbside helps consumers quickly get what they need and helps\nretailers better serve their increasingly mobile centric customers. The\nCurbside Merchant Console enables alerts to staff as customers arrive to pick\nup orders and also manages online order workflow.\n\nCurbside’s investors include Sutter Hill Ventures, Index Ventures, Jerry\nYang’s AME Cloud Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Eric Schmidt’s Innovation\nEndeavors, O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Gil Elbaz & David Waxman’s TenOneTen\nand Chicago Ventures.\n\nTech Stack: Clojure, Python, Javascript, iOS, Android, Elasticsearch\n\nProblem space: mobile commerce, big data, search, machine learning, reverse\nengineering, distributed systems, location services, user experience.\n\n[http://www.shopcurbside.com/jobs](http://www.shopcurbside.com/jobs) • Palo\nAlto, Ca. • Relocation Available • Sorry at this time we cannot sponsor NEW\nH-1B’s, but we can transfer existing visa’s and sponsor new E3’s, TN’s, and\nO-1’s.\n\n~~~\npapaver\nwas a little disappointed with these guys. spent sometime doing their simple\nchallenge and cleaned up the code to look nice only to get stubbed with no\nreply. thanks guys.\n\n~~~\ntom_b\nI also did not hear back after doing the challenge in December using Clojure.\nBut I also indicated in my cover email that I probably wasn't a good candidate\nif relocation was a must and that could have easily been a deal-breaker for\nthem.\n\n------\nchristianfaller\ndeepr | Web Developer Frontend/Backend | Stuttgart, Germany | Onsite | Full-\ntime\n\ndeepr is a digital advertising agency based in Stuttgart, Germany. We\nspecialize in websites, web applications, social media marketing and digital\nstrategy for small and mid-size companies.\n\nWe are looking to hire a new web developer for frontend and backend. You will\nbe part of a young and dynamic team in a great work environment in the center\nof Stuttgart. We'll provide a modern workplace with two sceens, the IDE of\nyour choice and plenty of donuts for free. You can choose to work from your\nhome office on selected days, as does most of the team.\n\nYou'll be mostly working with: PHP, JavaScript, jQuery, MySQL, HTML5 and CSS3.\n\nRead the full job description here:\n[https://www.deepr.agency/job/webdeveloper-frontendbackend-\nmw...](https://www.deepr.agency/job/webdeveloper-frontendbackend-mw/)\n\nInterview process: drop in, enjoy a cup of coffee and have a talk.\n\nIf interested, reach out to us at go@deepr.agency or give us a call!\n\n------\ndartf\nZenMate | Berlin, Germany | Onsite, Visa | Full-time |\n[https://zenmate.com/jobs/#DevOps-Automation-Engineer-\nmf-8535](https://zenmate.com/jobs/#DevOps-Automation-Engineer-mf-8535)\n\n _DevOps Automation Engineer_\n\nYour Tasks:\n\n    \n    \n      - Maintain and guarantee the availability and performance of our global infrastructure platform (bare-metal and cloud)\n    \n      - Working together with our providers to solve issues and server provisioning\n    \n      - Architecting and implementing pragmatic and scalable solutions for new challenges\n    \n      - Implementing and maintaining automated health-checks and corresponding services to automate our server fleet and to make it more robust\n    \n      - Making sure that our development and deployment infrastructure is flexible, easy to management and easily to use\n    \n      - Working closely together with our developers to deploy new services and solve performance problems\n    \n      - Scaling applications for performance and reliability depending on type of workload\n    \n      - Automate deployment, provisioning, monitoring as much as possible, write supporting tools and services to manage our fleet of machines\n    \n      - Establish and maintain a clean documentation for all DevOps processes\n    \n\nPlease apply at [https://zenmate.com/jobs](https://zenmate.com/jobs)\n\n------\nwklaynman\nJustworks Inc: New York City, NY - Fulltime - Onsite Only - Will relocate\nDirector of Security - Front-end Engineers - Software Engineers - Security\nEngineers - Product Designers - Product Managers - Marketing Managers and\nmore! [http://bit.ly/1NMwpCp](http://bit.ly/1NMwpCp) OR email\njobs@justworks.com\n\n------\nenalicho\nFuse Tools | Software Engineer, Senior Javascript Engineer, Community\nEngineer, CFO & Senior Operations Executive, Cloud Software Engineers, Ops\nEngineer, UX Designer | Oslo, Norway or Palo Alto, America |\n[https://medium.com/@fusetools/we-are-growing-and-\nhiring-a745...](https://medium.com/@fusetools/we-are-growing-and-\nhiring-a745b32e5039#.5lky4f3wk)\n\nFuse is a new platform which makes app development easier, more efficient and\nmore fun for both developers and designers. We’re committed to solving actual\ncross platform app design and development problems with tools that simplifies\nworking with layout, interaction and motion.\n\nIn order to do this, we've implemented our own OpenGL engine that targets\nmultiple platforms. We've also developed a superset of C# called\n[Uno]([https://www.fusetools.com/docs/uno/uno-\nlang](https://www.fusetools.com/docs/uno/uno-lang)), with built in support for\nforeign code written in Objective-C, C++, and Java in order to help target\nmultiple platforms from a single codebase.\n\nWe're currently hiring people for several roles, as we have just secured $12\nmillon in funding from NorthZone and Alliance Venture. We currently have\naround 25 developers on our team and, as we grow, we're also looking for\npeople who can help us manage that growth. If you have expertise in different\napproaches, we would love to hear them.\n\nWe want people who like to think about API + library design, since the tools\nwe make here are used by developers all over the world. Almost everyone on our\nteam has a developer background, and we follow a strong practice of eating our\nown dog food. If you work on Fuse, you'll be using Fuse. Our community gets\nclose support from us, the developers, so you must be good at communicating\nthrough Slack and at workshops. We're looking for people who like to help\nother people.\n\nFor more information please reach out to us on Slack\n[here]([https://fusecommunity.slack.com](https://fusecommunity.slack.com)). In\norder to apply, just go straight to\n[here]([https://docs.google.com/a/outracks.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfOH...](https://docs.google.com/a/outracks.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfOHiRKKkWJDyH5p125q59LY9x0HPRAjdEMVedBDsd6GPiahA/viewform?c=0&w=1\\);)\n\n------\nToastyMallows\nOnBase by Hyland ([https://www.onbase.com](https://www.onbase.com)) | Westlake\nOH USA, Phoenix AZ USA, Santiago Chile | Full-Time | ONSITE\n\nIt’s time to find the career that’s right for you. At Hyland, you’ll do\nchallenging work at a growing, innovative technology company. If all you’ve\nheard about us is that we have two slides and free pop, then you’re missing\nwhat really makes Hyland different. That stuff is cool, but what really\nmatters in a job isn’t whether you wear a t-shirt or tie to work. What matters\nis that we give our employees fulfilling, rewarding careers. Come see if one\nof them is right for you.\n\nPositions:\n\n* Senior Web Designer (Westlake, OH) - [https://careers-hyland.icims.com/jobs/2617/senior-web-design...](https://careers-hyland.icims.com/jobs/2617/senior-web-designer/job)\n\n* Dev Ops Engineer (Phoenix, AZ) - [https://careers-hyland.icims.com/jobs/2590/dev-ops-engineer/...](https://careers-hyland.icims.com/jobs/2590/dev-ops-engineer/job)\n\n* Security Engineer (Westlake, OH) - [https://careers-hyland.icims.com/jobs/2570/security-engineer...](https://careers-hyland.icims.com/jobs/2570/security-engineer/job)\n\n* Network and Security Engineer (Westlake, OH) - [https://careers-hyland.icims.com/jobs/2556/network-and-secur...](https://careers-hyland.icims.com/jobs/2556/network-and-security-engineer/job)\n\n* Applicaiton Developer I (Westlake, OH) - [https://careers-hyland.icims.com/jobs/2546/application-devel...](https://careers-hyland.icims.com/jobs/2546/application-developer-i/job)\n\n* Software Engineer (Santiago, Chile) - [https://careers-hyland.icims.com/jobs/1874/software-engineer...](https://careers-hyland.icims.com/jobs/1874/software-engineer/job)\n\nAll job listings: [https://careers.hyland.com/](https://careers.hyland.com/)\n\nFor more information, please contact Courtney.Byham (at) onbase (dot) com\n\n------\nsvec\niRobot | Software Engineers | Bedford, MA (near Boston, MA) and Pasadena, CA |\nONSITE\n\niRobot is hiring software engineers like they're going out of style. Which\nthey're not. Quite the opposite, really.\n\nIf you want to work with a bunch of friendly humans and robots, you should\nconsider iRobot.\n\nWe've got a great culture, benefits, and products.\n\nMost positions are for our Bedford, MA headquarters, which is just outside of\nBoston, MA.\n\nWe're looking for people to do embedded (aka firmware for buzzword\ncompliance), test, and hardcore robotics as well. Those aren't the same\nperson, mind you. We're also looking for electrical engineers and mechanical\nengineers.\n\nWe use mostly C and C++, with some Python along the way as well.\n\nYou do NOT need any robotics experience - I had none when I joined!\n\nCheck out our careers site and email me if anything looks interesting:\n\n[http://www.irobot.com/About-iRobot/Careers.aspx](http://www.irobot.com/About-\niRobot/Careers.aspx)\n\nPlease email me at csvec, the at sign, then the company domain.\n\n~~~\nWWLink\nThe Pasadena job listings look like they're all for PHDs.. hrmm.. is that\nbecause of CalTech? Or all those JPL PHDs driving by heheheh.\n\n------\ngdelente\nbrightwheel | San Francisco | Full Time, Onsite | mybrightwheel.com\n\nBrightwheel is the first mobile platform for early education. It's a super\ntalented team + a meaningful product that impacts daily life for teachers and\nparents. We are far outpacing our growth plan - now in every state + growing\nglobally - with incredibly passionate users. Mark Cuban and Chris Sacca\nrecently joined as investors.\n\nHere's more in a quick video:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iKitGJeAZ4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iKitGJeAZ4).\n\nStack: Rails, React/Redux, native Android & iOS\n\n* Sales Manager/Director: [https://angel.co/brightwheel/jobs/63126-sales-manager-direct...](https://angel.co/brightwheel/jobs/63126-sales-manager-director)\n\n* Customer Success Manager: [https://angel.co/brightwheel/jobs/188615-customer-success-ma...](https://angel.co/brightwheel/jobs/188615-customer-success-manager)\n\n* Full Stack Lead: [https://angel.co/brightwheel/jobs/46968-senior-software-engi...](https://angel.co/brightwheel/jobs/46968-senior-software-engineer)\n\n* Dir/VP of Eng: [https://angel.co/brightwheel/jobs/139087-director-of-enginee...](https://angel.co/brightwheel/jobs/139087-director-of-engineering)\n\n* Head of Design: [https://angel.co/brightwheel/jobs/51213-head-of-design](https://angel.co/brightwheel/jobs/51213-head-of-design)\n\nInterested but don't see an exact fit? Email us - info@mybrightwheel.com\n\n------\nttandon\nAthelas (YCS16) | Full-Stack Engineers | Mountain View, CA | onsite |\n[http://athelas.com](http://athelas.com) | fulltime\n\nAthelas is hiring full stack engineers (react/mobile, python, js, backend).\nWe're making blood diagnostics low-cost and decentralized. Send resumes and\nprojects to tanay[at]getathelas.com\n\n------\nbijanv\nEventMobi | Toronto, Canada | Full Time | Onsite | Python/Javascript\n\nWhat Are We Hiring For? Full Stack engineers, Passionate Javascript\nDevelopers, team leads and individual contributors who want autonomy in their\nwork to push the bar and create amazing products.\n\nWho/What is EventMobi? EventMobi is changing how attendees experience events\nthrough mobile & seamlessly connected experiences, as well as changing the way\nevent planners create, market and manage their events. Thousands of events,\nconferences and tradeshows around the world use our platform. For a quick\nreference, TechCrunch, LinkedIn, IEEE, Intel and Nestle have used EventMobi to\nenhance the attendee experience at their events.\n\nWant to quickly figure out what EventMobi is all about? Then watch this fun\n3min video here:\n[http://www.eventmobi.com/careers/#video](http://www.eventmobi.com/careers/#video)\nWondering how our technology is affecting the world and the meeting industry\nin general? Well here is an awesome infographic that summarizes what we have\nachieved this past and why we are super excited for 2016:\n[http://www.eventmobi.com/about/company/2015/](http://www.eventmobi.com/about/company/2015/)\nAnd here's a good sense of our engineering culture:\n[https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/ep4c6oe1lb](https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/ep4c6oe1lb)\n\nOur Tech We develop using micro-services exposed through a (Python) RESTful\nAPI to feed our AngularJS & React based applications – from our mobile apps,\nto the app-building services, real-time chat / gamification / mapping services\nand tons more.\n\nIn the past year we’ve more than tripled our growth & our software now\nservices 10,000+ events and millions of users worldwide. We’re expecting that\ngrowth to continue again (while still being bootstrapped company of almost 90\nstaff with no funding) and if you are interested in helping us scale, and meet\nthe next set of challenges, let’s chat! Hopefully you also have some\nfamiliarity with our tech stack - Python, AngularJS, React, Redux, React\nNative, Cordova, NodeJS, Express, MySQL, Redis, AWS as our main tools day to\nday.\n\nCheck Us Out!\n[http://www.eventmobi.com/careers/](http://www.eventmobi.com/careers/)\n\n------\nindiegamergirl\ndeepstreamHub, Berlin - [https://deepstream.io/](https://deepstream.io/)\n\nWe are looking for a skilled and motivated Junior Fullstack Developer to work\non both the deepstream.io open source server and our upcoming realtime data\nplatform deepstreamHub.com (on-site/fulltime in Berlin).\n\nThe role: \\- Contribute to key architectural decisions \\- Developing stunning\nrealtime frontends and user interfaces \\- Creating the backend components that\npower our architecture \\- Contribute to deepstream.io open source and engage\nwith our growing community \\- Extend the deepstream ecosystem with new\nintegrations and frameworks \\- Develop a platform that scales efficiently \\-\nUse a wide array of realtime technologies and cloud infrastructures\n\nFind out more - [https://deepstreamhub.com/careers/junior-\ndeveloper/](https://deepstreamhub.com/careers/junior-developer/)\n\nCheers!\n\n~~~\ntictactoey\nYou guys provide visa service? please help an american escape this Trump\nnation.\n\n------\njaekwon\nAll in Bits, Inc; aka Tendermint;\n\nSee [http://tendermint.com/jobs](http://tendermint.com/jobs) and Cosmos the\npublic blockchain network [http://cosmos.network](http://cosmos.network)\n\nWe're looking for:\n\n* Cryptocurrency researchers * Cryptographers * Golang programmers * Devops/Sysops\n\n------\npault\niCracked (YC W12) | Redwood City, CA | Full-time | Onsite\n\n[https://www.icracked.com/careers](https://www.icracked.com/careers)\n\niCracked is the world's largest on-demand repair network for iOS and Android\ndevices. We are expanding our engineering team to meet rapidly growing demand,\nand looking for smart and friendly front-end and full stack developers with a\nbreadth of experience. Everyone is given wide latitude and autonomy; see\nsomething that seems a bit off? Fix it and submit a pull request! Our tools\nserve thousands of field technicians and massive traffic to our customer\nportal.\n\nOur stack is React, Node, and a little bit of Hack/PHP, and we utilize Docker\nheavily for our development environments. I am a senior front-end dev on the\nengineering team, so check out our careers page and email me at\nparkera@icracked.com if you are interested in hearing more about our platform\nand how we work!\n\n------\nBillBatw2\nTakkt AG | Digital Entrepreneur | Harrison, OH | Onsite | [http://takkt-\namerica.talentbait.com/j/rotational-program-cor...](http://takkt-\namerica.talentbait.com/j/rotational-program-corporate-digital-entrepreneur)\n\nYou will be part of our top talent program, which is the global task force of\nour best people who will drive our digital transformation worldwide. During\nthis 18-month learning journey you will be equipped step by step with the\nskills you need for your future role within the TAKKT Holding.\n\nThe program is divided into three phases (ideation, validation,\nimplementation) according to which the training & development opportunities\nare designed. In close cooperation with Unternehmer-Schmiede each of those\nthree phases is kicked off with a 1-week workshop for all trainees. Throughout\nthe program you will be closely interacting with the other trainees (Europe &\nUSA) for example during the workshops and while working on group assignments\nthroughout the program.\n\nCheck out our visual job description: [http://takkt-\namerica.talentbait.com/j/rotational-program-cor...](http://takkt-\namerica.talentbait.com/j/rotational-program-corporate-digital-entrepreneur)\n\n------\nsplit\nSplit | [http://www.split.io](http://www.split.io) | Frontend / Backend / Data\nEngineers, Support & Sales Roles | SF/Redwood City/Remote | Full time\n\nAbout Split Split is the platform for controlled rollouts, providing feature\nflagging SDKs in eight distinct languages and a web UI that lets anyone on the\nteam create feature rollouts and target them to the right users. Our customers\nuse Split to run experiments, permanently control features, or even just as a\nsafety net for every release. Our integrations with services like Datadog,\nJIRA and Slack help teams reduce time-to-resolution if things go wrong.\n\nOur stack - Java8, React, Mongo, Aurora, Kinesis.\n\nOur openings are a great chance to join an early team with a solid\nfoundation—we recently raised our series A from Accel Partners, LightSpeed\nVentures and Sway Ventures and have customers like Segment, WePay, and Main\nStreet Hub. Frontend and backend engineers will be a core part of leading the\nplanning, design and building of services to support new features and\nproducts, and our sales and support roles will be key advocates for our\ngrowing customer base.\n\nFor more and to apply:\n[https://jobs.lever.co/split](https://jobs.lever.co/split)\n\n------\nmichelleflynn\n7digital | Developers and Sys Admin | London Onsite\n\n7digital is transforming the listening experience for music fans. Our robust,\nscalable digital music platform and flexible APIs are used to power\ncomprehensive music and radio services.\n\n[http://about.7digital.com/careers](http://about.7digital.com/careers)\n\n------\njetcom\nIterable ([https://iterable.com/](https://iterable.com/)) - San Francisco, CA\n- ONSITE\n\nCome join Iterable. We're 36 people bringing the growth hacking tools that\nconsumer internet companies like Google/Twitter/Facebook build internally to\nother large-scale companies. We aim to build the best user growth engine on\nthe planet. It's crazy how messaging and email usage are changing, but the\ntechnology and capabilities haven't caught up to the 21st century.\n\nOur team of hackers and thinkers is from quant\nfinance/Twitter/Google/Yahoo/Zynga/Khan Academy/Palantir/CMU/MIT/UC Berkeley,\n(we built large parts of Twitter's growth systems). One of our top level goals\nis to build a uniquely fun and growth oriented company culture. Knowledge\nsharing in any capacity is highly valued here — are you interested in\nprediction markets or PGP encryption? Do you enjoy teaching posture techniques\nor purely functional data structures to others? We pair program, design\ntogether, and generally create a learn-and-teach environment here. This is an\nopportunity to join a super-fast growing startup, in a huge market and with a\ngreat team, while it's still early.\n\nIf you're interested in coming on board, you can help with some challenges we\nface:\n\n    \n    \n      - Scale our messaging API\n      - Design and write performant, beautiful, asynchronous interfaces\n      - Write software to build machine learned user models\n      - Make data visualizations for our email and user data\n      - Design an immutable deployment infrastructure for our platform\n\nSome aspects of our culture that make us different:\n\n    \n    \n      - We are all very focused on self improvement\n      - Our company has egalitarian and transparent values (work when you want, on what you want)\n      - We are chill & empathetic people\n      - The company is completely transparent\n\nTechnologies you'll work with:\n\n    \n    \n      - Scala\n      - Elasticsearch\n      - Postgres\n      - Redis\n      - ES6\n      - AngularJS\n      - Play Framework\n      - RabbitMQ\n    \n\nYou'll get to work with us at our new office at 3rd & Harrison in San\nFrancisco. If this sounds like an interesting and fun opportunity for you,\nplease email us at aXRzYXVuaXhzeXN0ZW0raG5AaXRlcmFibGUuY29t or take a look at\nour open positions here:\n[https://iterable.com/company/careers](https://iterable.com/company/careers)\n\n------\nmymuss\nFinMason | System Administrator (Junior to Midlevel) | Boston MA | ONSITE |\nFull-Time\n\nWe are a fintech startup in downtown Boston. This position is responsible for\noperation, maintenance, provisioning, and installation/configuration of\nsystems hardware and software and related infrastructure.\n\nMust be comfortable with Linux and AWS, and be a quick learner.\n\nan1@finmason.com\n\n------\nmanoa\nTuneIn | All types of software engineer and ops jobs | San Francisco, CA and\nLos Angeles, CA | Full-time, ONSITE, [http://tunein.com](http://tunein.com)\n\nSan Francisco, CA - close to Caltrain, across the street from AT&T Park Los\nAngeles, CA - Venice Beach, 2 blocks from Venice Beach Boardwalk\n\nOnsite preferred though we've hired remote folks before. Visa transfers ok and\nwe support new green cards. New visas only if straightforward.\n\nExperienced backend, devops, Android, iOS, and data engineering are our\npriorities right now. Always looking for full stack and/or web devs as well.\n\n[http://tunein.com/careers/](http://tunein.com/careers/)\n\nTuneIn’s mission is to deliver the world’s best listening experiences. We\nachieve this by being the most popular way to listen to streaming audio from\naround the world with more than 60 million monthly active users. Our free\nservice combines over 100,000 free radio stations and more than 5.7 million\non-demand programs stemming from every continent, so our users can listen to\nthe world’s sports, music, news and talk from wherever they are. TuneIn\nPremium encompasses all of that as well as exclusive content, streaming sports\nfrom every major league in the US (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL...), TuneIn Owned and\nOperated stations including curated content, audiobooks, and over 600\ncommercial free music stations. Our users cover iOS, Android, Web, and dozens\nof connected platforms.\n\nOur stacks are built on MySQL, HBase, MSSQL, Redis, DynamoDB, Golang, .NET,\nReact.js, es6, Swift, and a few more. We believe in using the right tool for\nthe job.\n\nWe value being a top-notch engineering organization, and have the same high\nstandards with our code and our people. We hire well-rounded, full-formed,\ncommunicative people whom we can envision being friends with and trusting. We\nmake time for quality, are agile and pragmatic, strive to keep it simple, are\ndata driven, and love getting better. Our projects tend to be 1-2 engineers,\nso trust and accountability are required for us to work - and helps us keep\nprocesses & overhead to a minimum. We've built a robust team and are always\nstriving to be the best place to work we can be.\n\nCheck out our projects and principles on Github here:\n[https://github.com/tunein/engineering/](https://github.com/tunein/engineering/)\n\n------\nyjin\neero ([https://eero.com](https://eero.com)) | San Francisco, CA | Full-time |\nONSITE\n\neero is creating the next generation of wifi for the home.\n\nWe're hiring: \\- Embedded engineers who are interested in making home mesh\nnetworking the safest and easiest thing since sliced bread. \\- Mobile\nengineers to build the apps that match the magic of our networks. \\- Backend\nengineers to build a highly scalable infrastructure for IoT. \\- Data engineers\nto help drive insights about home networks for our customers. \\- Hardware\nengineers who want to build high performing, beautiful devices.\n\nOur stack includes Scala, Java, Akka, C, Python, React, Swift, Go. Apply at\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/eero](https://boards.greenhouse.io/eero) or\nemail me at yahui.jin@eero.com\n\n------\nismail\nZyeLabs.net | Senior Mobile Developer | Johannesburg, South Africa | ONSITE\n[http://www.zyelabs.net](http://www.zyelabs.net)\n\nZyeLabs is a boutique consultancy where we are focus on creating exponential\nvalue for customers using Software, data and Design thinking.\n\nWe believe that by helping companies be more efficient, serve their customers\nbetter and help them solve real problems we can have an exponential impact on\nsociety. You will be part of a passionate team focused on enabling our clients\nto effectively harness the value of technology to create exponential value. We\nuse software, data and design thinking to solve problems for our customers.\n\nYou need to be passionate, open, curious, and someone who loves tackling\ndifficult challenges.\n\nWe value:\n\n\\- Simple solutions over complex ones\n\n\\- Solving real problems and adding real value\n\n\\- Taking action over long winded discussions\n\n\\- Diversity of people, ideas and solutions\n\n\\- Constantly learning\n\nSome of the technologies we use: Hadoop, Apache NiFi, Spark, Ruby, Python,\nJavascript, Java. Having said that, the technology you are familiar with is\nunimportant.\n\nMail me at hnusername @zyelabs.net\n\nor\n\n[https://zyelabs.typeform.com/to/sl7rCS](https://zyelabs.typeform.com/to/sl7rCS)\n\n------\nwklaynman\nJustworks Inc: New York City, NY - Fulltime - Onsite Only - Will relocate\n\nFront-end Engineers - Software Engineers - Security Engineers - Product\nDesigners - Product Managers - Marketing Managers and more!\n\n[http://bit.ly/1NMwpCp](http://bit.ly/1NMwpCp) OR email jobs@justworks.com\n\n------\nsendgridee\nSendGrid is hiring for a Senior Software Engineer!\n[http://grnh.se/2byfw11](http://grnh.se/2byfw11)\n\nmore opportunities at:\n[https://sendgrid.com/careers/](https://sendgrid.com/careers/)\n\n------\njonathanbull\nEmailOctopus | LONDON | ONSITE\n\nWe're a bootstrapped startup offering mail marketing for up to 10x cheaper\nthan MailChimp. Looking for an onsite PHP developer to join us - knowledge of\nAWS essential.\n\n[https://emailoctopus.com](https://emailoctopus.com)\n\nEmail jonathan [@companyname] .com\n\n------\nrscotten\nScaleLab.com | Frontend Developer (ReactJS) | Los Angeles, CA, USA | Full-time\n| Onsite\n\nLooking for mid-level to senior frontend developers with ReactJS (React.JS)\nexperience. Competitive pay.\n\nApply here: [http://bit.ly/2lo7sYW](http://bit.ly/2lo7sYW)\n\n------\n500and4\ntray.io | Senior Frontend Engineer (Mostly React) | London (Shoreditch) |\nOnsite | Full-Time\n\nWe are an ambitious and well-funded startup looking for top engineering talent\nto make connecting software services a breeze. Many software services we use\nevery day are distinctly separate and difficult to use together - we intend to\nfix that. Your role as Senior Frontend Engineer will be to drive the customer\nfacing design and code across the tray.io platform.\n\nWe currently use:\n\n\\- ES6, React, Redux, Node\n\n\\- Babel, Webpack, Jest\n\n\\- Photoshop, SketchTypekit, Google Fonts, FontAwesome, Bulma\n\nUsual benefits apply: Stock, Open holiday policy, Private healthcare, 50% off\ngym membership, Fitbit, Conference budget.\n\nApply: [https://tray-io.workable.com/jobs/23131](https://tray-\nio.workable.com/jobs/23131)\n\n------\njorge_egym\neGym | Berlin and Munich | Senior Java Backend Engineer | ONSITE\n\nWe are pioneers in digitizing gyms and our vision is to make the gym work for\neverybody.\n\nYou want to work in a cloud-based environment with amazing colleagues? Then\njoin us @ eGym.\n\n _get to know various parts of our eGym ecosystem_ design backend\nfunctionality and its architecture * have a say in how to architect your\nsolutions.\n\nAs a Senior Java Backend engineer @ eGym you will work in a cross-functional\nand international team that enjoys a lot of creative freedom and\nresponsibility. Share your passion for functional programming with your\ncolleagues and solve complex problems.\n\n[https://www.egym.com/jobs/department/it](https://www.egym.com/jobs/department/it)\n\n------\nartivest\nArtivest | New York, NY (onsite in Flatiron) | artivest.co We are building a\nbetter and more accessible way to invest into and manage Private Equity and\nHedge Funds. Roles:\n\n    \n    \n      * Midlevel / Senior Back-end Engineers (Python, Django)\n    \n\nApply to jobs@artivest.co\n\n------\njorge_egym\neGym | Berlin and Munich | Senior SRE | ONSITE\n\nwe are pioneers in digitizing gyms and our vision is to make the gym work for\neverybody.\n\nAre you familiar with Docker, Kubernetes, Spinnaker and Ansible? Then eGym is\nthe place to be for you!\n\n* improve the instrumentation and resiliency of our systems * break up our monolithic application intro microservices * grow with diverse and challenging tasks\n\nAs a Senior SRE engineer @ eGym you work in a cross-functional and\ninternational team that enjoys a lot of creative freedom and responsibility.\nShare your passion for functional programming with your colleagues and solve\ncomplex problems.\n\n[https://www.egym.com/jobs/department/it](https://www.egym.com/jobs/department/it)\n\n------\njhmaddox\ntrymya.io | ML Engineers and Python Developers | San Francisco, CA | ONSITE\n\nWe're a Recruiting Automation startup focused on applications of natural\nlanguage understanding. We're hiring Machine Learning/NLP Engineers, Full\nStack Developers and Python generalists to help scale opportunities with\nrecognizable brands and some of the world's largest staffing companies in\n2017.\n\nOur first product is a virtual recruiting bot that screens candidates,\neducates them about the opportunity, delivers assessments, schedules in-person\ninterviews and more.\n\nWe work mostly in Python: Django, rest_framework, socket.io, sklearn, keras\nand tensorflow.\n\nTo apply or learn more, please email '{name}@{site}.com'.format(name='james',\nsite='firstjob')\n\n------\nLockState\nLockState | Senior Software Engineer | Denver, CO | Full-time | Remote\n\nWe are set to be the leading smart lock platform. Join us in building the\nfuture of access control in the cloud.\n\n\\- Ruby\n\n\\- React & React Native\n\n\\- Ansible\n\n\\- Terraform\n\n\\- AWS\n\n\\- gRPC\n\nSmall, close-knit senior dev team consists of Foo (USA), Bar (Brazil), and Baz\n(Croatia).\n\nThis IoT stuff is very fun to work on. And challenging because security.\n\njobs@lockstate.com\n\n------\nrscotten\nScaleLab.com | PHP Developer (Laravel) | Los Angeles, CA, USA | Full-time |\nOnsite\n\nLooking for mid-level to senior PHP developers with Laravel experience.\nCompetitive pay.\n\nApply here: [http://bit.ly/2dgbmhl](http://bit.ly/2dgbmhl)\n\n------\njohnrball\nMansa Gaming| Front End Engineer| Full Time| New York| Onsite\n\nMansa Gaming Ltd is a startup in the iGaming industry. We operate and build\nthe platform for an online casino in European markets. We launched in December\n2015 and have rapidly grown into a profitable company since then with over\n800% revenue growth over the last 6 months.\n\nAs a company, we leverage our founders' past iGaming experience as well as\nSilicon Valley technology background to create a scalable platform and first-\nrate user experience. Our offices are located in New York City and the\nbeautiful island of Malta, heart of the European iGaming industry.\n\nJob Description Our goal is to have a small, closely knit engineering team\nthat is able to have an outsized impact. This means leveraging the latest\ntechnologies and writing easy to maintain code. We prioritize shipping new\nfeatures and product improvements while still building our platform in a way\nwhere we do not become overburdened with technical debt. We want team members\nwho show initiative and take responsibility for the production systems they\nwork on.\n\nYour responsibilities will include: Build both client and server side features\nfor our player facing web app Integrate player facing API with backend\nservices Participate in design and code reviews Collaborate effectively with\ndesigners during implementation Qualifications Expert knowledge of Javascript,\nHTML and CSS A solid understanding of recent Javascript frameworks and tools\n(React, Backbone, Gulp, Less/Sass) Demonstrated design and UX sensibilities\nProficiency in a least of one the following: PHP, Python, Node, Ruby\nExperience with a SQL dialect (e.g. MySQL) Knowledge designing and maintaining\nJSON-based RESTful APIs 2+ years of professional experience Bachelor's degree\nor equivalent\n\n __If you’re looking for a new challenge, enjoy working in a small team, and\nwant to be part of the revolution in iGaming, send us a message to\njohn@grayscalable.com\n\n------\nkooolio22\n[https://www.friendbuy.com/startup-jobs-los-\nangeles/](https://www.friendbuy.com/startup-jobs-los-angeles/) we are hiring\n\n1- Senior Python Software Engineer, Los Angeles\n\n2- JavaScript Frontend Engineer, Los Angeles\n\n------\nhazelnut\neBay | Sr. Android Engineer | Portland or San Jose | ONSITE or REMOTE (US\nonly) | fulltime\n\nWe're an agile team with about 8 devs (iOS and Android). We've got an\nindependent scrum master (yes!). If you join in Portland we've got also beer\non tap.\n\nYou should have at least +3 years experience on Android development. If you\nwant to be part of one of the best rated ecommerce apps just apply here:\n\n[https://ebay.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/apply/job/Portland/Sr-\nAnd...](https://ebay.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/apply/job/Portland/Sr-Android-\nEngineer_R0014069-1?shared_id=191c561e-998f-4d33-8602-f7c34319668c)\n\n------\ncandydev\ndubdub | Software Developer | Toronto, ON | REMOTE, INTERNS, VISA,\n[https://dubdub.com/](https://dubdub.com/)\n\nAt dubdub we are building and scaling a platform that brings every video-based\nstory to life as simply as possible, eliminating the restraints of your mobile\ndevice. No lag. We are a high growth, fast paced, technology company focused\non improving how social influencers create, distribute, and monetize video\ncontent.\n\nWe are looking for iOS, Android & full stack developers.\n\n[https://dubdub.com/careers/](https://dubdub.com/careers/)\n\n~~~\nkunalbansal16\nHow should we apply for intern positions\n\n~~~\ncandydev\nyou can email me: pojha at dubdub.com\n\n------\nbcanzanella\nion interactive | Cambridge, MA | Full Time | ONSITE or REMOTE\n\nion interactive empowers marketing and design teams to produce data-driven,\ninteractive experiences that engage, generate and profile higher quality\nleads.\n\nOPENINGS\n\nSite Reliability Engineer / DevOps:\n[https://ioninteractive.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=29](https://ioninteractive.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=29)\n\nProduct Designer:\n[https://ioninteractive.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=28](https://ioninteractive.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=28)\n\n------\nrealdlee\nBuildZoom (YC Winter 2013) - San Francisco, CA -\n[http://www.buildzoom.com](http://www.buildzoom.com) \\- Full-time - Onsite\nOnly\n\nWe're a remodeling/construction platform that takes the pain out of home\nremodeling and construction projects. We're growing fast (1M+ visitors/month).\nCome join our awesome team in our beautiful office in Soma. We're looking for\ntalented engineers (full-stack, front-end, data, intern).\n\n* [https://www.buildzoom.com/team](https://www.buildzoom.com/team)\n\n* [https://jobs.lever.co/buildzoom](https://jobs.lever.co/buildzoom)\n\nYou can apply directly via the link above, but feel free to ping me directly\nwith questions (dlee at …).\n\n------\ntedster\nEtherbit | India | Remote | Full Time, Part Time\n\nIntro: We build complete software products for our customers.\n\nOpenings:\n\n0\\. Software Developer\n\n* Skills: Angular, JavaScript & Node.js\n\n* Type: Full Time/Part Time\n\n1\\. Blockchain Developer\n\n* Skills: Web3, JavaScript, Node.js, Ethereum & Bitcoin\n\n* Type: Full Time/Part Time\n\nContact: jobs [at] etherbit.io\n\n------\nmagmas\nHotels.com (Expedia, Inc) | London, UK | Multiple Positions - Engineering |\nFull-time, Onsite\n\nWe're hiring at Hotels.com! The online travel market never stands still. The\nopportunity is huge and the competition fierce. At Hotels.com, we’re in the\nthick of it. We live and breathe travel. Our technology team is insanely\npassionate about using the best technology and processes to give our customers\nthe best possible experience finding hotels for their business or leisure\ntravel needs.\n\nOur mission is to revolutionize travel through the power of technology.\n\nWe're currently hiring for multiple engineering vacancies in London. You can\nlearn more and apply direct to us, using the links below:\n\n* Manager, Software Engineering - [https://boolerang.co.uk/job/expedia-manager-software-enginee...](https://boolerang.co.uk/job/expedia-manager-software-engineering/)\n\n* Software Development Manager - [https://boolerang.co.uk/job/expedia-software-development-man...](https://boolerang.co.uk/job/expedia-software-development-manager/)\n\n* Java Developer (Permanent)- [https://boolerang.co.uk/job/hotels-com-core-java-scala-devel...](https://boolerang.co.uk/job/hotels-com-core-java-scala-developer/)\n\n* Java Developer (Contract - £550/day) - [https://boolerang.co.uk/job/hotels-com-contract-java-softwar...](https://boolerang.co.uk/job/hotels-com-contract-java-software-developer/)\n\n* iOS Development Manager - [https://boolerang.co.uk/job/expedia-ios-development-manager/](https://boolerang.co.uk/job/expedia-ios-development-manager/)\n\n* Data Engineer - [https://boolerang.co.uk/job/hotels-com-data-engineer/](https://boolerang.co.uk/job/hotels-com-data-engineer/)\n\n* Contract DevOps Engineer - [https://boolerang.co.uk/job/hotels-com-part-of-expedia-inc-a...](https://boolerang.co.uk/job/hotels-com-part-of-expedia-inc-array-contract-devops-engineer/)\n\nThanks for your time - and best of luck - we can't wait to hear from you! :)\n\n* No recruiters * Applicants must already have permission to work full-time in the UK _\n\n------\npeterfication\nstore2be | Berlin | ONSITE | FULL-TIME\n[https://www.store2be.com](https://www.store2be.com)\n\nThe mission of store2be is to build a global market network that enables\nbrands to book targeted, measurable and scalable live communication events.\n\nTo further improve our web apps for tenants and store owners we are searching\nfor a Javascript/Frontend/React/Redux Developer\n[https://www.store2be.com/de/jobs/tech](https://www.store2be.com/de/jobs/tech)\n\n------\ngallamine\nDistil Networks | SF, DC (Arlington) NC (RDU), London, Stockholm | ONSITE\n(with a few exceptions) | We block bots on the internet.\n\nHey y'all - Distil Networks is a growing startup in the web application\nsecurity industry. We build SaaS that blocks automated threats, like bots and\nscrapers, from attacking our customer’s websites and APIs. This reduces fraud,\ncontent theft, spam, and helps eliminate lots of security issues. We have a\nglobal network that actively blocks web traffic based on human/ non-human\nsignatures. Our customers love us, our investors love us, and we’re growing\nand hiring. We have offices in SF, DC, North Carolina, London, and Sweden! I’m\na data scientist / engineer here and still have a great time. Closing in on 3\nyears for me. I really like all my coworkers (physical and remote) and we have\na near-zero jerk count.\n\nWhat we’re looking for ([https://jobs.lever.co/distilnetworks?lever-\nvia=3TYvimYmGi](https://jobs.lever.co/distilnetworks?lever-via=3TYvimYmGi)):\n\nSpecifically we need:\n\n\\- Data Engineer (please oh please!)\n([https://jobs.lever.co/distilnetworks/b81d473f-b69b-4050-a481...](https://jobs.lever.co/distilnetworks/b81d473f-b69b-4050-a481-78acf8ad5cc9?lever-\nvia=3TYvimYmGi))\n\n\\- Front end engineers\n([https://jobs.lever.co/distilnetworks/85ecd904-11db-4444-91bf...](https://jobs.lever.co/distilnetworks/85ecd904-11db-4444-91bf-a327b3b25fc5?lever-\nvia=3TYvimYmGi))\n\n\\- Engineering Manager\n([https://jobs.lever.co/distilnetworks/38019be7-7d8a-4d70-83af...](https://jobs.lever.co/distilnetworks/38019be7-7d8a-4d70-83af-8e838bef7983))\n\n\\- Senior full stack devs\n([https://jobs.lever.co/distilnetworks/b8ee33fb-5a15-400c-a51a...](https://jobs.lever.co/distilnetworks/b8ee33fb-5a15-400c-a51a-9cda20277d88?lever-\nvia=3TYvimYmGi))\n\n\\- Product manager - Data Vis\n([https://jobs.lever.co/distilnetworks/d278ca16-8256-449e-a0dd...](https://jobs.lever.co/distilnetworks/d278ca16-8256-449e-a0dd-84b9050bd5dd))\n\n\\- Support engineer (Arlington)\n[https://jobs.lever.co/distilnetworks/b53c1890-d4e7-4149-bea6...](https://jobs.lever.co/distilnetworks/b53c1890-d4e7-4149-bea6-8deed39c437f)\n\n\\- Software engineer\n([https://jobs.lever.co/distilnetworks/c2a5db5c-12ce-40f2-949c...](https://jobs.lever.co/distilnetworks/c2a5db5c-12ce-40f2-949c-48510acf7fa1))\n\nMany of these jobs have openings in multiple locations.\n\nWe’re also hiring for Marketing, Recruiting, Finance, and Sales! Basically\neverything.\n\n~~~\nkprybol\nI keep looking for another data science spot to open up in Raleigh. Wish I\ncould have taken advantage of the openings when your office first opened up\nbut was terrible timing on my end (really enjoyed interviewing though). Also\ngot to meet Tim not too long ago at PyData Carolinas and he's awesome.\n\n------\ncwik\nCaseWare | Toronto, Canada | Full-time | Multiple Positions | Onsite\n\nWe are looking for experienced developers to help us build our next generation\nof cloud services.\n\nCaseWare is the dominant provider of mission-critical accounting and auditing\nsoftware used by domestic and global accounting firms and a leading provider\nof auditing software to governments, tax authorities and corporations.\n\nWe’re actively hiring for the following positions:\n\nDevOps Engineer\n\nServer Developer (Java)\n\nData Platform Developer (Java, Scala, Apache Spark)\n\nOur stack: Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, Java, Scala, Apache Spark, TypeScript,\nAngular 2. If you have experience with any of these let’s talk!\n\nMention ‘HN’ in your application at\n[https://www.caseware.com/careers/](https://www.caseware.com/careers/)\n\n------\nmelaniet\nPeriscope Data | San Francisco, ONSITE |\n[https://www.periscopedata.com/](https://www.periscopedata.com/)\n\n* Senior Full Stack Engineer (Ruby, Go, CoffeeScript): [http://bit.ly/2iBwa6l](http://bit.ly/2iBwa6l)\n\nPeriscope is the fastest, most powerful data analysis suite on the market.\nIt's the platform of choice for professional analysts, who spend 5+ hours a\nday using the product. We're growing revenue about 10X per year, while growing\nthe team about 4X per year.\n\nIf you have a proven track record of delivering results and shipping great\nproducts, we would love to meet you!\n\nJoin our team of 76: Email melanie@periscopedata.com\n\n------\npbh101\nIMC | Chicago, IL | Full-time, INTERNS | ONSITE | Software Engineer, FPGA\nEngineer\n\nWe are actively hiring talented engineers to grow our trading operations\nacross the world. Entry-level, junior, and experienced. For intern/entry-level\nsoftware roles, prior experience in Java or C++ helpful but not strictly\nnecessary. Also actively hiring entry-level, intermediate, and senior FPGA\nengineers. Prior financial industry knowledge helpful but by no means\nrequired.\n\nWe are building, optimizing, and scaling high-frequency trading systems. It's\nfun and challenging. We have a very open and collaborative culture and you\nwill find yourself working closely with traders, quants, network and system\nengineers, and other devs. We release code nightly and generally have a quick\niteration loop: your 'clients' are frequently the coworkers sitting next to\nyou, so you can work closely together to get to a solution. You'll learn a\nlot, and hopefully we'll learn a lot from you :)\n\nI lead our dev onboarding team where we focus on getting you the knowledge and\ninsight to be effective at IMC. Despite kicking up our growth rate, we regard\na highly interactive and in-depth training and mentoring process to be\ncritical to our growth. A typical day finds me reviewing a lot of code and\ndiscussing design and implementation with the rest of the team, as well as\nfostering the onboardees' relationships with the rest of the organization.\n\nINTERNSHIPS: We’ve found the best and most educational internship experiences\ncome from working on production code. Our interns spend the summer working\nwith our full-time software developers on their projects. Learn a ton from\nreal code reviews and find out how building software together in a continuous-\ndelivery environment is different from typical one-off homework assignments.\n\nIMC is a leading derivatives market-marker with offices across the world and\nwas founded in Amsterdam in 1989. [https://www.imc.com](https://www.imc.com)\n\nApply for internships and entry-level (“graduate”) positions at\n[https://www.imc.com/us/careers/graduates/](https://www.imc.com/us/careers/graduates/).\n\nApply for all roles at\n[https://www.imc.com/us/careers/](https://www.imc.com/us/careers/).\n\nInterview process: online technical assessments, phone and onsite interviews.\n\nIf you have specific questions for me, my email is in the profile (put HNJOB\nin the subject line).\n\n------\njawspeak\nSquare: Developer Platform, San Francisco | Full Time | ONSITE | VISA\nsponsorship or transfer OK.\n\nThis is our team: Developer Platform. We are hiring!\n[https://www.squareup.com/developers](https://www.squareup.com/developers).\nSee all the roles [https://careers.smartrecruiters.com/Square/dev-\nplatform](https://careers.smartrecruiters.com/Square/dev-platform)\n\nServer Engineers - we use mostly Go and create the platform that makes Square\na Platform, we also own several products, and are releasing many new\nprimitives for devs to build businesses on top of Square -\n[https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/Square/98588966-software-\nen...](https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/Square/98588966-software-engineer-\ndeveloper-platform-server-?trid=f80091b6-bea0-4fe3-a8f1-2a732fb8bec8)\n\nFrontend Engineers - owning eCommerce API for websites to accept payments (and\ndo card on file) without PCI effort, dev experience, dev portal, and new not-\nyet-released products!\n[https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/Square/103395733-software-e...](https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/Square/103395733-software-\nengineer-developer-platform-front-\nend-?trid=f80091b6-bea0-4fe3-a8f1-2a732fb8bec8)\n\niOS Engineers - opening up Square's Hardware, so anyone can build their own\nPoint of Sale, plus new not-yet-released products! -\n[https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/Square/103700303-software-e...](https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/Square/103700303-software-\nengineer-developer-platform-ios-?trid=f80091b6-bea0-4fe3-a8f1-2a732fb8bec8)\n\nAndroid Engineers - also opening up Square's Hardware -\n[https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/Square/100837077-software-e...](https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/Square/100837077-software-\nengineer-developer-platform-\nandroid-?trid=f80091b6-bea0-4fe3-a8f1-2a732fb8bec8)\n\nProduct Managers - help craft the vision how to convert Square from a product\ncompany into a platform company. We have PMs in Mobile, Growth/Dev Experience,\nServer, and possibly another group.\n[https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/Square/103979850-product-\nma...](https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/Square/103979850-product-manager-\ndeveloper-platform?trid=f80091b6-bea0-4fe3-a8f1-2a732fb8bec8)\n\nInterview process is a phone screen or two, then onsite, then offer.\n\n~~~\nmalhaar\nThis is very exciting! Thanks for sharing!\n\n------\nOmninternet\nTextio | Seattle | Full-Time | On-Site\n\nMy name is Max and I'm working at Textio to change how people write. We\npredict how your writing will perform based on previous real-world results\nfrom similar documents. We have some of the largest companies in the world as\ncustomers, and we're hiring engineers across the board to help us solve hard\nproblems.\n\nI love working here, and I'm pretty sure you will too. We have a tight-knit,\nfriendly, and experienced team, an incredible product, and a bright future.\n\nAll Textio careers -\n[https://textio.com/careers/](https://textio.com/careers/)\n\nCheck out our team - [https://textio.com/team/](https://textio.com/team/)\n\nVP of Engineering - [https://textio.com/careers/vp-\nengineering.html](https://textio.com/careers/vp-engineering.html)\n\nBackend Software Engineer - [https://textio.com/careers/se-\nbackend.html](https://textio.com/careers/se-backend.html)\n\nFrontend Software Engineer -\n[https://textio.com/careers/frontend.html](https://textio.com/careers/frontend.html)\n\nFull Stack Software Engineer - [https://textio.com/careers/full-\nstack.html](https://textio.com/careers/full-stack.html)\n\nSenior Backend Software Engineer - [https://textio.com/careers/sse-\nbackend.html](https://textio.com/careers/sse-backend.html)\n\nSenior Frontend Software Engineer - [https://textio.com/careers/senior-\nfrontend.html](https://textio.com/careers/senior-frontend.html)\n\nSenior Full Stack Software Engineer - [https://textio.com/careers/senior-full-\nstack.html](https://textio.com/careers/senior-full-stack.html)\n\nSenior NLP Software Engineer - [https://textio.com/careers/sr-engineer-\nnlp.html](https://textio.com/careers/sr-engineer-nlp.html)\n\nSoftware Engineer Intern - [https://textio.com/careers/software-engineer-\nintern.html](https://textio.com/careers/software-engineer-intern.html)\n\n~~~\ngoldfishcaura\nHey Max,\n\nLike the product. This is going to be big!\n\nNot interested in a job, but would love to get to know your team better. I\nthink there might be some alignment. Anyways, you can check out what I do\nhere: [https://www.caura.co](https://www.caura.co)\n\n------\nZilroy\niDevices | SDK tester | 1-mo contract | REMOTE\n\niDevices is looking for a Software contractor to work with us for 3-4 weeks.\n\nResponsibilities:\n\n\\- This person will be writing test scripts for the SDK. \\- Must be\ncomfortable in either Mac OS X or FreeBSD environment. \\- The test cases are\ndocumented and need to be coded.\n\nRequirements: \\- 5 years experience with C \\- Familiarity with\nEmbedded/Firmware programming, UDP, sockets and networking; \\- Experience with\nunit and functional test harnesses\n\nPleae reply to cccqf-5985238531@job.craigslist.org\n\n------\nivanzhao\n. ==================== Notion – San Francisco ====================\n\n\"We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us\" The goal is to\ndemocratize software. Quite a shame that 30 years into personal computing, an\naverage person's interaction still caps at word-processing. We'd like to\nchange that. A beautiful loft/artist office in the Mission. Best investors out\nthere. You will be part of a small and talented team. You need to be able to\nmake things and think conceptually.\n\n[https://notion.so/why](https://notion.so/why)\n\n------\njanpaul123\nRemix (YC W15) | Backend, full-stack, algorithm engineers, and more | San\nFrancisco | ONSITE, VISA\n\nJoin us in building a real-life SimCity.\n\nToday, cities use pen and paper to make planning decisions that affect\nmillions of people's lives. We think there's a better way. We've built a web-\nbased platform that helps city planners make much smarter decisions.\n\nGrown out of a side project at Code for America, we're now working with 150+\ncities including Atlanta, Sydney, Boston, Miami, San Francisco, Reykjavik, and\nSeattle. All in just two years. Learn more about our product at\n[http://remix.com](http://remix.com).\n\nWe’re looking for engineers across our stack to write robust code that drives\nthe world’s first transit planning platform. We use:\n\n\\- Mapping: OpenStreetMap, Mapbox, Mapzen, Leaflet, TWKB, GTFS, PostGIS,\nogr2ogr\n\n\\- Back-end: Ruby, Rails, Python, Flask, PuLP, COIN-OR Branch and Cut solver\n(CBC), Cython, Sidekiq, PostgreSQL, Redis\n\n\\- Front-end: React, Webpack (with Hot Module Replacement), ES6/Babel, LESS,\nCSS Modules, Yarn\n\n\\- Testing: CircleCI, RSpec, Approvals, WebMock, puffing-billy, Capybara,\nJasmine, Happo, Browserstack, Overcommit, Codecov (>75% coverage front+back-\nend)\n\nYou’ll work on (for example):\n\n\\- The scheduling algorithm that turns a Remix map into work sheets for bus\ndrivers ([https://blog.remix.com/an-intro-to-integer-programming-\nfor-e...](https://blog.remix.com/an-intro-to-integer-programming-for-\nengineers-simplified-bus-scheduling-bd3d64895e92))\n\n\\- Visualisations for use in public meetings, such as the “Jane” (Jacobs)\nisochrones tool ([https://blog.remix.com/remixs-isochrone-visualizes-travel-\nti...](https://blog.remix.com/remixs-isochrone-visualizes-travel-\ntime-e703b9f929d8))\n\n\\- Our geo-database of open data (transit and census) and privacy-sensitive\ndata\n\n\\- Live-updating costing models and simulations\n\n\\- Our demographics tool that helps transit agencies serve their communities\nequitably (per the Civil Rights Act of 1964)\n\nGo to [http://remix.com/jobs](http://remix.com/jobs) to apply and to see all\nour openings (design, data, sales, customer success, etc). We are committed to\na workplace that reflects the community we serve. We especially encourage\nwomen, people of color, and others who are underrepresented in the tech\nindustry to apply.\n\n------\ndrichelson\nLaunchDarkly - ONSITE in Oakland, California. Not currently hiring remotes\nworkers Unable to sponsor visas at the moment.\n\nPosting as an engineer who has been working here one year. This is a fantastic\nteam and product. The business is very healthy- not just good growth, but very\nsatisfied customers who are sticking around.\n\n[https://jobs.lever.co/launchdarkly](https://jobs.lever.co/launchdarkly)\n\nEng interview process: Offsite coding task that we discuss in person when\nyou're here + other technical and cultural chats.\n\n------\nbbabenko\nOrbital Insight\n([http://www.orbitalinsight.com](http://www.orbitalinsight.com)) | Palo Alto,\nCA | Full-time | On-site\n\nOrbital Insight is a Geospatial Big Data company leveraging the rapidly\ngrowing availability of satellite, UAV, and other geospatial data sources. Our\ngoal is to understand and characterize useful trends at global, regional, and\nhyper­local scales. Backed by top tier VCs, including Sequoia, Google\nVentures, and Bloomberg Beta, we build products that have never existed\nbefore, and could not exist without the ongoing proliferation of rich\ngeospatial data sources, computer vision & deep learning, and inexpensive\ncloud computing.\n\nWe are looking for:\n\nComputer vision / Deep learning engineers:\n[https://orbitalinsight.com/careers/computer-vision-\nengineer/](https://orbitalinsight.com/careers/computer-vision-engineer/)\n\nGeneralist / full-stack software engineers:\n[https://orbitalinsight.com/careers/core-software-\nengineer/](https://orbitalinsight.com/careers/core-software-engineer/)\n[https://orbitalinsight.com/careers/software-engineering-\nlead...](https://orbitalinsight.com/careers/software-engineering-lead/)\n\nSome press about us and the overall GIS ecosystem:\n\n[https://techcrunch.com/2016/06/27/orbital-insight-\nlands-20-m...](https://techcrunch.com/2016/06/27/orbital-insight-\nlands-20-million-from-investors-led-by-gv/) (our recent B-round)\n\n[https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/china-may-\nbe...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/china-may-be-\nstockpiling-more-oil-than-anyone-\nrealized/2016/09/29/69492224-85e4-11e6-a3ef-f35afb41797f_story.html)\n\n[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/07/23/stunn...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/07/23/stunning-\nsatellite-images-make-us-look-at-nature-north-korea-and-chipotle-as-never-\nbefore/)\n\n[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-07-08/satellite-...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-07-08/satellite-\nimages-show-economies-growing-and-shrinking-in-real-time)\n\n------\nccheever\nExponent | Software Developer | Palo Alto, CA | ONSITE, INTERNS, FULL-TIME |\n[https://getexponent.com](https://getexponent.com)\n\nExponent lets web developers build truly native apps that work across both iOS\nand Android by writing them once in just JavaScript. It's open source and free\nand uses React Native. Several of our engineers are core contributors to React\nNative, and we regularly collaborate with Facebook and other companies on the\ndirection of the framework.\n\nOur technology is built around an Android/iOS application which allows\ndevelopers to load their JavaScript projects on the fly with no native build\ndependencies or waiting period for store deployment. Out of the box,\ndevelopers using Exponent get access to native mobile APIs like push\nnotifications, camera, maps, and more\n([https://docs.getexponent.com/versions/v13.0.0/sdk/index.html](https://docs.getexponent.com/versions/v13.0.0/sdk/index.html)).\n\nWe have a lot of irons in the fire, and we're looking for engineers who can\ncomfortably own and work on multiple projects. We're also interested in\nhosting some interns for Summer 2017. Some examples of recent projects at\nExponent:\n\n* Creating cross-platform APIs (like our new WebGL implementation) that provide developers native mobile functionality within JavaScript\n\n* Building our not-yet-released JSFiddle for mobile apps\n\n* Designing and implementing a community front-end to explore applications built on Exponent\n\n* Building the foundation of a scalable infrastructure to host our take on a new mobile web\n\nSome projects that are underway or on the horizon for us:\n\n* Rethinking developer tooling for React Native projects\n\n* Greatly expanding the functionality available in our SDK's API\n\n* Improved monitoring and alerting for our infrastructure\n\n* Increasing our test coverage and improving overall reliability\n\nSome buzzwords:\n\nReact Native, JavaScript (ES6/ES7, Flow), Android, iOS, Node.js, Electron, Go,\nKubernetes, Google Cloud.\n\nWe don't expect candidates to already be proficient in these, but it's what\nwe're currently using day-to-day.\n\nPlease send an email to jobs@getexponent.com and mention this post if you'd\nlike to start a conversation with us. Definitely include links to applicable\nresources: resume/CV, your blog, GitHub profile, recent projects or open\nsource contributions, etc. Typical interviews with us include remote pairing,\nsmall take-home projects (1-2 hours), and we usually finish with some more\ntraditional in-person interviews.\n\n~~~\nthepredestrian\nI get an error message when sending to the email; is there an alternative\ncontact?\n\n~~~\ndikaiosune\nIf you write to support@getexponent.com, it will get to the right people until\nwe resolve that. Sorry!\n\nEDIT: The jobs@getexponent.com email has been fixed.\n\n------\nrichardaj\nPingman Tools | Boise, ID | ONSITE | Full-time | Senior Software Developer,\nC#, ASP.NET, Win, macOS, iOS, Android, Xamarin, Cloud\n\nYou love building and architecting great products, playing with new\ntechnologies, and learning something new every day. You can find several\nsolutions to any problem. You love to celebrate accomplishments - and you live\nto celebrate often. You are \"one\" with C based languages (C#, C++, Java,\nObjective-C, Perl, Python, JavaScript) and are ready to embrace C# as your\ntool of choice. You're eager to turn your knowledge into a user experience\nthat everyone admires. You're currently looking for more challenge, more\nflexibility, more responsibility or more fun at work.\n\nWe're a small team based in downtown Boise, ID (near the river, greenbelt, 10\ngreat lunch spots, and as many great bars), and we're looking for a quick,\nmentally energetic software developer to join our growing team. We've been\nbuilding great network troubleshooting tools for years, and have a whole pile\nof new releases and great projects that need your help. We have earned\nthousands of happy and enthusiastic customers from every major aerospace and\nbroadband provider to gamers worldwide. We're taking a proven product and\nscaling it to meet the needs of more users on whatever platform they use.\nThere's a lot of territory to cover and lots of places for you to contribute\nbased on your strengths.\n\nIf you think you're a fit with us then check out more about us at:\n\n[https://www.pingman.com](https://www.pingman.com)\n\nThen send a brief resume with an introduction letter to:\n\nednamode@pingman.com\n\nYou will receive a simple e-mail challenge, then we will have \"get to know\neach other\" phone call which is followed by a on-site interview and code test\nfor the best candidates. And we hope you are one!\n\nAbout Pingman Tools At Pingman Tools, our goal is to make network\ntroubleshooting suck less. We help individuals and companies \"See the network,\npinpoint the problem\", including gamers, VoIP users, stock traders, ISPs,\nASPs, and anyone that uses or provides network service. We have a fun and\nfocused gang of sharp, diverse, hard-working individuals growing our brand and\ntools in an environment of respect, passion, and ongoing amusement. We are a\nBoise, Idaho-based company, growing with new products, services, and team\nmembers. If you're looking to help make a difference in a company,\narchitecting and developing existing and new software in .NET/Xamarin (in\naddition to a host of other technologies), our downtown Boise, ID office may\nbe a great place for you.\n\n------\nKashee\nWork with deepstreamHub GmbH in Berlin, Full time - Onsite.\n\nWe are looking for a technical writer/in-house tech journalist to work closely\nwith both the communications and engineering teams.\n\nFor more information click below:\n\n([https://deepstreamhub.com/careers/technical-\nwriter/](https://deepstreamhub.com/careers/technical-writer/))\n\n------\nlechuckcaptain\nFresenius Medical Care | Software developer | Vaiano Cremasco, Milan (Italy) |\nONSITE, FULLTIME,\n[http://www.freseniusmedicalcare.com](http://www.freseniusmedicalcare.com)\n\nFresenius Medical Care, world’s leading provider of products and services for\npeople with chronic kidney failure, has an immediate opening for a Software\ndeveloper. We are seeking a talented .NET developer to join our team of\nSoftware developer based in Vaiano Cremasco (Italy).\n\nYou will be responsible for building .NET application using C# + Microsoft SQL\nServer. Technologies includes WPF and WCF. The focus is to the full\napplication stack including front-end, back-end and database development. Your\nprimary responsibility will be to design and develop these layers of our\napplications, and to coordinate with the rest of the team working on different\nlayers of the infrastructure. Team is working using agile methodologies\n(SCRUM-BUT). A commitment to collaborative problem solving, sophisticated\ndesign is a must. The application is a Medical Device software class I, where\nquality is essential and where is needed to follow all Medical Device related\nIEC standards.\n\nSkills:\n\n• Strong knowledge of .NET framework\n\n• Proficient in C# with a good knowledge of their ecosystems\n\n• Strong knowledge of Microsoft SQL Server T-SQL language\n\n• Familiarity with Microsoft SQL Server basic administration skills\n\n• Understanding of Windows Communication Foundation\n\n• Strong understanding of object-oriented programming\n\n• Skill for writing reusable libraries and components\n\n• Familiar with various design and architectural patterns\n\n• Knowledge of concurrency patterns\n\n• Familiarity with Windows Presentation Framework\n\n• Knack for writing clean, readable, and easily maintainable code\n\n• Understanding of Common Language Runtime (CLR), its limitations, weaknesses,\nand workarounds\n\n• Proficient understanding of Microsoft Team Foundation System\n\n• Knowledge of Web development is also preferred but not strictly required\n\n• Fluent in English, Italian would be a plus\n\nExperience:\n\n• C# + Microsoft SQL Server professional use minimum of 5 years\n\n• Experience implementing automated testing platforms and unit tests\n\nOther information: Location: Vaiano Cremasco (Italy) Willingness to travel up\nto 10% of the time\n\nEmail me (marco.pagliari) at (fmc-ag.com) with your resume and a brief\nintroduction.\n\n------\njohnrball\nNamely | Senior Product Designer | New York, NY - Full Time\n\nAs Senior Product Designer, you will work collaboratively with engineers,\nproduct managers, stakeholders, and other designers. You’ll have direct impact\non Namely’s business through design ownership of every aspect of Namely’s\nplatform (think payroll, benefits, performance, mobile, social, and many more\nways to build a better HR platform). You will be integral in solving problems\nand building tools for our clients that innovate and improve the user\nexperience on our platform.\n\nResponsibilities: * Collaborate with Product Managers, engineers, and other\nmembers of the design team to create user-centered design solutions for\nNamely’s products * Conduct user research, testing, analysis to drive design\ndecisionsOwn the end-to-end design process, from wireframes to high-fidelity\nmockups, and the implementation of those designs with front-end engineers *\nExecute simple and beautiful design that combines intuitive UX with fine\nvisual details into a cohesive product that’s so good, you can’t help but brag\nabout it (even though you’re typically a pretty humble person) * Help define\nand execute a style guide for the entire platform’s UI * Demonstrate and\ncommunicate designs across departments and stakeholders with clarity and\nconviction. And other cool words that start with “C.” * Grow your design chops\nin a collaborative team bursting with talented product designers\n\nRequirements: * A strong understanding of user-centered design methods and\nprinciples * Ability to prioritize and work effectively on multiple projects\nin a collaborative team of designers, product managers, and developers *\nFluency in Sketch, Zeplin, and prototyping with a tool such as Invision * 3-5\nyears of experience as a user experience designer, interaction designer, or\nsimilar UX-related role with accompanying experience in visual/graphic design\n* Strong ability to communicate your design vision through verbal and written\nexplanation, sketching, or quick mock ups to small or large groups, from\ndesigners to executives * A tendency to roll your eyes when job descriptions\nuse words like \"rock star designer\", \"intuitive design sensibility”, or\n\"expert in Photoshop\" since, you know, duh\n\nNice to Have: * Experience working on SAAS products, or products in the HR\nspace * Experience designing analytical dashboards and/or data visualizations\n\nIf you have a natural inclination to simplify and bring order to complex data\nsets this is your chance.\n\nPlease feel free to reach out to me directly at john@grayscalable.com\n\n[https://www.namely.com/jobs/?gh_jid=564142](https://www.namely.com/jobs/?gh_jid=564142)\n\n------\nfazanhabib\nDevOps Engineer | Automation Logic | Permanent | ONSITE\n\nPlease view company careers page for more details\n\n------\nNaveg\nAlloy | San Francisco, CA and Vancouver, BC | Full-time, Onsite |\n[https://alloy.ai](https://alloy.ai)\n\nOver $20 trillion worth of goods are manufactured, transported, and sold each\nyear - the things we use, wear and eat every day. The global supply chain is\none the world's largest economic engines, but it struggles to keep up with its\nown complexity.\n\nThe manufacturers, distributors, and retailers that make up this complex\nnetwork are limited by the information they posses. They struggle to track and\nrespond to supply and demand as their product travels from production to\nconsumer. Those who try rely on 40-year-old data standards, lots of manual\nExcel work, and hordes of human middleware.\n\nAt Alloy, we’re set to change all this. We provide the first comprehensive,\nlow-latency view of demand and inventory across all distribution channels. Our\nplatform connects manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and retailers,\nallowing companies to track their products down to the store shelf and better\nrespond to end-consumer demand.\n\nWe are post-revenue, well funded by leading VCs, and winning contracts from\nwell known brands. Our small team has diverse backgrounds and experience in\nanalytics, large-scale enterprise SaaS, and retail and financial technology.\nCulture really matters to us: we value diversity in all forms and strive to\nfoster integrity, respect, and open communication.\n\nWe're committed to make enterprise software inspiring. We use Google Cloud\nPlatform, Postgres, Redis, Python, Java and React, all wrapped in strong\ndesign.\n\n== About You ==\n\nYou thrive in a small team where you can build technology from the ground up.\nYou love to pick up new tech, get good at it fast and do something creative\nwith it.\n\nYou don’t shy away from even the most challenging problems and are relentless\nin always looking for better solutions. You are self-motivated and enjoy\nworking with others towards a common objective. Building software is the means\nto an end: you want to change the way an entire industry operates.\n\nAs an engineer at Alloy, you’ll do any or all of the following:\n\n* Model parts of the supply chain and develop features that bring them together\n\n* Automate the collection, parsing, and storage of huge volumes of data\n\n* Design a flexible but blazing-fast analytics framework that powers instant insights\n\n* Build beautiful, easy-to-use apps that our customers love to use\n\n* Dive into server provisioning, deployment, automation, and monitoring\n\nWe would love to hear from you - send me a note at evan@alloy.ai\n\n~~~\nkylepdm\nHow big is the Vancouver office?\n\n------\nacketon\nBoston University | Lead Designer | Boston, MA USA\n\nInteractive Design is a piece of Boston University’s award-winning Creative\nServices group. We are looking for both designers and developers.\n\nCurrently hiring: Lead Designer, Web Developer II, Web Producer.\n\nLead Designer: If you’re passionate, conscientious and love to concept,\ndesign, prototype, test, & launch interactive projects from large websites to\neditorial stories to mobile applications, this is a place for you. You’ll work\nclosely with a team of copywriters, project managers, photographers, and\ndevelopers while ensuring the project meets high standards of quality and\naddresses the client’s strategic goals. All while being around some really\nnice people.\n\nWhat you’ll do:\n\nYou’ll work on designing interactive projects of many different sizes and\ncomplexities. For some of our largest, and most immersive projects you’ll take\nthe lead and create great sites like the College of Communications\n([http://www.bu.edu/com](http://www.bu.edu/com)), or Questrom School of\nBusiness ([http://www.bu.edu/questrom](http://www.bu.edu/questrom)). You’ll\ndesign stories like this one about searching for new physics at the LHC\n([http://www.bu.edu/research/articles/new-physics-large-\nhadron...](http://www.bu.edu/research/articles/new-physics-large-hadron-\ncollider-cern/)) or explain climate change lessons from Venice\n([http://www.bu.edu/bostonia/fall14/lessons-from-\nvenice/](http://www.bu.edu/bostonia/fall14/lessons-from-venice/)).\n\n* Participate in all aspects of the interactive design process: Information Architecture, Wireframing, Prototyping, User Experience, Visual Design, and Frontend markup.\n\n* Collaborate with developers to build complex functionality.\n\n* Supervise the work of collaborating team members to ensure that client and institutional branding objectives are achieved;\n\n* Maintain a state-of-the-art understanding of current and emerging tools and technology.\n\n* Design both small to large university sites and longform, highly interactive, narrative editorial stories for several in-house editorial channels.\n\n* Create great design, while still having a life beyond the office.\n\nSee full descriptions and apply: [http://www.bu.edu/interactive-design/join-\nour-team/](http://www.bu.edu/interactive-design/join-our-team/)\n\n------\nrtfeldman\nNoRedInk | Front-end, Backend, Infrastructure Engineer | San Francisco, CA |\nREMOTE Pacific Time (PST) to Central European Time (CET)\n\nWe’re an ed-tech company on a mission to help all students become strong\nwriters! Our team may be small, but NoRedInk is used by 1 in 3 school\ndistricts in the US, and students have answered over 2 billion questions on\nour platform.\n\nWe’re a group of friendly people who listen to and learn from each other. We\ndiscuss past mistakes openly so we can adapt our processes to the challenges\nthat come with progress. Puns flow freely across our San Francisco office as\nwell as on Slack, and we have remote engineers spanning six different time\nzones.\n\nOur engineering team [1] prides itself on code quality and innovation. We use\nthe cutting-edge Elm programming language for all our new front-end code, and\nhave been migrating legacy React code to Elm as well. We started with Ruby on\nRails on our backend, and have lately been working to introduce Elixir to our\nstack. You can read about our experiences with these technologies on our team\nblog! [2]\n\nIn addition to spending work hours open-sourcing useful libraries we develop\n[3], we also invest financially in open source. We hired the creator of Elm,\nEvan Czaplicki, to develop Elm full time. [4] Evan discusses his plans for the\nlanguage with the team every week, periodically pairs with other engineers on\nElm, and cracks up members of the sales team with his lunchtime jokes.\n\nWe use Amazon AWS for our infrastructure and automate all of our deployments\nusing OpsWorks and Chef. We write a lot of tests, and use Jenkins for\ncontinuous integration. Our process for new features begins with our product\nteam and in-house visual designer, continues with a GitHub pull request from a\nfeature branch into master, and ends with our in-house QA specialist trying to\nbreak it before it reaches production.\n\nWe’re hiring both engineers who have been around the block many times, as well\nas those who started their careers just a couple years ago. We’re looking for\nengineers who want to work on a mission that makes a difference and who are\nthe type of collaborators that value kindness and open-mindedness, over\nconvincing the group they’re right.\n\nYou can learn more about what to expect through blog posts about our interview\nprocess [5] and on-boarding experience [6].\n\nIf you’re interested, please apply through our jobs page!\n[https://www.noredink.com/jobs](https://www.noredink.com/jobs)\n\n[1] [https://www.noredink.com/about/team](https://www.noredink.com/about/team)\n[2] [http://tech.noredink.com/](http://tech.noredink.com/) [3]\n[https://github.com/NoRedInk/](https://github.com/NoRedInk/) [4]\n[http://tech.noredink.com/post/136615783598/welcome-\nevan](http://tech.noredink.com/post/136615783598/welcome-evan) [5]\n[http://tech.noredink.com/post/145260396603/our-\nengineering-h...](http://tech.noredink.com/post/145260396603/our-engineering-\nhiring-process) [6] [http://tech.noredink.com/post/143787279069/on-boarding-\nas-a-...](http://tech.noredink.com/post/143787279069/on-boarding-as-a-new-\nremote-engineer-think-about)\n\n------\ndanbenjs\nJane Street | Software Developer | New York, London, Hong Kong | ONSITE, FULL-\nTIME, INTERNS, VISA, [http://www.janestreet.com](http://www.janestreet.com)\n\nJane Street is a quantitative trading firm with a focus on technology, a\nscientific approach, and a deep understanding of the markets. We are a global\nliquidity provider and market maker, operating around the clock and around the\nglobe, employing over 500 people in our offices in New York, London and Hong\nKong.\n\nIt’s no secret that we’re big believers in functional programming; OCaml, a\nstatically typed functional language, is our primary development platform.\nJane Street’s technology group is small by design, which means we need to\nmaximize the productivity of each person we hire. We believe functional\nprogramming (and specifically, OCaml) helps us do that. But it’s not about\nproductivity alone: programming in a rich and expressive language like OCaml\nis just more fun. We’re also happy to spend time and money on making it easier\nfor the people here to get things done. This ranges from big projects, like\nthe work we do on development tools (e.g. Iron, our in-house code review and\nrelease management system, and Merlin, a tool for providing IDE-like features\nfor OCaml), to little touches, like getting people whatever crazy keyboard\nwill help them get their work done most comfortably.\n\nWant to see some of our code? Visit Open Source @ Jane Street\n([https://janestreet.github.io/](https://janestreet.github.io/)), where you'll\nfind several OCaml libraries that we've released into the wild. These form the\nbasis for all of our software, and we hope they make life better for some non-\nJane-Street OCaml developers as well.\n\nIf you're not yet convinced, feel free to poke around our benefits page\n([https://www.janestreet.com/culture/benefits/](https://www.janestreet.com/culture/benefits/)).\nIf you ARE convinced and want some insight into our interview process, check\nout [https://blogs.janestreet.com/interviewing-at-jane-\nstreet/](https://blogs.janestreet.com/interviewing-at-jane-street/). Or just\ndrop us a resume at [https://www.janestreet.com/join-jane-\nstreet/apply/](https://www.janestreet.com/join-jane-street/apply/).\n\nWe’re looking for people with:\n\n    \n    \n      - Top-notch programming skills (no OCaml or FP experience necessary!)\n      - Strong interpersonal skills. Most work at Jane Street is highly collaborative,\n        and we are looking for people who can work effectively in small, close-knit\n        teams.\n      - Deep experience with — and love for — technology. There’s no specific\n        checklist; we use software to approach a variety of problems, so we’re\n        interested in everything from low latency networking to systems\n        administration to programming language design.\n\n------\nimitura\nSignpost | Austin or NYC or REMOTE | senior software engineer | full-time\n\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/signpost/jobs/251057#.WJSjaxBmg...](https://boards.greenhouse.io/signpost/jobs/251057#.WJSjaxBmg4t)\n\n------\nbluespot\nbluespot.io | Full-stack Software Developer | London | Onsite\n\nWe are a small London-based development consultancy, approaching our first\nbirthday with a good year behind us and even better one in front. We build web\napps, and provide expertise on the best processes for building web apps, for a\nrange of clients, from small startups to government departments.\n\nRight now, we are looking for an experienced full stack developer to join us.\n\nWe work in small teams, which typically consist of two developers, one\n“product owner” from the client side, and one agile coach / project manager /\nscrum master. We work using a simple but powerful agile methodology that\nencourages collaboration, delivery, reflection and improvement. Each week, we\nplan and deliver completed features to our clients, with our aim always to\nhave teams working together, not in silos or staggered across iterations.\n\nWe would like to talk to people experienced in any technologies/languages, but\nat the moment our go-to server stack is Ruby and Ruby on Rails / Node.js where\nappropriate. We love React and Redux in the browser and find React Native\nmakes us incredibly productive when creating native apps. We believe testing\nis imperative to creating a healthy project and commonly use RSpec and\nCapybara with Ruby and Jest, Jasmine or Mocha with JavaScript.\n\nWe like to work in a casual, friendly atmosphere. We value social\ncollaboration both with colleagues and our clients, so working from our Soho\noffice (by the way, Soho is awesome) with hours of 10am - 6pm is the norm, but\nwe are flexible with those hours and with days worked at home.\n\nWe are a family and life friendly office, we understand school runs, doctors\nappointments, errands, and that hobby you love that means you need to nip off\na bit early today. We trust you to cover your work with your team and your\nclient in a responsible manner. The same goes for holidays.\n\nToo many agencies use a model where increased success only serves to makes\ntheir founders richer. If you came to work here, you would be become a member\nof our share scheme and be included in the company's profit sharing.\n\nSalary will be negotiable based on experience, but typically in the range of\n£40k - £60k\n\nPlease see full job description here: [http://bluespot-\nio.breezy.hr/p/9d5e965b267c-software-develop...](http://bluespot-\nio.breezy.hr/p/9d5e965b267c-software-developer)\n\nIf you’d like to chat to us about the role, please apply through the link\nabove or do get in touch at jobs@bluespot.io\n\n------\nfreen\nBlue Ridge Labs @ Robin Hood | Full Stack Engineer | New York City | Onsite |\n[https://labs.robinhood.org/fellowship/](https://labs.robinhood.org/fellowship/)\n\nOur Fellowship helps top developers, designers, product managers, and\n“experts” (whether that be academic, professional, or people with lived\nexperiences) build new digital tools for low-income New Yorkers. We start with\nan intensive eight-week Research Phase, delving deeply into the lived\nexperience of people to discover insights that lead to potential product\nideas. Followed by an 80-day Build Sprint, where the best ideas a that come\nout of the Research Phase are tested, validated, and built.\n\nOur previous Fellows, joining us from places like Facebook, Linkedin, Google,\nTwitter and more, have created new social ventures that fight poverty. Things\nsuch as an app that makes using food stamps simple easy and delightful, to a\nplatform that helps renters get things fixed in their apartments. Some of\nthese apps have raised millions in private venture funding, helped hundred of\nthousands of people, and made a real impact on the world.\n\nIt's full time, paid opportunity to build a new social venture from the ground\nup with a top notch group of peers in a well supported environment.\n\nThis year the Fellowship will focus on enabling Senior Citizens and their\nCaregivers.\n\nOur nation is aging rapidly, but rather than enjoying their golden years, too\nmany seniors find themselves struggling, forced each month to choose between\nfood, medication, or rent. And there has been an alarming rise in the number\nof seniors who are homeless or relying on food banks.\n\nIn New York City, the number of seniors is projected to increase to nearly 1.9\nmillion by 2030, making it the fastest-growing population. Unfortunately,\nseniors struggle disproportionately with access to benefits, health issues,\nand affordable housing.\n\nOne out of every six seniors relies on emergency food\n\nOne out of five lives below the poverty line\n\nOne out of four has limited mobility\n\nMany face these challenges alone. In 2014, 32 percent of persons age 65 and\nover, and nearly half of persons 85 and older in New York City lived alone. In\naddition, seniors who live alone have the second highest poverty rate (among\nall older households).\n\nWe think technology has a part to play.\n\nWe are looking for excellent, full stack engineers who want to put their\nskills to work to make the world a better place.\n\nLearn more here:\n[http://labs.robinhood.org/fellowship](http://labs.robinhood.org/fellowship)\n\n------\nUtahDave\nSSaltStack is looking to hire a Senior Development Manager quickly.\n\n[https://saltstack.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=49](https://saltstack.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=49)\n\n~~~\nfancy_pantser\nIt's hard to attract top talent to Lehi, Utah; would you consider remote with\nregular site visits?\n\n~~~\ngrosswait\nDefinitely! But then I'm originally from Lehi...\n\nWhat skillset?\n\n------\nroybarberuk\no~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~\n\nSEEKING WORK - Remote/Freelance UX/UI Web Designer/Front End Developer based\nin London(UK) Previous work includes Google, Nestle, Fox's, Glenfiddich etc\n\nCan design and build full proof of concepts from UX to design to front end\nfunctional code.\n\nWork: [http://dribbble.com/roy](http://dribbble.com/roy) or visit\n[https://roybarber.com](https://roybarber.com)\n\nAny questions or enquiries? email: hi@roybarber.com\n\no~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~o~~\n\n------\njerrytsai\nTownsquared | San Francisco, CA | Full-time | ONSITE |\n[https://townsquared.com/](https://townsquared.com/)\n\nTownsquared is the only online network that allows local businesses and\nindependent professionals to connect privately. Members have access to all of\nthe other businesses in their local neighborhood to ask and answer questions,\npost events, find partners, and ultimately build thriving businesses.\n\nWe are a Series B funded startup (Sierra Ventures, Intuit, August Capital,\nFloodgate, among others) in the heart of San Francisco with a diverse team of\ndriven people working at the intersection of cutting­-edge design, complex\ntechnology, and social good. We offer the ability to help build a product that\nenables economic change and affects people in a real way.\n\nWe're hiring for many roles including: • Data Engineer:\n[https://townsquared.com/blog/job/data-\nengineer/](https://townsquared.com/blog/job/data-engineer/) • Full Stack\nEngineer: [https://townsquared.com/blog/job/full-stack-engineer-\nlevels/](https://townsquared.com/blog/job/full-stack-engineer-levels/) • Front\nEnd Engineer: [https://townsquared.com/blog/job/front-end-engineer-all-\nleve...](https://townsquared.com/blog/job/front-end-engineer-all-levels/) • VP\nor Director of Marketing: [https://townsquared.com/blog/job/vp-of-\nmarketing/](https://townsquared.com/blog/job/vp-of-marketing/)\n\nPlease apply here [https://townsquared.com/join-our-\nteam/](https://townsquared.com/join-our-team/)\n\nThe interview process involves submitting a resume, a phone screen in which\nyou will be expected to work on a coding problem, and a half-day interview\nthat would include interviews with several people and also a technical\nchallenge (i.e., working on a different coding problem). We may pair-program\nwith you on these challenges.\n\nIf you have questions, you may email me at what you think my first name is\n(at) townsquared.com. I may not answer right away; please be patient.\n\nIf you decide to apply, please be aware that, at this moment, if you choose to\nupload your resume as a PDF file, there is no notification of a successful\nupload. We’ll fix that soon. If you send in an application without a resume,\nwe’ll let you know that you need to forward one anyway.\n\nYou may claim you were referred by a “Team Member”, but you should email me to\nlet me know.\n\n------\nAlisaT\nRent the Runway | New York City, NY | Onsite - Full Time | visas welcome;\nrelocation available\n\nHere's our careers page:\n[https://boards.greenhouse.io/renttherunway](https://boards.greenhouse.io/renttherunway)\n\nHere's a general look at our tech stack:\n[http://dresscode.renttherunway.com/blog/tech-\nstack](http://dresscode.renttherunway.com/blog/tech-stack)\n\nHiring:\n\n    \n    \n      - Front end & full stack engineers (Javascript/React/Redux)\n      - Back end engineers (Java and then some)\n      - Data engineers (Python and then some more)\n      - Mobile developers (mid to senior; iOS and Android)\n      - Software engineer in test (building test infrastructure; not manual QA)\n    \n\nAbout engineering at RTR (dresscode.renttherunway.com):\n\nOur engineering team works on product-oriented problems across the boundaries\nof e-commerce, mobile, analytics and shipping/fulfillment. The backbone of our\nbusiness is our custom logistics management system, which gives us the crucial\nability to deliver the right product to the right user at the right time - a\nsimple goal with a complex solution. We use data, engineering and algorithms\nto create a personalized website and an adaptive supply chain to fulfill our\ncommitment to an amazing customer experience.\n\nEngineers at Rent the Runway solve real business challenges and have a\ntangible impact on the success of the company. Some engineers work on cross-\nfunctional teams devoted to specific parts of our product, while other teams\nfocus on functions like data engineering and DevOps. Our engineers come from\ndifferent backgrounds, industries, and walks of life - and we all contribute\nto a collaborative, product-driven culture across our organization.\n\nAbout the company:\n\nDescribed by Forbes as “Tech’s Next Billion Dollar Star,” Rent the Runway is\nset to disrupt the $1.7T global fashion industry by ensuring that rental is a\nhabitual, convenient, daily part of getting dressed. We believe that fashion\nis an industry that should be democratized by giving everyone access to real,\nquality clothing and the associated feelings of self-confidence that come with\nthat.\n\nWe're EBITDA profitable on over $100 million of revenue in 2016, and our last\nround of funding in Dec 2016 was led by Fidelity Investments - a vote of\nconfidence in our long-term staying power:\n[http://fortune.com/2016/12/28/rent-the-runway-series-e-\nfundi...](http://fortune.com/2016/12/28/rent-the-runway-series-e-funding/)\n\nIf you have additional questions, feel free to drop a line: atao (at)\nrenttherunway.com\n\nNo recruiters, please.\n\n------\ndberg\niHeartRadio | NYC | OnSite | Full-Time\n\nScala, React, Node, Data Eng, Python, Mobile, Android, iOS, Data Science,\nProgram Management\n\niHeartRadio is the No. 1 all-in-one digital audio service with over 800\nmillion downloads; it reached its first 20 million registered users faster\nthan any digital service in Internet history and reached 80 million users\nfaster than any other radio or digital music service and even faster than\nFacebook.\n\nWe are seeking passionate, motivated and skilled engineers looking to make a\nmajor impact on the music world. We have a great work/life balance, free lunch\non Fridays, Bagels on Thursdays, collaborative open floor space, in-office\nperformances from up and coming artists, bike room and showers. We also\nbelieve heavily in open source and being engaged in the wider tech community.\n\nYou can also read about us at [http://tech.iheart.com](http://tech.iheart.com)\n\nPlease apply at [http://jobs.iheart.com](http://jobs.iheart.com) or email us\nat recruitment@iheartradiocareers.com\n\nSoftware Engineer, Web - Along with Facebook and Netflix, iHeartRadio is one\nof the largest React applications around. We are small, focused team committed\nto produce our best work. We are undertaking a major re-architecture of the\niHeartRadio website/Web application, and just open-sourced a number of modules\n[1] as part of this effort. We intend to contribute increasingly more to the\nReact open-source community.\n\nMobile Engineers - Android and iOS - Come work on our flagship mobile\napplications using best of breed frameworks solving real problems at scale.\nYou will also be actively engaged with our Home and Consumer Electronics\nproducts such as Chromecast, Roku, XBOX, etc.\n\nData Engineer - Seeking engineers with a passion for solving large data\nproblems. Our data platform helps provide insights and analytics, reporting,\nbusiness intelligence and many other functions for the business. We rely on\ntooling such as Hadoop, Hive, Kafka, Redshift, Airflow, Spark.\n\nSoftware Engineer , Scala - Come work with a world class engineering team who\nis very active in the Scala community. We have an Akka Cluster based\nmicroservice framework and we are doing some really exciting things at scale\nusing AWS, Docker and a variety of other tooling.\n\nSofware Engineer in Test - Looking for software engineers who love working on\nautomation frameworks and tooling. Appium, Selenium, etc are all welcome.\n\nEngineering Program Manager - Our EPMs are technically savvy leaders who help\nsteer our product initiatives and continue to drive high performance teams to\nsuccessful software delivery. Organized, technically oriented, able to be a\nservant leader to your teams and interested in working closely with product\nand engineering organizations to drive results.\n\nPython Engineer - Work with our content and ingestion engineering teams to\nfigure out how to manage millions of music tracks at scale. Working with our\nopen source Henson framework you will help build the backbone of our core\ningestion infrastructure that manages all of our music, talk and podcast\ninfrastructure, encoding infrastructure as well as search and advanced catalog\nheuristics.\n\nData Science - Come work with our world class Data Science team on building\nthe future of music personalization. We are doing a ton of work with\ncollaborative filtering, matrix factorization, building neural networks with\nacoustical analysis and a ton of other new and exciting research.\n\n------\nRobin_Message\nFirefly Learning | Lead front-end developer, front and back end developers |\nLondon, UK | fireflylearning.com\n\nFirefly Learning is an award-winning EdTech company that works to bring\nteachers, parents and students together, enabling greater collaboration,\nintuitive workflows and rich resource creation, while saving teachers time.\nWe’re used by hundreds of leading schools globally, including 8 of the top 10\nUK Independents, and we've just raised the largest every EdTech investment in\nthe UK.\n\nWe're looking for strengths like:\n\n◦ Skill in web development: you’ll have the skill to understand existing code\nand technical tradeoffs, and to help design new systems. You have a solid\nunderstanding of how web apps are built and how the whole stack from IP to\nReact fits together. You’re aware of the state of the art of the industry, in\nthings such as the SOLID principles, the ports and adapters pattern, and the\nvarious agile methodologies.\n\n◦ Balancing conflicting priorities: we want a product that is well engineered\nbut not over-engineered. We have existing bugs, a long feature list, and new\nprojects we’d like to start. We have new technologies and techniques we want\nto make use of.\n\n◦ Clear communication: you can work closely with others and help your team\ncommunicate with the wider business. You’ll be able to form strong working\nrelationships with the rest of the technical leadership team, the product\nteam, and delivery manager. You know how to help your team participate in\npractices like sprint planning, estimation, retrospectives, and squads/cross-\nfunctional teams.\n\n◦ In the lead role, experience of coaching other developers, sharing best\npractice as well as either having experience of or a desire to lead a small\nteam of developers.\n\nIn terms of experience, we need you to be comfortable with a web platform. Our\nserver-side code is written in C# and our web front end has a fair bit of\nJavascript, so you’ll need to know one of these or be able to pick them up.\n\nWe work pretty generally, so experience of any of the following would be a\npositive: React, iOS, shell scripting, infrastructure automation, building API\nintegrations, and databases (particularly SQL Server).\n\nWe offer competitive salaries dependent on experience. We’re committed to\neveryone’s professional development, so we offer a flexible training budget\nfor you to spend on attending training courses or other events, as well as\nbrown bag talks and Kaizen weeks for self-improvement and experimentation. In\naddition to this we offer 25 days holiday (plus bank holidays and 3 days over\nChristmas and New Year), 3% employer pension contributions and discounted gym\nmembership.\n\nSo, if you’ve got an interest in education and a desire to learn your craft\nalongside others making the same journey, we want to hear from you. Our\ninterview process is a call to get to know each other a bit more, a short take\nhome test, and then an on-site interview with me, some of our developers, and\nthe founding partners of Firefly (we like to be thorough and also make sure\nyou meet a good cross-section of the team!)\n\nDrop me an e-mail (robin at fireflylearning.com) or apply on our website –\n[http://fireflylearning.com/join-our-\nteam/jobs](http://fireflylearning.com/join-our-team/jobs)\n\n------\nrolepoint\nRolePoint | (mostly) Python Software Engineers, Technical Support, Customer\nSuccess, Product Management | London, UK & New York, US | ONSITE |\n[https://careers.rolepoint.com](https://careers.rolepoint.com)\n\nYou'll play a key role in building a platform that's changing how Technology,\nFinance, Media, Healthcare organisations hire and access talent - and that is\nalready implemented in the three largest employers in the world.\n\n==London==\n\nCustomer Success Engineer/Technical Support:\n[https://careers.rolepoint.com/#job/ahBzfnJvbGVwb2ludC1wcm9kc...](https://careers.rolepoint.com/#job/ahBzfnJvbGVwb2ludC1wcm9kchALEgNKb2IYgICQrsDSlAoM)\n\nIntegration Engineers:\n[https://careers.rolepoint.com/#job/ahBzfnJvbGVwb2ludC1wcm9kc...](https://careers.rolepoint.com/#job/ahBzfnJvbGVwb2ludC1wcm9kchALEgNKb2IYgIDAspa1ugkM)\n\nSoftware Engineers:\n[https://careers.rolepoint.com/#job/ahBzfnJvbGVwb2ludC1wcm9kc...](https://careers.rolepoint.com/#job/ahBzfnJvbGVwb2ludC1wcm9kchALEgNKb2IYgICA8_WMlwkM)\n\nProduct Manager:\n[https://careers.rolepoint.com/#job/ahBzfnJvbGVwb2ludC1wcm9kc...](https://careers.rolepoint.com/#job/ahBzfnJvbGVwb2ludC1wcm9kchALEgNKb2IYgICQltjL3QoM)\n\n==New York==\n\nImplementation Manager:\n[https://careers.rolepoint.com/#job/ahBzfnJvbGVwb2ludC1wcm9kc...](https://careers.rolepoint.com/#job/ahBzfnJvbGVwb2ludC1wcm9kchALEgNKb2IYgICQ1t3llgsM)\n\nCustomer Success Manager:\n[https://careers.rolepoint.com/#job/ahBzfnJvbGVwb2ludC1wcm9kc...](https://careers.rolepoint.com/#job/ahBzfnJvbGVwb2ludC1wcm9kchALEgNKb2IYgICQlrSI9QgM)\n\nClient Implementation Manager:\n[https://careers.rolepoint.com/#job/ahBzfnJvbGVwb2ludC1wcm9kc...](https://careers.rolepoint.com/#job/ahBzfnJvbGVwb2ludC1wcm9kchALEgNKb2IYgICAk5LAowkM)\n\n==RolePoint==\n\nWe're building a company that allows you to work on interesting projects in a\nstimulating, social environment. We work on flexible hours, offer unlimited\nvacation days, go out for weekly team activities and once a year bring the\nwhole company together on an international gathering to reconnect outside of\nour work.\n\nCheck out more roles at\n[https://careers.rolepoint.com](https://careers.rolepoint.com)\n\n------\ncdolan23\nAmyris, Inc. | Software Engineer | Emeryville, CA | Full-time, ONSITE,\n[http://amyris.com](http://amyris.com)\n\nWe are searching for talented, curious, and self-motivated developers to join\nour software engineering team in building the most advanced production-scale\nsynthetic biology platform on the planet. R&D at Amyris is a highly\nmultidisciplinary effort, where we need brilliant contributions from every\narea of the life sciences and engineering disciplines in order to take\nprojects from concept to market.\n\nFrom hacking directly on DNA in the lab to full scale factory production,\nevery aspect of our work is facilitated and accelerated by software and\nhardware automation. Our tools integrate the activities of scientists,\nengineers, and industrial robots to enable the rapid optimization of genetic\ndesigns and laboratory processes.\n\nAmong the tools we have developed are a CAD/CAM system for genetic\nengineering: a compiler toolchain whose target architecture is life itself.\nThis stack physically integrates high level genetic modules into microbial\nhosts. We also derive novel strains through random mutagenesis and directed\nevolution. Using our custom control platform, we then subject these\nexperimental organisms to high throughput performance screening in our state-\nof-the-art robot labs.\n\nDo you want to work with brilliant scientists and engineers to help create a\nbetter future for ourselves, our children, and everyone on the planet? Have\nyou ever wished you could have gotten in on the ground floor at the dawn of\nthe integrated circuit revolution? This is your chance to do foundational work\nin biotechnology. We are past proof of principle; we have begun the rapid\nexpansion of a technology that will characterize this century. We think we're\ndoing something far more interesting and exciting than almost anyone else out\nthere, and we offer competitive compensation, excellent benefits, unlimited\nhigh quality conversation, free lunches, and beer!\n\nWe're looking for full stack developers to help build (mostly) web based tools\nfor facilitating all aspects of the scientific and engineering process. Our\nstack is primarily Javascript (React, JQuery), Python (Pyramid), and Postgres,\nwith a fair amount of F# and a bit of legacy PHP. Right now we're looking for\ndevelopers with at least 5+ years of industry (software, not necessarily\nbiotech) experience.\n\n[https://amyris.csod.com/ats/careersite/JobDetails.aspx?id=27...](https://amyris.csod.com/ats/careersite/JobDetails.aspx?id=278)\n[https://amyris.csod.com/ats/careersite/JobDetails.aspx?id=27...](https://amyris.csod.com/ats/careersite/JobDetails.aspx?id=278)\n\nWe also have openings (or will soon) in scientific computing, automation, and\nare looking for a DBA. Full list here:\n[https://amyris.com/careers/](https://amyris.com/careers/)\n\nI'm the hiring manager for these positions. Feel free to contact me with any\nquestions (email in profile).\n\n------\nJasonCEC\nAnalytical Flavor Systems | Manhattan - NYC | Full-Time | Onsite |\n[http://www.Gastrograph.com/](http://www.Gastrograph.com/)\n\nPosition: Full-Stack Engineer, Application Engineer, DevOps, Data Scientist,\nSales (inside or field)\n\nApplication & Data Stack: Golang, Javascript, Docker, Streaming\nInfrastructure, R, TensorFlow, MySQL, AWS\n\nTeam: we're a diverse 6 person company (across Data, Engineering, Chemistry,\nand Biz)\n\nAnalytical Flavor Systems uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to\nbuild tools for the food & beverage industry. Our Quality, Process, and Market\nIntelligence services create real-time predictive decisions metrics at each\nstage of a products life-cycle. We leverage our predictive models across\nproducts & industries for flavor profile optimization, production process\noptimization, demographic targeting & cognitive marketing - helping companies\ncreate and sell the best product to their highest value consumers with every\nbatch.\n\nOur Services\n\n_Quality Intelligence_: Real-time predictive quality control, assurance, and\nimprovement from human sensory data.\n\n_Process Intelligence_: Real-time predictive process control and optimization\nfrom human sensory data + manufacturing & LIMS data.\n\n_Market Intelligence_: Linking flavor-profile, demographics, and sales data to\nfind the highest value consumer demographics for a product's flavor-profile.\n\nThe Position(s)\n\n_Engineering_: Web-application or Streaming Infrastructure focused full-stack\nengineer capable of integrating the data pipeline and outputs of machine\nlearning models into an easy to use management platform.\n\n_Data Science_: Data science is central to our predictive Quality, Process,\nand Market Intelligence services. We didn’t build a data science team to\noptimize our product's marketing spend, sales funnel, or client retention – we\nbuilt a data science team to build our product. We need data scientists who\ncan understand our clients and can take a nebulous business goal, create a set\nof quantitative decision metrics, and build predictive models to optimize\nthose metrics.\n\nThe extensive role of data scientists at Analytical Flavor Systems allows us\nto invest in their education across sensory perception (standard sensory\nscience so they know what we’re improving and replacing), tasting experiences\n(so they appreciate the products we work on and understand how the data is\ncollected), production knowledge (test batches in our R&D brewery and roastery\nso they understand the data they work with and how our predictions impact a\nclient’s process), and data science tear-downs (a meeting where the team\ncollaboratively attempts to find and fix problems, try new techniques, and\ndebate the philosophical implications of a model's construction).\n\n_Sales_: We prefer the thoughtful relationship builder to the cowboy\nnegotiator. Most of our contracts are multi-year high-price affairs, so\nrelationships are really important. Plus, you get to spend your time at\nbreweries, distilleries and roasteries (I've personally never been to a sales\nmeeting where beer or coffee wasn't served freshly brewed).\n\nNext Steps\n\nPlease submit something awesome to JasonCEO@Gastrograph.com to apply.\n\n------\nBexcitement\nOptimizely | Solutions Architect, Software Engineer, Sales Engineer | San\nFrancisco, Amsterdam, Austin, Chicago, New York | Onsite - Full Time\n\nOptimizely seeks to empower people to make more data driven decisions about\ntheir business through experimentation. The Optimizely X platform offers our\nusers the ability to run experiments on the UI of their websites, mobile apps,\nbackend codebases and OTT devices.\n\nAs a Solutions Architect, you'll sit at the intersection of Engineering and\nCustomer Support, working with our most strategic customers to maintain a\nstrong partnership and be a staunch user advocate with our Product team. To be\na successful Solutions Architect you'll need to deeply empathize with\ncustomers, have strong frontend coding and debugging skills, easily transition\nbetween explaining complex technical concepts to non-technical C-level\nexecutives to digging deep into the weeds with Full Stack engineers and enjoy\nbeing right in the thick of many key business initiatives with our Engineering\nteam.\n\nIf this sounds like an exciting challenge to you, please apply here:\n[http://grnh.se/v2c5jd](http://grnh.se/v2c5jd) (SF),\n[http://grnh.se/vil68q1](http://grnh.se/vil68q1) (AMS) and/or feel free to\nemail me: rebecca at optimizely dot com.\n\nOur awesome Software Engineer team is also hiring, if that's more your jam!\n\n* Partner Technical Solutions Engineer: [http://grnh.se/0uec2w1](http://grnh.se/0uec2w1) * Engineering Manager: [http://grnh.se/6bgwtd1](http://grnh.se/6bgwtd1) * Principal Quality Engineer: [http://grnh.se/l1b8pq1](http://grnh.se/l1b8pq1) * Sr. Software Engineer Application Backend: [http://grnh.se/45aun81](http://grnh.se/45aun81) * Sr. Software Engineer - Frontend: [http://grnh.se/hg2rm31](http://grnh.se/hg2rm31) * Software Engineer, Distributed Systems: [http://grnh.se/f3q1ys1](http://grnh.se/f3q1ys1) * Senior Software Engineer, Mobile: [http://grnh.se/60au1c1](http://grnh.se/60au1c1) * Senior Software Engineer, SDK: [http://grnh.se/oekd731](http://grnh.se/oekd731) * Site Reliability Engineer: [http://grnh.se/g2r7l01](http://grnh.se/g2r7l01)\n\nAdditionally, if Sales Engineering is your jam - we’ve got you covered too:\n\n* Sales Engineer[EMEA]: [http://grnh.se/uqpoe31](http://grnh.se/uqpoe31) * Sales Engineer[UK]: [http://grnh.se/3s1b601](http://grnh.se/3s1b601) * Senior Sales Engineer[Dallas/Austin]: [http://grnh.se/0ml2sx1](http://grnh.se/0ml2sx1) * Senior Sales Engineer[Chicago]: [http://grnh.se/vtad741](http://grnh.se/vtad741) * Senior Sales Engineer[NYC]: h[http://grnh.se/hw80pm1](http://grnh.se/hw80pm1) * Senior Sales Engineer[San Francisco]: [http://grnh.se/m7ou121](http://grnh.se/m7ou121)\n\n------\nbrown4\nEndgame’s security platform enables organizations to hunt for adversaries\nwithin their networks and secure their most valuable assets. We are\ncharacterized by a high degree of autonomy and flexibility, intellectual\nengagement, and a competitive compensation structure that rewards performance.\nWe work within a fast-paced, driven, and flexible work environment that allows\nfor both professional growth, as well as unwinding through team events like\nweekend family brunches, happy hours, and outdoor activities. Endgame values\nengagement within the tech community. We provide opportunities for open source\ncontributions, speaking at meetups or conferences, and participating in our\ntechnical blog\n\nSenior Back-end Engineer (DC - Arlington, VA)\n[http://app.jobvite.com/m?3mXjqiwP](http://app.jobvite.com/m?3mXjqiwP) \\-\nSolid experience using Python and relational databases to make web\napplications - Familiarity with queuing systems like RabbitMQ/AMQP, Kafka,\nActiveMQ, AWS SQS, ZeroMQ, etc. - Knowledge of HTTP and ability to make a\nRESTful web application - Experience using Linux and developing applications\nthat run on Linux (Ubuntu, CentOS, etc) - Familiarity with search servers like\nElasticSearch or SOLR - Experience with service oriented architecture, micro\nservices and containerization - Experience with or desire to learn golang\n\nSenior Software Engineer (Front End)\n[http://app.jobvite.com/m?3mXjqiwP](http://app.jobvite.com/m?3mXjqiwP) \\-\nEndgame’s Front End Engineering team is looking for a Senior Front End\nEngineer to be part of a cross-functional team working with designers, product\nmanagers, and engineers across multiple phases of the product lifecycle. Our\nFront End team builds responsive and elegant interfaces while maintaining a\nsolid enthusiasm and passion for cutting-edge technologies. Our Front End\nEngineers embrace modern JavaScript frameworks and libraries, develop rapid\nprototypes, and iterate on features to optimize user interaction. Front End\nEngineers at Endgame use innovative UI architectures and designs, setting the\nbar high to produce compelling interfaces and creative visualizations.\n\nAutomation Engineer\n[http://app.jobvite.com/m?3gYjqiwK](http://app.jobvite.com/m?3gYjqiwK) Endgame\nis seeking a talented Automation Engineer to build, administer, and improve\nour automated testing frameworks customized to our unique security products.\nOur software development process leans heavily on this continuous integration\nenvironment to perform automated software builds and tests against a wide\nrange of operating systems and configurations. This action packed and dynamic\nenvironment requires the flexibility to work independently, take initiative to\nlead projects, while also collaborating with the team to expedite the creation\nand deployment of our security products.\n\nOr checkout [https://www.endgame.com/career-\nopenings](https://www.endgame.com/career-openings) and email me if anything\nlooks interesting jbrown[@]endgame.com\n\n------\nbeemboy\nMason | Senior Software Engineer (Backend, Frontend) | SEATTLE |\n[http://www.bymason.com](http://www.bymason.com)\n\nWHO ARE WE? We're Mason, a YC (W16) company building mobile deployment\ninfrastructure for companies to build solutions atop their own Android-based\ndevice ecosystem (think kiosks, package scanners, medical devices). We want to\nmake something customers want and won't think twice about paying for. Check\nout our video: [https://www.bymason.com/](https://www.bymason.com/).\n\nWHAT ARE WE BUILDING? Imagine a customer simply editing configuration to\nautomagically build and deploy their own custom version of Android with their\nown in-house apps onto thousands of their own devices -- all actively tracked,\nmanaged and updated via dashboards. Our vision is to enable privately\nowned+managed device fleets with backing services.\n\nWHO ARE YOU? In general, you're an engineer with 2+ years of experience and/or\na CS background, and the right attitude\n([https://goo.gl/uPi6Y4](https://goo.gl/uPi6Y4)). More specifically, we're\nlooking for a backend and a frontend engineer. If the idea that you will\nexperiment, learn, build, _ship_ , and grow with the rest of us appeals to\nyou, contact us! Note: Unfortunately we're unable to handle H1Bs at the\nmoment.\n\nWHAT WORK? Backend engineer: You'll architect, design and build our budding\nbackend services. This involves picking the right technologies,\nimplementation, testing, automation, scaling, and what not. We use Node.js and\nPython right now, but are open to change. More:\n[https://anthology.co/job/j-4w10pxb3/senior-software-\nengineer](https://anthology.co/job/j-4w10pxb3/senior-software-engineer)\nFrontend engineer: You'll be our UI maven, building out our dashboards and\nvisualizations that are critical for our product. More:\n[https://angel.co/masonamerica/jobs/171409-frontend-\ndeveloper...](https://angel.co/masonamerica/jobs/171409-frontend-developer-ui-\nux)\n\nWHY MASON? We're a small company aspiring to build very large things. We're 11\npeople now and looking to grow. Your perks: \\- This is not a \"ground floor\",\nmore of a \"foundation\" opportunity. You will define, build and ship software\nthat will shape the core Mason product. \\- We value diversity of thought,\nbeing and experience. \\- A fully stocked pantry, and an actual kitchen. \\-\nDogs welcome.\n\nWHERE? We're based in SEATTLE, one of the few YC-backed ones from out here. We\nhave sweeping views of Cap Hill and Lake Washington\n([https://goo.gl/photos/9uwwVav54cS6qtGY8](https://goo.gl/photos/9uwwVav54cS6qtGY8)),\nand ample parking.\n\nPROCESS: 30 minute chat (in person or Hangouts) -> offline coding and work\nsample evaluation -> on-site interview -> offer. We delete parts of this\nworkflow if it's evident you could be The One. We do our best to respond to\neveryone individually no matter the outcome. Don't hesitate to write to us!\n\n~~~\nbeemboy\nJust realized, we forgot to add our contact info right here: you can email\nwork [at] bymason [dot] com\n\n------\nd3dtn01\nGenome Medical | Product Manager | San Francisco Bay Area | REMOTE WHO IS\nGENOME MEDICAL Genome Medical, Inc. is an early-stage company using\ntelemedicine to integrate genomic medicine into everyday health care. Founded\nby personalized medicine pioneers Dr. Randy Scott, Dr. Robert Green, and Lisa\nAlderson, our goal is to bridge the growing gap between available genome\ntechnology and current medical practice. As genetic information becomes\nincreasingly important in medicine, there are too few experts to meet the\ngrowing demand for interpretation. We are addressing this challenge by\ncreating a scalable, efficient model for lifelong genome-centered health care.\nOur network of clinical genomics experts provides consultations to both\npatients and physicians. To learn more, please visit www.genomemedical.com or\nfind us on Twitter. ROLE We are searching for a product manager to transform\nour already launched, speed-to-market product offering into the envisioned\nexperience that Genome Medical was founded upon. You will be reporting\ndirectly to the CEO and will be responsible for all things product.\nRESPONSIBILITIES \\- Lead product management (requirements gathering,\nstrategy/concept development, execution, user and acceptance testing) to build\nthe overall product vision and user experience for patients and clinicians. \\-\nLead the development and customization of user workflows by working with the\nclinical team as well as partner organizations. \\- Serve as the voice of the\ncustomer and interface with our engineering team to translate customer\nrequirements into development requirements. \\- Work with senior leadership to\ndefine product vision and strategy. \\- Drive innovation, definition,\ndeliverables and design of product features to deliver against team and\ncompany goals, while working with outsourced engineers and designers \\-\nEstablish a regular feedback loop to ensure we’re meeting our users needs. \\-\nResearch trends and collect data to inform product direction, whether in the\nform of competitive intel, user behavior or other business metrics. \\-\nCoordinate with cross-functional teams to ensure a successful launch of\nsolutions through training, support and marketing efforts. \\- Define and\nanalyze metrics that inform the success of products. QUALIFICATIONS AND\nEXPERIENCE \\- 5+ years of product management experience delivering successful\nand innovative consumer products (consumer health experience is a plus). \\-\nMinimum 1 year of experience in healthcare. \\- Basic understanding of the\ntechnical architecture of web and mobile apps. \\- Exceptional communication,\norganizational and analytical skills. \\- Strong people skills, intuitive\nunderstanding of team dynamics. \\- Able to work cross-functionally with\nengineering, marketing, sales and operations teams. \\- Experience designing\nsimple and intuitive user interfaces – ability to create examples through\nwireframes and mock-ups. \\- Experience using both qualitative observations and\nquantitative data to inform the development process. \\- Excellent written,\noral, organizational and analytical skills with strong technical abilities. \\-\nAbility to accelerate the shipping/launching of products, including providing\nhands-on leadership.\n\nIf interested, please submit your resume to info@genomemedical.com.\n\n------\nNelkins\nJet.com | [https://jet.com/](https://jet.com/) | Hoboken (very close to NYC) |\nDublin | Full-time | Onsite\n\n\\----------\n\n(From our careers page)\n\nWe need super smart engineers from all levels to help us build one of the best\nengineered e-commerce platform in the world (big talk we know, but that is our\ngoal!). Our engineers combine creativity, curiosity, and drive to continuously\nperfect and revolutionize Jet from the inside out. We are looking to bring\nmore intellectually curious engineers who are passionate about technology in\ngeneral (Jet is a technology first company and prides itself on its culture of\nlearning and knowledge sharing and we want all our engineers to be as\npassionate as we are!)\n\nOur platform is largely an event driven platform implemented via a\nmicroservice architecture. The platform runs on Microsoft Azure and uses a\nlarge number of technologies and middle ware. The bulk of backend code is\nwritten in a functional style (F#) and our system of record is an event\nsourced system (essentially a log of all actions on the platform). We use a\nmix of Kafka, Redis, Elastic Search, Azure SQL, Event Store and Azure Storage\nfor our data stores. About 50% of the platform runs on Linux and the rest\nWindows (although we move into more containerization we will see a shift\ntowards Linux).\n\n\\----------\n\nI've been working at Jet for about a year, and I can honestly say this is the\nbest job I've ever had. It personally checks off every single box I could have\na for a dream job:\n\n\\- Incredible growth. We were the fastest startup to hit a billion dollar\nvaluation, and we just got bought by Walmart for 3.3 billion. With the Fortune\n1 at our backs there are some really amazing opportunities and projects that\nare just getting started.\n\n\\- Functional programming in F#. Never been more productive coding. And in\ngeneral we have a very modern tech stack that is a pleasure to work with.\n\n\\- Tech talks and workshops all the time. I'm learning more than I ever have.\n\n\\- Extremely competent management. It feels like they really care about\nemployees' happiness here, we've got experienced people at the helm, and it is\namazing to see what a company can look like when you have a fantastic\nmanagement team bringing their A-game. Really, it's incredible to have to try\nhard to find something to complain about.\n\n\\- All the trappings of modern startup life. Free gym membership, lots of free\nfood, etc.\n\nWe're hiring people of all different types of experience for all different\ntypes of roles. More information about specific roles can be found here:\n[https://jet.com/careers](https://jet.com/careers) . You can apply on the\nindividual role pages.\n\nIf you have any questions (commuting from NYC, about Hoboken, what's going on\nin the company, anything really), feel free to ask here or send a message to\n\"nat\" at the domain that I work on.\n\n~~~\ntictactoey\nHi,\n\nDo you guys hire new grad? I've applied few times in past 3 months. Its hard\nto get you guys to reply back.\n\n~~~\nNelkins\nYes we do! Sorry about not hearing back yet, you definitely should have by\nnow. If you send me an email I can check on the status of your application and\nlet you know what's going on.\n\n------\ndenisjtyrell\nVeeva Systems [http://www.veeva.com](http://www.veeva.com) | Pleasanton, CA;\nToronto, ON-CA | ONSITE\n\nAt 1,700 employees and growing and consistently strong financials (NYSE:VEEV),\nVeeva was named among the top fastest growing public technology companies on\nForbes’ annual Fast Tech 25 list. We build innovative cloud solutions for some\nof the world’s largest pharmas and biotechs, and we need great people like you\nto make it happen.\n\nWe're always hiring in every area, including: Engineering, Product Management,\nServices, Sales, IT/Ops and many others. Visit our careers page at\n[https://www.veeva.com/meet-veeva/careers/](https://www.veeva.com/meet-\nveeva/careers/) for a complete listing of jobs.\n\nIn particular, we are hiring for these positions:\n\n1) Principal Software Engineer, Java - We are seeking an experienced Principal\nSoftware Engineer to join our Vault Development team to build new\nfunctionality into the Vault product and continue to scale the platform. The\nideal candidate would have extensive experience with the usual Java open\nsource frameworks, tools and technology like Java, Spring Framework, MySQL,\nand Hibernate. Apply Here:\n[http://jobs.jobvite.com/veeva/job/on5Q2fw4](http://jobs.jobvite.com/veeva/job/on5Q2fw4)\n\n2) Principal Performance Engineer - We are seeking an experienced performance\nengineer with a passion to make cloud applications fast and efficient. You\nwill work with developers to test and optimize Veeva Vault software pre-\nproduction, and also monitor and troubleshoot performance issues in\nproduction. This is a technical, hands-on role for someone who is adept at\ngathering and analyzing performance data and finding the root cause of\nperformance bottlenecks. Apply Here:\n[http://jobs.jobvite.com/veeva/job/oy3Q2fwd](http://jobs.jobvite.com/veeva/job/oy3Q2fwd)\n\n3) Performance Engineer, QA - Is your passion performance testing, always\nlooking for ways to better the user experience? Do you hate waiting for a page\nto load up slowly and itch to get away from that page? As a performance\nengineer you'll be a part of a team responsible for helping Veeva remain the\nworld's most highly performing, scalable, and reliable industry cloud\ncomputing company in the industry. Apply Here:\n[http://jobs.jobvite.com/veeva/job/oh5yZfwD](http://jobs.jobvite.com/veeva/job/oh5yZfwD)\n\n4) QA Engineer - Veeva Systems is looking for a QA Engineer that likes to\nfigure out how things work and make sure they are working correctly. This is a\nhands-on position for delivering a quality SaaS product. You should want to be\npart of fast-paced team who takes pride in building great software and making\ncustomers happy. Apply Here:\n[http://jobs.jobvite.com/veeva/job/o8GRZfwo](http://jobs.jobvite.com/veeva/job/o8GRZfwo)\n\n5) Mobile Software Engineers, Architects, QA, PM. We are starting up a whole\nnew mobile platform group and need mobile engineers, PM and QA who want to\ntake on the new challenge of building a whole new mobile platform to enable\nour internal teams and eventually our partners and customers to build native\nmobile applications on top of Veeva Vault. These positions will be available\nsoon! Keep checking here:\n[http://jobs.jobvite.com/veeva/?c=Product+Development](http://jobs.jobvite.com/veeva/?c=Product+Development)\n\n------\nleadpages\nLeadpages (www.Leadpages.net) - Minneapolis, MN | Full Time | ONSITE | Now\nHiring Senior Python Engineers, Senior JavaScript Engineers, Front-End focused\nSenior Manager of Engineering, Senior Ruby on Rails Developer, Senior Front-\nEnd Developer, and Technical Support Specialists\n\nIf you're not familiar with Leadpages, we're a Minneapolis-based SaaS startup\nand we focus on conversion optimization products for our customers. We're a\nPython shop (entirely open source), but we're 100% committed to diversifying\nour team to include members of the RoR, Java, and PHP communities (in addition\nto Python) and have found that through this diversity, we're able to grow in\ninfinite ways and build amazing things. We have an excellent culture (I'm sure\nyou hear that a lot, but this is actually true) and a great appreciation for\nwork-life balance (we practice this heavily!), AND... we work remote two days\nper week with the other three days from our incredible downtown Minneapolis\noffice (yes, if you are not already local, you’d have to be open to\nrelocation).\n\nWhat we’re using…\n\nThe Leadpages main app was built with Python on Google App Engine on the\nbackend. We have a fantastic Python REST API stack based around the Falcon\nframework, running in Kubernetes. Our Distributed Systems team is using Scala\nand Akka, while our DevOps team is using Docker, Ansible, Grafana, Kibana,\nJenkins, ElasticSearch and Google Compute Engine. On the front end, we’re\nusing modern JS tools like Aurelia, React, Redux, and Babel. If anything\ncaught your eye, we’d love to hear from you!\n\nWe currently have opportunities available for:\n\n\\- Senior Python Engineer =>\n[http://careers.leadpages.net/apply/BnxMyM/Senior-Python-\nEngi...](http://careers.leadpages.net/apply/BnxMyM/Senior-Python-\nEngineer?source=HackerNews)\n\n\\- Senior Ruby on Rails Developer =>\n[http://careers.leadpages.net/apply/Q7YOkq/Senior-Ruby-On-\nRai...](http://careers.leadpages.net/apply/Q7YOkq/Senior-Ruby-On-Rails-\nDeveloper-Drip-Product-Team?source=HackerNews)\n\n\\- Senior Manager of Engineering =>\n[http://careers.leadpages.net/apply/FMt6Qc/Senior-Manager-\nEng...](http://careers.leadpages.net/apply/FMt6Qc/Senior-Manager-\nEngineering?source=HackerNews)\n\n\\- Senior JavaScript Engineer =>\n[http://careers.leadpages.net/apply/7JjdN2/Senior-\nJavaScript-...](http://careers.leadpages.net/apply/7JjdN2/Senior-JavaScript-\nEngineer?source=HackerNews)\n\n\\- Senior Front-End Developer =>\n[http://careers.leadpages.net/apply/VkrvFH/Senior-FrontEnd-\nDe...](http://careers.leadpages.net/apply/VkrvFH/Senior-FrontEnd-Developer-\nDrip-Product-Team?source=HackerNews)\n\n\\- Senior Software Engineer =>\n[http://careers.leadpages.net/apply/3acrO3/Senior-Software-\nEn...](http://careers.leadpages.net/apply/3acrO3/Senior-Software-\nEngineer?source=HackerNews)\n\nThese are all full-time positions with great benefits including Medical,\nDental, Vision, 401k (+match), open PTO, Flexible Schedules, Work From Home\ndays, and more! We even offer generous relocation packages to help you\nrelocate to beautiful Minneapolis, MN.\n\n __If you 're interested in seeing any other open positions within our\nMarketing, Product, HR/Recruiting, Customer Success or Operations teams, check\nout our website at:\n[http://www.leadpages.net/careers](http://www.leadpages.net/careers)\n\nInterested in emailing us directly? You can reach us at: Tiffany@Ave81.com or\nMadelon.Deming@Ave81.com\n\nLet’s build something awesome!\n\n------\nkevinwuhoo\n10x Genomics | Pleasanton & San Francisco, CA | Onsite | 10xgenomics.com\n\nWe're a biotech company developing novel software, chemistry, and microfluidic\nsystems to allow better understanding of the genome. We're looking to grow our\nsoftware team of currently six engineers (including myself) to support the\nrapid adoption of our technology. We've seen a growing number of high profile\npublications that use our technology\n([https://www.10xgenomics.com/publications/](https://www.10xgenomics.com/publications/)).\nRecently, in a collaboration with the Program for Conservation Genomics at\nStanford University, the genome of the African wild dog was successfully\nsequenced and assembled for the first time using 10x Genomics' technology and\nsoftware. ([https://cehg.stanford.edu/programs/program-conservation-\ngeno...](https://cehg.stanford.edu/programs/program-conservation-genomics-\npcg/pcg-projects))\n\nYou can view a demo of an existing piece of visualization software at\n[http://loupe.10xgenomics.com/loupe/](http://loupe.10xgenomics.com/loupe/), or\nread about (and run if you'd like) our massively parallel pipelines at\n[https://support.10xgenomics.com/](https://support.10xgenomics.com/). We\nmanage our pipelines with Go, develop analysis code using the NumPy stack, and\ndrive our front-end applications with React/Redux (previously Angular 1), but\nwe're always open to any technology that allows us to develop faster. No\nprevious biological experience is required; we have plenty of computational\nbiologists here to handle that, but there is a lot to learn about if you're\ncurious.\n\nWe're currently hiring for several software roles, but specifically for\ngeneralists, senior UI engineers, QA engineers, and infrastructure engineers.\nOur computational biology group is also always looking for bioinformaticians\nwho are experienced with NGS, and our company is always looking for scientists\nand engineers (hardware included). Here are some of the job postings we have\nup, but feel free to email me if you think you're a good fit for another role.\n\n\\- Software Engineer -\n[http://www.10xgenomics.com/careers/274521/](http://www.10xgenomics.com/careers/274521/)\n\n\\- Senior UI Engineer -\n[http://www.10xgenomics.com/careers/274522/](http://www.10xgenomics.com/careers/274522/)\n\n\\- Linux / Infrastructure Engineer -\n[https://www.10xgenomics.com/careers/537730/](https://www.10xgenomics.com/careers/537730/)\n\n\\- Software Quality Engineer -\n[http://www.10xgenomics.com/careers/476114/](http://www.10xgenomics.com/careers/476114/)\n\n\\- Software Quality Engineer (Computational Biology) -\n[http://www.10xgenomics.com/careers/472908/](http://www.10xgenomics.com/careers/472908/)\n\nJust a note that we do have an office in San Francisco even though the\nlistings only specify Pleasanton. Our full page of job listings can be found\nat [http://www.10xgenomics.com/careers/](http://www.10xgenomics.com/careers/).\nReach out if you're interested in working on high impact, big data problems\nusing modern software development best practices or even if you just want to\nchat. You can reach me at kevin.wu@10xgenomics.com or @kevinwuhoo.\n\n------\njacques_chester\nPivotal | Worldwide | Engineers, Designers, Product Managers, Pre/Post-Sales\nEngineers, Ops, Sales, Admin | ONSITE\n\nPivotal's goal is to transform the way the world builds software.\n\nWe mean it.\n\nWe value aptitude over alma mater, empathy over a list of APIs. It doesn't\nmatter whether your resumé says PHP or PhD: if you're smart, empathetic and\nknow some stuff, we want to work with you.\n\nWe have many offices worldwide including SF, NYC, Toronto, London, Palo Alto\n(pivotal.io/locations) and more coming.\n\nWe're broken into three main divisions: Pivotal Labs (yes, _that_ Pivotal\nLabs), Cloud R&D and Big Data.\n\n\\-- _Pivotal Labs_ helps clients to become better at product development. For\nengineering we are religiously lean and agile. We pair program and TDD every\nline of code from the outside. Our product managers are fantastic at keeping\nproducts sharply focused, our designers are masters from users to pixels.\n\n\\-- _Cloud R &D_ is where we build the best cloud platform available: We're\nthe majority contributors to the Cloud Foundry project. Our distribution has\nthe fastest-growing sales of any opensource product _ever_ and it's _still_\nzooming up and to the right.\n\nExcept for upstream code, every line is pair programmed and TDD'd. We dogfood\nthe cutting edge of the technology on our own commercial cloud (Pivotal Web\nServices).\n\nCloud R&D is also responsible for Pivotal Tracker and Spring.\n\n\\-- _Big Data_ is our suite of battled-hardened products, now open sourced.\nGreenplum tackles massive datasets with the comfort of PostgreSQL. Apache HAWQ\n(incubating) brings Greenplum's distributed query planner to Hadoop. Gemfire,\ndonated as Apache Geode, is an in-memory distributed grid with years of high\nperformance in high-stakes systems.\n\n\\-- _Generally_\n\nAt our offices we have free breakfast, weekly tech talks, excellent benefits\nand competitive pay. Ping pong isn't mandatory, but it's popular. I think\nwest-coast ping pong is harder to beat, but east-coast style is more\nentertaining to watch. The NYC beer fridge has more IPAs than I prefer but I\nguess that's life in paradise.\n\n\\-- _Applying_\n\nTo see open jobs and apply, see:\n[http://grnh.se/xiy346](http://grnh.se/xiy346)\n\nYou can also email me at jchester+hn-feb17@pivotal.io if you have questions. I\nwon't reply to copypasta. I may not be able to reply immediately, as I am just\nan engineer here (and will be traveling).\n\nThese help me earn a referral bonuses, which I appreciate. I can give the non-\nreferral link upon request.\n\n------\nmbooking\nBOOKING.COM - Amsterdam, The Netherlands | ONSITE | VISA support| Relocation\nto Amsterdam\n\nBooking.com is hiring smart people just like you, if you want to live in\nbeautiful city like Amsterdam and work at Booking.com, I recommend you to\napply for these jobs:\n\n _Software Developer_ \\- [http://grnh.se/ci7oka1](http://grnh.se/ci7oka1)\n\n _Sr. Software Developer_ \\- [http://grnh.se/gahd3r1](http://grnh.se/gahd3r1)\n\n _Android Developer_ \\- [http://grnh.se/iaf6et1](http://grnh.se/iaf6et1)\n\n _Sr. IOS Developer_ \\- [http://grnh.se/qs4fru1](http://grnh.se/qs4fru1)\n\n _UX Designer_ \\- [http://grnh.se/v4fgwh1](http://grnh.se/v4fgwh1)\n\n _Frontend Developer_ \\- [http://grnh.se/mf4e3d1](http://grnh.se/mf4e3d1)\n\n _Full Stack Software Developer (Beijing, China)_ \\-\n[http://grnh.se/hrt4cv1](http://grnh.se/hrt4cv1)\n\n _More about job vacancies at_ [http://grnh.se/6tnb3v](http://grnh.se/6tnb3v)\n\n------\nmadishka\nFreshBooks | Full Stack/Mobile (iOS) | Toronto, Canada | FULL-TIME, ONSITE\n\nFreshBooks is seeking skilled mobile developers who have experience developing\napplications on iOS. You will help build new features and update existing ones\nin our consumer facing cloud accounting applications. If you're committed to\ngreat work and are constantly looking for ways to improve the systems you're\nresponsible for, we're dying to meet you.\n\nFreshBooks is also seeking skilled full-stack developers who have strong\nexperience with web application frameworks and JavaScript frameworks as well\nas client-side performance optimization. With us, you will help build brand\nnew features and update existing ones in our consumer-facing cloud accounting\napplication.\n\nSome of the perks include catered lunches, company offsites, health benefits\nand dogs in the office! There are other positions available besides\nengineering :).\n\nApply directly at freshbooks.com/careers and include Hacker News in your\napplication or email me directly at mpage [at] freshbooks.com\n\n------\nEduardoNJF\nData Production Engineer | Hedge-fund | Raleigh, Chicago | ONSITE | Full­time\n| $120k-$200k+(skill/seniority based) with great benefits\n\nWorld's leading, tech-driven hedge fund looking Data Production Engineers. We\nare the best and employ the greatest and brightest. We deal with more than\n300+ data sources of huge structured and unstructured datasets on a Terabyte –\nPetabyte scale. As a Data Production Engineer you will own Data Mining,\nCollection, Cleansing and Processing of structured and unstructured data. You\nwill evaluate and model new data sources and collaborate with the research and\nhigh frequency trading teams. Skills required; Python and/or R, MongoBD and\nLinux – Skills desired; Node.js, Hadoop or Casandra Also a BS degree in\nComputer Science, Engineering, Mathematics or STEM background.\n\nIf you are interested in discussing in more details, please send me an email\nat: eduardo(dot)herrera(at)njfsearch(dot)com Thanks, Eduardo\n\n------\nconvalleysili\nCyMetica | San Francisco | Remote OK | Interns Ok\n\nA variety of engineers and QA testers are needed for projects related to\nmachine learning, AI, NLP and vector space approaches to analyzing user intent\nvia bots e.g.\n[https://slack.com/apps/A2B487WT0-sumbot](https://slack.com/apps/A2B487WT0-sumbot)\n[https://slack.com/apps/A26G72726-quantbot](https://slack.com/apps/A26G72726-quantbot)\n\nLanguages include: Python, js, and Tcl.\n\nIf interested in applying please contact cymetica@gmail.com\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: Best Buy Uses WebGL to Create Interactive Appliances - relaunched\nhttp://esd.bbystatic.com/3d/1540319/\n\n======\nrelaunched\nThis is a project my team has been working on a very long time and I'm really\nexcited to see it in the wild.\n\nAll the 3d urls:\n\n    \n    \n      * 4-Door Refrigerator - http://esd.bbystatic.com/3d/5258309/  \n    \n      * Top-Load Washer - http://esd.bbystatic.com/3d/8822012/ \n      \n      * Front-Load Washer w/ Steam and Water Jets - http://esd.bbystatic.com/3d/4995705/\n\n~~~\nCakez0r\nI don't suppose you guys have found a way to make it economical to model,\ntexture and animate products en masse? ;)\n\n~~~\nrelaunched\nLoL, it is not fully automated. Unfortunately, the economics isn't something I\ncan talk about.\n\n~~~\nCakez0r\nFigured as much. I've worked on projects before that have tried to make it\nwork financially, but 3D capture always falls short on quality (and I'll bet\nthe specular highlights on those appliances caused you guys many hours of fun\nif you tried that approach too!) and it's too expensive to hand-craft all the\nassets. Hope you guys make it work! It's a cool area and I'm sure you'll have\nclients queuing up if you can!\n\n------\naddedlovely\nOn mobile there's no navigation back to the product page? What if I want to\nbuy it?\n\nBe interesting to hear if this is actually useful for people or just tech for\nthe point of tech. The zoom to see the controls I can see the benefit of, the\nunderside of the washing machine less so!\n\n~~~\naddedlovely\nJust to add, nice implementation, worked smoothly on an iPhone 6.\n\n~~~\nrelaunched\nThanks! We're very proud of what we've built, though we're still working on\nit.\n\n------\nedejong\nAs much as I would like to be enthralled by such technology, it seems we have\nhardly progressed at all in the last 10 years wrt 3D web technology. For\nexample, look at this demo of VRML shader technology which is 9 years old:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFz7-RbGV8s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFz7-RbGV8s)\n\nNow, where are the game changers?\n\n------\nZacharot\nThere is no discharge port.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTcl: a brief overview of language design gone wrong - yan\nhttp://www.airs.com/blog/archives/495\n======\nbch\nWhere to start...\n\nI guess we can start w/ the age of the last version that was used (clue: had\nno namespaces). That places it squarely pre-8.0 (8.05 was released early\n1999). Rehashing a twelve year old language? (For reference, Tcl is shipping\n8.5.9 now, and Tcl 8.6 is in beta, under active development).\n\nLots has gone on since, then; Glancing at the article, first thing that jumps\nout is complaining about Tk not looking nice. Tk has had \"Themed Tk\" for some\ntime now (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tcl#Tile.2FTtk>). The difference is\nremarkable.\n\nRegarding quoting -- not much more to say than Perl or /bin/sh, for example.\n\n    \n    \n      {prints $a... literally}\n    \n      \"prints: $a <--- value of 'a'\"\n    \n      \"prints: [glob *] <--- the result of the glob cmd (a list of files)\"\n    \n\nBasically, substitution works for \"double quotes\", but not for {braces}. (But,\ndig into Tcl and there are more creative commands at your disposal, like:\n\n    \n    \n      [subst -nobackslashes -nocommands {this is content of variable \"a\": $a}]\n    \n\nAnd this: \"...although everything is a string and it should be very easy to\nstick things together when that is what you want to do, in any scenario which\nis even slightly complex you have to start writing list operations in order to\nbuild your strings\". What's wrong with:\n\n    \n    \n      set a \"oh\"; set b \"hai\"; puts \"$a $b\";# easy-peasy (I'm a comment)\n    \n\n\"Tk’s layout procedure does a lot for you automatically, which in practice\nmeans that it’s a pain to do anything else.\"\n\nTk has 3 layout engines...pick one. If you're having a lot of trouble, you're\ndoing it wrong.\n\nThe beauty of Tcl and Tk (which thankfully still exists today) was largely\nglossed-over, which is too bad.\n\n* The Tk system...is a very clever way to easily write a GUI program.\n\n* \"Tk is cross-platform.\" (of course, so is Tcl). Win, Mac, BSD, Linux, Solaris, etc., etc.\n\n* \"...the actual Tcl implementation is great.\" Still true.\n\n* \"has a nice event loop\" Still does... and threads, and co-routines (8.6), and lambdas, safe interpreters, utf-8 support, tcp sockets, \"tdbc\" database connectivity (8.6), built-in OO facilities (8.6)...\n\n* \"The core library provides system independent facilities which are well designed and well implemented.\" Still true... a joy to work with.\n\nSo there you have it, an ad-hoc response to a review gone wrong.\n\n~~~\ntygorius\nAt the beginning the author says his experience is based in 1997 -- which\ntriggered a bit of a WTF response from me. If the language hadn't been updated\nin that time the \"review\" might make sense, but as your details point out it's\nwoefully out of date.\n\nBut really, in the realm of scripting languages 14 years is a _huge_ amount of\ntime. Why would anyone judge Perl, Python, or Lua, say, by the state of those\nlanguages _in 1997_. The mind boggles.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNetworking on AWS (2018) - petercooper\nhttps://grahamlyons.com/article/everything-you-need-to-know-about-networking-on-aws\n======\nbecauseiam\nThere's quite a few things you've missed that are significant and should have\nbeen included, maybe one for part two:\n\n* Network ACLs, which describe the ruleset (consider it like a stateless firewall) for subnets and their respective routes. Whilst they are optional, having a default set it straightens out a lot of duplication that may end up in Security Groups (which are more stateful in nature).\n\n* Elastic (public) IPs. NAT instances/gateways require their use, and there is dance to be done around their allocation in account, and attaching to instance interfaces.\n\n* IPv6 components. Egress-only Internet Gateways operate differently to IGWs, as there is no NAT they need a route applied across all subnets both public and private. IPv6 CIDR which allocates the VPCs /56 (and thus each subnet gets a /64, and each instance's interface thus gets a /128 which is bananas, but IPv6 is a second class citizen on AWS). Finally updating the subnets so automatic IPv6 address assignment happens.\n\n* VPC Gateways - these are broken into two types, the older type that support S3/DynamoDB and effectively allow traffic in a public/private subnet to bypass NAT. These enabled can have significant advantages to access and throughput. The newer \"PrivateLink\" services are different and having pricing costs associated with them.\n\n* DNS and DHCP: It's a rule in the VPC that the delegated resolver lives on \".2\" of the VPC's CIDR, and operates in dual-horizon - EC2 hostnames setup accordingly resolved by instances inside the VPC will get the private VPC CIDR address, not any Elastic IP.\n\n~~~\ndvtrn\n_Network ACLs [...] Whilst they are optional, having a default set it\nstraightens out a lot of duplication that may end up in Security Groups (which\nare more stateful in nature)._\n\nI inherited an infrastructure that had NetACLs and security groups with\nduplicate entrypoints and policies, years of accumulated cruft because it was\npoorly designed and the documentation was even worse (read: nonexistent),\nsecurity groups all the way down. That one threw me through a hard and\nannoying mental loop for a couple of hours until picking through with the\nfinest tooth comb revealed what was going on.\n\nThe fun part is going to be rebuilding our routing in a new VPC such that it\ndoesn't make the next guy want to put his head in a black hole.\n\nI'd be lying if I said it wasn't a fun challenge in a sordid kind of way,\nthough.\n\n~~~\nAmericanChopper\nI guess it’s a matter of preference, but I strongly prefer security groups\nover ACLs, which I don’t use at all. Even if only from a compliance\nperspective, a security group is equivalent to a host firewall (which\npersonally helps me with PCI - no need for iptables and windows firewall).\nWhereas an ACL is a bit harder to make that case with. I also find them easier\nto audit.\n\n~~~\njavadocmd\nI like using ACLs for my coarse-grained \"this subnet is allowed to talk to\nthis subnet\" rules, and security groups for everything finer-grained. Maybe\nI'm over-cautious, but I don't want one rogue security group opening up a\ntunnel to sensitive subnets.\n\n~~~\najbourg\nYes, this is one of the best reasons to use network ACLs. (You can also\nachieve this with routes)\n\nI think the idea is that separate teams with different responsibilities can\nmanage the two different layers. Your app team may manage the security groups\nbut the security team manages network ACLs which limit what can go into or\ncome out of a subnet.\n\n------\nllama052\nOff topic, but as a network guy by heart I've always been fairly happy with\nhow AWS implements the network side of things, especially in comparison to\nsomething like Azure.\n\nAWS you have the same basic concepts of a network, and the terminology aligns\nenough that you can make sense of it fairly quick if you're in the network\nrealm. Azure however takes all of that 'network' stuff and turns it into this\nabstraction where you have to carefully follow one of their guides to realize\nit's out of date, or the UI doesn't show the appropriate information etc. Also\nyou have Azure network portions that block ICMP because of 'security'.\n\nThis is all anecdotal from my experience of course, but it's why I keep\nreferring to Azure as the \"Excel spreadsheet of the cloud\" because the entire\ndesign of it is in your face and non intuitive.\n\nFor instance if I wanted to make a direct connection like DirectConnect to\nmultiple VPC's in AWS, I'd use the Transit Gateway, connect to it from on-\nprem, add the VPC and the route, and be done.\n\nIn Azure, I'd use expressroute, add the Expressroute circuit to a\nSubscription, add a gateway for that, and then an additional gateway for each\nVPC equivalent, create an authorization key for each 'VPC' equivalent and sync\nthem, and then define routing per gateway. Then when you go in to trace the\nnetwork path ICMP is blocked.\n\nI know AWS is more mature than Azure, so it's not entirely fair to criticize\nthem, but every time I touch Azure I miss AWS, or even GCP. Perhaps it's just\nme not being familiar enough with Azure. ¯\\\\_(ツ)_/¯\n\n~~~\ntlynchpin\nTransit Gateway was announced at re:invent 2018. That's a few months ago.\nDirectConnect Gateway and Transit VPC were announced the year before. I would\nguess about nobody is currently in production with Transit Gateway.\n\n~~~\ncuriouserrr\nExcept you can’t yet do cross-account transit, which makes their Transit VPC\noffering pretty much useless. The whole point of transit is so you can talk to\nother VPCs across accounts.\n\n~~~\njoemag\nEC2 engineer here.\n\nYou can connect transit gateway to VPCs owned by different accounts.\n\n~~~\nHikikomori\nWill BYOIP be sharable with RAM?\n\n------\nbenmanns\nNAT gateways are one of the things that blindsided me on the whole\n\"serverless\" idea for hobby projects. To have a Lambda function with access to\nthe outside world and your private network resources your $0.01/month function\nbecomes a $35/month+ expense if you don't want to manage your own t2 NAT\ninstance (and required patches, upgrades, scaling, monitoring, etc).\n\nSee\n[https://forums.aws.amazon.com/thread.jspa?threadID=234959](https://forums.aws.amazon.com/thread.jspa?threadID=234959)\n\n~~~\niheartpotatoes\nThere are a bunch of microcharges like this that pop up, but reading your\nthread are you sure AWS is right for your application? You essentially can't\nafford it and want a free tier and near-free access? That seems a bit\nunrealistic. Maybe lambda isn't the right solution?\n\n~~~\nsudhirj\nLambda isn't the problem here, the private network (subnet) is. Basically\ndefault to public subnet with security groups configured for your incoming\nconnections.\n\nIf you really want / need the airgapping that private subnets provide, you'd\nbetter be willing to pay for them, and that makes sense to me personally -\noutside of PCI DSS or HIPAA compliance (or similar) I don't see any reason to\nuse private subnets. That won't apply on a personal project.\n\n~~~\nsudhirj\nThere's another gotcha, though is that Lambdas seem to default to inside the\nVPC by default, which triggers the NAT Gateway cost if you want to do anything\nuseful with them. You'll need to explicitly remember to host the Lambdas\noutside the VPC.\n\n~~~\nmanishsharan\nYou may consider using NAT instance of EC2. A micro instance which can also\nserve as your bastion host.\n\nOr if you are a true extreme penny pincher -- have your lamba function invoke\naws api to set up a NAT Gateway and update the subnet route, then execute your\nbusiness function and then clean up the NAT.\n\n~~~\nsudhirj\nHuh? I can’t make out if this is sarcasm... you suggesting opening the\nfirewall from the inside for each request, finishing the request and then\nclosing the firewall? For starters, what would happen if request 1 closed the\nfirewall while request 2 was still working?\n\n------\nmooreds\nI taught some courses on AWS for a year and a half. The networking piece is\nsomething that is trivial for any network engineer, but for any developer\n(which is my background) working through the network piece is crucial. It\ntakes a while and this looks like a good reference. However, it's best to also\ncheck out the AWS docs [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vpc/latest/userguide/what-\nis-ama...](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vpc/latest/userguide/what-is-amazon-\nvpc.html) . They are not always the easiest read, but I find them to be pretty\nauthoritative.\n\nI also like this video [https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/amazon-web-\nservices/978...](https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/amazon-web-\nservices/9781771373944/video217078.html) (part of\n[http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920040415.do](http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920040415.do)\n). Full disclaimer, I used to work with Jon.\n\n~~~\norangejewce\nThis piece excludes some incredibly common networking complications: VPC\nPeering Connections, VPC Endpoint Services, VPN connections.\n\n------\np4lindromica\nI created a collection of terraform modules that gets a minimal AWS network\nset up for a single-region webapp:\n[https://github.com/lopopolo/hyperbola/tree/master/terraform/...](https://github.com/lopopolo/hyperbola/tree/master/terraform/modules/aws/network)\n\n~~~\ndvtrn\nKudos for this, sincerely!\n\n------\nwslh\nI want to add a few notes useful for packet crafting. AWS, Google Cloud, and\nAzure don't work at layer 2 (Ethernet) as expected since they provide services\nat layer 3 and up.\n\nFor example, if you modify the MAC destination address it will not work in\nAWS. To be able to do that you should disable source/destination checks as is\nspecified in [1].\n\nThe last time I checked you cannot do that in Google Cloud or Microsoft Azure.\n\nWhen we experienced this issue, Reddit was the best resource for answers. I\nput the Reddit threads as they can help others working in projects requiring\npacket crafting:\n\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/51xypj/vpc_amazon...](https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/51xypj/vpc_amazon_virtual_private_cloud_issues_with/)\n\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/networking/comments/51y52n/aws_vpc_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/networking/comments/51y52n/aws_vpc_issues_with_crafted_network_packets/)\n\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/533e14/google_com...](https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/533e14/google_compute_engine_issues_with_crafted_network/)\n\n[1]\n[https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vpc/latest/userguide/VPC_NAT_Ins...](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vpc/latest/userguide/VPC_NAT_Instance.html#EIP_Disable_SrcDestCheck)\n\n~~~\nCloudNetworking\nAnd for those curious as to how/why this works this way, Azure has published\npapers on their virtual switch: [https://www.microsoft.com/en-\nus/research/project/azure-virtu...](https://www.microsoft.com/en-\nus/research/project/azure-virtual-filtering-platform/#!publications)\n\n------\nninetax\nNice, I found this explanation a bit more in depth and super helpful as well\n\n[https://start.jcolemorrison.com/aws-vpc-core-concepts-\nanalog...](https://start.jcolemorrison.com/aws-vpc-core-concepts-analogy-\nguide/)\n\n------\nggm\nAs long as IPv6 is a second-class citizen, things are going to continue to be\npainful in AWS.\n\nI did the whole \"here is your /56, now segment it yourself\" thing. Its crude.\nIt should not be neccessary, if V6 was central to the model, you'd be assigned\n/64 from your covering prefix automatically, as you deploy regional nodes.\n\n------\ncygned\nIn my opinion, the most annoying thing about AWS networking - and some other\nservices - is that they often use IDs and do not show labels which forces me\nto remember them partly, go back and forth or have multiple windows open. The\nAWS console is not the best UX piece on the web, but this part is especially\nerror prone.\n\n~~~\nbmurphy1976\nHaving to reference security groups by id instead of name in cloudformation\nstacks, terraform, and a variety of other places is one of the most\ninfuriating things. Makes everything much more difficult to configure and\nmaintain because the IDs are so opaque and unique. Somebody has to do the\ngrunt work of looking them and and copy/pasting them or writing scripts to\npropagate configuration forward. What a waste of time and effort.\n\n~~~\nchrisacky\nI agree, it's frustrating. However, considering you can share security groups,\nand even share VPC as a resource to different AWS accounts, and that \"names\"\nare non-unique, how would you solve the problem of allowing people to select a\nnon-unique resource and know which one they actually mean.\n\nIt's a pain, sure, but there's no better solution... explicitness creates\ncertainty in this case..\n\n~~~\nbmurphy1976\nYou would use the arns. Those are unique but predictable.\n\n------\ntambourine_man\nI’ve been banging my head against the wall for a week trying to set up a site\nto site VPN in AWS with a Cisco ASA. The auto generated config file have a lot\nof missing info.\n\nIf anyone knows of a good resource on the subject it would be greatly\nappreciated.\n\n~~~\nmattbillenstein\nIMO closed-source stuff is just impossible to get working unless you're\ncertified with that equipment. Try OpenVPN:\n\n[https://openvpn.net/vpn-server-resources/site-to-site-\nroutin...](https://openvpn.net/vpn-server-resources/site-to-site-routing-\nexplained-in-detail/)\n\n------\nscubbo\nSomething that's missing from this (otherwise great!) guide, that has puzzled\nme for a while - what's the point? What does this configuration actually gain\nyou/AWS? My best guess is that private subnets are for DDOS protection, but\nthat seems like something that would be better handled by throttling. Given\nthe amount of complaints I've heard about how difficult VPC/Subnet setup is,\nwhy bother with it at all? Staving off IP address exhaustion?\n\nOr, to ask it another way - what would be the downside of all your resources\nbeing in 1 single-Subnet VPC, spread evenly across AZs?\n\n~~~\nllama052\nNot sure I'm qualified to answer all of your questions on this but, from a\nnetworking perspective..\n\nPrivate subnets will allow you to reduce your exposure to the Internet, also\ncan reduce costs with something like a NAT gateway. It's useful for things\nthat don't need to be public facing. Generally things on the private subnet\ncan go outbound directly but not have anything come direct into that subnet,\nyou'd need a solution that interfaces with the public side to facilitate that,\nor manually create a public IP association per instance.\n\nYou generally don't want one big subnet in general, it's a broadcast domain\nand it can be quite chatty when you get a lot of devices on it. Alongside that\nif you're doing multi-AZ and spanning layer-2 you end up with a lot of\nadditional complexity to get that network to span and be highly available over\nmultiple AZ's, while another subnet can be mostly independent. I know of some\nweird edge cases where you'd have to span layer-2, but if you're doing\nanything cloud-native you should be able to build around it.\n\n~~~\nmotive\nJust as an fyi, inside Amazon's virtual network topology, there is no such\nthing as layer 2, and thus, no broadcast topology. Normally you'd be 100%\ncorrect in seeking to limit that bandwidth, but in Amazon everything works\njust a little differently.\n\n~~~\nllama052\nAh yes are right. I was thinking specifically networking, not AWS.\n\n------\nabalone\nTangential question: This guy's blog has fantastic content but I don't see an\nRSS feed or any other way of subscribing (apart from a much broader Twitter\nfeed). What's the best way to keep up?\n\n~~~\ngrahamlyons\nFlattery will get you everywhere. It's a Jekyll blog so I'm sure RSS is just a\nplugin away. And then I'd better write some more content...\n\n~~~\nabalone\nThank you! But seriously, do you rely exclusively on Twitter to get the word\nout that you've posted something?\n\nI'm just so curious how people do this in the Modern Age. I am totally\ndependent on RSS readers to subscribe to things but I feel I am living in the\npast. I get that Medium tried to address the distribution problem, but not\neveryone posts on Medium. And I get that everyone posts things on Twitter, but\nI want to scream when people say just follow someone on Twitter because\nobviously there is a very, very high chance that I will miss if someone posted\nsomething new because Twitter is not meant to be read comprehensively.\n\n------\nvvanders\nBeen recently putting together a homelab and it's done wonders to help make\nsome of these more abstract things like routing tables and CIDR mentioned a\nlot more concrete.\n\n~~~\nvoltagex_\nAre you able to share any details? I started putting together a more complex\nsetup and ended up flattening things out because I couldn't get routing\nbetween e.g. 10.0.0.1 and 10.1.0.1 working.\n\n~~~\nvvanders\nYeah, totally depends on what you're using for a router/gateway/firewall.\n\nI've got a mix of Ubiquiti gear and pfSense. Most of it was a matter of just\nsetting up a static route(like in the article) where when I'm on the\n192.x.x.x(192.0.0.0/24) network and want to talk to 10.0.0.0/24 I'd put in the\ngateway(10.0.0.1) as the next hop. Without knowing more about your setup it's\nhard to say.\n\nr/homelab is also a pretty decent place with a lot of helpful people\ninterested in networking and homelabs.\n\n~~~\nvoltagex_\nI've got an all-Ubiquiti setup (and once you start digging into the forums /\nneed IPv6, boy is it unimpressive)\n\nIt seems like going with the Ubiquiti USG instead of the EdgeRouter or a\npfsense box was a big mistake.\n\nI'm heavily space/heat/power constrained though.\n\n~~~\nvvanders\nSame USG here. If you're on two different networks in the Unifi setup you'll\nalso probably need a firewall rule between them. In my case the 10.0.0.0/24\nwas on pfSense so the Unifi router just passed it along and didn't do anything\nelse.\n\n------\ngravypod\nWould be really good to go into managed VPNs and VPC peering. These are some\nof the amazing things that the VPCs provide you that took me a while to figure\nout.\n\n------\ndevonkim\nThe part that irks me is that if you’re doing any VPC design that’s going to\neven potentially include peering you need to carefully understand the\nlimitations first. This means that within the same region you can refer to\nsecurity groups in rules as if they’re in the same VPC, but you can’t do that\nif you’re peering across regions. Then add in some DNS restrictions (like not\nbeing able to directly resolve a peer VPC’s entries, somewhat solvable by use\nof VPC private zones to serve as DNS across regions) and it can be real\nawkward. Then there’s overlapping VPC CIDR issues (VPC Transit Gateways can\nonly sorta help this)\n\nThe primary caveats beyond basic networks that impact designs is that\nmulticasting is not enabled by the network layers but at the network interface\n(ENI) layer and you need to carefully look at how security groups really work\n(they’re attached to an ENI fundamentally, which is how you can route between\nnetworks with a single instance as long as it’s within the same AZ)\n\nAll of this I’ve found was completely disregarded / unknown by almost every\ncompany outside the F500 or high end tech start-ups when they first started\nwith AWS and I’ve spent a lot of my career having to migrate production\nenvironments between VPCs so that we can get enough room to grow adequately.\nMaking subnets as small as possible is not what you should be doing in AWS,\nfolks. In fact, making them real small means you spent a fair bit of effort\nwhich means you decided to put in a lot of effort without stopping to read the\ndocumentation in earnest for a couple hours. And using a default VPC CIDR\nrepeatedly from the console is a pretty grand way to make sure you can never\nlet two VPCs communicate with each other via anything other than a third\nintermediate VPC that you’ll have to migrate to eventually.\n\nSome of the overly-cautious networking approaches I’ve seen include making a\nVPC for every single application / service, using a NACL for every application\n(multiplied by every AZ used to isolate each subnet and cutting off cross-AZ\nrouting thereby, of course), creating your own NAT instance that doesn’t do\nanything better than a NAT gateway, NAT gateways in every AZ (for a whole $1\nof traffic / mo each). The story of problems in AWS infrastructure is the same\n- trying to plan too far ahead for the wrong things and not realizing the\nlimitations of the right things that are not flexible anymore. This is much\nmore common when companies hire traditionally experienced network engineers\nthat have just a little too much confidence.\n\n~~~\njugg1es\nPlanning your network is something everyone has to do whether or not they are\nusing AWS. I think its unreasonable to expect to just throw stuff in AWS\nwithout thinking about it and then complain when something comes up\nunexpectedly.\n\n~~~\ndevonkim\nThe issue is that lots of folks get started on AWS (or any cloud provider) and\nbecause everything’s built around getting developers in a hurry to push out\nsome code this step is increasingly taking less and less time. Sure, it’s not\na big deal for the usual start-up that fizzles in a couple years but once it’s\ngoing and there’s actual users the system is setup that there will be a forced\noutage of some sort when a couple hours investment would have prevented a lot\nof headaches.\n\nThe common pivot for a company is to go from a b2c company to b2b and that\nmeans regulations. That means you can’t do cowboy infrastructure setup like\npeople setup their home network (in fact, most home networks are more secure\nthan what most SaaS devs do as a rule sans router firmware exploits).\n\n------\nmvanbaak\nFor the public subnets where the NAT gateways are, you can use 1 route table\nfor all public subnets together.\n\nBesides that: nice article\n\n~~~\ngrahamlyons\nWould the default route table do that job? Subnets would be associated with\nthat if they weren't explicitly assigned to another route table, right?\n\n~~~\nmvanbaak\nYes. But i prefer to create my own. Create a riutetable, call it “public”\nusing a tag, attach the internetgateway and attach all public subnets, add a\ndefault route that points to the internetgateway and you’re done\n\n------\nsimonebrunozzi\nThe title says \"everything you need to know about networking on AWS\". I wish\nit were this simple.\n\nThe article is well written, but it simply represents maybe 1% of what you\nneed to know here. I would have called it \"A simple introduction to networking\non AWS\".\n\n~~~\ngrahamlyons\nI'd contest that this is everything that you _need_ to know. Or perhaps more\naccurately, everything _I_ need to know.\n\nIt's certainly not intended to be exhaustive and I am definitely not a network\nengineer but I think you could operate at a reasonable scale within a single\nwell laid out VPC. Of course there'll be a point for peering etc. but you\nmight not need that.\n\n------\nrkangel\nDoes anyone know of any similar resources for Google Cloud?\n\n------\nGelob\nAWS security groups and ACLs are the most worthless things. you cant treat\nthem like a real firewall. you end up just allowing anything outbound or\ninbound. they dont let you be detailed enough\n\n~~~\nAzMoo_\nWhy are you just allowing anything outbound or inbound? You can specify\nAllow/Deny on any combination of source subnet, dest subnet, source port, dest\nport for starters. That gets you a pretty comprehensive ability to lock down a\nVPC on its own.\n\n~~~\nGelob\nSay I want to allow outbound http/https to 10 different IPs. I can't do that\nin 1 rule like a traditional firewall.\n\n~~~\njustnoise\nJust in case those IPs are within your AWS account: you can apply a single\nsecurity group to those machines and then use that security group as the\ndestination in the outbound rule.\n\nIf they're outside your account then, you're right, that's a shortcoming in\nAWS (Azure and GCP both allow multiple destinations in a single rule).\n\n~~~\nGelob\nYes coming from outside aws, you're fucked\n\n------\niheartpotatoes\nUgh! That's the most complex explanation of AWS I've ever seen.\n\nHe just described a NETWORK, not AWS.\n\nAWS has renamed lots of things, but all the scary text configs that used to be\nthe domain of wizened sysadmins have been replaced with very simple single-\npage-app GUI controls. LIke routers and gateways: those terms are largely gone\nfrom the AWS vocabulary.\n\nNo need to get into subnets and route tables I think.\n\nThe majority of clients I've worked with use AWS for web hosting with an ELB\nload balancer (the most important part), an EC2 instance policy & image (for\nhandling traffic fluctuations), an RDS (database), an S3 and Route53 (external\nDNS entries)\n\nPoint the load balancer to the outside world and then let it spin up\ninstances. That's the most common model I've encountered.\n\nIT's almost cartoonishly simple compared to what the OP wrote here. Almost.\nHaving an understanding of network architecture helps, but not THAT much.\n\n~~~\njrockway\nHaving just gone through the process of using EKS, which requires a VPC, I\nthink the article is quite applicable to anyone doing anything of average\ncomplexity. I found myself quite often wondering things like \"do I have to run\nan Internet Gateway in every availability zone?\" (no) and \"do I attach my NAT\nGateway to the public subnet or the private subnet in each AZ?\" (public, and\nthen add an entry for the gateway in the private subnet).\n\nAmazon does not clearly document any of this. (I think if you read enough\nyou'll eventually figure it out, but experimentation was the most\nstraightforward procedure here).\n\nAs for just using a single EC2 instance and RDS... that is something you can\ndo, but not everyone's workload is so simple that they can run it on one\nmachine. And not everyone can afford do be down simply because one AZ is down.\nHence, multi-AZ VPC setups.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nUnseen 9/11 photos bought at house clearance sale - hhs\nhttps://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48689783\n======\nmerricksb\nDifferent article about same subject discussed a few days ago:\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20199667](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20199667)\n(60 points/59 comments)\n\n~~~\nhhs\nGood to know, thanks.\n\n------\nkcdev\nIn this community of logical thinkers, we will each think what we think, and\nnot say much for now...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Good introductory article on source control - jasonkester\n\nI've recently joined a new project owned by a developer who has never used source control.  I've suggested moving the project onto Subversion, but am starting to get the first signs of pushback.<p>I think we're still at the \"what's in it for me\" stage here, and I'm pretty sure that I'd blunder any attempt at direct advocacy, so I'd rather simply forward a URL that lays out the case for using version control and let this developer reach his own conclusions.<p>I've been looking around, but all the intro SVN docs I've found seem to give a brief single paragraph intro to SCC before diving into either how to set up a repository, or \"why CVS sucks and SVN is awesome.\"  Can anybody recommend anything good?<p>(I'll send across the Joel Test in due time, but I think we might need to do some softening up first...)\n======\nananthrk\nSeries of articles written by Eric Sink\n<http://www.ericsink.com/scm/source_control.html>\n\nHe is also currently working a book on the same topic. A lot of his recent\narticles are about his experiments with various version control systems and\nare worth a look.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow Did Software Get So Reliable Without Proof? - thamer\nhttps://blog.regehr.org/archives/820\n======\nanonymousiam\nWho says it's reliable? Software is shit.\n\n~~~\neesmith\nThe metric is the number of deaths attributed to dependence on computers\ncompared to the (presumed) number of deaths that could have happened in\n\"safety-critical software controlling health equipment, aircraft, weapons\nsystems and industrial processes, including nuclear power stations\", that is,\nsoftware where it was presumed that formal proofs were essential for correct\noperations.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law)\n\\- 90% of everything is crap.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWhy I Left Rackspace and What About OpenStack - garethr\nhttp://dendrobates.wordpress.com/2011/03/22/rackspace-openstac/\n\n======\nanotherjesse\nWhy I joined Rackspace: to make OpenStack awesome!\n\nThe folks I met at Rackspace share our (Anso Labs) vision of making OpenStack\nthe best cloud platform for themselves and others.\n\nThe \"marketing\" team at Rackspace were the folks who understood the importance\nof OpenStack and worked to convince the rest of the company to open source\ntheir cloud.\n\nSure there are growing pains. And one could point out technical areas that the\ncommunity has struggled with (automated testing against real clusters)... The\npoint is that everyone I've talked to from developers to the CEO understand\nthat OpenStack needs to be its own project. We (individually and as a company)\nare trying to shepherd the project.\n\n------\njjdoe\n\"I think that Rackspace is trying to control Openstack rather than influence\nit.\"\n\nSo that's why you're up in arms over them making a move to _reduce_ their\npresence on the board? Sure, they should have handled it better, but it seems\nsilly to jump from a bumbling move to a power grab, especially when the point\nwas to reduce the near-total domination of Rackspace on the board after the\nAnso purchase.\n\nWonder if there are more sour grapes behind this than you're letting on.\n\n------\nlsc\nis anyone renting out infrastructure using the OpenStack API? Seems to me like\nit'll be more valuable both to consumers and to providers once there are\nseveral inter-operable providers. Also, social proof would make the\ntraditionally conservative VPS providers more comfortable, I think.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMy Favorite PostgreSQL Queries and Why They Matter - grzm\nhttps://severalnines.com/blog/my-favorite-postgresql-queries-and-why-they-matter\n======\nda_chicken\n> 6\\. UPDATE multiple rows with a CASE expression\n\nOh, man, as a seasoned DBA/Data Analyst, don't do this unless you have a\nreally good reason to. This is premature optimization of the kind you want to\navoid.\n\nYes, it's really neat to update everything in a single statement, and in\n_some_ situations it can perform significantly better, but CASE expressions in\nan UPDATE statement quickly get complicated to map out in your head. It gets\nextremely difficult extremely quickly to tell where you have an error, and\nit's very, very easy to make a very costly mistake.\n\nIf you really need an atomic change you can just do this:\n\n    \n    \n      BEGIN;\n      UPDATE reward_members SET member_status = 'gold_group' WHERE member_status = 'gold';\n      UPDATE reward_members SET member_status = 'bronze_group' WHERE member_status = 'bronze';\n      UPDATE reward_members SET member_status = 'platinum_group' WHERE member_status = 'platinum';\n      UPDATE reward_members SET member_status = 'silver_group' WHERE member_status = 'silver';\n      COMMIT;\n    \n\nIn general, however, make your queries difficult for the server and easy for\nyou, because _you_ make a ton more mistakes than the server ever will. Let the\nquery planner and optimizer do the work. If performance becomes a problem on\nthis query, you can fix it later when you can focus on just that one issue and\nunderstand the specific problem much better.\n\n> You can imagine how many round trips this would take to the server if\n> multiple individual UPDATE statements had been run.\n\nIf you're not returning data and you reuse the connection like you're supposed\nto, \"round trips\" cost is essentially nothing. What's expensive here is that\nthe database server has to scan the index or row data on member_status.\nHowever, if the table is not billions of rows, it can probably fit that index\n(or even the row data for small tables) in memory and will cache hit on\neverything.\n\nHowever, the list of single UPDATE statement _can_ perform much better than a\nmonolithic statement. If you're only updating a portion of the table, or if\nthe number of rows that you'll actually be updating is comparatively small,\nthen the list of single UPDATE statements can perform _much_ better. It all\ndepends on exactly what you're doing with the table.\n\n~~~\norf\nThis comment is really interesting to me as I'm working on getting essentially\nthis functionality added to Django[1].\n\nThe case statement is slightly different, more like this (usually with a\ncouple of hundred ID's):\n\n    \n    \n        UPDATE TABLE place \n        SET rating = (\n           CASE WHEN id = 1 THEN 25\n           CASE WHEN id = 2 THEN 94\n           CASE WHEN id = 3 THEN 16\n        ) \n        WHERE id IN (1, 2, 3)\n    \n\nMembers of the Django community, myself included, have seem huge performance\nbenefits using this technique. I had an update loop go from taking 90 seconds\nto 3.\n\nAs a seasoned DBA you see any huge downsides with this technique? I agree that\nif you're updating the whole table using a CASE statement is not a great idea\nbut if you want to update 1000 rows with differing values and you have to\nissue 1000 individual queries then this can take some time (including whatever\noverhead Django has).\n\n1\\.\n[https://github.com/django/django/pull/9606](https://github.com/django/django/pull/9606)\n\n~~~\npritambaral\n> (usually with a couple of hundred ID's)\n\n> I had an update loop go from taking 90 seconds to 3.\n\nHow is the performance with prepared statements? It seems like repeatedly\nexecuting the same statement with different values is what prepared statements\nare made for.\n\n~~~\nCan_Not\nThe ORM likely does use prepared statements, it's that most ORMs by default\nmakes 100 round-trip IO operations (one for each update). The code would need\nto be rewritten without the ORM to send all the updates as one database call.\nThe query isn't expensive to the database, but to the application itself just\nthe IO of the database call adds up quickly.\n\n~~~\norf\nUnfortunately Django does not use prepared statements. There are some big\nchallenges to work around before support can be added. In any case I'd be\nvery, very surprised if a significant portion of the 87 seconds using a single\nstatement saved was saved also saved by using a prepared statement.\n\n~~~\nCan_Not\nI don't think using a prepared statement 100 times will have anywhere close to\nthe same performance improvement as sending one concatenated bulk update or\none update set case.\n\n~~~\npritambaral\nNo reason why prepared statements and single-call batched-statements can't\nboth be used together. Of course, if one method (batching statements) works\nwell enough, there's no need for another (prepared statements) too.\n\n~~~\nCan_Not\nIn every ORM I've ever used, everything is a prepared statement by default, so\nI've only been comparing 100 separate database call updates vs 100 updates\nconcatenated as a single database call and 100 updates as a single update case\nwhen, where all three were already implied prepared statements.\n\n------\nbmpafa\nThese are great. I feel like no matter how many PG tips & tricks I learn,\nthere's always something new out there.\n\nI recently started learning PostgreSQL after ~2 yrs of relying on BaaS etc.\n(mostly of the NoSQL variety).\n\nI have to say: I regret not learning it earlier. Stuff like constraints,\ntriggers, views, etc., are game-changers, but even just being able to write\nqueries instead of navigating a proprietary GUI was worth the few weeks it\ntook to learn.\n\nIt was also a boon for data analysis work. Whereas before I'd take a few hours\ncleaning some data with JavaScript or Python, now I just write a SQL query or\ntwo. It's faster, it feels more powerful, and it's _substantially_ less\nfragile than one-off data cleaning scripts.\n\nAnyway: for those that started out like I did, afraid of SQL, dive on in.\n\n~~~\ncuchoi\nHow did you learn? Old-fashioned trial and error + googling?\n\n~~~\nJohnCohorn\nThe PG docs are surprisingly good. Good enough to learn from. I remember\nlearning my first SQL back in like 1999 or 2000 by reading the PG docs in the\nback of my parents minivan. Good times!\n\n~~~\npaulie_a\nI don't mean to knock the pg docs but I honestly come away reading them with\nthe feeling \"what did I just read?\". They seem dense and dry. So personally I\nappreciate the articles like this to help me really learn. I will skip over\nofficial documentation and go to this sort of content.\n\n~~~\njlg23\n> They seem dense and dry.\n\nI consider that a feature. I loathe wasting my time by having to dig through\nlayers of prose to get some fact.\n\nBut they are probably not suitable as a tutorial, they only make sense when\nyou already know relational database basics and need info on pg-specifics.\n\n~~~\npaulie_a\nIt's a personal preference I guess. I'd rather hit up stack overflow and find\na common English answer to a similar problem that usually includes an example.\nDjango suffers from the same thing... excellent docs, that just seem\nunapproachable day to day.\n\nBasically when I Google something, I'm skipping the first 2-3 official links\nthat in fact contains the info I need, but instead clicking the one that\nsummarized it more plainly\n\n~~~\nmgkimsal\nIf it doesn't actually resonate with you, and you don't come away with the\nunderstanding you need, it's most certainly not a 'feature' but a 'bug'. I\nthink some projects see dense/thicks docs that keep a high barrier to entry as\na feature itself as well.\n\nIf they're not approachable, they're not 'excellent'.\n\n~~~\npaulie_a\nI've been a django developer for a decade and keep hearing from others how\ngreat their docs are. I barely ever use them. My biggest complaint is they\ngive examples without any context. I can't look up a feature without knowing\n12 other things before\n\n------\ngeocar\nPostgreSQL like many SQL engines has real cost in doing separate queries, and\nthe query analyser does a lot of work to \"understand\" what you mean (and may\nneed a lot of guidance in the form of indexes), but in kdb+, a lot of these\nqueries are simple and obvious to a q programmer, and doing it across multiple\nstatements creates opportunities to understand what you're looking at -- and\nwith little-to-no cost.\n\n1.\n\n    \n    \n        fake:2017.02.01+til 28\n        t:select sum amount by legit:payment_date.dd from payment\n        t:update fake:legit from a where legit in fake.dd\n        select from t where amount > 2000\n    \n\n2.\n\n    \n    \n        string[2],\" times \",\" 2 equals\",string[2*2]\n    \n\n3.\n\n    \n    \n        t:desc select sum amount from payment by customer_id where payment_date.mm = 4, payment_date.dd within 10 13\n        / or obviously clearer if you know the year:\n        / t:select ... where payment_date within 2017.04.10 2017.04.13\n        d:exec distinct customer_id from t where amount > 30\n        select first_name, last_name, email from customer where customer_id in d\n    \n\nonly want the top 5?\n\n    \n    \n        d:5#d;\n    \n\n4.\n\nTables are a data type (unlike SQL) so this is much simpler:\n\n    \n    \n        tbl_1:([] some_day:2018.04.01+til 15; an_amt:2.43+2.266*til 15)\n        tbl_2:([] some_day2:2018.05.16+til 16; an_amt2:15.43+1.03*til 16)\n    \n\n5.\n\nNo need for a query:\n\n    \n    \n        count film\n        count where film.rating=\"G\"\n    \n\nor remembering this is a vector language:\n\n    \n    \n        sum film.rating=\"G\"\n    \n\ncount of each rating needs a query though:\n\n    \n    \n        select count i by rating from film\n    \n\n6.\n\nAn excellent opportunity to see value sharing syntax between function\napplication and indexing:\n\n    \n    \n        m:`gold`bronze`platinum`silver!`gold_group`bronze_group`platinum_group`silver_group\n        m:m!`$string[m:`gold`bronze`platinum`silver],\\:\"_group\"; /shorter\n    \n        update member_status:m member_status from `reward_members where member_status in key m\n    \n\n7.\n\n    \n    \n        awards_to_honor:select expense_amt, member_status from reward_members where member_status=`gold_group\n        save `:awards_to_honor.csv\n\n~~~\nklibertp\n> a lot of these queries are simple and obvious to a Q programmer\n\nI'm not sure if it was you, but I most definitely saw a couple of posts like\nthis on HN. Each time I had just one wish: for the poster to provide an\nexplanation, preferably from the basics, of what is going on.\n\nAs a programmer, due to my hobby, I learned a lot more programming languages\nthan average and am pretty confident in my ability to learn new ones, yet K\nand Q elude me completely. Every time I get interested in it, I struggle with\nits complete lack of entry-level documentation. I learned J, and while it's\nsimilarly impenetrable at first, there are tons of good documentation on J\nwiki. With Q I couldn't find anywhere near that amount of explanations.\n\nSo, I'm not against pasting Q snippets in comments, but I think they would\nbring much, much more value if accompanied with a detailed explanation of both\nsyntax, semantics, and library functions. As it stands, even things I thought\nI know, like that : means assignment, only add to the confusion, because\nlooking at your code I see that apparently it sometimes means something else\nentirely...\n\n~~~\nis0tope\nI usually recommend Q for Mortals.\nV[http://code.kx.com/q4m3/](http://code.kx.com/q4m3/)\n\nThe thing I love is that the SQL and regular programming syntax can be mixed.\nFor instance, if I wish to apply a lambda function for each group I can do,\neg:\n\nselect result: {lambda code here...} column by category from table\n\nSince a table is implicitly a list of dictionaries under the hood, you can\niterate over a table where each column will be a dictionary. Tables and\ndictionaries are first class objects in q, so it is a lot easier to reason\nabout certain manipulations as they are essentially the same as if you had\nused regular code. One issue I've always had with SQL itself is that I learned\nKSQL first, and the way many things are done in regular sql just seem strange.\n\n------\nspraak\nHow does one get this level of SQL proficiency? I am not sure how to go beyond\nmy current level of understanding, and these queries don't make much sense to\nme. I don't often do more than some selects and maybe an inner join\noccasionally, so far.\n\n~~~\nAlisdairO\n(self plug) I made [https://pgexercises.com/](https://pgexercises.com/) a\nwhile back to help people learn SQL in a learn-by-doing exercise format. You\ncan run the queries in the browser, so it's easy to just to an exercise when\nyou have a spare few minutes.\n\n~~~\nbarryhoodlum\nI came across this when it was posted to HN a year or two ago and ended up\nfinishing the whole thing. Thank you for making it.\n\n~~~\nAlisdairO\nPleasure - glad you found it useful :-)\n\n------\nbmpafa\nminor style thought: I think it'd be easier to scroll thru an article like\nthis (ie, a list of things) if the item headers were more distinct from the\nbody. e.g., a heavier weight, or maybe with more vertical margin.\n\n~~~\ntopspin\nIndenting the SQL wouldn't hurt either.\n\n~~~\nlabster\nYou should view the article on mobile then, where all the SQL is indented...\nand in a font 2x the size of the rest of the article, and you can only see 25%\nof a line.\n\n------\nsudomake\nYou dont need include aggregate functions in your select clause to use them in\nhaving and order by.\n\nI suppose I may be glossing over another point, but for the subquery example I\nwould've just done:\n\nSELECT first_name, last_name, email FROM customer WHERE customer_id IN (SELECT\nDISTINCT customer_id FROM payment WHERE extract(month from payment_date) = 4\nAND extract(day from payment_date) BETWEEN 10 AND 13 GROUP BY customer_id\nHAVING SUM(amount) > 30 ORDER BY SUM(amount) DESC LIMIT 5);\n\n------\njaequery\ncan anyone recommend a really good postgres GUI client? ive not found one yet\nfor OSX, which is almost baffling\n\n~~~\nbmdavi3\nOther people have given actual answers, so I'll go ahead and give the non-\nanswer of... use psql instead!\n\nLike Dimitri Fontaine says early in the Mastering PostgreSQL in Application\nDevelopment book mentioned elsewhere in this thread, psql is really powerful.\nFrom the \\d meta commands to inspect anything and everything in the database,\nto the variable substitution, nothing beats editing sql in your preferred\neditor and hitting \\i my_query.sql in psql to run it. You can also nest\nadditional \\i my_other_query.sql commands inside the files you run with \\i,\nwhich I've found really useful for repeatedly dropping / installing test\ntables / views, or setting up test data, before running the query I'm actually\ninterested in. Take the time to customize it by adding a few lines to your\n.psqlrc file, like \\x auto, and \\timing and it becomes very usable very\nquickly.\n\nI used psql for a number of years, then joined a new company where DataGrip\nwas the norm. I gave DataGrip an honest try to see what I might be missing\nfrom a GUI SQL client. After a year of using it exclusively, I slowly found\nmyself migrating back to psql and can honestly say I don't miss anything.\n\nBut it's also possible I just haven't tried the right GUI client yet. Anyway,\nI hope you find the PostgreSQL client that works for you!\n\n~~~\nnjharman\nyes but pgcli, [https://www.pgcli.com/](https://www.pgcli.com/)\n\n~~~\nemmelaich\nNice. That tui looks similar to the gcloud alpha interactive cli.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAmazon won't spin off AWS. That's too bad for AWS - forrestbrazeal\nhttps://forrestbrazeal.com/2019/07/24/cloud-irregular-amazon-wont-spin-off-aws-and-thats-too-bad-for-aws/\n======\nfred_is_fred\nIn a previous job I did consulting helping companies migrate apps to \"the\ncloud\". Almost all of these companies, which spanned industries from retail to\npharmaceuticals to media to real estate, considered Amazon a competitor or\nsoon to be one. They had all made the business decision to not use AWS,\nfeatures, usability, and cost be damned, because they were not going to fund\ntheir own demise. I suspect as Amazon expands into and threatens more markets\nthis will be more of an issue for AWS.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Outreach for Covid-19 longitudinal study proposal? - william-at-rain\nI&#x27;m failing at finding development help for a COVID-19 study initiative. I could use your ideas and critiques.<p><a href=\"https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gist.github.com&#x2F;williamflynt&#x2F;a1595665b8bf4e30a2a493f5aea358e6\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gist.github.com&#x2F;williamflynt&#x2F;a1595665b8bf4e30a2a493f...</a><p>BACKGROUND:<p>A small nonprofit called RAIN in Tacoma just bought and set up blood gathering and testing equipment, and they have an antigen test for SARS-CoV-2 ready to go. Sample collection starts next week, with an eye to scaling to many thousands in the Tacoma area. PhDs in immunology, microbiology, and virology are heading up the effort.<p>They need some technology beyond what they know on the market, and (since it&#x27;s a nonprofit) they called up volunteers. I&#x27;m a volunteer, and I wrote the markdown doc in the gist.<p>The idea is to make longitudinal studies possible for persons that are tested for COVID-19.<p>How can I find help to make this happen for our town?\n======\njoshuamcginnis\nCheck out the OpenCovid19 Initiative[0]. They have many ongoing sub-projects\nand a dedicated slack channel for developers. You may find help for your\nproject or that something similar is already in the works.\n\n[0] [https://itsfoss.com/opencovid19/](https://itsfoss.com/opencovid19/)\n\n~~~\nwilliam-at-rain\nThank you!\n\n------\nx0xMaximus\nWe've been running a longitudinal self-reported diagnosis, conditions, and\nrisk exposure study. There are many challenges in this [0, 1], but plan to\nkeep collecting into the foreseeable future. Currently operating on a global\nscale, but could be targeted to a specific geographic region.. - M\n(max@generalresearch.com)\n\n[0]\n[https://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h3480.full](https://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h3480.full)\n[1]\n[https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/1/2/e000234](https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/1/2/e000234)\n\n~~~\nwilliam-at-rain\nThanks - I’ll reach out.\n\n------\nbowheadhealth\nBowhead Health is working on a similar initiative for COVID-19 and we welcome\na potential collaboration fdmjr@bowheadhealth.com\n\n~~~\nwilliam-at-rain\nThanks - I’ll reach out.\n\n------\ntekram\nI am one of the founders at Luma Health. We may be able to help you out. We\ncould offer app less way of following patients and getting responses from\nthem.\n\nHere is a short video on what is possible: [https://youtu.be/escWi-\nZuGRo](https://youtu.be/escWi-ZuGRo)\n\n~~~\nwilliam-at-rain\nIt looks like you send an automated text to a questionnaire. That’s a much\nsimpler way to start, and a text is a great “push notification”... :-)\n\n------\nkrrrh\nEmail is in my profile. We launched a citizen science app that already handles\nthousands of participants in our first two studies. Lots of alignment with\nwhere you’re going, and at the very least we can offer some advice.\n\n~~~\nwilliam-at-rain\nEmailed. Thank you.\n\n------\naxegon_\nNice initiative but you'll struggle to publish the app on the app store and\nGoogle play(mildly put) with all their restrictions in relation to COVID19.\n\n~~~\nwilliam-at-rain\nI wonder if there is a way to engineer our past that in the first month.\n\nMaybe a web-based PWA while we wait for approval.\n\nAnd not specifically calling it a COVID-19 app.\n\n~~~\naxegon_\nI am in fact with Google and Apple on this one - just don't. There's way too\nmuch misinformation and speculation already. Not necessarily a result of\nmalintent, just the way sensations work these days as a result of the cattle\nmentality demonstrated by the masses I'm afraid.\n\nFor many years I've been strongly opposing the so-called \"wisdom of the\nmasses\".\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSingle-atom transistor discovered - tengkahwee\nhttp://www.tkk.fi/en/current_affairs/news/view/yhden_atomin_transistori_loydetty/\n======\ntmvphil\nThis is remarkable, but these kind of things are only possible at extremely\nlow temperatures and in high magnetic fields, for example this was done at\n100mK and in a 4T field, so you won't be seeing intel pumping these out any\ntime soon.\n\n------\nConfusion\nI suspect this transistor suffers from the same problem as all other 'miracle'\ntransistors, including carbon nanotube based transistors, that have been\nannounced over the past decade: the gain < 1, which means you can't build\nanything other than the most simple circuits out of them.\n\n------\npavs\nIs it \"discovered\" or \"created\"?\n\n------\namix\nFirst steps towards quantum computers...!\n\n------\nct\nAmazing!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWelcome to America (detained journalist in LAX) - Nitramp\nhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/jun/05/usa.weekend7\n\n======\ncstross\nPoint of note: the USA is about the _only_ developed nation that currently\nrequires journalists to apply for a visa before visiting. (Which makes\nLappin's mistake a bit more understandable.)\n\nPersonal opinion -- this is a _really dumb_ requirement and, as evident in\nthis article, is damaging to the USA's reputation overseas.\n\n~~~\nNitramp\nI posted this as it really seems to be a trend (as mentioned in the article).\nThe US border controls get more and more ridiculous for foreigners - but only\nin a security theater way. None of these moves seem like they could actually\ndefend against any kind of threat.\n\nOnce you made it past the border controls, being in the US is lovely. But\nimmigration really gets the message across that you're unwanted and at the\nmercy of uneducated bullies with too much power on their hands.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Scope of Unsafe - panic\nhttps://www.ralfj.de/blog/2016/01/09/the-scope-of-unsafe.html\n======\nlosvedir\nOh, that's interesting. I follow rust development with interest but have only\nbuilt a few toy projects in myself and was definitely under the impression\nthat these sorts of issues resided solely in `unsafe { ... }` blocks. But,\nyeah, with this example it makes sense.\n\nI'm relieved to hear that at least it doesn't pollute beyond module\nboundaries.\n\nBut now I'm questioning what the difference is between `unsafe {...}` code and\nwithin-module code that accesses it, if the latter also has to deal with\nmemory safety issues? Should `unsafe` only be declared at the module level\nthen?\n\n~~~\nfmstephe\n\"I'm relieved to hear that at least it doesn't pollute beyond module\nboundaries.\"\n\nThis isn't true, it is easy to come up with an example where lack of safety\nspreads past module boundaries.\n\n    \n    \n        impl Vec<T> {\n            pub fn evil(&mut self, len: i32, cap: i32) {\n                self.len = len;\n                self.cap = cap;\n            }\n        }\n    \n\nIf we want to know our program is broken now, we need to look across all of\nthe source code to see if evil is called in breaking ways.\n\nThe point was that Rust provides abstraction facilities which allow us to\ncontain these invariants. If we are careful.\n\n~~~\nManishearth\n`len` and `cap` are private fields and can't be accessed outside the module\nboundary, even by an impl.\n\n~~~\nphaylon\nI've been wondering if it would make sense to encapsulate internal fields that\nare part of the unsafe machinery in a type forcing you to use unsafe blocks,\neven inside the type impl. [edit: Removed note about UnsafeCell since it's not\nreally like the thing described above]\n\nI haven't really played with it though, most of my unsafe use is FFI.\n\n~~~\nManishearth\nYou can, but IMO it's not so necessary. The module boundary thing doesn't\ncause many issues in practice is straightforward to reason about if you're\naware of it.\n\n(And if you weren't aware of it you would probably not use `UnsafeField`\neither, since the compiler can't force you to do that)\n\n~~~\nphaylon\nI'm more thinking about the documentation effect of such a wrapper type. Both\nin the data structure and in the parts of the code that are foced to use\nunsafe.\n\n~~~\nralfj\nI suggested something kind-of-similar at <[https://internals.rust-\nlang.org/t/pre-rfc-unsafe-types/3073>](https://internals.rust-lang.org/t/pre-\nrfc-unsafe-types/3073>)\n\n------\nrcthompson\nSo, one question might be whether it's possible to encode some of these\nimplicit invariants into the type so that the \"evil\" function would actually\nfail to compile.\n\n~~~\nAnimats\nThat's quite possible, and most proof of correctness systems can do it, but\nthere's no syntax in Rust for talking about the necessary object invariants.\n\nObject invariants are assertions which must be true whenever control is not\nwithin the object. The object invariants must be true when control leaves the\nobject by exiting any public function. Nothing outside the object must be able\nto alter the variables involved in the object invariant. Only one execution\nthread can be in the object at a time. If you can demonstrate all of those\nconditions, assuming the invariant is true at entry to the object, you have\nproved the object invariant.\n\nThis is a useful and well-understood concept in the proof world, but isn't\nseen much in programming languages.\n\n~~~\nralfj\nSince Rust supports concurrency, it is worth mentioning that these techniques\nhave been scaled to handle objects that can be accessed from multiple threads\nat once - while maintaining the modularity of the approach. See, for example,\n<[http://plv.mpi-sws.org/iris/>](http://plv.mpi-sws.org/iris/>) and\n<[http://software.imdea.org/fcsl/>](http://software.imdea.org/fcsl/>).\n\n------\nrdtsc\n>\n\n    \n    \n        pub fn evil(&mut self) {\n            self.len += 2;\n        }\n    \n\nDoes it makes sense to think if it takes a mutable instance of the \"unsafe\"\nstructure, then whatever it does to it could be \"usafe\".\n\nSo it seems to fix it by hand, one could wrap all the calls which touch\ninstances of this Vec with safe validation code -- basically guard code that\nruns at runtime to prevent corruptions from spreading. Can it be easily done\nduring compile time?\n\n~~~\nmajewsky\nThat's called \"Design By Contract\". You formally specify pre/post-conditions\nof functions and invariants of classes (such as \"cap >= len\" in this case),\nand have the compiler enforce that automatically, e.g. by inserting runtime\nchecks.\n\n~~~\ncatnaroek\nRuntime checks don't constitute \"compile-time enforcement\".\n\n~~~\nrdtsc\nYeah I think it would be compile-time addition of runtime-enforcement checks.\n\n------\nnanofortnight\nI don't think this is very surprising; if you do something unsafe hapharzardly\nwithin an unsafe block you can put the program in a state a safe program would\nnot be able to reach, so further computation is in an unsafe state.\n\nIn fact isn't this why we have unsafe in the first place; so that such code\ncan be more easily verified? I disagree with the notion the author suggests\nthat the problem isn't in the unsafe code.\n\n~~~\nralfj\nTo reach a conclusion here, we will have to agree on what it means to be the\n\"cause of the problem\". It is true that if a program crashes, then there has\nto be some unsafe code in that program. This statement is however not very\nhelpful, because pretty much all programs use libstd which contains unsafe\ncode.\n\nSo, I'd define the \"cause\" of a bug to be the piece of code that you fix to\nget rid of the bug. If `evil` was in libstd, the fix would be to remove `evil`\n(or somehow make it take a default value, grow the `Vec` to be large enough\nand fill the two new slots with that default value). In that sense, the\nproblem here clearly was in the safe code `evil`, since it's that code which\nhad to be changed to get rid of the problem.\n\n~~~\nGankro\nThe guarantee I prefer is \"If there's a segfault and you didn't write\n`unsafe`, it's not your fault\". This is not necessarily referring to a single\nchange, but rather the application as a whole. Dependencies like libstd are\nignored here .\n\nAs soon as there's any `unsafe` in your code, you've unlocked hard mode and\neverything is probably your fault.\n\n------\nbtrask\nPerhaps a quick fix would be to allow variables themselves to be tagged as\nunsafe, so they could only be changed from unsafe blocks.\n\n~~~\nbtrask\nI tried suggesting this directly on GitHub. Here was the response:\n\n> There's an old idea of unsafe fields that would come up for datatypes. It\n> can be emulated with a Unsafe<T> wrapper that has unsafe methods to get\n> references to its interior, or to read/write. It's not widely used, or used\n> at all afaik, since the gains aren't that great. People writing unsafe code\n> generally know the issues, and that privacy is the #1 way the abstraction\n> boundary is maintained.\n\n[https://github.com/rust-\nlang/rust/issues/9883#issuecomment-1...](https://github.com/rust-\nlang/rust/issues/9883#issuecomment-170716254)\n\nPrivacy may be the best way to limit unsafety, but C and C++ already have\nprivacy.\n\n------\ncatnaroek\nHow exactly is this notion of “semantic types” formalized? Is it something\nlike NuPRL, where the base language's type system isn't sufficiently precise\nto rule out all misbehaviors, and on top of that a more precise type system is\nadded, whose typing rules might be defined in terms of the base language's\nevaluation/execution rules?\n\n------\nshadowmint\n\n        The scope of unsafe ends at the next abstraction boundary. This means that \n        everything outside of the std::vec module does not have to worry about Vec.\n        ...\n        Of course, this also means that everything inside std::vec is potentially \n        dangerous and needs to be proven to respect the semantics of Vec.\n    \n\nSo wait, in a nutshell, a module is 'safe' if and only if you formally prove\nthat every public interface into the module and every way that public\ninterface can be invoked... is error free.\n\nHow is that any improvement on any other language?\n\nIf the burden of 'safety' is formal proof of _the entire module_ , then you're\n(surely) no better off than using C++ and doing exactly the same thing.\n\nI mean, obviously the borrow checker can help to some extent, but what you're\nbasically saying is that it's not enough; you can't trust the borrow checker\nfor safety; you _must_ formally verify a module in order to know it's safe, if\nit contains any unsafe code.\n\nIn other words, if your rust program has _any module_ in _any dependency_ that\nhas unsafe code (ie. every rust program), it is potentially unsafe, regardless\nof the borrow checker (because some code path may invoke a 'safe' function\nthat has not be formally verified to be safe, and results in undefined\nbehaviour despite being safe).\n\nThat's quite a troubling conclusion.\n\n~~~\ndbaupp\nI'm not really sure what the problem is here: having to formally verify a\nmodule doesn't seem fundamentally different to formally verify a single\nfunction. I mean, sure, it's some more code, but there's still well-defined\ncontainment. And, being \"allowed\" to reason about a whole module (well,\nusually one just cares about a whole type, but these often match, especially\nfor unsafe code) seems far more useful: one can build far more interesting\nabstractions. If one was forced to reason about a single function at a time,\nVec couldn't exist in a useful way, as every function would have to assume the\nincoming Vec value could be arbitrarily invalid.\n\nIn any case, there are many many modules with no `unsafe` code, e.g.\nstd::option has none [1], iron::response has none [2], image::jpeg has none\n[3] (just some random examples). These are automatically safe, if you assume\nthat that the code they call is safe, which seems to me like the only\nassumption that can make sense: if the safe modules call unsafe ones that\naren't safe... well, the problem is in the unsafe ones, not the safe ones.\n\nWhat I'm trying to say is this paragraph doesn't seem to change anything\nfundamental about the objections to safe vs. unsafe you sometimes write about;\nit is not introducing anything new, and so the refutations you often receive\nstill apply.\n\n[1]: [https://github.com/rust-\nlang/rust/blob/dfaddb732ced1da9d3109...](https://github.com/rust-\nlang/rust/blob/dfaddb732ced1da9d310990df095ca36f43fbc3d/src/libcore/option.rs)\n\n[2]:\n[https://github.com/iron/iron/blob/d3942d72e3178e7b34ebf1ea0e...](https://github.com/iron/iron/blob/d3942d72e3178e7b34ebf1ea0e07b2dc3f9749ee/src/response.rs)\n\n[3]:\n[https://github.com/PistonDevelopers/image/tree/f2b86c1ec6d3c...](https://github.com/PistonDevelopers/image/tree/f2b86c1ec6d3c02b827190671ea9302716e86028/src/jpeg)\n\n~~~\nshadowmint\nWell, given the most common refute of my concerns is 'you just have to make\nsure your unsafe blocks are verified to be correct', and the _point_ of this\narticle, is _explicitly_ that this isnt the case...\n\nNow its that you have to just make sure all your code is correct, not just the\nunsafe blocks.\n\n/me shrugs\n\nI think thats lame, and breaks the promises rust is trying to make about\nwriting safe secure software.\n\nIf safe code may not be safe, whats the point of it at all.\n\nYou, are of course welcome to your own oppinion.\n\n~~~\nralfj\nNo, it doesn't break the promises in any way. If _all your code_ does\npotentially dangerous memory manipulation, then there's very little hope that\nthere will ever be an automatic checker for the safety of your program.\n\nThe promise of Rust rests on the assumption that _most code is not like that_.\nThere are a few fundamental data structures that do crazy stuff, and okay, we\nhave to use `unsafe` there - and if we want to have any formal guarantees, we\nhave to do a formal proof. If are happy with less, we just manually audit that\ndata structure extra carefully. We also put every such data structure in its\nown module, which carefully limits the amount of code that is exposed to this\nunsafety.\n\nHowever, most of the code will just _use_ those data structures, and that's\nwhere Rust gives you a safety guarantee. Combing `Vec` and `HashMap` and all\nthe other types from the standard library in any way you want, hammer them\nfrom multiple threads, send stuff across channels, whatever - you can do all\nof that safely, and if your code crashes, you don't have to look at all this\ncode because you did not write `unsafe`, only the standard library did - and\nyou are in a separate module.\n\n> Now its that you have to just make sure all your code is correct, not just\n> the unsafe blocks.\n\nThis is not correct. As I wrote in the post, you have to check _all code\nwithin a module that contains `unsafe`_. Most of the modules people write do\nnot contain `unsafe`, and hence are not checked.\n\nI'd be curious to learn why you think this is the case.\n\n~~~\nshadowmint\nThe point I'm making is that, and this surprised me, the onus on soneone\nwriting a module with unsafe code, to ensure it does not violate memory safety\nis _much higher_ than I realized.\n\nIt is not 'all rust' you must verify; just all rust that touches unsafe code.\n\nYou might argue this is nothing new, and indeed if you read this comment\nthread you'll see the suggestion that the difference between verifying an\nentire module and verifying only the unsafe blocks in it is insignificant.\n\nMy point is that there is at least an order of magnitude more safe code than\nunsafe code in an unsafe module, and I suspect it is not scrutinized nearly as\nmuch as the unsafe code.\n\nThere are _a lot_ of crates that use unsafe code in one form or another; and\nit troubles me (although no one else cares) that they are probably more\ndangerous than I realized.\n\n'Just verify the unsafe blocks' is something I've literally heard people say.\n\n~~~\ndbaupp\nA lot of people care: e.g. the Rustonomicon[1] spends a lot of time caring\nabout unsafe code (that is one of the main reasons for it to exist), and the\nmassive RustBelt project[2], which Ralf (author of the blog post) is part of,\nis because people care. Even the lowest level developers (working on OSes)\ncare about being very careful about how they use `unsafe`, e.g. [3]. One thing\nthat some of us are hopeful will come out of RustBelt are more advanced\n`unsafe` checkers (i.e. some sort of proof assistant, possibly with lints\nbuilt into the compiler).\n\nIn any case, talking about \"order of magnitude\" misses the point somewhat:\nthere might be a large amount more code, but a lot of it is trivial to verify,\ne.g. the declaration of a struct doesn't need any verification, nor do\ncomments, and if T, the type with invariants, has no internal mutability\n(which is fairly typical for unsafe code outside std, IME), then any safe\nfunction that takes &T is automatically safe.\n\n[1]: [http://doc.rust-lang.org/doc/stable/nomicon/](http://doc.rust-\nlang.org/doc/stable/nomicon/) [2]: [http://plv.mpi-\nsws.org/rustbelt/](http://plv.mpi-sws.org/rustbelt/) [3]: [http://os.phil-\nopp.com/printing-to-screen.html](http://os.phil-opp.com/printing-to-\nscreen.html)\n\n~~~\nshadowmint\nlinked_list.rs once you strip the comments, struct defs, and whatnot out has\n415 lines, of which 64 reside in unsafe blocks, 6x as much code to check.\n\nThat's one trivial module. The piston modules and other c bindings have much\nworse ratios.\n\nWhen the amount of code that you have to verify manually jumps by 6x (or\nworse), that's surprising. I was surprised and troubled by that.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nUber Hiked Taxi Fares During Terrorist Attack in London - znpy\nhttps://sputniknews.com/europe/201706041054303636-london-attack-uber/\n======\nRubberSoul\nCan someone who thinks Uber's pricing is unethical or bad please explain their\nreasoning?\n\nWhy would the scenario without surge pricing be preferable to you?\n\nThe result without surge pricing would be a much longer queue. Queues\ntypically lead to a poor allocation of resources. Surge pricing causes people\nwith other transportation options, or less need, to seek alternatives. People\nwith acute transportation needs are then more likely to get rides.\n\n~~~\nphamilton\nI don't think it's unethical, but that's because I understand surge pricing is\na tactic to increase the number of drivers on the road. Most people don't get\nthat. And as much as we want to blame people for not understanding how things\nwork, the onus is on Uber to communicate these things clearly.\n\nI do think it's not just bad PR, but it wastes an opportunity for great PR.\nThe other black car service capitalized on the opportunity to help. Had Uber\nrecognized this and put surge pricing into effect for drivers but subsidized\nriders they would have gained a lot of good will. But they didn't and they\nhave to continue to fight the negativity.\n\n~~~\nthrowaway46753\nUber did stabilize prices and refunded those that were charged surge prices.\nThese outraged customers are just those that were charged surge automatically\nbefore surge was turned off and the money was refunded. This happens every\ntime with terrorist attacks. This is just another example of a journalist\nbottom feeding for ad impressions.\n\n------\nSimulacra\nIt's unfortunate Uber doesn't have someone who monitors all sudden rate hikes\nlike these, and maybe has a throttle switch to interject some oversight into\nan automated system.\n\n~~~\nthrowaway46753\nSerious question: how do you automatically know that increased demand is from\na terrorist attack versus some other legitimate source of surging like the\nemptying of some venue or unexpected precipitation?\n\nThe best I can think of is geotagged tweets. This events are also infrequent\nand different enough that I'm not certain how easy it would be to train a\nmodel to detect a terrorist attack. Human monitors would probably have to\nanalyze tweets and determine what's happening and turn surge off after the\nfact.\n\nEven then the right solution would be to leave surge on so that that part of\nthe city lights up on the driver app and attracts more drivers to that part of\nthe city, and then you refund customers the surge price exactly as uber has\ndone during every single terrorist event that I've observed.\n\nThis is just some journalist published yet another unwarranted outrage piece\nagainst the company for the clicks. The unethical company here is the daily\nmail taking advantage of Uber and a terrorist attack to generate ad\nimpressions.\n\n~~~\ntim333\nGoogle news search for terrorist attack, maybe combined with Twitter for the\ngeolocation? Or perhaps more realistically alert a human to decide whether to\ncancel surge pricing?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSnap framework 0.3 release (web framework in Haskell) - steveklabnik\nhttp://snapframework.com/blog/2010/12/20/snap-0.3-released\n\n======\nChadHydro\nThis is certainly a framework to watch. Not much to work with yet but the guys\nare building a solid back-bone before they put in the higher level work.\n\n------\nxarch\nI hope they'll add cool stuff from functional web (continuations, etc.)\nprogramming, like in Arc, Ocsigen, Seaside or Ur/Web.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nBlekko already has a list of domains to block from results - aj700\nhttp://blekko.com/ws/+/topspam\n\n======\naaronbrethorst\nWow, I'm seeing tons of false positives. Why on earth is the co-written blog\nof a nobel laureate and a 7th circuit appeals court judge making blekko's\nbayesian classifier freak out?\n\n#88 - <http://www.becker-posner-blog.com> \\- bayes (spam 31.6 > 5.3)\n\n~~~\nvaksel\nmy guess is the fact that it has two dashes, which is almost always indicative\nof spammers.\n\n------\nrobinduckett\nI'm seeing:\n\n<http://www.deadmau5.com> -> Really, spam?\n\n<http://www.comparethemarket.com> -> Price comparison site with no known\nbiases in the UK __and __not owned by British Telecommunications, as it is\nlisted.\n\nEven ONE false positive is enough to make me think this listing is a load of\nbullshit. How is geocities' \"closing down\" page spam?\n\n~~~\nJamesDB\nA site in the UK that gets a huge amount of traffic and is backed by a large\noff-line national advertising campaign. Why has this been banned? Never seen\nspam on there, nor have seen them spamming.\n\n~~~\nseabee\nDon't be fooled, that advertising campaign only used a 'sensible', similarly-\nnamed insurance business to introduce an unusual niche company[1] to the\nmarket. It's a clever ploy, you can read about it in Aleksandr Orlov's book\nthat came out a month ago.\n\n[1] <http://www.comparethemeerkat.com/>\n\n------\nchrismealy\nThey're not passing the \"best refrigerator\" test yet:\n\n<http://blekko.com/ws/best+refrigerator>\n\n~~~\ngreglindahl\nDid you try adding /reviews ? Sometimes we can deliver better results without\nthe user doing anything different from what they're used to doing, but not\nalways.\n\n------\nbenbeltran\nTwo big problems with automated spam blocking are: false positives and\nchanging domain names.\n\nFor the second one, how often do you revise your blocked links? what if it\nchanged owner and the new one doesn't provide spam.\n\nFor the first one, is even one false positive tolerable? Will you deny someone\npresence in your index because you failed? And if so, how do you handle\nchallenges?\n\n~~~\ngreglindahl\nWe don't mark a domain as spam until many of the pages we've seen look spammy.\n\nOur ideal is to recrawl everything every 14 days, but during our launch we\nhave not been achieving that.\n\n------\nzitterbewegung\nWhy is <http://www.deadmau5.com/> marked as spam?? Its obviously not.\n\n~~~\nlgeek\nIt looks like they have a considerable number of false positives. Another\nsite, jet2.com is the website of a low cost airline; wp-plugins.net is hosting\nWordpress plugins.\n\n~~~\nmoultano\nMaybe looking for numbers in the domain name? It's probably a really good\nsignal overall.\n\n------\ngreglindahl\n* This list is generated by our algorithm, it's the most important sites which our algorithm thinks are spam. The point of making the list public is so that you guys can tell us when we're wrong. Google has a list like this, but they don't show it to anyone. Transparency in action.\n\nThank you all for pointing out false positives in the list. That is what we\nhoped would happen.\n\n* The \"nocrawl\" sites are human-picked by us. Geocities is on the list because it was a very spammy domain. Even though they've (finally) removed the data, we still have old data indexed, and will remove them from the spam list once all that old data ages out.\n\n* BT is the hosting company for comparethemarket.com\n\n------\nYooLi\nThere are quite a few false positives on that list. Also titling sites with\nnocrawl as spam is pretty lame. dshield.org is listed as mfa, but there isn't\nan adsense ad on it.\n\n------\nwybo\nI have been using Blekko as my primary search-engine for a couple of days now,\nand in my experience their search-results are very decent.\n\nNot, maybe in terms of falsely blocked sites, but certainly in terms of having\nfewer false positives (e.g. spam/useless pages) in the search results.\n\nMom & pop users (and even more advanced searchers, such as students looking\nfor book-reviews, or torrents) might very well forgive them the few false\nblocks for this.\n\nZittrain in his 'The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It' already wrote\nabout this trade-off in terms of spam being made possible by the generativity\nof the internet, and people increasingly preferring controlled environments\nover those full of virusses and spam (wonder why apple's locked down devices\nare so popular?).\n\nOf course this has big downsides too, and even is bad in my opinion. But\nBlekko, by allowing people to create their own slashtags (categories, much\nmore flexible and quick than Googles domain search) and google/yahoo/bing\nalways being only one click away, might have arrived at a good middle-\nground...\n\nImho Blekko might very well be able to beat Google at their own game. Give\nthem a try, or at least sometimes when google doesn't do it for you, I'd\nsay...\n\n~~~\nbiot\n_> Not, maybe in terms of falsely blocked sites, but certainly in terms of\nhaving fewer false positives (e.g. spam/useless pages) in the search results._\n\nA false positive is when a good site is mistakenly identified as a spammy\nsite.\n\n------\nMisha_B\nIn spite of the (justified) complains you get about the false positives, I\nthink that's a great way to go. Unlike with email where missing a message\nmight be critical, in search I'd rather have even as much as 10-20% false\npositives than deal with the spam sites Google delivers.\n\nMore in general, concerning the front page search examples: \"cure for\nheadaches\" works very well indeed compared to google. However, \"global warming\n/liberal\" is a bit irritating. I understand the rationale behind it, however\nthere is this slight difference between finding only what one is looking for\nand hearing only what one wants to hear. To find anything non-mainstream might\nnecessitate a technique like this in Google where you otherwise don't see\nanything else in the first 50 results... But maybe you can strive to find for\nme what's really going on and not merely what's mainstream and politically\ncorrect. Thinking about it, your blocking of domains like Answer.com might be\na great step in that direction anyway.\n\n~~~\neli\nReally? I'd rather have spam sites than 20% of my legitimate results missing.\n\nI guess it depends on what you're searching for. \"cure for headaches\" will\nprobably be just fine with some missing sites, but \"Deadmau5 tour dates\" will\ndefinitely be affected by the false positive block on deadmau5.com\n\n------\ncubicle67\ncan anyone explain what bayes and mfa mean? I picked the site\n<http://www.basemetals.com/> (bayes (spam 8.6 > 5.3)) at random, and although\nit won't win any design awards I can't see what the problem with it is. Am I\nmissing something?\n\n~~~\ngreglindahl\nmfa = Made for Adsense. That means we believe that the domain seems designed\nmore to show ads than to provide content.\n\nbayes = our Baysian analysis gizmo thinks bad things about this site's\ncontent. Too much Viagra, not enough content. Like all artificially-\nintelligent things, it can sometimes be hard to see why it's upset.\n\n~~~\nnervechannel\nMaybe try using something like a decision tree where the classification steps\nare much more obvious.\n\nThere are parallelizable implementations out there...\n\n------\naj700\nOmitting these domains from results is \"automated\".\n\n _Managing the list isn't_. It's based partly on how many users report a\ndomain as being spam. At least that's one of the reasons for inclusion. And\ndon't bayesian filters, with little data to work with and if newly implemented\nalways have false positives?\n\nMaybe some are labelling valid stuff as spam out of spite.\n\nWhen blekko has millions of users labelling stuff as spam instead of very few,\nthe system will be harder to abuse and the list much better.\n\n------\nzitterbewegung\nFrom all the comments and what I have noticed it sounds like a good question\nis \"Is it better to have false positives or false negatives\" in the spam\nproblem. I personally think that its better to have false negatives then\npositives and a lot of the comments here seem to reflect that.\n\n~~~\ngreglindahl\nThat depends on how many false positives and negatives we have -- you don't\nreally know how many of either. There are 100 million hosts in our crawl, how\ncan you estimate if we have a false positive problem from looking at the list\nof the top 100 marked spam?\n\n~~~\nzitterbewegung\nYour right. Would there be a way to get a sample of the database and attempt\nto do a test if there are a considerable amount of false positives?\n\n------\nrumpelstiltskin\nIf they put johnchow.com on the list, they must be doing something right.\n\n~~~\ngrok2\nI actually only saw johnCOW.com (not CHOW).\n\n------\nveb\nWouldn't it be better to let people do their own blacklists, and then\nincorporate that into their official list _if_ a percentage of people have\nthat site down as spam?\n\n~~~\nEntlin\nNo, that would actually be an easy system to exploit: create a million\naccounts with your competitors in it, watch how the search engine blocks it.\n\n------\nviraptor\nDoesn't include swik.net which is a crap link aggregation / search tag spam -\nI'd expect that one to be removed...\n\n------\nkilian\nI wonder why they have both the www and the non-www version in there for\ndomains?\n\n~~~\nshiftpgdn\nGoogle counts them as different websites. It is typically a wise SEO move to\nuse your .htaccess file to setup a 301 redirect to/from the www. version of\nyour site.\n\n------\ncoolswan\nnice. if I had to guess, in a couple years, google will attempt to acquire\nblekko to integrate with their webspam team.\n\n------\nRubyred\nWow, the search results are terrible on blekko. I think someone's gone crazy\nwith the ban hammer.\n\nMy suggestion to blekko: look for signals of relevance to determine serps,\ninstead of flagging every other website as spam.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: How do you negotiate a job offer from big tech? - maybeiambatman\nAny resources, heuristic or advice is helpful. Thanks!\n======\nKuriousCat\nIt depends a lot on the leverage you would have. Having offers from multiple\ncompanies at the same time usually helps...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWe've Spent Billions to Fix Our Medical Records, and They're Still a Mess - prostoalex\nhttp://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/10/epic-systems-judith-faulkner-hitech-ehr-interoperability\n======\nMDNukem\nI'm surprised I don't see any comments about the FHIR api here. It's a project\nseeking to standardize a RESTful api for clinical encounter data that's\ngaining a fair bit of traction.\n\nIf the existing EMR companies don't manage to subvert its goals, the problem\nof data interoperability will be largely solved within the next 5-7 years.\n\n~~~\nmindcrime\nThat's the best news I've heard in a while. I was just complaining earlier\ntoday, that I hate the way I have to login to so many different EMR systems to\nlook at my medical records, and there's no interop between them, or (mostly)\nany convenient API to download data.\n\nI want record from my GP? FollowMyHealth.com\n\nI want records from my cardiologist? UNC's EMR system.\n\nI want records from my bariatric doctor? Duke's EMR system.\n\nI want records from my dermatologist? Yet another system.\n\nI want records from my othopaedist? You guessed it, yet another system.\n\nWhat I want is to be able to put ALL of my medical records, AND my \"fitness\"\ninformation (stuff from Strava, Fitbit, etc.) into one freaking place. This\ncurrent setup is horrible. :-(\n\n~~~\ntechdragon\nThe more irritating detail to me is that very few places want your records.\nEven if you carried your up to date medical records on you in some kind rugged\nsecure flash drive, you're likely to be told \"thanks but no thanks\" if you\nsuggest any medical professionals should look at them.\n\n9/10 they don't want to look. I know there's lots of valid reasons why so I\nunderstand that part, but there's a bigger problem it speaks to. To me the\ngreatest failure of modern medicine is that we have a word full of doctors\n(specifically, general practitioners) who have no time to stay current in\ntheir medical knowledge or to learn anything beyond the superficial details of\na patient before pronouncing their diagnosis and moving on.\n\nI truly miss having a GP that not only dealt with my medical matters for the\nfirst 24 years of my life, but 26 years of both my parents, and close to 20\nand 15 years for my siblings as well. There's no way to replace this knowledge\nnow he retired.\n\n~~~\nmindcrime\nHmm... I haven't encountered that, at least not to that degree. In fact, my\ncardiologist was happy to get some lipid profile numbers from me, that I read\noff my phone to him (I had emailed them to myself for safe-keeping) based on\nmy most recent bloodwork done at my GP's office.\n\nLikewise, I just started visiting a new internist who specializes in\ndiet/lifestyle who supervises people going on a ketogenic diet. He asked if I\nhad recent bloodwork, and as it happened, I'd just had a physical about two\nweeks before at my GP's office. So I fired up the \"Follow My Health\" app on my\nphone, pulled up the relevant test results and handed him the phone. He took\nthe notes and says \"Great, you just avoided having to have blood drawn today\".\n\n~~~\nhga\nDitto. My current GP was _delighted_ when I lent him my copies of my lab work\ngoing back to 1996 for him to copy, and when in every visit I give him copies\nof updated spreadsheets showing the history of the relevant results going back\nthen, one each for PSA and lipids and the like. Asked me to add liver enzymes\nto the latter after my previous visit revealed they'd spiked, so that he'd\nhave a better picture of what was going on after the two month later followup\nto that.\n\nAny doctor who's not interested in this sort of thing when relevant should be\nfired on the spot; remember, whatever the \"God complex\" or the like they\nrequire to stay sane making decisions that will inevitably sometimes be wrong\nand harm or kill a few of their patients, they still work for you.\n\n------\nmaerF0x0\nGiven we're 320M people you could say \"we've spent billions\" on many many\nthings and not solved it. We've spent billions on food this week -- and we're\nstill gonna get hungry!\n\n\"Billions\" is a scary sounding number that doesnt mean much anymore. Show me\n10s and 100s of billions.\n\n------\njhulla\nCoding errors abound in this space. For example, you can go to the CMS.gov to\nlookup ICD codes.\n\nThis is what you get when you lookup the word \"finger\"\n\n[https://www.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-\ndatabase/staticpages/i...](https://www.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-\ndatabase/staticpages/icd-10-code-\nlookup.aspx?KeyWord=finger&bc=AAAAAAAAAAACAA%3d%3d&)\n\nIt contains hundreds of entries.\n\nHere are just a few selected at random:\n\nS61.352S Open bite of right middle finger with damage to nail, sequela\nS61.353A Open bite of left middle finger with damage to nail, initial\nencounter S61.353D Open bite of left middle finger with damage to nail,\nsubsequent encounter S61.353S Open bite of left middle finger with damage to\nnail, sequela S61.354A Open bite of right ring finger with damage to nail,\ninitial encounter S61.354D Open bite of right ring finger with damage to nail,\nsubsequent encounter S61.354S Open bite of right ring finger with damage to\nnail, sequela S61.355A Open bite of left ring finger with damage to nail,\ninitial encounter S61.355D Open bite of left ring finger with damage to nail,\nsubsequent encounter S61.355S Open bite of left ring finger with damage to\nnail, sequela S61.356A Open bite of right little finger with damage to nail,\ninitial encounter S61.356D Open bite of right little finger with damage to\nnail, subsequent encounter S61.356S Open bite of right little finger with\ndamage to nail, sequela S61.357A Open bite of left little finger with damage\nto nail, initial encounter S61.357D Open bite of left little finger with\ndamage to nail, subsequent encounter S61.357S Open bite of left little finger\nwith damage to nail, sequela S61.358A Open bite of other finger with damage to\nnail, initial encounter S61.358D Open bite of other finger with damage to\nnail, subsequent encounter S61.358S Open bite of other finger with damage to\nnail, sequela S61.359A Open bite of unspecified finger with damage to nail,\ninitial encounter S61.359D Open bite of unspecified finger with damage to\nnail, subsequent encounter S61.359S Open bite of unspecified finger with\ndamage to nail, sequela\n\n~~~\nhga\nWell, this is the notorious ICD-10 \"upgrade\" from ICD-9. Which has some\n\"wonderful\" codes, e.g. try\n[https://www.google.com/search?q=icd+10+codes+funny](https://www.google.com/search?q=icd+10+codes+funny)\n\nEveryone's unfair favorite is \" _V97.33XD: Sucked into jet engine, subsequent\nencounter._ \"\n\nUnfair because that doesn't mean you were stupid enough to do that twice, but\nhad to see a doctor after the first visit.\n\n\" _W55.41XA: Bitten by pig, initial encounter_ \" is OK, it happens. But \"\n_W61.62XD: Struck by duck, subsequent encounter_.\" WTF??? I'm from a hunting\nfamily, and I've never heard of smallish birds like ducks harming people in\nthis way. Ditto \" _W61.12XA: Struck by macaw, initial encounter_ \" and \"\n_W59.22XA: Struck By Turtle_ \" (now, being bitten by a big snapping turtle is\nhorrific, but being _struck_ by any turtle???).\n\nBut this remains the most bizarre of all I've heard: \" _V91.07XD: Burn due to\nwater-skis on fire, subsequent encounter​._ \"\n\nOK, at least we can laugh about ICD-10. For now.\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\nPretty much every code added to a code set like the ICD is added because\nsomeone, somewhere needed it, and didn't have it in the previous version.\n\nAnd ICD-10 codes are used for a variety of purposes -- statistical, billing,\netc. -- so if its important for _one_ of those uses, its going to get added.\nEspecially since, with the degree of automation preferred now, if it a\ndistinction could reasonably affect any decision in _any_ of the roles that\nthe code set is used for, it needs to be represented in the code set.\n\n~~~\nhga\n_And ICD-10 codes are used for a variety of purposes -- statistical_\n\nAnd that's where it goes off the rails, this revision is trying to serve too\nmany masters, in which actual health care is subservient to collection of data\nfor the usual nosy suspects. Did anyone even contemplate the trade-offs?\n\nAnd even then, look at all those codes for bites of fingers. Are you really\ninsisting they will provide anything other than fancy looking statistics for\nself-important bureaucrats?\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\n> And even then, look at all those codes for bites of fingers. Are you really\n> insisting they will provide anything other than fancy looking statistics for\n> self-important bureaucrats?\n\nWhile I don't know the history of the particular codes, a lot of the\nhyperspecific codes are driven by needs of insurance payers (public and\nprivate) and their desire to incorporate elements that would otherwise be\nidentified in (comparatively costly) non-automated review and provide the\nnecessary resolution in coding that they can be identified and distinguished\nwithout that review and the associated cost.\n\nDriving down that area of administrative costs is a different thing than\nproviding fancy looking statistics for self-important bureaucrats.\n\n~~~\nCountSessine\n_non-automated review and provide the necessary resolution in coding that they\ncan be identified and distinguished without that review and the associated\ncost._\n\nWhat type of _review_ \\- automated or manual - requires the categorical\nspecificity of distinguishing between 359+ different types of marginally\nvarying finger trauma from bites? This is just madness. That anyone would even\nsuggest that that level of specificity was even useful, never mind required,\nis bureaucratic madness.\n\nStep back from the tree and you can see the forest burning.\n\n~~~\njjm\nBelieve it or not, these codes are used to define contracts and aid in payment\nall the way from patient to broker.\n\n~~~\nhga\nSo, pretend I'm a doctor and tell me, will I get paid more for _S61.354D Open\nbite of right ring finger with damage to nail, subsequent encounter_\n\nOr _S61.355D Open bite of left ring finger with damage to nail, subsequent\nencounter_ ???\n\nAnd with such specificity, why include this code:\n\n _S61.359D: Open bite of unspecified finger with damage to nail, subsequent\nencounter_\n\nI'm assuming \"other finger\" is the one between your little and middle ones,\nand we'll all sleep easier knowing that, while not found with jhulla's search,\nyour left and right thumbs have not been neglected.\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\nGenerally, you don't get paid an amount for a diagnosis, you get paid for the\nservices you bill.\n\nWhether a payer accepts that the specific services you billed for are\nmedically appropriate and thus pays them depends, often, on the diagnosis they\nare treating. (And, often, there are three possibilities: the payer pays the\nclaim directly, or the payer requires additional supporting documentation\nwhich is manually reviewed before making a decision, or the payer denies\npayment outright.)\n\nThe more detail diagnostic coding provides (and, for that matter, the more\ndetail _procedure_ coding provides), the more an automated system can move\ncases that would otherwise be in the manual review category (which adds costs\nfor all parties, and delays) to an automated decision (which is quicker and\ncheaper for all parties.)\n\n------\nFloegipoky\nAthenahealth, the company I work for, makes cloud-based medical systems with a\nheavy focus on user experience and interoperability. Our More Disruption\nPlease team is working hard to bridge the gaps in the healthcare continuum,\nand we do publish our API: [http://www.athenahealth.com/developer-\nportal](http://www.athenahealth.com/developer-portal)\n\nOh, and if you think your code's good enough to fix healthcare, we're hiring\n;D\n\n~~~\ncordite\nIts a pretty challenging industry, isn't it?\n\n~~~\nFloegipoky\nYes, there's a lot of bureaucracy involved, and providers are picky users =)\n\n~~~\ncordite\nOh yeah, I definitely am aware of that one. I heard you guys were doing an\ninitiative for getting providers up and running on Athena in 5 days. Neat\nstuff!\n\n------\nsgarg26\nMany hospitals went sold significant assets (like office building - assuring\nguaranteed rent) or took on loans to fund their EMR purchases. Hence, deals\nwith these dollar amounts are tough to reproduce for many hospitals.\n\nEpic has made major strides in supporting connectivity between EMRs.\nPartially, through standards like direct -\n[http://directproject.org/](http://directproject.org/). This problem will be\nlargely solved in three to five years. Actually, a growing number of\ngeographic regions of the US already have seamless EMR records exchange\n\n~~~\nCCs\nFrom the DirectProject blog, on 08/11/2011:\n\n\"Moving on... It's been a fantastic ride\"\n\n------\nangersock\nI've ranted elsewhere on this topic...but it's far, far worse than anybody\nrealizes, and there is no incentive to make things better for patients. Every\nother factor is literally stacked against them.\n\n~~~\nsachinag\nYes. However! Government regulation could cut the knot. If HHS mandated\nstandards for data at rest - since we never got a DICOM for charts like we did\nfor images - the companies would have to write translates. When that happens,\nvendor lock in goes away and fewer people die.\n\n~~~\nangersock\nMandating a single, simple standard for medical purposes would probably be the\nbest thing that they could do. I just don't have a lot of faith in it ever\nhappening.\n\n------\nmethehack\nIf you're interested in US Healthcare, I can recommend \"The Healing of\nAmerica: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care\". I was\nsurprised to learn that France, for example, has private doctors, private\nhospitals, and private insurance companies (gee, somehow thought they had\n'socialized medicine'). It spends half what the US does per capita and is\nranked #1 by the WHO (the US is ranked #37, just behind Costa Rica).\n\nHow do the French do it? Well, it's not that hard. All other developed nations\nusing the Bismarck Model (like the US, feel free to google that or any of\nthis) have a few structural differences from the US. The first is a\nparticularly obvious one: insurance companies are non-profit (though privately\nheld and operated). Fees are entirely standardized and printed for all to see\n(\"reference pricing\", structurally like medicare/aid). Doctors and hospitals\nmake a lot less money (Doctors drive volvos not porsches). Doctors don't pay\nfor medical school. Claims are never denied. Doctors are rarely sued. Doctors\nare paid very quickly (3-14 days). I'm not making this up. In essence, the\nsystem squeezes all of its players to be as efficient as possible.\n\nIn the US, the exact opposite is true. Most of the players are incentivized to\ndrive costs up. A private FOR PROFIT insurance company (which no other\ndeveloped nation allows) by definition wants to suck all the money it can from\nthe system and pay none of it out (to wit: when an insurance company pays a\nclaim, it is called a \"medical loss\"). Hospitals are in an arms raise of\nacquisitions (to better negotiate with insurance companies) and over-built,\nfancy facilities (to attract patients and justify the exorbitant costs).\nDoctors start their professional career by having to pay off huge student\nloans. Insurance companies, hospitals, and (to a much lesser extent) doctors\ncollude, in effect, to steal money from all the other employers out there (in\ninsurance premiums) and from patients (co-pays, denied claims, and an ever-\ngrowing number of out of pocket expenses).\n\nNone of this is the fault of insurance companies, hospitals, or doctors. It is\nentirely the fault of our incompetent no-account and utterly failed political\nsystem. US healthcare is corrupt because the US political system is corrupt.\nTo fix it, we need to fix that. Entrepreneurs cannot fix US healthcare in the\ncurrent regulatory environment. The incentives are completely wrong.\n\nEDIT: added a missed \"system\" after a \"political\".\n\nEDIT2: I forget to mention the most relevant piece. The French, since 1998,\nhave had 'La Carte Vitale'. It is an electronic medical record they carry\naround with them. Every doctor's office has a reader. It is a government\nstandard, government owner, and government operated. Epic makes money by _NOT_\nsharing its data if it can get away with it. Switching costs are its friend.\nIt's called 'vendor lock in' and its why the government should be doing this\nsmall piece of it. It's like building an interstate highway. It lets commerce\nhappen.\n\n------\nddw\nDefinitely not a fan of Epic but the article could have mentioned this:\n[https://open.epic.com](https://open.epic.com)\n\n------\nraverbashing\nSo, what's the most common standard for PHR information?\n\nI've only heard of HL7 which is basically paying money for a bunch of XSDs (of\ncourse)\n\n~~~\nmethehack\nIf I understand your question, probably a CCDA. I think the real problem is no\nsystem has a reliably comprehensive picture. After that, it is challenging to\nfind a reliable global patient identifier. Epic says they have the health\nrecords of 175M americans. I would say they have parts of records of 175M\namericans and probably a lot of dupes.\n\n~~~\ncordite\nGiven that these numbers are individually sourced from customers, customers\nown their own data, and all interchange is P2P--there's not a good way to\nreally count. Customers own their range of member-numbers as well.\n\nPlus, the whole thing about identity is even more difficult, you can't go by\nname, SSN, and DOB alone.\n\nAs far as I know, HL7 is mostly used between internal systems within an\norganization.\n\nFor sending actual patient data, allergies, conditions, CCDA is usually used\nfor communication with non-Epic EMRs belonging to other organizations.\n\nAs an aside, CCDA and HL7 don't support rich data well, so they usually end up\nas base64 encoded PDFs.\n\n------\nbossmojoman\nThis is allowing companies like Kno2 to make quick inroads into the space\nthough.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGermany: Facebook must destroy its facial recognition database - smartician\nhttp://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/08/germany-facebook-must-destroy-facial-recognition-database/\n======\ndaveman\nIt's fascinating to watch how tech companies react to restrictive EU privacy\nlaws. Many of the EU requirements (e.g. 'right to be forgotten', mandatory\nopt-in for cookies) could become a real hindrance for companies that want to\nbuild intelligent services and minimized user experiences.\n\nCall me crazy, but it seems like when you get to use a free service or website\nthat costs many millions of dollars to develop, giving the company access to\nyour data is a fairly small price to pay.\n\nI'm waiting for one of these legal actions to cause a company like Facebook to\njust shut down their service in the local area, and leave a landing page with\nthe email addresses of all the politicians who provoked the outage.\n\n~~~\nanigbrowl\n_I'm waiting for one of these legal actions to cause a company like Facebook\nto just shut down their service in the local area, and leave a landing page\nwith the email addresses of all the politicians who provoked the outage._\n\nPeople in the EU (and Germany in particular) don't care for massive privately\nheld databases that can be used to target individuals. They have had enough\nbad experiences with secret police forces, and that's why there are strict\nlimits on data gathering and retention.\n\n~~~\nanamax\n> People in the EU (and Germany in particular) ... have had enough bad\n> experiences with secret police forces,\n\nHow many of these secret police forces were private? How many were govt police\nforces?\n\nPoliticians grandstand about the evils of companies, but the actual killing\nand torturing people is done by semi-popular govts.\n\n~~~\narchgoon\n> but the actual killing and torturing people is done by semi-popular govts.\n\nLike the Mafia and Church of Scientology. And Blackwater. The East India\nTrading Company, or Coca Cola assassinating Labor Leaders in Columbia. IBM\nhelped the Nazi's build the accounting machinery used by the concentration\ncamps, requiring IBM to be well aware what was going on.\n\nIn some cases Corporations pay governments to do their dirty work. Sometimes\nthe Government pays the corporation. Other times the corporation becomes the\ngovernment. Sometimes the corporation just doesn't care. Regardless, can we\nplease put aside this fiction that all the serious evils of the world are\nperpetrated by governments despite the best efforts of angelic businessmen?\nPretending that as long as we keep the government in check all will be fine is\nidiocy and ignorance of the highest order. Excess power in any concentrated\nlocation is potentially problematic, regardless if it's held by 'private' or\n'public' sectors. Those are labels for groups of people, nothing more.\n\n~~~\nanamax\n\"A Single Death is a Tragedy; a Million Deaths is a Statistic\"\n\n> Regardless, can we please put aside this fiction that all the serious evils\n> of the world are perpetrated by governments despite the best efforts of\n> angelic businessmen?\n\nNo one is suggesting that business is angelic.\n\nHowever, whenever someone points out that govts kill lots of people, govt\napologists leap up to say \"corps have killed too\", ignoring the differenc in\norders of magnitude.\n\nMote, beam and all that.\n\n> Those are labels for groups of people, nothing more.\n\nNot so fast. Those groups have very different behaviors and motivations.\n\nThe worst that you can say about a company is that it will try to make money\nfrom you and might take some action to stop you from interfering with its\nattempts to make money.\n\nGovts regularly commit mass murder for basically no reason.\n\n~~~\ntluyben2\n> Govts regularly commit mass murder for basically no reason.\n\nGovts have reasons, one of the most common is to protect or improve the status\nquo for the leaders. Not very different from companies.\n\n~~~\nanamax\n> Not very different from companies.\n\nYou're ignoring the orders of magnitude.\n\nScale is a difference that you have to ignore to apologize for govts.\n\n~~~\ntluyben2\nI agree and worse is that most a lot of them actually believe 'the people'\nactually have a say in this while they don't. Well, at least not with voting.\nThat was not the point though; governments are not doing the stuff they do\nwithout reason; there is a reason. It's just not what you would expect and\nhope from something as massive as a government.\n\n------\nforgotusername\nI wonder how the German data protection office might respond if they realized\nGoogle probably have the largest database of images in the world, is trying to\nput cameras in everyone's glasses, and already owns 2 face recognition\ncompanies (Neven Vision, Pittpatt)\n\n~~~\nmike-cardwell\nThe tone of your comment implies that you think that Germany is targetting\nFacebook unfairly. Read up on what happened with Google Street View in\nGermany.\n\nThis is not a German issue anyway. It's an EU issue. And the problem is\ncompanies compiling data on users without their permission (opt out rather\nthan opt in).\n\nIf users aren't willing to opt in to your data collection, then you're not\noffering something worth the trade. Facebook and Google rely on peoples\nignorance to make money.\n\n~~~\nthirdsun\nI can't talk for the rest of the EU but in Germany privacy issues tend to get\nblown out of proportion - the media coverage during the street view\ncontroversy was rather ridiculous. Average, non-technical people almost\nthought Google would drive through their backyards.\n\nIt's ok to disagree with Google's and Facebook's behaviour and it's ok to take\nmeasures but I wish the media would focus on balanced and objective coverage,\neducating people rather than calling for drama and hysteria.\n\n~~~\nalexqgb\n\"In Germany privacy issues tend to get blown out of proportion.\"\n\nGosh, I wonder why? I mean, what is it about German history - in particular -\nthat would trigger such powerful negative reactions to the technical\nfoundations of a surveillance state?\n\nHummm....\n\nNope, no idea.\n\n~~~\njsemrau\nI don't think this is necessarily related to the Third Reich, but more about\ncommon sense. How much should a private company with the reach of Facebook and\nGoogle should collect about their users?\n\n~~~\nianstormtaylor\nWell how do you think common sense is formed? Seems like years of Nazi and\nSoviet control would push common sense in that direction.\n\n~~~\njsemrau\nGermany had a green party movement from the early 80s.\n\n~~~\nalexqgb\nYou mean West Germany. We're talking about East Germany.\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Germany>\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Germany>\n\n------\nIrishsteve\nIf I remember correctly you ran the risk of having your Facebook account\nclosed if you made a freedom of information request via it's Irish subsidiary\nfor all that paper work linked to your account.\n\nTherefore I'd imagine a similar response will be generated by FB if they are\nforced to comply with the latest complaint.\n\n~~~\nrmc\n_if you made a freedom of information request_\n\nClarification, in Ireland \"Freedom of Information\" is for government bodies.\nIt's \"Data Protection\" law (which is the personal data of you held by anyone,\ngovernment & private companies)\n\n~~~\nIrishsteve\nThanks!\n\n------\nchmod775\nWhy can't Germany just raid the Facebook HQ in the US for violating local law?\nIsn't that essentially the same that the US did at the dotcom mansion?\n\n~~~\nrmc\nThat's not what happened. Kim Dotcom was arrested by NZ police.\n\nJust about all extradition treaties require \"double criminality\", where the\nperson is extradited on a thing that's a crime in both countries. The USA does\nnot have these data protection laws, so the USA is highly unlike to extradite\nto a country where that's illegal.\n\n~~~\nveb\nI'm pretty sure that Kim Dotcom hasn't broken any NZ laws. Only a law in the\nUSA. That's why the whole case is really borked.\n\n~~~\nsanxiyn\nI am not sure. I agree that while copyright is governed by international\nagreements, this case probably falls outside of what is agreed. I don't think\nsafe harbor provisions are harmonized across jurisdictions.\n\n------\nrmc\nTwas quite clever of Facebook to set up in Ireland (and not just for the 12½%\ncorporation tax rate). It can be a large employer in a small fish, and the\nIrish government is desparate to be seen to be doing something about jobs\n(hence any job losses from a household name would be very embarassing).\n\nAs a result, I wouldn't be too suprised if some squeeze was placed on the Data\nProtection Office. \"Oh you want more funding... Well...\"\n\nI wonder if this is one of the reasons the EU wants to overhaul the Data\nProtection law so that EU citizens can complain to their national data\nprotection office, not just the one the company is in.\n\n~~~\naggronn\nNot wrong, but Facebook is hardly the only big fish in Ireland. Most large US\ncorporations locate their European HQs there.\n\n~~~\nsanxiyn\nIndeed. Google's European HQ is in Ireland too.\n\n~~~\nrmc\nMany others have large offices and employ lots of people, like Oracle, and\n(what was) Sun, and IBM and Intel.\n\n~~~\nmadrona\nDon't forget MS.\n\n------\ngioele\n«database of faces collected in Germany»\n\n\"Collected in Germany\". It is nice to see how politics and law keep applying\nphysical verbs to non-physical infrastructure. If you ask around you will see\nthat there are almost as many definition of \"done XXX in contry YYY\" as the\nnumber of country out there: some national law see it as \"the client is in\nYYY\", other as \"the server is in YYY\", other as \"the infrastructure is in\nYYY\", other as \"both the client and the server are in YYY\" and so on.\n\nIt is very hard to be a law-abiding citizen or business on the Internet when\nthere are heaps of contrasting laws.\n\n------\ndanso\nI just don't see how FB _currently_ gets that much value out of its facial\nrecognition DB. As far as I can tell, as an end-user, it makes it easier to\ntag people because FB will suggest named tags (sometimes hilariously wrong).\n\nBut this is a minor convenience. If I really do want to tag a photo, then I'm\nalready in a curation mindset and willing to put up with the precious second\nit takes to type in the first two-three characters of a friend's name.\n\nAt this point, FB, with those two characters, has enough information to make a\n95% accurate guess...because it also has my entire history of interactions\nwith friends, including all past tagging behavior. It obviously can derive a\nprediction that weights more recent tagging behavior (on the premise that I'm\nlikely to have hung out with the same friends as I did last week)...and bingo,\nby the time I've typed the third character, Facebook has it narrowed down to\nthe right person.\n\nSo why even bother keeping the facial recognition data?\n\n...I'm not so naive to think that there aren't other applications of this\nfacial-recognition data. I'm just pointing out that FB has nearly all the non-\nvisual data needed to guess who is in a photo without applying any computer-\nvision techniques.\n\nAnd that non-visual data (the history of a user's interactions) has way more\npredictive value on behavior than a facial-recognition DB... So given that the\ngeneral public is more disturbed by things relating to physical appearance, if\nI were FB, I'd just give up this fight and carry on collecting all the non-\nvisual data that they have so far.\n\n __* edit:\n\nAlong the same lines...this decision seems to be based on how FB collected\nthis data without users explicit consent. Well, under this argument, doesn't\nFB collect interaction data without user consent?\n\nSay my friend Bob continually posts on my wall, pokes me, sends me direct\nmessages, etc. FB, without my consent, will have enough interaction data to\npeg me as Bob's special confidante...without any interaction on my part.\n\nIsn't this the complaint with the face data? That my friends can tag my face\nand thus give FB a decent idea of my appearance? Well, my friends can also\ngive FB a decent idea of my preferences in a variety of arenas by how they\nconverse and interact with me...so if opt-in is the issue, isn't _all_ of FB\ndata up for destruction?\n\n~~~\ntonfa\n> Along the same lines...this decision seems to be based on how FB collected\n> this data without users explicit consent. Well, under this argument, doesn't\n> FB collect interaction data without user consent?\n\nBiometric data is usually a much more touchy subject than anything else. But\nyes there are also people who think that interaction data (logs) collection\nshould be opt-in.\n\n------\nRexRollman\nSometimes I wonder if the US Government will somehow use Facebook photos to\ntrack people, even if they themselves don't have a Facebook account. I find\nthe idea of something like that creepy.\n\n------\nspoiledtechie\nIve said it once, twice and many other times. I do believe Germany is probably\nby far one of the most advanced political governments there are.\n\nI so welcome their input and applaud their effort!\n\n------\nsalimmadjd\nEvery database out there can be used for evil. Whether if it's facial\nfingerprint or anything else. I never liked Face.com and facebook's decision\nto buy them. The ability of a photograph being used to track me anywhere there\nis a camera is not the future I want to be part of.\n\n------\nmike_ivanov\nOr else!\n\n------\nandyl\nI don't like the Facebook facial recognition thing either. Or when someone\ntags me on photos that they have uploaded. I think its creepy when someone\nelse posts my photo, then I start getting comments on it. This should be opt-\nin, not opt-out.\n\n~~~\nandrewpi\nI believe you can set permissions so that you have to approve any photo that\nis tagged with you in it.\n\n~~~\nSwaroopH\nThey quietly removed that option and now only allow you to restrict it from\nyour timeline (requires you to approve). You still need to manually _remove_\nthe tag. Annoying.\n\n~~~\ntsieling\nOf course it's annoying. Facebook wants you to feel pain whenever you try to\nmanage your own social presence in a way they can't monetize.\n\n------\nhastur\nOf course they realize that the NSA already has a full copy?\n\nYou might think: so what, I'm not a terrorist. But think twice, because people\nopposing US interests (and the interests of some of the most powerful lobbies,\nlike MPAA & RIAA) are increasingly being afforded the treatment you'd expect\nfor a terror suspect.\n\n~~~\nphilwelch\n> But think twice, because people opposing US interests (and the interests of\n> some of the most powerful lobbies, like MPAA & RIAA) are increasingly being\n> afforded the treatment you'd expect for a terror suspect.\n\n[citation needed]\n\n~~~\nta12121\nkim dotcom raid?\n\n~~~\nphilwelch\nNope. Kim Dotcom was arrested by NZ police to face extradition hearings. He's\nbeen released on bail and hasn't even left New Zealand, much less been\nspirited away to CIA black sites or detained at Guantanamo Bay or declared an\nillegal enemy combatant or brought before a military tribunal or denied access\nto legal counsel. Whatever problems there are with his arrest and the searches\nand seizures that took place with it, they're following the exact same\nprocedures they would for any extradition case, nothing like the procedures\nused for terror suspects.\n\n~~~\nta12121\nWhy do you need a SWAT team to arrest someone for copyright infringement?\n\nGreat great grandparent used the words _increasingly_ and _expect_ , not\nsimply _are_.\n\n~~~\nphilwelch\n90% of the time a SWAT team is used, you don't need a SWAT team. Overzealous\nlaw enforcement is a problem, but it's a problem that predates, and is largely\nseparate from, the even-more-exceptional counterterrorism measures. It's not\nuseful to conflate the two issues. Kim Dotcom wasn't \"treated as a terror\nsuspect\" any more than the \"don't tase me bro\" kid. Not to say that it isn't\nan issue, just not the same issue.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nComputers Are The Future, But Does Everyone Need To Code? - Taurenking\nhttp://www.npr.org/2014/01/25/266162832/computers-are-the-future-but-does-everyone-need-to-code?live=1\n\n======\nfrostmatthew\nI agree with Jeff Atwood's car analogy (everyone who drives shouldn't be a\nmechanic) but I think it's beneficial to learn to code even if you never have\na practical need/use for it.\n\nMuch like we teach subjects such as history and biology without the\nexpectation every student will become a historian or biologist (or have a\npractical use for what they learned in those classes), we should teach\nprogramming for the indirect (not sure that's the best word) benefits. It's a\ndifferent way to think and to view things (abstraction), it teaches problem\nsolving skills (debugging), good learning habits (what to commit to memory and\nwhat to know you can look up), and attention to detail (wow, missing a\nsemicolon did that!).\n\n~~~\nTaurenking\nI agree to a certain degree...Yet I find that cases like trying to teach\nprogramming to kids still in junior schools or using a kickstarter to publish\nyet another book (yes I'm looking at you ruby girl), is taking things to\nextreme...\n\n~~~\ngonewest\nI don't see how learning programming is beyond the ability of a younger child,\nprovided the syllabus and the style of teaching is developmentally\nappropriate.\n\nI've seen elementary school kids mess around in Scratch and (without\nnecessarily knowing this is what professionals call these concepts) they are\nlearning about basic program flow, iterators, conditionals, event handlers,\nCartesian coordinate systems, etc. Not to mention basic literacy, such as how\nto type, use the mouse, drawing sprites, recording audio, what it means to\n\"save\" versus \"save as...\" etc.\n\nAt the end of the day this is literacy, and just like music class doesn't make\neverybody Mozart, programming class won't make everybody Knuth or Stroustrup.\nBut it's still worth doing because everybody deserves to understand how to\nthink about and interact with the world around them.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow Facebook Copes with Scale: Three Approaches - Katydid\nhttp://www.theplatform.net/2015/09/18/three-secrets-of-how-facebook-copes-with-scale/\n======\nmerb\nI always wondered how much power could be saved if those platforms would be\nimplemented nearer to the metal. I mean I don't want to flame PHP, etc.. but I\nthink running at the scale of Facebook it will definitely matter which\nlanguage you use, especially in the matter of computing power, I mean Facebook\ncould throw enough people at anything so the choice of language shouldn't be a\nproblem.\n\nThat's why I don't get it, why they wrote Hack/etc. When I would be Facebook I\nwould've tried to write something like JPHP where PHP could run on top of the\nJVM, since that introduces way more languages like Scala, Groovy, Java itself.\nHowever they gone from PHP to their self hosted language where it will even be\nhard to find developers when Hack won't grow.\n\n~~~\ngt565k\nCheck out whats app's architecture\n\n\"Our results have demonstrated the fantastic scalability of Erlang, and in\nthis talk we will share some of the discoveries and modifications we have made\nalong the path to supporting millions of connected users per server. \"\n\n[https://vimeo.com/44312354](https://vimeo.com/44312354)\n\nSome of the speculations about why facebook bought them is their architecture\nbuild on top of Erlang\n\n~~~\nsimonw\nFacebook Chat was originally written in Erlang:\n[https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/chat-\nsta...](https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/chat-stability-\nand-scalability/51412338919) \\- but they ended up switching it from Erlang to\nC++: [https://www.quora.com/When-did-Facebook-switch-away-from-\nusi...](https://www.quora.com/When-did-Facebook-switch-away-from-using-Erlang-\nfor-Facebook-Chat)\n\n------\nadamnemecek\nGood thing that those graphs have the y-axis labeled.\n\n------\nckluis\n40 PB a day for photos...\n\n~~~\nmikegioia\nThis is the part that I have trouble wrapping my head around. If you're\n_adding_ 40 PB of photos per day, and if you can somehow get say $0.01/GB [1]\nthen that's adding $400,000 per day in storage costs.\n\nFacebook doesn't/can't/won't delete photos so how on earth is this\nsustainable? After 10-20 years wouldn't hosting costs just be too high to\nfunction?\n\n[1] Aaverage cost per GB in 2014 was $0.03:\n[http://www.statisticbrain.com/average-cost-of-hard-drive-\nsto...](http://www.statisticbrain.com/average-cost-of-hard-drive-storage/)\n\n~~~\ndaigoba66\nAt scale it must get cheaper. For example AWS Glacier is only $0.007 per GB\nignoring bandwidth.\n\n~~~\nra1n85\nGlacier wouldn't fit this model, as it's based on access frequency and not\nstorage volume.\n\n------\nape4\nJust a now on facebook I clicked on a friend's name (a link) and after waiting\nabout a minute I gave up. But I am not going to complain (to them) since its\nfree.\n\n~~~\nbrozak\n\"free\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nKim Dotcom Sings: Are You Going to Fix This Mr. President? - sathishmanohar\nhttp://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-sings-are-you-going-to-fix-this-mr-president-120720/\n\n======\ndebacle\nAt least he's enjoying his time in the spotlight.\n\n------\njack-r-abbit\nWell... that song was better than Rebecca Black's \"Friday\" song. Not sure that\nis saying much though. :/\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nErlang alterline - yrashk\nhttp://wiki.github.com/yrashk/erlang\n\n======\nnoss\nThis project is possibly a better choice to base private patches on:\n<http://github.com/mfoemmel/erlang-otp/tree/master>\n\n~~~\nyrashk\nmay be yes, may be no — I didn't know about this repo existence when I created\nmy repo, anyway. thanks for pointing it out!\n\n------\ntsuraan\nHave you sent this to the erlang list? I just checked for both yrashk and\nalterline, and I'm not getting any threads for those queries. The OTP team is\ngenerally really good about merging bugfixes, from what I've seen on the list.\n\n~~~\nyrashk\nI've sent one of the patches so far, yes.\n\n------\ndavidw\n> However, since most probably it will not be easy to push some of these\n> patches through Erlang/OTP,\n\nWhy's that?\n\n~~~\nyrashk\nWell, it is what I heard from people who tried that before.\n\n~~~\ndavidw\nSo, you have patches, and you haven't even _attempted_ to get them committed?\n\n~~~\njrockway\nThe problem is solved for him. He is really under no obligation to do anything\nelse; if upstream is interested, they can just pull from his repo.\n\n~~~\ndavidw\nIf anyone has bothered mentioning it to them.\n\nI sent some Erlang patches in years ago, and in due time, they showed up in\nthe main release.\n\nObligation? No, but it's a nice thing to do. He's demonstrated he's interested\nin helping out by publishing them in the first place.\n\n~~~\nyrashk\nI don't understand you. Wiki page I linked to explicitly states \"The intention\nof alterline is not to fork Erlang, though — the best outcome for it is to be\nmerged into official source tree\". And I already started pushing some of the\npatches out: [http://www.erlang.org/cgi-bin/ezmlm-\ncgi?3:mss:451:200908:oal...](http://www.erlang.org/cgi-bin/ezmlm-\ncgi?3:mss:451:200908:oalelhbknmalgbgnoehf)\n\n~~~\ndavidw\n> And I already started pushing some of the patches out\n\nCool, that's all I wanted to know. Good work!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhy Discord Is Sticking with React Native - jhgg\nhttps://blog.discordapp.com/why-discord-is-sticking-with-react-native-ccc34be0d427\n======\nsaagarjha\n> In the React Native repo, we sometimes see hot issues with limited activity\n> in response from Facebook. Lack of visibility into such a large company can\n> bring about frustrations when so many people depend on their open source\n> contributions. On the other hand, it forces us to dive into the core\n> codebase in order to figure out the problem, which admittedly one of the\n> best ways to learn an open source platform. By understanding the React\n> Native platform deeply, we were able to maintain a fork that fixes issues\n> for our own use cases and reuse their core modules.\n\nI guess that's one way to sugarcoat the fact that you're at the mercy of\nFacebook being timely in fixing bugs here…\n\n~~~\nnikanj\nThey are not at the mercy of Facebook at all. They have access to all of the\nsource, and all the build tools too.\n\nPeople don't remember what it's like, praying to dear gods that Microsoft\npatches that IIS bug before you lose your last customers.\n\n~~~\ngiancarlostoro\nThis right here. I hope companies stop fearing contributing to React / React\nNative (and ANY open source project they rely enough on). I think companies\nthat make plenty of revenue off of certain open source projects should invest\nresources into said projects. If you patched some part of the project,\ncontribute it back! It will only benefit you in the long run instead of\nrunning frankenforks of the code, and ultimately if it gets abandoned, offer\nto continue to maintain it!\n\nI wish more companies would give developers about 10% of their time to develop\nthings they think would benefit the company, whether it's internal tools or\nopen source projects they rely on (or building new things). Just give devs\nevery Friday or every other Friday with free reign to code or learn new\nthings.\n\nAh well... If the projects they rely on stop being maintained they just suck\nit up and let it foster eternally till forced to migrate.\n\nDear Discord:\n\nYour bread and butter seems to rely upon React / React Native. It's an open\nsource project, pay your employees to contribute to it!\n\n~~~\nvictoriasun\nHi! I'm from Discord and we _do_ contribute to React/React Native! I have to\nsay it's quite an adventure to dig through React Native's issue tracker only\nto find that your CTO's PR has been merged :P\n\n~~~\ngiancarlostoro\nThat's good to know, thanks for the context, didn't mean to assume just wasn't\nsure, been so busy at work today so hadn't read the whole article yet. That\ndoes sound pretty awesome! I hope more companies do contributions like you\nguys do. Facebook kickstarted the project, doesn't mean they will run it\nforever, eventually the torch must be carried by the community.\n\n~~~\nvictoriasun\nNo worries! We actually didn't highlight it in the post :P I just find it such\na cool fun fact that I wish we talked about it more.\n\n------\nryanjodonnell\nI predict there will be another blog post in about 18 months from discord\nabout \"Why we moved away from React Native\"\n\n~~~\nmrkcsc\nWell it’s been three years so far - we shall see :P\n\nI know this comment is a joke but in all seriousness even if we did move away\nI think it would still mean we got several years of great utility out of the\nframework.\n\nNo tech lasts forever and it’s important to be open to change as well as being\nmindful to not chase the latest trend - as in all things, balance is key.\n\n------\nmrkcsc\nHi all, Discord engineer here! If anyone has any questions about the post or\nour experience using React/React Native the team would be happy to answer\nthem!\n\n~~~\njamesgeck0\nThe post says, \"it’s roughly 1.5s startup delay to load a 15mb bundle on an\niPhone X.\"\n\nI've seen startup latency much slower than that on my iPhone SE. In the best\ncase, the application takes about six seconds to cold boot when I tap on a\nnotification. Sometimes it's closer to fifteen or twenty seconds if the app\nsits on the \"connecting\" screen for a while. It's difficult to understate how\nmuch slower the app feels than everything else on my phone.\n\n~~~\nnikanj\nThe X is the most expensive iPhone you can buy right now, and the SE is the\ncheapest. Too bad engineers practically always have the top-end models, so\nthey don't really have to dogfood the everyday pain of using the slower\ndevices.\n\n~~~\nvictoriasun\nActually I don't own an iPhone X :P Our core user base tends to use 6 and\nabove (approx 2 generations behind) and we dogfood regularly with a huge group\nof beta testers (thousands) with a huge range of hardware. We try our best to\nmake sure the average use case is considered.\n\n~~~\nDylan16807\nConsidering the average is good but it still pushes the performance treadmill\nforward.\n\nIf we had some magical way to make the dev treadmill run slower than the user\ntreadmill, we'd see better architectures in many cases. In that alternate\nworld it would be easy to precompile the javascript and load 20 times faster.\n\n------\nnacho2sweet\nI quit Facebook lately and moved to Discord for my group chats, cause we\nalready had the channels from gaming.\n\nIt is good, but we all have trouble with the notifications. (this has nothing\nto do with react native but you are here and this is a gripe). Like if you\nhave it running on a computer it doesn't come to your phone. So we have tons\nof miss-communication for stuff like \"yo I am drinking near your house meet-\nup\". Discord just sits running all the time on your PC, which for most is\nrunning all the time. So I stopped using it for time sensitive messages which\nsucks. I would never dare use it for a \"Hey I am buzzing outside your house\nanswer\". You literally have no idea where the notification for the person is\ngoing to go. FB-Messenger never had this issue.\n\n~~~\nbrightball\nBasically just needs idle tracking.\n\n~~~\nKlover\nIt does have that. No idea why it wouldn't work for GP. If I lock my computer,\nor don't look at the Discord tab for a few minutes, my phone gets\nnotifications.\n\n~~~\nKratisto\nJust to add my experience, I feel like it's hit or miss. It seems like I get\nnotifications with zero issues. Then I'll randomly have a week or two in a row\nwhere I don't get notifications or get 50% of them. Not sure why this happens,\nbut I use Discord as my only means of contact with multiple people.\n\n~~~\nKlover\nInteresting. For what it's worth I am using Discord on Mac Safari (not TP),\nWin Chrome 69 (dev channel), and iOS. In one year I have not had any of the\nissues mentioned above. Perhaps using the desktop app can introduce problems.\n\n~~~\nnacho2sweet\nYeah it just doesn't work well for me or my friends we are always complaining.\nI don't know why and I don't really want to have nerd out with my chat app\n(just want it to work!).\n\nAs for using Slack, I am too scared of dropping 3am Friday/Saturday messages\nin my work chat instead of my group chat so keep separate apps.\n\n------\nOlogn\nThe usual idea I hear is that React Native might be a good idea for a small\ncompany with an uncomplicated app, especially if they use the React stack on\nthe web.\n\nHowever when one grows and starts competing head to head in the App Store or\nGoogle Play with the other top social or finance or music or whatever apps,\nthe ones who have expert teams with familiarity with the specific Android or\niOS platform will pull ahead. Particularly as you can still have a (mostly)\ncommon REST API backend, base things off the same design mockups with some\nmodifications, and so on.\n\n~~~\nvictoriasun\nDiscord is actually an extremely complex app and run almost entirely off React\nNative, with 2 engineers, only 1 of which who is an iOS expert :P! We have\nmillions of users, and we typically rank in the top 10 of Social Networking on\nthe iOS App Store. We are excited to share our success story of being a \"big\"\ncompany using such a product.\n\n~~~\njrumbut\nI was very surprised to hear discord used RN because I found that I had to\nbreak down and use native code to deal with a lot of multimedia and a few\nother things that aren't just displaying text. I still loved RN, I just maybe\nnaively hoped I could do everything with it.\n\nIs that your experience too, that a good bit of native code is required (with\nRN serving as glue and handling simple screens), or have you avoided that\nsomehow?\n\n~~~\nvictoriasun\nPersonally I have found that RN does require some amount of native platform\nknowledge to be successful. However, the bulk of our app is actually in React\nNative. The times we've had to bridge into native is mostly around our voice\nmodules or things that, in RN, were not very performant (like poor list\nperformance) or required synchronous updates (like the keyboard problem\nmentioned in the post). Certain multimedia objects RN doesn't support out of\nthe box but the community has come to the rescue (ie:\n[https://github.com/cornedor/react-native-video-\nplayer](https://github.com/cornedor/react-native-video-player) for video).\n\n~~~\nQualityReboot\nI agree with all of this, but I'd add that bridging RN to Native is not as\nscary as it sounds.\n\nCheck out the code examples: [https://facebook.github.io/react-\nnative/docs/native-modules-...](https://facebook.github.io/react-\nnative/docs/native-modules-ios)\n\nIn practice, most of it is wrapping \"RCT_EXPORT_METHOD\" around native code and\nimporting it into JS.\n\nEven if you had to write half the app in native code (which you won't), you're\nstill far ahead of having to write it all in native code on both platforms.\n\n~~~\nlaex\nAgreed. Creating bridging modules aren't that complicated. For anyone\ninterested, I've linked a sample of a bridging module from my open-source\nproject, for both IOS and Android. See [0] & [1]\n\nThe bridge creates an interface between an embedded webserver to react native.\n\nThings to note:\n\n1\\. Always dispatch bridging methods to their own threads. On IOS you can do\nthis via. dispatch_async. On Android, you can utilise native threads or some\nkind of task management library. I like Bolts [2].\n\n2\\. Always create bridging methods that resolve promises. This makes it easy\nto utilise async / await paradigm on the JS side.\n\n[0] Android: [https://github.com/hemantasapkota/react-native-web-\nserver/tr...](https://github.com/hemantasapkota/react-native-web-\nserver/tree/master/android/app/src/main/java/com/reactnativewebserver/AppWebServer)\n\n[1] IOS: [https://github.com/hemantasapkota/react-native-web-\nserver/tr...](https://github.com/hemantasapkota/react-native-web-\nserver/tree/master/ios/ReactNativeWebServer/AppWebServer)\n\n[2] Bolts: [https://github.com/BoltsFramework/Bolts-\nAndroid](https://github.com/BoltsFramework/Bolts-Android)\n\n------\nsandGorgon\nLove discord..but their email notifications are a problem. There are no fine\ngrained controls and once unsubscribed, you can never re-subscribe.\n\nWould have loved to use discord at work, but in developing countries...\nnetwork connectivity is not always a given.\n\n------\njoeblau\nThis post is interesting because at the bottom, Discord is soliciting for\nengineers. Gabriel Peal from AirBnB came and gave a talk at our company a few\nweeks ago and he shared at after AirBnB published their 5 part medium\nseries[1], they got a huge flood of mobile developer resumes.\n\n[1] - [https://medium.com/airbnb-engineering/sunsetting-react-\nnativ...](https://medium.com/airbnb-engineering/sunsetting-react-\nnative-1868ba28e30a)\n\n~~~\nhamms\nI feel like it's far more unusual to see a blog post from a tech company that\n_doesn't_ end with them soliciting for engineers.\n\n~~~\njoeblau\nYeah. I guess my point is that they are trying to get web/mobile engineers,\nbut the data from AirBnB shows that the opposite of this post is what\n_actually_ attracts mobile engineers.\n\n~~~\nmathw\nWhat AirBnB showed is that there are a load of mobile engineers out there who\ndon't want to work with React Native.\n\nWhat Discord might show is that there are also a load of mobile engineers out\nthere who do.\n\nPersonally I find it baffling why anybody would choose to work with anything\nbased on JavaScript (I'm grumpy enough about having to work with something as\nprimitive and loosely-typed as C#, so I find JavaScript an endless horror\nshow), but there are people sitting right near me in my office who work on\nfrontend web code all day and chose to do that and actually enjoy it.\n\nSo really, I guess I'm saying we're all different. And that's a good thing,\nbecause there are lots of different jobs we need to get done to keep all these\nsystems running.\n\n------\nhaney\nWhat tool/service/library are you using for OTA updates? Could you share any\nbest practices around managing the roll out (do you push to everyone, a\nsubset, etc.)?\n\n~~~\nvictoriasun\nHi! Not Fanghao but another Discord iOS engineer. We wrote our own library for\nOTA updates but React Native Code Push ([https://github.com/Microsoft/react-\nnative-code-push](https://github.com/Microsoft/react-native-code-push)) is a\npretty reasonable out of the box solution. Because our OTA solution is\ndesigned for hotfixing issues rather than feature releases we push to\neveryone, and we also have a flag that forces our users to relaunch the app if\nthe bug is app breaking.\n\n~~~\nsaagarjha\nHow do you comply with Apple's App Store Review Guidelines when using this\n(specifically, this clause):\n\n2.5.2 Apps should be self-contained in their bundles, and may not read or\nwrite data outside the designated container area, nor may they download,\ninstall, or execute code which introduces or changes features or functionality\nof the app, including other apps.\n\nAlso,\n\n> we also have a flag that forces our users to relaunch the app if the bug is\n> app breaking\n\nHow do you do this?\n\n~~~\nvictoriasun\nApple allows updates to Javascript outside of the review process as long as it\nsubscribes to certain guidelines (1), including but not limited to: not\nchanging core feature functionality, being limited to bug fixes, and also that\nthe app doesn't provide unlimited access to native SDK or system functions.\nReact Native provides a limited API to js code so it's fine.\n\nAs far as your second question, we simply deploy store logic that loads a\nModal telling our users that they must relaunch the app.\n\n[1] [https://microsoft.github.io/code-\npush/faq/index.html#1-does-...](https://microsoft.github.io/code-\npush/faq/index.html#1-does-the-apple-app-store-allow-developers-to-perform-\nthese-types-of-updates)\n\n~~~\nsaagarjha\nHow do you convey \"relaunch the app\" to your users? I'm sure many of them\nthink that pressing the home button is the same as killing your app.\n\n~~~\nvictoriasun\nSince OTA updates can _only_ impact JS, we can offer a button that essentially\ncalls something like `window.refresh` and it reloads the JS bundle within the\ncontainer. We actually recently leveraged ErrorBoundaries in React 16 to do\nsomething similar in our app as well.\n\n------\nbabaganoosh89\nFor comparison how many engineers does it take to make the native Android app?\n\n~~~\nmrkcsc\nThe core Android team is four engineers so about double in size.\n\nThis makes some sense since on Android we have to re-write most of the\nstores/business logic and not just UI. We have modeled the architecture\nsimilarly to things on the Desktop/iOS side so we still are able to move fast\nand stay lean as a team.\n\n~~~\nKlathmon\nCan you expand/clarify on what you mean by \"on Android we have to re-write\nmost of the stores/business logic and not just UI\"?\n\n~~~\nmrkcsc\nThe iOS application can safely pull data and perform actions from just about\nevery Store (we don't use redux but the idea is the same\n[https://redux.js.org/api-reference/store](https://redux.js.org/api-\nreference/store)) and Action Handler ([https://reactjs.org/docs/handling-\nevents.html](https://reactjs.org/docs/handling-events.html)) that exists in\nthe main Discord React application.\n\nSo if one is writing a feature that say allows one to ban a user - they don't\nneed to write any of the banning logic or worry about fetching the user\ndata/validating it against server roles permissions - if it exists on the main\nDiscord app, it can be safely imported.\n\nOther helpful examples are perhaps things like markdown parsing - iOS was able\nto just import and use the exact same system desktop uses to handle markdown\nand things like user/channel mentions, custom emoji, etc. On Android we had to\nwrite one ourselves: [https://blog.discordapp.com/how-discord-renders-rich-\nmessage...](https://blog.discordapp.com/how-discord-renders-rich-messages-on-\nthe-android-app-67b0e5d56fbe)\n\nOn Android since there is no code re-use everything had to be written from\nscratch.\n\n~~~\nKlathmon\nOh, I missed that the Android version isn't React Native.\n\n------\nmhartl\n_The Discord iOS app has millions of daily active users and 4.8 stars with\nover 240k ratings. This has all been accomplished with a team of two\nengineers!_\n\nThis is impressive.\n\n------\noh-kumudo\n> small and mighty team\n\nSays it all. It is all about cost.\n\n~~~\nmrkcsc\nIt's not about cost, it's about impact.\n\nThe team - myself included - works normal eight hour days and there is no\n\"crunch time\" (other than very rarely when we have external dependencies like\nwhen we launched our Spotify integration).\n\nAs an engineer we all want to have agency and be able to make impactful\ndecision on the products we work on. Over-hiring too quickly is often what can\nlead to organizational bloat and can make things get built _slower_.\n\nInstead, I think it's better to grow slowly, hire great people, and only hire\nwhen it's needed. I've found that as a company, staying small has made us\nalways ask ourselves to make tradeoffs and constantly be thinking about what\nare the most important and impactful things we can be working on.\n\n~~~\noh-kumudo\nWell, keeping a small team is a choice, and the technology decision follows.\nWhat works for you guys works.\n\nI am not debating whether it is a good one or bad one.\n\n~~~\nmrkcsc\nThats true, I appreciate the discussion and the clarification.\n\n------\ndriverdan\nRE Android, are you saying that React Native Android is still bad? If so, why\nhasn't it been improved?\n\n~~~\nmrkcsc\nIt's less that it's bad (in my opinion) and more that on Android you have a\n_much_ wider range of hardware to support ranging from quite new and recent,\nto basically ancient almost flip phone level.\n\nI am hoping that in the future something like React Fiber\n([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV1271hd9ew](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV1271hd9ew))\nwill make its way to React Native and unlock a new level of performance.\n\n------\nKirinDave\nI wonder if, one day, Discord will get around to fixing the fact that once you\nhave more than 3 channels and get a notification in more than one, your mobile\nnotifications do not go to \"newest\" they go to the \"channel highest on the\nsidebar\".\n\nThis is why I really hate tools like react native. They try and create a code\nsymmetry and that's not unreasonable, but then they go too far and create\nbehavioral symmetry and that's pretty much unacceptable for as wide a gulf as\nbrowser apps and mobile apps. They have such radically different use cases.\n\n~~~\nvictoriasun\nActually, behavioral symmetry is not an issue with React Native so much as its\nan issue with poor UX design. Nothing about RN mandates that the apps behave\nsimilarly. That the iOS app and the desktop app look and behave similarly is\nsimply a design choice made by the team to maintain a consistent look/feel/UX\nacross the apps, not RN itself. We do not share Views. All Views across all\nthe apps are custom.\n\nHowever, as Discord's mobile teams grow and expand we're exploring alternative\nUX designs that are significantly more mobile friendly. So your feedback is\nheard loud and clear at HQ :)\n\n~~~\nKirinDave\n> Actually, behavioral symmetry is not an issue with React Native so much as\n> its an issue with poor UX design. Nothing about RN mandates that the apps\n> behave similarly.\n\nI think the economics of RN strongly do though. Why would you use RN if you\naren't planning to reuse code between environments?\n\n~~~\nvictoriasun\nWe do reuse code. To be clear, a traditional \"React app\" typically consists of\nthese pieces:\n\n\\+ view/UI layer\n\n\\+ flux/redux stores\n\n\\+ data fetching and processing\n\n\\+ action creators\n\n\\+ utility libraries (date functions, markdown processor, etc)\n\nThe economics of RN allows us to share the last 4. However, sharing the first\nis actually more or less impossible without tooling like react-native-web as\nthe components that exist on a native iOS app and the components that exist in\nHTML are just different. Certainly you can argue that sharing this much\nbusiness logic would necessitate that the UI layer looks all the same, but I\nfundamentally disagree. That is like saying that because all your clients use\nthe same API, they all must look the same.\n\n~~~\nKirinDave\nI guess there is an implicit value judgement here that React+Redux's approach\nis desirable for your team, so that motivates using utility libraries not\noptimized for the constrained environment and a FRP framework with those\ncharacteristics.\n\n~~~\nvictoriasun\nYes, this is 100% correct. That being said you can also create a React app\nusing FRP framework such as Cycle JS and share exactly the same amount of code\nthat I've listed above. Our team has chosen to go the React/Redux approach; I\nwould argue that as an untyped language Javascript is unsuitable for FRP in\nthe first place, despite FRP's advantages in handling reactive UI.\n\n------\nsuperplussed\nAfter starting to use RN for iOS, did you adapt the web app to use react-\nnative-web?\n\n~~~\nvictoriasun\nNo, we do not share Views with web. All view logic is custom on each platform.\n\n\\- a Discord iOS engineer\n\n------\nHNNewer\nYeah, keeping a fork of it does the trick, but it means you have to watch your\nback from React's unstable APIs, changing too fast\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nLanguage Matters - Thoughts on the Rspec debate - danielmorrison\nhttp://collectiveidea.com/blog/archives/2011/04/15/language-matters/\n\n======\nAndrewO\nFirst off, I think this is pretty well-reasoned. This part struck me as\ninteresting:\n\n\"I believe tests should be written in the language most natural for the\nproblem... I have never coded my way through a surfing session.\"\n\nTo take that a step farther, we usually don't write prose-form descriptions of\nsurfing sessions either. Following that, it seems the language most natural to\ndescribe a user interacting with an application through a browser is a\nstraight recording of clicks and form interactions (if I understand correctly,\nthis is what Selenium IDE tries to accomplish, although I've had problems with\nthat particular tool), rather than Cucumber's descriptions, which compared to\nthat, are more like code.\n\nThis is why I abandoned Cucumber: it seemed to be another way of writing code\nand left me on the wrong side of the gap between specification and actual\ninteraction. I don't fault anyone who has found it to be valuable—as the\nposter said, it's possible to write good tests with any tool. Choose one you\nlike.\n\n~~~\n3am\nSurprised that the Robot framework didn't come up here.\n\nCucumber's domains specific business language approach is great to when you\nhave a larger group of people, and you want to give non-technical staff\n(product managers) a way to write tests directly instead of requirement\ndocuments. Ideally it provides the non-technical people a vocabulary to\ndescribe a test, and mapping that vocabulary to the AUT is up to a test\nengineer.\n\nSelenium can be that lower level of implementation for cucumber, or can\ndescribe the test cases itself. As you noted, Selenium provides a simplifying\napi for DOM parsing and JS execution, which is a pretty reasonable language\nfor describing a test (if not a little low level and requiring the technical\nchops that cucumber seeks to avoid).\n\nRobot allows the test designer to compound low level actions into higher level\nones in a way that is transparent. I think it strikes a pretty good compromise\nbetween high level (cucumber) and low level (direct Selenium API calls).\n\nTL;DR'ing myself: you last paragraph makes me think you'd like the robot\nframework.\n\n~~~\nglenjamin\nDo bear in mind that just writing tests using business language in cucumber\ndoesn't make then run. You still have to use some sort of test library\nunderneath it to power the steps. In my current work I'm using the selenium\nAPI to do this, which hopefully is creating readable tests which re-use test\nexecution code that makes updating them to UI changes far easier than just\nusing a recording tool.\n\n~~~\n3am\nOh, I know, I just was trying to highlight that the underlying library (as far\nas I know cucumber) is opaque when defining the test, where in robot it's a\nlittle less so. Separately, since you're familiar with it - does cucumber\nallow you to compose new actions from existing actions?\n\nI had a longer post and pared it back... I actually think both frameworks are\ngood in different situations, it just depends how the company is structured\nand what kind of QA group you have.\n\nFWIW, I have done QA for 11 years, mostly doing automation.\n\n------\njonmc12\nNice article.. some examples would be helpful in understanding the author's\nthesis.\n\n\"I believe tests should be written in the language most natural for the\nproblem\" - I agree with this. However, to assume natural language is the most\nfit expression I believe is a jump. Natural language is laden in ambiguity to\nthe point where it misses out on creating specifications in a concise way.\n\nI tend to drift towards the field of thought that BDD should be used to\nconstrain the spec - purposely eliminating ambiguity. I think this is the real\nopportunity in BDD. This article\n([http://blog.objectmentor.com/articles/2008/11/27/the-\ntruth-a...](http://blog.objectmentor.com/articles/2008/11/27/the-truth-about-\nbdd)) illustrates the point well - making BDD specs analogous with a DSL\ndescribed by finite state machines. \"(BDD) connects the human concept of cause\nand effect, to the software concept of input/process/output\".\n\nSo, in this sense using BDD tools like cucumber for expressing natural\nlanguage can possibly bypass the opportunity to constrain the spec by using\nconstrained natural language or DSLs that best describe the problem domain\nmore explicitly.\n\n------\ndavidw\n> the killer feature is the ability to frame the problem in a natural\n> language.\n\nThat thought has a long and troubled history in the world of computers, and\nI'm not very convinced by it in terms of Cucumber.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAustralian Bank Anonymizes and Releases Billions of Records - estromlund\nhttp://peoplelikeu.com.au/\n======\nderrida\nI punched in my details and there are approximately 100 people like me. What\nhas occurred to me is that people like me (20's, single) that live in rich\nmobile areas of Sydney spend less than the national average across most\nthings, and overall. But also, compared to people like me, I get away with\nabout 1/8th of what everybody else spends, and do not feel poor. To the\ncontrary in fact.\n\nWhat is going on here? I am inclined to believe the data.\n\nWhat this has really reinforced for me is the extent to which other people\nmust spend their income as it comes in. It has also reinforced the importance\nof my friends, connections, values & personal knowledge. My friends who enable\nme to live a life that feels rich whilst, apparently, spending about 1/8th of\nwhat everybody else does.\n\nI really am surprised. I was not raised frugally and if I want something and\nhave the money, I generally buy it & I don't need more than I have.\n\n~~~\nviraptor\nA couple of guesses:\n\n\\- single does not mean no kids\n\n\\- once you are in debt, you may have problems getting out of it (you spend a\nlot on credit repayment rates)\n\n\\- does spending include investment? for example would a life insurance /\nretirement fund count towards \"spending\"?\n\n------\njacques_chester\nGiven the history of people being identified from \"anonymous\" records (thanks\na _lot_ , information theory) ... well, I'm glad I'm not banking with the NAB.\n\n~~~\ns_henry_paulson\nYou misunderstand. This is not an anonymous data-dump like the AOL fiasco, and\nthere is no way to get any raw data.\n\nBasically you just pick a few things like your age, salary and where you live,\nand then out of all of the people out there \"like you\", you're shown an\naverage of where people like you tend to spend their money (travel, food,\netc.).\n\nEven if you spent a lot of time manipulating the data to try and get it to\ntell you one person's spending by category (assuming it were possible), the\ndata would be relatively meaningless.\n\n~~~\njacques_chester\nThanks; I was thrown by the title.\n\n------\ndfc\nFor what its worth they have not \"released\" the data. I cannot copy any of the\ntext from the FAQ section but if you browse the FAQs and \"about this site\" it\nlooks like the whole site is basically an ad/demo of Market Blueprint[1]. But\nI could be wrong. estromiund, do you know where they released the data?\n\n[1] <http://www.quantium.com.au/market-blueprint>\n\n~~~\nanthonys\nThat's correct. It is Market Blueprint in a pretty, consumer skin.\n\n------\nboyter\nI wonder how accurate this actually is... I punched in my details and\napparently for my details there are less then 10 people like me. Considering\nwhere I live, age etc... that seems unlikely.\n\n~~~\nkerno\nSame. It is clear now that I am a beautiful snowflake.\n\n------\nmmahemoff\nIf they didn't acknowledge the well-known risks and how they got around them,\nthey will have some concerned customers and questions from regulators.\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_search_data_leak>\n\nRobust De-anonymization of Large Sparse Datasets\n<http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~shmat/shmat_oak08netflix.pdf> Regarding Netflix's\ncompetition: \"We demonstrate that an adversary who knows only a little bit\nabout an individual subscriber can easily identify this subscriber’s record in\nthe dataset.\"\n\n------\nhn-miw-i\nInteresting, as a customer of ubank I was concerned with the concept,\nespecially after the data deanonymization techniques developed post AOL and\nNetflix.\n\nHowever after using the site and entering my demographics (all public\nproperties) I could see that I was like 56 people in area; their base spending\npatterns did not reflect me at all and I felt like a snowflake. Sometimes big\ndata makes you feel special.\n\nAt no time was I shown transactions, merely aggrigate figures in categories.\nNo privacy issue here, keep being decent and ethical national bank!\n\n------\ncmaitchison\nI'd say the initial 6 questions are modelled on Census data, not anonymous\nbank records.\n\n~~~\npserwylo\nI agree. I am with this bank, and after seeing this was curious as to what\ninformation they actually have about me. Looking at the \"My Details\" section\nof the site shows only the following info:\n\n\\- Name\n\n\\- Phone\n\n\\- Email\n\n\\- Address\n\n\\- Tax File Number (not unlike a US social security number)\n\nI came to the same conclusion that its probably based on census data.\n\n------\npr0tocoldan\nIs anyone aware of what method they used to make the data anonymous? I'm\ncurrently doing research in data masking tools and would be interested to know\nabout the techniques used and the performance of the tool.\n\n------\nxmodem\nKind of cool, but I bank with the bank in question (Ubank / National Australia\nBank) and I'm not sure I'm completely comfortable that they'd use my\ntransaction history like this.\n\n~~~\nVolpe\nIf your identity isn't attached... it isn't your history. It's just 'a'\nhistory.\n\n~~~\nBigTigger\nI work for an Australian Bank. We had an internal competition where they\ndidn't sanitise the data for this competition well enough. After a week of\nanalysing the data one of the people in competing in the competition knew\nwho's data we were looking at. It was a friend of theirs.\n\nAll identifying information had been removed/sanitised, they could tell from\nlooking at the spending habits.\n\nI disagree with your statement.\n\n~~~\nVolpe\n... So they knew, because they already knew. So really they just confirmed.\n\nAsk that person to go and find my details, and they will surely fail. Because\nthey know nothing about me, and the transaction history doesn't tell them\nanything... thus it is not 'identifying'.\n\n------\nlucaspiller\nI put in my numbers to see what it would be like living on the other side of\nthe world (I'm in Dublin, Ireland - it is currently 9C and raining) using the\nSydney postcode 2000.\n\nIt says my expected house & home costs are $2000, which seems rather high for\nme. In London and here in Dublin, pretty much everyone my age (mid twenties)\nis in a houseshare, so we would pay that for the whole property, but split it\nthree ways or so. Is housing just that much more expensive, or what?\n\n~~~\nchris_wot\nYou only picked one of the most expensive postcodes - that's the Sydney CBD!\nYes, it is VERY expensive. In fact, it is _very_ expensive to live in Sydney,\nfull stop.\n\nTry using a 40?? postcode for Queensland.\n\n------\ncodelion\nIf we go by the history of such anonymization attempts (AOL, Netflix) it is\nonly a matter of time that someone figures out how to get PII from this data.\n\n~~~\nveemjeem\nI think the title is misleading for the purposes of catching people's\nattention. The data is not available to download, and is in aggregate form.\nThe AOL data was not in aggregate form, so it was possible to get personalized\ndetails.\n\nThey probably constructed a simple decision tree aggregate which is probably\nless than 10kb of data. I doubt anyone could extrapolate 10kb data into\npersonalized details of an individual.\n\n------\nsoftgrow\nSpooky. Tried it out and found it's prediction accurate for brands and\ncompanies I might use. Which was disappointing in a way, I was hoping I might\nfind something new to try. Instead I'm well, just like me....\n\n~~~\nnopassrecover\nWasnt even close for me. Not sure if the data's poor for my demographic or I'm\natypical.\n\n------\npan69\nNice idea but an absolute terrible website. E.g. If you go into the about\nsection and expand one the questions you get this weirdo scroll bar. Seems\nlike they're forcing the layout into a fixed dimension.\n\n------\nsome1else\nYou can see where rich people eat.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nNew Names, Same Story: Another $100 Million SAP Failure - edw519\nhttp://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6235776.html\n\n======\nmixmax\nSomehow there seems to be an inverse correlation between the size of the\ncontract and the ability of the contractor in these large projects.\n\nVery interesting.\n\n------\nedw519\n\"undeveloped, untested, and defective\"\n\nUntested and defective I understand. But \"undeveloped\"?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBig Social Media Is a House of Cards Built on Fake Bot Accounts - rvcamo\nhttps://medium.com/@getongab/big-social-media-is-a-house-of-cards-built-on-fake-bot-accounts-d362b68b33ef\n======\nFinnucane\nTL; DR: Here at Gab, we don't need no stinking bots to fill up our streams\nwith nazi crap.\n\n~~~\nrvcamo\nTL;DR: You're a gullible moron who believes everything you read on the\ninternet.\n\n~~~\nsctb\nThis isn't OK on Hacker News no matter what you're responding to.\n\n~~~\nrvcamo\nCry about it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAnnouncing Rust 1.24.1 - steveklabnik\nhttps://blog.rust-lang.org/2018/03/01/Rust-1.24.1.html\n======\nmkj\nIn case anyone else was wondering how longjmp() over the Rust code isn't a\nproblem regardless:\n\n\"There are only Copy types on the rust stack frame being jumped over.\"\n\n[https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/48251](https://github.com/rust-\nlang/rust/issues/48251)\n\n~~~\nstmw\nneat!\n\n------\nFreak_NL\n> Cargo couldn’t fetch the index from crates.io if you were using an older\n> Windows without having applied security fixes.\n\nWhy are developers (since this is an issue that shows up with cargo) running\nWindows 7 without security patches installed? Especially since the issue only\nshows up on Windows 7 installs that haven't received security patches since\nJune 2016.\n\n> libgit2 created a fix, using the WinHTTP API to request TLS 1.2. On master,\n> we’ve updated to fix this, but for 1.24.1 stable, we’re issuing a warning,\n> suggesting that they upgrade their Windows version.\n\nThat's really a neat and responsible way of handling this.\n\n~~~\nmtgx\nAlthough developers should know and do better, I think a big part of why they\naren't doing it is because Microsoft has made it so hard to update Windows 7\nsince a year or two ago, all in the name of forcing people to switch to\nWindows 10.\n\nYou now have to visit and _manually_ download the updates from Microsoft's\nUpdate Catalog website. Oh, and that website only works on Internet Explorer.\n\n~~~\nArnavion\nNo idea what you mean. Windows 7 receives updates from Microsoft through\nWindows Update just fine.\n\n------\nHumanDrivenDev\nRust gives me a headache. I want to like it, but it just seems so...\noverengineered\n\n[https://doc.rust-\nlang.org/std/str/struct.SplitWhitespace.htm...](https://doc.rust-\nlang.org/std/str/struct.SplitWhitespace.html)\n\nWhy would you create a special data type to represent a string split by\nWhitespace? Lunacy\n\n~~~\ndevit\nBecause unlike most other programming languages, Rust is well-engineered and\nseeks to both provide the most general abstractions possible and to make the\ncode generated by them as efficient as possible.\n\nIn particular, for this task, this requires to:\n\n1\\. Return references to subranges of the original string, rather than copying\nthem, so that no copy happens if you only need to examine the component\ninstead of storing it\n\n2\\. Not use reference counting to do so, but rather statically checked\nreferences with lifetimes, to avoid unnecessary instructions to update the\nreference count and lack of a static finalization point\n\n3\\. Provide a way to get components one by one, so that if you only need e.g.\nthe first two, time is not wasted to split the whole string\n\n4\\. Provide that through a generic Iterator trait, so that it may be passed to\ngeneric methods (like one that collects the result into a vector)\n\n5\\. Dispatch that generic trait statically rather than using an indirect call\nas that would destroy performance\n\n6\\. Make the state manipulated by such an interface into a first-class object,\nand allow to put them in a data structure (like an array) while still doing\nstatic dispatch, so that you can, for instance, split multiple strings into\ncomponents and interleave them without ever making an indirect call.\n\nThe combination of these essential requirements results in the creation of the\nSplitWhitespace<'a> data type, which represents the state of a parser\nsplitting a string into 'a-lifetime references to whitespace-separated its\ncomponents one by one, implementing the Iterator trait, and usable in a data\nstructure.\n\n~~~\nvarjag\nThe better half of those points are directly and indirectly caused by\ninsistence on manual memory management. Yes, it was a major design point of\nRust, but it doesn't make it better engineered than \"most other languages\".\nIt's just the corner it painted itself to.\n\n~~~\nmaxaf\nFirstly, manual memory management is what happens when a C programmer must\nmanually place malloc/free calls within her program. Rust doesn't require any\nof that; the compiler determines the right times to allocate and free memory,\nwhile requiring the programmer to follow certain design rules in exchange for\nthe convenience.\n\nSecond, you're making it sound as if the position Rust (and those who program\nin it) is somehow undesirable. This state of things is the consequence of an\nexplicit design goal, which was to accomplish automatic memory management\nwithout runtime cost.\n\n~~~\nvarjag\nInteresting; I certainly wouldn't consider C++ constructor/destructor like\nsemantics and manual tracking of object ownership in the code as automatic\nmemory management. But regardless, the point stands.\n\nAnd yes it's a consequence of a design goal, I said as much. The outcome\nhowever isn't beautiful enough to feel smug about the rest of programming\nlanguages.\n\n~~~\nmathw\nRust doesn't have C++ constructor/destructor semantics. It doesn't require\nmanual tracking of object ownership. You just have to say when you're passing\nownership and when you aren't, and the compiler takes care of the rest.\n\nIt's automatic memory management without runtime accounting or a garbage\ncollector, which means Rust doesn't need a runtime at all.\n\n~~~\nvarjag\n> It doesn't require manual tracking of object ownership. You just have to say\n> when you're passing ownership and when you aren't […]\n\nCall it whatever you want, but there are languages where you don't have to\n\"pass ownership\" manually for every frigging thing.\n\n~~~\niknowstuff\nAnd you won't see them being used for systems programming because of their\noverhead. So without Rust, we'll be stuck with stupid, avoidable security\nvulnerabilities at the base of all our software, forever. On top of that,\nRust's ownership system also prevents data races and none of those other\nlanguages are capable of that.\n\n~~~\ncreatornator\nI'd say Java, a GC'ed language, is used for systems programming quite often.\n\n------\nGolDDranks\nThis is an interesting demonstration how fiddly and UB-happy FFI boundaries\ncan be... Fortunately the UB → abort change will land in the future, it will\nbe for the better.\n\n------\n_binder\nOne command to update the language...wow...ok Iong for the day I can do that\nin C++.\n\n------\nilurkedhere\nVery good\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nGoogle+’s Circle Logic - Serene\nhttp://www.businessweek.com/magazine/googles-circle-logic-07212011.html\n\n======\ncode_duck\nMuch discussion of Google+ has focused on the differences of the way friends\nand sharing works compared to facebook, and whether the difference is\nattractive enough to bring prospective users over from facebook. Google+ has\nother differences which stand out to me, such as design and the fact that it's\n_not facebook_ (the fact that there is an XKCD comic highlighting this as well\nsuggests it matters to others also).\n\n~~~\njoebadmo\nI agree. And the fridge acquisition shows that they're not done implementing\nnew ways to share yet. I think the trick will be to make it all easy to\nunderstand.\n\nI think another non-trivial difference is that there no ads, at least not yet.\nEven if they add gmail-style ads, it'll be a lot better than FB. But more\nimportantly, Google doesn't necessarily need to make money on Google+. They\njust need it to help make search better, so they can continue to make money on\nsearch ads, which is their real bread and butter.\n\n------\nChristianMarks\nThe use of circles suggests the iconography of Dante's Inferno.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAs e-book war rages, Microsoft invests in Barnes & Nobles  - jamesbritt\nhttp://dawn.com/2012/04/30/as-e-book-war-rages-microsoft-invests-in-barnes-nobles/\n======\njwoah12\nI immediately skipped the article after seeing \"Barnes and Nobles\" in the\nheadline.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nOccupy protesters “branded” with UV ink - nextparadigms\nhttp://www.salon.com/2011/11/30/occupy_protesters_branded_with_uv_ink/\n\n======\nhactually\nThis is pretty bad. It's hard to tell as the protestor was unable to witness\nthe actual act but it sounds as if was applied with a tool designed to allow\nthe ink to permeate the skin rather than sit atop.\n\nIt's a pretty vile act to carry out on someone against their will.\n\n------\ndkokelley\nI'm sorry, but there really is not much substance here, IMHO. A protester was\nmarked with UV ink after being arrested. The article is literally 4 paragraphs\nabout it, with most of it being the protester retelling the harrowing story of\nbeing \"violated\" by the ink. Maybe there is a significant civil rights\nviolation in place here. I don't know. What I do know is that I didn't get\nmuch value from clicking the link, and I doubt many others here will.\n\n~~~\nseb_z_lite\nno, no substance. People are getting branded like cows but we'd rather read\nabout the same ruby vs. python stories. That is substance!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nValve Talk at Harvard CS50 Course – Portal Problems - doppp\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivyseNMVt-4\n======\nnangtrongvuon\nI find it really fascinating that one of the prevailing themes throughout this\ntalk was \"in game development, good enough goes a long way.\" I wonder if it\napplies to other fields of development as well.\n\n~~~\nanimal531\nThere are a lot of areas on this topic that interests me.\n\nJust look at graphics, specifically say beach waves. We now have super\nadvanced looking deep water, but I've never seen any game even try to\nreplicate beach waves, apart from some basic texture effects where the water\ngoes in and out.\n\nOn the other side, I don't think I've ever heard a single comment about it\nfrom reviewers or players.\n\nOf course as soon as someone does do it, then you're going to be hearing about\neveryone else lacking it in every review.\n\n------\nMatheus28\nThanks for posting the video, OP. It was really interesting. Shame it didn't\nget very many comments.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: Sendfiles2.me - Getting files from others should be easier - makyol\nhttp://sendfiles2.me\nHi everybody,<p>I'm delighted to share my latest little idea to make getting files from others easier.<p>It will be like having a public folder and letting people to upload you something.<p>Please check it out and let me know your feedback, you're always awesome - http://sendfiles2.me\n======\nmakyol\nHi everybody,\n\nI'm delighted to share my latest little idea to make getting files from others\neasier.\n\nIt will be like having a public folder and letting people to upload you\nsomething.\n\nPlease check it out and let me know your feedback, you're always awesome -\n<http://sendfiles2.me>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nEconomics is not a natural science - yarapavan\nhttp://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/rushkoff09/rushkoff09_index.html\n======\nTichy\n\"In fact, thanks to their blind acceptance of a particular theory of the\nmarket, most of these concepts end up failing to accurately predict the\nfuture. \"\n\nFailing to predict the future does not prove something is not scientific. For\nexample there are simple cellular automatons whose evolution can not be\npredicted, even though all the rules they follow are known.\n\nAlso, what is \"the market\" supposed to mean?\n\n\"Now the interesting thing about this money is that it lost value over time. \"\n\nOh dear, please tell me that it is not the \"Freigeld\" craze finally reaching\nHN :-(\n\n~~~\njuvenn\n\"Failing to predict the future does not prove something is not scientific.\"\nGood point, thanks.\n\n~~~\njwhite\nBut if the technique in question was promoted as a scientific means of doing\njust that, then you have to question it, and its proponents. LTCM is the\nexample that springs to mind.\n\n~~~\njuvenn\nYeh, you make the point. So there are economists who claims that future is\nunpredictable, like Xiaokai Yang[1]. [1]\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiaokai_Yang>\n\n------\nandreyf\nWhat is \"Natural Science\"? A study of a \"natural system\"? What's a \"natural\nsystem\"?\n\nI think what the author means to say, and should have said in one paragraph,\nis that economics has not yet developed an appropriate language for their\nmodels. Economists are still trying to use calculus, which was thought of by\nphysicists do describe physical phenomena, which, when used in economics, is\nleading to wildly inaccurate models.\n\n~~~\nchristofd\nWell put! The basic models of Econ were built on physics envy. They built\nmodels on a fairly artificial set of assumptions that use calculus. Poppycock.\n\n~~~\nrwolf\nEvery last one of the economics courses I've taken was smothered in caveats\nabout the underlying assumptions--you could make a drinking game out of it.\nFields like behavioral economics address specific criticisms with new theory,\nmaking BE even more likely to clearly and consistently note problems with the\nfoundation.\n\nI'm okay with econ being a social science (it sure wasn't taught in the\nNatural Science building at my school!), and I'm okay with being critical of\nthe way its framework extends into my life. I don't understand how anyone can\nget through the gauntlet of econ warnings with hubris intact.\n\n------\njrockway\nWhy is every word in the title all-caps except for \"Not\"?\n\n------\nCulturalNgineer\nFrom Edge: Comment from George Dyson on “Economics Is Not a Natural Science”\nBy Douglas Rushkoff\n\n“How to best transcend the current economic mess? Put Jeff Bezos, Pierre\nOmidyar, Elon Musk, Tim O’Reilly, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Nathan Myhrvold,\nand Danny Hillis in a room somewhere and don’t let them out until they have\nframed a new, massively-distributed financial system, founded on sound, open,\npeer-to-peer principles, from the start. And don’t call it a bank. Launch a\nnew financial medium that is as open, scale-free, universally accessible,\nself-improving, and non-proprietary as the Internet, and leave the 13th\ncentury behind.\n\nIn essence, I agree with the piece and the comment.\n\nI also believe that the Chagora model is very close to what they are talking\nabout… (it can function with standard and/or newly created currencies whether\nlocalized or not. Especially when combined with methods of geographical\nlocalization and scaled anonymity. The practical microtransaction in all areas\nis essential for proper scaling of civilization and its the political\nmicrotransaction (networked citizen lobbying) that is the trigger.\n\nP.S. PayPal is a bad model for civilization development.\n\n(Chagora is essentially scalable speech and association)\n\nIf I’m an idiot I’d like to find out soon since things are very tight. I’d\nlike at least a chance to present my case and don’t know where else to go.\n\n<http://www.Chagora.com>\n\nSee blog for more...\n\n[http://culturalengineer.blogspot.com/2009/05/foundations-\nof-...](http://culturalengineer.blogspot.com/2009/05/foundations-of-\nauthoritarianism.html)\n\n------\nyummyfajitas\nFrom the article: _The system in which most information transmission takes\nplace today is not a pre-existing condition of the universe. It's not nature.\nIt's a machine, with very particular rules, set in motion by real people with\nreal purposes. That's why it's so amazing to me that scientists, and people\ncalling themselves scientists, would propose to study the internet as if it\nwere some natural system - like the weather, or a coral reef._\n\nYou can use science to study all sorts of systems, ranging from the oceans to\nthe internet to economics. They don't have to be natural.\n\nAll that matters is whether you apply the scientific method to the phenomenon\nyou are studying. Many economists do this, so (at least part of) the field of\neconomics is scientific.\n\nYou might be able to imagine another world in which the laws of economics\ndon't work. Ok, so what? You can imagine worlds in which the laws of physics\ndon't work, it doesn't make physics unscientific.\n\n------\nreader5000\nHis point is not what the definition of 'science' is. His thesis is that in\nthe late middle ages society operated on a 'mutual credit system' (wikipedia\nit) of exchange where the merchant classes were independently creating and\nexchanging value. This mutual credit system was usurped for a centralized\ncurrency system where value creation is tightly controlled by the state (i.e.\nin the form of loans of a monopolized currency; what we have today).\nCentralized currency discourages cooperation and forces unnatural selfish\ncompetition between individuals, to the benefit of the corporate ownership.\nThis unnatural state is reinforced as natural through corporate sponsorship of\nintellectuals like Dawkins and Pinker (even though if you read them both of\nthese authors works are agnostic on this point). Then he makes an unclear\npoint about how the internet changes all that.\n\n------\narihelgason\nThat's why it's called 'the dismal science' - the first thing we were taught\nin economics 101 at university.\n\n------\nthomaspaine\ndupe <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=763124>\n\n------\ndvvarf\nyou know, it's funny. most people would put the start of economic thought\n~1776 when Adam Smith wrote the Wealth of Nations. That means it's been around\nless than 250 years. Sure it may not describe physical processes, but\neconomics does try to model the real world. SCIENCE wasn't too far along 250\nyears after inception. I mean, we still believed that the world was flat not\ntoo long ago. give it time, the data will come. mistakes will be made.\n\n~~~\nberntb\n>give it time, the data will come.\n\nI'm very much not an expert, but that seemed optimistic.\n\nEconomy's problem is that it describes a system which contain (more or less)\nintelligent beings who read up on economic theory -- and the beings then\nmodifies their behavior from those studies...\n\nSo to get data and build models, it seems there must be some fix point to that\nfunction, somewhere...? :-)\n\n(To add maiming to injury, those beings change culture and probably basic\nmotivations every generation, these days.)\n\nI have respect for economy and economists, they seem to do a reasonable good\njob from a bad position. But I'm happy I went with other interests.\n\n------\njuvenn\nI do agree that Economics is not yet an reliable scientific subject, i.e. you\ncan not predict future in accurate by doing scientific computations, and I do\nnot think it will. But why _natural_? The economy involves, most importantly,\nrational (or not) human being who behaviors accordingly. And these behaviors\nmust connected with the others _socially_. So, how could we learn the economy\nwithout studying these social things?\n\n------\nmoron4hire\nTo be fair, I don't recall anyone of import advocating that economics _is_ a\nnatural science. Look at any university course catalogue and it is wedged\npretty firmly in the social science department where it should be, along with\nthe other fake sciences like psychology and sociology (though I would have to\ncall it a continuum of fake, with clinical psychology on the \"closer to real\"\nend and sociology on the \"just making junk up\" end).\n\n~~~\nfburnaby\nVery true. That's a problem that in principle can be fixed, though. Your\n\"fake\" sciences can _in principle_ all be approached using the scientific\nmethod. They are actually _real_ sciences. It's just a portion of the\npractitioners that hurt their credibility. My guess is that it's the\ninherently complex subject matter that allows politically-charged crackpots\nand other non-scientists to squeeze their way in and call themselves\nscientists.\n\n~~~\nmoron4hire\nUnfortunately, I suspect that there is too much incentive to \"make observation\nfit one's expectations\" in these fields. Conversely, what purpose does non-\nscientific quantum physics serve? Beyond weaseling more research money, pretty\nmuch nothing. But making economics and sociology say things that aren't held\nup by observation can, and most often does, lead to vast political and social\nchange.\n\n------\nonreact-com\nYeah, most people treat capitalism more like religion than an economic system\nof choice, especially the disastrous one we have now.\n\nA return to the less devastating Keynesian sort of capitalism won't undo the\nwhole mess though.\n\nAlternative digital economies of sharing have shown how there are plenty of\nother viable models of economic organization.\n\nIt's time to reevaluate the failed system that brought us here.\n\n~~~\ndavidw\nThese sorts of comments are exactly why we flag economics articles here. There\nare plenty of people here that take exactly the opposite view (or views,\ndepending on the degree to which they take those views) - that markets should\nbe even more open/free/etc... On the other end, there's even some guy who says\nhe's a \"venture communist\".\n\nEconomics is something that we can all agree to disagree on in order to talk\nabout what we have in common: hacking and startups.\n\n~~~\nchristofd\nNo, Economics is very much part of the picture. Economics is not philosophy or\nreligion but optimization under conditions of scarcity. As long as we remain\nmetrics driven there's nothing wrong with talking optimization.\n\nMy two cents.\n\n~~~\ndavidw\nThe problem is that very tightly linked to that is \"optimized for _what_?\",\nand people and societies have different goals.\n\nIf people were ok simply talking about economics as a mechanism for\noptimization... that would be one thing, but these discussions pretty much\nalways degrade on the internet.\n\n~~~\nchristofd\nAgreed, most of these discussions lack rigor.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nA bug I wish I hadn't caught - fagnerbrack\nhttps://roganmurley.com/2019/06/08/the-bug.html\n======\nstriking\nSee also: A bug so cool that the development team was reluctant to fix it\n([https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20190603-00/?p=10...](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20190603-00/?p=102534))\n\n~~~\nUnknoob\nReminds me of the old Dota2 Fountain hook glitch. A Valve employee commented\nthat they deemed it \"Too hilarious to fix\"[1]\n\nThey eventually patched it after a pro player abused it to turn a game around\nat the International 3[2]\n\nIt's a shame because 6 years later it's still one of the best moments I ever\nwitnessed in the game.\n\n[1]:\n[https://dev.dota2.com/showthread.php?t=2989&p=11512&viewfull...](https://dev.dota2.com/showthread.php?t=2989&p=11512&viewfull=1#post11512)\n\n[2][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB0tUrfDz6A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB0tUrfDz6A)\n\n~~~\nhokumguru\nI was really quite disappointed about fountain hooks being removed - they were\nan extremely high skill, high risk high reward maneuver. It was also\nridiculously fun to watch NaVi pull it off game after game in TI3 - part of\nwhat made that my favorite year for the spectator aspect of the tournament.\n\n------\nnbulka\nI am a DM. For this campaign, your character choices are limited to:\n\n[CPU, Guest, Anonymous, Player 1, Player 2, User, Random, \"\", undefined]\n\n~~~\nTremendousJudge\nRelevant xkcd: [https://xkcd.com/1963/](https://xkcd.com/1963/)\n\n~~~\naeorgnoieang\nWhatever could he mean by the mouseover text ...\n\n~~~\nlucb1e\nMaybe \"xkcd\"? Not sure.\n\n~~~\nmod\nParent was making a joke about their own name.\n\n------\nLeonM\nSo... the backend of this game queries the database even if the user name is\nNULL? And the CPU user uses a magic name 'cpu', which is not a reserved name?\nAnd apparently the backend is totally okay with a user name that doesn't exist\nin the database?\n\nEither this story is just an ad, or this game has been really badly build and\nsome h4x0r is going to have a field day with this.\n\n~~~\njiberwarrior\n>And apparently the backend is totally okay with a user name that doesn't\nexist in the database?\n\nWhat do you think happens when a previously unregistered user creates an\naccount\n\n------\njayventura\nThis is literally that NULL license plate problem! I wonder how many other\nsystems this bug may exist in.\n\n([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20676904](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20676904))\n\n------\neridius\nPlease don't use the username as your primary key for a user!\n\nUsernames change. If your username can't change, you designed your system\nwrong.\n\nSystems that are heavily persisted-comment-based at least have the excuse\nwhere changing a username would invalidate old comments referencing that user,\nbut even GitHub still lets you change your username (if you link @-references\nto users, please store the user's ID in the backend text and only convert it\nback to a username when displaying; GitHub doesn't take this step but it\nshould).\n\nP.S. Hacker News, I'm looking at you.\n\n~~~\nlogicallee\nCome on, user names don't change. Whether it's Hacker News (as you mention), a\nreddit username, a skype ID, or your gmail address, nobody expects the\n\"username\" to change, it is unique and can't be used if already taken, and\neverybody uses it as a unique ID on millions of websites without any issue.\n\nIn fact, I can't name a single service I've ever used (ever!) that lets me\nchange my username.\n\n~~~\nscrollaway\n> _In fact, I can 't name a single service I've ever used (ever!) that lets me\n> change my username._\n\nFacebook? Twitter? Instagram? Any of the phone-number-based social apps (which\nhave a poorer UX because of it, but still all allow changing usernames seeing\nas phone numbers change)? Also I believe Skype does allow changing usernames.\n\n~~~\nzaphirplane\nHotmail Gmail Seriously why can’t people change their email and keep the\nmailbox. It’s not uncommon to pick a cute or funny email when you are a teen\nand want To change when you’ve all grown up\n\n~~~\nim3w1l\nWith an imap client you should be able to download emails from the old\naccounts and upload them on the new one.\n\n------\ncrimsonalucard\nThis bug is a design smell.\n\nThey have a \"Player\" module that can likely be controlled by a human or by an\n\"AI\" module. This is good design.\n\nThe problem here is likely that IO is tightly integrated with Player and every\nother module as a dependency. This is what can cause the bug to occur.\n\nProper design is for the \"Player\" module to never depend on IO as a\ndependency...\n\n1\\. the player module should be able to output the next gamestate of a game\ngiven the action and previous gamestate.\n\n2\\. The AI should calculate the action when given a gamestate.\n\n3\\. IO should be a function that when given gamestate, it displays it on the\nscreen, or saves it to the DB.\n\n4\\. All modules should be unaware of the other modules.\n\nNo dependencies.\n\nLikely the fix that the poster is doing doesn't involve separating the\n\"Player\" module from all knowledge of IO, but the fix he is doing is making AI\na special case in the \"Player\" module. This speaks to all kinds of wrong.\n\nFollowing these design patterns over a long period of time leads to code that\nis \"tech debt\" heavy and messy. It's an inevitable consequence for programmers\nwho don't know how to design things. Also note that this is normal. I would\nsay 99% of programmers don't know this and are likely doing some garbage like\nusing dependency injection to make every module in the system depend on IO.\n\n------\ndebaserab2\nApparently there's still a few more bugs left to catch - the game's sign up\nscreen briefly flashes a form then simply goes blank for me.\n\n~~~\nnathanvanfleet\nThat's the bug he wished he had caught. All those people from hacker news\nclicking through to the site but no new signups!\n\n------\nsucrose\nCalling this a \"bug\" is a stretch. Similar to saying `1 == 2` is a bug.\nCould've been prevented by using distinct ID's in your tables and query\ncriteria. When assigning experience, authenticating, selecting user data,\netc., use the user ID.\n\nUsernames are just localized, vanity UUID's for client-side pleasure.\n\n------\nfranze\n[http://lalo.li/lsd/](http://lalo.li/lsd/) is full of bugs. i made a version\nwithout glitches. it was only half as fun.\n\n------\nlucb1e\nBut... if you really regret taking this out, why not leave it? I don't see how\nit can do harm. I can imagine players linking the account's profiles to\nfriends going \"hah, look at this\" and creating more publicity, and people\nbeing for either Guest or CPU and talking about it... fun for the players, and\ngood for publicity. Why take this out?\n\nAnd then the post ends there and suggests I should go play the game. But a lot\nof people already commented that it sounds like an ad.\n\n------\nInsanity\nThere have been bugs I wish I hadn't caught for entirely different reasons.\nMostly if you find them on Friday before a Monday release and have to crunch\nto fix it lol\n\n------\naloknnikhil\nI find it odd there's no user ID instead of the username. But what I find even\nmore concerning is it's not sanitizing the username to protect against SQL\ninjection.\n\n~~~\ndebaserab2\nHow can you know that there's no sanitization just from this blog post?\n\n~~~\nMichaelApproved\nI think OP is getting the wrong idea from the screen shot in the article.\nThere's a pic of an SQL query being run from a terminal. They might be\nthinking that it's a screen shot from the actual code.\n\n~~~\naloknnikhil\nIt's open source. [https://github.com/RoganMurley/Ring-of-\nWorlds/blob/master/se...](https://github.com/RoganMurley/Ring-of-\nWorlds/blob/master/server/src/User.hs)\n\n~~~\nanyfoo\nThis looks perfectly fine? Are you referring to the fact that they don't\nescape special characters like ' in the string? With the proper interfaces,\nlike using prepared statements (which this likely uses in the backend, if this\nis an actual SQL db), instead of putting queries together just by\nconcatenating strings, escaping strings is not only unnecessary but actively\nharmful.\n\n------\ntshanmu\nthis is just an ad?\n\n~~~\ngeoah\nIt was a nice anekdote, all development will be linked to a project anyway,\nlinking to it just makes sense. Doesn't seem this was targeting a wider\naudience than devs, and I don't think the main market of the game is devs\nanyway.\n\n~~~\ndeckar01\nThe post is lacking any interesting technical information. It is a bland\nfantasy about how a poorly implemented scoreboard could be exploited. Based on\nthe dramatic title I expected a deep dive into a large corporation's code that\nresulted in dark secrets of the highest order. Instead I got an API that\ndoesn't have validation...\n\n~~~\nralphstodomingo\nCut the guy some slack. You can get your fill of conspiracy theories\nelsewhere. I for one enjoy random bouts of small, shallow experiences like\nthese.\n\n------\nhyperpallium\nugh, vapourbug\n\n------\nvvpan\nThe point of the story being...?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Is it okay to have a short gap of unemployment on your resume? - jressey\nHere&#x27;s my specific scenario: I&#x27;m moving to a new city with my spouse who just got a university position.  I&#x27;m a Rails and Java developer with about 5 years experience.  I have a job now at a large corporation and 1. they won&#x27;t let me work remotely, and 2. I want out anyways.  I&#x27;m pretty sure I have a job lined up in the new city, but haven&#x27;t been able to apply to and interview as many companies as I&#x27;d like to have, and the move date is approaching. Is it ok to have a gap of a few months on your resume?  I&#x27;d like to move and be able to take my time choosing a new position. Thanks!\n======\nenrmarc\nSerious question: what's the problem with résumé gaps? Is it a big deal in\nUSA? I'd say that in Europe it's not such a big deal. Nobody is going to ask\nyou why you have, for instance, a 4 month gap in your résumé if you have been\nworking 3 or 4 years in a row. Almost everyone would guess that you took that\ntime off, and that's not a bad thing precisely. Perhaps you took that time to\nlearn new skills, to read a ton of books, to travel around the world, to be\nwith your kids,... a lot of activities that do more good than harm. Most of us\nare going to work until we are 60 or so, so what's the big deal with having a\nfew months every 5 years or so in our résumé? They give you a medal if you\nfinish your career without gaps?\n\nImagine this scenario: developer A has been working in a time span of 10 years\nwithout résumé gaps. Developer B has been working for 9 years and has been\ntaking gaps of 4 months every 3 years. Do you really think there is going to\nbe a big difference between the two developers in terms of skills set? 10, 9,\n8 years, it doesn't make a difference at all in terms of accumulated\nknowledge. But developer B has been doing \"something else\" during a whole year\n(3 gaps of 4months each). Maybe he travelled the world and learned a little\nbit of a couple of languages, and I'd say that's a valuable non-technical\nskill to have.\n\nAs I've said, I see more good than harm in taking a few month off from time to\ntime.\n\nGoing back to your question: if it's just for a few months I see no problem at\nall, and if recruiters ask then just explain what you have post.\n\n~~~\nJ-dawg\nI did this in the UK and it felt like a huge deal. I wasn't yet a developer at\nthe time, but I think my experience is still relevant. It seemed to really\nhave an impact on interviews. The interviewer would end up asking a lot of\nquestions about why I left the previous job (it was for quite innocent\nreasons), rather than the stuff I really wanted to be talking about, which\nputs the whole thing on a downer from the start. It affected me a lot, which\nmeant I started to become very nervous before interviews, so performed badly,\ngot even more nervous, etc. I pretty much have a phobia of interviews to this\nday (almost 10 years later) because of it.\n\nI think the answer to the original question depends enormously on what type of\nperson you are. If you're extremely confident in yourself, and in your skills,\nand you're naturally positive and optimistic then you should be fine.\n\nIf you have the sort of personality that tends towards introspection and self-\ndoubt, then think very carefully before doing this. Think about how you'll\nfeel after your 10th rejection, or when your savings are starting to run low.\nWill you still bounce back?\n\nFinally, I've heard that some recruiters use your current employment status as\na filtering criterion. So your CV might not even get looked at. This is\ninsane, but I've heard it enough times to think it might be true.\n\n~~~\nswitch007\nThis is my experience too in the UK. 6 months is border-line unemployable –\nexpect at the very least a salary low-ball offer. I don't know many people in\nour industry in the UK who would take 3 months off and not worry about their\ncareer.\n\nMost you can hope for is delaying the start date in a new position. But,\nagain, they likely will ask your notice period and your end date, and be a bit\nsuspicious of a a delayed start date.\n\n~~~\npyb\nI have the opposite experience in the UK. I have god knows how many gaps in my\nresume... for all sorts of reason. Probably part of the reason why I became a\ncontractor ; as it's kinda part of the job. Anyway, interviewers have never\nraised it. Perhaps it's just that we don't apply to the same type of tech\ncompanies.\n\n------\nhijinks\nFew months is no big deal.. If they ask just say you moved because your spouse\nfor a new job and you helped manage the move and the new place so you took a\nbit of time off.\n\nI've hired a lot of people and I wouldn't even question a few month gap.. Life\nhappens. I would question more then a 6-8 month gap.\n\n------\ndavismwfl\nYep, absolutely fine. If anyone asks, just tell them the truth, you moved,\nleft one company and are learning the new market and who's there.\n\nMy only comment, if you let a few months turn into 5-6+ months, you may want\nto explain up front versus them seeing a 6 month gap as you may not get in the\ndoor for a competitive position. You can do this in your intro email/cover\nletter, mention that you recently moved to the city, took some time to\nvacation and get to know the city a little and recently saw their position\nadvertised and felt it might be a good match. Or something along those lines.\n\n------\nJSeymourATL\nAn asterisk on your CV time line will suffice: * Transferred to New City with\nmy spouse. Took some personal garden leave during the transition.\n\nShould anyone probe further, tell them ... I'm not a job-hopper, I've been\nvery selective on my search looking for a good company match. Things that are\nimportant to me are the quality of the people, interesting work problems to\nsolve, and obviously a good compensation package.\n\n------\nprobinso\nI have two (5+ month) gaps in my resume; one was so that I could party, the\nother was so that I could work on a personal project (that would definitely\nnot make money). When people ask what I did during those breaks I tell them\n'personal time' and that I wanted to explore a personal project in more detail\n(respectively). I do not seem to be any less employable.\n\n(USA - North West)\n\n------\naudleman\nI had a friend who was looking for Administrative Assistant roles with a 2\nyear gap on her resume and it was a problem. The companies could always find a\nyounger person to sit in the chair and do the menial tasks, and somebody with\nno gaps is more likely to stay put. They also marked her down in interviews\nfor not knowing the latest Excel version (even though she knew Excel and had\nbeen using it for years, like anything significant had changed in a year). So\njobs like that are kind of shitty to applicants.\n\nBut you as a programmer? I cannot imagine it being a problem. You are a high-\nskill worker who earns enough that you can easily afford to take the time off.\nJust say you were exploring personal projects in your spare time. That sounds\nawesome.\n\n~~~\nNameNickHN\n> They also marked her down in interviews for not knowing the latest Excel\n> version [...]\n\nI've come to the point where I'm glad that interviewers show their cards this\nway. If a company does stupid things like this, I really don't want work for\nthem anyway.\n\nI know there are times when you can't be picky and have to be glad to get a\njob but I don't believe for a moment that the work environment will turn out\nto be great after they pull stuff like that in the interview.\n\n------\ndhruvkar\nIt GREATLY depends on the narrative.\n\nYes, some companies will have filters for things like \"hasn't worked in X\nmonths => automatic dismiss pile\", but by and large, I've found that it\ndepends how that gap fits in with the rest of your life/work story.\n\nThey'll wonder about the following Was that gap after 3 months working\nsomewhere? Was it after 5 years? What caused it? Boredom? Familial reasons?\nIllness? With a tight narrative (e.g. reasonable explanations and a human\nstory), you'll be fine. The person(s) on the other end are also human beings,\nand most recognize that life happens. It's okay.\n\n------\nZelmor\nJust insert 'sabbatical' or 'self-employed' for the duration. Whichever you\ncan explain as the reason for a break. I tend to go with 'sabbatical' and\nexplain during interviews that I managed work-life balance poorly and that\nneeded sorting out. I might also mention how my relationship is for the better\nafter my break, and that I am now more able to stay consistent, without swings\nin mood and existential crisis. I might also mention a hobby project I picked\nup that keeps me busy in my free time, like going back to reading fiction,\nwoodworking, gardening, etc.\n\nThis usually creates the air of a real person during interviews. They find me\ninteresting and interested, and as such I stand a better chance of being\naccepted into their community at the workplace.\n\n------\nsaluki\nI wouldn't worry about it too much. Any chance you can obtain a contract\nposition or freelance work during that time so you can just list it as\ncontract position/work.\n\nBut I really wouldn't worry about a small gap especially when moving to a new\ncity.\n\nOnce you know you're leaving and getting ready to turn in your notice you\ncould ask HR if you could take unpaid leave so your last official day is a few\nmonths out, not sure this is possible but if you're worried about your last\nofficial day of employment or a gap it might be worth asking.\n\nI think I've only had one company contact my previous companies HR to verify\nmy dates of employment. And one of my former companies HR staff called to let\nme know about it and see if it was ok to give them information and say they\nweren't even sure they can legally call up and ask for employee information\nlike that.\n\nAnyway good luck landing a new gig.\n\n------\nArtlav\nA related question - is there an official job registry in the USA?\n\nThat is would the gap be known about from public record, or is it up to you\nwhether to specify it in your CV or not?\n\nAlso, how would you put the \"tried a startup, failed\" unemployment period into\nthe CV?\n\n------\nsiquick\nI had a 13 month gap between my last job and my current job, because I went\ntravelling and then migrated to a new country.\n\nIt was absolutely no problem and I actually think it helped me because I spent\na decent amount of that travelling time developing skills I didn't have\npreviously (both technical and soft skills).\n\n------\nRockIslandLine\nAs someone with gaps in my resume for various reasons, I have found a range of\nresponses by potential employers.\n\nI have worked in two different career fields. When I made that switch, getting\nthe professional certifications took me about 3 months, during which time I\nwas not working. Almost nobody asks about the gap, though almost everyone asks\nabout the career switch.\n\nI have a several year period in which I was working only contract employment.\nThere are gaps of up to 5 months between contracts. Most employers ask\nsomething about that time, and most are satisfied with the simple explanation\nthat finding a new contract took that much time.\n\nSome employers care more than others. IBM required me to write a letter of\nexplanation for every gap of 3 months or more. Some employers don't even ask.\n\n------\ndudul\nYes it's fine. You could take advantage of these few months to do something,\nlike volunteering, OOS contributions, mentorship, etc to make it even \"more\nokay\". But your scenario is valid explanation enough.\n\n~~~\npartisan\nAgreed. In the worst case scenario, you could be consulting to a small\nstartup, yourself. Just be sure to improve yourself during that downtime so\nthat you don't come back into the search rusty.\n\n------\nc0110\nThis is anecdotal -- but it seems like companies are more or less pretty\nunderstanding if your reason is justifiable. I had a string of jobs (fulltime,\nthen laid off, then consulting for 3 separate clients). I interviewed with\nover 20 companies this year and no one had a problem with the gaps in my\nresume. They were more interested (concerned?) about why I had worked with so\nmany companies.\n\n------\nmspaulding06\nHaving gaps on your resume isn't a big deal. If you're good at what you do you\nshouldn't have any problems. I have two 6 month gaps on my resume and it\nwasn't any problem getting my current job as a DevOps engineer. It can be a\nsmart move taking your time to find the right thing. The last thing you want\nis to end up working somewhere just so you can have a paycheck.\n\n------\npyb\nYes it's fine. In this day and age, it's almost suspicious not to have any\ngaps in one's tech resume. There are just so many sources of discontinuity in\na career nowadays.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nGame Theory and Kickstarter? - heat_miser\nhttp://www.therussiansusedapencil.com/post/4293798937/pay-what-you-wish\n\n======\nmasterzora\nThe headline here is very unfortunately chosen. The actual article is a very\ninteresting look at a project of which I hadn't previously been aware, but the\ngame theory discussed within is both very little and not the most interesting\nbit of the content.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLenovo stole a fan's video to promote the foldable Motorola RAZR - luu\nhttps://www.engadget.com/2019/05/17/lenovo-motorola-razr-promo-video-stolen-waqar-khan/\n======\nbredren\nWhat’s odd about this is how easily it could have been a fan engagement story.\nSloppy beyond belief or an intentional faux scandal.\n\n~~~\ncolordrops\nFeels like the latter. When was the last time you saw a high production value\nrendering of a yet to be released phone for a second tier company?\n\n~~~\ngibolt\nPretty sure Lenovo isn't a second tier company...\n\n~~~\njoezydeco\nGoogle gutted Motorola Mobility for its intellectual property and then sold\nthe carcass to Lenovo.\n\nThe smarter employees left for greener pastures even before the sale was\ncomplete. What's left isn't even third tier.\n\n------\nsonnyblarney\nOdds are it was some random person at an agency or in marketing, or contracted\nto do some little thing ... and either didn't think about the issue or didn't\ncare to.\n\nFrankly I'm surprised this kind of stuff doesn't happen more often.\n\nEdit: And I'm speaking from experience. Large companies are not as\nspecifically coordinated as people sometimes ascribe them to be. And nobody in\nmarketing or any other dept. wants to deal with legal review of anything if\nthey can avoid it.\n\n~~~\nusrusr\nProbably subcontracted so many layers deep that the person who eventually sold\nsome random internet video as their own did not even reach a particularly high\nhourly rate using the shortcut.\n\n------\njonny_eh\nWait, they're promoting a product that doesn't exist?\n\n~~~\nskrebbel\nYes, and nobody understands why. Beautiful, isn't it :-)\n\n~~~\nbenj111\nPost capitalism? You don't need to _make_ anything, just announce products\npeople want to buy, regardless of whether they're actually buildable. Next\nstep, raise billions of $ on the back of the 'product', then presumably\nsell[1] empty boxes for all those unboxing videos.\n\n[1] It probably won't be selling, it'll probably licencing, or renting, or\nrenting of other peoples boxes, or some combination thereof.\n\n~~~\nskrebbel\nThis is not a Kickstarter, it's Lenovo. They have a billion dollars in cash\njust lying around.\n\n------\nGuiA\nSend them an invoice for the amount of work it took you. $10k per second of\nfootage they used is a good start, with a contract saying you won’t sue for\ncopyright infringement if they pay, and you’ll provide them with non\nwatermarked footage.\n\nIf they don’t pay, sue for copyright infringement. Seems like it’d be a clear\ncut case?\n\n~~~\nfenwick67\nSounds nice but suing a massive company like this is going to cost way more\nthan $10k\n\n~~~\nirjustin\nHe said 10k/second. At 3:47 for the original full-length video[1] that's\npretty good money.\n\nAnd that's without suing!\n\n[1]\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxfI6-ZltWk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxfI6-ZltWk)\n\n------\nma2rten\nThat's very odd. Using some random YouTuber's video is very unprofessional,\nbut taking that aside what is Lenovo's intention here?\n\nWere they trying to test the market? If so, were they are actually planning on\nbuilding the phone if the response is good?\n\n~~~\nr3bl\nA description of the video is in Chinese, translating to something like:\n\n> Lenovo today unveiled its own folding screen mobile phone video in an\n> interview with Sina Technology and other media. The folding mobile phone\n> design looks similar to Motorola's classic Razer. Do you like this\n> lightweight folding phone?\n\nI believe that the video wasn't meant for the English market, so they thought\nthey could get away with it.\n\n------\nyeleti\nYeah, and the Youtuber used Motorola's logo for his render -- without\npermission.\n\n~~~\nRandomBacon\nFair-use allows it in the US.\n\n------\npaulcole\nWhen the company takes the fan’s content it’s stealing. When the fan takes the\ncompany’s content it’s fine because there’s no way to obtain the content\nconveniently or another excuse or any convoluted way to avoid saying it’s\nstealing.\n\n~~~\nCausality1\nAre you trying to make a point about piracy?\n\n~~~\npaulcole\nNo, commented on the wrong thread by accident.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFireball – Chinese malware that has infected over 250M computers worldwide - suresh70\nhttp://blog.checkpoint.com/2017/06/01/fireball-chinese-malware-250-million-infection/\n======\ncampuscodi\nIf the 250 million stat looks impressive, it's not. There is no malware named\nFireball, so don't go checking for IOCs and reports. This is just the name\nCheck Point has taken upon itself to giving to a collective of adware families\ncreated by the Chinese company named in the report.\n\nYou'll find that Fireball consists of adware variants like Youdoo, Trotux,\nStartpageing123, Luckysearch123, Hohosearch, Yessearches, and others.\n\n------\nbased2\nref [https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Check-Point-\nBericht-...](https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Check-Point-Bericht-\nGefaehrliche-Backdoor-in-jedem-zehnten-deutschen-\nUnternehmensnetz-3732893.html)\n\n------\nDamonHD\nLost me at \"Try to imagine a pesticide armed with a nuclear bomb.\"\n\nTry to imagine avoiding hyperbole and scaremongering...\n\nAll round a fairly sloppy piece, sadly.\n\n------\nmcraiha\n_\" The fake search engines include tracking pixels used to collect the users’\nprivate information\"_ AFAIK tracking pixels can only collect info from HTTP\nheaders. So is that line FUD or am I missing something?\n\n~~~\njacquesm\nThat depends on what's served. If the first part that is served is a chunk of\njavascript you can lift anything you want out the js environment and send that\nback when you fetch part II.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Built a job board for people who lost jobs due to COVID19 crisis - akshaynathr\nhttps://www.openjobs.live\n======\nakshaynathr\nHi All, Couple of my friends lost their internships because of covid19 crisis.\nI saw many others in my friend circle losing their jobs. I built this free job\nboard site so that people with jobs can help others know if their teams are\nhiring now.\n\nI built this using python and django.I am still learning the framework.\n\nPS: If your team is hiring please let others know.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Refer Me Please – Market network for job referrals - kjbosc\nhttps://refer-me-please.com\n======\nkjbosc\nHi Guys! My team and I just completely redesigned our website and changed the\nUI/UX. We would love some feedback on it, and see how we could make it better.\nThe idea behind Refer Me Please is to give the opportunity for job seekers to\nget a foot in the door in their dream companies through a referral and give\nthe opportunity for referrer to find new talent they wouldn't have had access\nto before. Thanks a lot for your help guys!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nReserve Bank of India Cautions Users of Virtual Currencies Against Risks [pdf] - wsxcde\nhttp://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/PressRelease/PDFs/IEPR1261VC1213.pdf\n======\nShirsenduK\nIts a feature, don't try to file it as a bug.\n\n\"Payments by VCs, such as Bitcoins, take place on a peer-to-peer basis without\nan authorised central agency which regulates such payments. As such, there is\nno established framework for recourse to customer problems / disputes / charge\nbacks etc.\"\n\nAnd stopping payments is not the right way to address customer problems.\n\n~~~\nINTPenis\nYes and further I think every single bullet point can be said about regular\nmoney.\n\nBanks are not invulnerable to hacking.\n\nIf you get hustled for your pocket money in the street then the police will\nhave to find the perpetrator with any means at hand. Just because it's an\nelectronic currency does not mean anything is different here.\n\nAre they trying to say that every single Indian citizen could withdraw their\nmoney as gold or some equally valuable substance that they can equate to cash\nmoney in society?\n\nWealth truly knows no god and no master, nor any border.\n\nBeware of the propaganda, fear what you don't understand.\n\n~~~\ntechtivist\nThis! Exactly the point I made above! Same issues plague \"traditional\" banks\nand RBI has imposed very limited liabilities on Bank or even safeguards like\nthis one\n[https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/security_standards/](https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/security_standards/).\nSo if the Target fiasco had happened in India, Target would have minimum if\nany liabilities. Why do you think \"cash on Delivery\" is such a big thing in\nIndia. Consumers are paranoid, not just because it's their habit, they just\nfeel vulnerable with no recourse even with traditional banking.\n\n------\ntankenmate\nThe main reason that India is concerned about this is it's ability to tax\nforeign income of resident Indians. If bitcoin or other VCs allow people to\nearn money overseas and then get paid in a complete \"cash only\" fashion it\ncould sidestep income tax.\n\n~~~\nbushido\nIt may be a reason, but it is not the main reason, not by a long shot.\n\nIndia has a chronic problem of tax evasion, in the grand schemes of things\nonly a handful of their citizens can claim a defense/offense of \"it's ability\nto tax foreign income of resident Indians\", since only a handful do not have\nthe ability to evade taxes or have never deliberately evaded taxes.\n\nA quick search for \"tax evasion in India\" can educate on this topic, including\nan article[0] that states \"tax evasion is India's national sport.\"\n\nMy Indian friends tell me, that they don't feel bad evading taxes a little\nsince the politicians, bureaucrats etc would squander it through bribes and\nscandals. To which I say, perhaps the main reason for rampant scams and\nbribery is that taxes are evaded and these public employees are paid poorly.\n\n[0] [http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/in-india-tax-evasion-\nis...](http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/in-india-tax-evasion-is-a-\nnational-sport-07282011.html)\n\nedit:\n\nOn re-reading my comment I realized that I was unclear why in it's current\nscope RBI's main concern is not the scope of tax evasion. Currently India\nlooses over $300B to tax evasion each year, even if all of bitcoin's market\ncap was taxable by India this would be a very small fraction of their tax\nlosses.\n\nI believe the real reason lies in addressing customer grievances. India is\nplagued by numerous scandals and scams in the private sector and the only\nresort for most people is going to the consumer courts if they can afford it.\nTheir already few options would be obliterated if they choose to deal with\nbitcoin.\n\nWhile this may be a concern in the developed countries, its not nearly as bad\nas the situation in India and similar economies.\n\n~~~\nsandGorgon\nActually there is a singular reason for the tax evasion and it has nothing to\ndo with people \"wanting\" something.\n\nReal estate.\n\nSome of India's real estate is priced as high as Manhattan, but the sale\nprocess is murkier. The reported sale figure (for tax purposes) is much lower\nthan the actual sale figure. This is very interesting for people used to\nZillow - why would someone agree to a transaction like this? How does the\nactual exchange take place without any backing paperwork?\n\nIn fact, there are people who claim that there is a physical bundle of a few\nbillion dollars that keep changing hands as people sell and buy real estate -\npretty much a closed system. There have been many attempts by startups to pull\na Zillow in India, but most of them failed (including one I was associated\nwith).\n\nNow here's the interesting point about bitcoin - I mentioned above that the\ncurrent real estate market is a closed system. The Indian govt has taken a\nseries of rightfully justified steps to eliminate physical cash from the\nfinancial system - in India, you need to pay a charge to withdraw cash from a\nbank and also fill in extra paperwork. This ensures no new cash enters the\nreal estate system.\n\nBitcoin could potentially upset the system.\n\n~~~\nsumedh\n> but most of them failed (including one I was associated with).\n\nWhat was the name of your startup. Housing.com is doing a pretty job imho.\n\n~~~\nsandGorgon\nmost of them are doing well - but NOT in the Zillow segment. It is when you\nstart wading in the murky waters of Indian secondary real estate sales, that\nyou hit all these issues.\n\nMy work history is in my profile.\n\n------\nrikacomet\nWell in the past,RBI has shown no remorse towards online currency, for example\nPaypal.\n\nThey had a free run, until RBI got into the scene. Now their business is as\ngood as nothing.\n\nIt allowed many Indian paychannels to emerge though, Paytm is a good example.\n\nIndian financial policy makers tend to have a \"safe and proven first\" attitude\ntowards such things. No wonder, we fairly did better than many european\ncountries, during the 2007-08 subprime losses fallout. Not a single bank\ndefaulted, ICICI which had the highest exposure(if my memory serves me right),\nwas still in black even after the write-off.\n\n~~~\nsvenkatesh\nCould you provide more info on what RBI did with regards to PayPal?\n\n~~~\ntechtivist\nHere's what they did [http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/28/reserve-bank-of-india-\nrestr...](http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/28/reserve-bank-of-india-restricts-\npaypal-payments-to-merchants-to-under-500/) but later relaxed a bit\n[http://gadgets.ndtv.com/internet/news/paypal-now-allows-\nindi...](http://gadgets.ndtv.com/internet/news/paypal-now-allows-indian-\nmerchants-to-receive-up-to-10000-in-one-transaction-398520)\n\n------\nsriramk\nI came here expecting something stupid but this doc isn't completely\nunreasonable. From the perspective of warning newbies or my mother (say) about\ninvesting in bitcoin, it does a fair job. Or rather, it could have been far,\nfar worse.\n\n------\nacd\nI think the Reserve Bank of India is afraid of the Indian Rupies inflationary\npast and that Bitcoin might offer a better alternative. Inflation is but a\nhidden tax of the populations wealth.\n\nHistoric inflation data for India [http://www.inflation.eu/inflation-\nrates/india/historic-infla...](http://www.inflation.eu/inflation-\nrates/india/historic-inflation/cpi-inflation-india.aspx)\n\n------\nkszx\nWorth noting that RBI's current governor is Raghuram Rajan (since September),\nChicago Booth's \"star professor\" and one of the world's most famous\neconomists. Also known for saying that \"innovation had made finance more\ndangerous.\" (in 2005).\n\n[http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-\neconomics/21583275...](http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-\neconomics/21583275-star-economist-put-charge-indias-central-bank-out-frying-\npan)\n\n------\ntheboywho\n>> The Reserve Bank has mentioned that it has been looking at the developments\nrelating to certain electronic records claimed to be “Decentralised Digital\nCurrency” or “Virtual Currency” (VCs), such as, Bitcoins, litecoins, bbqcoins,\ndogecoins etc., their usage or trading in the country and the various media\nreports in this regard.\n\nDogecoins? Seriously? They are thinking the dogecoin parody is real?\n\nI am wondering if the people behind this study knew what they were doing or if\nthey just \"googled\" it.\n\n~~~\nim_a_bug\nDogecoin is as \"real\" as Bitcoin, or USD for that matter.\n\n~~~\ntheboywho\nI called it \"parody\" and not \"fake\"\n\n~~~\nchc\nYou asked if they thought it was real. It is real, so if they think that, they\nare correct.\n\n~~~\ntheboywho\nAre you saying Dogecoin is not a pardoy?\n\n------\nKilo-byte\ntimely caution\n\nMillions of Dogecoin stolen in Christmas hack\n[http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/26/5244604/millions-of-\ndogec...](http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/26/5244604/millions-of-dogecoin-\nstolen-in-christmas-hack)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTruth Table Generator WebApp Written in Common Lisp - lerax\nhttps://logic.lerax.me\n======\nlaszlokorte\nI like the way you have equivalences and inferences defined as functions expr\n-> expr. But it seems those are not exposed via the user interface, or am I\nmissing something?\n\nRelated: A few years ago I wrote a propositional logic parser in Dart [1]\nusing a custom shunting yard parser and later as part of my bachelors thesis\n[2] another one [2] in javascript using PegJS.\n\n[1]\n[https://static.laszlokorte.de/logik/](https://static.laszlokorte.de/logik/)\n(source: [https://github.com/laszlokorte/dart-\nlogic](https://github.com/laszlokorte/dart-logic))\n\n[2] [https://thesis.laszlokorte.de](https://thesis.laszlokorte.de)\n\n[3] [https://thesis.laszlokorte.de/demo/logic-\neditor.html](https://thesis.laszlokorte.de/demo/logic-editor.html)\n\n~~~\nlerax\nYes, it's not exposed because this is a WIP project. My final mission would be\nhave a function called prove that will try N inference and equivalence rules\nto prove a conclusion given a set of premisses.\n[https://github.com/ryukinix/lisp-\ninference/issues/2](https://github.com/ryukinix/lisp-inference/issues/2)\n\nBTW, Cool project written in Dart!!! I'll take as reference. Thanks for the\nfeedback.\n\nThe UX of [3] it's awesome too!\n\n------\nkazinator\n[https://stackoverflow.com/a/34377302/1250772](https://stackoverflow.com/a/34377302/1250772)\n\n~~~\nlerax\nCool :) but for me is more fun to write than to use.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: What kinds of help are open source projects looking for? - windsurfer\n\nWhat kind of person are you looking for? What tasks are needing to be accomplished within your open source project? Is there anything simple you would like people to help with?<p>(inspired by this post: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2294072)\n======\nmindcrime\n_What kind of person are you looking for?_\n\nCurious, motivated, and has initiative. Not scared to take on things that are\n\"too big.\" Smart, confident, but not too arrogant.\n\n _What tasks are needing to be accomplished within your open source project?_\n\nThere's all sorts of stuff my project(s) could use help with. Simple stuff\nlike going through GSP (Groovy Server Pages) pages and replacing instances of\nhard-coded URL strings with the appropriate tags that generate that stuff, and\nmore involved stuff like UI improvements; to hard-core backend stuff involving\nexperimental / research-oriented machine-learning stuff.\n\n _Is there anything simple you would like people to help with?_\n\nSure,there's always low hanging fruit that is good for people just getting\ninvolved in a project. If you want to take a look at my project, see:\n\n<http://code.google.com/p/neddick> and/or <http://code.google.com/p/quoddy>\n\nOr if you'd rather skip straight to the source code, see:\n\n<https://github.com/fogbeam/Neddick> and/or\n<https://github.com/fogbeam/Quoddy>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Antagonism of Human and Nature in Factorio - erlend_sh\nhttps://molily.de/antagonism-human-nature/\n======\nsbergot\nI think the developers are really smart about those design choices. Pollution\nand alien relations are not something you can control in the game. They are\njust an effect of playing the game. You are focused of producing more stuff in\norder to unlock tools to allow you to produce even more stuff.\n\nIf you could somehow manage the pollution levels, the ecological message would\nbe weaker. It would mean that you can still increase your production as much\nas you like and still keep the planet peaceful and green. In factorio the only\nway to keep a peaceful environment is not to play. If you want to launch a\nrocket, you will need to destroy forest and alien nests.\n\nThe game commentary about pollution & colonialism is stronger because those\nelements are inevitable. Want to expand to get this new iron mine? First equip\na flamethrower and burn down the area.\n\n~~~\naequitas\n> Pollution and alien relations are not something you can control in the game.\n\nYou can (besides using the map creation settings). I've build a big factory\nwithout suffering attacks. You can control pollution by using solar\n(exclusively), efficiency modules and strategic building (build near forest,\ndon't destoy them, they absorb pollution). I did give myself a headstart with\na big starting area and lots of forest. And since the requirement to farm\naliens for resources has been removed a while ago, there is no reason to\nattack and agitate them, reducing their agressiveness and expansion.\n\nIt does make the game harder and more fun in a way.\n\n~~~\nme_me_me\nsolar is late game tech, last time I played you couldn't possibly have been\n100% eco play-through (feasibly)\n\n~~~\naequitas\nSolar is pretty early/mid game. Only red/green science is needed and for\nconstruction coper, iron and steel. Of course before you get to solar you need\nsteam first. But with a bigger start area and enough trees, pollution can be\nmanaged until you can go solar.\n\n------\nkccqzy\nThis is reading way too much into the game. The game is not a didactic device\nthat aims to teach a lesson about ecology, conservation, and the peaceful\ncoexistence with nature, just like plenty of works of fiction do not address\nanything in the real world—they are simply figments of the author's\nimagination.\n\n> Also, a game is not a lecture in economy or ecology.\n\nOkay good, because this sentence invalidates pretty much all of the author's\ncriticisms.\n\nI feel that the whole article is just like the people who say shooting games\nare harmful because they promote violence in real life (they don't). Why not\nwrite about them? \"Shooting games actively ignore the basics of human-human\ninteraction, and ultimately the basics of life.\"\n\nAlso, I don't think the author played this game where pollution is turned off:\n\n> As a game device, the aliens force the player to build a machinery of war.\n> If one would take out the products, the buildings, the technology research\n> etc. directly or indirectly connected to military, there is only a fraction\n> left. So for a great deal, this game is a war game, with little strategic\n> value I might add.\n\nWhen you turn off pollution, you turn off the militaristic aspects of the\ngame, and I can assure you there are plenty of interesting things to explore\nwithout the military. From basics like fully utilizing the two-sided nature of\nconveyor belts (you can totally have each half delivering completely different\nproducts and prevent them from mixing up, therefore saving space), to\nintermediate stuff like fluid mechanics (how many pumps and where), train\nstation design (how to load and unload efficiently) and railroad planning\n(train signals are surprisingly rich), to advanced things like circuit\nnetworks and combinators.\n\n~~~\ntsimionescu\nRegardless of the intentions of the author, any piece of art can be read by\nsome as a reflection on the real world (perhaps one of the best examples that\nis not post-modern is the often touted interpretation of The Lord of the Rings\nas an allegory for WWII, which is very explicitly against Tolkien's wishes and\nintents).\n\nEspecially in a pseudo-naturalistic game, it is interesting to observe which\naspects the game chose to model and which aspects it chose not to model, and\ndiscuss the implications to the comparison between the game world and the real\nworld. This is as valid for Factorio as it is for Conquistador or Monopoly or\nCivilization VI. If the reader believes that \"important\" (to them) aspects\nwere left out, they may legitimately criticize this reading of the game and\npoint out why viewing some aspect as realistic would be wrong, regardless. Of\ncourse, it would absolutely NOT be legitimate to automatically extend this\ncriticism to the game itself, or even more so to the author, it is just a\ncriticism of a certain reading of the game.\n\nThere are cases when this type of reading can be seen as an explicit intention\nof the game design, and in those cases it starts to become more acceptable to\ncriticize the author(s) themselves. For example, while pollution was a major\nproblem in early Civ games, it was removed from the newer ones (until the\nlatest expansion for Civ 6). Given the known importance of pollution in recent\nhuman history and discourse, and its presence in the other games, this\nomission can naturally be seen as intentional and can be criticized or praised\nbased on the message it sends. This would not be correct for Factorio.\n\n~~~\nLoSboccacc\nbut often enough the blue curtain is just a blue curtain\n\n~~~\nmonadgonad\nThat doesn't matter! Art is about what we, the readers, make of it.\n\n~~~\nLoSboccacc\nno, that's the interpretation of an art piece, art in itself exist as an\nexpression of a singular intent (well, potentially from a collective of\nauthors)\n\nfurther reflections are independent thoughts which exist because of the\ninteraction with the art piece, but not within the art piece itself.\n\nas such, these are observations of one's self, and not of the art.\n\n------\nmarcus_holmes\nI was all set up to hate on this.\n\nThe remark about \"If one would take out the products, the buildings, the\ntechnology research etc. directly or indirectly connected to military, there\nis only a fraction left.\" particularly struck me as untrue - yes there are\nsome technologies that are military, but the vast majority are not. I have\nplayed several games with no pollution and no aliens, and if you remove those\nthen there is a significant game left. This game is not \"about\" killing bugs.\n\nBut, I also get the comment about interacting with the bugs. They do feel like\ncardboard-cutout characters left over from the first implementation and not\ntouched since. They don't seem to interact with the world, and they do feel\nlike a missed opportunity.\n\nIt _would_ be cool to be able to trade with the bugs instead of destroying\ntheir nests to get materials. Having to manage pollution because it affected\ntrade, etc.\n\nI do feel bad when my filth-belching factory causes the bugs to attack me, and\nmy only response is to destroy them. Hence playing games with this turned off.\nIt would be great if there was an option to include them without inevitably\ngetting into conflict with them.\n\n~~~\np_l\nSome mods worked to make it worth to manage pollution by cranking the military\nto 11 so that the conflict couldn't be easily solved by just more military.\n\nNauvis Day + Rampant, while unfortunately broken code, was a very interesting\nsetup (I think we also did Angel+Bobs with it), which led me to start building\ncomplex reprocessing plants so that instead of deep underground release the\ncaptured pollution could be used to recreate raw materials - we had a lot of\npollution mitigation because otherwise we probably couldn't defend despite\nseemingly impregnable defenses.\n\n~~~\nmarcus_holmes\nyeah, interesting. I haven't looked at the mods much (still haven't got the\nperfect factory setup on vanilla yet!).\n\n------\njs8\nI am deeply concerned about human impact on our planet, but I actually liked\nthat aspect of the game. We have games to provide escape, so it's not morally\nwrong to play a villain in a game (I guess in Westworld it gets blurry, but we\ndon't have that technology yet), as long as you recognize that the game is not\nthe real world.\n\nThat being said, I would love to see a (kind of educational) game somewhat\nsimilar to Factorio, or Civilization, that would realistically show the proper\nimpact and scale of industry and agriculture to our planet and ecosystems (and\nalso properly account for laws of conservation of mass and energy). It would\nprobably be on a bigger scale than Factorio, with map squares larger than 1\nkm^2. I was fascinated by the montage in Michael Moore's Planet of the Humans,\nwhich showed how many different resources and industries are required to\ncreate solar panels (or anything really).\n\n(I suspect in some sense, it would have to be a \"hyperproject\" \\- like\nWikipedia or OpenStreetmaps, something that cannot be expected to be completed\nby a single organization.)\n\n------\nsc__\nAs another comment pointed out, the game Eco has a very similar premise to\nFactorio (accelerating technology to achieve an important goal) but includes a\ncomplex environmental simulation that encourages players to work together.\nWorth checking out for those who got hooked on Factorio. Here's a link:\n[https://store.steampowered.com/app/382310/Eco/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/382310/Eco/)\n\n------\naequitas\n> The fact that the aliens look like insects and live in huge groups suggests\n> they have a eusocial structure, like ants, bees and humans.\n\nThe aliens have a pathfinding algorith [0] and a function to calculate\naggression and evolution as product of polution over time. They are just as\nmuch a social society as mold on the ingredients of a cooking simulation game\nor algea in your Sims swimming pool.\n\nThat said, the creators are aware of the narative the game portraits [1]. I\njust think they want to focus more on the complexity of factories to provide\nthe player with a challenge requiring a spreadsheet just start the lategame\n[2] and the aliens are just a vehicle for statistics in that case.\n\nBut it's generally understood that trees are the real enemy [3].\n\n[0]\n[https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-317](https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-317)\n[1]\n[https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-69](https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-69)\n[2]\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/curn9m/if_a_game_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/curn9m/if_a_game_doesnt_need_a_spreadsheet_to_solve_it/)\n[3]\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/8ee3d9/trees_are_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/8ee3d9/trees_are_the_real_enemy/)\n\n------\ncreato\n> As a game device, the aliens force the player to build a machinery of war.\n> If one would take out the products, the buildings, the technology research\n> etc. directly or indirectly connected to military, there is only a fraction\n> left. So for a great deal, this game is a war game, with little strategic\n> value I might add.\n\nI think this author is simply oblivious to what makes factorio interesting.\nI'm pretty sure I've played hundreds of hours of factorio, the proportion of\nthat time spent dealing with the aliens was negligible.\n\nSaying there is little strategic value to factorio without the aliens is\npreposterous. Toward the end of my factorio playing I simply turned them off\nall together because it was just a mild annoyance to have to deal with the\naliens.\n\nI think the real purpose of the aliens in the game is much simpler: the early-\nmid game in factorio can be kind of boring, because your factory won't be\nconsuming all of your time. The developers needed something to make this part\nof the game more entertaining, and so the aliens provide something to do\nduring this phase of the game. In the late game, there's no need for a\ndistraction, your factory will be providing plenty to do by itself.\n_Coincidentally_ , around that point the game gives you ridiculous firepower\nand automated weapons so you don't need to deal with the aliens.\n\n~~~\nSiempreViernes\n> I think this author is simply oblivious to what makes factorio interesting\n\nTo me this is a text by someone that treats the game as if the game authors\nhave created factorio by a series of deliberate choices, that is they treat it\nlike a serious creative work.\n\n> Saying there is little strategic value to factorio without the aliens is\n> preposterous\n\nWhat they actually say is that the wargame against the aliens is very shallow:\n\"this game is a war game, with little strategic value I might add\". I don't\nknow from where you get the idea that they talk about the factory building\npart.\n\nWhether the aliens are for the just parts of the game or not, it is fact that\nthe authors state in the gameplay trailer that the aliens are there to force\nyou into making weapons:\n[https://youtu.be/KVvXv1Z6EY8?t=88](https://youtu.be/KVvXv1Z6EY8?t=88) and\nthis is the trailer on their homepage mind you\n\n~~~\ncreato\n> To me this is a text by someone that treats the game as if the game authors\n> have created factorio by a series of deliberate choices, that is they treat\n> it like a serious creative work.\n\nI think factorio is utterly genius. As a creative work, it is more\nsophisticated and interesting than I think any game I've played. I personally\nappreciate it as a harnessing of emergent behavior, which tends to be my\nfavorite kind of gameplay.\n\nIt's just that the aliens are a really small part of that. The aliens have\nbasically no impact on the game after a point not too far into it. Resources\nconsumed by weapon production become negligible compared to other objectives.\n\n> Whether the aliens are for the just parts of the game or not, it is fact\n> that the authors state in the gameplay trailer that the aliens are there to\n> force you into making weapons:\n> [https://youtu.be/KVvXv1Z6EY8?t=88](https://youtu.be/KVvXv1Z6EY8?t=88) and\n> this is the trailer on their homepage mind you\n\nBoth things can be true at the same time. Yes, the aliens force you to make\nweapons.\n\nBut of course they aren't going to just tell you \"at first, the game can be a\nbit slow, so here are some aliens to keep you busy until your factory is more\ninteresting\"...\n\n------\nde_watcher\nThe gameplay is building a factory. An example of a more sophisticated\ninteraction with the in-game \"nature\" is Minecraft: there the living things\njust become a part of your factory.\n\nThe simulation in Factorio isn't \"harmful\", it's just incomplete (in a way the\nauthor of the post doesn't like) because the implementation has started from\nthe factory, not from the world (like Minecraft or Dwarf Fortress did).\n\n~~~\nnmeofthestate\nThe author believes the game is harmful because it doesn't teach players to\nthink the right things - the things that the author thinks.\n\nImagine someone wrote a blog about how Space Invaders encouraged militarism\nand xenophobia. It sounds like a parody, but then so does this blog post.\n\n~~~\nneel_k\nSee Ken Ishii's music video \"Space Invaders 2003\":\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p--\ndHQIeagE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p--dHQIeagE)\n\nIt's super cute, and also hits like a truck. Detroit techno is a really\ninspired musical choice for this kind of thing.\n\n------\nw_t_payne\nI read it as a very cynical message about the inevitable destructiveness and\ncruelty of human nature.\n\n------\njoshstrange\nI'm not going to dismiss the author's comments on the game but I do feel it's\nreading a lot into what is just a game. A game that I've sunk almost 2000\nhours into and have only played with enemies/pollution on for <30hrs. They\nweren't fun mechanics since, as the author points out, there are no options\nbut to fight and pollute. I've even tried to play with mods that let you clean\nthe air but they don't work well even once I've gone full-solar. I'm willing\nto have my beliefs challenged but I'm not grasping how this game is inherently\nbad or promoting bad/harmful ideas. I don't find the pollution or alien\naspects of the game well thought out but thankfully I can turn them off and\njust play a factory-builder game.\n\nAs for the opening quote. I've seen the YT video of these comments being made\nand I'm struggling to understand the line being drawn between a person with a\ndisability and AI/ML models trying to move. I'm not saying it's wrong but I\njust don't understand. If someone can summarize it better I would really like\nto better grasp what Hayao Miyazaki means by this.\n\n------\nraxxorrax\nI would also like the aliens to be depicted as more peaceful. Would be nice if\nthey just started with protesting in front of your factories with a little act\nof sabotage here and there.\n\nIt should only escalate to fighting after you mowed down protesters with your\ntank and zapped saboteurs with laser towers.\n\nWouldn't mind a diplomatic expansion where you can trade democracy for oil and\nhelp aliens get rid of terrorist cells and their backward religious believes.\n\n------\nest31\nI agree with the observations that you are pitted against nature in factorio,\nhave to kill the bugs and claim territory from them. I've made those\nobservations myself. I disagree on the conclusion though (seems to be a half\nsentence at the end that they indicate it's harmful).\n\nThis concept makes the game more truthful about what's actually happening here\non earth. Because this is what we currently do. We are an extinction event for\na large number of species (except for the subset of hemerophiles), and have\nbeen for large parts of our existence (why did the megafauna suddenly\ndisappear? because we LOVED to hunt them).\n\nI think the game is very helpful in teaching people this relationship, and\nevery individual can draw their own conclusions from that.\n\nAlso, the main story of the game is actually good for nature in the long term.\nThe TLDR is that you are stranded on the planet and want to build a rocket so\nthat you can leave it and get home. If you believe that humans are a threat to\nnature, there is no better solution for it than us leaving earth and turning\nit into a national park, like Bezos suggests. If we build our rockets one day,\nwe can leave earth behind and let nature recover.\n\n------\nkohtatsu\nThe opening quote is in reference to this;\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngZ0K3lWKRc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngZ0K3lWKRc)\n\n------\npornel\nFactorio is incredibly addictive and I've had a lot of fun optimizing my\nconveyor belts.\n\nWhether it's intentional or not, the game really does show how convenient it\nis to depend on fossil fuels, pave over forests, and just kill all life\nstanding in the way of unustainable expansion.\n\nThe ultimate end of the game is factory engulfing the whole planet, using up\nall natural resources, and making the planet a graveyard of steel and\nconcrete.\n\n------\n2038AD\nThe beautiful contradiction of this article is that it's a Marxist critique of\na game which represents a reality which is congruent with Marxist critiques of\nour own. The issue is not that the game doesn't provide an opportunity for\nparadise but instead that the player inhabits the role of evil without an\nopportunity for reflection. Games can do this. Brenda Romero's Train is a\nwell-known example where the player is unknowingly complicit in evil until the\nreveal. While I'm not a fan of the increasing politicisation of games, it\nseems to me that gamer's insistence of total amorality in gameplay is a\nbarrier to games becoming a serious art-form.\n\n------\nLoSboccacc\nit's an interesting take of the state of aliens as they exist in game today,\nbut there's also a very down to earth reason as to why alien feel an\nafterthought: 2012-2013 had a huge surge in tower defense genre popularity,\nwhile logistic optimization games were relatively niche.\n\n------\njojobas\nAnother example of mild outrage culture.\n\nI wonder if the author would blame Robinson Crusoe for thoughtless capturing\nof goats and interfering with the locals.\n\n------\nsomeuser375\nWell, that was a waste of time reading...\n\nI have spent nearly 1000 hours in Factorio and to me this game was about\nplanning, optimising, getting perfect ratios, then you hit hardware\nlimitations and start experimenting on how to get things more optimised.\n\nSo yeah, you take from the game what you want to take, if you will try hard\nenought you can make Tetris look like an evil game about destroying bricks...\n\n~~~\nlloeki\nI recall a Mario vs Sonic article where Sonic is described as peaceful and\nfreedomish (Sonic only hits machines to free animals) whereas you could twist\nMario's story around from Bowser's POV where he defends against a relentless\ninvader that stomps, fires at, and overall kills everyone in his path.\n\n~~~\nwccrawford\nBy that same token, Sonic is destroying Robotnik's personal property wantonly,\nwhere Mario is trying to rescued his kidnapped friend.\n\nSure, if you eliminate parts of the plot, you can twist is around. But if you\ninclude the kidnapped princess and trapped animals, it's pretty clear what\nside each of those characters is on.\n\n------\nm12k\nThe author might be interested in trying out Eco. It plays like a mix of\nMinecraft and Factorio, but with ecology and economy added in - you need food\nand other resources from nature, which you can preserve or cultivate, and\npollution causes natural resources to dwindle. There's less automation than\nFactorio - instead the game is intended to be played by a community of players\nworking together (in a more or less capitalist way depending on what you're\ninto).\n\n------\nfallingfrog\nThe game is, just as the author says, basically a model of our own capitalist\nsystem. Or maybe a model of the conquest and exploitation of the new world. It\nfeatures conquest, growth, exponential expansion, -and resource depletion. I’m\nnot sure that makes it bad though, from the sounds of it the game creators\nwere quite conscious of what they were doing- in fact they may have been\nsubtly making the same sorts of points as the author of the article. After all\nthe game of universal paperclips is not supposed to leave you with the\nimpression that converting the whole universe into paperclips was a _good\nidea_. Exponential expansion is fun and feels like winning, even though from\nthe point of view of the people on the receiving end of historical examples of\nsuch projects, it was no doubt no fun at all.\n\n------\nnmeofthestate\nIt was only a matter of time before Factorio got cancelled.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAaron Swartz's father thinks he'd be alive today if he were never arrested - jseliger\nhttp://money.cnn.com/2014/06/27/technology/aaron-swartz-father/index.html?hpt=hp_t2\n======\njseliger\nNo one is innocent:\n[http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2013/06/no-...](http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2013/06/no-\none-is-innocent.html) .\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSimple Way to Lower Your Energy Bill Using \"Granola\" - cbarnsdale\nhttp://www.unfinishedman.com/lower-your-computers-energy-bill-with-granola-personal/\n\n======\nSEMW\nTLDR: someone's trying to sell their version of cpufreq_ondemand to people who\ndon't realise it's built in to the OS.\n\nIf anyone's wondering how they got their 30% power saved figure: their method\nfor measuring power consumption without Granola starts \"Set the operating\nsystem power settings to the High profile in the Power Options\"[1] - in\nwindows, which I'm guessing is going to disable the built-in frequency\ngovernor. Not exactly a fair comparison. They don't benchmark granola against\nondemand on linux. Can't imagine why.\n\n[1] <http://grano.la/software/benchmark.php>\n\n~~~\ncbarnsdale\nThey are selling a corporate version, it's true. For home users it's free,\nthough.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Rarest Pig - another\nhttps://ultraphyte.com/2016/04/10/the-rarest-pig/\n======\nnefitty\nThe breeding strategies of this species might be having an effect on its\ngender ratio, as well as its conservation status. Males in other species of\nthe pig family have been observed to be solitary at maturity. This solitary\nlife may find aggressive males confronted with human populations, leading to\ntheir individual deaths, and thus contributing to the gender skew and\nincreasing species endangerment.\n\n~~~\nseanlinmt\nOr maybe because there's research that shows that women tend to have girls\nwhen food is scarce.\n\n[1] [https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6551-boy-babies-\nless-...](https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6551-boy-babies-less-likely-\nfor-single-mothers/)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLinux clusters in cars using Power CPUs - CyberFonic\nhttp://linuxgizmos.com/automotive-grade-linux-update-clusters-up-and-ibms-openpower-opens-up/\n======\nCyberFonic\nIt will be interesting to see whether the open sourcing of the Power ISA will\nimpact upon the RISC-V efforts. Having the choice of too many open-source ISAs\ncould end up with a situation where support remains sketchy for all of them.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk YC:  Are merit-based ads a good idea?  Appearance probability proportional to karma/score/etc. - amichail\n\nI've added this feature to Numbrosia:<p>http://numbrosia.com/?cmd=puzzle_p\n======\ndkokelley\nThis is a very interesting idea. In fact, a concept like this may very well go\nbeyond the game itself.\n\nPlease keep us informed on how your score based ads work out.\n\n------\nmisterbwong\nDefinitely sounds like a good idea. Add to that a decent message/spam\nfiltering mechanism (like karma) and you're in business.\n\n------\nalex_c\nThat is very interesting.\n\nI would be grateful if you let us know in a couple of days (or enough time to\nget a decent data set?) how many people are using the feature (and if it has\nany noticeable effect on user behaviour), and what kind of clickthrough rates\nthe ads have...\n\n~~~\npchristensen\nI'd also like to hear some results from this.\n\n------\ndavidw\nInteresting idea. It's something fairly cheap to give people with whatever\nkind of points, and probably also makes sense in terms of habitual users being\nthe ones most likely to have points and ignore ads.\n\n~~~\nNSX2\nMy point exactly. This is one of the more interesting ideas I've come across\non Y ... and as you say it's cheap and I bet people can come up with the nuts\nand bolts relatively easily.\n\nWho's talking about it here? Now compare the top posts at the same time as\nthis and perhaps you can understand what I'm talking about?\n\nAnd yet, \"Do you watch TV\" got like, 100+ responses in mere hours ...\n\nI hope this post becomes popular because this is an idea worth at least\ndiscussing, if not pursuing.\n\nBet not too many people will pay attention to it though ...\n\n------\npchristensen\nI like this. This could be a big change in how ads are served online, and\nsince ad-supported is one of the most important business models for internet\nsites, that's saying something.\n\n~~~\ntim2\nNot a total departure from how some people have used many other sites. Eg, the\nmore friends you have on myspace, the better you can advertise your band; the\nmore popular your youtube video, the better you can use it to promote\nsomething; same goes for blogs.\n\nOf course, the way it's being used here works off of a skill that nearly all\nof his users are known to have, unlike the youtube example.\n\n------\ntim2\nThat is an interesting idea.\n\nI will probably try this with my site and make it based on points earned today\nor this week.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Føcal Releases OpenCV Benchmark Tool - jrf0cal\nhttps://app.f0cal.com/benchmarks\n======\nrhardih\nWow, I literally wrote down an idea for a tool like this, just a couple of\ndays ago.\n\nI'm running OpenCV on Android for an app project, and gauging pipeline costs\nat different steps is a pain. Right now I'm resorting to a \"timing\" build,\nwith basic printouts of elapsed times at each step. Archaic.\n\nDo you guys plan to add e.g. Snapdragon etc. as a measure at some point?\n\nAlso are the benchmarks based off of real device numbers, or are they fuzzed\nestimates somehow?\n\nYou seem to target businesses, understandably, but I signed up for a beta in\nany case.\n\n~~~\njrf0cal\nThanks for signing up. I'll reach out via email.\n\n~~~\nrhardih\nCool, looking forward to it.\n\n------\nQ6T46nT668w6i3m\nNeat! It would be nice if contrib functions were added.\n\n~~~\nQ6T46nT668w6i3m\nI just noticed you’re in Cambridge. I work down the street in the Broad’s\nImaging Platform. We should have coffee or something.\n\n~~~\njrf0cal\nWe're running through the contribs now and should have them posted soon. Would\nlove to meet up for a coffee or beer in town. Ping me at jr@f0cal.com\n\n------\nbrian_herman__\nWhat is F0cal?\n\n~~~\njrf0cal\nHey Brian. F0cal provides a suite of tools to help design, test, optimize, and\ndeploy computer vision systems. We're currently developing automated pipeline\nprofiling and hardware simulation features. Let me know if you're interested\nin hearing more.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nType A and Type B personality theory - vinchuco\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_A_and_Type_B_personality_theory\n======\nmalanj\nInterestingly the entry doesn't mention that the original finding was linked\nto an observation about the worn out chairs in the doctor's reception.\n\nThe cardio patients (type A's) wore out the front edges of the chairs because\nthey were sitting on the edge all the time.\n\n------\nThriptic\nAlso of interest is Type D personality which has been correlated with\ncardiovascular issues and poor medication adherence:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_D_personality](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_D_personality)\n\n------\nApane\nType A here...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nNintendo to ‘Hobbyist’ Developers: No Thanks - ootachi\nhttp://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/03/21/nintendo-games\n\n======\ngergles\nHobbyist developers to Nintendo: \"We don't care, we're going to develop for\nyour platforms whether you want us to or not.\"\n\n\"Also, in doing so, you're going to force us to completely reverse-engineer\nyour protections and enable trivial piracy.\"\n\n(Granted, this would almost certainly happen whether hobbyists were welcomed\nor not -- but by shunning them, they give the actual people with skills\nreasons to look for weaknesses. Nintendo consoles are all trivially piratable,\neven the latest and greatest games, and were almost instantly after each\nconsole's release. The only one that has stayed intact is the DSi (probably\nbecause there's no worthwhile DSi-exclusive software))\n\n~~~\njbermudes\nYup. The homebrew scene is often the one that does all the hard work and the\npirates reap the rewards of the broken security systems (Notice how the\nsecurity system of the PS3 wasn't broken until well after the Other OS feature\nwas removed and the community wanted it back).\n\n------\nendergen\nIt's crazy as a strategy. A good metaphor is that Nintendo use to target Games\nmore towards kids even though aging gamers who were loyal for decades were\npissed about that direction. But it seemed like a smart strategy because are\nthe next batch of hardcore games.\n\nNintendo is effectively saying fuck you to 'kids' Indie devs, and only dealing\nwith 'hardcores' Mature gaming shops. It's dumb because all the up and comers\nare going to cut their teeth on Android/iOS and not switch because of their\ninvested time in developing their skills.\n\nLe sigh, Nintendo, le sigh.\n\n------\nmcantelon\nNow that the iPad 2 is being heralded as the successor to consoles, Gruber's\ngoing after them in addition to his regular Android sniping? ;)\n\n------\nsdoowpilihp\nI read somewhere about how this is an attempt by Nintendo to control\n\"quality\". I would almost believe that claim if there wasn't so much\nshovelware for the DS.\n\n~~~\nprimigenus\nSatoru Iwata gave a keynote at GDC in which he explained Nintendo's current\nphilosophy and strategy around \"garage developers\".\n\nIt basically comes down to this: Nintendo wants to protect the traditional\nvideogame market because it views it as a market of craftsmanship. By that\nthey mean that when you invest in the development of a game, you price it\naccordingly, and that has led to the current market, which to some extent is\nhealthy (certainly on Nintendo platforms).\n\nCompare that to the App Store market where prices are low and, on other mobile\nplatforms like Android, sometimes free, developers have less incentive to\ninvest much as the expected return on investment is less stable. Sure, there\nare huge hits, but the long tail of the market is full of low-cost, low-\ninvestment stuff. Or as you called it, \"shovelware\".\n\nI for one see Iwata's point of view and although it differs substantially from\nApple's, I think both companies serve different markets, with different goals\nand ideals, and both can exist. That's why Reggie says they're not currently\ninterested in serving that market. It's a different market.\n\n~~~\nTiktaalik\nI think keeping shovelware out is a fair concept, but they should give\ninterested parties more freedom to play around with their platform and make\ndemos. As it stands many of the rules for being a Nintendo developer are\narbitrary and it keeps out talented folks. For example you must have an office\nand you can't work out of your home. That alone could be enough to drive a\nstartup into working on the iOS instead of the 3DS.\n\nI'd like to see Nintendo have some sort of arrangement for hobbyists to poke\nat the platform and make neat stuff, and for Nintendo to partner with them to\npublish a quality title if something of quality is present. This is similar to\nhow Argonaut and Nintendo started working together and how Nintendo came to\nproduce Star Fox.\n\n~~~\n9999\nI don't think keeping shovelware out is a valid explanation for this blanket\nrule. Apple's ToS have quite a few provisions that could be used to exclude a\nlarge amount of shovelware from the app store, but they tend to be rather lax\non enforcement unless it competes directly with their business interests. Thus\nyou get 50 fart apps and only a couple of web browsers. Nintendo could easily\nadapt similar ToS, strictly enforce them and keep out the shovelware. Their\ndecision to exclude this possibility entirely indicates something else is at\nwork in their thinking. If you look at the controversy surrounding Bob's Game\n(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob%27s_Game>), it seems pretty obvious that\ntheir issues with the \"garage developer\" have little to do with keeping out\nmediocre titles. I would suggest that the blanket rule has more to do with\ntheir long term business interests--keeping prices up and preventing\ncompetition with their own first party games.\n\n------\nzdw\nRe: Consoles Microsoft already allows indie programmers on the Xbox 360 for\n$99/year: <http://create.msdn.com/en-US/> (warning, Silverlight on that page)\n\nThey can charge up to $5 for their games, and they get stuck in a ghetto\nthat's kind of hard to find on XBL, but it's out there.\n\nThe PS3 is much more locked down - the linux alternative was removed.\n\nThere are also a whole lot of \"Homebrew\" scene's out there - some have turned\nout impressive stuff. If the console can either load homebrew with no other\nwork (as the Dreamcast was) or can have modified bootloaders that allow 3rd\nparty code to run (as the original Xbox and PSP were), then you have a good\nchance at getting decent stuff ported.\n\n~~~\nTiktaalik\nIn the past Sony released a special PS1 that you could develop games on called\nYaroze. It started the careers of a few hobbyists and a game for it, Devil\nDice, ended up getting a retail release\n(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_Dice>).\n\nThe Japan only Bandai Wonderswan had a homebrew system as well, named Wonder\nWitch. \"Judgement Silversword\" was published at retail for the Wonderswan but\nproduced originally via this homebrew system and it is considered to be one of\nthe best games for the platform.\n\n------\ngs8\nFor a console maker it's a good policy. Not only will it keep \"fart apps\" away\nit also is a good incentive for game publishers to invest in a game rather\nthan turn it out asap at the lowest cost possible.\n\n~~~\nootachi\nBut game publishers don't do this, and haven't for years. What they do is\n_precisely_ to \"turn it out asap at the lowest cost possible\".\n\n~~~\ngs8\nI should have phrased it better.\n\nThey do that but still spend resources on actually developing proper product.\n\nThey don't look for a \"rockstar developer\" and turnout a awesome app/game with\na budget of $1,000.\n\n------\n9999\nIn other words: \"Nintendo continues long, slow death march to irrelevance.\"\n\n~~~\ndermatthias\nIrrelevance?\n\nThey really did something new with the Wii controls, landed a huge hit and\nSony/Microsoft are only recently getting back with similar controls (Kinect,\nMove). I think they deserve a point here.\n\nThe Wii is still the best selling console and the DS the best selling\nhandheld(by far!). Perhaps it's irrelevant from a HN pov, but certainly not\nfrom a familiy/kids/recreational gaming pov.\n\nAnd the major games from Nintendo itself (Mario Galaxy, Zelda....) are rock\nsolid, high quality games.\n\n~~~\n9999\nI can't really disagree with your points there, because they are not\nirrelevant yet, certainly not to consumers. If you are a producer of third\nparty software, they are rapidly becoming irrelevant despite the huge install\nbase. Perhaps they can continue to succeed once they've lost all third party\nsupport (other than the shovelware), but that's not a bet I would make as an\ninvestor. If it weren't for their success in the handheld market, they\nprobably would have folded in the early 00s, and now they have very fierce\ncompetition in the handheld market.\n\n~~~\nrgbrgb\nThere's nothing to indicate that 3rd party developers aren't happy and\nprofitable. With as large an audience as Nintendo's it seems unlikely that\nstudios with the capital to enter that market would walk away. While I totally\nrelate to the indie dev perspective (being an indie dev who'd love to make\nsomething for the DS), their Hollywood high barriers to entry do protect\nconsoles from some of the ridiculousness that goes on in the mobile app\nstores. That said, consoles are definitely missing out on many small and\nwonderful things that are handcrafted by small teams.\n\n~~~\n9999\n[http://www.destructoid.com/nintendo-admits-third-party-\nwii-s...](http://www.destructoid.com/nintendo-admits-third-party-wii-sales-\nare-poor-185270.phtml)\n\nUnfortunately the source for that article is buried behind a registration\nwall.\n\nIf you are pushing out shovelware, I'm sure that's profitable, anything else,\nnot so much. Sega in particular has had some really bad luck on the platform.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAcademic Kakistocracy - yarapavan\nhttp://lucatrevisan.wordpress.com/2009/10/18/academic-kakistocracy/\n\n======\nyardie\nThis doesn't just apply to academia. You can always see it in the workforce.\nAnd, more visibly, in the primary, secondary schools. Good hackers rarely make\ngood managers, and good managers get promoted not because they are good at\nhacking code.\n\nMy mother told me a story about giving a glowing review to her colleague, not\nbecause she was a good worker, but because she wanted her out of her hair. She\nwasn't fireable, so the only option was to send her somewhere else.\n\nAnd most people will first encounter this in school. Where the best teachers\ndon't always have the best titles. And the worst are always promoted. Teachers\nhave strong unions so if you can't fire them then you can promote them. Some\nof the worst human beings I've ever met were vice-principals. People who\nclearly have no business in education at all. But through fortune and\nincompetence are given titles and offices away from students.\n\n~~~\nyarapavan\nThis reminds me of the 'Peter Principle\" which states that\n\n* In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence\n\n------\nphilk\nIt's an interesting idea, but I can think of three other possible explanations\nfor the individuals who rise to the top being the least adept at research:\n\n1) The individuals who rise to the top may be the most socially/politically\nable - developing these social/political skills might be time consuming, thus\nreducing the amount of time a particular individual has to perform research.\n\n2) Rising to the top might saddle individuals with so many new\nresponsibilities that they do not have the time to perform quality research.\n\n3) People may resent others in their field who are doing better research and\nalign against them, not because they have more opportunities elsewhere but\nbecause they resent their ability.\n\n~~~\nyummyfajitas\nMy personal theory (based on working a few years in academia) is this:\n\n4) Good researchers usually don't want to rise to the top.\n\nThink of it this way. What would you rather do? Hacking, or preventing the\nuniversity president from interfering with other people hacking while handling\nadministrative work related to hackers performing their teaching duties?\n\nThere are of course exceptions to this rule (I work for one), but they are few\nand far between.\n\n------\nbd\nSee also previous discussion here on HN about this topic:\n\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=793205>\n\n------\nbhseo\nOn a sidenote,\"kakistos\" means \"the worst\". hence kakistocracy.\n\n------\nbhseo\nReminded me of this saying:\n\n\"Someone that pretends he is an idiot, is not actually an idiot.\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhy Everyone Is Fighting About CSS/UX and JavaScript - spking\nhttps://dev.to/ulitroyo/why-everyone-is-fighting-about-cssux-and-js-4cpp\n======\nhttpsterio\nGreat article, I don't know how I've managed to miss Chris' essay on the\nissue, but overall a good read. Mirrors a lot of my sentiments as someone who\nhas been doing html since I was 9 but not really any js even in this day and\nage.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWant to know what mice in labs are saying? Try DeepSqueak - petethomas\nhttps://bigthink.com/surprising-science/deepsqueak-reveals-what-mice-are-saying-\n======\nmasonic\n\"Alexa, reorder cheese and peanut butter.\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Metachat – encrypted, feature-rich group chat - kenforthewin\nhttps://metachat.app/\n======\nZekio\nI don't see any benefits over services such as discord where you can do the\nsame more or less using a prefix and a word like that, and then just search\nfor the prefix and word\n\nEdit: Aside from the end to end encryption\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNew FAA drone rule is a giant middle finger to aviation hobbyists - dylan604\nhttps://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/02/new-faa-drone-rule-is-a-giant-middle-finger-to-aviation-hobbyists/\n======\ngolem14\nI still don’t understand how this is supposed to work in areas without\ninternet coverage.\n\nIf the drone loses connectivity, is the pilot supposed to file reports to the\nNTSB?\n\n------\nanonsivalley652\nWhy didn't this get more interest? This is a huge deal and a terrible rule.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nPromo video for setNight.com - Plan your night - setnight\n\nWe are a group of 8 (and growing) hungry, foolish, dedicated and hard-working individuals that are curious for market trends, intrigued by simplicity, eager to make a difference, creative and ambitious. We take criticism positively, so we'd love to hear some feedback about this video :) remember, sharing is caring!\n======\nfybren\nWell that was.. unexpected. Made me laugh, though! Even signed up (although\nit's not available in my city just yet).\n\nSo I guess your video did its job. Nice work.\n\nOn a side note - Is setNight going to be similar to MyScene App\n(<http://itunes.apple.com/br/app/myscene-app/id454355648?mt=8>)? MyScene App\nwas launched by a pop star here in NZ but doesn't look like its gained any\ntraction.\n\n------\njohnny22\nplease add a link to the video in the text :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: What service do you wish existed - raooll\n\nWhat service do you wish existed for which you&#x27;ll be ready to pay atleast $5 per month.\n======\nmarpstar\nSomeone to come and sift through all the crap I have laying around my house\nand ask me what can be thrown out / donated while I'm doing other work and\nhandle the subsequent disposal.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Bipolar Lisp Programmer (2007) - S4M\nhttp://marktarver.com/bipolar.html\n======\nbshimmin\nThis has been submitted many, many times, most recently about three weeks ago:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8801608](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8801608)\n\nI think this submission of it has the most comments, though some of them are\nabout the relative merit of pointing out how many times it had previously been\nsubmitted:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2275657](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2275657)\n\n~~~\ngaalze\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Wars](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Wars)\n\n------\ndschiptsov\nLisp programming is in some sense like Eastern Philosophy. Very few understand\nhow a few great insights fit together to form something \"better\" than just a\nsum of its parts. There is a small industry which makes living on ignorant\nwhat we could call Tibetology with a hundreds of books of poorly translated\nvague commentaries, mostly by fools, and millions of ordinary people engaging\nin speculations about what these esoteric teaching are all about, where their\n\"knowledge\" usually came from popular websites, and communities of\n\"enlightened people\" somewhere around Goa or Varanasi. It is a second-hand\nknowledge.\n\nThe beauty of Lisp is in these few \"great insights\" of John McCarthy who'd put\ntogether a few \"good ideas\", so, again, the result has been more than just a\nsum of the parts. Then a few more evolutionary steps happened, which gave us\nmacros.\n\nWhen we say Lisp, we don't mean Common Lisp or Scheme or Ark or Clojure. We\nthink about this set of ideas where ideas complemented and augmented each\nother. As long as this set of ideas remain unbroken it doesn't really matter\nis it Arc or Scheme or Common Lisp. It is about principles, not implementation\ndetails.\n\nWhen we think of these set of idea - everything is a first-class value,\nsymbols which are \"natural\" pointers to values, lexical scooping, generic\nprocedures on typed (by tagging) values instead of variables, which together\nwith prefix notation, which gives an elegant and uniform code-generation, and\n\"evaluating\" read procedure gives us macros, we wonder why, why so few people\n\"gets\" it.\n\nOne who is asking what is it that makes Lisp special will find the usual\ntorrent of nonsense, while those who would try to find it out yourself\nsuddenly would get this aha-moment of realization of the beauty of how a few\nsimple and clever ideas fit together. It is the source of Lisp elegance and\npower. Brian Harvey's CS61A course form 2008 is still the best place to learn\nthe big ideas. Then comes On Lisp and arc.arc.\n\nLisp it is not just a set of features - it is a \"complete\" set of features,\nwhich could be ruined, reduced to an ordinary clumsy language, when a one\nsingle feature, such as List structure (conses) as the representation of\nLisp's code would be removed, or if another data-structure would be\nintroduced, to break uniformity. That is why Clojure doesn't have \"that feel\"\nwhich Arc or Scheme or a subset of CL has.)\n\n~~~\nmwfogleman\nClojure was my first programming language. I've been playing around with a\nlanguage with pointers recently, and I wonder if you could explain to me what\nyou mean about \"symbols which are natural pointers.\"\n\nMore generally, I don't think I understand yet why someone would use pointers\ninstead of a variable.\n\nThanks for your comment about Lisp.\n\n~~~\ndrcomputer\nIn lisp, think of symbols as things that represent other things. Instead of\nhaving to evaluate each expression in the complexity that the programmer\nbuilds, everything can be substituted until the computer is left with a simple\nbut expansive form. The machine is very good at evaluating this simple form,\nbecause it only needs to look up a few things to process the entire\ncalculation, which is really just a collection of an ordered organization of\nthe same calculations over and over again.\n\nA pointer is not the actual data. It's just a trail of connections that\neventually lead to the data you want, instead of having to manage a bunch of\ndata you don't need to, or want to manage. It's computationally efficient and\nit is elegant. It represents exactly what you tell it to represent.\n\n------\ncopsarebastards\nScrew this guy for being right about me.\n\n------\njokoon\nseems good will hunting is everyone's mind. I wish people would try to see\nmore nuances.\n\n------\nlispm\nNot again...\n\n~~~\nrobinhoode\nReposting is one thing. It's another when it's been reposted dozens of times\nand it somehow gets voted to the top.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Running Commentary – A Chrome extension to listen the text commentary - udayrddy\nhttps://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/running-commentary/hlkolgejaenicoeckonajgnajfmafodp\n======\nudayrddy\nHello All,\n\nDeveloper here,\n\nI'm a cricket sport fan, used watch most of the competitive matches live,\nunless I'm in office, which restricts streaming sites also the fear of being\neasily caught because of bandwidth consumption from the system. So, I follow\ntext commentary sites like cricbuzz, cricinfo in the office hours, but the\nbrowser tab switch is inevitable when you want to follow a live feed or a\nsports text commentary. This browser extension will read the latest update\n(feed) for you so that you continue the work.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCalifornia Moves to Require 100% Clean Electricity by 2045 - dsr12\nhttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-29/california-moves-toward-requiring-100-clean-power-by-2045\n======\njwr\nI think another great move would be to start dealing with excessive energy\nconsumption. Compared to what I'm used to in Europe, California is wasting\ncrazy amounts of energy. Poorly insulated homes, old and inefficient\nAC/heating units, vertical-drum washing machines (!!!), poorly designed gas\nstoves, oversized cars, monstrous gas-guzzling trucks, energy waste is all\nover the place. People behave just as if energy were free.\n\n~~~\nancarda\nOn the topic of large cars, what is the solution here?\n\nI can imagine forcing people to replace A/C units won’t be so objectionable,\nespecially if it’s free to do so, but there may be some real opposition to\nrequiring people to drive different cars. Nobody gets attached to an A/C.\n\nI don’t drive right now - I take public transport everywhere - but I’d love a\nlarge car (a Dodge RAM). If I try to buy something small to be conscious of my\ncarbon footprint and energy usage, I think I will end up buying the large car\na few years later.\n\nIs there anything at-all I can do to drive a large car while not being part of\nthe problem? I’m looking into carbon offsetting, but that’s all I am aware of\nfor the time being.\n\nI wish Dodge would make an electric RAM 1500, that could make this much\neasier.\n\n~~~\nams6110\nThe way Europe deals with cars is they tax the bejezus out of them, and\ngasoline also.\n\nIn some countries, half the price of a new car is tax.\n\nThat is why people drive little toy cars there. Everyone would like a nice big\ncomfortable car but they are unaffordable for most.\n\n~~~\nancarda\nOh yeah! It’s crazy expensive :(\n\nWhat I’m trying to grapple with is this desire of mine while trying to be\naware of my environmental impact.\n\nIf there’s no way to have my cake and eat it too, I won’t get one.\n\n~~~\njustinator\nWhere is this desire rooted in?\n\n~~~\nancarda\nAll I can really say is I want one because from the moment I saw one on the\nroad, I just knew I had to drive it. I really love the appearance. I've never\nbeen interested in cars, but I can't help myself looking at pickups on the\nroad driving by -- especially RAMs. Maybe I'm just a big kid, I've always\nliked big stuff.\n\nStill... I know they aren't good for the environment, which means I wouldn't\nbe able to live with myself if I just drove one without greatly reducing or\neliminating it's impact.\n\n~~~\nlostcolony\nRent one every few months, drive it for the weekend. Cheaper on every front,\nscratches that itch, and minimal effect on the environment.\n\nI do that with my wife for convertibles. She loves them, so any time we're on\nvacation and need a car I try to get one. It's just a couple hundred more for\na week's vacation, at the time we'd get the most enjoyment out of it.\n\n~~~\nancarda\nI never thought of doing that, thank you!\n\n~~~\nkaybe\nYou can also check whether your area has carsharing. I have access to lots of\nstandard cars of different sizes (some hybrids too), a convertible, an upper-\nstandard BMW and a couple of vans all within walking distance.\n\n------\nBrandonMarc\nPoliticians giving themselves a ~ 30-year runway is a farce. Promise you'll\nreduce it by 10% in 3 years, and I'll take you seriously.\n\nThis is garbage. Just like the return to the Moon promised by Regan, Bush,\nClinton, Bush, Obama, Trump ... always \"15 to 20 years from now\" ... and NEVER\nhappens.\n\nBy the way - 10% in 3 years would be a perfect milestone to 100% in 30 years.\n\n~~~\njorblumesea\nI agree with the sentiment but this is probably a more realistic goal.\nGermany, which is far more organized than the US in many respects, is failing\nto hit its climate goals for 2020.\n\nIt's just harder than people think. Same with public projects going over\nbudget. The budget was never realistic in the first place.\n\n~~~\ntruculent\nI think \"realistic\" kind of depends on your goal. If you want to make it under\n2C, I don't believe this is particularly realistic (i.e. not soon enough). If\nyou want to avoid controversial actions and major changes to people's loves,\nsure it maybe too soon.\n\n------\njzoch\nI understand this is amazing and totally love my state for doing it, but man\nseeing 2045 is always a little dismaying as I wish we could be even more\naggressive. 2035 for example. I realize I am being too ambitious, but we went\nto space in a decade why not 100% clean energy in 1.5?\n\n~~~\nnostromo\nPoliticians generally tend to choose deadlines that are beyond their terms.\nThey get the approval of their voting base today without actually having to do\nmuch of anything to reach the goal itself.\n\nI'm reminded of Bush calling for the US to return to the moon by 2020 -- a\nproposal Obama quietly nixed.\n\nI'd much rather we say, \"We're going to increase renewables by X% every year,\nstarting now, to reach the goal of 100% renewables by 2045.\"\n\n~~~\nclose04\nEven 2035 is still beyond most current politicians' terms. 100% clean energy\nwill take a lot of work and more importantly determination. The closer you get\nto the goal, the more it takes to cover another percent. And you never know\nwho comes next and decides to kick all the plans to the curb and subsidize\ncoal (hypothetically speaking o_O). You need to add some buffers.\n\nAnother problem is that nobody else (at this scale at least) got there so it's\nhard to anticipate all the challenges. Germany, normally at 36% renewable\nenergy, managed to reach that magic 100% figure on a winter early-morning this\nyear. But nothing close to sustained generation. And they plan to get to 100%\nin 2060+. So California, currently at ~44% renewable energy, could be the\nfirst to hit the sustained 100%.\n\nAnother problem is that everyone defines \"100% clean energy\" in different\nways, by leaving some sectors out of the count. Will this target cover\nelectrical power or also aims at replacing _all_ non-renewable sources of\npower for _all_ applications?\n\n~~~\nMattHeard\nTLDR:\n\n\"This bill would state that it is the policy of the state that eligible\nrenewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources supply 100% of retail\nsales of electricity to California end-use customers and 100% of electricity\nprocured to serve all state agencies by December 31, 2045.\"\n\nSource:\n[https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtm...](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB100)\n\n~~~\nBrandonMarc\nNote how it's end-user consumers (and government offices). So it won't hurt\nCA's business users, cause them to relocate to other states.\n\nAs always, devil's in the details. In the meantime, the headline looks\nimpressive, which is frankly all these critters care about.\n\n~~~\nclose04\nI read _end-users_ as simply customers that intend to consume the electricity\nin CA as opposed to those who buy it to potentially resell it across state\nborders. This will probably be cleared up later.\n\n------\neikenberry\nIs nuclear part of the bill? It is clean but I don't see any mention of it\neither way in the article other than in the graph of current sources.\n\n~~~\nRobLach\nWhenever I ride around Berkeley, CA I see a sea of \"nuclear-free zone\" signs\non roads filled with Prius traffic. It's not so easy to understand the real\nagendas here.\n\n~~~\njaredhansen\n> It's not so easy to understand the real agendas here.\n\nThe real agenda has a lot more to do with impressing your neighbors with how\neco-conscious you are (ideally via cheap signals like signs and bumper\nstickers) than it does with costly and difficult initiatives like figuring out\nhow to meet the world's energy requirements in a sustainable way.\n\n~~~\nWalterGR\n_The real agenda has a lot more to do with impressing your neighbors with how\neco-conscious you are (ideally via cheap signals like signs and bumper\nstickers)_\n\nThis tired bullshit again?\n\nYes, we understand that everyone could be doing _more_ to help some cause, and\nthat some people care more about appearances than improving the world, and\nsome people do legitimately good deeds for ‘selfish’ reasons like increased\nself-esteem.\n\nThe “virtue-signaling” “every decent action in the world is done just to\nimpress one’s tribe” meme is getting old.\n\n~~~\nx220\nIf you say you support something, but don't want to take actions that\ndemonstrably promote what you are supporting, you are virtue signalling. It's\nquite simple, and it's maddening.\n\n~~~\nWalterGR\n\"Maddening\" implies discomfort. If people didn't virtue signal, it would\neliminate that discomfort. You don't like the discomfort, otherwise you would\nhave written that you find virtue-signaling being maddening an enjoyable\nexperience. If it was neutral, you wouldn't use an emotional word to describe\nit. Since you don't find the feeling enjoyable or neutral, and because of the\nmeaning of \"maddening,\" that means you don't like it. Therefore, to prevent\nyour discomfort, you support people not virtue-signaling.\n\nWhat action are you taking to demonstrably promote the reduction of virtue-\nsignaling?\n\nIt seems like much of the calling out of alleged virtue-signaling is virtue-\nsignaling itself.\n\n~~~\nDylan16807\nVirtue signalling in this context is giving the _impression_ of doing\nsomething.\n\nSaying \"We should treat the environment better\" while being _honest_ about\nyour own [lack of] contribution is perfectly fine.\n\nBy the same token, I can complain about a group, and as long as I don't claim\nthat my complaints magically fixed the problem, that's fine.\n\n~~~\nWalterGR\n_By the same token, I can complain about a group, and as long as I don 't\nclaim that my complaints magically fixed the problem, that's fine._\n\nThat's not at all how people use it colloquially.\n\nNobody is claiming that bumper stickers, Priuses, statements of \"thoughts and\nprayers,\" or changing one's Facebook profile picture magically fix _any_\nproblem. And yet those are the exact things that get labeled virtue-\nsignalling.\n\nIn this thread alone, jaredhansen mentions \"ideally via cheap signals like\nsigns and bumper stickers\" \\- though admittedly doesn't say _virtue_ signals.\nx220's definition is also at odds with yours.\n[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=virtue-\nsignalling](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=virtue-signalling) is rife with\nexamples.\n\nThe incessant cries of virtue-signalling on the web absolutely do not require\nsomeone claiming that they've \"magically fixed\" any problem, and are almost\nentirely gate-keeping, goalpost-moving, _ad hominem_ attacks, simple\npartisanship, and general lazy argumentation.\n\n~~~\nDylan16807\nOkay, I've thought about it a bit more, and I think I figured out how to word\nthings precisely.\n\nA bumper sticker signals \"I care\".\n\nA prius, in theory, signals \"I am actively helping, a lot\".\n\nThey're both kinds of \"virtue signalling\", but they're very different in\nscope.\n\nThe 'maddening' thing is not when people signal they care a little bit. It's\nwhen people signal they care a lot, but their actions contradict that.\n\n------\nThomPete\nI am still baffled by the focus on private housholds and private consumption\nwhen it comes to the discussion of clean energy and emissions.\n\nThe reality is that private households have very little to do with our\nproblems and even less to do about them.\n\nStop eating cow sound great but it's not going to do anything of any impact.\n\nMost emissions (70%) come from very few companies (around a 100 or some).\n\nInstead of making life more expensive and difficult for normal citizens why\nnot focus on those companies instead. That you can actually do something\nabout.\n\n[http://fortune.com/2017/07/10/climate-change-green-house-\ngas...](http://fortune.com/2017/07/10/climate-change-green-house-gases/)\n\n~~~\nabtinf\nHow will normal people be affected if you severely restrict the activities of\nthose 100 companies?\n\n~~~\nThomPete\nThat depends on how you do it.\n\nHow were normal people affected by putting in carburetors in cars so they\ndidn't spit out lead into the air?\n\nEdit: My bad I meant catalytic converter not carborators (katalysatorer in\nDanish)\n\n~~~\nskookumchuck\nCarburetors have nothing to do with lead emissions. Lead emissions come from\nlead being added to gas to raise its octane, and hasn't been added for years.\n\n~~~\nThomPete\nI might be wrong but as far as i know they were added while there were still\nlead in the gazoline. Anyway it didn't hurt the normal person it helped them\nbecause techonology.\n\n~~~\nskookumchuck\nThe first gasoline engines used carburetors, they weren't added after lead was\nadded.\n\n~~~\nThomPete\nSorry i meant catalytic converter (katalysatorer in Danish)\n\n~~~\nskookumchuck\nCatalytic converters are ruined by leaded gasoline, hence the switch to\nunleaded gas.\n\n~~~\nThomPete\nYes and the question I was answering was what I think the focus on industry\nchanges rather than asking normal people to change did for those people.\n\nThe point is that the car industry moved on just fine.\n\n------\nwalrus01\nWriting as a person that's recently built some PV:\n\nThe problem of building enough photovoltaics to meet demand is _solved_. High\nquality 60 and 72-cell PV modules at sub $0.50/watt and massive scale cheap\nground mount and roof mount systems are not rocket science. With sufficient\nzoning and regulatory incentives it's possible for roof mount PV in California\nto entirely meet the state's energy needs in megawatt-hours per day. There are\na LOT of empty roofs out there.\n\nThere is also a lot of nearly useless, non arable desert land that is\nrelatively low cost ($/acre) that can be covered in fixed ground mount\nphotovoltaics. Go drive around out in the area around Twentynine Palms...\n\nThe problem is energy storage. Batteries need to get better and have much\nlonger cycle lifetimes. Economies of scale driven by things like the Tesla\ngigafactory will help. But we will need other, new things like pumped storage\nhydroelectric and possibly vanadium flow batteries as well. The $/Wh stored\nratio is still very high, and the cubic density for energy stored is very low\n(Wh per cubic meter).\n\n~~~\ndublin\nOr you could realize that natural gas is a far superior energy storage\nmechanism, and the cleanest fuel available. Fracking, and the consequent\nreduction in natural gas prices, is directly responsible for the US dropping\nits CO2 production faster than any other major country...\n\n~~~\nwalrus01\nNatural gas is a possible short-term temporary solution. If PV continues to\ndrop in price as it has historically, [1] at a point in the near future it\nwill become economical to crack hydrogen from seawater. If your $/kWh cost is\nastronomically low it doesn't matter how electricity intensive it is.\n\n[1]\n[https://www.google.com/search?q=photovoltaic+price+chart&num...](https://www.google.com/search?q=photovoltaic+price+chart&num=100&client=firefox-b-1&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjbh57nupXdAhVCCDQIHbFUBjsQ_AUICigB&biw=1824&bih=1017&dpr=1.58)\n\n------\nghouse\nFor those who think data is beautiful, here is real-time information regarding\nthe majority of California's grid:\n[http://www.caiso.com/TodaysOutlook/Pages/supply.aspx](http://www.caiso.com/TodaysOutlook/Pages/supply.aspx)\n\n~~~\nknowaveragejoe\nVery cool, though I'm curious about the classification of large hydro(and\nmaybe even nuclear) outside of renewables?\n\n------\nTuxer\nOnce again, making me proud to pay CA taxes.\n\nIf they do not take large hydro into account when calculating this 100%, I\nwonder what we'll do with the dams. Destroy them to let the rivers free-flow\nagain? Dams would have been a great store of energy for this project by\npumping the water up during the day using solar/wind.\n\nTesla Energy must be salivating at all those batteries that will need to be\nconstructed.\n\n~~~\npastor_elm\nMeanwhile, NYC's plan is a measly 80% reduction in carbon emissions in _city\nrun_ operations alone by 2050. We'll be going backwards once Indian Point is\ndecommissioned.\n\n~~~\nblang\nThough to be fair the state of new york has lower per capita carbon emission\nthan California, though I think that mostly has to do with the density of new\nyork city.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_carbon_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions)\n\n~~~\noftenwrong\nTo be really fair, policy choices influence population density, and vice\nversa. California is fairly sprawling and favours sprawl over dense\nsettlement.\n\n------\nvondur\nI believe ever since we had the rolling blackouts in the early 2000's we've\nbeen purchasing more and more energy from power plants in Utah, as regulation\nin the state makes it difficult to build new ones.\n\n~~~\ndmode\nI don't believe it is true. I believe CA generates more electricity than is\nneeded and actually pays other states to take it off the grid\n\n~~~\nvondur\nLooks like we buy a lot of power from Intermountain Power, who are in Utah:\n[https://www.ipautah.com](https://www.ipautah.com)\n\n~~~\nghouse\nIntermountain will be converted from coal to gas:\n[http://www.ladwpnews.com/information-regarding-proposal-\nto-r...](http://www.ladwpnews.com/information-regarding-proposal-to-reduce-\nfossil-fuel-generation-at-intermountain-power-project/)\n\n~~~\nvondur\nThat is true, but I believe there are more than one coal powered plant in the\nIntermountain system. My main point is that California will just switch to\npurchasing power from other areas and claim that they are using all clean\nenergy. I 'm assuming they don't consider natural gas as clean energy.\n\n------\ntedunangst\nHypothetically, if I build a big coal power plant across the border to power a\ngiant light array shining on solar cells on the CA side, does that count?\n\n~~~\nrcMgD2BwE72F\nNope\n\n>The bill would require the PUC and the Energy Commission, in consultation\nwith the state board, to take steps to ensure that a transition to a zero-\ncarbon electric system for the State of California does not cause or\ncontribute to greenhouse gas emissions increases elsewhere in the western\ngrid.\n\n[https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml...](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB100)\n\n~~~\ndublin\nNo but due to the horrendous grid instability this policy must induce, CAISO\nwill have to bring in a lot of power from other regions at pretty premium\nprices if they don't want all CA customers to find out the hard way that the\nonly thing worse than rolling blackouts is non-rolling blackouts....\n\n------\ncorradio\nThat's very interesting. Right now California seems to run about 40-60%\nrenewable according to\n[https://www.electricitymap.org/?page=country&solar=false&rem...](https://www.electricitymap.org/?page=country&solar=false&remote=true&wind=false&countryCode=US-\nCA)\n\n~~~\ntoomuchtodo\nCalifornia is at a bit of a tipping point. It has so much renewable energy, it\nhas to pay other states to export their excessive energy because they don't\nhave enough storage [1]. So you have to decide if you're going to subsidize\nutility scale energy storage to help drive it below the cost of fossil and\npeaker generators (which, it appears, California is prepared to do). It also\nhelps that renewables are quickly approaching 1-2 cents/kwh at utility scale,\nas more of your cost can be storage (as your generation is almost free). China\nis ending subsidies of their solar manufacturing industry [2], which is going\nto push down the cost of panels, increasing the rate of uptake. You will see\nCalifornia meet their 100% renewable mandate much sooner than they're\ntargeting.\n\nA side effect is this is going to cause extensive losses to investor owned\nfossil generators. C'est la vie.\n\n[1] [https://www.zmescience.com/science/california-renewable-\nener...](https://www.zmescience.com/science/california-renewable-\nenergy-18082018/)\n\n[2] [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-solar/chinas-solar-\nsu...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-solar/chinas-solar-subsidy-cuts-\nerode-the-impact-of-trump-tariffs-idUSKCN1LF18K)\n\n~~~\nvillage-idiot\nI won't shed many tears for the death of fossil fuel power plants.\n\n~~~\ndublin\nYour face may be dry, but it will be in the dark. There is quite simply NO\nKNOWN TECHNOLOGY that can cost effectively meet peak demands other than fossil\nfuel plants. The people that build the natural gas peaker plants that\nCalifornia will MUST have for grid stability will make a fortune, and be\npainted as the \"bad brown energy guys\" even though they'll actually be saving\nthe entire grid from collapse.\n\n~~~\nvillage-idiot\nI'll never understand people that worship fossil fuels.\n\n~~~\ntoomuchtodo\nIn America, there is a perception that our self-worth is dependent on our\njobs. To you, fossil fuels are filthy and environmentally dangerous (they\nare). To those who work in the industry, it's a way of supporting themselves,\ntheir families, and it's a craft (and associated skills) they might be proud\nof (roughnecks on an oil field, product pipe installers/maintainers,\ncoal/steam/natural gas installers/maintenance techs/operators).\n\nSo, like all issues, it's not black and white, but many shades of gray. Our\njobs are not who we are, and we need systems in place to help transition those\nwho are in industries that are harmful and in their sunset period to\nindustries that have a future, while ensuring these new jobs provide enough\ncompensation that people can live.\n\n~~~\nvillage-idiot\nSee, as a software engineer I just can't quite identify with this.\n\nOn one hand, I understand taking pride in your work. I view what I do as a\ncraft, and I take pride in being good at what I do.\n\nOn the other hand, there's nothing better than taking a weak and hobbled\nsystem out back and finishing it off.\n\nIf my opinions applied to power production, I'd be proud to help decom a coal\nplant and install a brand spanking new nuclear or solar plant.\n\n~~~\ntoomuchtodo\n> If my opinions applied to power production, I'd be proud to help decom a\n> coal plant and install a brand spanking new nuclear or solar plant\n\nWould you feel the same way if you went from making $100k /year to $50k/year\ndoing this? That's part of the problem. You have to be okay taking a\nsubstantial paycut, or losing your job entirely, when you decomm the previous\nsystem. Not that same as doing so when you're a software engineer.\n\nSingle income in your family and having to start out from scratch? Of course\npeople are going to cling to their chance at a middle class life by their\nfingernails in a fossil industry job.\n\n~~~\nvillage-idiot\nThat's fair.\n\n------\ntrue_tuna\nWe are going to need some more big batteries. Don’t we pay our neighbors to\ntake our excess during peak times?\n\n~~~\ndublin\nGet a clue and do the math. (Seriously, this is a one-to-two hour google for\ninfo and apply third-grade arithmetic back-of-an-envelope project.) Batteries\nare NOT the answer - the quantity of batteries required is astronomically\nbeyond the world's battery production capacity, even in Musk's most fevered\ndreams. Seriously - the mining impact of REALLY trying to build enough\nbatteries to stabilize an area the size of CA would increase mining pollution\nworldwide by an order of magnitude or more...\n\n~~~\nsctb\nCould you please stop being so thorny? It doesn't make your point any clearer,\nit just makes the discussion worse.\n\n------\ntathougies\nCurrently, I buy all my electricity from renewables. The price I pay per kwh\nis lower than conventional generation. However, the state of California has\ngiven PG&E a monopoly on electricity distribution, and PG&E charges me the\ndifference between the generation charge from renewables and its own\ngeneration charge as a 'distribution fee'. This fee is waived, if i used PG&E\ngeneration.\n\nUntil California kicks out PG&E's monopoly and lets me pay the actual fair\nmarket price for my renewable electricity, I find it hard to take these\ninitiatives as anything more than virtue signalling.\n\nA better method for my county would be for the state to get rid of PG&E's\nability to selectively charge the distribution fee. Then, private market\nforces would basically make everyone switch to renewables. Of course, the\nlegislature wouldn't get the chance to appear virtuous. In fact, they'd look\nlike villains for allowing this ridiculous pricing structure to begin with\n(and they really do knowingly allow it -- after talking with my state senator\nand representative, they told me they know this is the case, but 'the PG&E\nlobby is strong'.. give me a break).\n\n~~~\namluto\nI don’t really see how California could practically kick out PG&E’s monopoly.\nThere won’t magically be a bunch of competitors that string is their own power\nlines. CA could potentially take over entirely and run its own system, which\nmight not be totally crazy. Some cities (e.g. Palo Alto and Los Angeles)\nalready do this.\n\n~~~\ntathougies\nThe legislature directly controls PG&E's pricing. They can legislate it out of\nthe market, or at least legislate out this particular pricing snafu.\n\n~~~\ntedsanders\nThe legislature does not control PG&E's pricing.\n\nPeriodically, PG&E submits rate cases to the CPUC. The outcomes of these rate\ncase submissions dictate what PG&E is allowed to charge customers.\n\nThe CPUC is a quasi-executive agency established by the state constitution:\n\n[https://ballotpedia.org/California_Public_Utilities_Commissi...](https://ballotpedia.org/California_Public_Utilities_Commission)\n\n------\njtchang\nI actually had no idea how much of CA's energy came from renewable sources.\nThat is actually astounding. In many ways CA is ahead of the nation.\n\n------\njohng\n[https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckdevore/2018/05/07/texas-\npr...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckdevore/2018/05/07/texas-produces-\nfive-times-the-wind-power-as-california-at-almost-half-the-price-blame-\nregulation/#6a315025438c)\n\n------\nskookumchuck\n\"California would need to install more than 200 times as much energy-storage\ncapacity than it has now to make up for the loss of gas plants,\"\n\nThey wouldn't need near as much if they abandoned the silly fixed 24/7\nconsumer electric rates in favor of rates that vary based on the supply.\n\n------\nousta\nThey should find how to create electricity from poo as it is their first\nrenewable material\n\n------\nalexnewman\nI’d bet 10x harder than 99% and 100x harder than 95% and 1000x harder than 66%\n\n------\njorblumesea\nIt's unfortunate the US response to climate change is completely localized and\nbasically dependent on blue states. Not saying this is a bad thing but climate\nchange is a huge global issue and requires at least a coordinated national\nresponse.\n\n~~~\ntathougies\nMany US states are comparable in size to typical nations, so its not clear to\nme why this localized response is worse\n\n~~~\njorblumesea\nClimate change is a national/global issue and requires a national/global\nresponse.\n\nCalifornia going green while Virginia stays with coal while Florida floods is\nobjectively bad for the nation. The carbon footprint of the nation isn't going\nto be balanced by only a few states taking serious measures.\n\nWe are a union under the federalist system and we're all in this together,\ndespite what people seem to think.\n\n------\ninternet_user\nDoes aneutronic p-b11 fission count as clean in California?\n\n~~~\nphkahler\np-b11 fusion. I'd count that anywhere someone can make it work for large scale\nenergy production.\n\n------\ntruculent\nNot soon enough though, is it?\n\n------\nwesturner\n1\\. Hawaii\n\n2\\. California\n\n3.\n\n------\njustaaron\nexcellent\n\n------\nebikelaw\nWhy not 2025?\n\n~~~\nrhacker\nI would assume it would be better to use 30%-40% effecient panels that will\ncome out in 10 years than forcing everyone on the current 23% tech.\n\n~~~\ntedsanders\nIt is _extremely_ unlikely that commercial cells will be high-efficiency\nmultijunction in 10 years.\n\nSilicon has been dominant for decades, and its lead in cost-effectiveness has\nonly grown.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nOfficial KISSmetrics Response to Data Collection Practices - joshuacc\nhttp://blog.kissmetrics.com/official-kissmetrics-response-to-data-collection-practices/\n======\nbbatsell\nTheir explanation of the universal cookie ID issue is rather silly. If you're\na client of Kissmetrics, your visitors have a cookie scoped to your domain\nwith the visitor's universal Kissmetrics ID. All of the database segregation\nin the world won't prevent any two or more Kissmetrics clients from collating\nvisitor data on that universal ID, sent in every header on every pageview.\nWhether any clients are actually doing that, I have no clue. But claiming that\npermuting that universal ID into client-specific ones rendered when the\nclients view data actually protects visitors from said collation is just\nwrong.\n\nSee Wired's screenshot here:\n[http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/epicenter/2011/07/Screen-S...](http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/epicenter/2011/07/Screen-\nShot-2011-07-29-at-11.52.29-AM.png)\n\n~~~\nrubeng\nI don't see what's silly about the explanation considering it's about\nefficiency and performance. As a KISSmetrics customer I can tell you the focus\nis on funnels and key data; not on an internal cookie ID so that we can\ncollude with other companies.\n\n~~~\nrhizome\nSo you'd decline to collude with another company who approached you? What if\nthey offered to pay?\n\n~~~\nrubeng\nOf course not. Customer data isn't something I would ever share.\n\nCompanies that choose to do so will do it regardless of whether they're\ndirectly paid for it. It's not a tech problem and it's not something they need\na 3rd party vendor for.\n\n------\njedberg\nI know Hiten personally, and I know that Kissmetrics operates in a most\nethical fashion.\n\nI would trust them over most any analytics company any day.\n\nIt's a shame that this meritless lawsuit even exists.\n\n~~~\nmtogo\nTrying to prevent the deletion of cookies used to uniquely identify and track\ntheir customers' users is ethical?\n\n~~~\nqeorge\nYeah as far as I'm concerned, the cross-site tracking thing is a straw man.\n\nThey used evercookie-ish methods to track people who don't want to be tracked.\nThat's unethical, full stop.\n\n------\njforman\nIf the report \"significantly distorts our technology and business practices,\"\nwhy are they making such significant changes to their technology and business\npractices as a result?\n\n~~~\njedberg\nTo assuage folks who don't understand technology and will assume they are\nguilty until they \"make big changes\".\n\n~~~\njforman\nI understand technology, and I'm pretty skeezed out by their use of Etags...\n\nAlso, if they truly think they're innocent, why wouldn't they just educate\ntheir userbase? Seems odd to make such drastic architectural changes just\nbecause of a perceptual problem.\n\n~~~\njedberg\nAh, but it is all about perception. The same thing happened at reddit a few\ntimes.\n\nThe mob decided someone was guilty, we investigated, found absolutely no\nwrongdoing. Told the community, they didn't care. They would only be happy\nwith swift, visible action.\n\n~~~\njforman\nComparing the relatively thoughtful discussion on this topic among the web\ndevelopment community to the reddit mob is not particularly fair or accurate.\n\n~~~\njedberg\nI would have to say you're naive for thinking the two are much different.\n\nAny group, no matter how civil and educated, can dislove pretty quickly into\nmob mentality.\n\n~~~\njforman\nYour cynicism is not well borne out on this message board.\n\n~~~\nericd\nThis board is a very rare exception on the internet, and even it descends into\nits own form of lynch mobbery (with a more elevated tone than most lynch\nmobs).\n\n------\njeremymims\nHiten is a standup guy, a friend to startups everywhere, and a class act all\naround. I look forward to him kicking their asses in court.\n\n------\nslowpoke\n\n      Mr. Soltani also claims that it is somehow improper to use\n      any technology other than browser cookies to track website\n      activity. In fact, countless online companies, including\n      other major analytics providers, use a variety of different\n      technologies to provide these services, including the\n      persistent technologies Mr. Soltani targets in his paper. \n    \n\nThat's not a justification for doing it too. It's merely a lame excuse for\nunethical behavior.\n\nAlso, I don't care if the guys at KISSmetrics are nice, kitten-loving jolly\ngood fellows - that has absolutely zero relevance to the case at hand.\n\n------\nrhizome\nThey don't deny recreating cookies.\n\n~~~\ndangrossman\nIs that illegal now?\n\n~~~\nnostromo\nNo, but unethical for most applications, don't you think?\n\n------\nrichcollins\n_These articles are based entirely on a paper by Ashkan Soltani, who works\nclosely with the lawyers who filed these cases, and who published his paper on\nthe same day that the first lawsuit was filed._\n\n~~~\nplinio_silva\nSo what? Does that automatically make everything he exposed false?\n\n~~~\nericd\nIt makes his objectivity suspect.\n\n~~~\nrhizome\nHow does Hiten's working for KM affect _his_ objectivity?\n\n~~~\nericd\nHe's not posing as an objective third party.\n\n~~~\nrhizome\nThat's a strange way to establish someone's credibility!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFinding the most depressing Radiohead song with R - kevlar1818\nhttp://rcharlie.com/2017-02-16-fitteR-happieR/\n======\n3chelon\nSo presumably the purpose of this experiment was to quantify just how bad\nalgorithms can be at inferring meaning?\n\nTrying to measure the sadness of lyrics with an algo is tantamount to the\nearly scene in \"Dead Poets' Society\" where the students are supposed to\nmeasure the greatness of poetry by plotting it on a chart.\n\nIt's demonstrated in the data: one of the most depressing songs of their\nentire oeuvre is \"Fitter, Happier\" but because it's completely metaphorical\n(or sarcastic), the algo rates it as one of the happiest.\n\nThis will always be a big problem in AI. Measuring the literal meaning of\nwords is easy. Measuring the semantics and context of words is a completely\ndifferent matter.\n\n~~~\njmmcd\n> This will always be a big problem in AI\n\nI agreed with everything you wrote except for \"always\".\n\n~~~\nGrue3\nConsidering even actual humans often have disagreements about meanings of\nsongs, I'm not sure how an AI is supposed to deduce the \"correct\" one.\n\n~~~\nandrepd\nNeither am I. But 10 years ago I would have said I had no idea how an AI was\nsupposed to recognise objects in a picture, and now they do it better than\nhumans. Tech moves fast.\n\n~~~\njmmcd\nRecognising objects in pictures is something that, in principle, a machine\ncould do better than humans, because there is ground truth.\n\nI think it's not possible in principle for a machine to do better than humans\nat recognising human emotions, because a human can't exactly be wrong at this.\n(Other than edge cases such as not knowing the right name for an emotion,\nperhaps.)\n\nBut suppose a sample of 1000 humans answered a survey on emotional content of\na song and a machine was able to predict the distribution within some\ntolerance. In a sense, this would be superhuman performance, but even if we\ndon't like that interpretation, it would still be _very good_ performance. And\nit is possible in principle. So the argument that humans sometimes disagree\ndoesn't prevent a machine doing well on the task.\n\n~~~\nanewhnaccount\nAnother possible output for this type of task is an opinion or interpretation\nand a justification of it. A machine might feasibly be considered \"good\" if it\noutput an unpopular interpretation with a good justification.\n\n~~~\njmmcd\nGreat point! The same type of argument is going in the AI subfield of\ncomputational creativity. A computational system might produce a piece (of art\nor music, say) which nobody initially likes, but could provide a\njustification/interpretation which might be convincing. In some ways this\nwould be a big improvement over a pure Turing test-style judgement of the\noutput itself. I think Margaret Boden has written this idea into her\ndefinition of computational creativity.\n\nEDIT: \"The ultimate vindication of AI-creativity would be a program that\ngenerated novel ideas which initially perplexed or even repelled us, but which\nwas able to persuade us that they were indeed valuable.\", from Boden,\nCreativity and Artificial Intelligence, 1998. I believe, based on her other\nwritings, that she thinks of it as a sufficient, but not a necessary\ncondition, for AI creativity.\n\n------\nruneks\nI think you will find wildly varying perspectives on whether a given song is\ndepressive or not. To my surprise, when I read the YouTube comments on\nRadiohead's track _Nude_ , I found many of the commenters found the song\ndepressing, because of the lyrics:\n\n\"Don't get any big ideas, they're not gonna happen.\"\n\nBut, as far as I can see, this is only depressing if, first, you expect all\nyour big ideas to happen and, secondly, you associate a big idea happening\nwith happiness. I mean, why would a big idea not happening be depressing,\nunless you believe this big idea will make you happy?\n\nI quite like the reminder that big ideas usually don't happen, unless you put\nin an earnest effort. And that the expectation of happiness from a big idea is\nthe only thing that can cause depression if it doesn't work out, which it\noften doesn't.\n\nIn my experience, big ideas come out of happiness, not the other way around.\n\n~~~\ntreerock\nI think it's the \"don't get any big ideas\" bit that is depressing.\n\n------\ndecasteve\nThom Yorke once said that after touring for OK Computer he was at a local pub\nand some guy stopped him and said, \"No Surprises\" is the most miserable song\nhe'd ever heard and why had he written it? At the time Thom said he had to\nconcur with that assessment of the song. I can't remember what interview this\nwas from but I used to have the recording of it where he introduces the song\nthis way.\n\n~~~\ncjbprime\nI once walked into my baby's daycare to pick him up after work and the babies\nwere listening to a happy glockenspiel version of No Surprises.\n\nIt felt very strange.\n\n~~~\nrcar\nThe makers of those albums are quite prolific:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockabye_Baby](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockabye_Baby)!\n\n~~~\ncjbprime\nOh thanks! I'd tried and failed to find it myself.\n\n------\ngenericpseudo\nCute! But, well, this is obviously bullshit:\n\n> the cheeriest, 15 Step\n\nThe title line: \" _fifteen steps and then a sheer drop_ \". A song which makes\nexplicit references to, well, execution by hanging is...\n\n(And \"you used to be alright; what happened?\" is a repeated motif.)\n\n~~~\ndraugadrotten\n> The title line: \"fifteen steps and then a sheer drop\"\n\nThis song is obviously about Thom Yorke's frustration with the Mario Party\nminigame \"Shy Guy Says\". Think about it, 'first you reel me out then you cut\nthe string', 'won't take my eyes off the ball again' (ball, in this case,\nmeaning shy guy's flags). It makes perfect sense.\n\n\\-- lankeyjb202\n\n------\nwiremine\nThey're missing In Rainbow's Disk 2, which includes the song \"4 minute\nwarning\" which I'd consider the \"most\" depressing Radiohead song:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtotpiSL700](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtotpiSL700)\n\n~~~\nbanku_brougham\nthank you for pointing this out. i only recently discovered IR2, and i found\nthat \"4 minute warning\" fot my mood very well.\n\n------\nchjohasbrouck\nI think this is an example of something machines can't quite do better than\nhumans yet, though it's an interesting problem to solve (trying to analyze how\npeople in general will feel about something).\n\nPersonally I'd give it to either How to Disappear Completely, or Exit Music\n(For a Film).\n\n~~~\nmarchenko\nExit Music might be their most bitter song, but I'd say Street Spirit or How\nto Disappear are the saddest. I wonder how many people would have an immediate\nanswer at the ready, and how many would have to ponder and classify ( assuming\nsimilar familiarity with the Radiohead catalogue)\n\n~~~\nyownie\n[http://antiquiet.com/music/2012/06/flashback-thom-yorke-\nexpl...](http://antiquiet.com/music/2012/06/flashback-thom-yorke-explains-\nstreet-spirit-breaks-our-hearts/)\n\n“‘Street Spirit’ is our purest song, but I didn’t write it…. It wrote itself.\nWe were just its messengers… Its biological catylysts. It’s core is a complete\nmystery to me… and (pause) you know, I wouldn’t ever try to write something\nthat hopeless… All of our saddest songs have somewhere in them at least a\nglimmer of resolve… ‘Street Spirit’ has no resolve… It is the dark tunnel\nwithout the light at the end. It represents all tragic emotion that is so\nhurtful that the sound of that melody is its only definition. We all have a\nway of dealing with that song… It’s called detachment… Especially me.. I\ndetach my emotional radar from that song, or I couldn’t play it… I’d crack.\nI’d break down on stage.. that’s why its lyrics are just a bunch of mini-\nstories or visual images as opposed to a cohesive explanation of its meaning…\nI used images set to the music that I thought would convey the emotional\nentirety of the lyric and music working together… That’s what’s meant by ‘all\nthese things are one to swallow whole’.. I meant the emotional entirety,\nbecause I didn’t have it in me to articulate the emotion… (pause) I’d crack….\nOur fans are braver than I to let that song penetrate them, or maybe they\ndon’t realize what they’re listening to.. They don’t realize that ‘Street\nSpirit’ is about staring the fucking devil right in the eyes… and knowing, no\nmatter what the hell you do, he’ll get the last laugh…and it’s real…and true.\nThe devil really will get the last laugh in all cases without exception, and\nif I let myself think about that to long, I’d crack. I can’t believe we have\nfans that can deal emotionally with that song… That’s why I’m convinced that\nthey don’t know what it’s about. It’s why we play it towards the end of our\nsets. It drains me, and it shakes me, and hurts like hell everytime I play it,\nlooking out at thousands of people cheering and smiling, oblivious to the\ntragedy of it’s meaning, like when you’re going to have your dog put down and\nit’s wagging it’s tail on the way there. That’s what they all look like, and\nit breaks my heart.”\n\n------\nzackkatz\nI vote for the happiest song being Anyone Can Play Guitar from Pablo Honey. It\nis hopeful and encouraging. It speaks of life goals achieved.\n\nThis article demonstrates how far AI has to go.\n\n[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GIWwfWaWuaE](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GIWwfWaWuaE)\n\n~~~\nJauntTrooper\nGood choice! I've also always thought 'Lift' felt happy.\n\n------\nTheRealDunkirk\nIf the winning song wasn't written in D-minor, the algorithm will need further\ntuning.\n\n------\nrodionos\n\n      > and then used the tidytext package to break the lyrics into words, \n      > eliminate common \"stop words\" like 'the' and 'a', \n      > and count the number with negative sentiment\n    \n\nIs 'not' a \"stop word\"? How did it count negations after \"stop words\" removed,\ni.e. \"I am not forgotten\". Positive, negative?\n\n~~~\nellisv\n\"not\" is a stop word. I don't see an attempt to negate the word sentiments.\n\n------\nmpettitt\nWould be interesting to see how it handled REM or Dubstar, both of whom have\nsome really upbeat tunes, with really dark lyrics - \"The One I Love\", for\nexample, with \"a simple prop to occupy mind \", or \"Not So Manic Now\", a happy\nbouncy pop song about assault...\n\n------\nbeeswax\n'Depressing' has a variety of facets made up of sadness, textual\ncontent/lyrics, and (at least for me) the placement of the title within its\nrespective album context.\n\nAnecdote: When I previewed Kid A via AudioGalaxy back then (it would not be\nreleased for another two weeks in my region) I thought the stylistic choices\nof 'Everything in its right place' were some kind of encoding error (quite\nfrequent back then) so I trashed the whole album after spending hours on the\ndownload.\n\nImagine my surprise when I listened to the album from the physical album I\nbought a fortnight later :)\n\n~~~\nloudmax\nI got my first cassette tape player in 1982 and Prince's \"1999\" album to go\nwith it. The lead track starts with distorted vocals, and I thought my player\nwas malfunctioning. The intro is only about ten or fifteen seconds, so unlike\nyou, I didn't trash the tape.\n\nCloser to topic, listening to the song \"1999\" as a kid, I thought it was a\ncheerful party song. After Prince's death, I listened to the song as an adult\nand realized it's about nuclear annihilation.\n\n------\nmwexler\nWhile great to see, this also highlights just how far we are from where data\nscience needs to be. The amount of code necessary to just pull down and\nreformat data before any real analytic work is done is always staggering; I\nsee it in my work but it's even painful in a fun example like this. I know,\n80% of time in prep, 20% in analysis, yadda yadda, but I hope we can turn some\nof this magical AI into making data transforms easier in the future so we can\nactually get to the analysis portion faster, along with more accessible \"tidy\"\ndata to get to the analysis portion faster.\n\nAnd no, tools like Paxata or Tamr (or\n[http://www.predictiveanalyticstoday.com/data-preparation-\ntoo...](http://www.predictiveanalyticstoday.com/data-preparation-tools-and-\nplatforms/) etc.) are indeed a good start, but are not really the solution\nyet.\n\nWe'll always have to code our way out of some wacko data situations, but I\nlook forward to (and dream of!) better and better libraries and approaches to\ngetting prep prepped faster.\n\n~~~\nminimaxir\nR in general is _inefficient_ with nontabular data manipulation with text data\nand web scraping, which is why I fall back to Python for those tasks.\n\nBut even in the context of the article, the code the author posted is\nextremely confusing and is an odd mix of base and dplyr code.\n\n------\nHydraulix989\n\"Honey Pablo\"?\n\n------\ncdelsolar\nDefinitely Exit Music for a film.\n\n------\npeeters\nIf I can nitpick a bit about your presentation here:\n\n[http://rcharlie.com/htmlwidgets/fitterhappier/album_chart.ht...](http://rcharlie.com/htmlwidgets/fitterhappier/album_chart.html)\n\nIf you're going put each album on its own point in the X-axis, could you not\njust label those axis instead of using colour-coding and requiring us to look\nup the corresponding colour in a legend (that's not ordered in the same way).\n\n------\naethant\nThey need to do this with morrissey.\n\n~~~\nxellisx\nAs my dad said back in the day(80's), Morrissey is the music you listen to\nwhile cleaning your guns.\n\n------\ncjbprime\nIs there a way to have Spotify users create the mapping, e.g. by using song\nselection to detect their mood and finding the cluster of Radiohead songs that\nare only ever listened to in a depressive mood?\n\n------\ndmichulke\nNote how listening to all suggestions mentioned in the HN comments but only to\nfew or none of those recommended in the blog post is a good indicator of what\nyou think about the power of ML/AI.\n\n------\nelchief\nGuessing \"How To Disappear Completely\" before I read it\n\n~~~\nelchief\nand...not on the list. Exit Music and Let Down are pretty glum though\n\nIngo Mierswa (of RapidMiner) wrote some papers on analyzing audio data, like\n\n[http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10994-005-5824-7](http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10994-005-5824-7)\n\n[http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1150523](http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1150523)\n\n------\nVeejayRampay\nI'm waiting for someone to find out the most stolen songs from Radiohead's\nrepertoire using R now :)\n\n------\nsampl\n_True Love Waits_\n\nEdit: according to the article :)\n\n~~~\nzzalpha\nHow on earth is Street Spirit not even on the list?\n\nYorke himself had called it \"our purest, saddest song.\", and went on to say:\n\n _I can’t believe we have fans that can deal emotionally with that song.\nThat’s why I’m convinced that they don’t know what it’s about. It’s why we\nplay it towards the end of our sets. It drains me, and it shakes me, and hurts\nlike hell every time I play it, looking out at thousands of people cheering\nand smiling, oblivious to the tragedy of its meaning, like when you’re going\nto have your dog put down and it’s wagging its tail on the way there. That’s\nwhat they all look like, and it breaks my heart. I wish that song hadn’t\npicked us as its catalysts, and so I don’t claim it. It asks too much. I\ndidn’t write that song._\n\nTrue Love Waits is a sweet, quiet, sad little song about yearning and the fear\nof loss.\n\nStreet Spirit is pure dark tragedy.\n\n~~~\ngenericpseudo\nApparently the second happiest song on OK Computer is \"Fitter Happier\". (A pig\n/ in a cage / on antibiotics.)\n\nSo much of Radiohead's bleakness is in their use of irony.\n\n~~~\nmarchenko\nIrony and taunting really confounds sentiment analysis. I mean, street spirit\nends in \"immerse your soul in love\" repeated 2X but is still incredibly bleak.\n\n------\nsnyp\nI can't believe the author got the name Of their first album wrong!\n\n------\ndcdevito\nHow to Disappear Completely is their most depressing song, ever.\n\n------\nmhd\nI wonder how Gloomy Sunday would score with that heuristic.\n\n------\nfoxhedgehog\nyou could have just asked and I would have told you it's \"let down\"\n\n------\njheriko\nis the answer ALL OF THEM\n\n(j/k)\n\n------\nSloopJon\nThis is a repost (syndication?) of a blog post at:\n\n[http://blog.revolutionanalytics.com/2017/02/finding-\nradiohea...](http://blog.revolutionanalytics.com/2017/02/finding-radioheads-\nmost-depressing-song-with-r.html)\n\nwhich is a summary of a blog post at:\n\n[http://rcharlie.com/2017-02-16-fitteR-\nhappieR/](http://rcharlie.com/2017-02-16-fitteR-happieR/)\n\nI didn't know that Spotify has an API. I see mention of a rate limit in the\ndocs, but I can't find the actual limit. If I want to sort the tracks from\nalbums released in a given year (say, ten to fifty out of a thousand-album\ncollection) by Spotify popularity, will the limit get in the way?\n\n~~~\ncarlob\nYeah can we please change this to the original blog post at rcharlie.com?\n\n~~~\nbbrady1992\nAgreed. I'm not sure why the original link is necessary at all. It doesn't add\nanything and seems to have been written for no reason other than to write a\nblog post. The author refers to Radiohead's first album as 'Honey Pablo', so\nit doesn't look like he actually paid attention to the original article.\n\n------\nsjclemmy\nTLDR: It's High and Dry.\n\nI could have guessed that. But where is Black Star in the list? That is my go\nto song if I'm really lamenting the state of the world. ;)\n\n~~~\nexecutesorder66\nNo it's not. It's actually True Love Waits.\n\nHigh and Dry is 8th.\n\nTLDR; RTFA\n\n~~~\nsjclemmy\nYou're right. I skimmed it and only saw the first list of Saddest Lyrics.\n\nI'm going to go away now, and listen to Radiohead, whilst I consider my lack\nof focus, past failures and impending mortality. ;)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGoogle Ends Support for Glass Explorer Edition - enonevets\nhttps://www.engadget.com/2019/12/06/google-ends-support-for-glass-explorer-edition/\n======\nrvz\nThe Google Glass is (almost) dead. RIP in advance. Long Live the Apple/FB/Snap\nInc/North AR Glasses!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Poto – leave Facebook, keep in touch with your friends and family - agd\nhttps://poto.app/\n======\nagd\nHi everyone,\n\nPoto lets you easily share contact details with friends and family.\n\nIt's difficult to leave Facebook as it's often the only way to reliably\ncontact people. I created Poto to change that, to act as a universal address\nbook, without people needing to be on Facebook.\n\nBecause users control and update their own details on Poto, you don't have to\nmanually add all the details of your friends and family. And you automatically\nhave the latest contact details when they're updated so you can stay in touch.\n\nEnjoy! And I'd love to hear any thoughts and feedback.\n\nBest, James\n\n~~~\npatatino\nI don't see what it does or how it does it, why would I signup?\n\n~~~\nagd\nAha. Thanks for the feedback.\n\nDo you mind saying what’s unclear to you or what part of the homepage is\nunclear? Would a screenshot on the homepage help?\n\nI think I may have overlooked this because it’s such a simple product. You add\nyour contact details, and you can make them visible to other users on Poto who\nyou want to share contact details with.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: What tools/apps do you use in your team to manage feedback? - sidcool\nThe cycle of continuous Feedback is oft broken in the chaos of a high speed tech organisation.  What are your goto effective tools for actionable and trackable feedback within team members?<p>What tools provide one to one and team level feedback isolation?  What tips and tricks help you?\n======\ngilbert77\nWe use a tool called BigTeam([https://bigteam.co/](https://bigteam.co/)), it's\na newly built tool to address the broken feedback processes within any\norganization. What's great about it is whether you're a researcher, brand\nmanager, creative, almost anyone in your team can use it, it's quite robust\nand holistic. It solves the problems of Who exactly to ask but also a survey\nbuilder helps aid the type of questions to ask for actionable feedback too.\n\n------\ndkasper\nObviously only for positive feedback, but we have a command /praise in Slack\nat Reddit. This let's you acknowledge someone quickly for a good job, and the\nresults are collected into a channel and into Small Improvements, which is the\nheavier performance review system we use. It actually gets used quite a bit!\n\n~~~\nsdrothrock\nI can see that having a small command would make it easier to give positive\nfeedback (which is important, since negative feedback has a much heavier\nemotional weight), but have you noticed any devaluing of positive feedback due\nto how easy or common it is to give it?\n\n------\njasonmotylinski\nWe use OfficeVibe ([http://www.officevibe.com](http://www.officevibe.com))\nwhich allows employees to provide anonymous feedback (good and bad) and helps\nus track our ongoing progress. It's quite helpful.\n\n------\ncolinbartlett\nI have used 7Geese[1] in the past. A little overwhelming as a tool but there\nare some nuggets of usefulness there.\n\n15Five[2] (what's with these names?) is another one I have used and is a\nlittle more approachable.\n\n1\\. [https://7geese.com/](https://7geese.com/)\n\n2\\. [https://www.15five.com/](https://www.15five.com/)\n\n~~~\ntelecuda\n15Five is excellent. 15 minutes each week for a team member to submit feedback\n/ 5 minutes for a manager to review. I find people bring up concerns in their\n15fives that I can address quickly before they become larger problems.\n\n------\nmichaelsobota\nWe use TinyPulse to keep team / upward feedback regular (weekly basis). I've\nalso found that co-locating as much as possible is very effective to build a\nculture of natural flowing 1-1 feedback... strong relationships have always\nbeen better than any app I've used.\n\n------\ntbfrench\nI work at [https://www.cultureamp.com](https://www.cultureamp.com) so I'm\nbiased. Of course, we use the product ourselves. I think it's great.\n\n------\nabarrettwilsdon\nWe use CareerLark[1] in our office. It's nice and lightweight (plus easy to\nonboard people on to).\n\n1\\. [http://www.careerlark.com/](http://www.careerlark.com/)\n\n~~~\nMandatum\nThe emoji-scale 1-5, how exactly do you define that scale? Do you give\nfeedback on a per-person basis or company wide? Say I have a team of 3\nengineers, all with \"Senior\" title however I expect one to naturally\noutperform the other two.\n\nThis quarter s/he's slacked a bit, maybe s/he's not as driven or it's\nsomething personal - but s/he's still performing just as well as the other two\nengineers who've both performed exceptionally well and I'm giving them both a\n5.\n\nDo I give the engineer I expected to do better a 5? Or a 4? I mean I expected\nthem to do better but I'm still really happy with their work.\n\n------\npatothon\nI use www.oneone.io.\n\nBoth to manage my one on ones and to gather feedback from the team.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\n\"Living in a Trailer” by James Jones – July 1952 - Mz\nhttp://holidaymag.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/living-in-a-trailer-by-james-jones-july-1952/\n\n======\nMz\nIt seems nomads have been around forever. Being a digital nomad just has\nbenefits in terms of portability.\n\nExcerpt:\n\n _One of the things about writing that lends itself to trailer living is this\nfact of being your own boss and able to work as well one place as another, and\nin addition, requiring very little equipment to carry with you. I knew one man\nin Florida who had the front half of his trailer fitted up as a machine shop\nwith lathes and drill presses and carried his business with him. He had a big\ntrailer, but it still didn’t make for very comfort­able living. But he was an\nexception; mostly they are retired._\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTetris coming to Julia language for long-awaited v1.0 release next week - djsegal\nhttps://julialang.org/blog/2018/04/tetris-and-you\n======\ndjsegal\nYou can play online at:\n\n\\+ [http://juliatetris.com](http://juliatetris.com)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWhy I wrote my own UIKit and the end of the platform wars - newhouseb\nhttps://medium.com/p/f466467d9a25\n\n======\nmacrael\nImpressive how much faster open gl is.\n\n~~~\nnewhouseb\nYeah, when I dug into instruments, the biggest impediment is that if you have\na bunch of OpenGL surfaces you establish needless sync points each time you\npresent a buffer when you have to wait for the OpenGL command list to clear\nout. When you have one giant surface to present you only have to do this once\nand save a lot of synchronization.\n\n------\nmsie\nDid you write your own UIDatePicker?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nError messages in Haiku? - boredgamer2\nhttps://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/error-haiku.en.html\n======\nprakashk\nNormal error message in Perl:\n\n    \n    \n        $ perl -Mstrict -e 'say $x'\n        Global symbol \"$x\" requires explicit package name (did you forget to declare \"my $x\"?) at -e line 1.\n        Execution of -e aborted due to compilation errors.\n    \n\nWith the addition of `Coy` module [1]:\n\n    \n    \n        $ perl -Mstrict -MCoy -e 'say $x'\n    \n            -----\n            Gautama dies near\n            a monastry. Two woodpeckers\n            fly over the lake.\n            -----\n    \n                    Or Wunt's commentary...\n    \n                    Global symbol \"$x\" requires explicit package name (did you\n                    forget to declare \"my $x\"?)\n    \n                            (Analects of -e: line 1.\n                             Execution of -e aborted due to compilation\n                             errors.)\n    \n    \n\n[1]: [https://metacpan.org/pod/Coy](https://metacpan.org/pod/Coy)\n\n------\nlozf\nA few times a month/year I'll get some email because the sender made a typo of\nthe domain they wanted. Postmaster notifies them with:\n\n    \n    \n        your mistake not mine\n        email sent to wrong address\n        retry with more care\n\n------\ngreendave\nThe old Net+ errors[1] are still golden. My favorite:\n\n    \n    \n      A file that big?\n      It might be very useful\n      But now it is gone.\n    \n\n[1] [https://8325.org/haiku/](https://8325.org/haiku/)\n\n------\nrexarex\nJuniper networking equipment has a hidden CLI command that spits out a nerdy\nor sleep deprived haiku:\n\nE.G\n\n    \n    \n      Juniper> show version and haiku;\n    \n      IS-IS Screams,\n      BGP peer flapping;\n      I want my mommy!\n    \n      TTL down one\n      the end nearer with each hop\n      little packet, poof.\n    \n      Amazing photons\n      Carry our data worldwide\n      Never seem to stop\n    \n      My session is dead:\n      Forgot to commit confirm.\n      Where are my car keys?\n    \n\nFor some reason, it’s hard to find all of them compiled in one place. I think\nit changes over time depending on the version of JUNOS and the hardware\nplatform.\n\nIt was always a little uplifting when you had an incident occurring and you\nneeded a little something—anything—to keep you going (:\n\n------\nhanoz\nWhat is it with Haiku? The whole 5-7-5 structure just doesn't ring true with\nme at all. I mean, I get that it is enigmatic, but it just seems like it's\nenigmatic purely by virtue of not having any other redeeming quality.\n\n~~~\nPalomides\na \"correct\" haiku is supposed to have a conceptual juxtaposition and a\ntraditional seasonal reference in addition to the syllable count\n\nafter reading a lot of them, I don't think either the poems or the form\ntranslates well to english\n\n~~~\nanonymfus\nThis reminds me how some Russian poets in the year 2000 decided that as a\nreplacement to the elements of Haiku lost during an adaptation they need to\ncreate a new dimension to it, and so Huiku (Хуйку, from the Russian swear word\nхуй (dick)) was made which additionally requires first letters of every line\nto combine into a Russian cursing.\n\nHere is the manifest:\n[https://lleo.me/huiku/manifest.htm](https://lleo.me/huiku/manifest.htm)\n\nIt contains an example:\n\n    \n    \n        Сижу один под кустом, \n        Рот открыл в изумленье. \n        Удивительно лес красив. \n    \n\nWhich literally translates into \"I am sitting alone under a bush, My mouth is\nopen in awe. The forest is amazingly beautiful.\" and first letters of each\nline combine into \"сру\" which means \"I am shitting\".\n\nMay be similar idea can be used for English. Sadly English has way less three\nletter swear words than Russian.\n\n------\ndivbzero\n\n      What I’d love to see\n      is this for HTTP —\n      status code haikus\n\n~~~\ngorloth\n\n      Error 404:\n      The item you are seeking\n      Cannot be found here\n\n~~~\nPamar\nThis is particularly good. Apart from the already mentioned seasonal\nreferences, a common element is that the thirst two lines should seem\ncompletely unrelated and the third one provides synthesis/closure.\n\n------\necpottinger\nClearly someone has not used Beos.\n\n~~~\ncosmotic\nFor reference:\n[https://gist.github.com/benjaminoakes/e58a9ddb0ead8eefbbae40...](https://gist.github.com/benjaminoakes/e58a9ddb0ead8eefbbae40476d87cdf0)\n\nCoincidentally, the open source remake of BeOS is called Haiku\n\n~~~\nCrestwave\nThat isn't just a coincidence: [https://www.haiku-os.org/about/faq/#where-\ndoes-the-name-haik...](https://www.haiku-os.org/about/faq/#where-does-the-\nname-haiku-come-from)\n\n------\nasdfasgasdgasdg\n_Yesterday it worked / Today it is not working / Windows is like that_\n\nReflecting an understanding of the state of computing usability last updated\nin the early 90s.\n\n~~~\nttctciyf\n> ‘I just installed KB4512941 and now Windows Search is broke and Cortana\n> process in taskmanager takes 90% CPU,’ a Windows user wrote on Reddit.\n\n> On Twitter, one gamer shared his pain after the update stopped his favourite\n> game from working properly.\n\n> ‘Very cool that Skyrim is broken,’ he wrote.\n\n> ‘Yet another thing Windows updates has ruined for me. They’ve taken\n> everything from me.’\n\n\\- [https://metro.co.uk/2019/09/09/microsoft-admits-\nwindows-10-b...](https://metro.co.uk/2019/09/09/microsoft-admits-\nwindows-10-bug-causing-problems-around-world-10710714/)\n\n(Or find your own counterexamples:\n[https://www.google.com/search?q=windows+update+destroyed](https://www.google.com/search?q=windows+update+destroyed)\n)\n\n~~~\nDoxin\nWindows update is the #1 reason I even ever moved to linux in the first place.\n\n\\- you can run updates whenever you like. no nag screens, no automatic reboots\n\n\\- even when you _do_ run updates you don't usually need to reboot and if you\ndo need to reboot you can choose when to do so yourself.\n\n\\- updates don't install ads or other unwanted crap\n\n\\- (on debian at least) updates don't tend to break anything.\n\n\\- no stalling boot\n\n\\- no stalling shutdown -- I can't count the amount of times I've stayed up\nlate because windows update was preventing shutdown.\n\n\\- still automatic updates _if you want_ with all of these advantages.\n\n~~~\njimnotgym\nOld news\n\n~~~\nDoxin\nYes. so? Just because you and I know that windows update is awful in\ncomparison to package managers on linux doesn't mean everyone does.\n\n------\nbryanrasmussen\nThe greatest error message in Haiku ever was:\n\nI am so sorry.\n\nSomething struck me in the rear.\n\nI just ... wound up ... here.\n\n[https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Transcript:The_Tales_of_Ba_Si...](https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Transcript:The_Tales_of_Ba_Sing_Se)\n\n------\nemptybits\nThese are lovely and lighthearted with a 5-7-5 structure, but for anyone\ninterested in how English might actually express the spirit and content and\nstructure of haiku, here's a nice article.[1] Or, of course, WP as a jumping\noff point.[2]\n\nBut long live creativity in constrained form, whatever the label!\n\n[1] [http://britishhaikusociety.org.uk/2011/02/english-haiku-a-\nco...](http://britishhaikusociety.org.uk/2011/02/english-haiku-a-composite-\nview/)\n\n[2]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku_in_English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku_in_English)\n\n------\ngpvos\n\n        I ate your Web page.\n        Forgive me, it was juicy\n        and tart on my tongue.\n    \n\n(MIT 404 error from the early web)\n\n------\ntgdnt\nIt's a shame that the word haiku is now used for any arbitrary collection of 3\nlines with none of what would actually make them a haiku.\n\n~~~\ntraes\nAnd what would that be? They follow the 5-7-5 structure, are you just\ndisappointed by the lack of juxtaposition of something?\n\n(Disclaimer: not a poetry buff, just reading other comments)\n\n~~~\ntgdnt\nWell, I'm not a poetry buff either, but my superficial understanding is that a\nhaiku is characterized by humour and ambiguity, so that it would leave you\ncontemplating multiple possible senses, perhaps each one funnier or more\nintriguing than the next. And perhaps there would be some tension in\nunderstanding which meaning would be most intended, as it were. \"...expressing\nmuch and suggesting more in the fewest possible words.\" (Britannica) I think a\nlot of contemporary haiku express little and suggest nothing.\n\nNothing wrong with the page or the writing there, I'm only saying that as the\nword is increasingly used in a more superficial way as I think is the case\nhere, the historical form of poetry known as haiku has no name of its own any\nmore, which becomes a problem especially in the age of search engines where\npresent usage is all that matters.\n\nMy being grouchy plays a big part here too.\n\n------\nwackro\nReminds me of The Tao of Programming.\n\n[https://www.mit.edu/~xela/tao.html](https://www.mit.edu/~xela/tao.html)\n\nHuge pearls of wisdom.\n\n------\ndragonshed\nAn oldie but goodie\n\n    \n    \n      > Server is willing  \n      > Alas, the file is crafty\n      > It cannot be found\n\n------\nTaniwha\nEINTR please excuse me\n\nwhat you were doing stops\n\nnow time for my stuff\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMad Max violence stalks Venezuela's lawless roads - smacktoward\nhttps://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-economy-trucks-widerimage/mad-max-violence-stalks-venezuelas-lawless-roads-idUSKBN1FT1G9\n======\nindescions_2018\nRegime change is currently on the table. In the event of further economic\ncollapse.\n\nWhat Would a U.S. Intervention in Venezuela Look Like?\n\n[https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/venezuela/2017-11-08...](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/venezuela/2017-11-08/what-\nwould-us-intervention-venezuela-look)\n\n~~~\narmenarmen\nUS intervention seems like an option. Especially given the fact that Venezuela\nis looking to sell oil for\nYuan[[https://www.forbes.com/sites/ellenrwald/2017/09/15/venezuela...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/ellenrwald/2017/09/15/venezuelas-\nlatest-currency-decision-shows-desperation/#5f8fd5a53094)]\n\na move that has been the strongest predictor of US intervention in the past 2\ndecades.\n\n~~~\nrtpg\nWhat are the other cases of US intervention in this style? I can understand\nthe consternation at some level, but has something happened in the past 2\ndecades that I just missed?\n\n~~~\narmenarmen\nHussein began selling oil for Euros shortly before the US invaded in 2003,\nGadaffi was looking to sell oil for gold shortly before the US decided 'more\nfreedom' was in order.\n\nMight just be a happy coincidence, but the petrodollar is a huge part of the\nUS Dollar's value.\n\n~~~\nnathanaldensr\nI'm not sure why you're being downvoted for stating facts. This is a well-\nknown theory for when the US government chooses to intervene in other\ncountries' affairs.\n\n~~~\nViliam1234\nI bought a bottle of olive oil recently in a supermarket, and paid with Euros.\nI expect the American imperialists to bomb the shop soon.\n\n(just kidding)\n\n------\ntim333\nIt's quite impressively mucked up. I wonder if there's some way of returning\nto sane government of if they have to wait 35 years for Maduro to die of old\nage.\n\n~~~\naclsid\nI really hope so. This is a beautiful country that deserves better. Oil has\nmade us rich and now screwed us up in a massive way.\n\n~~~\ndmix\nOil is not what _caused_ the food shortages, it's what allowed the government\nto convince everyone their policies were working during the good times, while\nthey depleted their cash reserves to cover the massive unsustainable hole\ntheir radical social policies were burning in their pocket.\n\nFood shortages were a result of government enacted price controls,\nexpropriation of farmland, and centralization of financial markets. Which\nsubsequently disrupted local food production, scared away foreign imports, and\nreduced access to critically needed foreign currency.\n\nNo country can produce ALL of their own food. Imports are a necessity, even\nfor socialist countries. Artificially reducing prices, fucking over all of\nyour domestic business talent, and severely limiting foreign currency is a\n(predictable) recipe for a massive food crisis.\n\nVenezuela suffered persistent food shortages well before the oil \"crisis\" (as\nearly as 2002-2003) [1] ...meanwhile every other non-socialist petrol-state\nhas bounced back from the crisis, EXCEPT Venezuela.\n\nWhen Chavez came to power he announced \"capitalism was dead\" to the cheers of\nfarmers. Those farmers are now starving and flooding over the border to\nColombia whose \"capitalist\" food markets offer both greater variety and far\ngreater supply. The oil crisis merely exposed the complete failure of their\n\"modern\" economic system.\n\nYet the Venezuelan government continue to blame the west for all of their\nfailures. And local \"hoarders\" and \"speculators\" for food shortages [2].\n\nIt's obvious that looking in the mirror and admitting personal responsibility\nwould be political suicide for the pseudo-dictators and all of their corrupt\nfriends.\n\n[1]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Venezuela](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Venezuela)\n\n[2] [https://www.economist.com/news/americas/21571445-cost-\npostpo...](https://www.economist.com/news/americas/21571445-cost-postponing-\ninevitable-devaluation-out-stock)\n\n------\ncobbzilla\nyeah that's not a sensationalist headline at all.\n\n~~~\ndrb91\nSure it’s not flaming guitars, but for once the movie reference seems more\nexaggeration than fiction.\n\n~~~\nmegaman22\nThe first Mad Max was not particularly post-apocalyptic - the world was\nfalling down, but the vestiges of society were still rather strong, and the\nlunatic fringe like Toecutter were just motorcycle gangs cranked up to 11.\n\nThings have gotten weirder and weirder in every installment since.\n\n~~~\nmeesterdude\n> Things have gotten weirder and weirder in every installment since\n\nReality is following suit\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWestern surge in obesity may have been caused by a virus - vl\nhttp://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/western-surge-in-obesity-may-have-been-caused-by-a-virus-2084737.html\n\n======\nVBprogrammer\nI'm disinclined to believe this study purely on the basis that I've yet to\nmeet an heavily overweight person who did not have a terrible diet to exercise\nratio.\n\nI wonder how good the science behind it is!\n\n~~~\nbrudgers\n_I wonder how good the science behind it is!_\n\nBetter than anecdote according to the article.\n\n~~~\ncrpatino\nCorrelation != Causation\n\nThe article revolves around how much more likely it is for obese children to\nbe infected by the virus, how much more likely it is for children infected to\nbe obese, and how much heavier are the infected children than the rest (even\nthan obese but not infected children).\n\nThis is hardly surprising for a virus that specifically targets fat cells!\n\n~~~\nbrudgers\nI agree that correlation does not _necessarily_ imply causation.\n\nHowever seeing as correlation _always_ accompanies causation, it's not the\nworst place to start an investigation.\n\nAnd viruses have been known to cause epidemics.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAn easy to follow design course for programmers - thecosas\nhttp://hackdesign.org/\n======\nfasouto\nI tried to watch the first video but I cannot use netflix in my country. No\nproblem, let's watch the youtube playlist\"The uploader has not made this video\navailable in your country.\" Ok, I will rent it on youtube: \"This movie is not\navailable in your country.\"\n\nAnd then they ask why the people use the pirate bay...\n\n~~~\nashray\nExactly, why is this content available to US users for free (via Youtube) but\nI have to pay because I'm outside of the US ? I guess it's to do with youtube\nad revenues for US impressions but as a customer it makes me feel a bit\nshafted considering that you will, in no way, make $3.99 from a single US user\nwatching this on youtube.\n\nHowever, I appreciate that you're doing this course for 'free' and I do think\nit's a great idea. Just wish I didn't have to pay for the very first video\nthat I want to watch. Why not provide a TPB magnet link ?\n\n~~~\nwells-riley\nIt really sucks. In fact, I wholly believe that many people will turn away\nfrom Hack Design because there's essentially a paywall right out of the gate.\nI don't regret my choice to start with this film, though.\n\nObjectified had a profound impact on me as a designer. I first watched it in a\nslump of disenchantment that my \"web design\" skills would never amount to\nanything valuable or earth-shattering. This film gave me perspective. It\nshowed me that, in extreme cases, design can make the world a better place.\n\nThere are moments in this film that give me the shakes. It resonates so deeply\nwith what I believe, and what I want to achieve during my career. I can't\nthink of any better way to help put hackers into the mindset that I believe is\nmost conducive to learning the basics of design.\n\nI hope you figure out a way around paying an exorbitant amount of money to\nwatch the film, and hopefully see you next week for Lesson 1.\n\n~~~\ntitlex\nI'm glad that Objectified seems to have had such a large impact on you, but\nthis really isn't a good way of starting this course, or any course for that\nmatter. Reading Dieter Rams' ten principles of \"good design\"[1] would be much\nmore practical.\n\nAlso, if the site is going to be focused on helping people with design, you\nshould make sure the design of the actual site is good. Few issues that I saw:\n\n-404 page should at least have the logo to know you're still on the same site\n\n-/courses & /lessons/0 should have the full logo with the page title elsewhere\n\n-Log in page animation does nothing for design and can confuse people into thinking they can type after the text\n\n-Has already been mentioned, but the contrast in some areas could use work. Tasks for example should be the main focus point, yet the text is light grey.\n\n-Using social media icons everywhere takes away from design IMO\n\n[1]\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieter_Rams#Rams.27_ten_princip...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieter_Rams#Rams.27_ten_principles_of_.22good_design.22)\n\n------\nCyranix\nI hate to be \"that guy\" but I'm genuinely having a hard time reading this\npage.\n\n    \n    \n      * thin white text on light grey buttons\n      * thin light grey text on almost matching light grey background\n        (anti-spam message below email input)\n      * small thin light grey text on white background\n      * on highlight, dark grey text on... burnt orange?!\n    \n\nI'm in the target market for this program -- a developer whose design skills\nare pretty weak -- but the landing page is a big turn-off. Even I can\nrecognize when fonts are needlessly small and low-contrast.\n\nEDIT: Pull up your favorite color contrast analyzer and run this site through\nit. Using AccessColor, the results are ~4% failure and ~75% warning for WCAG\n1.0 standards.\n\n~~~\neranation\nThere is a site dedicated to the topic actually:\n<http://contrastrebellion.com/>\n\nI think there is a difference between \"looks good aesthetically\" and\n\"readable\" and sometimes making it more readable doesn't overlap with pure\nartistic choices, so sometimes it's the best designers that fall into this\ntrap.\n\nEdit: see previous discussion on this here:\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2807047>\n\n~~~\nCyranix\nI might cut them a bit more slack if the image to the CTA wasn't for\n\"Typography Crash Course\"!\n\nThanks for the reminder on Constrast Rebellion.\n\n------\nhappywolf\nIn case anybody is not aware, TreeHouse has a lot of design courses available\nfor free.\n\n<http://teamtreehouse.com/library>\n\nI am in Singapore and as like other people here, has hit a pay-wall. The issue\nis at the landing page, it says: \"Receive a design course in your inbox each\nweek\" which gives me an impression these courses are free. I understand good\nthings usually aren't free, but not saying it up front until I gave my email\naddress is something that I don't like. Therefore, I am not going back\n\n------\nrvkennedy\nI'd feel happier going along with this is the commercial relationship between\nhackdesign.org and the makers of the Objectified documentary was upfront and\nclear before sign-up for a putatively free course. There's nothing wrong with\nmaking money this way (if they are, I can't tell). But tell us, before asking\nfor email addresses: what it actually costs, and whether (in your country) you\ncan even get the required content.\n\n------\nwasd\n\"Application Offline for Maintenance\" at 3:40 PM PST.\n\nEdit 1: And at 3:41 PM its up. Spoke too soon.\n\nEdit 2: And its back to a screeching halt at 3:42 PM.\n\nEdit 3: Ups and downs. Works for 1-2 minutes and then breaks. 4:15 pm. I still\nhaven't managed to read a whole lesson. Its a slow day so I'll check again in\nhalf an hour.\n\n~~~\nalexkiwi\nBack online now.\n\n------\nkurtfunai\nSite took a long time to load, but when it did, I gladly signed up. Got my\nfirst email already.\n\nReally looking forward to this, thanks.\n\n* Edit, It appears that the video \"Objectified\" (Or at least the preview) is not available to rent from YouTube in Canada. \"The uploader has not made this video available in your country.\" :(\n\nI don't have time to try renting it right now, but I'll test it this weekend.\nPerhaps only the trailer is unavailable. Can anyone test/confirm?\n\n~~~\nmathewsanders\nHow about Vimeo? <http://vimeo.com/12793996>\n\n~~~\nkurtfunai\nThis works, thank you!\n\n------\nwells-riley\nIf you're outside the US, try here for Objectified:\n<http://www.objectifiedfilm.com/stream/>\n\n------\nnnq\nTip: make your lesson 1 a \"free demo\" or something if you want to get more\npeople interested! (the only reason I didn't say \"fuck this\" and moved on\nafter amazon said it won't stream the video to me because I'm not in the US\nwas because I happened to remember the Helvetica documentary and thought maybe\nit's worth the pain...)\n\n------\nfelipesabino\nFor the 1st lesson I don't have Netflix and the youtube playlist is not\navailable in my country (Brazil) :(\n\n------\ngreggman\nI was all excited and then ... Seriously? Objectified is your first lesson?\n\n[http://www.amazon.com/Objectified/product-\nreviews/B002SOUVKU...](http://www.amazon.com/Objectified/product-\nreviews/B002SOUVKU/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_2?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addTwoStar&showViewpoints=0)\n\n------\nsergiotapia\nI'm not sure if this is free or not. Someone in the comments below mentioned\nthis was a bait and switch scam where they make it look free, then push some\npayments on you.\n\nAny confirmation on the 'free' status of this course?\n\n------\nAskHugo\nI can't seem to be able to change my password. Is that not implemented yet or\nam I not looking in the right place?\n\nGreat idea by the way. Looking forwards to the lessons.\n\n~~~\nwells-riley\nNot implemented yet. You'll have that functionality once we launch.\n\n------\njuiceandjuice\nObjectified is okay. The Eames documentary is much more interesting in terms\nof the design process, as is the Milton Glaser one.\n\n------\nkaichanvong\nSuper slow to load the page and just got an application error.\n\nLooks nice, hopefully I'll get on and learn a thing or two :)\n\n------\n542458\nLooks like their servers aren't quite up to the task - I'm only getting half-\nformed content.\n\n~~~\ngketuma\nI can't even get the first lesson. This is a lesson to all developers. Don't\nunderestimate the power of HN.\n\n~~~\nwells-riley\nOn it, fellas. We weren't expecting so many beta signups... didn't think we\nneeded more dynos until launch ;)\n\nCheck back in a few minutes, we're already working on it.\n\n~~~\nPommeDeTerre\nHow much traffic are you actually getting?\n\nHN doesn't drive all that much traffic to a site, even for sites at the top of\nthe first page. It's virtually nothing compared to what Slashdot could drive\nto a site in its heyday, or what reddit's front page can drive today.\n\nI don't mean to offend you, but something is seriously wrong with your web\napp, your database(s) or your other infrastructure if it can't withstand a\nrelatively minor amount of traffic. It's hard to tell for sure given all of\nthe application errors, but it seems like your web app's functionality is\npretty basic.\n\n~~~\nmeric\nHow many requests per second do you think a website needs to be capable of\nserving to handle the traffic from HN? (Performance newbie here)\n\n~~~\nPommeDeTerre\nWell, it depends on the site in question, of course. But we can make some\nestimates, if you want.\n\nIn the past, I've talked to some colleagues who've had content hit the front\npage here, and they reported numbers ranging from around 1,000 unique visitors\nto about 30,000 visitors over a one-day period. So it can vary quite a bit,\napparently.\n\nLet's assume that things are more intense than that, and go with 50,000 or so\nunique visitors in a single hour, distributed rather evenly over that time\nperiod, making 2 page views each. Let's also assume that our web server serves\nup 20 style sheets, JavaScript files, images, and other assets each page view.\nWe'll also assume that this is an interactive web app, so there'll be some\ndatabase activity, too. No CDN is being used.\n\nSo we're talking around 2 million requests over that hour. Since we're\nassuming they're evenly distributed, for the most part, we'll assume we're\ndealing with about 550 to 600 requests per second.\n\nThat may seem like a lot, but it really isn't. Many of the requests will be\nfor static content (JS scripts, style sheets, images, and so on), so they\nshould be trivial to serve up. Apache or nginx running on a modern, bottom-\ntier VPS should have no trouble keeping up with this.\n\nLikewise, assuming queries that aren't overly intensive, MySQL or PostgreSQL\nrunning on the same server should easily handle a few hundred queries per\nsecond. Only a fraction of the requests will actually involve any significant\nwork from the web app itself. It should not be considered unreasonable for the\nweb app to handle a few hundred requests per second.\n\nWe won't even consider using a reverse proxy like Varnish, for instance, to\nreduce some of the load on the web server, web app and database.\n\nKeep in mind that this is a relatively intense scenario, too, at least\ncompared to the activity than can be generated by an appearance on the HN\nfront page, as has been described to me in the past. In reality, we're likely\nlooking at much, much less traffic than in our estimate above, even during the\nperiod of peak activity.\n\nHopefully that helps explain why I think something is very wrong here if a\nrelatively basic web app can't keep up with a relatively moderate amount of\ntraffic.\n\n~~~\njustincormack\nI doubt that requests are that evenly distributed on a second by second basis\nso peak response rates might be a few times that for some seconds.\n\n------\nmdznr\nYou should also be giving those avatars height attributes. When some of them\nload in slower (Also, I see you're loading them @2x, essentially), it shifts\nthe formatting of the page a bit.\n\n------\nbinarydreams\nAny special reason why \"Objectified: A documentary for design\" is on Netflix\n(as it's not available in my country) and NOT Youtube ?\n\nAlso, getting heroku application error several times.\n\n------\nctruman\nSite loads fine for me. Cool first lesson, love the idea.\n\n------\nrcavezza\nMy girlfriend is interested in design, but she's not a hacker. Could anyone\nrecommend any courses for her? I haven't been able to find any.\n\n------\noboizt\nI can't get the page to load, but judging by the title, this is something I\ndesperately need as a programmer with zero aesthetic talent.\n\n------\ninfinityetc\nI am a designer, but I am really looking forward to this. New resources,\ninsights, and challenges can only help.\n\n------\nTommyDANGerous\nI wish they didn't make you do stuff, but I guess its a course. I want to just\nsee tips and tricks.\n\n------\nTinyBig\nLovely idea! You may want to mention in Week 0 that Objectified is also\navailable on Amazon Prime.\n\n------\nluney\nI am the target market for this. Unless I have to pay.\n\n------\nstavrianos\nThe unsubscribe link is missing an href.\n\n------\nholgersindbaek\nSite is down. Scale the servers!\n\n------\ndavidjnelson\nInternal server error\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n305 Russian GRU operatives unmasked because they registered their cars to GRU HQ - rreichman\nhttps://www.snip.today/main/post/personal-info-of-305-russian-intelligence-operatives-leaked-because-they-registered-their-cars-to-gru-hq/\n======\naurizon\nThis makes me wonder if they are stalking horses, and the real agents are not\nso bad at tradecraft\n\n~~~\nrreichman\nOccam's Razor says they acted dumbly. But perhaps.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nJob loss due to AI – How bad is it going to be? - andreyk\nhttps://www.skynettoday.com/editorials/ai-automation-job-loss\n======\npbtpu40\nHonestly i don't think it's going to be that bad. I work in a group where we\ndo end to end IoT to AI. AI and statistical significance is a BFD. I'm not\nseeing anything indicating that AI is going to become a human brain equivalent\nin the near term.\n\nReally that's when we should be afraid. Ultimately jobs will change in style\nand you may be do something different than you were originally because we're\nsolving the problem differently.\n\nAI and ML have become buzzwords mostly thrown about for VC and by people who\ndon't really understand it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Tech Education. Done Right. For Free - dhandalanawaz\nhttps://hackerbayuniversity.com/\n======\njbucaran\nI am almost sure \"in fact\" is always two words.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSJWJS - li4ick\nhttps://blog.cleancoder.com/uncle-bob/2018/12/14/SJWJS.html\n======\nheyjudy\nEquality of outcome collective punishment/self-confidence destroying identity\npolitic advancement and self-righteous, vindictive chip-shouldering fall under\nthe category of: \"play stupid games, win stupid prizes.\"\n\nI still ponder the logic, intentionality or unintended consequences for why,\nwhen I was a kid, I was forced bused 90 minutes (3 hours a day both ways) to a\ngang-infested, \"magnet\" school in the height of the CIA-affiliate-backed crack\nepidemic and gang war when there was a perfectly good school one block away\nfrom where I lived. Maybe it was a consequence of vacillating public policy\nfashionablism that arbitrarily and capriciously rewrote and reworked systems\nthat were both sabotaged and ignorantly reorganized. I previously attended a\nprivate school that explicitly didn't go along with the public school's\nabandonment of practices and techniques that were proven to work. Public\nschools implemented sweeping changes with little or no scientific evidence for\ntheir effectiveness nor risk management.\n\n------\ntowaway1138\nIt's not just that it's insipid. More importantly, this sort of thing makes it\njust that much harder for the women who have been killing it to be taken\nseriously.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nStoring hundreds of millions of simple key-value pairs in Redis - mikeyk\nhttp://instagram-engineering.tumblr.com/post/12202313862/storing-hundreds-of-millions-of-key-value-pairs-in\n======\nmoxiemk1\nThe the code the article links to for zipmap.c\n(<https://github.com/antirez/redis/blob/unstable/src/zipmap.c>) is _rather_\nliterate.\n\nI haven't dug extremely deeply into the sources for many F/OSS projects; the\ncode I'm interested in reading has been inevitably opaque (at least to my\ninexperience). This particular source file (and maybe the rest of Redis?) is\nreally good. I think I'll be taking many more looks at Redis (code- and usage-\nwise) in the future.\n\n~~~\nmikeyk\nBack when we were getting started with Redis, the readability / concise nature\nof the project was one of the things that most excited me about it (here's\nwhat it looked like around then:\n[https://github.com/antirez/redis/tree/0b420168b485d0a9c4b66d...](https://github.com/antirez/redis/tree/0b420168b485d0a9c4b66d0a6c341597fb155947))\n\n~~~\ncperciva\nI'm curious, what in particular makes you say that code is \"readable\"?\n\nCoding style varies dramatically from person to person, and I don't mean this\nas a criticism of antirez, but any code which doesn't have at minimum a one-\nline comment before each function explaining its purpose immediately fails the\n\"readability\" test for me. Obviously this isn't a problem for you, so I'm\ncurious to hear what your tastes are.\n\n~~~\nantirez\nHi cperciva, I actually think that comments are not a so important part of\ncode quality. I tend to add comments where my code risks to be not clear by\nitself, and the zipmap.c code is indeed more commented than my average code\nsince it is all about encoding stuff in a binary blob string, playing with\npointers, and so forth. So actually too much comments may even be a sign that\nsomething is bad about the code.\n\nIMHO good code should be readable since the purpose of different files,\nfunctions, statements, data structures, should be obvious (at different levels\nof course), and every time it is not obvious there should be a comment helping\nthe reader to understand what is going on.\n\nMy idea is that programmers with time develop a feeling about when a comment\nis needed. For instance a comment is needed all the times you are writing\nsomething that avoids a specific problem but you'll likely not remember why it\nwas needed in a few weeks. Other times comments are useful since the flow of\nthe function is complex and there is no easy way to refactor it into many\npieces, so comments help to organize the function in smaller conceptual parts,\nand so forth.\n\nThere is no absolute rule, but the reality is that IMHO the test is simple to\ndo for external people: good code is easy to understand and modify without\nbeing an expert of that code base.\n\nThis topic is a good idea for a blog post, since I thought a lot about this\nissues lately. For instance if you want a place in Redis where code should be\nimproved is in the handling of blocking operations: there are a few things in\nthat code that are absolutely non obvious even adding comments, and you either\nare a lot \"into it\" or you'll not have an easy time understanding it. I'm\nplanning a refactoring of that piece of code.\n\n~~~\ncperciva\n_I tend to add comments where my code risks to be not clear by itself_\n\nI used to take that position, but I've started adding more comments in order\nto avoid \"mental stack overflows\". Suppose I'm reading function A and trying\nto understand it, then I find a call to function B which doesn't have any\ncomment explaining what it does; I then go look at function B, and find it has\na call to function C which is equally lacking in commentary; and by the time\nI've read the code in function C to understand what it does and gone back to\nfunction B to understand what it's doing I've completely lost track of what I\nwas looking at in function A.\n\nOf course, if you already know what most of the code is doing you don't run\ninto such stack overflows because whatever code you're looking at is probably\nonly calling functions you already understand. But for people who are new to\nthe code -- or people who haven't looked at it for a couple years and have\nforgotten most of the details -- I think asking people to read the code to\nfigure out what a function does is too much of a bar to understanding.\n\n~~~\nsimplify\nIn my opinion, if you can't figure out what a function does by its name and\nits parameter names, it is a poorly named and thus poorly documented function.\n\nI think function and variable naming is the one of the most important aspects\nof programming. Without good naming, you can easy double the amount of time it\ntakes to edit and extend functionality.\n\n~~~\nmbreese\nA function may have the perfect name at the time you wrote it. It may make\nperfect sense within the context that you initially conceived of it. However,\nafter some time away from it, when you're trying to mentally rebuild that\ncontext, it may make as much sense as def foo().\n\nGood naming is important, but you also have to know the context, which is more\ndifficult to remember.\n\n~~~\nryanpetrich\nIf it only makes sense within the context it was conceived under, that's not a\nperfect name. A function name should make sense for someone with understanding\nof the domain, but no understanding of the code. When that's not possible,\ncomments definitely help.\n\n------\ngorset\n1 million pair using 16 MB is about 16 bytes per pair, which is perfectly fine\nbut nothing impressive.\n\nThe dataset is static, so a simple naive solution would be to create a big\narray sorted by key. Assuming both photo and user IDs use 4 bytes each, this\nwould result in about 2GB of data. Then use binary search to lookup values.\n\nHowever, if we really want to reduce the size, we could build a finite state\nmachine from the dataset (maybe reverse the values to increase the level of\nshared suffixes) which should reduce the size by an order of magnitude.\n\n~~~\ncperciva\n_The dataset is static_\n\nIf I read the article correctly, existing entries won't change but new entries\nwill be inserted.\n\n~~~\nmikeyk\nYep, ~30 inserts per second go in, so it's not static.\n\n------\npetercooper\nFirst, I love Redis :-)\n\nSecond, this functionality seems to be a stop gap to support old users who may\nbe using old clients. So they need an array of 300 million elements each\ncontaining an integer of 12 million or less. Assuming 32 bit values (24 would\nwork but.. efficiency), that's a 1,144MB array which, in theory, could be\nstored as a file and cached through the filesystem cache.\n\nI wonder how the performance of that would stack up against Redis. The\nconvenience of Redis being a network daemon out of the box is potentially the\nbig win here, though the memory usage even in the optimized case seems to be\naround 4x given that it's doing more than the task necessarily requires (from\nmy interpretation of it - I could be wrong!)\n\n------\ncperciva\n_Best of all, lookups in hashes are still O(1), making them very quick._\n\nHow quick is \"very quick\"? I was hoping to see some performance benchmarks,\nnot just memory usage benchmarks.\n\n~~~\nminimax\n_Best of all, lookups in hashes are still O(1), making them very quick._\n\nBased on the zipmap code (linked below), a zipmap is implemented as an array\nof adjacent (key, value) pairs. Lookup in a zipmap is actually linear search.\nThere is no hashing. The lookup will run in time proportional to the number of\nentries in the map.\n\n _We found this setting was best around 1000; any higher and the HSET commands\nwould cause noticeable CPU activity_\n\nThis shouldn't be surprising either, as the redis documentation states that\n\"If a specially encoded value will overflow the configured max size, Redis\nwill automatically convert it into normal encoding.\" Their higher level\nhashing strategy of dividing the media id by 1000 guarantees that 1000 is the\nmaximum number of entries in any zipmap. Setting hash-max-zipmap-entries to\nanything lower than 1000 means some of their zipmaps will be converted to\nnormal redis key/value encodings.\n\n<https://github.com/antirez/redis/blob/unstable/src/zipmap.c>\n\n~~~\nfirefoxman1\nWow I didn't realize that redis zipmap lookups aren't actually O(1). I found a\ndocument that describes zipmaps as \"very memory efficient data structure to\nrepresent string to string maps, at the cost of being O(N) instead of O(1) for\nmost operations. Since the constant times of this data structure are very\nsmall, and the zipmaps are converted into real hash tables once they are big\nenough, the amortized time of Redis hashes is still O(1), and in the practice\nsmall zipmaps are not slower than small hash tables because they are designed\nfor good cache locality and fast access.\"\n\n<http://redis-docs.readthedocs.org/en/latest/Hashes.html>\n\n------\nmythz\nI love companies like Instagram who take the time to share their scaling\nissues and experiences.\n\n------\nthezilch\nYou can find similar examples -- ruby code for the \"exact\" implementation as\ndescribed by Instagram -- of this and other redis, memory optimization(s) at\nthe Redis site: <http://redis.io/topics/memory-optimization>\n\n------\ncatwell\nLookups are not really O(1), they're O(number of keys per hash) as long as the\nhashes are zipmaps. When they become full blown hashes the memory usage\nincreases.\n\nStill, this is a very good way to store a lot of key/value pairs in Redis.\n\n~~~\npjscott\nBig-O notation refers to _asymptotic_ behavior. The zipmap encoding of hashes\nonly matters for small values bounded by a constant, so hash lookups are still\nexpected O(1) time in Redis.\n\n</extreme-pedantry>\n\n~~~\ncatwell\nYour point would be valid if the memory gain observed was not directly\ndependent on the fact that hashes are zipmap-encoded. So the trade-off here is\nbetween the constant factor of time complexity and the constant factor of\nmemory complexity.\n\n------\npedigree\nWhy use clear text numbers? Most of the time, you're going to be using large\nnumbers, so binary pack them as save more space.\n\ni had the same issue, normal storage was 1.1gb of space, HSET down to 200mb\nand binary packing every integer down dbl() bought it right down to 163mb of\nmemory (32bit instance). For that 163mb, I was slicing a md5 of the field for\nthe hset prefix, packing that and then using the remainer as the hset suffix.\n(due to the data format of the input field)\n\n~~~\neurleif\nInternally, redis stores integers as 64-bit binary values, not strings:\n<http://redis.io/commands/incr>.\n\n~~~\nLeafStorm\nI don't think it does that for keys and values in hashes though. The only int-\nrelated optimization it does in the collections is integer sets.\n\n------\nzellyn\nWhy use the whole Media ID as the key within the bucket, rather than just the\nlast three digits?\n\n~~~\nctoestreich\nI think they were trying to keep the hash sizes to ~1000 elements each key. At\na 3 digit key you would be increasing the hashes to 300k elements each. You\nshould augment the scripts and see if that has an impact on the performance,\nwould be curious to see.\n\n------\nexamancer\nThe hash data type is probably the most awesome and underused feature of\nredis. Here is a small gem I wrote to expose it a little better in ruby:\n<https://github.com/lyconic/redis-native_hash>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nEight Out Of China’s Top Nine Government Officials Are Scientists - kkleiner\nhttp://singularityhub.com/2011/05/17/eight-out-of-chinas-top-nine-government-officials-are-scientists/\n======\nlionhearted\nBut, but, but... they're not democratic! If only they'd put more power in the\nhands of the common man, they too could enjoy such luminous choices for\nstatesmen as McCain vs. Obama, Bush II vs. Kerry, Bush II vs Gore, Dole vs.\nClinton, Bush I vs. Clinton...\n\n...we gotta keep saber rattling that our way is better than theirs. Boo China,\nboo.\n\nEdit: To the downvoter - okay, I'm joking around. But which of these premises\ndo you disagree with?\n\n1\\. The United States has more electoral politics in choosing its leaders than\nChina.\n\n2\\. The last 20 years of leadership in China show a much more nuanced\nunderstanding of policy and statesmanship than American leadership, where\ncharisma and mass appeal tends to be more important than \"hard credentials.\"\n\n3\\. There might be a cause-and-effect relationship between point 1 and point\n2.\n\nDisagree with any of those? Yeah I'm joking around, but it's worth thinking\nabout, no? Or maybe it's upsetting to think about... that I sympathize with...\n\n~~~\nDuff\nCommunist governments have usually attracted intellectuals to higher levels of\npower -- the results so far haven't been uplifting.\n\nI don't think that a comparison of the US system vs. China is going to produce\na clear \"winner\", only a list of pros/cons whose weighting will be shaped by\nyour perceptions and bias.\n\nThe explosive growth of China hides most of the warts of the system. When you\nhave economic growth so fast that new, uninhabited cities get built, there's\nobviously some excess and policy issues at play.\n\nThe US is an imperial power, and the conduct of policy and statesmanship\nchanges in that role. While the President is the front-man and sets the\nagenda, the work is done and policy is made by anonymous officials in the\nsprawling bureaucracy. And I betcha if you analyzed a Chinese and American\nbureaucrat, you would find that they look, act and think alike.\n\n~~~\nlionhearted\nNuanced comment here, good analysis. I agree with a lot, but two nitpicks\nabout the first point -\n\n1\\. I'd say Communist _movements_ attract intellectuals. Communist governments\nusually do not employ those intellectuals for very long after taking power.\n\n2\\. Despite the name and symbols, I don't think China is actually Communist\nany more. I don't know what to call them. If they remain a world power and\ncontinue to thrive, I'd bet quite a lot that a new word will be coined for\ntheir precise political/economic/geographical/military mix - there's quite\nliterally no comps in history for what they're doing right now.\n\n~~~\ndtegart\nFor number 2. you could argue that they are mercantilist. Most of the\nenterprises are state backed, much like the Dutch or British East India\ncompanies. So the state takes a pretty big role in determining which companies\nwill succeed.\n\n~~~\nelectromagnetic\nYou could argue that the Chinese state as a whole is in fact a large\ncorporation.\n\n\"From each according to his ability, to each according to his need(s).\"\n\nA leaders best ability is to lead. Hence, you would end up with intellectuals,\nscientists, economists and others who have a strong grasp of complex theories\nand systems. Opposed to having actors and political pretty boys leading.\n\nMarx's saying goes even further with the corporate metaphor. The lower the\n'worker' in the 'corporation' the less they get 'paid'/'need'. How is there\nany real difference with how Walmart views its minimum wage workers to how\nChina views its farmers or sweatshop workers? From the top they're all just\npawns to make a profit.\n\n------\nrun4yourlives\nWhile this is no doubt going to be unpopular here on HackerNews, I'm going to\nposit the following: This is almost as bad as have 8 of 9 people being\nCreationists.\n\nBetter than 90% of a council making decisions for the whole country being of\nthe same persuasion is prone to severe group think. Scientists (or rather,\nengineers, if you RTFA) aren't immune to this any more than any of us are.\n\nIf you look at the best run businesses, they are often composed of people with\nvariable backgrounds - people that approach problems from different\nperspectives. This has two major benefits: First, it allows you to gain from\nsolutions that come from as many types of thought processes as possible and\nmore importantly, it prevents you from blindly following dogma - if you can't\nconvince somebody that doesn't follow your thought patterns of the viability\nor necessity of a particular idea, it probably shouldn't be perused.\n\nOne child policies that have resulted in a generation of males without females\nis pretty much exactly the type of policy I'd expect from a group of\nengineers.\n\n~~~\nmaxklein\nThe one child policy was not created by this cadre of leadership. The\nmale/female imbalance also happens in India, which does not have such a\npolicy.\n\n~~~\nrun4yourlives\nWhile India does in fact have a similar imbalance, I invite you to look at the\nproblem in the context of this image:\n\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sex_ratio_below_15_per_cou...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sex_ratio_below_15_per_country_smooth.png)\n\nAlso: (order the chart descending by either at birth or <15)\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_sex_ratio>\n\nThe numbers are actually much stronger than I thought they would be.\n\n~~~\nmaxklein\nWhy are you picking out the data that best supports your thesis? 15–64 shows\nIndia and China at exactly the same ratio, even though India has no 1 child\npolicy at all. The gender imbalance problem does not come from the 1 child\npolicy. Don't pick and choose data to fit what you think, look at all of it.\n\n~~~\nrun4yourlives\nThe one child policy was only enacted in 1978. It stands to reason then that\nthe 15-64 bracket isn't fully representing the effects of the policy.\n\nThe only brackets that properly account for impact of the policy are the more\nrecent ones.\n\n~~~\nmaxklein\nJust look at it backwards. Even before the 1 child policy, both china and\nindia have had a gender imbalance favouring males. After the 1 child policy in\nchina alone, both india and china had a strong growth in gender imbalance,\nwith china being only somewhat stronger. Your \"control\" without the 1 child\npolicy also exhibited the same strong growth. A scientist would reasonably\nconclude that the 1 child policy seems to have little relevance to the issue,\nconsidering that another comparable country behaved in exactly the same manner\nwithout have such a policy in place.\n\n~~~\nrun4yourlives\nBoth China and India share pretty much exactly the same imbalance until the\nlast two age-cohorts as you suggest, but while both increase, China's does so\nsubstantially more. This can't be ignored as being \"exactly the same manner\".\nTo do so is being scientifically irresponsible.\n\nMy take is that both cultures have very prominent views on the preference for\nmale children. You can see this even in the large Chinese and Indian\ncommunities here in North America. What has most likely happened is that the\none child policy has simply enabled those cultural preferences in China much\nmore than the exist in India.\n\nIt's also interesting that India itself has at several times flirted with\nrestrictive population polices, including forced sterilization at right around\nthe same time as China introduced their family planning program.\n\nWhile that doesn't suggest that the one child policies are the _only_ cause, I\nthink there is enough evidence there to suggest they are a factor.\n\nNonetheless, all of this wasn't actually a real focus of my original point at\nall.\n\n------\ngeebee\nThis is a good article, but it does miss one incredibly important piece of the\npuzzle - the possibility that US citizens have an economically rational\naversion to PhDs in science and engineering. A recent RAND study supports this\npoint of view:\n\n<http://www.rand.org/pubs/issue_papers/IP241.html>\n\nI think it's critical to make science and engineering a desirable career path\nfor young americans, but simply \"making it cool\" isn't the way to go - and\ncould (as the article points out) actually be destructive in that it would\ncause harm to students who responded to the pr campaign only to find long\ntraining times and poor career prospects relative to their friends who did\nlaw, dentistry, medicine, mba, etc.\n\n~~~\nbaguasquirrel\nThat's funny... Americans don't have an economically rational aversion to\nbecoming movie stars in much the same way.\n\n~~~\ngeebee\nyeah, that is an amusing observation. of course, President Obama and various\ntalking heads don't fret about the shortage of Americans in film school.\n\nThe serious question is whether we should launch a PR campaign to encourage\nyoung people to make decisions that may lead (at least according to RAND) to\nlong training times with poor pay and career prospects _relative_ to other\npaths typically available to the \"best and brightest\".\n\n~~~\nxiaoma\nIf the issue is public policy, then the goal should be public good, not\nindividual good.\n\nIt's very possible that the best and brightest could live in greater comfort\nas criminals than scientists, but even if that were the case, any rational\ngovernment would encourage them to be scientists since that would be better\nfor the country.\n\nEdit: Seriously? Care to explain your reasoning, downmodders? Why would a\ngovernment encourage decisions that are destructive to society?\n\n~~~\ngeebee\nThat's not at all a bad point. There are some activities that economists view\naS rent collecting (or even wealth destroying) that are lucrative for the\nindividual. Scientists and engineers are generally seen as the opposite of\nthis (unless it's financial engineering). Almost every government actively\ntries to poach engineers from abroad...\n\nStill, I recommend you read the rand study. They discuss ways to make sci/eng\nmore appealing rather than launching a pr campaign to merely make it appear\nmore appealing. The second could end up creating an even greater aversion to\nthis career path.\n\n------\nigorlev\nIf you were educated in a communist country at any time from 50s to 80s you\nwould pretty much by default be either a scientist, an engineer, an architect\nor a doctor. Most likely an engineer.\n\nIt's like trying to predict the behavior of a Model-T buyer based on their\ncolor preference.\n\n------\ncjoh\nI'll point out its a rookie mistake to compare what is basically the executive\nbranch of China's government to America's representative branch. It's apples\nto oranges.\n\nLooking at the executive branch, the United States has:\n\nState, Hillary Clinton, Lawyer\n\nTreasury, Timothy Geithner, International Economics\n\nDefense, Robert Gates, PhD History\n\nJustice, Eric Holder, Lawyer\n\nInterior, Ken Salazar, Lawyer\n\nAgriculture, Tom Vilsack, Lawyer\n\nCommerce, Gary Locke, Lawyer\n\nLabor, Hilda Solis, MPA\n\nHealth Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, MPA\n\nHousing and Urban Development, Shaun Donovan, MPA, Masters in Architecture\n\nTransportation, Ray Lahood, B.S. Education and Sociology.\n\nDepartment of Energy, Stephen Chu, Ph.D. Physics\n\nVeterans Affairs, Eric Shinseki, Masters in English\n\nHomeland Security, Janet Napolitano, Lawyer\n\nVice President, Joe Biden, Lawyer\n\nChief of Staff, William Daley, Lawyer\n\nDirector OMB, Jacob Lew, Lawyer\n\nAdministrator EPA, Lisa Jackson, Chemical Engineering\n\nTrade Rep, Ron Kirk, Lawyer\n\nUN Ambassador, Susan Rice, Doctorate in Philosophy\n\nChairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, Austan Goolsbee, Ph. D Economics\n\nBetter to draw your comparisons with this, than with congress.\n\n------\nbendmorris\nNot to nitpick, but they're engineers. The previous President, Jiang Zemin,\nwas also an electrical engineer - before that generation, most leaders were\neducated by their experiences (i.e. the Long March) and not formally schooled.\n\nIt is interesting that not only are there cultural differences in the ways\nChinese and western leaders approach problems, but also there's the\n\"engineering\" approach vs. the \"legal\" or \"social sciences\" approach more\noften seen in western nations.\n\n~~~\nmoomin\nThe distinction between a scientist and an engineer is important here. In the\ndark days of modern China, mathematicians and scientists were regarded with as\nmuch suspicion as poets and philosophers. Engineering was one of the most\nintellectual professions you could have without being regarded as the enemy.\n(As for lawyers: there's not a lot of point in being a legal expert anywhere\nrule by fiat is common.)\n\nThe problem with the \"engineering\" approach is that it treats stability as an\naxiomatic good. It's quite hard to incorporate the rights of weird religious\ngroups, troublesome journalists and out-and-out revolutionaries into such a\nworld-view.\n\n~~~\nUnseelie\nA lot of that stability approach can be traced back through much of the\nhistory of the Han, to the point that I'd argue the engineering background\nisn't the source of the stabilizing pressure, but rather a facet of the Han\nculture.\n\n------\nEliezer\nEight Out Of Nine American Bloggers Cannot Distinguish Between The Concept of\nA \"Scientist\" (As In Someone Who Devises Reproducible Experiments To Test\nIdeas To Determine Whether They Are Right Or Wrong, And Rejects The Wrong\nOnes) And Anyone In A Technical Profession.\n\n~~~\nmahrain\n...and did you know that 78% of all statistics are made up on the spot?\n\n------\nDanielN\nChinese government is dominated by engineers for the same reason that US\ngovernment is dominated by lawyers, Japanese government is dominated by\nbusinessmen and French government is dominated by doctors and teachers. These\nare the most easily accessible prestige positions in the given country.\n\n------\nApocryphon\nA relevant article from 2009 contrasting prevalence of American lawyer\npoliticians vs. Chinese engineer politicians vs. French civil servants and so\non.\n\n<http://www.economist.com/node/13496638?story_id=13496638>\n\n------\nprzemelek\nOne thing ;-) Author of this text wrote: \"You have to be pretty popular to get\nelected, so should we conclude that Chinese people in general look up to and\nadmire their scientists?\" But those in China's government wasn't elected in\npopular vote and for sure not in election like those in US or other western\ncountries. So it isn't in this way that Chines people in general look up to\nand admire scientists, but Communists Party of China look up to and admire\nscientists.\n\nBut in general I agree, it looks that China and Korea are much more in science\nthan in humanities.\n\n~~~\nhuherto\ninteresting observation. It seems to me that the previous generation of\nleaders had an aspiration that the new leaders were better prepared than them.\nI imagine the old leaders had an admiration for science and engineering even\nthough they were not really knowledgeable about it; they probably selected and\ngroomed the new leaders with this in mind.\n\n------\nwestiseast\nThere's an emphasis on science, but it's not an Enlightenment style love of\nthe scientific method that drives this phenomenon.\n\nWhy not come at it from a different angle - what good would it be to be a\nphilosopher in China? How far would you get? Or what about lawyers, in a\ncountry that has a pretty unhealthy disregard for legal process?\n\nNo, the reason scientists and engineers form that majority is because it's how\nyou get ahead in Chinese society. China doesn't want (or tolerate) artistic\nand liberal sensitivities - it wants economic development and industry.\n\n------\ngaius\nAlso Yulia Tymoshenko, rightful heir to the throne of Ukraine, is a\ncyberneticist. It seems to be a regular trend in former Communist countries,\nthat political leaders have a technical background.\n\n~~~\nllcoolv\nNot really. For one, China is still a totalitarian (communist is really\nwrongly used here) country. And also my impression is that Tymoshenko is more\nof an isolated case - my guess would be that most of the current post-\ntotalitarian leaders are either former officers (Putin, Borissov, Basescu),\nhumanitarian/law majors (Komorowski, Parvanov, Orban, Gasparovic) or\neconomists (Havel).\n\nUnfortunately most of them come from the first category :/\n\n~~~\nWuzzy\nI don't know much about the other ones, but Havel most assuredly is not an\neconomist. He has a cultural background and is an author of a number of\ntheater pieces. His successor at the post of Czech president (Klaus) is an\neconomist, so maybe that's where the confusion comes from.\n\nJust as a matter of interest - the current Czech prime minister, who, at least\nin theory, has more power than the president, has graduated in physics, and\nhas actually worked in research for some time. Angela Merkel (coming from\nEastern Germany) has also a scientific background (in physics and chemistry).\n\nBut otherwise, it seems you are right about the fact that there is no such\nrule about post-totalitarian leaders being educated in engineering or sciences\nin general.\n\n~~~\nllcoolv\nI stand corrected - just read that Havel has studied economcs for only two\nyears before dropping out and that's probably the reason I have remembered him\n(wrongly) as an economist - I must have read it somewhere and it has probably\nstuck in my mind.\n\nBtw, the rest of the Eastern European countries can learn a lot of things from\nthe Czechs.\n\n------\nshmulkey18\nPerhaps this should cause some reflection on the following question: why do\nscientists seem to be disproportionately inclined to serve authoritarian\nregimes?\n\nMy guess is that scientists believe that people like themselves -- people\nwhose ability in one field they imagine transfers to many others -- should\ncontrol the world, and those that they consider their intellectual inferiors\nshould shut up and surrender control to cognitive ubermenschen.\n\nUnfortunately, that idea hasn't worked out too well in the past.\n\n------\nstcredzero\n_Oh, we forgot about our head of the class: China. Astonishingly, since 1980\nChina has not won a single scientific Nobel Prize. Keep in mind, this is a\ncountry of 1.3 billion people._\n\nIf China is ruled by engineers, then it is ruled by groups that understand the\neconomic implications of the rocket equation and how this can be overcome\nusing existing technology. Moving off-world is going to be the next huge\nwatershed in human history and economic growth, much as the age of exploration\nand colonization of North America by Europeans was the last one.\n\nMaking the leap past Type I on the Kardashev scale won't necessarily involve\nNobel Prize winning breakthroughs in science.\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale>\n\nInstead, it will involve massive brute engineering and the political will to\ndevote the resources to bootstrap it. The Chinese \"Civilization State\", ruled\nby engineers, is in a unique position to marshall those resources and be in\nthe vanguard of what will be an economic and historic explosion of\ndevelopment.\n\n[http://today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/u-s-needs-to-deepen-its-\nunde...](http://today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/u-s-needs-to-deepen-its-\nunderstanding-149449.aspx)\n\nI've seen this coming for almost a decade. If trends continue, China will not\nonly be the next dominant power, but Chinese Civilization in the inner solar\nsystem will be to the last half of the 21st century what North America was to\nthe 20th.\n\n------\nadamc\nHaving trained as a hydraulic engineer doesn't make Hu Jintao a scientist, it\nmakes him an engineer. There's a difference.\n\n------\nvarjag\nThey are not scientists, they are administrators with science and engineering\ndegrees.\n\n------\ngiardini\nThe linked article is titled \"Eight Out Of China’s Top Nine Government\nOfficials Are _Scientists_\" but...\n\nThe article it references states \"...eight of the top nine political posts are\nheld by _engineers_.\" but unfortunately does not name them.\n\n------\ntokenadult\nAbout a decade ago, when I was studying the history of mathematics, I noticed\nthat in 1776, the world's greatest mathematician (Leonhard Euler) was in St.\nPetersburg, Russia, just when many of the world's greatest political\nscientists were either in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (the signers of the\nDeclaration of Independence) or in various parts of Britain (e.g, Edmund Burke\nand Adam Smith). To this day, the Russian-speaking world exceeds the English-\nspeaking world in the quality of its primary and secondary mathematics\ninstruction, and it is perhaps no accident that the first of the Clay\nMillennium Prize problems\n\n<http://www.claymath.org/millennium/>\n\nwas solved by a mathematician who was educated in Russia. But also to this\nday, the United States and Britain enjoy an astonishing degree of political\nand economic freedom and rule of law\n\n<http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=594>\n\nand gain many of their best mathematicians and mathematics educators as\nimmigrants from non-English-speaking countries. It is too early to say whether\na lot of engineering-trained persons in government is mostly a feature or\nmostly a bug. I wish China well in going the direction of Taiwan (another\nplace long ruled by technocrats) in developing the rule of law and an open\npolitical system with many guarantees of personal liberty. But it is by no\nmeans an invariant characteristic of human societies that those with the best\nmath and science minds thrive best over the long term.\n\nP.S. You did see below the fold on the submitted article, didn't you, what the\nblog author thinks China can count on just from the fact of the educational\nbackground of its leaders? Not much, just from that fact.\n\nP.P.S. to respond to first reply: It's my understanding that the government of\nthe Federal Republic of Germany consciously DE-emphasized technical education\nafter World War II in favor of more emphasis on humanities and social science\nin the primary and secondary school curriculum. I thought it would trigger a\nmention of Godwin's Law\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law>\n\nif I brought this up at first, but I've read that many observers of prewar\nGermany under the Third Reich looked at the quality of the scientists there\n(very high indeed) and thought that Germany would be hard to beat in the war.\nIt is well known to people who read interesting histories of World War II,\nsuch as mathematician T.W. Körner's book The Pleasures of Counting,\n\n[http://www.amazon.com/Pleasures-Counting-T-\nW-K%C3%B6rner/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/Pleasures-Counting-T-\nW-K%C3%B6rner/dp/0521568234)\n\nthat there was a battle of scientists versus scientists in the war to find\nsmart methods for fighting the other side. Ultimately, despite the great\nadvantage that German's prewar primary and secondary schools and universities\nand civil service system gave Germany in building up a supply of smart\ntechnocrats, the Nazis' disregard of personal liberty drove away many of\nGermany's best scientists (notably, many Jewish scientists) and added talent\nto the Allied side.\n\n~~~\nMaro\nInteresting. Where do you put Germans in all this?\n\n~~~\nsedachv\nIt's not often mentioned today, but in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries the\nGermanic states were a massive source of high-skilled emigrants. In the 18th\nand somewhat the 19th centuries as professors and colonists to Russia and the\nUSA, after WWI a large number of German engineers were employed in the USSR\n(most of them were expelled in 1937), and many more emigrated to the USA. The\nnext large wave took place after WWII.\n\n~~~\nstcredzero\nJust as Werner Von Braun's character in \"The Right Stuff\" said: \"NO, our\nGermans are Better!\"\n\n------\nest\nthere is a difference between a scientist and someone with an engineering\ndegree\n\n------\nApocryphon\nAnd for some reason, many high-profile, that is, thwarted or captured,\nterrorists are engineers: [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/magazine/12FOB-\nIdeaLab-t.h...](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/magazine/12FOB-\nIdeaLab-t.html?scp=1&amp;sq=Berreby&amp;st=cse)\n\n------\nrdixit\nThe author first points out that science and engineering Ph.D.'s are\ndisproportionately Asian, and that many return to their mother nations after\neducation. That's true. He then points out that national success is built on\nthe back of technology and science. Also true. But by ending with a back-\npatting, reassuring comparison with Japan and the claim that Americans have\nthat truly essential quality, \"entrepreneurial spirit\" and innovation, and\nAsian nations don't, he makes a claim that reeks of hubris and will likely be\nquickly proved untrue. Science is the gas pedal, innovation is the fuel-- but\nwithout the pedal your full tank of gas isn't going to take your car anywhere.\nConfidence without substance is empty. My 2 cents\n\n------\ndreamdu5t\nSo politicians in China aren't bozos, but the politicians in the US are? Oh\nplease. The top 9 government officials are no more intellectual than many of\nthose in Obama's cabinet.\n\nEconomic growth is not the only measure of success. In fact, it is one of\nmany.\n\n------\ncalpaterson\nBear in mind that a strong part of this is the fact that these guys are trying\nto use economic planning. In between all these Americans complaining (fairly)\nabout their country's legal power culture, this is an important distinction.\nMost Western governments aren't economic planners, so technocracy is less\ninteresting/appealing.\n\n------\nspeleding\nThe article dances around the main reason the PISA scores don't say much about\ninnovation, but doesn't say it: For innovation it's the top 5-10% that counts\nnot the average.\n\nI wouldn't be surprised if a study that compared the best 5% of students\nworldwide showed the US in a very different place, much higher in the\nrankings.\n\n------\nsudhirc\nThey may be because when they were growing up studying science was their\nticket to wealth,respect, and power. Arguments, disagreements, and self\ncorrection are pillars of scientific minds. Autocratic society in which a\nsmall disagreement can result is you vanishing, cannot possible nurture\nscientific minds.\n\n------\npatfla\nMy reading of the Chinese classics - or rather their authors - is that,\nhistorically, the single greatest ambition of China's intellectuals was to\nadvise rulers on better governance. Which didn't seem to me a particularly\nproductive or healthy relationship between the intellectual and political\nclasses.\n\n~~~\nforensic\neverybody just wants power, nerds and jocks alike\n\n------\ndimmuborgir\nCountries should be led by economists, not scientists/engineers.\n\nThe Chinese economy is one giant mess. Too many imbalances, over-investments\nand bubbles. The spectacular 10% GDP growth rate was possible mainly because\nof bullying i.e., artificial depreciation of yuan giving unfair advantage to\nChinese exporters.\n\n------\nbraindead_in\nAre they scientists or engineers? As far as I know scientists do research,\nwrite papers, file for patents etc. etc. and Engineers build stuff. How many\npapers have the published?\n\nAlso, being a scientist does not mean that you will be a good administrator or\npolitician. Politics is better left to politicians.\n\n------\norenmazor\nwell that's just great.\n\nhow many layers do you have to unpeel from our government before you find\nanybody that isn't a lawyer.\n\n~~~\nApocryphon\nDifferent national political cultures, apparently.\n\n<http://www.economist.com/node/13496638?story_id=13496638>\n\n~~~\nstcredzero\n_WHEN Barack Obama met Hu Jintao, his Chinese counterpart, at the G20 summit\nin London, it was an encounter not just between two presidents, but also\nbetween two professions and mindsets. A lawyer, trained to argue from first\nprinciples and haggle over words, was speaking to an engineer, who knew how to\nbuild physical structures and keep them intact._\n\nThe Chinese should build a Space Pier, in the form of a massive ramp with a\nhuge accelerator on it.\n\n------\nteyc\nThis is a direct result of elections. People chose those who are more like\nthemselves.\n\nIn China, the political elite also choose those who are similar in outlook. If\nthe original ones were engineers, so to will the new rising stars be\nengineers.\n\n------\ntrustfundbaby\nI wonder how many people actually read the article before commenting\n\n------\ncomex\n\"Remember him from Black Mesa? Your old administrator?\"\n\n------\nadamc\nHaving\n\n------\nomouse\nScientists in the mold of capitalists and totalitarians? Disgusting.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMolecule-sized motors that drill through the surface of cancer cells - chmod775\nhttps://phys.org/news/2019-05-chemists-cancer-killing-drill.html\n======\nLifeLiverTransp\nWhat happens in the lab, stays in the lab\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nStreaming video contributes to climate change - microdrum\nhttps://www.dw.com/en/is-netflix-bad-for-the-environment-how-streaming-video-contributes-to-climate-change/a-49556716\n======\nplink\nIt isn’t absurd in the sense that it’s untrue. It is factual that using\nelectricity generated by carbon emitting processes affects climate change, but\nto factor every keystroke I’m making right this instant is a thought exercise\nwarranting ridicule. We can cite the other extreme and condemn Bitcoin\nblockchain maintenance as an energy travesty.\n\n------\nmicrodrum\nTo be clear, this is absurd. I'm posting so that the community can enjoy.\n\n~~~\naphextim\nThank you for this. Was so absurd it was laughable.\n\nOne of my favorite videos on how they like to use climate change to be the\n'explain everything' theory.\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huKY5DzrcLI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huKY5DzrcLI)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAlaska’s universal basic income problem - Ygg2\nhttps://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/9/5/20849020/alaska-permanent-fund-universal-basic-income\n======\nmojomark\n\"[Author] Robyn Sundlee is a research fellow at the USC Annenberg Center on\nCommunication Leadership and Policy. She was the campaign manager for Alaska\nState Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins (D) in 2018.\"\n\nInteresting article, but I recommend reading knowing with this information up\nfront.\n\n~~~\nkwhitefoot\nI read it without knowing that. Now that I do know it my opinion of the piece\nhas not changed. Do you mean that I should discount the parts that seem to be\nstatements of verifiable fact (call her a liar) or that I should simply not\nput exessive trust in her opinions (which pretty much goes without saying when\nyou read something on the net written by someone one has never heard of\nbefore)?\n\nThose of us not steeped in the minutiae of Alaskan politics in particular and\nUS politics in general would need a lot more than that tiny fact to form any\nstrong opinions either way.\n\nMost of it seemed unexceptional to me except for the suggestion that the PFD\nis universal basic income. It's universal by definition but as far as I can\ntell most proponents of basic income are proposing an amount of money that is\nenough to live on (not live well but not starve or be homeless). The Alaskan\nPFD is a long way from that so while it gives strong hints about how UBI might\nwork or not work the sheer scale of UBI is likely to throw up other\nchallenges.\n\n~~~\nmojomark\nI was just highlighting the fact that the author led the campaign for the\ncandidate who lost just last year to the candidate proposing the PFD hike.\nThat's certainly reason to suspect an unfair bias towards the implication that\nthe PFD system is broken. I'm not saying it's not, but I would not hang my hat\non this piece alone without more information and possibly giving more than a\nyear to see how everything actually shakes out. If I were the author, I would\nhave inserted a disclosure statement at the beginning.\n\nIt all sounds logical, I'm simply stating that the author is far from an\nimpartial reporter.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: What is minimum viable product? - pyeu\nShare your thoughts on finding and executing viable ideas.\n======\nx0hm\nIt's the minimum set of requirements to have a fully functional, usable\nproduct.\n\nThe MVP has to be customer-ready, so it has to be as minimally feature-\ncomplete as possible.\n\n------\nBjoernKW\nIt's the minimal setup that allows you to test a hypothesis about a proposed\nproduct or an existing product's next iteration.\n\n------\nduiker101\nWhatever works that demonstrates an idea of something that can be achieved.\n\n~~~\nocdtrekkie\nI would argue the MVP is what you can sell to customers. And if your business\nis going to succeed, your MVP arguably needs to be something that is not just\ngood enough to sell to customers, but which customers will come back for more\nwhen you're ready to launch the next thing.\n\n------\nperfect_loop\nIt's usually the product with the smallest set of features that can show\nwhether there is going to be traction with the offering.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGerman university issues 38k passwords by hand after malware infection - kkm\nhttps://www.zdnet.com/article/more-than-38000-people-will-stand-in-line-this-week-to-get-a-new-password/\n======\nmyself248\nHonestly, I think this is pretty smart.\n\nIf someone has compromised your electronic systems, they can probably solve\nwhatever electronic recovery means you've implemented, and they can probably\ndo so on a large scale, re-compromising all the new accounts.\n\nAdding an in-person step makes things harder for the attackers in two ways:\n\n1: It relies on existing ID cards, which presumably the attackers can't\ntelekinetically change while they sit in people's pockets or something.\n\n2: It's hard to attack at scale. Conceivably someone could make a fake ID and\npose as a staff member or something, but the same person wouldn't get away\nwith that more than a few times before someone in the office noticed that they\nlooked familiar. And it's slow -- humans work at a finite speed, so brute-\nforcing 38,000 visits to an office isn't as practical as spawning a bunch of\nthreads to attack login sessions or something.\n\nI think despite the inconvenience, this is a sane way to respond to a\ncompromise, if your users are local and can visit an office to pull it off.\n\nAt a major automaker who I won't name, they have an interesting way of\nhandling password resets: They generate a new random password for you, and\nsend half of it by SMS to the mobile phone in your employee record. Then they\nemail the other half to your manager. Managers have instructions that when an\nemployee calls to retrieve this (or if the manager has a moment to call the\nemployee first), they should spend a moment in conversation first, really make\nsure they recognize the employee's voice and stuff, and if there's any doubt,\nask them to meet at the personnel building badging office, where the\nadministrative folk can check IDs and stuff. It works pretty well -- it would\nbe _very_ hard to attack this system, especially at scale.\n\n~~~\ncesarb\n> It's hard to attack at scale. Conceivably someone could make a fake ID\n\nThe \"make a fake ID\" step by itself is already hard. The identity card is not\njust a piece of paper. Take a look at\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_identity_card#Security_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_identity_card#Security_features)\nto see how many anti-counterfeiting features it has.\n\n~~~\niancarroll\nNearly every feature in that list, save for maybe security strands, is\ncommoditized and mass-produced in the USA's fake ID market. It would be kind\nof silly to exploit here, though.\n\n~~~\nwongarsu\nI guess Germany's liberal drinking laws make for a much smaller fake ID\nmarket. You could still pull it off, especially since most people aren't\nreally trained for spotting fake IDs. But a German fake ID is not exactly\nsomething you buy for $10 each at the drug dealer on the corner.\n\n~~~\nnamibj\nEspecially considering it has cryptographically secured biometrics (iirc\nfacial features and a subset of fingerprints) that can be accessed with\ncredentials printed on the back. If they were to make use of that, any forgery\nwould be be beyond the regular fake id market.\n\nThe German Personalausweis is basically a stateless ID-1 passport.\n\n~~~\nneuronic\n> The German Personalausweis is basically a stateless ID-1 passport.\n\nAnd as property it belongs to the state, not the citizen. You are required and\nexpected to have it on you at all times. You are also required to report it\nmissing.\n\nWhen I moved to the US, I was baffled that IDs are basically just driving\nlicenses and you only have them if you... well have a driving license.\n\nI guess it's about where you draw the line in the end. I understand that many\nUS Americans feel threatened by the federal government as it is perceived\nautocratic to be forced to carry a government issued identification card at\nall times.\n\nFor me, it just guarantees that it is harder for someone else to walk around\nand impersonate me with some shitty fake ID.\n\n~~~\nTomMarius\n> You are required and expected to have it on you at all times.\n\nI'd be very surprised about that. That's a law most of formerly communist\nEurope has cancelled immediately after the revolutions\n\n~~~\ndekrg\nPrepare to be surprised then as optional IDs are pretty much only a thing\nwestern countries.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_identity_card...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_identity_card_policies_by_country)\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_identity_cards_in_the...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_identity_cards_in_the_European_Economic_Area#Overview_of_national_identity_cards)\n\n~~~\nTomte\nBad reference. Again Germany: it's colored red, but the table clearly states\nthat you don't need to carry it.\n\nWhich is the statement you tried to counter with your link.\n\n------\npro_zac\n\"As an added precaution, the university computing center decided to issue new\npasswords for all 38,000 JLU email accounts. However, the university was\nunable to do this online because of a quirk of German law, whereby the German\nNational Research and Education Network (DFN) requires, in this case, JLU\nstudents and staff to obtain their new passwords in person from the\nuniversity's IT staff, using as ID card to prove their identity.\"\n\n~~~\nSamuelAdams\nI'm curious to know what law this is and why other organizations in Germany do\nnot have to resort to a similar tactic to reset passwords.\n\n~~~\nwongarsu\nI think this might be a misquote. DNF is a registered association/charity\nwhich is providing network services for universities and research facilities\n(originally German, but spreading across Europe and beyond). They are the ISP\nof most German Universities, and more relevant to the topic they operate\nEduroam, a wifi where any student or staff member can access their internet\nusing their login credentials (username/password login via WPA 2 Enterprise).\nIt's really handy because even if you are at another university you can still\naccess the wifi, and any misuse (==people getting sued for torrenting) is easy\nto track.\n\nAs such it stands to reason that they set rules for how credentials used to\nauthenticate to their wifi are handled. And basically always those are the\ncredentials for your university account.\n\ntl;dr: almost certainly not a law, but rules most Universities have to abide\nto if they want to keep their ISP and wifi.\n\n~~~\nusrusr\nSo basically the equivalent of requiring ID for getting a phone SIM, thanks\nfor the clarification.\n\nDid not make much sense otherwise for just email or even for active user\naccounts (as in unix logins), because if you have tens of thousands of them\nyour security model surely cannot rely on the assumption that none of them are\nbad actors.\n\n\"Just like a phone SIM\" is also where it definitely enters the realm of legal\nrequirements. Certainly debatable, but there can't be much precedent and then\nit's the usual struggle between a perhaps careless group appealing to common\nsense and a maximum correctness camp that wants to go by the book, in its most\npessimistic interpretation. When under a malware attack like that, even the\nslightest trace of neglect on the technical side can punish you hard. It's no\nsurprise that the required mindset of extreme prudence carries over to the\nlegal side. I still don't believe that the ID check would be the only correct\nway to handle this (e.g. snail mail still goes a long way in terms of checking\nlegal boxes), but they surely are not in the mood for taking risks right now.\n\n------\niforgotpassword\nSo they're just running some av software from a live system on all systems and\ncall it a day.... Dec 8th has been a while and there's no information around\nwhich malware this actually was. If it's really a targeted attack with some\npreviously unknown malware, I wouldn't really feel like that's sufficient.\n\nMost companies have policies that require a full reinstall of infected systems\nor even just go ahead and replace the physical machine.\n\n~~~\nozim\nMost companies you know... For IT systems it is quite easy if you have money\nrequired. For OT-operational technology, I just got to know they keep infected\nmachines running, they wall those off. Because you cannot just replace\nphysical machine that is running some complicated chemical process just like\nthat. Some factories also do not have money to replace some Win XP or they\ncannot replace Win XP because all the drivers for specific hardware are not\nworking on new stuff. Life time of systems in OT is 20 years not like IT 5\nyears.\n\n------\nfranek\nI'm a student at that university, though I don't have any contacts to the IT\ndepartment or other sources of inside information.\n\nI went to collect my new password already. The process was pretty smooth with\nonly a little confusion where the queue split up alphabetically (not quite\nenough room, although it took place in a large gym; I guess they rightly\nprioritized giving the people behind the desks enough room to work).\n\nIt's interesting to see which systems of the university are more or less\nrobust to the network blackout. Email is down, which has the nice side effect\nthat people who would otherwise only communicate in written form now make\ncalls or physical visits (as they cannot look up phone numbers on the web) to\neach others' offices. The library catalogue is not working, though apparently\nthey successfully switched to a paper-based system for lending books after a\nfew days (haven't tried it yet). The electronic payment system of the canteens\nappears completely unaffected. (I read on a sign recently that it is\nconsidered \"obsolete\" and subject to renewal – good thing they hadn't done\nthat yet, I guess). The web platform with reading material for seminars is\ndown. In some cases seminar presentations have to be given without slideshow\nprojection because the designated presentation laptop got a red sticker. I\ndon't now how labs with data on the central servers are doing (I'm in the\nhumanities).\n\n------\ndarkhorn\nI thought that this is always the case. At METU when you register to the\nuniversity they give you password by hand (printed inside of a letter). In\ncase your account is compromised they block your account and you have to go to\nthe computer center so that they give you a new password. There is no \"I\nforgot my password\" button. It is like this for at least from early 2000s.\nProbably from 1990s.\n\n~~~\nthalassos\nSomehow with my german bank account I undergo through the same process. If I\nhappen to fail the online banking password 3 times, I must go in person to the\nbank to unlock my account.\n\n------\nptah\ntypically, better security practices tend to lead to more discomfort for users\n\n~~~\nChrisSD\nThat's not entirely true. Adding too much discomfort to users reduces security\nby encouraging people to workaround or otherwise undermine the system. Many of\nthe best security practices ideally make doing the secure thing easy.\n\nWhen this is not possible you have to try to at least limit the discomfort\ncaused and make it resistant to subversion by even trusted individuals.\n\n------\nStavrosK\nDoes anyone know whether password+key is a supported WebAuthn use case? I\ndon't mean whether the standard supports it (it does), but whether it's\nplanned. I would love to use my Yubikey + PIN to log in to sites\npasswordlessly, but it seems that so far the only thing that anyone uses\nWebAuthn for is as a second factor.\n\n~~~\ntialaramex\n[https://www.passwordless.dev/usernameless](https://www.passwordless.dev/usernameless)\nlets you try this flow out but I'd be surprised to see any significant\nadoption for the Web generally unless FIDO itself takes off first, because\nFIDO2 capable devices are more expensive. I can't justify telling people to\npay extra when the core feature is not yet widely used.\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nThanks, that's very useful! I've been trying for ages to get my Yubikey to ask\nme for my PIN that I've set on it when authenticating, to no avail. It doesn't\nseem reasonable to have a site authenticate me with no PIN, since someone\ncould just steal my yubikey and log in as me everywhere. Would anyone happen\nto know how I can force asking for a PIN?\n\n~~~\ntialaramex\nThe flow you're asking for (PIN required to do ordinary FIDO not just for\nFIDO2 passwordless auth) seems like a weird choice and I doubt it's possible.\n\nThis hypothetical person has to get your password from somewhere. The mode\nmost (essentially all non-test sites I've seen) used has FIDO only as second\nfactor, so the bad guy needs your first factor (invariably a password) as well\nas the stolen Yubikey.\n\nYou're asking for a three factor system, with two factors you know, plus a\nfinal factor you have. The improvement in threat resistance is small and the\nadded inconvenience is large.\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nOh no, sorry. I'm asking for FIDO2 passwordless. Right now I can do that (e.g.\nat\n[https://www.passwordless.dev/passwordless](https://www.passwordless.dev/passwordless)),\nbut the Yubikey doesn't ask for a PIN, which is insecure, since anyone\nstealing it can auth as me. I simply want passwordless auth to ask for my PIN.\n\nEDIT: It turns out Chrome does ask for the PIN (Firefox doesn't), but only\nwhen registering (not when logging in). This raises the question, why can the\nbrowser log me in without a PIN? Then the thief can simply use one of those\nbrowsers.\n\n~~~\ntialaramex\nThe site you're looking at offers a variety of different WebAuthn flows. I\nlinked the one that behaves how you described, requiring a PIN (and yes it\nrequires the PIN to log in) but now you've found and linked a different flow\nthat doesn't require PINs and sure enough it doesn't require PINs.\n\nI guess you could say the site is badly labelled. The true FIDO2 flow that I\nlinked you to above is labelled usernameless rather than passwordless.\n\nThe flow they've called passwordless works with an ordinary FIDO key it\ndoesn't need FIDO2. Because it simply doesn't have a password. Passwordless.\nSimple.\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nTrying it on Chrome, it works as you say. On Firefox it just failed to auth, I\nassumed it was because my Yubikey lacked onboard storage for storing the user\ndetails but it looks like it's because of the lack of PIN support. Thanks.\n\n------\nacd\nBeen in a similar password reset situation at a university and it’s pain!\n\nI hope they implement 2fa two factor authentication since that will stop\nbetween 70-99% of password attacks.\n\n~~~\nm-p-3\nIf the malware managed to compromise the authentication server, including the\nshared secret (ex: Google Authenticator) tied to each account that will not\nhelp much.\n\n~~~\nTepix\nThat's why you should use a HSM for that.\n\n------\nPeterStuer\nThing is as far as I can Google they have not identified how the network got\ncompromised in the first place?\n\nSo they are issuing bootable USB sticks for scanning computers and manually\nproviding new email (I guess University account) passwords, but how would that\nprevent the same thing happening again in the same unpatched way next week?\n\n------\nduxup\nIs there any more detail on this \"quirk of German law\" really is?\n\n~~~\nfh973\nI think it is just policy of the German Research Network (DFN) for accounts.\nThese accounts are valid Europe-wide for WLAN access in educational\ninstitutions for example.\n\n~~~\nduxup\nThat's kinda how it reads.\n\nI didn't think of that as \"law\" and that is what sort of piqued my interest,\nthat there would be a law about this specifically.\n\n------\nslynn12\nYou can't hack pen and paper :) - I don't hate it.\n\n------\nplumeria\nWhy no simply reset the passwords and enforce 2FA?\n\n~~~\ntheandrewbailey\nIt would violate a (stupid) law.\n\n~~~\nashildr\nno, it has nothing to do with a “stupid” law, it seems to me the article is\nmisleading. It has to do with being a trusted source of identity information\nand fscking up very thoroughly:\n\nThe university of Giessen is providing it’s members identity services for the\nDFN Network (German Research Network) with a high degree of reliance called\n_advanced_.\n\nThis degree requires that „for identification, users must present themselves\nin person with an official ID. The enrolment and recruitment procedures\nestablished by the universities are considered as equivalent.“ ( see\n[https://doku.tid.dfn.de/en:degrees_of_reliance](https://doku.tid.dfn.de/en:degrees_of_reliance)\n)\n\nIt seems to me that this university’s services are a very interesting target.\n\n~~~\n0b0001\nThe university website mentions student ID cards with chip. Is that not\nsufficient to provide strong authentication towards a self-service portal for\npassword reset?\n\n~~~\ndatenwolf\n> The university website mentions student ID cards with chip. Is that not\n> sufficient to provide strong authentication towards a self-service portal\n> for password reset?\n\nIn theory it should be sufficient. In practice there is very little awareness\nof the capabilities of these smartcards and that they could, in theory, be\nused as a 2FA token. These cards are mostly used for physical access control,\nlibrary pass and cafeteria payment.\n\nThere's left a lot to be desired in most (german) university networks. Yes,\nthere is usually some sort of Radius and 801.1X infrastructure in place, but\nit's only used for WiFi login and eduroam, not for machines plugged into wall\nsockets. Yes, there usually is some sort of Active Directory and/or Kerberos\ninfrastructure in place (yes, I am aware that AD is essentially LDAP +\nKerberos), but it's often used only for the student computer pools, but not\noffice workstations.\n\nThere seems to be zero awareness, that if you have AD and/or Kerberos\nauthentication working in place (one can only dream of it being coupled to the\nstudent / staff smartcards), you can use it GSSAPI for web single sign-on\nwhich would instantly neuter any attempts of phishing.\n\nAlso you will still often find the preconception of there being such a thing\nas a \"secure network\" and an \"insecure, hostile\" internet. The notion of\nlateral movement and treating _every_ network segment as insecure, no matter\nwhere or how it's managed in your org, is more or less nonexisting.\n\n~~~\nfuncDropShadow\n> There's left a lot to be desired in most (german) university networks. Yes,\n> there is usually some sort of Radius and 801.1X infrastructure in place, but\n> it's only used for WiFi login and eduroam, not for machines plugged into\n> wall sockets.\n\nWhen I was a student and later staff member at the Technical University of\nKaiserslautern, Eduroam authentication infrastructure (801.1X) was also used\nto authenticate at ethernet ports in the walls of public rooms.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Getting accepted into a top level CS program. - ncarlson\nHi everyone,<p>I'm about to receive my BA in Mathematics from a lowly state university. Eventually, I'd like to continue on and work towards a masters and PhD at a top school like Stanford or MIT. However, I'm not interested in applying to one of these school at the moment. I'd like to wait at least 5 years.<p>Here are my questions:<p>1. How long should I wait? And does the length of time I wait to apply matter?<p>2. During this time that I'm in the workforce, what should be my focus? Publications, open source contributions, industry experience? I'm obviously going to continue the work that I enjoy doing. However, if there is a benefit to adding focus to a particular outlet, I'll do so.<p>3. Code monkey jobs are plentiful. I can get a high paying job in the finance industry maintaining a Java/C++ code base. But I doubt I'll be happy in this type of position. Should I take the time to find a research based position at a company like IBM or HP?<p>4. Does status in the software community affect acceptance into a CS program?<p>Thank you for taking the time to answer.<p>Nick\n======\njayp\nTo be frank about it: with a 5+ year break and coming from a \"lowly\" state\nuniversity, it is going to be tough to get into the type of CS PhD programs\nyou have listed.\n\nMost schools do run a low pass filter on your GRE scores (if required) and\nGPA. The GPA is weighted according the repuation of your school. However, once\nyou get beyond the filtering, these things don't matter.\n\nThe most important thing at a top PhD school is letters of recommendations\nfrom faculty, with the greatest weight given to letters from a professor they\nmight know. (\"They\" being any of the members of the admissions committee who\nhappen to read your file, or are present during the discussion. There is a\nfair amount of luck involved). This maybe hard for you to get if the\nprofessors at your current university do not publish (i.e., attend\nconferences, etc.). However, no matter what, do keep in touch with them.\nYou'll need at least 2-3 letters from them. Letters from work will be fine,\nbut do not carry heavy weight -- especially beyond one letter.\n\nThe other relevant things include: the school you attended, research\nexperience (publications are your greatest asset), and lastly, your statement\nof purpose. I don't think anything else really matters too much -- at least to\na top CS program.\n\nBut if you really want to go to grad school, there is always a way. Some tips:\n\n(1) Apply to a lot of schools, as the admissions process can be fairly random.\nHowever, do not apply to safe schools for the sake of applying.\n\n(2) Also, an alternative is to apply for a Masters program. Get in. Impress a\nprofessor or two. Upgrade to PhD program. Obviously, it is hard to find\nfinancial support for Masters student at some schools. If you are local to a\ngreat university, you can also take graduate courses a non-degree student\n(very easy to get in, as schools love money), impress one or two professors,\nand apply.\n\nPS: I served as a student representative on an admissions committee at UIUC in\nthe past. I also came from a \"lowly\" state university. However, I jumped to\nPhD program directly after my BS.\n\n~~~\nsiong1987\nIt is good to see someone from UIUC in Hacker News. Another UIUC student here.\nI feel like want to keep you in contact but I could not find any of your\ncontact in your profile.\n\nFeel free to shoot me an email. My email is in my profile.\n\n------\nbdr\nThese departments are not interested in your coding skill. All they care about\nis your research ability in the area you're applying for. Software you've\nwritten or worked on _might_ be relevant, but only if you're doing something\nhard and/or novel. It's easier to imagine this for some areas (graphics) than\nothers (complexity theory). Overall, I imagine that very few programming jobs\nwould be valuable on your application.\n\nAlso, note that the top-tier programs generally don't have academic Master's\nprograms. Stanford offers one but it's career-oriented.\n\n------\nraffi\nI don't know anything about applying to PhD programs. I would like to add\nsomething to point three though:\n\nYou could grab a research position with the government. Lincoln Labs at\nHanscom AFB is associated with MIT for example.\n\nIf you work a few years as a program manager or bench scientist in the\ngovernment civil service, you will network with prominent folks and have a\nchance to gain their respect. After all--where do you think that research\nmoney that professors love so much comes from?\n\nI had a positive experience. I was able to network with people who wrote\npapers I really liked. One particularly touching experience--months after I\nleft, someone contacted me to let me know that a Professor whose work\ninfluenced me quite a bit would be in town. I was (as an outsider) given a\nslice of his schedule to meet with him and have lunch. Its like a family, once\nyou're in... you're in.\n\n------\nkcy\nI think you have about 1 year in industry before your academic cred is used\nup. _Generally speaking_ , a research position in a company like Google, IBM,\nHP, etc. is definitely more in-line with what the admission committee will\nunderstand and respect than a code-monkey job at a web 2.0 startup or in\nfinance. I think these latter sorts of jobs hurt your chances of getting into\na highly respected academic program, though they may make you a better\nentrepreneur. I think status in the software community (e.g. at HN or in the\nopen source world) matters little unless someone on your admission committee\nknows what that status means. My experience has been that many university\nprofessors at Stanford and MIT have no clue about this sort of stuff (though\nof course some are very well-informed).\n\nYou should probably ask your current professors for letters of recommendation\nnow and have them sent to your registrar so they can be forwarded on later\nwhen you decide to apply. Unless you have a natural way to continue your\nconnection with your professors it will likely be very difficult to go back to\nthem even a year later and ask for the letter and have them remember you\n(unless you were a super-star of course). Just get your letters done now. You\ncan always have them update the letter in x years if you feel there's\nsomething relevant they can add. More likely than not you'll just be thankful\nthat you already have the letters since you never really maintained contact.\nOn the other hand, remember that the longer you wait, the more unusual it's\ngoing to be for the admission committee to see a letter from so many years\nback.\n\nIf you're really serious about wanting to get into one of those programs you\ncould actually move to Stanford/MIT and try to get a research position working\nwith some of the people in those departments. Or perhaps going to them and\nasking if there's any companies they would recommend working at prior to a\ngraduate program.\n\n------\njderick\nI have to agree letters of reference are the most important factor. Of course\nyou need good GRE scores as well. Unless you do some academic research and\npublish a paper or two before you apply (senior thesis at least), there is\nlittle chance you will get into MIT or Stanford. A friend of mine prolonged\nhis undergrad for a year or two in order to work on some undergrad research\nfor a while and got into MIT that way. Of course, if you are willing to settle\nfor something other than a #1 school then you could get by without any\npublications as long as you have an interesting class project or two that you\ncan talk about and you do well on your GREs (remember to study your\nvocabulary). Programming experience will not help you get in. If you can find\nsome kind of research position, that would help, but it could be hard to find\na position like that at IBM or HP with your experience. A better bet would be\nto look for a prof somewhere that does something you are interested in and go\nwork for him for a while (paid or not). Starting with a Masters is another\nroute that can work.\n\nAlso, I have to put a disclaimer here that getting a PhD will probably not be\nworth it from a financial standpoint, and most likely you will not find a\ntenure track position afterwards.\n\n------\nbrent\n(disclaimer: I attend a non - \"top school\")\n\n0\\. If you want answers as to what schools look for in students start by\nlooking at CV's of students in the department. More specifically, look at\nstudents in the research areas you may be interested in. This is probably the\nsingle best resource available to you. I knew my weaknesses (non top 10\nundergraduate school, several years in industry, no undergraduate research\nexperience, relatively unknown letter writers, and a non-CS undergraduate\ndegree) and adjusted my expectations accordingly (ie I knew I wasn't going to\nget in a top 10 school despite high grades, good industry job, and perfect\nquant gre).\n\n1\\. 0 years. There are a number of reasons from familiarity with your letter\nwriters to the lack of commitment if you work in a non-research position.\n\n2\\. If you are working in a research position and could publish that is ideal.\nHowever, I doubt this type of position will be available to you (usually it\nrequires a phd). In terms of acceptance I believe industry experience is\nnearly meaningless. There are plenty of reasons to do it for personal reasons,\nbut look at the CV's of current students at the schools you are targeting and\nlook at how many of them worked between undergrad and grad.\n\n3\\. Again, a research position is probably the only type of position that will\nhelp you in the admissions process. It may give you access to significant\nletter writers, a chance to be an author, etc..\n\n4\\. I presume that status implies a significant contribution. This could help,\nbut unless the contribution is related to computer science it probably isn't\nworth much.\n\nGood luck.\n\nedit :: a couple small updates.\n\n------\nyummyfajitas\nHaving gotten through this process for a Ph.D., albeit in a different field\n(Math), I'll answer this as best I can. My answers relate to getting a Ph.D.\n\n1\\. Don't wait. Opportunity costs are low right now (bad economy) and waiting\nhurts your chances. If you wait at least 5 years, you are > 27 when you start\ngrad school. You graduate at age 32. That's over the hill. Many grad schools\nwill flatly reject you for this reason.\n\n2\\. Publications might help, if they are solid technical works in peer\nreviewed journals. Industry experience could also help IF it's hardcore R&D\nwork. Academics care relatively little about open source, unless you did\nsomething truly awesome (e.g., FFTW).\n\n3\\. Yes. R&D type jobs are the only jobs that won't hurt you when applying to\ngrad school.\n\n4\\. GvR could probably get into a good grad school. Below that will probably\nnot help very much.\n\nHowever, many places will give you a masters if you pay tuition. Don't expect\nto jump from the masters to Ph.D. track, however.\n\n~~~\nplinkplonk\n\"You graduate at age 32. That's over the hill. Many grad schools will flatly\nreject you for this reason\"\n\nI hope this isn't universal. I am planning to apply in 2010 and I'll be 38\nwhen I do. Oh well one more wall to jump over, so what's new? :-)\n\n~~~\nwhacked_new\nI recently met a first year PhD who would be very well \"over the hill.\" Top-\ntier school. There's motivation for ya.\n\nOf course, it could be an exception, but I'm sure admission was granted\nwithout respect to age. As far as I know though, luck was a big determining\nfactor, and as such, I would look at a lot of these things (particularly if\nyou aren't a monstrously strong candidate) very lightly.\n\n~~~\nplinkplonk\n\"I recently met a first year PhD who would be very well o\"ver the hill.\" Top-\ntier school. There's motivation for ya.\"\n\nHey Thanks!\n\n\"particularly if you aren't a monstrously strong candidate\"\n\nGood Point.\n\nA \"monstrously strong\" candidate is what I am trying to be. Hey if we ask\nstartup founders to be monstrously strong developers why not hold ourselves to\nthe same standards as grad students. The journey is very interesting, forcing\nme to evaluate my deficiencies as a candidate and get better constantly.\n\nA scientist I am working with on some research software said recently, \"You'd\nmake a great PhD student at Carnegie Mellon\" (where he got his PhD) and has\npromised to write a reccomendation, so there's some progress. We'll see how it\ngoes.\n\n------\nfoo23\nWhen reading your app, professors are trying to tell one thing:\n\nWill this person be a good academic researcher? To figure this out, they will\nlook at:\n\n1\\. Can you already do research? If you've published at academic research\nconferences, they'll read your paper and judge you by it. If you have good\nrecommendations from people they trust, or are known in their field, they will\nread those and rely on them heavily. Otherwise they view your application as a\ncrapshoot (why would they want to take on a student they're not sure will\nsucceed?)\n\n2\\. grades, programming abilities, and other things are all secondary. If they\npass the bar, that's good, but they're not going to get you in.\n\nMy advice: get a programming job working in a research lab, then apply to\nplaces the people you're working with have worked with before. Look at MSR\n(Microsoft lABS), Intel Research, and Google. Otherwise go to a startup.\n\n------\ntimf\n\" _does the length of time I wait to apply matter?_ \"\n\nIf you are doing things that are not academia oriented, the longer you do\nthose things, the less chance you will have at acceptance.\n\n\" _I'm obviously going to continue the work that I enjoy doing._ \"\n\nCareful, academia may not be right for you :-)\n\n\" _Publications, open source contributions, industry experience?_ \"\n\nPublications will by far trump anything else for most departments. And letters\nof recommendation (preferably from people the department has heard of...).\n\n\" _Should I take the time to find a research based position at a company like\nIBM or HP?_ \"\n\nThis is probably the only thing that would realistically help you. You would\nneed to stay at one place long enough to contribute directly to refereed\npapers, this will really help your application. There are a lot of research\npositions at places that are not big companies, too, and those tend to submit\nmore papers. Often they are looking for staff programmers and you can \"get in\non\" some papers over time as you work hard and make good observations etc. Or\nyou could be the assistant who is writing the performance harness, etc.\n\nThe hard part would be getting in the door probably, in my experience anything\nCS related will usually accept CS graduate students into internships etc. but\nfinding a full time job there with a BS and no previous CS research experience\nwill be tougher.\n\n\\---\n\nAcademic departments typically only care that you can code well enough to pass\ntheir classes. You need to be able to program, for sure.\n\nThe better you are, the easier it will be to get through school -- you will\nneed all the time you can get in order to concentrate on algorithms, linear\nalgebra, etc. But it probably won't you help you too much at application time\n(unless maybe you have won programming competitions).\n\n\" _Does status in the software community affect acceptance into a CS program?_\n\"\n\nProbably not too much, unless the program is linked to a software product\n(like where I work, the University of Chicago CS department and the Globus\ngrid computing community are intimately tied).\n\n------\ntjr\nI received my bachelor's degree in 2002. I've been pondering graduate school\non and off, and have done a bit of graduate study online. While I can't speak\nfrom the position of someone who is currently there, I can offer this with\nregard to your first point...\n\nIt's been nearly seven years for me now. I've stayed only slightly in touch\nwith one of my undergraduate professors. I feel that getting academic\nrecommendation letters may be difficult at this point. If you're going to\nwait, I would suggest maintaining conversation with the professors most able\nto write letters for you.\n\n------\nfadmmatt\nI got my Ph.D. in CS from Georgia Tech (I think it's #9 according to the joke\nthat is US News), and I'm a prof at the University of Utah. Here are my three\npoints of advice:\n\n1\\. PUBLISH! 2\\. PUBLISH!! 3\\. PUBLISH!!!\n\nWhen I'm reviewing applicants for admission, I look at three things: (1) prior\nresearch, (2) letters of recommendation and (3) personal statement. I look at\nthem in that order.\n\nI don't care whether you came from MIT or Bumblefark State U. I don't care\nwhether your GPA was a 2.0 or a 4.0. I don't care whether your Math GRE is an\n800 or a 600. I won't look at your transcript either.\n\nI care _only_ about your _potential_ to do research with _me_. (Keep this in\nmind when you're choosing which areas and which professors you'd like to work\nwith on the application; it _will_ determine who sees your application.)\n\nMy last piece of advice would be to consider a broad range of schools. The\nrankings put out by US News are completely off base. Many \"lowly ranked\"\nschools have deep strengths in particular areas.\n\nNortheastern University, for instance, has an _outstanding_ programming\nlanguages faculty, but they get no credit for it in the rankings.\n\nI'll also plug the University of Utah as a great place to come for programming\nlanguages/compilers, formal methods, graphics and scientific computing.\n\n------\ngaius\n_I can get a high paying job in the finance industry maintaining a Java/C++\ncode base._\n\nHo ho ho. _After_ the ex-Bear and Lehman experienced coders find jobs, then\nmaybe the finance industry will start hiring entry-level coders again. Maybe.\n\nAsk yourself tho' what you want from a PhD. It's not a \"higher qualification\"\nin the sense that a MSc is, learning specialist knowledge to do a niche job.\nIt's an apprenticeship to become an academic. Where do you see yourself post-\nPhD? What is the outcome you are looking to achieve here? Altho' grad students\nmay write an awful lot of code, no-one really cares about it - its only\npurpose is to demonstrate theoretical ideas. Coding experience gained in\nindustry won't count for much. Not even Open Source coding. Computer Science\nis as related to software development as Astronomy is to telescope\nmanufacturing. Working in a Carl Zeiss factory on the shop floor wouldn't\ncount for much applying for an Astronomy PhD would it?\n\n------\nblackguardx\nSome people here are advocating jumping to a PhD with zero work experience. I\nthink this is a bad idea.\n\nGetting a PhD involves very focused research. You want to make sure that you\nwill truly love the field before you go into it.\n\nI strongly recommend that you take an R&D job at a well-known company if you\ncan. These large companies often sponsor research with top-notch universities.\nYou might be able to use these relationships to get in. My company's sponsored\nresearch with Stanford allows me to work with a professor and grad student\nthere. That can't hurt during the application process.\n\nAlso, many of these large, research oriented companies will pay for graduate\neducation, although that will probably drop off as the economy tanks.\n\nThe only downside to getting a job at a large, research oriented company is\nthat these places are often cube farms that epitomize office space and dilbert\ncomic strips. I guess thats why you leave after a few years and go to grad\nschool\n\n------\ntime_management\n1\\. 0 years is the optimal gap. Time off counts against you. If you want to do\nthis and don't see a strong reason for delaying, go in right now.\n\n2\\. You probably won't be publishing when you're working, and open-source\nprojects are good but not enough to put you over the cusp.\n\n3\\. If you can get a research position, that'll be better for your grad school\nprospects than finance.\n\n4\\. I don't know the answer to this one.\n\nCaveat: I was in a math PhD program for a year, and CS may be different.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nNote on Syntax - fogus\nhttp://olabini.com/blog/2012/02/notes-on-syntax/\n\n======\n75c84fb8\nI'm not an expert on programming language design, so I was hoping someone can\nhelp me understand. When people talk about syntax, do they mean how bits of\ntext are strung together to make programs; kind of from a down-and-dirty,\nimplementation-level POV? As opposed to the more high-level thinking of the\nkinds of things you can get done in the language?\n\nSo for example, assignment of a value to a variable is a high-level \"thing you\nget done\" in a language, which isn't syntax, whereas using := versus = for\nassignment is a matter of syntax? Do I have the right idea?\n\n------\njayferd\n++\n\nSyntax is extremely important for scripting languages, especially those you\nexpect to use with a REPL. Programmers tend to choose languages that (a) are\ngood enough for the job, and (b) are pleasant to use.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIsaac Newton's Recipe for Magical 'Philosopher's Stone' Rediscovered - samclemens\nhttp://www.livescience.com/54162-newton-recipe-for-philosophers-stone-rediscovered.html\n======\nnonbel\nThe titles of the papers back then are... notable:\n\n'A smart Scourge for a silly, sawcy Fool, an answer to letter at the end of a\npamphlet of Lionell Lockyer (1664).\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Starkey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Starkey)\n\n------\nmiguelrochefort\nSo, are we going to become immortal or not?\n\n~~~\nimglorp\nNo, not if you're going to be messing around with mercury and lead.\n\n~~~\nmankyd\nBut what if he dilutes it down with water, then dilutes it some more, etc\nuntil it merely leaves the imprint of mercury on the water. /s\n\n~~~\nandrewflnr\nThen he'll get mercury poisoning from drinking pure water, and we'll find out\nhomeopathy is just as good at killing people as it is at healing them.\n\n~~~\nJoeAltmaier\nThis: [https://xkcd.com/765/](https://xkcd.com/765/)\n\nor this: [http://xkcd.com/971/](http://xkcd.com/971/)\n\nand this: [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=2267](http://www.smbc-\ncomics.com/index.php?id=2267)\n\n~~~\njulie1\nYou miscreant you lie.\n\nEveryday, I used to filter my water on tap (except for minerals) and I drunk\nit.\n\nThen I got totally stoned with the highly diluted cocain, heroin, cannabis,\nalcohol, ketamine, LSD there is in it. The lesser the dilution, the stronger\nthe effect.\n\nThen I decided to get back with more normal way to get my life back from\naddiction. Drugs are bad.\n\nEvery day now since then, my routine includes diluting a mix of drugs in my\nwater to avoid the effects of it. I am feeling much better.\n\nI also noticed a problem with air. So I now constantly smoke weed, crack,\nheroin.\n\nIt is costly, but me at least, I am not insane.\n\nHow can you miss the pink elephant talking to the green martians that are\ninfecting the lizard man in the government that are all around us?\n\nTake back your sanity.\n\n------\nbasicplus2\ntime for a homeopathic joke...\n\n    \n    \n                              .\n\n~~~\nbasicplus2\nor better still..\n\nhomeopathic accident and emergency..\n\n[http://youtu.be/HMGIbOGu8q0](http://youtu.be/HMGIbOGu8q0)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAll XKCD cartoons, now in 3D - paol\nhttp://xkcd.com/880/\n\n======\nRiderOfGiraffes\nRelated previous submissions:\n\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2395373> (1 comment (as of writing))\n\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2395501> (dead)\n\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2396615> (dead)\n\n------\nth0ma5\nhis post on how you can help make the renderings better:\n<http://xkcd.com/xk3d/>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBritain has abandoned its claim to be the world's fifth largest economy - socalnate1\nhttp://money.cnn.com/2017/11/22/news/economy/uk-france-biggest-economies-in-the-world/index.html\n======\nkrona\nSince the IMF is measuring in Dollar terms, Britain became the 6th largest\neconomy the day after Brexit, solely as a result of the devaluation of GBP.\n\nAnd apparently, this is news.\n\n~~~\nhirsin\nDoes the currency they measure in impact anything? Every currency is\ncorrelated - they could measure in Swiss francs or yen and the result would\nstill be the same I assume, otherwise there's arbitrage to be had.\n\n~~~\nhardlianotion\nYes. GBP underwent a slippage across the board immediately following the\nreferendum and has not recovered since. Todays news likely to be more about\nthe timing at which these official comparisons are made.\n\n~~~\nSamReidHughes\nBut we'd still get the same result if we measured in GBP. The ordering is a\nconsequence of measuring with any currency, and choosing to measure GDP.\n\n~~~\nhardlianotion\nYes, I was being careless and only read the question I was interested in.\n\n------\nCptFribble\nWait, you mean building bigger barriers to international trade can cause your\neconomy to slow down? Who could have predicted this??\n\n~~~\n88\nWorth noting the EU doesn’t have free trade agreements with any of the three\nlargest economies (US, China, Japan) and in theory, Britain would be free to\nenter into such agreements after leaving the EU.\n\n~~~\ncelticninja\nNegotiating a fair free trade deal is harder for a smaller market who every\none knows are in need of a trade deal.\n\n~~~\nnanomoose\nOn the contrary, the opportunity to access the UK market has much enthusiasm.\n\n~~~\nIkmoIkmo\n> On the contrary, the opportunity to access the UK market has much\n> enthusiasm.\n\nYou're implying that's some kind of great news. I'd say, real estate investors\nhave lots of enthusiasm for sellers threatened with foreclosure. You can frame\nit as positively as you want but at the end of the day the UK's position at\nthe negotiation table is simply weaker, and it's no surprise everyone suddenly\nwants to talk.\n\n~~~\njopsen\n> I'd say, real estate investors have lots of enthusiasm for sellers\n> threatened with foreclosure.\n\nNice, hehe :)\n\nWhile that's definitely nice... there is the possibility that making a\ndisadvantages agreement with the US, China, Canada, etc. is better in the long\nterm.\n\nIt took years for the EU and Canada to reach an agreement. If one of them was\nin a less advantages position maybe it could be done faster... And maybe speed\nis more important than conditions of the agreement, who really knows?\n\nEDIT: okay, the brits perhaps ought to know what disadvantages trade\nagreements can do... given their past experience making them with their\ncolonies :)\n\nI note that the brexit'ers probably didn't want disadvantages trade agreements\n:)\n\n------\nwhack\nThe real story is the one no one has been talking about. The US has been the\nworld's largest economy for the past 100-150 years. In another ~10 years, that\nwill no longer be the case. Every year that passes afterwards, the US is going\nto fall further and further behind China, until it eventually gets lapped some\ntime in the mid-21st century. It's going to be \"interesting\" to see what\nhappens then.\n\n[http://fortune.com/2017/02/09/study-china-will-overtake-\nthe-...](http://fortune.com/2017/02/09/study-china-will-overtake-the-u-s-as-\nworlds-largest-economy-before-2030/)\n\n[https://www.quora.com/Economic-History-At-what-point-did-\nthe...](https://www.quora.com/Economic-History-At-what-point-did-the-US-\nbecome-the-biggest-economy-in-the-world)\n\n~~~\nforapurpose\nThe other real story, though a few years old now, is the reduction of the\nindividual European powers from world leaders to second-tier powers.\n\nThe rise of China has made the first tier out of reach to countries with only\n60-80 million people (such as the UK, France, and Germany). If the European\npowers combined - somehow, who knows how - then they would have the weight to\nbe global powers and have more influence to move global affairs in directions\nthe Europeans desire. With only 60 million people, the UK is destined to be a\nbit player.\n\nOne wonders why a neighboring second tier Eurasian power would want to disrupt\nEuropean integration and the resulting arrival of a superpower on their\ndoorstep. Stand together, or hang separately.\n\n~~~\nhardlianotion\nWho is the superpower in this scenario? What is the analogy to hanging, in\nthis instance? Is not being part of a superpower a necessarily bad thing? If\nso, why?\n\n~~~\njopsen\nGP is refering to Russia.\n\nWhether a superpower we can debate, but they still have massive influence.\n\n> Is not being part of a superpower a necessarily bad thing? So long as you\n> have NATO for defense and EU for free trade, then yeah, what is the\n> difference?\n\n~~~\ngeezerjay\nLayers. NATO is a layer, one based on hard power. EU membership is another\nlayer, one based on soft power.\n\nWith regards to power, no one is best served by losing power. If you lose\npower you will be unable to defend your best interests. If that's a good thing\nor a bad thing?\n\n------\ntrynumber9\nWhat is going on with Europe's GDP in general? Comparing the IMF figures from\n2008 to 2017 it seems France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have all had\neconomic contraction while the U.S. grew 33%.\n\n~~~\nxbzbanna\nDuring the great recession, Europe decided to do austerity instead of\nKeynesian stimulus. Just like the textbooks say, this has led to weak growth\nand deflation.\n\n~~~\nmonk_e_boy\nAusterity in the UK is extreme and it doesn't seem to have helped much. It\nseems to be a convenient way for the Tories to auction off more of the public\nservices because 'they are too expensive'...\n\n~~~\nhardlianotion\nAuction off? I am unaware of this. Perhaps that is not what you meant. Can you\nclarify or show where this happened?\n\n~~~\nnetsharc\nSomehow they privatize things saying the market can offer a better deal than a\ngovernment funded institute, when this happens the government-employed people\nare fired and then only some of them get hired by the private company. Savings\nat a cost of worse service, because fuck the taxpayers.\n\n[https://www.opendemocracy.net/shinealight/kiri-\nkankhwende/uk...](https://www.opendemocracy.net/shinealight/kiri-\nkankhwende/uk-outsourcing-alan-white-serco-G4S)\n\n[https://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/jul/29/serco-\nbigge...](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/jul/29/serco-biggest-\ncompany-never-heard-of)\n\n------\naportnoy\nHad humans had 6 fingers on each hand, this news would not exist.\n\n------\nblibble\nthe UK and France swap positions at regular intervals, which the article even\nstates:\n\n> This year will be the first time since 2013 that France has topped the U.K.\n> in the ranking, according to the IMF.\n\n~~~\ngerdesj\nTo be honest I thought the UK was still third in the EU economy top N (behind\nFR and DE). UKoGBnNI and FR have vied for the same position for quite a while\nnow.\n\nAnother interpretation is that we have equally successful economies based on\none, rather archaic but generally agreed on, measure.\n\n------\npartycoder\nThe UK was the first country to go through the Industrial revolution and for a\nwhile they had a huge advantage over other countries.\n\nBut other countries eventually caught up to their industrialization.\nEventually, the UK did no longer have an advantage in terms of productivity.\nSo around WW2, Churchill transferred substantial knowledge to the US through\nthe Tizard mission, so the US supplemented UK production.\n\nAfter that, came the Suez crisis, which is when the UK stopped being a\nsuperpower.\n\nThe UK still has some of the best research universities in the world, but the\nrole as London as trade hub is in decline.\n\nThe UK might do well in the future, and will continue to be relevant, but the\nbest days are gone.\n\n~~~\nhardlianotion\nLondon in decline as trade hb? Where is the evidence for that?\n\n------\ngpvos\n\"Crashes out of\"? They went from 5th to 6th place. When seeing a phrase like\nthat, I would've expected a sudden drop to at least the 10th place or so.\n\n~~~\nsctb\nThanks, we've just updated the headline to the subtitle.\n\n------\ncelticninja\nThis was initially titled \"Britain crashes out of the top 5 world economies\"\n\nIt made me think of the end of The Italian Job where the bus was hanging over\na cliff edge. Seems like a fitting analogy.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow do you save a million people from a cyclone? Ask a poor state in India - jjsb\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/03/world/asia/cyclone-fani-india-evacuations.html\n======\neesmith\nOr, as the article mentions, Bangladesh.\n\nFor that matter, ask Cuba about hurricane preparations, eg,\n[http://accuracy.org/release/cubas-hurricane-preparedness-\na-m...](http://accuracy.org/release/cubas-hurricane-preparedness-a-model-for-\nflorida-and-the-gulf-coast/) .\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAdobe + Typekit to bring legendary typefaces to the web - niyazpk\nhttp://blog.typekit.com/2010/08/16/typekit-and-adobe/\n======\nzokier\n<http://zokier.net/stuff/minion_pro.png>\n\nFirefox does really badly with Minion Pro at smaller sizes. Well, maybe\nsomeday.....\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nSo don't set running type in \"exotic\" faces; use Minion for display type and\nsubheds, and use a compatible standard face for the body.\n\n~~~\njacobolus\nThe main reason to use Minion is that it’s an awesome text face which ends up\ntaking up a bit less space than other faces at a similar size without\nsacrificing readability (I used it for almost all my papers the last couple\nyears of college, for example). As a display face, it’s not terribly exciting\n(especially since it doesn’t seem that the fonts designed for display size are\nincluded here; so these Minion fonts are intended for 10–12 pt. on paper).\n\n------\nasolove\nThank goodness, the web font debate is now over. Now we can go back to\nrevolutionizing typography through interaction and social text, without the\nannoying sneers about Georgia and Arial.\n\n------\nyellowbkpk\nWhy would they use an image to show the fonts? Don't they offer a product that\nallows you to embed fonts? I tried interacting with the text (e.g. selecting\nit) and ended up dragging an image file around.\n\n~~~\npaulhammond\nPerformance. Embedding 18 fonts via CSS would add a lot of weight and the\nbrowsers (particularly mobile safari) don't cope too well when you embed too\nmany fonts at once.\n\n(I work at Typekit)\n\n~~~\njawngee\nHave you guys sorted out the Safari issue?\n\nWe were going to use TypeKit but it looked like crap in Safari 5.\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nAre you hoping to use it for running text? Our corp site is Typekit, and it\nworks just fine with Safari 5 (we're an all-Mac shop). But we're not trying to\nset body text in Minion or anything; we use a neutral sans for the body, and\nFF DIN for heds and subheds.\n\n------\neatsleepdev\nOk, let me rephrase. I've been working with design agencies for years, and not\nonce have I been asked to use a font that typekit offers. I've actually\nsuggested typekit and it got shot down. While I think that typekit is a good\nalternative, it is not (YET) a good solution to the current web typography\nproblem.\n\n------\nlovskogen\nWhat do you think of renting fonts?\n\n------\nygd\nWhere's Bleeding Cowboys?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSpotify Enlists Its Users to Add Music Metadata - nmalloc\nhttp://variety.com/2018/digital/news/spotify-line-in-music-metadata-1202723757/\n======\nsolarkraft\nFor no compensation? Sure.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIBM Data Science Experience: Whole-Cluster Privilege Escalation Disclosure - wyc\nhttps://wycd.net/posts/2017-02-21-ibm-whole-cluster-privilege-escalation-disclosure.html\n======\njamesblonde\nI am very familiar with the product, as we are developing a peer-to-peer\nalternative for sharing large datasets for machine learning. It seems there\nare now security reasons for preferring the p2p approach.\n\nIf you're interested in our p2p approach, see:\n[https://fosdem.org/2017/schedule/event/democratizing_deep_le...](https://fosdem.org/2017/schedule/event/democratizing_deep_learning/)\nand www.hops.io\n\n------\ndjb_hackernews\nSurprised the docker iptables doesn't block this already. I do see rules\ndisallowing traffic to and from docker0 (172.17.0.1).\n\n~~~\nStreamBright\nI am not surprised at all. Security is mostly an afterthought in the docker\nuniverse. Sensible defaults are not really a thing and instead of giving\naccess to resources when needed it is allowed to do anything by default. Also,\nunprivileged containers when?\n\n~~~\nyebyen\nThis is not really true IMHO unless you're just starting and don't know what\nyou're doing. Like for example, if you're doing a container and you set\n--privileged flag, you have almost certainly granted more access to the\nprocesses inside of the container than was needed.\n\nI get what you're saying about unprivileged containers, even if the processes\nin the container are not running as root, the container itself (and docker\nitself) is basically root. The person running the container gets root. Setting\nup a docker host as multi-tenant is something you may do at your own risk.\n\nIf your users have access through the network to processes running inside of a\ncontainer, that is how you may use containers to protect yourself and your\nusers from each other. If, on the other hand, your users are allowed to\nexecute code outside of the container (or launch containers) because that's\nhow you have set up authorization and access control for users on your multi-\ntenant system, that's not the container's fault.\n\n~~~\nyebyen\nAnd just to tack on a specific anecdote about my own use of containers and how\nwhat you're saying just isn't true, I found once when trying to run Chrome in\na container that it failed for some reason related to sandboxing. So I tried\nto disable sandboxing with --no-sandbox and saw that it worked, then went back\nand googled to find out the implications of what I had done.\n\nThe first advice I found was from core docker maintainers saying clear as day\n\"don't run chrome with --no-sandbox\".\n\nThe problem was a missing kernel flag for USERNS support. This feature\nprovided by the kernel is the piece that allows to create a virtual root user\nthat only has root access inside of his namespace (only inside of the\ncontainer, then.) This is a service provided by the kernel.\n\nJust to rebut your position, in my experience there is no \"throw up your\nhands\" attitude towards security in the Docker dev team and containers\necosystem.\n\nNow certainly the thread parent shows this is not the case everywhere, but I\ncan tell you in my opinion from limited experience that I am not AT ALL\nsurprised this happened at IBM. I was exposed to their BlueMix platform at a\nhackathon in Buffalo, and putting it gently I was not impressed. More\ndirectly, important things like authentication and continuous deployment were\nobviously broken as soon as you scratched the surface.\n\nThe judge from IBM did not respond well when we told him we found their\nplatform was severely broken, and we had decided at 1am that we'd needed to\nswitch our efforts to targeting Heroku deployment instead. (We did not win the\nprize, if you're still wondering.)\n\n~~~\nrspeer\nHackathons seem to be where companies can dump an untested implementation of a\nplatform without ruining the experience of actual customers. They can either\nfind out what's wrong with their platform or be pleasantly surprised when\nsomeone manages to use it.\n\nA few years ago I ended up at a Hadoop-themed hackathon. It took most of the\nday for the organizers to provision us servers running Hadoop that could\ncompute anything non-trivial. The only reason my team ended up with something\ninstead of nothing is because I SSHed to my desktop computer to do the actual\ncomputation.\n\n------\ntmsldd\nWTF !\n\n~~~\nsctb\nPlease don't post unsubstantively like this here.\n\n~~~\ntmsldd\nYeah, I might over react .. I will be more careful ;) \"Scaring\" would be a\nbetter word. anyway, given that the issue was so simple to exploit, shall we\nconsider that private data could be already compromised?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nUACME: Defeating Windows User Account Control - pykello\nhttps://github.com/hfiref0x/UACME\n\n======\ncmdrfred\nvery nice.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: Qbox Releases QES Elasticsearch Connector for Magento - qboxio\nhttp://blog.qbox.io/qbox-releases-qes-elasticsearch-connector-for-magento\n\n======\nkaransikh\nInteresting tech\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWhite House Drone Crash Is Tied to Drunken Spy Agency Employee - aaronbrethorst\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/us/white-house-drone.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news\n\n======\njccooper\nIt's pretty easy to lose one of those things \"up\" if you are over-eager with\nthe throttle--like if it's the first time you've flown it or your motor\nfunctions are impaired. Looks like this guy had both those factors at work.\n\nFirst time I flew a quadrotor, I had no idea it had such a climb rate, and the\nsucker went up fast, got caught in the wind, left radio range in no time, and\nended up five houses down. Didn't land on a roof only by miracle, I think. No\ndamage, but I was much more careful the next flight. But I was flying a $40\ntoy; I think I would have been a bit more careful with a $2000 Phantom.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHacker News: Happy Holidays - mattbgates\nLadies, gentleman, hackers, entrepreneurs, daily readers, occasional readers, and seldom readers alike:<p>Whatever you celebrate... enjoy yourself, enjoy your time with family, enjoy time off from work, enjoy the holidays. Relax, be merry, eat good food, and it is certainly okay to indulge with a little dessert and some wine.. or whatever you drink.<p>Whatever happened to you this year, I hope it was good. If not, I hope going into the New Year, you have learned from your mistakes and are now a better improved version of yourself.<p>Keep on contributing to the greatness that is Hacker News!<p>I hope you have a wonderful New Year filled with lots of success. Take care!\n======\nTeichopsia\nNope. I'm going to have a lot of dessert. Thank you for the wishes. Have a\nmerry Christmas for you and your loved ones (or happy holidays).\n\n------\nnekopa\nHappy holidays to you too! I am looking forward to neko 4.0\n\n------\nmalux85\nHappy Holidays Hackers! Sending joy and love from London!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSub-3-hour weekend project: How much wine do I need? - bendtheblock\nhttp://www.howmuchwinedoineed.com/\n\n======\nkbob\nI read the headline as, \"How much wine do I need to create a sub-3-hour\nweekend project?\"\n\n------\ndasht\nThat's cute but are you concerned about liabilities that might result if what\nyou are doing can be construed as advising people to drink irresponsibly (by\ngiving them helpful instructions for doing it)?\n\n~~~\nbendtheblock\nI think people can be trusted to make their own decisions about what they can\nhandle. We've been looking for single serve site ideas for a while and this\none came to us when trying to calculate how much wine we needed for our first\ncompany birthday party.\n\nIt's a good point though, maybe it should have a _Please enjoy alcohol\nresponsibly_ disclaimer. Consider it done.\n\n------\nrobotron\nI could have used this yesterday! Ended up overbuying wine for an event. The\nresult on your app is about how much we ended up actually using.\n\n~~~\nbendtheblock\nThanks! We had a similarly successful experience with this calculation for a\nparty of about 50 people, hence we knocked the app together.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\n Raspberry Pi Clones Match the Connectors, But Boost the Firepower  - jonrx\nhttp://www.linux.com/news/embedded-mobile/mobile-linux/771048-raspberry-pi-clones-match-the-connectors-but-boost-the-firepower\n\n======\nAl__Dante\nIt would have been interesting to see the power consumption compared. The\nRaspberry PI model A can be operated below 0.5A, in some cases 0.25A, which\nmakes it attractive for mobile installations. How do the other two boards\ncompare, do you know?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nEnvKey (YC W18) is a smarter place to store API keys and credentials - danenania\nhttps://techcrunch.com/2018/02/27/envkey-wants-to-create-a-smarter-place-to-store-a-companys-api-keys-and-credentials/\n======\nsquiguy7\nThis article didn't dive too deep into what this service offers but every\ncompany I have been at has this problem. And each time there seems to be a\ndifferent way of sharing credentials whether it's passwords, certificates, or\nkeys. What could this service offer that something like a password manager or\nvault doesn't? Is it the ability to rotate items regularly or expire items?\nCan I set super granular access for sensitive credentials? These features\nwould be helpful to avoid the headache of managing these kinds of secrets.\n\n~~~\ndanenania\nHi, founder of EnvKey here.\n\nPassword managers can work for this, but they don't offer anything to help you\nmanage multiple environments, conflict resolution, integration with code, etc.\nEnvKey tries to make all this seamless by zeroing in on this specific use\ncase.\n\nIn comparison to Vault (which I think is great software and has helped to\ninspire EnvKey's design), EnvKey is just a lot simpler. There's no server\nmanagement, and configuration of any development or server environment is as\nsimple as setting a single environment variable\n(ENVKEY=F4U4jGkZuo24zKxxgJsR-4f1g2w3VpHYpYC2x).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nProject Jengo Celebrates One Year Anniversary by Releasing Prior Art - jgrahamc\nhttps://blog.cloudflare.com/project-jengo-celebrates-one-year-anniversary/\n======\ncodetrotter\n> After Blackbird filed a lawsuit against Cloudflare alleging infringement of\n> a vague and overly-broad patent (‘335 Patent), we launched Project Jengo,\n> which offered a reward to people who submitted prior art that could be used\n> to invalidate any of Blackbird’s patents.\n\nThat is positively awesome. Thank you CF, wish more companies engaged in\nactively fighting back against the patent trolls.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe importance of having your own inhouse technical team - keiretsu\n\n======\ncwilbur\nThe core of your business should be in-house. If the technology sits at the\ncore of your business -- as it does for most web companies -- then outsourcing\nit is foolish. If your business is actually something else, like plumbing, and\nthe tech just supports it, then you may as well outsource it; it's a decision\nfor a cost-benefit analysis.\n\n~~~\nkeiretsu\nerm. referring to web startups here.\n\nAnd yes. You heard me right. I've talked to a number of so called internet biz\ndev \"pros\" and they actually advocate outsourcing site development to offshore\nplaces and concentrate on marketing. I was like, WTF? Now i know why the\nsuccessful web startups all originate from hackers. These internet biz dev\n\"pros\" just don't get it\n\nThe most uncomfortable thing is that my non-techie co-founder actually agrees\nwith this thought. Maybe it's time for me to find another cofounder.\n\nYou can really tell the diff between an outsourced site and a non-outsourced\nsite. An outsourced site will most likely be .aspx (India's fav), have a rigid\ndesign/structure. Eg. <http://scriptovia.com>\n\nAn in-house version usually has its own unique design/identity Eg. scribd.com\n\n~~~\nstaunch\nMost programmers don't know how to develop software very well. You shouldn't\nbe surprised \"biz guys\" are totally ignorant. Most non-programmers think you\ncan have marketing and design people come up with \"specs\" and then hand it off\nto have it \"programmed\". That almost never works and yet it's by far the most\ncommon method. People who think this is a good practice should be no where\nnear the helm of a technology company.\n\nSome web companies are not technology companies though. I think the \"biz guy\"\napproach works for those -- occasionally. Digg was a cheap project on elance.\nThe success for that site was more about a TechTV/Kevin Rose community.\nMySpace is similar.\n\nFacebook a non-technology company becoming one.\n\n------\nkeiretsu\ni think most of the business fogeys don't understand the importance of having\nyour own in house technical team. these fogeys actually think outsourcing\ndevelopment to offshore teams is the best way to go.\n\nRight. Technology is the lifeblood of most successful web startups. So when\nwas it good to outsource your lifeblood to a bunch of unknowns miles away?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nApple's Market Cap now bigger than Citicorp's - raganwald\nhttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aYDmSu.TmOrU&refer=home\n======\nraganwald\nAs FSJ put it, \"Which would you rather own: a portfolio of sub-prime mortgages\nor a portfolio of iPhone patents?\"\n\n~~~\nmichaelneale\nI love the term \"sub prime\" - its such a humorous form of NewSpeak to mean\nlending money to greedy people who can't afford to pay it back (done by greedy\npeople who can't ...)\n\n------\nRaphael\nI am happy that a company that makes something real is worth more than a\ncompany that just moves money around.\n\n------\nRaphael\nCiti _group_\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThe Nerdiest States In America - ejain\nhttp://blog.estately.com/2014/04/the-nerdiest-states-in-america/\n\n======\nejain\nDiscussion of flawed statistical methods in 3... 2... 1...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: What is the issuer of the icloud.com certificate by you? - acqq\nWhat do you see when you view the certificate of icloud.com? At this moment, I see this chain: &quot;DigiCert High Assurance EV Root CA&quot; &quot; DigiCert SHA2 Extended Validation Server CA&quot; &quot;www.icloud.com&quot; Valid from &quot;‎07 ‎February ‎2018 01:00:00&quot;, sha1 thumbprint: &quot;‎66 de 98 b6 3a 7c 4e eb 0a aa 03 a2 30 57 9e fa 18 e5 c7 fe&quot;  I&#x27;m interested to see how many different certificates exist as valid and are being used at the same moment for some site so important like this one.\n======\nRjevski\nSHA-1 fingerprint is \"66 DE 98 B6 3A 7C 4E EB 0A AA 03 A2 30 57 9E FA 18 E5 C7\nFE\" on my side and the certificate appears trusted.\n\n------\nmisterdata\nCrt.sh should give you what you need:\n[https://crt.sh/?q=icloud.com](https://crt.sh/?q=icloud.com)\n\n~~~\nacqq\nAren't these only the ones that the issuers willingly made public themselves?\n\n------\nznpy\nSame sha-1 fpr: 66:DE:98:B6:3A:7C:4E:EB:0A:AA:03:A2:30:57:9E:FA:18:E5:C7:FE\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nEfficiently Generating Python Hash Collisions - ssully\nhttps://www.leeholmes.com/blog/2019/07/23/efficiently-generating-python-hash-collisions/\n======\nsvat\nAlthough this article is about collisions in the hash function applied to\nstrings, for numeric values Python uses a hash() function that is not only\neasy to generate collisions for but actually to invert (and find all\ninverses). I learned about this when writing this answer:\n\n• [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/56227419/why-does-\npython...](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/56227419/why-does-pythons-hash-\nof-infinity-have-the-digits-of-π/56227918#56227918)\n\nand details and code on how to invert are here:\n\n•\n[https://stackoverflow.com/a/56248241/4958](https://stackoverflow.com/a/56248241/4958)\n\n(Needless to say, this is quite straightforward and trivial compared to\ncollisions on strings; nevertheless it may be of some interest to someone.)\n\n------\nErikCorry\nWhy is the running time of the attacked python process exponential? I would\nexpect quadratic.\n\n~~~\n6gvONxR4sf7o\nIt's probably using the colloquial version of the word (which I hate).\n\"Exponentially\" = \"hugely, but I want to sound technical.\" Or the still\nfrustrating but more acceptable \"exponentially\" = \"by orders of magnitude.\"\n\n~~~\nsansnomme\nMaybe OP should use P and NP instead.\n\n------\njshowa3\nWow. This is an awesome article. Very well put together and explained step by\nstep with pictures.\n\nWish all articles were like this.\n\n------\npunnerud\nHow is it fixed in Python 3.3+?\n\n~~~\nmcintyre1994\nI think it's this:\n\n> Note: By default, the __hash__() values of str, bytes and datetime objects\n> are “salted” with an unpredictable random value. Although they remain\n> constant within an individual Python process, they are not predictable\n> between repeated invocations of Python.\n\n> This is intended to provide protection against a denial-of-service caused by\n> carefully-chosen inputs that exploit the worst case performance of a dict\n> insertion, O(n^2) complexity. See\n> [http://www.ocert.org/advisories/ocert-2011-003.html](http://www.ocert.org/advisories/ocert-2011-003.html)\n> for details.\n\n> Changing hash values affects the iteration order of sets. Python has never\n> made guarantees about this ordering (and it typically varies between 32-bit\n> and 64-bit builds).\n\n> See also PYTHONHASHSEED.\n\n\\--\n\nFrom\n[https://docs.python.org/3/reference/datamodel.html#object.__...](https://docs.python.org/3/reference/datamodel.html#object.__hash__)\n(linked from\n[https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.3.html](https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.3.html))\n\n~~~\nH8crilA\nYup, don't ever rely on any random hash function, even if widely used, to be\nrepeatable between processes. I've seen a deployment of a small caching system\nthat used the Python's built in hash function. The author of the code was\nwondering why does he get a ~zero hit rate (processes were short lived in that\nsetup).\n\nRelated: iterating over hash maps is a very common way to get nondeterministic\noutput. I've removed a lot of inconsistency bugs by fixing the hash map\niteration order. Usually by just using the sorted map, since the performance\nof a randomly chosen piece of code in a large system is almost irrelevant.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHallucinogen in ‘magic mushrooms’ might have helped smokers quit - Libertatea\nhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/09/12/hallucinogen-in-magic-mushrooms-might-have-helped-smokers-quit/\n======\ndarkFunction\nMushrooms can be extremely introspective, I would imagine this could easily\nlead people to re-evalute their life choices in a more permanent manner than\nnormal.\n\n~~~\nallegory\nOr in a friend of mine, trigger latent schizophrenia, ruin his degree, lose\nhis girlfriend, flatshare and end up living in the back of his car for 3\nyears.\n\nYMMV.\n\nI'd rather not flip the coin on drug use. That goes for a fair number of\nprescription drugs as well for reference.\n\n~~~\nDanielBMarkham\nHad a relative that was given intravenous penicillin by a GP and it almost\nkilled her. Knew a guy once that almost died by bee stings. Had a friend in\nschool who started smoking pot at age 12 and it destroyed his life.\n\nLife is about risk, and everything we ingest has the risk to do terrible\nthings to us. You can die from too much water. So the question isn't whether\nthings or good or bad, rather who gets to assess the risk and what tools do\nthey use?\n\nWould I want my 16-year-old assessing the risk of magic mushrooms? Hell no.\nWould I want my drug addicted 35-year-old cousin? Yeah, probably. So the real\nquestion is who gets to decide. And why. I'm completely comfortable with some\nkind of psyilocybin addiction treatment coordinated (but not approved by) a GP\nor LCSW.\n\nI also would rather not flip the coin on drug use, including a fair number of\nprescription drugs. But as a voter I remain convinced of my right to change my\nmind and not have others make that choice for me. The problem we're seeing\nnow, that is only just getting started to be addressed, is that vast numbers\nof chemicals have been off-limits for even scientific exploration of benefits.\nThat means nobody can assess the risk -- of things that might have great\nbenefit to mankind. That's whacked.\n\n~~~\nallegory\nThe thing is that health expenditure and legalisation are proportionally tied.\n\nThou who bites off the latter, increases the former in psychiatric and general\nhealthcare.\n\nAnd that's not fair on everyone else. So perhaps you should forfeit your right\nto free healthcare when you make that choice?\n\n(I speak with respect to the NHS in the UK).\n\nFor ref, I'm allergic to penicillin as well. Fortunately because we have\nresearch budgets, we have other antibiotics. Perhaps expenditure on drug\nrelated problems (crime, psych, healthcare) should be diverted into that?\n\n~~~\ndrewblaisdell\n> Thou who bites off the latter, increases the former in psychiatric and\n> general healthcare.\n\nDo you have data on the overall cost of legalization/decriminalization?\n_Surely_ the decrease in the cost of incarcerating drug offenders is\nsignificant.\n\n------\nthefreeman\nAnyone find a link to the actual study? The author basically presents this as:\n\n\\- take some smokers\n\n\\- give them therapy for 5 weeks\n\n\\- dose them up on psilocybin\n\n\\- hope they stop smoking.\n\nI am guessing there was more to the study then that.\n\nAlso the results of the study are never even listed, except for saying that it\n\"worked in most cases\".\n\nHonestly, I am all for studying the affects of these drugs but this article is\npretty garbage.\n\n~~~\nchaosdesigner\nonly abstract seems to be freely available online:\n\n[http://jop.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/09/06/026988111454...](http://jop.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/09/06/0269881114548296.abstract)\n\n~~~\ngwern\nHere you go:\n\n\"Pilot study of the 5-HT2AR agonist psilocybin in the treatment of tobacco\naddiction\", Johnson et al 2014\n[https://pdf.yt/d/i123Xa2YOeU3os-6](https://pdf.yt/d/i123Xa2YOeU3os-6) /\n[https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5317066/2014-johnson.pdf](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5317066/2014-johnson.pdf)\n/\n[http://libgen.org/scimag/get.php?doi=10.1177%2F0269881114548...](http://libgen.org/scimag/get.php?doi=10.1177%2F0269881114548296)\n\n------\nJetSpiegel\nI think it's hypocritical to defend keeping other drugs illegal while allowing\nalcohol and tobacco to thrive. Either we go full puritan and forbid all drug\nuse, or this talk of defending people from themselves is just protectionism\nfor the tobacco and alcohol industries.\n\n------\nweddpros\nI know it's easier to say \"it's obviously bad, so we must ban it\"... but I\nwanted to share some thoughts too. (I don't use drugs, I stopped smoking, I\nstill drink alcohol)\n\nCantaloupe can kill me (allergy), so I choose not to eat it. Darwin at work...\nFor similar reasons, I'm not pro-drugs.\n\nBut I don't think a ban on cantaloupe is needed, the same way I think drug\nprohibition is not an appropriate response to drug abuse. I know it seems far\nstretched, but please read on.\n\nWe base our choice on perceived risk vs benefits. People who decide to use\ndrugs that could kill them probably don't care about the law. If you accept a\nhigh risk of death, jail shouldn't look like a major risk for you.\n\nThe fact that a majority of people have tried drugs prove that prohibition\nonly allows punishment, but it doesn't prevent drug abuse.\n\nReconsidering prohibition doesn't equal being lawless: if a drug addict\nkills/hurts/steals from you, he risks jail anyway for that (not so much for\nusing drugs!). Prohibition doesn't protect us.\n\nReconsidering prohibition might open the society for more evolution. Research\ncould lead to real health benefits under medical supervision. Maybe a startup\ncould find ways to explore the effects of some drug safely. Maybe the society\nwould start teaching people about psychology and altered states of mind...\nMaybe drug traffics would plummet, leading to less violence. Maybe we could\nthen treat all addictions, without a legal vs illegal barrier which is\nprobably barring some from seeking help. And I believe I'm not creative/clever\nenough to imagine all those changes that would occur.\n\nLastly, it's widely accepted on HN that we must measure the effects of the\nactions we take. Reconsidering prohibition will allow such measurement and\nwe'll build our future more wisely.\n\nThere will still be casualties, but think again about that cantaloupe... You\ncan't ban cantaloupe to save me from myself.\n\n~~~\ntibbon\nI don't think that people using potentially dangerous drugs want the drug to\nkill them, or have a complete disrespect of the law. While alcohol isn't an\n_illegal_ drug let there be no mistake that it is absolutely a drug in every\nsense of the word and there is high risk of abuse, dependence, and harm. A\nhuge number of people die each year from the abuse of alcohol. AA exists for a\nreason and you can buy beer almost anywhere.\n\nBut let's not talk about drugs that pose a mortal risk for a moment. Instead,\nlet's focus on the topic at hand which is psychedelic drugs such as LSD,\npsilocybin mushrooms, DMT, etc... These all carry different risk profiles\nindividually but overall it is safe to say that risk of dependence or lethal\noverdose are several magnitudes less than that of alcohol, cocaine, nicotine,\nor opiates. Yes, there is always the chance of a bad trip and it is entirely\npossible that poor decisions are made on LSD or mushrooms (if you are making\npoor decisions while on DMT, it would only be in conversations you're having\nin your head as you aren't walking about on that drug). I also don't know\nanyone addicted to LSD.\n\nAnd while I've heard of few people having life-changing positive breakthroughs\nwhile trash drunk on alcohol or buzzing from nicotine, I have met scores of\npeople who have had such experiences on comparatively safe psychedelics.\n\nAs you say, prohibition has run its course especially for psychedelic drugs\nand must end. Are there 'bad' drugs out there? Absolutely! But there are many\nmore positive ways to deal with them through education and resources.\n\n~~~\nweddpros\nI agree with you, on every point. As for risks, it's just a risk, a\nprobability... Cantaloupe won't kill me instantly either. And I've tried\nhash/weed before (as well as another unidentified drug poured into my glass.\nmy girlfriend bought the glass. Probably GHB. I actually liked it, I only\nregret not choosing it).\n\nAnd I must say I'd like to try LSD.\n\nYet there's a risk. I've suffered a cerebral stroke 10 years ago, and that\ncondition could raise that risk. I'm aware of it. Anyway, _I_ decide.\n\nProhibition? yes, it's hugely inefficient. We grow as we learn to deal with\nour lives by ourself... Prohibition tries to prevent the society from coping\nwith problems, without avoiding the problems themselves. How is it supposed to\neven work?\n\n------\ninfinity0\n\"Heroin might have helped smokers quit\".\n\n~~~\ninfinity0\nIt's incredible how any anti-drug sentiment touches a nerve of the pro-drugs\ncrowd here. Multiple people were offended enough to go and downvote every one\nof allegory's comments. This is fucking ridiculous and you should be ashamed\nof yourself. You claim that \"we need a debate\" but you react to expressions of\nanti-drug sentiment, by putting up a straw man interpretation and downvoting\nwithout explaining yourself. What the fuck? Your downvote deserves a downvote.\n\nMy original comment is pointing out the title is stupid and uninformative.\n\n~~~\nEdwardDiego\n> Multiple people were offended enough to go and downvote every one of\n> allegory's comments.\n\nI can't downvote, so I'm not one of those who anger you so much, but allegory\nis most likely being downvoted for presenting anecdotes as conclusive evidence\nand dismissively referring to anyone who disagrees with him as having opinions\nlacking experience.\n\nIf we're dressing up anecdote as evidence then I have plenty of my own, but\nI'm well aware of how useless they are at informing debate.\n\n~~~\ninfinity0\nHe is not being downvoted for those fake-impassionate reasons. Some others\nhave negated this bullshit and re-upvoted, but during the worst of it, all of\nhis comments, even the ones that didn't exhibit what you say, were downvoted\nmultiple times.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWhy the U.S. Government Never Has to Pay Back All Its Debt - cawel\nhttp://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/02/why-the-us-government-never-ever-has-to-pay-back-all-its-debt/272747/\n\n======\nsnowwrestler\nThe first thing to understand is that the U.S. government does not have to\never run a surplus in order to pay back its debt. Debt service is included in\nthe budget; running budgets that are merely balanced is enough.\n\nThe second thing to understand is that the U.S. government is the financier of\nlast resort, and thus, has nowhere to store surpluses other than itself. That\nis why the Social Security trust fund is invested in U.S. Treasury\nbonds...nothing is more trustworthy. Thus we find the perverse result that\ngovernment surpluses actually create more government debt! So not only is a\nbalanced budget sufficient, it is the optimum.\n\nSo the U.S. government's only option to finance capital investments is debt.\nIn the startup world you can find an angel or VC to infuse you with cash in\nreturn for equity; but the U.S. government's equity offering is already fully\nsubscribed (it belongs to the citizens). So the government's only option for\nunplanned expenditures is to issue debt.\n\nFrom this we can see that it is expected that U.S. budgets will habitually\nmiss low. Debt acculumates because it is the best way for the government to\nmanage its finances. The amount of debt, and its rate of growth, matters only\nin the context of what the U.S. economy is doing.\n\nWhen a company experiences a sales slump, they can dip into capital to\nmaintain operations until sales improve. When the U.S. economy hits a slump,\nwe only have debt--so debt has gone up. This is an expected result, not a\ncrisis. We just have to make sure the rate of debt growth falls under GDP\ngrowth as part of the recovery.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAPNG-canvas – Display animated PNG files in the browser - X4\nhttp://davidmz.github.io/apng-canvas/\nIn case you want native APNG support on Chrome, you can install this chrome addon from the same author: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;davidmz&#x2F;apng-chrome\n======\nTheZenPsycho\nI've been wondering about the point of APNG lately.\n\n1\\. The gif patents are expired. So that whole drama is done.\n\n2\\. If you want more colors, couldn't you just do a doublesize dithered gif,\ndisplay at half size and let the browser pixel averaging algorithm take care\nof the rest?\n\n3\\. Would the above result in much larger files than APNG? i don't know, maybe\nthat's the clincher.\n\n4\\. APNG does not provide any additional API advantage over GIF. I still can't\ncontrol when it plays, how fast it plays, or easily provide the ability to\nreplay it (without going round the long, glitchy looking way by forcing a\nreload of it)\n\nIncidentally, you know what does provide a pretty good and well supported\njavascript api? This is going to sound weird, but you can make just a plain\nPNG image strip, wrap an img tag in a marquee tag, and get full control over\nhow it works, with universal browser support[1] : Play, pause, stop, rewind,\nspeed, looping, etc. etc.\n\n[1]:Except for bloody webkit, in which recent versions have changed the\nbehaviour of the marquee tag with relation to other browsers for some fucking\nreason. :(\n\n~~~\nDylan16807\n_2\\. If you want more colors, couldn 't you just do a doublesize dithered gif,\ndisplay at half size and let the browser pixel averaging algorithm take care\nof the rest?_\n\nBrowsers are often horrible at resizing files; it would not look good at all.\n\n _4\\. APNG does not provide any additional API advantage over GIF. I still can\n't control when it plays, how fast it plays, or easily provide the ability to\nreplay it (without going round the long, glitchy looking way by forcing a\nreload of it)_\n\nIf you want to mess with speed, save it. If you want a way to trigger replay\nin your browser, file a bug report.\n\nAPNG does everything GIF does but better, and it is a small attack surface\ncompared to MNG or video formats. It's also efficient compared to handling\nvideo embeds.\n\n~~~\nTheZenPsycho\n\"Browsers are often horrible at resizing files; it would not look good at\nall.\"\n\nWhat's with the weasel words? You can name names if you want. Which browsers?\nwhat do they do that makes them look horrible? The only browsers left I know\nof that use nearest neighbour resampling are ie7 and ie8.\n\n\"If you want to mess with speed, save it.\"\n\nYou're joking, right?\n\n\"If you want a way to trigger replay in your browser, file a bug report.\"\n\nyou definitely are joking. You think I'm the first person to ever want that?\n\n~~~\nDylan16807\nI'm not joking when I say right click should have a repeat option. Why does a\nsuggestion to file a bug report sound dismissive to you? It's not like I told\nyou to code it yourself.\n\nI'm not joking about changing speed; how often do you want to play a video in\nslow motion? It's not really the browser's job to do that.\n\nI used weasel words because I didn't want to go testing. In addition to me\nremembering additional issues on my phone, Opera and IE10 do bad resampling,\nand chrome does a weird thing where it shows bad resampling for a couple\nseconds before replacing it with good resampling. Specifically, when I say\n'bad' here, it's not nearest neighbor but it's not using a proper method\neither. Small details, such as lines 3-4 pixels wide, disappear entirely in\nspots when I zoom out. They're using algorithms that only sample a couple of\npoints, which breaks down terribly on sizes like 33%.\n\nEdit: I found a mozilla bug report claiming that high-quality resizing is\nturned off if an image is on a page multiple times. Ech.\n\n~~~\nTheZenPsycho\nThe suggestion to file a bug report doesn't sound dismissive. It sounds naive.\nIt assumes that I wouldn't go to the bugzilla and just see, already there,\nthese:\n[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=617875](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=617875)\n\n(2010)\n\n[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=284511](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=284511)\n\n(2005)\n\n[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=899861](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=899861)\n\n(2013)\n\n[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=211145](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=211145)\n\n(2003)\n\n[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=96873](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=96873)\n\n(2001)\n\n[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=523973](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=523973)\n\n(2009)\n\n[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=629819](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=629819)\n\n(2011)\n\n[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=619957](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=619957)\n\n(2010)\n\n[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=873881](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=873881)\n\n(2013)\n\nNeed I go on? I laughed because the problem with gifs is so obvious and\npainful I couldn't imagine there wouldn't be a pile of really old bugs there\nalready. Gifs on page don't really work right. They're not consistent,\npredictable, and none of the many inconsistent ways they do behave in is what\nanyone expects. But this is all well known by anyone but the browser\ndevelopers, it seems. Filing a duplicate is a waste of everyone's time.\n\n\"I'm not joking about changing speed; how often do you want to play a video in\nslow motion? It's not really the browser's job to do that.\"\n\nI mean changing speed for design effects. We're not talking about video here.\nRemember? We're talking about gifs/pngs. Totally different thing. Totally\ndifferent use cases. Admittedly it's not often I'd need to do that. Really\nadding play/rewind/pause/seek, in that order, is more important.\n\n\"Small details, such as lines 3-4 pixels wide, disappear entirely in spots\nwhen I zoom out. They're using algorithms that only sample a couple of points,\nwhich breaks down terribly on sizes like 33%.\"\n\nFascinating. Maybe I should do some tests. Do you have example images where\nyou'd expect problems to happen?\n\n------\nX4\nIn case you want native APNG support on Chrome, you can install this open-\nsource Chrome Add-On from the same author: [https://github.com/davidmz/apng-\nchrome](https://github.com/davidmz/apng-chrome)\n\nOne could say that this is a pendant to: \"Animated gifs the easy way\" to\n[http://www.sublimetext.com/~jps/animated_gifs_the_hard_way.h...](http://www.sublimetext.com/~jps/animated_gifs_the_hard_way.html)\n\n------\ndevongovett\nSee also:\n[http://devongovett.github.io/png.js/](http://devongovett.github.io/png.js/)\ncode:\n[https://github.com/devongovett/png.js](https://github.com/devongovett/png.js)\n\nalso works in Node (png-js on npm) if you want raw pixel values there.\n\n~~~\nX4\nThank you for posting that, it may be helpful, but it's ~twice larger than\napng. I think that matters when served to clients.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFrancis Crick Institute's £700m building 'too noisy to concentrate' - tomduncalf\nhttps://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/nov/21/francis-crick-institutes-700m-building-too-noisy-to-concentrate\n======\nelymar\nI found that some earplugs from Walmart really make a night and day difference\nin concentration for me in noisy areas. Also makes people think twice before\nstarting a conversation with me when I'm focused on something.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhy We Terminated Our Partnership with Microsoft - gortok\nhttp://paulstovell.com/blog/re-next-decade-of-open-source\n======\nnoen\nThe whole article paints a picture of Microsoft eating OSS OSS projects, but\nthe author begins by clearly stating that the project he is going to reference\n(Octopus Deploy) is not OSS.\n\nInstead, he is complaining that Microsoft is competing with his own\nproprietary, commercial offering. I'm not sure why he keeps pushing the\nnarrative that this is bad for OSS, when the only two projects mentioned\naren't.\n\nFull Disclosure - I worked in the Azure DevOps org for a long time, and\nseveral of his assertions about Microsoft's auto-defacto status for developer\ntools and services aren't true, or at least weren't true during the time this\narticle was set in (2010-2015).\n\n~~~\nljm\n> While Octopus isn't OSS (though much of it is)\n\nI lost interest in the author’s argument at that point. They’re upset because\nsomeone is going to give a better offer than half a mil a year for the same\nproduct. And they’re saying, “think of the OSS!” The same OSS they’re\nexploiting to charge half a mil. How much of that money does the OSS see? Do\nthey get proper support and maintenance?\n\nAzure is a formidable competitor but a slow moving beast. They should be well\ngeared towards innovation and not depending on their... yes... half a mil\nprice tier. The fact that’s written on paper and not a dedicated sales/VP call\nis crazy.\n\nIt sounds like they need to find something unique. Since every cloud provider\nis moving this direction.\n\n~~~\nsounds\nErr, free software does not mean \"zero dollars.\"\n\nThey're not exploiting the model to charge money for it.\n\nI know Octopus Deploy uses proprietary code.\n\nBut if you're going to complain about the model, at least know what the model\nis. It's not about the amount of money you must pay to obtain a copy.\n\n~~~\nDylan16807\n> Err, free software does not mean \"zero dollars.\"\n\nThat's why they asked \"How much of that money does the OSS see?\"\n\nIf it's getting a significant chunk, then things are great.\n\nIf all the money is going to the proprietary part, then they have no high\nground over Microsoft.\n\nNobody is complaining about money charged for OSS support and development.\n\n------\nDinux\nI don't agree with the article at all. The point the author is making has less\nto do with OSS and more with competition. Business is never 'fair'. The reason\npeople flock to AWS/Azure is because of ease of use, integration with other\nsystems etc.. The burden of maintaining two (or more) ecosystems just because\none is 'a little better' isn't worth it. Sure there will always be an\nalternative that fits the product/team better.\n\nBesides, MS and alike have thousands of products and services. Are they\nsupposed to point to every-other-alternative out there before they enter the\nmarket?\n\n~~~\ncc81\nI don't think it is necessarily about being fair it is just that the\nphilosophy of developers in the .NET world has always been if MS has something\nthen that is the thing we use. I've felt that within Java there are usually\nmore competing products and flavors.\n\nOften the product MS provides is good enough but I remember in the tail end of\nthe web forms disaster there were some good open source MVC libraries inspired\nby the Java ecosystem but they never really got traction and people kept\nbuilding things with shitty web forms. This is until MS came with ASP.NET MVC\nand people started to switch.\n\nI don't think Microsoft wants to kill alternatives. I think they really want a\nhealthy ecosystem to get more developers using .NET but they also want to be\nable to create a complete developer experience and that sometimes clashes and\nkills other products due to the culture.\n\n~~~\nkevingadd\nThere are definitely cases where the community wins out because it delivers\nbetter quality - Newtonsoft.JSON eventually was recommended by MSDN\ndocumentation instead of the built-in .NET JSON APIs and the new in-\ndevelopment API is being written by the author of Newtonsoft.\n\n~~~\ncc81\nThat is true and that was a pretty big shift and together with embracing open\nsource more, going all in on Azure, supporting Linux etc. there has been\nchanges and that has reflected somewhat in the community as well.\n\nI also think people being used to npm in the frontend will make them more\nlikely to start looking around nuget for things that can support their use\ncase better than what exists by Microsoft.\n\n------\nmikece\n\"If you look at the announcements for Microsoft products that compete with\ntheir own ecosystem, one thing you'll very rarely see is any acknowledgement\nof the OSS projects they displace.\"\n\nI can see why you would be upset but what obligation does Microsoft have to do\nthat? One reason CIOs will go with Microsoft solutions lock-stock-and-barrel\nis that it's there's one account rep, one consolidated bill, one \"throat to\nchoke\" if there's a support need. The alternative would be to deepen your\npartnership to the point that something like Octopus becomes a de facto\nMicrosoft product (complete with bundled support when you go with\n.NET/Azure/etc). Either that or go out of your way to show why DevOps managers\nnever get fired for choosing Octopus.\n\nNo, it's not \"fair\" but Microsoft isn't the only company doing this and it\n_would_ be unfair to suggest they are doing this out of malice.\n\n~~~\nwolco\nMalice is a loaded term.\n\nWhen Amazon tells you they want to buy you, never sign and come out with a\ncompeting product months later we feel malice.\n\nBut in this case we don'\u001bt becauce Microsoft copied an existing product and\nopen source it we say no malice exists.\n\nBig companies are copying smaller successful products on mass. It is not\nillegal, it's not out of malice. But its getting tiresome. How many products\ncan facebook buy or copy and crush before we change the rules. Avoiding this\nwas one of the pillars of copyright long ago. Now we have copyright for and\ncopying trade secret powered development for big players.\n\n~~~\ntomnipotent\nBut it's ok when small companies or OSS projects copy big companies? Isn't\nthat double standards? GitLab was a perfect example when its first release(s)\nblatantly ripped off the GitHub interface.\n\nEdit: Removing \"amusing\"\n\n~~~\nabdullahkhalids\nIt is indeed okay. Phenomena that result in the market being more competitive\nare good, phenomena that result in the market being oligopolistic are bad.\n\n~~~\ntomnipotent\nI don't like this argument. Can I apply it to free speech then? It's either a\nlevel playing field, or it isn't.\n\n~~~\nptx\nWhich sports with a level playing field allow one team to have a thousand\ntimes as many players in play as the other team?\n\n~~~\nmegablast\nLook at soccer leagues. Some teams have many millions to spend on players,\nothers only have a few. And the ones who do have many millions are the one at\nthe top of the league. In the Premier League, you have Man Utd, Chelsea,\nLiverpool at the top, all outspending every other team.\n\n------\nscarface74\n_Prior to 2016, Octopus Deploy was the only popular option for .NET developers\nto automate their application deployments, and we 'd single-handedly helped\nthousands of dev teams to go beyond \"right click, publish\". In fact, at the\ntime, Octopus Deploy was responsible for a large % of the largest Azure\ndeployments that were happening._\n\nI had never heard of Octopus Deploy until 2018. There were plenty of ways to\nautomate deployments for .Net over a decade ago. In fact, Azure Devops is\nbasically TFS online that has been around forever.\n\nThis is like the company that said Apple “stole” their idea of using an iPad\nfor a second screen for a Mac even though other options existed since 2010.\n\n~~~\nparanoidrobot\n> There were plenty of ways to automate deployments for .Net over a decade\n> ago.\n\nThere's a difference between just pure \"automate deployments\" and what Octopus\ndoes.\n\nWhile sure there's been tools like NAnt around forever, back when Octopus came\nout* there wasn't a good easy to use workflow tool for deployment\norchestration.\n\nSure, you could use TeamCity/Bamboo/TFS to deploy your code, but it was really\nfocussed on the CI side of things, and the process of building a pipeline was\noften quite a pain to manage, with them not really understanding\n'environments'.\n\nYou could, and in many cases often did - tell your CI system to deploy direct\nto a dev/staging environment - but it really wasn't intended for production\nenvironments. If you wanted to orchestrate deploying to more than one machine,\nit was a pain, and doing even tens of machines required that you built a ton\nof tooling to do this.\n\nOctopus comes along and gives us the ability to:\n\n\\- Define environments (ci, dev, staging, preprod, production, etc) \\- Define\na common deployment workflow, with branching/conditionals based on the\nenvironment/machine \\- Define a release workflow, for how a release needed to\nprogress through environments (eg: a release MUST pass deployment on a preprod\nenvironment before it can be deployed to production) \\- Define a release which\ncomprises one or more artifacts (particularly useful if you have multiple\nparts to your applications - such as a website as well as a service) \\- Give a\ngood overview of what's deployed where. \\- Easily roll back a release for an\nenvironment - just pick up the previous good release, and re-deploy it to that\nenvironment.\n\nWhile sure I could have achieved all of that, the reality was that few people\nwould put all the effort in to building it themselves, AND making it reliable.\n\n* = I recall Stovell talking/writing that the whole reason he built Octopus in the first place was because he kept running into the same issues over and over when he was at a consulting firm. There just wasn't any tooling, free or commercial, that would do these things nicely.\n\n~~~\nscarface74\nAll of this can be done with TFS and agents running on the deployment\nmachines.\n\nThis is the earliest article I could find about using TFS for deployments from\n2010.\n\n[http://geekswithblogs.net/TarunArora/archive/2013/02/23/cont...](http://geekswithblogs.net/TarunArora/archive/2013/02/23/continuous-\nintegration-automated-deployments-and-release-management.aspx)\n\nDon’t get me wrong, while for the most part, I hate dealing with “pets” and I\nwas hired partially to kill all the servers we could and go all in on AWS’s\nnative hosted toolings, Octopus Deploy is a joy to use even just to deploy\nCloudFormation templates where the actually code is either in S3 (lambda) or\nECR (Docker) not to mention deploying to our remaining pets.\n\nJust the ability to use Octopus Deploy’s library sets that are scoped to\nenvironments that can be referenced in Config files and templates is worth\npaying for.\n\nOn the other hand, I am on a mission to kill Jenkins and replace it with AWS\nCodeBuild - Serverles builds using a Docker Containers.\n\n------\nzvrba\nFrom the linked (Aaron's) post:\n\n> .NET users need to culturally normalize the idea of adopting non-Microsoft\n> .NET solutions when those third party technologies are better on the merits.\n\nI'm a .NET developer and say: no. If Microsoft's solution satisfies my needs,\nI won't adopt a 3rd-party solution, especially if it has other nuget\ndependencies. Managing nuget packages can become hellish (looking at you\nNewtonsoft.Json) and MS at least takes some care with that.\n\nI'm icky about adding dependencies and by using MS's solutions I can be\nrelatively sure that they won't depend on latest shiny OSS package that could\nbecome a liability in the future.\n\n~~~\nNullabillity\n> Managing nuget packages can become hellish (looking at you Newtonsoft.Json)\n> and MS at least takes some care with that.\n\nSo.. MS wrote a horrible package manager, and the workaround is to use more MS\nproducts?\n\n~~~\nzvrba\nSo which package manager is NOT horrible when it comes to handling conflicting\ndependencies? Esp. when combined with developers specifying wrong constraints\nfor dependencies, either out of cluelessness or carelesness?\n\n------\nkaizendad\nI read this as \"evil Microsoft Product Managers _researched the market_ and\n_understand the competition_ and if they decide to compete with you watch out\nbecause they will be evil folks who _understand market needs deeply_ and _are\nintimately familiar with competitors_.\"\n\nI mean, I get that's hard to compete with for a smaller company or an less-\nformal org, like those who maintain many OSS projects, but that's just...\nbeing a good product manager. If you don't like that, hire a Product Manager\nand get those skills yourself.\n\n------\nthrwaway69\nI wonder what can you do to stop a big company from devouring your share in\nthe SaaS market. What strategies are there?\n\nGitHub devour-ed a lot of tools built for it.\n\nGoogle do it with their search cards, amp and many other micro things.\n\nApple does it with incredibly popular apps and integration.\n\nEvery big company in short do it and they all have big pockets to lose money\non the software until competition is sucked out. Unlike hardware, where you\nwill be pressed with anti-competitive charges [0] for above. It doesn't seem\nto happen with SaaS.\n\n0] [https://tech.co/news/eu-fine-qualcomm-2019-07](https://tech.co/news/eu-\nfine-qualcomm-2019-07)\n\n~~~\nmikece\nIt's not only a software thing; Amazon has been accused (or sued?) for anti-\ncompetitive behavior by creating \"Amazon Essentials\" version of lots of very\npopular items being sold through their site, even advertising the Amazon\nbranded item right on the original product's detail page.\n\n~~~\nokusername\nSame happens in brick and mortar stores. Im germany a drug store chain had a\ndecade lomg partnership with an organic products / plant milk producer who did\na lot to buold the market, and when the market actually got more mainstream\nand profitbale, they kicked them out and replaced them their new house line of\norganic products.\n\n~~~\nthrwaway69\nYou are right but it's the scale that is worrying.\n\nTech is accessible everywhere. What it does is set certain expectations for\nusers in different countries. In india, most people won't pay for apps and\nthey are not profitable to run many services which big companies do for free.\n\nMaybe it's good in the short term. For consumers, certainly but I wonder if\ntech will become stagnated like other industries with monopolistic control.\n\n------\ngwbas1c\nLarge business with deep pockets has a product with a deficiency. Small\nentrepreneur sees a need and develops a bolt-on improvement that fixes the\ndeficiency. Large business also sees the deficiency and fixes it.\n\nI just don't understand the article's mentality. The only way Microsoft \"owes\"\nthe small entrepreneur anything is if that entrepreneur had patents or other\nIP that Microsoft violated; or if the two companies had some kind of non-\ncompete agreement.\n\nIt seems like, in this situation, the options are to pursue acquisition, have\nIP (like patents), or figure out how to carve out a niche and compete.\n\nIMO: The \"bolt-on product to fix something wrong with someone else's product\"\nbusiness model appears short lived and requires a rather early exit strategy.\n\n~~~\nJMTQp8lwXL\nThese types of businesses shouldn't be taken past the concept stage. If the\npremise of your business is existing wholly on one other entity, it's a\nconstant risk that'll never go away.\n\n~~~\ngwbas1c\nI don't know if I'd be that blunt: Depending on the situation, a patent plus a\nbuyout can be very profitable. That's one of the reasons why patents are\nuseful, they encourage innovations on top of other peoples' products because\nyou can use them to force the other party to pay you something when they try\nto copy your invention and undercut you.\n\nMakes me wonder why Autofac had no patents.\n\nBesides, there's nothing wrong with making a quick buck as long as you know\nit's a temporary situation.\n\n------\nlostmsu\nBut for me theirs is 10 times better as I don't have to install it anywhere\nand then maintain it myself.\n\n~~~\nmikece\nThere is that... but Microsoft screws up their advantage by constantly\nchanging their product names (VSO? VSTS? Azure DevOps? Why don't we just use\nGitHub... and what is HockeyApp's new name?) to the point of confusing the\nvery market they are trying to serve.\n\n~~~\nflyingswift\nUnfortunately, the org as a whole has completely collapsed as the result of\nthe GitHub acquisition. I wouldn't be surprised to see ADO be deprecated in\n2-3 years in favor of GH\n\n~~~\ndelfinom\nIt's sad because GitHub is honestly a children's toy compared to ADO and\nGitLab in terms of large scale management of repos. GH shows no interest in\nfixing and improving long standing deficiencies.\n\n~~~\nstrbean\nCould you elaborate on these deficiencies?\n\n------\ndevlife\nIt looks like you wanted to do OSS but you soon realised that there is\npotentially good money to be made in commercial software. Your company also\nspent all the years building a good product but the money bug bit you and you\nstarted charging exorbitant prices. The greed kicked in. And now you are\nwhinging because MS came and ate your cake.\n\nPlease don't get me wrong on this, making money is the reason why we live in a\nworld which has all these amazing things. But it is a jungle and survival\nmatters here.\n\n------\nNicoJuicy\n> Prior to 2016, Octopus Deploy was the only popular option for .NET\n> developers to automate their application deployments, and we'd single-\n> handedly helped thousands of dev teams to go beyond \"right click, publish\".\n\nMmm, after research. I just used Jenkins at the time and I thought TeamCity\nwas the other option.\n\n~~~\ngortok\nHaving used all three, I was rather impressed by Octopus Deploy’s ease of use\nand deployment. You can set up Jenkins to do whatever you want but it’s a\npain. You can also set up TeamCity to deploy, but again it’s a pain. Octopus\nDeploy is not a CI server, it’s a CD product. That’s Important. It specializes\nin deployment/delivery, and because of that it does better than Jenkins and\nTeamCity out of the box for deployments.\n\n------\nblt\nI find it kind of confusing that anyone attempts to make money building\ndeveloper tools for MS platforms. The behavior described here is MS's standard\noperating procedure. Their goal is to control everything. They want to provide\na fully integrated MS software development platform that's slightly easier to\nuse than open source, supports legacy code, and comes with legacy users.\n\nIf there is ever an opportunity for building a tool that augments / integrates\nwith the MS platform, that opportunity only exists because MS either 1) lacks\nthe vision, or 2) has not chosen to place engineers on that idea. It is a\ntransient condition. If the idea is worth a lot of money, MS _will_ eventually\ntry to replace the third-party tool with their own.\n\n------\ntybit\nAs soon as Azure became critical to Microsoft’s success they should of seen\nthis coming, it would be unacceptable for any large cloud vendor to not offer\na first party deployment service.\n\nHaving said that when I last used Octopus a few years ago in a pets VM world\nit was an excellent experience. Does anyone know if they’ve managed to keep up\nthis quality for containers/serverless/immutable VMs?\n\n------\nsmortaz\nRelated: this guy rode through iran on 90cc bike and talks about his\nexperience:\n\n[https://youtu.be/_2LEgowbzSc](https://youtu.be/_2LEgowbzSc)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Twilio alternatives? - bkovacev\nDoes anyone have any experience with other Twilio like services?<p>We&#x27;ve now started implementing the twilio app in one of our project and I&#x27;m slowly getting aggravated by the outdated docs, incomplete&#x2F;no concrete examples, awful dashboard and non-meaningful error messages in the debugger (following the code example on their docs page).\n======\nakhatri_aus\nNexmo, Plivo & Messagebird are quite good. They can be cheaper and sometimes\neven offer per second billing.\n\n------\nbkovacev\nI have to say that Twilio’s customer service is spot on. Someone from Twilio\nreached out and helped us solve our issues. Great effort on their end to keep\ntheir customers happy. Thanks Andrew.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFlint OS – Chromium OS Based System for ARM - type0\nhttps://flintos.io/\n======\nRubyPinch\nhaving \"[...] open source [...]\" in your tag line, for a closed source\nproject, is a bit disingenuous.\n\n\"Project A has beneficial aspect X, we forked project A's work and removed X,\nbut we just thought we should mention that it used to have aspect X, which is\ncool!\"\n\nick.\n\n------\nant6n\nReading through the website, I'm having trouble understanding the difference\nbetween Flint OS and Chrome OS.\n\n~~~\nfixmycode\nI'd say it seems to be a distribution of Chromium OS.\n\nThe fact is you can't just download and install Chrome OS into anything you\nwant, just a Chromebook. This project seems to fix that.\n\n~~~\nmtzaldo\nYou can try\n[https://www.neverware.com/freedownload/](https://www.neverware.com/freedownload/).\nIt is chromium for x86...\n\n~~~\nddeck\nI'm not sure who Neverware are, but\n[https://arnoldthebat.co.uk/](https://arnoldthebat.co.uk/) has daily x86\nbuilds for the open source Chromium* project\n\n* [https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os](https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os)\n\n------\naq3cn\n> Runs on powerful x86 full-fledged laptops, on single-board-computers like\n> the Raspberry Pi and of course anything in between\n\n> Love Android apps? Great! We are building support into Flint OS.\n\n> Flint OS now works perfectly on most x86 and ARM based hardware platforms.\n> We are particularly interested in making Flint OS run on single-board-\n> computer (SBC) solutions based on ARM architecture, such as the Raspberry\n> Pi, SBCs with RK3288 and RK3399 chips. With this, we breathe new life into\n> the arena for the touch-enabled interactive terminals. Our clients include\n> dual-screen smart POS machines, interactive classroom whiteboards, connected\n> shopping mall wayfinders, smart vending machines and automated digital\n> signages just to name a few. We provide the best user experience with\n> minimal maintenance and development cost.\n\n> Flint OS loves the Raspberry Pi and STEM education. We have created a\n> comprehensive set of JavaScript APIs to interface with the Raspberry Pi\n> hardware and peripherals, providing young users to understand programming\n> and electronics by the most intuitive JavaScript language.\n\nSounds good. I will try it when it will have support for Android apps in\nfuture. I highly doubt that Google will bring Android or ChromeOS for\nRaspberry Pi.\n\n~~~\nleke\nSo it doesn't run on 64bit processors?\n\n~~~\njokr004\nYou can run 32bit code on x86-64 processors, although that's not an ideal\nsolution but you could definitely run it.\n\n------\nfrik\nIs it open source? Or closed source like RemixOS/etc (the other ChromiumOS\nbuilds)\n\nActually it would be great, if a community project provides binary builds (and\nsource in case of modifications) of Chromium (browser) and ChromiumOS.\nBuilding the source takes 16+GB ram and several CPU hours. Sadly, Google\ndoesn't provide the builds (binaries).\n\n------\ntaohansen\nCan someone point out the differences between this and CloudReady? First flush\nthis looks like duplication of effort or making a competitor because.\n\n~~~\neat_veggies\nI don't think cloud ready has arm support but I'm not sure why they made a\nwhole new thing instead of just contributing to cloud ready.\n\n------\njefurii\nIs it related to GalliumOS? I run that on a Chromebook and works great.\n\nThat said, the top nav element on the site takes up half the screen on my\nphone and won't go away. Super annoying.\n\n~~~\nnavs\nOut of curiosity, what are the hardware specs of your Chromebook? I'm running\nGalliumOS on a Lenovo Chromebook 11e and I'm having a bad time. Admittedly,\nthis machine is low spec.\n\n~~~\nreynhout\nWhich 11e? GLIMMER or ULTIMA?\n\nWhat issues are you having?\n\n------\naruggirello\nLooks much like RemixOS. Would it work in a VM?\n\n------\nkstenerud\nAccelerated scrolling so that you can't accurately scroll anymore.\n\nLocking part of the screen after scrolling partway so that only a tiny portion\nof it scrolls with scrunched up text.\n\nIt's everything wrong with modern website design.\n\nPLEASE stop doing this!\n\nU/X is about ease of access to information; not flashy tricks.\n\n~~~\nsquarefoot\n+1, that page is plainly unusable; I hope their OS doesn't follow the same\nphilosophy.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWe are posers. This is how hacking actually works. - skcin7\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39CRw7zH_2A\n\n======\nropman76\nI am not worthy. That makes want to weep then die :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMental Models Box – A collection of models useful in everyday life - thugger\nhttps://www.mentalmodelsbox.com/\n======\npaulgerhardt\nThe nice thing about mental models is you have so many to choose\nfrom[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8].\n\n[1] [https://medium.com/@yegg/mental-models-i-find-repeatedly-\nuse...](https://medium.com/@yegg/mental-models-i-find-repeatedly-\nuseful-936f1cc405d)\n\n[2]\n[http://www.defmacro.org/2016/12/22/models.html](http://www.defmacro.org/2016/12/22/models.html)\n\n[3] [https://fs.blog/mental-models/](https://fs.blog/mental-models/)\n\n[4] [https://nesslabs.com/mental-models](https://nesslabs.com/mental-models)\n\n[5] [https://amzn.to/2KiKQEg](https://amzn.to/2KiKQEg) (Don't recommend)\n\n[6] [https://amzn.to/2GOHoz4](https://amzn.to/2GOHoz4) (written by DuckDuckGo\nfounder Gabe Weinberg)\n\n[7] [https://amzn.to/31lfK4Q](https://amzn.to/31lfK4Q) (A classic)\n\n[8] [https://amzn.to/31tX17l](https://amzn.to/31tX17l) (Haven't read but\nrecommended by others)\n\n~~~\nblairbeckwith\nInteresting that you don’t recommend the Farnham Street book. It’s been\nsitting on my shelf for a while, and I’m a big fan of a lot of what they put\nout. What don’t you like about it?\n\n~~~\npaulgerhardt\nHave you ever had a subject matter that you are comfortably familiar with\nexplained to you through a strained analogy in a patronizing manner that makes\nyou question the speaker's own understanding of the material? This book is\nfull of those.\n\nHere's a representative excerpt from early in book:\n\n“ __Imagine you are on a ship that has reached constant velocity (meaning\nwithout a change in speed or direction). You are below decks and there are no\nportholes. You drop a ball from your raised hand to the floor. To you, it\nlooks as if the ball is dropping straight down, thereby confirming gravity is\nat work. You are able to perceive this vertical shift as the ball changed its\nlocation by about three feet. __\n\n __Now imagine you are a fish (with special x-ray vision) and you are watching\nthis ship go past. You see the scientist inside, dropping a ball. You register\nthe vertical change in the position of the ball. But you are also able to see\na horizontal change. As the ball was pulled down by gravity it also shifted\nits position east by about 20 feet. The ship moved through the water and\ntherefore so did the ball. The scientist on board, with no external point of\nreference, was not able to perceive this horizontal shift. __”\n\nThe other half of the book is Charlie Munger quotes. I would say skip the\ntrouble and go straight to reading “Almanack”.\n\n------\nsushisource\nReally nicely presented site, but I can't be the only one who's tired of what\nfeels like people constantly \"name dropping\" these models to make a point.\nJust because it has a name doesn't magically make your argument more\nimpactful, you still have to convince me.\n\n~~~\nscrooched_moose\nSimilar to the fallacy fallacy:\n\nThe fallacy fallacy is a logical fallacy which occurs when someone assumes\nthat if an argument contains a logical fallacy, then its conclusion must\nnecessarily be wrong.\n\n[https://effectiviology.com/fallacy-\nfallacy/](https://effectiviology.com/fallacy-fallacy/)\n\n~~~\natarian\nThank you. I knew this was a thing but I never knew what to call it.\n\n------\nanthilemoon\nThanks for sharing! I like the simple design. One piece of feedback I got when\nI wrote a blog post about mental models [1] was that mental models are easy to\nunderstand, but people struggle to figure out how to actually use them. In\naddition to the examples, it would be great to add concrete applications to\neach cards.\n\n[1] [https://nesslabs.com/mental-models](https://nesslabs.com/mental-models)\n\n------\nbliss\nGood material, nicely presented.\n\nThis is similar to My Cognitive Bias - they have a browser plugin that opens a\nrandom cognitive bias when you open a new tab (chrome, firefox) - basically\nlike flashcards for embedding the knowledge - I probably found that one here\ntoo.\n\n[https://mycognitivebias.com/?utm_source=MyCognitiveBias&utm_...](https://mycognitivebias.com/?utm_source=MyCognitiveBias&utm_medium=Chrome%20Extensions&utm_campaign=footer%20link)\n\n------\njcutrell\nI’ve started to accumulate mental models on my personal site. I hate how buzzy\nthe language has gotten, but I _do_ see the value in this accumulation.\n\nOne thing that’s missing: how these models connect, and ways of picking the\nmodels you need for a given thought experiment. This is a service or app I\nwould gladly pay for, particularly if it provided the ability to add my own\nmodels, relate them in a smart way, etc.\n\n~~~\nxpe\nChoosing the mix of applicable models is the art of wisdom. Connecting all\nmodels pairwise would have O(N^2) complexity.\n\nBut I agree, writing down your thoughts on how models interact helps you\nunderstand their focal points and limitations.\n\nTo extend this line of thinking —one might hope that the synthesis of multiple\nmodels would get more elegant — but this would likely come at the expense of\ninterpretability to particular situations. This line of thought is discussed\nextensively in the philosophy of science and complexity theory.\n\n~~~\nmyself248\nBut nobody needs the full pairwise everything, just a few related concepts,\nlike \"If this seems close but doesn't quite fit, have a look at P, Q, R, and\nS?\"\n\n------\nalexpetralia\nAs usual, I plug my list of mental models if anyone is interested!\n[https://alexpetralia.github.io/newsletters](https://alexpetralia.github.io/newsletters)\n\n------\ncuddlecake\nIs there any sort of fallacy that the saying \"use the right tool for the job\"\nin the context of programming languages / datastoring technologies etc. can be\ncategorized with?\n\nI always have a feeling that this might be a fallacy, because tools are\nusually defined as \"carrying out a specific function\", but there is no\nspecific function in regards to programming languages or datastoring\ntechnologies other than \"make machine do\" and \"store data\" respectively.\n\nThe rest just seems to be sideeffects. Kind of like you can either insert a\nnail into wooden board or produce a gaping hole in a Human's skull, whereas\nthe function of a hammer is just to apply force to a relatively small surface\n(more or less). There are many right tools for inserting nails into wooden\nboards or producing gaping holes on human skulls, which is why I'm starting to\nthink that the phrase \"Use the right tool for the job\" is preemptive\nhindsight.\n\nYou could always choose the right tool - so why didn't you do that?\n\n------\nacangiano\nA related, fun book I have been reading is The Art of Thinking Clearly. I\nrecommend it if this topic interests you.\n\n~~~\nMatticus_Rex\nI just started this yesterday and a quarter of the way in the main thought I\nhave is that I wish I'd read this in college. Picking up this stuff all at\nonce would have been way more useful than doing it slowly (sometimes\npainfully) over a decade.\n\n------\ntunesmith\nPeople love lists of models, fallacies, and cognitive biases. I don't think\nany list of them can be authoritative though because they all slice the\nconcepts up differently. But when well-presented I think lists like these are\nstill valuable because they're entertaining to review, and can remind people\nof how to be better thinkers.\n\nMy theory is that pretty much any bias or fallacy can be derived from simpler\nrules of causation - truth, and the logic of necessity and sufficiency.\n\nAppeal to Authority: Is it really true that if A says x is true, that x is\nreally true? Is x really true?\n\nConfirmation bias: Is it really true that if I want x to be true, it is true?\nIs x really true?\n\nSurvivorship bias: Is it really true that if x is true, that this set of x's\ncauses were sufficient to yield x? Is this set of x's causes always sufficient\nto yield x?\n\netc, etc.\n\n------\nEnte\nI like this, but the collection of models in there does not seem to be very\nrich. Do you know how often they plan to add a new model?\n\n~~~\ndevinjflick\nThey have a suggestions area, where you can submit your mental model. They\nprobably expect to grow with the use of that\n\n------\nultrasounder\nThis is the kind of stuff that keeps me coming back to HN. Awesome stuff!!\n\n~~~\njames_s_tayler\nIf you like this - Buy and read The Model Thinker.\n\n~~~\nultrasounder\nThanks for the suggestion. Will add it to my reading list. Nothing beats a\nbook.\n\n------\nivh\nThe site does not seem to say who made it, but it sure reminds me of Shane\nParrish (Farnam Street blog) who wrote a book about about mental models, among\nother tings.\n\n------\njammygit\nMental model posts get upvoted a lot on here. Do people on here actually use\nthem regularly and benefit?\n\n~~~\njames_s_tayler\nAll the time. I find they help you reason about the long term outcomes of\nthings or directions things are headed in. They provide a nice framework for\nthinking about things. Rather than looking at every situation on a case by\ncase basis you start to see aggregates of situations and once you see the\nabstraction then everything becomes \"another one of those\". The more\nabstractions you find, the more you see the patterns.\n\n------\ndevinjflick\nJust a thought, maybe a weekly or monthly email subscription with updates of\nwhats been added?\n\n------\nCongeec\nhere[1] is a comprehensive list for those who want to know more about\nfallacies.\n\n[1]:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases)\n\n------\npalashkulsh\nreally great design\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nExplaining Shell Commands in the Shell (2014) - jap\nhttps://www.mankier.com/blog/explaining-shell-commands-in-the-shell.html?hn=1\n\n======\ntomkwok\nSo it's like a command line version of\n[http://explainshell.com/](http://explainshell.com/) ...\n\nAnd it seems like your site / API backend is not open source. Do you plan to\nmake an offline version?\n\n~~~\njap\nI don't plan to make a version that gets its data from local man pages, but it\nwould be great if such a tool existed.\n\nParsing the data out of man pages is messy, and my process currently involves\na lot of steps. I actually only started collecting the data for this as a\nside-effect of trying to make man pages render nicely in browsers.\n\nI would like to open source more of the backend, but I've started with a tool\nI wrote to extract man pages from project repos:\n[https://github.com/jacksonp/manlib](https://github.com/jacksonp/manlib)\n\n~~~\nridiculous_fish\nThe fish shell has a man page parser that you may be interested in:\n[https://github.com/fish-shell/fish-\nshell/blob/master/share/t...](https://github.com/fish-shell/fish-\nshell/blob/master/share/tools/create_manpage_completions.py)\n\n~~~\njap\nThanks, that does look interesting. Will give it a spin as soon as I get a\nchance and compare results.\n\n------\nheydonovan\nAwesome concept! I've never been a fan of looking up flags in another tab, and\nhunting down which ones are in use. Just seems like it should be an automatic\nprocess. The explainshell website is great, but it doesn't work offline.\nFish's man page auto-completion is useful, but it lists all the flags, instead\nof the ones currently in use. If I could have this for every command out\nthere, along with the binary's location/version at the top, I'd be a happy\ncamper.\n\n------\nerikb\nWhy does it say \"in the shell\" when the actual work is done by a web server?\nSorry, I was just really curious how you grep/awk/sed through some man pages.\n\n------\nVimlociraptor\n[https://www.mankier.com/?explain=%20sed%20-i#explain](https://www.mankier.com/?explain=%20sed%20-i#explain)\ndoesn't parse sed right.\n[http://explainshell.com/explain?cmd=sed+-i](http://explainshell.com/explain?cmd=sed+-i)\nworks much better\n\n------\ngrymoire1\nI'm not sure why it is defined as a function when a shell script would work as\nwell, and prevents .bashrc clutter.\n\nAlso it doesn't understand traditional tar options, i.e. explain 'tar xf\nfilename'\n\n------\namelius\nDoes it work with the \"find\" command, and its overly complicated way of\nprocessing arguments?\n\n~~~\njap\nI think it gives decent results for something like:\n\n    \n    \n      find . -name test -delete\n    \n\nYou can try it out online btw:\n[https://www.mankier.com/?explain=%20find%20.%20-name%20test%...](https://www.mankier.com/?explain=%20find%20.%20-name%20test%20-delete#explain)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSend Me to Launch: Reason #1-Mix and Mingle with upcoming greats - redrory\nhttp://sendmetolaunch.com/reason-1-mix-and-mingle-with-upcoming-greats\n\n======\nsebg\nOne interesting thing you could do is along the lines of\n<http://iwearyourshirt.com/> ... That is, you can have people sponsor you to\nwear their companies t-shirt for one event during the conference. Not only\nmight startups be interested, so might your country as well as larger\ncorporations.\n\n~~~\nredrory\nHey, That's a great suggestion. I'm brainstorming with a friend to figure out\nhow best to approach.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFlight Shaming Isn't Just a Problem for Airlines - fludlight\nhttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-25/conference-shame-isnt-just-a-problem-for-davos-jets\n======\nel_dev_hell\nOutline: [https://outline.com/bTcVm3](https://outline.com/bTcVm3)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: What is your opinion on this online resume? – More info in comments - smartsystems\nhttps://smchughinfo.github.io\n======\nonion2k\nWhen I'm looking for a dev I want to be able to _quickly_ see if they have a\nspecific set of skills. I literally can't read 50% of the skills on your\nresume without some effort. That stop me moving forwards.\n\n~~~\nsmartsystems\nObviously I have an actual resume. What did you think about the thing in\ngeneral other than not being able to make out some of the words in the word\ncloud?\n\n...also, based on your feedback I updated that image to make the smaller text\nbigger. I had noticed the same thing earlier but I didn't imagine it would\nbother my intended audience. Not saying that's you but at least I'm fixing the\nthings people say they don't like.\n\n~~~\nbastijn\nI stopped reading after the second animation. It is too annoying as a resume\nfor recruitment.\n\nAs indication of skill it isn't much better either for me. I would expect any\nsoftware dev to gobble this together given the number of available html\npresentation tools. If you want to show what you can do I'd rather see a bunch\nof github projects really. With readme properly documenting what it does and\nif possible a live example running somewhere.\n\nThis little thing could be in there if you really like. I would expect the\nReadme to state why you made it and what problem it solved or what you learned\nfrom it.\n\n~~~\nsmartsystems\nThere are four slides. It takes 10 seconds to look through the entire thing.\nIf you can't make it past the second slide before writing a three paragraph\ncritique you are 100% not in my target audience. Not that there is no validity\nin your opinion somewhere but I'm not sure if you understand the point of the\nthing.\n\n~~~\nbastijn\nI looked at your project with my work hat on, I replied to this thread with a\nthree paragraph reply with my HN community hat on.\n\nI clicked through once more for you to find your github in slide 4. My comment\nstays the same, there is nothing in there that helps me select you over people\nthat present their content in an easier to consume format.\n\nOn the content. In some countries pictures must be able to blacked out by law\n(I don't agree, yet it is truth). Your experience bullets do not say what you\nactually did. Would add where your worked and some 1-2 lines description per\nbullet on what you made/did there. If you were freelancing add your clients.\nIt helps us understand what size of companies/codebases you worked. What\ncomplexity etc. Your word cloud is indeed hard to decipher. Slide 4 I saw\ngithub, which is good.\n\nThe title says online resume. I assume the audience is recruitment. Recruiters\ntake seconds to scan if they want to spend minutes. In addition most\nrecruiters will not forward this to people like me to see if they like to\ninvite. If that means we are not your audience your resume works. Be aware you\nare limiting your own options as you now no longer have the choice to say no\nyourself (we decided that for you).\n\nI stay with my earlier comment. Best to reverse the whole thing. Send your\n\"actual\" resume as you called it and add your github repo there. We will find\nthis here.\n\n------\nsmartsystems\nI used impress.js for the slides.\n\nIt's intentionally lightweight. I don't have a lot of public projects that I\ncan link to. Plus it seems like the kind of thing where you shouldn't try too\nhard. So I left it at kind of the level we're pretty much anybody can do it.\n\nThe only types of jobs I'm looking for are part-time jobs and remote jobs. So\nthat's my audience.\n\nBy the way if you looked at HANK and want to talk about that send me a\nmessage!\n\nAnyways thank you for the critique. It'll be helpful to me.\n\n------\nsdan\nIn today’s world, literally using bare html is probably better. Just list what\nyou know and show some projects related to those. I like your animations, but\nI find it a bit weird... although I respect that you can still do that if you\nplease\n\n------\nbusymom0\nI like the idea. I would change the colors a bit though to make the text pop a\nbit more.\n\n------\ngr97\nlooks pretty rough on firefox but i like the idea\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHot Chips – A California Startup Has Built an AI Chip as Big as a Notebook. Why? - Yuqing7\nhttps://medium.com/syncedreview/hot-chips-a-california-startup-has-built-an-ai-chip-as-big-as-a-notebook-why-4d068429349\n======\ncoder4life\nI want to know how many petaflops the thing runs at, they're keeping mum on\ncompute performance numbers at the moment.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nVIM and Python – A Match Made in Heaven - plessthanpt05\nhttps://realpython.com/blog/python/vim-and-python-a-match-made-in-heaven/\n======\nbrianclements\nMost of these seem to just be general Vim suggestions that work in any\nlanguage, but they aren't bad.\n\nThe real lubricant for Python and Vim for me has been control over virtual\nenvironments. I've hacked on a popular plugin that allows Virtualenv\ninheritance from the terminal and relative Virtualenv directory support among\nother things.[1] The original author didn't incorporate all my changes, so\nI've sort of kept the fork lingering around. But try out the original as\nwell.[2]\n\n[1][https://github.com/brianclements/vim-\nvirtualenv](https://github.com/brianclements/vim-virtualenv)\n\n[2][https://github.com/jmcantrell/vim-\nvirtualenv](https://github.com/jmcantrell/vim-virtualenv)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Stay or Leave? SoundCloud has deferred salary reviews - throwaway-sc\nSoundCloud has deferred salary reviews until the next funding round is complete.<p>Over the last few years, travel between offices has been restricted to business critical travel only.\nMore expensive food items have started disappearing from our kitchen.<p>Employees used to get a small bottle of champagne on their birthdays &amp; employment anniversaries.\nThis doesn&#x27;t happen anymore.<p>All of the above feels reasonable.<p>However, they recently announced that the July 1 salary review that everyone was promised will be deferred.\nThere is no information about back pay or a date about when the next salary review will happen.<p>Salary increases are predicated on the next round of funding.\nThey anticipate that the round will close over the next couple of months, if not weeks.<p>I&#x27;m sure that everyone here will have been in similar situations before.<p>What did you do? And, how did you decide whether to continue working or start looking for other opportunities.<p>Also, what other arrangements, we, as employees should consider putting forward.<p>Example: I&#x27;d be okay working 4 days weeks, until the salary review is complete.<p>What questions should we ask our founders that&#x27;ll help us build confidence that the company&#x27;s financials are in a reasonable shape?\n======\nbspn\n> _However, they recently announced that the July 1 salary review that\n> everyone was promised will be deferred._\n\nThe company is obviously facing a cash crunch, but to me this is the key bit\nand why I would start shopping my resume if I were in your shoes. Management\nwill have known about the cash crunch or should at least have anticipated it\nwas a possibility for a while now, and should not have set expectations that\nthey were unlikely to meet. The rest of the actions look like prudent cost-\ncutting measures, but if you can't trust that management will honor their\npromises today what guarantees do you have that they will do so in the future?\n\nAs a non-founder (i.e. very low equity upside), it's not for you to make\ncompromises to keep their high-upside baby alive. Put your own interests first\nand find an employer that doesn't require you to subsidize their growth.\n\nAlso, if I had a dollar for every time a founder has told me that funding is\ncoming in \"months, if not weeks\" .... well, you can guess the rest.\n\n~~~\nconfluence\nKey aspect of becoming a manager is making promises you may or may not keep.\nThey cost you nothing, and when they come due it's the employees who suffer.\n\n~~~\ntedmiston\nA good manager manages expectations when reality changes.\n\n~~~\nconfluence\nA great manager doesn't make promises he can't keep.\n\n~~~\nflyinglizard\nSometimes, a great manager needs to speculate and do things at uncertainty and\nrisk, while motivating their subordinates. They are clearly working to save\nthe company in OPs case.\n\n~~~\nconfluence\nAh yes, with a late June notification.\n\nMaybe communicate earlier hmmm?\n\nThat would be better management rather than hold my beer I'll probably close\nthis round while I risk the livelihoods and futures of my rank and file.\n\n~~~\ntedmiston\nBut alas, communicating earlier is when things have the most uncertainty. I\nhave had great managers that set expectations around how much uncertainty and\nchange is built-in to what they're communicating, but in general, the earlier\nthey share something, the more likely it is to not be certain yet, still it's\noften useful information to have.\n\n(I'm only speaking in general, not specific to this situation.)\n\n------\nphamilton\nThere's a quote: \"If you owe the bank $100, you've got a problem. If you owe\nthe bank $100M, the bank has a problem.\"\n\nHere's a tweaked version. If you can't get a raise, you have a problem. If a\ncompany can't pay its employees market rate, the company has a problem.\n\nI pretty firmly believe that if money is tight at a company, paying fewer\npeople more money (and setting higher expectations around performance) is the\nway to go. Otherwise you end up with top talent leaving and those left feel\nentitled to not give 100% (because they aren't being paid 100%).\n\n------\nbenjaminwootton\nPosting this with the company name is a little indiscreet.\n\nIf it was my company and I was having a bump in the road with funding I would\nhope for it not to immediately hit the front page of HN for the sake of a few\nweeks.\n\nSoundcloud actually have a good reputation as an employer so maybe they\ndeserve a small benefit of the doubt? I get the mercenary attitude but it's\nonly potentially a few weeks or months for an incremental pay rise, not as if\nthey are going under....\n\nI suspect this won't be a popular point of view but I like to think company\nand employee owe each other at least a modicum of loyalty.\n\n~~~\n_e\nThe OP is anonymous. Are there any other SoundCloud employees willing to stand\nup and confirm these accusations?\n\n~~~\nbabo\nThat would make it even worse.\n\n------\nviraptor\nYou don't lose anything by starting to look at alternatives. You don't have to\ndo that full time either. But if you're uncertain about the future, while\nstill holding a paying job, this is the perfect time to refresh the CV,\nrequest old references, subscribe to some job ad feeds.\n\nYou can easily send an application a week or two to places you find really\ninteresting without the \"need money for food\" feeling.\n\n~~~\nconfluence\nStrongly concur.\n\nAlso make this a yearly habit, so you stay on the ball, know where the market\nis at, and become comfortable leaving at a moment's notice to avoid this life\nchanging anxiety you might be feeling.\n\nOnce you do it regularly, it's no big deal. Companies hire and fire dozens of\npeople a year, it shouldn't be that different for you.\n\n------\ntcmb\nMaybe this makes me the devil's advocate here, but why would you suddenly only\nwork 4 days a week?\n\nI assume you have a valid contract that says you work X hours for Y amount,\nwhat makes you think you're not bound to that just because you don't get to\ntalk about a possible (!) raise?\n\nIt's up to you if you interpret the company's behaviour as a red flag and\nleave, but reducing your working hours because you don't get your regular fix\nof more money seems like a sense of entitlement to me.\n\nAs a side note, your post would have worked just as well without publicly\nshaming your employer.\n\n(I am not affiliated with SoundCloud, except for the coincidence that one of\nmy previous companies used to share an office with them.)\n\n~~~\ngus_massa\nI think he is not considering working only 4 days a week unliterary. He is\nconsidering negotiating working only 4 days a week instead of a pay rise.\n\nHe can try to negotiate whatever he wants, for example working only 4 hours\nper day, or 3 days a week, or ... but the employer is not forced to agree.\n\n~~~\nSomeone\nI think they are thinking of getting the pay rise, then work a four day week\n(and getting paid 80% of his increased salary) until the company can afford to\npay them five days a week at the increased salary again.\n\n------\nsunir\nWell, businesses come and go. Start ups come and go faster. Nothing tragic\nwill happen if you accept that. I am sure you will find a job if you keep\nthings in perspective. It is just business.\n\nHowever there is no reason to panic yet. It is likely they will raise again.\n\nMeanwhile you can use your energy to prepare yourself. Get your resume and\nLinkedIn put together. Make sure your personal finances are secure and can\nhandle 3-6 months with no income (standard advice for everyone). Start\ninquiring about what other companies would be worth working for.\n\nIf you have a plan to handle the downside risk, this will be less terrifying\nand more of a business like decision of the merits of staying or going.\n\nOnce you can feel safe walking away then you can negotiate a better structure\nif you want the extra time. It is important to have the walk away plan as your\nBATNA when negotiating.\n\n~~~\nconfluence\nThis is the crux of negotiating. The person with more options has more power.\nThere's really only one way to get a raise: pay me X or I walk. If yay, good,\nif nay, walk.\n\n~~~\nsemi-extrinsic\nA subtle way to reinforce your words is drawing on the famous million-dollar\nAmdahl coffee cup:\n\n[http://dealwhisperers.blogspot.com/2015/07/a-million-\ndollar-...](http://dealwhisperers.blogspot.com/2015/07/a-million-dollar-\ncoffee-cup.html)\n\nIn this case, find a friend at Google/Apple/whatever and ask them if you can\nhave some employee-only branded stuff.\n\n------\ndood\nYou don't have to make a big decision right away, but those are certainly\nsignals that the decision may be made for you in the next few months if you\nare unlucky.\n\nI'd certainly start the usual job-hunting process: updating my CV, mentioning\nto friends that I may be open to a new position, breaking out the ol'\nwhiteboard for algorithm interview practice, going to meetups etc.\n\nAlso, prepare yourself for being laid-off, financially and mentally. It sucks,\nbut it's the reality of startup life.\n\nDon't worry about questioning the founders - it's their job to be upbeat and\noptimistic to get the best result for their startup, but it's your\nresponsibility to look after your career. But that doesn't necessarily mean\ngiving up the day job - hope for the best, prepare for the worst.\n\n------\nTheRealmccoy\nThis happens in a lot of companies, there are moments like this.\n\nAlso, nothing in your contract or offer letter would have said that the\ncompany would do a salary review every year.\n\nWhen such a decision is made, companies are aware that what could happen, the\nway salary review is important for an employee, in equal measure it is\nimportant for the company too.\n\nSo if such a decision is made, they weighed in every thing, may be the fact\nalso that, people might leave or they would look for another option.\n\nAnd the company also knows that people who would have options are the good\npeople, and no one wants to let go the good people and being left with average\nor above average people later, when the finances are sorted.\n\nIf you love what you do, stick with SoundCloud, it's just part of life and\ncould happen anywhere.\n\nPS: I have been through this once.\n\n------\nantr\nI'm sorry to hear this. However...\n\n _> What questions should we ask our founders that'll help us build confidence\nthat the company's financials are in a reasonable shape?_\n\n... there is no question you can ask anyone that will help SoundCloud from\nburning money. Building confidence is just an act of faith, but this won't\nsolve the underlying issue that SoundCloud does not have a viable business\nmodel, at least, with it's current corporate structure and business model.\nDon't get fooled by cheerleading VCs and CEOs, it's the oldest trick in the\nbook. Always at the expense of employees and other stakeholders.\n\nMany people join startup-land with the impression that these multi-(b)million,\nVC-funded companies are as safe as joining other old-school corporate\ncompanies which apparently are going to be disrupted by those very startups.\nSome other people joining startup-land are aware of this issue, and they will\nbe the first to jump ship. All I can suggest is that you start looking for\nother opportunities, just in case. Do not get fixated on the back pay date,\netc... just move on.\n\n------\njhowell\nThe company is not profitable. Compensation is based on raising money. The\nfinancials are not in \"good shape\".You say they haven't received their next\nraise so consequently you either. If that concerns you, you should seek\nemployment elsewhere.\n\n------\nryandrake\nI went though a similar situation as an employee of a struggling start-up in\nthe late 90s (dot com bubble 1.0). The founders (who by the way were wonderful\npeople trying to make the best of a bad situation) decided that rather than\nstart firing people, we'd all be taking half pay until we got funded, with\npromises to square everyone up eventually. I was young and dumb at the time so\nI, along with most, accepted this. A few months later, it went down to 1/4\npay, and we lost a few people but many stayed. Then, no more health insurance,\nat which point I finally bailed, and ended up unemployed for close to 6\nmonths. I'm not sure what additional sacrifices the remaining employees had to\naccept, but I know it was much better for you the earlier you got out.\n\nThere's no way I'd make the same mistake today. No pay, no work. If I want to\ndo work without being paid for it I'll get a hobby. While I might enjoy what\nI'm working on for you, YOUR dream is not my hobby. If I was a founder and the\ncompany went through tough times, I'd gladly work it for free because of the\nupside potential, but not as employee number 5 with 0.1% equity. No way, no\nhow.\n\n------\nfecak\nWhether to stay or leave is obviously an important decision that can impact\nyour career, and you may not want to base it on something as simple as the\nthings you've mentioned here.\n\nOf the things you mention, there seem to be two primary concerns.\n\nOne is that you definitely won't get a raise until a new round of funding\ncomes in, and even if that funding does arrive I assume a raise is not a\nguarantee. We obviously aren't aware of your status or current and past\nperformance. We also aren't aware of how much you are making now, and whether\nthat amount is perhaps at the higher end or lower end of market rate already.\n\nTwo is that the company seems to be having at least some financial concerns.\n\nYou've also told us \"they anticipate that the round will close over the next\ncouple of months, if not weeks\". That sounds optimistic. Being that the next\nsalary review isn't for a couple weeks, it sounds as if this entire thing\ncould be about nothing.\n\nIf you like your job enough where not getting a raise is OK for at least a few\nmonths, you should stay.\n\nBeyond liking your job, are you still learning? Are you becoming better at\nwhat you do year after year by staying there? If the answer is \"no\" to either\nof those questions, you should probably leave regardless of salary raises and\nfree champagne.\n\nYou should always be prepared for the worst, of course, so if an event\n(layoff, closure) were to happen you should always want to be in a position to\nstart looking for work quickly.\n\nI don't think suggesting a 4 day work week due to an incomplete salary review\nis a good option. That suggests that you may have anticipated a 20% raise,\nwhich isn't all that realistic. Making unrealistic demands of a cash-strapped\ncompany could be a quick way to a layoff.\n\nI'm not sure at this point it's even relevant to ask the founders any\nquestions. They seem to be forthcoming about things - it's not like they told\nyou there will be no salary reviews the day before they were scheduled to\nhappen, and if they have been trustworthy in the past you should have no\nreason to doubt their honesty now about their expected timeline for the next\nround to close.\n\nWhen should one start looking for jobs? There are lots of reasons. If you are\nnot fairly compensated for what you do and there are no other 'upsides' to\nyour employment that make staying a good option. When you aren't learning or\nchallenged by what you do. When you feel work is having a consistent negative\nimpact on other parts of your life. When your company clearly makes decisions\nthat do not consider the best interests of their employees.\n\nGood luck to you.\n\n~~~\nAdams472\nThis seems like the most thoughtful response. Salary cuts and freezes, while\npainful and unfortunate, do happen.\n\nIf you're financially stable, enjoying your time and continuing to learn,\nstick around. It may be an informative experience for the future. Plus, you\nmay have opportunities to take on new projects if other employees leave.\n\nIn the background, it can't hurt to sharpen your resume and start talking to\nfriends about their companies in the event that you do have to depart\nSoundCloud.\n\n------\nmrleiter\n>Management will have known about the cash crunch or should at least have\nanticipated it was a possibility for a while now, and should not have set\nexpectations that they were unlikely to meet.\n\nAs user bspn has said before, this is a bad sign. If the company has good\nfinancial management, they have seen this coming and chose to inform its\nemployees very late (which is bad). If the company did not see it coming, they\nhave bad financial management (which is also bad).\n\nSo yes, from an objective point of view it surely cannot hurt to start looking\nsomewhere else.\n\n------\ndunkelsten\nSoundcloud is out there for several years raising rounds with great\nexpectations (meaning high valuations) and still hasn't found a business model\nyet. They've lost a lot of high class tech talent such as Peter Bourgon. Users\nstay stagnant, no exit in sight. If you have equity, count it as zero, as\nlatest at the next round, liq prefs will be so high there won't be much left\nfor employees. If I were you, I'd start looking in any case.\n\n------\nAngeloAnolin\nThis may sound too self-serving, but at the end of the day, you need to ensure\nyour bottomline and well-being as well. You have responsibilities and the\nnecessity to feed yourself (and those who may depend upon you) which involves\nin some ways some financial means, which would be perfectly alright that you\nstart looking for places that may well use your skills/talent and compensate\nyou accordingly.\n\n------\numanwizard\n> I'm sure that everyone here will have been in similar situations before.\n\nNo, because I've only worked for businesses that make money.\n\n~~~\nconfluence\nNot the time or place.\n\n~~~\numanwizard\nWhat? Why not? The OP is explicitly asking for advice. My advice is to work\nfor a business that makes money.\n\n~~~\nadventured\nThat's not the advice you gave. In fact you gave no advice, you simply\nproclaimed your superiority when it comes to past decision making, in that you\nonly worked for companies that make money.\n\nYour reply was intentionally snarky at best; obnoxiously insulting, demeaning\nand entirely non-useful at worst.\n\n------\njoeevans1000\nI think this might be evidence of the trend that is already occurring of IT\ncompanies (including startups) becoming more like companies in other\nindustries. Which is to say, no champagne on your birthdays. I've noticed less\nlavishness. It was only a matter of time for the excitement of a whole new\nindustry to begin to wear off. Many components of what is necessary to create\na startup are becoming commodified by so called cloud offerings. There is less\nneed to exert the same level of effort to retain your developers and a failure\nto do so has less consequence.\n\n------\nAdam89\nIf you're in London there's a cool company called FutureLearn, they are not\nactively advertising for new employees but you should check them out.\n\n------\nrichardknop\nI would probably send my resume over to recruiters and started looking at\npossible new opportunity while keeping your job.\n\nIt won't hurt to get a sense about the current job market, what interesting\ncompanies are hiring and what are salaries for positions with your level of\nexperience.\n\nYou will find out whether you are underpaid or not (working for a startup you\nvery likely are) and then decide based on that.\n\n------\nchristopherslee\ntl;dr - if you believe in the company future and are willing to make that\nsacrifice, stay. if you don't, leave.\n\nall startups have risks. i think that's something people overlook and they\ntend to think about the non-corporate atmosphere. anyways, that being said, i\nthink it boils down to if you believe in the future of the company.\n\nif you believe in the company's plan and you're willing to stick it out,\ngreat! imo, you should expect to hear an explanation of a company/product\nstrategy _you_ believe has a chance.\n\nif you don't believe it has a chance, well, i imagine you are sticking around\nfor other personal or professional reasons. that could be because the\nopportunity you are getting (with specific tech, roles, etc) that you believe\nwill help get you to where you want to be. it doesn't have to be about money.\n\nif genuine promises were broken, that makes it tough to trust the folks that\nyou are likely looking to for said strategy and plan.\n\n------\ncmcginty\nIf you've been there a while it sounds like a good time to explore your\noptions. You don't have to accept a new offer, but my experience is that it's\nprobably going to get worse before it gets better. By the time they turn\nthings around you could be making 20-30% more in a new role somewhere else.\n\n------\nLindaSonntag\nAs a SoundCloud employee myself, I seriously wonder why you had to post the\ncompany name in your question. Also, I have not yet heard any official\nannouncement of the regular salary review being deferred (which I would also\nconsider a company habit more so than a made \"promise\").\n\n------\nscarface74\n_What questions should we ask our founders that 'll help us build confidence\nthat the company's financials are in reasonable shape?_\n\nThey aren't profitable and trying to get another round of funding. Only in the\nworld of tech would that even be a question.\n\n------\ndmh2000\nOne consideration is that is easier to get another job when you are still\nemployed. So you have to weigh that against the other factors.\n\n------\nthrowawaymanbot\nThey are keeping the machine running with \"funding\". Not actual profit?\n\nso understand they have to be mindful/careful on frivolities.\n\nIf you gave a 100 million to the company, would you be annoyed if you found\nout about people getting small champagne bottles on their birthday? Would you\nbe worried about your investment?\n\nThe days of these companies building floor to floor slides, and pampering\nadult children was never going to last. Whats there to worry about?\n\nSaying all this of course, if the Mgmt are still getting these perks (wasting\nmoney), while the employees are not, id leave.\n\nThat ship will hit the rocks very soon, and hard. And of course, it wont be\nthe first company to get done under with high budget pay/perks for low budget\nmgmt.\n\n------\nkull\nAs a founder of a startup, reading posts like that make me sad. In the\nimaginary world I live in , tough times a company is going through are\ntriggering employees to give up their benefits and work harder to help the\ncompany recover.\n\nBefore my entrepreneurial journey I was working for a startup as a developer ,\nI sticked there around for 5 years. For the last 3 years of the company\nexistence I voluntarily gave up 20% of my salary and worked my ass off, simply\nbecause of being loyal and caring for the organization.\n\nI work hard to create a sense of commitment and loyalty in my current start\nup, and during the recruiting process we pay a super attention to don't hire\npeople who are looking for just money and are easy to abandon a ship during a\ncrisis.\n\n~~~\nconfluence\nAs an employee of a company, I'm paid salary for my time.\n\nI'll take a pay cut for more equity if I want it, not for nothing.\n\nIf I take risk, I get rewarded with ownership, but if I'm paid cash, why do I\nhonestly care what happens to a company.\n\nThis isn't some fairytale, we're all here to get paid, and employees​ aren't\nyour buffer for bad cash flow management, that's the responsibility of owners\nand management.\n\n~~~\nbrianwawok\nBlaming management make it sound like you have never owned a company.\n\nWhen cash is getting low two choices. Paycuts or firings. Pros and cons to\nboth.\n\nIn the OP sounds like they arent that drastic yet. Just no raises. Seems not\nthat dire all things considered.\n\n~~~\nconfluence\nNot holding management responsible makes me think you might have owned a\ncompany.\n\nLet me spell out the compact that undergirds capitalism: employees don't take\nrisks and are paid a constant stream of cash, owner's do take risk, and it is\nup to them to ensure there is enough capital buffer to meet their constant\nstream obligations. Employees do the work, management/owners ensure they get\npaid.\n\n~~~\nsokoloff\nFrom what I read, throwaway-sc is being paid 100% of salary. They're just not\nbeing paid 103.5% of salary after a raise that's been deferred.\n\nWhile there are certainly things to worry about, this is not a case of\nemployees not being paid.\n\n~~~\nconfluence\nFunny thing is that salary changes with a raise, so technically they'd be <\n100% of their promised benefits after July, and past that, who knows?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSweden’s highest court bans drones with cameras - mooseburger\nhttp://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/10/camera-spy-drones-banned-sweden-highest-court/\n======\ncordite\nThis would surely kill low cost autonomous drones, right?\n\nAssuming other non identifying technologies were used, I suspect that having\nmultiple drones with the same technology may fail by increasing the noise with\nvarious light, sound, and radio wave methods.\n\n------\nEJTH\nRediculus. This paranoia has to end. I don't know wether people in general\nhave a fear of being stalked by a racing FPV with a shoddy CMOS camera at the\nbeach, or if they fear some lunatic strapping a handgrenade to one.\n\nFPV is pretty much what makes drones fun to use, I don't see why you would\noutright ban \"drones\" instead of just making regulations as to where you can\nfly with a camera.\n\nEU will practically ban drones too in the near dystopian future.\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCyiO6shKGI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCyiO6shKGI)\n\n------\ngnicholas\nI wonder how would this ruling apply to:\n\n(1) drones with cameras that can be used for both navigation and for capturing\nvideo, but which the operator only uses for navigation\n\n(2) drones with cameras that can only be used for navigation and are viewable\nby the operator in real-time\n\n(3) drones with cameras that are used primarily for autonomous stabilization\n(Parrot Mini Cargo has one) but can also be used to capture photos\n\n------\nkwhitefoot\nSo long as no one is allowed to have them that's fine. No one at all, not the\npolice, not the kommune, not the secret service, not the army, absolutely no\none.\n\n------\nwcummings\nIf it doesn't have a camera, is it really even a drone? Should just say\nthey've banned drones.\n\nGood fucking riddance imo.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSome Fundamental Theorems in Mathematics [pdf] - mathgenius\nhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1807.08416\n======\njonjacky\nSome Fundamental Theorems in Mathematics by Oliver Knill - Linked PDF is a\nsurvey of modern math in 133 pages, in the form of the \"fundamental\" theorem\nin each of 135 areas, all in the first 62 pages! Followed by rationale and\nexplanation of \"fundamental\", by 13 two-page lecture summaries on key topics,\nby Twitter math: 42 140-character statements of theorems with proof summaries,\nand more. \"Teaching a course called “Math from a historical perspective” at\nthe Harvard extension school led me to write up the present document. This\ncourse Math E 320 ... I’m reporting on many of these theorems as a tourist and\nnot as a local.\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nChris Wanstrath's Startup Riot keynote text - azsromej\nhttp://gist.github.com/67060\n\n======\nsqs\nGreat speech. I'd be interested to hear other people's opinions on the\nconsequences of his conclusion, the \"do what you want\" bit. I know he meant it\nin a broader sense, but I see a lot of people (especially high school students\nand younger) wrongly interpreting that as \"don't go into CS; just go straight\nto a startup,\" especially with the specific mention of that plan of action.\n\nI know that's a popular piece of advice given around here (though HN has an\ninteresting mix of \"stuffy\" academia and \"Wild West\" hacker culture), and I\nfelt the same way when I was younger. I thought I knew all the CS I needed to\nknow to develop the stuff I'd want to develop. But I want to say that I am so\noverwhelmingly happy I have done CS at the college level. I knew so little\nback then (and still). It scares me that I almost neglected the path of\ninquiry that is /the/ single most interesting intellectual topic in my life.\n\nSo, young hackers out there, keep an open mind and a long-term view when you\nare following his advice to \"do whatever you want.\" That's exactly what he\nmeant by that, I think.\n\n~~~\npatio11\nPersonally, I find that about four classes provided enough value to excuse the\nrest of the CS degree (two of those were \"technical writing\" and \"stats\"), and\nthat I would have never been able to do what I do today without a few years as\na stuffy boring enterprise dev first.\n\n~~~\nmsort\nComputer Science Core = Algorithms + Compilers + Operating Systems\n\nAfter all, N. Wirth wrote a book titled: Data Structures + Algorithms =\nPrograms\n\n------\ndotpavan\ngood one. gist of keynote- dont be afraid to fail, there is lots to learn from\nit, follow what you genuinely love and use, and do what works for you best\n\nthere is something so enchanting reading about github, 37signals, etc.. they\nare filled with passion, do not talk about money (as an objective) and most of\nall inspire others to follow their heart and pursue their love\n\n~~~\nwallflower\nI saw the GitHub guys talk at RailsConf '08.\n\nIt struck me that they were all uber confident - they seemed that they knew\nwhat they were going to do and, as needed, they adjusted their course. I was\nwalking out of this talk and mentioned this as smalltalk to guy next to me and\nhe said he had known one of the GitHub guys for years - and in the several\nyears that he has known him - he has always been calm confident and relaxed.\n\nThey were very inspiring.\n\n------\nazsromej\nI'm still in the process of upgrading my ambition, but I've so far been happy\nto just get to the point where I can release something. If it makes > $10/mo\non its own, consistently, I smile (which brings me back to needing to upgrade\nambitions)\n\n------\nanuraggoel\nWhen you compare this to a previous keynote here:\n<http://gist.github.com/6443> you can see how he's getting better at this.\n\n------\nsho\nThis is probably going to go against the grain a little, but I have some\nproblems with GitHub.\n\nFirstly and probably most obviously, their business is based almost in its\nentirity around a single third party open source tool, without which they\nwould have nothing at all, and yet their site is not open source. I know they\nhave every right, legally, to do this, but to me it seems .. exploitative.\n\nI wouldn't even care, really - that's what it's all about, after all - but\nthey're just so arrogant about it. Wanstrath especially. Just go look at the\nvery latest post on his blog. The last sentence - \"Welcome to distributed\nversion control.\" is just so smug and really rubs me up the wrong way.\n\nMaybe I'm an idiot for thinking that way, it's very probable, but something\njust feels wrong.\n\nSecondly, the whole point of distributed version control is that it is\n_distributed_. Github is the antithesis of this! And it has real-world\nconsequences, too - it's slow as hell. It's not Facebook for programmers, it's\nGeocities for programmers, and I for one can't wait until all those Github\nusers learn how to set up their own repositories.\n\nDon't get me wrong, I don't hate Github. It's nice looking and works fairly\nwell, apart from the speed. They certain picked the right wave to jump on and\nit was very right place, right time. And I love git.\n\nBut Github can't last that long, IMO. Trying to force a distributed version\ncontrol system into a \"hub\" is not sustainable. Many people, including myself,\nwould never host the fruit of their labours on some free \"social\" site. And\nthe web interface is better than gitweb but hardly light years ahead of\neveryone else.\n\nI think it's just a matter of time before we see a proper distributed git\ncommunity - a \"git mesh\", if you will. Obviously there are some pieces missing\nbefore that can occur, but I think it's inevitable. These \"hubs\" never last.\nJust try to name one that has.\n\n~~~\nold-gregg\nEvery web-based startup is like that: 99.999% of their code base is someone\nelse's outsourced work yet they keep their own code closed. Why such high\npercentage of other people's code? Because nobody can afford to:\n\n* Implement their own SQL server\n\n* Implement their own programming language\n\n* Implement their own web framework\n\n* Implement their own 234 libraries for parsing, fetching, I/O, threading, etc etc etc.\n\nHowever, I feel exactly the same way you do. But not regarding Github. They're\nwhat YouTube is for flash, they're basically Rackspace - a hosting company.\n\nThe company that pisses me off the most is Scribbd. Their entire product is an\nevil flashizator of OpenOffice's file converter. And an closed-source\nflashizator at that. Not only they're destroying the web with their laptop-\nburning binary browser crasher, but they're parasitizing on one of the most\nsuccessful, most needed (and struggling) open source projects without\ncontributing anything back.\n\n~~~\nblasdel\nScribd doesn't even have the source to their own Flashizer! It's FlashPaper,\nwhich was Macromedia's somewhat lame attempt at competing with PDF pre-buyout.\n\n~~~\nnatrius\nIf I remember correctly, Scribd started out using FlashPaper, but they\ndeveloped their own supposedly superior iPaper to replace it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIt should only take you a few hours... - The Hiltmon - hiltmon\nhttp://www.hiltmon.com/blog/2012/01/11/it-should-only-take-you-a-few-hours-dot-dot-dot/\n======\nasolove\nOf course carpenters don't get this kind of nonsense, because you can buy\ncheap, mass-manufactured tables. If you go to a carpenter to get a table\nbuilt, you must have a good reason and you know that a lot of time and money\nwill be involved.\n\nMake no mistake, this distinction is coming to much of what we currently\nconsider \"programming\" too. Spreadsheets probably save the world from 80% of\nwhat would otherwise have to be done by a programmer, and someone will\neventually find a UI paradigm for a rough database and rules system (maybe\nsomething like Bento+Improv?) that can replace much of what line-of-business\nprogrammers do now.\n\nNow, you say: but programming is really about thinking and attention to\ndetail, not just typing in code.\n\nTo which I say: yeah, and so is making tables.\n\nBut at some point, in the current Western economy, cheap wins over good.\n\n~~~\nhiltmon\nExcellent points. And I'd have to agree that both mass market tables (Ikea?)\nand spreadsheets do save us all a lot of these aches.\n\nBut cheap only wins if you can sell many of the same manufactured good. Most\nof the people who go to carpenters and programmers think what they want is\nunique enough to require a crafter, but expect the crafter to be as quick and\ncheap as a mass-market product manufacturer.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Digital Signatures on the Blockchain – With Smart Contracts - avadhoot\nhttp://dashboard.attores.com/?utm_source=hacker_news\n======\navadhoot\nA. Digital Signing 2.0: Our uncluttered interface lets you easily sign\ndocuments and secure them with blockchain technology\n\nB. Smart Contract and Blockchain Secure: By using secure smart contracts, we\nenable real time auditability & cryptographic proof of transmission &\nacceptance. (Absolutely easy to verify the authenticity + keep the private\nrecord.)\n\nC. Digitize your Documents: Say goodbye to the days of printing, signing,\nscanning and emailing!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow the most popular Chrome extensions affect browser performance - feross\nhttps://www.debugbear.com/blog/2020-chrome-extension-performance-report\n======\ngorhill\nAn note regarding the memory usage in Chromium and uBO specifically.\n\nI have observed that even though the memory usage as reported by developer\ntools under \"JavaScript VM instance\" stay rather stable in uBO[1] even after a\nlot of memory churning operations[2], the figure reported in Chromium's Task\nManager keeps climbing up after each of these memory churning operation, and\nforcing garbage collection does not bring the reported usage down in the Task\nManager.\n\nThere is something happening in Chromium's extension process (and outside the\nJavaScript VM in which the extension run) which may cause wildly various\nmemory figures for even the same extension depending on how much memory-\nchurning operations have occurred -- I wish Chromium devs would provide\ntechnical insights about this.\n\n* * *\n\n[1] Around 8 MB when using default settings/lists.\n\n[2] For instance, repeatedly purging all filter lists and forcing an update.\n\n~~~\nlifeisgood99\nI just want to say thank you so much for uBO\n\n------\ncrazygringo\nUtterly fascinating article.\n\nThe main takeaways seem to be that 1) extensions in general wind up\n_massively_ increasing CPU time (by 5-20x) when loading \"example.com\", and 2)\nad blockers wind up _massively_ reducing CPU time (by 4-20x) when loading a\n\"WCPO news article\".\n\nWhich makes me happy that I use uBlock (edit: Origin, thanks below), and sad\nthat I have to use LastPass.\n\n _HOWEVER_ \\-- I feel like both these metrics are potentially highly\nmisleading, because CPU time isn't something the user directly observes -- it\nmight be the limiting factor, or it might not affect the user experience at\nall (because the CPU usage is happening while waiting for further network\nresources that are even slower, or the CPU usage is happening after the page\nhas visually finished loading all relevant content).\n\nI'd be much more interested to see how extensions like Evernote or LastPass\nincrease the time it takes for a real webpage (e.g. \"nytimes.com\") to _finish\npainting the viewport_ not including ads, and similarly whether adblocking\nactually decreases the same -- or if all the advertising stuff really only\nhappens afterwards. (Because sites are architected differently, you'd need to\ncompute an aggregate score across a range of common sites.)\n\n~~~\nsa46\n> I have to use LastPass.\n\nI recently switched from LastPass to 1Password because of the added latency\nfrom Lastpass. Lastpass adds about 70ms to first contentful paint on\nexample.com. 1Password, on the other hand, runs after the painting is done so\nit doesn't block rendering. I polished up a blog draft I had lying around\nabout switching to 1Password: [https://joe.schafer.dev/passing-\nlastpass/](https://joe.schafer.dev/passing-lastpass/)\n\n> I'd be much more interested to see how extensions like Evernote or LastPass\n> increase the time it takes for a real webpage (e.g. \"nytimes.com\") to finish\n> painting the viewport not including ads.\n\nI reinstalled Lastpass to test on nytimes.com. It takes 58ms to evaluate\nonloadwff.js (the Lastpass entry point) before any content is rendered.\n\n~~~\nDaiPlusPlus\nI have LastPass, but I keep it in “only activate extension when I click on the\ntoolbar button”.\n\nThe only annoying thing is that LastPass requires the whole page to reload\nfirst - I don’t know why Chrome can’t load an extension into an already-loaded\npage.\n\n------\na_imho\n_Most ad blockers work by blocking certain network requests that are initiated\nby the page. DDG Privacy Essentials reduces the number of network requests by\n95% and the download weight by 80%._\n\n _DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials reduces the CPU time of the article page from\n31s to just 1.6s. All other tested extensions also bring CPU time down to at\nmost 10s._\n\nIt seems the single most important thing regarding Real Word Performance is a\ngood content blocking functionality (not to mention other boons). Why don't\nbrowsers come with one by default?\n\n~~~\nc17r\nBecause the most popular browser is made by a company that makes the vast\nmajority of their money from ads.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nAnd to large extent, the same developers that complain about ads are the ones\nto blame that Chrome has reached that market leadership.\n\n------\npirsquare\nGreat research! I'm a user of evernote web clipper and seeing that they're\nadding 3mb to every page that I'm using is extremely discouraging. My browse\nto clip ratio is around 1000:1 and I'm probably removing the extension after\nthis.\n\nJust wondering, can browser extensions codesplit their bundles? If it's\npossible, then it is really disappointing to see these large companies loading\nhuge bundles on initial load.\n\n~~~\nLex-2008\nDid you try to set the extension to \"run on click\"? Right-click extension\nicon, \"This can read and change site data\" -> \"When you click the extension\".\nI didn't try it myself (it might require reloading the page), but might be an\noption for 1000:1 browse to clip ratio.\n\n~~~\npirsquare\nAwesome - Didn't know about this trick. I'm reconfiguring most of the my\nextensions to this.\n\nGracias!\n\n------\nthe_duke\nThis is a worthy research topic.\n\nOn mobile, with slower networks and much worse CPUs, uBlock often completely\nchanges the experience. (thanks Mozilla!)\n\nI would note though that only example.com was examined (and apple.com in one\ntest).\n\nI also did not see information if tests were repeated, as no variance/stddev\nis given. I'd expect it to be pretty high.\n\n~~~\ndarkport\nHow are you installing Firefox extensions in mobile? Is it Android only?\n\n~~~\npanpanna\nFirefox for Android is (at least for my usage) pretty much desktop Firefox\nwith a touch-friendly UI.\n\nFirefox for iOS is not really Firefox.\n\n~~~\nWrtCdEvrydy\nAll webbrowsers on iOS are basically safari reskinned.\n\n------\nesperent\nNot at all surprising that the worst two extensions by a long way are both\nfrom Avira.\n\nYesterday I opened Chrome and received a warning that the Avira extension had\nbeen installed.\n\nI certainly did not install it willingly. I'm pretty sure I didn't install any\nother software that sneakily bundled it recently, either - I mean, I'm 99.9%\nsure that I haven't installed _any_ software in the past week. So how why did\nit suddenly show up? I reported it to Chrome from the web extensions store.\nHighly unlikely that they'll do anything about it though.\n\n~~~\nsp0rk\n> So how why did it suddenly show up?\n\nIf Avira has a pay-per-install program, I would say it's pretty likely that\nyou're part of a botnet.\n\n~~~\nesperent\nInteresting.\n\nI ran every kind of virus test I could find about a month ago since I was\ngetting weird display/jank issues. Couldn't find anything, and in the end I\ntracked the issues down to a windows display scaling error.\n\nAny idea how I would go about testing for a botnet?\n\n~~~\narprocter\nI've seen resetting Chrome fix all sorts of weirdness:\n\n[https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/3296214?hl=en](https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/3296214?hl=en)\n\n~~~\neyegor\nResetting chrome isn't much of a solution if the underlying problem is botnet\naffiliation (trojan, rootkit, etc). Should be reasonably easy to shut down all\napplications and services, and inspect the traffic going through the router\nfor suspicious domains. If you only have a windows machine connected there\nshould only be Microsoft traffic and maybe the router manufacturer. Anything\nelse, and it's probably malicious.\n\n~~~\nlordlimecat\nInspecting your PC's traffic from a sniffer on your PC to find a rootkit seems\nlike a fool's errand.\n\nIf something has driver / kernel level privileges it can trivially hide such\ntraffic from any sniffer you have running.\n\n~~~\neyegor\nYes, that's why I said to inspect the router's traffic\n\n------\nglangdale\nIt's entertaining that there is yet another area where \"running large numbers\nof regular expressions, known in advance and not changing all that often\" over\nlots of input is performance critical.\n\nThis was a key driver behind writing Hyperscan\n([https://github.com/intel/hyperscan](https://github.com/intel/hyperscan))\nwhich I used to work on when it was primarily used for network security\n(thousands or tens of thousands of regular expression rules for firewalls),\nbut doing this for ad blocking seems pretty sensible too.\n\n~~~\npythux\nThis is indeed a performance critical problem, but it is already pretty much\nsolved at this point. If you look at the performance of the most popular\ncontent blockers, their decision time is already below fractions of\nmilliseconds. So it does not seem like performance is really an issue anymore.\n\n~~~\nglangdale\nYeah, I don't doubt that it's solvable by other means (notably hashing). It's\njust amusing that something we started building in 2006 - and open sourced in\n2015 - largely solves a problem _directly_ (i.e. you don't specifically have\nto rewrite your regexes).\n\n~~~\npythux\nTo be fair, blocklists are not really lists of regexps. They contain some\nregexps indeed but the syntax is mostly custom and matching relies on both\npatterns found in URLs (This part could be partially expressed as RegExps) as\nwell as a multitude of other things like constraints on domain of the frame,\ndomain of the request, type of network request, etc.\n\n------\nlondons_explore\nAll the tests were done on an n2-standard-2 gcp instance... That doesn't have\na GPU. Rendering a webpage without a GPU uses a lot of different codepaths and\nisn't awfully representative of performance with a GPU.\n\n~~~\nmostlystatic\nI ran most of the tests on example.com, which is easy to render without having\na GPU available.\n\nLooking at on-page CPU time for Evernote, 91% is spent just processing\nJavaScript or HTML. So I expect any benefit of a GPU to be minimal.\n\n~~~\nlondons_explore\nBut there might also be a performance _hit_ with a GPU... There are various\nantipatterns like drawing on a canvas and then reading back the pixels\nrepeatedly that perform atrociously with a GPU (due to the latency between the\nCPU and GPU). Some sites do a lot of that for things like custom font\nrendering, fingerprinting user hardware, custom data decompression algorithms\nthat use canvas, etc.\n\n~~~\nhoten\nLab analysis is always going to have compromises. What's important is the\nrelative change (without and with the extensions), and that the extra work\nisn't especially slowed down because of lack of GPU.\n\n------\nerikrothoff\nCool to see our extension tested (an RSS reader). What's great with this is\nthat it gives us a metric to work towards improving. I've always been under\nthe assumption that \"cpu is cheap\", but it does have real effects.\n\n------\nhelltone\nIf the author is here, can I suggest testing the Dark Reader extension too?\n\n~~~\nmostlystatic\nHere are the test results for Dark Reader: [https://www.debugbear.com/chrome-\nextension-performance-looku...](https://www.debugbear.com/chrome-extension-\nperformance-lookup?search=dark%20reader)\n\nI also briefly mention it in the section on FCP, explaining why it makes sense\nfor the extension to use render-blocking content scripts.\n[https://www.debugbear.com/blog/2020-chrome-extension-\nperform...](https://www.debugbear.com/blog/2020-chrome-extension-performance-\nreport#page-rendering-delays)\n\n------\nthomasahle\n> The Avira Browser Safety extension contains a website allowlist with 30k+\n> regular expressions. When the user navigates to a new page Avira checks if\n> the page URL is in that allowlist\n\nI wonder who thought that would be a good idea... Sounds like something that\ncould be significantly improved by compiling all patterns into a single\nstatemachine.\n\n~~~\naasasd\nYeah, back when I was doing similar matching on a big bunch of regexes, it was\nvastly faster to match on all of them lumped together in a group with the ‘or’\noperator. And I learned of this more than fifteen years ago from a server-side\nlib that deduced the exact browser from the user-agent: it had a huge regex\nwith various placeholders and a long list of ‘if/elseif’ checks to extract the\nvalues.\n\n~~~\nthomasahle\nExactly. If your regex engine compiles to a DFA, you can have arbitrary many\nor clauses with no overhead. It's pretty neat.\n\n------\ntraspler\nIt seems like the included pw managers like LastPass & Dashlane also impact\npage loading drastically. Is there even an alternative with less impact?\n\n~~~\nedsimpson\nAnecdotally, I noticed a browsing speed up when I switched from LastPass to\nBitwarden on older laptops.\n\n------\nlmkg\nIt looks like a lot of the slowness from the slow extensions is from parsing\nand executing JavaScript. Are there opportunities from the browser side to\nmake extensions faster? It seems like re-parsing the same JS on every pageload\nis an opportunity for gains from caching, but I'm also wondering about\ndifferent delivery mechanisms like wasm. Are there security considerations\nhere?\n\n~~~\naasasd\nAlternatively, heavy code could be kept in the background script while page-\ninjected scripts only do interaction. This would even employ the JIT properly.\n\n------\nSeanDav\n> _\" DDG Privacy Essentials does a simple object property lookup based on the\n> request domain, an operation that is practically instantaneous\"_\n\nThis sounds interesting. A bit of searching is not providing much\nenlightenment - anyone care to explain in a bit more detail?\n\nAlso, if it is so fast, why aren't all the filter add-ons doing it?\n\n~~~\ngorhill\nContent blockers in the same class as uBlock Origin (\"uBO\")[1] have the added\nburden of having to enforce generic filters which are independent of the\nrequest domains, they have to find a specific pattern in the request URL,\nincluding with support for wildcards.\n\nEven though, and despite this added burden, I will point out that uBO is\nalmost as performant as DDG Privacy Essentials as per this report.\n\nFurthermore, uBO contains WASM modules but they are not used in the Chromium\nversion of the extension since this would require to add a `wasm-eval`\ndirective to uBO's extension manifest, something I prefer to avoid for the\ntime being, I fear this would cause more lengthy validation of the extension\nby the Chrome Web Store.\n\n* * *\n\n[1] Able to enforce EasyList, EasyPrivacy et al.\n\n------\nsalmo\nI would be curious to see this for Firefox extensions as well.\n\n------\nk__\nI like Grammarly, but the extension is really crappy.\n\n~~~\nbvm\nGrammarly causes a surprising amount of frontend issues.\n\n------\nChikkaChiChi\nHas a browser team ever considered the possibility of creating allowlists for\nextensions only on certain websites? A native implementation of something like\nuMatrix that also worked on extensions could help end users at least remove\nslowdowns on sites they need to be performant.\n\n------\niou\nNice article. This seems like a relevant contrast to share here\n[https://brave.com/improved-ad-blocker-\nperformance/](https://brave.com/improved-ad-blocker-performance/)\n\n------\ngoalieca\nI typically run a number of extensions:\n\nduckduckgo privacy essentials, ublock origin, privacy badger, and whatever\nbuilt-in firefox has.\n\nPerhaps this is overkill but they all cover slightly different things.\n\n------\nWhompingWindows\nCan someone give me an ELI5 on Privacy Badger? My current stack is just uBlock\nOrigin, I'm considering layering PB over the top.\n\n~~~\nidentity0\nIn my experience, PB pretty much does nothing. UBO already blocks trackers and\nsocial media buttons, and if it doesn’t, you can turn on those filters. PB\ndoesn’t even block the trackers until it “learns” that they are trackers, it\njust avoids sending cookies (which doesn’t stop facebook from fingerprinting\nyou.) The best method would probably turning off 3rd party scripts and iframes\nin UBO, but that does mean you have to un-break a lot of sites. An extension\nlike cookie autodelete would also do much more than PB, since, if you have no\ncookies, they can’t be sent.\n\nEdit: I realized that I sound like I’m bashing PB too much. PB is definitely\nbetter than nothing, and doesn’t break any sites, but there are better things\nyou can do which make PB obsolete.\n\n------\nPaywallBuster\nI've seen ublock causing CPU to be pegged at 100% making various js heavy\napplications completely unusable.\n\n[https://github.com/uBlock-LLC/uBlock/issues/1829](https://github.com/uBlock-\nLLC/uBlock/issues/1829)\n\n~~~\nsmichel17\nFor anyone glancing by: Note that this is uBlock, not uBlock origin.\n\n------\nsizzle\nAm I creating a bottleneck by running Ghostery with uBlock Origin?\n\n------\nuser2233\nhello\n\n------\nbaggy_trough\nDon't ever install extensions. There is no limit to the trouble and pain they\ncan cause.\n\n~~~\nsaagarjha\nNever browse the web. There is no limit to the trouble and pain it can cause.\n\n------\nvisarga\nCool, but it doesn't matter that no-extension is much faster because we can't\nbrowse without ad blocking. Even if it slows the page, it is still preferable.\nOn the other hand ad blocking wastes less bandwidth and memory.\n\n~~~\nlaurent123456\nI don't think you read the graph right. Without ad-blocking extensions, the\nbrowser is of course much slower, about 15 times slower according to their\ntests.\n\n~~~\nlondons_explore\nI am doubtful of some of the numbers here... I mean I know browsing the web\nwithout an ad blocker is bad, but it isn't 'takes 35 seconds to load an\narticle on gigabit ethernet' bad....\n\n~~~\nsmichel17\nThat was a graph of cpu time, not network request time, and 20s of the 30s\nwere spent parsing and running js.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThings to Know Before You Accept Another Privacy Policy - duzins\nhttp://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/6-things-to-know-before-you-accept-another-privacy-policy.php#.T6BBOvTSC9E.hackernews\n\n======\nbenologist\nThose are 6 things that would be nice to know in a perfect world, some of them\naren't going to help you very much in this one though.\n\nReally there's just one thing to know ... does Ghostery's alert bar span half\nyour screen?\n\n<http://i.imgur.com/mFqGy.png>\n\nThat's a great sign that the site does not respect your privacy.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBacteria Are Masters of Tai Chi - dnetesn\nhttp://nautil.us/issue/37/currents/bacteria-are-masters-of-tai-chi\n======\nmasonic\nDude. This is the _fourth_ time you alone have posted this in the last 2+\ndays.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFrom Zen Buddhism to Preying on Vulnerable Women (2013) - jimsojim\nhttp://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/11/from-zen-buddhism-to-preying-on-vulnerable-women/281475/?single_page=true\n======\njustnot4me\nI guess this is a case of desire causing suffering.\n\n------\nbonobo3000\nShimano may not have been a good guy, but its kind of weird how its framed as\nthe evil man exploiting the poor, vulnerable women, rather than a consensual\nact between 2 people.\n\n~~~\na_puppy\nI agree if a man sleeps with a consenting woman but later chooses not to enter\na romantic relationship even though she wants to, that's not evil by itself.\nSome people would say that he's \"using her for sex\" or a \"womanizer\" or\nwhatever, as if sex includes an implicit promise to enter a relationship; I\nwould disagree.\n\nBut that's not what's going on in the case of Eido Shimano. He was a teacher\nsleeping with his students, which is generally considered unethical. He\nappears to have led his sexual partners to believe that they were in a\nmonogamous relationship, then cheated on them. He repeatedly harassed a woman\nwho refused his advances. And at least one woman accused him of groping her,\nwhich is just plain illegal. I think it's fair to call that behavior \"evil\"\nand \"exploitative\", and I don't see anything weird about the article framing\nit that way.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nEFF: Tell Us Your DRM Horror Stories about Ebooks, Games, Music, Movies and IoT - g1n016399\nhttps://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/03/ebooks-games-music-movies-and-internet-things-tell-us-your-drm-horror-stories\n======\nwodenokoto\nI don't know if it is a horror story, but I bought a kindle edition of a\nreference work to use on my iPad (it was a kindle-fire book, apparently\noptimised for tablets) and the app is so slow that searching or flipping pages\nis useless.\n\nThere are cracked PDF's version of the book, which I can search in seconds and\nflip pages fast, copy content into a google search and use my build-in\ndictionary to look up words.\n\nThe PDF version is everything the kindle version is not: Free and useful.\n\n~~~\ng1n016399\nPlease tell the EFF about that.\n\n------\ndm_i386\nI recently wanted to show my wife a video game I enjoyed when I was younger.\nThe game used SecuROM DRM which I was unable to work around in Wine.\nApparently, it requires an insecure driver in Windows, which has since been\nremoved. I really wanted to play this game, so I was forced to manually enable\nthe disabled driver in Windows 7 by following this guide:\n[http://www.howtogeek.com/230773/how-to-play-pc-games-that-\nre...](http://www.howtogeek.com/230773/how-to-play-pc-games-that-require-\nsafedisc-or-securom-drm-on-windows-10-8.1-8-7-and-vista/). The SecuROM driver\nhas apparently been removed completely in Windows 10.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTDD brings little business value and isn’t worth it - agnieszkaczapla\nhttps://www.thedroidsonroids.com/blog/tdd-part-1\n======\nColinWright\nThe title here is clickbait, pure and simple. It's neither the original title,\nnor the conclusion.\n\nThe wrapup at the end says:\n\n> _Now you see why developers insist on TDD. This isn’t only a “cool tool”\n> from a technical point of view. It is more like a way to make the project\n> more robust, and your business more profitable._\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhite House looks to robotics for economic future - robotlaunch\nhttps://medium.com/silicon-valley-robotics/white-house-economic-report-looks-to-robotics-for-the-future-429d66a6593#.sc1xco8vg\n======\nrobotlaunch\nFocus is on two technologies - robotics and the internet - to drive future\nproductivity, innovation and labor growth.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nOff the Grid - decasteve\nhttp://www.stephenfry.com/2016/04/off-the-grid/\n======\nuhtred\nIt's interesting that I was at an itunes free gig in London back in 2010 at\nthe Camden Roundhouse (band was Bombay Bicycle Club and they were very good),\nand Stephen Fry made a pre gig speech (obviously paid by Apple) to say how\nmarvellous the iphone was and how although some people criticise social media\n, it is a marvellous thing that helps people feel less lonely, amongst other\nthings (and the iphone helps people stay connected to this social media when\non the go). I wonder if he truly believed that then, or was just saying so for\nApple's sake. Either way, let's assume he believed it; and so I guess in 2010\nit was all still rather new. Now he, like many of us, have grown very tired\nand cynical of it all. I agree with a lot he is saying in this post. The\ninternet has been hijacked by big money and corporations. I personally am\nutterly fed up with waiting for web pages to load, unable to read the content\nbecause it keeps shifting around the page while another shitty targeted ad\ngets inserted. And then I realise the content was trash anyway; just more\nshallow, \"read this in 2 minutes\" bullshit that gets churned out because the\nauthors know we have lost our ability to stay focused on one thing long enough\nto read anything substantial and genuinely informative.\n\n~~~\nDanBC\nStephen Fry has been an early adopter of technology for many years.\n\nHe and Douglas Adams were the first people in the UK to get Apple Macs, for\nexample. He was the first person to apply for a .uk domain name\n\n~~~\nmattl\n> He was the first person to apply for a .uk domain name\n\nIs a little misleading. He was the first person to use the modern, nonprefixed\nuk domain but not the first person to apply for a .uk domain back in the day.\n\n------\ndarkclarity\nI have gone through a similar phase. Got rid of social media, switched back to\na feature phone, am reading real books, listening to music on physical media,\nusing cash where possible and whatever else.\n\nThe Internet has gone from a place with a high barrier of entry (and the\ninteresting characters that self selected for that barrier), to an all\nencompassing entity with a load of moralisers, businesses and governments\nfighting over the ability to call the shots.\n\nIn its current state, I think it's better to take a step back. View the\nInternet as an occasional tool for getting things done, rather than a place to\nlive within and rely upon. Let the masses have their addictions fulfilled,\nwhile technology enthusiasts move on and enjoy real life.\n\n~~~\ndebacle\nWhat feature phone are you using? For the life of me I can't find one these\ndays that isn't a cheap piece of crap.\n\n~~~\narximboldi\nI recently got a Nokia 130 because I lost my old phone. Dunno if it goes above\nyour \"piece of crap\" line but it serves very well my needs.\n\n~~~\nsanoli\nI use a Samsung flip phone. I still prefer the flip ergonomics to a touch-\nscreen one (for ordinary voice call use obviously). Someone calls me, I pick\nup the phone, flip it open to answer if I want to, talk, close it to end the\ncall, all with one hand, without having to even look at the thing (I can check\nthe outside lcd to see who it is before answering it also). When I want to\ncall someone (I only call about 5 people regularly (wife, mom, dad, sister,\nclosest friends), I just flip it open and press the corresponding speed dial\nbutton. For this kind of use, a touch screen doesn't come close.\n\n------\nnadam\nAs someone who uses the internet in a healthy way and healthy dose, i think\nthis article is like when an (former?) alcoholic suggests to all the people to\nnot even drink one beer occasionally. Seriously why should I not use email to\ncommunicate with people far away from me on interesting topics? Why would I\nnot look up things in Wikipedia? Why would I not look at Fecebook once a day\nfor 2 minutes to see whether there is something extra with my IRL friends and\nrelatives?\n\n~~~\nlkozma\nyou can of course use it as much as you want -- but I thing the broader point\nof the author holds: for a generation that is supposed to be rebellious, there\nis a surprising amount of conformism in accepting these tools as something\nthat need to be used all the time.\n\n~~~\nclock_tower\nIt's best to think neither in terms of rebelliousness nor conformism, but in\nterms of right and wrong -- the standards by which we determine whether\nrebellion, or conformism, or withdrawal, or some other act are appropriate.\nAging hippies and aging squares are both stopped clocks, wrong at least as\noften as they're right...\n\nThat said, I'm with the author in one respect: I don't have a Facebook account\nand never will. Constant connectedness is the enemy of deep understanding of\nthe world -- although drugs, pinball machines, and basking in one's alleged\nsuperiority to the squares are also its enemies.\n\n------\nreturn0\nWhy do people feel like FB and messengers are the entire \"Grid\"? You can go\noff social networks and still enjoy the marvel that is the internet (it works\nfor me). My guess is that people develop a genuine addiction to FB and need to\navoid all temptation for a while. Going offline for a longer than that is not\na good idea though.\n\n~~~\nk-mcgrady\n>> \"My guess is that people develop a genuine addiction to FB and need to\navoid all temptation for a while. Going offline for a longer than that is not\na good idea though.\"\n\nMaybe it is. Look at it like any other addiction. If you're addicted to\nalcohol you don't stop for a while that start and hope you can drink in\nmoderation. I guess a better analogy might be an alcoholic who can go into a\nbar and not drink. I guess there are a lot of people who can do that but for\nothers the temptation can be too much. I know personally I've purged social\nmedia accounts several times only to start them up again 6 months later.\n\n~~~\nJoof\nI haven't used Facebook or similar for several years. I still use HN though,\nbut it at least FEELS healthier.\n\n------\nstcredzero\n_These days, while there may be much talk of digital connection being a civil\nright, that doesn’t make it a civic duty, or a legal compulsion._\n\nSocial media tries to use it as a \"civic compulsion.\" They say: Hew to our\nideology, or you're not allowed to have an online presence. We will shame and\ndestroy your online persona. So much of our culture and commerce is online and\ndigital, this may well feel like banishment to many.\n\nThe same progressive movements that railed against the thought control,\ncoercive pressure, and shaming methods of the church and the old cultural\nestablishment have sprouted online movements of predominantly young people who\nuse silencing tactics, banishment from civic organizations, and coercive\nshaming to further their agenda.\n\nI find this a damn shame, because I count myself as a progressive and across\nthe long arc of history, this only delays substantive progress. It's like\ntrying to invade and occupy a country by holding land with troops. It's\nexpensive, causes great collateral damage, and it turns many potential allies\nagainst you. It can \"work,\" but only when you utterly rout the opposition, and\neven then, it often just plants the seeds for the next set of conflicts.\n\nTrue activism can't just stop at demonstrations and resignations. It doesn't\nstop with committees or legislation or court cases. The end goal is to win\nhearts and minds. Beware of those who say they're winning hearts and minds,\nbut backing it up with coercion. Beware of power, even limited contextual\npower. Power that lacks self awareness can be locally perilous.\n\n(Really, is that stuff really about justice, or is it about the pleasure of\nwatching someone get their comeuppance? And has our culture degraded to the\npoint where a large fraction of intellectuals are unaware of the difference?)\n\n------\njgrahamc\nThe other day I suddenly remembered the door of my college room. Since I was\nat university pre-Internet, pre-mobile phones there was a piece of paper and a\npencil on the door so that people who came round to find me could leave a\nmessage... by writing on the door.\n\n~~~\nant6n\nGreat idea for a social network. Just write on someone's door.\n\n~~~\nStavrosK\nToo skeuomorphic.\n\n~~~\nant6n\nSkeuomorphism is coming back. Like Vinyl.\n\n~~~\nak39\nBaudrillard would have had fun with that comment!\n\n------\nphillipamann\nThis article speaks to me and what I've been preaching to others for a while\nnow. I got high speed internet in 1999. I was 13 years old. I am now 29 on the\ncusp of 30 and I think that this experiment has been detrimental to me rather\nthan beneficial. I am currently in the process of doing what Fry talks about.\nWhile I can not be absolute and still want to visit some sites and some\ncommunities, I am trying to treat each website as if it were a magazine\nsubscription or something I have to buy and own.\n\nI like to live a minimalist lifestyle at home and prefer owning as few things\nas possible. I know many others feel this way too. However, with the internet\nand computing, ownership is abstract. I become overwhelmed and anxious under\nthe deluge of files, apps, notifications, settings, and upkeep required for it\nall. I know I am not alone in this. Below is a quotation I loved from Deep\nWork by Cal Newport:\n\n\"These services aren’t necessarily, as advertised, the lifeblood of our modern\nconnected world. They’re just products, developed by private companies, funded\nlavishly, marketed carefully, and designed ultimately to capture then sell\nyour personal information and attention to advertisers. They can be fun, but\nin the scheme of your life and what you want to accomplish, they’re a\nlightweight whimsy, one unimportant distraction among many threatening to\nderail you from something deeper. Or maybe social media tools are at the core\nof your existence. You won’t know either way until you sample life without\nthem.\"\n\nNewport, Cal (2016-01-05). Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a\nDistracted World (p. 209). Grand Central Publishing. Kindle Edition.\n\n~~~\nvasilipupkin\nby what algorithm have you determined that it has been detrimental? how do you\nknow that algorithm is accurate?\n\n~~~\nphillipamann\nI did this by reflecting on my own life. I reflected on my habits and\nbehaviors. I thought about how my life was before and after this. I thought\nabout this even more compared to when I became a smartphone owner and when I\nwas not a smart phone owner. There is no algorithm for this. There is no\ncorrect answer and that's the point. Some people love being connected to 10\nsocial networks and constantly checking them. Some people don't. I am of the\nlater group.\n\n~~~\nvasilipupkin\nbeing connected to 10 networks and constantly checking on them is one extreme.\nAnother extreme is claiming you would have been better off without broadband.\nI can't speak for you, of course, but most people would probably be better off\nwithout extremes\n\n------\nsqueaky-clean\nI agree that most of us should be \"off the grid\" more than we are, but not for\nany of the reasons he suggests. There's no real reasoning to this argument,\njust \"It used to be like X before the internet, so the internet is bad.\" But\nwith no reasons why X is good, as if it's obvious, but the modern ways seem\nbetter to me.\n\n> Well maybe they should consider this for a moment. Who most wants you to\n> stay on the grid? The advertisers. Your boss. Human Resources. The\n> advertisers. Your parents (irony of ironies – once they distrusted it, now\n> they need to tag you electronically, share your Facebook photos and message\n> you to death). The advertisers. The government. Your local authority. Your\n> school. Advertisers.\n\nReally? \"The man wants you on the internet, so you should stop!\" If you avoid\nthe internet just because of this, you're still letting the advertisers, your\nboss, \"the man\" make your decisions for you, rather than coming to your own\nconclusions..\n\n> Remembering what I was like at fifteen, I wriggle pleasurably at the thought\n> of how it would feel in 2016 to tell a teacher that, no, I couldn’t possibly\n> ‘e-mail’ my homework, because I don’t have e-mail:\n\n> ‘I’m not on your email, miss/sir.’\n\n> ‘Don’t be absurd, Stephen. Email me the essay as soon as possible.’\n\nA bit of a strawman here, isn't it? In what situation would a teacher ever\ndemand you send an assignment ASAP instead of on the assigned due date? And if\nit's because you've missed the due date, what right do you have to act\ndifficult and decide the medium over which you turn it in? Either accept the\nfailed grade, or play by the rules of the person who is accommodating you.\n\nSelf control when it comes to technology is great and all, and if you feel you\nneed or want less than the average person, that's fine. But thinking you're\nbetter than everyone else because you refuse to use a tool some people use\nincorrectly?\n\n~~~\npharke\nThe article seems to be about what he imagines a young person of today would\ndo if they wanted to affect a counter cultural lifestyle. Sticking it to the\nman (advertisers, your boss, parents, etc.) and throwing common mediums and\ntraditions out the window to freak out the normies. He's not saying the old\nway was better, he goes to lengths to point that out when he says:\n\n>This is just maudlin, nostalgic mush. You can’t go back. But all my\nimagination can do when picturing a life off the grid is summon up the life I\nhad before the grid existed, so I cannot help being retrospective.\n\nHe's using the past way of life as a framework to build his vision on, not as\nthe desired outcome. The imagined exchange with a teacher is equally fanciful\nbut serves the point of illustrating a conflict between a young person and an\nestablishment figure. A failed grade would be of no consequence here since it\nis certainly an expected response from someone in a position of power\nattempting to force you into conformity... missing this point is telling of\nyour misunderstanding of the article so I think I'll leave it at that.\n\n------\ngrillvogel\n\"Because the bombardment of pseudo-realities begins to produce inauthentic\nhumans very quickly, spurious humans—as fake as the data pressing at them from\nall sides. My two topics are really one topic; they unite at this point. Fake\nrealities will create fake humans. Or, fake humans will generate fake\nrealities and then sell them to other humans, turning them, eventually, into\nforgeries of themselves. So we wind up with fake humans inventing fake\nrealities and then peddling them to other fake humans. It is just a very large\nversion of Disneyland. You can have the Pirate Ride or the Lincoln Simulacrum\nor Mr. Toad's Wild Ride—you can have all of them, but none is true.\" \\- PKD\n\nedit: this is from\n[http://deoxy.org/pkd_how2build.htm](http://deoxy.org/pkd_how2build.htm)\n\n~~~\nstuartaxelowen\nAnd what is true?\n\n~~~\nclock_tower\nWell, it's true that if you don't eat you'll die of starvation. (Or, if you\nhappen to be in a computer simulation at the moment, that if you don't run\nthrough the acts which the simulation reckons as simulating eating, you'll end\nup in the state which the simulation reckons as dead, after having been in the\nstate that the simulation reckons as starving -- which is the same thing from\nyour perspective.) Perhaps something larger can be built out from there.\n\nI think that what RKD is saying (whoever he is) is that large-scale\nmanufacturing, plus a healthy dose of cheap plastics, have cut us off from\nphysical construction and from the constrained but rather satisfying (at least\nwhen contemplated in hindsight) way of how we used to live. That, and he read\nenough _Dune_ that he's now talking like a Bene Gesserit...\n\n~~~\ngrillvogel\n>RKD is saying (whoever he is)\n\nPhilip K Dick. He wrote this essay back in the 70s and was talking about what\nyou mention as well as the impact of things like TV but I think it is even\nmore relevant in the internet age. Based on the rest of your comment I think\nyou'd enjoy his work.\n\n~~~\nclock_tower\nInteresting. I keep hearing that name, and probably will look him up...\n\n------\nscotchmi_st\n\"Those very politicians, advertisers, media moguls, corporates and journalists\nwho thought the internet a passing fad have moved in and grabbed the land.\nThey have all the reach, scope, power and ‘social bandwidth’ there is.\nEveryone else is squeezed out — given little hutches, plastic megaphones and a\npretence of autonomy and connectivity. No wonder so many have become so rude,\nresentful, threatening and unkind.\n\nThe radical alternative now must be to jack out of the matrix, to go off the\ngrid.\"\n\nThis is awfully regressive, but not only that; it's also foolish. If his point\nis that by going 'Off The Grid' you can escape these people, he's out of luck-\nthese people are AFK __as well as __online. Try walking through a major city\nwithout seeing a single advert.\n\nIf you want to get away from all the shit on the internet, the only way is\nforwards, not backwards.\n\n------\nyarou\nWhen I was a youngin' browsing BBSes in the 90s, I remember distinctly\nencountering a text guide to \"the art of disappearing\", essentially getting\noff the grid as Stephen Fry mentions. It involved a whole bunch of seemingly\nparanoid steps, like burning your passport, and booking your flight (one-way)\nwith cash. I also remember thinking to myself how silly the whole concept was\n- why would I ever want to do something like that?\n\nThese days, I'm realizing more and more that it doesn't sound that crazy in\nthis increasingly dystopian world.\n\n~~~\nlkozma\nIt might have been this one, the text you are referring to:\n\n[http://www.skeptictank.org/hs/vanish.htm](http://www.skeptictank.org/hs/vanish.htm)\n\n------\n0xffff2\n>They couldn’t force me to have an online presence after all.\n\nI don't know where he gets this idea. Both the Comp. Sci. and Engineering\nschools at my university require that all students have a laptop capable of\nrunning software related to the coursework (financial aid is available\nspecifically to help meet this requirement). The university also supplies\nplenty of computer labs. If I insisted on turning in all assignments on paper,\nI would be laughed at and given failing grades until I was kicked out of\nschool.\n\nThe modern world absolutely can and will force you to have an online presence.\n\n~~~\nChrisLTD\nUniversity itself is elective, no?\n\n------\nunwind\nMeta: I think the \"Stephen Fry\" in the title is very redundant, considering\nthe domain.\n\nIf it really has to be there, it would (to my eye) look better to lead with\nit, i.e. \"Stephen Fry: Off the Grid\".\n\n------\nstuartmalcolm\nAm I the only one struck by the irony of an advert for his book in the middle\nof this post?\n\n~~~\nsk8ingdom\nI've started to give a pass on this sort of thing. A lot of time the author\ndoesn't have direct control over the publishing medium. The text is Stephen\nFry's, but the site design, ads, system administration, url, etc. are likely\nall managed by someone else.\n\nJournalists similarly shouldn't be held accountable for the ads that appear\nnext to their articles in magazines or the local paper no matter how ironic.\n\nThe fact that there IS an ad in the middle of his tirade probably illustrates\nhis point that \"the corporation\" has infiltrated every facet of our lives.\n\n~~~\nhundchenkatze\nWell, in this case the publishing medium is presumably owned/controlled by him\nsince it's posted on [http://www.stephenfry.com](http://www.stephenfry.com)\n\nWhile he may not have the knowledge to modify the site himself, he could tell\nthe people he's paying to remove the ad. It's most likely the case that he\nwants the ad.\n\n------\npatcon\nI noticed myself being just a tiny bit less interested in labouring through\nthe full article knowing that nothing I or anyone else expressed about it\nafter the fact would ever make it to Stephen's attention. The tantalizing idea\nof a comment affecting an author (no matter how small that chance) definitely\nplays into my consumption.\n\nIt makes me wonder whether a better approach to disconnecting is to set\nquotas, essentially saying something like \"I would like 2 tweets and 1 blog\ncomment to make it to my attention daily -- hide everything else from me for\nmy own sanity.\"\n\n------\ncoldtea\n> _They have been given, willy nilly, demographic tags like ‘millennial’,\n> ‘post-millennial’, ‘Generation Z’, ‘i-Gen’ — not out of anybody’s acute\n> cultural observation, sympathy or understanding but either to bulk up a\n> HuffPo article or to delineate convenient advertising categories, within\n> which many sub-categories can be established. You are not a person, you are\n> an algorithmic assumption, a mould into which hot selling-jelly may be\n> poured._\n\nWell, obviously, and for every generalization concerning a whole generation,\nyou're not, and you're not supposed to be, a person. There's a time to talk of\npeople individually and as persons (e.g. in personal relationships, workplace,\netc.) and times to generalize and talk about their collective patterns of\nbehavior.\n\nAnd those names are not always coming from journalist hacks without \"acute\ncultural observation, sympathy or understanding\" either. E.g. \"Generation X\"\ncame from a member of said generation itself, Douglas Copland, trying to\ndescribe how it is for him and his friends.\n\nIn any case, \"Generation ___\" is just a convenient handle to talk about many\npeople together -- its usefulness comes from whether it describes something\nstatistically useful, not from whether it caters to the individuality of each\nunique snowflake person (and of course most just delude themselves that they\nare that, while following very similar paths with their generation for most\nthings).\n\n> _my proudest boast would be: ‘My friends and I, we disappeared ourselves. No\n> social media, no email, no chat, no wifi, no selfies, no SMS, no\n> smartphones. We did it. We did this thing. We Got Off The Grid._\n\nI'd say this again underestimates how many people are \"off the grid\" (even if\nthey have internet at home) and don't participate in the whole social\nmedia/chat/selfies/etc thing.\n\n------\nablation\nGoodness me, that's a lot of bloviation. I think there's a point buried in\nthere somewhere that has been made far more succinctly by a lot of other\npeople.\n\n~~~\nRivieraKid\nI usually think the same for vast majority of stuff on HN, i.e. most articles\ncould be cut down to one or two paragraphs with little value lost, but...\nThere are generally two reasons why I read - to extract information and for\nthe experience of reading. Stephen Fry's blog is one of the rare cases where I\njust enjoy the writing and the information value doesn't really matter.\n\n~~~\ncoldtea\n> _I usually think the same for vast majority of stuff on HN, i.e. most\n> articles could be cut down to one or two paragraphs with little value lost,_\n\nMaybe life too.\n\nInstead of going through this whole redundant process of living through it, we\ncould just be given some 10 word summary, like e.g.:\n\n\"There was some fun, some sadness, a few regrets, a couple profound\nexperiences, a lot of boredom, quite some pain, mostly ok, and then you died\".\n\n~~~\nRivieraKid\nThat analogy doesn't make much sense...\n\n~~~\ncoldtea\nHere's another way to put it:\n\n\"I have heard many People say, 'Give me the Ideas. It is no matter what Words\nyou put them into.' To this I reply, Ideas cannot be Given but in their\nminutely Appropriate Words.\"\n\n\\- William Blake\n\n~~~\nRivieraKid\nOh ok, I get the point... But for a lot of articles it seems that 90% of the\nvalue can be conveyed with 10% of the length, so I usually just quickly skim\nit - unless it's the type of text where the value is in the experience of\nreading and not information (stories, poems, ...).\n\n~~~\ncoldtea\nI guess that can be true for technical articles the most (e.g. just get to the\ninstructions, numbers, results etc), but probably not as easily for things\nlike this Fry post.\n\n~~~\nRivieraKid\nYeah, that was my point, that this desn't apply for Fry's writing.\n\n------\nalva\n\"The internet, as opposed to AOL and the others, was like a great city. It\ncertainly had slums and red-light districts and places you wouldn’t want to\nvisit after night, but the museums, ... streets were packed with excitement. \"\n\nThis memory of the internet still lives. There are many nooks and crannies\nthat are hard to find as they do not show up on facebook, reddit etc. Lots of\nindependent, wacky, controversial, illegal and subversive sites are alive and\nkicking.\n\nIn the earlier days, I suppose due to lack of volume, it was a lot easier to\nfind these places.\n\n------\nSpeakMouthWords\nThe good folks of tumblr have a succinct counter-argument to suggestions like\nthis. It is, and I quote:\n\n\"durr hburr technology is bad fire is scary and thomas edison was a witch\"\n\n~~~\nraverbashing\nI kind of agree\n\n\"Not having an online presence\" makes as much sense as \"not having a presence\nat the pub\" or \"refusing to talk to people as a principle - isn't that so\n'awesome'?\"\n\nIt's fine, you don't need to be on every silly new 2.0 dot com, no issue\nthere.\n\nBut you're shutting yourself out of a means of communication with other\npeople. The fact that it involved technology is a _detail_\n\nYou can go to the pub and not drink, you can use FB with a fake name and not\ndo anything with it and you can choose an email provider that suits you, but\nshutting yourself out does not make sense\n\n~~~\ntrentmb\n> \"Not having an online presence\" makes as much sense as \"not having a\n> presence at the pub\"\n\nNot quite- if I don't make it to the pub one night, people just brush it off\nand think \"I'll talk to him next time.\"\n\nPeople seem much more vitriolic if I don't respond to whatever internet/text\nmessage they sent with near immediacy- because it's always available.\n\nIt seems like there's a shut-off valve with the pub, or a land-line and\nanswering machine- not so with facebook, texting, what have you.\n\n~~~\nraverbashing\n> if I don't respond to whatever internet/text message they sent with near\n> immediacy- because it's always available\n\nI have to agree with you on this one. But I believe it suffices to say that\nno, you're not looking at email/fb/whatsapp/whatever all the time (and acting\nlike that)\n\n------\nascorbic\nIt's not surprising he'd want to turn his back on social media after the\n(justifiable) kicking he took over this:\n[http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/apr/14/stephen-\nfry-s...](http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/apr/14/stephen-fry-sorry-\nfor-telling-pitying-abuse-victims-to-grow-up)\n\n~~~\ncoldtea\nJustifiable? Based on what he actually said? -- there's an accurate\ntranscription down in the link.\n\n~~~\nascorbic\n“It’s a great shame and we’re all very sorry that your uncle touched you in\nthat nasty place – you get some of my sympathy – but your self-pity gets none\nof my sympathy because self-pity is the ugliest emotion in humanity.”\n\nThe 58-year-old went on to say: “Grow up.”\n\nSo, yes.\n\n~~~\npharke\nLet's take an ounce of effort to post the whole quote shall we?\n\nSpeaking to the US TV show The Rubin Report about campus free speech, safe\nspaces and trigger warnings on literature.\n\n\"In terms of how they think, they can’t bear complexity. The idea that things\naren’t easy to understand, they want to be told, or they want to be able to\ndecide and say, ‘This is good and this is bad,’ and anything that conflicts\nwith that is not to be borne.\n\nThere are many great plays which contain rapes, and the word rape now is even\nconsidered a rape, if you say: ‘you can’t watch this play, you can’t watch\nTitus Andronicus, or you can’t read it in a Shakespeare class, or you can’t\nread Macbeth because it’s got children being killed in it, it might trigger\nsomething when you were young that upset you once, because uncle touched you\nin a nasty place’, well I’m sorry.\n\nIt’s a great shame and we’re all very sorry that your uncle touched you in\nthat nasty place, you get some of my sympathy, but your self-pity gets none of\nmy sympathy because self-pity is the ugliest emotion in humanity. Get rid of\nit, because no one’s going to like you if you feel sorry for yourself. The\nirony is we’ll feel sorry for you, if you stop feeling sorry for yourself.\nJust grow up.”\n\nContext matters, you can dice up anyone's words to make them say what you like\nbut it doesn't prove a point, it's still a deception, and you're still doing\neveryone the disservice of assuming that you know better than they do to make\nup their minds for them. Grow up.\n\n~~~\nzwischenzug\nThis from a man who described in great detail his near-suicide experience\nfollowing the 'Cell Mates' breakdown? What was that if not self-pity? Should\nwe have felt no sympathy for him? Or is that too complex?\n\nI wouldn't take any so-called wisdom from this man.\n\n~~~\ncoldtea\n> _This from a man who described in great detail his near-suicide experience\n> following the 'Cell Mates' breakdown? What was that if not self-pity?_\n\nSo?\n\nThat would only prove he can wallow in self-pity too.\n\nWhich he has admitted already anyway, and condemned even in himself.\n\nIt certainly doesn't prove that self-pity is not as bad as he says.\n\nSo he is right. As for him doing it, it doesn't even make him a hypocrite\n(since he admits it) -- just fallible.\n\nLike an ex (or even current) drug addict sincerely warning people that drugs\nare bad and that they shouldn't do them.\n\nNot only are they right -- but they also speak from personal experience.\n\n~~~\nzwischenzug\nIt behooves him to be more empathetic, especially if he's suffered from the\nsame difficulties and he's speaking out in public about it.\n\n------\nboznz\nAgree with a lot of this, however it is all about balance and moderation I'm\nnot sure going all the way makes you a better person or gives you a better\nlifestyle.\n\nemail is fine once you have filtered out all the spam and dicks who put\neveryone on cc.\n\nI love music, but I wont be going back to vinal anytime soon, my mp3\ncollection is fine and much more convenient. Yes MP3 may have cheapened music\nand there maybe something about removing it from the sleeve, putting it on the\nturntable and turning it over after 20 minutes but that person is not me.\n\nSame with books, I love reading books, but I am as happy (if not more happy)\nto do it on a kindle as a 'real' book from the library.\n\nA cell phone is convenient if left on silent or turned off when in company and\nnot continuously checked\n\nI would still want google and wikipedia to do my job and I would still want\nhackernews to ensure I can see and click on articles like Mr Frys if I so\ndesire, again these should be on-demand not continuous.\n\nI have some beautiful countryside outside my door and I am very happy to step\naway from all this and into it as often as I can.\n\n------\npdkl95\n> I would feel that it had connected far more and with far greater purpose and\n> meaning.\n\nOne of the better discussions of this topic is Vi Hart's explanation[1] of\nEdmund Snow Carpenter's[2] \"They Became What They Beheld\".\n\n[1] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm-\nJjvqu3U4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm-Jjvqu3U4)\n\n[2] almost certainly written with Marshall McLuhan\n\n------\njasonkostempski\nI've been trying to do this and as of this week, HN and stackexchage are the\nlast social accounts I have but only because I can't find a way to delete\nthem. I could just log out and walk away but it feels like there's no closure\nthat way. Anyone know of a way to close an HN account?\n\n~~~\ncoldpie\nDoes HN count as \"social\"? It feels more like an Internet forum to me. I guess\nyou're using your real name here, but you don't have to. I don't know anyone\nsocially who I would expect to find on here.\n\n~~~\njasonkostempski\nI guess I wouldn't count it as \"social\" either but it's definitely \"jacked\nin\", maybe a little more so for me since I use my real name.\n\n------\nllamataboot\nI think we'll look back on maybe the 10 years previous to this and the 10\nyears after this as the years where we didn't really know how to handle all\nthe information and connectivity we were barraged with because our brains\nsimply didn't evolve for such a thing (and it's about to get a lot more\ninteresting with VR/AR) -- the dopamine hit of MORE INFO MORE INFO MORE INFO\nmakes sense in an information-scarce world. No longer. I suspect our brains\nwill adapt rather quickly, for those of us born into it. For those of us over\nage 25 or so, I suspect we'll always have twitches of addiction and nostalgia\nfor being off grid.\n\n------\nbetteryeti\nLongtime listener, first-time caller here. Okay, maybe this is just a naive\nidea, but in Fry's spirit of going-backward-to-go-forward, I think that a very\nsubversive, Internet-thwarting tech would be a device that did point-to-point\ncommunication (ie., like ham-radio packet broadcast). Like, go to place X,\ntune into your point-to-point USB dongle and tune in to the chatter --\nconstrained by the broadcast range of the device's power and antenna. You'd\nhave the efficiencies of a social networking system paired with the place-ness\nof a particular physical location. This would tend, I imagine, to link people\nup IRL after they \"sniffed\" each other electronically to determine whether\nthey were same tribe/interest/affinity/perversion/whatever. From there, they\ncould pursue the more authentic/place-based/dreamy/serendipitous youth more\nresonant with what Fry experienced in his youth. And since the communication\nis point-to-point with no IP address or Internet implied, no\nadvertiser/analytics authority could interpose itself in those conversations.\n\nIs that an insane idea?\n\n------\nogdoad\n>It is not about the numbers. It is _never_ about the numbers. Don’t let them\ntell you otherwise.\n\nThe ad midway probably has something to do with numbers, where 10,000 is\nbetter than 100.\n\n------\nvinceguidry\nWhat in the world would be the point of really going off the nets? I honestly\ncan't see the point. It's so easy to pick and choose how you want to interact\nwith the online world. A few years ago, not having a Facebook was like living\nin a cave in the woods. Now? All my friends are on Facebook, but very few of\nthem participate. It's been relegated to mere entertainment. I can go days\nwithout checking it.\n\nA reporter asked a Girl Scout whether the cookies they were selling were\nhealthy. She just said, \"Don't eat the whole box.\"\n\nTechnology is like relationships, they get better after you develop good\nboundaries. If you can't trust yourself with cookies, don't keep cookies in\nthe house. But really, you should just work on not being a slave to food. Or\nFacebook.\n\nNothing about technology actually keeps you from interacting more deeply with\nothers. You do that to yourself. You can't blame food for making you fat.\n\n------\nRivieraKid\nHe's such an amazingly good writer.\n\n~~~\nnoufalibrahim\nI like his \"Ode less travelled\" a lot but his other works of fiction not so\nmuch. And his blog posts (including this one) seem to be a few straightforward\npoints blown up into an essay. I realise that he enjoys language for it's own\nsake. I do too in a much lesser way but his style simply doesn't resonate with\nme.\n\n------\ndajohnson89\nThat's cute, he thinks a student in today's world can be successful without\nthe Internet.\n\n~~~\nJtsummers\nWhy not? Assuming access to books (library, bookstores) and journals via a\nlibrary (should be present in most schools or within a school district, decent\nlibraries in my rather small town), a student would be in the same situation\nas most pre-2000 students, many of whom succeeded just fine.\n\n~~~\ntomrod\nPre-2000 students had access to card catalogs within the library. Most\nlibraries nowadays use the Internet to support their many locations'\ncataglogs.\n\n~~~\nnazgob\nNever seen a library without a computer onsite. Most of the time you can use\nit only to search for books etc.\n\n~~~\ntomrod\nAgreed. Most library systems I've come across have their catalog servers\nlocated elsewhere, except for very small community libraries. (Granted, this\nis the worst type of data: anecdata).\n\n------\nJaggerFoo\nSo Mr. Fry is assuming that 15 year old boys would be willing to give up the\ntreasure trove of Porn that is available to them via the technology he suggest\nthey spurn.\n\nA very unrealistic assumption.\n\n------\npatcon\n> I live in a world without Facebook, and now without Twitter. I manage to\n> survive too without Kiki, Snapchat, Viber, Telegram, _Signal_ and the rest\n> of them. _I haven’t yet learned to cope without iMessage and SMS._\n\nI respect what he's getting at, but this is all sorts of backwards for someone\nwho wrote an earlier paragraph about escaping the eye of advertisers (and\npresumably surveillance)\n\n------\ntmaly\nI like his spin on it. The internet has become a ton of noise and walled\ngardens. I initially dropped off the social media platforms, but then I re-\njoined under anonymous names.\n\nDuring my off-grid time, I found I was more productive in terms of thinking\nand getting my side projects done.\n\nI was able to read more paper books as well as just enjoy life and nature.\n\n------\nFreak_NL\n\n         Logan’s Run, Zardoz, Soylent Green, Fahrenheit 451\n    \n\nLovely films. Something about the pacing or the cinematography of the films\nfrom that era appeals to me.\n\nAh… Zardoz… Nothing beats Sean Connery running around in weird sci-fi shorts.\nAlso, Beethoven.\n\n------\nFalcon9\n\"They couldn’t force me to have an online presence after all.\"\n\nRead your terms of enlistment, soldier. They can and they do.\n\n------\nkbart\nRants away (though I agree with some points), it's a nice summary of Internet\nhistory.\n\n------\nsanoli\nemail is awesome, but I do miss receiving long letters from friends far away.\nMan, do I miss that. I only have two friends left who still write letters. I\nwould give many parts of the internet to have that back.\n\n------\nchriswarbo\nI think this makes some very good points, but conflates too many things as\nbeing \"the grid\" or \"the internet [sic]\". Yes, advertisers, HR departments,\nparents, etc. like people to use Web sites to look at ads, provide a work\nhistory/CV/photographic evidence of pasttimes, update a beacon with their\ncurrent whereabouts, etc. but those are societal things which have basically\nnothing to do with the technology. Paper and ink are just as tainted with\nadvertising, corporate homogenisation, familial pings, etc.\n\nHow does handing in an essay on paper 'fight the power'? Paper is just as\ncorrupted as the Web. Anecdote: a couple of years ago, before a long coach\njourney, I decided to buy a pen and paper so I could pass the time writing,\ndrawing, mathematical playing, etc. In the centre of a large city (Birmingham,\nUK) it took me about half an hour to find anywhere which sold blank paper\nrather than pre-printed magazines/newspapers/books/etc. (I eventually found\nsome in Poundland; an underrated shop IMHO). I nearly missed the coach.\n\nRejecting technologies, like email, is self-flagellation. Whether a teacher\ncan or can't force a student to have an email address is irrelevant; all\nthat's needed is to SMTP the server with a syntactically-valid FROM address,\nlike \"thisisnotarealaddress@example.com\". There is no requirement for that\naddress to even resolve, let alone for it to accept mail and make it available\nto you. So what if you get marked as spam, that's always a hazard even from\nestablished providers.\n\nLikewise, if someone wants to make something available _to_ you via email,\nthere's nothing stopping the use of a one-time-only address, e.g.\nmailinator.com or something similar with a password, that disappears after 24\nhours.\n\nTo refuse email in such a way is like refusing to write English in left-to-\nright order; or using a fountain pen full of invisible ink: it's petty and\nsilly, which is fine if that's your intention, but as a serious statement it\nachieves nothing.\n\nIn contrast, refusing control by \"The Corporation\" is definitely a Good Thing\n(TM). It's why I've never used Facebook, Bebo, or any of those other register-\nto-view silos and never will. It's why I deleted my Twitter account after\ntheir chilling meeting with the UK government after the 2011 riots. It's why I\nhost my own blog, Git repos and anything else I would miss if it were deleted.\nIt's why I use only FOSS software, on machines which require no driver blobs\nor proprietary BIOS (except for the GSM driver on my OpenMoko; I'd be glad to\nhear of any alternatives). It's why I download videos from YouTube, iPlayer,\netc. to watch in the ways that I want to (which may be several decades after\nthose services collapse). It's why I use ad blockers, NoScript, hosts file\nblacklists, etc. It's why I only turn on my smartphone (OpenMoko running\nDebian) occasionally, when someone asks me to expect a message from them. And\nso on.\n\nIt's often said that technology is neither good nor bad, only its uses are.\nIgnoring the \"bad\" uses of technology doesn't require abandoning the\ntechnology itself. The article decries \"digging up Wikipedia and planting\ncabbages over it\", but there are also many other areas of the Web which aren't\n\"bullying and wheedling and neediness.. invisible selling... loveless flirting\nand cowardly mocking... unbearable long silences and the ceaseless screaming\nchatter... vengeful rivalries... frenzied desperation and ...wrenching\nloneliness.\". Does \"jacking out\" make those things stop? No, it's just\nignoring them. So why not just ignore them _without_ \"jacking out\"?\n\nDid the youth of the 1950s rebel against authority by hammering on harsichords\nin their stagecoaches? No, they blared the sound of electric guitars,\ntransmitted via radio, from cars. Refusing to conform to the new normal by\nstaying with the old normal isn't being rebellious; being rebellious is using\nthe new to create some unfathomable anithesis of normal. That's what I love\nabout Open Source, on top of the fundamental rights provided by Free Software:\nthe bazaars surrounding the cathedrals. Yes, FOSS gives us LibreOffice to file\nour tax returns; but it also lets us connect a GPU-backed deep learning\nlibrary to a 3D-printed robots, via software-defined radio running on openly-\nprogrammed FPGAs, so we can.... I don't know, because it's so new!\n\nWhen studying Physics as an undergraduate, our lab sessions gave training on\nhow to analyse experimental results using Microsoft Excel. I refused to\nparticipate, claiming that the scientific process should not be beholden to\nthe unknown inner workings of a proprietary, black-box application with an\nexclusionary EULA and known bugs. I performed all of the required analysis on\nthe course using Gnumeric and Python instead. Whilst still quite petty, I\nstill believe that was still a far stronger message than not using email from\na residence with broadband-connected computers.\n\n------\nanticitizen\nFor some reason it delights me that Stephen Fry has read William Gibson.\n\n------\nawinter-py\nhadn't heard of savonarola. there are no github matches for this so if\nsomeone's looking for a cool project name, now's your chance\n\n------\nrayascott\nWell isn't it ironic, don't you think?\n\n------\nswang\nComplains about advertisements... shows an advertisement half way down the\npage...\n\n------\niammew\nRelevant to the discussion:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3fgkK1J3Cs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3fgkK1J3Cs)\n\n~~~\niammew\nWhy is people down-voting this?!\n\n~~~\ntakno\nIf you shared why it was relevant to the discussion and what it was people\nwould likely be more positive\n\n~~~\ngus_massa\n[Spanish speaker here.]\n\nThis is a video of \"La Cosquillita\" by Juan Luis Guerra. I didn't know this\nsong, so I listened to all of it. I'm completely clueless about why this may\nbe related to the discussion.\n\nBad autotranslation of the lyric:\n[https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&pr...](https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.musica.com%2Fletras.asp%3Fletra%3D59417)\n(It's difficult to translate because it uses a local variations of the\nspelling/pronunciation of the words. tl;dl: Someone fell in love and is\n\"ticklish\".)\n\n~~~\niammew\nrenaissance\n\n------\ndjschnei\n'It's now very common to hear people say, \"I'm rather offended by that\", as if\nthat gives them certain rights. It's no more than a whine. It has no meaning,\nit has no purpose, it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. \"I'm offended\nby that.\" Well, so fucking what?' —Stephen Fry\n\n------\nerjjones\nWow. Another self imposing post making its way to #hn (sigh)...\n\nOn to other news ...\n\nHow about #Microsoft releasing and open sourcing .NET Core\n[http://docs.asp.net/en/latest/conceptual-\noverview/dotnetcore...](http://docs.asp.net/en/latest/conceptual-\noverview/dotnetcore.html) and\n[https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/dotnet/2014/11/12/net-\ncore-...](https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/dotnet/2014/11/12/net-core-is-open-\nsource/)\n\n(?) Where has our community gone :/\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe brilliance of All Gas No Brakes - Balgair\nhttps://bigtechnology.substack.com/p/the-brilliance-of-all-gas-no-brakes\n======\nerulabs\nAll Gas No Brakes is fantastic - strongly recommend to anyone remotely\ninterested in journalism. This article sort of suggests he’s not a journalist\n- which I have to take issue with... He asks as few questions as possible and\nintentionally doesn’t steer the conversation - which is maybe not the kind of\ninvestigative drilling were used to in modern times - but is exactly what\njournalism needs. Every video provides enough context that you don’t feel\nsilly commenting on it - you aren’t nagged by that “what did they say right\nafter that clever edit back to the studio...” feeling.\n\nExtremely happy AGNB got signed to AbsoLutley. I want Tim & Eric to do to news\nwhat they did to comedy.\n\n~~~\nTaek\nI was at Area 51, which he covered. And while his video was very entertaining,\nit did not represent at all what it was like to be there.\n\nAGNB is exceptional at finding the crazy people and encouraging them to be\nthemselves on camera. 98% of the people at area 51 (admittedly a lower\npercentage than most events) were completely normal, non-conspiracy\nindividuals, mostly from the midwest.\n\n~~~\nethanbond\nBut... they were at Area 51...\n\nIt seems that alone would indicate that they are not non-conspiracy\nindividuals.\n\n~~~\nApocryphon\nThe Area 51 thing was a viral meme on social media. It hit the mainstream. It\nwas a little like a flash mob. Even its origin was comedic.\n\n~~~\nchrisseaton\n> It hit the mainstream.\n\nMainstream people are not travelling to Area 51 to be part of a flash mob due\nto an internet meme. Re-set your expectations of what normal people are doing,\nbecause it's a million miles off.\n\n~~~\nApocryphon\nPeople get bored and take road trips. Prior to this year, it was a common\nAmerican pastime. Another unlikely example:\n\n[https://www.ijpr.org/2017-05-09/solar-eclipse-or-bust-\nsmall-...](https://www.ijpr.org/2017-05-09/solar-eclipse-or-bust-small-oregon-\ntowns-grapple-with-how-to-prepare-for-thousands)\n\n~~~\nethanbond\nA once in a lifetime (incredible) celestial event == going to the gates of a\nmilitary installation and, depending on who you ask, throwing a party or\nattempting a raid.\n\nTotally normal.\n\n~~~\nApocryphon\nIt's not for everyone, but it's within the boundaries of normality.\n\nMy other response has already pointed out your apparent lack of getting the\njoke, but it should be noted that if your primary hangup is the fact that\npeople were partying at a military installation, you should probably know that\nspecific base is one important to UFO mythos and thus public imagination.\nThere is precedence for that at multiple locations:\n\n[https://www.newmexico.org/events/summer-events/roswell-\nufo-f...](https://www.newmexico.org/events/summer-events/roswell-ufo-\nfestival/)\n\n[https://www.travelportland.com/events/ufo-festival-\nmcminnvil...](https://www.travelportland.com/events/ufo-festival-mcminnville/)\n\nArea 51, of course, is of higher security than these locations, but there's no\ncrime to be outside of the restricted zone. Personally, I had no interest in\nthe Storm Area 51 event but Groom Lake would make one hell of a hiking\nexpedition. It'd be quite cool to take pictures at the gate, and try to spot\nblack project aircraft along Route 375.\n\n[https://travelnevada.com/road-trip/extraterrestrial-\nhighway](https://travelnevada.com/road-trip/extraterrestrial-highway)\n\n------\nfrakkingcylons\nHonestly, I think this is taking AGNB too seriously. It’s a hilarious channel\nwhere a guy finds the weirdest people possible and lets them spew insane stuff\non camera. I love it, but I don’t get the sense that he’s doing it for\njournalistic purposes (which is obviously fine!).\n\n~~~\n1propionyl\nHe said himself in an interview that up until the Minneapolis and Portland\nvideos, he was doing it purely for entertainment value, and didn't consider it\nany form of journalism.\n\nHis strategy was just to get the weirdest weirdos on camera and let them talk.\nWith the Minneapolis/Portland videos you can see a significant shift towards a\nmore journalistic disposition.\n\n~~~\nfrakkingcylons\nSure, I give him kudos for showing real activists in the protest videos\nalongside the usual AGNB characters.\n\n------\nbriga\nThe brilliance is how Andrew never mocks or judges his interview subjects, no\nmatter how outwardly insane or ridiculous they might be. Obviously the videos\nare edited for comic effect, but I don't think he could have gotten half his\nmaterial if he didn't just allow people be their raw unfiltered selves. The\nresults are pretty fascinating and funny, you could probably write whole\nanthropological dissertations on some of these videos.\n\n~~~\nUncleOxidant\nI just found out about AGNB here. Watched a couple. It's clear from his facial\nexpressions that he's reacting to some of the crazy.\n\n------\nsolarkraft\nI'm not sure about that reading. Andrew clearly lets people be themselves, but\nthe people themselves and the format obviously select for the crazier ones.\n\nI found the h3h3 interview quite interesting:\n[https://youtube.com/watch?v=lxt6virxkio](https://youtube.com/watch?v=lxt6virxkio)\n\n------\nm3kw9\nI have a feeling that AGNB has a biased towards more sensational content. But\npeople saying normal things aren’t that entertaining, just imagine all 10 min\nof a episode with people making sense and what you already sort of know.\n\n~~~\nGaryNumanVevo\nHe definitely “growth hacked” his channel to grow his audience. I’m glad to\nsee him make the pivot to serious content after his Patreon could support him\nand his crew full time.\n\n------\nJMTQp8lwXL\nI wouldn't characterize the protestors in Portland as a fringe community, as\nthe author refers to the topics of 'All Gas No Breaks' reporting. Ideas like\nracial justice and economic justice aren't fringe ideas. There is absolutely\nnothing fringe about treating all people equal, regardless of the color of\ntheir skin.\n\n~~~\njariel\n\"There is absolutely nothing fringe about treating all people equal,\nregardless of the color of their skin.\"\n\nProbably most people support the notion, fewer people would protest (I\nwouldn't say 'fringe' but nevertheless if you tally up the % of Washington\nstate that 'did a protest' it's a very, very small number). And then of\ncourse, the burning of police stations, and the eviction of security forces\ntowards taking over a chunk of the city by violent force ... this is\nabsolutely 'fringe' and should be not be compared to the nominal ideals they\nare supposed to represented.\n\nFrom the Area 51 video, it seems a lot of these 'crazy folk' are not 'really\ncrazy', they almost seem like attention seekers, hamming come crazy up for the\ncamera.\n\n~~~\nWarOnPrivacy\n> if you tally up the % of Washington state that 'did a protest' it's a very,\n> very small number\n\nThat seems to describe every non-local protest - or gathering, for that\nmatter.\n\n------\nforinti\nIt is like low budget Louis Theroux. Very entertaining though.\n\n------\nnraynaud\nThere was this incredible TV show in the French speaking world called “Strip-\ntease” it was like a documentary, but with no narrator nor journalist. You\nwould just see the people live and talk. It was a lot of rural and small town\nstuff.\n\n~~~\npedrogpimenta\nOf course, the act of being filmed is already a transformation on people's\n\"real life\". You're affecting it somehow, even without a person, there's a\nmicrophone and a camera, they're the \"journalist\".\n\n~~~\nnraynaud\nThe trick is staying a very long time to re-normalize somewhat the behaviors.\nThey stayed 8 days in a laundraumat to film people there.\n\n------\nanticsapp\nJeff Krulik pioneered this approach in the 80s. Not to diminish what AGNB is\ndoing, but it's almost like The Office to his Spinal Tap.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_Metal_Parking_Lot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_Metal_Parking_Lot)\n\n~~~\nsukilot\nI doubt it was invented in the 1980s\n\nPT Barnum was doing it 100 years ago.\n\n~~~\nWarOnPrivacy\nI'd totally watch PT Barnum's live videos from 1920.\n\n~~~\nanticsapp\nShoot me the YouTube link.\n\n------\nbobthechef\nReminds me of a quote from Chesterton: “When men choose not to believe in God,\nthey do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of\nbelieving in anything.”\n\nThe quote is deeper than it might appear and presupposes that you understand\nthat institutions are not the _sources_ of meaning as the article suggests,\nbut, when legitimate, guard some of the things that _are_ meaningful. Not a\nprojection of fiction on a dead existence, but actually meaningful and\nintelligibly so (i.e., not some kind of mere passing feeling). Ideologies have\nattempted to create simulated meaning time and again, silly beliefs that drive\npeople into madness, great and small. They have always failed because the\n\"meaning\" they provided was bogus, a deception that might animate people for\nsome time, but is ultimately a fiction that ceases to maintain a lasting grip\nprecisely because it is false. Only someone crippled by nihilism, stupidity,\nor opportunistic vice could latch onto something like that.\n\nThe trouble is that we have been sliding into nihilism for some time.\nNietzsche observed this slide during his era. He did not believe in God\nhimself, but he saw atheism as a dreadful, horrible thing. In his parable of\nthe madman, the madman frantically asks the people in town where God is. They\nare amused at the spectacle, suggesting in jest that perhaps God is hiding\nbeneath something over here, or other there. The townsfolk represent the\npeople of his day, the atheists of the 19th century. The madman, of course,\nrealizes the consequences of God's \"death\" the horror of which the townsfolk\nhave not yet come to understand. They are still dwelling in that twilight of\nthe idols, fragmented and perverted pieces of the whole that was once held\ntogether by God before the earth was unchained from the sun and lost its\norientation (Nietzsche gave the cult of Science some noteworthy attention as\nan example of one of these idols). The twilight does, sooner or later, come to\nan end, of course, and that's when even the idols can no longer pacify our\nfears.\n\nI think most people are like those townsfolk. True nihilism is unbearable.\nAnyone who claims otherwise is like the foolish teenager who is merely spiting\nhis parents in an act of rebellion. Some of us sense the nihilism festering in\nour souls and begin to attach ourselves to various causes, fads, fashions,\ndistractions. Anything to avert our gaze from the horrific void within us and\nbefore us. And America has always been a land of heretics (to borrow a\ncharacterization from Douthat), so perhaps the diversity of bizarre\nsuperstitions should be greater in the US than elsewhere. At the same time The\n\"mainstream\" pop culture is also vacuous, commercial, ideological, and stupid,\nitself dripping with hedonistic escapism from nihilism as much as any fringe\nmovement (you should also expect a ascetic reaction for every hedonistic\nindulgence; each excess breeds its corresponding deficiency). Actually, we are\nin the throes of a kind of new gnosticism, a new Albigensian movement wherein\nthe \"true meaning\" of the world, the \"true self\", is beyond the world of facts\nand can in fact contradict the facts. The facts are an illusion, not the\n\"really real\". They're \"socially constructed\" much like the material world is\nthe deceptive construction of the evil creator god of the Old Testament, at\nleast according to the gnostics. It is a dangerous, noxious amalgamation of\npride and delusion, a slide into self-destruction, something Man has always\nexcelled at. It is not unreasonable to think that gnosticism is, for many, an\nattempt to escape their nihilism into a world of pure imagination, giving\ntheir perverted appetites an inviolable infallibility and sanctity. We don't\nneed AI and robots to create the Matrix. Many of us are in it now.\n\n~~~\n0134340\n>When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in\nnothing, they then become capable of believing in anything.”\n\nThat quote is deceptive though and and it's sometimes used, as in your case,\nto push religious propaganda. For every secular view you'll likely find a\ntheistic view with many commonalities. Theism doesn't stop people from\njustifying or believing in many of the things agnostics do because out of\nthousands of denominations of thousands of theistic religions of thousands of\ngods and thousands of years, theistic belief is just as varied as non-theistic\nbelief. And often they're just as vague and meaningless while virtue-\nsignalling as something more meaningful and sometimes the love they espouse is\nsomething committed only for that tribe or out of fear of gods rather secular\nmotives which may often be for the tribe but not because they feel they have\nto. Sorry if I seem course but I'm tired of this meaningless 'life has no\nmeaning without belief in gods' trope pervade my favorite forum for which I'd\nrather view tech news and not be denigrated for not having found any\nbelievable gods yet. Nihilism isn't defined by lack of belief in gods.\n\n~~~\njariel\n\" and it's sometimes used, as in your case, to push religious propaganda.\"\n\nA comment is not 'propaganda'.\n\nUnless your comment is 'Atheist Propaganda'.\n\nSeriously.\n\n\"Nihilism isn't defined by lack of belief in gods.\" Fine, but that doesn't\ntake away anything about what he said about Nihlism.\n\nThere is something more mundane about the quote, and that is the psychology of\npeople who are willing to believe truly crazy stuff, and there is a lot going\non there, probably worth study.\n\n~~~\n0134340\n>A comment is not 'propaganda'.\n\nIf you're going for intellectual honesty, \"a comment can be propaganda.\" But\nin this case it has been as propaganda if going by the typical definition of\n\"the systematic propagation of a doctrine\". Of which atheism or agnosticism\nhave none and more often than not, in the west it's atheistic ideologies that\nwere more systemically pushed by establishment as propaganda than atheistic by\na large margin. So it's fair to say it's often used as propaganda, this\nspecific quote I've personally witnessed used as such many times and it reeks\nof self-righteousness.\n\n>Fine, but that doesn't take away anything about what he said about Nihlism.\n\nAnd so what did he say about nihilism? Your criticism of AGNB's interviewees\nseems to be that they're nihilistic. If they were truly nihilistic, you could\nargue, they'd be at home sulking that there's no point in doing those things\nbut they all seem truly motivated to do various things. I don't get this\noffense at nihilism when it's one of the most benign ideologies to ever exist.\nHow many people have died from people who had no motive or saw no point in\naction? Nihilism is void of motive. It's when you have both motive and\nideologies is when many people get killed. In that case you could just as\neasily rail against ideologues.\n\n>and that is the psychology of people who are willing to believe truly crazy\nstuff\n\nMaybe they see all the craziness in the world and only become a reflection or\namplification of it. We can't also forget all the craziness in the theistic\nreligions which cause people to do worse things than coordinating over silly\nideas. I wouldn't condone all the \"craziness\" but I can't generalize and\ndenigrate it either. This craziness, as you may see, represents a lot of\ncreativeness and originality that you can find in man and many good things\ncome from it, both productive and what you might see as non-productive. And if\nit's the \"meaningless\" fun they're having at harmless conventions, it isn't\nmeaningless if it's fun. Fun has meaning in giving people reprieve from\nstressors, which ultimately helps us be more productive. And if not, oh well.\nYou wind up with people who've just enjoyed themselves for apparently nothing.\nWe could get deep into existential philosophy if you like but I think you get\nthe point. You can look at many things as shallow but often, like with\neverything in the world, there is more to it than what's on the surface and\nmore meaning in it than you may see. Because you don't see meaning in\nsomething doesn't mean it's not there.\n\n~~~\njariel\nThe intellectual hoops you're leaping through to try and justify a normal\ncomment as 'propaganda' not only don't help your case - they only serve to\npossibly validate that your very own response is is a form of propaganda\nitself.\n\n\"We can't also forget all the craziness in the theistic religions which cause\npeople to do worse things than coordinating over silly ideas.\"\n\nSpirituality is not a 'silly idea', more importantly it doesn't cause us to do\ncrazy-bad things in general.\n\n'Silly ideas' are things like Imperialism, Communism and Fascism - all of\nwhich are secular ideals and have caused massive, worldwide violence to the\ntune of many massive wars (most wars in fact) to the tune of 100's of millions\ndead in the last century alone, and continue to hang the existential nuclear\nthreat over our heads.\n\n~~~\n0134340\nMaybe I was a bit hyperbolic in calling it propaganda but I'm sometimes\nreminded that my state constitution says I can't run for legal office for lack\nof belief in a deity nor witness in court. The chances that I'd have big\ngovernment sponsoring my view are much less than yours, hence why I used it.\n\n>Spirituality is not a 'silly idea', more importantly it doesn't cause us to\ndo crazy-bad things in general.\n\nThe \"silly ideas\" I referred to colloquially as those which are the subject of\nAGNB's videos, not to spirituality.\n\nAnd the \"ideas\" you pointed out as silly, two of which, were and are driven as\nmuch by religious motive as secular.\n\n------\nanm89\nI think the narrative of people using these subcultures as a way or fill the\nvoid left by the lack of traditional societal structures that people used to\nfind meaning in life is spot on.\n\nIt's interesting how half of the people in these subcultures seem to be in on\nthe absurdity of it and the other half aren't but it doesn't really seem to\nmatter to a lot of them.\n\n~~~\n0134340\n>fill the void left by the lack of traditional societal structures that people\nused to find meaning in life\n\nOr maybe they're finding meaning in the void that traditional structures\ncouldn't fill.\n\n------\ntrynewideas\nMost of AGNB is great, but I wish the protest videos at least included\nresources from local jouranlists alongside it for context.\n\nEspecially the Minneapolis and Portland protest ones recently put up — they\nshowed a narrow slice of what was happening to drive home some really salient\npoints, but if you watch them and think \"THAT'S what's it's like in there\",\nit's off base by quite a bit compared to the less entertaining local\njournalists (or even just streamers with a camera on a pole) who've been out\nthere livestreaming, interviewing, and documenting for months instead of weeks\nor days.\n\nContext is important; I can't speak for Minneapolis, but the Portland protests\nweren't just (and aren't just, and for most of the nearly 70 straight days of\nthem haven't ever been) about the federal courthouse or the federal officers.\nThe BLM-led Justice Center protests weren't the chaotic courthouse protests,\nand the 2-3k who came out for a week of feds has been less than 500 for most\nof the other 2 months and change. The west-side downtown protests in a 4-block\nzone around the center and courthouse aren't the east-side precinct and police\nunion HQ marches with local police chasing protesters and beating media into\nresidential neighborhoods.\n\nOr maybe I'm still just pissed about AGNB showing mayor Ted Wheeler in a\nsympathetic context, complete with his theatric tear gassing the one time he\ncame out to a protest, without the other context of how the PPB he runs as\npolice commissioner beats and gasses media and protesters as soon as cameras\nlike AGNB's left the fed protest stage - literally, PPB went out threatening\nto gas the same crowd he stood with within 45 minutes of Wheeler leaving the\nprotest.\n\nI guess my feeling is, some things aren't simple or clear enough to be\naccurately served by pithy but entertaining 5- or 10-minute videos. It's one\nlens, and a good one, but I get real nervous when people say AGNB is the model\nfor news.\n\nVery few links of people on the ground:\n\n[https://twitter.com/MrOlmos](https://twitter.com/MrOlmos)\n\n[https://twitter.com/TheRealCoryElia](https://twitter.com/TheRealCoryElia)\n\n[https://twitter.com/PDocumentarians](https://twitter.com/PDocumentarians)\n\n[https://twitter.com/Clypian](https://twitter.com/Clypian)\n\n[https://twitter.com/IwriteOK](https://twitter.com/IwriteOK)\n\n[https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie](https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie)\n\n------\nd33lio\nI absolutely love All Gas No Brakes (no pun intended) however I was a bit\ntroubled by some of Andrew's comments speaking with Ethan and Hila on the H3H3\npodcast.\n\nWe need to remember that this is entertainment, plain and simple. This is\nmeant to be raw, groundbreaking and \"fresh\" which is why myself and many\nothers love the cut and dry nature of his content - however his comments\nregarding the protests in Portland and Minneapolis were troubling.\nSpecifically, how he articulated looting, destruction of businesses (including\nimmigrant and minority owned businesses) as a \"logical response to the death\nof George Floyd\".\n\nAGNB will have a great future, but I think it's critical to remember that this\nIS ENTERTAINMENT and not in the slightest form meant to be informative.\n\nThat said, godspeed Andrew lets take AGNB to the next level!\n\n~~~\nsukilot\nWhy is it troubling for Andrew to give his opinion? Is it troubling when you\npost your opinion on HN? Or only troubling when people you disagree with share\ntheir opinion?\n\n------\nrllin\nAGNB is the spiritual successor to Louis Theroux\n\nit's what Vice tried to capture but failed. parachute journalism works, only\nif you inject very little of yourself into it and have minimal framework.\n\n~~~\ndaveleebbc\nOh please, AGNB isn't in the same league as Louis Theroux. It's a great\nYouTube channel and they do a good job of making fools look foolish, but to\ncompare it to Theroux's work is absurd.\n\n~~~\nrllin\nspiritual successor\n\nAGNB needs some time to grow into longer format\n\nthey're literally 3 dudes in an RV without a working toilet\n\nif they had BBC money they would live up to Theroux 100%\n\n------\npouta\nHis patreon exclusive content is definitely worth the $5. Sausage castle\nvideos are insane.\n\nHe also has a porn video as an extra on pornhub.\n\n------\nGhostOfLelandJr\nBetter than hitting the pookie\n\n------\nKKKKkkkk1\n_In a visit to the Portland protests, for instance, Callaghan shows that the\nattendees don 't neatly fit into the narrative you see on TV. Fox News' Tucker\nCarlson, for example, calls the protestors \"Biden voters,\" yet many on the\nstreets disdain Biden. There's something to what he's doing._\n\nI don't know if Tucker Carlson is the gold standard of journalism that you\nwant to exceed.\n\n~~~\ntjr225\nThat’s exactly the point of what he is doing. I would guess most people who\nwatch Fox News consider Tucker Carlson to be a reliable source. That’s a\nproblem because he obviously isn’t.\n\n~~~\nsukilot\nYou don't need AGNB to tell you Ticket Carlsen is a lying demagogue. Everyone\nwho isn't a fan sees that when they watch Tucker Carlsen himself -- his lies\naren't exactly subtle.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSplunk acquires cloud monitoring service SignalFx for $1.05B - sgloutnikov\nhttps://techcrunch.com/2019/08/21/splunk-acquires-cloud-monitoring-service-signalfx-for-1-05b/\n======\ndeanmoriarty\nDoes anybody know if employees will end up actually making any money from this\nmassive acquisition, or if yet again board and investors found a way through\nsome shenanigans to distribute all the wealth just to themselves?\n\nEDIT: I'm being downvoted, but I've been increasingly hearing a shady Silicon\nValley practice where, upon successful acquisition, the board will vote to\nemit a large number of new shares (think 5-10X the total pool), which will be\nredistributed just among execs and investors. So, if you are an employee who\nheld on to your 0.1% (which, on 1B, might be worth 1M), you might find out\nthat after the acquisition you are going to be diluted maybe to 0.01%. And\nthis is after all the other \"healthy\" dilutions that have happened to the\ncompany over the years, as part of their financing rounds.\n\n~~~\nwindexh8er\nI was part of a smaller acquisition Splunk made. My existing options at the\noriginal company were worthless at the time the deal closed. Instead Splunk\nand our management agreed to pay us out in cash that was lower than the value\nof what Splunk paid. In turn Splunk slapped on the golden handcuffs for those\nthey wanted to keep and bumped up our salaries and threw the standard four\nyear vesting RSUs at us with everyone starting at day 0. The rumor was our\nfounder took the lion's share of cash on acquisition. Once I was in Splunk it\nwas, unfortunately, what I feared. Beyond a lot of mediocre mid-level\nmanagement and everyone calling themselves rockstars I asked about how a\nspecific prior acquisition had gone. Most Splunkers were pretty candid about\nhow poorly that had gone (it was their UBA acquisition, I was part of the SOAR\nacquisition). I saw the writing on the wall within a few months and left money\non the table. It just wasn't worth it to me to stick around as I had been in a\nsimilar size Valley security company that was equally as bad.\n\nIt's unfortunate this is what the landscape has become. On one hand I'm happy\nfor the SignalFX founders to have made it and hit pay dirt. But everyone\nelse... Yeah, they're all going to get swindled on the deal. Sure you'll make\nsome money but not nearly as much as a select few and even then there's a good\nchance anyone who tries out Splunk internally runs into the same wall myself\nand a bunch of my peers did. Splunk, Palo Alto Networks, IBM... They're all\nare done innovating. These companies buy relevancy and then are proud of their\naccompliments in changing the world. Or that's what they tell their prospects,\ncustomers and themselves. So much great technology and brain power are getting\nlocked up in these non-R&D companies who are at a stage of run rate revenue\nbut still think they're a startup that will continue to pull 50% growth YoY.\nIt's absurd.\n\nSplunk isn't good at acquisitions. I've seen it first hand. I'd never go back\nthere willingly. I hope the SignalFX crew ends up better. But at the end of\nthe day you're working at Splunk.\n\n~~~\nTrias11\nWell you got RSUs at Splunk + salary bump which is like ok deal?\n\nGranted - your payout at acquisition didn’t work to your expectations - and\nit’s typical in SV - but after dust settled you been offered something not\nthat bad in a company that is really not a lagger after all...\n\n~~~\ntruncate\nUmm, I've never worked in a startup, but if I do, a huge motivation would be\nmake money. Risk is startup failing, not it getting acquired for good money.\nIn the end, if all I'm getting is standard RSUs and salary bump, I might as\nwell will join the established company at first place. I understand some\npeople really do love to work for startups, but I think many don't and\nregardless potential to make money much more than standard job in future is\nalways a motivation.\n\n~~~\nrepomies691\nOn average, the problem with being an employee in a startup is that actually\nit is easy to over-value your shares/options. However, there are still lots of\ncash-out stories as well, where the employee has made nice bonus on top. But\nto me it seems that for each cash-out story, there is like 9 or 10 stories\nwhere the options/shares have turned out to be worthless.\n\n------\njedberg\nGood for them! I've been a huge fan of SignalFX since they launched. It was\nthe closest commercial product I could find to Netflix's internal monitoring\nsystem. I mention it often when people ask for a recommendation of a\nmonitoring system.\n\n~~~\ncwp\nYeah. SignalFX is great! I'm happy for them.\n\nBut also, dammit. Splunk will destroy it.\n\n~~~\noccamsrazorwit\nWhy do you think Splunk will kill it?\n\n~~~\ncwp\nCause that's how acquisitions always work out. It might not be as obvious as\n\"We are shutting down SignalFX.\" But they'll want to turn it into a feature of\nanother product which is aimed at a different market, or move it to Splunk's\ninfrastructure, which was designed for something else. Or maybe it's about\nadopting a common UX, which ends up being worse than what SignalFX has now.\n\nThink of Microsoft buying Skype. It's still around, but it's not good anymore.\n\n------\nblawson\nSeems like a really impressive number, based on the 170% compounded annual\ngrowth rate referenced in their last funding round[1].\n\nHuge assumption but if they started at 1,000,000 ARR in 2015 (which seems\ngenerous if sales just started then), 170% yearly growth over 4 years is ~$8.5\nmillion ARR today. Over a 100x multiple!\n\n1\\. [https://www.globenewswire.com/news-\nrelease/2019/06/12/186761...](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-\nrelease/2019/06/12/1867619/0/en/SignalFx-Raises-75-Million-to-Fuel-Demand-for-\nits-Cloud-Monitoring-Platform.html)\n\n------\nbrunoTbear\nI didn't see the terms on that Tiger capital round anywhere online (very\ncursory search tho, so I'm open to being wrong!), but they raised $75 just 2\nmonths ago. I wonder what the terms on that round were and what this\nacquisition means for the older shareholders.\n\nSeems unlikely to be a bad deal, given that they _just_ raised, so I'm curious\nwhy a sale happened so soon after closing a round.\n\n~~~\nallana\nPerhaps the addressable market on their own was too small (or so the team at\nSignalFx felt), thus now is a good time to sell.\n\nSplunk already has Enterprise and B2B sales down cold, adding a supporting\nproduct is an easy in-sell.\n\n------\njujube888\nSplunk's existing cloud service is a disaster they are desperate to make it\nwork but due to lack of experience in the cloud field they think they can buy\ncredibility by acquiring a SaaS company to make it work and it will only get\nworse.\n\nSplunk is forcing customers to sign on to it's cloud service by ending all\nperpetual licensing by November 2019 and forcing subscription cloud and term\nlicensing to make it affordable to customers. It will take them an extra 5 or\nmore years to break even as their cloud service has been in existence for 6\nyears. There is no guarantee of success as they haven't been known for their\nexecution with poor leadership everywhere in the company.\n\nThe SignalFX exec management team will make money but no one else will. They\nwill only be there for one year as they realize they've been put into\nsubservient roles reporting to incompetent SVP and VP Splunk managers.\n\nThe regular employees will soon find out that Splunk is a chaotic and terrible\nenvironment and that no one is held accountable for their mistakes or lack of\ncompetence. Their stocks will be reset to what splunk will dole out for new\nemployees and they have to vest for 4 years all over again.\n\nThere is no joy to this it's a brutal reality and Splunk will eventually be\npurchased by a legacy tech company like Cisco or a private equity like Thoma\nBravo.\n\n------\nbpicolo\nCongrats to the team.\n\nI used Signalfx at Yelp years back. It was a fantastic product - I miss it to\nthis day. (Same with Splunk).\n\nBoth products set a ridiculously high UX bar, but they definitely charge\naccordingly for it.\n\n------\nchirau\nI wonder what this means for Datadog's soon to be IPO\n\n~~~\nAznHisoka\nI also wonder if New Relic is an acquisition target as well.\n\n~~~\nryanSrich\nNew Relic’s stock is down 42% on the year so I don’t see them doing very well.\nAn acquisition would make sense.\n\n~~~\napple4ever\nReally... is there a reason for that?\n\n~~~\nliveoneggs\nthey missed targets and told everyone that a new dashboard with existing\nfeatures (newrelic one) was a new sale-able product?\n\n~~~\napple4ever\nI was wondering how NR1 worked out. Seems not great to me...\n\n------\npaulyacoubian\nTiger Global led the Series E round in June at a $500m post-money valuation.\nThat means they get a 2x in a few months. This looks like it will be a\nfantastic exit for employees too!\n\n------\nmajestik\nSo the days of “Splunk for logs and X for monitoring” will change to “Splunk\nfor logs and monitoring”\n\n------\nrattray\nCurious to see what comes of this from a product perspective... any\nspeculation as to what they might be able to pull off in practice as a joint\nentity?\n\n------\ncodesushi42\nProof that the cyber security industry is an overlooked dark horse, full of\nopportunities.\n\nToo bad it gets overshadowed by AI, cryptocurrency, VR/AR. I guess it's unsexy\nand not necessarily new. But there's a lot of money in it.\n\n~~~\nmunchbunny\nFrom the inside of the cyber security industry, it certainly doesn't feel that\ndark horse-like. It feels quite crowded actually.\n\nThere are two big things going for it though:\n\n1\\. There's an adversarial relationship that drives up demand for products.\n\n2\\. It's stupidly complex, so there's a lot of potential value add in anything\nthat can simplify the problem.\n\nThe main thing going against the cyber security industry is that while it's\nsexy to subject matter experts, it's not really sexy to boardrooms, Silicon\nValley tech startups included, many who see it as a cost center and something\nthat slows down product development and thus do the minimum necessary to\n_look_ secure. Speaking from anecdotal evidence.\n\nIn the context of big companies, Krebs on Security had a great article in the\nwake of the Equifax breach which pointed out that there are very few CISO's\n(or equivalent) who report to the CTO or CEO. For the most part they report to\nthe CFO, to the head of IT, or to the head of legal.\n\n~~~\ncik\nConcur, also from inside the industry. The reality is that almost every\nC-Suite executive I talk to sees security as a cost center, and rolls it (and\nIT even) into the CFO, or the COO.\n\nWe focus on helping an organization make security an enabler. Yet even those\ncustomers who get it - really only care when there's a breach, or if someone's\nbacon has seriously been saved.\n\nSuffice it to say, I find the industry troubling, to say the least.\n\n~~~\nstaticassertion\nLots of things are cost centers. SRE is a cost center. OPS is a cost center.\nCompanies still pay a fortune for services that optimize these areas.\n\nHell, why do you think Splunk has 1 billion dollars to burn?\n\n~~~\nSamuelAdams\n>Lots of things are cost centers.\n\nAgreed. If you boil it all down, the only things that are \"profit centers\" are\neither Marketing or Sales. Everything else is a cost.\n\nWhen a company I work for begins putting its employees into boxes like that, I\nlook for a quick exit. It's only a matter of time before the C-level staff\nstart reducing those \"cost-centers\" to a few overworked, underpaid staff.\n\n------\nTrias11\nOops,\n\nJust found 2yr old email from SignalFx asking if I interested in a Director\nposition :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSierra On-Line Documentary - D_Guidi\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_1TZoNiW6U&feature=youtu.be\n======\nrococosbasilisk\nPharaoh was developed by Impressions Games which was bought by Sierra On-Line\nin 1995. It remains one of the best historical strategy games ever made. Its\ncinematics were extraordinary for a game turning 21 this year\n([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u0js7at9uc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u0js7at9uc))\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow coding boot camps are filling the talent gap - dean\nhttp://www.macleans.ca/work/jobs/how-coding-boot-camps-are-filling-the-talent-gap/\n======\nacconrad\nI have this theory that coding boot camps are an attempt at further increasing\nthe wage gap. Globalization has brought down developer prices, but the quality\ndropped too far below what was needed.\n\nHow can we reduce costs without having to pay market rates? We'll hire someone\nwith less experience than a college graduate in the field of web development!\n\nSince most websites are nothing that difficult to implement, we can offer\ncourses on teaching people basically how to build these apps, and then hire\nthem at these companies! The employee is happy to be making more than they\nwere (which was either nothing because their previous job has become\nirrelevant or less because the floor for software development is so high), and\nthe employer is happy to be employing cheap labor.\n\nMy guess is the net effect can only be negative. If the business scales, it\nwill need more talented engineers to help with that scale, and either keep\nthese boot camp engineers to do the simple tasks or fire them for failing to\ncontinue to provide value. Or the business can't scale because the developers\naren't talented enough to scale these apps, and they can't hire talented\nengineers because they refuse to pay market rates for quality workers. The\nthird scenario I see is that it becomes a Mythical Man-month problem, where\ncompanies just decide that high quality engineers at these types of businesses\nsimply aren't worth it, and would rather have a cadre of low cost boot\ncampers, making the demand for quality software engineers drop, save for a few\nspecialized roles.\n\n~~~\nlordCarbonFiber\nI think the demand for quality software devs is honestly an illusion born out\nof the mysticism that surrounds tech for much of the older generation. When\nall systems involving tech map to ~magic~ you end up with highly educated\npeople being highly paid to do work that honestly could be done by nearly any\nlayperson with enough practice. There will likely be some turmoil as ratios of\nfull engineer to effective technician get sorted out but I feel like the end\nresult is not necessarily negative. Odds are that those people with\ntechnically fulfilling jobs have little to worry about. The rest of us\nprobably should polish those resumes because the days of six figures to do\nsimple dev work are coming to an end.\n\n------\nlordCarbonFiber\nWith the caveat that I don't have any person experience with the situation in\nCanada, I get immediately suspicious of any article that talks to a \"talent\ngap\". At least in the states, it's not hard to find a developer. What is hard\nhowever, is finding a developer that wants to code your uninspired CRUD app at\nbelow market rates and I that's the issue these bootcamps tend to address.\n\n~~~\nchaghan\nin the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king How much time can a man\ninvest in learning a really complex stuff so he can work on compilers,\ncreating programming languages or implementing extraordinary search\nalgorithms. And who will pay for that ?\n\nThat is the downside of capitalism.\n\nJust take a look at what happened to Oracle when the most brilliant engineers\nleft after they acquired Sun Microsystems. They literally could not find\nanyone for ages to replace these people just because there is not enough\ntalent out there.\n\nAnd that's Oracle. Who else is there that can afford to pay these people ?\nGoogle ? Maybe. Netflix ? aye IBM ? likely And maybe few dozens of other\ncorporations.\n\nBut these people do not want to work for corporations instead they need to be\ntreated as special unicorns.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGOTO considered helpful - jmount\nhttp://erehweb.wordpress.com/2010/06/24/goto-considered-helpful/\n======\nCodeMage\nI can identify with this article. My own experience makes me agree with it\ncompletely.\n\nAt the age of 7, I learned BASIC on Spectrum 48. At the age of 9, I wrote a\nprogram for my mom to use in her biology class. It's still the most awful\nspaghetti programming I can remember seeing in my life. It had some really\ntoxic uses of GOTO, but I remember it also had a few uses of GOTO which were\nactually attempts at more structured programming (GOTO X simulating a\nswitch/case).\n\nFast forward to the age of 12 and Oxford Pascal on Commodore 64. Programming\nwithout line numbers (or even memory addresses like in assembler) seemed like\na novel approach, but I didn't have much trouble getting used to repeat..until\nand while..do, especially when I realized that I _finally_ didn't have to\nworry about \"renumbering\".\n\nFast forward to today. At work I use Java _and_ C _and_ C++ _and_ Python on a\nregular basis. As a hobby I use ActionScript 3 for game development. I've had\nfun writing an application in Common Lisp, fooling around in Haskell and\nmessing around with Io.\n\nI once heard a university professor say \"If you've programmed in BASIC once,\nyou're scarred for the rest of your life.\" I don't feel scarred. Honestly, if\nsomeone tried to teach me programming without GOTO at the age of 7, I'm not\nsure I would've grokked it. Sure, I might have, but my point is that even\nthough that's not the way it happened, even though I've been exposed to GOTO\nfor 5 years of my life, I'm not a bad programmer because of it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDon't take Investment Now: It's the Era of the Entrepreneur - ALee\nhttp://thenextweb.org/2008/11/01/the-era-of-the-entrepreneur/\n======\nwheels\nI find a lot of these sort of articles a bit of an echo chamber. There's\nlimited value in advice that claims to be in response to the times, but is\nexactly the same as it was before.\n\n------\nScottWhigham\nI don't think the article is really about what the title is. Odd.\n\n~~~\nthenextweb\nThe original title is not \"Don't take investment\" but just \"The Era of the\nEntrepreneur\". What I tried to point out is that this era marks great\nopportunities for entrepreneurs but that bloggers and VCs make it seem as a\nterrible time. Hope that was clear...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Tools you use for remote working? - d0m\nHi, as remote working is becoming more and more common, I&#x27;m curious about tools&#x2F;services startups are using. (Features management, bug tracker, video conferences, chat, tasks, knowledge center, etc.)\n======\nWadeF\nWe use a bunch of tools at Zapier but some of our favorite are:\n\n\\- P2 WordPress theme from Automatic:\n[http://p2theme.com/](http://p2theme.com/)\n\n\\- Sqwiggle: [https://www.sqwiggle.com/](https://www.sqwiggle.com/)\n\n\\- Trello: [https://trello.com/](https://trello.com/)\n\n\\- GitHub: [https://github.com/](https://github.com/)\n\n\\- Campfire: [https://campfirenow.com/](https://campfirenow.com/)\n\n\\- Zapier: [https://zapier.com/](https://zapier.com/)\n\n\\- GTalk\n\n\\- Dropbox/Box\n\n\\- RelateIQ: [http://relateiq.com/](http://relateiq.com/)\n\n\\- Help Scout: [https://www.helpscout.net/](https://www.helpscout.net/)\n\n\\- HelloSign: [https://www.hellosign.com/](https://www.hellosign.com/)\n\nWe wrote a lot more about how we use them here: [https://zapier.com/blog/how-\nmanage-remote-team/](https://zapier.com/blog/how-manage-remote-team/)\n\n~~~\ninterstitial\nI hope you are using Zapier to ties those APIs together ;)\n\n------\nhoop\nAt Heroku, we are quite distributed and typically use the following. Some\nteams might have a slightly divergent set of tools or workflow, but\nengineering-wide this is more or less the baseline:\n\n* HipChat (sync and async chat with a variety of ChatOps functionality)\n\n* Documentation: Google Drive for non-technical documentaton that might need feedback and some dynamic spreadsheets backed with dataclips: [https://postgres.heroku.com/blog/past/2012/1/31/simple_data_...](https://postgres.heroku.com/blog/past/2012/1/31/simple_data_sharing_with_data_clips/)\n\n* Video conferencing: Every single meeting has a corresponding Google Hangout. For some meetings we might use Fuze\n\n* DCVS: git. Our repos are hosted on Github and we use all the usual stuff there: Pull Requests, Issues, in-line commenting, etc\n\n* Project/task management: Trello trello trello - If it's not in Trello, it doesn't exist. This works great when you're widely distributed across geography and timezones. With the right workflow, we can at-a-glance know the status of all of our work-in-progress.\n\n* Mailing lists! Every team has its mailing list and nearly every other thing of interest has its own mailing list. Interested in an upcoming project? There's a mailing list for that. Are you remote or based out of the SF bay area? There's a mailing list for that. Are you into Golang, functional programming, or want to chat about Linux? We have those covered too. Are you into biking or photography? Mailing lists!\n\nP.S. - If you're interested in remote work, we're hiring!\n[http://jobs.heroku.com/](http://jobs.heroku.com/)\n\n~~~\nubercore\nCan you share any of your Trello workflow? We still have trouble sometimes\nmaking everyone happy with our current Trello workflow, I'd be really\ninterested in hearing how you organize your cards!\n\n~~~\nhoop\nSure! The basics are that each team has their own board and chooses a Trello\nboard layout that most closely matches their workflow.\n\nGenerally, we'll start with new work on the left side of the board and\ncompleted work at the right side of the board; this roughly resembles a kanban\nboard. The standard columns are:\n\nReady/Next (backlog) -> Doing -> Done\n\n* Ready/Next are the top items from the backlog (usually a separate Trello board just so only active items are on the primary board) that are next in the queue\n\n* Doing is work-in-progress\n\n* Done is completed work (of course :))\n\nSome teams also use additional columns for:\n\n* Blocked - Work that is blocked on something else. In planning meetings and standups these are called out so we can unblock the items as quickly as possible\n\n* Shepherding - Work that is mostly coordinating cross-team efforts. These items generally don't take up alot of active cycles of the \"Shepherd\" but they are an additional context switch throughout their work\n\n* Interrupts - Usually this is called something else, but the gist is that some teams track operational items separately. For example, if support escalates a support ticket to an engineering team, the trello card referencing the ticket and any troubleshooting info will end up in one of these columns\n\nAs for ensuring that the Trello boards are up-to-date, many teams have\nstandups and walk through their Trello board and confirm that it's consistent\nwith reality.\n\n~~~\nubercore\nThanks! I guess we're not too far off, I think it's the last step we've been\ndoing poorly -- team-specific checkins to make sure the board is accurate.\n\n------\nsemerda\nThere is a tendency to slap together a suite of freebie tools form various\nproviders and hope it all sticks. However this doesn't scale. Multiple logins.\nDifferent UIs. Flaky integration between the tools.. Nightmare. I went through\nthis exercise myself and in the end decided to centralize it all with\nAtlassian’s OnDemand suite. Cheap and chips for small teams!\n\nWe use Jira w/ Agile for tickets & project management, Confluence for\nknowledge base, HipChat for communication, Bitbucket for code repository et\nal. Wrote about this and how we use it here:\n[http://www.theroadtosiliconvalley.com/engineering/medlert-\nca...](http://www.theroadtosiliconvalley.com/engineering/medlert-case-study-\natlassian-ondemand-tools-gsdfaster/) Hope this helps!\n\n------\ncynusx\nI have been running a remote team for a year now.\n\nCommunication:\n\n\\- chat during the day (hipchat)\n\n\\- skype for voice calls, usually to quickly discuss something\n\n\\- Google hangout (highest bandwidth communication, I run my daily standups on\ngoogle hangout and sporadically for \"crisis\" moments or \"clarification\"\nmoments)\n\nProject management:\n\n\\- trello\n\nProduct management:\n\n\\- prodpad\n\nSo the trick is to have a daily scrum meetup on google hangout every morning\nso that you can explain tasks, check how far everybody got the previous day\nand update the trello board to reflect the new state. It's the only moment in\nthe day that communication is cheap and high bandwidth.\n\nKnowledge center: Google docs and github wiki\n\nThere are other auxiliaries like github, airbrake, circleCI and papertrail\nthat report into hipchat so you can get a sense of the work being done.\n\n~~~\nblakesterz\nInteresting, why do you use hipchat AND Skype AND Hangouts? Those all seem to\noverlap quite a bit. Our team meets and chats in Skype, I didn't see the need\nfor hipchat while we're all using Skype.\n\nTotally agree with the morning meetings though, plus we have one longer\nscheduled weekly.\n\n~~~\naeden\nHipChat provides a couple things that I don't think you can get from Skype:\n\n1\\. Searchable backlog for _all_ discussions.\n\n2\\. API for connecting bots (which can be used for C&C).\n\n3\\. Web-based and native clients.\n\n4\\. Public and private rooms chat rooms.\n\nHipChat is more like IRC than like IM, which, for distributed teams, is often\nvery useful.\n\n------\nKevinEldon\nI work in a very large distributed enterprise so this list is a little off\ntopic, but maybe it'll be useful for someone and maybe it will awaken a few\nideas for how incredibly rich an opportunity the enterprise space is. I write\ncode and help the rest of the team write code. We use Windows. These tools\nhave been helpful.\n\n\\- Microsoft Lync (excellent product! Love it. Seriously it's only serious\nflaw is it needs Windows.)\n\n\\- Microsoft Outlook\n\n\\- Microsoft Sharepoint (meh, it's better than nothing)\n\n\\- Trello (useful for ad-hoc teams)\n\n\\- GitBlit ('cause outside the Firewall GitHub/BitBucket isn't allowed)\n\n\\- HP's Agile Manager (expensive, but a very good Agile/Scrum product)\n\n\\- Rally (before HP Agile Manager, a very good Scurm product)\n\n\\- Adobe Captivate (decent for screencasts; save time sharing your ideas\ninside your firewall)\n\n\\- TechSmith's Snagit (the best screen capture tool I've used; great for\nquick-and-dirty 'do this' email or doc)\n\n\\- IntelliJ IDEA (great IDE, we don't use it collaboratively or anything but\nit got into our Enterprise because individual DEVs could buy it at a\nreasonable price for themselves, then other DEVs wanted it and mgmt started\nsigning POs... smart tactic).\n\nSum it up. Lync is awesome (friends in smaller/not-so-MS-focused shops use\nSkype w/ success). A good asynchronous communication tool like\nCaptivate/Snagit is useful. Some shared space to manage the work is necessary\n(Trello, HP Agile Manager, Rally, numerous other good products). I wish I had\nCampfire or something like it.\n\nedit: formatting\n\n~~~\naltano\n(disclaimer: I'm a MS employee blah blah)\n\nYou'd be surprised how good many MS tools make remote\ndevelopment/communication. I don't work at MS HQ in Redmond (I'm in Boston) so\nmy whole team does tons of work with people remotely every single day.\n\nFor example, Lync on the Windows Phone is really great: you can join a meeting\nfrom your calendar/meeting reminder and instantly get video or a PowerPoint\nslide deck. I am frequently running late to a meeting in the morning so I just\ndial-in on my phone while I walk to work.\n\nRemote desktop performance is good enough to actually code on, which I never\nfound to be the case with VNC (even TightVNC which was darn good and I was\nhappy to rely on for everything but coding). This is huge for me since all of\nmy development machines can be headless (no kb/mouse), for use remotely or in\nmy office.\n\nOutlook makes starting an online meeting/conference call one click.\n\nI don't think Roundtable devices are for sale anymore, and they don't always\nwork which is really annoying, but they work most of the time and make\nconference calls with video and lots of people _really_ good.\n\nScreen sharing over Lync isn't super amazing (I don't even think you can go\nfull screen) but it's so convenient I use it frequently.\n\nPresence is baked into everything really well, so if you're actually using MS\nfor everything you will get presence everywhere. It's also pretty good about\nbeing more than just presence, so you get pictures/avatars, online status,\nlocation, out-of-office messages/status, quick links to start an email/IM/etc.\n\nAs for non-MS software, I really like using Sublime Text as a code navigator.\nIt has _AMAZING_ performance when browsing code on a network share. I can load\nall the MS Office code from a remote development machine, over the network,\ninto Sublime Text and the file-search works within seconds. I have no idea how\nit indexes all the files so quickly.\n\n------\ndaleharvey\nOne of the most surprising things I have seen at Mozilla is the use of\nBugzilla, its still mostly black magic and its terrible as a tool for non\nfamiliar people to file and find bugs, but as a company wide source of truth\nfor most issues from event relations, it issues to plain bugs and project\nmanagement its actually ... good.\n\nAnd its usually pretty hard to say anything nice about Bugzilla.\n\n~~~\nfhd2\nI started contributing to Mozilla lately and I'm amazed how good Bugzilla has\nbecome compared to when I last tried to use it (around 5 years ago). I'm also\namazed at how effective Mozilla works with it.\n\n------\nsklivvz1971\nAt Stack Overflow we use\n\n* google docs\n\n* google mail\n\n* google hangouts (with perma-rooms)\n\n* our own awesome chat ([http://chat.stackoverflow.com](http://chat.stackoverflow.com))\n\n* trello from everything from shopping lists to kanban boards\n\n* our own hosted git and hg, with a kiln \"skin\" for the looks (plus pretty much any public repo for the myriad open source projects we maintain)\n\n* our own live status ([https://github.com/opserver/Opserver](https://github.com/opserver/Opserver))\n\n* team city for CI/CD\n\n* vydio for large whole company meetings\n\n~~~\nsmcnally\nPerma-rooms?\n\n~~~\nsklivvz1971\nYeah, we create a hangout and keep on using the same for a few months, then it\nexpires. We have a redirect in place so everybody goes to the same place.\n\n------\nmedwezys\nScreenhero is nice for remote pair programming, remote tmux/pssh sessions as\nwell when both devs use vim/emacs, also:\n[https://github.com/portly/pssh](https://github.com/portly/pssh).\n\nCampfire for chats, dumbot as a minimalistic task manager in campfire\n[https://github.com/tadast/dumbot#tasks](https://github.com/tadast/dumbot#tasks)\n\nGithub issues for technical/code problems.\n\nGoogle hangouts for standups\n\n------\nalain34\n\\- MS Lync for IM\n\n\\- New Relic for LAMP stack monitoring\n[http://www.newrelic.com](http://www.newrelic.com)\n\n\\- Zabbix for infrastructure monitoring\n[https://www.zabbix.org/wiki/Main_Page](https://www.zabbix.org/wiki/Main_Page)\n\n\\- Splunk for storing all syslog\n[http://www.splunk.com](http://www.splunk.com)\n\n\\- TargetProcess for agile pm\n[http://www.targetprocess.com](http://www.targetprocess.com)\n\n\\- burndown chart generation\n[http://www.conceptuel.co.uk/burnDown](http://www.conceptuel.co.uk/burnDown)\n(one of mine actually)\n\n\\- reviewboard for code review\n[http://www.reviewboard.org](http://www.reviewboard.org)\n\n------\neccp\nIn job #1 (5+ years remote): features and bugs have no formal platform, mostly\nwiki and sprint planning in spreadsheets. Ocassional phone calls but mostly\nSkype meetings. Knowledge base: dokuwiki. Code hosted on Bitbucket. Cisco\ncompatible VPN (on Ubuntu: network-manager-vpnc-gnome), Virtualbox, Windows\nRemote Desktop for accessing servers. Trello (soon) and we used Pivotal\nTracker with little success. Server monitoring with New Relic.\n\nIn job #2 (remote, almost 4 months in): Features, bugs, release planning, code\nand some documentation, all in Github. Chat: IRC Cloud or Skype. Calls and\nscreen sharing: Skype or Google Hangouts. No VPN but lots of SSHing into\nmachines on Digital Ocean. Some other documentation in Google docs.\n\n------\nnate\nDraft [https://draftin.com/](https://draftin.com/) :)\n\n------\ncoderzach\nFloobits. It's somewhat difficult to get setup, but once it works it's great.\n\n------\nfhd2\nAt Eyeo (8 developers, no two in the same place), we use:\n\n\\- IRC (most of us use IRCCloud)\n\n\\- Discourse (a forum, I can really recommend this even if you have chat, and\nDiscourse is particularly good)\n\n\\- Skype (only used for one on one meetings)\n\n\\- Oovoo (like Skype, but has free video conferencing, we use it for meetings\nwith more than two people)\n\n\\- Rietveld (a review system, we have mandatory reviews for all changes,\nreally really important for distributed teams IMO)\n\n\\- Trello (we're in the middle of migrating to a real bug tracker (Roundup,\nwhat bugs.python.org uses) though)\n\n\\- Google Drive (mostly as a wiki replacement)\n\n~~~\nkofman\nHave you considered hackpad.com for a wiki replacement?\n\n------\neswat\nAt Benbria we use this arsenal:\n\n* Google Mail & Calendar\n\n* Hipchat. Main communication method, water cooler and catch-all for any new activity for our deployments and GitHub repos\n\n* GitHub. We use everything it has to offer and have actually migrated to Issues from Trello for task management\n\n* Google Docs. For feature specs and anything that needs to be in sync outside the development team\n\n* Dropbox. Mainly used by the design team right now, as a single source for assets and putting mocks in\n\n* Skype. Usually for one-on-ones and interviewing candidates\n\n* Salesforce\n\n------\ncwisecarver\nWe've been using a free trial of Slack\n([https://slack.com/](https://slack.com/)) for about a month now and I can't\nimagine working without it. It's great for war rooms centered around solving a\nproblem. It's great for team members in different timezones, they can catch up\non the days events without asking. The mobile apps and thick clients are\nfantastic.\n\n~~~\nflavor8\nSlack is great. I run a few teams of freelancers who are in various timezones;\nwe have a room per team.\n\n------\nlogn\n[https://jitsi.org/](https://jitsi.org/) is the best chat/cam software I've\nfound. It works perfectly on Linux, and I've not heard of Mac/Win problems\neither. Skype has never worked well for me on Linux.\n\nI like Hamster for time tracking,\n[https://projecthamster.wordpress.com/](https://projecthamster.wordpress.com/)\n\n------\nmaratd\nGoogle Docs + Google Mail + Google Calendar + Google Hangouts\n\nDuet ([http://www.duetapp.com/](http://www.duetapp.com/))\n\nCloud9 IDE\n([https://github.com/ajaxorg/cloud9/](https://github.com/ajaxorg/cloud9/))\n\nTimer Tab ([http://www.timer-tab.com/](http://www.timer-tab.com/))\n\nSkype\n\nBitbucket and Github\n\nVirtualBox (running Ubuntu with all the usual stuff)\n\nPhotoshop\n\nNotepad++\n\nCalculator\n\nThat's pretty much my entire toolbelt.\n\n~~~\nestebank\nssh and a vpn client seem glaringly absent from that list.\n\nPhotoshop for remote working? I fail to see how it relates.\n\n~~~\nmaratd\n> ssh and a vpn client seem glaringly absent from that list.\n\n\"VirtualBox (running Ubuntu with all the usual stuff)\"\n\nAll my terminal stuff is in there. I also use Secure Shell for Chrome for SSH.\n\n------\nkayoone\nSuprised nobody mentioned teamviewer. Teamviewer meetings are totally awesome\nfor multi platform high performance screen sharing\n\n------\ntiboll\nI've join a new company few days ago, this is the first time I'm working\nremotely and full time. Basicaly we use:\n\n\\- Github for source code mostly (I've made some pull requests since I'm new\non the project)\n\n\\- Hipchat, since I've join, Skype before that.\n\n\\- Dropbox for file sharing and design.\n\n\\- Google Apps\n\n\\- Basecamp for project managment\n\nand I may not know the full stack yet but we use cloud services for\neverything!\n\n------\ntluyben2\nGit(hub), Goplanapp, Hangouts, Google docs, Dropbox, Webex. Still haven't\nfound a good alternative for Skype, but for me Skype these days hogs so much\nCPU that I removed it. Webex is much better anyway IMHO (compression works so\nwell that it works on slow connections as well), but it's not for the same\npurpose as Skype.\n\n------\nprojuce\nHangouts - for voice/video (standups) Hipchat - for chat Trello - Tasks Google\nDocs - Knowledge, collaborative editing Github - code versioning\n\nHas anyone tried sqwiggle.com, we tried it, but we get the same thing from\nimpromptu google hangouts for free. A truely native sqwiggle app that\nintegrates more into what we are doing makes sense.\n\n~~~\nericbieller\nThanks for trying out Sqwiggle! Solid feedback, we're working hard to make the\nexperience more seamless with the OS. Would love to hear if you have any other\nthoughts or ideas. Let us know at howdy at sqwiggle dot com.\n\n------\nAH4oFVbPT4f8\nWe're not a start up but we use\n\n* JIRA - issue tracking and feature management\n\n* Agile - scrum management\n\n* Confluence - documentation, mockups, feedback\n\n* Bitbucket/Git - code repository\n\n* Facetime or Google Hangout for video chat\n\n* Salesforce chatter for IM though Hipchat is a better solution. We're a small company so we need to be able to answer questions from marketing, sales, operations throughout the day\n\n------\nblakesterz\nWe're using Producteev, Skype, Google Docs. Nothing fancy really, nothing very\nexpensive either. Tried (and loved) Basecamp, but it was really just too\nexpensive. All the real \"work\" is done via SSH on one Ubuntu server or another\nat various hosts. Ansible makes things way easier as well.\n\n------\naltras\nOur remote stack is based on: gitlab/github, skype, trello, google docs (we\nshifted from dropbox) and that's it. We don't need persistent chat because\nwe're not big and we have a habit to use trello A LOT (we have like ~20\nboards) :)\n\n------\nscoj\nSmall team of <5 developers \\- Jira \\- Confluence \\- Gmail \\- Hangouts (chat\nand video) \\- Gyazo (just started using) for quickly posting images \\-\nBeanstalk App (source control)\n\nPretty short list when i think about it.\n\n------\nxentronium\nWe're a small remote-only shop (5 programmers), we use redmine, email and\ngoogle hangouts for short weekly meetings. IM is usually via jabber.\n\nAlso basecamp for communication with the managers and between them.\n\n------\nJemaclus\nFor my remote work, I use Google Docs (tracking things) and Sqwiggle (video\nconferencing). Everything else is just normal stuff I use in my regular job\nand regular life.\n\n------\nscotty79\nTrello, Skype, Github, VirtualBox,\n[http://www.getharvest.com/](http://www.getharvest.com/), Dropbox,\nBrowserstack, Google Docs\n\n------\nleewrangler\nI've used a combination of terminal, ssh, vim, tmux, Skype, Hipchat, and\nGoogle Hangouts. Those do basically everything I need.\n\nEDIT: I use Asana and Google Docs as well.\n\n------\nitry\nssh,screen,vim,skype. simple as that. works like a charm.\n\n~~~\nams6110\ntmux and emacs for me. but yeah.\n\n------\nanonymouscowar1\nMy company uses a Cisco VPN and Cisco jabber video chat for remote workers. I\nrun the VPN client in an Ubuntu VM on VMware Workstation.\n\n~~~\nlifeisstillgood\nHow much is that and what's it like for Linux / hard to install etc? do you\nneed Cisco routers?\n\nwas v impressed by Cisco video in contract recently but they were Fortune 500\nso I assumed it was beyond us mortals\n\n~~~\nanonymouscowar1\nThe client side of the VPN is pretty straightforward. It's a closed source\nprogram that basically creates a `tun` device. So I run it in a VM so it can't\nharm my home machine, and just use iptables to route work traffic to it. No\nidea what is needed on the infrastructure side.\n\nNo idea how much the video costs either, but my employer is a Fortune 500\ncompany.\n\n~~~\njlgaddis\nThere's also \"OpenConnect\", an open source replacement for Cisco's VPN client.\nOn the infrastructure side, you'll have a Cisco router or firewall providing\nremote access VPN services.\n\n~~~\nanonymouscowar1\nYeah, the problem with OpenConnect is that every time they bump the 'cstub'\nbinary on the cisco remote end, OpenConnect stops working until you grab the\nnew one somehow.\n\n('cstub' is a wonderful program that is downloaded over HTTP and runs as root.\nIt's supposed to monitor security, or something. I did mention I run this on a\nVM, right?)\n\n------\nShalle\nVideo conferences: Skype & Blackboard Chat: Skype & IRC Productivity:\nViscosity, Sublime, Tower, SSH, VirtualBox, Adobe CS6\n\n------\nsaryant\n\\- Hipchat (ongoing chatroom)\n\n\\- Google Hangouts (thrice weekly check-in meetings)\n\n\\- Asana (task management)\n\n\\- Github (all code is submitted as PR to be reviewed by someone else)\n\n------\nchime\nToggl is nice for simple timekeeping.\n\n------\ndidgeoridoo\nBaiboard (iPad app) is awesome for remote collaborative concept sketching.\n\n------\nasjo\nautossh (sometimes you need a tunnel), ssh (to connect), x11vnc (when I have a\nrunning X session remotely), xvncserver (when I haven't), and vinagre (to show\nthe desktop remotely).\n\n------\nnyddle\nSkype, Basecamp, Google Docs\n\n------\nkylered\nhipchat, github, google hangout, waffle.io, google docs, chatbot\n\n------\njimworm\nGMail, Google Hangouts\n\ntmux, vim\n\ngit, Bitbucket, Github\n\n------\noakaz\nSlack is awesome\n\n------\nkayoone\nSuprised\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSummarizes what it's like working for most big companies (as a developer/engineer) - chaostheory\nhttp://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-20071026.html\n\n======\nmickt\nSurprisingly like real life (in a big company where managers care more about\ntheir fiefdoms that doing what's right).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nngrok tunnels: better, faster, stronger - inconshreveable\nhttp://inconshreveable.com/09-25-2013/ngrok-tunnels-better-faster-stronger/\n======\nRobSpectre\nNgrok is one of the best tools in my belt for debugging webhooks at Twilio.\nSecure, fast, reliable and - above all - useful.\n\nStoked for the new features Alan - thanks!\n\n~~~\nkilink\nA problem I've found with testing Twilio using Ngrok is the latency;\noccasionally connections will get closed by Twilio by timing out before they\neven hit my machine.\n\n~~~\ninconshreveable\nOne of the core features of this release is improved latency, but if latency\nwas ever bad enough to cause Twilio to time out, I consider that a critical\nissue. Please report it to me if you ever encounter anything like that in the\nfuture.\n\n------\nwuster\nGreat concept, thanks for sharing. This is a valid alternative to getting a\ncloud machine (e.g. EC2) and providing a reverse proxy from your localhost to\nan open port on the cloud machine.\n\n------\nalinspired\nHaven't tried ngrok yet, but maybe someone can tell me how it's different from\ncreating an ssh tunnel (in a case when I do have a server/vps with public ip\nrunning sshd) ?\n\n------\nvertis\nVery cool. I'll have to give it a spin. I can think of quite a few things this\ncould help with.\n\nKudos also for the TLS everywhere.\n\n------\ncleverjake\nAh! Multiple tunnels is great, my biggest issue was piping multiple services.\n\n------\ndergachev\nWould it make sense to try to get this to start on boot?\n\n------\ncsense\nI'm starting to see more and more projects written in Go.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nStiffness of the human foot and evolution of the transverse arch - miobrien\nhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1705.10371\n======\nice109\nodd thing to be posted here... but I'll take this opportunity to pull ask for\nadvice: I run 30-40 miles/week, in 7.5 increments, and at the upper end of\nthat range my feet hurt almost unbearably by the end of the run and\nimmediately after. it's interfering with me extending my range (shooting for\n50/week). what can I do? I have decent shoes and I get new ones when the tread\nwears down. also my form is pretty good I think (exclusively toe striking).\n\n~~~\ntodd8\nI never got my normal mileage up to 50/week, so consider this advice from\nsomeone that never ran as well as you do.\n\nSome readers may not be runners so I will explain how I trained. I'm not that\nfast and didn't run in college. I was definitely a casual runner. I kept the\nmileage under control and that helped me avoid injuries.\n\nIt sounds like you train harder than I ever did, but I did qualify for and ran\nBoston. My training was the common seven month training regimen to prepare for\na marathon: 3 weekday runs, say MWF, and one long weekend run each Sunday. By\nthe second month I would add speed work at a track something like six 400m\nruns fast. The three weekday runs were around 3 miles each in the first month\nand might get up to 5 miles by the time I was ready for the marathon. The long\nrun is basically increased in distance by one mile per week. After I hit 13\nmiles I would cut back to a long run ever other week, but increase the\ndistance by 2 miles each run. In 26 weeks you was able to do a marathon\ndistance in a long training run at an easy pace. I would work on my speed at\nthe track and the short runs. I would not do any more really long runs once I\nwas 3 weeks from the marathon. After the marathon I would take a few months\noff and then start again around 7 months in advance of the annual local\nmarathon. By the fifth year I was fast enough to qualify for Boston.\n\nSo my training was almost all under 40/wk and more like 30/wk early in the\nseason. Having lots of days off let my feet recover.\n\nI found that always having two different brands of training shoes helped me\navoid the overuse injuries that many of my training cohort seemed to\nexperience. I would alternate shoes each day. This way my feet would at least\nget some break from the particular way the shoe flexed, etc. I would switch\nbrands every so often--they all felt a bit different.\n\nMy body isn't ideal for running, so I really had to focus on form: very light\nfootfalls, shorter more rapid strides and no overreaching to keep the wear and\ntear modest.\n\n~~~\nice109\ntwo pairs of shoes is a good idea. thanks.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNew Toyotas will upload data to AWS to help create custom insurance premiums - mikro2nd\nhttps://www.theregister.com/2020/08/18/aws_toyota_alliance/\n======\ntaftster\nAnd here's the thing. These types of driving habit trackers (not necessarily\nnew in the auto-insurance industry) are touted as a means to reduce the cost\nof insurance for good drivers. But what qualifies as a \"good driver\" is likely\nto be more like 10% of drivers. For everyone else, this won't reduce the\ninsurance costs at all.\n\nIt's frankly just a way for insurance companies to extort more profit from\ndrivers. I don't want a black box in my car of any type, even if I already\nqualify for the best possible insurance rates. Your driving habits are a huge\nprivacy concern and we should all guard them very carefully.\n\n~~~\ngiancarlostoro\n> For everyone else, this won't reduce the insurance costs at all.\n\nIt will likely raise it to subsidize things, somebody else has to pay your\npremium... Companies are never in the business of making less money.\n\n~~~\nlotsofpulp\n>It will likely raise it to subsidize things, somebody else has to pay your\npremium\n\nI don't know what this means, but an insurance company can be incentivized to\nlower premiums as a means to win new business. If an insurance company offered\nme lower premiums in exchange for monitoring my driving, I might do it. I\nalready have dash cams to ensure I don't get found at fault if it isn't my\nfault.\n\n~~~\nblacksmith_tb\nInsurance companies have been offering just this deal for years - they will\nstick a GPS logger into the OBD2 port on your car, and then ask you to let\nthem pull data off it periodically[1].\n\n1: [https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamtanner/2013/08/14/data-\nmoni...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamtanner/2013/08/14/data-monitoring-\nsaves-some-people-money-on-car-insurance-but-some-will-pay-more/#2f4d754d2334)\n\n------\ncalmworm\nThis removes \"New Toyotas\" from my list of potential next vehicles, though\nit's likely just a matter of time before all new vehicles have a direct link\nwith insurance companies.\n\n~~~\nnovok\nEven toyotas sold today have cellular modems that track your location, it's\ncalled \"toyota safety connect\". There is no obvious way to turn it off either.\n\n~~~\ntomc1985\nI imagine that you can still take the car to a mechanic and ask them to remove\nthe sim card to disconnect the system\n\n~~~\nbradly\nAt least for Volvo they are used for by their service mechanics as well, so\nyou will want to make sure it doesn't void any warranty claims.\n\n------\nSomeone1234\nInsurance companies want to double dip: They want to sell insurance and profit\noff of that, and then profit off of selling your personal location/habit\ninformation on the back-end.\n\nEven if they aren't doing it today, they want to be positioned to be in the\n\"data business\" tomorrow. It will start out as \"opt out\" before becoming\nnormalized/expected.\n\nEven putting aside the fact that modern vehicle's electrical systems are\nalready stretched thin and this is yet another constant battery drain. The\nprivacy implications of this cannot be ignored even if the data is\n\"anonymized\" (not least of all because multiple sources of \"anonymized\" data\ncan be combined to bypass it entirely).\n\n~~~\ndonmcronald\nAnd you can be guaranteed the car manufacturers aren't going to be selling\nthem data that would let them do statistical analysis on the vehicles.\n\nI think it'll be super anti consumer. All those systems will be used to\n\"prove\" the driver is at fault for everything. It'll never be a mechanical\nmalfunction or an infrastructure issue. It'll always be the \"bad\" driver that\ncauses accidents.\n\n------\ncanada_dry\nPart of the slippery slope that insurance companies have been trying to get\ncustomers to willingly adopt...\n\nJust install this safe driver app to receive _up-to_ 15% off your rate!\n\nSoon: our company's insurer now requires all employees to install this\nexercise monitoring app on their phone!\n\nAnd finally: to be eligible for insurance you must submit a saliva sample.\n\n~~~\nSomeone1234\n> Soon: our company's insurer now requires all employees to install this\n> exercise monitoring app on their phone!\n\nNot _soon_. My employer already offers a 10% premium discount program, but you\nhave to take part in a monthly \"healthy living\" program that encourages you\ncan hook in your smart phone/watch/etc (you earn \"points\" towards your\ndiscount, not doing so hurts your point totals and you need to do something\nelse privacy invading instead).\n\nIt is operated by a third party rather than my employer, but that doesn't\nprotect your privacy in the broad context, just protects you from additional\nworkplace discrimination.\n\n------\nballs187\n1 year from now: \"Toyota AWS keys compromised due to misconfigured S3 bucket.\"\n\n~~~\nryanisnan\nNo it would be more likely that \"Millions of Toyota drivers driving data\nleaked due to misconfigured S3 bucket\"\n\n------\nOldHand2018\nCars have been so well-built for so long that car companies doing this crap\nwith data (remember that Ford's outgoing CEO talked about monetizing driving\ndata) should cause people (that care) to just stop buying new cars. Bonus: you\ndon't have to agree to forced arbitration for any defects you encounter!\n\n~~~\njkaplowitz\nIn much of the world, the forced arbitration clauses are illegal and\nunenforceable anyway for consumer contracts (though often not when the\npurchase is for business rather than consumer purposes). And there is a bill\nin Congress that would apply a similar approach to the US if the Democrats\nmanage to take control of the federal government and don't lose their desire\nto enact the law once they gain the ability to do so.\n\nI admit I'm not sure what the situation would be if I buy a new personal\nToyota in my current residence (Quebec, Canada - forced consumer arbitration\nis illegal) and then later import it into the US as part of a move there. But\nI'm hoping I'd avoid the trap.\n\nAt least the current version of the congressional bill is retroactive in its\nrestoration of access to the courts. I hope that stays true in any final\nversion.\n\n------\ntibbydudeza\nIt reminds me of BMW wanting to charge for add on \"options\" that you paid for\nat delivery but after 2 years of ownership you need to re-up.\n\nrear view camera/park distance control/cruise control (SaaS).\n\nI guess with car sales going south they need to nickel and dime their\nremaining customers.\n\n------\nlykahb\nIt's interesting to see that most of the discussion here revolves around\neffectiveness and economic impact of tracking. Ten years ago the talking point\nwould be about invasion to privacy. The personal privacy is vanishing not only\nin practice, but as a value of the society as well.\n\n------\nkylehotchkiss\nAnybody know how to disable the 4G chip permanently upon buying a new car? Are\nthey making ECUs require the 4G chip to be active?\n\n~~~\nshakna\nIt's a difficult process that changes greatly from model to model, and often\ncomes with... Unexpected... Functionality loss.\n\nLike for a particular VW model I'm thinking of, you need to disassemble the\nentire front of the car to get at it, and it disables the seat warmer for no\nobvious reason.\n\n~~~\nbleepblorp\nUnless the car is phoning home to enable options you've paid for, you might be\nable to evade anti-functionality issues by replacing the antenna with a dummy\nload (resistor) rather than by removing the modem entirely.\n\n------\nclosetohome\nI would say \"hard pass\" on this, but at some point in the future, it will no\ndoubt be significantly more expensive to acquire car insurance without this\nkind of oversight. Ideally there would be some legislation in place that\nprecludes charging people extra for retaining their privacy, but I'm not\nholding my breath.\n\n------\nmulmen\nMy parents installed one of the addon driving monitors in their car to get an\ninsurance discount. It lasted about a month. Apparently they drive like\nmaniacs.\n\n------\nanm89\nWhat a nightmare. Avoiding owning a car starts to sounds better and better\nevery day.\n\n------\njdhn\nTo paraphrase Charlton Heston, you can pry my my manual transmission, non-\ninfotainment having car from my cold, dead hands!\n\n------\nbvanderveen\nJust go buy a pre-2012 Toyota, take it to a reputable independent Toyota-\nspecific shop in your area, and say \"make it good, boss\". Pay him whatever he\nasks.\n\nThen go find an insurance broker, ask them to put you in touch with someone\nwho can provide you with an agreed-value insurance policy. Insure the vehicle\nfor purchase price + what the shop changed you.\n\nGet regular oil changes at Jiffylube, and take the car into the Toyota guy\nonce a year. Although it may not be flashy, you'll have a reliable, efficient\nride for many, many years.\n\nNew cars simply aren't worth the creepy factor.\n\n------\nzepearl\nI just bought a Volvo (but I didn't get it yet) => apparently all Volvos have\nan embedded \"Event Data Recorder\":\n\n _This vehicle is equipped with an \"Event Data Recorder\" (EDR). Its primary\npurpose is to register and record data related to traffic accidents or\ncollision-like situations, such as times when the airbag deploys or the\nvehicle strikes an obstacle in the road. The data is recorded in order to\nincrease understanding of how vehicle systems work in these types of\nsituations. The EDR is designed to record data related to vehicle dynamics and\nsafety systems for a short time, usually 30 seconds or less. Etc..._ The\narticle is here\n[https://www.volvocars.com/ph/support/manuals/xc90/2016/intro...](https://www.volvocars.com/ph/support/manuals/xc90/2016/introduction/introduction/recording-\ndata) (same for other models).\n\nPersonally I'm OK with that - it's not an ongoing recording of how I drive,\nthe data is not pushed out of the car, and it might actually help defending\nmyself if I have an accident and I think that I'm not guilty.\n\n~~~\nabawany\nI believe these have existed in vehicles for quite a while and have been used\nas evidence for/against the driver. According to [1], 85% of all vehicles in\n2010 were expected to already have these things installed.\n\n[1]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_data_recorder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_data_recorder)\n\n~~~\nzepearl\nThank you, until now I was totally unaware of such systems.\n\nBut good to have things stored locally than to have them uploaded anywhere to\nthen be used for some analysis (puah, probably a point to be discussed).\n\nPersonally I'm OK if used for&against the driver (from a technical\nperspective, not as souce of abolute truth) if the duration of the recordings\nare short.\n\n~~~\nabawany\nIn a defensive driving course I took in the prior decade, the instructor\ninformed us that these collect data in a rolling 5 minute window until an\nadverse event occurs.\n\n------\ntobyhinloopen\nThis and the DLC are the worst trends in new cars.\n\n------\npropogandist\nHyundai and Genesis have been doing this with their vehicles. They offer a 3\nyear complimetary connected service program, which includes terms that allow\nmining of car telemetry and GPS data, which is then sold to data broker\nVeriRisk, who resells to insurance and other industry.\n\nAll this only screws the driver over and most people simply do not know this\nis happening.\n\n[https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hyundai-motor-\nameri...](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hyundai-motor-america-\nselects-verisk-for-usage-based-insurance-300630938.html)\n\n------\nrayhendricks\nThis is bullshit and is designed to enable Amazon to allow Toyota and its\ninsurance “partners” to extract more money out of the average American driver.\n\nRemember how Kroger/Safeway/friends started their loyalty programs? Just give\nus your purchase data + a unique identifier and we will only charge you the\nnormal price not the jacked up price. This is the same thing. 20 years from\nnow this will be normal because most older cars will be off the road.\n\nMy guess is Give it 5 years and we’ll find out that the algorithm is unfairly\ntargeting minority neighborhoods and jacking up insurance rates too.\n\n------\nthrowaway0a5e\nIf the insurance companies wanted to confirm that everyone who hogged the left\nlane slowly in a Prius 5-10yr ago traded up to a Tacoma any salesman could\nhave told them that for free.\n\n------\nmetric10\nI wish insurers weren't so heavy handed with this technology. If it's possible\nto tell if someone is a \"good\" or \"bad\" driver via this technology, why not at\nleast just tell the driver without the big brother BS? Many drivers might\nchange their habits based on this information.\n\nI know insurers have apps that you can install on your phone or ODBC modules\nyou can install. Does anyone know of any way to collect this data privately\nwithout reporting it to an insurer?\n\n------\nmodeless\nTesla is doing this with their new Tesla insurance product. But at least they\nwon't be sending the data to other insurers, since they want to keep it for\ntheir own use.\n\n~~~\nra7\nTesla CFO just yesterday bragged about the amount of data that's available to\ncollect from the car for insurance purposes [1]:\n\n> “We’re working now on what we call Version 2 or we can call it the first\n> version of our telematics product. And so really ultimately where we want to\n> get to with Tesla Insurance is to be able to use the data that’s captured in\n> the car, in the driving profile of the person in the car to be able to\n> assess correlations and probabilities of crash and be able then to assess a\n> premium on a monthly basis for that customer. And what makes this very\n> exciting for us is the amount of data that is available with the customers’\n> permission to use is, it’s not available in any other product or any other\n> vehicle in the world. So this gives us a unique advantage in terms of\n> information.”\n\n[1] - [https://electrek.co/2020/08/18/tesla-expand-insurance-\nbusine...](https://electrek.co/2020/08/18/tesla-expand-insurance-business/)\n\n------\nwebninja\nI really hope they manage to separate the brake and gas pedal technology from\nthe onboard computer. To the best of my understanding, there’s a central\nprocessing unit that controls everything and can receive remote commands.\n\nHacking it is literally the perfect way to remotely and unsuspiciously\nassassinate people. The 15CY (2015+) vehicles are all interconnected like\nthis.\n\n------\ntibbydudeza\nAnd also to the NSA.\n\n------\nprotomyth\nSo, how do I install a firewall on my vehicle?\n\n~~~\nshoes_for_thee\nWell that'll usually be installed by the factory between the engine and\npassenger compartment.\n\n~~~\njames_s_tayler\nAh touche hahaha\n\n------\nrangibaby\nMaybe this will lead to speed limit reform in Japan.\n\nThere is a legal requirement that the police need to prove that someone is\ndefinitely speeding, so police and automated speed cameras both allow speeding\n15-20km over posted speed limits, which means that de jure speed limits are\nall set 20km under the de facto speed limit.\n\n------\ndjsumdog\nI'm going to keep my dumb, manual transmission, non-Internet enable, 2006 WRX\nfor as long as humanly possible.\n\n------\nviburnum\nCars kill 35,000 people in America every year. America has over twice the\nfatality rate of other rich countries.\n\n~~~\nedmundsauto\nAdjusted per vehicle mile, or per capita? Is that also adjusted for\ndifferences in types of driving (city/highway)? I don't doubt your numbers,\njust want to make sure I have more clarity before I remember it.\n\n------\nsenectus1\nThis is how automated driving becomes mainstream.\n\nInsurance companies will classify Automated drivers as \"Best drivers\" and\ninsurance for those sorts of cars will be _really_ low compared to even\nblemish free human drivers.\n\n------\napazzolini\nI didn't see it in the article - does anyone know which model year this will\ntake effect from? I'm in the market for a new 4Runner, but that may switch to\na used model instead.\n\n~~~\nherman_toothrot\nI'd like to know this too, same reason. The article sorta makes it sound like\ncurrent vehicles are already equipped with the hardware.\n\n------\nnovok\nNeed laws to force cars to go into airplane mode and for there to be no loss\nof non-networked functionality if you remove their modems or go into said\nairplane mode.\n\n~~~\njames_s_tayler\n\"cars to go into airplane mode\"\n\nThat sounds so funny and ridiculous.\n\n------\nslipheen\nYou can typically find a guide to where any given modem is and manually remove\nit, but it's increasingly difficult to do so and causes functionally\ndowngrades.\n\n~~~\ndylan604\nUntil their counter move in the cat&mouse game is to embed the radio into the\nSoC. Maybe find the antenna lead and cut it?\n\n------\nadrr\nI wonder if you can use CCPA deletion request to remove all the data.\n\n------\nflukus\nSurely this will be illegal in Europe thanks to the GDPR?\n\nAt the same time it demonstrates why laws like the GDPR are needed.\n\n------\nlvs\nThis surveillance capitalism has to be stopped.\n\n------\nmrfusion\nIs this something you can turn off?\n\n------\npruthvishetty\nCue: Tesla insurance.\n\n------\nmarta_morena_25\nI wonder how many people complaining here take their phone into the vehicle,\nor use Google Maps. Sure, the data from the car (whatever is included there)\nmight give some additional insights, but these are very local (i.e. status of\nthe car and perhaps lane assist) compared to what Google/Apple already collect\nanyway (i.e. the \"big picture\", which is far more valuable). At least here you\nget something tangible out of it: Lower insurance premiums (if they were\nhigher, nobody would buy the freakin cars and I am pretty sure using this data\nfor insurance quotes must be an opt-in anyway)\n\n~~~\ntaftster\nThere are several things wrong with your post. For one, Google/Apple selling\nyour driving data to an insurance company is not likely happening today. This\nwould be the same type of mistreatment of personal information as it would be\nselling your health data to a health insurance company. Not that I know, but I\nhighly doubt that personal driving data is being shared with insurance\ncompanies from big tech. If they are, this would be a huge privacy agreement\nviolation and would cause a massive lawsuit action against said companies.\n\nYou're also being misled to believe that these driving trackers will actually\nreduce costs for drivers. In fact, they only serve as a means to raise\ninsurance premium on drivers that don't qualify for the absolute best rate.\nDid you ever run a stop sign? 5 MPH over the speed limit? Change lanes without\nsignaling? This level of detail is possible with very accurate GPS and will\nonly serve for the insurance companies to raise rates on most drivers.\n\nThere is absolutely nothing good about this move from Toyota, and other auto\nmanufactures will no doubt follow suit. This will likely be yet-another-\nerosion-of-privacy that only serves big business.\n\nYou should not so easily desire a \"you are the product\" relationship with auto\nmanufacturers.\n\n~~~\nlkbm\nWhy don't insurers just raise all rates 50% right now?\n\nMy guess is it's because there's a competitive market.\n\nThis doesn't change this. This allows for better price discrimination than our\ncurrent tables based just on age, car, neighborhood, gender, etc. This will\nraise rates for high-risk drivers and lower them for low-risk drivers. If the\ninsurer does the first and not the latter, the latter will go to an insurer\nwho does.\n\nIt seems like the view here is that everyone will only do the former, but\nagain: why don't they do that right now? Why does the effect of competition\nvanish in this case?\n\n\"Every insurer will use this technology eventually\" isn't an answer. Every\ninsurer has accident data by age. As a result, they offer lower rates to\nlower-risk age groups.\n\n~~~\nicedistilled\n>age, car, neighborhood, gender\n\nI wish. it's even worse than that.\n\nIt's priced on your credit score, so if you're poor you're screwed, and it's\npriced on whether you're married too.\n\nHere's how to get the best rates in the current system. In addition to\navoiding tickets/accidents become a 50 year old female married driver who has\nan excellent credit score and drives a lower trim subaru crosstrek.\n\nOr they could price based on actual driving behavior. Cue outrage.\n\n------\nPress2forEN\nJust tell me which rectangle of silicon to drill out.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nResponsive Web Typography With FlowType.JS - malij\nhttp://coding.smashingmagazine.com/2013/09/18/introducing-flowtype-js/\n\n======\npedalpete\nChecking out the source code\n[https://github.com/simplefocus/FlowType.JS/blob/master/flowt...](https://github.com/simplefocus/FlowType.JS/blob/master/flowtype.js),\nI was amazed to find how simply they've implemented this.\n\nBeautiful.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNaming is an act of creation - joedunn\nhttps://medium.com/coaching-notes/naming-is-an-act-of-creation-3510b3b16ef5\n======\nasprouse\nI find that while coding I practice lazing naming where I am able to start\nwriting `function foo` and which allows me to bypass the upfront naming\ndeliberation. Once I have my code written I can assign an accurate name to\nfunction and if the name is too long or convoluted I consider revising the\ncode. So naming for me ends up being a useful tool for self-reviewing my code.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\n... so THIS is where Apple tests our Apps - cburgdorfer\nhttps://twitter.com/cburgdorfer/status/317652392726376448\nLooks like a space ship...\n======\nJCB_K\nSo this is a location sharing app, and a founder/developer posts privately\nshared locations on Twitter? Seems like a good reason to avoid using it.\n\n~~~\nmkr-hn\nI wonder if the app has a privacy policy.\n\n~~~\ncburgdorfer\nI'm still working on the privacy policy, but until then please check\n<http://www.whereareyou-app.com>\n\nI don't track where the app itself is being used. But I have to store the\nlocations of the reactions to share back to the requester. I happened to find\nout apple's location simply because they were the only ones to use the app\n(apart from my tests).\n\nBut I don't keep any personal data (the app doesn't require\nmail/registration/identification etc.) hence it is impossible to connect any\ncoordinates in the database with an existing individual.\n\n------\njgeorge\nOn the surface, interesting. Under the surface, it makes me want to be sure to\navoid your apps in case I show up somewhere \"interesting\" enough for you to\npost on Twitter. :-(\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBeing a Manager Is Lonely - platz\nhttp://www.ianbicking.org/blog/2015/01/being-a-manager-is-lonely.html\n======\nsmacktoward\nThis post is not so much about management being lonely (though it is, at all\nlevels) as it is about the special loneliness of _middle_ management.\n\nIf you're a top manager, a founder or C-level type, you still have to deal\nwith loneliness (since the power you have over the people below you in the org\nchart inevitably crimps any relationships you form with them), but you at\nleast get the compensating benefit of being able, to some degree, to determine\nyour own destiny: you make decisions, the company pivots to follow them.\n\nMiddle managers don't even get that; they're sandwiched between the people\nabove them, who actually get to decide what the \"company line\" is, and those\nbelow them, who just have to follow it. Middle managers have to not just\nfollow it, but _enthusiastically agree_ with it, even if they think it's\nstupid or counterproductive. (Or at least they have to do so whenever the\npeople they manage are watching.) Failure to do so, to participate eagerly in\nwhatever fad thinking the people at the top are high on this week, is what I\nused to hear described when I worked on an Air Force base as \"a career-\nlimiting maneuver.\"\n\nAnd on top of that, they have to work in an environment where even the limited\npower they _do_ have to make a difference can be thrown out the window at any\ntime. All it takes is for someone higher up the food chain to take an interest\nin your team and suddenly all the decisions you've made start getting\noverridden. Their reasons for doing so can be completely arbitrary, but that\ndoesn't matter. If you're lucky, the person doing the overriding is at least\ngenerous enough not to do that to you in front of your team. If you're lucky.\n\nThis is part of the reason why the traditional career path of promoting senior\ndevelopers into middle management is so destructive. The usual critique of\nthat model revolves around programmers often not having the kinds of skills\nand experiences that make good managers, and that's true. But it's also true\nthat middle management just generally sucks as a job, regardless of who you\nput in it.\n\n~~~\nlemdj\nThe best-liked and most effective managers that I have worked with did not\nalways show support for the company's decisions. Instead, they would say \"we\nhave to do this, but: (1) here is how I can make it as painless as possible\nfor you (2) here is how we can make sure that you still achieve your personal\nobjectives\"\n\nSometimes (depending on the sensitivity of the issue) they would also tell the\nteam what they were doing to try and get the decision changed.\n\nI have been fortunate to work places where the higher levels of management\nwelcomed dissenting opinions - maybe that is one of the key bits to look for\nwhen determining if a (traditionally-structured) company is a good place to be\na mid-level manager.\n\n~~~\nsailfast\nAgreed - I don't think that all honesty has to go out the window just because\nyou are in a management position. Communicating decisions is one aspect, but\neffectively implementing them in your team is a whole other thing. Honest\ndiscussion of concerns and what can be improved is important, and as much as\nmanagement likes to think their poker face is awesome, employees are smart and\nsee straight through bullshit.\n\nSecondly, what I heard in your comment (and agree with) but don't see in the\noriginal post is anything about engaging to be an advocate for your employees\nup the chain, giving them an opportunity to tell you what they need, the\nquestions they have, the things you can do. To a certain extent this might\nmake you lonelier on the \"who do I talk to?\" side, but helps a great deal as a\nreminder of the purpose of the job.\n\n------\nHtsthbjig\nLearn to say \"no\". I have a company that I managed. In the company I was the\n\"boss\", but my boss was our customers. You need to say no to customers often.\n\nBefore learning to say no life was miserable. After I did it was heaven. Learn\nto say reasonable noes to your customers, to your upper managers, to your\npartner,to your kids, and your life will be much better.\n\nForget the advice of that stupid blog. You should not always support upper\nmanagement, you are not a drone. If you work in the army and they tell you to\nkill every civilian inside a village, you must say no.\n\nWhen upper management wants to do something that is stupid and you will have\nto support and be responsible for it, you should say no(after you double proof\nthat it is not you who is wrong).\n\nGet a mentor you respect and admire. Create a mastermind of the best managers\nyou could find. You will discover management is not what you think it is(or\nbetter said, it does not have to be that way).\n\n------\nwalterbell\nLeadership is lonely. There's always a boss behind the boss, even in the\nC-suite. Good managers can translate in all directions of a network graph, not\nmerely from the nonlocal to the local.\n\nThe Manager Tools podcast gives insight into the language and thought\nprocesses of top-down thinkers. Useful for learning how how to work within and\naround such structures: [http://www.manager-\ntools.com/2013/04/politics-101-chapter-3-...](http://www.manager-\ntools.com/2013/04/politics-101-chapter-3-myth-just-world-part-1) &\n[http://www.manager-\ntools.com/2013/05/politics-101-chapter-3-...](http://www.manager-\ntools.com/2013/05/politics-101-chapter-3-myth-just-world-part-2) . This should\nbe balanced by authors like Tim Ferris, Chris Malburg\n([http://www.amazon.com/How-Fire-Boss-Chris-\nMalburg/dp/0425127...](http://www.amazon.com/How-Fire-Boss-Chris-\nMalburg/dp/0425127346)), or your favorite historical barbarian.\n\nThere's a Heinz von Foerster essay on free will within deterministic systems,\n_\" Only those questions that are in principle undecidable, we can decide. Why?\nSimply because the decidable questions are already decided by the choice of\nthe framework in which they are asked, and by the choice of rules of how to\nconnect what we call \"the question\" with what we may take for an \"answer.\"\"_,\n[http://web.stanford.edu/group/SHR/4-2/text/foerster.html](http://web.stanford.edu/group/SHR/4-2/text/foerster.html)\n& [http://kiriakakis.net/comics/mused/a-day-at-the-\npark](http://kiriakakis.net/comics/mused/a-day-at-the-park)\n\nComplex bureacracies (academia, airlines, government, large enterprises)\nillustrate that thinking humans are most valuable at the boundary of system\ndeterminism. Any human who just does what the \"rules\" or \"book\" or \"computer\"\nsays, will eventually be replaced by a mindless algorithm/app. But airline\ncustomer service people in First Class, or executive assistants who have\nworked with the same CEO for decades, or great managers - define human free\nwill and agency, with their decision-making capacity for handling the entropy\nof \"irregular operations\".\n\nIf we view large organizations as semi-deterministic programs for which we\nhave lost the source code, how would that change our view of management?\n\n------\nseasoup\nAs a middle manager there will be some decisions that are yours to make, the\nhigher you go in middle management, the more of these decisions there will be.\nAn important part of your job is knowing which of these decisions is yours to\nmake and not criticize people above you in the hierarchy for making decisions\nthat they can make. Sure, push back a little before the decision is made to\ninfluence it, but once it's made you do have to back it. The key for me was to\nnot focus on things I thought were wrong, but focus instead on the good parts\nof the decision. If there are no good parts of the decision and it happens too\nmany times, may be time to move on.\n\n------\nChuckMcM\nYou need a mentor. Someone who is also a manager, you can trust implicitly,\nand you can talk to about your thoughts without it \"getting back\" to the\npeople.\n\n------\nia\ntotally agree. i think it's why many many many tech managers aren't technical.\nmost truly technical people cannot put up with the cognitive dissonance\nrequired to convincingly say one thing while believing the opposite.\n\n------\nsheepmullet\n\"But their advice is clear: if you are asked your opinion, you must agree with\nthe decision, maybe stoically, but you must agree, not just concede. You must\nspeak for the company, not for yourself.\"\n\nAnd this is why middle management is next to useless and why there have been\nso many cuts over the last 20 years. If you aren't honest with your direct\nreports then you will be seen as untrustworthy and/or clueless. Either way I'm\ncertainly not going to feel inclined to be honest and straightforward with\nyou.\n\n------\ndrderidder\nI don't like the manager / developer separation. I've had better results using\nlightweight strategies to let projects be more or less self-managing.\nBasically just creating a shared vision, giving responsibilities to people,\nletting them set their own goals, and then publishing to the group how those\ngoals are progressing on a weekly basis. It doesn't take much time and people\nusually appreciate the communication.\n\n------\nSpooky23\nThere's way too much black and white in the blog post and these comments here.\nIt's more art than science.\n\nThe reality is as a manager you're an influencer and leader. You also need to\nhave personal integrity or you'll just end up depressed. If you have no\nability to influence upper management, you need to work on how to connect with\nyour boss.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nUnibox - A New Take on the OS X Mail Client - lassejansen\nhttp://www.macrumors.com/2012/08/27/unibox-a-new-take-on-the-os-x-mail-client/\n\n======\nphren0logy\nI thought twitter didn't allow this kind of aggregation across services in\nnative clients anymore?\n\n<https://dev.twitter.com/blog/changes-coming-to-twitter-api>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Rise and Fall of Cribspot - objections\nhttps://www.tcbusinessnews.com/2018/04/29/the-rise-and-fall-of-cribspot/\n======\na_t48\nHow is this different from a property management company (say, Property\nForce)? The fact that they have a website over just putting out on CraigsList?\n\n------\nSlowRobotAhead\n> The vision was to provide an end-to-end housing solution, with landlords\n> handing control of their properties over to Cribspot and still earning a\n> passive income. Tenants could use the platform to find properties, tour\n> properties virtually, ask questions about different houses or apartments,\n> schedule property maintenance, or pay rent online.\n\n> “It ended up being a lot more people-intensive than we thought,” Dancer\n> said.\n\n> The new challenges ate into Cribspot’s profit margins. Between furnishing\n> apartments, handling maintenance claims, and even offering a rent guarantee\n> for landlords, Cribspot was spending too much money.\n\n... Who in the hell was advising these guys!?\n\nThey wanted to intentionally take on all all the worst parts of being\nlandlords while the actual property owner sat around with a guarantee of being\npaid?\n\nI get that the idea is that handling these issues in volume may seem like you\nget good at it and develop processes - but that only works if you happen to\nsee the same exact issues over and over. That’s not the rental industry.\nEveryone has stories of landlords and vice versa.\n\nIt was “more people-intensive” than they had expected huh? I wonder what they\nwere expecting because it seems obvious.\n\n~~~\nneonate\nOther people's mistakes always are, especially in hindsight. What's not so\nclear is what value there is in \"what were they thinking\" beration.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAnnouncing MongoDB 3.0 - meghan\nhttps://www.mongodb.com/blog/post/announcing-mongodb-30\n======\ndavidw\n> a database so powerful, flexible, and easy to manage that it can be the new\n> DBMS standard for any team, in any industry.\n\nIt's good to see they haven't sacrificed the hype while working on other\nfeatures :-/\n\n~~~\nstingraycharles\nAs much as I agree with your sentiment, it still remains one of the most\npopular databases out there. All us techies can learn something from the hype\nthey managed to create.\n\n~~~\njsjohnst\nSource needed. Can't make outlandish claims like that without supporting\nevidence.\n\nHere's a couple disproving your claim:\n\n[https://www.scalebase.com/the-state-of-the-open-source-\ndatab...](https://www.scalebase.com/the-state-of-the-open-source-database-\nmarket-mysql-leads-the-way/)\n\n[http://db-engines.com/en/ranking](http://db-engines.com/en/ranking)\n\n~~~\nmorsch\nSo grandparent claims it's one of the most popular databases out there; your\nfirst links claims it's in 4th place of all open-source databases; the second\nlink says it's 4th place overall. Sounds fine to me (of course, who knows how\nthose sites came up with those statistics). Maybe he ninja-edited and\noriginally said _the_ most popular, I guess that'd explain the rage.\n\n~~~\njsjohnst\nI'm pretty sure it said it was \"the\" most popular before, hence the replies,\nbut I could be wrong.\n\n~~~\nstingraycharles\nNo it was not, because that would be very easy to disprove (I can imagine\nMySQL and PostgreSQL being far more popular).\n\n------\nharel\nOK, I'll provide a user's perspective as we are invested in Mongo as a storage\nsystem for statistical data and have been using it for a good few years now.\nMongoDb has been, so far, very good to us. I did not experience any of the\nproblems people sometimes cry so very vocally about. My main concern about\nMongo is actually one that is addressed by this release so I'm quite excited\nto try it out - data compression. Mongo is generally quite irresponsible about\ndisk space usage. Yes disks are cheap but I rather not have a 2TB dataset if I\ncan have half the size, thank you very much.\n\nAs a side note, the hype from MongoDb the company equals the anti-hype you get\non places like HN, so I guess they even out.\n\n~~~\nfunctional_test\nYou may also really like TokuMX. It has the same API as Mongo (even works with\nMongo drivers) but way lower disk use, faster indices, and better query\nsemantics (e.g. updates don't affect the cursor you're iterating right now).\n\nAfter using MongoDB for years (very happily too, I'm not one of the anti-Mongo\ncrowd), I ended up switching and it's been great.\n\n~~~\nharel\nThanks for the tip. I'll be sure to check it out.\n\n------\njimbokun\n\"We will continue to push the envelope in data interaction semantics, by\nimplementing a transaction system for the distributed document model.\"\n\nSo...Mongo \"can be the new DBMS standard for any team, in any industry\", and\nthey don't even support transactions yet?\n\n~~~\ngaius\nI am old enough to remember MySQL in the 90s, those guys sneered at anyone who\nsaid they needed transactions, just do it in your application. Same with\nenforcing relational integrity, just do it in your application. We all know\nhow that turned out.\n\n~~~\nfrik\nMySQL is one of the top 3 databases, it is used as main database in Facebook,\nWikipedia and many other high traffic we sites. There are forks like MariaDB\nand alternatives with more features like Postgres. MySQL with its several\ndifferent db engines is unique and with the default InnoDB engine it is on par\nwith its competitors.\n\n~~~\ngaius\nYes, the InnoDB engine adds transactions, foreign keys, and all the other\ntraditional RDBMS features that the original authors of MySQL didn't think\nanyone needed.\n\nInnoDB by the way is an Oracle product.\n\n~~~\nXorlev\nInnoDB wasn't always an Oracle product. It was bought in 2005.\n\n~~~\nlafar6502\nLike many other Oracle 'products'\n\n------\nnevi-me\nI'm excited to see 3.0, but from what I've seen on JIRA, there might still be\nsome issues with WiredTiger (fair considering how they moved from RocksDB to\nWT in a short period). Will be interesting to see if they'll close out those\nissues before they drop 3.0 in March.\n\nA few months ago they closed up some of JIRA (comments and a bit\nepics/sprints), so some issues would be created and have no comments exposed.\nI thought they were working on transactions in this release (while they were\nstill around 2.7.3 or so), but I guess that's not the case.\n\nLastly, I wonder how this will impact TokuMX, both positively and negatively?\nReally whether they'll be making their crown improvements into a pluggable\nstorage type/engine, and if users would be able to take that and plug it into\nMongo without patent issues on their fractal tree indexing.\n\nNonetheless, exciting news for some of us who are building on web-scale,\nMVCCABCD databases which operate at the speed of hype and web-scale :)\n\nEDIT: saw that Tokutek has created TokuMXse, only after my post\n\n------\njames33\nI feel like the vast majority of people that bash on MongoDB didn't fully\nunderstand it and what it was good for when they tried it. We've been using it\nin production for nearly 3 years in online games and have had nothing but good\nexperiences with it. This 3.0 release will be yet another big step forward and\nwe are excited to reap the continued benefits.\n\n~~~\nnemo44x\nThat's mainly correct. Or they used for it something it simply isn't suitable\nfor.\n\nYou can't just throw random data into it and expect it to work. Proper\ndocument modeling and understanding write concern solve almost all the\nproblems people have with MongoDB.\n\nIt still has a ways to go but so many of the comments here are issues from way\nback in v2.0.\n\nRegardless, it's still very popular and only gaining popularity. And\nimproving.\n\n~~~\nvkjv\nAgreed. I've also been using it in production for years and the hate is often\nmisguided. My issues are almost never with lack of features, but almost always\nwith the cavalier attitude towards bugs, even catastrophic ones.\n\n------\nkosma\n> Reduces operational overhead up to 95%\n\nAnd 40% more hip. Gotta love those numbers. Also, don't forget about the new\nWiredTiger storage engine - sounds way cooler than, say, InnoDB! Hype is\nstrong with this one.\n\n~~~\nlclarkmichalek\nEh, Wired Tiger was built outside of Mongo\n([http://www.wiredtiger.com/](http://www.wiredtiger.com/)), and does seem to\nbe legitimately decent.\n\n~~~\nkosma\n...and their most important improvement isn't even their own.\n\nI'm not a fan of bashing any product, but after using MongoDB in several\nprojects, in legitimate document database use cases, I just can't find any\nbright side.\n\n~~~\nlclarkmichalek\nOh, I can't stand Mongo. But I have nothing but respect for the Wild Tiger\nguys, and wouldn't want to see them slandered ;)\n\n------\nvegabook\nI'm writing 20000 financial ticks per second into Mongo on commodity hardware,\nnamely a bog-standard i7 with 32 gig costing less than 2k. I don't have a big\nbudget. I don't have a lot of time to mess with ACID. There is _no way_\npostgres will do this for under 10-20k, without twice the work. I just need to\nkeep up with the firehose of data I get from my financial application. I'm\ntalking about my own big-data issue and even if a few records were ever to get\nlost, I don't care, because that's what big data is about: statistical\nsampling. And that does not require 100% in 100% of cases safety of every data\npoint. That by the way, is the truth of big data. Who cares if a few records\ntheoretically can be lost? I just need to capture as much as possible as fast\nas possible. Mongo fits perfectly. Redis would work, but I'd need 512 gig of\nRAM.....\n\nI don't understand all the angst against this technology. If you need\nrollback-able transaction-guaranteed, exactly-once consistency, normalised\nschema with triggers left right and centre, you knew long ago that this wasn't\nthe tech for you. Why is everyone so negative? I for one cannot wait to be\nable to store 4x more data on the same SSD, and using less RAM. In my view,\nMongo is a massive enabling technology for startups on limited budget.\n\n------\nKiro\nAm I the only one using MongoDB who think it works great? I'm really happy\nwith it.\n\n~~~\n127001brewer\nI have been developing with MongoDB for about the past year. (Briefly, I have\ndeveloped, and continue to support, an ASP.NET MVC C# Web Application that's\nused by a few thousand people daily. For my personal projects that use\nMongoDB, I develop with PHP and Python.)\n\nOverall, I enjoy working with MongoDB, because it ( _generally_ ) maps\ndirectly to your object - there is no need for an additional layer (such as an\nObject Relational Mapper (ORM)).\n\nHowever, you have to be _more careful_ with your data structure. For example,\nhaving sub-arrays in sub-arrays is probably not a good idea.\n\nI will be happy to share more, so feel free to look up my profile.\n\n~~~\nmsandford\nI ran a website and operations for a company that did over 1mm a year in\nrevenue. Everything was done off of a single machine that was the webserver,\ndatabase server and media server. Had 10k customers all of whom were active\ndaily. Postgres and Python/Django and I never saw load averages much over 10%.\nUnless you have a substantial fraction of a million daily users you probably\ndon't need mongo.\n\n~~~\n127001brewer\nI agree with that MongoDB may have been overkill, but my web application's\narchitecture was chosen before I joined the team.\n\n------\nlesingerouge\nSomebody at MongoDB must have read the early Oracle story. Start with one\nconsumer niche (in mongo's case I think it's the common building-cms-based-\nwebsites web developer), improve the product, market ruthlessly.\n\nGranted, their product is not excellent and it has major flaws and lacks some\ncommon DB features, but they have the advantage of developer-ease-of-use and\nlow barrier to use.\n\nI think this product is simply not yet \"DONE\".\n\n------\nericingram\nWe've been using TokuMX for a while and I highly recommend others take a\nserious look there. It already contains the benefits cited for MongoDB 3 and\nmore. Toku also has a release candidate for the new Mongo storage engine API\nnamed TokuMXse, though it's interesting to see that TokuMX proper still\noutperforms it: [http://www.tokutek.com/2015/01/first-tokumxse-performance-\nnu...](http://www.tokutek.com/2015/01/first-tokumxse-performance-numbers/)\n\n~~~\nnemo44x\nProblem is where it is branched. I don't think they will be able to keep up\nwell. Plus, the new MongoDB storage engine (wire tiger) takes care of its\nbiggest issue which Toku addresses.\n\nPlus, I think you'll be able to just buy Toku's storage engine if you want it\nwhen they make it pluggable with the new MonogDB storage engine API.\n\n------\nmlschmitt23\nI agree this announcement is dripping with hype, but all the same I'm excited\nto get my hands on this. Seems like they're trying to address (some) common\npain points.\n\n------\njungleg\nI'll add to what @harel says below. If it wasn't for MongoDB, my last company\nwould have probably not survived. Sure, our usecase was very specific (very\nwrite-heavy app) but MongoDB delivered and still delivers without any\nproblems. I think there can be usecases where MongoDB is not the best fit, but\nfor wide number of applications, MongoDB is the perfect fit.\n\n~~~\ndisbelief\nI'm actually surprised that MongoDB saved your write-heavy app. In my\nexperience, it's Mongo's poor write throughput that causes the most headaches.\nThis 3.0 release finally begins to address that with collection and document\nlevel concurrency control (locking).\n\n------\nalexgaribay\nCan some people who have used Mongo in production elaborate on their\nexperiences where Mongo worked well or didn't work well? I see a lot of more\nhate than I do love for Mongo on HN and I'm curious why.\n\n~~~\ndisbelief\nI've used Mongo in two large projects and have mixed feelings about it.\n\nPros: It's great for building your MVP. Super easy to get up and running,\nsuper easy to work with at a superficial level (I'm talking about storing data\nand querying here more than ops and administration), dataset can grow to a\nfairly large size without you having to think about your database at all,\nfreeing you to think about your business. Mongo was my first brush with\n\"schemaless\" and that's a big advantage particularly for early-stage projects\nwhere things are in flux. I also enjoy using JS as the query language, because\nI like JS, but YMMV.\n\nAlso for certain use cases, particularly the single document case, it's\nprobably one of the best solutions available. However, in my experience, this\nends up being a limitation if your data doesn't fit nicely into a single\ndocument, and the types of data that do fit this use case are rare.\n\nThe cons you've probably heard before: no transactions, no joins, not ACID\ncompliant, until very recently writes locked the entire database,\nscaling/sharding _just works_ until it doesn't.\n\n------\njimbokun\nThe differences between mongodb.com and mongodb.org are striking.\n\nI was confused about why there was no links to documentation on the .com,\nuntil I stumbled onto the .org, which lists actual features right on the home\npage.\n\nAlso striking: no mention of 3.0 on the .org home page at all, and on the\ndownloads page, you have to scroll down to \"Development Releases (unstable)\"\nto find any reference to the 3.0 builds.\n\n[https://www.mongodb.org/downloads](https://www.mongodb.org/downloads)\n\nQuite the split personality between the two sites.\n\n~~~\nnemo44x\nThe .com is the corporation behind MongoDB. .org is the open source project.\nYes, they are intertwined heavily at this point (but it wasn't always this\ncase back in the day) but I can understand why they try and keep their\nseparation of concerns here.\n\n------\nddorian43\nYou can build a slow product and when you make it normal-speed you say 5x\nfaster!\n\n------\nvkjv\nAm I the only person that things the sheer number of people that have had\nscaling issues with mongo is a GOOD thing? I think it speaks to changing\ntechnology landscape and attitude towards data.\n\nMany more people are collecting and working on larger data sets than they\nwould have ever dreamed of years ago. I credit MongoDB, in part, to allowing\ndevelopers to do this and encourage them to try. Sure it has it's limitations\nand may not be as great in areas as other databases, but, wow have a lot of\npeople tried and succeeded.\n\ntl;dr, If reverse survivor-ship bias is a thing, I think mongodb has it.\n\n~~~\ntracker1\nI've been pretty happy with mongodb overall for a few years now. It isn't\nalways the best fit... but it's a very good fit for a lot of scenarios.\nReplication and sharding in mongodb is way easier to get started with than\nmost databases, and the failover for replication is very good as well. Though\nunderstanding how it works is still advised. Such as not having more than X\nnodes voting for electing a leader in case of failover, etc.\n\nThat said, there are situations I'd be more inclined to reach for\nElasticSearch, Cassandra or others. As soon as RethinkDB has it's automatic\nfailover story in place, I'd put it above MongoDB though, slightly nicer\ndeveloper interface, and admin is much nicer than others.\n\nThen again, if PostgreSQL got replication with failover in the box, I'd\nprobably use that far more.\n\n------\nendijs\n\"MongoDB 3.0 will be generally available in March, when we finish putting it\nthrough its paces. Stay tuned for our latest release candidate, we would love\nit if you would try it out and give us feedback.\" So... no 3.0 final yet.\nThat's disappointing. However - I'm really excited about 3.0. Initial tests\nshow way better performance than 2.6. Plus data takes just 1/4th of disk\nspace. That's amazing. I hope this is just beginning and each next release\nwill add more and more features based on what WT can deliver.\n\n------\ncheald\nI'm actually fairly interested in the WiredTiger integration. I switched from\nMongoDB to TokuMX about a year ago because of disk space and atomicity\nconcerns, and Toku's been really good to me. Mongo 3.0 promises to catch up in\nmany respects; if it does, then it might actually solve the vast majority of\nthe complaints that people have historically had with it.\n\nThe marketing copy still pretends that TokuMX doesn't exist, though - it's had\nthese features and more (including transactions) for quite some time now.\n\n------\ntankerdude\nThe announcement, to me, was way over the top. There was so much noise in the\nannouncement with very little in terms of signal. It reads almost like\nvaporware, even though it probably was not.\n\nJust give us facts, plain and simple. What it improves and how it improves it.\nWhen there are that many adjectives about the project, it just causes me to\ntune out a bit.\n\nWas this supposed to be part of a sales deck or something? (An as aside, I use\nmongo and know its pluses and minuses so reading all that hoopla is just\nunseemly.)\n\n------\nfasteo\nMongoDB seems to be a love/hate relation. I haven't used it myself, but I\nfound this article[1] very useful. My conclusion is that MongoDB works, but\nyou need to understand it and take some time to plan the deployment.\n\n[1] [https://blog.serverdensity.com/does-everyone-hate-\nmongodb/](https://blog.serverdensity.com/does-everyone-hate-mongodb/)\n\n------\nnnain\nSlightly off topic: I prepared this MongoDB Quick Reference Card last year;\nnever put it online before. Hope it'll be useful to someone looking for a\nquick peek into how mongo db commands work -\n[https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58502821/mongodb_qrc.pdf](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58502821/mongodb_qrc.pdf)\n\n------\nastral303\nComment threads like these help me learn how different the HN\ngroupthink/prevailing thought is from the reality on the ground.\n\nIn reality, MongoDB works well enough to be where they are, armed with the\nmoney they have.\n\n~~~\nnemo44x\nThat's the point so many here fail to address. Lots of businesses are using\nMongoDB at large scale (2PB clusters) and willing to talk about it too.\n\nMongoDB gets a bad rep, some of it their own fault for sure, but it's not as\nlousy as some people here make it out to be. Careful object modeling goes a\nlong ways. Wired Tiger will be a massive improvement on their current storage\nengine, which is pretty awful for write-heavy loads to be sure.\n\n------\nje42\nAnybody knows how FoundationDB compares to MongoDB 3.0 ?\n\n------\njedberg\nDo they still value speed over durability? If so, thanks but no thanks. I\nprefer my database to be durable. If I want speed, I use RAM.\n\n~~~\nnemo44x\nYou've always been able to control this with write concern on a per-write\nbasis. If you can handle an instance where and acknowledged write may not get\nreplicated and possibly lost (logging use case - fast writes) then use that\nlevel of write concern. If you require extreme durability (slower writes but\nmore durable) then use that level. In many applications you have both\nrequirements and MongoDB lets you choose at write time the level of durability\nyou want.\n\n~~~\njedberg\nDoes version 3 fix the issue where the database lies to you and says the write\nwas complete once it hits the network socket and doesn't wait for the ack?\n\n[http://hackingdistributed.com/2013/01/29/mongo-\nft/](http://hackingdistributed.com/2013/01/29/mongo-ft/)\n\n~~~\nnemo44x\nHe was using v2.0 in that article. A version that is years old and pretty\nawful. The default then was that a write was fired from the client and that's\nit - fire and forget. A stupid default.\n\nThe default since is to get an ack from the server. You can control this on\neach write and make it more durable (make sure it is replicated to 1, majority\nor all replicas) or faster (just get to the server). The default is to be\nwritten to the primary server and put into the transaction log so if it\ndoesn't get committed to disk (possibly 60 seconds by default) it can recover.\nThe transaction log is flushed (fsync) every 100ms by default and is\nconfigurable. You can also specify that the write is only acknowledged after\nthe transaction log is synced. Anyways the default is it is put into the\ntransaction log and then acknowledged.\n\n~~~\njedberg\nOk, fair enough. Then the answer is yes, they did fix it. :)\n\nI guess I'll give it another look then.\n\nBut I'm still a little wary of a database built by people who ever thought\nthat such behavior was acceptable for a database...\n\n~~~\nnemo44x\nI'd make sure you use the new storage engine, wiredtiger too if you give them\nanother shot. The standard one works well on read heavy use cases but\nsaturates I/O pretty quickly if you're doing a lot of updates that make\ndocuments grow if you don't take some precautions.\n\nI also agree, having a setting of \"fire and forget\", although useful in some\n(limited!) use cases, is not a sane default.\n\n------\niagooar\nYou got your chance, Mongo, and you screwed it up.\n\nI tried getting the most out of you. I treated you like a princess, I indulged\nyou, your wishes became my wishes and your thoughts were my thoughts. I\nstopped listening to all that criticism around you and thought of you as of a\nmisunderstood child, even as you would refuse to do even the easiest tasks one\ncould imagine.\n\nI gave you everything there is to give, but you broke my heart. You left me in\nthe most critical moments. I trusted you, but you would go your own way. Tears\nwere shed and countless sleepless nights were to follow.\n\nRemember that night you disappeared without leaving a sign? I sent you\nmessages which got a response only after many hours. You didn't give a damn\nabout my needs. One you told me: \"it's not me, it's you\". And I believed you,\nI truly did.\n\nIt's over now. It's been some time without you, and I'm getting better. I have\ndiscovered, that not everyone is like you. Some DBs care, they really do. You\ncan trust them, they give you their everything.\n\nI'm still struggling falling in love again, but it's getting better. Don't\nwrite me back. Goodbye.\n\n~~~\nbhouston\nHow is a non factual comment like this being up voted? Just because it aligns\nwith hn prejudices?\n\nEdit: I guess for the same reasons I am being down voted without comment.\n\n~~~\nkrenoten\nBecause it alludes to problems many people have experienced with this product.\nAll verbal communication is indirect to a degree. This is no exception.\n\n~~~\nxtrumanx\nYou have to admit that it feels very out of place here on HN.\n\nI wouldn't have minded it as much if it wasn't so long and including some\ndetailed issues OP faced with Mongo.\n\n------\nslantview\nSo I heard this means it's webscale now?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nRoad-Tripping with the Amazon Nomads - scott_s\nhttps://www.theverge.com/2019/7/10/20687434/amazon-sellers-nomad-merchants-products-malls-walmart\n======\ngumby\nA fascinating example of arbitrage.\n\nThere are a lot of horrible (Uber, counterfeiters exploiting Amazon's product\nco-mingling etc etc) and horrifying (DoorDash) examples of the modern economy,\nbut this seems like a great example of computing both at the edge (phones) and\ncloud (amazon's pricing database) for the benefit of everyone (retailer gets\nrid of those jeep toys; buyer elsewhere can find a jeep toy, and person\ndriving around gets paid to facilitate). I love it.\n\n------\ntedmcory77\nChris is one of the most generous people Ive seen in the business.\n\nNot afraid of hard work either.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nRealistic rain drops in JS - vvnraman\nhttp://maroslaw.github.io/rainyday.js/demo1.html\n\n======\nmgraczyk\nLooks great! The biggest drops sort of spoil the illusion at times because\nthey pass in front of or behind other drops without absorbing them. Maybe a\ncool tweak for v2 would be to add some simple collision resolution?\n\nIt would probably look great if you did a front to back sort based on droplet\nsize, and resolved collisions (which you'd have to detect) by deleting the\nsmaller droplet.\n\n~~~\npbnjay\nLooks like they did:\n\n[http://maroslaw.github.io/rainyday.js/demo012_3.html](http://maroslaw.github.io/rainyday.js/demo012_3.html)\n\n~~~\nstarbugstone\nThat patch of blue sky on the right doesn't feel quite right and takes the\nrealism out of it a bit.\n\nI know, just me being fussy. Impressive use of canvas though, it could be\nreally nice as an appeasing background image on a site. Using the navigator\ngeolocalisation and a weather site we could have a weather sensitive site.\nHave to test resource wise and see.\n\n------\njameszhao00\nLooks pretty cool but the heavy aliasing is a bit distracting.\n\n~~~\nfudged71\nYeah, I mostly see blinking pixels. Maybe it is better on a retina display.\n\n~~~\nTheSpiceIsLife\nVery convincing on Retina display from two feet or more.\n\n------\nTD-Linux\nThis is more impressive than I first thought... I wiped my screen, thinking I\nhad sneezed on it.\n\n------\nseanica\nPress F11 then refresh. Reminds of screensavers I wrote in the 90s/early\n2000s. Very nice.\n\n------\npiratebroadcast\nI'm finally getting pretty comfortable with Rails, HTML, CSS, enough to\nactually use things like this. Can anyone recommend slick/good looking js like\nthis that would be fun to toy with?\n\n~~~\nthekingshorses\nYou can try it out my hacker news web app for mobile.\n[http://hn.premii.com](http://hn.premii.com)\n\nSource code at [http://github.com/premii/hn](http://github.com/premii/hn) Or\nThis is another awesome HN app. Scroll down to bottom for source code.\n[http://hackerwebapp.com/](http://hackerwebapp.com/)\n\n------\nfuthey\nLove it, used it in a project a while back. Unfortunately it's pretty resource\nintensive. Had to disable it for most mobile and tablet browsers.\n\n------\nverelo\nThis is really great, amazing to see that things like this are possible on a\ncommon users browser. What was the inspiration behind creating this?\n\n------\njames33\nThis is just begging for some JS audio to go with it!\n\n~~~\nkawsper\nIt would work great together with\n[http://www.rainymood.com/](http://www.rainymood.com/)\n\n------\ndevgutt\nreally cool. Something to help the mood\n[http://www.noisli.com/](http://www.noisli.com/)\n\n------\nrubiquity\nHow do I make it go away?\n\n~~~\nmatrix\nIt's a demo page. You can see the other examples here:\n\n[http://maroslaw.github.io/rainyday.js/](http://maroslaw.github.io/rainyday.js/)\n\n(click on the images to see each demo)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFirst Evidence of Sleep in Flight - dnetesn\nhttp://maxplanck.nautil.us/article/326/first-evidence-of-sleep-in-flight\n======\njfk13\nWhile this may be the \"first evidence\" in the sense of measurements of brain\nactivity, swifts apparently sleeping at 10,000 feet were directly observed 100\nyears ago:\n[https://www.rspb.org.uk/globalassets/downloads/documents/con...](https://www.rspb.org.uk/globalassets/downloads/documents/conservation\n--sustainability/help-swifts/amazing-swift-facts.pdf)\n\n------\nesoterae\nTechnically we've known for decades that humans can sleep while flying\nairplanes :+/\n\n------\nilamont\n_When the birds circled on rising air currents the hemisphere connected to the\neye facing the direction of the turn was typically awake while the other was\nasleep, suggesting that the birds were watching where they were going. “The\nfrigatebirds may be keeping an eye out for other birds to prevent collisions\nmuch like ducks keep an eye out for predators,” says Rattenborg._\n\nEarlier it said these brief periods of sleep would start as the sun went down;\ndoes it mean that they would only catch some sleep at dusk/twilight, or this\nwould continue throughout the night? And if it's at night, do the birds have\ngood enough night vision to see anything flying nearby or swimming on the\nsurface below (such as their prey, squid and flying fish)?\n\n------\njobigoud\nImagine what we could achieve if humans needed only 42 minutes of sleep per\nday…\n\n~~~\ngnulinux\nI think it would give a constant time advantage. If humanity operates on\nO(f(t)) in that case we would operate on O(C f(t)). That is, as opposed,\nimprovements that change the model itself (i.e. f) such as increased\nproductivity, automation, cultural shifts etc...\n\n~~~\njobigoud\nI thought about this argument some more. Instead of spending ten times longer\nawake, you could say the same for living ten times longer. It's also just a\nlinear increase your reasoning would apply.\n\nBut I feel that if all geniuses of history had lived 800 years they could have\nachieve more and we would be further along.\n\nIt changes the model because along the way we make meta discoveries about\nlearning and methodology and science itself, and even just discoveries that we\nbuild upon. That feeds back into our progress.\n\n------\ntome\nIn business class, maybe.\n\n------\nmrbonner\nCould anyone ever been able to subscribe to their print edition on\nshop.nautil.us? I like the look and feel of their magazines and would like to\nsupport them. But, the subscription webpage has been broken forever. I twitted\ntheir support staff a month ago and hasn’t heard anything yet. What a shame.\n\n~~~\nberelig\nI subscribed in early 2018 and have only received two issues since. Sometime\nin the summer I received an email that they were having issues raising the\nfunds necessary to publish the upcoming print edition.\n\n~~~\nmrbonner\nApparently a tough chicken and egg problem for them: not having enough money\nto print so they stop accepting new subscriptions and hence will not getting\nany more funding. I really want to pay for their print magazines.\n\n------\narkey\nThere are several other articles about this dating from 2016 [0][1]. Still,\nthe articles back in 2016 also come as a big surprise for me, since I remember\nhaving a kids encyclopaedia back in 1994 [2] that had a small snippet\nmentioning a certain migratory bird that travelled an insane distance and used\nwarm currents that generated lift to basically take a nap mid-flight. So\nunless this is ruled out and not considered \"flying\", I really don't\nunderstand how many \"first times\" there have been.\n\n[0] [https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-just-seen-\nbirds...](https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-just-seen-birds-sleep-\nwhile-flying-for-the-first-time-ever)\n\n[1] [https://gizmodo.com/we-finally-know-how-birds-sleep-\nduring-f...](https://gizmodo.com/we-finally-know-how-birds-sleep-during-\nflight-without-d-1784760623)\n\n[2] Sorry, I can't provide a source at the moment, will try to find it later.\n\nEdit: to be fair, this article is citing the ones in 2016. I found other\narticles from as early as 2014 [3] but maybe this is just about how for the\nfirst time the theory is actually based upon measured, empirical data. Like an\narticle that was recently in HN about semi-automatic weapons being more deadly\nthan non-automatic ones.\n\n[3] [http://sabersabor.es/una-vida-de-record-los-10-hechos-\nporten...](http://sabersabor.es/una-vida-de-record-los-10-hechos-portentosos-\ndel-vencejo/)\n\n~~~\nShakMR\n> This article was originally published by Max Planck Neuroscience on Aug. 3,\n> 2016. The relevant study can be retrieved here.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Why aren't phones software? - Toenex\nI&#x27;ve recently started using my phone providers software app to make and receive calls and texts from other devices and it has wondering why we aren&#x27;t phones purely software and the handsets generic?   I can see we need to replace the sim card with a software key and I get that the provider is subsidising the cost so wants a lock-in period but are these the only things?\n======\nJacen\nSIM cards are used for authentication on the network. Using a dedicated\nencryption chip is this only way to ensure authentication, software keys are\ntoo easy to steal.\n\nToday, any device with a sim card reader and GSM antenna may be used as a\nphone: computers, tablets, and so on. I don't know where you live, but, in\nmany country, today, you can buy phone service without a phone, and with no\nlock-in period.\n\n~~~\nToenex\nHere's a scenario. I need to make a call but my phone is out of charge. \"Here\nuse mine.\" you say as you hand me your handset. I login on your handset, make\nmy call, logout and hand it back to you. The call came from my number, charged\nto me I just happened to use your handset.\n\n~~~\nmattmalin\nThis is the current system, but with \"use this physical item, the SIM card, to\nlogin\".\n\nThis does assumes that the replacement phone in question is unlocked so can\nwork on the other SIM card, but is certainly something that many people do\nquite often.\n\n~~~\nToenex\nand that I have my sim card with me.\n\n~~~\nmattmalin\nAgreed, not an equivalent system.\n\nAnother scenario where this causes issues that a login equivalent can improve:\nimagine losing your phone including SIM card. This then causes a full\ninterruption of all services tied to that phone number including actual phone\nservice, and SMS, until the SIM is replaced. This usually takes hours/days\ndepending on your location or carrier.\n\nThe other big difference in just swapping out sim cards is the need for a full\nphone reset and the interruption to the service of whomever you're borrowing\nthe phone!\n\n~~~\nToenex\nYep, essentially lots of 'not quites' with the current system.\n\nI want phone-as-easy-as-email. I logon and immediately calls are routed to\nthat device and I can pick up voicemail, make calls and send texts. If I have\nanother phone account I can use the same handset to log into that account at\nthe same time and all calls to that number get routed to the device as well.\nIf the device has radio hardware (such as phone handset) it uses the radio\nnetwork otherwise it uses wifi or whatever other network comms that device\nhas. When I logout it all stops.\n\nAs a customer that's the interface to 'phone' that I want. Phone is soft, not\nhard.\n\n------\nhiepnv\n:D, so you need to write down that key or remember it when you want to use on\nanother device\n\nor if that key is provided somehow,such as pushing a request to provider to\nget it using internet, then what happened when there is no connection but gsm\n\nor imagine when you use that key for few devices? what will be your main\ndevice and you want to suspend the others?\n\nMany problems must be solved if you'd like to use a key instead of a SIM card\n:D\n\n------\nmobinni\nBecause like all things, people love options. Consumerism would fail if\neverything was generic.\n\n~~~\nToenex\nSurely I'd have more options if I could use any handset?\n\nI'm a computer literate guy but I still end up carrying 2 handsets - one work,\none personal - most of the time because the handsets aren't truly generic.\n\n~~~\nAndrewDucker\nWhat do you mean generic? People like different screen sizes, are willing to\npay different amounts for different amounts of storage, processor speeds, etc.\n\n~~~\nToenex\nI mean pick up my wife's phone, log in and now it's mine.\n\n~~~\nAndrewDucker\nAaah, Android can do a lot of that. The latest versions support multiple user\nlogins, so you can share a phone other than the (which you'd have to swap).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShowHN: QRSplice - Use animated QR Codes to transfer data between iOS devices - rpledge\nhttp://qrsplice.com\n\n======\nrpledge\nMy QR code hack just went live, check it out. Send text data between 2 iOS\ndevices with an animated QR code. It works pretty well until the file size\nstarts to get big. Let me know what you think.\n\n~~~\nNickNam\nIs this just a one-way thing? Or is there confirmation that the file was sent?\n\n~~~\nrpledge\nIt's one way, but there is enough metadata so the receiver knows when it has\nthe complete file.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMicrosoft Said to Be Talking With News Corporation About Joint Yahoo Bid - gibsonf1\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/technology/10google.html?ei=5065&en=d0335626b3163fd3&ex=1208404800&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print\n======\ndcurtis\nWhy in the hell is Yahoo, all of the sudden, so valuable to Microsoft? Why\ndidn't they make this offer a year ago or six months ago? What prompted them\nto suddenly, out of the blue, give them an unsolicited offer? And now that\nthey've essentially declined, why is Microsoft so eager to perform a hostile\ntakeover?\n\nAlso, why can no one give a straight answer to these questions?\n\n~~~\nwallflower\nIt's hard to answer your question. Yahoo gets a significant amount of traffic\n(around 500 million users) that it doesn't _monetize_ (it's biggest problem)\nas well as Google and Microsoft sees merging with Yahoo (combining pageviews\nand engineering talent) as sort of a Custer's Last Stand / Alamo against the\ninevitability of Google becoming the premier advertising service on the\nInternet and becoming the provider of whatever supplants CPM advertising in\nthe future (potentially something that measures your direct influence on\npeople to buy products - Facebook SocialAds just the beginning - see\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=119295>)\n\nThere are a lot of _If's_\n\nIf Google contextual ads weren't like The Blob and eating up the CPMs of its\ncompetitors\n\nIf a Microsoft merger with Yahoo managed to arithmetically combine their\ntraffic (pageviews to properties and more importantly, search traffic)\n\nIf Yahoo didn't start showing signs of trouble (reorgs, Jerry Yang coming\nback)\n\nIf Microsoft managed to inject some of Yahoo's engineering talent (Yahoo\npipes, for example) into its organization (notwithstanding some of the premier\nengineers + leaders have left/are leaving)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhat I Learned from Reading Every Amazon Shareholders Letter - vinnyglennon\nhttps://medium.com/@gsvpioneer/what-i-learned-from-reading-every-amazon-shareholders-letter-cdc35f309e8b\n======\njondubois\n>> If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat. Just get\non.\n\nI believe this is from Eric Schmidt. It's probably the single most important\nprinciple that you have to follow if you want to have a successful career.\nEspecially if you're an engineer.\n\nMost fast growing tech companies are founded by random dumb kids in their\ngarages. Don't try to build the rocket yourself (that's a gamble that\npractically never ends well); let someone else do it and try to hitch a ride.\nThat is the safest way by far.\n\nIt's much easier to identify a good rocket ship than to build it yourself.\n\n~~~\nadventured\n> Most fast growing tech companies are founded by random dumb kids in their\n> garages.\n\nMost fast growing tech companies were in fact founded by people between the\nages of ~28 and ~50 (and not in a garage), not by kids in garages. The kid in\nthe garage founding a major tech company is a very rare exception. I can add a\nlot more names to this list:\n\nPaul Graham (31, Viaweb), Jan Koum (33, WhatsApp), Brian Acton (37, WhatsApp),\nEv Williams (34, Twitter), Jack Dorsey (33, Square), Elon Musk (32, Tesla),\nGarrett Camp (30, Uber), Travis Kalanick (32, Uber), Brian Chesky (27,\nAirbnb), Adam Neumann (31, WeWork), Reed Hastings (37, Netflix), Reid Hoffman\n(36, LinkedIn), Jack Ma (35, Alibaba), Jeff Bezos (30, Amazon), Jerry Sanders\n(33, AMD), Marc Benioff (35, Salesforce), Ross Perot (32, EDS), Peter Norton\n(39, Norton), Larry Ellison (33, Oracle), Mitch Kapor (32, Lotus), Leonard\nBosack (32, Cisco), Sandy Lerner (29, Cisco), Gordon Moore (39, Intel), Mark\nCuban (37, Broadcast.com), Scott Cook (31, Intuit), Nolan Bushnell (29,\nAtari), Paul Galvin (33, Motorola), Irwin Jacobs (52, Qualcomm), David\nDuffield (46, PeopleSoft; 64 Workday), Aneel Bhusri (39, Workday), Thomas\nSiebel (41, Siebel Systems), John McAfee (42, McAfee), Gary Hendrix (32,\nSymantec), Scott McNealy (28, Sun), Pierre Omidyar (28, eBay), Rich Barton (29\nfor Expedia, 38 for Zillow), Jim Clark (38 for SGI, and 49 for Netscape),\nCharles Wang (32, CA), David Packard (27, HP), John Warnock (42, Adobe),\nRobert Noyce (30 at Fairchild, 41 for Intel), Rod Canion (37, Compaq), Jen-\nHsun Huang (30, nVidia), Eli Harari (41, SanDisk), Sanjay Mehrotra (28,\nSanDisk), Al Shugart (48, Seagate), Finis Conner (34, Seagate), Henry Samueli\n(37, Broadcom), Henry Nicholas (32, Broadcom), Charles Brewer (36,\nMindspring), William Shockley (45, Shockley), Ron Rivest (35, RSA), Adi Shamir\n(30, RSA), John Walker (32, Autodesk), Halsey Minor (30, CNet), David Filo\n(28, Yahoo), Jeremy Stoppelman (27, Yelp), Eric Lefkofsky (39, Groupon),\nAndrew Mason (29, Groupon), David Hitz (28, NetApp), Brian Lee (28,\nLegalzoom), Demis Hassabis (34, DeepMind), Tim Westergren (35, Pandora),\nMartin Lorentzon (37, Spotify), Ashar Aziz (44, FireEye), Kevin O'Connor (36,\nDoubleClick), Ben Silbermann (28, Pinterest), Evan Sharp (28, Pinterest),\nSteve Kirsch (38, Infoseek), Stephen Kaufer (36, TripAdvisor), Michael\nMcNeilly (28, Applied Materials), Eugene McDermott (52, Texas Instruments),\nRichard Egan (43, EMC), Gary Kildall (32, Digital Research), Hasso Plattner\n(28, SAP), Robert Glaser (32, Real Networks), Patrick Byrne (37,\nOverstock.com), Marc Lore (33, Diapers.com), Ed Iacobucci (36, Citrix\nSystems), Ray Noorda (55, Novell), Tom Leighton (42, Akamai), Daniel Lewin\n(28, Akamai), Michael Mauldin (35, Lycos), Tom Anderson (33, MySpace), Chris\nDeWolfe (37, MySpace), Mark Pincus (41, Zynga), Nir Zuk (30, Palo Alto\nNetworks), Caterina Fake (34, Flickr), Stewart Butterfield (31, Flickr), Kevin\nSystrom (27, Instagram), Adi Tatarko (37, Houzz), Brian Armstrong (29,\nCoinbase), Pradeep Sindhu (43, Juniper), Peter Thiel (31, PayPal; 37,\nPalantir), Jay Walker (42, priceline.com), Pony Ma (27, Tencent), Robin Li\n(32, Baidu), Liu Qiangdong (29, JD.com), Lei Jun (40, Xiaomi), Ren Zhengfei\n(38, Huawei), Arkady Volozh (36, Yandex), Hiroshi Mikitani (34, Rakuten),\nMorris Chang (56, Taiwan Semi), Cheng Wei (29, Didi Chuxing), James Liang (29,\nCtrip)\n\n~~~\nLon7\nGarage doesn't literally mean garage in this context. Another way to put it\nis: Most fast growing tech companies are started by young people barely into\nadulthood on a laptop.\n\nI see a lot of late 20's in your list, and a lot of companies that started\nwith one person writing some code on a computer.\n\n~~~\nwatwut\nLate 20ties is miles different than early 20ties, especially for those who\nwent to college. Very very different. Anything over 22 does not count as\n\"barely into adulthood\". 23 years old are adults in all meanings of the word.\n\n~~~\nraarts\nIn my experience men only reach adulthood at 30, (women at 25). And I'd like\nto hear the opinion of others (who are passed this age).\n\n~~~\npgwhalen\nPlease elaborate on how you define adulthood, and why it’s so different\nbetween men and women.\n\n~~~\nSamReidHughes\nWomen have to worry about settling down earlier.\n\n~~~\nwatwut\nStill, what does adulthood means for you?\n\n26 year old dudes are adults, full stop. And in my experience, they don't\nthink nor act like teenagers whether they settled down or not, whether they\nmarried or not, whether they kept old hobbies or not.\n\n------\nfalcolas\nIt’s funny. I’ve heard the “Disagree but commit” from a lot of managers\nlately; usually used to shut peons up. Ironic that it’s original usage (at\nleast where these managers heard it from) speaks to the opposite direction:\nleadership should trust their teams.\n\n~~~\nmabbo\nEven internally to Amazon, it's misunderstood.\n\nThe point is to gather all the facts, make a decision as a team or group, then\nhave everyone commit to the decision and not whine about how they should have\ndone what _I_ said we should do. You disagree, but you commit to the decision\nof the group for cohesion and productivity.\n\nIt's also a means to prevent groupthink. No one should be thought poorly of\n_for_ disagreeing, so everyone should be giving all their thoughts, even ones\nthat contradict what the group is thinking. Just so long as they get those\npoints out before the decision is made, of course.\n\n~~~\nkevan\nExactly. No matter how good an idea is, if people in the team are sabotaging\nit because they don't like it you'll have a bad time. A variation on Patton's\nquote: A mediocre plan executed well is better than a great plan executed\npoorly.\n\n------\nFussyZeus\nIs it safe in this thread to bring up the human cost of Amazon's (and likely\nby extension Bezo's) almost sociopathic pursuit of success? I wouldn't deny\nAmazon is a successful company, but how many horror stories from employees\nbeing ground to dust under their management have crossed HN's front page? How\nmany companies are now refusing to do business with Amazon because of the\niron-fisted requirements enforcement on their suppliers? How many sales on\nAmazon are of shit quality, ripoff products no better than you'd find on the\nstreets of Hong Kong?\n\nI mean eschewing any and all corporate, social, and ethical responsibility\nwill definitely make you a truck load of money, but I wouldn't call it exactly\na net gain for all involved.\n\n~~~\ndizzystar\nI had a roommate who worked in the Amazon warehouse. He said it was very chill\nand easy work. Mind that he was someone who was a day-laborer, worked in\nfilthy factories, and so on, so it's possible contrast principals are at play\nhere.\n\nAs for the quality of the products, there are many 3rd party sellers on Amazon\nwho are selling garbage. This is unfortunate, but that's a tough battle for\nAmazon or the competing sellers to lock down.\n\nI'm not sure why you'd defend the suppliers who refuse to sell due to iron\nfisted policies, yet complain about the quality of the products sold. Amazon\nhad / has to do something to clean up the mess. Hopefully it will be\nbeneficial to the buying experience on Amazon.\n\n~~~\nkrapp\nIn my experience working in an Amazon warehouse (albeit only one,) it depends.\nI could barely walk for two months after I started, just because I wasn't\nphysically prepared to stand or do repetitive movements for ten hours a day -\nand I work in one of the biggest FC's in the network so it was a six or seven\nminute struggle across the building and down two flights of stairs to get to\nthe car sometimes. I don't blame Amazon for that, though. I do blame them for\ncomplaining about the cost of providing us with aspirin, then simply deciding\nnot to provide it anymore.\n\nThe work is tedious and exploitative, and it's very apparent working there\nthat Amazon considers you little more than a meat machine there to run an\nalgorithm, despite the lip service otherwise, and often your job depends on\nmetrics you're not even allowed to see, and the pay is terrible. But, some\npeople don't mind it. Some people actually like it. Others have to be carted\noff in an ambulance because they worked themselves into heat exhaustion.\n\n------\nggambetta\nIt's a very interesting read, and I can't help the feeling that lately Jeff\nBezos is taking the place of Steve Jobs as the superhuman CEO (deservedly, it\nseems!).\n\n~~~\nOtterCoder\nThen you haven't been an Amazon supplier dangling at the end of a rope as\nBezos tries to wring blood from a stone.\n\n~~~\nmrich\nThat sounds a bit familiar to how Apple dealt with their suppliers.\n\n~~~\nAloha\nAny big company, apple, wallmart, ford.. and on and on.\n\n~~~\neru\nTo give a contrast, Aldi has an excellent reputation with suppliers. That\nGerman hard discounter pays like clockwork.\n\n~~~\nprotomyth\nI gotta admit that I can forgive a multiple of sins when I'm paid on time.\n\n------\nLon7\nAmazon shareholder letters seem to be becoming the new Berkshire shareholder\nletters [0]. They are friendly, engaging, and most importantly, written by an\nauthor who steadfastly holds by principles that haven't changed in decades.\n\nIf you haven't read any of the berkshire letters you really should.\n\n[http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html](http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html)\n\n------\ntootie\nIt's still amazing to me that an online book store is now the #1 seller of\nserver infrastructure.\n\n~~~\nleereeves\nMany people were selling things online when Amazon was just a book store.\nAmazon was the best of them all.\n\nTo me, it doesn't sound so strange that the #1 online store grew to be a\nstrong competitor in other online businesses as well.\n\n------\nbaybal2\nToo abstract. Amazon businesses outside of North America get steamrolled by\nAlibaba one after another, yet people laud their \"innovative business model,\"\nwhen it isn't (sell web hosting, and stuff over internet, something a\ngazillion other companies do)\n\n~~~\nyuvalmer\nThat's nonsense. It's only true for China (for obvious reasons). Amazon is\nmore successful in India, UK, Germany, France, Japan, and the list goes on.\n\n~~~\nbaybal2\nSee, they are in the business of selling fancy trinkets from China as it is\nwhat 9 out of 10 consumer goods are. No mater what they do, a Chinese company\nwill be having an edge over them no matter what they will do.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nUber cracked two 80s video games by giving an AI algorithm a new type of memory - rbanffy\nhttps://www.technologyreview.com/s/612470/uber-has-cracked-two-classic-80s-video-games-by-giving-an-ai-algorithm-a-new-type-of-memory/\n======\nuserbinator\nBefore I read the article, I thought it was about a different type of\ncracking, one which is often applied to 80s video games.\n\n~~~\nArtWomb\nSame ;)\n\n------\nineedasername\nFrom the article: _lots of behaviors that are necessary to advance within the\ngame do not help increase the score until much later_\n\nI found this passage very interesting, as it seems like the definition of the\nbenefits that can extend from delayed gratification. That optimizing for a\nlocal maxima isn't always the best way to get the best global maxima. Maybe\nalgorithms that can encapsulate that will be useful in getting corporations\naway from the habit of chasing the highest short-term gains at the expense of\nlong term viability.\n\n~~~\njetrink\nAnother way to look at it is that these games have less obvious causal\nrelationships. If the game is Pac-Man, it is immediately obvious that eating a\ndot makes the score go up, because the effect always and immediately follows\nthe cause. The further the effect is separated from the cause, the more\npossibilities the machine must entertain. Imagine, in a different game, you\nactivate three switches and a door opens. Why did the door open? Maybe all\nthree switches must be activated for the door to open. Maybe the final switch\ncontrols the door and the other switches control something else. Maybe you\nmust always activate the switches in a particular order as a security measure.\nThe game probably gives context (e.g. the third switch is labeled 'open door')\nthat a human can use to eliminate the many possibilities, but the machine must\nexperiment before knowing what is relevant. When you separate cause and effect\nin time, the machine must deal with many possible 'switches'.\n\n------\nVoloskaya\nGo-explore is weird for me. The main reasons for it's success are all based on\nvery specific thing that barely transfer to anything such as the ability to\nsave a state and restart from it at anytime (in this case using features from\nthe emulator). It look almost like an engineering project.\n\nI don't like bad-mouthing the work of others, so I kind of feel bad for saying\nthat and maybe someone can prove me wrong: But is this not borderline\n\"cheating\" (in quotes because obviously there is no agreed-upon rules)?\n\nThe goal never was to solve Montezuma's revenge just for the sake of it. We\ncould have done that way before by using hard engineering. The interesting\nthing about this game is that it reveals inherent flaws in our reinforcement\nlearning approach. And so, if you manage to solve this game using a domain-\ntransferable approach, surely that means you have made some significant\nprogress in RL. That's doesn't seem to be the case here?\n\n~~~\nsvantana\nI thought so too at first, but here's my new thinking:\n\nThe most efficient way to learn real world tasks (for say a robot) is to learn\nin a realistic simulated environment, which ideally can be controlled by the\nagent, e.g. rewinding state after a failure to correct that particular\nbehaviour. Ideally the simulation is regularly calibrated against real\nexperiments, including confidence intervals on the real and simulated sensor\ninputs.\n\nGiven that model of learning, Uber's approach here is very reasonable.\n\n~~~\nVoloskaya\nGood point! Uber definitly has simulated road environments, so it makes sense\nindeed. Thanks for sharing.\n\n------\nArtWomb\nFrom Alex Irpan's response:\n\n _I was sour on the results themselves, because they smelled too much like PR,\nlike a result that was shaped by PR, warped in a way that preferred flashy\nnumbers too much and applicability too little_\n\nHarsh! OpenReview's double blind system seems to work quite well in this\nregard as a peer review mechanism.\n\nQuick Opinions on Go-Explore\n\n[https://www.alexirpan.com/2018/11/27/go-\nexplore.html](https://www.alexirpan.com/2018/11/27/go-explore.html)\n\n~~~\nvanderZwan\nOf course it's harsh when you pull the quote out of context:\n\n> _Like Go-Explore, this post had interesting ideas that I hadn’t seen before,\n> which is everything you could want out of research. And like Go-Explore, I\n> was sour on the results themselves, because they smelled too much like PR,\n> like a result that was shaped by PR, warped in a way that preferred flashy\n> numbers too much and applicability too little._\n\n~~~\ngjm11\nThat little bit is actually talking about a different, earlier, AI game-\nplaying effort. The bulk of Irpan's blog post is describing Go-Explore, and it\nis about as harsh as the grandparent of this comment suggests.\n\n~~~\nvanderZwan\nI think the writing article is making it very clear what he dislikes: that the\nresearch is twisted by PR into making inappropriate claims and comparisons.\nEven though it contains interesting and novel ideas. That is in no way harsh\non the actual research and validity of the results itself.\n\n------\ntom_wilde\nLink to Uber Engineering page on this: [https://eng.uber.com/go-\nexplore/](https://eng.uber.com/go-explore/)\n\nFrom the linked page:\n\nTo enable the community to benefit from Go-Explore and help investigate its\npotential, source code and a full paper describing Go-Explore will be\navailable here shortly.\n\n~~~\nvanderZwan\nThanks, was looking for that link.\n\nTangent: I notice I find it really annoying whenever an internet article talks\nabout a blog post or other article, yet doesn't link to the source on the\nspot. Take this sentence from technologyreview's article:\n\n> _The approach leads to some interesting practical applications, Clune and\n> his team write in a blog post released today_\n\nThere is no excuse to have a sentence like this and not have \"a blog post\" be\na hyperlink. It feels rude somehow, like it's breaking internet etiquette.\n\n~~~\nghthor\nI agree, its rude and breaking an internet etiquette. It also makes it much\nmore difficult for the search robots to make a mapping between pages.\n\n------\ndegenerate\nIn the article, Uber says \" _Surprisingly, despite considerable research\neffort, so far no algorithm has obtained a score greater than 0 on Pitfall._ \"\n\nI played pitfall as a kid and it seems quite straightforward for a computer to\nsolve... jump over the puddle. I'd like if someone could talk more about this\ngame in particular, specifically why it's so hard for AI to solve. Any\ninteresting paper/link on the subject?\n\n~~~\nVoloskaya\nI don't know Pitfall, but generally speaking, the games that are hard to solve\nare the ones with sparse rewards. In the game, do you get points when you\novercome some obstacles? If not and you only get points for successfully\ncompleting the entire level, then it becomes very hard for an agent to learn:\nHow can it know if it is improving within the level itself?\n\n~~~\nb_tterc_p\nI would do the following.\n\n1) Train a model to predict what happens next given an input 2) Each frame,\npredict the next frames given all possible inputs 3) Choose the input that\nmaximizes uncertainty\n\nI would expect this to learn to avoid deaths relatively quickly. It doesn’t\nneed to be good at knowing what will happen next, just better at recognizing\nspecific dead ends (e.g. spikes or holes).\n\n~~~\npas\n[https://blog.openai.com/reinforcement-learning-with-\npredicti...](https://blog.openai.com/reinforcement-learning-with-prediction-\nbased-rewards/)\n\n------\npeter_d_sherman\n\"The problem with both Montezuma’s Revenge and Pitfall! is that there are few\nreliable reward signals. Both titles involve typical scenarios: protagonists\nexplore blockish worlds filled with deadly creatures and traps. But in each\ncase, lots of behaviors that are necessary to advance within the game do not\nhelp increase the score until much later.\"\n\nOpinion: Equally true in non incubator-assisted entrepreneurship... that is,\nreal entrepreneurship...\n\n------\n0db532a0\nCan someone explain how this might help in optimising vehicle routes as\nopposed to existing combinatorial algorithms made expressly for this purpose?\n\n~~~\ndetaro\nGiven that they name \"robot learning\" as an application, the target domain is\nprobably self-driving cars, not route optimization.\n\n~~~\n0db532a0\n“Better reinforcement-learning algorithms could ultimately prove useful for\nthings like autonomous driving and optimizing vehicle routes”\n\n~~~\ndetaro\nAh, I had missed that line. Unless I missed it in the Uber post too, that does\nseem to be a claim the TR writer added?\n\n------\nmLuby\nThis kind of research should be done by universities or already profitable\ncompanies. Using someone else's VC money for this seems questionable at best.\n\n~~~\nchriskanan\nIt is extremely useful for recruiting talent. Top talent wants to do basic\nresearch, so this is a powerful lure for keeping them at the company rather\nthan in academia. I'm at NeurIPS this week, and many companies are here and\nthey heavily advertise how many papers they have in the conference as part of\ntheir recruitment efforts for both (applied) AI research and AI engineering\npositions.\n\n~~~\ndagw\nExactly. This is one thing I always ask when interviewing for a new job, and\nany company that cannot give me a decent answer goes to the bottom of my list.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGoogle Analytics infographic presentation-ready reports - whatagraph\nhttp://app.whatagraph.com\n======\nsharmadwivid\nApplied for report. Let's hope for good!!!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nMove over mod_python, here comes mod_wsgi. - benhoyt\nhttp://blog.micropledge.com/2007/09/the-up-and-coming-mod_wsgi/\n\n======\nmattculbreth\nI've recently used nginx to reverse-proxy and load balance to both paste and\nmongrel. Much easier setup. If you're doing a custom app I tend to think this\nis better than running a big Apache up front.\n\n------\ncdr\nI've been using mod_wsgi for some time (I think trac recommended it).\nInteresting that this blog post is getting so much attention.\n\nFor apache (and I'm a fan of apache) it doesn't get any better.\n\n~~~\ninklesspen\nI use mod_proxy to reverse-proxy to paste.httpserver. Much better, IMHO.\n\n------\nleisuresuit\nor instead use lighttpd with FastCGI and web.py. something like this...\n<http://webpy.org/recommended_setup>\n\n~~~\nfalsestprophet\nEven reddit, the developers of web.py, aren't using it anymore.\n\n~~~\nkevinl\nHow do you know it? Http header viewer shows Reddit use lighttpd/1.4.13.\n\n~~~\nkirubakaran\nHe is referring to: <http://reddit.com/info/29qac/comments/c29rpx>\n\nSummary if you don't know the story: aaronsw wrote web.py, founded Infogami\n(yc funded) and merged with Reddit. Then he had a falling out with spez and\nkn0thing (original founders of Reddit). When Reddit was rewritten, web.py was\nnot used.\n\nI personally like web.py. Any of you using it for your startup/projects? (May\nbe we can swap tips) If you are not using web.py for a particular reason, can\nyou please share that too?\n\n~~~\npg\nSteve is too lazy (in the good sense) to have ditched web.py for anything\nexcept legitimate technical reasons.\n\n~~~\nkirubakaran\nThank you. This is exactly what I was wondering about and wanted to know from\nsomeone in the know.\n\n~~~\nnostrademons\nSpez had mentioned, off-handedly, that there tend to be painful bugs in the\nmain web.py distributions:\n\n<http://programming.reddit.com/info/14v8a/comments/c14y1i>\n\n~~~\nkirubakaran\nThanks nos`. Are you still using Pylons? And templates? Would you recommend\nMochiKit for js lib?\n\n~~~\nnostrademons\nActually, I went with web.py after all. I blame temporary insanity. That, and\nweb.py was easily understandable without a whole lot of docs to go through,\nand I wanted to get _something_ up quickly. We may yet rewrite in Pylons, but\nit's low priority, as web.py is working for us. (We also have practically zero\ntraffic though.)\n\nFor templates, we use Mako after having previously used Cheetah, same as the\nrewritten Reddit. Mako is a very well-done, well-thought-out library. There\nwere some things that Cheetah had a lot of trouble with (like unicode support\nand fragment libraries) that Mako handles without breaking a sweat.\n\nFor JS lib, we eventually settled on jQuery after having tried out Prototype,\nYUI, and Mootools (never used Mochikit, sorry). This was largely because that\nseems to be where the momentum is these days. Also, jQuery has a very elegant\nselector + plugin architecture and a growing collection of plugins. And it's\nthe first JavaScript library I've seen that's intimately aware of namespace\nissues and tries to balance ease-of-use (no silly\nYAHOO.widgets.slider.SliderThumb chains here) and not-breaking-anything. This\nhas been a major issue at my day job - we use several Prototype-dependent\nlibraries and they _all_ seem to be incompatible with each other, along with\nany other JS libraries.\n\nOn the downside, jQuery is still fairly immature, so you may have to write\nsome widgets yourself that are provided with other libraries. That's changing\nquickly though, since many people are writing plugins now.\n\n------\ntocomment\nCan someone just settle Apache vs Lighthttpd for me :-)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Visual Design for Hackers - DanI-S\nTake a look at the Rails Rumble 2010 entries: http://railsrumble.com/<p>There's a whole stack of apps there, developed within 48 hours by small groups of people. They're not all beautiful, but there is (to my eye) a pretty high standard of presentation for most of them.<p>I am sure I am not alone in feeling like there's this chunk of knowledge I'm missing - in terms of how, and when, to go about making something beautiful.<p>I'm fascinated by the concept of optimizing user experience - it certainly has the potential to make or break an application's popularity. If you can spend valuable time tweaking code to make it more appealing to the compiler, why can't it work in the other direction too? Though I don't think it's reasonable to expect myself to be incredible at both, I'd like to be able to put together a prototype that looks nice. After all, I wouldn't show people code that I knew was bad and ugly.<p>Part A - I would love to know - how does this aspect fit into the flow of the project? At what point do you start turning things from black-text-on-white-background into a beautiful and intelligent layout? I'm sure it's usually incremental, but is there a specific point at which you decide to shift focus over to implementing your UI? I know I usually go through many notebook pages of UI ideas even before I've written any code. Is it worthwhile doing mockups in photoshop at this stage? Showing different designs to people and asking for feedback? Or do you usually do this after your core functionality is built? And where do you draw the line, say 'this is ready enough for now!' and release the thing?<p>Part B - In terms of user interface and usability, there's a lot of information out there. Much of it, however, is from the early days of graphical computing and the web. There are still great things to learn from stuff like Joel on Software but I'd like some good information about user interactions and expectations in the AJAX era. There must have been some more wisdom accumulated in the last decade! I'm looking for some shoulders to stand on - 'our experience showed us that you should never do &#60;xyz&#62; because users find it confusing'.<p>Part C - I've always been curious about how small teams of people manage to cope with the graphical elements of web application building. Does a team of 2-3 people in an early days startup usually contain a designer/artist? Is that something you can reliably outsource? Is it ever a good idea to have your design done by someone else and then shoehorn your view code and javascript into it (for a prototype/beta), or should it always be a closely collaborative process?<p>Part D - Finally - I'm interested in any of you people who can see BOTH sides of the coin. If you started off as a programmer and then learned how to make stuff sexy and usable - what put you on that path? Where did you start learning? What were your major obstacles, and how did you overcome them?<p>Looking forward to hearing what everyone has to say.<p>Dan\n======\nolalonde\nI am myself a professional programmer that has some basic design skills, but\nI'll try to answer your question as well as I can.\n\nA - I'm pretty sure most people design the UX/UI before they start coding (at\nleast mock ups). If you have already coded all your backend, you might feel\nconstrained when designing the UI or might realize too late that you oversaw\nsome critical parts of your system. Let me illustrate:\n\nLet's say you are building a \"C.V. builder app\". You might start coding with\nthe assumption that the user has to be login to start building his C.V.\nHowever, if you imagine the UX first, you might realize that it would be nice\nto ask the user to register only once he wants to save his newly created C.V.\nThat simple detail might have a huge impact on your code base.\n\nB - Some resources & inspiration: <http://uxmovement.com/>, <http://ui-\npatterns.com/>, <http://www.smashingmagazine.com/category/inspiration/>,\n<http://www.dribbble.com>.\n\nC - If you're good at UX/UI design but lack the Photoshop skills to bring your\nvision to life, it should be safe to outsource. In any case, make sure your\ndesigner really \"gets\" your vision.\n\nD - I started learning to design and program at about the same time. Since\nthen, I've put most my time into programming and although I consider myself\npretty good at designing user interfaces, I lack the technical skill and\nexperience to make them look beautiful. If you're the same as me, I would\nsuggest spending some time trying to really master Photoshop or such tool.\nAlso, some color/typography theory can't hurt.\n\n~~~\nsudont\n> I lack the technical skill and experience to make them look beautiful.\n\nIt's called practice. I've known designers who have each won handfuls of AIGA\nawards. The common thread was that they never stopped designing things. Talent\nis a leg up only for the first few steps.\n\nHN people have weekend programming projects; these designers had _daily_ side\ndesign projects, in addition to their daily design duties. The amount of time\ndedicated to this was staggering. I think their only real talent was being\nable to self-immerse themselves so deeply in the subject without burnout.\n\n------\nalanh\nI’m about to go to sleep, but I just want to drop a few of my favorite rules\nof thumb. (I love UX and constantly bitch about bad interfaces, FWIW.)\n\n\\- Visual hierarchies. Color theory. Understand both of these, and use them.\n\n\\- Don’t use the words “me” or “my” in your interfaces (with rare exceptions\nlike “✓ remember me”, which is _de-facto_ standardized)\n\n\\- Native controls/widgets give users lots of free platform-specific and\naccessibility functionality that they expect. Don’t implement your own text\nbox / dropdown / scrollbars without a damn good reason.\n\n\\- Use color sparingly, to convey meaning and/or draw attention.\n\n\\- What is the purpose of each and every design element? Can it be removed, or\ndoes it have no purpose? Then remove it. (Maybe keeping one exception to the\nrule gives your site a touch of personality / a brand).\n\n\\- Reading the OS X HIG is eye-opening. Don’t try to follow it _online,_\nthough!\n\n\\- Can stuff line up? It probably should.\n\n\\- When should you show a throbber or “Loading…” message? The answer is _not_\n“whenever something is loading”. It’s “whenever the user _must_ wait for\nsomething to load, or whenever an update or change of view as a result of a\ndirect user action is not immediately visible.” And this should be minimized.\n\n\\- Don’t half-ass buttons. If they hover or have an active (depressed) state,\nthen the hover (“over”) state should look like a slightly lighter or darker\nversion of the normal (“up”) state; the depressed (“down”) state should look\nphysically depressed, if applicable; invert the gradient, swap the borders, or\nwhatever.\n\nIt looks like I’m starting to list pet peeves instead of the big ones, so good\nnight!\n\n~~~\naloneinkyoto\n\\- Always show a useful fallback for empty views. Preferably visually distinct\nand \"subordinate\" to actual content (e.g. centered gray text instead of left\naligned black text).\n\n\\- Try to minimize the impact of destructive actions and try to offer the\npossibility to rollback potentially dangerous actions. Make dangerous actions\nlook dangerous (e.g. make delete buttons red).\n\n\\- Think about visual distance and distraction, especially in flowing text.\nColumns look good, but forces the eye to scan for the start of the next column\nwhen reaching the end of the previous. Don't place two equally important\nthings right next to each other, etc...\n\n------\nmrpsbrk\nHi. I am a designer that is trying without too much zeal to learn to program.\nHere go some advice, no idea whether it helps.\n\nFirst, i believe that \"looking great\" and \"being good user experience\" are\nactually very, very different things. Designers are good just at the first.\nThe second remains a dark art for programmer and designer alike.\n\nFor example, thinking about which user input you need or could do without,\nwhich order to ask for them and so on, falls i believe neither there nor here.\nWhich effect you should apply to the input box is utterly immaterial, and i\nwould venture that a competent designer can make any kind of use-process\nbeautiful to look at.\n\nAs for making beautiful, i have found no way to develop this except by endless\nboring practice. The best illustrator is generally the one who has done more\nillustrations. Rules or techniques (as in crutches) tend to give good results\nin the very short term and become stifling very quickly.\n\nIf you lack the stamina or interest to simply draw, i guess this is not a bad\nthing. The other way to see the thing is that you'll eventually get better at\nit.\n\nThat said, designers do tend to develop a variety of manias and sensibilities\nthat, well, _seem to be related_ , vaguely, to their craft. If you're willing\nto try to get that, i would recommend a very, very old book. I know this goes\ndirectly against what you were looking for, but, again, that is my opinion:\nSymbols and Signs, by Adrian Frutiger. (Amazon has it, not sure if it is bad\nform to put an amazon link here... Also, i do only know the Brazilian edition\nso i can give no advice about that...). Maybe this book can come out sounding\nlike full of rules, but that is not the point.\n\nAnother, more recent book that is also incredible, but even more paranoid (the\nguy goes pages and pages discussing commas, then semi commas, then colons, and\ni just love it!) is The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst.\n\nFinally, designers always do end up getting a bit of cognitive psychology, and\nit is a good thing, but no self-respecting psychologist could purport to\nunderstand the human cognitive system, so i would say avoid the ones who are\ntoo sure of themselves like how-to guides to Gestalt, those are just gimmics.\nFind something that is serious about cognitive science, but not serious enough\nthat you'll sleep, and that is it. You can always go back for more...\n\n------\nsamratjp\nAs a friend of mine says - marketing and good UX is like laying grass out for\nthe goats. It must be easily reachable and in digestible chunks.\n\n1) Mock-ups. Supposed to be mocked upon. Take a good page design you like,\nimport it into Photoshop (or w/e) and start boxing the important elements. A\nlot of well designed sites are on the 960px width bandwagon (even Apple's\nhomepage + most YC startups). Short answer - look up Blueprint CSS framework\nand 960px grids on Noupe.com\n\n2) Mockingbird is awesome! Just worry about the creative flow first, then put\nit on a grid.\n\n3) Like a special effect or design on a site, google \"jquery site-name effect-\nname\" will usually net some good plugins. Learn and repeat. Don't know what\neffect-name is? Firebug it :-)\n\nI am by no means a true designer, but I feel that the only thing stopping\nyou/me/anyone is the labeling. When you feel that happening, just think of\nIron Man, he designs the whole stack ;-)\n\n------\nalialithinks\nHey Dan, I would definitely recommend reading these sources for getting a\ncomprehensive understanding about general design principals and core ideas:\n\nThe Gestalt Principles The guiding theory in understanding how the human brain\nprocess images and visual data.\n[http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/process/gest...](http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/process/gestaltprinciples/gestaltprinc.htm)\n\nWeb Typography Great resource for understanding typography and especially for\nthe web <http://webtypography.net/>\n\nA List Apart I am sure you are already familiar with this awesome publication\nby the Happy Cog crew and other contributors. To me this covers most of the on\nscreen design issues in today's world and it keeps on evolving which is\nawesome. <http://www.alistapart.com/>\n\nI Hope this help!\n\n------\nretro212\nPart A - I always make few screens in Photoshop before coding. These screens\ninclude form, items listing and generic text page. These are not complete and\nfinished designs, they just help me to visualize stuff upfront, and to design\nsome common elements (buttons, form controls etc). After that I customize\nevery screen based on content it displays.\n\nPart B - There are many sites that write about UI and UX, they should be\ngoogleable :)\n\nPart C - I'm doing both development and design of our apps. I think that\ndesigners that don't code can't really design good app because you must have\nall of the interactions under control, and for that you must understand how\nthings work both on server side and client side. I don't think they should\nknow how to setup server and deploy app, but there must be some understanding\nof how things work.\n\nPart D - When I started working as a developer, I worked in web studio that\nalso did great design. But they also gave me the ability to try and design\nstuff along them. They taught me about typography, layouts etc. I even did\nsome print stuff because I wanted to learn it. Little by little pieces started\nto fall in place. I'm far from great designer, but I can design things that\nare nice and usable. The biggest problem is that I really like boxes. When I'm\ndesigning stuff I'm automatically placing things so they can be easily sliced.\nBut I'm working on it.\n\nMy advice is to just start working on some designs, and to find some friendly\ndesigner that will help you with constructive criticism.\n\n------\nyatsyk\nI very impressed with level of design work of Rails Rumble winners. Are any\nblog posts from contestants about design process, tools, resources they used\n(stock images, templates) and so on?\n\n------\njayair\nI do both and I am trying to help other hackers figure out more about design\nas well.\n\nA: I usually have a vision in mind for the project or the feature. To do this\nI try and break it down into smaller parts and optimize for the one thing I\nwant the users to do for that part. For complicated designs I go through ideas\non a notepad before I settle on something. The most important part of this\nprocess is to understand why a certain design element needs to be put in. If\nmy design elements lack purpose I take them out.\n\nOnce I have that then I go about building stuff. Sometimes the end result will\ndiffer from the vision in which case it might literally be \"back to the\ndrawing board\".\n\nB: I haven't found too many recent ones. But I generally prefer patterns like\nthese - <http://developer.yahoo.com/ypatterns/>\n\nC: I'm generally against outsourcing UI/UX. I think specific icon and graphic\ndesign work can be outsourced. To me UI/UX is the app itself and early on you\ndon't necessarily have a clear view of what it is going to be.\n\nD: I started off as a developer and found the need to incorporate better\ndesign. I started by trying to understand what I like and why I like it. I\nfound a couple of big problems: there weren't too many good resources that\ncatered to our type, most design advice wasn't practical enough and improving\nmy taste took a long while.\n\nI'm putting together a series of posts on what I learnt, hopefully that helps\npeople out. Feel free to get in touch via Twitter or email.\n\n------\nmgeraci\nAs the designer in a three person startup (the other two are coders), I can\ngive some information on our process.\n\nA - Our design process starts with a discussion of feature ideas and\nrequirements from the code side. Then work goes in parallel until each team\nhas a workable mockup/prototype. This period of work alone is critical to the\ndevelopment of the app from the visual and user experience side of things. It\nalso gives me freedom to try lots of new ideas. I'll usually do a couple of\nrevisions based on comments from my co-founders, and then get some outside\nopinions.\n\nB - I fear that user interface and usability comes more from trial and error\nthan reading. I haven't found a good resource for the technical side of\ndesign, but olalonde's link to uxmovement.com looks great.\n\nC - Our startup has 2 coders and 1 designer. We're a rails shop, and I know\nenough ruby to implement my designs. This mix usually works really well as far\nas delegation of work. I'm not sure how standard this is.\n\nD - Can't say much here since I started on the design side and have more\nrecently been programming.\n\nAs an aside - if you're comfortable in css and are adding a new page or\nfeature to an existing site, I've found that it can be fast to prototype in\nhtml rather than Photoshop/Illustrator.\n\n------\ndavidcann\nI think that all _developers_ should be able to design layouts that make\nsense. Pure programmers (writing algorithms, optimizing, scaling, etc.) don't\nreally need design skills.\n\nYou definitely need product developer(s) on your team if your startup is\nconsumer facing at all. In such a small (2-3 person) team, everyone needs to\ndo multiple jobs, so if none of you have decent design skills, then start\npracticing now.\n\nPart A - Usually a proof-of-concept happens first either in basic wireframe\nmockups or basic/ugly code. Once you'er clear on the product you want to\nbuild, then full designs are done in Photoshop or, once in a while, direct\nHTML.\n\nPart B - I would mostly ignore that stuff. Simply look at great/big sites and\nsee what the do right, but _more importantly_ look at what they could improve\nand do that yourself. Basically, make your interface design as simple as\npossible while having the minimum feature set to make your product useful -\nfinding that balance is where you become a great product developer.\n\nPart C - Don't outsource your design. If you commit to design as a core\ncompetency in your development team, then you understand that design is not\njust visual - design encapsulates everything that the user experiences with\nyour product.\n\nPart D - I started off as a cartoon animator in college, but found I was\nbetter at coding, then I realized that to make great products, I need to have\ngreat design. I didn't have a design monkey, so I started creating my own\ndesigns (poorly at first) taking inspiration from products I enjoyed. To\novercome obstacles in design, I simply take the worst part of a page/workflow\nand fix that first... repeat until the product is due or there aren't any\ncringe-worthy features.\n\n------\njoeld42\nA fun way to learn a little or at least get inspired is to check out\nLayerTennis on fridays:\n\n<http://www.layertennis.com>\n\nEach round, each layer, ask yourself \"do I like that or not\"? and then try to\narticulate why or why not. Why is this layer:\n<http://layertennis.com/100910/07.php> not as effective as the next volley:\n<http://layertennis.com/100910/08.php> For example, I didn't notice at the\ntime that the quote had six letter 'O's in it, but now that I see it it's hard\nto miss. They create a lot of repetition a rhythm that ties them to the shape\non the other side. The symbol and the text relate to each other even before\nconsidering the meaning of the words.\n\nSeriously, one of the hardest parts of design is to learn how to form strong\nopinions and understand your reasons for them, without being arbitrary. Design\nis just a million tiny decisions.\n\n------\nDTrejo\nSome Quora questions I was looking at yesterday that you might find helpful (I\nplan to comb through these and pick out books and blogs to read more of):\n\nWhat are the best books on UI/UX design for software engineers?\n[http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-books-on-UI-UX-\ndesign...](http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-books-on-UI-UX-design-for-\nsoftware-engineers)\n\nWhat are the best resources for learning bleeding-edge web UI and UX design?\n[http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-resources-for-\nlearnin...](http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-resources-for-learning-\nbleeding-edge-web-UI-and-UX-design)\n\nWhat are the best design blogs? <http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-\ndesign-blogs>\n\nWhat are the best books written on design? [http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-\nbest-books-written-on-desi...](http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-books-\nwritten-on-design)\n\n------\nbobbywilson0\nPart A - I am on the side of completing as much UX up front as possible. Bad\nvisual design is something that no one can ignore. I think that ideally before\nyou even have done the \"black-text-on-white-background\" prototype you start\nwith UX.\n\nPart B - Steve Krug has a couple of simple concrete usability books. Other\nthan links I have seen mentioned. <http://ilovetypography.com/> learning good\ntype will help a ton with design <http://www.useit.com/> Jakob Nielsen is kind\nof the godfather of usability, some people love him, some hate him, either way\nyou will learn something from this guy. Also, going through tons of websites\nand critiquing them by yourself or with peers, writing down everything that\nworks well and doesn't work well, that you would change. Do little usability\ntests on your sites, even on sites that aren't yours with family or peers.\n\nPart C - I don't know as much about startups. I do know that having a designer\non hand is much nicer to work with than outsourced. Ultimately I think it\nwould be like dealing with anyone else outsourced in terms of reliability.\n\nPart D - I actually started as a designer, and IE 6 crushed my soul. I am\nstill very interested in UX though. I think starting as a programmer, I would\njust try to recreate designs you think are appealing. I would also try to\nlearn the grid system. Use CSS frameworks as training wheels that have a solid\ngrid, and decent typography (eg. Blueprint). I started constraining myself to\nHTML and CSS, and I think you should too, leave Photoshop alone until you can\nmake decent designs in just HTML and CSS. Then, when you are completely\ncomfortable using the two, then look to PS to add details that you can't\nachieve otherwise. The big obstacle you will run into, is that you will feel\nlike you aren't making as good of designs as designer X. Design in my opinion\nis much more personal and emotional than programming so don't let that get to\nyou.\n\nGood Luck!\n\n------\nearlyriser\nA) I start with mockups, then the polished design and at last the programming.\nFor users, the interface is all that they have, then the UX stuff needs to be\ndefined very early (in my case). I like 37signals \"epicenter design\" approach.\nStart with the more important pages and with the more important information\nchunks of these pages.\n\nB) useit.com and my collection maybe <http://www.delicious.com/egogol/ui>\n\nC) have someone good for design in your team. If you can't, exchange your\nprogramming hours vs design hours. Ideally it should be a collaborative\nprocess.\n\nD) The important thing is that the user gets the things done. The UX determine\nhow the programming process should work.\n\nBONUS) Test a lot. Test your mockups, test your design, test your running app.\nEvery step will reveal different problems.\n\n------\nPhrosTT\nI am a programmer with fairly advanced photoshop skills. I am not a good\ndesigner. I know this because when I see good designs, I realize I NEVER could\nhave come up with that.\n\nIf you're a programmer, you should be able to nail the science half of the\nequation. As for the art half, I would just shamelessly rip cool things you\nfind when searching \"css inspiration\" or whatever [\"great artists steal\"].\n\nIt's easy to go overboard reading about UX and all the articles completely\nover-analyzing the topic. Unless your product is centered on revolutionary\ninterface like hipmunk, you're probably safe just using established\ninteraction patterns and getting feedback from \"normal people\".\n\nJust see if your non-techie friends can handle it. If so you probably have\nenough to launch. Most big sites were ugly at launch...\n\n------\nsynnik\nI work both sides of the coin. I have a degree in fine Arts, but have been a\nsoftware guy for many years.\n\nI put in an initial design when I make a HTML mock-up. I tweak it until I\nthink it is good, then start to code the actual functions.\n\nAs I work with it, within a few days, the constant usage and testing show me\nwhat is wrong with my design. I then often iterate, updating the design\nwhenever it starts to annoy me. At the start of the project, this is often\nonce a week. After a few revisions, I slow down, and by the time I've been\nworking with an app 6 months, it is fairly stable.\n\nIn terms of how you actually make your design, the KISS principle remains\nvalid. It is much easier to add small UI elements to make a page more\ninteresting than to scale back from an over-engineered design.\n\n------\nDanI-S\nI've been working since posting this and haven't had time to properly read or\nreply to your comments, but wow - some really fantastic stuff here, from some\nvery respectable people. I am going to have a great time reading and exploring\nwhat people have said, once I get a moment to sit down...\n\nIt seems a shame that all this expertise be confined to the bowels of the HN\nnews list (which isn't search engine indexed, right?) - would it be acceptable\nto make some attempt to compile it into a (properly referenced, ofc) blog post\nor something that the rest of the world can see? What do people think about\nthat?\n\nThanks for your responses, I am very impressed.\n\nDan\n\n------\nswah\nAlso, why Ruby project pages mostly look beautiful or at least like someone\ntried to make it look pleasant, and every Java project (except Octobot) has\nabsolutely no CSS?\n\n~~~\npetercooper\nOne reason that Rubyists are Rubyists and not Java developers is because they\ncare how stuff looks rather than solely how it _works._ Given this, there's an\naesthetic culture that doesn't exist so greatly in other spheres.\n\n------\nLeBlanc\nYou should check out this talk that Jason Putori, the designer for Mint gave\ntitled \"10 Things: Design for Non-Designers\".\n\n<http://vimeo.com/15066599>\n\n------\nredwoods\nThese are great questions. Exactly the ones I am asking myself right now as a\nnon technical guy trying to work out which piece of the puzzle to start with\nin building out my project .\n\n------\nangelbob\nThere's Jakob Neilsen, of course: <http://www.useit.com/alertbox/>\n\nFor your part B advice, it's almost a one-stop shop.\n\n------\nidan\nHi Dan,\n\nFirst off: I gave a talk on this very topic at DjangoCon EU 2010. Video:\n<http://djangoconeu.blip.tv/file/3685673/>, slides:\n<http://www.scribd.com/doc/32311867/Design-for-Developers>.\n\nA) there always comes a point in any project when I have that \"fully baked\"\nfeeling -- a stage where I feel like I have spent enough time putting myself\nin the users shoes to understand how they can best accomplish their goals.\nSometimes this comes quickly, and sometimes not -- it truly depends on the\nproject. I don't go further than sketching until I've reached this phase;\nsketches are cheap and I don't need the high resolution which photoshop\naffords. Generally, I'll spend some time in photoshop after the sketching\nstage to work out a visual design \"langauge\" -- what's the colorscheme, what\nvisual conventions am I going to use throughout the site, etc. I'll take one\nor two \"core\" parts of the site and mock them up in photoshop to figure out\nhow the visual aspects affect the design, but I won't do every single page in\nphotoshop -- it's a waste of time.\n\nB: I don't know. There's general stuff about performance from Steve Souders,\nand overall I think resources like ALA are probably a good starting point.\n\nC: It depends on your product, but I'd argue that good design is something\nthat happens primarily _before_ code gets written. The frontend of your app\nshould inform your backend, and vice-versa -- ergo a designer co-founder is an\nextremely important asset, IMO. Every project with design \"added later\" looks\nlike it had the design added later, not baked in from the start.\n\nD: I'm a designer/developer combo, coming from a formal background in computer\nscience.\n\nI guess I started getting into graphic design and photography during high\nschool. Learn about graphic design for print since it has a lot of history;\nthe web is still in its adolescence and is heavily informed by this history.\nDon't neglect to learn a little about typography. In the end the web is mostly\nabout reading words, so it behooves you to learn the art and science of\narranging words on a page so as to maximize legibility and beauty.\n\nThe biggest obstacle to learning this stuff is a broken understanding of\ndesign. It's a discipline like any other; you might not have the aptitude to\nbecome a master but you can learn the basics and become proficient, just like\nyou did with code. It took you a decent amount of time to become a proficient\ncoder; don't assume that three weeks of reading will turn you into a\nproficient designer. Stick with it, learn the terminology so you can start to\nread things written for an audience of designers, and don't forget to actually\ndo stuff yourself -- like in code, there's no substitute for sitting down and\ngrappling with some work on your own.\n\n------\nsp4rki\nA) At what point? From the beginning. You said it yourself, you go through\nnotebook pages with UI before even writing code. You need to have a structure\nin place before you begin anything. Sure you can morph it as you go, but you\nneed a direct connection to what you are trying to achieve. At the same time\nyou're coding some functionality, you should be thinking about how this is\ngoing to be displayed. It's of course not necessary to do any of the graphics\nor styling at this point, but it works better if you give it some thought and\ntry to form some type of layout and broad design ideas as you go. It's worth\ndoing photoshop mockups when you reach a point where the application\ndevelopment can benefit from being graphically beautiful (which can vary\nimmensely... every project is an island). You draw the line at the first\nmoment you can. If and when you reach a minimum point where your application\ncould be used by the masses, freaking ship it. You can fix and add features\nlater, but the moment you have enough to ship that thing out the door - do it.\nSoftware is never \"finished\" anyways, so you'll need to keep going at it\nanyways.\n\nB) Almost all the information regarding UI usability and user experience holds\nup regardless of age. The concepts are the same now and when it was written.\nThere are also a LOT of resources written in the last few years, so I'd\ndisagree that all the information is old. In any case, it really doesn't\nmatter, you're still going to need to come up with your own conclusions for\nyour specific case. No amount of UI/XI reading is going to allow you to skip\nhaving to do you're own testing and to draw your own conclusions on what works\nfor you.\n\nC) In the web industry the designer/artist is generally also the guy that\ncodes your Html/Css/Jquery. A front end developer is generally the person that\ndesigns interaction and pretty screens. The back end guy is the one doing the\nalgorithms, database work, etc. You can outsource everything, though the\nresults are usually not even on the same league as the worst results you can\nget from a good team that clicks working together. You can always have a\ncontractor come in and work with you or your team if needed, and that can\nsometimes be a better compromise than outsourcing per se.\n\nD)I started as a programmer at an early age, but I was also an artist. What\nput me on that path is that I wanted to know how to do everything. From\nPhotoshop to Rails to C to server security and deployment. I started learning\nby doing. Don't look for guidance man, just work on a project and when you\nneed something you're not comfortable doing, freaking do it anyways. Need to\ndo graphics, test layouts, a/b testing? Read on it and start doing it asap. At\nsome point you'll become decent at it, and then one day you're actually good\nat doing it too! Obstacles? There are no obstacles, only challenges. Challenge\nyourself and you'll come out a winner.\n\n------\nenra\nWe participated in the Rails Rumble with Splendid Bacon\n<http://splendidbacon.com> and I did the design and most of the fronted ui. (I\nwrote a summary about the process:\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1803155>)\n\nA) - Usually in our projects or in my projects, I try go with the design\nfirst, starting with describing what we are doing, why, for who and how.(The\nFive W’s Of <http://52weeksofux.com/post/890288783/the-five-ws-of-ux>). The\nconcept, being 5 lines or 5 pages, sets the background for the whole project.\n\nFrom there I try to go with sketches, or wireframes to iterate the views or\nthe interaction flows. Then start doing the ui in Photsohop. When I'm quite\nset with the UI I start implementing that and iterating the interface along\nthe way. After that, or about in the same time we start coding the features.\n\nB) - I'm not sure how much wisdom we have accumulated. About some things sure,\nbut natural multitouch interfaces or multimillion user web services are still\nquite new. If we would have followed Jacob Nielsens advice on everything, we\nwoudn't have sites we have today.\n\nI think the best way is to keep updated what's out there and from there you\ncan get inspired to find your own solutions. That's why I have iPads &\niPhones, try to use most of the new services to understand how they work and\nhow they're built.\n\nI try to learn from other people and their process (like with simple todo app,\nCultured Code produces a lot of sketches and mockups\n<http://culturedcode.com/things/iphone/makingof/> and one of other Rails\nRumble attendees described their process:\n[http://www.thevisualclick.com/notebook/2010/10/2010-rails-\nru...](http://www.thevisualclick.com/notebook/2010/10/2010-rails-rumble-the-\ndesign-process-of-commendable-kids/)\n\nC) - In our company we usually have 2-3 person teams, where one of them is a\ndesigner, which is something I would recommend. Personally I think the best is\nif the designer can also implement the design, because Photoshop mockup is not\nthe actual design, the app or it's interface is. For best result, you need to\nbe charge of the whole interaction.\n\nD) - I'm not that sure which way around I got started, I had some classical\narts education as a kid, and later started making websites and developed some\nweb services. I'm quite bad programmer, altough in addition to html&css I can\nhandle javascript, rails and php.\n\nI think the first step is to know what's is great and what isn't so you know\nhow well you're doing in your own projects. So develope your taste by\nsurrounding yourself with great design. And like in any other learning, the\nkey is just practice. If you have coded hundreds of features, then by the same\ntime I might have done dozen of designs.\n\nFor me the hardest part still finding the right process for some cases.\nSometimes I'm able to see the whole thing right way, and sometimes I'm just\nstuck or feel that something is wrong with the design without knowing what.\n\n------\nwushupork\nHi Dan\n\nI also think that the stuff that came out of Rails Rumble looked pretty\nawesome especially done in 48hrs. I created ShelfLuv in about that timeframe\nas well and see both sides of the coin to use your terminology.\n\nPart A: To me the design and UX is first and foremost. Especially w/ a\nhackathon - think of your product like a runway fashion show. On the front\nside it just needs to look and work perfect. Under the hood for me, out of the\ngate doesn't matter as much as long as it works and isn't slow to the point\nthat it affects the user's perception of the product. I typically try to think\nof the user's interaction/perception/experience first. Mockups in Photoshop\nare pretty useful to me, but so are HTML mockups. It all depends on what I am\ntrying to achieve. A visual experience - playing around w/ that would be best\nserved to me by toying around in Photoshop. An interaction experience, mocking\nvariations of that in jquery is best because I can click around. I can touch\nand feel my app. However I mostly start everything with sketches on pieces of\npaper or my notebook. I try to draw different variations. I look at how other\nwebapps/apps do them. With ShelfLuv there werent many ideas or variations. I\ndidn't start having variations until I had something working to show. If\nthere's nothing to show yet, I feel that people have no baseline with which to\ncompare. It's a lot easier for most people to say A is better than B, than to\njust show them B and ask them if this is any good.\n\nPart B - I find that a layperson is immensely useful in this arena. One of my\nsounding boards is my wife. She's very intelligent but is not what you would\ncall a techie or designer type. Alot of times I just want to use icons but\nmany nontechie people will have no clue what these icons mean. Of course it's\na compose icon - it's a pen and paper.\n\nPart C - I would say you can outsource visual design, but it would be hard to\noutsource the interaction design and how the app works. Interaction is a\nprocess that can be very iterative. You try something, it doesn't work and you\ntry it again.\n\nPart D - I am an engineer by training but started focusing on user experience\nand interaction about midway in my career. I felt like I could have the most\nimpact on users through a great product experience. I started by reading a lot\nof blogs and sites of great designers. I look at and try a lot of web apps and\nsites. I also buy a lot of iphone/ipad apps to see how they work and what\nthey've done. Major obstacles for me is that I'm not a graphic artist and I\ncan't design from scratch. I know designers who like to create textures and\nstuff from scratch and to me I feel more like a cobbler of design elements\nrather than an original creator of design. I will put this design element\ntogether with that element. I'm basically pretty handy at tweaking and\nmodifying in Photoshop but ask me to create stuff in Photoshop and Illustrator\nfrom scratch using the pen/brushes/paths and I'm lost.\n\n------\nsahillavingia\nActually, I'm doing this thing where I'm offering hackers around 5-10 hours of\ndesign work per week (plus additional direction help and the like) for a\npercentage of the company. Normally around 1-5%, depending on a bunch of\nthings including valuation.\n\nI think it's a great deal. If I get 3% of your company, and my design help\nincreases the value of your company by 10% (that's ridicolously easy, too!)\nyou've already made a net profit out of the deal.\n\nWhat do you think?\n\n~~~\nspokey\nI'm not sure if this comment is quite appropriate on this thread (as it is a\nborderline commercial offer and quite possibly off-topic for the OP's\nquestion), but I think your model is interesting and I'd love to know a little\nmore.\n\n1) Is your 5-10 hours/week offer indefinite or for some fixed period? Are you\ncapping the number of start-ups you are working with? (This offer doesn't seem\nto be infinitely scalable.)\n\n2) Do you see this role more as employee-working-for-stock or as angel-\ninvestor-contributing-design-skills-instead-of-money? Maybe another way of\nasking that is: are you taking direction from the founders/owners or are you\noffering advice/support as you see fit? Are you OK with a founder who only\nwants you slice up a PSD she designed or are you looking for an adviser role?\n\n3) I think there is a lot of sense in pg's advice around giving up a small\npercentage of the company in exchange for a much greater chance of success,\nbut I'm not sure it is obvious that your offer is a \"great deal\" for the\nfounders as you state.\n\nI'll accept that in some cases a good design can increase the value/success of\na company by 10% or more but I think in this specific scenario (early stage\nstart-up, possibly with long-hanging fruit design challenges):\n\na) A 10% improvement in the _current_ value of the company probably isn't\nworth 3% of the _eventual_ value of the company if it is successful. That is,\nit may be easy to take a company from $1000/mo to $1100/mo through 5-10 hours\nof design, but barring major oversight I think it will be a lot more difficult\nto take a company from $10M to $11M through graphic/web design alone.\n\nb) On the founder side of the equation whether or not the design work will\nincrease the value of the company more than it cost is really only half of the\nquestion. The other half is comparison shopping: is there a cheaper way to do\nthis?\n\nFor instance, if you assume a modest $500,000 exit then 3-5% is $15,000 to\n$35,000, which may be a roughly competitive rate for design services (e.g.,\nthat's $60 to $100/hr if you assume 50 5 hour weeks). Obviously if you assume\na $1M exit those rates double. If you assume a $5M exit those rates grow by an\norder of magnitude, and I hope I'm not a cheapskate in thinking that $600 to\n$1000/hr is a disproportionately high rate for all but the most remarkable web\ndesigners and even then is probably only appropriate for the most design\nsensitive web apps (whichever those are).\n\nI may well be wrong, but I have a hard time believing that for most start-ups\na bit of early stage design work really provides an additional 6-7 figures of\nvaluation in the long run. Is that what are saying is \"ridiculously easy\"?\n\nc) A moderately successful start up should be able to afford market rates for\ndesign services, and I'd guess that it is rare for great rather than merely\nacceptable design to be the difference between moderate success and failure.\nWhy shouldn't a firm just limp along with an acceptable design until they can\nafford a great one? (And if they don't have an acceptable design yet they can\ncertainly get one for less than 3% of the company.)\n\nIn other words, I think the major challenge to your offer isn't about whether\nor not design can offer a 10% improvement but more about whether or not 3% of\nthe company is the easiest/cheapest/lowest risk way to get that improvement.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nMetafilter comments vs. Youtube comments - joshwa\nhttp://www.thatsaspicymeatball.com/comments/\n\n======\ndeathbyzen\nI. Hate. Youtube. Comments.\n\nI have hated them forever. It's the one thing I can't wrap my fucking head\naround. How hard is it for a company valued at billions of dollars to hire\nsome MODERATORS? I hate the stupid Digg-like approach of voting up and down\ncomments by users. While that usually filters out ad spam and exceptionally\nracist or stupid comments, it is not enough. I'm not saying that I want\nMetaFilter-esque short essays on a fucking Chris Crocker vid, but I crave some\nsemblance of order.\n\nBah, I'm probably in the minority on this one.\n\n~~~\ngahahaha\nI don't know, but YouTube probably can't hire moderators for the comments,\nbecause then they would implicitly acknowledge that they CAN moderate stuff,\nand thereby open themselves up for lawsuits about posting copyrighted\nmaterial.\n\n------\nchrisbroadfoot\nNeeds moar stupidfilter. <http://stupidfilter.org/main/>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nColour e-reader with video in development - AndrewDucker\nhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/8610962.stm\n\n======\nLuyt\nI am very interested in deveopments in eInk technologies. I wish I could buy\nan eInk monitor with a DVI input so that I can use it for programming outside.\nI like to sit on a terrace or on the beach, but laptops/LCD screens are\nunreadable in bright sunlight; and these glossy screens they all seem to have\nnowadays don't help).\n\nI also noted the presenter rotates the prototype from landscape to portrait\nand back, but the video doesn't rotate with it.\n\n------\nunwind\nBy the way, the cartoon video shown in the first video is Big Buck Bunny\n(<http://www.bigbuckbunny.org/>), an award-winning short created using open\nsource software, primarily Blender.\n\n------\nieure\nI hear it’ll be called “iPad.”\n\n~~~\nAndrewDucker\nAn iPad doesn't need a backlight any more? Good Lord! When did that happen?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Email provider for sending transactional emails? - lucaspiller\nI run a website monitoring service, and send out email notifications to my customers whenever there is a problem. I&#x27;m currently using SendGrid with a shared IP, however a lot of my emails are being rejected due to blacklisted IPs. As the notifications don&#x27;t get through, it leads to not very happy customers.<p>Over the past month I&#x27;ve sent 75k emails, and nearly 5,000 have been blocked due to the IP being on spam lists (I should note that 0 of my emails have been marked as spam). My customers are usually small businesses who have overly aggressive spam filters, so that definitely doesn&#x27;t help.<p>I contacted SendGrid support and the only thing they could recommend was that I upgrade to a plan with a dedicated IP. Although $19.95 to $79.95 per month isn&#x27;t too bad, after you send 100k messages per month their prices go up quite a lot (it jumps to $165 for 200k messages), so I&#x27;ve been thinking of moving anyway. The only thing I use them for is as a SMTP server - I don&#x27;t use any of their marketing tools.<p>So.. can anyone recommend a good provider who will be more supporting?\n======\ndjyaz1200\nWe use mailgun and have had a pleasant experience. Good luck!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhy Did Yahoo Buy Summly? - scholia\nhttp://www.businessinsider.com/why-marissa-mayer-bought-a-30m-startup-2013-4\n======\ntheatraine\nI would be interested to see the Summly summarization of this article! I think\nit would read something like this:\n\nYahoo bought Summly, a startup with an app that not many people used, made no\nmoney, and employed no technical geniuses (since it wasn't actually built by\nthem), because Marissa Mayer believes summarization technology is \"going to be\nhuge for Yahoo\".\n\n~~~\nrunnr_az\nYeah... I guess? Doesn't really help it make sense....\n\n~~~\nharlanlewis\nI believe that is exactly the point.\n\n------\njasonkester\nYou know, I think I prefer to live in a world where giant tech companies\noccasionally act in strange, irrational ways that result in random people\ngetting multi-million dollar windfalls.\n\nEspecially if said people vaguely resemble, well, me. That being,\nentrepreneurial software folk running companies with trivially buildable\nproducts. That's the sort of person in my mind that _should_ have as many\nfoolish megacorporations as possible stumbling over one another to randomly\ndump tens of millions of dollars in cash upon them.\n\nGiven the alternative world, where all companies behave rationally at all\ntimes and nobody ever makes mistakes that could possibly make, say, me a\ngozillionaire overnight, I think I'll keep living in this world.\n\nKeep up the good work, Yahoo!\n\n _[Disclaimer: I own a small pile Yahoo stock (that made me a bunch of money\nin the 90's and has been taking it steadily back ever since), so I probably\nlost a few hundred dollars because of this particular deal. I'm happy to pay\nit, much as people who buy lottery tickets are happy to pay it. Having a\ncrazy, aquisition-happy company out there doing its thing is more than worth\nthe price]_\n\n~~~\nmacspoofing\n>You know, I think I prefer to live in a world where giant tech companies\noccasionally act in strange, irrational ways that result in random people\ngetting multi-million dollar windfalls.\n\nYou're in luck, that happens all the time with executive compensation\npackages.\n\n------\nksherlock\nMaybe this was edited in later (I missed it the first time), but...\n\n>Though Summly's own Web site once said: \"SRI International, with the help of\nthe Summly team, built the summarization technology behind Summly,\" we are\ntold that D'Aloisio \"invented\" the product's original technology.\n\n>In a statement provided to us by a Yahoo spokesperson, an SRI spokesperson\nsays: \"Basically, Nick developed the original code for Summly.\"\n\n>\"After the original product was built, SRI supported development of the\ntechnology and provided artificial intelligence expertise in machine learning\nand natural language processing.\"\n\nI don't know about you, but I need a pretty large grain of salt.\n<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y11ps1H6Aq4> is a youtube demo of his first\napp, trimit, 9 months and $300,000 in VC before summly. It seems 2 comprez ur\nmezages like this. Maybe that's the original code.\n\n~~~\neridius\nAt the 1 minute mark he says \"some other.. form.. of documentation.. which I\ndon't know what that is\". So either he misspoke, or he didn't actually even\ndevelop that original app.\n\n~~~\ndangero\nThe video isn't made by the Summly founder. It's just a random person\nreviewing the app.\n\n------\npodperson\nI used automatic summarization to try to reduce the article to a pithy tweet\nand ended up with:\n\n\"Fuck, I don't know. And what's with Bezos investing in BusinessInsider? And\nwhat is Amazon's business plan anyway? And why does Apple's stock keep\ndropping whenever it gains market share?\"\n\n~~~\nOGinparadise\n_And what's with Bezos investing in BusinessInsider?_\n\nFor peanuts they more or less buy good coverage in a widely read news site. A\ncertain VC fund also invested in them and PandoDaily. It's a great investment,\neven if Business Insider goes kaput 2 years from now.\n\n------\nbsimpson\nI just read the whole article, and I still don't know why Yahoo! bought\nSummly.\n\n~~~\nspoiler\nI guess it has something to do with IP. The way I understood it was that the\ncompany Summly licenced the summarisation algorithm was selling it to Yahoo!,\nbut they couldn't do that because Summly was using it, too. So, to get them\nout of the way, Yahoo! bought them and shut them down.\n\nDisclaimer: This is just the way I understood it, I might be partially or\ncompletely wrong.\n\n~~~\ndhaivatpandya\nThat doesn't make much sense - as far as I understand, so far as the US, you\ncannot patent or hold a license over an algorithm, only an implementation\nthereof.\n\n~~~\nLucasCollecchia\nYes, but if the algorithm is a trade secret and you're licensing it out with\nterms of use that aren't favorable to you, you may determine that its in your\nbest interest to buy the company rather than get sued for breach of the\nlicensing contract depending on how much cash you're anticipating to lose\nthrough that litigation.\n\n------\nspdy\nIt´s a strategic investment to make people invested in Summly happy.\n<http://summly.com/about.html>\n\nTheir will be follow ups and some of them might lean towards Yahoo on the next\nacquisition.\n\n~~~\nnotlisted\nMy thoughts exactly. The 17MM was a 'cheap' way to save face for big-name\ninvestors and \"celebrities\" who'd been duped. Circle-jerk money.\n\n\"Angel Investors and Advisors include; Ashton Kutcher, Betaworks, Brian\nChesky, Hosain Rahman, Jessica Powell, Joanna Shields, Josh Kushner, Mark\nPincus, Matt Mullenweg, Seb Bishop, Shakil Khan, Spencer Hyman, Stephen Fry,\nTroy Carter, Vivi Nevo, Yoko Ono and many more. We are also working closely\nwith News Corporation on the summarization of their content.\"\n\nEdit: actually, reading all of the comments on this page, I think my\nexplanation is less likely than the \"summly may have had a special license,\nand SRI couldn't be sold unless summly was acquired as well\" (without\nresulting in lawsuits or sub-licensing deals) and/or \"a nice way to pay more\nfor SRI via the backdoor\" (artificially increasing the value of the summly\nstock they held -> more $$ for SRI).\n\nDo we know how much stock SRI owned of the company? Perhaps they provided\nservices in exchange for summly shares? Wouldn't be the first time.\n\n------\nvolandovengo\nInteresting but confused on the conclusion...\n\nIf the real story is that Yahoo bought the technology to summarize articles\nfrom SRI International, who partly owned Summly -> why did Summly's owners\nmake 30 million?\n\n~~~\nNotre1\nExactly. I came here looking to see if anyone else had a good idea of what\ntheory this article was trying to express.\n\nI think the author is trying to infer that Yahoo agreed to buy Summly, so that\nSRI could liquidate their equity in Summly. Maybe, SRI saw Summly as a loser\nand as part of their negotiations with Yahoo, they asked Yahoo to turn this\nloss position into a win. So, maybe, then that $30M price was really $20M as\npart of the SRI deal and then $10M for assets and aqui-hire talent of Summly\nitself.\n\n    \n    \n      Acquiring Summly seems to have been an almost incidental side effect of a deal Yahoo made with SRI for a piece of \"summarization technology.\"\n    \n      A source tells us that Yahoo has \"agreements in place\" with SRI for \"knowledge transfer,\" and the acquisition of IP, code, and technology.\n    \n      Until Yahoo bought it, SRI International held equity in Summly.\n\n~~~\nUK-AL\nEh, surely just paying that acquisition money directly to sri would be a\nbetter win?\n\n~~~\nsamstave\nMaybe that would be too overt. Maybe they needed to get a way to get a license\nwith SRI that didn't look like a me too act and also nullify existing\nlicenses.\n\nIf SRI actually had equity in Summly, then this is a way to pay off SRI, grab\nthe license for Summly and potentially get SRI to make a change to its\nlicensing agreement with other companies in Yahoo's best interest.\n\nHowever, I thought that Apple wholly owned SRI, which would make my\nspeculation BS...\n\n------\njgalt212\nPerhaps Yahoo saw some positive benefit in paying off Summly's coterie of\ncelebrity investors and advisers.\n\n<http://summly.com/about.html>\n\n~~~\nel_fuser\nWow... That reads like a poster for the slogan \"it's not what you know, it's\nwho you know\".\n\n------\nfnbr\nAre there sources for the $30 million? I've only seen it mentioned in\nsecondary sources, never in an official Yahoo press release (or similar). I\nsuspect that was leaked, and the real price was much lower.\n\n------\nbonjourmr\nEveryone around the world was saying 'Yahoo' a fortnight ago for the first\ntime in a long time because of this purchase of summly and coincidentally,\nYahoo also quietly became the default search in Safari for iPhones during\nMarch. I like to think this is all great marketing and survival positioning by\nYahoo as the big 3 companies/partnerships (read on) rear up for an exciting\nnext few years in technology.\n\nWhy would Apple change the default search? Well Apple and Google are the main\nrivals in the mobile market, it makes sense for both Apple to choose an\nalternative default search engine, as they don't want to strengthen their main\nrival. I also think Apple's recent 'interest' in robotics (Siri, hiring ex-\nsegway engineer) v.s. Google's robotic cars & Glass, this will be another\nfront that Apple will have to fight Google on.\n\n\"1 Billion People Will Use Mobile As Primary Internet Access Point In 2012\"\n[http://googlemobileads.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/consumers-\nlov...](http://googlemobileads.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/consumers-love-their-\nsmartphones-now.html)\n\nThat leaves them with two options, the first being Bing. No way in hell would\nthey choose Microsoft to partner with, with MS' purchase of Skype and close\nties with FB you can expect MS to push harder than ever in the Mobile space,\nover the next few years (assuming they can tie all of their products together\nneatly).\n\nSo that really only leaves Yahoo for search, which works out well for both\ncompanies; Yahoo get to survive the battle of the big 3 and still appear\nsomewhat relevant and Apple are no longer strengthening their main rival. I\nreally have no idea what I'm talking about but it sounds interesting.\n\ntl;dr - purchase of summly was marketing and survival by Yahoo\n\n~~~\nMe1000\nGoogle is still the default search engine on the iPhone. They just removed the\n\"google\" button and replaced it with \"Search\"\n\n------\nmindcrime\nDear Marissa:\n\nThe next logical step for Yahoo! is to move into the enterprise. I know a\ngreat startup you could acquire that would accelerate your move into that\nspace. I expect it could be had for somewhere around what you paid for Summly.\nCall me.\n\nMindcrime\n\n~~~\nmgkimsal\nusually helps to put a phone number if you're expecting a call.\n\n~~~\nmindcrime\nIt's in my profile. :-)\n\n------\nUK-AL\nWhy didn't they just go direct to SRI? I'm guessing summly got a good\nlisencing deal.\n\n~~~\nnilkn\nI'm confused on how summly would have gotten a better licensing deal than\nYahoo! could have managed. [Honest question.]\n\n~~~\nkd0amg\nPlain old price discrimination? I wouldn't expect SRI to try to get a Yahoo-\nsized license fee out of some tiny startup.\n\n~~~\njeffgreco\nSure, but would a tiny startup get exclusive rights?\n\n------\njmduke\nTech news from the USAToday news section and TechCrunch to Anandtech and, yes,\nHacker News was dominated by news of the Summly acquisition for five days.\n\nThat PR alone was well worth the purchase price.\n\n~~~\nvolandovengo\nHmmm... but this is bad PR.\n\nThe PR read that Yahoo is acquiring a company but shutting down its product\nand getting only 2 of their engineers for 30 million dollars. PR like that\ngets Yahoo's name in the press but does nothing to improve the image that\nYahoo has no idea what it's doing.\n\n~~~\nJacobAldridge\n_\"does nothing to improve the image that Yahoo has no idea what it's doing.\"_\n\nI think that's true, but only true to those people who read (or remembered or\nunderstood) beyond \"Yahoo buys hot new company, hot new technology, hot new\ntalent\". The PR implication is that Yahoo is investing in once again being hot\nand new.\n\nFor those of us who understand the details of the company and product being\nbought, Yahoo's reputation was already entrenched. For the majority of\nreaders, however, \"hot new Yahoo\" was the takeaway[1].\n\n[1] Based on my experience as a journalist / writer, and the half dozen people\nwho raised Summly in conversation with me the week the acquisition went\npublic.\n\n~~~\nharlanlewis\nBut startup acquisition news doesn't reach the vast, VAST majority of Yahoo's\ncurrent, prospective, or desired users. Even pretending news like this reached\na broad audience (while also pretending that audience doesn't have the same\ncontext you're attributing to HackerNews readers), acquisitions aren't just\nexpensive - they're expensive with a significant risk of creating longterm\ninternal pain of varying types and degrees for what, at best, could be a\nshortterm positive blip in general opinion.\n\nHow does this perceived misuse of funds and focus impact Yahoo employees?\nTheir moral, productivity, and general satisfaction/enthusiasm?\n\nDoes it make it easier to attract great new hires who meet Mayer's hiring\nstandards? ([http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoo-employees-worry-that-\nma...](http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoo-employees-worry-that-marissa-\nmayers-hiring-standards-are-too-high-2013-3))\n\nBrand marketing has real value, but this has got to be the least efficient way\nto do it.\n\n~~~\ncookiecaper\nI don't know, who are Yahoo's prospective customers? Search advertisers,\nright? They need goodwill with small business owners, whether those\nbusinesspersons are technically inclined or not. I'm sure they reached many of\nthat type with this announcement. What niche do you think Yahoo needs for a\ncustomer base but has totally failed to contact?\n\n------\nbrudgers\nTo the degree Summly's license to the technology was transferable, the\npurchase makes a lot of sense because it prevents strategic acquisition of\nSummly by a potential Yahoo competitor.\n\nEven if not transferable, the purchase prevents Summly from partnering with a\nYahoo competitor, and that is very likely to have been allowed by Summly's\nlicense.\n\nWith nearly $4 billion in net income last year, the purported purchase price\nis less than a penny to the dollar.\n\n------\nlouischatriot\nIt's great to get some insight on a deal that, frankly, I couldn't understand.\n\nI am of course biased, because I believe (like many others) that algorithms\nare bad at summarization, except for already well-structured content (news are\nusually like this). That includes most blogposts and videos. My startup\n(tldr.io) is trying to actually solve the summarization problem using\ncrowdsourcing. For example, here is the summary of this article:\n[https://tldr.io/tldrs/516542c52dcbc1ab3b0000d2/heres-the-\nrea...](https://tldr.io/tldrs/516542c52dcbc1ab3b0000d2/heres-the-real-reason-\nmarissa-mayer-bought-a-17-year-olds-startup-for-30-million)\n\n------\nsecuringsincity\nI actually stopped reading Gizmodo because i thought the article where they\nmade him cry a few years back was too far. Shaming a 15 year old kid publicly\nno matter how annoying seemed too far. Now he successfully gets summly\nacquired and the support for and shade that has been thrown at this kid has\nbeen so massive. I still don't know what to think of the kid, but I do think\nthat SRI's tech definitely meets the needs of Yahoo and would fit perfectly\nwith their media content.\n\n~~~\nUK-AL\nI don't like how they treated him.\n\nHowever I think it does expose the difference between media reporting(tech\ngenius,visionary, future leader, hard working) and actual\nreality(Narcissistic, child like, unprofessional). And those traits have been\nexposed again, since he claimed to invent the tech and developed the app in\nthe media. Media have hailed shower of praises, mainly because he uses a top\nPR agency.\n\nIts kind of depressing for me, because it seems to mean being showy, and\nhaving a good PR facade is worth far more than people doing the actual work.\n\n~~~\nbadgar\n> Its kind of depressing for me, because it seems to mean being showy, and\n> having a good PR facade is worth far more than people doing the actual work.\n\nMarketing is a huge part of the startup world. There's a reason people are\ntold to stop building at MVP - what you build isn't really important, and\nyou're really likely to throw away what you built and switch to something\nelse.\n\n------\njahansafd\nVery few people invent anything. Most developers with limited resources work\nwith groundbreaking technologies(built by others) to create something\nmeaningful.\n\n------\nLandoCalrissian\nMy question then, is why didn't Yahoo just try and work with SRI International\ndirectly and not deal with Summly?\n\n------\nig1\nFlagged. This article contains zero new information and just speculation.\nUnless you were involved in the transaction you have no idea what was\ninvolved. Maybe they overpaid and maybe they didn't.\n\nIf you believe Yahoo are stupid you're free to go and short Yahoo shares. They\nare after all a publicly traded company.\n\nLets stop with all this stupid speculation where people rehash the small\namount of public information for the purpose of linkbait.\n\n------\nfauldsh\nI'm getting increasingly intrigued to how much advertising they're getting for\ntheir $30m\n\n------\nfosterzone\nWell curated article Thanks\n\n------\nmichaelochurch\n_Further, D'Aloisio deserves credit for outsourcing technology development and\napp development to the right firms, and coalescing their work into a product\nthat made him millions._\n\nI can't tell if this is a brilliant dog-whistle dig or if it's actually being\nsaid without irony.\n\n~~~\npseut\nAll of the articles I've read about Summly have a bit at the end where the\nauthor bends over backwards to not appear to be crapping on a 17yo. I read\nthat passage the same way.\n\n~~~\nbadgar\nConsidering how much heat gizmodo got for calling out the same kid two years\nago, I'm not surprised.\n\n~~~\ndopamean\nWhat's the story there? I'm unfamiliar. Link?\n\n~~~\nbobwaycott\nThe founder (then 15 yrs old) was basically dishonest, annoying, ridiculous\n... etc. More here: [http://gizmodo.com/5830076/how-i-made-a-15+year+old-app-\ndeve...](http://gizmodo.com/5830076/how-i-made-a-15+year+old-app-developer-\ncry)\n\n~~~\nzem\nnot surprised they got heat - however annoying the guy was, that was a deeply\nmean-spirited article.\n\n------\nbiswajitsharma\nNow about that Kid, D'Alosio ... I don't care he built it or not, he made\nmoney like a crazy chicken!! I think that's enough!! :)\n\nComing back to Yahoo! I believe Marissa Mayer has something in mind. She is a\nsmart lady, smart enough to point out what we are pointing out here.\n\nIf not, we'll soon see another JC Penney episode here.\n\n------\nalgosio\nThe Sad Part is they could actually be out buying companies like\n\n<http://www.algorithms.io>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThis is the IPaddress(37.59.164.208) calling a hacked script file on my server - ziggrat\n\n37.59.164.208 - - [09/Nov/2012:00:31:55 -0600] \"POST /scripts/wp-trackbacks9.php HTTP/1.1\" 200 183 \"-\" \"Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:8.0) Gecko/20100101\nWhen i traced it i found the location as France and its going to Google homepage when i run it in the address bar. I'm unable to understand this and need your help HN.\n======\ndexcs\nIt just a redirect to google:\n\n< HTTP/1.1 200 OK < Server: nginx < Date: Fri, 09 Nov 2012 11:26:14 GMT <\nContent-Type: text/html < Connection: keep-alive < Content-Length: 97 < Last-\nModified: Fri, 19 Oct 2012 14:01:40 GMT < Expires: Sat, 10 Nov 2012 11:26:14\nGMT < Cache-Control: max-age=86400 < Cache-Control: private < Cache-Control:\nmust-revalidate < Accept-Ranges: bytes < <html> <head> <meta http-\nequiv=\"refresh\" content=\"0;\nurl=[http://www.google.com>](http://www.google.com>); </head> </html>\n\n~~~\nziggrat\nThanks. This bot is using a old wordpress hack. How can this kind of thing be\nstopped? I dont mean stopping it after it happens, I mean getting the bot\ndown, maybe like DDOS it or something.\n\n~~~\nxvolter\nThe easiest would be to modify your web server to reject requests to that URL.\nTherefore it no longer causes annoyances. However, if that URL is still being\nused, your best shot is to reject on a per-IP basis.\n\nYou cannot DDOS any server, a DDOS attack works primary on web servers, and\nthe server it's coming from isn't likely to have a web server that matters,\nsince it just redirects DDOSing would be nearly impossible to accomplish\nwithout a huge effort.\n\nWhat may be easier is getting the website shutdown, if you trace the host\nprovider or ISP you can file a claim and possibly get their connection or\nhosting turned off.\n\n~~~\nbmelton\nI don't mean to seem critical, but\n\n1) it would be slightly better to DROP requests to the URL than to reject them\nand\n\n2) you can DDOS plenty of other servers besides web servers. You're right of\ncourse that there likely isn't a server attached to the IP address (though you\ncould likely tie up at least the one thread with programmatic recursion /\nredirects), but DDOSing isn't particular to web servers at all.\n\n~~~\nxvolter\nNo, but DDOSing does require an open listener - the most common and easiest is\na web server. If whoever is trying to use some old Wordpress hacks is smart,\nhowever likely that is, he/she would not have a ton of ports open.\n\nYou can also drop requests if per-IP if you are setup on a web provider that\nhas a hardware firewall, but I do not know your setup, so my recommendation\nwas one that would work anywhere.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: What are some small scripts you use daily? - poiuz\nWhat are some small scripts you use daily?\n======\nmacNchz\nI wind up making lots of interim files when\nimporting/exporting/munging/analyzing data–to help keep track of these things\n(CSVs, scripts and miscellany that I may or may not want to revisit in the\nfuture) I have a function I call _today_ to auto-create daily scratch\ndirectories:\n\n    \n    \n        TODAY_DIR=\"$HOME/today/\"\n        DATE_DIR=$(date +'%Y-%m-%d')\n        \n        if [ ! -d  $TODAY_DIR$DATE_DIR ];\n        then\n            mkdir -p $TODAY_DIR$DATE_DIR\n        fi;\n        \n        echo $TODAY_DIR$DATE_DIR\n    \n\nSo you can do stuff like this with less thinking/typing:\n\n    \n    \n        cp somefile.csv $(today)\n    \n\nI've been using this for a few years and continually find it handy, both at\nthe command line and in keeping files clustered when I want to dig something\nup later. It is slightly less helpful if you regularly work past midnight,\nthough!\n\n------\nmod\nNot exactly a script, but I work at home and sometimes I need to drown out the\nkids (or the wife!). I have this in my .bashrc:\n\nalias whitenoise='play -q -c 2 -n synth brownnoise band -n 1600 1500 tremolo\n.1 30'\n\nIt plays some fuzzy whitenoise, which drowns them out and lets me keep focused\n(music is often distracting to me).\n\n------\ndavidbanham\nI call this blingle. I call it after any long running operation that I want to\nbe notified of. It pops a desktop notification and sends a push message to my\nphone.\n\neg: make deploy; blingle\n\n#!/bin/bash\n\nMSG=${@:-\"Job complete\"}\n\nnotify-send \"$MSG\"\n\ncurl -s \\\n\n    \n    \n      --form-string \"token=TOKEN\" \\\n    \n      --form-string \"user=UID\" \\\n    \n      --form-string \"message=$MSG\" \\\n    \n      https://api.pushover.net/1/messages.json\n\n~~~\nst0le\nFor a free alternative, check instapush.im or pushbullet\n\n------\ntedmiston\nI have letters like r and b aliased in my bash profile to check for and run a\nbash script, if it exists, in each project directory (r = ./run.sh, b =\n./build.sh).\n\nIn each of those scripts, I typically have a one liner depending on what the\nproject requires. A simple build one is:\n\n    \n    \n        #!/usr/bin/env bash\n    \n        make build\n    \n\nAnd run:\n\n    \n    \n        #!/usr/bin/env bash\n    \n        docker run foo/bar\n    \n\nOr maybe:\n\n    \n    \n        #!/usr/bin/env bash\n    \n        python manage.py runserver\n    \n\nI might also add (source) environment variable settings, etc. Sort of like my\nown personal decentralized makefile.\n\nThen I add each script to my .git/info/exclude for each project. It saves so\nmuch time switching between projects to not have to remember any particular\none's build or run commands.\n\n~~~\nz1mm32m4n\nThis is brilliant; I think I'll start doing this.\n\nOne slight modification: name the build and run scripts something that you\nwill never expect to be in that repo (maybe like run-xyz.sh where xyz are my\ninitials, 10 random characters, etc.).\n\nThen, the filename can be excluded in a global gitignore file.\n\n~~~\ntedmiston\nYeah, good points. Maybe putting the script(s) inside a .whatever directory\ninside the project root like some other dev tools do is worth consideration.\nWhat do you think?\n\n------\nggm\nThis is awk which emits the stream of unique things, as they are seen. it\ndoesn't require sorted input. It runs at the cost of building the obvious hash\nin memory so can drive you to swap over large inputs, but its portable, does\nnot require post-install s/w typically not on small systems and it delivers\noutcomes fast.\n\nI use it all the time when I have some UNIX pipe emitting things and I want to\n\"see\" the uniques before I do sort | uniq -c type things.\n\n#!/bin/sh awk '{ if (!h[$0]) { print $0; h[$0]=1 } }'\n\n~~~\ntyingq\nI do something similar with Perl, since I know the syntax a bit better. It\nallows me to (from memory) scrub out non-unique things like timestamps.\n\nSo, without the scrubbing:\n\ntail -f somefile | perl -ne '!$SEEN{$_}++ and print'\n\nScrubbing off leading timestamps:\n\ntail -f somefile | perl -ne 's/^[0-9:]//;!$SEEN{$_}++ and print'\n\n------\nhboon\nI wrote [https://github.com/hboon/genie](https://github.com/hboon/genie) which\nlets me run create directory-specific aliases such as:\n\npush -> git push origin develop; git push origin master; git push origin\n--tags; terminal-notifier -title \"Pushed to Git\" -message \"Project X\"\n\nIn another directory, push may push different branches. Ditto for pull,\nrelease, keep, etc\n\nUse them daily.\n\n------\nnonsequ\nI run an AHK script with a little over 2000 abbreviations (e.g. typing 'abbn'\nexpands to 'abbreviation'). It helps me type 100+ WPM without too much strain.\n\n~~~\nluck_fenovo\nThat's a cool idea. Do you have your file posted anywhere? If not I may cook\nsomething up on my own, I'm curious to try it out.\n\n~~~\najonit\nAHK has been working great for me over the years. My addresses, snippets of\nemails, expansions are all stored in an ahk file. I use various email\naddresses for different sites; so a@a would become aj(at)ajonit(dot)com or a@l\nwould become admin(at)learnqtp(dot)com. The possibilities are endless. Few\nyear's back I created a video for my blog readers and published an AHK\ntemplate. You may download it here [http://www.learnqtp.com/get-productive-\nwith-automation-autoh...](http://www.learnqtp.com/get-productive-with-\nautomation-autohotkey/)\n\n------\nKJBweb\nI created a Perl script called anyconnector which allows me to jump around\nbetween different Cisco Anyconnect VPN's using details stored in KeePass\nentries.\n\ne.g.\n\n    \n    \n      To connect: anyconnector -c env-name\n      Disconnect: anyconnector -d\n      Get status: anyconnector -s\n    \n\nIt gets used by my team all day, every day.\n\n~~~\narfar\nLooks pretty handy! How do you interface with the KeePass database? Is there a\nlibrary? with Perl bindings?\n\n~~~\nKJBweb\nThere's quite a neat little library with an impressive amount of functionality\nfor interacting with Keepass, called \"File::KeePass;\".\n\nHere's a copy of the script itself:\n[https://gist.github.com/kjbweb/38508fd92669101ec1fca4bea62bc...](https://gist.github.com/kjbweb/38508fd92669101ec1fca4bea62bcefe)\n\nIt works on Mac's too, so I've been told.\n\n------\ncharris0\nMy thinkpad running Linux is a bit temperamental when changing displays, often\nenumerating an existing display port as a new one.\n\nI use the following script to switch to dual external monitors at a standard\nresolution, and a counterpart script to switch back to the internal hidef\nmonitor.\n\nIf only I could reliably fix xfce4's panel placement all of the time...and not\nhave to restart chrome and pycharm/intelliJ on each display change!\n\n    \n    \n      #!/bin/bash\n      \n      EXT1=`xrandr --current | sed 's/^\\(.*\\) connected.*$/\\1/p;d' | grep -v ^eDP | head -n 1`\n      EXT2=`xrandr --current | sed 's/^\\(.*\\) connected.*$/\\1/p;d' | grep HDMI | head -n 1`\n      INT=`xrandr --current | sed 's/^\\(.*\\) connected.*$/\\1/p;d' | grep -v ^DP | head -n 1`\n      \n      \n      xfconf-query -c xsettings -p /Xft/DPI -s 96\n      xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -p /panels/panel-1/size -s 28\n      \n      xrandr \\\n      --output VIRTUAL1 --off \\\n      --output ${INT} --off \\\n      --output ${EXT2} --mode 1680x1050 --pos 0x150 --rotate normal \\\n      --output ${EXT1} --mode 1920x1200 --pos 1680x0 --rotate normal --primary\n\n------\nluord\nSomething that I added to my bash profile is this simple `cd` override that\ntriggers `workon` from `virtualenvwrapper` if the folder I'm accessing has a\n`virtualenv` with the same name.\n\n    \n    \n        cd()\n        {\n          command cd \"$@\"\n          [[ \"$OLDPWD\" == \"$HOME\"/Work/* && ! -z \"$VIRTUAL_ENV\" && \"$OLDPWD\" == *\"${VIRTUAL_ENV##*/}\"* && \"$PWD\" != *\"${VIRTUAL_ENV##*/}\"* ]] && deactivate\n          [[ -z \"$VIRTUAL_ENV\" && \"$PWD\" == \"$HOME\"/Work/* ]] && next=\"$(sed -e \"s/^.*Work\\///\" -e \"s/\\/.*$//\" <<< \"$PWD\")\" && [[ -d \"$WORKON_HOME\"/\"$next\" ]] && workon \"$next\" && unset next\n        }\n    \n\nYes, too many one-liners and short-circuits are usually a no-no, but it's not\nlike anyone else is ever going to use this and I like these shortcuts.\n\n------\nhilti\nSyncing current dev directory to my webserver using rsync multiple times a\nday:\n\nrsync -rlptvDC --progress --rsh=\"ssh -l username\" * myserver.com\n\n------\nstevekemp\nI created a git-repository of the scripts I use often:\n\n[https://github.com/skx/sysadmin-util](https://github.com/skx/sysadmin-util)\n\nThat seems to be somewhat popular on github, but I rarely receive feedback so\nI'm not sure if people star because they use them too, or just because they\nsuspect they might.\n\n------\ncarapace\nI have a lil thing I call \"did\" that just greps my shell history for a term,\nsorting and de-duplicating the result:\n\n    \n    \n        $ cat `which did`\n        grep $1 ~/.bash_history | sort | uniq\n    \n    \n\nI also set HISTSIZE=10000000\n\nI don't mind having a large history file laying around because it's so useful.\n\n~~~\nmod\nThanks for this one. I hadn't stumbled on a good way to search my history\nbefore.\n\n~~~\ncarapace\nCheers. :)\n\n------\nnicwolff\nThis Bash function rebases and pushes all my feature branches on the upstream\n\"develop\" branch:\n\n    \n    \n      rebase-all () \n      { \n          old=`git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD`;\n          stashed=`git stash`;\n          for b in $(git branch --format '%(authorname) %(refname:short)' | sed -ne \"s/^`git config --get user.name` //p\" | grep -- -);\n          do\n              git checkout $b && git rebase origin/develop && git push --force || ( git rebase --abort && echo Could not rebase $b );\n              echo;\n          done;\n          git checkout $old;\n          if [ \"$stashed\" != \"No local changes to save\" ]; then\n              git stash pop;\n          fi\n      }\n\n------\naynulhabib\nI'm in sales for a surveying/feedback SaaS co. Before demos I brand the\nsurvey/account with the prospect's company's colors & logo. During the demo I\nsend custom branded, inline email surveys to a test gmail account to help my\nprospect understand the survey respondent POV. I also have to delete that\ntest-survey email every hour so that the next prospect I demo isn't privy to\nwho is exploring us. I often have to do 4-8 demos a day so as you can imagine\nthat got old fast.\n\nI wipe the inbox for my test gmail account every hour at the :45 minute mark\nusing a ruby script. I don't automate the sending because it's part of the\neducation of the prospect.\n\n------\ndavid-cako\n[https://github.com/david-cako/flac-phobic](https://github.com/david-\ncako/flac-phobic)\n\nBiggest timesaver in the world for someone who listens to as much music as I\ndo and doesn't want to deal with manually transcoding FLAC files.\n\niTunes and Apple Music will soon support FLAC natively, though -- previously\nit was out of necessity, space, and not wanting to use VLC and lose my\nmain/single use of my Apple Watch. It's still about the latter two.\n\nI recently also set it to output a manifest that I can feed into rsync on my\nwork computer to pull my library from my backup server.\n\n------\ntmaly\nI have a small perl script I wrote called helpme\n\nby default it shows a list of topics. Then if you run it with the topic, it\ndisplays the details about the topic. I use it to remember how to do less\nfrequent stuff at my day job.\n\n~~~\nshincert\nHow does it work?\n\n~~~\ntmaly\nIts super simple 11 lines of code then lines for the topics and description.\n\nI have a topics hash/dictionary.\n\nIf the helpme command is run without a topic argument, it prints out all the\ntopic keys to the dictionary one per line.\n\nIf it is run with a topic argument, it just prints out the value for that\ntopic.\n\n------\nbitshepherd\nI wrote a Docker helper script, which resets it to a baseline state when I\nneed to clear out cruft post-restart. I call it harpoon, so I can harpoon the\nwhale when I go to restart my dev machine.\n\n~~~\nshincert\nI'm interested. Care to share?\n\n------\nbilalq\nbash functions:\n\n    \n    \n        # Helper function for running command in each subdirectory under current one.\n        function each {\n          if [ -z $1 ]; then\n            : # If no command is given, then this is a no-op.\n          else\n            find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -not -path '*/\\.*' -type d -exec sh -c \"(echo {} && cd {} && $* && echo)\" \\;\n          fi\n        }\n    \n\nzsh functions:\n\n    \n    \n        # Helper function for navigating tmux sessions\n        export WORKSPACE_ROOT=$HOME/workspace\n        ws() {\n          if [ -z $1 ]; then\n            if [ -z $TMUX ]; then\n              tmux attach-session\n            else\n              cd $WORKSPACE_ROOT\n            fi\n          elif [[ $1 == 'ls' ]]; then\n            tmux list-sessions\n          else\n            tmux attach -t $1 || cd $WORKSPACE_ROOT/$1/src; tmux new-session -s $1\n          fi\n        }\n    \n        # Helper function for running command in each subdirectory under current one.\n        each() {\n          if [ -z $1 ]; then\n            # If no command is given, just exit\n          else\n            find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -not -path '*/\\.*' -type d -exec sh -c \"(echo {} && cd {} && $* && echo)\" \\;\n          fi\n        }\n\n------\ndavewasthere\nI have a deployment script that is part of my one-click deployment to the\ncustomer's webserver. It's kind of a legacy to having really crap interwebs\nthough, as my upload used to be in the 700-900 kbit/sec range, so it strips\nout anything from the deploy package that isn't absolutely essential to create\nsort of a delta of changes.\n\nMakes deployments blistering fast now that I've got 30 Megabit/sec up\nthough... :)\n\n------\nqubyte\nI wrote a docker-wrapped script to create keys and certificates for use with\nHTTPS for development. These are configured with algorithms which modern\nbrowsers won't complain about. It also allows alternate domains.\n\n[https://hub.docker.com/r/qubyte/cert-\ncreator/](https://hub.docker.com/r/qubyte/cert-creator/)\n\n------\nanotheryou\n\\- a bat to launch some programs as admin on windows on startup\n\nahk scripts:\n\n\\- Easy Window Dragging (KDE style)\n\n\\- Rocker (click left-right mouse button to go forward in explorer etc, right-\nleft to go back)\n\n\\- hidedesk (hides desktop icons unless I click on the desktop, sadly a bit\nbuggy)\n\n\\- some custom script to unify hotkeys for the brightness of my external dell\nmonitor and my laptop screen.\n\nbrowser fixes:\n\n\\- some drag to scroll js for greasmonkey\n\n\\- shortcut for bookmarking to pocket with keyboard only (with tags)\n\n------\nsmpetrey\nOver the years I’ve taught some of my (macOS user) co-workers the magic of the\nAutomator.app\n\nIt’s transformed the office. It’s the little things ya know.\n\n~~~\nsiquick\nCan you give some use case examples?\n\n------\nsprobertson\n`watch-reload [watch dir] [reload domain]`, which watches for changes in a\ndirectory and triggers a reload for tabs matching a certain domain using a\nChrome extension.\n\n`watch-copy [copy to dir]`, which watches for changes in the current directory\nand builds and copies to another directory.\n\n`set-lights [group name] [on/off/high/low]`, which posts commands to a Hue\nbridge.\n\n------\ntranvu\nI start projects very often and find myself using my scaffolding\n[tool]([https://github.com/vutran/zel](https://github.com/vutran/zel)) for\nminimal dotfiles (which are downloaded from a repo) very often.\n\nAlso use it a lot for syncing dotfiles in my user directory between my work\nand home computers.\n\n------\nmatt_s\nI like using a lot of aliases and chaining them together if I can and it makes\nsense.\n\nThe most common one I use all the time is one that changes the command prompt\nto show what git branch I'm on when in that directory. Just google it if you'd\nlike.\n\nIf you repeat some command a lot or a chain of commands and it takes a lot of\ntedious typing, then script it.\n\n------\n12s12m\nI have a simple script called ~/bin/shipit\n\n    \n    \n        web [master=] $ cat $(type -P shipit)\n        #!/bin/bash\n        exec ./shipit\n        web [master=] $\n    \n\nThis allows me to tweak every projects deploy script and also maintain it in\nversion control.\n\n------\nsimplyianm\nA very unsafe python script to unescape strings.\n\n    \n    \n        #!/usr/bin/env python\n        import sys\n    \n        def unescape(string):\n            print eval(string)\n    \n        if __name__ == '__main__':\n            unescape(sys.stdin.read())\n\n------\nkoolba\nI have a shell alias that creates a temp directory labeled with the current\ntime stamp and suffixed tag then changes to it. Makes it very quick get a new\nscratch area for shell fu.\n\nPlus all the scratch dirs are in one place so cleanup is a breeze to free up\nspace.\n\n~~~\nmunchor\nSharing is caring? :)\n\n~~~\nkoolba\nAsk and ye shall receive!\n\n    \n    \n        make-scratch-dir () {\n          local name=\"$1\"\n          local pattern='^[a-z0-9\\\\-]+$'\n          if [[ \"$#\" != 1 ]]; then\n            echo \"Usage: make-scratch-dir <name>\" 1>&2\n            return 1\n          elif [[ ! \"$name\" =~ $pattern ]]; then\n            echo \"Invalid name: ${name}\"\n          fi\n          local full_path=\"$HOME/tmp/scratch/$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)-${name}\"\n          mkdir -p \"${full_path}\"\n          pushd \"${full_path}\"\n          echo \"Now in temp dir: ${full_path}\"\n        }\n    \n\nThe directory change is done via pushd so you can hop back via popd. Also, it\nrestricts the suffixes to ensure the directories are all \"simple\" names.\n\n~~~\neffie\nI didn't know of pushd, very interesting, may be useful for directory\ntraversal in general.\n\n------\ndanbolt\nI typically have a script that prints out my local IP, instead of if/ipconfig\nor some OS UI. If I'm hosting a static page with an HTML5 game, it's then\npretty easy to access it on another computer or my phone.\n\n------\npvaldes\nClassify digital photographs that I need to review by its content.\nImport/export data from/to a DB, analyze it statistically and show graphically\nthe info. Pretty standard.\n\n------\nbazillion\nI use this to do a `git pull` on all of my folders inside of my \"sites\"\nfolder:\n\n#!/bin/bash\n\nfor i in /sites/*/.git; do ( echo $i; cd $i/..; git pull; ); done\n\n~~~\nstevekemp\nTake a look at `mr` which allows you to script updating/checking out/etc on a\nlarge number of git, mercurial, and other repositories:\n\n[https://myrepos.branchable.com/](https://myrepos.branchable.com/)\n\nFor example I store all my repos beneath ~/Repos/ so I can update them all,\nchecking out any missing ones with:\n\n    \n    \n        cd ~/Repos/\n        mr checkout\n        mr update\n\n------\ncoinjobber\nThere's a gui app on top of the script, so not sure if it counts, but I find\nSelfControl (selfcontrolapp.com) indispensible for staying focused each day.\n\n~~~\nshincert\nI've installed it recently but some sites are hard. For example, I'd block\nYouTube in the blink of an eye, but what if I really need to look up a video\ntutorial or something in the middle of a work session?\n\n------\nzexodus\nmy screens are somewhat too bright if i want to do work at night so\n\n    \n    \n       #!/bin/bash                                                                       \n       xrandr --output DVI-I-1 --brightness $1                                      \n       xrandr --output HDMI-0 --brightness $1  \n       xrandr --output DVI-D-0 --brightness $1                      \n    ~\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGoogle maps cut prices by 88% - njx\nhttp://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57459328-93/google-slashes-price-88-for-using-google-maps-api\n======\ngeorgemcbay\n$0.50 per 1000 maps is way better pricing than $4 per 1000 maps, yet still a\nlot more expensive than using OpenStreetMap even if you factor in CPU and\nbandwidth costs to run your own data/tile servers.\n\nAssuming OSM is \"good enough\" for your usage when compared to Google Maps, I\ndon't think this pricing change really modifies the decision much for a lot of\npeople.\n\nThis may slow down the tide of those switching over but I don't think it will\nreverse or stop it.\n\n~~~\nstickfigure\nAgreed, this is too little too late.\n\nWe're about to roll out a major maps-based feature that we've been working\nfrantically on for the last several weeks (a yelp-like discovery system for\namateur athletic events). Despite having _extensive_ past development\nexperience with Google Maps, the price forced us to go with an OSM-based\nsystem (MapQuest tiles + Leaflet).\n\nThe surprise? Leaflet/OSM is actually a lot _nicer_ to develop against than\nGoogle Maps. Leaflet is a superior API, and the fact that it's open source\nmeans I'm never left wondering \"WTF?\" when there is some strange drawing\nglitch. I'm never going back.\n\nThere are a handful of features that Google Maps provides that OSM does not,\nand the quality of the Google geocoder is slightly superior. But for drawing a\nmap and icons/polygons, scrolling to determine search bounds, etc, OSM is a\nsuperior solution. I would never have discovered this without getting \"pushed\nout of the nest\" by price.\n\nOne catch: To do HTTPS, we have to proxy the tiles. No big deal.\n\n~~~\nstickfigure\n...and now it's deployed. You can see it here:\n\n<https://www.voo.st/>\n\n~~~\nwhite_devil\n_\"You don't have JavaScript enabled. Good luck with that.\n\nYou're probably also running a painfully old web browser. It hurts us to see\nyou suffer so.\"_\n\nYou might want to tone that down a notch. I'm running Opera v12, but just keep\nJS off by default, white-listing sites as necessary.\n\n~~~\nstickfigure\nOops! This is one of those things that was supposed to be rewritten but never\ndid. I guess the lesson is to be more careful about leaving snarky comments in\npublic-facing copy... you might forget to change it.\n\nThanks for the reminder, this will be fixed this afternoon :)\n\n------\nchris123\n\"Closing the barn door after the horse is gone\" is the first thing that popped\ninto my mind when I read this headline.\n\nThe second thing was that they were being \"penny wise and pound foolish\" when\nthey raised prices in the first place (last October, I guess it was). So they\ngot like six months of revenue bump, pissed a lot of people off and created an\nopportunity for at least one big and viable competitor. Smart.\n\nAnd now they flip flop.\n\nThe message is that if they think they can bend you over a barrel and have\ntheir way, they will. And then, if the competitive landscape changes, giving\nyou a chance to get their dick out of your *ss, they will try to kiss and\nmakeup (until they sense their next opportunity to bend you over). What did\nidiot Bush say? \"Fool me once, shame on you... Fool me twice...\"\n<http://youtu.be/eKgPY1adc0A>\n\n~~~\nww520\nGoogle has lost lots of credibility among 3rd party developers using their API\nand services with the dramatic price hike with Google Maps and AppEngine. You\nwould never know when they will decide to jack up the price again.\n\n~~~\nangkec\nExactly what I was thinking. First reaction from me was that they will raise\nthe price again when they gain market share, second reaction was a quiet note\nto myself that if they ever drop price on AppEngine like they did to GMap I\nshall not go back since my startup was hurt so bad with their vendor lock-in\nand dramatic price raise.\n\n------\njeffnappi\nIt's pretty shady how Google muscled out the competition by offering Google\nMaps for free after the acquisition of Keyhole. They basically murdered\nMapQuest and other \"overpriced\" solutions only to raise their price to even\nhigher levels once they had a near monopoly on the embedded maps market.\nClever, but dirty. Certainly this could be considered \"evil\".\n\n------\ncs702\nWow. The parties that will ultimately suffer most from this are Navteq and\nTomTom, which now charge between one and two orders of magnitude more than\nGoogle for map data.\n\nFor car makers seeking to add built-in navigation to their vehicles, Google\nMaps is now a much more compelling choice than either of those two companies'\nofferings.\n\n(FWIW, TomTom is reportedly Apple's supplier of map data.)\n\n~~~\nrmc\nThey aren't doing this because they want to hurt TomTom & Navteq. They are\ndoing this because _they are suffering_ from OpenStreetMap, who charges many\norders of magnitude less than Google Maps _even with this price drop_.\n\n~~~\njan_g\nThe problem with open street maps is that it so much worse than google maps.\nOrders of magnitude worse. I love the concept and in theory that concept is\nunbeatable (who else but those living in the area have the most intricate\nknowledge of roads, paths, etc?). But as of now, it is simply not comparable.\nMany features missing, and the data is very incomplete (many streets missing,\nmissing buildings and street numbers, parks, POIs, ...).\n\n~~~\ntedunangst\nBut OSM can get better, and better faster. I toyed with it just a bit and\nfixed a few things myself. Google maps? I filed a bug or two, then _two years_\nlater they closed it as not applicable.\n\n~~~\nidspispopd\nWith a sufficient critical mass now in or transitioning to OSM, it's trivial\nthat OSM will get better. If Apple are going to contribute to OSM(which is\nlikely based on their shared project history) then it's expected to increase\nin quality quickly.\n\nHowever, even without their contribution, OSM is already at a level of\nmaturity to compete with the bulk of GM implementations. It seems that most\npeople just need basic location services.\n\n------\nlatchkey\nWe switched from Google Maps to OSM because they were too expensive. Now that\nwe are using the Leaflet JS lib, we are really happy with it. Not only is it a\nfairly nice API, but it is open source, so it is much easier to debug than\nworking with Google's obfuscated code. Even with this price reduction, I see\nno reason to even consider switching back.\n\nThe only downside to OSM is that we needed the tiles served up through https\nsince our site is always https, but there are workarounds for that. ;-)\n\n------\njeffnappi\nThere's a good discussion on this over at the Reddit thread:\n[http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/vhj7g/google_sl...](http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/vhj7g/google_slashes_price_88_for_using_google_maps_api/)\n\nI found this comment very interesting:\n\n\"I'm a developer for a major online brand and finding our locations is an\nutterly crucial part of our business. When Google started charging us for\nmapping they played hard when coming to a deal to pay for their services. They\nspelled out a price and there was no negotiating. The arrogance from anyone we\nhad contact with at Google was mind-blowing. We quietly re-developed our\nlocation search to use to Bing and pulled the trigger one day. Needless to say\nMicrosoft was more than happy to have our business and was very helpful. As\nfar as mapping, Bing is surprisingly accurate and competitive. We've never\nlooked back. Google wanted over 2 million per year just to show our\nlocations.\"\n\n------\nmgkimsal\nabout.\n\ndamn.\n\ntime.\n\nYes... they'd only recently hiked their prices (last year?) but they shouldn't\nhave in the first place. I'd priced out using google maps for a service, and\nit was cost prohibitive. However, so was bing maps, and getting a firm price\nfrom bing was even harder because my use case didn't fit in 'standard use\ncases'. In our case, apparently using a mobile app to add metadata to a\nlocation constituted 'asset tracking', which puts you in to a whole other\nlevel of pricing stratosphere.\n\nI just get the feeling that many mapping apps out there that use\ngoogle/bing/whatever are totally skirting the actual real pricing and use case\nterms, much like loads of people copy Photoshop. As long as Adobe turns a\nblind eye to some level of piracy, it keeps Photoshop top of mind and gives\npeople fewer reasons to seek alternatives.\n\n~~~\nghshephard\nI'm curious why the hostility. Isn't Google's positioning little more than a\nsimple factor in your decision making process as to which mapping provider you\nwish to use? Indeed, I'm wondering why the HN crowd isn't _upset_ at the\nreduced pricing, because now it reduces the incentive to use (and contribute\nto, improve) OSM.\n\n~~~\nmgkimsal\nYeah, it probably came across as a bit hostile, because trying to get accurate\npricing models from various sources was a big pain. Google has/had a lead in\nthis market because of an earlier behaviour of encouraging open/easy use of\ntheir maps and APIs. Without much warning, they _significantly_ raised\npricing, and now have significantly reduced it, in less than 9 months.\n\nThey've lost a lot of credibility, and it's becoming more apparent that the\n'do no evil' era mentality there is going away. They didn't drop prices just\nbecause they \"listened to customers\". If they'd bothered to ask customers\nbeforehand, they'd have known $4/1000 is just way too much for most users.\nInstead, they reacted hastily due to a perceived threat of Apple entering the\nmarket, and probably a big exodus of the smaller players who were using them\nbefore (also known as tomorrow's larger players).\n\n~~~\nak217\nI think part of the reason for these fluctuations is that certain divisions\nwithin Google are under a lot of pressure to be profitable. So maybe Maps were\nreally looking hard to make money because this kind of order came down the\nline from Page or whomever (I'm sure that division has a comparatively huge\nbudget, with their scale of operations on the ground). After which maybe they\nrealized that the kind of profitability that drives developers away is not\nwhat they were looking for.\n\nThe whole \"do no evil\" handwringing is a bit misplaced here, I think. Google\nis providing a service, they're free to set their prices. They're not trying\nto sabotage the OSM project, and the api remains free for not for profit use.\n\n~~~\nghshephard\nIf anything - Google was greatly helping the OSM project by directing so much\nenergy towards it.\n\n------\ncorywatilo\nIt's about time. It's nice to see Google is feeling the pressure from other\n(relatively up-and-coming) mapping services like OpenStreetMaps and MapBox to\nthe point where they actually made their prices more competitive. Also I've\nworked with several large websites who have moved from GMaps to Bing Maps over\nthe past few years.\n\nGMaps is great, but ultimately not worth the price at $4/1000, especially for\na small site operator like myself.\n\n------\nandye\nI don't like google more and more...when they didn't feel any competition out\nthere, they gave you a very high price. And when there are some other choices,\nthey reduce the price sharply. Why not just give the developers the low price\nfirst?\n\nTake the GAE as the example, if you enable billing, you have to pay at least\n$9 a month, no matter how much more you are using over the quota.\n\nNow, Google is not friendly to developers at all.\n\n~~~\ntbatterii\nGAE is for \"big boy\" apps not projects for hobbyists. The pricing reflects\nthat.\n\n------\nsheff\nThis price reduction looks like it is only for sites supported by advertising\n/ unmonetised sites.\n\nAny startup planning on charging for an app or service which incorporates any\nkind of map will still have to pay a minimum $10,000 a year license fee to use\nGoogle Maps, which is ridiculously high as a starting point.\n\nWhat Googles mishandling of the charging changes has done is to heavily\npublicise the fact that the alternatives (mainly OSM) are now good enough for\nmajor companies to switch to without much hassle.\n\n~~~\nchrisbroadfoot\nIt's possible to use the free API on a commercial site.\n\n~~~\nsheff\nI was just going by the \"Do I need to use Google Maps API for Business?\" in\nthe FAQ here :<http://www.google.com/enterprise/earthmaps/maps-faq.html> .\n\n\"If you are charging a fee for access to your Maps solution, whether for a\nbusiness or consumer audience, you are required to purchase the Maps API\nPremier.\"\n\nTo me this reads as, any SAAS web app which used a Google map anywhere would\nbe required to pay $10,000 per year plus usage charges.\n\n~~~\nzackham\n<https://developers.google.com/maps/terms> 10.1.2(a): \"You must not charge\nusers or any other third party any fee for the use of the Maps API\nImplementation, the Service, or the Content ... \"\n\nYou can use it on a commercial site, but the maps implementation must be\navailable to free users. It limits your options but there are plenty of sites\nthat are commercial ventures and work within these limitations.\n\n------\njosephlord\niOS 6 may be a big part of this. They might have preferred to reduce prices to\nother customers before but if they offered it to everyone they would have had\nto offer it to Apple who may have been the majority of their maps revenue and\nit was also a mechanism to add cost to Android's key competition.\n\nNow Apple are leaving anyway the difference that the price cut makes will be\nsmaller (in absolute terms) and it will not harm Android either.\n\n------\nrmc\nGood to see OpenStreetMap starting to really shake up geodata.\n\n------\nJiPi\nI wonder if will affect Geocoding limits too?\n\n[https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/#...](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/#Limits)\n\n~~~\nJiPi\n\"if it will\" _\n\n~~~\nThePherocity\nYou can edit a post ^\n\n------\nzackham\nWow this is fantastic news. We are in the process of shifting some of our\nusage to OSM (and will likely continue) but this makes GMaps a reasonable\nexpense now.\n\n------\nPatrickL\nWe developed some webbased application using Google Maps and before going in\nbeta, had to change to OSM because of change of Google's pricing structure (we\nsimply cannot afford the 10.000+$ API Premier license fee). But we are\nhopelessly stuck with OSM are not able to determine the exact location based\non address details. Is anyone interested to help out for a few hundred $ ....?\n\n------\njoeblau\nThank goodness! I made a speed trap tracking (vroomtrap.com -- graveyard)\nprogram a while ago that never got off the ground, but when I heard about\ntheir price increase, I was dumbfounded. All in all; I have been pretty amazed\nby Google's new \"monetize everything\" initiative.\n\nGlad to see that competition from OSM and others is keeping them in check.\n\n------\nbojanbabic\nI hope they will do same with appengine prices. I'd be willing to return if\nthey had more reasonable pricing.\n\n------\njpb0104\nThis doesn't seem to affect their Enterprise prices does it?\n\n------\ndanielrm26\nSomeone's afraid of iOS 6 Beta 2.\n\n------\nWajeez\nA bit too late?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAMD Ryzen 7 2700X User Publishes Benchmarks and Overclocking Results - O_H_E\nhttps://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-7-2700x-user-publishes-benchmarks-overclocking-results-ahead-of-launch/\n======\nVladTheImplier\nLovely news! This is my next CPU after many years of my trusty FX8350@4.8 GHz.\nLast time I waited for the second revision of the architecture to avoid the\nusual launch hurdles. Christmas is apparently coming in April this year.\n\n~~~\nletsgetsilly\nSame here. As a web developer and gamer it's hard to ignore the Intel lineup,\nbut I'm a big fan of supporting the under-dog, and it makes it easy when\nthere's so much value packed in.\n\nI assume that motherboards with new chipsets will be released as well, but\nI've heard less about them.\n\n~~~\nO_H_E\nThe Ryzen 2 lineup should work on the same AM4 socket, AMD claims that the\nnewer X470 chipset will give better performance.\n\n------\nnobleach\nAs someone who purchased (early adopted) the Ryzen 5 2400g APU a couple of\ndays after release, I regret every bit of it. We still don't have any\nmotherboards that support it well. I've heard the ASUS boards do okay but they\nhave to be flashed to a new BIOS version (with a different processor in the\nsocket). I'm glad that folks like the hype, but the reality is just terrible.\n\n~~~\nlinuxftw\n> I regret every bit of it.\n\nWhy make a statement without even one item of support as to why you regret it?\n\nThe ASUS board problem sounds inconvenient, to say the least, but the way your\nphrased it implies it doesn't effect you in particular.\n\nComments on a popular online electronics retailer's website seem to be\npositive for this model.\n\n~~~\nnobleach\nNo, I've heard good things about the ASUS. The ASRock (which is what I bought)\nis absolutely terrible. I regret buying the ASRock because I now have a\ncomputer that freezes constantly. It's not related to processor load or heat.\nIt simply just doesn't work well at all. Sometimes an hour, sometimes 5\nminutes....\n\nI'm hoping I'm phrasing this well enough.\n\n~~~\nswindmill\nFWIW I am running a two week old Ryzen 5 2400G and ASRock Fatal1ty X370\nGaming-ITX/ac setup with rock solid stability under Windows 10. I did end up\nhaving to run my 3200MHz memory at 2933Mhz to avoid some issues. This is the\nmax memory speed the CPU supports anyways so I don't consider it a large loss.\nThe ASRock published memory QVL agrees with my finding that 3200MHz isn't\nstable with the specific memory I'm using. See\n[https://www.asrock.com/MB/AMD/Fatal1ty%20X370%20Gaming-\nITXac...](https://www.asrock.com/MB/AMD/Fatal1ty%20X370%20Gaming-\nITXac/index.asp#MemoryRR)\n\nWhat ASRock model are you using? Are you sure the culprit is the CPU or\nmotherboard and not another component?\n\n~~~\nnobleach\nI'm running the micro-atx AB350M Pro4 AM4. One can never be TOO sure that it's\nnot something else, but I've run it on one stick of ram, with no other\nperipherals (removed WiFi PCIe card) and the problem persists. Still, the\nsingle stick of ram is the best it's ever run. I'd love to run at 2933, but it\n\"seems\" to freeze even more at those speeds. I hate that this is all non-\nscientific anecdotal evidence. That seems to be right in line with everything\nelse over at the ASRock forums.\n\n~~~\ndragontamer\nAs an owner of an x360 Raven Ridge Envy, I'm also having similar issues. GPU\nDrivers on Raven Ridge seem to be borked at the moment.\n\nI'm running Win10, default drivers (which seem to be 17.7 GPU drivers). HP\nEnvy x360 laptop CANNOT upgrade to more recent drivers.\n\nHave you tried updating to 18.3 or later GPU drivers?? Raven Ridge is\nallegedly all the same die, so I wouldn't be surprised if the iGPU drivers\nbetween both of our systems have a similar issue.\n\nBut yeah, its looking to me like Raven Ridge (the iGPU parts) still have some\nwarts. The pure CPU Ryzen parts had warts too when they were released, but\nthey were fixed much more quickly.\n\n~~~\nnobleach\nI'll give updating the GPU drivers a shot and report back this evening. It's\nnow become my \"I'll try anything\" setup.\n\n~~~\ndragontamer\nYeah, its a shame too. As long as my laptop doesn't crash, its actually kind\nof awesome.\n\nBut crashing makes it unable to do any kind of \"serious\" work. Nothing breaks\na workflow like a forced unexpected reboot.\n\nThis \"crashing\" issue seems to be isolated to Raven Ridge. I've seen a lot of\ncomplaints about it here and there online. There was an obscure crash on\nPinnacle Ridge CPUs (1800x, Threadripper, and EPYC) on Linux, but it was\nallegedly fixed months ago.\n\nSo based on my experience and research, it seems like Raven Ridge needs to be\navoided. Its drivers just aren't good enough for prime time yet. Let me know\nif you're able to successfully update to something newer.\n\n~~~\nnobleach\nOddly, wiping the thing out and installing with a brand new download of\nWindows 10 from MS's site has done wonders. My old install media was pretty\nold. I haven't installed a single external driver for anything this time\naround and it hasn't crashed. My Vega video driver was even recognized. I'm\ngonna let it run for a day or so before declaring any victory. Fun side note,\nI JUST placed an order for an ASUS mobo to replace this one.\n\n------\nIronWolve\nBeating an 8700K and 7820x, not bad at all. Nice to see AMD giving Intel some\ncompetition again. Hopefully this leads intel to drop prices,\n\n~~~\nCarioca\nThe 8700K's main draw over the Ryzens is single-core performance though.\n\n~~~\ndragontamer\nTrue, but it looks like these 2700X will come out under the 8700K's price\npoint.\n\nSo if a Ryzen7 2700X has better multithreaded (aka: compile times, blender\nrendering, etc. etc.) speeds than something spec'd ~$50 to ~$100 more than it,\nthat's a winner by any stretch of the imagination.\n\nSingle-core performance is most important in Javascript and Video Games. But\nmost production tasks these days are multithreaded.\n\n------\nflyinghamster\nNice incremental update, but since I already have a Ryzen 7 1700 on an Asrock\nX370 Taichi and it's been wonderful, I'll take a pass. If I hadn't already\nupgraded from my FX-6100, though, it would be worth looking into this one. As\nit stands, already having the 1700, I'd move up to a Threadripper if I could\nafford to upgrade, since a new motherboard would be needed anyway.\n\n~~~\nRussianCow\n> since a new motherboard would be needed anyway.\n\nMinor correction: The Ryzen 2000 series uses the same socket, so you can use\nthe same motherboard, although AMD claims that the newer X470 chipset will\ngive you better performance. Either way, I agree with your assessment: It\ndoesn't seem worth it to upgrade if you already have a Ryzen 7.\n\n~~~\ndogma1138\nThe x470 and 370 chipsets are identical it’s a rebrand. They changed some of\nthe power delivery requirements to match the higher TDP of some of CPUs and\napparently not all previously made boards were upto snuff or at least that is\nthe party line.\n\n------\nAardwolf\n> It also comes with a clear fan, for better RGB light illumination than its\n> predecessor which only had an RGB ring.\n\nHow did the RGB naming trend get started?\n\nRgb leds and colorful illuminated gaming pc's both already existed for\ndecades. But only recently I saw the name RGB pop up in motherboards,\nkeyboards, etc... as if it's something new\n\n~~~\ndrakenot\nI recently built a new PC so I had to wade into this space again. The main\ndifference I believe is that many components themselves now have their own LED\nlighting.\n\nBefore, it was primarily LED fans or light strips. Now, motherboards have\ntheir own LED line traces. Ram has it's own LED lights. There is also support\nto control the colors of these components from software.\n\n~~~\nkrylon\nI just wish the lighting told me something useful. If the CPU fan changed\ncolor to indicate temperature or CPU load, that would be _really_ cool.\nLikewise, if RAM lighting indicated the rate of data transfer.\n\nThat would be pretty awesome. But all this fluff just to make PC more pretty\nseems pointless to somehow.\n\n(Don't get me wrong, if you like that sort of thing, by all means, enjoy it.\nMy sister's boyfriend has a gaming PC with a big glass window in the case so\none can see all the pretty lights quietly shifting around. It _is_ pretty, and\nI bet it's boatloads of fun to look at when tripping.)\n\n~~~\nsangnoir\n> I just wish the lighting told me something useful.\n\nThere's a cross-platform, open source project that does this[1]. You can even\nscript it and bind colors and effects not just to CPU load but to any variable\n(I don't know - maybe requests being served per second)\n\n1\\. [https://github.com/dcerisano/RGB-LED-Motherboard-Header-\nDriv...](https://github.com/dcerisano/RGB-LED-Motherboard-Header-Driver-App)\n\n~~~\nkrylon\nThat is really, really cool!\n\nMy PC case does not have a window, so I will never know the difference. But it\nis very cool one can do that!\n\n------\nRetric\nLooks good. I am going to wait to see Intel's response, but this may finally\nbe worth upgrading from an overclocked 2600k mostly used for gaming.\n\n------\nbaybal2\nI wish AMD will make newer generations of their desktop CPUs chipsetless just\nas their motherboard cores. For Intel, going for a separate chipset is a\nrequirement dictated by their design process and big die sizes, for AMD, it is\njust a way to make an additional $10-$20 per CPU sale.\n\nChipsetless setup should allow for smaller motherboards with better POL setup.\n\n------\nshmerl\nSo what's the best upgrade path from 1700X, 2700 or 2700X? 2700X sounds more\nlike an upgrade from 1800X.\n\n~~~\nTwoNineA\nWhy do you want to upgrade the 1700X? What does the 2000 line bring other than\na 15% (being very optimistic) performance gain?\n\n~~~\nshmerl\nPersonally, because my CPU has a hardware bug[1], which is now worked around\nby disabling package C6 state, and I already went through RMA for the segfault\nbug, so I'd rather now get a newer CPU to begin with.\n\n[1]:\n[https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=196683](https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=196683)\n\n~~~\nIronBacon\nI think I've read locks/hangs' reports even with newer APUs, and at this\nmoment I'm not sure if disabling C6 state on package (or was it core?) is an\neffective workaround.\n\nOr the suggestion to slightly increase voltage or a light overclock.\n\nI wanted to upgrade to Ryzen but I don't want to spend time to troubleshoot\nthe HW. Seems like it's only triggered on a BSD/Linux system, don't know if\nthey were joking when they said that Windos is never that idle...\n\n~~~\nshmerl\n_> I think I've read locks/hangs' reports even with newer APUs, and at this\nmoment I'm not sure if disabling C6 state on package (or was it core?) is an\neffective workaround._\n\nFor me it is. It's triggered by the firmware setting:\n\n    \n    \n        Advanced > AMD CBS > Zen Common Options > Power Supply Idle Control = \"Common current idle\" (instead of auto)\n    \n\nThat disables package C6 state for me (checked with zenstates.py), and freezes\nand random reboots disappear after that:\n\n    \n    \n        C6 State - Package - Disabled\n        C6 State - Core - Enabled\n    \n\nOn auto setting for the above, I get:\n\n    \n    \n        C6 State - Package - Enabled\n        C6 State - Core - Enabled\n    \n\nAnd it highly annoyingly randomly freezes and reboots in such case.\n\nAnother workaround is in the linked thread, to compile the kernel with special\nrcu options, I tried that, and it works, but it's not really a good method.\n\n _> don't know if they were joking when they said that Windows is never that\nidle..._\n\nI don't think they are joking.\n\n~~~\nIronBacon\nI've read of people that experienced hangs even with the RCU workaround.\n\nAbout the C6 state is good to know, but the lack of some kind of official\nconfirmation from AMD is kinda disturbing as it looks like the change to the\nBIOS came from them.\n\nI'm really torn...\n\nEdit: disturbing is not the right word, disappointing is better\n\n~~~\nshmerl\nYeah, lack of communication on these bugs from AMD is really annoying,\nespecially since there is no way to know whether they are fixed in newer CPUs\nalready or not.\n\n------\nmciancia\nClickbait, overclocked Ryzen 7 2700X scores the same as i7 7820X.\n\nIt's a bit different story\n\n~~~\npcr0\nFor about $100 cheaper..\n\nThe big news here is Intel not having a monopoly on desktop CPUs anymore. I\npersonally remember Intel being the only serious CPU choice for building a\ndesktop since at least 2015. Now a lot of low-medium high desktop builds are\nusing Ryzen instead for the perf/$.\n\n~~~\ndigi_owl\nThats because AMD basically bet the farm on the GPU replacing the FPU for\ndoing floating point math, but never got any real traction for it on the OS\nlevel.\n\n~~~\nkeldaris\nI'd buy that argument if they had actually showed any investment in helping\nthat assumption come to pass. Instead, their ecosystem is a barren wasteland\ncompared to what Nvidia has built.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nDripping water turned into a standing wave. Amazing. - derrida\nhttp://blog.makezine.com/2012/05/02/dripping-water-turned-into-standing-waves/\n\n======\nColinWright\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3864994>\n\n~~~\nrsanchez1\nHonestly can't people check that someone else didn't already post the same\nstory?\n\n------\nstephengillie\nThat's a really cool optical illusion. It's similar to watching car tires on\nTV, where sometimes the rim spokes look to be spinning in reverse while the\ncar travels at highway speeds.\n\n------\nomegant\nThis one is pretty cool too! <http://youtu.be/jQDjJRYmeWg>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSWIFT - a Free, Open-Source alternative to Adobe Flash - skykooler\nhttp://swift-swf.blogspot.com/p/about-swift.html\n\n======\nskykooler\nThis is the alpha release.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhy Gmail's new design is unsuitable for heavy use - jzb\nhttp://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2011/11/5-problems-with-gmails-new-des.php\n======\nawakeasleep\nThere should be a publication archiving the superficially thoughtful, hate-\nfilled tirades that occur in reaction to every change that happens to public\nfacing things.\n\nThen, when we create something, we can look through the archives and see the\nvolume of ire directed at what we've come to love, and draw a relaxed breath\nrealizing you really can't please everyone.\n\n~~~\nubernostrum\nExcept this was neither hate-filled nor superficial.\n\nThe toolbar buttons, for example are a great example of a major usability\nmistake: what we used to call \"mystery meat navigation\" back in the day,\nbecause it was difficult or even impossible to know in advance what would\nhappen if you clicked a given button.\n\n~~~\nfloris\nIf anything the icons would make it more suitable for \"heavy use\" because once\nyou get used to them they are an improvement to the old text, defeating the\npoint of this superficial article even more.\n\n~~~\nJabavuAdams\n> If anything the icons would make it more suitable\n\nNo, this is incorrect. I'm a heavy user of Gmail, and I still can't find the\ndamn new refresh button. How many weeks should it take for me to get used to\nthis so-called \"improvement\". I preferred it when it was text. I just don't\nsee the new spiral icon thingie as \"refresh\".\n\nAnother way to look at it is if you make an improvement to something I don't\ncare about, it's not an improvement. Especially, if it makes my job harder.\n\nYou need to actually measure what users do, not generalize from unsupported\nassertions.\n\n~~~\ndigitaltoad\nI'm exactly opposite. I had no problem finding the refresh button since the\nicon used is basically the same exact icon used for refresh in multiple apps\nthat I use everyday, including every browser that I use (Chrome, Firefox,\nSafari). It looks to me like a lot of the icons that have been used seem to be\na standard in a lot of apps that use icons without text.\n\n------\nFuzzyDunlop\nI like the cleanliness of the new design and the use of whitespace to separate\nthings.\n\nThere are two general problems I have. One is the fact that the UI controls\ntend to blend in with the rest of the page, and the fact they're just icons\nisn't much help either. The other is inconsistency or otherwise controverting\nuser expectation.\n\nThe first problem means to mark something as spam I have to first remember\nwhere to look for the button that doesn't stand out. I then have to hover over\nit until the tooltip shows to make sure I've got the right one.\n\nThe second one manifests itself in the behaviour of the toolbar, some of the\nUI element positions, and what I would call some rather basic principles:\n\nOn the actual mail screen, the toolbar has a fixed position, so it always\nsticks to the top of the page when you scroll. On the inbox, it doesn't. Why\nnot?\n\nThe star icon is on the left on the inbox page. Why is it on the right when\nyou view the email? (This has persisted from the old design, to be fair.)\n\nWhy have they taken an Android design cue and put the form submission elements\nat the top of the page? When you fill in any form, you expect the\nsubmit/cancel buttons to be _below_ the form you're filling in, not above. I\nhave been caught out several times trying to scroll the compose page (that no\nlonger scrolls at all), only to realise the button I'm looking for is actually\nat the opposite end.\n\nWhile Google may be getting a better eye for aesthetic design and simplicity,\nI think they're still quite a way from mastering intuition.\n\n------\ncarterschonwald\nMy biggest issue personally with the new gmail design is that all the current\ntheme options are \"two tone\". By this I mean that with the old themes, you\ncould have 1 color for the background in the left pane, another for the menu\narea of the current folder, and possibly another for the background in the\nemail thread/ composition region.\n\nFor the new gmail look, theres just \"background color\" and \"foreground color\".\nNow I may just be a simple sentient hominid computer user, but most human\nbeings that are neither horse nor hammerhead shark have this wonderful thing\ncalled depth perception (and color perception) which allows for more nuance in\nour perception than just \"front bit\" and \"back thingy\", and moreover our brain\ndoes a lot of heuristics when giving us our vision, one of which is using\ncontrast in two neighboring objects to detect that they are separated (by\nthose regions called borders).\n\nPhrased a bit more directly, I think the biggest problem with the new gmail /\nreader ui's is not aesthetics. Its not UI standard practice, its not this new\nfound homogeneity or \"sparseness\", though these all tie into the underlying\nproblem. Rather its that the human brain is optimized for using contrast in\ndepth or color or shade as a core hinting tool in perception. If they're going\nto stick to general new style, they need to provide more dimensions in how\ndifferent ui elements can be themed.\n\nThe closest metaphorical analogue I can think of would be that the current ui\napproach would be like having the classic cartoon \"Samurai Jack\" (which has a\nvery nice style that is notable for being one of the few cartoons that lack\nblack outlines at all) being colored with only two very close shades of gray &\na smattering of black and white in a few small places. Sure you can still see\neverything, but your brain has to work harder to actually keep track of it\nall.\n\n------\ntikhonj\nI actually rather like the new design. It looks better and is more consistent\nthan before.\n\nUnlike the poster, I actually really like the simple geometric style it now\nuses. It's a nice break from the incessant rounded corners and gradients that\nso many other web sites seem to favor (HN's design is similarly refreshing).\n\nThe icons are a major change and take getting used to, but I think they\nimprove the experience overall. The one think I find really stupid are the\ngear icons--one in the top righthand corner for the Google+ style bar and one\ngmail-specific. Having two identical icons that do the same thing is bad.\nApart from that, I think it's a good design.\n\nHowever, while I like the new design, I really dislike the default theme. Some\nof the gripes about separating content from the UI are addressed the other\nthemes. I particularly like the \"dusk\" and \"dark\" ones.\n\nOverall, with a few reservations, I like where they're taking the design and\nhope to see more web apps follow suit.\n\n------\n2arrs2ells\nI've found that, using keyboard shortcuts (and with a decent Internet\nconnection), Gmail becomes about as efficient as Pine/Alpine (I've never used\nmutt).\n\nI don't love the redesign (I think the placement/appearance of the \"important\"\nand \"starred\" markers is terrible), but since they didn't change keyboard\nshortcuts at all, I can still plow through reading/replying/labeling messages.\n\n~~~\ndasil003\nYeah, my biggest complaint originally was the lack of density, since being\nabout to see the maximum number of emails has long been a killer feature of\nGmail, but they fixed that with the compact view.\n\nThe contrast issues are there, but it really doesn't bother me because I'm in\nGmail hours every day. All I need is consistency, responsiveness and\ncomprehensive keyboard shortcuts.\n\n------\nsaturdaysaint\nGmail was never especially pretty, but the redesign and my experience in\nhighly focused mobile apps have pushed me back to Apple's native apps. To me,\nthe most important elements of the screen seem to pop out in Apple's apps, and\nsettings and controls sit thoughtfully in the background. My eyes gravitate to\nthe most salient elements of the screen - the mail list and the currently\nopened e-mail. The compose window literally pushes to the foreground; I find\nthe effect focusing. You can hide screen elements you don't use!\n\nIn Gmail I feel like every control demands my attention equally. Having a big\nred \"compose\" button might be nice for a novice, but it's irritating to me. I\nsearch my e-mails every now and then, but not nearly enough to justify the\nlarge search bar. Ditto with Gchat - MMS and Facebook have replaced IM as far\nas I'm concerned. The \"Plus Bar\" at the top of the screen is useless if you,\nyou know, actually already have Google's Apps open most of the time (in which\ncase clicking anything gives you an extraneous tab). Huge swathes of my screen\nare dedicated to things I barely use.\n\n~~~\nitcmcgrath\nYes!\n\nI find the new interface has made me less efficient and distracted by the\nscreen elements I use the least.\n\n~~~\nsaturdaysaint\nI don't know why it's taken so long to get on my nerves, but yeah, going from\nGmail to native Mac apps really feels like going from a 7\" netbook to a full\nsize laptop.\n\n------\ndylangs1030\nThe title is grossly inaccurate. I agree in principle with the author that\nGmail has some legitimate criticisms which can be levied against it, but the\ntitle construes a much more serious tone than the article delivers. The first\nparagraph or so of the article, the opening, doesn't give a real criticism. It\ngives a short dissemination of why Gmail's theme isn't really fashionable. And\nwhile it makes a good segue into claiming Gmail is sacrificing feature for\nlooks, I don't agree if that's the implicit complaint. I think Gmail can\nsupport \"heavy use\" even if it doesn't delineate from the side interface and\ndoesn't give an entirely straightforward icon for every folder and label.\n\n------\nantimora\nMy little rant on Gmail's UX.\n\nThe Gmail's user interface has bloated over the years. I want my email to be\nsimple. I don't want chat, ads, additional info related the recipients or\nsenders on the top right corner, which is created to draw users attention to\nads. I don't my top toolbar be fixed; I want it to go away when I scroll down.\n\nThe only things I like about the gmail over other email clients is: search,\nconversation, and spam filters, but it's becoming like an Outlook.\n\n------\nmtkd\nI found the icons a bit challenging at first (as a heavy user) but through\nthat now.\n\nIt's really awesome to use in comparison with any other client I've worked\nwith.\n\nIf I could change one thing it would be the unread/read background contrast.\n\n~~~\nsteve-howard\nI dunno. Is it ever good UI design to replace clearly labeled buttons with\ncute but confusing icons? Just because you can get used to it doesn't mean\nit's a good change.\n\n~~~\ndasil003\nYes, for heavy users, because it makes it easier to see the important textual\ncontent on the screen instead of a lot of UI elements.\n\n~~~\nsliverstorm\nAgreed, a minimalistic (but fully functional) interface lacking eye-candy is a\npositive for heavy users. It reduces noise on-screen.\n\n------\nchimeracoder\nGmail's redesign was what convinced me to finally switch to mutt.\n\nI receive a lot of emails. I have to respond to a lot of them quickly. I don't\nwant a slick, modern-art-inspired user-interface - I just want to get in and\nout of my inbox as fast as possible, with minimal distractions.\n\n~~~\nrbanffy\nPutting an ssh service that runs Gmail through a mutt-like interface is the\nkind of 20%-time project I would do if I were at Google.\n\n~~~\ndan00\nmutt + gmail + offlineimap\n\n~~~\nchimeracoder\nIs there a way to get archive, labels, and sending from multiple addresses to\nwork? If so, I think I could abandon the web client completely.\n\n------\nthurn\nI'm a heavy user, and I still have no idea what the buttons do because I\nexclusively use the keyboard shortcuts. I'd assume most really heavy Gmail\nusers avoid using the mouse.\n\n------\nnotatoad\nthe idea that this tirade is specific to \"heavy users\" is laughable. if\nanything, it applies more to light use than to heavy use. \"mystery meat\"\nnavigation is generally a no-no, but the exception to that rule is in heavily\nused interfaces like email clients, where whatever is used will be memorized\nby all users incredibly quickly, and the removal of labels can actually\nstreamline the interface.\n\nthe author doesn't make a single valid point regarding why the new interface\nis worse specifically for heavy users. its just a collection of negative\nreactions to change, like every other criticism since they introduced the new\nlayout.\n\n~~~\nwatmough\nHere's what the mail box toolbars look like in the old versus new, and the\nauthor does cover these.\n\nI think these pictures speak for themselves. One is a model of clarity and the\nother is a context-sensitive, icon-infested mess.\n\n<http://imgur.com/a/X4gdp>\n\n------\nyaix\nOn my netbook, Gmail is now almost unusable. All the position:fixed elements\nat the top and botton and left side take up so much space, that the square\nleft for the actual email message has become rediculessly small.\n\nIf they offered simply a \"super-compact with no fixed bs\" option, I would be\nhappy. The rest of the new design I really don't care about.\n\n------\ndlaw\nI was an intern at Google when this change was first rolled out internally.\nGoogle employees had quite similar reactions.\n\nThe change was not implemented because people liked it, or didn't like it --\nit was implemented because there was cold, hard data showing that new users\nutilized the new design more effectively than the old design.\n\n~~~\ntyppo\nWhat were the metrics used to determine that the design is \"more effective\"?\n\n------\ncjfont\nSome comments:\n\n _\"A major problem that I have with the new interface is that Gmail has gone\nfrom text-based buttons to an icon-only design.\"_\n\nThe text is there, it's simply been converted into tooltips. Are you really\ngoing to need to have the text there after using the button a few dozen times?\n\n _\"The bad is that the compact is hard to read, and comfortable displays less\ninformation than the classic Gmail design.\"_\n\nPerhaps it's because I'm using a custom theme and so my view is different, but\nI don't really see much different between \"compact\" and the old design.\n\n _\"Google has also removed the bottom toolbar from the interface. So if you're\nat the bottom of your inbox, you have to move the mouse back up to the top of\nthe screen to archive, spam, mark messages read, and so forth.\"_\n\nSeriously? Are you going to suffer from RSI from moving your mouse up the\nscreen each time you view your inbox? Not sure why your cursor keeps ending up\nat the bottom of the screen each time you finish checking your inbox.\n\nThe only points I can really agree with the author on is that the new\ninterface is slower to use than before, and also on the excessive use of\nwhitespace -- there does seem to be a lot of unused area with the new look\n(although it does make my theme look prettier).\n\n~~~\nschwit\nThe best icon is a word. There's no interpretation necessary between picture\nand purpose. This new version looks like something from Microsoft ... change\nfor the sake of change.\n\n~~~\nCamperBob\nExactly.\n\nIf icons are the answer, why don't we use hieroglyphics everywhere?\n\n------\nroxtar\nThe one thing which I hate most about Gmail's new design is the damned\nfeedback button is always there the next time, no matter how many times I hit\n\"X\".\n\n~~~\ngujk\nIf there is something you don't like about Gmail, just click the feedback\nbutton and let Google know.\n\n[http://ubuntuincident.wordpress.com/2011/11/03/hide-about-\nth...](http://ubuntuincident.wordpress.com/2011/11/03/hide-about-the-new-look-\nsend-feedback-in-gmail/)\n\n~~~\nroxtar\nYes sir, I did do that. Thanks for the link.\n\n------\nteye\nTufte, who we all seem to worship, would praise separation of elements with\nwhitespace instead of dividing lines.\n\nThis article, like most things from uxmovement.com, would be a lot easier to\nstomach with data backing up the author's preferences.\n\n~~~\ngbog\nI don't even know who is Tufte, and don't worship anyone, thanks.\n\n------\nyarone\nMy #1 complaint: The grabber for expanding the height of the textbox has been\ndeleted!\n\nSee here: <http://i.imgur.com/MEGM1.png>\n\nPreviously, I'd expand the textbox to give myself more space (and \"breathing\nroom\", if you will).\n\n------\ntghw\n\"There's no divider between the mail contents and the navigation on either\nside. Too much white space in many areas.\"\n\nUm, the white space _is_ the divider. This really feels like they're\ncomplaining because something changed and no one likes change.\n\n~~~\nzbowling\nIs just whitespace enough to be considered a real divider? You're eyes can't\ntrack it every well in a complicated interface. You need a huge amount of\nwhitespace to work like real dividing line.\n\n------\nKev\nI've been using the new design for about a week and overall I think it's an\nimprovement, but I've been griping non-stop about the chat/contact area\nhogging space even when you drag it down as small as possible.\n\nThis comment started out as another one of those gripes, until I decided to\nmake one more attempt to hide the chat area for good. Turns out that clicking\non the speech bubble icon closes the contacts list/chat area. Can't believe it\ntook me a week to try that.\n\n------\nkapilkale\nI think the visuals are fine. But there are lots of new UI issues.\n\nFor example, I frequently copy / paste an email address into from an email\nheader into the search bar. Now I can't do that without clicking that tiny\nlittle triangle, which is so small I usually miss. It's extremely annoying.\n\nIf there's a better way to do this I'd love to know.\n\nedit- the tiny triangle: <http://i.imgur.com/U4qBR.png>\n\n~~~\nnooneelse\nIf you hover over the person's name, and then click \"more\" in the popup, there\nis a \"Recent conversations\" option that runs a similar search.\n\n------\nantirez\nI think this design is very good and better for heavy users compared to the\nprevious one:\n\n* The new way to reply to emails makes it a lot faster to reply in the common case. It makes emails more similars to chat conversations where you can reply with just one line or alike, that is a _necessary_ shift today, otherwise no one will reply to emails soon as it is a killer of your time.\n\n* The icons will tell you what they do if your pointer is over the icon, since there are a few icons after a week or so you know what every one is doing, and the fact they are very well \"exposed\" in the UI makes their use comfortable.\n\n* New stars make more sense, less different types, more semantically shaped and colored.\n\n* When the UI is set to \"compact\" is the perfect amount of information IMHO, if you receive a lot of emails. But you can change that depending on the amount of conversions you handle and on your tastes.\n\nWhat I really don't like instead? Formatting is not retained on emails, it\nstrips newlines, spaces and so forth in a random way. This is very very bad.\n\n------\nJ_Darnley\nI wonder why he doesn't try the basic interface. It still has text buttons and\nall the \"information density\" you could need.\n\n------\nmwsherman\nI wonder the degree to which user data is driving their choices. On the one\nhand, they have a lot of it. On the other, it can’t really drive design.\n\nData can be used to support hypotheses, but it will not tell you what to try.\nVery curious how Google deals with this.\n\n------\nChuckMcM\nI felt this was pretty fairly articulated critique of the changes to Gmail.\nAnd the author admits that some of their issue may be part of a resistance to\nchange meme. I've gone on record with my issues about too much white space.\nAnd even in 'compact' mode it is less useful to me.\n\nOverall its the down side of G+ which has the effect of opening up things to\nchange which perhaps shouldn't be changed.\n\nBut on the positive side it creates opportunity for folks like Mailgunner to\nget in. Its the tech version of the circle of life.\n\n------\ngorloth\nThe new gmail interface really feels like it's made for a touchscreen, problem\nis a touchscreen UI feels awkward on a system with a mouse.\n\nQuestion for all you web people out there, what would the difficulty of making\na stylish/greasemonkey/something script to keep the old layout/look? I'm a\nprogrammer but I work on embedded systems in C, I don't have to worry about\nthis fancy internet stuff.\n\n------\nmark_l_watson\nAfter getting used to the icons and learning to switch on \"compact\" mode on my\nlaptop, I like it about as well as the old version.\n\n------\nlwhi\nI wonder if the interface would have been better received if the tighter\ndensity was used as a default setting? Do first impressions of a UI add as\nmuch weight to the way we perceive it, as they do when meeting a person for\nthe first time?\n\nPersonally I think the interface is good .. I like it, and I'm sure I'll grow\nmore comfortable with it as time goes on.\n\n------\nJohnTHaller\nIf you're a heavy email user, you should not be using webmail. You should be\nusing a real email client.\n\n~~~\nbtilly\nIf you're a heavy email user who uses your email from multiple machines, an\nefficient webmail is perfect.\n\n~~~\ndredmorbius\nNo, you use offlineimap to dump the mail to the host(s) you need to access it\nfrom, and GET SHIT DONE.\n\nOr you aggregate the mail to a single system you access via SSH and GET SHIT\nDONE. So long as you're using Web protocols to talk to your mail, cut out the\ncomplexity of the browser and leverage ssh & screen.\n\nSimilarly, if you deal with mail from multiple systems, you can relay/forward\nit, or aggregate it via multiple retrieval systems (offlineimap is great and\nsynchronizes sent/read mail from numerous locations), but older POP protocols\ncan also work)\n\nI have a daily mailstream that runs in the thousands of messages (many boxes,\nmuch complaining, many people, other stuff).\n\n _I need an email system that surfaces stuff that matters, fast, effectively,\nand efficiently, and lets me find, process, and adjudicate mail practically._\n\nIf you've never used an efficient and powerful console/CLI mail client such as\nmutt or mh, you have no idea of the power this provides.\n\n~~~\nsnowwrestler\nIn my daily life there are 10 devices I might use to access email. Instead of\nspending time to configure IMAP and/or SSH on every device, I just log into\nGmail and get shit done the same way in all 10 places.\n\n~~~\njarek\nIt takes a lot of effort to configure an ssh client to be sure.\n\n------\ndavvid\nWhat's with the zero pixel left margin? Lots of websites seem to be doing that\nthese days.\n\n~~~\ngujk\nUsually it is a variable margin that wasn't tested on a screen the width of a\nnormal human's.\n\n------\nck2\nI still do not understand why the old interface cannot be made available for\nanother year or two.\n\nThe visual changes are obviously just cosmetic with little to no backend\nmodification.\n\nIt definitely feels like designers were given complete override to engineers.\n\n------\nmrleinad\nSo, everyone and their mothers are creating web applications suitable for\ntablets. Do you really believe there's no room for web applications that could\nbe accessed from a good ol' desktop pc? How come is that?\n\n------\nel_presidente\nPeople love to whine about changes to websites. OTOH, nobody complains when\ntheir TV remote changes layout or when their living room rearranges itself\novernight.\n\nIt's a double standard.\n\n------\ntomrod\nWhat? Gmail redesigned? I use a desktop client, so I never really focus on the\nwebside.\n\n------\nmkramlich\nI also think the new design is a step backwards in usability. And yes I\nthought we all learned by now that symbolic icons are not as good as text\nlabels. That's pretty much the point of human languages like English -- they\nare symbols which have a meaning, and you arrange them in different ways to\nconvey different meanings. Given a choice between some arbitrary shape and the\ntext \"STOP\", guess which one will more clearly and unambiguously convey\n\"STOP\"?\n\n~~~\ngujk\nThe pencil icon, obviously. Or maybe the square with a rectangle on top.\n\n------\ngcb\neven though i think windows is wrong by not unpleasing users with design\nchanges for the better... and not agreeing that white space _may_ be ok to\nseparate the tag list and the message, there's no excuse to:\n\n1\\. the buttons without labels. your user WILL have to hover the mouse every\ntime he forgets one button.\n\n2\\. the fact that it moved from a huge clickable area to 17x17px button to see\nthe message headers (and that the header information was vastly reduced)\n\nmaybe some huge user testing proved those right... but my constant cursing\nsays that at least a 5% exist.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: What happened to those guys from Infinite Detail? (voxel graphics) - sergiotapia\n\nI remember seeing a video from them early 2012 and haven't heard a peep since.<p>They touted being able to provide infinite detail in computer graphics, but many people argued that animation is extremely difficult, if not impossible and their idea was a pipe dream.<p>Anybody heard from them since?<p>They were Australian if I remember correctly.\n======\nbjourne\nHere is an interview with them (<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxtuZE5pOGA>).\nBut after that they've been totally silent.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nYou probably don't want to run Firefox Nightly any more - jlgaddis\nhttps://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/web/FirefoxNoNightly\n======\nzaarn\nIt seems people simply _want_ to be outraged at Mozilla. The shield study\nisn't even running yet and several people have raised concerns over the opt-\nout policy in the mailing list and bugtracker but obviously that doesn't\nmatter.\n\nWhat matters is that the original suggestion was opt-out.\n\nOf course, rightfully, nobody is going to send a message on the bugtracker or\nmailing list or otherwise participating to ensure this doesn't happen.\n\nRather, everyone goes out and yells how terrible Mozilla is and how Google is\nbeing nice since they atleast tell you about it upfront. (Completely ignoring\nthat Google is steering Chrome into a new IE-Era of web development)\n\nI don't think the blog post above accurately represents the current situation\non the shield study nor does it reflect how several people engaged on it are\ntrying to prevent this exact kind of PR disaster.\n\n~~~\nbelorn\nHere is a simple question, why do Mozilla not have a policy that dictate that\nany increase in data collection from one version to the next _must_ either be\nopt-in or follow a lengthy documented process with the community, in public\n(similar to RFC in ietf and wikipedia), and a clear update to the privacy\npolicy. Bureaucracy can be helpful in creating trust that important changes\nwon't just sneak up on people unannounced.\n\n~~~\ncalcifer\n> documented process with the community, in public\n\nYou mean exactly like it's happenning in the mailing list right now? Even when\nthe discussion is public, it seems some people prefer to rant on social media\ninstead of contributing to the official discussion.\n\n~~~\nbelorn\nSo what does that process look like? Is there a formal process with clear\nmethod on how and when the decision is made, how it get propagate into a\ndecision and how the documentation and announcement to users will be?\n\nIs there a formal policy document you can link me that defines the process how\nadditional data collection are added in mozilla projects? It seems to me that\nwhat we have is a in-prompt discussion because people happen to detect a\nchange and managed to raised the issue just before it went live. A formal\nprocess would make people trust the project that issues like this isn't\ndepended on the chance that a data collection will be detected before it goes\nlive and only then be brought to discussion in the public mailing list.\n\n~~~\nchuckharmston\nThere is:\n[https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Data_Collection](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Data_Collection)\n\n------\nkenhwang\nThis is honestly the reason I do use Nightly. I'm volunteering to provide\ninformation that I understand could be very intimate in hopes it's useful to\nMozilla in making Firefox better. Data drives better decisions, and I'd rather\nthe technically savvy volunteer their privacy than it being extracted from the\ngeneral populace.\n\nSo yes, kick me a bit, I'll let you know what breaks.\n\n~~~\ntoflon\nSame here. Call me naive all you want, but I do think Mozilla has our best\nintention. They won't sell the data, they will try to keep it as secure as\npossible and anonymize it. As seen they even made a deal with Cloudflare to\nensure they don't log any of that data.\n\nI'm a strong advocate for privacy but if I'm going to give away my data I'd\nrather have it be Mozilla than Facebook or Google.\n\n~~~\nOskarS\nYeah, totally agree. Mozilla needs user data like this for their product, and\nI think it's a perfectly reasonable solution to collect it from Nightly users\nwho have opted into being guinea pigs.\n\n> I'm a strong advocate for privacy but if I'm going to give away my data I'd\n> rather have it be Mozilla than Facebook or Google.\n\nYep. There's no company I trust more than Mozilla when it comes to handling my\ndata in a safe and responsible manner.\n\n------\nSean1708\nThe full quote, since I think that the author of this post cherry-picked\nunfairly:\n\n>> As one of the folks who brought up the initial concern let me be clear that\nat this point my only real concern here is one of optics. The DoH service\nwe're using is likely more private than anything the user is currently using.\n\n> It isn't explicit right now that using nightly means opting in to\n> participating in studies like this, and I think the text of the download\n> page antedates our ability to do those studies. The text of the Firefox\n> privacy page says that prerelease products \"may contain different privacy\n> characteristics\" than release, but doesn't enumerate them. I also can't find\n> a public-facing description of how we handle, secure and audit PII data in\n> experiments involving partner organizations.\n\n> In both cases I'm confident we have solid policies and protocols there, I\n> just don't see a way to point a concerned user to that information.\n\n> I'm working on that now.\n\n------\ngeofft\n> _(although at the moment I 'm still using Firefox 56)_\n\nThere are unpatched security holes in Firefox 56. If you're really mad about\nthe extensions change, downgrade to Firefox 52 ESR.\n\nRunning Firefox 56 and worrying about the security of your DNS data is a\nnonsensical threat model.\n\n~~~\naepiepaey\nThere's really no good forward if you're stuck in where the author is.\n\nEither you upgrade and lose several important addons, and functionality in\nother addons. These are often what makes Firefox a good browser (for you).\n\nThe second option is to downgrade to ESR, which will delay the need to upgrade\nfor a few more months. This may invalidate parts of your profile. It also\nmeans you lose out on a number of significant performance improvements\nincluded in 56.\n\nAnd the last option, of course, the author's choice (which recommend against):\nstaying on 56. This is of course a bad idea for the reason you stated, plus\nyou lose out on future performance improvements and possibly new web\ntechnologies. You will also keep getting nagged by Firefox to upgrade.\n\nSo, there is no good option, and you have to pick your poison: Upgrade past 57\nsuffer significant amounts of usability/efficiency, downgrade to 52 and lose\nparts of your profile and get significantly worse performance, or stay on 56\nand risk the browser getting compromised.\n\n~~~\ngruez\nI hate to victim blame, but he's entirely at fault for the predicament he's\nin. It was widely known that legacy extensions would be phased out it 56, and\na few searches related to firefox 56 will tell you that ESR would be the only\nbranch that supports both legacy extensions AND will recieve security patches\npast 56. So he should have switched over to ESR before 53 came out.\n\n------\naorth\nI understand the desire for statistics, but they should make it more obvious\nthat nightly isn't _just_ daily builds from master. I've run Nightly from time\nto time and had no idea it was automatically opting in to Shield studies.\n\nBoth this and the Mr. Robot extension issue a few months ago erode my trust in\nMozilla a little. Counterpoint: only god knows what Google is sending itself\nfrom Chrome!\n\n~~~\nnallerooth\nThe difference here is that you expect Google to collect -a lot- of data about\nyou and your browsing habits. You can also be quite sure that they'll want to\nkeep that data to themselves.\n\nWhen my data ends up at a third party, especially without my knowledge, I'm\nmuch more concerned about it being sold and or shared further.\n\n~~~\ngeofft\n> _When my data ends up at a third party, especially without my knowledge, I\n> 'm much more concerned about it being sold and or shared further._\n\nAs stated in the mailing list thread linked in the article, Mozilla has a\nlegal agreement with Cloudflare that the data will not be stored long-term,\nlet alone sold or shared. My reading is that they're keeping information about\nDNS requests and responses, but _not_ who made the request, for 24 hours for\ndebugging purposes, and then getting rid of all logs. The data they're\nactually interested in is performance, not the DNS flow itself.\n\nYou're welcome to decide that Mozilla's trust in other companies is misplaced\neven if they get a signed contract, and if you do, _that_ would be a good\nreason to cease using Firefox (Nightly or otherwise!). But if you're not of\nthat opinion, it doesn't make sense to worry that the data simply happens to\ngo through a third party.\n\n(Also, what third parties see your DNS data today? Do you think your ISP is\nnot tracking this?)\n\n------\nr00fus\nI'm ok as long as they make it _up front and clear_. It's not meant to have\nthe \"latest greatest\" \\- it's meant to collect analytics to understand and\nrespond to where changes in the nightly might have broken something critical.\n\nThat said, a large chunk of the web is getting very personal. So I'm not sure\nMozilla's rights to do as they please matter if the venn-diagram between\nnightly-users and privacy-stalwarts is anywhere near 30% overlap.\n\n~~~\nnallerooth\nI agree. They can send my data wherever they want - as long as they tell me\nabout it so that I can make an informed decision.\n\nNow, nightly is nightly - you don't accidentally build and install it on your\nsystem. But if this behavior is included in other pre-release versions (such\nas the developer edition), the need for informing the user becomes even more\nimportant. I've installed the developer edition from the Arch linux User\nRepository (AUR), which means that I don't see any release notes or\ninformation boxes on the developer edition website when I'm getting the\nsoftware.\n\nA small popup in a corner telling me that \"There's a new way to help improve\nfirefox\" after an upgrade/install would solve this. I don't want 15 levels of\nconfirmation and a roll of tin foil - I just want something informing me that\nmy data will be sent to a new receiver, and why.\n\n------\ndahdum\nOpt-out privacy violations are not new for Mozilla, did worse than this to\nGerman users last year, discussed here:\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15421708](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15421708)\n\n------\nmyfonj\n> Mozilla's apparent goal of using Nightly users as a captive pool of test\n> dummies.\n\nI thought that it is the main purpose of Nightly, roughly paraphrased but\noverall accurate.\n\nI'm using it as my semi-primary (\"work\") browser and from the day one I live\nin faith that 1) it may stop working any time 2) there is some Mozillian\npeeking over my shoulder all the time (figuratively).\n\n------\norf\nMan running an old, insecure version of Firefox with several unpatched\ncritical security issues is outraged at DNS hostnames being sent to a US\ncompany (in a more secure manner no less). Ok.\n\n------\nFrankDixon\nI don't see the problem actually, if I want a normal browser I can do my\nonline banking in, for sure, I won't use the nightly version. To me, nightly\nmeans, anything could happen.\n\n------\nsergiosgc\nMozilla should be careful about EU's GDPR. Under GDPR, explicit user\nauthorization is needed for every use of personal data. An opt-out does not\ncomply with the law. Nor does a blanket TOS or Privacy Policy.\n\nThe law comes into effect in May.\n\n~~~\nloa_in_\nOne doesn't download FF Nightly by accident though.\n\n------\ndiscreditable\nI trust Mozilla has done the diligence to handle the data correctly. If I\ndidn't trust Mozilla I wouldn't use Nightly or even Firefox. I use Nightly\nbecause I want to help Mozilla test and make Firefox better. For me that\nincludes opting-in to studies, reporting bugs, and helping test about:config\nflags they mention in their Nightly blog.\n\n------\ncpeterso\nWhen you first run Firefox, it shows the following page describing the types\nof telemetry data Firefox shares and a button to configure your telemetry\noptions if you'd like to change them:\n\n[https://www.mozilla.org/privacy/firefox/](https://www.mozilla.org/privacy/firefox/)\n\n~~~\neinr\nThe eye-catching headline in huge type, is \"at Mozilla, we believe that\nprivacy is fundamental to a healthy internet\".\n\nOnly later in this document -- that basically no one is going to read in\ndetail after reading the headline -- do they detail how they intend to not\nrespect my privacy.\n\nLet's be clear: this is a dark pattern with intention to mislead. Mozilla has\nserious and growing issues with respecting user privacy by default, and\njudging by the recent roadmap, it seems like it's going to get worse.*\n\n* [https://blog.mozilla.org/data/2017/12/09/add-on-recommendati...](https://blog.mozilla.org/data/2017/12/09/add-on-recommendations-for-firefox-users-a-prototype-recommender-system-leveraging-existing-data-sources/)\n\n------\nbad_user\nMozilla, wtf?\n\nI can understand mistakes like Mr. Robot, mistakes happen. But I can't\nunderstand an explicit company policy.\n\nI have opted in Firefox's data collection every time I was asked. But such\ndata gathering should always be opt-in. Ask in a nice way and you'll get\ncontributors. And if not, well that should give you a hint that you shouldn't\ndo it.\n\nYou're better than this, really. It's why I use Firefox. So please stop it\nwith the mistakes.\n\n~~~\nVinnl\nThat's what the mail thread this article was referring to was discussing: how\ncan they properly communicate this, and the privacy safeguards they put in\nplace, to the user?\n\n------\nJepZ\nI wonder why Mozilla is lately so fond of collecting user data. Do they have a\nnew data mining department which is looking for work? Did someone tell them to\ndo data driven development/marketing?\n\nIf they really want to know more about what we are doing, they could just ask\nus, don't they? I mean, something like building a FF extension which offers to\nparticipate in a monthly survey and at the end of each survey it can ask which\ndata the user wants to attach to his survey responses this _one time_.\n\nAnd if they ask the users for all hosts they have visited during the last\nmonth, many people will ask what Mozilla wants to do with that data and\nMozilla can explain their intent so that everybody can decide if he wants to\nsupport that cause.\n\nYes, that would probably yield much less data and would be more cumbersome for\nMozilla, but in the end it would be a _fair_ way of letting your users\nparticipate in the development process. As users we want a product which we\ncan trust 100% that it will keep our data on our computer as long as we don't\nexplicitly say otherwise.\n\n~~~\nmonsieurbanana\n> Yes, that would probably yield much less data\n\nSo in other words, probably not much better than doing nothing at all.\n\n------\nggm\nexplain to me why DOH is worse than 8.8.8.8 or even your ISPs DNS?\n\nwhy isn't DOH possibly _more_ protecting of your privacy than these other\nservices?\n\n~~~\ngsnedders\nPlenty of people are concerned about any US based company having access to\ntheir DNS logs; even with the pro-privacy agreement CloudFlare have in place\nwith Mozilla, the US government has past form of doing bulk data collection\nfrom US based companies.\n\nYour ISP's DNS may well be covered by relatively strong data protection laws\n(versus those in the US) and don't lead to a foreign government gaining access\nto all your browsing history, even if in principle they could be MitM'd.\n\n~~~\nggm\nso again, how does this make DOH worse than 8.8.8.8?\n\n~~~\nMacha\nYou manually opt in to 8.8.8.8. You may be using something with stronger legal\nprotections than Cloudflare and will not be aware you need to opt out of this.\nThe strength of encryption on the network is irrelevant if you don't trust the\nrecipient.\n\n------\nAnarchistNode7\nHate me for that, but my opinion is that there is no reason for using Firefox\nat all anymore. Mozilla as company have decided that honesty, dignity and\nloyalty towards their origin user base was less important than the hopeless\ntry to defeat Google Chrome and take their place in market share.\n\nAll what Mozilla does is simplifying the browser, removing every single bit of\nmore advanced customization features to be most attractive to the typical\nmainstream user who thinks that customization, features and choice is bloat\nand should have no part inside the product.\n\nHow should i as wary user ever have faith in Mozilla as i see what they have\nbeen doing since 2013?\n\nIf they want to be so badly like Google Chrome, then i can also use the\noriginal instead.\n\nI - as being loosely connected to the Anonymous collective - value morality\nmost. And that morality... Mozilla has thrown over board without thinking\ntwice about it.\n\n------\njamiesonbecker\nSeems like multiple issues with Firefox (Cliqz and now this). FF's new privacy\npolicy has so many exceptions that it makes it challenging to read:\n[https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/firefox/](https://www.mozilla.org/en-\nUS/privacy/firefox/)\n\nThe Brave browser seems to be carrying the torch for privacy these days:\n\nBrave is not in the business of selling personal information. We believe the\nbest way to ensure your private personal information is protected is to make\nevery effort to _ensure we are not receiving your private personal information\nin the first place._\n\n[https://www.brave.com/privacy/](https://www.brave.com/privacy/)\n\n[https://www.brave.com/](https://www.brave.com/)\n\n------\ntradesmanhelix\nIMO, this blog post is needlessly alarmist and even misleading.\n\nOn the pre-release FF downloads page [1] it says, \"Firefox Nightly\nautomatically sends feedback to Mozilla.\" Not sure how the author of this post\ngot the impression that Nightly _doesn't_ collect user metrics and analytics,\nbut this is its explicit purpose.\n\nIf the author really cares about privacy, he should just use the main Firefox\nrelease or, even better, something like Waterfox or PaleMoon.\n\nBut please - don't slam Mozilla for creating dedicated analytics and tracking\nrelease channels and then using those channels for, you know, analytics and\ntracking.\n\n[1] [https://www.mozilla.org/en-\nUS/firefox/channel/desktop/](https://www.mozilla.org/en-\nUS/firefox/channel/desktop/)\n\n------\ndhimes\nWell, I'm glad OP pointed out that nightly might do unexpected things with my\nbrowsing habit information in order to gather data on browser use in nightly-\nI admit, I hadn't really thought that through.\n\nIt won't stop me from using it for development browsing and some other things,\nbut it might give me pause before visiting some sites I suppose (so I would\nswitch browsers).\n\nMy problem with nightly is that it doesn't automatically update, so I have to\nreinstall every day. And I'm just too lazy (errr, \"busy\") to be bothered with\nthat. Is there away around this issue on Mint (Ubuntu)? I even put a menu\nentry into my \"shortcuts\" menu on fluxbox, but it's nightly from December or\nsomething.\n\n------\ngkya\nFirefox profiles are a hard thing to discover. When you start Developer\nEdition Firefox up by default it starts in its own profile. I'd guess Nightly\ndoes the same too. Regardless, it'd be nice of Mozilla to make profiles more\naccessible through the default UI. I've set up my FF to start with the profile\nselector every time I start it up, but in firefox in order to switch profiles\none has to go to about:profiles.\n\n------\nppbutt\nUser intrusion seems to be a pattern with Mozilla now.\n\n~~~\ndigi_owl\nFrankly big name FOSS projects have developed a massive paternalist streak\nover the last decade or so.\n\nThis in complete ignorance that what attracted people to them in the first\nplace was to escape the paternalism (and black box nature of proprietary\nsoftware) from the likes of Microsoft.\n\n------\njchw\nDNS over HTTPS being skewed into a bad thing is a new one for me. How could\nthis be worse than sending it in plain text to any other entity? At least in\nthis case it's going to be limited to Cloudflare and not whoever's watching in\nbetween.\n\nIf this is part of what it takes to get this technology rolled out, then do\nwhat it takes imo.\n\n------\nneoeldex\nHmm, it's not great they intend to send this information to the great firewall\nin the sky. If it were mozilla's own servers, I'd re-enable the usage\ncollection on nightly. Bit more of the same with the screencapture features,\nit's a shame we can't host and configure our own services....\n\n------\nHugoDaniel\nAre container tabs already available outside of Nightly ?\n\n~~~\nseba_dos1\nI'm using them on Developer Edition, although I think I had to install an\nextension that makes use of them (in my case, Tab Center Redux) in order to\nenable them.\n\n------\nsnowpanda\nWhat about Firefox Beta? Does anyone know?\n\n~~~\nTD-Linux\nA better source is the original posting:\n\n[https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mozilla.dev.platform...](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mozilla.dev.platform/_8OAKUHso0c)\n\nNot even in Nightly yet.\n\n------\nkuschku\nThe GDPR is only a momth away, I've already sent a complaint to the local data\nprivacy officer about Firefox' constant violations of the requirement for\nexplicit consent (see: CliqZ before), so let's hope the hammer swings hard\nthis time.\n\nIf Mozilla still can't see why they shouldn't automatically transmit analytics\nand studies for everything, they deserve to be sued into the ground. Same with\nGoogle.\n\n~~~\ndotsh\nSome people just want to see the world burn. So maybe let's delete the whole\ninternet and get back to letters, telegrams, pidgins and encyclopaedias? No\none is forcing you to use dev, nightly or anything else if it is not\nconsistent with your faith. Especially Mozilla they made some silly things but\nare one of the most \"privacy and shit\" companies out there and they will not\ncome to your house and beat you because you do not want to do something.\n\n~~~\nkuschku\nThat's certainly one approach.\n\nThe other approach is that, unless explicit consent is given, people are\nsupposed to be safe.\n\nNightly is often required because a lot of functionality for developers is\nonly available there, e.g. custom xpi legacy addons even in FF61.\n\nIt's nightly or nothing for this, and as a reminder, stable also was affected\nby CliqZ.\n\n~~~\ndotsh\nYou are using Nightly \"wrong\" because of attachment to old extensions that\nwill perish in June when all legacy stuff will be blocked. Nightly is only for\ntesting out new features and it's not intended to be production ready\nbrowser... but everyone has an own use case. Yet do not beat them for wanting\nto change something for the better after using testing technology.\n\n~~~\nkuschku\nI'm not using it for \"old\" extensions.\n\nEven today, every new feature you want to have in the WebExtension API needs\nto be implemented as a legacy extension providing this API first, then it will\nget tested, and then it will maybe become part of core Firefox.\n\nThe official process to add apis for WebExtensions is to write a legacy\nextension.\n\nWhich is exactly what I'm doing to support my custom extension that replaces\nthe entire history and bookmarking system, UI and toolbars of Firefox, for\nwhich I need a custom API.\n\nI suggest you read the wiki on why nightly still supports legacy extensions\nbefore judging people.\n\n~~~\ndotsh\nI'm not judging I wrote that everyone has it's own use case. My only point is\ndon't use test version if you don't want to be tested or opt-out of it. ;)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nScalable ACID - ithkuil\nhttp://dbmsmusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/problems-with-acid-and-how-to-fix-them.html\n======\njlgbecom\nFrom a development standpoint, I don't quite understand the advantages of\nNoSQL over SQL. I get that you don't have to have a rigidly defined table\nstructure, and that your data structure can change when your application\nchanges, but I guess I'm one of those curmudgeons that prefers rigidity over\npermissiveness. I like that I have to think hard about my table structure and\nmodels before and as I code. I also rarely feel bogged down by SQL, although\nI've been using it for over a decade, so that helps.\n\nAs for scalability, as this post shows, I think the best thing to come out of\nNoSQL is the race for greater scalability it has and will continue to inspire\nin SQL solutions.\n\n~~~\nsteveklabnik\nThere are some times when the standard normal form is a real pain, for\nexample, and your data fits better as a document or a simple key-value. I\nmentioned one such instance for me here:\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1637903>\n\n~~~\ndavidmathers\nI think you're making the common mistake of confusing relational databases\nwith entity-relationship modeling.\n\nI can't really figure out your foo example though, needs to be a bit more\nspecific.\n\n------\nekidd\nThis looks interesting, but I still can't tell how it relates to the CAP\ntheorem. Are they sacrificing global consistency? Availability? Partition-\ntolerance? Or do they have a subtle reformulation of these constraints which\nallows them to \"get around\" the restrictions imposed by the CAP theorem?\n\nMost of the popular NoSQL solutions were designed to run as large server\nclusters, possibly distributed across multiple data centers. They're designed\nto handle such problems as, \"Our fiber backbone is down, and our database has\nsplit into a 5,000 machine cluster and a 7,000 machine cluster! And it's three\ndays before Christmas!\" (This is more or less the problem Amazon's database is\ndesigned to survive.)\n\nFor any given \"NoSQL\" database, you want to figure out how they handle this\nproblem: Do they allow the 5,000 and 7,000 node datacenters to become\ntemporarily inconsistent? Do they block writes to the entire database? Do they\nblock writes to the 5,000 node database (because it doesn't have a quorum)?\n\nAny of these options are valid—you just need to know what tradeoffs you're\nchoosing.\n\n~~~\njoe_the_user\nThe author basically doesn't believe CAP represents a good model of the\ndatabase tradeoffs;\n\n _\"Over the past few weeks, in my advanced database system implementation\nclass I teach at Yale, I’ve been covering the CAP theorem, its implications,\nand various scalable NoSQL systems that would appear to be influenced in their\ndesign by the constraints of CAP. Over the course of my coverage of this\ntopic, I am convinced that CAP falls far short of giving a complete picture of\nthe engineering tradeoffs behind building scalable, distributed systems.\"_\n\n[http://dbmsmusings.blogspot.com/2010/04/problems-with-cap-\nan...](http://dbmsmusings.blogspot.com/2010/04/problems-with-cap-and-yahoos-\nlittle.html)\n\n------\nmichael_dorfman\n_Our view (and yes, this may seem counterintuitive at first), is that the\nproblem with ACID is not that its guarantees are too strong (and that\ntherefore scaling these guarantees in a shared-nothing cluster of machines is\ntoo hard), but rather that its guarantees are too weak, and that this weakness\nis hindering scalability._\n\nThat is indeed counter-intuitive at first, but they make a good case. I'm\nimpressed with the idea, and hope to follow this more closely. Anyone know any\nother research on the subject?\n\n------\njleader\nI only skimmed the paper pointed to by the blog post, but one quote jumped out\nat me:\n\n\"Hence, in an era where disk reads caused wild variation in transaction\nlength, allowing nondeterministic reordering was the only viable option.\"\n\nIn other words, when all your data is in ram (possibly distributed across a\ncluster of machines connected by a relatively fast network), the performance\ntradeoffs are very different than when your data is on rotating mechanical\ndisks.\n\nI don't know that I'm convinced that their approach is better, but they've\ncertainly given me something to think about (and re-read in more detail\nlater).\n\n------\nprodigal_erik\nThis sounds a lot like optimistic vs. pessimistic concurrency control, but\nover the set of _all_ transactions in flight. You proceed assuming none of\nthem are going to fail, but if any of them do, you're really screwed--you have\nto abort all of them and roll back to the last valid state to accept any more.\nStill, if we can stop rolling our own half-assed transactions over a set of\nfeature-poor data stores, we'll avoid a lot of ugly problems.\n\n~~~\nbtilly\nIf I read the article correctly, one requirement of their system is that\ntransactions have to be defined in such a way that all transactions succeed\nfor some definition of success.\n\n------\nrichchan\nThe idea does sound interesting - so it looks like they are trying to reduce\nthe amount of network handshaking by imposing a stricter isolation.\n\nI am not sure I am convinced by their results though. They say their\ndeterministic system seems viable when comparing its performance to\ntraditional systems under short in-memory transactions. That is a special case\nthat is clearly in their favor though. In that situation, the amount of time\nspent in processing data is greatly reduced so the network overhead becomes\nmuch more significant - so the system that does less network communications\nwill obviously win...\n\nI guess it may potentially be good for in-memory database systems for stuff\nlike OLTP apps (e.g. VoltDB and TimesTen), but then I think most OLTP apps are\nokay with a more relaxed isolation...\n\n~~~\nora600\nDaniel Abadi is one of the authors of the HStore paper that VoltDB is based\non. It looks like the deterministic order system is using similar requirements\nand assumptions.\n\n------\nsteveklabnik\nI think this would be better without the adversity. Nobody has to 'win' or\n'lose' on 'either side' of 'the debate.' The whole way this is framed (by\neveryone, not just this) irks me.\n\nDifferent tools for different cases. Polyglot persistence is the way forward.\n\n~~~\nzacharypinter\nOdd... I didn't find the tone of the article to be at all confrontational. The\nauthor gave a great summary of the NoSQL movement, its goals, and how his team\nhas an idea that might accomplish many of those goals in a different way.\n\n~~~\nsteveklabnik\nIf there weren't so many \"ZOMG NOSQL SUCKS\" articles recently, I might agree\nwith you, but \"The poorly kept secret is that it's all about scale, if RDBMS-s\nwould scale, nobody would NoSQL, and by the way, it's a lazy solution anyway!\"\nin the first few paragraphs triggered my \"I'm really getting sick of this\"\nreaction.\n\n------\nrichardmarr\n\"In our opinion, the NoSQL decision to give up on ACID is the lazy solution to\nthese scalability and replication issues.\"\n\nThey had me up until they called NoSQL \"lazy\" and claimed NoSQL solutions\n\"give up on ACID\". They aren't lazy and a lot of them support ACID, or most of\nit.\n\nFrom that point on this veers away from logic and moves towards a self-\njustified argument. Tools are just tools. If you need immediate consistency\nthen go for an immediately consistent solution, if you don't then you should\nfeel free to take advantage of the performance gain of eventual consistency.\n\n~~~\nlemming\nThe thing is that implementing ACID is, well, atomic - you either support it\nor you don't. Anything else is one of a series of different types of\ncompromise. All currently available NoSQL systems I'm aware of compromise it\nvery heavily, resulting in greatly increased programmer complexity for the\ntypes of applications that really require something that looks like ACID. I'd\nbe interested to know which ones you think support ACID - as far as I'm aware\nnone of them claim to support anything like it (with the possible exception of\nVoltDB, which has its own set of problems).\n\n~~~\njbellis\nScalaris has supported ACID transactions for years, but it never caught on\nbecause at scale you care more about availability than about having\ntransactions: <http://twitter.com/Werner/status/1008722501>\n\n~~~\njhugg\nIf you're counting important things (money, inventory, etc), being up with the\nwrong answer can be worse than not being up.\n\n------\nazim\n_In summary, it is really hard to guarantee ACID across scalable, highly\navailable, shared-nothing systems due to complex and high overhead commit\nprotocols, and difficult tradeoffs in available replication schemes._\n\nIt's hard, but it's doable. I find it quite striking that no one ever seems to\nmention the two leading high performance parallel databases, HP Neoview and\nTeradata. Is it that people don't realize they exist?\n\n~~~\naweisberg\nNeoview and Teradata are OLAP databases. OLTP is a different problem.\n\n~~~\ngaius\nI can tell you a hilarious story about a former employer who bought a Teradata\nto run a trading system on...\n\n------\nrunT1ME\nWho uses serializable isolation level? I find that claim dubious, and I don't\nthink ordering the way he talks about is better than read committed.\n\n------\nrit\nAcademics writing papers is not the same thing as people actually solving\nproblems in production.\n\nNot to be ornery about this or anything.\n\n~~~\nswannodette\nGreat production implementations can start from coders reading papers on a\nrigorously explored idea.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\n'Second Life' is frontier for AI research - alexk\nhttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24668099/\n\n======\nLPTS\nI wonder if you could make an AI research project where instead of making\ncomputers smart like people, you tried to get computer users to act like\nmachines, entirely predictable. I bet there would be something to learn there\ntoo.\n\nI also wonder if you could create a basic set of antlike behaviors for some\nMMRPG games and some set of rules for mutation, and evolutionarily grow some\nbot thats perfect at the game.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nYou know a site has its shit together when… - bubble_boi\nhttps://medium.com/@david.gilbertson/you-know-a-site-has-its-shit-together-when-8ee21040d0bc#.kfqcjq5qu\n======\nChoHag\n> I’m sure there’s some historical reason for valuing short variable names.\n> ... Maybe in the past our ancestors had to pay by the letter\n\nYes that's it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIt's time to rewrite Java from scratch, security expert says - Garbage\nhttp://www.pcworld.com/article/2025160/its-time-to-rewrite-java-from-scratch-security-expert-says.html\n======\nreirob\nWhen seeing this title and before reading the article I had the reaction:\n\"This is already done. Google already rewrote Java. For Androi.\"\n\nNow after reading the article I can quote: \"Now is a good time to rewrite some\ncore components from scratch and insure that they're bug-free, rather than\npatching the application from one version to another,\" Botezatu said.\" So it\nabout to rewrite SOME core components and NOT to rewrite Java completely from\nscratch.\n\n------\ngus_massa\nEven if you rewrite them from scratch, you probably would still have (new)\nbugs, and some minor corner cases incompatibilities that would break the old\nuser code.\n\nThings You Should Never Do, Part I:\n<http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMedium abruptly cancels membership programs of 21 subscription publishers - ilamont\nhttp://www.niemanlab.org/2018/05/medium-abruptly-cancels-the-membership-programs-of-its-21-remaining-publisher-partners/\n======\nrainbowmverse\nHitting random paywalls was why I stopped clicking Medium links. Some of the\nstuff on there was interesting to read, but not enough worth paying for.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nRubyhunt.org – Best articles, news, gems and videos about ruby everyday - eyupatis\nhttp://rubyhunt.org/\n\n======\nlutfidemirci\nIt looks cool to stay up to date.\n\nJust a little thing: You may change the top icon to a flat ruby icon (maybe\nsomething from the projectnoun).\n\nIs it open source? If it is open source, can you give me the link? then we can\ncontribute.\n\n~~~\neyupatis\nI changed the logo to a flat ruby icon as you say.\n\nIt is not open source now, but we can make open source it.\n\nI will follow telescope versions for the project so is it necessary to make\nopen source it?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nBytecode features not available in the Java language - henk53\nhttp://stackoverflow.com/a/23218472/472792\n\n======\nmalft\nDidn't see my favorite on the list: creating the bool 2. I believe there are a\ncouple of methods in the JDK that do\n\n    \n    \n        if (dangerousFlag == true) doCheck();\n        ...\n        foo(dangerousFlag ? bar : baz);\n\n~~~\npeeters\nWait, I love learning new things about Java, but I feel in the dark here. What\nis your example demonstrating?\n\n~~~\nonedognight\nIf true is book(1) then the check\n\n    \n    \n        bool(2) == true\n    \n\nwill fail but\n\n    \n    \n        bool(2) ? a : b\n    \n\nwill act as if bool(2) were true and this inconsistency could lead to\nunintended execution paths.\n\n~~~\npeeters\nAh, I'm with you. Thanks.\n\n------\npeeters\nAs far as not catching checked exceptions goes, this is actually possible in\nthe Java language as well since the language allows throwing a generic type\nparameter. It's pretty difficult to do by accident though, and does at least\ngive a compile warning.\n\n    \n    \n        public class Dangerous {\n        \n            public static void main (String ... args) {\n                Dangerous.<RuntimeException>throwUnchecked(new IOException(\"Forgot to catch me!\"));\n            }\n        \n            static <T extends Exception> void throwUnchecked(Exception e) throws T{\n                throw (T) e;\n            }\n        }\n\n------\njodah\nI knew the SO answer must have been written by Raf before I even got to the\nauthor section. Check out his great library, ByteBuddy, if you want to try\nmucking with some of this stuff:\n\n[http://bytebuddy.net](http://bytebuddy.net)\n\n------\nwhitten\nIf the Java Virtual Machines don't always execute certain Java Byte Codes, how\ndoes a compiler to JVB for another language know that the generated code is\nrun ?\n\n~~~\nkrilnon\nThere's an official specification for what and how a program that claims to be\na JVM implementation should operate given Java bytecode. So someone writing a\nlanguage that compiles to Java bytecode would typically either target the\nspecification (and test on as many implementations as they felt necessary), or\ntarget a specific implementation like HotSpot and ignore the rest.\n\n------\nquotemstr\nYou can define two methods that differ only by return type. That's how\ncovariant returns work. Check the javap output and recoil in horror.\n\n~~~\npeeters\nTrue. One of them is a bridge method.\n\nHere's an example:\n\n    \n    \n        class CovariantReturn extends CovariantReturnBase {\n            public Integer produce() {\n                return 5;\n            }\n        }\n        \n        class CovariantReturnBase {\n            public Number produce() {\n                return 4.5;\n            }\n        }\n    \n\nAnd the relevant javap output for CovariantReturn:\n\n    \n    \n    \t  public java.lang.Integer produce();\n    \t    flags: ACC_PUBLIC\n    \t    Code:\n    \t      ...\n    \n    \t  public java.lang.Number produce();\n    \t    flags: ACC_PUBLIC, ACC_BRIDGE, ACC_SYNTHETIC\n    \t    Code:\n    \t      ...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Do you know any huge-bandwidth case that using Cloudflare free/pro plan? - Elect2\nAnd what is the bandwidth?\n======\nfoobarbazetc\nTheir sales people start emailing you at ~4Tb/month on the business plan.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAnnouncing Yeoman 1.0 beta 4 - cleverjake\nhttp://addyosmani.com/blog/yeoman-update-announcing-1-0-beta-4/\n======\n_pius\nCongratulations on the new release. Ironically, I tried Yeoman in earnest for\nthe first time yesterday.\n\nI've got deep respect for the authors, but I've had a pretty miserable\nexperience with Yeoman so far, even after giving it another try this morning.\nIn particular:\n\n* Using the web app generator seems to download an absurd number of dependencies every time. It takes _minutes_ to download everything to start a simple app, about as long as it takes me to install Rails from scratch on the same system.\n\n* After generating an app, I've yet to be able to actually run grunt on the result ... it always errors out with something. If it's not a jshint warning that causes it to abort, it's a Compass warning.\n\nOne of the great joys of writing HTML5 + Javascript apps is that the\nexperience tends to feel clean and unencumbered. So far, Yeoman has done\nnothing but make my workflow much more complex and error-prone. Things just\nfeel ... rickety. At the end of the day, I gave up and used Initializr [1] to\nstart the app. Didn't even want to bother trying out Brunch [2], I was so\nfrustrated.\n\nI wanted to love it and I know there are folks out there who've had great luck\nwith Yeoman; hopefully some of them can chime in to tell me what I'm missing.\n\n[1] <http://www.initializr.com/>\n\n[2] <http://brunch.io>\n\n~~~\nbicknergseng\nI started using it about two weeks ago and was pretty disappointed, too. The\n1.0 beta was broken for things like coffeescript, backbone, custom generators,\netc, and they pulled the previous version of Yeoman from the site. I got it to\nwork for what I was trying to do, but spent twice as much time on Yeoman as I\ndid working on my app. Not unexpected given the pre 1.0 state of both Yeoman\nand the Node community at large, but I wish they'd left the previous\n(functional) version accessible.\n\nEither way, excited to see this kind of community development. Great work on\nYeoman, excited about its potential.\n\n------\nmberning\nI could see where this would be useful for somebody just starting out, and\nmaybe that is what they are shooting for, but I see people outgrowing this\npretty fast. Once people reach a certain level of competence it's going to be\nquicker and/or easier to set things up themselves.\n\n~~~\njlongster\nOthers are disagreeing with you, but I actually agree. Yeoman isn't attractive\nto me at all. It's a lot of boilerplate and the return just isn't enough. It's\nmuch easier to directly set things up, and create custom boilerplates for my\nneeds.\n\n~~~\ngreaterweb\nI think there may be some confusion by some as to just what Yeoman is and it's\nusefulness. My opinion is that Yeoman strives to improve your workflow and\ntooling in front end development.\n\nThe core team has engaged the dev community and identified how people are\nworking, what tooling they use and what pain points they experience. Yeoman\nserves to centralize workflow and tooling and ease those pain points. The\ngenerators are very useful as well and extensible.\n\nAgain, Yeoman may not be right for everyone but I would be interested to know\nmore about your workflow and tooling and contrast it to some of the concepts\npursued. This feedback would be useful to those considering Yeoman.\n\n~~~\njlongster\nI think there's a certain kind of person that's attractive to these kind of\nverbose, complex bootstrapping tools. Not that that's a bad thing at all, but\nlike you said, it's not for everyone.\n\nI can see the usefulness, but when I try to use it, it just feels like it has\na steep learning curve and I could better invest my time elsewhere.\n\nI use node heavily, and setting up the project, `npm install express` and a\nfew other libraries, only takes a few seconds. I can start writing code\nquickly. I also don't create new projects _that_ often, but I can't imagine\nmost people are daily creating new projects.\n\nAt work we have our own django bootstrap that we can easily hack on and clone.\n\nI can't say exactly why it doesn't fit my use case, but it just doesn't feel\nright for some reason. It has a ton of dependencies. I don't see why I\nshouldn't just use grunt and bower directly, etc etc.\n\n------\nbrian_c\nYeoman makes it quicker and easier to generate boilerplate code, but I think\nthe goal should be to __eliminate __boilerplate and abstract it away. Yeoman\nkeeps spaghetti organized, but it's still spaghetti.\n\n------\njongold\nStupid question but what kinds of projects are people using Yeoman & Brunch\netc for? I've been getting into lots of frontend MV* recently; a mix of stuff\nthat I put in the Rails asset pipeline at work, and fun hacks on the weekend\nwhich I tend to use Brunch or Yeoman for.\n\nAre people using Yeoman apps in production? How does it work deploying them &\nhandling load etc etc? I'm assuming that Yeoman is more useful than just toy\nprojects?\n\n------\ncrucialfelix\nI was messing around with Yeoman this weekend. The real strength I think is in\nthe library of generators and the tools that the generator has in addition to\nthe grunt derived ones.\n\nThe default generator is a one page webapp and that makes everybody think that\nthat is what yeoman is, but there are many more:\n\n[https://github.com/search?q=yeoman+generator&ref=cmdform](https://github.com/search?q=yeoman+generator&ref=cmdform)\n\n65 repos there\n\n------\nniyazpk\nI am already using gruntjs for js/sass/images compression & combining,\ntemplate compilation, and a whole lot of other build related stuff. Can\nsomebody please convince me why I would want to switch to yeomen?\n\n~~~\nNarretz\nYou are not switching to Yeoman if you use grunt, since yeoman uses grunt for\nall the tasks you mentioned. Yeoman is for quickly setting up and adding\ncommon parts to your app. For example, in angular you can create controllers,\ndirectives etc. skeletons, based on predefined or your own scaffolds. Using it\nwill only be good if the generator for your app is good.\n\n------\noutside1234\nThanks for all the hard work - glad to see that Windows support is almost\nready. I'll give that a try.\n\n------\nrschmitty\nIs there an example with backbone requirejs and karma testing for yeoman out\nin the wild?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShorter Workweeks Would Wipe Out the Much-Hyped Threat of Robots Stealing Jobs - azuajef\nhttp://www.alternet.org/economy/why-shorter-workweeks-would-wipeout-much-hyped-threat-robots-stealing-our-jobs?akid=14343.2563486.j-rsgB&rd=1&src=newsletter1058194&t=22\n======\nqbrass\nIt increases the cost of human labor, giving more of an advantage to replacing\nthem with robots.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCaching NoOp for use in JavaScript | Randomized - honyock\nhttp://matthewbjordan.me/2013/09/25/noop-caching.html\n======\ntantalor\n[http://jsperf.com/noop/2](http://jsperf.com/noop/2)\n\n~~~\nhonyock\n[http://jsperf.com/nooptest](http://jsperf.com/nooptest)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAm I getting Craigslist scammed? - tech-historian\nhttps://money.stackexchange.com/questions/126350/am-i-getting-craigslist-scammed\n======\ncaymanjim\nThere's a YouTuber by the name of \"Kitboga\" who makes a living messing with\nrefund scammers. It's not exactly the same scam, but it's similar enough: they\nconvince people that they've been over-refunded, and try to con the target\ninto repaying the difference. Kitboga is kind of obnoxious, but I do\nappreciate his devotion to wasting scammers' time. If I were targeted by this\nsort of Craigslist scammer, I'd probably mess with them until I got bored.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWorlds Most Feared Financial Sanction 311Act Challenged and Beaten David V Goliath - jayjay1010\nhttp://bpabankclassaction.com/index.php?p=/discussion/14/fincen-fuks-up-so-badly-they-resort-to-retreating-and-pretending-they-never-existed#latest\n======\njayjay1010\nThis matters to tech startups because as many grow internationally they will\nnavigate international banks and local laws and tax polices which will\nundoubtably challenge them with compliance issues and thus suffer risks beyond\ntheir control and could face direct impact from sanctions imposed by FinCEN!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nOur 36 Hours on Show HN - justinlaing\nhttps://medium.com/@justinlaing/our-36-hours-on-show-hn-34d47b6b56ee#.k9a8i7pt4\n======\nminimaxir\nHmm, this is the first \"I Hit The HN Front Page\" humblebrag posts that's not a\nhumblebrag, and as a result is interesting.\n\nBeing successful is not a binary get-on-front-page or not; ranking on the\nfront page matters. At #27 of 30, that is effectively off the front page. (for\nreference in how important ranking matters, when one of my submissions went\nfrom #1 to #3, the number of active users dropped _by 2 /3rds_. Going from #3\nto #20 halved the traffic again.)\n\n~~~\njustinlaing\nDefinitely, 27 is pretty low. But it did drive a lot more traffic than being\n#5 on Show. Which I think is interesting. I would have thought more people\nlooked at Show. But I guess not.\n\n------\nEzhik\nAnd now you're trying to break back on the front page, clever.\n\n~~~\njustinlaing\nSure, but hopefully providing some insight for others! It was definitely a\nlearning experience.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBest Screenplay Goes to the Algorithms - brycehalley\nhttp://m.nautil.us/issue/79/catalysts/best-screenplay-goes-to-the-algorithms\n======\nthrowawaylolx\n>Best Screenplay Goes to the Algorithms\n\nNo, it doesn't, according to the article itself:\n\n>The judges at the film festival placed Sunspring in the top 10, though it did\nnot win.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow to Make the Switch from Android to iOS - iProject\nhttp://gizmodo.com/5943175/how-to-make-the-switch-from-android-to-ios?tag=iOS-6\n======\nendyourif\nBoo! I love my Android and I have no plans of every joining the Apple family.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Leica Q: A six month field test - Tomte\nhttp://craigmod.com/sputnik/leica_q/\n======\nbrotherjerky\nI love how thorough and thoughtful this article is, especially since it's on a\npersonal web site. Reminds me of what the web used to be, before big clickbait\nsites took over. Just someone writing at length about something they are\npassionate about.\n\n------\nKaiserPro\nI could understand the point of leica, in the 40s-60s\n\nit was quiet, well built, had good lenses and was reliable. (it had a fabric\nshutter, or something similar, which means it didn't click. This allowed\npeople to be \"in the moment\")\n\nIn the digital world, I just don't understand the point of them. Sure yes its\na full frame with a decent lens in a similar body size as the old compact\nrangefinders.\n\nBut.\n\nthe image quality just isn't worth the $4K. Thats top end SLR price. Under its\nall its just a panasonic lumix. If it was a separate entity, I could sorta see\nthe point. You are paying for the name, and thats it.\n\nWhat I'd really like is a leica/fujion style body, but with a nikon sensor and\nlens adaptor. (Although I suspect that its not really possible because the\nfocal point is much too deep.)\n\n~~~\nFireBeyond\nI'm someone who thinks Leica is a bit overpriced.\n\nBut as the owner of a 5D Mk III and several L lenses, -and- a Lumix DMC-\nLX100... the Leica is not a Lumix.\n\nThis isn't even the best article for image quality (though there are certainly\nmany very good shots). But where the Leica excels is razor sharp images that\ndon't have any hint of \"is that sharpened in Photoshop?\" (for example:\n[http://i1.wp.com/www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-\ncontent/uploads/2...](http://i1.wp.com/www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-\ncontent/uploads/2012/11/L1000366.jpg) )\n\n~~~\nfoldr\nIt looks pretty ordinary to me, to be honest. Even entry level DSLRs produce\nvery sharp images these days.\n\n------\nkeltex\nThe alternative camera (and one for 1/4 the price) is the Fuji X100T. Many\npeople love this camera:\n\n[http://www.kenrockwell.com/fuji/x100t.htm](http://www.kenrockwell.com/fuji/x100t.htm)\n\n~~~\nmartijn_himself\nI posted exactly this comment and then I noticed yours. Are these camera's\nactually comparable or is it apples and oranges?\n\n~~~\nalistairSH\nYes and no.\n\nThey are comparable, in that they are both fairly compact, fixed prime lens\ncameras that offer high quality (camera build and image).\n\nThey are not comparable,as the Leica has a better/faster autofocus system. In\ntheory it has better optics as well, though I haven't seen a side-by-side.\n\nA good friend is a professional photographer. His carry-around fun camera is\nthe X100T. I think his professional-grade stuff is Nikon. I'm sure he'd love\nthe Leica, but it's a lot of money for what is unlikely to be used\nprofessionally (at least not by him).\n\n------\nmjhoy\nCraig Mod's reviews convinced me to get the GF1 many years ago, and I am still\nvery happy with that camera. Though it has interchangeable lenses I often use\nit with a prime 20mm (film equivalent of 40mm) which, I discovered, are simply\na joy to use: the lack of the \"feature\" of a zoom can free your mind in the\nmoment of exploration.\n\n~~~\nmiseg\nI should have replied to your comment, instead of posting a new one. I agree\nwith your sense of freeing, but if, as the author talks about, you'll crop\nmany of your shots, it doesn't sound so freeing then.\n\n~~~\nmjhoy\nI was also surprised about the cropping! For my own photographs I never crop,\nI don't really see the point. But perhaps he is publishing photos, in which\ncase I understand it.\n\n------\nTomte\nUnder the heading \"Video\": \"I think the Q does video.\"\n\nThat's it. I love his writing style.\n\n------\ndsmithatx\nGlad I googled the camera and found out it cost +$4000 before reading are\nreview about it. It should have been the first sentence of the article since\nmost of us will never dream of spending that on a camera.\n\n~~~\npetercooper\nYou'll want to file \"Leica\" away in that area of your brain where brands like\n\"Ferrari\" or \"Rolex\" are. It's basically the equivalent in cameras.\n\n~~~\nbrudgers\nA camera produces artifacts. To _me_ that makes it a bit different than a car\nor a watch: Roli tell the same time, Ferrari's pick up the same cartons of\nmilk, but lenses and sensors and firmware capture different images.\n\nI see Leica as of a kind with other multi thousand dollar cameras...it's not\nas if a Nikon or a Cannon is any more or less reasonable.\n\n------\nVeejayRampay\nI never quite understood Leica. The quality of their products is undoubtedly\nextremely high, I won't try to deny that and they deserve credit for decades\nof excellence in the field.\n\nBut as the owner of a Voigtländer R4A coupled with a Nokton 35mm f/1.4 (bought\nfor a total of $1200, which was quite the investment for me) I can't help but\nbe amazed by how much it would have cost me to buy the Leica equivalent (5\ntimes that amount). It's quite obvious looking at the results that Leica does\nnot offer that superior a result for that hefty price (and even though I know\nthat it's a tad simplistic to reason in those terms, it certainly wouldn't\nhave bought me 5 times the quality).\n\nLeica reminds me of Apple, it's all about status and perceived value. Hats off\nto them for reaching that lucrative niche market.\n\n~~~\npepve\n> it's all about status and perceived value\n\nYet the author of this post taped off the lettering to make it look like a\ngeneric camera.\n\n~~~\ngreggman\nHere in Asia Leica is sold in high end fashion malls, not in the photography\nequipment or electronics area of town. In fact in Japan there's a Leica\ncounter in the men's fashion accessories area of Mitsukoshi Mens in Ginza. In\nHong Kong there's one in Harbour City, a high end fashion mall. In Singapore\nthere's one in ION Orchard, another fashion mall. Where as if you want any\nother brand of camera in all those cities you go to the electronics area of\ntown. Akihabara or Shinjuku's Yodobashi Camera in Japan, Mong Kok in HK, Sim\nLim or Funan Digitallife Mall in SG\n\nIn other words, Leica themselves are positioning their cameras as fashion\naccessories. Something to show you have $$$$$$\n\n~~~\nrogeryu\nIf I were Leica and I could sell my camera as accessory in a fashion mall, why\nnot? This tells me more about the people shopping there, than about Leica.\nIt's probably not Leica positioning themselves there, but some smart business\npeople seeing good margins.\n\n------\nmiseg\nI'd struggle with the idea of shooting at such a wide angle, and relying on\ncropping later. Theoretically, at least, I like the idea of letting a fixed\nfocal length in the camera guide how I frame images around me.\n\n~~~\nska\n28mm isn't really so wide on a full frame. In some ways it is more natural\nthan 50mm, in that it frames more like we see with two eyes side by side (50\nis closer to the projection we see though) without much in the way of\ndistortion. Once you get used to the frame, you would't need to crop all the\ntime, but I guess it saves you some foot zooming.\n\n~~~\nalistairSH\nWRT to foot zooming, shooting portraits with a 28mm requires some SERIOUS foot\nzooming. You have to be VERY comfortable getting close to subjects. Fine if\nyou know them; possibly awkward if you don't.\n\n~~~\nmiseg\nInteresting. Do you tend to crop portraits you take at 28mm?\n\n~~~\naaronbrethorst\nYou shouldn't take portraits with a 28mm lens, at least not if you can avoid\nit. It'll distort your subject's features, making their chin, or nose, or\nwhatever look abnormally large. Better to use an 85mm lens if you can.\n\n~~~\nfoldr\nIt will distort their features if you get in close. For the same distance from\nthe subject, any focal length with give you the same amount of (perspective)\ndistortion. So if you shoot from 10ft away and crop, you'll get the same\nresults (modulo resolution) as you would have gotten if you'd shot from 10ft\naway with a longer focal length and filled the frame.\n\n~~~\naaronbrethorst\n10 foot subject distance on a 28mm lens isn't much of a portrait. Unless\nyou're doing an environmental portrait with an emphasis on the environment.\n\n~~~\nfoldr\nWell, that's why I said \"shoot from 10ft away and crop\".\n\n~~~\naaronbrethorst\nHow much resolution does your sensor offer?\n\n------\nnandreev\nFor anyone looking for the 80/20 alternative here (80% of the\nexperience/results for 20% of the cost), take a look at the Ricoh GR.\n\nIt doesn't have a viewfinder, but the ergonomics are superb. APS-C sensor,\nfixed 28mm lens (a very sharp one at that), and 16mp. Goes with me on every\ntrip.\n\nMing Thein's review: [http://blog.mingthein.com/2013/05/06/review-2013-ricoh-\ngr-di...](http://blog.mingthein.com/2013/05/06/review-2013-ricoh-gr-\ndigital-v/)\n\n------\nnjharman\nUm, is the price really $4,000!? Am I the only one that thinks nothing costing\nthat much is a \"travel camera\"? The one of several cameras I own that I toss\nin my bag when I don't want or need capabilities of my \"expensive\" gear.\n\nI wouldn't carry something costing $4000 on me anywhere I wasn't very familiar\nwith / felt safe in.\n\n------\nrffn\nI wonder how this camera compares to a Sony A7 (or it's successors) if the\nSony is paired with a comparable lens.\n\nI recall having heard that either the first or the second generation A7 has\nthe same sensor as the Leica Q but this might be wrong.\n\n------\njmount\nImages look like they lost contrast due to some sort of flare effect.\n\n------\ndgdsgdsg\nNice advertisement...\n\n------\njordache\nblah... Full Frame is overrated.\n\nFor reasons one may want full frame, someone else may want a cropped sensor\nfor other equally legitimate reasons.\n\nI love my Fuji X100. Manual Focus is also overrated. As long as you have a\nquick phase detecting AF solution, you won't miss the tactile mechnical MF.\nThe X100 is not there yet, but future generations will surely provide\nsatisfactory AF speed.\n\n~~~\njordache\noh yeah.. all the people who think bokeh downvoted.\n\nDo you know the concept of non-shallow DOF and how that is beneficial in many\nlow light/wide-open aperture circumstances?\n\n------\nCyberDildonics\nMaybe there should be a separate site called Hacker Ads\n\n------\nmtrycz\nThe article contains referral links for amazon at the bottom.\n\nJust saying.\n\n~~~\nalistairSH\nSo? Bloggers deserve to eat too.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Let's talk gpt-3 hype. overblown or justified? - hejja\nI&#x27;ve counted between 3-5 GPT posts on the front page all today and yesterday<p>Not to mention 74% of my twitter feed.<p>Don&#x27;t get me wrong, I was at peak hype. Top 10% of gpt-3 hypebeasts.<p>But now I&#x27;m thinking: &quot;it&#x27;s good, but what are the practical use cases that is effectively a babbling machine&quot;<p>In other words if it&#x27;s 95% believable, with the amount of nuance required for high skilled use cases or jobs, well, that&#x27;s still not enough.<p>Your thoughts?\n======\nforgotmypw17\nIn terms of human development, publicly available and disclosed machine\nintelligence has reached what in human child development would be considered a\nmajor new milestone.\n\nPreviously, Eliza and the likes could only mimic basic speech construction,\nwith increasing levels of correctness.\n\nNow, GPT-3 can mimic meaning and understading, rather convincingly. Its\nmistakes are akin to a child's naive questions.\n\nI would put its equivalent human age at about 3-5 years old. Sometimes 5-year-\nolds can come up with nonsense, and sometimes you have an \"out of the mouths\nof babes\" moment.\n\nThat's really huge, IMO.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMore than 1000 drug plants never inspected - sndean\nhttp://cen.acs.org/articles/95/i5/1000-drug-plants-never-inspected.html\n======\nCerium\nThis is not really surprising. The FDA has to be very careful with how they\nmanage their resources. Before being allowed entry to the USA, the company\nmust file information about what they are doing and where and who they are.\nThey must also have a representative in the USA. All this information allows\nthe FDA to quickly find the source of problems and stop them should a\nsituation arrive.\n\nIf we handled this in any other way it would place an undue burden on either\nthe taxpayer or the companies. Who should pay the inspection fees for a\ncompany importing very small volumes?\n\nIn the end, yes it is shocking, but the system generally works.\n\n~~~\nDrScump\nThe Showa Denko K.K. tryptophan disaster[0] is one counterpoint.\n\n[0]\n[http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/DSH/trypto...](http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/DSH/trypto.html)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Anyone ever tried a hackathon while water fasting? - cvaidya1986\nI want to specifically know if it helped with speed of execution and creativity.\n======\nallwein\nCan you ask your real question? Obviously you're not looking for just \"yes\" or\n\"no\". I'm assuming that you're considering doing a hackathon while fasting and\nhave some questions or concerns. What are those questions and concerns?\n\n~~~\ncvaidya1986\nUpdated the question thank you.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDead Slow Ahead is a transcendent sci-fi documentary (2016) - crtasm\nhttps://www.theverge.com/2016/3/14/11223298/dead-slow-ahead-movie-review-sxsw\n======\nfiiv\nIt does not seem to be easy to obtain a copy, legally or not. Looks\nfascinating.\n\n~~~\ncrtasm\nI really liked it, the sound design especially.\n\nAs much as I dislike promoting amazon their UK site is the only place I can\nsee it for sale. I'm told it's on private trackers.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSparrho: personalised recommendation platform for scientific content - fitzwatermellow\nhttps://www.sparrho.com/\n======\nnl\nThis seems nice, but wow the whole process of setting up a channel seems like\na return to 2000 technology. Enter keywords, choose sources, click some weird\nicon? Hmm.\n\nThe Allen AI institute's Semantic Search product[1] is much better at\nexploring a topic. OTOH it has no way to subscribe\n\n[1]\n[https://www.semanticscholar.org/search?q=Deep%20Learning](https://www.semanticscholar.org/search?q=Deep%20Learning)\n\n~~~\nversteegen\nI don't really see what you're complaining about. You can filter by document\ntype (is that what you mean by source?), but it's not necessary.\n\nComparing the results of these two sites, SemanticScholar gives me the most\ncited papers from the last ten years, which I already knew about, while\nSparrho feeds me very recent but still highly relevant papers which I mostly\nhadn't seen. Therefore I find Sparrho far more useful for already familiar\ntopics. Neither site seems to have an option to change the search timeframe.\n\n~~~\nnl\n_I don 't really see what you're complaining about_\n\nReally? When I do a search, I'm seeing a big block at the top of the UI to get\nme to setup a channel. It's big enough that I'm only seeing on row of search\nresults (15\" MBP).\n\n _You can filter by document type (is that what you mean by source?)_\n\nThe bottom of this block says \"Select specific article source (currently\noptimised for Chemistry).\n\n _Comparing the results of these two sites, SemanticScholar gives me the most\ncited papers from the last ten years, which I already knew about, while\nSparrho feeds me very recent but still highly relevant papers which I mostly\nhadn 't seen. Therefore I find Sparrho far more useful for already familiar\ntopics. Neither site seems to have an option to change the search timeframe._\n\nI agree that are for different things, but SemenaticScholar does have the\noption to change the timeframe (on the right-hand side, there is a graph with\nnumber of results per year. Slide the sliders down the bottom, eg:\n[https://www.semanticscholar.org/search?year[]=2015&year[]=20...](https://www.semanticscholar.org/search?year\\[\\]=2015&year\\[\\]=2016&q=Deep%20Learning))\n\n~~~\nversteegen\n_The bottom of this block says \"Select specific article source (currently\noptimised for Chemistry)._\n\nAh, I didn't notice that, because it's cut off at \"Select specific article\nsource (currently optimised for\". There are several font problems, most\nalarmingly some 400px high text. And there is apparently no way to select the\njournals, despite what it says.\n\n _SemenaticScholar does have the option to change the timeframe_\n\nThanks!\n\n------\njava-man\nsomething similar I've done for [http://news-ai.com](http://news-ai.com)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIn the New Cold War, Deindustrialization Means Disarmament - vimy\nhttps://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/12/china-industry-manufacturing-cold-war/\n======\nlefrenchy\n> They show the peril of ceding control of vast swaths of the world’s\n> manufacturing to a regime that builds at home, and exports abroad, a model\n> of governance that is fundamentally in conflict with American values and\n> democracies everywhere.\n\nThis seems like a bold claim, and I didn’t feel the last part was really\nbacked up.\n\nI guess I just don’t see how that is the part of the model of governance that\nis in conflict with democracy.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: What's a cool old/vintage computer to buy? - arduinomancer\nAre there any cool computers from the 80s&#x2F;90s you&#x27;d recommend picking up that aren&#x27;t super expensive or rare?<p>Just want to have some fun messing around with an old system to see what its like and get a better understanding of what computers used to be like. I started on Windows 95 so never had a chance to experience any of these old systems.<p>Thanks!\n======\nmalux85\nYou might have a lot of fun with DOS, if you wanted physical hardware look for\na 486 cpu with 8 or so megs of ram, you can put on DOS6.11 and Windows 3.11\nand have a play, this was (close enough)the final step before Windows 95\n\nAlso have a look at installing djgpp and you can see what a DOS based text-ui\nIDE looked like.\n\nAlso install Desqview for what an alternate desktop environment looks like.\n\nOne thing you’ll learn is that installation of all of this will require some\ntweaking and research, you’ll have to learn about config.sys and playing with\nextended memory managers, but that’s part of the fun!\n\nMight be more fun to do this on an emulator though, because otherwise you’ll\nhave to mess about with floppy disks or maybe early CDROMs and getting hold of\nfunctional ones might be challenging.\n\nThat era had tons of great games too! Duke Nukem 1 and 2, Blake Stone, Nyet,\nJill of the Jungle, DOOM, try a few games too\n\nHave fun! Shout out if you get stuck!\n\n------\nLarryMade2\nCommodore VIC-20\n\n\\- Has a decent built in BASIC in ROM Only 3.5K or programming RAM (well, a\nlittle more if you know where to POKE... heh) Has a 22 column by 23 row screen\n(composite or RF)\n\n\\- Uses Atari 2600/8-bit standard joysticks, paddles.\n\n\\- Either use cassette tape or Disk or get one of the current compact flash\nDrive options to do storage (CF can allow you more easily get things from the\ninternet connected world to the VIC and visa versa)\n\n\\- Very well documented on programming and hardware -\n[http://www.bombjack.org/commodore/](http://www.bombjack.org/commodore/)\n\n\\- Still an active community for VIC-20 enthusiasts.\n\n\\- If not a VIC-20 I'd suggest a Commodore-16, then you have 16K and much\nexpanded BASIC as well as a built-in machine language monitor\nassembler/disassembler. Still can use the Disk Drive CF, but you may need an\nadapter to use the more common Commodore tape drives... and adapter for Atari\nStyle joysticks.\n\n\\- Commodore 64 prices are getting a bit high, but if you prefer something\nmore 80s mainstream the Commodore 64 or 128 are way more popular. But for\nuniqueness and fun at budget VIC-20/C16 are it... Maybe Plus/4.\n\n~~~\nLarryMade2\nTrivia: Linus Torvalds first computer was a VIC-20 :-)\n\n------\ndetaro\nI'd start by playing with emulators a bit. It's not the same as having the\nactual thing, but is a cheap way of seeing what you might like?\n\n------\nrmason\nI'd suggest a NeXT Cube. Got a friend with one that's not running and finding\nparts is extremely difficult however.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXTcube](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXTcube)\n\nAnother one, a phone I personally owned, is a Palm phone, it was the Kyocera\nPalm Phone 6035 from 2001! This was a smartphone before that term existed and\nwas eight years before Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyocera_6035](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyocera_6035)\n\n------\nddingus\nFor just messing around, I suggest a C64. That one has games, demos, and is a\nlot of fun to program.\n\nAn Apple 2 is also good, but for different reasons. Gaming can be fun, but the\nreal benefit to that machine is that it is completely documented, with\nschematics, and almost entirely software driven. It's a lot like an early PC,\nwith slots, etc...\n\nBoth machines have lots of cool devices that make them easier to work with\ntoday.\n\nOnce you have a machine, you can program it, make some hardware for it,\ninterface it to various things, write programs, and do so in a small scale\nenvironment.\n\nMarvel at what people actually got done!\n\nHave fun.\n\n------\nchung-leong\nAmiga is a system I would like to get my hands on. I still remember being\ntrolled by Amiga aficionados at my local BBS. While I was trying to get my CGI\nscreen to display more colors there were these rebels talking about the\nmiracle of HAM.\n\n------\nsteve_taylor\nTotally biased recommendation: Commodore 64.\n\n~~~\nColt45RPM\nI totally second that!\n\n------\nphendrenad2\nCheapest _complete_ option is probably an even older PC, which you can install\nDOS on.\n\n------\nEdwardMSmith\nAs far as home computers - Amiga (any one, really)\n\nFor crazy fun, deskside SGI Onyx RE2.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTo Reduce Inequality, Let’s Downsize the Financial Sector - howard941\nhttps://org.salsalabs.com/o/967/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1391935\n======\ntowaway1138\nWe could also reduce inequality by blowing up the planet. Instead, how about\ntrying to raise the quality of life for those at the bottom?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: What are the biggest problems you think need fixing?  - philco\n\nIm tired of seeing \"yet another ___ app\" being thrown around.<p>What are the biggest problems you face? If you're not facing anything significant, what are the largest problems you see the world facing?\n======\njstanley\nI'm really bad at parking my car. I'm not interested in getting a machine to\npark it for me, but a simple and accurate guide/tutorial on how to park might\nhelp.\n\nI am a member of my university's programming team, but I never have the\nmotivation to practice. I am aware that practice is what is needed, but when I\nget time for programming I always spend it on other projects, rather than\ncontest practice. I don't know how to solve this.\n\nInit scripts are a right hassle. You could provide (or write a guide\nexplaining, if one already exists) a tool so that you can turn any program\nthat runs as a main loop into a daemon, with an init script. And with as few\ndependencies as possible. For example, I could just put a shell script in\n/etc/init.d/my-program that has\n\n    \n    \n      #!/bin/sh\n      run-magic-daemon $* \"my-program --options\"\n    \n\nwhich then deals with the arguments to the init script, and deals with\nstarting up and daemonising my-program. It should also deal with redirecting\nstdout/stderr to a log file, writing a pid file for later usage, etc.\n\nI often end up with hundreds of tabs open. Something to close the ones I used\nleast recently might help.\n\nBuying domains is really annoying. Why can't I just type the domain and click\n\"buy\" without the registrar trying to sell me other services, or the same name\non other TLDs, etc? Just a simple domain registrar for human beings (or a\ndecent guide to the pros and cons of existing domain registrars) would be very\nhelpful. If you end up starting a registrar, it may be easiest to do it as a\nreseller rather than ponying up the ICANN fees.\n\nHope these provide some inspiration.\n\nIf you want to talk via email, you can find me at james@incoherency.co.uk\n\n~~~\njaredsohn\n>Buying domains is really annoying.\n\nbadger.com provides a really nice experience (albeit only for\n.com/.org/.net/.info/.me). Get your first domain for only $5 if you use my\naffiliate code (<http://www.badger.com/fivebucks>).\n\n------\nmkjonesuk\nA quick web prototyping tool with no dependencies above what the browser can\nrun (JS/CSS/HTML).\n\nI'm stuck using HAML and Bootstrap to throw quick mock-ups together. It's\ngreat and works fine but I have to load a pre-processor app (like PrePros or\nKoala) and HAML can't include elements into templates like header like\nheaders/footers I have to copy/paste into every new template I'm putting\ntogether.\n\nI looked into Moustache and Hogan but neither of these offered what I'm after\nand they were pretty difficult to set up.\n\nI think the Mixture app will solve this when released but I've had issues\ngetting the beta to properly run and it looks pretty bulky for what I need.\n\n------\nturbojerry\nSociopaths in positions of power. While serial killers get most of the\nattention, socio-/psycho-paths in positions of power in societies cause huge\nproblems, wars, financial fraud leading to financial collapses etc etc. So the\ntask would be to identify them, quarantine them and then work out how to treat\nthem so they could be safely released back into society. If this is not done,\nthere is an extremely high possibility that one or more of them will be the\ncause of a human created extinction event such as global thermonuclear\nconflict.\n\n------\ntmoertel\nOne of the biggest problems in modern society is that most people are\nquantitatively illiterate and therefore poorly equipped to solve the problems\nof modern society.\n\n------\npiratebroadcast\nI'm in a web developer course and I really really need to get my Ruby in\ngood/great shape. It is my first programming language and I am not getting it\nas quickly as others in the class. I'm not hopeless, but I am not where I want\nto be.\n\n------\natgm\nI was looking at furniture the other day and it's really, really hard to\nvisualize where/how furniture will fit in a given room with just pictures\n(which can vary based on lens used) and dimensions.\n\n------\ngesman\n\\- Spam\n\n\\- Depression\n\n------\nReallynow\nAccess to clean water. Diarrhea.\n\n~~~\nturbojerry\nMichael Pritchard: How to make filthy water drinkable\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=5784565&whence=ite...](https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=5784565&whence=item%3fid%3d5782824)\n\n------\ndjb_hackernews\npublic works projects, gridlock traffic, effective urban planning.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShape Up: Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work That Matters - urs2102\nhttps://basecamp.com/shapeup\n======\naarondf\nWould love this as a PDF\n\n~~~\nwilliamstein\nOr any format at all that can be easily downloaded to my phone for offline\nreading.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nI Accidentally Invented Electronics in 1906 - razorburn\nhttp://gizmodo.com/5550365/i-accidentally-invented-electronics-in-1906\n\n======\nhartror\nI would have enjoyed a bit more explanation of how he came to the Audion than\n\"Without quite knowing what he was doing\".\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nJ.C.R. Licklider on the History of Personal Workstations (1986) [video] - dang\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN--t9jXQc0\n======\ndang\nThis is the only talk online by the visionary who conceived and funded the\nInternet. It's quite amazing, though it needs a bit of patience at first;\nstick with it. Licklider was everybody's genius absent-minded uncle, and this\nis your chance to join the family.\n\nHe covers a myriad of ideas about interactive computing, many of which are\nstill futuristic. He strongly defends 'open' software and talks about Moore's\nLaw under a different name. You get glimpses into how his mind works. He\nmentions dozens of different researchers and now-forgotten strands of work. He\ntells great stories, such as how he was walking in the dark, fell into an open\ngrave, had trouble getting out so sat down to think instead, and came up with\nthe idea of the personal workstation. The bits about analog computers are\nfascinating. There are cameos by Butler Lampson and others.\n\nLicklider was the sort of prophet whose vision usually remains unexecuted, but\nhe turned out to be a social genius too, with an unmatched eye for talent.\nSome spacetime wormhole landed him at DARPA with a budget in 1962 and he\nplayed his cards brilliantly. It's an if-only story that actually worked out.\nWe all owe this guy.\n\nIt's Saturday. Take some time and watch this—it's a rare window into the\nbackground of our world. Watch it all the way to the end and you'll get to\nhear Alan Perlis quip that the historical purpose of AT&T was Bell Labs.\n\nEdit: Forgot to mention that I found it via\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10989390](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10989390).\nThanks, whistlerbrk!\n\n~~~\nwhistlerbrk\n_tips hat_ my pleasure. I'll add that I've recently begun to read about the\nfascinating early history of computing myself through a series of HN threads\nwhich led me to read, \"Tools for Thought\" by Howard Rheingold. That book is\nhighly cited in another book mentioned here in the comments about Licklider,\n\"The Dream Machine\".\n\nI highly recommend Tools for Thought. It is very clear from reading these\nhistories that the early pioneers of the field knew with a very high degree of\naccuracy how the future of computing would play out over the coming decades.\nThat book is humbling to say the least.\n\n------\nxjay\nThe owner of this Youtube channel works at VPRI with Alan Kay. I believe he\nmentioned he got a bunch of these tapes from Alan, which he has then been\ndigitizing and uploading now and then.\n\nA number of these ACM talks were recently made available on Youtube by the\nComputer History Museum [1], with talks/reflections by Butler Lampson, Chuck\nTacker, Doug Engelbart, Larry Roberts, Gordon Bell, and many more.\n\n[1]\n[https://www.youtube.com/user/ComputerHistory/videos](https://www.youtube.com/user/ComputerHistory/videos)\n\n~~~\nmjn\nThe tape was from the collection of the Computer History Museum, inherited\nfrom the collection of their predecessor, the Computer History Museum in\nBoston. It had just never been digitized. There's a blog post on it here:\n[http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/the-1986-acm-\nconference...](http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/the-1986-acm-conference-\non-the-history-of-personal-workstations/)\n\n------\nbase698\nI just finished reading \"The Dream Machine\" and recommend it highly to anyone\nin the industry. It's got Licklider a the forefront.\n\n[http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Machine-Licklider-Revolution-\nCom...](http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Machine-Licklider-Revolution-\nComputing/dp/014200135X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=)\n\n~~~\nerikpukinskis\nThis should be on every programmer's \"Must Read\" list of computer history\nbooks. I would put this up there with \"Hackers\" in terms of the volume of\ncritical information about how basic questions of computer science were\nanswered.\n\n~~~\nvidarh\nI'd add on \"What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the\nPersonal Computer Industry\". The three together and the three gives very\nnicely complementary angles and additional stories.\n\n------\nbch\n\"Where Wizards Stay Up Late\"[0] is a fascinating account of the invention of\nthe internet (Licklider a major player). I found it to be _much_ more\ninteresting than I expected from the subject material. Highly recommended.\n\n[0] [http://www.amazon.com/Where-Wizards-Stay-Up-\nLate/dp/06848326...](http://www.amazon.com/Where-Wizards-Stay-Up-\nLate/dp/0684832674)\n\n~~~\nguiambros\nAnother good read is \"Machines of Loving Grace\" [1]. Much more focused on\nArtificial Intelligence (AI) vs. Intelligence Amplification (IA), but covers a\nlot of the work influenced by Engelbart and Licklider.\n\n[1] [http://smile.amazon.com/Machines-Loving-Grace-Common-\nBetween...](http://smile.amazon.com/Machines-Loving-Grace-Common-Between-\nebook/dp/B00OP06CRG)\n\n------\nmjn\nOh, very neat. I've read most of the papers in the proceedings of this\nconference, the 1986 ACM Conference on the History of Personal Workstations\n[1], which is full of great information. But while 10 of the 13 speakers wrote\nup their talks as papers for the proceedings, three didn't, and this was one\nof the missing ones (the other two were the talks from Alan Kay and Charles H.\nHouse). So it's great to now have the talk available.\n\n[1] Open access, click on the \"table of contents\" tab:\n[http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=12178&picked=prox](http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=12178&picked=prox)\n\n------\nwcarss\nWeird timing! Just this afternoon I finished cleaning up a transcript of an\nOral History interview with Licklider from 1988:\n\n[http://wcarss.ca/refs/aspray-licklider-\ninterview.html](http://wcarss.ca/refs/aspray-licklider-interview.html)\n\n~~~\ntheoh\nHey, I'm reading that and there's an apparent typo of \"oral\" which should be\n\"aural\": \"and I put together oral radar\"\n\nEdit: Also, some footnotes might be helpful.\n\nThere's a reference to problems with DC bias when all bits are the same; could\nbe good to put that in contemporary context of 8b/10b codes etc.\n\nThe following words seem to be a reference to Christopher Strachey:\n\"Licklider: Yes, probably the first person who wrote about it was a young\nBritisher. He mentioned the concept at a computer meeting in Paris, I think in\n1960 -- sponsored by UNESCO, maybe.\"\n\nSee\n[http://www.bobbemer.com/TIMESHAR.HTM](http://www.bobbemer.com/TIMESHAR.HTM)\n\n~~~\nwcarss\nAh thanks, I was wondering who that was! The interviewers just nod along when\nhe says it.\n\nGood idea on adding some footnotes like that. I'm trying to get a\npaper/interview/essay-reading group started (which is why I'm hosting the\npage) and some additional support material would likely be quite useful for\nfolks in reading it.\n\n------\nrasz_pl\nThis guy funded Douglas Engelbart (mother of all demos). Doug mentions him in\nthis interview:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1oNBImSX0M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1oNBImSX0M)\n\n------\ncorysama\nThe youtube poster's video collection is full of similar material.\n[https://www.youtube.com/user/yoshikiohshima/videos](https://www.youtube.com/user/yoshikiohshima/videos)\n\n------\nwalterbell\nA few mins from the end of the video, he said he wished they had picked\nanother name than \"workstation\". Then someone from the audience suggested a\ndifferent name, which Licklider said would probably sell better. Can anyone\nmake out that name?\n\n~~~\nbluejellybean\nP \"something\" stations, almost like \"pleasurestation\". Hard to make out.\n\n~~~\ndang\nYou might be right—it would explain why Licklider replies by joking that it\nwould sell better.\n\n------\ncarussell\nJeff Moser on Licklider:\n\n[http://www.moserware.com/2008/05/who-is-this-licklider-\nguy.h...](http://www.moserware.com/2008/05/who-is-this-licklider-guy.html)\n\n------\ndang\nIf you want more like I did, this interview with Licklider's son contains\nquite a bit of information:\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi4pVeyAhU0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi4pVeyAhU0)\n\nAnd this is only a minute long but has some great clips of Licklider and Larry\nRoberts. Anybody know what broadcast it came from?\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GfOTUoBpRw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GfOTUoBpRw)\n\n~~~\njcr\nI spotted something, but it doesn't seem to be related to the \"one minute\" vid\nyou linked to. None the less, it's fun; \"J.C.R. Licklider in One Minute\"\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMpfmDEC5JQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMpfmDEC5JQ)\n\nThe 1963 \"Intergalactic Computer Network\" paper is also fun reading.\n\n[http://worrydream.com/refs/Licklider-\nIntergalacticNetwork.pd...](http://worrydream.com/refs/Licklider-\nIntergalacticNetwork.pdf)\n\n------\nstevebmark\nStarts at 4:30, direct link: [https://youtu.be/SN--\nt9jXQc0?t=270](https://youtu.be/SN--t9jXQc0?t=270)\n\n------\nkev009\nThis was really good listening for a lazy Saturday. He pretty much outlays the\nroad to tablet PCs, massive LCD TVs, etc.\n\n------\nmwcampbell\nHe talked a lot about input and displays. I wonder what he would think of\ntoday's tablets and touchscreen laptops.\n\n~~~\ndang\nI was surprised by how early the work on touchscreens he mentions was. Was it\nthe 1950s, or am I misremembering?\n\nThe one I want most is the brain-computer interface he talks about. It's\ndisappointing that we haven't gotten further on that in 30 years.\n\n~~~\njcr\nWhen the \"touch screen\" was invented depends on how you define the term. For\n\"light pen\" based system, early/mid 1950's. For capacitive systems, it's the\nmid/late 1960's.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_pen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_pen)\n\n>\" _The first light pen was created around 1955 as part of the Whirlwind\n>project at MIT.[2][3]_\"\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchscreen#History](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchscreen#History)\n\n>\" _E.A. Johnson described his work on capacitive touchscreens in a short\narticle published in 1965[6] and then more fully with photographs and diagrams\nin an article published in 1967.[7]_ \"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMicrosoft announces new Windows 10 Start menu design and updated Alt-Tab - Tomte\nhttps://www.theverge.com/2020/7/1/21310597/microsoft-windows-10-start-menu-design-new-alt-tab-features\n======\nPaulKeeble\nThe messing around with stuff that adds no value or makes things worse\ncontinues. The new alt tab behaviour for edge sounds quite awful, what is\nwrong with ctrl + tab for this purpose exactly?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAnt engineering captured in slow motion detail - zck\nhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22604193\n\n======\narh68\nThe original paper (and movies!) are available at\n<http://crablab.gatech.edu/pages/publications/index.htm>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: know an industry well? - haliax\n\nI'm looking for startup ideas, and feel like there's a nice market to be had in many of the industries that aren't consumer facing or household names - and hence get less attention from the tech community. Does anyone on HN know a specific industry - and its technical/technically solvable bellyaches? I'd be interested to hear about it / collaborate.\n======\nrun4yourlives\nInsurance, Insurance, Insurance.\n\nSpecifically Health and P&C lines. Although Health Insurance is starting to\nsee some innovation in the US.\n\nReasons:\n\n1\\. Perceived high barrier to entry, yet that isn't the case. 2\\. Major\nplayers are tech dinosaurs at best. 3\\. Small brokers (potential customers)\ndominate the landscape. 4\\. Legislation keeps markets small because there is\nlittle in common from one area to the next - everything is niche. 5\\. SV\nthinks it's boring, so you don't need to be the second coming of Steve Jobs to\nbe very successful.\n\n~~~\nhaliax\nWould you be up for an email/AIM chat about this?\n\n~~~\nrun4yourlives\nSure, my username at gmail.\n\nBe warned I'm in Canada though, so my knowledge about the US market is\nlimited, and the two countries are very different in the health insurance\nsector, as you can imagine.\n\n------\npaulhart\nI asked a question recently in relation to an industry I know well:\n\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1396541>\n\nI'm specifically looking at providing a video-based training service for a\nvery-well-known vendor's product that many companies in this sector use. Not\nreally a technical challenge, more a knowledge transfer challenge.\n\n~~~\nhaliax\nDo you think that tech training is a decent market in general, or just for\nthis one industry?\n\n~~~\npaulhart\nI think you're most likely to succeed if you can provide a quality service in\na constrained market.\n\nIn my specific case, the choices available are to either go to the vendor and\npay more than 100k to get all the training for 10-15 people simultaneously, or\nto find someone who's been through it already and mind-meld. I've found one\nother group who is doing something similar to what I'm thinking, but their\noffering is laughable (machine voiceover!).\n\nI believe I could easily charge 1k-2k per month for site licenses of well\nconstructed materials. Maybe quite a bit more, especially if I offer custom\nmaterials for clients. The foundation would be shared across all though.\n\n------\nrdl\nDefense contracting (communications, deployed software systems).\n\nMedical software (PACS/RIS in radiology primarily; some automated lab and\npharmacy experience, medical paging. Limited EHR/EMR experience).\n\nFirearms (retail, wholesale, and manufacturing of small arms)\n\n(plus crypto/security and some datacenter/cloud/etc. stuff, but that's better\ncovered by existing startups)\n\n------\nzmmz\nIndustry: IT side of stock exchanges. Quite a space to explore as it is one of\nthe last parts of the sector that is not widely covered by conventional\nfinancial media (FT etc.) and has no commonly used resources on the web.\nBarriers: End users (traders) usually have no say in the choice of\nplatform/software, extremely secretive industry, most solutions are tailored.\n\n------\ntirrellp\nI know a specific industry, and I have a deep understanding of the current\ntechnlology as well as better solutions: Petroleum controls and automation.\nRipe for the picking.\n\nUnfortunately, like most 'enterprisey' industries, the long sales cycle will\neat you alive if you are not well funded.\n\n~~~\nHeyLaughingBoy\nAre you talking on the production side (refineries) or consumption (fuel\ndispensing)? I used to sell a product that was on fuel trucks and have always\nwondered what else I could do with it.\n\n~~~\ntirrellp\nI am talking about the downstream side of production as far as mass metering\nand additizing. Specifically, where the fuel goes after it has been refined\nand traveled through the pipeline to the place where the tanker trucks take it\nto your local gas station. That also includes massive movements by rail and\nbarge.\n\n------\nmschaecher\nRead Clayton Christensen\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBrowser Permissions on Android: What No One Is Talking About - CyberSkys\nhttps://snapsearch.online/general/browser-permissions-on-android/\n======\nfoepys\nWhy do I need to enable JavaScript to read this text post? What exactly does\nJavaScript do here except unhide the content? Especially when this post talks\nabout privacy and safety.\n\n~~~\nzzo38computer\nLike I often see, it is readable if you disable CSS too.\n\n------\nest31\nThere is a point that the browser apps take a large number of permissions, but\ncompared to apps, websites take much less of your data. That's one of the\nreasons why so many websites like reddit push you to use the app on mobile.\n\n~~~\ndoc_gunthrop\n> That's one of the reasons why so many websites like reddit push you to use\n> the app on mobile.\n\nThe Yelp website is one of the biggest offenders in this regard. If you're not\nviewing it in desktop mode then be prepared to get redirected to the Play\nstore any time you tap on any link.\n\n~~~\nRed_Leaves_Flyy\nI treat yelp and Pinterest links like links on [insert sketchy site].\n\n------\n_bxg1\nWhen Android apps can freely draw over other apps without warning, privacy\npermissions feel almost like security-theater.\n\n------\niwasakabukiman\nSince the original post seems confused about why a browser would ask for\ncontacts:\n\nA legitimate reason could be so that they can easily autofill forms for you.\n\n~~~\nl0b0\nWhat, for when I report my friends to the police? Seriously though, the\nassumption that I would be one of my own contacts is weird.\n\n------\ngcbw3\nandroid have means to let browser/apps download and save files locally in\nSD/Download without the Storage permission. Chrome decides not to use it,\nbecause reasons.\n\n~~~\nCyberSkys\nYes, that's exactly the point - it's not required to ask for permissions -\nthey still want to.\n\n------\njamal_sayo\nthis is definitely something to think about thank you\n\n------\njj1sam\nits not a surprise that chrome is one of them..\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nGoogle should allow for the sharing of email filters. - vishaldpatel\n\nJust a thought.. for all you gmail employees reading hacker news =). A lot of problems can be solved for my friends if I could somehow share my e-mail filters with them =).\n======\nkoeselitz\nBut Gmail already _does_ allow sharing of email filters. It's something they\nadded recently, I think - it's still in the Google Labs tab. It's called\n\"Filter Import/Export.\"\n\n(Edit: that's the cool thing about Gmail, really - if you can think of a\nfeature, they probably already thought of it, too.)\n\nEdit #2: looks like it exports filters in XML, which is nice. Here's a pretty\ngood overview of the feature:\n\n[http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2009/03/export-gmail-\nfilter...](http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2009/03/export-gmail-filters.html)\n\n~~~\nvishaldpatel\nMany thanks =)\n\n------\nforkrulassail\nYes, that would indeed be awesome.\n\nI have about 17 emails coming into my gmail account. And have extensive\nfiltering, prioritization going.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nError in RSS produced by Hacker news - ivan\n\nslash which should be placed after .com in item link address is placed after 'item'\n======\na-priori\nI just noticed this. The feed is generating links like this:\n<http://news.ycombinator.comitem/?id=100946>\n\n... when they should read this: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=100946>\n\n~~~\nquimax\nYeah, you are right, you can solve it in the address bar, but I guess to check\nfor the typo makes more sense ,-) PG ? Anybody there?\n\n~~~\npg\nI'll fix it. Edit: fixed; sorry.\n\n~~~\nquimax\nThanks\n\n------\nchristefano\npg, could you please change the MIME type of the feed to application/rss+xml\n(it's currently text/html)? Some by-the-book aggregators won't read this feed\nproperly.\n\n[http://feedvalidator.org/docs/warning/UnexpectedContentType....](http://feedvalidator.org/docs/warning/UnexpectedContentType.html)\n\nThanks.\n\n------\nandreyf\nlol! Not many people using the RSS, I gather?\n\n~~~\nwlievens\nI use it. Only issue I ever had was that a few weeks ago, all items'\ndescriptions showed up as Undefined or something. But that's fixed now.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGene patents probably dead worldwide following Australian court decision - cedricr\nhttp://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/10/gene-patents-probably-dead-worldwide-following-australian-court-decision/\n======\nihodes\nAn odd title; this patent was already struck down by the Supreme Court of the\nUSA in 2013[0]. Now it's no longer valid in Australia. The cost of tests for\nBRCA1/2 mutations is dropping dramatically; were the medical apparatus of the\nUSA not so drastically broken, the cost to consumers of this test would today\ncost the consumer around $50 US. This is thanks largely to the ACLU and some\ngeneticists in NYC, including Harry Ostrer.\n\n[0]:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myriad_Genetics#Association_fo...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myriad_Genetics#Association_for_Molecular_Pathology_v._Myriad_Genetics)\n\n~~~\nmatt_heimer\nDoes anyone know how the medical test at the heart of this legal issue\ncompares to something like the raw data from 23andme? 23andme v4 gives you 25\nSNPs for BRCA1 and BRCA2.\n\n~~~\nihodes\nA comprehensive test looking at the BRCAs may deeply sequence sequence the\nentire gene(s); spanning around 150 thousand base pairs. You'd not only want\nto look for SNPs, but novel SNVs, and various structural variants (SVs) and\ncopy-number variants (CNVs). I don't know the most common class of mutations\nfor BRCA1 and 2, so it may be the case that a smaller, cheaper panel could be\nnearly as effective as well.\n\n------\nmirimir\nNow, if we can just agree that natural products and traditional cures can't be\npatented. India has been fighting hard for that.\n\n~~~\nekianjo\nIf we could kill patents altogether that would be a much nicer step. Patents\nare an invention from another Era and make absolutely no sense nowadays, and\nwe see them constantly abused to make our lives worse in the end.\n\n~~~\ndoki_pen\nNot true. Patents increase the incentive for people to do hard research and\ndevelopment. Whether or not that increased incentive is necessary is\ndebatable.\n\n~~~\nPeaker\nThey also decrease the incentive for people to do research and development\n(e.g: as derivative works from existing inventions).\n\nWhich effect is stronger? It is very plausible that overall, the decrease is\nfar stronger than the increase, as the vast majority of inventions are\nderivative.\n\n------\nicanhackit\nLooking at some of the for and against arguments regarding patents, let's play\na mental game: would new, valuable things still be created if the patent\nsystem didn't exist?\n\nI think yes. The creator wouldn't necessarily benefit directly, but in a way\nwe all indirectly benefit from new technology and ideas. Much the same as it\nwould be better for the poor to have free or affordable essential health care,\nour society would have more able-bodied and able-minded people to work or even\nconduct themselves in a way that didn't transmit their illness, whether\nphysically or through dependance.\n\nBy leaving the weak weakened, we indirectly transmit that ailment to others by\nphysical and economic forces. You're only as strong as your weakest point.\n\n~~~\nrayiner\nThe question is: what kind of valuable things would still be produced? You'll\nstill get iPhones, but will you get ARM cores or Snapdragon chipsets or LTE or\nMPEG4 or pills that cure Hep-C?\n\nThe bigger picture is that almost all hard R&D takes place under the umbrella\nof _some sort_ of protection from copying. Intel spends billions a year on\nsemiconductor R&D, and protects it with trade secrets. Pharma companies spend\nbillions on drug R&D and protect them with patents. Even internet companies\nlike Google and Facebook depend on being able to hide a lot of their \"secret\nsauce\" (either algorithms or compilations of user information) on the server-\nside where it can't be easily copied.\n\nHard R&D that isn't protected from copying is usually subsidized. The core\ninternet protocols were subsidized by the Government. Advances in core browser\nprotocols are subsidized by Internet companies that rely heavily on ad\nrevenue. Going back further in history, Bell Labs was subsidized by AT&T's\ntelephone monopoly and PARC was subsidized by Xerox's copier monopoly. That\nmodel can work too, but has its own problems.\n\n~~~\nicanhackit\nYou make some compelling points but I'm still not convinced that this form of\nprotectionism is the only avenue to innovation. The strength of a company is\noften in its organization, processes, location, and systems which are\ndifficult to copy in a cohesive way without being gifted with similar\ncircumstances. Why can't a company's strength and success in the marketplace\nbe defined by these characteristics as opposed to legislative shields? Winner-\ntakes-all systems often shape organizational behavior to be more defensive\nthan creative.\n\n~~~\nkbenson\nLet's not reduce this argument to innovation for _companies_. Individuals\ninnovate and patent as well.\n\nThere is a tendency to focus purely on the negative effects of a system that\nseems to be failing it's purpose. It's important to understand the system as a\nwhole, and it's history. Has the patent system ever functioned for the purpose\nit was designed for? If it isn't functioning correctly now, is that in part or\nin whole? Is it not functioning because it has been changed, because the world\nhas changed, or both.\n\nFinally, is there a way to alter the system, whether that be to curtail it,\nexpand it, or just change how it operates, that might yield a better\nfunctioning system?\n\nPersonally, I'm not for abolishing patents. They had a very clearly defined\npurpose (innovation encouragement) when they were first created. I think\nthey've been mostly perverted into another purpose (wealth protection), more-\nso in some industries than others. They've been expanded from court rulings to\ncover things which were not originally thought patentable. What we need here\nis a well reasoned legislative overhaul. What we'll get if we're extremely\nlucky is a hole-ridden clusterfuck of revisions, but if we're lucky, it will\nsomewhat address the current problems. The new problems will be something we\ndiscover and address tomorrow.\n\n~~~\nJoeAltmaier\nI don't think you can disentangle those two purposes. Innovation is encouraged\nprecisely because you can profit from your invention.\n\nI believe the cost and delay of patent litigation is the real problem. It's\nimportant to identify the critical issue before effective change can happen.\n\n~~~\nkbenson\nMy point was when wealth protection is a tool to bolster innovation, then the\nincentives are aligned correctly. When people, or more importantly\nlegislators, forget that and think the _purpose_ of patents is to reward for\ninnovation, we get some perverse incentives. In a perfect world, protection\nwould be inversely proportional to the amount of innovation the sector is\nexperiencing, and would also be scaled to the amount the innovation helps. But\nthose are both hard to measure realistically.\n\n------\nmcv\nDid Myriad really claim to own the gene itself as their invention? If so,\nthere are a lot of people who'd probably like to sue them for infecting them\nwith that invention.\n\nIt seems to me that all Myriad could possibly patent, is a unique detection\nmethod for that gene. But that wouldn't stop anyone from using a different\ndetection method.\n\nBut what interests me more about this case is that the article expects an\nAustralian court decision to be taken as global jurisprudence. What's the\nlogic behind that? And is that really where we're headed?\n\n~~~\ndbbolton\nSCOTUS struck down patents on naturally occurring gene sequences themselves\nand decided that the \"mere isolation\" thereof cannot be patented:\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ass%27n_for_Molecular_Patholog...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ass%27n_for_Molecular_Pathology_v._Myriad_Genetics,_Inc.#Decision_of_the_Supreme_Court)\n\nHowever, \"artificial\" sequences can be. I'm not aware of any test cases that\nestablish boundaries on the difference though. It would be logical to assume\nyou'd have to alter the nucleotide sequence to the extent that the resulting\npeptide or protein is not naturally occurring (e.g. changing a TTT codon to\nTTC wouldn't suffice, since both will ultimately be translated into\nphenylalanine).\n\nContrary to this reasoning, complementary DNA _is_ patentable in the US on the\ngrounds that it's \"not naturally occurring\". So, if you take the mRNA\ncorresponding to an un-patentable DNA sequence and mix it with a few enzymes\nand nucleotides that react in a deterministic fashion, you can then patent the\nsequence of the final product:\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complementary_DNA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complementary_DNA)\n\nIn a gross oversimplification, it's almost as if the court said: \"you can't\npatent natural English words, but you can patent the ROT13 versions of them\".\n\nBut regarding methods, the majority opinion clearly said they're fair game\n(just as you can't patent gold, but you could patent a novel approach to\nmining or extracting it) and there are several valid examples in the US today:\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_patents_in_the_Unit...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_patents_in_the_United_States#Gene_patents)\n\n------\nguard-of-terra\nIt is very reassuring that after 20 years of software patent debates courts\ndecided to not start this over with genes.\n\n------\nhliyan\nIt's good to see a rational decision with regards to science coming out of\nAustralia. Aussies have been getting too much bad rap due to the Abbot\ngovernment.\n\n~~~\neru\nWe just tossed Abbott. Let's see if that helps.\n\n~~~\nshoo\nHe wasn't tossed, his party threw him out. We still have to wear the shame of\ncollectively permitting those bastards to be voted in to federal government.\nThey're still there.\n\n~~~\ncaf\nHis party gave him the arse because polling showed he was seriously on the\nnose with the electorate and had been so since shortly after his election.\n\n------\namelius\nDoes this mean that Monsanto's patents are also invalid?\n\n~~~\ntectec\nI would think that Monsanto's patents are quite different. They use plant\nbreeding to _create_ new varieties. These patents of Myriad Genetics are just\nusing DNA sequencing to find existing genes.\n\n~~~\nvesinisa\nI agree with your view that Monsanto is unlikely affected, but the article is\nquite misleadingly named. With \"gene patent\" I immediately think of Monsanto.\nBut this ruling seems to only affect those who claim exclusive right to\n_discovering_ properties of existing genes - not those who _create_ organisms\nwith unique genetic properties, like Monsanto.\n\n------\nDomreiRoam\nI think this press [1] release of the institut curie gives a lot of\ninformation. other press release can be find here [2].\n\n[1] [http://www.institut-curie.org/sites/default/files/myriad-\ngen...](http://www.institut-curie.org/sites/default/files/myriad-genetics-\npredisposition-breastt-cance.pdf) [2] [http://www.institut-curie.org/press-\nrelease/by-type/377](http://www.institut-curie.org/press-release/by-type/377)\n\n~~~\npjc50\nThat's dated 2008?\n\n~~~\nDomreiRoam\nYes but at this time the institut who is specialized in cancer had done lots\nof research and was very against the privatization of the public research and\nthat the researcher couldn't research further because of this patent.\n\nThe Curie institut reacted to the patent as a research institution, here we\nhave the impact on a practical health issue.\n\n------\nstillsut\nPatents are a trade: you get an 18 year monopoly for public disclosure of how\nyour innovation works.\n\nIn societies that lack patent protection, much innovation becomes a trade\nsecret guarded against public use for generations, think China and the silk\ntrade.\n\nBy removing patents, you remove the incentive to make public how your medicine\nworks. That, actually sounds scarier to me than temporary price mark ups.\n\n------\npersonjerry\nAlthough we might be clear on what we perceive to be the right ruling, it is\nnot always so simple. For example, what if we claimed in software that any\nsoftware program, given that it is merely a series of bits, is therefore\nmerely a number, and thus a \"product of mathematics\" not produced by man?\n\n~~~\nlifeisstillgood\nCopyright is far and away the best IP category for software - I strongly argue\nit is a form of literacy anyway.\n\nAnd I am not convinced there is any mathematics outside the mind of humans -\nit's an odd one, but is not maths a model of the world rather than the world\nitself?\n\n~~~\nthaumasiotes\n> is not maths a model of the world rather than the world itself?\n\nThis isn't right. It sounds like a very \"the unreasonable effectiveness of\nmathematics\" view of things.\n\nAny model of anything is math. The world is bound by the math, not the other\nway around.\n\n------\nGatsky\nI think the fears that this will stifle innovation are greatly exaggerated. In\nfact, this patent was stifling innovation. Because of the expense, we have\ntested far fewer patients than we could have for BRCA1/2 mutations, and there\nthus remain many mutations of unknown significance that can only be resolved\nwith more detailed clinical annotation from testing many more people. It's a\nclassic case of a patent hampering the usefulness of an invention, so that\nsomeone can make money.\n\nMyriad really were relentless opportunists with very well fed lawyers. The\nidea of a patent on a gene is completely nonsensical to anybody working in\ngenomics these days. I can pay $1000 and sequence all 3 billion base pairs of\nmy DNA. Using open source software and publicly available databases funded by\ngovernments and charities I can analyse my own DNA. What role does a gene\npatent have in any of this? What if I discover that I have an unreported\nvariant in the patented gene? Can I now patent my own version of the gene, and\ncharge my offspring a license fee for reproducing this gene each time one of\ntheir cells divide? Do they pay extra if they are homozygous?\n\nSoul-destroying patent disputes have become a feature of the life sciences, it\ndrives me mad. The story is always the same. A scientist performing research\nin a seemingly unimpressive field discovers something interesting. They\ngenerously publish their rough results because that's how science works. Then\nsomeone else comes along and refines it a bit before slapping a patent on it,\nbecause nobody else has yet. 20 years of legal battles ensue. Companies are\nstill fighting over the PCR patents for example, even AFTER the patents have\nexpired [1]. Now it looks like the same crap is going to transpire with\nCRISPR. The funny thing about these cases is that most of the research and\ninnovation happens at the beginning, before the patents are even in operation,\nagain questioning the notion that patents foster innovation.\n\nAs has been pointed out many times before, it is rare for a biotech/life\nsciences company to generate the kind of profit that permits them to do blue\nsky research. Most of that happens from government funded work. Big pharma\ndoesn't really count, it costs them too much to develop each drug. They\ncertainly don't have anything akin to Bell Labs, Xerox PARC or Google X.\n\nAnyway, Myriad actually doesn't have any products any more. All the extremely\nsimple tests they do can be run by anyone. They offer a whole lot of\n'services' like genetic counselling and patient education, but that's all to\ncreate a veneer of legitimacy and hide the fact they are patent trolls. I feel\nsorry for their scientists trying to do research in this environment.\n\n[1]\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymerase_chain_reaction#Paten...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymerase_chain_reaction#Patent_disputes)\n\n------\ndaveloyall\nI first read \"gene _patients_ probably dead\".\n\n------\nonewaystreet\n> This is a result that will have major practical consequences, and is likely\n> to save thousands of lives.\n\nNo, companies will stop doing research now.\n\n~~~\nkybernetyk\n>No, companies will stop doing research now.\n\nThat's what I'm worried about, too.\n\nFor example C60 [1] is a curious molecule that can't be patented anymore. In a\nrat study it showed to prolong the rats' lives by over 90% [2] by protecting\nthe rats from cancer.\n\nSadly there won't be any human study anytime soon (if at all) because it's\njust not financially viable without the possibility of patenting the stuff and\nextracting fantasy prices for it.\n\n[1]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminsterfullerene](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminsterfullerene)\n\n[2] [http://www.kurzweilai.net/fullerene-c60-administration-\ndoubl...](http://www.kurzweilai.net/fullerene-c60-administration-doubles-rat-\nlifespan-with-no-toxicity)\n\n~~~\nflipp3r\nYou should read the comment section of the second link. The badly done\nresearch was done by someone whose business is selling snake oil with c60 in\nit.\n\n~~~\nkybernetyk\nHmm, interesting.\n\nHas anyone here access to the referenced paper [1] and can confirm that\n\"Anthony Loera\" worked on it?\n\n[1]\n[http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S014296121200323...](http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0142961212003237?via=sd)\n\nRef.: Baati T, et al., The prolongation of the lifespan of rats by repeated\noral administration of [60]fullerene, Biomaterials (2012),\ndoi:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2012.03.036\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBusiness Can Pay to Train Its Own Work Force - petethomas\nhttp://chronicle.com/article/Business-Can-Pay-to-Train-Its/231015/\n======\nlearc83\nThe worst class I had in college was Software Engineering. It was the\nuniversity's attempt to prepare us for the work force, and it was taught by an\nadjunct who had plenty of industry experience, but it was already a 10 years\nout of date.\n\nIndustry processes are mostly fads that change with wind. CS fundamentals\nhowever, are much more stable. 20 years from now knowledge of automta, graph\ntheory, and complexity analysis will still have immense value--a scrum master\ncertification won't.\n\n~~~\nkartickvad\nI think it's a fallacy to assume that anything not based in CS fundamentals is\na fad or has only short-term value.\n\nIn college, I didn't learn version control, continuous integration\n(continuously submitting your work in small changelists or patches), unit\ntesting, making sure you're building the right product before building it,\ndelivering the simplest possible code and design that meets the requirements,\ncode quality, working in teams, untangling dependencies and making as much\nprogress as possible today without waiting for all your dependencies to be\nresolved, and so on.\n\nI expect that all these skills will be very much relevant 20 years from now.\nSo, don't confuse long-term value with \"grounded in CS fundamentals\".\nProgramming isn't a hard science like physics.\n\n~~~\nlearc83\n>I think it's a fallacy to assume that anything not based in CS fundamentals\nis a fad or has only short-term value.\n\nI didn't say that. I said most industry processes are fads. I also didn't say\nthat nothing that isn't grounded in CS fundamentals has long term value.\n\nThere are plenty of other skills that have long term value. Office politics,\nsalary negotiation, self-promotion are much more valuable than knowing how to\nrun a few git commands. But non of those things should be taught in a Computer\nScience program.\n\nThey are fundamentally vocational skills. Just like version control, unit\ntesting, and continuous integration are vocational skills. Sure they're useful\nbut they should be taught in an internship/apprenticeship or on the job.\n\n>In college, I didn't learn version control...\n\nI learned to use subversion, and other than the fact that they are are both\nversion control systems, what I learned didn't really carry over to\ndistributed version control like Git.\n\nIn a CS program you should be learning things like how to implement a version\ncontrol system, not how to use Git. I would have been pissed paying thousands\nof dollars per semester for a professor to walk me through a Git tutorial.\n\nI don't have a problem if a professor wants you to use github to submit your\nassignments or something like that. And sure some of the vocational skills you\nlisted are going to be useful for years to come. But these skills should be\nancillary. They should be just a happy side effect--like learning teamwork\nduring a group project.\n\n~~~\nkartickvad\nI'm a practician, not a theorist or an academic. I couldn't care less whether\nsomething is based in CS theory. I care whether something will be useful to me\nover the course of my career. If it is, I'd like my education to train me for\nthat.\n\nIn fact, some of the academic stuff like compilers and automata have been\nuseless in real life. That's a failing of academia from my point of view.\n\n~~~\nlearc83\nThat's perfectly fine. What you're looking for is vocational training, not a\nliberal college education. Non professional college programs are explicitly\nnot vocational training. If they were, they wouldn't require spending nearly\nhalf your time on general education requirements (assuming we're talking about\nthe US here). I doubt art history, physics, or psychology has proven much\ndirect use to you in your career.\n\n>In fact, some of the academic stuff like compilers and automata have been\nuseless in real life. That's a failing of academia from my point of view.\n\nFinite state machines and pushdown automata are an incredibly common pattern,\nand I can't see how you can work as a professional software developer without\nrunning into that pattern time and again. Have you never used regular\nexpressions?\n\nAutomata (usually taught along with theory of computation) teaches you all\nkinds of useful real world knowledge, like why you can't parse HTML with\nregular expressions, and why you can't write a program to tell if another\nprogram will eventually halt.\n\n~~~\nkartickvad\nMy idea of education is one that teaches you skills that are broadly used\nthroughout your career. I don't a priori reject things that meet this criteria\njust because it's not based in theory (because theory is not an end to\nitself), or by applying arbitrary labels like \"vocational\" (whatever that\nmeans), \"liberal\" or \"professional\".\n\nAs for art history and psychology, that's a different debate to be had about\neducation — whether these should be part of education and how much time they\nshould take.\n\nAs for your question, I've used regexes, but you don't need to understand the\ndetails of the regex engine in order to use them. Neither do I, in my day-to-\nday work, write programs that try to tell if other programs halt.\n\n~~~\nlearc83\n>but you don't need to understand the details of the regex engine in order to\nuse them.\n\nYes, at some point you do. Without understanding how regular expressions\nactually work, you can't know when it is appropriate to use them. Many things\naren't possible with regular expressions and many grammars aren't parsable\nwith regular expressions. You can either waste time trying to write an\nimpossible regex (or write one that works on your tests, but blows up in the\nwild) or you can study automata theory and understand what actually goes on\nunderneath.\n\nAs for the halting problem, I'll leave you this stack overflow explanation for\nwhy it is beneficial to understand.\n\n[http://cs.stackexchange.com/a/32853](http://cs.stackexchange.com/a/32853)\n\nMany problems in CS have already been solved, some are impossible to solve.\nYou can either waste time on trial and error trying to reinvent the wheel or\nyou can study the theoretical underpinnings.\n\nDo you want to spend a week trying to model a problem as a finite state\nmachine, only to determine that finite state machine isn't powerful enough to\nsolve your problem?\n\nDo you want to spend a month banging your head against a wall trying to solve\na problem that you could have solved in 5 minutes had you realized it was just\na well known graph theory problem all along? A problem that was solved decades\nago. The only way to know these things is to study the theory behind what you\ndo.\n\nWhy do you think Civil Engineers are required to take physics? The difference\nbetween an Engineer and an artisan is a rigorous understanding of the formal\nsystem underpinning his work. Artisans build through trial and error and\nexperiences, and they leave many failed projects in their wake while they gain\nthis experience. Engineers use theory and modeling to limit the number of\nfailed projects to the net benefit of everyone involved.\n\n------\nyummyfajitas\nFor the most part, bonding agreements (\"you can't leave for X years without\nrepaying us for your training\") are considered exploitative and usually not\nlegally enforceable.\n\nAs a result, a business can't pay to train it's own work force - if a business\ninvests $20k in training and $80k in salary, there is nothing stopping another\nemployer from offering $90k in salary after training is complete.\n\nIf an investment can't be protected it's pointless to make it. Having\nemployees pay for (and be compensated for) their own training is the most\nreasonable workaround.\n\n~~~\nmrbabbage\n[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_handcuffs](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_handcuffs)\n\nHow would training followed by a bonding period be considered differently than\nother mechanisms inducing employees to stay? Could these other mechanisms also\nbe legally questionable?\n\nE.g. some San Francisco Bay Area technology companies offer large (~$20k)\nsigning bonuses to new uni graduate hires that the employee must return if she\nleaves within her first year at the company. Similarly, companies offer five-\nyear equity packages that deliver no equity until the twelfth month.\n\n~~~\n__z\nYeah, I heard about companies who pay for college - as long as you stay one\nyear after your last class. If not you have to pay them back. Actually, just\npay back just the tuition you spent in the last year.\n\n~~~\nmariodiana\nSeeing as Army ROTC will want 4 years, it sounds like a great deal.\n\n~~~\n__z\nIf you take classes for 4 years then you'll have to stay 5 to get your\neducation fully paid off. If you took 4 years of classes and worked for 4\nyears then you'd owe them 1 year tuition (the previous year)\n\nThat being said, this deal was to further your education for your job. So you\ncouldn't get your masters in finance unless you worked in finance. A software\ndeveloper couldn't get their finance degree paid for.\n\nThis was for a company my friend worked for.\n\n------\nzrail\nThe whole for-profit code school thing has been giving me the creeps since I\nstarted hearing about it years ago, precisely because it's the potential\nemployees paying for hyper-specific training. I wonder if there would be fewer\noutcries about a talent shortage if companies were somehow incentivized to\nhire these more junior people with the explicit goal of training them up to a\nproductive level.\n\n~~~\nlinkregister\nMy opinion is divided about the \"pay-to-play\" model of workers paying for\ntheir own training. On one hand, they assume all the risk and financial\nhardship of training. On the other hand, compared to other developed economies\n(British, Australian), they have more opportunities to change careers because\nthe risk of training has already been assumed by the worker. I've found that\nAmerican hiring is far more flexible than the Commonwealth tradition of\njockeying for an apprenticeship. And older workers have far less opportunity\nfor apprenticeships.\n\nIt's hard to defend the code schools though. There are a high amount of horror\nstories we hear about them on HN, from both the students' and hiring managers'\nperspectives.\n\n~~~\nmseebach\n> There are a high amount of horror stories we hear about them on HN, from\n> both the students' and hiring managers' perspectives.\n\nCan you link to them? I'm trying to do due diligence on some of them, but\nhaven't been able to find much at all of substance. I'm specifically\ninterested in Maker's Academy in London.\n\n~~~\nlinkregister\nJust going from what I remembered reading, here are the ones that stood out\nthe most. Comments vary from supporters to detractors.\n\nAsk HN threads I found interesting:\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8844848](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8844848)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7147664](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7147664)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9616691](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9616691)\n\nThe one I really wanted to find, which accompanied an article about some\nstudents who felt scammed by their bootcamp, is eluding me right now. It was\nan interesting article about how the students were required to post misleading\nstories on social media that made the school look better than it was.\n\nEdit: I found out why it was hard to find; it was taken down. Here's the link\nto the comments.\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9492381](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9492381)\n\n------\nwalterbell\nThe Uber robotics talent raid of CMU took piratization to a logical extreme,\n[http://www.theverge.com/transportation/2015/5/19/8622831/ube...](http://www.theverge.com/transportation/2015/5/19/8622831/uber-\nself-driving-cars-carnegie-mellon-poached)\n\n _\" They took all the guys that were working on vehicle autonomy — basically\nwhole groups, whole teams of developers, commercialization specialists, all\nthe guys that find grants and who were bringing the intellectual property,\"\nrecalls a person who was there during the departures\" ... Uber snatched up\nabout 50 people from Carnegie Mellon, including many from its highest ranks.\n\n... the deal includes a \"transition period\" that keeps some of the departed\nstaffers around ... \"The work of these employees is very incestuous and\nloose,\" says the same NREC insider. \"They are given free rein of the\nfacilities as part-time CMU employees, but there are absolutely no checks on\nthe work that they are doing or what [intellectual property] they are taking.\nIs it for CMU? Is it for Uber? None of us here know.\"_\n\nEdit: could CMU have gotten better IP licensing terms and ROI for the\nUniversity, if they had spun out the entire team (with private financing) and\nhad an open auction of RoboticsResearchCo to the many companies investing in\nthis field?\n\n~~~\ncgearhart\nI think this is a better example of dysfunction in academia than\nretaining/training a workforce. In particular, previous articles suggest that\nmost folks saw their salaries _doubled_ , with six-figure incentive checks to\nlure them away. From what I hear, it's not so much that the new salary is\nunusually high for industry researchers and engineers, but that the old\nsalaries were unusually low (except in academia).\n\nCMU could probably have gotten better return if they hadn't made it a point to\nunderpay them so much compared to their market value.\n\n~~~\nwalterbell\nHistorically, university researchers doing fundamental research with mass-\nmarket industrial applications have been spun out into a company, so that both\nthe university and the researchers have an upside opportunity for founding\nequity stakes.\n\nA signing bonus or normalized salary is in an entirely different (smaller)\nclass of compensation, especially since there was already an international\ntrack record of investment into the commercialization of self-driving\nvehicles.\n\n------\nnateabele\n> _The trick is to relabel it as education, then complain that your\n> prospective employees aren’t getting the right kind._\n\nWell, I guess if already-educated workers are the norm in your industry,\ncompanies are going to change their hiring practices accordingly. It's okay\nnot to like it, but arguing against it on the basis that 'it didn't used to be\nlike this' just makes you look entitled and whiny.\n\n> _Bemoaning the unpreparedness of undergraduates isn’t new. Today, however,\n> those complaints are getting a more sympathetic hearing from the policy\n> makers who govern public higher education._\n\nYeah, well, when policy makers are responsible for all the cheap money flowing\ninto the system (without which the system would probably collapse at this\npoint), I guess that'll happen.\n\n~~~\ncgearhart\n> _...if already-educated workers are the norm..._\n\nThat's the point -- there's a difference between education and training. It is\nonly an issue because so much of the education looks very similar to the\ndesired training.\n\nIt is _not_ the purpose of an education to produce new employees, but to\nprovide a broad basis for experiencing and making sense of the world. It just\nso happens that you also learn transferrable skills like a basic familiarity\nwith a particular field, along with some tools and techniques that help you\norganize and solve problems. A proper education is not an extended code\nbootcamp, nor should it be.\n\n~~~\nnateabele\n> _That 's the point -- there's a difference between education and training._\n\nExcellent point. Two problems:\n\n(1) Over the past ~2.5 generations, the narrative about education has been\ninformed by the conventional wisdom of {grades -> university -> job ->\npension}. Hence, education is now only nominally about producing 'citizens of\nthe republic' (so to speak), and _de facto_ about producing well-trained\nworkers. Disambiguating these goals is important, but hampered by...\n\n(2) The perverse incentives created by cheap government money encourage\nmalinvestment (i.e. an English degree [I say this with love — my wife is an\nEnglish major]), and the consequent propensity of industry to not only see it\nas a jobs program, but also as a government policy problem.\n\n------\npaulpauper\nOne possible solution is cognitive screening - the use of tests such as the\nWonderlic, SAT/ACT, or Wechsler to find prospective employees who can learn\nquickly and have good critical thinking skills (and thus would benefit the\nmost from on-site training for technical tasks. training obviously costs\nmoney), but unfortunately something called 'disparate impact' makes this\ndifficult to implement, so employers instead have to let colleges do the\nscreening, turning an advanced degree into a very overpriced, time consuming\n'IQ test'. Some people are more concerned about hurt feelings than providing\nequal opportunities. The 'logic' is if the tests expose a reality that isn't\npolitically correct, we must do away with the test, so the result is more\nstudent loan debt, a worse labor market, and more credentialism.\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\n> The 'logic' is if the tests expose a reality that isn't politically correct,\n> we must do away with the test\n\nUntrue. The logic is if there is a disparate impact against a legally-\nprotected class, such that the test would be a convenient cover for illegal\ndiscrimination, and you allow discrimination using the test without\ndemonstration of relevance, it becomes an easy, obvious, and effective tool\nfor those looking for cover for discrimination on an illegal basis; to avoid\nthat, the logic goes, you simply require those who wish to use the test as a\nbasis for discrimination in that case to actually be able demonstrate that the\ntest is meaningful to the job and that it is applied as a discrimination\nfactor in a manner consistent with the way that it is meaningful to the job.\n\nIf they've actually done the kind of analysis that would let them know that\nthe test really is useful, this is trivial; it does, however, prevent adopting\na test with discriminatory effect against a protected class merely based on\nintuition or conventional wisdom.\n\nThe type of analysis involved may be costly, but then, if it really is\nsomething that those wishing to apply have high confidence would be valuable\nfor their business, that type of analysis would be worthwhile to pay for. The\nreason it is difficult is because none of the people who like to talk about\nhow useful these things would be when talk is cheap wants to put their money\nwhere the mouth is on the issue.\n\n~~~\nyummyfajitas\nStrangely, we are unwilling to apply that same logic to traditional hiring\nprocesses. I.e., few companies have ever done a study (sufficient to win in\ncourt) to prove that their subjective human opinion-based tests do not have a\ndisparate impact. Yet processes like this are somehow allowed.\n\nI.e., if my subjective human hiring technique is biased, you need to prove I\ndiscriminated on purpose. If my objective, IQ-based technique is biased, I\nneed to prove I didn't. Why this disparity?\n\n~~~\nlearc83\n>Why this disparity?\n\nFor the simple fact that we already have evidence that some protected classes\nperform worse on IQ tests. Therefore, simply by using an IQ test you are\ndiscriminating against a protected class. The burden is on you to prove that\nthe discrimination is necessary. No one needs to prove that discrimination is\nhappening because you are using a test that has already been show to be\ndiscriminatory.\n\nInterview based hiring techniques are much more varied than IQ tests, and they\nhave not been shown to be near universally discriminatory. Therefore the\nburden is first to prove that discrimination is happening in the particular\nsituation.\n\n~~~\n__z\n>they have not been shown to be near universally discriminatory.\n\nThey actually have...\n\nI am not going to get fully into it at the moment (but there's a ton of\nresearch on the topic) but we know that resumes that say Lakisha are\nsignificantly less likely to get a callback than a resume that says Karen.\n\nAnother example is blinding in orchestras. When the practice became the\napplicant played behind a curtain (so they judge didn't know what the\napplicant looked like) the number of women in orchestras increased.\n\n~~~\nlearc83\nI'm with you on this, but there are differences.\n\nSubjective interview based hiring across all companies has been show to be\ndiscriminatory towards protected classes. But that's different than showing a\nspecific company's hiring process is discriminative.\n\nIf company A uses IQ test X, and IQ test X has been shown to be\ndiscriminatory, then you can say definitively that the hiring process of\ncompany A is discriminatory.\n\nIf company B uses hiring process Y, and you can show that hiring process Y is\ndiscriminatory in 50% of the companies that use it, you can't make a\ndefinitive conclusion about company B in the same way you can company A.\n\n~~~\n__z\nYea, I agree, thanks for clarifying.\n\nThere is a huge difference is explicit bias (give applicants an IQ test even\nthough we'll weed out the blacks or even _to_ weed out the blacks) and\n_subconscious_ bias - which is an incredibly complex problem.\n\nMost companies _are_ trying to eliminate (unintended) bias in the hiring\nprocess.\n\n------\ntheodorewiles\nAs a lib arts graduate, I might be biased, but I believe that it's still the\nbest education for the type of decision-making that's most useful in real-\nworld business decisions: ambiguous and incomplete information from a variety\nof sources with competing interests.\n\nThat being said, if you're not in a leadership position that kind of decision\nmaking isn't what you're doing: you're most likely just optimizing on your own\nlittle anthill, so a \"profit-centered\" education like the article is against\nmight make sense for the worker bees.\n\nAnother thing that I think is usually missing from the \"train your workers\"\ndebate is how much variance there is in productivity, and how actual\nproductivity is usually unknowable unless you have 2-3 months of project data\nfor a given worker (these are assumptions). So hire unskilled contract\nworkers, fire 80% of them, and then train the remaining 20%. They won't have\nthe credentials to work elsewhere, and you've been able to identify the true\nall-stars using data on their actual work product.\n\n------\nlaurentoget\nIt seems expecting schools to do all the training your employees will ever\nneed would not be a good bet from a business point of view either. If your\nemployees have the exact same skills as the competition's employees how do you\nexpect the business differentiate itself?\n\n------\nwwweston\nIt's true that business _should_ pay to train its own work force, but I'm not\nconvinced it _can_.\n\nBusinesses that would like to but that operate in a sector where a competitor\ncan successfully externalize that cost will be at a competitive disadvantage.\n\nAnd businesses that subscribe to managerialism -- the idea that it's primarily\nmanagement/leadership skills that differentiate a business, rather than domain\nknowledge -- may not know how to train employees at all, as it takes someone\nwith domain knowledge to know how that can be done...\n\n------\nnitwit005\nCompanies are often eating the cost of training employees without admitting to\nit.\n\nPick some company at random, look around, and there will often be piles of\npeople who have no official training or certifications to speak of, and no\nrelevant degree, but who are perfectly competent at their jobs. Somehow, magic\nhappened, and they were trained, despite no training money in the budget.\n\nA lot of it is just done semi-officially. The boss points at some guy he\ntrusts and tells him to fill them in, and lower productivity is accepted for\nsome period.\n\n------\njoshu\nI thought tech internships were more about recruiting than about training.\n\n------\nvinnyc\nStudents aren't dealing with the proper issues that arise in a regular\nworkplace. Many professors lack knowledge on what has been going on between\nthem leaving the workplace and today. Because of this students are learning\nprinciples that aren't fully applicable to many business jobs today instead of\nlearning how to deal with corporate incompetence. If companies train employees\non how to deal with personnel, they will learn more of the technicalities on\nthe job underneath a hopefully competent supervisor.\n\n~~~\nemodendroket\nWhy should they? That's the whole argument of this piece -- that they\nshouldn't.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nComparison of S3 and Rackspace/Mosso Cloud Files - timf\nhttp://blog.mosso.com/2009/02/a-quantitative-comparison-of-rackspace-and-amazon-cloud-storage-solutions/\n\n======\nmdasen\nThe comparisons they use are quite contrived. For example, Mosso charges $0.01\nfor every 500 PUT requests (vs. Amazon's $0.01 for every 1,000 PUTs). However,\nMosso gives you free PUTs if the file is over 100K so they made the tests to\nhave a 150K filesize meaning that they have no request charges. Whether that's\ntrue of your application is another story.\n\nLikewise, the test is 1TB of incoming bandwidth and 100GB of outgoing\nbandwidth. Now, Amazon easily trumps Mosso on outgoing bandwidth charges - BUT\nMosso is offering free incoming bandwidth __until the end of the month __.\nSeems a little unfair to be creating a comparison on a situation that will\nexist for another 19 days.\n\nI should also note that Mosso seems to measure in Gigabytes instead of\nGibibytes. Why? Well, they're storing 5TB which would be 5120GB, but they've\ncalculated their pricing based on 5000GB as being 5TB (5000 * 0.15 + 100 *\n0.22 = 722). So, you're actually getting less storage. It's not that important\nin the small range, but when you're talking about terrabytes of storage it\nsure as hell becomes important. It means that each terrabyte used on their\nsystem is over 90GB short. Now, Amazon might be using the same logic there so\nI should pull back.\n\nReally, it's cheap to do a comparison using pricing that's going to go up in\nunder a month from when you wrote the comparison.\n\n~~~\necarlin\nHey mdasen -\n\nThanks for digging into the details. Please allow me to clarify a couple of\nthings...\n\n1\\. Average File Size - You have nailed the difference in request fee pricing\nbut failed to point out that 2 of the 5 scenarios show an avg file size of\n75KB. In fact, scenarios 1 and 2 are exactly the same with the exception of\nfile size and were included to specifically highlight the difference in\npricing both above and below the 100KB threshold. Also, in some instances, a\nsmaller avg file size results in Amazon costs being even MORE expensive. For\nexample, take a look at scenario #5 and set the average file size to 50KB. The\nsavings with Rack INCREASE from $3,116.97 to $3,525.70. That's because Amazon\ncharges CDN and origin fetch request fees, neither of which Rack/Mosso does.\nThe point of the calculator was to make something that is difficult to compare\nmore quantitative. Your assumption that file sizes over 100KB would always\nbenefit Rackspace is a good example of why the calc was created. As scenario 5\nshows, that's not always the case. We tried not to pull any punches and make\nthe scenarios reasonable and fair (I'm an architect and don't particularly\ncare for hyped up marketing). We believe in complete transparency which is\nalso why we make the calculator available. We encourage anyone and everyone to\nrun their own scenarios. If there are errors in the calc, that is another\nstory and we welcome feedback so we can fix any that exist. We recognize we\nwon't be cheaper in EVERY case, but at least people will have the data they\nneed to make an informed decision.\n\n2\\. Incoming Bandwidth Charges - You are correct that incoming BW is\ntemporarily free. I can't speak in great detail here but we won't simply be\nintroducing an incoming BW charge. Instead, we'll be making some broader cloud\npricing changes that will also impact Files BW pricing. That's still a bit of\na moving target but I have a newer version of the calc that includes these\nchanges and it doesn't change the fundamental result. When the new pricing is\nreleased, we will be releasing a new version of the calculator. Again, full\ntransparency. We thought about waiting until the pricing changes go into\naffect before releasing this analysis, but since there isn't a fundamental\ndifference, we wanted to get the analysis out now. That said, even with the\nEXISTING pricing, adding in an incoming BW charge doesn't really change the\nresult. For example, on the \"Pricing\" tab of the workbook, change the 0 to .10\nfor \"BW in\" under Cloud Files. We're still less expensive on all scenarios\n(with support) and less expensive (or roughly the same) on 4 of the 5\nscenarios without support.\n\n3\\. Gigabytes vs. Gibibytes - We measure in increments of 1024, not 1000 and\nthe pricing breakpoints (see the Pricing tab) are the same. The amount of\nstorage and bandwidth used is an input to the calculator so any number can be\nentered. We probably should have used 5120 instead of 5000, etc, etc. so your\npoint is well taken. I'll update that for the next version.\n\nAgain, thanks for digging in. In general, we expect some degree of skepticism\n(as there SHOULD be when any company produces their own comparative analysis)\nbut we felt there was a very quantifiable message that wasn't being told. We\nhave tried to be as fair and transparent as we could be in the analysis and we\ndon't necessarily want you to take our word for it. We encourage any and all\nto look at the cost and performance for yourself. If we've made a mistake, let\nus know so we can fix it.\n\nIf it would be of use, don't hesitate to e-mail me directly at\nerik[dot]carlin[at]rackspace.com.\n\nRegards, Erik Carlin\n\n~~~\ntimf\nIt's unfortunate that HN has gotten so busy lately that your reply won't be\nseen by more people. Thankyou for taking the time here to clarify the\nargument.\n\n------\ncperciva\nMosso thinks that Mosso is better than the competition? I'm shocked.\n\n~~~\ndabeeeenster\nThe data itself seems pretty objective...\n\n~~~\njacquesm\nthat may be, but the wording suggests serious bias: \"cloud files saves you\" is\nnot the kind of language you'd expect in an objective review.\n\n------\njacquesm\nIs there a more objective comparison of these services somewhere ?\n\nWell, at least they didn't do the usual, pay someone else to come up with an\n'impartial review'.\n\n~~~\nmoe\nThey both have nice pricing calculators:\n\n<http://calculator.s3.amazonaws.com/calc5.html>\n\n<http://www.mosso.com/pricingfiles.jsp>\n\nJust tack in your values and see for yourself.\n\n------\nggruschow\nImpressive latency results for static files.\n\nToo bad that's not what I do. Post another ad when the on-demand instances are\navailable and priced hourly.\n\n~~~\nwmf\nThe CDN latency test may be flawed. They accessed an 8K file once every 5\nminutes, but CDNs are designed for large files that are frequently accessed.\nAmazon's high latency may be due to cache misses that would not occur if the\ntraffic was heavier.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe App of the Summer Is Randonautica - aspenmayer\nhttps://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/07/randonautica-app-tiktok-body-reddit-quantum/614401/\n======\naspenmayer\n[https://www.randonautica.com/](https://www.randonautica.com/)\n\n[https://bot.randonauts.com/](https://bot.randonauts.com/)\n\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/randonauts/](https://www.reddit.com/r/randonauts/)\n\n[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.randonauti...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.randonautica.app)\n\n[https://apps.apple.com/us/app/randonautica/id1493743521](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/randonautica/id1493743521)\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h148J7ym7W](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h148J7ym7W)\n\n[https://medium.com/@TheAndromedus/randonauting-for-\ndummies-h...](https://medium.com/@TheAndromedus/randonauting-for-dummies-how-\nto-hack-reality-with-your-phone-using-quantum-randomness-5ce82f66c10e)\n\n[https://archive.is/wOdvb](https://archive.is/wOdvb)\n\nFor those who have trouble with the link:\n\n[https://web.archive.org/web/20200722032338/https://www.theat...](https://web.archive.org/web/20200722032338/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/07/randonautica-\napp-tiktok-body-reddit-quantum/614401/)\n\n[https://archive.is/Pn26l](https://archive.is/Pn26l)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGmail may hand over IP addresses of journalists - kirubakaran\nhttp://wikileaks.org/wiki/Gmail_may_hand_over_IP_addresses_of_journalists\n======\ntumult\nGreat, love being reminded my local court system are a bunch of shills.\n\nHowever, before you burst into flames, note:\n\n _To comply with the law, unless you provide us with a copy of a motion to\nquash the subpoena (or other formal objection filed in court) via email at\nlegal-support@google.com by 5pm Pacific Time on September 16, 2009, Google\nwill assume you do not have an objection to production of the requested\ninformation and may provide responsive documents on this date._\n\nSo Google is notifying them, and basically telling the account holders to give\nGoogle a reason to motion to quash the subpeona. Which is good.\n\nCourt system totally willing to issue subpoenas which would reveal identities\nover what I'm assuming to be a civil suit filed by corrupt property developers\nafter they were exposed (please correct me if I'm wrong.)\n\nGoogle not instantly turning over the data, and asking the account holders to\nprovide an objection.\n\nStill less evil™\n\np.s. edit: I would also like to add that the Wikileaks editorial says:\n\n _According to the notifying letter from Google to the journal, Google intends\nto hand over the requested records without defense and suggests that the\nJournal file a counter-motion with the Santa-Clara court itself._\n\nwhich I think is actually false, according to my reading of the notice Google\ngave the account holders above. This would also indicate the headline is\ninflammatory/linkbait..\n\n~~~\nanigbrowl\nI find Wikileaks summaries are of extremely variable accuracy - they're well-\nintentioned but often prefer the most extreme-sounding interpretation of a\ndocument/story. I basically don't trust the summary pages at all, except in a\n'why you might care!' way. Wikileaks itself, though, is pure gold.\n\n------\nlupin_sansei\nIsn't it part of common law that you have to \"tell the truth, the whole truth,\nand nothing but the truth?\". If so, how can it be legal to withhold\ninformation (read sources, ip addresses etc) while under examination in a\ncourt?\n\n~~~\njrockway\nThis expression is just convention, not something legally meaningful. The next\npart of that expression is \"so help you God\", which you can't be legally\nrequired to say. In many courts, the affirmation is just \"Do you promise to\ntell me the truth?\"\n\nAs for \"the whole truth\", it's up to the other side's lawyer to ask you the\nright questions; if you answer all the questions truthfully while you're on\nthe stand, that is your only legal obligation. (If the questions are directly\nabout your crime, you also have the right to refuse to answer.)\n\nAnyway, if everyone were legally required to confess to crimes they committed,\nnobody would do that, and then the crime would be not admitting to a crime. By\nnot admitting to that, ... the cycle continues, and with no evidence, there is\nno case against you.\n\n------\njsm386\nAs a journalist, with sources to protect, working for a publication whose very\nmission 'corruption fighting' is going to invite problems exactly like these,\nshouldn't you be using something other than Gmail?\n\nI've never needed something like this but a quick search\n[http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=secure+anon...](http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=secure+anonymous+email&aq=0&aqi=g10&oq=secure+anony&fp=9733483af0cc9d26)\nleads me to believe there is a better solution.\n\n------\nonreact-com\nTry this next time:\n\nAnonymous Blogging with Wordpress & Tor\n\n<http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/projects/guide/>\n\n+\n\nHandbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents\n\n[http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/handbook_bloggers_cyberdissidents...](http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/handbook_bloggers_cyberdissidents-\nGB.pdf)\n\n~~~\nrestruct\nBut don't choose Gmail as your webmail provider?\n\n~~~\nmikeryan\nI am not an expert in this.\n\nBut I think if you get a Gmail account with non identifiable information. Then\naccess Gmail through Tor (There's a Tor plugin for Firefox) you've done enough\nto make it extremely hard to track you down.\n\n~~~\njacquesm\nYou'd better make sure you do that from a 'virgin' machine then or your\ncookies or other signature information will give you away in a heartbeat.\n\n~~~\naarongough\nOr my favourite: a virtual machine with a snapshot of it's state just after\nthe install of all your necessary programs, HDD set to read only (like you can\ndo in parallels) and used from there...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nPatent trolls want $1,000 per employee for using scanners - blackhole\nhttp://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/01/patent-trolls-want-1000-for-using-scanners/\n======\napi\nI personally hope the patent law abuse gets to the point that it destroys the\nentire patent system. So go for it. Sue schools, the elderly, whatever.\n\n~~~\nvertis\nAnd then what? We'll have nothing at all? I'm certainly not in favour of these\npatent trolls but you have to have a more nuanced approach to intellectual\nproperty than 'Burn down the House'\n\nIt's a balance between encouraging innovation by protecting intellectual\nproperty, and discouraging it because of patent abuse (etc).\n\nDestroying the patent system completely would most certainly have a negative\neffect.\n\n~~~\ndasil003\n> _Destroying the patent system completely would most certainly have a\n> negative effect_\n\nWhy are you so sure of this? Government granted monopoly is not the only\nincentive to create something, but there are definitely countless examples of\nhow patents have been used to squash innovation and disruption.\n\nI grant that patents have had some positive effects, but I would not assume\nthey are net-positive. Also, they were primarily designed in a time when there\nwere fewer ideas and getting things into production was much more expensive\n(this applies to physical things, let along software with zero marginal cost),\nand it was much easier for an incumbent to steal an idea and crush a startup\nsimply by the barriers to entry to manufacturing and distribution. Since then\nlobbying efforts have only pushed intellectual property rights in one\ndirection. Even medical research patents which are often held up as necessary\ncreate perverse incentives that tie up R&D dollars in unproven new drugs, and\nmaking arbitrary tweaks to existing newish medicines in order to secure patent\nprotection, making research into natural or public domain compounds come to a\nstandstill regardless of efficacy.\n\nObviously I'm biased since I work in software, but I think we'd be fine\nwithout patents. Trademark and copyright address much more important issues in\nmy opinion.\n\n~~~\nwheaties\nMedical treatments, vaccines, and drugs cost enormous amounts of money to\nbring to market due to all the regulations and requirements we've created\nensuring a pill is not fatal. Why would any company in their right mind\ndevelop any sort of drug if it cost $100m and anyone after them could take the\nidea free of cost?\n\nPatents are good/needed to promote the quality of medicine. There they're\ngood.\n\n~~~\nrdtsc\nThat is exactly what the drug companies say. That's funny at is as if you are\njust reciting back their propaganda.\n\nIt turns out a lot more money is spent on marketing and lobbying that is spent\non research. Also a lot of cutting edge research is actually performed by\npublic universities by professors on that state's (or NIH's) dime.\n\n> Patents are good/needed to promote the quality of medicine. There they're\n> good.\n\nWell that really is the crux of the argument. I would argue that patents make\nthe medicine worse. Medicine I also consider to be the health and well-being\nof citizens not profitability of drug companies. I can be convinced that the\ncurrent patent system help the profitability of drug companies I am not sure\nif it help the sick people.\n\n~~~\ndhimes\n_That is exactly what the drug companies say_\n\nYeah, there's a reason for that.\n\n _It turns out a lot more money is spent on marketing and lobbying that is\nspent on research._\n\nDon't confuse pharmaceutical companies with biotech companies.\n\n _Also a lot of cutting edge research is actually performed by public\nuniversities by professors on that state's (or NIH's) dime._\n\nOften, the same researcher then spins out the company that tries to\ncommercialize the research.\n\n _I can be convinced that the current patent system help the profitability of\ndrug companies I am not sure if it help the sick people._\n\nWithout them you wouldn't have the medicine. Then that won't help the sick\npeople. As it stands, there is a difference between the medicine that rich\npeople can afford and that poor people can afford. That may be morally\nobjectionable- and maybe we should fix it. But at least the medicine exists,\nand eventually it gets cheaper on average for everybody.\n\nI am _very much_ for patent reform, but we have to do it intelligently. Where\npatents help- keep them. Modify them maybe. Where they are despicable destroy\nthem.\n\nAt least in some cases in medicine-- as in other high barrier-to-entry\nendeavors-- I am convinced they are useful. In other cases they are\ninfuriating.\n\n~~~\nbelorn\n>Often, the same researcher then spins out the company that tries to\ncommercialize the research.\n\nIt seems to me that you imply that there is some added value from the\ncommercialization. But commercialization does not cause added value in itself.\nSometimes, commercialization just mean marketing and profit center.\n\nHowever the real question is, what does commercialization of an already\nfounded and paid invention has to do with patents. Why should research which\nis paid with tax money (through NIH) be patentable, and how does that benefit\nsociety?\n\n~~~\ndhimes\nThere is often substantial risk turning a research result (molecule X inhibits\nvirus Y) into a safe medicine. You have to do significant, expensive testing.\nThat is where the money is spent because that is where commercialization\nfails.\n\n~~~\nsageikosa\nAlso, pharmaceutical drugs don't just pop out of Wonka-like machines in a\nmanner similar to the Everlasting Gobstopper. The production process has to be\nefficient. Efficiency is a function of the cost to research, design, construct\nand operate the production facilities and QA, and the expected returns.\n\n~~~\nbelorn\nWell, if you want efficiency, thats were all the factories with generics\nlives. They use capitalism, that is competition to produce the best product\nfor the lowest price.\n\nAs for testing (the above comment), thats where FDA approved monopolies comes\nin. FDA want to incentivize testing and producing of products, even once they\nfall out of patent protection, so FDA themselves gives out limited timed\nmonopolies after a drug gone through all the testing. Thats a monopoly on top\nof regular patents for most drugs. FDA don't assume patents to cover the cost\nbeyond the initial research. They consider that more incentives are needed,\ntargeted for testing and producing of products.\n\n~~~\nsageikosa\nI wasn't disagreeing with the poster above, I was adding additional insight\ninto what it takes to initially commercialize a product (assuming the initial\nresearch was publicly funded).\n\nBefore a decision to produce can begin, there is additional R&D into: \\- scale\nproduction design and cost analysis \\- analysis of potential market size \\-\nrisks and boundaries of treatment identified via clinical trials\n\nIf the potential market size and production costs work out to be marginally\nprofitable (to be an attractive investment): \\- initial outlay of prototype\nproduction facilities \\- scale production and distribution processes (some\ndrugs have limited shelf life or require special handling) \\- market building\n(disseminating information about the treatment to health providers, and\ntracking market penetration) to make sure the market potential is fully used\n\nProduction of generics is \"efficient\" because by the time generic production\ngets underway (at patent expiration), they can sell as an alternative to a\npre-built market with processes already proven by years of practice.\n\n~~~\nbelorn\nWhat prevents generics to do cost analysis, market research, prototype\nproduction facilities, scale production and distribution processes, and market\nbuilding? Isn't those step normal procedures for any commercial venture. To\nmake the car an analogy, when producing a new car, a company need to do cost\nanalysis to weighing materials, product facilities, prototype building. They\nalso need to do market building to push their product in a market already\nbuzzing with competition. They need to care about the distribution processes.\nThey can't patent this, and even if they could, I doubt the car industry would\nbe helped by it.\n\nGenerics, like any other form of commercial entities do prefer a pre-built\nmarket. This is same for everyone else too, as everyone is currently making\nthe same pads, laptops, phones and mp3 players as last \"hit product\". This\nhowever doesn't mean that there aren't any new companies trying new things.\nSame goes for generics. The \"putting a product into the market\" is't someting\npatents are needed or even suggested to cover. Its the cost of the invention\nthat is covered by the patents.\n\nPatents cover the cost of inventing. The FDA granted monopoly covers the\ntesting. Everything else rest onto the commercial entity to resolve. This is\nthe order of things, through patents are so far not covering the cost of the\ninvention, as that is taken care by tax dollars distributed to research by\nNIH.\n\nThus the logical thing to do is to either cut the budget of NIH and let\n\"patents\" take care of the inventing (as intended), or reconsider patents as\nfunding for inventions.\n\n~~~\nsageikosa\nYes, in any normal commercial venture, those are the normal procedures for\ncommercializing something, which are the investment. Re-reading back to the\ntop of this thread, I see this spun out specifically from a one-liner about\nresearch by professors at public universities. The funding sources for\nprofessors at public universities is varied (depends on what funding they have\nmanaged to gather and what strings were attached, and what they were intended\nfor), and the degree that the results of their research is clinically\napplicable also varies. A researcher may discover that a certain receptor on a\ncell's surface responds to a specific molecular structure, but this is far\nfrom being a treatment. Depending on who funded a particular research study,\nthe results may be pre-assigned to a private entity, or may become public\ninformation. It all depends on how the research was commissioned. In any case,\nuniversity researchers don't _usually_ create new drugs, they discover\nrelationships; they just don't typically have that mandate (as far as I am\naware, which admittedly isn't that much).\n\nIncidentally, patents are not to cover \"invention\" costs, they are so that\ninventors can get the rewards of invention while at the same time exposing\ntheir invention, rewards and costs are not the same thing. For drugs, public\nexposure is a necessity of the way we require FDA approval; since without such\nregulation, drug related litigation would ultimately end up in open court\nanyway to prove liability or negligence, it has been deemed a public good to\ndo this public exposure prior to market introduction, and require a degree of\npre-approval (that we assign directly to a government agency).\n\nIn the US of A, the FDA grants neither a monopoly, nor a patent. The FDA's\npurpose in new drug development is the declaratory judgment regarding the\nsafety or applicability of a drug. It is perfectly possible to get a patent,\nbut fail FDA approval. It is also possible that the process to produce a drug\nat scale is itself a novel application or invention and itself patentable\n(though that may also need FDA approval separately from the drug treatment).\n\n~~~\ndhimes\n_It is perfectly possible to get a patent, but fail FDA approval._\n\nI believe this happened to Eli Lilly yesterday. EDIT: Not sure it was Lilly- I\nheard the news on the radio this morning and I can't find the source on the\nnews sites. Annoying.\n\n------\njetti\nThe article mentions that it is hard to invalidate patents with prior art and\nthat the patent holders will say that it is a narrower scope than previous\npatents. If that is the case, I can't see how this isn't extortion. There is\nno way that these \"companies\" could know the kind of network that the\ncompanies they are sending letters to use. They may be just guessing that they\nare even using a scanner. They are just mass mailing threats and hoping for\nmoney back.\n\nAlso, how is it even legal to target the users of technology in a patent\ninfringement case like this? Wouldn't the manufactures (of hardware AND\nsoftware) be the ones that would need to license the patent, not end users? I\nget why you would target the end user but is that legal/valid?\n\n~~~\nscott_s\nI agree that it is extortion in spirit. But I wonder if patent trolls can be\nprosecuted on current extortion laws, as their defense would be \"We're just\ntrying to enforce our lawful patents.\" If prosecutors would not want to try,\nthen I wonder how we could change extortion laws to include this practice.\n\n~~~\nneurotech1\nIANAL but wouldn't it be easier to convict on mail fraud first. Corporate\n\"accounts receivable\" type scams have been convicted before of mail fraud. The\nscammers send an invoice to a corporation, and if it looks routine, it gets\npaid without a second thought.\n\nSooner or later, some patent troll is going to be dumb enough to send out\n\"Unpaid License Fee\" letters and set a precedence on the extortion charge.\n\n~~~\njoshkaufman\nGetty Images has been doing this with stock photography license claims for\nyears: <http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/>\n\n------\nveidr\nIt would help in cases like this if:\n\na.) the litigant was not allowed to dismiss the suit without the consent of\nthe defendant, and\n\nb.) there was some mechanism whereby anybody who was subsequently sued on the\nbasis of the same basic claims of infringement of the same patent could use\nthe result of the first case as part of their defense. (E.g., unless the\noriginal verdict was overturned on appeal, the plaintiff would have to make\nsome new novel claims that were not part of the original case when suing their\nnext victim.)\n\nThis would require changes to the law, but not nearly such drastic change as\nabolishing the patent system entirely (which I think is scheduled to happen\nright around the time the USA switches to the metric system).\n\nI was the victim of a very similar shakedown tactic at the hands of DirecTV in\n2002. They had hired (sorry, \"successfully lobbied to obtain the services of\")\nthe US Marshals to raid some small companies that sold smart card programming\ngear. DirecTV then got their marshal pals to copy the companies' customer\ndatabases, and then systematically went after the end users, threatening to\nsue unless the users paid up $5k to 'settle'.\n\nIn my case, our company had indeed bought some smart card programming gear,\nbut I was incensed and inclined to fight (as it sounds like the protagonist of\nthis Ars story was). But the only \"fight\" we were able to effect was to have\nour lawyers write a letter (basically, \"fuck you, we program smart cards,\nbring it on\") to make them go away _for us_. They abandoned their threat to\nsue us, but this didn't affect any of the thousands of other people they were\ngoing after with the same exact scam.\n\nOur patent system would be better if the law forced the litigant to a\nconclusion once a patent suit was brought, and _also_ made it much harder to\nrepeat the same shakedown once one victim had successfully fought it and won.\n\nThat's not to say it would _fix_ the problem of patent trolls, but since it\nwould weaken the _patent itself_ (once somebody had the balls and money to\nfight a bullshit patent shakedown and win) we wouldn't have to give a shit how\nmany shell companies Myrvhold and similar parasites have. (We'd only have to\ngive a shit that they have millions of unique B.S. patents.)\n\n~~~\nastrodust\nUntil the US courts have a loser pays\n(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_rule_(attorneys_fees)>) system, this\nwill never happen.\n\n------\njrockway\n$1,000 per employee is the most bogus request I've ever heard in my life. Even\nif the concept were patentable, I'd say a reasonable demand would be $1 per\nInternet-capable scanner sold.\n\nThe patent trolls should really read Joel Spolsky's guide on pricing\nenterprise software. Saving $200,000 is worth hiring some lawyers to fuck you\nup. Saving $75 isn't.\n\n~~~\nlutorm\nI find it extremely dubious that you could actually infringe on a patent\nmerely by _using_ a consumer product. Disregarding this particular patent, is\nthat sort of claim actually grounded in fact?\n\n~~~\nrst\nWell, if the product's manufacturer has licensed the patent, then the\n\"exhaustion doctrine\" generally keeps the patent holder from taking a second\nwhack from people who bought it. That's what ordinarily shields end-users of\nconsumer products from this kind of nonsense.\n\nIf the manufacturer hasn't licensed the product, though, the users may well be\nfair game, in the eyes of the law.\n\n~~~\nlutorm\nBut end users generally don't know and have no way of knowing what technology\nis inside a product. That seems pretty sketchy. While it's true that\nunintentionally infringing on a patent is not an excuse, if I'm liable for\nsomeone else's infringing without my knowledge my potential liability is\ncompletely unlimited.\n\n------\nastrodust\nOne simple reform to the patent system would be to force an _automatic_ review\nof any patent involved in a lawsuit where the patent might be rendered invalid\nbefore the court needs to weigh in on the matter.\n\nRight now the court needs to decide if the patent is enforceable, which seems\nlike it's basically doing the job the patent issuing entity should've done in\nthe first place.\n\n~~~\nkrickle\nYes! I love this. If we can reduce the cost of defending these we would\neliminate them without needing anything else.\n\n------\npavel_lishin\n> the only variations are the six-letter name of the shell company and the\n> royalty demands\n\nThis sounds a lot like the automated, python-scripted corporations in Stross's\nAccelerando.\n\n~~~\nunimpressive\nWould that make these _literal_ shell companies?\n\n------\nkrschultz\nMajor root cause that could be fixed without hurting anyone other than patent\ntrolls: the relatively anonymous registration of patents. If I'm being\nthreatened with a lawsuit for patent infringement, how can I not find out the\nowners of the patents? That is crazy.\n\nIf you want to leverage a patent, you should have to be registered with the\npatent office so that you can be held accountable. Anyone using a patent for\nlegit reasons wouldn't be hampered by this, but it would make hunting down\npatent trolls a whole lot easier.\n\n~~~\ncrusso\nPlus if these patents are so valuable, then it would be nice if their sale\nfrom one shell company to another had tax implications. Once a licensing\ncampaign has been initiated for one shell company, that should put some idea\nof a value on the patent(s).\n\nIf you can be assessed taxes for options in a company that isn't public that\nyou have no way to exercise, selling assets from one shell company to another\nshould have tax implications as well.\n\nMaybe that would limit the creation of mazes of ownership of these patent\nportfolios.\n\n~~~\nkrschultz\nI really like the idea of relating the value of a patent to the registration\ncost. If the patent is giving you $10 million a year in income, you should\nhave to pay more for that right than if it brings you $10,000 a year in\nincome. At least then we would have a list of patent holders and how much they\nare making from licensing.\n\n~~~\ncheeseprocedure\nThe registration costs would need to be non-trivial to discourage abuse, which\nwould harm legitimate small-scale innovators. Also, who decides (or validates)\nthe \"worth\" of a patent? We would be replacing one regulatory nightmare with\nanother.\n\n~~~\njakejake\nI think it would be awesome but it will never happen.\n\nYou claim a value for your patent. It is treated as property and subject to\ntax if transferred from one entity to the next. The catch is that you can only\nsue for a certain percent of the claimed value. You can change the claimed\nvalue of your patent, but then you must pay a tax as if that was earned\nincome. You would have to be allowed to set your initial claimed value of the\npatent at whatever you wish. Kinda the same way that when you start a\ncorporation you can decide how many shares you have (like 1.000 or 10,000 or\n1,000,000). But once that is set you can't just change them around without\nregistering the change with the state.\n\nIn theory it would punish people who transfer patents a lot, but have almost\nno affect on people who register or hold onto patents. Since trolls thrive on\nshell companies, it would be very expensive to constantly transfer high-value\npatents.\n\n------\ndownandout\nIn my experience, these places don't actually make any money, so fear not. I\ndid some database consulting work for a company that was in a similar business\na few years back. They wound up shutting down after about six weeks because no\none bothered paying them. Out of more than $12 million in demands, they\nreceived less than $4,000 after sending their first batch. That was when they\ndecided to shut down. I suspect something similar will happen with these guys\nand anyone that follows them.\n\n------\npadseeker\nWhy the heck aren't the hardware manufacturers stepping up on this one? Why\nshould I pay HP/Xerox/Canon/Ricoh thousands for using their manufactured\nhardware when it does not cover the ability to use it?\n\nI realize being a hacker news reader/tech person means I would know better,\nbut wouldn't some of these people think to themselves \"Why isn't this cost\nincluded into the hardware?\". And why aren't the manufacturers that profit\nfrom this type of hardware stepping up as it has the chance to discourage\npeople from buying their stuff.\n\n------\nneurotech1\nMaybe I should do an AMA on my work for a patent attorney. It would get boring\nbecause his MO seems to be to only sue companies that negotiate license deals\nin \"bad faith\", and nowhere near the frivolous action seen in here. Most of\nhis work is in filing patents.\n\nThe last conversation we had was actually about supporting the EFF, so I'm\nsure that is quite telling to what direction we're heading.\n\n------\narbuge\nIt strikes me that one root cause of the patent troll problem, besides\nunscrupulous trolls and their evil lawyers, is idiot patent examiners who\nwould allow patenting the process of drinking a cup of coffee of morning if\nthere was no prior art on file on the subject.\n\nIt all comes down to incentives. Good patent lawyers know they can make big\nbucks working in private practice (possibly for trolls), whilst mediocre ones\nhappy with a government salary go ... where else? ... the USPTO.\n\n~~~\nwpietri\nDo you have any facts to back this up? The one patent examiner I know is very\nsmart. But he's also part of a rigid system with very clear criteria.\n\nIf there's a problem, I suspect it's a systemic problem.\n\n------\nh4pless\nCould someone (or has someone already tried to) patent the process of patent\ntrolling? I know that such a patent shouldn't be granted because the idea\nobviously isn't original but it seems as though there are so many bogus\npatents sneaking through the cracks that it could be possible. It would be\nnice if there was someone you could call to troll the trolls.\n\n~~~\ncschmidt\nStrangely Halliburton seems to have done this:\n\n[http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/11/12/halliburton-patenting-\npa...](http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/11/12/halliburton-patenting-patent-\ntrolling-to-block-patent-trolls/)\n\n~~~\nhdj\nWhat did happen to this application? Accepted or dismissed?\n\n~~~\nverroq\nSurely there's been prior art.\n\n------\nDanBC\nNow we know the format of the letters I'm waiting for anonymous to send a\nbunch of letters to every member of US legislature.\n\n~~~\nolefoo\nActually, it should be sent to their re-election campaign committees;\nlegislators themselves are considered members of the government, and would not\nbe considered businesses in their own right. Whereas their campaign comittees\nare heavily regulated businesses that get lots of financial scrutiny and are\nvery short of cash usually.\n\nAlthough that is a dangerous precedent to set; once you start using that sort\nof tactic, it will become yet another way for big business to lock out\ncandidates they don't like and would have an overall chilling effect on\nparticipation in the political process.\n\n------\nstorf45\nThis is just disgusting. Well, here's their contact, facebook, and twitter\ninformation if anyone wants to get in touch with them for services! Contact:\n<http://www.hkw-law.com/contact> Facebook: <http://www.facebook.com/hkwlaw>\nTwitter: <https://twitter.com/atllawfirm>\n\n------\njonkelly\nWe got hit with one of these letters. I read through it and it was clear that\nwe weren't actually infringing -- it only applied to the use of distribution\nto employees via the scanner. Luckily that functionality is pretty much\nimpossible to make work on the Brother MFC that we have. We had our lawyer\nsend back a note saying that we weren't infringing and that was the end of it.\nMy guess is that showing that you are actually paying attention and have a\ncompetent attorney is a good way to avoid getting victimized (at least some of\nthe time).\n\n------\nhdj\nI'm not fully certain and I would love some verification/counter-argument, but\nwouldn't the new Public Use Anywhere in the World aspect invalidate atleast\nsome of the garbage patents like the one discussed in the article?\n[http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2012/11/15...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2012/11/15/a-powerful-\nnew-weapon-against-patent-trolls/)\n\n~~~\nmcherm\nNot really. The difficulty of invalidating the patent isn't the real barrier\nto standing up to these sorts of legal threats. The real barrier is that\n_whether you win or not_ , it costs $100,000 or more to be sued in a patent\nlawsuit.\n\nHere are your choices:\n\n(A) Pay up. The extorting patentholder charges you $80,000.\n\n(B) Hire a lawyer to defend you in court. The lawyer charges you $100,000. You\nalso might lose and have to pay damages.\n\n(C) Defend yourself in court without a specialist patent lawyer. Unless you\nARE a specialist patent lawyer, you are guaranteed to lose. Pay triple damages\nplus lawyer fees -- actually, just pay everything you own and go live on the\nstreet.\n\nWhich would you choose?\n\n~~~\nkrickle\nAnd note that C is only an option if you are being sued as an individual, if\nyou are being sued as a corporate entity you cannot defend your company pro\nse, you must retain a licensed attorney.\n\n~~~\nmcherm\nRight... good point.\n\n------\njasimq\nI don't know about the different kinds of patents, but shouldn't the printer\nmanufacturers be paying up licensing fees?\n\n~~~\ndrstewart\nThe letter from the patent trolls actually explains why they don't do that\n(the real reason is probably because it's easier to get a 30 person small\nbusiness to pay up instead of a giant corporation with a retainer of lawyers).\n\n------\nedouard1234567\nThe clock is ticking for these patent trolls, scanners will soon become\ncompletely useless (posted on HN yesterday)\n[http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/02/google-expensify-\npaperless-...](http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/02/google-expensify-\npaperless-2013/)\n\n------\nJackFr\nCouldn't someone end this by gettingt a business process patent on patent\ntrolling?\n\n~~~\nmcherm\nDoesn't help if you can't find the correct shell company to serve with the\nlawsuit.\n\n------\nzalzane\nI'm on the edge of my seat waiting for them to send one of these extortion\nnotices to the wrong guy who will get enraged enough to shoot up their office.\n\nI wonder if a chain of such shootings would set a precedent for change.\n\n~~~\nangdis\nIt is amazing how much rage a story like this can produce in people who work\nin non-legal professions. The law-firms involved, of course, don't see it that\nway. This is just work for them-- although I can't fathom how they can sleep\nat night making a living by being what amounts to a parasite.\n\n~~~\npavel_lishin\nI've worked in a situation where I believed that what I was doing was fairly\nunethical. I wasn't sending out bogus legal threats, but I was doing\ndevelopment work for a company I consider flat-out evil.\n\nI dealt with it by donating all the money I made during those hours to a\nrelevant charity. It helped.\n\n~~~\nmeric\nMight need to donate more - for every $1 you got paid, the evil company\nreceived more than $1 of benefit. ;)\n\n------\nedouard1234567\nYet another patent troll nonsense. Who needs scanners anyway... maybe people\nwill come to their senses and stop printing signing & scanning... a waste of\npaper, energy and precision!\n\n------\nChuckMcM\nIt would be interesting to see if you could pursue a case of legal malpractice\nagainst the firm which took this case to the patent office in the first place.\n\n~~~\nmcherm\nOn what grounds? That law firm successfully obtained a patent which (even if\nlater invalidated) resulted in revenues for their client (the extortion\nmoney). That is not malpractice, it is SUCCESSFUL practice -- and more so if\nthe patent is highly questionable, as it may have been the legal firm's skill\nthat resulted in the patent being issued.\n\n~~~\nChuckMcM\nOn the same grounds that lawyers are sanctioned for bringing frivolous or\nextortionate lawsuits.\n\nI think you bring a poor strawman to the debate, its not a question of whether\nor not the lawyer was successful, its a question of whether they were working\ntoward the betterment of the system. For example. doctors may be sued for\nmalpractice for performing surgeries that are unneeded even though the surgery\nis completely successful. They violate the terms of their licensing in the\nstate where they practice by doing so.\n\nMy point is that there are many ways to mitigate the perils of the patent\nsystem without destroying it. One is to make abuse of it to have some cost.\n\nSo a proposal might be like this [1]:\n\nTo prosecute a patent (represent an inventor as their attorney in the\napplication process) requires licensing by the patent licensing bar. That\nlicense states that willfully bringing a patent before the commission that is\nfound later to be invalidated, and such invalidation shows negligence on the\npart of the prosecuting attorney, that attorney or their firm, is co-liable\nfor any charges or court costs incurred by the folks who invalidated the\npatent.\n\nIt would also be interesting in public shaming of people who claim to have\n'invented' such preposterous things. That is a much more social thing though.\n\n[1] I'm not a lawyer, and I know it doesn't work like this today, its a\nproposal to make it 'painful' to try to game the system as a lawyer.\n\n------\npixl97\nOb. SMBC\n\n[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2761#c...](http://www.smbc-\ncomics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2761#comic)\n\n------\nhexagonc\nPoliticians aren't going to do anything about patent trolls until politicians\nstart getting threatened and/or sued by patent trolls.\n\n------\nzem\nhonest question - does the united states not have barratry laws? why do they\nnot cover cases like this?\n\n------\nmesozoic\nSo who has the patent on patent trolling?\n\n~~~\ngefh\nIBM: [http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-\nParser?Sect1=PTO2&Se...](http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-\nParser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-\nbool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20100332285.PGNR.&OS=DN/20100332285RS=DN/20100332285)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\n10 Communication Secrets of Great Leaders - EREFUNDO\nhttp://www.linkedin.com/share?viewLink=&sid=s1016258766&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eforbes%2Ecom%2Fsites%2Fmikemyatt%2F2012%2F04%2F04%2F10-communication-secrets-of-great-leaders%2F&urlhash=o42f&pk=member-home&pp=5&poster=4447702&uid=5593551856501522432&trk=NUS_UNIU_SHARE-title\nKey to Innovation is Communication\n======\nEREFUNDO\nI have always been the \"extrovert\" in my team (PayGuard)..... always\npassionate and excited to share my ideas. The greatest thing I have ever\nlearned from all our meetings is knowing when to just shut up and listen. I\ncame to the realization that my team members are just as smart or even smarter\nthan I am. I also realized how lucky I am to be working with such people.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThousands of California soldiers forced to repay enlistment bonuses - ftrflyr\nhttp://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-national-guard-bonus-20161020-snap-story.html\n======\nrileymat2\n\"Robert D’Andrea, a retired Army major and Iraq veteran, was told to return a\n$20,000 bonus he received in 2008 because auditors could not find a copy of\nthe contract he says he signed.\"\n\nHow is this possible? If private businesses could do this, it would be mayhem.\n\n~~~\ndogma1138\nI'm surprised that this is somehow even passed the slightest political\noversight.\n\nYou need to be a special kind of bastard to ask some one who willingly signed\nup to get shot at while defending their country to pay back any amount of\nmoney they got paid for doing so.\n\nWars aren't pretty, regardless of what you think about them, and especially\nabout Iraq and Afghanistan never ever take it out on the soldiers, they are\nprobably on your side because unlike most of us they actually seen war.\n\nSoldiers don't decide when, where or against whom to go to war, they are not\nat fault I never understood how the left in the US could blame people who\neither got drafted (vietnam) or signed up to defend their country (post 9/11)\nfor the atrocities of war.\n\n~~~\nreturn0\nMy understanding is that the US has a professional army. Why are they called\n\"volunteers\"? Over here, a volunteer is someone who voluntarily joins earlier\nthan required to begin his mandatory army service. People who join a job are\nall volunteers of course, but that's not remarkable.\n\n~~~\ndogma1138\nThere are two types of military service compulsory and voluntary hence they\nare called volunteers.\n\nCompulsory involves conscription or a draft, I'm not sure how the \"jail or\narmy\" thing is classified but since you are given a choice it's technically\nstelly voluntary.\n\nThe \"professional\" classification of the army doesn't mean it's voluntary\nprofessional means that you can be a career soldier and you are paid for doing\nso even if you are drafted, conscripts on the other hand are not paid other\nthan a small stipend.\n\nThat said once you sign up the contract this isn't a job, you can't quit, you\ncan't \"call in sick\", can't say no to anything, you are effectively forced to\ngive up certain rights for the duration of the contract.\n\n~~~\nreturn0\ncompulsory is definitely not voluntary. otoh i dont think theres any\ndifference between professional and voluntary.\n\n------\nQUFB\nI'm not a veteran, I'm a desk jockey. I didn't like the foreign entanglements\nwe've been involved with over the past 15 years. But that's not the point\nhere.\n\nWhen young men and women volunteer to fight and die for our country, and are\nmade promises by the system, these promises should be honored.\n\nThis behavior by the California National Guard is disgusting.\n\n~~~\nnucleardog\nI don't get why it has to be at all about the role itself, the honour of the\nmilitary, or anything else.\n\nIf I'm extended an offer of employment including a $10,000 signing bonus,\nsign, take the job, receive my bonus, complete the job as agreed, and the\ncontract expires and I go on my way... The company doesn't get to come back to\nme years later and say \"Oh, oops, I actually forgot to have my boss sign off\non that bonus I gave you. You need to give it back.\"\n\nIf you broke agreements with your financers on where/how that money was to be\nspent, that's _your problem_. Our contract was still valid - you have broken\nyour contract with your financer and _you_ can deal with the penalties.\n\n~~~\nbww\nSeriously. The people who illegally gave away the government's money should be\non the hook for repaying it. Not the people who accepted it legitimately and\nin good faith.\n\n------\nCalChris\n_“We’d be more than happy to absolve these people of their debts. We just\ncan’t do it. We’d be breaking the law.”_\n\nOk. There's a law, a bad law that needs to be changed. Is Congress so\ndysfunctional it can't fix this monstrosity?\n\n~~~\nwithdavidli\nYes. Think about the 911 bill. Taking a decade to help cover medical costs of\nfirst responders and those that helped dig out dead bodies and hoping to find\nsurvivors. It was so sad to see Jon Stewart talk about this years later with\nonly one person from the original panel because two were too ill now to show\nup and one died.\n\n[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3350433/John-\nStewart...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3350433/John-Stewart-s-\npoignant-return-Daily-three-chairs-Former-host-Trevor-Noah-s-guest-leaves-\nspaces-9-11-responders-dead-ill-join-show.html)\n\n~~~\ntoomuchtodo\nKudos to Jon Stewart though. He walked the halls of Congress on his own time\nafter leaving the Daily Show to shame representatives into passing the bill\nresponsible for covering the care of first responders.\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L11Bxolo44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L11Bxolo44)\n\n------\njohngalt\nThis smells like recruiters gaming the system while under pressure from the\ntop to fill quotas. In the same vein as Wells Fargo.\n\nHit this impossible target or you're fired. We can't tell you to lie/cheat\npeople to hit the numbers but we will promote the people who do and PIP the\nones who don't. Meanwhile we will go through the motions of legal compliance.\n\nEveryone gets what they want and the higher ups can come back later and act\nlike it is a huge surprise to them that the people they hired and trained were\ngaming the system.\n\n------\nthrowawayIndian\nElsewhere, a for-profit prison extended their contract[1] with Feds barely a\nmonth after the Department of Justice said it would end[2] contracts with\nprivate prison operators.\n\n[1]\n[https://twitter.com/i/moments/789498562904293376](https://twitter.com/i/moments/789498562904293376)\n\n[2] [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-\nnation/wp/2016/08/1...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-\nnation/wp/2016/08/18/justice-department-says-it-will-end-use-of-private-\nprisons/)\n\nThese are pretty quick u-turns by an establishment that's confident about\nbusiness as usual following elections. Gravy-train!\n\n~~~\nmikecb\nThis was for a DHS immigration facility, not for a prison. (Not that it makes\nit any better, but it doesn't break with Justice's decision.)\n\n------\nTillE\nThe article doesn't quote anyone from California's Congressional delegation,\nor from the White House. Is there really no reaction here? We're talking about\na few million dollars from the federal government to relieve an awful\nsituation.\n\n~~~\nrhizome\nPersonally, as a Californian I'm calling everybody on my chain-of-legislation\non Monday.\n\n~~~\ntoomuchtodo\nTHANK YOU. Only through action does change occur.\n\n------\nerentz\nIt's not clear from the article how this situation came to be.\n\nWere these soldiers told how much they would receive before enlisting? If so\nsurely that is a contract and they don't have to repay. It only makes sense if\nthey ALL received more than they were told and all didn't report it. But\n~10,000 people doing this doesn't make sense.\n\n~~~\nchrismcb\nFrom the article \"Investigations have determined that lack of oversight\nallowed for widespread fraud and mismanagement by California Guard officials\nunder pressure to meet enlistment targets.\"\n\n~~~\nerentz\nBut fraud on the part of the California Guard is an internal matter. If I form\na contract with a company that says they will pay me some amount of money, but\nthe company representative was committing fraud internally then too bad. The\ncompany needs to deal with that. It can't reneg on its agreement years later\nafter having already fulfilled the terms of the agreement.\n\n~~~\nderekp7\nIf you buy a piece of electronic equipment from a dealer at a flea market, and\nit is later found out that the merchandise was stolen, you have to return the\nmerchandise to the original owner. Even if there was a valid contract between\nyou and the dealer that sold it to you.\n\nI think this is seen as something similar -- the people giving out the bonus\nmoney basically \"stole\" it, so it wasn't theirs to give. Kind of like if a\nsales person at a store told you \"buy now and I can give you an instant\nrebate\", then pulled rebate money from the cash register. I think you'd have\nto give that money back too (assuming the \"rebate\" wasn't authorized, and was\neffectively stolen money).\n\n~~~\nanotheryou\nBut if the dealer was known he would have to reimburse me, no?\n\nAlso what if I where no longer in possession of the good?\n\n~~~\nrobryk\n> But if the dealer was known he would have to reimburse me, no?\n\nYes, but even if you've caused a judgement against him to be passed there'd\nlikely be nothing to collect from (because you're not the only person in such\na situation and he's likely had used the money).\n\n------\na3n\nI tell my son, his friends, and anyone who will listen: don't join the\nmilitary unless this is your calling, indicated by God's finger touching your\nheart.\n\nBecause the military will treat you like shit if it's merely inconvenient to\ndo otherwise. VA. Guard units called up to combat for one day shy of the time\nthat would qualify them for combat pay. The linked article. Institutional\nabuse. Forced reenlistment during questionable wars. Etc.\n\nUSN, E6, 1975-1981. Not that that gives me any particular place on the moral\nground. And for the record, I had a relatively easy time in the Navy. But even\nif I'd never been in, I'd be as outraged as I am now.\n\n------\ncjslep\nI imagine this only damages the USA. The next time they need heavy recruitment\nnumbers, people will look at the signing bonuses offered and either say \"My\nlife is worth more than this amount\" or \"this amount is too good to be true,\nthey'll ask for it back in the future\" and not sign on.\n\n------\ndbg31415\nSo did recruiters cut bigger checks than they were supposed to? If so, someone\nhad to sign off on that... either recruiters or the managers should be held\naccountable.\n\nSoldiers got contracts promising one amount but received checks for another\namount? Yeah, they should have to pay that back then.\n\nBut who wrote checks and / or promised numbers higher than the contracts?\n\n~~~\nDanBC\n> Soldiers got contracts promising one amount but received checks for another\n> amount? Yeah, they should have to pay that back then.\n\nNo, soldiers got promised one amount, got contracts for that amount, got paid\nthat amount, and now it's being clawed back because the people who did the\noriginal promising and paperwork filing were breaking various laws.\n\n~~~\ndbg31415\nWell if they have contracts for the higher amount... how is this a thing?\n\nUnless the contracts weren't signed by someone from the government who could\nsign those contracts?\n\nHow would the soldiers know if the government recruiter was legit or not...\nyeah seems fucked. Government didn't supervise their recruiters correctly.\nWouldn't that make all the contracts void? Messy.\n\nIf the military needs bodies, they should just go back to drafting them. Would\nhelp society see the true cost of policing the world instead of taking\nadvantage of the poor.\n\n------\nZanyProgrammer\nAs an Army vet myself, the truth is is that the Army will never miss an\nopportunity for fucking you over. Its the nature of the system. If you can\nmake it to 20 years, you are some combination of exceptional/lucky/broken from\nyears of fuckery.\n\n\"We just can’t do it. We’d be breaking the law\"\n\nYeah, I'm sure the California National Guard tried _really, really_ hard not\nto go after their bonuses.\n\n~~~\napsec112\nCan you go into more detail? I'm not trying to dispute what you say, but as\nsomeone who's never been in the military, I'm curious what kind of trouble\nsoldiers are likely to run into.\n\n~~~\nmarktangotango\nNote he's talking specifically about active duty Army, not necessarily any\nother branch. I can relate a story as an example.\n\nI was enlisted in the late 90's and stationed Germany. I had a POV (personal\nvehicle) that I had to license/register. I had to drive to a neighboring\nfacility to get to the license office. The office was closed, for some stupid\nreason (they where short staffed, and someone was out sick). The Area Military\nPolice where in the same building, and I (stupidly) stopped a the desk\nsargeant and complained. I was escorted in to see the MP Sergeant Major, who\nyelled at me for a while, and took my ration card and confiscated my license\nplates (for no reason other than he could bully a lower enisted).\n\nSo this all meant I had to leave my car, and take the train back to my home\nbase. I was late, and got into a lot of trouble for that. Then, I had to beg\nand finagle to go back and get my car properly licensed a week later, when I\nwas supposed to have already had it done. This all contributed to me getting a\nreputation as 'shit bag', do nothing low life of a private. You get a lot hell\nwhen you have that type of reputation; a lot of 'extra duty' and unfair\ntreatment. Like being ordered to crawl through mud in near freezing weather,\nwith no change of clothes and no oppurtunity to dry off for DAYS.\n\nBut yeah, normal humans can't comprehend; fuckery. The term \"fuck fuck\" games\nfrom the reddit link is very fitting.\n\n~~~\nZanyProgrammer\nI was actually a reservist :) And I'm a she not he :D\n\n------\nrhapsodic\nAnd yet we can afford to bail out Wall Street firms that pay their executives\nmillions in bonuses for driving their companies into the ground.\n\n------\naplomb\nInstead of hitting the soldiers who signed what they thought were reenlistment\nbonuses, why don't they pommel the commanding officers who presided over these\n\"overpayments\"?\n\n------\nNegative1\nWasn't clear from the article; did someone or a group of people break the law\nso that these (\"illegal\") bonuses could be paid? Basically, who (or what org)\nwill be held accountable for this so that it won't happen again?\n\n~~~\ndetaro\nAt least a partial answer is there, but presumably there are lot more people\ninvolved:\n\n> _Army Master Sgt. Toni Jaffe, the California Guard’s incentive manager,\n> pleaded guilty in 2011 to filing false claims of $15.2 million and was\n> sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. Three officers also pleaded guilty\n> to fraud and were put on probation after paying restitution._\n\n~~~\nvacri\nIt's disturbing that someone whose actions have brought such heartache and\nhardship to so many gets such a short sentence compared to 'blue collar'\ncrimes. Rob a shop with a weapon, and you harm one person and get a trivial\namount of money, but you'd be lucky to see a sentence that short.\n\n------\nfencepost\nIt sounds like this was not at all limited to California, just that there were\nmore cases there due to various reasons (population, individuals,\npolicies/incentives).\n\nI'll be writing to my representative (Duckworth), both candidates to replace\nher, and her Senate opponent (Kirk). I expect responses at least from the two\nnamed since both are former military.\n\n------\nzachruss92\nHonestly, this story is just sad. I understand that there was fraud involved\nin order to incentivize soldiers to reenlist, but it's not their fault; It was\nthe people who manipulated them into reenlisting.\n\nI definitely think in this case the government should \"forgive\" this debt -\nand they probably will. VA benefits are already pretty flimsy, our vets have\nit hard enough.\n\n------\nlucio\n>>Robert D’Andrea, a retired Army major and Iraq veteran, was told to return a\n$20,000 bonus he received in 2008 because _auditors_ could not find a copy of\nthe contract he says he signed.\n\n>>We’d be more than happy to absolve these people of their debts. We just\ncan’t do it. We’d be breaking the law.\n\n\\- Stop quoting laws at us. We carry weapons\n\n------\nguelo\nNot really surprised, the California Guard has been a corrupt mismanaged\nscandal-plagued organization for a long time.\n\n------\nKeverw\nThis is so unbelievable they could mess up somthing like this. I hope this\nbecomes major news. These people shouldn't be paying for someone else\nmistakes. If the money is mentioned in the contract, I don't see how they\ncould just take it because of their mistake.\n\n------\nserg_chernata\nSo much of war is already unapologetically about about money. This is just\nadding insult to injury.\n\n~~~\napsec112\nLooking down Wikipedia's list of active conflicts\n([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ongoing_armed_conflict...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ongoing_armed_conflicts)),\nit's hard to believe that money is a primary cause of any of them. I'm sure\nsomeone somewhere is making a profit, but that's different from the conflict\nbeing \"about money\".\n\n~~~\nSkeptique\nIt would be poor press to announce that a war is about money, but the veneer\nof pretense is thin. The Syrian war, especially given Russia's involvement is\nalmost certainly about securing passage for natural gas pipelines.\n\nWho thinks the Iraq war was actually about Freedom? That might have been the\nrallying cry but it was about securing access to oil and securing massive re-\nbuilding contracts and/or reparation money. Many argue that the 1990s stock\nmarket boom was a direct result of the US getting $10/barrel oil via the Iraq\nwar reparation deal, where they repaid the US for the costs of having to\nattack the US.\n\nAny war where people suddenly have an interest in saving humanity should be\nviewed very skeptically, since there are hundreds of crises of freedom around\nthe world. If the crisis happens to be on top of a giant oil field, well, then\nthere may be some conflating variable.\n\n~~~\napsec112\n\"The Syrian war, especially given Russia's involvement is almost certainly\nabout securing passage for natural gas pipelines.\"\n\nDo you have a cite for that? No one on any side is building pipelines in Syria\nanytime soon, because, well, war. Also, pretty sure if I told Suheil al-Hassan\nor Abu Mohammad al-Julani they were fighting for natural gas pipelines, they'd\nknock my teeth out.\n\n~~~\ncameldrv\nI have no idea if or how much this factors in, or even if it's true, but the\nstory I've heard is that several years back, there was a plan for a pipeline\nthat would go from Qatar and Saudi Arabia through Jordan, Syria, and Turkey to\nEurope. This would be a significant economic threat to Russia, since gas\nexports are about $25 billion/yr, about 2% of Russia's GDP, and a big source\nof hard currency, but also important is Russia's use of its gas pipelines to\nEurope to threaten to cut off supplies to countries in Eastern and Central\nEurope, which would not be possible if there were a gulf source of gas\navailable. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have a lot of gas that is going to waste or\nis staying in the ground, so they could easily supply the European market.\nSupposedly, Assad turned down the deal, and the civil war started shortly\nafter.\n\n~~~\njcranmer\nThe main Russian alternative pipeline I'm aware of is Nabucco, which would be\nfrom Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan via Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania,\nHungary, Austria and Germany. I've not been aware of any pipeline projects\nfrom Qatar and Saudi Arabia--their natural gas is exported mostly via LNG.\nConsidering that, unlike oil, natural gas prices are not priced equally around\nthe world, and that the price for natural gas is much, much higher in Asia\nthan elsewhere (Europe is about 20% the price of Asia and the US about a third\nto a half that of Europe (yay fracking!)), it's much more profitable for them\nto export to Asia.\n\nEdit: After doing some research, I did find that there was a proposal for a\nQatar-Turkey pipeline in 2010 (see\n[https://web.archive.org/web/20120228125310/http://pipelinesi...](https://web.archive.org/web/20120228125310/http://pipelinesinternational.com/news/pipeline_projects_in_the_middle_east/040183)\n). It was proposed to connect to Nabucco, which hasn't been built. The\narticles that link the Syrian civil war, or more specifically Qatari\ninvolvement in said war, contend that Qatar wants a Muslim Brotherhood\ngovernment to build the pipeline, which ignores Saudi coolness to the idea of\nthe pipeline (Saudi Arabia also funds rebels in the civil war) and the fact\nthat Qatar also funded the uprisings in Libya and Egypt, in the path of no\ncontended pipeline.\n\nIn other words, the idea that the Syrian civil war is mostly about gas\npipelines looks rather like people trying to find some resource that the war\nmust be about because they can't believe war is about anything other than\nresources.\n\n------\nblazespin\nMaybe this is a good thing as it will make it harder to get people to go to\nwar next time. Perhaps we might think twice about invading other countries.\n\n------\nAKifer\nIt's a scheme as old as the world, even Julius Caesar owed money to his\nlegions men and did not pay them.\n\n------\nWalterBright\nIsn't there a statute of limitations on such belated claims?\n\n------\ncbreeden\nThis is weird. I'm extremely surprised that some kind of statue of limitations\ndoes not apply here. I'm not sure we are getting the whole story.\n\n------\nFrogolocalypse\nThat is sickening\n\n------\nolegkikin\nSue.\n\n------\nthomasmarriott\nAbhorrent.\n\n------\ncloudjacker\nIdiots all the way to the top, looks like something only the President or\nCongress can remedy\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWhat to do when stuck on a problem? Sleep. - zackyap\nhttp://www.zackyap.com/post/30716510801/what-to-do-when-stuck-on-a-problem-sleep\n\n======\nmtkd\nAnything that takes you away from the problem will help.\n\nTake a shower if you don't have long.\n\nI recommend walking before taking on a big problem - even if you're not stuck.\n\nA 1h walk means you are unable to code your first solution, by the time you\nget back you'll be 4 iterations on in your head - you've just saved yourself 2\ndays.\n\n~~~\ngenwin\nI too find that planning code while in the shower or during a walk is much\nmore effective than when at the computer or whiteboard.\n\n------\nkiba\nSo, it's a short post about how sleeping might help, but there's no attempt to\nactually conduct a scientific experiment to find out if you get better ideas\nby doing that. At the very least you could do is supplement your post with\nsome citations.\n\nAre startup people so lazy that they rely only on seat-of-the-pant anecdotal\nevidences?\n\n~~~\nlvh\nTo be fair, he does at least reference Wikipedia, which has well-sourced\nstatements at least partially backing up what he appears to be claiming.\n\n~~~\nzackyap\n^ Yeap. This. I was mainly trying to share a problem solving technique that's\nbeen working for me. I did look up Wikipedia for an explanation and linked to\nit. It was a pretty decent explanation with credible research sources. I'll\nmake it more obvious that it isn't some sort of scientific self-quote.\n\nThanks for the suggestion and thanks for backing me up.\n\n------\natirip\nYes, yes, exactly what i am doing for a long time, deliberatley. My brain\nworks at night, i usally can not get very good sleep, but i do see lot of\ninteresting dreams and somehow the solution presents himself at some point. Be\nprepared you may forgot the solution when you wake up like dreams you saw. So\ntry to not mix them in the middle of the night ;-) And no, i cannot help with\nthat, i can separate them somehow.\n\n~~~\nzackyap\nI spend some time thinking through the ideas when I wake. Evernote works great\nfor me especially when it's copy or marketing ideas.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBody Count Rises as Philippine President Wages War on Drugs - Archio\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/03/world/asia/philippines-duterte-drug-killing.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news\n======\nhitokx\nI don't know much about the subject, but I have the feeling that thousands of\npeople are going to die and drugs will still be a problem.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: What is the state of the art in text to speech? - thom\nWith a particular interest in systems that might be run offline on mobiles!\n======\nzip6\nI don't know what the current state of the art is, but you should take a look\nat WaveNet if you haven't already -\n[https://arxiv.org/pdf/1609.03499.pdf](https://arxiv.org/pdf/1609.03499.pdf)\n\nWhile trying to search for an answer, I came across this list of papers, which\nhas a section on speech synthesis - [https://github.com/zzw922cn/awesome-\nspeech-recognition-speec...](https://github.com/zzw922cn/awesome-speech-\nrecognition-speech-synthesis-papers)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nI created Wire Storm, an Electronics Themed Puzzle Game for iPhone/iPad - sprite\nhttp://www.wire-storm.com\n\n======\nsprite\nI recently released this game for iPhone and iPad. It was developed 45 days\nand is written in Objective-C and using the Cocos 2d framework. My inspiration\ncame from my interest in electronics. I would love some feedback on the game.\n\n~~~\nd0ne\nI've actually tried this game out and it is very clean. Good work sprite. What\nwas the most challenging part of the app development process?\n\n~~~\nsprite\nThe most challenging part was perfecting the level generation while\nmaintaining generation speed on the slower devices. I ended up generating\nprecompiled level seeds. Each level seed is then randomly shuffled 20,000\ntimes on the device.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSlacker: RPC by clojure and for clojure  - sunng\nhttps://github.com/sunng87/slacker\n\n======\nlbt05\nseems interesting and expect lazy-seq support in future\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nGitHub's Wild West Approach To Licensing Has Hidden Costs - oBeLx\nhttp://readwrite.com/2013/07/16/githubs-wild-west-approach-to-licensing-has-hidden-costs\n\n======\nBWStearns\nI wonder how they weighted a repo. If I have a toy project up on GitHub that I\nnever really intended to do anything with or have anyone use, is that really\nthe same thing as putting up a useful library that I made and simply didn't\nlicense?\n\n------\nDamnYuppie\nOut of curiosity when did open source become \"The Man\" as implied by this\narticle?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDell in talks to merge with EMC for $50bn - roymurdock\nhttp://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/07/dell-emc-in-talks-to-merge-dj-citing-sources.html\n======\nQUFB\nMichael Dell in 2002: [http://www.cnet.com/news/dell-apple-should-close-\nshop/](http://www.cnet.com/news/dell-apple-should-close-shop/)\n\n~~~\nmelling\n1997\n\n[http://youtu.be/_hq0Ny1WgFs](http://youtu.be/_hq0Ny1WgFs)\n\nI think there's a video somewhere where Steve say F* Michael Dell.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBlackRock bulks up research into artificial intelligence - thisisit\nhttps://www.ft.com/content/4f5720ce-1552-11e8-9376-4a6390addb44\n======\nthisisit\nNon-paywall link:\n\n[https://outline.com/CsWtYW](https://outline.com/CsWtYW)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe fungus that devastates the Cavendish banana has now arrived in Latin America - reddotX\nhttps://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/08/banana-fungus-latin-america-threatening-future/\n======\ndisillusioned\nFun banana facts:\n\nBananas are the most-sold item at most grocery stores and, notably, Wal-Mart.\n\nBananas also have the highest standard deviation in terms of predicting if a\ngiven (known) consumer will purchase bananas in a given store run. (At least\nas compared to other food products and consumables.) When predicting a\nconsumer's shop, it's generally pretty easy to make a highly educated guess\nabout their purchasing activity and, thus, to project volumes for products.\nBut bananas defy that wisdom, except that people in aggregate buy a lot of\nthem. Someone who buys bananas reliably every week for months will randomly\nstop for months, and then start again, for no perceivable rhyme or reason.\nBananas aren't seasonal purchases like berries or corn or other fruits or\nvegetables. Bananas also tend to be a high purchase at gas stations and\nconvenience stores.\n\nBananas have to be effectively \"tricked\" into continuing to ripen after being\nprematurely picked and then refrigerated for transit. So there are banana\nripening centers that pump ethylene through a chilled chamber to get them to\nripen.\n\n~~~\nneiman\n> Bananas are the most-sold item at most grocery stores and, notably, Wal-\n> Mart.\n\nIn which country? The US? This can't be globally true..\n\n~~~\napexalpha\nI've heard this about Dutch stores as well. Supermarkets sell banana's at 0%\nmargin or even a loss simply because it lures customers in.\n\n~~~\nnimajneb\nThey have been 49 cents per pound in the grocery store in NY, both where I\ngrew and in WNY for as long as I can remember. They have got to be at a loss\nif you consider they don't adjust for inflation or gas prices, etc. Milk does\nthis too if I'm not mistaken, a lot of grocery stores use that as a customer\nlure as well.\n\n------\nsn41\nBananas are the prime cautionary tale against monoculture. The number of\nnative breeds which are now gone for the sake of promotion of one particular\nbreed leads to less resilience against disease and pests. Just in my corner of\nIndia, there are various varieties. [1] However, in the U.S., the only variety\nyou often get to see is the insipid Cavendish, whose only merit seems to be\nshelf-life.\n\nIf you travel in the tropics, do try out local varieties. It is an amazing\nfruit (?).\n\n[1] [http://mywordsnthoughts.com/myworld/all-about-\nkerala/differe...](http://mywordsnthoughts.com/myworld/all-about-\nkerala/different-types-of-banana-available-in-kerala/)\n\n~~~\nlatchkey\nI currently live in Vietnam, but was recently traveling around Laos by\nmotorbike. The bananas there are almost inedible... they taste awful. I found\nit fascinating how different they were compared with Vietnamese bananas.\n\nThat said, I saw huge fields of farmed trees literally everywhere there (as\nwell as in VN). I don't think they are in any real danger of disappearing like\nthese articles say. It is very sensationalist news.\n\n~~~\nonion2k\n_That said, I saw huge fields of farmed trees literally everywhere there (as\nwell as in VN). I don 't think they are in any real danger of disappearing\nlike these articles say. It is very sensationalist news._\n\n\"I can't see the problem with my own eyes so I don't think there's a problem.\"\nis exactly the sort of thinking that leads to climate denial and anti-vaxx\nnonsense. Unless you've spent a lot of time and effort understanding the\nbanana industry you simply aren't qualified to make that judgement.\n\n~~~\nlatchkey\nWow, that is a stretch to loop my thinking in with both of those movements. I\nam not even close to that nonsense.\n\nOf course I'm no expert, but this whole banana disappearance story has been\ngoing on for many years, yet we still have bananas. There is not even close to\na shortage of bananas. It reminds me of the Helium is running out stories.\n\nLet me also remind you that the story is talking about a specific strain and\nmy comment was clearly not about that strain.\n\nI could also say... unless you've driven 8500km all over Vietnam, Cambodia and\nLaos and seen first hand the millions of banana trees, your thinking might be\nconstrained to some one sitting behind a keyboard.\n\n~~~\nonion2k\n_There is not even close to a shortage of bananas._\n\nIANABE (I am not a banana expert) but I know that no one suggested there is a\nshortage right now. What's threatened is the world's supply of Cavendish\nbananas which is what every Western country imports. Prior to that everyone\nate Gros Michel bananas, but practically all plantations growing that\nparticular crop were wiped out in the space of 30 years by Panama Disease.\nCavendish was the response - it _was_ Panama Disease resistant, but about 15\nyears ago the disease started attacking Cavendish crops. The concern is that\nthis means we're a decade or two away from losing Cavendish _and we don 't\nhave a suitable replacement_ (because, as people have said in this thread,\nother bananas aren't as tasty to Western palettes).\n\nTo post \"Nah, there's no problem\" shows you don't quite understand that\nproblem, and to cite that you've seen a few big banana plantations as evidence\nthat the problem isn't a real one just compounds the issue.\n\nIf Panama Disease mutates to attack the plantations you saw they could _all_\nbe gone in a decade. That's how virulent the disease is. It _is_ a problem.\n\n~~~\nlatchkey\n> we don't have a suitable replacement\n\nThat is your opinion. I've been lucky enough to taste plenty of other banana\nstrains and there are definitely better banana's than Cavendish. The smaller\nones that you generally get in this region, that are really ugly on the\noutside, taste so much better.\n\n> you've seen a few big banana plantations\n\nMore than 'a few'... literally 3 whole countries worth. There is absolutely no\nshortage of trees and farms. Just to give you an idea of how much I've seen\nand I didn't even tag all of it...\n[https://imgur.com/a/olSoTXe](https://imgur.com/a/olSoTXe)\n\nI'm not saying that this disease isn't a problem, but I have hard time\nbelieving it is a catastrophic problem for all bananas.\n\nIf you're going to go into big problems, I'd say that African Swine flu is a\nmuch larger issue for this region. I drove through countless 'checkpoints' all\nover northern VN/Laos where they sprayed down my motorbike wheels with some\nunknown chemicals. There are literally signs everywhere talking about the\nissue. Millions of swine have been slaughtered. Usually you see pigs running\naround freely on the roads, but once you get to a certain point in northern\nvn, you stop seeing them entirely.\n\n~~~\nonion2k\n_That is your opinion._\n\nIt's not my opinion. It's the opinion of every banana industry analyst who\nsays losing the Cavendish would be the end of the banana export industry,\nwhich is pretty much all of them. There's a reason why we get articles\ncatastrophising about the impact of Panama Disease posted to HN on a semi-\nregular basis.\n\n~~~\nlatchkey\n> It's the opinion of every banana industry analyst who says losing the\n> Cavendish would be the end of the banana export industry, which is pretty\n> much all of them.\n\nWhat a great title for a business card. Of course they have every motivation\nto say that the sky is falling. It attracts attention, doesn't it?\n\n> There's a reason why we get articles catastrophising about the impact of\n> Panama Disease posted to HN on a semi-regular basis.\n\nI'm sure there is a reason, but it may not be what you think it is.\n\n------\nanfilt\nI find it weird that people would not like other variety of bananas. Like\nthere are generally more than one type of apples, potatoes, onions, tomotoes,\nand lettuce at most grocery stores.\n\nI would like the choice.\n\n~~~\nburfog\nWith most of those, each type has a distinct use.\n\nGranny Smith apples are for baking, McIntosh apples are for eating fresh, Red\nDelicious apples are for decoration, and the rest serve no purpose.\n\nRusset potatoes are for baking, stew, and fries. Purple potatoes are for\nfrying up with steak. The rest serve no purpose.\n\nIt's different with bananas. Cavendish is good. Maybe the Gros Michel is good\ntoo, but I wouldn't know. The rest are variations of sour, mushy, slimy, and\ntoo tiny. It's also a problem of telling when a banana is ripe. It is easy to\nmemorize exactly how a single variety of banana ripens. If there are more\nvarieties, they get mixed up and eaten at the wrong time.\n\n~~~\njmull\nI can assure you, you are very wrong about the uses of other varieties of\nApples and Potatoes. You're also wrong about russet potatoes for stew -- other\nvarieties work out a lot better when you want your potatoes to hold their\nshape.\n\n(I would assume likewise with bananas as well, but I don't have the experience\nto know myself.)\n\nIt's OK -- maybe you don't have the most acute tastebuds or just lack a\nculinary interest. It's even pretty much dead wrong to think about these\nthings in terms of uses. Food can be a delight and an art, and proscribed\n\"use\" doesn't allow for that.\n\nAnyway: if you haven't tried it in a while, branch out. You might really enjoy\nand appreciate what you've been missing out on.\n\n~~~\nburfog\nI do have a strong culinary interest, but I'm also choosy. I try lots of\nthings to discover what is best, and then I use what is best.\n\nRusset potatoes are the best for stew. The others have off flavors or don't\nsoften as nicely.\n\nI have tried many types of cheese. I eliminated all except mozzarella and mild\ncheddar.\n\nI have tried every exotic fruit in the store except durian. I ended up liking\njackfruit, dragonfruit, rambutan, lychee, longan, and loquat.\n\nThe point of trying new foods is to find the best, not to pretend that they\nare all equally delicious.\n\n------\nksherlock\nAnd has been since every 6 months since 2008. Probably even before then, but\nhn.alogolia.com doesn't go back further.\n\n~~~\ndang\nThere's always money in the banana story.\n\n------\ntux1968\nThese sentences seemed at odds with one another:\n\n> Banana agriculture is itself partly to blame for the potential of the fungus\n> to spread. Commercial plantations grow almost exclusively one clonal\n> variety, called the Cavendish; these plants’ identical genetics mean they\n> are also identically susceptible to disease.\n\nand then very shortly after saying:\n\n> ... residents of banana-producing nations rely on a multitude of local\n> varieties, including plantains, for their food security. Panama disease TR4\n> has a notoriously broad host range, meaning it threatens nearly all of these\n> varieties to some degree.\n\n~~~\nggm\nI don't see these in conflict. commercially exported banana is based on clonal\nreproduction and is therefore _highly_ exposed to risk of a disease. All\nbanana varieties (to some extent) have risk, the locally _consumed_ varieties\nare not always Cavendish, or LadyFinger but include more rich varieties which\nmay or may not be clonally sourced, but do include seeded bananas and plantain\nvarieties, but also have the risk: its just commercial agriculture has driven\nto a very very high risk of consequence.\n\n------\nbrink\nThere's a GMO variety of the Cavendish that is resistant to the Panama\nDisease.\n\n[https://www.accessscience.com/content/genetic-engineering-\nof...](https://www.accessscience.com/content/genetic-engineering-of-bananas-\nto-combat-panama-disease/BR1208171)\n\n~~~\nautokad\nI want to have GMO big mikes =(\n\n~~~\nAloha\nI've always wanted to try a Big Mike\n\n~~~\nslavik81\nAtlas Obscura had an article in which they ordered a box of Big Mikes from the\nMiami Fruit Company. It's a little on the pricy side to ship boxes of boutique\nfruits across the country, but they have quite an interesting selection.\n\nIf I was in your shoes, I might wait for Big Mikes to be in season, then order\nthe banana variety pack[1] (and ask that they include a Big Mike). You could\npre-order a large box (10-14lbs) of Big Mikes[2], but that seems like a lot to\nbuy at once.\n\nI've never heard of these folks before today, but now I kind of want to throw\na fruit tasting party.\n\n[1]: [https://miamifruit.org/collections/fresh-and-\ndried/products/...](https://miamifruit.org/collections/fresh-and-\ndried/products/banana-variety-box) [2]:\n[https://miamifruit.org/collections/banana-pre-\norders/product...](https://miamifruit.org/collections/banana-pre-\norders/products/gros-michel-banana-box-pre-order)\n\n~~~\ndeadmetheny\nI regularly order fruit from these guys and can attest that it's all very good\nquality. The banana sampler in particular is one of the few ways I can\nactually get a good variety of bananas outside of being on holiday.\n\n------\njedberg\n> Other scientists—most notably, James Dale of the Queensland University of\n> Technology in Australia—are testing genetically modified disease-resistant\n> Cavendish bananas, but public acceptance of GMOs could prove a significant\n> obstacle to their widespread adoption.\n\nThis is the problem right here. The lack of science education. A banana\nmodified in a lab and one that is bred through selective breeding are both\n\"GMO\", it's just that one is done in a targeted manner and the other relies on\nrandom luck in the mutations.\n\nIf people weren't so afraid of science this problem would already be solved.\n\nThe two main producers refuse to even consider the \"GMO\" bananas because they\nare afraid they won't sell. If they would just take up the cause, they could\nput enough money behind this to solve the problem in a year.\n\n~~~\nicxa\nI'm pretty up to date on the science myself, and I still consider myself anti-\nGMO for a host of reasons, little to do with the science. My objections are\nmore philosophical.\n\ntwo primary reasons: hubris and greed.\n\nThe hubris to think we know which varietals are the best and will continue to\nbe the best. We may go all in on one species or variant and then turns out an\nunknown bacteria we have previously no clue about wipes out all of them. You\nnever know, you _need_ variety. Bacteria outnumber us all.\n\nnumber two: greed. You worried about tech being consolidated into the big 5?\nhow about this scientific research? you want our _food_ , something we\n_actually_ depend on, to be consolidated into 2-3 chemical companies? I don't.\n\nSmaller reasons include: the power of being able to still survive on pure\nnature's means, and the freedom to do so. We don't realize it, but these\nthings we do out here in the more advanced nations greatly impact the\ndeveloping world, where a large portion of the world's population exists.\n\n~~~\nroywiggins\n> The hubris to think we know which varietals are the best and will continue\n> to be the best.\n\nIf they don't grow GMO Cavendish, they will pick some other variety and grow\n_that_ everywhere, like they did after the Gros Michel went under. GMO doesn't\nseem to be a prerequisite for monoculture at all.\n\n> the power of being able to still survive on pure nature's means\n\nWe haven't been able to do that since the dawn of agriculture. If modern\nagriculture disappeared tomorrow, the Cavendish plantations would not resemble\nCavendish plantations very long, Panama disease or not.\n\nThe only problem I have with a \"GMO Cavendish\" is that it would likely be\npatented, which could create a company with some _extraordinarily_ powerful\nIP, which is very dangerous. But that's a problem with the law, not GMOs per\nse.\n\n~~~\nxbmcuser\nMany of us that are considered anti gmo are more anti patent for food genes\nrather than of anti gmo. The developing world mostly has agricultural economy\nnow Western companies are trying to horn in that as well. A few years ago an\nAmerican company tried to patent and stop Pakistan and India from selling a\nrice variety called Basmati by modifing it genes and trying to patent it. When\nits come to gmo the trust deficit in rest of the world is not just about the\nscience but of the western companies and their patents.\n\n~~~\nyoube\nThen don't call yourselves anti-GMO?\n\n~~~\nxbmcuser\nI didn't say we were anti-gmo rather we are labeled as anti-gmo despite our\nreservations being about the patenting systems rather than the science.\n\n------\nacd\nCavendish banana are monoculture clones from the same original banana. That\nmeans that any disease that attacks one can attack all since the banana share\nthe same dna and protective mechanism.\n\nThe solution is not to clone with the same dna. also not to use pesticides\nwhich kills bees and insects. Pesticide will not only kill bugs they will kill\nall insects a like.\n\n“Cavendish bananas were named after William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire.\nThough they were not the first known banana specimens in Europe, in around\n1834 Cavendish received a shipment of bananas (from Mauritius) courtesy of the\nchaplain of Alton Towers (then the seat of the Earls of Shrewsbury).” Source\n[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavendish_banana](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavendish_banana)\n\n~~~\nprimroot\nOr get people to eat local as much as possible. The only people at risk from\nbeing more malnourished due to a scarcity of Cavendish bananas are those whose\nland has been plagued by the monoculture.\n\nAnd by the way [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/monkeys-\nbann...](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/monkeys-banned-from-\neating-bananas-at-devon-zoo-9058856.html) [Monkeys banned from eating bananas\nat Devon zoo]. I assume those were all Cavendish bananas.\n\n------\naxaxs\nSo, my wife is from SEA. I never bothered to look into the name of their\nbananas, nor do they know it by any other name, but they are delicious. They\nare small, and grow more in a straight line than a bunch. While a Cavendish is\nmostly subtle, these taste like real fruit, more hearty and definitely sweet.\nSo, my question is, why are we in USA stuck with these dud bananas, even in\nthe absence of the Gros Michel?\n\n------\nPopeDotNinja\nA short, recent discussion I posted on /r/AskScienceDiscussion...\n\n\"If Cavendish/dessert bananas get wiped out by some disease (e.g. Panama\ndisease), how long would it take to cultivate a new dessert banana from wild\ngrowing options?\"\n\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceDiscussion/comments/c75ct...](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceDiscussion/comments/c75ctk/if_cavendishdessert_bananas_get_wiped_out_by_some/)\n\nP.S. For the casually curious, /r/AskScienceDiscussion is a more forgiving,\nless strict place to ask questions than /r//r/AskScience. It's more ask Bill\nNye in a podcast than pose a perfect question to pass the scientist mod\nfilter.\n\n------\nralusek\n> Desperate, the predecessors of Chiquita and Dole switched production [from\n> the Gros Michel] to a banana they knew to be resistant to Panama disease,\n> despite its relatively bland flavor: the now-ubiquitous Cavendish.\n\nI want to try the Gros Michel. What I'm eating is relatively bland?\n\n~~~\nandrewla\nIt might be urban legend, but apparently banana-flavored candy imitates the\nflavor of the Gros Michel, which is why it doesn’t really taste like a\n“banana” as we know it.\n\n------\ncaymanjim\nSince it's inevitable that the current bananas will collapse from this, maybe\nit'll speed acceptance of GMO products. People will ignore their unfounded\nfears once it starts affecting them.\n\n~~~\nspraak\nPeople are already comfortable and used to other cultivars of other fruits.\nGMO isn't even necessary here, just other types of bananas.\n\n~~~\ncaymanjim\nFrom the article:\n\n> Besides the Cavendish bananas that dominate modern supermarket shelves,\n> residents of banana-producing nations rely on a multitude of local\n> varieties, including plantains, for their food security. Panama disease TR4\n> has a notoriously broad host range, meaning it threatens nearly all of these\n> varieties to some degree.\n\nUnfortunately, pretty much all banana species are vulnerable. Even if\nCavendish is the most-affected, replacing Cavendish with another cultivar\nisn't a complete solution. Other banana cultivars don't have the same\nproperties, and breeding a replacement dessert banana that is resistant, and\nthen spreading that cultivar (and hoping that it too doesn't fall prey) is not\na trivial undertaking.\n\nIf a GMO solution can save the existing cultivars, which have established\nconsumers, it's a better approach. Since all bananas are grown using\nmonoculture grafting (because we long ago bred the seeds out), it's not as\neasy to produce new cultivars as with other fruits.\n\n------\nArmandGrillet\nRelated to the topic, I highly recommend this short documentary about the\nCavendish banana and the deadly fungus affecting it:\n[https://youtu.be/YkI3zkQ4WBo](https://youtu.be/YkI3zkQ4WBo)\n\n------\njjeaff\nIs the worry that they will just go away overnight all at once, but it just\nhasn't happened yet? Because the current price of bananas sure doesn't\nindicate a shortage.\n\n------\nthelittleone\nBananas are an important staple with many potential uses. A guy in Bali came\nup with a process that makes flour from green bananas. The resulting bread\nproducts are delicious. Far better than regular gluten free bread and better\nthan regular bread for toast (amazing crispiness). Lots of cafes are using\nthis bread to satisfy the ever growing hippie tourism trade.\n\n------\ncarapace\nCoffee is also having some problems:\n[https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2013/0605/Coffee-\nbl...](https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2013/0605/Coffee-blight-in-\nCentral-America-Changing-livelihoods-and-your-cup-of-joe)\n\n------\nquickthrower2\n\"The banana is one step closer to disappearing\" \\- seems to be overstating it.\nThey mean the Cavendish Banana and therefore large scale Banana cultivation.\nHowever we could still have a variety of bananas, lower scale and have banana\nbe more of a treat than a common food.\n\n~~~\nonetimemanytime\n>> _However we could still have a variety of bananas, lower scale and have\nbanana be more of a treat than a common food._\n\nThose that could afford the $XX / lbs price would.\n\n~~~\nquickthrower2\nIt wouldn't be the only food like this, and nutritionally I think people can\nsurvive without bananas.\n\nI'd miss em though. Nothing like frozen banana + milk blended.\n\n------\nblondie9x\nWhat’s most scary is this. If the food can still be produced in a climate we\nhave injured, will it even be nutritious? The answer is unfortunately no in\nmost cases. Over farming leads to soil being turned over too much and plants\nthat do not produce fruits and vegetables with vitamins. Another bad finding\nis high atmospheric carbon levels drive rice malnutrition. If rice then what\nelse? And now a worsening climate is leading to plant extinction also. This is\ndouble bad news.\n\n~~~\nhelkafen\nAt least the soil issues can be fixed through regenerative practices, which\nalso help mitigate climate change to some extent. Farmers should receive\nfunding to safely transition to better practices.\n\n------\nwinrid\nFun fact - bananas are berries.\n\n~~~\nIvyMike\nStrange times for Berry Club.\n[https://www.mrlovenstein.com/comic/643](https://www.mrlovenstein.com/comic/643)\n\n------\nlukejduncan\nCan anyone recommend a good book to learn more about the GMO debate?\n\n------\nptah\nwould it help if banana plantations were not monocultures? would it stop the\nspread if other trees were in between\n\n------\nptah\ninteresting video illustrating how corporations control US military action\n\n------\ncryptozeus\nI guess there is always banana nut bread !\n\n------\njesse_m\nhow will we express the scale of something now?\n\n------\nJackFr\n> the _epicenter_ of the global banana export industry\n\nSigh.\n\n------\nlioeters\n\"Yes! We Have No Bananas\"\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes!_We_Have_No_Bananas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes!_We_Have_No_Bananas)\n\n~~~\ncarapace\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gros_Michel_banana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gros_Michel_banana)\n\n> This variety was once the dominant export banana to Europe and North\n> America, grown in Central America, but in the 1950s, Panama disease, a wilt\n> caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense, wiped out vast tracts\n> of Gros Michel plantations in Central America, though it is still grown on\n> non-infected land throughout the region.\n\nThe song is from 1923, so likely no connection to the great banana blight, eh?\nToo bad, I thought so too.\n\n~~~\nlioeters\nI believe you're right, the song predates any widespread fungus issue with\nbananas. Would have been cool if the lyrics had been a satire / poke at the\nsituation.\n\nI did find the following note about the song:\n\n> In 2008, The New York Times ran an op-ed, with the title \"Yes, We Will have\n> no Bananas\", regarding the outcome of fungal diseases afflicting the\n> Cavendish Banana\n\n[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/opinion/18koeppel.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/opinion/18koeppel.html)\n\nSo we weren't the first to make the pun/connection - great minds think alike?\n:) I deserved the downvotes though, I knew it when I posted the flippant\ncomment.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Where do you get your high quality stickers printed? - mojombo\n\nThe last batch of stickers I had printed up for GitHub were low cost but low quality. The image rubbed off of the paper backing (that is, if you could even get the thing <i>off</i> of the backing).<p>I'm going to be printing up a new batch and I want to get some high quality removable stickers made (so they can be put on laptops for instance). Does anybody have a provider that they like?\n======\nreplicatorblog\nThese companies are all really good, just make sure to select vinyl printing\ninks and not paper based stickers otherwise you may get some of the same\nissues. These companies are all fairly small so you will get really good\nservice if you ask any questions:\n\n<http://contagiousgraphics.com/Stickers/stickers.html>\n<http://stickerrobot.com/> <http://vgkids.com/stickers.php>\n\n------\nspydez\nA friend of mine is a designer who started a business doing stickers, business\ncards, magnets, etc.\n\nI've had one of his stickers on my Dell laptop for... probably about 2-3\nyears. I did not treat that laptop daintily, and his sticker still looks\nnearly pristine; so he can certainly get you what you need.\n\nHis email is chris at trifectaagencies dot com.\n\n------\nMistone\nwe did an order from www.printingblue.com/ and where happy with the cost and\nquality, lead time was a bit long - 10 days - but overall satisfied.\n\n------\ngaius\nmoo.com\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThank you, Dave Winer (social network not graph) - bootload\nhttp://www.roughtype.com/archives/2007/09/thank_you_dave.php\n\n======\nnatrius\nThere's a good reason for having both terms. \"Social network\" can mean either\na site that lets people socialize with each other or one's actual\nrelationships with other people. It's usually used to mean the former. \"Social\ngraph\" is used to mean only the latter.\n\n\"Social networks\" are the application. The \"social graph\" is the data.\n\n~~~\nalex_c\nThat's exactly what I was thinking. Seems like an obvious - if somewhat subtle\n- difference.\n\nI don't really see what the fuss is all about.\n\n------\nkarzeem\nLike the commenters at Rough Type say, \"graph\" is just the word for how\nprogrammers conceptualize a network (as in graph theory). Winer is right that\nthere's no reason to expose consumers to that kind of jargon, though. The\nreason that it's popping up is that Facebook has been using it since they\nlaunched their platform in May, I suspect with the hope that the term will\nremain closely associated with them so that when people think social networks\n(or social graphs, as it happens), they think Facebook.\n\n------\npietro\nLots of people sounding like monkeys in the comment section to the post...\n\n------\nmattmaroon\nThat term is borderline retarded. It's the internet slang equivalent of that\ncousin of yours who got held back in the fourth grade.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHidden portrait 'found under Mona Lisa', says French scientist - Perados\nhttp://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-35031997\n======\nmeesles\nAs someone else pointed out before, this was probably nothing noteworthy.\nArtists always make multiple layers and improve upon a base, this is just\nstandard technique. This isn't some Da Vinci Code hidden Illuminati story.\n\n~~~\nwavefunction\nThey also reuse canvases because they tend to be poor and hey, they've already\ngot this perfectly serviceable canvas sitting around with something they don't\ncare about.\n\n------\nmariuolo\nCouldn't they be pentimenti?\n\n------\nbammmmm\npics or it didn't happen (i mean the real layer back light see-through stuff).\n\npreferably before and after substraction of what can be seen without the\nbacklighting..\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Best Ways to Get to Work, According to Science - awjr\nhttp://gizmodo.com/the-best-ways-to-get-to-work-according-to-science-1733796033\n======\neveach\ntl;dr Here are the subheadings:\n\nDriving is the most stressful way to commute\n\nIt’s also bad for your health\n\nIt’s bad for your relationships and community, too\n\nRiding or walking to work makes you healthier and happier\n\n... And the benefits vastly outweigh the risks\n\nHappy commuting!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe traditional FPGA market is abandoned - jamesbowman\nhttp://www.xess.com/blog/extinction-level-event/\n======\nlvh\nI'm not sure I agree with the idea that Intel is going to make these folks\nwork on something else because FPGAs don't grow that much. That makes little\nsense; Intel isn't really hurting for more employees, and the FPGA engineers\ncan't necessarily be made to be productive on the higher-growth sections\ncited.\n\nInstead, it makes a lot more sense that Intel is going to try and make that\nmarket more lucrative and larger instead. As a major chip manufacturer,\nthey're in a great position to ship FPGAs to tons of new customers. Chicken-\nand-egg problems (you don't FPGA until you need to because it's not available)\nhave made FPGAs a niche element. However, OpenPOWER/CAPI have demonstrated\nthat you can get huge benefits from slapping FPGAs to existing general purpose\ncompute.\n\nSo; TL;DR: I don't think it makes sense to assume Intel is just going to\nassume that market will stay what it is. Instead, they think they can make\nthat market better, and do more than Altera/Xilinx can do individually. In\nthat light, a purchase makes perfect sense.\n\n(Disclaimer: I work for a company involved in OpenPOWER/OpenCompute and has\nshipped hardware that does this.)\n\n~~~\nRetric\nFPGA's are always significantly worse than dedicated HW. To sell them _in\nbulk_ you need to be able to replace a wide range of chips you don't need at\nthe same time with a good enough solution. At the same time you need enough\nspeed you can't just simulate things on a general purpose processor.\n\nThat's a fairly narrow band and the real issue with FPGA's. A synthesizer for\nexample seems like a good fit, but well general processes are fast enough. If\nwe had a wider range of video codec's that might work, but again general\npurpose processors are good and dedicated hardware can help for the mainstream\ncodec's.\n\nAny ideas?\n\n~~~\ndv_dt\nAnything that is needed to run in a pipelined data flow - particularly if the\ncpu processing of that data would be non-trivial. One example might be video\nprocessing (the kind that might go in all those automated cars on the\nhorizon). You might have one set of algorithms at initial release, but in\nfuture releases one might change them.\n\nOther examples might be crypto or compression/decompression, transcoding ..\n\n~~~\ntarpherder\nWouldn't a GPU outperform a FPGA in those cases?\n\n~~~\ndv_dt\nIt depends - for outright throughput for something the GPU is good at perhaps,\nbut if Intel is coupling the FPGA tightly to their CPU and it has access to\nthe memory bus and maybe some level of cache, then (I'm really speculating\nhere) it might be very advantageous for situations where you have small chunks\nof data that you want to operate on with very low latency (lower latency by at\nleast two PCIe transfers, to & from the GPU, and likely another memory\ntransfer between the card local memory and the GPU).\n\nThen there are also likely a some set of functions you can directly implement\non an FPGA that a GPU simply didn't elect to implement in its hardware or\nwould need to compose out of a number of operations.\n\n------\nPaulHoule\nPeople are still scratching their head over this acquisition but here is my\ntake.\n\nIntel has failed at phones not because \"x86 sux\" but because Intel makes a\nsmall number of SKUs that are often different bins of the same design -- these\nare heavily tuned in every way. Phone chips are not so optimized in terms of\nprocess and design, but instead they are true \"systems on chip\" where a number\nof IP blocks are integrated to produce something which is optimizable by\nadding functional blocks.\n\nSomething FPGA based, whether it ends up in the datacenter or elsewhere, could\nhave a highly optimized FPGA block which is field configurable, so this gives\nIntel something to compete with SoC vendors on their own terms.\n\nOne detail is the nature of the memory and I/O systems. FPGAs can move a huge\nvolume of data, so unless you upgrade the the paths in and out of the CPU/FPGA\narea, the FPGA would be starved for bandwidth.\n\nIt would take one of two things for the FPGA market to expand based on these\ndevelopments.\n\nFirst, if there was some \"killer app\" that sold a huge number of units, that\nwould help. The trouble here is that if you sell a huge number of units, you\nmight be better off making an ASIC functional block an integrating it into a\ntrue SoC.\n\nThe other one is that (I think) FPGA development today is constrained by the\nawful state of tooling. Pretty soon you will be able to pop a FPGA hybrid chip\ninto a high-end Xeon workstation and have one hell of a development kit in\nterms of hardware, but without a big improvement in the tooling, very few\npeople will be able to really make use of it.\n\n~~~\nrwmj\nI think your analysis of Intel's problem is spot on. But FPGAs have something\nlike (IIRC) 4% of the density of custom-designed ASICs. Can Intel's superior\nprocess create FPGAs at such small scales to overcome this rather large\ndisadvantage?\n\nAgree about the terrible tooling. 'Twas always thus, unfortunately, even when\nI was doing PLDs back in 1991.\n\n~~~\nPaulHoule\nWell the economics get awful for designing chips as the feature size gets\nsmaller, which is keeping 28mm fabs pretty busy and will just get worse at 10\nor 8 nm or whatever comes next.\n\n------\ndmytroi\nEhm, FPGA/CPLD are everywhere, it's hard to say, but my educated guess is that\nhardware market consumes similar amount of SoC-like and FPGA/CPLD chips, look,\neven Pebble smartwatch uses Lattice iCE40 FPGA, MacBooks also usually have few\nFPGA's here and there. FPGA/CPLD's are essential to implement \"glue-logic\",\nwhich does what it says - glue different pieces of hardware together. Of\ncourse you can do \"glue\" in software, but than your customers will enjoy poor\nbattery life time and random glitches here and there. And nobody gonna spend\nbig-money (it's actually depends, sometimes it 1kk+$, sometimes you can get\naway by 30-50k$) by running their own ASIC's when you can just buy jellybean\nFPGA's.\n\nIndeed phone/desktop market might move to more one-chip-for-everything\nsolution, but even then we need glue-ish logic to control something like\nscreen backlight DC-DC converters, charging IC's, etc, which is much more\neasier done from FPGA/CPLD-like devices. On the other hand FPGA/CPLD's are\nessential in some classes of devices, for example test instruments: modern\noscilloscopes usually have 3+ FPGA's in them, companies like Keysight usually\nonly run custom ASIC's when they hit limitation of current silicon tech, like\ntheir N2802A 25GHz active probe (starting from 23500$) uses amplifier IC made\nwith indium phosphide process (InP), which is kinda far away from whatever\ncurrent consumer product companies are doing, you can check the teardown of\nthis beast here\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnFZR7UsIPE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnFZR7UsIPE)\n\nSo in my opinion FPGA/CPLD market will live long and strong, players might\nchange, but demand is enormous. The only problem in my opinion is that whole\nmarket is more B2B-like (FPGA's are usually just a humble IC's inside end\ncustomers products, you don't see stickers \"Altera inside\" or anything on\nproducts themselves), so it's kinda hard to get grasp what's going on.\n\n------\nkevin_thibedeau\nXESS is biased toward the segment of the market they play in which is centered\naround computational applications where having a micro on board is usually\ndesirable. There are _many_ more places where simple glue logic is needed and\na small, cheap FPGA/CPLD fits the bill. One would hope that Altera's (and\npossibly Xilinx's) new masters won't fuck this up and shutter their low end\ndevices but that doesn't mean there won't be demand for them into the future.\nPeople with a need for these types of FPGAs aren't XESS customers so they are\nblinded by the limited scope of their own business.\n\n------\nkqr2\nIn case the link is down:\n\n[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.xess.com/blog/extinction-\nlevel-event/)\n\nAlso, I believe that cheap microcontrollers have been able to replace FPGAs in\nsome cases.\n\n~~~\nLeifCarrotson\nCheap microcontrollers can replace old CPLDs, which now are technically FPGAs\nbut really don't have much of a place in modern hardware.\n\nThey can also replace FPGAs because even small microcontrollers are now really\nsystems-on-a-chip, with integrated SPI, CAN, LVDS, or even USB/transceivers.\nTo me, that's more like replacing an FPGA with dedicated hardware - it's just\nthat microcontroller peripheral options are so thorough that dedicated\nhardware no longer needs to be custom.\n\n~~~\nArkyBeagle\nIt's mixed. You can spin a fast loop in a PIC @ 1,2, 4 or 8 MSPS, and that\neats into FPGA territory.\n\nUSB is uniformly terrible; multi-PHY CAN offerings are disappearing. SPI can\nbe good if you have the right interface chip ( which you may or may not\nactually know until you're running against a prototype ).\n\nLVDS looks interesting, but it seems to have been a lot supplanted by SPI/I2C\nand Ethernet.\n\nI dunno; it's just different. Phones have warped the market in puzzling ways.\n\n~~~\njustaaron\nspot-on re USB = terrible (for typical embedded usage- derived clock, latency,\nfancy software/hardware stack support requirements. hardly a simple interface.\nnot worthy of universality) and of course, it's because of the phone SOC\nmarket...\n\nbasically the entire high-end of embedded has been taken-over by poorly-built\nlinux distros running on phone SOC reference board designs...\n\nas much as i'd love to support the 96boards effort, they are pushing us all\ninto using USB for things like audio codecs... (i'll take TDM'ed I2S anytime,\nas at least there is a real bitclock as well as a frameclock, directly wiggled\nchipside...)\n\n~~~\nArkyBeagle\nI use an inexpensive USB audio interface daily, and _that_ part isn't bad at\nall. I'm able lto run two DAW against it; one for cue mix with VST plugins and\nanother for recording.\n\nIf you're careful with part selection and systems engineering on the host\nside, it works extremely well.\n\nI'm also loath to throw too many rocks at the SOC boards - they make fine\nprototypes that can then be adapted to something more appropriate.\n\n------\nJoachimS\nThe article is based on the premise that Altera will stop developing FPGAs for\ngeneral availibility. Nothing I've seen (and would love to be shown otherwise)\nso far indicates this.\n\nFPGAs has been used as test designs when qualifying fabs for volume production\nsince they are regular, but more complex and closer match to general ASICs\nthan memories.\n\nFPGAs are also often used more and more either with internal CPU cores (hard\nor soft) or as a companion to CPUs providing acceleration, esp data plane\nprocessing.\n\nThis means that the aquisition of Altera is mor of adding a business that\ncomplements the CPU business, not remove a competitor from another market\nsegment. Intel can sell CPU+FPGA solutions for data center, big data. But it\ncan also sell more chips and increase utilization in their fabs.\n\nAnd for FPGA users the FPGAs coming out of these fabs will probably be better\nwith higher density, lower power consumption that what Altera managed to\ndesign themselves. And getting a Stratix or a Cyclone SoC with an Atom core\ninside running Linux would be a very neat solution.\n\n------\npetra\nOr there's another alternative. The main reason it was hard to make money from\nthe industrial etc segment - was low volume combines with a lot of support\ncosts.\n\nBut what if\n\na. xilinx built c-like tools that enabled embedded software engineers develop\neasily ?\n\nb. they released those freely to some segment of the market ?\n\nc. they've built an external support and IP ecosystem, either open or closed\nor both ?\n\nThose actions can increase margins for xilinx, and they seem to be doing a,b.\n\nAs for the hardware, maybe the article is right. Also ,recent industrial chips\nare using 28nm, and going beyond that is extremely expensive and might not fit\nthe industrial scenario anyhow, maybe there's not a lot of innovation left in\nthe industrial FPGA market,\n\n~~~\nchriscool\n> Also ,recent industrial chips are using 28nm, and going beyond that is\n> extremely expensive\n\nYeah, so ASICs that are not produced in big enough volume will not move to\n14nm or less. This means that FPGA that can move to 14nm or less, because of\nbigger volume, may become competitive against those ASICs.\n\n~~~\npetra\nWhen i'm saying \"industrial chips are at 28nm\" i mean industrial FPGA's.\n\nWill xilinx create industrial FPGA's at 14nm or beyond ?\n\nFirst transistor cost will have to become meaningfully lower than 28nm\ntransistor costs. That only happens at 10nm. But at that node, NRE costs are\nextremely expensive. Spread over low-cost low-end industrial chips - this\nrequires a huge volume, which xilinx probably doesn't have yet.\n\nAlso couple that with 28nm being more much reliable(all the failure mechanisms\nincrease at 10nm: electron migration from wires, thermal hot sports,\ntransistor fin self heating), and since reliability is key for industrial - it\nwould be hard to see industrial moving beyond 28nm.\n\n------\npayne92\nI think it gets squeezed even more with general purpose GPU computing.\n\n~~~\nexelius\nThere's no reason you can't have general-purpose SoCs that combine traditional\npipeline-driven CPU cores, GPGPU cores and FPGA cores with memory, bus chips,\nstorage, etc. We long ago reached the point of diminishing returns for\ncramming more raw computing power on a chip; so chips of the future will\nlikely consolidate specialized features for various workloads in the name of\npower savings / speed increases for certain workloads.\n\n~~~\nrjsw\nPlus Intel owns the IP to all the pieces and is happy to provide documentation\nfor them.\n\nXilinx have Mali GPUs on their latest ARM+FPGA hybrids but that isn't much use\nto me if I can't find out how to program it.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHey, Tesla Fans: Drive the Porsche Taycan Before You Criticize It - clouddrover\nhttps://www.thedrive.com/opinion/31091/hey-tesla-fans-drive-the-porsche-taycan-before-you-criticize-it\n======\nfastbeef\nJust venting, but holy hell are cars the stupidest “hobby” I can imagine.\n\n~~~\nLeftHandPath\nAre they though?\n\nThe more I’ve read about human psychology - particularly about “flow” - the\nmore valuable manually driven cars seem.\n\nSimilarly to how many people are actually happiest / have the highest sense of\nself-worth while at work (even though they’d scream otherwise), a lot of\npeople are able to relax and think freely while driving. And in general,\nhumans seem to enjoy having control over G-force (whether jumping off of\ncliffs, flying planes, riding roller coasters, driving...)\n\nFlow:\n[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_\\(psychology\\))\n\nInteresting take on automotive tech and psychology from Nicholas Carr’s “Glass\nCage”, reviewed by NY Times:\n[https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/books/review/the-glass-\nca...](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/books/review/the-glass-cage-by-\nnicholas-carr.html)\n\n~~~\nfastbeef\nI never thought of it this way. Thank you for providing some perspective, it\nmade me reflect on my thoughts on the subject.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTesting Without Mocks: A Pattern Language - jdlshore\nhttp://www.jamesshore.com/Blog/Testing-Without-Mocks.html\n======\nmiensol\nI like your article a lot. I do have a hard time to map the layers you've\ndescribed (Application, Logic, Infrastructure) to a mobile/frontend/ui\napplication.\n\nFor instance in Android we've Activities/Fragments (and less commonly Views)\nas the entry points to the application code. From there we might have [View\nModels]([https://developer.android.com/topic/libraries/architecture/v...](https://developer.android.com/topic/libraries/architecture/viewmodel))\nand External API clients that are clearly _infrastructure_.\n\nFrom what I've seen it is common to call the External API clients from\nViewModels directly. (This is so we can test more logic outside of Android\nruntime, AFAIK.)\n\nIf I get the layers you've described we should instead let Activity/Fragment\nask the ViewModel for some data and then use it to call the External API,\ncorrect?\n\n~~~\njdlshore\nThanks, I'm glad you like it. I haven't done any Android work, so I'm not sure\nhow the A-Frame Architecture applies. From my quick glance at the ViewModel\ndocumentation you linked, that looks like Application layer code: in the first\nexample in that document, the `loadUsers()` call would turn around and call\nthe actual a specific Infrastructure Wrapper responsible for communicating\nwith the service that provides the users.\n\n------\nJayBazuzi\n> there's no need to create interfaces for dependencies\n\nI think in this context you're using `interface` in the way that C# uses it: a\npoint of abstraction and indirection.\n\nI think you aren't using it in the API sense: the external surface of a thing.\n\nIf that's correct, you may want to clarify your wording. Perhaps \"abstract\ninterface\".\n\n~~~\njdlshore\nI meant in the term of the language construct. I'll think about how to make it\nmore clear...\n\n~~~\njdlshore\nI ended up just taking that paragraph out. I don't think it added much.\n\n------\nwpannell\nInteresting innovation. Coincides with 2nd Edition of Martin Fowler's\n\"Refactoring,\" for which he chose to code in javascript. Interested in\nfeedback from the mocking pioneers — Steve Freeman, Nat Pryce, Keiþ\nBraiþvvaite — and, of course, the father of TDD — Kent Beck.\n\nIs there sample code illustrating the pattern language?\n\n~~~\njdlshore\nOther than the sample code in the article, my \"WeeWikiPaint\" project\ndemonstrates most of the infrastructure patterns, particularly in its server\ncode:\n[https://github.com/jamesshore/lets_code_javascript/tree/epis...](https://github.com/jamesshore/lets_code_javascript/tree/episode614/src/server)\n\n------\nJayBazuzi\n> This can result in multiple tests failing when a bug is introduced.\n\nOne way I approach this is \"a bug will only cause one test to fail _at that\nlevel of abstraction_\".\n\n------\nJayBazuzi\nI don't see ports-and-adapters (aka Hexagonal Architecture) mentioned. Is that\nbecause you don't like it / don't find it useful?\n\n~~~\njdlshore\nI don't feel like I fully understand it.\n\n~~~\nJayBazuzi\nP-and-A makes Simulators possible, which are the one kind of test double I'm\nhappy with. But your pattern language seems complete without it, so maybe I\ndon't need it as much as I thought.\n\nSimulators fit right where you have Nullable Infrastructure. Having a null\nobject and a real object, instead of a single object with both null and real\nbehaviors is how I'd normally organize things. I write my Focused Integration\ntests so they can be run against both the real and the simulator, to ensure\nthat they both agree on the contract. And just like the Nullable\nInfrastructure, I can use the simulator in tests.\n\nHowever, the real with with Ports-and-Adapters isn't the simulators (even\nthough everyone notices that first). It's the way a good Port abstraction lets\nyou organize your code well, writing it in terms that make sense in your\ndomain, instead of in terms of the dependency.\n\nThis is worth exploring further.\n\n~~~\njdlshore\nOne of the key ideas of the Nullable Infrastructure is that all the semantics\nof the infrastructure class remain _exactly the same_ other than disabling\nexternal communication. So any logic inside the infrastructure code still\nruns. This is important because we don't have broad integration tests.\n\nThat's why the null code is inside the infrastructure, instead of using the\nclassic Null Object pattern. It's also a major difference between it and\nclassic test doubles. And perhaps your simulators?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGoogle’s not-so-secret new OS - techenthusiast\nhttps://techspecs.blog/blog/2017/2/14/googles-not-so-secret-new-os\n======\nmichaelmrose\nIt was unfortunately obvious that the writer had insufficient tech chops when\nuse the phrase\n\n\"a post-API programming model\"\n\nBut pressing on how somehow manages to blame the lack of updates to android\nphones on the modularity of the Linux kernel. The joke of course being that\nlinux is monolithic and googles new OS is a microkernel ergo more modular.\n\nThe quote is \"...however. I also have to imagine the Android update problem (a\nsymptom of Linux’s modularity) will at last be solved by Andromeda\"\n\nIts hilarious that he can somehow defying all sanity ascribe androids update\nissue to an imagined defect in Linux. Android phones don't get updated because\nfor the manufacturers ensuring their pile of hacks works with a newer version\nof android would represent a non trivial amount of work for the oem whom\nalready has your money. The only way they can get more of your money is to\nsell you a new phone which they hope to do between 1-2 years from now.\n\nIn short offering an update for your current hardware would simultaneously\nannoy some users who fear change, add little to those who plan to upgrade to a\nnew model anyway, decrease the chance that a minority would upgrade, and cost\nthem money to implement.\n\nIts not merely not a flaw in the underlying linux kernel its not a technical\nissue at all.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\n> The only way they can get more of your money is to sell you a new phone\n> which they hope to do between 1-2 years from now.\n\nThe thing is, this only works on countries similar to US where most people are\non contracts.\n\nIn the rest of the world, where people are on pre-paid, we use our phones\nuntil they either die or get stolen, which is way more than just 1-2 years.\n\n~~~\nTeMPOraL\nBump it to 3-4 years then. Bloated manufacturer updates combine with bloat in\nmost popular applications and the regular web bloat to make the phone unusably\nslow after few years.\n\nBetween that and fragility of smartphones (mechanical damage, water damage),\nmost people are bound to replace theirs every few years anyway.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\n> Bump it to 3-4 years then. Bloated manufacturer updates combine with bloat\n> in most popular applications and the regular web bloat to make the phone\n> unusably slow after few years.\n\nMy S3 is 4 years old now, and it is works perfectly fine.\n\nWhen it dies, I will most likely adopt one of my Lumia devices as main one, or\nwill buy a 2nd hand Android device, instead of giving money to support bad\nOEMs\n\n~~~\nTeMPOraL\nMy SO's S3 is of more-less the same age and it's so slow that it's barely\nusable now. Still can't track down why - she is not a power user, she wasn't\ninstalling apps beyond the few things I installed her and the OS updates. My\nold S4, currently used by my brother, suffered the same fate, being slow even\nafter a factory reset. I wonder where this comes from?\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nI had some performance issues, but they got sorted out when swapped the\nbattery for a new one.\n\n~~~\nTeMPOraL\nA _battery_? How would that help? Not doubting you, just honest question. I\nfeel like I'm missing something very important about how smartphones work.\n\n~~~\nthe_af\nMmm... it also happened to me with my (now defunct) Galaxy S1. I can't explain\nit, but at some point its battery developed the \"bloated, about to explode\"\nlook and the phone worked but it was very slow and crashed frequently. I\nchanged the battery and everything was ok. Later it died of unrelated causes.\n\n------\nMarkMc\nIt bothers me that Google does not seem particularly interested in doing the\none thing that would make their Android platform absolutely dominant: Allow\nChrome to run Android apps on Mac and Windows.\n\nGoogle has already done 90% of the necessary work by adding Android apps to\nChromeOS. _Two and a half years ago_ it created \"App Runtime for Chrome\" which\ndemonstrated that Android apps could run on Windows and Mac in a limited,\nbuggy way [1]. If Google had put meaningful effort into developing such a\nstrategy we would by now have a relatively simple way to develop software\nwhich runs on 99% of laptops and 85% of smartphones and tablets. Developers\nwould now be targeting 'Android first' instead of 'web app first then iOS then\nmaybe Android'.\n\nSundar, if you're reading this - do it!\n\n[1] [https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/09/hack-runs-android-\nap...](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/09/hack-runs-android-apps-on-\nwindows-mac-and-linux-computers/)\n\n~~~\nmark242\nSun tried that, back in the day. Maybe you heard about Java applets, maybe you\ndidn't. They were the slowest thing about the web, insecure even with a\nsandbox, and just an overall pain. Short of having a jvm always running on\nyour machine, the performance of Android-via-Chrome will completely turn\npeople off the Android ecosystem.\n\n~~~\njosefx\nI remember two issues with Java Applets:\n\n* Java itself was slow for a long time\n\n* The Browser would hang while loading an Applet\n\nThe first is no longer an issue. They can just use a modern just in time\ncompiler and it wont run slower than Java on Android. Chrome already has one\nto deal with JavaScript powered Web 2.0 applications.\n\nThe second was as far as I can tell an API issue. Applets would block\neverything by default until they were loaded. A really bad idea in a single\nthreaded environment when you had to send several MB over low bandwidth and\nthe JVM itself took long to start. Just making the load async with a\ncompletion callback could have solved this issue and I remember a few Applets\nthat actually used an async download to reduce the hang.\n\n~~~\nusername223\nYou missed the biggest issue: \"write once, mediocre everywhere.\" Windows, Mac,\nand X were all different, and Java Applets were necessarily bad at emulating\nall of them. While there are fewer Unices today, there are more GUIs, and\ncross-platform apps suck at least as much.\n\n~~~\nMarkMc\n\"Write once, mediocre everywhere\" was a problem with Sun's implementation, not\nwith the concept of cross platform code. There are tons of webapps which are\nvery successful, despite being written 'once'.\n\nIn any case, Google doesn't need to be as strict as Sun was. It is free to\nimplement \"write 90% of your code once and 10% customised for each platform\".\n\n~~~\nflukus\n> There are tons of webapps which are very successful, despite being written\n> 'once'.\n\nActually they suffer from most of the same problems, only computers have\ngotten faster (masking performance issues) and our expectations have lowered.\nHow many of these web apps obey the native OS themeing for instance?\n\n~~~\nmercer\n1) The fact that webapps _can_ run relatively well strikes me as hopeful,\nconsidering how much more inefficient using HTML/CSS/JS is compared to Java\napplets. Or is the latter not the case (honest question)? 2) I'm not sure if\nour expectations have lowered much. Perhaps it's more that _mobile_ interfaces\nare generally simpler and thus easier to make 'native enough'?\n\nAlthough I think there's more going on in regards to 2. I was never bothered\nso much by the UI of a java applet looking different. What bothered me was\nthat even very fundamental stuff like input fields and scrolling felt both\nalien and shittier than native. And while it's certainly possible to make a\nweb app just as shitty, if you rely on 'stock' html elements, a lot of the\nsubtle native behavior carries over.\n\nJust a few weeks ago, for example, I built a web-app for mobile devices. It\nfelt off immediately because the scrolling didn't feel right. All I had to do\nwas turn on the momentum scrolling (with a line of ios-specific css), and the\nscrolling suddenly felt native. Had I used a hypothetical Java applet\nequivalent, I might've had to either go for a non-native-feeling scroll or\nbuild it myself.\n\nWhile I of course can't prove any of this, I think what people care about is\nthat things _feel_ native, not the 'skin' used to display it.\n\n~~~\nflukus\n> considering how much more inefficient using HTML/CSS/JS is compared to Java\n> applets. Or is the latter not the case (honest question)?\n\nIt's a really interesting question actually because it's so hard to compare\nthe two. On any objective measure, today's web apps are much better than\napplets in terms of responsiveness, etc. But then again, an applet could run\non machines with 16MB of RAM total. I think you'd be hard pressed to get plain\nhtml page in a modern browser to run on a machine like that. Either way, in\nboth cases we had a much better solution in native apps.\n\n> 2\\. I was never bothered so much by the UI of a java applet looking\n> different. What bothered me was that even very fundamental stuff like input\n> fields and scrolling felt both alien and shittier than native.\n\nModern web apps can score better here, but quite often they don't. The more\ncomplex the become the less native they get, scrolling, text input, etc are\ngenerally OK (unless your an arshole that overrides scroll behaviour), but\nhtml still doesn't have an equivalent for native table views and the goodies\n(navigation, resizing, performance) that comes with them.\n\nFor me the skinning does matter though, I have a beautiful, consistent desktop\nthat browsers (not even electron apps) shit all over. When something doesn't\nlook quite right from the second you open it it magnifies all the other\ndifferences.\n\n~~~\nmercer\n> Modern web apps can score better here, but quite often they don't. The more\n> complex the become the less native they get, scrolling, text input, etc are\n> generally OK (unless your an arshole that overrides scroll behaviour), but\n> html still doesn't have an equivalent for native table views and the goodies\n> (navigation, resizing, performance) that comes with them.\n\nOh yeah, complex UI stuff is definitely a good reason to avoid web apps.\n\nBut for many, probably even most apps it's precisely scrolling, text input,\nand other 'basic' stuff that matters, and in those cases a web app's 'default'\nwill be more native.\n\n> For me the skinning does matter though, I have a beautiful, consistent\n> desktop that browsers (not even electron apps) shit all over. When something\n> doesn't look quite right from the second you open it it magnifies all the\n> other differences.\n\nI agree on a personal level, but I suspect we're outliers. Can't substantiate\nthat at the moment though, so I might be wrong.\n\n------\nvii\nIt's awesome that Google is doing this and in public too\n[https://fuchsia.googlesource.com/](https://fuchsia.googlesource.com/)\n\nUnfortunately, the hard part of an operating system isn't in a cool API and a\nrendering demo. It's in integrating the fickle whims of myriad hardware\ndevices with amazingly high expectations of reliability and performance\nconsistency under diverse workloads. People don't like dropped frames when\nthey plug in USB :) Writing device drivers for demanding hardware is much\nharder than saving registers and switching process context. The Linux kernel\nhas an incredible agglomeration of years of effort and experience behind it -\nand the social ability to scale to support diverse contributors with different\nagendas.\n\nMicrosoft, with its dominant position on the desktop, famously changed the\n'preferred' APIs for UI development on a regular cadence. Only Microsoft\napplications kept up and looked up to date. Now Google has such a commanding\nshare of the phone market - Android is over 80% and growing\n[http://www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-\nshare/os](http://www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-share/os) \\- they have a\nhuge temptation to follow suit. Each time that Microsoft introduced a new\ntechnology (e.g.\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Presentation_Foundatio...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Presentation_Foundation)\nWPF) they had to skirt a fine line between making it simple and making sure\nthat it would be hard for competitors to produce emulation layers for.\nOtherwise, you could run those apps on your Mac :)\n\nThere are many things to improve (and simplify) in the Android APIs. It would\nbe delightful to add first class support for C++ and Python, etc. A project\nthis large will be a monster to ship so hopefully we'll soon (a few years) see\nthe main bits integrated into more mainstream platforms like Android/Linux -\nhopefully without too much ecosystem churn\n\n~~~\nnpsimons\n> It's in integrating the fickle whims of myriad hardware devices with\n> amazingly high expectations of reliability and performance consistency under\n> diverse workloads.\n\nSo much this; Linux Plumbers conference years ago was bitching about how every\ngorram vendor wanted to be a special snowflake, so even though the\narchitecture was ARM, you basically had to port the kernel all over again to\nevery new phone. I haven't kept up with it, but I can't imagine it's gotten\nbetter. The problems they're listing as reasons to move to a new kernel aren't\ncaused by Linux and they won't go away until you slap the vendors and slap\nthem _hard_ for the bullshit they pull, both on developers and users.\n\nAs for kernel ABI, this has been rehashed to death: just release your fucking\ndriver as open source code, and it will be integrated and updated in mainline\n_forever_ :\n[http://www.kroah.com/log/linux/free_drivers.html](http://www.kroah.com/log/linux/free_drivers.html)\n\n~~~\nbjackman\nOverall I agree with your sentiment but it's not just a case of \"releasing\nyour drivers\" but also of getting it accepted by maintainers. If you don't\nhave an awareness of this process from the beginning of your development cycle\nthen it can be a massive amount of work.\n\n------\nconradev\nThe drivers-wifi repository contains a stub for a Qualcomm QCA6174 driver[1]\nwhich is found in the Nexus 5X[2], OnePlus 2[3] and meant for smartphones[4].\nThe drivers-gpu-msd-intel-gen repository contains drivers for Intel 8th and\n9th gen integrated graphics[5]. I think it's fair to propose that Google plans\non running Fuchsia on both smartphones and laptops…\n\n[1] [https://github.com/fuchsia-mirror/drivers-\nwifi/blob/master/q...](https://github.com/fuchsia-mirror/drivers-\nwifi/blob/master/qualcomm/driver.cc)\n\n[2]\n[https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nexus+5X+Teardown/51318#s112...](https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nexus+5X+Teardown/51318#s112148)\n\n[3]\n[https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/OnePlus+2+Teardown/45352#s10...](https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/OnePlus+2+Teardown/45352#s100455)\n\n[4] [http://www.anandtech.com/show/7921/qualcomm-announces-\nmumimo...](http://www.anandtech.com/show/7921/qualcomm-announces-\nmumimo-80211ac-family-increasing-the-efficiency-of-80211ac-networks)\n\n[5] [https://github.com/fuchsia-mirror/drivers-gpu-msd-intel-\ngen/...](https://github.com/fuchsia-mirror/drivers-gpu-msd-intel-\ngen/blob/master/src/device_id.h)\n\n------\nresoluteteeth\nIs this an actual plan of Google as a company, or is this some sort of\nMicrosoft-style war between divisions where the Chrome team has just decided\non its own that the future is based on Chrome and Dart?\n\nAlso, considering the way that the ARC runtime for Chromebooks was a failure\nand had to be replaced by a system that apparently essentially runs Android in\na container, will it really be possible for a completely different OS to\nprovide reasonable backward compatibility?\n\n~~~\nthrowawaydbfif\nI would say that Google is trying to replace JavaScript with dart in any way\nthey possibly can. The reason is simple, JavaScript is an open standard, dart\nis owned by google.\n\nTheir reasons that \"dart is better\" is the typical google koolaid before they\nattempt a market takeover. As we've seen over and over with Android, chrome,\nand AMP especially. Google loves to make glass house open source projects you\ncan't touch. You're free to look at how great it is, feel it's well refined\ncurves and admire the finish, but God help you if you don't like how the\nproject is going and want to fork it for yourself.\n\nDon't bother trying to commit a new feature to any of Google's software that\nthey don't agree with. It will languish forever. Don't bother forking either,\nbecause they'll build a small proprietary bit into it that grows like a tumor\nuntil it's impossible to run the \"open source\" code without it.\n\nFuck dart, I don't care how great it is. Microsoft is being the good one in\nthis case by extending js with typescript, google is trying to upend it into\nsomething that they control\n\n~~~\nisoos\nLooks like alternative facts have reached the tech world too?\n\nYou can take as hard look at Google as you would like, but choosing Microsoft\nover Google (one for-profit company over another), while not caring how the\ntechnology, the licensing or the workflow compares is a bit hypocrite.\n(e.g.they are both open, and they both have rules of commits).\n\nI'm wondering, why do you need a throwaway for such heavily invested FUD? Your\nother comments here are in similar tone, and I'm surprised to see such hatred\nwithout any obvious trigger. Maybe if you would come forward with your story,\nit would be easier to discuss it?\n\ndisclaimer: ex-Googler, worked with Dart for 4+ years, I think it is way ahead\nof the JS/TS stack in many regards.\n\n~~~\nlogicchains\n>I think it is way ahead of the JS/TS stack in many regards.\n\nIn what ways do you consider it ahead of Typescript? Personally as someone\nwho's particularly fond of static type systems (Haskell and the like),\nTypescript's type system seems way more advanced and powerful than Dart's\n(union and intersection types, in particular, and non-nullable types). Map\ntypes (introduced in Typescript 2.1) also seem pretty interesting.\n\n~~~\nisoos\nSome of my earlier notes are in this thread (it is more about the day-to-day\nfeature I actually use and like, and less about the fine details of the type\nsystem)\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13371009](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13371009)\n\nPersonally I don't get the hype around union types: at the point where you\nneed to check which type you are working with, you may as well use a generic\nobject (and maybe an assert if you are pedantic).\n\nIntersection types may be a nice subtlety in an API, but I haven't encountered\nany need for it yet. Definitely not a game-changer.\n\nI longed for non-nullable types, but as soon as Dart had the Elvis-operator\n(e.g. a?.b?.c evaluates null if any of them is null), it is easy to work with\nnulls. Also, there is a lot of talk about them (either as an annotation for\nthe dart analyzer or as a language feature), so it may happen.\n\nMapped types are interesting indeed. In certain cases it really helps if you\nare operating with immutable objects, and mapping helps with that (although\ndoes not entirely solves it, because the underlying runtimes does allow\nchanges to the object).\n\n~~~\nthrowawaydbfif\nI agree about union types. They can quickly result in insane variable\ndeclaration statements that are hard to understand.\n\nI dislike nulls though, I always wish people would just use a flag or error\nhandling when objects are undefined, instead of \"hey this object is the flag\nand sometimes it's not actually an object!\"\n\nYou'd think language designers would learn after dealing with null pointers :)\n\n------\nmaheart\nHow credible is this source?\n\nI don't understand half the decisions outlined in the article.\n\n> I also have to imagine the Android update problem (a symptom of Linux’s\n> modularity)\n\nI seriously doubt the Linux kernel is anything but a minor contributor to\nAndroid's update problem. Handset developers make their money by selling\nphysical phones. In two years, your average consumer probably doesn't care if\ntheir device is still receiving software updates. They'll jump onto a new\nphone plan, with a fresh, cool new mobile, with a better screen, newer\nsoftware (features!), and a refreshed battery.\n\nMaintaining existing software for customers costs handset manufacturers $$$,\nand disincentives consumers purchasing new phones (their cash cow). The money\nis probably better spent (from their POV) on new features, and a marketing\nbudget.\n\n~~~\nfelixge\n> In two years, your average consumer probably doesn't care if their device is\n> still receiving software updates. They'll jump onto a new phone plan, with a\n> fresh, cool new mobile, with a better screen, newer software (features!),\n> and a refreshed battery.\n\nThis might be true for the US, where 75% of subscribers are on post-paid\n(contracts). It's not true for the rest of the world.\n\n* Europe: < 50% post-paid\n\n* Rest of the world: < 22% post-paid\n\nI'd also argue that Android users will be more likely to be pre-paid than\npost-paid customers (compared to iPhone users) in all of these regions, but I\nhave no data to back it up.\n\nAnyway, I agree that it's probably not very profitable, if at all, for android\nhandset makers to support their devices for > 2 years. But I think many\ncustomers would benefit from it ...\n\n[1] [http://www.globalrewardsolutions.com/wp-\ncontent/uploads/GRS-...](http://www.globalrewardsolutions.com/wp-\ncontent/uploads/GRS-Mobile-Top-up_Wireless-Market-Statistics-2015.pdf)\n\n~~~\nianai\nI think the \"post paid\" connection leading to a 2 year lifecycle is suspect.\nThere's a big after market repair industry in the US. Many people have a\nsingular cell phone as their internet device - and it's often ancient by IT\nterms. 2+ year old hardware needs to be getting software/OS upgrades.\n\n~~~\nmajewsky\nI favor the proposal of requiring a prominent \"Best Before\" date for new\ndevices, indicating how long the manufacturer will guarantee the availability\nof security updates.\n\n~~~\nianai\nThat's an SLA and we should all b getting them.\n\n------\nuntog\nIf nothing else comes out of this, I hope we end up with an Android OS that\nworks better than the current one.\n\nI've been running Android since the Nexus One so I'm no newbie to the\nplatform, but the ease with which iOS manages to get all UI interactions at\n~unnoticable FPS and outstanding battery life is staggering when you're used\nto Android. It feels like some really fundamental choices were made badly on\nthe platform that make it incredibly inconsistent and unreliable. A fresh\nstart would be fantastic.\n\n~~~\nInconel\nAs a fellow Nexus user, I've owned the Nexus One, 5, and currently use a 6P,\nhow much of this is due to the OS versus hardware? Will Google ever be able to\nachieve Apple level battery life or overall UI smoothness, not to mention\nupdate support, without having their own custom SoC?\n\nI was very happy with the 5, even with the intermittent lags, especially\nconsidering it's price at release. I suppose I'm not a very heavy phone user,\nand I never play mobile games, but I've been very happy with the 6P on Android\n6.0-7.1. Battery life could definitely be better, and it does get fairly warm\nat times, but overall it's been a very good experience for me considering the\nSnapdragon 810 it's using is generally poorly regarded.\n\n~~~\nscott_karana\nApple has had fluid UIs since the start, despite off-the-shelf, low resource\nSamsung SoCs. They only started making custom ones after with the 4S, as I\nrecall.\n\n~~~\nfixermark\nYep. Out of the starting gate, Apple forced tight constraints on background\nand multi-threaded processing---so tight that the first versions of the iPhone\nOS couldn't support some types of application that the Android OSs could\nunless Apple wrote the program and could take advantage of the private APIs in\nthe OS. But the advantage to that B&D approach was responsiveness and battery\nlife, relative to an Android OS where any developer could write an app that\nwould spawn an ill-behaved background thread and suck your battery.\n\n------\nmncharity\n> I don’t see the average garbage-collected language using a virtual machine\n> allowing for a target higher than 60fps realistically.\n\nBut... \" _average_ garbage-collected language using a virtual machine\" doesn't\ndescribe _any_ of C/C++, Dart, Go, Java, Python, or Rust. Nor Javascript.\n\nI get greater than 60 fps with my existing Vive three.js WebVR-ish\nelectron/chromium linux stack. Even on an old laptop with integrated graphics\n(for very simple scenes). Recent chromium claims 90 fps WebVR, and I've no\nreason to doubt it. So 60 fps \"up to 120fps\" seems completely plausible, even\non mobile.\n\n~~~\nsaghm\n> But... \"average garbage-collected language using a virtual machine\" doesn't\n> describe any of C/C++, Dart, Go, Java, Python, or Rust.\n\nI'm curious; what would be an example of something you would describe as an\n\"average garbage collected language using a virtual machine\"? Java would\ncertainly be the first language I'd think of for that description.\n\n~~~\nmunificent\n> I'm curious; what would be an example of something you would describe as an\n> \"average garbage collected language using a virtual machine\"?\n\nRuby 1.8, Lua, or CPython.\n\n~~~\nsaghm\nPython was included in the list of things considered not to be in this\ncategory; I probably agree with you on that one, but the idea behind my\nquestion was that the languages listed as not \"average garbage-collected\nlanguage using a virtual machine\" included several that I'd include in that\ncategory.\n\nWhat do you think makes Ruby and Lua more \"average\" than Java?\n\n------\ngrizzles\nSince Fuscia is a new kernel, that means it will probably only support Google\nhardware.\n\nThe status quo right now among android hardware vendors is to violate the GPL,\nand they have faced few if any repercussions for doing so. I wonder if Fuscia\nis sort of viewed as the way forward to addressing that.\n\nAnyone care to speculate why there isn't a community version of chromium os?\nI'd donate to it for sure. It sounds like getting android apps working on it\nwould be pretty easy:\n[https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/?hl=en#!topic...](https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/?hl=en#!topic/chromium-\nos-discuss/OfBln-hl7ug)\n\n~~~\nbitmapbrother\n>The status quo right now among android hardware vendors is to violate the GPL\n\nNo it's not the status quo. The major OEM's do release their code. Yes, there\nare some Chinese OEM violators, but that's typical of China.\n\n~~~\ngrizzles\nYou can release code and still violate the GPL in other ways. For example,\nthere are binary blobs out there and the GPL is pretty unequivocal on this\npoint: \"The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for\nmaking modifications to it.\"\n\n~~~\nsimonh\nIt depends whether the binary blob is a derived work or not.\n\n[http://yarchive.net/comp/linux/gpl_modules.html](http://yarchive.net/comp/linux/gpl_modules.html)\n\n------\nbitL\nSeems like Free Software that propelled early Internet pioneers served its\npurpose and those companies are turning their backs on it - first with Apple,\nGCC->LLVM, now with Google, Linux->Fuchsia :( I am getting afraid of another\ndark age on the horizon... I guess it's going to be inevitable as 90% of SW\ndevelopers will find themselves redundant when inferring AI capable of\ncomposing code blocks and listening to/reading speech/specifications arrives\nin upcoming decade, making creation of typical web/mobile apps trivial.\n\n~~~\nbashtoni\nI think Google is probably the most Free Software friendly of the the new big\nthree (Amazon, Google, Microsoft). They haven't disappointed with Fuschia\nwhich appears to be entirely copyleft:\n\n[https://fuchsia.googlesource.com/magenta/+/master/LICENSE](https://fuchsia.googlesource.com/magenta/+/master/LICENSE)\n[https://fuchsia.googlesource.com/fonts/+/master/LICENSE](https://fuchsia.googlesource.com/fonts/+/master/LICENSE)\n\n~~~\nAsooka\nThat's BSD-license though, which doesn't force companies to respect your\nfreedoms. Parent was talking exactly about GPL being dropped in favour of\nlicenses that allow vendor lock-in. It means a philosophical departure from\nuser-first towards corporation-first and the Free Software world the FSF\nenvisioned getting trampled.\n\nThe zeitgeist is moving towards conservatism in general, so it doesn't\nsurprise me, but it's still sad.\n\n------\ntechenthusiast\nArticle author here. Posted this in the notes, but possibly too buried:\n\nFor anyone interested, I intend to write quite often about consumer technology\non this blog. Topics will include hardware, software, design, and more. You\ncan follow via RSS or Twitter, and possibly through other platforms soon.\nSorry for the self promotion!\n\nThanks for reading. Please do send any corrections or explanations.\n\n~~~\njm_l\nHiroshi Lockheimer has publicly stated several times that there is no merger\nof Chrome OS and Android.\n\n[https://chromeunboxed.com/some-andromeda-perspective-\nhiroshi...](https://chromeunboxed.com/some-andromeda-perspective-hiroshi-\nlockheimer-emphatic-on-separate-oss-moving-forward/)\n\nI think you alluded to this, \"cue endless debates over the semantics of that,\nand what it all entails,\" but it might be worthwhile to add the official\nstatement.\n\n~~~\nktta\nBut there are frequent commits to multiple repositories on the fuchsia code\nbase[1]. I don't really see where Google is going with this, if it's neither\nmeant to replace chrome OS or Android.\n\nMaybe a long term project? I think Google is at a position where they can\nwrite a great OS from scratch, learning from the mistakes of others, and it\nhas a chance of becoming the greatest OS that ever was.\n\nWith the talent of it's engineers, they can bring new ideas that can be better\nimplemented, from scratch on a new OS. They already have a bunch of languages,\nweb frameworks, and so many more technologies from Google that can be well\nintegrated in this.\n\nAnd looks like the project is mostly BSD licensed, which is great! I'm excited\nfor just that alone.\n\n[1]:[https://github.com/fuchsia-mirror](https://github.com/fuchsia-mirror)\n\n------\nthinkloop\nWhy can't the pure web replace apps and programs? All the pieces are almost\nthere: hardware acceleration, service workers, notifications, responsive\ndesign...\n\nI currently \"add to home screen\" for most things. I edit my images online, and\ndevelop code using cloud9 ide, etc. There are few things I need apps/programs\nfor right now, and that's improving day by day.\n\niPhone is dropping heavily in world wide market share, but they still have a\nlot of the wealthy users. There is a non-zero chance they get niched out of\nprominence by Android (aka every other manufacturer in the world), at which\npoint network effects start encouraging Android-first or Android-only\ndevelopment. There might be a point where Apple needs to double down on the\nweb, and/or maybe kill off apps, like they did flash, to still have the latest\n\"apps\".\n\n~~~\nSanddancer\nI take photos miles from where there's cell signal. I write code on the bus\nwhile heading to doctors appointments. The web is about as far from a panacea\nas you can get. It's slow, it's bloated, falls apart when you don't have a\nconnection, useful applications die when the company dies. Were some of the\nmidi devices I use for music \"web-based\" they'd have probably become doorstops\ndecades ago. A web-based IDE would be horrible for trying to develop code with\nan intermittent connection. The web is not a good time.\n\n~~~\nfauigerzigerk\nThe intermittency issues can be fixed but I agree that the dependency on web\napp providers and their fickle business models is scary.\n\nThe way it works is to funnel all the profits into a few huge conglomerates\nthat benefit from exclusive access to all personal data and train users to\nnever depend on anything that isn't a core product of one of these\nconglomerates.\n\nUsing their 80% margins they can afford to at least give us some time before\nscrapping software that doesn't look it's ever going to reach 4bn consumers.\n\nThe result is stability. Until they all get toppled by the next technology\nrevolution. Years later, regulators will crack down hard on some of the side\nissues of their former dominance and once again miss the currently relevant\nissues :)\n\n------\ntherealmarv\nThis blogpost has waaaay too much assumptions. When reading about this it\nseems easy to rip out Kernels, OS & Software and put it like a layer on a cake\non top of a new OS. Even for Google this is crazy complicated. It will not be\nthat easy. For sure not... and I also see no clear strategy WHY somebody\nshould do that. It's like baking the cake with too much ingredients. ;)\n\n~~~\ndjsumdog\nI can see the kernel thing happening. Just the licensing and breaking ABI is\none of the biggest factors in not being able to have an easily upgradable\nandroid.\n\nI only see this as a good thing if this ensures an easier upgrade path than in\nAndroid; and if vendor ROMs can easily be replaced by a stock OS (like on\nWindows).\n\n~~~\ntherealmarv\nI definitely can not see the Kernel thing happen. Ever thought of power\nmanagement and keeping the whole system fluent? This are all not easy problems\nwhich you solve in 1 or 2 years. It may only work for very specialized\nhardware... speaking of hardware. Hardware driver support is also something\nmost other Kernels suffer from in comparison to e.g. Linux.\n\n~~~\nRoy0\n> Hardware driver support is also something most other Kernels suffer from in\n> comparison to e.g. Linux.\n\nSo?\n\nGoogle doesn't have to support all hardware, they can pick to support only the\nhardware they want. That's what they already do with ChromeOS. Installing\nChromiumOS on unsupported hardware can have its issues. The reverse is true\ntoo, installing not-ChromeOS Linux or another OS on Chromebook does not always\nwork well, although it's fine on some specific models.\n\nAndroid is like that too, and in a much worse way than for Chromebooks. We're\nnot talking about stellar linux kernel support for all the custom ARM SOC that\nare out there. All manufacturers write their own closed source hardware\nsupport for android and this is how android ends up having issues with\nupdating, since whenever Google updates the linux kernel it breaks the ABI and\nall the support manufacturers wrote for the previous version, and\nmanufacturers do not want to spend so much time on needless busywork such as\nkeeping up with kernel API churn that exists just to satisfy the dev team\nsense of perfection.\n\n------\nInsanity\n> IDEs written in Java are wildly slow…\n\nMy favourite IDE to use today is IntelliJ, and I prefer it over my experience\nwith Visual Studio (though to be fair, I did not use VS intensively in the\npast 3-4 years).\n\nI don't experience IntelliJ as \"slow\". It launches faster than VS did when I\nused it, and once it is running I keep it open pretty much the entire work-\nweek without any issues.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nOther than Netbeans and Eclipse being faster and don't turn my dual core into\nairplane mode like Android Studio does, which forced me to enable laptop mode\non it.\n\n~~~\nInsanity\nI don't really understand what you are trying to say, sorry :/\n\n------\niainmerrick\n\"Fuchsia\" and \"magenta\" are pretty gutsy names to choose, given how similar it\nsound to Apple's vaporware \"Pink\" OS from the 90s (AKA Taligent, AKA Copland).\nSomebody has a sense of humor!\n\nIt's really hard to tell if this is actually something that will ship, or yet\nanother Google boondoggle to be swiftly discarded (like the first attempt at\nChromeOS for tablets). Google under Larry Page built and discarded a lot of\nstuff; I wonder if it's the same under Sundar Pichai.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taligent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taligent)\n\n~~~\nJustSomeNobody\nSounds like a stretch having to go all the way back to the 90's to get a\nsimilar color code name.\n\n~~~\niainmerrick\nIt was the first thing those unusual names made me think of. But I'm a long-\ntime Mac developer, so probably pink and purple colors as OS names won't have\nthe same connotations for other people.\n\n------\ncamdenlock\nThis could be the first time Apple needs to truly worry about Google. The one\nmassive lead Apple still has over Google (and the other major players) is the\nincredible OS they inherited back in 1997 and continue to extend and maintain\ntoday.\n\nNeither Android nor Windows nor Chrome OS nor your favorite Linux distro have\never been able to truly compete with the NeXT legacy as it lives on in Apple.\n\nGoogle is smart enough as a whole to see this, and so it's not surprising that\nthey're attempting to shore up their platform's competence in this particular\narea. What IS surprising is that it has taken them this long.\n\nPerhaps what's truly surprising is just how much mileage Apple has gotten out\nof NeXT. It's astounding, and I know Apple realizes this, but I question\nwhether or not they know how to take the next step, whatever that may be. And\nif Google manages to finally catch up...\n\n~~~\njcranmer\n> Neither Android nor Windows nor Chrome OS nor your favorite Linux distro\n> have ever been able to truly compete with the NeXT legacy as it lives on in\n> Apple.\n\nI find this a funny statement. Apple has not seen runaway success in terms of\nmarket share, not on desktop platforms (where the top OSes are various\nversions of Windows), not on mobile platforms (where it is a distant second to\nAndroid in the worldwide market), not on server or supercomputer platforms\n(where it's effectively nonexistent).\n\nNor is it influential in terms of operating system paradigms. The only thing I\ncan see people citing as a Darwin innovation is libdispatch. Solaris, for\nexample, introduced ZFS and DTrace, as well as adopting containers well before\nmost other OSes did (although FreeBSD is I think the first OS to create the\nconcept with BSD jails)--note that Darwin still lacks an analogue.\n\n~~~\nglasz\nit's not about market share. it's about profit share. android/ios may be 80/20\non market. but they are 20/80 on profit.\n\nmarket share won't feed nobody. that's all apple needs to care about. just\nlook at their market cap and p/e ratio.\n\n------\nwapz\nI'm a minority I know but I don't like material design because it's terrible\nat \"scaling.\" It looks great, it's beautiful, but you lose too much damn\nfunctionality. When I had to redo apps to material design we had to completely\nremove multiple buttons due to them not fitting material design standards. I\nreally hope they have some way to alleviate this problem without using 50px\nicons for all the extra buttons.\n\n~~~\nmanmal\nWhy not bend the rules a bit before omitting vital components?\n\n~~~\nwapz\nThey weren't _vital_ components but useful for the user. We moved most of the\n\"excess\" buttons to the top bar and overflow menu but still had to remove a\nbutton here and there completely (we still had the functionality in a\ndifferent part of the app it was just more tedious to use from our testing).\n\n------\nNypro\nSo Google is going with a DartVM on this one. Dart is cool and all, but why\nDartVM? It's the same restrictive model we have with Android (dalvikVM) where\nyou can only develop with languages that can compile down to Java bytecode. In\nthis case, however, we will be using languages that can transpile to Dart\nsource instead! Why not JavaScript engine? With the current movement with\nWebAssembly, I see a lot potential use cases. The biggest point being the\nability to code in any language that compiles to wasm. The engine could be\nexposed to communicate with the OS directly or sth. If they are going to\nconsider V8 alongside DartVM, then that would be cool. I truly hope they don't\nrepeat old mistakes.\n\n~~~\nthwd\nDart can compile to JS, so that edge is covered. Dart bytecode is arguably an\neasier target for other language compilers than, say, assembly. The DartVM's\nbyte code is fully specified, there is some adoption, it's openly accessible,\nand there's a bold, production-ready reference implementation. For wasm, only\nhalf of that is true.\n\n~~~\nsp332\nCompiling Dart to JS is a very different problem than compiling JS or other\nlanguages to Dart.\n\n~~~\nthwd\nI understand what you mean and agree. But then, you don't need to compile JS\ninto Dart. Rather, JS into DartVM byte code.\n\n------\nendorphone\nConjecture is fun, but the linked piece takes some enormous liberties with\ncrossing massive chasms effortlessly. Not only is Fushia _not_ Andromeda (a\nproject), the needs of IoT is massively different from the needs of Android.\nAnd the net investment in Android is absolutely colossal, and making some new\nAPIs or a microkernel does not a replacement make.\n\n------\nsametmax\nGoogle could have taken firefox and improve it to make it better, but they\ncreated something new.\n\nNow instead of improving the linux stack and the gnu stack (the kernel,\nwayland, the buses, the drivers), they rewrite everything.\n\nThey put millions into this. Imagine what could have been done with it on\nexisting software.\n\nThey say they are good citizen in the FOSS world, but eventually they just use\nthe label to promote their product. They don't want free software, they want\ntheir software, that they control, and let you freely work on it.\n\n~~~\nlossolo\nIsn't Google paying to Mozilla for Google searches from inside search bar in\nFirefox ? Isn't like main money flow for Mozilla? More people use Chrome, more\nmoney Google saves. It's all about the data, making Firefox better didn't\nbenefit Google as good as creating new browser. Now they do not have to pay so\nmuch for all their users searches to other companies and they have so much\nmore data that they can use internally for other products.\n\n~~~\nteddyh\nNo, that ended in 2014. Google no longer gives Mozilla anything.\n\n------\nmcguire\n\" _The pitch will clearly be that developers can write a Flutter app once and\nhave it run on Andromeda, Android, and iOS with minimal extra work, in\ntheory._ \"\n\nHow's that going to work? iOS, specifically? Is Dart a supported language?\n\n~~~\nafsina\nThis may answer your question:\n\n[https://flutter.io/faq/#how-does-flutter-run-my-code-on-\nios](https://flutter.io/faq/#how-does-flutter-run-my-code-on-ios)\n\nand\n\n[https://flutter.io/faq/#can-i-interop-with-my-mobile-\nplatfor...](https://flutter.io/faq/#can-i-interop-with-my-mobile-platforms-\ndefault-programming-language)\n\n~~~\nmcguire\nFrom the first link:\n\n\" _The engine’s C /C++ code is compiled with LLVM, and any Dart code is AOT-\ncompiled into native code. The app runs using the native instruction set (no\ninterpreter is involved)._\"\n\nThanks!\n\n------\nbrianon99\nGoogle is just afraid of GPL I think.\n\n~~~\nekianjo\nSo their strategy is to go full-blown closed source?\n\n~~~\nsreenadh\nOpen sourcing the product will help the competition to catch up quickly, all\nthey have to do is take googles product and change its look. The next half is\ninfrastructure, which companies like Microsoft, facebook, amazon, alibaba all\nhave. Plus services like AWS will help future version of dropbox & netflix.\n\nA good example of that is Visual code. I am sure some at github (atom's\npaprent) is pissed.\n\n~~~\njryan49\nWikipedia says it's not a fork of atom but based on electron. Does that make a\ndifference?\n\n------\ndep_b\nSo in the near future billions of devices will no longer be running Linux\nanymore? That would be quite a blow to the OS in terms of chances of\ndominating operating systems that are being used by end users. Or will they\nsimply fork it and strip it down until only the parts they really like will\nremain?\n\n~~~\natoponce\nThis is also a concern of mine. What will this mean for rooting devices? Will\nit still be root, or will it be \"root\" as it an iOS jailbreak?\n\n------\nyen223\nRust as a first-class language?\n\n~~~\nmastax\nI believe the article over-sells Fuchsia's use of Rust. Raph Levien wrote some\nbindings to the OS runtime, and he does work at Google, but his Rust work is\nnot-official.\n\n(or that's the story as I remember it)\n\n~~~\nsametmax\nWhich is a shame, they are missing an opportunity to ditch C/C++ in favor of a\nsafer language and set a precedent in OS history.\n\nImagine how easier contribution would be if you could write the OS parts with\nless lines, guarantied to no introduce most security and concurrency bugs we\nknow about.\n\n------\nFlenser\nANDROid + chROME + DArt = ANDROMEDA?\n\n------\nskybrian\nre: \"Flutter was [...]\"\n\nA bit weird to use the past tense here since it's not reached 1.0 yet. You can\ntry it out today (tech preview) to create apps in Dart that run on Android and\niOS:\n\n[https://flutter.io/](https://flutter.io/)\n\n(Googler, not on the Flutter team itself, but working on related developer\ntools.)\n\n~~~\ntechenthusiast\nFair point! Just fixed that, thanks. I had only meant that Flutter was not\noriginally intended for Andromeda, as far as I can tell :)\n\n------\nbsaul\nTrying to see the other side of the coin : what economical reason is there for\nthis project ?\n\nA company the side of Google, with all its internal politics, doesn't work as\na startup. Starting a third operating system project and hoping it to replace\ntwo major ones means convincing people inside the company to loose part of\ntheir influence. Now it may happen if chrome or android were failing, but\nthey're clearly not.\n\n------\ntechenthusiast\nI updated the article with the following clarification at the top:\n\nI use Andromeda equivalently with Fuchsia in this article. Andromeda could\nrefer to combining Android and Chrome OS in general, but it's all the same OS\nfor phones, laptops, etc. - Fuchsia. I make no claims about what the final\nmarketing names will be. Andromeda could simply be the first version of\nFuchsia, and conveniently starts with \"A.\" Google could also market the PC OS\nwith a different name than for the mobile OS, or any number of alternatives. I\nhave no idea. We'll see.\n\n------\nmankash666\nI hope the userland is POSIX/Linux compliant. There's a TON of useful software\nreliant on this compliance that will go to waste if it isn't compliant out-of-\nthe-box.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nIt doesn't seem to affect ChromeOS, iOS or Android.\n\n------\nshams93\nAs a sound/music app person the inclusion of ASIO for audio is exciting,\nGoogle's new is should be on par with iOS for sound with ASIO audio drivers at\nthe core.\n\n------\nlenkite\nAFAIK the flutter UI framework is a react-like framework written in Dart (with\nC++ as OS glue) including the UI -> graphics rendering layer. It builds upon\nSkia and Blink. I am not sure how that will allow compatibility with other\nlanguages. The only language for UI apps looks to be Dart. Which isn't bad -\nits a pretty well designed language, but I don't see how apps can be written\nin a wide variety of language as the author suggests.\n\n------\nakmittal\n>the main UI API is based on, yes, Dart\n\nWon't the Dart's single thread nature be bad to take advantage of Murli core\nprocessors? Or they are embracing web workers?\n\n~~~\nbitmapbrother\nDart, in the context of Fuchsia, isn't really a web based language. So yes,\nit'll take advantage of multi-core processors.\n\n------\nbitmapbrother\nThe author calls it Andromeda OS, but is this really the Andromeda OS we've\nbeen hearing about? I'm not so sure about that. What we do know right now is\nthat the OS is currently code named Fuchsia.\n\nFuchsia repository:\n[https://fuchsia.googlesource.com/?format=HTML](https://fuchsia.googlesource.com/?format=HTML)\n\n~~~\ntechenthusiast\nThere has been other reporting about this going back to last fall. I don't\nthink Fuchsia is the marketing name.\n\n------\nantoncohen\nLink to the source code:\n\n[https://fuchsia.googlesource.com/](https://fuchsia.googlesource.com/)\n\n------\nMichaelMoser123\nThe article says it's a microkernel, I wonder if it will be a more secure\ngeneral purpose OS, well windows NT started as microkernel but they changed\nthat wit NT 4,let's see if it will be different. I also wonder about driver\nsupport and battery consumption. Good luck to Google.\n\n------\nsjtgraham\n> The pitch will clearly be that developers can write a Flutter app once and\n> have it run on Andromeda, Android, and iOS with minimal extra work, in\n> theory.\n\nThis is worrying for Apple. I can see the following playing out\n\n\\- Apple continues releasing machines like the TB MBP, much to exasperated\ndeveloper dismay.\n\n\\- Other x86 laptop industrial design and build quality continue to improve.\n\n\\- Fuchsia/Andromeda itself becomes a compelling development environment\n\n\\- Developers begin switching away from Mac OS to Fuchsia, Linux and Windows\n\n\\- Google delivers on the promise of a WORA runtime and the biggest objective\nreason not to abandon Mac OS, i.e. writing apps for iOS, disappears.\n\n\\- Apps start to look the same on iOS and Android. iOS becomes less\ncompelling.\n\n\\- iOS devices sales begin to hurt.\n\nGranted that the App Store submission requires Mac OS (Application Loader) and\nthe license agreement requires you only use Apple software to submit apps to\nthe App Store and not write your own, but it seems flimsy to rely on that.\n\n------\nconradev\nHere is a link to the documentation:\n\n[https://fuchsia.googlesource.com/magenta/+/master/docs](https://fuchsia.googlesource.com/magenta/+/master/docs)\n\n------\navmich\nI didn't see in the article explanations why those decisions were taken and\nnot others. On the surface it feels like this is an OS insufficiently\ndifferent from others to justify switching to.\n\n------\npier25\nWe definitely need a universal OS for all our devices and I really believe\nGoogle is in a great position to get us there.\n\nIt would really surprise me if Apple got there first. Tim lacks vision and\nwill keep on milking iOS even if the iPad Pro is a failure as a laptop\nreplacement.\n\nWindows is still king in the desktop space, at least as far a user base goes,\nbut it's terrible on tablets and phones. MS has all the tech in place with\nUWP, but it's still pretty far in the race in terms of simplicity and\nusability.\n\nChrome OS ticks all the right boxes, and is experiencing a huge growth, but\nit's not universal. If Andromeda is real, and it's able to become a universal\nOS that merges Chrome OS and Android it might be the best thing since sliced\nbread.\n\n~~~\nthewhitetulip\nYes, we do. I want my phone and my laptop to be in total sync, I want to be\nable to write code on my mobile which I can just continue on my laptop without\nany hindrance, currently I have a mac and an android phone, I do have Go and\nPython installed on my mobile, but it isn't that great to code on my mobile, I\nhave to host the repo on an internal version of gogs to get the code synced up\nand I still have to manually push the code around.\n\nAll hail Universal OS!!\n\n~~~\nvlunkr\nYou could always develop remotely, use your phone to ssh into a more powerful\nmachine. Use tmux or screen and pick up right where you were on a laptop or\ndesktop. This is far more compelling IMHO.\n\n~~~\nmcguire\nTmux or screen? Wouldn't it be nice if there were a graphics-over-the-network\nsystem?\n\n~~~\nlliamander\nI remember the glee of the first time I got an X-Window application to run\nover the network. I was so confused though because the \"x-server\" is the\nsoftware you run on your client machine.\n\n~~~\nmcguire\nYou and the _Unix Hater 's Handbook_ authors.\n\nThere is a small terminology issue here: a \"server\" is a program that offers\nservices to remote \"client\" programs. The clients make requests and the server\nresponds to them. A client program will make a request like \"allocate me a\nchunk of the screen and put these here bits in it\", or \"let me know about any\nof these events that happen\". The server manages the screen and notifies the\nclients about things they're interested in.\n\n _IT MAKES PERFECT SENSE, DAMMIT!_\n\n~~~\nlliamander\nThis made me laugh (in a good way).\n\nI agree, it actually does make total sense - but that doesn't mean I won't get\nconfused :).\n\nMy only prior exposure to \"GUIs over the network\" were web applications, where\nthe roles are essentially reversed. That is, the part responsible for\naccepting user input and rendering the UI is the client (the browser), and the\npart that performs the application logic is the server.\n\nI naively assumed that X would work the same way, but it wasn't too hard to\nunlearn that misconception.\n\n------\ngillianlish\nguys i hate to tell you this, but it's Feb 15 here in New Zealand, and Google\nhas cancelled Andromeda.\n\n~~~\nsolidsnack9000\n[http://platypusplatypus.com/news/google-andromeda-isnt-\nhappe...](http://platypusplatypus.com/news/google-andromeda-isnt-happening/)\n\n------\nungzd\nI think it's intended for entertainment and content consumption just like\nAndroid and Chrome OS. And Apple is trying the same with merging iOS and\ndesktop. How long it will take until all computers will be set-top boxes where\nyou can only netflix and chill and if you want, for example, to draw\nsomething, you have to buy Professional Grade Computer for $50000?\n\n------\nam185\nwow! it supports Golang, since it has glsl, this will have nice UI.\n\n[https://fuchsia-\nreview.googlesource.com/#/q/project:third_pa...](https://fuchsia-\nreview.googlesource.com/#/q/project:third_party/go)\n\n------\nkzrdude\nDoes anyone have a more detailed explanation of the component called\n“modular”?\n\n------\nxtat\nHonestly I'd rather keep the linux and ditch the JVM\n\n------\nBrailleHunting\nNIH syndrome plus large organization people looking for job security, and\nrough, fat FLOSS full of maintenance and security vulns hell equals \"Emperor's\nnew clothes.\"\n\n------\nHiroP55\nThe comment about Java based IDEs being slow is not entirely objective and\nfact based. I'd say it's more of an emotional argument.\n\n------\nem3rgent0rdr\n[https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/standards.png](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/standards.png)\n\n------\ndiebir\nQuote: \"I am not a programmer, so if anything stated above is incorrect,\nplease, please send me corrections. I would also greatly appreciate any\nclarifying comments, which were one of my primary motivations for writing this\npiece.\" Essentially a bunch of nonsense, in other words.\n\n------\nchatman\nMicrosoft is opening up more and more, and Google is closing down more and\nmore.\n\n------\nmtgx\nIt would be a real shame if Google wasted this once in a decade or perhaps\nonce in multiple decades opportunity to not have an OS written in a language\nother than C++.\n\nAlso, it would be mind-boggling if they didn't actually fix the update problem\nthis time, and if it wasn't a top 3 priority for the new OS.\n\n~~~\nfrozenport\nIt's written in C.\n\nThere is little beyond syntax that a different language can offer because a\nmodern OS cannot afford features like garbage collection. Indeed, this was one\nof the research aims of MS's Singularity project.\n\n~~~\nsametmax\nThey could have written it in Rust. No garbage collection, more security\nguaranties. Easier to contribute to the code properly.\n\n~~~\nfrozenport\nRust performed 3x slower and hacking around the language made it somewhat of a\nmess [1]. Much like Singularity, this is hardly a success story. Although\nSingularity was interesting from a research perspective nobody doubted that an\nOS could be written in Rust.\n\n[https://scialex.github.io/reenix.pdf](https://scialex.github.io/reenix.pdf)\n\n~~~\nsteveklabnik\nThat paper is very old, before Rust 1.0. There was also a lot of discussions\nabout ways that they could have used Rust better at the time, IIRC.\n\nToday, there is no reason Rust should ever be 3x slower, especially in an\nOSdev context, where you currently have to use nightly.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAndrew Fluegelman: PC-Talk and Beyond (1985) - ingve\nhttps://medium.com/@harrymccracken/the-1985-andrew-fluegelman-interview-5791470819db\n======\ngjvc\nI liked this quote from the interview:\n\n\"The amount of code that’s doing the work is tiny compared to the amount of\ncode that’s just making life pleasant for you.\" \\-- Andrew Fluegelman\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDigitalOcean - dayanruben\nhttps://www.digitalocean.com/company/blog/ready-set-hacktoberfest/\n======\nrunamok\nThe title should be \"Ready, Set, Hacktoberfest!\".\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Most Common Error in Media Coverage of the Google Memo - mimbs\nhttps://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/the-most-common-error-in-coverage-of-the-google-memo/536181/?single_page=true\n======\nChardok\nRegardless on your opinions of the memo, this article nails it right on the\nhead; Gizmodo and other major news outlets handled this _very_ irresponsibly,\nposting their version that had no citations, and leading the reader, even at\nthe very beginning, into forming the opinion that this was simply a guy being\n\"anti-diversity\".\n\nWhatever your thoughts on the subject are, it needs to be pointed out that\nthis type of journalism is absolutely _not_ neutral (even though they will\nswear up and down that they are) and should be, at the very least, condemned\nfor doing so. This is and will be an increasingly difficult problem,\nespecially when people just read a headline and a summary.\n\n~~~\nwcummings\nThis article doesn't say anything about citations, unless I'm missing\nsomething. I've read the memo, \"citations\" (some of them hardly qualify) and\nall. \"Anti-diversity\" might be a little hyperbolic, but it's hard to argue it\nis anything else _in good faith_.\n\nThe author feels comfortable making the claim _women are biologically more\nneurotic_ , in a _professional setting_ , no less. His \"citation\" for this\nfact is _Wikipedia_. This is unimaginative sexist bullshit that everyone has\nheard before. That people feel the impulse to defend this is disgusting.\n\nWhatever innate differences there are between men and women are small and\nnowhere near as big a factor in the gender-ratio as say, arrogant weirdos\nsending credos to their entire company declaring women unfit to work in their\nindustry.\n\n~~~\nmpweiher\n> The author feels comfortable making the claim women are biologically more\n> neurotic,\n\nNope. \"Neuroticism\" is a technical term, a big-five personality trait.\nEveryone has it to some degree and having less is not necessarily better, just\nlike all the other traits.\n\nWhat you are getting all riled about is \"neurotic\", which is related to a\npsychiatric condition (although the term is apparently no longer used – who\nknew?)\n\n> declaring women unfit to work\n\nYeah, he didn't do that.\n\nPlease calm down and read the actual text. If things seem weird or rile-\nworthy, maybe ask first. Or look.\n\nI did a little writeup, [http://blog.metaobject.com/2017/08/the-science-\nbehind-manife...](http://blog.metaobject.com/2017/08/the-science-behind-\nmanifesto.html) there are probably others that are better.\n\nEDIT: language\n\n~~~\nwcummings\nI know what neuroticism is.\n\n~~~\nmpweiher\nFantastic!\n\nSo why did you then use \"neurotic\" and get all riled up about it when the\ndocument says \"neuroticism\", which is (a) nothing to get riled up about and\n(b) a simple scientific fact (as best we know)?\n\n------\nagentgt\nWhat pains me is before reading this article I was slightly biased because of\nprevious articles.\n\nActually it doesn't pain me... it really pisses me off that so many journalist\nare fooling people... particularly me.\n\nWhen I read the bloomberg article (which I submitted to HN and now I want to\njust bang my head on the table for doing it) I was actually slightly siding\nwith Google. Even though I was constantly telling myself \"lets see the memo\nbefore judging\" I could feel myself making a biased assumption.\n\nI'm so annoyed with myself.\n\n~~~\ndvfjsdhgfv\nI feel the same. When I first read the censored Gizmodo version, I thought to\nmyself, \"Whoah, this guy is making up too many assumptions without any\nreferences!\" Later, when I found the original version with references, I felt\na bit stupid for judging him.\n\n~~~\nmpweiher\nFor me it was the other way around. I was aware of the references, so I just\nnodded and moved on, not realizing how incendiary some of these things sound\nwhen you don't have the context.\n\nFor example, \"neuroticism\" being just a technical term for a normally varying\npersonality trait, not \"mental illness\".\n\n~~~\nnovembermike\nYeah, I was surprised to see that Neuroticism was a technical term for a\nphenomenon with a well studied gender gap. If you don't know that it sounds\npretty mean.\n\n------\nalexandercrohde\nThis is an incredibly well-written article. I wish I had the emotional\ndistance and mastery of english express myself with such grace.\n\nUnfortunately for me (and everyone) it takes me a lot longer to find the exact\nwords for my frustrations in a situation like this. So I end up wanting to say\ninflammatory accusations like \"PC-group-think witch-hunt,\" which captures my\nanger but doesn't really convince anybody on the other side (but rather\nescalates the tension).\n\nThe author cleverly brings both sides together by picking a starting point we\nall agree \"Accuracy in journalism matters\" and dissecting how that value was\ncompromised [in this particular case] in order to promote another value:\n\"Diversity matters.\"\n\nPaul Graham describes such a technique in his seminal essay.\n\n[[http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html)\n\nOne way to do this is to ratchet the debate up one level of abstraction. If\nyou argue against censorship in general, you can avoid being accused of\nwhatever heresy is contained in the book or film that someone is trying to\ncensor. You can attack labels with meta-labels: labels that refer to the use\nof labels to prevent discussion. The spread of the term \"political\ncorrectness\" meant the beginning of the end of political correctness, because\nit enabled one to attack the phenomenon as a whole without being accused of\nany of the specific heresies it sought to suppress.\n\n]\n\n~~~\nagarden\nSometimes I think Conor Friedersdorf is my hero. He regularly turns out\narticles on prickly topics with a cool, compassionate tone.\n\n------\nmeri_dian\n>\"Donald Trump campaigned on the promise of more jobs for working-class\nAmericans. In service of that end, he has proposed canceling free-trade\nagreements, building a wall to keep out immigrants, and eliminating lots of\nenvironmental regulations. Critics who avow that they favor more jobs for the\nworking class, but oppose achieving more jobs through those specific means,\nare not described as “anti-job,” especially when they suggest specific\nalternatives for job-creation. Even if their alternatives would result in\nfewer jobs than the Trump administration’s plans, that still wouldn’t make a\nwriteup of their proposal “an anti-job memo.”\"\n\nGreat point. While reporting on this memo isn't 'fake news', it is an example\nof reactionary, knee jerk, click bait journalism, which is a pernicious\nproblem that stifles nuanced debate, and is probably doing more damage to our\nsociety than literal 'fake news'.\n\n~~~\nweberc2\nYeah, when I read through the HN comments from the Bloomberg post, I couldn't\nbelieve how many people spoke about this guy as though he was an actual Nazi.\nI can't imagine anyone honestly reading that article and coming to that\nconclusion. It's almost like once someone signals that this guy is The Bad\nGuy, reason and individual thought go out the window. Of course, I imagine\nthose folks would disagree with my characterization (and probably make all\nmanner of insinuations about my character or allegiances), which is admittedly\nnot very charitable. That said, there are only so many times you can watch the\nsame pattern of events unfold...\n\nEDIT: In case people don't know what I mean by \"pattern of events\", I'm\nthinking of cases like the Christakis/Yale fiasco where people make\nreasonable, respectable, constructive critiques of progressive values and are\nmet with popular outrage.\n\n------\ndvfjsdhgfv\nSeriously, it sounds like the author of this article is the first journalist\nwho actually read the article in full and reflected on its contents.\nUnfortunately, it's a few days too late - the rest already spread wrong\nsummaries, the misinformation has been spread, and the author of the memo\nfired.\n\n~~~\nkinkrtyavimoodh\nI think you are giving all the click-bait writers far too much of a benefit of\ndoubt. Let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that they don't know\nwhat they are doing.\n\nThey know exactly what they are doing, and what they are doing is creating\noutrage and profiting from it in this eyeball-click-ad driven journalism\neconomy.\n\nVery few are going to have the wherewithal to forego hundreds or thousands of\ndollars in ad revenues for the sake of a slightly more gently or fairly worded\nheadline or article. The incentives just do not match up.\n\n~~~\nstrictnein\nYep, and sadly even major news orgs like CNN are doing this now. Case in\npoint:\n\n\"Google CEO cuts vacation short to address controversial memo that argued\nwomen aren't biologically fit for tech jobs \"\n\n[https://twitter.com/CNN/status/894904419766108161](https://twitter.com/CNN/status/894904419766108161)\n\n\"A Google engineer argued that women aren't biologically fit for tech jobs.\"\n\n[https://twitter.com/CNN/status/894951392779141120](https://twitter.com/CNN/status/894951392779141120)\n\n~~~\nDanihan\nThis is intentional. It's intended to capture attention from people who will\nfeel a need to argue that the headline misrepresents the content of the memo\n(which is does).\n\nThen CNN converts that emotionalism and clicks and comments into ad dollars.\n\nIt's exactly why the media LOVES any controversial \"wedge\" issues. They\npolarize people, and polarized people argue incessantly. And people who are\narguing == views and ad dollars.\n\n~~~\ntajen\nOr is it intentional by the leaders of CNN to try to side with Google on that\ncase?\n\n------\nmatchu\nIt's important to distinguish between what the memo's author says, and what\neffect his words actually have. It _is_ an anti-diversity memo, even if it\nisn't intended as one.\n\nThe author makes shaky statements about gender, reinforcing sexist\nstereotypes. The author applies rationalist disclaimers, which enables\nalready-sexist readers to feel that their sexism is rational. And, most\ndistressingly, the author asserts that Google made a mistake hiring many of\nthe women who work there. Actively making your minority coworkers feel\nunwelcome is an anti-diversity behavior, and it was an obvious and predictable\nconsequence of how he chose to communicate.\n\nI don't claim to know the author's intent, or how he truly feels about the\nwomen he works with. But, regardless of whether he's actually opposed to\ndiversity, we judge words by their consequences. These words are thoroughly\nanti-diversity in consequence, and judging them in a vacuum is dangerously\nnaive.\n\n~~~\nDanihan\nDefine sexism...\n\nIs believing men and women on average have different hormone levels and\ngenerally speaking, this leads to different behaviors and proclivities,\nsexist?\n\nIs admitting there is _any_ difference between the two sexes, sexist?\n\nIs using different pronouns for men and women sexist?\n\nI honestly don't know where someone draws the line who finds this memo\n\"sexist.\"\n\n~~~\nmatchu\nI haven't decided yet whether I think the memo is sexist. But I'm confident\nthat, because of how it's written, sexist people who read it will feel\nvalidated in their sexism.\n\nIt uses the same core argument as sexism: women are less suited to certain\ntasks, perhaps biologically. And it reaches the same conclusion: we should\nroll back our pro-diversity and pro-empathy programs. A sexist person who\nreads this will therefore feel that it supports their views, and, because the\nargument seems rationalist, they'll conclude that their poor treatment of\nwomen is rationalist. That might not be the intent of the document, but it\n_is_ a predictable outcome.\n\nWords that validate sexist behavior, intentionally or unintentionally,\ncontribute to the problem. Regardless of the merit of the underlying idea, or\nthe valuable conversations it inspired, it's important to remember that the\nmemo itself did harm. It's appropriate that some people are focusing on that.\n\n~~~\nslavak\nThis idea of avoiding saying something because of how horrible people might\nchoose to interpret it is something I find, frankly, terrifying. This is going\nbeyond just censorship and going into the realm of trying to censor reality.\n\nWhere do you draw the line on something like this? Are we allowed to publish\nstatistics that show black people are proportionally more involved in crimes,\nor is this taboo because a white supremacist might use it to claim blacks are\ninherently criminal? What if you write something apparently neutral but some\nterrible person somehow finds a way to twist it to their ends? Do we get to\ncondemn you ex-post-facto over this?\n\n~~~\nmatchu\nI'm not saying _don 't_ have these conversations. Rather, have them carefully,\nand choose your words with the consequences in mind. There are many good and\nthoughtful ways to talk about potential issues with Google's gender diversity\nprograms, but instead this memo made some _especially_ bad choices.\n\nFor one thing, the memo focuses on needlessly contentious issues, instead of\nsticking to actionable arguments. It's valid to say that decreasing stress in\nengineering and leadership positions might attract more women, because modern\nwomen tend that value that more. But framing it as a _biological_ issue is\nhard to prove, and doesn't help support his logistical point. It _only_ has\nthe consequence of hurting people.\n\nThe memo also presumes that Google's full-time diversity experts haven't even\nthought of his concerns. He asserts that seeking out women necessarily lowers\nthe hiring bar for them, instead of asking \"How are we mitigating the risk\nthat our pro-diversity push might _itself_ introduce bias into our ideally\ngender-agnostic perf evaluations?\" That's a valid question, and I'm sure\nGoogle's diversity team has answers, and I'm sure that some people wouldn't be\nsatisfied with those answers. But jumping to the conclusion that Google's\nwomen must be less qualified than the men, just because _he_ can't think of a\nway to mitigate bias in the hiring pipeline, is self-centered and\ndisrespectful.\n\nI'm very much in favor of a world where it's equally okay to express all\nideas! But that doesn't mean we should be equally okay with all modes of\nexpression. No matter which side we're on, we need to think first, then speak.\nGiven the meta-thesis of the memo (especially the \"prioritize intent\"\nsection), I'm not convinced that the author took much time to consider needs\nbeyond his own.\n\n~~~\nslavak\n> It's valid to say that decreasing stress in engineering and leadership\n> positions might attract more women, because modern women tend that value\n> that more. But framing it as a biological issue is hard to prove, and\n> doesn't help support his logistical point. It only has the consequence of\n> hurting people.\n\nWhat it sounds like you're saying is that saying women are on average more\nsensitive to stress based on extensive scientific research which implies a\nstrong biological basis, is contentious and hurtful. But then for some reason\nsaying modern women tend to put more value on a stress-free environment, based\non nothing but an unsupported assertion, is somehow better?\n\nI don't have a crystal ball, but I suspect you're being naive and that the\noutrage would have been much the same no matter how he'd chosen to frame this\nstatement. The very assertion that men and women have some innate differences\nthat might be worth exploring seems to be tantamount to blasphemy --\nparticularly when coming from a man!\n\n> The memo also presumes that Google's full-time diversity experts haven't\n> even thought of his concerns. He asserts that seeking out women necessarily\n> lowers the hiring bar for them, instead of asking \"How are we mitigating the\n> risk that our pro-diversity push might itself introduce bias into our\n> ideally gender-agnostic perf evaluations?\" That's a valid question, and I'm\n> sure Google's diversity team has answers, and I'm sure that some people\n> wouldn't be satisfied with those answers. But jumping to the conclusion that\n> Google's women must be less qualified than the men, just because he can't\n> think of a way to mitigate bias in the hiring pipeline, is self-centered and\n> disrespectful.\n\nThis is just you projecting your presumed intentions on the author. At no\npoint in the memo did he claim or imply that Google's women are less qualified\nthan the men. The only paragraph that can really be taken to say that is the\npart about \"lowering the bar\" for diversity candidates; Which is, admittedly,\nan unfortunate choice of words in retrospect. However the same sentence\nclarifies that the bar is \"lowered\" by decreasing the false-negative rate for\ndiversity candidates, meaning those that are accepted are still qualified at\nthe same standards. The sentence also includes a reference for this claim, but\nthis is unfortunately to an internal Google group so we don't know its\ncontents.\n\nOn the other hand, right at the start of the document the author takes pains\n(including a big colorful picture to illustrate the point) to point out that\n\"you can’t say anything about an individual given these population level\ndistributions,\" which should make it pretty clear that he's NOT claiming\nGoogle's female engineers are less qualified.\n\n> I'm very much in favor of a world where it's equally okay to express all\n> ideas! But that doesn't mean we should be equally okay with all modes of\n> expression. No matter which side we're on, we need to think first, then\n> speak. Given the meta-thesis of the memo (especially the \"prioritize intent\"\n> section), I'm not convinced that the author took much time to consider needs\n> beyond his own.\n\nThis is saying that one must choose his words like a politician and consider\nthe reaction of the world at large when distributing a personal opinion\ndocument not intended for wide publication to a select group of individuals.\nThe idea that one's career might hinge on using the proper newspeak in such a\ndocument is, frankly, terrifying to me. Do people have a right to be upset\nabout his choice of wording or angry at his opinions? Sure, absolutely! But\nlosing your career for this, over an opinion that is, arguably, not really\nharmful or hateful and expressed in a relatively considerate tone, is\nsomething else entirely.\n\n~~~\nmatchu\nMm, thanks for calling out the false-negative thing! I think I misparsed that\nthe first time around and got confused between decreasing false negatives and\nincreasing false positives. That's embarrassing, sorry ^_^`\n\nIn any case, I think I made a mistake suggesting specific improvements to the\nmemo; lemme pop off the stack a bit:\n\nIt's not okay to publish a document to your coworkers that will predictably\nmake them feel unsafe. Full stop.\n\nWhen you want to express an idea at work, you need to engage in empathy, and\ntry to express yourself in such a way that your coworkers will still feel safe\nwith you. If you can't figure out how to express an idea without hurting your\ncoworkers, then, yeah, you don't get to express it unless you figure something\nout :/ That's an appropriate workplace policy, and I'm comfortable with the\ngeneral idea that freedom of expression is subject to some conditions. I know\nnot everybody agrees with that prioritization, though!\n\nMore importantly, I'm just tired of articles like this one dismissing the\nsocial consequences lens outright. There's more than one valid issue being\nraised in our community right now, and the importance of one doesn't\ninvalidate the others. Let's have both conversations: how to enable expression\nof less common ideas, and how to ensure that we express them empathetically.\nIf we approach the problem thoughtfully, I think we can optimize for both :)\n\n(BTW I edited this comment a lot during the first 30 minutes, and pretty\nsignificantly changed its contents. Sorry if that ends up being an issue!)\n\n~~~\nslavak\nI actually tend to mostly agree with you on this. I think the safest and most\nrational policy is just to avoid discussing sensitive topics at work so as not\nto risk creating a hostile atmosphere, and I don't consider this an\nunreasonable restriction on freedom of expression. Talk politics and\nimmigration with your friends and family, not your teammates at the office.\n\nMy problem is that Google as a company, at least as far as the Mountain View\ncampus goes, apparently disagrees. My understanding -- and it's possible I'm\nwrong -- is that Google supports and encourages openly discussing a variety of\ntopics at work, and the internal tool he used to publish his memo was designed\nand used exactly for this purpose. (What Googlers apparently describe as \"an\ninternal-only Reddit.\") If this is true then he was fired not for discussing\ninappropriate topics, but for holding opinions the hive-mind finds\ndisagreeable.\n\nEither you as a company support discussing sensitive topics in the office, or\nyou don't. If you don't that should be made clear and enforced equally for\neveryone. If you do then you can't pick and choose which opinions you approve\nof based on what's popular, and expressing a dissenting opinion should not, at\nthe very least, be a fireable offense!\n\n------\nthowaway26539\nIt would have been much more fair to call it an \"anti affirmative-action\nmemo\". Framing it as an \"anti-diversity screed\" is a pretty biased move, not\nto mention how they removed his supporting content as well. Certainly there\nare many who hold the opinion that \"anti affirmative-action === anti\ndiversity\", which is a point worth debating separately, but I still find the\nframing used by most of the news articles very misleading.\n\n~~~\n4bpp\nThis (conflating opposition to a process or movement for X with opposition to\nX) seems to be a common trick in the political discourse nowadays, and is\nunfortunately called out very rarely. We didn't hear many instances of \"anti-\njobs\" as suggested in this article, but it seems like describing a variety of\ninstitutions as \"anti-white\" has been a right-wing staple since long before\nthe emergence of well-connected Tumblr and Twitter rubes who could plausibly\nbe described as such.\n\n------\nsandstrom\nThe author of the memo is basically saying the same thing that got Larry\nSummers axed as president of Harvard.\n\n    \n    \n        Harvard University President Lawrence Summers [was fired] for \n        mentioning at a January 14 academic conference the entirely reasonable \n        theory that innate male-female differences might possibly help explain \n        why so many mathematics, engineering, and hard-science faculties \n        remain so heavily male.\n    \n\nIsn't the idea with free speech that you allow people to say things that you\ndisagree with?\n\nOr as someone else has already phrased it nicely:\n\n    \n    \n        \"After all, if freedom of speech means anything, it means a willingness \n         to stand and let people say things with which we disagree, \n         and which do weary us considerably.\"\n    \n\n[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/02/why-\nfem...](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/02/why-feminist-\ncareerists-neutered-larry-summers/303795/)\n\n------\nclairity\ni appreciate the article for pointing out a nuance often lost in this kind of\nsituation: that teasing out positions and perspectives requires a careful\nreading, and summaries are often (intentionally) misleading.\n\nbut let's be clear: the memo was a political document (in the common sense of\nthe word, rather than about government machinations). sure, james damore may\nhave been trying to have an honest conversation (and honest discussion should\ntotally be encouraged), but the guy's biases and position were clear right\nfrom the title onward. he was attempting to assert what he thought was a\nsuperior position and got shot down. now others who (secretly or otherwise)\nshare some portion of that position feel vulnerable and defensive, and we get\nheated discussions driven by primal emotions using otherwise rational-sounding\nwords. it's politics.\n\nthat's what the media is zooming in on, because that's where the charged\nemotions are. cynically, yes, that sells papers (or whatever), but less\ncynically, that's also where we collectively seem to want more discussion\nbecause the social norm is (potentially) shifting and not at all well-defined\nor collectively understood. the media didn't make a mistake so much as it\ninstinctively cut right to the chase.\n\n~~~\nmpweiher\n> biases and position were clear right from the title onward\n\nWhat were those \"biases\" and \"positions\", pray tell?\n\n> vulnerable and defensive\n\nYou mean those that lied about what the guy wrote and then attacked that made-\nup wrongthink?\n\n~~~\nbandrami\nIt's actually about ethics in game journalism?\n\n------\nalistproducer2\nI'm going to join in on the chorus of people here who are voicing their\ndispleasure with the way the modern media works. I'm a left winger but I feel\nmuch the same way about the media and the chattering class as the most noxious\nparts f the right wing. It's not so much that the media is biased in one\ndirection or the other; it's that MSM has mostly abrogated it's responsibility\nto inform the public. the media, and the class of people that create its\ncontent, see themselves as influencers more than reporters.\n\nAs an example, take the performance (and I do mean that literally) of Jim\nAcosta when he made a speech disguised as a question to Stephen Miller about\nthe poem on the Statue of Liberty. Who told Mr. Acosta that what the public\nwants from its journalists are speeches instead of substantive questions?\n\nIt's often said that politicians want to be movies stars. these days it seems\nthat the journalists want to be politicians and it's become a problem that\nAmericans all over the political spectrum are beginning to see.\n\n~~~\nwu-ikkyu\n>MSM has mostly abrogated it's responsibility to inform the public.\n\nThat's a myth.\n\nThe only real responsibility they have is to maximize profits for their\nshareholders.\n\n~~~\nalistproducer2\nI dispute that. Most major newspapers in the states have existed long before\nit was common for media outlets to be publicly traded companies. The term\n\"fourth estate\" dates back almost to the time of the French Revolution so\nwhile it's always been expected that newspapers need be profitable to exist,\nthe interests of its readers and those that stand to profit from the paper\nhave not always been so far apart as they are now.\n\n~~~\nwu-ikkyu\nIt would seem that not much has really changed since then:\n\n\"To your request of my opinion of the manner in which a newspaper should be\nconducted, so as to be most useful, I should answer, `by restraining it to\ntrue facts & sound principles only.' Yet I fear such a paper would find few\nsubscribers. It is a melancholy truth, that a suppression of the press could\nnot more compleatly deprive the nation of it's benefits, than is done by it's\nabandoned prostitution to falsehood. _Nothing can now be believed which is\nseen in a newspaper._ Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that\npolluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known\nonly to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowlege\nwith the lies of the day. I really look with commiseration over the great body\nof my fellow citizens, who, reading newspapers, live & die in the belief, that\nthey have known something of what has been passing in the world in their time;\nwhereas the accounts they have read in newspapers are just as true a history\nof any other period of the world as of the present, except that the real names\nof the day are affixed to their fables. General facts may indeed be collected\nfrom them, such as that Europe is now at war, that Bonaparte has been a\nsuccessful warrior, that he has subjected a great portion of Europe to his\nwill, &c., &c.; but no details can be relied on. I will add, that the man who\nnever looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them;\ninasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is\nfilled with falsehoods & errors. He who reads nothing will still learn the\ngreat facts, and the details are all false.\"\n\n-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Thomas Norvell, _June 14th, 1807_\n\n------\ndgudkov\nAll major Canadian media called the memo anti-diversity. So unprofessional and\nbiased.\n\n[1] [https://www.google.ca/search?q=anti-\ndiversity+canada+google](https://www.google.ca/search?q=anti-\ndiversity+canada+google)\n\n------\njasode\n_> to help him avoid alienating his audience,_\n\nThe gender-diversity topic is too charged to accomplish that. Seriously, I\nwould challenge essayists from either side of the debate to write any\nsignificant words on the subject that does not \"alienate the audience\".\n\n------\nmhalle\nCompletely agree that the reporting on this memo would have benefited greatly\nby more careful reporting by the journalism community.\n\nWhile that may be the case, however, it isn't like the uproar and\nmisinterpretation couldn't have been predicted. Whatever the academic merit of\nthe memo author's claims, the memo was thrown into a social context that was\nclearly primed for snap judgement.\n\nParticularly regarding social issues, how we write is just as important as\nwhat we write. An effective argument connects and convinces, anticipating\npossible reactions and (mis-)interpretations of the reader.\n\nThe irony is that the memo is missing the necessary empathy and social\nawareness for the audience, qualities that the author attributes to women.\n\n------\neli\nIt's ironic that many of the comments here assume Gizmodo and others were\nacting out of malice to intentionally mislead their audience.\n\n~~~\ndvfjsdhgfv\nI don't know since I can't read their minds, but both options are troubling.\nIf they did it for easy click-bait money, it's ethically bad. But if they did\nit on purpose, this is even worse, because it means they manipulate other\nnarratives in the same way. If they can convince very smart HN readers, how\ntotally helpless is the rest of the population?\n\n~~~\neli\nWhy is assuming journalists are unethical different from assuming Google\nengineers are sexist?\n\n~~~\ndvfjsdhgfv\nThat's why I prefer not to assume anything.\n\n------\nerikpukinskis\nI generally liked the memo, and I'm pretty aggressively pro-affirmative\naction. Some of the memo is factually wrong, but I think he tried to be\nmeasured, and I'm proud of him.\n\nThe sentence that popped out at me is this one:\n\n\"I don’t think we should do arbitrary social engineering of tech just to make\nit appealing to equal portions of both men and women. For each of these\nchanges, we need principled reasons for why it helps Google.\"\n\nI think it's hard for women to understand this, because they are much more\nlikely to have an intrinsic understanding of why pro-diversity social\nengineering makes sense. As a man, it has often not been obvious to me. I\nlearned a long time ago to assume that women are right about gender stuff, and\nthat assumption has done me extremely well. I've learned an incredible amount,\nand those acts of goodwill made women much more inclined to be gentle with me\nand explain things.\n\nBut I don't think institutionalizing that kind of trust is tactically\nfeasible, and I'm not sure it would even be a good thing if it happened.\nBecause I think pro-diversity policies will be _strengthened_ , not weakened,\nif staff can form a rigorous story about how they help the company.\n\nI believe affirmative action helps Google, so I don't think it will be\nimpossible to tell that story, but it won't be easy. It will take work. Mostly\nbecause liberal circles don't really talk about it. Diversity is seen as a\nbenefit to diverse people, and therefore good, 'nuf said, as the the Google VP\nquipped.\n\nI think affirmative action is valuable for the reason the anonymous memo\nwriter thinks it's problematic: because different people are different. I\ndon't think if 50% of Google coders were women that Google would stay the\nsame. I think it would become a very different because women have some\ndifferences from men in aggregate.\n\nAnd so changing admission requirements to help more women get the jobs\nshouldn't necessarily be seen as lowering the admissions standards, it should\nbe seen as changing the set of things that coders are allowed to focus on. And\nwe should assume that we'll see a whole new influx of a different kind of men\ntoo, men who are more similar to the women in the middle of their bell curve,\nthan the men at the middle of theirs.\n\nBut ideally the way that should happen is not by saying \"let's take 50%\nwomen\", but by saying \"if we were to accept 50% more women, what new kinds of\nGoogler would we be adding? How will those folks make Google stronger? How can\nwe change our hiring criteria to find the best of that kind of Googler?\" and\nyes, those criteria would bring in a lot more women, but they'd also bring in\na smaller number of new men! And everybody involved would have an\nunderstanding of how Google was getting better. Those women would have more\nrespect. Those men would be better appreciated, even as they were operating\noutside of old Google norms.\n\nI will say, just ramming 50% more women into the culture is probably fine\nthough. While I mostly agree with the memo's general thrust, that it would be\nbetter to do this a different way, I think the alarmism is a little out of\nplace. It's certainly a problem that conservatives are afraid to speak up\nabout gender issues, but I doubt that's Google's biggest culture problem right\nnow.\n\n~~~\nagarden\nI think the idea you are advocating, that they should change the nature of the\njob to make it more accommodating to a more diverse talent pool, is the kind\nof thing the memo was advocating. See the section titled \"Non-discriminatory\nways to reduce the gender gap\".[1] In that section, he suggests making the\nwork more cooperative instead of competitive and making part-time work first-\nclass, among other things. He also suggests making the work more\ncollaborative, which seems a lot like your \"changing the things coders are\nallowed to focus on.\" He then goes on to note that doing this will also mean\nGoogle will diversify the kind of male that it gets, just like you do.\n\nOr am I missing some difference in what you are suggesting and what the memo\nsuggested?\n\n1\\. [http://diversitymemo.com/#reduce-gender-\ngap](http://diversitymemo.com/#reduce-gender-gap)\n\n~~~\nerikpukinskis\nYes, I think our methodology is the same, but the memo seems to expect that\nGoogle will still be <50% women in that scenario, whereas I believe it will be\nbrought to 50%. Which is why I don't see the quota system as a fundamental\nrisk to Google, whereas he does.\n\n------\nbandrami\nI'm not sure why anybody thinks his \"intention\" or \"motivation\" are important.\nCan somebody who thinks that say more?\n\n~~~\nzbyte64\nBecause one of his recommendations was to put a greater emphasis on intent?\n\n~~~\nbandrami\nOK, but that's begging the question (to use this phrase correctly, for once).\n\nI _intend_ to write the next generation search engine. Should Google reward me\nfor that?\n\n------\narca_vorago\nWhat this is all really about, when it get's boiled down, is the testing of\nthe freedom of speech by using offense to rally the mob for censorship of a\nminority. If the oligarchy gets this style of democratic self-censorship past\nus, it's one more nail in the coffin of freepeoples everyone.\n\n------\nrabboRubble\nApparently, I do not have strong standing from which to comment on this. I'm\nprone to neuroticism​. My bad. I would have never independently discovered\nthis about myself without a Google guy to point it out.\n\nThanks Google dude!\n\n------\nAron\nThis article is so well written I am left wondering what happens if the tide\ncompletely reverses and it becomes overwhelmingly clear that Google should not\nhave fired him.\n\n------\nquxbar\n> To me, the Google memo is an outlier—I cannot remember the last time so many\n> outlets and observers mischaracterized so many aspects of a text everyone\n> possessed.\n\nHow about every article or video about cryptocurrency, PRISM, AI, 'Data\nScience' and a litany of other topics in tech? I have seen almost no 'tech'\njournalism of any merit, so I'm not surprised to see sloppy coverage of\nanother complex issue. But that shouldn't stop meaningful HN comment threads\n:)\n\nThe fact is, the memo does not simply put forth a question for debate, it\ntreats a massive legacy of misogyny in our culture as a feature, not a bug. He\nreally genuinely sees no problem with a world that pushes people into gender\nroles. In fact, he thinks we should optimize for it. It's a selfish tantrum\nthrown by someone feeling a lack of affirmation - disguised as vague argument\nthat he really understands people, tech, and companies much better than his\nbosses.\n\nIf you helps for you to remove anything about identity in here: it's as if\nsomeone posted a cruel, snide rant in defense of GOTO statements, attacking OO\nprogrammers. Not only is he wrong, he made an extended case for the wrong\nargument and did it in a way that inflict maximum company damage.\n\nSo yeah it would be a big ol' red flag.\n\n~~~\njosteink\n> Not only is he wrong\n\nThat's merely your opinion, which clearly can be seen from the comments here,\nhas disagreement.\n\n> he made an extended case for the wrong argument and did it in a way that\n> inflict maximum company damage.\n\nHow did he inflict damage on the company?\n\nWhoever _leaked_ this _internal memo_ did the damage, but I haven't seen any\nwitch hunt or firing in that regard.\n\nStrange, eh?\n\n------\njoelrunyon\nWhy is this on the second page with 246 points in 1-2 hours? Seems strange...\n\n~~~\nmd224\nNot sure if you'll see my reply, but this happens often to HN submissions on\npolitically charged topics. The topic gets flagged to death. It's been like\nthis for a long time.\n\n~~~\njoelrunyon\nWhy wouldn't I be able to see your reply?\n\n------\nDowwie\nWhat are the chances anyone at Google read the Memo as carefully as this\nauthor did before persecuting James Damore?\n\n~~~\nDiederich\nI suspect the contents of the memo had little to do with Google's official\nreaction to it.\n\n------\nturc1656\nStop the presses. You mean to tell me the major media organizations used a\nmisleading headline and description for something highly politicized?! I'm\nshocked. Shocked, I tell ya.\n\n------\npeterwwillis\nLanguage and gender nit-pick: having men and women at 100% parity is not\ngender diversity, it is gender-binary. You would have to hire a lot more non-\nbinary-gendered people for it to be diverse.\n\n~~~\nsn9\nI honestly wouldn't be surprised if non-binary-gendered people are _over-\nrepresented_ in tech.\n\n(This is just an impression I have based on things I've read in the past, so I\ncan't be sure.)\n\n------\nMarazan\nTrue fact: saying \"I'm not a racist but...\" makes anything you say afterwards\ndefinitely not racist.\n\n------\nvkou\nPrefacing an argument with \"But before you guys mistakenly think that I'm\nracist - remember - I have black friends\" is not the most important point in\nan argument.\n\nIt is, arguably, the least important one. So much so, that it is a non-\nsequitur.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nFree Flat UI Kit - AndrewCoyle\nhttp://designedthought.com/thank-you.html\nPractice Flat design- download the free user interface kit.\n======\nwingerlang\nI kind of liked the \"pay with a tweet\" in return for getting the resources for\nfree. Then again, with that website I have no idea how they look, if I want\nthem and especially not if I want to redistribute them (via the tweet).\n\nId prefer to \"pay\" after I know exactly what I am getting.\n\n------\nGigablah\nHow is this \"free\"? There's no site navigation, no download link, no decent\npreview, and only one button saying \"pay with a tweet\". I'm not clicking that,\nit reeks of spam.\n\n~~~\nAndrewCoyle\nI apologize for the confusion. I created this UI kit to build awareness about\nmy new blog. You can see a better preview on my Behance.\n[http://www.behance.net/gallery/Flatter-A-Free-UI-\nKit/1033195...](http://www.behance.net/gallery/Flatter-A-Free-UI-Kit/10331953)\n\nHope you enjoy it.\n\n~~~\nsiddboots\nThe \"Download Flatter UI For Free\" link on your blog goes straight back to the\npage asking me to \"Pay with a Tweet\".\n\nIs it free, or are we paying for it?\n\nDo I need to get a twitter account?\n\n~~~\nAndrewCoyle\nThe UI kit is free if you tweet about designed thought. You can also \"pay\"\nwith facebook, or linkedin\n\n------\nwilg\n\"Pay With A Tweet\" sounds like the worst thing in the world.\n\n~~~\nAndrewCoyle\nWell if it is worth the trouble I would love to share more design resources\nwith you. I checked out your film work. Good stuff. I am envious of\nfilmmaker's abilities.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIllusions of Sound Perception - DavidSJ\nhttp://sethares.engr.wisc.edu/htmlRT/4%20sound_illusions.html\n======\nStenzel\nThere is no illusion of pitch, and it is a common misconception that the\nfundamental frequency must be present in a tone. Pitch is the perceived\nperiodicity of a tone, which is roughly the greatest common divisor of the\nharmonics. If perceived pitch without fundamental is considered an auditory\nillusion with, common pitch detection techniques should fail if the\nfundamental is not present, but they work quite well in the absence of the\nfundamental. So either there is no illusion of pitch or algorithms have\nillusions too.\n\n~~~\nDoctorOetker\nthe answer is: algorithms have illusions too.\n\nconsider 2 ideal harmonic notes with a frequency ratio of 3:2, say 3kHz and\n2kHz ... The brain / algorithm must doubt between interpreting the collection\nof frequency peaks at m * 3kHz, and n * 2kHz as either (occasionally\noverlapping) harmonics of 2 notes at 2kHz and 3kHz, OR it could interpret this\nas harmonics of a single note at 1kHz (as you say the GCD of the frequencies).\n\nThere is inherent ambiguity between interpreting as 2 notes of each a timbre,\nvs interpreting as 1 note with another timbre...\n\nOne could physically construct 3 bowed strings with modekilling on the 1kHz\nstring, such that these could make perceptually identical sounds whether the\n2kHz and 3kHz strings are played simultaneously vs the 1kHz string.\n\nat that point from the sound alone one can not discern in an ABX test which is\nthe case, neither a human brain nor any algorithm. The doubt forces to guess\n(deterministically or not).\n\nThe sound is a projection of properties occuring in reality, and loses\ninformation.\n\n~~~\nStenzel\nTrue, but ambiguity does not imply that one possible interpretation must\nnecessarily be an illusion.\n\n~~~\nAstralStorm\nTones and harmonics get clustered into pitches, e.g. mistuned harmonics as\nseen in bass guitar or piano still get decoded into pitches via some sort of\nbest match if the mistuning does not exceed certain percentage. And it works\neven if some harmonics disappear and reappear.\n\nThe pitch is higher level than purely perceptual.\n\n~~~\nDoctorOetker\nthis is correct, and the reason we are tolerant is because of dispersion: even\nthough the different harmonics are present on the same string of the same\nlength, the resonant frequencies don't need to be integer multiples of the\nfundamantal since waves of different frequency have different propagation\nspeeds on the string.\n\nin the case of bowed strings mode-locking ensures the phases of all the\nharmmonics are reset each cycle (the bow sticks and slips), so that bowed\ninstruments can be played harmonically to parts per billion.\n\nsince a lot of sounds are plucking we must be tolerant for frequency dependent\npropagations speeds in regular strings / media\n\n------\ndr_dshiv\nThe Shepard tone illusion, of an ever rising pitch, is used in the movie\nDunkirk\n\n[https://www.businessinsider.com/dunkirk-music-christopher-\nno...](https://www.businessinsider.com/dunkirk-music-christopher-nolan-hans-\nzimmer-2017-7)\n\n~~~\nrrss\nAnd the dark knight films. Apparently Nolan is fond of it.\n\n~~~\ndawnerd\nAnd rightly so. It's incredibly effective at building suspense. Hans Zimmer's\nincredible scoring also helps.\n\n------\nsp332\nHere is a video I enjoyed that explains the basics of how our sense of sound\nworks. It makes it easier to understand why some of the illusions happen.\n[https://vimeo.com/147902575](https://vimeo.com/147902575)\n\n~~~\nholy_city\nTypo in the video (I think, not an anatomist), it's \"basilar\" membrane, not\n\"vasilar.\" Awesome video though, I wish my speech processing professor had\nused that instead of teaching hearing like a filterbank, even if that is how\nwe needed to understand it.\n\nAnother weird thing about hearing: the hairs that vibrate aren't just tuned to\nparticular frequencies, they actually vibrate over a range, and the response\nisn't symmetric (although iirc, part of that is from the fact the hairs are\nmechanically coupled). That's why low frequency noise masks high frequency\nnoise more than vice versa, which is exploited in lossy codecs (if there's low\nfrequency energy, you don't need high frequency energy that it masks).\n\n~~~\nsp332\nThat correction is in the video description, so yeah.\n\n------\ntony\nFor more:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_scene_analysis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_scene_analysis)\n\nThis book _Auditory Scene Analysis: The Perceptual Organization of Sound_ by\nAlbert S. Bregman has more.\n\nMore foundational info on how we \"fill in\" information we see / hear\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_psychology#Properties](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_psychology#Properties)\n\n------\ncarapace\nSee also \"sine-wave speech\".\n\n[http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Sine-\nwave_speech](http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Sine-wave_speech)\n\nOooo! Don't miss the _acoustic chimera_ on that page...\n\n------\nanotheryou\nThat was just one :/\n\nI give you another one related one for rhythm:\n[https://youtu.be/oQf_tS5WAP4](https://youtu.be/oQf_tS5WAP4)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThings I wish I knew the day I started Berklee - gnosis\nhttp://sivers.org/berklee\n======\ndbrannan\nI really like the martial arts saying he uses:\n\n\"When you are not practicing, someone else is. When you meet him, he will\nwin\".\n\nI remember years ago when I was on the swim team I had missed two practices.\nMy coach said I had missed 4 practices, and I tried to correct him but he\nsaid, \"You missed 2 practices, but your competition did not. So now you are 4\npractices behind your competition.\"\n\nI always remembered that.\n\n~~~\nPsyonic\nI want to believe that's insightful but I can't seem to interpret it any way\nother than a math fail. I could potentially have 10 practices, miss 2.\nOpponent has 10, misses 0. Opponent 10 - Me 8 = 2 missed practices... If the\ncompetition did miss the practices, it'd be a wash, so we'd all have\nessentially missed 0.\n\nWhat am I missing here?\n\n~~~\nchrisa\nI think this is the rationale: In sports (or anything that requires practice),\ngoing some time without practicing actually makes you lose some of the ability\nyou once had. So in this case, it would take two practices just to get back\nwhat was lost during the break, at which point he would be 4 practices behind.\n\n~~~\nceejayoz\nI took it as just \"not only have you not improved, but your opponent improved\nwhile you weren't improving too\".\n\n~~~\nPsyonic\nRight, but that still only accounts for +2. If he hadn't improved, it'd be a\nwash. Only regression on your part gives a +4.\n\n------\nhasenj\nI like the \"be valuable\" advice. It's what all college students should keep in\nmind.\n\nThe point of education is not to get a \"certificate\" that proves to your\nfuture employers that you went through the motions of education.\n\nThe point is to make yourself valuable.\n\nI'm surprised how many people are oblivious to this.\n\nSo many people view education as nothing more than \"something boring you have\nto do so that you get a decent job\". Where a decent job is \"something boring\nthat you to do to make a decent living\".\n\nThere's a contradiction there somewhere: if everything you do is boring, how\n\"decent\" is your living? really.\n\nWhat's their idea of a decent living? \"Getting paid enough to pay the bills\nand send the kids to school and make them not have to worry about doing any\nwork\". In other words, a decent living is the ability to make your children's\nlife just as boring as yours is.\n\nNone of this brings any happiness.\n\n~~~\nmechanical_fish\n_I'm surprised how many people are oblivious to this._\n\nThere is little in one's formal educational experience to prepare one for the\nconcept that one can do work that has real value. So much of what you work on\nis an exercise, a problem that has already been solved that you must solve\nagain for a grade or a prize, after which your work will be thrown away.\n\n~~~\ngridspy\nIt is unfortunate how much programming is replicated by hundreds of\nbusinesses, not shared and then thrown away 3-10 years later.\n\nThank god for open source and the corresponding increase in code sharing.\n\n~~~\nmechanical_fish\nThat's the idea, all right. Fix a bug or add a module in an open source\nproject, experience the power of actually making a difference.\n\n------\nsp4rki\n_how much does the world pay people to play video games?_\n\nActually if you're good enough, plenty of money. It's not a matter of how many\npeople do it, it's a matter of how much better you are than the many people\nthat do it are. Amateur programmers shouldn't be making software for Bank of\nAmerica, the same way an amateur musician shouldn't be playing for Dream\nTheater. The interesting thing is that one generally doesn't notice when you\ncross the line that makes you a professional, which is generally delimited by\nprofitability.\n\nIf you can make money with your abilities it's because there are a bunch of\npeople that can't, but never make the mistake of thinking that because a lot\nof people do something it means you can't make money off it. Oh and of course,\nthe person with such abilities that doesn't take advantage of them to make\nmoney doesn't deserve them (with the exception of the multitalented who\nleverages a 'better' skill or the person leveraging those skills in a risk\nfilled endeavor for larger profits).\n\n~~~\nido\n\n        Oh and of course, the person with such abilities \n        that doesn't take advantage of them to make money\n        doesn't deserve them (with the exception of the \n        multitalented who leverages a 'better' skill or \n        the person leveraging those skills in a risk \n        filled endeavor for larger profits).\n    \n\nI think I understand what you meant, but I can't completely agree with what\nyou said - sometimes there are indeed worthy uses of skill for a purpose other\nthan making money.\n\n~~~\nsp4rki\nRe-reading the comment I see that I made a mess out of my thoughts. If you're\na business man that knows music hell more power to you right? I meant the\ncases where you have people doing amazing things programming, or composing\nmusic, or whatever, but not making any money and having to work in a call\ncenter or a grocery store packing bags. I've seen many people I know make such\nretarded choices it's not even funny. Reminds me of Good Will Hunting. It\nwould have been a complete waste to give the guy such a mind so he can go work\nat a construction site right?\n\n~~~\nmaxawaytoolong\nWhat about Grigori Pereleman?\n\nIs he a complete waste because he declined to take the prize money for his\nproofs?\n\n~~~\nstoney\nGrigori Pereleman would be doing mathematics with or without the prize money.\n\nI think sp4rki's point is that it's a waste if not taking/making the money\nmeans that you have less time to do whatever it is you're good at. E.g. the\nartist who could make money from it but chooses not to, and as a result has to\nwork at the convenience store, and as a result produces less art. Though that\nlast bit is a bit contentious - maybe working at the convenience store is a\ngood source of inspiration for that artist.\n\n~~~\nmaxawaytoolong\n_Grigori Pereleman would be doing mathematics with or without the prize\nmoney._\n\nBut, according to various accounts he's probably not. He quit doing\nmathematics and just lives with his mother and goes to the movies.\n\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Perelman#Withdrawal_fro...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Perelman#Withdrawal_from_mathematics.3F)\n\n------\nRK\nI attended music school for a short time after college (not Berklee). After\nhaving done a very tough BS in physics, I found the slow pace of the music\ntheory classes pretty frustrating. I worked ahead, but not at the pace I\nprobably could have. I very much agree with his point about not letting others\n(i.e. courses) set the pace.\n\nAlso, having another degree I think I had a different perspective than many of\nthe high school graduates that where there with the idea of becoming a rock\nstar or whatever. Most of the instructors, etc, made their livings by\nteaching, playing random gigs, doing essentially anonymous studio work, and\nodd jobs. Music is a very hard business. This reality seemed mostly lost on\nthe majority of the students. I decided that I was probably happier to have a\n\"real\" job and play music on the side.\n\n~~~\nantareus\nI'm considering the same jump (real job -> music school for a bit). Where did\nyou go? What'd you make of it? Did you switch out? The first sentence suggests\nthat you did. I'm perfectly happy to play local venues for the rest of my\nlife.\n\n------\nZev\n_Stay offline. Shut off your computer. Stay in the shed._\n\nI bookmarked this and stopped reading after that. Nice reminder to get back to\ncoding for me.\n\n~~~\nbaddox\nBut not before zipping back to HN to submit that comment. ;)\n\n------\nunwind\nI had huge trouble understanding this, before Googling \"Berklee\" and realizing\nit's short for \"Berklee College of Music\".\n\nThat lead me to think that the author didn't in fact start Berklee, he started\n_at_ it. That is not communicated in the title, and also the post itself\ncontains sentences like this:\n\n _Luckily, when I was 17, a few months before starting Berklee, I met a man\nnamed Kimo Williams who used to teach at Berklee and convinced me that the\nstandard pace is for chumps._\n\nSo; can we please have an \"at\" in the HN title, at least? :)\n\n------\nosuburger\nWhile I can respect what the author is saying, I don't think everyone should\nfollow this advice. While I've definitely had my fair share of time spent in\nthe \"shed\", working on projects for both school and my own side ideas, I don't\nthink a true college experience can be had by being like this all the time.\nThere is nothing wrong with occasionally being distracted by your peers; I've\nhad lots of great nights going out for a couple drinks on a Wednesday night\njust because I can. In the end, it all has to be about balance in my opinion.\nDefinitely go (far) above the bare minimum, but I know I could never stay sane\nwithout the occasional break or fun night out.\n\n------\nalexophile\nOn point #2 he references his training under Kimo Williams, which he wrote\nabout at length last year:\n\n<http://sivers.org/kimo>\n\n------\nzzzeek\nHe is right you need to shed a whole lot more than you might be motivated for.\n\nBut also, success in the field of music requires a level of social\nassertiveness and competence that is way beyond what it is in technology.\nNobody cares about your cool grooves or whatever, you have to fight to stay on\nboard. But oh you can build my ecommerce site for me ?\n\nI got out of Berklee in '92 and basically dicked around trying to get non-\nshitty gigs for a few years, not going to enough jams and auditions, until an\nocean of interest and money came at me to do anything related to computers,\nafter I had sworn them off to be a musician. I was interested in eating and\nnot living in a box. The market decided for me on that one - scratch and claw\nyour way to get some real music gigs, or step into this plush world of \"wow\nyou can program ?\". Wish I could play again.\n\n------\nsgoranson\nDisagree strongly with #6. It's too easy to find counterexamples of brilliant\nartists who've created immeasurable value and died penniless. Market value !=\nintrinsic value.\n\n~~~\nScottWhigham\nThis is fairly fascinating to me - I'm a musician as well and love this stuff.\nWhat would have happened if John Coltrane, for example, had done what Miles\nDavis did and focused on the business side more?\n\nI wonder, though, if perhaps you are nit-picking on a pithy title? \"Be\nvaluable\" doesn't have to mean \"learn business at the expense of creating\nvalue in your music\", does it?\n\n~~~\nsgoranson\nI think he was pretty clear with \"Making sure you're making money is just a\nway of making sure you're doing something of value to others.\"\n\nMaybe it's like this: getting paid implies your work has value, but your work\nmay value even if you are not getting paid?\n\n~~~\nderefr\nYour work _may_ have value, but you won't know for sure; you might just be\nheading down the wrong path and producing crap. Getting paid gives you an axis\nto measure your efforts upon, which gives you a direction to hill-climb.\n\n------\nbaddox\n> _Berklee is like a library. Everything you need to know is here for the\n> taking. It's the best possible environment for you to master your music. But\n> nobody will teach you anything. You have to teach yourself._\n\nSounds _exactly_ like a library, except (I presume) extremely expensive. I\nonly went to college because I assumed (correctly) that at least a few great\nminds would be there. What's the upside to Berklee?\n\n~~~\ncoliveira\nthe same: \"few great minds would be there\"\n\n------\nsayemm\nI freaking love this, thanks for posting it\n\nA ton of great lines in there, as Derek Sivers is an amazing writer jam-packed\nw/ wisdom much like PG, but this is my most fav one out of the pack:\n\n\"But the casual ones end up having casual talent and merely casual lives.\"\n\n------\ntomjen3\n>When you emerge in a few years, you can ask someone what you missed, and\nyou'll find it can be summed up in a few minutes.\n\n>The rest was noise you'll be proud you avoided.\n\nYes -- almost, but you will properly feel that there are one or two things\nthat you didn't experience that you will miss not being a part of.\n\n~~~\ndreaming\nExactly. Important not to overlook the benefits of meeting like minded people\nwho can help inspire you, or just keep you sane.\n\n------\ndeutronium\nReally loved that post.\n\nEspecially the quote \"The casual ones end up having casual talent and merely\ncasual lives.\"\n\n~~~\nGianteye\nI'm not sure about that. There are plenty of boring jobs to be had, and quite\na few of them are to be had at Google. I suppose banality and life\nsatisfaction aren't mutually exclusive, but it's the case for me. Doing\ncomputational database analysis whether at Facebook or at the local grocery\nstore for me is a bitter kind of hell.\n\nI think I agree with the point, but would refine it. Both talented and\ntalentless people have the option of living boring lives. The more talent you\nhave, and the more willing you are to focus and direct it, the more leverage\nyou have to launch yourself into a fascinating and entertaining lifestyle.\n\n------\nthefool\nThe don't get stuck in the past bit is a fine line you have to walk.\n\nIts dumb to spend your whole creative life simply reproducing ideas that\nseemed obvious decades ago. You can get a lot better if you know what other\npeople did, and then consciously build on it.\n\n------\nrb2k_\n> In just 3 intensive lessons, he taught me 3 semesters of Berklee harmony, so\n> on opening day I started in Harmony 4.\n\n> In one intensive lesson, he taught me the whole semester of Arranging 1\n\nI don't know if that actually says something about Berklee or about Music...\n\n------\ntibbon\nSeeing my alama matter on the top of HN was unexpected. Sounds like someone\nlearned a great deal of life at Berklee- unfortunately many don't.\n\n~~~\nnarag\nExcuse the nit picking, I hope you'll like to know: _alma mater_ is Latin for\n\"feeding mother\".\n\n------\nLiveTheDream\n\"Do not expect the teachers to teach you.\"\n\nI am all about teaching yourself and internal thirst for knowledge, but this\nis a bit depressing.\n\n------\nzackattack\nhis tales about kimo make me wonder why they don't hire kimo to come in and\nrestructure their courses.\n\n------\njeberle\nCertainly one of these things should have been that the school was founded by\nLee Berk, who thought the name \"Berklee\" was good in light of UC Berkeley!\n\n~~~\njeberle\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berklee_College_of_Music#Histor...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berklee_College_of_Music#History)\n\n------\nnolite\nthis is my new hero\n\n~~~\nlanstein\nthis is my old hero\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nRuby on Sails: a homebrew Google Wave provider - mcantelon\nhttp://danopia.net/posts/12\n\n======\nelblanco\nNeat! Hopefully a good example of how Wave might have a quick uptake.\nRelatively easy to write for and against might mean a fast adoption rate.\n\n------\ncatch23\nSounds like Ruby on Snails for some reason...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nEngineers, come get your $250K salary - amduser29\nhttp://www.cnet.com/news/silicon-valley-talent-wars-engineers-come-get-your-250k-salary/\n======\n7Figures2Commas\nThe fine print:\n\n> Not every Weeby engineer will earn the million dollars. Weeby will subject\n> everyone to monthly performance reviews, and managers will make quick\n> decisions, either granting the next $10,000 raise or offering feedback about\n> needed improvement. Some will be terminated but given a \"healthy severance\"\n> of at least $20,000, plus references.\n\nThis structure sounds like a recipe for stress, low morale and high turnover.\nAnd why in the world would the company promise references to employees it had\nto fire for not meeting expectations? \"John is a great programmer. He made it\nto $150,000/year in annual compensation before we determined that he wasn't\nworth $160,000/year and had to terminate him. He's a steal if you pay him less\nthan $140,000/year!\"\n\n------\nIftheshoefits\nI'm mixed about this. On one hand, $250k/yr seems like it should be a bit\nabove market rate for the value engineers provide their companies. Even\nmediocre engineers provide far more value than the typical market rate. Market\nrate for mediocre or even slightly below average talent should be much closer\nto the mid-$150k range than it is. Good or excellent engineers should already\nhave base compensation around the high $100k/low $200k range anyway.\n\nThat said, this company is a game company at its core, and I would expect\nthese salaries and perks to come at quite a high price in other terms\n(particularly work-life balance).\n\n~~~\nalexanderss\nCan't say I agree that \"mediocre or even slightly below average talent\" should\nbe compensated in the \"mid-$150k range\" (is that a way of saying $155k?), so\nclose to excellent engineers. This seems to misunderstand how market rate is\ndetermined (especially relative to equity compensation), conflate \"market\nrate\" and \"the value engineers provide their companies,\" or defend high\ncompensation for mediocre performance. The logic is flawed regardless, as\n\"mediocre or even slightly below average talent\" will actually provide the\ncompany with negative value, costing the software team and the company much\nmore than they offer.\n\n~~~\nIftheshoefits\nI meant the \"mid-$100k\" range, as in around $150k/yr. I understand how market\nrate is determined. Frequently it's determined by companies' explicit\ncollusion or other means, and almost never by an honest appraisal of the value\nan engineer actually provides. I was expressing the opinion that the model is\nflawed, and that market rate should be much higher than it currently is,\nacross the board. That is to say, good to excellent engineers should be in the\n$200k-$300k/yr or more (base--not all in) range, and average (+/-) should be\naround the $150k/yr (base) range. At 33% above the \"mediocre\" range I suggest,\n$200k/yr isn't \"so close\" to good at all.\n\nAlso, the enormous quantity of applications, products, and services with very\npoor code backing them is a very strong indicator that \"mediocre or even\nslightly below average talent\" not only does not provide negative value, but\njust the opposite. Software companies these days have a lot of revenue, driven\nby sales _of a software product_ that engineers get very little (relatively\nspeaking) compensation for.\n\n------\nacornax\nIsn't increasing pay like this just part of how the market rate adjusts? In\nthis case it seems a bit extreme but it seems obvious that if a company is\nhaving a tough time attracting talent they should pay more.\n\n------\nmkaziz\nThis reads like a press release, and not like real reporting ...\n\n------\nelwell\n> Weeby.com's Michael Carter\n\n.co _\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nBalsamiq - A look back at 2008 - kapitti\nhttp://www.balsamiq.com/blog/?p=531\n\n======\nmaximilian\nHe had over a $100,000 in revenue, which is pretty cool for 6 months. He says\nhe's started paying himself a bit, but all that money is his, so its all\nincome as I see it. Other than a bit of server space, what are the costs?\nObviously he's going to use some of it to pay for server space for his future\nprospects, but thats a pretty penny nonetheless.\n\n~~~\nbalsamiq\nHi Maximilian, here's a breakdown of my top expenses: \\- Salary: 13,500 (46%)\n\\- Equipment: 5,400 (18%) I bought an iPhone and a 23'' Cinema Display this\nyear \\- Contractors: 3,500 (12%) I hired 2 devs for 2 different small projects\n\\- Lawyers: 2,780 (9%) I hired a lawyer to help me incorporate and with the\nEULA\n\nThe rest is small stuff.\n\nYes all the money is technically mine, but I have started paying myself\nbecause I want to keep the rest for taxes and to re-invest in the company.\n\n~~~\ntdavis\nNext step: get an awesome accountant and start using that money to purchase\nanything and everything you could possibly write off. All that excess revenue\nwill get raped by taxes.\n\n~~~\njotto\nNo accountant can be awesome enough to write off much more than what is truly\na business expense. The ultimate rule is that everything written off must have\nbusiness purpose.\n\nNow, you'll only get in trouble if you get audited, but writing off things\nthat shouldn't be written off will stand out.\n\nThe best way to shelter yourself from taxes is to invest the money and then\npay taxes on a long term capital gain (which have historically been lower than\nordinary tax rates).\n\n~~~\nfallentimes\nRetained earnings (if that's what you mean by invest) are taxed as well.\n\n------\nJem\nI had an excuse - sorry, opportunity - to use the online mockups app this year\nto generate some basic example page layouts for my boss. I was impressed by\nthe speed at which I was able to just throw things together (normally I spend\nabout 3 hours trying to remember how to use MS PowerPoint.. ick!)\n\nAll I have to do now is convince the boss I need the desktop version!\n\n------\nlionhearted\nPeldi, I've really enjoyed hearing about your journey and congratulations on\nyour successes. I've learned a lot reading your entries.\n\nIn your 2009 outlook, you wrote some goals, one being: \"I will have to go from\n'mr. Do-it-all' to be Balsamiq’s CEO, which will mean having employees,\ndelegating...\" - one thing from personal experience. When you make your first\nhire, you're going be tempted to get a friend you know is good. My advice:\nDon't. Your first hires will always see you in the light they had before you\nwere their boss, and since you're growing so rapidly in business and life,\nit's 95% likely to end poorly.\n\nIt won't be the end of the world, but I disregarded this advice myself a\ncouple times. Staff will learn and grow with you to some extent, friends to a\nmuch less extent. And since you seem like a really nice guy with a soft spot\nfor people, then being in the super difficult position of it not making sense\nto keep working with someone - but you're their livelihood - will suck more\nfor you than it will for a more heartless person.\n\nYour call of course, just have a think over it, and best wishes and much\nprosperity in 2009.\n\n~~~\nbalsamiq\nThanks so much for the advice lionhearted, I'll remember it!\n\n------\nzhyder\nCongrats Peldi! I'm surprised how dominant the desktop version is over the\nother web-platform versions. I think I read in one of your blog posts that you\nwere too.\n\n~~~\nold-gregg\nI am not surprised. In fact the availability of offline version is the main\nreason my clients are considering balsamiq. Anything online is inevitably slow\non corporate Internet and unavailable in some meeting rooms, airports or\nanywhere on the go. Online apps are fine for time wasting, but when you have\nwork to do and a paycheck to earn, most people prefer to have their tools\navailable 24/7.\n\n------\nJasber\nThis is such a cool story to watch unfold.\n\nOne concern I have is there might be ___too many_ * SKU's:\n<http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mockups/pricesheet>\n\nWhile offering a variety of prices is great, I'm curious if some users don't\nbecome overwhelmed.\n\n~~~\nbalsamiq\nHi Jasber, the link on my post was actually the first time I shared the\npricesheet page with the public. I never show it to potential customers, but\nhad to make it for partners and resellers (they really like to make sure they\nbuy the right SKU for their clients). In other words, people get to the\nversion they need via the site, which is hopefully clear enough to navigate\n(I'm not super-happy with it, but it works ok).\n\n------\nbootload\n_\"... was wondering how long you plan to stay a one-man company for. If you\nare in an accident, who will support us?“ ..\"_\n\nPeldi did you overcome this problem?\n\n _\"... I am still confident that the plugin versions will grow over time\nrelative to the desktop version, as more and more people “see the light” and\nstart working in the cloud. ...\"_ ~ <http://www.balsamiq.com/blog/?p=424>\n\nI think the biggest insight this game me was that desktop version had a bigger\ndemand than the web version & that you could ship both using the same code\nbase.\n\nIs shipping the desktop version & web version difficult?\n\n~~~\nbalsamiq\nHi bootload. Re: the \"hit by a bus\" scenario, I'm working on it on two fronts:\none is hiring a second person, which I will need to do soon. The second is to\nentrust the company to my family in case I die, so that they can sell it if\nsomething happens to me.\n\nRe: desktop vs. web, yes it's a surprise, but as I say above, a desktop app\nwhich syncs to the web is a pretty good proposition...we'll see more as I\nbuild my \"web connectors\" this year.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSeth Godin on why he isn't naked on stage & great marketing advice. - marklittlewood\nhttp://thebln.com/2011/09/seth-godin-on-why-he-is-not-naked-on-stage-other-more-useful-insights-video-talk-transcript-from-business-of-software/\n\n======\nDarrenH\nTranscript alongside the video is a great way of both experiencing the talk\nand also digesting and refering to snippets of real interest when sharing with\nothers.\n\n~~~\nmarklittlewood\nThanks. They are far from perfect but do give a good feel.\n\n------\nMarcinZ\nI thought that the transcripts were a very interesting read. He raises some\nvery interesting points. Not that many issues transcribing verbatim either.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWatch the Inspiring Movie ‘CODEGIRL’ for Free on YouTube Until November 5th - doppp\nhttp://techcrunch.com/2015/11/01/watch-the-inspiring-movie-codegirl-for-free-until-november-5th/\n======\nxteo\nWhen i was a much younger lad in my schooling days, programming was not a\npopular hobby. It was not one you broadcast to your peers, and certainly not\none that you took pride in. What you created, was yours. And if you were lucky\nenough to have surrounded yourself with friends that understood your\nobsession, you could share with them what you were learning.\n\nOne thing i observed, is that ignoring the social conventions of what you are\n\"supposed\" to enjoy, is much easier for prepubescent and pubescent males than\nit is for females of the same age bracket. Females stress far more over\n'fitting in', and the approval of others. Unfortunately, this means that in\nthose critical formative years, females are missing out on the growth and\ndevelopment needed to make great programmers. Great programming requires long\nestablished brain development in the required disciplines, a deeply laid\nfoundation of logic, and this is best established very early on.\n\nMuch of the bias in information technology, is not because of discrimination\nor sexism, but because females aren't in an environment that cultivates the\nnecessary skills. This is not necessarily something that requires intervention\nfrom educators, or politicians. It's something that teenagers need to value,\nand to appreciate.\n\nWhen i was a young lad, anti-intellectualism was a religion, and was heavily\npracticed in the social fabric i was required to navigate. I'm unsure if that\ntrend has been corrected, but i am sure that we're seeing the side effect of\nthat in the professional landscape with the amount of qualified females with\nan interest in the STEM fields.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTesla: Solar Car Roof Idea Is All but Dead - pulse7\nhttps://stocknews.com/news/tsla-tesla-inc-tsla-solar-car-roof-idea-is-all-but/\n======\npitaj\nSounds about right, to me.\n\nSolar cells are heavy, require maintenance, and the small amount of area on\nthe roof of a car is unlikely to improve real world driving time, especially\nsince the cells will be at an angle to the incoming sunlight most of the time.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: How Many HN Readers are going to the Startup Weekend at SF today ? - code_devil\nhttp://sf2startupweekend.eventbrite.com/\nTwitter HashTag: #swsf09<p>- if they are going, what's in their agenda ?<p>- if not, what would they like the products/projects come out of this ?<p>ps: I am going, will probably try to build something over FB platform or something that use's Twitter.\n======\ncode_devil\nTwitter HashTag: #swsf09\n\n\\- if they are going, what's in their agenda ?\n\n\\- if not, what would they like the products/projects come out of this ?\n\nps: I am going, will probably try to build something over FB platform or\nsomething that use's Twitter.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Nerd as the Norm - paulpauper\nhttps://everythingstudies.com/2017/11/07/the-nerd-as-the-norm/\n======\nMysterix\nFrom the first link, this part is so relatable :\n\n\"They'll stop going to the company picnic if it becomes an occasion for\neveryone to list all the computer problems they never bothered to mention\nbefore.\"\n\n------\npasabagi\nI don't really think his concept of a nerd works, since he lumps in lots of\nextraneous charateristics and values.\n\nI think a more explanatory description would be, a nerd is somebody who is\nprimarily interested in technical questions. That predisposes nerds to avoid\nambiguity - but by no means excludes nerds like literature professors, who are\nabsolutely obsessed with ambiguity.\n\nIt's generally a better idea to categorise people by priorities, as opposed to\npreferences - since preferences tend to be very variable.\n\n~~~\nnickthemagicman\nI think there's several sub-categories in the nerd culture. Geeks, Dweebs,\nNerds, etc.\n\nI think Geeks are the literature/pop culture equivalent of nerds. Whereas\nnerds deal with more scientific obsessions Geeks deal with more cultural\nobsessions.\n\nHere's a Nerd/Dweeb/Geek Venn diagram.\n\n[https://www.popsugar.com/tech/Geek-vs-Nerd-vs-Dork-vs-\nDweeb-...](https://www.popsugar.com/tech/Geek-vs-Nerd-vs-Dork-vs-\nDweeb-8177870)\n\n------\nbootsz\n> _It would be nice to have nerdy interests and sensibilities be the norm for\n> once; to get to feel as if society is organized with me in mind, and not\n> feel a bit like an anthropologist observing an alien civilization._\n\nFor real though...\n\n------\nthepra\n\"Nobody is going to respect you for having feelings.\"\n\nFunny, the inverse world.\n\n------\nmarcus_holmes\nI love the idea of a name for non-nerds, but don't know how to pronounce\n\"wamb\" \\- is the b silent as in lamb?\n\n~~~\npeterburkimsher\nPerhaps \"dren\" would be a better term?\n\n~~~\nsoylentcola\nSuch vulgarity!\n\n------\nAstralStorm\nWhy even try to show there is a \"norm\" as opposed to a multimodal distribution\nof traits?\n\nThese are probably different peaks in the spectrum. Unfortunately, this truth\nruns counter to people who want to control everyone... or at least predict.\n\nThe description of the anti-nerd would completely fall apart in Asian culture\nfor instance.\n\n------\nnickthemagicman\nGreat article. Very clever the flipping of the traits.\n\n------\npowerslacker\nreally interesting piece.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nVisual Explanation of the Conjugate Gradient Algorithm - mercurymercury\nhttps://pwacker.com/CG.html\n======\nnimish\nI always thought it was simpler to explain by using the only trick linear\nalgebra has: switch to a basis where your problem is easiest, then switch\nback.\n\nSylvester's law of inertia proves existence + gram-schmidt constructs that\nchange of basis\n\n~~~\nzzleeper\nI was recently re-reading how to solve systems via QR and realized that the\nkey trick was switching basis. But it took me a while to understand that, in\nbetween all the extra stuff. Now you are telling me that most of LA is like\nthat and wow, so many things make sense now!\n\nDo you have any additional linear algebra tricks?\n\n~~~\nnimish\nLinear algebra done right is IMO the best book on it.\n\nBut a lot of it is simply exploiting linearity to reduce to a working in the\nmost convenient subspaces. Finding and constructing them is a major task.\n\n------\njl2718\nCG, most elegant of quadratic methods. Now let’s talk about why you wouldn’t\nuse it. 1. In the form given, you need to know the terms of the quadratic. 2.\nIf you know the terms, you can compute a stable point using QR, which is more\nefficient. 3. IIRC CG has better numerical stability than QR, but only under\nstrict quadratic assumptions. 4. If you don’t have the form of the objective,\nbut you know it’s quadratic, and you can compute a gradient, then it also\nworks, but errors in the gradient compound. 5. If it’s not quadratic, then you\nhave the same issue. You can try to account for this using resets or more\ncomplicated methods, but then, 6. For so many problems, the stability proof\nbecomes too onerous or the evaluations become less efficient than simply doing\nmore steps of gradient descent, which is why this is still the dominant method\nin neural networks, despite so much effort on ‘our’ part to find more\nefficient solvers.\n\n------\nvladTheInhaler\nHere is another resource I came across when learning about the conjugate\ngradient method for a class on finite elements. I wish I had found this back\nthen!\n\n[https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~quake-papers/painless-conjugate-\ngrad...](https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~quake-papers/painless-conjugate-gradient.pdf)\n\n~~~\nclemParis\nThanks ! Are there other great math papers or articles with a similar \"without\nthe agonizing pain\" approach, for other topics that might be interesting ?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCould An Omnipotent Being Prove It? - robg\nhttp://www.juliansanchez.com/2010/10/04/could-an-omnipotent-being-prove-it/\n======\najuc\nIf this being is omnipotent, it should be able to prove anything. Otherwise it\nis not really omnipotent (for it can't do this one thing).\n\nBTW - talking about omnipotence using logic is useless - omnipotence can't be\ndescribed by logic, because it leads to paradox (can omnipotent being do\nsomething, that omnipotent being can't do?).\n\nAnyway - interesting questions.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAbout coding the“FizzBuzz” interview question - micheleriva\nhttps://www.jsmonday.dev/articles/30/about-coding-the-fizzbuzz-interview-question\n======\nrvz\nGood article, but you forgot one more thing: Readability.\n\nGiven that there are zero comments in the code, you are giving the impression\nof \"The code is the documentation\" attitude which forces the programmer to\ninfer via the function signatures only, which compromises clean-code and\nmaintainability. It is important to explain what these functions and one-\nliners do, as a different set of eyes might not easily understand what it is.\n\nIf a candidate did this in a pair-programming session, I'm afraid that I would\nnot accept this solution unless a reasonable amount of documentation in the\nfunction signatures like JSDoc is present.\n\n------\ngregjor\nAt first reading I thought the author intended satire.\n\nThe first two code examples meet the stated requirements, except for an off-\nby-one error in both:\n\n    \n    \n      for (let i = 1; i < 100; i++) { ... }\n    \n\nRequirement: Print the numbers from 1 to 100. Oops.\n\nThe second example confusingly appends to the _output_ variable -- except for\nthe case of outputting the number -- although that variable gets set to empty\non every iteration of the loop, and only one if/else block will get executed.\nMinus one for clarity.\n\nThen the author goes off the rails and keeps going.\n\n _But there is still a big problem about maintainability. What if we want to\nadd more control structures? Let’s say we want to print “Foo” when a number is\nmultiple of 7 and “Bar” when it’s multiple of 11..._\n\nPossible future requirements are not called \"maintainability.\" The author\ngives a good example of YAGNI, though. Then after calling out this supposed\nproblem the author does not give an example of how to address the possible\nproliferation of if/else conditions, even after calling it a \"bad, bad, bad\nidea.\" Instead he shows an even less idiomatic and less clear _switch_\nconstruction that _has exactly the same problem_ , with even more possibility\nof error due to leaving out a _break_ by accident. The supposed\nmaintainability problem -- what if we have to deal with 7 and 11 in the future\n-- never gets addressed.\n\nThen it gets worse. To avoid the for loop, which has one local variable, the\nauthor creates an array merely to iterate over it. Let's think about how that\nscales to doing FizzBuzz from one to ten million, since the author brought up\nscalability (although that wasn't an original requirement).\n\n _But now… let’s make the things harder. How would you approach the same\nproblem without using loops?_\n\nThe problem explicitly describes a loop from 1 to 100. But...\n\n _That is a tricky question and will show the candidate deep knowledge of that\nparticular programming language. I mean, there are just a few programming\nlanguages that doesn’t support loops, so we’re all pretty addicted to them!_\n\nSorry, _map()_ is just a loop, a loop with function call overhead.\n\nThis code has another off-by-one error, apparent if you just run the code in\nthe browser. It assigns the local variable _num_ to _i + 1_ , since array\nindices begin at 0, but uses _i_ in all of the calls to _isMultiple()_ when it\nshould use _num_. Running the code I get FizzBuzz as the very first output\nline. Note that the _for_ loop solution didn't have this problem, but now the\ndetails of Javascript array indexes have surfaced into the code and become a\nnew problem to think about.\n\nThis bug -- using _i_ when the parameter is named _num_ \\-- carries into the\nfinal example, which throws an error right off. That tells me the programmer\ndidn't test this code, or even read through it carefully.\n\nLooking at the test suite I see that it doesn't check for boundary conditions,\nlike passing 0 to _isMultiple()_. I would want to discuss what _isMultiple()_\nshould do when passed a 0.\n\nAt this point the code bears almost no resemblance to the original problem\nstatement, so as a hiring manager I would give a C- for a whiteboard exercise,\nand an F for a published article. I've seen several off-by-one and variable\nnaming errors in the iterations, which looks careless, especially for code I\nwould expect the programmer to write iteratively in a JS console. I've seen\nsimple code balloon into something complex and unreadable, and I can't just\ncopy/paste it into a Javascript console anymore.\n\nI wanted to see if the candidate can code a simple problem _at all_ , not for\na demonstration of increasingly obscure techniques and scope creep. This\nprogrammer may know Javascript, but they are going to drop spanners into every\ntask I assign, and waste other team members' time polishing turds like this.\n\n~~~\ngregjor\nWhat I expect to see as an interviewer:\n\n    \n    \n      for (let i = 1; i <= 100; i++) {\n        let output = \"\";\n        // test modulos in ascending order\n        if (i % 3 === 0) output += \"Fizz\";\n        if (i % 5 === 0) output += \"Buzz\";\n        if (output === \"\") output += i;\n        console.log(output);\n      }\n    \n\nLook Ma, I can maintain it!\n\n    \n    \n      for (let i = 1; i <= 100; i++) {\n        let output = \"\";\n        // test modulos in ascending order\n        if (i % 3 === 0) output += \"Fizz\";\n        if (i % 5 === 0) output += \"Buzz\";\n        if (i % 7 === 0) output += \"Foo\";\n        if (i % 11 === 0) output += \"Bar\";\n        if (output === \"\") output += i;\n        console.log(output);\n      }\n    \n\nSince I didn't introduce any new functions like _isMultiple_ as a unnecessary\nshorthand for the built-in modulo operator, and I didn't introduce unnecessary\narrays to iterate over the index of, I don't need to write a test suite. I can\nsimply compare the output to the expected results.\n\nNot having the function call for every value will help this \"scale\" if\nnecessary, though for this problem scaling was neither stated as a\nrequirement, nor implied by any reasonable reading of the requirements.\n\nPutting on my hiring manager hat, if a candidate changes a _for_ loop to a\n_map()_ because \"there are just a few programming languages that doesn’t\nsupport loops,\" I would ask the candidate to name some of those languages, and\nhow one could solve a problem like FizzBuzz without loops. I would expect to\ntalk about recursion and declarative languages (Prolog, or even SQL), not\nabout `map()`.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSmooth animation on (kindle model) e-ink display  - pedalpete\nhttp://www.engadget.com/2011/02/16/bookeen-shows-off-fmv-on-a-standard-e-ink-pearl-display-video/\n\n======\nHelgeSeetzen\nI held a colour 60Hz electrophoretic display a decade ago (first startup).\nElectrophoretic displays can go at very fast refresh rates if you just zap\nthem hard enough (i.e. high voltage on the TFT). Without higher voltage they\ncan still run fast but at the expense of losing contrast. You basically have\nlittle black and white \"balls\" (electrophoretic particles) travel up and down\nin the field (in those little e-ink cells). At conventional voltage the balls\nwon't travel the full distance in a single fast image frame, so you won't get\nfull black or full white. The problem is that people want colour, speed and\nlow power consumption. Those are opposing requirements and E-ink made their\nbet on power (at the expense of colour and speed).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSL0T0X – A modular penetration testing interface - slotleet\nhttps://github.com/Slotleet/SL0T0X\n======\nalphachloride\nIt looks like a note-taking app with file attachments. Are there any docs or\ndetailed description?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFreenode and irc.com - KindOne\nhttps://freenode.net/news/freenode-irccom\n======\nKindOne\nPrevious discussion about it.\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17375831](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17375831)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLawsuit Exposes Internet Giant’s Internal Culture of Intolerance - YouAreGreat\nhttp://quillette.com/2018/02/01/lawsuit-exposes-internet-giants-internal-culture-intolerance/\n======\nqbaqbaqba\nOh no, another interesting news concerning google getting immediately flagged.\nGooglers, please don't be evil, at least provide your motives.\n\n~~~\npentae\nThe motive seems pretty clear - cover up, accuse, and be a hypocrite.\n\n------\nben_jones\nThese two statements struck me:\n\n> At a “Diversity Team Kickoff” event, a director announced plans “to freeze\n> headcount so that teams could find diversity candidates to help fill the\n> empty roles,”\n\n> Next time you get invited to speak at a conference, especially if you’re a\n> white male – ask the organizer to confirm you’re the only white male on the\n> panel / in the speaker lineup. If not, say you are honored, but must\n> decline, and give the reason. And because you are at Google, guess what –\n> they’re going to change the panel for you.\n\n~~~\nxkcd-sucks\nSounds like a really good tutorial on leveraging your privilege to marginalize\nsomeone\n\n------\nrhapsodic\nDamore's lawsuit is a huge story in the tech industry, yet, for some reason,\nstories about it always get flagged on HN.\n\n------\nrhapsodic\nIt' frightening to learn how many hateful, vindictive people have settled into\npositions of power at one of the most powerful companies in the world.\n\n------\ngorbachev\nThe comments on that article remind me why I should never read comments on\nonline articles.\n\n------\njacksmith21006\nMaybe an unpopular view on HN but I have no problem with Google letting Damore\ngo.\n\nWork is to do work and in the US you often times do not even know who the\nperson one cube over voted for.\n\nDamore shared his views on Reddit without using Google name is fine but at\nwork and multiple times even after told to stop is going to be a problem, imo.\n\n~~~\nmankash666\nIf Google treated all poiltical discourse within it's walls like it did\nDamore, there probably wouldn't be an issue. The whole problem is with\nfavoring one type of speech/thought in a militant fashion that violates\nfederal law.\n\nAnd regardless of the law, it's UNETHICAL to discriminate in the name of\ndiversity. In 2018, companies are expected to do the right thing. This article\npaints a very damaging picture of Google discriminating against white males\n(Disclaimer: I'm NOT a white male)\n\n~~~\nnezzle\n> it's UNETHICAL to discriminate in the name of diversity.\n\nI think Amazon disagrees with you. They include this in their job postings:\n\n>Amazon is an Equal Opportunity-Affirmative Action Employer – Minority /\nFemale / Disability / Veteran / Gender Identity / Sexual Orientation.\n\nI don't think you can be both equal opportunity and affirmative action at the\nsame time.\n\n~~~\nmankash666\nYou've completely misunderstood & mis-represented my viewpoint. Equal\nOpportunity-Affirmative Action IS the law of the land, and that's the same law\nthat forbids setting artificial quotas for ANY group that discriminates\nagainst others. For instance, some Google execs called for a 25% minority\nquota - THAT is discrimination against other groups, especially if the overall\nstatistics in the talent pool/job market make it impossible for the said quota\nto be fulfilled in a manner compliant with \"Equal Opportunity-Affirmative\nAction\"\n\nFor instance, you might want to setup a workforce of coders with a 50-50 Men-\nWomen breakdown. But since STEM graduation rates indicate a Men:Women ratio of\n85:15, it is unlikely, if not impossible to construct a 50:50 workforce\nwithout willfully discriminating against men. If you now force the entire\nindustry to adopt the 50:50 rule with a 85:15 talent pool to choose from,\nyou're both discriminating AND defying logic/math!!\n\nIn summary - no corporation can possibly disagree with me for I'm calling for\nthe law to be followed as intended.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nChina won’t listen to West about genetically modifying the human embryo - prostoalex\nhttp://qz.com/441423/why-china-wont-listen-to-western-scientists-about-genetically-modifying-the-human-embryo/\n======\nvenomsnake\nA little macabre humor:\n\nBattle of day - Chinese ubermensch vs western rogue AI controlled drones.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nCharter Cities - mhb\nhttp://chartercities.org/blog/33/a-charter-city-in-cuba\n\n======\ntjic\n> To help the city flourish, the Canadians encourage immigration. It is a\n> place with Canadian judges and Mounties that happily accepts millions of\n> immigrants. Some of the new residents could be Cuban émigrés who\n\nSo the Canadian government, despite having no authority and no mandate to do\nso, decides to start administering an overseas possession ... except it's not\nreally a possession.\n\nCanada does this ... _why_ ?\n\n> Initially, the government of Cuba lets some of its citizens participate by\n> migrating to the new city.\n\nThe Cuban government, like the East German government, chooses to _murder_\npeople who try to emigrate. When given a choice, people leave dictatorships,\nand because dictatorships are slave societies built for the benefit of the\nrulers on the backs of the citizens, this makes perfect sense. Farmers don't\nwant their livestock wandering free, and neither do dictators.\n\n> With clear rules spelled out in the charter and enforced by the Canadian\n> judicial system, all the infrastructure for the new city is financed by\n> private investment.\n\nWhy do private investors want to take a gamble on such a crazy scheme?\n\nWhy not just invest their money building infrastructure in places where people\n_already_ choose to live?\n\n> The structure of the charter could be very different, perhaps with several\n> partner nations in place of just one. The benefits could be just as large.\n\nHuh?\n\nLook, I'm a lunatic libertarian. I'm in favor of oceansteading, L-5 colonies,\nanarchocapitalism, etc. ... so when I say that something sounds like a really\nridiculous dope-smoking idea, that _means_ something...\n\n~~~\nanamax\nYou're forgetting something. Some people really, really want Cuba to succeed.\n\nThat's why they're not proposing to set this up in, say Haiti.\n\nSince they're essentially arguing for \"we're going to show the savages how to\ndo things\", Cuba is a reasonable choice because it already has police state\napparatus.\n\n------\nmhb\nTED talk: <http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_romer.html>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHire people who aren’t proven - type12\nhttps://leonardofed.io/blog/startups-hiring.html\n======\nmaxxxxx\nI think hiring has become more difficult now that programming has been\ndiscovered as a well paying mainstream career. When I started in the 90s most\npeople I worked with had a passion for the craft but now I find we interview a\nlot of people who have a CS degree just for the career prospects but not out\nof interest for the craft.\n\nI find it much easier to deal with someone who has no relevant experience but\ncares vs someone who had 10 years experience but doesn't care. Now someone who\nhas 10 years AND cares is rare but pure gold.\n\n~~~\nsnowwrestler\nBy all means, you should use whatever criteria you would like to hire your own\nstaff.\n\nBut in general, I would encourage folks in computer tech industries to be\nhesitant to assume such a binary approach to evaluating prospects. \"Did you\ncode for fun in high school?\" might be a useful question now, because software\ndevelopment as a field is so young that high school students can try out\nsignificant work easily.\n\nBut in most high-end professional fields, that's not true. Imagine asking a\nprospective medical resident \"did you treat any diseases in high school?\" or\n\"how much surgery do you do in your spare time?\"\n\nI think we should take it as a positive sign that people are approaching\nsoftware and computer technology as a professional career that they can\nprofessionally pursue. That approach can produce great work too, and a growing\nfield means a greater diversity in how people find and display their passion.\nGetting a CS degree is not easy, and requires some base level of interest and\ncommitment to complete. Even a bootcamp is not free, and takes some focus and\nwork.\n\nAnyone above a certain age (like me) came into the industry sideways, as it\nwas developing, as a result of personal passion and interest. Let's not\nmistake that for an inherent property of a good tech employee... every\nindustry on Earth started that way at some point.\n\nComputer technology industries are maturing, just like railroads, oil\ndevelopment, aviation, telecommunications, and dozens of other industries have\nover time. That's not bad, and we will have to take it into account as we\nconsider the model employee.\n\nHiring people who are \"not proven\" might also mean hiring people who are well\ntrained, but maybe have not yet proven their passion in a way you recognize.\n\n~~~\nnamanyayg\nDoing software development in high school requires a computer (even a ~$400\nthat is shared with the family is sufficient), interest, and time (so one can\nspend hours required reading tutorials/watching videos). Basically, nothing\ntoo much out of the reach of your average teenager -- with the exception of\ninterest/dedication to the art.\n\nDoctors, and most other professions, cannot be practiced without a lot more\ninvestment. If we lived in a society where access to resources required for\npracticing those careers would be easily available to teenagers, we would see\nyoung high school students do that too. I don't think you're making a fair\nanalogy here, there is basically no way a high schooler could even _attempt_\ntreating diseases but it's very possible for a high schooler to program 6-8h a\nday and learn.\n\n~~~\nXylakant\n> and time (so one can spend hours required reading tutorials/watching videos)\n\nThis is maybe not out of reach for an average teenager, but it is definitely\nout of reach for quite a substantial portion of the population, the poorest\npercentile might just not have the time to dabble in programming. They might\nhave to take care of siblings, work for a living or to pay for college later.\n\n~~~\nsnowwrestler\nRight, looking for signals of \"passion\" has to be done carefully so it doesn't\nbecome just a proxy for socioeconomic class. This is also true when thinking\nabout \"cultural fit\" within a company.\n\n~~~\nmunificent\nThis is an interesting case where the laws around interviewing may make this\nharder.\n\nWhat you want to measure in the interview is passion. What you can see is\ntheir accomplishment. But accomplishment is roughly passion × means. A rich\nperson can accomplish more for the same effort because they have more power at\ntheir disposal.\n\nBut you can't easily cancel out means in the interview because you sure as\nhell can't ask any direct questions about their socioeconomic level, for good\nreason.\n\n------\nlaurentl\n> 1\\. Can this candidate do the job?\n\nI'd go so far as to ask: \"can this candidate _learn_ to do the job?\". In our\nrecent job postings, I've started adding a specific paragraph after the\ndesired qualifications stating more or less \"if you don't tick all the boxes\nabove but are motivated to learn and grow, please apply. We'll teach you what\nyou need to do the job\"\n\n> 2\\. Will this candidate be motivated?\n\nThis. Even more than question 1. I've had a lot of good surprises with\nmotivated candidates who didn't have all the expected qualifications. Some of\nmy best hires were people whose CV didn't line up with what I was looking for\nbut who demonstrated impressive motivation to get the job. On the other hand,\nI've often been disappointed with \"perfect\" candidates who didn't have the\nright mind-frame for the job. (Note: I'm not saying I'm expecting slavish\ndevotion and \"giving it 200%\" every day of the week. But if your personal,\nintrinsic motivations don't align with the job's responsibilities, it won't\nwork).\n\n> 3\\. Will this candidate get along with coworkers?\n\nDuh. But also, how do you actually test objectively for this without\nintroducing bias? And how do you insure you're not creating a monoculture that\nwill eventually harden into navel-gazing and dogma? I'm really of two minds on\nthis topic.\n\n> 4\\. What this candidate will be in three, six, twelve months from now?\n\nRelated to the rephrasing of 1. Can the candidate learn and grow? And will we\nprovide the right environment for them to grow?\n\nOne of my favorite quotes is from an ex-manager who hired me when I was far\nfrom ticking all the boxes on the job description. \"If you hire someone who\nhas all the necessary qualifications for the job, they'll be bored in 6\nmonths.\"\n\n~~~\ntomnipotent\n>> 3\\. Will this candidate get along with coworkers?\n\n> Duh. But also, how do you actually test objectively for this without\n> introducing bias?\n\nYou can't because it's a bs metric like \"culture fit\". After about a dozen\npeople, you can no longer ensure people will get along or like each other. I\nonly have five brothers but I don't even like all of them.\n\nPeople have quirks, and it's easy to find reasons to pass on candidates\nbecause of them (reminds me of Seinfeld and how the characters ended\nrelationships because of man hands or toes). I see this a lot in non-technical\nhiring where marketing folk exclaim \"I like the candidate, we have great\nrapport\" only to discover the candidate was subpar.\n\n> I'm really of two minds on this topic.\n\nI used to be, but after suffering through a bout of mental illness that\nrendered me an anxious mess when I was once the life of the party really\nchanged how I evaluate this dimension. Be kind and assume the best, which we\ncan all agree would be amazing if the tables were turned.\n\n~~~\nnomel\nI disagree that this is a bs metric.\n\nWhen I look for personality, I'm looking three things:\n\n* How they ask questions for things they don't understand\n\nThe problems I give are directly applicable but I leave a few slightly vague.\nSomeone really experienced could fill in the missing pieces easily, but\nusually this doesn't happen. I then ask them if the problem makes sense or if\nI missed anything. If they can't tell me that the problem isn't clear, or they\nneed more information, then they'll have trouble working with a team trying to\nsolve and communicate problems.\n\nA mediocre candidate will say that the problem isn't clear with \"I don't\nunderstand\". A good candidate will explain what they don't understand. A great\ncandidate will ask for clarification on the vague piece without much fuss.\n\n* Reaction to not knowing something.\n\nI have a hard problem that I give at the end. I clearly tell them it's not\nexpected to be solved and that I just want to talk about how it might be\napproached. If they get angry, say \"oh I know how, just give me 5 more\nminutes\" then stand there blank, etc, then they're not going to fit in a team\nthat is trying to solve hard problems together.\n\nA good candidate will stay calm and provide any sort of input, ask any sort of\nquestions, or show any sort of interest. Sometimes people get nervous here, so\nI keep this very very lighthearted.\n\n* Are they full of themselves/assholes\n\nThis is pretty evident within the first few minutes, and really rare (and\nalmost always accompanied with a stream of buzzwords after every sentence).\n\nA good candidate won't be an asshole.\n\n~~~\ntomnipotent\nEverything you've mentioned are shallow assumptions based on brief exchanges\nwith people. These are not qualities you can effectively suss out in a few\nhours through an interview process. You can at best get hints, but just like\nhow GPA is not an indicator of a students on-job success neither is an\ninterview - or our conclusion - any better indicators to the candidates\nsuccess.\n\n> Are they full of themselves/assholes / This is pretty evident within the\n> first few minutes\n\nNot it's not. People can act awkward during interviews, it's a stressful\nsituation. Some people need to peacock to feel self-confident - I may not like\nit, but I'm not going to fuck with their future because of an emotional\nreaction I had to how they present themselves. I've hired plenty of \"assholes\"\nthat just needed the benefit of the doubt and a chance to grow.\n\nWe're not psychologists or therapists, so we should we stop trying to \"figure\npeople out\" and decipher complex human interactions & behavior by trying to\nbucket them into checkboxes for whether or not someone is good.\n\nBe kind, give the benefit of the doubt. This is someones career on the line,\nnot a first date. Treat it with the respect and gravity you'd like someone to\ngive you.\n\n~~~\nsound1\nHey, if a candiate is ready to be an asshole in an interview, what are the\nchances that he will be an asshole to his team members to just get that raise\nor a promotion?\n\n~~~\ntomnipotent\nHe's not being an asshole. He's probably stressed out and doesn't know how to\ncope well. This is behavior that can be addressed and improved. After 20 years\nand hiring 100+ developers through three exits and an IPO, I've only met 1\nactual \"asshole\" that couldn't integrate and needed to be let go.\n\nThe problem is that we're too quick to be offended and we look for excuses.\nI'm in the middle of hiring a business analyst, and my COO didn't want to hire\nhim because he didn't send her a thank you note after an interview (but he did\nsend one to me). She thought he was an asshole. See the problem with that\ntrain of thinking?\n\nEveryone is an asshole to someone.\n\n~~~\nscarface74\n_He 's not being an asshole. He's probably stressed out and doesn't know how\nto cope well._\n\nLife is stressful, work is stressful. My manager and his manager are\nreasonable people but after my second assignment, they said I missed a\nrequirement and that it was a “big f’ up”. Guess what? I found that refreshing\nafter dealing with managers that beat around the bush and you had to\nconstantly try to figure out what they were thinking - or even worse, they\ndidn’t tell you anything until your review.\n\nI’ve had to whiteboard architecture in front of CxOs, be interviewed by\npotential investors, etc. It’s when things get stressful that you really need\npeople who can keep their wits about themselves.\n\n~~~\ntomnipotent\n> they said I missed a requirement and that it was a “big f’ up”\n\nIt's free to say things, doesn't make it true. Too often we assume because\nsomeone is in a position of power - or is wealthy - that whatever they say\nmust be true. It's not. Sure, we have to nod our heads and pretend it is to\nkeep the job but that still doesn't change the reality.\n\nShit rolls down hill with exponential momentum. I've seen many instances where\na CEO says something innocuous like \"I'm a bit disappointed in X\" but by the\ntime it gets to someone that can fix it the management in between transformed\nit from a simple comment into a condemnation. People like to exaggerate things\nto make something seem more important or impactful than it really is.\n\nThere's also a big difference between an interview and dealing with work\neveryday. I know plenty of people that shine under the pressure of interviews\nbut not under the job itself (and visa versa). You cannot determine these\nthings about a person from an interview. Period. Performance in an interview\nhas very little correlation to job performance (if any).\n\n> you really need people who can keep their wits about themselves.\n\nI need a diverse group of people that I can collaborate with to get things\ndone. If they can't keep their wits about, it's my job to deal with that issue\nand get them back on track and protect them from organizational crap. Might as\nwell expect every girl or guy you date to be a model with a PhD.\n\n~~~\nscarface74\n_It 's free to say things, doesn't make it true_\n\nWell, when the requirement was in big bold writing as one of the key features\non a PowerPoint slide...\n\n _I need a diverse group of people that I can collaborate with to get things\ndone. If they can 't keep their wits about, it's my job to deal with that\nissue and get them back on_\n\nThat’s not a luxury you have as you move up the ladder - even if moving up the\nladder is just being a real senior developer/architect (by knowledge if not by\ntitle).\n\nMy first job at 22 was as a computer operator trying to get my foot in the\ndoor was within 6 months build a custom, networked data entry system used to\nsupport a completely new department and a new line of business. Working at\nsmall companies, you don’t get the luxury of hiding within the bureaucracy.\nThe one time that I did work at a large company, it was suffocating.\n\n------\nwgerard\nMy co-founder and I believe so strongly in this that we started a company\naround it.\n\nSo many companies are willing to let perfect be the enemy of good. It's why\nthis concept of an MVP has to be hammered in over and over again. And yet, we\nstill let this mentality pervade hiring. We hire people on the slim chance\nthat they'll need to re-implement a consensus algorithm and not on the 99.99%\nchance that all of their work will be writing CRUD-like code.\n\nWe (as in, Headlight) deal with a lot of bootcamp grads and people who are\nentering tech later in life (which for tech, means 25+). It's shocking the\nnumber of them who are insanely adept at software development for the amount\nof experience they have and are completely overlooked because of any of the\nfollowing:\n\n* Their pedigree\n\n* Their experience given their age\n\n* Their program's focus on practical software development and not on more academic topics\n\nIt's really mind-boggling. It's great for us, because it's a totally\nunappreciated and under-served market. Still, I can't imagine how frustrating\nit is for those candidates. We're still new, but so far our clients'\nsatisfaction with our candidates has been nothing short of enthusiastically\npositive.\n\nAll that to say, you should really consider adjusting your hiring expectations\ndrastically. You're building a house. Why are you trying to hire a civil\nengineer, and not a contractor?\n\n~~~\ndavio\nMost corporate dev jobs can be effectively handled by someone who can reliably\nshow up and pull words from a database and display them on a screen.\n\n~~~\nmushishi\nYes but it's mind-boggling how complex you can get quite a straightforward\nsystem by just piling new requirement changes on top of old without\nmaintaining proper data-model in application, even if database is fine-ish,\nthis results in a monster that slows down the system and the development\nspeed.\n\nSo in principle, a lot of people can do it but only some do it while not\nmaking things more difficult for the next person.\n\n------\ndocker_up\nThe problem that has happened at my company is that we take a \"chance\" on\nbootcampers or other people who aren't proven, we spend the time and effort to\nmentor and train them, pay them well, and then they turn around in 9-12 months\nand leave us for another company with their enhanced experience. It has\nhappened 3 times so far, so we have stopped hiring bootcampers, and fresh\ngrads and instead have started hiring people with a couple of years under\ntheir belts or more, since they appear to at least want to stick around enough\nto contribute positively to our teams.\n\n~~~\ndiminoten\nConversely, I found it _really_ hard to establish myself as a solid\ncontributor and even a technical leader when I joined a team as a (relatively)\nnewly minted developer.\n\nNo matter how far I progressed, or how competent (even excellent) I became, I\nwas _still_ perceived as the \"kid\", even though my colleagues are only a few\nyears older. I think I've mostly overcome this, but TBH I'm still not certain\nand I've been here for ~3.5 years in this role, and have been promoted to\nsenior developer. None of that matters to my coworkers.\n\nMoving teams is a much easier way to shed that \"newbie\" reputation (a path I\ndecided not to take). Is it possible someone is creating this culture at your\nwork that locks people into their role when they join the team?\n\n~~~\ntechsin101\nWhat diminoten said\n\n------\nmirko22\nLately what I have been trying out is telling people: if you want to come for\nan interview can you prepare a small presentation of one of the data\nstructures that you know about or like, or ideally hash tables (as they cover\nwide range of topics).\n\nIf a person than comes in for the interview in about a week from when he is\ntold this and can’t present that DS to some depth I don’t bother to go on with\nmuch longer interview.\n\nI got lot of criticism for this ranging from who needs data structures, we are\nnot building libraries to this is too complex to ask a person.\n\nBut in my opinion if someone tells you what you are going to be asked on the\ninterview and you don’t even bother to prepare at least a little bit i can\nassume me you will act like that at work too.\n\nWhy a data structure? Why not, you don’t necessarily need to like or know\nanything about the domain you will be working in, same way you might not care\nor like data structures.\n\nThis doesn’t apply to someone writing HTML maybe but for a senior programer it\nshould be easy to figure out how a simple linked list works, if you don’t care\nabout learning it I don’t care about wasting my time interviewing you.\n\nI would like if some of you might give me thoughts on this approach.\n\n~~~\nvarjag\nIs it really possible to be a senior programmer without understanding a\nconcept of linked list? Mindboggling.\n\n~~~\njcadam\nI interviewed one who had a lot of trouble finding the largest integer in an\narray... I mean, it really was a bozo-filter level problem, and it amazed me\nhow many people couldn't do it.\n\nPersonally, I hate white-board interviews, but I'd be relieved (and yet\nannoyed at the same time) if you asked me to find the largest integer in an\narray.\n\n------\nravenstine\nWhy would any company _have_ do hire people and train them? Companies these\ndays don't really come to a hault if they're in need of a few developers, and\nas the market is saturated, they can hold out indefinitely until they believe\nthey have a \"rockstar.\"\n\nAccording to my experience, a lot fewer companies than even a few years ago\nare in a hurry to talk to you despite them having a job posting and you having\nmore experience. Most of them will take their sweet ass time, and it will take\neven longer if they've replaced their HR or their own recruiting process with\na recruiting firm, and usually they'll engage in the same process of finding a\n\"rockstar\" while taking their time because then they can fit in time for\nanother client and make more money.\n\nBesides, the incentive for hiring the unproven developers is quickly dying off\nwith services like Triplebyte that can test and interview developers for you\nfor a nominal fee. Those who would normally be in charge of hiring at a\ncompany never gets to the point where they've interviewed a bunch of people\nand decides that they're tired of interviewing people and hires the candidate\nwho seems the most intelligent.\n\n~~~\nSmellyGeekBoy\n> Companies these days don't really come to a hault if they're in need of a\n> few developers\n\nMy small company has had to put our biggest contract on hold since July after\nhaving 2 senior developers leave in quick succession. We're burning through\ncash and have only just this week managed to find a replacement for one of\nthem. I've almost gone down the agency route (again) but the fees are pretty\nhefty for a team our size (3 at the moment).\n\nI'm not looking for rockstars, just someone with some familiarity with .NET\nMVC.\n\nEdit: We're in the UK, FWIW.\n\n~~~\nbvm\nI feel your pain. Trying to hire perm in London at the moment is a real\nchallenge, even with a recruiter. Contractor rates are obscene (5-8x perm).\nRecruiting and retaining is what keeps me awake at night over and above any\ntech issues that I'm working on.\n\n~~~\nuser5994461\nHow little are you paying your dev that it can be 1/8th of a contractor?\n\nEven the cheapest dev I have ever met in London wasn't as low as 1/5th of the\nmost expensive contractor I have met.\n\n~~~\nbvm\nAh yeh, sorry, my mental maths strayed a bit into hyperbole there, it's more\nlike 4-5x\n\n~~~\nuser5994461\nHow much are you trying to pay your dev that it can be 1/5th of a contractor?\nIt's no wonder you're having trouble finding anyone.\n\n------\njarsin\nI think tons of experienced people that love programming moved on because of\nthe \"Google Interview\".\n\nYou got all this experience and love making stuff for users, but you don't\nknow the \"insert trick of the week\" to solve the latest \"elite\" programming\nquestion. Bye Bye. No more jobs for you.\n\n~~~\nhirundo\nTurns out that Google isn't the only outfit hiring coders. I could never have\npassed their interview but I've had a long career making a good living working\nfor companies that never asked me to write a self-balancing binary search tree\noff the cuff.\n\n~~~\njarsin\nI run into the \"Google Interview\" almost everywhere now days.\n\n~~~\nscarface74\nI can speak about my last 5 jobs over 10 years. Before that, I stayed at one\ncompany way too long.\n\nJob 1 - I had already been working at one company way too long. But I wasn’t\nasked any tough technical questions. I explained both my professional\nexperience, and that I got my start as a hobbyist in 86 in 6th grade.\n\nTo be honest, with my programming experience I was overqualified for the job,\nbut I wanted to get into .Net and away from C so I took a high level entry job\nas a .Net developer and it was basically a vertical salary move (wage\ncompression is real).\n\n2\\. I remember having a real simple written test that made sure I could write\nFizzBuzz, knew the basics of .Net and knew how to design and use databases.\nAfter that, I sat down and did pair programming with an IDE where I had to\nmake failing unit tests pass. Again I was still punching below my weight\nclass, but I was more concerned with learning than maximizing salary. It was a\n10K bump and with a well known at the time Fortune 10 company.\n\n3\\. Basic technical interview making sure I knew .Net, JavaScript and\nrelational database theory. They asked a lot of questions about architecture\nand my “whiteboard interview” was drawing out a relatively complex, scalable\nsystem.\n\n4\\. Slightly technical but the main question I remember is “tell me what steps\nare you going to take to create this software development department we need”.\nI was interviewing for a Dev lead position without knowing it.\n\n5\\. “Here are some real world issues we are having with our architecture. We\nare on AWS. How are you going to solve them?”\n\nYes I’m still supposedly a hands on developer.\n\n~~~\nkamaal\nCompanies that consider themselves special generally \"Google Interviews\". That\ninclude bulk of the FAANG class companies, or any body who pays in the same\nball park.\n\nThere are also a huge alumni of the FAANG club, who have a vested interested\nin doing \"Google Interviews\". Basically these people have spent so much\ntime(thousands of hours) that the only way they can justify it is by making\nthat interview process that way. Anybody who hasn't spent that kind of effort\nis obviously beneath their station.\n\nBut I hope you see where this is going.\n\n>>Here are some real world issues we are having with our architecture. We are\non AWS. How are you going to solve them\n\nThe \"Google Interview\" club likely won't ask you these questions. Their job\nisn't to build software. It is to get good at interviews, if you are good at\ninterviews, interviewing is your day job, as practicing questions brings you a\nraise/promotion/title-change every year.\n\nWhy waste time building software?\n\n~~~\nscarface74\nAnd that’s why I’ve never had any interest in the Silicon Valley/Startup\nculture.\n\nI’m very happy in a major metropolitan area with a relatively low cost of\nliving anf a good relative salary working as an “Enterprise\ndeveloper/architect”.\n\n------\ncashsterling\nI have run into some of these issues in the past when trying to get into\nsoftware.\n\nI'm a chemical engineer / scientist with some programming experience/skill*\nbut I would suck at modern coding interviews because I don't program regularly\nin my past 3-4 roles. I would have to get up to speed on the job, with pre-\nprep before the job started, and I could develop into an awesome programmer.\nMost job posting are written such that I am 99% certain my resume would just\nbe a 'fast pass' in the 10 seconds a recruiter might look at it. Oh well,\nengineering is pretty interesting too... so I really can't complain much.\n\n*My programming experience and background: \\-- wrote Python/PyQt apps for parsing/analyzing/visualizing semiconductor device data, wrote sensor simulators/analysis tools in MATLAB and Python. Wrote image analysis routines in Java/ImageJ. I taught myself the languages and libraries and wrote correct and performant code.\n\nI dabble in Python, JS, Julia, Rust, C++, various LISP's at home but I don't\nhave a lot of time or energy after 8-10 hours a day of engineering work.\n\nI have done a fair amount of PLC programming and control system design in the\npast. I also have 10+ years of post PhD engineering and physical science in\nseveral different fields and all of the capability and skill sets required to\nbe successful in those fields.\n\nSoftware gigs I have applied for in past generally have not even given me the\ntime of day... oh well.\n\n~~~\nmixmastamyk\nJob mobility is at an all time low unfortunately, due to the incredibly risk-\naverse environment.\n\n------\nvorpalhex\nI think this is good advice... for larger companies with well established\npatterns. One of the issues of a startup is that the founders are breathing\ndown your neck and often don't care a whole lot about \"well designed software\"\n(or want to overbuild mvp products). Standing up to management, building best\npractices, and being agile while still pushing back when needed against\nfounders/sales isn't easy but it's something engineers in a startup\nenvironment have to deal with directly constantly.\n\nA larger company has more layers of management to, hopefully, help filter that\nout. Larger companies have best practices written down and figured out, CI/CD\npipelines in place, etc. It gives newer engineers more opportunity to succeed\nin areas where they are strong, while letting them have mentorship in areas\nthey are new to them.\n\n~~~\nchii\n> It gives newer engineers more opportunity to succeed in areas where they are\n> strong\n\nor just gives people who can fit a mould succeed, but doesn't allow someone\nwho is creative and can think outside the box to shine as existing beaurocracy\nbogs down the smallest of change.\n\n~~~\nvorpalhex\nOne of the hardest challenges of being an engineer, especially at senior\nlevels, is protecting your peers from bureaucracy - but it is a doable\nchallenge. A corporate structure is like any other social structure and it can\nbe navigated and changed over time with persistent work and buy in from the\nbottom up.\n\nThat being said, larger corporations do have more structure because they don't\nwant you to repeat the mistakes of the past. That can obviously go too far,\nbut if any constraint becomes \"You're limiting my creative expression!\" then\nyou've missed the goal.\n\n~~~\nchii\nI find most corporate structures, levels of management and reporting\nrequirements (that aren't legislation based) all stem from the fact that the\n\"boss\" can't trust the lower level guy to do their job and make decisions\nwithout consulting someone higher on the hierarchy.\n\nIn a small startup, this isn't a problem, because decision making happens\nimmediately. In a large corp, you end up with bureaucracy this way.\n\nHow does other organizations that are large solve this problem? In the\nmillitary (at least, in the US, and other western doctrine millitaries), the\nsqad or captain or ground level troop has a lot of freedom to make tactical\ndecisions, as long as that decision is to move towards the goal (or what's\nnormally called the commander's intent). Why doesn't this method work in a\ncorp. environment?\n\n~~~\nryandrake\nIt works where there is a shared mission. But when team A wants help with\nproject 1 and team B’s priority is project 2, and they need approval from team\nC because it touches their code, well, you get the bureaucracy and constant\nescalation that you see in big software companies.\n\n------\naphextron\n>Don't hire like FAANG companies, don't use their best practices, don't use\ntheir super oiled processes, don't play their same games with the same rules.\n\nI'm back on the job market for the first time in 4 years and it seems like\nthings have changed a lot. I'm now stuck in this weird twilight zone where\nevery single company I talk to has the exact same process that they run\nthrough the motions as if it were dictated from somewhere, and I've yet to\neven have a genuine conversation. It inevitably leads to a \"live coding\"\nsession over the phone where I completely go blank and am unable to perform\nbecause programming under a time constraint with someone staring at your\nscreen is absurd. Problems on the level of fizzbuzz become impossible because\nmy mind simply goes blank in those situations and I freeze up. It'd be nice if\nsomeone would just give me a take home project where I can actually code\nsomething properly and show off my skills, rather than conclude that I'm an\nidiot who can't even code after 20 minutes of struggling with some toy problem\nthrough my intense anxiety.\n\n~~~\n01100011\nI understand the blank mind feeling. I was on a phone interview with Oculus 2\nweeks ago and had a simple circular buffer question. I was expecting something\na lot harder, frankly, and hadn't practiced writing a circular buffer in a\nwhile. I was doing fine until I got half-way through and wanted to refactor my\ncode. Since we're under time constraints I tried to push through and use my\nexisting design choice but it started the anxiety train rolling. In a couple\nminutes my mind fogged over and I literally couldn't comprehend the code I had\nwritten a few minutes ago. The interview ended poorly and I didn't get the\njob. I finished the code after the interview, along with some test cases, and\nthe whole thing worked great. It wasn't that I didn't understand the problem,\nI just couldn't implement it with someone breathing down my neck.\n\nI interviewed with Nvidia a week later and almost had a similar issue but in\nthat case the interviewer sensed my reaction and managed to talk me through\nthings. I managed to recover and now I'm scheduled for an on-site.\n\n~~~\nsuperqd\nGood luck\n\n------\nnalipp\nPassion can't be measured with credentials so why do companies keep screening\nfor them?\n\nI spent the last three years studying as a hobby and as a full time student\nlearning multiple frameworks, front-end and backend, and additional\ntechnologies that made me curious like Vim and I can't even land a single\ntechnical interview.\n\nAfter coming to the Bay Area, I was thinking my github portfolio and\ncommunication and networking skills would at least get me in the door to prove\nmyself.\n\nOnce coming I found out I would need to learn CS topics to get past the\ntechnical interview and that React would be a good entry point for a first\njob. So I left and studied another 6 months before returning. The second time\nI got a part time job as a coding instructor at a bootcamp because I have a\nhistory in teaching, but still struggle to get in the door for engineering\ninterviews.\n\nNobody takes me seriously without credentials, I always thought that in a\ntechnical interview people would be able to figure out where you stand and not\nneed credentials. The problem is companies get flooded with resumes so they\nbuild automated software to screen the best candidates but passion can't be\nscreened.\n\n------\njoshfraser\nAt Origin, we've hired multiple people without computer science degrees and\nwhose resumes you would never pick out of a stack. One of our key players, for\nexample, was a commercial real estate broker who taught himself how to code.\nThe reason we hired him is that we're a 100% open-source project and he just\nstarted contributing. And he turned out to be really great. By the time we\ngave him a fulltime offer, he'd had several months to demonstrate what he\ncould do. For anyone who is struggling with not having the right background or\ndegree, find an open-source project and start contributing. It's a great way\nto prove yourself and you'll learn new skills and make awesome new connections\nalong the way.\n\n~~~\ncure\nThat makes sense. It's also how I look at hiring. People who have made good\ncontributions to our codebase (arvados.org) are first in line.\n\nBeing able to look past the resume and pick up good people who don't fit a\ntraditional pattern is definitely a skill. Business people tend to not\nunderstand this because they are stuck on matching patterns. In other words,\ndon't let non-technical people be in charge of hiring developers :)\n\n------\napeace\nI get the sentiment but I have two problems with this.\n\n1) Different stages of companies require different hires. When you're starting\nout, find the hungry ones. They'll get better at programming if they care, and\nthey'll build a lot of stuff. Once you have real customers and are growing\nlike crazy, hire experienced people to help you scale.\n\n2) There is a difference between the \"interview process\" and the screening\nprocess. I agree that thinking about \"Can this candidate do the job?\" and\n\"Will this candidate be motivated?\" is the best way to go. But I don't have\ntime to sit down with the ~200 junior engineers who sent me their resume on\nIndeed in order to figure that out. Hence, I filter by 5+ years of experience,\nand track record of working in multiple programming languages (don't screen\nspecific languages though). Are the metrics perfect? No. But in my experience\nthey weed out the people who are too junior to be successful on my team.\n\nInterestingly, I think that if my company were bigger we might go back the\nother direction. Once we're on a stable path, and we have a few senior\nengineers who want to go into management and/or do some mentorship, we can\nafford to bring on more junior people and help them grow into great engineers.\n\nThere are many stages of companies, startups especially, and in some\nsituations it makes perfect sense to use some plain old metrics.\n\n~~~\nralmidani\n\"Years of experience\" is a very misleading metric. Someone could have 2 years\nof experience but be more motivated and/or have worked in a more demanding\nenvironment than someone with 5 years of experience.\n\nseniority !== skill\n\n~~~\napeace\nWhich metric do you use which is never wrong? Or do you perform a full-on\ninterview for every person who sends you a resume?\n\n~~~\nralmidani\nOf course not. But finding talent is far more subtle than \"how many years has\nthis person been in industry?\" That doesn't account for passion, motivation,\nhow much they learned and accomplished on the job, etc.\n\n------\nchrisseaton\nI don't see how 'hire people who aren't proven' can be compatible with 'can\nthis candidate do the job'. You want to know if they can do the job, but you\naren't interested in any proof for that?\n\n~~~\nsharemywin\n30-50%(used to be 90%) of any programming job is doing crap you didn't know\nhow to do before.\n\nIf they have a proven track record of figuring things out experience is\nminimally valuable.\n\n~~~\nchrisseaton\n> If they have a proven track record of figuring things out experience is\n> minimally valuable.\n\nI can't understand this point of view at all.\n\nWhen Google wanted to build the world's best JS JIT they didn't hire anyone\nwho was generally able to figure things out - they hired the person with the\nmost experience in building dynamic language JITs in the world. Experience is\neverything! Experience is knowing which rabbit holes to not go down, knowing\nwho to speak to when you need help, what ideas haven't been tried yet, etc.\n\n~~~\ncamel_Snake\nI think it's totally unrealistic to compare the average coding gig with\nwriting a custom JIT from scratch for Google. In most businesses the\ndifference between 'very good' and 'world class' won't have a large enough\nimpact to spend the extra resources getting that rockstar.\n\nAnd then there is the issue of actually retaining top talent...\n\n------\n6stringmerc\nUnmentioned Important Addition to Headline:\n\n...because if you are trying to hire people that are proven, you will have to\npay them a fair market rate.\n\n~~~\nttoinou\n> fair market rate\n\nOr is it that people that have not been proven before have a lower market\nrate, justified (so \"fair\") by this lack of pre-validation ?\n\n------\nlvh\nThere's a critical kernel of truth here that I want to point out: work-sample\ntests. The longer I spend building teams, the more I am convinced: there are\npeople who do WSTs as a way to qualify applicants, and there are people who\njust aren't serious about hiring.\n\nIt's easy to write a WST for simple things, like \"can you literally write a\ncomputer program that does this trivial straightforward thing\". It's hard to\nwrite WSTs for things that feel fluffy, like \"can you manage a team\". But\nhere's the thing: as long as that fluffy thing feels fluffy, what that really\nmeans is you haven't bothered to figure out what success looks like for that\nrole, and you couldn't even evaluate that person let alone hire for them.\n\nThere's a company in Indy called Woven\n([http://www.woventeams.com/](http://www.woventeams.com/)) that'll do it for\nyou, too. I have no relationship with them other than that they're nice people\nwho are trying to unfuck hiring.\n\n~~~\nthrowawaymath\nIt would be great if you could convince large tech companies to use work\nsample tests, but I just don't see that happening. So in that sense maybe work\nsample tests can be a differentiator attracting candidates that don't want to\nspend a few weeks doing Leetcode prep every time they look for a new job.\n\nOn the other hand work sample tests also have drawbacks. I don't know if\nthey're actually that much better than regular interviewing methods; I think\nthey just contribute an orthogonal signal instead of a stronger one. I don't\nfeel I can cheerlead them as much as you do in your first paragraph.\n\nI think in an ideal world companies would allow candidates the option of\nchoosing either their work sample or their resume-blind, standardized\ninterview gauntlet. People with a lot of interviewing anxiety could self-elect\na work sample option. But if you impose a work sample on every candidate I\nthink you'll reduce your pool of available hires.\n\nI was offered a work sample test recently and was told to spend about a week\non it. I started working on it a little bit the first day and really enjoyed\nthe exercise. But I was also interviewing with at least five other companies\nat the same time; I simply didn't have the time between work and traveling for\nonsites to really commit to the work sample.\n\n------\n75dvtwin\nThere is definitely economic incentive for a busines to find 'diamonds-in-the\nrough', or there abouts, so to speak. (\n[https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/diamond+in+the+rough](https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/diamond+in+the+rough)\n)\n\nThe traits to look, suggest:\n\n'lack of' of prestigious education background,\n\nliving in non-metropolitan area,\n\nperhaps somewhat muted self-promotion skills\n\ngenuine and _continuous_ interest in the particular field\n\n\\+ all the other soft-skills (team work, work ethics, respect for others,\netc).\n\nBut I think to enable long term, mutual benefit between the business and\nemployees, the business must be able to place itself, virtually, in the\nposition of employee.\n\nAnd ask: in addition to salary, why would the employee continue with me?\n\nI feel that aspect is rarely discussed, written about.\n\nI made some mistakes in my personal career development. And the most\nsignificant ones where due to me believing that the companies (senior\nmanagers) I work for, actually cared about my aspirations.\n\nSo, for myself, I had adapted this career management strategy, that I picked\nfrom lawyers:\n\n'Up-or-out'\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_or_out](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_or_out)\n\nBasically, I would not stay in one company for more than 3 (max 5 years), if I\ndo not make meaningful incremental career growth (that also includes\ncompensation growth).\n\nFollowing that, even though late in my career, helped me to get recognition,\nbetter relations in the industry, as well as better monetary compensation.\n\n------\nlinsomniac\nI'd add the caution that you should have clear criteria for what represents\nsuccess in the job, and the timeline. If the candidate doesn't meet those\ncriteria in that timeline, you both should agree that it isn't working.\n\nMy previous job was running a small Sys Admin consulting company. We hired 4\npeople over the years who definitely fit into the \"not proven\" category, with\nvery mixed results.\n\nTwo really struggled: One of them was \"ok\" but needed a ton of management, the\nother never really got a basic level of proficiency despite spending most of a\nyear \"studying\" and working at the elbow of various masters. One worked out\nreally well and was a great worker. I feel like there was another one, but I\ncan't dredge up the specifics.\n\nThe proven people on the other hand were mostly rockstars. The one that wasn't\nwas largely due to my mismanagement of them.\n\nSo: Yes, absolutely hire the unproven. But have a plan.\n\n------\ncrdoconnor\n>Google's interview best practices strictly focused on algorithms and data\nstructure questions won't help you in your interview process.\n\nThey mostly don't help because they bear no resemblance to what 99% of\ndevelopers actually do, even at Google.\n\nRealism in dev job interviews is criminally underrated.\n\n~~~\nmaybeiambatman\nInternships are probably the best job interviews.\n\n~~~\nchooseaname\nYeah, but that only[0] works for entry level developers.\n\n[0] I'm sure there are exceptions.\n\n~~~\nmaxxxxx\nTrue. Contracting is sometimes also a way to find good people.\n\n------\ngetaclue\nAs someone who is currently looking for a job I can definitely relate to the\ntroubling HR in software field. What I started doing is working on my own\ncontent to help recruiters decide if I am what they are looking for. I added\nmore information about ME, what I am passionate about, what I was passionate\nabout previously, and what I am looking for to my about page\n([https://getaclue.me/about](https://getaclue.me/about)).\n\nThis way, recruiters can decide if they like me or not. Another thing I\nstarted doing while reaching out to companies is saying that I am open to 3-6\nmonths \"tryouts\" if you wish.\n\nI feel like we should have more of those. I also realized that social media is\nvery powerful for finding your way in 2018. Gone are the days of wanting to\nwork at a Fortune N company because they are doing great work. Most of those\nunicorns turn into corp machines that they were trying to stay away from.\n\nAnother thing I started doing is looking for people that share my passion.\nAnecdotally, Forums, IRCs, Telegam and the such communities are definitely\nbooming once again thanks to the dissolution of privacy.\n\nOne challenge - esp if you are someone who cares about software and software\nengineering field - you have to do A LOT more work on your own. I work full-\ntime and I work when I get home. I don't see this changing.\n\nEDITed to add some \\n\n\n~~~\nvidanay\nIf you are in the Frankfurt Germany area, I have a position open there for a\nC# developer.\n\n~~~\ngetaclue\nThank you for the opportunity but I am located in Toronto, Canada.\n\n------\nlordnacho\nI find this is incompatible with the list of 4 questions:\n\n> Cut luck out of your system.\n\nYou can't decide to do that. If you're a small company, you are only sampling\na little bit and luck will either help you or hurt you. If you are large, the\nlaw of large numbers will give you something like the average. You can't\ndecide if you're small or large.\n\nAs for finding people who are proven, it's up to you what level you are after.\nIf you want anyone who'd played division 3 football, you have a reasonably\nlarge number of candidates. If you have a left back who's played Champions\nLeague and is under 25, you have a small number of candidates.\n\nTry to go with larger sets, because then the LLN will help you. Don't ask for\nanyone who's played any sport for your football team, just anyone who has\nplayed football to the level you need.\n\nAnother important thing to think about is how to work with the great mass of\nordinary people. At some stage if things go well, you may have to engage with\npeople who are not wanting to spend 80 hours at your office, or who don't\nspend their weekends contributing to exactly the projects your firm is\ninterested in, and who maybe aren't even all that interested in what you do.\nMotivating such teams has been a major value-add for a large number of\nhousehold names.\n\n------\nslfnflctd\nMy initial interest in programming started before 1990. Due to an insane\nnumber and variety of mostly personal factors, the farthest I ever got was a\ncouple ancient javascript/HTML experiments, a few small-to-medium side\nprojects in MS Access and some intermediate router configuration. I've\nprimarily just done tech support. I've performed well in the jobs I've chosen,\nthough, because I get along well with others and tend to be loyal to the\norganization, even if I know this is sometimes foolish. It's simply how I'm\nwired.\n\nDespite all the time that's passed and all the things I've dipped my toes\ninto, I feel no closer to choosing a language, framework or tooling. I have no\nfriends who are serious developers. I'm good at learning new things, but it\nhappens slowly. It would probably take me 6 months to a year of dedicated\ndaily time & effort just to ramp up on any one particular sub-technology\n(which, considering that I'm a rideshare driver to make ends meet, is a\nchallenge)-- and there is no guarantee it would help me find work, since I\nhave no idea who's hiring for what, or what those jobs are actually like.\n\nAll that being said, other than 'professional entertainer' (haha), a software\ndeveloper is all I've really ever wanted to be, and I think with enough time\ninvested the right way, I'd be really, really good at some aspect of it. I\nbuilt myself a custom checking account database to better predict its future\nbalance, and I'm happy every time I interact with it (except when it crashes\nfor reasons unrelated to my code). The biggest question of all remains,\nthough: Is it even worth the trouble to try, because would anybody even\nconsider hiring someone like me?\n\n~~~\nonemoresoop\nThe best place to learn is when you're hired as a software developer at a\ncompany. It doesn't matter if the company is good or not, you'll be forced to\nlearn to make the product work. Change a few jobs and some years of tinkering\nand you'll likely get the fads, buzz, experience, etc.. Best place to start is\nas junior dev and quickly move up. Learning at home will never give you work\nexperience since the 'real world' environment is not replicable at home.\n\n------\nchadash\nThis advice seems kind of crazy to me. I think you want someone who is proven\nin some skill-set, just not necessarily the exact one you are hiring for [1].\nIn software engineering, many skills are easily picked up. If you know C++,\nJava probably won't be too hard to learn. Angular and React aren't all that\ndifferent. Even backend and frontend development have a lot of overlap.\n\nMany companies want experienced and proven hires and I think this is\ncompletely reasonable. If you can afford it, would you rather have Lebron\nJames on your team or a rookie who shows some promise? However, I take issue\nwhen companies get too specific in their requirements and exclude candidates\nfor not possessing skills that are easily learned by someone who is proven in\nother areas.\n\n[1] The exception might be junior developers who you are taking more of a risk\non, but also get paid less as a result. However, there are costs to training a\njunior developer including paying a salary while they get up to speed and\nusing up experienced devs' time to train them.\n\n------\ntenpoundhammer\n> 3\\. Will this candidate get along with coworkers?\n\nI think this 'getting along' is often misinterpreted as become best friends. I\nthink a better way to state this question is\n\n'Will this candidate be able to have successful working relationships?'\n\nThere is no reason you can't have a wide variety of people -- that would never\nchoose to hang out with another-- working successfully together.\n\n------\nbenkovy\nAs an unproven, but extremely passionate and motivated person (who is\nliterally 2 hours away from going into his first Software Developer\ninterview), I found this calming. If I don't get this position I really hope I\nfind a company with the same ideals portrayed in this article.\n\n~~~\nsound1\nGood luck!\n\n------\nTictacTactic\nAs a dev straight out of university this blog resonates with me. I know I\ndon't even come close in knowledge to a senior dev so in interviews I try to\nemphasis that I have a hard working personality, positive attitude, strong\ndesire to learn, etc. Traits I think a company would really want if a dev was\nlacking in the specific skills. Sadly it feels like it always falls flat and I\nend up coming across as naive.\n\nI think mainly the problem is rooted in employers cynical approach to hiring\nemployees. It's hard to evaluate people on less measurable data points when\nyou don't trust them. It's easier to trust tests with easily quantifiable\nresults rather than those with grey areas.\n\n------\nblauditore\nThe problem is that those things can be faked during an classic interview by a\ngood actor (or \"salesperson\"). It's much harder to fake problem solving skills\non a whiteboard.\n\nThe pair programming approach is not terrible, but might be problematic if\nskill fields (technologies, environment) of interviewer and candidate are not\nperfectly aligned. So either the candidate will have to work in the company's\nsetup they're not familiar with, or the interviewer will try to follow\nsomething they don't easily understand.\n\n------\ngwbas1c\nOne of my filters when phone screening is to ask simple questions that the\ncandidate should know given the stated experience. I try to use topics that\nwill separate out someone who's \"faking it\" versus someone who has the deep\n(or shallow) knowledge that someone with XX years experience should know.\n\nFor example, (back when ARC was new,) I'd ask someone with 5-8 years objective\nC to explain how autorelease works. (If you programmed in Objective C without\nARC and didn't know about Autorelease...)\n\nOr, for Java and C# I ask some questions about exception handling. It's a very\nsimple concept that a lot of novices screw up. (If someone with a nontrivial\namount of C# or Java can't explain some exception handling basics...)\n\n(Basically, my pattern is to get the candidate to discuss some well-known\ndetails about memory management or error handling in a language that the\ncandidate states experience in. Any competent programmer should be able to do\nthis.)\n\nI then ask some more theoretical questions that are relevant for the kind of\nprogramming needed for the product. These are the kinds of things that someone\nwho has the experience needed should know without thinking too hard about the\nquestion. If someone can answer with a lot of hemming and hawwing, that's okay\ntoo. Someone who just can't discuss this kind of theory really isn't capable\nof the job... Or learning the job.\n\n------\ncbg0\nSometimes it feels that even being \"proven\" isn't enough for a lot of\ncompanies that expect you to happen to know the six programming languages they\nput in their job ad, because if the ones you do know don't match up the\nrecruiters will assume you're not a good fit regardless of your years of\nexperience.\n\nI do agree though that YMMV, and some companies are better than this and\naccept that you might be capable of picking up new languages and technologies.\n\n------\njkingsbery\nFor what it's worth, I work at one of the large tech companies mentioned. I\nwould disagree with some of the characterization. For example \"Don't do\nwhiteboard coding on riddles or puzzles\" \\- I think this is great advice,\nbecause questions like that are frowned on where I work too! Generally, the\ncoding questions we ask come from real world applications.\n\nI've also worked at a startup, and I think this article misses something that\nreally could be helpful: there are different skills needed to work at most\nlarge companies and most start-ups. At most early-stage start-ups, scaling is\nnot a problem. There are examples of companies that had to scale quickly, but\nfor the most part life at a startup is about finding where your market is. I\nthink that start-up hires also need to be more flexible: there's more room for\nspecialization in larger companies, whereas in smaller companies, engineers\nthat focus on one or two things can be pretty disruptive as the needed work\nshifts.\n\n------\ntombert\nI feel like I tend to value theory more than most people, and when I\ninterview, I tend to ask extremely theory-heavy questions that I think are\ntypically pretty difficult.\n\nHowever, I don't usually care if they can actually work out the answer in a\nshort amount of time, as anyone can probably find an answer to a question in\nabout fifteen seconds on pretty much any search engine. What I measure is how\nwell the person asks questions.\n\nThe way I figure it, it's far more important that the worker is good about\nunblocking themselves; you can't expect someone to have memorized every\nalgorithm ever, but it's not unreasonable to expect them to bother someone who\nknows a bit more about the subject when they don't.\n\nJust as an FYI, I don't have any fancy credentials, or really any\nqualifications at all, so it's not like I'm pushing some kind of\nMIT/Harvard/Berkley ridiculous agenda onto people.\n\n------\nnotananthem\nI am very skilled, highly educated, and interview poorly. When companies hire\nme, I get big promotions, leadership pulls me in, etc. This is because I'm not\n\"an engineer\" or \"a programmer.\" The departments I work in obviously\nknow/recognize me but the business doesn't know the job function really, its\nstarting to be a more recognized area. The fact that I got as far as I did is\nhilarious, and I know how to find a lot more people like me at any time, and\nthey'd never have gotten any of that value without hiring people like me. I\nalso don't know how you would discern a \"fake\" me from me, without some of us\non the interview. My interview was conducted by some highly qualified people\nand a few not qualified people, so I knew I had room to grow because there was\na lot of dead weight.\n\n------\nfsiefken\nVery good points, being on the lookout myself I realize this also works the\nother way around. I need to be good at answering:\n\n* Can I do the job and can I communicate my weaknesses and strengths?\n\n* Will I be motivated?\n\n* Will I get along with the people?\n\n* What will I be 3, 6, 12 months from now? What do I want to achieve?\n\n* What's my motivation and attitude?\n\n* How do I learn?\n\n* How do I work through blocks?\n\n------\nremote_phone\nIt’s a great sentiment and I would love to hear this blog poster’s success\nwith his system that he described. Does he have actual metrics as to how\neffective his description is, or is this just another example of someone on\nthe Internet making an edict with no data backing it?\n\n------\namorphous\nI recommend \"Why Employees Are Always a Bad Idea\" by Chuck Blakeman. It\ndescribes how to build a company where everyone is a stakeholder and not a\nchild that needs constanct watching and stupid rules in order to function. No\ntitles, no working hours, unlimited vacation time, you hire the whole person\n(not just the BS smile at work part). You work together because you want to\nfind and make meaning. No CVs and skills are far less important than\npersonality and fit (skills can always be learned).\n\nThe book is the reason I'm building my own company because this is how I want\nto work and live (I used to work for a company like that, but unfortunately,\ndue to personal circumstances the founder had to split and the company\ndisappeared).\n\n~~~\nttoinou\nGreat idea, but then couldn't they replace you and what you're doing (since\nthey won't be your employee they'll be business partners) ?\n\n~~~\namorphous\nNo, it was the unique combination of people that made the company. Once two\nkey people left, everything fell apart.\n\n------\nj45\nHaving hired folks who weren't proven, most didn't work out. However, the ones\nwho did work out were great.\n\nOne difference that stood out beyond courage and attitude is how engaged in\nactualizing one's potential the candidate is.\n\nEveryone has potential. The person doing the hiring may see it. The candidate\nmay, or may not.\n\nThe only thing that mattered in the end was the candidates ability to\nactualize their own potential beyond what they may see in themselves, given an\nopportunity.\n\nThe questions \"What do you build/work on when no one is looking\" is one\ninteresting question to elicit a sense of their attitude towards their\npotential, and if they have the courage to undertake building/learning\nsomething for the sake of learning.\n\n~~~\nsparrish\nYou have to kiss a lot of frogs to find the prince this way. It can be very\ntime consuming. If your company has more time than money - it's a reasonable\nstrategy.\n\n~~~\nj45\nAgreed on kissing a lot of frogs. I wasn't recommending it, or not, just what\none experience was. Over time, it's less useful, but it's important to still\nremain as open as possible.\n\n------\njaclaz\nOn the actual job ad, and how it sounds, I like to cite:\n\n[https://tudorbarbu.ninja/message-to-\nrecruiters/](https://tudorbarbu.ninja/message-to-recruiters/)\n\n>We’re looking for a person with more than 100 years of experience in software\ndevelopment, coding everything from BIOSes to cloud applications, knowledge of\nall past, present and future operating systems and setting up secure networks.\nThe applicant must also be able to juggle up to twenty balls and read\nhieroglyphs, be fluent in Swahili and dance like Michael Jackson (especially\nmoonwalking – nice to have at corporate Christmas parties).\n\n------\nAngeloAnolin\nApplicants in general I feel are always to be on a disadvantage because _most_\ncompanies leave the hiring to the HR Department, who have very little clue on\nwhat they need to actually be looking. Most of the time, they would have a\nchecklist, where if the person does not meet enough of their threshold, that\nperson is immediately passed off for the next applicant.\n\nAdd the process that some folks do to screen candidates - lots of times, these\nare not objective in nature and tend to skew towards most applicants who seem\nto have a very impressive profile made up of fancy words and half truths.\n\n------\nnasalgoat\nI dunno, I tried to hire based on potential, and I just let them go after six\nmonths of him failing to grasp even the basics of the job. He did fine in the\ninterviews but ultimately you cannot fake experience.\n\n~~~\nwccrawford\nWe've hired multiple people based on potential. A few of them have worked out\nastoundingly well. More than that have quit or been let go for not being able\nto handle the job.\n\nIt's pretty demoralizing to let someone go. It's pretty annoying to have them\nquit in the first week. (Or even the first day!)\n\nBut it's pretty awesome when they work out and you get to watch their skill\ngrow over time.\n\n------\nduxup\nI wish this was a thing, but it's not.\n\nI worked for a company that did some layoffs of some good people. They're\ncapable, but their bullet points don't match many jobs .... so they're looking\nfor and endlessly long time.\n\nThese are great people more than capable of learning. At their previous jobs\nas a team they did more work than teams 3x their size.\n\nI know a few places that turned them down in favor of folks who matched the\nbullet points... but not the job.\n\nIt's difficult to watch as I see news of places \"desperate to find workers\"...\nbut refusing to hire good people.\n\n------\nonion2k\nI read \" _You must have 10 years experience of <tech>_\" as shorthand for \"\n_Have you stopped learning new things? Come and work here._ \"\n\n~~~\nchrisseaton\nThat's ridiculous. Why does learning new technology mean you need to stop\nusing the old technology?\n\n~~~\nonion2k\nIt doesn't, obviously. My point was about how companies advertise jobs. A\ncompany advertising a job with a requirement of 10 years experience in a\ntechnology wants someone who's able to tackle pretty much any problem from the\noutset. _They 're not open to people learning._\n\n------\nmrmrcoleman\nA major GPS navigation company hired me for a job I wasn't ready for in 2006\nwhen I was 24 years old. It was my first job at a big company.\n\nI'm pretty sure I got through because they were growing way too fast and I\nslipped through the process somehow.\n\nBeing dropped into the deep end and surrounded by smart and experienced people\nwas incredible for me. It took me a while to get up-to-speed but when I did\nI'm sure I more than repaid their investment.\n\n------\nhonkycat\nI can't disagree with this person more.\n\nMore than anything have learned that education and training are hugely\nimportant and hiring to train leads to mediocre staff who think their two\nyears of development work stack up to your 4 years of college and 6 years of\nprofessional experience.\n\nThey take forever to start writing productive code, if they ever bother\nleaning at all.\n\nI will never hire someone without a degree or equivalent experience again.\nEven for Jr. roles\n\n~~~\nnil_pointer\nThis strategy may weed out duds, but it will also occasionally overlook great\npeople. One of the brightest engineers I know dropped out of high school and\ngot a GED, but was obsessed with tech and practiced building things daily.\nHe's 30 and a VP now.\n\n------\ngrigjd3\nThis feels a bit like a strawman. I've interviewed with FAANG companies and I\nrun interviews and I don't see these puzzle questions. I see people looking\nfor basics and looking into problem solving and hints that candidates have\ndone good work before. Granted, I've seen that urge to ask puzzle questions in\nsome quarters, but I've regularly seen that ignored. Maybe though I've been\nblessed..\n\n------\nmaybeiambatman\nThe author makes some good points. But, I wish they had offered some ways to\ntest the dimensions they speak of: courage, attitude etc.\n\n------\nwarmind\nSo, with this in mind, can any more experienced professionals say how you can\nstand out as an 'unproven' new grad/dev?\n\nI've got work experience that isn't a tech internship (network support at a\nmajor uni), and code projects, but without that internship (I did research\ninstead), it seems I and people like me are constantly at a disadvantage.\n\n------\nwillart4food\nYup! Tom Peters - of \"In Search of Excellence\" fame - advocated the same\nmantra back in the late 90's. Yes I am that old.\n\nIt makes for great copy. Really.\n\nBut then, when push comes to shove, the old search for a lego piece that fits\nwith all the other lego pieces continues, so that there's the alibi.\n\nIt reminds me of IBM's \"nobody ever got fired for buying IBM\".\n\nLife continues.\n\n------\ncontingencies\nIn all fields, search for hacker mindset: curious, intelligent, self-\nmotivated, capable of independent R&D and execution.\n\n------\ncalferreira\nI don't think that the hiring process in terms of what you need is that hard.\n\nYou just need to hire people that match your company culture, matching the\nskill set you need for a given salary range.\n\nHiring someone who blends well in the company culture is half way there.\n\nNow, if there's someone that matches this line of thinking in the pool of\ntalents, is another story.\n\n------\nmicrotherion\n> \"Don't hire like FAANG companies\"\n\nI work for a FAANG, and we don't hire like that either. The motto is often\n\"hire for potential, not track record\".\n\nThe dark pattern lurking in that is age discrimination: A motto like this can\neasily be taken as an excuse to completely dismiss track record, or even\nconsider it detrimental.\n\n------\narikrak\nNice post, I think it can be more difficult for less-experienced (but\ntalented) people to find jobs than it should be. However in some ways the\nFAANG companies are better in this regard since they hire many people out of\ncollege and strive to have an objective hiring process that can be passed by\nless experienced people.\n\n------\nsimonhamp\nHope you don't mind me sharing some thoughts I wrote on this topic that are\nsimilar to the linked article...\n\nHiring is broken.\n\n[https://medium.com/@simonhamp/a-new-way-to-hire-tech-\ntalent-...](https://medium.com/@simonhamp/a-new-way-to-hire-tech-\ntalent-942ca2e7db8f)\n\n------\nOliverJones\nJoel Spolsky figured this out a while ago.\n\n1\\. Smart.\n\n2\\. Gets things done.\n\nRead this. [https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/10/25/the-guerrilla-\nguid...](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/10/25/the-guerrilla-guide-to-\ninterviewing-version-30/)\n\n~~~\nlvh\nThere are good tidbits in that post, but the way you measure \"smart\" is awful\nand almost entirely subjective. The conversation \"just flows\"? Really? Gee, I\nwonder if that's likely to make you hire people who have the same background\nas you.\n\nI agree that the \"gets things done\" part is important! But I think you should\nmeasure if they can, in a controlled environment, instead of just going off\nthe resume and seeing if it has worked out in the past. Lots of total dipshits\nmanage to ride on the coattails of successful teams.\n\n------\nrademacher\nSeems to me that at some point hiring moved away from hiring based on\npotential to hiring based on pure skill and how many boxes the candidate has\nchecked. Companies seem to just want people who can turn the crank, which\ndoesn't sound all that appealing.\n\n------\ngoodoldboys\nThe author hits on a lot of great points here, that I believe speak to a\nlarger theme: there's a ton of undervalued programming talent out there and\nfinding that talent can give your company a huge leg-up on the market.\n\n------\ntylerchilds\nI think the manhole covers are round because they're really heavy and it'd\nprobably be tedious to orient a square or any shape with multiple sides to\nmatch up perfectly every time you put them back on.\n\n------\nm3kw9\nIf you look at NFL as an example, even with such intensity of the scouting\nmethods, that will tell you how hard it is to find talent\n\n------\nrllin\nnot only does the industry not have a labor union, there's a culture of\npassion which is almost like having a negative union.\n\nany time passion is involved, you are being paid less than market. cash is a\nmore liquid currency and can in fact buy passion.\n\n------\nzyngaro\nSo to fix hiring let's hire people on even more subjective bases !\n\n------\nkkotak\nDon't forget, FAANG are looking for minions that fit the assembly line in 99%\nof cases. Not original thinkers or people who are multi-talented, wearing many\nhats.\n\n------\nwhorleater\nor be like Netflix and _only_ hire proven people and pay them a lot\n\n------\npatientplatypus\nWhat amuses me more than anything else is that this dystopia was created by\nsoftware developers. Oh everyone is going to a bootcamp and saturating the dev\njob market? Maybe you shouldn't have \"disintermediated\" every possible job\nfrom accountant to truck driver. What's good for the goose is good for the\ngander.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThis Video Makes Bill Gates Look Cooler Than Steve Jobs | Farwell video @ CES - iamelgringo\nhttp://gizmodo.com/341472/this-video-makes-bill-gates-look-cooler-than-steve-jobs\n======\nshayan\nits a funny one, but it'll take a lot more than a video for him to look cooler\nthan jobs\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nVisiting the Anderton Boat Lift on My Narrowboat (2017) [video] - CaliforniaKarl\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJDqGimPc9Q\n======\ngambiting\nIf you find this interesting, I'd really recommend learning about Falkirk\nWheel - it's an absolute marvel of engineering and the only rotating boat lift\nin the world. I've visited a month ago and it was fascinating.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkirk_Wheel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkirk_Wheel)\n\n~~~\nlelf\nSee also: Krasnoyarsk dam inclined plane\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krasnoyarsk_Dam#/media/File%3A...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krasnoyarsk_Dam#/media/File%3AInclined_plane_at_Krasnoyarsk%2C_on_the_Yenisie_River.jpg)\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Krasnoyarsk+Dam](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Krasnoyarsk+Dam)\n\n------\nwalrus01\nFor those not familiar, narrowboats in England need to be VERY narrow.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrowboat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrowboat)\n\nThere's some really fascinating videos on youtube from people who live in them\nfull time, with walkthrough tours of living room space + kitchen + bedroom.\n\n~~~\nPaulRobinson\nHaving lived on one as a child, I can assure you that it's not quite as\nidyllic as it might look.\n\n------\ntheluketaylor\nAlso possibly of interest to people is the Marine Railway on the Trent-Severn\nWaterway. Boats sit in slings or directly on the car floor and transported\nacross the 18m elevation change.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Chute_Marine_Railway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Chute_Marine_Railway)\n\n------\nNeil44\nThe motorways of the industrial revolution! And lovely to cycle down these\ndays.\n\n------\njimmytidey\nI don't want to turn into this man.\n\nI'm going to turn into this man.\n\n------\njtms\nThat was so thoroughly and charmingly English, but what an amazing feat of\nengineering for the time it was built!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n1950s U.S. Nuclear Target List Offers Chilling Insight - georgecmu\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/23/us/politics/1950s-us-nuclear-target-list-offers-chilling-insight.html\n======\nmikece\nChilling that \"population\" is listed as a target but I can't help imagining a\nscenario where all of the primary and secondary targets -- military,\ngovernment, industrial, agricultural -- are taken out with strikes that\nlimited the amount of collateral damage and maximized the number of survivors:\nhow many of those people will wish they had not survived the attack?\n\n------\nJamwinner\n[https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb538-Cold-War-\nNuclear...](https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb538-Cold-War-Nuclear-\nTarget-List-Declassified-First-Ever/)\n\nAs usual, nyt adds nothing but paywalled political babble, here is the\nrelevant link.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Software for helping visually impaired persons? - adamwi\nMy dad is slowly going blind due to macular degeneration (basically the nervcells in the retina slowly dies, starting in the macular region). He still has ok vision but starts to have real issues reading longer texts, long term he will go completely blind.<p>I&#x27;m now looking for software (preferably open source) that can help him when using the computer. Main use case is being able to retrieve larger quantities of information (e.g. emails, news articles, etc) either by magnifying some part of the screen or by reading out the text loud.<p>Current solution is using a large &quot;analog&quot; magnifying glas in front of the screen, feels like there should exist a better solution. Long term it would be preferable if the solution can also assist him with navigating the web using audio.<p>Did some googling but mostly ended up on pages with more generic tips on how to adjust ambient lighting in the room etc. Any tips on where to look?<p>Grateful for the help!\n======\n10dpd\nWhat kind of computer does he have? Screen magnification software is built\ninto most OS's for free.\n\nE.g. macOS:\n\n[http://www.apple.com/uk/accessibility/osx/#vision](http://www.apple.com/uk/accessibility/osx/#vision)\n\nFree screen readers:\n\nVoiceOver (built into macOS / iOS)\n\nNVDA: [http://www.nvaccess.org/](http://www.nvaccess.org/)\n\nChromeVox: [http://www.chromevox.com/](http://www.chromevox.com/)\n\n~~~\nadamwi\nThanks, looks like good free alternatives to start with! Any experience\nregarding if macOS or Windows provide the better support? He is currently on\nWin computer\n\n------\nDavidbrcz\nThere are screen readers (text to speech generators), braille displays.\n\nI don't know what is the status for fingerreader (\n[http://fluid.media.mit.edu/projects/fingerreader](http://fluid.media.mit.edu/projects/fingerreader)\n)\n\nAlso have a look at HandyDV Linux ([https://handylinux.org/index-\nen.html](https://handylinux.org/index-en.html)). The aim is to offer for\nvisually challenged and blind people an accessible computer. A french guy is\nbeyond it and there is a kickstarter-like compain to support it (french page\nabout it [http://linuxfr.org/news/financement-participatif-de-\nhandydv-...](http://linuxfr.org/news/financement-participatif-de-handydv-\nlinux-et-sa-machine-a-lire), couldn't find anything in english).\n\n------\nlovelearning\nThis article written by a blind developer was posted here some years ago. You\nmight find some good tips there about tools.\n\n[Article]: [http://blog.freecodecamp.com/2015/01/a-vision-of-coding-\nwith...](http://blog.freecodecamp.com/2015/01/a-vision-of-coding-without-\nopening-your-eyes.html)\n\n[Discussion]:\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8965048](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8965048)\n\n~~~\nadamwi\nThanks! Knew I had read it somewhere but could not find it when searching.\n\n------\nscpotter\nYou're looking for accessibility tools. Modern desktop and mobile OSes have\nthese built-in, Google [whatever OS] accessibility zoom.\n\nOpen source screen reader: NVDA (www.nvaccess.org) Industry standard screen\nreader: JAWS (www.freedomscientific.com/Products/Blindness/JAWS)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCan Microbes Encourage Altruism? - tdurden\nhttps://www.quantamagazine.org/can-microbes-encourage-altruism-20170629/\n======\ncronjobber\nIf _humans_ had parasites that would encourage them to be altruists against\ntheir interest and for the sole benefit of their parasites—which is of course\nimplausible and hypothetical and absolutely not even possible—would they make\nus downvote and flag comments on HN discussing the possibility of parasites\nmanipulating humans to be altruists against their interest?\n\n~~~\nianai\nThe popularity of cats on the internet is at odds with your premise. They've\nclearly infected many humans with thought changing microbes and yet\n^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H...what were we talking about?\n\n~~~\nPoodlemastah\nUhm, just saying, you guys ever heard of toxoplasmosis?\n\n------\nTerr_\nNow I'm thinking of an old short story titled \"The Giving Plague\", by David\nBrin.\n\n[http://www.davidbrin.com/fiction/givingplague.html](http://www.davidbrin.com/fiction/givingplague.html)\n\n------\nplaguuuuuu\n>The researchers then pitted two types of virtual microbes against each other\nin the simulation. One microbe promoted altruism in its hosts, while the\nsecond did not.\n\nReplace microbes with anything that's heritable and the effect still plays out\nin the simulation. With respect to the study's model, is there any difference\nat all between bug heredity and DNA?\n\n~~~\nyorwba\nThe study is here:\n\n[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5241693/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5241693/)\n\nTheir model has altruistic _α_ and non-altruistic _β_ microbes, that determine\nthe behavior of their hosts. In each generation, hosts are paired up randomly\nto interact. Altruistic hosts reduce their fitness by a certain cost _c_ and\nincrease their partner's fitness by a benefit _b_. Additionally, each kind of\nmicrobe has the opportunity to infect the other host with transmission\nprobability _Tα|Tβ_.\n\nThe proportion of α microbes increases when _Tα b > c (1 - Tβ) + (Tβ - Tα)_\n\nImportantly, when there is no horizontal spreading between hosts (Tα = 0),\nthis is never true, so simple heritable genes are not enough for altruism to\ndominate.\n\nThe quantity _Tα b_ essentially corresponds to the benefit accrued by\nspreading to a host you have helped before, _c (1 - Tβ)_ is the cost you have\nto bear if your host is not taken over by β anyway, and _(Tβ - Tα)_ is the\nnatural advantage of β over α.\n\n------\nyakult\nThere's this, there's the post the other day about encouraging 'openness' with\nMDMA, there was the article proposing 'fairer' jerrymandering reform that just\nso happens to shift all the votes in a single direction, plus all the\nhagiographies of our tireless selfless social media censors, I'm beginning to\nthink there's a burgeoning industry working on novel side-channel attack\nagainst the electoral system.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nChuck Norris Exception - criso\nhttp://criso.github.com/ChuckNorrisException/\n\n======\nsubnetvj\nHere in India, we have a very popular actor, RajniKanth, whose awesomeness\noccasionally goes down the line drawn by Chuck. Here are some cool RajniKanth\nquotes:\n\nOnce Death had ‘near Rajnikant experience’\n\nRajanikanth can do a wheelie on a unicycle.\n\n~~~\ncriso\nYeah , he's pretty epic <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyuzNP_UP4w>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTen Years of Purely Functional Data Structures (2008) - ColinWright\nhttp://okasaki.blogspot.ru/2008/02/ten-years-of-purely-functional-data.html\n======\nandrewcooke\nit mentions me! my one claim to fame... here's the review\n[http://developers.slashdot.org/story/04/02/19/2257203/purely...](http://developers.slashdot.org/story/04/02/19/2257203/purely-\nfunctional-data-structures)\n\n~~~\nDanWaterworth\nI wonder what other interesting books are out there that just need someone to\nreview them on slashdot.\n\n------\njuliangamble\nThese ideas are one of the foundations of the Clojure language. Rich Hickey\nmentions in one of his talks that this book got him quite excited. You can see\nreference to it in Rich Hickey's Clojure bookshelf on Amazon\n<http://www.amazon.com/Clojure-Bookshelf/lm/R3LG3ZBZS4GCTH>\n\n------\nludicast\nI took his PLT class at Columbia and TA-ed the class later. Best professor I\never had. I believe he is now at West Point where students won't whine when he\nhurts their brains.\n\nWould like to see the book re-done with Haskell as the base (rather than\nappendix) because that language is more \"purely functional\" and seems to\nfinally have the legs it needed back in 2008.\n\n------\nvowelless\nHis thesis is quite useful:\n\n<http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rwh/theses/okasaki.pdf>\n\n------\nigravious\nSome questions. Background: I'm coming to the whole world of functional\nprogramming via Ruby (via C).\n\nDoesn't Clojure have purely functional (immutable) data structures? Whenever\nthis area is talked about I always hear Clojure mentioned. Do other functional\nlanguages have libraries (standard or otherwise) of these? Are these data\nstructures implemented in Clojure itself?\n\nI kind of see Ruby like a hybrid functional language. Could Ruby be used to\nimplement the data structures in this book, or would that be like a square peg\nin a round hole? Didn't Ruby recently get official lazy evaluation?\n\nHum, so many questions, so little Google :(\n\n~~~\nnoelwelsh\nYes, Clojure does have many purely functional data structures built in to its\ncore. I don't know the precise implementations, or if they're written in\nClojure or Java, but I believe they're based on the work of Phil Bagwell.\n\nEvery functional language implementation I know of has many of these data\nstructures available as a library somewhere.\n\nYou certainly could implement these data structures in Ruby, though it's\nlikely they wouldn't mesh as well as in a more functional language.\n\nThis Stackexchange answer has links to many papers if you're interested in\nmore:\n\n[http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/1539/whats-\nnew-i...](http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/1539/whats-new-in-\npurely-functional-data-structures-since-okasaki)\n\n~~~\nmtrimpe\nClojure was also the _first_ mainstream (non-PF) language to implement\nOkasaki's as first class data structures.\n\nI know Scala quickly followed suit, since I remember Odersky bragging in a\nmeetup that he went out of his way to find the scientists that improved on\nOkasaki's work and based Scala's data structures on their work instead.\n\n------\nkenjackson\nGreat book. Although I'd like to see an \"open source\" version when you can get\nall the code snippets expressed in the language of your choice. When I read\nthe book I wanted Haskell, but now I think I'd like to see it in F# or maybe\neven C#.\n\n~~~\ntikhonj\nIt does have the Haskell versions in the appendix.\n\nBesides, depending on your perspective, both SML and Haskell are basically\nfunctional pseudocode.\n\n~~~\nkenjackson\nThere was something missing from the Haskell stuff, but I can't recall the\ndetails -- it's been almost 10 years ago since I read it.\n\nBut when I am reading a data structures/algorithms book, I don't want to have\nto deal with code (SML in this case) that I'm not super familiar with. Little\nthings get in the way. With modern software, and the ability to dynamically\nswap out content, it seems a pity that we don't better tailor content to the\nreader.\n\n------\njph\nBrilliant. I can donate $100 to get it updated and as a PDF.\n\n~~~\nbinarycrusader\nWhat is this referring to? I see nothing obvious that mentions a donation or\nPDF.\n\n~~~\njph\nI'm offering to donate $100 to the author if he would like to update the book\nas he mentions in his story, and I'd like to get the book as a PDF instead of\non paper because of the code samples and searching.\n\nThis is my personal gift to him because I value his ideas and I hope to learn\nmore. This may also inspire other people here to offer to donate, which will\nbe great if it happens.\n\n------\noinksoft\n(2008)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow Many Objects Can Be Juggled (1997) - mgdo\nhttp://fermatslibrary.com/s/how-many-objects-can-be-juggled\n======\njw1224\nThere's a fascinating video on this, which features the current world record\nholder, Alex Barron — who holds the records for most balls juggled (11) and\nmost balls flashed (14).\n\nSee\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RDfNn7crqE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RDfNn7crqE)\n\n------\navmich\n> I hate to break it to you aspiring numbers jugglers, but no human will ever\n> juggle 100 balls.\n\nI hate it when the in first sentence author makes a categorical sentence and\nthen half a page later cites \"a - acceleration of gravity = 9.81 m/s^2\" as if\nit's a some sort of fundamental constant :) .\n\nHere is an example of juggling under simulated different gravity:\n[https://blog.ted.com/athletic-machines-raffaello-dandrea-\nat-...](https://blog.ted.com/athletic-machines-raffaello-dandrea-at-\ntedglobal-2013/)\n\n~~~\niiv\nAlso, he wrote:\n\n\"g = acceleration due to gravity = 9.81 m/s^-2\"\n\nm/s^-2 is not the correct unit for acceleration.\n\n~~~\nmark_edward\nYes it is. That's the SI unit.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceleration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceleration)\n\n~~~\niiv\nNo it isn't. That's not the SI unit.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceleration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceleration)\n\nTIP: Look closer =)\n\n~~~\nmark_edward\nOops, thanks, guess I have mental autocorrect turned on\n\n~~~\niiv\nHaha, no problem. It's easy to miss =)\n\n------\ncridenour\nIf you're looking for a great long form article around juggling, I highly\nsuggest Grantland's article[1] as one of my favorite \"why did I just spend an\nhour reading about that?\"\n\n[1] [http://grantland.com/features/anthony-gatto-juggling-\ncirque-...](http://grantland.com/features/anthony-gatto-juggling-cirque-du-\nsoleil-jason-fagone/)\n\n------\nColinWright\nOne thing that needs to be discussed is the accuracy, which is independent of\ngravity. You can juggle at about 6 to 8 throws per second, so if you want to\njuggle, say, 50 objects, each one needs to be in flight for about 7 seconds.\n\nThat gives 7 seconds of time to drift from the intended landing location (time\n_and_ space) and that's a long time.\n\nEven if you don't have to throw things really high, their \"beaten area\" grows\nwith time, and that's a quantity I'd be interested in seeing explored.\n\n------\nosteele\nAlso see (Claude) Shannon's Juggling Theorem:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juggling#Mathematics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juggling#Mathematics)\n\nShannon also built juggling robots. (But not, to my knowledge, machines to\nmeasure human juggling.) Here's a video:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=sBHGzRxfeJY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=sBHGzRxfeJY)\n\n~~~\nimron\n> Shannon also built juggling robots. (\n\nI'm disappointed this Kickstarter project never received funding:\n\n[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/958028900/human-\nscale-p...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/958028900/human-scale-\nprototype-for-bugjuggler-a-car-jugglin)\n\n------\ntaco_emoji\nHere's the same paper without the maddening UX:\n\n[http://www.juggling.org/papers/limits/](http://www.juggling.org/papers/limits/)\n\n------\nnsxwolf\nI can't juggle. Not even in slow motion, with scarves. I've tried many times.\nI'm convinced some people just can't \"get\" it.\n\n~~~\npatrickmay\nI found scarves harder to learn. You can learn to juggle three balls in 30\nminutes:\n\n1\\. Hold one bean bag in your dominant hand while standing, facing a wall,\nabout a foot away.\n\n2\\. Drop the bag. There, that's over with. (You'll be doing it a lot.)\n\n3\\. Pick up the bag.\n\n4\\. Toss the bag from one hand to the other, keeping your elbows loosely at\nyour sides, until you consistently have it arcing at about eye level before\ndescending to the other hand.\n\n5\\. Do that 100 more times.\n\n6\\. Hold one bag in each hand (drop them once, if you like).\n\n7\\. Toss from your dominant hand and, when the bag is at the top of its arc in\nfront of your eyes, toss the other bag. Catch them both.\n\n8\\. Repeat without pausing another 100 times.\n\n9\\. Hold two bags in your dominant hand and one in your other hand. Toss the\nfirst, wait for the top of the arc and toss the second, wait for the top of\nthe arc and toss the third.\n\n10\\. You're juggling. Drop all the bags to celebrate.\n\n~~~\njay-anderson\nDefinitely. I've had a hard time convincing people to do the required\nrepetitions. They end early and say that they can't juggle. The few people\nthat have, successfully juggle in a relatively short amount of time. Their\nform isn't great and they can't keep it up for a long time, but they have a\ngreat start.\n\nA couple other exercises/tips worth mentioning:\n\n\\- Start with your non-dominant hand for 2 balls as well (alternate which hand\nyou start with).\n\n\\- Stand over a couch or bed to make it less costly to drop a ball.\n\n\\- Stand in front of a wall to notice when you're moving forward.\n\n\\- For the advanced: try two in one hand (much harder than 3). Will make 3\nball juggling easier.\n\n~~~\nKiro\n> try two in one hand (much harder than 3). Will make 3 ball juggling easier.\n\nWhat does this mean?\n\n~~~\nscbrg\nNot GP, but if I were to guess: Try juggling only two balls, but use only one\nhand. Here's a video for demonstration:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uMui692JHU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uMui692JHU)\n\n------\nspiralx\nWhat I find fascinating is how there's a whole mathematical formalism for\ndescribing juggling patterns called siteswap which allows patterns to not only\nbe described, but discovered. It's based on throw heights, with the basic\n3-ball cascade being represented by 3 - a sequence of balls thrown so they\nland 3 beats later on, repeated indefinitely. 531 indicates one ball thrown\nhigh, one mid-height and then one passed directly across from one hand to the\nother.\n\nBasic intro:\n\n[http://www.twjc.co.uk/siteswap.html](http://www.twjc.co.uk/siteswap.html)\n\nMuch more in-depth treatment here including synchronous and multiplex\npatterns, ladder and causal diagrams and a bunch of proofs relating to the\nnotation:\n\n[https://www.jugglingedge.com/pdf/BenBeeversGuidetoJugglingPa...](https://www.jugglingedge.com/pdf/BenBeeversGuidetoJugglingPatterns.pdf)\n\nbut you can always go here and try a few patterns such as 3, 441, 531, 504,\n(4,4) or in windmill/Mill's Mess mode, 423\n\n[http://www.gunswap.co/](http://www.gunswap.co/)\n\n------\nqop\nCan more objects be juggled on the moon then on earth?\n\n~~~\nrtkwe\nYes, check the definitions of the author's theoretical max ball calculation on\nthe first page gravitational acceleration determines the 'hang time' of a ball\nfor a given value of hand acceleration. So holding everything else the same\nthe same person with the same ability to throw 9 balls at g=-9.8m/s^2 would\nthrow the balls higher on the moon giving them more room in their pattern for\nmore balls.\n\n------\nErikAugust\nI came here looking for a paper about OO and having too much state. But this\nwas interesting.\n\n------\ntambourine_man\nI'm fascinated by these seemingly useless yet remarkably mind grasping\nproblems.\n\nI remember reading that Feynman had a profound insight while calculating the\nwobbling of plates being thrown on a ship.\n\nYou never know where a fertile mind can be taken by those aimless thoughts.\n\n~~~\npvg\nIt was just the cafeteria at Cornell, slightly more prosaic than a ship.\n\n------\nlanius\nI'm surprised that robots have not yet surpassed human jugglers.\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juggling_robot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juggling_robot)\n\n------\nlogicallee\nCould a styrofoam or other ball fall more slowly (like a feather) and\ntherefore allow more of them to be thrown?\n\n~~~\njcranmer\nThe acceleration due to gravity is independent of mass. A 1cm ball made of\nlead and a 1cm ball made of wood would both fall at the same speed.\n\nWhat does make a difference is shape, due to differing amounts of air\nresistance and lift.\n\n~~~\ntzs\nThe force from air resistance at a given velocity will be the same on the 1 cm\nlead ball and the 1 cm wood ball because they have the same shape and size.\nThe acceleration from air resistance is the force divided by the mass, and so\nthe 1 cm lead ball has much less acceleration from air resistance than does\nthe 1 cm wood ball.\n\nAs you note, the acceleration due to gravity is the same on both balls.\n\nThe net acceleration, therefore, is larger for the 1 cm lead ball than for the\n1 cm wood ball, and so the lead ball falls faster.\n\nThe difference in acceleration between the lead ball and the wood ball might\nnot be large enough to easily see if you just drop them a couple meters.\n\nTry a ping pong ball and a lead ball of the same diameter (4 cm). That lead\nball would weigh 372 g. A ping pong ball is 2.7 g. At a given velocity, the\nacceleration from air resistance would be almost 140 times greater on the ping\npong ball than on the lead ball. That should greatly reduce the height you\nneed to drop from in order to see the difference.\n\n~~~\nctchocula\nThis doesn't sound correct to me. The acceleration due to gravity is the same\non both balls. However, since the lead ball weighs more than the wood ball,\nthe force of gravity on the lead ball is stronger than the force on the wood\nball (F_g = mg).\n\nThe effect of air resistance can be modeled by a different force. It is\ntypically modeled as a linear function of velocity rather than mass, and it\nmodels the behaviour that the faster an object is traveling the more it is\naffected by air resistance which acts in the opposite direction as the\ndirection the object is traveling in (F_a = -kv). By adding the two forces\ntogether, you get a second-order differential equation that describes how the\nobject behaves (F_g + F_a = F_net = ma).\n\n[1]\n[https://oregonstate.edu/instruct/mth252h/Bogley/w02/resist.h...](https://oregonstate.edu/instruct/mth252h/Bogley/w02/resist.html)\n\n~~~\ntzs\n> The effect of air resistance can be modeled by a different force. It is\n> typically modeled as a linear function of velocity rather than mass [...]\n\nThat's the key. The air resistance force is a function of velocity [1], and it\nis not a function of mass. Two bodies that are aerodynamically identical (same\nshape, size, same boundary interactions with the air) experience the same air\nresistance force at a given velocity, regardless of their masses.\n\nAs you note, the falling body has two opposing forces. Gravity, which is\nproportional to the mass of the body, and air resistance, which depends on\nvelocity and does not depend on mass. The motion of the body is determined by\nthe net force.\n\nThe net force on the ball is mg + D(v), where m is the mass of the ball, g is\n9.81 m/s^2, and D(v) is the function that gives air resistance of the ball at\nvelocity v. (Note: I'm using a coordinate system where balls fall in the\npositive direction. In this system D(v) will be negative).\n\nThe net acceleration on the ball is net force divided by mass. This is g +\nD(v)/m.\n\nNote the effect of varying the mass, leaving all else the same. Remember, D(v)\nis negative, so the effect of the D(v)/m term is to reduce the net\nacceleration the ball feels. In other words, it is to make the ball fall\nslower.\n\nIf we raise the mass, we reduce the magnitude of D(v)/m. We reduce the amount\nthat air resistance slows down the ball. If we lower the mass, the opposite\nhappens. Air resistance slows down the ball more.\n\nFor a given ball, as it falls and picks up speed, the air resistance goes up,\nbecoming more and more effective at countering the gravitation force. This\nputs an upper limit on how fast the ball can fall--the so-called \"terminal\nvelocity\". This is the velocity where D(v) = -gm. Note that for balls with\nlarger mass, terminal velocity will be higher.\n\n[1] a linear function at very low speed with no turbulence, a quadratic\nfunction in most situations we normally encounter in everyday life. The\nquadratic is 1/2 p Cd A v^2, where p is the density of the air, Cd is the drag\ncoefficient (0.47 for a sphere), A is the cross sectional area, and v is the\nspeed relative to the air.\n\n~~~\nctchocula\nYou are correct only if all else is the same. However, I take issue with the\nassumption that you can leave all else the same. The net force on a heavier\nobject is a higher for the lead ball than for the wood ball. The net force for\nthe lead ball is m_l x a, but the net force on the wood ball is m_w x a where\nm_l>m_w, and the acceleration a depends on the shape of the object and can be\nthought of as the same.\n\n~~~\ntzs\nWe were given that the lead ball and the wood ball were the same size. I am\nassuming that they are both spherical.\n\nThe drag force is 1/2 p Cd A v^2 where p is the density of the air, Cd is the\ncoefficient of drag, A is the cross sectional area, and v is the velocity.\n\nIf both balls are spheres, Cd is the same for them (0.47). The air density is\nthe same for both. The cross sectional area is that same. Hence, the two balls\nhave the same drag force at the same velocity. Hence, the deceleration from\ndrag is lower for the heavier ball.\n\nHere's an example with a basketball and a bowling ball showing what happens:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGZLuaJ5MOc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGZLuaJ5MOc)\n\nNote that you need quite a long drop to see a noticeable difference.\n\nBelow is a simple simulator that drops two spherical balls of the same size\nbut different mass, and prints how far they have fallen and how fast they are\ngoing each second for the first 10 seconds. I'll give some results first, and\nthen the simulator code if anyone wants to play with it.\n\nHere are the results for a 4 cm diameter lead ball and a 4 cm diameter ping\npong ball:\n\n    \n    \n      0.0 (0.0, 0.01) (0.0, 0.01)\n      1.0 (4.9, 9.79) (4.11, 6.99)\n      2.0 (19.51, 19.38) (12.02, 8.39)\n      3.0 (43.54, 28.63) (20.51, 8.54)\n      4.0 (76.58, 37.37) (29.06, 8.55)\n      5.0 (118.06, 45.5) (37.62, 8.56)\n      6.0 (167.34, 52.94) (46.17, 8.56)\n      7.0 (223.7, 59.66) (54.73, 8.56)\n      8.0 (286.41, 65.64) (63.29, 8.56)\n      9.0 (354.74, 70.91) (71.84, 8.56)\n      10.0 (428.0, 75.5) (80.4, 8.56)\n    \n\nNumbers in each row are: time in seconds since drop, distance first ball has\nfallen (in meters), velocity of first ball (meters/second), and the distance\nand velocity of the second ball.\n\nHere's a pair of 12 cm diameter balls one weighing 16 pounds (maximum weight\nfor a bowling ball), and one about the weight of a basketball:\n\n    \n    \n      0.0 (0.0, 0.01) (0.0, 0.01)\n      1.0 (4.9, 9.76) (4.75, 9.2)\n      2.0 (19.4, 19.18) (17.42, 15.59)\n      3.0 (43.03, 27.97) (34.92, 19.0)\n      4.0 (75.04, 35.91) (54.81, 20.56)\n      5.0 (114.53, 42.9) (75.76, 21.23)\n      6.0 (160.5, 48.88) (97.15, 21.51)\n      7.0 (211.96, 53.89) (118.72, 21.62)\n      8.0 (267.99, 58.02) (140.37, 21.67)\n      9.0 (327.74, 61.37) (162.05, 21.69)\n      10.0 (390.51, 64.06) (183.74, 21.69)\n    \n\nThe simulator is just doing a simple linear simulation that assumes constant\nvelocity and acceleration during between simulation steps. That's not super\naccurate, but it is good enough to show the physics.\n\nSimulator code below. Set r to the radius in meters of your spheres. Set m1\nand m2 to the masses of your two spheres, in kilograms.\n\n    \n    \n      #!/usr/bin/env python3\n      import math\n      \n      p = 1.225   # kg/m^3\n      Cd = 0.47   # for sphere\n      r = .12     # m\n      \n      m1 = 7.2    # kg  mass of 4 cm lead ball\n      m2 = .625    # kg mass of 4 cm ping pong ball\n      \n      def drag(v):    # m/s\n          # 1/2 p Cd A v^2\n          return 1/2 * p * Cd * math.pi * r**2 * v**2\n      \n      def sim(m1, m2):\n          y1, y2 = 0.0, 0.0   # m\n          v1, v2 = 0.0, 0.0   # m/s\n          dt = 0.001          # s\n      \n          for ms in range(0, 10001):\n              y1 += v1 * dt\n              y2 += v2 * dt\n      \n              v1 -= drag(v1) * dt / m1\n              v2 -= drag(v2) * dt / m2\n      \n              v1 += 9.81 * dt\n              v2 += 9.81 * dt\n      \n              if ms % 1000 == 0:\n                  print(ms/1000, (round(y1,2), round(v1,2)), (round(y2,2), round(v2,2)))\n      \n      sim(m1, m2)\n\n~~~\nctchocula\nI appreciate your earnestness, but running your code gives:\n\n    \n    \n      0 (0.0, 0.01) (0.0, 0.01)\n      1 (4.91, 9.82) (4.91, 9.82)\n      2 (19.63, 19.63) (19.63, 19.63)\n      3 (44.16, 29.44) (44.16, 29.44)\n      4 (78.5, 39.25) (78.5, 39.25)\n      5 (122.65, 49.06) (122.65, 49.06)\n      6 (176.61, 58.87) (176.61, 58.87)\n      7 (240.38, 68.68) (240.38, 68.68)\n      8 (313.96, 78.49) (313.96, 78.49)\n      9 (397.35, 88.3) (397.35, 88.3)\n      10 (490.55, 98.11) (490.55, 98.11)\n\n~~~\ntzs\nIt's Python 3. You ran it with Python 2. In Python 2, 1/2 == 0. In Python 3,\n1/2 == 0.5. That means that in the drag function, this expression:\n\n    \n    \n      1/2 * p * Cd * math.pi * r**2 * v**2\n    \n\nalways gives 0 on Python 2 because of that 1/2 factor.\n\nIf you want to run it on Python 2, either change the 1/2 in the drag function\nto 1./2 or 0.5, or add\n\n    \n    \n      from __future__ import division\n    \n\nat the top to tell Python 2 you want to use the Python 3 division behavior.\n\n~~~\nctchocula\nThen I stand corrected. Thank you for being patient.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow to Steal a Phone Number (And Everything Linked to It) - urahara\nhttps://www.fastcompany.com/40432975/how-to-steal-a-phone-number-and-everything-linked-to-it\n======\nalexandrerond\nMeanwhile Google tries by all means to obtain your phone number and until very\nrecently tried really hard to have you use SMS for 2FA.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nImplementing Stripe-Like Idempotency Keys in Postgres - craigkerstiens\nhttps://brandur.org/idempotency-keys\n======\naejnsn\nCraig, attended your talk at ATO earlier this week--good talk. I was the guy\nwho asked about performance considerations of joins in Postgres using UUIDs.\n\nThis post reads like it's vaguely implementing what should be in a queue\nbackend. There's a locked_at field in the schema, furthermore should this not\nbe performed via ...FOR UPDATE?\n\n~~~\nskrebbel\nCare to share the answer to your question about uuid join performance? I've\nhad a hard time finding much about that on the internet.\n\n~~~\ncraigkerstiens\nSure, there is definitely a little extra overhead on the join performance,\nthough my experience I've seen so many other issues become the biggest\nbottleneck before joins of UUIDs. We regularly used UUID as identifies at\nHeroku Postgres and use them at Citus as well and they work extremely well for\nus.\n\nIt is of note that we're actually using the UUID datatype though and not just\ngenerating a UUID and throwing it into a text field.\n\n~~~\nkbenson\n> It is of note that we're actually using the UUID datatype though and not\n> just generating a UUID and throwing it into a text field.\n\nI was thinking that a UUID datatype implemented as a series of ints could have\nfairly good join performance, since you can effectively treat it as a series\nof separate smaller int indices that you join across, and I imagine that's a\nwell understood and optimized problem for years now. A text UUID field though,\nugh, that just seems so wasteful even before you get to optimization\ntechniques.\n\n~~~\ngrzm\nReading your comment, it's not clear to me whether you're aware that the UUID\ndatatype in PostgreSQL is a 128-bit value as opposed to a text field; or if\nyou're just speaking of applications that use a database where native UUID is\nnot available. If the latter, feel free to ignore the rest of this :)\n\nFor comparison in storage:\n\n    \n    \n        select pg_column_size('DDB5E9ED-60B6-4405-A6A8-18E339C7B172'::uuid) AS uuid_bytes,\n               pg_column_size('DDB5E9ED-60B6-4405-A6A8-18E339C7B172'::text) AS text_bytes;\n         uuid_bytes | text_bytes \n        ------------+------------\n                 16 |         40\n        (1 row)\n    \n\nAs 'craigkerstiens points out, the index performance of the native UUID\ndatatype is very good: it's not a string comparison.\n\nIf you're using the UUID type to encode information that you may want to\naccess subfields of, you could create function indexes to do so. Otherwise, I\nthink indexing on the native UUID type is going to be better than a collection\nof narrower fields and indexes.\n\nEdit: Spell 'craigkerstiens correctly.\n\n~~~\nkbenson\n> Reading your comment, it's not clear to me whether you're aware that the\n> UUID datatype in PostgreSQL is a 128bit value as opposed to a text field\n\nI was speaking towards the idea that some people throw UUIDs into text fields,\nas implied by the parent;s clarification that they were _not_ doing that. For\nexample, in years past when that type may not have existed yet. People have\nbeen talking about \"just use a uuid for the primary key\" for at least around a\ndecade now.\n\n> As 'craigkierstens points out, the index performance of the native UUID\n> datatype is very good: it's not a string comparison.\n\nI would assume so! Any database that implemented an actual 128 bit numeric\ntype (no matter if it's converted to hexidecimal notation for display, ints\naren't stored in decimal either) as a text field would deserve quite a bit of\nridicule, in my opinion.\n\n> If you're using the UUID type to encode information that you may want to\n> access subfields of\n\nAnd that answers a question I raised somewhat implicitly in my other comment,\nwhich is why use a UUID in the first place. Because you can encode specific\nsub type information into the parts. Thanks!\n\nEdit: Forgot some words in my paragraph that mentioned ridicule, so I added\nthem to make sure it was obvious what and why I thought they would deserve\nsome ridicule (which is actually a bit stronger than how I generally like to\ncome across).\n\n------\nianamartin\nThis is a really great article. I especially like that the author pointed out\nsome of the pitfalls with non-acid systems.\n\nI started wondering at the beginning of the article how many people were going\nto read it, try to implement it in mongo, and faceplant.\n\nThe only thing that strikes me as odd about the hypothetical example is that I\ncan’t imagine a universe where you would want a request for a ride to complete\n72 hours after it initially failed.\n\nI get the point of keeping the information around for 3 days in case of\nerrors. And perhaps my imagination is lacking, but most of the cases where I\nwould want to implement this model are time-sensitive. I need a ride now. I\nneed a message guaranteed to deliver exactly once.\n\nActually, the message queue aspect is how I think of this in general. It’s an\napplication/database layer that takes an at least once mq system and forces it\nto be at most once. The combination then seems to imply exactly once.\n\nActually, after writing that out l, I can now think of a really great use case\nfor this that isn’t time sensitive. ETL systems.\n\nLet’s say you are streaming live updates from some third party system to some\nstaging area and triggering processes from there through a broker to transform\nand load data into a warehouse.\n\nYour team pushes an update that breaks something on Friday night. Nobody works\nthat much on the weekend, so no ones cares. The dev lead gets notifications,\nbut gets to take it easy until Monday morning because they (trigger warning:\nintentional singular they) know that everything can be replayed and resolved\nafter the bug is fixed. Even in the case of frequently changing api data, you\nhave the entire mutation history stored in your table and can accurately\nreplay it.\n\nI can get on board with this.\n\nAnd yeah. Sorry for thinking out loud. Now I’m thinking of all kinds of place\nin my web apps this can be applied, as the article suggests. I think I need to\nwrite a Python wrapper around this concept and make it dead simple to include\nin projects.\n\nThank you again to the author for this very clear and excellent article.\n\n------\nDowwie\nWhy not use Twitter's snowflake id? Instagram blogged about a Postgres\nfunction that generates them\n\n[http://rob.conery.io/2014/05/28/a-better-id-generator-for-\npo...](http://rob.conery.io/2014/05/28/a-better-id-generator-for-postgresql/)\n\n~~~\nbgentry\nWhich of the problems covered in this post would be solved by Snowflake?\n\n------\nmazerackham\nThis is a really great article that lays out a proper implementation of\nidempotent requests, something that many people (even very experienced\ndevelopers) regularly mess up. Thanks for sharing\n\n------\nno1youknowz\nI'm using Memsql and it doesn't seem to have a UUID type, but after a quick\nsearch with Mysql and UUID, the binary type is being used.\n\nCan this be used with Memsql with the binary type and will I get the same\nbenefits?\n\nThanks\n\n~~~\npositr0n\nYes I've seen uuids in databases in both binary and varchar(36) forms.\nInteracting with them with your tools/ORM won't be as nice as the native type,\nbut it's definitely doable and you get most of the benefits.\n\n~~~\nno1youknowz\nDon't use an ORM, but otherwise thanks for the clarification!\n\n------\npoorman\nI always throughly enjoy reading Brandur's articles.\n\n------\nsandGorgon\nhow do you guys implement atomic_phase ? im not a ruby guy, so am not able to\nfigure out the definition.\n\nIt looks like a atomic check-and-update, but more sophisticated.\n\n------\nkoolba\nThis is a fantastic article.\n\n------\nnaasking\n\"Idempotency keys\", sheesh. Just use standard terminology: these are just\nfutures/promises.\n\n~~~\ndboreham\nWait...what? I'm all for \"standard terminology\" but they're for sure just not\nthe same thing. At all.\n\n~~~\nnaasking\nSure they are. The idempotency key is simply a representation of a promise.\nThe E language and the Waterken server implement promise semantics exactly\nlike this: bind the results of a local or remote computation to a durable\nrepresentation, and that representation is used to store the result upon\ncompletion. All future requests return the that stored result, ie.\nidempotency.\n\nIn case of network partition where the client doesn't receive a reply, it can\nsafely and simply retry the operation on the promise, which returns the stored\nresult.\n\nThe E language popularized futures/promises, and it's still the gold standard.\n\n~~~\nsaltcured\nI think you are arguing a very niche perspective here.\n\nThe concept of idempotence in mathematics predates futures/promises by about a\ncentury and is part of the general background understood by most people\nexposed to any CS concepts. It has been prevalent across a wide range of\ncommunities discussing networking protocol and message-passing designs since\nthe inception of the Internet. It appears in countless RFCs and other\nstandards documents which are read by people building web-based systems.\n\nThe concept of futures/promises you are promoting is honestly a niche part of\ncomputer science from the 1970s which persists in an intersection of\ndistributed systems research and programming language research. It was never\nthe prevalent formalism shared by general CS or network engineering\ncommunities. Meanwhile, a different aspect of the same 1970s concept has had a\nrebirth as an asynchronous programming syntax and appears in widely consumed\nlanguages. This different camp of PL researchers has essentially won the\npopularity contest which defines the new \"standard\" meaning of futures and\npromises for the general technical audience.\n\n~~~\nnaasking\nI'm not arguing against idempotency, or attempting to redefine it, I'm\npointing out that \"idempotent key\" as used in this article precisely denotes a\nfuture. You might as well write an article on a \"text-based client/server\nGET/PUT/POST protocol\" without labelling it HTTP.\n\nIt's stupid and unnecessarily obfuscated. This abstraction has a well-known\ntechnical name, so use it, don't invent a new term.\n\nAnd I frankly find it bizarre that you call futures/promises \"niche\" when\nthey're now part of every web browser in the world and millions of programmers\nuse them every day. The fact that these futures aren't durable isn't relevant\nsince the browser environment itself is transient.\n\n~~~\nsaltcured\nI find it bizarre for you to invoke the niche E programming language as if it\nis obviously relevant to any use of unique identifiers for detecting replay of\nmessages. Why don't we criticize the author for his lack of Petri nets, or his\nglaring omission of a denotational semantics in the appendix to his article?\n\nAt this point in the discussion, I am unsure that you understand promises in\ndistributed systems formalism, because you seem to be conflating it with the\nones recently en vogue in Javascript and other popular languages. Those\nfutures/promises in every web browser in the world are a purely local\nasynchronous programming idiom, or what I like to think of as CPS\nunconversion. I didn't suggest that browser programming is a niche concept,\nbut it also has nothing to do with organizing idempotent remote state changes\nover a lossy message channel.\n\nThere is a vast literature using many different forms of explicit identifier\ntied to some form of idempotence. Do you run around the IETF and W3C telling\nthem to stop saying \"Message-ID\" when they really mean futures/promises? Or\nsecurity researchers with their nonces? How about those pesky IPv4 and IPv6\ndesigners with their silly ports, SYN cookies, and sequence numbers?\n\n~~~\nnaasking\n> Why don't we criticize the author for his lack of Petri nets, or his glaring\n> omission of a denotational semantics in the appendix to his article?\n\nOh, was I asleep when Petri nets and denotational semantics are now used by\nmillions of programmers around the world?\n\n> Those futures/promises in every web browser in the world are a purely local\n> asynchronous programming idiom, or what I like to think of as CPS\n> unconversion. I didn't suggest that browser programming is a niche concept,\n> but it also has nothing to do with organizing idempotent remote state\n> changes over a lossy message channel.\n\nOf course it does, and I already made this point so I don't know why you're\nignoring it. Add durability to browser promises, and there you go. The\ndurability is irrelevant to the semantics.\n\n> Do you run around the IETF and W3C telling them to stop saying \"Message-ID\"\n> when they really mean futures/promises? Or security researchers with their\n> nonces?\n\nNonces and Message-IDs have different semantics than promises. It's like\nyou're not even listening.\n\nIdempotency keys have the same semantics as promises. Ergo, they are promises.\nPromises are idempotent, but not every idempotent abstraction is a promise.\nIt's simple, I'm not sure where the confusion lies.\n\n~~~\nsaltcured\nYou seemed fixated on establishing the primacy of the E programming language\nas the inventor or rightful heir to the use of keys to correlate messages and\nestablish idempotent operations. So, I casually mentioned \"prior art\" of keys\nused to manage message retry, deduplication, and replay avoidance.\n\nFor more complete examples, consider SMTP, NNTP, and their UUCP predecessors\nwhich provided idempotent message transfer and eventually-consistent\nreplication using client-generated, globally distinct IDs. I absolutely fail\nto see how these are different than a tweet ID or any similar solution for the\nweb. It is such standard practice, we take it for granted like the use of 2's\ncomplement arithmetic.\n\nThe concept's reappearance in Twitter, Instagram, countless bespoke CRUD\napplications, or the PostgreSQL example in this article are not \"actually\npromises\" just because they're on the web. They are just the umpteenth\ninstance of source-labeled resources being tracked in a distributed system.\nThat is the web abstraction: a resource is created and we do not care whether\nit is an event, object, message, computational job, bank transaction, or\npacket of curry being delivered to my doorstep next Tuesday.\n\nA Javascript promise is a local transform for asynchronous control flow. It\nhas zero intrinsic connection to any IO performed in that flow, nor in the\nremote computation or storage that might occur. The programming language stops\nwhere the message leaves the language's runtime and enters the real world of\ndistributed systems. It is not the control flow syntax which makes my\ncommunication idempotent, it is me and the recipient agreeing to overlay\nidempotence semantics on some data we agree to encode into our messages.\n\nMessage formats have nothing to do with programming languages. This is how we\nunderstand Internet architecture. The local programming language and\nprogramming paradigm of each node in the distributed system is immaterial to\nthe messaging semantics and interop standards and their concepts.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNew mouse design raises questions - SamLicious\nhttps://realhardwarereviews.com/quadraclicks-gaming-rbt/\n======\nSamLicious\nthis is Qeric, I made the RBT to fix my own RSI, ask me anything!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nRosetta catches dusty organics - okket\nhttp://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/09/07/rosetta-catches-dusty-organics/\n======\nokket\nJust a few days left for Rosetta, you might want to mark the date in your\ncalendar:\n\n    \n    \n      On September 29, a rocket burn will essentially cancel out\n      Rosetta's orbital motion around the comet, initiating a\n      free fall from an altitude of 20 kilometers. The spacecraft\n      will impact the comet at a speed of about 90 centimeters\n      per second at 04:20 PDT / 07:20 EDT / 11:20 UTC / 13:20\n      CEST, give or take 20 minutes. \n    \n\n[http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-\nlakdawalla/2016/0909102...](http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-\nlakdawalla/2016/09091029-rosetta-end-of-mission-update.html)\n\n(The rocket burn is on the 29th, the impact on the 30th, of course.)\n\n~~~\ncelticninja\nIs it possible the impact will affect trajectory of the comet?\n\n~~~\nsymmetricsaurus\nNo, Rosetta is already in orbit around the comet. By the principle of\nconservation of momentum the impact will not change the total momentum of the\nsystem (comet plus spacecraft).\n\nThe changes in trajectory happens when the engines are used on the spacecraft.\n\n~~~\ndandelany\nWould this still hold true if Rosetta were commanded to slam into the comet\nhard enough for some of the impact debris to reach escape velocity? (Not\ntrying to nitpick your argument, it certainly holds true for the soft landing\ncase, but I'm curious how strong this axiom is)\n\n------\nzengid\nCan anyone comment on how significant this discovery is? Are we talking\nunprecedented or has this been hypothesized for a while? Are the conditions on\nsuch comets more conducive for organic molecule formation than the surface of\na planet or large moon might be?\n\n~~~\nlorenzhs\nAccording to the article, they were expecting it:\n\n _From analyses of meteorites and laboratory simulations, the team was also\nexpecting to identify a wide diversity of organic material in Comet 67P /C-G,\nranging from very small molecules to heavy (or ‘high molecular weight’)\norganics._\n\n------\nthe_duke\nOrganic =\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_compound](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_compound)\n\n~~~\nlorenzhs\nI doubt anyone would expect to find organically grown veggies on a comet. Not\nsure what you're trying to say. Isn't it pretty clear that they're referring\nto molecules containing carbon?\n\n~~~\nPracticality\nThere was a related discussion recently where \"organic\" in an article was\nreferring to life-forms. So it's good to clarify which organic is being\ndiscussed.\n\nOf course, if they found microbes on a comet this would be a much bigger\nannouncement.\n\n------\nmdup\nGenuine question: How do we know the organic compounds seen by Rosetta do not\ncome from Earth and were not brought by Rosetta itself?\n\n~~~\ngiomasce\nUsually spacecrafts like that are built in clean rooms and care is taken so\nthey are sterilized when sent to space. I have no specific answer, though.\n\n~~~\nygra\nThis will be _especially_ true for instruments that are designed to find such\ncompounds. It would be fairly embarrassing to send the probe into space, only\nto notice that apparently interplanetary space is full of organic compounds no\none else has ever seen ...\n\n------\nCHsurfer\n“These particles have remained pristine and untouched for billions of years\nuntil they were released in the days or weeks before being ‘caught’ by\nCOSIMA,\"\n\nI hope they will release the particles back into the wild once they are done\nwith their analysis.\n\n~~~\naokyler\nI'm not against releasing the particle...but any specific reason you hope they\nrelease them once back into the wild after?\n\n------\nr0muald\nAnyone could explain briefly what is the \"stretch\" theory or hypothesis that\nis mentioned in the heated comments section to the blog post?\n\n~~~\nscardine\nI can't - and hell, I barely understand anything they say - but the style\nreminds me of how Asimov would picture an academic dialogue between two\nrivals.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nFind your voting location with SMS - mikesabat\nhttp://mcommons.com/where-do-i-vote-via-txt-message\n\n======\njosefresco\nIs it that hard to Google your town name and find out where to go vote from\nyour Government town website?\n\n/devil's advocate\n\n------\nraganwald\nWhen it comes to helping people exercise their right to vote, multiple\nredundant data channels are good. Also, SMS is mobile and works on all sorts\nof \"ancient\" handsets.\n\n------\nJasber\nGoogle Maps also has this: <http://maps.google.com/vote>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAlexa Auto Software Development Kit (SDK) - otp124\nhttps://developer.amazon.com/alexa-voice-service/alexa-auto-sdk\n======\notp124\nThe SDK is on Github too: [https://github.com/alexa/aac-\nsdk/tree/master/builder](https://github.com/alexa/aac-sdk/tree/master/builder)\n\nI was debating posting the Github repo, but the landing page provides more\ninfo, so I went with the landing page.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nYourMechanic (YC W12) Introduces Pre-Purchase Car Inspections - bgar\nhttp://techcrunch.com/2013/10/04/yourmechanic-pre-purchase-car-inspections/\n\n======\nttruong\nThis is great. I'm actually in the process of buying a used car now and it's\nnearly impossible to get an appointment at a garage in SF in a timely manner.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow I Can Has Cheezburger became a web empire - jlangenauer\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/technology/internet/14burger.html?partner=rss&emc=rss\n======\nMartinCron\nIn a move that isn't at all shocking, the NY Times reporter didn't have much\ninterest in talking with me or any of the other Cheezburger Network developers\nwhen she was in our office a few weeks ago.\n\nIf anyone is curious about the technical side of what we do and how we do it,\nI'll gladly answer questions here.\n\nAlso, we're looking for software developers. We're in Seattle, and have a\nstrong bias for local talent, but we have a bunch of remote deveopers. Of the\ndozen or so companies I've worked for, Cheezburger is hands down the best.\nSrsly. Email martin@cheezburger.com if you're interested.\n\n~~~\niamjustlooking\nI'm sure from a reporter perspective it doesn't appear like there's much of a\ntechnical side to what appears to be a wordpress blog with cats on it.\n\n~~~\nMartinCron\nThat's why I would expect a reporter to, when introduced to a bunch of\ntechnical people to ask, \"what? there's a technical side?\"\n\nThen we could talk about how we make systems to help the editorial team sort\nthrough the 16,000 content submissions we get every day, or how we have a\npublic API so people can submit funny content from their applications.\n\nThe \"wordpress blog with cats on it\" is a very shallow view of the company.\nThere's a lot more going on than that.\n\n~~~\nfortes\n_Then we could talk about how we make systems to help the editorial team sort\nthrough the 16,000 content submissions we get every day, or how we have a\npublic API so people can submit funny content from their applications._\n\nSo could you talk about some of that now? I'm genuinely curious.\n\n~~~\nssharp\nReally. If you want your story to be heard, tell it. Start talking here or\nstart an IamA.\n\n------\nmikeleeorg\nI'm a little surprised that no one's caught on to the real business model\nbehind Cheezburger Network.\n\nWhat they're doing is pretty clever. It's more than just a bunch of silly\ncaptions under photos of cats. They're building a system that capitalizes on\nInternet memes that can be presented in a blog-like fashion.[1]\n\nThat, to me, is a mark of a potentially sustainable business model. To break\nit down in more detail:\n\na) They monitor Internet memes\n\nb) They evaluate which ones are worthy of a trial run\n\nc) They launch a site around it\n\nd) They assess that site's success (using whatever metrics they've discovered\nare important, such as PVs and unique visitors for advertisers)\n\ne) They pull the plug if the trial is not successful\n\nIt's not a new business model, but it's a clever one that's obviously working.\nI'm particularly impressed that they're aiming to launch a site every week,\nand kill only 20% of those experiments. I wonder if that number is low.\n\nThat's why they're more than just a WordPress blog with cats on it.\n\n[1] The similarities to a blog are probably incidental. I imagine they\nbasically want a way to display recent user-generated entries and allow other\nusers to comment on them. A blogging system naturally satisfies these\nattributes. Otherwise, I don't think they necessarily need their sites to look\nlike blogs, per se.\n\n~~~\nMartinCron\nI think a lot of people (including yourself) have caught on to the business\nmodel. It's just that many people can't get past the WTF factor of the funny\ncat site to see that there's a serious business there. Nobody is keeping what\nwe're doing a secret.\n\nIt's not just \"Internet memes\" though, it's more about finding untapped types\nof crowd-source-able humor. There wasn't a popular \"there, I fixed it\" meme\nbefore we launched thereifixedit.com\n\nI haven't been keeping explicit score, but the killing 20% figure feels about\nright. Our count of surviving sites has been constantly growing, we're up to\n53 at the moment.\n\n~~~\nmikeleeorg\nAh yes, crowd-source-able humor! Now I'm even more impressed. 53 sites is a\nlot. Do you have people that oversee the content & comments on those sites?\n\nFYI for anyone else who is curious like I am about what those 53 sites might\nbe: <http://cheezburger.com/sites>\n\n~~~\nMartinCron\nYes. We have a lot of people overseeing content and comments, it's most of our\nstaff. Each person generally does between 4 and 6 sites, with the sites\ngenerally posting between 1 and 6 items to the front page (featured content)\ndaily.\n\nFor each thing you see on any front page, there are dozens of things that\ndidn't make it through voting, and for each of those things on the voting\npages, there are dozens of things that weren't good enough for voting. We're\nable to crowdsource the generation/submission of content as well as (some of)\nthe curation of content. A lot of what makes a site work is finding the right\nbalance between editorial vision and letting users vote on what they like.\n\n------\nalttab\nAmazing to hear the numbers. I'll file this one under ifart and question my\ncareer again. I can has breakdown.\n\n~~~\nchime\nCreativity comes in all flavors. Someone creates a Jump-to-Conclusion mat and\nmakes a million while someone spends their entire life working on elliptic\ncurves to improve cryptography. Get-rich-quick stories entice even the most\nbrilliant of the minds and we're no different. A story about some kid making\n$35k/month from a stupid app for iPhone makes people wonder why they even\nbother learning Clojure or spending hours improving their writing skills. The\ntruth is, you must ask yourself what will make you truly happy - being the\ndeveloper of a gimmick app that made money or someone who has directly\ncontributed to the world with their efforts.\n\nUpon hearing the above, many have said \"well, once you have lots of money, say\nlike the reddit guys, you can spend your time doing what you love and help the\nworld.\" No. The reddit guys WERE doing what they loved and would have done\nwhat they're now doing regardless of the money. Sure, having money like Elon\nMusk helps but then again, it may not. If you hate your career now, get the\nball rolling to change it. If you are happy with it, who cares if someone else\nmade millions sharing pictures of cats? I mean do you feel bad that someone in\nIndia made $10m selling a special type of plastic sheet to farmers? Or someone\nin South Africa made millions selling vuvuzelas?\n\nIf your ultimate goal is to make money, then certainly wonder if you chose the\nright career. Money laundering or even investment banking might be a better\npath. Otherwise, realize the money is just a serendipitous by-product of any\nventure.\n\n~~~\nroel_v\n\"Or someone in South Africa made millions selling vuvuzelas?\"\n\nIf I ever find that guy, he's in for a world of pain.\n\n~~~\nLuc\nThe Vuvuzela (TM) maker was once a small startup that won an entrepreneurship\ncompetition and got help from an incubator:\n[http://www.fin24.com/Companies/SAB-moves-to-protect-\nvuvuzela...](http://www.fin24.com/Companies/SAB-moves-to-protect-\nvuvuzela-20040519)\n\nI have mixed emotions about this one, for sure.\n\n------\nck2\nStep 1: Take content from everyone and everywhere else and put it on your own\nsite.\n\n~~~\njessriedel\nMore like, come up with a great web-interface to allow a single, one-time idea\nfrom an individual user (which otherwise would have been heard only by him and\nhis friends) to be made available to the entire internet.\n\n------\nmynameishere\nIf the comment section on icanhascheeseburger doesn't drive you to suicide,\nyou're probably safe keeping that 45 in your house.\n\n~~~\nDaniel_Newby\nI'd forgotten about the comments. Blocked them out, really.\n\n------\nthunk\nWell, that and toxoplasmosis.\n\n------\nseanalltogether\nTo me the cheezburger network is like the paparazzi of internet culture.\nChasing down memes and raping them in front of thousands of viewers to provide\na flash of cynical entertainment before moving on.\n\n~~~\npx\nTrivializes rape a little bit, doesn't it?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nScreaming Architecture - huan9huan\nhttps://8thlight.com/blog/uncle-bob/2011/09/30/Screaming-Architecture.html\n======\ngrzm\n[2011]\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Twitter/Posterous - The Archive Team needs more time to save 1.3M blogs - jmathai\n\nTL;DR<p>Posterous is shutting down in a week and the Archive Team needs more time else 1.3 million blogs will essentially disappear.<p>--<p>I've been following an exchange between Jason Scott (Archive Team / Internet Archive) and Sachin Agarwal (Posterous) [1].<p>It appears that Posterous gave the Archive Team some dedicated servers to hit but it wasn't sufficient to download the amount that's going to be deleted.<p>I don't know all of the details but saving content to a historical archive is invaluable. Offering the ability for users to download their content is great but it serves a very different purpose than what the Archive Team and Internet Archive does.<p>Additionally, it's certain that much of the content will disappear because users didn't receive the shutdown email, 30 days wasn't long enough or simply didn't bother to do anything. The public content there is still valuable.<p>[1] https://twitter.com/agarwal/status/327153883237453825\n======\nddorian43\nEveryone who wants to help can install the Archive Team Warrior.\n\nThe ArchiveTeam Warrior is a virtual archiving appliance. You can run it to\nhelp with the ArchiveTeam archiving efforts.\n\n<http://archive.org/details/archiveteam-warrior>\n\n~~~\nnucleardog\nInstalled and running. It's a quick download. If you already have some sort of\nVM software installed, getting it running is pretty painless.\n\n(VMware said it wasn't compatible, but gave me the option to retry import with\nrelaxed restrictions. I had to move the second (scratch) disk from Secondary-\nSlave to Secondary-Master, but it came up no problem after that.)\n\nOnce it was running, it's just a simple web interface you can use to select\nwhat project you want to participate in.\n\nAll in, it was about a five minute affair.\n\nYou can track the current progress of the Posterous download at\n<[http://tracker.archiveteam.org/posterous/>](http://tracker.archiveteam.org/posterous/>).\n\nCurrently they have 4,846,523 items done, and 1,277,126 to go. They need all\nthe help they can get.\n\nThanks for letting me know about this, ddorian43. I've got a reasonably speedy\nconnection, lots of hard-drive space, and definitely don't mind helping out.\n\n------\nhub_\nSimply put, former Posterous and Twitter are being douchey.\n\n~~~\nbochoh\nTL;DR Twitter = Evil\n\n------\nlsiebert\nSeems like someone could still donate server time for charity pr.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMan and Media (1979) - dredmorbius\nhttp://www.marshallmcluhanspeaks.com/lecture/1977-man-and-media/\n======\ndredmorbius\nMarshall McLuhan discussing the impacts and dynamics of new technologies,\nparticularly media technologies. Audio, 8 minutes.\n\nPDF transcript:\n[http://www.marshallmcluhanspeaks.com/media/mcluhan_pdf_12_ZS...](http://www.marshallmcluhanspeaks.com/media/mcluhan_pdf_12_ZS6aMYZ.pdf)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIt's time to switch to a four-day working week, say two experts - joeyespo\nhttps://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/2-davos-experts-says-it-s-time-to-switch-to-a-four-day-working-week/\n======\npeatmoss\nI think three day weekends would be undeniably good for the health of our\nsociety and everyone living in it.\n\nI have long (semi-jokingly) professed belief in the Church of the SubGenius.\nThey extol the virtues of slack. I think the intended meaning of “slack” is as\nin “to slack off.” But I choose to believe in it as slack (i.e. spare\ncapacity) in a system.\n\nWhile some might use that extra day to slack off, plenty more would use that\nday to invest labors in their communities, maybe to get some exercise, maybe\ndo some neglected repairs around the house.\n\nI feel like in the name of efficiency, we’ve purged a lot of slack from the\nsystem, but that has left us with a lot of institutions that are at risk for\ncatastrophic failure. For people who are stretched to their breaking point,\nthere needs to be more slack.\n\n~~~\nSwizec\nAccording to the theory of constraints (on which I am expert since I read 1\ngraphic novel, The Goal, and 1 novel, The Phoenix Project) systems without\nslack become exponentially slower until no work is capable of getting done\nanymore.\n\nThe reason for this are statistical perturbations in stochastic events. If a\ntask takes a worker rand(1,4) units of time you can expect them to do day/1 to\nday/4 tasks in the day.\n\nYou look at the worker doing day/1 tasks and you say, \"Well shit, that person\nis slacking most of the time. Most of these tasks take 2 units, 4 is very\nrare\". So you ask them to work harder and impose rules so they must perform\nday/3 number of tasks per day.\n\nYou look at your constantly busy workers and you're happy. No more slack in\nthe system.\n\nBut your assembly line grinds to a halt. Nothing ever gets done anymore.\nEveryone is busy all the time. Everyone's always working. But nothing is\nfinishing.\n\nWhat gives?\n\nTurns out any task that hits N=4 on the random curve, wreaks havoc and you\nfall behind. Then you have both yesterday's _and_ today's tasks to do. You\ncan't. The next day ... well the problem ends up growing exponentially.\n\nEfficient systems have slack.\n\n~~~\nsonnyblarney\nThis is a very good bit of information, but most modern workplaces are not\nfactory floors 'processing work items', so the analogy only goes so far.\n\nAlso, it very well could be that reducing to 4 from 5 does nothing but simply\nreduce the number of hours 'the factory is operating'. Surely there'd be a\nbonus because people might be more relaxed, but it's hard to weight that\nagainst the lost day.\n\nFor example, my local coffee shop is open 7 days a week, let's say that their\nstaff works 5 days on, 2 off so there's a steady rate of staffers.\n\nIf they just switched to 4 on 3 off ... I'm not sure anything would materially\nchange in terms of productivity etc. - and 'all else being equal' (i.e.\ndemand, cost of goods, wages/hour), the staffers would simply make less money\nand I doubt they'd chose that.\n\nBut maybe '3/4 days' would be better in some industries than others.\n\n~~~\nSwizec\n> most modern workplaces are not factory floors 'processing work items', so\n> the analogy only goes so far.\n\nI recommend reading The Phoenix Project. It does a great job of dispelling the\nmyth that software engineering is unpredictable and artisanal and whatnot. At\nthe abstraction layer of a department or division manager it becomes\nindistinguishable and the same stochastic modeling principles apply.\n\nBut that’s besides the point. A more important point is the idea of\neffectiveness.\n\n4 days of effective work are often better than 5 days of being busy but\nineffective.\n\nPersonally I get more done in a 4 day week because I am more cut-throat about\nsaying No to things that don’t matter.\n\n------\nepaulson\nWe should all aim for 4 days as the ideal instead of 5, but we should also\ndrop the M-F work, S-S weekend ideal too. For large chunks of the workforce\nthey're already working something other than M-F anyway because we want 7 day\ncoverage of our retail and service sectors. More professionals - dentists and\nveterinarians and insurance offices and you name it - should be open on the\n\"weekend\" or should not all dentists need to share the same \"weekend\",\nespecially if we're dropping down to a 4-on, 3-off standard.\n\nIf for no other reason, we build a lot of infrastructure for \"peak\" usage,\nlike rush hour traffic. If we all have the same 3 day weekend that means we\nhave lower \"weekend\" traffic one more day but the peaks stay the same, but if\nwe better distributed our weekends, overall peak would go down a bit.\n\nIt's a whole new set of coordination problems, of course, but we don't all go\nto church on Sundays anymore, we don't all need to be off the same day.\n\n~~~\ndavid-gpu\nI get what you are saying, but presumably weekends still exist because\nfamilies and friends want to do group activities at a time when all are\navailable. If you have children younger than 12 or so you need to be available\nwhen they are not in school.\n\n~~~\nkennywinker\nIf you have children of working age they are likely working service industry\njobs and work weekends and evenings anyways.\n\n~~~\nobmelvin\nChildren that old don't need to be taken care of as much. It makes more sense\nto optimize for taking chare of younger children.\n\n------\nb0rsuk\nWorking as a programmer, I already started de facto shortening my shifts\nwithout cheating on my employer: on 7th, and especially 8th hour, I don't\nwrite new code anymore unless it's in places I have very solid understanding\nof. My mind tends to slow down in the final hours, and it takes a lot of\neffort to come up with something new, and my bug rate increases.\n\nWhat do I do instead? Binge read documentation to learn about new functions\nand parameters that may make my work easier. Tweak vim configuration.\nExperiment with new shell commands. Clean up my email inbox and various\nnotifications.\n\nThese activities still push the work forward, but don't require as much\ncreative juice and there's no consequence for mistake.\n\nI would still prefer a 4 day week, but it's the next best thing.\n\n~~~\njlawson\nI do this too.\n\nSame principle applies in the gym - you start out the workout with the super\nstrenuous squats and deadlifts, then move to the difficult bench press and\ndips, then finish with relatively easy bicep curls, tricep pushdown, and\ncardio.\n\nSome things just can't be done effectively unless you're above a certain level\nof rest; other things can be done even if you're tired. It just makes sense to\nsort things into the period of time where you can actually do them.\n\nIn coding this extends all the way to watching lightweight YouTube videos\nabout coding late at night when you're tired.\n\n------\nitamarst\nYou don't have to wait for society to make this happen (and in fact waiting\nwill fail you). This is something many programmers have negotiated on their\nown (e.g. [https://codewithoutrules.com/2019/05/09/part-time-\nsoftware-d...](https://codewithoutrules.com/2019/05/09/part-time-software-\ndeveloper/)).\n\nMore broadly this is one of many good reasons for programmers to unionize;\neven if salaries are high, working hours are still far too long.\n\n~~~\nRapzid\nI think too many people are willing to take a pay cut to do this. If you\nbelieve you will be as or more productive, or that your skills and knowledge\nare more valuable than just your raw time, you should consider negotiating a 4\nday week with no pay cut.\n\n~~~\nnecovek\nSince I am willing to take a pay cut, and even a pay cut per hour, here's my\nreasoning.\n\nFor every hour spent at work, I am not spending it on something of my own\nchoice. Hours of my own choice are worth much more than hours of work to me,\nbecause they usually fulfill me more.\n\nSo, if I am to work couple hours a day, that's going to cost you little. The\nmore you take from my \"own\" hours, the costlier they get. So, if I consider a\nnormal work week to be 24h, anything above that costs non-proportionally more.\nI.e. 40h is not 40/24 more, but it's actually 24 x base_hourly_cost + 16 x\nown_factor x base_hourly_work, where own_factor is usually around 2, depending\non how much I might like the base work.\n\nSo, in a sense, I am not taking a pay cut, I am just taking a reasonable\nsalary for doing the work, but if someone insists on taking more of my time\nfor little benefit to them and a lot of burden to me, it's going to cost\nsignificantly more.\n\n~~~\nqntty\nYou're essentially paying your employer so that you can have more free time.\nOne could argue that if you feel the need to pay for your own life, you're in\na sense the property of another person. If you do X amount of work, why\nshouldn't you be entitled to the fruits of that labor? Why does anybody have\nthe right to take the value that you created away from you?\n\n~~~\nnecovek\nIn European copyright law, they actually can't: non-exclusive (eg. can't be\nsold) moral right protects the obvious moral aspects, but there are also\ncompensation related clauses (eg. I created a \"work of authorship\" and got\ncompensated $1000, yet company earned $5 million off it, I'd be entitled to\nask for a fairer share of the profits). I am sure this hasn't been tested in\ncourts for software development so far, with it being such a collaborative\nendeavor, it'd be hard to lay a claim to how much your worm was really worth).\n\nI also take a different view: a person is not owned, but it's normal for\nlabour to be paid. A labourer can design their own pricing scale to encourage\nlabour deals they prefer. Just like companies design their pricing schemes to\neg. support only large customers (up to 20 users free with no support, paid-\nfor afterwards).\n\n------\nnecovek\nI've long argued for a 4-day 6-hour-day work week. I've even questioned a few\npotential employers about it, citing research: I've even offered to take a pay\ncut (per hour, i.e. hourly rate was cheaper than for 5-day 8-hour day weeks),\nbut nobody was interested.\n\nThey would frequently say how they are not interested in \"part time\" work. I'd\ncounter that this is full time work, with efficiency higher than the full time\nwork, because people can focus on intellectually hard problems only for a\nshort while sustainably. Sure, I can put in a couple of weeks of 12h days, but\nafter that, I'd struggle to put in 4h days of quality, focused work (well\nknown as burnout). Similarly, 8h days are not sustainable either, though it\ntakes longer to burn out.\n\nAs people have noted, the extra time I get would not be spent in pyjamas\nwatching netflix: it would be quality time with my family, working on projects\nand research, etc (if it wasn't for miserable pay and state of academia, I'd\nprobably be doing research exclusively). Civilization as a whole would benefit\nas a result if there were more people putting their brains to problems they\nthink matter. And as stated numerous times, even employeers would benefit.\n\nBut alas, when there's the next guy willing to submit to the \"norm\", it's hard\nto get the ball rolling.\n\n~~~\nsmsm42\n> They would frequently say how they are not interested in \"part time\" work.\n> I'd counter that this is full time work, with efficiency higher than the\n> full time work, because people can focus on intellectually hard problems\n> only for a short while sustainably.\n\nIs it really true? Can you prove it? I mean you can argue that, but if you're\nabsent 20% of the time compared to other workers, is it true that your value\nis still the same because you're so much more productive? Maybe yes, but can\nyou prove it to an employer? You're asking them to take a risk on supporting\nunfamiliar approach - which their familiar approach probably worked for them\nfor years and they are fine with it. What do you offer them to justify taking\nthis risk? I mean, maybe you are so spectacular that employing you is worth\nany risk. But naturally most people aren't that exceptional, by definition.\nTheir experience shows 5-day weeks works great for them, how much better would\nbe 4-day week to justify the risks?\n\n> Civilization as a whole would benefit as a result if there were more people\n> putting their brains to problems they think matter.\n\nIs there any proof that there's significant marginal increase compared to\nthousands of existing research institutions that have tens of thousands of\nvery smart people already spending years attacking practically every important\nproblem? Would amateurs spending one day a week on side projects significantly\nchange the picture here - and offset the above-mentioned professionals _not_\nspending one day a week on their area of expertise (instead doing their\nhobbies in turn)? I am not sure this is that obvious.\n\n~~~\nlosvedir\nPeople argue it here all the time but I'm certainly skeptical. The hardest\nintellectual work of my life, my undergrad at MIT, I spent far more than 8\nhours a day, 4 days a week on. The idea that all the undergrads there burning\nthe midnight oil are just being foolish and don't they know they could get all\ntheir work done in less time doesn't pass the smell test for me.\n\n~~~\nakhilcacharya\nMost people don't do MIT level intellectual work...\n\n~~~\nFreak_NL\nSuch an effort is also quite different from salaried work. When you are taking\nan undergraduate course you put a lot of effort into a finite project. You\ntend to have the energy reserve for something bounded like that, but it does\ncome at a cost. Usually, at the age where you would enrol in an undergraduate\nprogram, the gains outweigh the cost, and the cost is often lowered\nsignificantly by the intrinsic motivation of working on your own interests.\n\nWith salaried work the only effective limit is your retirement. Working more\nsimply means more income, but if that extra income isn't needed, or doesn't\nnet you enough extra benefits compared to simply having time off, the cost of\nbeing mentally engaged for such a large part of the week just doesn't weigh up\nto the gains.\n\nSure, if your work is so engaging and rewarding that work itself is a\npleasure, than it might pay off. But for most of us it just doesn't work that\nway. Work often means doing things were mostly others set the agenda, and\nwhile you may be good at what you do and find motivation in doing it, I've\nfound that it rarely means that you can do it with the same sustained level of\nenergy and quality for more than four eight hour days — and even that isn't a\ngiven.\n\n------\nwsc981\nIn The Netherlands /a lot/ of people work 4-day workweeks already [0]. It's\nnot that novel. But it'd be good if more countries could largely make the\nswitch.\n\nDue to the progressive tax in The Netherlands, working 5 days instead of 4\ndoesn't earn /that/ much more money and if you have toddlers, you will spend a\nday less for daycare, a day extra with your kids and probably have more time\nfor the fun things in life as well.\n\nAs a salaried employee I often chose a 4-day workweek as well when living in\nThe Netherlands. But once I started freelancing, the 5-day workweek seemed the\nbetter choice for me. As freelancer you are taxed a bit less compared to a\nsalaried employee, so there's more incentive to make as much money as possible\nduring the workweek.\n\n\\---\n\n[0]: [https://www.equaltimes.org/a-four-day-work-week-is-\nonly-a#.X...](https://www.equaltimes.org/a-four-day-work-week-is-\nonly-a#.XPxZxC2B27w)\n\n~~~\nFreak_NL\nAt my small (Dutch) company the standard contract is 36 hours, so most\nemployees work 4 × 8. I have a four month old son, and my wife normally works\n4 × 8 as well, but she does 3 × 8 + 4 until we find our bearings with the\nyoung one.\n\nThat means two days of daycare (partly subsidized by the government), one day,\neach, at home with the child, and one day where she works from home for four\nhours.\n\nThis is fairly typical for white collar workers in the Netherlands. Four days\nis more than enough for me.\n\n------\nmadspindel\n\"In thirty years America will be a post-industrial society with a per capita\nincome of $ 7,500. There will be only four work days a week of seven hours per\nday. The year will be comprised of 39 work weeks and 13 weeks of vacation.\nWith weekends and holidays this makes 147 work days a year and 218 free days.\nAll this within a single generation.\"\n\nFrom The American Challenge by Jean Jacques Servan-Schreiber published in\n1967. Too bad this will never happen since most managers are workaholics.\n\n~~~\nbenjohnson\nI'm my estimation - you can almost live this way if you limit your\nexpectations to someone from 1967 - limited food choices, single car, small\nhome, frugal car-based vacations and heathy living.\n\n~~~\nesturk\nFunny you added 'healthy living' at the end. It makes you wonder why people\nwould live beyond their means to be unhealthy.\n\n~~~\nsokoloff\nBecause people are terrible at accounting for the future. Shows up in diet,\nexercise, personal finance, and probably a bunch of other places.\n\n------\nfrankbreetz\nThere us nothing to disagree with here, but I feel like America is so far to\nthe right that an idea like this will be answered with \"people are so lazy\"\nand \"you signed a contract\" or something similarly ridiculous. My response to\nall this is wasn't the goal of our forefathers to give us a better life?\nDoesn't that mean less hours working? Even if my parents grew up in the best\neconomic period of the past thousand years, shouldn't my life be marginally\nbetter then their's? Maybe I am a \"wuss\" compared to the people who stormed\nNormandy, but maybe those people are wusses compared to medival people, and\nthose people are wusses compared to cavemen, shouldn't you want to create the\ntype of world where your wuss children can survive?\n\n~~~\ndaodedickinson\nThe problem is there are so many over-demand jobs and under-demand jobs\nbecause schools stole so many billions from students learning information that\ncould not be put to fruitful use. And those jobs are so unequal in how much\nwork they take. So you have many jobs or situations where people are paid to\nsit and many like in medicine where more people might die if you want to sleep\na healthy amount. The time should fit the job. But the pay should fit the\ntime, and then that's the next problem to sove, and on.\n\n------\nneilv\nThat would work for some kinds of work.\n\nBut I live to work, and often work 7 days.\n\nI can't imagine doing a project with delivery time pressure (like a startup\ntrying to execute in a timely manner), working only 4 days, with a 3-day gap.\n\nI'd rather have flexible hours, and an emphasis on working sharp in the hours\nwe do put in -- not have frequent 3-day interruptions of project mental space,\nand putting off gratification in seeing the project come together.\n\n~~~\nstevesimmons\nMe too. I feel very lucky to have found a company that is a perfect fit for my\nskills and interests, and that is at the right stage that me working hard now\nwill make a big difference.\n\nI can't imagine _not_ working 6-7 days a week.\n\n~~~\nApocryphon\nThat's great for the both of you. But workaholics shouldn't get to dictate the\nnorms for the rest of humanity.\n\n~~~\nneilv\nAgreed, no one should dictate norms.\n\nBut I'd rather have expectations of flexibility (e.g., take day off or a short\nday because didn't sleep well, or family activity, or enjoy the nice weather,\nor just finished a work crunch), than (I imagine) expectations that, on those\n4 days, one had better be there the full day and at least pretending to work.\n\nFor some jobs, flexibility could mean that someone can arrange with their\nmanager&team to personally have a predictable 4-day schedule.\n\n------\nfilleokus\nHave there been largeish tests of company wide four-day work weeks in the\nsoftware sector?\n\nHere in Sweden the movement has mostly been push by the left, and for workers\nwith lower wage/burnout/high amounts of sick leave etc. I think it's mostly\nbeen tested in the health care sector. I think it lowered the amount of sick\nleave, but was too expensive to keep since those type of jobs are very hard to\nmake more productive. I.e, we always need nurses on staff at the ER, or to\nlook after the elderly.\n\nMost office-type work seems that it could potentially benefit from this\nthough.\n\n~~~\nSwizec\nI don't know about largeish tests, but 37signals is famous for their 4-day\nworkweeks during summer.\n\n[https://m.signalvnoise.com/why-we-only-work-4-days-a-week-\ndu...](https://m.signalvnoise.com/why-we-only-work-4-days-a-week-during-\nsummer/)\n\n~~~\nthatfrenchguy\nThat article makes it sound like they don’t go on vacation in exchange, which\nis a bad deal.\n\nAmericans already take pity time off.\n\n------\nmto\nI work 25 hours a week remotely as freelancer (although I'm available in slack\nmore or less all the time) and earn nearly twice as much as during my PhD.\nOnly that in more than 3 years I never really got into demotivated/frustrated\nphases. During my PhD I often felt depressed when sitting in the office all\nday, never getting a bit of daylight... And paying 300€ a month to have\nsomeone walk my dog.\n\nI have lots of time for learning new stuff and also teach a course twice a\nyear at a local college for some extra cash.\n\nStarted when my daughter was born and never stopped ;). Couldn't be happier\nand I really hope I can somehow keep it that way.\n\n------\nSteveGerencser\nMy dad ran his factory this way from day one. I forget exactly when they\nstarted, late 80s I think, and they always worked 4 10 hour days, Monday thru\nThursday, 3 day weekend. Worked great when they went to 2 shifts as well. 4\nhour a day downtime for maintenance to do their magic each day.\n\nEmployees loved it, management loved it, the only ones that complained were\nsome of their very large customers, and even they got used to it after a year\nof not being able to reach anyone on Friday.\n\n------\nksec\nWell in many places and across many industry, it would be great if we could\nget 5 days work week standard in the first place.\n\nInstead, not only just tech industry in China, many are now moving more\ntowards 996.\n\n~~~\nFabHK\nwhere 996 is 9am to 9pm, 6 days a week.\n\nJack Ma, defending 996:\n\n“To be able to work 996 is a huge bliss,” China’s richest man said. “If you\nwant to join Alibaba, you need to be prepared to work 12 hours a day,\notherwise why even bother joining.”\n\n~~~\ndheera\nJack Ma is a massive hypocrite IMO. In another speech Jack Ma said:\n\n\"Independent thinking, teamwork, care for others, these are the soft parts.\nKnowledge may not teach you that. That's why I think we should teach our kids\nsports, music, painting, art -- making sure humans are different from\nmachines.\"\n\nYeah, the FIRST thing you need to do to do that is to end this 996 horror. 996\nIS treating humans like machines. People already have kids and parents to care\nfor; if you want them to engage in sports, music, painting, art, they need\nnormal work hours.\n\n------\ndisconnection\nFrom my own research, I would say that 4 days is still too much in many cases:\n[http://www.disconnectionist.com/blog/becoming-a-part-time-\nsu...](http://www.disconnectionist.com/blog/becoming-a-part-time-\nsuperhuman.html)\n\n------\nhobo_mark\nEuropean here. This summer I'm taking all Fridays off until October (since I\nhad too many holidays left). Yesterday was the second time, I still showed up\nin the office but just worked on my own projects all day (it's allowed). Once\nI was in the flow, I've been doing the same on Saturdays (like today) and\nSundays (albeit shorter hours). I'm definitely making more progress than when\nI was only working on it at night, try it if you have the opportunity (and no\nkids/spouses of course).\n\n------\nthrowaway82137\nData point from BigCo: almost no-one (at a US BigCo) would take reduced hours\nfor proportionally less pay.\n\nI work at a silicon valley BigCo, and I work half-time (20 hrs per week). I\ngot this by just asking for it, though it did require high up approval. I\ndidn't even hide the fact that it was for the purpose of personal projects. I\nget half my salary, and half my stock and bonus. It is still more than plenty\nto afford living here for me. I have 1 kid.\n\nI've done this for 5 years now, during which time I've spoken to many BigCo\ncolleagues about this, and I'd estimate about 100 of them know my \"deal\", and\nso far no-one has followed my path. Note that 80% and 60% are also options.\n\nWhen asked they uniformly say that they couldn't take the reduction in pay.\nMedian total comp for these people is easily 300k. Some don't even have kids.\n\nSo no, if you want to improve society you'd have to force a 4-day work week by\nlaw, otherwise no-one will follow-thru.\n\n------\nbryanrasmussen\nI can barely afford working 5 as it is, I have to level up my wages or get an\nextra source of income, not decrease.\n\n~~~\nisostatic\nOne reason housing is so expensive now compared to the 50s is that there are\n10 working days per household now, and were 6 in the 50s.\n\nWith more money, the price of limited resources increases to fill the void.\n\nIf a 3 or 4 day week is mandated, there’s less for housing, it’s the same\ndemand, the same supply, so prices have to come down.\n\n~~~\nbryanrasmussen\none reason that prices did not increase to fill the void immediately is that\nsystems have an information lag between events, thus I expect a few years of\nmismatch. Furthermore some resources are going to increase in cost no matter\nwhat because external pressures - climate change - are going to drive up the\ncosts of those resources (primarily food) no matter what.\n\n------\nsakisv\nIt's kind of disheartening to read things like this on one hand and on the\nother hand read news that Austria \"increased the flexibility\" of the working\npattern by bumping up the limit of what is considered legal to 12 hours:\n[http://www.mondaq.com/Austria/x/733020/employee+rights+labou...](http://www.mondaq.com/Austria/x/733020/employee+rights+labour+relations/Amendmends+To+The+Working+Hours+Law+The+12Hour+Working+Day+Light)\n\nGiven that this is a country which is in the EU I'm very much worried about\nthis being adopted by more countries and becoming the norm, all in the spirit\nof maintaining our \"competitiveness\"\n\n~~~\nasdf21\nWhat issue do you have with people working three twelve hour days?\n\n------\npurplezooey\nThe worst part of this is that it will, like most everything else in the US,\nbe an option for the wealthy, some white collar workers and those fortunate\nenough to live in California while leaving everyone else behind.\n\n------\ntempodox\n> Critically, they also say workers were 20% more productive.\n\nSo, there wouldn't even be an actual loss in productivity. Still I predict\nthis recommendation will fall on deaf ears. The problem is not economic or\nrational, it's cultural and religious. “Society” still adheres to the notion\nthat a person's worth is largely determined by the extent of their economic\nactivities (independent of productivity, obviously). Working less is perceived\nas a dangerous moral failure (“Idle hands are the devil's workshop”, in\nchristian cultures).\n\n------\nvermilingua\nI’m sure this is great for some people, but what about casual workers? What\nabout people that rely on overtime to get by? I can only see this pushing\nemployers into further reducing hours, screwing those people.\n\n~~~\ncoldtea\nWe shouldn't optimize society based on the needs of \"people that rely on\novertime to get by\", we should optimize so that people don't have to rely on\novertime to get by.\n\nIt's like someone was asking back in the day: \"Abolishing child labor? What\nabout all those 10 and 12 year olds that depend on their job to eat?\"\n\n------\nSubiculumCode\nI submit that the problem is the denominator: 7\n\nThe ratios:\n\n5|2. Just right and too little\n\n4|3. Too little and just right\n\nWeeks should be 8 days\n\n5|3. Just right and just right.\n\n7 has nothing to do with human health and happiness. Why stick with that week\nlength dogma?\n\n8 days a week, thr Beatles had it right.\n\n------\nxtrimsky1234\nWould be only great if my kids stay in school 5 days a week. Otherwise it will\nbe just another day I need to entertain my kids. Sure 3 day weekends for\ntraveling would be great, but I already do that with PTOs.\n\nI want 6 hour work days 5 times a week. Not 4 work days. And banks being\nclosed an extra day would just be annoying. (not that I go to a physical bank,\nbut just transfers and such).\n\n------\nCausality1\nI would be happy just to switch to a five day 40 hour work week.\n\n------\njohnmarinelli\nA few months ago, I requested a 32 hour work week at my job. I took the\nappropriate paycut (I'm a single bachelor that doesn't spend much anyway).\nInstead of a 4-day workweek, I do ~6.5 hours for 5 days. It's been great and I\ncouldn't recommend it more.\n\nedit - I should add that I started the job at 40 hours/week, and after 1 year\nof being there I asked for 32 hours/week.\n\n------\nstmfreak\nI have been trying to work from home one day per week and wish we could\nstandardize on this. It would reduce traffic 20%. It saves everyone a round\ntrip commute and that is time that can be put to productive use. I also\nappreciate having a solid day of few meetings.\n\nFour day work week would be fine, but I suspect people would just cram more\nmeetings in and it may become less productive.\n\n------\nchemmail\nI've been doing 4 day work weeks and its like i'm on vacation all the time. We\nneed this.\n\n------\njowdones\n\"The dogs bark, but the caravan goes on\".\n\n\"the caravan\" == employers.\n\n------\nmycall\nI would love to but a 10 hour day would increase my time stuck in traffic 50%,\nso I would actually lose free time overall.\n\n------\ndeevolution\nHow do I go about convincing my company to give me a 4 day work week? Will I\nneed to sacrifice part of my wage?\n\n------\nRandomInteger4\nHow would this affect service workers?\n\n------\ntriplee\nI've been saying this for years, so I'm glad I agree with the experts.\n\n------\nppcelery\nwe are switching to a six-day working week, in china...\n\n------\namelius\nGood news, except we've justed started a trade war with China.\n\n------\namiga_500\nBut then my rent would drop 20% and I'd just be better off.\n\n------\nwrong_variable\nThe idea is good in principal but its going to be gamed to death.\n\nSome people derive satisfaction from their work !\n\nOthers don't.\n\nAlso will the pay be the same ? Call me a cynic but knowing business owners\nthey will never accept lower hours for same pay. They will spend all their\ntime figuring out how to game it.\n\nAll these solutions, studies seem like busy work for though leaders who have\nnothing better to do.\n\nThe best solution is quite simple - Universal Basic Income.\n\nIt can't be gamed as easily and by definition it costs less and gives\neverybody more freedom at the same time.\n\nNormally I feel like rules that restrict freedom ( like you can ONLY work 40\nhours ), you have to be skeptical.\n\n~~~\nperfunctory\nThe same logic could be applied back in the day when 40-hour week was\nintroduced. Yet somehow we managed. There is no reason we can't do again.\n\n~~~\nwrong_variable\nI never said the introduction of 40-hour week was bad.\n\nIts just more economically efficient to have UBI.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: FundChan – funded channel messaging - jimbursch\nhttps://fundchan.com\n======\njimbursch\nWe are also applying for YC:\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11447417](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11447417)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTop Russian Official Warns of ‘Catastrophic’ Population Loss - zeristor\nhttps://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/07/03/top-russian-official-warns-of-catastrophic-population-loss-a66259\n======\n8bitsrule\nAt the very bottom, article states (apropos of nothing earlier) that cancer\nrates in Voronezh grew 20% since last year. The Oblast is located ENE of Kiev.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nUSB-C and MacBook Pro - tschellenbach\nI wonder if I&#x27;m the only that&#x27;s going a little crazy with the new MacBook Pro USB-C connections. I&#x27;ve experienced issues with my keyboard disconnecting, HDMI disconnecting, power disconnecting and display lag caused by the hub. Many hubs don&#x27;t fully work, protocols are different etc.<p>So this is how I got my external screen running at 60hz while using USB-C on my 15 inch MacBook Pro:<p>Step 1: \nI bought this screen (not an affiliate link) https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;gp&#x2F;product&#x2F;B00YD3DBOC&#x2F;<p>Step 2:\nThis cable https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;gp&#x2F;product&#x2F;B074V5MMCH&#x2F;<p>Step 3: I opened the menu on the monitor and changed the display port connection from Display port 1.1 to 1.2<p>Step 4: I connected my 2 USB-C connection on opposing sides of the MacBook (no clue why this matters, but it seems to make a difference). You&#x27;ll also want to make sure you plug the charging USB-C cable directly into the MacBook. Some hubs slow down charging.<p>Step 5: I clicked to display preferences and clicked &quot;scaled&quot; while holding down the option key (adding this in case you&#x27;re new to macs). My personal preference is 3200x1800<p>I was very happy when I finally go it to work smoothly. It&#x27;s a little crazy how complicated this is though.\n======\nmegasquid\nHello. I honestly haven't experienced any problems with USB c and my macbook\npro. I do have some different adapters than you do though. Here is what I'm\nusing. Did not require any custom display settings. Just plug and play.\n\n2 HDMI to usb c adapters - [https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-MOKiN-Macbook-\nChromebook-Gold...](https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-MOKiN-Macbook-Chromebook-\nGold-\nPlated/dp/B06ZYKQDC4/ref=sr_1_11?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1508801164&sr=1-11&keywords=usb+c+to+hdmi)\n\n2 of these monitors -\n[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0148NNKTC/ref=oh_aui_deta...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0148NNKTC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLego 60th Anniversary website down before its celebrating - app4soft\nhttps://www.thebrickfan.com/lego-classic-bricks-on-a-roll-10715-collectible-booklet-promo-at-walmart/\n======\napp4soft\nQuote from linked article, published by \"The Brick Fan\" on 25th of January,\n2018:\n\n> It looks like there’s a promotion at Walmart in which you can get a FREE\n> collectible booklet and retro building instructions when you purchase the\n> Bricks on a Roll (10715) set. All you have to do is get the set, go to\n> www.lego60th.com (website down as of this writing)...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSpeaking of the British - surfingdino\nhttp://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z4596068789&z=1250248780\n\n======\nErrantX\nThis is hilarious :) I honestly thought it was a joke... but now I am\nuncertain.. he seems to _genuinely_ think that Britain is like this :S\n\nThe best bit is the wonderful caricature of Oxbridge interviews, as if the\nmodern world is left behind once you step foot in those hallowed halls :D One\nguy at our school that went to Oxford worked like absolute hell to get his\ngrades, pass his entrance exam and pass the exhausting round of interviews (2\ndays, testing all sorts of aptitidue).\n\nSure; the colleges have a tradition of \"sprawling on sofa's\" while enjoying a\nglass of the good stuff. But it is just tradition!\n\n _Aged 18, perhaps hungover, you read out your pitiful but elegant essay. The\ntutor points out gaps in your knowledge. For an hour, you talk your way around\nthose gaps._\n\nHahahahahahahahaha. Ahem. All of the friends I have that went to a really top\nflight university (Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, etc) were basically working flat\nout for their exams from about January every year..\n\n(I was the drunkard.. see \"winging it\" below)\n\n _Traditionally, elite Britons then leave education aged 21. Until recently\nthey rarely bothered with graduate school._\n\nMeh, classic nonsense confusion regarding the British and American educations\nsystems.\n\n _Britain’s rulers still struggle to judge scientific arguments about nuclear\nenergy or climate change_\n\nVery much struggling to see American, or indeed any other countries, \"rulers\"\ndoing any better.\n\n _It was the urge to amuse that recently prompted Cameron to riff on an old TV\nad and shout “Calm down, dear,” at a female Labour MP._\n\nFailing to understand British humour, he only got it in the neck because at\nthat level of politics you have to work with international norms.\n\n _Admittedly, ignorance sometimes saves Britain’s rulers from error._\n\nAnd here we really get to the crux of it. We are not talking about \"winging\nit\", or an aptitude for rhetoric, but \"ignorance\". I'll be first to admit that\nthe UK political elite are, to some extent, \"clueless\" on technical topics.\nBut... how is that any different from any other politician in the world? Is\nthat not why they have advisors? Hmmmm.\n\nNah, this is just some sneer-y anti-British hit piece. A caricature of the\ngreat and powerful of Britian as bumbling idiots who get by through a wing and\na prayer.\n\nBut.\n\nWinging it very much is a British tradition. One I have always been\nconsistently proud of, because we tend to be fucking awesome at it. I winged\nit through school, university, life, career. And it works, brilliantly.\n\nSo, ba shucks ;)\n\nI could go to America and make a casual, 2 second, assessment that the masses\nwere pretty crass (seriously, the amount, scale and volume of advertising on\nyour TV is terrible!), thick people and that the ruling elite were basically a\nbunch of manic argumentative idiots. Because they are the most vocal or\nvisible types of people. I could go to France and make a similar assessment of\nthe people there as rude and xenophobic. etc etc. But that would be a\ndisgustingly shallow view. Quid Pro Quo. This is just thinly disguised\nxenophobia and the FT should be ashamed to print it.\n\n~~~\njdminhbg\nThe author, Simon Kuper, is British and studied at Oxford\n(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Kuper>), so while he may be wrong, it's\nnot because he's unfamiliar with the country or the eduction system.\n\n~~~\npetesmithy\nHe has a British passport. He was born in Uganda of South African parents,\nspent his childhood in the Netherlands, \"also lived in Stanford, California,\nBerlin and London\", and studied at Oxford and Harvard. He currently lives in\nFrance. He should stay there :)\n\n------\ncorin_\nThis is a really horrible article, and it's clear that the author doesn't have\na great grasp of English culture by the bad generalisations he makes.\n\nWhile I haven't bothered with University, I did go to an expensive private\nschool (a step below the likes of Eton) (fees paid by a scholarship), and I\nhave had some links to Oxford University which technically make me an alumnus\nof an Oxford college and gave me the experience of the university without\nhaving studied there (long story). So I'm pretty familiar with the people this\narticle is trying to talk about. For example I have been in the same class as\nthe son of Peter Hitchens, the brother of Christopher who is mentioned as an\nexample in the article, and also the same class as a boy from the Getty\nfamily.\n\nOverall, I would say that as a country we value talking and arguing highly as\nskills, more so than many countries. It definitely becomes more noticeable the\nhigher you climb on the social ladder, but that is generally just because the\nbetter educated you are, the more practise you get and the more you learn.\nIt's not that middle/upper class education teaches people these things, it's\njust that, as with all subjects, private education tends to give people an\neasier ride.\n\nThe idea that at OxBridge it's more about talking than knowing. This was much\nmore true before I was born, a few decades ago. It's certainly what many\npeople who went to those universities in the 50s-70s would say.\n\n _\"Traditionally, elite Britons then leave education aged 21.\"_ That has\nnothing to do with being \"elite\", simply that the majority of people who go to\nuniversity don't study past their BA.\n\n _\"When Tony Blair hinted that Iraq’s 'weapons of mass destruction' could hit\nLondon within 45 minutes, the establishment mostly believed him.\"_ Actually a\nhuge number of us didn't believe him, but we blamed it on lies rather than\nmathematical difficulty. Many of us took to the streets in protest against\nthese lies.\n\n _\"Educated Americans would often praise Blair for arguing the case better\nthan President Bush could.\"_ If you have to draw comparison with GWB to prove\nthat someone is good at arguing a case then you've lost the argument already.\nI don't know a single working class person who doesn't manage to appear more\nengaged when speaking than Bush.\n\n _\"But in general, Britain’s ruling classes are funny speakers.\"_ Nonsense.\nBritain as a whole tends to have a sense of humour, in my experience the upper\nmiddle class has _less_ humour than lower classes.\n\n _\"It was the urge to amuse that recently prompted Cameron to riff on an old\nTV ad and...\"_ It wasn't the urge to amuse, and anyone who tries to suggest\nthat Cameron, or frankly any of our leading politicians, has a sense of\nhumour, hasn't spent enough time listening to them talk. That was Cameron's\nattempt to appear hip and youthful.\n\n _\"Admittedly, ignorance sometimes saves Britain’s rulers from error.\"_ How\ncan such a claim be made without given a single example or a single piece of\nlogic to justify it. I don't know if it's a good or a bad point because,\nwithout any context, I've no idea what he's even trying to say.\n\n------\nswombat\nI went to Oxford. I studied Physics. Yes, I learned to \"wing it\". If you can\nmaneuver your way through a \"tutorial\" (2 students, one tutor) where the\nperson evaluating you is one of the smartest people in the world and an expert\nwith 40 years more experience than you, and you're hungover and didn't really\nstudy the material properly, and still come out looking ok, you can deal with\nalmost any situation where you need to \"wing it\" in the future. It's solid\ntraining.\n\nThat said, most of those students were very, very, very smart. To me, Oxford\nwas the place where I went from finding it fairly easy to get whatever grades\nI wanted to struggling and working hard to get the minimum I found acceptable\n(a 2:1, or Upper Second, result in the overall degree). That was because the\nfinal grades were all relative, and there were a lot of very, very smart\nstudents I was competing against.\n\nAnd, as far as the subject studied is concerned, don't forget that in the UK\npeople rarely go on to work in the subject they studied. Sure, it's still\nbetter to do hard sciences, but apart from lawyers and doctors, most people\nend up doing something else after university.\n\nWhich is fine, imho - university is not and should not be training for a job,\nbut, instead, training for life. And as far as life is concerned, in the world\nas it is today, winging it is certainly a more valuable skill than quantum\nmechanics.\n\n~~~\nregomodo\nSmall case-study I know but I work with somebody who just came out of\nCambridge and did a CS-like degree.\n\nHe cannot program for shit and talks like he does but show him a bit of C(++),\nPHP, javascript (even bash or Python) and his eyes just glaze over. I was\nteamed with him but he was forever unable to get anything done. In the end I\nwas left with it all and made much better progress and he was left to book to\noverheads.\n\nI'm certain he's an edge case though, I've met a few others who went to\nOxbridge and they are definitely on the ball. However, I've found those who\nwent to Bristol, Imperial or Loughborough are people that are the smartest.\n\n~~~\nswombat\nThat's not a case study, just an anecdote. In my experience, there were almost\nno people in Oxford that I wouldn't consider \"very smart\". Probably the only\nplace in the world where that's been true.\n\nThat said, I don't know how Cambridge's \"CS-like\" degree is/was, but Oxford's\nwas very bad at actually teaching programming.\n\nThen again, are you really sure he went to Cambridge? Smart people have no\nproblem with learning to program when they need to. That guy doesn't sound so\nsmart...\n\n~~~\nregomodo\nYeah, anecdote is the correct term. He definitely went to Cambridge which is\nwhy we questioned his choice of employer (the hirers decision). It doesn't\nmatter what language he's given a task in others are always curious as to why\nhe's taking so long or when it's ever going to be done. It's not like he's\nmaking a cathedral of every task as ctrl+c & ctr+v are his key tools along\nwith a good smattering of ugly hacks(i get the feeling he has no grasp of OOP\nor VCS).\n\nHe's comfortable in Access though.\n\n------\npg\nThis phenomenon isn't limited to England. The one thing all Harvard undergrads\nlearn (probably as much from one another as from the professors) is how to\ndefend themselves in conversation. Some are smart, and some aren't, but by the\ntime they graduate they all know how to sound smart.\n\n~~~\nbane\nA trait I've noticed when working with or arguing with the products of elite\nuniversities is the incessant ability to respond to most challenges in the\nform of a blank stare. Harvard grads in particular, but I've noticed it in\nsome military officers as well.\n\nThey won't get riled up, they won't back down, they won't...well...do anything\nin particular.\n\nWhile being incredibly infuriating, it also makes them nearly impossible to\nread or assess. Are they smart? Are they dolts? No idea!\n\nThis enigma-like quality _can_ get one very far in certain contexts. The\nability to operate in elite positions, without becoming ruffled is a\ntremendously valuable skill.\n\nThe downside of course is that if things really do go pear shaped, the normal\nresponse is to show some kind of stress reaction and hopefully buckle down and\nget to work. Not acting like there is anything in particular going on just\nmakes those around you wonder if the ol' gears are actually turning at all.\nAre they out of touch? Do they care? It can be tremendously demotivating to\nthose around.\n\nA company I worked for early in my carerr had to let two people with this\ntrait go (both top-tier uni graduates) because the management didn't think\nthey were taking a then current crisis seriously enough. We came to find that\nwith both of them, they were effectively doing no work at all as there was\nalmost no extra work that came out of their leaving.\n\nWhen asked why they were kept around for so many years, promoted etc.,\nmanagement simply responded that they seemed well poised, like they knew what\nwas going on, attended tons of meetings, sent out lots of email...so it\n_looked_ like they were burning furnaces of activity.\n\nWhen the crisis struck, they kept plodding along this track, scheduling\nmeetings, refusing to let them run long, sending out dozens of emails a day,\nlong after the rest of the team had changed behavior patterns to deal with the\nissue. It became such a nuisance, especially the content free, but tightly\nscheduled meetings, that they were finally put under higher scrutiny.\n\nIt's a office-space-esque/dilbert-esque lesson I've kept with me through my\ncareer and have run into this trait dozens of times.\n\nI've personally found it so infuriating a trait to work with that I'm loath to\nhire people from certain majors in certain universities under the assumption\nthere is some kind of communications coursework that teaches people to respond\nwith this blank stare.\n\nI've coined the term \"the management stare\" for this phenomenon.\n\nOn the other hand, the people who I've found to be top performers were\nconsistently the dynamic, emotive people in an organization. They responded\nrapidly and naturally to changing conditions, showed outward emotions and got\nreally emotionally involved in conversations, meetings and tasks. They brought\nan energy to the company that drove the rest of their peers along with them.\n\n~~~\nnradov\nI have consistently found the dynamic, emotive people to be disastrous in\ncrisis situations. They tend to act rashly without thinking through the\nconsequences and often make things worse. When faced with a technical problem\nI prefer dispassionate experts who can apply a discipled, scientific approach\nand never get flustered.\n\n~~~\nbane\nI think I'm phrasing it wrong. I'm definitely not saying that people prone to\nhistrionics are good performers, just people who show that they are concerned\nabout the situation, have some leather in it, and want to fix it above all\nelse seem to be the people that actually get it done the best.\n\nA rational approach to actually solving the problem is definitely best, I\nagree.\n\nA blank stare, followed by business as usual, is a non-starter in my opinion.\n\n------\ncstross\nThat article is a bizarre caricature, chock-full of misleading half-truths.\n\"You probably did school exams in just three subjects. At university, you only\nstudy one\" -- that's glaringly inaccurate. The underlying feature of the\nBritish education system is that from age 16 if they're going to university\nstudents tackle 3-4 subjects at \"A\" level, rather than a whole slew of them.\nHowever, the depth of study for an \"A\" level qualification is supposed to be\n(or was, in my day) roughly equivalent to finishing the first year of a degree\nin that subject. The \"at university you only study one\" reflects the nature of\nthe British university system: rather than a hodge-podge of courses\nculminating in a major, British students focus on a particular area from the\nstart -- other subjects are studied, but they don't rate separate examinations\nor qualifications. It's a system based on specialization: narrow but deep\nrather than broad but shallow.\n\nFinally, anyone who went to Oxbridge having read that article and taking \"nor\nis workaholic study encouraged\" at face value is going to be in for a very\nnasty surprise ...\n\n~~~\nregularfry\nThis is really noticeable if you go through A levels, then end up in a\nuniversity course with a high foreign student intake. The first year is almost\n_entirely_ catch-up, as those who didn't do A levels get the content pumped\ninto them so that the course proper can start in the second year.\n\n------\ntomsaffell\nSome of this resonates, but this does not:\n\n _Oxbridge’s teaching methods reward good talk_\n\nIn my experience, Cambridge University Engineering Department rewards those\nwho can _at age 19_ show _on paper_ a sound grasp of all branches of\nengineering, from vector calculus, to materials science, to the physics of a\ntransistor, to thermo dynamics.\n\nThose who can do both that, and also speak well, are often 'poached' into\nconsulting and banking, whereas those who can only do the former tend to\npursue more technical fields. But to blame that on Oxbridge seems unfair.\n\nOn an unrelated note: I've worked with many Oxbridge graduates of Humanities,\nClassics (Greek, Latin) and English Literature - all of whom (by selection of\nmy firm's hiring process) are very numerate. I.e. the two are not mutually\nexclusive.\n\n~~~\nsabraham\nThat said, I'm American, went to Oxford and am now at Cambridge, and I can\nassure you that most Humanities graduates are shockingly innumerate--I\nseriously doubt most Arts students given the Math SAT would be able to do more\nthan shake a stick at it. The best evidence is probably in PPE; the only\npeople who stick with E(conomics) did Math/s at A-level. The system doesn't\nencourage it. You do your 3-5 A-levels, and people tend to focus on the Arts\nor the Sciences, with little to no overlap.\n\nAlso, I was never offered sherry at a tutorial, but I did have friends\nstudying English who were offered wine~\n\nOn a related note, this is a good summary of the differences between English\nvs American values/elite educations:\n[http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/apr/23/whats-\nbetter-o...](http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/apr/23/whats-better-\noxfords-depth-or-yales-breadth/)\n\n------\nhugh3\nThere's a lot to be written on the subject of the British (or just the\nEnglish, the other parts of Britain being a whole different ballgame) and\nspeech. Certainly I don't know of anywhere else where a person's manner of\nspeech tells you nearly as much about their geographical and socioeconomic\norigin. (But of course, I only speak one language so my attention is pretty\nrestricted).\n\nIn Australia they say there are three accents: broad, general and cultivated,\nand which one you have is mostly about your socioeconomic level. In my\nexperience, though, it's more of a spectrum, and the \"broad\" accent goes in\nseveral different directions depending on where you are -- I can usually pick\nout a Queenslander, for instance.\n\nThe most interesting thing I've noticed about American accents is that you can\noften tell someone's _political_ persuasion, at least on the radio, if not\nfrom their accent then from their manner of speaking. Flip through the radio\ndial in some unknown area and you can instantly tell whether you're listening\nto a right-wing or left-wing show -- the right-wing voice is deeper and more\naggressive while the left-wing voice sounds higher-pitched and a bit naggy.\n\n------\nQz\nThis writer writes well. Perhaps unaware of the gaps in his knowledge, he\nsimply writes around them.\n\n~~~\ntankenmate\nAhhh meta analysis; the funniest comment I have read on HN for weeks.\n\n------\nadamt\nI studied CS at Cambridge having previously come from a below average state\nschool. Although the article is a cliche of half-truths there is in my\nexperience some truth there. I had 2 interviews to get in which lasted only 15\nand 60 minutes. I only made it to about 25% of lectures and talked my way\nthrough supervisions. Through good exam technique and my own independent\nstudy, I walked away getting a first in each year. So contrary to most people\nhere I think there is actually a degree of reality to the article.\n\n------\nbluekeybox\nAs the old joke (fact?) goes, Sir Winston Churchill was giving a speech in the\nHouse of Commons and someone nearby noticed that there was a handwritten\ncomment in the margin of his notes: \"Weak argument: talk loudly.\"\n\n~~~\nErrantX\nChurchill was not the smartest (from a technical perspective) cookie in the\ncookie jar, he was not a careful quiet thinker, he was a bit racist, from the\n\"old school\" and rather stuffy. But he was very very very very good at two\nthings; patriotism and rhetoric.\n\nWhich, when you are in a war, is a good thing. The generals win the battles.\nThe politicians win hearts and minds.\n\nThink of the \"talk louder\" (I have heard to story too, and I think it is true\nIIRC) as simply a technical aspect of his ability, akin to the hacks, short\ncuts and pieces of useful code we programmers have hanging around to get\nthings done faster :)\n\n~~~\ngruseom\nChurchill was also a master of English prose - quintessentially English prose.\nHe is like Dickens in this respect.\n\n------\ngmantastic\nI think the article misses a point - in order to speak well, particularly off-\nthe-cuff, one must first be able to think quickly and clearly. Looked at this\nway, judging people on how well they speak is a useful short-cut to assess\ntheir thinking skills (although not definitive).\n\n------\ntomelders\nI'm british, but I have to say; this article is utter arse gravy of the\nhighest order.\n\n~~~\nMrScruff\nI'm also English. Calling something 'utter arse gravy of the highest order'\nisn't a particularly informative form of criticism.\n\n~~~\ncorin_\nIt is a rather English insult, though.\n\n------\nlhnz\nThis article is complete bullshit:\n\n> Nor is workaholic study encouraged. A South African relative of mine started\n> his first “supervision” at Cambridge by confessing that he hadn’t read every\n> single book on the reading list. “Good God,” said his supervisor, “nor have\n> I. I put them down hoping that you’d look at a couple, and tell me what they\n> said.”\n\nThat's just completely untrue. Just talk to some student from Oxford and\nyou'll find that many of them are massive workaholics and very intelligent.\nIt's not simply all 'talk'. You can't succeed in that environment simply by\nbeing good at talking!?!!\n\n~~~\nrplacd\n\"I disagree with this article! Here's a hypothetical that proves it - I know\nit's true because I disagree with this article.\"\n\nI'm all for nuanced positions, though.\n\n~~~\nlhnz\nIndeed. Well, I'm not going to be able to create a good argument because mine\nis also based on the people at Oxford (and Cambridge) that I've met and how\nthey've acted, too. (It could just be that I only meet certain kinds of\npeople?) However, I suspect the author of this articles is speaking falsely\nbecause it doesn't match with the reality I've seen/heard. You have some of\nthe brainiest people in the UK there and you expect me to believe that it\nalways comes down to talk?\n\nFor instance, my brother comes back from Oxford and I see the amount of work\nhe brings back with him. He reads and writes more in one term than many other\nUniversity's expect from their students in a few years... There are folders\nand folders of notes proving the workload. The reading lists that he has been\nprovided have _not_ been finished. This is because they're pages long and it\nis impossible to finish them in the time they are given. He often spends full\ndays revising or reading, and especially now that is exam time he gives\nhimself very few hours to relax. Of course there is a mix of people: some that\nliterally work from 8AM till midnight and others that somehow seem to mix this\nwith being a socialite (perhaps those people don't do any work and just buddy\nup to the professors by telling them that they do no work!? To me, that sounds\nbizarre.) Despite the different kinds of people that are there I think it is\ndisingenuous for somebody with a relative that goes there to argue that\nworkaholic study is not encouraged. I have seen the opposite; I have seen\npeople under way too much stress and pressure to succeed and work hard.\n\nOkay, not very nuanced but maybe you see why I call it bullshit.\n\n~~~\nrplacd\nI have admit - I have a cousin that's been through Cambridge (went through a\nnanotechnology track, now taking a doctoral at Max Planck, will always feel\ninferior to him) and I do agree with you: he's barely poked his head out and\nreconnected with the extended family in ages. I'm interpreting this as\n\"complete devotion to work\" because complete disconnection is rather unheard\nof in the Asian family he comes from. So my observations line up with yours to\nsome extent. I can't prove the existence of lack of of the opposite,\nannoyingly enough.\n\n------\nwill_critchlow\nYep. This rings true even of technical graduates. Makes them really hard to\ninterview because they are so good at _interviewing_!\n\nI think it's an under-rated skill outside oxbridge. I certainly think it's\nhelped me and I only have the very edges of this skill that I picked up at\nCambridge.\n\n~~~\ntomsaffell\n>Makes them really hard to interview because they are so good at interviewing!\n\nHmm. In my experience interviewing Oxbridge grads, I didn't find that. Being\ngood at talking around gaps in knowledge works very well in free flowing\nconversations, but if an interviewer ask a specific question, and the\ninterviewee cannot answer it, then the ability to talk round it does no good.\nE.g. I used to ask a question relating to the amortization of a loan, and I\nwould ask the interviewee to draw a graph of _time vs. loan balance_. You\ncan't talk your way out of not being able to do that.\n\n~~~\nwill_critchlow\nYou're right. I'm talking about the ones with the pre-requisite knowledge, not\nthe total blaggers. It's hard to address their answers to the questions that\ndon't have right or wrong answers because they answer so well.\n\n------\npclark\nLearning how to speak and articulate what I am saying has been the most\nvaluable skill I have ever learnt.\n\nI am constantly blown away by how poorly grown adults converse.\n\n------\nTheBoff\nAs a current Cambridge undergraduate studying computer science, I find this\nabsolutely outrageous.\n\nThe article seems to imply that the scientific fields simply aren't studied\nhere.\n\nThe particular example of Lord Cherwell is particularly misleading, as his\nresults were mistrusted by other scientists of the day.\n\nAlso, the application process is completely misrepresented. I had two\ninterviews, with the people who would be supervising me. I didn't get offered\nsherry, they were sat respectably in chairs, and they asked me maths and logic\nquestions.\n\nMy director of studies informs me that he then runs all our results\n(interview, A levels, personal statement) through a number of statistical\ntests to work out who are going to be the best candidates.\n\nAlso, it's strange, I didn't think that Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg had any\neffect on the legislative direction of America...\n\nAnd the point about \"workaholic study is not encouraged\" is absolutely untrue.\nThe full reading list probably consisted of about 3 pages of literature. The\nworkload here is high: it's certainly not unknown to have a fifty hour working\nweek here.\n\n------\npaulnelligan\nas an Irishman, it's instinctive to have mixed feelings about the British, our\nonce brutal, now friendly neighbour.\n\nIn any case, they must be doing something right. They have some of the best\ninstitutions on the planet - the NHS, the BBC, and yes their Education system.\nAnd their police force is really the best in the world. I've never met a Bobby\nwho wasn't professional, friendly, and reasonable, despite a very difficult\njob.\n\n------\nmattmanser\nOdd that he mentions Margaret Thatcher without mentioning she was once a\nresearch chemist and had a chemistry degree.\n\nDoesn't fit with his content free story I guess.\n\np.s. the link is bad, it's not moreover.com it's from the ft.com.\n\n~~~\nsrgseg\nThe moreover link helps avoid the FT paywall.\n\n~~~\nmattmanser\nah, fair enough then!\n\n------\nnagrom\nSo for those of us who didn't go to oxbridge and didn't acquire this valuable\nskill, how do we acquire it as adults?\n\n~~~\ncorin_\nI'm pretty sure that if you put on an upper class accent (think Hugh Laurie)\nthat would be enough to make the author of this article assume that you have\nthe skill.\n\n~~~\nwyclif\nYou mean RP: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_Pronunciation>\n\n~~~\ncorin_\nI've never actually heard that term before, though I am familiar with it being\ncalled the Queen's English, and BBC and Oxford English.\n\nBut commonly it would be considered \"upper class\" within England, and probably\nconsidered \"English\" outside the UK.\n\n~~~\nwyclif\nYeah, I've heard it called that, but my Brit friends usually call it \"posh.\"\nIncidentally, we have our own version of RP in the States, it's called the\n\"Mid-Atlantic accent\", many talking heads on news and radio are encouraged to\nimitate it if they come from the South of the US or New England.\n\n------\nsrgseg\n\"Anyway, running a country on eloquence alone hasn’t worked out disastrously –\nor at least not yet\"\n\nGood grades are certainly not enough, but they are almost always required.\nOxbridge only invites the best students to interview, and even the top 5 most\nacademically competitive schools in the UK struggle to send more than a third\nof their students to Oxford or Cambridge in a good year.\n\n~~~\nraffaelc\n\"Anyway, running a country on eloquence alone hasn’t worked out disastrously –\nor at least not yet\"\n\nThe largest empire the world has ever seen whittled down to its homeland, a\nnaval base in the med, and some godforsaken islands in the south atlantic. I'd\ncall that pretty disastrous.\n\nIt'll only get worse. In an increasingly technical world, the brits have the\nwrong culture of Snow's two cutures running the show.\n\n~~~\nAlisdairO\n> The largest empire the world has ever seen whittled down to its homeland, a\n> naval base in the med, and some godforsaken islands in the south atlantic.\n> I'd call that pretty disastrous.\n\nActually, I would count the graceful degradation of the British empire (i.e\nwithout the entire country going to hell) as quite an achievement -\nparticularly considering it happened with a surprisingly low level of long-\nterm resentment incurred from the former colonies. Further, the claim that it\nwas due to poor management more than, for example, two ludicrously expensive\nwars, is more than a touch disingenuous.\n\nI suppose one could argue that the first of those wars was rather a waste, but\nBritain was hardly the only country to be affected by that particular\ninsanity.\n\n------\nvixen99\nThere's a touch of truth in the article but for an ignorant elite they don't\ndo too badly. They are around 4th in line for Nobel Prizes in hard sciences\nper inhabitant and well ahead in terms of large countries. The top 'winners'\nare Sweden, Switzerland and Denmark all with populations under 10 million\n(1999) though I am not suggesting that detracts in anyway from their\nachievement.\n\n------\npetesmithy\nThis guy should stick to writing about sports.\n\nAlthough I agree that the English value both 'winging it' on limited\nknowledge, and banter / witty repartee. But that is regardless of background.\n\n------\noceanician\nHaha, the ending comments - yes, the lack of finance & maths knowledge really\nhas impacted. It's soo frustrating that those in the cabinet office here don't\neven have basic maths knowledge.\n\nI've no idea how this countries decline can be reversed. Knowledge based\neconomy? What a joke :(\n\nI wonder if there's any page listing the qualifications of all those in power\nin the UK. Have their grades deteriorated over time I wonder haha.\n\n------\ncode_duck\nWhy is this a link on c.moreover.com and not ft.com? All the sharing links at\nthe bottom of the page use an ft.com URL.\n\n~~~\nkmfrk\nIt circumvents the paywall.\n\n------\n16s\nSeems silly to suggest that articulate people are uneducated. If that's not an\noxymoron, what is?\n\n------\nepo\nIt's probably a humour piece.\n\nThe trouble is that many foreigners tend to take it at face value because it\npanders to racist stereotypes they hold about the British.\n\n------\nsurfingdino\nI tried to get into Cambridge. The first question I heard was \"What make of\ncar does your father drive to work?\" I told them and they politely rejected\nme.\n\n------\npatkai\nBy the way, does the FT have editors or something?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nNew Harvard Research Reveals a Fun Way to Be More Successful - rarjunpillai\nhttp://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/09/be-more-successful/\n\n======\nposeid\nintersting - thanks for sharing :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHypernetes: Bringing Security and Multi-Tenancy to Kubernetes - scprodigy\nhttp://blog.kubernetes.io/2016/05/hypernetes-security-and-multi-tenancy-in-kubernetes.html\n======\nswitchbak\nThey mention that this helps cure some issues with regards to resource sharing\n/ memory usage, etc. But does each VM still have a static allocation of\nmemory?\n\nOne of the main benefits I have now is that if I run a number of containers\nthat all take various amounts of memory, I can just throw them on and they\nshare memory amongst each other quite efficiently. If I have to make a static\nallocation of memory for a VM, I'll typically choose a conservative memory\nnumber, and usually under-utilize the machine, wasting a lot of memory per-\ninstance. Not so bad since I chose per-pod, but still an issue.\n\nAs it happens, this same issue is why I'm leaning towards lightweight native\napplications these days instead of an aggressive greedy virtual machine that\ngrabs a bunch of heap. Golang/Rust in particular.\n\n~~~\nscprodigy\nActually, scaleup is pretty easy for both VM and Linux container. But scale-\ndown is very troublesome for both.\n\nAnd the scheduler will need the mem size (not right now, but inevitable)\n\n------\nsarnowski\nThat is what rkt with kvm is essentially doing as well, correct?\n\n[https://coreos.com/rkt/docs/latest/running-lkvm-\nstage1.html](https://coreos.com/rkt/docs/latest/running-lkvm-stage1.html)\n\n~~~\nmjg59\nNot quite - rkt will bring up a new VM for each container, this approach only\nbrings up a VM per pod (ie, a set of functionally related containers).\n\n~~~\nphilips\nThis isn't correct. rkt does a VM per pod.\n\n------\nandrewstuart2\nThis really does not appeal to me at all. The major point of docker containers\nis not the image format, it's that the kernel can allocate resources more\nintelligently. VM images work just fine for \"shippable images.\"\n\nWhat I'd rather see is an allocation layer for physical resources that just\ncordons off the whole machine (physical or virtual) by tenant as soon as\nprevious tenant resources have been fully consumed, then reclaims hosts after\nusage subsides. So as a provider I still only have one cluster to manage, but\nas a consumer I still don't worry about _another_ layer of abstraction slowing\nthings down or pre-allocating resources.\n\n~~~\nchatmasta\nI'm interested in the economics of (docker) containers vs. virtual machines.\nContainers can run within a VM, but a VM can only run within a hypervisor.\n\nCurrently, if you want to resell computing resources, you need to rent or buy\na dedicated server, and run a hypervisor on it.\n\nContainers enable a new class of reselling computing resources. Because you\ncan run a container within a VM, you can resell computing capacity on a VM.\n\nI think we are going to see another abstraction on top of \"the cloud,\" due to\nthis additional layer of reselling (new russian doll on the inside, new doll\non the outside).\n\nThe physical abstraction is:\n\nDatacenter > Floor Space > Server Rack > Server\n\nThe virtual abstraction is:\n\nServer > VM > Container > Kubernetes|MESOS|...\n\nVirtual is a 1:1 inverse of physical. Next step is datacenter interconnections\n(i.e. multihost kubernetes or whatever flavor of the month IaaS software\npeople use).\n\n~~~\nderefr\nPeople have been reselling containers without needing an intermediary VM\nabstraction forever; look at any cheap VPS host offering OpenVZ-based \"virtual\nmachines\"—which are actually [resource-quota'ed] containers.\n\n~~~\nchatmasta\nIt's not a question of need; it's a question of ease of opportunity. It's now\neasier to virtualize via container, and there are more opportunities, since\nit's easier to get a VM than a dedicated server with hypervisor access.\n\n------\nmarkbnj\nCan someone clarify how this compares to LXD, released by Canonical in Ubuntu\n16.04? A lot of the keywords and concepts seem similar.\n\n~~~\nresouer\nAnd another different side of HyperContainer is that it follows OCI spec,\ncheck the runv project here:\n[https://github.com/hyperhq/runv/](https://github.com/hyperhq/runv/), so\ntechnically speaking, it's a hypervisor version of OCI, just like docker is a\nlinux container version of OCI. Seems rkt/clear linux or LXD does not.\n\n~~~\nshykes\nActually it's _runc_ that is the linux container version of OCI. Docker is a\nhigher-level abstraction which calls runc by default but can call any OCI-\ncompliant runtime, including runv.\n\nSee [https://blog.docker.com/2016/04/docker-\nengine-1-11-runc/](https://blog.docker.com/2016/04/docker-engine-1-11-runc/)\n\n~~~\nresouer\nIt will be great to see if I can use dockerd start runv containers!!!!\n\n------\nVeratyr\nSpeaking of security on Kubernetes, it's worth noting that most of the\n\"Getting Started\" guides (e.g. [0]) to help you set up a cluster result in\ncompletely unauthenticated API servers.\n\nThis means that by default, anyone can do anything they want with your\ncluster.\n\nThere are no warnings, no suggestions that turning on the much better TLS\nbased authentication would be a good idea (or even how to do it), no nothing.\n\nBe __very __careful with Kubernetes.\n\n[0]: [http://kubernetes.io/docs/getting-started-\nguides/ubuntu/](http://kubernetes.io/docs/getting-started-guides/ubuntu/)\n\n~~~\nrobszumski\nMaintaining community-led documentation is a hard and time consuming process,\nespecially with a young project. I encourage you to get involved if you have a\nfew free cycles.\n\nSometimes you have to take a stance on these types of things, as we have done\nwith the CoreOS + Kubernetes community guides [0]. The guides are open source,\nbut full TLS, passing conformance tests, etc is required for contribution.\n\n(I work at CoreOS)\n\n[0]:\n[https://coreos.com/kubernetes/docs/latest/#installation](https://coreos.com/kubernetes/docs/latest/#installation)\n\n~~~\npraneshp\nThe CoreOS documentation is a lifesaver (even when setting up k8s on a non-\ncoreOS system. Thanks a lot (and agree with the comments on\ndocumentation/involvement).\n\n------\njldugger\nAt a brief glance, this looks comparable to Magnum:\n\n\\- containers \\- openstack \\- multitenancy\n\n~~~\nscprodigy\nTotally not!\n\n------\nresouer\nAha, the\nchancellor([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PivpCKEiQOQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PivpCKEiQOQ))\nwill feel great to see that finaly he can eliminate IaaS/vms and use docker in\nproduction env.\n\n------\nxbeta\nAnyone knows whether there's similar thing for Mesos ?\n\n~~~\nscprodigy\nA patch is available:\n[https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/MESOS-3435](https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/MESOS-3435)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWTF is OpenResty? - garyclarke27\nhttp://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/20/wtf_is_openresty_the_worlds_fifthmostused_web_server_thats_what/\n======\nmitendra\nWas closely following OpenResty and it's interesting echo system. Good to see\nits growing footprint.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow Torch broke ls and made me vulnerable - joshumax\nhttps://joshumax.github.io/general/2017/06/08/how-torch-broke-ls.html\n======\nbinarycrusader\nTorch probably doesn't even need to set LD_LIBRARY_PATH. If LD_LIBRARY_PATH is\nonly being set so that binaries distributed by torch work, then I'd strongly\nsuggest they use RUNPATH instead with $ORIGIN.\n\nThere are examples in various places:\n\n[https://enchildfone.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/a-description-o...](https://enchildfone.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/a-description-\nof-rpath-origin-ld_library_path-and-portable-linux-binaries/)\n[http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/ld.so.8.html](http://man7.org/linux/man-\npages/man8/ld.so.8.html)\n[http://longwei.github.io/rpath_origin/](http://longwei.github.io/rpath_origin/)\n\nLD_LIBRARY_PATH is really only for a developer's local use; it should never be\nused for installed software.\n\nDisclaimer: may not apply in some scenarios, I haven't used Torch, so this is\nmerely a general observation.\n\n~~~\ncatdog\nThis nice and clean solution is too little known I think. Far better than\nshipping shell scripts which are very hard to get right and most application\ndevelopers are not shell scripting experts.\n\n~~~\npjc50\nRPATH is very nice, but it's a _huge_ pain to set in Makefiles because you\nhave to reliably escape the \"$ORIGIN\"\n\n~~~\nSpivak\n(Don't do this) You could patch the binary after compilation with elfpatch.\n\nAlso,\n\ntest:\n\n    \n    \n      echo \"\\$$ORIGIN\"\n    \n\noutputs $ORIGIN. $$ translates to a literal dollar sign. \\ escapes the dollar\nsign in the shell.\n\n~~~\nbinarycrusader\nYou can use elfedit instead, but really, it's not that much of a pain to just\ndo it right in the first place.\n\n------\nanderskaseorg\nHow to safely prepend a directory to a PATH-like variable (in any POSIX-\ncompliant shell):\n\nexport LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/whatever/lib${LD_LIBRARY_PATH:+:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH}\n\nPull request sent to\n[https://github.com/torch/distro/pull/228](https://github.com/torch/distro/pull/228).\n\n~~~\ndjsumdog\nGood fix and good for sending them a merge request.\n\nI still find it kinda baffling glibc would have this behavior for a trailing\ncolon (:). Like, I know it's probably legacy/comparability, but it feels like\na security nightmare. ./ should be explicit, not implicit.\n\n~~~\nemmelaich\nAlso for leading colons. (but you probably knew that)\n\n------\nAceJohnny2\nMore concerning to me is that ld.so will interpret a trailing `:` in\nLD_LIBRARY_PATH to mean to include PWD.\n\nWhere is this documented? It's not indicated in ld.so's manpage:\n\n[http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/ld.so.8.html](http://man7.org/linux/man-\npages/man8/ld.so.8.html)\n\nSounds like a bug in GNU's ld.so more than anything.\n\n~~~\nzwp\n> Sounds like a bug in GNU's ld.so more than anything.\n\nIt's neither unique to glibc (AIX, Solaris) nor to LD_LIBRARY_PATH (PATH), nor\ntrailing colons (leading colons, adjacent colons).\n\nThis de facto standard becomes a little more obvious when one considers a\nlikely implementation (iterating over \"strchr(arg, ':')\" or whatever). Any of\nthese sequences then will give up an empty string:\n\n    \n    \n        PATH=:/foo\n        PATH=/foo:\n        PATH=/foo::/bar\n    \n\nAnd an empty string is equivalent to dot for chdir(2).\n\n    \n    \n        zwp:/tmp$ cd ''\n        zwp:/tmp$ pwd\n        /tmp\n        zwp:/tmp$\n    \n\n(This is not the same as plain \"cd\" (ie with no args), which is a special case\nthat takes you $HOME, of course).\n\nI agree it's surprising and potentially dangerous.\n\nFWIW, the exec _p_ () functions hide a similar wtf. From the Linux man page:\n\n    \n    \n        The file is sought in the colon-separated list of\n        directory pathnames specified in the PATH envi‐\n        ronment  variable. If this variable isn't defined,\n        the path list defaults to the current directory\n        followed by the list  of  directories returned by \n        confstr(_CS_PATH).\n    \n\nSecurity conscious programs that clear the environment and then call eg\nexeclp() end up searching dot before the system path. Yay.\n\n------\nlloydde\nBuried in there is \"Torch machine learning library\", which then allowed me to\nfigure out what software was being blamed.\n[http://torch.ch/](http://torch.ch/)\n\n~~~\nChristianGeek\nAt least you didn't read \"ls \" as \"is\" with a capital \"i\"...I only read it it\nto un-confuse myself!\n\n~~~\nbartread\nSame. I was irritated enough by the badly formed headline to read the story to\ntry and figure out what was going on.\n\nWhat's wrong with something like, \"Torch machine learning introduces\nvulnerability in loading of shared libraries.\" Whilst it doesn't tell the\nwhole story it does at least give a flavour instead of just sowing confusion.\n\n------\nmatheweis\nOn most modern Mac OS installations, this is a non-issue. System Integrity\nProtection doesn't honor any changes to LD_LIBRARY_PATH, presumably for\nexactly this sort of reason. (Of course, one might have turned off SIP, in\nwhich case this is no longer true, but it's nice to know it's the default).\n\n~~~\nHappyTypist\nVery sensible. I wish OS X featured a even more \"rootless\" mode where \"root\"\nonly gives you sandboxed write access, and read access to files it creates.\n\n------\nthewisenerd\non a similar note, this (having '.' or $(pwd) on LD_LIBRARY_PATH) also broke\nthe `ls` command (and a bunch of other stuff) in the TeamWin Recovery Project\n(TWRP) recovery on mobile devices when you were in `/system/lib` on a 64-bit\nmachine.\n\n[https://github.com/omnirom/android_bootable_recovery/commit/...](https://github.com/omnirom/android_bootable_recovery/commit/9c3b7e990e162319cb379545b458838478a19eb0)\n\n------\nandreiw\nyou know, that's a pretty good plausibly-deniable backdoor, if you think about\nit...\n\nsounds like a pretty good thing to disable in ld.so...\n\n~~~\neridius\nHow is it a backdoor? System services don't typically source the user's bash\nprofile before running, and even if they did, they don't run from attacker-\ncontrolled directories anyway. At best you could compromise someone by\ntricking them into cd'ing into a folder you provided, but that's not something\nthat would generally be called a \"backdoor\". And if you can get them to run\nyour install script, you've already \"compromised\" them anyway and\nLD_LIBRARY_PATH is completely unnecessary.\n\n~~~\nlloeki\n> And if you can get them to run your install script\n\nIf your script is obviously malicious then you're reducing your chances. Such\na change could seem innocuous[0], then, cloning a repo containing a so file in\nthe middle of a long list and cd'ing would trigger payload execution.\nDistributing the maliciousness by chaining innocuously looking actions is both\neffective at bypassing human logical analysis and plausibly deniable (up to a\npoint).\n\n[0]: [http://underhanded-c.org](http://underhanded-c.org)\n\n~~~\neridius\nIf you clone a repo and cd into it, that's because you're going to actually do\nsomething in there. An install script that clones a repo, cd's into it, and\nthen does nothing is extremely suspicious. But a script that clones a repo,\ncd's into it, and runs `make install` isn't particularly suspicious, so once\nagain, there's no need for LD_LIBRARY_PATH.\n\n------\nHoushalter\nWhy is torchs install so weird? Why can't it use standard package management,\nand why does it need to install to my home directory? I'm not surprised to see\nit causes security issues.\n\n------\ntebruno99\nSo I'm less concerned about Torch and more concerned about GNU ld adding\nthings unexpected. This sort of \"magic\" shouldn't occur.\n\n~~~\nemmelaich\nIt's not specific to GNU ld, it is standard UNIX behaviour. Always has been.\n\nBut you're right it should not occur.\n\n------\nfoota\nSeems like this may almost have been better done through a disclosure channel\nwith torch?\n\n~~~\nmannykannot\nMaybe, but this particular issue has much wider scope, and is only\nincidentally a Torch issue. A disclosure by the Torch devs might have gone\nunnoticed by those who are not Torch users - I only read it because the HN\ntitle mentioned ls, and I thought \"that looks odd...\".\n\n------\nfslkjhjdfhgj4j\nwow! thats a gotcha, trailing : appends $(PWD) to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH\n\nThanks for sharing!\n\n------\nIshKebab\nHa, shitty text-based configuration systems strike again. Ask yourself if this\ncould have happened with Windows 10's PATH editor.\n\n~~~\nJadeNB\n> Ask yourself if this could have happened with Windows 10's PATH editor.\n\nYes …? Well, I dunno; I don't know how Windows 10's PATH editor works.\nNonetheless, the issue seems to be with magic interpretation of special\nconfiguration options, not with how those configuration options are entered.\n(Note also that the configuration was done programmatically, not by the user,\nso that there would have to be some kind of parse–deparse step anyway.)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nBad Programmers Are Not Good Programmers Who Are Slow - iamelgringo\nhttp://www.knowing.net/PermaLink,guid,f6755acf-e8df-4f32-8d53-39b9a01992f5.aspx\n\n======\nxenoterracide\nWhat if the guy who takes 5X to do the work has less bugs and more efficient\ncode and secure code? just because you code faster doesn't mean your code is\nbetter, in fact it is probably worse, because you didn't take your time.\n\nI'm merely saying that the speed you produce code is not directly related to\nit's quality. Release early and often does have it's merits. But that doesn't\nmean whip code out in an hour, and then fix bug after bug after bug.\n\n~~~\npchristensen\nThat's the point (even inferable from the title) - he'd take a good programmer\nwho was slow (like you describe) over the bad programmer, who is slow, and\nwrites bugs, and takes a long time to fix those bugs, and makes more work for\nother people. Fast good programmer > slow good programmer > fast bad\nprogrammer > slow good programmer.\n\n~~~\njimbokun\n\"Fast good programmer > slow good programmer > fast bad programmer > slow good\nprogrammer.\"\n\nGot a cycle in your graph :).\n\n~~~\npchristensen\nYikes. Let's try again.\n\n\"Fast good programmer > slow good programmer > fast bad programmer > slow bad\nprogrammer.\"\n\nLooks like that makes me a \"fast bad programmer\". Not bad for third place.\n\n------\njfalk\nHere is an article I like a lot that shows just how bad a bad programmer can\nbe. <http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000781.html>\n\nBasically to sum it up, the author mentions a very simple question that he\nasks potential programming candidates to solve. This kind of question is the\nkind of question you can solve by making it through two/three chapters in any\nprogramming book, yet the number of people, even senior level developers, that\ncan't get it is astonishing.\n\n~~~\nfendale\nI remember that article - I quickly reassured my self by writing fizz-buzz in\nPerl, Ruby and PLSQL (my three most used languages) - no great achievement,\nbut I am better than the majority of comp-sci grads apparently!\n\n------\nedw519\nJoel Spolsky has a real nice treatment of this:\n\n<http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/HighNotes.html>\n\nMy favorite line from that:\n\n\"Five Antonio Salieris won't produce Mozart's Requiem. Ever. Not if they work\nfor 100 years.\"\n\nNice analogy to programming.\n\n~~~\nhenning\nYes, it takes a real genius to work on bug tracking and project management.\n\n~~~\nmrtron\nAccidentally hit the up arrow instead of the down, so I will respond.\n\nHis bug tracking/pm software is actually quite good. He doesn't actually write\nsoftware anymore from what I understand. And attacking him personally doesn't\nchange the validity of his point.\n\n~~~\nhenning\nHow did I attack him personally? I didn't say he was stupid. I just don't like\nhis ridiculous, impossible elitist attitude towards hiring wherein, if you\ntake him at his word, approximately no one is good enough for him. Talking\nabout famous works of high art when you make your living off server-side\nsoftware that integrates email and version control through the browser is\nridiculous, too.\n\nThe lesson of his business is that you should try to produce boring, solid\nsoftware that solves problems in a very simple, straightforward fashion using\na handful of good ideas (maximize the probability of getting bugs in by, e.g.,\nnot having any required fields; prevent the improper use of metrics by not\nadding much reporting functionality). He has long, old release cycles that\nensures polished, stable software. This is not rockstar genius ninja work at\nall.\n\nThe Javascript wankery that's far beyond the capabilities of typical code\nmonkeys (the spellchecker, dragging and dropping columns in tables, etc) is\nthe least valuable part of FogBugz.\n\n~~~\ndreish\nI'll take a stab at an explanation.\n\nThis guy went to the trouble to gather data, chart it, try to show his readers\nsomething interesting, and your response is, \"He produces dull, reliable\nsoftware, so he can't know anything about who is a good software engineer.\"\n\nYou did not address his point, the validity of his data, or his reasoning. You\nsimply said that his argument is not valid because of who he is and what he\ndoes for a living.\n\nMaybe if you'd said something like, \"To the extent Spolsky's essay implies\nthat Fog Creek is a place where geniuses crank out the Requiem of software on\na daily basis, I disagree because X, Y, and Z,\" it might not have come across\nas an ad hominem attack on his point about the differences between good and\nbad programmers. Frankly I don't think many YC readers care about Fog Creek --\nthey're here for the more fundamental wisdom about programming.\n\n~~~\ncarterschonwald\nI think one point thats worth pointing out is that in a lot of Spolsky's\nopinions regarding whats good and bad CS seem to be highly influence by the\nfact that he couldn't cut it in terms of theoretical computer science\ncoursework back in college, or at least thats the sense i get from his\nwritings....\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThe cost of a logo - j21\nhttp://www.huhmagazine.co.uk/4140/the-cost-of-a-logo\n\n======\nlarrys\nThis was already posted here there other day:\n\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4401018>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Are there any services for collecting emails pre-launch? - Banekin\n\nI'd like to build up a little hype for a game I'm making by having a landing page with a video, and collecting emails before I launch.<p>Are there any good services that create something like this? I would make the page myself, but I think my time is better spent improving the app.<p>Thanks\n======\nmindcrime\nService to collect emails via a form you can embed in a page, and manage said\nmailing list? Yes. You can find a few mentioned on this page:\n\n<http://steveblank.com/tools-and-blogs-for-entrepreneurs/>\n\nFWIW, I chose MailChimp for that, but there are plenty of other choices.\n\nIf you want something that goes even further, that is, doing the page, video,\nand everything, plus email, then the answer is \"I'm not sure.\" Probably there\nare, but I haven't really looked.\n\nYou might find value in something like LaunchRock.com, but I'm not sure\nthey're exactly what you're looking for.\n\n~~~\nkatherinehague\nI'm a fan of MailChimp.\n\n------\njaymstr\nJameson from LaunchRock here. We're literally days away from doing a full roll\nout, but hit me up at jameson@launchrock.com, and I'll get you an immediate\ninvite. In order to do video, you'll need to use the widget on a page.\n\n------\njvdmeij\n<http://launcheffectapp.com> \\- A Wordpress theme for viral launches. Haven't\ntried it, looks nice though!\n\n------\nahsanhilal\nJust add a wufoo form:\n\n<http://wufoo.com/>\n\nI think you can redesign parts of the form with some basic html/css, to theme\nit according to your designs.\n\n------\nbrianbreslin\nAre you talking about something like <http://launchrock.com> ?\n\n~~~\nBanekin\nYes, but it looks like it's invite only right now?\n\n~~~\nsamgro\nYou just need to sign up 3 email addresses from your invite link. Nothing\nstops you from doing that with 3 of your own addresses.\n\n------\nandrewtbham\n<http://www.unbounce.com>\n\n~~~\nahsanhilal\nThat pricing is ridiculously expensive...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThis German Invention Supposedly Makes the Best Coffee You've Ever Tasted - prostoalex\nhttp://www.businessinsider.com/r-crowd-funded-coffee-machine-touts-taste-through-tech-2014-12\n======\nmmastrac\n\"Coffee bags will contain a microchip to start the machine and dictate the\nperfect brewing process.\"\n\nUhh pass. This is just a fancier and more expensive Keurig.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Inbox evolved: reach new levels of productivity - DarwinMailApp\nhttps://www.producthunt.com/posts/darwin-mail\n======\nDarwinMailApp\nHello HN\n\nI’m Joey, the maker of Darwin Mail.\n\n—\n\nDarwin Mail aims to help you be your most productive when dealing with emails\n& todos.\n\nProblem Inbox by Google was one of the best products they ever made. And then\nthey shut it down.\n\nSolution Introducing Darwin Mail, which aims to replace and become better than\nGoogle Inbox ever was.\n\nFeatures \\- Snoozing, Reminders, Dark Mode, Undo Send, Custom Backgrounds,\nTemplates, & much more according to your requests!\n[https://www.darwinmail.app/feedback.php](https://www.darwinmail.app/feedback.php)\n[https://twitter.com/joeytawadrous](https://twitter.com/joeytawadrous)\n\nDarwin Mail will evolve to become great over time, thanks to its users, and\nthanks to you.\n\nYou're welcome to join me on this journey ️\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "Ask HN: How can you know when you've handled all edge cases? - patmcguire\n======\nISL\nYou don't.\n\nIt is sufficient to handle every one you can imagine, and every one a\nreasonable amount of testing can encounter.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Best HTML5/Bootstrap/whatever WYSIWYG web editor? - TXV\nI need to prototype a bunch of web pages quickly. Actual minimally interactive web pages with decent layouts where I can wedge some JS in, but I don&#x27;t want to waste time cooking HTML and CSS stuff. Thanks\n======\nbrryant\nWebflow CTO here. Check out webflow.com. Lots of tutorial content as well to\nhelp you lay out pages: [https://university.webflow.com/lesson/intro-to-\nflexbox-layou...](https://university.webflow.com/lesson/intro-to-flexbox-\nlayout)\n\nFor a quick preview of what it's like to design in webflow, check out\n[https://flexboxgame.com](https://flexboxgame.com)\n\n------\napplecrazy\nWebflow is the only solution to come to mind right now. They have the power of\nPS with and high quality HTML export. I’ve heard it’s pretty good.\n\n(I’m not affiliated with them)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLambda School’s Misleading Promises - uptown\nhttps://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/02/lambda-schools-job-placement-rate-is-lower-than-claimed.html\n======\nsongzme\nI'm not a fan of bootcamps because I think a lot of them are more focused on\nmaking money than actually helping people who need help.\n\nLast year I decided to take action and started a free coding group at our\nlocal library: [https://www.meetup.com/San-\nJose-C0D3](https://www.meetup.com/San-Jose-C0D3)\n\nI show up before work every day (M-F at 8am) to help students who are learning\nhow to code. So far no students have gotten a job yet, but our group\nconsistently gets 4-8 students who show up promptly at 8am. I answer their\nquestions, give them guidance, and teach them best practices I follow as a\nsoftware engineer with 10 years of work experience. I ask for nothing in\nreturn except the joy of students going \"ahhh\" when something clicked for\nthem.\n\nThings are still early for us, but my dream is to inspire other software\nengineers to help create a free and open learning center at their local\nlibraries so people have an alternative to coding bootcamps.\n\n~~~\nchrisseaton\n> I'm not a fan of bootcamps because I think a lot of them are more focused on\n> making money than actually helping people\n\nThis idea doesn't pass a common sense test to me - I'm sure bootcamps can be\nprofitable, but the people running them are used to building things that\nscale. Bootcamps definitely don't scale. If these tech people were looking to\nget-rich-quick they surely wouldn't be running a school, of all things, even a\nprofitable one.\n\n~~~\nglenngillen\nI did some back-of-the-envelope numbers on the one I came into contact with\npreviously (also keep in mind this was 6 years ago now too!):\n\n20-30x students per cohort who paid ~$20K upfront for a 12 week program. 20%\nsigning fee (based on 1st year comp) from employer on placement.\n\nWe definitely were not paying top of market as some of these students ended up\nat Uber and Facebook. That said the all in 1st year cost between base +\nsigning bonus + equity wasn't much short of $200K. So:\n\n30 * $20K + 28 * $200K * 20% = $1.72M/cohort\n\nAs for outgoings, all of the mentors were volunteers. As were most of the\ninstructors. The content is mostly a one-time sunk cost to produce and is\nredelivered across cohorts. The largest overhead would have been a building\nlease. The biggest constraint on growth is how large you can make a cohort or\nhow many cohorts you run (either multiple per year, or opening new locations).\n\nReally felt like a bit of a racket that had found what was almost an\narbitrage: between the inability of Bay Area companies to find local talent,\nthe huge costs and risk associated trying to relocate people via H1B, and the\ndesire for people to re-skill at any cost because tech jobs/salaries were\ndistorting everything else in their city.\n\nSure it's not a $1B outcome. It's a pretty profitable and repeatable business,\nand especially given the limited downside risk (mostly carried by the\nstudents, who've already paid).\n\n~~~\nshalmanese\nI've had a look at the books at a few different types of training style\ncompanies and the economics are always grim. It's one of those businesses\nwhere to the outsider, it's impossible to believe they're not spinning off\nunbelievable amounts of cash but they are always pretty marginal.\n\nAs additional evidence for this, the number of 1B+ exits in this space can be\ncounted on one hand. General Assembly, for example, was acquired for ~$400M\nand it was one of the largest players. There was a player from Utah whose name\neludes me now that had a, I think, ~$2B exit but that might be the only one.\n\n~~~\ndathanb82\n> There was a player from Utah whose name eludes me now that had a, I think,\n> ~$2B exit but that might be the only one.\n\nAre you thinking of Instructure? They're based in Salt Lake City, and\nMarketwatch gives their current market cap as $1.86B\n\n~~~\nshalmanese\nYeah, I'm pretty sure that was the one, thanks!\n\n------\nraiyu\nI've had a fair amount of experience with coding boot camps having have helped\nseveral friends and coworkers apply, get accepted, attend, and complete\nbootcamps across various cities and institutions.\n\nThe idea of bootcamps is fantastic, they allow people that may have not been\nexposed to computer science to get up to speed on technology and transition\ncareers.\n\nHowever, there are several problems. First and foremost, while 3-6-9 months\nare great when you are going from zero knowledge, the challenge is that isn't\nenough time to really be a junior developer unless you have prior experience.\nSo you will need to continue to augment your education after graduation to\nensure that you get a well paying job.\n\nMost people attending bootcamps are doing so after college and later in life,\nwhich means even though some bootcamps are cheaper than attending a semester\nor a full year of college they are still quite expensive because the students\nare not \"students\" in that they are usually adults and need to figure out how\nto pay for school, attend classes, while effectively receiving zero income.\n\nAnd applying for loans is much more complex because this isn't the same as\ntaking out student debt for college.\n\nThe second issue is that all of these bootcamps say that they are for\nbeginners with zero knowledge, but looking over their curriculums that simply\nisn't the case. Software engineering has gotten much more complex over the\npast decade. When I first started fumbling around with it myself I could just\nwrite some PHP or Perl code, and get up and running quickly. Today you need to\nknow about github, javascript libraries, frameworks, and the typical \"Hello\nWorld\" application isn't a direct route.\n\nMost of these schools don't realize that their first students are already\nexposed to these concepts, but later students aren't so they don't really\nadjust their curriculum.\n\nWith lambda in particular it also is a bit confusing because the school is\nonline. Which should mean that you are able to provide the service for a lower\ncost, but they are charging the same amount as in person physically attended\nschools.\n\nThere are a lot of deceptive practices in the industry, lambda isn't alone,\nsuch as taking recent grads and giving them low paying jobs as TA (teacher\nassistants) so that they can provide help to students at a lower cost while\nalso allowing the school to claim that they have higher placement.\n\nThe curriculums are really dependent on a per school basis, but I have seen a\nbunch of stuff that simply doesn't make sense and makes it more challenging\nfor students.\n\nOne school had students do a group project, which wouldn't count as part of\ntheir final for the first \"mod\" of the school. However they continued to teach\nthings that you need for the final which would be a personal project. If you\ngot assigned to a bad team you would be working much slower and not able to\nkeep up and then your final which has nothing to do with a group determines\nwhether you proceed or repeat the course (they charge you to repeat). Also\nit's important to note that 50% of the students didn't pass the first mod,\nwhich means you have a 50% chance of being on a slow team that would hamper\nyour learning. Their advice was that it is important to learn to pair, and I\nagree, but when you get to your first job you are pairing with people that\nhave experience, not where your partner has a 50% chance of failing out.\n\nI firmly believe that bootcamps and providing secondary education choices are\nessential and if done correctly can really begin to combat the monopoly that\ncolleges hold over education, but it's a challenging mission.\n\nWith education there are student loans that you can take out and I think that\nis essential to get this going in the US because it is simply impossible for\nmost people to not have any income and still pay for schooling for even 6\nmonths, much less a longer period of time.\n\nThe other challenge is that you really need to have 3 terms. Beginner,\nintermediate, advanced. Each student can then apply based on skill set to\ndetermine where they place and students can move from one to the next, with\neach section being 4-5 months. If you did 15 months of education you would be\nmuch better off than what the school provides. It's great to get from zero to\none in terms of knowledge, but students are still left far from having skills\nthat are immediately beneficial to employers.\n\nThere's definitely more work that needs to be done.\n\nAs for Lambda itself, when you look at how other coding bootcamps have fared\nfinancially it doesn't paint a rosy picture. It's a challenging space to\noperate and the VC style returns simply aren't there. If you want to offer an\nonline only education that is fantastic but you have places like codecademy\nthat do that and also do not charge you $30k for the privilege of basically\naccessing information that is online for free.\n\nThe challenge with coding is that it really is much easier to get going when\nyou have someone you can ask questions from, so helping to improve that aspect\nof it while providing it online at a low cost is really the challenge.\n\n~~~\nhintymad\nJust curious, what's wrong with a community college? It's cheap. It's\nflexible. Its admission rate is practically 100%. Its courses are not worse\nthan a code camp's. My relative went to a CC, and I reviewed his course work.\nCCs does not spend much time teaching all the fundamentals, but they do teach\nsome. In their data structure course, they don't teach student why two pivots\nare not better than a single pivot in quicksort nor do they cover discrete\nprobability or classic complexity analysis extensively, but they do teach (and\npractice!) asymptotic complexity and why vanilla quick-sort may perform badly.\nThey don't teach students how to prove the boundary conditions of ODE, but\nthey do teach intuition and how to solve and apply a wide variety of ODEs. The\nexamples can go on. They also hire teachers from industry to teach courses on\ndata processing, frontend engineering, and etc.\n\nWith the belief that education is all about laying solid foundation for life-\nlong learning, for job or not, I don't really see any need for coding camps.\nI'm not denying there are success stories, but I don't see coding camps make\nstatistical sense.\n\n~~~\nraiyu\nI think community colleges are great, and if you can get one on one\ninstruction anywhere it is fantastic. The challenge is that bootcamps are\nreally designed for people who are changing careers. Which means they have\nalready gone through college or actively working. So it becomes an issue\nbecause they are reliant on income to survive and they aren't living with\ntheir parents.\n\nBasically it's unplanned and so much harder to able to commit two years.\n\nCertainly do-able, but challenging when you are thinking of it from a consumer\nperspective. Spend two years working towards a career shift or get it done in\n6 months.\n\nMaybe community colleges can do a better job of marketing themselves.\n\nBut ultimately I think the fact that computer science isn't a requirement in\nall education is criminal. We study \"Math\" and \"English\" in school. \"Computer\nScience\" is the equivalent of math 100 years ago, it needs to be a mandated\nrequirement.\n\n~~~\nsuperduperuser\n\"\" Computer Science\" is the equivalent of math 100 years ago...\"\n\nWould mind expanding on that?\n\n~~~\nraiyu\nYou can't live in the modern world today without understanding math.\n\nYou also can't live in the modern world without language and the ability to\ncommunicate.\n\nTo me math is a language. Different than our verbal languages, but it is still\na language none the less and essential.\n\nProgramming to me is also a language. And it is as essential today as math was\noriginally. There was a long period of history where lower economic classes\nwere prevented from learning and educating themselves and the fact that we\nhave education that is subsidized by the government to various levels in all\nmajor countries is something that we take for granted, but it wasn't a right\nthat our ancestors had.\n\nThe way schools force all kids to learn math, I feel is how schools today\nshould force all kids to learn programming and computer science.\n\n------\nkostyal\nI'm a current student at Lambda School. It's a pretty stressful time at the\nmoment - I don't have any loyalty to Lambda, but the recent string of damaging\nstories about the quality of teaching and average graduates is concerning.\n\nIt's true that Lambda is incredibly disorganised and the build weeks etc are\nchaotic. Equally true that they don't do a good enough job of ensuring we have\nsomething to show for ourselves on our portfolio.\n\nIt's also true that their admission standards are seemingly incredibly lax.\nAbout 40% of my cohort struggle to code at a fundamental level - I don't mean\nthat harshly, it's Lambda's fault\n\nWith that said, I've really enjoyed my time at Lambda overall and it saddens\nme to see it fail like this. The atmosphere and internal culture that they\ncultivated is second to none and I have enjoyed my time there a lot.\n\nAs with many people at Lambda, I joined them at a difficult time of my life,\nwhen I was suffering from pretty severe depression. I knew I loved coding but\nbarely spent any time doing it and struggled with impostor syndrome, etc.\n\nWhile at Lambda I benefitted hugely from the daily structure and discipline,\nand from having a community of people in the same position as me. I've made\nsome great friends, and met some very smart and talented people.\n\nWhat pains me is the embarrassment of appearing like some clueless fool who\ngot caught up in some get-rich-quick scheme. I love programming, and I just\nwanted a structured curriculum to train as a professional.\n\n~~~\n_ah\n> What pains me is the embarrassment of appearing like some clueless fool who\n> got caught up in some get-rich-quick scheme. I love programming, and I just\n> wanted a structured curriculum to train as a professional.\n\nDon't let this stop you. The world needs more good engineers, and if you\npractice your craft you will always find a home. There are plenty of industry\nprofessionals who now look a bit silly for their choice of company (Uber,\nWeWork) but ultimately it's all just a job and if you have the raw skills you\ncan find a new gig.\n\n------\ncaust1c\nHaving friends in the program, I can tell you it's run like a circus.\n\nExpecting 10 people who don't have any experience programming to cooperate on\na project without any support or oversight is just asking for student\nfailures.\n\nOf course they'll say that the students have supports through their PMs, EMs\nor TLs (depending on the mood, they change the role title), but they're never\navailable and miss meetings constantly. Also, they've reogranized the\ncurriculum multiple times during the tenure of my friends, and don't wait till\nthe next batch like a sane school would.\n\nI feel really bad for the excellent teachers they brought on board. They ended\nup with a lot more than they bargained for.\n\nHalf or more of the program is composed of the crappy group projects.\n\nThe people who succeed after lambda school is in spite of the program, not\nbecause of it.\n\n~~~\nsriram_sun\nI agree with almost everything you say. However all the college projects I was\npart of, there was no supervision whatsoever. We were all children learning to\nbe adults. Some of us were already there before others. I'm guessing lambda\nstudents are more adults than kids. Bottom line, TA support is golden.\nSupervision, not so much.\n\n~~~\nseem_2211\nThis is a golden example of where in person beats online. It's so much easier\nto weed out the people who will not show up when you do things in person (and\nthere are plenty of those in College). But even diligent people are more\nlikely to flake when things are online. There's simply less commitment.\n\n------\nhundt\n> Whether or not this counts as “selling” strikes me as a meaningless semantic\n> distinction: Either way, the school receives some money up front and an\n> investor shoulders some of the risk of the ISA not paying out. And either\n> way, Lambda School students don’t know that the school isn’t as incentive-\n> aligned with them as the school’s marketing indicates.\n\nIt is certainly not meaningless! Selling an ISA means that Lambda no longer\nhas any financial interest in its outcome. Borrowing against an ISA is\ncompletely different; if the ISA doesn't pay out then Lambda goes bankrupt,\nwhich is precisely the incentive alignment they claim to have.\n\n~~~\nraiyu\nIt is selling, because the loan is backed by the ISA. Which means if Lambda\ncan not repay the loan, the loaning company now owns the ISA and can use any\nsort of aggressive tactics to get the student to repay their ISA.\n\nJust like if you take out a mortgage on a house and fail to pay the loan back,\nthen the bank owns the house.\n\nIn this case since the ISA is used as collateral, the company that originated\nthe loan now owns a lien on the ISA, effectively giving it ownership.\n\nSimilar to when you lease a car, there is a company that provides the finances\nfor the lease, and has a lien on the car, which means you do not own it.\nOtherwise you could lease a car for $250/mo, then sell it the next day for\n$30k, but you can't because there is a lien on the title.\n\nSo in this case, while the loan is outstanding, the originating loan company\neffectively owns the asset used for collateral. Ownership means you have 100%\ncontrol over the asset, and in this case, Lambda has given away 100% control\nover the ISA.\n\nIt also means that they are not aligned anymore, since they have received\nfinancial compensation for the ISA up front, they can default on their\nrepayment of the loan as it doesn't matter because the collateral aren't\nshares in their company, but just the ISA itself.\n\n~~~\nhundt\nYou seem to think that this \"loan\" that the investor makes to Lambda School\nonly has to be paid back when the ISAs pay out, and if they never pay out then\nLambda School's debt is just forgiven. That would indeed be similar to just\nselling the ISAs to the investors, but I don't think that's what is described\nin the article (as Lambda School's current practice). Rather the article says\nthat Lambda School gets a \"loan that is secured by students' ISAs\" which\nimplies that Lambda School has to pay it back with or without the income from\nthe ISAs.\n\n~~~\nraiyu\nSecured by the is the part I focused on. When a loan is secured by something,\nthe underlying asset is what the loan originating company retains after you\nfail to pay for the loan.\n\nSo if I take out a mortgage, and fail to pay for it, the bank gets the house,\nI am not still obligated to pay the remaining loan amount. Sure there are a\nfew other items that occur in that process, but ultimately the loan is\nforgiven, of course with some credit penalties and future ability to take out\nloans. But I am not responsible to continue repaying the loan.\n\nIf the loan is secured by the ISA the same thing applies here. Sure there\ncould be other stipulations and without reviewing the contracts there is no\nway to know, but stands to reason that the more likely situation is that they\nget the ISA and then can use aggressive tactics to go after the students for\ncollections such as garnishing wages and also potentially charging them an\ninterest for failure to repay. Though the original ISA believe has no\ninterest, that's not to say that late penalties or other fees can't be added\nin later potentially.\n\n~~~\nhundt\nAh, I think you have a misunderstanding about what collateral is. Collateral\nis not generally a limitation on the lender's ability to collect the debt. In\nsome specific cases (like certain home loans in certain states) the law adds\nthis limitation but generally collateral is just something the lender can take\nin the event of default.\n\nTo bring up the car loan example you mentioned earlier, if you decide after a\nyear that you don't want your car anymore you can't just drive it to your bank\nand drop it off instead of paying off the rest of the loan. If you stop paying\nit they can repossess it but you will still owe whatever is left on your loan\nbalance after they auction it.\n\n------\nakanet\nHi, I'm the author of the piece, perhaps better known here as founder of\nCoderPad. Feel free to ask me anything but things are a bit crazy right now!\n\n~~~\nintherdfield\nI don't think you mentioned that the student doesn't have to pay back Lambda\nafter 60 months of deferred payments. That seems important. From the Lambda\nsite:\n\n\"The income share agreement has no interest. It's a flat percentage that goes\naway once you've reached the $30k payment cap, you've made 24 payments, or\nafter 60 months of deferred payments (even if you haven't paid us anything).\"\n\nBut you wrote in the article:\n\n\"Students with no safety nets experience real financial pain from the nine-\nmonth hiatus from work, in addition to the looming dread of possibly having to\npay Lambda $30K one day.\"\n\n~~~\nakanet\nYeah, got cut for brevity, but students definitely experience serious anxiety\nabout even the five year horizon.\n\n~~~\nintherdfield\nThat seems really disingenuous. Can't you update the article with this\nimportant detail?\n\n~~~\nakanet\nIt's not disingenuous; I think an earlier draft had it. This came down from\n4000 words. I'll try to ask my editor to add this as a correction but things\nare pretty hectic. It's a fairly minor omission in my opinion, but I\nunderstand disagreeing.\n\n~~~\ntomhoward\nIt's hardly a \"fairly minor omission\" in a country where the conventional\ntertiary education saddles the average student with a debt that is often far\nbigger than $30k, doesn't expire, and cannot be escaped even through\nbankruptcy, meaning that even retirement benefits can be garnished above a\nmeagre $750/month.\n\n------\nsoneca\nI learned to code from scratch using freeCodeCamp.org, tutorials and official\ndocumentation. Got a good job after 8 months studying full-time. Almost 3\nyears now and everything is good (more details on my experience here:\n[https://rodrigohgpontes.github.io](https://rodrigohgpontes.github.io)).\n\nAs a totally outsider (not even from the US), Lambda School seemed too good to\nbe true, in a good way, and I said so here in HN. 9 months of serious\ncommitment, no upfront payment, ISA, all of it seemed good to me.\n\nThese days, I don't think the same way. Lambda School and it's founder seem\nmore worried about being a billion dollar company than doing the right thing\nfor its students. Personally, that's strategically stupid and counter-\nproductive. They won't be a billion dollar company because they don't care\nabout their students. But it looks like the direction they took. This mistake\nis not inherent to VC ventured companies or Silicon Valley, so I think the\nones to blame are Lambda leaders, not the system.\n\nSo, I still recommend freeCodeCamp.org as the best thing that exists for\npeople that want to learn to code and get a job. I wish some of these\neffective philanthropy multi millionaire would give them generous money to\npursue their mission.\n\nIt changed my life.\n\n------\npembrook\nWhile I find Lambda’s incessant twitter evangelizing as annoying as the next\nguy, I’m not sure any article I’ve seen is painting a realistic picture about\nLambda.\n\nMedia outlets have incentives to either paint you as the second coming of\nChrist or as Satan. It appears Lambda, for a while, actually succeeded at\nconvincing journalists they were the former.\n\nAfter a while, people get bored with that though. The incentives that drive\nclicks flip. Suddenly Lambda is now Satan. Burn it down! Downvote all\nsympathizers!\n\nHere’s the reality: all models for education can work for certain people in\ncertain instances. Lambda is definitely the best choice for some people. But\nno single company is going to solve something like “education” or “healthcare”\nbecause they are political institutions tied to the power dynamics that\ndetermine how society is arranged. You cannot brute force this without gaining\ninfluence over government itself.\n\nThis is not as simple as disrupting where people buy their shampoo or where\nthey see ads.\n\n~~~\nraiyu\nThere are always two sides to every story, but when you have outright\nfraudulent claims I don't think you can say that the article is simply\npainting the school as \"Satan\"\n\nIf you stated that you have an 86% placement record and in reality it is 50%,\nthat is a pretty large discrepancy. If the original 86% placement was from the\nfirst 70-ish students and now you are over 2500 students, that seems a bit\nfraudulent.\n\nIf placement rates aren't critical to you getting students, then you can say\nit is 50% publicly and see if that affects your enrollment numbers or not.\nOtherwise, it would stand to reason that stating a higher placement rate gets\nyou more students.\n\nAlso, this isn't run a a non-profit organization, its a for-profit enterprise.\nSo they have a financial incentive to get more students because that equates\nto more value for them.\n\n~~~\npembrook\nCherry picking a strong cohort and using it to create a narrative is the same\nthing as cherry picking a weak cohort and doing the opposite.\n\nThis is my point. Journalists are picking a narrative first, then seeking out\nfacts to justify that position.\n\nWhen they thought lambda was going to fix education they were more than happy\nto report the 86% number without any research. Now that lambda is “evil” they\nlook for the lowest number they can find.\n\nI’m sure the truth is somewhere in the middle.\n\n~~~\nraiyu\nThe other wasn't a weak cohort. It was the most recent data.\n\nAlso if you were an institution interested in disclosing information fairly\nyou would simply list all cohorts and let the consumer decide.\n\nBut they aren't doing that and instead claim a single number.\n\nBy the way, having had recent experiences with a number of bootcamps through\nfriends I would say that the 50% number anecdotally is accurate. That's also\nnot taking in to account the drop out rate. If you look at people starting the\nbootcamp to placement it would be even lower.\n\nIf you have 465,000 customers and you want to round that up to 500k - ok, not\nexactly true, but whether you have 465k or 500k isn't going to change my\ndecision about using your product.\n\nTelling me you place 80% of your students and actually placing 50% is a big\ndeal. 80% means I have a 4 out of 5 chance of being successful. 50% means I\nhave a 1 out of 2 chance of being successful. Those odds are very different\nand certainly part of the marketing push to get people to sign up.\n\n------\nlquist\nDoesn't surprise me. Culture starts at the top. Austen has repeatedly proven\nto be a liar (this article has a few examples and you can find others in\nVerge's reporting) and that culture has been normalized at Lambda.\n\n------\nbrenden2\nFrom seeing this guy's (Allred's) tweets pop up on twitter a few time, I\nalways got the feeling that he was a scammer or con artist. This article\nprovides a lot of evidence that seems to confirm my hunch.\n\nI've seen people have success in startups using similar tactics throughout my\ncareer, and one realization I've had about this is that sometimes perception\nmatters more than the actual numbers. It's especially true when it comes to\ninvesting and VC fueled businesses where success tends to follow the funding\n(i.e., if you get enough money you can buy your way to success).\n\nEventually, however, everything comes out in the wash. At some point lying\nabout the numbers won't work anymore, and maybe for Allred this is an example\nof that. As a founder, if you don't eventually deliver on what you've\npromised, it will all unwind and you'll be left with nothing.\n\n~~~\nseem_2211\nTaking a more benign view, I don't know if Austen is a scammer, but he seems\nlike a smart guy, who's a bit over his head, with a smart team, who are in\nover their heads. The kind of students they've targeted need more help, not\nless, which makes this a bit of a messy situation.\n\n------\ndanso\nThe author also posted a 50-minute audio clip of his interview with Austen\nAllred:\n[https://twitter.com/fulligin/status/1230162120701964289](https://twitter.com/fulligin/status/1230162120701964289)\n\n~~~\nFede_V\nThis is exceptionally good. Fantastic journalism.\n\n------\nhundt\nInterestingly, Lambda School has just announced a new \"ISA Financing\nBlueprint\" [0] and \"Better Data Transparency\" [1] which address some of the\nconcerns from the article.\n\n[0] [https://lambdaschool.com/the-commons/announcing-our-new-\nisa-...](https://lambdaschool.com/the-commons/announcing-our-new-isa-\nfinancing-blueprint-and-100m-in-new-financing)\n\n[1] [https://lambdaschool.com/the-commons/building-better-data-\ntr...](https://lambdaschool.com/the-commons/building-better-data-transparency-\nat-lambda-school)\n\n------\nwbharding\nMildly interesting how this story has gotten 130 points in two hours but is\nstill placed beneath numerous other HN front page stories with less points in\nmore time. Not least since the incentives of YC would be to want this story\ndead. In the 5 mins it took me to login on mobile it dropped from 15 to 25.\n\n~~~\ndang\nThe submission hit some software penalties, like HN's flamewar detector.\nModerators didn't touch it or even see it until a few minutes ago (I'm getting\na late start this \"morning\"), when I saw it and turned off that penalty. This\nplaced the article back on the HN front page.\n\nWe moderate HN less, not more, when YC or YC-funded startups are in a story.\nThat's literally the first principle of HN moderation, in the sense that it's\nthe first thing PG told me when he was training me to do this in 2012. I\ndidn't even have time to grab a chair before he blurted it out.\n\nIt's natural for people to question this, so such questions will always come\nup. We're scrupulous about following this rule for two reasons. The first is\nthat we need to be able to answer the questions in good conscience; the second\nis that moderating any other way would be dumb. The community's trust is the\nmost valuable asset HN has. In fact, if you think about it, it's the only\nasset HN has.\n\n[https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...](https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=by%3Adang%20moderate%20less%20not%20more%20yc&sort=byDate&type=comment)\n\n------\nDantesKite\nIt’s interesting how learning to code is so challenging. Especially because\nit’s something humans make. Over the past few years, coders have been\nabstracting the complexity away, but man there’s a lot of it.\n\nOn a more meta level, it feels like we’ve barely touched the margins of how\nhumans learn best. That’s always struck me as odd.\n\nLike nobody has quite cracked the nut for how to do it. Not with programming,\nnot with language, not with cooking. It’s always so much effort. As if the\nlessons people have learned are forgotten as soon as a few years pass.\n\nWe know a little bit. Spaced repetition helps. Not doing anything after\nstudying intensely helps (as in literally just doing nothing after studying\nimproves retention).\n\nGoing for long walks helps. So does transforming concepts into something you\ncan see (I suspect because we have a lot of “machinery” for visual\ncomputations).\n\nEngaging more of your muscles during an activity (writing as opposed to\ntyping) helps too.\n\nEngaging extra senses (like smell) seems to help.\n\nBut that’s about it. There’s no common modality, no library of how humans\nlearn, retain, and transfer knowledge.\n\nIt’s been like what? 200,000 years since we’ve been on this planet.\n\nWe’ve barely touched the surface of what we’re capable of doing because we\nkeep forgetting.\n\n~~~\njacques_chester\n> _On a more meta level, it feels like we’ve barely touched the margins of how\n> humans learn best. That’s always struck me as odd._\n\nIt's very well studied. I'd start by reading a cognitive science textbook and\ngo from there. I have _Cognition_ by Reisberg[0], it was well-written and\nwell-structured.\n\nAlternatively, an entertaining and informative popular account is _Make It\nStick_ by Brown, Roediger and McDaniel[1].\n\nI do agree that the research findings are greatly underapplied, though.\n\n[0] [https://www.amazon.com/Cognition-Exploring-Science-Mind-\nSeve...](https://www.amazon.com/Cognition-Exploring-Science-Mind-\nSeventh/dp/0393624137/)\n\n[1] [https://www.amazon.com/Make-Stick-Science-Successful-\nLearnin...](https://www.amazon.com/Make-Stick-Science-Successful-\nLearning/dp/0674729013)\n\n~~~\nDantesKite\nI enjoyed the second book recommendation. Looks promising.\n\nThank you.\n\n------\ncodegeek\nI could be wrong but isn't Lamdba School a perfect example of destroying a\nnoble idea due to the venture capitalish returns expected from the company ?\nIf there wasn't so much pressure to grow that fast, perhaps they would have\ndone a better job focussing on the quality and outcomes instead of growth at\nany cost ?\n\n~~~\ncaust1c\nReading history about the founder, I think he had his eyes set on massive\ngrowth from the outset over the actual experience.\n\nHe got starry-eyed working in growth at LendUp and wanted to build his own\nrocket ship. I don't think he ever put the students above running a trendy\nfast-growing startup.\n\n------\nkregasaurusrex\nSince the original HN post[0] is about 2.5 years old now, one would expect\nthere to be more data released by LS regarding job placement/salaries before a\npotential student would sign a $30,000 ISA. I've been a fan of the idea of up-\nskilling at a bootcamp for those who either don't want to spend 4 years\ngetting a CS degree or being unable to finance its associated costs which can\nbe in excess of $75,000. In an increasingly tight labor market, there's fewer\njobs available in the 'middle' where companies seem to be either wanting an\nexperienced SME in a specific domain or less-experienced programmers to do\ntesting rather than development.\n\nI think the bundling and selling of student CDOs works for a company in its\nearly stages, since the costs for recovering unpaid tuition can range from\nhigh to being declared a total loss. Some of the anecdotes make it seem like\nthe company doesn't receive enough feedback from employers in order to\nstrengthen parts of their curriculum that make interviewees fail at some\nstages during the interview process. Creating a complete curriculum takes more\nthan bundling together Leetcode and Hackerrank problems, where the actual\nteaching reflects that bootcamps and a CS education aren't in direct parity\nwith one another. [1]\n\nRegarding the finances, student loan debt through an established institution\ncan't be removed through filing for bankruptcy. This allows access to federal\nloans and underwriters that give better rates and agreements for all the\nbusiness parties invloved. I've been denied refinancing my loans from multiple\ncompanies for a combination of those effects including not graduating and\nhaving too low of an income. The business seems like a good idea but too\nfixated on higher short-term valuations in order to attract VC capital; rather\nthan fixing its underlying structural problems.\n\n[0]\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15011033](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15011033)\n\n[1] [https://hackernoon.com/bootcamps-vs-\ncollege-11dd76a4d127](https://hackernoon.com/bootcamps-vs-\ncollege-11dd76a4d127)\n\n------\nMivLives\nLambda grad with a job, who also worked as a PM/TL.\n\nOverall I think they're trying.\n\nThe problem with the PM/TL program is the people who are normally the best at\nit tend to be the best at finding jobs. The TLs that stick around forever tend\nto be ones that aren't the best or the worst who are normally replaced when\nsomeone complains. Instead it's the okay people who are just cruising.\n\nOne thing that seems to be overlooked about Lambda is the fact that they are\nremote. An applicant from the middle of nowhere who lives hours from the\nnearest city has as much chance of getting in as anyone. It can be harder to\nfind a job there and they won't relocate. Remote work is much harder to get in\nas a junior dev.\n\nOverall though, I wouldn't be in the position I'm currently in without them\nthough. Maybe I just made it in before the line, maybe they're just undergoing\ngrowing pains as expand to a profitable size.\n\n------\nmikekij\nI don't have an informed opinion on Lambda School, but it seems as though most\nof the concerns raised in this article are true of universities as well, and\nin some cases, worse in universities:\n\nLambda makes money through some financial engineering : Ivy league schools are\nessentially hedge funds with their multibillion-dollar endowments\n\nLambda's curriculum is lacking : Most CS students are taught theory, but learn\nvery few of the skills they'll actually need on the job ( e.g. application\ndeployment, source code management, etc.)\n\nLambda inflates its job placement stats : This is never defensible, but also\nhighly prevalent in both non-profit and for-profit higher education\ninstitutions.\n\nI commend Austen for at least attempting to better align students' and\neducators' financial incentives.\n\n~~~\nsjc33\nLambda School didn't invent the ISA.\n\n------\nxwowsersx\nI co-started LS before it was in YC. Here's the original course I taught\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnUp9BNCQZM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnUp9BNCQZM)\nWeird seeing stories about it now.\n\n~~~\nmattcdrake\nAre the other videos in this series publicly available? You are great at\nexplaining things.\n\n~~~\nxwowsersx\nThanks! I'm not sure where the other videos are (I don't see them on my\nYoutube). I'll see if I can dig them up.\n\n------\nfronofro\nThere are inherent limitations to edu that go unacknowledged.\n\n\\- There are a relatively fixed number of high skill jobs.\n\n\\- More people with the same skills/portfolio reduces the value of that\nskill/portfolio.\n\n\\- While people can learn new skills, people have different learning rates and\nintegrating that knowledge deeply often takes much longer than\nteachers/bootcamps want to believe.\n\n\\- Most edu info exists for free online, what school/bootcamps uniquely\nprovide is feedback. Quality feedback is HARD to scale.\n\n\\- How much does pre-application screening find people who don't really need\nthat much help vs trying to help every applicant and getting unmotivated\npeople in your bootcamp. I have seen very few examples of a bootcamp\nfundamentally changing someones motivation/work ethic.\n\nISAs will be the big winner in the ed tech space and providers of education\nwill likely come and go unless someone cracks all the issues above. Perhaps\nthe current distribution of students to universities (having plurality) is\nactually more suited to serving this function than a typical tech world power\nlaw distribution where one or two companies would provide 80% of the edu.\n\n------\n_hardwaregeek\nThe more I think about bootcamps, the more they appear to be a rather\ninsulting business proposition. Did they genuinely believe that one can take\nsomeone off the street, albeit someone relatively intelligent and motivated,\nand teach them enough to be a professional programmer in 9 months? Imagine\nthat we replaced programmer with mechanical engineer. Or with marketing\nexecutive. Would that sound believable?\n\nWhat is it about programming that makes people believe that they can learn it\nin a hilariously short amount of time? Sure, we programmers may be harboring\nsome imposter syndrome and secretly believe that programming is super easy.\nSure, programming doesn't require lots of math. But it's still hard! It's\nstill a craft that requires problem solving ability, lots of semi-arcane\nknowledge and a detail oriented mind.\n\n~~~\nsean2\nI don't think we could pump out the well rounded developers like 4 years of\nundergrad can, but I don't see how we couldn't pump out SQL technicians,\nfront-end developers, or otherwise specialized workers that could alleviate\nthe supposed shortage of developers.\n\nI also helped a person go from zero knowledge of programming to pumping out\nandroid games in a month of self study. So I know that smart, motivated people\ncan get pretty far pretty fast. In regards to your point, I don't think this\nperson knows UML or ever learned big O notation, but this person was able to\ngain the skills required to do what they wanted, plus some pro-programmer\nfriends and stackoverflow to fill in the \"semi-arcane knowledge\" when\nrequired.\n\n~~~\n_hardwaregeek\nI think we can pump out good _apprentices_. After 9 months of study, the\nperson could definitely have enough skills to write semi-valid code and work\non some small projects with supervision from a developer. However I would not\ncall this person after 9 months a developer. A developer should be able to\nlook at a codebase, learn it, learn the relevant technologies and start\ncontributing. I doubt a bootcamp graduate will be able to do that. Or worse,\nthey'll do that and wreak havoc on the codebase.\n\n> front-end developers\n\nI suspect this is part of the issue. Plenty of people believe that front-end\nis easier or lesser than back-end, and therefore can be learned quickly. Lots\nand lots of terrible front-end code has taught me that this is not true. Good\nfront-end developers are really hard to find and subpar ones can lead to\nhorrible user interfaces and direct impact to the bottom line. Even if we're\ntalking the most minimal of front-end stacks, i.e. HTML, CSS and JS, which,\nI'm not even sure people hire for anyways, there's a lot of subtle issues with\naccessibility, responsive UI, writing halfway decent JS, etc. If we add on the\nvarious libraries (a sign of a good developer is also knowing when to use\nthese libs and when to avoid them), then the amount of knowledge required is\nfar far more than 9 months can provide.\n\n------\ntaytus\nAusten has totally disappeared from twitter. He used to tweet all the time\nabout their _AMAZING_ success rate.\n\n~~~\nprawn\nHe was also quick in the past to post about LS on HN but no comment in this\nthread at all. Might be responding in blog form and outlining a few changes\nthey're making to address the concerns?\n\n------\nrajacombinator\nThere are plenty of red flags in the article but the part about Lambda selling\nthe ISAs removing their incentive is BS - their long term incentives are\nclearly still aligned because they won’t be able to continue selling ISAs if\nthey don’t deliver. Selling the ISAs presumably just helps with cash flow.\nThat said it makes one wonder why a company that’s raised 9 figures needs to\nworry about cash flow.\n\n------\nabbadadda\nThis anecdote is particularly damning for Lambda School, like a hedge fund\nchoosing not to update their investment return numbers year after year because\nthey were so great in year 1:\n\n> So where does that 86 percent figure come from? Lambda has reported\n> graduate-outcome statistics at the Council on Integrity in Results Reporting\n> (CIRR), a voluntary trade organization of coding boot camps whose purpose is\n> to ensure that participating schools publish truthful information about\n> student outcomes. Allred has often used this report to defend his company\n> online. But where other boot camps have multiple reports spanning many\n> student cohorts, Lambda has only reported statistics for its first 71\n> graduates — 86 percent of who, the school claims, found jobs. Sheree\n> Speakman, the CEO of CIRR, told me that Lambda has not undergone the\n> standard independent auditing for the sole report it has submitted, and that\n> her communications to Lambda School regarding further reporting and auditing\n> have gone unanswered.\n\n------\nhprotagonist\nrelatedly, it's so nice to see zed shaw tilting at a windmill that deserves it\nfor once:\n[https://twitter.com/lzsthw/status/1212284566431576069?lang=e...](https://twitter.com/lzsthw/status/1212284566431576069?lang=en)\n\n~~~\nazangru\n\"If you are contemplating joining a coding bootcamp in 2020...\", his tweet\nstarts.\n\nI wonder whether the quality of education at coding bootcamps has gone\ndownhill. From what I know of the Web Development Immersive program at General\nAssembly in 2014, or the software engineer program at Hack Reactor in 2015,\nthey both were very decent.\n\n------\nmanfredo\nThe lambda school struck me as odd due to its very long 18 month duration.\nMost successful bootcamps I've seen have been focused on 2-4 month programs.\nThey also try to get students that have already taught themselves some coding\n(at least be able to code up a hang-man game in a terminal), and focus on\nteaching effective abstraction and how to use git. Basically, they don't seek\nto take people who don't know how to code and turn out engineers more than a\nyear later. They take people who know how to code, and refine their skills to\nthe point that they are employable.\n\n~~~\nMivLives\n18 months is the part time. 9 is the full time. It used to be six, but they\nraised it because people would expect a job on graduation, nine is more\nrealistic for that.\n\n------\nMarkMc\nAll the haters seem to be piling onto Lambda and its CEO, but looking at\nactual reviews by students it is clear that most students are very happy with\nLambda: [https://www.switchup.org/bootcamps/lambda-\nschool](https://www.switchup.org/bootcamps/lambda-school)\n\nAnd the problems mentioned in the article are straightforward to fix:\n\n(a) Be honest and transparent about the job placement rate for each batch\n\n(b) Don't sell the ISA or borrow against it\n\n(c) Improve the quality of teaching and accept a lower growth rate\n\n~~~\nStep888\nTake a look at the other coding bootcamps on that site. They all seem to have\nvery positive reviews.\n\nThe problem is that switchup uses the affiliate links of the bootcamps, so it\nhas a financial incentive to sell the bootcamps it features to its viewers.\nThat's how it makes its money.\n\nNow Amazon does the same thing, you'll say. And you'd be right, but with\nAmazon, it has a reputation to maintain. If Amazon reviews are unreliable,\npeople will stop shopping at Amazon.\n\nWith Switchup, it's different. Most people will only buy one coding bootcamp\nin their lifetime. So withchup doesn't have the same incentive to make its\nreviews super accurate. It mostly has the incentive to sell as many coding\nbootcamps as it can.\n\n------\nnkrisc\nAbout these ISAs: do they require any kind of good faith effort to find a tech\njob after completing the boot camp? If someone was just interested in tech,\nbut worked in an unrelated field with no intention to switch, how would Lambda\nprotect themselves? Obviously they could probably sue if there was bad faith\non the student's part, but do these agreements address this scenario? Do they\nfocus on screening students to avoid this?\n\n~~~\nhundt\nMy understanding is that Lambda school is very focused on teaching you what\nyou need to get a job, so if you were just \"interested in tech\" you would\nprobably be better served by Udacity, other free or nearly-free online\ncourses, or just reading books.\n\n~~~\nnkrisc\nRight, there are certainly better options. I'm not necessarily interested from\na practical standpoint, more of a theoretical one, being relatively unfamiliar\nwith how these agreements work beyond a one-sentence description.\n\n~~~\nhundt\nYou can read what Lambda School describes as the \"template\" for their ISA\ncontracts:\n\n[https://leif.org/api/products/5b5b8bd0e59b743f9a086ed9/pdf](https://leif.org/api/products/5b5b8bd0e59b743f9a086ed9/pdf)\n\nIt says that you agree that you \"are entering into this Agreement in good\nfaith and with the intention to pay us\" and will \"make reasonable and good\nfaith efforts to seek employment\" as long as you are not paying them.\n\nI don't see any specific provisions describing how that would be enforced and\nI bet in practice it is not a major issue for the reason I mentioned above:\nthere isn't much reason to go through with Lambda School if you don't actually\nwant a job in tech, so it probably doesn't happen much.\n\n------\nAVTizzle\nOn the authors Twitter, he comes across as having an axe to grind:\n\n\"lmao I woke my boy up\" [1]\n\nSounds like he's keeping score of something, which isn't a quality I\nnecessarily want from my \"journalists\".\n\n[1]\n[https://twitter.com/fulligin/status/1230251533951889409](https://twitter.com/fulligin/status/1230251533951889409)\n\n------\nDansvidania\nIs this the same, or does it stem from, Lambda School that started with a\nkickstarter in 2016?\n\n------\nnimbius\n>Lambda School is free, but with an asterisk: To attend, you sign a contract\nthat says that if you get a tech job paying $50K or more, you have to pay 17\npercent of your pre-tax income to Lambda School for two years, or until you\npay back $30K, whichever comes first.\n\n30k? Seriously? my trade tech certification was only $2900 for _two years_. Is\nLambda School a 4 year program or a college of some sort? Is room and board of\nsome kind included? I mean I get that STEM pays a lot...but the cost here\nseems a little steep.\n\nThere are only 4 STEM related courses on the site. my trade-tech school had\nnearly 20 by the time I graduated.\n\n~~~\nconanbatt\nWas it an 8 hour a day 5 days a week program for two years?\n\n------\nChicagoDave\nThe problem with Lambda School is the model and vision that suggests a general\ncollege education isn't worthwhile. That college should focus on a marketable\nskill directly leading to some job. That's optimal, but that leaves out the\nsocial aspects, the critical thinking aspects, and the safe space to have an\nopen mind and absorb and share ideas.\n\nI would argue those other aspects of higher education are far more critical\nthan the bootcamp model and vision.\n\nAnd eventually, it boils down to a waste of time for some subset of students,\nwhich is not helpful to our higher education interests.\n\n------\nsjc33\nI found his constant Twitter boasting distasteful and cringeworthy. It always\ncame off like an infomercial.\n\nCoding bootcamps are not all bad, though, it's just that I think if you are\ngoing to do one then 1) you really need a solid financial cushion (either\nparental or own savings) and 2) you should really do a top rated in person\none. I can't imagine doing this through a Zoom for 9 months in my apartment\nalone. The value of having social support you get from instructors and being\naround other students in the same boat as you can't be understated.\n\n------\nchrisyeh\nLambda's marketing is deceptive and should rightly be stopped. But what is so\nbad about a bootcamp with no up front cost that gets 50% of its graduates a\njob? [https://chrisyeh.com/2020/02/the-cost-of-\ncynicism.html](https://chrisyeh.com/2020/02/the-cost-of-cynicism.html)\n\n------\n737min\nFound this blog from last year comparing Lambda to AppAcademy, confirms many\nof the details and adds some.. no involvement with them.\n[https://blog.appacademy.io/app-academy-versus-lambda-\nschool-...](https://blog.appacademy.io/app-academy-versus-lambda-school-which-\none-is-better/)\n\n------\nthroaway1990\nFascinating story. I think there is value in the service provided by Lambda\nSchool but the questionable revenue tactics like selling ISAs or using ISAs to\nsecure loans means students can't really trust them with placements.\n\n------\n737min\nGood to see this finally get called out. Basically Lambda is using CDO’s &\nsubprime mortgages as a revenue source.. Even if it hekps some of the students\nsome of the time, we know how this show ends.\n\n------\ncm2012\nI mean, it's still a vastly, vastly better deal than college or other boot\ncamps. It has no up front monetary investment, and you only pay for it if i\nworks for you.\n\n~~~\ndehrmann\n> it's still a vastly, vastly better deal than college or other boot camps\n\nI'd like to see ten-year outcomes before claiming this. That said, it's also\nhard to control for different student backgrounds.\n\n~~~\nchasing\nI would be more interested in the ten-year outcomes of something like the\nLambda School versus self-teaching or using cheap online resources and\nentering the job market. Either way you're going to have to start with a very\njunior and entry-level position in order to crack the job market. But at least\nyou're not on the hook for a huge chunk of your paycheck.\n\n------\nGrustaf\nAs a working developer you will spend a sizeable portion of your time learning\nnew things, so if you are not good at teaching yourself programming, maybe\nit's not a suitable career choice? Especially with amazing MOOCs like\nStanford's Swift course?\n\nAt least in the context of something like Lambda school, that does not teach\ncomputer science, as I understand it.\n\n------\nheedlessly3\nThere's no point to doing coding bootcamps. I know plenty of individuals who\nwere non-CS majors, not even STEM, switch to software developers after self-\nstudy and building up a portfolio.\n\nif you decide you want an accredited university degree, then you can get FAFSA\nto fund community college, then transfer an online university such as Florida\n\n~~~\nconanbatt\nStrongly disagree with this. I know 50 people that think they can learn to do\nData or something with an Udemy class and end up doing nothing.\n\nI think the negative picture painted by the author masks that the company is\nplacing 50% of graduates which mostly _paid nothing_ for the education they\nreceived. Lambda is not high quality education, but its super cheap and higher\nquality than just reading a Knuth Book, or Skenna's algo book which has no\ncompletion rate.\n\n~~~\nheedlessly3\nSounds like you know unsuccessful people. I know plenty of developers who\nbecame front-end or dev ops from their own studies. It's not too hard to learn\nSQL or data visualization. The majority of questions can be answered via\nstackoverflow or slack communities. You don't need to know everything to land\na entry-level job, you just need to prove you know how to problem solve.\n\nEither way, you are not becoming a true machine learning researcher via self-\nstudy nor a bootcamp. You will need at least a master's in CS/Math/Stats to\nland those roles. A bootcamp is neither the lowest cost to a softwaredev\ncareer nor is it the a career effective maximizing choice.\n\n------\nBlueTemplar\nThis seems more like job training than education - something that should be\ndirectly done by the companies that end up recruiting these people instead.\n\n------\nsurferbayarea\nA skill of knowing how to use React in a particular way to create simple views\nis something that will be redundant in a few years. These people will\nunfortunately be out of jobs. The mundane work of converting sketch files to\nreact views will be automated soon\n\n------\njariel\nThese courses should be free.\n\nIf government agencies really had their acts together, then these courses, as\nwell as many others would be free, as part of 'extended learning' programs.\n\nFor all the crazy amount of grant money being thrown around by so many\ngovernments, and given the need for certain disciplines, it's odd that this\ndoesn't happen.\n\n------\nneilk\nI had a sinking feeling when the inventor of the CDO appeared in this article.\n\nThe housing bubble occurred, in part, because there was optimism that\nacquiring a certain tangible asset - a house - was a sure path to prosperity\nfor the buyer. And the buyers of mortgage-backed securities had decades of\ndata showing that these were solid investments.\n\nWhat about intangible assets like knowing how to code? Is this what Lambda\nSchool is really doing?\n\nAnd like the housing bubble, once the originator can sell the debt, they have\nsome incentives to inflate expectations on both sides.\n\nPerhaps Lambda School’s ISA-selling isn’t vulnerable to this flaw. Maybe the\nISA-buyers are doing due diligence. But you would have thought the same was\ntrue in 2008 too.\n\nLike everyone with a Twitter account I’ve interacted with Austen. And I had a\nmildly positive impression, or at least I thought he deserved more credit. Not\nsure about that any more. I would like to see his response.\n\n------\nucha\nI'm wondering why it is that two hit pieces came out at the same time [1]? Is\nit just a coincidence?\n\n[https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/11/21131848/lambda-school-\nco...](https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/11/21131848/lambda-school-coding-\nbootcamp-isa-tuition-cost-free)\n\n~~~\nazangru\nI've seen discontent with Lambda brewing on twitters for quite some time:\n\n[https://twitter.com/KeziyahL/status/1155154616281178114](https://twitter.com/KeziyahL/status/1155154616281178114)\n\n~~~\nSamReidHughes\nAny program teaching CS or software with relatively open admissions will have\nits discontented students, because there are simply people who don't have the\ncognitive ability to handle it, and their inability to do the homework is\nalways the teacher's fault.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow Europe is totally owning our in-flight electronics policy, again - Libertatea\nhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/11/14/how-europe-is-totally-owning-our-in-flight-electronics-policy-again/\n======\nselectodude\nWait, how is a flat rate internet service using WiFi worse than allowing\nairlines to implement some sort of LTE antenna booster on every plane so I\nhave the opportunity to have no idea what I'm about to pay to use my phone?\n\nWhat a horrendous article.\n\n~~~\nJonFish85\n\"Americans are feeling pretty smug after winning the right to use portable\nelectronics on airplanes during takeoff and landing. In fact, we even beat\nEurope to the new rules by several weeks.\"\n\nWTF? That's how you start an article? I haven't seen anyone feeling smug at\nall about this ruling. Talk about trying to manufacture an issue!\n\n~~~\nmhurron\nIt's very important now to frame everything as a 'Us v. Them'. No one cares\nabout anything unless they are on the winning team.\n\n------\ngeorgecmu\nI would be perfectly happy with in-flight phone calls being expressly\nprohibited without any technical justification. Can you imagine being forced\nto spend 6 or more hours next to someone with a bad case of glossolalia?\n\n~~~\nnlh\nI have a feeling that enough people agree with you on this that regardless of\nthe legal / regulatory situation, a social framework is going to emerge that\npretty strongly discourages talking on the phone on a plane.\n\nEven today, if you talk for too long or too loudly on an Amtrak train or a\npublic bus, you'll get some pretty strong death stares from other passengers.\nMany will come right out and tell you to shut up.\n\nIf the rules fail us, peer pressure will step up :)\n\n------\nwjoe\nI'm not really sure how 3G/LTE is better than WiFi, at least in technology\nterms.\n\nI've had WiFi on one flight in Europe (London to Oslo with Norwegian\nAirlines), it was free to use for everyone on the flight. It was very slow and\nunreliable though, and I spent half of the hour long flight just trying to get\nthings to load, unsure if certain ports/sites were blocked or if it was just\nbeing slow.\n\nThat said, this problem is presumably from the connection between the WiFi\naccess point on the plane and the satellites. I don't really see how using a\n3G/LTE on the plane will be any better, if it's still relying on the\n(presumably small, low powered) equipment on the plane and a satellite\nconnection.\n\nSo I'm not convinced that this is an improvement over in flight WiFi, besides\na way for carriers to extract more roaming data charges from us. That said,\nwe've also got better laws over roaming data charges within Europe coming in\nover the next few years too.\n\n~~~\nUberphallus\nNice-London flight here, it was slow and unreliable too. Instant messaging\nworked reasonably better than checking websites, but upload speed was rather\nslow (1 min to share a picture in WhatsApp).\n\nStill, it's an amazing service for free, the one you expect to pay extra for.\n\n------\nsmileysteve\nWifi on flights uses less battery, is likely faster, is a better fit for the\nsmall environments of flights, and because it bypasses the carrier routing\n(and business politics) should be faster and possibly more secure.\n\nIm perfectly okay with having wifi instead of 4g.\n\n------\nkjf\nSo I guess leet speak has evolved to such a place where traditional\npublications like the Washington Post are using it sincerely in their\nheadlines.\n\n------\nTheodores\nWhat would be fun is if planes formed their own 'Iridium' style network,\ncommunicating with the planes in front and behind them on their flight\ncorridor, with airports as base stations. Only data need be carried (no voice)\nas who really wants people yapping away on a plane? The transmitter on the\nplane would need to assume a plane roughly 100 miles or so in front, it would\nbe roughly pointing in the right direction so the inverse square would apply\nto that, rather than the deal with the satellite where the 'bird' is 20000 or\nso miles away, at some angle above the equator, that has to be pointed at with\nsome complicated servo arrangement. The TTL should be improved with an ad-hoc\nabove the clouds network too.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGenetically modified salmons approved by the FDA - jaequery\nhttp://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23035-approval-for-genemodified-salmon-spawns-controversy.html\n======\njeffool\nAs someone who doesn't care at all about eating genetically modified foods, I\nexpect the argument over labeling will break out soon. To fire the first shot:\nI really wish they'd label genetically modified foods. It seems a small\ncourtesy for those who do have concerns. And those who don't? Well, we don't\ncare. That's the point.\n\n~~~\nDanBC\nYou are rational. Many people are not. Labelling a food as \"genetically\nmodified\" is the same to them as labelling it as \"radioactive\" or \"contains\nexcrement\".\n\nI'm not sure if labelling food as genetically modified is a useful warning, or\nif it would be the same as saying \"wifi used in this building\". WIFI isn't\nharmful, and eventually it's going to be everywhere and not avoidable. Yet you\nstill have people who claim that electronic smog causes all sorts of things.\n\nI'm happy to eat these things. I'm gently worried about releasing organisms\ninto the wild with \"exogenes\" (or whatever they're called). Evolution is\namazing and powerful and wonderful. And human intervention in eco-systems\nisn't filled with particularly great examples - a long list of invasive\nspecies comes to mind.\n\n~~~\nmalandrew\nHow many buildings in California do you regularly come across with the \"This\nbuilding contains chemicals known in the State of California to cause cancer\"\nor something to that effect? They are everywhere. It doesn't stop 99% of\npeople from entering these buildings to work or live in them.\n\n------\nearbitscom\nOther animals bred to have fast-growing qualities typically suffer incredibly\npainful problems supporting their unnatural weight. When are people going to\nrealize that:\n\nA) just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.\n\nB) animals are not playthings put on Earth for us to do whatever we want with.\n\n~~~\nunimpressive\nWe can eventually fix the pain thing if that's an issue.\n\nAnd Christianity takes an opposing view, meaning that this attitude is deeply\ningrained in western culture. (Which I happen to agree with.[0])\n\n\"01:001:026 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:\nand let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the\nair, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping\nthing that creepeth upon the earth.\" - King James Bible\n\nSource: <http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/30/pg30.txt>\n\n[0]: The attitude, on this particular issue.\n\n~~~\nDanBC\nLet's avoid the vegetarian arguments for the moment, because they are usually\nmore heat than light.\n\nAre you saying that we can do whatever we like to animals?\n\nOr that we can do whatever we like to animals so long as it benefits humans?\n\nOr that we can do whatever we like so long as the benefit is significant?\n\nOr what?\n\n~~~\nunimpressive\nOkay.\n\n>Are you saying that we can do whatever we like to animals?\n\nTechnically they can't stop us. But that's probably not the answer you're\nlooking for.\n\nInflicting unnecessary harm on semi-sentient life forms that feel pain is\nprobably immoral. So while we _can_ do whatever we want, certain things are\nnot _moral_ to do.\n\n> Or that we can do whatever we like to animals so long as it benefits humans?\n\nRight now current conservation efforts have the irreplaceable property of\nextinct animals as an axiom. This is, for the moment, true. So we have to\nmeasure decisions in something akin to utils. Killing off the zebra to cure\nsomebodies headache probably isn't a smart trade.\n\nAt the same time we need to be cautious, when we start playing large games\nwith the ecosystem, we incur the risk of large losses. (See: Just about every\ninvasive species introduced as a direct result of human intervention.) Right\nnow one of the large reasons for saving species from extinction is\nbiodiversity. The less biodiversity in the ecosystem, the higher the chance of\na key species being wiped out by disease or aggressive predation and\ncollapsing the whole system. (See: Pollinating insects.)\n\nRight now the benefit to humans of saving as many species as possible from\ninvisible deaths by our machinations is a net positive. In the future, it may\nmake sense to \"upgrade\" organisms to give fitness for a particular purpose.\nThis process may involve organisms being out-competed to extinction by GMOs.\n\n> Or that we can do whatever we like so long as the benefit is significant?\n\nWell right now current meat processing procedures induce great pain to the\nanimals involved. This is an externalized cost that does not show up in\nconsumer prices. Meaning that even though the morally optimal solution would\nbe something like naturally grown animals on a large pasture, the\nevolutionarily optimal solution ends up being animal death camps.\n\nThere are efforts to _grow_ meats independent of their traditional hosts\nthrough bioengineering, but these efforts have not taken off yet. If\nsuccessful, they could save millions of animal lives, at the potential cost of\nthe majority of the species. (Or even all of it.) Is that worth it? Is it\nselfish for humans to \"obsolete\" an animal it no longer finds useful? We did\nthis to horses.\n\nWe need to be careful about \"benefit\". The Soviets drained the Aral Sea in a\nlarge irrigation project. [0] This of course resulted in the destruction of\nthe surrounding ecosystem, and is now apparently leading to health problems\nfor the people who live there locally. Was that worth it?\n\n[0]:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plan_for_the_Transformat...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plan_for_the_Transformation_of_Nature)\n\ntl;dr: Currently the only way to satisfy our demand for meat is to slaughter\nmillions of animals. Because of market pressures, these animals end up dying\npainfully, or even living painfully. This is not an morally optimal situation\nand I feel that certain aspects could be improved, with potentially disastrous\nconsequences for the species involved.\n\n~~~\nearbitscom\n\"Semi-sentient\"? \"Smart trade\"?\n\nThis attitude toward animals is just sad. We're talking about other beings\nwith emotions and desires. I wish scientists could GMO humans into not being\nso arrogant toward other species. That's a genetic experiment I could get\nbehind.\n\n~~~\nunimpressive\nI use the former term to clarify that I don't ascribe human levels of\nconsciousness to animals, do you?\n\nAs for the latter, since you brought it up:\n\nThe thing about stuff like \"How many Zebras are worth a headache.\" is that if\nyou think about it enough, you end up at questions like \"How many zebras are\nworth a human?\" and then \"Are all human lives equal?\". When trying to answer\nsuch questions things get fuzzy and icky and hard to answer satisfactorily.\nThen theres versions of those questions where you ask if the answer changes if\nit's _your_ life being weighed.\n\nEven though it's intuitively obvious that somebodies fleeting minor pain is\nnot worth the cost of losing an entire species of large mammal, talking about\n\"fair trades\" with sentient creatures gets weird and frustrating very\nquickly.[0]\n\n[0]: I personally like the phrase \"Infinite Hair\" to describe situations like\nthis. (ftp://ftp.trailing-\nedge.com/pub/rsx11freewarev2/rsx81b/374001/jargon.txt)\n\n~~~\nearbitscom\nNo, I do not feel the need to differentiate between the varying consciousness\nof animals in a discussion such as this. I feel they are owed the basic right\nto life, freedom from suffering, and an equal right to that which they have an\ninterest in, such as raising their young. For every qualification you could\nfind to rationalize treating animals poorly, aside from the species label we\nhave applied to them, the same qualifications can be found in certain people.\nThat's why it gets fuzzy and icky to start calculating \"smart trades\" that\ncompromise the rights of some for the good of others.\n\nYou should check out Animal Liberation by Peter Singer. I'm not saying I agree\nwith everything he supports, but he makes a bullet proof argument supporting\nthe fact that speciesism is just like any other discrimination, and relies on\nthe same logic as racism, sexism and so on.\n\n------\nadulau\n[http://www.fda.gov/downloads/AdvisoryCommittees/CommitteesMe...](http://www.fda.gov/downloads/AdvisoryCommittees/CommitteesMeetingMaterials/VeterinaryMedicineAdvisoryCommittee/UCM224760.pdf)\n\n\"The potential hazards addressed in this EA center on the likelihood and\nconsequences of AquAdvantage Salmon escaping, becoming established in the\nenvironment, and spreading to other areas. These hazards must be addressed for\nthe production of eyed-eggs, grow-out to market size, and disposal (i.e., of\nfish & fish wastes).\"\n\nand\n\n\"As discussed in §2.4.2.1, the estimated escape rate of salmon from sea cages\nis about 1%. Sea cages, or net pens, have a direct connection with the aquatic\nenvironment.\"\n\n1% of 50.000-90.000 fish in sea cage it's not something negligible, the first\ndirect impact might be against the non-GE Atlantic salmon (salmo salar).\nEspecially that salmon eats salmon eggs and so the dominant specie might\nbecome the GE one.\n\nYou might say, oh it's fine it's not touching the diversity of Salmon, it's\njust replacing the Atlantic salmon with another one. Wait, they took some\ncoding sequence from the pacific salmon (and especially from the oncorhynchus\ntshawytscha) and added the \"anti freezing\" protein from zoarces americanus. So\nthis \"subspecie\" got an interesting level of properties to find its place in\nthe atlantic and/or in the pacific (where the diversity of salmons\n(Oncorhynchus) is much higher) region. Those risks are without any spreading\nof the genetic modification (assuming that triploid induction is effective\nwith a probability of 1, another point where the scientific literature is\nlowering down the probability of effectiveness).\n\nI suppose those risks are not really considered by the FDA as critical because\nthe F is for Food in FDA. So the risk of changing the whole profile of wild\nsalmon with such \"GE\" salmon is not negligible.\n\n~~~\nallerratio\n> As a precaution, the fish are all female and contain three copies of each\n> chromosome rather than two, rendering them sterile.\n\nThey won't replace atlantic salmon\n\n~~~\njaequery\n\"But the sterilization process is not perfect; up to 5% of treated salmon\ncould still reproduce.\"\n\n------\nrjzzleep\ni've stopped eating salmon a while back, the way theyre farmed is nothing\nshort of disgusting. I think a deathrate of 20% is considered good in those\ntanks.\n\nBut seriously who wants to eat animals that live on corn? for a subtle\nintroduction on where the us meat comes from i suggest\n<http://www.eatinganimals.com/>\n\n~~~\nmitchi\nEveryone should rethink their meat consumption. First, if you read nutrition\nbooks, you realize that in the long term, it's not healthy. It's much better\nto eat vegetables. Secondly, you can get all the nutrients and vitamins you\nneed from whole foods. Thirdly, it can be cheap. A can of chickpeas is around\n$1 and it really fills you up for many hours. I'm not saying everyone should\nbe vegetarian. But if everyone was 70 % vegetarian things would be very\ndifferent.\n\n~~~\nenraged_camel\n>>First, if you read nutrition books, you realize that in the long term, it's\nnot healthy. It's much better to eat vegetables.\n\nAs someone who is eyeball-deep in nutrition science, I demand a credible\ncitation.\n\n~~~\nBorkdude\nRead the books by Joel Fuhrman, Eat to Live being his most famous one,\n[http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Live-Amazing-Nutrient-Rich-\nSustain...](http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Live-Amazing-Nutrient-Rich-\nSustained/dp/0316206644/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356857742&sr=1-1&keywords=eat+to+live)\n\nHe's not against eating meat, but portions should be very low (5-10% of\ncalories from animal products, no more, and this is a veeery small piece of\nmeat). A (near-)vegan diet with B12- and DHA-supplements is the healthiest\n(DHA can be derived from algae instead of fish oil - the fish get it from\nalgae too). An objection may be: but eating pills isn't natural. Well, eating\nGMO-fish surely isn't natural either.\n\nA website with a lot of little video's about the same nutrition principles can\nbe found here: <http://nutritionfacts.org/>\n\n~~~\nsliverstorm\nIf you say, \"5-10% of your diet should be meat\" you will find your audiences\nmuch more receptive than if you say \"You shouldn't eat meat\". In my case this\nis because I don't trust extremist _anything_ , particularly when it comes to\nfood.\n\nIf the former is your belief and not the latter, please open that way.\n\n~~~\nBorkdude\nI was reflecting the message of Fuhrman MD. He's not saying 5-10% should be,\nbut COULD be meat or animal products (including eggs, dairy, etc). 0% is also\nfine or even better. He allows this percentage because some people find it too\nrestrictive to be vegetarian or vegan. So optimally you should keep it as low\nas possible, but there isn't much lost if you still keep it around 5%. Most\npeople don't realize one egg is already that amount. You'd have to eat vegan\nthe rest of the day to stay within limits. Animal products can be used as\ncondiments to flavor your food, not as a substantial part of your diet. If you\nwant to have a look at the scientific data, read his book(s).\n\n------\njaequery\nUpon further research, here are a few things that caught my attention:\n\n#1) There was a bit of Congress lobbying to get it approved.\n\n#2) There is a 5% chance that these fishes could actually become fertile.\n\n#3) These fishes have an extra chromosome and a novel protein not found in any\nother salmons.\n\n~~~\ncpa\nCould you share your sources? (I'm genuinely interested vs. trying to be a\ndick)\n\n------\nSurio\nDan barber's <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Barber>\n\nTED talk might be relevant to this discussion ;-]\n\n[http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_barber_how_i_fell_in_love_with_...](http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_barber_how_i_fell_in_love_with_a_fish.html)\n\n------\ntomkinstinch\nThere are legitimate concerns surrounding genetically modified foods. Some\npotential problems include the creation of monocultures that permit rapid and\nmore complete devastation from disease, selective pressure that creates\nsuperior pests and predators (positive feedback toward creating monocultures),\nnegative ecological network effects, overuse of pesticides, and reliance on\ncommercial seed (you think software patents cause problems...). Food safety is\none, but it's a given for crops intended for human consumption.\n\nThat said, the real problem is fear from people who do not understand the\nscience. We've been modifying what we eat for thousands of years. Selective\nbreeding has allowed us to feed today's world. Development of short-stalk,\nhigh-yield, disease resistant wheat by Norman Borlaug in the 1950s secured a\nfood supply for Mexico and India. His cultivars are now credited with saving\nmore than a billion lives. Where selective breeding got us to where we are\ntoday, genetic engineering will carry us into the future. We need higher\nyields per acre to support a growing population. That means industrialized\nfarming and cultivars that support industrial methods. So-called \"Roundup-\nready\" varieties of plants allow mass spraying of herbicides over fields, and\nlet desirable plants crow without competition from weeds (the plants have been\nmade resistant to the herbicide). Corn engineered to carry the \"Bt\" gene for a\nbacterial endotoxin produces its own insecticide. In each case the\nmodification allows for a higher yield per acre. Some may say that selective\nbreeding is different than recombinant methods, which is true. Introducing\nexogenous DNA into an organism is different than crossing two parent\norganisms. The introduction of new DNA or new alleles does occur in nature\nhowever, via viral insertion or mutation. Somewhere between 5% and 10% of our\nown DNA is the result of viral insertions. Plants and salmon are effected by\nviruses too. We are only accelerating evolution down particular paths (albeit\nperhaps down very unlikely paths).\n\nSo genetic modification is not inherently harmful, and it can confer\nwonderfully advantageous benefits. Baseless fear is unwarranted, but cautious\nconcern is justified. When having debates or reporting on GM foods it is\nimportant that we discuss both the benefits of GMO foods along with the\nconcerns I mentioned above. It is prudent that any new organism be fully\nstudied and understood before it is deployed in the outside world, and at a\nlarge scale. Environmental impact needs to be understood. In the US, GMO foods\nmust clear many regulatory hurdles before being approved. Among these are\ncomplete characterization of the genomically integrated transgene(s) and\ndemonstration that the transgene(s) remains stable over multiple generations.\nApparently these and other criteria have been met to the satisfaction of the\nreviewers examining the farmed salmon. Here is the environmental impact study\nprovided to the FDA by the salmon company:\n\n[http://www.fda.gov/downloads/AdvisoryCommittees/CommitteesMe...](http://www.fda.gov/downloads/AdvisoryCommittees/CommitteesMeetingMaterials/VeterinaryMedicineAdvisoryCommittee/UCM224760.pdf)\n\nEven though I support genetic engineering of foods, I am against labeling of\nGMO foods as currently proposed because I think _a simple statement is\ninadequate_. Saying \"GMO food\" says nothing about the modification, and only\nserves to incite fear. In a time of rapid whole genome sequencing, I want to\nbe able to scan a QR code on a package and get a link to the GenBank entry for\nthe food organism in question, along with the impact studies and a plainly\nworded overview. I want to see notes for which insertions, deletions, or other\nchanges were made. I want to see the DNA diff on the genomic source code.\nPublic food should be open source.\n\nA few years ago I had lunch with Richard Stallman (a fun story itself), and\nwanted to get his take on gene patents and \"closed source\" organisms. While he\nexpressed an understandable disapproval of corporate monopolies on crops and\nbiopharmaceuticals, he did not seem to have a strong desire for Freedom in\ngenetically engineered products. I found that surprising. He thought the\nbarrier to entry was too high for people to make their own genetic changes as\nthey might make changes to software. I think we need to consider that genetic\nengineering is only going to get easier.\n\nFrom some cursory reading it looks like the salmon in question in this article\nhas been modified with a promoter (kind of like a compiler flag to enable\nproduction of a gene product) from the pout fish, and a subsequent growth\nhormone gene from a different salmon species. It grows faster, is more\naggressive, and is sterile. It seems that the aquaculture companies interested\nin using the fish intend to keep it isolated from the outside environment, but\neven in the event of a release the fish would merely eat prey. They would\nultimately die. Since they are sterile, the likelihood is low that they would\nbe able to outcompete unmodified variants in their single generation. It seems\nthey are safe all around.\n\nIf anyone is curious, the inserted gene construct is known as opAFP-GHc2, and\nits CDS source is available:\n\n<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/56691717>\n\n~~~\nmitchi\nThank you for this information. And your statement \"Public food should be open\nsource\". That's something worth discussing as a society. Food is so\nimportant... What do you think about Genetic Engineering for Humans. Is that\nalso the future? We can cut medical costs for everyone by engineering humans\nto be immune to many known diseases. And better stuff.\n\n~~~\ntomkinstinch\nGene therapy is inevitable and is the future. Performing genetic engineering\non new human offspring is different, and is a debate perhaps best left to\nethicists.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHow proud are Stanford Alums? - kremdela\nhttp://stanford.buyalums.com\n\n======\nGFK_of_xmaspast\nThis looks like some kind of scammy thing, but I've known a lot of top people\nfrom a lot of top schools and there's nothing like a Princeton alumn for\nschool loyalty (me personally I went to state schools and have been dodging\nthe fundraisers for years and years)\n\n~~~\nkremdela\nI promise we aren't trying to be scammy. But I definitely appreciate the\ncynicism.\n\nI have little interest in collecting or doing anything with alumni email\naddresses.\n\nWe are trying to validate that there is any demand for a directory like this\nfor our pitch to Alumni Offices.\n\nAny responses we would get would be, by definition, a subset of the alumni\noffice list. We want to build a platform for alumni offices to showcase\naccomplishments to their communities.\n\nPresumably there would be a correlation between alumni pride and fundraising,\nbut we don't want that to be shoved down peoples throats.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSelf-healing electric ink refuses to die when cut - jonbaer\nhttps://techcrunch.com/2016/11/02/self-healing-electric-ink-refuses-to-die-when-cut/\n======\nxkcd-sucks\nCool, now we can actually light stuff on fire by overloading the conductive\nink\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nPython Enhancement Proposal 495: Local Time Disambiguation - philipn\nhttps://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0495/\n======\nkbenson\nI'm not sure the rationale behind this. That is, the rationale section of the\nproposal does a poor just of explaining any case where this is actually a\nproblem.\n\nIn every case where I've seen this problem, it's a matter of people either not\nstoring the timezone along with the local time, or not storing in UTC time. A\nlocal time with a timezone is a unique time, it does not occur twice. A UTC\ntime additionally does not occur twice. Store a time zone along with the date\nand time or store in UTC and convert on use.\n\nNote: If there are instances where a second is repeated, it's rare special\noccurrence that developing a formalized interface for seems like overkill.\n\n~~~\ndeathanatos\n> A local time with a timezone is a unique time, it does not occur twice.\n\nIf you define timezone as an IANA timezone, this is incorrect: a whole slew of\nlocal times repeat during a DST fallback event: you'll have a (1:30 AM\n(dst=True), America/New_York), and then a (1:30 AM (dst=False),\nAmerica/New_York); that \"dst=True|False\" bit is the only difference, and that\nneeds to get stored. If you consider \"America/New_York\" to be the TZ, then\nstoring that bit on the TZ isn't appropriate, as it depends on a particular\ntimestamp.\n\nIf you've ever worked with PyTZ, there's a sort of rule of \"just call\nnormalize() always\"; otherwise, you'll get funny answers to some\nintrospections on the datetime instance: things like the offset being not what\na local would say the offset should be. My understanding is that pytz stores\nthe dst flag on the timezone instance itself; things get funny because the\ntimezone instance is not given a chance to update after arithmetic on the\ndatetime instance.\n\n(Really, I feel like the whole thing would work better if there was a separate\nclass for \"instant in time\" and a function for, \"convert this instant in time\nto Gregorian year/month/day/etc. in this TZ\", which then returned a broken-\nout-type. (And a reverse, of course, for building \"Instant\" instances.))\n\nUTC datetime + IANA TZ (if relevant) is the way to go. Alas, not all data is\nso nice.\n\n~~~\nkbenson\nReally I was thinking of it as a distinct timezone that must be tracked.\nWhether the DST and non-DST versions label themselves as such, the\nrepresentation used to track time must distinguish whether DST is active or\nnot to display the correct local time. Really, when I say store local time +\ntimezone, I mean local time plus identifier that gets you to the same unique\ntimezone representation in your medium (python, in this case).\n\nPersonally, I just _always_ convert to UTC and store that. It changes the\nproblem from one of data fidelity to display or computation annoyance, and\nannoyances are easy to reduce or eliminate with tooling.\n\n~~~\ndeathanatos\n> Really I was thinking of it as a distinct timezone that must be tracked.\n> Whether the DST and non-DST versions label themselves as such, the\n> representation used to track time must distinguish whether DST is active or\n> not to display the correct local time. Really, when I say store local time +\n> timezone, I mean local time plus identifier that gets you to the same unique\n> timezone representation in your medium (python, in this case).\n\nI guess that's my point: the IANA identifier is a well-known way to serialize\na TZ, but doesn't include DST flags because they're not relevant. I think if\nyou wanted to store something like a Python tzinfo object, the easiest way is\njust storing (local time, offset from UTC); (maybe (local time, offset from\nUTC, IANA TZ ID), if you want to keep the TZ)\n\ntzinfo's don't really have a defining quality in Python, I've found. You can\nend up — depending on libraries used — with two tzinfos that both conceptually\nare \"UTC\", but don't compare equal…\n\nNow that I've thought about it again, I'm not entirely sure that the DST flag\n+ TZ name by itself is sufficient, mostly in the case of a TZ deciding to\nchange their offset.\n\n> just always convert to UTC and store that. It changes the problem from one\n> of data fidelity to display\n\nThe right thing to do, and for the right reasons.\n\n------\ntoyg\nTerrible PEP, I hope it gets rejected. One-off flags like this are hacks that\nshouldn't be in stdlib. It simply stinks, in an area (time handling) where the\nstdlib does not really smell like roses already.\n\nDealing with time adjustments is the OS's job, not userland. If your job has\nto be scheduled exactly and cannot rely on the OS, and you refuse to deal with\nUTC, it's your own damn fault and you can always just use a long-running\nprocess with timers.\n\n~~~\nbliti\nI agree. It's library baggage.\n\n------\nlifeisstillgood\nSo :\n\nTime in UK is currently UTC +1 (BST) At 2am on 25 OCT we will return to GMT /\nUTC. It will therefore become 1am, and for the next hour all times will have\nhappened before\n\nThe idea is to put a bit flag that says \"alreadyseenthistime\"\n\nIt seems to me this is a solution to the wrong problem.\n\nStore all strings as bytes, assuming UTF-8, store all times as longs assuming\nUTC\n\nIf we convert all python datelines to non-naive (ie embedded with a TZ) then\nwe are forced always to choose an encoding just like in strings. The right\nencoding is to always assume incoming dates are UTC, to throw error if they\nare non naive, and to assume that local clocks are set correctly (which we do\nanyway)\n\nI need to read it more carefully - but it seems the wrong solution\n\n------\nMarazan\nIn general any solution to datetimes that doesn't involve the time being in\nUTC is solving thew wrong problem.\n\n~~~\nakvadrako\nI would disagree. UTC is ambiguous and unpredictable. Computers should really\nbe based on GPST (seconds since 1980-Jan-6 UTC).\n\n~~~\nubernostrum\nIf you want to be pedantic about getting rid of unpredictability in your time\nmeasurement, use TAI.\n\n------\nIanCal\nWhen the clocks change, don't you shift timezone? There aren't duplicate times\nin BST, we just switch from GMT to BST and then back.\n\n> In these situations, the information displayed on a local clock (or stored\n> in a Python datetime instance) is insufficient to identify a particular\n> moment in time.\n\nDoes the datetime instance not store the timezone?\n\n~~~\nmsm23\nYes, you could get the information from the timezone, but how would one do\nthat in code?\n\nThe only time that one has the time fold is when you turn the clock backward\n(let's just call that shifting from daylight savings to standard timezone).\nAnd this would only affect code which used wall clock time (time as it's read,\ne.g. 1:30am PDT), and would also only affect code which wanted to run\nsomething only once at a time within that fold (e.g. 1:30am ... not on both\n1:30am's).\n\nSo, using the timezone method, just check to see if your current 1:30am is in\nyour daylight savings timezone. Hurray! You're in the clear. Go ahead and do\nthat thing you wanted to do only on the first 1:30am.\n\nBut the next day you're going to run into a problem. The only 1:30am you're\ngoing to get is in the standard timezone. So now you have to check for this\ntimezone change only on the day of the change, which is yet another piece of\ndata you have to keep track of. On the day of the change, do this timezone\ncomparison, and on every other day don't worry about it.\n\nWhen the clock hits your interesting time of 1:30am, just check to see if\ntoday is the day of the change, check what the current timezone is, check what\nthe daylight savings time zone is, check to see if those those two values are\nthe same, and now do your thing. Otherwise, just do your thing.\n\nAll of the above also ignores that people change times at different times\n(11pm, 1am, 2am, 3am), some don't change a full hour, and some don't change at\nall.\n\nThe proposal gets rid of all of that convoluted logic in everyone's programs,\nand instead it provides a single boolean value: is this the second time I've\nseen this time because of daylight savings shenanigans.\n\n~~~\nIanCal\n> The proposal gets rid of all of that convoluted logic in everyone's programs\n\nDoes it? It doesn't cover the scheduling problem the other half of the year\nwhen the clocks move the other direction.\n\n> So now you have to check for this timezone change only on the day of the\n> change, which is yet another piece of data you have to keep track of.\n\nIf running a job twice is a problem, then why not check that the job has not\nalready been run?\n\n> is this the second time I've seen this time\n\nIs this unambiguous? If it's 2015-10-25-01-30-00 GMT, have I seen that time\nbefore? In the UK, yes, in Mali no.\n\n------\nmayoff\nThe more I'm exposed to other date/time libraries, the more impressed I become\nwith Apple's date/time library.\n\n[https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Cocoa/...](https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/DatesAndTimes/DatesAndTimes.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/10000039-SW1)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nTipjoy (YC W08) now allows payments via Twitter - ivankirigin\nhttp://tipjoys2cents.blogspot.com/2008/12/tip-via-twitter.html\n\n======\nivankirigin\nI'm really excited about this because of where we can go with this.\n\nThe idea of a \"rtip\" or tip/retweet is the biggest innovation here. It's\nexactly how twitter is already used to disperse information, but adds a social\ngesture with monetary weight. That's pretty powerful. If you like a tweet,\njust say \"rtip $1 @username the awesome tweet\".\n\nLots of sites use Twitter credentials, and this means they can initiate\npayments. It also makes those payments inherently social, as they are\nbroadcasted - so in ways it is better than an OAuth system. But we're planning\nthat too.\n\nWe are also accepted new signups via twitter credentials\n<http://tipjoy.com/createaccount/platform/twitter/>\n\nWe're going to open this up to an API, meaning sites based on twitter\ncredentials can convert their whole user base to tipjoy users. I'm really\nlooking forward to see what can be done with these tools.\n\n~~~\nomakase\nThe potential for this idea is what got me excited the minute I saw your post.\n\nAs an aside, I think twitter still needs to release support for OAuth, there\nare too many sites out there storing twitter credentials in plain text right\nnow. Careful developers should be hashing the passwords with some secret salt\nso at least their users passwords aren't at risk if someone ever gains access\nto their db.\n\nThese aren't really your issues, but twitter needs to add proper\nauthentication. Anyways -- this is a great from tipjoy -- looking fwd to what\ncomes next.\n\n------\nhalo\nI'm sure this wasn't 'inspired' by twitpay.me at all, released and announced\nhere 15 days ago (<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=369568>)\n\n~~~\nivey\nThey say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so we at Twitpay are\ntaking it as a compliment.\n\n~~~\nHerring\nWith compliments like that, who needs insults?\n\n------\njuanpablo\nToo many \"pay words\"! I don't know if that's the case but you should really\ncheck they aren't part of a casual tweet.\n\nEg.\n\n\"I'm not going to pay @joe $1000 for an old ipod!\" or\n\n\"Everyone! Give @bob $10 to buy beer\".\n\n~~~\nivankirigin\nWe thought of this. They need to be in the first 3 tokens.\n\nSo this would indeed count, \"Give @bob $10 to buy beer\" but that is clearly a\ncloser to a command.\n\nMore importantly, this is an opt-in option, so it would be hard to do it\nwithout knowing.\n\n------\nDilpil\nAm I the only one who is EXTREMELY skeptical that anyone is going to actually\ngive out money using these applications?\n\n------\nmattmaroon\nNice feature. I would use this if I frequented Twitter. I have sick friends\nwho would throw money around like that for fun though.\n\n~~~\nivankirigin\nYou tweet sometimes. They're usually pretty funny, so you should do it more.\nI'm pretty sure twitter will be closer to an ecosystem of tips, considering\neveryone is a \"blogger\" - though some with greater followings.\n\n~~~\nmattmaroon\nYeah, I log in a few times a week, and read whatever posts are on the first\npage. That's about it.\n\n------\nbootload\n_\"... Tipjoy now allows payments via Twitter ...\"_\n\nGo Abby & Ivan\n\n------\nnostrademons\nThis is pretty cool. Congrats, TipJoys!\n\n------\nsmahend\n\"inspired\" is probably not the right word. i think directly stolen from\ntwitpay is probably better\n\n~~~\ncalambrac\n\"Stolen\", really? It's business, not super friendly fun time. Competition\nhappens.\n\n~~~\nivankirigin\nTipjoy is all about super friendly fun time. Like at our poker nights. Come by\nif you're in the Boston area (and a startup hacker/foudner):\n<http://www.meetup.com/Boston-Startup-Poker/>\n\n~~~\ngwc\nWhat if you're not, but would like to be?\n\n~~~\nlanceweatherby\nCome up with a decent concept and team and then get funded by YC.\n\n~~~\ngwc\nSeems a little involved just to get in on a poker game. :)\n\n~~~\nivey\nIf you're already in Boston, the startup part is easy.\nIdea+Incorporation=Instant CEO\n\nHe didn't say you had to be part of a _viable_ startup to play.\n\n~~~\nivankirigin\nViable is determined on exit, right?\n\nAnyone reading this is welcome to the game. And if you want an excuse to move\nto Boston, tipjoy is hiring: <http://tipjoy.com/jobs>\n\n~~~\nivey\nIvan, I assume you saw @tensigma's invitation on Twitter to play poker if\nyou're ever in Atlanta, but I'll mention it here, too. He's not any good,\nthough, so go easy on him.\n\n~~~\nivankirigin\nEven people that think they are good are still usually just playing by\nintuition, like me. I'd love to play. We should set up a network of startup\npoker games across the country. Poker is the new incubator.\n\nGiven this fundraising environment, it might be a good financing strategy too.\n\n~~~\nivey\nThat was a session at BarCamp Atlanta: Startup funding via poker.\n\n~~~\nivankirigin\nZynga does that, but plays the role of the house.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n1978 – 'Farewell, Etaoin Shrdlu' - wglb\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/times-insider/2014/11/13/1978-farewell-etaoin-shrdlu/\n======\nteilo\nI recommend another documentary for anyone interested in the history of the\nLinotype:\n\n[http://www.linotypefilm.com/index.html](http://www.linotypefilm.com/index.html)\n\nUsed to be on Netflix, but not presently.\n\n------\nschoen\nDespite the year in the title, this is really a (2014) obituary for a _New\nYork Times_ Linotype operator who died in 2014 and was profiled in a 1978\ndocumentary.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMajor setbacks for two new smartphone OSs, Tizen and Ubuntu Touch - cpeterso\nhttp://gigaom.com/2014/01/17/major-setbacks-for-two-new-smartphone-oss-tizen-and-ubuntu-touch/\n======\nmojuba\nI have an impression that the goal of all these new iOS/Android challengers is\nto get Linux on the mobile phone at all costs. Whereas the goal should be to\ncreate user experience that would be at least as pleasant and smooth as that\nof iOS, plus openness and transparency of the platform. At least.\n\nThat may imply Linux due to the lack of viable alternatives, but really, it\nshould be built with users in mind, rather than perceived as a technical\nchallenge of putting Touch on top of Linux.\n\n(And please, stay away from Java in your next mobile OS. Among other things,\nyou will ward off those of us, developers, who let's say are not neutral wrt.\nto certain programming languages. Edit: make Java optional if you wish.)\n\n~~~\nfafner\nThis has little to do with getting Linux on mobile. Maybe it's the motivation\nfor some. But not the driving aspect.\n\nSamsung wants Tizen to gain back full control of their platform. Canonical\nwants Ubuntu Touch (and Mozilla Firefox OS) because the PC is getting less\nimportant for consumers.\n\n> (And please, stay away from Java in your next mobile OS. Among other things,\n> you will ward off those of us, developers, who let's say are not neutral\n> wrt. to certain programming languages. Edit: make Java optional if you\n> wish.)\n\nNeither of them is based on Java. Tizen and FirefoxOS are (sadly) JavaScript\nonly. Ubuntu Touch supports JavaScript/HTML5 and Qt (JavaScript + C++).\n\n~~~\njevinskie\nTizen has a native C++ toolchain just like the Android NDK.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nLast time I looked it had the frankenstein Bada influence, with two level\ninitialization, no exceptions, handles vs pointers and so forth.\n\nIs that still the case.\n\n~~~\njevinskie\nI'm unsure, I haven't done any app development, just toolchain work.\n\n------\nhdevalence\nIt's a shame the way that Canonical have isolated themselves from the rest of\nthe Linux ecosystem. I wonder if the future for Ubuntu Touch would be brighter\nif they had more community appeal.\n\n~~~\nwtracy\nHow so? Android and Firefox OS can run few if any GNU/Linux applications\nwithout major modifications. Ubuntu run every Linux app I can think of out of\nthe box.\n\n~~~\nhdevalence\nI was referring more to isolation in two related senses:\n\n1\\. A technical sense: Canonical has a significant amount of distribution-\nspecific software that has very little adoption outside of the Ubuntu\necosystem. Examples include:\n\n* their own version control system, bzr (which I think has now been essentially abandoned in terms of development, and other than a few GNU projects never saw much uptake at all);\n\n* their own desktop shell, Unity, which to the best of my knowledge has never been properly packaged for any non-Ubuntu distribution; their own display server, Mir, whose development is the subject of much controversy, and which has been rejected for well-founded technical reasons that have probably already been discussed at length on HN;\n\n* their own init system, Upstart, which was initially adopted by other distributions, who then abandoned it in favour of systemd due to its fundamentally flawed design (for instance, there is no way to 100% reliably keep track of a process's children and the dependency resolution runs backwards, meaning that some configurations can cause hangs).\n\n2\\. A social sense: Canonical's relationship with the rest of the Linux\necosystem has soured (beginning, in my opinion, around 2009-2010, but as a\ngradual thing, it's hard to pin down) to the point of outright hostility. In\nmy opinion, most of the responsibility for this lies with Canonical's poor\ncommunication with others. There's a very detailed history of some events from\n2009-2011 that you can read here [1] detailing their relationship with GNOME.\n\nThe culmination this year has been disgraceful personal attacks by Mark\nShuttleworth on people who raise technical criticism of Canonical's software.\nI expect that more will follow whatever the fallout of Debian's systemd\ndecision is.\n\nThe two are obviously related. The big problem is that there's (again, in my\nopinion) very little community appetite for contributing to Canonical's\nsoftware. And why would there be, given that in order to submit patches for\nUbuntu Touch, I need to give Canonical permission to relicence my code under\nany proprietary licence they choose? At that point, it's not a community\ncontribution, it's just working for Mark Shuttleworth for free.\n\nDoes Canonical have the software engineering capability to maintain a bunch of\nstuff (an init system, a display server) that's really unrelated to their\nproblem (making awesome products for users) and still be able to take on\nAndroid at the same time? I don't think so.\n\n[1]: [http://bethesignal.org/blog/2011/03/12/relationship-\nbetween-...](http://bethesignal.org/blog/2011/03/12/relationship-between-\ncanonical-gnome/)\n\n~~~\njmhain\nUnity has been packaged for Arch. I have absolutely no idea why, but it has.\n\n~~~\nRBerenguel\nThat tendency of Arch users to port everything and try everything (Arch is my\nfavourite Linux distribution, I quite like this style)\n\n------\npinaceae\nAs long as they do not solve a problem for either the carriers or the\nconsumers that is not solved by iOS or Android, they have no chance.\n\nCarriers and manufacturers love Android because they get it from Google for\nfree. Cosumers love it because they can get cheap, good smartphones.\n\nCarriers love the iPhone cause it generates massive revenues for them as\ncustomers love it. See what happened with NTT doCoMo as an example.\n\nTizen, ubuntuOS, firefoxOS, even Windows Phone do not solve anything between\nthose two. \"Openess\" is not a problem for the above.\n\n~~~\nlnanek2\nSometimes an extra option is desired by companies like carriers just so they\ncan pit all the options against each other and get better deals. Similar\nhappens in the OEM space. An OEM may be happy with Qualcomm, but they are\ngoing to flirt with NVIDIA and use them occasionally just to get better deals\nfrom Qualcomm.\n\n~~~\nrimantas\nThis only works with options which are also desired by customers.\n\n------\nrquirk\nRegarding the first-edition Nexus 7 - Canonical will no longer produce Touch\nimages for it, so the author of this article is going to be even more\ndisappointed during 2014.\n\n[https://lists.launchpad.net/ubuntu-\nphone/msg05889.html](https://lists.launchpad.net/ubuntu-phone/msg05889.html)\n\n------\nfrik\nSamsung should release high-end Tizen (Bada3) smartphones in Europe. Most use\nSamung devices here with Android. If Samsung keeps its Touchwiz UI and ship an\nAndroid compatibility layer most people would buy it anyway. They buy it\nbecause of the Samsung brand name!\n\nBada was successful in 2011 and 2012 (3Q/2012: 5.054.000 world wide sales,\n3.0% market share). Bada sales were higher than Win7/8 smartphone sales even\nback in 2012:\n[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/de/e/e7/2012_11_15_Sma...](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/de/e/e7/2012_11_15_Smartphones.jpg)\n\n~~~\nOletros\nAndroid compatibility layer doesn't include Google Services so no GMail,\nGoogle Maps or other programs.\n\n------\nDaishiman\nThis was not unexpected; despite all the technical and political troubles iOS\nand Android have, mobiles OSes can be considered a commodity; there is little\ncompetitive advantage that any new contender could bring about at this point\nunless something truly radical emerges.\n\nUbuntu's unified OS on all platforms seems like an interesting idea at first\nglance, but Canonical has so far failed at providing the necessary vision for\nthat to come through.\n\n~~~\nargonaut\nIt's not so much that they're a commodity, but rather it's the fact that\nAndroid and iOS are so entrenched. Both ecosystems are networks. In fact iOS\nis a major competitive advantage for Apple, with all the apps that are iOS\nfirst.\n\n------\ndiminish\nMobile OS seen is amazingly diverse; Symbian, WebOs, Blackberry OSes, Bada,\n->Tizen, Ubuntu Touch, FirefoxOS, SailfishOS and then Android/s, Windows* and\niOS. Anything else I omitted?\n\n~~~\nxamlhacker\nThere is also S40 platform powering Nokia Asha pseudo-smartphones. S40 is not\nSymbian, it is a distinct OS.\n\n------\nprogramminggeek\nI think at this point the smartphone OS's that are new Firefox OS, Ubuntu, and\nTizen are bascially an attempt to stay relevant in a world where the primary\ncomputer is a phone or tablet, not a laptop or desktop.\n\nAll three of them exist more because of the companies that built them, than\nbecause there is a big gaping hole in the market that they fill. Without a big\nproblem they are solving I think the market as a whole will shrug at their\narrival sort of like the Palm Pre.\n\n~~~\njebblue\n>> in a world where the primary computer is a phone or tablet, not a laptop or\ndesktop.\n\nDid you write that comment on a phone or a personal computer?\n\n------\ncliveowen\nMajor setbacks for two new smartphone OSs, Tizen and Ubuntu Touch. Namely,\npeople don't give a single shit about them.\n\n------\ndscrd\nSailfish OS is built on all the same technologies that are upcoming in the\ndesktop/server linux world, namely systemd, pulseaudio, wayland. They even use\nBTRFS for the root filesystem.\n\n _That_ is the real Linux phone.\n\n~~~\ntcfunk\nNothing that requires the end user to perform the installation of the OS is\nthe real anything.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAug. 1, 2012: When Oculus Asked for Donations - amitkumar01\nhttp://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/03/25/aug-1-2012-when-oculus-asked-for-donations/\n======\nmodeless\nThis is the real shame in the Oculus acquisition. If Oculus had been able to\ngive away just 10% equity, every single Kickstarter backer would be $20,000\nricher today. The sentiment would be completely different. The SEC needs to\nget in gear and start allowing equity crowdfunding pronto.\n\nThe SEC's classification of millionaires as \"accredited investors\" who get\nfirst crack at all the best investment opportunities is exactly the kind of\n\"rich get richer\" policy that people ought to be furious about. I think not\nenough people understand it.\n\n~~~\nicpmacdo\nIf a crowd funding website that was completely bitcoin based would it be able\nto avoid all SEC regulations? If there are regulations in the future is there\na liability to creating this now?\n\n~~~\nanigbrowl\nIt's better to address the problem directly (investor eligibility) rather than\ntrying to invent technological end-runs around it, because the law is not\ndeterministic and such technological instrumentalities are very transparent to\nregulators..\n\n------\nama729\nFrom Notch:\n\n\"And I did not chip in ten grand to seed a first investment round to build\nvalue for a Facebook acquisition.\"\n\n[http://notch.net/2014/03/virtual-reality-is-going-to-\nchange-...](http://notch.net/2014/03/virtual-reality-is-going-to-change-the-\nworld/)\n\n------\ncookingrobot\nFor $300 those backers got the promise of an awesome VR headset. I don't see\nwhy they should get equity for free on top of that.\n\nIt would be nice if kickstarter campaigns could add equity as and option in\nthe reward tiers, but it's not like these people gave their money for nothing\nin return.\n\n~~~\nkevingadd\nYou're assuming every backer paid 300. Some donated more, some paid less.\n\n~~~\ndlp211\nAnd? They knew the terms of the deal.\n\n~~~\nhrjet\nThis is not a legal proceeding. It is more of an emotional outpouring of\ndisappointment.\n\nThe unwritten deal was that the funders were backing a low-overhead, indie\norganisation.\n\n~~~\njoesb\nSo they can never becomes big company?\n\nIt's like a pathetic jealousy of wanting to help a homeless as long as you\nknow they are never going to be richer than you.\n\n~~~\nhrjet\nYou are conflating _big_ with _rich_. It is possible to dislike the former and\nyet support the latter.\n\nOften, when companies get _big_ , the motives change from \"making a great\nproduct\" to \"milking the user for more money\".\n\n------\nphantomb\n\"a $2.4 million early-stage investment in what would become a $2 billion\nbusiness in a year and a half, in return for 0.0% equity\" No. Those backers\nweren't investing in a company, they were purchasing a prototype device and\nsoftware package. In practice, that's how Kickstarter works. Sure, there will\nbe a lot of backers who are happy that their deferred purchase is helping a\nproject actually get off the ground, but I guarantee every person who handed\nover the $300 read over the rewards carefully.\n\n------\nshittyanalogy\n\n        1) Kickstarter is not an investment platform.\n        2) Kickstarter is not a store.\n    \n\nKickstarter is ONLY for _giving_ your money away to ideas you want to see\nsucceed. The _perks_ are a gamble at best and misleading at worst.\n\nIf you give money to a kickstarter for any other reason, despite what the\ncampaign or your friends or some blog tells you, you're quite unfortunately\ndoing it wrong.\n\n~~~\nnemetroid\nThe perks are _not_ a gamble. If the project creator fails to deliver, you are\nentitled to a refund. Straight from the Kickstarter Terms of Use:\n\n> Project Creators are required to fulfill all rewards of their successful\n> fundraising campaigns or refund any Backer whose reward they do not or\n> cannot fulfill.\n\n~~~\nshittyanalogy\nThrough what enforcement?\n\n------\nmehwoot\nWell you can't have it both ways. If you put your money in on kickstarter and\nexpect to get a product in return, you have bought the product. You didn't\ninvest.\n\nOf course, how much people who put money into things on kickstarter expect to\nget a product versus how much risk they are expecting to take is an open\nquestion.\n\n------\nbooruguru\nI've always found it bizarre that people would willing give hundreds (if not,\nthousands) of dollars to fund a business venture for some paltry token of\nappreciation while the founders (and investors) receive all of the financial\nrewards. (The \"Veronica Mars\" movie comes to mind.)\n\nAlso, I find it deeply upsetting that I am be allowed to give my life savings\nto a startup founded by a friend or family member, but I can't do this with a\nstranger...because the government wants to protect me or something.\n\nBut, really, I can't really blame regulators for this paternalistic policies\nsince most people blame the banks for the financial crisis while pitying those\nimpoverished home owners who stupidly purchased homes they couldn't afford.\n\n~~~\ninterpol_p\nIt wasn't a \"paltry token\" of appreciation in this case. It was the actual VR\nheadset, unlike anything else you could purchase commercially, for $300. I am\nglad I got mine and knew what I was getting when I backed the project — a\nreally fun toy I could mess around with.\n\n------\nicambron\nI'll just say it: Kickstarter is for suckers. When you give money to a\nproject, you're doing one of two things:\n\n1\\. Making a donation to a company. [1]\n\n2\\. Preordering something that hasn't been built yet.\n\nDoing 1 is silly, since you don't really get anything in return. \"But it makes\nit more likely that this thing I want will happen!\" In some tiny marginal way,\nsure, but mostly it's going to happen because other people donate (or fails to\nhappen because they don't). Don't be the fool who tries to personally take on\nthe collective action problem. And stop trying to make other people rich out\nof the goodness of your heart.\n\nOf course, as the WSJ fails to make clear, most of Oculus's Kickstarter money\nwasn't straight-up donations; it was preorders of the Rift. That's obviously\nnot a donation, but it's not a good idea either. As the buyer, you bear the\nrisk that it never ships at all. \"But I'm compensated with a discount!\"\nEssentially, you're making an investment in which your returns come in the\nform of future discounts on a product. Forget that you like the Oculus Rift\nfor a second; is this a wise investment structure? If someone set up a VC\ncompany that did that instead of buying parts of companies, would you think\nthat was smart? Did you do any kind of analysis that suggests this is actually\nworks out to be a good investment? Do the potential returns even justify that\nanalysis? Do you think of other consumer products this way, or only shiny\nelectronic things?\n\nOr to think about it a different way: imagine if someone set up a store that\nworked like this: you take your item to the counter, where they don't actually\nlet you buy the item. Instead what you can do is pay the price minus n% and\nthen they roll this big roulette to decide whether you get the product (m%\nsuccess rate). If you win you get to keep the product and if you lose it goes\nback on the shelf and they keep your money. To spice things up, they don't\ntell you what n and m are either, just the price to play and whether you get\nthe item. Now, it's possible--though unknown--that m and n work out that\nyou're EV positive here. But would you really shop at that store? Especially\nwhen there's another store next door that just sells you the same stuff at a\nknown price (i.e. just buy the Rift when it comes out).\n\nThe fact of the matter is that you're aren't pre-buying the Rift on a rational\nbasis. You've been convinced by clever marketing to shoulder risk for a\ncompany because it _seems cool and feels good_. Total sucker move. That\nprobably explains why it tastes bitter when the company whose capital\nrequirements you fronted rolls that into a $2 billion dollar acquisition.\n\n[1] Maybe it's not a company. Maybe it's a cause you support like improving\nCoffeeScript or something. For those cases, I withdraw my objections.\n\n~~~\nInclinedPlane\nWho cares?\n\nYou seem to live in a universe where everything goes according to plan, that's\nnot any real universe I'm aware of.\n\nKickstarter is about being a _patron_ of _creators_ for specific projects.\nSometimes those projects are by people working in good faith, sometimes not.\nSometimes those projects succeed, sometimes not.\n\nThe idea that this is somehow unusual is ridiculous. The idea that it should\nbe discouraged is actively harmful. One of the most powerful things anyone can\ndo with their money is to fund the development of things which change the\nworld. Create products they wish existed, create art they desire, support\ncreative or productive people, help others, etc.\n\n------\ndaemin\nSo perhaps the answer is for Kickstarter to not allow any sort of companies to\nbe funded, but rather only keep it for once off art projects...\n\n~~~\nphantomb\nI understand that's what the Kickstarter team is most interested in. But what\nwould that accomplish besides causing all the companies to simply move to the\nnext crowd-sourcing site?\n\nIf Kickstarter doesn't want a cut of that money I'm sure Indiegogo will be\nhappy to take it\n\n~~~\ndaemin\nIt's a tough question Kickstarter might ask itself, but then again since it\ngets a cut of all the funding that comes through it, why would it want to stop\n(over)funding these company projects. I think at this stage it won't change\nunless it is forced to from a third party.\n\n------\nblazespin\nActually, in all of this anger, there is great news. This is validation of the\ncrowdfunding format in a big big way. I hope this is just the start (well, the\nstart of getting actual ROI for your crowdfunding investment. Enough of this\nDonation silliness..)\n\n------\nshurcooL\nThis is all that I'm reminded of:\n\n[http://mashable.com/2010/04/02/facebook-acquires-\ndivvyshot/](http://mashable.com/2010/04/02/facebook-acquires-divvyshot/)\n\n------\ndalek2point3\nmy complaint is mainly with the headline. if the word \"kickstarter\" was\nanywhere in the title I would not have clicked. d'oh.\n\n~~~\nmaxden\nand the headline has changed again...\n\nit was \"18 months ago Oculus did one of history's smartest rounds $2.4M for a\n0.0% stake (wsj.com)\n\n------\nfiatjaf\nIf the government let it, every small company or utopian project would sell\nstocks, not empty dreams, to believers in the internet.\n\n------\nrefurb\nDid Oculus raise more money after the Kickstarter or did these guys own 100%\nof the equity?\n\n~~~\ndjloche\nThey did a $75M round recently and have been hiring like crazy.\n\n~~~\njes5199\nat this point, we should read \"hiring like crazy\" as \"trying to get acquired\".\nHaving a lot of employees boosts your valuation but does little for your\nability to deliver a product\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nVesper app - pstinnett\nhttp://vesperapp.co/\n\n======\npooriaazimi\n( _please note that my post is meant to give others another use-case for the\nVesper app, and isn't an ad for a competitor product!_ )\n\nI don't care much for a diary or travel book, but I do use DayOne[1] (for OS X\nand iOS) as a journal of interesting stuff I find (mostly on HN). Years ago I\nused delicious to save/tag webpages, after its stagnation I used other\nservices (I don't even remember their names), then started tagging stuff in\nEvernote, but none of them were as natural and easy-to-use as DayOne. It lacks\na lot of features, but the Markdown format and its general ease of use makes\nup for that - I just press Control-Shift-D and start typing (or pasting a URL\n+ it's HN discussion link for future reference). Occasionally I write down an\ninteresting quote or image, or a passage I've read in an article. Also, the\nway it stores entries is using plist files, so I'm not afraid of platform\nlock-in. If I find something better (like this Vesper app here), I'll just\nwrite a convertor and translate those .plist files to the new format.\n\nI haven't tried Vesper yet (probably will wait until there's an OS X client,\nwhich is where I use DayOne 99% of the time), but it looks very nice and\npromising.\n\n[1]: <http://dayoneapp.com>\n\n~~~\nkmfrk\nLooks like they have punted on encryption for over a year, which seems like a\nvery weird and careless thing to do:\n\n1\\. <http://dayoneapp.com/support/passwords/>\n\n2\\. [http://iphone.appstorm.net/reviews/lifestyle/day-one-a-\ngorge...](http://iphone.appstorm.net/reviews/lifestyle/day-one-a-gorgeous-\nsynchronized-journalling-app/#comment-894327741)\n\n3\\.\n[http://web.archive.org/web/20120902234719/http://dayoneapp.c...](http://web.archive.org/web/20120902234719/http://dayoneapp.com/support/passwords/)\n\nThe app looks really interesting, though, and I would probably have used it\notherwise. Maybe now's a great time to address encryption with the focus on\nthe Vesper app.\n\n~~~\nozarius\nIf encryption is your main requirement, you could try AnyLocker -\n<http://anylockerapp.com>\n\nIt's main selling point is that it encrypts all your data (notes, pictures)\nwith SHA-256 before storing it on your device. Give it a try (Disclosure - i\nam the developer in the team that published this app)\n\nReviews/feedback always welcome...\n\n~~~\nkmfrk\nNah, I already have Ben the Bodyguard[1] for that.\n\nI don't really use it, but I use a to-do app constantly, and miss a tool to\ncontinue writing on my projects' Markdown files.\n\n[1]: [http://benthebodyguard.com&#x2F](http://benthebodyguard.com&#x2F);\n\n------\naarondf\nSeems strangely devoid of information... Am I supposed to already know what\nvesper is?\n\n~~~\nSamuel_Michon\nA ‘Vesper’ is a cocktail drink that was introduced in Ian Fleming’s novel\n‘Casino Royale’. John Gruber is a fan of the James Bond stories and of high\nalcoholic beverages. I don’t see how the name has anything to do with note-\ntaking, though.\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesper_(cocktail)>\n\n~~~\nfbpcm\nThe app is sold by Q Branch LLC\n\n~~~\nSamuel_Michon\nYes, which is the company Gruber started with his friends. The kid in all the\napp’s screenshots is Jonas Gruber, John’s son.\n\nLike Vesper, the name ‘Q Branch’ also refers to the James Bond franchise (Q is\nthe mastermind who provides James Bond with all of his clever gadgets).\n\n[http://www.macworld.com/article/2040883/meet-vesper-a-\nnotes-...](http://www.macworld.com/article/2040883/meet-vesper-a-notes-app-\nwith-an-all-star-development-team.html#tk.twt_jsnell)\n\n------\nAliAdams\nI'd love to know what the background/reasoning was for another note-taking\napp. Sounds like a great team but like some other people have said - it\ndoesn't look like a brilliant space to start out in.\n\n------\njasonpbecker\nThe MacStories Review [1] has a gif that shows how the app transitions from\nscreen to screen. To me, that's the most interesting part of the app because\nit introduces a new UI/UX that feels faster and seems unique. Who knows if\nthis will catch on, but it could be something not unlike pull-to-refresh, the\nhamburger button, or the basement metaphor on iOS if people really like it.\n\nSo maybe it's just another note app that won't work for those of us already\nusing a different solution. But the UI/UX design is pretty cool and\npotentially noteworthy.\n\n[1]: [http://www.macstories.net/reviews/vesper-review-collect-\nyour...](http://www.macstories.net/reviews/vesper-review-collect-your-\nthoughts/)\n\n~~~\ncloudwalking\nGif direct link:\n[http://90a2cc4b7deb50ba0492-5793e9161196cd023f2e1f1322f2910e...](http://90a2cc4b7deb50ba0492-5793e9161196cd023f2e1f1322f2910e.r22.cf1.rackcdn.com/2013-06-06%2015-24-46-vesper-\nvesper.gif)\n\n------\ncoderguy123\nI just don't get this app. There are thousand alternatives cheaper or free.\n\n------\nmeerita\nWhat about a web version of this? If you want to write more than 100 words the\niPhone becomes something really annoying. I hope they release, at least, this\noption some day.\n\n------\nfromwithin\nAndroid version in the works?\n\n~~~\nperishabledave\nGiven the team that made it (i.e. John Gruber, Brent Simmons, Dave Wiskus), I\nprobably wouldn't expect one any time soon. Not merely referring to their\npersonal preferences, with only one developer on their team I can't imagine\nthey have much resources to go cross-platform.\n\n~~~\nfakeer\nAny time soon?\n\nEven if the other two decides to do it Gruber might threaten to jump off a\nbridge!\n\n------\ncapkutay\nI thought about making an app like this for a long time. Kind of like indexing\nyour thoughts. However, I feel like evernote may have taken the space in a way\nthat wouldn't allow any competing apps to scale.\n\n------\noakaz\nIt looks good but damn so difficult to install. it doesn't appear in appstore!\n\n~~~\nperishabledave\nI think the appstore updates 1 PM PST. You'll probably see it then.\n\n------\nlogical42\ni really like it!\n\nfeature request: allow for a lock-code on this app please.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nRestoring accidentally deleted files on Linux - potus_kushner\nhttps://sabotage-linux.github.io/blog/6/\n======\nrnhmjoj\nIf you are using ext4 there is extundelete that simplifies the process, it\nrequires to remount the filesystem read-only, though.\n\n    \n    \n      mount -o remount,ro /dev/sda1\n      extundelete --restore-all --after $(date -d \"-1 hours\" +%s) /dev/sda1\n      find /RECOVERED_FILES -name accidentally_deleted_file \n      mount -o remount,rw /dev/sda1\n\n------\ntheamk\nAnother fast way to search for text in binary files is to use \"grep -abo\"\n(treat all files as text / print matches only / print file offsets).\n\n------\ndusted\nAnyone checked if that is actually faster than just using grep on the\nblockdevice? I've used grep the few times I've had a need for it, and just\ncopied the source off the terminal when its found something. (Tell grep to\ngive you some lines before and after a match, and tell it to treat the\nblockdevice as plain-text).. You usually get some trash before/after the\nmatches, those could be terminal control characers, but a those can be trimmed\nwith, drumroll: tr.\n\n------\nrrauenza\nLast time I had this happen (thankfully a long time ago) I just used Perl\nagainst the block device and used a regex.\n\nForensic tools also work well for this.\n\n------\naurox\nThanks, this will come in handy. Needed it a bunch in the past.\n\n------\njvanderbot\nshouldn't that be (addr1-addr2+1)? Or does dd copy the first byte _plus_ the\ncount?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Interested in a Lisp Google Calendar API Library? - gibsonf1\n\nIs anyone else interested in a nice, easy to use and reliable Lisp library to talk to the Google Calendar API in an elegant way?  I sure am, and if you are too and like to code in lisp, please email me to join the team adding this little gem to a growing list of very helpful Lisp libraries.  (We'll of course use one of the existing xml lisp libraries)\n======\ngibsonf1\nI've just been on #lisp, and pkhuong offered this code to the effort:\n<http://www.discontinuity.info/~pkhuong/cl-gcal.lisp>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCoronavirus Conspiracy Theories Are a Public Health Hazard - vo2maxer\nhttps://www.wired.com/story/coronavirus-covid-19-misinformation-campaigns/\n======\nTravelN0mad\nWait for it, they're going to use this as a pretext to extend their already\nrampant censoring-, and account lockdown program.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGovernments will close down bitcoin and crypto if they get too big, Jamie Dimon - SirLJ\nhttps://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/22/bitcoin-jpmorgans-jamie-dimon-lays-into-bitcoin-again.html\n======\ngaramirez\nI really like JD's comments on this Bitcoin madness. This is going to end\nsooner than later and people is going to get hurt (in their pockets). Greed is\ngood.. but at a reasonable level.. all cryptocurrencies are being fueled by\ngreed.. nothing else.\n\n------\nbyoung2\n_Dimon warned that governments will eventually crack down on cryptocurrencies\nand will attempt to control it by threatening anyone who buys or sells bitcoin\nwith imprisonment, which would force digital currencies into becoming a black\nmarket._\n\nCouldn't that make it more valuable? Take illegal drugs for example...they are\nvery expensive because they are illegal to produce, distribute, but, and sell.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHaiku R1/beta1 has been released - hakfoo\nhttps://www.haiku-os.org/news/2018_09_28_haiku_r1_beta1/\n======\nartsyca\nPosting this from HaikuOS! Greetings earthlings! Man I feel like I've opened a\ntime capsule.\n\n~~~\nfit2rule\nTell us more about it -- what have you discovered? What do you like so far?\nCan you use it productively for things?\n\n~~~\nartsyxxx\nI'm still discovering what's going on with this OS. Apparently we can install\nVMWare tools. It's been over 15 years since I've touched anything to do with\nBeOS but in the words of Celine Dione.. It's all coming back to me now\n\n------\nmntmn\nIncredible progress, very cool! I used BeOS back in ‘99 and loved it.\nApplications were straightforward to build with C++ and the BMessage system.\nIt had a great little community, even in Germany (“BeGeistert”!). Does Haiku\nrun on ARM nowadays?\n\n~~~\ndeaddodo\nYes:\n\n[https://download.haiku-os.org/nightly-images/arm/](https://download.haiku-\nos.org/nightly-images/arm/)\n\nIt's even buggier than the x86 version though, and you don't have any software\nbeyond what you compile for it yourself.\n\n~~~\ntossaway44\nI thought the ARM version didn’t have a GUI yet...\n\n~~~\ndeaddodo\nThe Application Server is in progress, but it builds. The problem is that on\nx86, you can fall back on the BIOS w/ VESA to display video; while ARM lacks\nthat functionality. If you can find/build a video driver it should Just\nWork(tm).\n\nYou can see the current video drivers here:\n\n[https://github.com/haiku/haiku/blob/master/build/jam/images/...](https://github.com/haiku/haiku/blob/master/build/jam/images/definitions/regular#L205)\n\nWhich are all x86/amd64-based. The RPi would actually be relatively simple to\nthrow a framebuffer video driver together for, though:\n\n* [https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/projects/raspberrypi/tutorials/os/s...](https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/projects/raspberrypi/tutorials/os/screen01.html)\n\n* [https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/wiki](https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/wiki)\n\n* [https://github.com/dwelch67/raspberrypi/tree/master/video01](https://github.com/dwelch67/raspberrypi/tree/master/video01)\n\n~~~\nwaddlesplash\nErr ... no? The problem with the ARM port is the lack of device drivers, and\nthe fact that there is no userland/syscalls ABI set up yet at all. So there's\nstill a lot to be done here.\n\n------\nsmallstepforman\nAnd the release notes:\n\n[https://www.haiku-os.org/get-haiku/release-notes/](https://www.haiku-\nos.org/get-haiku/release-notes/)\n\n~~~\nAHTERIX5000\nLoving how they list Pentium II as a minimum requirement. I still have an old\nnetbook with Intel Atom that I use when travelling to certain parts of the\nworld and while it is clocked at 1.6 GHz and has 2 GB of RAM many of the\nmodern Linux desktops are extremely sluggish.\n\n~~~\nmorganvachon\nHaiku would definitely bring it to life. I had a similar Atom based netbook\nand it was a perfect Haiku machine. I also have a PIII based laptop from 2000\nwith 512MB RAM that runs Haiku (and BeOS 5.0 Pro) extremely well.\n\n~~~\nUncleSlacky\nGood news. I'm just about to try it on my Asus eeePC 701 4G, I've upgraded the\nRAM to 1Gb and have an 8Gb SD card for additional storage. Fingers crossed!\n\n~~~\ndavid-given\nI have an eee 701 --- there are graphic driver problems but it works find in\nsafe mode. (I think there's something weird about the eee's smaller-than-\nnormal screen.)\n\nIncidentally, I recall the early eees (like mine) having a faulty SD card slot\nand were unreliable writing to SD cards. Real MMC cards work fine. But that\nwas years ago, so maybe there's a workaround now.\n\n~~~\nUncleSlacky\nThanks for the graphic driver tip. I've never had an issue with SD cards, but\nthe 4G is (I think) the last iteration of the original 700 series, so\npresumably it was fixed by then.\n\n------\nswerner\nThis is a very faithful reimplementation if BeOS, which means it shares one\nunfortunate limitation with it: The lack of drivers.\n\nAlready back in '99, not leveraging 3D hardware was a problem for adoption.\nThese days even more so, as not only 3D software but also 2D, audio and\nscientific software leverage GPUs.\n\n~~~\nbebop\nThere has been discussion [0] on porting FreeBSD's linuxkpi framework to get\nLinux drivers working on Haiku. So far I do not think anyone is actively\nworking on it, but it would be a very similar solution as was used to get\nFreeBSD's networking drivers working on Haiku.\n\n[0] - [https://discuss.haiku-os.org/t/plans-\nfor-3d-acceleration/727...](https://discuss.haiku-os.org/t/plans-\nfor-3d-acceleration/7272/8)\n\n~~~\nswerner\nThat would be wonderful. If I could get OpenGL support for current generation\nNVIDIA or AMD hardware, ideally with OpenCL or Vulkan too (CUDA is probably\ntoo much to ask for), I would even be able to use Haiku for my daily work.\n\n------\nlcnmrn\nC’mon Mozilla, make a smart move and bring Firefox to Haiku OS. Just kill that\nChrome OS thing.\n\n------\ntcbawo\nFrom what I've read in the release notes, Haiku uses GCC version 2 for ABI\ncompatibility reasons. Can anyone elaborate on whether this is the case, or\nwhether modern GCC can be/has been modified for the OS to maintain binary\ncompatibility. Also, what is lost in this case?\n\n~~~\nmorganvachon\nThere are two versions of Haiku, the hybrid 32-bit version uses the older GCC\nfor compatibility with software written for BeOS, plus GCC 7.3.0 for modern\napp support. The other is a 64-bit release with only the modern GCC and no\nbackwards compatibility with BeOS apps.\n\n[https://download.haiku-os.org/](https://download.haiku-os.org/)\n\n~~~\ntcbawo\nWhat aspect of newer versions of GCC breaks the ABI? Are these things that\ncan't be controlled?\n\n~~~\nbebop\nFirst, to add to the parent comment, you can install later versions of GCC on\nthe x86 gcc2 builds as well. There is also a port of LLVM.\n\nSecond, not directly related to what changed with the ABI, but it I think it\nwould be more hassle than it is worth to try and make newer versions of GCC\nemit compatible binaries. There is work to run Haiku GCC 2.95 libraries\nalongside binaries built with a newer version. The runtime loader would be\nresponsible for picking the correct so files. This also would work on the x64\nbuilds as well, similar to how Linux (and others) can load x86 programs on x64\nOS's. This feature is close to working but there were some last minute issues\nfound, so it was left out of the Beta.\n\n~~~\nstuaxo\nAh, so BeOS programs could work under 64 bit haiku?\n\n~~~\nbebop\nYes, that is the plan if I understand correctly.\n\n------\ngrafelic\nMy Thinkpad 240 is ready, now waiting for an USB to IDE adapter to install\nHaiku on its disk.\n\n~~~\nnetrap\nI tried on mine but it wouldn't boot last time.\n\n------\ncgb223\nWhat are the advantages to using HaikuOS vs other OSes?\n\n~~~\nsmallstepforman\nSame dev team does whole stack, from kernel, kits, drivers, servers to user\nspace. In theory, it is all integrated and has direct path from server to\nkernel, resulting in more efficient system.\n\nBeOS core API was designed for multi core systems from day one, so the design\nis more modern than older systems.\n\nThe core API is C++, from kernel to user space.\n\nLots of things to like, it just needs more polish and devs to flourish.\n\n~~~\ntialaramex\n> Same dev team does whole stack, from kernel, kits, drivers, servers to user\n> space. In theory, it is all integrated and has direct path from server to\n> kernel, resulting in more efficient system.\n\nExcept, while that's often what the blurb says, the implementation is\ntypically paste in whatever somebody else wrote and call it a day.\n\nFor example years back Haiku announced it was going to have WiFi. Its own WiFi\nstack, far more integrated and reliable than things you were using on other\nsystems. Very exciting.\n\nAnd then as a \"stop gap\" it pasted in FreeBSD's PCI 802.11 driver subsystem,\nand the WPA Supplicant you've seen on all your Free Unix systems. And that's\nwhere they stopped. Last time I checked they had a version of WPA Supplicant\nvulnerable to KRACK but I'm sure they'd updated for the Beta.\n\nHow does their \"integrated\" solution handle your WiFi credentials? They use\nthe powerful Haiku \"KeyStore\" password protection system. Here's how that\nworks: You write the plaintext password into a file. Don't worry though, in\nKeyStore they wrote \"TODO: Actually encrypt\". Which I think you'll agree is\nalmost as good as using encryption ?\n\n> BeOS core API was designed for multi core systems from day one, so the\n> design is more modern than older systems.\n\nMore modern is relative. \"Older systems\" in this context is stuff from the\n1980s, because BeOS is roughly the same age as Linux, started in 1991.\n\nHowever in Haiku you won't find anything like IO Completion ports, or futexes.\nYou won't find any privilege separation because everything runs as \"root\".\nEverybody else moved on and Haiku is stuck being really quite good by 1990s\nstandards.\n\n~~~\neloisant\nWell, BeOS is the same age as Linux but Linux was an implementation of older\nconcepts (Unix) while BeOS was designed from scratch.\n\n~~~\ncoldtea\nThat was 1991 Linux. Modern linux has moved much further than the original\nimplementation, introducing all kinds of non-old-time-UNIX concepts (starting\nfrom Plan9 ones).\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nIt still needs to catch up with mainframes' security, though.\n\n~~~\nyjftsjthsd-h\nIn _general_ I don't know enough to disagree, but keep in mind the context\nhere is comparing to Haiku, which is _not_ great at security, particularly of\nthe multi-user sort to which you refer.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nThere is a Multics security research paper that describes out-of-bounds as\npractically non-existent thanks to PL/I features.\n\nAccording to the Linux Kernel Security Summit 2018, 68% of kernel exploits are\ncaused by out-of-bounds errors.\n\nThat is just one example, there is plenty of material available to anyone that\nwants to dive into the subject.\n\nSo just because GNU/Linux faires better in security towards Haiku, doesn't\nmean there is nothing left to improve.\n\n------\nsitkack\nI just had an idea to use KVM and PCIe passthrough to piggy back windows\ndriver support for Vulkan into a PCIe device running in Haiku so Haiku could\nuse the latest graphics cards w/o having to write their own video drivers.\nBonus points for implementing mmap across to guest OSes. There should be a\ngeneric hardware description for a Vulkan based paravirt PCIe graphics card.\nThen the backend of the pvirt GPU could either pass it through to the driver,\nsend it over the network or re-translate it on the fly to AVX, WebGL, etc.\n\nBecause the first question that popped into my head was, \"How do they enable\nmodern GPU support?\"\n\n~~~\nwaddlesplash\nWe already have a roadmap for that, see here: [https://discuss.haiku-\nos.org/t/plans-for-3d-acceleration/727...](https://discuss.haiku-\nos.org/t/plans-for-3d-acceleration/7272/8)\n\nWe don't want to be confined to VMs forever; in fact we already have a\nsizeable number of users running on bare metal.\n\n------\nartsyxxx\nCan this run on VMWare?\n\n~~~\nkome\nI am running it on VMWare and it works like a charm. I am writing from\nWebPositive, the integrated browser, and it's prety awesome.\n\n------\ngigatexal\nI still think Apple should have bought NEXT and BeOS. Can’t wait to try this\nout though. Loving the idea of virtio drivers\n\n~~~\nchungy\nThey tried buying BeOS, but the BeOS people absolutely refused to sell out to\na company like Apple. NeXT was their second choice, and they succeeded in\nbuying it (NeXTSTEP became Mac OS X).\n\n~~~\nchiph\nIIRC, Jean-Louis Gassée named a price that Apple was unwilling to pay. I don't\nknow his motivation for doing that - was it all about the money? Or was it to\nstick it to Apple and name a stratospheric price as a way of sending a\nmessage?\n\n~~~\ntialaramex\nJean-Louis Gassée is an ex-Apple executive. He's why Jobs left Apple. For him\nthe point of Be Inc. was to show Apple they'd been wrong to subsequently get\nrid of him in 1990.\n\nWhen Apple were looking at BeOS / NeXT what they were really trying to decide\nwas whether to have Jobs or Gassée back. They picked Jobs.\n\nAfter Be, Inc. sank JLG arranged to run Palm's software spin-off. This\nproduced the version of PalmOS that's remarkable because instead of being used\nmore palmtop devices than previous PalmOS versions it was used in none at all,\neven the Palm hardware company never used it.\n\nIMO Gassée would be nobody you've heard of if not for the fact of his being in\na position to force Jobs out of Apple. Everything else follows from that.\n\n------\njernfrost\nLoved a BeOS when it came out but is not the whole concept outdated now? C++\nall over the place seems like a bad idea for enabling the usage of other\nlanguages as C++ is terrible at interoping with anything. Multi threading all\nover the place BeOS style does not seem like way concurrency is done today\nwith higher order APIs.\n\n~~~\nerikpukinskis\nSure it’s probably outdated but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t exist. A\nPorsche 911 is outdated but it has its place in our lives.\n\n------\ndmitripopov\n17 years in development. Just WOW!\n\n------\nFnoord\nAny way to get 802.1x working?\n\n~~~\nwaddlesplash\nYes, it's supported out of the box using FreeBSD's WiFi drivers, so it should\nsupport most chipsets FreeBSD does.\n\n~~~\nFnoord\nDoes PEAP work as well?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhy programmers can’t make any money: dimensionality and the Eternal Haskell Tax - gu\nhttp://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2014/06/06/why-programmers-cant-make-any-money-dimensionality-and-the-eternal-haskell-tax/\n======\nPaulHoule\nOh yeah, but it even affects Java programmers.\n\nIf you want a job working with Lucene 3.6, it is easy. There is always some\nrecruiter who knows these guys who have an opening because the last programmer\nburned out and they need you in a hurry because the product was supposed to\nhit the market 2 weeks ago.\n\nIt doesn't take great interviewing skills to win this job because everybody\ninvolved wants to stop putting out fires and if you can avoid sexually\nharassing somebody or making a jewish joke in front of somebody named Cohen\nyou can get the job.\n\nIf you are so foolish to accept the mission you'll get issued a bottom-of-the-\nline \"business\" laptop from Dell which is a hand-me-down from a salesman who\ncouldn't sell anything. You'll find the servers are bursting at the seams even\nthough the system isn't in production yet. And then you'll find that your team\nhas smashed Lucene 3.6 in ways that devastate performance and that are very\nhard to maintain. You can't get a straight answer from the lead developer as\nto how to build the system, never mind anything else.\n\nNow Lucene 4 uses half the memory of Lucene 3 because it avoids the UCS-16\ntax. Many operations are sped up up to hundreds of times. The code base is\neasier to work with and wouldn't have required to have the violence done\nagainst it that had been done against Lucene 3.\n\nIf search performance matters, they'll get smoked by a competitor who uses\nLucene 4, so I feel it is malpractice to work on Lucene 3 projects.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nPlano, Texas ranked as best city for building personal wealth - procrastitron\nhttp://money.cnn.com/2008/06/30/real_estate/personal_wealth/index.htm?section=money_topstories\n\n======\naggieben\nInteresting title: _small-town life may mean big money_.\n\nPlano is anything but a small town, at least by the American perspective. It\nis the quintessential suburb of a top-ten city, and thoroughly enmeshed in the\nmetropolitan area. Only someone from one of the top five cities could think of\nPlano as a \"small town\". Consider the 5A high-schools: my brother graduated\nfrom Plano Senior High School in 1984 in a class of 1200. I hear they are even\nbigger now. That school is not the only one at that scale, and it would be\nconsidered 6A in some states.\n\nHaving said that, I think Plano is one of the 3 cities in the Dallas Metro\narea that have a decent shot at becoming a technology hotbed that resembles\nthe well-known ones (The Valley, Boston, Austin). Plano actually resembles\nAustin in some ways.\n\nRockwall and Richardson are the other two Dallas suburbs that I think make for\ndecent technology areas. We'll see how that shapes up.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAdd '127.0.0.1 xn–9q8h' to /etc/hosts gives you \"localghost\" - DyslexicAtheist\nhttps://twitter.com/rfreebern/status/1214560971185778693\n======\njackewiehose\nIt took me a while to get the joke because I didn't recognize that white ghost\non a white background. I take this as another example why these non-ascii urls\nare a bad idea for security.\n\n~~~\nicebraining\nIt's not white, it's the blueish grey #E1E8ED. You need a better monitor :)\n\n~~~\npaulddraper\nFails all contrast measures abysmally: [https://contrast-ratio.com/#%23E1E8ED-\non-white](https://contrast-ratio.com/#%23E1E8ED-on-white)\n\nAnd this is despite that fact that the actual \"font color\" is #14171A with\nexcellent contrast: [https://contrast-ratio.com/#%2314171A-on-\nwhite](https://contrast-ratio.com/#%2314171A-on-white)\n\nBut these bizarre characters don't respond the text color and thus utterly\nunpredictable in their legibility.\n\n~~~\nicebraining\nThe use of the color is quite different from a regular character, so measuring\nby the same yardstick makes no sense. This is a blob of color, not just some\nthin lines.\n\n> these bizarre characters\n\nAt least on Twitter.com, they're not characters, they're SVG images.\n\n~~~\npaulddraper\nPNG, but yes.\n\n~~~\nicebraining\nMaybe it differs based on the browser? Shows up as\n[https://abs-0.twimg.com/emoji/v2/svg/1f47b.svg](https://abs-0.twimg.com/emoji/v2/svg/1f47b.svg)\nto me.\n\n~~~\npaulddraper\n[https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/1f47b.png](https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/1f47b.png)\n¯\\\\_(ツ)_/¯\n\n------\nshawkinaw\nThis is using Punycode encoding, see\n[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoji_domain](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoji_domain).\n\n~~~\njackewiehose\nWhy is this even a thing?\n\n~~~\ntialaramex\nThere are a bunch of different human writing systems. All of them are weird\nbecause they were invented by humans, most of them are _very_ weird indeed\nbecause they were invented by humans a long time ago and then gradually\nmutated.\n\nThe Latin system is the one you're using here. It's very popular. Most humans\nin the integrated tribes are somewhat familiar with it‡. It has twenty six\n\"letters\" and then twenty six more \"capital letters\" which look different but\nmean almost the same thing for some reason, and then a bunch more symbols that\naren't quite letters although some (apostrophe, ampersand) have a better claim\nthan others. But other popular systems include Han, which has a shitload of\nlogograms, and Cyrillic and Greek which have different letters than Latin and\ndifferent rules about how letters work.\n\nAnyway, the people who invented DNS only or primarily used the Latin system\nand they weren't much into capital letters. So, their system doesn't treat\ncapital letters as different and only has one set of twenty six Latin letters,\nten digits, a dash and an underscore for some reason.\n\nBut, lots of people who do NOT have Latin as the primary or only writing\nsystem found this annoying to work with. They wanted to use their writing\nsystem with DNS especially once the Web came along and popularized the\nInternet.\n\nPunycode is a way to use some reserved nonsense-looking Latin text in any DNS\nlabel to mean that actually this DNS name should be displayed as some Unicode\ntext. Unicode encodes all popular human writing systems (and lots of unpopular\nones) fairly well, so this sorts the problem out. Specifically Punycode\nreserves Latin names that start xn-- for this purpose. By only caring about\ndisplay this avoids changing anything in the technical underpinnings. Only\nuser-facing code needed to change, every other layer is unaltered.\n\nThe rules about IDNs say that a registry (such as .com) should have rules to\nensure the names in that registry are unambigous and meaningful. But in\npractice the purpose of the .com registry in particular is to make as much\nmoney as possible regardless of the consequences. So you can register any name\nyou please and they won't stop you even if it's deliberately confusing.\n\n‡ None of the extant unintegrated tribes have writing. This probably doesn't\nmean anything important.\n\n~~~\ndownerending\nPerhaps ironically, URLs were never meant for human consumption in the first\nplace. You were meant to \"travel\" to various sites via search indices, etc.\n(Think Google.)\n\nViewed in that light, restricting DNS names to ASCII as a way to reduce bugs,\nsecurity issues, etc., makes a lot of sense.\n\n~~~\nncmncm\nSearch engines happened remarkably late. Nobody understood how easy search\nengines would be.\n\nPeople thought you would follow links from directory pages linked from your\n\"home page\", hence the house symbol still seen in browsers. Yahoo! is a\nleftover of an attempt at a directory.\n\n~~~\ndownerending\nIndeed--this is what was meant by \"indices\".\n\nIt's kind of like XML. It was never meant to be seen by human eyes, except in\na few debugging scenarios. Unfortunately, that intention was ignored, and now\nwe have a usability disaster. (At least in the case of XML, it can just die.)\n\n~~~\nlokedhs\nI agree with what you said about XML. But in its stead we have a lot of JSON\nwhich is several respects is even worse.\n\nThe worst part of it is that it doesn't have a stable definition for numbers,\nmaking it impossible to guarantee you're getting the same value back if you\nencode and then decode a number. Reliably preserving the data you serialise\nusing it should be a primary feature for an encoding format. JSON can't even\ndo that.\n\n~~~\ngowld\nWhy do you need a stable serialization for an unstable data type? Use a string\nof you want stability.\n\n~~~\nlokedhs\nThe point is that a 64-bit integer is stable in the language I'm using (which\nis most languages).\n\nMy opinion is that a serialisation format that explicitly makes something as\nfundamental as the representation of numbers unspecified is not useful as a\ndata representation format.\n\n------\nIHLayman\nI hate to be a spoilsport, but this is a good reminder that\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDN_homograph_attack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDN_homograph_attack)\nis still possible in some domains and with some browsers and CLI tools,\nalthough some of the easier tricks to detect have been mitigated.\n\n~~~\nDyslexicAtheist\nif you run pihole or a local dnsmasq/unbound it should be possible to mitigate\nit by sinkholing any unicode domains, e.g. with dnsmasq (requires a patch\n[https://github.com/spacedingo/dnsmasq-\nregexp_2.76](https://github.com/spacedingo/dnsmasq-regexp_2.76)) you can do\nthis:\n\n    \n    \n      address=/:xn--*:/0.0.0.0\n    \n\ndoes anyone know if something like this is possible with unbound?\n\n~~~\nrahuldottech\nBut... What about legit unicode domains? I own a couple that I use for\npersonal projects or file sharing.\n\n~~~\nkylek\nI've never seen a legit unicode domain personally, but, is this not compatible\nwith whitelisting specific domains? (in pihole, anyways...)\n\n~~~\nLadyCailin\nI have, but I live in Norway, where we have æøå in the standard alphabet. I\nsuspect it’s more common still in Asian countries, because at least in\nNorwegian, there are standard ascii replacements for all the extra letters, å\n= aa, ø = oe, æ = ae\n\n~~~\nNullabillity\nHere in Sweden I have never encountered a single legit IDN domain.\n\n~~~\nSymbiote\nI know [http://www.xn--sknetrafiken-ucb.se](http://www.skånetrafiken.se), but\nlike many it just redirects to an ASCII version. (Does it look weird seeing\n\"Skane\" when you know it ought to be \"Skaane\"?)\n\nSimilarly for a power company, [http://xn--rsted-uua.dk](http://ørsted.dk),\njust a redirect, but they do use it on adverts and my electricity bill.\n\nSome that don't redirect: [http://xn--mgk--jra.dk/](http://mgk-ø.dk/)\n[https://www.xn---strm-uuae.dk/](https://www.ø-strøm.dk/) [https://xn--\nmagnusbrth-85a.se/](https://magnusbråth.se/)\n\n(HN has converted the displayed URLs to Punycode, presumably as a quick\nsecurity measure without reference to the reasonable characters for each TLD.)\n\n------\nbillpg\nI wanted to make a new website using emojis instead of \"www\" as a joke about\nthe number of syllables. (\"Angry Face Angry Face Angry Face\" takes the same\namount of time to say \"www\".)\n\nBrowsers kept insisting on showing this as xn--b38haa.crankybill.com, so I\nwent with \"grr\" instead.\n\n------\nbanana_giraffe\nInteresting, both Chrome and Firefox seem to show the Punycode encoding after\nI enter the emoji in the URL for me.\n\nDo browsers always show the Punycode encoding, or do they show the encoded\nglyphs only in some scenarios? I can't find examples of Punycode in the wild\nused by normal websites.\n\n~~~\nlondons_explore\nI believe the config of which glyphs to show depends on the TLD. There is a\nhardcoded list of which character ranges are acceptable per TLD, and if any\ncharacters are outside those ranges, the xn-- form is shown instead.\n\n------\nAndyMcConachie\nNot all unicode characters are valid IDN labels. For example, emojis are not\nvalid in IDN labels.\n\n~~~\ndaxterspeed\nValid or not several emoji domains have existed since 2001\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoji_domain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoji_domain)\n\n~~~\nWorldMaker\nAs with so many things domain name related, what is or is not valid varies by\nand is determined by registrar. The biggest registrars (.com, .net, .org as\nthree examples) generally have a lot of restrictions on IDNs, whereas many\ncountries can afford to allow just about the full gamut of Unicode if they\nwish.\n\n------\nnetsharc\nHmm, I wonder if that's going to be the next battle field for URLs: Facebook\nwill try to register its logo as an emoji, and you'd just need to go to\n[http://[f]](http://\\[f\\]) to open their site.\n\nThere already is an emoji for apple (the fruit, not the company). Oh the\nhorrors. I should start an emoji NIC!\n\n~~~\nmanifestsilence\nThese would be less than convenient to type, but perhaps as we go more and\nmore towards a non-typing web where a walled-garden start page and predefined\nlinks lead to the most popular sites with a click, these URLs will become\nfashionable. I think if so, this will herald the impending death of the human-\nread and typed URL in favor of start page links and search results.\n\n~~~\nkick\nThere are more mobile users than there are desktop users, and for them it's\njust the same to type.\n\n~~~\nhtfu\nHow is switch to emoji input -> press search box -> start typing apple ->\npress apple symbol and so on “just the same” as app<CR>?\n\n~~~\nkick\nYou don't have to search. Just hit the apple emoji. If you use it frequently,\nit'll probably be on the front. If not, it takes two seconds to hit the\ncategory it's in and then press it.\n\n~~~\nhtfu\nBecause apple happens to start with an a. Ok fine, specifically for apple.com\nit's almost the same. But that's not really the point I was arguing.\n\n------\nnottorp\nAnd how do i type that in the address bar?\n\n~~~\nbillpg\nIf you use Windows, [Logo]+[.]\n\n~~~\nwongarsu\nThat's a neat trick. It even has kaomoji and useful symbols ╰( _°▽°_ )╯\n\n~~~\nAvamander\nThis sounds like the modern version of this\n[http://bash.org/?835030](http://bash.org/?835030) quote.\n\n------\nmarkandrewj\nGhost in the shell...\n\n------\nhuxflux\nThis made my day!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHow to match regular expressions faster than Perl - neilc\nhttp://swtch.com/~rsc/regexp/regexp1.html\n\n======\nthorax\nOld, but good. I've done my own benchmarks when I noticed some of our users\nseeing 1-2 second delays on their custom regular expressions. It did the same\ncomplex queries in milliseconds.\n\nI highly recommend this, especially for the next revisions of Perl, Python,\netc, etc.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGraeme Hackland on the Evolving Role of the CIO - arabadzhiev\nhttps://channel9.msdn.com/\n======\nmindcrash\nThat's the link to the conference livestream. The actual recorded session is\nhere:\n[https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechNetVirtualConference/Te...](https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechNetVirtualConference/TechNetVC2016/Day-1-Graeme-\nHackland-on-the-Evolving-Role-of-the-CIO)\n\n~~~\narabadzhiev\nThanks for putting that up :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe myth of ‘mad’ genius - baddash\nhttps://aeon.co/essays/is-there-any-evidence-linking-creativity-and-mood-disorders\n======\ncommandlinefan\nI've always wondered if a lot of \"eccentric\" people aren't just behaving the\nway everybody would naturally behave if they could get away with it. I say and\ndo a lot of things because I have to if I want to have food to eat and a place\nto sleep, but I'll never know how different my behavior _might_ have been if I\nwere rich enough or brilliant enough that people would just put up with\nwhatever I happened to feel like doing at any given moment.\n\n~~~\nmajos\nOn a related note, I think this idea explains the appeal of smart jerk god\ncharacters (Doctor Who, Doctor House, Rick Sanchez, Sherlock Holmes...) to a\nsizeable portion of nerds (including me). \"So smart they can't help but need\nyou\" is not a healthy goal, but damn if it isn't seductive.\n\n~~~\nNtrails\nTo me it's not so much \"So smart they can't help but need you\", as it is\n\"being right is more important than anything else\". The world doesn't work\nlike that (often), but it's an attractive ideal in some ways\n\n------\ntoomanybeersies\nAs much as I like to joke that the greatest artists were all deeply flawed\npeople, so I'm trying to become an alcoholic arsehole in order to become a\nbetter author, as the article states, there are a lot of good and great\nartists/creatives who are not substance abusing wife beaters.\n\nI think there are a couple of factors at play here. The first is that you\nnever hear about how normal an artist was. Nobody talks about how Ansel Adams\ndidn't beat his wife and wasn't an alcoholic, because that's just normal. We\nonly talk about Hemingway's alcoholism, or Van Gogh's mental condition. So\nwe're conditioned to believe that artists are flawed people.\n\nThe second factor is that people want to justify why they're not a great\nartist. \"I'm not a great writer, but at least I don't emotionally abuse\neveryone I know and I'm not a raging alcoholic\".\n\n~~~\ndarawk\nThat's a reasonable theory, but it doesn't explain why this phenomenon is\n(somewhat) unique to art. The explanation you gave applies equally well to\nsay, Basketball players and business tycoons. And for the most part, there's\nno social wisdom i'm aware of that says you have to be a drug addicted asshole\nto be one of those things.\n\n~~~\ntoomanybeersies\nI think that it does apply to sports, it's a common trope that athletes\n(especially in contact sports) are domestic abusers. Business tycoons are\noften stereotyped as sociopaths.\n\nPlus there's doping in athletics. People love to criticise Lance Armstrong for\ndoping (among his other flaws), but there's no way, even with doping, that the\naverage person would be able to compete in pro cycling, all the steroids,\nclenbuterol, EPO, and other PEDs in the world couldn't dope you up enough to\nbe competitive at that level.\n\nPeople love to justify their mediocre existence (not that there's anything at\nall wrong with mediocrity). They could be a businessman if they were more\nsociopathic, they could be an athlete if they used steroids, they could be an\nartist if they took drugs or were more eccentric.\n\n~~~\nwatwut\nThen again, there are people who dropped out of sport, because they thought\nthey would have to take doping or were pressured to. There are people I know\npersonally who refused jobs that required them do something they found\nunethical - despite higher pay and benefits. It is profoundly unfair to label\nthem as mediocre just because they have moral or ethical lines they don't\ncross. Doing that is nothing but rationalization of bad acts.\n\nMaybe the _average mediocre_ person is not just _justifying their mediocre\nexistence_.\n\nMaybe you are rationalizing bad acts bad on idea that being socially\ncelebrated matters more then ethics and moral.\n\n~~~\nkrageon\nBeing socially celebrated gets you all the things people teach you mean\nsuccess as you're growing up: Money, probably a beautiful wife, the admiration\nof your peers. I agree with you that doesn't have to matter but I don't think\nyou should underestimate how much that flies in the face of what most people\nhave been taught matters most.\n\n~~~\nwatwut\nWhich is why I am objecting against knee jerk labeling of people who resisted\nthe temptation as \"mediocre\" and knee jerk celebration of those who did not\nresisted as \"the others are mediocre anyway\". It is tempting even without\nthat.\n\nThe beautiful wife will get old as any other women, unless you exchange her\never few years. Being wife merely as a social status trophy is not the kind of\nrelationship I would find attractive at all. I know that some girls are raised\nto believe that is what they are supposed to be, but that is another category\nof things I would rather avoid.\n\n------\nSemirhage\nThe article focuses exclusively on mood disorders, which frankly isn’t what\nmost people think of or mean by “mad” in any case. Nikola Tesla for example\nwas mad as a hatter, but it appears to have been a delusional disorder. While\ndepression for example can be psychotic, it tends not to be, and I think\npsychosis or at least delusional beliefs are the hallmark of what is commonly\nmeant when the public talks about “madness.”\n\n~~~\neigenstuff\nYou're on the money. Tesla, Emily Dickinson, and likely Van Gogh all had\nschizotypal personality disorder. Which is not so much a personality disorder\nin the sense most people think of them so much as it's the Aspergers analog of\nthe schizophrenia spectrum. I've seen it suggested that Einstein may have had\nit, which I find a lot easier to believe than the notion that he had Aspergers\ngiven that his son had schizophrenia and these things tend to run in families.\n(He may well have had nothing, though.) I strongly suspect that Edwin Land,\nthe inventor of Polaroid, was schizotypal.\n\nThere IS actually a proven connection between schizotypal traits and\ncreativity where there really isn't with mood disorders (except bipolar to an\nextent), since you're \"mad\" but not so much so that you can't function well\nenough to execute your ideas. It's worth googling about.\n\n------\njpeg_hero\nArticle and “meta-research” distinctly not related to genius.\n\nGenius is a distinctly one-in-a-million phenomenon, this is about people of\nabove average creativity and how they relate to those of below average\ncreativity. And very dubious categorization at that.\n\n~~~\naje403\nI don't know why you're getting downvoted, you're right (although the\ndefinition of 'genius' is always up for debate). This is just one of a million\nopinion articles on the same questions which happens to have a regression line\nbehind it.\n\n------\nTangoTrotFox\nSpeaking of the stereotype of 'mad genius', as opposed to the eccentric\ncreative which this article is about, I would hypothesize that 'mad' is simply\na mislabeling of the fact that those who are more intelligent are _generally_\ngoing to be less guided by social norms and more by their own logic and views.\nBeing able to follow your own logic, without bounds, is something that is most\npeople, for some reason, do not tend to do.\n\nEinstein is the best example of this. Relativity, and its implications, are\nintuitively insane and absurd. Yet his logic led him there and he invested an\nimmense amount of effort and energy trying to prove it. And it turned out he\nwas correct. In a parallel universe where the laws of physics are more sane,\nEinstein would have been labeled as insane for even imagining such an 'absurd'\nidea might be reality.\n\n------\nsalty_biscuits\nJames Joyce said\n\n\"To say that a great genius is mad, while at the same time recognizing his\nartistic merit, is no better than to say he is rheumatic or diabetic\"\n\nHis daughter had mental health issues. She went to see Jung and the exchange\nallegedly went\n\n“Doctor Jung, have you noticed that my daughter seems to be submerged in the\nsame waters as me?” to which he answered: “Yes, but where you swim, she\ndrowns.”\n\n------\nswayvil\nI used to be nuts. And you know what, I went with it.\n\nI could focus on a project 24-7-365. That's how great projects get done. And\npeople who get great projects done are what we call \"geniuses\".\n\nI'm better now. Sometimes I think of the great projects that I could do but\nthen I think, \"no thanks, life is bigger than that\".\n\n~~~\nkizer\nGood that you're better. Maybe try to work lightly (2 hours a day) on a\nproject someday and see if you can complete it without herculean focus or\ndedication.\n\n~~~\nrabidrat\nIt's not like that, in my experience at least. I can do amazing things in 6\nweeks, but it involves eating, breathing, and sleeping the\nsystem/problem/project. It turns out there are 1000 hours in 6 weeks\n(including sleep time), and if you have the problem loaded into your brain as\nits 'default mode network', then it takes over and you can get massive cross-\nfunctional efficiencies (including dreaming up solutions in your sleep).\nWorking the equivalent for 2 hours/day would take years and does not generate\nanywhere close to the kind of energy or output that the parent is referring\nto.\n\n------\nggm\nAn article about the status/role/context of insanity and society which doesn't\nmention Foucault's work? Published in the year of my birth (1961), which I\nlike to think is a coincidence...\n\nFoucault M. History of Madness. Khalfa J, editor, translator & Murphy J,\ntranslator. New York: Routledge; 2006. ISBN 0-415-27701-9.\n\n------\nLifeLiverTransp\nYes, why should a shizophreniac who wildly connects everyday experiences to\nform strange conspiracy theories would have a natural advantage when it comes\nto wildly recombining seemingly unconnected ideas, to leap over boundaries\nevery 100 recombination?\n\nOf course, if there is a birth advantage there- all the meritocratic idealism\nand work wont get you or your kids there.\n\nSo its very very anti-equalizism. Its okay, though, if that \"benefit\" messes\nup someone elses life and strands him/her living in a box. That is just how\nthe world is supossed to work. Sick people must suffer, if they do not fit\ninto the world tailored for average people by average people. No sense in\nprotesting gods wanted order. Move along.\n\n~~~\ndarkmighty\nHave you ever experienced or met someone with schizophrenia?\n\nIt is hell.\n\nNot only for them but often for those who care about them. It's not about a\nrosy, whacky persons that the society whimsically outcasts. It's often\nlegitimately tortured people that almost always need serious treatment and\nconstant care, otherwise they risk falling into a very dark abyss.\n\nThey often wind up hobos or sometimes in prisons/asylums because they don't\nhave treatment and a very supportive family available, falling in disrepair,\nnot because an evil plot of society.\n\nIf this condition were the price to pay for breakthroughs, I'd consider the\nprice too high. But indeed it isn't -- there are no examples of seriously ill\nparanoid schizophrenics that put out meaningful work. It's a massive\nhindrance, fogging your view of the world and yourself. Often cited cases like\nJohn Nash actually stopped being able to conduct any good work once the\ndisease got hold of them. There are countless examples of extremely brilliant\npeople productive through their lives that never showed signs of delusion, and\nalmost no cases of delusional persons doing good work.\n\nThis disease largely embodies the obscurantism, mysticism, fear, distrust,\nthat scientific enlightenment was idealized to fight against. I can't wait for\nits root causes to be found and it completely eradicated (along with MS,\nAlzheimer's Disease and Dementia, please).\n\n~~~\nMediterraneo10\n> there are no examples of seriously ill paranoid schizophrenics that put out\n> meaningful work.\n\nI daresay Adolf Wölfli is one counterexample. Institutionalized for most of\nhis life, beleaguered by paranoid delusions (some of which found their\nexpression in his work) but it was under the circumstances of that illness\nthat he produced the art he is so acclaimed for.\n\n------\nfladrif\nCreativity seems to stem from being outside of the \"mainstream\" mindset, of\ngoing down paths not taken and trying unconventional strategies. Most of the\ntime these don't work out putting an emphasis on the tried and true, but when\nit does it get labeled as a spark of genius, of creativity. I think it takes a\ncertain type of person to continually beat down these paths and blaze\nunconventional trails and may be a mark of a 'mad' man/woman, but it may just\ntake those kinds of people to not try and conform with conventional wisdom.\n\n------\ncbanek\nIt's interesting that there was no talk of anxiety. In talking about the\navailability heuristic, which is refereneced a lot in Daniel Kahneman's\n_Thinking Fast and Slow_, they also talk about how anxiety tends to activate\nSystem 2 (which is the one for deep thinking), as opposed to the intuitive and\nnearly autonomous System 1.\n\nCreativity and intelligence are considered different, but related, and\nKahneman talks about how the activation of System 2 allows people to make more\nwell informed (smarter) decisions.\n\n------\naskl56\nI've always believed that \"genius\" is simply mental illness with an audience.\n\nPeople such as Mozart were known for feeling nervous anxious etc, until they\nwrote music which was cathartic, which nowadays I'm sure would be diagnosed as\nsome sort of mental illness.\n\n~~~\nthemodelplumber\nThis is part of the reason why \"mental illness\" is a broken term for certain\napplications. Unevenly-matched skill (coping, etc) vs. circumstance (group\npsychology, social standards) is one alternate POV that better explains why a\n\"mentally-ill\" person could create genius works. They have become conditioned\nto exploring extremes by dint of circumstance and personal history; their\nliabilities, struggles, and even periodic victories in these contexts allow\nthem to produce works the likes of which are rarely seen or even contemplated\nin \"non-genius\" company. The audience knows intuitively that they are\nexperiencing some fundamental truth, though they cannot in a small number of\nsteps arrive at the sequence that allowed the truth to emerge.\n\n~~~\nhumbleMouse\nThat last sentence is profound, nice comment +1\n\n------\n8bitsrule\n_The Romantic stereotype that creativity is enhanced by a mood disorder_\n\nThat's postulated as a given. If it's not a given, then it's a red herring.\nThe author supplies no evidence that it's a given. As far as I got, the phrase\n'mood disorder' was undefined.\n\n _... But is there any scientific reason to believe in a connection?_\n\nScience doesn't believe, science constructs and improves models based on\nrepeatable observations. That which cannot be observed cannot be modelled.\nPeople can choose to 'believe' those models ... which is 'faith'. Which\nscience was invented to get away from.\n\nSo in the first two paragraphs, the author prepares us for the illucid neo-\nphrenology which follows.\n\n~~~\ncarlmr\n>Science doesn't believe, science constructs and improves models based on\nrepeatable observations.\n\nThat's confusing the scientific ideal, with how actual scientists operate.\nActual scientists hope that they get something right, they feel strongly about\ntheir research like the mother of a child, they're just as clouded by emotions\nas any other human being. And if you add corruption into the mix, then yes,\nwhat we call science is not as solid as it looks, but it still provides useful\nresults sometimes.\n\nBut we can still talk about a scientific reason to believe. Because the reason\nmight be scientific, but it still might be something which we can believe or\nnot. Because scientific reasons are about as flawed as their creators.\n\nThe replication problems in many fields are evidence that science is only as\nideal as the people producing it.\n\n------\nmajos\nI don't get this article. As far as I can tell, it wants to prove (in spite of\nthe headline) that mental illness and creativity are not really correlated.\nThen it goes on to say that measuring either mental illness or creativity is\nhard on its own -- in which case the meta-analysis done isn't terribly useful?\n\nMy own unempirical take on genius is it's not so much \"you need some insanity\nto have groundbreaking genius-level ideas\" but \"some people are so into doing\nthing x that they will choose to do it almost all the time, and some of these\npeople have talent and luck in thing x too, which is a potent combination that\nlooks like what we'd call genius\".\n\n~~~\ntaneq\nWell, the general take is that average intelligence combined with well-above-\naverage drive (motivation, work ethic, etc.) has significantly better results\nthan \"smart but lazy\". So you'd expect someone who's smart and also fanatical\nabout something to get outstanding results in that field. Monomania also\ngenerally comes across as 'mad'.\n\n------\ndbxz\nI taught gifted education at a prestigious middle school for five years. Over\n300 kids came through my classroom during that time.\n\nI saw it all. Seizures. Fistfights. One girl was pretty sure there were secret\nmessages from the principal in the tests I gave. Lots of them started taking\ndrugs early too.\n\nThe culmination happened in the Fall of 2012, when one girl convinced her\nfriends that, if they killed themselves, they'd wake up already graduated from\ncollege, with school behind them. Luckily, they didn't succeed. And so, in a\nclass of 30 people, I had 6 out and in a mental hospital.\n\nMad geniuses. They're real.\n\n~~~\ntoomanybeersies\nI used to go to a gifted education class once a week when I was around 13\nyears old.\n\nProbably half the class or more had some form of condition, Autism, ADHD,\ndepression, etc.\n\nLooking back at it now, I don't think it was the case that gifted people are\ngenerally \"mad\". I'm a fairly normal person, and so were a lot of other people\nin the class. I think that rather, it was that these kids didn't integrate\nwell into conventional education, but this gifted education class was very\nunderstanding and accepting of people's \"quirks\", and had a much more open\nlearning environment where people could grow in their own way. I ended up\nthere because I struggled with the structured nature of normal school.\n\nI've met plenty of people over the years who could be considered gifted (in\nthis case, top 5% IQ), most of them are completely normal and probably just\ndealt with the overly structured nature of normal school.\n\n------\nuxhack\nThis article is trying to rebute David Horrobin idea that if everyone is\ncreative then the world will soon be become crazy. It takes a geniuses to see\na stick as a weapon. If Everyone starts becoming creative then the whole\nsociety will quickly devenigate.We need slme order. Horrobin arguement goes\nagainst the idea that everyone can be a creative genius. What is interesting\nabout his idea is that how universal craziness is amongst a small proportion\nof the population, which means it is has been around a very long time.\n\n~~~\nNasrudith\nReminds me of a differing but related idea. Society at large is already crazy\nbut nobody notices because it has been so normalized being rational is looked\nupon as crazy.\n\nThe promoter of doctors handwashing wound up instituionalized. And it isn't a\nin the past problem. I mean look at interviewing etiquette and ideals for one.\nThey distrust people who can't or won't put on a mask convincingly enough as\nuntrustworthy. Not even as \"unsuited for a job where it is relevant like sales\nor acting\". That is frankly barking mad to only trust those capable of faking.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nBacterial cells are small 'eyeballs', scientists discover - Marinlemaignan\nhttp://www.sciencealert.com/bacterial-cells-are-actually-the-world-s-smallest-eyeballs-scientists-discover-by-accident\n======\nmarshray\n* Scientists knew bacteria could sense the direction of light.\n\n* Scientists had been looking at bacteria under a microscope for 340 years.\n\n* Just the other day, someone noticed how bacteria focus light.\n\nIf you ever think there's nothing interesting left to discover in your field,\nread this again!\n\n------\nproc0\nHmm, that diagram is a little misleading. It's not like the bacteria are\nprocessing the images in any way, right?! They are merely detecting light and\nits direction so they can swim that way. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, I\nguess, but I'd by extremely surprised if there was any sort of image\nrecognition at the cellular level.\n\n~~~\nVeilEm\nEyes don't process information, they're a sensor. In an animal its brain, a\nmulti-celled organ, processes the information.\n\n~~~\ngnaritas\nActually they do, and beyond that, the retina contains neurons that do the\nbasic processing before travelling down the optic nerve to the brain. The\nretina is also basically brain tissue and is part of the central nervous\nsystem.\n\n~~~\npygy_\nIndeed, among other things, they detect edges, movement, and preprocess color\nfrom RGB to something conceptually closer to YUV (with color encoded along two\ncontrast axes: red-green and blue-yellow).\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YUV](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YUV)\n\n------\nadinb\nIf we can figure out some way to capture and transmit what these (and possibly\nother bacterial species see), we could have trillions of little cameras\neverywhere, possibly changing everything from medicine (deliver medical\npayload based of off visual information or image tumor directly without\nsurgery) to biology (pseudo xenobiology studying the underwater volcanic mats\nof bacteria and algae) to even intelligence gathering (need to spy? Grow some\nbacteria in an air vent or other convenient area).\n\nI hope that someone is starting to try and capture images from those mini\neyeballs, they then become our mini bio-cameras.\n\n------\nspatulan\nSeems similar to this\n[http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150701133348.ht...](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150701133348.htm)\n\n------\naubergene\nThe diagram showing the DSLR with the image the right way up as opposed to the\neyes, is misleading as the camera is also captured upside down and then\nflipped in software.\n\n------\nnorea-armozel\nI thought it was already established that the genes for photosensitivity led\nto the formation of eyes in all animals. And that the proposed benefit in the\nearly Earth's oceans was to keep bacteria from frying themselves if they got\ntoo close to the surface (due to there being no ozone layer way back then).\nSo, I'm not sure if this is all earth shattering knowledge at this point, but\nit's still a fun read.\n\n------\nplumeria\n\"But it's a vital trick for the bacteria. Without sensing light and moving\ntoward it, the organisms wouldn't be able to photosynthesise, which has been\ncrucial to their survival since time immemorial.\"\n\nCan this be applied somehow to treat bacterial infections?\n\n------\nswayvil\nA mass of a million bacterial eyeballs probably resolves images pretty well.\nMaybe better than us.\n\n~~~\nstephengillie\nIf you subscribe to the belief that we're basically a bacterial mat of about\n37 trillion [1] cells, each extremely large and complex on its own - it's not\ntoo large a jump to interpret the eye as being a 1 billion cell \"bacterial\nsub-mat\" that does primitive image capture to support the overall bacterial\nmat.\n\n[1] [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/there-\nare-372-trill...](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/there-\nare-372-trillion-cells-in-your-body-4941473/)\n\n~~~\nmeric\nThat would make us hiveminds.\n\n~~~\njustinjlynn\nYou think you decide to be hungry? In a very real way, we are.\n\n~~~\nbbcbasic\nThis freaks me out! Whoever me is? :-o\n\n------\nshultays\nBillions of billions bacterials are watching ours every move. This have a\nmovie potentials\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nJavaScript and Node performance coding tips to make applications faster - osopanda\nhttp://voidcanvas.com/javascript-performant-coding-tips/\n======\njcranmer\nThe quality of this article is readily apparent in the first recommendation.\n\nGlobal variables are slow... because of having to walk scope chains? Uh, no.\nScopes are static properties (well, once the with statement was eliminated--\nnow you know why that doesn't exist anymore): the compiler only has to look up\nthe scope of the variable during compilation, which means it carries no\npenalty by the time you get to a JIT. The reason why global variable lookups\ncan be slow is that global variables are often properties on objects with non-\ntrivial access costs (such as a DOM window, if you running on a webpage), as\nopposed to an inaccessible lexical environment where all references are\nstatically known.\n\n(It's also somewhat disingenuous that all of the coding tips are about keeping\nv8 happy, as if v8 were the only JS JIT that mattered or v8 characteristics\nwere somehow universal in JS JITs, neither of which is the case).\n\nRunning through the some of other bits:\n\n* I'm not sure homogeneous arrays is an optimization benefit for other JITs than v8.\n\n* Actually, traditionally JIT compilers focus on hot loop nests as well as functions. The original TraceMonkey JIT (first JS JIT) considered loops a starting traces, for example.\n\n* Changing shape of objects does matter for monomorphic calls. Although not all JITs are as insistent on monomorphism as v8.\n\n* True, but isn't this obvious?\n\n* Last I checked (admittedly quite a while ago), JITs tended to optimize based on shape, not class. So there's no difference in performance between the two cases.\n\n* Or you could use for/of. Or you could just never use sparse arrays because no JIT likes having these holes. I thought you were giving performance tips, it seems weird not to mention one of the more universal ones here.\n\n* Try/catch is generally free if you don't throw an exception.\n\nI could go on, but it's not worth it at this point...\n\n~~~\nthealfreds\nThe try/catch wasn't always that case. I'm having trouble finding the blog\nfrom one of the v8 developers who went into details about it and other\noptimizations. It was on HN a while back.\n\nHere is a perf test with various v8 versions (as you noted not only JIT but\ngoing going with the authors favorite).\n\n[https://github.com/davidmarkclements/v8-perf](https://github.com/davidmarkclements/v8-perf)\n\n~~~\njcranmer\nMy recollection is that the nonperformance of try/catch is something specific\nto the v8 JIT. Historically, the zero-cost exception model of try/catch has\nyou do absolutely nothing with the data until someone throws an exception, at\nwhich point you work out how to map the return address to the appropriate\ncatch handler.\n\n------\nKlathmon\n>The try/catch is a very costly operation. You should write your code in such\na way that exceptions are not uncertain.\n\nI believe all major JavaScript engines now optimize try/catch.\n\nAnd SharedArrayBuffer is now disabled by default due to Spectre. I don't see\nit coming back soon either.\n\nAlso, I dislike this article because it recommends these things \"always\".\n\"Always use forEach\", \"always avoid delete\", \"always...\". Not to mention it's\nyet another v8 specific set of optimizations.\n\n~~~\nmetalshan\nTry/catch point is an in-general thing. Irrespective of language. Always\nbetter to handle errors by yourself.\n\nI was not aware of the browser deprecation of Shared array buffer. But this\n(or something like this) is a part of the ECMA proposal which is in stage 4.\n[https://github.com/tc39/ecmascript_sharedmem](https://github.com/tc39/ecmascript_sharedmem)\n\nI said using forEach (or in-builts) are always a good practice. Now like you\nhave to. For an example, if you have an array with no holes in it, for is\nbetter performant then forEach.\n\n~~~\nmschuetz\nI find \"for of\" to be much more legible than \"forEach\". Not much difference in\ngeneral but the \"for\" the beginning immediately tells me that there is a loop\nhere, whereas I have to read more thoroughly to identify something as a loop\nin the forEach case.\n\n    \n    \n      // for ... of\n      for(let node of nodes){\n          console.log(node);\n      }\n    \n      // forEach\n      nodes.forEach(node => {\n          console.log(node);\n      });\n\n~~~\nKlathmon\nFor...of is fantastic and I use it quite often (especially in async/await\ncodebases as it doesn't create a new function context!)\n\nHowever it is slow currently in all major browser engines. For fast-path code,\nyou should reach for something else (like a for(;;) loop), but for most other\nloops I always tend to reach for for...of for it's ease of use and\ncompatibility with iterators makes it a pleasure to use!\n\n~~~\nmschuetz\nAre you sure about that? \"for of\" is something that I'd expect a js compiler\nto handle exactly the same way as forEach. I'd see how it might have been\nslower right when it came out but browser vendors are quick in optimizing\ntheir compilers.\n\nAt least [https://jsperf.com/for-vs-foreach/293](https://jsperf.com/for-vs-\nforeach/293) shows that there is no significant difference in for of vs\nforEach in my version of chrome. There is an insignificant difference\nacoording to which forEach is actually slower. (One forEach case in that\nbenchmark is only faster because it does something different.)\n\nEdit: looking at the comparison at the bottom, it seems like forEach is\nactually significant slower than for of since chrome 61.\n\n~~~\nolliej\nLots of work went into making the perf of for(of) fast - after the initial\n“make it semantically correct” bits.\n\nThere are many reasons it is faster, but it also has the nice property of\nworking sensibly on any iterable object rather than forEach that only iterates\nby index, and has an annoying ‘if (index in object)’ in the loop.\n\n------\ngbuk2013\nThis is a very mediocre article that mixes some good advice with misleading\nand frankly bad things.\n\nJustifying forEach (which is several times slower than a for loop) with sparse\narrays (which are an anti-pattern because they take you out of \"fast elements\"\nmode in V8 at least) is laughable in a sad way. It also has no \"break\"\nfunctionality , which is important if we are talking about performance (i.e.\nwhen iterating the array to find a specific member).\n\nThe advice for using array literals to insert elements is also bad for the\nsimilar reason that it makes it easy to create sparse arrays.\n\nThat and \"i>arr.length\" in the example means the for loop will run exactly 0\ntimes! ;)\n\nUsing \"filter\", \"map\" and \"reduce\", by the way, is also slower than using a\nfor loop, even if broken out into a separate function for purposes of\nchaining. This is because they call a function on each iteration and function\ncalls (even with optimisation) are inherently more expensive. So, use them\nonly when this difference in performance does not matter.\n\nThe closure / timer example is just so convoluted. Of course the closure will\nkeep \"bar\" in scope - that's what closures do! The \"foo\" object doesn't\nsomehow magically own \"bar\" it just has a reference to it, same as the\nclosure. If something still references an object then GC will not touch it.\n\nSimilarly for the event listeners advice, which is also badly worded.\n\nAnd if you do need to write a timeout-based loop, I respectfully suggest the\nfollowing construct:\n\n    \n    \n      const interval = 1000;\n      var timer;\n      \n      (function loop () {\n          ... do stuff ...\n          timer = setTimeout(loop, interval);\n      }());\n    \n\nNow you can even use \"rewire\" to control the interval during your unit tests -\nbonus!\n\nThe Arrays vs Objects thing is just shallow. In reality, the advice is \"it\ndepends\". If you need to iterate, use an Array. If you need to access by key,\nuse an Object (or better a Map). If you need both (and this frequently happens\nin my experience) then you have to decide depending on the size of your\nstructure.\n\n~~~\nsheetjs\n> It also has no \"break\" functionality , which is important if we are talking\n> about performance (i.e. when iterating the array to find a specific member).\n\nThe article is woefully misinformed regarding `forEach` and I agree that the\narray methods in general are slower [1], but `some` will bail out on the first\ntrue value returned. To be sure:\n\n    \n    \n        [1,2,3,4,5].some(function(n) { console.log(n); return n>=2; });\n    \n\nwill not run the callback function after processing the 2\n\n[1]\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7938173](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7938173)\n\n~~~\ngbuk2013\n\"some\" !== \"forEach\" ;)\n\nAlso, \"some\" still has the performance penalty of an extra function call per\niteration (as I know you know based on your linked comment) and we are talking\nabout performance advice here.\n\nBut good point - I've never actually used \"some\" before, so I learn something\nnew today - thanks :)\n\n------\nz3t4\nWhile the points are correct, they are bad advice, except for the last point:\nprefer O(1) over O(n) because all (premature) optimizations are evil! What\nworks in one engine for example (Firefox) might not work in Chrome, or the\nnext version of the same engine. So write stupid simple naive code until you\nactually _need to_ optimize. Then go for algorithms first, changing something\nfrom O(n) to O(1) will have a bigger impact then for example creating static\nbinaries (which most of the time will be slower because there will be no run-\ntime optimizations)\n\n~~~\nbryanrasmussen\nThe original premature optimization quote was specifically about spending a\nlot of time optimizing complicated algorithms in an environment in which\ncomputation was often business required if used so as a consequence one could\ncount on people staying around more than insignificant amounts of time to get\na response.\n\nIn the environments most of this would be used on people do not stick around\nlong periods of time, therefore any simple optimization that one can do in the\npreliminary development of an application is not premature.\n\nBut this article sucks, as do most articles with a list of coding tips for a\nparticular language/platform.\n\n------\nfvdessen\nI'm confused about the setTimeout example; the code as presented is creating\nan infinite loop, so it does not surprising that the object used in the loop\nis not garbage collected. But I would expect references inside a timer to be\ncollected once the timer has expired. Do they not ?\n\n------\nTN1ck\n> Avoid O(n), try O(1)\n\nBe careful with this, as dictionaries are not really O(1), in the worst case,\nit can be actually O(n). When your code heavily evolves around the 'fact' that\nit's O(1) try to make a version with a simple array iteration and compare\nwhich is faster.\n\n~~~\nBillinghamJ\nI believe a good rule of thumb is that looping over an array will generally be\nfaster than using a hash map until you have around ~1,000 items.\n\nVery approximate and dependent on the case obviously, but I always find it\nsurprising how far you can go with just a simple array.\n\n~~~\nzaarn\nFrom experience I would say it's closer to 100 items, though this is using Go\nas benchmark. 100 items is also what I would expect considering CPU caches.\n\nFrom 100 to 1000 items the array performance is not massively worse and\nshouldn't matter much but a dictionary can beat it (by a tiny bit).\n\nIf you're over 1000 definitely use a dictionary or tree.\n\n------\nvorpalhex\nThis article is quite incorrect. Some of these points were valid many versions\nago (try/catch did have a cost with it several V8 majors ago, but that has\nsince been resolved).\n\nAnd, again, for the last time, Node.js is not actually single threaded and may\nwhatever deity help you if you choose to start additional threads without\nunderstanding how libuv works. This isn't java, the answer isn't to throw more\nthreads at it.\n\nHonestly, it's this kind of stuff that really hinders javascript. So many\npeople write \"expert\" articles that show fundamental misunderstandings about\nthe core of JS (including setTimeout vs setImmediate!)\n\n------\naustincheney\n> Closure & timer – a deadly combo\n\nIn practice you can avoid this problem if your function wrapping a timer is\nnot a method and the callback of the timer is a recursive call to the very\nfunction wrapping the timer. In that case there is no object to access to get\nto the timer's function and secondly the this function never nullifies or\nremoves from garbage collection until the last timer is called.\n\n> setImmediate over setTimeout(fn,0)\n\nYes, agreed, but I wouldn't ever run timers in a loop to achieve parallel\nasynchronicity. I would use native Node methods to achieve this. I would\nhowever use timers to achieve sequential asynchronicity, also known as\npolling, which is where setTimeout would be beneficial. Sequential operations\nlikely to always be slower than parallel operations, but sometimes you only\njust need intermittent delays.\n\nI agree that these recommendations in the article are really good ideas.\n\n------\nnwhatt\nAny team with enough developers using Node should develop a handful who can\nunderstand the v8 internals and help troubleshoot real-world performance\nproblems.\n\nThe most helpful resource I've found about v8 specific performance is the\nbluebird optimization killers wiki:\n[https://github.com/petkaantonov/bluebird/wiki/Optimization-k...](https://github.com/petkaantonov/bluebird/wiki/Optimization-\nkillers) wiki, and the v8 bailout reasons repo:\n[https://github.com/vhf/v8-bailout-reasons](https://github.com/vhf/v8-bailout-\nreasons)\n\n~~~\njcranmer\nThe best advice I can give about performance engineering is \"all performance\nguidelines are bullshit.\" Compilers and JITs are constantly improving, which\nmeans any specific guideline like \"do X to avoid a JIT bailout\" isn't\nnecessarily true going forward. Furthermore, the benchmarks that compiler\nwriters use to assess the utility of their optimizations aren't hand-optimized\nunreadable kludges, it's generally typical applications.\n\nWrite readable, natural code, and compilers are more likely to eventually\noptimize it, even if perhaps they do a bad job today. Only contort your code\nto improve performance if you have profiles showing that you need to do so,\nand even then, see if there's natural code that works first.\n\n~~~\ntejinderss\nDo you think adding type annotations or using typed js (typescript/flow), the\noptimisations could be improved? Since the types are providing more metadata\nabout the code?\n\n~~~\njcranmer\nNo (with an asterisk). The state-of-the-art for JS optimization already\ncomputes shape information (roughly equivalent to typing) and feeds that into\noptimizations.\n\nThe asterisk comes from the costs of having multiple shapes for a given\nvariable. V8 (to my recollection, it could very well be out of date) generally\nhas a performance cliff between monomorphic and polymorphic functions: if the\nadded strictures of typechecking is giving you monomorphic functions, it could\nsee a performance improvement. Other JITs (again, to my recollection) are\ngenerally happier to have polymorphic functions where the degree of divergence\nis still small (say, two or three shapes), although having 1000 shapes is\ngoing to be unhappy for everybody.\n\nNote that this discussion is effectively microoptimization-level discussion:\ndon't rearchitect your code to enforce monomorphism at the expense of clarity\nunless you have profiling evidence that the performance is necessary.\n\n------\nbrwsr\n> Avoid try/catch\n\nhaha, async await needs that by design!\n\n~~~\nmaga\nIt's not required, you can use .catch since it's just normal promises:\n\nconst result = await doStuff().catch(errorHandler);\n\n~~~\ndcherman\nSo what do you think your result variable contains in the event that the\npromise is rejected? Is this semantically equivalent to try/catch?\n\n~~~\nmaga\n(async () => { const result = await Promise.reject(1).catch(e => e); return\nresult; })()\n\n// =>Promise {<resolved>: 1}\n\nAs you can see, the variable contains a promise returned by the .catch. It's\nnot equivalent to try/catch (in that case the variable won't be defined for\none thing), but it does allow for error handling without using try/catch if\none is inclined to do so.\n\nIn practice, I've been using async/await extensively in Node.js/Express, and\nI'm yet to write a single try/catch. In Express, I simply use a wrapper\nfunction that catches promise rejections and siphons them to error handling\nmiddleware:\n\nconst asyncIt = fn => (req, res, next, ...args) => fn(req, res, next,\n...args).catch(next);\n\n------\ndrinchev\nThese tips are all great. Thanks for the article.\n\nMy 2 cents from working over 5 years with NodeJS is to be careful when you\nsacrifice code readability over performance.\n\n`.forEach`, `.map`, `.filter` are way more readable / maintainable than a 20\nlines `for loop` with n+ var assignments.\n\nAs for `try..catch`, I use ( readability - again ) to follow a Promise chain.\n\n    \n    \n        return new Promise( resolve => resolve( JSON.parse( req.body ) ) )\n                      .then( body => db.update( body ) )\n                      .catch( err => /* will catch JSON.parse as well as db.update */ )\n\n------\npartycoder\nIf you want to squeeze more performance out of JavaScript, at some moment you\nwill have to deal with the gatekeepers of performance: inline caching, hidden\nclasses, deoptimizations, garbage collection.\n\n------\nmaga\nI feel like these \"N performance tips\" make it onto the main page mostly\nbecause of the commenters coming up with counterpoints to each \"tip\".\n\n~~~\niaml\nReal performance tips are always in comments!\n\n------\ncmollis\nPromise.all vs sequential awaits is a good tip but Only if the results of the\nawaits are independent (obvious). I see that all the time. It’s easier to see\nhow inefficient that is when you’re chaining .then().. await hides that and\ngives the impression that it’s parallel.\n\n------\nmulrian\n_Second point is, global variables are not cleared by the garbage collector.\nSo if you continuously add more and more global variables (which are not of\nfuture use), it will cause a memory leak._\n\nErrr...\n\n~~~\nSkinney\nIt's an easy thing to do in JS, it happens if you forget the `var`.\n\n~~~\nKlathmon\nonly when not in strict mode, which is becoming more and more rare, especially\nin javascript codebases (as opposed to one-off scripts)\n\n------\naforty\nWhat if I specifid the `global` scope, like `global.SOME_VAR`? Will that skip\nthe expensive search of the parent nodes?\n\n~~~\nSawamara\nIt cannot. It still has to check whether there is a local variable in any\nother scope that is above the one currently being executed, all the way to the\ntop where it finds global.\n\nSame with window in a browser context. You could still have a \"window\"\nvariable placed between your execution context and the global context.\n\n------\nLord_Zero\n\"Create class for similar kind of objects\" would using ECMAScript 2015 classes\nbe acceptable?\n\n------\nbrudgers\nProfiling might be a useful addition to the list,\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nTrump adviser: $600 weekly boost in unemployment benefits to expire in late July - onetimemanytime\nhttps://www.businessinsider.com/weekly-boost-unemployment-benefits-late-july-expire-kudlow-trump-2020-6\n======\nonetimemanytime\n_\" We're paying people not to work. It's better than their salaries would\nget,\" Kudlow said._\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nPassword Party: distributed password cracking in Javascript - goldmab\nhttps://github.com/goldmab/password-party\n\n======\ngoldmab\nI wrote this thing and would like suggestions on how to improve it. Thanks.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHackers in Space - c3o\nhttp://events.ccc.de/camp/2011/Fahrplan/track/Hacker%20Space%20Program/4551.en.html\n======\ntonfa\nFYI, it's a 3500 attendee camp. It is also almost sold out (presale\ncurrently), so if you plan to attend and don't have a ticket, now is a good\ntime.\n\n------\ngimpf\nThanks to emerging low-cost satellite launches (like from\n<http://interorbital.com/>), fun projects like <http://sat.mur.at/> are\nalready in the real of being possible. I may be an hopeless optimist, but some\nrelatively low-bandwidth hacker-operated satellite network within 20 years is\nnot _totally_ impossible.\n\n~~~\neru\nIn twenty years, as long as you got something up, it will be high bandwidth\ncompared with today.\n\n------\nstcredzero\n_phase two: Put a hacker into orbit._\n\nPhase 2.5: console widow, figure out how to get him back down. Alternate phase\n2: send cat into space instead, start new meme and initiate hacker war with\nPETA. (jk)\n\n~~~\npdelgallego\nPhase 2 is already in progress.\n\nCheck out the Copenhagen Suborbitals guys, they launch succesfuly their first\nsuborbital rocket a month ago.\n\n<http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/>\n\n~~~\ngimpf\nNice video on their page. I especially loved their \"caution fragile\" marker --\non a rocket!\n\n------\npeterwwillis\nConsidering how most hackers build stuff at hackerspaces (\"i don't know how to\nbuild this, so let's go with trial and error and learn as we go!\") this sounds\ndangerous.\n\nBut cool.\n\n------\nbinbasti\nBy the way, we'll set up a Ruby village at the Camp. Come and join us:\n\n<http://railscamp.github.com/ruby-village>\n\nYou can also just support our cause to spread some Ruby love with a few bucks\nin our Pledgie, which is only 50% complete at the moment:\n\n<http://pledgie.com/campaigns/15397>\n\n------\nderrida\nOther interesting projects include an attempt to have a transparent open\nsource leaking platform to carry on Wikileaks legacy.\n\n~~~\nJoakal\nOpenLeaks; \"Instead of publishing the documents, OpenLeaks will send the\nleaked documents to various news entities or publishers.\"\n\nWish I was kidding: <https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Openleaks>\n\n~~~\nderrida\nI agree this policy of OpenLeaks is a bit dubious. The project the Chaos\nComputer Club are working on is called 'GlobalLeaks'. I cannot determine if it\nis going to be respectable.\n\nEDIT: Just saw that OpenLeaks are going to be at the conference. GlobalLeaks\nis a group attempting to create open source leaking platform. It might be that\n'OpenLeaks' = 'GlobalLeaks'\n\n------\nbazookaBen\nAre there going to be presentation slides / videos / ustreams? Would like to\ncross the atlantic to come see but can't.\n\n~~~\nrb2k_\nThey usually are recorded.\n\nThe last camp apparently was in 2007: <http://dewy.fem.tu-\nilmenau.de/CCC/CCCamp07/video/m4v/>\n\n(More events: <http://dewy.fem.tu-ilmenau.de/CCC/> )\n\n------\npasbesoin\nI can't be the only one with a sudden, fond memory of the Muppets.\n\nWhich I find, indeed, hackerish. Jim Henson and crew hacked an entire\npresentation medium, mainstreaming an entire character type (the puppet,\nformerly relegated to kids shows and ventriloquists).\n\nI hope this combination of earnest endeavor and levity can escape our gravity\nwell.\n\n------\nagentultra\nSounds like it might be a little more expensive than an arduino kit and some\nfree time.\n\nYet I remain optimistic that it might eventually only cost the same as a\ntransatlantic flight does today to get a 180lb human into orbit.\n\nPCs were started this way...\n\n------\nJoakal\nThe Hacker Space Program should tackle the next piracy: 3D printing (Formally\nknown as Reprap) [0].\n\n[0] <http://reprap.org/wiki/EndOfIntellectualProperty>\n\n------\ncyrus_\nThis is absurd -- the hacker movement is too small and undisciplined, and it\nlacks substantial knowledge about engineering and physics, to make this its\ncentral project for the next 30+ years.\n\nI'm all for big projects, but the hacker community should focus on what it\nknows how to do -- write software.\n\n------\nANH\nNeat, but in order for me to take this seriously they have to at least spell\n'satellite' correctly.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Spread of Feynman Diagrams in the USA, Japan, and the USSR (2004) [pdf] - pja\nhttp://web.mit.edu/dikaiser/www/Kaiser.SpreadingTools.pdf\n======\npja\nPosted this in the discussion on Tesla's shipping difficulties & dctoedt\nsuggested it be posted on it's own.\n\nKnoweldge transfer is _hard_. This paper is about tracking the spread of the\nuse of Feynman Diagrams (which helped enormously as an aid to the calculation\nof QM results using perturbation methods) within the physics community, but I\nthink it contains lessons for all of us.\n\nThe work was expanding into a book by David Kaiser: “Drawing Theories Apart:\nThe Dispersion Of Feynman Diagrams In Postwar Physics”\n[https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002Y5W2X2](https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002Y5W2X2)\n\n~~~\ntritium\nI think knowledge transfer is hard, because teaching requires time for neurons\nto reorganize or maybe fix themselves in place, in order to properly cement a\nretainable fact. It’s just a quirk of the human condition that amounts of\nmemory persist at limited speeds.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: What are your tips to reduce drinking alcohol? - bentossell\nI don&#x27;t want to go teetotal, I enjoy a drink and drinking socially, at dinners, weekends etc. But there are times I drink too much and forget what happened the night before or get anxious that I did something or said something. I only ever drink on a weekend and not throughout the week.<p>Justin Kan just announced he&#x27;s giving up drinking alcohol: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;justinkan&#x2F;status&#x2F;1120188473263050758 and I admire people who do this. But I always see info&#x2F;tips on giving up completely, what about just keeping a lid on it?\n======\ngottebp\nMy grandfather was an alcoholic. It came about because of the great sorrow he\nfelt after his own father died in a car accident. A small drink each day\nbecame a larger one. This iterates. Time passes. I remember when he was in\nrehab once, as a child I was brought to visit him. His genuineness was so\nmagnified. He was such a good man sober; well known and loved by many in the\ntown through his small business. He never broke free for long though. Never\nviolent but never fully there because his faculties were always suppressed by\nthe effects.\n\nAfter many years, when his health was failing, he begged us grandchildren not\nto follow this path. The regret was so palpable. This was later in my college\nyears, and with all the parties it was hard to pull back. Augustine once\nwrote, \"To many, total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation\". It is a\nrespectable path especially for anyone too far along. I am no teetotaler\neither though. Moderation is also admirable.\n\nI set two limits and they have worked fairly well in my own life:\n\n1) No more than two reasonably sized drinks in a day.\n\n2) Never drink alone.\n\nI nurse those drinks along and savor each tiny sip. It has worked well for\nover ten years and prevented ramping up into anything further. A suggested\nthird rule that has grown on me is:\n\n3) Drink only to amplify joyful occasions never to drown sorrowful ones.\n\nIt may not be for everyone however perhaps this will help some. Godspeed.\n\n------\nLa-ang\nChange your social circle and engage in a radical (to you) sport that requires\nlots of stamina and endurance (Muay Thai). In short, the lifestyle you have\nloves conjuncting with alcohol. Sports are a major player. Not only the body\ngets hammered but the mind as well. I used the same method before to quit\nsmoking. Even if you will show up at social events you won't have the same\nlonging for Booz as you used to. I firmly believe this apply to the general\npublic. Athletes in general do not drink as much as the average joe ( If they\ndo at all). It's funny how people want an easy not so harsh solution to their\nproblems, because there simply isn't. Once the elephant in the room starts\nballooning you need to set your ego aside and admit you need change; major\nchange.\n\n~~~\nativzzz\nI second this one. It is difficult to just change a habit on a whim. A high\nintensity sport (like a martial art) requires changing lifestyle habits if you\nreally want to see serious progress.\n\n~~~\nLa-ang\nYou missed my last point. It's not meant to be easy.\n\n------\nilaksh\nI think I have a different view on this than most people here.\n\nIt seems that there is a tendency to simply suggest that anyone who does\ndrinks to excess sometimes is an alcoholic and therefore is a special case who\ncannot drink.\n\nWhat I observe is that most (not only a special few) people who drink have\ntimes where they over-do it and it usually has significant negative\nconsequences in those cases.\n\nIn my opinion people want to blame the individual because they love alcohol\nand don't want to admit that it could be a problem in itself.\n\nI think there is a basic thing working against everyone who intends to\nmoderate their alcohol consumption which is that alcohol reduces your ability\nto make good decisions. So on a bad day or circumstance with a reduced\ncognitive capacity, anyone can make a wrong decision about whether to have\nanother drink.\n\nSo personally I think the answer is just to find other activities that are fun\nthat don't require alcohol. Also this idea that anyone who runs into problems\nis an alcoholic is false and effectively stigmatizes people who decide to quit\nbecause it has the suggestion that they are an alcoholic and something is\nwrong with them.\n\nIf you sometimes run into problems with alcohol it's not you. It's the\nchemical. Don't let people try to blame you for it.\n\nTo me the answer for social lubrication is just to have some kind of structure\nfor group activities, in other words a game. It works fine. You don't see kids\nwalking around depressed because they couldn't go drinking with their buddies.\nKids have activities and play games and have fun. There is nothing about being\nan adult that makes it so you can no longer have fun without alcohol.\n\n------\nneekburm\nYou might consider the Sinclair Method. [https://cthreefoundation.org/the-\nsinclair-method](https://cthreefoundation.org/the-sinclair-method)\n\nYou take an opioid antagonist, like naltrexone, 1 hour prior to drinking.\nSince drinking produces endorphins, which are blocked by the antagonist, the\nbrain stops associating drinking with pleasure, which results in a lower\ndesire to drink.\n\nThe downside being that if you drink without the antagonist, your brain\nreturns to its old patterns.\n\nAnecdotally, my personal experience was after trying the method was that I no\nlonger wanted to drink, and when I did, with or without the naltrexone, my\nproblematic drinking behaviors mostly went away. I mostly abstain now.\n\n~~~\nthrowaway127831\nUpvoted. TSM worked wonders for me. I’m now past 9 months of total abstinence\nafter using TSM for about 8 months leading up to quitting.\n\nThe idea of counter-acting the dopamine rush one gets from drinking makes a\nworld of sense. Alcohol is a fundamentally addictive substance and naltrexone\ncan help loosen its hold on your brain.\n\nAbstaining now is fairly trivial. I pretty much never have the impulse to\ndrink.\n\nI think a lot of folks see Sinclair method as somehow cheating or “having your\ncake and eating it too”. While that may be an alluring idea, the reality is\nyou wind up just not wanting to drink. I now associate drinking with how\nnaltrexone makes me feel, which is not the most fun experience.\n\n------\npaddy_m\nWhen I lived in NYC I started inviting friends for a \"walk and talk\" instead\nof going to a bar. Going to a bar is such a generic crutch for \"I want to\nspend some time with you\". Walking around the city and catching up while on a\nnice amble was a refreshing change. Saved some money too.\n\n~~~\npeepanpeter\nThis is a really good advice. I have started going on walks with my friends as\nwell instead of going to a pub. Inspires ideas and you get way clearer\nthoughts.\n\n------\nhashberry\nIf you're not a \"one or two drinks\" type of person and alcohol is a negatively\nimpacting you, then you really have to permanently stop drinking like Justin\nKan. The average drinker \"keeps a lid\" by moderating their intake because they\nknow how to stop. It's that simple. If you don't know how to stop, then you\nhave to stop completely.\n\n~~~\nabstractbarista\nThis is something I guess I cannot understand about people who consume alcohol\nto the point of blacking out... For me the consequences are so harsh I just\nnever seek to near that point. I achieve a certain level of buzz, and simply\nmaintain it, sipping throughout the social event. It's quite pleasant, doesn't\ntake many drinks to uphold, and I don't feel hungover in the morning. Maybe\nsome of it is just \"brain wiring\"?\n\n------\nlisper\n> there are times I drink too much and forget what happened the night before\n\nThat's bad.\n\nYou may not be able to reduce your alcohol consumption. Not everyone can.\nBut...\n\n> I only ever drink on a weekend and not throughout the week.\n\nThat's a good sign. So what's happening here is that alcohol lowers your\ninhibitions. When you're sober, you have control over yourself, which is why\nyou can get through the week. When you start drinking, you lose that control,\nso you keep drinking, and you pass out. Whether you can drink without crossing\nthat threshold is an open question. Like I said, not everyone can do that. For\nsome people, one drink pushes them over the edge.\n\nDo this experiment: next weekend, don't drink at all.\n\nIf you can do that, then the FOLLOWING weekend have ONE drink and STOP.\n(That's one drink for the WHOLE WEEKEND. Not one drink on Friday and another\non Saturday.)\n\nIf that works out OK, then the NEXT weekend, have two and then stop. Not all\nat once. Pace yourself. At least an hour between drinks. If that works out OK,\nthen the NEXT weekend go up to three.\n\nIf at any time you find yourself thinking, \"This is all OK, I can have one\nmore\" then STOP. That's the danger sign.\n\nIf at any stage in this process you find yourself making excuses for why it's\nOK short-circuit any step in the process, then I have bad news for you: you're\nan alcoholic, and if you don't want to keep blacking out you're going to have\nto just stop.\n\nUPDATE: raztogt21 also had some very good advice: never drink alone. It also\nhelps to let your drinking buddies know that you're on this program so that\nthey can help keep an eye on you. If your friends ever encourage you to drink\npast your limit, get new friends.\n\n~~~\nbrodouevencode\nMy fear is that OP is an alcoholic (yes, you can be an alcoholic without\ndrinking - it's that you're genetically predisposed to having a drinking\nproblem). In this case abstinence is the only answer. If you have problems to\nwhich you cannot give up even a weekend then that's a red flag.\n\n~~~\nlisper\nYes, I share your concern. That's why I framed the answer the way I did. But\nnot everyone who occasionally drinks to excess is an alcoholic.\n\n~~~\nfavorited\nAnd, despite popular belief, there are other ways to manage alcoholism than\nthe 12 steps & total abstinence.\n\n~~~\nbrodouevencode\nAre the other methods better? What are those methods?\n\n~~~\nfavorited\nOne medical option mentioned upthread is the Sinclair Method. It involves\ntaking medicine like Narcan before drinking. The medicine blocks the\nendorphins released by drinking, so you don't get the pleasurable \"reward.\"\nYou basically retrain your brain, reducing your desire to drink.\n\nWhen I was struggling with alcohol, I found that I needed a secondary reason\nto manage my drinking. Once I decided that I wanted to start dating more, and\nrealized that my drinking and the related weight gain was an impediment, it\nwas an incentive to reduce my alcohol intake to a more responsible amount.\n\nI didn't quit– I still love California wine and I'm building a nice\ncollection. And when seasonal beer that I like comes out, I definitely pick\nsome of it up. But it doesn't control me like it used to.\n\n------\nPaulHoule\nMy take is that you're better off finding a social life that is not alcohol\nfueled.\n\nI have never \"blacked out\" but I did get in trouble with my extended family\nfor going to parties with an open bar, drinking too much, and acting like an\nass.\n\nThat for me was a wake-up call.\n\nThen there was the time that we made a huge amount of applejack and around the\nholidays I would drink consistently quite a bit and find that if I didn't\ndrink my body felt warm and I was a little irritable and I figured that was a\nsign of getting physically dependent -- that was a wake up call too.\n\nMore recently I've found that I usually wake up with a glucose reading around\n95 (good but not great), but if I drink alcohol and have disrupted sleep I get\na glucose reading around 120 (flaming diabetic).\n\nAs a result of that it is really rare that I drink these days. Maybe I have a\nbeer or two now and then but not on a regular basis.\n\nFor me the consequences and fear of consequences has been sufficient\nmotivation.\n\n------\nziddoap\nYMMV, but after a substantially embarassing night (that I found out about the\nfollowing day) I realized that the feeling of wondering if I did something\nembarassing (or, horror of finding out that I did) was quite a bit worse than\nthe good feelings I got from drinking that much.\n\nNow, whenever I drink I keep those thoughts in the forefront of my mind. I\nknow I will have _more_ fun if I don't go overboard - with a bonus that I\ndon't need to worry about anything the following day. Whenever I'm approaching\nmy limit, I weigh each drink with these thoughts in mind. What will be more\nfun? An extra drink, potential embarassment, and lots of anxiousness? Or a\nglass of water, no embarassment, and no anxiousness?\n\nI imagine this requires friends who wont egg you on. I'm lucky to have a group\nof friends that understand when I say \"I'm done for tonight\", they say \"okay,\nno problem! want a water? pop?\" rather than encouraging me to get black-out\ndrunk.\n\n~~~\ncimmanom\nThis. Except for me it’s the hangover rather than the embarrassment.\n\nIt can help to find something that isn’t water to drink that will make your\ncompanions feel less like they’re leaving you out - be that soda, juice, club\nsoda, etc.\n\n------\njppope\n1\\. Build a budget for drinking. Nothing caps it like limiting the amount that\nyou can spend on it. 2\\. Have your socializing focus on activities as opposed\nto drinking. E.G. If you are bowling you'll be more focused on the game and\nthan you are on the drinking. 3\\. Drink a glass of water in between each\ndrink. Double bonus for reducing hangover effects 4\\. Buy a breathalizer. Yep!\nA weird one but you can keep the BAC below the driving limit and you'll be\npleasantly surprised. 5\\. Change locations often, and walk in between\nlocations. First this is great for getting quality time with your friends.\nSecond, you can use this trick to save money (happy hour in one place, dinner\nin another). Third, there will be prolonged periods of time between each\nlocation that you will not be drinking.\n\nSounds like you could also benefit from just imbibing drinks that are limited\nin alcohol content. Session Beers, Campari spritz, some sakes etc.\n\n~~~\nchirau\nWhat if your workplace is part facilitator? Many a startup's fridges are full\nof beers and other alcohol in full view. Which, I think makes both 1 and 2 a\nchallenge.\n\nFor 3, i feel like drinking a glass of water in between drinks, though a good\nthough, only eggs you on to drink more drinks since you know you are\ncountering it at each turn.\n\n~~~\njppope\nThe author of the original post said that he doesn't drink during the week. I\nwould agree that a fridge full of beer makes it harder.\n\n------\npeepanpeter\nThis is just a personal anecdote, but after taking Ecstasy/MDMA once around 9\nmonths ago i realised how bad the alcoholic \"high\" is. Since then i have been\ndrinking way less. Often only one or two beers, then i'm done. I guess what im\ntrying to say is to reflect over who you become and how alcohol affects your\npersonality, temperament and motoric skills when drinking alcohol excessively.\nKnowing i will become bad at speech, get bad motorics, and start focusing more\nand more on sex, and will start behaving like a cave-man towards women and men\nalike makes me think of alcohol in a totally separate light than before.\n\n------\nbluewater\nI started to really question my drinking over the last year or so. During the\nweek I would drink a few beers or glasses of wine a night with a martini or\nother cocktail sprinkled in. The weekends would often involve more with a\nheavy hangover coming after neighborhood parties. I’ve gone the route of\nmoderation and counting drinks and it was difficult to do, depressing and left\nme feeling deprived much of the time. One day I was in a forum reading a\nquestion much like this and someone mentioned a book called This Naked Mind by\nAnnie Grace. It’s been a game changer for me and I’d highly recommend it. She\nactually suggests continuing to drink normally while you read it. She dives\ninto a lot of the science and really opens your eyes to the world of alcohol\naround you. I haven’t stopped completely and I’m not sure if I ever will but\nthe pull that booze had on me before is gone and I can confidently feel I’ll\nhave a drink whenever I want; the idea of allowing yourself that freedom is\nempowering. Over the last 6 months I’m down maybe 75%. The social pressures\nare really the hardest for me now. The line of questioning you get is intense\nand something I was guilty of doing myself to others who weren’t throwing them\nback with me at the time. Best of luck in your own journey wherever it takes\nyou.\n\n------\nDanBC\nSet a limit before you go out. Alternate alcoholic drinks with other drinks.\nChose smaller weaker drinks. Ask your friends and family for support with your\nnew lower limits.\n\n[https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-support/tips-on-\ncutting...](https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-support/tips-on-cutting-down-\nalcohol/)\n\n------\nsjg007\nTake it one day at a time. Tell yourself that today I will not drink. There\nare other methods, such as to be curious about your behavior.. ask questions\nof why you drink or ask yourself why you are drinking too much. You can find a\ntherapist who would help with that. Be curious and explore what are the\nconditions that you find yourself wanting a drink and what reasons may account\nfor them. Can you replace alcohol with something else? Then there's naltrexone\nand other medical interventions that work well. Essentially you redirect your\nbiology and associate alcohol with feeling sick so your body will develop an\naversion to it. Other methods include changing your group of friends if they\nare a source of drinking as well unless are ok being sober in their company.\nYou can also join AA or find a sponsor. AA doesn't work for everyone but it\nsure does show you a cross section of life and how alcohol impacts it.\n\n------\ncableshaft\nFor me, having hobbies that don't often include drinking seems to help. I play\nboard games, go to book discussions, writer's groups, attend hack nights, go\nsee a movie, go out hiking with people.\n\nDepending on the group, there could be alcohol involved, but usually there\nisn't, in my experience (or just one or two people will drink, and only a\nglass or two).\n\nFor me it very much depends on who I'm with. I once dated a girl that loved to\nget wasted on alcohol on dates, and I liked her so I drank a lot with her\nmyself. The current woman I'm dating gets sick if she drinks alcohol, so I\npretty much only drink a drink here or there when I meet up with her family or\nI'm out with certain friends. I easily go six months without a drink now, and\nusually not much more than a couple of drinks a month.\n\nIf I drink too much my next day is completely unproductive, and I hate that,\nso that also helps to keep me from drinking too much also.\n\n------\nleesec\nHard limit at 3. Never more. That's it. You don't need more than 3 in a night.\nEnjoy those 3. Never cross it.\n\n------\nthorin\nI used to drink quite a bit as a student and for a few years after uni. It's\nvery common in the UK.\n\nNow I have children I'd be up in the night quite a lot and if you were drunk\nit would feel horrendous. Also there is the possibility that you might need to\nbe there for them if they were sick or need to go to hospital in the middle of\nthe night. Additionally I like to do a lot of sport in my free time and I\nstruggle to do anything even a gentle bike ride or walk if I've had a drink.\n\nA couple of years ago I set myself a 2 drink limit. I've only broken it once\nor twice and I don't see that as an issue. Most of the time it means I'm ok to\ndrive in an emergency, can be up early without a hangover and can stay active.\nI have a beer at home 2 or 3 times a week and really enjoy it so I don't think\ndrinking alone is an issue for me.\n\nWish I'd done it years ago!\n\n------\nNicoJuicy\nIt's easy for social drinking, I did it to.\n\nThere are some great 0% beers out there in Belgium. I personally recommend\n\"Brugse Zot\" ( with alcohol) and \"Sport Zot\" ( without alcohol), nobody will\nsee the difference and it will make it a lot easier. ( Both taste great)\n\nIf you go to someone at home, just bring 1 pack of each with you and drink the\n0%. It's the best trick I found out to reduce social drinking.\n\nJust drink 1 of 2 without and try it out. It's actually not much different,\nthe social \"vibe\" is the same.\n\nThe biggest difference seems to be when you drink water ( socially)\n\nPs. Only drank 1 evening in the weekend. But it was mostly when I had a lot of\nstress from work, that I drank too much\n\n------\ncraftinator\nDon't buy alcohol. Seriously, when there's no booze around, I don't drink.\nWhen there is booze around, I often end up drinking ALL of it. Don't buy it,\nand you're good to go.\n\n~~~\nsaddestcatever\nTrue!\n\nYou can \"out plan\" temptation if you avoid making decisions in the moment.\n\nThough - the same as a careful diet - social engagements throw a wrench in the\ndiscipline machine. Restaurants, bars, parties, etc.\n\n~~~\ncraftinator\nAh yeah, true true. I tend to deal with the social temptations by\n\"pauperizing\", as my wife describes it. I was very, very poor in college,\nwould often eat before social engagements to avoid prepared meal prices etc...\nSo now when everyone is having drinks, I pretend I'm too poor to afford them,\nalways walk to the bar and grab a soda water on the rocks. Everyone assumes\nI'm drinking a mixed, and I can always DD. It's interesting how being that\nfrugal can improve my discipline, rather than degrade it!\n\n------\nchirau\nWhat is a 'normal amount'? Is there a way of calculating this?\n\nI know people who drink three drinks and they are gone. I also know people who\ndrink 6 drinks a day, don't black out, get home safe and are fully(seemingly,\nnot sure) functional and productive the next day.\n\nReducing to 'normal' or some level has to be backed up by meaning i think. And\nthat meaning of normal is what I am trying to discover.\n\n------\njchallis\nPrecommit. When you go to drink tell everyone (including the barkeep) your\nlimit. When you have had a few and your inhibitions drop, come back to your\nprecommitment.\n\nDo not keep alcohol in your house - inconvenience is a friend of sobriety.\n\nRemember the old saw about alcoholism : first you take a drink, then the drink\ntakes a drink. A little bit of a runaway process may not be in your control.\n\n------\nsunstone\nOne technique that's worked for me is drinking a good non-alcoholic drink. In\nmy case Beck's non-alcoholic beer is the best I've found. It's not cheap and\ncosts more than the the usual beer I drink.\n\nIt's good enough though that I hardly notice when I drink it rather than my\nusual, traditional 5pm beer.\n\n------\nnf05papsjfVbc\nEnsure you've eaten well.\n\nPick a drink which has a taste to your liking. Relish it while you drink it.\n\nDrink a glass of water between drinks.\n\nStop after a couple of drinks. This is much easier if you've done the above.\n\n(This may turn out to be rubbish advice but there may be a good idea or two in\nthere.)\n\n------\nryanlol\nI’m in the middle of a $5000 bet with a friend on who can stay completely\nsober the longest.\n\nThis seems to be working great for both of us, it’s been almost a month with\nno end in sight.\n\nIt’s crazy how satisfying non-alcoholic beers are, can’t say I really miss\n“real” beer.\n\n------\nTheAlchemist\nI would highly recommend the book \"Alcohol Explained\" by William Porter.\n\nI found it very simple yet powerful - down to earth and practical, cold\nexplanation about every side of drinking alcohol.\n\n------\nraztogt21\n1\\. Never drink alone\n\n2\\. Socially, never have more than 2\n\nFollow those two rules, and you should be fine.\n\n------\nbradstewart\nCount your drinks. It's way too easy to just say \"yea I'll have one more\" when\nyou're not consciously thinking \"well, I've had 6 already...\"\n\n------\nvkaku\nLooks like your system is already giving negative feedback and you are\nreacting to it.\n\n------\nbeavisthegenius\nRemove the psychological pressure that's driving you to drink and you'll find\nyou don't want to drink. I changed my job and dumped all my drinking friends.\nI'm also ok forging my own path without friends so that part was easy for me.\n\n------\nbillybrown\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/stopdrinking/](https://www.reddit.com/r/stopdrinking/)\n\n------\nnpc_george123\nI never keep alcohol in my house. If I am really craving a beer, I might buy a\nsix pack, drink one, then throw the other five in the trash.\n\n~~~\nchelmzy\nWhy not just purchase 1 beer without the six pack?\n\n~~~\nnpc_george123\nI buy the one beer unless it isn't sold individually. Only maybe once a year\nwould I buy a six pack and only drink one.\n\n------\nko-ko-ko\nDrink hard liquor.\n\nIt may depend on the culture of your country and social circle, but cutting\nbeer, wine and cocktails has allowed me to drastically cut my alcohol intake.\n\nFor example, people around me will often drink wine while eating lunch or\ndinner. Or they might offer you a beer if you're coming in on a hot sunday\nafternoon. Or if you're watching TV together. In all of these situations,\ndrinking hard liquor or asking for it would be strange socially speaking.\nThere are only a few occasions (before dinner with appetizers, after lunch as\ndigestive, while having \"a\" drink after work...) in which it's okay to drink\nliquor and to be the only one doing so. And if you're invited, it would be\nrude to ask for a lot of liquor from your hosts (because it's more expensive\nthan wine and they likely did not prepare for it anyways so the supply is\nshort).\n\nIMO It's also easier to feel you're getting drunk with liquor, because it's\nnot as gradual as beer: when you stand up after having 3 or 4 drinks, it hits\nyou right away that you've had too much. So you know it's time to switch to\nwater.\n\n~~~\nbrodouevencode\nThis is terrible advice.\n\n~~~\nko-ko-ko\nIt would be if OP were an alcoholic which he clearly isn't.\n\nOP does not mention dependence issues, his drinking is not even habitual and\nthe effects on his social life or personal health are minor. All the advice\nabout 12 step programs, lifestyle changes with exercising and teetotaling is\ngoing overboard b/c that is clearly not what OP asked about.\n\nOp wanted tips on how to drink \"sustainably\", I find that drinking light\nalcoholic beverages is harder to control than hard liquor both for physical\nand social reasons (more social pressure to drink \"light drinks\", more stigma\non \"liquor\")\n\n~~~\nbrodouevencode\n> It would be if OP were an alcoholic which he clearly isn't.\n\nYou don't know that, and can't be determined by a very abbreviated post.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: How is knowledge management done at your workplace? - wowsig\n\n\n======\nScottWhigham\nHow about you start by seeding this with some useful info? I'm tired of seeing\none-line questions asking for \"something that it would take me 10+ minutes to\nanswer well\" here. It happens all too often:\n\n\\- Ask HN: A really broad question?\n\n\\- 5-10 really useful, helpful replies but OP never comes back to thread\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSigns of Liquid Water Found on Surface of Mars, Study Says - uptown\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/29/science/space/mars-life-liquid-water.html\n======\nnetcraft\nThe first I have heard of Don Juan Pond\n([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Juan_Pond](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Juan_Pond))\nalthough I wouldn't say it looks like a swimming pool\n([http://www.lakescientist.com/wp-\ncontent/uploads/2014/04/don-...](http://www.lakescientist.com/wp-\ncontent/uploads/2014/04/don-juan-pond.jpg)).\n\nEdit: Here is an article from brown that also draws parallels between Don Juan\nand Mars:\n[https://news.brown.edu/articles/2013/02/antarctica](https://news.brown.edu/articles/2013/02/antarctica)\n\n~~~\ndsfsdfd\nNot so long ago it was stated frequently and with certainty that there was no\nliquid water on Mars. That there could be no liquid water on Mars. Which\nhaving read into the topic I thought was obviously non sense. Now every one is\nlike there's water on mars, we've know for a while - you can see the flows. In\nfact we deliberately don't go to places likely to be wet for fear of cross\ncontamination. I feel like I have been fed spin. Why don't other people see\nthis and more importantly why aren't other people angry at being mislead? I\nfeel like there is a consistent attempt to manipulate the truth before it is\npresented for public consumption, in many spheres of life. Who are these\npeople that deem themselves entitled enough to decide what is known and what\nis unknown?\n\n~~~\nzornthewise\nI don't think most people intentionally do this. It just makes someone look\nsmart if they proclaim things confidently and so they do it. I try to be as\nhonest as possible when communicating and I have caught myself sometimes\nstating things with more confidence than I had. I think it might just be part\nof how humans communicate...\n\n------\nbrianstorms\nDumb question probably, but here goes:\n\nGiven the latest NASA news about water on Mars, as in, “flowing water on\ntoday’s Mars,” I am still trying to figure out how that would work.\n\nIf water boils at 79ºF when the atmospheric pressure is lowered to 0.5psi,\nwhat would it boil at given Mars’ atmospheric pressure of 0.087psi?\n\nHow could Mars, which barely has an atmosphere, support liquid water? Why\nwould not the water basically evaporate quickly if not boil off almost\ninstantly?\n\n~~~\nbarkingcat\nThose numbers are for pure water. If water is mixed with something, salts (not\njust sodium salt, but salts of other elements as well), etc, that changes the\nproperties of the resulting mixture.\n\nThe water on mars is probably \"salty\" mixture, maybe slush, but we don't\nreally know what it's consisted of unless we have measurements / spectral\nanalysis of the water mixture.\n\n~~~\nm-app\nIndeed. NASA showed the following slide, comparing the different temperatures:\n[http://snpy.in/NdFEnS](http://snpy.in/NdFEnS)\n\n------\nnmc\nOfficial NASA announcement: [https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-confirms-\nevidence-th...](https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-confirms-evidence-\nthat-liquid-water-flows-on-today-s-mars)\n\n------\ncrusso\n_R.S.L.s are treated as special regions that NASA’s current robotic explorers\nare barred from because the rovers were not thoroughly sterilized_\n\nWe're not going to sterilize our research equipment going to Mars and we're\nnot going to search likely sites where we could find life because we don't\nwant to contaminate them. And yet, looking for signs of life native to Mars\n(or even water which might support life) is the top reason we're there,\njudging by the headlines. Seems like someone in NASA needs to work out this\nconflict.\n\n~~~\ngambiting\nThe article mentions how equipment that needs to be sterilized is baked to a\nvery high temperature - but I wonder, can it not be sterilized with radiation,\nlike we already do with food? All electronics on a rover are already radiation\nhardened, after all Curiosity has to work while having a chunk of plutonium\nstrapped to its back. Is this not an option of some reason?\n\n~~~\ngee_totes\nWhat happens when Curiosity contaminates the RSLs with radiation?\n\n~~~\njerf\nHumans did not invent radiation, you know. In fact we live in a remarkably\nwell-shielded area. Certainly better shielded than the surface of Mars.\n\nBesides, we're on another planet. If our payload was nothing but the nastiest\nchemical we could come up with, we still couldn't ship enough to Mars for it\nto matter.\n\nNo, the only payload that could conceivably be harmful is one that can self-\nreplicate, which at this juncture means life. (Ask again in a hundred years.)\n\n------\nleonardzen\nWouldn't it be bad if life forms are found in Mars, according to this?\n[http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-\nparadox.html](http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html)\n\n~~~\nNhanH\nSpeaking in Bayesian probability, it's bad if life forms found on Mars are\nmore advanced than human, and good if it's much less advanced, or even very\nprimitive (as it means the Great Filter might be at an earlier stage than us\nright now).\n\nAnd it won't be the former case, for obvious reason.\n\n~~~\nthaumaturgy\nFinding life on Mars would still change one of the polynomials of the Drake\nEquation, which would shift upward the overall expected probability for\nintelligent life in the cosmos, which is probably what leonardzen means.\n\nBut \"we don't have enough data yet\" still seems like a good answer to the\nFermi Paradox anyway.\n\n~~~\nhanspeter\nIt would shift upward the overall expected probability for intelligent life at\n_our level_. However, since we have no evidence of life beyond our level of\nintelligence, it also increases the probability that civilizations will not\nsurvive long enough to become much more advanced than our civilization.\n\n------\ncoryfklein\n> For the water to be liquid, it must be so salty that nothing could live\n> there, he said. “The short answer for habitability is it means nothing,” he\n> said.\n\nThis dose of realism dampens my enthusiasm _slightly_ , but if we can find\nsuch clear signs of water via satellite image I think it is a great indication\nthat water is more present at the surface than previously thought.\n\n~~~\nsmchang\nAlthough, just a couple of paragraphs down\n\n>“If it was too salty, they would be flowing year round,” Dr. Stillman said.\n“We might be in that Goldilocks zone.”\n\n------\npeter303\nSolar system life may turn turn out t chemically similar. That is because it\narose on one body, then cross-infected other other bodies by meteorite\ntransfer over many millions of years.\n\nMars became geologically stable before Earth, so it could have been the\nearliest place for life. Then Martian meteors infected Earth.\n\n~~~\nchadzawistowski\nHow could a meteor have launched from Mars and reached Earth? It stretches my\nmind to imagine a situation where a meteor drops down, picks up life, then\ndrops it off on the next planet. Are there records of meteoric impacts like\nthat?\n\nThe best situation I can think of is a catastrophic volcanic explosion which\nlaunches a chunk of the planet into space, but that still sounds far-fetched\nto me.\n\n~~~\ncLeEOGPw\nHere's\n([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_meteorite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_meteorite))\nan example how. Asteroid impact.\n\n------\neddd\nI know that without water life would have never begun, but I still don't fully\nunderstand why it is necessary. It is still big discovery though, if life is\nthat common I think we should be more careful during migration there,\n\"Marsian\" common cold could wipe out the entire human colony.\n\n~~~\ndangrossman\n> I know that without water life would have never begun, but I still don't\n> fully understand why it is necessary.\n\n\"Life\" is a bunch of chemical processes. A necessary prerequisite is therefore\na solvent in which those chemical processes can occur, and which can move\nsubstances around, whether it's within a cell, an organism, or an environment.\n\nOf all the potential solvents, solids can't move stuff around, and in gases,\nonly volatile and highly concentrated substances would have a chance to react.\nIt's also _too_ easy to move around in a gas: potential gas-based \"life\" would\njust...fall apart.\n\nSo the solvent and carrier being a liquid is also likely a prerequisite for\nlife. It also has to stay a liquid at a relatively wide range of temperatures,\nand be abundant enough so that all the rare coincidences that might lead to\nlife have a chance of happening and perpetuating.\n\nWater is the only molecule that fits the bill, and happens to be the second\nmost common molecule in the universe.\n\n~~~\neddd\nI am not good at chemistry, but liquid methane–ethane wouldn't fit the\nprofile?\n\n~~~\neddd\nActually I found comprehensive answer here if anyone is interested:\n[http://www.space.com/13639-alien-life-methane-habitable-\nzone...](http://www.space.com/13639-alien-life-methane-habitable-zone.html)\n\n~~~\nVLM\nIt doesn't really say \"why\". Water ionizes really conveniently so you can make\nit an acid OR a base (which is sorta unusual and it can talk to acidic or\nbasic things), and is polar (its got a + and a - electrical side, more or\nless, so it can talk to + or - things), and has hydrogen bonds (so you get\nliquid lifestyle at gas temps)\n\nFor one why, look up amphoteric and zwitterion. Water has a super convenient\npH range where about a ten millionth of pure water self ionizes aka ten to neg\nseventh or pH of 7, and all kinds of super convenient reactions occur above\nand below that pH and its really easy to manipulate ionization rates around\nthat level without using too much. You don't need just a liquid but one where\nyou can really screw around with something like amino acids by easily and\ncheaply changing the ionization rate of the liquid. So there are super\nconvenient chemical reactions that depend on the ionization level of the\nliquid and its really easy to manipulate water. Conveniently water \"just\nworks\" without having to add tons of other stuff to it.\n\nLiquid methane isn't polar enough to really be useful when messing with ionic\nsubstances (table salt, etc). Whatever you use for a liquid, it needs to be\npolar so ionic stuff like salts can dissolve. It turns out that interesting\nchemistry doesn't happen with non-polar substances at normal temps; thats why\nwhen you bury stuff for a couple million years the only thing left behind\nundecayed (more or less) is non-polar hydrocarbons (crude oil). Ammonia is\npolar but has other issues.\n\nThe hydrogen bonds are important. Water should be a gas at room temp. Really,\nit should, looking at bonds and molecular weight and stuff. Yet the hydrogen\nbonds that form keep it liquid at room temp. So you get \"gas speed\" chemical\nreactions at \"high\" room temperature, yet its liquid to a ridiculously high\ntemp.\n\nMaybe some custom liquid silicone with some bolted on weirdness could make a\nuseful artificial blood plasma or \"stuff\" for life to live in. How it would\nmake it without the chemical plant being made first is mysterious.\n\n~~~\ncLeEOGPw\nSometimes I wonder that not only it is not possible for other forms of life to\nexist that wouldn't use water, carbon and others, but that we have life just\nbecause it so happened coincidentally that our universe were created with the\nexact properties needed for the laws of physics to support life for a short\nwhile in some places.\n\n------\ntomkwok\nNASA's 'Mars Mystery Solved' Press Conference starts at 11:30 a.m. EDT.\n\nLive TV:\n[http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/](http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/)\n\n~~~\nsjg\nSeems like the the NASA TV Site is not loading for me here.\n[http://www.ustream.tv/NASAHDTV](http://www.ustream.tv/NASAHDTV) is working\nhowever.\n\n------\npeter303\nThey've seen seep-like events in craters and canyons for over ten years. This\nstudy determines it to be water and not something else.\n\n------\nbeambot\nThey won't explore the water-flowing sites to: \"minimize the chances of life\ninadvertently crossing the solar system.\"\n\nSo let's just spread life intentionally. It seems like that is one of our\ngoals anyway -- not necessarily for governments (ie. NASA), but certainly for\nprivate space flight.\n\n~~~\nrm445\nThe aim is to settle the question of whether life exists on Mars, or ever has,\nbefore clouding the issue with modern contamination. I say modern just in case\nof various panspermia-type possibilities.\n\nThat doesn't preclude eventually spreading life to Mars. Even if living\nindigenous bacteria, or even plant life(!) were found - I think this is the\nmost ambitious scenario now conceivable, the 'Mars mat' of fiction suviving in\ncaves - it likely wouldn't be an argument to stop colonisation, though it\nmight have bearing on arguments about terraforming.\n\n------\ncharleywolters\nI mean that's great news but didn't they announce this like 10 times before?\nIsn't there a meme about this, that NASA announced they found water on Mars\nlike once a year?\n\n~~~\npeter303\nSoem of the times were for ancient water. But they have shown evidence of\nrecent water before too.\n\n------\nTinyyy\nYoutube Live link, works reliably:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDh4uK9PvJU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDh4uK9PvJU)\n\n~~~\nmkobit\nAnother link/stream/mirror (for those using Ctrl+F) -\n[http://mars.nasa.gov/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=Show...](http://mars.nasa.gov/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1856)\n\n------\nfoota\nDoes anyone else think that the form of life found on Mars would most likely\nbe completely distinct from what is found here, down to the molecular and cell\nlevel?\n\n~~~\nmangeletti\nOther than the possibility that the origins of life and potential life on Mars\nare the same, I think the same thing as you.\n\nImagine it is completely distinct, and doesn't have cells.\n\n~~~\nfoota\nYeah, I missed that caveat. I'm really excited to see what it might be and how\nit could potentially change our definition of what's living.\n\n------\niridium127\nWould that mean that this water have a very high salt content since it is not\nfrozen?\n\n~~~\nexodust\nThey said \"briny water\" so yes.\n\n------\nmadhurbehl\nSo where is the liquid water coming from ? and as per the article if the\nevidence suggests that water would have flowed just 'days' before, is it in\nthe realm of possibility to detect actual water from MRO ?\n\n~~~\ncoryfklein\nFTA\n\n> “There are two basic origins for the water: from above or from below,” Dr.\n> McEwen said. The perchlorates could be acting like a sponge, absorbing\n> moisture out of the air... The other possibility is underground aquifers,\n> frozen solid during winter, melting during summer and seeping to the\n> surface.\n\nAlthough \"rain\"/humidity is unlikely, the article also discusses why it can\nstill be considered a possibility since we don't have good humidity\nmeasurements at the surface.\n\n------\ncoldtea\nMaybe arsenic-based life too? This special announcement for merely \"signs of\"\n(instead of corfirmation) speaks of PR and the need to secure next years\nbudget...\n\n~~~\nsampo\nCurrently the mainstream opinion is that the bacteria didn't use arsenate, but\nwere very good at using the small amounts of phosphate that was still present\nin the experiment. And that the experimenters were not very good at cleaning\nall the phosphate out of the growth medium.\n\nSo the highly publicized 2010 study is now pretty much falsified.\n\n[http://www.nature.com/news/arsenic-life-bacterium-prefers-\nph...](http://www.nature.com/news/arsenic-life-bacterium-prefers-phosphorus-\nafter-all-1.11520)\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GFAJ-1#Criticism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GFAJ-1#Criticism)\n\n------\naidos\nI'm so confused. \"Definitive signs\"? Is this the Nasa announcement or\nsomething else? I thought it didn't start for another 15 minutes.\n\n~~~\nbarkingcat\nThis is most likely the Nasa announcement. Remember folks! Science doesn't\nhappen in a vacuum.\n\nThe scientific papers that outline this analysis was already available in\nastronomy circles - the Nasa event is the press conference letting the bigger\ncommunity know.\n\nIt's not like it's a secret! All the measurements were already made by the\nOrbitor and is presumably analysed by researchers around the world prior to\nthis unveiling.\n\n~~~\nfudged71\n\"Science doesn't happen in a vacuum.\"\n\nThis is NASA we're talking about, right? ;)\n\n------\ncodecamper\nThis is good news for Apple. Liquid Spill Indicators will generate revenue on\nMars too!\n\n------\namai\nIf there would be signs of oil the US would invade Mars tomorrow...\n\n------\nbetolink\nThis is just amazing!!\n\n------\nmspokoiny\nThis is amazing!!!\n\n------\nsidcool\nConfirmed! Mars has liquid water.\n\n------\na3n\nIf there is water of any sort on Mars, ice, liquid, salty, whatever, I think\nfinding life on Mars is inevitable. Life is very, very persistent, and niches\nwill be filled.\n\nUnfortunately it's also all but inevitable that we'll bring some with us, if\nwe haven't already. Life is persistent, and ever-surprising.\n\n~~~\ntempVariable\nInteresting. I read that in Jeff Goldblum's voice as well. Were there any\nmissions that lifted off Mars and came back to Earth ?\n\n~~~\njkaunisv1\nNo, we don't have the capability to land something on Mars with enough fuel\nfor it to take off again.\n\n~~~\nwtracy\nWe don't need to:\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabatier_reaction#Manufacturin...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabatier_reaction#Manufacturing_propellant_on_Mars)\n\n~~~\njkaunisv1\nYou're right! Even though I cited the Sabatier reaction to a coworker today\nwhen discussing the news, I didn't really think about it when answering. Also,\nfor some reason I thought it wasn't yet a technical reality.\n\nI guess also wrapped into my statement was the thought that to be able to\nlaunch something back it would have to be landed very well and require some\nvery complex machinery to prepare for launch, given the success rates of just\nbeing able to land something on Mars without it breaking. I went with the\nfirst reason off the top of my head :)\n\n------\nnsxwolf\nLatest incarnation of the perennial headline... Best evidence yet of water on\nMars! I've been enjoying these all my life. This and \"Nuclear fusion created\nin a laboratory for the first time\" headlines.\n\nMy favorite best-evidence-yet-of-water-on-Mars was that time the Phoenix robot\nscooped up an ice cube and took a picture of it.\n\n~~~\nForHackernews\nThis finding is about contemporary, liquid, water.\n\n~~~\nnsxwolf\nNot a new discovery in itself, either.\n\n~~~\nkenbellows\nyes it is...?\n\n~~~\ncoldtea\nYou haven't been following these news very closely, do you?\n\n2008: NASA Spacecraft Confirms Martian Water, Mission Extended\n[http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/jul/HQ_08_195_Phoenix_w...](http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/jul/HQ_08_195_Phoenix_water.html)\n\n2009: Meteorite Impacts Expose Ice on Mars [http://science.nasa.gov/science-\nnews/science-at-nasa/2009/24...](http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-\nat-nasa/2009/24sep_martianice/)\n\n2010: NASA Trapped Mars Rover Finds Evidence of Subsurface Water\n[http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2010-355](http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2010-355)\n\n2011: Observations from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed\npossible flowing water during the warmest months on Mars.\n[http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-\nnasa/2011/04...](http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-\nnasa/2011/04aug_marsflows/)\n\n2013: Curiosity's SAM Instrument Finds Water and More in Surface Sample\n[http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/curiositys-sam-\ninstrumen...](http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/curiositys-sam-instrument-\nfinds-water-and-more-in-surface-sample/#.Vgn9dKZrjdQ)\n\n2014: New Evidence for a Mars Water Reservoir\n[http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-\nnasa/2014/19...](http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-\nnasa/2014/19dec_marswater/)\n\n~~~\nmehwoot\nFirst three links and fifth are all talking about ice, not liquid flowing\nwater.\n\nFourth link isn't conclusive\n\n _These results are the closest scientists have come to finding evidence of\nliquid water on the planet 's surface today._\n\nThe last link summarises that liquid water has not been conclusively found\nyet, and it is the most recent:\n\n _While recent orbiter missions have confirmed the presence of subsurface ice,\nand melting ground-ice is believed to have formed some geomorphologic features\non Mars, this study used meteorites of different ages to show that significant\nground water-ice may have existed relatively intact over time.\n\nCuriosity’s observations in a lakebed, in an area called Mount Sharp, indicate\nMars lost its water in a gradual process over a significant period of time._\n\nSo none of your links contradict what the person you are replying to said.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFor Taylor Swift, the Future of Music Is a Love Story - prostoalex\nhttp://online.wsj.com/articles/for-taylor-swift-the-future-of-music-is-a-love-story-1404763219\n======\nfpgeek\nInteresting counterpoint: [http://www.vox.com/2014/7/7/5878603/taylor-swift-\ndoesnt-unde...](http://www.vox.com/2014/7/7/5878603/taylor-swift-doesnt-\nunderstand-supply-and-demand)\n\n~~~\nmemonkey\nI'm curious what kinds of solutions are in the works in a post scarce music\nindustry? I'm skeptical of the authors solutions. I'm also ignorant of the\nmusic industry but if I understand correctly, things like Spotify and Youtube\nare a broken model, usually only paying out the label and disregarding the\nartist or paying them in change. What kind of business model can/will focus on\nthe artist, or are artists and their fans on their own in the future?\n\n~~~\nbtown\nIgnoring blips like Google's current bender of destruction of advertising\nrevenue streams for small labels, I can see larger labels becoming a thing of\nthe past. What is the purpose of a label in the digital age, now that it can\nno longer include physical manufacturing and physical distribution in its\nvalue proposition? To consumers, it's quickly becoming no more than a\nguarantee that associated artists are curated and are of \"high enough\" quality\nto the ears and eyes of some hidden tastemaker. And to producers, they're\nincreasingly a glorified PR firm. The largest labels' business models don't\nmatch up with these value propositions; they function as gatekeepers in an age\nwhere unlocked gates are plentiful. This is not to say that all labels will\ndisappear; smaller, niche labels such as Monstercat, Neon Gold, and even\nRoadrunner Records (in the 90s) function[ed] like well-branded aggregators,\nexactly meeting those needs and having a well-defined target audience. Perhaps\nwe'll see small labels turn to subscription models, allowing access to\nexclusive content from their members? Imagine iTunes with tons of small label-\nrun channels one could subscribe to for a monthly fee, and get access to all\nthe music within? Lots of chicken-egg problems here, but it's interesting to\nthink about.\n\n~~~\nlouhike\nLabels are useful for recording,, mixing and marketing. They are not just\nfactories of CDs. Artists may manage without them but it is quite complicated\nas it costs a lot.\n\n~~~\nExenith\nWhen it comes to a lot of electronic music, there is no recording necessary\nand the artist is the person who mixes/masters. No need for money there\n\nSide ramble: I've never understood why people paint \"real\" bands as being lo-\nfi, guttural, punk and romantic. It's a goddamn privelege to afford all that\nequipment. Here's your true punk: pirate Ableton and upload a tune to YouTube\nfor free.\n\nBack to the point, for a lot of styles, the _only_ point of a label is\nmarketing. But this can be a very useful tool -- even just acting as a quality\nfilter is useful.\n\n~~~\nlouhike\nYou are wrong on the fact that musicians doing electro do the mix/master.\n\nI know people doing electro, and they pay people to do this job. It is really\nhard to do it correctly.\n\nEven people like DeadMau5 and Daft Punk do not do the mix/master by\nthemselves. They just monitor the people doing it (look at some of their\ninterviews).\n\n------\nbobbles\nIt's interesting how she mentions the point of taking a recorded performance\nand keeping it fresh by introducing guests on stage with each set.\n\nReminds me of how Louis CK under advise from George Carlin (I believe) throws\nout his material and starts fresh every year.\n\nFor creative people now, the key will be those who continue to be creative,\nnot those attempting to ride on one creation to the end.\n\nThe same is happening in the mobile world in app stores now. People expect to\nget the initial offering, and then see continuous improvement through their\nfree updates for life.\n\nHow will people manage to get their continuing creativity and effort supported\nin this market?\n\n~~~\naikah\n> The same is happening in the mobile world in app stores now. People expect\n> to get the initial offering, and then see continuous improvement through\n> their free updates for life.\n\nWhat's happening in the mobile world is in-app purchase.Where you are coerced\ninto buying digital goods one way or another. And it's coming to non-gaming\napps,trust me.That's the future.\n\nAs for Taylor Swift,she represents everything that is wrong with the music\nindustry.She is a mass market product,not an artist.\n\n~~~\ngr2020\n> As for Taylor Swift,she represents everything that is wrong with the music\n> industry.She is a mass market product,not an artist.\n\nNot a fair characterization, IMHO. She writes her own songs, and manages her\nown career. She might have mass market appeal, but I don't see how you can\nargue she's not a legitimate artist.\n\n~~~\nsoganess\nBecause he believes what she is producing does not meet the threshold\nrequirement of being deemed as art?\n\nJust because she is referred to as an artist by an industry attempting to\nprofit from her production does not defacto her as such. Perhaps Taylor is\njust a shrewd business person who has a natural understanding of what has\nstrong social appeal. What if she openly admit that was her intent? Would you\nstill call her an artist? I would not, and I imagine a great many others\nwouldn't either. There is a lot to being an artist and this automatic labeling\nis misleading and perhaps, if you are extra paranoid, nefarious in intent.\n\n------\n7Figures2Commas\n> Music is art, and art is important and rare. Important, rare things are\n> valuable. Valuable things should be paid for. It's my opinion that music\n> should not be free, and my prediction is that individual artists and their\n> labels will someday decide what an album's price point is. I hope they don't\n> underestimate themselves or undervalue their art.\n\nMusic in the form of a physical or digital copy of a recorded track is not\nrare. Album pricing is based on supply and demand. The latter has decreased\nsignificantly in the past decade. Short of pulling a Wu-Tang[1], it would be\nfutile for artists to try to fight market forces.\n\nIf Swift really wants to discuss the value of music in the context of music as\nan important, rare art form, focusing on what consumers pay for physical and\ndigital copies of recorded music makes about as much sense as valuing Monet's\nWater Lilies series based on how much Water Lilies posters sell for.\n\nThere are several rights associated with music and people have been buying and\nselling these rights for decades. Royalty Exchange[2] is an online marketplace\nfor these transactions, and there are even focused funds[3] that essentially\ngive investors the ability to treat these rights as an asset class.\n\nSavvy artists focus first and foremost on ownership, not what consumers pay\nfor a song or album.\n\n[1]\n[http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/05/for-5-mi...](http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/05/for-5-million-\none-person-will-get-to-own-the-only-copy-of-the-new-wu-tang-album/371020/)\n\n[2] [http://www.royaltyexchange.com/](http://www.royaltyexchange.com/)\n\n[3] [http://rhmusicroyaltypartners.com/](http://rhmusicroyaltypartners.com/)\n\n~~~\nch\nI'm confused by your post. What makes these royalties valuable is that they\nare tied to the revenues generated by the sales of the same physical and\ndigital copies of the music that you point out are technically not rare. But\nwithout the false scarcity created by copyright and the associated\nconstellation of laws which surround it, these artifacts would not create\nrevenue and then wouldn't the royalties also be worthless?\n\n~~~\n7Figures2Commas\nFirst, while it's true that the rights I refer to are generally valued based\non the strength of the royalty streams, this does not mean that buyers and\nsellers value these rights in a strictly formulaic manner. As with any asset,\nthere are a variety of factors that might result in buyers paying a premium.\nAn investor with the ability to purchase rights associated with an Elvis\nPresley song, for instance, would probably pay substantially more for each\ndollar in royalties than they would for rights associated with a song by a\nless famous artist.\n\nSecond, and most importantly, not all royalties are tied to CD and digital\nmusic sales. These are mechanical royalties. There are also performance and\nsynchronization royalties, which can be significant. It's is entirely\npossible, for instance, for a song that generates little in the way of\nmechanical royalties to generate eye-popping performance or synchronization\nroyalties.\n\n~~~\ndobbsbob\nThe guy who wrote the Cheers sitcom TV theme song never had to work again and\nlives off royalties.\n\n------\nhitchhiker999\nShe seems nice. The tone was more remarkable than the content (the content was\nalso interesting). It seems we've been inundated with this grotesque idea that\nevery single young artist is a boring dark repetition of the same old paradigm\n('wilder' than the last).\n\nHer point re: 'people bonding with an artist over a lifetime' may well be\nsalient. I must admit a touch of that with zeppelin / prodigy etc.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSSH-lockbox: Personal centralised SSH key deployment to multiple boxes (and Git - todsacerdoti\nhttps://github.com/half-cambodian-hacker-man/ssh-lockbox\n======\nbrian_herman\nSeems like a SSH cert authority would be better.\n[https://jameshfisher.com/2018/03/16/how-to-create-an-ssh-\ncer...](https://jameshfisher.com/2018/03/16/how-to-create-an-ssh-certificate-\nauthority/) [https://github.com/cloudtools/ssh-cert-\nauthority](https://github.com/cloudtools/ssh-cert-authority)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAgile Memes, Part 1 - DanielBMarkham\nhttp://tiny-giant-books.com/blog/agile-memes-part-1/\n\n======\nDanielBMarkham\nWhile this isn't normal HN fare, it's tech-related, it's a pet project, and\nit's a holiday weekend, so hopefully it'll be okay.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAlibaba Has a Computing Cloud, and It’s Growing, Too - mcenedella\nhttp://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/04/alibaba-has-a-computing-cloud-and-its-growing-too/\n\n======\nnostrademons\nI wonder how the economics of the cloud industry will eventually play out.\nRight now, it's enormously profitable, because Amazon is the clear market\nleader and there're some fairly significant switching costs.\n\nHowever, building out the cloud infrastructure is a side-effect of being any\nInternet business that achieves reasonable scale. And once you do that, it's\nboth relatively inexpensive and quite profitable to enter the IaaS market and\nresell some of that additional computing capacity to other smaller firms.\nCloud computing is almost totally undifferentiated; you're selling basic\ncomputing resources (CPU, RAM, disk) for money.\n\nMy hunch is that cloud is going to become like the airline industry. An\noligopoly with periodic price wars. It has the same \"high fixed cost, low\nmarginal cost\" economics as airlines, the same need for _some_ baseline\ntechnical knowledge but not enough that you can differentiate on product\nquality, and the same price-sensitivity. It's possible that the switching\ncosts of migrating your data between cloud providers might put a barrier on\ncompetition and preserve some profit margins, but I suspect that any well-used\nservice will be able to migrate their data out for a small fraction of their\nmonthly bandwidth costs.\n\nThe airline industry is wonderfully beneficial to consumers, but it's been a\ndud for investors and operators over its 100-year history.\n\n~~~\njyu\nOr it could end up being more like cereal.\n\n _Yet, in other fields—like cereals, for example—almost all the big boys make\nout. If you 're some kind of a medium grade cereal maker, you might make 15%\non your capital. And if you're really good, you might make 40%. But why are\ncereals so profitable—despite the fact that it looks to me like they're\ncompeting like crazy with promotions, coupons and everything else? I don't\nfully understand it._\n\n[http://old.ycombinator.com/munger.html](http://old.ycombinator.com/munger.html)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: What should I name my newsletter? - aml183\nI&#x27;m starting a newsletter to give career advice to developers. Any ideas for what I should call it?\n======\nChristianGeek\nDeveloping Your Future (or FutureDev if you want something shorter).\n\n~~~\naml183\nI like it. What you think of Developer to CTO\n\n~~~\nChristianGeek\nThat's good too.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nIRC Or Chat Room For YC Winter 2011 Applicants - 619Cloud\n\nIs there an IRC or 37Signals campfire for applicants of the YCombinator Winter 2011? Would be cool to chat with other applicants.\n======\n619Cloud\nEven better, I just spun up a VPS instance, and got the simple, yet functional\nnode.js chat room going on it.\n\nI'm in there now. :) Come one, come all.\n\n<http://173.203.103.72:8001/>\n\nI'll keep it up.\n\n~~~\ngeuis\nThis seems to be where the action is! Come jump in the pool.\n\n~~~\n619Cloud\nYou guys can now access the YC Winter 2011 chat at:\n<http://www.nodejscloud.com:8001/> as well.\n\nSee you there.\n\n------\nzbruhnke\nI'd be interested in the same thing ... for anyone else interested feel free\nto shoot me an email (my email address is listed in my profile)\n\nI would love to discuss with other applicants whats going on with their\nprojects, or if they are looking for co-founders etc. I was actually looking\nfor one for my project, however after talking to a YC'er I decided it would be\nbetter to submit as a single founder and look for a like minded co-founder\nalong the way if/when I was accepted\n\n~~~\nserverdude\nsame here - single founder but intend to find another co founder - hopefully\nsoon:) your email is invisible, btw..\n\n------\n619Cloud\nDoing a chat session tonight at 8:30pm [Pacific]. Join us.\n\n<http://www.nodejscloud.com:8001/>\n\n------\ndzlobin\n<http://www.frid.ge/php/group.php?g=7636>\n\nThere is now!\n\nEdit: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1810174>\n\n------\ndools\ni just typed /join #yc2011 on freenode. I'm lonely :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nType D-A-N-C-E on Wistia's Team Page - smalter\nhttp://wistia.com/about/yearbook/\n\n======\nzgryw\nBut not in Chrome.\n\n~~~\nsmalter\nhuh, it's working for me in chrome\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nElectoral Programming by Russ Cox - bandris\nhttp://research.swtch.com/2008/06/electoral-programming.html\n\n======\nbandris\n\"Dynamic programming is an odd name for what is essentially cached recursion,\nminus the recursion.\"\n\n\"It's easy to see the SSA advocates saying that CPS is just SSA with a bunch\nof extra lambdas floating around for no good reason!\"\n\nBut the interesting part is the code of course.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nInherited Server from Bankrupt Startup - seanwessmith\n\nSo the short story goes is our startup went under. The CEO then decided to split up the assets and I received a server stack. What are some interesting&#x2F; useful learning scenarios I could perform. I have minimal experience using linux.\n======\nChuckMcM\nProbably not worth a whole lot to sell. Sometimes the disks and memory will be\nworth something, _occasionally_ the processors. There are a bunch of folks who\npart these things out. For the most part the best return can be selling\ndirectly to end users on ebay or craigslist.\n\nIn terms of learning things, if by a \"stack\" you have 10 or more, then you run\na hadoop cluster or any of a number of other clustered type systems. If you\nwere more devops oriented you could play around with deployment scripts and\ncontainers and what not. Setting up bitcoin miners or unikernel systems. Can\nbe an excellent way to transcode video if you've got lots of VHS tapes you\nwish were MP4's :-)\n\n------\njpgvm\nIf you are interested in cloud platforms and you have more than one server\n(stack usually means more than one) then you could take a jab at learning how\nto install OpenStack, or go the Windows route and install Server 2012 + System\nCenter.\n\nReally depends on what you want to learn, bare metal does have it's advantages\nwhen it comes to learning how stuff goes together. Especially if you also got\nan ethernet switch out of it.\n\n------\npjungwir\nI have a buddy with a rack in his garage he uses to run proxmox and asterisk.\nI suppose you could also run your own SMTP server for private email. Those are\nsome things that seem like they'd be compromised by renting a VPS. I'm\nassuming your motives are more about fun than economics.\n\n------\nsaluki\n+1 for selling as well . . . you can do/learn almost anything on AWS, Digital\nOcean, etc . . .\n\nPlus depending on the number of racks you have running it will cost more in\nelectricity each month than the cost of a few VPS accounts.\n\n------\ndoobiaus\nTake it as an opportunity to learn about linux and use it as a test bed to\nupskill yourself, if you're into that sort of thing.\n\nInstall a hyper-visor and start playing with VMs, containers etc.\n\n------\natoz\nhi,\n\nhow old are these systems? servers are only usefull/have significant monetary\nvalue for other companies if age is << 5 años.\n\nif they are not too old: sell them and play with an older standard pc - 64 bit\n/ virtualization possible, enough ram.\n\ncheers az\n\n------\nballs2you\nsell it to another startup that is starting up and take 1% Equity\n\n------\njtchang\nWhat kind of server?\n\n------\nkrylon\nWell, it depends on what you are looking to with it. Do you want to learn\nabout system administration, software development, networking, ...? It also\ndepends on where the server is, physically - is it in your home or in some\ndata center?\n\nIf it's system administration, one example that is reasonably useful is\nsetting up an owncloud server. Or a private mail server. If it is in your\nhome, setting up a DHCP server and a DNS server can be a fun excercise. In any\ncase, there are _many_ tutorials and HOWTOs available online. The search\nengine of your choice will tell you where. Most major linux distros also come\nwith pretty good documentation or at least have some online. (Depending on the\ncircumstances, you might consider reinstalling the system first - without\nphysical access to the machine, it is not easy, though.)\n\nIf you want to learn about software development, there are more things you can\ndo with a linux server than I can think of. When I try to think of a fun\nprogramming project, I often make the mistake of thinking of the technology\n(programming language, libraries/frameworks) first and then choosing a problem\nthat goes with it. For _learning_ , though, it can be a good idea - so I want\nto learn about, say, building web apps with Ruby on Rails or Django or\nwhatever; what better way to learn about that than building a small toy\napplication? Okay, now all I need is a nice toy problem, difficult enough to\nactually teach me something, but not difficult enough to be frustrating.\n\nAgain, there far too many tutorials out there for me to mention anything\nspecific. (Just as an example, I taught myself Django by writing an\napplication that is basically a glorified RSS reader with a builtin Bayes\nnetwork - I could rate news as boring or interesting, and after a while the\napp could classify news items a \"probably boring\" or \"probably interesting\"\nwell enough so I could make it filter out news that were \"probably boring\". It\ndid not work _that_ well, was really slow, and I basically suck at UI design,\nso it was really ugly, too, but it was still useful and fun to build.)\n\nI hope this helps at least a little. I am staying fairly vague because your\nquestion is kind of vague. If you supplied more details about your interest or\nyour skills/background, I might be able to give a more helpful answer.\nGenerally speaking, try to think of something that would be actually useful to\nyou - that way, motivation will be less of a problem, and it will probably be\nmore fun, as well. (To be honest, learning about Linux / Unix can be very\nfrustrating initially - within the first six months of using Linux on my\ndesktop, I was _very_ close to physically throwing my computer out of the\nwindow no less than three times. The learning curve can be steep at the\nbeginning, but to me, in retrospect, it was time well spent. It also tends to\nbe a great deal of fun after a while.)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nCspcert WG (M3) Recommendations for the Implementation of the CSP Certification - based2\nhttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1J2NJt-mk2iF_ewhPNnhTywpo0zOVcY8J/view\n======\nbased2\nref: [https://www.enisa.europa.eu/news/enisa-news/cybersecurity-\nce...](https://www.enisa.europa.eu/news/enisa-news/cybersecurity-\ncertification-lifting-the-eu-into-the-cloud)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSome Startup Opportunities Are Losers Today - borisfowler\nhttp://www.caycon.com/blog/2011/06/some-startup-opportunities-are-losers-today/\n\n======\ngamble\nIn at least two of these categories, (search and social networking) today's\nmarket leaders started up during low points when nobody thought their was room\n- or even demand - for another entrant.\n\nSeriously, when Google was founded building yet another search engine was\nconsidered slightly less cool and even less lucrative than developing a new\nword processor for Windows.\n\nFocusing on unoccupied niches or new markets is usually a bad strategy.\nBusinesses are like life; they find a way to occupy every habitable space.\nThere's usually a reason unoccupied niches are unoccupied. Being the first\ninto a new market is almost as bad. The business that establishes the market\nis usually just providing a free lesson to potential competitors on what to\navoid. They tend to grow hidebound just as the market really takes off.\n\n~~~\ndpark\nWhen Google launched, no one was even trying to do search anymore. For some\nreason everyone thought that portals were going to be the big thing. Google\nlaunched with something truly innovative that was a _massive_ improvement over\nthe incumbents.\n\nWhen Facebook launched, the social network sites all bit, and everyone knew\nit. MySpace was the big thing, but everyone over the age of 14 knew it was\nunpleasant to use. Facebook came along and launched a different kind of site.\nFirst, it was exclusive. Second, it wasn't about putting together a page that\nlooked like it belonged on Angelfire. It was about spending time connecting to\npeople you knew.\n\nIf you're going to try to launch in a space with long-established players, you\nbetter have something damned impressive. e.g. There is no meaningful space for\nsmall players in search. You either take a huge chunk of the market and put\nyourself on the Forbes list, or you fold. If all you've got is another search\nengine that's \"as good\" as Google, then don't bother. \"As good\" doesn't win\ncustomers.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Is unconventional computing popular? - Agent101\n\nAre people excited and interested about the possibilities of things like autonomic computing/amorphous computing and other non- Von Neumann style systems?<p>There seems to be a lack of coverage in geek news, despite a healthy academic community/journal etc and I was wondering why.<p>I've got my own reasons for not being enthused about  the current field, but I am curious what other people think.\n======\nadbge\nI, for one, am ridiculously excited by the idea of an entirely new computing\nparadigm. I know some at HN abhor anything that isn't practical this very\nsecond, but I think they just lack imagination. I'd be interested in any\narticles submitted in the vein of non-traditional computing.\n\n~~~\nbillswift\nIt would be more exciting if there hadn't been so many in the recent past,\nlike quantum computing that's been going to have a practical application Real\nSoon Now for the past decade.\n\n~~~\njacquesm\nOne problem with any new technology is that the 'get rich quick' crowd and\ntheir marketeers will jump on it to avoid missing the next possibility to easy\nriches. They'll over-hype the product, create unrealistic expectations and\nmove on to the next hot thing when they've given it a bad name.\n\nModern day locusts is what they are.\n\n------\njbarham\nMicrocontrollers (e.g., the Atmel AVR chip line which is the basis of the\nArduino open source hardware platform) are often modified Harvard\narchitectures, where the instructions are read from flash and SRAM is used for\nvolatile stack/heap memory.\n\nThere is a lot of activity in this area which has been dubbed \"physical\ncomputing\". See e.g. O'Reilly's Make quarterly and Sparkfun, which apparently\ndoes > $10 million in sales annually from selling electronics components and\nkits to hobbyists. I'm eagerly awaiting my first Arduino starter kit from\nthem! ;)\n\n------\nmkramlich\nBuild a widget with it I can buy, or ship a piece of software written in/with\nit, and I think there will be much more interest it.\n\n------\nkragen\nOh, of course I'm excited and interested (although not enough to follow it so\nclosely as to be able to guess what you're de-enthused about) but I think it's\nstill a recondite enough area that most HN readers won't know to upvote it.\n\n~~~\nAgent101\nHave a browse through the table of contents of the International Journal and\nyou might get the same impression as me.\n\n<http://www.oldcitypublishing.com/IJUC/IJUC.html>\n\nBasically it is too unconventional (chemical), faddy and not focussed on\nproducing something usable by the average geek.\n\nThat sort of stuff is still interesting (for computing in odd situations) but\nis not what I am looking for. I suppose I wondering why there isn't the\ncomputer equivalent of a space elevator. That is something most people know\nabout that can't be done with current tech but is physically plausible (but\nmight still might be too hard to do). Something that might spark the\nequivalent of the spaceward foundation, but for computers.\n\nThe fleet architecture represents a different face of unconventional\ncomputing. One that geeks can get behind. However it concentrates on speed of\nprocessing. Looking at the costs of computing, increasing computational power\nper watt or flops is useful but does not address the dominant cost of owning\nand running a computer. The dominant costs, I think, are the costs of learning\nthe system, administering them and programming them. This is not addressed by\neither of the above threads of research.\n\nI have my own odd-ball ideas. Which I'm excited about. I just wanted to gauge\nopinion of HN type people.\n\n~~~\nkragen\nIt seems like what you're interested in is more like UI or UX research than\nhardware innovation? The universality of the machine, strengthened by the\nubiquity of compilers and software written in high-level languages, almost\ntotally disconnects the user experience from the computing hardware, except\nfor efficiency differences; instead it's tied to the I/O devices and the user\ninteraction techniques, and increasingly, to the data the user is interacting\nwith.\n\nBut I do see a fair bit of discussion of researchy and novel UIs here, don't\nyou? On the front page right now I see Heroku (reducing the cost of\nadministering systems), Hummingbird (real-time web site analytics\nvisualization), Android vs. iPhone (which is largely about ubiquity and UI),\nChatroulette, the death of files in the iPhone/iPad UI (which sounds like goes\nright to the core of the \"dominant costs\" you're talking about), Nielsen's\nreport on iPad usability, and UI design in Basecamp. And that's just above the\nfold!\n\n~~~\nAgent101\nThere are three ways to tackle the human costs of computing.\n\n1) Make the things humans have to do easier. UI/UX\n\n2) Reduce the number of things humans have to do. While all modern hardware\ncan calculate the same things (are universal) they have different security\nmodels which can affect how much maintenance the user has to do. Take\ncapability based security, an old idea implemented in hardware in the IBM AS\n400. Languages (E, Joe-E) based on it are currently being touted as a way to\nreduce the risk of malware infection, even if malware does get on the system\nit can't do much because the language VMs operate under a principle of least\nprivilege.\n\nIf we are changing the Arch for performance (e.g. fleet) and can't make use of\nthe performance with standard software we may want to change it in this way as\nwell, to take advantage of the system.\n\nTo give a concrete example of how computer architectures can be changed for\nthe better. If windows had capability based security at the low level it could\npass bits of memory to the user land process by sharing a capability that gave\nit write access. Then the user land process could populate it, once it had\nfinished and the kernel wanted to read it, they could revoke the the writeable\npermission. This would prevent this sort of attack\n\n<http://news.ycombinator.org/item?id=1331025>\n\nSee this for an intro to the philosophy\n\n<http://www.erights.org/talks/virus-safe/index.html>\n\n3) Make the computer do the work for the human. Yes this is mainly an AI\nproblem, but it also an architecture problem. If you want the system to manage\nthings like your graphics card drivers for you, you have to make some\ndecisions about the hardware. Which programs are allowed to try and manage the\ngraphics card drivers, how can the user communicate what she wants in terms of\ngraphics card drivers in a way that the computer will find unambiguous.\n\nSo yep, UI and UX, is important but it is only one possibly angle of attack,\nand not the one I'm interested in. Because people are doing fine work on it,\nwhile the others languish a bit.\n\n~~~\nkragen\n> it could pass bits of memory to the user land process\n\n> by sharing a capability that gave it write access.\n\n> Then the userland process could populate it,\n\n> once it had finished and the kernel wanted to read it,\n\n> they could revoke the the writeable permission.\n\n> This would prevent this sort of attack [apparently,\n\n> confusing auditors with TOCTOU attacks on system call arguments]\n\nVirtual memory mapping hardware is already roughly a capability system. The\nCPU doesn't maintain a list of ownerships and permissions for every page of\nphysical memory; it puts capabilities to those pages into page tables. That's\nhow KeyKOS was able to run efficiently on stock hardware.\n\nCapability systems are indeed better for security in several ways, but this\nisn't one of them. The problem here is that the memory page is shareable\nbetween different user threads. You can solve this problem in a variety of\nways, including the one you suggest. However, unmapping the page that a\nsystem-call argument lives in before invoking an auditor does not constitute\nimplementing a capability system.\n\nTo a great extent, it seems like the move toward web apps is exactly a move\ntoward a different security model in order to reduce the maintenance the user\nhas to do, a model in which most apps are fairly limited in their authority.\nThe same-origin policy still falls far short of full POLA, but it's a step.\nThe project in this area I'm most excited about is Caja, which is what MarkM's\nworking on these days.\n\n~~~\nAgent101\nI thought about mapping. Wouldn't you get into trouble if the section of\nmemory still had to be readable during the time it is used by the kernel if\nyou unmapped it? Or can you modify a read-write map to a read-only map? I'm\njust getting into windows internals.\n\nHeh, I didn't know there were fellow people interested in keykos type stuff\nhere. I'm fairly new to that and more interested in the 3rd thing you can do\nto reduce cost of ownership, having an adaptive computer background.\n\nIf you submit a link to caja here let me know and I'll upvote it. The cap-like\nstuff that the Marks were working on for delegating authority to web apps was\nalso interesting. It does reduce the amount of maintenance the user has to do,\nthey still have to pay for the web apps though, so depending upon the income\nof the user and cost of the service it might not reduce the total cost by\nmuch.\n\n------\nkbob\nHow about disappointed? I've seen intriguing non-Von architectures for\ndecades, and they always lose out to Moore's Law and the fact that 1,000X more\nengineering resources are invested in Von Neumann architectures.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAndroid Is As Open As The Clenched Fist I’d Like To Punch The Carriers With - credo\nhttp://techcrunch.com/2010/09/09/android-open/\n======\njrockway\nIn the end, it's our fault for electing people that refuse to regulate the\ncell phone carriers properly. Or, it's our fault for doing business with them.\nThere are some countries where carriers are not allowed to include un-\nuninstallable apps. But not the US. Why? Because consumers in the US don't\ncare about anything but a low, low price.\n\nRight now, Android is the only popular mobile OS that you can clone from git,\nbuild, and install on some piece of hardware. All hardware? Nope. But some?\nYes. This means it's basically open. Just because someone sells you a box\nyou're not allowed to open doesn't mean that all boxes are un-openable, after\nall.\n\nI had no trouble hacking my EVO 4G, deleting the stock OS with HTC and Sprint\ncrapware, and installing a build with 100% open code. While it's not possible\nto do this with _every_ Android phone ever made, it's not possible to do it\nwith _any_ iOS or Symbian or WebOS device. This makes Android the most open;\nand after the industry has been closed tight for 20+ years, it is quite\nrefreshing. We haven't achieved perfection yet, but Android is the only\nsoftware stack bringing us closer.\n\n(Remember commercial UNIXes? Neither do I. Linux and Free/Open/NetBSD\nrelegated them to a very tiny niche market. Android is the beginning of this\nfor mobile; you don't just wake up one day, free of the oppression of closed\nhardware and proprietary software. It takes time and effort, and Google is\nleading the way right now. Someone else will build on this in the future, and\nthings will become even more open.)\n\n~~~\ngamble\nAnother possibility is that this is as open as Android is ever going to be.\nThe original Droid was a high-water mark for openness and standardization on\nAndroid. Subsequent phones have been progressively more customized and locked\ndown.\n\nExamples: AT&T banning sideloading, Motorola phones taking a more aggressive\napproach toward hacking, Verizon signing exclusive deals like Skype and moving\ntoward a proprietary app store, Google deferring to carriers on tethering,\nVerizon's forcing Bing on users, etc.\n\n\"I can always hack it\" isn't a solution, unless you'd accept that hacking is\nalso a solution to Apple's App Store censorship. Android's fans are so focused\non how evil Apple is that they're ignoring the way Android itself is becoming\nless open. I'm not entirely happy with Apple, but I'll take their curation\nover the carrier's vision of a new walled garden based on Android any day.\n\n~~~\nwmf\n_Another possibility is that this is as open as Android is ever going to be._\n\nThis is a great point. Many of us are imagining a hypothetical alternate world\nwhere Google forced all Android phones to be non-evil, but maybe that world\ncan't exist. Maybe if Google was fascist about openness, the carriers would\njust ship Symbian and WinMo instead.\n\n _The original Droid was a high-water mark for openness and standardization on\nAndroid._\n\nI would say the Nexus One is the high-water mark, although apparently many\npeople never even knew that it existed due to the lack of marketing.\n\n------\nnanairo\nThis is very close to a previous article blaming Google for turning us back\ninto the days of strong carrier control. (can't remember the link, but it was\nhere on HN).\n\nAnd I agree, though I don't think Google did it on purpose. Their main aim---I\nthink---was just to avoid Apple (or Blackberry) becoming too powerful. They\nwanted to commoditise the smartphone market. And they have succeeded.\n\nAnd to me it doesn't look like the hardware manufacturers got a great deal\neither. It's turning into a cut-throat market, where all phones are pretty\nmuch identical (and interchangeable), and your revenues come from economy of\nscale. Basically like the PC market.\n\nNormally (e.g PC market) this would mean that the customer can shop for the\nbest deal, which is great. However the \"customer\" here are the carriers: they\nbuy from the manufacturers and resell to the real customer. And indeed they\ngot all the power: they can ask this or that company to lock or modify the\nphone under threat of taking their business elsewhere.\n\nThe real customer, however, is only dealing with the carriers, and Google\nhasn't commoditise these. If anything we are getting even more market\nconcentration.\n\nSo yeah, it seems to me to be pretty much what economics theory would suggest.\n\nThe only alternative would to get an unlocked phone but then the manufacturer\nwould lose the massive subsidise and most users seem to prefer those to the\nhassle of getting a closed system from their carriers.\n\n~~~\nssp\n_The real customer, however, is only dealing with the carriers, and Google\nhasn't commoditise these. If anything we are getting even more market\nconcentration._\n\nNot yet, anyway. But the carriers have to be the next target. The huge capital\nrequirements to build a network is their main barrier to entry, but that's\nunlikely to stop Google.\n\nI wonder if they realize this (they probably do), and if so, what they are\ngoing to about it.\n\n~~~\noiuygtfrtghyju\nGoogle don't want to be in the phone market - they want to be in the selling\nads on search market.\n\nTheir worry was a closed iPhone with an Apple only browser might go to an\nApple/ATT only search page with Apple/ATT ads - or they might simply replace\nall the Google ads with their own before sending pages to the phone\n\nAnd once people accepted this on iPhone they might also accept it on all the\nother phones then on all the home cable connections - like BT/Phorn.\n\n------\nAndrewHampton\nI don't understand how he could interpret Verizon making and promoting their\nown app store as meaning the platform isn't open. Am I missing something or is\nthe fact that anyone can make their own app store mean the platform is _more_\nopen?\n\nAlso, one minor nit is the 2.2 stats he's referring to are from August 2. I'm\nsure they'll be much higher with the 2.2 rollouts that occurred for Droids and\nIncedibles (others?) in August.\n\nIn the end, if manufacturers/carriers make a bad product, it will fail in the\nmarket, but with Android, they're free to do that if they want.\n\n~~~\nnanairo\nIt's the usual open for whom argument.\n\nSay Verizon creates its app store, promotes it, and removes Google's\nMarketplace. They also make sure you can't install apps any other way,\nincluding the original Google's marketplace.\n\nNow, they have been able to do all of this because it's open, so yeah, it is\nmore open. However what they will hand over to the customer is more closed,\nand possibly a worse experience.\n\n~~~\nAndrewHampton\nI would agree with you if he was talking about removing the Android Market,\nbut that's not the argument he made in the article. He said \"it would likely\nbe more prominently displayed than Android’s own Market for apps\" which would\nleave the Android Market intact.\n\n~~~\nwvenable\nThe fact remains, for all this openness you have vanishingly small amount of\ncontrol over your own device. If you don't want Verizon's market and if you\ncertainly don't want it \"prominently displayed\" you may end up being out of\nluck.\n\n~~~\nDougWebb\nThat's not what Verizon has done, though. I bought a Droid 2 from them\nrecently, and when I first started up there was a question about V.Cast which\nI said no to (because I knew everything there would cost money that I didn't\nwant to spend) and I wound up with the Android Marketplace icon on my home\npage and the V.Cast app buried in my app list. If I want to check it out it's\nthere, if I don't I don't have to click on it. Same goes for the other apps\nthat cam pre-installed, which mostly aren't even that bad. I did go and re-\norganize most of my home pages, including getting rid of things like the Fox\nNews widget, but that's just customizing. At no point did I really feel\nconstrained by running Verizon's rom.\n\nOf course, I _am_ paying $20/month for tethering on top of my unlimited data\nplan. The phone by itself is unlimited, but when other devices connect through\nit I'm limited to 2GB/month before ungodly data rates kick in. For now I'm\nsaving it for emergencies, but so far the web browser and email connectivity\nare good enough that I don't think I'll even need tethering, so I'll probably\ncancel it.\n\n------\npilif\nit's not just the carriers. It's the manufacturers too - I know of no phone\n(aside of the Google developer phones) that would allow you to freely install\nyour own build of the OS or even just remove \"value added\" software that has\nbeen installed for \"your\" \"convenience\".\n\nUnless you exploit security holes in the vendors crappy security systems. The\nfact that they don't even invest enough resources into a quality security\nframework (which helps increasing their revenue) speaks volumes of the quality\nof the other \"improvements\" they make to stock android.\n\n~~~\ndrivebyacct2\nBut that is because of the carriers. Why do you think Motorola implemented a\nsigned multistage boot process? I'm sure they didn't say, \"We want to limit\nour customers and waste engineering resources on a problem that voids the\nwarranty anyway and doesn't matter to us\".\n\nNah, they reacted to VZW's threats.\n\n~~~\nkelnos\nNitpick: regardless of what the scare-message says when you unlock your N1's\nbootloader, changing the software on a device cannot (by law, in the US) void\nthe warranty on the hardware, unless it is demonstrable that the software\nmodification actually damaged the hardware.\n\n------\nrm-rf\nThe key here is the unavailability of non-carrier branded unrestricted Android\nphones in the US. If I get subsidized by the carrier when purchasing the\nphone, dealing with crapware and restriction is part of the cost of getting\n$400 or so off the price of the phone at purchase time.\n\nIdeally I could make a choice to buy an Andriod phone from a manufacturer with\nno branding and no restrictions, pay full price for it, and accept that the\nadditional cost is what I'm willing to pay for an unrestricted, unbranded\nphone. The inability to purchase a phone like that is the real problem, not\nthe restrictions placed on carrier subsidized phones.\n\nTwo years ago I bought an unrestricted HTC Diamond with Winmo 6.1. I paid over\n$600 for the phone and the privilege of being able to do whatever I want with\nthe phone. The $400 extra over a branded/restricted phone, spread out over 24\nmonths, is $17/month for the privilege of being able to doink around with a\nphone.\n\nHaving done that once, I'm leaning toward putting up with the crapware and\nrestrictions and saving the $400. I figure that in two years, I probably only\n_really_ used a couple of third party apps. Most of the rest that I tried were\nannoying memory leaks and crashes waiting to happen - barely better than\ncarrier provided crapware.\n\n~~~\njedbrown\nIf you own your phone, T-mobile smartphone plans are $20/month cheaper. That's\n$480 over a 24-month contract, it doesn't pay to get the subsidized phone.\n(Yeah, unless you get an N1, it's still a branded phone with some crapware,\nbut they will unlock it immediately and you can change your plan at any time.)\n\n~~~\nenjo\nT-mobile, in my experience, is on the right side of almost everything in this\nargument. Of course they probably have to be given their relative size\ncompared to the other big players.\n\nI gave up T-mobile a couple of years ago due to call quality issues here in\nDenver. I'm hoping they've fixed it.\n\n------\ndavidk0101\nDoes Siegler ever make any points or does he always ramble on like this? Is he\nupset that people are buying android based phones or is it that the carriers\nare customizing the os too much and google won't force any strict guidelines?\nThat was the appeal of android from the beginning. Basically anyone could take\nthe os as a starting point and do some cool stuff with it. The fact that the\ncarriers are using their monopoly to force certain conditions on their users\nis not really the fault of whoever produced the os which happens to be google\nin this case.\n\n~~~\ndemallien\nWhere does Seigler say that it was Google's fault? Let me quote: \"Maybe if\nGoogle had their way, the system would be truly open. But they don’t. Sadly,\nthey have to deal with a very big roadblock: the carriers.\"\n\nAt the end of the day, Siegler understands that for end users, it _doesn't\nmatter_ whose fault the whole mess is, all that matters is that users are once\nmore being herded into operator-controlled ghettos, much as they were pre-\niPhone.\n\n~~~\ngreenlblue\nHe is saying google is complicit in some kind of act he finds distasteful so\ngoogle is partly to blame. Is that spelled out enough for you to see why I\nsaid he is blaming google?\n\n------\nZeroGravitas\nThe Android 2.2 Froyo marketshare number he quotes/links (5%) is five weeks\nout of date. That may not sound like much but the previous version 2.1 took\n25% in just two weeks and climbed by nearly 8% every two weeks since.\n\n[http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-\nve...](http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-\nversions.html)\n\nI've been checking that page recently because of the absolute storm of Android\nupdates, new devices and sales increases announced recently and I expect a big\nshift in the stats.\n\n~~~\nsandipc\nthis is especially significant because the original Motorola Droid received\nits 2.2 OTA update recently, and that phone accounts for a huge percentage of\nUS Android handsets.\n\n~~~\nchaosmachine\nSadly, the Canadian version of the Droid (Milestone) isn't scheduled to get\n2.2 until \"Q1 2011\"... It's the same hardware, I don't know why we have to\nwait 6 months.\n\n~~~\nPengwin\nI believe it is because the Milestone is on more than one carrier. Verizon and\nMotorola Worked together on the Droid's software and they streamlined the\nprocess because the Droid is only through Verizon, but the milestone is, for\nthe most part, carrier independent. Even though it isn't to one single carrier\nI believe Motorola still works with carriers to make sure the phone updates\ndon't brake anything. Also, Motorola have done their part with the Milestone\nby selling it, and they probably dont make any money with ongoing support,\nunlike verizon, who want to keep their contracted users happy.\n\nThats my opinion of it anyway. and i own a UK Milestone.\n\n------\nrakkhi\nSeems like we are a bit more lucky in the UK. You can buy virtualy any model\nandroid that is not carrier locked on pay as you go or just signup to a pay\nmonthly plan with any of the 5 major carriers:\n<http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mobiles/smartphones/android>\n\nIn the US I can understand your points.... how is such a large market so\ncontrolled by the carriers? How is there not someone like carphone warehouse\nthat sells all phones unlocked and carrier free? I mean here I bought even my\niPhone from the Apple UK store unlocked and chose my own carrier, would do the\nsame with an Android - no crapware any time.\n\n~~~\npierrefar\n> _any model android that is not carrier locked on pay as you go_\n\nThat's wrong. All PAYG phones are carrier locked - they have to be for the\nsake of the business. You can buy SIM-free phones easily (say from expansys).\n\nThe only way to get an unlocked phone from a carrier is to get a pay monthly\nplan, and that's only on some carriers (IIRC, only O2 gives you an unlocked\nphone, and on T-Mobile you have to request an unlock code and they give it to\nyou 28 days later). The reseller Carphone Warehouse told me that all their\npay-monthly deals, regardless of carrier, come with unlocked phones.\n\n~~~\nrakkhi\nI would respectfully disagree.\n\nYou can buy a phone outright and go on a pay monthly plan without a contract.\nThat is what I am currently doing with my iPhone - I paid ¬£440 for the phone\noutright and pay £20/month on O2 for 300 minutes, unlimited text and unlimited\ndata.\n\nNo reason why you can't do that on n an Android\n\n~~~\npierrefar\nThat's a SIM unlocked phone rather than a \"true\" PAYG, and yes you can do that\nwith Android. Actually I'm about to :)\n\n------\ngrammaton\nI think the author is a little unclear of the definition of \"open.\"\nSpecifically, what \"open source,\" which is the \"open\" in question, really\nmeans. The carriers can pull these shenanigans precisely because they have\naccess to the source for the OS. If they didn't they'd have to go through\nGoogle or pick another option.\n\n~~~\nwvenable\nI think he's very clear. The ironic point he is trying to make is that people\nare citing \"openness\" as their reason for purchasing Android phones when it\nhas no benefit for them at all.\n\n~~~\ngrammaton\nHow is it not a benefit? If a carrier's actions really disgust me, I can just\nswitch to a different carrier and still have access to a platform that is\nsubstantially the same. I'm not necessarily locked in to a carrier, unlike,\nsay, someone who just has to have their iPhone.\n\n~~~\nwvenable\nYou get that same benefit with Windows Mobile or Blackberry, yet nobody would\nclaim they are open.\n\n------\nugh\nWhy not buy a unlocked phone? Won’t HTC or Samsung sell them to you?\n\n~~~\nTichy\nWhere, how?\n\n~~~\nuggedal\nHere in Norway, and probably in most other parts of Europe, you can buy\nunlocked version of all phones, be it HTC, Samsung, iPhone (sold unlocked\ndirectly from <http://apple.no>).\n\n------\nlutorm\nAll of this only applies if you buy a subsidized phone from the carriers.\nUntil the carriers can legally forbid non-branded phones from being on the\nnetwork, they only have the power that their customers, who apparently like\ngiving up their freedom of choice for a low upfront phone price, voluntarily\ngive them.\n\n------\nbrudgers\nWhat Siegler does is pretend that when people say \"Android is open\" they mean\n\"Android isn't repackaged by companies for their own purposes.\"\n\nOf course people don't, but it's a handy strawman.\n\n\"Android is open\" is used to express the idea that there is competition\nbetween Android products (consumer view).\n\n\"Android is open\" is also used to express the idea that a companies are free\nto enter or exit the marketplace without permission (developer view).\n\n\"Android is open\" is also used to express the idea that it isn't \"Apple's\nGated Community\" (brand differentiation).\n\nThis is probably the most important, and it's right out of Apple's playbook.\n\n------\nlenni\nI was just about to write a blog post complaining about this very same\nproblem. My 2.1 update was 6 month late and I can't root my phone, which was\nexactly why I wanted an Android.\n\nI will buy an iPhone next time. If I have the choice of bending over in front\nof Apple or T-Mobile, I'd rather have Apple.\n\n------\nscotty79\nIf I can put debian on my phone then I guess I could also put crapware free\nandroid if I wished. Also probably there is some method of uninstalling\ncrapware without reinstalling whole system and eventually people will find out\nwhat it is.\n\n------\nslamo\nTechcrunch is a troll site. Do not feed the trolls. Do not post their links.\n\n~~~\nandybak\nWould you care to engage with the actual points made in this article?\n\n~~~\nergo98\nWhat points? That Android itself being open doesn't guarantee that every piece\nof software, every piece of hardware, and every carrier is going to be totally\nopen?\n\nThat's an asinine, utterly idiotic argument. It's a juvenile strawman (\"Gosh,\nand I thought Android was open...but look I can't install Skype on my Sprint\nphone\").\n\nMG Siegler has seldom said anything that had any merit or added to the\nargument in any meaningful way. Which isn't a suprise, as TechCrunch _is_ a\ntrollbait emporium: They know that posting such asinine nonsense gets them\nhits, so they'll keep doing it. It is, absolutely, feeding the trolls.\n\n------\nmuyyatin\nThe default (or potential) to be open shouldn't simply be equal to closed.\n\n~~~\nnanairo\n-1\n\nThe article answers this line of thought (see below)... and instead you offer\nno arguments.\n\n\"And before all of you pros storm the comments with how great it is to root\nyour Android phones, consider the average consumers here. They are the ones\nbeing screwed by this exploitation of “open.” Anyone with the desire to do so\ncan fairly easily hack an iPhone too.\"\n\n------\nergo98\nMG Siegler is a troll of the worst kind.\n\nI have to particularly laugh at the Skype comment he added (a drum that Gruber\nhas banged on in his dismissively sarcastic manner): That has __NOTHING __to\ndo with Android. Skype, the company, decided to get in bed with Verizon and\nlimit their app to certain handsets under certain conditions. What does that\nhave to do with anything beyond perhaps \"Skype and Verizon have a business\nrelationship\"?\n\nAndroid, the platform, is open, although that of course doesn't mean that\nevery piece of hardware, software, or carrier will be open. Nonetheless, it's\nopen enough that if you don't want Verizon crapware you can get a phone\nelsewhere. The advantage of Android being everywhere, unlike say the iPhone in\nthe US, is that you can get a phone from another vendor or another handset\nmaker if someone gets abusive, as Verizon is becoming.\n\n~~~\ndannyr\nI decided to stop reading MG Siegler's Android-related posts. His articles\nabout Android are just absurd. The last straw for me was when he wrote that\nAndroid is only surging because Apple is letting them too.\n\nHe's the ultimate fanboy that just cannot accept that the IPhone will not be\nthe dominant smartphone in the near future. I don't think Apple loses sleep\nthat they will be outsold by Android since they will still be taking massive\nprofits.\n\nIt's really unfortunate that a writer like him gets a voice in an influential\nblog like Techcrunch. I hope he just post things like these on his personal\nblog.\n\n------\nshareme\nNote, several things wrong..\n\nGoogle/OHA is making progress on opening different parts of the development\nprocess/tree..the android sdk tools including the Adt plugin are now developed\nout in the open..ie no closed master tree of code..\n\nAuthor IS CONFUSING US Telecom Mobile Operator situation with openness of he\nAndroid platform\n\n------\nconfuzatron\nMG Siegler - I just got trolled again.\n\n------\ndrivebyacct2\nEven in the worst case scenario, it's more open than it's competitors and\nevery single problem in the article can clearly be attributed to the carrier.\nSend a message by buying phones that aren't locked down. Thus far, HTC has\nleft their stock Android phones fairly \"hackable\". Granted, the Nexus One was\nthe last stock Android device we've seen. I'm hopeful that their slider qwerty\nsuper phone coming to VZW will run stock Gingerbread, and thus will be open to\nrunning a CM release.\n\nIn lieu of that, I hope Google gets back into the phone market (I know, I\nknow, they said they won't) with a Nexus Two before all of the CM resources\njump ship to Meego or whatever up and coming platform presents itself as more\n\"truly\" open (at least until the carriers monetize and lock it down as well).\n\n------\nforensic\nThis is pretty much business as usual in the computer industry.\n\nIf you want a low price you have to put up with retarded bullshit.\n\nIf you want a good experience you have to pay the Apple premium.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "Ask HN: What are you doing to look after your posture? - shahocean\n======\ntinymollusk\nYoga practice, 3-5 times per week has done wonders for my posture and how I\nphysically feel over the course of a day. Doesn't have to be hot or boot camp;\nI prefer restorative classes.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Is the Hacker News site is a little less responsive? - unwantedLetters\n\nOver the last few weeks, the HN website has been a little slow for me. Loading the homepage takes a good amount of time. I was wondering if this was the case for most people or if I was simply imagining it.<p>I love Hacker News, and would love to help in any way that I can if indeed there is a problem. I also wanted to thank Paul for putting up this website and building such a fantastic community around it.\n======\nzeedotme\nyup, definitely a little slow for me.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nTechnology Cannot Disrupt Education From The Top Down - crazybear\nhttp://techcrunch.com/2011/12/18/education-technology-disrupt/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&utm_content=Google+Reader\n\n======\nkeithpeter\nUK thinking...\n\nAny of these systems aimed at mothers? OK Fathers as well, but getting to Mum\nis the most direct channel for children under 12/13.\n\n[https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/Childrena...](https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/Childrenandfamilies/Page11/DCSF-00924-2008)\n\nThen the next thing is to approach teachers directly over the heads of the\nmanagement. See\n\n<http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resources>\n\nfor a large publisher's approach,\n\n<http://www.skillsworkshop.org/>\n\nfor a teacher's own initiative (and one that won a UK award).\n\nFinally, where is the mobile content? If you want to reach teenagers directly,\nyou need to be planning for a 320 by 240 display and its got to be free.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\n5 Reasons The Windy City is a Great Place for Startups - MRonney\nhttp://tech.li/2012/02/5-reasons-the-windy-city-is-a-great-place-for-startups/\n\n======\nmohene1\nThe first 3 points about industry groups, incubators, and public support are\nvalid. I would like to see how effective the programs have been.\n\n4\\. The Quality of Life is extremely subjective. I lived in Chicago and\nexperienced the opposite. People are mostly concerned with getting drunk only.\nThe city is ultra segregated. Big 12 frat house to the North, Suburban\n\"hipsters\" in the North center, etc. It's _very_ suburban.\n\n5.The only time people spoke to me on the street was to insult me. Most people\nyou will meet in Chicago are not from Chicago.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Apache Cassandra battle highlights major problem with open source projects - CrankyBear\nhttp://www.techrepublic.com/article/the-battle-for-apache-cassandra-highlights-major-problem-with-open-source-projects/\n======\nmarktangotango\nThis is a curiously vague article. Apparently there were issues with\nCassandra's project leadership not addressing trademark issues, causing the\nApache Software Foundation to remove Datastax from their leadership position.\nUm, ok? The author here seems to be sowing FUD about the future of the\nproject, and by relation, all ASF projects. Anyone with knowledge of this\nsituation care to chime in?\n\n~~~\n_benedict\nThis is not quite what happened.\n\nDatastax employees were the controlling influence on the PMC, and the PMC\nfailed to police copyright issues (including with Datastax marketing\nmaterials), mostly because they did not know this was their duty (and\npartially, in at least the case of some individuals, because they did not have\nany desire to participate in this duty on a volunteer basis).\n\nThey were also seen to have poorly nurtured other involvement from the wider\ncommunity.\n\nTo some greater or lesser extent these charges were valid, and the community\n(not just the board, at least on the non-trademark issues) felt improvements\nwould be welcome. But certain members of the board behaved in what _appeared_\nto be a very hostile and childish manner, by threatening Datastax with removal\nof every employee from the project. (I've been in heated arguments with these\nindividuals for their behaviour, and I'll note they disavow any intended\nhostility, though do not disavow their actions)\n\nThe ASF did _not_ remove Datastax from anything, although they were I think\ninvolved in Jonathan Ellis (Datastax CTO) being replaced as chair.\n\nDatastax recently posted that they were planning to put much of their new\nfeature development into their commercial version. They claim this all had\nnothing to do with stepping back from the project, but in all likelihood this\nis a \"rising above it\" PR position. That said, it probably is a good business\ndecision, and may have happened sooner or later anyway.\n\n~~~\nSOLAR_FIELDS\nReading this apparently biased article in favor of DataStax, it seems like no\none is coming out of this situation looking good. I personally believe that\nDataStax may have overplayed their hand here since several of the high-powered\nSilicon Valley companies use Cassandra. If DS' commercial offerings aren't up\nto snuff, one of them will undoubtedly step in to help steer development of\nthe source in a direction that benefits them.\n\nCassandra is one of the better big datastore offerings out there, and the doom\nand gloom narrative played by the article seems a bit disingenuous to say the\nleast.\n\n~~~\n_benedict\nI honestly don't see how companies, that aren't monetising Cassandra,\nproviding resources to the project is a major risk to Datastax. This only\nimproves Cassandra's mindshare in (and share of) the market, while leaving\nthem to corner the large corporate client base as well as target their\nengineering efforts on things that can directly yield revenue.\n\nAlthough I think you overestimate the inclination and ability of these\ncorporations to invest - at least to date, only Apple has demonstrated any\ncapacity or willingness to do so, and they are fairly slow about it. Their\nlawyers and antiquated deployments lead to very few (but quite big)\nimprovements, and so far all of them have needed help from Datastax to be\nincorporated. This is despite a largeish team of people with direct experience\nof participating in the project; no other SV company has any such employee at\npresent, and bootstrapping such a team would be non-trivial. Instaclustr\nclaims they intend to do this, but it remains to be seen how successful they\nwill be.\n\n~~~\njjirsa\nI've committed a few Instaclustr patches in the past month - they weren't\nhuge, but they exist (and I appreciate that).\n\nAlso some patches coming out of FB/Instagram (with a new committer as well).\n\n------\nmicah_chatt\nI'm curious what impact this will have on other ASF projects, specifically\nMesos. A number of the features required for a smaller or medium sized\norganization to actually use Mesos in production are only available in\nMesosphere's DC/OS. And whenever those shortcomings are brought up, the answer\nis \"oh well if you really need authentication beyond htpasswd, you can pay for\nDCOS.\" Like the article hinted at, I hope the ASF tries to do more to work\nwith vendors to help OSS side of projects flourish rather than just be lip\nservice.\n\n~~~\nvorg\n> I'm curious what impact this will have on other ASF projects\n\nIt might cause those committing the code, building the tests, and writing the\ndoco for other ASF projects to question whether their project is being justly\nmanaged. I only watch one ASF project, Apache Groovy, and it has a similar\nimbalance between fluff managers and grunt workers.\n\nAlthough all 9 members of its PMC are committers, only 4 of them have ever\ncommitted code since Groovy joined the ASF via its incubator 18 months ago.\nThe other 5 (i.e. chairperson Guillaume Laforge, Jim Jagielski, Roman\nShaposhnik, Konstantin Boudnik, and Andrew Bayer) are all committers but have\n_never_ committed any code in that time. I can't find any other technical\ncontributions from them either. All 5 are also ASF members, whereas only 2 of\nthe other 4 PMC members who do grunt work are ASF members.\n\nThere's 10 other committers in Groovy, most of whom are more active\ncontributors than those 5 I named, and in my view have far more merit to be on\nthe PMC than them. OCI, the company doing Grails consulting, a few weeks ago\nenlisted an active PMC member (Paul King) as an OCI consultant \"to coordinate\ncontributions to Groovy\". If Groovy's governance at ASF doesn't radically\nchange fast to give PMC voices to the people doing the actual work instead of\nthose ASF politicians, OCI might tap into the discontent and \"take over\" in\nsimilar style to DataStax, or even fork it like LibreOffice.\n\n~~~\njjirsa\nSometimes members of the PMC are on the PMC to help committers do things in\nthe Apache way - Jim (in particular) is a member of the ASF board and likely\nmentored the project early on (I'd go check to be certain but I'm mobile at\nthe moment).\n\n~~~\nvorg\nBecause it's 18 months since Groovy joined the incubator and 12 months since\nit became a top-level project, it could be time Jim Jagielski and all ASF\nmembers not actually contributing to Groovy leave its PMC so that the\nproportion of those actually committing code and similar goes up from its\npresent 44%. OCI is ready to pounce if they don't.\n\n~~~\njjirsa\nThe PMC can (should) invite active members of the community - there's no fixed\nsize, the PMC can add members at any time.\n\nThere's no need to worry about ratios of people committing code - the PMC is\nabout guidance, not about writing code.\n\n~~~\nvorg\nI believe Apache Groovy implementations should be led by their technical\npeople, so its PMC should only have people in it who can and do code, test,\nand write docs. Groovy's past problems have been due to managerial sorts\nrunning things.\n\n------\ngrizzles\nI have a feeling Apache leadership probably did the right thing here. It is\nafter all, their brand. Recently there have been some strange things happening\nwith the Cassandra project. Hopefully not another rethinkdb.\n\nFor example, a longstanding Cassandra bug makes it hard to build the database\nfrom source if you have a modern version of maven installed. Though Cassandra\nbuilds itself using ant (why?), simply having modern maven installed is a big\nenough incompatibility to break the build. That's weird.\n\nAnother recent weirdness is that Cassandra was shipping a non working command\ninterpreter (cqlsh) for at least 3+ months as recently as a few months ago.\nThat's now fixed in v3.9. I have to admit, the first thing I thought upon\nseeing that brokenness shipping in the binary distribution was - Is this\nbecause Datastax needs more sales?\n\n~~~\njjirsa\nCan you link the jira for the mvn/ant bug? Or, if it doesn't exist, can you\ncreate it?\n\n------\njohan_larson\nSharing is hard. Nobody making money can work. Many people making money can\nwork. Just one party making money, that's a mofo.\n\nFull disclosure: I work for Couchbase, and our management tends to describe\nDataStax as a key competitor.\n\n------\nhelper\nI've been a Cassandra user for 5+ years and have been watching the drama\nunfold on the mailing lists the past few months. I have no business\nrelationship with Datastax and have never paid them money for any of their\nservices (except for attending the Datastax sponsored Cassandra Summit a\nnumber of times). I'm not a committer but I have been an active member of the\ncommunity opening bugs, participating in the user mailing list, Stack\nOverflow, maintaining a client library, etc.\n\nFrom my perspective it seemed like the ASF board members had already prejudged\nthe situation before engaging in any public discussions on the Cassandra\nmailing lists. The first interaction was about why Cassandra doesn't ship with\nits own client drivers[1]. The board member believed this to be a sign of\nDatastax \"controlling\" Cassandra because they have their own high quality open\nsource client libraries. As a user and a former maintainer of a client\nlibrary, this theory came off as completely ridiculous. The project has never\nshipped a production ready client driver in tree. It is simply impractical to\nbe able to do that for all the languages for which there are drivers. I've got\ncode in three different languages in production right now and none of them use\nDatastax drivers. If you read that mailing list thread, that is basically what\neveryone says on it (including the new Casssandra PMC chair), and yet the\nconclusion that the ASF board member takes away is that Datastax is\ncontrolling the project by having out of tree open source client libraries.\n\nThat ASF board member also got upset when a question on the mailing list was\nanswered with a link to Datastax hosted documentation[2]. Again this seemed\nlike an overreaction from the board member over a fixable problem as\njustification for a Cassandra shakeup.\n\nThen recently there was a new wave of threads about Apache and Datastax[3][4].\nBoth sides come off looking pretty bad in these threads. Its clear that at\nthis point a lot of people in the Cassandra community have negative feelings\ntoward certain members of the ASF board. It also seems like those board\nmembers have become very defensive about what has transpired. Fortunately\npeople have started to calm down and there has been a few reasonable emails\nfrom both sides.\n\nFrom my perspective the ASF came off looking like they care more about the\nApache trademarks than they do about the health of the community. I do believe\nthere were some actual issues that were identified as places for improvement\nfor the Cassandra community, but I don't think it was necessary to come in\nwielding a sledge hammer. It seems that the Cassandra board was not given an\nopportunity to fix the issues (mostly by increasing the number of project\ncommitters) before the board forced the changes. This has resulted in a lot of\nhurt feelings and a general sense of distrust between the Cassandra community\nand the ASF.\n\nAll that being said, I'm not particularly worried about Cassandra's future. I\nwas sad to see Jonathan Ellis leave as the chair person, but hearing that Nate\nMcCall was stepping into that position put a lot of my concerns at ease.\n\nI hope that the Datastax folks know that the community appreciates all that\nthey have contributed to the open source Cassandra project, even if the ASF\ndoesn't.\n\n[1]:\n[https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/72a884fa8f35cbed23135c8...](https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/72a884fa8f35cbed23135c8c771da06076d87a5a20ff5a7cd5d24001@%3Cdev.cassandra.apache.org%3E)\n\n[2]: [http://www.mail-\narchive.com/dev@cassandra.apache.org/msg0914...](http://www.mail-\narchive.com/dev@cassandra.apache.org/msg09143.html)\n\n[3]: [http://www.mail-\narchive.com/dev@cassandra.apache.org/msg1003...](http://www.mail-\narchive.com/dev@cassandra.apache.org/msg10037.html)\n\n[4]: [http://www.mail-\narchive.com/dev@cassandra.apache.org/msg1002...](http://www.mail-\narchive.com/dev@cassandra.apache.org/msg10020.html)\n\n~~~\njjirsa\nI feel like I've sent more than enough emails on this subject already, so\nrather than nit pick tiny things in your comment with which I disagree, I'm\njust going to say that I agree with your closing sentence.\n\n~~~\nhelper\nThank you for your general civility on the lists. I'm glad that you are on the\nPMC.\n\n------\nqwertyuiop924\nThis isn't a \"major problem with open source projects,\" it's a problem with\nthe governence model of one specific project, and a conflict between the ASF\nand the company holding a controlling majority on the board.\n\nOther than \"governance is hard and politics sucks,\" I'm not sure what the\n\"major problem\" actually _is_\n\n~~~\njack9\n> a problem with the governence model of one specific project,\n\nI think multiple (not many, nor all) OS projects have a leading vendor\nsupporting the codebase in various ways. For poorly adopted or niche OS\nprojects, hardware, computer languages, etc, this can be a deathstroke to the\nproject.\n\n~~~\nqwertyuiop924\nYeah, but they were saying it was a major flaw with all of OS. It isn't. In\nfact, if your project isn't incredibly popular, this likely won't effect you.\n\n------\nwinteriscoming\nI haven't followed this specific Datastax vs ASF discussion, but have seen\nsimilar battles played out in recent years between some popular projects and\nASF and even ESF (Eclipse foundation vs Vert.x project for example)\n\nDoes anyone here know what value do these foundations bring to projects, in\nthis day of cloud hosting/computing that make these foundations worth for the\nprojects?\n\n------\njcoffland\nYes Open-Source projects can have political issues too. I don't see how this\nis any different than the politics of closed source software. Why the author\nwants to disparage Open-Source is beyond me.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhich Facebook billionaire will buy NYT? - davewiner\nhttp://threads.scripting.com/31112ByDw/whichFacebookBillionaireWillBuyNyt/\n======\nMattLaroche\nThe body of the post doesn't follow the headline. (Apparently, I've ragged on\nthe author, Dave Winer, for similar things before\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2808050>. I came here to comment on it\nand it just happens to be the same contributor/blog/etc.)\n\nHeadline: Which Facebook billionaire will buy the New York Times? (Implying a\nrich employee might buy the NYT)\n\nBody: an argument that Twitter, Facebook, Google, or another large tech\ncompany should buy a large, reputable, news corporation. (Not a rich employee,\nnot Facebook specific)\n\nI also find the argument tenuous. What is the actual cash value to Twitter\nbuying the New York Times? Sure, there'd be more Twitter users, but Twitter\nhasn't figured out how to highly monetize their users.\n\nThe blog post is speculation without articulated rationale.\n\n------\njacques_chester\n_Billions are flowing to tech companies, founders of tech companies, and the\ntech companies themselves. The companies will all need exclusive digital\ncontent. News stories. The kind of stuff produced by news organizations. Like\nthe NYT._\n\nI seem to recall this logic reaching its nadir when AOL got its peanut butter\nmixed up with Times-Warner's chocolate.\n\nI also seem to recall that it destroyed billions of dollars of shareholder\nvalue because it was a dumb idea at the time, was a dumb idea before the time\nand remained a dumb idea for the times that followed.\n\nThis kind of vertical strategy would work if somehow Twitter (to use the\nexample given) could supply news at a lower price than its competitors. But\npeople already pay literally nothing (well, no marginal price) for the news\nthey already receive.\n\nOr it could be a lockin value-add play. Except that this too is daft. Is\nTwitter seriously going to pay \"strategy tax\" and lock out non-NYT sources?\nPlease, be serious, it's Monday and I'm at work.\n\nTwitter and Google and Facebook _don't need an NYT_. They don't produce\ncontent, they mediate it. Any one source they buy can quickly be replaced by\nanother. And if they try to lock you into their source, they may find\n_themselves_ being disintermediated.\n\nDisclaimer: I am of the opinion that my own modest little startup will render\ninternet-economic questions such as these moot, so I may be a teensy bit\nbiased.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Please review our site | version 1 - goodlab\n\nHello HN: The site I am asking for you to review is:<p>www.votetocracy.com<p>Votetocracy is a site where citizens vote on bills in congress and send votes to their reps. Citizen's votes are tallied against the votes of Congress and displayed as agreements or disagreements.<p>We are looking for feedback on usability:\nCan you find bills that you would be interested in?<p>Feedback on:\nThe concept. Are you interested in politics enough to vote on these bills? If your not interested in politics - but are interested in decisions congress makes that effect your life - would you vote on bills?<p>The business model will not be revealed until version 2 so we are not really looking for feedback on that aspect.<p>Looking forward to hearing from you.\n======\ntogasystems\nGreat idea. Couple of notes (I am running Chrome on Mac)\n\n\\- You have a drop shadow on the main content. However, it does not show up on\nthe bottom, only the top and side.\n\n-on <http://www.votetocracy.com/outcomes.html>, the checkmark icons are overlapping the font\n\n\\- You button text is being cut off\n\n\\- Is there a reason why you need my entire personal information (address, zip\ncode)\n\nOther than some css fixes, looks good.\n\n~~~\ngoodlab\nThanks - I'll look into the css stuff. Yes - we need the personal info to look\nup your representatives. I guess we could make that more clear. Actually - we\nused to ask more info. Things like profession, ethnicity etc. It helps us when\nreporting aggregate data. No one really complained - we just took it out for\nthe moment until we redo some other things.\n\n------\ngoodlab\nI wonder why this did not show up on the ask part of the site? It was\nsubmitted without a url.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nToward a NoSQL taxonomy - rgeorge28\nhttp://www.dbms2.com/2010/03/14/nosql-taxonomy/\n\n======\nakkartik\nHis taxonomy agrees nicely with the visual survey at\n<http://blog.nahurst.com/visual-guide-to-nosql-systems> (submitted yesterday:\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1190772>)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIdris - pure functional programming language with dependent types - alrex021\nhttp://idris-lang.org/\n======\nradarsat1\nVery nice, haven't heard of this before. I think an ideal target for a\ndependently typed language is scientific array programming, so that you can\nensure the sizes of your matrix and array operations check out before\nperforming long-running tasks. If a good array library can be built (e.g. port\nHaskell's Repa) then it might provide a great foundation for this.\n\n~~~\ndons\nWith type level naturals recently added to GHC, statically checked arrays are\nalready implementable in Haskell.\n\n* <http://hackage.haskell.org/package/vector-static>\n\n* <http://hackage.haskell.org/package/hmatrix-static>\n\nA nice next step would be to optimize out additional runtime bounds checks.\n\n~~~\nradarsat1\nVery nice! I really look forward to using something like that.\n\n------\nskrebbel\nI love the concept, but the tutorial somewhat puts me off (admission: I only\nread the first third).\n\nI mean, using an \"element from a finite set\" to index a vector? Back home, we\nuse natural numbers for that. Idris _also_ has natural numbers, but somehow we\nstill have to, essentially, use the \"finite set of values we don't care about,\nbut that we can order if we want to since, after all, the set has a finite\nnumber of elements\" concept for what's essentially an array lookup.\n\nWhy can't there be a type of \"natural numbers under N\"?\n\nOr am I all misunderstanding things, and _is_ the \"finite set\" exactly that\ntype, just explained in a very not straight forward way?\n\nAlso, impressively, the author claims it has C-style speed. Does that mean\nthat looking up a value in a vector by means of an element in a finite set is\nactually translated to a single *(vect+index)? (in C-terms)\n\n~~~\nedwinb\nThat is indeed exactly what Fin is. The first n natural numbers is a finite\nset of n elements after all. I'll elaborate a bit in the tutorial. I guess the\ntrouble with writing a tutorial when you're completely familiar with a\nlanguage is that it's hard to know what will and won't make sense!\n\nThere'd also be nothing wrong to use a natural number, along with a proof that\nit's bounded by the length, to index the vector.\n\nI don't think I've claimed it has C-style speed anywhere. At least, not in\ngeneral - we have observed it in some cases though, and it is a goal to make\nit as efficient as possible. Dependent types plus partial evaluation gives you\nsome nice opportunities for optimisation. Early days yet...\n\n~~~\nskrebbel\n_That is indeed exactly what Fin is. The first n natural numbers is a finite\nset of n elements after all._\n\nAh, right! I must admit that it feels like an odd definition to me indeed. I\nsee how \"the first n natural numbers\" is a finite set of n elements, but I\ndon't see how the reverse is true. I mean, look here, a finite set of n\nelements: {1, 1, 1, 1}. 4 elements, and they're all valued 1. They're also not\nordered. So your concept of taking an element from a finite set (in this case,\nlet's say, 1, or maybe 1 instead) to uniquely identify an element in a vector\nsounds a bit odd to me :-)\n\nClearly, I'm the noob here, and maybe in this stage Idris just isn't meant for\npeople not on Lambda the Ultimate, but if not, it's good that you intend do\nsomething about it :-)\n\nCause once again, I love the concept, and I'd love to program with this.\n\n~~~\nfhars\nThe set {1, 1, 1, 1} has only one element, 1.\n\n~~~\nskrebbel\nOh fuck. Bags and sets.\n\nI'm an idiot!\n\nAnd that only 3 years out of university :-(\n\n------\nphaer\nDown for me, google cache:\n[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:dtmf_mG...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:dtmf_mGqwA4J:idris-\nlang.org)\n\n~~~\nedwinb\nSorry about that, it's back now...\n\n------\nmindcrime\nIs this, by any chance, specifically tailored to programming control systems\nfor time machines[1]?\n\n[1]: <http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Idris>\n\n------\namatus\nAm I correct in my understanding of these types?\n\n    \n    \n      Vect a n = vector of a with known length n\n      (n ** Vect a n) = vector of a with unknown length n\n    \n\nWhen I think of it this way it's obvious why filter takes a Vect and returns a\npair. Though it seems ugly to have to write each vector function to take both\n\"static\" and \"dynamic\" vectors.\n\n~~~\nedwinb\nThat's right.\n\nYou don't normally need to write each vector function both ways. If you can\nstatically know the length (which you normally do in practice, at least in my\nexperience) then you can write down a more precise type. filter serves as an\nexample of what you might do when you need to compute an index dynamically.\n\n------\nDanWaterworth\nThis looks really cool. I haven't looked into dependently typed languages in\ndepth, but this is the first one I've seen that looks like a programming\nlanguage to write programs in.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nPerhaps Jeff Atwood Should Stick to the Code - supervacuo\nhttp://supervacuo.com/blog/2013/jan/22/jeff-atwood-stick-to-the-code/\nBetter late than never, right?\n======\najross\nI don't think this kind of dialog really helps. Jeff's post was, I thought,\nsincere and understandable. It's not really the same way I saw things, but I\ncan see what he meant. It clearly wasn't intended to be disrespectful, and\nreading that in and then flaming about it publicly isn't helping anyone.\n\nIf Jeff was angry at Aaron for \"taking the easy way out\" (again: not my\npersonal reaction, but one I think I can understand), he has the right to\nexpress that without being told he should \"stick to the code\". Dealing with\n\"inconvenient\" emotions is part of grief, and that process deserves respect\ntoo.\n\nBasically: lighten up. This is _really_ not an appropriate subject to pick a\nfight over.\n\n~~~\nraganwald\n_If Jeff was angry at Aaron for \"taking the easy way out\" (again: not my\npersonal reaction, but one I think I can understand), he has the right to\nexpress that without being told he should \"stick to the code\". Dealing with\n\"inconvenient\" emotions is part of grief, and that process deserves respect\ntoo._\n\nIt is extremely common for people to feel anger at the death of a loved one,\nespecially a death so complicated to process as a suicide.\n\nPeople take years to unravel the knot and come to accept what has happened. I\ntook it as Jeff being human.\n\n------\nZimahl\nI get what both are saying but from a pragamtic, unemotional side I think\nAtwood is right. Atwood's simple premise is that if you are going to be an\nactivist, you better realize that those in power are going to throw everything\nat you so you better be ready to accept the consequences. In even simpler\nterms, 'don't do the crime if you can't do the time'.\n\nI know this is a bad example, but I watch 'Whale Wars'. Those folks know\nexactly what they are doing and walking a very, very fine line where they\ncould be guilty of many offenses in multiple countries. But they don't care\nand a few have served time for what they have done. They don't seem to whine\nabout it because they feel it's worth it.\n\nWhat Atwood says appears cold and insensitive. But I think he's getting a\nlittle tired (like a lot of us) of the constant 'Swartz did nothing\nwrong'/'prosecution for no reason'/'visionary bullied into suicide' meme\n(nothing else to call it). He absolutely broke the law in a couple ways. Was\nthe prosecution overzealous? Maybe. We don't know what the outcome would've\nbeen so we can't say whether it would've been fair.\n\n~~~\nsupervacuo\n\"The law\" isn't some monolith, though -- it's defined by every institution\n(every person?) enforcing it, and every decision made in carrying out\n\"justice\".\n\nIt's a crime under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to port-scan Google. Are\nyou really saying that you'd be getting tired of people talking about it if\nsomeone who'd done just that was facing years in jail (a perfectly _legal_\nconsequence).\n\n~~~\nZimahl\n_\"The law\" isn't some monolith, though -- it's defined by every institution\n(every person?) enforcing it, and every decision made in carrying out\n\"justice\"._\n\nThere are laws which may or may not be levied against us in certain\nsituations. You are implying that Swartz shouldn't have been prosecuted just\nbecause you feel what he did wasn't wrong. Your feelings are completely\nirrelevant. Someone felt wronged and brought it to the attention of those who\ncould prosecute the crime.\n\n _Are you really saying that you'd be getting tired of people talking about it\nif someone who'd done just that was facing years in jail (a perfectly _legal_\nconsequence)._\n\nIf it were receiving as much biased anti-law exposure as this case is\nreceiving then absolutely. Swartz was facing years in jail, yes, but he might\nhave (most likely) received a much more minor sentence.\n\nWhat ardent Swartz supports need to realize is:\n\n1) He made the decision to break the law - which it appears he clearly knew\nwhat he was doing was illegal. 2) He knew there were consequences - although\nprobably not of the severity he thought. 2) No one forced him to do it. 3)\nThere were other options for changing the system. 4) It was his choice to kill\nhimself.\n\nIf you feel that the maximum punishment didn't fit the crime you should do\nsomething about that to possibly save others in the future. But please don't\nexpect us all to have outrage over Swartz being punished. It's a shame he\nkilled himself but that's tertiary to the issue of the entire case. Just\nbecause he killed himself doesn't mean he's less guilty or more innocent.\n\n~~~\nsupervacuo\nI think your first sentence perfectly illustrates my point:\n\n> There are laws which may or may not be levied against us in certain\n> situations.\n\nEvidence (including Swartz's case) strongly suggests that this discretion\nleads to an unjust result.\n\nIt's obvious that not every legal action is socially desirable (or \"moral\",\nfor the sake of brevity) and not every illegal action is immoral\n(whistleblowers, protestors, etc.). So, like I said before, the criminal\njustice system is composed of laws _and_ the people who make the call as to\nwhether to prosecute, which in this case includes a powerful company (JSTOR),\nan academic institution (MIT), cops, the FBI and finally Ortiz and her office.\n\nA few more characters than you might immediately list when you think of \"the\nlaw\", right?\n\nWhen you say \"Someone felt wronged and brought it to the attention of those\nwho could prosecute the crime\", you make it sound like it's an automatic\nprocess from one to the other. As someone who has both suffered and carried\nout actions which are illegal according to the letter of the law, I assure you\nthat nothing could be further from the truth.\n\nRead my article: HSBC broke a whole bunch of laws (to the tune of a trillion\ndollars a year), and got a sweet plea deal and no individual prosecutions.\nGood luck getting similar treatment if you shoplift an iPod, particularly if\nyou're anything other than white.\n\n~~~\nZimahl\nYou can pick and choose any number of 'wrongful' or 'unjust' litigation.\nThere's a ton. HSBC is irrelevant to Swartz.\n\n _It's obvious that not every legal action is socially desirable (or \"moral\",\nfor the sake of brevity) and not every illegal action is immoral\n(whistleblowers, protestors, etc.)._\n\nIrrelevant. Social desire and morality has nothing to do with it. BTW, those\nare very subjective. I do feel that Swartz should've gone a different, more\nlegal route if he wanted to cause change. I have no issue with him being\nprosecuted. So who is right, you or me?\n\nJSTOR is not the law. MIT is not the law. They are involved in the criminal\nmatter but do not determine whether something gets prosecuted. Is it arbitrary\nand sometimes political? Sure, but we shouldn't be outraged over Swartz being\nprosecuted. Very few gave a shit about the case until he killed himself. Where\nwas all the outrage over the prosecution up until then?\n\n _When you say \"Someone felt wronged and brought it to the attention of those\nwho could prosecute the crime\", you make it sound like it's an automatic\nprocess from one to the other._\n\nAbsolutely not. If JSTOR and MIT didn't think it was an issue it wouldn't have\ngone anywhere. If a crime is not reported it can't be followed up on by law\nenforcement. Obviously JSTOR and/or MIT brought this illegal activity through\nthe proper channels and law enforcement took over. Maybe the FBI/Justice Dept\nwas using Swartz as an example but he still broke a law.\n\n _As someone who has both suffered and carried out actions which are illegal\naccording to the letter of the law, I assure you that nothing could be further\nfrom the truth._\n\nYou can feel free to rape, murder, and pillage all you want. If there's no one\nto report the crime, no one willing to report the crime, or no authority to\nreport to, then, sure, you won't be prosecuted. But don't be outraged if you\nget prosecuted when you break the law.\n\n~~~\nsupervacuo\n> Sure, but we shouldn't be outraged over Swartz being prosecuted.\n\nWTH not? It was pretty outrageous. I'd be interested to hear your argument\nthat he deserved even 6 months in prison for copyright violation.\n\n> If a crime is not reported it can't be followed up on by law enforcement.\n\n... which is not to say that if a crime _is_ reported, it _will_ be followed\nup by law enforcement. Many reported crimes are not acted upon at all; some of\nthem get a huge overreaction (like Swartz's) and some get an under-reaction\n(like HSBC).\n\nThat's the link: that justice is only just if the rules are the same for\neveryone, and they clearly are not.\n\n~~~\nZimahl\n_WTH not? It was pretty outrageous. I'd be interested to hear your argument\nthat he deserved even 6 months in prison for copyright violation._\n\nOutrageous to whom? You?\n\nI feel the punishment doesn't fit the crime, however, that's the punishment. I\nwouldn't want that punishment so I do not steal copyrighted material. That's\nAtwood's point in it's entirety: Swartz knew there were strict penalties and\nwasn't willing to accept the consequences if caught.\n\n _... which is not to say that if a crime is reported, it will be followed up\nby law enforcement._\n\nThis depends on a lot of factors and you know that. But there isn't some\nIlluminati deciding whether every case is important enough to prosecute.\n\n _That's the link: that justice is only just if the rules are the same for\neveryone, and they clearly are not._\n\nProsecutors prosecute what they think they can win. Swartz was a win for\nobvious reasons, HSBC wasn't for reasons unbeknownst to me. Our system is what\nit is. If you can't accept losing, don't play ball.\n\n------\nrosenjon\nThere is a real danger that other people see what Aaron did, and the resulting\nresponse, and conclude that the most effective activism is martyrdom/suicide.\nI think Jeff was trying to push back against this idea with his post, while\nalso taking responsibility for not doing more to help Aaron while he was\nalive. He also points out that activism frequently coincides with jail time,\nand that the most effective activists (ie MLK), frequently end up there.\n\nThe point of your article seems to be that Jeff Atwood should stick to coding,\nbecause he isn't an activist and can't comprehend how bad being on the wrong\nend of our flawed criminal justice system can be. \"Jeff Atwood is apparently\nsaying that Aaron Swartz was taking an underhand route to escape the\nconsequences of his activism, and that he was being a bad activist in so\ndoing.\"\n\nLet's be frank. Jeff Atwood is saying you shouldn't commit suicide. At no\npoint does he characterize this as an \"underhand route\"... that is your\nlanguage. But furthermore, I agree with Jeff Atwood. You shouldn't commit\nsuicide. Even if the corrupt and incompetent federal government charges you\nwith 50 years in prison for downloading journal articles. Don't commit\nsuicide.\n\nSo I don't really understand why you're piling on Jeff Atwood. In the past\nJeff Atwood has deserved some piling on for his writings... this is not one of\nthose times.\n\n~~~\nsupervacuo\n> I think Jeff was trying to push back against this idea with his post\n\nIf you want to make the point that suicide is bad, find a way to do it without\ninsulting a recently-deceased campaigner, especially if a) you have very\nlittle personal experience of equivalent situations and b) you have done\ncomparatively little to help others (a fair guess, given that Swartz was so\nmuch more active than most people).\n\n> But furthermore, I agree with Jeff Atwood. You shouldn't commit suicide.\n> Even if the corrupt and incompetent federal government charges you with 50\n> years in prison for downloading journal articles. Don't commit suicide.\n\nIf Jeff's article had read like your comment, we wouldn't be having this\nconversation. I have no problem with you saying that suicide is either morally\nwrong, or an ineffective campaign strategy — although I happen to disagree\nwith you on both points (citing euthanasia as a sometimes-moral suicide and\nThích Quảng Đức & Mohamed Bouazizi as suicides which changed the world for the\nbetter).\n\n------\nTylerE\nYou don't get off to persuasive start when you call everyone who disagrees\nwith you (before even making it clear what you're disagreeing ABOUT) a moron.\n\n~~~\nmcherm\nYou are misreading the first line of the article. The article's author is\nlumping himself AND Jeff Atwood (not to mention nearly the entire population\nof Hacker News) into the same bucket here: ALL of them saddened by the passing\nof Aaron Swartz.\n\nHe then disagrees with Jeff Atwood about a further point: whether Aaron should\nhave \"accepted the penalty\" for his activism.\n\nPersonally, when I first read Jeff Atwood's original essay I felt that I\nunderstood what he was getting at (\"I'm disappointed that Aaron 'quit' on us,\nand I hope no one else does.\"), but I felt (as does this author) that his\nsuggestion that civil disobedience requires one to accept the penalties for\nbreaking the law. I am neither sure that Aaron Swartz intended to engage in\ncivil disobedience, nor am I sure that meekly accepting the state-imposed\npunishment is a necessary component of civil disobedience.\n\n~~~\nsupervacuo\n> I am neither sure that Aaron Swartz intended to engage in civil disobedience\n\nThis is an interesting point: I would develop it to talk about _levels_ of\ndisobedience.\n\nLike Andrew Auernheimer, I think Swartz knew he would get \"in trouble\", but\ndidn't appreciate the scale -- which is understandable, as I say in my\narticle, because the details of \"trouble\" are deliberately obscured.\n\n~~~\ndfxm12\nFrom a NYT article on the matter: _A respected Harvard researcher who also is\nan Internet folk hero has been arrested in Boston on charges related to\ncomputer hacking, which are based on allegations that he downloaded articles\nthat he was entitled to get free._\n(<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/us/20compute.html?_r=0>)\n\nIt is also reasonable for one to think they wouldn't get in trouble for this.\nEither way, at the root of civil disobedience and activism is the desire to\nchange.\n\nI think Dr. King's quote is being taken out of context in these discussions.\nDr. King doesn't mean to simply \"grin and bear it\", Dr. King means that\nfighting for our freedom is hard, and thus activists must, in order to have\nany chance of producing change, be prepared for the worst, in some form of\nself sacrifice.\n\nAtwood is saying (I feel erroneously) that Swartz came so close to creating a\nchange, but gave it all away when he \"ragequit\".\n\nThe point is, what happened happened, and I hope we never have to have a \"next\ntime\", but I'll bet that if there is a next time, it will play out _very_\ndifferently, and for the better, _thanks to Swartz_.\n\n------\ntzs\n> 22 January 2013\n\n?\n\nWhy wasn't this submitted last month, when Atwood's post was being discussed?\nIt seems odd to submit it nearly a month after discussion of that has pretty\nmuch ended.\n\n------\nVikingCoder\n\"I say this not as a person who wishes to judge Aaron Swartz. I say it as a\nfellow gamer who has also considered playing the same move quite recently. To\nthe point that I – like Aaron himself, I am sure – was actively researching\nit.\"\n\nAtwood is saying that he's considered suicide - recently, and that he doesn't\nwant to judge Aaron. Most importantly, he's grieving, and different people\ngrieve in different ways.\n\nI think you're being overly harsh in your post. Especially since you have two\nmessages for Jeff: stick to code; alter your message. Which would you prefer?\nEither way, you're judging his grieving process, which I think is unfair.\n\nI think you should express your own grief (and outrage) in your own way.\nPointing fingers at others who are grieving isn't nearly as constructive, I\nthink.\n\n~~~\nsupervacuo\nSure. But \"respecting Atwood's grief\" was outweighed by \"challenging his\ndangerous ideology\", especially since (as he says in his post) he'd never met\nSwartz.\n\nDon't think his suicidal thoughts are relevant to his chosen topic of noble\nactivism. If anything, Atwood mentioning it came across a little \" _I_ beat\nsuicide... but this guy couldn't\".\n\n~~~\nVikingCoder\nSomeone's dealing with suicidal thoughts, and your message is \"shut up.\"\n\nI think your post is the dangerous one.\n\n~~~\nsupervacuo\n\"Dealing with suicidal thoughts\" and \"scaring off potential activists by being\nnasty\" are two separate activities.\n\n~~~\nVikingCoder\nSo respectfully empathize with him, and point out your differences about\nactivism.\n\nTelling him to \"stick to coding\" makes you an insensitive clod, and sends a\ndangerous message to others with suicidal thoughts that their feelings are not\nwelcome.\n\n~~~\nsupervacuo\n> So respectfully empathize with him, and point out your differences about\n> activism.\n\nThere's no moral problem with being slightly irreverent to someone in such a\nstrong position: Atwood is apparently financially successful and has a large\nreadership. He is also — unlike the target of his own criticism — alive.\n\nSo maybe your concern is strategic. I happen to think \"respectful empathy\"\nwould have been a worse way of making my point.\n\nFinally, I think my article is pretty clear. The category of person I want to\n\"stick to coding\" is \"Jeff Atwood\", or, more specifically, \"Jeff Atwood\ntalking about something he knows nothing about in a socially-damaging way\". I\ndon't think anyone would come away with the impression that I don't want to\nhear from people who've thought about suicide (hence why I didn't mention that\naspect of Atwood's post at all).\n\n~~~\nVikingCoder\n> being slightly irreverent to someone in such a strong position\n\nYou're also telling everyone who happens to agree with Atwood to shut up. And\nthey don't all have the same strong position.\n\nYou're not WRITING AN EMAIL TO ATWOOD, you're broadcasting to the world that\neveryone who agrees with him is wrong. And you're doing it disrespectfully.\n\n> (hence why I didn't mention that aspect of Atwood's post at all).\n\nDon't you think, given the topic, that you should have specifically mentioned\nthat category of people, and shown empathy? Perhaps starting with Atwood, and\ngeneralizing from there?\n\nFuck it - you don't care what I think, and you're casual about telling people\nto shut up, so my efforts are completely pointless.\n\n------\nlgcooper\nIn a way, I agree with Jeff, and I wonder what would happened if some other\nfamous activists have taken the path Aaron took.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nShow HN: Our weekend project – PaperSync, notebook scanning as a service - bdm\nhttp://www.papersync.co\n\n======\nmicheljansen\nCool idea, but your sample\n([https://www.papersync.co/static/PaperSync_sample.pdf](https://www.papersync.co/static/PaperSync_sample.pdf))\nisn't really selling it. The resolution is a lot lower than I would expect and\nthere are JPEG artefacts all over the place. If the sample really is\nrepresentative, I suggest looking into improving the output quality. I doubt\nyou built a \"fast, hi-res, scanning setup that uses DSLR’s and some other neat\nhardware & software\" just so you could deliver low-res over-compressed PDFs.\n\n~~~\nssong\n(I'm working with OP on this)\n\nThanks for the feedback! We are using a setup similar to\n[http://www.diybookscanner.org/](http://www.diybookscanner.org/) for this and\nthe scan quality is very high. The sample PDF was scaled down and compressed\nto reduce file size. I'll put up a high-res version in a bit.\n\nFor the actual service, you can download each individual high-res page scans.\n\n------\ny-apply\nNeat idea and bravo on quick execution.\n\nBut did you ever see these guys?\n\n[http://modnotebooks.com/](http://modnotebooks.com/)\n\n~~~\ntg3\nI think the difference is that with Mod you have to use their notebooks,\nwhereas with these guys you can send them any notebook. That makes a huge\ndifference for me personally.\n\n~~~\nbdm\nYup, you got it.\n\n~~~\njosephjrobison\nI've purchased a Mod Notebook and am waiting for it to be delivered. They\nlaunched first, so I get to compare you to them naturally.\n\nMod Notebook Pros: -Notebook and scanning included ($25) -Only less $10 than\nMoleskine and includes digitization, syncing -Prepaid shipping envelope\n-Native Mod App to read notes -Syncs with Dropbox, OneNote, Evernote\n\nMod Notebook Cons: -Shipping delays in the current order, still waiting after\na month from unexpected high demand on their part -$5 more expensive than you\nguys\n\nPapersync Pros: -Cheaper ($20) -Can use any notebook\n\nPapersync Cons: -Mailing cost not included -$5 less but no notebook -No\ndedicated app -No apparent syncing\n\nOn first impression I would splurge the extra $5 for Mod Notebooks every time.\nI would definitely consider you guys for old notebooks I have already used up\n- but I would expect the cost to be closer to $15 for future notebooks to save\nagainst Mod. Good luck!\n\n------\nbdm\nOP here: I spent a few days working with ssong last week to create\npapersync.co -- a service where we scan paper notebooks and turn them into\n.pdf’s.\n\n __\n\nWe both carry notebooks around to jot down ideas in pen & ink.\n\nAfter doing this for some odd years, the downside is that they take up\nphysical space, and we have no digital backup.\n\nWe were frustrated that the best solution out there was to spend a few hours\nscanning them ourselves - we couldn’t find any service that would save time &\ndo this for us.\n\nIn typical HN style, we built a fast, hi-res, scanning setup that uses DSLR’s\nand some other neat hardware & software. We built a simple website in 3 days\nto offer this as a service to all the beautiful people of the world.\n\n __\n\nWe’d love to hear your thoughts on this service and how well we are presenting\nit on our site. What could we be doing better?\n\n~~~\nWebSearchingPro\nThe site itself looks alright, its obvious what you are trying to sell.\nIronically the first selling point is also a reason why someone would not want\nto use your service\n\n\"[...] A million-dollar idea? Maybe the first sentence of the next NYTimes\nbestseller.[...]\"\n\nWhat is your guarantee on keeping these secrets a secret? Why should we ship\noff our ideas and thoughts off to some company to scan them when we could do\nit ourselves on our own scanner?\n\n~~~\ntimthorn\nOn the \"About\" page: We make our best effort to maintain the security and\nconfidentiality of your content, and we will never share, publish, or\notherwise distribute your content to anyone besides you. In the event of an\ninadvertent leak or loss of content, we assume no liability, so please use\nyour best judgment when deciding what to send.\n\n------\nsciguy77\nDidn't Need/Want start a Kickstarter project and then a company around this?\n\n------\nniels_olson\nHi, this is awesome! I would like to see a sample in 0.3 mm B pencil lead. I\nhave pretty much given up on evernote because I don't have time to do this in\nbulk (a solution you provide) but if I do it ad hoc with my phone camera the\nquality is terrible (you probably provide the required quality, but I would\nlike to confirm...)\n\nI use 9x5 moleskine, grid ruled, same as your existing sample. But could you\nplease just post a couple pages with different writing utensils? Colored inks\n(orange, light green, etc) and common leads (0.5 mm HB lead of course, and 0.3\nmm B and HB leads). If you need a sample page, I can make one up.\n\n------\nds9\nI have a pile of notebooks that need to get into my computer somehow - but\nimages won't help. I would pay for OCR, but AFAIK the technology today is not\nyet good enough for accurate image-to-text from handwriting.\n\n~~~\nnathanb\nI concur. As the pile of notebooks full of barely-legible handwritten scrawl\ngrows and grows, so does the amount of money I'd be willing to pay a company\nfor notebook transcription. Honestly, I don't care if it takes a bloody age --\nreCAPTCHA that stuff if you have to -- since I never plan on transcribing\nthem. Scan them to PDF right away, send me the notebooks back (or just give me\nthe PDFs, if they're too low-res to use for reliable transcription), and then\nat some point send me a text file (or RTF, or whatever non-proprietary format)\nwith the contents.\n\nI would pay two dollars a page for this. Negotiable.\n\n------\njessmartin\nAwesome! I have been waiting for a service like this! I especially wanted a\nnon-destructive scan. It's important to me to get my notebook back. I've\npriced other services. $20/notebook is not bad.\n\nCan you let me know the DPI on the scan? I will ship you 10 notebooks tomorrow\nif the DPI is good enough.\n\n~~~\nbdm\ntl;dr 250-300 DPI\n\nHey! Good question.\n\nDPI which stands for Dots Per Inch only matters when you actually print the\nimage. You can take the scan and print it small at high DPI or large at low\nDPI.\n\nLet's assume you have an 8x10\" notebook.\n\nThe images we take of your notebook will be approximately 2400x3000. So if we\nscan an 8x10 notebook, and you wanted to take our scan and print it out at its\noriginal size, the resolution would be 2400/8 = 3000/10 = 300 DPI. Allowing\nfor some fudge factor, we say the range is 250-300.\n\nMake sense?\n\n------\nitazula\nThis reminded me of something called \"Shot Note\" which is used to digitally\nstore and organize handwritten notes:\n[http://www.kingjim.co.jp/sp/shotnote/english/](http://www.kingjim.co.jp/sp/shotnote/english/)\n\n------\nhobonumber1\nI like the hand-drawn animations on your landing page! Did you guys make those\nyourselves?\n\n~~~\nbdm\nGlad you like the illustrations! They are a combination of stock images and\nones we did ourselves.\n\nOne of our goals here was to launch something beautiful, as quickly as\npossible. So it was a no brainer to pay < $100 for beautiful line drawings\nthat are prettier (and several hours' less effort) than what we could have\ndone ourselves.\n\nOnce we had the basic visual style established with stock drawings, I riffed\nto make some custom illustrations in the same style, including the logo and\nthe instructions on the order page.\n\n------\nevolve2k\nMy immediate reaction was 'backup sure, but what if they loose my valuable\nnotebook in the mail? I think to address this you should state clearly that\nall notebooks are to be sent and returned by registered (tracked) post.\n\n------\nnubela\n$20 per notebook is a bit on the expensive side, imo.\n\n~~~\ny-apply\nAgreed, but doesn't the $20 include the service and shipping costs?\n\n~~~\ndevty\nseems like $20 includes service and the return shipping cost. Shipping cost to\nsend the notebook is on us\n\n~~~\nbdm\nCorrect.\n\nWe borrow this model from what camera manufacturers like Canon do. When you\nsend something to Canon for repair/exchange, you're in charge of paying for\nshipping and packing it safely.\n\nThen when the work is done, they ship it back professionally, for free, as\npart of the service.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHosting recommendations for startup - optimal\n\nHello,<p>Can anyone recommend good hosting services for a new startup?<p>An older post here mentioned Rackspace and Serverbeach. Are they still recommended?<p>I've actually had good experience with GoDaddy as an economical service in the past, but am interested in current opinions on hosts suitable for a startup.<p>Thanks!\n======\ncperciva\nThe canonical place to find hosting recommendations is\n<http://www.webhostingtalk.com> .\n\nIf you're looking for information about where YC-funded startups are hosted,\nhere's the latest numbers from wikipedia's list of non-acquired, non-defunct\nYC companies:\n\n    \n    \n       4     SoftLayer Technologies Inc.\n       3     Layered Technologies, Inc.\n       3     ThePlanet.com Internet Services, Inc.\n       2     NoZone, Inc.\n       2     Rackspace.com, Ltd.\n       1     Amazon.com, Inc.\n       1     BitPusher, LLC\n       1     Carnegie Mellon University\n       1     Columbus Network Access Point, Inc.\n       1     Global Netoptex, Inc\n       1     ServePath, LLC\n       1     Simpli Hosting, Inc\n    \n\n------\nnickb\nWhat kind of a stack are you running? What are your memory/CPU requirements?\nHow much bandwidth will you need? Are you serving video or just text/images?\n\nAnyway... it all depends on what your req's are...\n\n~~~\noptimal\nHi nickb,\n\nThanks for your response. I was going to get into details, but figured my\nrequirements are so typical it wouldn't be worth the extra description.\n\nThis is for a standard LAMP-based app with a minimum of graphics. I expect\ntraffic volume to be low for the near future and have no heavy-duty\nrequirements for video and such.\n\nBasically I'd like to find an economical service that can scale with my user\nbase.\n\n~~~\nbrlewis\n<http://linode.com/>\n\n~~~\njuanpablo\nExcellent. I was looking for something like that. Thank you!\n\n~~~\nupper\n<http://vr.org/>\n\n------\ndonna\nHeard about this at a meet-up in SF;\n<http://www.sun.com/emrkt/startupessentials/hosting.jsp>\n\n------\nfoodawg\nI don't know if your referring to <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=64795>\nas the older post, but it is only a month old. The web hosting industry is\npretty cyclical, but within a month, the data should still be relevant.\n\n~~~\noptimal\nfoodawg,\n\nThanks--that looks better than the thread from 148 days ago I had bookmarked\n(whatever date that happens to be):\n\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29011>\n\nIs there a search function here I'm missing? I did search for search to parse\nprior posts but withdrew without the words of the most.\n\n------\nherdrick\nRackspace's offerings start at $400 a month. And they have no prices on their\nsite, so you have to talk to a 'sales associate'... God I hate it when you\ncan't get a price off a website. Can't believe I wasted two minutes on that.\nLearn from my error.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nI've Seen a Future Without Cars, and It's Amazing - johnkpaul\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/opinion/ban-cars-manhattan-cities.html\n======\nwatersb\nJust last night, I was considering how we should tax land area devoted to cars\nthe way costal beach property has been taxed in Florida.\n\nIn that state, their Proposition 13 moment occurred about 20 years ago. Owners\nhad their beachfront property assessed at value least as much as a benchmark\nrate, set by resort and luxury condominium revenue.\n\nTax a parking lot at the market rate of commercial office space of the same\narea.\n\n------\numeshunni\nI've seen the future without paywalls and annoying javascript that hijacks\nyour scroll behavior and it's amazing too.\n\n~~~\nShared404\nI agree, but that's not the authors fault. NoScript actually makes NYT\nenjoyable to read, although this article you do have to scroll for a while.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSysAdmins who track inventory: Try using a visual map - i_miss_qbasic\nhttps://www.cyberstockroom.com/\n======\ndevicetray0\nWhy do you keep submitting essentially the same exact thing?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhy Timber Towers Are on the Rise in France - jseliger\nhttps://www.citylab.com/design/2017/10/why-timber-towers-are-on-the-rise-in-france/544098/\n======\ntschwimmer\nSomething I'm surprised that nobody's mentioned yet are the acoustics of a\nwooden building. Wood is less dense when compared to concrete and (at least in\nolder buildings) there are significant air gaps between ceiling and\nfloorboards of the floor above it. As anyone who's lived in an SF Victorian\nwill tell you even regular walking can be perceived as loud by the person\nbelow. Before I'd consider living in a wooden building, I'd have to be\nconvinced that the noise isolation would be sufficient. I wonder if it's been\naccounted for properly in these new buildings.\n\n~~~\ncstuder\nAs someone living in a modern wood building I can tell you that this is really\nnot a problem anymore. Our floors are filled with anhydrite, they are solid.\n\nOnly when the kids upstairs are _really_ wild you can hear their steps.\n\n~~~\nboobsbr\nAs someone living in a wooden house, I can say it's still problem.\n\nEven walking barefooted upstairs can be heard from downstairs. Floorboards\ncreak and make noise.\n\nOnly places that don't make this noise are the bathroom and kitchen, which\nhave tiled concrete floors.\n\n~~~\nzip1234\nCreaking floorboards can be solved by attaching the floors more securely. Just\nscrew them down. Usually it is caused by wood moving against nails.\n\n~~~\nrsync\nCorrect. Most squeaky wood floors and stairways, etc., were just assembled\npoorly and you can actually fix them _in situ_ with finish screws. I recommend\nthe #8 GRK finish screws @ 2.5 inch length.\n\nEither find your biggest (heaviest) friend to stand on the spot before you\ninsert the screw OR find a way to jam the floor down from the ceiling. You\nlock the floorboard in place, fully compressed, and then seal it in place with\nthe screw(s).\n\nFor new wooden floors, I highly recommend a layer of cork between the\nfloorboards and subfloor for a variety of reasons ... insulation, noise,\nsqueak avoidance, etc. I would not build a wooden floor without that layer.\n\n------\nthisisit\n\"The production of cement, one of the main ingredients in concrete, generates\nan estimated 5 percent of the world’s carbon emissions. Trees, in contrast,\ncapture CO2, helping offset emissions produced by a typical building process.\"\n\nIf I am reading this correctly it's the trees and not timber, laminated or\notherwise, which capture CO2. So what kind of advantage does timber offer in\nform of CO2 emission? Specially considering the tree is now gone and this\narticle doesn't cover if there is re-plantation - something like sow a 5\nplants of each tree used for timber.\n\n~~~\nnostoc\nTimber is carbon that a tree has pulled from the atmosphere.\n\nAs long as it stays in a building, it's not going back in the atmosphere.\n\nPlanting trees and turning them into timber is a form of carbon sequestration.\nAs long as it doesn't burn or decay...\n\n~~~\nNeil44\nIt’s interesting, you could say that trees grow out of the air, not the\nground.\n\n~~~\nkijin\nIndeed, most of the mass of a tree comes from the air. Even the water was in\nthe air not so long ago.\n\n------\nteekert\nPerhaps it's difficult to convey but I redid a lot of the interior of my\ncurrent (brick and mortar) home from the 1930's myself and it really made me\nappreciate wood as a building material. Strong, very easily made into the\nrequired shape, easy to attach to each other, easy to attach other things\nto... I always felt wood was \"how we used to do it\"... not anymore.\n\nGuess this place is a good as any to express my found love for the material.\n\n~~~\nrsync\n\"Guess this place is a good as any to express my found love for the material.\"\n\nI agree with you but I would point out that the buildings and their \"wood\"\nmaterials that the article discusses are really not anything like what you\nworked with.\n\nThe article speaks about wood and trees and \"timbers\" but these building\nmaterials are engineered panels and timbers that, while in many cases\n_actually stronger_ than their \"real wood\" counterparts, do not have the\naesthetics you remember.\n\nI would go so far as to suggest that they are moving not from concrete to wood\nconstruction, but from concrete to _glue_ construction.\n\n~~~\nteekert\nAh, good clarification, indeed I mostly used pinewood for inside and Azobe and\nMeranti for outside (though some composite for the parts we walk on). But The\npleasure was mostly from being able to drills holes and put screws in with a\nlight cordless drill and saw it in the right shape either by hand or a light\njig saw. It's carry-able and still very strong. I guess this also applies to\nthe used composite materials your describe?\n\n------\noaijdsfoaijsf\nWood is a very cool material! But I would be nervous living in a tall building\nmade out of it, because of its flammability. Maybe if all the wood buildings\nalso have sprinkler systems, that would offset the risks.\n\nOur building is a concrete building about fourteen stories tall. The\ninformation we received as part of the lease tells us that it's known as a\nnon-flammable building, and supposedly the safest thing to do if there is a\nfire on another floor is to shelter in place. I doubt the same would be true\nin any wood building.\n\nOh, and apparently the article also speaks to this:\n\n> It’s also this heft that helps make CLT fire-resistant: the outside layers\n> char slowly, protecting the wood inside from burning.\n\n(More on that:\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUGNoTP0Nlc1O-EWf3d1m3QQ&...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUGNoTP0Nlc1O-EWf3d1m3QQ&time_continue=36&v=hRIPQ_q2iyY))\n\n~~~\nSCAQTony\nAfter that terrible fire in England I would recommend getting a 150-meter\nclimbing rope, a harness and an aluminum \"figure-eight\" and learn how to repel\nas a means of escape in case the smoke became far too overwhelming. But that's\njust me. I live in a house.\n\n~~~\nEGreg\nI had an invention that could help many people escape from a building:\n\nMagnetic strips on the side of the building, and backpacks with metal.\n\nYou put on the backpack and shimmy down. Just in case, you also strap yourself\nonto the slide by its sides, so as not to disconnect from it and fall off.\n\nThis is better than a rope because it can hold many people simultaneously.\n\nDo the magnets wear out over time though?\n\n~~~\nvlehto\nMagnets are probably way too expensive. Especially as you could get same\nfunctionality with regular fire ladder.\n\n~~~\nEGreg\nHow would you shimmy down the ladder?\n\nBut yes I suppose technically you can have rollers in vertical struts and have\nthem roll down inside the rails, carrying the person.\n\n------\nbastijn\nSo how much of earth do we need to cover with forest to have a sustainable\nproduction for our buildings at a level that it actually matters? One building\nworks, sure enough. But is it scalable to a level that it actually helps? I\nhave my doubts.\n\nBringing awareness is still a good thing of course. Which is how I tend to see\nmost of these projects.\n\n~~~\njtolmar\nIf I did all my math/googling right, one acre of managed forest can produce\nabout thirty square meters of the 20-inch-thick panels mentioned in the\narticle per year. (A typical wood weighing 0.4 tons per square meter and a\nmanaged forest producing about 6 tons per acre per year.)\n\nI'll guess it takes around four of those acre-year units to build one person's\nworth of an apartment building. (Thirty square meters is on the small side for\nan apartment, and apartments need walls, but they're also not going to be\nentirely constructed of the thickest panels.)\n\nMy home city of Seattle is growing at about 20k people per year, which (if we\ntry to fit them all in wooden highrises) works out to 80k acres, which is\nroughly the size of the city itself. I feel like that'd be entirely\nreasonable.\n\nIt's also worth noting that this sequesters a rather appreciable amount of\ncarbon (trees are half carbon, so about 240 kilotons per year).\n\n~~~\nmseebach\nAlso, if we're considering ecological foot print, structural use of wood is\nnear-permanent sequestering (ie. carbon-negative) which is better than most\nother uses of wood such as burning for fuel which is \"only\" carbon-neutral.\n\n------\nbcn\nHere are a few renderings of the \"Arboretum\" project that was mentioned in the\narticle-\n[http://www.laisneroussel.com/fr/projects/55](http://www.laisneroussel.com/fr/projects/55)\n\n------\nfrik\n\"Timber Towers\" work for up to about 10-story building (depending on\narchitecture, building technique). It's similar to brick and mortar buildings,\nonly with the introduction of cement and steel we got the first high rise\nskyscrapers (1890s-1930s). Also fire-safety (30+ min fire resistance) is a\nproblem with wood based buildings, the photos shows that at least the elevator\nand staircase shaft is made out of steel reinforced concrete. That said wood\nbased buildings have a warmer in-house climate and other positive aspects.\n\n------\nrobbrown451\nThere is something bothersome to me about using all that wood only to cover it\nup. Concrete is ugly and wood is beautiful, in my opinion. I hope they leave a\nlot of the wood visible.\n\n~~~\nvirmundi\nAs a person replacing a 130 year old sill plate, cover up structural wood.\nTermites and water can destroy it.\n\n~~~\nwahern\nIf it's covered, how can you tell when there's damage?\n\nWe recently had seismic plywood shear walls installed in our soft story\ngarage, holding up our 2 stories of living space. A previous owner actually\nhad shear walls installed in 1992, after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. But\nthe '92 retrofit used the wrong grade of plywood, and used screws instead of\nnails. Screws have poor shear strength. The panels were basically useless for\nseismic safety and had to be replaced.\n\nThe 90-year-old redwood studs looked surprisingly pristine. But one of the\nstuds had some kind of termite or fungal damage. The entire stud, top to\nbottom, basically disintegrated in your hands; but everything else was in\nperfect shape, including the sills. There were no outward signs of this at all\n--neither on the stud itself, on adjacent studs, nor the top or bottom sill\nplates. It was bizarre. And it would have gone totally unnoticed and maybe\neven spread, completely undetected, had the old panels not been removed.\n\nThe shear walls weren't the only things improperly installed. The 1992\nfoundation bolts didn't use adequately sized washers, so with enough movement\nthe bolt heads would have ripped through the sill plate. Again, this was\nhidden behind the wall panels.\n\nI grew up in Florida trailer parks. To me anything covered is hiding something\n--cockroaches, termites, substandard construction. Were there no need for the\nshear walls, I'd much prefer to have exposed studs and a completely exposed\nsill plate, at least in the garage.\n\n------\nMrFantastic\nConcrete buildings can last for centuries. There are few wood buildings that\nlast that long.\n\nI would think something like aerocrete would also provide superior insulation.\n\n------\njasonmaydie\nHow is cutting down trees better for climate change? Don't we need more trees?\n\n~~~\njohngalt\nThink of trees as co2 batteries. They take in co2 to create wood then release\nit back when they burn or decay.\n\nIf you plant a tree farm and use the wood to create buildings you are\neffectively doing carbon sequestration.\n\n------\nEGreg\nWhat about the risk of fire, as they had in Chicago and London etc.\n\n~~~\nrsynnott\nAssuming you're talking about Grenfell, that was an old concrete building. The\nfire was so deadly due to improperly specced and/or installed exterior\ncladding which had recently been added; nothing to do with wood.\n\n------\neksemplar\nIs the clue and fire resistance safe to breathe though?\n\n------\nanovikov\nIt's rather stupid to worry about global warming here, as concrete use in\nFrance is less than 1% of what it is in China anyway.\n\n------\nAnimats\nThis trend towards large multi-story timber apartment buildings is worrying.\nThat used to be prohibited in many US jurisdictions. Now I see San Jose and\nRedwood City putting up lots of these things. \"Luxury apartments\" made of\nchipboard. The fire protection people aren't happy about this.[1]\n\nThere's a fad for \"podium buildings\". The first two floors are steel and\nconcrete, and then there are a few floors of wood. These appear in areas where\nyou're not allowed wood construction for commercial buildings. The bottom\nfloors are commercial; the upper floors are residential.\n\n[1] [https://community.nfpa.org/community/nfpa-\ntoday/blog/2017/03...](https://community.nfpa.org/community/nfpa-\ntoday/blog/2017/03/21/recent-fires-in-apartment-buildings-under-construction-\nhighlight-the-importance-of-developing-a-fire-safety-program-and-designating-\na-fire-prevention-manager-during-construction)\n\n~~~\njkaljundi\nModern wood is much more fire resistant than concrete or steel\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-3oEb8KUiQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-3oEb8KUiQ)\n\\- it's an imaginary myth, that wood is dangerous.\n\n~~~\nscythe\nWood constructed buildings are fire resistant. The article he linked discusses\nfires in buildings under construction recently. All wood is flammable, but\ninsulation goes a long way.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Share the time you most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system - ramoq\n\nIt&#x27;s YC application time and this one of the best questions on the app. I love reading people&#x27;s life hacks. Please share :)\n======\nstevekemp\nI live in a city with a very comprehensive bus service, cheap, reliable, all\nthat good stuff.\n\nOver time it became obvious that people who worked for the bus-company would\njust jump on the buses, chat briefly to the driver, and not pay. They'd get\noff after 1-15 stops and have ridden for free.\n\nI figured there were sufficiently many bus-drivers and buses that they can't\nall have been personally familiar to each other, and reasoned that the\n\"uniform\" must have been what swayed it.\n\nI created a replica-bus-driver-uniform and had a weekend where I rode around\nfor free, unchallenged.\n\nNot terribly useful, and perhaps not possible these days now that the staff\nalso wear ID-cards a lot of the time, but I was a little pleased with myself\nregardless.\n\n~~~\nturdpress_dev\nWow. That is shockingly dishonest. Are you a RoR 'developer' ...? Always\ntrying to get something for nothing.. pathetic\n\n~~~\nstevekemp\nThe effort involved to get the right coloured trousers, shirt, tie, and jacket\nfar outweighed the fares I should have paid..\n\n~~~\nyen223\nSo not only was it morally ambiguous, you didn't even benefit financially?\n\nAll in good fun I suppose...\n\n------\njtfairbank\nI learned how to sail without a rudder. The trick is to use the force\ndifferentials between the fore sail (jib) and main sail to steer. I did this\non a 20 foot boat with a crew of 4 people, and could tack, jibe, and safely\npick up a man overboard.\n\n------\nramoq\nHere's a good one from FamilyLeaf's YC app: \"We used a comedy twitter account\nto get meetings with tech superstars who wouldn't have returned our emails. In\nthe week before our YC interview, we started @YC_Y_U_NO as a joke with the\ntech communityand ended up featured on TechCrunch -- and more importantly\n(coupled with serendipitously meeting FredWilson at the airport, who tweeted\nout Readstream) used cold DM's to build relationships with brilliant\nstartuppeople, angel investors, and VCs (along with more than a few YC\nalums/Garry and Harj).\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Does your web app work with javascript off? - sparkygoblue\n\nI've spent a lot of time adding UI features to my new (mostly CRUD) webapp that I know I'm going to either tweak or totally override via javascript/ajax.  I feel an obligation to get the app working with no javascript/jquery, even though I know that the group of people using the site with javascript turned off are going to very small.<p>Is this the \"right\" way to be doing this? Should I just be using javascript based UI elements and ajax from the start?  Is there a standard practice with regards to this issue?\n======\nLazare\nIt's a hard choice.\n\nI was recently involved in a project that was heavily focused on progressive\nenhancement - we started with a \"standard\" HTML app with forms and submit\nbuttons. Every interaction required a full page load.\n\nThen we started using Javascript to enhance the UX in such a way that it still\nworked without Javascript. It was a long and tricky process, because\nprogressive enhancement is inherently quite fragile. You are basically taking\nan app, and then monkey patching it at runtime to be a different app. This is\nhard. :) Any change anywhere ripples through the whole app, and the entire\nthing is an offence against DRY; you are duplicating logic over and over and\nover.\n\nStill, after a lot of time and effort... ...we gave up. We just couldn't get a\nslick, user friendly experience with JS, without the site breaking without JS.\nAnd frankly, the UX without JS was terrible anyhow. We rewrote the thing as a\nSPA (single page app). The codebase is much simpler, and the UX is great. :)\n\nFor us, the biggest pain point is our initial design had a server the emitted\nHTML; and accepted forms POSTed back to it. To enable AJAX, we then needed to\nduplicate a bunch of functionality so it would accept and emit JSON as well;\nthis led to major headaches trying to keep all the logic in sync. If you DO\nwant to maintain progressive enhancement...you need to figure out your site\ndesign from the start; it can't be an afterthought! If it's a complex project,\nyou will live and die by your ability to keep your code DRY and enforce\nSeperation of Concerns.\n\n~~~\nkls\nYou would have saved a lot of time and frustration by building the single page\napp first and putting analytics on it to see how many non-JavaScript clients\nyou where getting (most are surprised at how few the number is) and then if\nthe number justify it, build out an older style UI separate from the modern\nweb app that just proxies data to the same REST services, then use a sniffer\nto decide where each client goes. This is a simpler solution than trying to\nlayer on dynamic functionality while trying to support the least common\ndenominator. 9 time out of 10 though, when faced with the decision, the effort\nto chase older browsers is better spent chasing a larger market like Mobile.\n\n~~~\nLazare\nI know! :( It was definitely a learning experience.\n\nAnd in regards to your comment on mobile: Agreed! Not only is getting a slick\nmobile client a much more important use of resources that stuffing around with\nprogressive enhancement, but a good JSON/REST API is really really helpful\nwhen it comes time to get a mobile app working.\n\nThinking of webapps as client-server applications communicating via a JSON API\nis really helpful at the moment, I think.\n\n~~~\nkls\nYes many people make that leap after a first iteration, but once you do the\npattern becomes very clear and very powerful. Looking at your back-end as a\nplatform for all future clients really helps as well.\n\n------\nkls\n_Is this the \"right\" way to be doing this?_\n\nThis is a subjective question and there is a lot of dogma surrounding the\nquestion. I tend to answer my questions with dollars as in are the dollars\nthere to chase that market and would the money to chase that market be better\nspent chasing a larger market? My second question to myself if which is less\ncostly to develop and maintain? Finally a little more hard to quantify but\nwhich can I make better conversions with?\n\nThe first one is pretty easy, for a good deal of sites the percentage of\nbrowsers that do not support or have JavaScript turned off is usually less\nthan 1% I have seen numbers as high as 2% either way, it is below niche at\nbest. It is pretty easy to make the statement that the money would be better\nspent chasing mobile or even in advertising for the 99% than it would be to\nchase the 1%.\n\nThe second one is a little more subjective but I have found for me and my team\nthat writing UI's 100% in JavaScript/HTML/CSS simplifies the architecture and\nincreases our time to market. I personally feel the worst solution is to\nsprinkle JavaScript into a server side solution such as PHP, ASP, or JSP it\ncreates a more complex stack and complicates the solution requiring more\nlayers and more specializations. With the UI being in all client side\ntechnologies, it becomes very easy to stub JSON messages and use those as the\ncontract between front end and back end teams. I actually prefer the modern\nway of developing web application over the old server side model.\n\nFinally I feel that the flexibility of JavaScript solutions and there rapid\ndevelopment model give them the edge on building UI's for conversion, simple\ntweaks can be made to the UI and delivered without the need for a full\ndeployment of back end services. As well their are UI metaphors that just\ncannot be done in page-post. While I will be the first to note that this is\nsubjective it works well for myself and my team and we have delivered some\nvery large, adaptable, yet maintainable applications in JavaScript.\n\n------\ndrostie\nDo whatever is easiest first. JS can be pretty, but hard -- at least, the DOM\nis much harder than HTML. Get an HTML serialization of your data working\nfirst, before you try to use client-side JS to write this data dynamically\ninto a form -- not because it helps us, but because JS mappings are harder\nthan PHP echos.\n\nIt will also give you a better appreciation of the places where Web 2.0 can\nreally streamline a system. Just to give an example, Gmail is a massive JS app\nwhich uses a frankly unbelievable number of divs to reimplement an iframe\nwindow where you can view your email and/or lists of email subjects. It's\nquite possible that the communications reduction is so big that this is\nimportant to Gmail, but you're not that size yet, so just use an iframe rather\nthan reimplementing that functionality in a special way.\n\nThere are other situations where JS is a bad technology. I should be able to\nnavigate your site without JS, and if you demand JS for navigation you're\nprobably doing it wrong. I should potentially even be able to log in, if\nyou're not using OpenID or BrowserID or client-side crypto.\n\nAJAX can be useful for creating chat applications, or for situations where you\nwant to be able to see, query, and throw away lots of little pieces of\ninformation. Javascript is also useful when you want a control which should\nnever hit the server, like folding a tree of comments -- which I recently\nimplemented as a user script for HN.\n\nThat's another plus of using HTML, by the way: it makes it easier for\nscripters to hack on your site to add their own personal features. I tried to\ndo user scripting on Gmail at one point, it was damn near impossible. Their\ndivs belong to memorably named classes like \"vI8oZc cN\" and \"nH w-asV\" and \"mq\nnH oy8Mbf\". Such are the perils of trying to build your iframes dynamically\nout of divs.\n\nAnyway, once you start to get into user interactions, JS becomes much more fun\nand important. If I am coming to your site to play an HTML5 game, then I\nalready know I need to turn off NoScript, you don't have to tell me. If you've\ngot an interaction which simply screams \"drag and drop\", then do that instead.\nSome of the nice uses of JS I've seen recently amount to visualizing graph\nnetworks and allow you to drag nodes around to optimize the display; that's a\ngood candidate for a JS implementation.\n\nJS is not merely for facilitation, and can have real uses on a CRUD-type site.\nJust be sure that you're not reinventing something which already exists\nwithout JS, like iframes, URLs, and so forth.\n\n------\nayers\nJavaScript is a requirement for my work applications. We have a lot of core\ncomponents that get used in almost all of our projects and they rely heavily\nof JavaScript and jQuery. I know for certain there is no interest in providing\na non JavaScript UI flow for our users as it would require far too much time\nand money to rework existing frameworks and components.\n\nFor my personal projects I had thought about allowing for non JavaScript\nusers. I started making sure that things worked under both scenarios but in\nthe end I figured that if you don't have JavaScript enabled you really aren’t\ngoing to get use of the main features of the project. So now I don't bother\nand can use that time for adding more features rather than a user path for a\nvery small minority.\n\n------\neugenijusr\nFirst of all it depends on the app. If it's a public service I personally find\nthat having this constraint of making your app work with JavaScript off leads\nto a better web architecture. It doesn't break the web and pays off in the\nlong run for whoever might integrate with your app or whatever products might\nconsume it now or in the near future. Graceful degradation is not all about\nthe end-users.\n\nSo my advice would be if you're building a JavaScript only app you have to\nreally know what you're doing, because it's very easy to get carried away with\nit. Keep in mind that you risk making it \"incompatible\" with the web. When a\nneed arises to be \"compatible\" you might end up finding yourself building\nsecond version of the same app.\n\n------\nCyberFonic\nI had to re-check the date of the post and it isn't 2006 but 2012 !!! Three\nobservations:\n\n1) If your users aren't using a HTML5 compliant browser then they should\nupdate. Supporting a multitude of outdated browsers is just way too big a\nworkload.\n\n2) Using JavaScript/AJAX intelligently reduces the load on your server. Why\ngenerate all that HTML on demand at the server when you have a dual core CPU\nwith a couple of Gigs of RAM twiddling its thumbs at the client end?\n\n3) With mobile apps, your users will thank you for minimising the amount of\ntraffic your app generates. Why push down full pages when only the data needs\nto be sent?\n\n------\nkellros\nI'd say a couple of years ago - gradeful degradation was a must.\n\nNowadays - unless you're running some kind of viral service (facebook, twitter\netc.) that benefits from masses instead of customers, it's not a requirement.\n\nStill a nice to have, but if people can't update their software, they should\n'suffer the consequences'.\n\n~~~\nCyberFonic\n\"Can't update\" ??? Why would that be ?\n\n* Corporate policy - Fred Flintstone Enterprises? Still running IE 4 !\n\n* Underpowered computer - buy a new one!\n\n* Don't know how - pay someone to do it for you!\n\nGoogle Chrome runs on Windows, Mac & Linux and it auto-updates. What's there\nnot to like?\n\n------\nKartificial\nUnobtrusive use of Javascript is a very neat one in my opinion. You seperate\nthe content and structure from the presentation layer.\n\nIn practice though, many sites main functions depend on JS. I can imagine that\nfor large projects the costs of optimizing the view of your site without JS\ncan become too large.\n\n------\nandrewjshults\nFor work, no. We're heavily based around mapping tools which don't degrade\nwell (if at all) so optimizing for the non JavaScript users makes little sense\nfor us.\n\nMost of my personal projects also require JavaScript because they're things\nthat I build to play around with new technology.\n\n------\ntrue_religion\nNope. If you head to my site, and try to use it without Javascript it'll work\nfor simple browsing but not for content creation.\n\nIt's a decision I made early on not to support a vanishing minority of users\nwho have javascript off by choice or by force.\n\n------\nmappu\nFor my big business app at work: No. Javascript is a hard requirement. The UI\nflows it enables are just too valuable.\n\nFor my personal stuff: Yes... i have a pretty weak browser on my personal\nphone, sticking to simple HTML is in my own best interests.\n\n------\njoshontheweb\nthere is a difference between a web site and a web app. a web site can and\nlikely should work with js off. Once you dive into the realm of building web\napps, then you basically give up on that idea. As you said, it is a small\ndemographic anyway.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWorld's first plastic-free aisle opens in Netherlands supermarket - lnguyen\nhttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/28/worlds-first-plastic-free-aisle-opens-in-netherlands-supermarket\n======\npepal\nSo much plastic!!\n\nI see lot of plastic on the rack!!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIncrease Coding Speed / Typing Skills - ianceicys\nI realize that I am not coding very fast. (49 wpm only). I am using only two fingers (index for characters and thumb for coding). I wish to increase my typing speed. Has anyone made an app that helps people practice over text, give statistical information? I took a look at https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.keyhero.com and its nice but wondering about alternatives.\n======\njxy\nJust start typing with 10 fingers, following THE correct way. At the\nbeginning, you will feel pain, and it will be SLOW, but there is no other way.\nJust do it.\n\nIf you are looking for some fun, try this\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10712327](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10712327)\n\nFor more, search HN.\n\n~~~\nianceicys\nVery fun!\n\n------\nmqde\nHope it will help u [http://www.speedtypingonline.com/games/type-the-\nalphabet.php](http://www.speedtypingonline.com/games/type-the-alphabet.php)\n\n------\nmage4\nI found this to be really good web site to help you to start\n[https://www.typingclub.com/](https://www.typingclub.com/)\n\n~~~\nianceicys\nThanks so much this is very helpful!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHumaaans: Mix-and-match illustrations of people with a design library - plurby\nhttps://www.humaaans.com\n======\nshanehoban\nFavourited. Really nice work and impressive landing page.\n\nWould love to have an online tool for this also, as others have said.\n\nThe style of work really reminds me of undraw [1]\n\n[1] [https://undraw.co](https://undraw.co)\n\n~~~\nKaoruAoiShiho\nOh my god, the real gold is in the comments. Can you share some other cool\nstuff from your bookmarks?\n\n~~~\nshanehoban\nUndraw is like the only thing I have to mind that I've noticed isn't as widely\nknown. Perhaps these:\n\n\\- [https://cruip.com](https://cruip.com)\n\n\\- [https://unsplash.com](https://unsplash.com)\n\n\\- [https://feathericons.com](https://feathericons.com)\n\n\\- Why didn't I get any money from my startup? - A guide to Liquidation\nPreferences and Cap Tables [1]\n\n[1]\n[https://www.reddit.com/r/startups/comments/a8f6xz/why_didnt_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/startups/comments/a8f6xz/why_didnt_i_get_any_money_from_my_startup_a_guide/)\n\n------\nWaterluvian\nSomething's fascinating to me. Clearly there's a lot of diversity. But there\nalso isn't. I don't associate with any of it. Not because I'm a green space\nmonster. But where's the potbellied, grizzled 55 year old welder? Or the \"I\nhate kale, more bacon please\" mother of three? Everyone looks so... Chic and\nyoung and modern and... Silicon Valley.\n\nIs it the art style? Is that the point? Is that what the robotic \"HUMAAAAN\" is\nteasing? That these aren't anything like real humans?\n\n~~~\nwhatshisface\n> _I don 't associate with any of it. Not because I'm a green space monster._\n\nWhen I checked I didn't see any white people, so assuming that you are white\nthe explanation for your reaction is probably just that your race isn't\nrepresented. People identify more with other people that look like them. If\nyou had a kid from China draw a picture of some people they would all look\nChinese, so my guess is that the author of the page is from a country that's\nmostly black and Hispanic. They might not even have noticed that they left\nwhite people out.\n\nIn that light the \"real humans\" comment comes across as a little weird,\nthough, so maybe this doesn't explain your reaction. Although if it helps\nclear the air, I'm fine with pointing out that I would prefer to use an icon\npack that included white people, after all that's me.\n\n~~~\nstronglikedan\n> In that light the \"real humans\" comment comes across as a little weird\n\nBut that's the light painted by _you_ , not OP. OP gave _very_ specific and\nvalid examples of types of people that are missing. OP said, nor implied,\nanything about race. That's your straw man, and yours alone.\n\nThe only thing that's weird is that an illustration library called \"humaaans\"\nis no where near diverse enough to represent humans.\n\n~~~\nwhatshisface\n> _But that 's the light painted by you, not OP._\n\nRight, I'm saying that's the most accurate light. I'm not trying to accuse the\nOP of anything.\n\n~~~\nstronglikedan\nIt's actually the least accurate light, and a straw man argument fabricated by\nyou alone. The criticisms about the lack of diversity have nothing to do with\nrace, neither explicitly nor implied.\n\n~~~\nwhatshisface\nIt's not a fabricated straw man, it's my actual opinion. (Typically a straw\nman would be a caricature of your _opponent 's_ opinion). I used to roll my\neyes when people added new skin colors to emoji options, but now that someone\nleft off people that look like _me_ , I understand that it's a nice gesture to\nbe included.\n\n------\ntheon144\nNice! This came at just the right time for me too.\n\nI find the general attitude in this comment section curious, though; lots of\npeople are arguing about the skin tone choice which is notably brown. Yet I\nfeel that if it were lighter in shade, there would be much less grumbling and\ncriticism about not including every single possible body shape?\n\n~~~\nwhatshisface\nThe author left out white people, and since he's white himself and from\nCalifornia the \"he just doesn't live around white people\" explanation that I\nwas originally going for can't be right.\n\nIf he had left out a people group that he didn't see very often (if he lived\nin Nigeria that could be white people, if he lived in Norway that could be\nNative Americans) then nobody would be upset. But all signs point to this\nbeing some kind of misguided political expression. I can see why everyone is\nriled up; it's (apparently intentionally) tapping in to one of the lava pools\nof \"this is unfair\" sloshing around America these days.\n\n~~~\ndanielvf\nNah, there's a simple explanation. Humaaans uses an artistic style of solid\npatches of color against a white background. Very light skin tones work\nterribly in this style because they disappear into the background.\n\n~~~\nwhatshisface\nIf true that would be hilarious, but I don't see how we could ever know for\nsure. If the real reason were unsavory, there would be an overwhelming social\nbias not to reveal it; and as a result even a true, positive answer wouldn't\nhelp.\n\n~~~\ndanielvf\nI made a white humaaan for you. It has some readability problems. :)\n\n[https://danielvf-\ndownloads.s3.amazonaws.com/2019/whumaaan.pn...](https://danielvf-\ndownloads.s3.amazonaws.com/2019/whumaaan.png)\n\n------\ncmpb\nOT: The word \"Humaaans\" makes me think of the Ferengi from Star Trek.\n\nE.g. [https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/63716/why-do-\nthe-f...](https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/63716/why-do-the-ferengi-\npronounce-human-the-way-they-do)\n\n~~~\nglitcher\nBjork's \"Human Behavior\" immediately popped into my head.\n\n\"If you ever get close to a humaaaan...\"\n\n------\ninnerspirit\nInteresting how I did not notice any issues with the library until I came to\nthe comments and there were several mentions of implicit racism. There is some\nprojection going on here.\n\nUpon reviewing the site again, there are some lighter skin tones that I would\nidentify with as a pale white man, if I really cared.\n\n~~~\nwhatshisface\n> _Upon reviewing the site again, there are some lighter skin tones that I\n> would identify with as a pale white man,_\n\nI looked through it and I have to disagree, the skin tones are all dark. There\nis no reason to call that racist though, maybe the author just doesn't see a\nlot of white people in whatever country they live in.\n\nEdit: ouch, I guess my optimism was misplaced. Given that he's from\nCalifornia, it really does look like the author was making a political\nstatement.\n\n~~~\nnmstoker\nIt appears he lives in California\n[https://mobile.twitter.com/pablostanley](https://mobile.twitter.com/pablostanley)\n\n------\ngus_massa\nIs it possible to add beard to the drawings?\n\nIs there an online version that is posible to use without installing the\nlibrary in my machine?\n\n~~~\ndetaro\n[https://ozgrozer.github.io/hdt/](https://ozgrozer.github.io/hdt/)\n\n~~~\ngus_massa\nThanks! I don't understand something: Is this a full demo, or an example with\nonly a few features / images?\n\nThis demo doesn't have autosnap (I'm not sure about the official name).\n\nAlso, I can't change the color of the hair, but it is not clear if it is\npossible in the original version.\n\n------\nelfakyn\nThis looks like the generic \"people\" artwork you see in so many places.\n\n~~~\naugustk\nIndeed. Clipart is low culture.\n\n~~~\nHoasi\nLow culture is necessary and perfectly fine. Still, a lot of work went into\nreleasing these free generic illustrations. Also, the more free clip art is\navailable and used everywhere the quicker it will go out of style.\n\n~~~\nDoctorOetker\nI think the ambiguity is what makes clip-art attractive, you can recognize\npeople you know in them, while with the other extreme, actual photos, it would\nlook like a stranger\n\n------\nnmstoker\nWhat would be an interesting side-project would be to apply some machine\nlearning, so a user could describe the kind of person / activity in a sentence\nand it would be generated using this.\n\n------\nEtheryte\nThis is a quick and easy way to add a humane touch to a landing page and other\nsimilar content with the added benefit of being free (CC Attribution 4.0).\n\n------\njmknoll\nThis is awesome. Going to add it to a project that I was working on a new\nlanding page for today.\n\nFor a bit of constructive criticism, the name makes the project really\ndifficult to discover. I remembered having seen this on HN a couple of days\nago, but when I went to look it up, I remembered it as \"Humans with a few\nextra A's or U's,\" and I had to Google five or six variations before I found\nit. One too few or one too many A's will not bring up your project. I'm not\nsure if this is a lack of SEO, or a function of how Google treats misspelled\nwords.\n\nOther than that, looks like a beautifully designed library, and looking\nforward to putting it to work.\n\n------\nb_b\nNice little Daft Punk easter egg in the panel with the \"Nothing Found\" example\npage ([https://genius.com/Daft-punk-digital-love-\nlyrics](https://genius.com/Daft-punk-digital-love-lyrics)), and the ending\nstatement \"We are humaaan after all.\"\n([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_After_All](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_After_All))\n\n~~~\nyellowapple\nI managed to get Daft Punk and Level 42 simultaneously stuck in my head.\n\n------\ncodeape\nOn a Windows PC, what (free, open source) drawing program would I use to\ncreate illustrations using these pieces?\n\n~~~\nprojektfu\nInkscape\n\n------\nhnacc0\n( out of topic ) similar to material design, metro design, what is this\nwebsite using?\n\n------\nhmak\nI'm using this on my landing page. The illustrations are beautiful and the way\nPablo Stanley organizes all the assets in Sketch is amazing. Also note,\nHumaaans is under CC 4.0\n\n------\naboutruby\nThis is really neat! Reminds me of the style Airbnb, Stripe and Dropbox uses.\n\n~~~\nrchaud\nNow that this art style is freely available, prepare to see it slathered over\nevery new startup promising an API for your SaaS that integrates with their\nPaaS and builds a future-proof IaaS.\n\n~~~\nlouisswiss\nHope you're using AI and machine learning to do that on the blockchain.\n\n~~~\nrchaud\nOf course! Our cloud-native, Agile-first team of DevOps rockstars are working\non that as we speak.\n\n------\ndharma1\nGreat execution and right on the money with style\n\n------\nagp2572\nLooks like the artwork used on Google Fi website.\n\n------\nJUSTed\nThis is the new version of stock photos for lazy and conformist people. But\ninstead of having some young attractive models smiling at the camera with a\nflipchart in their hands, now you get a fast-food-style illustration, devoid\nof soul and personality, identical to the other designs used by some other\nstartup, that's going to age like milk and will require a rebranding in two\nyears. tl;dr — it's a fad.\n\n~~~\nrchaud\nThat's tech industry marketing in a nutshell though. How many startup\nhomepages promise \"seamless integration with your stack\" or \"first-class\ncustomer experience\" and fail to deliver?\n\nNokia's tagline back in the day used to be \"Connecting People\", and yet today\nit is FB that brazenly repeats this ad nauseam in its press statements each\ntime another breach of user privacy is revealed.\n\n------\nbullen\nI can't find the SVG files?\n\n~~~\ncoldtea\nThere are several prominent \"get the library\" links on the page that lead to\nDropbox where you can download the whole package. SVGs are in the \"flat assets\n-> Humaaans\" folder.\n\n------\nRainymood\nWhat is the font?\n\n~~~\ncowflik\n[https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/latinotype/recoleta/](https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/latinotype/recoleta/)\n\n------\nfredley\nThis is great, and I really, really love the inclusive-by-default approach.\n\n~~~\ncoldtea\nWhere inclusive == everybody is brown skinned?\n\n~~~\nfredley\nI noticed the use of wheelchair users, and the different skin tones used on\nthe landing page. I hadn't looked into the actual resources so hadn't seen\nthat they are not in fact offered in a range of tones. Oh well!\n\n------\nKineticLensman\n> We are humaaan after all\n\nI'm not\n\n~~~\nTheGrumpyBrit\nAre you dancer?\n\n------\ncrisstringfello\nwhere are the white humans? and the yellow humans? and the jet black humans?\n\nI feel like the 1 skin tone is meant to be provocative, possibly be a\ndeliberate troll, maybe start a discussion.\n\ndoes the author wish to weigh in?\n\nas a white human I feel excluded. maybe I'm attaching too much importance to\nskin tone as a part of identity. I think partly that's in our brains, partly\nit's emphasised by the media to divide us and create outrage, for power and\nengagement.\n\n~~~\nAYBABTME\nThe average color of all human skin mixed together would probably be brown.\nPicking an average of everything should be highly uncontroversial.\n\n~~~\ncoreyp_1\nNobody is average.\n\nOK, that's too short to really mean anything, so I'll elaborate. If you take\nthe average characteristics of everyone in the world (wealth, skin tone,\nintelligence, BMI, height, gender, etc.), and turned that into a single\nperson, then you would have a new, unique person. In other words, it would not\n\"represent\" anyone, and so should definitely be seen as controversial. There\nare a myriad of engineering stories about this discovery (one size doesn't fit\nall).\n\nIf anything, I would have loved to see more diversity, or at the very least a\nprominent message on how to achieve it. Color might be the easiest change to\nmake, but I didn't see any old or fat people on there, or how to make those\nvariations.\n\nI like the overall idea of the project, though.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nColumbia MFA Students Demand Full Tuition Refund - contourtrails\nhttps://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2018/04/30/with-decrepit-facilities-and-missing-faculty-mfa-visual-arts-students-demand-tuition-refund/\n======\nmagpi3\n> \"It’s almost criminal to endebt a student $100,000 to be a painter or a\n> performance artist\"\n\nI agree and will never understand the students, parents, and faculty who\nchoose to support such a system.\n\n------\notterley\nThe source reporting can be found here:\n[https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2018/04/30/with-\ndecre...](https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2018/04/30/with-decrepit-\nfacilities-and-missing-faculty-mfa-visual-arts-students-demand-tuition-\nrefund/)\n\nSubmitters: Please, always link to primary sources if possible.\n\n~~~\ntlb\nChanged from [https://hyperallergic.com/440469/columbia-university-mfa-\nstu...](https://hyperallergic.com/440469/columbia-university-mfa-students-\ndemand-tuition-refunds/), thanks\n\n------\nalmostApatriot1\nColumbia MFA programs are notorious for being cash cows. Everyone who does a\nlittle research understands this.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Painless CSS: Learn CSS from First Principles - Kortaggio\nhttps://www.painlesscss.com/\n======\nuxcolumbo\nCongrats on launching. Looks exhaustive.\n\nQuick question, I've seen quite a few sites and emails where these meme gifs\nare being used.\n\nDo these work?\n\nI personally find them distracting.\n\n------\nbuckyb\nI’m about to start learning css/web stuff and have been overwhelmed with the\nmass amount of tutorials out there. How is this one, as objectively speaking\nas possible? I’d only be interested in the book, so what makes this worth $20?\n\n(My background is in physics, and I’m currently programming mostly functional\nstuff with C++ and Python, if it matters.)\n\n~~~\nuxcolumbo\nYou might also like these:\n\n[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-\nUS/docs/Web/CSS](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS)\n\n[https://developers.google.com/web/tools/chrome-\ndevtools/begi...](https://developers.google.com/web/tools/chrome-\ndevtools/beginners/css)\n\n[https://rachelandrew.co.uk/css/](https://rachelandrew.co.uk/css/)\n\n[https://cssgrid.io/](https://cssgrid.io/)\n\n------\ntimrosenblatt\nLooks cool! I like the fresh approach.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHi5 Confirms “Significant” Layoffs, Wraps Them In Mumbo Jumbo Speak - protomyth\nhttp://techcrunch.com/2011/09/19/hi5-layoffs-again/\n======\nprotomyth\nThe interesting part isn't the layoffs (I am sorry for those people), it is\nthe comment about there move to Windows. I am not sure I buy there stats.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nConcorde Trip Report (2003) - diego\nhttp://www.samchuiphotos.com/Concorde/ConcordeTripReport2.html\n\n======\ndiego\nI remember when this was posted on FlyerTalk. The author of the post read that\nBritish Airways would cease to operate the flights, and promptly booked one\nwith miles just for the experience. I wished I'd done that.\n\nThe last Concorde flight took place 11 years ago today.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAlthea in Medellin - Element_\nhttps://blog.althea.org/althea-in-medellin/\n======\ntarikjn\nNever heard of Althea before, but I did some reading, and I must say this is\nthe most promising last mile meshnet system I have seen implemented so far.\n\n------\nmelling\nInteresting that they picked Colombia. Medellin is actually a booming city.\nThey have free wifi in most of the parks.\n\nI was also in Bogota in 2007 and again 2 years ago. The country has many more\ntourists now. It could pass for a city in the US. Medellin is the city of\neternal spring. I believe lots of Americans are retiring there.\n\nCentral America is the place that really needs the help.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSuper Bowl Delivers Thrills, but No Ratings Record - JumpCrisscross\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/06/business/media/super-bowl-ratings.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_dk_20170206&nl=dealbook&nl_art=6&nlid=65508833&ref=headline&te=1&_r=0\n======\nXaspR8d\nAnecdotally, I feel football is gradually losing ground among younger\ngenerations. My sports-watching-est friends seem to be less and less devoted\nto football in particular and more interested in other, more niche sports.\nEven those strongly allegiant to football are less insistent on catching many\nindividual games real-time as they are staying informed about the league\noverall and watching highlights or stream or DVR when they can.\n\n~~~\nk-mcgrady\nInterested to know the niche sports you're finding people showing interest in.\n\n~~~\nseppin\nsoccer. no ads except for half time\n\n~~~\nfelipemnoa\nI guess you consider it niche in the USA but soccer is the most popular game\nworld wide[1].\n\n[1]\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_football](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_football)\n\n~~~\ngozur88\nIt's definitely niche in the US.\n\n~~~\ngroby_b\nAs long as you define \"US\" as \"white, male, >25\".\n\nIt's popular with women. It's popular with kids (age 12-17, more popular than\nMLB). It's popular with the latino population.\n\n~~~\ngozur88\nNot really. They can't get people to watch it on TV, which is why it doesn't\nmake any money.\n\n~~~\nJBlue42\n[https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/11/sports/soccer/nbc-\nretains...](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/11/sports/soccer/nbc-retains-\nrights-to-premier-league-in-six-year-deal.html)\n\nTwo years of success broadcasting England’s Premier League proved a basic\ntruth to NBC Sports: It would have to pay a lot more to keep carrying the\nleague’s games.\n\nNow it will. Under a six-year agreement announced Monday that starts next\nseason and is worth about $1 billion, NBC retained the rights to the Premier\nLeague through the 2021-22 season.\n\n------\nSteko\nI watched online and the stream was excellent although it lacked commercials\nwhich would normally would be a plus but not for the superbowl (anyway I got a\nroundup of them elsewhere).\n\nJust shows you how broken online advertising is when they don't even play the\nvery best video commercials on offer to 2+ million people watching their\nstream.\n\n~~~\nams6110\nI think Super Bowl commercials have jumped the shark. They used to be a fun\ninterlude during timeouts. Now they are just over the top \"who can cram the\nmost CGI into 30 seconds of the most impossibly contrived scenario\"\n\nMaybe I'm just old. I didn't watch the commercials though.\n\nI did think the halftime show was good. I appreciated the lack of overt\npolitical statements.\n\n~~~\nTeMPOraL\n> _Now they are just over the top \"who can cram the most CGI into 30 seconds\n> of the most impossibly contrived scenario\"_\n\nIsn't this a good thing though? They're like an art scene now. Fun for the\nviewers, (I'd guess) fun for the people making them. Just probably not good\nROI for the advertisers, which I'd judge as a positive development.\n\n------\nk-mcgrady\n>> high enough to tie it for fourth place among the most-viewed programs in TV\nhistory\n\nSo still huge ratings and only down 600k on last year, which isn't bad when\nthere's over 110m viewers.\n\nSecondly although it was a pretty thrilling final quarter and OT at the half\nit looked like it was all over so I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people\nturned off (as it was nearly 2am for me I nearly did).\n\nFinally, these are only ratings for Fox - I'd be interested to know how it did\nglobally.\n\n~~~\nforgotmysn\nis the superbowl broadcast globally? I can't imagine it has a huge audience\noutside the US\n\n~~~\nk-mcgrady\nAs at-fates-hands showed it is. In the UK it's on the BBC from about 10mins\nbefore the coin toss. We get US commentary but during your ad breaks it cuts\nto our presenter/pundit team which includes Osi Umenyiora. We also have a\nweekly NFL roundup show on the BBC and Sky (paid TV) shows live games during\nthe season.\n\nThere's also Game Pass where you pay something like £150 a year to stream all\ngames live (although they blackout the ones shown on Sky) and on demand which\nalso gives condensed and highlights version of the games.\n\n~~~\nst3v3r\nWow, so you guys had to suffer through Joe Buck too?\n\n------\nxoqem\nThere were numerous legal ways to stream the Super Bowl online and on mobile\nthis year for free, it appears these numbers may not include those? I would be\ncurious to see what percentage of viewers used an app or site to view the game\nthis year, and if it makes up for the relatively small drop in TV viewers.\n\n------\nlosteverything\nI bought my milennial-border kids a box each in the pool. I texted them the\npic\n\nThey said \"we don't have cable\" I totally forgot about that. They had NO PLANS\nto watch any way.\n\nThey will watch a replay if Gaga on their commute.\n\nHow times they are a changin'\n\n------\nmig39\nHow do the ratings compare to the Champions League final?\n\n~~~\nk-mcgrady\n180m in 2015 [1]\n\n[1] [http://heavy.com/sports/2016/05/champions-league-final-tv-\nra...](http://heavy.com/sports/2016/05/champions-league-final-tv-ratings-\nexpected-viewers-audience-super-bowl/)\n\n~~~\nashwinaj\nI have no data, but I find it hard to believe such measly numbers. The\nviewership in Asia itself would be upwards of 200 million (India, China, SE\nAsia, Middle East where football/soccer is popular).\n\n~~~\nk-mcgrady\nThose numbers are actually originally sourced from UEFA so I would expect them\nto be accurate. I know the World Cup Final has hugely larger ratings figures\nbut Champions League being a European tournament maybe it isn't very popular\noutside Europe.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWordPress 3.5 “Elvin” Released - nosecreek\nhttp://wordpress.org/news/2012/12/elvin/\n======\nNathanKP\nThere is a more technical list, including the details on the improvements for\ndevelopers here:\n\n<http://codex.wordpress.org/Version_3.5>\n\nThe biggest thing I wish WordPress would add is a better built in system for\nreal templates, using a something along the lines of Twig\n(<http://twig.sensiolabs.org/>).\n\nThat mixed PHP code and HTML in your standard WordPress template disgusts me\nevery time I see it. I know there are some custom solutions for creating real\ntemplates in Twig, but this should be part of the mainstream WordPress branch.\n\n~~~\nhuskyr\nYup, WordPress follows all bad practices of a typical PHP project: mixed PHP\nand HTML all over the place, lots of global functions instead of classes and\ndirect calls to the MySQL functions instead of PDO so you can't use another\ndatabase like Postgres.\n\nPity it's so widely used, and there's little competition...\n\n~~~\ncooperadymas\nSaying there's little competition is a huge stretch. WordPress is the dominant\nforce by a large margin. But from small static site generators, hosted\nplatforms, other open source alternatives, to enterprise-ready solutions there\nare a lot of competitors hitting nearly every segment of the market.\n\n<http://trends.builtwith.com/cms> provides some good trends of the big\nplayers, but I wouldn't put too much stock in it.\n\nThat said, as a developer who has fallen into the WordPress business out of\nnecessity, there are a lot of great products out there that are built much\nbetter than WordPress and I wish one of them were the dominant player. Still,\nWP manages to get the job done most of the time.\n\n~~~\nintelliot\n> there are a lot of great products out there that are built much better than\n> WordPress and I wish one of them were the dominant player.\n\nHonest question: Can you name one?\n\nI'm seriously looking for a WordPress alternative, but I haven't found one\nthat is truly BETTER.\n\n~~~\ncooperadymas\nWhat I mean by this is others have a better structured, more solid & easily\nextendable code base, better separation between presentation and logic, etc..\nObviously, this is somewhat of an opinion, and it only refers to the\nunderlying structure. For the end user, WordPress is probably the best. A\nlarge part of this is due to its ecosystem of plugins and themes. You\nshouldn't need to build custom code on top of WordPress unless you are doing\nsomething very unique, building an application (as opposed to a \"website\"), or\nattempting to tie together several plugins.\n\nSticking with PHP, both <http://modx.com/> and <http://www.silverstripe.org/>\nare fairly popular and well-built. I've also heard good things of\n<http://www.concrete5.org/> , <http://www.movabletype.com/> ,\n<http://textpattern.com/> , and <http://ellislab.com/expressionengine> .\n<http://habariproject.org/en/> has also been built specifically to address\nmany of the faults in WordPress and other popular systems.\n\n~~~\neclipticplane\nIsn't MoveableType in Perl?\n\n~~~\ncooperadymas\nPossibly - I've never done anything with it. The PHP statement was really only\nfor the first two, sorry for the confusion!\n\n------\nDigitalSea\nThe media changes are a welcome addition, but I can't help but feel Wordpress\nis still lacking in the media department quite a lot. One feature I've been\nhoping for in terms of media management is folders to organise media instead\nof paginating pages of all images being displayed which usually involves\nduplicates being displayed. I love Wordpress, but it would be great to be able\nto upload specific images for example of dogs into a folder called, \"Dogs\" and\nthen being able to browse and manage media in said folder.\n\nIt's great to see Wordpress is taking steps in the right direction with every\nrelease. Another wishlist feature would be the integration of the Advanced\nCustom Fields plugin straight into the core which allows you to add custom\nmeta boxes and fields to posts in a tasteful and aesthetically pleasing way.\nI'm excited about the future of Wordpress, it's my bread and butter and I\ndon't see it being beat any time soon.\n\n~~~\nOtto42\nRe: media, one step at a time. :)\n\nRe: custom fields: This makes little to no sense to be in core, because custom\nfields are just that, \"custom\". There's no point in giving the end user the\nability to make their own meta boxes hooked to custom post meta if there is no\nplugin or theme actually using that meta data. Creating a meta box is\nsomething that the theme/plugin should do, because it's actually going to use\nthe data gained from that meta box.\n\nIn other words, the horse goes in front of the cart, not the other way 'round.\n\n------\nchrisblackwell\nWordPress could really change their bad reputation by dropping support for PHP\n5.2 in the next release, and requiring 5.3.\n\nThis would allow future WordPress developers to namespace their code, and out\nallow simple closures withint your code.\n\nAs of PHP 5.5, there is no support for a straight mySQL connection. There is\nno real downside in WordPress adopting the PDO standard.\n\n~~~\nOtto42\nSomehow I doubt that we'll decide to drop support for 65.5% of our users\n(roughly 26 million websites).\n\n<http://wordpress.org/about/stats/>\n\n~~~\nrmccue\nIt's funny how many people say WP should drop 5.2 compatibility. It's\ncertainly possible to push the hosts towards using 5.3, but the fact is that\nthe user base simply isn't there yet.\n\n------\nBUGHUNTER\nUnfortunately there is still no reliable unattended upgrade process inluding\nrollback (aka migration) for wordpress. I looked into this a little bit, but\nthere does not seem to be a reliable way to check if plugins have been\nexecuted successfully and with expected results or not, so you never know\nafter an upgrade if your site is broken.\n\nThere are still many other issues with the code, but having a clearly defined\nerror-handling / -signaling for plugins would be the one single change that\nwould help in many problem areas of wordpress development - making rules and\nknowledge about successful plugin execution and error handling obligatory for\nplugin devs could be the one single change that could also help to reduce that\nannoying flood of unbelievable bad code to be found in WP plugins repo.\n\n------\nkyriakos\nTwentytwelves mobile first approach for me is source of pain. They essentially\ndropped support for IE8 and below which means people in corporate environments\nlike the company I work for who are stuck to windows xp due to other legacy\nsoftware that requires it cannot view the desktop view of themes based on\nWordPress new default theme.\n\n------\nearwolf\nhorrendous muffled voiceover on that video\n\n~~~\nOtto42\nHe's not muffled. He actually sounds like that. :)\n\n------\ndave1010uk\nDoes anyone know if / when WordPress may start using a modern PHP framework\n(eg zf2 / symfony2)?\n\n~~~\nCthulhu_\nWordpress is its own PHP framework; in fact, PHP itself is a framework,\nprovides everything frameworks do from database querying to templating.\n\n~~~\nkalms\nCalling Wordpress a framework is like calling Symfony a programming language.\n\n~~~\nsmacktoward\nMuch like Drupal, WordPress can be bent into something vaguely resembling a\nframework, if you're the type of person who enjoys that sort of thing. But\nbeing the type of person who likes using WordPress as a general-purpose\nframework is sort of like being the type of person who enjoys being tied up\nand beaten with a rubber hose. It's a weird, weird kink.\n\n~~~\nkalms\nOf the 2 I very much prefer Drupal. It's a bad CMS, but a great CMF. Wordpress\nis in my opinion the exact opposite.\n\nThat said, I haven't checked out the last 2 versions or so.\n\n------\nbdcravens\nI wish they'd put some serious resources into dealing with comment spam. I\nrealize it'll always be an issue, but they could at least:\n\n1) not make comments enabled out of box with no anti-spam measures (moderating\nisn't anti-spam in my opinion: technical solutions should come before man-\npower)\n\n2) not make me rely on third-party plugins to combat it\n\n~~~\nDigitalSea\nAkismet does a great job dealing with comment spam. Activate it and input your\nAPI key and you're done. Even other applications like PHPbb and \"insert PHP\ncontent management system here\" have problems with spam, it's not as easy as\nyou think to detect and deal with spam.\n\n~~~\nbdcravens\nI've used other pieces of software, even some paid-for PHP features, so I\nagree as to the spam problem. I was thinking more along the lines of disabling\ncomments by default, and making it a bit of a chore to enable, to make point-\nand-click installs less of an attack vector.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Gripsweat, rare vinyl auction and sales with sound clips - ian_d\nhttps://gripsweat.com\n======\nian_d\nIt's Record Store Day again and I thought I'd share the site that I've been\nrunning for a few years now. It collects vinyl auctions and sales daily (with\nsound clips), and is at >10M items and >500k sound clips.\n\nI've killed hours just clicking through sound clips to find 45s and LPs that\nprobably otherwise would have slipped past me. This is especially nice for\n\"deep\" genres like:\n\nAfrobeat: [https://goo.gl/UG6kZm](https://goo.gl/UG6kZm)\n\nReggae: [https://goo.gl/tHvJyA](https://goo.gl/tHvJyA)\n\nGarage: [https://goo.gl/51cJpQ](https://goo.gl/51cJpQ)\n\nNorthern Soul: [https://goo.gl/Jj88Bd](https://goo.gl/Jj88Bd)\n\netc,etc\n\nOr you can just watch RSD2018 get out of hand:\n[https://goo.gl/VXN8w8](https://goo.gl/VXN8w8)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nContainerd: a daemon to control runC - alpb\nhttps://blog.docker.com/2015/12/containerd-daemon-to-control-runc/\n======\nrwmj\nWhy not use libvirtd, which does all that and a lot more, and is already\npresent on just about every Linux distro? (more than likely already _running_\non every Linux machine, if you are using virt or containers)\n\n~~~\nbinarycrusader\nThis is just a guess, but I believe it's because of what you just said; \"\n_running_ on every Linux machine\". Docker runs on more than Linux, and you\nneed a solution that can manage containers everywhere.\n\n~~~\nrwmj\nFair enough, but libvirtd is written in C and reasonably portable and the\nproject already ports all the client side stuff to Windows (so the project is\nnot against portability patches, unlike, say, systemd-machined).\n\nLibvirtd has been around for 10 years so it's likely to be less buggy and\nbetter maintained than anything you can write from scratch.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Automatically update your Slack status and snooze notifications - kalv\nhttps://holopod.com\n======\nkalv\nHey all,\n\nAs an engineer and manager of teams for years, it’s gotten continually harder\nto manage incoming distractions from Slack messages.\n\nI constantly get pinged in the middle of an important Zoom call, or when I’m\ndeep in the flow working on some complex code refactor. Yeah, I could shut\ndown Slack entirely - but it’s a negative signal to my team and I like popping\ninto conversations when I’m taking a break. Slack Do Not Disturb should solve\nmy problems, but I always forget to turn it on.\n\nSo, I built a way to do it all automatically.\n\nHolopod ([https://holopod.com](https://holopod.com)) is a Mac desktop app that\ndetects whitelisted Mac and Web applications and triggers a status change\nbased on the current app you are using.\n\nTo signal you’re ready to work and online you are marked as “At My Desk”.\nOther statuses are “On Call”, “In the Flow”, or “in a meeting”. These are all\ncustomizable.\n\nTo pre-answer some questions you might have:\n\n\\- We don’t track time on specific apps, only status changes are submitted up\nto Slack.\n\n\\- We are free for now, as we’re still learning how best to deliver value.\n\n\\- Yep, we are Mac only but are looking for early testers on Windows or Linux.\n\nWould love your thoughts!\n\n------\ncollinvine\nI run a company with 20 remote team members. There's a weird perverse\nincentive to \"show face\" and be available when working remotely vs. making\nyourself unreachable so you can focus on things that matter.\n\nWe joined the Holopod beta to see if we could reduce the anxiety people had of\nbeing \"away\" without it being correlated with not working.\n\nSo far we like it. It helps people feel more comfortable being unreachable for\na period of focused work. As a founder, I get a sense that it can help make\npeople do the stuff that matters, vs. wasting time chatting on Slack.\n\nWe'd still like to see more features around supporting different time zones\n(we're spread across 9 time zones, so it can be easy for people further east\nto just keep working when getting pinged by people further west).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nScience declares this is the funniest joke in the world - prateekj\nhttp://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57619881-71/science-declares-this-is-the-funniest-joke-in-the-world/\n======\na3voices\nThat's not a very funny joke.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSaxon-JS: XSLT 3.0 in the Browser - intrasight\nhttp://www.balisage.net/Proceedings/vol17/html/Lockett01/BalisageVol17-Lockett01.html\n======\nintrasight\nI'm curious of anyone has yet kicked the tires of this - especially from a\nperformance perspective. My browser-side MVC pattern makes use of the\nbrowser's native XSLT, which performs quite well.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHP Chief Warns of 'Tough Times'  - chailatte\nhttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703421204576327712235186984.html?mod=googlenews_wsj\n\n======\nnwmt\nClicking directly only gives you the first few paragraphs then says you need\nto subscribe. For the full article, Google it and click the article link:\n[http://www.google.com/search?q=H-P+Chief+Warns+of+Tough+Time...](http://www.google.com/search?q=H-P+Chief+Warns+of+Tough+Times)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Women in Silicon Valley - ayliyazem\n\nI read that the total number of woman living in silicon valley is extremely low compared to the total number of man living in silicon valley. And that woman account for less than 10 percent of the total number of board directors in the valley. What can we do about that?! (well, at least there is one advantage: as a startup you won’t have to waste your time on visiting hundreds of Weddings every month :-))\n======\nayliyazem\nHaha!! Well, me too! But I think more women need to be inspired to do the\nsame! Would be a fun challenge!\n\n------\nrachelbythebay\nBreak out and start your own company? That's what I'm working on.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMy 86-Year-Old Mother Is an Inadvertent Market Timer - EvgeniyZh\nhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/rickferri/2019/04/07/my-86-year-old-mother-is-an-inadvertent-market-timer/#41983e892d1d\n======\nriverton\nReminds me of this Warren Buffet quote \"By periodically investing in an index\nfund, for example, the know-nothing investor can actually outperform most\ninvestment professionals. Paradoxically, when ‘dumb’ money acknowledges its\nlimitations, it ceases to be dumb.”\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNew York City is flooding subway entrances to prepare for climate change - mistersquid\nhttps://qz.com/1753814/nyc-is-flooding-subway-entrances-to-prepare-for-climate-change/\n======\nlarnmar\nIf climate change turns out to be a vast exaggeration, this period in history\nis going to look very silly.\n\n~~~\ntravisporter\nI mean, that's how we felt about a coming nuclear apocalypse in the cold war\nera. What's your point?\n\n~~~\ncududa\nThe common refrain I’ve heard from these type of folks is “well we were going\nto have a global ice age because the ozone was ‘being depleted’!”\n\nExplaining to them that a concerted international effort is the only thing\nthat prevented that gets laughed off.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHyper social URL shortening service - vyu.me - vyume\nhttp://vyu.me\n\n======\ncaptainsuperman\nNeat. I'll give it a try. Trending links are cool.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Inbucket 2.0.0, disposable webmail server - jhillyerd\nhttp://demo.inbucket.org/\n======\njhillyerd\nAuthor/maintainer here. I see someone else posted Inbucket four years ago, but\nit's changed a lot since then.\n\nWebsite: [https://www.inbucket.org/](https://www.inbucket.org/) GitHub:\n[https://github.com/jhillyerd/inbucket](https://github.com/jhillyerd/inbucket)\n\nInbucket was my first project in Go, and I have been slowly adding to it ever\nsince.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nLinux Trojan rears its ugly head  - helwr\nhttp://www.sophos.com/blogs/chetw/g/2010/06/12/linux-malware-rears-ugly-head/\n\n======\nalttab\nThe title is inflamatory, sensational, and misleading - albeit effective.\n\nAs others have pointed out, this isn't a \"linux trojan\" as much as it is a\n\"software source code repository hack.\"\n\nDropping a trojan into someones unguarded source repository can happen on any\nsystem. This isn't anywhere close to a \"security breach\" for linux because\npeople still had to download and compile source.\n\nThis raises an interesting question - do you trust the source you build? But\nthat's a different issue. The closest thing to Linux security issues is the\nnull pointer bug which allows arbitrary execution as root. And that's like one\nin 25 years as far as I know.\n\n~~~\nJoachimSchipper\n\"One in 25 years\" is far too optimistic (see e.g.\n<http://secunia.com/advisories/product/2719/?task=advisories> \\- the NULL\npointer bug was exploitable only from programs already running on the host, so\nmost of these \"count\" by your criteria), but yes - the article is nonsensical.\n\n------\nrbanffy\n<sarcasm>I am so scared by this. You mean, a program I run can do things I\ndon't expect it to do? Oh my... This is _huge_!</sarcasm>\n\nNo, really.\n\nAs far as we can know, every instance of Oracle RDBMS, PeopleSoft, AutoCAD,\nPhotoShop, Windows, Exchange, Office and SQL Server may harbor any number of\nbackdoors. We will never know, since, as the article points out, we cannot\nexamine the source code. And Sophos probably won't know either unless the\nmaker is lame enough to include a fingerprintable backdoor.\n\nIf you are a package maintainer, you should always get your source off the\ntagged releases in the version control system. That way you can always test\nyour build off trunk/head/whatever-the-most-current-version-is and ensure\nthat, when the next release becomes adopted, your package will be fine.\n\nIf you are a Linux sysadmin and you are not using package management, you are\ninsane. Or you will be, shortly. Even if you have to use the \"yesterday\"\nrelease, you should build your own package.\n\n------\nbediger\nThis is a few weeks old right? Where did it go from there? Are we (linux\nusers) all infected with lots of rootkits and file infectors and worms? No.\n\nThe interesting question is not \"Are linux machines infected with a cloud of\nmalware like Windows machines?\" but rather, \"What factors contribute to\nWindows malware that don't exist for Linux?\". That is, on a technical level,\nLinux is just as vulnerable as Windows. Fred Cohen did his initial experiments\non a a 4.3BSD machine in the early 80s, so we've know about the vulnerability\nall along.\n\nLinux just doesn't accumulate the uncountable legions of malware that Windows\ndoes. It can't really be \"market share\", as even at 1% of all users, Linux\ndesktops probably count higher than MS-DOS did in 1988, when the \"Brain\" virus\nswept through the population. So, this Sophos-employeed blogger should shy\naway from his name-calling, and start researching the really interesting \"why\"\nto see if it can't be applied back to Windows.\n\n~~~\nshin_lao\nOne solid technical reason is that most Windows users run as Administrator\n(root) which eases the spread of malware.\n\nIn addition, the lack of uniformity makes it more challenging to write an Unix\nvirus. You'd need to have the worm recompile itself on the target machine, as\ndid the Morris worm in 1988. That greatly increases complexity and cost.\n\nMany Windows worms target a specific client/OS pair. That means the worm will\nrequire you to run, say, Outlook Express _and_ Windows XP. That sounds pretty\nspecific, but the potential target size is so huge that the virus author can\nallow itself to be that restrictive.\n\nLet's imagine a disease that could contaminate only one human being out of a\nhundred.\n\nHow fast do you think the disease would spread compared to one that can infect\nninety human beings out of a hundred?\n\nWhy bother write a malware that has got - even if it's perfectly written - an\norder of magnitude less chances to spread?\n\n~~~\nCliffer_ny\n\"Why bother write a malware that has got ... an order of magnitude less\nchances to spread?\"\n\nThat's plain wrong. Read Rick Moen takes on the subject here:\n<http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/faq/index.php?page=virus#virus4>\n\n~~~\nshin_lao\nI don't know this Mr. Moen, but the fallacy may not be where he believes it\nis.\n\nWhen writing an exploit you need to know the kernel, libc and apache version\nto make your buffer overflow work, because memory layout is important - if\nit's a buffer overflow. There are so many apache builds, that makes things\ndifficult for a worm (but not for a targeted exploit). Not impossible, but\nmore difficult.\n\nOn Windows, the build is uniform.\n\nAdditionally, servers are less interesting targets since they are more\nmonitored and operated by administrators. If your plan is to have as many\nzombies as possible, not a good idea.\n\nLast but not least, a lot of virii and trojans use mail and the web as a\nchannel. AFAIK you don't read mails and visit web pages on servers.\n\nIf the underlying argument is that there are less virii on Linux because it's\nmore secure than Windows, this is wrong.\n\nIt's difficult to \"measure\" security and I really don't want to have a Linux\nvs Windows debate, but Windows cannot be considered as an insecure operating\nsystem anymore. User's behavior on the other hand, is still problematic.\n\n------\ngcr\n\n      The authors are now GPG-signing their releases to allow their customers to determine the validity of an archive.\n    \n\nI'm inclined to mistrust an article that calls users of an open-source IRC\nserver \"customers\".\n\n------\nnailer\nIt's an IRC daemon. Weren't half of these trojaned anyway? Most of these may\nas well have been written by the past equivalent of 4Chan.\n\n------\ndododo\nsophos anti-virus wasn't able to detect compromised binaries or source until\nnearly 2 years after compromise, just like the rest of us. sounds like\nsoftware i don't need.\n\n(and that's assuming you get their on-demand scanning working (talpa) which\nonly seems to work with out of date kernels.)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nEU – Brazil: working together towards a gold standard in privacy protection - Aoyagi\nhttp://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-14-454_en.htm\n\n======\ncryoshon\nThis kind of initiative is really great. It's refreshing to see the\ngovernments of major powers unite in order to enshrine protections for their\ncitizens.\n\nIt really paints a stark contrast with the USA-Russia-China totalitarianesque\npower bloc, though. Our government in the US is currently weaseling out of net\nneutrality while strongly pushing for omni-surveillance in addition to the\nusual drumbeat of anti-liberty measures in the name of security. Here, the\nmessage is that you have no privacy from the state, and if you want privacy\nfrom the corporate branch of the state, you're probably a criminal.\n\nI really wish we could point to this and shame our politicians into following\nsuit.\n\n~~~\ndfc\nBrazil is not a major power.\n\n~~~\ngtirloni\nIn which area exactly? Since 2005 it's been featured in the top 10 biggest\neconomies.\n\n[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomin...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_\\(nominal\\))\n\n[http://money.cnn.com/news/economy/world_economies_gdp/](http://money.cnn.com/news/economy/world_economies_gdp/)\n\nDo you mean it's not a major power in privacy-related matters? It might not be\nand all the actions from the current president could just be PR stunts but at\nleast the talks are happening in a certain direction (opposite to the US\nvision).\n\n~~~\ndfc\n\n      > In which area exactly?\n    \n\nThis question really gets to the heart of what it means to be a major power.\nIf you have to narrow the examination to focus on somethings and exclude\nothers you are not dealing with a major power. Major powers are major players\nin military, economic, diplomatic, and cultural spheres (it is important to\nnote that these are big spheres too, like global sized spheres). I have never\nheard anyone say that Brazil is anything other than a regional power.\n\nIf you are interested in learning more about power in international relations\nhere are some wikipedia entries that might be a good start:\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_%28international_relatio...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_%28international_relations%29)\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_power](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_power)\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_power](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_power)\n\nAddendum: It seems that you are from Brazil. Please do not take this\npersonally or interpret it as a dismissal of Brazil.\n\n~~~\ngtirloni\nGot it, and it makes perfect sense. Your initial comment was a bit too dry so\nI wanted to clarify. Thanks for those links, they look very interesting.\n\nBrazil aspires to be a world power but its execution is always sub par. I\nreally like the quote that says \"Brazil is the country of the future, and will\nalways be\". It is so true.\n\nWe're certainly no military (our presence in Haiti is a joke) or economic\npower (our GDP is increasing mainly due to population size and small\nimprovements in quality of life for really poor people, but industry\nproductivity and innovation are, again, a joke and not taken seriously here).\nWe like to think that in diplomatic issues Brazil has played some kind of\nmiddleman role but that's questionable (people won't give you status/credit\njust because.. and we don't even use the economic weight correctly, often\ntrying to be the good guys) and in cultural sphere.. well, soccer and carnival\nare not something I'm proud of.\n\nThanks again for your explanation, it's certainly spot on.\n\n~~~\ndfc\nThe aspirational bit is spot on and the G4 membership is a great example of\nthe bigger aspirations. When I said I had never heard Brazil mentioned as\nanything other than a regional power I kind of lied. I have frequently heard\nthat Brazil aspires to be a major power.\n\nI am glad that you did not take any offense to my comments. I actually have\nalways been interested in Brazil, the flag was probably one of the first\ncountries' flags I could recognize as a child after US, Canada and USSR (at\nthe time). My mother went to Brazil with American Foreign Service in the 60s.\nSo ever since I was a little kid I remember getting a Christmas card from her\nhost family and I have always wanted to take them up on the open offer to come\nvisit.\n\n------\nmadaxe_again\nThis is realpolitik jazz-hands with football thrown in to make light of a\ntopic of grave importance.\n\nAlso, of course, any framework set up today to control data tomorrow will\ntomorrow be turned on its head and used as a legislative basis for expanded\nintrusive activities.\n\n~~~\ngtirloni\nThe funny thing is that soccer is usually used here to distract people from\nthe real issues (corruption, privacy, healthcare, public transportation,\neducation, etc).\n\nI wonder if this \"Vice-President of the European Commission\" has any idea that\nher message will be read as \"blah blah blah world cup blah blah go team! blah\nblah blah\".\n\nI really hope Brazil loses this tournament, that the abuses in building the\nstadiums are scrutinized further and a lot of government officials and\ncompanies are punished for this ridiculous private event paid with people's\ntax money. Yes, I'm a dreamer.\n\n------\nthrowaway6637\nSo... aside from the hot air, the only concrete thing I got from that press\nrelease was that the EU politicians are so pissed that the EU court struck\ndown their draconian data retention laws that they're going to pass a new one\nthat resolves the technicalities on which the old one was struck down.\n\nAnd apparently, this is somehow going to bring the EU to \"a gold standard in\nprivacy protection\". What?\n\n~~~\nhigherpurpose\n> the only concrete thing I got from that press release was that the EU\n> politicians are so pissed that the EU court struck down their draconian data\n> retention laws that they're going to pass a new one that resolves the\n> technicalities on which the old one was struck down.\n\nWhere did you read that? Are you confusing the \"data protection\" with \"data\nretention\" terms? They sound similar but are opposite laws/movements.\n\n~~~\nthrowaway6637\nIn the article.\n\n\"These are safeguards that were missing in the EU's Data Retention Directive.\nAs a result, the Directive has been invalidated by the Court of Justice of the\nEU, Europe's highest court. The court said: the violation of individuals'\nrights was of \"vast scope and particular gravity\". One thing is certain: it\nwill be have to be revised, with greater protection included for individuals.\"\n\nSo, we really need to protect privacy better, but we're still going to\npreemptively wiretap everyone in case some of them turn out to be criminals.\n\n------\nTazeTSchnitzel\n>On data privacy, like in football, we are playing in the same direction; to\nscore a goal and win the Championship for a gold standard in privacy\nprotection! A combined EU-Brazil team can be a winner.\n\nDid that sound any better in French or German?!\n\n~~~\njusben1369\nI read it in Spanish but got stuck at \"Goooooooaaaaa\n\n------\nzimbatm\nHas anything been done to locate and disable existing tapping devices\ninstalled by the NSA ? What has been put in place to harden existing\ninfrastructures from intrusion by rogue actors ?\n\n------\ngarou\nWell... this really is something good. The 'Marco Civil' came in response to\nlaw projects ('AI-5-digital' or 'Lei Azeredo') that harm the privacy of\nBrazilian citizen. But there are negative features in 'Marco Civil' take too\nlong to be fixed. This all because was approved with haste.\n\n------\nhigherpurpose\nI wouldn't mind seeing stronger trade relationship between EU and Brazil/South\nAmerica, too. Hopefully this is the beginning of a great relationship, both\nunited against abuses of countries like US, Russia or China.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Do you journal for therapeutic purposes? - krrishd\nIf so, how effective has it been for you?<p>What could be better?\n======\nCyberFonic\nVery effective ... about 6 weeks ago I started a \"Bitch Files\" notebook. I\nmade myself the promise that when I was finished with it I would ceremonially\nburn it. It was great to dump all the disappointments, frustrations, fears\ninto it. I wrote most mornings and nights. After about a month I ran out of\nnegative stuff. Started writing positive, optimistic stuff. So I started a\nnice clean new journal for those. I still keep the BF notebook around, but I\nhaven't had anything to add for a couple of weeks now. One day soon, I'll go\nahead and burn it and set all that negativity free.\n\nI have tried writing on computer in the past. That works as well, but writing\nby hand seems to provide greater relief. Besides, I wouldn't exactly want to\nburn my computer. Doesn't matter if your handwriting is lousy. It's not like\nanybody is going to read it. But I do find it fun to flick through the pages\nand scribble over them. It is tactile and thus more engaging.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nApple Might Finally Solve Photo Storage Hell - CoolSuor\nhttp://techcrunch.com/2014/06/22/apple-might-finally-solve-photo-storage-hell/\n======\ntherobotking\nHasn't Google+ done this for quite some time now? I think at 2048 x 2048 you\ncan store unlimited photos. Odd that it wasn't one of the comparisons in the\narticle anyway.\n\n~~~\nutunga\nLots of people saying Google or Microsoft has 'done this'.. Well yes and no in\nmy personal opinion. The devil is definitely in the details and if you are\nlike me you find the existing services frustrating in their own way. (I'm none\ntoo optimistic about Apples solution either given I'm only partly 'iDevice'\ncompatible).\n\nI don't want to _sync_ my collection (have a backup in the cloud) I want to\nhave the actual backup elsewhere and keep only a small cache of photos\nlocally. My laptop SSD and phone are filled up with photos. At the same time I\nwant to be 100% confident that I have the photos somewhere, forever.\n\nGoogle+ has its own special madness of it seemingly choosing which of my\nphotos it deems worthy and not actually just syncing _all_ of them.. only the\nones it likes get 'highlighted' but even clicking into 'more' it seems (I\nswear I'm not crazy) it only actually syncs are subset of the rest. God knows\nwhy. Does not give me confidence in the solution.\n\nAlso I want to merge the photostream from multiple photo devices according to\ntime. And I do _not_ want to have to 'share' a post with an album on Google+\njust to make some photos public. Grr.\n\nIn short none of the existing solutions actually offers that kind of\nexperience, though the thing outlined in the OP is pretty much what I want.\n\n~~~\nOletros\n> Google+ has its own special madness of it seemingly choosing which of my\n> photos it deems worthy and not actually just syncing all of them.. only the\n> ones it likes get 'highlighted' but even clicking into 'more' it seems (I\n> swear I'm not crazy) it only actually syncs are subset of the rest. God\n> knows why. Does not give me confidence in the solution.\n\nI don't understand this, are you saying that not all the pictures are synced\nto the cloud or that you can't see all the pictures synced?\n\n------\nmullingitover\nWhat photo storage hell? flickr offers 1TB of online storage. Free. The only\ndownside is they are limited to .jpg uploads, but I doubt Apple would do RAW\nanyway. Seriously, $50 a year for 200GB is pretty sad. Almost as sad as being\nrestricted to 5GB of iCloud backup space no matter how many iDevices you buy.\n\n~~~\ntoddynho\nIs there some place to get it cheaper? Just for rule of thumb checking AWS\n(with their new pricing) it would cost ~$72/year for the 200GB storage alone,\nwithout factoring in any cost for transferring data, requests, etc.\n\nI'm curious if there is a way to get storage cheaper than their existing $50\nfor 200GB/year. And yes, I know Flickr is free, but I mean from some place\nwhere the pricing isn't in exchange for some \"to be determined later\"\nmonetization angle.\n\n~~~\nmullingitover\nDreamhost offers unlimited storage, and if you buy two years up front it's\n$3.95 a month (I think this might be a promo, I'm paying closer to 9 a month\nbut it's worth it). I've been with them for about ten years and they're swell.\n\n------\nMandatum\nThere is literally no inclination to how or what Apple have done to solve this\nproblem. This is paid advertising.\n\n------\nTouche\n... As long as you only use Apple products.\n\n~~~\nSpooky23\nNot necessarily a problem. I was in a hotel recently that doesn't secure their\nnetwork. Easily 80% of the devices in there were Apple devices. The next most\ncommon device was Samsung.\n\n~~~\nvayan\nYour hotel isn't the world.\n\n~~~\nSpooky23\nNever said it was. But hotels are good snapshots of particular demographics\nwhom the hotel chains target.\n\nThe people spending $250/night at the particular urban center hotel made the\nchoice that I observed on that one occasion. If that's a trend vs. a\ndatapoint, it could be very meaningful for somebody trying to sell products.\n\nPersonally, the next time I find myself in a cheap roadside place, I'm going\nto make a similar comparison.\n\n------\ninnonate\nThis latest round of updates for Apple certainly is interesting, but when's\nthe last time they got photos right? For me it was the first iPhoto version,\nand since then every \"exciting\" development has been a bust. Main reason we're\nsuper positive at Picturelife.\n\n------\nkyriakos\nits amazing how techcrunch is still respected when they keep posting badly\nresearched articles like this one.\n\nif its a paid article believe they should clearly state it.\n\n------\ncowbell\nIt's techcrunch. They live in an Apple bubble.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nHow integrated circuits were made - suraj\nhttp://dangerousprototypes.com/2011/02/17/retro-integrated-circuit-video/\n\n======\niwwr\nThe companies mentioned and their history since 1967:\n\nFairchild is still operational after a series of mergers and spin-offs.\n\nBurroughs Corporation merged with Unisys in 1986.\n\nStromberg-Carlson, at the time owned by General Dynamics, was sold in parts in\nthe following years.\n\nH. H. Scott was eventually bought out by Emerson Electronics, but vintage,\npre-IC Scott amplifiers are still popular with the audiophile crowd.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nA curated list of Chaos Engineering resources - dastergon\nhttps://github.com/dastergon/awesome-chaos-engineering\n======\nmatt4077\nNever having heard off 'Chaos Engineering', this seems like a bad case of\n'Cargo Cult Engineering'.\n\nThat starts with the term 'chaos', which has a well-defined meaning in Chaos\nTheory, where it is quite obviously borrowed from: small changes in input lead\nto large changes in output. Neither distributed systems in general, and\nespecially not the sort of system this engineering strives to build, fit that\ndefinition. In fact, they are the exact opposite: every part of a typical web\nstack is already build to mitigate changing demands such as traffic peaks or\nattacks.\n\nThe mumbo jumbo around \"defining a steady state\" and \"disproving the null\nhypothesis\" seems like a veneer of sciency on a rather well-known concept:\ntesting.\n\nA supreme court justice once said: \"Good writing is a $10 thought in a 5 cent\nsentence\". This is the opposite.\n\n~~~\ndrdrey\nHave you tried to see how that's a useful practice or are you just angry at\nthe name? It is indeed a form of testing, specifically failure/latency\ninjection testing in production systems. It allows you to test hypotheses and\nfallback scenarios, for instance: you might think that a particular dependency\n(remote call) is optional and should not affect the availability of your\nservice, running a chaos experiment lets you verify that.\n\n~~~\nmatt4077\nI'm mostly annoyed by the \"Manifesto\" for overselling a pedestrian idea with\nrather meaningless literary flourishes.\n\n~~~\ncreep\nYou can cull every method down to a \"pedestrian\" idea. We build simple\nsolutions for seemingly complicated problems. I don't know anything about\nchaos engineering, so somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but from the little\nI've read it sounds like a set of tools that expand the fuzzing idea for\nsecurity and reliability in computing systems. Fuzzing in this case would be\nthe simplest form of testing, but the given list elucidates tools that target\na desired outcome more directly, and give one more control over the target.\n\nI don't know why you are annoyed by this post.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Back end Engineers, where did you start? - cooldeep25\nBased on the thread \nhttps:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=14677303<p>I wish to know how to start and develop Expertise as a Back End Engineer.\n======\nqubex\nI guess they begin at the bottom and work their way up, but towards the back\nend... that's a start anyway. /s\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDebunking Trump's “secret server” - apress\nhttp://blog.erratasec.com/2016/11/debunking-trumps-secret-server.html#.WBie7-ErLyJ\n======\nhga\nAnd as usual, the ends justify the means:\n\n _Those researchers violated their principles\n\nThe big story isn't the conspiracy theory about Trump, but that these malware\nresearchers exploited their privileged access for some purpose other than\nmalware research.\n\nMalware research consists of a lot of informal relationships. Researchers get\nDNS information from ISPs, from root servers, from services like Google's\n8.8.8.8 public DNS. It's a huge privacy violation -- justified on the\nprinciple that it's for the general good. Sometimes the fact that DNS\ninformation is shared is explicit, like with Google's service. Sometimes\npeople don't realize how their ISP shares information, or how many of the root\nDNS servers are monitored.\n\nPeople should be angrily calling their ISPs and ask them if they share DNS\ninformation with untrustworthy researchers. People should be angrily asking\nICANN, which is no longer controlled by the US government (sic), whether it's\ntheir policy to share DNS lookup information with those who would attempt to\nchange US elections._\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIntra, Dead Simple DNS Over HTTPS on Unrooted Android - triodan\nhttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.intra\n======\ntriodan\nI found this app earlier today and it's been working pretty great. It appears\nto be developed by Google's Jigsaw[0] organization and is surprisingly\nunknown.\n\nWhere I live quite a few sites are blocked by the government and while\nDrony[1] has been quite helpful it's incredibly outdated and, as per the\nlatest update, become really ad-ridden.\n\n[0]: [https://jigsaw.google.com/](https://jigsaw.google.com/)\n\n[1]:\n[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.sandroprox...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.sandroproxy.drony)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: What are you working on and why is it cool? - type12\nI&#x27;m working on a self-service product for SaaS that predicts which users will churn, are ready to buy or upgrade. This is something I desired to have at my previous company, and I just thought this would be the right time to build it.<p>You?\n======\nkwillets\nI've been looking at Apache Arrow\n([https://arrow.apache.org/](https://arrow.apache.org/)) and trying to figure\nout how to integrate it into the browser. It's an in-memory data format, and\nthe idea is to share the same data chunks amongst various clients, but shared\nmemory in javascript got nuked by Spectre, unfortunately. I'd like for the\nsame data to be accessible from, eg, multiple tabs or session-wide without\ncopying, so it's like a shared cache that mmap's or shmat's its objects into\neach consumer on a read-only basis.\n\nIf we get this to work we make data a lot easier to play with in the browser;\nthe user can load the data once and then play with the presentation or slice\nand dice it in multiple ways without overhead.\n\n------\ndecil\nWorking on open source cache server\n[nuster]([https://github.com/jiangwenyuan/nuster](https://github.com/jiangwenyuan/nuster)),\nmigrating to HAProxy v1.8\n\n------\nNVRM\nSince many months, I am building back my very own base tools. Alternatives to:\ngrep, cat, apt, tail, head, cut, awk, sed, inotify, macro recorder, gif\nrecorder, etc... Yes, reinventing the wheel, my very own set of. It appear to\nbe an incredibly good experience. Both of my tools performs over the\noriginals, this wasn't my first goal! Using them in other projects is\namazingly faster than i can imagine. Facing real cases, I modify them to\nperform better and better. I can't advise it much than anything else. This is\nexactly what an old mechanics do. His tools perfoms over anything you can gift\nhim.. ;)\n\n------\nelliottinvent\nThanks for the opportunity for some self promotion! I'm working on a new data\nserialisation language that focuses on character efficiency. It's around 30%\nmore character efficient than JSON at a basic level but 60%+ more efficient\nfor complex objects.\n\nMinimal Object Description Language\n\n[http://www.modl.uk](http://www.modl.uk)\n\nIt's cool because MODL makes it possible to store objects in places that have\nextremely limited capacity like DNS TXT records, QR codes and RFC tags.\n\n------\nelderK\nI'm working on a bunch of lexer and parser related tools for personal use.\n\nThe reason they're cool is that it automates a lot of the tedious, error-prone\nstuff that I've been doing by hand as I experiment with grammars and the like.\n\nSure, there are a ton of tools out there to generate lexers and parse tables\nand such. But using them doesn't help me understand how they were built.\n\nAnd using them doesn't produce the same sense of accomplishment or, at least\nfor me, /depth/ of understanding.\n\nI try to document the tools as best I can so that fellow students who are\ninterested in such things can learn or make use of them. :)\n\n------\natsushin\nI'm working on a piece to go into my portfolio. It's a guidebook for companies\nnavigating crisis communication during and after security incidents occur,\nsuch as breaches. I'm only an undergrad so I don't have much experience, so a\nlot of it is compilation and synthesizing professional advice (properly\nattributed of course), but with my own recommendations and criticisms of\nspecific cases.\n\nnote: if anyone has particular advice to give me with this project, what you\nmight want to see featured, i'm all ears.\n\n------\najeet_dhaliwal\nTesults ([https://www.tesults.com](https://www.tesults.com)) - it’s cool\nbecause for teams of say 10 or more doing automated testing they can focus on\nwriting tests and maintaining automation infrastructure and allow this to\nhandle reporting. It also gets better and better every day. Just today,\nlaunched a feature where csv files attached as part of a test case (like for\ncaptured performace metrics data) are automatically visualised as scatter\ncharts with x and y axis fields being selectable.\n\n------\nojuara\nI'm working with my family managing our supermarket. It is not cool _at all_.\n\nI got a Bachelors degree in CS at UFPE. I have been studying for a while to\nget back to software developer career.\n\n~~~\nnicksalt\nYou could so some pretty cool stuff. Have you been hyper optimizing it?\n\nProduct shelve to sale ratios?\n\n80/20 type optimizations on revenue by skus?\n\nTraffic flow maps?\n\nI'd love to hear some result or stories if you do end up doing some of this.\n\n~~~\nkaennar\nDoing some basic image processing and tracking customers flow through the\nstore would be fascinating.\n\nYou could categorize what people are shopping for, how long, and what buying\none item tends to mean for the rest of their shopping cart.\n\nI'd read that paper!\n\n~~~\nejanus\nWhich paper ?\n\n~~~\nkaennar\nI was implying that it would make an interesting academic paper.\n\n------\nRikNieu\nI'm working on a brainstorming/idea generation site as a side-project. No idea\nif people would want this.\n\nWhich lead me to down the path of wondering if there are any idea pitching\nsites. In the meanwhile, I just created a subreddit(/r/ideaspitch) which could\nserve that function for the time being, just so that I can relax and focus on\nmy original idea again...\n\nSo yes, brainstorming/idea generating tool.\n\n------\nSirLJ\nAI driven stock trading robots, it's cool, because you compete in the market\nwith the smarts people on Earth every day and making good money in the\nprocess...\n\n------\ndronescanfly\nElectrical Vehicel Routing\n\nHighly theoretical stuff that let me transition well from university\n\n~~~\nejanus\nIs it possible to allow me to be part of your adventure?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nWhat do you think are the next startup trends for 2012? - augustin1989\n\nI'm interested to get everyones input on whats big to come for 2012 or even for the future in terms of start ups.\n======\nkalerzee\nAI\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDesign Philosophies of Developer Tools - fogus\nhttp://stuartsierra.com/2011/08/30/design-philosophies-of-developer-tools\n======\nSwellJoe\nI feel like a lot of problems in software come from lack of understanding of\nthings that were figured out by previous generations of developers. That's not\nto say there aren't improvements to be found in modern software projects; just\nthat sometimes there's a lot of reinventing the wheel, badly, because folks\ndon't understand the beautiful simplicity and power of the UNIX system.\n\nI suspect the fact that git exhibits a _deep_ comprehension of that history is\none reason git pretty much took over the mindshare for DVCS in record time.\nWhere it took years for Subversion to oust CVS, and numerous DVCS systems had\nbeen plodding along for years, git was the obvious leader seemingly overnight.\n\nSo many projects have vastly over-engineered interfaces and component\narchitecture and such, with a huge variety of interdependencies, often\nproudly, as though it is a benefit.\n\n~~~\ndasil003\nThe other thing about git, though, is that it's a manageable project. Linus\nthought through how he thinks source control should work, and then designed a\nrobust and brilliant repository structure first, with the tools growing up\naround that solid conceptual base.\n\nComparing that against the general madness of the Ruby ecosystem seems unfair.\nWhy not compare the state of unix utilities as a whole, which also have their\nincompatibilities? Granted, Unix and POSIX in particular are far and away\nbeyond the kind of standardization that exists in the Ruby world, and of\ncourse that leads to stable (yet powerful) interfaces that strongly benefit\nthe ecosystem as a whole, but look at the time and resources it took to get to\nthat point. Expecting that somehow the developers on a new programming\nlanguage could wade through the lessons in Unix history and somehow spring\nforth a perfect Ruby dependency solution that was nothing but an improvement\nover the past is a bit unrealistic.\n\n~~~\nSwellJoe\nI wasn't really judging the Ruby ecosystem. I don't actually know enough about\nit to know, though our Ruby on Rails and RoR application installers in\nVirtualmin have been destroyed beyond repair on all but the very latest Linux\ndistros, by the dependency chain and the very rapid change to new Ruby\nversions; mostly due to how crazy fast Ruby gems evolves and how eagerly it\nbreaks backward compatibility. I was speaking more in general terms. Every\nmajor ecosystem I can think of, from languages like Ruby, Python, PHP, and\nPerl, to CMS like Joomla (which is horrific) and Drupal, to Linux desktops,\nspend a lot of time reinventing wheels, usually badly.\n\n------\nsubstack\nReading the section on ruby reminds me of the things that I take for granted\nin node.js right now owing to the long history of package management and\nmodule systems that it builds upon.\n\nIt's super nice having the dependencies specified by semvers in a package.json\nand installed locally in a project node_modules directory so that libraries\ncan't step on each others toes.\n\nThe \"Don’t use Bundler version X with RVM version Y\" can be specified directly\nin the package.json and concurrent versions of module dependencies even work\nwithout incident in the same project.\n\n~~~\nPLejeck\nNPM is by far the best package manager ever. We all owe Isaac so much booze\nfor that.\n\n------\ndrothlis\nThe stability of most unix tools' interfaces is wonderful. With the rise of\ntools like bash-completion, even the output of a tool's '--help' option[1] or\ndebug output[2] needs to be stable.\n\n[1] [http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=bash-completion/bash-\ncom...](http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=bash-completion/bash-\ncompletion.git;a=blob;f=bash_completion;h=03d8942#l784)\n\n[2] <http://david.rothlis.net/tools/case_studies/#bash_completion>\n\n------\nPLejeck\nI would be curious to see an analysis of the Node Package Manager (npmjs.org)\nand the general Node package structure.\n\nNPM is basically encapsulated into one command (npm), and there are no ways\nfor modules to modify the way Node itself works, without the permission of\nother modules, plus NPM automatically resolves dependencies and ensures that\nthings Just Work.\n\n------\nandrewflnr\nI'm not clear on exactly what design philosophy the Ruby ecosystem is supposed\nto embody. I guess it's something to do with the way everything modifies and\nuses everything else, but it doesn't coalesce into a single idea in my mind.\nMaybe it's just a matter of my not having much experience with it.\n\n~~~\nPLejeck\nOne word: \"clusterfuck\"\n\n------\nzachrose\nHow does Rubygems modify the behavior of the Ruby interpreter?\n\n~~~\nsubstack\nPresumably by modifying `require_paths` and therefore changing how `require`\nbehaves.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\n“Website Passwords Hacked” headlines can be less scary - privasectech\nhttps://privasectech.com/2013/11/website-passwords-hacked-headlines-can-less-scary/\n\n======\ndxm\n\n      The two most common methods, md5 and sha-1 are\n      both susceptible to collisions, or birthday attacks.\n      As of writing this, I would recommend using\n      SHA-3-256 which has no known attacks.\n    \n\nDon't do that. Hashing algorithms without salt and iteration counts is a bad\nidea. Thankfully, languages and frameworks are starting to take this\nresponsibility away from the programmer (or at least they're making it easier)\n– consider using has_secure_password in Rails, password_hash in PHP 5.5, etc.\nDon't use standard hashing algorithms.\n\n~~~\nprivasectech\nThanks! I have updated the article to include a paragraph on salting.\n\n------\nmschuster91\nYou totally forget about hash salting - this way a hacker can't use rainbow\ntables or precomputed hashes for common passwords.\n\n~~~\niLoch\nI've also seen a fair bit of misunderstanding about hashes - you do not want\nto apply a global salt to all your hashes. Salts should be generated on a per\nhash basis, and should be stored within the hash itself. Most hashing\nlibraries will do this. It's usually much easier and safer to use a library\nthan to roll your own.\n\n~~~\nmschuster91\nIndeed, yes, and I do this for all my projects. But even a global salt is way\nbetter than no salt at all.\n\nThat aside, doesn't Wordpress still use lots of global salts?!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nInside the Ambitious 'Sleeping Dogs' Sequel We'll Never Get to Play - eswat\nhttps://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/inside-the-ambitious-sleeping-dogs-sequel-well-never-get-to-play\n======\nNeliquat\nUnder rated my ass. That game, and its release were an unmitigated clusterfuck\nof epic proportions. Possibly less the original devs fault than the\ndistribution, but lets not pretend the game was any good.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Weekend project got a lot of press, stupid not to put more work in? - atox\n\nI recently created a Facebook app that allows you to separate the comments from your family and friends. This was a typical sunday evening project for me and it is in a very rough form right now.<p>The app got immediately picked up by The Huffington Post, Yahoo and lots of other news sites.<p>Is it stupid that I don&#x27;t wan&#x27;t to allocate time (that I&#x27;m currently spending on my main project) for fine-tuning and marketing this, apparently very wanted, app?<p>List with articles about the app: http:&#x2F;&#x2F;mindloop.be&#x2F;portfolio&#x2F;items&#x2F;facebook-familymatters-application&#x2F;<p>URL of the app: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;apps.facebook.com&#x2F;familymattersprivacy&#x2F;\n======\nonion2k\nNo, it's not stupid. Fame, popularity, money, building something that people\nwant don't _have_ to be driving forces in your life, and if you want to do\nother things that's perfectly fine. Ultimately, you need to do the things that\nmake you fulfilled. Only you know what that would be.\n\nJust don't be a dick about it if someone else builds it. You only own the\nexecution, not the idea. Not suggesting that you would be, of course, but\npeople have done in the past.\n\n------\nxauronx\nThat seems like something that you could easily get someone else to finish as\na portfolio project and split the profits(?) on. Hell, a few years ago I would\nhave felt LUCKY if you asked me to help with it. It would seem silly to not\npursue it a little further.\n\n~~~\natox\nThat's a great idea that I didn't think about. Thanks for your help.\n\n------\nPr0ducer\nThe answer depends on what your main project is. But getting free press from\nHuffPo, Yahoo, etc., is an opportunity few will ever have, so if the main\nproject isn't something amazing or highly lucrative, I'd say it's time to\npivot.\n\n~~~\natox\nThe main project doesn't have a finished MVP yet, so hard to tell if it'll be\nlucrative or not.\n\nIt's a tool that helps affiliate marketeers better target their visitors, so I\nguess I'll have to start thinking about B2C vs B2B.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nYou're in a space of twisty little mazes, all alike - kamaal\nhttp://strangelyconsistent.org/blog/youre-in-a-space-of-twisty-little-mazes-all-alike\n======\nmrcactu5\nthis is known as a uniform spanning tree\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanning_tree](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanning_tree)\n\nthese can be sampled using Wilson's algorithm for Loop-Erased Random Walks\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loop-\nerased_random_walk#The_un...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loop-\nerased_random_walk#The_uniform_spanning_tree)\n\nHere is a nice visualization of Wilson's algorithm using d3.js by Michael\nBostock (NY Times)\n[http://bl.ocks.org/mbostock/11357811](http://bl.ocks.org/mbostock/11357811)\n\n~~~\n9ac345a5509a\nThe number of such mazes is also on OEIS under A007341:\n[http://oeis.org/A007341](http://oeis.org/A007341)\n\n------\njerf\nIt seems like it would be way easier to think about it the opposite way...\npick a space, start enumerating the possible connections it can have to its\nneighbors recursively, with a simple algorithm that won't pick already picked\nneighbors, and then read the bit string off the result. That's easily done by\nstarting with all 1s, and then setting to 0 the bit corresponding to the\nchoice you just made.\n\nEither direction is of course the same in theory, of course.\n\nMore excitingly than that, you may be able to contribute to OEIS now, if you\ncan work yourself out a few more terms:\n[https://oeis.org/search?q=1%2C1%2C28%2C12600&sort=&language=...](https://oeis.org/search?q=1%2C1%2C28%2C12600&sort=&language=english&go=Search)\n\n------\njdjdps\nI like the epilogue. I too wish I could go back to my younger self and\ndescribe this understanding. I would try to explain to myself that each\npattern can be seen as an object in and of itself. That an algorithm is a way\nto move between these objects in a specific way that marries with a particular\nhuman goal. I would try to explain that each step of an algorithmic process\ncombined can be seen independently of time as a pattern in and of itself and\nas such is itself an object. A process is a noun, a thing just as much as a\nchair or a lightbulb. I would say that in order to find an algorithm to solve\na goal, all one needs to do is imagine the shape formed by this goal and\nconstruct that shape from the shapes that are readily available to you. Be\nthem finger movements on an abacus or bitwise operations in a computer memory.\nAnd then I would explain that the universe can be seen in this way. The entire\nthing as a single object out there in phase space. I would tell myself that I\nsuspected that all possible shapes exist, that the shape of your life exists\nonly as much as the shape of a thing that you imagine while dreaming. This was\nthe understanding I have been searching for since my early teens. It is such a\njoy to have found it, I like to think my younger self would have cherished it\nas much. But I may have discarded them as the ramnlings of an old fool.\n\n------\nasdftemp\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirchhoff%27s_theorem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirchhoff%27s_theorem)\n?\n\n~~~\nkmill\nImplementation:\n[https://gist.github.com/kmill/f4f47913d036fce687bc](https://gist.github.com/kmill/f4f47913d036fce687bc)\n\nThough it counts reflections as distinct.\n\n------\nVieElm\nNow watch this question pop up on technical interviews everywhere for days\nbecause people read about it here.\n\n~~~\ndrabiega\nThat'd be great for those of us who read it and a going to interviews.\n\n~~~\nJoshTriplett\nWhich is exactly what makes it a terrible interview question.\n\n~~~\nthaumasiotes\n[http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=993](http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=993)\n\nI don't see why that makes it a terrible interview question, though. Maybe you\nwant to hire people who read about this kind of thing for fun. They may also\nhave read about other things.\n\nColleges pick their students based on basic vocabulary and 9th grade math\nquestions.\n\n~~~\njoshuapants\n> Maybe you want to hire people who read about this kind of thing for fun.\n> They may also have read about other things.\n\nMaybe, though I'd be shocked if the typical hiring process were that nuanced.\n\n~~~\nthaumasiotes\nEffective practices can work even if you have no idea why you're doing it that\nway. In fact, I'd say that that state of affairs is more the norm than the\nexception.\n\n------\ncomrh\nInteresting post, something people often ignore is talking about the failures\nthat got them to the solution but this is usually the real interesting stuff!\n\n------\nnobrains\nThe answer from the post: [http://strangelyconsistent.org/blog/images/all-\nthe-4x4-mazes...](http://strangelyconsistent.org/blog/images/all-\nthe-4x4-mazes.png)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAOC and Ted Cruz agree on bill banning Congressmen from becoming lobbyists‬ - doener\nhttps://www.newsweek.com/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-and-ted-cruz-agree-write-bill-banning-members-1440184\n======\nAlex63\nWouldn't such a law (assuming it could pass in the first place) run afoul of\nthe First Ammendment? Maybe you could ban payment for lobbying, but I would\nhave thought that \"lobbying\" and \"political advocacy\" were essentially the\nsame thing, and thus protected speech. I like Glenn Reynold's (Instapundit)\nidea: a high tax on any earnings from lobbying in the first X years after\nleaving government service.\n\n~~~\nsnowwrestler\n> Maybe you could ban payment for lobbying,\n\nThis is really what they mean. \"Lobbying\" as a term generally connotes getting\npaid to do it. When people do it for free, it's more frequently called\nactivism or advocacy.\n\nI actually think a limit on pay might be better than an outright ban. Former\nmembers of Congress have skills, experience, and connections that could be\nbeneficial for advancing a variety of social causes. It's the big payday,\ncashing-out part that stinks of corruption and undue influence.\n\n------\ndannykwells\nNot a point about the article, but I love how Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has\ncome to be referred to primarily by her mono-acronym.\n\nAre there other individuals who have been primarily known by only their\ninitials? (Excluding authors like J.K. Rowling, etc. where pen names are more\ncommon).\n\n~~~\nbwanab\nIt used to be common to refer to politicians by their initials. JFK, LBJ, FDR\nfor John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Franklin Roosevelt. It seemed to go out\nof style when we started knowing them by their diminutives. E.G. Jimmy Carter,\nBill Clinton.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nStop shitting on Wall Street - bsiscovick\nhttp://bsiscovick.tumblr.com/post/849658406/stop-shitting-on-wall-street\n\n======\nT_S_\nWall Streeters are only human. If you want to fix Wall Street you have to\ndesign a _system_ that works better, taking human nature into account. One big\ndifference between Wall Street and startups is the heavily regulated nature of\nthe financial industry. The public already has the control, but our government\ndoesn't use it effectively.\n\nI worked on Wall Street for many years before becoming an entrepreneur. My\nfingerprints were taken several times. No I wasn't being arrested, everybody's\nare taken--a holdover from the days of physical securities. I took 5 major\nexams over the years and many minor ones, in order to be permitted to do my\njob. Oh yes, the content of the exams had little to do the products I worked\non, which were all invented only yesterday. Our company had offices set aside\nfor regulators to use whenever they visited. The public never, ever heard or\nsaw the results of those visits. Our P&L had internal and external auditors\nlooking at it all the time. Only the internal guys were good, since it\nprotected managers from rogue traders. Our capital was regulated, which capped\nour risk only in a very vague way. I could go on.\n\nWhat did all this regulation accomplish? Nothing in the end. Why? Regulation\npits bureaucrats against highly paid professionals. Some bureaucrats are\nhighly motivated and intelligent (I know, I used to work with a few of them\nwhen they worked on Wall Street). But their bench is not deep and the stars\nshow up only when there are investigations to lead and headlines to grab.\n\nWe need a _system_ that pits the smart against the smart every day. It starts\nwith opening up bank operations to public scrutiny. The balance sheet you and\nI have is open to creditors to inspect. The reverse positions, held by banks,\nshould be visible to the public. Only then will privately employed bank\nanalysts have a prayer of calling bulls__t in a timely manner. If you think\nthis is some kind of socialist plot, think again. Even Friedman and Hayek knew\nthat markets can't clear without adequate information. Where do you think all\nthis volatility is coming from?\n\nWill we get this kind of transparency from the new financial reform law?\nAfraid not. All we did was put the A-team of regulators in charge--but they\nwill move on after a while.\n\n~~~\njbooth\nWe don't need a system that pits the smart against the smart, we need a system\nthat pits the smart against nature. I'm sick of zero-sum competing to leech a\nbigger share of money out of the system rather than giving it to investors or\ninvestees.\n\nSmart people should be creating things. Discover/fund a new market and get\nrich? Great! First one to see a big trend and have the guts to bet against it,\nlining up market pricing? Good, I hope you get rich.\n\nBut playing video games in order to nip the largest number of pennies off of\nactual investment is just a giant waste of time, talent and money.\n\n~~~\nT_S_\nIdeally, the efficient allocation of capital _is_ the smart against nature.\nHowever the nature of the current system injects too much noise into the\nmarkets, since trades and positions are generally secret, except as\noccasionally viewed by regulators or post-mortem as in the Madoff case.\n\n------\ndrunkpotato\n\"Stop shitting on Wall Street\"\n\nNo. Wall Street has not been shat upon enough. Banking and finance have a\nproper place in a well-run market, and that place is much, much smaller than\nthey currently are, with much less lobbying power. Until the financial sector\nis drastically reduced in size and power, we need to shit on them _much, much\nmore_.\n\n~~~\nT_S_\nI think vitriol plays into the hands of the industry. It appeals to anger,\nwhich will fade and is not focused. I think we should be analyzing _how_ to\nshrink the industry's size and influence, and design what should replace it.\nAfter all this site's readers are nothing if not problem solvers.\n\n~~~\nhga\nWell, the shrinking of the size of the financial sector is happening all on\nits own and I'm not sure we need to do anything to help that (and it's a\nfantastically dangerous and inherently politicized thing to do anyway, by\ndefinition \"picking winners and losers\").\n\nWhat I'd prefer concentrating on is reducing firms that are \"too big to fail\"\nto \"small enough to fail\". Except that that wouldn't have prevented the 2008\nfinancial crisis, it just would have changed its shape. People have this\nunfortunate pattern of group betting AKA manias that regularly produce\nfinancial bubbles and that's a system problem for which I don't see any\nsolution.\n\nWhat have we learned since the Tulip Mania, the South Seas Bubble, etc. etc.\netc. other than that we don't learn from history?\n\nAs for shrinking their influence, how do you do it to the people who are\nhandling your money? Buying your bonds (government (e.g. the Federal primary\ndealers) and corporate)? Etc.\n\nAs for replacing it, with what? What type of institutions or economic system?\n\n------\npxlpshr\nOkay. Meanwhile, 17 bailed-out banks overpaid executives with tax payer money.\nIf my startup failed, man it sure would be nice to get a $MM exit.\n[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1287195...](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128719536)\n\nWall Street needs to return to partner-driven approach like law firms instead\nof taking risks with other people's money.\n\n~~~\nchasingsparks\nSubjectively, I think the executives are overpaid in general. However, bailed\nout bank executives are objectively overpaid for the reason you stated: you\ncan't have capitalism without losses.\n\nIn fact, I don't think they shouldn't have been bailed out at all. The banking\nsystem probably had to be rescued, but bailouts mangle capitalism. Banks that\nneeded bailout should have been nationalized with the very explicit constraint\nthat they be re-privatized after the storm had passed.\n\n(Note: I mostly just parroted Nassim Taleb's argument from two years ago.)\n\n~~~\ndasil003\n_Did_ they have to be rescued? We already have FDIC to ensure the little guy\ndoesn't lose his shirt.\n\nSure, top financial experts claim that if some those big insolvent banks\nfailed then the economy would die. Well, maybe or maybe not, but most of the\ntop experts testifying to congress had an a tremendous conflict of interest\nwith regard to their personal careers and holdings. We don't have any example\nof what would have happened... somehow I doubt people would just stop\nproducing though.\n\nAlso, even if we accept that a bailout was necessary, then the taxpayers\nshould have owned those banks. The government should have seized them, purged\nthe toxic assets, and then re-privatized when the books were clear. This is,\nas far as I know, the textbook way that the World Bank recommends bank\ninsolvency be handled, recommended over and over again to third-world\ncountries, but somehow never got seriously considered when it's big American\nbanks.\n\n~~~\nhga\nActually, plenty of them _didn't_ have to be rescued; note this from the\nreport:\n\n\" _Payments largely from firms that have reimbursed taxpayers: Eleven of the\nseventeen firms the Special Master has contacted regarding his proposal have\nfully reimbursed the taxpayers. Of the $1.7 billion in payments identified by\nthe Special Master, more than 90% were made by firms that fully repaid, or\nwere taken into consideration in the Special Master's determinations regarding\n\"exceptional assistance recipients.\"_ \"\n\nI don't know what the last of that means, but the rest suggests that most of\nthese \"overpaid executives\" worked at firms that never needed a bailout, but\nwere e.g. part of Paulson's \"you are not exiting this room until you sign this\nagreement\" 3rd World dictatorship riff, which was done so that the public at\nlarge wouldn't know which companies were actually in deep trouble (a strategy\nthat was necessarily well publicized at the time).\n\n~~~\nsethg\nYes, _in 2010_ , a lot of these companies have been able to pay back the\ngovernment. But _in 2008_ the whole system of credit was seizing up because\nlenders and investors, not knowing when the next pile of shit would hit the\nfan, were panicking. We can’t send a time machine back to 2008 and announce,\n“we are from the future and we certify that you can lend to these guys at 5%”.\n\n~~~\nanamax\n> But in 2008 the whole system of credit was seizing up because lenders and\n> investors, not knowing when the next pile of shit would hit the fan, were\n> panicking.\n\nThat's true, but it doesn't imply that Wells Fargo, to pick one example,\nneeded a bailout in 2008.\n\nNote that much of the potential for panic came from a regulatory decision to\nexempt certain obligations from normal bankruptcy rules. That made an orderly\nshutdown of Lehmann impossible.\n\n~~~\nhga\nIt's hard to imagine any \"orderly shutdown\" that would have resulted in their\nbonds being worth much, especially during the process (that's Leahman's\ncommercial paper AKA ordinary borrowing, not anything exotic or toxic they\nwere selling). The Reserve Primary Fund's inexplicable overexposure to Lehman\nbonds then caused them to \"break the buck\" which started the cascading failure\nof the world's financial system.\n\n~~~\nanamax\nLehman's bonds went to 0 because all of its assets went out the door with its\nderivatives. If the derivatives had had the same status as other debts,\nincluding said bonds, those bonds would have been worth >0.\n\n~~~\nhga\nAre you really sure Lehman's bonds went to zero? _No_ one was willing to take\na chance they'd be worth something when everything was sorted out? I doubt\nthat and would like to see some evidence of it.\n\nThe problem for the Reserve Primary Fund was that their value dropped\nprecipitously; I suspect it wouldn't have mattered if they ended up at 0, 1, 5\nor 10 cents on the dollar.\n\nAs for the derivatives, when it came time to settle them, as widely predicted\nthey mostly canceled out with only (from memory) 6 billion US$ changing hands.\n\n~~~\nanamax\n> Are you really sure Lehman's bonds went to zero?\n\nThe official story is that market essentially froze, that no one would buy.\nI'd have bought everything I could get my hands on at fractions of a cent (and\npossibly more), but they didn't ask me. (After they let individuals back in, I\nthought that all of the bargains were gone, so I didn't go bottom fishing. Big\nmistake. The great deals were gone, but there were still some opportunities\nleft even when I got around to looking.)\n\nThe money that left with the derivatives may have kept the bonds at 70-80\ncents. Unless Reserve Primary was 100% Lehman, that might have been enough.\n\n> As for the derivatives, when it came time to settle them, as widely\n> predicted they mostly canceled out with only (from memory) 6 billion US$\n> changing hands.\n\nYup, but no one knew that when the derivatives were being made whole while\neveryone else waited to see what was left.\n\n------\narethuza\nI'm honestly amazed at how quickly everyone has stopped throwing sh_t at the\nvarious financial institutions that caused the chaos of the last couple of\nyears.\n\nIn the UK, where most public spending is being cut by 25% there are a _lot_ of\nunhappy people who blame this mostly on the £850B bank bailout (of course, it\nwasn't just the cost of the bailout, but it certainly didn't help).\n\nI think things could potentially get a lot uglier before they get better.\n\n~~~\nJd\nNot \"could potentially\" but \"will definitely.\"\n\nThere is a one word description that suffices to describe the problem:\ncorruption.\n\n------\nisleyaardvark\nThe author tries to explain the benefits of Wall Street, but unfortunately the\nbenefits he describes are individual in nature, \"what did _I_ learn\". It's all\nabout the skills the author gained will working in that industry, but what\ngood are those skills for? A critic of Wall Street might think that these\nskills are only \"as value extractors rather than value creators\". Edit: I'd\nrather see a more detailed explanation of how Wall Street creates value in a\npost defending them.\n\n~~~\nleelin\nI agree, the better title seems to be \"Stop Shitting on Wall Street\nEmployees\".\n\nFor the defense of Wall Street, a small start might be the capital marketplace\nargument:\n\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=973663>\n\n------\nmotters\nI'm not at all sympathetic to wall street. They relied on bad math and bogus\nassumptions, and ended up ruining a lot of people's lives in the most\nunprofessional manner imaginable, whilst absconding with a huge amount of tax\npayers money which future generations will be paying for.\n\n------\nccamrobertson\nA number of comments have hinted at it, however, I think that the key issue\nwith the article is that it does little to break down Wall St. as a _career_\nas opposed to Wall St. as a mis-regulated _industry_.\n\nI would agree with Ben that many in the startup community focus far too much\nvitriol against the profession of a financier on the Street. There is\nsignificant value in facilitating financial allocation and increasing market\nefficiency.\n\nHowever, given the financial regulatory environment that has not allowed banks\nto fail, I think that it is legitimate to take issue with the fact that Wall\nSt. as an industry is far too large and riddled with players that should have\nbeen washed out by both the S&L crisis as well as the most recent financial\nfracas.\n\n------\nMediaSquirrel\nI responded: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1541442>\n\nWall Street and Big Co. are the competition. We compete with them for talent\nand mindshare every day. And precisely because they are so appealing and have\nso much to offer, especially monetarily, we try to detract from their power\nand allure by spreading fear and talking shit. We try to make people afraid\nthat joining Google or Goldman will lead to a forfeiture of their soul. Is it\n100% rational or true? No, as he adroitly pointed out. But it is strategic and\naccretive to the startup ecosystem for us to talk such shit. It is marketing\nin its most pure and basic form.\n\n------\nubernostrum\nLet's make a deal: I'll stop shitting on them when they stop shitting on me.\n\n------\nchasingsparks\nThanks for writing this; it's been bothering me for sometime now.\n\nCommonly, the arguments are Wall Street \"doesn't create value,\" \"merely moves\nmoney from A to B,\" or \"just exists to extract wealth.\" Wall Street produces\npricing information. Wall Street produces this pricing information by moving\nmoney in markets from A to B, and extracting _some_ money as payment. All\nbusinesses exist to extract money from somewhere!\n\nGood pricing information is extremely valuable. Bad pricing information is\ndevastating. We just had a crisis caused by bad pricing information that had\nmultiple origins, including Wall Street. However, the majority of the\ninformation produced by Wall Street is still good.\n\nWall Street gets the brunt of the animosity because Wall Streeters make a lot\nof money. Furthermore, there is a severe asymmetry between positive and\nnegative perceptions. When markets are well-functioning, their success is\neasily obscured; When markets are poorly functioning, their failure is center-\nstage.\n\nBefore someone accuses me of conflating Wall Street with markets in general, I\nwould like to counter that Wall Streeters are the maintenance men of markets.\nSome of those out-sized returns on short-term trading operations help pay for\nthe fundamental research that helps produce good pricing information.\n\n~~~\ndasil003\nYou're right that Wall Street serves a valuable function.\n\nThe reason for all the animosity is because they did a _piss poor fucking job\nof it_ and then used their influence at the highest levels to convince the\ngovernment that a bailout was necessary, enriching themselves instead of\ntaking their lumps. In 1929 wall street men were jumping out windows. In 2008\nthey were jumping out planes with golden parachutes paid for by the taxpayers\nwhile vast swaths of America were losing their homes and jobs.\n\nBottom line is, Wall Street fucked up and they should have taken their lumps\nfor it. That doesn't mean everyone on Wall Street is to blame, but it means\nthat generally yes, Wall Street does deserve our scorn (as well as congress).\n\n~~~\nhugh3\nWall Street has already taken their lumps. I'd like to see feel-good\ngovernment policy take its lumps now. Specifically, the kind of policies that\nencouraged and/or forced banks to make loans to uncreditworthy individuals.\n\nAny time you hear a politician shitting on a bank, it's because they're trying\nto distract from the role the policies they advocated had in all this.\n\n------\nwheaties\nThe funny thing is that there is a lot of innovation within large companies\nthat will never see the light of day elsewhere. These inovations are viewed as\na competitive advantage so will never emerge. Sometimes engineers have\ninvented things within corporate confinement only to take those ideas and\nrefine them within the freedom of a start-up. Then there are those who speak\nof things within companies like Google who swear what they have seen in open-\nsoftware pale in comparison to what happens behind their closed doors.\n\nSpeaking of Wall Street, people need to realize that there's just as much\nemphasis on learning, evolving, and discovering new science there as there is\nin many smaller companies. The problem domain is more geared towards the\nmaths, data mining and currently low-latency systems.\n\n------\nhsmyers\nHe is right--- bankers at the level he speaks of certainly don't deserve the\ncrap handed out by the tech community. That said I'd still apply the\n'Shakespeare' solution to the rest of the corporate pyramid just after\nhandling the lawyers.\n\n------\nknown\nWall street adds value to Govt. Start up adds value to the society.\n\n~~~\nrmk\nWell said. Startups add value to society.\n\nBut society quickly discards anything that is not of value. How come Wall\nStreet still thrives? Surely there must be something that they offer?\n\nIt's Government that doesn't add value. It failed miserably at its job of\nregulation (whatever was left after glass-steagall, that is), passed highly\nunpopular policies whose results have been questionable, and now passed\nanother monstrosity that it hasn't even finished, but will leave it as an\n'exercise for the readers'.\n\nI would say Wall Street is an ugly manifestation of the perverse incentives\nthat Congress helped create.\n\n------\nmarze\nSome say Wall St is a \"Ponzi scheme\". If that was accurate, certainly one\ncould argue big changes are in order, but is it accurate?\n\nIn a Ponzi scheme, you have an organization that takes peoples money, does\nsome complicated things with it that are difficult to understand, pays\ninternal people handsomely, pays back early \"investors\" handsomely, then\nsuddenly collapses and all the investment the later investors thought they had\nis gone. This happened in 2007 before the governments of the world contributed\nin $3,000,000,000,000 keep the scheme going.\n\nThe difference between the Wall St. Ponzi scheme and your average couple-\nmillion Ponzi scheme is three-fold: the organizers are still running it\ninstead of being in prison, it is a million times bigger, and scheme insiders\nare running the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury.\n\nThis is be made out to be a natural consequence of the complicated modern\nfinancial world, but was it unavoidable? The $3T bailout works out to about\n$10,000 for every person in the U.S.\n\n~~~\nthailandstartup\nAlso the Fed can print money. Which is how the story inevitably ends.\n\nIt seems to me that the problem is created by economists winging it. I'd\nrather see a financial system designed and run by engineers.\n\n------\nlsc\neh, I think the real problem isn't wall street... the real problem is that we\nsubsidize investing to sell over investing to hold through lower capital gains\ntax rates... If I sell my company, I pay less than half as much taxes than if\nI continue to hold the company and just pay out profits to myself.\n\nthis encourages short-term thinking.\n\nIf we still want to give preferential tax treatment to investing vs. working,\nyou can do that without forcing people to sell by removing the double taxation\non dividends... simply allow corporations to write off dividends as they would\nwages, and charge owners the existing capital gains taxes. this would allow\nowners to extract value at the lower capital gains rate.\n\n------\ndyc\n\"I spent two years and a summer as a junior banker. I knew from the get-go\nthat I never wanted to be a career Wall Streeter. I viewed my time in banking\nas a continuation of my education. And you know what, from that perspective it\nwas incredible. The nearly undeniable reality is that the skills and knowledge\nacquired in banking are remarkably valuable and broadly applicable throughout\nones career. Contrary to uninformed opinion, it is not all about spreadsheets\nand powerpoints - it’s about understanding flows of cash through companies,\nanalyzing markets, thinking critically about strategy and competition, and\nimportantly, identifying and valuing opportunities.\"\n\nThis is so far from the truth. Most junior bankers come away learning little\nrelevant or valuable towards actual business and the startup world.\n\n~~~\nleelin\nI can't speak for bankers, but I can confirm a similar situation from my hedge\nfund days.\n\nI interviewed lots of interns and junior full-time folks who worked in IT or\ninfrastructure groups supporting trading desks. They all claimed it was a\ngreat experience learning how markets work, how their asset classes behaved,\netc, and wanted to move to front-office. Sadly, the vast majority were\ncompletely clueless of how the asset class worked or even what instruments\ntheir code was pushing through databases, booking systems, and PNL\ncalculators. Keep in mind I'm not faulting them for being ignorant of the\nactual trading strategy (which by design the front-office keeps a secret).\n\nFresh college candidates fortunate enough to play around with an options-\nenabled eTrade account during undergrad have far more market knowledge and\npassion for finance than say, a 2nd year infrastructure or trading platform\ncoder at a bulge-bracket bank.\n\nIt stinks that the IT guys get pigeon-holed into the least glamorous part of\nfinance, but after trying to keep an open mind for years, I can understand now\nwhy firms are so reluctant to let their back-office shift their way to front-\noffice. For anyone trying to make the move, my advice is take the extra time\nto learn about the liquid you are plumbing through the system, get truly\npassionate about the underlying finance and math, and then change firms,\nbecause your current one likely won't let you make the leap.\n\nEDIT: Responding to comment below. Hard work and a high threshold for pain\nwill get someone pretty far in finance, but I suspect not far enough if there\nis no underlying passion. Anyone who really wants big bucks and prestige must\neventually earn the pilot seat, or at least be in the cockpit (as a co-pilot).\nMaybe the saddest part of finance is that far too many people want to be\npilots and not enough are happy being flight attendants and mechanics.\n\n~~~\nJd\nI'm not sure that \"market knowledge and passion for finance than\" translates\ninto big bucks and prestige, which seems to be what most people going to Wall\nSt. are seeking.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nPay with Loop: mobile payments for unmodified point-of-sale systems - neonkiwi\nhttp://www.kickstarter.com/projects//loop/pay-with-loop/\n\n======\nneonkiwi\nInteresting take on mobile payments. There are a few questions that aren't\nanswered on this project page though.\n\n1\\. Does a 'recorded' card count as a card-not-present sale?\n\n2\\. What about card skimming? I would think this sort of broadcast would be\neasier to pick up with a less-conspicuous skimmer device. Also, if this\ntechnique gains popularity we might see people using skimmed cards through\nthis or similar hardware.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nHow to send a personal email - astrec\nhttp://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/01/how-to-send-a-p.html\n======\nalex_c\nI'm trying to figure out who the target audience is for this blog post.\n\nI get the feeling it's \"people who email Seth Godin\"...\n\n~~~\njonknee\nLike almost all of his other posts, this is directed towards marketers.\n\n------\nynd\nNo smugness intended.\n\nThis just has to be mentionned:\n\nMy Seth Godin decline letter. Thoughts?,\n<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=398293>\n\n~~~\ndpifke\nFunny, that's exactly the article I was thinking about as I read this.\n\nThe impersonal auto-response link above pretty badly contradicts the advice\ngiven here. I wonder if Seth Godin wrote the current post as \"lessons learned\"\nor just didn't feel like following his own best practices. (Physician, heal\nthyself.)\n\n------\ndaveyjohnson\nDid Seth just realize he wasn't the only one receiving all those personal\nemails directly from Barack Obama?\n\n------\nnoahlt\nNot necessarily on topic, but: when sending personal emails (not even\nbusiness-personal emails, but actual personal emails between friends&family)\ndo you include a salutation?\n\n~~~\nkirubakaran\nDear Noah,\n\nNo.\n\nThanks,\n\nKirubakaran.\n\nPS: Hope you had a merry Christmas or a happy New Year or both. If not, hang\nin there buddy!\n\n------\ndiN0bot\n> \"5. Don't send HTML or pictures. Personal email doesn't, why are you?\"\n\nuh. shouldn't you just do what you normally do? just like the \"keep your\nsalutation normal and un-merged\" rules?\n\ni personally prefer text only emails, though attachments are fine. i\nappreciate a client that permits me to \"click on\" htp://... to automatically\nsee the page rather than copy paste (pine, gmail).\n\nwhen i set up meetings with people i've never met in person before i often\ninclude a picture of myself. i sprinkle that same picture around the internet.\nmaybe interacting with strangers isn't personal, but then the whole point of\nthe picture is to make things more open, friendly and personable.\n\n------\nrokhayakebe\nBoth business and personal emails are read by people, not machines, so write\nin the same style. Just keep LOL & C U L8r 4 SMS.\n\n------\narnorhs\ni don't agree with him\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Real-time Reddit tracking and brand management - TheMask01\nhttp://www.trackreddit.com/dashboard.php\n======\nvosper\nI like the idea of a brand management app for Reddit, but when I visit this\nlink I simply have no idea what I'm looking at.\n\nEdit: The site logo doesn't take me to the home page (which it should) but\nhaving found that it's now more clear what this does.\n\n~~~\noverload119\nI agree - I use Reddit and I was still confused for a little while. I ended up\nfinding another site [0] that did a similar thing and they explained it well.\n\n\"monitor all new comments, submission titles and self-texts posted to reddit\nfor a word or phrase.\"\n\n[0] - [http://metareddit.com/monitor](http://metareddit.com/monitor)\n\n~~~\nsplintercell\nI will warn you, Metareddit keeps loosing your tracking, unless you come back\nto it every now and then. Its absolutely terrible feature they have.\n\n~~~\n2ndgreen\nsame actually happens with this TrackReddit Whenever I get back I keep having\nto re-create the tracking for some reason\n\n------\namarcus\nI really like it but, I would recommend you change your domain. Firstly, you\nare opening yourself up to trademark suite by using reddit in your domain\nname. Even if that isn't an issue, it also forces you to only work with\nreddit. Down the track, you might decide to make this turn-key and start\nintegrating with twitter, instagram etc... but, your domain name will halt you\nthere.\n\n------\nsiralonso\nI like the concept a lot - I was on a thread about the Lyft perks of reddit\ngold, and a Lyft rep was doing an awesome job of answering questions, joking\naround, and customer support. I think if companies really understand the\n(unique) dynamics of reddit, it can be one of the most powerful (and human)\nplaces to connect with people.\n\nSome feedback -\n\nI almost didn't put in the work to parse your page. Visually, it's probably\nnot the first thing you want to hit your users with. I would take people to a\nlanding page where you can clearly explain what it is you do, with the ability\nto click through to this page and see a demo.\n\nAlso, I wasn't able to add a tracking keyword as a demo user. That's\nimportant.\n\n------\nProAm\nI wonder how they are getting around the Reddit API limit of 1 call every 2\nseconds. I guess if they pull enough data back each 2 seconds they might be\nable to parse all of it...?\n\n~~~\npipeep\nThe API calls return lists of results, which tend to be long enough that it's\ntrivial to read in all new comment and post data from Reddit. I think the\nmaximum limit on the list size is 100 items, so that's up to 3000\ncomments/minute, which exceeds Reddit's actual post rate.\n\n------\ntwodayslate\nLove it and was looking for something like this. Wish there was a cheaper plan\nthough (more keywords, without the SMS etc). I'd require an email as users can\neasily make multiple accounts and never pay. This is a free service on\nmetareddit[1] as well for one-keyword\n\n[1] [http://metareddit.com/monitor](http://metareddit.com/monitor)\n\n------\nadventured\nI really like what I've seen of the product so far. One suggestion: the home\npage is a bit violent (for lack of a better word), the way the content swings\ninto place very non-subtly. I would dump all of that effect, it doesn't appear\nto actually serve any purpose - other than to be flashy - and makes it much\nharder to just read about TrackReddit.\n\n------\npapa_bear\nPretty cool, just signed up. Like everyone else said, I'd probably change the\nlink to direct to your normal landing page. Also, the animations are pretty\njarring on the landing page, especially if I try to jump to a section before\nI've been there. This is one of those times that I think just removing all the\nanimations would be a big help.\n\n------\nhighace\nGreat, but what happens if Reddit changes their API or SLA, or just plain\nshuts you out? Business = poof.\n\n~~~\nandreasklinger\nIsn't this true for pretty much any media analytics tool?\n\n------\nharryf\nInteresting but \"Tracker must be at least 5 characters long\" is a bit of a\nproblem. How to track something like \"Yo\" for the Yo App or \"Gaza\" for the\ncurrent unrest there?\n\n------\nfogleman\nNo clue what I'm looking at. ios, appletv, ipod?\n\n------\nrats\nTried to search for the mentions of \"Coub\", it tells me that search term\nshould be at least 5 characters. Oh dear.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: Why is there so little programming related content on HN? - MichaelMoser123\nIs the profession getting stale or boring?\n======\nlucideer\nAs someone who browses here most days, it seems packed full of programming\nrelated content. Perhaps this is a matter of perspective dependent on your\nindividual programming background?\n\nQuick straw poll as of right now: 4 of the top 5 on the front page are\nprogramming related (the 5th is an Ars article about Donkey Kong).\n\nOut of the entire front page 30, there's:\n\n\\- 13 programming related,\n\n\\- 5 about the use of software,\n\n\\- 1 about an arcade game (also software, I guess)\n\n\\- 2 about Google/Facebook as companies,\n\n\\- 2 about physics,\n\n\\- 1 about office space/working environments,\n\n\\- 1 about stock options (an unusually low number for a YC news site),\n\n\\- 1 about sewerage,\n\n\\- 3 about the history of spoken language,\n\n\\- and then this post.\n\n~~~\nvog\nSmall nitpick: I'd relate \"about office space/working environments,\" also to\nprogramming, because this is an important aspect of professional software\ndevelopment.\n\n~~~\nskrebbel\nYeah, and Trump's immigration policies impact the mood and even composition of\nyour team, so that's also programming related.\n\n------\nblt\nIMO, there was big churn 1990-2015 in people's attitudes about the right way\nto develop software. This manifested in lots of discussion about languages,\nplatforms, program architectures, hardware, etc.\n\nSince I started reading HN around 2010, I perceive that interest in these\ntopics has decreased. There has been convergence/compromise: some static\ntyping probably good, favor pure functions, C pointers too risky, pay\nattention to object layout in memory, comfort with phone apps, etc.\n\nI think we are entering a new era when people are going to focus more on\nadvanced applications of technology. Using technology to communicate and\nstore/retrieve data is no longer novel. IMO, HN still has a lot of content\nfrom the previous era that feels boring. It's programming content, but not\ncutting edge.\n\nEdit: not saying there is nothing interesting left to do in systems fields,\nbut the next challenges will be things like formal verification, making\nmassively parallel stuff easy, distributed systems as language primitives,\netc.\n\nEdit2: HN also has lots of good content in the latter category, just wish it\nwere a larger percentage of the mix :)\n\n~~~\nlukasLansky\nFrom my point of view, we are still firmly in the \"software crisis\" era. We\ncan build software with limited functionality in a reasonable time, but we are\nnot able to grow it without hitting various kinds of complexity ceilings\nfairly quickly. Plenty of today's software development is just a succession of\npainful choices on what to leave behind in just another rewrite.\n\nFormal verification is a way to go, but given how people struggle with\napplication of the most elementary usages of types, I am not optimistic.\n\n~~~\nsolatic\nFormal verification and other protections resulting from strong static typing\nare less popular probably because of their delayed gratification effects -\nthey're seen as unnecessarily constricting in small projects and their\nbenefits are only seen as projects are grown and maintained over long periods\nof time, so it's difficult to justify their use early in the project when the\ndecision is initially made.\n\nI think that it's easier to justify rigor in traditional engineering projects\n(i.e. civil engineering) where project delivery dates are necessarily far off\nin the future - if you need to delay gratification anyway then you might as\nwell adopt a more rigorous process. But in software engineering, where you can\nstart delivering almost immediately, it's more difficult to get project owners\nand managers to see the value of rigor, especially if the project isn't yet\nknown to have a long lifetime.\n\n------\nmichaelt\nHN suffers the same problems that almost all voting-to-rank-submissions based\nsocial media websites suffer.\n\nNamely, because each user gets one vote, having 100 users want to give your\npost 1 point is more valuable than having 10 users want to give your post 10\npoints.\n\nAs long as you've got enough technical depth that people will give you 1\npoint, it's appealing to a broad audience, not catering better to a core\naudience, that will get you to the front page.\n\nHence, there's no room on the HN front page for an article that turns a 9/10\nWhatever user into a 10/10 Whatever user - only for articles turning a non-\nuser into a 2/10 user, with little to interest a 9/10 user.\n\n~~~\nchx\nVery often this is true for books as well. There is way more market for a book\nwhich starts you on an application or language. But if you are very deeply\ninto a topic, getting to the next level won't be a book. It'll be blog posts,\nStackoverflow, blood, sweat and tears. I haven't bought a book since the 3rd\ned of Chris Date: SQL and Relational Theory (but that's a very useful book!).\n\n~~~\nwalterbell\nDo conference presentations/papers help people who are deeply into a topic?\nF2F with mentors? Would you pay for expert/advanced content development, e.g.\ncrowdfund in your niche? Alternately, would you contribute expert-level\ncontent to a crowdfunded book?\n\n~~~\nchx\nI would absolutely pay, through the nose, for a good treatise on more advanced\nSQL techniques like (recursive) CTEs.\n\nAnd also, I would contribute in depth Drupal topics, I already wrote two\nchapters of Bookzilla (aka. The Definitive Guide to Drupal 7) and also wrote\ncountless articles in the nineties, I've been a columnist later an editor of\nthe biggest computer monthly in Hungary.\n\n------\nonion2k\n_Why is there so little programming related content on HN?_\n\nMost programming articles and blog posts have _extremely_ limited appeal. They\ngenerally need to be on a platform you use, with a language you know, and\nabout an algorithm or tool you might find useful. Things that get up voted on\nHN also need to be new(ish) and broadly appealing to a group of people who are\nalso interested in startups.\n\n~~~\nbonesss\nFurther exacerbating that effect: for any particular silo or specific language\nany one programmer deals with there is already one or more dedicated language\nspecific news hubs.\n\nThose articles aren't just competing for attention here in a broader sense, HN\nis also competing for that kind of attention against core community sites.\n\n------\neesmith\nThe submission guidelines recommend \"Anything that good hackers would find\ninteresting.\"\n\nThat's more than just programming and programming-related topics.\n\nHas that really changed on HN? What was it like 5 or 10 years ago? Without\nthat information, it's hard to tell if there is even a signal from which to\ndraw an inference.\n\n~~~\njpindar\n[http://www.waybackhn.com/?date=2007-02-19](http://www.waybackhn.com/?date=2007-02-19)\n\n~~~\neesmith\nNext would be to gather statistics.\n\nHere's one statistics. Fully 10 of the first 20 links have succumbed to\nlinkrot.\n\n~~~\nmar77i\nA random fact, yet one that I still find really sad.\n\nIt's far too easy to believe that \"research in history\" would be so much\neasier in the internet age.\n\n------\nfactsaresacred\nIt's there, lots of it:\n\n[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=programming&sort=byDate&prefix...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=programming&sort=byDate&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story)\n\nSeeing nothing but posts like 'Ten functional programming secrets' and 'Why\nthis framework is the new React' would become boring fast (although these\nsubmissions are cyclical).\n\nIt's called Hacker _News_ so what typically graces the front-page of this\nwebsite is new content on topics that intersect with programming/technology.\nAnd I love it for that.\n\n------\nJedi72\nI completely agree, I got downvoted to hell in another thread for implying\nthis but I think its true - HN has grown/jumped ths shark, it used to be\nstartups people and devs and the content reflected it, now HN audience seems\nto be anyone in a slightly technical role or industry. There was a sweet spot\nfor a while where we had a lot of stimulatingand diverse comversation about\ngood topics but now I find too much noise in the feed.\n\nIf Im right (the HN admins will know by checking the user counts), maybe HN\nshould split up unto subboards, have dedicated web dev or ML sections etc.\n\n~~~\nkrapp\nComplaints about HN's quality declining are practically as old as the site\nitself[0, 1], as is the mistaken belief that HN is _intended_ to be\nexclusively about programming and technical content (leading to the mistaken\nconclusion that the presence of non-technical content is a sign of HN \"turning\ninto Reddit\", which is common enough that there used to be an explicit rule\nabout it[2].)\n\nIf you want to see better content, post better content, or put more effort\ninto the quality of your comments.\n\n[0][https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5781854](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5781854)\n\n[1][https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1198041](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1198041)\n\n[2][https://hn.algolia.com/?query=HN](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=HN)\nturning into reddit\n\n~~~\npsyc\nHN had a major Eternal September crisis in 2011, which was widely acknowledged\nby many users, and Paul Graham himself. It got to the point where he\nexperimented with the gamification aspects of the site in a token attempt to\nslow the decline. Naturally, at the time, many folks also made comments\nsimilar to yours. That was 7 years ago. The good ol' HN is never coming back,\nat least not here, but that's no justification for denying it ever existed.\n\n------\nakerro\nWhat do you mean no programming? Almost everything here is about programming\n[https://i.imgur.com/8MqGba5.png](https://i.imgur.com/8MqGba5.png)\n\n~~~\nmosselman\n\"Almost everything here\" would be 9/21?\n\n~~~\nBrakenshire\nIt's 11/21.\n\n~~~\nyesenadam\nI found it..interesting that this very story isn't tagged as being about\nprogramming in the pic.\n\n(disclosure: _Gödel, Escher, Bach_ was the first book I really loved.)\n\n------\nPiskvorrr\nMore like \"software is eating the world\" \\- everything seems to be SW-related,\ndrowning out content that's directly relevant to programming. OTOH, I've read\nmany programming articles linked from HN in the past few days alone, so from\nmy POV, there's only more other content, not less programming content.\n\n~~~\nMichaelMoser123\nwould there be a way to filter out this content? I know HN doesn't want to be\nas fragment as reddit, but I guess many of us don't have the time to sift\nthrough huge piles of submissions each day.\n\n~~~\nPiskvorrr\n[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=hn%20filter&sort=byPopularity&...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=hn%20filter&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story)\n\n------\nux4\nI think this becomes true when any programming website becomes popular. Just\nlook at reddit.\n\nHighly technical programming articles can be hard to digest and don't appeal\nto a wide audience so they get less upvotes, especially if it's about a\nspecialized language. If you really wanted to read those articles, you could\nstill find them in abundance on other programming/hacking/specialized forums.\n\n~~~\ncbHXBY1D\nThere was a noticeable drop in quality on HN after we started allowing\npolitical content. I think it's brought in a new crowd of HN users. I remember\nhow in 2006 to 2010 Reddit changed from a place mostly frequented by\nprogrammers to a place filled with memes, trolling, and politics.\n\nEdit: I generally hate the \"the past was better\" type of attitudes but I think\nin the case of HN and Reddit one just needs to look at the quality of 6 years\nago to today.\n\n------\nenkiv2\nMost of the content on HN appears to be about business, rather than about\nprogramming itself, or focuses on lucrative but technically-uninteresting\ncorners of programming (like web design). This business focus makes sense,\nsince HN is run by a VC firm and a lot of non-technical users who would like\nto run tech companies hang out here.\n\nThere's a related category: technically-uninteresting posts about technically-\nuninteresting projects that are essentially advertising for some small\nbusiness. This is probably, again, related to HN being run by a VC firm.\n\n(For context: I browse HN daily, but I never use the front page -- the values\nof the average HN user are far away from mine, so sorting by newest produces\nmore interesting content. If you find the HN frontpage devoid of posts about\nprogramming, try sorting by newness rather than popularity, since technically-\ninteresting stuff gets fewer upvotes here than wide-audience stuff about\ncryptocurrency or large corporations.)\n\n------\nrando444\nI think you've somehow misunderstood the purpose of this website.\n\nThe guidelines here describe desired content as: \"anything that gratifies\none's intellectual curiosity.\"\n\nAside from the fact that most of the content here is programming related, if\nit's not enough for you, your best course of action is to seek out actual\nprogramming forums.\n\n------\nvemv\nDefine 'boring'. Boring for me would be an homogeneous stream of code babble,\npossibly in mainstream languages that barely interest me.\n\nAlso worth noting that languages/ecosystems grow kind of slowly, HN couldn't\nbe possibly entirely filled every day with quality programming content.\n\n------\npjc50\nThe act of programming itself is surprisingly hard to talk about in a way that\nisn't boring. There are some people that livestream it and I find this\nincomprehensible.\n\nProgramming _languages_ are tremendously specific, have their own communities,\nand move slowly.\n\n~~~\nehnto\nIn the same way that architecture is more fun to talk about than bricklaying I\nimagine. One is open ended big picture stuff with interesting no real right\nanswer, the other is the finer points of a specific implementation which\ndepends on context.\n\nActual programming shop talk I normally reserve for work because it's going to\nbe different for everyone and I want to think about fun stuff when I am not\ncoding. It could still be about coding or what we can achieve with software,\nbut the nitty gritty details of coding is just too context specific for\ngeneral chatter and really works best between people working on similar\nprojects.\n\n------\nmaaaats\nCould some of the perception be because of time of day when reading HN? I feel\nthere is some different content when I'm awake (EU), compared to next morning\nwhen US has been awake and voted on stuff.\n\n------\nmontrose\nHackers aren't only interested in programming.\n\n------\nemmelaich\nPerhaps you're referring to programming in the small. In which case reddit or\na number of other websites would be more appropriate.\n\n------\nkamaal\nProgramming really is simulating the world, through code. If you don't\nunderstand the world well enough you can't be a good programmer.\n\nWhich is why programming is largely meta-math.\n\nThis also happens to make programmers some of the most awesome people. You\nhave to use various mental models to view the world in a way that help you\nsimulate it.\n\nSo we have to talk and discuss about everything here.\n\n------\nAndrewDucker\nLooking at the top ten just now, five of them are programming-related. (The\nothers are social networking, UI, computer games, physics, and the London\nfatberg)\n\nOf the next ten, another five are also programming-related. (The others are\neither business-related, about automation, or this post.)\n\nSo it looks rather like 50% of HN is programming-related. (From a tiny sample-\nsize, admittedly.)\n\n------\navip\nIt's easier to \"engage\" with non-prog stuff when you're sitting 9h/d coding.\nBalance and diversity.\n\n------\nDrRobinson\nNot really what you're asking but I like lobste.rs for more tech-focus and\nless politics/startup/other related content. Posts are also tagged so it's\neasier to find something interesting.\n\n~~~\nharel\nNever heard of lobsters before. Thanks. I'm in the IRC channel hunting for an\ninvite :)\n\n------\nbadrabbit\nInteresting,I have been asking myself something completely opposite to your\nquestion. Why is there so little of security news on HN.\n\nI mean,I have nothing against using the word \"hacker\" to mean \"someone who\nfinds new and creative programming/CS solutions\". But I find the obvious\nmeaning of \"someone who works for or against computer security\" hard to avoid.\n\nThere is so much security news going around daily that I have to personally\nkeep up with. I see little to none of that content on HN.\n\nBut I do quite often find useful programming and crypto articles,questions and\ndiscussions on here.\n\n------\nbaq\nmight be that the average hacker simply isn't interesting only in programming.\n\n------\najr0\ncheck 'show' tab for programming content\n\n------\nwomitt\nIf you are looking for more hardcore programming stuff take a look at\nlobste.rs\n\n~~~\ndualogy\nI read it a fair bit. Can you or anyone here invite me there? Been here for 10\nyears, largely reading/talking dev topics for the most part, but just never\nknown anyone personally with an account there to get me in there. Thx =)\n\n~~~\nkawera\nDone. Check your email.\n\n~~~\nbrogrammer2019\nOooooooo! If you have a spare invite can you please send one to\nweb@petercv.com ? :)\n\n------\nmarvel_boy\nAre you joking?\n\n------\nWillReplyfFood\nThe profession was always stale and boring once you become aware of the meta\ncycles and boom-busts of concepts and buzzwords.\n\nReal new concepts are rare under the sun by now. New Problems, are usually old\nproblems rediscovered by new Programmers.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nDeath match EBS versus SSD price, performance, and QoS - morganpyne\nhttp://www.mysqlperformanceblog.com/2011/02/21/death-match-ebs-versus-ssd-price-performance-and-qos/\n\n======\nspudlyo\nOne thing I got from this article is that I really have to try Baron's\ndiskstats tool. I wonder if his customer was using the cluster 4x instance, as\nit has a 10 gigabit network adapter.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nSoon Google May Free You from Having to Think at All - smacktoward\nhttps://hmmdaily.com/2019/04/02/soon-google-may-free-you-from-having-to-think-at-all/\n======\nnetsharc\nI want to write a short story (I know, I know, I'll get to it... someday!)\nthat begins with the protagonist saying \"OK Google, get me a girlfriend\" and\nfollows as Google's suggestions \"prods\" him to go to bars and events where he\nends up meeting a girl, etc, etc.\n\nLike this ad\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsSUqgkDwU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsSUqgkDwU)\nbut with the people not realizing that Google's suggestions lead them to their\nlife situation.\n\nWhen I'm at a client's site we to go to an Italian restaurant across the\nstreet regularly. My Google Maps started suggesting other Italian places\n\"because you like Italian.\".\n\n~~~\nderekp7\nThis sounds a lot like a Black Mirror episode, except in that episode the\ncharacters were actually simulated AIs I believe.\n\n------\njeromebaek\nCool gag. Predictably, the links are nonsensical. It further shows how no one\nalgorithm will outpace all algorithms, i.e. no one thought to rule all\nthoughts.\n\n~~~\nZarath\nSo the point is that if you take stuff out of context, Google search won't be\nable to properly understand the nonexistent context?\n\n~~~\njdsully\nThe solution is rather obvious, we should just ban sarcasm.\n\n------\nolivermarks\n'The Machine Stops' by E. M. Forster\n[https://youtu.be/aNRXeourusk](https://youtu.be/aNRXeourusk)\n\n------\ndevoply\nThe article amounts to little more than subversion in normal speech under\nsurveillance, it's not as if Google can't read and make at least some limited\nsense of most of things you do or say during your interactions with it. You\ncan point gaping holes in that behavior but the fact is that Google has you by\nthe balls in terms of the data it's collecting on you and as time passes it\nwill get better at making sense of lots of it, even if you can subvert it\neasily enough. Maybe it's hinting that going forward the cognoscenti should\nexercise this sort of subversive speech to confuse the AI.\n\nMachines thinking for humans was one of the hypotheses in Yuval Noah Harari's\nbook Homo Deus, he calls it dataism. To me it seems to be a recipe for how can\ncorporations can wrestle control of thinking from human beings to render them\ninto mere drones. This seems to be on the agenda of the Silicon Valley elites\nas they have seemingly adopted him as their pet historian/philosopher. May you\nlive in interesting times.\n\nI have been thinking about this and it seems that it could work but I don't\nsee how it could work considering that there is always a conflict of interest\nbetween what corporations want and what an individual or a business wants. So\nin a world where you have agents that belong to you and are required by law as\nthrough fiduciary duty to follow your interests it's possible for such agents\nto exist. But it will never work if Google or Facebook owns these agents or\nthe data on which the agents make their decisions without transparency.\n\nAlso see Autofac episode of Electric Dreams on Amazon Prime Video:\n[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6902176/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6902176/)\n\n~~~\nandrekandre\n> This seems to be on the agenda of the Silicon Valley elites as they have\n> seemingly adopted him as their pet historian/philosopher. May you live in\n> interesting times.\n\nnot sure it’s explicitly an “agenda”, but does seem like a likely outcome if\ncurrent trends continue i suppose...\n\nas an aside, the whole “think for you” is quite different than the “original”\nideal of what got the whole thing started, that is: the augmentation of human\nintellect [1], not the replacement of...\n\n[1]\n[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/medg/people/psz/Licklider.html](http://groups.csail.mit.edu/medg/people/psz/Licklider.html)\n\n------\nOrgNet\nSoon, you won't even have to push the \"I'm feeling lucky\" button, they will\njust show you whatever they want (a bit like TV).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: does your company respect your holy days/Sabbaths/anything similar? - cesarbs\n\nJust wondering what the industry is like in this regard. I don't work from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday (the Judeo-Christian Sabbath) and my company has no problem with that. Does anyone here have a similar experience? Anyone has ever had trouble with this?\n======\nhazov\nSome years ago I used to be a intern at the bank I work now, back them I was\npart of the frumkeit (I was a practicing Orthodox Jew) I got no problem not\ngoing work on on a Yom Tov (specific days within holidays in Judaism), I also\nleft early on Fridays.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nEvernote: The slow death of a unicorn - bootload\nhttp://www.businessinsider.com.au/evernote-is-in-deep-trouble-2015-10\n======\nbootload\n_\" Despite reaching 150 million registered users this year, Evernote has been\nslow to develop the revenue side of its business and is grappling with\ndepartures and cost-cutting, according to interviews that Business Insider\nconducted with more than a half dozen current and former employees of the\ncompany.\"_\n\nHow did that happen?\n\n _\" But another former employee notes that the seemingly scattershot approach\nwas not as random as it appeared. “Everything was done with intent,”\"_\n\nThe layoffs and appearance of releasing lots of products could also be\nexplained by an upcoming IPO. VCs want the founders to diversify from a one\nshot pony and get lots of different revenue streams. I've seen this happen\nbefore.\n\nDoesn't mean Evernote is a failure, won't IPO and succeed. Does hint at bad\nbusiness decisions being made in converting users from free to money paying.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nFirefox Beta 15 supports the new Opus audio format - cheeaun\nhttps://hacks.mozilla.org/2012/07/firefox-beta-15-supports-the-new-opus-audio-format/\n\n======\nest\nThis is really exciting technology. From <http://www.opus-codec.org/>\n\n> Opus codec is designed by the IETF Codec Working Group and incorporates\n> technology from Skype's SILK codec and Xiph.Org's CELT codec.\n\n------\nmtgx\nThis sounds like it would be a great match for VP8 in WebM, by replacing\nVorbis.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nNow Open: AWS Region in Tokyo - jeffbarr\nhttp://aws.typepad.com/aws/2011/03/now-open-aws-region-in-tokyo.html\n======\ncperciva\nI've released a FreeBSD 8.2 AMI in the new region now. Maybe next time Amazon\nlaunches a new region they'll give me advance access so I can have FreeBSD\nAMI(s) available without any delay.\n\n------\nveidr\nMy girlfriend came in a couple hours ago, and shook me awake as I tried to hit\nthe snooze button again. \"Hey,\" she said. \"I think you'll want to look at the\ninterweb tubes before work today.\"\n\n\"I already know about the stupid naziPad 2,\" I groaned. \"Why would I need\ncameras on something I only use in the bathroom?\"\n\n\"AWS Tokyo is live,\" she said, whereupon I pretty much vaulted over her as I\nleapt out of bed and turned on my phone and saw the announcement in my inbox.\n\nThis is really big news for us here. Even though the costs are indeed the\nhighest of any AWS region, that was to be expected--physical data center costs\nhere are the highest I have ever heard of, too. We've so far been able to play\naround with APAC/Singapore, and see what might one day be possible, but the\nlatency and variabilty of the international link were too much for the 'real'\nstuff. Can't wait to start hooking this up today.\n\nP.S. I for one am very happy with the pricing. It seems to be just as good a\ndeal, relative to running your own infrastructure, as AWS is in other regions.\n\n------\nSmrchy\nThis is great news indeed.\n\nCan anyone from Amazon say something about plans and/or an ETA for a South\nAmerican region for all those people in Brazil, Argentina, Chile etc.?\n\n~~~\njeffbarr\nI can't say anything other than that we listen to our customers and that we\nstudy usage patterns to drive decisions of this type. Feel free to PM or email\nme if you have any special needs.\n\n------\nericb\nAnyone know a shortcut to get Amazon to respond an instance limit increase? We\nwere assigned a \"sales guy\" but he has gone awol, and his voice mailbox is\nfull. Filling out the form on their website does nothing. We have been trying\nfor weeks.\n\n~~~\nericb\nWell, commenting on the blog post got me a quick response from the moderator\nand a promise to forward it over, so that's something.\n\n~~~\njeffbarr\nThat was me!\n\n~~~\nericb\nThank-you again. Gotta love Hacker News--never know who you'll find on here!\n\n------\nprakash\nHere's a comparison of various EC2 regions & other providers in the US:\n[http://cedexis.com/data/charts.html?country=223&provider...](http://cedexis.com/data/charts.html?country=223&providerType=1&chartType=all)\n\n------\nlistic\nI wonder if Japanese developers are happy with the prices. Looks like they are\nthe highest of all regions so far. (I'm interested in Spot Instances\nspecifically)\n\n~~~\nAdamGibbins\nTokyo is a very overcrowded place, I suspect data center costs are high due to\nthis.\n\n~~~\ndelackner\nHrm. They specifically declined to state the exact location of the data\ncenter. Amazon's Tokyo _physical products_ warehouse is way out in the middle\nof nowhere (near/in Funabashi) so assuming they built their own data center,\nreal estate alone may not be the source of the cost delta. It could just be\nthat they priced themselves to compete reasonably with their local\n\"alternatives\" (despite the apples/oranges quality of any such comparison).\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLittle electric car is the coolest thing at the NY Auto Show - Ultramanoid\nhttps://arstechnica.com/cars/2019/04/this-little-electric-car-is-the-coolest-thing-at-the-ny-auto-show/\n======\nexternalreality\nWhy was the 1996 EV-1 not given all this attention. It was basically shut down\nsetting back EVs 30 years.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nSingularity movie is in production, co-director is Raymond Kurzweil - bemmu\nhttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt1049412/\n\n======\nclavalle\nI wish this pseudo-technical, new-age, flim-flam of an idea would die already.\nSeriously, does anyone with a real technical background that is not directly\nmaking money off of seminars, books and articles selling this believe this\nstuff?\n\n~~~\nJeremyChase\nNo doubt. It isn't the first singularity movie anyway; Terminator, Matrix,\nEagle Eye, A Space Odyssey..\n\n~~~\nzephjc\nI wouldn't call those singularity movies.\n\nMaybe movies with transhuman/posthuman themes, but the singularity implies\nthings about the rate of technological progress - certainly there wasn't much\nrapid progress in Terminator after the machines nuked the earth (except,\nmaybe, in the production of new terminator robots, but even that wasn't fast,\nreally).\n\n~~~\nelectromagnetic\nEagle Eye was a singularity movie in potential, but in essence it was no\ndifferent than _War Games_ in that it was about a rampant AI with no\nprogression beyond. I, Robot had a far greater display of the advance of\ntechnology than virtually any Sci-Fi movie (except maybe the bicentennial man)\nand only displayed ~3 generations of robots (the replaced, the being replaced\nand the new) but is in no sense a singularity movie.\n\nI doubt we'll ever see a movie truly depict the singularity in any way other\nthan a glimpse and will be akin to virtually any sci-fi movie in any setting.\nWe might get there with a great TV series, but that's doubtful.\n\nIMO a singularity TV series would have to take the story progression of\n_Taken_ in the generation skipping, but instead of giant leaps, it would be a\nleap of decades, years and then months as technology advances up to the '2030'\nmark.\n\nFor movies we'll be stuck with a BS intro that pails in comparison to the\nintroduction of each Fallout game but will inevitably be describing similar\nevents.\n\n------\nsimon_\nIsn't a lot of the singularity idea based on flawed math? I always hear about\nand see graphs of exponential curves about to \"go vertical\", but...\nexponential curves definitely don't do that. You can zoom in on any point of\ne^x and it will look like it's about to have a singularity...\n\nIn more general terms... if ~technology has been getting better with some\nshort doubling time for hundreds of years... why is it that the NEXT doubling\nis supposed to be the really significant one?\n\n~~~\nrms\nThe last doubling was really significant. You know, instant free communication\nto humans anywhere on the world as well as instant access to the sum total of\nhuman knowledge.\n\n~~~\nsimon_\nRight, and the next doubling will be even better (twice as good!). But the\nsense that we're right on the threshold of the infinite future has probably\nbeen around at least since industrialization.\n\nFor example, that bit about instant access to people and knowledge was\nprobably said about the telegraph too.\n\n~~~\nrms\nSure, I agree. My only point is that people seem to underestimate the regular,\nnon-singularity exponential doubling. Already some aspects of science and\ncivilization have become more far-fetched than the sci-fi of 50 years ago.\nLike <http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/10/mf_optigenetics/>\n\n------\ntfh\nI've read charles stross's accelrando yesterday. One of the best books about\nsingularity. It's also free (Creative Commons License). Probably the best free\nebook I've ever read.\n\n~~~\nheed\nSort of related: this is one of the best short stories (actually it's a play)\nI've read on a singularity-esque vision of the future.\n\n<http://www.fullmoon.nu/Resurrection/PrimarySpecies.html>\n\n~~~\nMicand\nOn a similar, somewhat-related tangent: The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect\nis a fantastic novella depicting rapid change caused by a technological\nsingularity.\n\n<http://www.kuro5hin.org/prime-intellect/>\n\n------\nmartythemaniak\nReading The Singularity kinda reminded of a Neal Stephenson novel. You start\noff with well-grounded reality, you progress smoothly, then you finish and you\nwonder...wait, wtf just happened? How did I get to this wacky place?\n\nI mean, we'll all me omniscient, immortal demi-gods in 39 years? Really?\n\n~~~\ntfh\nMay be \"humanity becoming immortal demi-gods\" is like \"having flying cars\neverywhere\". It's always 39 in the future.\n\n[http://graphjam.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/song-chart-\nmemes...](http://graphjam.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/song-chart-memes-the-\nfuture.jpg?w=506&h=442)\n\n------\niterationx\nIn the movie, an AI hires Tony Robbins to help her become more human.\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Robbins>\n\nEmotional machines plot? ugh.\n\n------\nzephjc\nEh, I don't know about this. It sounds like it has a plot and conflict, but\nwill it be good storytelling? However, it's kind of cool to see so many big\nAI-community/singularitarian names in the cast credits!\n\n------\ngeuis\nI did some work earlier this year making some machinima video in Second Life\nfor this movie. From what I've seen so far, it's just a documentary-style\nmovie.\n\n------\ndrhowarddrfine\nAny movie that has co-directors means it's going to be bad. Particularly when\none of them is not in the film business at all.\n\nYes, I'm aware of the films made by \"brothers\" but those are exceptions to the\nrule.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAll the Adventures - kelvintran\nhttps://bluerenga.wordpress.com/all-the-adventures/\n======\nsteaminghacker\na bit of a challenge to play them all.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Should I move to San Francisco if I'm working on a Travel Startup? - keeptrying\n\nHey guys,<p>I am working on a travel startup and I was wondering if San Francisco would be a better place to start such a thing and maybe find a co-founder.<p>What do you think?\n======\nkeeptrying\nBetter than new York where I currently reside?\n\nSorry about that ... Been super busy.\n\n------\ndrallison\nBetter than where? As stated, your question makes little sense.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nRapper Divine Drops A Music Video Tribute To New Friend Ben Horowitz - danielbru\nhttp://techcrunch.com/2014/06/24/rapper-divine-on-his-music-video-tribute-to-new-friend-ben/\n\n======\ndavidgerard\nOh dear, namespace clashes.\n[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd2Gzkkwe9Q&feature=kp](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd2Gzkkwe9Q&feature=kp)\n\n~~~\nthomasfromcdnjs\nbaha, I fell for the same thing\n\n------\nJoshIndig\nThis is hype lol\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Mate Selection Trapdoor - jseliger\nhttp://nautil.us/issue/54/the-unspoken/the-mate-selection-trapdoor\n======\nbambax\nGreat article. This part is esp. insightful IMHO\n\n> _When the chuck evolved, it was lucky enough to exploit a hidden preference,\n> but we now see it was not uniquely attractive. Many different kinds of\n> sounds might have worked just as well; the luck of the chuck was being\n> first._\n\nMany secondary sexual attributes that we consider to be a major marker of a\nspecies likely evolved by accident. Females of a species may be attracted to\nsomething out of the ordinary (feathers on the head, an oddly shaped fin,\netc.), and the first extraordinary trait wins.\n\nAlso, accidents happen. Male Australian beetles find empty beer bottles\nincredibly attractive. Or they used to, until the shape of the bottle was\nchanged to alleviate the problem.\n\nCf.\n[https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2013/06/19/193493225/t...](https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2013/06/19/193493225/the-\nlove-that-dared-not-speak-its-name-of-a-beetle-for-a-beer-bottle)\n\n------\nstevebmark\nhas anything good ever been published on nautilus? do they just game HN to\nmake it to the front page repeatedly?\n\n------\nsandinmytea\nLooking forward to no more.\n\n~~~\nsandinmytea\nAs in, the cessation of all consciousness. This topic moreso than any other!\nCan't wait for the end of this senseless and horrid concern.\n\n~~~\nsexyfart\nYou okay?\n\n------\nSimon_says\n> It seems downright silly and certainly maladaptive for an animal to have sex\n> with a plant.\n\nYou'd expect that, wouldn't you, but recent events say otherwise.\n\n~~~\nrectangletangle\n_Since female bees are hard to come by, then it is better for the male bee to\nbe too eager to mate, and sometimes mate with flowers, rather than too\ndiscriminating, and sometimes pass up real female bees_\n\nI guess they favor recall, over precision.\n\n~~~\noh_sigh\nIsn't this just 'sperm is cheap, eggs are expensive'?\n\n~~~\nrectangletangle\nThat's probably the ultimate cause of the behavior.\n\nHowever, most insects are heavily r selected (low parental investment, lots of\noffspring). So the cost of eggs/parental investment relative to sperm isn't\nnearly as polarized as in a K selected species, e.g., humans, whales,\nelephants.\n\nThough it would seem even with a slight difference in the metabolic cost of\neggs vs sperm, and eons of time, the bee's \"search algorithm\" would be\noptimized/directionally selected toward favoring recall. A similar dynamic\nalso works behind Gause's law, where two competing species can't sustain a\nconstant population while occupying the same ecological niche, over a multi-\ngenerational timescale.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nLong-Term Consequences of Spectre and Its Mitigations - sankha93\nhttp://robert.ocallahan.org/2018/01/long-term-consequences-of-spectre-and.html\n======\nmwcampbell\n> I think it would be a grave mistake to simply give up on mixing code with\n> different trust labels in the same address space. Apart from having to\n> redesign lot of software, that would set a hard lower bound on the cost of\n> transitioning between trust zones. It would be much better if hardware\n> mitigations can be designed to be usable within a single address space.\n\nI wonder what software redesigns he has in mind. As far as I can tell, best\npractices are already trending toward only one trust zone per address space.\nSome might argue that that's the whole point of multiple address spaces. I\nsuspect that Spectre will accelerate this trend.\n\nI do know how difficult this kind of change can be. The example I have in mind\nstarted before Spectre, and is unique to one platform. On Windows, developers\nof third-party screen readers for the blind are going through a painful\ntransition where they can no longer inject code into application processes in\norder to make numerous accessibility API calls with low overhead. This change\nparticularly impacts the way screen readers have been making web pages\naccessible since 1999. For the curious, here's a blog post on this subject:\n[https://www.marcozehe.de/2017/09/29/rethinking-web-\naccessibi...](https://www.marcozehe.de/2017/09/29/rethinking-web-\naccessibility-on-windows/)\n\n~~~\ncandiodari\nAccording to a blind friend of mine, the web, despite the constant touting of\nit as being great for accessibility, has been a total disaster for\naccessibility. As you point out, windows applications have much better\naccessibility (and Microsoft still cares) than most webpages.\n\n~~~\nnils-m-holm\nI have slightly impaired vision, so I need a 30pt font to be able to read\ncomfortably, and the web is already a disaster in terms of accessibility.\nThere are lots of sites that I cannot use, because of overlapping content,\nunreadable text, hidden buttons, etc.\n\n~~~\nFnoord\nDoes Firefox \"Reader View\" feature help you in any kind of way? Or is it that\nreading isn't the issue, but browsing around is?\n\n~~~\nnils-m-holm\nReader view often excludes figures that are important for understanding a\ntext, so this unfortunately is not an option for me.\n\nI have set my font size to 32pt and do not allow web sites to use smaller\nfonts or typefaces other than my preferred one. Also, I have set text color to\ngreen on black, which is easiest to read for me. You would not believe how\nmany web sites do change background color, but do not set text color, leaving\nme with bright-green on white text. :/\n\nThen, a large font causes components to overlap, rendering text and buttons\ninaccessible. Disabling style sheets does not always help, either (and turns\nevery modern web site into a complete mess). Semantic web? LOL.\n\nJavascript, as others mentioned, is a huge problem, because it somehow seems\nto be able to bypass my font and color settings. I have it turned off all the\ntime now and just do not visit sites that require it. Well, more time for more\ninteresting things! A silver lining in every cloud! :)\n\n------\nandreiw\nOne thing curiously missing from this article is ARM’s laudable in-depth\nanalysis - [https://developer.arm.com/support/security-\nupdate](https://developer.arm.com/support/security-update), and their efforts\n([https://developer.arm.com/support/security-\nupdate/compiler-s...](https://developer.arm.com/support/security-\nupdate/compiler-support-for-mitigations)) to bring in architecture-neutral\ncompiler intrinsics to address variant 1.\n\n~~~\nroca\nPerhaps I probably should have mentioned that, but I think the array index\nmasking approaches are going to prevail.\n\n~~~\nandreiw\nThat’s assuming the only thing you want to prevent is speculative bounds\noverrun. Even with masking, you can still leak the secret in the array from\nthe path not taken? Do you see evidence of gcc or clang gravitating to the MS\napproach?\n\nIn many ways, spectre is one more kind of attack on code that doesn’t properly\nseparate validating untrusted input from acting on that input, except unlike\noverruns and TOCTOU races, this is microarchitectural.\n\n------\nAnimats\nThe article is by someone with no involvement in the CPU business. We need to\nhear from CPU architects and manufacturers. This is a fundamental CPU design\ndefect and needs to be fixed in silicon.\n\n~~~\nfyi1183\nI'm not a CPU architect, and I'd agree with you that Spectre variant 2 should\nbe fixed by CPU designs, simply because software is helpless against it.\nLuckily, fixing it shouldn't be too expensive, it just requires tagging the\nBTB with the trust zone.\n\nBut Spectre variant 1 is really a consequence of the CPU working correctly.\nFor a large number of branches, perhaps most, we _want_ loads to proceed\nduring speculative execution. This is because the code accesess the same or\nclosely related data on both sides of the branch, so priming the caches during\nspeculation is very valuable even when the branch is mispredicted.\n\nI remember reading a study of different binary search implementations which is\nprobably the clearest example of this: when the data is laid out in a heap\nlayout (with child nodes next to each other in an array) the branchy variant\nof the code performs better than the branchless variant due to this cache\npriming effect.\n\nWhat CPU designers could and should probably help with is providing\ninstructions to cheaply mark the (comparatively few!) cases where this\nspeculative execution behaviour leaks secret information.\n\n~~~\ncesarb\n> What CPU designers could and should probably help with is providing\n> instructions to cheaply mark the (comparatively few!) cases where this\n> speculative execution behaviour leaks secret information.\n\nHow can we, as software developers, find these cases in our multi-megabyte\ncode bases, and how can we be sure we haven't missed any?\n\n~~~\nfyi1183\nYou could ask the same question about any class of security bug, so\nunsurprisingly I'd answer more or less in the same way.\n\nFor example, if you're paranoid, make your compiler be conservative, in the\nsame way that you might address buffer overflows by using a language/compiler\nthat inserts bounds checks everywhere.\n\nIf you're less paranoid and/or more worried about performance, invest in\nstatic analysis tools or languages with augmented type systems. After all, you\nonly have to worry about Spectre variant 1 when handling attacker-controlled\ndata. Tracking type info like this is already done by existing static analysis\ntools.\n\nFinally, if you're not handling attacker-controlled data at all - which is the\ncase for a lot of performance-sensitive code - you really don't want to (and\ndon't have to) do anything about Spectre variant 1.\n\nBy the way, this is really the big difference between the two Spectre\nvariants, and why it's a shame that they fall under the same name. Variant 2\naffects _all_ code with indirect jumps/calls, even code that doesn't ever\ntouch attacker-controlled data. That's a _huge_ difference between the\nvariants.\n\nAnyway, the bottom line is that you shouldn't punish the performance of all\ncode over a class of security bugs that a lot of code isn't affected by.\nBuffer overflows haven't stopped us and shouldn't stop us from writing\nperformance sensitive but security uncritical code in unsafe languages either.\n\n~~~\nAnimats\n_You could ask the same question about any class of security bug, so\nunsurprisingly I 'd answer more or less in the same way._\n\nNo. the problem here is that the code isn't wrong. The CPU is wrong. Whether\nor not the CPU will leak data depends on the make and model of CPU. Most MIPS\nCPUs and many ARM CPUs don't have this problem. Some AMD x86-type CPUs may\nnot. It has to be fixed on the CPU side.\n\nThis could introduce Intel to a world auto manufacturers know well - recalls.\nIntel has been there before, with the floating point bug.\n\n~~~\nfyi1183\nYou don't actually have an argument though. Why is the CPU wrong? Because you\nsay so? And btw, you're wrong about this not affecting ARM or AMD. It affects\neveryone with speculative execution (we're only talking about Spectre variant\n1 here - if you're confused about that, please go back to my first comment in\nthis thread).\n\nLook: When other side channel leaks were found, e.g. people recovering RSA or\nAES keys from plain cache timing without speculative execution, maybe there\nwere people similarly arguing that it's the CPU's fault. They lost that fight,\ntoo. Today, the uncontested consensus is that cache timing leaks are the\ncode's fault, for good reason.\n\nBecause what are you going to do, stop building caches? Obviously not, they\nexist for very good reasons. The same is true for speculative execution. What\ndo you expect CPU people to do? Rip that out entirely? Be real. (Please,\nseriously think about that: what is it that you actually want CPU people to\ndo? Don't just handwave!)\n\nThis kind of discussion is why Linus Torvalds regularly flames security\npeople.\n\n------\nphkahler\n>> browsers are trying to keep the problem manageable by making it difficult\nfor JS to extract information from the timing channel (by limiting timer\nresolution and disabling features like SharedArrayBuffer that can be used to\nimplement high-resolution timers), but this unfortunately limits the power of\nWeb applications compared to native applications.\n\nI don't see a problem with that. \"Web applications\" are inherently untrusted\ncode. If it were not for untrusted code these attacks would not be an issue,\nso it doesn't seem unfair for a mitigation to negatively affect them.\n\n~~~\ntomp\nI consider any computer platform that cannot run an \"untrusted\" application in\na manner that doesn't endanger its user (within certain limits - e.g. it's\npractically impossible to limit what _kind_ of internet traffic the\napplication can do, or what kind of scams it can make the user click through),\na failed computer platform.\n\nIn particular, browsers could always run JS in a separate process that's\nappropriately virtualized (i.e. has limited access to host information and\nresources).\n\n~~~\ntaeric\nThis leaves a big hole. Many malicious packages will solicit trust from the\nuser.\n\nThat is, we seem to be plagued by misplaced trust moreso than untrusted\napplications.\n\nThe analogy to civil engineering is we trust building makers. Few of us enter\nbuildings we don't trust to stay up around us.\n\n------\nmoyix\nIt's interesting to pair this with Adrian Sampson's (an academic who works on\nhardware architecture) thoughts, particularly his musings about other vectors:\n\n> The second thing is that it’s not just about speculation. We now live in a\n> world with side channels in microarchitectures that leave no real trace in\n> the machine’s architectural state. There is already work on leaks through\n> prefetching, where someone learns about your activity by observing how it\n> affected a reverse-engineered prefetcher. You can imagine similar attacks on\n> TLB state, store buffer coalescing, coherence protocols, or even replacement\n> policies. Suddenly, the SMT side channel doesn’t look so bad.\n\n[http://www.cs.cornell.edu/~asampson/blog/spectacular.html](http://www.cs.cornell.edu/~asampson/blog/spectacular.html)\n\n------\nmehrdadn\nCould someone please explain to me why there is so much focus on Spectre\nvulnerabilities in Javascript and not really any on HTML/CSS, when it seems\nthat a server could also be able to cause the client to perform speculative\nexecution via pure HTML? Or is it not possible for some reason? The focus on\nJavascript as though it's somehow special is rather baffling to me, making me\nwonder whether I'm really understanding the fundamental issues. (?)\n\n~~~\nSir_Substance\n>The focus on Javascript as though it's somehow special is rather baffling to\nme\n\nOne of the most common ways major ad networks get compromised to the extent\nthat they serve malware to hundreds of thousands of web users (this happens at\nleast once a year) is that they hotlink to JS libraries, that hotlink to JS\nlibraries, that hotlink to _more_ JS libraries.\n\nIf you use a script blocker, it's not that uncommon to see that once you get\ndown far enough, scripts are being loaded from bare IP addresses rather than\ndomain names. Every now and again, someone compromises one of these deep-\nnested hotlinked JS files and maliciously modifies the javascript, and random\nsites all over the web dutifully serve the malware.\n\nIt's not that I don't trust the first-party website owners, more like I don't\ntrust their friends friends friend.\n\n~~~\ndhimes\nThis is so annoyingly true. So when you start to allows scripts because you\nneed the website to work, you reload and then see a bunch of new scripts were\nloaded that you didn't see before. It's a total shitshow.\n\nEDIT: I would love a list of minimum required scripts for certain sites. It's\npainful to fight through what I need- and I really resent it when I am a\nPAYING FUCKING CUSTOMER.\n\n------\nfaragon\nIn my opinion, the worst long-term consequence will be that even having newer\nCPUs with the issues fixed in hardware, we'll have a performance impact\nbecause of code compiled to work with both old and new CPUs. Just like the\ncase of having a new CPU with fancy features unused because of code compiled\nto be backwards compatible.\n\n~~~\njosefx\nIntels C compiler could generate code that detects CPU features at runtime\nyears ago, I think the current GCC can do the same. Binaries only have to\nbecome a bit more bloated to store both versions of the compiled code.\n\n~~~\nfaragon\nRuntime checks cost CPU cycles as well.\n\n~~~\nem3rgent0rdr\nThe runtime check only needs to be done one during program execution.\n\n~~~\nfaragon\nSo you mean having two executables in one? A la Apple \"fat executables\"?\n\n~~~\njabl\nNo, it's on a per-function basis. On program startup it does the necessary\nchecks (CPUID etc.) and sets up the function pointers appropriately (see the\nIFUNC mechanism in the linker).\n\nSee e.g. [https://lwn.net/Articles/691932/](https://lwn.net/Articles/691932/)\n\n~~~\nfaragon\nThat's OK for code e.g. you know it could benefit from SIMD usage. However you\ncan not tag every function of user code for safe/unsafe mode. Also,\noptimizations would increase the mess (inlining, unrolling, etc.). Generated\ncode would be a \"Frankenstein\".\n\n------\nbrndnmtthws\nI doubt Intel will be lowering their prices, or refunding anyone a portion of\nthe price of their previously purchased CPUs, that's for sure.\n\nLook what happened after the VW diesel scandal ('dieselgate'): VW had to pay\nfor repairs, and pay buyers (my friend bought one of the cars and got about\n$6k IIRC). Some people even went to jail.\n\nIntel (or any other CPU maker) will probably not suffer similar fates. This\nsituation is a bit different, because they may not have known about the\nproblem. Still, everyone who bought a CPU is going to get a 10-30% performance\nhaircut because they made a mistake. And Intel isn't going to have to pay for\nit.\n\n~~~\nacranox\nVolkswagen deliberately engineered their cars to falsify government emission\ntests. What intel did was negligent. Volkswagen was malicious. These are very\ndifferent. I don’t see them in remotely the same boat.\n\n~~~\nAnimalMuppet\n\"Negligent\" is even too strong.\n\nPer dictionary.com, the legal definition of negligence is \"the failure to\nexercise that degree of care that, in the circumstances, the law requires for\nthe protection of other persons or those interests of other persons that may\nbe injuriously affected by the want of such care. \"\n\nWhat Intel did was not recognize that a specific attack possibility existed.\nNobody else recognized it either, for a decade. That's not negligence. That's\nfailure to be omniscient.\n\n------\nleoc\nObligatory: [https://millcomputing.com/topic/meltdown-and-\nspectre/](https://millcomputing.com/topic/meltdown-and-spectre/)\n\n------\nfulafel\nDoes anyone know how things are going in GPU land? Don't they support\nconcurrent separate protection domains these days too?\n\n~~~\ndeepnotderp\nNo OoO speculation though.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThe Silent Power of the NSA (1983) - shalmanese\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/27/magazine/the-silent-power-of-the-nsa.html?pagewanted=all\n\n======\nstevewillows\nThe last paragraph tells the tale of why this article has emerged again.\n\n\"No laws define the limits of the N.S.A.'s power. No Congressional committee\nsubjects the agency's budget to a systematic, informed and skeptical review.\nWith unknown billions of Federal dollars, the agency purchases the most\nsophisticated communications and computer equipment in the world. But truly to\ncomprehend the growing reach of this formidable organization, it is necessary\nto recall once again how the computers that power the N.S.A. are also\ngradually changing lives of Americans - the way they bank, obtain benefits\nfrom the Government and communicate with family and friends. Every day, in\nalmost every area of culture and commerce, systems and procedures are being\nadopted by private companies and organizations as well as by the nation's\nsecurity leaders that make it easier for the N.S.A. to dominate American\nsociety should it ever decide such action is necessary.\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: What accomplishment are you most proud of? - empressplay\nThis could be developing a piece of software, creating a website or webapp, writing a book, founding a company, obtaining a credential, or whatever else you&#x27;re most proud of.<p>Tell us about it! Inquiring minds want to know... =)\n======\nsteven2012\nMy parents came from a third world country extremely poor. They struggled to\nensure that my siblings and I received a good education along with good\nvalues. My own family is now in the top 1% of earners in the US, so our family\ntree went from poor to well-off in one generation.\n\nWhen my parents come to visit us, I know how proud they are and I'm proud that\nI didn't squander the opportunity that they worked so hard to give us.\n\nI'm not sure what my kids will do but I intend to instill the same values of\neducation, working harder than anyone else, and having good values into them.\n\n~~~\nnicksellen\nCongratulations for your hard work and achievements :)\n\nI presume you know other people with your background that haven't managed to\nachieve this, do you have any insight into what the differences are?\n\nInnate abilities? specific values? good luck? - I can imagine the general\ndifferences, but the specifics are really interesting to me.\n\n~~~\nsteven2012\nEmphasis on education, but a lot of very hard work. Intelligence will get you\nsome of the way, but hard work is everything.\n\n------\nattheodo\nI managed to tell my dad how good of a father he was to me and how much I\nappreciated everything he gave me and taught me... one day before he passed\naway. An honest deposit like this isn't as easy as it sounds.\n\n~~~\ndaw___\nI'm really happy you did. I hadn't had this chance with mine, suddenly died\nfrom a stroke on his way to work. I really, really hope that he had the time,\nin that very fraction of a second, to realize how great he was. And speaking\nof \"things you're proud of\", I really wish time stopped for one more fraction\nof a second that day to give him the chance to look back and feel proud of\nwhat he did, one last time.\n\n------\nSuperPaintMan\nI dropped out of this scene after burying myself in\ntechnology/networks/programming for over 10 years. I didn't realize it, but my\none-pointedness on programming harmed almost every other aspect of my life.\nSure I could tell you how to do amazing things with a computer, but could I\nsuccessfully get your number? Not a chance in hell.\n\nInstead I picked up a paintbrush, got a night job at a hotel and now I oil\npaint for 5-6 hours out of my day. I'm exercising, talking to friends, being\nsocial. And just like my terrible paintings, my other skills are improving.\n\nI did have a close second though, a little project called Samsara that brought\nzero-click downloading to iTunes. Once set up, getting new music is as easy as\nplugging in your iDevice. It is written in Go, binds Last.FM, TPB and\nTransmission together and runs a daemon. The gist of the program is that it\ngrabs your recommended music, scrapes TPB for it, Downloads it, Shovels it\ninto your iTunes library, and auto-syncs it with your devices over wifi. It's\nbeen running for the past few months with no errors, and my music is fresh.\nEven has an option to constrain the downloads to releases in the past two\nyears. InstaHipster.\n\nI never got around to packaging it up as it was the last real project I was\nworking on. Just trying to find drive to work on it was a pain. If anyone\nwants the code, send an email to zeropointer@icloud.com , If someone wants to\ntake the project off my hands and polish it up properly and release it. It's\nall yours.\n\n~~~\nbrador\nYou could link that to shazam somehow to get some real magic. Imagine, you\nhear a song, tap a button, it records, recognizes, finds, downloads and files\nit away into a new music playlist ready for listening at your leisure.\n\n------\nlambdaelite\nMy Ph.D. dissertation.\n\nAlthough the sheepskin, title, and bound book are neat, the real prize is the\ndissertation. After years of struggling with the unknown, I teased out from\nnature a small secret that no one else in the world knew. Telling that story\nthrough the dissertation (and defending it!) was a life-changing experience.\n\n------\nnir\nGetting my first start up job. I couldn't afford to stay in college. Had zero\nprofessional experience in anything related to software. Bought an HTML book\nand got a photocopy of a JavaScript one, created a demo site on a floppy disk\n(1998) and showed it at my job interview. Was hired for the lowest rung\nposition, worked my up to Web team lead.\n\nI will always be grateful for my boss for taking a chance on me, which is why\nall the bullshit, risk-averse \"hiring process\" discussions always get to me. I\ntry to give people the same break I got, and it's surprising how often it\nworks.\n\n~~~\nleesalminen\nI had a similar experience in 2009. I'll never forget that one guy who took a\nchance on me.\n\n------\ndaeken\nOverall: Getting out of my hometown. Almost everyone is born there, lives\nthere, and dies there. I wanted to get out from an early age, and I managed to\ndo it at 17, after dropping out of school to take a job.\n\nPersonal: Managing to keep my bipolar in check (more or less) and be happy. I\nhave a girlfriend who means the world to me; few things can match up to that.\n\nCareer: Discovering and disclosing the Onity hotel lock vulnerability. The\nremediation of that bug may have legitimately saved lives; it's certainly\nsaved property.\n\n~~~\ntuna-piano\nHonest question. I just read a bit about the Onity lock vulnerability, and it\nstates that the hack was released to the public before Onity had a chance to\nfix it. If true, wouldn't that put people and property at risk?\n\n~~~\ndaeken\nYes, it did put people and property at risk -- and also forced their hand. It\ncost them an enormous amount of money to fix the bug, and if I had not gone\npublic with it and put substantial pressure on them, it's very likely that we\nwould be in a courtroom right now, as they attempt to keep it secret.\n\nThe bug existed for nearly 20 years, affecting over 4 million hotel rooms. I\nknow beyond a shadow of a doubt that they knew about this vulnerability at\nleast 10 years prior to my disclosure, having seen proof of that (in the form\nof a diagnostics device for dumping the memory of the locks, produced by TESA,\nthe precursor to Onity). I've never seen proof that it was known before then,\nbut given the nature of the bug, I'd be amazed if this wasn't known when the\nprotocol was designed.\n\nIn short, this was the only way that I knew to guarantee that people would be\nmade aware of this bug. Three years later, I couldn't be more confident that I\nmade the right decision.\n\n------\nvisakanv\nMost proud of? I think the fact that I'm married to a person who loves me and\nis happy to be with me.\n\nAccomplishments I've enjoyed on hindsight– getting my band on a pretty\nestablished local stage, doing standup comedy and getting a great response,\ngiving a lecture to a group of University students about ecommerce marketing\n(I've never been to University myself, so that felt awesome), having blogposts\nI've written get to the frontpage of HN and widely shared on Medium, etc.\n\nBut mostly– earning the respect of people I respect. It's an ongoing process,\nof course, but probably the most fulfilling.\n\n------\njbrooksuk\nThis is tough for me.\n\nCareer wise, I'm currently working on Cachet\n([https://cachethq.io](https://cachethq.io)) and am blown away by being able\nto provide software that thousands of people actively use.\n\nAlthough it may seem silly, I stopped a small, young lad from being picked on\nby some bigger lads. They were hitting him and calling him names. It hit home\nbecause I remember being in the exact same situation and nobody helped me. I\ngot out of my car, told them to leave him alone and took him home in the car,\nwhich I didn't think anything of until afterwards.\n\n------\nbane\nLeaving a negative, zero-opportunity home environment with about $200 in my\npocket and putting myself and my wife through college, university and grad\nschool while working full-time in career progressing employment that's gotten\nme involved in deeply impactful work.\n\nAfter years of skirting close to poverty and receiving no help from either of\nour families, and coming out more educated and wealthy than anybody in my\nfamily history, through nothing but determination, hard work and a few\nsprinkles of luck. I now own a great home, in a fantastic neighborhood, am\n_almost_ debt free (house and all). But being able to also enjoy life at the\nsame time, to follow some of my passions, travel, enjoy food and art and wine.\n\nI've now found myself in a position where I've done the career, and I'm\nbacking off a bit to relax, learn and enjoy pure simple work for a change.\n\nThe life I live in now has exceeded any possible life I ever expected to live\nas a child. I'm incredibly proud of it.\n\n------\nwalshemj\nWell back a few years ago I got 1500 people a better pension.\n\nIn terms of my day job IT Fixing a 2 mill shortfall for BT and Finding a bug\nthat was costing total jobs 1/2 a mill a week.\n\n------\nChuckMcM\nI am most proud of my kids. They will be positively impacting the world's\nissues long after my passing. And as a result of being a parent I've come to\nappreciate that creating a good practice for solving a problem is much more\ndurable than solving the problem, because problems are never \"solved\" they\nmutate like viruses and re-appear in a slightly different form which is\nresistant to the previous solution.\n\n------\nlisper\nI got over my fear of talking to homeless people by making a movie about them:\n[http://graceofgodmovie.com/](http://graceofgodmovie.com/)\n\n~~~\nhugocaracoll\nGreat work! You should add some sort of social sharing widget.\n\n~~~\nlisper\nThanks! Yes, I should do that :-)\n\n------\nphil3k\nI am proud of being married to my better half. Over the course of the last 2\nyears I learned that no job, money or any other success in career can make you\nhappier than the person you love.\n\n------\nqw3rtman\nI'm a 15-year-old who wrote a fairly successful (800+ stars on GitHub!)\nwrapper for Git.\n\n~~~\nParadoxOryx\nThat's fantastic!\n\n------\nnish1500\nI was working as an accounting intern, making $80 a month in a third-world\ncountry. I taught myself how to code, dropped out of college, and make a good\n6-figure living.\n\nBefore the age of 22, I earned my freedom, and discovered what I truly love in\nlife.\n\n------\nandersthue\nThat I after (too) many years of trying a lot of different theories, finally\nfound a way to manage my employees without me having to sleep poorly and be\nunhappy.\n\nI have told several others about the way I run my business now and everyone\nreponded very positive (7 companies are running using the method) so of course\nI am turning it into a business at www.timeblock.com\n\n~~~\njtfairbank\nLooks really interesting on the surface, but there are few actual details.\nGuess I have to wait for the mailing list content.\n\nA note: your email address signup form doesn't appear with AdBlock on. I had\nto open an incognito tab to sign up. ([http://timeblock.com/sign-\nup/](http://timeblock.com/sign-up/))\n\nFinally, I'm digging the innovation coming out of the Nordic countries. Had\nthe pleasure of studying abroad in Sweden last year and took quite a few trips\nto Copenhagen.\n\n~~~\nandersthue\nThanks, I hope it will continue to be interesting when you dig deaper, let me\nknow if you want to know more.\n\nIt is strange about the adblock!\n\nIf you are ever in Copenhagen, ping me and I'll offer you a cup of coffee!\n\n------\ncclements\nI've been fortunate enough to enjoy success in the tech field, but by far the\naccomplishment that I'm most proud of is that I was able to bring friends with\nme. This isn't something that I ever would have envisioned starting out that I\nwould be this proud of.\n\nI grew up in a very small town in the US with not a lot of opportunity and\nlucked into getting hired by an information security firm in a bigger city\nback when many companies had never heard of firewalls. I had close tech savvy\nfriends from back home that were struggling and was able to convince my\nemployer to hire them.\n\nSince then, they've become very successful in their own right. Yes, they are\nvery smart and have worked hard, but knowing what I do now about the power of\nnetworking and getting the right opportunity at the right time, I like to\nthink that how I was able to help them made a huge difference in how their\nlives turned out.\n\n~~~\ndarkmighty\nThat is really cool, I know some really good people that I hope I can help\nsome day too\n\n------\ncek\nBeing married 24 years with two college age kids who appear to be turning out\njust fine.\n\n------\nfreefouran\nI'm most proud of my compiler for my programming language, it's still in the\nworks, but the fact that it does somewhat work and I made it from scratch\nmakes me happy :)\n\n------\nrokhayakebe\n1) Endurance and the understanding that \"this too shall pass\" in both good and\nbad situations.\n\n2) Teaching myself programming (LAMP). Not because it was a major\naccomplishment, but simply because it taught me everything else can be learnt,\nfrom Economics to Philosophy to Arts to Biology to Quantum Mechanics.\n\n------\nbjelkeman-again\nGetting over a hundred thousand wells mapped in government and NGO programs in\nAfrica, Asia and South America. And this is only the beginning. Soon to be\nreleased as open data sets. [http://akvo.org/blog/over-one-million-surveys-\ncollected-with...](http://akvo.org/blog/over-one-million-surveys-collected-\nwith-akvo-flow/)\n\n------\nemil0r\nFor all time: That I still stretch myself, even when it's painful.\n\nRight now: How far we have gotten with Realty Africa, a property crowdfunding\nplatform dedicated to Sub-Saharan Africa. The response we have gotten on the\nground has taken us completely by surprise and the potential market is\nmassive. (Shameless plug: we are raising the final money for our startup costs\nat [http://igg.me/at/PCA](http://igg.me/at/PCA))\n\nSoftware: reverie/CMS. Currently at the end of a rewrite, but I'm fairly\npleased with how far it's gotten. Writing a cache manager is a serious puzzle\nthough!\n([https://github.com/emil0r/reverie](https://github.com/emil0r/reverie))\n\nFamily: My wife. She's amazing :)\n\n------\nsonabinu\nMaking sure my family (better half and three kids) got to do everything they\nnormally did while I was doing my MS program. Big shift from Finance to\nEngineering and the learning on all fronts constantly, both family power and\ncomputing power has been amazing!\n\n------\nsuttree\nI taught myself to code by post/mail.\n\nI didn't make the smartest choices when I was young(er), but I turned that\naround, found a career, ended up co-founding a company and making a cool game\n([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nethernet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nethernet))\nthen started a new company to help people figure out wtf they can do with\ntheir lives ([https://www.somewhere.com](https://www.somewhere.com)).\n\nSaying that though, the stupid robots I built, the side-projects and the\narticles in Hack Circus mean just as much.\n\nOf course, pride comes before a fall so, yeah, cheers.... ;)\n\n------\nkrishna2\nI got in to CMU for my Masters. Mustered up the guts to quit my job and do it\nfull time. Because I wasn't a citizen (or PR) back then, I didn't get any aid\nand had no savings at all. I got myself five credit cards and paid my fees\nwith that and then managed to do balance transfers between them and maintained\na low interest rate (< 4%) and paid it all within 3 years.\n\nI mentioned this as my \"hack\" in one of my YC applications and the few who\nreviewed my app (prior to formal application) all said, \"oh this is a known\ntrick. it has been used before\". Anyways, I am still happy and proud that took\nthe plunge, did my masters and I am better for it.\n\n------\nmanidoraisamy\nWhen I was 13 years old, my dad had a heart attack and was admitted in\nhospital for 2 months. My mom had to accompany him in the hospital and we did\nnot have an earning member in the family during that period. We also didn’t\nhave health insurance to cover the hospital expenses.\n\nWe owned a shop where me and my younger brother used to help my mom during\nweekends. With that experience, we ran the shop and took care of the hospital\nand living expenses. That's one accomplishment I am proud of till this day.\n\n~~~\nhugocaracoll\nI think those are the real accomplishments.\n\n------\nwsc981\nI see myself as a a producer and at the same time there's not anything I've\nproduced that I'm very proud of. But at the same time I feel in my future is\nstill my time to shine, so I keep working on improving myself.\n\nWith the above in mind, I guess I'm currently most proud of my decision last\nyear to become freelancer. I feel as a freelancer it will be easier for me to\nreach my goals in producing some great software in the future.\n\n------\ncpt1138\nLately the thing I would honestly say I'm \"proud\" of is my ability to keep a\nconsistent A+ on the Qualsys SSL server test. I know that sounds weird, but\nthe effort is far outside my normal skillset. For things that come relatively\neasy for me or things that I am motivated to do and work really hard at, I\ndon't ascribe any \"pride\" to that.\n\n------\ngalfarragem\nMost proud of? Having been truly happy during some moments of my life.\n\nHappiness is the ultimate goal. To achieve it, all areas of your life must be\npositively aligned. Even if luck might have an important role in some of these\n\"positive alignments\", is improbable that luck is taking care of all of them.\nSo, it means that, at least, you must be doing some things really well.\n\n~~~\nhugocaracoll\nThat's an accomplishment reserved only for the enlightened ones. Maybe you're\nonto something :)\n\n------\nashokgelal\nMade LightPaper, Octohub, and SpyGlass apps [1]; all side projects. Some of\nthese even made to the front page of HN. Also, first one from my family from a\nthird world country to go to college and get a degree (in Computer Science).\n\n[1]: [http://www.ashokgelal.com](http://www.ashokgelal.com)\n\n------\nallard\nSwam upstream so a few kids had a connection from their Pacific island-nation.\nTwo would be in this 100 —\n[http://www.articulab.justinecassell.com/projects/jrsummit/in...](http://www.articulab.justinecassell.com/projects/jrsummit/index.html).\n\n------\nporter\nWhen my grandfather's caretaker embezzled multiple 6 figures from his estate\nand his kids mismanaged it...I stepped in, took over, and fixed everything.\nKnowing how thankful and proud my grandfather was made the feeling of success\nand accomplishment so much more visceral than anything else I've done.\n\n------\ncodecurve\nEither being 21 years old with a degree and a company or becoming a proficient\nmusician as a self taught guitarist.\n\n------\nkenrick95\nOne of them is having created a game, submitted to HN, received positive\nfeedback and stars at the repo :)\n\n[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8886897](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8886897)\n\n~~~\nsmtddr\nwow, is the CPU perfect? I cannot beat it. I keep ending up in a situation\nwhere the AI can beat me on its next turn in 2 different ways so I can't block\nboth.\n\n~~~\nbencoder\nTry playing columns 4,2,3,4,6,2,3 - seems to play always the same up to here\nbut then sometimes plays different, but it's trivial to win after this state -\nthe AI seems to \"give up\"\n\n~~~\nkenrick95\nIt's not perfect. Yeah, I actually don't know why the AI seems to \"give up\"\nrandomly.\n\n------\nmahouse\n[http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=7520](http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=7520)\n\n:-)\n\n------\nnodelessness\nMaking a wordpress plugin that got 120k downloads. Someone deploying it as a\nsoftware service offering. Felt good.\n\n------\ngiis\nlinux tool that i wrote without adequate knowledge of file-system and internet\nconnection. Later Receiving FOSS awards and featuring in Linux\nmagazine(Jun-2008 edition)\n[http://www.giis.co.in/LFY.png](http://www.giis.co.in/LFY.png)\n\n------\nxasos\nThe fact that I have failed so many times, but thankfully live in the US,\nwhere opportunities are abundant.\n\n------\nrikkus\nLiving with dignity.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: How can I give my idea for free and sell myself as its developer? - pawnhearts\n\nI had an idea for a tool but I&#x27;m not interested in investing money on it, not because I think it&#x27;s not worth it, but because I have no knowledge about how I would run my own business, find investors, advertise the product, sell the product to customers and so on.<p>Do you think is it worth yielding an idea to someone who can succeed in making money out of it, provided that you will be working on the code and to be sure to have 6-8 months of guaranteed work?<p>Thanks<p>Edit: poor grammar\n======\narisAlexis\nYou have two options. Find someone to hire you as a programmer and pay you.\nSecond is to find a partner that will do all of these things called non-\ntechnical co-founder and share potential profits. That means that you will\nneed to work in parallel with some kind of other job that gives you money to\nsurvive and build this as a side project. If you think it is a good idea and\ncan work and generate money I would go for the second option.\n\n------\nJSeymourATL\nYou might find the James Dyson story instructive. Beyond simply inventing and\nbuilding his products, he also had to teach himself the vital business\nfunctions (sales, marketing, business development, legal, raising capital,\netc...) necessary to grow his company.\n\nBefore you 'give away' your idea, it may be worth reading>\n[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/955045.Against_the_Odds](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/955045.Against_the_Odds)\n\n------\nblaurenceclark\nI'd be happy to talk bclark8923@gmail.com I'm a developer who likes the\nbusiness side of things haha\n\n------\nkiraken\nI'm a developer, leave an email and we'll talk aladin.bensassi@gmail.com\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nVHSdecel - Vancouver Hack Space Startup Decelerator - Tiktaalik\nhttp://vhsdecel.com/\n\n======\nNovaS1X\nAhh! It's nice to see VHS mentioned on HN.\n\nI've only been once when I was visiting Vancouver for the summer but I had a\ngreat time and everyone was very friendly. After numerous beers, spilling a\nbeer on my laptop (thank you Thinkpad water-resistant keyboards!), and having\nsome very good discussions on micro-controllers I ended up stay there until\n4am helping setup the network in the new space. All in all I had a great time!\n\nI definitely suggest to anyone interested to check it out. The best thing you\ncan bring with you is an open and curious mind!\n\n------\nbradleysmith\nI've always believed this 'move fast and break stuff' mentality was a load of\ncrap; it's nice to see a hackerspace promoting an idea of slowing down and\nbuilding things for the sake of building them. Hope to check it out in\nVancouver some day.\n\n------\njlas\n> A university exists to tell you you aren't good enough. You fail.\n\nReally? I am quite fond of the time I spent in school - it kicked my ass and\nmade me quite employable.\n\nI for one definitely appreciate hacker culture, but this anti-university\nmindset is nonsense.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDetect Memory Leaks with LeakCanary - ingve\nhttps://realm.io/news/droidcon-ricau-memory-leaks-leakcanary/\n======\nparth16\nWe adopted LeakCanary the day it was released but we don't find it useful at\nall. In fact, it makes the app almost unusable for us. Every 2-3 mins, it\nwould just freeze the app to capture a heap dump. As our app is quite\ncomplicated with a big memory footprint, this just aggravates the problem. I\njust hope it was more usable.\n\n~~~\nherbig\nI've found LeakCanary incredibly useful at rooting out context related leaks\nyou probably wouldn't otherwise think of.\n\nIf you look under \"no-op dependency\" you'll find a solution to the issue\nyou're describing.\n\nI've found it useful to have a leak canary specific build flavor or type,\nwhich only I ever see. For all other debug / production build leak canary is\nnot initialized.\n\n------\nMickydtron\n\"That's terrible, and no one should do that.\" I find that I really enjoy talks\nthat go through some of the antipatterns before showing the way they are\nshowing off. It both helps build a pattern match of when I should be thinking\nabout their solution, as well as being entertaining.\n\n------\nchambo622\nI heard Pierre give a talk about LeakCanary at Square this summer. It's an\nimpressive tool and I'm already seeing it become a standard recommendation\nfrom Google engineers and DevRel people. Props to Square for another awesome\nopen-source offering.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nOracle Open Sources Java EE TCK - javinpaul\nhttps://github.com/eclipse-ee4j/jakartaee-tck\n======\ntyingq\nHad to look it up.\n\nTCK == Technology Compatibility Kit\n([https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_Compatibility_Kit](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_Compatibility_Kit))\n\nWhich leads me to believe CTS is compatibility test suite.\n\n~~~\njsiepkes\nThe TCK's have always been the center of much discussion / cause of friction\nin the Java community. Although most discussions were about the Java SE TCK,\nnot the EE TCK. All this friction goes back to the Sun days. Apache Harmony\nwas probably the pinnacle of TCK friction. This is the open letter the Apache\nfoundation send to Sun:\n[https://www.apache.org/jcp/sunopenletter.html](https://www.apache.org/jcp/sunopenletter.html)\n\nI realise that Oracle only open sources the TCK because they no longer want to\ncarry the burden of EE (can't say I blame them) but its still ironic that Sun\nnever wanted to release most TCK's and now Oracle releases the EE TCK.\n\n------\nnewscracker\nHonest question since I’m not knowledgeable about this. Is this even something\nanyone cares about, considering how Oracle has treated Java and its other\ninheritances from Sun? If yes, how?\n\n~~~\nasaph\nCertainly Java EE is far less interesting than Java SE. Even huge\n\"enterprises\" steer clear of the \"enterprise edition\".\n\n------\nasaph\nWhat is Oracle's motivation for doing this? Good will?\n\n~~~\njsiepkes\nOracle has been working on cutting EE loose for some time now. Its actually\npart of The Eclipse foundation now and its called Jakarta EE.\n\nThere are a lot of legacy Java EE deployments so it will stick around for\nquite some time. Though in most new settings people just use Java SE.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Places to advertise for a UI/UX Designer? - dawson\n\nI have placed an advert on Dribbble and LinkedIn and wondered if there is anywhere else HN recommends to advertise for a fulltime UI/UX designer? (based in London). Thank you.\n======\nayers\nI have come across a few that might be helpful to you:\n\n<http://roundabout.io/>\n\n<http://hackerjobs.co.uk/> \\- Run by fellow hacker news members\n\n<http://workinstartups.com/>\n\n<https://elevatedirect.com> \\- For contractors\n\n------\nwhy-el\nWell the whoishiring account runs a monthly thread[1] where you can post your\nads. I think this month's thread is still active. In any case come August and\nyou have not found your designer, consider posting there. It works.\n\n[1] <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4184755>\n\n------\ndsawler\nAuthentic Jobs, 37signals, elegant.ly\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: How Many Applications Received from Who's Hiring Posts? - burger_moon\n\nI&#x27;m a job seeker, and I&#x27;m curious about how many job applicants you the employers are seeing from your posts on the monthly Who is Hiring threads.<p>The number of companies posting jobs has been increasing every month this year (I&#x27;m assuming as the site gets more popular) which would indicate there is also many more job seekers coming here every month applying.<p>I&#x27;ve been relying on just this site for finding jobs for a few months now and haven&#x27;t had a breakthrough yet, so I&#x27;m curious if I&#x27;m just a low quality applicant or is the competition really that fierce.<p>Post from throwaways or don&#x27;t include your company&#x27;s name if you don&#x27;t feel comfortable. I&#x27;m just interested in seeing some numbers.<p>Thanks.\n======\nloumf\nWe probably need a little more information to help. In my experience, I got\nenough very close matches from past companies (1 or 2) that I didn't need to\nlook at other promising candidates. The number of applicants is irrelevant --\nwhat matters is the number of good applicants that are a match for what I am\nlooking for and I only need 1.\n\nThere is generally a shortage of engineers, but you still need to find a good\nmatch for what you can offer.\n\n1\\. Are you applying to jobs where your skills/level/location match what was\nbeing advertised?\n\n2\\. Is that clear from your application? Did you write a custom cover letter\nthat specifically draws attention to the match?\n\n3\\. Generally what level are you? What is your strongest tech stack/language?\nLocation?\n\nI recommend trying out other places. I got my current job on\ncareers.stackoverflow.com -- if you need an invite, email me at loumfranco on\ngmail. There is also hired.com.\n\n------\nrskinner\nWe have Greenhouse as an ATS and use custom links for sources. Here is what\nI've measured since beginning to use this channel. Overall, it competes evenly\nwith AngelList on volume and funnel performance.\n\n59 applications since 12/14\n\n15.3% interview rate\n\n1.7 % hire rate\n\n------\nIpV8\nI've posted a couple adds and usually get 0-5 hits. I think that it has to do\nwith what time you post, how exciting the post sounds, and what technologies\nare being used.\n\n------\nsmeyer\n>I've been relying on just this site for finding jobs for a few months now\n\nAny particular reason you're not using anything other than this site?\n\n------\ncowpig\nIt's hard to say, because not everyone lists that they came via HN in their\napplications, but probably ~100.\n\n------\ngiaour\nI've always gotten between 0 and 2.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nIs multicore hype or reality? - iamelgringo\nhttp://embedded.com/columns/technicalinsights/205918952?pgno=1\n======\nspitfire\nThe more interesting point made in that article wasn't about multicore. But\nwas actually about the distance from the CPU that memory is from the modern\nCPU. Remember when programmers were hand counting instruction timings and code\nsize on their 386? Well that's become even more important today.\n\nIf you can get your code size into L2 (or even better L1), you can win a\nfactor of 1000x speedup. One reason why I still use a compiled language.\n\n~~~\nHexstream\n\"One reason why I still use a compiled language.\"\n\nNitpick: There's no such thing as a \"compiled\" or \"interpreted\" _language_. A\nspecific language _implementation_ (a runtime) might be more interpreted than\ncompiled or vice-versa, but even if some language traditionally only provides\ninterpreting or compiling implementations, there's nothing preventing someone\nfrom writing one in the other style, though the nature of the language might\nmake some approaches less appropriate.\n\nIsn't there this IronRuby that runs Ruby, a traditionally interpreted\nlanguage, on the JVM in compiled fashion? Also, I'm sure Lisp was considered\nfor a long time an interpreted _language_ but today there are fast compiling\nimplementations available such as SBCL. I'm sure there are many more examples.\n\nA compiler is really just a partial evaluator (correct me if I'm wrong?).\n\n~~~\noconnor0\nIronRuby is for .NET. JRuby is for the JVM.\n\n------\nmishmash\nHere's the print link, let me know if this isn't cool here on HN.\n\n[http://embedded.com/columns/technicalinsights/205918952?prin...](http://embedded.com/columns/technicalinsights/205918952?printable=true)\n\n~~~\nambition\nIt's generally preferred to submit the print link in the first place when\navailable. So, yes, it's cool here on HN.\n\n------\nnazgulnarsil\nbeyond the aforementioned embarrassingly parallel problems I don't think we'll\nsee much performance increase once we reach the point where each app/process\nis running on its own core.\n\n~~~\nJulianMorrison\nOn my Linux machine, not even a server but just a desktop, there are 111\nrunning processes. There's room for growth in multi-core yet.\n\n~~~\nwmf\nDon't you mean there are 111 sleeping processes? It's unlikely that a desktop\nwould have so many runnable processes.\n\n~~~\nJulianMorrison\nAh, my use of \"running\" was misleading. That's just a crude line count of the\n\"ps ax\" listing. (And I probably counted the header line - d'oh!) Yes, most\nare sleeping.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThe End of China’s Economic Miracle? - tokenadult\nhttp://online.wsj.com/articles/the-end-of-chinas-economic-miracle-1416592910\n\n======\ncalebreed\nInteresting article, thanks for posting! While I agree that there has been\nover-extension with regards to infrastructure development especially in\nresidential housing, one thing I think we should remember is the power the\ncentral government in China holds to change course when necessary, even when a\ncrisis has not yet occurred (imagine living in a country that can ground all\nflights for a day with no explanation and people take that as par the course:\n[http://on.wsj.com/1wVToAd](http://on.wsj.com/1wVToAd)). A similar point on\nover-extension could have been made about US expansion in the 2000s being\ncompletely attributed to the debt-induced US housing bubble, but our\ngovernment had no focus or institutional power to stop that until the crisis\nhad already occurred. In this case at the governmental level, China, with its\nability to set long term policy and pre-empt crises, might have a leg up.\n\n~~~\nseanmcdirmid\nCorruption is endemic in the ruling class who own much of China already. It\nwill be really hard for the government to turn themselves and their families\nfrom winners into losers...so the effects of whatever reforms they take will\nprobably fall on the have-nots, who might not take that very well.\n\n~~~\ntokenadult\nIt's good to hear from an observer who has been in China in recent years on\ntopics like this.\n\n------\naustinz\nThis is an excellent example of what is wrong with China journalism today,\ndrawing sweeping conclusions based on a handful of cherry-picked anecdotes.\nFor an article with actual analysis, try\n[http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2014/11/chinas-i...](http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2014/11/chinas-\ninterest-rates).\n\n~~~\ndroope\nYes, this article is terrible.\n\n\"Shift the economy toward innovation? That is the mantra of every advanced\neconomy, but China’s rivals have a big advantage: Their societies encourage\nfree thought and idiosyncratic beliefs\"\n\nWhich can be translated to \"this people are different from us, how could they\never be successful?\"\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nGroupon stock sinks to new low, investors sue - joejohnson\nhttp://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120404/NEWS08/120409912/groupon-stock-sinks-to-new-low\n======\nguptaneil\nAs a Silicon Valley native currently living in Chicago, I've always found it\ndisappointing that Groupon is the poster child of innovation and\nentrepreneurship in Chicago. They seem to lack a solid business plan and have\na history of deliberately misleading investors and businesses. Far more\nimpressive companies, such as 37signals or GrubHub, are based here that\ndeserve that kind of attention instead.\n\nI very much doubt the legitimacy of this story, but I was in a barbershop a\nfew weeks ago, where the owner told me about one of the Groupon executives who\nwas in the shop earlier. He was saying we shouldn't expect Groupon to be\naround in 10 years because the company's plan is to collect as much cash as\npossible, fire everybody, and shut down, keeping the money for the investors.\nWhile I doubt a Groupon executive would have actually said that in a\nbarbershop, I can believe that actually was their long-term plan, but if\nthings keep up at their current rate, I'm not sure if Groupon will even last\nthat long.\n\n~~~\npbreit\n> I was in a barbershop a few weeks ago, where the owner told me about one of\n> the Groupon executives who was in the shop earlier\n\nGreat source!\n\n~~~\ntptacek\nI don't know why this was downmodded. It's trenchant. Nobody on HN seems to\nlike Groupon, but that doesn't make this kind of ridiculous hearsay more\nvalid.\n\n~~~\nfuryofantares\nI'd guess it's due to the sarcastic tone. If he had your made your post\ninstead I think it would be faring better.\n\nWhat really gets me is the barbershop post actually admits that it's very\nunlikely for the source to be telling the truth, then goes on to give it\ncredit anyway because it agrees with his own speculation.\n\n~~~\nlarrys\n\"He was saying we shouldn't expect Groupon to be around in 10 years because\nthe company's plan is to collect as much cash as possible, fire everybody, and\nshut down, keeping the money for the investors.\"\n\nBecause the problem isn't the source (the barber). It's the idea that a\ngroupon executive would have said something like this to his barber,\nphysician, plumber etc.\n\nMaybe bragging to his call girl, maybe to a friend when drunk (and was\noverheard) but it's ridiculous to think someone would say something like this\neven in jest.\n\n------\nQuizzy\nThey should have unloaded this fraud on Google when there was a $6 billion\ncash offer sitting on the table (assuming that was true).\n\nThe fact that Google even offered that much leads me to believe that they have\njumped the shark with that offer.\n\nAnybody who knows anything about retail would have studied the business model\nand realized that this was not sustainable. Obvious red flags: 1\\. Heavy\nreliance on field sales (the largest expense), which is NOT scalable 2\\.\nExclusive reliance on repeat sales as the key driver of sustainability: this\nbeing the obvious case, did Google not do its due diligence and actually\nsurveyed past Groupon customers? Such a siimple survey would have easily\nrevealed the issues of this \"local deals\" model. 3\\. Heavy reliance on \"small\nbusiness\" owners as the driver of revenue. This is a sensitive and fickle\nmarket, where even slight movements in the general economy will cause huge\nmoves in spending patterns.\n\nThese 3 points were readily available to anybody with some insight into this\nsegment; Google with all its money must be surrounded by \"yes\" men, nothing\nelse could explain it's willingness to part with $6 billion so quickly.\n\n~~~\nnakor\nI'm not sure if they actually could have sold the company to google even if\nthey wanted to. My understanding is that you must open your books to the\nprospective buyer after a certain stage and it is likely that once the google\naccountants had a look at Groupons books the deal would have fallen through.\n\nThat could have created negative press and damaged their pump-and-dump\nstrategy for the IPO.\n\n~~~\nQuizzy\nExcellent point.\n\n------\ntptacek\nMy perception is that these kinds of shareholder suits are trivial to file,\nand that they occur regularly any time the stock of any public company drops\nsignificantly after some event about them hits the news.\n\nIt would be interesting to see someone chart this.\n\n(No comment about Groupon's long-term viability is being implied here).\n\n~~~\nbhousel\nAs someone who builds legal matter management software for large publicly\ntraded companies, I can confirm that your perception is correct.\n\nPublic companies are sued all the time for this kind of stuff. These lawsuits\noften allege misrepresentation in a company's SEC filings.\n\n------\nvictork2\nWho would have imagined that groupon had a future? It worked on the novelty\neffect and it was doomed to fail.\n\nOn the other hand, Chicago business is full of bugs. Ghostery block 13 (!)\ncalls to different websites such as: Quantcast, 24/7 real media, Outbrain\netc... I won't visit this website again. I wish I was warned of that before\nhand not when I go to the website, I value my privacy more than going there.\n\n~~~\nzaidf\n_It worked on the novelty effect and it was doomed to fail._\n\nA little premature to write an obituary of a company that finished 2011 with\n1.6B in revenue.\n\n~~~\nohashi\n1.6B in revenue is pretty meaningless if you're not even making a profit. They\nare simply really good at losing a lot of money.\n\n~~~\nzaidf\nIt's \"scary\" and \"even\" dangerous one may say, but _not_ meaningless.\n\n~~~\nohashi\nYou are correct, it's not meaningless, I should have said: Simply having\nrevenue isn't a defense for a company if they are spending more money than\nthey are bringing in.\n\n------\nsnorkel\nWho would guess that there could be an integrity issue with a company that\ntried to invent new accounting rules where marketing costs don't appear on the\nbalance sheet? You'd have a crystal ball or a brain to see this coming.\n\n~~~\nlubos\nMarketing costs are not supposed to appear on balance sheet.\n\nI don't really watch this company but if I remember correctly, their way of\ndoing accounting was to show all received money from customers as income\ninstead of liabilities since they were collecting half of it on behalf of\nvendors.\n\nThey were simply inflating their revenue but it's not like it matters, because\nprofit (loss) would be always the same regardless.\n\n------\nbfrog\nPlease. As if anyone with half a brain couldn't see this ponzi scheme on the\nblowup train of doom. Who are these magical investors?\n\n~~~\ndantheman\nIt's not a ponzi scheme.\n\n~~~\njasonrr\nSimply stating it is not a ponzi scheme doesn't advance the conversation in a\nmeaningful way in my opinion.\n\nIt's really just semantics at this point. There is a lot of evidence here that\nsuggests systematic misleading (if not out-right defrauding) of investors. So\nyou while you are technically correct, I think what Groupon has done is in the\nspirit of Ponzi even if it is executed differently. What's happened here is\nmore than just a bad business plan executed honestly producing poor results.\nJust because we don't have the exact word for it doesn't make it any more\nethical.\n\n~~~\nQuizzy\nJason, your gut instinct is correct. Groupon is a Ponzi scheme in every way:\nlast customer in gets no money out. I feel sorry for that Mom & Pop pizza that\npaid $1,000 to run a Groupon deal, and expecting $300 back in 60 days, only to\nsee Groupon go belly up and get nothing but a letter that says \"Please send\nyour creditor claim to the bankruptcy trustee listed below\".\n\n------\nfasteddie31003\nPeople I know who currently work for Groupon say that the culture there is\nfalling apart. To get the numbers investors expect the sales people need to\nreach unrealistic sales numbers. Management is grasping at straws, trying\nevery trick in the book to not let the whole thing fall apart. The Groupon\nmodel is simply not sustainable, it was a onetime gimmick.\n\nAs someone who lives in Chicago, I am worried about its failure and with that\nthe future of the tech scene in Chicago.\n\n~~~\ntimjahn\nGroupon is a large part of the tech scene here in Chicago, contributing a lot\nto the scene.\n\nBut they're not our sole pillar any more. I think we all know that pillar is\ngoing to come crashing down in the near future, and we're ready.\n\nGroupon helped propel us to where we are, and we're standing on our own now.\nIn my opinion, the future of tech in Chicago will not solely depend on\nGroupon's activity.\n\n~~~\ntedkalaw\nI chatted with some engineers from BrainTree and I was impressed at their\ncommitment to helping build the tech scene in Chicago.\n\nIt's an exciting time.\n\n------\ndiogenescynic\nThey should be going after the SEC for allowing this company to IPO in the\nfirst place. Going public used to be a privilege, now it seems too easy.\n\n~~~\nwmil\nSince SOX successful tech companies have been avoiding going public for as\nlong as possible (ie Google, Facebook).\n\nI wonder if there was some pressure from investment bankers who want to\nencourage more IPOs as well as government types who want the law to seen as a\nsuccess.\n\n------\nedw519\n_The first two shareholder lawsuits were filed Tuesday in federal court in\nChicago after the markets closed, seeking class-action status for people who\nbought stock before the company restated fourth-quarter financial results on\nFriday._\n\nPerhaps those people should have been reading Hacker News:\n\n[http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=groupon&...](http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=groupon&sortby=points+desc)\n\n(The first post is rather long and fairly neutral, but check out some of the\nposts (and their dates) right after that.)\n\n~~~\ntucson\nThanks for the link. What I find troubling is to read so many articles\npointing to shady business practices from Groupon and bubble valuation, and\nstill the SEC lets the IPO go through and investors lose their money - that\npart did not happen yet but it seems written on the wall.\n\n~~~\nradioact1ve\nCould the SEC really do that? Just outright stop an IPO?\n\n------\napi\nI remember hearing about how this company ran, and figuring it was nothing but\na giant boiler room sales pit and a gimmick. I am not surprised.\n\n~~~\nQuizzy\nAnecdotally, the first generation of sales rep have nothing but depressing\nthings to say about this entire market segment now. The first year sales\nnumbers were gangbusters, until their clients called back complaining,\nswearing never to do another Groupon deal, ever again.\n\nIt's not just Groupon, this entire business model is unsustainable: asking a\nretailer to discount his products for a fee in the hopes that he will attract\nnew \"local deal\" customers willing to pay full retail next time, when the ONLY\nreason these customers came in the first place was because of the discount.\n\n~~~\nnotJim\nNot only that, but I suspect that people who _are_ loyal to businesses and\nlike interacting with local business owners are less likely to use sites like\ngroupon, because they know that the businesses often get screwed, and because\nthey don't want to be thought of as bargain-shoppers.\n\n~~~\nmuraiki\nA friend sent me a Groupon for a local bakery. It was something ridiculous\nlike $20 worth of food for $10. Since I had heard about the bad relationships\nbetween businesses and Groupon, and since I actually like this little store, I\ndeclined to get the Groupon. I'd rather pay full price to support a local\nbusiness!\n\n------\nwalru\nGRPN was a always a short sellers dream come true. Next up, ZNGA.\n\n~~~\nuntog\nWhy do you say Zynga? It was my understanding that their financials are a good\nbit more stable, even if they are Facebook-dependent.\n\n~~~\nQuizzy\nZynga's business model is like any other gaming publisher (such as EA,\nBlizzard, etc.). To succeed in gaming you MUST have a pipeline of games that\ncontinue revenue growth. If you cannot create your own, then you must acquire\nindie developers (OMGPOP recently). In time Zynga stock will be no different\nthan any other gaming publisher stock. Look at Blizzard: other than Diablo,\nStarcraft and WoW, it has created nothing in the last 4 years beyond sequels.\nHomegrown innovation is nearly impossible.\n\nRovio was in the business for 5 years before Angry Birds, and I doubt they'll\nhave another hit like Angry Birds ever again.\n\nId fell apart when it couldn't come up with something better than the Doom\nfranchise.\n\nOMGPOP was very smart to sell out to Zynga, because there is no way it would\nhave come up with something even close to Draw Something in another 5 years.\n\nUnlike rock stars and pop singers, creating a string of gaming hits is so much\nharder because it requires the perfect storm of so many variables each and\nevery time, whereas a single person like Adele, Amy Winehouse, etc. can rely\non their genius alone to create a hit.\n\n~~~\ntrimbo\n> Id fell apart when it couldn't come up with something better than the Doom\n> franchise.\n\nExcept for, you know... Quake.\n\nOn your other point. The difference between Zynga and EA is that Zynga's games\nhave a huge turnover rate and a very low percentage of paying customers. EA's\ngames -- at least most of their games -- have 100% paying customers and have a\nlarge _returning_ customer rate year after year (Madden 11, Madden 12, Madden\n13, Fifa 11, Fifa 12...).\n\nSo in other words, Zynga's business model is completely different than EA's.\n\n------\ncrag\nAnd this is what happens when inventors invest in a company they know noting\nabout. This is what happens when you listen to the hype, and the street and\nNOT do your own due diligence. There's a reason why the big banks backed the\nIPO but didn't take a percentage.\n\nWhen it all comes down in flames, (I think it's already begun - if you haven't\ngotten out, get out now) the only saving grace is that the CEO and board will\nbe embattled in court for years. The investors might get a few pennies on the\ndollar.\n\n~~~\nironchef\n\"There's a reason why the big banks backed the IPO but didn't take a\npercentage.\" Morgan stanley has 19 mil shares. Goldman has 2 mil shares. They\nbacked the IPO and took a percentage. Am i misunderstanding your statement?\n\n~~~\nantr\nthey didn't invest cash, they just exercised their green-shoe.\n\n~~~\ncrag\nExactly. They never invested cash. It's all vapor. In other words, both banks\nlose nothing except the promise of future profits.\n\nBoth banks already made their money (and then some) on the IPO and associated\nfees. Now of course, assuming the banks had no knowledge of Groupon's true\nfinancial health; they did nothing illegal.\n\nBUT ethically, brokers/traders have a responsibility to informed their clients\nwhen it's time to cash out. A lot of people made money off this deal. And lot\ndidn't.\n\nBut Groupon, if what I'm hearing is true, is committing fraud. I mean, my god,\nare they cooking the books? Sort of reminds me of Enron. But only time (and\nmany lawsuits later) will tell.\n\n------\nunohoo\nThe problem with Groupon and other local deal companies is that they have to\nmanage fluctuations on both the consumer as well as the merchant side. Even if\none side of the equation wobbles a little, Groupon will feel the impact. I\nthink at this stage, Groupon is fighting a dual (losing) battle:\n\n1) Merchants perception of the whole daily deal market is very negative.\nRepeat business is quite low and it mainly attracts the spendthrifts who are\nlooking for a deal. Given the margins that most local businesses have, running\na daily deal means taking a hit on those margins.\n\n2) From a consumer perspective, the novelty of the daily deals market has\nreally worn off. Consumer fatigue has set in and more and more people are\ntired of having their inboxes flooded with emails. Personalization is still a\njoke and ticks people off even further.\n\nIt wont be long before the whole local deal market implodes (think of it --\nthe 2nd largest player - LivingSocial is not yet profitable). Groupon is well\naware of this and so is trying to ramp up its technology platform via\nacquisitions to eventually evolve into something more. Its just a matter of\ntime that the whole thing comes crashing down.\n\n~~~\nMatthewPhillips\nThe local deals is analogous to department store clearance sales. Retailers\nhave perfected the art of the sale and they know that clearance sales are a\ndifferent animal. If someone comes into you store and heads straight to\nclearance they can't be upsold. Don't waste your time on them.\n\nThis is different from your event sale, which _are_ an excellent way to gain\nrepeated customers (and upsell them). There is a future for local deal sites\nbut it needs a different hook with customers.\n\n------\nssharp\nI think there are so many ways technology can help mom + pop type small\nbusinesses inexpensively stay competitive with the numerous forces working\nagainst them (including retail giants with substantially better technology),\nand the huge interest in daily deals justifies this assertion--at least in\nsome small way.\n\nBut the technology needs to help the small business actually improve. Groupon\ndoesn't do this. For the most part, it plays smoke and mirrors with revenues\nand the costs or profits are not entirely known because the small business\ncannot measure them.\n\n------\nsmoody\nA TV network is going to Pilot with a new fictional sitcom -- called \"Friend\nMe\" I believe. It's about a man who packs-up and moves so he can work at\nGroupon (not made-up). Perhaps making it a comedy isn't such a good idea. ;-)\n\n------\nmleatherb\nIt seems like everyone and their mother are trying for IPO. If the rumor about\nan offer from google was true, they should have taken the money and ran\n\n~~~\ntaphangum\nI'm starting to think that it was google who ran away from this deal.\n\n------\nnateberkopec\nSo it's official - Groupon is this bubble's Pets.com.\n\n------\nsilentscope\nWhen your boss is your shareholders, the seat of your pants accounting doesn't\nreally cut it.\n\n------\nrenatomoya\nI see why some already jumped off that boat. Started pretty good but, it could\ndo better.\n\n------\noption_greek\nI wonder how long it will be before we see Yahoo style head lines for Groupon\nand RIM.\n\n------\njacquesm\nWould they have sued if they stock had gone up?\n\n~~~\nchc\nI don't understand why you'd ask. How would that injure them?\n\n------\nrun4yourlives\nInvestors sue? Really?\n\nSo basically, I want to drink the koolaid but god damn you if it makes me\nsick...\n\nYou should not be allowed to sue as a method to correct your own stupidity.\n\n~~~\nzecho\nI think in this case it makes sense. Groupon restated a sharp drop in their\nreported revenues over three years.\n\nPeople don't necessarily invest in things they think are particularly good\nbusiness models. They invest in things that are undervalued. If you looked at\nthe revenue/price and thought it was undervalued and then Groupon changed 3\nyears worth of data on your after you made a stock purchase, you'd sue too.\n\nJust look at these reductions. They're more than just a minor correction from\nGroupon:\n\n\\- For 2008, revenue was reduced to $5,000, from $94,000.\n\n\\- For 2009, revenue was reduced to $14.54 million, from $30.47 million.\n\n\\- For 2010, revenue was reduced to $312.9 million, from $713.4 million.\n\n~~~\nrun4yourlives\n_People don't necessarily invest in things they think are particularly good\nbusiness models._\n\nIf you can't figure out the business model generating the reported millions,\nit's your own fault for thinking those millions are undervalued.\n\nHow many of these investors didn't actually care about the value of the stock,\nso long as there was somebody around tomorrow that would buy it for more?\n\nSorry, but I have no sympathy when you willingly play the game and then get\nburned by the same things you intended to inflict on someone else.\n\n~~~\nprodigal_erik\nI'm not entitled to lie to investors just because they should be smart enough\nto disbelieve me. There's a point beyond which it's not feasible for third\nparties to know how realistic my financial statements are, so the SEC has\nmandated I'm on the hook when I write them.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nIran says it's building copy of captured US drone - thematt\nhttp://apnews.myway.com/article/20120422/D9U9U0A80.html\n\n======\nshin_lao\nThere is a world of difference between reverse engineering some of the\nsoftware to decipher some logs and understanding everything there is to\nunderstand to build a fac-similé.\n\nWhile Persians are clearly clever and educated, I submit they lack the\nindustrial infrastructure to build a drone.\n\nLet's keep in mind they currently have trouble properly refining their oil...\n\n~~~\nlotux\nTo give you an idea about us (Iran) have a look here,\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Iranian_Americans> , you can skip to\nBusiness/Technology section if you like, we survived a devastating war and\nmore than 30 years of crippling sanctions that continues today. and I have to\nsay we have pretty good infrastructure that you have no idea about it, which\nis good.\n\n------\nrollypolly\n\n      There were many codes and characters. But we deciphered\n      them by the grace of God\n    \n\nExcuse me if I doubt any of the claims in this article.\n\n~~~\n_interrupt\nSo apparently, God is on everybody's side and has the set of all encryption\nkeys.\n\n~~~\nkmfrk\nThe oldest MITM trick in the book.\n\n------\nsmoyer\nDuring the cold war it was common to segment data so that the compromise of a\nsingle agent wouldn't cause too much damage. I doubt there's too much concern\nover the data the drone contains, but the hardware is state-of-the-art and\nperhaps it should also have an accident (maybe the centrifuges could teach it\nhow to self destruct ... Or a North Korean rocket will accidentally fall on\nit).\n\nI guess I'm waiting to see how much of this information is verified by someone\noutside the Iranian government (hmmm ... And the U.S. Government).\n\n------\nsycren\nWould it have been better for Iran to have said nothing or is this only to\nprovoke the US & alies?\n\n------\nams6110\nThere's always the chance that the drone was \"lost\" deliberately, in order to\ngive the Iranians something useless to waste a lot of time on, or to\ndeliberately mislead them on the true capabilities of the device.\n\n~~~\neternalban\nI believe it was and it was a clear signal from a certain influential clique\nin the US defense establishment -- where [did] Leon work before? -- to the\nIsraelis that USA will not allow any nation to dictate its strategic posture\nor present it a fait accompli.\n\n~~~\nlarsbot\nCould you explain your reasoning? How is the US purposefully losing a drone in\nIran somehow a signal to the Israelis? Surely Israel already knew that we were\ncapable of / already flying drone over Iran considering their use in two of\nIran's neighbors (Iraq and Afghanistan).\n\n~~~\neternalban\n2 pairs of shoes:\n\n1 Put yourself in the shoes of US commanders unhappy about the possibility of\none day waking up and seeing little blips heading toward Iran. You would have\n2 choices and they are both lousy. Business is good. Oil is flowing. Who wants\nit all to go up in smoke? Certainly not America.\n\n2 Put yourself in an Israeli analyst's shoes/head and rewind date to day of\nrelease of footage. 3 possibilities, 1 obviously unlikely, and other 2 just\n\"shocking\". (And I leave that for you to divine).\n\nNow, I assert that US president and commanders are sleeping easier, and that\nIsraelis are no longer so glib about sending aircraft over IRI and taking US\ninvolvement for granted. After all, if IRGC can bring down America's drone,\nIsraeli F16s could also fall off the sky near the borders of Iran ... by the\n\"grace of God\" ...\n\n------\nlotux\ndon't take it personally, you decrypt someone else code , we decrypt yours, so\nthere will be one to decrypt ours again. is all about decryption ;)\n\n------\ngoogoobaby\nPerhaps they'll build it out of oil drums like their SAM systems? I don't\nthink Iran is capable of putting together a decent steel drum band much less\nstealth drones.\n\n~~~\njohansch\nI was under the impression that Iran has a pretty decent higher education\nsystem. And that it includes female students as well - with a noticably high\npercentage of female students in fields that are male-dominated in the west,\nlike computer science.\n\nNo idea how they are doing in mechanical/aeronautical engineering though.\n\n~~~\nlolcraft\nIran is under an international embargo on military supplies, thought. The GP\nmight be overstating the case or trolling, but I suppose getting the materials\nto build a replica, communication gear and fuel will be difficult for the\niranians. Specially when some western country with the biggest military-\nindustrial complex of the world is angry at you because you broke one of their\ntoys.\n\n------\nzotz\nWow. Will it kill civilians and crash like the original?\n\n------\nrsanchez1\nThey better watch out before they insert their USB cable into the drone's\nport. The last time they inserted without protection, they caught Stuxnet.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWhy Some Countries Are Poor and Others Rich - mouzogu\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-4V3HR696k\n======\nsumedh\nWhen I was living in India, I used to see my dad praying 1 or 2 hours a day, I\nused to see my friends waiting in a queue for many hours just to visit their\ngod in a temple. I used to wonder isn't this a complete waste of time from\nsociety's point of view.\n\nIf all these people could use that time to do something productive, it would\nhelp the country. I remember my aunt telling me that only God can fix India's\nproblems, when I disagreed she was pissed off.\n\nI wanted to be a hero and fix India's problems but then I took the easy way\nout and moved to a developed country.\n\n~~~\nvmorgulis\n> I wanted to be a hero and fix India's problems but then I took the easy way\n> out and moved to a developed country.\n\nNot so easy way :-)\n\nThe video says that 20% of the wealth is cultural. I guess it's more. Western\ncountries are probably so successful because they inherited the greek and\nroman culture.\n\nSome countries in Asia (like Japan) switched from feudalism to capitalism in\nfew decades.\n\nThe difficulties of Africa could be explained by the lack of the writing\n(unless it's a consequence). The society is more flat than vertical.\n\n------\nknown\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_mobility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_mobility)\n!=\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_mobility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_mobility)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Colgan Air disaster was a milestone in aviation safety - jaredwiener\nhttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-12/the-colgan-air-crash-helped-keep-90-million-flights-safe\n======\ndanaliv\nOne of the biggest changes that came out of the Colgan crash is the so-called\n\"1500 hour rule.\" Before Colgan, only the captain needed to have an airline\ntransport pilot (ATP) certificate, the highest level of pilot certification.\nFirst officers (copilots) could fly with a commercial pilot certificate, a\nlower grade of license. Now, both pilots are required to hold ATP\ncertificates.\n\nATP applicants need to have 1500 hours of flight experience—hence \"1500 hour\nrule\"—though there are exceptions if you've attended specific approved\naeronautical schools or have military experience. Commercial applicants need\nonly 250 hours. (Here too there are exceptions for certain training programs.)\nThe standards on the flight tests are tighter for ATPs and the written exams\nare worlds apart.\n\nAs an instructor I can tell you the difference between a 250-hour pilot and a\n1500-hour pilot can be enormous. Not always—some pilots have 1500 hours, and\nothers have the same hour, 1500 times in a row—but there can be a huge\ndifference.\n\nThis rule has been controversial though, not least of all because both pilots\nin the Colgan crash already had more than 1500 hours. And the FAA made so many\nchanges after Colgan that it's been hard to tell which of those changes\nactually made the difference, and which, if any, were simply no-ops. Critics\nof the rule have especially focused on how many flight tests the Colgan\ncaptain failed, and how the response by the pilots to an aerodynamic stall was\ncompletely backwards. Aerodynamic stalls are something you learn in your first\nten hours of training as a private pilot and drill constantly throughout your\ncareer, so to get that wrong at the air carrier level speaks to an incredible\nfailure in training and evaluation.\n\n~~~\nSomeone1234\nIt also isn't clear (aside from military) how people are meant to fund/attain\nATP status.\n\nThere's limited jobs with which a commercial licensed pilot can gain hours\n(e.g. crop dusting, sky jumpers, instructors, etc) but the number of people\ntrying to attain ATP/jobs requiring ATPs well outstrip the number of jobs to\nsupport those people getting to 1500 hours.\n\nAs you said, previously some airlines would take the pressure off by hiring\ncommercial pilots and getting them hours as copilots. With the new rules they\nneed 1500 before day one, so that has to come from somewhere and it isn't\nclear where.\n\nThis is one reason airlines are struggling to find pilots.\n\n~~~\nmarkdown\n> This is one reason airlines are struggling to find pilots.\n\nThere isn't really a pilot shortage. Merely a shortage of pilots willing to\nwork for slave wages. There are US pilots flying all over the world because\nthey don't get paid what they're worth in the US.\n\n~~~\nnoahl\nQuick reminder: \"slave wages\" are exactly $0, and also you can't leave the job\ndue to threat of violence. (And also there's a lot of violence anyway, and\nalso bad housing and bad food and complete lack of personal time or space or\nprivacy or any freedom of choice, etc.)\n\nIt sounds like regional airline pilots may have surprisingly low wages given\nhow highly-skilled their jobs are. \"Low wages\" is a good term for this.\n\n~~~\nSomeone\nIt isn’t slavery, indeed, but waged can get lower than low. Pilots can be\npressurized in accepting very low wages for the right to fly an airplane.\n\nReason? Pilots have to make flight hours in the plane they’re licensed for to\nkeep their license.\n\nSo, you are, say, $100,000 in debt to get a license to fly a 737, and you need\na few hours in it this month to keep that license. Renting said plane for a\nfew hours is very expensive. That makes an $0 an hour ‘job’ flying for a few\nhours look mightily attractive.\n\n------\nChuckMcM\nThis is an excellent example of how regulation should work as opposed to how\nit works in regulatory capture situations.\n\nIn a prisoners dilemma like set up, if any airline unilaterally changed their\nrules for pilots and crews, they would \"lose out\" when they didn't have crews\nto fly, while other airlines would \"win more\" by overworking their flight\ncrews. The only \"win\" was for all airlines to not implement these changes.\n\nBut when the changes were forced on everyone, it removed the advantage of not\nfollowing the guidelines (well it added a criminal or civil prosecution risk)\nand so all airlines have at least minimally rested crews.\n\nThat message seems to get lost sometimes.\n\n~~~\nsmacktoward\nI would say this is an excellent example of how regulation _shouldn 't_ work.\n\nEven before the Colgan Air crash, it was widely understood that regional\nairlines' overworking and undertraining of their pilots was risky. But the\nregulators either weren't able to do anything about it in the face of industry\nopposition, or didn't care enough to do so. It took a plane actually crashing,\n50 people dying and Congress, which was lobbied hard by the families of the\nvictims, passing new legislation ordering them to do something about the\nproblem to get them to take action.\n\nIt's great that we have regulations protecting passengers from these problems\nnow. But it would have been _much better_ if it hadn't taken the deaths of\nthose 50 people to create an environment where it was possible for such\nregulations to be enacted. Good regulators protect people _before_ there's\nblood on the floor, not after.\n\n~~~\ncivilitty\n_> Good regulators protect people before there's blood on the floor, not\nafter._\n\nSo to be good regulators, they have to be essentially omniscient?\n\n~~~\nsmt88\nNo. Post-mortems of these types of disasters usually reveal that warning signs\nwere visible if anyone cared to look or act.\n\nOne example happening now: extreme, pervasive sleep deprivation in the US\nNavy. We've already had disasters that could've been prevented if someone\ntalked to even a single sailor and realized how dangerous that is.\n\nAnother example is self-driving cars. We just had a Tesla crash, and yet Tesla\nwill not be regulated properly and will likely kill someone soon. Arguably,\nthey already have.\n\n------\nedoo\nOn youtube now you can find flight simulator reenactments of most every crash\nand air incident. They are quite fascinating and much much better than TV\nstyle dramatizations.\n\nHere is this incident: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzY-\nhzxlqig](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzY-hzxlqig)\n\n~~~\ncf498\nThe air traffic control recordings alone are really great. When the guy stole\na plane from Seattle airport to take it for a joyride, i got stuck and clicked\nmyself through what felt like half the ATC recordings on youtube. Can only\nrecommend it, the level of international communication is rather astonishing.\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuedf_fJVrOppky5gl3U6QQ](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuedf_fJVrOppky5gl3U6QQ)\n\n------\ngingerbread-man\nThe most significant regulatory change following the Colgan crash was the\nadded requirement that all airline (Part 21) first officers possess an Airline\nTransport Pilot (ATP) certificate prior to hiring. Previously, only captains\n(as pilots-in-command) were required to hold that certificate, which requires\na minimum 1500 hours of flight experience. [1]\n\nIn practical terms, this wasn't a big change (insurance underwriters already\nrequired it), but 1500 hours is a significant hurdle at at time when the US is\nfacing a shortage of pilots.\n\n[1] [https://www.flyingmag.com/news/faa-finalizes-atp-rule-\nfirst-...](https://www.flyingmag.com/news/faa-finalizes-atp-rule-first-\nofficers)\n\n~~~\nsokoloff\nIt's not required prior to _hiring_ ; it's prior to _flying your first revenue\nflight_. The distinction is somewhat important as it's not as easy to get an\nATP (any more) with the introduction of the ATP-CTP requirement.\n\nThough I have no need for an ATP, I considered getting one under the old\n(quite easy) rules.\n\n------\npeterwwillis\nCompare this to cars. Every year in the US there are about 6 million car\ncrashes, 3 million injured people, and about 33,000 dead people (so, imagine a\ncity like Dover, Delaware being wiped off the face of the earth every year).\n\nThe most typical causes are alcohol, speeding, and reckless driving. In\naddition, seat belts cut the risk of death by 45%. So, if we wanted to keep\npeople safe the way we do for airlines, we would just attack these four\nproblems.\n\nThere are many solutions, but the simplest ones would involve 1) a mandatory\nbreathalyzer, 2) speed limiters, 3) sensors that shut down the car when\nreckless driving is detected, and 4) shutting down the car if seatbelts are\nnot used. These all exist today, and would save tens of thousands of lives a\nyear, and prevent millions of casualties, lawsuits, traffic jams, etc.\n\nWhy don't we do these things? My theory is the illusion of safety. In a car,\nyou're wrapped inside 2 tons of steel and plastic, and you feel safe. Even if\nyou know _other_ people are dying inside, you feel like it won't happen to\nyou. So we don't worry, so we don't care about changing things to save lives,\nbecause it'd be an inconvenience. But in an airplane, you're not in control;\nsome pilot is. And you're hurtling along at at 500 miles per hour, 40,000 feet\nabove the sky. That's scary. We better make sure those planes are safe.\n\n~~~\nmherchel\nIt's harder to implement on cars.\n\n1) People would (and do) cheat at mandatory breathalyzers.\n\n2) It's not speeding that injures people, it's the speed differences that\ncause issues. Limiting a car to 70mph won't help when it's icy, and they\nshould be driving 40mph.\n\n3) How exactly would a car detect reckless driving? How would it know that it\nwasn't warranted (ie swerving to avoid a kid)?\n\n~~~\nyoda222\n> It's not speeding that injures people, it's the speed differences that cause\n> issues.\n\nWhen two car are at a speed of 70mph, the maximum speed difference between\nthem is 140mph, when they are at 50mph, it's only 100mph. So the speed of a\ncar has a direct impact on the speed difference between cars.\n\n------\nmisiti3780\nI flew into buffalo that night about an hour before the crash. I remember\nthinking when we were landing that these conditions were some of the worst,\nand I fly a lot into Buffalo.\n\n------\nhuangc10\nMy brother is a commercial airline pilot who flies world wide and pilot\nfatigue is real and very common.\n\nAirlines have been making bank for the last few years and all they need to do\nto prevent pilot fatigue is reduce hours for pilots and increase the number of\npilots/flight, especially for international flights.\n\nThese simple measures (albeit costly), will overall help reduce commercial\nflight fatalities across the globe.\n\n~~~\ndopamean\nMy father was an airline pilot for years (American, US Airways, and then\nEtihad) flying domestically and then internationally. I'd guess that if the\nairlines wanted to reduce pilot hours the pilot unions would have a lot to say\nabout that.\n\n~~~\nSmellyGeekBoy\nAre they paid by the hour? I'd assume that pilots would earn an annual salary.\n\n~~~\nhuangc10\nMost pilots do earn an annual salary. I'm not sure what the previous comment\nmeant. Pilots simply have to work minimum number of hours per month, but the\nissue is that most pilots are now working up to the maximum number of hours\ntherefore there are actually pilot union striking because of overwork!\n\n------\ndelinka\nBased entirely on the headline: doesn’t every crash prevent most future\ncrashes that would have had the same cause?\n\n~~~\nmisiti3780\nYep, I always loved this line from Antifragile:\n\n> “But recall that this chapter is about layering, units, hierarchies, fractal\n> structure, and the difference between the interest of a unit and those of\n> its subunits. So it is often the mistakes of others that benefit the rest of\n> us—and, sadly, not them. We saw that stressors are information, in the right\n> context. For the antifragile, harm from errors should be less than the\n> benefits. We are talking about some, not all, errors, of course; those that\n> do not destroy a system help prevent larger calamities. The engineer and\n> historian of engineering Henry Petroski presents a very elegant point. Had\n> the Titanic not had that famous accident, as fatal as it was, we would have\n> kept building larger and larger ocean liners and the next disaster would\n> have been even more tragic. So the people who perished were sacrificed for\n> the greater good; they unarguably saved more lives than were lost. The story\n> of the Titanic illustrates the difference between gains for the system and\n> harm to some of its individual parts. The same can be said of the debacle of\n> Fukushima: one can safely say that it made us aware of the problem with\n> nuclear reactors (and small probabilities) and prevented larger\n> catastrophes. (Note that the errors of naive stress testing and reliance on\n> risk models were quite obvious at the time; as with the economic crisis,\n> nobody wanted to listen.)”\n\n~~~\nCamperBob2\n_The engineer and historian of engineering Henry Petroski presents a very\nelegant point. Had the Titanic not had that famous accident, as fatal as it\nwas, we would have kept building larger and larger ocean liners and the next\ndisaster would have been even more tragic. So the people who perished were\nsacrificed for the greater good; they unarguably saved more lives than were\nlost. The story of the Titanic illustrates the difference between gains for\nthe system and harm to some of its individual parts. The same can be said of\nthe debacle of Fukushima: one can safely say that it made us aware of the\nproblem with nuclear reactors (and small probabilities) and prevented larger\ncatastrophes._\n\nAnother interesting argument along the same lines is that if we hadn't bombed\nHiroshima and Nagasaki, there would have been no reason for Truman to stop\nMacArthur from using bombs a hundred times worse in the Korean conflict.\n\nIt's a sobering thought regardless of one's opinion on the atomic bombings in\nJapan. The lesson was going to be learned one way or the other, and arguably\nhumanity got off easy.\n\n~~~\nmisiti3780\nI have never heard that one -- but it makes sense.\n\n------\nnkanetka\nMeanwhile in Canada regulations are still appalling and some of the worst in\nthe world: [https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/garneau-pilot-safety-\nairlin...](https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/garneau-pilot-safety-airline-\nregulations-1.4942385)\n\n------\naustincheney\nHow catastrophic must a software disaster be to receive the benefits of such\nsafety regulation?\n\n~~~\nbdamm\nThere are software glitches responsible for the deaths of on the order of 100\npeople, which has resulted in industry-localized development and deployment\nstandards. When we see tragedies where 1000 people die because of a software\nglitch, or more likely, a systems or security failure, then I think we'll see\nlegislators start coming for the software industry in general. There are\nalready critical systems development and systems requirements; likely\nlegislators will expand and formalize those kinds of programs.\n\nAll we need to do is have a public tragedy that can be pinned on \"software\".\n\n------\nbernardom\nThis is real engineering. And this is what I'm most excited about with\nautonomous cars- black boxes allow the NTSB to get involved and work accidents\nout of the process.\n\n------\nSimulacra\nI think something we haven’t learned from the Colgan disaster is how regional\nairlines are configuring these smaller jet and turboprop planes to fit more\npassengers, in ways they were not designed. That is leading the way towards\nprofit over safety.\n\n------\ncm2187\nI wish one could write the same title about software...\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAlive v1.0 – Live Programming for C# - Permit\nhttp://blog.comealive.io/Alive-Version-1.0\n======\nmuraiki\nIt's really nice to see a tool like this come out for a statically typed\nlanguage. When I started learning programming 2 years ago, tools like Light\nTable and the live editing capabilities of Seaside for Smalltalk were not only\na huge help but are something I've come to miss in other languages.\n\nI think that live coding tools for the big 2 languages (C# and Java) could be\na great boon to students learning programming in college, where at least in my\narea statically typed languages seem to be the norm.\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nXerox PARC already had it for Mesa/Cedar in the early 80's, which was the\ninspiration Niklaus Wirth had for his Oberon system.\n\nWhich was a statically typed systems programming language with RC and local\nGC.\n\n[http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/input-\noutput/14/34...](http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/input-\noutput/14/347/1860)\n\n[https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_xeroxparcteCedarProgra...](https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_xeroxparcteCedarProgrammingEnvironmentAMidtermRepo_13518000)\n\nThe progress we have lost with mainstream ignoring Xerox PARC research in\nprogramming environments.\n\nThose workstations already had something like IPython and Swift Playgrounds\navailable.\n\n~~~\niheartmemcache\nPARC/Cedar looks real, real cool. I've heard them in passing but the earliest\nmachines I got to use were the mid 90s Sun/SGI era and AS/400s.\n\nLocal GC as in, as soon as you go out of scope you free? Or is it doing\nsomething more complicated than that. I love all these old/research\nlanguages/environments, so many cool ideas. Thanks for the archive.org PDF.\n\nPS: If you're interested in PARC, you might be interested in Brian Beckman, et\nal's (of MSR) \"TimeWarp\"\n[http://www.cs.nyu.edu/srg/talks/timewarp.pdf](http://www.cs.nyu.edu/srg/talks/timewarp.pdf).\nIt ran into resource scarcity issues at the time but that's no longer an\nissue. Old PoC's are really interesting to revisit now that our main issue\nisn't space but latency.\n\n(Fun fact: A CPU -> Northbridge RAM fetch is only ~5x (~60 ms[1]) as fast as a\nprosumer eMLC SATA3 fetch (~200ns) . Data segmentation matters guys, if you\nare going to have a cache miss. Sequential data matters and predictable\nprefetching matters, and isn't \"pre-optimization\" if you're dealing with low-\nlatency stuff!\")\n\n(1):\n[https://software.intel.com/sites/products/collateral/hpc/vtu...](https://software.intel.com/sites/products/collateral/hpc/vtune/performance_analysis_guide.pdf)\n\n~~~\npjmlp\nThe local GC was a cycle collector.\n\nSo traditional RC with GC for the cycles, if any.\n\nThanks for the link.\n\n------\nluisrudge\nI find the `for` example really bad. Mainly because 99% of the apps (I totally\nmade up that number) are NOTHING like that.\n\nYou usually are using DI, so you'll have an interface that you need to resolve\nand do stuff.\n\nHow is alive going to deal with that?\n\n~~~\nmattmanser\nDo a lot of people use DI?\n\nI thought that was all a bit of a fad like factories. Lots of extra code for\nlittle benefit. Especially in a statically typed language like C# where it\ngets rid of so many of the benefits of using it as a language.\n\n~~~\nbriHass\nHow does it remove anything beneficial?\n\nI look at DI, or really the dependency inversion pattern, as a guard that\nencourages better/more maintainable code. Can you write good code without it,\nsure, and you can write bad code with it, but it's much more likely that code\nwritten with it is easier to trace and maintain. Not to mention much easier to\ntest.\n\nThe configuration based, hot-swapping of dependencies...that I've never seen\nmuch need for even in larger projects.\n\n------\nbaconner\nAlive looks super cool, but the $99 price for individual devs feels pretty\nsteep to me. It's basically just a different way to interact with the debugger\nduring test right? So im not doing so much pause, edit, continue activity? Or\nam I am missing something?\n\n~~~\njaytaylor\nIf it saves you even an hour of time over the course of months or years then\nwhy wouldn't it be worth it?\n\nWith that being said, if it's not yet \"stable\" then I agree, a hundred bucks\nis quite pricey for an unfinished dev tool.\n\n~~~\nslg\nYou can't spread the cost out of \"years\" because the individual license is\nonly good for a year. I won't complain about the price because that is a value\njudgement that everyone will have to make on their own. However, it is always\ndisappointing to see tools like this that an individual can't simply _buy_.\nInstead you have enter into a yearly licensing deal in which you have no idea\nwhat this software will cost in 12 months or even whether the company behind\nit will continue to be in business. These type of yearly licensing deals are\nthe norm in enterprise environments, but they are harder to justify as an\nindividual developer.\n\n~~~\nnightski\nAgreed, Jetbrains is moving to this model and it is disgusting.\n\n~~~\nmgkimsal\nThey backpedaled mostly and offer perpetual licenses.\n\nI just wish they'd simply added subscription options in the first place vs\ngoing through all the hullabaloo. Perhaps it was a smokescreen, but that just\nfeels very conspiratorial.\n\n~~~\nHerpDerpLerp\nmostly but not completely. After your year you have to downgrade to the\nversion as it was when you originally bought. Removing bug fixes and new\nfeatures you have got used to over your year of use.\n\nMental.\n\n~~~\nmgkimsal\nThat's what my 'mostly' meant. You can simply pay a 12 month fee and buy it\n'in advance' and just use what you get, vs thinking about it as \"I'm losing\nbug fixes\". I'm still using PHPStorm 7.1 from a couple years ago, and it still\nworks. Same concept would apply going forward, but... I still think they\nhandled this wrong.\n\n------\nitgoon\nThat looks very cool. Is it going to crush my processor? I'll give it a shot\nafter I'm done with my work.\n\n~~~\namadeusw\nNo, all the processing is asynchronous.\n\nDepending on size of your project and complexity of the code, we can update\nwithin <100ms to a few seconds after your keystroke.\n\n~~~\nDougWebb\n_Is it going to crush my processor?_\n\n _No, all the processing is asynchronous._\n\nThat's not an answer to the question. If every keystroke kicks off a compile-\nexecute-report cycle, then the processor (and drive) are definitely going to\nbe taking on a lot of additional load. It doesn't matter that it's\nasynchronous; all that does is prevent latency between keystrokes so long as\nyour machine can keep up with the additional load.\n\nI use ReSharper, with pretty much default options because it's too much of a\npain to figure out the magic combination of hundreds of options that will\nimprove performance without disabling the features I like to use. ReSharper\ndoes its work on a background thread, but that doesn't stop it from making VS\ncrawl when I open up a large solution after doing a scripted (external)\nrebuild. Async != Free Work.\n\n~~~\neterm\nYup, I was gonna say this. We use ReSharper, but even on our modern dev\nmachines visual studio can really crawl after building.\n\n------\nDanielBMarkham\nI like it!\n\nThere's a ton of stuff you can do in this space: lint-type tips, RT TDD, code\n\"explaining\", path identification, etc.\n\nKeep up the good work! Would love to see more of this as it comes along.\n\n------\nToo\nThis should be combined with Code Digger, it's a tool for C# that can detect\nall the possible ranges of input to a function by working in reverse from all\nthe possible outcomes. If a function might throw an Exception somewhere it\nwill show you the input that leads to that code path.\n\n------\nragebol\nFor just running tests, I found\n[http://www.ncrunch.net/](http://www.ncrunch.net/) to be very handy. It puts a\ngreen/red/black dot before each line of code to indicate how it does in your\nunittests.\n\n------\nguiomie\nPretty cool. Would it play nice if my code uses Dapper or Linq2SQL?\n\n~~~\nPermit\nIt should! Fair warning, if you're not using mocks in your tests, it will be\nmaking network calls on every valid compilation.\n\nIf anything isn't working you can report it on our public issue tracker:\n[http://github.com/CodeConnect/AliveFeedback/](http://github.com/CodeConnect/AliveFeedback/)\n\n------\nHerpDerpLerp\nHow is this different to [http://www.ncrunch.net/](http://www.ncrunch.net/)\nwhich runs tests as you type, so you know if tests are passing before you even\nsave the file!\n\nEdit: Well that looks creepy :) I don't know ragebol and apart from being a\nhappy user I don't have a relationship with the nCrunch dude!\n\n~~~\niheartmemcache\nI'm not the developer of either product, but it seems like Alive has Roslyn\nbased which offers direct access to every step of the compiler. Right now it\ndoesn't look like much difference (in fact I bet NCrunch is more stable and\nhas better integration with NUnit and the rest of the ecosystem), but I bet\n(purely speculating) that Alive intends on expanding their feature set into\nsomething more extensive.\n\nPerformance wise, assuming the Alive developers use Roslyn efficiently (which\nadmittedly is difficult), they could offer a lot more semantic/syntax analysis\nat a way faster rate (i.e., think about solutions with 10s of projects and\nhundreds/thousands of classes, while having a dynamic dependency graph\navailable-- unit tests, invariants, and even property-based QuickCheck-esque\ntesting could easily at type-time [as in after the keydown event] or a few\nhundred ms after).\n\nThese are all capabilities inherent of being Roslyn based though, nothing too\nspecial about Alive, just a benefit it has over NCrunch should they choose to\ngo down that road.\n\n------\nps4fanboy\nThis is great, I wish more people where into live programming, it is the\nfuture.\n\n------\ntabulatouch\nWoah! Make it work with Unity3D and in general with graphic libraries.\n\n~~~\namadeusw\nAre there any libraries in particular that you're interested in?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n10.7 Lion allows multi-user remote computing - solipsist\nhttp://www.9to5mac.com/54102/10-7-lion-allows-multi-user-remote-computing?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+9To5Mac-MacAllDay+%289+to+5+Mac+-+Apple+Intelligence%29&utm_content=Google+Reader\n======\niuguy\nIt seems like Apple have discovered Terminal Services, or the basic networking\nfunctionality in X11.\n\nHopefully it'll be much shinier than X11 and less restrictive than Remote\nDesktop Protocol.\n\n~~~\nJonnieCache\nI imagine it uses Apple Remote Desktop, which is apple's own version of RDP. I\ndon't know much about it but it works pretty damn well for me.\n\n[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Apple_remote_...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Apple_remote_desktop)\n\n~~~\nnettdata\nIt's actually using a VNC based application, and uses the VNC protocol. I can\n\"remote desktop\" into my desktop using a simple VNC app on my iPad.\n\nIt seems that they've provided the option of creating a new VNC server/desktop\nprocess when connecting in, rather than just attaching to the existing and\ncurrent desktop.\n\nVery cool.\n\n~~~\ncookiecaper\nFor the record, this has been a feature of VNC/X forever; in fact, it's harder\nto run VNC on an extant X session than it is to just start a new one\nspecifically for VNC.\n\nIt's just a little annoying when Apple finally integrates tech that's 20+\nyears old and gets heralded as being \"ahead of the curve\" or \"very cool\" for\ndoing it.\n\n~~~\nnettdata\nGet pissy much? I consider it \"very cool\" in the sense that this is a cool\nfeature that I finally get to use in the OS I prefer to work in.\n\nI don't care if it's been around for decades or done a thousand times before\non other OS's, it's being done by them now, and I find it useful.\n\nI'd rather see them do stuff like this and be praised for it than do stuff\nlike this and get shit on by people with the tiresome \"it's about time\" or\n\"Linux had this a zillion years ago and did it better\" crowd.\n\n~~~\nnettdata\nActually, I won't have the same attitude... I'll be indifferent, and not\ncomment at all, as I don't really care what Windows does. Even though I use it\nalmost daily for various client work.\n\nWhen it comes right down to it, I don't buy into this whole OS religion thing.\nI've had more than a passing exposure to quite a few of them, and they all\nhave/had their place.\n\nCase in point, I started my career on IBM 3081's and PDP-11's. I even have a\nfull rack of gear in my home office that includes a bunch of boxes with\nvarious flavours of Linux installed, a Tadpole laptop running Solaris, an\noperational NeXT Cube, SGI and HP boxes running their Unix variants, a cluster\nof Sun Netras, and on and on. I've also got a few different laptops with\nWindows and Linux installed. And a couple of MacBook Pro's.\n\nThey all have good features, and bad, but none of them have everything.\n\nDo I care what someone else uses? Nope. Do I care if they gush over it and\nthink it's the coolest thing ever? Nope. Do I feel some overwhelming urge to\n\"educate\" them on why their choices are \"wrong\"? Nope.\n\nI just know what works for me, and am happy to discuss things with like-minded\nindividuals. I'm not a fanboy, and I haven't drunk the Cool-Aid. I also don't\nthink everyone who owns a Mac is like that either.\n\nCall me crazy, I guess.\n\n~~~\ngonzo\nTadpole laptop? Really? Which one? I did the port of Slowaris to several of\nthe SPARCbooks back when I worked there.\n\n(Started my career on a DEC-10, followed by a Vax 11/780, a couple 11/750s and\na smattering of PDP-11s (11/44, 11/70))\n\nHad Linux (and NeXTstep) running on an early Tadpole P1000 (100MHz Pentium\nlaptop, it was the sh*t when it came out.)\n\nMostly all Macs now.\n\n~~~\nnettdata\nIt's an UltraBookIIe. Needed it when I provisioned 6 racks of Sun gear in an\noff-shore co-lo for a gaming company, and it was the easiest way to auto\ninstall/configure all the OS's and software into bare metal gear. Wasn't the\nfastest thing on the planet, but it worked really well.\n\n~~~\ngonzo\nOh. That's the \"other\" Tadpole (previously RDI, who acquired Tadpole\nTechnology, Plc in order to trade its stock.)\n\n------\nkaffeinecoma\nI'd like to see a remote login implementation for OSX that allows you to login\nremotely, and also adjusts the screen size to match that of the actual\nphysical device you're on.\n\nThe existing implementation of screen sharing is frustrating for me to use\nbecause I'm often remoting in from a 15\" Macbook to a Macpro tower with two\nheads @ 1920x1200 each. So the options are scale to 1) down the display (slow,\nfuzzy) or 2) scroll all over the place.\n\nAn ideal solution would be to let me log into a virtual display that matches\nthe size of my physical remote terminal. In other words, make the server think\nit has a head the same size as the client.\n\n------\nvoxcogitatio\nI'm glad to hear that they've catched up to the original UNIX. :)\n\n~~~\nyoda_sl\nI would rather say that it is more OS X returning back to its roots where\nNeXTStep/OpenStep use to have such capability when all the rendering was done\nwith the PostScript built in server. These feature disappeared from OS X, so\nit is more like a welcome back with a user friendly UI. Back then you usually\nhad to use some terminal command line to make ir happen.\n\n~~~\nprodigal_erik\nAmazing that this is the only comment so far that points out this wasn't even\nNot-Invented-Here Syndrome, because their own OS already had this feature\n(Display PostScript remoting) twenty years ago. At least until some architect\nmarking their territory was allowed to wilfully break it and replace it with\n... nothing.\n\n------\nemehrkay\nMy job wants to use a third party product to do the exact same thing.\n\n<http://www.aquaconnect.net/mac-terminal-server.php>\n\nThis is a great addition to the os. Imagine your house having one\n[desk|lap]top and a few tablets or phones. Hop on vnc on your docked tablet\nwhile someone is using the computer and you're as good as using the desktop. I\nsee this as a move to push both os x and the i[pad|phone] as viable business\ndevices.\n\nThis is possible with windows right? I vaguely remember using remote desktop a\nfew jobs ago, but I dont remember if it was one account logged in at a time.\n\n~~~\nseabee\nThe server versions of Windows allow that, it's called Remote Desktop Services\n(or Terminal Services pre-2008). Way better than using VNC, probably because\nit hooks all the window control drawing on the server and does it on the\nclient instead, rather than sending over raw bitmaps for buttons/textboxes\netc.\n\n------\npnathan\nEr, ssh?\n\nI don't see what the big deal is. I've been able to remotely ssh into my mac\nfor years.\n\n~~~\njasonlotito\nnow imagine this at the gui level. imagine being on your mac, pick up your\nipad, move to the next room, and swipe and have access to the same apps\ncurrently running. jut look at what apples been putting out the last few\nyears. look at lions big features. full screen mode doesnt sound impressive.\nbut that would make those apps much easier to use on the ipad.\n\nim nut saying this is all new stuff, rather, its going to be packaged by\napple, and that is going to mean something.\n\n~~~\npak\nIf you want to do this right now, check out Screens for iPad.\n\n~~~\njasonlotito\nYeah, I've seen that before. I'm not talking about _just_ that. What I'm\ntalking about is having the full screen mode Apple is developing will have\nsupport for turning the app into an iPad version with little effort.\nBasically, by following their API and implementing official full screen\nsupport, when the time comes to implement Mac to iPad support like I'm\ndescribing, instead of seeing the Mac's desktop, your seeing the application\non your iPad in an \"iPadified\" version of the app.\n\n------\nguptaneil\nThis is going to be absolutely perfect for educational use. Imagine a\nuniversity computer lab that lets you remotely login from home after the lab\nhas closed to access all the expensive, specialized software the school has\nalready purchased. I know my university was trying to set something like this\nup, but couldn't find any user-friendly way of doing this.\n\n~~~\njonknee\nI doubt there are a bunch of user accounts on a uni computer lab Mac, so this\nwouldn't be much different than regular screen sharing. It's also still a mess\nto choose which computer to try, doubly so if you're on an outside network.\n\n~~~\nakronim\nMac OS X Server had (has?) decent support for proper accounts, with the client\nmachines essentially just diskless terminals that boot from the server, and\nwith all accounts on the server - called netboot. So not like screen sharing\nat all. This worked pretty well in a lab setup, but didn't support remote\nlogins - this sounds much better.\n\n~~~\njonknee\nThe OP was talking about doing this so expensive university software... I'm\ngoing to go out on a limb here and state that it's just not going to work well\nwhen 100 students try and spin up instances of AutoCAD or Mathimatica on the\nsame machine.\n\n------\nwangweij\nThis is nothing special. Lion says it would include a server version of Mac OS\nX, and this is just a very basic function for any server OS. Although I\nhaven't played with OS X server before, I'm quite sure this feature has been\nthere for some time.\n\n------\ntjarratt\nThe way I like to think of this feature is as a throwback to the days of\n\"dumb\" terminals that would connect to a server where you stored your files,\naccount info, etc.\n\n\"Back to Unix\".\n\n~~~\njacques_chester\nWhy not? With HTTP we went back to the future vis-a-vis 3270.\n\n------\ntambourine_man\nIf I understood it correctly, this has been possible for years in OSX. You\njust need to be “fast user switched out” instead of logged out: \\- Log in with\nuser A \\- Fast User Switch to user B \\- Log in to user A with VNC. It works\njust fine.\n\n------\njasonlotito\na lot of the comments are fairly shortsighted. i called this some time ago,\nand it makes sense. consider how mobile our live are right now. consider the\nwireless nature of everything. imagine having your computer be situated out of\nsigh, and your screen is mobile. your ipad and iphone connect to the same\ncentral hub. the computer becomes an appliance at home. just look at lion and\nthe elements of ios its pulling in. now imagine apple making it easy to do all\nof this.\n\nairdrop, mobileme, app store, all of this are elements to a grand vision.\n\n~~~\nthefonz\nyes, and especially with rumors that iPhone 5 having NFC technology. Imagine\nbeing able to walk up to any mac and just swipe your iPhone and all your\nsettings, bookmarks, etc. will just transfer over and you will be able to use\nit, just like you were infront of you mac at home.\n\n------\njpr\nIs it just me or are 99% of tech \"news\" and \"innovation\" just reinvention of\nstuff already found in UNIX, Lisp etc. decades ago?\n\n~~~\ngvb\nIt's not just you, Henry Spencer reportedly said it (first?) in 1987.\n\n\"Those who don't understand UNIX are condemned to reinvent it, poorly.\"\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy#Quotes>\n\n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Spencer#cite_note-2>\n\n~~~\nthwarted\nHe was just paraphrasing the bible:\n\n\"What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is\nnothing new under the sun.\" -- Ecclesiastes 1:9\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe general economic importance of banks has been highly exaggerated - robg\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/opinion/10mulligan.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=all\n======\njmtame\n\"And second, the economy doesn’t really need saving. It’s stronger than we\nthink.\"\n\nThe first step is admitting there's a problem.\n\n------\nblakeweb\nI read this article, and two days ago listened to this podcast from 'this\namerican life' on npr. This article's arguments doesn't stand up against the\npretty convincing descriptions of what's actually going on from the corporate\ntreasurers and banking industry folk interviewed in the podcast. You should\nmake an hour and listen to it--it's fantastic.\n\n[http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=3...](http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=365)\n\n~~~\nkylec\nIf you liked that, you'll love Planet Money - a daily podcast created by the\npeople that made the This American Life money program.\n\n<http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/>\n\n[http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=944...](http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=94411890)\n\n------\nmdasen\nTo argue the opposite:\n\nThe author suggests that other institutions (pensions, universities, etc.)\nbring investors together with savers. It's true, but not to the same extent.\nBanks are primary. Drying up a majority of the way that it happens will have a\ndrastic effect despite the fact that other ways exist.\n\nThe author argues that corporations get 25% of their investment funds from\ntheir own profits and that could go to 75% if they stopped paying dividends.\nThe problem is that still leaves a 25% gap there which is sizable. Not only\nthat, but profits don't help firms who are just starting up.\n\nI'm not all doom and gloom about the economy (even today), but I don't think\nthe importance of banks is understated. The author is essentially arguing that\nif we scraped the bottom of the barrel, we could probably replicate what banks\ndo (bringing investors and savers together) to a certain percentage. That's\ntrue, but what if your work just started paying you 50%. It might be hard to\nmeet your next month's bills.\n\n~~~\nPrrometheus\nI haven't read the article, but a counter-point:\n\nBanks are much less important today than they used to be because there are so\nmany more investment channels available. While regulation limits participation\nin these channels to the rich and well-lawyered, our economy is more redundant\nand diverse today than it has ever been.\n\n~~~\nfallentimes\n_there are so many more investment channels available_\n\nThis is exactly why banks spend significant more money on advertising (think\nWaMu pre-death) than they used to. It's also why they derive a higher\npercentage of revenue from fees.\n\n------\nmarkdionne\nInternational trade is dependent on Letters of Credit issued by banks:\n[http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2008/10/international-\ntrade-s...](http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2008/10/international-trade-\nseizing-up-due-to.html)\n\nThe shit will really hit the fan when your lights go out because your local\npower utility cannot get a shipment of fuel oil when no bank will guarantee\ntheir credit.\n\n------\nnewt0311\n\"Although banks perform an essential economic function — bringing together\ninvestors and savers — they are not the only institutions that can do this.\nPension funds, university endowments, venture capitalists and corporations all\nbring money to new investment projects without banks playing any essential\nrole.\"\n\nUmmm... Pension funds invest in the stock market and they depend on banks to\nhelp themselves out. Same for univ. endowments and venture capitalists.\nCorporations still use banks to manage their cash flow and guess how they and\neverybody else flows their cash through? Banks!!!\n\nIf anything, the importance of banks has been highly understated.\n\nPS. This does not imply the necessity of the bailout. The bailout is\nultimately unnecessary. Wamu was still solvent from a cash flow perspective\nwhen the FDIC took over and even if some large institutions fail (as some\nalready have), there are more than just three or four banks.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: What to look out for when looking for a new apartment? - Wavum\nI&#x27;m looking a new apartment, what should I look out for to don&#x27;t fall in a money pitfall?\n======\naphextim\n• How much is rent on 6 month lease vs 12 month or M2M.\n\n• 1 time Fees (Application, security deposit, etc.)\n\n• Reoccurring Fees (Parking, Trash etc.)\n\n• What utilities are included\n\n• What utilities are not included and who to go through to get them set up\n\n• What furniture/appliances are included if any\n\n• Anything else that is included or valuable to know\n\n• Method of payment (Do they do online re-occurring payments)\n\n• If you have pets make sure they are pet friendly, find out how much it costs\nand if they do damage the apartment does it effect the one time fee, security\ndeposit or both.\n\n• Always check out the apartments in person, like Facebook profile pictures,\npictures of apartments are always inflated to look better.\n\nThese are just some things I would personally find out before moving based on\npast experiences. I am not a housing professional.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nAsk HN: What to do when your once potential competitor becomes a real competitor - xoail\nI&#x27;ve had this idea for a SaaS based product and started working on it not too long ago (about 2 months in as solo founder&#x2F;dev moonlighting). Since it is for enterprise I figured getting a solid product that does one thing really well is more important than building MVPs of product features. I still have at lest 2 or 3 more months into development before I start selling version 1 of the product.<p>But now I see my potential competitor also rolling out the same product I am making. They have a $1b market cap, have a large customer base and I can imagine they would find it easy to sell it than I do. I was sure that this would happen some day but not so soon. Their offering seems good enough to entice customers. The only thing I can compete with them right now is Price. They charge a lot for their product and I can beat it by being a fraction of what they charge.<p>I am currently confused wether to continue building or give up and start-over on something else?\n======\njonnathanson\nDon't compete on price, per se. Compete on value. Value is related to price,\nbut it's not the same thing. Identify the customer segment(s) you believe\nyou're building for, and that your competitors might not be -- either because\nthey have to go broad, or because they're focused on a segment or two\nthemselves. Then really nail the value prop and solution for the segments\nyou're targeting. You'll probably want to price cheaper than the big guys, but\nit's not to position yourself as \"basically the same thing, but less\nexpensive.\" Instead, it's to position yourself as the simpler, easier, _case-\nspecifically better_ solution for a certain type of customer.\n\nPatio11 puts it well, as usual. Especially this paragraph:\n\n _\" Is their product generic? Make yours hyper-specific. Is their product\nhyper-customized? Make yours the 'It only does 10% of what the other guy does,\nbut it is the right 10%, and it actually works out of the box.'\"_\n\nThe good news is that $1B+ companies usually can't afford to target niches.\nTheir divisions are expected to move the needle for, well, a $1B+ business.\nThis puts enormous pressure on them to develop big, broad solutions that are\nmaybe 75% adequate for as close to 100% of the market as they can reach. This\nis a strategic vulnerability that strongly favors the smaller player. It's one\nof the very few advantages a smaller player has in competition with a big\nplayer, particularly in the SaaS space.\n\n~~~\ngbrits\n\"The good news is that $1B+ companies usually can't afford to target niches.\nTheir divisions are expected to move the needle for, well, a $1B+ business. \"\n\n100% agreed. May I suggest OP to pick up \"The Innovator's Dilemma / The\nInnovator's Solution\", which really brings the point home on why targeting\nniches and/or 'lower' marketing segments can be a good strategy.\n\n------\nantaviana\n1\\. Open the hosts file on your computer 2\\. Add the website of your\ncompetitor with some random IP address 3\\. Go back to work with your product\nand talk to your potential customers\n\n~~~\nxoail\nlol. well said.\n\n------\npatio11\nCan you walk me through the thought process of why a competitor existing means\nyou abandon this idea? Are they so central to your industry that they can\nimmediately lock up 100% of the market? Are they going to be cross-selling\nfrom something which is more widely distributed in your niche than say\nQuickbooks or Microsoft Office?\n\nDon't compete on price. Enterprise customers care about it a lot less than you\ndo, and enterprise customers are not motivated to purchase by \"We saved a few\nthousand bucks and I lost my job because the deployment blew up in our face.\"\nI'd be far more worried about that sales objection than the existence of a\ncompetitor.\n\nYou can probably compete on many other axes. One of my competitors has 400\nemployees, at least 20 of whom answer phones with customer questions. I have 0\nemployees, intentionally don't have a routable phone number, and self-assess\nat mediocre in terms of responsiveness to email. And I win sales dogfights\nwith that company, occasionally, because prospects believe I'll offer them\nbetter CS. (The winning argument, which I've stolen fragrantly from Jason\nCohen, is \"You can call them up at any hour, day or night, and instantly speak\nto someone who can't solve your problem. Or you can drop me an email, and it\nmay take me two days to get to it, but your email will always be answered by\nthe guy who built the system with his own hands. Your call who you want in\ncharge of your questions when it is your business on the line.\")\n\nThere are other options, such as competing on market segmentation. Your\ncompetitor, for example, might serve primarily a healthcare market. If the\nsame need exists outside of healthcare, you can target your\nmarketing/development over there, and make a product which really sings for\nthose other audiences. Is their product generic? Make yours hyper-specific. Is\ntheir product hyper-customized? Make yours the \"It only does 10% of what the\nother guy does, but it is the right 10%, _and_ it actually works out of the\nbox.\"\n\nHow do they market/sell it? Is it one of those \"Ask for a quote and we'll let\nyou speak to a sales rep?\" type of deals. Consider selling via a lower-touch\nsales model. Worse comes to worse, you learn why high-touch sales is so darn\npopular.\n\nAlso, to impart on you as early as possible the Voice of Pained SaaS Founder\nExperience: pause building for a moment and verify that you can successfully\nsell this. If necessary, you can have mockups or a minimally functional\nprototype to support the sales conversation. There are many worthwhile SaaS\nproducts which cannot be sold by a single founder into particular enterprises,\nso knowing whether your product is saleable or not given your constraints is a\nuseful sanity check on whether to spend the rest of the schedule building it\nout.\n\nSelling SaaS which doesn't exist is fairly straightforward. Find a customer.\nAsk them to buy it. Note why they tell you \"No.\" Adjust until you have gotten\na \"Yes.\" Now, repeat at least 5 times. Then, finish building it.\n\nIf you cannot find a customer, or you can find the customer but can't get the\nright decisionmaker internally to get the time of day, or your customer\ndoesn't consider this a hair-on-fire priority, or your current conception of\nthe product doesn't match things they budget for, or any of a thousand other\nthings systematically happen to block sales, then building the software does\nnot in itself cure those sales problems.\n\nIncidentally, the number of enterprise deals which you have to close to have a\nvery good living as a solo founder is somewhere between one and twenty. Their\nbillion dollar valuation might be sustained by a team of stab-their-own-\nmother-for-a-commission-check reps being fed the Glengarry leads from the best\nmarketing operation in enterprise software, but even they don't win _every_\ndeal. Table scraps are delicious if the table is very big relative to the dog.\n\n~~~\nxoail\nI do not necessarily want to fight on the Price but that is the only variable\nI can think of and start attracting smaller customers (who cannot afford my\ncompetitors pricing structure). This competitor seems to have brought in all\nthe bells and whistles alongside the core of the product. My plan was to only\nfocus on core pieces and get to side features as I start getting customer\ninterest. Besides that, the customers buying their flag-ship product will find\nit useful to buy this product alongside. They both will complement well. I do\nthink their vision seems to be different from mine where they are focused on\nvarious categories and I am on one niche.\n\nThanks for all the various options you've highlighted. I do feel compelled to\ntry building out the core services to see if I can compete in certain markets.\nMy biggest concern being unable to dedicate myself full-time unless it starts\nbringing in revenue I need to pay up for my bills. If you do not mind, I would\nlike to send you a PM with info of my product site.\n\n~~~\npatio11\n_I do not necessarily want to fight on the Price but that is the only variable\nI can think of and start attracting smaller customers (who cannot afford my\ncompetitors pricing structure)_\n\nGoing after people who are systematically excluded by a competitor is not\nnecessarily \"competing on price\" even if you happen to have lower average\naccount sizes as a result. That can work fairly well. My largest competitor\nbasically tosses you from their sales process if your account is worth less\nthan $1k a month. Most of my customers are worth <= $200. It isn't just a\npricing decision, though -- it informs how I do sales (high-touch vs. low-\ntouch), what markets they go after vs ones I go after (healthcare vs. a bit\nmore eclectic for me), feature decisions, etc.\n\nFeel free to send me an email. If I don't get back to you, it wasn't anything\nyou said, it was just my newborn daughter keeping me busy.\n\n~~~\nmailshanx\nOhhh, hey Patrick, congratulations on a new addition to your family! :)\n\nI've been following your writing for quite a while now, and i love it :)\n\nHeartiest congratulations again :D\n\n------\npinaceae\nNever compete on price in enterprise. You compete on value prop and ROI - it's\nthe profit and/or savings using your product will bring that are relevant, not\nthe pure license costs. Price also signals worth, you get what you pay for,\netc.\n\nAs for the competition - compete. Don't assume just because a large corp\nannounces something their product will be good, useful, successful. Might just\nbe programmed in Powerpoint for all you know.\n\n~~~\nGFischer\n\"Never compete on price in enterprise\"\n\nThat's a pretty blanket statement. I work for a relatively large service\ncompany, and we're looking to make a big purchase (a replacement of the core\nsystem), and one of the main decision points is price, especially because\nthere are orders of magnitude in difference between several competitors.\n\nIn the market we're evaluating there are:\n\n\\- a dominant, best of breed solution, which is priced out of the budget\n\n\\- several good systems that can't compete with the dominant one and thus\neither compete on niches or price\n\n\\- several decent systems by companies that serve a geographic region\n\n\\- several small systems for niche companies.\n\nThe price differences range from a 22.000 dollar quote to a seven million\ndollar quote (and both were tossed out).\n\nBetween similarly-priced products, yes, price is not a factor.\n\nOne point which might be of interest is that we're valuing the user experience\na lot - our previous software \"ticked all the boxes\" feature-wise but is an\nunusable mess, and the best-rated product among the mid-sized ones also has\nthe same problem (maybe designed to win feature-checkbox government or bigco\ncontract bids).\n\nI only hope the people which will actually make the decision listen to the\ntechnical sides' arguments and don't go for the feature-rich but bad-UX\nsolution (I also expect bad UX to be a proxy for yet-to-be-discovered hidden\nlimitations).\n\n------\nnemanja\nOne thing that helped me in the past is differentiating on how fast I could\nmove the deployment / customization of our solution vs. a larger competitor.\nThe service we offered was pretty complex in terms of business requirements\n(periodic, enterprise-wide, hierarchical data collection of say 10-15\nschedules with workflows, status reporting, followups, etc) and it took our\nlarger competitors ~2-3+ months to turn the deployment. One tactic I employed\nwas to ask the prospect for an excel spreadsheets they used in the past and\ncustomize the system a bit before the presentation. This had a big wow factor\nsince we already had something that looked familiar and was almost there, made\nmy contacts look good in front of their bosses and eleviated most of the\ndeployment risk (savvy clients really understood that most of the risk was in\ndeployment). We were often able to commit to ~2 week deployment and that made\na huge difference. We were winning really large accounts, too (Fortune 100s).\nNow, this may not scale, but that's a beauty of an early startup - you get to\nand should do things that may not ultimately scale and may win as a result of\nthat.\n\n------\nChrisNorstrom\n1- The most important lessons learned from building are watching the product\nand yourself fail and remembering those lessons for next time.\n\n2- You still haven't failed yet. You haven't launched yet. You haven't run out\nof money yet. Why would you quit? Don't you want to see how people respond to\nyour product?\n\n3- If you stop now your greatest competitor is you. Not the other guy. You'll\njust destroy your chance at money, growth, and learning some awesome lessons\nin launching a Saas.\n\n4- If you quit you will have spent 2 months working on this for nothing.\n\n~~~\npersonlurking\nWhat if you've spent x months focusing on the product instead of the business\n(ie, not seeing what potential customers think early on), get to roll-out\npoint and hit a roadblock? A roadblock that lets you pause for a second to\nrealize the product reach may be quite limited vs another path that you\ncould've gone with from the start.\n\nThis is my situation. As for your 4 points, I realize all of that now and\ntotally agree with it, but I do wonder about the certainly larger market if\nI'd go down the other path now.\n\n------\npbreit\nIf you're already worried about competitors and looking to compete merely on\nprice, I'm afraid you might not be cut out for this. For starters, I would\nhighly doubt that you and this big company would be going after the same\ncustomers. It's relatively easy to find niches that big companies can't or\ndon't want to serve.\n\n~~~\nxoail\nI see your point. My worry is mostly on the lines of wether I can fight with\nthem as a solo founder working part-time on this. But on further analysis, I\nfeel there is a chance of holding a good fight by focusing on certain niche\nmarkets as you've highlighted.\n\n------\nsumedh\n> or give up and start-over on something else?\n\nSo what happens if you hit a similar problem when you start over on something\nelse?\n\n~~~\njanson0\nThis is a great, short piece of advice.\n\n------\ngumby\nA couple of points:\n\nFind a vertical niche that you can dominate and build out from there. If it's\na new area, or a relatively new area, your competitor can't build a product\nthat will appeal to everyone. So you two may not even compete head to head for\na while. And since you're small, you're probably more nimble and can make a\nbetter reputation. And you won't have to compete on price -- you might even be\nable to charge more than they can once you have a few customers.\n\nOnce you start a company (assuming you do) you can offer stock that costs less\nfor a larger stake in the company than your competitor could. The only people\nwho want to work for Google or Facebook are those who work for the salary --\nthe stock is high priced and isn't going to go up by any appreciable multiple.\nSo in addition to the fun and terror of working for a startup, you have\nsomething the other guy can't offer.\n\n------\nlogn\nI recently chose an invoicing/payment provider. And also a gateway/merchant.\nFor each of those there are at least 10 solid offerings in my price range. I\nended up making my choices based on really specific features I preferred when\nanyone else looking at the situation would think they're all comparable. The\nworld's a big place and people will choose you.\n\nFurthermore, sales is a powerful skill if used right and striking up an email\nconversation can be more persuasive than a bullet list of features or meeting\nsome price-point. And when you're building you're product from scratch you're\nin a great position to add features based on initial feedback and build the\nproduct that at least a small set of users really want. I think solo technical\nfounders have an enormous advantage here as there's no obstacle to reform the\nproduct in an early stage.\n\n------\ntomasien\nIt's unlikely that a competitor with only a $1bn market cap building a similar\nproduct to you will be the reason you are or aren't successful unless they're\nOTHER product makes their new, more similar to yours offering more valuable by\nextension.\n\nUnless you're certain that their product will be much better than yours no\nmatter what and they've gotten it exactly right, just learn from them and keep\ngoing. However I should reiterate: if you think their product is perfect or\nclose, don't keep going. I've seen people do this and there's no point -\nyou've lost the passion for the project at that point because you'll just\nstare at their product and wish your product could be like that. You won't\nthink critically and differentiate, you'll just try to catch up.\n\n------\ndrawkbox\nIt is good to be aware of competition but if you constantly compare yourself\nto others you will either be too good or not good enough, which leads to\nlaziness and chasing the leader respectively.\n\nBeing first is nice but just the fact that there is competition is some\nvalidation that the service is needed. Better to compete early rather than\nwhen it is a commodity down the line. Being early but not first does have some\nadvantages as it is market research. The \"Google wasn't the first search\nengine\" line of thought.\n\n------\ngeoffbrown2014\nThe bells and whistles comment struck a chord with me. That can be a\ntremendous advantage to you if the company bundles all those features. Go talk\nto customers and find out how many of the features they actually use. If they\nonly use 15-20 percent of the features then focus on that small subset of\nfeatures and do it better than the big guy. If the majority of users use the\nmajority of the product then I think you will have an uphill battle. Think\nabout your customers not your competitors.\n\n------\nrational-future\nFWIW I personally don't buy any products or services for my business, that are\nbacked by a one man company. The risk that you may get sick or bored or bought\nout or hit by a bus, etc. is too high.\n\nIf you're not a sales ninja, you'll have to finish building the product,\nbefore you get any sales. Contact your competitor competitors, see if they'll\nbe interested in cooperating.\n\n~~~\npatio11\nOne can very easily check whether one's target customers are averse to dealing\nwith a one-man shop. Ask them to buy your thing. If they don't ask \"Are you a\none-man shop?\", they are not averse to dealing with one-man shops.\n\nA surprising number of enterprise customers are not averse to dealing with\none-man shops. It blows my mind at least once a week.\n\nSupposing that a customer does give you the one-man shop objection, you don't\nsay \"Oh rats, well, good luck then.\" You summon your founder gumption and say\n\"Sure thing, I understand that you want to buy this software but have\nunderstandable reservations about dealing with a one-man company. What can we\ndo to fix this? Help me understand this a bit more -- is this coming from you?\nFrom other stakeholders? Corporate policy? You had a bad experience once?\"\n\nAfter probing for the nature of the objection, you can offer solutions to it.\n\nYou might go out of business: I've answered this before. \"I've been in\nbusiness since 2006 and profitable every year since then. Nobody knows what\nthe future holds, but I'm cautiously optimistic. I'd hate to get a real job.\"\n\nYou might get hit by a bus: \"I certainly hope I don't get hit by a bus but\nI'll be extra careful crossing streets, just for you! _pause for laughter_ No,\nseriously speaking, I totally understand how you guys need business continuity\nfor core services. What if we had a written business continuity plan? Would\nthat help? I can have lawyers and a well-regarded tech firm get one together\nfor us as soon as you get me a LOI.\"\n\nWe need code escrow: \"Who is your preferred vendor for code escrow? Great,\nwe'd be happy to work with them. Tabling that issue for a moment, is there\nanything else you need from me, or can we proceed to the next step?\"\n\nYou could break stuff: \"We carry an industry-standard Errors and Omissions\ninsurance policy in the amount of $1 million. The insurance company was happy\nto write this policy because we take steps like X, Y, Z to make sure that we\ndon't break stuff. Does $1 million sound adequate?\" -> \"Great then, we're\ncovered.\" or \"Interesting. Help me understand how you're arriving at your\nnumber for how much is at stake here. I'd be happy to quote you for services\ncommensurate with the value you get out of our system, and we'll only move\nforward if I can get our insurance underwriter to approve that level of\ncoverage.\"\n\n~~~\nraffi\nI am a one-man shop and sell software in the enterprise space. I also have\ncompetitors and while I see my product as very different, a lot of my work\ngoes into educating my market about why.\n\nMost of my customers are household names and they're not averse to dealing\nwith my one-man shop. It doesn't even come up. Their staff wants my software\nand they work their process to buy it. That's it.\n\nI have not had to answer any of these objections (thankfully). I'd probably\npass on the customer if they came up.\n\n------\nmoubarak\nLike patio said, don't compete on price. Later you will find out your product\nis worth what your competitor is charging and you'll feel bad about it. Most\nimportantly, your competitor might have many employees, but be sure that the\nteam working on that specific product is small. This is exactly the mentality\nthat Steve Wozniak had when Apple first started.\n\n------\nshuzchen\nYou should definitely continue with your product, and you've now got a big\nstamp of product validation in terms of a huge company putting resources into\nthe same market. To be clear, you should still do your own validation study\n(get your own product in front of customers) but I see this as good news that\nconfirms you're heading in the right direction.\n\n------\nMalcolmDiggs\nYou've lost First-Mover Advantage, that's all. I'm sure your business model\nwas premised on more than simply doing something first, wasn't it?\n\n------\nmstanley\nif there are no competitors, there likely is no market. ideas are rarely\nunique (and even when unique, are quickly imitated). execution is everything.\ndon't see increased competition as a bad thing. Rather, view it as\nconfirmation you are onto something. keep going. be prepared to fight. and do\nit better.\n\n------\npknerd\nYou have more freedom to iterate your product than them :-)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nMailchimp down - daveytea\nhttps://longreply.com/r/9ca73be4\n\n======\niratedev\nThanks for posting this. Better than, you know, the Twitter post that is\nalready posted.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nUberVU (the conversation tracking engine) just launched the public API today - mg1313\nhttp://developer.ubervu.com/\n\n======\nldeva\nI think Backtype has already one...but this is interesting to see how it\nevolves. I know uberVU and Disqus partnered and powers now the conversation\ntracking on Mashable. Let's see what Artiklz.com will respond (another\ncompetitor)...\n\n~~~\nomakase\nYes, our API is live and documented here:\n<http://www.backtype.com/developers/comments-connect>\n\nAlso here's a great app that was built by a user of our API:\n<http://convotrack.com/I1>\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nMisskey, a decentralized microblogging platform with ActivityPub support - l2dy\nhttps://github.com/syuilo/misskey\n======\ntree_of_item\nIs this just a fork of Mastodon?\n\n~~~\nl2dy\nNo, it's a separate project that got ActivityPub support this year.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n$1,200 a month, privacy not included - 0wl3x\nhttps://www.cnn.com/2019/07/05/success/podshare-co-living/index.html\n======\ndeogeo\n> Stephen T. Johnson, the 27-year-old founder of FlipMass, an advertising\n> company for Instagram influencers\n\nAdvertising, extortionate rents, middle-men, 'analytics'... the sheer number\nof layers of parasitism in San Francisco is hard to comprehend.\n\n9 times out of 10, these 'tech' companies are a net drain on society.\n\n------\nnot_a_cop75\nCall me crazy, but is it possible CNN wants to further legitimatize high rents\nin large cities? Every big news service works for some billionaire it seems,\nand none are even tongue in cheek self critical anymore, or so it seems.\n\n------\nfreewilly1040\nInteresting that the founder’s elevator speech included nostalgia for late\nperiod USSR... I cringed a bit at that.\n\n~~~\npmiller2\nWhere did you see that?\n\n~~~\nfreewilly1040\nIt's in the first minute of the video\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nShow HN: Oorja, OSS video/voice chat app with realtime collaborative features - akshayKMR\nhttps://github.com/akshayKMR/oorja\n======\nakshayKMR\nI'd recommend you use Chrome on desktop for trying out the app. Cheers!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN: Made for Adsense (MFA) Sites - naithemilkman\n\nIt's hard to get the skinny on exactly how viable this business model still is considering the amount of outdated information on google.<p>Does anyone currently operate an MFA site(s)? Can you do an AMA? Is it still a realistic business model if you're just looking to generate say 1-2K per month?\n======\natgm\nIf Google doesn't screw you over and shut down your account for some reason\nwithout telling you why or giving you someone to talk to, then yes, you should\nbe in the clear.\n\nI'm just in the bitter, vocal minority here, though.\n\n~~~\nnaithemilkman\nSo you're operated MFA sites before? How was it? Do tell!\n\n~~~\natgm\nI tried operating a normal site using AdSense; it got a decent amount of\ntraffic before Google killed my AdSense account. I never got any of the money\nout of it, Google never responded. This was about six, seven years ago now. To\nthis day, I am unable to use AdSense.\n\n~~~\nnaithemilkman\nCan you not just re-make a new google account with a different credit card?\n\n------\nAtaraxy\nDon't build a business on top of a sand castle.\n\n~~~\nnaithemilkman\nMaybe don't build a long term business on top of a sand castle\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nWarren’s Antitrust Proposal: Break Up Big Tech or Just Regulate It Better? - howard941\nhttps://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/04/warrens-antitrust-proposal-should-we-break-up-big-tech-or-just-regulate-it-better.html\n======\nblackflame7000\nI’ll take Big Tech over Big Govt any day because one doesn't have a fleet of\nattack drones\n\n~~~\nused2code\n\"Big Tech\" knows where we live, owns \"our\" data. \"They\" don't need attack\ndrones, maybe?\n\nThe real point to be made, imo, is that busting up the Big Bell into the Baby\nBells, and so on, did not really address the issue: regionality does not\nprovide for \"competitive markets\", multiplicity of players in the field is\nwhat makes for \"choice\" and \"competition\", and keeps folks honest, we have to\nhope.\n\nTherefore, anti-trust could be about enhancing entrances and exits (startups,\nrefinancings/redirections, retirements), or changes in management, i.e.,\neffective \"regulation\" could be more like \"market development\" or influence,\nrather than \"being a lid on the jar\", \"turd in the punch bowl\", mostly a\ntariffing and acquisitions/merger blocker or allower.\n\nIf Big Tech and Big Govt want to smooth the path into the future together,\nwithout taking individual political freedoms away from folks, that is\ndefinitely possible, given the motivation and will to make that happen.\nWithout the motivation and will, it's not going to happen, no matter how\npossible it is.\n\nThere's a lot of societal level contributions that \"Big Tech\" has not figured\nout how to build and maintain, such as the appropriate freedom of speech while\nalso providing privacy and safety online. There's simply a lot to be\n\"regulated\" or defined as a requirement of \"Big Tech\" by society. The Amish\nand their careful approach to technology bears review and some amount of\nemulation, as I see it. ymmv. Thanks for reading.\n\n------\nraven105x\nThe best part of an emergent global economy is that any single government can\nonly over-reach so much before the country's GDP plummets in the global\nranking, leading to revolution or collapse.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nIvy.FM - Grails Based New Online Music Service - accavdar\nhttp://ivy.fm/\n\n======\nazauskas\nThank you. It looks fine to discover music.\n\n~~~\naccavdar\nGreat. Enjoy it. :)\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nDocker is in trouble - artsyca\nhttps://www.zdnet.com/article/docker-is-in-deep-trouble/\n======\nmikece\nSo who is the most likely buyer: Google, Amazon, Microsoft, or IBM?\n\nOr Oracle??\n\n~~~\nmister_hn\nI think RedHat will do, probably\n\n~~~\nCrankyBear\nRed Hat's already replaced Docker's functionality with podman and buildah in\nRHEL 8. Technically, there's no reason for them to buy Docker.\n\n------\nartsyca\nI'm utterly tired of the way tech executives are dressing nowadays; this\naudience clearly doesn't believe it matters in the slightest, but I'm\nchallenging anyone to come up with some inkling of why it actually might --\n\n~~~\nartsyca\nLet me give you an argument from a functionalist perspective, as a designer --\nIf you're never going to wear a necktie, why bother ever wearing a collared\nshirt?\n\nThe collar is in place to hold the tie, you don't need a tie, you don't need a\ncollar, so don't wear one\n\n~~~\nflukus\nPragmatic answer: because it crosses some threshold where it's deemed I'm\ndressed appropriately at work and a normal shirt wouldn't.\n\n> The collar is in place to hold the tie, you don't need a tie, you don't need\n> a collar, so don't wear one\n\nA collar can also be popped to provide extra shade to the neck, it has it's\nown functionality independent of the tie. I'm not sure if these execs are\ngetting enough sun that it matters, but I certainly do.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nThe Four Painters: A Video Work Created with Deep Learning - noradaiko\nhttp://odoruinu.net/blog/2015/12/23/the-four-painters-a-video-work-created-with-deep-learning/\n======\npsycr\nI produced something similar to this shortly after the release of\n[https://github.com/karpathy/char-rnn](https://github.com/karpathy/char-rnn):\n\n[http://i.imgur.com/rb0GJvQ.gifv](http://i.imgur.com/rb0GJvQ.gifv)\n\nBasically, you create a video, dump the video's frames with ffmpeg, run each\nframe through the RNN, and stitch them back together. It took me several hours\nto produce just ten seconds of video. Unfortunately, unless you have a Titan X\nGPU the max size of each image is quite small (certainly less than 1080p),\nwhich may be why the frames in this video are split into four quadrants.\n\n~~~\nbinarymax\nNice result! About 5 years ago, I did the same technique of frame\ndump->process->join but with a custom algorithm instead of a NN for the\nprocess stage. A more manual effort to tweak the filter, but it was fun and\ncame out nice.\n\nI got a new GPU recently and have been doing mostly text RNN these days, but\nit's fun to look back on this occasionally:\n\n[http://binarymax.com/reality_remix.html](http://binarymax.com/reality_remix.html)\n\n------\npavlov\nSomething about the current deep learning hype reminds me of fractals and\ncellular automata back in the day.\n\nThey're all very important and useful scientific advances that can be used to\nproduce visuals that seem to automatically create something strikingly\nnatural. This seems to make people kind of overreach about exactly how much of\nnature can be represented by this one method alone.\n\nThe world is probably not a fractal, the universe is probably not a cellular\nautomaton, and the mind is probably not a \"deep learning system\" either (of\nthe specific type currently implied by the term).\n\n~~~\ncscurmudgeon\nDeep learning shines when there is a lot of data and computation power. A lot\nof important problems don't have that much data and there are much better\nalgorithms right now for those problems [1]. Deep learning is definitely\nfaddish though it has its uses.\n\n[1]\n[http://www.sciencemag.org/content/350/6266/1332.full.pdf](http://www.sciencemag.org/content/350/6266/1332.full.pdf)\n\n------\nOvidStavrica\nThe trouble with neural networks is that they're just good enough to keep us\nfrom continuing to question our assumptions about human intelligence.\n\nA thousand years ago, even Ptolemy's geocentric model was good enough. After\nall, it offered an effective means for simulating and predicting planet\nmovement and solar eclipses. But it was complex. It took men of \"great\nlearning\" to understand the solar system according to Ptolemy's model\n--something that most current grade schoolers understand intuitively.\n\nIn all likelihood, concepts like string theory and neural networks are\ncomparable traps for us today. This is not a pleasant thought. So we're not\nmotivated to search for better alternatives until the current model evidences\nan insurmountable flaw.\n\nI'm not saying that string theory or the neural network approach is wrong.\nObviously it's not. Just remember that Ptolemy's model wasn't wrong either, at\nleast with regard to the moon.\n\n~~~\ndragonwriter\n> Just remember that Ptolemy's model wasn't wrong either, at least with regard\n> to the moon.\n\nYes, it was, even with regard to the moon. Though, since the Earth-Moon\nbarycenter is within the Earth, it may have managed to be _tolerably wrong_\nwith regard to the Earth-Moon system. But, still wrong.\n\n------\nSCAQTony\nI am making jellyfish, lily pads, whales and flowers via Fractal Flame\nsoftware. All expressionistic and/or impressionistic. [samples:\n[https://twitter.com/SCAQTony/media](https://twitter.com/SCAQTony/media) ]\n\nHowever, there is something about digital that degrades the art by allowing it\nto be massed produced. One print is equal to another and therefore it almost\nbecomes trash. Example: Imagine an original Mickey Mouse drawing versus a\nrendering of Woody and Buzz from Toy Story?\n\n~~~\nthemodelplumber\nAs a fractal artist myself as well, I've been ranting about this to myself\nlately. I've been thinking that the problem is inherent to algorithmic art in\nparticular; I guess I can actually see some worth in renderings of e.g. Pixar\ncharacters, but maybe that's because I have kids who appreciate them, or\nbecause I've browsed Pixar art books.\n\nWhat I've noticed is that in order to make fractal art that typical art\ngallery-types find worth their time, you have to take on a kind of Simon\nCowell role and inject your own intuition or library of culturally-attuned\nsensation memories into the creation phase, turning it into more of an\naudition phase. \"This one just sucks...this one is OK...this one needs a\nlittle tweak and it'd look great, kind of like a rainy summer day.\" In order\nto make your product useful to other humans, you have to typologize, sometimes\nreally brutally, and especially moreso since your computer can just keep\npumping this stuff out.\n\nIf you go the other way and shun the story, shun the critique, and say\n\"typology is for the closed-minded,\" you can end up in scientism, completely\nfree of such hyperbolic typology but lacking a compelling presentation of a\nset of convergences. Lacking a story, lacking any depth with which humans\nreally identify.\n\nNo matter how much machinery goes into computing scientific results, the\nresults are still somewhere along a normal curve, and unfortunately that's not\nsuper useful to humans. But psychologically we find extreme typologies very\nuseful. As a group, we'd rather say \"ooh, a sports car\" or \"oh wow, dripping\nice cream!\" than \"oh, it's a blob that could be any number of things.\"\n\nAt its most vain, the typology-free approach can end up as a sort of\npornography, an obsession with process to the exclusion of context, and to the\ndeep satisfaction of barely anybody.\n\nThat's why I really get frustrated with fractal art or generative art. After a\npoint I have to put on my designer hat, and I might as well have painted the\nthing from scratch anyway. Or I might as well have used the software more like\nan artist would use Alchemy, as a sort of imagination cue.\n\n[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYYSxZZzgjc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYYSxZZzgjc)\n\n~~~\nSCAQTony\nI am going straight to the public - I am also going to diversify (Catwoman\npanting in the works). Going to rent a gallery, have a party, get photos of\npeople staring at a few giant Chromaluxe prints on aluminum and then set up a\nsite. The art will feature anchoring pricing: 60'x80\" limited edition\nChromaluxe prints for $4,000 or a 24x36\" lithograph for $35. Hoping I sell\n10-posters a month of each. I wish you well.\n\n~~~\nthemodelplumber\nHey, I really appreciate you sharing that. Those seem like great ideas to me.\nBest of luck to you as you get that into motion!\n\n------\njameshart\nWould be more interesting to apply this photo transformation given, as an\ninput, not only the painting the artist produced but also a photograph of the\nthing the artist was trying to represent. Otherwise all you are doing is\nrecreating the artist's visual tools, not the way the artist translates what\nthey see into the visual palette.\n\nBut then, if you tell the algorithm that _The Scream_ is just a painting of a\nman on a bridge... you're not going to get a very good result.\n\n------\nsoperj\nDoes anyone have any idea the style of painting that he was actually doing?\n(In the first one)\n\n~~~\nsp332\nIt looks like colored paper covered with black pigment, then then black was\nscraped away to make the lines.\n\n~~~\nsoperj\nthanks.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nUSB Type-C and power delivery 101 – Ports and connections - neverminder\nhttp://www.embedded.com/design/power-optimization/4458380/USB-Type-C-and-power-delivery-101-----Ports-and-connections\n======\ndheera\nSow now I have devices of all of these varieties:\n\n\\- Mini-USB (stupid bike lights ...)\n\n\\- normal Micro-USB (battery packs, smartwatch, flashlight)\n\n\\- Qualcomm™ Quick© Charge® 2.0 that heats up and drains its batteries if\nplugged into a non-QC charger (phone)\n\n\\- Qualcomm™ Quick© Charge® 3.0 that refuses to charge in a QC 2.0 charger but\nwill charge in a non-QC charger (battery pack)\n\n\\- low-voltage USB-C that my high-voltage USB-C adapter refuses to charge\n(another phone)\n\n\\- high-voltage USB-C that won't accept low voltage USB-C (laptop)\n\nTravelling has officially become a bag full of AC adapters and wire mess\nagain.\n\nI miss the barrel connectors of the old days. They came in far fewer varieties\nthan these silly USB connectors. And the USB connectors break if you smack the\ncable by accident. The other day I had a USB-C socket that got snapped right\noff the PCB because the protruding cable bumped into something. Who designed\nthese things?! Connectors being torqued off PCBs was nearly unheard-of 15\nyears ago.\n\n~~~\nneverminder\nIn my opinion some kind of standard is better than no standard. Now is an\nunavoidable transitional period and if all goes well within a few years most\nof portable devices will charge through USB Type-C by default. I don't agree\nwith Qualcomm's approach, but it's always like that when some major standard\nis emerging - big players will at least try to pull some proprietary crap.\n\nI am an early adopter of USB Type-C charging and I've selected my devices with\nthat in mind, so for me it works flawlessly. I have a laptop Chromebook Pixel\nLS (2015) and a phone Nexus 6P. I can charge the phone with laptop's charger\n(it has variable voltage) and vice versa. The only difference obviously is\nthat laptop charges considerably slower with phone charger, but I can plug it\nfrom either side, which for laptop users is very convenient. When was the last\ntime you could do that with a barrel connector?\n\n~~~\nlojack\n> if all goes well within a few years most of portable devices will charge\n> through USB Type-C by default\n\nI feel like I've heard this one before. If history repeats itself in a few\nyears there will be a new standard that does something better and 30% of\nmanufacturers will switch to that.\n\n------\ngumby\nPower delivery is great, but the terrible error in USB Type C has come in\ntheir adoption of the IETF's dictum that one should be liberal in what one\naccepts and strict in what one generates.\n\nWhat this means is that the consumer has no idea if their cable will \"work\".\nIf you plug a slow cable between two Type-C devices that support thunderbolt,\ndata will still flow, perhaps at USB 2 speeds. Power may only trickle through\na cable between a powerful power supply and a laptop that needs it (A good\noutcome, in that it reduces fire, but still...). That video device may never\nconnect even though it's plugged in. Etc\n\nThey should have put some shape or color or other coding requirement on the\ncable overmoulds and outlets. At least in the old days you could mostly tell\nvisually and geometrically if you had the right data cable.\n\n------\nmetaphor\nSBU1, SBU2... _le sigh_.\n\nSuch a disappointment that despite USB-IF continuing to make their specs (and\nthen some) openly accessible to the public, VESA has placed anything relevant\nto modern DisplayPort behind a $10k/annum corporate paywall, then proceeds to\nrub salt in the wound by teasing non-members with less than a handful for\npurchase[1], e.g. $350 for the latest DSC.\n\n[1] [https://www.vesa.org/store/](https://www.vesa.org/store/)\n\n~~~\nIgorPartola\nCan you elaborate on what you mean?\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\nFormer MCC Inmate: There’s ‘No Way’ Jeffrey Epstein Killed Himself - michalu\nhttps://nypost.com/2019/08/10/former-mcc-inmate-theres-no-way-jeffrey-epstein-killed-himself/\n======\nthaumasiotes\n_My youngest son was forced to leave this country because of this Solozzo\nbusiness._\n\n _All right. I have to make arrangements to bring him back here safely,\ncleared of all these false charges._\n\n _But I 'm a superstitious man. And if some unlucky accident should befall\nhim, if he should get shot in the head by a police officer. Or if he should\nhang himself in his jail cell. Or if he's struck by a bolt of lightning. Then\nI'm going to blame some of the people in this room. And that I do not\nforgive._\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\n32-way Raspberry Pi cluster - Luyt\nhttp://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/20/32_way_raspebrry_pi_cluster/\n\n======\nLuyt\nPDF with technical details and some nice pics at:\n\n<http://coen.boisestate.edu/ece/files/2013/05/Rasp.-Pi.pdf>\n\n~~~\nSpur\nIt's not only fast but he pimped it up like a casemodder on a LAN party!\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nThe Computer for the 21st Century (1991) - t0dd\nhttp://www.ubiq.com/hypertext/weiser/SciAmDraft3.html\n\n======\nbhauer\n_Pads differ from conventional portable computers in one crucial way. Whereas\nportable computers go everywhere with their owners, the pad that must be\ncarried from place to place is a failure. Pads are intended to be \"scrap\ncomputers\" (analogous to scrap paper) that can be grabbed and used anywhere;\nthey have no individualized identity or importance._\n\nThat sounds eerily appealing. It speaks to my preference for a multi-device\nlifestyle where portable devices are but terminals to my network of\napplications running on my singular compute host. And yet, that's nothing\nquite like that today. Today, despite my desire to buy what I call a\n\"subservient tablet,\" [1] I have no such option. Instead, tablets are first-\norder computers on their own right, adding to the number of devices in my life\nthat want constant attention.\n\nI find it a shame that in the real present-day, we're off on this curious\ntangent where every device has to stand on its own as a silo of computing.\n\nIn fact, it's a shame many of the concepts described in this article from 1991\nstill don't exist. Most notably, I am especially interested in large form-\nfactor displays.\n\n[1] [http://tiamat.tsotech.com/microsoft](http://tiamat.tsotech.com/microsoft)\n\n------\nrootbear\nMark Weiser was a professor of mine at the University of Maryland before he\nwent to PARC. It was an awful tragedy that he died at such a young age (46).\nWith the rise of tablets and small, powerful computers like the Raspberry Pi\nand the Arduino, I'm often reminded of his ideas about ubiquitous computing.\nHe'd be having a ball today with all of the power one can now get in such\ntiny, efficient packages. It would be great if more of his UC ideas were to\nget into the mainstream of computing.\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}
{"text": "\n\nAsk HN Mac users: Do you use an antivirus ? - ssn\n\nIf yes, which?<p>Please see instead: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=933172\n======\njacquesm\ntry <http://news.ycombinator.com/newpoll>\n\n------\ncharlesmarshall\nNo, but more techy people will tend not to download / install / give passwords\nto \"dodgy\" applications\n\n------\nmaudineormsby\nNo, and I don't use AV on my Windows machine either. Never had a problem with\neither.\n\n------\nst3fan\nNo, of course not. What would be the point?\n\n------\nssn\nYes [which?]\n\n------\nssn\nNo\n\n", "meta": {"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"}}